San Diego CityBeat • Sept 4, 2013

THE RISE OF

DESTIN DANIEL CRETTON The I Am Not a Hipster director discusses the beauty and trauma that inspired his new feature, Short Term 12

by Ryan Bradford • P. 18

Alvarez P.4 streets P.7 movies P.24 flask P.26

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September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

Run, David, run!

San Diego City Councilmember David Alvarez took you, we’ve got to know exactly what we’re getting.” time out of his Labor Day holiday on Monday to chat And what’s Alvarez’s agenda? with CityBeat about how seriously he’s considering Alvarez wants to bring different people into the running for mayor. He said he’d likely make his decipolitical process and get them on city boards and sion by this Thursday. We hope he jumps in, because commissions, for example. And his focus is on neighthe field of potential viable candidates got dangerborhoods that suffer from high unemployment and ously small this week. relatively little private investment. He’d like the city On Tuesday, county Supervisor Ron Roberts, to make effective use of what’s known as new marformer City Councilmember Carl DeMaio and City ket tax credits, a federal program aimed at spurring Council President (and acting chief city executive) private investment in low-income communities, and Todd Gloria all announced that they won’t be candiNeighborhood Revitalization Strategy Areas, anothdates to replace former Mayor Bob Filner in a Nov. er federal program that encourages the use of Com19 special election. That leaves forDavid Rolland munity Development Block Grant mer Republican Assemblymember funding in distressed neighborhoods. and recent Democratic convert NaHe also wants the city to find creative than Fletcher as the only big-name ways to leverage revenues to create candidate to announce a run. City new neighborhood parks.

Councilmember Kevin Faulconer, a In short, Alvarez’s agenda is esRepublican and private-sector sycosentially one we thought we were phant, is expected to announce his getting when we elected Filner. candidacy on Wednesday morning.

As for Fletcher, his opponents say Alvarez, the council’s District 8 he’s the worst kind of opportunist, representative and an emerging faabandoning his core principles for povorite among San Diego’s liberals, litical expediency. He says he became said he would “absolutely” not run if disillusioned with the Republican former City Councilmember Donna Party and that his views have moderFrye were to change her mind and ated. We suspect it’s a little of both. decide to run; he also would have We think he’d be a centrist who’d David Alvarez stepped aside for Gloria. work well with all sides of the politi“Of all the options that I’m hearing, in terms of cal spectrum but who’d also too often kowtow to the candidates for mayor, [there’s] nobody that I’m recity’s established powerbrokers. Maybe we’re wrong, ally excited about,” Alvarez told us, “nobody that I and we like him personally, but Fletcher doesn’t have think really represents the interests of the neigha record that would help us feel otherwise. borhoods I represent.”

We want someone with a record of progressivAlvarez has been talking to many of his supportism in the race. Former City Attorney Mike Aguirre ers, and one thing he’s hearing is that folks on the has said he’ll run, and former state Assemblymemleft don’t know what to make of Fletcher. And neiber Lori Saldaña has hinted that she might run, and ther does he. “I’m glad that he’s seeing that some of although their progressive credentials are strong, the things that he believed in the past were wrong,” San Diego doesn’t need any more loose cannons Alvarez says, “but he’s also made some very serious rolling around on the decks. Alvarez, by contrast, statements about how he feels about certain things is thoughtful, refreshingly levelheaded, and seemabout wanting to outsource more jobs and reduce ingly able to work and play well with others, and pensions and eliminate welfare.” his focus has always been on helping disadvantaged Alvarez says he’s not yet getting a clear agenda communities and strengthening the middle class. from Fletcher; he needs more specifics. “I just can’t Alvarez understands that he has relatively low go there yet,” he says. “If the progressive community name recognition, and at this point in his career, was going to come around to Nathan Fletcher, Namayor might be a long shot, but even if it’s just to than needs to know that we need to hear some subhave a rational liberal voice in the debate, we’d like to see him run. stance to what he believes and how he’s going to be successful in moving a progressive agenda forward.

What do you think? Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com.

You can’t play it safe. If you want us to get behind This issue of CityBeat is dedicated to Darcy Emerson Bauer Smith, who arrived in this realm on Aug. 27.

Volume 12 • Issue 4 Editor David Rolland Associate Editor Kelly Davis Music Editor Jeff Terich Staff Writers Alex Zaragoza, Joshua Emerson Smith Web Editor Ryan Bradford Art director Lindsey Voltoline Columnists Edwin Decker, John R. Lamb

Contributors Ian Cheesman, David L. Coddon, Seth Combs, Jeff “Turbo” Corrigan, Katrina Dodson, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Peter Holslin, Dave Maass, Jenny Montgomery, Kinsee Morlan, Mina Riazi, Jim Ruland, Jen Van Tieghem, Quan Vu Interns Connie Thai Production Manager Tristan Whitehouse Production artist Rees Withrow MultiMedia Advertising Director Paulina Porter-Tapia Senior account executives Jason Noble, Nick Nappi

Cover photo by Ryan Bradford; design by Lindsey Voltoline Advertising Account Executive Beau Odom director of marketing Chad Boyer Circulation / Office Assistant Elizabeth Shipton Vice President of Finance Michael Nagami Human Resources Andrea Baker Accounting Alysia Chavez, Linda Lam, Monica MacCree Vice President of Operations David Comden Publisher Kevin Hellman

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San Diego CityBeat is published and distributed every Wednesday by Southland Publishing Inc., free of charge but limited to one per reader. Reproduction of any material in this or any other issue is prohibited without written permission from the publisher and the author. Contents copyright 2013.

4 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

‘Open season’ It always amazes me when Caucasians feel that they know what’s good for black people—actually, people in general, as evidenced with the Native Americans, Asians and Latinos who come to this country and have a “caretaker” look out for their best interests. But for the purpose of this letter, we can stick to black folks.

Your “Sordid Tales” column in the July 24 edition of CityBeat is full of shit. That’s the best way to explain it. It has been open season on black lives in this country lately, and this kind of fluff will only make it worse.

Perhaps the DAs that tried the George Zimmerman case were not the ideal barristers, but the case of his murdering Trayvon Martin was solid: 1.

He stalked him, contrary to the 911 operators’ instructions. 2.

Upon coming into contact with Martin, he didn’t say anything about being the “Neighborhood Watch captain.” For all intents and purposes, he stood there and let Martin vent about not wanting some “creepy cracker” following him. 3. As far as the cries for help, interesting that they stopped as soon as the shot rang out. If someone was kicking your ass the way he said, do you think that you would have the ability to disregard the pain and go for your gun? I think not, but that is just my opinion.

If the situation were reversed and Trayvon had the gun (and just for shits and giggles, let’s say he was licensed to carry it), he would be looking at life in prison at best and the death chamber at worst. Don’t believe me? Ask someone black how they feel about the case.

Zimmerman took a child’s life. Let’s see what happens with his next act.

Christopher Wafer, East Village

Degrading women I’m grateful for CityBeat’s focus on sexism in the July 31 issue— the Editor’s Note (Page 3), Spin Cycle (Page 6) and smart and sassy Alex Zaragoza added noteworthy comments on Filner’s ridiculous escapades. Sexism in the workplace and elsewhere diminishes us all, it’s true.

And then, flipping to the end of the publication, I see Page 33 advertising what feels absurd, too. Do other women out there feel that? In some aspect, isn’t

6 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

the posing rather degrading to women? Yeah, I get it nice bodies. Why harbor these ads? What are you teaching the young teens whom Zaragoza alludes to?

Shirley Fenile, North Park

Decker and Belfer If you have to allow Edwin Decker an undeserved hiatus from his journalistic responsibilities, you couldn’t have done better than with Aaryn Belfer’s ode to going commando [“Backwards & in High Heels,” Aug. 7].

Although I can’t comment on the benefits of doing so personally, I once knew a woman who rose from the Irish ghetto of Philadelphia to become a successful doctor despite her obvious beauty and brains—all due to her endearing habit of going sans les panties. It also facilitated a much more efficient rendezvous in the Macy’s changing room if memory serves me.

In general, I find Decker’s columns to be like a cold shower after a night of partying—intellectually refreshing and sobering, his July 24 Zimmerman-trial observations especially so. He hasn’t commented on the Filner debacle yet, but I’ve followed your editorials with mixed feelings. I can certainly sympathize with those who called for his resignation, given that he has admitted to being a direct descendant of our Neanderthal cousins, but as Don Bauder has pointed out in the Reader, the suddenness of the allegations raised some important questions.

Sean Jewitt, Rancho Cucamonga Editor’s note: Decker comments on Filner in this issue on Page 9.

More Belfer, please Please consider hiring Aaryn Belfer full time as a columnist!

I have so loved her last two columns and I was thrilled to find her work. Then I found out she was only a very temporary replacement for Edwin Decker and was so disappointed.

I don’t know how these things work, but if she is available and you have the space, I’d love to see her tight, funny and engaging writing on a regular basis.

Carolyn Kurle, Encinitas

Kelly Davis

After a friend stranded him in San Diego, Mike Stephenson, a homeless vet, turned to Kelly Knight for help getting back to Phoenix.

Street level Kelly Knight’s quest to put names to faces and get homeless people housed

by Kelly Davis

A couple of months ago, Mike Stephenson’s pal Dave, on a whim, said the pair should take a road trip from Phoenix to San Diego. Dave parked the car Downtown, the two got separated and Stephenson got lost. He hasn’t seen Dave, or Dave’s car, since.

“I’m not mad or anything like that,” he says. “It’s not like I had a whole lot to do in Phoenix. It’s just that I miss the weather.”

And that’s why Stephenson’s sitting in Kelly Knight’s office on a Wednesday morning.

A 55-year-old Army vet with a Chicago brogue, Stephenson’s been homeless for the last couple of years. He hopes Knight can help him get back to Phoenix. There, at least, he has friends who look out for him, letting him crash on a sofa, take a shower and store his stuff. There’s one person in particular, a woman named Dorothy Howe, whom Stephenson was closest to. If Knight can get in touch with her, and Howe can guarantee she’ll help Stephenson get back on his feet, then he can earn a bus ticket through

Work Your Way Home, a program Knight oversees in her role as homeless outreach coordinator for the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Clean & Safe program.

Since February 2012, 117 people have been reconnected with friends or family through the program. Knight emphasizes it’s not a means to unload San Diego’s homeless on other cities; before anyone’s granted a ticket—after working a shift with the Clean & Safe maintenance crew—Knight makes sure she’s sending the person to a place where they’ll have support from people who care about them.

Add those 117 people to the roughly 250 folks who’ve been housed in the last two years via the Downtown-focused Campaign to End Homelessness, and the United Way’s Project 25, and you’d expect to see a difference, even a slight one, in the city center’s street population. Knight’s been doing outreach in San Diego for nearly a decade, first with the Alpha Project before joining Clean & Safe a little more than a year ago.

“There’s more people,” she says.

Knight’s one of only a few folks doing targeted street outreach—putting names and stories to faces and using that information to try to link people to shelter. Everywhere she goes, she carries a stack of business cards. Her standard line is something like this: “My name’s Kelly. I’m a homeless outreach coordinator. I’m pretty good at finding resources for people. I wanted to give you my card and let you know I’m available if you need me.”

Sometimes she’s successful. More often than not, she’s

telling people what they already know—that the need for shelter far outweighs available beds. For every Eileen—a woman with a chronic lung disorder who dropped by Knight’s office last week on her way to claim a bed at Connections Housing—there’s Jennifer and Rebecca, two women Knight found in Children’s Park earlier that morning.

With Jennifer were two little girls, ages 2 and 3, while Rebecca kept an eye on her 2-month-old daughter who was sleeping in a stroller. Rebecca’s husband is disabled and both Jennifer and her husband are HIV-positive. The families moved to San Diego after falling on hard times in Virginia.

They sleep in an East Village shelter at night and, at 6 a.m.—the facility requires that they leave during the day—walk roughly 20 blocks to the park where there’s shade and benches and the girls can run up and down the grassy hills.

Knight asks if anyone’s told them about Cortez Hill, a converted motel that houses families for up to 120 days.

Nope, they tell her. Knight warns them that the wait could be a few months.

“But I always tell everyone, ‘Get on every single list, no matter what,’” Knight says. “Get on the list; time passes.”

Housing for homeless families is hard to come by. Just to see what waiting lists were like, Knight put in an application at two low-income projects, both located Downtown.

At one place, she waited 18 months before she got in for an interview—“just the beginning of the process,” she says. At a second location, she’s been on the waiting list for three years without a callback.

Situations like this highlight a current debate in homeless services: What’s the best way to allocate scarce resources?

The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made it a goal to end chronic homelessness by 2015, with a particular focus on veterans, by placing people into what’s known as permanent-supportive housing—housing that’s coupled with services like counseling, job training and drug and alcohol treatment. Programs like the United Way’s Project 25, which placed 35 so-called “frequent users” of emergency, criminal-justice and social services into supportive housing, have demonstrated that such a strategy saves money. But is that savings coming at an expense?

“I understand that [HUD’s] saying we want to have the most effective use of the federal dollar,” says Pat Leslie, a professor of social work at Point Loma Nazarene University, who also sits on the Regional Continuum of Care Council, which helps plan how federal homeless assistance grants will be spent, “but at the same time, the local resources have to then address families and others who are homeless because, if not, we’re going to create a new generation of street people, or we’re going to end up using other expensive systems like foster care or [child protective services] to intervene.”

San Diego County has a homeless population of 8,879 people, according to a street count conducted earlier this year by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless (RTFH). Of that

knight CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

knight CONTINUED from PAGE 7 number, a little more than half are unsheltered. A more indepth assessment from 2012 showed that roughly one-quarter of the total homeless population were families.

But even among the chronically homeless, finding a bed is a challenge. Knight’s been trying to help Chantal, a 26-yearold Navy vet with short dark hair and wire-rimmed glasses, for almost a year. Like Jennifer and Rebecca, Chantal and her husband, who suffers from mental illness, also spend their days in Children’s Park.

“I’m hearing rumblings about housing for veterans,” Knight tells Chantal. “You guys are chronic, and you’re a veteran, so you fit all the criteria.”

And if that doesn’t work, Knight adds, “I have lots of ideas. We’ll ask lots of questions of anybody we talk to and make sure we don’t go down the wrong road. You guys fit the criteria that everybody’s really focusing on.”

What’s perhaps most frustrating for Knight is that there’s no central database she can turn to if she finds someone who’s willing to accept help. She might hear about beds or services at a community meeting, or via a listserv, but then she’s got to find the person, help them through an application process that often involves documents they don’t have on-hand—ID, Social Security card, military discharge paperwork—and hope the bed’s still there.

“I can’t go online and say I need a bed for a veteran over 50 who gets X amount of dollars per month. I can’t type in those filters and find out where there’s a bed for that [person]. I can’t look at a list that says, ‘We have three family openings’ here, or ‘We have this’ there. There’s no list like that.”

Michael McConnell, vice president of the RTFH board of directors, envisions a system redesign, from reassessing the county’s inventory of shelter beds are used to how providers like Knight can find out immediately if a bed becomes available.

“That’s not rocket science,” he says. “We should know what’s going on in our system. That’s only 6,500 beds that we’re trying to keep track of…. There should be something we should be able to put in place to have a real-time understanding” of where beds are available.

It’s something the RCCC is working on, he says, but relying solely on federal dollars means change might not happen fast enough.

“Private funders need to come together and start coordinating their activities toward best practices,” he says.

A more robust way to monitor beds and track outcomes could also help providers determine whether they’re making the best use of limited resources, starting at the emergency-shelter level, which should be used as an entry point but currently isn’t.

“We actually have people living in our shelters,” McConnell says. “Some people will leave a program or leave

8 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

their [residential hotel] to live in the winter tent just to save money…. You have to save your resources for the people who are the best fit for them and move people through as quickly as possible.”

But first you have to connect with them. Walking back to her office, Knight spots a neatly dressed woman standing near a wall with a knapsack at her feet; she’s having a quiet conversation with no one in particular.

Knight asks her name. It’s Suzanne.

“Hi, my name’s Kelly. I’m a homeless outreach coordinator. Can I give you my card?”

Suzanne smiles and takes the card, but she declines assistance.

“So, let’s just say hi every time we see each other,”

Knight says. Suzanne agrees.

“I always try to leave every exchange with something positive,” Knight says later. “So, next time I see her, I’m going to be, like, ‘Hi. Remember we said we’d say hi to each other?’ Maybe in a month she’ll talk to me; maybe in a year she’ll talk to me.

“With the people you can’t do that with, you’ve got to let them go,” she adds. “I have some people who are beyond my scope; I’m not able to connect with them…. And it’s sad, but I have to be able to just let that go and keep moving forward to the next person that I might be able to help.”

Write to kellyd@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sditybeat.com.

edwin

sordid tales

decker The boorish bürgermeister So Mayor Bob Filner finally resigned. What a bumthe brain has a fighting chance, and we actually bemer. I kind of enjoyed hearing all those creepy, gin to rise up against our phallus-lizard overlords. goofy, molester-nerd stories as they became public: In our 50s and 60s, we pretty much have won our the clumsy pickup lines, the touchy-gropey shelives back, and, in our 70s, the war is but a distant nanigans, the curious headlocks—all of which were memory. Yet somehow—decimated as Filner’s tesso cartoonishly over-the-top that it made Pepé Le tosterone count must (allegedly) be by now, his Pew seem as lecherous as a chemically castrated brain cells still aren’t strong enough to beat back his Quaker Reverend. nearly nonexistent testosterone.

Comedy potential notwithstanding, I do agree For instance, when he was about to (allegedly) that Filner was unfit to be mayor of a major U.S. put Stacy McKenzie in a headlock and (allegedly) municipality, although my reasons might differ rub her breasts, did he think, Hmm, could this be a from yours. bad idea? What if it doesn’t go over so well? What if I mean, yes, what he (allegedly) did was an afit costs me my job? Crap! I can’t lose this job because front to womankind. If he loses in court, not only having it is the best chance I’ve got at satisfying my should he be required to fork over a shit-ton of insatiable libido. dough, but they should also go all A Clockwork OrOr did he think, Ah, no problem. Chicks dig ange on his ass: Clamp his eyes open, inject him headlocks. with a nausea-inducing serum and make him watch The man was too stupid to realize one of the the city’s sexual-harassment-awareness video, most basic laws of mating: Chicks dig mayors! They “Chicks Don’t Dig Headlocks, Dickhead!” over and have to. It’s the law! And if it weren’t the law, you’re over until he’s cured. the mayor, so you can make it the law!

However, the fact that he is (allegedly) a creepy, I mean, OK, if you’re the bürgermeister of Bagoofy, molester-nerd is not the reason I believe him kersfield, then you probably will have to work to be unfit for office. Rather, it’s because—as a cardat getting laid. But mayor of San Diego? With the carrying creepy, goofy molestSan Diego Zoo and SeaWorld er-nerd—he didn’t recognize and the two—count ’em, two— that he had one of the greatest amazingly mediocre profesThe man was too stupid jobs a creepy, goofy molestersional sports franchises? Are to realize one of the most nerd could have. you kidding me? Even the city I mean, dude was the maycomptroller gets more jiggy basic laws of mating: or of the eighth largest city in than he’d ever dreamed.

Chicks dig mayors!

America. Mayor! This is a job of All Filner had to do was power, celebrity and riches. All sit in his honeysuckle-soaked the mayor of a major American Mayor’s office and wait for municipality has to do to get a little sumtin-sumtin hummingbirds to fly to him. Had he done that, is keep his goddamn hands in his goddamn pockhis life would have been a veritable series of Pentets, shut his goddamn dork-hole and let the ladies house Letters: flock to him.

How stupid do you have to be to not know Dear Penthouse, I never thought this could happen that? Well, it’s either stupidity that made him act to me, but a woman came into my office today to ask that way or he’s got one of those oversized gonads that I alter the appendices of the Land Development that pumps out testosterone the way La Jolla High Manual to tighten up zoning codes for sustainable School pumps out rapey, yuppie, trust-fund frat re-vegetation and erosion control in the numbers 14, boys. But it can’t be a high testosterone count. Filner 15 and 18 blocks on the zoning grid map. I told her is 70 years old. Ain’t nothing coming out of his goI would look into it and she unbuttoned her blouse and said, “Look into this Filney, baby”—boom chika, nads but rust and wet sand. Which makes me wonwow-wow! der: If he’s (allegedly) this horny at 70, what was he like in his early 20s, when hormones gushed out of The point is, if he’d just exhibited a little restraint, every orifice like Viagra Falls and his perma-boner he’d have gotten all the she-yrup his little sex-addidn’t know the difference between a woman or a dict heart could handle. Alas, he did not, and now farm animal? He must have put his clammy paws he’s doomed to be known not as a major political on every female within bleating distance. player, but as that creepy, goofy old guy who waits You know how it is. Inside every male, from on his porch for the mail lady so he can hold her puberty to death, an epic war wages. It is a war hand and talk her ear off. between a man’s brain and his testosterone level.

So, goodbye, Bob Filner—I mean it sincerely Now, from puberty through our early 20s, it’s not when I say that I hope you get some help, turn your much of a battle. It’s more like servitude as each life around and get your own talk show. If Hedgeone of us is dragged around by our phallus as if it cock can do it, anyone can. were an alien-lizard slave master leading us emptyeyed on a leash and leg chains from one salt mine Write to ed@sdcitybeat.com to the next. and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

In our 30s, as the testosterone begins to drop,

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

by michael a. gardiner Michael A. Gardiner

the world

fare

America’s finest pizza I’m a great believer in San Diego’s culinary scene. We have the chefs, the purveyors and the demographic mix. There aren’t many places in the country with better restaurants than Addison, and, as the author of a column called “The World Fare,” I’m here to tell you that there’s enough great ethnic food in town to justify my efforts.

But TripAdvisor, which touts itself as “the world’s largest travel site,” made some news on Aug. 7 when it announced the top 10 U.S. cities for pizza and, surprisingly, placed San Diego at the top of the list. “Better known for burritos and beaches than marinara and mozzarella,” the press release read, “travelers now have another reason to visit sunny San Diego.” New York was fourth on the list, Chicago snubbed altogether.

The New York Daily News commented that “New Yorkers would like to give the people behind these rankings a ‘pizza’ their mind.” A Chicago Sun-Times blog played the “lists are silly” card. The reactions were at once predictable and, frankly, hilariously delicious.

But, really, San Diego? Tops for pizza? The three local joints identified in the TripAdvisor piece were Bronx, Filippi’s and Pizzeria Luigi.

The first warning bell went off with the Filippi’s name. What came to mind was not pizza excellence but images of a cramped, dimly lit dining room with basketed Chianti bottles hanging from the rafters. Were they the same bottles that had been there on my last visit, back in the ’70s? Filippi’s crust is neither New York thin nor Chicago thick, with a bready quality that seems neither exactly here nor precisely there. Filippi’s pizza seems to be all about what it is not rather than what it is.

Luigi’s and Bronx, on the other hand, are excellent examples of New York-style pizza. All thin crust, soft and foldable, they’re almost better than Di Fara Pizza. Almost. Not as good, but certainly nearly so.

And what about Lefty’s, which TripAdvi-

10 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

Taking a bite at Bronx sor omitted. Lefty’s serves classic Chicago-style pizza: buttery, inches-high crust holding copious quantities of cheese, chunky tomato sauce and other ingredients. Better than Lou Malnati’s? No, but excellent nonetheless.

What of Buona Forchetta or Pizzeria Bruno Napoletano? Are they Neopolitan-style pizza at its best? No doubt they sport the thin and crispy crust that characterizes the style that defined pizza, but the best? No, but perhaps on par with anything this side of Naples.

Then there’s the new wave of build-it-yourself pizza joints like Project Pie in Hillcrest, offering freedom of topping choice and a pressed crust that’s thin with a bit of Filippi’s breadiness.

Where do they fit in? Is this the San Diego style?

And that may just be where TripAdvisor got it right. There may be no single San Diego pie that is the country’s best, but there’s a lot of excellent pizza in town: New York-style, Chicago-style, Neopolitan and some that’s not only our own but your own. There truly may be no city in the country where you can get a more excellent example of any kind of pizza you want. Surf, sand, zoo and ’za.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Jen Van Tieghem

bottle

Rocket Green chile wine lacks punch

Like any self-respecting Southern Californian, I love Mexican food and enjoy it as often as humanly possible. When I happened upon Southwest Wines’ Hatch Green Chile wine, with its colorful label boasting flavors fated for Mexican cuisine, I just had to try it.

The description of a slightly sweet wine flavored with actual green chiles sounded like a great combination to me. Spicy food generally pairs well with a sweetwine counterpart for balance, and the idea of a chile flavor to enhance the meal made my mouth water for my favorite foods. The concept of both sweet and spice within the same wine sounded, at the very least, like an interesting departure from everyday drink choices.

However, the theory didn’t quite hold up.

I took the wine to a birthday party and poured it for a group of friends and family as we enjoyed an assortment of Mexican food. Some

sipped without food, others with plates of carne asada and pollo asada tacos and layers of nachos.

Unfortunately, after the initial taste test, no one asked for a second sample but, rather, started thinking of other ways to use it—in cooking or to make sangria, perhaps? The excitement of a wine made for Mexican food soon faded.

For me, the sweetness was too subdued to complement the intensity of marinated meats, hot sauce and spicy carrots. The label doesn’t list a varietal and the company’s website menJen Van Tieghem tions only a “propriety blend” of grapes. With its aroma and texture, I thought of an unoaked chardonnay but with an abrupt finish. I expected the chiles to pack a crisp punch, but, in the end, the spicy tones also fell short of the vibrancy I was hoping for.

Expectations aside, this wasn’t a total loss. Reminiscent of a hard cider, it seems mild enough for non-standard wine drinkers, and appealing pear-like flavors might make it a better pre-meal option.

It just didn’t quite stand up to a bold meal as promised. This one taught an oft-repeated lesson: You can’t always judge a wine by its label.

Write to jenv@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

by Mina Riazi mina riazi

was close to nil.

With all its curtains drawn, Taste of the Himalayas felt a little too cozy for 3 p.m. Paper lanterns brightened the sleepy mood, as did the complimentary bowls of daal. The Indian soup owes its bright mustardy color to yellow lentils and turmeric. It was delicious—the hearty broth flaunted a satisfyingly chunky texture and smooth, nutty undertones.

Our appreciation for the hunger-muffling daal only increased as we waited for our lunch. Taste of the Himalayas rents out a banquet room for parties and events, and a birthday bash had been in full swing when we first arrived, the Taste of the Himalayas’ momo 20-person shindig most likely the cause of our food’s delay.

Finally, the vegetable momo arrived. Widely popular in Tibet and Nepal, momo are savory dumplings made from flour and water and stuffed with everything from lamb to cheese to cabbage.

Delightfully thick and chewy, the dumpling skin Peak flavor held a tangy filling of minced cabbage, spinach, mushrooms, cashews, onion and cilantro. A HiApart from being home to Mt. Everest, the craggy malayan dipping sauce joined the octet, but I Himalayan mountain range also cuts through found it impossibly salty. several diverse regions, including Nepal, India, The chicken tikka masala came next, accomTibet and Bhutan. It’s no wonder, then, that at panied by a bowl of Basmati rice. We also orHimalayan restaurants, you’ll often uncover a dered a basket of garlic cilantro naan, which was rich array of foods and flavors. stretchy and oily and hot. This may cock a few Take Taste of the Himalayas, for instance eyebrows, but I recommend double-carbing it by (3185 Midway Drive, tasteofthehimalayassan scooping up the curry-soaked rice with a piece of diego.com). The Point Loma hole-in-the-wall naan. The chicken tikka masala, by the way, was stirs together Nepalese, Indian and Tibetan fragrant and flavorful. cuisines—crowd favorites like chicken tikka Our lunch ended with a plate of mango kulfi. masala share the menu with less familiar dishThe dense Indian ice cream walks the line bees, including a lamb-and-spinach combo called tween creamy and frozen, maintaining a pleasbhera ko saag. You’ll also come across vegetaantly crunchy texture. Dried anise seeds speckble, chicken and lamb momo—steamed dumpled the kulfi, which tasted exactly like a mango lings with Nepalese and Tibetan roots. at the peak of ripeness. Even its red-orange hue Barely two years old, Taste of the Himalabrought to mind the succulent fruit. yas is helmed by Nepalese restaurateur Sanjog Maybe it was the warm weather or the lanChaudhary, who also oversees a few Bay Area guid afternoon or my persistent sweet tooth, but establishments. Push through the eatery’s curI really enjoyed the kulfi—so much so that I altained entrance and you’ll find yourself inside most forgot that we’d waited 25 minutes for our food. Almost. a small, dimly lit space. My grub buddy and I arrived at an awkward time—too late for lunch Write to minar@sdcitybeat.com and too early for dinner—but the restaurant was and editor@sdcitybeat.com. decently busy. Luckily, though, our waiting time

One Lucky

Spoon

12 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

the floating

library

by jim ruland

Fifty shades of sleaze Daddy’s, Lindsay Hunter’s debut collection of gothicky, voice-driven stories, was published in 2010 by Featherproof Books, an independent press out of Chicago. The book was as unusual as the stories, with a cover flap that made it resemble a tackle box. Though Hunter’s follow-up collection, Don’t Kiss Me, released by Farrar, Straus and Giroux last month, has a more conventional appearance, these stories are just as strange—if not stranger—than their predecessors.

Most of the stories are monologues from women resigned to roles they never asked to play. These aren’t women who’ve loved and lost so much as made a clumsy gesture in love’s direction and got trampled for their trouble. Or, as the aggrieved narrator of “Candles” exclaims, “THE LORD TAKETH, THANK GOD.” Hunter laces the despair with caustic humor and crackling wit.

“This boy went with a girlfriend of mine,” proclaims the tough-talking heroine of “Plans.” “But sometimes that’s just tough shit.” Her tongue is both her best weapon and only defense against the scorn that comes her way.

The strangest story in the collection, “Our Man,” features a bizarre investigation of a missing husband and father who may have been murdered and/or might be a ghost. The story reads like a stage play without stage direction, leaving this reader feeling curiously unmoored.

“You and Your Cats,” which is perhaps the saddest story, is a cautionary tale for depressive pet-owners: “You couldn’t keep up with the litter box, and one wasn’t enough, or two or three, so you sprinkled litter over the linoleum in the downstairs bathroom, you sprinkled till there were dunes, and you felt satisfied at the solution.”

When the authorities come to investigate the hordes of cats that have taken up residence in the cat lady’s home, she greets their disgust with aplomb. “Come in but mind the dunes.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald quipped that “the true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time.” Hunter takes this a step further, forcing her readers to simultaneously feel those conflicting ideas. The result is a uniquely unsettling reading experience.

was published by Ecco last month, goes all in with Tampa.

Celeste Price, Nutting’s protagonist, seems to have it all: extravagant beauty, a luxurious home and a handsome husband who comes from a wealthy family. But Celeste has a secret side that she’s been waiting her whole life to act on: She’s sexually attracted to young boys.

When the novel opens, Celeste is preparing for her first day as an eighth-grade English teacher, a position she’s sought for the sole purpose of seducing the student who meets her specifications. With the callous eye of a predator, she seeks someone neither bold nor shy, interested but not aggressive. She finds her match in Jack Patrick.

“He was at the very last link of androgyny that puberty would permit him: undeniably male but not man. I loved the lanky-limbed smoothness, the plasticity of his limbs, the way his frame shunned both fat and muscle. It had not yet been wrestled into a fixed shape.”

Celeste, who was inspired by convicted Tampa schoolteacher Debra Lafave, studies her prey like a lepidopterologist examining a butterfly, waiting for the right moment to snare Jack in her net. But make no mistake: Celeste is no Humbert Humbert. Jack isn’t an object of misplaced desire—he’s a target. Nor is this the story of an ill-advised teacher-student romance that pops up in the papers from time to time; it’s something far more sinister.

Unfortunately, Tampa’s plot takes its cues from soap operas and features bizarre love triangles, shocking revelations and over-thetop violence that would not be out of place in a telenovela. This feels like a missed opportunity.

To say there aren’t many female child-predator protagonists out there is an understatement. Nutting paints a fascinating portrait of a sexually charged schemer who’s neither confused nor out of control. Celeste knows exactly what she needs and there is no line—legal, moral or otherwise—that she isn’t willing to cross.

This is interesting territory to be sure, but instead of a chilling portrait of a monster, the story turns outward and engages in needless stakes-raising—Murder! Secret pacts! Doublecrosses!—that transforms Celeste into a run-ofthe-mill sociopath.

If Hunter raises the sexual stakes with Don’t Kiss Me, then Alissa Nutting, whose debut novel

Write to jimr@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

•••

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

the

SHORTlist

COORDINATED BY ALEX ZARAGOZA

anyone. However, this story gets better.

Levine, 71, is a photographer herself. After connecting, the cousins realized that their work is eerily similar. You can see sideby-side comparisons at Lavine / Levine: Relative Viewpoints (sdcjc.org/ gag), opening with a reception at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11, at Gotthelf Art Gallery (4126 Executive Drive in La Jolla). It runs through Nov. 27.

“When you see how See the similarities between Arthur Lavine’s “Woman Stockholder” (left) close their images are, and Dana Levine’s “The Goth Look​“ it’s serendipity at its finest,” says gallery spokesperson Ilene Tatro. “You would think it was the same photographer.”

Back in 2007, Dana Levine came across an Lavine, 90, began shooting photos while servArthur Lavine photography exhibition at ing in World War II. He continued doing photogthe Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. For raphy, working in New York City alongside iconic some reason, Levine had a feeling she and the famed post-war photographers like Arnold Newman shutterbug had more in common than a passion for and Edward Steichen. Levine picked up her first photography, and she was right. Now, play close atten- digital camera less than 10 years ago and says she tion, because you’re about to read a lot of Lavines and never saw her cousin’s work until around the time Levines, and it might get confusing. they met.

Levine, whose maiden name is Lavine, went to Though she marvels at the similarities in content the exhibition’s opening reception with a family his- and composition in their respective photos, Levine tory in hand and told the photographer she believed chalks it up to chance and not science. they’re related.

“Someone suggested maybe there’s a photogra“When we both started to look at our family his- phy gene, and maybe we share that in common,” she tory, we realized we had the same history,” she says. says. “But I doubt that very much.”

Turns out, Lavine’s grandfather and Levine’s great-grandfather were brothers, making Lavine and Levine distant cousins. Both were raised on the East Coast and retired in San Diego years later.

If you know any lesbians, they’re the Meeting a long-lost relative would be exciting for funniest people you know, right? Studies show that gay women are 23 percent funnier than straight women and 36 percent funnier than gay men. It’s a fact. Look it up. Lesbians are freaking In San Diego, it can feel like summer hilarious. OK, wait. Don’t look it up; we may be lywell into autumn, so September is an ing about all that. In any case, we’re suspecting that optimal time to head to the water, open the lesbians in the Queer Queens of Qomedy are a THOM GILBERT up some beers, kick back riot. Just look at the way they spell “comedy”! That’s and listen to some great pure comic gold! The touring show will hit the Birch blues musicians hamNorth Park Theatre (2891 University Ave.) at 8 p.m. mer out some sweet Saturday, Sept. 7, with comics Sandra Valls, Shann licks under the CaliforCarr and event producer / comic Poppy Champlin. nia sun. For the third Tickets are $25. birchnorthparktheatre.net year in a row, the San Diego Blues Festival takes over Embarcadero Marina Park with a lineup of great blues acts, including The TightenUps, Charlie Musselwhite and Dave Alvin’s Charlie Musselwhite Downey Blues All-Stars.

The festival starts at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at the park (400 Kettner Blvd.). Tickets are $15, and proceeds benefit the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank. sdbluesfest.com Poppy Champlin

1 RELATIVE SURPRISES

3

2

14 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

12-BAR BASH

QUITE QOMEDIC

ART HPOKE: A Series of Provocations at Mesa College Art Gallery, 7250 Mesa College Drive, Clairemont. Husband and wife artist duo Debby and Larry Kline will show sculptural and mixed-media work that deals with everything from religious tolerance to dining out. From 5 to 7 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 5. 619-388-2829, sdmesa.edu/art-gallery In Transition at Southwestern College Art Gallery, Southwestern College, 900 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista. An exhibition of works created by combat vets participating in Combat Arts, a nonprofit that provides visual arts classes to vets who’ve served in the Iraq and Afghan wars. On view through Oct. 1. Opening receptions at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5. facebook.com/events/418715038232454 HArt in the Park at Bluefoot Bar & Lounge, 3404 30th St., North Park. AITP creator and curator Andre Power is celebrating his birthday and he’s invited eight of his favorite artists to participate in this monthly live-art event. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5.

Free. 619-756-7891, bluefootsd.com HThuppathome at The Park Gallery, 4325 Park Blvd., University Heights, University Heights. This show reception will feature new works from locals Matt Land, Invisible God and Acamonchi, all of whom dabble in abstract expressionism, surrealism, low-brow and street-art styles. From 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6.

Edward Haswood: Images From My Native Self at Sophie’s Gallery NTC/ Liberty Station, 2825 Dewey Road, Point Loma. Born in 1963 into the Navajo tribe, Haswood’s work refers to reservation life, ceremonial activity and tribal symbols.

From 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6. 619578-2207, stmsc.org

Friday, Sept. 6. newvillagearts.org Fall Harvest at Brokers Building, 402 Market St., Downtown. The Brokers Building Gallery’s final show of the year will feature 22 artists from all parts of the county.

Highlights at the opening reception include Hans Chobolits, Eva Coleman and Beto Soto. From 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6.

Michael Monstrinho Amorillo at Bliss 101, 687 S. Coast Hwy. 101, #151, Encinitas. Meet the local artist and check out his delightful, thought-provoking works influenced by the ocean, graffiti art and most importantly, the youthful and uninhibited energy of a child. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6. 760-487-1900, bliss101.com HConversation with Tony DeLap at Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside. Southern California Minimalist Tony DeLap will discuss his Selections From 50 Years exhibition (currently on display) with help from moderator Peter Frank, as well as sign the accompanying monograph book. At 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. $10. 760-435-3720, oma-online.org Face It at Harlequin Boutique, 127 W University Ave., Mission Hills. The snazzy vintage and antique boutique hosts its first art show with local Maria Todaro, who works in everything from portraiture to unique pieces with vinyl records as the canvas. From 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. 559-9061235, facebook.com/harlequinboutique HHeartbreakers at ArtLab Studios, 3536 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Billy Martinez, who’s been working comics and fine art for over 17 years and is the publisher of Neko Press, exhibits new work in this solo show. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. Free.

619-750-3355, artlabca.com HWell & Good at Low Gallery, 3778 30th

family of world record breakers.

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5.

858-454-0347, warwicks.com

St., North Park. The grand opening of North Park’s newest art gallery kicks off with a reception featuring new work from San Diego heavy hitter Mike Maxwell and Alli Good.

From 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. Free. 619-348-5517, lowgallerysd.com

HSandra Younger at Ink Spot, 710 13th St., Downtown. Younger will sign and discuss her new book, The Fire Outside My Window: A Survivor Tells the True Story of California’s Epic Cedar Fire, which recounts her harrowing experiences during the 2003 wildfires. From 6:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, sandiegowriters.org

Galaxy Of Glass at Fallbrook Art Center, 103 South Main, Fallbrook. This 16th annual exhibition showcases fine-art glass sculptures, vessels, functional ware and more by 15 regional artists using a myriad of processes including blown, torched, slumped, cast and fused glass. On view through Oct. 20. Opening from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. fallbrookartcenter.org Lions, Tigers, and Bears!

Oh $#! at Basic, 410 10th Ave., Downtown. Thumbprint Gallery showcases over a dozen local artists. There will also be live art from True Delorenzo and David Goff as well as a pop-up boutique and fashion show from Vixen. From 7 p.m. to midnight. Tuesday, Sept.

10. 619-531-8869, barbasic.com

BOOKS

Gregg Hurwitz at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The thriller novelist stops by to sign and discuss Tell No Lies, about one man’s attempts to thwart a serial killer. At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. 858268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

“Vicki” by Vicki Walsh is on view in Of This World, an exhibition running through Sept.

14 at Cal State San Marcos Art Gallery

HJoyce Maynard at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling author pops in to discuss and sign After Her, a psychological thriller loosely inspired by the “Trailside Killer” case from the late ‘70s. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept.

4. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com HKim Stanley Robinson at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa

Blvd., Clairemont. The famed sci-fi author will sign his newest fantasy novel, Shaman. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5. 858268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Matthew Ward at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Launch party for the local author’s debut children’s book The Fantastic Family Whipple, the story of 11-year-old Arthur Whipple and his

Julia Plant at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla.

The local author will be signing Coyote Lost at Sea, the story of sailor and adventurer Mike Plant.

At noon Sunday, Sept. 8. 858454-0347, warwicks.com

Margaret Coel at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The historical fiction writer stops by to discuss her new book, Killing Custer. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8. 858268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Lacy Crawford at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The local author will discuss and sign her book, Early Decision, a novel about the “frightful world

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

HPerson, Place & Thing: Nounphotography at Voz Alta, 1754 National Ave., Barrio Logan. Photographer Jose A. Jimenez Jr.’s first solo show is a poetic compilation of work exploring the life and landscape of the San Diego/Tijuana border. At 7 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 6. 619-230-1869, vozaltaprojectgallery.com HViva el Mariachi Femenil! at Women’s Museum of California, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, Point Loma. A historical exhibit illustrating women’s foray into the male mariachi world in both Mexico and the U.S. Features historic posters and costuming, music, film and artifacts.

From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6. 619233-7963, womensmuseumca.org Friday’s @ the Foundry at New Village Arts Theatre, 2787 B State St., Carlsbad.

This monthly art party has live music and an interactive community art project, plus the whimsical paintings and drawings of featured artist, Mike Striler. From 6 to 8 p.m.

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

THEATER

Detention time for right-wing-radio wonk Courtesy of the pen of playwright Josefina Lopez, a right-wing-radio host named Lou Becker (think Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck) gets his just desserts in the desert. But that’s only half the story of Lopez’s Detained in the Desert, which makes an uncompromising statement about immigration, media and racial profiling. The latter hovers over the other half of the story, about a Latina victimized by the system because of her appearance. Loudmouth Becker (Charles Maze) and indignant Sandi Sanchez (Alix Mendoza) ultimately find themselves together in the Sonoran Desert—bruised, beaten, fried by the sun and haunted by the ghost of a migrant who did not survive.

That a one-act play this dense with drama triumphs is the result not only of Lopez’s stinging script but also William Virchis’ direction and the set design of John Iacovelli, which makes maximum use of La Jolla Playhouse’s black-box Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre. Virchis calls the Teatro Máscara Mágica production more a “conversation piece” than a play, but there’s plenty of action here, particularly in the kidnapping sequence, in which the three siblings of a hate-crime victim seek retribution against the hate-spewing Becker.

A soundtrack that simulates the spinning of a radio dial and the specter of flitting skeleton characters add to the atmosphere, and the Becker broadcast ravings that kick off the play set the tone for the tension and emotional heat to come.

Detained in the Desert is an engrossing 75-minute sit. Its messages about injustice, racism and the insanity of walls between peoples (and of right-wing broadcasters) never let up, rather like the unrelenting desert sun. But the answer to that migrant ghost’s tortured cry from beyond the grave brings tender and much-needed catharsis.

In addition to Maze and Mendoza, who anchor the two-pronged story, Dave Rivas delivers an earnest and likable performance as the modestly heroic Enrique Martinez, and Elisa Gonzales is heart-rending in the brief but significant role of Milagros, another spectral figure, whom Sandi meets in a detention cell. Kudos to Arizona, too, for coming off as one truly messed-up state.

Detained in the Desert runs through Sept. 15 at of high school, SATs, the college essay, and the Common Application.” At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Dianne Dixon at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The awardwinning screenwriter will discuss her new novel, The Book of Someday, a thriller about three women who are mysteriously connected. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept.

10. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Sean Kenney at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. An artist who creates sculptures and models out of LEGO bricks at his studio in New York City, he’ll be signing his multiple books on the subject.

At 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11. 858-4540347, warwicks.com Mark Henry at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. Henry’s books are filled with sentient zombies, impotent sex demons, transsexual werewolves and ghostly goth girls. He’ll be discussing and signing his new book, Carniepunk. At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept.

11. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

16 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

COURTESY: TEATRO MÁSCARA MÁGICA

Alix Mendoza and Dave Rivas La Jolla Playhouse’s Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre. $10-$25. teatromascaramagica.org

—David L. Coddon Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING A Weekend with Pablo Picasso: Herbert Siguenza brings the legendary modern artist back to life in a one-man show.

Presented by San Diego Repertory Theatre, it opens Sept. 7 at the Lyceum Theatre at Horton Plaza, Downtown. sdrep.org Lettice and Lovage: A woman gets sacked from her job leading tours of a boring 16th-century English hall for making up fascinating stories about it and later sparks up a friendship with the woman who fired her. Opens Sept. 7 at Scripps Ranch Theatre. scrippsranchtheatre.org Man with a Load of Mischief: In this musical period piece, a lord, a lady and their two servants entangle themselves in a mess of seduction and deception while stranded at an inn in the English countryside. Opens Sept. 4 at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. northcoastrep.org Shining City: Ion Theatre starts its eight season with the San Diego premiere of a story about two men, a widower and his therapist, both trying to sort out their lives’ trajectories. This one opened Aug. 31 at BLKBLOX Theatre in Hillcrest, but we neglected to include it in last week’s listings. Sorry! iontheatre.com

For full listings, please visit Theater” at sdcitybeat.com

HAjit Varki at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The Distinguished professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UCSD will discuss and sign Denial: Self-Deception, False Beliefs, and the Origins of the Human Mind, his exploration of the “Mind Over Reality” theory and how it may have aided our evolution. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept.

11. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com

COMEDY HNew Best Thing at Whistle Stop Bar, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Cults are the theme for this monthly stand-up comedy show. Come and laugh or chant as your new favorite sketch and stand-up comedy troupe takes the pulpit preaches the weird word. At 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4. $5 donation. sosayweallonline.com Sarah Colonna at American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. A writer and roundtable regular on Chelsea Lately and the star on E!’s After. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 6-7. $20. 619-795-

3858, americancomedyco.com Pink Collar Comedy Tour at Tipsy Crow, 770 Fifth Ave., Downtown. The four women on this tour have appeared on Comedy Central, VH1, MTV and at clubs and festivals. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6. $10$20. pinkcollarcomedytour.com Jeff Garlin at Comedy Store, 916 Pearl St., La Jolla. You probably know him as Larry David’s sidekick on Curb Your Enthusiasm, or from his new sitcom set in the ‘80s, The Goldbergs. At 8 and 10:30 p.m.

Friday and Saturday, Sept. 6-7. $25.

858-454-9176, lajolla.thecomedystore.com HThe Comedy Explosion at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown.

Mr. “Stay Classy” himself, Will Ferrell, hosts a night of comedy that will feature laugh-rockers Tenacious D, The Hangover’s Ed Helms and more. Proceeds benefit Cancer for College, which grants college scholarships to cancer survivors.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. $45-$125.

HQueer Queens of Qomedy at Birch North Park Theater, 2891 University Ave., North Park. Now in its seventh year, this

comedy tour curated by stand-up Poppy Champlin artfully selects the best of the best lesbian comics from across the country to join her at each venue. 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. $25-$40. 619-231-5714, birchnorthparktheatre.net

house, 4944 Newport Ave., Ocean Beach.

Local and underground MCs and DJs get together for a one-night-only concert that will feature artists/groups like Lejin, D.O.N., People of Earth and Super Groupie. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. $10. facebook. com/events/512979608770519/

DANCE

Rajko Gypsy Band at Scripps Miramar Ranch Library, 10301 Scripps Lake Drive, Scripps Ranch. This authentic Hungarian gypsy ensemble perform traditional songs as well as inventive takes on operetta music accompanied by Hungarian dancers. At 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8. $5-$15.

A Blast From the Past at Bernardo Winery, 13330 Paseo del Verano N., Rancho Bernardo. A journey from 1900 to 1969 through music, dance, video and fashion.

Featuring artistic director Faith JensenIsmay and the Mojalet dancers. At 4 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and 2 and 5 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 8. $10-$15. 858-487-1866, bernardowinery.com

FOOD & DRINK

Carol Welsman at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. The acclaimed singer and pianist will be accompanied by drum and bass while singing in songs in four languages. At 2 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 8. $10-$40. 760-839-4190, artcenter.org

Monday, Sept. 9. $15-$20. 858-4811055, northcoastrep.org

PERFORMANCE

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD

HThe Warriors’ Duet at White Box Theater, 2690 Truxtun Road, Point Loma. A mother searches for her missing daughter in this inventive mix of theater and dance that garnered rave reviews at this year’s Fringe Festival. At 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 5-7, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept.

8. $15. 619-356-3682, circle2dot2.com Hard Travelin’ with Woody at North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach. Randy Noojin’s critically acclaimed one-man show about Woody Guthrie featuring more than a dozen of his greatest songs. At 7:30 p.m.

Convention Center, 111 W Harbor Drive, Downtown. Four days of everything quilts?

Preview from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 5-8. $10-$20.

619-525-5000, sandiegoquiltshow.com

HLong Story Short: Bad Advice at Space 4 Art, 325 15th St., East Village.

Come share your stories of advice gone bad this storytelling session told live without notes in five minutes or less. From 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8. $5 suggested donation. 619-269-7230, sdspace4art. org/2013/08/sept-9-2013

HFriday Night Liberty at NTC Promenade in Liberty Station, 2640 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma. Enjoy free open studios, galleries, performances and more. Highlights include Native American artist Edward Hasswood at Sophie’s Gallery and “Special FX” artist/photographer Marc Kitaen showing work at Ballast Point Gallery. From 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6.

Free. 619-573-9300, ntclibertystation.com

SPECIAL EVENTS

Cardiff Greek Festival at Saints Con-

San Diego Quilt Show at San Diego

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

HTreasure Chest Fest at Green Flash Brewing, 6550 Mira Mesa Blvd., Mira Mesa.

Enjoy rare Green Flash draft and cask beers curated by Brewmaster Chuck Silva, pub grub from local restaurants, and take home a commemorative pint glass all while raising funds for Komen for the Cure. From noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. $25$35. 858-622-0085, greenflashbrew.com Pacific Beach Restaurant Walk & Beer Tasting at Tavern at the Beach, 1200 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Ninteen restaurants, diners and pubs offer tastes.

Ticket price includes craft beer tasting at Fish Shop and Tavern at the Beach.

From 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept.

11. $20. 858-272-6066, facebook.com/ events/224333814380836

MUSIC HGramophone Gregory and His Imaginary Dance Orchestra at ArtLab Studios, 3536 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. A unique take on the record-spinning DJ formula, Gramophone Gregory (aka Gregory Page) spins classic songs on two portable Gramophones from the ‘20s, accompanied by live singing and dancing. From 7 to 10 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 5. 619-283-1151, artlabca. com HToy Piano Festival at Geisel Library, UCSD campus, La Jolla. At this surprisingly popular annual event, you’ll hear new works for toy piano and be able to peruse the “Toy Piano Collection” at the Geisel Library, which consists of actual instruments, audio recordings, extant literature and commissioned works. At noon Thursday, Sept.

5. Free. libraries.ucsd.edu/events_new/toypiano-festival.html Michael Tiernan at Jitters Coffee Pub, 510 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside. Cancer survivor and musician Michael Tiernan and friends will perform a concert to raise funds for Stupid Cancer, a non-profit organization that helps young adults affected by cancer.

From 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6. $15.

HA Tribute to Patsy Cline at Claire de Lune, 2906 University Ave., North Park.

Robin Young has a sexy contralto voice that channels the sound of the famous singer, while her carefully researched vintage clothing and makeup convey the essence of the beloved Grand Ole Opry star. From 8 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. Free. 619688-9845, alwayspatsy.com International Cassette Store Day at MTheory Music, 915 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Remember the days when “mixtapes” were actual tapes? This is the day for you. There will be special in-store performances by Monochromacy and Bonsoir at 3 p.m. and local cassette releases by RITA RECORDS, Stay Strange and Lifestyler. At 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. 619-220-0485, mtheorymusic.com Discover: Hip Hop at Ocean Beach Play-

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

stantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church, 3459 Manchester Ave., Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Now in its 35th year, the grounds of the church will be a marketplace of Greek crafts, food, dance and music. From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 8. $3. cardiffgreekfest.com HFiesta De Kustom Kulture at Old Town. This hotrod, motorcycle and low-brow art festival is in its third year. In addition to cars and motorcycles along San Diego Avenue and Harney Street, there’ll be live entertainment, kitschy vendors and live painting and pinstriping by some of the world’s most renowned lowbrow artists. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

7. Free. 619-291-4903, fiestadekustomkulture.com Wild Willow 5K and Chili Brew Fest at Wild Willow Farm & Education Center, 2550 Sunset Ave., Imperial Beach. To celebrate harvest season, this mini festival will have a chili cook-off, beer tasting and a 5K trail run/walk. Also includes live music and farm tours.

From 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 7. $15-$55. wildwillowfarm.sandiegoroots.org Grape Day at Grape Day Park, 321 N. Broadway, Escondido. This annual fest includes a 5K run, parade celebrating Escondido’s 125th anniversary, a festival with vendors, food and grape stomping, plus a wine and craft beer pavilion to sample the local goods.

From 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. $20$25. 760-839-4691, escondido.org/grapeday.aspx Surf Dog Surf-a-Thon at Del Mar Dog Beach, 3006 Sandy Lane, Del Mar. Watch water-happy dogs catch some waves (along with their owners) at this annual competition, which will also feature vendors, food, costume contests. Proceeds benefit the Helen Woodward Animal Center. At 8 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 8. Free. 858755-1556, delmar.ca.us/visitors/Pages/DogBeach.aspx Brazilian Day San Diego at Garnet Avenue, between Bayard and Everts streets, Pacific Beach. The sixth annual festival is the largest Brazilian fest on the west coast. Enjoy a soccer-themed day with music, traditional Brazilian fare and a Carnival-style parade full of extravagant costumes and floats. From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 8. Free. braziliandaysandiego.com

18 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

Fiesta del Rio at Imperial Beach Pier Plaza, Seacoast Drive, Imperial Beach. The theme for the 10th annual event will be “Celebrating the Tijuana Estuary: Our Local Living Laboratory.” Entertainment includes Ms. Smarty Plants with Earth Heroes, Gadgets and Tools: Past and Present and Mariachi Estrellas de Chula Vista.

From 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8. Free. cityofib.com

SPORTS Bubble Run 5K at Qualcomm Stadium, 9449 Friars Road, Mission Valley. Certainly not your typical race, you’ll be drenched in foam and suds while running this 5K. Stick around after the race for an after-party with DJs and swag bags. At 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept.

7. $35-$50. bubblerun.com Annual SES Pro-Am Tennis Fundraiser at Rancho Valencia Resort, 5921 Valencia Circle, Rancho Santa Fe. This annual tennis tournament helps raise funds for the Sean Eduardo Sanchez Foundation, which provides children in Tecate, Mexico, with tennis lessons, tennis equipment and cross border tournament transportation. From 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8. $85. 858759-6216, ranchovalencia.com

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS Eco-Districts and Community Planning at World Resources SimCenter, 1088 Third Ave., Downtown.

Take part in a discussion about how to create communities with an ecological vision. Guest speakers inlcudes land-use consultant Joe LaCava and Douglas Kot, executive director U.S. Green Building Council. From 5:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10. $10 donation. 619234-1088, wrsc.org

For full listings,

please visit “Events” at sdcitybeat.com

RYAN BRADFORD

THE RISE OF

DESTIN

DANIEL CRETTON

The I Am Not a Hipster director discusses the beauty and trauma that inspired his new feature, Short Term 12

BY RYAN BRADFORD

W

e sit in an empty movie theater, as far away from each other as possible.

There are less than 10 people at the press screening of Short Term 12—which opens in San Diego on Sept. 13—and that scarcity is felt in the quiet moments before the movie starts. Pleasantries are exchanged between San Diego’s film critics. Everyone seems to know each other; this is their version of the water cooler.

But when the conversation inevitably falls on the topic of movies, the critics become hesitant and guarded, like they’re throwing their opinions into a pool of sharks.

“I think I still love Mud,” one woman says when asked what her favorite movie this year has been. “That or Drinking Buddies.”

“I just loved Warm Bodies,” another critic says. The silence that ensues makes it clear that no one else shares her sentiment.

“Did anyone see this at South By?” another person asks, (thankfully) changing the subject. He’s referring to Short Term 12’s run at the SXSW Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the Grand Jury Prize.

The critics break from the territorial nature of their occupation and gush about their experiences watching this director’s San Diego movies. One guy talks about seeing the original Short Term 12—the short film upon which the feature is based—during its first festival run. Someone else brags about seeing I Am Not a Hipster at Sundance. Another person says he drove all the way from Los Angeles to attend this press screening.

It seems like everyone here has a story about Destin Daniel Cretton.

A

large, black SUV pulls in front of Ortiz’s, a Point Loma Heights taco shop. It’s one of Cretton’s favorite places

From left: producer Ron Najor, composer Joel P West and writer / director Destin Daniel Cretton to eat in San Diego. ever experience. “[I] lived down the street from there while making Then Jayden shows up, a girl whose background mirST12 the short and lived off their shrimp California bur- rors Grace’s own troubled past. This, along with an unritos,” he’d written in an email. “My mouth is watering just planned pregnancy with Grace’s coworker / boyfriend typing that.”

Mason, erodes her strong exterior. The results are The SUV is a beast, far too big for the parking lot usual- heart-wrenching. ly populated by economy cars driven by students from the Short Term 12 is going to be huge not because it has nearby high school. Cretton and Short Term 12’s producer, first-rate acting, photography and structure (it does, on all Ron Najor, jump out of the backseat. Cretton looks back at counts). No, this movie is going to blow up because of its the vehicle and smiles, acknowledging the ridiculousness intelligent analysis of our cyclical lives and the rare moof their ride. ments of enlightenment that allow us to break free. It’s go“It looks like we’re in the mob,” he says. ing to be big because it has the emotional honesty that only We’re joined by composer Joel P West, and it suddenly someone who lived through it could recreate. feels like I’m in a really friendly version of Entourage.

“Short Term 12 was my first job out of college. I was Juan Ortiz, the shop’s owner, emerges from behind just living off of savings every day during the job search, the counter to give Cretton a hug. He calls him “Danny.” and that was the only place that hired me,” Cretton says, When we move to pay, Ortiz waves our money away— referring to the facility, whose true name he declines to “I’ve got Danny covered.” The gesture makes Cretton reveal, that inspired the film. “And it was like getting uncomfortable, and he stands at the counter for a few punched in the teeth with the reality of how complicated moments, holding cash out, insistent, but nobody takes things are. It was a very difficult time for me. I felt really his money. confused for a little bit. I think coming out on the other If the burrito incident (as I like to call it) is an indica- side of that is something that creates an interesting baltion of Cretton’s apprehension toward his increasing fame, ance of not being afraid of the shit in life, but also not then the next couple months are going to be hell for him, ignoring the beauty.” because Short Term 12 is going to be huge. retton grew up on Maui. It was there that he and The brief synopsis of the movie goes like this: Grace his siblings would play around with their grandma’s (Brie Larson) works at Short Term 12, a foster-care facility for teens—kids who are running the clock down until legal video camera, but his first taste of actual filmmaking came adulthood, when they’re no longer the state’s responsibil- during his senior year at Point Loma Nazarene University.

“I fell in love with the process of doing it and started ity. It would be an understatement to call these kids difficult—violent physical and verbal assault occurs almost making movies just as a hobby,” Cretton says.

It was through Point Loma Nazarene acquaintances daily—but Grace handles them with respect, discipline and love. She’s never patronizing, and she ultimately offers the closest thing to familial comfort that these kids CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

C

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

that he met many of his future collaborators, including filmmakers Lowell Frank, Brad Kester, Andrew Glendinning and composer West.

“Point Loma is really good at making people feel confident with what they’re doing,” West says. “There’s really this culture of doing what you love, which is a little nonrealistic. I think everyone comes out being bummed on normal jobs, so they go do other stuff.”

“One of the cool things for me was coming in as an outsider from the Point Loma crew,” producer Najor says, “and just kind of seeing how these guys work together and how collaborative they were—just this really warm, friendly environment.”

After graduating—and while working at Short Term 12—Cretton spent most of his time making short films and honing his craft. His love of filmmaking led him to graduate school at SDSU, where he sought a film degree. The original Short Term 12 was his senior thesis project.

“I was looking through old journal entries from that time that I was working [at Short Term], and that’s when I started piecing some of those together into a short,” he says. “It took a while to let those memories kind of fade and settle enough to where I had enough distance from it to organize them into a story.”

In 2009, the short went to the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Jury prize and jump-started Cretton’s film career. He wrote the screenplay for the feature, which won the prestigious Academy Nicholl Fellowship in 2010, given to only five recipients by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences every year.

Despite the accolades, it was difficult to secure funding for the Short Term 12 feature. In the meantime, Cre-

BRETT PAWLAK

John Gallagher Jr. and Brie Larson in a scene from Short Term 12

tton wrote the feature film I Am Not a Hipster, a love letter to the real San Diego, framing landmarks like The Casbah and Habitat House with affection—quite a different cinematic representation than what the Anchorman movies offer. It’s also perhaps MICHAEL BUCHNER the most thoughtful and sympathetic treatise on the personal and professional conflicts of being a young artist.

“I wouldn’t say that [I Am Not a Hipster] is a reaction to anything in San Diego,” Cretton says. “In any form of art, there are sincere, genuine people who are doing it for the right reasons, and there are other people who are doing it for a thousand wrong reasons: for money, to impress somebody, to be cool….

There’s so many horrible reasons to make art, but that’s personal to me, that whole struggle is very personal to me. I feel all those temptations.”

After Sundance accepted I Am Not a Hipster, securing Destin Daniel Cretton is flanked by (from left) actors Keith Stanfield, Rami funding for the Short Term 12 Malek, Kaitlyn Dever, Brie Larson and John Gallagher Jr. at SXSW. feature was cake.

20 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

H

is speech becomes reverent when he talks of his time at Short Term 12. He doesn’t rush when answering questions and holds me at arm’s length when I get too specific: He won’t tell me the location of the facility but offers that it’s “somewhere in San Diego.”

It’s clear that his experience there dramatically affected his outlook on life.

“I didn’t realize how much I learned and how much my worldview changed until I was looking back on it,” Cretton says. “Now, when I see the person I was when I started working there, it’s so drastically different, and kind of embarrassing when I think about that person. I was very naïve and kind of had that idea of walking into there with a savior attitude, which was pretty unhealthy.”

The experience left such a mark on him that he almost sounds sentimental when recalling a time he had to restrain a kid during a violent outburst (a scene that’s portrayed with savage intensity in both Short Term 12 and the original short film).

“They just gotta get it out, man,” Cretton says. “But in that restraint, I don’t think anyone has said such cool things to me in my entire life. It’s just so insane. It’s so horrible, so vicious.”

It would be a traumatic memory for anyone else, but Cretton smiles as he recalls it, and I’m reminded of what he said about shit and beauty.

Write to ryanb@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

tographed the day’s events, gaining access to blocked-off sections of the protests by saying he was a member of the press. That white lie resulted in a collection of poignant images, many of which will be on view at his exhibition.

“I didn’t realize [the protest’s importance] at the time,” he recalls. “You’re just living life and then five, six years later, you look at the images, and I’m thinking, No one else has these photos.

“If I hadn’t been living in Tijuana at the time, I wouldn’t have gotten them,” he adds. “I think 99 percent of my photog“Empty Border” by Jose A. Jimenez Jr. raphy—and I think with a lot of photography—it’s pure luck.

You have to have your camera with you at all times to get that shot.”

Documenting those protests, as well as other nouns in the border region, is important to Jimenez, who learned to shoot from his father and uncle when he was 5 years old. He hopes his work will dispel Person, place, picture fears of Tijuana and show a side of the border town “I was a gypsy, taking pictures for burritos, sleep- not often appreciated. ing on people’s couches,” says photographer Jose “Growing up here, on the border, I’ve met a lot of A. Jimenez Jr. “It was all for photography, just to people who aren’t from here,” he says. “I just want to take pictures.” show them there’s actual beauty here.”

That level of dedication has marked Jimenez’s life as a “nounphotographer.” The Chula Vista native, who now lives in National City, is seldom without his So much art… camera, hoping to capture the perfect nouns: people, Some weeks, there are too many cool art shows for one person to cover, and instead of hiring a team of places and/or things.

Voz Alta Project (1754 National Ave. in Barrio elves to churn out feature stories that would have to Logan, facebook.com/vozaltaproject) is holding a be translated from elvish to English, I’ll just share a retrospective exhibition of Jimenez’s work, called few words on a handful of exhibitions that should Person, Place & Thing—Nounphotography, which not be missed: Be prepared to discuss worldly topics at Poke: A opens with a reception starting at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept.

7. The exhibition marks the first time in four years Series of Provocations, which opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at San Diego that Jimenez will show his work.

He insists that it’ll be the “best of the best” of Mesa College Art Gallery (7250 Mesa College Drive his stuff, featuring both black-and-white and color in Clairemont). Husband-and-wife team Debby and photographs from his life and travels. Some were Larry Kline, winners of this year’s San Diego Art caught serendipitously and others planned, and Prize, will show sculptures that take on topics like both types showcase Jimenez’s talent for manipu- religion and healthcare. They’re also known for crelating contrast, light and composition to convey dif- ating cool, cheeky art while they’re out to dinner.

The show runs through Sept. 26. ferent emotions.

You say “super-awesome”; Coining himself a “nounphotogMatthew Land, Invisible God rapher” works for Jimenez because and Acamonchi say “Thuppathit satisfies his desire for freedom. ome.” The artists, who lean to“I didn’t want to lock myself ward the lowbrow, street-art, abdown as a San Diego photograstract-expressionist persuasion, pher, as a wedding photographer, will display their latest collection as a catalog photographer. This of collaborative and solo pieces at way I could do it all,” says the 36Park Gallery (4325 Park Blvd. in year-old, who’s also a member of University Heights) from 6 to 11 Tijuana’s Clickaphoto Collective p.m. Friday, Sept. 6. of photographers.

Low Gallery (3778 30th St.), “If you give me artistic freedom, North Park’s newest art space, it’s no holds barred,” he says. “I feel will celebrate its opening with more in sync with the camera.” an exhibition featuring San DiThat freedom has allowed him ego lowbrow faves Mike Maxto capture seminal moments—like “And All He Saw Was the Wall” well and Alli Good. Well & Good the May Day protests of 2006 in

by Matthew Land can be seen opens with a reception from 7 to Tijuana and San Diego that coinin Thuppathome. 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. A new cided with the Great American Boycott. Latino immigrant workers and their sup- gallery and new works from Maxwell and Good? porters throughout the U.S. were asked to stay home Color me excited! from work as a protest against harsh immigration —Alex Zaragoza laws and to show how much the American economy Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com relies on the immigrant workforce.

Jimenez was living in Tijuana at the time and pho- and editor@sdcitbeat.com.

Seen Local

22 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

Gravity, with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, will arrive in October amid much buzz.

Bright future

art-house audiences a smart respite from the doldrums of mainstream filmmaking. They should all be sought out immediately.

So, what does the future hold for San Diego moviegoers? If it’s like most years, the fall / winter movie A preview of movies coming out season will bring more serious, adult and “quality” in the fall and winter films to the multiplexes that hope to garner Academy Award attention. For better or worse, the end of the film year is stacked with must-sees.

by Glenn Heath Jr. The first such release is Destin Cretton’s endearBefore we look forward, let’s look back for a second. ing sophomore feature, Short Term 12, which has The summer of 2013 was in many ways a season of already received recognition from film festivals and flops, although box-office returns had nothing to do critics around the world. The setting of a foster-care with it. Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Star Trek into Dark- facility becomes the backdrop for a lovely testament ness, Fast & Furious 6 and The Wolverine made sub- to family and other non-traditional support systems. stantial sums of money, but all shared a grandiose ba- With Cretton having attended grad school in San Dinality and irritating sameness indicative of the mod- ego, the film’s local release on Sept. 13 will be someern blockbuster. They will be forgotten in no time. thing of a coming-home party. Read our cover feature I’ll argue (as I’ve done for months now) that only on him on Page 19. a few Hollywood entries from the past three months On Sept. 20, we’ll get a strange double-bill: A Single will have any future shelf life. James Wan’s The Con- Shot and Museum Hours. The former is a brooding juring is convincingly scary, a superb mood piece mountain noir starring Sam Rockwell as a deer poacher made by a filmmaker possessed by unseen terror and who gets in over his head with criminals after accidenunspoken trauma. Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim is tally killing a woman and stealing a boatload of cash. massive, an immaculate and stunning exercise in cin- The latter is a quietly mesmerizing tale of a museum ematic scale, devoid of emotion but astutely aware of guard in Vienna reminiscing about art and love. Also of collateral damage and sacrifice. interest in September is another Wan horror film, InDespite their merits, neither of those strong films sidious Chapter 2 (Sept. 13), and Joseph-Gordon Levwas as alive with improvisation and movement, his- itt’s directorial debut, Don Juan (Sept. 27). tory and genre as Gore Verbinski’s much-maligned October starts with a bang: Alfonso Cuarón’s The Lone Ranger. What a glorious mish-mash of much-anticipated space odyssey, Gravity (Oct. 4), Western tropes, ambitious set pieces and smart starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as astrohistoriography. It drove most critics nuts, many to nauts adrift, is the Mexican filmmaker’s first project the point of irrational rage. Audiences stayed away, in nearly seven years. It’s already got great buzz after too. But the stage has already been set for revision. premiering last week at the Venice Film Festival.

Read A.O. Scott’s great recent piece in The New York Other major Oscar contenders to be released preTimes, “Maybe 20 Years From Now, Tonto,” for the Halloween are Paul Greengrass’ Somali pirate drama first major shot across the bow.

Captain Phillips (Oct. 11) starring Tom Hanks and It’s also worth noting that Frances Ha, Before director Steve McQueen’s period-piece drama, 12 Midnight, Blue Jasmine and Drug War each offered Years a Slave (Oct. 18).

Don’t sleep on J.C. Chandor’s All is Lost (Oct. 18), as well, which features only Robert Redford as a man lost at sea after his boat capsizes. The film opens in limited release before going wide later in the month.

Palme d’Or winner Blue is the Warmest Color will finally arrive on Nov. 1. The three-hour lesbian love story has already made waves with its controversial subject matter. Having viewed the film in Cannes, I can attest to its worthiness. Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (Nov. 15) will unLong lesbian love story Blue is the Warmest Color

24 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

doubtedly be a game-changer in the awards-season buzz. From the looks of its snazzy and satire-minded trailer, the film feels more like The King of Comedy than the director’s more infamous gangster efforts.

November also features Spike Lee’s much-ballyhooed remake of Old Boy (Nov. 27), a revenge film that takes hammer wielding to new heights. Matthew McConaughey stars as a dying hustler who decides to smuggle in pharmaceuticals from Mexico to help his ailing clients in The Dallas Buyer’s Club (Nov. 8).

The big-budget spectacle rears its ugly head again in November with Thor: The Dark World (Nov. 8) and Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Nov. 22). Of those two, I’d wager my money on the ongoing saga

The Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis

Opening Afternoon Delight: Written and directed

by Jill Holloway, this indie comedy follows a Los Angeles woman’s (Kathryn Hahn) pursuit to transcend the drudgeries of everyday life and marriage by giving shelter to a young stripper (Juno Temple).

Band of Sisters: Documentary that covers an entire generation of nuns who were transformed in the 1960s by Vatican II and left their traditional posts at convents, schools and hospitals to work out in the community. Screens through Sept. 11 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Bounty Killer: Murderous bounty hunters compete for money, fame and mutual respect in this exploitation film starring a horde of D-level actors. Screens at AMC Palm Promenade in Chula Vista.

of Katnis Everdeen reaching higher quality.

December is expectedly stacked with more prestige pictures: George Clooney’s World War II caper film Monuments Men (Dec. 18), Spike Jonze’s enigmatic love story Her (Dec. 18), Bennett Miller’s dark comedy Foxcatcher (Dec. 20), David O. Russell’s glitzy American Hustle (Dec. 25) and Jason Reitman’s brooding drama Labor Day (late month) are all expected to be heavy award contenders.

It will be difficult, though, for any of these to transcend the sublime heartache and melancholy of Joel and Ethan Coen’s wonderful Inside Llewyn Davis starring Oscar Isaac as a forlorn folk singer struggling to express himself in early-1960s Greenwich Village.

Other December titles that may spark the attention of adventurous moviegoers are Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace (Dec. 6), John Sayles’ Go for Sisters (Dec. 13) and Ben Stiller’s surreal adaptation of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Dec. 27).

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Dec. 13), the second installment in his completely unnecessary return to Middle-Earth. Still, when there’s so much new material to see, why bother with more of the same?

Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Beer Hunter: Chronicles the life and work of beer and whiskey journalist Michael Jackson, who helped jumpstart the craftbrewing craze. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens in Escondido.

No: Gael Garcia Bernal stars as an ad man hired to create a campaign to take down notorious dictator Augusto Pinochet during Chile’s 1988 referendum. Presented

by San Diego Latino Film Festival’s Que Viva! Cine Latino, it screens at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 4, at Otay Ranch Town Center Food Pavilion. It screens again, presented by the Latino Film Festival’s Cine en el Parque, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at California Center for the Arts, Escondido.

The Citizen: After winning the U.S. greencard lottery, Ibrahim arrives in New York City on Sept. 10, 2001. The events of the following day shape his experience in profound ways. Screens through Sept. 12 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Some Like it Hot: Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis get their drag on to impress the magnificent Marilyn Monroe in this Billy Wilder classic that ends up at the Hotel del Coronado. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, through Saturday, Sept. 7, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

The Patience Stone: A magical-realist parable about an Afghan woman living in a war-torn state who gains her voice in the face of adversity and patriarchy. Directed and co-written by Atiq Rahimi, from his best-selling novel.

Back to the Future 2: This sequel to the great Robert Zemeckis original actually hits the forward button, to the future.

Screens at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at the Lafayette Hotel in North Park.

Riddick: Vin Diesel returns as the titular criminal badass who must battle an alien race of predators and brutal mercenaries.

Big: A bit of supernatural magic allows a rambunctious kid to inhabit the body of Tom Hanks. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept.

6, at Heritage Country Park in Old Town.

Terraferma: Set on a beautiful Sicilian island, a young boat captain helps a band of refugees to safety despite warnings from the coast guard. His decision has grand social implications for the town. Screens through Sept. 12 at the Ken Cinema.

Blow-Up: One of Michelangelo Antonioni’s great experiments, this murder mystery set in swinging 1960s follows a fashion photographer who accidentally captures a killing on film. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday Sept. 6, at the San Diego Museum of Art. A pre-film lecture will start at 7 p.m.

One Time Only

Now You See Me: A gang of criminal musicians sets its sights on a massive score, with the FBI and Interpol in hot pursuit.

Screens at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8, at the Hervey Branch Library in Point Loma.

The Harder They Come: In this iconic gangster film from Jamaica, singer Jimmy Cliff redefined what it meant to go outlaw.

Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, at Arclight La Jolla.

Sideways: I will not drink merlot! Screens

Stories We Tell: Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley looks back at her own past with unflinching honesty in this great documen-

tary about family and forgiveness. Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the Hervey Branch Library in Point Loma.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Contains the greatest exit from a swimming pool in film history. Screens at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 11, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Now Playing Ain’t Them Bodies Saints: Set in the 1950s, David Lowery’s poetic crime film tells the story of an escaped prisoner (Casey Affleck) who returns home to a small Texas town to retrieve his wife (Rooney Mara) and young daughter.

Closed Circuit: Two British lawyers (Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall) get caught up in a deadly terrorist plot that exposes the dangerous and pervasive power of the secret intelligence community.

Drinking Buddies: Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson play co-workers at a Chicago craft brewery who flirt and drink and find nothing but complicated romance. Directed by indie stalwart Joe Swanberg.

Getaway: When his wife is kidnapped, Ethan Hawke must get behind the wheel and follow the orders of a mysterious man who may be responsible for her disappearance. Selena Gomez co-stars.

The Grandmaster: The story of kung-fu master Ip Man in his early days, created through the hyper-realized style of filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai. Instructions Not Included: A smarmy playboy (Eugenio Derbez) gets a rude awakening when an ex-flame drops off a baby at his doorstep, forcing him to become an unlikely father figure.

For a complete listing of movies, please see “F ilm S creenings” at sdcit yb eat.com under the “E vents” tab.

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

Old-timey music never felt so new

Gypsy-punk rockers Larry and His Flask crowd-surf the waves of musical innovation

by Joshua Emerson Smith

After graduating from high school about a decade ago, Jamin Marshall worked as a janitor in his hometown of Redmond, Ore., while playing punk music with his younger brother Jeshua in their spare time. At first, they didn’t have a formal band. As teenage misfits, some cathartic weekends of strumming power chords did the trick. But quickly, their friends joined in, forming something of a musical mob.

“I went to this Halloween party right after work, and I didn’t have a costume,” Jamin recalls. “All that I had was this scally cap on and my flask. I was just trying to think of a character to be, so I was, like, ‘I’m Larry the janitor—the creepy older dude that pours whiskey in his coffee in the morning.’”

In a fitting moment of booze-tinged revelry in 2003, Larry and His Flask—who’ll play at The Casbah on Satur-

day, Sept. 7, with Murder by Death and The 4OntheFloor— sprang to life as rowdy band of aspiring musicians.

Growing up lower-middle class, practicing music provided meaning and stability, Jeshua says, noting that drugs and run-ins with the law plagued his childhood.

“We grew up poor in the country and migrated into the slums,” says the 26-year-old, who plays the upright bass.

“Music pulled me out of a negative path, a dark path. It pulled me off the road to prison.”

Today, their hard work is starting to pay off. Having just released their second full-length album, By the Lamplight, in June, Larry and His Flask (larryandhisflask.com) have paraded their unique folk-punk style all over the United States, Canada and Europe, performing on the streets of New York, in rowdy bars and inside penitentiaries.

However, the hard-fought road to obscure-cult-band status wasn’t exactly a straight line. In the early days, Jamin says, band members fluctuated, as the nascent punk act regularly drove to nearby Bend, Ore., to play for weekend crowds, wherever they could find them.

KAREN SEIFERT

From left: Dallin Bulkley, Jeshua Marshall, Andrew Carew, Jamin Marshall and Ian Cook

26 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

“We pretty much sucked,” the 29-year-old drummer says. “We just booked this tour, and basically only half of it was booked, so we did a lot of playing on the street.”

Sidewalk performances, or busking, quickly became a trademark for the band, which overcame musical inexperience with live-show exuberance.

“It took a few years to refine the sound down to what it’s become today,” says lead vocalist Ian Cook, 27. “At first, it was really haphazard and ridiculous and a bunch of drunk dudes screaming at the top of their lungs on the street corner.”

Around 2008, when the great recession hit, the group, somewhat obliviously, got pulled in by the riptide of Americana and roots revival sweeping the indie-music scene. Their sound started including elements of folk, barbershop quartet, bluegrass and blues.

“Whether we realized it or not, and I don’t think we really did at the time, it just kind of made sense, because the idea of the acoustic stuff was that we can do this anywhere,” Cook says.

The quintet—which also includes Andrew Carew on banjo and Dallin Bulkley on acoustic guitar—started exposing themselves to different types of music.

“We were listening to a lot of Woody Guthrie, actually, and Leadbelly, and just finding out about all these wonderful old-school musicians really changed our lives,” Jamin says.

Aesthetically, it made perfect sense. The members of Larry and His Flask were making a name for themselves as old-timey-type street performers. The stripped-down acoustic sound, which required little extra equipment, provided mobility, and their Depression-era aesthetic dovetailed perfectly with their actual lives.

“We’ve been dirt-poor since we started the band, and we still are,” Jamin says. “Whenever we’re home, we’re washing dishes or delivering pizzas or whatever. But maybe things are starting to change now.”

Making the financial sacrifice to tour full-time, the band retained its punk roots. Members routinely jump off stage, crowd surf and whip the audience into a sweatdrenched frenzy that would make Dionysus proud. The theme of the show is come-one, come-all, hobos and working stiffs alike. And the band’s lyrics wrestle with the existential anger caused by being a socially aware participant in a modern economy.

On their single “Call it What You Will,” they take jabs at Western culture while recognizing a complicity that keeps the message humble: “Put your faith in the plastic my friend / Your dreams are a swipe away … Recession, depression, call it what you will/ We’re the victims of our own greed / With cheaters for leaders our own empty dreams will come back nightmares indeed.”

Write to joshuas@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

notes from the smoking patio Locals Only In August, Brooklyn indie rockers TV on the Radio released a pair of hard-rocking new singles, “Million Miles” and “Mercy.” But listeners might not have realized that the drums were played by a seasoned San Diego musician.

Jake Najor, drummer for The Styletones, Chess Wars and Lord Howler, among many other projects, provided the drum tracks for both songs. As Najor explained to CityBeat, he was invited to do some session work with TV on the Radio guitarist / producer Dave Sitek on some new material that Sitek was producing for R&B singer Kelis. While Najor was in the studio, Sitek asked if he wanted to add some drum tracks to some new TV on the Radio songs. However, he didn’t get that much time to prepare.

“I was asked the day before we were supposed to do it,” Najor says. “So I just listened to it on the drive up a bunch of times.”

Initially, Najor says, he was just supposed to record one track, “Million Miles,” but while he was there, Sitek asked if he wanted to tackle “Mercy” as well.

“It was rough—it kinda wasn’t finished yet,” Najor says. “I was really just supposed to do the one song. And then Dave said, ‘Hey, you wanna take a crack at this?’”

In addition to the TV on the Radio and Kelis tracks, Najor also recently worked on some new material by Detroit singer-songwriter Holly Miranda, which Sitek also produced.

•••

On Sept. 21, a group of local musicians will hold a benefit concert that also pays tribute to a friend.

Amy Cole, then-girlfriend of Tide Pools songwriter Dustin Illingworth, died accidentally at age 31 in 2010, and in her honor, Tide Pools, Marie Haddad and El Monte Slim will play a concert at Cole’s family’s house in Point Loma. Tickets are $20 and benefit the Amy Cole Memorial Scholarship. amycole. brownpapertickets.com

Music review Mrs. Magician B-Sides (Thrill Me) By their very nature, rarities and b-sides collections tend to be pretty spotty. They’re cast-offs—offal— the stuff that either didn’t fit or just plain wasn’t good enough to make it to an artist’s albums. That may be a gross oversimplification in certain cases, but that’s usually how this sort of thing works. There are exceptions, of course—Nirvana’s Incesticide has aged at least as well as the band’s studio albums, if not better—but, on a larger scale, rarities compilations are, to put it bluntly, musical leftovers.

That doesn’t mean that one band’s trash can’t be a listener’s treasure. Simply making the effort to actually release rare, rough or hard-to-find songs indi-

Jake Najor cates that an artist would think those extra tracks are worth a listener’s time. In the case of Mrs. Magician, whose new B-Sides compilation was released Sept. 3 on drummer Cory Stier’s Thrill Me Records, it’s a reappraisal worth taking.

Boasting 17 songs, B-Sides is a hefty amount of material packed into 40 minutes. That, inevitably, means some of the material is going to be slight, unfinished or even not terribly necessary. “Wai Ki Kill,” for instance, is a 30-second instrumental track that, while pretty, doesn’t really do much. And the snotty, sassy “Tabloids,” “I Hate Tour” and “Get Bent,” while still touting the band’s characteristic surf-pop melodies, don’t quite have the same appeal of anything on Mrs. Magician’s 2012 album, Strange Heaven.

Yet, despite a handful of inevitable rough or undercooked tracks, Mrs. Magician’s b-sides largely comprise the same golden hooks and melodies that can be found on their a-sides or album tracks. “All My Friends are Dying,” for instance, is a gorgeous jangle-pop gem with lots of reverb-heavy licks, while “Guys in Cooler Bands” has a triumphantly soaring chorus. There’s no song that hits with the same kind of impact as opener “Despicable Things,” however— its big, meaty riffs introduce the largely low-key pop record with a tune that thoroughly rocks.

By design, B-Sides isn’t perfect, but it’s surprisingly strong given that it’s a collection of odds and ends. In any case, having them all here sure beats tracking down all those 7-inches.

—Jeff Terich Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

if i were u Wednesday, Sept. 4 PLAN A: Jori and the Push, The Phantoms @ Tin Can Ale House. Seattle’s Jori and the Push are, put simply, badass. They’ve got riffs galore, some cool stoner-rock grooves and a singer with serious rock swagger. Imagine Queens of the Stone Age with female vocals and you more or less get the idea. PLAN B: Café Tacuba @ Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. For 24 years, Mexico City’s Café Tacuba have been fusing rock with dance music and psychedelic pop in an ever-evolving, continuously fascinating sonic soup. And while they’re not terribly prolific, essentially every one of their albums is entirely different from the next, which makes for some unpredictable fun. BACKUP PLAN: Dancing Strangers, Clear Black, Phantom Ratio @ The Casbah.

Thursday, Sept. 5 PLAN A: Barbarian, Is/Is, Oh Spirit, Jara [101181] @ Soda Bar. Local psych rockers Barbarian are returning from a tour with Bat for Lashes. Unfortunately, they didn’t bring the art-pop diva back with them for a show here, but that’s OK, because there are plenty of reasons to be stoked about Barbarian bringing their heady, swirling dream pop back home.

BACKUP PLAN: Cult Vegas, Desolators, Gone Baby Gone @ Tin Can Ale House.

Friday, Sept. 6 PLAN A: The Weirdos, Widows, No More Saints, Schitzophonics, Records With Roger @ The Casbah. L.A. punks The Weirdos made a name for themselves with their breakthrough single, “We Got the Neutron Bomb.” Thirty-five years later, they’re still good for some rowdy, old-school punk destruction. PLAN B: Nihilist, Red Wizard, Great Electric Quest @ Shakedown Bar. There are a lot of bands named Nihilist, pretty much all of them metal, so let me help clarify: It’s not the Macedonian group, or the Bulgarian deathgrind band, or the Swedish death-metal band that became Entombed.

This is the Nihilist from Carlsbad, they play party-animal thrash metal, and they rip.

BACKUP PLAN: Diatribes, Champ, Lost Ships, Voice Actor @ Soda Bar.

BY Jeff Terich from wherever you find parking—which is good, because you wouldn’t want to miss out on their lush, indie-folk gems. PLAN B: Murder by Death, Larry and His Flask, The 4OntheFloor @ The Casbah. Read Joshua Emerson Smith’s story about rowdy folk-punk act Larry and His Flask on Page 26, who are sure to get feet stomping just before gothic alt-country act Murder by Death close the night with some twangy gloom. BACKUP PLAN: King Dude, WL @ The Void.

Sunday, Sept. 8 PLAN A: Tobacco, Zackey Force Funk, Mystery Cave, Illluminauts @ The Casbah. As a member of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Tobacco makes some fucked-up synth-pop mischief. And as a solo artist, he pretty much does the same thing, which is fine. If you’ve got a good, twisted thing going, why mess with it? PLAN B: Skrapez, DJ Pound, DJ Collagy, Dayfade @ Kava Lounge.

Forget gangsta rap or Odd Future’s comically absurd revenge fantasies—you wanna hear some fuckedup hip-hop? Then check out Skrapez. The duo of Psychopop and Tenshun bring a noisy, doom sensibility to their instrumental hip-hop sound, creating The Weirdos something dark and ominous that still bumps. Let’s call it “doom-bap.” BACKUP PLAN: Beta Lion, Sahab @ Soda Bar.

Monday, Sept. 9 PLAN A: S, Night Cadet, Mariel @ Soda Bar. The remarkably un-Google-able S is better known to some as Jenn Ghetto of Seattle indie rockers Carissa’s Weird. As S, however, Ghetto performs low-key, emotional indie pop that recalls early Liz Phair with more electronics or The Spinanes— with more electronics.

Tuesday, Sept. 10

PLAN A: Broncho, Mozes and the First Born @ The Casbah. Tulsa, Okla.’s Broncho do drunken, badass debauchery right, with rowdy shout-along tunes about picking fights and record stores. Sounds like fun, right? It sure is. PLAN B: Turquoise Jeep @ Soda Bar. I’ve got four words for you: “Lemme smang it, girl.” If you need a Saturday, Sept. 7 little more info than that, check Peter HolsPLAN A: The Tree Ring, Sara Watkins, lin’s feature on Turquoise Jeep, published Tiny Telephones @ The Irenic. Ear- in CityBeat back in May, to get a primer on lier this year, The Tree Ring performed a this hip-hop group and YouTube sensashow attendees could only get to by hik- tion. They’ve got dance moves and double ing to it. This one, however, is much more entendres for days. BACKUP PLAN: Gold conveniently located—just a short walk Fields, Rush Midnight @ El Dorado.

28 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

HOT! NEW! FRESH! Drag The River (Bar Pink, 10/13), Helado Negro (Soda Bar, 10/17), The Righteous Brothers with Bill Medley (Casino Pauma, 10/25), Rocket From the Crypt (HOB, 10/31), Big Freedia (Casbah, 11/13).

GET YER TICKETS Neko Case (HOB, 9/11), OneRepublic, Sara Bareilles (Open Air Theatre, 9/14), Deap Vally (Soda Bar, 9/21), Vampire Weekend (Open Air Theatre, 9/30), Toro y Moi (BUT, 10/1), Steve Earle and the Dukes (BUT, 10/9), Kylesa (Brick

by Brick, 10/13), Primal Scream (BUT, 10/15), Passion Pit (Open Air Theatre, 10/22), Paramore (Viejas Arena, 10/23), Buddy Guy (BUT, 10/28), Alejandro Escovedo and the Sensitive Boys (The Casbah, 11/6), Janelle Monae (HOB, 11/6), Blitzen Trapper (Porter’s Pub, 11/9), Cults (The Irenic, 11/10), AbSoul, Joey Bada$$ (SOMA, 11/11), Ben Harper (Copley Symphony Hall, 11/16), Pearl Jam (Viejas Arena, 11/21), Sinead O’Connor (BUT, 11/26).

September Wednesday, Sept. 4 Tesla Boy at Soda Bar. Café Tacuba at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay.

Thursday, Sept. 5 Barbarian at Soda Bar. Everlast at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, Sept. 6

30 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

Dave Matthews Band at Sleep Train Ampitheatre. Russell Brand at Balboa Theatre. Kid Cudi at Valley View Casino Arena.

Saturday, Sept. 7 Don Carlos at Belly Up Tavern. Murder

by Death at The Casbah. Will Ferrell at San Diego Civic Theatre. The Tree Ring at The Irenic. King Dude at The Void.

Sunday, Sept. 8 ZZ Ward at House of Blues. Tobacco at The Casbah. Melissa Etheridge at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay.

Monday, Sept. 9 S at Soda Bar. Mickey Hart Band at House of Blues.

Tuesday, Sept. 10 Turquoise Jeep at Soda Bar.

Wednesday, Sept. 11 Ewert and the Two Dragons at Casbah.

Neko Case at House of Blues. Minus the Bear at Belly Up Tavern. Curren$y at World Beat Center.

Thursday, Sept. 12 New Politics at The Casbah.

Friday, Sept. 13 Rascal Flatts at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Titus Andronicus at The Irenic. The Big Pink at The Casbah. Ra Ra Riot at Birch North Park Theater. The Features at The Griffin. Carly Rae Jepsen at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. Jimmy Cliff at Belly Up Tavern. Mykki Blanco at Porter’s Pub.

Saturday, Sept. 14 Uproar Festival w/ Alice in Chains, Jane’s Addiction, Coheed and Cambria at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Wild Nothing, Pictureplane at Soda Bar. The Album Leaf at Sunset Temple. Tower of Power at Humphreys Concerts By the Bay. Body/Head at The Casbah. OneRepublic, Sara Bareilles at Open Air Theatre.

Sunday, Sept. 15 Godspeed You! Black Emperor at Belly Up. Coeur de Pirate at The Casbah. Immortal Technique, Brother Ali at World Beat Center.

Monday, Sept. 16 Todd Barry at The Casbah.

Tuesday, Sept. 17 Rose Windows at Soda Bar. Jason Isbell at The Casbah.

Wednesday, Sept. 18 Valient Thorr at The Casbah. Wynonna at Belly Up Tavern. The Toasters at Brick

by Brick. Midlake at Soda Bar.

Thursday, Sept. 19 Lynyrd Skynyrd at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. Julieta Venegas at House of Blues. Gold Panda at The Casbah.

Friday, Sept. 20 X-Fest w/ blink-182, The Offspring, 30 Seconds to Mars, Silversun Pickups, Jimmy Eat World, Wavves at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Tech N9ne at House

CONTINUED ON PAGE 33

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 31

32 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

of Blues. The Orb at Porter’s Pub. Diana Krall at Humphreys Concerts By the Bay. Zapp at Valley View Casino Center.

Saturday, Sept. 21 One Drop at Belly Up. Dirty Beaches at The Void. Lila Downs at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. The Vaccines at The Casbah. Cage the Elephant, Smallpools, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. at Junior Seau Oceanside Pier Amphitheatre. Deap Valley at Soda Bar.

Sunday, Sept. 22 Depeche Mode, Crystal Castles at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Fall Out Boy at Valley View Casino Center. Julie Ruin, La Sera at Irenic. Slackers at Porter’s Pub. Lee Fields and the Expressions at The Casbah. The Octopus Project at Soda Bar. The Psychedelic Furs at Belly Up Tavern.

Monday, Sept. 23 Joan of Arc at Soda Bar.

Tuesday, Sept. 24 Hanson at House of Blues. Mount Kimbie at Porter’s Pub. Title Fight at Epicentre.

Wednesday, Sept. 25 The Naked and Famous at House of Blues. Jail Weddings at The Casbah.

Blouse at The Void.

Thursday, Sept. 26 Woods, The Fresh & Onlys at The Casbah. Moving Units at Soda Bar. Michael Rose with Sly and Robbie at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, Sept. 27 Islands at The Casbah. Blue Sky Black Death at Soda Bar. Air Supply at Humphreys Concerts By the Bay.

Saturday, Sept. 28 Keith Urban at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Unknown Mortal Orchestra at The Casbah. Between the Buried and Me at House of Blues. Sol at The Loft.

Sunday, Sept. 29 Bullet for My Valentine at Soma. Matt Nathanson, Joshua Radin at House of Blues. Vaud and the Villains at Belly Up Tavern.

Monday, Sept. 30 Vampire Weekend at Open Air Theatre.

October Tuesday, Oct. 1 Allah-Las, Jacco Gardner at The Casbah. Toro y Moi at Belly Up Tavern.

Wednesday, Oct. 2 Jake Bugg at House of Blues. Bob Schneider at Belly Up Tavern. Olafur Arnalds at The Loft.

Thursday, Oct. 3 Teenage Bottlerockets, The Queers at Soda Bar.

Friday, Oct. 4 John Mayer, Phillip Philips at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Anathema, Alcest

the hit list Enter the 619 chambers A good rap night ain’t nothin’ to fuck with. I mean, up of DJs Psychopop and Tenshun, have shared a twerking is pretty much dead, thanks to Miley stage with rappers like Orko Eloheim and frequentCyrus’ embarrassing popping skills, but that doesn’t ly hit the turntables at Tower Bar’s Hip-Hop vs. mean you shouldn’t dip it low on a dance floor to Punk Rock night, maybe because their beats have positively twerkable tunes. If you’re ready to move a certain punk sensibility. Check them out at Kava past that awful Miley VMA Lounge (2812 Kettner Blvd. in performance and rebuild your Middletown) on Sunday, Sept. rap-loving life, here are a few 8. They’ll be joined by DJ nights to check out: Pound, Collagy and Dayfade.

Bar Dynamite (1808 W. According to the flier, “panty Washington St. in Mission rippaz” will be $5 that night.

Hills) knows how to put on I assume that’s an alcoholic a good Saturday-night parbeverage, but, just in case, ty. Resident DJs Beatnick you’d better hide your Linand Definition play a mix of colns and wear sturdy undies. songs that get even the most Whistle Stop Bar (2236 Bar Dynamite DJs bring the booty- Fern St. in South Park) has Tag Team-loving rap novice bumping his or her head. bouncing tunes every Saturday night. been delighting rap lovers Think new rap from the likes of Drake and Ken- with nights like Booty Bassment and Diamond in drick Lamar mixed with classic hits from Biggie the Back. The bar now brings Wu-Tang Wednesand Jay-Z. The DJs even throw in some dancehall, day to its lineup starting Sept. 11. DJ Cros One club bangers and R&B to get the vibe flowing. Get and special guests will play jams by Wu-Tang and your freak on Saturday, Sept. 7. This isn’t a sweat- other rap icons every second Wednesday of the pants party, though, dudes. Wear something your month. Better bring a sweat rag. mom ironed.

—Alex Zaragoza While not traditionally rap, Skrapez’s brand of experimental, electronic sounds make the duo Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com a favorite in the local beat scene. The group, made and editor@sdcitbeat.com.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 33

at The Casbah.

Saturday, Oct. 5 Maroon 5 at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.

Hugh Cornwell at Soda Bar. Shigeto at The Casbah.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. 710bc.com. Wed: Open mic, open jam. Thu: The Routine. Fri: John Goodhue. Sat: Bad Neighborz, Devocean, Kush County.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Fri: Rebecca Jade Quartet. Sat: Lorraine Castellanos Salutes Eydie Gorme.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco.com.

Thu-Sat: Sarah Colonna. Sun: Shelby Fero. Tue: Open mic.

AMSDConcerts, 4650 Mansfield St, Normal Heights. amsdconcerts.com. Sat: The Kennedys.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego. Fri: Posso. Sat: Lee Burridge.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. barpink.com. Wed: DJ Grand Masta Rats.

Thu: DJ Junior the DiscoPunk. Fri: DJ Artistic, NosuckerDJs. Sat: Pocket.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Sat: Super8 and Tab. Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Del Sol Project, Talk Like June, Garbo, The Peripherals, Austin Burns. Thu: Everlast.

Fri: Tony Suraci as the Highwayman, Nena Anderson, The Mules. Sat: Don

34 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

Carlos, Stranger. Sun: Burt Brion Review.

Tue: Justin Hopkins, Maria De La Paz. Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Sat: Rian Bastio and the Roosters.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Fri: Madman, Saints and Sinners, Iron Mayhem, Smack This. Sat: Hellbent, Myndcryme, SMC, Van Roth.

Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave, Downtown. cafesevilla.com. Wed: Aro Di Santi. Thu & Sat: Malamana. Fri: Joeff and Co. Sun: Aragon y Royal.

Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com.

Wed: Dancing Strangers, Clear Black, Phantom Ratio.

Thu: Kinetic Circus, Archons, Roman Watchdogs, Chasing Norman, DJ Timefly.

Fri: Weirdos, Widows, No More Saints, Schitzophonics, Records With Roger. Sat: Murder by Death, Larry And His Flask, The 4OntheFloor. Sun: Tobacco, Zackey Force Funk, Mystery Cave, Illluminauts.

Mon: Reignwolf, Reason to Rebel. Tue: Broncho, Mozes and the First Born.

Claire de Lune, 2906 University Ave, North Park. clairedelune.com. Sat: A Tribute to Patsy Cline.

Croce’s, 802 Fifth Ave, Downtown. croces. com. Wed: Fuzzy. Thu: Dave Curtis Quartet.

Fri: Gio Trio 1. Sat: Daniel Jackson (11:30 a.m.); Gio Trio 1 (8:30 p.m.). Sun: Elliott Lawrence (11:30 a.m.); Mark Fisher Trio (7:30 p.m.). Mon: Dave Scott and Monsoon Jazz. Tue: Steph Johnson.

Rob Thorsen Quartet. Thu: ‘A Tribute to Cedar Walton’ w/ The Rob Thorsen Quartet. Fri: themattsmithneujazztrio. Sat: AFROTRUKO. El Dorado Bar, 1030 Broadway, Downtown. eldoradobar.com. Wed: ‘The Tighten Up’. Thu: Crash and the Burns.

Fri: ‘Hickeys and Dryhumps’. Sat: Manik, Adam Salter, Blancnoire, Damn Jules.

Tue: Gold Fields, Rush Midnight.

Reactor, Kodiak, Subject to Citation.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave, Normal Heights. lestats.com. Wed: Charles Ellsworth, Shadow Puppett. Thu: Rebecca Loebe, This Way to the Egress.

Fri: John Elliott, Matt the Electrician, Steven Fiore. Sat: Eliza Vera, Joshua Taylor, On Fifth. Sun: Cult Vegas, The Shallow End. Mon: Open mic. Tue: Comedy night.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Fri: Radical Something, Outasight. Sat: Seedheads, The Blooming Rye, Deadweight, Que Oso!.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave, Coronado. mcpspub.com. Wed: Gene Warren. Thu: Goodal Boyz. Fri: Manic Bros. Sat: Blue Frog Band. Tue: Glen Smith.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd. com. Thu: Matt Nash. Fri: DJ Brett Bodley.

Sat: DJ Karma.

Numbers, 3811 Park Blvd, Hillcrest. numberssd.com. Thu: DJ Angel X. Fri: DJs Sebastian La Madrid, Rubin.

Griffin, 1310 Morena Blvd, Bay Park. thegriffinsd.com.

Wed: Bill Evans’ Soulgrass, Mohavi Soul. Thu: Jelly Bread, Jack Berry. Fri: Goodbyemotel, Elephant King, The Remotes, Woolly Mammal. Sat: The Darlings, Nations Afire, Death on Wednesday, Emmer Effer, Maniacal Laugh.

Sun: Sandollar, TRC Soundsystem.

Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: Mighty Moses, DJs Dash Eye, Tramlife, Mr. Hek. Thu: ‘For Your Pleasure’. Sat: DJs EdRoc, Kanye Asada. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’. Mon: ‘Dub Dynamite’ w/ DJs Rashi, Eddie Turbo.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave, Downtown. henryspub.com. Wed: Johnny Tarr, DJ Chris London. Thu: Fish and the Seaweeds, Mark Fisher. Fri: ‘Good Times’ w/ DJs Rev, Yodah. Sat: DJs E, Yodah.

Mon: DJs Yodah, Joey Jimenez. Tue: Rockin’ Aces.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego.

Thu: Chief Keef. Sat: Hopsin, Dizzy Wright. Sun: ZZ Ward.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. dirksniteclub.com. Fri-Sat: Nemesis.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Sat: ‘Ascension’. Sun: Skrapez, DJ Pound, DJ Collagy, Dayfade.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Thu: The

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave, Kensington. 619-284-2848. Sat: Coda

Onyx Room / Thin, 852 Fifth Ave, Downtown. onyxroom.com. Fri: ‘Rumba Lounge’ w/ DJs Martin Kache, Seize, La Mafia, Muzik Junkies. Sat: ‘Underground’ w/ DJs Rags, Sachamo. Tue: ‘Neo Soul’.

Patricks II, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii. com. Wed: Johnny Vernazza. Thu: 145th Street. Fri: Len Rainey’s Midnight Players.

Sat: Mystique Element of Soul. Sun: TnT. Mon: WG and the G-Men. Tue: Walter’s Chicken Jam. Queen Bee’s, 3925 Ohio St, North Park. queenbeessd.com. Fri: Battle of the Bands.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave, Hillcrest. richssandiego.com. Wed: DJ John Joseph. Thu: ‘Repent’. Fri: DJs Drew G, Will Z. Sat: DJ Taj. Sun: ‘Pump!’.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave, La Mesa. rivierasupperclub.com.

Wed: Kice Simko. Thu: Roger. Fri: Devil’s Due. Sat: Baja Bugs.

Shakedown Bar, 3048 Midway Drive, Point Loma. theshakedownsd.com. Fri: Nihilist, Red Wizard, Great Electric Quest.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: Tesla Boy, Night Drive, Colour Vision. Thu: Barbarian, Is/Is, Oh Spirit, Jara [101181].

Fri: Diatribes, Champ, Lost Ships, Voice Actor. Sat: The Dread Crew of Oddwood, Unicorn Death, Blood Dancer. Sun: Beta Lion, Sahab. Mon: S, Night Cadet, Mariel.

Tue: Turquoise Jeep.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Sat: Mutiny, 2B, GoRilLa DisKo and Slugfest, Dissaray, Squirrely Bass, DJ JVDAS, Jinzo.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St, Midtown. spinnightclub.com. Fri: DJ Fresh to Death.

Sat: ‘Relapse’ w/ Torrion, Domi Young.

The Void, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, North Park. thevoidsd.com. Thu: The Most Hi, Skrapez, Ultragash, The Numbs, Bonsoir.

Sat: King Dude, WL. Tiki House, 1152 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. tikipb.com. Wed: A. Silipigno.

Sat: Psychic Vaccum. Sun: Open mic.

Tue: Sweet Dreams.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Wed: A Brief History of Rhyme. Fri: Soda Stereo.

Tin Can Ale House, 1863 Fifth Ave, Bankers Hill. thetincan1.wordpress.com.

Wed: Jori and the Push, The Phantoms.

Thu: Cult Vegas, Desolators, Gone Baby Gone. Fri: Black Market III, Scott Mathiasen and the Shifty Eyed Dogs, The Honkys. Sat: White Mule, Modern Rifles,

Machines Learning. Mon: ‘The Tin Can Country Club’ w/ Grampadrew.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos.com. Wed: Mud Bugs. Thu: Rockin’ Aces. Fri: Karaoke. Sat: Pachuco Jose.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Wed: The Ratt’s Revenge, DJ Mikey Ratt, Ramp Locals. Thu: Stage Kids, Bulletproof Tiger, Wine, DJ Sickness. Fri: ‘Hip-Hop vs. Punk Rock’ w/ Rail Them To Death, 3-D, Aims, Ghetto Blaster. Sat: Buddy Banter, Northern Tigers, Slipping Into Darkness, The Natives, Electric Healing Sound, The Frights, San Pedro El Cortez.

Sun: DMF, The Yucks, Vicious Attack, Nox and the Jerkoffs. Tue: Homeless Sexuals, Nasalrod, Stab City, California Bleeding.

Turquoise, 873 Turquoise St, Pacific Beach. theturquoise.com/wordpress.

Wed: Tomcat Courtney (6 p.m.). Thu: The Jade Visions Jazz Trio (4 p.m.); Pan Am (7 p.m.). Fri: Tomcat Courtney (5 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (9 p.m.). Sat: Tomcat Courtney (5 p.m.); Santana Pa Ti (9 p.m.).

Sun: Sounds Like Four (4 p.m.); Blue 44 (7 p.m.). Mon: Sean Murphy (4 p.m.); Stephanie Schmitz (7 p.m.). Tue: Gabriela Aparicio (4 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (7 p.m.).

Voyeur, 755 Fifth Ave, Downtown. voyeursd.com. Thu: Daddy’s Groove.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com. Wed: New Best Thing. Fri: The Amandas. Sat: Records with Roger (5 p.m.).

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: Open mic. Thu: Jempress and Maka Roots, I-Sight Band, Carlos Culture. Fri: Ocean Boogie. Sat: Bassquake. Mon: Electric Waste Band.

Tue: ‘The Drop’.

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 35

36 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 37

Proud sponsor: Mitch’s Seafood

Ink Well Xwords by Ben Tausig

Across 1. Under 6. Via, informally 10. Word of doing 14. 2012 Republican National Convention city 15. Shoe brand with a pocket 16. ___ of evil 17. Debauched tectonic layer?

20. Fruit quaff that may be carbonated 21. Prepared to shoot 22. Google alternative 23. Youtube upload, briefly 24. Pegged as bad-tempered?

30. Traffic tangle 32. Salt Lake City collegian 33. North Korea, initially 34. High school physics subject 35. With 43-Across, event where people say grace before shoving dozens of hot dogs in their mouths?

37. Travel through time?

38. Rendered with a pen 40. Ace’s asset 41. Deducted from gross weight 43. See 35-Across 47. Equal in betting 48. Vivian on “The Fresh Prince,” e.g.

49. The Silver Bullet Band leader 52. Oscar-winning 1978 song for Donna Summer 57. Interested in headaches, puking, and bloodshot eyes?

59. Genesis guy whose name means “hairy” 60. Food co-op goddess

Last week’s answers

61. Bondage gear 62. Wet in the morning, in a way 63. Way off 64. “From Russia With Love” actress Lotte

Down 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

1944 battle city It may feature a side part Chorus letters spelled with the body Wedding feature Belieber, say ER sorting process It’s over your head Cad Letters before Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln, at sea 10. Bar entry requirement 11. Bar entry requirement 12. Hajj, e.g.

13. Talked without real knowledge 18. 6.2-mile race 19. Shovel partner 23. Throws one’s hat in the ring 24. Impressionist who painted people on lawns, in cafés, brutally murdering each other, etc.

25. Italian cathedral 26. A/C unit 27. Trippy graphics 28. Plead with 29. List of the day’s activities, casually 30. Fries, e.g.

31. Roberts or Ephron of writing 35. Call through the PA system 36. Old-school online chat option, briefly 39. Many a Pesci role 41. “The Thing” limb 42. Adele of popular entertainment 44. Emperor who was friends with Seneca 45. Kyle Busch’s org.

46. Archbishop Desmond 49. Lose, as a layer 50. Natural facility 51. Work on, as a bone 52. Nissan electric car 53. ___ 51 54. High time?

55. Queens College is part of it: Abbr.

56. She, in Italy 58. IBM graphical interface

Two $20 gift certificates to Mitch’s Seafood will be awarded weekly. Email a picture of your answers to crossword@sdcitybeat.com or fax it to 619-325-1393. Limit one win per person per 30 days.

38 · San Diego CityBeat · September 4, 2013

September 4, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 39