San Diego CityBeat • Sept 6, 2017

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september 6, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

DACA shame and bridge trolls

I

was just some local yahoo who was pissed off about the removal of a Confederate plaque in Horton Plaza and somehow equated that with the murals at Chicano Park. At the end of the day, this wasn’t some organized nationalistic affront but rather, just a group of trolls who wanted to bring attention to their cause.

And they won. I’m sure Ogden saw a spike in views for his fringe-right website while we were all distracted from what should have been the lead story that night: the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Just as with the Chicano Park trolls, murmurings about the end of DACA had been circulating since late last week. The Obama executive action—which offers work permits to certain young undocumented immigrants ROBERTO A. CAMACHO (around 800,000), most of whom came to the U.S. as children—will be allowed to expire and DACA recipients will be begin to lose protection starting in March 2018. And don’t get it twisted: by lose protection, we mean deported.

It should come as no surprise that California is the home of nearly 220,000 “dreamers,” the largest amount of any state, and San Diego County has the seventh largest Nationalist Sublime bro amount of any county in the U.S. Local repWhile I certainly salute the Barrio Logan resentatives and politicians were quick to community for standing up for what is argu- come out in shocked defiance of the Trumpably the city’s greatest cultural destination, via-Sessions decision. Rep. Scott Peters (Dthe local television media stuck to their “if 52) called the decision a “display of total and it bleeds, it leads” formula by only showing complete cowardice,” while Assemblymemclips of masked protestors yelling at what ber Todd Gloria called it “cold-hearted and appeared to be just a couple of white bros counter to the bipartisan outcry.” While we trying to enjoy a pizza under the Coronado hadn’t heard a peep from vaping advocate Bridge (complete in Chargers jerseys and, in and bunny enthusiast Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-50), even one of our favorite punching the case of one bro, a Sublime t-shirt).

Make no mistake; the local TV stations bags, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-49) acknowledged dropped the ball here. Instead of focus- that while Obama “unlawfully overstepped ing on the peaceful rallies that emphasized his executive authority” he was committed the importance of cultural preservation or to a “sense of compassion” and that he’d the equally peaceful protests against white work to pass some kind of legislative packnationalism, anyone watching the news on age in order to keep dreamers here.

And there’s the rub. Reps. like Issa will do Sunday night instead saw a rather racist narrative about angry Chicanos chasing a bunch nothing unless San Diegans make a whole of aww-gee-whiz whites who were just there lot of noise. If you have family who live in to have what they characterized as a “pa- the districts of Duncan or Issa, tell them to triot picnic.” It was a gross, ratings-driven call or fax their congressperson every day. narrative and stations like Fox 5 should be Tell them to attend the Defend DACA rallies. ashamed of their reportage, as it only serves But most of all, tell them not to get distracted by the Patriot Picnic trolls of the world. to further normalize fringe, racist groups.

But this wasn’t something on par with the There’s bigger fish to fry.

Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. This

—Seth Combs t was very hard for me to decide what to devote this space to this week. From the Charlottesville aftermath to the Trump administration’s absolute callousness when it came to the victims of Hurricane Harvey, there’s certainly been an element of what racist-ass shit do I have to point out this week? when it comes to writing these notes.

Then there were the rallies and gatherings that took place at Chicano Park on Sunday afternoon when a small group of so-called white nationalists stopped by to eat pizza and, perhaps, survey aspects of the park to see if they wanted to deface any of the monuments or murals. Or if we’re to believe one of the organizers, Roger Ogden, they simply wanted to tour the murals in order to find the ones they wanted removed.

This issue of CityBeat is raising its Big Gulp to Tristan Whitehouse, the hardest working dude at this here paper.

Volume 16 • Issue 4 EDITOR Seth Combs MUSIC EDITOR Jeff Terich WEB EDITOR Ryan Bradford ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Ramos ASSOCIATE EDITOR Torrey Bailey STAFF WRITER Jamie Ballard COLUMNISTS Aaryn Belfer, Edwin Decker, Minda Honey, John R. Lamb, Alex Zaragoza

CONTRIBUTORS Christin Bailey, David L. Coddon, Beth Demmon, Andrew Dyer, Rachel Michelle Fernandes, Tiffany Fox, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Lizz Huerta, Jen Lothspeich, Lara McCaffrey, Scott McDonald, Kinsee Morlan, Jim Ruland, Ben Salmon, Amy Wallen, Ian Ward PRODUCTION MANAGER Tristan Whitehouse DIGITAL ADVERTISING MANAGER Megan Kennedy MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Paulina Porter-Tapia

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4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

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UP FRONT | LETTERS

THANK YOU UP FRONT From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Letters to the Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . 5 News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Sordid Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 There She Goz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

FOOD & DRINK

I am incredibly grateful for San Diego CityBeat [“What is this thing?,” Aug. 30]. In-depth coverage of local issues, insider political news, columnists who are passionately covering urgent matters and usually, a few good laughs to boot. Read it cover to cover every week.

Medley of Junk must not have liked last week’s cover.

Keep up the good work, CityBeat.

Suzy Perkins La Mesa

World Fare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Beerdist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

THINGS TO DO The Short List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Calendar of Events. . . . . . . . . . 11-12

ARTS & CULTURE Books: The Floating Library . . . . . . 12 Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 FEATURE: College Area. . . . . . 15-18 Seen Local. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-22

MUSIC FEATURE: Manchester Orchestra. . . . . . . . . 23 Notes from the Smoking Patio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 If I Were U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Spotlight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . . . . . . 27-29

LAST WORDS Advice Goddess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 COVER PHOTO BY TORREY BAILEY

@SDCITYBEAT

DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COLOR I read the article mentioned above by Aaryn Belfer [“#bookfestivalsowhite,” Aug. 16]. I am surprised at her comments. I am an author and went to the Festival and there were black authors there signing and selling their books. There was no selection process to be present as an author. Anyone of any color could have paid a fee for a table and participated. And she boycotted the festival? Shame on her. She is also bashing the L.A. Writers Conference. She says 90 percent of them are white. Well, if the other colors do not wish to participate, whose fault is it?

Peggy Hinaekian La Jolla

MORE FUCKS TO GIVE Dear Whitney, go fuck yourself and your suggestion that CityBeat should consider a weekly column about cats [“Letters,” Aug. 30, in response to “Clean it up a bit,” Aug. 9]. Don’t get me wrong, I love the little mischievous fuckers, but YouTube and social media’s cat indulgence is still not enough? Now you wish to populate my CityBeat with that cute shit? Well, again, go fuck yourself, Whitney. (I hope I used enough fucks for you).

Kevin Fierro

City Heights

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 5

TORREY BAILEY

UP FRONT | NEWS

The underdog is here

Omar Passons

In a highly competitive supervisor’s race, Omar Passons makes his case to voters

By Seth Combs The first in a series of articles focusing on the candidates, measures and policies that readers will need to know about in 2018.

O

mar Passons picked a hell of a weekend to go door-to-door. He considers himself lucky that his campaign office is in the heart of North Park, especially now that yet another heatwave has hit the city.

“It’s a good thing we have beer right across the street,” says Passons, pointing to Hess Brewing and to a campaign banner touting his love for craft beer.

Passons, an entrepreneur whose previous work is primarily in neighborhood advocacy and land use law, knows how important it is to get out there and be seen. Not only is he one of the least known candidates in a Board of Supervisors [BOS] race filled with big names, but he also knows that many people still don’t know just what the Board of Supervisors does or just how important they are in directing the county. A lifelong San Diegan, Passons grew up in the Clairemont area and often has to play the role of civics educator on one of the hottest Saturdays in recent memory.

“A fair amount of people don’t know,” says Passons. “I tend to tell people—regional issues like the environment, homelessness, our social services like nutrition and support if you’re very poor—these are things that the county has direct control over.”

Whether Passons chooses to acknowledge it or not, going door-to-door and talking to people may be his best bet in building name recognition in what is shaping up to

be a hotly contested District 4 supervisor race. The primary isn’t until June 5, but there are already half a dozen candidates all aiming to replace Republican Ron Roberts, who is termed out.

Because of the names who have already declared or have expressed interest—which include former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and former State Assemblymembers Nathan Fletcher and Lori Saldaña, to name a few—Passons knows he has some branding to do. Most recently, he says it stung a bit when the San Diego County Democratic Party [SDCDP] all but preemptively decided to endorse Fletcher, who was once a Republican and officially switched parties in 2013.

While the SDCDP won’t officially decide on the endorsement until September, the logic seems to be that the Supervisors race is too important to wait and they want to get ahead of the Republicans’ endorsement.

While Passons understands the importance of the race, he feels the SDCDP could have waited a bit longer to endorse a candidate. After all, the five-member BOS is currently made up of all Republicans, so the decision by the SDCDP to endorse “former Republican assemblymember Nathan Fletcher,” as Passons refers to him, could be seen as strategic rather than a vetted process. Shortly after the announcement, Passons tweeted out the following: Man, if I told y’all how absurd the political process actually is in this town. Confirms almost everything people think... also explains why so many San Diegans feel the way they do about politics. A lot of people should be ashamed. Of course, they won’t.

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

When asked about the tweet, Passons was a little more diplomatic.

“The short version is that the private group that is the local Democratic Party, as distinguished from Democrats writ large, just seeing some portions of the leadership SETH COMBS

Passons’ campaign values are taped to the wall of his office. here—the insiders, the folks with ties to Sacramento and those sort of things—they set up a process or circumstance in which only certain Democratic candidates will

be able to get their message out… Having peeled back the onion on that, it’s the worst of politics in my view.”

Over the last few months especially, Passons has stepped up his platform to focus heavily on affordable housing. While it’s one of many issues that he’s passionate about, he sees affordable housing as something that correlates with many of the other issues the county struggles with including homelessness, unemployment and assisting seniors. The function of the Board of Supervisors is to delegate funds and even govern the organizations and programs overseen by the county of San Diego. Things like Health and Human Services, the San Diego County Office of Education and the Parks & Recreation department, among dozens of others. They also oversee the Department of Housing and Community Development Services (HCD), the county’s public housing authority, a department that has immense sway on funding for programs that deal in affordable housing, development, tenants’ rights and even homelessness.

Passons says he sees and understands the important role the BOS has in the lives of everyday people especially when it comes to housing. He likes to point out that since 2000, rents have gone up 36 percent while incomes for renters have only increased by four percent. It’s a startling stat, but Passons also says that he isn’t just offering lip service and what he calls “hollow platitudes from those who want to lead.” He recently unveiled a four-point “Housing4All” plan that aims to address the crisis. He released the Housing4All plan on his website (omarpassons.com) and while the plan is ambitious and broad, it does offer specifics on things like overhauling the county’s zoning code and expanding the Roberts/Jacob Housing Innovation Fund.

“The reason there isn’t an A-to-Z in the plan, down to the final details, is that this is about setting proitorites, policy and vision,” says Passons. “To get into the nittygritty, I think one of the places where government often falls apart is by not having everyone at the table to do the fine tuning on the plan. Just a couple years ago we were arguing about how to fund a billionaire’s football stadium while the county of Los Angeles was passing a $1.8 billion dollar bond to build 10,000 permanent supportive housing units, and they had everyone at the table. So I think it can be done if people check their ego at the door and focus on solving the issues.”

Fletcher’s website and Twitter page seem to churn out high-level endorsements on a daily basis, but have yet to release any such plan similar to Housing4All. Passons says he just wants to focus on the issues, and that it serves to reframe the debate and get other candidates to pay attention to what he considers to be important topics.

“Our campaign raised among the most money of any thus far in the cycle from regular people. Mostly of these donors are parents, small business people, they’re neighbors and they’re seniors who recognize the importance of having somebody who isn’t afraid to take a position and then expand on it after doing the research.”

Write to seth.combs@sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | OPINION

EDWIN DECKER

SORDID

TALES

Sheriff Joe and the new guidelines for presidential pardons

M

y cold, black-hole hatred of Sheriff Joe Arpaio is so fathomless, it took several hours to decide upon the words with which to insult him.

But this is what I came up with: Sheriff Joe—the Constitution-raping, racial profiling Sheriff of Maricopa County—is but a wart on a boil on a canker on a herpes sore festering in the rectum of a maggot in the bowels of a rat that is rotting in the basement of human decency.

I’d follow that with, Oh snap! if I actually thought the guy would ever read the thing.

Arpaio, as you probably know, was convicted for standing in contempt of a court order demanding he— oh the nerve of these activist judges—uphold the Constitution. In particular, he was ordered to follow the part that prohibits law enforcement from stopping or detaining people based on the color of their skin. Pardoning this racist rat-maggot is a clear message that law enforcement is free to illegally target brown people without repercussions. This is white supremacy periscoping its disgusting head over the corpse of the 4th Amendment.

There are so many problems with this pardon. When it comes to contempt, there’s the inherent contempt for the Constitution, its contempt for the judiciary, its contempt for laws prohibiting contempt and its contempt for the oath of office. I mean, the President absolved an elected official who solemnly swore to uphold the Constitution yet proudly shat on the 4th Amendment which states, in no uncertain terms—”Hey rat-warts! Stop hassling Mexicans already!” or something to that effect.

But with Arpaio’s defiance of rule of law, one has to wonder—what with the Fourth Amendment and common human decency and all—how on Earth this pardon is even legal. Well, because the Constitution says it is and with few limitations. Most legal nerds agree, the power of executive clemency is the least restricted of all, which is why Trump is free to exonerate someone for blatantly defying the very same Constitution he swore to protect.

Ain’t that a gas? I mean, after all the trouble the founders took instituting this impressive system of checks and balances, what were they thinking when they awarded nearly imperial authority to the Commander in Chief? Surely they must have foreseen how it would be abused. Such as quid pro quo, like when Bill Clinton infamously pardoned Mark Rich and others who had donated millions to Clinton’s presidential library. There is also the possibility of using clemency as a reward for silence, such as many believe is happening now with the Arpaio pardon. Because it is entirely reasonable to believe that the reason Trump bypassed the normal vetting process was to send a quick message to his colluding Russian henchmen as if to say, “If you keep your mouth shut, I’ll pardon the shit out of you.”

And then there’s the most ridiculous potential for

abuse of all—that a president can actually pardon himself which, well—isn’t that just dumb?

So why do we have executive clemency in the first place? Well, the concept of pardons have been around about as long as there were people to be pardoned.

However the founders borrowed the concept from the Brits. It was called The Royal English Prerogative of Kings and though it was wildly abused for centuries, the founders defined three legitimate reasons to retain it.

For one, it can be used to as an executive act of mercy or the righting of justice, such as when Thomas Jefferson pardoned everyone convicted of sedition for the not-crime of talking smack about the government.

Secondly, it can be offered to accomplices in exchange for testimony against bigger fish.

Lastly, it can be used to keep the peace after an internal conflict and/or as a bargaining chip to procure surrender. The most obvious example being when Lincoln absolved everyone on the Confederate side of the Civil War—a decision which facilitated their surrender and helped bring the country together in the aftermath.

So, as it turns out, the power to pardon isn’t an affront to our system of checks and balances. It is, itself, another check and/or balance. Which is great, as I’m all for balancing and checking.

But surely we can retain the pros of executive clemency while preventing its cons. It seems like we only need to check and balance the pardon process, which is a check and balance of the judicial system which is a… OK, yeah, I know, we’re getting into a bit of infinite regression here. But that’s how it is with checks and balances. You gotta keep checking and balancing! Which is why I am suggesting a pardon committee. We’ll call it, The Committee to Balance and Check Executive Pardons to Prevent Presidents from Pulling Sketchy Bullshit Too Much. Then we come up with a list of rules and guidelines, which the committee will apply to potential recipients chosen by the president and decide, by majority, if they meet the requirements.

I admit I haven’t worked out all the rules yet, but the first should be that all pardons must meet one of the three stated purposes. We should also include a stipulation that a President cannot grant clemency to witnesses in an investigation against himself. And of course, no self-pardons. And while I’m not against presidents absolving individuals who contributed to their campaigns and whatnot, it should be asserted that all monies must be returned before a pardon can be rubber-stamped. That will remove the profit motivation. And, last but not least, there should be absolutely no chance of clemency for any Constitutionraping, racist, rat-maggots with festering rectumboils rotting in the basements of human decency.

Pardoning this racist ratmaggot is a clear message that law enforcement is free to illegally target brown people without repercussions.

@SDCITYBEAT

Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

UP FRONT | VOICES

THERE SHE

ALEX ZARAGOZA

GOZ

The audacity of nope

F

uuuuuuuuck. Fuck, fuck, what the godawful fuck?

That seems to be coming out of my mouth a lot lately. Like, daily, even hourly.

Because there isn’t an hour during the waking moments that doesn’t elicit at least one “fuuuuuck.” As a result, everything good is at least slightly terrible. Fuck.

At the office, I regularly look up from my Twitter feed and and say “did you see this shit?” to my co-worker, and then we commiserate in an audible “fuuuuck.” Minutes later my phone goes off and the lock screen shows a text from my dude that reads, “Can you believe what this asshole did now?”

Racism, discrimination and bigotry are nothing new in America. It’s an everyday occurrence for Black people and people of color, and it goes back generations. It’s violent and frightening, and very real.

So what makes all the trash that’s plaguing our country so shocking and surprising?

Why are people collectively gasping in disbe-

lief that in 2017 a group of frat bros with faces only a fist could love cleaned out the patio accessories department of every Lowe’s in their county and marched to spread hate, attacking people and killing one woman along the way?

Why are we infuriated, sometimes to tears, when the president, not known for having a “wait, let’s hear everything out so we can make a rational, informed decision” attitude, didn’t condemn their acts immediately, but instead took a #NotAllWhiteSupremacists stance? And why are we gut punched that he would pardon Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt for targeting Latinos and detaining undocumented immigrants in inhumane conditions? Why am I upset right now that he’s taking away DACA, which has given thousands of undocumented youth a chance at having the right to education and jobs? Why doesn’t he want us to be great?

Why does he only reserve greatness for his people?

I keep hearing “it’s 2017” as if we left

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

overt racism behind like the 8-track cassette or assassinations of civil rights leaders. Who didn’t see this coming? Eight years of President Obama being threatened with being hung by a noose and having crass cartoons depicting him eating watermelon or as an ape or beheaded, and y’all really didn’t see this on the horizon? This isn’t The Sixth Sense. This isn’t a jaw-dropping plot twist.

This is Signs, and the signs were everywhere.

The privileged just didn’t have to or didn’t want to see them.

I find small joy in a neo-Nazi getting the smirk knocked off his face or crying about his life being ruined. I raise a fist when I see people march in protest. I hit “like” at a video of a woman standing up to a white lady’s racist tirade while her paper towels are rung up at Target. I, too, have become violent in my bloodthirst, because I’m angry. I’m thirsty for vengeance. Sometimes I try to check myself, telling myself that love is greater. And sometimes I cannonball into the thirst because fuck those people.

So what can we do in this era of Trumpageddon, where hate is loud and constantly reminding you of its presence?

Personally, I don’t want to forget, nor do I want to stop being outraged or pushed into action. I honestly believe this administration and the stress that it’s inflicting on our collective minds and bodies is going to cut five years off of my life, and Donald Trump does not deserve those years. Those years belong to me and the young Brazilian man I hire to wash my hover car while I sit in my

space jacuzzi drinking moon chardonnay.

For my own self-care, I’ve forced myself to disconnect whenever I can. My job forces me to keep an eye on the news for at least 10 hours a day, but I’ve made sure to back away from social media and news outlets for at least a couple hours after work. Just because the news is 24 hours now doesn’t mean I need to watch it for 24 hours, even if I work in news. This is not turning off reality. It’s taking a step back for your mental health when and if you can.

I make sure I eat, because I easily forget to and then end up shoving a handful of pistachios or a cheeseburger in my mouth before bed. I make sure to drink water throughout the day so my body doesn’t calcify under stress. Trash TV is a must, or re-watching shows or movies that bring happiness. I surrender myself to a Bravo reality show, hiding my phone if I have to, and let that lying-ass bitch Phaedra Parks take my mind off of the world’s atrocities for an hour. They’ll be there when I come back. I call my mom or text my friends, and make plenty of dick jokes to break the edginess.

Walking and listening to socially conscious rap or cheesy pop music helps too. Eating some fucking candy is rad too.

Whatever healthy-ish thing makes us feel good, we should be doing more of it. It’s just a way to keep the hope and fight alive while waiting for the next Nazi to get punched.

There She Goz appears every third week.

Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE

A taste of a less-seen corner of the Middle East

P

erhaps I should have known or at least suspected.

Middle Eastern restaurants in lightly retrofitted chain spots are hardly unusual, sure. And the light-box, pole-top sign depicting a vaguely Arabic castle inside a walled city added little to the equation.

But it was the hand-painted sign that should have been a tip-off; the one that should have said there was something different inside. Something every bit as unique as the restaurant’s name: Hadramout Restaurant (5841 El Cajon Blvd.).

There is no shortage of Middle Eastern restaurants in San Diego County. The best offer the soulful cooking that Arab hospitality dictates be offered to guests. And at Hadramout—named for the region at the south tip of the Arabian Peninsula that is now the war-torn nation of Yemen—hospitality is offered on every plate.

If there were only one dish to try at Hadramout, it would be the Lamb Mandi. If they only had that one selection on the menu, it would still be reason enough to visit. The dish, frankly, sounds odd. “Steamed lamb shank with smoked rice,” as our waiter—a thin, middle-aged Jordanian man—described it. But if something makes no sense and is still on the menu it either (a.) definitely should be ordered, or; (b.) is cause for running to the hills. In this case, it was the former.

Traditionally a Yemeni dish is made by parboiling lamb before finishing it in a pit suspended over hot coals and served over rice cooked along in those coals. In our waiter’s defense, it’s a dish that defies description. How can the lamb be so flavorful without caramelization on the surface, or the rice so smoky? But the flavors were intense, focused and complementary. This, I couldn’t help but think, is what lamb really tastes like.

@SDCITYBEAT

And it wasn’t a one-off. Chicken shawarma is a classic throughout the region. The Hadramout version is traditional and comes wrapped in lavash bread with classic shawarma seasonings such as cumin, paprika, garlic powder, cinnamon, turmeric and allspice. But it was the addition of garlic sauce (toum), essentially an aioli, that put the entire affair over the top. The flavors were all comforting and familiar but somehow came together in an altogether different way.

Not everything at Hadramout was great. In fact, the stuffed grape leaves were rock hard and flavorless bricks of leaf-wrapped compressed rice that might as well have come out of a can. Dipping them in the toum helped but shouldn’t have had to.

MICHAEL GARDINER

Lamb Mandi But even some of the more standard Middle Eastern fare was a step better than most. The falafel was perfectly executed: crisp on the outside, moist inside. Hadramout’s hummus was garlicky, creamy and had just enough tahini to give it a nutty flavor without too much bitterness. But with the addition of shawarma-spiced beef, the cumin and sweet spices perfectly complemented the hummus’ flavor profile.

There was a level of care and effort that went into that hand-painted sign. So too was there a similar care and craftsmanship in that lamb mandi, not to mention in the inclusion of the toum and the balance of that hummus.

I should have known.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | DRINK

THE

BY ANDREW DYER

BEERDIST Sixers sell, bombers are bombing

T

he 22-ounce beer bottle, or bomber, once dominated packaged craft beer sales. But UPC scan data compiled by the Brewers Association quantifies what many have likely observed just walking into a liquor store—cans have taken a significant bite out of the glass bomber’s market share. Since 2013, craft beer cans as a percentage of sales volume has more than tripled, from 5.3 percent to 17.2, with no sign of slowing down.

It’s not just cans killing the bomber, though—it’s also six-pack bottles. The price point on six-packs, canned or bottled, is cheaper per ounce than bombers. Considering these trends, is the iconic bomber doomed?

Geoi Bachoua, owner of Bine & Vine bottle shop, thinks they are.

“For sure, bombers are dying,” he says.

“There’s so much good beer available now in six-packs you don’t really have to buy a bomber anymore.”

When Bachoua began selling craft beer at his father’s Imperial Beach drug store in 2001, bombers were the standard for upstart breweries. They provided the best price-perounce profit for breweries and were more cost-effective to produce. They still are, but a brewery start-up today would need to consider shifting consumer preferences before settling on one packaging method or the other.

“If a new startup is making beer the best format is still 22-ounce bombers,” Bachoua says.

“But you have to move to six packs as soon as possible and, if possible, make them cans.”

Susie Baggs, owner and CEO of Brown Bag Beverage, Inc., a boutique distributor, says she would advise breweries against going with bombers.

“We’re kind of the middleman and we know what retailers are looking for,” she says. “I would advise either cans or 12-ounce, bottled six-packs.”

Back at Bine & Vine, Bachoua also went on to say that most of his customers preferred six packs, whether bottled or canned.

“Once a brewery moves a beer to six packs and continues to sell the same beer in 22-ounce bombers, I get rid of the bombers right away,” he said.

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

“The six-packs are what’s going to sell.”

Some beers still do well in bombers, however.

Specialty, one-off beers still sell well, according to Baggs.

“There is still growth and steady sales in higher-end products,” she says, “such as Barrel-aged beer and sours.”

Baggs did say the shift away from bombers has had a negative effect on consumer choice, noting that the shift to cans and 12-ounce bottles might lead to breweries only packaging high-volume sellers.

“With bombers you get a lot more options,” she says. “In the old days you’d see IPAs, pilsners, reds, stouts and scotch ales, but now what you see ANDREW DYER

Geoi Bachoua of Bine & Vine is more breweries limiting their options. You’re seeing a lot more IPAs and pilsners.”

The shift away from bombers, while challenging for some breweries, is a little less painful thanks to advances in packaging, specifically in canning. Baggs says mobile canning and the ability to wrap labels on them instead of buying thousands of pre-printed ones has lowered the cost to breweries.

“The consumer enjoys it,” she says. “From a price standpoint and the ease of consumption, they’re the ones winning.”

The Beerdist appears every other week.

Write to andrewd@sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

SHORTlist

EVENTS

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

BALBOA PARK

IMAGINE ALL THE (DEAD) PEOPLE

“The picture and sound is light years ahead of If a quick glance at the box office results reveals anything, it’s that Americans have a seem- what it used to be,” Rodriguez says.

And whereas the fest was somewhat limited ingly insatiable appetite for horror films. Why else in what it showed in the past, it has expanded would that make that many Saw sequels?

We get it. The CityBeat staff loves a good scare, to include sci-fi, comedies and even musicals. If COURTESY HORRIBLE IMAGININGS FILM FESTIVAL those films all have but we also like a movone theme in comie that makes us think. mon though, it’s that That’s what makes they’re all dark in nathe Horrible Imaginture. ings Film Festival so “Our programming bloody awesome (pun is something that I intended). It’s three hope will help open days of curated feapeople’s eyes or at tures and shorts that least challenge their defy the clichéd trappreconceived notions pings of the typical about genre cinema horror film. and what it can offer,” “I just began to Nasty Rodriguez says. wonder why there Rodriguez goes on to talk about the “wide vawasn’t one in San Diego,” says festival founder Miguel Rodriguez. “Then I just thought that I’d riety” of films and programming in the fest. Highhave to start one myself… I was just hoping for the lights include a Friday night opening that focuses on local filmmakers, post-screening panels, an best.”

Now in its eighth year, the fest has grown in LGBT block of films on Saturday, and a Sunday tribleaps and bounds, increasing in popularity and at- ute to legendary director George Romero.

It all happens Friday, Sept. 8 through Sunday, tendance every year. Whereas it started humbly in a DIY space in the East Village, it now takes place at Sept. 10 and tickets range from $25 to $100 for VIP the prestigious Museum of Photographic Arts (1649 passes. Times vary from day-to-day, but readers can see the full lineup and times at hifilmfest.com.

El Prado).

DOWNTOWN

BLUE IN THE FACE San Diego will be singin’ sad songs and grooving to guitars once again at this year’s San Diego Blues Festival. The annual event features a variety of acts including Joe Louis Walker, Big John and the Nationals, Blue Largo and the California Honeydrops. Grammy winner and memCOURTESY SAN DIEGO BLUES FEST ber of the Blues and Rock and Roll halls of fame Mavis Staples will be headlining the festival. VIP ticketholders receive access to a shaded VIP viewing area, private bar service and a catered lunch.

Super VIP ticketholders receive all of the same perks, along with access Mavis Staples to Friday’s preconcert party, featuring entertainment by Robin Henkel. What’s best, proceeds from the fest benefit the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank.

The event kicks off at noon on Saturday, Sept.

9 at the downtown Embarcadero Marina Waterfront Park (400 Kettner Blvd.). Tickets are $25 to $250, available at sdbluesfest.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

CHULA VISTA

GAYWATCH It doesn’t seem so long ago that San Diego was in full Pride mode, but in Chula Vista, the 10th annual South Bay PRIDE Art & Music Festival aims to keep the celebration going. Held on Saturday, Sept. 9 from noon to 7 p.m., the event will feature the usual “artisan alley” showcasing some local gourmet food trucks, craft beer, wine and spirit vendors. There’ll be three music stages including The DJ Stage and The Port of SD Stage, which will be housing the likes of The Hooch, Funk Shui, Social Animal and Ingenue, just to name a few. There’s also The Industry Stage which will host local punk and rock surf bands such as Chutes, Tube Sock and more. The festival welcomes all ages and takes place at Bayside Park (999 Bayside Pkwy).

Parking costs money, but the event is free though a $10 donation is suggested to benefit the South Bay Alliance. southbaypride.org

STEVE WOOD

9. Free. facebook.com/symbologistgallery

Frequencies at Keller Gallery, Point Loma Nazarene Uniersity, 3900 Lomaland Drive, Point Loma. A solo exhibition of new paintings and drawings by artist Stephen P. Curry that deal in geometric patterns. Features an artist talk. Opening from 5 to 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 6. Free. 619-849-2396.

HEndangered: Exploring California’s Changing Ecosystems at Mesa College Art Gallery, 7250 Mesa College Drive, Clairemont. An interactive and educational exhibition featuring eight artists who creatively examine the continuing devastation of our local landscape. From 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7. Free. facebook.com/events/146302825946483 Victoria Huckins at The Blue Azul Collection, 902 W. University Ave., Hillcrest.

Huckins will debut her first solo exhibition with pieces that draw on her early experiences in the Philippines, as well as her travels around the world. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8. Free.

858.412.4150, theblueazulcollection.com HMonet’s �������������������������� Étretat������������������� : Destination & Mo� tif at Timken Museum of Art, 1500 El Prado, Balboa Park. The San Diego debut of two major oil paintings by Claude Monet of the quaint fishing village and the surrounding cliffs of Étretat. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8. Free. 619-2395548, timkenmuseum.org Shelley Reed at Lux Art Institute, 1550 El Camino Real, Encinitas. The New Yorkbased illustrator will showcase her signature black-and-white works, which draw on classical paintings of the past. Opening from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8. Free.

760-436-6611, luxartinstitute.org HBarbara Sexton and Tom Driscoll at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave, Logan Heights. Works from Sexton’s California project 1990-94 will be on display in the main gallery, while Tom Driscoll’s Coils 2000-08 will be on view in the special projects gallery. Opening from 5 to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 9. Free. 619-851-4083, breadandsaltsandiego.com HIn Search of the Monkey Girl and other work at Joseph Bellows Gallery, 7661 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The exhibition of photographic works from Randal Levenson will feature photographs selected from three bodies of work from the artist’s vintage black and white photographs from the 1970s to large-scale color prints from this decade. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m. Sat� urday, Sept. 9. Free. josephbellows.com Ross Jaylo at Distinction Gallery, 317 E Grand Ave. Suite A, Escondido. The oil painter will showcase new and previous works, which dabble in surrealism with a heavy emphasis on skulls. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. Free.

760-707-2770, distinctionart.com Omnia Mea Mecum Porto at Thumbprint Gallery, 920 Kline St., La Jolla. The opening for an exhibit featuring creative works from artists including Armando Gonzalez, Christina Maslar, Eric Michael Hancock, Ha Kyung Moon and several others. Opening from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. Free.

858-354-6294, thumbprintgallerysd.com Invisible and Resistance Art Exhibi� tion at Iron Fist Brewing, 1985 National Ave., Barrio Logan. An exhibition featuring a variety of works, live music, a short theatre performance, interpretive dance, spoken word poetry and more. The event is part of a larger 10-day festival celebrating bi-national theatre and arts. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. Free. facebook.com/events/126440727988580 Chapel at Symbologist Gallery, 2060 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. An installation of new works by local painter Dan Camp.

Opening from 6 to 9 pm. Saturday, Sept.

South Bay PRIDE Art & Music Festival

H = CityBeat picks

Daughters of Liberation at Queen Bee’s Art and Cultural Center, 3925 Ohio St., North Park. An art exhibit promoting women’s empowerment and the gender shift taking place in society. Artist Orbry Chamblee Jr. will be discussing his paintings and the symbolism behind them.

From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9.

Free. orbrychamblee.com Artistry Through Deaf Eyes at The Studio Door, 3750 30th St., North Park. An exhibit celebrating deaf visual artists and diversity in the art community. Interpreters will be on hand, and several pieces will include a QR code for more information in sign language. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 9. Free. 619-255-4920, thestudiodoor.com HPainters Room at R.B. Stevenson Gallery, 7661 Girard Ave. Suite 201, La Jolla.

New paintings by local artists Charles Arnoldi, Jacob Melchi, Michael Reafsnyder and Britton Tolliver. Opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. Free. 858-4593917, rbstevensongallery.com HEmerald City at the Hill Street Country Club, 530 South Coast Hwy, Oceanside.

An exhibit of artwork by Allison Renshaw, whose mixed-media work uses fragmented materials. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 9. Free. 760-385-3743, thehillstreetcountryclub.org Fresh Delights, Violent Heartbreaks at CM Curatorial, 2070 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. The closing reception for CM Curatorial’s one-year anniversary exhibit.

Features new work by artists from the inaugural year such as Adrian Sierra Garcia, Matt Stallings and more. From 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. Free. 858-3619052, basile-ie.com HAlley Art Festival at Downtown Vista Village, Vista. This annual fest includes a film festival, live music, a public art installation, interactive murals, a makers market, a beer garden and much more. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10. Free.

760-473-4516, alleyartfestival.org

BOOKS William Daniels at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild will sign and discuss his memoir, There I Go Again, a document of his career. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7.

Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com HKirsten Imani Kasai at Women’s Museum of California, 2730 Historic Decatur Road Suite #103, Point Loma. The acclaimed writer will read selections from The House of Erzulie ������������ and her memoir-in-progress, The Alchemy of Darkness.

At 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10. $5. 619233-7963, womensmuseumca.org Alexandra Bracken and Tamara Ire� land Stone at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave. Ste. 100, Clairemont. The two YA authors will sign and discuss their latest novels, The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding (Bracken) and Click’d (Stone). At 7 p.m. Monday, Sept.

11. Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Jim Fergus at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling author will sign and discuss his new Western novel, The Vengeance of Mothers. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12. Free. 858454-0347, warwicks.com HSebastian Barry at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling author will sign and discuss his seventh novel, Days Without End. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12. Free. 858454-0347, warwicks.com

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

COMEDY Jim Jefferies at The Park at Viejas Casino & Resort, 5000 Willows Road, Alpine. The Australian stand-up comedian, best known for his work in FX’s Legit and his newest show on Comedy Central, will perform his signature brand of fiery political comedy.

At 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8. $55. viejas.com HTabled at Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Riff City Comedy performs a live stage reading of Men In Black, using elements from the original drafts as well as some audio and visual accompaniment. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13.

Free. riffcitycomedy.com

FILM HHorrible Imaginings Film Festival at the Museum of Photographic Arts, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park. The annual film festival dedicated to all things macabre, from dead trick-or-treaters to paranormal presences, and everything in between. Panel discussions, Q&A, and discussions about the horror genre will also take place. Various times. Friday, Sept. 8 through Sunday, Sept. 10. $25-$100. 443-834-3742, hifilmfest.com HEl Impacto De La Frontera at The Front Arte Cultura, 147 W San Ysidro Blvd., San Ysidro. A screening of the new doc that focuses on the environmental and health impacts of the U.S.Mexico border on the communities living nearby. A discussion on the topic will follow. From 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept.

12. Free. 619-428-1115, facebook.com/ events/1917863021819759

FOOD & DRINK Pizza and Beer Festival at The Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier, 1000 N. Harbor Drive, Downtown. Unlimited pours and pizza tastings from local and regional craft breweries and restaurants. Plus boutique vendors, DJs, games and more. From 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. $45-55. pizzaandbeerfest.com Tijuana Craft Brewery Hop at San Ysidro Transit Center, San Ysidro. Turista Libre is taking participants on a tour to three of Baja’s best breweries. Tickets include round-trip border transportation, tastings at each stop and tacos at two local taquerias. From 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. $70. turistalibre.com

MUSIC HSan Diego Blues Festival at Embarcadero Marina Waterfront Park, 400

Kettner Blvd., Downtown. The annual music fest features a variety of acts including Joe Louis Walker, Big John and the Nationals, Mavis Staples and more.

Benefits the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank. From noon to 8 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 9. $25-$200. sdbluesfest. com HUstad Irshad Khan at San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

The sitar master, who made his national debut at age 13 in front of Queen Elizabeth, will perform traditional ragas, as well as exploring music outside Indian classics. From 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10. $30-$100. 619-232-7931, sdmart.org

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HThe Foundry: A Reading Series at The Rose, 2219 30th St., South Park. So Say We All’s literary reading series brings together writers Amelia Gray, Jac Jemc, Emma Smith-Stevens, Nicholas Bredie and Skyler McCurine. Beer, wine and food will all be available for purchase at The Rose. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. $5 suggested donation. sosayweallonline. com HTwain’s America at Cygnet Theatre Company, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town. A selection of readings of various authors

by Write Out Loud performers including Tim West, Cynthia Gerber, Mark Christopher Lawrence and Walter Ritter. From 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, Sept. 11. 619-2978953, writeoutloudsd.com

POLITICS & COMMUNITY HSips & Civility: Fighting Fake News at San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., Downtown. An evening of free drinks and civil political conversation about how to deal with the issue of fake news. Brooke Binkowski, managing editor of Snopes, will be the guest speaker.

Attendees must RSVP on Facebook for free drink tickets. From 6 to 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 12. Free. 858-483-8696, lwvsandiego.org

SPECIAL EVENTS HFirst Thursday at Lafayette Hotel, 2223 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. San Diego Made’s monthly music night and pop-up shop that features local makers, live music and drink specials. From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7. Free.

619-296-2101, sandiegomade.org Fiesta! After Dark at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla.

The official afterparty for the venue’s 28th

12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

BOOKS: THE FLOATING LIBRARY Darkness at high noon

R

eading Sip, Brian Allen Carr’s new novel from Soho Press, is to slide into a demented post-apocalyptic world where people with money and influence have retreated inside giant domes while shadow addicts prowl the wasted lands looking for any living thing that casts a shadow.

Mira, who can best be described as a moral center of the novel, is a young woman whose mother is a shadow sipper but is too weak to feed her habit on her own. Mira yearns to leave home but spends her days hunting for shadows from small animals—birds, mice, rabbits—and then bringing them home to her mother.

“She’d never stolen from carrion crows. They usually flew too high, weren’t between her and the sun, but she knew doves well. Rabbits. Squirrels. She didn’t like to take from mice, because sometimes you’d take the whole thing, and she understood the horror that brought them. How they’d never sleep on their own again.”

Although Sip is Carr’s first novel, he’s no stranger to readers of the bizarre and the strange. He is the author of the short story collections Short Bus and Vampire Conditions and the novellas Edie & the Low-Hung Hands, Motherfucking Sharks and The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World, all of

annual gala. There will be music by The Voices, plus street tacos and margaritas.

From 9 to 11:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8. $50. 858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org HSouth Bay Pride at Bayside Park, 999 Bayside Parkway, Chula Vista. The 10th annual art and music festival celebrating love and equality includes live music and DJs, artisans, food trucks, beer and spirits, kayaking and more. From noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9. $10 suggested donation. southbaypride.org Yoga for Hope at Liberty Station, 2455 Cushing Road, Point Loma. The seventh annual event raises awareness about the benefits of yoga practice and raises funds for City of Hope to fight life-threatening illnesses. From 7 to 11:15 a.m.

Saturday, Sept. 9. $25-$35. 626-2564673, yoga4hope.org Brazilian Day Fair and Parade at Belmont Park, 3146 Mission Blvd., Mission Bay. The Brazilian Institute for Arts and Culture hosts the 10th annual event with food, beer garden, live performances and

which were published by independent presses.

Carr was born in Texas and still spends time there. No matter how unusual his stories may be, they have the bones of a Western story and Sip is no exception. There’s a train and some heavily armed domers, as well as shadow eaters who can stretch and change their form like vampires looking for a fix.

The action ramps up when Mira makes her way to The Town of Lost Souls, presided over by a brutish majordomo named Doc who has invented a machine that keeps severed limbs alive so that shadow sippers can feed.

“As the machine’s master, each evening, whether or not all the shadows had been consumed from each limb, he’d order a switch on the thing to be flipped. The blood slowed to a stall. The limbs wriggled and fidgeted, kicked and punched. When they were all still, essentially dead, the switch was thrown again. The blood flowed. The limbs reanimated. The process brought their shadows back to them.”

Whether one reads Sip as a psychedelic Western or an analogy for a society addicted to bleeding the planet dry of its natural resources, Carr serves up a heady brew with plenty of nightmare fuel.

Carnaval parade. From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 10. Free. 619-867-3231, braziliandaysandiego.com HSurf Dog Surf-a-Thon at Del Mar Dog Beach, 3200 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar. Come watch some water-happy dogs catch some waves (along with their owners) at this annual competition. Includes vendors, food, and costume contests. Proceeds benefit Helen Woodward Animal Center. From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10. Free. 858755-1556, animalcenter.org HTats for Tushies Colon Cancer Research Benefit at Avalon Tattoo II, 3039 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. This event will feature specialty tattoos at a discounted price of $60, along with t-shirts, tacos and raffle tickets for sale. Proceeds help support colon cancer research at UCSD. From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday, Sept.

10. 619-280-1957, avalontattootwo.com Noche Mexicana at Oceanside Civic Center, 300 N. Coast Highway, Oceanside.

A celebration of Mexican culture with live

—Jim Ruland

music, folk ballet, food, retail booths and family-friendly activities. From 1 to 7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 10. Free. facebook.com/ nochemexicanaoc

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS Tom Steyer Talks Climate at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 2728 6th Ave., Park West. A discussion about the current issues in climate change politics and NextGen Climate’s work to prevent climate disaster and promote prosperity. Councilmember Barbara Bry will also speak.

From 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7. $10 suggested donation. sandiego350.org HArt, Commerce and Design at Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. A night in connection with the exhibit KANBAN: Traditional Shop Signs in Japan. Speakers will explore contemporary themes of retail environments and graphic design. From 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13. $5-$15. sandiego.aiga.org

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@SDCityBeat

september 6, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

THEATER DAREN SCOTT

From left: Deanna Driscoll, Abby Depuy and Rachel Esther Tate in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

Family ties unwound

I

t’s hard not to feel bad for Tillie Hunsdorfer, the teenage science prodigy in Paul Zindel’s The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. Her mother Beatrice is severely depressed, bitter and remorselessly mean. Her sister Ruth is afflicted with both physical and emotional problems. The household boarder is a frail old woman who moves via walker and never speaks. That Tillie, a gentle and dreamy presence, does more than merely survive this misery is the salvation of this despairing and often brutal story.

Cygnet Theatre’s production of Zindel’s play— which failed on Broadway but won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize and became a well-respected film a year later—spares none of the script’s harsh realities or cruelties. Gamma Rays is not escapist entertainment, but director Rob Lutfy sensitively directs a stalwart cast. Deanna Driscoll commits heart and soul to the deep-seated complexities of Beatrice, who is at once narcissistic and self-loathing, a person painfully starving for love but unable to give it. Driscoll’s unselfconscious performance is also a brave one. Though the daughters are narrative satellites of the Beatrice character, both Rachel Esther Tate as Ruth and Abby Depuy as Tillie distinguish themselves fearlessly as well. Tate’s harrowing mania as the older daughter makes for some of the evening’s most unsettling moments.

The play’s memorable but unwieldy title refers to Tillie’s science project: exposing marigolds to radioactivity and assessing the results. For Tillie, the experience is one of otherworldly wonder, and given her family, she needs another world. Her profound relationship to her project is emphasized in recurrent sequences that are softly and thoughtfully choreographed.

Gamma Rays plays out on an appropriately messy set by Charles Murdock Lucas (with properties designed by Rachel Hengst) that evokes both the grim truths and prevailing hopelessness of the Hunsdorfer household. Their domain is not one that audiences will wish to visit in real life, and the hope is that the real-life Tillies out there will find their freedom and their joy someday.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Marigolds runs through Sept. 24 at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. $38-$59; cygnettheatre.com

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: Benny & Joon: A world premiere musical based on the ‘90s rom-com about two eccentrics falling in love despite the disapproval of a caretaker sibling. Directed by Jack Cummings III, it opens Sept. 7 at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org Passage Into Fear: A woman tries to solve a mystery on a cross-country train ride in this staged adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes. Presented by the North County Players, it opens Sept. 7 at the Star Repertory Theatre in Escondido. northcountyplayers.org Roz & Ray: Set in San Diego, this new play tells the tale of a single father who falls in love with a doctor who is seemingly offering a miracle cure for the man’s sick sons. Written

by Karen Hartman, it opens Sept. 7 at the Lyceum Theatre in Downtown. sdrep.org Accomplice: Rupert Holmes’ comedic mystery is set at an English retreat for the affluent where all seems well until someone ends up dead. Presented by Scripps Ranch Theatre, it opens Sept. 8 at the Legler Benbough Theatre in Scripps Ranch. scrippsranchtheatre.org Little Shop of Horrors: The classic comedic musical about a nerdy flower shop employee who develops a bizarre relationship with a talking carnivorous plant. Directed

by Shirley Johnston, it opens Sept. 8 at the Coronado Playhouse. coronadoplayhouse.com Arak: A new play about a Christian seminary student who falls for a female imam much to the chagrin of both their families.

Presented by Community Actors Theatre, it opens for three performances Sept. 9 at the Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rolando. communityactorstheatre.com The Addams Family: A musical comedy based on the creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky, but otherwise beloved family. Presented by Star Repertory Theatre, it opens Sept. 9 at the Lyceum Theatre in Downtown. starrepertorytheatre.com

For full listings, visit

“Theater” under Culture at sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

TORREY BAILEY

t’s not unfair to say San Diego State University has a reputation.

Ever since the college first appeared on Playboy’s list of party schools in 1987, the stigma has stuck. Recently, however, the school has been edging away from its stereotype. This year, it was ranked among the best colleges in the nation by the Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report. The university has been applauded for increasing graduation rates, and recognized for its study abroad, military-affiliated and LGBT programs.

This student life leaves a mark on most aspects of the College Area. Montezuma Road, Campanile Drive and College Avenue are at the center of it all. There are late-night taco shops blasting music for the young and inebriated. In the streets like Mary Lane, 54th and Dorothy—ones that sprawl out of the SDSU campus—there are party houses filled with Aztec teammates and academics. The 10-bedroom mini dorms in which many of them live have become as controversial for residential families as short-term vacation homes have become for the rest of the city.

But further out from SDSU, a diverse population of immigrants and refugees have created their own community. Lining El Cajon are hookah bars, pawn shops and multicultural cuisine (including a favorite Jamaican restaurant of the ex-College Area mailman and current CityBeat web editor, Ryan Bradford). Like any neighborhood, it has hidden parks, claims to fame and even a strangelynamed mortuary. However, in the end, the east San Diego neighborhood’s vibe always refers back to the SDSU red and black.

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SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 15

PETER MATA

ANN COTTRELL

FRANK BATTISTONE

Night Crew Leader at Trujillo’s Taco Shop

SDSU professor emerita and College Area activist

Bartender at Effin’s Pub

The SDSU-adjacent taco shop Trujillo’s (5119 College Ave. and 6450 El Cajon Blvd.) is a go-to for late night drunchies.

The restaurant has become almost an extension of the parties and clubs that its customers have just left. Hip-hop plays TORREY BAILEY into the early hours of the morning as cashier Peter Mata fist bumps customers at the counter. Some have even asked whether there’s a cover charge at the door. “Before you taste the food, you taste the service,” says Mata, who considers himself the leader of the Trujillo’s night shift crew. Mata entered the family-run business after marrying the owner’s daughter, and in return, wants to make customers feel at home. He’s even learned how to say “thank you” and “you’re welcome” in 15 different languages to accommodate San Diego State’s international students. In return, some customers have introduced Mata to their parents, who have given him their phone number to contact in case their kid ever acts up. Aside from service, Trujillo’s is known for menu items designed by and named after SDSU fraternities. There’s the Phi Psi Burrito, Sigma Chi Crunchwrap and 20 others that are ordered late into the night. “It might say we close at four, but we’re not going to leave anybody hungry.”

“I met my husband here, in the romantic faculty lunchroom,” says Ann Cottrell of SDSU, laughing. She was formerly a sociology professor at the university, while her husband taught physics. The two have lived in the College Area since 1969, and their kids grew up playing on the campus’ grassy patches. Since becoming a professor emerita, Cottrell’s focus has been protecting the neighborhood’s essence in the face of mini dorms. “I get at least a letter a week to buy my house for cash,” she says. Often inaccurately pegged as a proponent of NIMBY and opponent of students, she says her message is misunderstood. “My bottom line is that when... the neighborhood becomes high turnover, you don’t have a neighborhood anymore.

TORREY BAILEY You have a commercial district.” Cottrell prefers the block parties, book clubs and community gatherings bonding the residents of College View Estates, where she lives.

However, Cottrell welcomes the idea of a commercial district like Little Italy off of Montezuma Road or College Avenue, noting the lack of local activities. She says the new South Campus Plaza is the first step, and just hopes for continued balance within the area. “It’s a great place to live as long as you can maintain a mix.”

Lead bartender Frank Battistone helped create a shot for Effin’s Pub (6164 El Cajon Blvd.) called the Dead Cat, which contains nine different liquors and, supposedly, tastes like Gatorade. Another signature drink is called Aztec Red. It’s essentially an Adios Motherfucker (pretty much every liquor on the shelf with blue liTORREY BAILEY queur) except red in honor of SDSU, which is understandably Effin’s target audience. “We’re usually the first bar for a lot of people at SDSU,” says Battistone. He’s worked at Effin’s for 15 years, all the while watching drinking habit evolutions. “When they’re 21, they buy whatever is on special or what’s cheap, usually Anheuser Busch products… and then when they get older around 23 or 24, they tend to have stronger beers and less of them.” He notices that students’ taste has recently shifted toward beer and away from hard alcohol. “It’s harder to get into SDSU than it used to be so people are more serious about their studies, so there’s not as much binge drinking.” Regardless of alcohol choice, Battistone says drinking at Effin’s is like biking with training wheels. “It’s a good place to educate yourself on proper bar etiquette... We kind of ease them along and make it safe for them to go out.”

—Torrey Bailey

16 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

@SDCITYBEAT

When celebrities go to college, it usually makes headlines, like when Natalie Portman attended Harvard. Or when Rivers Cuomo put Weezer on hold, also to attend Harvard.

(Nerds!). But most of the time, the alma maters of the famous are a thing of the past—a piece of trivia buried deep on a Wikipedia page. As it turns out, San Diego State University has had its share of famous alumni, from athletes to actors.

It’s pretty well known that San Diego Padre and baseball hall-of-famer Tony Gwynn was an Aztec, enrolling in 1978 before being drafted in 1981. And Gwynn later coached San Diego State’s baseball team after retiring from the Padres. Yet another of his notable colleagues attended SDSU in the ‘70s: Ted Giannoulas, aka the San Diego Chicken. His major? Journalism. (Hold on a minute, evaluating career…)

An even longer list of Marge screen and voice actors have Simpson crossed Campanile Drive in voiced by their day, however. Kathy Julie Kavner Najimy, who’s best known

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My first job in San Diego was delivering mail for the USPS in 92115, or College Area.

It was a tough job, but I learned a lot. In memoriam, here are a couple ways the neighborhood took me from mailboy to mailman.

My supervisor during this period was a large, slightly unhinged man who drove an F250 plastered with NRA bumper stickers.

He would also occasionally drop in on my route to see if I was staying on-task, which laced my workdays with paranoia. However, I discovered that Rolando Park (6600 Vigo Drive) was a good place for hiding. Located deep in Rolando Village, it’s actually a little league baseball field, but it’s so peaceful, and out-of-the-way that it didn’t matter.

Finding a place to eat was often a chalCarl Weathers as Apollo Creed lenge because I had to find somewhere that for Sister Act and Hocus Pocus, attended in was fast and centrally located (straying too the late ‘70s. San Diego-born Gregory Peck far from my route meant people didn’t get of Roman Holiday and To Kill a Mockingbird their Pennysaver on time, which, God forenrolled in 1934, transferring to UC Berke- bid). Ackee Tree The Real Jamaican Cuiley after one year. (Bailer.) Julie Kavner, sine (5712 El Cajon Blvd.) serves a lot of devoice of Marge Simpson, majored in drama licious variations on chicken and rice, and at SDSU, graduating in the class of 1971. they do it quickly.

And one of her classmates happened to be I also liked the McDonald’s (5824 MonAztec letterman, Action Jackson and Apollo tezuma Road) near campus because some Creed—Carl Weathers. With an alumni class women once hollered “hey, sexy mailman” like that, baby, you got a stew going. at me from the drive-thru. I’m still unsure if that’s the best or worst moment of my life.

—Jeff Terich But the most valuable lesson was when

JESSICA BRADFORD

Getting ready to go postal I found human shit in a collection box near 54th and El Cajon. Whenever I think my life sucks, I think well, at least it’s not that moment.

—Ryan Bradford

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

San Diego is notorious for its inability to retain born and breds. Rather, the city caters to transplants, and the College Area is no exception. There are students streaming in from all regions of the country, as well as from abroad. But, there’s also a large immigrant and refugee population here.

San Diego County receives more refugees than anywhere else in California, and they’re typically resettled within the larger College Area and into City Heights, La Mesa and El Cajon. There are at least six refugee agencies in the College Area alone. Alliance for African Assistance (5952 El Cajon Blvd.)

Volunteer Coordinator Sandee Olea says there are several reasons why, but first and foremost, it’s because of access to affordable housing and refugee services. Having agencies near SDSU is also helpful to the cause, Olea says, since that’s where the majority of their volunteer base comes from. Plus, the College Area has already established itself as a diverse area.

For as long as it’s been around, Goodbody Mortuary (5027 El Cajon Blvd.) has elicited chuckles from passers-by for it’s seemingTORREY BAILEY ly, eh, tongue-in-cheek name. For general manager Julie Tran, she’s more than aware of the reasons people often want to take a selfie in front of the sign.

“The Goodbodys were a real family. I still keep in touch with them,” says Tran, who says that the company she works for, Dignity Memorial, kept the name because it was so established. “We like to maintain the history.”

Inside, that history is noticeable and the place doesn’t feel solemn at all. The mortuary was originally built around a decadesold church that was moved from Little Italy in 1962 and the building itself will celebrate its 100th birthday next year. While Goodbody caters to all religions, most of their Sandee Olea services are Catholic and Buddhist. They even sport a blessed Buddhist shrine, the tural,” she says. “They’re starting to come only such shrine in San Diego. And despite up with their own businesses and different the fact that Tran was dressed all in black ways that they can help their own members when we visited, her calming personality is of the community... It’s not just people liv- infectious and often gives others a sense of ing near each other, but forming and flour- peace. ishing in their communities and giving back “Look, we know that people don’t want to society and providing jobs. It think it’s to be here. That this is the last place they pretty great.” want to be,” says Tran, who adds that she

—Torrey Bailey has known she wanted to work in the funer-

SETH COMBS

“If you go down El Cajon Boulevard and College Avenue towards the freeways, there’s lots of restaurants that are multicul-

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Julie Tran al business since she was 13-years-old. “We take pride in making people feel as comfortable as possible.”

—Seth Combs

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CULTURE | ART

SEEN LOCAL DIFFERENT STROKES

T

o hear Sammy Jean Wilson tell it, she’s always been different. Growing up in rural, largely white Wisconsin, her classmates would often ask her if she was adopted (her mother is Black and Native American, while her dad is white). As a child visiting her mother’s family in Detroit, she often wasn’t allowed to go outside.

“At my age, you would get called names or people would try to take you,” says Wilson.

“You’re either like a little doll to them or you’re just a disgrace.”

It was around middle school that Wilson (sammyjeanwilson.com) says she settled into her own Blackness and decided that was, indeed, what she identified as being. She dabbled in theater and painting before eventually ending up at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago. She eventually settled on portraiture painting thanks in large part to a unique visual ability.

“I have a fourth cone in my eyes so I’m able to see a little bit more color than what people can see,” says Wilson, who moved out to San Diego seven years ago with her fiancé, artist Robert Anrade. “Most people only have three, so you see a wider spectrum of color

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than what most people can see, and also you see colors within colors.”

This hyper-colored palette comes across in Four Women, a new showcase of works Wilson recently debuted at Fivespace (2579 University Ave.), a vintage music and décor store in North Park. Up through Sept. 19, Four Women, named after the iconic Nina Simone song, features portraits of four female musicians—Simone, Grace Jones, Erykah Badu and Sade— that, for Wilson, exemplify societal conceptions of Black women.

“They embody these moldings that have been presented but they also break that mold in a way, in their ROBERT ANDRADE own ways, by doing things that are out of character,” Wilson says. “So these four women kind of embody how I view women growing up as well as myself.”

While Wilson uses vibrant colors and surrealist elements in the Four Women portraits, she recently began another series for Fivespace titled Dead Presidents (Black Coffins), a Sammy Jean Wilson black-and-white portrait series dedicated to the iconography of deceased Black musicians such as Prince, Etta James, Aaliyah and more.

“Because Fivespace is primarily a record store that sells records in these genres, I saw it as a way to help them and for customers to see people that they revere in such high regard,” says Wilson, who would like to continue the series. “I’ve always thought that it’s beautiful to be Black, and you should always be proud.”

—Seth Combs

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

20 · San Diego CityBeat · September 6, 2017

@SDCityBeat

CULTURE | FILM

Stolen time

Crown Heights

New biopic about Colin Warner further proves Lakeith Stanfield’s talent

by Glenn Heath Jr.

L

akeith Stanfield tells unspoken stories with his elusive and foreign idea, and Crown Heights seeks to eyes. Ever since debuting as a traumatized foster reclaim it for Colin by fixating on the actions of those kid in Destin Daniel Cretton’s Short Term 12, the people like Carl who sacrifice much in order to help. young actor has inhabited a variety of different roles As an investigative procedural, the film is quite tewhose communicative power relies almost solely on dious. Not even Asomugha’s magnetism can save rethe act of peering back at the audience. Look at Stan- petitive scenes where lawyers interview eyewitnesses field’s laser-like stare as Snoop Dogg in Straight Outta and legal jargon is casually thrown around.

What potentially distinguishes Ruskin’s film from Compton, or his defiant and resolute U.S. soldier in War Machine who challenges Brad Pitt’s megaloma- its brethren is the issue of race. But even that important niac general on America’s broken foreign policy. Then factor is sloppily handled, most notably during Colin’s there’s the iconic scene in Jordan Peele’s Get Out, early days in prison where he interacts with a gang of where Stanfield’s frozen kidnap victim briefly sheds fellow inmates from the West Indies. These moments his white captor’s spell to experience a moment of reveal Crown Heights’ inability to directly confront the correlation between systemic abuse of power and black terrifying realization. trauma. It barely has time to esThere are no such showtablish white intimidation as the stoppers for Stanfield in Crown status quo, a motif that grows Heights, a middling biopic about CROWN HEIGHTS increasingly dopey as the film a wrongly accused Brooklyn resiDirected by Matt Ruskin progresses. dent that spent over 20 years in Starring Lakeith Stanfield, Luckily, Ruskin is smart prison for murder. Nonetheless, Nnamdi Asomugha, enough to hold back the sentithe actor infuses Haitian-born mental swells of music and fix Colin Warner’s true story with Natalie Paul and Josh Pais the camera on Stanfield’s eyes, a simmering immediacy that Rated R which come to express a swath feels at odds with director Matt of emotions ranging from vulRuskin’s banal approach to hisnerability to rage. Cloaked betory and social justice. It doesn’t help that the film is a clumsy ensemble piece, skip- hind a thick beard and glasses, Asomugha is most ping between Warner’s prolonged stages of confine- certainly his equal exhibiting silent strength. The two ment and suffering with the noble efforts of his friend actors make Crown Heights watchable even as it caCarl King (former NFL player Nnamdi Asomugha) who reens toward movie-of-the-week status.

Complex topics such as Black militancy (Marcus spends years trying to reverse the sentence. While both lead performances are sterling, neither is given Garvey is referenced and then forgotten), institutional racism and familial discord are all eventually enough time to fully develop.

The “innocent man” subgenre of prison films brushed aside in favor of more conventional narradoesn’t allow for much deviation in terms of trajecto- tive tropes. Crown Heights, which opens Friday, Sept. ry. Crown Heights begins in 1980, a year in which New 8, only seems interested in grazing the thinly veiled York City was experiencing a brutal crime wave that surface of this true story. When Carl triumphantly left politicians and police in desperate need of convic- proclaims to Colin “that the truth is going to come tions. After a young man is murdered on the streets of out,” the statement is supposed to be rousing. InBrooklyn, Colin finds himself arrested after numerous stead, it carries a sting of irony since Crown Heights witnesses lie to corrupt detectives, both itching to pin always feels closer to a contrived melodrama than a the murder on any person of color. piercing study of racial profiling.

With its indifferent judges and incompetent courtappointed attorneys, the American legal system af- Film reviews run weekly. fords Colin little hope of appeal. Justice becomes an Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

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SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

CULTURE | FILM

Cold hard truth

I

celandic auteur Baltasar Kormákur seems to feel most at home making films in the freezing cold. After spending years acting, directing and producing in his native country, he made the move to Hollywood with two flimsy sunkissed action films (Contraband and 2 Guns) starring Mark Wahlberg. It was 2015’s Everest, the brutal frozen melodrama about a group of mountaineers who experience harsh conditions and heartbreak on the world’s most infamous peak, that confirmed Kormákur’s keen ability to depict fraught human tension while engulfed in sub zero temperatures.

The Oath, opening Friday, Sept.

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

The Oath 8, at the Digital Gym Cinema, once again finds the director dabbling with genre in the snow. This nasty thriller confronts cycles of parental delusion when responding to a troubled child. Finnur (Kormákur) is a brilliant cardiac surgeon who takes risks on the operating table but lives a quiet and happy life with his new wife and daughter.

Anna (Hera Hilmar), his drugaddled progeny from a failed first marriage, represents chaos that could envelop his new family.

Caught between inaction and enablement, Finnur finally decides to confront Anna’s self-destructive behavior through clandestine means. This includes trying to

frame her drug dealer boyfriend, a plan that quickly unravels and produces bloody consequences.

What starts off as a drama about control quickly devolves into a study of disintegrating situations, where Finnur’s ethically ambiguous decisions are juxtaposed with an off-screen menace that never matriculates. To Kormákur’s credit, he keeps the narrative tight and focused on a specific number of characters, refusing the urge to turn The Oath into Death Wish-style vigilantism.

But there’s a pre-determination to all the bad decisions that doesn’t allow for much surprise.

Finnur fixates so heavily on the small details that he misses the bigger picture. The film’s ultimately conventional take on rationalized violence lacks teeth, relegating it to an already overflowing bin of cold-nosed morality tales that are indistinguishable from each other.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

OPENING 500 Years: From a historic genocide trial to the overthrow of a president, this film tells a sweeping story of mounting resistance played out in Guatemala’s recent history, through the actions and perspec-

tives of the majority indigenous Mayan population, who now stand poised to reimagine their society. Opens Friday, Sept.

8, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Crown Heights: Based on a true story, this drama depicts the life of Colin Warner (Lakeith Stanfield) who was wrongly imprisoned for murder.

Falsettos: Recorded live from the Lincoln Center, this one-of-a-kind engagement brings the Tony Award nominated revival musical to the big screen. Stars Andrew Rannells (Girls) and Christian Borle (Smash). Opens Friday, Sept. 8, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Home Again: Reese Witherspoon plays a single mom whose life takes a turn for the unpredictable when she allows three young men to move in with her.

It: In this new adaption of Stephen King’s horror novel, a group of bullied kids band together to fight off an evil monster that takes the form of a clown.

Polina: A brilliant young ballet dancer experiences a crisis of purpose when she realizes that performing might not be what she wants in life. Opens Friday, Sept. 8, at the Ken Cinema.

The Oath: An Icelandic surgeon tries to take dangerous steps that will help his addict daughter separate herself from the bad influences currently ruining her life.

Opens Friday, Sept. 8, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

For complete movie listings, visit Film at sdcitybeat.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

MIKE DEMPSEY

MUSIC

ndy Hull, the frontman of Atlanta-based band Manchester Orchestra, is his own worst critic. He’s a self-proclaimed “perfectionist,” though he admits it with some reservation. Yet it’s hard not to agree when hearing about the process of making the band’s new album, A Black Mile to the Surface. The process took a full year, from writing to pre-production and recording, as well as working with a variety of producers to help dial in exactly the sounds that the band wanted but couldn’t quite get to on their own.

It’s a massive-sounding, ambitious and powerful album as a result, but it took a lot of hard work, as Hull explains over a phone call outside of the band’s rehearsal space.

“I just want really to keep working on something until it gets to as close to perfect in my mind,” he says. “It doesn’t mean perfection, just whatever my weird definition of perfect is. So until it’s close to being fulfilled…I’m harsh enough that, until it’s really blowing me away, I can get pretty down on myself while I’m searching for it.”

A Black Mile to the Surface is the biggest album Manchester Orchestra have released to date, representing a major period of growth and evolution. The band’s previous records leaned heavily on crunchy, distorted emo anthems, but this album feels more along the lines of a catchier Sigur Rós or ‘90s-era Radiohead. Opening track “The Maze” is a subtle ballad that slowly grows into an uplifting gospel song, complete with a choir, while “The Moth” puts a dreamier spin on the group’s radio-friendly

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Manchester Orchestra rock sound. Yet seven-minute closer “The Silence” is a slow-burning, moody epic that encompasses the whole of their sound, with subtly affecting post-rock soundscapes that segue into an explosive, thunderous coda.

This more exploratory, atmospheric approach might have something to do with a project that Hull was involved in immediately beforehand. Before recording A Black Mile to the Surface, he and guitarist Robert McDowell took on a much different type of musical effort: scoring the film Swiss Army Man. As an all-instrumental film score, it sounds nothing like any other music from the band—which also includes drummer Tim Very and bassist Andy Prince. In fact,

the songs rely primarily on percussion and wordless vocals.

Hull says the Swiss Army Man project presented him with a unique set of challenges and helped him think about music differently.

“It gave me different paintbrushes to use and a different outlook on music,” he says. “Just widen the scope of where you can take a track in a song, and a lot of the sound design stuff we did for that movie, we really felt it’d be an awesome experiment to mix those things in and have this flowing piece of music.”

It’s not unreasonable to say that A Black Mile to the Surface is the band’s most mature album to date, in part because of its ambi-

tious nature, but also because of its subject matter. Some of the album features fictional narratives with imagery based on the town of Lead, South Dakota, an old mining town that’s now the site of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, where scientists are studying neutrino science a mile beneath the surface of the earth.

Yet A Black Mile to the Surface is a deeply personal album in parts, as well. The brief, acoustic song “The Sunshine” was written about Hull’s infant daughter. And where that song is sweet and affectionate, “The Silence” seems a bit more bleak: “Little girl you are cursed by my ancestry/There is nothing but darkness and agony.” That self-doubt and internal struggle is, in many ways, a continuation of past records. But now in his thirties, Hull is addressing topics with greater weight and wider reaching consequences.

“Music is my job. But ultimately I feel like I have a unique relationship with it, where when I’m in moments of crisis or self-doubt or whatever it is...the way I express myself and get stuff off my chest is by writing songs,” he says. “It’s what makes me, selfishly, connected to the song the most if I’m able to confront some demons, and maybe I’m not able to say as well when it’s in a conversation or say out loud.”

It’s safe to say that Manchester Orchestra is a very different band now than when they began. In fact, their debut album Nobody Sings Anymore was recorded when Hull was only 18 years old. They’re older now, but they’ve also taken to challenging themselves more with each new recording. Yet while Hull concedes he’s experienced a long process of growth, this newly mature phase of the band, ironically, feels to him like a fresh start.

“Whoever I was at 16 or 17 years old, I think I have the same well intentions I did then,” he adds. “But I’ve had more growth and feeling management, anger management, people management. Musically I feel really encouraged and think that this record was a really great beginning feeling for us. It’s like a start again, which I wasn’t expecting. It’s exciting. I feel like we have more tools to make better records going forward.”

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com and follow him on Twitter at @1000TimesJeff.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017· SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

MUSIC

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO LOCALS ONLY

O

ld Man Wizard is releasing a new album.

Blame It All on Sorcery is tentatively planned for a spring 2018 release, but the progressive psych-rock band has set up a Kickstarter campaign (kickstarter.com/projects/ thealisofsembia/blame-it-allon-sorcery-by-old-man-wizard) to help fund a vinyl pressing of the album, which will end on Oct. 1. And while it’s still going to be a little while before anyone gets to hear the album, frontman Francis Roberts says that they’ve made some stylistic changes on this album.

“There are a lot more musical ideas that tie the songs together,” he says. “There will be some little instrumental things that bridge the songs. It’s a gapless album, essentially.”

The crowdfunding campaign was set up essentially as a method for preordering the album, Roberts says. The recording and production of the album has already been paid for, and it’ll be released digitally one way or another.

However, by using Kickstarter the band is gauging interest in a physical copy of the album. It’s an all-ornothing campaign, so if they hit their goal of $3,000,

then the vinyl will be pressed. But if they don’t, nobody gets charged.

“I was in a band that tried it a long time ago, and it worked pretty well,” he says. “I wanted to try it out for this band to see if we could pull it off. It just seems like a good way to set up a pre-order. We essentially paid for the production out of pocket. So this is basically how much it costs to get records pressed.”

The band offered the first 10 pre-orders for $15 (which have already sold out), though there’s a sliding scale of rewards that becomes more personalized based on how much someone’s willing to pay to fund the project. In fact, if someone pledges $500, Old Man Wizard will record a song Old Man Wizard about a subject of the backer’s choosing.

“The higher level stuff, we were just trying to be as realistic as possible,” Roberts says. “If someone’s like ‘here’s $500,’ we wanted to have something cool to offer that person. I have the means to record solo songs, with just acoustic guitar and vocals, so that’s something I can offer. It should be something special.”

—Jeff Terich

ALBUM REVIEW The Bad Vibes No One’s Safe (Self-released)

T

he Bad Vibes pull off something pretty rare with their new album No One’s Safe: They sound like a lot of different bands momentarily, but on the whole don’t sound like any one band in particular. There are some pretty prominent classic rock influences, from Black Sabbath to Deep Purple, with a little bit of Creedence, Pink Floyd and Zeppelin in the mix as well. And to read this, it might come across like The Bad Vibes are playing fairly conventional rock music, which would be an understandable conclusion to reach.

But they’re not—not by a long shot.

The self-described “swamp rock” band has a heavy dose of Southern rock coursing through their veins, but that bluesy boogie is also darkened with a shade of American gothic (there’s a séance happening on the cover art, naturally). Take the track “Ghost,” which features some prominent slide riffs and soulful grooves, but eventually eases into some eerie psychedelia during the chorus. And “Cathedral Moon” splits the difference between Floydian vibe-outs and Dr. John-style New Orleans voodoo.

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

It’s rare to hear The Bad Vibes play it straight at any point on No One’s Safe, their diverse set of impulses and influences pulling them in a variety of different directions throughout. The opening track, “Strange Love,” begins with a heavy psychedelic jam that feels loose and chemically altered, but when vocalist Jason Myers sings the verse through a leslie effect, he ends up sounding like Ozzy Osbourne in the early ‘70s. But not long thereafter, the track slows down and expands into a spacious, hallucinogenic jam session. And on “Cathedrals,” the band plays with odd time signatures while indulging in some prog-rock improvisation sessions.

Those who don’t already have affection for ‘70s-era rock probably won’t find much to enjoy about The Bad Vibes. They wear their classic rock influences on their sleeves, and they do their heroes justice. No One’s Safe isn’t for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s not really good. As Wayne Campbell once said, “Led Zeppelin didn’t write songs everyone liked. They left that to the Bee Gees.”

—Jeff Terich @SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6

PLAN A: Stiff Little Fingers, Death by Unga Bunga @ Belly Up Tavern. If you haven’t yet, go back and read Scott McDonald’s feature on Stiff Little Fingers from last week’s issue. They’re punk legends, touring on their 40th anniversary, and they still have a lot to say about the rotten state of the world. BACKUP PLAN: Boychick, Foliage, Oak Palace @ Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 7

PLAN A: TOPS, She Devils @ The Casbah.

TOPS play some sexy, sexy music. It’s got a little bit of an xx vibe, but more importantly their music has a Sade vibe. Now that’s the kind of sensual jam you need to head into the weekend. PLAN B: Witch Taint, Yeghikian, The Unit @ Brick by Brick. It’s not every week I get to recommend a band called Witch Taint, but this group is more like the Tenacious D of black metal. They’re silly, absurd and Satanic, plus they still have a MySpace page. Metal AF. BACKUP PLAN: Kolars, Livingmore, The Strawberry Moons @ Blonde.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 8

PLAN: Castle, Archons, Beira @ Tower Bar. Castle is a massively heavy band, but the thing that really sets them apart from other contemporary metal bands is how much they nod to the flashy, flamboyant metal sounds of the ‘80s. It’s heroic music for questing or, alternately, getting wasted in a Trans Am. PLAN B: Marshall Crenshaw and Los Straitjackets, RJ Bloke @ The Casbah. Marshall Crenshaw is best known for releasing some excellent power pop records in the ‘80s, but in teaming up with Los Straitjackets, he’s taken on a fun new experiment. The masked surf-rock outfit is his backing band, transforming his songs into entirely new creations.BACKUP PLAN: Sights & Sages, Noble War, Fashion Jackson, Daytrip @ The Merrow.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 9

PLAN A: The Vibrators, Slab City, Slaughter Boys, Dead on the Wire @ Til-Two Club. Two legendary punk bands in one week? It’s true! The Vibrators have been playing their own brand of anarchy in the UK since the late ‘70s, and this is apparently their last tour of the U.S. PLAN B: Vallis Alps, Vakoum, Somme @ SPACE. Sometimes in this column I get to hear a band for the first time, and having just discovered Vallis Alps myself, I can definitely say I like what I heard. Moody, yet upbeat synth-pop in the vein of Chvrches or Purity Ring. Cool stuff! BACKUP PLAN: Big Bloom, The Loons, Dark Thirty, Gloomsday @ The Casbah.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 10

PLAN A: Stray Monroe, Private Lives, Andora @ The Casbah. Local outfit Stray Monroe have a pretty good handle on the whole rock ‘n’ roll thing: scruffy and distorted guitars, leather jackets, cool hair. This show’s a good way to end your weekend with a bang.

MONDAY, SEPT. 11

PLAN A: Quicksand, No Joy @ Belly Up Tavern. Plan A of the month? I think so.

Quicksand are releasing their first album in 22 years this fall, and touring for the first time in four. They’re one of the greatest posthardcore bands of all time, and I don’t care how tired you’ll be in the morning. Go to this show.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 12

PLAN A: Dryjacket, Sundressed, Lost Dakota @ Soda Bar. Close your eyes and you might mistake Dryjacket’s music for old Death Cab for Cutie. Coming from me, that’s a pretty big compliment. Although this band’s music is more mathematically complex and intricate, which is also a plus.

Quicksand @SDCITYBEAT

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

MUSIC

THE

SPOTLIGHT

G

oo Goo Dolls could have been great. Well, that’s a little unfair to say, because they are great, at least in a cringe-inducing way. Their album Dizzy Up the Girl pretty much defined the innocuous, adult-oriented rock sound of the late ‘90s, and it’s hard to find a drunken bro who won’t bawl his way through a sing-along of the Buffalobred band’s superhit, “Iris.”

But before “Iris” (and John Rzeznik’s feathered and moussed hair), Goo Goo Dolls seemed prime to be the next Replacements. On the first three albums, their sound was wildly different from what would later hit big on the radio: instead of plinking mandolins and pursed-lip acoustic strumming, they played trashy punk with pop undertones. Hell, you could even compare the Goos' blue-collar

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Goo Goo Dolls origins to the ‘Mats’ Minneapolis. And just try listening to bassist Robby Takac’s vocals on early songs and try not to think that Lawrence Arms singer Brendan Kelly ripped him off somehow.

But there’s no sense in dwelling on the past, especially when their radio hits were pop gems in their own right (“Here is Gone,” “Slide,” etc.). And even though Goo Goo Dolls will be remembered as the band your mom turned up in the car, there’s still joy in knowing that underneath all the schmaltz, they have punk rock hearts.

Goo Goo Dolls play Tuesday, September 12 at Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre.

—Ryan Bradford

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MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Black Star (Observatory, 9/28), Arkells (SPACE, 10/5), Some Ember (SPACE, 10/14), Steel Pulse (BUT, 10/30), Will Hoge (BUT, 11/8), Roadkill Ghost Choir (Soda Bar, 11/11), Agnostic Front (Soda Bar, 12/10), The Slackers (Casbah, 12/12), Moving Units (Casbah, 12/16), Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven (BUT, 12/27), Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (BUT, 12/29-30), Wolf Parade (Observatory, 1/23).

CANCELED The Juliana Theory (Observatory, 9/7), XYLO (Casbah, 10/12),

GET YER TICKETS Kaaboo Festival w/ Tom Petty, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers (Del Mar Fairgrounds, 9/15-17), Against Me! (Observatory, 9/16), The Church (Music Box, 9/16), Future Islands (Open Air Theatre, 9/17), Zola Jesus (Casbah, 9/21), U2 (Qualcomm Stadium, 9/22), Ben Folds (HOB, 9/23), WAND (Soda Bar, 9/24), Rakim (HOB, 9/24), Bonobo (Observatory, 9/24), Perfume Genius (HOB, 9/28), The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Loft, 9/30), The Shins, Spoon (Open Air Theatre, 10/1), Algiers (Soda Bar, 10/1), Chelsea Wolfe (BUT, 10/2), Ms. Lauryn Hill, Nas (OAT, 10/3), Irma Thomas, Blind Boys of Alabama (BUT,

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10/5), Depeche Mode (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 10/6), Pinegrove (Irenic, 10/6), Coldplay (Qualcomm Stadium, 10/8), Obituary, Exodus (Observatory, 10/8), Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile (HOB, 10/11), The National (Open Air Theatre, 10/12), Bob Dylan (Harrah’s Resort, 10/13), Torres (Casbah, 10/17), Mason Jennings (BUT, 10/17), Café Tacuba (Observatory, 10/17-18), Arcade Fire (Viejas Arena, 10/18), The Bronx (Casbah, 10/19), Gojira (Observatory, 10/19), Mastodon (HOB, 10/19), City of Caterpillar, Thou (Soda Bar, 10/19), Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie (Humphreys, 10/19), KMFDM (HOB, 10/20), Tegan and Sara (Balboa Theatre, 10/20), Carla Morrison (Humphreys, 10/22), Red Fang (Casbah, 10/23), M. Ward (BUT, 10/24), Real Estate (Music Box, 10/24), Thievery Corporation (BUT, 10/26), Turnover (Irenic, 10/27), Flying Lotus in 3-D (Observatory, 10/27), Roky Erickson (Casbah, 10/27), Iron and Wine (Balboa Theatre, 10/28), The Drums (Observatory, 11/1), Black Heart Procession (Casbah, 11/4), ‘Live Wire 25th Anniversary’ w/ Rocket from the Crypt (Observatory, 11/4), Cults (Irenic, 11/5), Hamilton Leithauser (BUT, 11/9), Fall Out Boy (Viejas Arena, 11/15), Gary Numan (Observatory, 11/15), Tera Melos, Speedy Ortiz (Casbah, 11/16), Mayhem (Observatory, 11/17), Boris, Torche (Casbah, 11/17), Mogwai (Observatory, 11/20), New Found Glory (HOB, 11/25), Syd (Observatory, 12/2), METZ (Casbah, 12/13), Julien Baker (Irenic, 12/15), Jay-Z (Viejas Arena, 12/19), Ozomatli (Music Box, 12/22-23), The English Beat (BUT, 12/22-23), Donavon Frankenreiter (BUT, 12/28), Josh Ritter (BUT, 1/16).

SEPTEMBER WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6 Stiff Little Fingers at Belly Up Tavern.

Springtime Carnivore at The Casbah.

Boychick at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 7 TOPS at The Casbah. The Hooten Hollers at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 8 Wyo at Music Box. Symbolic at Brick by Brick. The Shivas at Soda Bar. Marshall Crenshaw y Los Straitjackets at The Casbah. Vaud and the Villains at Belly Up Tavern.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 9 Florida Georgia Line at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Dennis Quaid and the Sharks at Music Box. Verite at Soda Bar. Vallis Alps at SPACE.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 10 George Benson, Kenny G at Humphreys by the Bay. Theatre of Hate at SPACE. The Slants at Soda Bar. Stray Monroe at The Casbah.

MONDAY, SEPT. 11 Quicksand at Belly Up Tavern. Danielle Nicole at Soda Bar. Saint Mesa at The Casbah. Arkaik at Brick by Brick.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 12 Goo Goo Dolls at Open Air Theatre. The Night Game at The Casbah. Dryjacket at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 13

MONDAY, SEPT. 18

MC Lars at Soda Bar. Indigo Girls at Humphreys by the Bay. Green Day at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Manchester Orchestra at Observatory North Park. Asgeir at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 14 Greensky Bluegrass at Observatory North Park. Steve Winwood at Humphreys by the Bay. Leo Kottke at Belly Up Tavern. Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers at Music Box. James Supercave at The Casbah. Together Pangea at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 15 Perturbator at Brick by Brick. Cigarettes After Sex at The Irenic (sold out). Black Uhuru at Belly Up Tavern. Hanni el Khatib at The Casbah. Scott H. Biram at Soda Bar. Prince Paul at SPACE. Kaaboo Festival w/ Red Hot Chili Peppers at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 16 Against Me! at Observatory North Park.

The Church at Music Box. Punk Rock Karaoke at Soda Bar. Kaaboo Festival w/ Muse, Pink at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

SUNDAY, SEPT. 17 Future Islands at Open Air Theatre. Little Dove at Belly Up Tavern. Face To Face, Reverend Horton Heat at House of Blues.

Jesika von Rabit at The Casbah. SNAFU at Soda Bar. Kaaboo Festival w/ Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Lil Yachty at Observatory North Park. Underground Lounge at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 19 Glass Animals at Humphreys by the Bay (sold out). Sean Paul at Observatory North Park. Samantha Fish at SPACE. This Will Destroy You at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 20 Z Etc. at Belly Up Tavern. My Foolish Idealism at Soda Bar. Easy Wind at Music Box. Venom Inc. at Brick by Brick. Twin Ritual at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 21 Zola Jesus at The Casbah. Fleet Foxes at Observatory North Park (sold out). The Wailers at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Andrew Belle at SPACE. INVSN at Soda Bar. RAC at Music Box.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 22 Tycho at Observatory North Park. Atlas Genius at House of Blues. Swervedriver at The Casbah. Moses Sumney at The Irenic. Los Amigos Invisibles at Music Box. U2 at Qualcomm Stadium. Sloppy Seconds at Soda Bar.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 23 Hundred Waters at The Casbah. The xx at Observatory North Park (sold out).

Frankie Rose at Soda Bar. The Toadies, Local H at Belly Up Tavern. The Beach Boys at Humphreys by the Bay. Ben Folds at House of Blues.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 27

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 SUNDAY, SEPT. 24 Rakim at House of Blues. Bonobo at Observatory North Park. Bill Maher at Humphreys by the Bay. WAND at Soda Bar. Dan Croll at The Irenic.

MONDAY, SEPT. 25 Cameron Esposito, Rhea Butcher at Observatory North Park. Gov’t Mule at Humphreys by the Bay. Moon Honey at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 26 Public Service Broadcasting at Soda Bar. Love Theme at SPACE. Sublime With Rome, The Offspring at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Alison Moyet at Music Box. Morgan Heritage at Belly Up Tavern.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 27 Bleachers at Observatory North Park.

Draco Rosa at Music Box.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 28 Lauren Ruth Ward at The Casbah. Perfume Genius at House of Blues. Imagine Dragons at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre.

Moon Taxi at Belly Up Tavern. Foxygen at Music Box. Superjoint at Brick by Brick.

Black Star at Observatory North Park.

Tennyson at The Irenic.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 29 Josh Abbott Band at House of Blues. Hellogoodbye at The Irenic.Tower of Power, Average White Band at Humphreys by the Bay. Benjamin Booker at Belly Up

Tavern. Superjoint at Brick by Brick. Black Kids at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 30 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at The Loft @ UCSD. J Roddy Walston and the Business at Belly Up Tavern. Corey Henry and the Funk Apostles at The Casbah. Kali Uchis at Observatory North Park (sold out). Jay Som at Soda Bar. ‘Adams Avenue Street Fair’ w/ The Creepy Creeps, Dead Feather Moon at Adams Ave.

OCTOBER SUNDAY, OCT. 1 Citizen Cope at Belly Up Tavern. Algiers at Soda Bar. The Shins, Spoon at Open Air Theatre. ‘Adams Avenue Street Fair’ w/ The Donkeys, The Routine at Adams Ave.

MONDAY, OCT. 2 Chelsea Wolfe at Belly Up Tavern. Sheer Mag at Soda Bar. Middle Kids at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, OCT. 3 Dark Tranquility at Brick by Brick. The Blow at Soda Bar. Ms. Lauryn Hill, Nas at Open Air Theatre. Gavin DeGraw at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Trinidad Cardona at House of Blues.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Wed: Taylor Phelan. Fri: Haleama-

28 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

no, Shocks of Mighty. Sat: Lads Holiday, Steal Away. Tue: Trynket.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Wed: Ken Burnett. Thu: ‘Centerpiece’ w/ DJ Eliasar Gordillo. Sat: ‘Soul Punch’ w/ DJ Gordan Davis. Sun: ‘Chvrch’ w/ DJs Karma, Alice.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Cindy Kaza. Fri: Country Wayne. Sat: Country Wayne.

Sun: Country Wayne.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Sat: Step Dads, Meat Creature, Deep Yogurt.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Fri: Bruno Martini. Sat: Angelz.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park. Thu: DJ Chris Freeman. Fri: DJ Vaughn Avakian. Sat: The Milkcrates DJs. Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’. Mon: DJ Thug Wave. Tue: The Fink Bombs.

Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Fri: dB Jukebox. Sat: Greasy Petes.

Sun: Sam Bybee.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: Stiff Little Fingers, Death by Unga Bunga. Thu: SD Real Estate Battle of the Bands. Fri: Vaud and the Villains, Sister Speak. Sun: Infinite Floyd: A Pink Floyd Experience. Mon: Quicksand, No Joy. Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave., City Heights. Thu: Rude Dog DJs. Fri: Stallion, Bosswitch, Super Buffet. Sat: Dethsurf, AK, Squarecrow.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Wed: Caliparis, Jesusdapnk. Thu: KOLARS, Livingmore, Strawberry Moons.

Fri: ‘80s Tron New Wave Party’. Mon: ‘Neil

Diamond vs. Tom Jones Dance Party’.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave., Carlsbad.

Thu: Kimi Bitter. Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Thu: Witch Taint, Yeghikian, The Unit. Fri: Symbolic, Sight Unscene, A Hero Within, Alien Satan. Sat: Contortion, 1001, Kill Your Name, Godhammered, Throw Logic. Mon: Arkaik, Alterbeast, Inanimate Existence, Beheading the King.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Wed: Springtime Carnivore, Night Talks. Thu: TOPS, She Devils. Fri: Marshall Crenshaw y Los Straitjackets, RJ Bloke. Sat: Big Bloom, The Loons, Dark Thirty, Gloomsday. Sun: Stray Monroe, Private Lives, Andora. Tue: The Night Game, Nightly, Well Well Well.

Dirk’s Niteclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. Fri: FX5. Sat: Cover Conspiracy.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. Fri: Paul Combs Quintet.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave., Downtown. Fri: DJ Kaos. Sat: Kyle Flesch.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave., Downtown.

Thu: DJ Yodah. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: ‘Rock Star Saturday’. Tue: The Stilettos.

Hoffer’s Cigar Bar, 8282 La Mesa Blvd., La Mesa. Sat: Phil Diiorio.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Jerry ‘Hot Rod’ Demink. Sun: Farruko. Tue: Robin Henkel.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: Cadillac Wreckers. Thu: Rosy Dawn. Fri: Fabulous Ultratones. Sat: Wildside. Sun: Bumpasonic. Mon: Mercedes Moore. Tue: Missy Andersen.

dletown. Wed: ‘Producers Social’. Thu: ‘Psilo’. Fri: Divine Species. Sat: Cookies & Milk. Sun: Radio Depth Charge.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Wed: Thompson Springs, Raena Jade. Fri: Everything Undone, Amaya Lights, Natural Disaster. Sat: River City.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wed: Gene Warren. Thu: Jackson and Billy. Fri: Pat Ellis and Blue Frog Band. Sat: Manic Bros. Tue: Goodal Boys.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: Art with Abner. Fri: ‘Together with Texas’ w/ Sights and Sages, Noble War, Fashion Jackson, Daytrip. Sat: Coast Red, Duping the Public, Hawk Auburn.

Sun: ‘The Playground’ w/ DJ Heather Hardcore.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy. Fri: WYO, Band of Gringos, Elektric Voodoo.

Sat: ‘San Diego for Houston’ w/ Frankie J, B-Side Players. Tue: Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra.

The Office, 3936 30th St., North Park.

Wed: ‘One, Two, Three’ w/ DJ EdRoc. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’ w/ DJs Kid Wonder, Adam Salter. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJs Gabe Vega, Kanye Asada. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave., Downtown. Fri: Illenium. Sat: Savi.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Wed: Gilbert Castellanos. Fri: Tiffany Jane and the Kicks. Sat: Montalban Quintet.

Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: DJ Dynamiq. Sat: Nelly.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Mid-

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MUSIC Plaza Bar at Westgate Hotel, 1055 2nd Ave., Downtown. Fri: Gilbert Castellanos.

Sat: Allison Adams Tucker. Mon: Julio de la Huerta.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Wed: DJs Kiki, Kinky Loops. Thu: DJs Kiki, Eli M, Myxzliplix. Fri: DJs John Joseph, Will Z. Sat: DJs K-Swift, Taj. Sun: DJs Hektik, Drew G.

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘Dreams’ w/ DJ Gabe Vega. Thu: Astra Kelly, Podunk Nowhere.

Sun: The Big Decisions.

Rosie O’Gradys, 3402 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Fri: Puente. Sat: Soul Ablaze.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave., San Diego. Wed: Red Fox Tails. Thu: Jimmy Ruelas. Fri: Lead Pony. Sat: DB Jukebox.

Mon: ‘Makossa Monday’ w/ DJ Tah Rei. Tue: Second Cousins.

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Wed: Noah Rickertson. Thu: Keep Your Soul.

Fri: You’re your Soul, Scott Porter. Sat: Keep Your Soul, Scott Porter. Sun: Kenny and Deez. Tue: Kenny and Deez.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Boychick, Foliage, Oak Palace. Thu: The Hooten Hallers, Luke Rathborne, Broken Stems. Fri: The Shivas, Creepseed, SIXES. Sat: Verite, Tigertown. Sun: The Slants, L1ght Ra1l, Astro Tan. Mon: Danielle Nicole, Kimmi Bitter & The Night Howls. Tue: Dryjacket, Sundressed, Lost Dakota.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Fri: Castle, Archons, Beira. Sat: Whining Pussys, Bat Lords, Ghost Town Gamblers. Mon: Infinite Death, Dead Asylum, Mystic Ritual, Mortar. Tue: Amsterdam, The Rookies, No Sympathy.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway. Sat: The Aquadolls, Blivet, Cardboard Boxer, Beach Bums, Be All End All, Fashion Jackson. Tue: No Warning, Backtrack, Twitching Tongues, Higher Power, Vein.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: ‘Slappers Only’. Sat: Vallis Alps, Vakoum, Somme. Sun: Theatre of Hate (acoustic), Bell Tower Bats, Blood

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Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Midtown. Fri: Max Chapman. Sat: Olivier Giacomotto.

Sun: EDX.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: The Difference Machine, Tenshun, Sighphur One, iD the Poet, Preacher vs. Choir. Fri: The Grannies, The Beaumonts, Homeless Sexuals.

Sat: The Vibrators, Slab City, Slaughter Boys, Dead on the Wire. Sun: Pants Karaoke.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’ w/ Jason Hanna. Thu: Swing Thing. Fri: The Upshots. Sat: Black Market III.

Black Star plays at The Observatory, North Park on Thursday, Sept. 28.

Ponies. Mon: ‘Eloteria’ w/ DJ Josexx.

U-31, 3112 University Ave., North Park.

Wed: ‘The Sweet Spot’. Thu: ‘Boom Boxx Thursday’. Fri: DJ Havoc. Sat: DJ Bacon.

Tue: ’31 Flavors’.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park.

Thu: ‘Kiss & Make Up’ w/ DJs Jon Blaj, Kyle Badour.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach. Wed: Talking Dreads, Jallanzo, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: ‘OB Hip Hop Special’. Fri: DJs Breakdown, Speakerghost, Jack Wonka. Sat: Psydecar, Lust for Life. Mon: Electric Waste Band.

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 29

LAST WORDS

CHRISTIN BAILEY

ASTROLOGICALLY

UNSOUND

Semi-weekly forecasts from the so-called universe ARIES (March 21 - April 19): It won’t hurt to exercise a little bit of caution this week.

Especially when it comes to mentally, physically, psychically and spiritually protecting yourself from questionable jacuzzi scenarios.

teach language later killed themselves. So you have to wonder.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): This week, take your lessons from the hummingbird: all beautiful iridescence and graceful manners, and willing and ready to impale someone for getting between you and the sugar you require all day long.

LEO (July 23 - August 22): You’re doing it again. Like a dog barking at a movie doorbell, you’re checking your phone every time a ringer on the TV goes off. You’re even doing it when it doesn’t remotely resemble your phone’s alert sounds.

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): Sure, sometimes they say, “knowledge is power,” but on the other hand: all of the dolphins we tried to

CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Your lucky number this week is 16, and it’s going to come to you in the form of fluid ounces.

VIRGO (August 23 - September 22): It is important to remember that it is never

30 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

funny when someone falls down and sort of hurts themselves a little bit but not too much. Unless you are far enough away from them that it won’t hurt their feelings when you laugh. Then, by all means. Fuck them, it’s funny.

LIBRA (September 23 - October 22): In the absence of fear, there is a sense of security. In that security, you are sound asleep and a porcelain doll’s head is turning silently toward you in the night.

SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21): There are ways to adapt to living under enormous pressure. Unfortunately, they are all absolutely hideous—like having no bones and being a weird gelatinous blob— and I would suggest just changing your circumstances.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21): You ought to not go straight to the taste test when trying to determine whether

something is strawberry syrup or blood.

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19): Your weight evenly distributed over a bed of 2,000 nails is (relatively) more pleasant than 15 of them. Of course, the ideal number of nails to be laying on top of is zero, but that’s never an option.

AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18): It’s important to know yourself and to establish strong boundaries. This week, make a list of the animals you could beat in a fight and a list of the animals who could definitely kick your ass.

PISCES (February 19 - March 20): The shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line.

Sometimes it is convincing yourself that you actually might as well stay at Point A, which is no distance at all.

Astrologically Unsound appears every other week. Follow Christin Bailey on Twitter at @hexprax.

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september 6, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 31