San Diego CityBeat • Sept 11, 2013

improvisational

syria P.4 Jack P.7 Faulconer P.8 Thumbprint P.20

2 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

Desperately seeking multilateralism Recently on Twitter, some of our friends have sugopposition to bombing. gested running down the positions of San Diego However it happened, China and Iran immediCounty’s five representatives in Congress on whether ately signaled support, Syria agreed to the deal and the U.S. should bomb Syria for gassing its people with France offered to draft a United Nations resolution. chemical weapons. All five have made statements; in The Americans reacted with cautious optimism case you missed them: Democrats Scott Peters and while insisting that Syria would never have considSusan Davis have said the matter needs rigorous deered such a deal absent a threat of extreme violence. bate. Republican Darrell Issa said Barack Obama had The arrangement hit a speed bump Tuesday when an uphill climb to convince him that we should atthe Russians balked at language in France’s draft that tack. Democrat Juan Vargas is gung-ho about showstated unambiguously that the Syrian government ing Syria who’s boss. And Duncan Hunter says the was responsible for an Aug. 21 chemical attack that president absolutely should not hit Syria. killed more than 1,400 people.

Funny how members of different The United Nations is where this Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom political parties shape their position kind of debate should be playing out in depending on the party that occupies any circumstance. Though it happens the White House. frequently, Americans should never be For our part, as usual, we find ourin a position of fighting among themselves at odds with Vargas. When conselves over whether to intervene unilatsidering what to do about Syria, we erally in someone else’s war. start from a firm position of no action.

The U.N. is still broken. It was broFor us, Obama has an extraordinarily ken during Rwanda. It was broken high hurdle to clear in convincing us during Yugoslavia. It remains broken. that we should bomb another country.

We’re no international-affairs experts, From there, it just gets more and more but it seems to us that the structure of blurry; upholding international norms the U.N. renders it incapable of doing against the use of chemical or biologianything in fights where Russia and Bashar al-Assad China’s interests are in conflict with cal weapons, particularly against innocent civilians, is a compelling case. However, also the West’s interests. There are 15 voting members compelling is the case for caution, because it’s not of the U.N. Security Council, but the five permanent clear that bombing Damascus would achieve its inmembers—the U.S., Great Britain, France, Russia tended goal, and unintended consequences should and China—have unilateral veto power over subbe expected with military action overseas. stantive U.N. resolutions. This structure has been in This is why we were so encouraged on Monday place since 1946 and seems almost comically outwhen U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry offhanddated in the context of today’s world. edly said Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, could Refereeing between warring nations should be a avoid being bombed by handing over his chemicalfunction of the international community through a weapons program to international monitors and democratic process—ideally a speedy one. Being the the Russians responded by actually putting such a self-appointed policeman should be left to the Unitplan in motion. ed States, simply because it has the most firepower. If As devotees of The West Wing, which might be a rogue government mass-murders its own citizens, history’s greatest TV show, we imagined a Jed Barthe U.N. Security Council should quickly assemble, tlet-esque scheme: Obama or Kerry, working with vote on a resolution proposed by one of its members the Russians, the Chinese and the Syrians through and, if approved by a majority, action should be taken back channels, would let slip an unlikely scenario against that rogue country. As long as a single counin which Syria gives up its weapons and the Rustry can thwart international intervention, the U.N sians would take credit for making it happen, alwill continue to be a busted tool. lowing Assad to avoid looking like he’s following On Tuesday, Obama should have been working orders from the Americans—as well as avoiding on myriad pressing domestic concerns rather than being blown to pieces—letting the Russians look preparing a speech aimed at convincing the Amerilike peacemakers and giving Obama a way out of a can public that the U.S. must punish Syria because political mess at home amid overwhelming public no one else can or will.

This issue of CityBeat is brought to you by the people who taught Miley Cyrus how to twerk.

Volume 12 • Issue 5 Editor David Rolland Associate Editor Kelly Davis Music Editor Jeff Terich Staff Writers Alex Zaragoza, Joshua Emerson Smith Web Editor Ryan Bradford Art director Lindsey Voltoline Columnists Edwin Decker, John R. Lamb

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

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

Advertising inquiries Interested in advertising?

Call 619-281-7526 or e-mail advertising@sdcitybeat.com. The advertising deadline is 5 p.m. every Friday for the following week’s issue.

Editorial and Advertising Office 3047 University Ave., Suite 202 San Diego, CA 92104 Phone: 619-281-7526 Fax: 619-281-5273 www.sdcitybeat.com

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

4 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

The hoodie dilemma

Laura’s Bad medicine

Regarding Edwin Decker’s July 24 “Sordid Tales” column about the George Zimmerman trial: You’re right. Especially about “The system presses charges based on evidence and facts, and there simply was not enough, no matter how much you want there to be.”

This is such a sad, sad thing.

I wore a hoodie and carried Skittles for a week after this happened. You know what I found out? Many people look at you differently when you wear a hoodie—really.

So, let’s blame the right thing here. The form of prejudice here is clothing prejudice. The clothing you choose to put on matters.

It’s what people use to prejudge you. Put a nice suit on that gang member over there, and when I pass him on the street, I won’t be thinking twice—well, maybe if he has tattoos on his face, I might wonder about his past and assume that he’s doing better now than he used to.

Should we stop wearing hoodies? When you take it that far, you have to get realistic and move back into our normal land of denial. I was just reading Dan Brown (paraphrased): We live in denial so we can function. There are so many things to be afraid of—that can actually kill us— that if we didn’t ignore them, we would freak out.

So, no, we should not stop wearing hoodies. But what about a hoodie handshake? We shake hands to show we aren’t carrying a club. When approaching others, let’s pull that hood back a bit and smile to show we are nice. Teach that to our kids—not to scare the old man trying to protect the neighborhood. Give him a sign.

County supervisors wisely have not made Laura’s Law the law of the county [“News,” Aug. 7].

They should not.

We do have neighbors who aren’t internally organized well enough to manage their affairs.

They need help, and we should help them. Supervisors Dave Roberts’ and Dianne Jacob’s proposal to adopt Laura’s Law, now moribund for a variety of reasons, is the wrong approach.

It’s cheap and easy for the county, damaging, even dangerous, for the target population.

It would have been helpful for CityBeat and its reporter to have included background about forcing people into treatment, to say why we stopped doing it. Our history with forced treatment is grotesque, which is why we stopped it, and there’s little prospect it will be less grotesque now than it was in the past.

Some of our neighbors need help to live. We can and should help. That help, however, should be genuine help and not forced psychiatric treatment, whether disguised as the “black-robe effect” or Laura’s Law or any other euphemism.

Bad medicine is wrong, and forced psychiatric treatment is bad medicine.

Karen Orgovan, Chula Vista

6 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

Jim Varnadore, City Heights

Oh, the possibilities Thank you for your Aug. 14 editorial on CicloSDias. Yes, no matter the dirty laundry, Bob Filner successfully put new issues on the table for debate among future candidates—including border issues, better biking and walking infrastructure and strong neighborhoods. And still one of my favorite accomplishments—

in addition to CicloSDias—is the transformation of Plaza de Panama with some simple paint, tables and chairs. It shows us what is possible.

Kathleen Ferrier, North Park

Enlighten us, Fran I got a good laugh from former San Diego Unified School District Board of Education member Frances O’Neill Zimmerman’s Aug. 14 letter to the editor regarding the Filner scandal.

She indicates that this “witch hunt” and its “trumped-up furor” has been “clearly boughtand-paid-for by San Diego’s establishment elites” but fails to provide any details.

Frances, if it’s so clear, why don’t you enlighten the rest of San Diego so we can all understand who is orchestrating this witch hunt? Is it former Filner ally Donna Frye? Perhaps it’s the San Diego Republican Party? Could it be Doug Manchester and U-T? Have the 16-plus women who have come forward with allegations, whose ranks include a highly respected retired Navy rear admiral and university dean, been bribed by the elites? Are you suggesting all of these women are lying?

Was Filner being blackmailed by the elites into admitting that he “needs help” and that he requires “intensive and ongoing therapy” in order to correct his bad behavior? Perhaps the mayor has an evil twin who has been paid off by the elites to run amok in City Hall?

Please tell us, Frances. We’re all dying to know the truth!

Richard Walker, La Jolla

Joshua Emerson Smith

bonus

news Shelter, interrupted

Roger Lewis has led efforts to stop Jack in the Box from flouting pedestrian-oriented zoning laws.

Jacking the process How Jack in the Box dodged North Park’s zoning laws

by Joshua Emerson Smith Increasingly, the corner of Upas and 30th streets attracts fashionable North Park residents. Blue Foot Bar & Lounge serves up craft beer and cocktails to thirsty hipsters, while servers at The Smoking Goat next door dish out high-end eats. Across the road, an upscale mixed-use development promises more than two-dozen lofts and a number of new restaurants for the trendy corner.

“The neighborhood’s changed significantly in the last 20 years,” says Roger Lewis, a longstanding member of the North Park Planning Committee, who’s worked to make the neighborhood more pedestrian-friendly. Thanks to his and other residents’ efforts, the city zoned the area to restrict auto-intensive uses, such as live-music venues and drive-through restaurants.

However, despite city code, at the center of the up-andcoming intersection stands a newly remodeled, shiny redand-white Jack in the Box drive-through restaurant. With a squawk box that can be heard until 2 a.m., some residents say the fast-food eatery clashes with the surrounding businesses and adjacent single-family homes.

“Everybody that’s been involved with this from the beginning said the issue has been the drive-through,” said Lewis, who’s led the opposition to the remodeling project.

“Jack in the Box was welcome to exist here in the appropriate pedestrian orientation.”

After the city amended the area’s zoning code in 2000, the more-than-50-year-old restaurant—at 2959 Upas St.— was grandfathered in. But, as a condition, Jack in the Box couldn’t make upgrades that cost more than half of the value of the structure without approval from the North Park Planning Committee or an appeal to the city Planning Commission.

Despite failing to get permission from either, the fast-

food restaurant officially reopened its doors on Monday after months of construction, which stopped just shy of completely tearing down the entire building.

The renovations started in May when the city’s Development Services Department permitted the project as a remodel, a process that doesn’t require approval from elected officials. However, the estimated cost of the project listed on the permit was about $216,000—far more than 50 percent of the value of the structure, which the county Assessor’s Office puts at about $133,000.

Neighborhood residents continue to blast the city, saying leaders failed to enforce the zoning code and allowed the San Diego-based fast-food giant to get away with the project despite exceeding the spending cap.

“They rammed this thing through for Jack in the Box,” said Robert Barry, who chairs the North Park Planning Committee’s Urban Design and Project Review Subcommittee. “By making it a staff decision instead of a Planning Commission decision, it never came to us. They screwed us, and the city let them.”

City leaders disagree, arguing that the remodel didn’t require approval from the neighborhood group or the Planning Commission.

“When the permits were issued, I think the city’s hands were effectively tied,” said City Council President and now interim mayor Todd Gloria, whose district includes North Park.

Gloria said he interviewed Tom Tomlinson, who currently heads the Development Services Department, about the issue.

“I’ve heard those arguments,” Gloria said. “I believe, based on a conversation that I had with our interim director of Development Services, that he’s heard that as well, and it’s their professional opinion that that’s not the case in this project.”

However, according to a confidential opinion issued by the City Attorney’s office in July, which was given to

jack CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

On the campaign trail, Bob Filner promised he’d make San Diego’s emergency homeless shelters— normally open only during the winter—available yearround. And, as mayor, he included nearly $2 million to do this in the city budget that took effect July 1.

But, early on, there were warnings that it wasn’t enough. A June 3 letter from San Diego Housing Commission Vice President Mathew Packard to Amy Gowan, the city’s assistant deputy director of economic development, warned that the money Filner allocated didn’t take into account routine expenses, like utilities, and also failed to include money for unforeseen expenses that might result from having the city’s two shelters—a facility for single adults in Barrio Logan and one for vets on Sports Arena Boulevard—open beyond their normal four months. Packard says Filner didn’t consult with the Housing Commission, which administers the shelter contracts, prior to including money in the budget to keep the shelters open year-round.

“We found out when the public found out,” Packard says.

The funding was supposed to keep the shelters open a full year, beginning July 1, 2013.

Bob McElroy, CEO of Alpha Project, which runs the adult shelter, says Filner promised him that as long as he was mayor, the shelters wouldn’t close. According to the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, more than 3,000 people are without shelter nightly in San Diego.

An Aug. 22 memo from Housing Commission CEO Rick Gentry informed the mayor (who’d not yet resigned at that point) and the City Council that there’s money enough to keep the shelters open only through April 1, 2014. The memo says that if the program were to become year-round permanently, it would cost roughly $933,267 more than Filner had budgeted.

McElroy says that despite the shelter’s 220 beds, he’s still turning away roughly three-dozen people each night. While there’s been criticism that some folks are using the shelter for long-term housing and not emergency need, McElroy says beds are being used to “detox” people from the street—to get them stabilized and ready to move into programs like Connections Housing, which offers both transitional and permanent beds.

Interim mayor Todd Gloria says he’s working with city staff and the Housing Commission to explore ways to stretch shelter funding, including a close look at administrative costs. But, he adds, “it’s important we recognize the possibility that the shelters will have to close in April.”

“It’s extremely unfortunate that Mr. Filner allotted insufficient funds to keep our shelters open year round as promised,” he says.

—Kelly Davis Kelly Davis

The emergency homeless shelter in Barrio Logan

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

John R. Lamb

spin cycle

john r.

lamb A convenient social liberal “We are chameleons—we take our hue and the color of our moral character from those who are around us.”

—John Locke So, local Republicans and big-cat wheeler-dealers are all in with their choice of Kevin Faulconer as this year’s model to scale San Diego’s political mountaintop and likely eviscerate any shred of progress made during the brief, dysfunctional life of the Bob Filner administration, particularly its shifting focus on neighborhoods other than Downtown.

Hallelujah, for, as Voice of San Diego gleaned from confidential sources Tuesday, the corporate angels have spoketh.

And he of San Diego Yacht Club membership, frequent Caribbean travels and apparent Parrothead Nation allegiance has been bequeathed the mantle (and commensurate campaign loot!) to seek out the remainder of Filner the Departed’s mayorship.

Just don’t ask the parties involved in that private Aug. 31 decision to back Faulconer to publicly acknowledge why they reached that conclusion.

When Spin Cycle asked former Mayor Jerry Sanders, now the well-compensated San Diego Chamber of Commerce CEO, about the gathering of an estimated 30 Republican power players after his appearance at a Miramar Air Show announcement / photo-op last week, his trademark smirk vanished.

“Nope, don’t want to talk about it,” Sanders said before turning his attention elsewhere, declining even to comment on the rumor that U-T San Diego publisher Doug Manchester had issued a rare apology to him for suggesting that the city had gone without the necessary leadership in the Mayor’s office for the last 10 years.

(Manchester is still steamed that Sanders didn’t fight for another GOP National Convention for San Diego and dissed his bayfront mega-sports-complex idea.)

Kris Michell, Sanders’ former

top lieutenant who now heads up the Downtown San Diego Partnership and also attended the Miramar event at City Hall, literally froze in place when queried about the local GOP’s mini-Bohemian Grove meet-up.

“Neh. Ask Jerry,” was the extent of her public statement before walking off.

Why all the secrecy, folks?

Well, dear progressives, it’s a different world over there in Republican fantasy-land, where, until that meeting, it appeared that the November special-election ballot to determine Filner’s successor might include more than one viable Republican candidate.

Carl DeMaio—who made King Lear look sympathetic in his teasing Labor Day speech that had some veteran journalists in town prematurely tweeting that DeMaio would jump into the mayor’s race—pined for that opportunity, spurred on by Manchester, but eventually relented and accepted his dutiful (and previously committed-to) role as competitor for the congressional seat of Democrat Scott Peters.

Whatever Manchester’s personal feelings about the outcome of the private meeting, his mainstream newspaper was on board the Kevin Train the next week, although with mixed depictions.

In the span of two days, U-T politics reporter Craig Gustafson painted Faulconer as “socially liberal,” then “socially moderate.” In the magical land of online updates, it’s hard to determine which political peg the U-T decided to settle on, but it’s a good indication that the supposed lefty Faulconer remains a work in progress for Republicans.

It’s no secret why county GOP chairman Tony Krvaric would proudly tout the termed-out District 2 councilman as a “centrist leader” this year while—as the Voice’s Liam Dillon noted in a snarky tweet—“GOP 2012: Kill all centrists” was Krvaric’s mantra: Republicans can’t win citywide elections on their own any more. The voter-registration

8 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

coner utter often while on this hyper-compacted campaign trail.

Manolatos rattled off Faulconer’s stewardship of Mission Bay while a councilmember, his pro-choice and -LGBT stances and his commitment to gun control as evidence of a social liberal in the making.

But Spin also remembers Faulconer’s attempt to appoint San Diego’s resident prohibitionist, Scott Chipman, to the City Council’s Medical Marijuana Task Force. Chipman won’t be happy until this is a dry city, and the nomination at the time seemed, at best, cyniKevin “Starshine” Faulconer cal of the serious nature of the numbers aren’t there. political debate.

So, the push to sell Faulconer as Spin also doesn’t recall anything an attractive aisle-straddler begins. but disdain coming from Faulconer Spin Cycle tried a small social- during the brief Occupy San Dimedia experiment this week, seek- ego movement, which Republiing comment from local socially cans tended to view as a gathering liberal organizations that might of slackers and nothing more. have worked with Faulconer on a So, dear voters, listen carefully variety of issues. Sadly, Spin had during the coming maelstrom of no takers. political talking points that come Faulconer campaign spokes- your way. From Republicans, person Tony Manolatos even what you’re actually hearing is the challenged Spin to prove that his simple message that Faulconer’s boss was a social, as well as ac- polling negatives are lower than knowledged fiscal, conservative, DeMaio’s, the Republican who rea word you won’t likely hear Faul- ally wanted to be mayor.

As one political observer noted privately, “Nothing to do with Kevin being a consensus builder.

People just don’t hate him.”

In the meantime, Democrats will likely convene not in the solitude of a quiet La Jolla neighborhood but perhaps more appropriately in a boxing ring to determine their consensus pick later this month.

Unlike the private-meeting Republicans, the Dems’ choice will likely not come unanimously, and it will likely leave some noses bent and egos bloodied. But, in the end, the decision will not be nearly as choreographed as Faulconer’s entry into this race.

An old roster for the San Diego Yacht Club lists Faulconer as the owner of a 19-foot powerboat named Everlasting Moon. Jimmy Buffett, king of the Parrothead Nation, wrote a tune by the same name about a celestial orb “smiling every place with his laserpainted face.”

But Spin’s gut has a feeling the title will be more emblematic of Faulconer’s eventual drop-trousers position on most things progressive. As another Buffett song title asks, “Who’s the Blonde Stranger?”

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

jack CONTINUED from PAGE 7 the City Council and other officials, the citizens may have been right. CityBeat read the document.

“The city attorney said there was a strong likelihood that Development Services Department had used the wrong process in issuing the permit,” said Linda Perine, who worked closely on the issue as former Mayor Bob Filner’s director of community outreach. “We tried to work with operations and the city attorney to find a solution.”

Rather than focus on the idea that the project was improperly permitted, Gloria has criticized Jack in the Box for “manipulating” the city’s definition of a “remodel,” blaming the project on loose language in the city’s code.

“The average person would say tearing down a structure to the point that there’s either one wall left or a few studs remaining, that that isn’t a remodel,” he said. “But under our code, it is. That’s the kind of thing that needs to be tightened up.”

However, that wasn’t good enough for neighborhood residents, who filed a lawsuit in early August demanding that the city shut down the drive-through, maintaining it was improperly permitted.

“Winning the lawsuit will put a lid on problems like this, but the only way to seal

the bottle in the future is to get new political leadership that isn’t afraid to stand up for the residents and doesn’t just pay lip service to them,” said the citizens’ attorney, Cory Briggs.

The city’s Development Services Department declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation. The City Attorney’s office did not respond to questions.

The issue started back in 2011 when the fast-food company approached the North Park Planning Committee about completely rebuilding the restaurant. After the idea was rejected, the company appealed to the Planning Commission. Although Development Services staff recommended approval, the commissioners, in 2012, denied the extensive construction project.

At that point, Jack in the Box applied directly to the city for a building permit to remodel the structure. On May 2, the permit was granted for “extensive demolition of interior and exterior walls and roof structure….” Construction started in June, but by July, city inspectors determined the project had exceeded the scope of its permit. Angry residents contacted the city, and then Filner’s staff organized a meeting with Tomlinson and others.

While the city expressed concern with the extent of demolition, Development Services staff argued that the spending cap on the city-issued building permit did not apply because the drive-through was a “feature” as opposed to a “use,” said Barry

and others who attended the meeting.

“They said the drive-through window is not something that they have control over, anymore than the front door,” Barry said.

“The jargon is the issue. A ‘feature’ versus a ‘use’ is a big difference in terms of how it’s regulated under the municipal code. A use can be restricted. A design feature is just an aspect of the building.”

Filner’s staff and neighborhood residents remained skeptical, and the former mayor directed Tomlinson to get an official opinion from the city attorney. Tomlinson sent a memo to Deputy City Attorney Heidi Vonblom on July 3 asking about the legality of the permit. At the same time, Filner held a press conference to announce he was asking the city attorney to sign off on a stop-work order on the project. In July, the City Attorney’s office issued the confidential opinion and warned that forcing Jack in the Box to stop construction could lead to a lawsuit.

Filner push the idea of the stop-work order, but the city attorney never signed off on it. In an Aug. 1 letter to neighborhood resident Vicky Heithaus, Lee Burdick, Filner’s chief of staff, wrote: “The Mayor directed the issuance of a stop work order on this project precisely because the City Attorney had opined that the process used to issue the permits was inconsistent with the City’s Land Development Code (“LDC”). However, under the LDC, a stop-work order must be approved

by the City Attorney’s office….”

Eventually, Filner’s sexual-harassment scandal distracted from the issue and construction was allowed to move forward.

In a last-ditch effort to block Jack in the Box from operating the drive-through, Filner on Aug. 29 issued a different kind of order, a stop-use order. However, upon taking over the Mayor’s office, Gloria immediately rescinded it, arguing that the move exposed the city to legal attack by the fastfood giant. The city had to choose whether it wanted to be sued by Jack in the Box or the neighborhood residents, and Filner sided with the residents, Perine said.

“The duly-elected mayor, under excruciatingly difficult circumstances, made the right decision and issued the stop-use order,” Perine said. “He chose to protect the neighborhoods and the community-planning process, to honor the rule of law and use the code properly for the benefit of the citizens of the city—not the bureaucracy, not the moneyed interests.”

Because of the residents’ lawsuit, a judge will likely weigh in on whether the project violated city code or if the rules can be interpreted as officials maintain. In the meantime, North Park residents have a gleaming new Jack in the Box to remind them of the question: Is it our laws or our leaders that are inadequate?

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

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER MICHAEL A. GARDINER

larly, “shawarma” is a corruption of the Turkish word “çevirme,” which translates as “turning” and “gyros” is the Greek word for “turned.”

It’s the rotating vertical spit of meat that’s the essence of these closely related dishes.

The term “kebab” means, simply enough, “grilled meat.” Thus, “döner kebab” means grilled meat that’s turned around.

While The Kebab Shop’s classic lamb döner is quite Chicken döner and Andalucian carrots good, what they do best is the chicken döner. The lamb döner, like most gyros, is cut from vertical tubes of pre-pressed and pre-seasoned meat (often a combination of lamb and beef ). The chicken döner, though, is sliced from a house-pressed tower of chicken featuring alternating layers of lean chicken and tasty fat. It is, quite precisely, Winning the street-food war what you’d find—and I found—on the streets of Istanbul. Of course, I also found El Torito there, My nominee for best street food in the world but that’s another story. would have to go to Turkey’s döner kebab, meat The döner, whether lamb, chicken or falafel rotating on a vertical rotisserie spit, sliced thin (deep fried balls of ground chickpeas), is and served up in a flatbread such as lavash or served burrito-style, with lettuce, tomatoes, pita with yoghurt-garlic sauce and often with cucumbers and two sauces (yoghurt-garlic and pickles, salads and other condiments, includa “hot” sauce). If you’ve tasted gyros, you have ing hot sauce. Nearly every country in the a reasonably good idea what the lamb döner Middle East has some version of this dish. Isis about. The chicken döner offers a profound rael and the Arab world have their shawarma, and deeply savory meatiness that results from Greece its gyros, but neither is quite as enticing those layers of meat and fat, the rotating spit as the original. technique and seasoning that’s both exotic and Given the substantial Middle Eastern popustrangely familiar. lation in San Diego, there are more than a few One disappointment at The Kebab Shop is places one can find some version of this brilliant the salads—meze—often the highlight of Midstreet food. I have found none better than The dle Eastern eating. The hummus and tabouli Kebab Shop (303 W. Beech in Little Italy, with are ordinary, and the Andalucian carrots lack several more locations, thekebabshop.com). It’s both acid and seasoning. The best are the very as close as you can get to Turkey in San Diego. fresh Greek salad and the green lentil and walDöner kebab was actually invented in the early nut side.

1970s in Germany by Mahmut Aygun, a Turkish While The Kebab Shop will not likely win immigrant whose primary innovation was to presawards for elegance or ambiance, it’s perfect for ent the Turkish dish of spit-roasted lamb over rice, a quick lunch or on the way to a movie. And, as but inside pita bread to allow customers who’d ever, it’s well tuned for döner kebab’s original intended late-night purpose. been drinking to more readily stumble off home with their food. Exported back to the Middle Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com East, it conquered the streets. The word “döner” and editor@sdcitybeat.com. translates from Turkish as “turn around.” Simi-

THE WORLD

FARE

10 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

BY KELLY DAVIS

COCKTAIL

TALES

KELLY DAVIS

Queen of the (hotel) bar

A hotel bar might seem like a strange place for Jen Queen to land.

Only 31, Queen, on her own and with business partners Lucien Conner and Ian Ward, has created cocktail menus for 17 restaurants, including spots like Searsucker, PrepKitchen and Monello. Most of her work has been as a consultant, but her new role as principle bartender at SaltBox at Hotel Palomar (1047 Fifth Ave., Downtown, saltboxrestaurant.com) is a full-time gig. That it’s a hotel bar is precisely why she wanted the job.

“Any of the bartenders who are published or have created this game started in hotel bars,” she says. “So I thought it was kind of a cool chance to bring that tradition back.”

Plus, Queen’s a social person, and despite her credentials (she’s a tequila expert and is a couple months away from being deemed a Master Mezcalier by the Mexican government), she has no problem chatting up the guy who simply wants a Jack-and-Coke.

“I have a huge variance in what my clientele is, and that’s a beautiful challenge for me. Can I make Jack-and-Coke guy love a craft cocktail?

Maybe not. But I can make him think about it, or perhaps appreciate what I do and maybe try something else down the road.”

Hospitality trumps cocktail knowledge any day, she says. She learned that from her mom (whose favorite cocktail remains a Long Island Iced Tea), who managed a dive bar in Columbus, Ohio.

“Every person who came in there would consider her a friend,” Queen says. “It was like a big family, and some of that is lost under arrogance and pride and a lot of egos.”

That doesn’t mean Queen doesn’t go all-in on every menu she creates. In her back pocket she carries a folded piece of paper full of notes on the new menu she and her staff are working

Jen Queen and Mark Goody work on a cocktail for Saltbox’s new menu. on for SaltBox (plans are to roll it out on Sept.

20). She approaches cocktails with a chef’s mind. Right now, she’s making her own blackstrap rum for a variation on a Corn N’ Oil and a poppy-seed orgeat for a drink she’s calling Random Screening. Her take on an espresso martini, called Eyes Wide, will include julienned vanilla beans frozen in ice. As work-intensive as it sounds, it actually translates to a better value for the bar and its guests.

“I’m learning to make things myself so I don’t have to pay for your labeling, your marketing, all your fluff and lies, the bottle itself,” she says.

And there’ll be a take on a Long Island Iced Tea called the African Nectar, made with rooibos-tea-infused vodka.

“I try to make sure I have a little something for everyone,” Queen says. “Some really dorky things, some clean classic lines… and then some culinary concoctions.

“And you can see which section will be the biggest,” she says glancing at the new menu.

“It’s all the culinary stuff that really pulls my heartstrings the most.”

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

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

BY JENNY MONTGOMERY JENNY MONTGOMERY

and omelettes. This is essentially a down-and-dirty Monte Cristo, with gooey cheese, salty ham and eggy bread with a chaser of dusty, sweet powdered sugar.

There’s nothing gourmet about this, but Sal & Ceci’s has blown diner-mediocrity out of the water.

It was so hard to choose from all of the available ribsticking options. Do I go with corned-beef hash? Should I try the chicken-fried steak?

And do my shorts have an elastic waistband? We opted for the gravy-covered chickSal & Ceci’s stuffed French toast en-fried chicken steak and couldn’t get enough of the creamy, salty, ’Murican-as-a-giant-flag-lapelpin sausage gravy. Even the chicken was amazing: pounded thin and juicy and tender with every bite.

Leave room for the crispy, fried potato pancakes. Crunchy and glistening brown on the outDelicious nostalgia side, with soft, shredded potato confetti on the inside and dollops of apple sauce and sour cream I felt a little giddy when the French toast arrived. crowning each end of the plate, I’ll take these Had I finally found my go-to breakfast spot? Oh, latkes over undercooked house potatoes any day. there are the more upscale breakfast locales, with The biscuits are soft and fluffy and delicious. But prettier views and free-range marmalade and take note, biscuit snobs: They run cakey, not flaky. whatnot, and those are fine for brunch with Mom I loved this place. This is the diner I’ve been and Dad. And, sure, there’s no shortage of greasy looking for. Tender eggs, proper seasoning and spoons around town, some even with passionate hot, fresh generous portions banish breakfast followings. More often than not, those charming blahs. But I do have a bone to pick with the pies. dives generally span the spectrum from lousy to It’s a pie shop. (Excuse me, “shoppe.”) And almediocre. It makes me grouchy. But the faded exthough I enjoyed the bursting, indigo slice of terior of Sal & Ceci’s Pantry & Pie Shoppe (945 blueberry pie and the sugar-crusted slice of S. Santa Fe Ave., Vista) intrigued me. Was there peach, I’m fairly confident I was eating canned any magic in this little corner of Vista? filling. I suppose for many people that’s the Sal & Ceci’s has that time-warp vibe that made norm, but my pie standards are higher. The crust me feel like I was 9 years old, going out to eat with was great, and the flavor was fine (even yummy), my grandparents, scooching inch by inch along but the clingy texture of canned fruit is a strike. a booth seat, legs sticking to the vinyl. There’s Sal & Ceci’s has throwback charm that’s not nothing kitschy about the nostalgic feeling here. intentional. There’s no website. I doubt they’ve It’s an all-day menu, but I was there for a big ever redecorated. But the staff is exceptionally morning meal. I normally steer clear of things warm, the food is mostly terrific and this breakfast grouch left with a smile. like stuffed French toast; it tends to be cloying and mushy. But I couldn’t resist S&C’s hamWrite to jennym@sdcitybeat.com and-cheese-stuffed version, its salty-and-sweet and editor@sdcitybeat.com. siren’s song tempting me away from scrambles

NORTH

FORK

12 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

URBAN

SCOUT What can I find…

On Adams Avenue?

BY KATRINA DODSON

KATRINA DODSON

Normal Heights is populated by people looking to spend their money locally.

The shopping along Adams Avenue is fun and friendly, as one shopkeeper after another made sure I hit a neighboring store, their friend’s store or even their competitor’s store.

If you’re looking for books, you have two good choices here: The Book Tree (3316 Adams Ave., thebooktree.com) and Adams Avenue Bookstore (3502 Adams Ave., adamsavebooks.com). Around since 1965, Adams Avenue Bookstore Nickelodeon Records peddles old-timey goods. was the mainstay of what was a bustling book mecca in Normal Heights. This mahogany secretary desk with a flip-out top for two-level store has a library-like feel and special$259. I also spied a tiny 8-inch-wide entry table izes in theological studies, cookbooks, children’s for $110 in an espresso stain. books and military history. I found the inventory Elos Shoes (3404 Adams Ave., elosshoes. to be eclectic, diverse and a bit scholarly. The com) is a beautiful, newish store offering modern Book Tree, two blocks down, finds its niche in ficbut classic footwear for men and women. This tion, self-healing, metaphysical / spiritual and sciloft-style store carries styles from Miz Mooz, Bed fi. Half of the books at The Book Tree are used, so Stu, Pons and Clarks, among others. I couldn’t reyou can pick up great titles for not much money. sist a pair of silver Pons—they’re made in Spain of If you’re looking to scratch your artistic itch, soft leather and recycled tires in a classic slingyou might try Andrea Rushing Academy of back espadrille style.

Fine Arts (3535 Adams Ave.), Visual Art Supply I did a quick browse through Nickelodeon (3524 Adams Ave., visualartsupply.com) and Art Records (3335 Adams Ave., nickolodeonrecords. of Framing (3333 Adams Ave., theartofframing. com) to take in history through stacks of fannet). The day I stopped by tastic old records, posters and KATRINA DODSON Rushing’s gallery, there was a memorabilia. The owners buy lively class of acrylic and oil and sell mainly 1940 through painters busy at work. I was 1970s vinyl—I could have chatinvited to watch and ask quested with them all day. To quell tions and encouraged to attend a midday thirst, I stopped by a session—all levels are welBine & Vine (3334 Adams Ave., come. Visual Art Supply spebineandvine.com) and found a cializes in urban-art supplies, small-batch-brewed root beer including spray paints, nozzle to sip while I gawked at the tips for the cans, acrylic and oilexcellent wine selection from based markers and a variety of mainly Italy and France. Next, other art supplies. Visual also I popped into Villainous Lair hosts two art shows a month. In Comics (3371 Adams Ave., viladdition to being a frame store, lainouslair.com, a block down Art of Framing also displays a from Villainous Lair Gaming) variety of colorful and creative and took in a visual and audihandbags, original artwork, tory lesson on its vast selecglass and ceramic art objects tion of collector comic books, Re-purposed furniture at Stuff and several jewelry lines. I had video games, board games, my eye on a necklace by artist Lisa Confetti made role-playing games and collectables. My last stop with a piece of pressed mosaic in a large pendant was Back to Tombuktu (3564 Adams Ave., shop. splashed with brilliant colors. backfromtomboctou.com), a deceivingly large The retail-oriented shops on the north side store filled with crafts from all over the globe, but mostly from Mexico, South America and Japan. I of Adams will keep you happy, too. Stuff (3514 picked up a brochure on its craft workshops, as Adams Ave., stuffonadams.com), a furniture the shop does many classes based on art for Dia consignment shop, is well-named—it’s stuffed de los Muertos. with reclaimed, re-purposed and one-of-a-kind pieces. Owner Scott Haring walked me through Write to katrinad@sdcitybeat.com the store and pointed out fixed-up items that had and editor@sdcitybeat.com. come in broken or worn. I found a wonderful old

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

the

SHORTlist

1

COORDINATED BY ALEX ZARAGOZA

CRAFT NEIGHBORHOOD

What’s the hippest hipster neighborhood in San Diego? Well, this weekend, trendsetters can skid fixie up to the San Diego Film Festival Preview and check out the so-called Makers Quarter enclave in East Village. Complimentary bike valet parking, craft cocktails and gourmet food trucks will be available at the outdoor event space SILO, at 753 15th St. The event, which will also feature fashion demonstrations and live exhibitions by local street artists, is part of a development project to revitalize the neighborhood through innovative urban planning.

“At SILO, we’re creating community events that can test ideas for what the community wants most,” says Stacey Pennington, an urban planner working in the neighborhood with a team of developers. “The ones that work out will have a long-term role in the development of this district.”

The 21-and-older event, which looks forward to the San Diego Film Fest in October, runs from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13 and 14. The feature films start at 8:30 p.m. each evening and are preceded by several shorts starting at 7 p.m.

“A lot of people have movie nights over the city, but how often do you get to bike to the middle of Downtown and watch a film with the skyline be-

2

ART

SHAKESPEAREAN HUSTLE

What do Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the groovy sounds of disco have in common? Not much, at least to the unimaginative eye. Ion Theatre Company has taken on the challenge of combining the two for the cabaret Ass, Or A Midsummer Night’s Fever. The play, co-directed by Ion’s Glenn Paris and Claudio Raygoza, with disco moves choreographed by Michael Mizerany, transports The Bard’s classic comedy to the 1970s. Don’t Actors get down in Ass think it’s only the actors who’ll be busting out in a Soul Train line. The play is audience-immersive, so everyone is encouraged to get down. Performances begin at 10:30 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays starting on Friday, Sept. 13, and running through Oct. 4 at Urbn Cntr 4 the Arts (3708 Sixth Ave., Downtown). Tickets: $20-$30. BYO goldfish platforms. iontheatre.com

14 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

New Impressions: Recent Acquisitions at Founders Hall, USD campus, 5998 Alcala Park, Linda Vista. A first look at a selection of the more than 100 prints acquired for the University Print Collection, including works by Shahzia Sikander, James McNeill Whistler and Do Ho Suh. Also: Beyond the Book II: Fresh Perspective on Prints, featuring installations by USD students. From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, sandiego.edu/artgalleries HContemporary Expressionism: at Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, Downtown.

This exhibition seeks to explore different approaches to expressionism. Highlights include work by Nina de Paula, Duke Windsor, Cheryl Ehlers and Angelika Villagrana.

From 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13. 619222-1034, sdmaag.org Connections at Kruglak Art Gallery, MiraCosta College Campus, 1 Barnard Drive, Oceanside. Reception for Miracosta College’s new faculty exhibition. From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13. 760-7572121x6268 HAnonimo: Heroes & Performers at jdc Fine Art, 2400 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy.

This exhibition showcases the work of acclaimed Guatemalan photographer, Luis Gonzalez Palma. On view through Nov. 30.

Opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13. 619-985-2322, jdcfineart.com Angels & Demons at Kettner Arts, 1772 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy. This reception will feature works by local “intuitive multimedia artist” Lindsay Duff. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13. 619-269-6900, kettnerarts.com

The new SILO at Maker’s Quarter hind it?” Pennington asks.

On Friday, 2013’s Best Friends Forever by Brea Grant tells the story of a comic-book artist and her reckless best friend as they take a road trip amid an impending nuclear apocalypse. Saturday’s feature is 2012’s Ruby Sparks by Zoe Kazan, which follows a struggling young novelist who finds the sexy subject of his latest work has come to life.

Tickets are $5 for general admission, $25 for VIP admission, which includes one signature cocktail and VIP lounge access. For $100, you get two VIP tickets, two additional signature cocktails and VIP lounge access. makersquarter.eventbrite.com

3

WISE GUY

A few years ago, KPBS had a segment on a guy named Alex Kajatani, aka “The Rappin’ Mathematician,” a San Diego Unified School District teacher who was combining hip-hop and math to turn tough-to-teach students into numbers-loving all-stars. Kajatani was awarded California Teacher of the Year in 2009 and named a finalist for National Teacher of the Year. At 6:45 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 12, he’ll talk about his new book, Owning It, at Upstart Crow (835-C W. Harbor Drive in Seaport Village). If you’re a parent or teacher, it’s a mustattend—and for those of you long out of school, we think you’ll dig it, too. Kajatani’s funny and charismatic, the kind of educator who’ll renew your faith in public schools. upstartcrowtrading.com, alexkajitani.com Alex Kajitani

HAnium at Subtext, 2479 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy. The opening reception for the video/multimedia artist and videographer Charles Bergquist. From 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13. Free. 619-876-0664, subtextstore.com Lucky 13 at 57 Degrees Wine Bar, 1735 Hancock St., Middletown. This opening showcases contemporary artists from all over Southern California, including locals Dan Adams and Guy Lombardo. There will be music from the band Mantis and multimedia projections from Kinetic Collage.

From 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13. 619234-5757, fiftysevendegrees.com Scott Zagar at Glashaus, 1815-B Main St., Barrio Logan. Zagar’s new works include oil on aluminum diamonds, and oil on canvas color fields. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

14. 619-886-1563, scottzagar.com HTime Came Around at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., North Park. Cindy Zimmerman’s new show riffs on time, play, attachment and change, featuring altered patio furniture, paintings, assemblages and zines. Johnny High-Hat will perform a set of country swing and old standards. From 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. 619-584-4448, artproduce.org HHorror Business at Left Hand Black, 1947 Fern St., South Park. This second annual horror-themed show will feature paintings from dozens of artists using hatchets, knives and cleavers as the canvas. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. 619-5466555, lhblk.com HAttack of the Fez Men! at Craftlab Gallery, 821A South Tremont St., Oceanside.

This reception will feature new folk-art paintings from Jaime Muehlhausen and will also include a display of some of his vintage fez collection. Jaimie will perform a live acoustic set during the evening and portrait artist Chris Kebler will also have work on display.

From 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. 760332-8096, craftlabgallery.com HDeconstruction of Art at Thumbprint Gallery, 920 Kline St., #104, La Jolla.

More than a dozen local artists show off

work that promises to be “pure emotion when you break it down its basic raw components.” From 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, thumbprintgallerysd.com HYou and I, and the Worlds Between Us at ArtHatch, 317 E. Grande Ave., Escondido. After a successful show at Subtext a few months ago, the international Prisma Art Collective presents new collaborative works, including one from local Kelly Vivanco. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

14. 760-781-5779, arthatch.org HRichard Allen Morris at R.B. Stevenson Gallery, 7661 Girard Ave., Ste. 201, La Jolla. A reception for an exhibition of new drawings from the San Diego-based artist, whose work was once described as “disrespectful, bold, downright fresh and always full of painterly bravura.” From 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. 858-459-3917, rbstevensongallery.com HRay at Night North Park’s monthly art walk on Ray Street, between North Park Way and University Avenue, celebrates its 12th birthday. Highlights include Charlie Don’t Surf show at obr Architecture and the closing reception for The Good, The Bad And The Sexy at the San Diego Art Department. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

14. Free. 858-459-3917, northparkarts.org HAdam Belt: Longview at Quint Contemporary Art, 7547 Girard Ave., La Jolla.

This exhibition from the Carlsbad-based artist will feature new sculptural and installation works exploring the roots of his artistic practice and inspired by the sublime and nature. From 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. 858-454-3409, quintgallery.com Coronado Art Walk at Coronado Ferry Landing, 1201 First St., Coronado. Enjoy the works of over 100 artists from around the country, as well as interactive activities and live music. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. Free. coronadoartwalk.org Landscapes, Memories, Visions at Sally and Henry’s Dog House Bar and Grille, 3515 Fifth Ave., Bankers Hill. Local artist Jake Romero will be unveiling new work inspired by dreams, naturalism, popculture and mid-century modernism. From 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. 619-5018638, jakeromero.com Unnatural Disasters at Basic, 410 10th Ave., Downtown. The Vizcult collective will be displaying some of the best shutterbugs in the city, including Tommy McAdams, Cliff Endsley and James Norton. From 7 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17. 619-865-6210, facebook.com/events/154241884775637 More than a Fence at Cal State San Marcos, 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos. A multi-media installation of photography, sculpture and texts that explore the impact of the Mexico-U.S. border.

From 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18.

760-750-4011, csusm.edu

BOOKS Ajit Varki at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. A distinguished professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine at UCSD, Varki will discuss and sign Denial: Self-Deception, False Beliefs, and the Origins of the Human Mind.

At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11. Free.

858-454-0347, warwicks.com Baron Birtcher at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The author of the Mike Travis series will sign Rain Dogs about a marijuana harvest that leads to a deadly narcotics war. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12. 858268-4747, mystgalaxy.com HZohreh Ghahremani at San Carlos Library, 7265 Jackson Drive, San Carlos.

Zohreh Ghahremani is the award-winning author of Sky of Red Poppies. She’ll be ap-

pearing to sign and discuss her new novel, The Moon Daughter. At 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13. Free. 619-527-3430 David Brin and Alan Russell at Carlsbad City Library, 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad. The two authors hold a discussion on the theme “It’s About Crime; It’s About Space,” as well talk about their sci-fi and thriller novels. At 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. 760-6022049, mystgalaxy.com/event Rusty Miller at California Surf Museum, 312 Pier View Way, Oceanside. The surf legend and photographer stops by to discuss and sign his new book, Turning Point: Surf Portraits & Stories from Bells to Byron 1970-1971. At 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. $5. surfmuseum.org Corey Lynn Fayman at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The award-winning San Diego musician and multimedia designer will sign his latest Rolly Waters mystery novel, Border Field Blues. At 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

14. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Masako Kimura Streling at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla.

Streling will be signing I Thought the Sun Was God, about a woman born in a poor Japanese fishing village and her struggle to overcome a class-conscious and patriarchal society. At noon Sunday, Sept. 15.

858-454-0347, warwicks.com Wyatt Earp in San Diego at William Heath Davis House, 410 Island Ave., Downtown.

Historian Garner Palenske will provide an in-depth look into the iconic lawman’s life in San Diego and sign his new book, Wyatt Earp in San Diego: Life After Tombstone.

From 3 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15. 619233-4692, gaslampquarter.org Judith Fox at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The award-winning

local photographer will discuss and sign One Foot Forward: Stories and Faces of Widows and Widowers. Warwick’s will be donating a portion of the book sales to The Elizabeth Hospice. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Inna Segal at San Diego Center for Spiritual Living, 1009 G St., Downtown. The pioneer in the field of energy medicine will be discuss and sign her book, The Secret of Life Wellness. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17.

203-226-0199, sdcsl.org Jonathan Maberry at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The author and playwright talks about the latest and final release of his young-adult zombie series, Fire & Ash. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18. 858268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Jamie Ford at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet will discuss and sign his sophomore novel, Songs of Willow Frost.

At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18. 858454-0347, warwicks.com

COMEDY HMaz Jobrani at Mad House Comedy Club, 502 Horton Plaza, Downtown. A veteran of The Axis of Evil Comedy Tour and two Showtime specials, his jokes often focus on race and the misunderstanding of Middle Easterners in America. At 9:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, and 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14.

619-702-6666, madhousecomedyclub.com Jason Dudey at Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The up-and-coming funny-man performs. At 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Satur-

day, Sept. 13-14. $20. 858-573-9067, thecomedypalace.com

DANCE Sugar Plum Rush at Hotel Palomar, 1047 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Culture Shock Dance Troupe’s annual party and auction helps raise funds for their holiday hip-hop production of The Nutcracker. There will be dancing, hors d’oeuvres and a hosted bar.

From 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12. $50$75. 808-741-3741, sugarplumrush.com H72nd Street Blues at Visionary Dance Theatre, 8803 1/2 La Mesa Blvd., La Mesa.

New dance performances from acclaimed national and international choreographers.

Highlights include Jeanne Travers’ “Into Mergence” and John Powell’s restaging of the award-winning 1989 work “Kaffir,” which deals with South Africa during Apartheid. At 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 12-14. $10-$15. 619-758-8112, VisionaryDanceTheatre.org Philippine Dance Display at Paradise Hills Branch Library, 5922 Rancho Hills Drive, Paradise Hills. Watch a display of Philippine dances and enjoy an accompanying cultural presentation. At 5 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 18. Free. 619-5273461, sandiego.library.org

FOOD & DRINK Belly Up Beer Fest at Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Enjoy craft beer tastings and special music sets from Family Wagon and the electronic enthusiast DJ Renegabe. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept.

12. $5-$15. 858-481-8140, bellyup.com

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

THEATER

Ghosts, tortured souls wrestle in Hillcrest There’s something about sitting in on a stranger’s psychotherapy that brings out the voyeur in all of us. When a patient stands—well, sits—figuratively naked before a therapist, the admissions, revelations and self-discoveries can be of startling consequence. As witnesses, we bask in them without shame and are free to judge and internalize.

That’s largely the experience of watching, and listening to, Conor McPherson’s Shining City, the one-act drama that opens Ion Theatre Company’s new season in Hillcrest. Because of a remarkably honest performance by Ion executive artistic director Claudio Raygoza as John, a tormented Dubliner seeking truths from therapist Ian (Francis Gercke), Shining City is a taut, quietly revealing piece of theater.

At the same time, under Glenn Paris’ direction, it surprises you when you least expect it, with a raised voice here, a slammed drawer there and, ultimately, a shocking finale.

More than half of the play’s 98 minutes are consumed by John’s therapy with Ian, who speaks hardly at all behind a tense, secretive frown.

Meanwhile, John unfolds the misery of his longing for human connection, his unapologetic selfcenteredness and, looming over it all, the grief and guilt about his wife killed in an accident. He has seen, John confides, her ghost—ashen and wet and lurking inside the home they once shared. He is, without saying it outright, haunted. In an obvious but nonetheless intriguing case of “physician, heal thyself,” it turns out that Ian, in his way, is just as lonely, just as unapologetically self-centered, just as haunted.

The cast of four, which also includes Jessica John as Ian’s nervous fiancée, Neasa, and Zack Bonin as the by-intention faceless man whom Ian just as nervously brings home for a tryst, maintain Irish accents and the play’s dour mood with equal Latin Food Fest at Port Pavilion on the Broadway Pier, 1000 North Harbor Drive, Downtown. Taste food and drink from the region’s top Latin restaurants and purveyors of artisanal food, wine, spirits and beer.

There will also be chef demos, discussions, a “Flavors of Baja” pavilion and book signings. Thursday through Sunday, Sept.

12-15. See website for f\schedule and ticket prices. latinfoodfest.com/taste

MUSIC Mike Alvarez at Ducky Waddle’s Emporium, 414 N. Coast Hwy. 101, Encinitas. Alvarez performas his progressive, instrumental looped cello sounds with percussion. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12. $5. 760-6320488, duckywaddles.com HEric Byers at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Barrio Logan. Part of the Fresh Sound Music Series, Byers will be performing music for solo cello and electronics. Using a computer to sample himself, he weaves multiple parts together to create a virtual ensemble. From 8 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept.

13. $10-$15. henceforthrecords.com AMP Music Festival at Market Creek Plaza, 5160 Federal Blvd., Diamond District.

This mutli-genre, outdoor music festival features a variety of Asian and Pacific Islander

16 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

DAREN SCOTT

Claudio Raygoza (left) and Francis Gercke grace. There are never more than two actors on stage at the same time, and in this play, one’s listening is just as vital to the story’s messages as is the other’s speaking.

Ion’s Shining City does that so well. Its ghosts, in all manifestations, never speak, either, but they are there: relentless and unignorable.

Shining City runs through Sept. 28 at BLKBOX Theatre in Hillcrest. $15-$35. iontheatre.com

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

OPENING Logan Heights: The local premiere of a play, by Josefina Lopez (Real Women Have Curves), about an immigrant family living in the titular San Diego neighborhood. Opens Sept. 13 at OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista. onstageplayhouse.org The Maids: When the woman of the house is away, two maids begin to play—in a sadomasochistic way. Presented by Talent to aMuse Theatre Company, it opens Sept. 13 at 10th Avenue Theatre, Downtown. talenttoamuse.com

For full listings, please visit T heater ” at sdcit yb eat.com

acts. There will be artist meet-and-greets, food trucks and lifestyle vendors. From 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. Free.

619-527-6161, ampmusicfestival.com HSACRA/PROFANA at Subtext, 2479 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy. The 24-voice choral music ensemble kicks off its fifth season with an intimate show at the Little Italy gallery. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. $5.

619-876-0664, sacraprofana.org Lisa Haley & the Zydekats at War Memorial Building, 3325 Zoo Drive, Balboa Park.

The band, which has been around for almost two decades, performs Americana, Cajun and Zydeco. Show up before 6:20 for dance lessons. At 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

14. $10. icajunzydeco.com HSteve Poltz at Birch Aquarium, 2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla. The local singersongwriter participates in the Green Flash Concert Series. Enjoy live music, great food and drinks, and amazing sunset views from the aquarium’s Tide-Pool Plaza. From 5:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18. $26-$34.

858-534-FISH, aquarium.ucsd.edu

PERFORMANCE HTechnomania Circus: The Beer Show! at Victory Theater, 2558 Imperial St., Logan

Heights. The Fifth Annual Beer Show features live music, black-light illusion, comedic skits, acrobatics, puppetry and audience participation all themed around everyone’s favorite beverage. There will be local brews for sale to benefit reInterpret, a local nonprofit, and an after party for all attendees. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. $10. 619-2361971, technomaniacircus.com

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HRe-VAMP’d: Best of 2013 Part 1 at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Barrio Logan. The multimedia variety show, VAMP (Visual Art, Music, Performance) brings back their favorites for another round. Relive the agony and the glory from the first half of 2013. From 8 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, sosayweallonline.com Pireeni Sundaralingam at SDSU Library, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area, College Area. Sundaralingam has had poetry published in Ploughshares, The Progressive and numerous anthologies. In room LL430. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18.

Free. 619-594-4991, library.sdsu.edu

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

SPECIAL EVENTS Fall Home/Garden Show at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. Inspiration, hands-on demos, educational seminars and one-stop shopping. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Sept.

13, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15. $1-$8. 858-755-1161, delmarfairgrounds. com South Bay Pride at Bayfront Park, Marina Parkway and Marina Way, Chula Vista.

Live entertainment, dancing, art, food and a beer garden to celebrate South County LGBT pride. From noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. Free. southbaypride.org Pagan Pride Festival at Balboa Park.

Annual celebration of the Autumn Harvest with entertainment, food, wares and activities for kids. Admission is free with the donation of a non-perishable food item. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. Free. sdpaganpride.org Mexican Heritage Day at Junipero Serra Museum, 2727 Presidio Drive, Old Town. A celebration of Mexican heritage and history with youth activities, storytelling, as well as a guided tour of the Presidio site and Serra Museum. At 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept.

15. $4-7. sandiegohistory.org

SPORTS San Diego Bayfair at Ski Beach, Ingraham Street, Bay Park. The word’s fastest boats and just about everything else that’s fast on water will compete in races, freestyle motocross and aerial trick shows. From 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Sept.

13-15. $10-$40. sandiegobayfair.org

18 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

“Parallel Universe” by Will Gibson will be on view in Keep a Good Head and Always Carry a Lightbulb, which opens with a reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, at Co-Merge (330 A St., Downtown) and runs through Feb. 28, 2014.

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS Dr. Khaleel Mohammed at Rancho San Diego Library, 11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon. Mohammed, associate professor of religious studies at SDSU, speaks on Christian-Jewish-Muslim encounters as reflected in an analysis of the Quran. At 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14. Free. 619-6605370, sdcl.org/locations_RD.html Green Scene at World Resources Simulation Center, 1088 Third Ave., Downtown.

City Planning Director Bill Fulton and Architect Teddy Cruz engage in a facilitated conversation on how to plan and build a more sustainable region. From 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18. $10 sug-

gested donation. 619-234-1088, wrsc.org How Can We Bring Open Data to San Diego? at KPBS Studios, 5200 Campanile Drive, College Area. Join panelists Donna Frye, Jed Sundwall (founder of Open San Diego), Ben Katz (CEO of JSX and Givalike.org) and Joel Hoffmann (investigative reporter for voiceofsandiego.org) as they discuss things journalists and concerned citizens can do to create more access to open data. From 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18. Free. facebook.com/ events/574281092638452

For full listings,

please visit “E vents” at sdcit yb eat.com

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

Susan Myrland

“Rocksteady” by snak3oil

streetotthe village

Bringing the

by Susan Myrland

Edgy Thumbprint Gallery is making a go of it in posh La Jolla

Johnny Tran (left) and Paul Ecdao in their gallery consistent. They’ve continued their tradition of opening a new show every second Saturday. They still represent emerging artists working primarily in street art, lowbrow and pop surrealism. The clientele still spills out to the sidewalk during events, beers in hand.

Thumbprint may be one of San Diego’s most ambitious galleries. Beginning in 2009 as a pop-up show in Queen Bee’s Art & Cultural Center in North Park, the team spent almost two years on University Avenue before moving north. Since the La Jolla space is only 300 square feet (920 Kline St., thumbprintgallerysd.com), they host regular exhibitions at East Village’s Bar Basic, where they can show more artists. And they’ll curate Double Exposure, a photography show opening Nov. 16 at the new Canvas Gallery on Seventh Avenue, Downtown.

All this is on top of day jobs. Ecdao is a librarian at Kaplan College and a socialmedia consultant. Tran is a legal and business writer by day and a DJ by night.

Ecdao says it’s part of their mission to give a voice to new artists and nurture a sense of community. He wanted Thumbprint to be a less-pretentious alternative to other galleries, a place where people could feel comfortable taking time to learn about art without feeling pressured to buy.

A gallery has to sell to stay in business, though. Tran and Ecdao actively market, sending a steady stream of announcements and invitations to followers. They’re also experimenting with guest curators, a practice they started in North Park. The show that opens Sept. 14, Deconstruction of Art, will be organized by Stuart Platt.

Just as Ecdao and Tran are self-taught gallerists, Platt is a self-taught curator. A video-game producer for almost 13 years, he began collecting about three years ago, mainly film and animation art. That led him to a Chicago-based artist who goes by the name snak3oil. Together they formed Suicidal Octopuss, a company “dedicated

20 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

to promoting, evangelizing and selling independent lowbrow and urban street art from artists that you probably have never heard of but should have,” according to their website.

With Deconstruction, Platt brings the essence of graffiti—controversial, interventionist, counterculture and non-commercial—right into the heart of high-end retail.

In a statement provided to the gallery, he wants to remind viewers that art is “pure emotion when you break it down [to] its basic raw components. It is an expression.”

High-minded ideals aside, there’s an endearing cheekiness to the show. Miniature mailboxes, dumpsters, trucks and billboards are covered in tags, transforming the illegal into the collectible. Vandalism looks downright cute when it’s 6 inches tall. Platt mixes these with pieces painted on skate decks and canvas, what he calls “classic art inspired with an urban twist.”

Deconstruction of Art will feature 16 artists, including snak3oil. San Diegans in the show are Misty Michelle, Lord of Stink and Hawtspot. Platt says the rest are from New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Kentucky, Las Vegas and San Francisco. Although urban art generally reflects the city of origin, Platt doesn’t mind mixing it up.

“It’s hard to define San Diego’s style because there are so many people that contribute to it from all over the U.S. and even the world,” he writes in an email, adding that local street artists rarely remove or draw over each other’s work. “I find the street art in San Diego less about marking territory and more about the artwork and expression itself.”

Which makes Deconstruction a good fit for Thumbprint Gallery—stylistically, philosophically and, one hopes, financially.

Ecdao and Tran believe in the power of collaboration to gain exposure. If Ecdao had his way, small galleries would team up, maintaining healthy competition but working together to make a bigger noise.

“Bridgette” by snak3oil

In an alley off Girard Avenue there’s a tall, brightly colored mural by Kim MacConnel called “Girl from Ipanema.” Ribbons of precise color stream down the building’s surface, the work of an established artist drawing on mid-century cultural references.

A few hundred feet away, a brightly colored painting of a skull hangs on a black wall in a tiny gallery. It’s fast, loose and emotional—a tattoo-shop staple done in Clyfford Still brushstrokes.

One was vetted by a credentialed committee, funded and fully sanctioned. The other was done by Jeffrey Locke, a 27-yearold artist from Nuevo, Calif., who’s been painting for four years.

Both are street art, La Jolla-style.

The skull hangs on the wall of Thumbprint Gallery, run by co-directors Paul Ecdao and Johnny Tran. When Thumbprint moved from North Park to La Jolla two years ago, some art-scene observers wondered whether urban could make the transition to urbane. Would the scrappy gallery survive in the cultured suburbs?

It’s doing just fine, thank you.

“We already had a customer base in La Jolla and North County, but they were traveling to North Park because there were not any other galleries providing our brand of art” in those areas, Tran said in an email. “We took it as evidence of an unfulfilled demand.”

Ecdao chimes in: “I feel we’re sort of a Trojan horse, exposing work that isn’t so typically seen in La Jolla.”

The duo’s entrepreneurial instincts seem to be paying off. Sales and attendance are up, they say. They’re participating in Haute La Jolla Nights, a free music-foodart event put on by the La Jolla Village Merchants Association. With two more nights to go in the Haute La Jolla season (Sept. 14 and Nov. 16), Thumbprint is getting more walk-in traffic than they ever had in North Park.

In the midst of change, they’re staying

Such a Voltron Force might be down the road, however. At this point, Thumbprint’s co-directors have enough on their plates. They share the same problems faced by the big galleries around the corner—selecting good work, scheduling shows, drumming up buyers and paying the rent—plus the challenges of working with young artists who occasionally have inflated expectations. It comes with the territory, and Ecdao says they’re in it for the long haul.

“That’s why we wanted to move to La Jolla. Although we got support as far as people showing up to the shows, we needed more support in buying the artwork.

The artist needs to replenish their supplies and materials that they used to create this work,” he says. “And what better way to support artists than being able to pay them, you know?”

Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com.

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

Seen Local Leave it to cleavers For Crystal Turk and her husband, tattoo artist Turk, authenticity is an absolute must, especially when it comes to anything creepy.

Step into Left Hand Black (1947 Fern St. in South Park), the couple’s tattoo shop / art gallery, and you’ll see the proof right there in the gory pudding.

The dark gray walls are covered in grim paintings of Satan, skulls and demons. There’s an entire wall full of morbid antiques and oddities, like candles shaped like human fingers, jars filled with strange creatures and doll heads smiling freakishly from behind a glass display case. It’s like walking into a witch doctor’s studio, or a goth kid’s ultimate fantasy.

The eerie space is the perfect set for Horror Business, an exhibition of Halloween- and horror-themed art painted on meat cleavers, knives and hatchets. It opens with a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, and will be on view through Nov. 2.

A zombie cleaver by Turk More than 70 artists, both local and international, will have pieces in Horror Business. That’s a major step up from the 40 artists who participated Fire sale last year, when the Turks first put on the show.

“We just thought it would be exciting to do some- Moving is a total bitch. After hours of lugging heavy thing for Halloween that was different, and everyone boxes onto a moving truck, you begin to hate yourcould have a chance to buy something that wasn’t self for owning too much stuff. It’s often in these just regular art,” says Crystal Turk, 34, who runs the moments when you decide to part with things you gallery at Left Hand Black (lhblk.com). “Because previously thought you could never live without.

Ben Darby and his family are in that boat. The when you’re looking to decorate your house, you want something unique and different, so I figured artist’s landlord decided to sell the home they’re currently living in, which also serves as Darby’s studio. painting on meat cleavers was pretty original.”

They have until October to find new digs.

Can’t argue with that.

As a result, Darby is selling his vast collection of Since she and her husband have an affinity for macabre antiques, they encouraged artists to work with original artwork.

“I have 150 to 200 pieces everywhere,” says Darcutting instruments that had actually been used by a butcher. Turk especially likes the ones with dents by, 44, who exhibited a collection of odd, abstract on the back because they indicate that the knife or family portraits at Pulse Gallery earlier this year.

“I’ve been pulling them out of storcleaver got stuck on a bone and had age, attics, sheds…. After shows, to be pounded to cut through it. certain pieces don’t sell, so I store “I think the antique ones are just them. So, it’s an eclectic mix.” cooler, you know what I mean?”

That’s is understatement. Darsays Turk, 35, who opened the tatby’s collection is all over the map. too shop with his wife last July and There are beautiful paintings of will show two pieces in the exhibibright Hawaiian flowers, paintings tion. “All the new shit is really sterof penises created for an erotic-art ile now. You look at the old-school exhibition, bloated toys housed ones, man, and you can just see in in giant glass jars and stuffed anithem the pitted metal or the poundmals ripped into pieces that serve ing marks in the back. This thing as a canvas for images of Chinese has been through many animals. iconography. There’s also more You can almost get energy from it. traditional abstract art. What the “And if you read it properly,” he pieces have in common is an interadds, “or if you feel that [energy], esting perspective and an element then it’s going to help inspire your of whimsy. piece. It’s going to be just that little “Precarious” by Ben Darby Interested buyers can check out bit better, in my opinion.”

Finding legit butcher-shop or slaughterhouse the art for sale at darbyarts.com. Darby says folks can tools isn’t easy in San Diego. The Turks scour eBay practically name their price, so long as it’s fair.

“It hard to let go, but it’s like with children—you and hit up estate sales and antique stores when visiting the East Coast, where Turk says slaughterhouses have to find a good home for them,” he says. and butcher shops are more prevalent.

—Alex Zaragoza “To me, if [the exhibition] was everybody paints on this brand-new thing, I don’t think I would be Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com into it,” he says.

22 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

Interpreting tears Destin Cretton’s drama asks us to listen without judging

by Glenn Heath Jr. Listening is an essential practice in Short Term 12. It can help reconcile the deepest traumas and alleviate the worst types of emotional pain. Considering the film’s setting—Destin Cretton’s sophomore feature takes place almost entirely within a foster-care facility—it’s an art form that is continuously being perfected.

Brie Larson and Keith Stanfield In this highly intense environment, the experiences of counselors and the children Dever) to whom Grace relates most. Their evolving they support are psychologically linked by close relationship provides the film with its central focus, proximity, trust and support. Many scenes hinge on but also its most convoluted moments. There’s a the way characters repress their own judgments to point toward the end of Short Term 12 where the two see the world from another’s perspective. This gives find themselves on the precipice of trite melodrama. the breezy narrative a measured but brave sense of Thankfully, Cretton reins the story back in to a movpurpose, most thoughtfully rendered in the quiet ing and human conclusion. moments of reflection after a confession or regretShort Term 12, which has been expanded into a ful decision. feature from Cretton’s 2008 short film of the same The filmmaker’s own time spent working in such name, is at its best when examining the different an environment informs this motif. Cretton knows modes of family existing outside the traditional firsthand what it’s like to watch a child struggle with realm. In most cases, the main characters don’t find insecurity, identity and implosion. During the film’s safety and support in the arms of blood relatives; it’s lovely opening-credits sefriends and surrogate parquence, the camera hovers ents who end up nourishing in doorways and hallways, a strong sense of self.

Short Term 12 observing these conflicted Late in the film, there’s Directed by Destin Cretton children sitting in silence, a climactic moment when Starring Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., looking at an uncertain fuGrace gets into an arguKaitlyn Dever and Keith Stanfield ture. Their life is a perpetument with her boss, Jack Rated R al waiting game.

(Frantz Turner), regarding Cretton’s fictional surroone child’s increasingly grim gate is Grace (Brie Larson), situation. “We’re not here to a smart and caring veteran of the facility, called Short interpret tears,” Jack argues, driving Grace into a fit Term 12, who’s dedicated to perfecting her own abil- of rage. Like its hero, Short Term 12 spends its entire ity to listen. But in doing so, Grace has been carefully running time subverting this very clinical idea, provhiding from her own impending adulthood and past ing the human cost of relying too much on a practical demons. That habit is beginning to take a toll on her or institutional diagnosis. romantic relationship with fellow counselor Mason Short Term 12—which opens Friday, Sept. 13, (John Gallagher Jr.), mostly because she won’t open at Hillcrest Cinemas, Arclight La Jolla and AMC up emotionally about her own childhood traumas.

Fashion Valley—resonates so strongly thanks in Through Grace’s patient eyes we meet the young large part to its mosaic of absorbing performances people. Each is, in her or his own way, alive with by experienced actors and newcomers alike. Their hope despite experiencing some of life’s most trag- faces and words express so much, and Cretton asks ic hardships. Marcus (Keith Stanfield) is the eldest us to listen carefully. We get to know them well, and by far the most volatile, sometimes tender and their vulnerabilities, weaknesses and strengths. In sometimes filled with rage. The juxtaposition is best the end, we see them not as individuals, but pieces on display during the intimate sequence where he of a flourishing extended family that’s always welshares his latest rap lyrics with Mason. “The happy coming to new members. pictures in my fuckin’ head are faded,” he sings, leavWrite to glennh@sdcitybeat.com ing his lone listener breathless.

But it’s the tormented newcomer Jayden (Kaitlyn and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Weightless

Populaire

24 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

Light on its feet and always flirty, Populaire—opening Friday, Sept.

13, at the Ken Cinema—harks back to the airy 1950s comedies one might associate with Rock Hudson and Doris Day. It’s the kind of cinematic confection where the opening credits seamlessly change color, from mint

green to cotton-candy pink to navel orange, and the camera lovingly adores the simple grace of a woman’s walk.

At the center of this retrodreamscape is young country lass Rose Pamphyle (Déborah François), a naïve beauty who dreams of being a secretary in the city. It’s the most modern of occupations in post-WWII France,

holding the promise of travel and potentially even wealth by marriage. Of course, as the film progresses, such dated sexual politics eventually die hard.

During a disastrous interview with insurance salesman Louis Échard (Romain Duris), Rose displays an amazing talent for speed typing, sparking a competitive streak in the damaged bachelor.

Their roller-coaster relationship kicks into high gear when Louis begins to train Rose for an international competition that will pit her against an American superstar.

Much of Populaire’s seductiveness stems from its alluring visuals. Director Régis Roinsard shows a flair for delicate compositions, framing the angelic Rose in soft light surrounded by pops of vibrant hues. Her crane-like neck becomes the focal point of the entire film.

Still, it’s hard not to get frustrated with a film that so glaringly disavows the subtext of gender inequality for a slack and ultimately unrewarding romance fable. Unlike Peyton Reed’s superb satire Down with Love, this fluffy throwback has no interest in exploring the dark cultural underbelly of an age dominated by glistening surfaces and pearly white smiles.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

Opening An Oversimplification of her Beauty: An artist begins to reflect on his life after being stood up by a mystery woman, initiating a series of memories and observations that send the film into a stream-of-consciousness narrative. Screens through Sept. 19 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

The Family: Robert De Niro’s career continues to plummet in this fish-out-ofwater dark comedy about a New York City family of mobsters living in France under false identities.

Insidious Chapter 2: More horrific and ghostly images from director James Wan, the devious auteur behind Saw, The Conjuring and, of course, Insidious.

Populaire: This fluffy and sweet ode to 1950s comedies follows the roller-coaster relationship between a secretary and her handsome boss, both of whom become obsessed with a speed-typing competition. Screens at the Ken Cinema through Sept. 19. See our review on Page 24.

Sample This: Gene Simmons narrates this music documentary about the history of hip-hop sampling and how it changed the genre forever. Screens through Sept.

17 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Short Term 12: SDSU alum Dustin Cretton directs this award-winning film about the complex relationships populating a foster-care facility. Starring Brie Larson (The Spectacular Now) and John Gallagher Jr. (The Newsroom). See our review on Page 24.

One Time Only Cinco de Mayo: La Batalla: This gripping war film starring Kuno Becker follows

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty a small force of Mexican soldiers who square off against the invading French army on May 5, 1862, in one of the most important battles in the country’s history.

Presented by San Diego Latino Film Festival’s Que Viva Cine Latino, it screens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11, at Otay Ranch Town Center Food Pavilion.

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

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

Alice in Wonderland: Johnny Depp gets all dolled up as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s candy-colored adaptation of the Louis Carroll classic. Screens at 8 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 12, at The Lafayette Hotel in North Park.

SDSU Student Film Festival: Runs Thursday and Friday, Sept. 12 and 13, at the Don Powell Theater at SDSU. Check theatre.sdsu.edu/index.php/buy_tickets/ for details.

Notorious: Ingrid Bergman is asked by a serpentine Cary Grant to spy on her Nazi friends in South America in this masterful thriller by Alfred Hitchcock. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 12 through 14, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Best Friends Forever: Nuclear apocalypse is imminent as two best friends embark on a crazed road trip. Screens as part of the San Diego Film Festival Preview event beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, Sept.

13, at SILO in East Village. See Page 14 for details.

Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown: A loving chronicle to the father of modern horror fiction that features interviews with John Carpenter, Guillermo Del Toro, Neil Gaiman, Stuart Gordon, S.T. Joshi and more. Screens at 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

The Room: The definition of cult classic.

Screens at midnight Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Ken Cinema.

Ruby Sparks: A struggling novelist creates a cute fictional female character to re-instill his hope in love. Screens as part of the San Diego Film Festival Preview event beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

14, at SILO in East Village. See Page 14 for details.

La Camioneta: This vibrant documentary follows the journey of decommissioned American school buses that are refurbished and used in Guatemala as public transportation. Presented by San Diego Latino Film Festival’s Cine en el Parque, it screens at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at California Center for the Arts in Escondido.

It screens again, presented by San Diego Latino Film Festival’s Que Viva Cine Latino, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, at Otay Ranch Town Center Food Pavilion.

Hot Guys with Guns: Ex-boyfriends must reconcile their angst to solve a mystery in this modern spin on the detective

story. Screens at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

14, at Birch North Park Theatre.

Men in Suits: Meet the masked men responsible for bringing characters like Godzilla and The Predator to life on the big screen. Screens at 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

14, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Morning Star: Any film that stars Denis Lavant as a circus performer and Iggy Pop as his conscience has to be seen to be believed. Screens at 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept.

15, at Bread and Salt in Logan Heights.

RSVP to 858-205-4354.

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Indiana Jones battles Nazis, snakes and supernatural beings. The best adventure film of the last 30 years. Screens at 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, at Arclight La Jolla.

Take Me Home: A woman and a taxi driver take a magical road trip across America.

Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the Hervey Branch Library in Point Loma.

Pearl Peep’s Movie Choice: It’s a leapof-faith kind of night at the movies. Surprise. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept.

19, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Obselidia: A lonely librarian goes on a road trip to Death Valley with a cinema projectionist. There will be romance. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, at Scripps Ranch Public Library.

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

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

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

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

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

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

Jason Rodgers

no

Kim Gordon charts an improvisational path with new band Body / Head

It’s mid-August, one month before the annual San Diego Music Thing, during which Kim Gordon is scheduled to both speak and perform with her new project, Body / Head.

Yet, when asked about which topics she plans to talk about at the industry conference, the musician and artist admits she hasn’t quite made it that far.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I haven’t really decided yet.”

It’s not as if Gordon hasn’t been busy. In 2011, the veteran performer closed out 30 years with legendary noise-rock band Sonic Youth, which is on an indefinite hiatus at the moment, if not a permanent one—the status of the band’s been up in the air since Gordon and husband / bandmate Thurston Moore separated. But just as that long-running, celebrated band was coming to an end, Gordon launched Body / Head, a new project with guitarist Bill Nace.

Body / Head’s first official release was a cover of Peggy Lee’s “Fever” on a compilation released by Belgian label Ultra Eczema, and a handful of 7-inch singles and hardto-find cassette releases followed. The duo—who play at The Casbah on Saturday, Sept. 14, with Gram Rabbit, Wild Wild Wets, Trails and Ways and Two Wolves—released their debut album, Coming Apart, via Matador Records just this week. It’s a largely improvised collection of songs, some of which resemble Sonic Youth’s early-’80s no-wave material; the rest is much more discordant and abstract.

“We wanted just to play with the two guitars and vocals,” Gordon says. “But then if you take drums away, it becomes a different type of music.

“I was looking at a lot of early Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett YouTube videos online, and a lot of it was really, like, people dancing to basic noise jams, like psychedelic noise,” she continues. “And that was kind of interesting. We just kind of shared things we were interested in. We thought it would be cool if it sounded like those influences.”

Coming Apart exists in a realm well outside of conventional pop-music structures and forms. Fittingly, the first track on the album is titled “Abstract,” which is about as accurate a word as there is to describe the hazy, trippy

26 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

musical headspace that the duo occupies. With just two guitars and Gordon’s vocals, the sound is minimal, but it carries some impressive range, be it a dense, melodic approach on “Actress,” a meditative ambience on “Untitled” or even a somewhat disturbing dissonance on “Everything Left,” a track that bears a slight resemblance to Throbbing Gristle’s horror art piece, “Hamburger Lady.”

Indeed, some of the tracks on Coming Apart sound more like traditional songs than others, but, Gordon says, one element that remained constant in the band’s development is the improvisational approach she and Nace took to form the album.

“You’re playing with—kind of—more adrenaline,” Gordon says. “It’s kind of fun to play improvisation. You have a certain vocabulary of sounds or things that you do. And I just wanted to do something different.”

“We’ve done a little touring in Europe, and that solidified us as a band,” she continues. “And after that, we recorded. So there were some things we were recording that carried over from that. So, it’s almost like a practiced improvisation. I guess you can call it that.”

Improvising has been part of Gordon’s artistic identity for most of her career. In fact, essentially every Sonic Youth album—some to a greater degree than others— prominently features improvisational techniques as part of its makeup, particularly on their mid-’80s output, like Evol and Sister. Yet, Gordon explains that even pursuing music as a career has been something of an improvisational move. Before she co-founded Sonic Youth in 1981, she had a different artistic path in mind.

“Music’s something I fell into doing,” Gordon says. “I really moved to New York to do visual-art stuff. But even before that, I did some writing—some critical writing.

And I felt like that was a partial responsibility of being an artist. Or, at least, for me, I was interested in that as part of my art practice. And then the rest of the stuff comes out of having different opportunities that open up. It’s kind of accidental.”

Accidental or not, Gordon has seen her name attached to a wide variety of different projects since entering the New York music scene in the 1980s. Before playing music, she wrote for Artforum and worked in several galleries in New York, and, later on, she exhibited her own multimedia works in Tokyo, London, The Netherlands and back home in New York City. She’s been the subject of two books, Kim Gordon Chronicles Vols. 1 and 2, the first a collection of photos of the artist, the latter a showcase of her own drawings and paintings.

Gordon has also increasingly been more involved in film since the 1990s, having appeared in projects such as Gus Van Sant’s Last Days and Todd Haynes’ Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There. And, in 2005, she co-directed an experimental feature film, titled Perfect Partner, with Tony Oursler and Phil Morrison.

It’s a long résumé, though Gordon says much of it came about because the opportunity presented itself, rather than an ongoing active pursuit of so many different projects.

“I’ve done some small film things, because I like film,” Gordon says. “I don’t have a need—I don’t feel like I want to do all these different things. Music is just another creative outlet. I guess I’m restless. I don’t know—I don’t think I’m James Franco.

“I have some issues, I guess, about the art world and what it means to be a professional artist,” she continues. “I spend a lot of my time escaping from that.”

As the conversation winds down, and Gordon is about to transition from the current interview to one with another journalist, she brings it back to where we began. In an unexpected move, she turns the question of her San Diego Music Thing appearance back on the interviewer.

“What do you think I should talk about?” she asks.

The possibilities are endless, but if all else fails, improvise.

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

The Paragraphs get on the same page Local band finds common ground despite occasional friction

by Jen Van Tieghem The cliché of the tortured frontman is one that gets recycled over and over again. When watching Jesse Lee Hofbauer, singer / guitarist for The Paragraphs, images of Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison spring to mind. His heart is on his sleeve, and a chip is on his shoulder, which often translates into a magnetic, charismatic onstage presence.

Then again, that kind of appearance also means exposing your flaws and opening yourself to criticism.

“He looks like a petulant child,” offered one show-goer at The Griffin earlier this year. As Hofbauer chucked a guitar off stage and made a quick exit, it seemed technical difficulties had gotten the best of him.

That night, the other three members of The Paragraphs kept an even keel. Guitarist Adam Feilmeier shrugged off Hofbauer’s antics while drummer Mike Hunt and bassist Abel Perez smiled affably as they finished the set. Because while tension can erupt in any band, the bond within The Paragraphs goes deeper than surface flame-outs.

“All four of us have been friends longer than bandmates,” Feilmeier says.

The Paragraphs—who play at The Office with Tori on Saturday, Sept. 14, as part of San Diego Music Thing—started in 2009 with Hofbauer and Hunt.

Perez joined after a couple of tours, and Feilmeier became the final puzzle piece last year. “When Adam joined, we kicked into fifth gear,” Hofbauer says. “Our vision is to stay in fifth gear.”

Listening to The Paragraphs’ debut album +/(nominated for a San Diego Music Award under the Best Rock Album category), the emotional charge the singer puts forth comes through in each tune.

He pairs his delivery with the band’s ’90s-era grunge sound, touched up with contemporary alt-country

and a kick of ’60s soul. Together, these elements produce an unlikely, but intriguing, rock ’n’ roll fusion.

The foursome is now poised for a new phase as they prepare to take more than a dozen new songs to The Lost Ark Studio to record.

At a recent show at the Belly Up, The Paragraphs previewed some of their new songs, including the harder rocking “Now and Then,” which features a hypnotic give-and-take between Hofbauer’s vocals and Feilmeier’s guitar riffs, and “My Beat Goes On,” which juxtaposes Hofbauer’s lyrical vulnerability with Perez matching the morose melody on keys.

“If the crowd isn’t feeling it, but I look over and Mike is going ape-shit, and… Abe is having the time of his life, and… Adam is just in a ball of fury, then I’m really excited,” Hofbauer says.

For a brief period during the summer, however, some of the previously mentioned tension in the band led to some uncertainty about its future, as Feilmeier considered leaving the group. Yet in spite of this, The Paragraphs remain intact, with Feilmeier continuing his role as guitarist. As Hofbauer explains, whatever disagreements have arisen in the group’s past, the hatchet has since been adequately buried.

“Everyone is so passionate about [the band] that things will be said and things will be done,” the singer says. “But it’s a matter of forgiveness between the parties involved, and I think that’s what’s happened with us.”

Feilmeier echoed how The Paragraphs got back on track: “We keep finding ways to come back to what’s important,” he says. “I am still in the band, and we are moving forward and recording this album together.”

“When you have four people pouring everything into something, you’re going to butt heads,” he continues. “And if we weren’t, we probably wouldn’t be making very good music.”

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

Sylvia Garcia Borgo

From left: Mike Hunt, Abel Perez, Jesse Lee Hofbauer and Adam Feilmeier

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

notes from the smoking patio Rebecca Joelson

Locals Only Fall is shaping up to be a busy season for San Diego musicians recording new material—a long list of bands have booked studio time to record either new fulllength albums or singles.

In October, rustic Americana rockers Blackout Party will trek to Southern Ground Studios in Nashville, Tenn., which is owned and operated by Zac Brown of country / folk group Zac Brown Band. Blackout Party singer / guitarist Brian Howlerda tells CityBeat that the band will record to 2-inch tape on a vintage Neve board and plan to release the new album on vinyl.

Post-punk group Barbarian, who released their City of Women EP in July, will head out to Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree at the end of September to record a new album with producer Jon Greene, who’s also worked with Crocodiles and Dum Dum Girls. Frontman Andrew Mills says that half the songs are already written, and the rest of the material will be finished up while they’re in the studio.

Psychedelic indie rockers Wild Wild Wets have also recently spent some time writing and recording new material for a single, titled “14th Floor,” which they plan to release this fall. The group’s sessions were recorded in both Los Angeles and San Diego, the latter with Mrs. Magician’s Tommy Garcia.

Lastly, surf-punk trio The Frights will enter the studio at the end of September to record their first fulllength album with some production help from Garcia.

With a recording docket like this lined up, expect to see a flood of new local music in the winter and spring.

Our guide to San Diego Music Thing This coming weekend, dozens of local and touring bands will fill up 14 different venues during the annual San Diego Music Thing. It operates a bit like SXSW—industry-related panels and talks during the day and live shows in the evening. To help you plan your weekend, here are 10 CityBeat-endorsed picks for the two-day event. (Please note: Schedule conflicts will happen, so plan accordingly.)

Friday, Sept. 13 Kim Gordon: Read this week’s cover story on the indie-rock icon on Page 26 to get some background before she gives a speech at this year’s conference. Given her 30 years in Sonic Youth, nowave experimentations and visual-arts career, she’ll definitely have a lot to say. (Sheraton Hotel Mission Valley, 5 p.m.)

Parker and the Numberman: The Music Thing this year is a little light on hip-hop, so it’s best to catch this early performance by Parker and the Numberman, a dynamic, charismatic group who are in their element when dropping sci-

28 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

Blackout Party ence onstage. (The Office, 7:30 p.m.)

The Frights: These young up-and-comers have already built up some impressive buzz on the strength of two great EPs and have a fun, surf-inspired sound that should get some good energy going on Friday night. (Queen Bee’s, 8:30 p.m.)

Titus Andronicus: Rowdy New Jersey punks Titus Andronicus put on a great show. They’ve made a ruckus at The Irenic before, and they’ll definitely bring the house down again. (The Irenic, 9:45 p.m.)

Medicine: Los Angeles shoegazers Medicine don’t have the same name recognition as their U.K. peers, but their sound is just as potent. They’ve got a new album, To the Happy Few, but expect to hear a few ’90s classics, as well. (The Void, 12:15 a.m.)

Saturday, Sept. 14 Wild Wild Wets: An audio-visual experience with a trippy feel, Wild Wild Wets put a hard-rocking, modern spin on psychedelia. (The Casbah, 9:50 p.m.)

Soft Metals: There’s a lot of noise happening on Saturday, so allow yourself a sexy, chill break with these Portlanders. (The Void, 10 p.m.)

Weekend: New York City’s Weekend are a noisy shoegaze band who are not quite as loud as My Bloody Valentine, but definitely on their way. If you dig intense guitar sounds, don’t miss this one. (The Void, 11 p.m.)

Tropical Popsicle: One of the best bands in San Diego right now, Tropical Popsicle find a great middle ground between jangly noise rock and gloomy postpunk. (Bar Pink, 11:45 p.m.)

Body / Head: After hearing Kim Gordon speak on Friday, check out her new band, which also features guitarist Bill Nace. The duo blends spoken word with improvisational guitar sounds for a strange, ambient experience. (The Casbah, 12:15 a.m.)

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com Medicine and editor@sdcitybeat.com

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

if i were u Wednesday, Sept. 11 PLAN A: Neko Case, Pickwick @ House of Blues. Few singers can deliver a vocal performance with as much emotional power as Neko Case. Her new album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, doesn’t only have one mouthful of a title; it also has some of the best songs you’ll hear all year.

PLAN B: Curren$y @ World Beat Center. Follow the scent of ganja on Wednesday night and you’ll likely find yourself watching Curren$y, a New Orleans-based rapper with a penchant for the blunted things in life. BACKUP PLAN: Lights and Sirens, Muscle Beech, Skyways are Highways, DJ Mikey Ratt @ Tower Bar.

BY Jeff Terich of Sonic Youth and half of Body / Head, who’ll bring their strange, improvisational psychedelia to San Diego Music Thing. PLAN B: Orgone, In Motion Collective, Fallen Riviera, A House for Lions @ The Griffin.

Most of San Diego is going to be overrun with indie-rock bands this weekend, so if a chance arrives to get comfy inside some thick, syrupy funk grooves, I suggest you take it. Hollywood’s Orgone will provide that opportunity, finding the sweet spot between Stax and Parliament, with the right touch of Latin groove. BACKUP PLAN: Shake Before Us, Tropical Popsicle, Bleeding Rainbow, Soft White Sixties, Dirty Sirens @ Bar Pink.

Sunday, Sept. 15

PLAN A: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gate @ Belly Up Tavern. Knowing what Thursday, Sept. 12 we do about global warming, the end of the PLAN A: Normandie Wilson, Jasmine world won’t be much of a surprise, but pop Commerce, Luke Williams @ The Grif- culture tends to treat the apocalypse as a fin. Normandie Wilson plays spontaneous event. Apocapop music with lush arrangelyptic post-rockers Godspeed ments that are reminiscent of You! Black Emperor likewise Burt Bacharach and a fashiondidn’t give much warnable ’60s-style swing. It will ing when they released last pair nicely with The Griffin’s year’s ALLELUJAH! DON’T cocktail-lounge vibe, which BEND! ASCEND!, but it makes a fine venue for a jazzy, turned out to be one awelaid-back show. PLAN B: On some, devastating surprise. an On, The Love Language, PLAN B: Coeur de Pirate, Hands @ Soda Bar. A buzzy Gayle Skidmore, Natasha new band with a dreamy Kozaily @ The Casbah. Cosound, On an On was formed eur de Pirate is one woman, after its members’ previous Montreal’s Beatrice Martin, band, Scattered Trees, fizwho blends French chanson Neko Case tradition with modern indie zled, but it’s probably for the best. On an On’s debut, Give In, is a gorgeous, sounds. Utterly charming. synth-heavy set of indie-pop treats with hooks and just the right dose of darkness.

Monday, Sept. 16

PLAN A: Hell, Zsa Zsa Gabor @ The Void. With a Google-proof name and a disPLAN A: Titus Andronicus, Lemuria, cography primarily distributed via cassette, Lost Boy, Dead Ships @ The Irenic. Ti- Salem, Ore.’s one-man drone-doom-metal tus Andronicus frontman Patrick Stickles unit Hell certainly earns its “kvlt” metal recently wrote a 9,000-word tome on the cred. But those elements are fairly trivial. return of The Replacements, but it’s easy to The heaviness is what matters, here—preimagine someone doing the same on Stick- pare to be annihilated. les’ band in 25 years. Hear the New Jersey punk rockers tear it up as part of this year’s San Diego Music Thing. PLAN B: Tuesday, Sept. 17 Mykki Blanco @ Porter’s Pub. Part per- PLAN A: Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires @ formance art, part hip-hop and part punk, Belly Up Tavern. Jason Isbell spent six years Mykki Blanco is the Lolita alter-ego of Mi- as part of Athens, Ga.’s Drive By Truckers, but chael Quattlebaum Jr. She’s feminine, she’s since then he’s carved a path for himself as an gangsta and, above all, she’s one of a kind. outstanding solo performer. His new album, BACKUP PLAN: Little Hurricane, Cuck- Southeastern, is his best yet, stripped down oo Chaos, The Palace Ballroom, Harriet, to mostly acoustic arrangements to back his heartbreaking and brutally honest lyrics.

DJ Keith Sweaty @ Sunset Temple.

PLAN B: Body Language, DWNTWN @ The Casbah. If you’re looking to dance, howSaturday, Sept. 14 ever, then head over to The Casbah to check PLAN A: Body / Head, Gram Rabbit, Wild out Body Language, a funky electronic group Wild Wets, Trails and Ways, Two Wolves with a heavy emphasis on ’80s new-wave @ The Casbah. Read our cover story about sounds. BACKUP PLAN: Ed Ghost Tucker, Kim Gordon on Page 26. She’s the co-founder The Gift Machine @ The Griffin.

Friday, Sept. 13

30 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 31

32 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

HOT! NEW! FRESH! Common Sense (BUT, 9/24), The Icarus Line (The Void, 10/18), Caspian (Soda Bar, 11/16), The Besnard Lakes (The Casbah, 11/17), Polar Bear Club (The Irenic, 11/29), Tedeschi Trucks Band (Balboa Theatre, 12/4), JAY Z (Valley View Casino Center, 12/7), Lee Ranaldo and the Dust (The Casbah, 12/14), NOFX (HOB, 12/19), Holograms (Soda Bar, 12/20), Pato Banton (BUT, 1/3)

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

by Brick, 10/13), Primal Scream (BUT, 10/15), Passion Pit (Open Air Theatre, 10/22), Paramore (Viejas Arena, 10/23), Buddy Guy (BUT, 10/28), Rocket From the Crypt (HOB, 10/31), Big Freedia (Casbah, 11/13), Alejandro Escovedo and the Sensitive Boys (The Casbah, 11/6), Janelle Monae (HOB, 11/6), Blitzen Trapper (Porter’s Pub, 11/9), Cults (The Irenic, 11/10), Ab-Soul, Joey Bada$$ (SOMA, 11/11), Ben Harper (Copley Symphony Hall, 11/16), Pearl Jam (Viejas Arena, 11/21), Sinead O’Connor (BUT, 11/26).

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

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

Thursday, Sept. 12 New Politics at The Casbah.

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

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

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

Monday, Sept. 16 Todd Barry at The Casbah.

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

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

by Brick. Midlake at Soda Bar.

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

Friday, Sept. 20 X-Fest w/ blink-182, The Offspring, 30 Seconds to Mars, Silversun Pickups, Jimmy Eat World, Wavves at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Tech N9ne at House of Blues. The Orb at Porter’s Pub. Diana Krall at Humphreys Concerts By the Bay. Zapp at Valley View Casino Center.

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

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

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

Tuesday, Sept. 24 Hanson at House of Blues. Mount Kimbie at Porter’s Pub. Title Fight at Epicentre. Common Sense at Belly Up Tavern.

Wednesday, Sept. 25

The Naked and Famous at House of Blues. Jail Weddings at The Casbah.

Blouse at The Void.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, Oct. 2 Jake Bugg at House of Blues. Bob Sch-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 33

the hit list Mad Decent and mad cocktails Sunday, Aug. 25, was a sad day for club rats. Mi“Just too many things to list off,” his cohort in ley Cyrus’ poor twerking skills, showcased during beat-making, Rapp-Rovan, added. her performance on MTV’s Video Music Awards, After a bit of prodding, the duo said they’ll threatened to make the booty-popping dance stick to the cooler vibe they’re known for, but will move epically uncool. definitely throw in a few bangers.

But twerk fiends can reclaim it from the tweenIf a parking lot full of half-dressed troublemakqueen at the Mad Decent Block Party (mad ers isn’t your bag, check out El Dorado Cocktail decent.com), a touring festival that makes a stop Lounge’s (1030 Broadway) Fall Menu Release at Petco Park’s parking lot (100 Party starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Park Blvd. in East Village) from Sept. 17. The party serves as an 1 to 10 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15. unveiling for the seasonal cockOn the roster is electronictail menu concocted by El-D’s dancehall super-group Major bartenders. They’ll debute five Lazer, created by twerking’s new drinks: the Huck Fizz (gin, biggest ally, Diplo (who also lemon, huckleberry syrup, egg spearheads the Mad Decent rewhite, soda), the Johnny Apple cord label), plus Dillon Francis, Buck (rye whiskey, apple branBig Gigantic, Zeds Dead and a dy, black rum, lemon, cinnaDylan Mamid (left) and mon-apple syrup, bitters, ginger few others.

Zach Rapp-Rovan beer), the Sassy Frass (bourbon, Zeds Dead—Canadian DJsDylan Mamid (aka DC) and Zach Rapp-Rovan (aka amaro, sarsaparilla bitters), the Rosie Cheeks (gin, Hook)—are known more for their chill beats. When Cocchi Rosa, rhubarb bitters) and the Dixie Cup asked by CityBeat if they’ll kick it up a bit for a live (white rum, vanilla, egg, cream, orange soda). show, they seemed put off by the question.

To keep your liquor intake in check, Soda “Oh yeah, we have so much planned. So much & Swine will provide free meatballs to snack planned for that party,” Mamid said. “I can’t really on. Cocktails will cost $5 all night. remember right now.”

—Alex Zaragoza (Dude, sorry to wake you up before 1 p.m.)

34 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

neider at Belly Up Tavern. Olafur Arnalds at The Loft.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. 710bc.com. Wed: Open mic, open jam. Thu: The Routine. Fri: Joe Kaplow (5 p.m.); Tommy Dubs, Project: Out of Bounds (9:30 p.m.). Sat: Nuns and Moses, The Dangerous Types. Tue: ‘710 Bass Club’.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Thu: Tiffany Jane. Fri: The BS Duo. Sat: Kawan Debose.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St, Normal Heights. airconditionedbar. com. Wed: ‘Glitch’ w/ DJs Ugga Chakka, Benedikt. Thu: DJs Sevi, Bala, Ledher10, Less Than None. Fri: DJ Junior the DiscoPunk. Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech. Sun: ‘Happy Endings’ w/ DJs JoeMamma, Tramlife.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco. com. Thu-Sun: Shawn Wayans. Tue: Open mic.

AMSDconcerts, 4650 Mansfield St, Normal Heights. amsdconcerts.com. Fri: Tyler Grant, Jordan Ramsey, Adrian Engfer.

Sun: Cheryl Wheeler.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego. Sat: Dusky. Tue: Hudson Mohawke.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. barpink.com. Wed: DJ Grand Masta Rats. Fri: Girl in a Coma, New Mexico, Dirty Ghosts, Buddy Banter, Iron Tom. Sat: Shake Before Us, Tropical Popsicle, Bleeding Rainbow, Soft White Sixties,

Dirty Sirens. Mon: The Husky Boy AllStars. Tue: The Secret Samurai.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Fri: DiJital. Sat: Alex M.O.R.P.H. Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Minus The Bear, Tera Melos, The New Trust.

Thu: ‘Beer Fest’ w/ Family Wagon, DJ Renegabe. Fri: Jimmy Cliff, Ethan Tucker.

Sat: Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers.

Sun: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gate. Tue: Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Thu: The Great Electric Quest. Sat: Electric Valentine.

Bourbon Street, 4612 Park Blvd, University Heights. bourbonstreetsd.com. Wed: ‘Awe Snap! I Love the 90s’. Fri: VJ K-Swift.

Sat: ‘M.A.N.’. Sun: ‘Soiree’.

Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave, Hillcrest. thebrassrailsd.com. Thu: ‘Boyz Club’ w/ DJs Marcel, John Joseph, Taj, Will Z. Sat: ‘Sabados en Fuego’ w/ DJs XP, KA. Sun: ‘Noche Romantica’ w/ Daisy Salinas.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Wed: So Far Gone, Tower XVI, Superwave, Lone Tyger.

Thu: Calabrese, Hard Fall Hearts, They Feed At Night. Fri: Swirl, Symbolic, Unicorn Death, Tainted Society. Sat: Nothing Haunts Me, Veiled Butterfly, Selfless Eleven, Her Bed of Thorns. Sun: Slut Machine, Prelude to a Pistol, Heavenly Trip to Hell, Quor.

Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Wed: Ewert and the Two Dragons, The Family Crest. Thu: New Politics, Stripes and Lines, Avid Dancer.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 35

Fri: Milo Greene, Terraplane Sun, Wardell, Nicky Venus, Okapi Sun. Sat: Body/Head, Gram Rabbit, Wild Wild Wets, Trails and Ways, Two Wolves. Sun: Coeur de Pirate, Gayle Skidmore, Natasha Kozaily. Mon: Todd Barry, Robert Buscemi. Tue: Body Language, DWNTWN.

Commerce, Luke Williams. Fri: The Features, The Heavy Guilt, In the Valley Below, Leftover Cuties, Tommy and the High Pilots. Sat: Orgone, In Motion Collective, Fallen Riviera, A House for Lions. Sun: SM Familia, TRC Soundsystem. Tue: Ed Ghost Tucker, The Gift Machine.

Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla. thechecafe.blogspot.com.

Mon: Whenskiesaregray, Black Panther, Meryl Streaker.

Hard Rock Hotel, 207 Fifth Ave, Downtown. hardrockhotelsd.com. Thu: Luke Andrew Johnson, Duping the Public.

Cheers Bar & Grill, 9995 Carmel Mountain Rd Ste B1, Rancho Penasquitos. 858484-4215. Tue: Patrick DeGuire.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego. Wed: Neko Case, Pickwick. Thu: Andre Nickatina, Krayzie Bone. Fri: Krewella (sold out).

Mon: Bastille, Little Daylight, Nightmare and the Cat (sold out).

Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, Clairemont. thecomedypalace.com.

Fri-Sat: Jason Dudey. Sat: Jason Dudey.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Thu: The Tonga Ross-M’au Trio. Sat: Mikan Zlatkovich.

El Dorado Bar, 1030 Broadway, Downtown. eldoradobar.com. Wed: ‘The Tighten Up’. Thu: ‘Happy Little Trees’. Fri: ‘Posse on Broadway’ w/ DJs Kidriz, Felt1.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Fri: Cult Vegas, The Indys, Lucky Lancifer, This Is Confusing. Sat: Ghost Town, Her Bright Skies, Modern Day Escape, Oh No Fiasco.

Tue: Strawberry Girls, STOLAS, Cochino, Fly By Night, ATRIS. Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd. com. Thu: The M Machine. Fri: Talib Kweli.

Sat: Sid Vicious.

Gallagher’s, 5040 Newport Ave, Ocean Beach. 619-222-5303. Wed: Lady Dottie and the Diamonds. Thu: Dread Daze. Fri: Pool Party. Sat: The Routine.

Griffin, 1310 Morena Blvd, Bay Park. thegriffinsd.com. Wed: The Starlite Wranglers, The Blackjackits, Sound Lupus, Idols Plague. Thu: Normandie Wilson, Jasmine

36 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Wed: The Cuban, Kombat, Mr Ruxpen, Adia Break. Fri: Tucker, Marklar, Omega Squad, Dirty Pierre, Duckberry Xplosion.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave, Kensington. 619-284-2848. Fri: ‘Sin Fronteras Salsipuedes Fest’ w/ The Vibrators, Diatribe, Death Crisis. Sat: ‘Sin Fronteras/ Salsipuedes Fest’ w/ Bumbklaatt, Bio Crisis, Age of Collapse.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave, Normal Heights. lestats.com. Wed: Joe Firstman, Cara. Thu: Julia Stine, Sam Grow. Fri: The Gregory Page Show.

Sat: Jeff Larson, Laura Gravelle. Sun: Bill Bloomers. Mon: Open mic.

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

Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: Bulletproof Tiger, Just Like Jenna, Ugly Boogie. Thu: ‘For Your Pleasure’ w/ DJs Ikah Love, Adam Salter, Kanye Asada. Fri: Illuminauts, Parker and the

Numberman. Sat: The Paragraphs, Tori.

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

Patricks II, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii.com. Thu: Bill Magee Blues Band. Fri: Myron and the Kyniptionz. Sat: Dennis Jones. Sun: TnT. Mon: WG and the GMen. Tue: Walter’s Chicken Jam. Porter’s Pub, 9500 Gilman Dr., UCSD campus, La Jolla. porterspub.net. Thu: Mickey Avalon. Fri: Mykki Blanco.

Queen Bee’s, 3925 Ohio St, North Park. queenbeessd.com. Fri: FIDLAR, The Widows, Sculpins, The Frights.

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

Wed: Kice Simko. Thu: Mudgrass. Fri: Sure Fire Soul Ensemble. Sat: Silver Kings.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos Jazz Jam. Thu: Red Fox Trails. Fri: River City, Roy Ruiz Clayton and the Gravediggers, Gayle Skidmore. Sat: Pocket, Earful. Mon: ‘Motown Mondays’ w/ DJ Artistic. Tue: Lady Dottie and the Diamonds.

Shakedown Bar, 3048 Midway Drive, Point Loma. theshakedownsd.com. Thu: Records With Roger. Fri: Deadbolt, The Tramplers, Confederales. Sat: GFP, Coda Reactor, Castoffs.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: Never Come Down, Globalies, Allophone. Thu: On An On, The Love Language, Hands.

Fri: The Creepy Creeps, The Burning of Rome, Tape Deck Mountain, Zero Zero,

Qunq. Sat: Wild Nothing, Pictureplane, Hills Like Elephants, Torches, Hit Dog Hollar. Sun: Awahnichi, Sneeze. Mon: Bruin, Roxy Jones. Tue: Rose Windows, Supermodel Razorblades, Sidewalk Scene.

Can Country Club First Anniversary’. Sat: Harsh Toke, Sacri Monti, Wild Honey, DJ Mikey Ratt. Mon: ‘Tin Can Country Club’ w/ Eric Hankins. Tue: Patrick Norton, Loves It, Andy Gassaway.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Thu: The Dangerous Summer, Rare Monk, Lightning Starts Fire, Throne, Scarlet Avenue. Fri: Killing The Messenger, Oh Guardian, Focus In Frame, The I In Self, Jeremiah Johnson, Hundred Caliber, A New Challenger Approache. Sat: The Frights, Selis, Anchors, The Nobles, Frequency, Coro Nada. Sun: Leaders, Reformers, Colossus, The Shallow End, Axis of Vendettas, ATRIS.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos.com. Wed: DJ Zydeco Ted. Thu: The Fremonts. Fri: The Red Elvises. Sat: Bobby Guajardo and the Latin Breed.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St, Midtown. spinnightclub.com. Fri: Antennae.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. rubyroomsd.com. Thu: Alpha Riff.

Fri: Mimi Zulu, Brothers Burns, J-Phatts, DJ BlackBelt Jones.

The Void, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, North Park. thevoidsd.com. Fri: Medicine, I*Wish*I, Ditches, Dreamer’s Dose. Sat: Disappears, Weekend, Soft Metals, Sad Robot.

Sat: Disappears, Weekend, Soft Metals, Sad Robot. Mon: Hell, Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Tiki House, 1152 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. tikipb.com. Wed: Joe Kaplow.

Thu: Flower and Corey. Fri: The Celebrities. Sun: Open mic. Tue: Sweet Dreams.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Thu: The Bellfuries, Roy Rapid and the Rhythm-Rock Trio, DJ Juliancito. Fri: DJ Sasso Jimenez.

Tue: Comedy.

Tin Can Ale House, 1863 Fifth Ave, Bankers Hill. thetincan1.wordpress. com. Wed: Interrobang, The Littlest Viking, Swim Team. Thu: Red Pony Clock, Octa#grape, The Gift Machine. Fri: ‘Tin

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Wed: Lights and Sirens, Muscle Beech, Skyways Are Highways, DJ Mikey Ratt. Thu: The Rock N Roll Preservation Society DJs. Sun: Pookie and the Poodles, Cum Stain, Poontang Clam. Tue: Bat Lords, Heartless Folks.

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

Wed: Tomcat Courtney (7 p.m.). Thu & Mon: Pan Am (7 p.m.). Fri: Tomcat Courtney (5 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (9 p.m.). Sat: Tomcat Courtney (5 p.m.); Tony LaVoz and Cold Duck Trio (9 p.m.). Sun: Sound Like Four (4 p.m.); Big Boss Bubale (7 p.m.). Tue: Gabriela Aparicio (5 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (7 p.m.).

Voyeur, 755 Fifth Ave, Downtown. voyeursd.com. Fri: Felix Cartal.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com.

Wed: ‘Wu-Tang Wednesday’ w/ DJ Cros-One. Thu: ‘80s Thursday’ w/ DJ Saul Q. Fri: Manuok, Boy King, Ed Ghost Tucker. Sat: Schitzophonics, Black Hondo.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: Raggabond, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: Language Arts Crew, Destructo Bunny, Locness, ALowe. Fri: Revival, Roots Covenant, Arise Roots, DJs Maitland Roots, TRC. Sat: Monophonics.

Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Meeting of the Meyends.

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 37

Proud sponsor: San Diego Whale Watch

Ink Well Xwords by Ben Tausig

Across 1. Harvard and Yale, e.g.

7. Secret society member, perhaps, briefly 11. Subject of many a rambling, GIF-happy personal site 14. Mathers, on stage 15. “Better sound through research” company 16. Postal motto word 17. Drug paraphernalia for those who aren’t sure they want to go through with it?

19. Antagonist 20. Word in a French motto 21. Amalfi Coast city 23. Tales 24. “Argo” shah 26. Spools of sushi?

31. Print casualty of 2012 34. “Informer” rapper 35. “... ___ quit!”

36. Some cell phones 37. Dress (up) 40. Evidence in some exonerations 41. Forget to put in, say 43. Half-asses 45. Unspectacular, unsuccessful batted ball?

49. Bendiness 50. Land surrounded by agua 54. Contaminated water consequence 56. Attach to eat, like a newborn 59. Judah Ben-___ 60. Criminal accomplice with a healthy complexion?

62. ___-rock 63. Cruising

Last week’s answers

64. The heebie-jeebies 65. Boil stuff 66. Fire 67. Like nobility

Down 1. Turn on one’s parents, say 2. Mature insect stage 3. Catholic official 4. Pieces of Indian jewelry 5. Sainted emperor called the Thracian 6. Manhub.com content, e.g.

7. Consumer scam watchdog org.

8. Classic American Chinese pork dish 9. Stand-up comic Patton 10. Place for aging whites 11. Prunes from one’s social network 12. Spork, alternately 13. Dairy Queen Blizzard add-in 18. Animal-skin dwellings 22. Nights before big things 25. “K3wl” 27. NYC-based culture site, with “the” 28. Party barrel 29. Burt Reynolds ex Anderson 30. Bird that may be mute 31. Clueless “Skyrim” player, e.g.

32. “Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession” author Bombeck 33. 2006 Nintendo collection that included boxing, bowling, and golf 37. “___ have to pry the buzzer out of my cold, dead hands”--Ken Jennings 38. “Hollywood Squares” win 39. Big hairy ruminant 42. Prepare, as a dirty bed?

43. Pennsylvania baseball park that might (weirdly) host playoff baseball in 2013 44. Means of paperless travel 46. Old Oldsmobiles 47. Weather Channel meteorologist Maria 48. “Keep your pants on” 51. Sandbar 52. Asshole 53. Put up stakes?

54. Mate 55. Netflix competitor 57. Summer month, in Paris 58. “Home” novelist Morrison 61. Big hairy ruminant

A pair of tickets for a three-hour San Diego Whale Watch tour will be awarded weekly. Email a picture of your answers to crossword@sdcitybeat.com or fax it to 619-325-1393. Limit one win per person per 30 days.

38 · San Diego CityBeat · September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 39