San Diego CityBeat • Sept, 21 2016

2 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

An open letter to Lester Holt

D

EAR MR. HOLT: Belated congrats on getting the gig! In less than a week you’re headed on location to Hofstra University on New York’s Long Island to moderate the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

First, don’t worry about low viewership. Roughly 8 million people still plugged in to television sets tune in weeknights to watch you host NBC Nightly News. It’s predicted that on Tuesday, Sept. 26, more than the 67.2 million people who viewed the first 2012 Obama/Romney debate will watch as you—and you alone—referee the 90-minute crossfire between candidates to be the next leader of the free world.

So don’t let the fear of low ratings get your tummy in a jumble. Instead, you can focus on what kind of a moderator you’ll be—quick-with-the-yellow-flag versus let-’em-play—and what questions you’ll ask.

Just a reminder: The 90-minute debate—with no potty breaks—will be divided into six 15-minute segments. Two of each of those segments will focus on topics you chose: America’s Direction, Achieving Prosperity and Securing America. (Vague?

Read those all together and it sounds like a Trump campaign speech.)

Each candidate gets two minutes to respond to each question. Then, Trump and Clinton can engage each other. For the remainder of the time in a segment, the two can: see who can talk over the other the loudest; threaten each other; make faces; make out; have a slap battle; do muscle-builder poses; or have a meaningful discussion—moderated by you—on a matter of international or domestic importance.

The Commission on Presidential Debates CoChairman Frank Fahrenkopf does not want this year’s crop of moderators—also including ABC’s Martha Raddatz and CNN’s Anderson Cooper in the Oct. 9 town-hall-style debate, and Fox’s Chris Wallace in the Oct. 19 debate—to be fact checkers.

“It is our view that if ‘Candidate A’ says something that is totally wrong, it is for ‘Candidate B’ to point that out,” Fahrenkopf told CNBC. “We want the moderator to be the facilitator.”

When did fact checking become taboo in the media? (Oh, right, when Fox & Friends began airing.)

Lester, your nickname “Iron Pants” comes from your the ability to sit in the anchor’s seat for long durations of time during breaking news. Don’t let your

post-debate moniker change to Wet Pants because you’re afraid to follow-up when Trump claims it was Clinton who started the Obama birther rumor. No, a moderator shouldn’t yell “Wrong!” like the late John McLaughlin on The McLaughlin Group. But a good facilitator should be authoritarian while separating fact from fiction, however loudly it is presented. If Candidate A asserts that the Pope has blessed his long-standing policy on immigration, and therefore God wants Mexicans and Muslims kept out of America, it’s not off base to call for a check on that fact.

Equally important: Keep in mind throughout the proceeding that this is a debate and not a reality show. Like you, Trump has been on-air talent for NBC. But a national presidential debate is not a spinoff of The Apprentice featuring WIKI COMMONS politicians. Trump cannot point his finger and fire anybody.

That may have been part of your colleague Matt Lauer’s problem earlier this month when he hosted NBC’s Commander-In-Chief Forum.

The focus was national security, but the widely criticized Lauer treated Trump with kid gloves and overgrilled Clinton on emails sent to her private server.

Lester, Lester, Lester: You need to remember that a presidential debate shouldn’t delve into superficial Today fodder. Lauer and other morning Lester Holt show blatherers may have devolved into talking over each other about the Branjelina divorce and other details from their Facebook feeds.

For your job on Sept. 26 ignore Candidate B’s case of pneumonia that was Twitter fodder. We want meaningful discussions on racism, sexism, healthcare or equal rights. That won’t happen using 140 characters. However, you can try to prove it’s possible to incubate six 15-minute TV discussions between two United States presidential candidates that dissect integral issues that face Americans.

Iron Pants, make sure you wear your Big Boy Pants and keep the candidates on topic. Two polarizing personalities are set to take the same yuge stage.

You needn’t formulate killer gotcha question—just ask questions that let the candidates show us what they got. Be equally objective. Be fair, but point them both in the direction of substantive discourse and see who is willing and able to walk that path.

—Ron Donoho

Write to rond@sdcitybeat.com

This issue of CityBeat is dedicated to the lightning bolts on Monday morning that allowed Doc and Marty to travel back to the future.

Volume 15 • Issue 8 EDITOR Ron Donoho MUSIC EDITOR Jeff Terich ARTS EDITOR Seth Combs WEB EDITOR Ryan Bradford ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Ramos STAFF WRITER Torrey Bailey COLUMNISTS Aaryn Belfer, Edwin Decker, Minda Honey, John R. Lamb, Alex Zaragoza

CONTRIBUTORS Matthew Baldwin, David L. Coddon, Beth Demmon, Andrew Dyer, Tiffany Fox, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Peter Holslin, Jessica Johnson, Scott McDonald, Sebastian Montes, Jenny Montgomery, Susan Myrland, Michelle Poveda, Jim Ruland, Ben Salmon, Chloe Salsameda, Tom Siebert, Jen Van Tieghem, Amy Wallen PRODUCTION MANAGER Tristan Whitehouse MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Paulina Porter-Tapia

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jason Noble ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Beau Odom Mark Schreiber Jenny Tormey ACCOUNTING Kacie Cobian, Sharon Huie Linda Lam HUMAN RESOURCES Andrea Baker VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE Kacie Sturek

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San Diego CityBeat is published and distributed every Wednesday by Southland Publishing Inc., free of charge but limited to one per reader. Reproduction of any material in this or any other issue is prohibited without written permission from the publisher and the author. Contents copyright 2016.

4 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

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UP FRONT | LETTERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS KAEPERNICKING UP FRONT From the Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Spin Cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Sordid Tales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Well, That Was Awkward . . . . . 9

FOOD & DRINK The World Fare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 In The Spirits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Beerdist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

THINGS TO DO Short List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar of Events. . . . . . . . 13-18

ARTS & CULTURE The Floating Library . . . . . . . . . 16 Theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Seen Local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

MUSIC FEATURE: Mekons. . . . . . . . . . . 26 If I Were U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . . . 29-32

LAST WORDS Advice Goddess. . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

ON THE

COVER

San Diego’s Measure I asks voters to prolong the lease of Balboa Park land to San Diego High School. Some want the land returned to the park; others, like SDHS alumnus and city councilmember David Alvarez, want the high school to stay in operation where it is. Staff writer Torrey Bailey looks at both sides of the issue, and talks to one local architect who thinks we could have it both ways (page 6).

#SDCityBeat

Regarding kneeling during the National Anthem [Keeping Kaepernick in the headlines, Sept.

14]: The American flag and the National Anthem don’t represent perfection in our society—that’s an impossibility—only the agreedupon desire that we all want to have that perfection. That’s our standard to try to adhere to. There is no one against this, not in his or her right mind, anyway. There’s a distinction here that’s being missed, methinks.

The Constitution, written by American founders in the mid1700s, is a noble document. Who will deny this? It’s a paradigm for self-governance. It is our political standard that we use as our guide, and an admirable one. As a country we will always be working on holding to this. I wish all humans were perfect, including politicians we elect, and those we assign to serve and protect.

But disrespecting the ideal of our society until anyone feels that the correct amount of perfection has been achieved seems like taking a false noble and racially divisive stand—well-intentioned, but misplaced, anger. Who will say when that perfection has arrived?

Who? Do we decide for ourselves?

How capricious, no? What exactly is being disrespected here? The lack of a utopian society right now? The Constitution itself? The two-party system? The state governments? The local government where one lives? Exactly which?

Resenting America’s societal imperfections because it’s not perfect right now is like resenting being human. This shared common desire is above any racial or political platforms—unless we allow ourselves to believe otherwise. It’s something we all want. Are the ideals of our society, borne by the Constitution, suddenly bad ones?

The irony of course is that it is one’s inalienable right as an American to not only disrespect, but also to misconstrue. One must admit: there’s rich irony here.

We, and our children, and our children’s children, will always be working on perfecting society.

That’s part-and-parcel of what democracy is about. It’s neverending. This anger-fueled separatist perspective will only serve to further separate Americans along racial lines. Que lastima (how sad), as people say here in heavily Hispanic San Diego. I love the expression, “Don’t burn the flag, wash it.” Misguided indignation aside, this ain’t washing.

Stephen Keyes, Encinitas

CARS GO BOOM

I keep reading these disparaging letters about Edwin “Contrary” Decker in CityBeat’s “Letters to the Editor” section. I never figured why so many people write adversarial letters to a person who is an op-ed writer, not a journalist.

However, I now have a reason to complain.

Ed: Cars explode all the time, everyday [Six things TV producers must stop doing immediately!” Aug. 24.] How can you doubt this? Just because of a Pinto’s unfortunate placement of it’s fuel hold does not mean other vehicles cannot blow up with Hollywood gusto, like, on a regular basis, almost hourly.

Almost every time I look out my window in downtown›s East Village neighborhood, I clearly witness a car explosion. Why are you, Ed “Teddy Bear” Decker, helping to conspire to hide this from the greater public at large?

Also, as my mother used to tell me, the word “duh” is not actually a real word. Does Edwin The Harmless know this? Does he even utilize an editor for his purpose of criticizing what we all hold dear and true in our hearts?

I don’t think so, either. Cars explode daily, Ed. I’ve seen it, man! I may as well live on a Die Hard scene set I’ve seen that so many times it’s ridiculous.

Benny A. McFadden, San Diego

WE WANT FEEDBACK Did you read a story in San Diego CityBeat that made you so mad your appendix burst, or caused you to laugh so hard you lost a tooth? If something inspires you to send us your two cents we welcome all letters that respond to news stories, opinion pieces or reviews that have run in these pages. We don’t accept unsolicited oped letters.

Email letters to editor Ron Donoho at rond@ sdcitybeat.com, or mail to 3047 University Ave., Suite 202, San Diego, CA 92104.

For letters to be considered for publication you must include your first and last name and the part of town where you reside.

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

TORREY BAILEY

UP FRONT | NEWS

Measure I: Determining the future of San Diego High Balboa Park backers want campus to revert to park land

by Torrey Bailey

6 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

Not everyone is on board. The Balboa Park Heritage Association is fighting to return the land to park-goers.

“People say we hate kids, and we want to kick them out of the school,” said Balboa Park Heritage Association President David Lundin. “We don’t. At [the time of the lease agreement], East Village didn’t exist. You could’ve found 30 to 40 acres, and bought it between 1974 and 1984. But, they did nothing. The parents didn’t do anything. The alumni didn’t do anything. Everybody sat on their thumbs for 42 years. Those are the guilty parties here.”

Lundin argues the school conveniently slid by the charter’s regulations and hasn’t paid its dues. Under the lease agreement, San Diego Unified School District pays the city $200 a year. He also considers the city’s actions underhanded, saying the council decided to amend the charter because getting a majority vote was more feasible than a two-thirds vote.

“We know what they’re doing, and the average voter is not going to understand it,” said Craig Sherman, Lundin’s legal counsel. “It’s not fair. The average voter does not understand the background context—the consideration of essentially 50 years of free rent because the city is going to get the land back—which is now being essentially wiped away. They’re voting on it without knowing that. I think it would change their vote. I think that is a material omission.”

Sherman and Lundin fought the ballot language in court to include some of this context. On Sept. 8, Superior Court Judge Frederic Link struck down their request.

On the same day as that ruling, Lundin met with the American Institute of Architects’ San Diego Chapter, where a potential compromise emerged. Whether Measure I passes or fails, Stepner suggested expanding the city’s green surface area by “decking” the nearby roadway with greenery and park areas.

“You leave the school intact, but you make it a school in a park instead of a school that occupies park land,” Stepner said.

The proposed decking would cover Interstate-5 and Park Boulevard, stretching into East Village, downtown

and Cortez Hill, making a pedestrian promenade that reconnects the communities.

“In our worst-case scenario that the school stays there, we’re totally in favor of decking I-5 and taking steps to integrate the campus with the park,” Lundin said.

Another alternate approach being discussed is a subterranean parking garage under the high school’s current location; the surface level would be natural park land.

“Keep it trees, keep it dirt,” Lundin said. “But you don’t have to put the parking in the core of the park, as some people propose.”

Prototypes will be uploaded to the Balboa Park Heritage Association’s website before the election. Financing possibilities for these ideas have not been made public.

The school’s fate is first on the agenda, though. If Measure I passes, details of a new lease agreement would have to be hammered out, including how much the school district would pay the city and how long the lease would be extended.

Even with a possible compromise on the table, Lundin won’t stop fighting if the measure passes.

“Hopefully it will be defeated, which would obviate the need to later challenge it,” he said. “We definitely intend to follow through on the challenges, including the voter-passage rate, and whether the voter was adequately apprised in the ballot statement.”

If Measure I fails, Alvarez said the issue would need to be revisited in a couple years because there isn’t nearby land available to service the same population.

“They built several new buildings within the past few years alone because they needed more classroom space, so I don’t see a vacancy rate that would allow the kids to be spread out,” Alvarez said. “That’s not a reality. The demand exists for classroom space here.”

Meanwhile, Stepner hopes both sides can compromise.

“We tend, in San Diego, to get into this knee-jerk lockstep,” he said. “It’s either/or. There’s no middle ground. It’s either my way or the highway, and if somebody says it’s 2:30 we argue whether it’s 2:30 or half past two. It’s just not very productive and that’s what I felt. There is a middle ground.”

“

Everybody sat on their thumbs for 42 years.

Those are the guilty parties here.

“

T

WENTY YEARS AGO, City Councilmember David Alvarez attended his first class at San Diego High School, the education complex that has occupied the southwestern corner of Balboa Park since the 1880s. Close proximity allows the school to shape the curriculum around frequent park field trips and museum visits. Alvarez once walked over to the Organ Pavilion after school to see President Bill Clinton speak, and remembers that his friends snuck up to the front to shake hands with the commander in chief.

“Those are the memories that are significant, but certainly what happened within the walls of the school were significant as well,” Alvarez said. “The students that come to San Diego High School are going to learn to value Balboa Park’s importance because they’re here now, next to it. Or, technically speaking, on it.”

The high school’s 34-acre campus is on legally designated park land that the city leased to the San Diego Unified School District in 1974. Section 55 of the San Diego City Charter stipulates that only recreational uses are allowable, but the lease enables the school to continue operations until 2024, under an agreement that it would be vacated and returned to the city. Now eight years out from the expiration date, the school shows no sign of relocating.

“Nobody remembered,” said Michael Stepner, the former San Diego City Architect. “Or if they remembered, they were keeping it a secret. I didn’t remember the agreement either, and I was there in the city in ’74. But it was just one of those things where nobody made any plans one way or another.

Nobody ever thought the world would change that way.”

The city had two options to extend the school’s lease.

One required a two-thirds city vote to approve school use on the property under the current charter language. The other choice was a majority vote to amend the city charter to allow a public school in that space. The city council picked the latter, introducing November’s Measure I. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, a large majority of city councilmembers and SDHS alumni across party lines are in favor of changing the charter so that the school can remain at its current location.

“Just because nothing was done, doesn’t mean we are going to punish all of these students and families,” Alvarez said. “That’s not their fault. It certainly isn’t the current administration’s fault at the school or at the city. Our responsibility is to respond to the needs as they currently exist, and that’s what this will do. There is a need for this school, and there is a need for it to be done lawfully, and legally, through a charter amendment.”

San Diego High School sits on Balboa Park land.

#SDCityBeat

UP FRONT | OPINION

SPIN

CYCLE

JOHN R. LAMB

Heartburn over earned sick days Without labor, nothing prospers.

—Sophocles

t seems like only yesterday that termed-out San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria, close to punching his ticket for new adventures in Sacramento, was basking in the glow after voters in June overwhelmingly approved Proposition I. The measure, which boosted the city’s minimum wage to $10.50 an hour in July when the City Council certified the election results, also mandated five paid sick days per year for all employees in San Diego, two more than guaranteed by the state.

So it would be natural to assume that a ballot measure approved by 63 percent of city voters would be a breeze to implement.

Then again, Spin Cycle will remind you this is San Diego, where

I

#SDCityBeat

nothing comes easy and the bestlaid plans can go awry.

The good news is the current brouhaha has nothing to do with the wage hike, which will rise again in January to $11.50 an hour, as the measure requires. The notso-good news, however, centers on the earned sick leave portion of the measure.

When the City Council gathered on July 11 to consider approval of an implementing ordinance for the ballot measure, most observers were anticipating a fairly quick, drama-free discussion and thumbs-up vote. Instead, the conversation turned testy and weird, leaving Gloria visibly perturbed.

At the heart of the angst? Lastminute language proposed by advocates of construction industry workers that Proposition I proponents argued would sabotage the will of the voters when it comes to paid sick days.

The proposed amendment, introduced by San Diego Councilmember Marti Emerald at the July 11 meeting at the request of building-trade representatives, read as follows: “An employer who provides greater paid time off, either through a contract, collective bargaining, agreement, employment benefit plan, or other agreement, than that required by the Division is deemed to be in compliance even if the employer utilizes an alternative methodology for calculation of, payment of, and use of sick leave or other paid time off that can be used as sick leave.”

Quite a mouthful, indeed, to throw into the mix at the last minute, but construction workers are a different lot, moving from one project to another and often serving multiple employers.

Tom Lemmon, business manager for the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council AFL-CIO who spoke in favor of the change in July, was succinct in assessing the brouhaha churned up over the amendment: “It’s complicated!”

But Clare Crawford, executive director of the Center for Policy Initiatives, a key player in the local minimum-wage push, said the result is not complicated. Unless the language is corrected, Crawford argued, “What you’re going

JOHN R. LAMB

A spat over paid sick leave has Councilmember Todd Gloria feeling under the weather. to see as a result is workers who won’t get access to their sick days that the city provided because the language says essentially you can make an agreement with an employee that basically signs away their ability to access those days.”

“The bottom line,” she added, “is if you want to look for a solution that meets the needs of the construction industry vis-à-vis workers being able to receive the benefit, then that’s what we should do. The intention here of voters is to ensure that all workers have access to five earned sick days.”

For many workers, Crawford noted, it’s not as simple as waking up one day with a fever and calling in sick. Without the guaranteed sick days, many employees fear retaliation, loss of income and even termination if they miss work.

She can imagine a scenario where a fast-food or retail worker not represented by a union could be told by their employer that they will provide the five sick days, just not using the same accrual method as the city or “you can’t use it without giving us two weeks notice. Under this provision, I don’t see how the city would say they’re not complying.”

In a memo to council members following the July 11 hearing, the Center for Policy Initiatives argued that the amendment should be stricken from the implementing ordinance: “Rather than creating a narrowly targeted policy to address the specific conditions of the building and construction trades, the currently proposed language…creates a broad and significant loophole in the provision of local earned sick days.”

Local workers are already taking note. In its latest newsletter, Boilermakers Local 1998—the shipyard workers union representing hundreds of NASSCO employees—mentions the new paid sick leave requirement and urges workers “if you believe you are not being paid correctly, please see

your union shop steward and file a complaint form TODAY” with the city’s newly created Minimum Wage Enforcement Office.

“Hundreds” of complaints have been filed by those workers, a labor organizer confirmed privately. NASSCO and its employees are currently enmeshed in contract negotiations.

Concerns also abound over how Mayor Kevin Faulconer will react to the amended language.

An opponent of the minimumwage hike and mandated sick leave, the mayor has veto power on the matter. Faulconer’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Gloria’s office says he hopes to have a “fix” by October.

“I think at a minimum we would hope that the mayor would be willing to strike that language and return it to the original intention of the ordinance now that there are actually complaints and there’s a test case,” Crawford said.

“There are employees of NASSCO asking for Proposition I to be enforced on their employer who does not allow them to take sick days without notice.”

Crawford said she has spoken to carpenters’ representatives who are “open to limiting that language to the construction industry so it’s not negatively impacting other workers. You could deal with the construction industry in a different way than you deal with other employees, but what got passed got applied to all employees, and what it did was actually undercut other workers’ abilities to access those paid days.”

Crawford had hoped to speak at the July 11 council meeting but got stuck on a train outside of Solana Beach. She wound up watching the council deliberations on her mobile device. “I was literally screaming at my phone,” she added.

Spin Cycle appears every week.

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com.

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

UP FRONT | OPINION

SORDID

EDWIN DECKER

TALES

No homosexuality in the animal kingdom?

M

anny Pacquiao is in the news again, this time over an apology fail for what he said about the LGBTQ community back in February. Pacquiao is the boxer-turned-Filipino senator who told CNN that “animals are better” than humans because they don’t engage in homosexual acts, a remark that caused global outrage and a loss of his Nike endorsement.

Now, some six months later, he has apologized for comparing gay folk to animals. The reason I call it an apology fail is because he still claims homosexuality is a sin, and he still believes this is proved by the absence of same sex behavior in nature—which means that Pacquiao and his fellow animal truthers are buffoons.

First, even if it were true that there is no homosexuality in the wild, it would no more prove that God hates gays than it proves God hates violinists because lizards don’t fiddle. I mean, I’ve never seen a parakeet play Parcheesi so does that mean board games are immoral? Utterly ridiculous.

Secondly, there most certainly is same sex behavior in nature, and it’s absurd to say otherwise.

But hey, don’t you just love these “fact” spewing bigots who boldly declare their fact-less facts as if they were factual? It’s something LGBTQs have been dealing with since, like, forever.

Such as when all those Christian conservative blowhards kept stating the fact-less fact that, “Since the dawn of time, marriage has been defined as being between a man and a woman.”

Or, when they fact-lessly claimed that children raised by gay parents were statistically more likely to grow up with behavioral problems. Or, when they cited an imaginary, invisible, non-existent—yet somehow “scientific”—study of a correlation between homosexuality and pedophilia. Or, when they claimed that allowing gays in the military would dismantle our national defense. All of which—like this notion that there are no fairies in the forest—are fact-less factoids pulled out of the fact-free assholes of the bigots who utter them.

C’mon, Manny. How are you gonna look at a flamingo and tell me there are no dandies in nature?

Flamingos are so gay it hurts their sphincters to put both feet down. Homosexual behavior has been documented in more than 1,500, species and you would have known that if you had just dug around a bit before opening your fat, prejudiced mouth. Here’s a friendly suggestion for all you animal truthers. First, power up that metal box on your desk (it’s called a computer but you probably know it as a masturbachine). Next, open your porn-finder (also called a browser) and Google the phrase “What is Google for and how do I use it?” After you read the instructions, perform a search on “Homosexual behavior among animals.” Do this and you will learn that, actually, male bighorn sheep engage in oral and anal sex quite

regularly. You will learn that male grey whales like to rub their genitals against each other’s bellies in groups (a kind of oceanic circle jerk). You will learn that some Amazon river dolphins like to mount the blowholes of other males, and bottlenose dolphin babes occasionally use their snouts to penetrate the vaginas of other females.

You will learn—and I know this will make you crazy—that Mother Nature condones gay adoption.

For instance two gay, male griffon vultures in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo circa 1998 raised two chicks that were placed in the nest by zookeepers. Two boy penguins in the New York’s Central Park Zoo adopted an egg, hatched it and raised that chick to adulthood. And nearly 25 percent of black swan chicks in the wild are parented by same-sex parents, yet not a single one of them ever knocked over a liquor store.

Admittedly, the adopted vultures did engage in some aggressive, anti-social behavior—you know, stalking the sick and elderly—but according to experts, that’s what vultures do.

Here’s a fact that is so factual it’s whack! In 2003, A Dutch scientist named Kees Moeliker won a Noble Prize in Biology for his paper about a male mallard he observed humping the anus of a deceased male mallard—for over an hour! The study was later the inspiration behind The Homosexual Necrophiliac Duck Opera (and that’s a fact, Pacq!).

Want more examples? Elephants have been observed engaging in same-sex trunk-play, among other things. Bears have been known to get on the Grindr tip, too, though sometimes there is confusion about who’s the “bear” is and who’s the camper. Male lions—et tu King of the Jungle?—have been observed performing anal sex after some tender nuzzling and cuddling which, well, anal penetration is one thing but cuddling? That’s going too far!

Insects are also known to partake: Bed bugs are bisexual for instance. They’re attracted to other, recently fed, blood-engorged bed bugs regardless of gender. Gut worms are thought by some to have random homosexual encounters. And while there is no concrete evidence of homosexuality among army ants, scientists believe it’s because the queen enforces a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

The list goes on: 10 to 15 percent of female gulls exhibit Sapphic behavior, mallards queer-out at a rate of nearly 20 percent, bison at 55 percent. And 94 percent—yes, 94 percent!—of giraffe-sex is jolly.

And those, my animal truther friends, are some real true facts. I know because I fact-checked to ensure they comply with the requirements of factivity, also known as research. You should try it sometime.

“

I’ve never seen a parakeet play Parcheesi so does that mean board games are immoral?

“

8 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

#SDCityBeat

UP FRONT | VOICES

RYAN BRADFORD

WELL THAT WAS

AWKWARD

Stranger in a strange hand

A

couple days into our Jordanian vacation, my sister-in-law Karen schedules spa treatments at the Dead Sea Marriott. My wife Jessica— who’s been looking forward to the lavish perks afforded by Karen’s diplomat status—has been mulling over the spa’s menu since before we even left the states. I’ve never had a massage or paid to have my body serviced in such fashion, but I’m suddenly thinking things like YOLO and treat yo self! and other weak-willed justifications for spending a shit-ton of money. I’ve also been reading a lot about traditional Turkish baths in our Lonely Planet guide to Jordan, which has elicited a sadomasochistic-lite fascination.

Lonely Planet says there’s pain.

There’s scraping. There’s exfoliating.

The guide uses the word “unforgiving” a lot.

There’s a menu item on Marriott’s website called The Arabian Delight, which sounds like Turkish bath treatments I’ve been reading about. I tell Karen to sign me up.

Yolo.

Karen makes the call. She orders me the Arabian Delight. The employee tells Karen that women and men are serviced separately at the spa, but the way she words it is: “He’s going to be delighted by a man. Is that okay?”

Spa day arrives. We’re each given locker keys, and Karen and Jessica disappear into the women’s locker room. The men’s room is a dimly lit hallway that leads to a stagnant Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna. In my locker, I find a pair of disposable underwear, sealed in plastic. It unfolds into a pathetic, see-through square with two leg holes. Voices echo through the men’s locker room— from which direction they’re coming, I don’t know— and I hurry to put on my new drawers.

Muhayed, my Delighter, introduces himself. He looks like a Bedouin version of Green Day singer Billy Joe Armstrong. I think it’s the intensity in the eyes. He speaks English with a soft British accent, which he claims to have learned from TV. I can’t help but think he would be a great narrator for a nature documentary: And here we have the Western Ryan. Truly a spectacular beast. Let’s observe as he navigates his way through this situation…

“We’re going to be doing the Arabian Delight,” Muhayed says. “It comes from traditional Turkish and Moroccan practices, and afterwards you’re going to feel amazing.” He punctuates the syllables “ah-mazing” to emphasize the lavishness I’m about to endure.

This doting is both comforting and guilt-inducing.

He leads me into a room with a monolithic, tiled slab rising out of the floor and a shower spout affixed to the wall.

“You can take off your shorts off or leave them on,” Muhayed says. My flimsy shorts are doing little in the way of coverage, but the idea of laying fully nude on what I’ve quickly deemed “the morgue table” brings to mind too many scenes of cinematic autopsies.

I lie face down and Muhayed primes me with a cold-water spritz. He asks where I’m from and I say “California.” He says something about the industriousness of America, but I can’t really focus on anything but preparing my nerves for—what I assume—will be quite the ride. He places a jar of mango-scented sea-salt scrub in front of me and prompts me to sniff.

“Yep! Smells like mango!” I say, too enthusiastically.

He scrapes a large amount out of the jar and holds the mountain of goo for a moment before he goes to town.

I’ve sat for tattoos that were softer.

Let’s observe the Western Ryan as he sheds his skin.

Muhayed starts on my calves, working upwards, kneading the biblical salt into Ev-Er-Y-Where. My flimsy shorts are just a formality for him. He saltscrubs the heels of my feet, my toes. “Ticklish?” he asks. My reply is just kind of a sob.

“What do you do?” Muhayed asks, probably in an effort to distract me while he skins my back.

“I’m a writer for a newspaper.”

“Like, accidents? Crime?”

Without getting into the details of this very nuanced column (plus he’s turned me over and working the scrub into my belly so: ow) I say, “No, like arts, culture, music.”

Muhayed stops and asks if I know Yanni.

“I just saw him,” I say. “It blew my mind.”

Muhayed tells me that he used to play flute. “I used to be so good.”

He holds his two thumbs up and shows me the comparative crookedness of one. “But my father broke it.” The reason, he says, is because of fundamental Islamic belief that woodwind instruments are evil.

“I don’t tell you this to upset you,” he says, “but to remind you of your responsibility as a writer.

“I’m Muslim, but I don’t agree with what he did,” he adds. “There’s a lot of it that I don’t believe. My wife—I don’t care if she wears a bikini or a…” he pauses, “a burkini. The Quran also says we can have multiple wives, but I don’t believe that either. It is your responsibility to report that we’re not all like you see on the news.”

I tell Muhayed about my own upbringing in a Mormon community and the polygamous families that I grew up with. It’s a cliché we’re not so different after all moment, but the silence that follows is profound.

Muhayed finishes with the scrub. He sits me up and pulls a dry loofa out and bar of soap out—the next stage in the Arabian Delight. I touch the loofa, it feels like coral reef.

“This is gonna take some layers off, huh?” I ask, cringing.

Muhayed smiles. “Yessir. It is.”

“

He’s going to be delighted by a man.

Is that okay?

“

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Well That Was Awkward appears every other week.

Write to ryanb@sdcitybeat.com.

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

MICHAEL A. GARDINER

FARE

Sabrett, street carts and San Diego

O

ne of the most enduring images of Manhattan streets is food carts—not taco trucks—on every corner. Nothing’s more emblematic of that than the blue-and-yellow umbrella of Sabrett carts. We have one at Horton Plaza with the Brooklyn Dogs cart.

New York street carts trace back to the 17th century. Food carts appeared on the scene two centuries later. It was, then as now, a business accessible to immigrants, especially those with dodgy English skills. Not long after the food carts appeared so did the first food-cart law. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia did his best, but ultimately failed to remove the carts from city streets. Rudy Giuliani’s similar efforts would meet the same fate.

The path to today’s great New York food carts (like The Arepa Lady or Kwik Meal Cart) was paved by Halal carts, which arose to feed the city’s many Islamic taxi drivers. But back in the day it was the dirty-water dog that ruled the streets. And, amongst the street dog vendors it was the Sabrett carts that were (and still are) widely acknowledged as the best.

A taste of our San Diego version shows why. Order the sauerkraut dog, it’s what a New York street dog is all about: simple and direct. The natural casing gives that “snap” you want from a hot dog even if you don’t know that’s what you want from a hot dog. The all-beef frank is fully savory, yes, but it also has a hint of sweetness (sorbitol) and a pleasant acidity. That’s what a New York all-beef hot dog should taste like. That’s what all hot dogs should taste like. If God didn’t want hot dogs to taste like that He wouldn’t have invented New York.

10 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

Brooklyn Dogs cart at Horton Plaza You could also order the red onion dog. Sure, but why? I know some New Yorker’s swear by it but some New Yorkers are idiots. They’re wrong but they just don’t know it yet. It’s overcomplicating matters. It’s goopy. You can’t taste the damned dog.

Or you could get the bratwurst, which sounds way Wisconsin. But it’s good: savory, fatty, Old World and gloriously retro. And it’s not sacrilegious to put deli mustard on a brat. It is, of course, sacrilegious to put deli mustard on a New York dog (and will doubtless be outlawed in Trump’s America), MICHAEL A. GARDINER which is a good reason to order a brat.

And it’s maybe the only thing on which I agree with Trump.

At the end of the day, though, Brooklyn Dogs’ Sabrett cart is all about that New York experience: a hot dog on the street in the urban jungle.

The setting in Horton Plaza is about as urban as we get Sauerkraut dog in this ’ville, and it’s remarkably pleasant. The combination of that and the classic New York street dog flavor is a blast from the past, and it is well worth experiencing now and into the future. Even if Trump’s elected.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

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UP FRONT | DRINK

IN THE

BY MICHELLE POVEDA

SPIRITS Tiki nights

JOSH RAVIN

U

mbrellas are popping up in bars all over town. Tiki drinks—rum-inspired cocktails mixed with fresh juices—are making a comeback, and aren’t just being gulped by old guys in Tommy Bahama shirts.

False Idol recently opened (inside the remodeled Craft & Commerce) in Little Italy and the décor is tiki ���������� from floor ������������������ to ceiling. Kettner �������� Ex��� change, also in Little Italy, and Normal Heights stalwart Sycamore Den are pouring noteworthy, tiki-inspired cocktails. Recently, though, I visited oldie-but-goodie Riviera Supper Club (7777 University Ave.) in La Mesa to grab a few of these beverages inspired by false idols.

Riviera is that dark den where you bring a date to grill up your own USDA Choice steaks on the communal grill, while sipping on a stiff drink.

Now there are updates—like food you don’t have to cook yourself, and a weekly Tiki Night. The first was Saturday, Aug. 6, but beginning Sept. 29, Tiki Night will be every Thursday. A special drink menu includes a classic Mai Tai made with spiced rum, white rum and mixed juices in a tall glass.

A Dead Man’s Cove features spiced rum, berry simple syrup, a splash of pineapple and a red wine float. The most popular drink, the Sneaky Tiki, includes Malibu rum, Disaronno Amaretto and mixed juices.

Riviera is a family business. Opened nine years ago, it’s now run by Chicago natives Michael and Barbara Rammelsberg.

Their son, Jason Rammelsberg, is the general manager, and has overseen operations for three years.

In the bar business for 21 years, Jason was running a bar in St. Louis when his dad asked him to join him in San Diego

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Cocktails at Riviera Supper Club (where he first opened Normal Heights classic Rosie O’Grady’s).

Tiki Night was Jason’s brainchild. “Since Riviera is already so mid-century, we thought bringing over some tiki would be a great fit,” he says. He adds that Tiki Night has been well-received and customers are coming in specifically for the retro subculture. “It’s a special night and the staff loves it, which waterfalls down to the customers, and everybody gets into it.”

Not just an excuse to party, Tiki Night includes some sweet deals. Cocktails are $6 each and there’s a $12-dollar tiki burger and poke salad for $10. And if you dress in tiki attire—Hawaiian print shirts, floral dresses, pineapple earrings, pearl shell necklaces, etc.—you get a dollar off your drinks.

The Rammelsbergs are big believers in live music, so you’ll never see a quiet Thursday night. Featured bands include the Baja Bugs, as well as Alvino and the Dwells, who will perform on Sept. 29.

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

UP FRONT | DRINK

THE

BY ANDREW DYER

BEERDIST Hazy days on the horizon

on the back of their hazy and hoppy IPAs. Names like Tired Hands, Hill Farmstead and The Alredicting beer trends is like predicting San chemist are synonymous with the style.

“A bunch of folks who work at Modern Times Diego weather: Easy. Sunny and 70 degrees, with a West Coast IPA. Its flavors are often have moved to San Diego from the East Coast, clean, crisp and bitter, sometimes piney and dank. myself included,” McKean said. “Our friends back Although they are not in any danger of being de- east send us beer. We really enjoyed some of the throned, an invasive species is poised to elbow out hazy IPAs we received, so we decided to figure out how to make them.” at least a few of them at the local taproom.

Abnormal Beer Co., Belching Beaver, CoroThe Northeast IPA has arrived. nado Brewing have also gotten on board, as has This style is known for its fruity, some say “juicy” flavor and mouthfeel. They are less bitter Monkish Brewing in Torrance, California.

Derek Gallanosa, head brewer at Abnormal than their West Coast cousins, and a bit easier to Beer Co., says West Coast brewers are already drink. One characteristic stands above the others, ANDREW DYER topping some of the however. The haze. original East Coast “The first time we trailblazers. sold (one) to Hamil“It’s on par (with ton’s they were like, them) when you get ‘Man, is this OK to it fresh out here,” he serve?’” says Daniel says. “Some of (what) Drayne, head brewer is produced out here, at Half Door Brewespecially by Monking. (903 Island Ave.) ish, I prefer over some “They wrote ‘hazy’ of the East Coast next to it.” ones.”

Drayne has been Abnormal’s verbrewing Northeast (or sion, New Money IPA, New England) IPAs at One hallmark of the NE IPA is the dense, hazy was a top-seller, and Half Door and helped quality displayed by Half Door Brewing’s IPAs. Gallanosa says more is innovate the style in on the way.

San Diego. He says Despite the up and down nature of beer trends, it took a little while for customers to get used to there is optimism that this one is here to stay. them.

“We got mixed reviews at first,” he says. “I’m Drayne said he is tweaking his recipes and working to merge the two styles. glad more people are doing them now.”

“You’re going to have a lot of hazy beers out Another brewery that has hitched its sails to the easterly winds is the always innovative Mod- here soon,” Drayne says. “It’s going to be like a ern Times. It has released a string of fruit and West Coast IPA, it’s going to be a standard. But juicy IPAs, including Accumulated Knowledge, how do you make a West Coast IPA with these flavors? That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

Underworld Dreams and Attack Frequency.

This coastal back-and-forth is not exactly the “It started when we began formulating Orderville, our year-round IPA, which is fermented with Tupac-Biggie rivalry of the beer world, but like an old school English yeast,” says Modern Times music fans of the 1990s, beer lovers are reaping founder and CEO Jacob McKean, in an email. the benefits.

P

“That’s one of the key elements in these beers.”

Many East Coast breweries have built impressive reputations in the beer-trading community

12 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

The Beerdist appears every other week.

Write to andrewd@sdcitybeat.com

#SDCityBeat

SHORTlist

EVENTS

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

SOUTH PARK AND BARRIO LOGAN

1

DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS

Few book titles are as encapsulating as Keith Morris’ new biography, My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor (Da Capo Press). Within the first few chapters, one immediately gets the sense the iconic L.A. punk-rock frontman (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, OFF!) never expected to live as long as he has. Lucky for readers, he did live to tell about it.

“All of the drug stories and survival stories, I’ve been through a lot of stuff,” says Morris, who was inspired to write the book after the death of a friend who owned a Los Angeles punk-rock club.

“Maybe I’m blessed. Maybe there’s somebody looking down on me. Maybe I’m here to be a guiding light or a detour sign. The fact of the matter is that I’ve been through all this crap and I’ve managed to basically navigate my way through it.”

My Damage’s greatest strength is how Morris manages to balance brutal honesty without sounding like he’s glamorizing a drug-and-alcohol-fueled lifestyle. Sober for more than two decades, Morris spent a year with My Damage co-author Jim

Ruland (full disclosure: Ruland is CityBeat’s book critic) parsing through the many tales of life lived on the road.

Even if readers aren’t familiar with the now iconic hardcore bands that Morris started, he GEOFF MOORE thinks the book can appeal to any reader. When asked what he ultimately wants the reader to take away, he answers in typical Morris fashion.

“A headache,” Morris says, somewhat jokingly.

“Diarrhea, flu-like symptoms, fever. You know, I hope that they like it and think it’s pretty colorful and think, ‘Wow, this is a pretty interesting guy.

He’s done a lot of wicked, wacky and goofy things.

This is a guy who’s lived a very interesting life.’”

Keith Morris Morris will sit down with Ruland for a Q&A–style discussion at the Whistle Stop (2236 Fern St.) on Friday, Sept. 23, at 9 p.m. followed by a performance from Peter Case of the Nerves and The Plimsouls. Admission is $5. Morris will also sign books on Saturday, Sept. 24, from noon to 2 p.m. at Golondrina (2148 Logan Ave.).

BARRIO LOGAN

DEL MAR

2

STICKY SITUATION

Spank the monkey, flick your Bic, tickle the pickle—whatever you call it, masturbation has always been a touchy subject. But, writer and director Nicholas Tana hopes to change the way society shies away from the taboo topic with his documentary Sticky: A (Self ) Love Story. After being shamed in school for admitting he performed the act, Tana decided to interview 60 sexologists, authors, religious figures, porn stars and entertainers about self-love’s bad rap. The doc configures his findings, and it makes a San Diego debut at AMN Healthcare (12400 High Bluff Dr.) on Friday, Sept. 23, at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Q&A with Tana. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $7.50 for students, with all proceeds benefitting the Center for Community Solutions. stickythemovie.com COURTESY OF NICHOLAS TANA

Sticky: A (Self) Love Story

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3

BREAKING RAD

Let’s face it: reading a literary journal is often a drag. Sure, having a story published in one carries a certain amount of prestige for an emerging author, but more often than not, they’re pretentious bores that look like they were designed by your grandma.

San Diego-based publication The Radvocate, on the other hand, breaks that mold via innovative fiction, nonfiction and poetry that pushes boundaries beyond what’s acceptable by the hegemonic literary elite. To celebrate the release of its 14th issue, The Radvocate Launch & Reading will COURTESY OF MATT LEWIS feature performances from contributors Sara Morrison, Karl Sherlock, Anthony Martin, Dania Brett and Ryan Hicks. This radness goes down at The Glashaus (1815 Main St.) on Saturday, Sept.

24, at 7 p.m. and costs $5 at the door.

The Radvocate #14

Art on Paper at Hess Brewing North Park, 3812 Grim Ave., North Park. A showcase of artwork on varying forms of paper from local artists such as Adam Nichol, Brooke Snyder, Deana Freeman, and more. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 21. Free. facebook. com/events/168695363564710 HSEE ART at The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. This new night features local artists, jewelry-makers, and DJs. Featured artists include Nate Bergeron, Jenna Bogorad, Tommy Knudson, Katie Newell and more. From 7 p.m. to midnight.

Wednesday, Sept. 21. Free. 619-5016540, thehideoutsd.wordpress.com HVideo Dating Recording Event at Spreckels Organ Pavilion Parking Lot, 1549 El Prado, Balboa Park. Artist Omar Lopex will videotape parkgoers inside the converted bread truck art space, “Untitled Space” as an homage to vintage video dating services. The event is part of Lopex’s artist residency at the San Diego Art Institute. From noon to 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. Free.

619-702-8138, sandiego-art.org All These Answers That May Never Come Our Way at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Contemporary surrealist artist Jon Jaylo will showcase his most current paintings created specifically for the exhibition.

Opening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Free. 760-839-4190, arthatch.org Flying Panther Back to School Art Show at Flying Panther Tattoo & Gallery, 2323 Broadway, Ste 101, Golden Hill. New works from local artists and tattooists including Katherine Brannock, Carlos Alejandro, Micah Cuddle and more. Opening from 8 to 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Free.

619-238-5713, flyingpanthertattoo.com Galia Linn: Inside at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. The L.A.based sculptor and site-specific installation will create an installation in the Clayes Gallery and the outside patio of the Athenaeum. Linn constructs relationships between subject, object and their environments by creating elemental tensions. Opening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Free.

858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org Heated Exchange: Contemporary Encaustics at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. An exhibit that puts a contemporary twist on the medium once used to entomb mummies. Showcases the ancient art’s multi-dimensional surface, luminous color and ethereal image layering. Opening from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23.

Free-$8. 760-839-4190, artcenter.org HLittle Dame Pop Up Gallery at Little Dame Shop, 2942 Adams Ave., University Heights. A one-night showcase of new works from local artists. Kyle Baudour will show off his latest photographs and Taylor Marie Prendergast will showcase new paintings. Includes live music from Nothingful and Chelsea Wylde. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Free. 925-457-1020, facebook.com/events/975572785892195 HRoberta Allen: Thinking About Thought at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. Allen will present a series of recent drawings on paper that incorporate image and text, as well as a selection of artist’s books in the Athenaeum’s Rotunda Gallery. Opening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23.

Free. 858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org HThe Uses of Photography: Art, Politics, and the Reinvention of a Medium at MCASD - La Jolla, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. A new exhibition showcasing experimental photography between the ‘60s and ‘80s, documenting social issues and everyday trivialities through photographic

H = CityBeat picks

hybrid forms. Includes books, postcards, video and text-and-image installations.

Opening from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Free. 858-454-3541, mcasd.org H30 Block Art Night at North Park along 30th St., Between 3700 and 3900 block, North Park. Boutiques, businesses and galleries in the heart of North Park showcase new art work, host trunk shows and debut new wares. From 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Free. northparkmainstreet.com HIntersecting Lines: The 11th Biannual Drawing Show at Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. This exhibition showcases local artists applying a broad range of concept, media and process to demonstrate the value of drawing. Featured artists include Joyce CutlerShaw, Dominic Paul Miller, Todd Partridge, and more. Opening from noon to 2 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 24. Free. 619-236-5800, sandiego.gov/public-library HIrving J. Gill: New Architecture for a Great Country at San Diego History Center, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park. A new collaborative exhibition that looks at the legacy of the San Diego architect who helped create modern architecture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Free-$10. 619232-6203, sandiegohistory.org HMaterialized Meditations at Visual, 3776 30th St., North Park. Matthew Agcolicol presents new drawings and paintings that deal in the practices of mediation, spirituality, the human spirit, and the soul. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24.

Free. 619-501-5585, visualshopsd.com HRoss Jaylo: Transition at ArtHatch, 317 E. Grande Ave., Escondido. The debut U.S. solo exhibition of the NYC-based artist, who specializes in multi-media works that attempt to render onto canvas his conception of an ideal love. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24.

Free. 760-781-5779, arthatch.org HFlat Earth at A Ship in the Woods, 3007 Felicita Road, Escondido. A group show that questions new scientific hypotheses, revisits obsolete theories, and looks to the possibility of pseudoscience becoming the standard model. Includes musical performances from The Mekons, Sam Coomes, Sun Foot and more. Opening from 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. $13. shipinthewoods.com A Curator’s Perspective at MCASD La Jolla, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. Celebrate the recently opened exhibition The Uses of Photography and join curator Jill Dawsey for a gallery walk-through. At 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26. Free-$10. 858454-3541, mcasd.org HSalvador R. Torres: Abstractions Within the Movement at City Gallery, 1313 Park Blvd., Downtown. The iconic Chicano Park muralist will showcase abstract paintings and drawings from the past 60 years. From 12 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27. Free. 619-388-3400, sdcity.edu/CityGallery

BOOKS Affinity Konar at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author will sign and discuss her new book, Mischling, about twin sisters who survive the Holocaust. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept.

21. Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com HJoseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The creators of the popular podcast, “Welcome to Night Vale,” will be promoting their two new script books, Mostly Void, Partially Stars and The Great Glowing Coils of the Universe. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21.

Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 Amy Stewart at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The author will be promoting her Kopp Sisters novels, Girl Waits with Gun and Lady Cop Makes Trouble. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. Free. 858-2684747, mystgalaxy.com Huma Ahmed-Ghosh at Inspirations Gallery, 2730 Historic Decatur Rd. Suite 202, Point Loma. The SDSU Professor will discuss her two edited books, Contesting Feminisms: Gender and Islam in Asia, and Asian Muslim Women: Globalization and Local Realities. At 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. Free. 619-255-9483, womensmuseumca.org HAnn Patchett at Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace, 5998 Alcala Park, USD, Linda Vista. The New York Times bestselling novelist will be discussing and signing Commonwealth, about a chance encounter reverberates through the lives of the four parents and six children involved.

Price includes copy of the book. At 6 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 23. $30.23. 619-260-7509, warwicks.com/event/ann-patchett-2016 Mike Love at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The founding member of The Beach Boys will sign and discuss his new memoir, Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy. Price includes admission for two and copy of book. At 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. $30.24. 858454-0347, warwicks.com Batton Lash at Comickaze at Liberty Station, Barracks 15, 2750 Historic Decatur Road, Ste 101, Point Loma. Lash will debut his newest Supernatural Law graphic novel, A Vampire in Hollywood, preceded by discussion about the Supernatural Law Universe and the series’ history. From 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept.

24. Free. 619-336-0004, facebook.com/ events/1778685975703012 HKeith Morris at Golondrina, 2148 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. The iconic L.A. punk-rock frontman (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, OFF!) will be signing and discussing his new memoir, My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor. From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Free. facebook.com/GolondrinaStore Sherri L. Smith at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The novelist and comic book writer will sign and discuss her new Southern California noir novel, Pasadena.

At 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Free. 858268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Cemetery Riots Reading at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. Editors T.C. Bennett and Tracy L. Carbone, and contributors Dennis Etchison, John Palisano, Hal Bodner, Eric J. Guignard, and Kathryn E.

McGee will discuss and read from the new collection of dark cautionary tales. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. Free. 858-2684747, mystgalaxy.com HLaura Marquis at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of Warwick’s ongoing Weekend with Locals Program, Marquis will be signing and discussing her new cookbook, Sweets in the Raw: Naturally Healthy Desserts. At noon. Sunday, Sept. 25. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com Julia Claiborne Johnson at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The novelist will sign and discuss her debut, Be Frank with Me, about a reclusive writer who’s been holed up in a Bel Air mansion for years. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26.

Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com

COMEDY Nick Thune at American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. The L.A.based comic has appeared on Conan and The Tonight Show, but some viewers may know him from his roles in films like Knocked Up and Urge. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22 and 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday, Sept.

24. Thursday, Sept. 22. $16. 619-7953858, americancomedyco.com Comedy Night Thorn Street Brewery at Thorn Street Brewery, 3176 Thorn St., North Park. Sip on craft beers while watching up-and-coming talent, as well as national touring headliners. From 8 to 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27. Free. thornstreetbrew.com

DANCE HTrolley Dances at San Diego Continuing Education, 1901 Main St., Barrio Logan. This annual site-specific dance project features dancers performing original performances along the MTS Blue Line starting in Barrio Logan and winding through the heart of San Diego. At various times from 10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24, Sunday, Sept. 25, Saturday, Oct. 1, and Sunday, Oct. 2. $15-$40.

619-388-1910, sandiegodancetheater.org

FILM H77 Minutes at The Front at Casa Familiar, 147 W. San Ysidro Blvd., San Ysidro. Charlie Minn’s new doc examines the 1984 San Ysidro McDonalds massacre, one of the worst mass shootings in history that killed 21 people and injured 19. At 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22 and Friday, Sept. 23. Thursday, Sept. 22.

77minutesfilm.com HFor the Love of Spock at Carlsbad Village Theatre, 2822 St. A San Diego

14 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

premiere of the documentary recounting the life of Star Trek’s Mr. Spock and the actor who played him, Leonard Nimoy.

Director Adam Nimoy (Leonard’s son) will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. $13.25-$15.25. sdjff.org HSticky: A (Self) Love Story at AMN Healthcare, 12400 High Bluff Drive, Torrey Pines. A documentary that tries to normalize the taboo topic of masturbation through interviews with sexologists, religious figures, porn stars and more.

Followed by a Q & A with director Nicholas Tana. From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. $7.50-$10. drjennsden.com HThe Man Without a World at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights.

Space Time presents an evening with artist Eleanor Antin. Antin will introduce her 1991 film The Man Without a World and participate in a Q&A after the screening.

From 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. $7. spacetimeart.org The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel’s Public Relations War in the United States at La Jolla Library, 7555 Draper Ave., La Jolla. Join others for an exploration of media bias, the Israeli occupation and the failure of American journalism. Film followed by Q&A with Dr. Gary Field, UCSD Associate Professor of Communication. From 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 24. Free. 858-552-1657, lajollalibrary.org The Sky On Location at MCASD - La Jolla, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. Cinematographer Babette Mangolte introduces her film The Sky on Location, made during her year-long travel through the American West, capturing the changing seasons. Q&A follows. From 2 to 3:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Free-$10. 858454-3541, mcasd.org HSan Diego International Film Festival at various locations. The five-day event will feature more than 100 independent films, studio premieres, panels with celebrities, red carpet events, parties, all-star tributes and an awards ceremony. Happens Wednesday, Sept. 28 through Sunday, Oct. 2. See website for schedule and locations. Various times. $15-$595. sdfilmfest.com

“Ascension” by Jon Jaylo will be on view at All These Answers That May Never Come Our Way, a solo exhibition opening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido (340 N. Escondido Blvd.).

FOOD & DRINK

HSan Diego Festival of Beer at Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier, 1000 North Harbor Dr., Downtown. San Diego’s original beer festival and cancer-fighting fundraiser returns to downtown with over 120 varieties of craft beer. Includes live music, food trucks and raises money for local cancer charities. From 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. $40-$50. sdbeerfest.org

Barrels, Brews, & BBQ at Kilowatt Brewing, 7576 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Kearny Mesa. Kilowatt Brewing and The Carver, Coal & Barrel host a pairing of wood-fired, beer-infused meats and sides that are matched with Kilowatt’s barrelaged brews. From 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Free. 858-715-3998, facebook. com/events/1054992531282832/

Chocolate Birthday Party at Chuao Chocolatier, 937 South Coast Highway 101, Suite C-109, Encinitas. Celebrate Chuao Chocolatier’s 14th birthday with a complimentary scoop of gelato (a $3.25 value) and 20 percent off their award winning truffles, chocolate bars and more.

From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. chuaochocolatier.com

HSan Diego Restaurant Week at various locations., More than 180 local restaurants will be offering three-course, prix-fixe dinner and two-course, prix-fixe lunch menus.

See website for full list of restaurants and offerings. various times. Sunday, Sept.

25. $15-$45. sandiegorestaurantweek.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS The Spirit of Dogs at Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Dr., La Jolla. The new Balanced Mind Meditation Center offers classes on “soul connecting” with canine friends taught

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

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September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

BOOKS: THE FLOATING LIBRARY Take a trip with Daniel Johnston

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Johnston’s interior life and then doubles down with a dose of hardscrabble truth.

In his autobiographical stories and novels, McClanahan describes what it’s like to grow up in southern West Virginia without the resources or safety net afforded to many artists, and that worldview informs every illustration.

“Carpenters are bipolar too, but it doesn’t help them build better houses.”

Despite the resurgence of Daniel Johnston’s career due to praise the documentary received, there’s no triumph over mental illness like it’s a bully in an after school special.

One doesn’t “beat” mental illness anymore than those battling addiction or dealing with disabilities ever “beat” their demons or afflictions. People with mental health issues deal with it every day, a fact the Appalachian author drives home: “So if you think this story is a cute mixture of mental illness and art—then imagine Daniel beating your ass with a lead pipe.”

Even if you’re familiar with the earnest yet offbeat work of Johnston, Cavolo and McClanahan, there’s no way to prepare yourself for the visions you’ll find between the covers of The Incantations of Daniel Johnston.

f you were going to tell the story of outsider artist and musician Daniel Johnston, a story that includes madness, mental hospitals and MTV, a story of psychotic breakdowns, demonic obsessions and an improbable rise to fame, you’d probably take a conservative, clear-eyed approach.

That’s the path that Jeff Feuerzeig followed in his award-winning documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston.

In The Incantation of Daniel Johnston, the graphic novel by Ricardo Cavolo and Scott McClanahan, they take a decidedly different approach.

Cavolo, a visual artist who got his start as a tattooer in Spain, mapped out the story.

Cavolo’s bold, black outlines put Daniel Johnston at the forefront of his illustrations. Using the lexicon of tattooing, Cavolo’s figures are covered in symbols drenched in hyper-bright colors that are almost lurid. He covers his avatars with images of ghosts, guitars, and an endless series of eyeballs and thrusts them into a hallucinatory dreamscape obsessed with the body. Cavolo doesn’t just want us tell a story, he wants the reader to imagine what it’s like to be Daniel Johnston.

McClanahan follows the impulse to explore Write to jimr@sdcitybeat.com.

EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

by Amanda Ringnalda. From 1 to 5 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 25. Free. 858-457-3030, balancedmindmeditation.org

MUSIC HMusical Benefit for Louisiana Flood Victims at Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St., Bay Park. Gator By The Bay and The Bon Temps Social Club of San Diego present this special concert featuring seven top San Diego zydeco, blues and swing bands. Proceeds benefit the Louisiana Musicians’ Flood Relief Fund. From 6 to 11 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21. $10.

619-542-1462, gatorbythebay.com Trio de Janeiro at La Jolla Community Center, 6811 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Flutist Lori Bell, guitarist Ron Satterfield, and pianist Tommy Aros come together with a high energy, Brazilian-tinged concert of jazz standards, Brazilian music, original compositions and folk music. At 8 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 23. $18-$25. 858-4590831, ljcommunitycenter.org HCrystal Bowersox at Poway Center for the Performing Arts, 15498 Espola Rd., Poway. The American Idol finalist was praised

by Rolling Stone as “the best female singer-songwriter to grace the American Idol stage to date.” She’ll be performing with local singer Eve Selis and guitarist Marc Twang. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. $35$45. 858-748-0505, powayonstage.org Freestyle Reunion at Qualcomm Stadium, 9449 Friars Road, Mission Valley.

Relive the ‘80s and ‘90s with dance stars Cover Girls, Trinere, Debbie Deb, Cynthia, and Connie. Watching Debbie Deb bust out “Look Out Weekend” may be worth the price of admission alone. From 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. $35-$75. freestylereunion.com

16 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

Geoffrey Keezer & Friends at The Auditorium at TSRI, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla. The Grammy nominated pianist will perform an eclectic program of duets with Hawaiian Slack Key guitarist Keola Beamer, vocalist Gillian Margot, vibraphonist Joe Locke, and more. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. $30-$35. 858784-2666, ljathenaeum.org/ Trio Ciele at La Jolla Library, 7555 Draper Ave., La Jolla. Pianist Kay Etheridge, violinist Paivikki Nykter and cellist Cecilia Kim perform a program consisting of Mozart and Brahms. From noon to 1 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 24. Free. 858-552-1657, lajollalibrary.org HConcert Across America to End Gun Violence at Grassroots Oasis, 3130 Moore St., Old Town. The San Diego chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence hosts this special concert featuring Josh Weinstein, Kimm Rogers, League of Liars, Kelli McCarthy and special guests. From 5 to 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 25. Free. 858-945-6273, concertacrossamerica.org HDr. Carol Williams Final Concert at Spreckels Organ Pavilion, 1549 El Prado, Balboa Park. The San Diego Civic Organist is moving to Virginia, but will be giving one last performance. From 2 to 3 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 25. Free. 619-702-8138, spreckelsorgan.org HHaydn Voyages: Music at the Maritime at Maritime Museum of San Diego, 1492 N. Harbor Drive, Downtown. The inaugural performance in the quarterly concert series aboard the 1898 steam ferryboat Berkeley features a performance from The Hausmann Quartet. At 4 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 25. $10-$25. 619-2349153, sdmaritime.org HJohn Denver Tribute at North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Dr., Solana Beach. Join acclaimed performer Jim Curry for this tribute to the

—Jim Ruland

music of one of the most beloved singer/ songwriters ever. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26 and Tuesday, Sept. 27. $30$35. 858-481-1055, northcoastrep.org Music in the Gallery: Soloists at The Studio Door, 3750 30th St., North Park.

Instrumental soloists will be playing all types of instruments and various styles of music. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28. $5. thestudiodoor.com

PERFORMANCE The Octonauts and the Deep Sea Volcano Adventure at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. For the first time ever, the characters from the popular British children’s television series are bringing their live stage show to the U.S. From 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. $41.

619-570-1100, sandiegotheatres.org Burlesque Bingo at Lafayette Hotel, 2223 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. A game show where 10 burlesque dancers, including Audrey Deluxe, will strip down as players win prizes. A dinner option is available for purchase ahead of time.

From 7 to 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. $35-$98. 619-296-2101, whiskeyandfuego.com

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HThe Radvocate Launch and Reading at Glashaus, 1815-B Main St., Barrio Logan. San Diego-based literary magazine The Radvocate will launch its 14th issue, featuring readings by contributors Sara Morrison, Karl Sherlock, Anthony Martin, Dania Brett and Ryan Hicks.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. $5. sosayweallonline.com

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September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 HThe Color Theory at TheChurch, 2151 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. Spoken word showcases that aim to give voices to writers of color. Speakers include Manuel Paul Lopez, Hari Aluri, Lizz Huerta and over a dozen more. Takes place at 2186 Logan Ave. in Barrio Logan. From 7 to 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28. Free. thetravelersclubsd.com

POLITICS & COMMUNITY HPolitifest at Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area. A family-friendly civics festival with dozens of community booths and lively discussions about local public affairs. This year’s keynote speakers include Reihan Salam (editor of National Review) and DeRay Mckesson (civil rights activist and educator). From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Free-$40. 619594-5200, voiceofsandiego.org

SPECIAL EVENTS Zip Code Birthday Party and Fundraiser at various locations. Adams Avenue’s ZIP code birthday party and a fundraiser for locals injured in a Boy Scout caravan. Blind Lady Ale House, cucina SORELLA, Ponce’s Mexican Restaurant, and other neighborhood will donate a portion of their sales.

From 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21. facebook.com/events/1411951628834175 HRemember Me Thursday at various locations. Light a candle while others do the same across the world to honor the millions of pets who lost their lives without

18 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

the benefit of a loving home and shine a light on the millions of healthy pets who are still awaiting adoption. At sunset.

Thursday, Sept. 22. animalcenter.org HAdams Avenue Street Fair at Adams Avenue in Normal Heights. The 35th annual street fair will feature 90 artists performing on seven stages along Adams Avenue. Also includes three beer gardens, giant carnival rides and more than 300 exhibitors. From noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24 and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 25. Free. 619-708-3543, adamsavenuestreetfair.com HAIDS Walk & Run at Hillcrest, Fifth and University Avenues. Commemorate the 26th anniversary of AIDS Walk & Run San Diego and honor the community’s commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS and standing up for those impacted by the disease.

From 7 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 24.

Donation suggested. aidswalk.org Art & Craft Show Old Town at Old Town San Diego along San Diego Ave. Over 100 contemporary artists will exhibit paintings, crafts, quilts, sculptures, ceramics, furniture, and jewelry. There will also be flavors from over a dozen local restaurants and samples of the finest wines and tequilas. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24 and Sunday, Sept. 25. Free. oldtownartfestival.org HSaltDog Classic at Torrey Pines State Park, 12600 North Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla. The festival will feature local bands, beach games, food, and an amateur kayak surfing contest. Proceeds benefit Operation AMPED, who helps wounded veterans find health and happiness through Surf Therapy. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Free-$20 saltdogclassic.com Spring Valley Fiesta at Spring Valley Library, 836 Kempton St., Spring Valley.

The Fiesta will offer free entertainment and activities for all ages. There will be live music, a Ballet Folklorico competition, an art exhibition, laser tag, video games, henna tattoos, face painting, low rider cars, food vendors and much more. From 1 to 4 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 24. Free. sdcl.org HTour de Fat at Golden Hill Park, 2596 Golden Hill Drive, Golden Hill. This annual event includes a costumed bike parade, musical and vaudeville acts, and of course, beer drinking. The aim is to inspire festival goers to use bikes as a mode of transportation. Proceeds benefit local bike orgs. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Free. newbelgium.com FACE Foundation 5K Doggie Dash at Road Runner Sports, 5553 Copley Drive, Clairemont. Charitable run where proceeds benefit local pets in need of life-saving veterinary care. From 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. $30. roadrunnersports.fundly.com/doggie-dash-5k HSDAI Annual Benefit at Writerz Blok, 5010 Market St., Lincoln Park. The benefit for the San Diego Art Institute will feature a four-course dinner, live art, silent auctions, and musical guest Cumbia Machin.

From 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. $75. sandiego-art.org

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS The Uses of Photography Discussion at MCASD - La Jolla, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. The opening night of The Uses of Photography exhibition includes artists Eleanor Antin, Fred Lonidier and Martha Rosler on a panel that will discuss local art, life, and politics in the 1970s. From 6 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Free-$10.

858-454-3541, mcasd.orgl

#SDCityBeat

THEATER JIM CARMODY

Raymond J. Lee and Jackie Chung in Tiger Style

Tiger Style! roars, then mews

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ith its DJ mixing transitions between scenes and its two young protagonists riffing at warp speed about cultural stereotyping, over-parenting and the plain fact that sometimes things suck, playwright Mike Lew’s Tiger Style! at La Jolla Playhouse works overtime at being hip and relevant. It succeeds in Act 1, even though too often the diatribes delivered by costars Jackie Chung and Raymond J. Lee sound as if they’re coming right off the page of Lew’s sharpened script and not from any semblance to reality. This can be funny, however, as when the exasperated brother and sister Jennifer and Albert decide to go “Western”: she resists analysis in a shrink’s office; he goes rogue at his office.

Then reality goes out the window completely in Act 2, when Jennifer and Albert go “Eastern” instead, as in go to China. The antics there, variously involving a cookie-cutter general and broad humor about government surveillance and confinement in a Chinese prison, take Tiger Style! into the unwelcome territory of parody. The abrasiveness of Lew’s “heroes” doesn’t help, either. Their moment of self-awareness at the end feels, shall we say, less than sincere.

Tiger Style runs through Oct. 2 at La Jolla Playhouse. $20-$59; lajollaplayhouse.org *** he siblings of Jiehae Park’s Peerless, which opens Moxie Theatre’s 12th season, are just as self-absorbed as those in Tiger Style!, but they’re younger and nastier. What appears to have been written about the cutthroat nature of the (exclusive) college application process is also a not-at-all-loosely-veiled take on Macbeth. Dana Wing Lau is M and Jyl Kaneshiro her twin sister L (uh, get it?), who in a frantically paced 70 minutes de-

T

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cide to do away with a nut-allergic nerd (Justin Lang). Why? He’s got the coveted acceptance spot into that exclusive college that M feels should have been hers.

In an equally frantic nod to the witches (aka weird sisters) of Macbeth, Jennifer Eve Thorn in Stevie Nicks fright wig appears and reappears, gesticulating and dropping omens.

If you accept Peerless as dark silliness, it’s an entertaining enough one-act.

Stow the commentary and the literary allusions in your dog-eared college textbooks.

Peerless runs through Oct. 9 at Moxie Theatre in Rolando. $30. moxietheatre. com

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: Amelia Lives and The Last Flapper: Two plays about historical women Amelia Earhart and Zelda Fitzgerald. Part of the Women’s History Theatre Festival from the American History Theatre company, it opens for four performances Sept. 24 at the Women’s Museum of California in Point Loma. womensmuseumca.org The Sweetheart Deal: Set in 1970, this drama revolves around a middle class couple from San Jose who leave their regular lives behind to join the United Farmworkers Union. Presented by Amigos del Rep, it opens Sept. 27 at the Lyceum Space in the Gaslamp. sdrep.org Seven Guitars: Set in ’40s Pittsburgh, this comical mystery centers on a blues guitarist who dies just as his career is about to take off. Written by August Wilson and presented by Cygnet Theatre, it opens Sept. 28 at the Old Town Theatre. cygnettheatre.com

For full theater listings, visit “Theater”at sdcitybeat.com.

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

20 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

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CULTURE | ART

ADOLFO GUZMAN LOPEZ

Luis Stand in front of 740 circa 1997

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HERE’S AN OPEN LOT on the west side of the 700 block of 16th Street in downtown San Diego. It’s a part of Maker’s Quarter called SILO, which hosts events and shows. For about 15 years, though, starting in the early 1990s, a two-story, dilapidated building that stood there pulsated as a vibrant artist loft that housed a handful of artists who, along with a constellation of some of the city’s most creative people, organized exhibits, performances, dinner parties and all-night drunken salsa music revelries.

The loft and everything that happened inside it was known by the number on the door: 740.

Luis Stand, the Colombian-born, New York City-trained artist at the center of the 740 complex, died of complications from liver disease on August 30 at his home in Spring Valley. He was 66-years-old.

I met Luis in November 1993. I’d organized a poetry reading three blocks up the street at Café Chabalaba on 10th Avenue and C Street. The coffee house was another bright light in the downtown art scene. It hosted bands with big amps and loud guitars played by teenage fingers. A Stevie Ray Vaughn mural covered the entire C Street side of the storefront. At one particular poetry reading, in strolled two

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trench coat wearing, beret-topped figures: Luis Stand and James Watts. Little did I know, less than a year after graduating UC San Diego with a BA, that Stand would become the provost to my informal MFA at the school of 740 16th Street.

With an art degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City about 13 years before, Stand rode the booming New York art market. He befriended Keith Haring at the school and, through Haring, became friends with graffiti artists Futura2000 and Kenny Scharf. That’s around the time that the art market tanked. So in 1990 he moved to San Diego to enroll in the MFA program at UCSD. “He was not from around here,” said painter and sculptor James Watts. “He was larger than life at the moment I met him.

He was from New York, Colombia, and he had all the stories, and then he was an artist getting his masters at UCSD.” Stand was the mentor the National City-raised Watts was looking for.

Watts moved into 740 in 1991 when he answered a classified ad that read “artist loft, $300/mo.” Stand moved in two years later. The painter and sculptor Mario Lopez moved in around that time, as well as Cristina Rivera, the owner of Chabalaba.

Brazilian-New York painter Augusto San-

droni, a friend of Watts, was an important part of 740, as was theater director Juan Pazos and the members of the group I cofounded, the Taco Shop Poets.

Downtown was crawling with artists and independent spaces back then. Sushi performance gallery had been around since 1980. Installation Gallery took residence in the basement of an old church nearby. The Museum of Contemporary Art dove into the downtown mix when it opened up a space near the old central library. The artist collective Border Arts Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo had been active out of the Centro Cultural de la Raza since 1984 and was showing nationally. The first inSite exhibits of 1992, 1994, and 1997 put San Diego and Tijuana on the international art map.

The old Carnation milk bottling plant that was partially razed for the Petco Park development housed several artists and groups. The most active was the El Campo Ruse performance space, which held events opposing the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego.

But what really set 740 apart was the collaborative nature of living together, talking about art, seeing each other’s work daily and opening up the space to others.

Luis Stand set the tone.

“We made something, and he helped us define it. He helped us find the words and definitions to what we were making. We were just making stuff,” Watts said.

The art and performances at 740 were driven by the collective ideas rather than the ability to sell the art or make a profit from entry fees for performances.

740’s first collaborative show in 1994 was called A Night of Unspeakable Acts, and was a seven-part monster that included dance, bands, performances and a spoken-word performance by yours truly. The art was by Lopez, Martinez, Sandroni, Stand and Watts.

“It was a unique moment,” said Museum of Contemporary Art-San Diego CEO Hugh Davies. “Now we have Bread and Salt which is near Chicano Park, and there are a number of pop up galleries and galleries that are there. There are some studio buildings, but my sense is that that it’s not

wholesale collaborations of artists living and working together, and having a very strong aesthetic and political point of view.

I think that 740 and other enclaves of that nature really accelerated the quality and the pace of the art that was being made because there was instant feedback.”

I grew up in Tijuana and San Diego, the product—for better and for worse—of both cities’ public institutions. Some of my poetry—from when I was with the 740 crew and organizing readings with the Taco Shop Poets—attempted to make sense of the wholesale changes I saw from the San Diego of the ’70s to the San Diego of the ’90s. Basically, seeing the last vestiges of downtown glamour in the Christmas window of the Walker Scott Company on Broadway to that building’s decay—along with other parts of downtown—to its recent gentrification.

That work prompted me to organize a reading in 2013 on 16th Street with some of the former Taco Shop Poets and Watts, to remember 740, El Campo Ruse, Café Chabalaba and all the artists, writers and patrons who passed through the doors.

“You remember in order to inspire,” former Taco Shop Poet Tomas Riley said, as he was looking at the empty lot that used to be El Campo Ruse. He went on to say that 16th Street’s collaborative environment and DIY mentality was essential to his artistic development. Riley is now the executive director of CounterPulse, a 31-year-old arts organization in San Francisco that organized a $6.3 million capital campaign to move into a renovated venue.

“I don’t see impossibility in any scenario,” Riley said. “Some people might have looked at the project and said, ‘That’s impossible. How are you going to turn a former porn house into an arts venue, and I said, ‘We did it at 740.’”

In order to remember and inspire current San Diego artists and writers, former Taco Shop Poet Adrian Arancibia is working with the artists involved with 740 to collect as much documentation of the visual arts created there and the performances.

A memorial for Stand will be held next month.

ADOLFO GUZMAN LOPEZ

Luis Stand in 2013

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

22 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

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CULTURE | ART COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS

SEEN LOCAL DATING GAMES

O

mar Lopex isn’t a nostalgic person.

Sure, the self-described “analogue person” has worked in everything from tintype metal plate photography to Super 8 film, yet he insists his new video project isn’t a tribute to a bygone era.

“Whenever I read people’s artistic statements these days, it always starts with something like, ‘In an age of digital…’” says Lopex, laughing while he imitates a movie trailer voiceover. “I guess when everything’s digital, you have to make it into some kind of gripe.

Like the guy at the party who’s talking about feminism so he can get laid.”

With help from Noè Olivas, Lopex is working on a new video project that explores the world of video dating that was popular in the ’80s and ’90s. Lopex became interested in the antiquated medium after seeing a YouTube compilation of some of the more, well, unintentionally humorous dating profiles. While most people might see the profiles and cringe at the awkwardness, Lopex sees something different entirely.

“I just think there’s something vulnerable about it,” he says. “We’re looking at it 30 years later thinking, ‘Oh, what a bunch of losers. He looks like such a creep,’ but that aside, that’s a human who longs for love or just lusts for a body.”

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Omar Lopex (on the couch) and Noè Olivas (the truck) With that in mind, Lopex is staging a video dating recording event to coincide with his artist residency at the San Diego Art Institute’s Project Space inside Horton Plaza (sandiego-art.org).

Using Olivas’ vintage Chevy “Untitled Space” bread truck, which he has converted into a mobile art space, Lopex plans on recording Balboa Park visitors (the truck will be parked at the parking lot behind the Spreckels Organ Pavilion) on Thursday, Sept. 22, from noon to 9 p.m.

“We’ve been wanting to collaborate for a while,” says Olivas. “For me, it’s always interesting to see how artists use the truck space.”

Along with a chair and a video camera, the setup inside the truck will be fairly straightfor-

ward, with Lopex and Olivas draping pink fabric throughout. The resulting video will be playing outside the truck while Lopex interviews the subject inside with a set list of questions. Lopex plans on compiling the results for a long-running video piece that he’ll screen at the Horton Plaza show space on Sunday, Oct. 2, from 4 to 8 p.m.

He’s also quick to point out that participants don’t need to be single in order to participate.

“I just hope that there’s no incidents like the Pina Colada song,” says Lopex, referring to Rupert Holmes’ hit song from the ’70s. “I want couples to go, but I hope none of them see each other after and say, ‘You said what? You feel what?’”

—Seth Combs

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

CULTURE | FILM

Inglorious bastards

The Magnificent Seven

Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington dumb down a classic Western

by Glenn Heath Jr.

A

s Westerns go, usually it’s the villains who enjoy pare for Bogue’s advance on Rose Creek, Chisolm killing people. That’s not the case in the latest and company attempt to train the local farmers incarnation of The Magnificent Seven, which on how to kill effectively. The sequence provides seems to take pleasure in depicting gruesome murders enough folly for a slapstick comedy, with the rural committed by its squad of frontier heroes. Directed by townspeople firing indiscriminately and getting gore-hound Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), the film lambasted for their incompetence and weakness. plays like a highlight reel of ways to die in the West “Man-up” or be permanently shamed.

Fuqua avoids delving into the characters back(didn’t Seth McFarlane already make this movie?).

Tomahawk to the chest, arrow to the neck and gunshot stories, except in one scene where Chisolm and old friend Robicheaux discuss the demons of Antietam to the temple are just a few of the tamer examples.

The year is 1879, and ex-Union soldier and bounty battlefield that still resonate. Even this one failed hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) has seen grasp at complexity is inevitably used to set up a his fair share of violence working the Nebraska terri- conventional redemptive plot twist that lets a genutories. So when a desperate young lass named Emma inely tormented man off the hook despite his past Cullen (Haley Bennett) offers him a bag full of cash to actions.

Fuqua is capable of giving his action heroes a level help reclaim her town of Rose Creek from brutal mining baron Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), he of psychological complexity (see Mark Walhberg’s framed sniper in Shooter). But hardly bats an eye. Whether the director doesn’t stop to that’s the script’s laziness or part and parcel with Fuqua’s THE MAGNIFICENT think about why each of his heroes has so much rage in overall indifference to cause SEVEN their eyes. and effect is anyone’s guess.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua Chisolm and Faraday Much of the first act finds end up harkening from the Chisolm filling out his roster Starring Denzel Washington, same psychotic family tree of roughneck protectors to Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke as Washington’s serial killassist. Naturally, it’s a diverse and Peter Sarsgaard ing vigilante in Fuqua’s The group: There’s wisecracking Rated PG-13 Equalizer. That’s abhorrent drunken gambler Josh Farracompany to keep. If their acday (Chris Pratt), traumatized tions are any indication, the Confederate sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Comanche heroes become indistinguishable from Bogue himstoic Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier), Mexican out- self, a capitalist demagogue who is a cross between law Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), Korean assassin John D. Rockefeller and Patrick Bateman.

The Magnificent Seven, opening Friday Sept. 23, Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), and the hulking trackcomes from very good stock—Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 er/scalp-hunter Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio).

Each man’s initial interest seems based on the masterpiece Seven Samurai set in feudal Japan inhaul (money and gold) they’d steal from the mining spired John Sturges’ Wild West re-appropriation in a outfit after securing victory. Their greed and selfish- 1960 remake starring Steve McQueen and Yul Brynness quickly takes second fiddle to the act of killing. ner. This makes Fuqua’s failure all the more damning.

When the smoke settles, bodies pave the streets In one gunfight, each of the manly lead characters competes to see how many henchmen they can kill. of Rose Creek. Ambiguity also enters a state of deBody counts don’t seem as important in the climac- composition. Fuqua may show a feigned interest in tic gun battle that pits Chisolm’s rag tag army of genre subversion—Chisolm’s surviving marauders misfits and farmers against nearly a hundred hired represent America’s most oppressed minorities. But killers. It may be carnage committed in the name that’s where the subtext ends. This tired old reboot of honor and justice, but in this case those are just only cares about getting the next kill shot. fancy words for sadism.

The film’s flippant attitude toward savagery Film reviews run weekly. doesn’t stop there. Pressed with little time to pre- Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com.

24 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

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September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

DERRICK SANTINI

MUSIC

Mekons N SOME PARALLEL UNIVERSE, Mekons are huge rock stars. They’re worshiped for their legacy as first-wave Brit punks and adored for spending four decades evolving into something else entirely. Their hodgepodge of influences, from the Sex Pistols and Balfa Brothers to George Jones and King Tubby, only add to their popularity, and the one-time Leeds-based socialist collective are both recognized and respected as transformative pioneers.

It’s a nice thought. One that the band’s shamefully small legion of fans and advocates know is far more deserved than their status as perpetual underdogs.

Widespread adulation, however, as well as its accompanying trappings, allows many artists to become complacent. And that is the one thing Mekons will never be.

In an age where most bands spend more time on their social media presence and identity branding than staying rigidly true to their core ideals, Mekons just keep thinking up quixotic ideas and acting on them.

So it makes perfect sense that the group’s latest release, Existentialism (out now on Bloodshot Records), is yet another exercise in pushing limits.

Recorded at a Brooklyn theater in real time last summer, an audience of 75 “mekoristers” got lyric sheets, directions from an actual conductor and were politely required to break through the fourth wall.

With the band not much more versed than the audience in the recently composed material, the initial goal was to see “just how spontaneous and immediate the thing could be,” says Mekons cofounder Jon Langford, in a phone interview with CityBeat from his home in Chicago.

“We never really thought of it as a live record,” he adds. “It was a recording session where the audience was forced to be part of the band. That was the initial premise. We wanted to make a record that completely discarded any need for modern production values. We just thought we’d try and make something that sounded quite barbaric.”

If held to today’s standards, the objective was definitely met.

But for anyone even remotely familiar with Mekons’ music, it’s just another charming and successful endeavor from a band that never seems to worry about much more than making sure to see things through.

“Does the world need another overly produced, heavily compressed Mekons studio album?” asks Langford. “I don’t think so. If you have a formula for how you approach each record, I think it makes it kind of lazy. And I really like the way this one sounds.”

26 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

Existentialism also comes with a 96page book of art and writing responding to each of the album’s 12 songs, along with a download of Mekonception, Barry Mill’s 30-minute surreal take on the politically infused recording session.

It also comes on the heels of Joe Angio’s 2014 documentary on the band, Revenge of the Mekons.

Angio tells the band’s story through both past and present members, as well as a wide-range of fans, from National Book Award-winning author Jonathan Franzen to filmmaker Mary Harron.

While Mekons knew the film was unlikely to be a merited watershed moment, Langford admits it has been a boon to the band.

“It’s been a very useful thing for us,” he says. “It’s something that both pleased and satisfied people who were interested in the band and provided an introduction for those who didn’t know anything about us. Joe did an incredible job because he actually finished it. He didn’t just run away screaming after dealing with us for that length of time.”

The film also seems to have prompted the group to recalibrate their desire to join forces creatively. Despite band members

being spread across the globe and not a cent coming from any kind of corporate backing, the Mekons have three—three!— tentative albums in the works for next year.

“If we had the air miles,” says Langford, “we could probably do a couple of them every year. But then it would become a formula and become crap. So we have to change it up. But at the moment there are three achievable, but slightly scary, projects on the horizon.”

One of them will celebrate the collective’s impending 40th anniversary, one will find them returning to a proper studio in Joshua Tree (“We have mechanisms in place to booby trap that process”), and one is still in the early planning stages.

But regardless of what ends up materializing, the indomitable ensemble is undeniably re-inspired. And for both old fans and new, that’s good news.

“There’s something in the water at the moment,” Langford says. “You just reach a point in your life where life takes you over.

You’re too busy with the things of having kids and earning money. It makes something like the Mekons a desirable thing to do, but just too hard to get to.

“And now, we’re suddenly entering this age where we’re like, ‘Fucking hell. If we don’t do it now, we’re never going to do it.’

There’s a lot of stuff on the agenda. And there’s a greater sense of urgency than we’ve ever had.”

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September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

MUSIC

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21

PLAN A: Still Corners, Dani Bell and the Tarantist @ The Casbah. Still Corners are an underrated synth-pop band from the UK, with a handful of sleeper albums well worth your time. Start with Creatures of an Hour, which sounds like a cross between an ’80s horror soundtrack and a vintage synth-pop album. BACKUP PLAN: Bibi Bourelly, PJ @ Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

Adams Avenue Street Fair is a must-attend event every year, not just because it’s free and open to all ages, but because it brings together much of the city’s best talent for one weekend-long celebration. Day one is pretty stacked, so get there early and get comfortable. PLAN B: Bloc Party @ Observatory North Park. Bloc Party’s disappointed me before, but at the end of the day they’re still the band that released “Banquet” and “Helicopter,” which means this show will be worth seeing for those alone. BACKUP PLAN: Piebald, Limbeck, Facial @ Soda Bar.

PLAN A: And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Creepoid, Culture Abuse @ Soda Bar. And SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have PLAN A: Mekons, Sunfoot, Sam Coomes, gone into different musical direcM. Goner @ A Ship in the Woods. tions over the years, but this tour Plan a daytrip for this one-of-awill find them revisiting their kind show at Escondido art best album, 2002’s Source collective A Ship in the Tags and Codes. It’s a Woods, featuring postpowerful and hardpunk legends Mekons. rocking piece of muRead Scott McDonsic, and these songs ald’s feature this slay live. PLAN week on the band, B: Trombone who have been Shorty and Ormaking great muleans Avenue, sic for nearly 40 Sharon Jones years. PLAN B: and the DapAdams Avenue Kings @ HumStreet Fair w/ phreys by the Sebadoh, The Bay. Trombone Beat Farmers Shorty is enterwith Dave Alvin, taining, certainly, HEXA, Big Bloom. but I’m recommendInstead of a lazy Suning this for Sharon day, have one full of live Jones, who continues music with the second to bring a powerful soul day of the Adams Avenue revue to audiences even after Street Fair. This one features undergoing cancer treatment. headliners Sebadoh and The Beat S till C o r n e rs She’s an R&B hero. BACKUP PLAN: Farmers (featuring Dave Alvin), which Federale, Bit Maps @ The Casbah. is enough of a reason to put pants on and go outside.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23

PLAN A: Alice Bag Band, The Loons, Madly @ The Casbah. Alice Bag first made a name for herself in the late ’70s fronting L.A. punk band The Bags, and she’s still releasing new music with that same punk spirit and knack for melody. She’s the real deal. PLAN B: Peter Case @ Whistle Stop.

Even if you don’t know Peter Case’s name, you probably know his music. He was a member of The Nerves and The Plimsouls, and he’s playing an intimate solo show in one of my favorite neighborhood bars. BACKUP PLAN: Goatwhore, Ruines ov Abaddon, Orphic Eye @ The Merrow.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

PLAN A: Adams Avenue Street Fair w/ Mrs. Magician, Bakkuda, The Bassics, Juice Box. The

28 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26

PLAN A: Squeeze, Look Park @ Belly Up Tavern. British new wave legends Squeeze have so many classic songs (“Pulling Mussels from a Shell,” “Take Me I’m Yours,” “Tempted”) that this one’s a pretty easy decision. Sing along if you like—everybody else will be. BACKUP PLAN: Molotov @ Observatory North Park.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

PLAN A: Sloan, Gateway Drugs @ The Casbah.

Sloan are the best power pop band to come out of Halifax. They might be the only one for all I know, but regardless, they’ve been making hook-laden rock songs for more than 20 years, and this show should prove how deep that catalog goes.

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MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Poncho Sanchez (BUT, 10/16), Wild Nothing (Music Box, 10/21), Violent Femmes (Observatory North Park, 10/23), Jackson Browne (Balboa Theatre, 10/24), Buzzov-en (Brick by Brick, 10/31), The Adicts (Observatory North Park, 11/1), Elephant Stone (Hideout, 11/2), Death Grips (Observatory North Park, 11/9), HEALTH (Music Box, 11/11), Car Seat Headrest (Irenic, 11/12), Gogol Bordello (Observatory North Park, 11/19), Kool Keith (HOB, 11/27), Seu Jorge (Balboa Theatre, 11/30), Terry Malts (Hideout, 12/2), Pylon Reenactment Society (Hideout, 12/10), Hideout (Soda Bar, 12/23), Steve Poltz (BUT, 2/24-25), Super Diamond (BUT, 3/24-25).

CANCELED The Clean (Hideout, 10/5), Elle King (HOB, 10/17).

GET YER TICKETS Frankie Cosmos (Irenic, 9/29), Okkervil River (BUT, 10/1), Modern Baseball (Irenic, 10/2), Pete Yorn (BUT, 10/4), The Clean (The Hideout, 10/5), Sia, Miguel (Viejas Arena, 10/5), SURVIVE (Soda Bar, 10/5), Failure (Music Box, 10/6), Wynton Marsalis (Balboa Theatre, 10/6), Kamasi Washington (Humphreys, 10/7), Florida Georgia

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Line (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 10/9), Colbie Caillat (Humphreys, 10/12), Legendary Pink Dots (Soda Bar, 10/13), Danny Brown (Observatory, 10/14), The 1975 (Open Air Theatre, 10/15), Prophets of Rage (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 10/16), Yellowcard (HOB, 10/16), The Julie Ruin (Music Box, 10/16), Jethro Tull (Balboa Theatre, 10/17), Quantic (Music Box, 10/18), The Faint, Gang of Four (Observatory, 10/18), Screaming Females (Soda Bar, 10/18), Alessia Cara (Copley Symphony Hall, 10/18), Tricky (BUT, 10/21), Ziggy Marley (BUT, 10/2425), Preoccupations (Irenic, 10/26), Kongos, Joy Formidable (Music Box, 10/26), Damien Jurado (Irenic, 10/27), Dillinger Escape Plan (Brick

by Brick, 10/28), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Death from Above 1979 (HOB, 10/28), M83 (SOMA, 10/29), Suicide Machines (Irenic, 10/29), Psychedelic Furs (BUT, 10/30), Andra Day (Humphreys, 11/2), Tory Lanez (Observatory, 11/3), Tony Bennett (Harrahs, 11/4), Diamond Head (Brick

by Brick, 11/5), Daughters (Soda Bar, 11/6), Bush (Observatory, 11/8), Protomartyr (Soda Bar, 11/9), Diarrhea Planet (Soda Bar, 11/11), Sleigh Bells (Observatory, 11/11), Slightly Stoopid (Observatory North Park, 11/12), SubRosa (Soda Bar, 11/12), Lupe Fiasco (HOB, 11/14), Rae Sremmurd (Observatory, 11/16), Trash Talk, Antwon (Soda Bar, 11/18), Neko Case (Poway OnStage, 11/19), Warpaint (Observatory, 11/22), Red Fang (Casbah, 11/22), Hirie (Music Box, 11/25), Porter Robinson, Madeon (Valley View Casino Center, 11/29), Daughter (Observatory, 12/1), Besnard Lakes (Soda Bar, 12/1), Helmet (Casbah, 12/2), Two Door Cinema Club (Harrah’s

Resort, 12/3), Amy Schumer (Valley View Casino Center, 12/3), The Album Leaf (Irenic, 12/9), Pere Ubu (Casbah, 12/10), Henry Rollins (Observatory, 12/27), Mannheim Steamroller (Civic Theatre, 12/28), Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven (Music Box, 12/29), Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot (BUT, 12/30), Brian Setzer Orchestra (BUT, 12/31), The Devil Makes Three (Observatory, 1/4-5), Blind Boys of Alabama (BUT, 1/29).

SEPTEMBER WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21 Leon Bridges at Humphreys (sold out).

Cold War Kids at Observatory North Park. Lindsey Stirling at Copley Symphony Hall. Still Corners at The Casbah.

Mick Fleetwood Blues Band at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 22 …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead at Soda Bar. Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue at Humphreys by the Bay. The Naked and Famous at Observatory North Park. Squeeze at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Grupo Fantasma at Music Box. Thirdstory at House of Blues (sold out). Oni at Brick by Brick.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 23 Alice Bag Band at The Casbah. Sigur Ros at Copley Symphony Hall (sold out).

Goatwhore at The Merrow. Atmosphere at Observatory North Park (sold out). Air Supply at Humphreys by the Bay. WAR at Belly Up Tavern. Twin Peaks at The Irenic. Ash at Soda Bar. Audiotopsy at Brick by Brick.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 24 Crystal Bowersox at Poway OnStage.

Piebald at Soda Bar. A Tribe Called Red at The Hideout. Band of Skulls at Belly Up Tavern. Skatalites at The Casbah.

Adam Green at Blonde. Keith Sweat at California Center for the Arts. The Dread Crew of Oddwood at The Merrow.

OCTOBER SATURDAY, OCT. 1

SUNDAY, SEPT. 25 Tegan and Sara at Observatory North Park. Delta Rae at Music Box. O.A.R. at Humphreys by the Bay. Metal Church at Brick by Brick.

MONDAY, SEPT. 26 Molotov at Observatory North Park. The Specials at House of Blues (sold out).

TUESDAY, SEPT. 27 DJ Shadow at House of Blues. Sloan at The Casbah. Dolly Parton at Valley View Casino Center.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28 Glen Hansard at Observatory North Park. Cymbals Eat Guitars at Soda Bar. Fruit Bats at The Hideout. Mary Chapin Carpenter at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

King at The Casbah. Aaron Lewis at Humphreys by the Bay. Bear Hands at Music Box.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 29

Jim Jefferies at Humphreys by the Bay. Okkervil River at Belly Up Tavern. El Ten Eleven at Music Box. Phantogram at Observatory North Park (sold out).

Steve Gunn at Soda Bar. CRSSD Festival w/ Miike Snow, Zhu, Cashmere Cat at Waterfront Park.

SUNDAY, OCT. 2 Alice in Chains at Copley Symphony Hall. KT Tunstall at House of Blues. The Quebe Sisters at California Center for the Arts. Echo and the Bunnymen at Humphreys by the Bay. Blind Guardian at Observatory North Park. Ani DiFranco at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). CRSSD Festival w/ Miike Snow, Zhu, Cashmere Cat at Waterfront Park. Modern Baseball at The Irenic.

MONDAY, OCT. 3 Cyndi Lauper at Humphreys by the Bay. Cosmonauts at The Hideout. Clint Westwood at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, OCT. 4

Thievery Corporation at Belly Up Tavern. Well Well Well at Soda Bar. Frankie Cosmos at The Irenic. The Four Tops, The Temptations at Humphreys by the Bay (sold out).

FRIDAY, SEPT. 30 Soul Rebels Sound System with Talib Kweli at Belly Up Tavern. Paula Poundstone at Humphreys by the By.

Kris Kristofferson at Balboa Theatre.

Pete Yorn at Belly Up Tavern. ZZ Top at Humphreys by the Bay (sold out).

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 5 Sia at Viejas Arena. SURVIVE at Soda Bar. Todo Mundo at California Center for the Arts.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29 THURSDAY, OCT. 6 Failure at Music Box. Herman’s Hermits with Peter Noone at Humphreys by the Bay. Wynton Marsalis at Balboa Theatre. Mumford & Sons at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.

FRIDAY, OCT. 7 Kamasi Washington at Humphreys by the Bay. Omara Portuondo at Balboa Theatre. Grim Reaper at Brick by Brick. Jesse James Decker at House of Blues. BFSB at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, OCT. 8 La Sera at The Hideout. Bogan Via at House of Blues. Giraffage at Observatory North Park.

SUNDAY, OCT. 9 Kula Shaker at Belly Up Tavern. Felice Brothers at The Casbah. Tears for Fears at Humphreys by the Bay (sold out). Clint Black at Poway OnStage.

Florida Georgia Line at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.

MONDAY, OCT. 10 Skeletonwitch at Brick by Brick. Donella Drive at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, OCT. 11 Steve Vai at House of Blues.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 12 Colbie Caillat at Humphreys by the Bay. Halestorm at House of Blues. Lowlands at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, OCT. 13 Legendary Pink Dots at Soda Bar. RJD2 at Observatory North Park.

MOTHXR at House of Blues Voodoo Room. Killswitch Engage at House of Blues.

FRIDAY, OCT. 14 Beartooth at House of Blues. Danny Brown at Observatory North Park. Foreigner at Harrahs Resort (sold out). The Helio Sequence at The Hideout. Ryley Walker at Soda Bar. Goblin Cock at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, OCT. 15 Schoolboy Q at Observatory North Park (sold out). The 1975 at Open Air Theatre.

Stryper at House of Blues. Tobacco at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, OCT. 16 Prophets of Rage at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Yellowcard at House of Blues.

The Julie Ruin at Music Box. Flock of Dimes at Soda Bar. The Temper Trap at Observatory North Park. Poncho Sanchez at Belly Up Tavern.

MONDAY, OCT. 17 Jethro Tull at Balboa Theatre (sold out).

Yawpers at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, OCT. 18 The Faint, Gang of Four at Observatory North Park. Quantic at Music Box. Screaming Females at Soda Bar. Alessia Cara at Copley Symphony Hall.

Brujeria at Brick by Brick. Young the Giant at House of Blues. Demilich at The Merrow.

30 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 19 Young the Giant at House of Blues.

Holy White Hounds at The Casbah.

Willie Nelson at Humphreys by the Bay (sold out).

THURSDAY, OCT. 20 Tracy Morgan at Humphreys by the Bay. Vapors of Morphine at The Casbah.

FRIDAY, OCT. 21 Majid Jordan at Observatory North Park.

Kero Kero Bonito at House of Blues.

The Dear Hunter at The Irenic. Felipe Esparza at Humphreys by the Bay. Gorguts at Brick by Brick. Wild Nothing at Music Box.

SATURDAY, OCT. 22 Saint Vitus at Brick by Brick. Niykee Heaton at Observatory North Park. Capitol Steps at Poway OnStage. Wild Child at Belly Up Tavern. Lemaitre at Music Box.

SUNDAY, OCT. 23 D.R.I. at Soda Bar. Violent Femmes at Observatory North Park.

MONDAY, OCT. 24 Yuna at Music Box. Ziggy Marley at Belly Up Tavern. Jackson Browne at Balboa Theatre.

TUESDAY, OCT. 25 Ziggy Marley at Belly Up Tavern. Parkway Drive at House of Blues.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

SPOTLIGHT Dolly Parton is a national treasure. The Nashville legend has more than 50 years of playing music under her belt, and too many classic songs to name, ranging from “Jolene” to “9 to 5.” If you’re the type who says “I like every type of music except country,” then Dolly might convince you otherwise. She plays at Valley View Casino Center on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

—Jeff Terich

#SDCityBeat

MUSIC

rCLUBSr

Downtown. Wed: Ride the Mule. Thu: Night Skool. Fri: Good Times. Sat: ‘Rock Star Saturday’. Tue: ‘50s/60s Dance Party.

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., San Diego. Pacific Beach. Wed: White Label Analog. Fri: CitySide, Casey Turner. Sat: Spiritual Rez, Upfull Rising. Tue: Random Article.

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. City Heights. Wed: SEE ART. Fri: Rudy De Anda, Golden Drugs, Splavender, The Bad Vibes. Sat: A Tribe Called Red. Mon: Dick Stusso.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., San Diego. Downtown. Thu: Nick Thune. Fri: Nick Thune. Sat: Nick Thune.

Sun: Cody Hustak.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., San Diego. Downtown. Wed: The Spill Canvas, The New Addiction. Thu: Thirdstory, Lolo.

Sat: Nothing But Thieves, Civil Twilight, The Wrecks. Mon: The Specials, The Far East (sold out). Tue: Robin Henkel, DJ Shadow.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Rd., Spring Valley. Spring Valley. Thu: Obsidian, City of the Weak, Scarlet Canary, Sleepless Under the Earth. Sat: Lucky Beltran, Midnight Track, Guttersnipe Rebellion. Sun: Matt Danger, Alex Kirk Amen, Afraid of My Neighbor.

Humphrey’s Backstage Live, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, San Diego. Point Loma. Wed: Stellita. Thu: R:Tyme. Fri:

Pop Vinyl. Sat: Detroit Underground, Y3K. Sun: T. Fox, Stellita. Tue: Mercedes Moore.

The Irenic, 3090 Polk Ave., San Diego.

North Park. Wed: Futuristic, BEEZ, J. Rob The Chief, Shy Grey. Thu: Foy Vance, Trevor Sensor. Fri: Twin Peaks, White Reaper, Modern Vices.

Java Joe’s Normal Heights, 3536 Adams Ave., San Diego. Normal Heights.

Thu: Tom Brosseau, Gregory Page. Fri: M.E. Law. Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., San Diego. Midtown. Wed: ‘Family Beatdown’ w/ Gypsy Mamba, Syntax, Deguzee, Ghost Traps. Thu: Bag of Tricks Tour. Fri: Fire Conclave, Seria Star. Sat: ‘Black and Gold Ball’. Sun: Psilo. Tue: ‘High Tech Tuesday’.

The Kraken, 2531 S. Coast Highway 101, Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Wed: Flipside Burners. Thu: Hot Gin. Fri: Rock Garden. Sat: Toga Party, The Ride. Sun: Rock Whiskey. Tue: Kasey Coe and the Cohorts.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave., San Diego. Kensington. Sat: Revolt-Chix, Systematic Abuse, The Sculpins, Dum Cumpsters.

Lestat’s West , 3341 Adams Ave., San Diego. Normal Heights. Wed: Elessar Thiessen. Thu: S Love, Jon-A, Drea.

The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. La Jolla. Sat: Felly. Mon: Flor.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wed: Jackson and Jesus.

Thu: Ron’s Trio. Fri: Flipside Burners.

Sat: Pat Ellis & Blue Frog Band.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., San Diego. Hillcrest. Fri: Goatwhore, Ruines Ov Abaddon, Orphic Eye. Sat: The Macananys, The Nards.

Moonshine Flats, 344 7th Ave., San Diego. Gaslamp. Fri: Chris Weaver Band.

Sat: The Brodie Stewart Band.

Mr. Peabody’s Encinitas, 136 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. Thu: Cougar Canyon Band. Fri: Custard Pie. Sat: Kova, Semisi and Fula Bula. Sun: Anthony Ortega Jazz.

Music Box, 1337 India St., San Diego.

Little Italy. Thu: Grupo Fantasma. Fri: La Septima Banda. Sat: Sergeant Pepper, Allan Kingpin, Roots Covenant. Sun: Delta Rae. Mon: Jenny and the Mexicats.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., San Diego. North Park. Thu: Arkivist. Fri: ‘80s vs. 90s’. Sat: Geezer plays ‘Pinkerton’. Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’. Mon: Tori Roze and the Hot Mess.

Tue: DJ Marshall Islands.

Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Thu: Stupefyin Jones. Fri: Dave Gleason Trio. Sat: Slower. Sun: Kayla Hope.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. Thu: Squeeze, Look Park (sold out). Fri: WAR, Karlos Paez Trio. Sat: Band of Skulls, Mothers. Mon: Squeeze.

Tue: Highly Suspect.

Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave., San Diego. City Heights. Sat: City Heights Hayride.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington Street, San Diego. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’ w/ DJs Memo + Rex, Coco. Thu: ‘The Redwoods Social’. Sat: The Weeks, Cold Fronts.

Sun: ‘2pac Anniversary Tribute’ w/ DJs Greyboy, Dimitri, Tramlife. Tue: ‘Into the Night’ w/ DJs Saul Q, Buba, Daniel T. Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave., Carlsbad.

Thu: Heather Nation. Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave., San Diego.

Hillcrest. Fri: ‘Hip Hop Fridayz’. Sat: ‘Sabado en Fuego’ w/ DJs XP, KA, K-Swift.

Mon: ‘Manic Monday’ w/ DJ Junior the Disco Punk.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., San Diego. Bay Park. Thu: Oni, Daemos. Fri: Audiotopsy, Sight Unscene, Big Goat. Sat: Tengger Cavalry, Incite, Old Man Wizard.

Sun: Metal Church. Mon: Madball, Take Offense, World of Pain, Take Em Out. Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave., San Diego.

Downtown. Sat: Flamenco Dinner Show.

Sun: Buena Vista Sundays.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., San Diego. Midtown. Wed: Still Corners. Thu: Federale, Bit Maps. Fri: Alice Bag Bang, The Loons, Madly. Sat: The Skatalites, Monkey. Sun: The Crookes, Zipper Club, Filthy Violets. Mon: Caveman, Cheerleader, Floodflower. Tue: Sloan, Gateway Drugs.

The Che Cafe, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla.

Fri: Precious, Common War, Hiding Plac, Waves+Billows. Sat: The 131ers, Missing Sibling, Cameron Royce, Wasted Days.

Chico Club, 7366 El Cajon Blvd, La Mesa.

Sat: Sickstring Outlaws.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. Fri: Josie Day Band. Sat: DJ Hurricane Andrew.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, San Diego. Mission Bay. Sun: Tootie Heath with Richard Sears Quintet.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown., San Diego.

Downtown. Thu: ‘Trill Thursday’. Fri: DJ Shadowman. Sat: DJ Vision.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave., San Diego. Downtown. Fri: DJ Amen. Sat: J Espinosa.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave., San Diego.

#SDCityBeat

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 31

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31 Nate’s Garden Grill, 3120 Euclid Ave., San Diego. City Heights. Sun: Tinkersmith.

Numbers, 3811 Park Blvd., San Diego.

Hillcrest. Thu: ‘Wet’. Fri: ‘Uncut’. Sat: ‘Club Sabbat’. Sun: R&B Divas.

The Office, 3936 30th St., San Diego.

North Park. Wed: Blink-182 tribute. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’ w/ DJs Adam Salter, Kid Wonder.

Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJs Kanye Asada, Gabe Vega. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ w/ Tribe of Kings. Mon: Joy Division/ New Order Under Cover. Tue: ‘Trapped’.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 6th Ave, San Diego. Thu: Le Youth. Fri: Tiesto. Sat: Eric Dlux.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Wed: Gilbert Castellanos. Thu: Cedrice and the Addictions. Fri: Miss Erika Davies. Sun: Dave Gleason.

Patricks Gaslamp, 428 F St., San Diego. Downtown. Wed: The Upshots.

Proud Mary’s @ The Ramada Hotel , 5550 Kearny Mesa Road, San Diego. Kearny Mesa. Wed: Blues Jam. Thu: Tomcat Courtney. Fri: Ladystar. Sat: Chickenbone Slim and the Biscuits.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., San Diego.

Hillcrest. Wed: DJ Kiki. Thu: DJ Kinky Loops. Fri: DJs John Joseph, Moody Rudy. Sat: DJs K-Swift, Roland Belmares.

Sun: DJ Hektik.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’ w/ Jason Hanna. Thu: Trevor McSpadden. Fri: Modern Day Moonshine. Sat: Imagery Machine.

Rosie O’Grady’s, 3402 Adams Ave., San Diego. Normal Heights. Fri: Baby Gow. Sat: Lexington Field.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. City Heights. Wed: Bibi Bourelly, PJ. Thu: And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Creepoid, Culture Abuse. Fri: Ash. Sat: Piebald, Limbeck, Facial. Mon: Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas, Tancred, Spero. Tue: AJ Froman, TV Icon, The Art Dealers.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., San Diego. Midway. Thu: The Descendents, LAW. Sat: Seconds Ago, Throne of Tyranny, Words from Aztecs, End of Flesh, Voidlines.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., San Diego. Midtown. Fri: Shamanic. Sat: ‘Pitch Black’.

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., San Diego. Normal Heights. Thu: King Taylor Project, Kevin Begin. Sun: Tim Mudd, Podunk Nowhere.

32 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

SPOTLIGHT UK artist Shura has emerged as a unique voice in British pop music. With a sound that’s somewhere between bright, synth-laden ’80s pop and contemporary R&B, she pairs big hooks with honest, smart songwriting. She’s opening for Tegan and Sara at Observatory North Park on Sunday, Sept. 25.

—Jeff Terich Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. City Heights. Wed: Fanny and the Attaboys, Lorraine Simpson and Paul Abner. Fri: Wyatt Blair, The Tic Tocs, Slowdraw the Hungry Eskimo, Anestesia. Sat: Jade Helm, Santa Ana Knights, Ninja Night Race. Mon: Corey and the Tribe.

The Tin Roof, 401 G Street, San Diego.

Gaslamp. Wed: Keep Your Soul. Thu: J Liberio. Fri: Keep Your Soul, Chad Lada Duo. Sat: Cassie B Project, Chad Lada Duo. Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St., San Diego.

Bay Park. Wed: Musical Benefit for Louisiana Flood Victims. Thu: The Cadillac Wreckers. Fri: Dennis Jones. Sat: Los Fabulocos, Sleepwalkers.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., San Diego. City Heights. Wed: Lorraine Simpson, Paul Abner, Fanny and the Atta Boys.

Fri: Steady 45s, 2000 Tons of TNT. Sat: Michael Beach, Meercaz, Octagrape.

Mon: Bossfight, Punchcard, Hardly Human.

Turquoise, 873 Turquoise St., San Diego. Pacific Beach. Wed: Tomcat Court-

ney. Thu: Fred Hardy. Fri: Gabby and Friends. Sat: Doug Trip, Tomcat Courtney, Salsa With Nicole. Sun: Sounds Like 4, Middle Earth belly dance show. Tue: Gypsy Caravan, Tomcat Courtney.

Ux31, 3112 University Ave., San Diego.

North Park. Wed: ‘Weekend Wednesday’ w/ DJ Bodyrawk. Fri: DJ Havoc. Sat: DJ Junior the Disco Punk. Sun: ‘Reggae SD’.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, San Diego.

South Park. Wed: Pale Dian, Nylon Apartments, Underpass DJs. Thu: Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings Afterparty w/ Recommended Dosage DJs. Fri: Peter Case, Keith Morris book signing, Peter Case Band. Sat: ‘Booty Bassment’ w/ DJs Dimitri, Rob. Sun: ‘Nick Cave Covers Night’.

Tue: ‘Videodrome’.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., San Diego.

Ocean Beach. Wed: Jah Mex & West Coast Roots, Dread Daze, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: Abstract Rude, Myka 9, Mystik, Journeymen, Marv Ellis, Atlantis Rizing, Seancy. Fri: John Kadlecik, Dark Star Orchestra . Sat: Monarch’s Chrysalis fall fundraiser for Youtopia. Sun: Electric Mud. Mon: Electric Waste Band.

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 33

LAST WORDS | ADVICE

AMY ALKON

ADVICE

GODDESS Loaf Actually I’m a 35-year-old woman, and my boyfriend of a year is 43. Sadly, my friends and family don’t like him. They think he’s “not good enough” for me.

Their argument: He doesn’t have a full-time job with benefits (like me), plus he smokes pot to relax; therefore, he is lazy and will live off me and my retirement money. (Sorry, but enjoying retirement alone isn’t my idea of a “secure future.”)

He has a part-time job he likes, makes enough to pay his bills in a (small) house he owns, and saves for things he wants. He is loving, has my back to an unreasonable degree, and says he’s pretty sure he used up all his luck getting me. Unfortunately, all minds are made up; there’s no explaining what a deeply good man he is. I feel awkward bringing him to gatherings or even mentioning him. The worst, though, is my nagging question: Could they be right?

to get your “man with mate value!” box checked.

What seems to matter is potential—that he is ambitious and has a reasonable shot at achieving what he’s going after.

Now, maybe you went for your sweet underachiever as a reaction to jerks in your recent past—or because it’s supposedly “shallow” to want a partner to be, say, at least a certain height or making some kind of mark in business. But, using the height example, if you really aren’t attracted to shorter guys, getting involved with one is basically benevolent cruelty. Sooner or later, your libido’s going to be all, “Okay, so you got drunk and went home with the garden gnome. But enough is enough.”

It is possible that you and Laid-Back Larry could live happily ever after. But ask yourself some questions: Where do you see yourself in five years?

Could you count on him to put down the bong and go make money if you got sick? Will your friends and family come to accept him, or will you end up unhappily isolated? And finally, do you want kids?

If so, consider that you can downscale your lifestyle but you can’t downscale your kid from needing dental care or hand him makeshift forceps to take the toy truck out of his nose.

Sure, this guy would probably be the ideal stay-at-home dad. But consider—in line with what Ellis explains— that a number of studies find that women married to a Mr. Mom often end up resenting and losing respect for him, and those marriages are more likely to end in divorce.

You probably need some time to figure all of this out.

Because people read the words in letters (instead of yelling over them), maybe write one to your family to ask them to be kind to him at family functions—for your sake. And finally, try not to be so dramatic about your options. You’re 35. The fertility train might be leaving the station pretty soon, but it’s not like this guy is your last chance before “Marriage is between a woman and her cat!” and “P.S. Snowball and I are registered at Bloomingdale’s and Petco.”

“

—Torn

There are people who chase their dreams, and there are those—like your boyfriend—who just chillax on the couch, smoking a doob, waiting for their dreams to be in the neighborhood and maybe knock on the door.

He does sound like a good man—which doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a good man to make a life with (which is why everybody’s campaigning for you to ditch him).

Maybe you’re thinking, “Okay, so he’s kind of a laidback dude. It’s 2016; can’t the woman be the breadwinner?” Well, yes…but his lack of drive is likely to be a problem—at least eventually.

Evolutionary developmental psychologist Bruce J. Ellis explains that there’s this notion by some social scientists—called the “structural powerlessness hypothesis”—that women only go for powerful men because they themselves lack power. This, Ellis writes, is “directly contradicted” by research—on feminist leaders, for example—that finds that “high-power women (want) super-powerful men.” They aren’t all, “Well, I make plenty of money; I think I’ll marry Hot Julio, the pool boy.”

As for why this is, Ellis explains (as I often do) that ancestral women who went for mover-andshaker men were more likely to have children who survived and passed on their genes. “Over evolutionary time,” he writes, “evaluative mechanisms” were built into female psychology to push women “to detect and prefer males” with a “willingness and ability” to provide for them and their children.

A guy doesn’t necessarily have to be rich for you

A guy doesn’t

necessarily have

to be rich for you

to get your “man

with mate value!”

“

box checked.

34 · San Diego CityBeat · September 21, 2016

(c)2016, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon, 171 Pier Ave, #280, Santa Monica, CA 90405, or e-mail AdviceAmy@aol. com (advicegoddess.com). Weekly radio show: blogtalkradio.com/amyalkon Order Amy Alkon’s book, “Good Manners For Nice People Who Sometimes Say The F-Word” (St. Martin’s Press, June 3, 2014).

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

September 21, 2016 · San Diego CityBeat · 35