San Diego CityBeat • Oct 1, 2014

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2 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

E ditor’s N ote

Feminism and the fight Of all the important words spoken by actor Emma Given my thinking that feminism shouldn’t be Watson in her speech on feminism to the United that complicated, I’ve been flabbergasted by some Nations on Sept. 20, the line that jumped out at me of the reaction to Watson’s address. The dumbest was this: “I decided that I was a feminist, and this response came from Andrea Peyser of the New York seemed uncomplicated to me.”

Post, which shouldn’t surprise me, considering that Watson was talking about how, when the reality she once called Christiane Amanpour a “CNN war of gender inequality finally solidified in her mind, slut.” Peyser believes that Watson was saying that it seemed simple enough. But when she began exshe wants equal rights for women but doesn’t beploring the issue more deeply as a UN goodwill amlieve women bear equal “responsibilities.” Watson bassador, she realized that it wasn’t that easy for the said no such thing. world at large.

Watson got it from the left, too. On MSNBC’s The For as long as I’ve been acquainted with the word Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, actor and xo“feminism,” I’ve considered myself a feminist. Like Jane contributor Pia Glenn on Monday essentially for Watson, this was never complicated for me. “For parroted parts of a column by xoJane’s Amy McCathe record, feminism by definition is the belief that rthy (without attribution, as I recall), complaining men and women should have equal rights and opporabout Watson’s “privilege,” her neglect of non-binatunities,” she said in her speech. “It is the theory of ry people and her concern for the feelings of men. political, economic and social equality of the sexes.”

Glenn completely missed the point of Watson’s That’s how I’ve always defined it, and anyone speech, particularly as it relates to men. It wasn’t to Georges Biard who believes that all people should be say, “Wait a minute—are the men OK? treated with equal respect is a feminist.

Do the men feel comfortable with what As someone who pays relatively I’m doing right now?” as Glenn mockclose attention to society as it grapples ingly put it. It was to enlist men and, with its evolving issues, gender equality more importantly, boys as soldiers in is never far from my mind, but I haven’t the battle for equality—the whole point spent a whole lot of time thinking about was to promote the “He for She” pubthe word “feminism” itself. If you’d lic-awareness campaign. asked me last week, I’d have probably I asked three women friends about told you that the idea that feminism is the word “feminism,” and two brought controversial was a tired, played-out up gender roles as they relate to famconcept. I don’t mean that I thought ily and relationships—that’s what gave gender inequality was fixed; I mean that them pause when asked if they considEmma Watson in 2013 I’d have assumed that, by now, equating ered themselves feminists. feminism with men-hating and hairy armpits had That opens a larger can o’ worms—although still become an idea relegated to the right-wing fringe. not a complicated can—but, for what it’s worth, I I guess I was wrong. “[M]y recent research has don’t think people who find value in maintaining shown me that ‘feminism’ has become an unpopusome traditional gender roles in their own families lar word,” Watson said. “Women are choosing not and relationships need to hesitate before identifying to identify as feminists. Apparently, I’m among the as feminists. The point is for women to have an equal ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too opportunity along with men (and non-binary people) strong, too aggressive, isolating and anti-men. Unto share in the power of decision-making—for themattractive, even.” selves, their partnerships, their families, their workThat view has been supported by plenty of folks places, their communities and their government. who’ve reacted to Watson’s speech. Famously, muAs a man who’s been in relationships with womsician Taylor Swift was until recently among celeben, who’s held power in the workplace and who rity women who decline to call themselves femicalls himself a feminist, I’ve always done my best nists; apparently, the issue, writes the Washington to walk the walk, and I hope I haven’t stumbled too Post’s Jessica Contrera, “is deeply complicated by many times. I’m sure I can do better, and I’ll take a seemingly large divide between the label of ‘femiWatson’s challenge to recommit to the fight. nism’ and the ideals that feminists say they repre—David Rolland sent.” Clearly, I don’t pay close-enough attention to What do you think? Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com. what celebrities think.

This issue of CityBeat turns rabid at the scent of honeycrisp apples and pumpkin spice.

Volume 13 • Issue 8

Our cover artist is Gabriela Escárcega (photo by Lynn Susholtz).

Read about the art on page 37.

Arts Editor Kinsee Morlan

Contributors Ian Cheesman, David L. Coddon, Seth Combs, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Nina Sachdev Hoffmann, Peter Holslin, Dave Maass, Scott McDonald, Jenny Montgomery, Susan Myrland, Mina Riazi, Jim Ruland, Ben Salmon, Jen Van Tieghem

Staff Writer Joshua Emerson Smith

Production Manager Tristan Whitehouse

Web Editor Ryan Bradford

Production artist Rees Withrow

Art director Lindsey Voltoline

Intern Narine Petrosyan

Columnists Aaryn Belfer, Edwin Decker, John R. Lamb, Alex Zaragoza

Vice President of Operations David Comden

MultiMedia Advertising Director Paulina Porter-Tapia

Publisher Kevin Hellman

Editor David Rolland Associate Editor Kelly Davis Music Editor Jeff Terich

Senior account executive Jason Noble Account Executives Beau Odom, Kimberly Wallace Circulation / Office Assistant Giovanna Tricoli Accounting Alysia Chavez, Linda Lam, Monica MacCree Human Resources Andrea Baker

Advertising inquiries Interested in advertising?

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

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

Vice President of Finance Michael Nagami

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 2014.

4 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

The Arts do it all I’m writing in response to the two-part series by Kinsee Morlan about the arts in our county [“Art & Culture,” Aug. 6 and 13]. I think our request is to show how the arts are not asking for a handout, or for another layer of administration, but instead a way to show the county how we can help it to reach its goals. We are asking the county to embrace the arts community and recognize that it’s an aid to economic growth and a better life for the entire region.

These are county Supervisor Dave Roberts’ stated priorities on his website, and we think by giving these examples, it helps to clarify more how the arts are an aid to the system.

• “To be an independent and honest representative, who restores government accountability and promotes job growth.”

Cultivating the arts creates job opportunities to aid economic development in the new economy.

• “To promote neighborhood preservation.” Creating vibrant art projects for neighborhoods builds pride through branding and arts districts in communities.

• “To strengthen fire protection.” Emergency prepardness programs for artists and Synergy Arts Foundation programs for artists affected by the fires.

• “To promote public safety.” Arts promote public safety by keeping a dangerous element off the streets by giving them

a purpose, creating after-school, healing arts and veterans programs.

• “To improve libraries and parks.” Arts programs in the public libraries throughout the district and public art in the parks are great enhancements to our community. Libraries are cultural centers in their communities that use the arts (visual, performing, literary, culinary, healing). The Encinitas and Carlsbad libraries are prime examples that use the arts to increase attendance for all ages and lifelong learning.

• “To protect our coastline and open space.” Arts tap into empathy with programs like Sea Changes: Act (part of the DNA of Creativity project) to draw attention to areas that need improvement.

• “To preserve and promote initiatives to sustain our environment.” Arts programming for environmental issues includes recycling, sustainable fishing, plastic pollution, etc.

• “To promote quality schools and opportunities for all to succeed.” Arts education is fundamental to prepare students of all ages for the challenges of an innovation-based economy.

The call to action, then, becomes a call for collaborations to be set up in all areas of the county to investigate what your part of the county needs and how the arts can fill those needs. These collaborative groups need to share information among and between themselves. Then, when the time comes in the near future, when new

or existing supervisors can open their minds, we will be ready.

Thank you to Kinsee Morlan for writing these articles and shining some light on a much-needed subject.

Patricia Frischer, San Diego Visual Arts Network, Cardiff by the Sea

Thoughts on minimum wage Regarding your Aug. 13 editorial on Kevin Faulconer and the minimum wage: 1. The global economy has people choosing to purchase outside of the country. You give these workers an increase, they will be purchasing products made in China (clothes, pet food, etc.). A solution to not giving a wage increase (protect small local business) is to give vouchers for them to make purchases from local businesses in San Diego that do not have franchises outside of county lines. The voucher would allow the local business to sell products free of any tax, and that discount is given to these people—likewise, the business is allowed to write these taxes off.

2. Raising wages will increase prices, forcing businesses to cut employee hours, so the net gain will be the same.

3. These unskilled workers now have to compete with robots and automation.

Jack in the Box has kiosks, many grocery

and big-box stores have self checkouts that used to be cashiers, toll booths are now unmanned, ATMs have replaced many tellers and so on.

Roger Leszczyski, Barrio Logan

Digi-snark Great column by Dave Maass about Max from Netflix [“No Life Offline,” Aug. 20], and the Venn diagram was a nice bonus. I also find myself gravitating to that snarky-ass Max, especially when I’m extra bored—when I’m to the point that I’m highly doubtful that any backlit device will appease me.

Sometimes I get frustrated enough with his silly banter and crappy suggestions that I yell back at him. That’s right, I make the conscious decision to outwardly verbally insult an innocent gaming system. The only other digi-friend (patent pending) that I have this type of lovehate-annoyed relationship with is Siri, really. If Max and Siri had a digi-love-child, I’m pretty confident that my head would explode from all the “input”!

Anyway, you got a laugh (and a letter) outta me with this topic! Keep up the great writing!

Minda McDorman, North Park

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

Joshua Emeron Smith

The ambulance service you have After loophole closed, city’s 911 provider readies to face report card

by Joshua Emerson Smith At about 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, a 66-year-old man living somewhere in the city of San Diego suffered a cardiac arrest.

During a 911 call, emergency medical staff reported hearing agonal respirations, an extremely serious condition that often precedes death.

The San Diego Fire Department’s first responder arrived within eight minutes, but the patient, needing transport to the nearest hospital, would have to wait 17 minutes and 33 seconds for an ambulance to show up.

This is one of roughly a dozen reports detailing incident response times from the last two months forwarded to CityBeat by concerned employees of Rural / Metro, the city’s private ambulance provider.

“We take it personal,” one paramedic said on the condition of anonymity. “And a lot of time, patients will tell you how long they’ve been waiting. They’re like, ‘What took you so long?’ It’s embarrassing.”

With the stakes so high, the city requires the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Rural / Metro to arrive within 12 minutes 90 percent of the time or face up to a $50,000 fine per quarter. While that means that as many as one in 10 patients could see longer waits, for years, it wasn’t a concern as Rural / Metro was credited with consistently meeting the standard around 97 percent of

6 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

the time.

“Rural / Metro has always met this requirement since beginning of the service in 1997,” spokesperson Michael Simonsen said. “There are times, due to unforeseen circumstances, that prevent the ambulance from achieving the most optimal response.

The system design is constructed to take these situations into account.”

As it turns out, San Diegans haven’t exactly been getting A-plus service.

Until July, thousands of calls were being exempted from response-time requirements. Under a now-removed contract stipulation known as “unusual system overload,” if 12 ambulances were already dispatched, additional ambulances wouldn’t be subject to response-time rules.

In the three months since the city nixed the loophole, Rural / Metro hasn’t significantly increased its staffing levels, according to company data. In July and August, it staffed slightly more ambulance hours compared with last year, but demand also increased at an equivalent rate.

The company added a half-time ambulance at the San Ysidro border crossing, an area of concern for city officials, but, otherwise, its fleet has remained the same. Rural / Metro staffs ambulances at 23 of the city’s 47 fire stations and an additional vehicle at the airport. The company also provides 14 part-time roving ambulances. At peak times, it will run anywhere from 23 to 36 ambulances.

There’s no reason to significantly increase staffing because the city has always received proper service, Simonsen said.

“Rural / Metro always managed the San Diego system as if the unusual-system-

numbers into the high 90s.”

There’s something else you won’t see.

Two categories for non-life-threatening calls, such as broken arms or hip fractures, will no longer be calculated individually or by zone. As part of the contract extension, calls that are urgent but not life-threatening, categorized as Level 3, and non-emergency 911 calls, categorized as Level 4, will be averaged together with Level 1 calls into one citywide category.

This averaging means that Rural / Metro’s response-time requirement for Level 3 or 4 calls could fall well below 90 percent, as long as the total average meets compliance.

While it wasn’t publically reported, EMS officials have confirmed that the May audit revealed that without the systembusy loophole, Rural / Metro also fell below a 90-percent response time for Level 3 calls. CityBeat has requested, under the state Public Records Act, the documents that would back that up, but the city has yet to respond.

As the city was softening rules for its ambulance provider, a report from the city’s Independent Budget Analyst raised concerns. With Level 1 calls making up about 86 percent of total volume, Rural / Metro will have a “substantial cushion” for meeting compliance in the citywide category, the report found. The IBA strongly recommended continuing to keep separate response-time data for individual categories.

Individual percentages for Levels 3 and 4 calls will not be part of the upcoming committee report, but that data will be available upon request, Ross said. The City Council “expressed an interest in having it available if they asked for it,” she said.

Concern surrounding Rural / Metro’s frequently changing contract terms has been met with reassurances by city officials that a new competitive-bidding process would result in a stronger contract and possibly a new ambulance provider.

In 2011, in the wake of allegations that Rural / Metro embezzled more than $17 million from the city, officials dramatically restructured the ambulance provider’s contract and prepared a request for proposals (RFP) from additional providers. However, former Mayor Jerry Sanders never released the RFP, and his successor, Bob Filner, put the process on hold to consider allowing a bid by the San Diego Fire Department.

Now, after more than two years of delays, the city’s competitive-bidding process for 911 ambulance service has hit another substantial roadblock.

In August, state officials declined to approve the RFP, arguing that the countyrun Emergency Medical Services Agency must be in charge of the process. With the backing of the city, the county recently appealed the decision, but no date has been set for a hearing.

City officials have said they believe the bidding process will be delayed by months, raising significant questions about what will happen when Rural / Metro’s contract expires at the end of June 2015.

overload exemption did not exist. Rural / Metro constantly monitors demand for service in the city and makes staffing adjustments as necessary based upon detailed analysis ensuring that we reach the patient as quickly as possible.”

In the run-up to a contract extension this past May, city officials conducted an extensive audit of the loophole’s impact on Rural / Metro’s performance numbers. Without the exemption, in the last three months of 2013, Rural / Metro fell slightly below 90percent compliance for Level 1 life-threatening calls in the city’s southern zone, with specific problems identified at the border.

In January, that number dropped to roughly 88 percent. The city’s other three zones came in between 90 and 93.5 percent.

In response to this data, Rural / Metro announced it would post a 12-hour ambulance at the border, a cost of about $313,788 for the vehicle—for which the city agreed to pony up $110,462.

For the first time since the company started 17 years ago, city Emergency Medical Services officials will present Rural / Metro’s response-time numbers without the system-overload exemption. A report detailing the company’s performance from July through September is expected at the City Council’s Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee meeting on Oct. 29.

“You’ll no longer see compliance above 97 [percent] like you did in the past,” said Alyssa Ross, program manager for the fire department’s Emergency Medical Services.

“You’ll see a decrease of five or more percentage points because they’re no longer Write to joshuas@sdcitybeat.com getting that exemption that inflated their and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

spin cycle

john r.

lamb Lessons from Belmont Park “Negotiating means getting the best of your opponent.”

—Marvin Gaye When Ed Harris and Scott Sherman, San Diego City Council members of different political stripes, see their conversations turn disagreeable, they often resort to a common-ground topic: a mutual love of fishing.

Question is, who’s the better angler? “Oh, I’m way better!”

Harris boasted to Spin recently.

Last week may have represented the dueling duo’s nadir in interpersonal relationships, when the City Council on Sept.

22 battled it out along party lines over a proposed 55-year lease extension for the operators of Belmont Park, Mission Beach’s landmark amusement and retail center. In the end, the council voted 5-3 to reject the proposal,

hoping instead for a return to the negotiating table.

Republicans Sherman and District 6 Councilmember Lorie Zapf—two months shy of replacing council-appointed Democrat Harris as the representative of District 2, which includes Belmont Park—acted as the loyal soldiers for the leaseholder, Rancho Santa Fe-based Pacifica Enterprises, a privately held real-estate-investment company.

Harris, who said he first learned of the proposed long-term lease in July, even though behindthe-scenes negotiations had begun a year prior, had questions about the length of the proposed lease and whether the city was getting the best deal for its 7.2 acres of prime oceanfront parkland.

Apparently, in Sherman’s world, that’s heresy.

“Why do we have an appoint-

ed member of this council come in and start jackin’ this up?” Sherman seethed. “This has been a deal that’s been in the works for a while.” In five minutes of venomous diatribe, Sherman managed to call the proposed lease a “good,” “very good” or “excellent” deal eight times.

“You know, I hear a lot of people talking about appreciating your efforts and appreciating the city’s efforts,” Sherman told proponents. “We appreciate it so much, we want to make sure we try and squeeze more money out of you.”

Zapf, meanwhile, seemed completely flustered by the turn of events. She used the term “we” frequently when mentioning negotiations, raising the question of whether the future D2 representative was involved in the lease deal more than its current councilmember.

Noting that the property—dominated by the historic Giant Dipper roller coaster—has brought the city a paltry $1.6 million during the last 26 years (an average of less than $62,000 a year) while a backlog of deferred maintenance there continues to mount, Harris told Spin that the deal is emblematic of the city’s “inconsistent” stewardship of its assets.

Pacifica argues that it needs

John R. Lamb

Ed Harris (left) and Scott Sherman—a roller-coaster relationship the long-term lease to offset the costs of renovating the property.

The company claims it’s already sunk upwards of $25 million into sprucing up the property with new restaurants, a community center and more activities. It also proposes to spend $5.9 million repairing the now-shuttered Plunge, billed as the largest indoor heated swimming pool in Southern California.

In exchange, the company wants more than $5 million in rent credits to help deflect those costs. Harris said that means the city would be picking up the tab for the improvement costs.

“They’re putting in what’s appropriate for their business,” he argued. “Their business model is to keep the place up.”

Pacifica also wants to acquire the lease for the roller coaster from San Diego Coaster Company and lump that into the deal, but executives claimed that it had only until Tuesday to make that happen.

Dario De Luca, president of Pacifica, regaled council members with tales of failed California seaside amusement parks that have shut down. “Obviously, we want to see to it that Belmont Park does not make the permanently closed list,” De Luca warned. “If we lose this opportunity, the park will remain in a mismanaged, uncompleted, unfinished fashion, as it’s been for the last several years.”

How the city got to this point would make a Hollywood producer jump out a window in disbelief.

Start in the ’80s with the late environmental populist City Councilmember Mike Gotch, who infamously promised to prevent retail creep into what admittedly at the time was a rather disheveled amusement park, only to reverse course and support a retail plan proposed by the husband of his political fundraiser.

Today, the park is little more than a glorified shopping center adorned with a few throwbacks from the past and some other nods to the present, like a climb-

ing wall and a wave-making machine introduced by the previous leaseholder, Tom Lochtefeld, who last year settled a $25-million lawsuit over his bankruptcy that he contended occurred due to the city’s refusal to consider his plan for a hotel.

While the terms of the settlement were never revealed, the issue still hovered over last week’s council like a black cloud. De Luca reminded the council that since taking over the lease in 2012, Pacifica “played a significant role in dismissing a lawsuit to the tune of about $25 million against the city.”

The city’s Independent Budget Analyst (IBA), in a report requested by Harris, did question the length of the proposed lease and the percentage of rents proposed to be paid to the city, noting that similar California venues like the Santa Monica Pier and Santa Cruz Boardwalk do better.

Minimum rents, De Luca said, would rise from nearly $900,000 annually to about $1.1 million in five years.

City Councilmember Sherri Lightner noted that a surf camp and kayak concession at La Jolla Shores alone bring in $1 million annually to city coffers.

Such low rents, Harris told Spin, give a large corporation an advantage over neighboring small businesses. “They’re not paying market rents, so they can sell things cheaper. As a representative of those small businesses, I can’t buy off on that.”

Going forward, Harris would like to see such large leases and real-estate deals vetted more thoroughly, perhaps through the IBA’s office, contracting with an “external consultant.”

“These companies can afford to hire the best,” he said. “The city should, too.”

Hooking a better deal for the city. What a concept!

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

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

aaryn

backwards & in high heels

belfer Winter is coming: the SoCal preppers edition Wow, was that a summer or what? I don’t know if the pockets hang below the “hem,” you’re still in about you, but in my 22 years of living in this caspring-2014-collection territory. Don’t fret, though: sual little city that’s trying on fancy britches, I canIt’s not like we’re in Anchorage and in need of Panot recall a hotter five months. That carbon foottagonia snow suits. Like the summer-to-winter print ain’t no joke, and the constant hum of my air bikini swap mentioned right up there, it’s still posconditioner has made its own sorry contribution sible to find a longer Daisy Duke that still manages to the cycle: Super hot? Run the air. Run the air? to reveal the right amount of ass hangdown.

Super hot.

(As for the manly set, you guys just keep doing Yes, I’m wholly ashamed. But try living out here what you’re doing. Slovenly is the Coppertone of in the College Area, where there’s no such thing as men’s attire.) a cross breeze—at the same time, !hot! !flashes!— Also important as it pertains to beach and pool and you, too, would be kneeling at the altar of outings is the necessary switch from your summer SDG&FuckingE. to winter towels. As much as I love my compact But the past is over, and with temperatures more Turkish Peshtemal towels, they simply do not hold temperate, the reality of winter must be faced head up against the bitter temperatures of winter. I’d on. Like so many other citizens of the country, it is suggest pulling out the terrycloth beach towels you time for us to winterize; having been raised in a cold have tucked away in your storage bins on that top climate, I have some expertise in this area. Genershelf of your garage. ally speaking, it’s good to start by swapping out the Of course, we’re lucky here in San Diego. Wheresummer wardrobe for the winter one tucked away as in summer we slept with a sheet, we now add a in storage bins throughout the house. blanket. Instead of AC, we open some windows.

So, here’s the deal, diehards: It’s time to put Sprinkle some cinnamon potpourri around the away our camisoles and get out our tank tops; stash house, stack a few logs next to the outdoor chiminthe linen, and reach for the cotton. And as much as I ea—et voilà: L’hiver! hate to say it, it’s time to put away the Havianas.

No, we don’t have to scrape ice from our windI know, I know. This is tough. shields every morning; nor do we You love your thin rubber flippiehave to dig our vehicles out after We feel your pain. floppies as much as I do—I get it. the snowplow made its middleBut they leave your feet vulnerof-the-night rounds. Big shout We have to check our able to the extreme conditions out to you Chicago, Milwaukee, windshield-wiper fluid of winter. Remember: We’re Salt Lake City and pretty much expecting an El Niño. Instead, every other place on the contijust like you check go for something like Sanuks, a nent. Nevertheless, we feel your antifreeze. more rugged flip-flop with a canpain. We have to check our windvas upper and a leather lining. shield-wiper fluid just like you Some of you may even deign to check antifreeze. We, too, must wear Birkenstocks, seeing as they’ve made a sarwait for our cars to warm up in the morning so that torial comeback. Others of you may deign to wear the re-circulated air is cool enough to make our ride Birkenstocks with socks. Which I personally find to to work more comfortable. be extreme. As in, extremely offensive. (Then again, And I think we can all share in the sentiment you won’t have to get pedicures or shave your legs if that winter really is the biggest pain-in-the-ass seayou’re going this route.) son for parents. Gone are the halcyon months of Sunscreen is timeless, of course, a staple that the little dahlin’s running out the door with a GoGo looks great on every body type and effortlessly Squeez in one hand and a skateboard in the other. crosses seasonal boundaries. Keep it handy. That Now, it’s all, Did you grab your sweatshirt? and the said, it’s definitely time to put away white or pastelensuing arguments about why they don’t need a colored bathing suits; ditto ruffles and fringe. Opt jacket. For the love of Jaysus, child, I don’t care if it seems warm. It’s winter out there! instead for swim attire with rhinestones or faux Then there’s the do-I-buy-her-rain-boots dilemturquoise embellishments, as well as those suits in ma that has parents going back and forth to Zappos, more subdued hues like eggplant or chocolate. Adfretting over whether to buy a kid the $80 boots, ditionally, those who opt for thong bikinis might seeing as how she’s still growing. And, too, do we find it necessary to go with something that offers buy ourselves rain boots? slightly more coverage, like the Super Strappy Itsy That is the ultimate prepper question, and the Bottom or the Cheeky Bottom from Victoria’s Seanswer is yes to both. Because it’s better to be precret. If there’s sudden high pressure, you’ll be gratepared since it’s winter and it could rain and there’s ful you planned ahead even as you’re still rockin’ El Niño and then where will we be in our Sanuks? that adorable underbutt.

Super hot, I’m guessing. If this summer was any Speaking of which, this is also the time to say indication, we’ll be super, super hot. au revoir to the acid-washed cut-off denim short shorts that so closely resemble the Cheeky Bottom Write to aaryn@sdcitybeat.com (see above). The onset of winter conditions dictate and editor@sdcitybeat.com. cut-offs with at least one additional inch of fabric;

8 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

by michael a. gardiner Michael A. Gardiner

complete the dish. It is, like so many great dishes, both simple and complex.

Another great feature at La Guerrerense (at 1st and Alvarado in Zona Centro, laguerrerense.com) is the remarkably extensive salsa bar, featuring a line of 13 unique house salsas bottled by Bandera. The winner for pairing with the clam and uni tostadas was a dark, almost burnt chile de arbol and peanut salsa. Fiery? Yes. But it added depth to a dish that was already so deep.

There are many other choices at the stand: mixed The one and only Sabina Bandera seafood platters, bacalao, shrimp, mussels, octopus, classic ceviches and more.

Lots were good, but before my most recent trip to La Guerrerense in June, I’d not tasted another as good as the clam and urchin tostada. I have now.

A caracol de mar y calle de hacha tostada—tostada of sea snail and “scallop” (actually a variety of What Tony sees in Sabina clam, but with a flavor and texture almost indistinguishable from sea scallops)—captured much Anthony Bourdain, an authority on street food, of what made the clam and uni great, but in a difcalled Sabina Bandera’s Mariscos La Guerreferent way. The dish was replete with contrasts, rense in Ensenada “the best street cart in the both textural (crunchy tostada, soft scallop and world.” Bourdain is not alone. One of America’s toothsome sea snail) and flavor (sweet shellfish, foremost Mexican (and TV) chefs, Rick Bayless, rich avocado and acidic lime). Once again, biting described it as “one of the best places to eat in through the tostada was an adventure in physical Mexico.” A legion of food bloggers agrees. What layers echoing layers of flavor. are they on about?

Bourdain’s words may seem like hyperbole: The dish that gets the most attention is the “Le Bernardin-quality seafood in the street.” Realtostada de erizo con almeja: sea urchin (uni) and ly? No fine china. No elegant presentation. And no Pismo clam tostadas with a squeeze of lime, hot ring molds or fancy garnishes. And, frankly, none sauce and thin slices of still-firm avocado at peak necessary. Bourdain’s point, and those of Bayless ripeness. On one level, it’s a simple dish: a crisp and others, is that the precise calibration of flavors corn tortilla with a bunch of seafood on top. Of and textures, their layering and the simultaneous course, the seafood came that morning from the simplicity and complexity is as sophisticated as nearby Mercado Negro, Ensenada’s superb freshone might find in a great restaurant. seafood market. And the uni is in a paste atop the Improbable as it may seem, it really is well tortilla, providing both a structural matrix for worth the trip across an international border to the clams and a tier of deep umami warmth with try street-corner food fueled by the singular culinary imagination of Sabina Bandera. more than a hint of sweetness. The Pismo clams are tender and toothsome, with a slight suggesWrite to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com tion of crunch. A squeeze of lime, a few dashes and editor@sdcitybeat.com. of hot sauce and some thin slices of avocado

the world

fare

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

By Jen Van Tieghem

bottle

Rocket No excitement

The first time I visited Trisler’s Wine Bar, it was rather forgettable: An unremarkable cheese board and some average wine, and let’s just say I wasn’t inclined to go back.

Several years have passed, and I now work less than two miles from the spot’s unusual home on the ground floor of Mission Valley’s hoity-toity Promenade at Rio Vista apartment complex. I decided to give it another try.

The décor is wine-themed in a bland sort of way. The wooden shelves of bottles lining the walls, murals of vineyards and kitschy “vino” signage, reminiscent of the home-goods section at Ross Dress for Less, are all presentable but yawn-inducing.

Unfortunately, that’s the overall theme. Our attentive server, with her sweet disposition and strong Italian accent, explained that Monday’s special was half-off glasses of any wine opened over the weekend. She identified half a dozen white wines and said there were no reds on happy hour. I inquired about other specials—

10 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

beer or food—but that was it.

The good news was that, at half-price, the glasses were $4 to $7, and there were diverse whites to choose from. Our wine pusher also offered sips of any open wine before I settled on a glass—a smart move with open bottles a few days old. I started with the 2013 Pratsch Gruner Veltliner from Niederosterreich, Austria. It was slightly effervescent and refreshing, full of floral fragrances. Tart green apple and pear flavors were pleasant, although not terribly complex.

Next I moved to the 2013 Mas Jen Van Tieghem Carlot Rose from France. I’m picky when it comes to pink wine, but this one was done well with an interesting combination of Grenache and Syrah making for berry notes and a light pepper on the finish.

The wine list held other interesting choices—Italian Barbera and Argentine Malbec highlighted the reds, while a few California wines also made the menu.

It was noteworthy that during the course of a couple hours, only two other patrons stopped in. Perhaps the food trucks and live musicians on other nights of the week here garner more attention. But maybe folks, like me, just need a little more excitement from a happy hour.

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

by Mina Riazi mina riazi

watched leave the eatery in a flurry of floorsweeping fabrics. Her tall and lanky sons tower over her, helming the counter and carrying out the food on plastic trays.

Unlike the new flock of fashionable San Diego restaurants flaunting Anthropologieesque interiors, Faridas does not promise much eye candy. Mustardy walls overcompensate for the colorless tile floors; potted plants add slips of green to the large and decoratively barren space. When it comes to restaurants, though, aesthetic splendors don’t hold my attention for very long. Good food is good food, after all, and no quantity of Mason-jar chandeliers will change what that means to me.

On a recent weekend night, Faridas offered an escape from the balmy, end-ofsummer heat. I scored a table near a whirFaridas’ grilled-chicken salad ring ceiling fan, cooling down with a glass of mango tea, which was eye-bulgingly sweet but refreshing nonetheless.

Somalia’s history of colonization by the French, British and Italians has undoubtedly influenced its cuisine. At Faridas, pasta and rice dishes share the menu with steaks, creamsauce chicken and sandwiches served on chubby Go global French rolls. Greek salad and fries also make an appearance, along with sambusas and a Somali “Somali? Is that like—uh, what is that like?” sweet bread called bur.

My friend’s words somersaulted through my I settled on the special: a cumin-seasoned head as I surveyed the menu at Faridas East Afchicken stew served with cardamom rice and rica Cuisine on a recent Sunday night. Slightly vegetables. Better known as maraq, the Somali abashed, I’d patched together a threadbare reply dish is a basic daily stew. Spoon the steaming to his question—something involving curry and mixture over the rice, which is lovely—the grains sambusas. Glimpsing the menu while one of Fariare fluffy and soft, but not at all mushy. da’s kids offered his recommendations, I imagined Though light and zesty, the grilled-chicken a more suitable response to my friend’s question. salad is rather unimpressive, but it does compleWhile San Diego streets are practically lined ment the hot maraq. Look for a squeeze bottle of with pho shops and taco joints, the city’s few Sobasbaas cagaar on your table, a pale green sauce mali restaurants have yet to cross over into the that will enliven the heap of sautéed veggies by mainstream. This perplexes me, mainly because adding a swift and much-needed kick of heat.

San Diego harbors a large population of Somali At Faridas, quite a few menu items can be refugees—“the nation’s second largest” according bought with just a buck. This includes a cup of to a recent Voice of San Diego story. And yet, the spiced Somali tea, a perfect stand-in for dessert. public mindset toward Somali fare seems to shift Fragrant with cloves, cardamom and cinnamon, between no opinion at all or—like my friend— it’s reminiscent of Indian chai. Leaving the restotal confusion. taurant, I realized the extent of Somali cuisine’s Located in the southeastern San Diego neighglobal influences. Far-reaching flavors, yes, but at the price of colonization. borhood of Ridgeview-Webster (1754 Euclid Ave., faridasbistro.com), Faridas East Africa Cuisine is a Write to minar@sdcitybeat.com family-run, self-labeled “bistro” that relies on the and editor@sdcitybeat.com. grit of its matriarch—a pint-sized woman whom I

One Lucky

Spoon

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

[T echnology ] no life

offline

by dave maass

Wikipistemology in the 52nd District congressional race If epistemology is the study and philosophy of knowledge, it’s creation and quality, then I consider myself a lowly disciple of Wikipistemology, the contemplation and investigation of Wikipedia and other open community-edited resources.

Sadly, I didn’t coin the term “Wikipistemology.” That honor belongs to University of Arizona professor Don Fallis, who dropped it in a paper in 2008, “Toward an Epistemology of Wikipedia,” and again in the 2011 collection “Social Epistemology: Essential Readings.”

Fallis presents fascinating academic analyses, but, to me, it’s all in the practical application. When I visit a Wikipedia page, I’m looking for four things that are conveniently easy to find: I want to see the main entry itself, obviously.

I want to see how it’s sourced, so I scroll to the bottom for the footnotes. I want to know how often the article has been edited, so I’ll click over to the “View History” tab to scope out whether there have been any revision wars or spikes in editing around particular events and how many anonymous editors have had their way with it.

Finally, I’ll go to the “Talk” tab so see how editing decisions have been made through consensus.

In February 2011, this process led me to slam then-City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio for a history of assigning his underlings to beef up his Wikipedia page and the pages of his businesses, in violation of the community’s standards. This week I took a second look at the Republican’s page as he challenges Rep. Scott Peters for San Diego’s 52nd District congressional seat.

The good news is that DeMaio seems to have kept his hands, and his interns’ hands, off the page.

The article has undergone extensive edits by a committed and articulate circle of Wikipedia editors, most prominently “Wikignome” MelanieN, who may very well be one of San Diego’s stealthiest knowledge-masters, responsible for dozens of San Diego-related pages, from Point Loma’s page to the list of San Diego breweries. For the most part, DeMaio’s page seems fair and honest, although it doesn’t contain or emphasize everything I would’ve. (But I’m biased: I’m always foremost interested in the “Controversies” section of politicians’ pages, and I was a co-author of CityBeat’s all-negative “Carl DeMaio A to Z” guide.)

Here are a few of the other things I’ve learned about how DeMaio’s page came to be in its current form: • After CityBeat published its “Wikipedia weasel” story about DeMaio in 2012, the episode was documented on his page. In July 2014, editors decided it was too inside-baseball and that a better way to recognize the controversy was to include links at the top of the “Talk” page.

• There’s been much debate over the bizarre allegations by state Sen. Ben Hueso that he caught DeMaio masturbating in a City Hall bathroom while they both sat on the council. Was it substantiated? Did it actually have any impact

12 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

David Rolland

Carl DeMaio whatsoever? If included, should it disclose that Hueso is a bitter opponent of DeMaio? Should it include that DeMaio’s denial passed a polygraph test? Ultimately, the editors reached consensus that it really had no place on Wikipedia.

• Last month, editors went back and forth about where the fact that DeMaio is gay should appear in the article. There were two camps: those who thought it should go in the opening and those who said it should appear further down in the text.

The latter won out for now, with MelanieN citing Wikipedia standards and precedence.

• During the last week, there’s been an ongoing revision battle (edit, revert, undo revision, revert) by an anonymous user (we’ll call him Mr. 108, for the first three numbers of his IP) and a recognized anti-vandalism patroller, Discospinster. Mr. 108 really hates DeMaio’s commercials and really wants the page to include this rant: “He runs slander ads all over TV, spending an astronomical $1.2 million on advertising for the 2014 campaign. They are on tv multiple times a day, showing that DeMaio wishes to buy the public’s opinion by outspending and out-advertising his opponent. It is unknown if the incessant advertising will work, but it is surely a fact that the TV ads are annoying as hell.”

So, what about Peters’ page? There have been only three discussions, none of them occurring in 2014, although edits of his page have picked up in the last month. It’s fairly balanced, but, really, it’s just boring. Say what you will about DeMaio’s politics; he’ll always be the most interesting candidate in any race he’s in.

One last thing: If you’re also a Wikipistemologist, and you’re on Twitter, you should follow @ CongressEdits, a newish account that automatically Tweets whenever someone with a congressional IP address anonymously edits a Wikipedia page. It’s hilarious what politicos will edit: video games, transgender issues, Choco Tacos.

Someone even smeared journalist Ben Smith as a “Smirnoff Ice enthusiast.”

I guess that’s one reason to be glad I’m not that notable.

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

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

the

SHORTlist

COORDINATED BY KINSEE MORLAN

JOHN DURANT

month-long celebration, which includes almost 50 lectures, tours, workshops, exhibits and other events that strive to educate locals about the past, present and future of architecture.

Archtoberfest kicks off with the annual Orchids & Onions affair, happening from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, at the San Diego Air and Space Museum in Balboa Park. The alwaysentertaining night com“Wayne Donaldson at the Americanization School, Oceanside California” mending and condemnby John Durant, on view in The Irving Gill Photographic Project ing San Diego’s built environment includes food and cocktails catered by Snake Oil Cocktail Co. and Home Kitchen Culture; plus, comedian Lauren O’Brien will make sure even the Onion winners are laughing.

Oktoberfest is old news. This month is now officially One of the anchor events of Archtoberfest is all about architecture, design, planning and sustain- the San Diego Design Film Festival, running ability—at least in San Diego, where the minds behind from Thursday, Oct. 9, through Sunday, Oct. much of our urban environment have banded togeth- 12, at the Reading Gaslamp Cinemas (701 Fifth er for the launch of the first-ever Archtoberfest.

Ave., Downtown). The fest features films like Art “We’re populating even more events as we speak,” House, Maker, Hairy Who & The Chicago Imagists says Bastiaan Bouma, executive director of the San and other indie flicks covering the diversity of the Diego chapter of the American Institute of Archi- design industry. tects. “It’s catching on…. People really want to learn Other interesting happenings include The Irving more about these important topics.”

Gill Photographic Project, featuring works by fineBouma is one of the driving forces behind the art photographers Philipp Scholz Rittermann, Suda House and John Durant, at the Wisteria Cottage Galleries (780 Prospect St. in La Jolla) through Jan. 25, and the Great Downtown San Diego Places & Looking for some fine-art escapism? Spaces behind-the-scenes tour of some of the city’s Check out “Collection Highlights” at most important historic buildings, from 10 a.m. to 4 albrightknox.org and peruse dozens p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19. of the coolest pieces of art created during the last Check out archtoberfest.com for a full rundown 100 years. Better yet, get yourself to the San Diego of happenings, many of which are free.

Museum of Art in Balboa Park sometime on or after Saturday, Oct. 4, to check out Gauguin to Warhol: 20th Century Icons from the Albright-Knox Art Night markets have been a part of East Gallery. Indeed, you’ll see works by Gauguin and Asian culture for more than a thousand Warhol, as well as pieces by Picasso, Matisse, Van years and have become a huge part Gogh, Kahlo and Lichtenstein—in all, more than 40 artists are represented. SDMA ain’t wrong in de- of the modern urban landscape in Taiwan, Hong scribing the works as “masterpieces.” The exhibi- Kong, China and Malaysia. But it’s now also quickly FIELD GEMS PHOTOGRAPHY tion’s on view through Jan. 27 and includes a num- becoming part of San ber of related events, like the museum’s popular Diego’s, as well. The second annual San Culture & Cocktails (Oct. 16). sdma.org TOM LOONAN Diego Night Market will be held in the Convoy District from 4 p.m. until late into the night on Saturday, Oct. 4. The market will host a variety of vendors selling ethnic goods, clothing and a wide array of cuisine, be it boba or tofu. Add in DJs and Drive-By Cinema courtesy of Pacific Arts Movement and you’ve got yourself a party. The event’s epicenter is 7990 Engineer Road “Spirit of the Dead Watching” by Paul Gauguin in Kearny Mesa. sdnightmarket.com

1

ARCHITECTURE IN OCTOBER

2

FINEST ART

3

14 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

NIGHT MOVES

ART Colores de la Muerte at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Celebrate Dia de los Muertos at this new exhibition, which includes “Tren de la Historia,” a series of train-car sculptures that recount turning points of the Mexican Revolution, along with mixed-media sculptures, short films, altars and more.

Opens Friday, Oct. 3. $8. artcenter.org Friday Night Liberty at NTC Park at Liberty Station, 2455 Cushing Road, Point Loma. The First Friday event features open studios, galleries, shopping and entertainment throughout NTC’s Arts & Culture District. Highlights include a photographic and video-art exhibition of stories of survival and recovery at the Women’s Museum of California. From 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3. ntclibertystation.com First Friday Oceanside Art Walk at Downtown Oceanside, Pier View Way and Tremont Street, Oceanside. The monthly art walk features live performances, art education, food and pop-up galleries.

Highlights include art by military veterans and the creation of a 16-foot mural at the Civic Center Library. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3. oceansideartwalk.org HCurious Beasts: Animal Prints from Durer to Goya at USD Visual Arts Center, 5998 Alcala Park, Linda Vista. A partnership with the British Museum brings this exhibition featuring 86 rare woodcuts, engravings, etchings, mezzotints and lithographs from the 15th to the early 19th centuries to USD. Opening from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 3. sandiego.edu/galleries HEntijuanarte 2014 The 10th annual art and cultural festival features dozens of shows, symposiums, film screenings and more at galleries and institutions all over

Tijuana. Most events are free. See website for schedule. Friday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct. 5. entijuanarte.org HOld Town Art & Craft Show at Old Town San Diego. See works by more than 100 artists working in a variety of mediums. There’ll be live entertainment, international food, tequila and a craft beer and wine garden. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 4-5. 619233-5008, oldtownartfestival.com The Walks at Big Kitchen, 3003 Grape St., South Park. A pop-up gallery of photographs from Kjose Elliott’s walks in urban areas of Southern California. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. kjoseelliott photographs.com HGauguin to Warhol: 20th Century Icons from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery at San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. From post-impressionism to pop, this all-star exhibition (Gauguin, Andy Warhol, Kahlo, Pollock and dozens more) features some of the finest works from one of the world’s best collections of modern art.

Opens Saturday, Oct. 4. sdmart.org Tracie Monk at San Diego Sculptor’s Guild, Gallery 36, 1770 Village Place, Balboa Park. Monk unveils new mixedmedia works exploring textures and the mysticism behind the veiled female figure.

Opening from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. sandiegosculptorsguild.com HHorror Business Part 3 at Left Hand Black, 1947 Fern St., South Park. The third annual group art show features 70 artists painting on cleavers, hatchets and knives. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. 619-546-6555, lhblk.com Perpetually Dazzled at San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, 404 Third Ave., Downtown. Renowned artist and scholar

Li Huai shows off works incorporating Chinese ink, charcoal, phosphorescent paint, wax on paper and canvas. Opening from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. $4. sdchm.org HBeyond Limits: Postglobal Mediations at San Diego Art Institute-Museum of the Living Artist, Balboa Park. Dozens of artists explore the boundless confluence between art, life, and technology in a post-global society. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. sandiego-art.org HHonorable Mention: A Salon of Thrift Store Art at Disclosed unLocation, 1925 30th Ave., South Park. For years, Pea Hix has accumulated amateur paintings from thrift stores and garage sales.

For the first time, he assembles some of his favorites to see what they all look like together. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. 619-933-5480 San Marcos ArtWalk at Old California Restaurant Row, 1080 W. San Marcos Blvd., San Marcos. Over 30 North County artists and arts organizations showcase their work. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. oldcaliforniarestaurantrow.com The Jupiter System at Basic, 410 10th Ave., Downtown. Viz Cult presents new works by Christopher Wassell, who describes his art as “a symbiotic ritual induction.” From 7 p.m. to midnight. Tuesday, Oct. 7. facebook.com/viz.cult

BOOKS Richard Riordan at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The former L.A. mayor will present and sign his memoir, The Mayor: How I Turned Around Los Angeles After Riots, an Earthquake and the O.J. Simpson Murder Trial. At 7 p.m. Thursday,

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October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

Oct. 2. warwicks.indiebound.com Chris Guillebeau at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The entrepreneur will discuss and sign The Happiness of Pursuit: Finding the Quest That Will Bring Purpose to Your Life. At 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 3. warwicks.indiebound.com HRaymond M. Wong at Casa de Oro Library, 9805 Campo Road, Spring Valley.

Wong will talk about his memoir, I’m Not Chinese: The Journey from Resentment to Reverence about a trip to Hong Kong that taught him about family, culture, forgiveness and self-acceptance. At 10 a.m.

Saturday, Oct. 4. raymondmwong.com HArash Khazeni at D.G. Wills Books, 7461 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The Pomona College professor will discuss and sign Sky Blue Stone: The Turquoise Trade in World History, which recounts the origins, and trade of the blue rock. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. dgwillsbooks.com HFritzi Gros-Daillon at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author signs and discusses Grace and Grit: Insights to Real-Life Challenges of Aging for Adult Children and Their Par-

ents. At noon Sunday, Oct. 5. warwicks. indiebound.com Melissa Marr at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The fantasy author will sign and discuss, Made for You, her new novel that focuses on a hit-and-run victim who develops the power to foresee deaths. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. mystgalaxy.com Food is Love Dinner Adventure at Andiamo Ristorante, 5950 Santo Road, Tierrasanta. Kathleen Flinn discusses her memoir, Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good.

The event includes dinner, book discussion, Q&A and the opportunity to meet Flinn. From 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5.

Free-$40. adventuresbythebook.com HSan Diego Zine Fest at La Bodega Studios and Gallery, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. Peruse handmade printed collections of art, poetry, fiction, cultural critiques and even buy a few. There’ll also be live screen printing by the Roots Factory and DJs. From noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. sdzinefest.tumblr.com Greg Cummings at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.,

Clairemont. The wildlife conservationist will discuss and sign his newest Derek Strangely novel, Pirates, where the safari tour company runner becomes entangled with pirates from Somalia. At 7:30 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 6. mystgalaxy.com HT. Jefferson Parker at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The award-winning author will discuss and sign his new book, Full Measure. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7. 858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com Corey Lynn Fayman at University Community Library, 4155 Governor Drive, La Jolla. The winner of the 2013 Hollywood Book Festival Award for Genre-Based Fiction will discuss and sign Border Field Blues: A Rolly Waters Mystery. At 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 7. sandiegolibrary.org Matt Cook at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The magician and co-founder of California Common Sense will sign and discuss his debut novel, Sabotage, about a Stanford student who becomes wrapped up in a global game of assassination, extortion and treachery. At 7:30

THEATER

Bright Star merely flickers in the darkness Beware of works of art in which a star is a metaphor. As a matter of fact, beware of anything in which a star is a metaphor. You can be sure that the beacon-of-light / hope-springs-eternal symbolism will be very obviously in play.

It certainly is in the new musical Bright Star at The Old Globe Theatre, written by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell and directed by Walter Bobbie.

The Globe’s 2014-15 season opener delivers a formulaic story that possesses its darker overtones, but it’s, by and large, a sugary couple of hours of secrets predictably revealed, all set to Americanaflavored music.

In Bright Star, two stories converge, unfolding in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains in the wake of World War II. Billy Cane (A.J. Shively), fresh-faced and fresh out of the service, is home again and wants nothing more than to become a famous writer. This leads him to the big city—Raleigh—and to uptight, bespectacled editor Alice Murphy (Carmen Cusack), who oversees a prestigious literary magazine, the “Asheville Southern Journal.” But there’s another side to Alice: her past, when, as a young girl, she fell in love with Jimmy Ray Dobbs (like Billy, another name that sounds right out of NASCAR), had a baby by him and had it yanked away from her by Jimmy Ray’s mayor pappy (Wayne Duvall) for the sake of propriety and political expediency. The events of Billy’s dream-seeking and Alice’s tortured young womanhood are paralleled in words and song, coming together in a feel-good resolution that will take no one by surprise.

Bright Star’s staging, with talented musicians housed in a see-through cabin that’s whirled around the stage to make way for set pieces as needed, is thoroughly imaginative, and the ensemble of players is top-flight. Yet, with a couple of exceptions, the songs’ lyrics are shallow and too literal, simply extensions set to music of what each character might say if Bright Star were a play and not a musical.

At the risk of employing that star metaphor, Cusack shines as Alice, and her and Jimmy Ray’s (Wayne Alan Wilcox) aching duet “I Had a Vi-

16 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

JOAN MARCUS

Wayne Alan Wilcox and Carmen Cusack sion” does strike a genuine emotional chord in a show that needs many more of them.

Bright Star runs through Nov. 2 at The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. $49 and up. theoldglobe.org

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

OPENING The Musical of Musicals: The Musical: A musical spoof of—you guessed it—musicals, with humorous takes on several masters of musical theater, such as Stephen Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein. Presented by the Oceanside Theatre Company, it opens Oct. 3 at The Brooks Theatre in Oceanside. oceansidetheatre.org The Royale: In the early 20th century, a black heavyweight boxer finally has the chance to fight for the championship, but his sister is worried about the aftermath should he win. Opens Oct. 4 at The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org She-rantulas from Outer Space in 3D: Back by popular demand—a comedy about an invading horde of mutant monsters and a small-town mom who learns a horrible truth about her little daughter Suzie. Opens Oct. 1 at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights. diversionary.org

For full listings,

please visit “T heater ” at sdcit ybeat.com

p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7. mystgalaxy.com Elizabeth Little and Abigail Haas at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Little will present her debut mystery, Dear Daughter, while Haas will present Dangerous Girls. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8. warwicks.in diebound.com

COMEDY HJamie Lee at American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. A cast member on the new MTV series Girl Code, she was named one of the “Top Five Comedians Who Should Be Movie Stars” by Nerve.com. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, and 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4. $18. 619-795-3858, americancomedyco.com HMomo Rodriguez at Mad House Comedy Club, 502 Horton Plaza, Downtown.

The L.A.-based comic has had residencies at the Hollywood Laugh Factory and recently toured with Carlos Mencia. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2. $15. 619-7026666, madhousecomedyclub.com HLewis Black at Pechanga Casino & Resort, 45000 Pechanga Pkwy, Temecula.

The rant-spewing comic is best known for his acerbic tirades on The Daily Show. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2. $69-$95. 951-6931819, pechanga.com HJesse Egan at Legends Comedy Club, 9200 Inwood Drive, Santee. The San Diego’s Funniest Person finalist and co-host of the Sordid Tales Podcast is a regular at local comedy clubs and for good reason.

At 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4. $15. legendscomedyclub.com

DANCE HMojalet Dance Collective and Rhythm Talk at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. The contemporary dance company teams up with Swiss percussion band Rhythm Talk to present a collaborative piece. At 4 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1. 800-988-4253, artcenter.org HTrolley Dances at San Diego City College, 1313 Park Blvd., Downtown. Witness site-specific dance performances along the trolley line, beginning at City College. At 10, 10:45 and 11:30 a.m., and 12:15, 1 and 1:45 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 4-5. $15-$35. sandiego dancetheater.org PGK Dance Project at Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, Downtown. The multi-ethnic company performs works by award-winning choreographers like Rosalia Nalani Lerner, Khamla Somphanh, Geoffrey Gonzalez and more. At 2 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 8, and Sunday, Oct. 12, and 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11. $10$20. thepgkdanceproject.org

FOOD & DRINK HStarlite Seven Day Charity Initiative at Starlite, 3175 India St., Mission Hills.

To celebrate its seventh anniversary, Starlite will offer seven evenings of giving back, donating a portion of proceeds to seven area charity partners. See website for details and specials. Through Sunday, Oct. 5. 619-358-9766, starlitesan diego.com Taste of Downtown at Gaslamp Quarter.

Take a self-guided walking tour of Downtown or use the free shuttle service to sample culinary selections from over 50 eateries. From 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2. $30-$35. downtownsandiego.org

HA Taste of Harvest at South Park, 30th & Juniper, South Park. In conjunction with the South Park Fall Walkabout, this event will feature $5 fall-themed bites from local restaurants and pubs including Station Tavern, Eclipse Chocolate, The Rose and more. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. $5. southparksd.com Good Food Community Fair at New Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. There’ll be informational booths, a film and speakers, culinary demos, activities for kids, book signings and, of course, food. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. 619-236-5800, sandiegolibrary.org Ales for Autism at Hess Brewing, 3812 Grim Ave., North Park. Enjoy dinner, dessert and four tastings of Mike Hess beer, plus take home a souvenir tasting glass, door prizes and bid at a silent auction to support Autism Society San Diego. From 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7. $25-$30. autismsocietysandiego.org

Allegro” and the haunting “Adagietto” movement, from Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3. $20-$35. hutchinsconsort.org

form covers ranging from pop songs (Annie Lennox and The Beatles) to classical music (Bach, Mozart, etc.). At 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. $30. 858-459-3421, sjbts.org

HNathan Hubbard: Encinitas and Everything After at Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Drive, Encinitas. The final concert for the five-album, 15-years-inthe-making project. This performance will feature The New Encinitas Philharmonic, a 12-piece ensemble put together to perform Hubbard’s music. At 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 4. $10-$12. castorand polluxmusic.com

Camera Lucida at Conrad Prebys Music Center, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Principal musicians from the San Diego Symphony and distinguished performance faculty from UCSD will present chamber music masterpieces of the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6. $25. music.ucsd.edu/concerts

The Swingle Singers at St. James bythe-Sea, 743 Prospect St., La Jolla. The London-based a cappella group has been around for over five decades and adds new members regularly. They per-

PERFORMANCE Indonesian Cultural Festival at Spreckels Theater, 121 Broadway, Downtown. Take a journey through Indonesia with traditional music and dance from the

tip of Aceh and across 2 million square miles of land and sea to the very end of Irian Jaya (Papua). At 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3. 425-829-7394, indoculfest-sept27. eventbrite.ca Blue Man Group at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. The painted troupe of theatrical performers has been astounding audiences for over two decades and all without saying a word. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, and 1 and 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. $35-$105. broad waysd.com Hell on Heels 10-Year Burlesque Extravaganza at The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Hell on Heels cele-

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HTempleton Pig Project at Ironside Fish & Oyster, 1654 India St., Little Italy. Ironside teams up with Templeton Rye for a dinner featuring one of only 25 heritagebreed duroc pigs. Dishes will be paired with Templeton Rye cocktails. At 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 7. $80. 619-269-3033, iron sidefishandoyster.com

HALLOWEEN Pumpkin Patch at Fran’s Original Farm Stand, 1980 Summit Drive, Escondido.

Fran’s will be hosting a pick-it-yourself Pumpkin Patch. From noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday through October. thefarmstandwest.com/events Spooky Tales to Tell in the Dark at Rebecca’s Coffee House, 3015 Juniper St., South Park. Members of Storytellers of San Diego tell an array of spine-tingling tales. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1. storytellersofsandiego.org HWhaley House Past & Presence Ghost Tour at Whaley House, 2476 San Diego Ave., Old Town. Explore some of Old Town’s most haunted locations. Learn the true stories of these historic sites and the ghost stories that surround them. From 10:30 p.m. to midnight. Friday, Oct. 3. $25. 619-297-7511, sohosandiego.org Boomont Park at Belmont Park, Mission Blvd. & W. Mission Bay Drive, Mission Beach. Belmont Park transforms into a Halloween-themed beachfront amusement park featuring a family-friendly haunted house, Zombie Laser Tag, Spooky Coaster and more. Friday, Oct. 3, through Nov. 1 $6-$8. boomontpark.com Annual Costume Sale at 3747 Eagle St., Hillcrest. Hats, dresses, vintage, petticoats, hoop skirts, shoes, jewelry, fabrics, corsets, and just about anything else you might want for your Halloween costume. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4.

MUSIC HThe Cookers at The Auditorium at TSRI, 10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla. The San Diego debut of a true allstar septet comprising some of the leading instrumentalists in jazz from the past 40 years and led by trumpeter David Weiss.

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2. $35. 858784-2666, ljathenaeum.org/jazz HThe Hutchins Consort at St. Andrews by the Sea, 1050 Thomas Ave., Pacific Beach. Harpist Elena Mashkovtseva joins the acclaimed violin octet for performances of Maurice Ravel’s “Introduction and

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brates 10 years with a night of old-school acts from veteran performers and tribute acts from new performers. From 8 p.m. to midnight. Saturday, Oct. 4. $12-$15.

619-299-7372, hellonheelsburlesque.com Gene Kelly: The Legacy at Moonlight Amphitheatre, 1200 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista. Patricia Ward Kelly presents an intimate portrait of her late husband Gene Kelly through film clips, previously unreleased audio recordings, personal keepsakes, and stories. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. $15-$52. genekelly.org

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HNon-Standard Lit: Steven Seidenberg and Trevor Calvert at Gym Standard, 2903 El Cajon Blvd. #2, North Park. The poetry series features Seidenberg, author of Itch, a work of lyric, philosophical prose, and Calvert, co-editor of Spooky Actions Books and the author of Rarer and More Wonderful. From 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. gymstandard.com A Land Twice Promised at University Student Union Ballroom., Cal State San Marcos, 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos. Storyteller Noa Baum, an Israeli who began a heartfelt dialogue with a Palestinian woman, weaves together their stories in this compelling and onewoman show. At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8. $12. 760-750-4000, csusm.edu/ al/calendar.html

SPECIAL EVENTS HOrchids & Onions Awards Ceremony at San Diego Air & Space Museum, Balboa Park. The San Diego Architectural Foundation presents this year’s crop of design awards acknowledging the best and the “could be better” of San Diego’s built environment. From 6 to 10:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 2. $50-$150. 619-2321385, sdarchitecture.org La Mesa Oktoberfest on La Mesa Boulevard. between Acacia and Fourth avenues, La Mesa. The three-day fest will feature vendors, kids activities, entertainment and, of course, German brats and cold beer. From 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. lamesachamber.net Miramar Air Show at East Gate, MCAS Miramar, Miramar Road, Miramar. Military aircraft put on fast-paced flying show.

A fireworks display happens Saturday night. From 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, and Sunday, Oct. 5, and 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. mirama rairshow.com HSan Diego Night Market at 8018 Engineer Road, Kearny Mesa. This second annual outdoor evening market will feature vendors selling Asian food and merchandise, live entertainment, a beer garden. From 4 p.m. to midnight. Saturday, Oct. 4. $2. sdnightmarket.com Pacific Beachfest 2013 at Crystal Pier, Felspar Street & Ocean Boulevard, Pacific Beach. This free, family-friendly event has a volleyball tournament, 5K fun run, surf contest, food court, a beer garden, live music and a Best of the Beach fish taco contest. From 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. pacificbeachfest.org HJulian Apple Days Festival at Menghini Winery, 1150 Julian Orchards Drive, Julian. This two-day festival features an antique tractor display, children’s games

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Abrecht Dürer’s woodcut print “Rhinoceros” is on view in Curious Beasts: Animal Prints from Dürer to Goya, opening at 5:30 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 3, at Hoehn Family Galleries in Founders Hall at USD. and activities, gold panning demos, a beer and wine garden, food and merchandise vendors, contests, and, of course, apple pie. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 4-5. $5.

760-765-2072, julianappledays.com Happy Hatching Day at Living Coast Discovery Center, 1000 Gunpowder Point Drive, Chula Vista. The Center’s Green Sea Turtles are turning 5 and they’re celebrating with cake (one for turtles, one for humans), as well as games and a chance to meet the turtles. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. $9$14. thelivingcoast.org San Diego International Orchid Fair at San Diego Botanic Garden, 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas. A weekendlong bouquet of orchid and orchid-related displays, lectures and vendors. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. $8-$14.

760-436-3036, sdbgarden.org Del Mar Taste & Art Stroll at Del Mar Village, Camino Del Mar and 15th Street, Del Mar. This annual event includes an art stroll, live music and a ticketed restaurant, wine and beer tasting with culinary creations from 24-plus restaurants and eight different sip stops. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. delmar mainstreet.com Hunting Around Hillcrest at Hillcrest Farmer’s Market, 3960 Normal St., Hillcrest. A community scavenger hunt where “Hunters” can pick up their first clue and jump on the free Hillcrest Trolley to pick up their next clue as well as prizes. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. 619299-3330, fabuloushillcrest.com Fall Family Festival at San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum, 320 North Broadway, Escondido. The annual fest will feature live music by Hullabaloo, a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, food, gardening workshops, a costume exchange and more. From 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 5. Free-$10. 760-233-7755, sdcdm.org HVinyl Junkies Record Swap at The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Midtown.

Vendors selling thousands of collectible and vintage records, plus DJs spinning throughout the day including DJ

Claire, Kid Riz and Casbah owner Tim Mays. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. $3. facebook.com/VinylJunkies RecordSwap House of Germany at House of Pacific Relations International, 2191 West Pan American Road, Balboa Park. Just in time for Oktoberfest, this family-friendly event will feature food, music and dance from Deutschland. From 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. balboapark.org

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS HBi-National Exhibitions Panel Discussion at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., North Park. A panel discussion on the merits and challenges of organizing bi-national art exhibitions. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2. artproduce.org BDSM Unbound at Ducky Waddle’s Emporium, 414 N. Coast Hwy. 101, Encinitas. The second class in the six class series from local sex educator, researcher and former professional dominant Tessa Ayden who’ll explain how the world of BDSM really works. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. $10. ducky waddles.com HArchitecture at San Diego State, Then and Now at Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union, SDSU campus, College Area. A guided walking tour of SDSU focusing on its architecture and development, including recently completed projects. From 10 a.m. to noon. Saturday, Oct. 4. 619-594-5200, archtober fest.com Stopping Violence Against Women at Women’s Museum of California, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, Point Loma. Anne Hoiberg discusses violence against women, from intimate-partner violence to rape, stalking and sexual abuse.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5. womens museumca.org

For full listings,

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

Official Program

Performances by The donkeys • euphoria brass band the midnight pine • joshua white todo mundo • tribal theory with horns robin henkel featuring whitney shay lifetime achievement honoree

tomcat courtney industry achievement honoree

taylor guitars www.sandiegomusicawards.com proceeds benefit the san diego music foundation’s guitars for schools program Program produced by the San Diego CityBeat Advertising Department

2014 SAN DIEGO MUSIC AWARDS

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PRESIDENT’S LETTER

On behalf of the San Diego Music Foundation, I’d like to welcome you back to Humphreys by the Bay for the 24th annual San Diego Music Awards, a benefit for the San Diego Music Foundation’s Guitars for Schools program.

The San Diego Music Awards (SDMA) was created not only to recognize San Diego musicians, but also to give back to the community. Since 1991, proceeds from SDMA have been used to donate guitars to elementary schools in and around San Diego County. To date, more than 47,000 students have been a part of our Guitars for Schools program since its inception and the partnership with Taylor Guitars started. And this year, we are pleased to announce a new partnership with Deering Banjos as part of our school programs.

The overall mission of the San Diego Music Foundation continues to be a focus on musician assistance, music education, professional development and live performances. Our primary goals are to advance artistic growth, understanding, appreciation, enjoyment and interest in music and its ability to enhance and enrich the city and county of San Diego.

One of our primary annual events is the recently held seventh annual San Diego Music Thing (SDMT).

This year, the event moved to the more spacious Town & Country Resort in Mission Valley and featured a series of workshops and educational panels for Southern California musicians, followed by a music festival of up-and-coming artists from across the United States. This event featured many speakers and panelists who came to San Diego specifically for SDMT, which has become a signature event for San Diego musicians and music fans alike, and will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.

Now, as we prepare for our 24th annual San Diego Music Awards, my last as president of the San Diego Music Foundation, I would like to say thanks to our many longtime friends and sponsors, especially to our 2014

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SDMA presenting sponsors: Blue Moon Brewing Company, Deep Eddy Vodka and San Diego CityBeat. Thanks also go out to SoundDiego, Elite Staff Services, BMI, Taylor Guitars, Deering Banjos, SIR and Sound Image. Thanks also to our media partners: Yelp, Discover SD, 91X, KPRI, FM 94/9, Jazz 88, Rock 105.3 and 101 KGB. And, of course, we give a big thanks to our host venue, Humphreys by the Bay. To everyone on the Humphreys team, I say thank you so very much for once again hosting the event and making us feel at home. Thanks also go out to our volunteer event staff, San Diego Music Foundation Executive Director Marjy Taylor and to everyone who’s contributed to our cause and to our events this year.

On behalf of our board of directors, volunteer staff and music fans from all over San Diego County, congratulations to the 2014 nominees—your music continues to help make this city come alive. And, as always, a big thanks to everyone who continues to listen to, support and purchase music created

by San Diegans.

Enjoy the show!

Kevin Hellman, President, San Diego Music Foundation

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BENEFICIARY: GUITARS FOR SCHOOLS

The San Diego Music Foundation has been actively involved in keeping participatory music programs in San Diego County elementary, middle and high schools for almost 25 years.

During the past two-and-a-half decades, the foundation’s had a significant impact on the arts in city schools. Since its beginnings, the organization’s served more than 47,000 K-12 students in more than 75 schools from Chula Vista to San Onofre. And the program has recently expanded.

There’s no doubt that music is one of the things that can help shape a child’s life.

In addition to working with guitars, in 2014 From logic to math to teamwork, learning to the foundation was proud to announce that play an instrument can help provide many it’s now partnering developmental skills to with Deering Banjos, youngsters. And, it’s a lot which will allow it to of fun.

The Guitars for Schools provide programs The Guitars for Schools program was launched in with Deering Goodprogram was launched in 1990 in partnership with time banjos for use 1990 in partnership with in music classes.

Taylor Guitars, both as Taylor Guitars, both as a Guitar choices now way to augment existing a way to augment existing include Baby, Big programs and to offset programs and to offset the Baby or Solid Body the loss of arts instrucElectric Taylor loss of arts instruction due tion due to budget cuts. guitars.

The guitar’s familiarity

to budget cuts.

and popularity among young people makes it an excellent tool for getting them interested in both music and performing arts in general.

Funds are raised not only through the awards ceremony but also through a host of other related programs. There are activities year round that include showcases, concerts, the San Diego Music Thing, the annual educational music conference and the CityBeat Festival of Beers.

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The foundation has become an integral part of San Diego, helping the community in many ways. It brings music to local schools, helps support the area’s musicians and even helps spotlight San Diego-based instrument makers.

But perhaps more importantly, by bringing music back into the classroom, it’s helping seed future generations of composers, hitmakers and thinkers.

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INDUSTRY AWARD: TAYLOR GUITARS

You may not know Bob Taylor personally, but if you listen to modern music, you know his work. A musician, craftsman and businessman, Taylor is the rare guitarist whose name has become a household word, a rare mix of talent and drive that led to the founding of his namesake company, Taylor Guitars.

Interestingly, fate might have decreed a different outcome. The original name was to be the Westland Music Company. When a more compact logo was needed for the guitar’s headstock, “Taylor” fit the space.

Taylor’s love of the guitar goes back to his youth. He even built his first guitar during his junior year in high school.

Think being a musician is difficult? What Taylor has accomplished is nigh on impossible. Founding a fledgling company in 1974, he and partner Kurt Listug not only carved out a niche among already

Think being a musician is difficult?

What Taylor has accomplished is nigh on impossible.

established giants, they established a major new brand, quickly developing a diehard following.

The company’s attention to detail and wonderfulsounding instruments soon made them a must on any serious players list.

Taylor is now synonymous with guitars in general—and acoustic guitars in particular.

Taylor’s designs have become a favorite with some of the biggest artists in music, including Jason Mraz and Taylor Swift, Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, Cheap Trick and Jack Tempchin.

About 500 guitars a day are crafted by the company. From humble beginnings, Taylor Guitars has grown to more than 700 employees, a major part of the San Diego community, led by Taylor, a man who’s made a contribution to music that will truly last forever.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Taylor Guitars, the 2014 San Diego Music Awards presents Taylor Guitars with the 2014 San Diego Music Industry Award.

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LIFETIME AWARD: TOMCAT COURTNEY

The year 1971 might not immediately jump out as a particularly significant one in local history, but for the area’s blues fans, it was the start of something important.

That was the year guitarist Tomcat Courtney arrived in San Diego, a career move that saw him, during the next 43 years, become not only the father of the local blues scene but also a mentor and inspiration to a legion of performers following in his stride.

At 84, Courtney remains one of the busiest performers in Southern California. It’s a rare night that he can’t be found playing one of the area’s venues, with a current three-nightsa-week residency at The Turquoise in Pacific Beach. He’s made several albums, but aficionados know it’s the live stage where his take on the blues shines. These days, he performs solo, but he’s also fronted numerous bands, such as The Bluesdusters, who were active for 20 years from the early ’70s into the ’90s.

Courtney was born in Waco, Texas, on Jan. 23, 1929. It was still the days of plantations and hard living, but young Courtney found a joy in music. Although he’s known for his guitar work, it wasn’t his first or even second instrument.

“When I was a kid, I started out with the harmonica, and I played the coronet a little bit,” he says. “My dad used to play piano, so I played the piano a bit. We had an old beat-up piano in the house that my grandfather bought for my aunt when they were kids.

They must have kept that thing for years. My daddy used to play out, but he played piano on what they already had in the little joints.

“To tell you the truth, I never did like the piano,” he confides with a laugh.

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Tragedy set Courtney on a path toward entertainment, although not where one might expect.

“What happened is that when I was a kid, my parents died,” he explains. “And so I joined the circus. It was in the ’40s, and I was tap dancing—you see, that’s when they had minstrel shows. ... By ’43 and ’44, they were drafting everyone into the Army, so they had called the best dancers into the service.”

No, the Army wasn’t looking for the country’s best dancers. But dancers were joining the war effort, creating a void for Courtney, who was too young for military service, to help fill.

He joined The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

“They found out I could tap dance, so that’s how I got on that,” he says. “I danced with them... until the war ended.”

It was during this time that he began to play the six-string. “I kept messing around with the guitar, and I got good enough to play out a little. I was working all the time and playing little places. You know, at that time, people were still picking cotton. So, we would go out to these little towns and play on a Friday and Saturday night.

“I was 17 or 18 years old, and I got married.

So that’s going to slow you down,” he says with a hearty laugh. “I didn’t know that at the time. But I got with a kid who was a very good piano player out of Lubbock, Texas, and that’s what started me towards really playing.”

The San Diego Music Awards is honored to present Tomcat Courtney with the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Performers

The Midnight Pine

The Donkeys

Euphoria Brass Band

Joshua White

Robin Henkel

Tomcat Courtney

Todo Mundo

Tribal Theory

Led by the haunting voice of siren Shelbi Bennett, The Midnight Pine present a soundscape that’s equal parts sparse, hypnotic, eerie and beautiful. To keep the focus on the vocals, there are no traditional drums used, only found objects such as chains, saw blades and sheet metal, played by the extraordinary Alfred Howard. Ethereal, folky, psychedelic and pop, The Midnight Pine cover a lot of ground, an exercise in serene nonchalance. Their fulllength album Awake Now was released in 2012, earning the trophy for Best Local Recording at the 2013 San Diego Music Awards.

There’s no one quite like Robin Henkel.

He’s one of the area’s great guitarists, but it’s perhaps as an acoustic bluesman that he’s best known, and he’s also a virtuoso jazz, funk, country-swing, Hawaiian and Latin player. In 2000, he won Best Blues CD at the San Diego Music Awards for his album Highway. As great as his guitar playing is—there are few who can match his slide-guitar prowess—what really sets Henkel apart is his manic performing style: brash and in-your-face, but also endearing and welcoming. With a terrific sense of humor and a knack for storytelling, a Henkel set is guaranteed to leave you thoroughly entertained.

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Best friends Timothy DeNardo, Jessie Gulati, Anthony Lukens and Sam Sprague love to surf, drink cheap beer and jam as the sun sets over the Pacific. Shaped by the state’s music legacy—from Bakersfield to the Beach Boys, Sweethearts of the Rodeo through Slanted and Enchanted—The Donkeys are laid back, comfortable and cool. But if their backstory contains those top-down cars and suntanned utopian surf tableaus, it also carries the malaise and escape fantasies familiar to suburban kids of the ’80s and ’90s. Imagine Ray Davies jamming with The Byrds, or a Gene Clark-fronted Buffalo Springfield, and you’ll get a sense of the tradition that informs this band. The Donkeys are all about rolling down the windows, cranking up the stereo and hitting the open road: Maybe you’re running away, and maybe you’re not, but either way, everything’s going to be alright.

If a movie were made about bluesman Tomcat Courtney’s life, it’s likely people would find it unbelievable. Full of adventure, the story includes everything from a stint in the circus to a 20-year residency at Ocean Beach’s Texas Teahouse, starting in 1972, the year after he arrived in San Diego. Along the way, Courtney has schooled generations of local musicians and toured the world, including playing the Lucerne Blues Festival, Italy’s Marco Fiume Blues Passions Festival, France’s Bay-Car Blues Festival and the Lionel Hampton Jazz Club at Hotel Le Meridien in Paris. His 2008 album Downsville Blues reached No. 1 on several blues charts throughout Europe, and in 2010, he was invited to the prestigious Montreux Blues Festival and was inducted into the California Blues Hall of Fame.

With reverence to tradition while still letting the Southern California vibe shine through, Euphoria Brass Band have become a unique and exciting musical force in Southern California. Having grown up loving old-school New Orleans traditional brass-band jazz and street beats, longtime New Orleanians Ron Bocian (snare drum) and David Bandrowski (guitar / banjo) yearned to build a brass band on the West Coast in the style of their hometown.

Their dream came to fruition when they approached KSDS Jazz 88.3’s Second Line Parade host Drew Miller (bass drum) with the idea. Miller was acquainted with some of San Diego’s top horn players, and, in early 2011, the Euphoria Brass Band was born. EBB boasts a top-shelf horn section: JP Balmat, Steve Ebner, April West, Dave Jackson and “Tuba” Wayne Rice.

Todo Mundo, whose Organic Fire was voted Best World Music Album at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards, blends Spanish rumba, reggae, samba, bossa nova and Middle Eastern styles into an irresistible groove that’s been connecting with audiences since 2009. In 2013, Todo Mundo, led by singer, guitarist and songwriter Santiago Orozco, teamed up with Grammy-winning engineer Alan Sanderson and released Conexion, their latest full-length studio album. The album contains a masterful blend of grooves from around the world and has been nominated for Best World Music Album at this year’s event. The band maintains a busy, year-round touring schedule, yet work has already begun on an EP for release in 2015.

Pianist Joshua White may be known as one of the area’s rising jazz stars, but he had parallel training in classical and gospel music before encountering jazz at a UCSD summer camp in 2003. He began formal piano training at age 7 and was shaped early on by the music of Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and others. After competing in several classical piano competitions and also becoming the organist / pianist at his local church, White (at age 18) chose to focus his studies on jazz and improvisation. In the ensuing years, he’s become an integral part of the San Diego music community, found in the role of sideman as often as the leader of his own combo, The Joshua White Quartet, a bicoastal group focused on interpreting original compositions, as well as exploring the boundaries of collective improvisation.

Tribal Theory are all about rhythm. Sure, they spotlight island sounds with reggae and ska, plus a dash of rock, but this is music that makes you want to move and can be traced to the band’s roots in a Polynesian dance group.

What began almost a decade ago as a group of friends jamming by bonfires and barbecue pits soon turned into something more substantial. Their debut full-length, Hell of a Night, was released in August 2012, winning Best World Music Album at the 2013 San Diego Music Awards.

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ALBUM OF THE YEAR NOMINEES O F F I C I A L

Jason Mraz

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe

Little Hurricane

Nickel Creek

Steve Poltz

Switchfoot

The Burning of Rome

Tribal Seeds

Yes! Even in a career with as many highs as Jason Mraz’s, 2014 has been a standout year. Yes! slightly updates Mraz’s sound, bringing him closer to the ambienttouched acoustic pop of Pre Fab Sprout or Crowded House. It charted at No. 2, making it his fourth top-five album in a row. He opened his new world tour here, with a three-night, sold-out run at the Civic Theatre. His latest single, “Love Someone,” charted in five countries. And he received the ultimate honor from San Diego, when the city declared Aug. 9 Jason Mraz Day.

The Accident The Accident, the 10th solo release from Steve Poltz, one of San Diego’s most beloved tunesmiths, is full of his sing-along melodies, often-satirical lyrics and goodtime vibes. A listen to a Poltz album at this point in the prolific songwriter’s career is like hanging with an old friend; some of the stories may have a familiar ring to them, but it sure is good to hear them.

Perennially on the road, Poltz is one of the pioneers of the modern singer-songwriter circuit. In 2000, he was awarded “San Diego’s Most Influential Artist of the Decade” at the SDMAs.

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New Ammo Led by saxophonist Karl Denson, the band’s latest album is a terrific blast of Hammond organ and horn-drenched R&B, jazz and funk. He’s joined by a number of special guests, including Mike Dillon, The Cosmic Horns and Nicki Bluhm, who adds vocals to the first single “My Baby.”

Released via Slightly Stoopid’s label, the album’s 13 tracks include originals and covers of the likes of The White Stripes, Beastie Boys and Cold War Kids. New Ammo is packed with groove, energy and plenty of room for the members of the band to stretch out.

Fading West The latest from alternative rockers Switchfoot is a combination album and documentary release. The film mixed behind-the-scenes footage of the band recording and performing alongside images of them engaged in their other favorite pastime, surfing. The album, their ninth studio work, maintained the upward trajectory of their last three releases, charting at No. 6, with three singles issued: “Who We Are,” “Love Alone is Worth the Fight” and “When We Come Alive.”

Gold Fever There are other two-person bands out there, but none can match the vocal contrast of Little Hurricane’s Anthony “Tone” Catalano and drummer Celeste “C.C.” Spina. In 2014, the pair delivered one of the most anticipated albums of the year, Gold Fever. But Little Hurricane didn’t reinvent the wheel; instead, they showed that their smoking-hot 2011 debut, Homewrecker, was no one-off fluke.

For their third album, and their second composed of originals, the fuzz-blues duo came up with another dozen winners, from the loping garage-rock opener “Summer Air” to the self-descriptive “Superblues.”

Year of the Ox You can’t pigeonhole The Burning of Rome.

Their sound is a dizzying kaleidoscope of influences, somewhere between goth, carnival garage rock and psychedelia—but with enough melodic edge that their song “Cowboys & Cut Cigars” became the official 2014 touchdown song for the Dallas Cowboys. The Burning of Rome’s third album, Year of the Ox, was produced by group leader Adam Traub and Butthole Surfers’ Paul Leary and has guest performances by Matt Chamberlain, Dale Crover and drummer Josh Freese. As lofty as those names are, it’s the songs that matter, and with Year of the Ox, Traub once again comes up with a batch of winners.

A Dotted Line One of the year’s biggest surprises was the return of Nickel Creek, following a hiatus that began in 2007. Their seventh album overall and first for new label Nonesuch, it spawned two singles, “Destination” and “Love of Mine,” as well as a national tour. It’s impossible to take a seven-year break and not come back a little changed, and, indeed, there’s a new maturity in their music. But longtime fans will be happy to know that the band’s playful spirit and virtuoso performances remain intact.

Representing Six-man band Tribal Seed’s music may fall in the category of reggae or world music, but their sound is more expansive than that. Adding a touch of Caribbean and rock steady and a large helping of soul, the group excels at tunes that are as hook-filled as they are bass-heavy. Tribal Seeds’ debut disc, 2012’s Hell of a Night, won Best World Music Album at the 2013 SDMAs.

2014 SAN DIEGO MUSIC AWARDS

NOMINEES Best Cover Band

Best Hip Hop

Best New Artist

Best Jazz

Best Pop

Best Pop Album

Cash’d Out Detroit Underground Electric Waste Band Lady Dottie and the Diamonds Left4Dead Liquid Blue The Bajabugs West of 5 Allison Adams Tucker Quartet Danny Green Trio Gilbert Castellanos Joshua White Red Fox Tails Steph Johnson Sue Palmer Tiffany Jane and The Kicks Best Singer-Songwriter

A.J. Croce Dawn Mitschele John Meeks Lacy Younger Gregory Page Sierra West Tolan Shaw Trent Hancock Best Blues

Bayou Brothers Bill Magee Blues Band Mercedes Moore Band Michele Lundeen Missy Andersen Nathan James Robin Henkel Tomcat Courtney Best World Music

B-Side Players Cumbia Machin Patric Petrie Piracy Conspiracy Restoration One The Devastators Todo Mundo Tribal Theory Best Americana

El Monte Slim Jesse LaMonaca & The Dime Novels Nancarrow Nena Anderson River City Sara Petite The Peripherals Trouble in the Wind

2014 SAN DIEGO MUSIC AWARDS

Brothers Burns & J. Phatts Demi Daygo Mitchy Slick Odessa Kane Oso Ocean Parker and the Numberman The Lyrical Groove Vokab Kompany Dr. Seahorse Ed Ghost Tucker Josh Damigo & the Freeloaders Neon Cough Nicky Venus Social Club The Shifty Eyed Dogs The Silent Comedy Best Alternative

Dead Feather Moon Idyll Wild New Mexico Shake Before Us The Heavy Guilt The Touchies We Are Sirens Wild Wild Wets Best Rock

Blackout Party Grand Tarantula Jet West Lexington Field The Beautiful View The Farmers The Paragraphs The Young Wild Best Hard Rock

Boy King Carnifex Griever Head Trip Superstar Retox Roni Lee Schitzophonics Wovenwar Best Club DJ

Adam Salter DJ Demon Diana Death DJ Artistic DJ Heather Hardcore Gabe Vega Junior the Disco Punk Saul Q

9 Theory Cody Lovaas Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio Neighbors to the North Soft Lions Prayers The Routine Triumph of the Wild Alaina Blair, Here I Am Blaise Guld, Past Forward Falling Doves, Ready to Go Gayle Skidmore, Sleeping Bear Lisa Sanders, Shiver Neon Cough, The Aquarian Normandie Wilson, Geography and Other Problems Sister Speak, Rise Up For Love Best Rock Album

Boxcar Chief, Vagabond Danny and the Tramp, All In Hills Like Elephants, Bedroom Colonies Vol. 1 Playfight, Mutt (EP) Stone Horse, Grit The Donkeys, Ride the Black Wave The New Regime, Exhibit A Wicked Tongues, Wicked Tongues (EP) Best Alternative Album

Days of Light Gravity, Games to Play in the Rain Hocus, Outside Your Door Ilya, In Blood Little Hurricane, Gold Fever Okapi Sun, Techno Prisoners The Burning of Rome, Year of the Ox Transfer, Shadow Aspect Drunkin Punkin Idiots, Smashed Best Hard Rock Album

Boy King, Master Carnifex, Die Without Hope Earthless, From the Ages Eukaryst, Dreams in the Witch House Killing the Messenger, What Matters Most (EP) My Iron Lung, Relief Seventrain, Seventrain Sprung Monkey, Dead is Dead

Best Hip Hop Album

Dag Savage, E&J Dre Trav, Dualism Far From Ya Average, The Basement LP Legacy Pack, Fruit of Knowledge Lyrical Groove, Spoken Soul Mitchy Slick, Call of Duty (South East Edition) Oso Ocean, Whole 9.2 (feat. Mitchy Slick) Vokab Kompany, V-Sides Vol. 1 (Kollabs and Remixes) Best Blues Album

Ben Powell, Rise Up Singing Black Market III, Black Roses Chet & The Committee, For Love or Money Euphoria Brass Band, EBB & Flow Jack City Blues Band, Wide Open Blues Rebecca Jade & the Cold Fact, Rebecca Jade & the Cold Fact Ruby Blue, Revealed Sharifah and The Good Thing, Real Soul Best Jazz Album

Holly Hofmann, Low Life: The Alto Flute Project Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine, It’s About Time Justin Grinnell Quartet, Without You Nathan Hubbard, Encinitas and Everything After Patrick Yandall, Soul Grind Peter Sprague, Ocean In Your Eyes Pocket, The Stick Bag Wayne Riker, Groovin’ With the Top Brass Best Americana Album

Erik Canzona, The Narrows High Rolling Loners, Match and Kerosene Jimmy Ruelas, I Shall Not Be Moved!

Katie Leigh & The Infantry, March Peter Bolland, Two Pines Podunk Nowhere, Crackle and Shake Soda Pants, Soda Pants The Midnight Pine, Buried Best World Music Album

Anoushka Shankar, Traces of You Island Boy, Basic Instincts Maka Roots, Hearted One Project Out of Bounds, Love Tones SM Familia, La Familia (EP) Todo Mundo, Conexion Tribal Seeds, Representing The OSS, 4th Wave

Best Live Band

Rocket From the Crypt Schitzophonics Slightly Stoopid The Burning of Rome The Creepy Creeps The Frights The Silent Comedy Whitney Shay Best Music Video by a San Diego Band

B-Side Players, Rocky Road Burning of Rome, God of Small Things Jason Mraz, Love Someone Little Hurricane, Sheep in Wolves Clothes Neon Cough, Enough of this World Prayers, Gothic Summer Sprung Monkey, Dead is Dead Switchfoot, Love Alone is Worth the Fight Best Local Recording

Alison Marae, My Heart Can’t Take It Action Andy & The Hi-Tones, High & Lonesome Cathryn Beeks, Wishing Rock Mother Belle, Hand Made Teagan Taylor Trio, Hello The Lovebirds, Breakup Shmakeup The Unconditionals, Magic Pill Triumph of the Wild, Triumph of the Wild Boy Artist of the Year

Jason Mraz Joshua White Little Hurricane Steph Johnson Switchfoot The Burning of Rome The Midnight Pine The Silent Comedy Song of the Year

Anoushka Shankar, Traces of You (feat. Norah Jones) The Burning of Rome, God of Small Things Jason Mraz, Love Someone Little Hurricane, Sheep In Wolves Clothes Nickel Creek, Destination Switchfoot, Love Alone Is Worth The Fight Paul Cannon Band, Thinking Bout You Tribal Seeds, Blood Clot (feat. Don Carlos)

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an d

Kinsee Morlan

s t e l k r Pa -ups pop

Tactical urbanism is finally on the rise in historically slow San Diego by

Kinsee Morlan

B

eryl Forman and Steve Aldana of the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association are squeezed together in the shade of a small umbrella propped up over their table. A week ago, the outdoor patio they’re enjoying was just another parking space; now it’s San Diego’s second-ever official “parklet.”

Carlos Solo rio

San Diego’s second-ever parklet

“It’s done, but it definitely took longer than we expected,” Aldana says, estimating that the project was in the works for more than a year.

“At least we now know the notarized letters the city accepts versus the ones they don’t,” Forman laughs. “There was a lot of back and forth like that with the city.”

“I honestly thought I could get this done in three or four months,” adds Jorge Michios—a recent architecture-school graduate who donated his services for the project—showing up at the parklet a few minutes later. “I just didn’t know how slow the wheels of the machine actually turn.”

Parklets are loosely defined as small, outdoor seating areas that often take over one or two existing parking spots, temporarily reclaiming the space for pedestrians and improving the aesthetics and streetscape of the urban environment.

While San Francisco is now home to nearly 50 of them, San Diego is still in the nascent stages of its so-called “Temporary Pedestrian Plaza Pilot Program.” Here, parkelts are officially called “temporary pedestrian plazas” due to liability concerns.

San Diego has historically been reluctant to do these types of tactical-urbanism projects. Tactical urbanism refers to projects meant to be quick, easy, cheap, temporary and creative. While cities like San Francisco

From left: Jorge Michios, Beryl Forman, Edward Haidar and Steve Aldana at the new parklet in North Park and Chicago were quick to catch on, San Diego has only recently seen a noticeable uptick in interest and enthusiasm from City Hall.

San Diego’s newest parklet, costing $12,000, is a small seating area that meets the sidewalk in front of the Live Wire bar and Mama’s Bakery & Lebanese Deli near the intersection of Alabama Street and El Cajon Boulevard in University Heights. A bike corral will soon go in at one end of the parklet, and bigger umbrellas and other amenities will be added, too.

The space is roughly 900 square feet, but Sam Chammas, who owns Live Wire and leases Mama’s to Edward Haidar, says it has huge potential for making a much broader impact. Chammas and Haidar helped the El Cajon Boulevard Business Improvement Association fund the parklet and the city required Chammas, as the property owner, to assume all liability and responsibility for its maintenance and repair. He says it was well worth the risk.

“I showed the deal to my attorney, and he was, like, ‘You’re nuts if you say yes to this,’” Chammas says. “But I really thought about it, and I go, ‘You know what, enough

people say no in San Diego. There is so much positive if we say yes to this and not let this mini ounce of risk keep us from doing something really cool.’”

Elizabeth Studebaker, who works as the mayor’s advocate for business-improvement districts and is helping to shepherd the Temporary Pedestrian Plaza Pilot Program forward, says the city is streamlining and improving its process. Eventually, she says, it’ll be much easier for private businesses or other entities to fund and create a public parklet—er, temporary pedestrian plaza.

Under the pilot program, the city wants to see three more projects built before it cements its policies and procedures. Officials want to collect more data and analyze what’s working and what isn’t. Studebaker says she’s surprised it’s taken so long for another parklet to pop up after the first one in North Park, which opened in front of Caffe Calabria on 30th Street in 2013, but she’s happy to report that the city’s been seeing a growing interest.

Another parklet in front of Super Cocina

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 35

Kinsee Morlan

Kinsee Morlan

Downtown’s Donut Bar celebrated Park(ing) Day on Sept. 19. on University Avenue in City Heights is close to being permitted, and a handful of parklets are being planned for Little Italy. Studebaker says that while the structures can be costprohibitive for some small businesses—ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, with a city permit costing a flat rate of $1,200—a lot of folks see parklets’ inherent economic value.

“They’re good for business,” Studebaker says. “Adding social-gathering areas, public plazas—those are proven to be a benefit for commercial areas.”

As the city continues to get its parklet program off the ground, other tactical urbanism and creative place-making projects are beginning to pop up all over San Diego.

The most noticeable will soon replace the empty, city-owned plot of land Downtown at the corner of Park Boulevard and Market Street, which is being transformed

David Loewenstein in front of the future home of Quartyard into a temporary urban pop-up park complete with office space, a restaurant, café and bar, all housed in shipping containers.

The park will also include a dog park, a beer garden and food-truck parking.

Dubbed the Quartyard, it’s the first big project by new architecture and development firm Rad Lab, which raised $60,000 for the park in 30 days through Kickstarter and was able to round up another roughly $450,000 from investors.

David Loewenstein, who runs Rad Lab with fellow NewSchool of Architecture +

36 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

Design graduate students, says that while they initially thought the project could be completed much cheaper and faster, the team quickly learned that working with the city takes time and finesse.

“To get the building department to understand that we wanted to put 15 shipping containers in the middle of Downtown and turn them into bars and offices and restaurants and things like that was a pretty big challenge,” he says. “And to get the city to say, ‘Hey, we do have this piece of land that we’re not using; let’s do something with

it,’ was also a challenge. But in the bigger scheme of things, it really only took us a year between the final plan and full buildout, so it’s gone quite fast.”

“San Diego has jumped leaps and bounds from what they have been known for and what they were able to do on this project,” he added.

Downtown San Diego Partnership (DSDP), an influential nonprofit that advocates for businesses and residents in the city center, is a leader when it comes to tactical urbanism. Among other creative ventures, the group’s been successful in getting businesses to celebrate Park(ing) Day, an annual event that asks folks to transform parking spots into a public park on the third Friday in September.

At the Park(ing) Day event a few weeks ago, DSDP unveiled a rough draft of its upcoming mobile parklet, which will move to locations throughout Downtown to help the organization determine the best locations for parklets. DSDP is working out permitting issues but says the city is warming up to tactical urbanism—City Council President Todd Gloria’s office even funded the mobile parklet.

“They’re getting to a place where they feel empowered to say yes,” says DSDP spokesperson Jennifer Davies. “We call it ‘pink tape’ as opposed to red tape; obstacles and barriers are being cautiously removed.”

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

Seen Local

Susan Myrland

The dividing line When the folks at the Feminist Image Group (FIG) set out to organize an exhibition themed on the United States-Mexico border, they didn’t know how big a role the notorious congestion at the crossing would end up playing.

“The cleared-up border would have helped,” says FIG member and founder Anna Stump, referring to the recent opening of extra lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which has shortened wait times significantly. “The Tijuana artists could have come over here or we could have gone down.”

Instead, the Fence / Barda exhibition, featuring all female artists and showing at Art Produce (3139 University Ave. in North Park) through Oct. 25, ended up being a challenging logistical undertaking for FIG and Distrito Diez, the Tijuana gallery that curated the work of the south-of-the-border artists, with help from Tijuana writer and photographer Jill Holslin.

Art Produce is cut in half by a fence running through the center of the show. On one side, the San Diego artists collaborated on an installation that plays with the metaphor of birds migrating freely over the border. Much of the work is noticeably craftier, with a DIY aesthetic (partly because students were involved), and far more optimistic, contrasting with the work on the Tijuana side—a collection of higherend work that often illustrates the harsh or cumbersome realities of border life.

Stump says the show’s dramatic juxtaposition is, in part, due to the difficulty communicating and

The opening of Fence / Barda collaborating with the Tijuana artists. Long waits at the border and language and cultural barriers made it hard to work closely together. Ultimately, neither side knew what the other was doing. Stump, though, thinks the result is fascinating.

“I was interested in the fact that our side looks more whimsical and hands-on,” she says. “Even the way things are hung—the way these head sculptures are facing away from the wall—is interesting to me.”

Dozens of artists participated, including FIG members Grace Gray-Adams, Bhavna Mehta, Cindy Zimmerman, Nilly Gill and Lauren Carrera. Tijuana artists include Panca, Fio Zemjim, Marta Soto and Gabriela Escárcega, whose sculpture “Woman on Fire” is featured on CityBeat’s cover this week.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, organizers of the show will lead a discussion at the gallery on the rewards and challenges of putting together binational exhibitions. Stump says even the show’s name will likely be debated.

“In Tijuana, it’s often called the wall, but we called it Fence,” she says.

—Kinsee Morlan

Going global

ket,” she says. “How do you do that better than netIn a banner year for border-themed art shows, the working? By introducing artists to artists all over San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park (SDAI) is the world and forming those relationships, because thinking worldwide. that’s how artists’ careers develop, [through] their Beyond Limits: Postglobal Mediations opens Fri- peers and their network. We need to broaden that day, Oct. 3, after almost two years in the making. Co- network outside of just San Diego.” curated by SDAI Executive Director Ginger Shulick Porcella is bringing in artists like Jamaican Porcella and collaborator Denise Carvalho, it’s the Marlon Griffith, whose video recently premiered Southern California site for the Mediations Bien- at London’s Tate Britain, Peruvian-Brit-American nale, an art-and-scholarly-discourse event happening Cesar Cornejo and the Toyko / Oslo team of Miho in nearly a dozen countries.

Shimizu and Øyvind RenBeyond Limits kicks off with berg, who call themselves a preview and community diaDanger Museum. logue with all 31 artists from 5 The local contingent has to 7 p.m. on Friday, followed by some well-known names: Deba reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on by and Larry Kline, Einar and Saturday, Oct. 4. The six-week Jamex de la Torre, Jose Hugo run includes performances Sanchez and Margaret Noble. around Balboa Park, a talk at Noble’s installation “Dorian’s the Centro Cultural Tijuana Gray” inaugurates SDAI’s new and video screenings at the media gallery, housed in what Reuben H. Fleet Science Cenwas a little-used administrater’s IMAX Dome Theater. tive space.

The show was originally Noble uses glittering sur“The Post-Apocalyptic Coffee House” faces and ornate picture frames planned for Louisville, Kenby Debby and Larry Kline splashed with light to convey tucky, but Porcella retooled it when she moved to San Diego in February. It now fea- how we present ourselves online and where that ditures a mix of international and U.S. artists, with local verges from reality. She’s enthusiastic about where representation spanning from Los Angeles to Tijuana. Porcella is taking SDAI and about the opportunity to The show’s saying is “no boundaries,” and the scope work alongside artists from around the world. integrates conceptual art and video—fresh genres in “This is new!” she says cheerfully. “The Art Instia venue known for traditional sculpture and painting. tute is really getting interesting.”

Porcella believes that a more dynamic experience will —Susan Myrland expand the organization’s appeal, engaging regional Write to kinseem@sdcitybeat.com audiences as well as tourists visiting the park. “[We’re] preparing local artists for a global mar- and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 37

Seen Local

Susan Myrland

The dividing line When the folks at the Feminist Image Group (FIG) set out to organize an exhibition themed on the United States-Mexico border, they didn’t know how big a role the notorious congestion at the crossing would end up playing.

“The cleared-up border would have helped,” says FIG member and founder Anna Stump, referring to the recent opening of extra lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which has shortened wait times significantly. “The Tijuana artists could have come over here or we could have gone down.”

Instead, the Fence / Barda exhibition, featuring all female artists and showing at Art Produce (3139 University Ave. in North Park) through Oct. 25, ended up being a challenging logistical undertaking for FIG and Distrito Diez, the Tijuana gallery that curated the work of the south-of-the-border artists, with help from Tijuana writer and photographer Jill Holslin.

Art Produce is cut in half by a fence running through the center of the show. On one side, the San Diego artists collaborated on an installation that plays with the metaphor of birds migrating freely over the border. Much of the work is noticeably craftier, with a DIY aesthetic (partly because students were involved), and far more optimistic, contrasting with the work on the Tijuana side—a collection of higherend work that often illustrates the harsh or cumbersome realities of border life.

Stump says the show’s dramatic juxtaposition is, in part, due to the difficulty communicating and

The opening of Fence / Barda collaborating with the Tijuana artists. Long waits at the border and language and cultural barriers made it hard to work closely together. Ultimately, neither side knew what the other was doing. Stump, though, thinks the result is fascinating.

“I was interested in the fact that our side looks more whimsical and hands-on,” she says. “Even the way things are hung—the way these head sculptures are facing away from the wall—is interesting to me.”

Dozens of artists participated, including FIG members Grace Gray-Adams, Bhavna Mehta, Cindy Zimmerman, Nilly Gill and Lauren Carrera. Tijuana artists include Panca, Fio Zemjim, Marta Soto and Gabriela Escárcega, whose sculpture “Woman on Fire” is featured on CityBeat’s cover this week.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, organizers of the show will lead a discussion at the gallery on the rewards and challenges of putting together binational exhibitions. Stump says even the show’s name will likely be debated.

“In Tijuana, it’s often called the wall, but we called it Fence,” she says.

—Kinsee Morlan

Going global

ket,” she says. “How do you do that better than netIn a banner year for border-themed art shows, the working? By introducing artists to artists all over San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park (SDAI) is the world and forming those relationships, because thinking worldwide. that’s how artists’ careers develop, [through] their Beyond Limits: Postglobal Mediations opens Fri- peers and their network. We need to broaden that day, Oct. 3, after almost two years in the making. Co- network outside of just San Diego.” curated by SDAI Executive Director Ginger Shulick Porcella is bringing in artists like Jamaican Porcella and collaborator Denise Carvalho, it’s the Marlon Griffith, whose video recently premiered Southern California site for the Mediations Bien- at London’s Tate Britain, Peruvian-Brit-American nale, an art-and-scholarly-discourse event happening Cesar Cornejo and the Toyko / Oslo team of Miho in nearly a dozen countries.

Shimizu and Øyvind RenBeyond Limits kicks off with berg, who call themselves a preview and community diaDanger Museum. logue with all 31 artists from 5 The local contingent has to 7 p.m. on Friday, followed by some well-known names: Deba reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on by and Larry Kline, Einar and Saturday, Oct. 4. The six-week Jamex de la Torre, Jose Hugo run includes performances Sanchez and Margaret Noble. around Balboa Park, a talk at Noble’s installation “Dorian’s the Centro Cultural Tijuana Gray” inaugurates SDAI’s new and video screenings at the media gallery, housed in what Reuben H. Fleet Science Cenwas a little-used administrater’s IMAX Dome Theater. tive space.

The show was originally Noble uses glittering sur“The Post-Apocalyptic Coffee House” faces and ornate picture frames planned for Louisville, Kenby Debby and Larry Kline splashed with light to convey tucky, but Porcella retooled it when she moved to San Diego in February. It now fea- how we present ourselves online and where that ditures a mix of international and U.S. artists, with local verges from reality. She’s enthusiastic about where representation spanning from Los Angeles to Tijuana. Porcella is taking SDAI and about the opportunity to The show’s saying is “no boundaries,” and the scope work alongside artists from around the world. integrates conceptual art and video—fresh genres in “This is new!” she says cheerfully. “The Art Instia venue known for traditional sculpture and painting. tute is really getting interesting.”

Porcella believes that a more dynamic experience will —Susan Myrland expand the organization’s appeal, engaging regional Write to kinseem@sdcitybeat.com audiences as well as tourists visiting the park. “[We’re] preparing local artists for a global mar- and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 37

38 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 39

Marital hiss David Fincher’s scathing, venomous relationship nightmare

by Glenn Heath Jr. Hollywood is constantly fabricating lies about intimacy. Still, we crave more, hoping for a chance to partake in our own ultimate storybook romance. The great simplification of love makes happiness seem easily attainable, leaving room for a dangerous shift in perception to occur. The alternate reality gets taken as gospel, and everyday life becomes equated with the constructed perspective of movie time. Quixotic expectations and inevitable disappointment follow.

Hearts are broken.

Gone Girl takes gleeful pleasure in detonating this myth and exposing the sinister remains. Instead of allowing emotional entitlement to exist as a redeemable trait, David Fincher’s hissing and venomous Ben Affleck’s in hot water. black comedy confronts the cost of living (and believing) in the me-first fantasy. Those webs usually and manic revelations, but these are all in service of woven behind closed doors become public property, the film’s grotesque view of modern relationships as blasted outward for the world to misrepresent and an experience to be publicly consumed. “Once someco-opt for its own selfish purposes. thing is out there, there’s no going back,” says one Adapted from Gillian Flynn’s mega-bestseller, character, highlighting the rapid pace with which Gone Girl centers on the mysterious disappearance our decisions are made available for condemnation. of Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), whose smug hus- News vans and neighborhood folks encircle Nick’s band Nick (Ben Affleck) becomes the prime suspect posh home like sharks sniffing for blood, occasionally after detectives begin to dismantle the couple’s per- yelling out to inspire new reactions or stories. It feels fect façade. Multiple perspectives converge during a lot like Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole, another great the investigation, with Amy’s voiceover framing be- film about the calculated manifestation of hysteria. guiling sequences that piece together her relationNot simply interested in the way modern intimacy ship with Nick. becomes skewered by the traps Placed like clues for the auof technology, Fincher examines dience to discover, these flashhow we self-invent dramas withGone Girl backs are crumbs in a much largin relationships in order to feign Directed by David Fincher er bread trail. During their first emotion to the outside world.

Starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund date, the couple walks through Since we believe everyone else Pike, Kim Dickens and Tyler Perry an alley, flirting and fawning is watching our every move, it’s Rated R amid a plume of sugar dust drifta devious way to gain leverage ing out of a local bakery. Nick over our significant others. Gone paints a white outline on Amy’s Girl traces this elaborate trajeclips before moving in for the sweet kiss. Despite the tory through a heightened and pulpy lens, letting a romantic intent, the moment has a morbid feel, her purveying sense of absurdity run through its veins chalky and drained skin evoking the complexion of a like heroin. decomposing angel.

During one of the more tenuous moments in As Amy’s disappearance becomes a national Gone Girl—which opens Friday, Oct. 3—Nick hilarinews story and Nick’s guilt is ordained in the public ously urges one of his confidants, “I need you to take eye, Gone Girl turns into a savage examination of an this seriously.” With people wearing so many masks America where perception and judgment occur 140 these days, is this even possible anymore? Fincher’s characters at a time. Technology’s made everyone elaborate web of a film doesn’t think so, suggesting storytellers, but Fincher suggests that it’s also turned that sacred vows like marriage and love are no lonus all into carnivorous feelers hoping to express our- ger personal, but new gladiatorial sports open for selves more loudly than anyone else. Everyone from all to see. the news media to selfie-taking despair groupies Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com help fortify this newly minted home front.

Much of Gone Girl depends on salacious twists and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Green monster

The Two Faces of January

40 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

“There’s a sucker born every minute.” Chester McFarland (Viggo Mortensen) utters these fateful words to his wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) as they saunter through the Parthenon in Athens. Classily dressed and relaxed, the snazzy couple evokes an image of Kennedy-era fantasy—strong and sophisticated Americans with an

idealistic streak. But their reality is far more fragile.

Set in 1962, Two Faces of January exposes the doubt within a relationship that’s been long festering. Forced out of New York City because of some crooked investments, Chester now finds himself pursued by loan sharks representing the shady clients he swindled.

Colette itches for a way out.

In Greece, the McFarlands

meet a mysterious American, Rydal (Oscar Isaac), who’s been working as a tour guide in order to escape his own homegrown trauma. Through a precarious series of chance events, the trio becomes shackled together by mutual guilt.

Hossein Amini (who wrote the script for Drive) makes his feature directorial debut with this woozy if not sleight adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel. In the vein of Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan, one bad decision leads to another, creating a fatalistic tidal wave that threatens to destroy everyone. A union built out of circumstance soon turns dangerous for Chester and Rydal, who begin to spar regularly for Colette’s attention.

Other than the classic themes of jealousy and arrogance, Two Faces of January—which opens Friday, Oct. 3, and runs through Thursday, Oct. 9, at the Ken Cinema—doesn’t explore the psyche of its characters in very rewarding ways. The film has an elegance that covers up the seedier aspects, but it lacks the interior rage of Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. These human cockroaches play games on the surface, leaving little in the way of mystery as they dig their own graves.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

Opening Annabelle: The creepy murderous doll from The Conjuring gets its own prequel.

Gone Girl: David Fincher adapts Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel with Ben Affleck in the lead as the suspicious husband whose beautiful wife (Rosamund Pike) suddenly goes missing. See our review on Page 40.

Hero of Color City: Crayon aficionados rejoice. Your dream movie has arrived.

Kelly & Cal: Juliette Lewis stars as a punk-rocker-turned-suburban-mother who starts to doubt her life change. Screens through Oct. 9 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Left Behind: Nicolas Cage does his best Kirk Cameron in this reimagining of the famous rapture novels from Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.

The Human Body: This amazing IMAX adventure goes inside the human body to explore the many dynamic changes that occur as we age. Screens at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.

The Liberator: The story of Simon Bolivar (Edgar Ramirez), who fought more than 100 battles against the Spanish throughout South America, liberating indigenous people from European colonialism.

The Two Faces of January: Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst are on the run in Europe and get entangled with another mysterious American (Oscar Isaac) with a shady past. Screens through Oct. 9 at the Ken Cinema. See our review on Page 40.

One Time Only The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog: In Alfred Hitchcock’s silent thriller, a landlady begins to suspect that her new lodger may be a serial killer. Screens at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, at The Whaley House in Old Town.

The Devil Wears Prada: Goddess of style Meryl Streep gives Anne Hathaway’s young fashionista a lesson in corporate warfare. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

The Godfather: Loyalty means you don’t get a horse’s head in your bed. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, through Saturday, Oct. 4, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Chef: A disgraced chef decides to leave the high-end culinary scene and open his own food truck. It’s part of an event that begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, behind the North Park Theatre.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry star in this cheeky comedy about a teenager who discovers she’s the descendant of family destined to kill vampires. Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, at the Arclight Cinemas in La Jolla.

Insomnia: In Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Erik Skjoldbjærg’s 1997 thriller, a worn-out detective (Al Pacino) travels to the wintry north to investigate a grisly murder. Screens at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, at Arclight La Jolla.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: A calm and collected man uses scientific experiments to bring out his violent alter ego. Screens at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at The Whaley House in Old Town.

The Big Lebowski: “Smokey, this is not ’Nam. This is bowling. There are rules.”

Walter abides in the Coen brothers’ comedy of acidic errors. Screens at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 8, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

American Mustang: Shot and presented in 3D, this epic film charts the debate raging between activists and ranchers over the migration of wild horses through the Midwest. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at AMC Mission Valley.

Now Playing Hector and the Search for Happiness: Simon Pegg plays a conflicted psychologist who leaves his humdrum life in London to travel the globe and research what makes people happy.

Jimi: All is by My Side: Andre Benjamin takes on the role of legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix in this biopic about the musician’s rise to fame.

Last Days in Vietnam: Documentary that uses archival footage and interviews to explore the timeline of the United States’ military withdrawal at the end of the Vietnam War. The Boxtrolls: An evil exterminator threatens a community of cave-dwelling trash collectors who’ve raised a young, orphaned boy as their own.

The Equalizer: Denzel Washington takes names and kicks ass in this remake of the 1980s television show.

Tracks: Mia Wasikowska plays a young woman who goes on an epic journey across the deserts of western Australia with her animal companions.

Vivir es Facil con Ojos Cerrados: Antonio (Javier Camara), an English teacher and diehard Beatles fan, goes on a road trip in 1966 and attempts to meet John Lennon. Ends Oct. 2 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

A Walk Among the Tombstones: Liam Neeson scours the dark underbelly of the city in Scott Frank’s ghoulish crime film, looking for the killer of a drug kingpin’s beautiful wife.

My Old Lady: Kevin Kline plays an American who inherits an apartment in Paris that houses a mysterious resident. It co-stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith.

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

Blazing Saddles: Campfire farts for everyone! Screens at midnight on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Ken Cinema.

Beetlejuice: Ghosts run rampant in Tim Burton’s absurdist comedy about a couple trying to remove a bevy of phantasms from their new home. Screens at 7 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 5, at Arclight La Jolla.

Trust Me: Clark Gregg finally gets a leading role as a struggling talent agent who tries to salvage his career by signing a young Hollywood starlet. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, at the San Diego Public Library in East Village.

Psycho: Mother knows best. Screens at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, at Arclight La Jolla.

Anna: In this twisty sci-fi thriller, Mark Strong stars as a “memory detective” who rummages through people’s minds in order to cure their repressive tendencies.

Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library.

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 41

R underdogs ooting for the

Picks and predictions for the San Diego Music Awards’ overlooked categories by

Jeff Terich

E

very awards show has its overlooked categories: best costume design; best sound editing; best short-form foreign animated documentary, etc.

They’re not always the crowd pleasers, but they still deserve a look, if for no other reason than to highlight someone other than the stars of the show.

This holds true for the San Diego Music Awards, which carries a lot of buzz around its Artist and Album of the Year categories, and anything that involves guitars. But there’s a lot more diversity than that. So, in the interest of showcasing some hidden gems, here are my picks and predictions of who’ll win in some of the overlooked categories at the SDMAs, which will be held Monday, Oct. 6, at Humphreys by the Bay:

Best Blues Album

Best World Music Nominees: B-Side Players, Cumbia Machin, Patric Petrie, Piracy Conspiracy, Restoration One, The Devastators, Todo Mundo, Tribal Theory My pick: More than half of the nominees for Best World Music this year are, essentially, reggae bands. And I get it—reggae’s popular in San Diego. Really popular. And it has been for as long as I can remember. But it’s also one of those familiarity-breeds-contempt things; I don’t hate reggae, but I’m not terribly thrilled about another reggae band winning this year. I’d much rather it go to Cumbia Machin, whose unique cumbia-fusion sound is worth getting excited about.

Prediction: Precedent is likely to dictate how this goes, and I’m going to conservatively guess that the votes are going to the most familiar name: The B-Side Players.

Best Hip-Hop Nominees: Brothers Burns & J. Phatts, Demi Daygo, Mitchy Slick, Odessa Kane, Oso Ocean, Parker and the Numberman, The Lyrical Groove, Vokab Kompany My pick: Hip-hop isn’t an overlooked genre in general, but San Diego’s hip-hop community’s beef with the SDMAs goes back quite a while, based in part on some egregious snubs in the past (though old favorite Mitchy Slick did make the nominees list this year). They’ve partially righted some of those past wrongs, with a nominees list this year that’s pretty decent. My pick is Odessa Kane, who has yet to have his skills acknowledged by the academy.

Prediction: I’m gonna say The Lyrical Groove. Call it a hunch.

Nominees: Rise Up Singing by Ben Powell, Black Roses by Black Market III, For Love or Money by Chet & The Committee, EBB & Flow by Euphoria Brass Band, Wide Open Blues by Jack City Blues Band, Rebecca Jade & The Cold Fact by Rebecca Jade & The Cold Fact, Revealed by Ruby Blue, Real Soul

by Sharifah and the Good Thing My pick: Let’s talk about blues for a minute. San Diego’s more of a blues-rock town than a blues town, though plenty of musicians maintain some reverence for classic Delta vibes. Some of the nominees in the Best Blues Album category aren’t really that traditional; frankly some of them aren’t even necessarily blues. Take the Euphoria Brass Band, which is a brass band.

But that’s fine—this actually kind of doubles as a best R&B category, since there really isn’t one. Blues is what the “B” stands for, anyway, and for that reason, I’m throwing my weight behind Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact for their funky, feel-good neo-soul jams.

Prediction: Blues rock still tends to dominate, so I’m calling Black Market III on this one.

Best Jazz Album Nominees: Low Life: The Alto Flute Project by Holly Hofmann, It’s About Time by Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine, Without You

by Justin Grinnell Quartet, Encinitas and Everything After by Nathan Hubbard, Soul Grind by Patrick Yandall, Ocean in Your Eyes by Peter Sprague, The Stick Bag by Pocket, Groovin’ with the Top Brass by Wayne Riker My pick: Come to think of it, there’s actually a lot of slop as far as what “jazz” means, too. It can mean the groove-heavy soul-jazz of Pocket or the old-school big-band sound of Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine. But I’m opting for the most experimental of them all: Nathan Hubbard. He’s one of this town’s most innovative musicians in any genre, and the sheer ambition behind Encinitas and Everything After makes it worthy of a win.

Prediction: This feels more like a blank slate, but due to the accessibility factor, I’m going to guess Pocket takes this one home.

Best New Artist Nominees: 9 Theory, Cody Lovaas, Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio, Neighbors to the North, Soft Lions, Prayers, The Routine, Triumph of the Wild My pick: This is typically a closely watched category, but, by nature, Best New Artist exclusively comprises underdogs—like last year’s winners Soda Pants. My pick goes to Soft Lions, which isn’t entirely made of newcomers—each member is in or has been in another notable local band. But their moody, new wave-y indie rock certainly sounds good to my ears, so they get the gold star.

Prediction: Based solely on Facebook likes, The Routine.

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

Correction: Last week on this page, we reported that the Ought show was Oct. 10 at Soda Bar. It’s really on Oct. 6. Sorry!

42 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

notes from the smoking patio Ian Kasnoff

Locals Only Dirty-blues-rock guitarist and singer / songwriter Tim Lowman, aka Low Volts, has entered into a new partnership with Stone Brewing Co. Lowman is providing the soundtrack to a series of videos that tell the stories behind Stone’s beers.

When Stone first got in touch with Lowman, he sent the company his entire catalog, and Stone began to use selected songs right away. But shortly after, Stone commissioned him to write new music.

“I just basically plugged in my amp and played what I wanted to hear,” Lowman says of the new instrumentals.

So far, Lowman says Stone’s used about eight to 10 of his songs, half of which were written specifically for the project. He describes some as having a “high-desert style” similar to heavier bands like Queens of the Stone Age. Some are “nasty,” as he puts it, and others are “light and summery jams.” And he’s in the process of doing even more recording.

“I’ve been asked to do more,” he says. “So, I’m in the next phase of doing that, but, at the same time, I’m writing stuff for a new record.”

In fact, Lowman is working on two records. One will be the third proper Low Volts album and followup to 2012’s Oh My Stars. He recently spent a month on tour playing some of his new songs live, which he said have been drawing a good response from audi-

Low Volts ences. The other album will be a full-length instrumental record featuring some of the material he’s recorded for Stone, as well as some new pieces.

There’s a lot of work ahead of him, but for the time being, Lowman is focused on the Stone project.

“I’m stoked to be a part of something like this,” he says. “We are building something together.”

—Jeff Terich

Tag It and Bag It If you search for albums tagged “San Diego” on Bandcamp, you’ll find some interesting stuff. In this semiregular column, we sift through recent Bandcamp postings and report on our findings.

River Cabrilla, Cold: I don’t know how it’s possible, but chillwave is being kept alive despite having seemingly exhaled its dying breath a few years ago. River Cabrilla mixes beats and easy-going synths into a familiar and definitely chill sound. It’s not altogether offensive, but it’s hard to get excited about it when the original wave of artists has already moved on.

SandyCheeks, Endless Bummer: San Diego has so many guitar-based bands that it’s hard to know what to do with all of them. But I’m not about to say no to another one as raw and raucous as SandyCheeks.

This noisy group kicks ass, seemingly on the verge of coming off the rails at any given moment. That element of chaos—coupled with how catchy they are— is what makes them fun.

Castoff, Acquisition: Castoff have clearly spent some quality time with all of the Epitaph Records Punk-O-Rama compilations. They dispense tons of pick slides, skate-punk rhythms, sociopolitical verses that almost invariably begin with “We” and an earnestness that Greg Graffin would applaud. I can’t hate it, but it’s also a sound that hasn’t changed much in 25 years. A little bit of variation would go a long way here.

Goryl, The Father of Evil Witches: It’s hard not to

Bakkuda be won over by the title of this one. But this isn’t exactly a rip-roaring power-metal album. It’s a dark but strangely pretty instrumental release composed and performed entirely on guitar. So it’s closer to Earth than, say, Manowar. It’s almost meditative in its sustained notes and heavy atmosphere. Maybe not something I could listen to every day, but cool all the same.

Bakkuda, Bakkuda: Now we’re talking! This group combines a sultry R&B atmosphere with twinkling synthesizer sounds, which swell up into some epic hooks. It’s somewhere between M83 and Aaliyah, and that’s an even better combination than I’d ever imagined. Bakkuda is on to something cool here, and based on tracks like “Gravity” and “Missing Piece,” I’ll be interested to hear what’s next.

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

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 43

if i were u

BY Jeff Terich

Wednesday, Oct. 1 PLAN A: DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist @ House of Blues. If you haven’t yet, thumb through our Sept. 17 issue to read Scott McDonald’s story on DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. The turntablist duo built their tour around Afrika Bambaataa’s massive record collection, and this is sure to be a one-ofa-kind event. PLAN B: The New Mastersounds, Sure Fire Soul Ensemble @ The Hideout. The New Mastersounds are funky.

Really funky. Hammond-organ, chickengrease, sweat-dripping funky. No aficionado of groove would want to miss this show.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that a group of Brits can’t bring some deep, soulful jams.

Thursday, Oct. 2 PLAN A: Joyce Manor, Winter Break, The Exquisites @ The Irenic. Joyce Manor’s new album, Never Hungover Again, is 19 minutes long, and it’s a fine example of the state of punk in 2014. When you get down to it, it’s more or less a power-pop record with a bit of emo influence and shorter songs, and, yeah, it’s really fucking good. BACKUP PLAN: Blitzen Trapper, Cassorla @ The Casbah.

BACKUP PLAN: The Whigs, The Nervous Wreckords, Greylag @ The Casbah.

Sunday, Oct. 5 PLAN A: Sondre Lerche, TEEN @ House of Blues. I never really thought of Norwegian singer / songwriter Sondre Lerche as being emotionally poignant in a brutally honest way. But he just released a new album, Please, written about his recent divorce, and here we are. His knack for a good, breezy hook is still there, but there’s an exposed pain that wasn’t quite as apparent before. He took a risk, and it totally worked.

PLAN B: Slow Club, Roses @ Bar Pink.

The combination of sounds that Slow Club have going for them is an impressive one: psychedelic rock, Interpol-style post-punk, Spector-esque ’60s girl group atmosphere and even a little bit of orchestration just to elevate their dramatic pop. It’s good stuff for sure, and I doubt they’ll be playing venues as small as Bar Pink for long, so get on it.

BACKUP PLAN: Phaeleh, Illuminauts, Mystery Cave @ The Casbah.

Monday, Oct. 6

PLAN A: San Diego Music Awards with The Friday, Oct. 3 Donkeys, The Midnight PLAN A: Cymbals Eat Pine, Joshua White, more Guitars, Slothrust, In@ Humphreys Concerts by spired and the Sleep @ Soda the Bay. It’s awards season, Bar. Indie rock isn’t as exciting ladies and gentlemen, and as it used to be, back in San Diego’s top musithe ’90s (which explains cians are vying for honthe nostalgia overload ors once again—see Page right now). But there 42 for some of my picks. are always exceptions, But the performer lineup and Cymbals Eat Guitars this year is pretty strong, is one, having released as well, so one way or Justin Townes Earle a stunning, emotional another, you’ll get a good new album, LOSE. It’s easily the band’s show out of it. PLAN B: Ought, Viv Vates, best yet, featuring the kind of melodies for Joyce @ Soda Bar. Last week, Ben Salmon which all songwriters should strive. PLAN wrote about Canadian indie-rock quartet B: Blondie @ Harrah’s Resort. Blondie is Ought. The group balances melodic songone of those bands that I just expect every- writing with a taut, post-punk core—they one to like. Even “Rapture,” which has one get a lot of comparisons to Talking Heads, of the dorkiest raps of all time, is still about Slint and The Feelies, but it’s not just a as catchy and charming as new-wave songs reference point. They’re really that good. get. In less than a decade, they tackled about BACKUP PLAN: The King Khan and a half-dozen styles and sounds and looked BBQ Show, Javier Escovedo and the City great doing it. Still do, actually. BACKUP Lights, Northern Tigers @ The Casbah.

PLAN: Deep Sea Thunder Beast, Griever, Old Man Wizard @ Til-Two Club.

Tuesday, Oct. 7

Saturday, Oct. 4 PLAN A: Pinback, Tera Melos @ House of Blues. Saturday seems to be one of the sleepier nights of this week, with regard to live music anyway. But you could do a lot worse than seeing long-running group Pinback, who’ll be joined by animated and extra-fun math-rock combo Tera Melos.

44 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

PLAN A: Justin Townes Earle, American Aquarium @ Belly Up Tavern. Justin Townes Earle—son of Steve Earle and named in part after Townes Van Zandt— does both his daddy and his namesake proud with his earthy, folk-rock songs imbued with passion and compelling storytelling. He can be either fiery or tender, but either way, you’ll be captivated.

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 45

HOT! NEW! FRESH! The Creepy Creeps (The Casbah, 10/31), Purling Hiss (The Hideout, 11/22), Modern Baseball (Epicentre, 11/25), Chris Robinson Brotherhood (BUT, 11/25-26), Cake (BUT, 11/30), Moving Units (Brick by Brick, 12/6), Yung Lean (Porter’s Pub, 12/14), H.I.M. (HOB, 12/18), The Dictators (Brick by Brick, 1/8), The Dickies (Soda Bar, 1/17), The Wailers (BUT, 1/27).

GET YER TICKETS Chromeo (SOMA, 10/8), The Horrors (BUT, 10/13), Washed Out (North Park Theatre, 10/16), Perfume Genius (Soda Bar, 10/17), Yellowcard (North Park Theatre, 10/17), The New Pornographers (North Park Theatre, 10/18), Metronomy (BUT, 10/19), Charli XCX (HOB, 10/21), Tinariwen (BUT, 10/21), Carcass (Brick

by Brick, 10/24), Daryl Hall and John Oates (Open Air Theatre, 10/25), Warpaint (North Park Theatre, 10/25), Jenny Lewis (HOB, 10/25), Phish (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 10/25), Ab-Soul (SOMA, 10/26), Iceage (Casbah, 11/3), Rhye (North Park Theatre, 11/6), Eyehategod, Today is the Day (Soda Bar, 11/7), Hot Water Music (Irenic, 11/12), Death From Above 1979 (HOB, 11/12), Blonde Redhead (HOB, 11/15), Tegan and Sara (North Park Theater, 11/15), The Misfits (HOB, 11/16), The White Buffalo (BUT, 11/21), The Ready Set, Metro Station (HOB, 11/22), Jonathan Richman (Casbah, 12/2), Pallbearer (Soda Bar, 12/6), Dick Dale (BUT, 12/21), Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven (BUT, 12/30).

October Wednesday, Oct. 1 DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist at House of Blues. Ben Kweller at The Casbah.

Crosby, Stills and Nash at Civic Theatre. Jacob Whitesides at House of Blues. Reagan Youth at Brick by Brick.

Sham 69 at Soda Bar.

Thursday, Oct. 2 Blitzen Trapper at The Casbah. Boys Noize, Baauer at SOMA. Joyce Manor at The Irenic. Said the Whale at Soda Bar.

Friday, Oct. 3 Blue Man Group at Civic Theatre. Cymbals Eat Guitars at Soda Bar.

Saturday, Oct. 4 Pinback at House of Blues. Run River North at The Loft at UCSD.

Sunday, Oct. 5 The Beach Boys at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay (sold out). Living Colour at Belly Up Tavern. Little Barrie at Soda Bar. Brother Ali at Porter’s Pub. Sondre Lerche at House of Blues.

Monday, Oct. 6 Ought at Soda Bar. ABC at Belly Up Tavern. The King Khan and BBQ Show at The Casbah. Angus and Julia Stone at House of Blues.

Tuesday, Oct. 7 Shonen Knife at The Casbah. Beach Fossils at The Irenic. Justin Townes Earle at Belly Up Tavern.

46 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

Wednesday, Oct. 8 Chromeo at SOMA. Mark Gardener at The Casbah. Susan Boyle at Balboa Theatre. Saintseneca at Soda Bar.

Thursday, Oct. 9 The Eddie and the Hot Rods at Til-Two Club. Kasabian, Bo Ningen at House of Blues. Pomplamoose at The Loft at UCSD.

Friday, Oct. 10 Passafire at Belly Up Tavern. Tacocat at The Hideout. Lorde at Open Air Theater (sold out).

Saturday, Oct. 11 Sleep Over at The Hideout.

Sunday, Oct. 12 The Pretty Reckless at House of Blues.

Ana Tijoux at Belly Up Tavern.

Monday, Oct. 13 The Drums at Soda Bar. The Horrors at Belly Up Tavern. Yasiin Bey a.k.a. Mos Def at House of Blues.

Wednesday, Oct. 15 Wayne Hancock at Soda Bar.

Thursday, Oct. 16 Turquoise Jeep at The Irenic. Washed Out at North Park Theatre. The Colourist at The Loft at UCSD. The Body at Che Café. Fujiya and Miyagi at Soda Bar.

Friday, Oct. 17 Yellowcard at North Park Theatre. The

Story So Far at Epicentre. Rubblebucket at Casbah. Perfume Genius at Soda Bar. Watsky at Porter’s Pub.

Saturday, Oct. 18 Rubblebucket at The Casbah. Writer at Soda Bar. D.R.I. at Brick by Brick. The New Pornographers at Belly Up Tavern.

Sunday, Oct. 19 Neon Hitch at Porter’s Pub. Metronomy at Belly Up Tavern. Federico Aubele at Soda Bar.

Monday, Oct. 20 PUP at The Casbah. Jerrod Niemann at House of Blues. Asia at Belly Up Tavern.

Obliterations.

Tuesday, Oct. 21 Grieves at Porter’s Pub. Tinariwen at Belly Up Tavern. Charli XCX at House of Blues.

Wednesday, Oct. 22 Bear Hands at The Casbah. Erasure at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay (sold out). Suicide Silence, The Black Dahlia Murder at House of Blues. Allo Darlin’ at Soda Bar.

Thursday, Oct. 23 Dale Earnhart Jr Jr at Belly Up Tavern.

White Mystery at Til-Two Club. Daedelus at Soda Bar.

Friday, Oct. 24 Carcass at Brick by Brick. Alt-J at SOMA. Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe at North Park Theater. The Afghan Whigs

at Belly Up Tavern.

Saturday, Oct. 25 Big Ups at The Hideout. Daryl Hall and John Oates at Open Air Theatre. Jenny Lewis at House of Blues. Phish at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Big Freedia at The Casbah. Warpaint at North Park Theatre.

Sunday, Oct. 26 The Spits at Soda Bar. Tennis at The Casbah. Bonobo at House of Blues.

Matisyahu at Belly Up Tavern. Ab-Soul at SOMA.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. 710bc.com. Wed: Open mic, open jam. Thu: Live Band Karaoke. Fri: Casey Turner. Sat: Indiana Jonesin, Curbside Vinyl. Sun: Karaoke. Tue: ‘Haus Party’.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Fri: Sometimes Julie. Sat: 145th Street.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St, Normal Heights. airconditionedbar.com.

Wed: DJs East County, Volz, Joshthebear, Just Sven, Giana, Viking. Thu: DJs Ivan Gregory, Mathew Brian. Fri: DJ Junior the DiscoPunk. Sat: Mike Czech. Sun: DJs John Reynolds, Karma, Tripsy.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco. com. Wed: For The People Comedy Tour.

Thu-Sat: Jamie Lee. Sun: Threezus.

Tue: Open mic.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego.

Wed: Bombay Bicycle Club (DJ set).

Thu: Shadow Child. Fri: Tom Flynn, Dink.

Sat: The Jane Doze.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Thu: Markus Schulz.

Fri: Sikdope and Jauz. Sat: Moguai.

Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla. brocktonvilla.com/beaumonts.html. Thu: Matt Commerce. Fri: Fish and the Seaweeds. Sat: Stone Horse. Sun: Brad Perry.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Katchafire, Tribal Theory, Jordan T. Thu: The Polish Ambassador with Liminus, Mr. Lif, Ayla Nereo, Wildligh. Fri: One Drop, Hazmatt, Kainga. Sat: Trigger Hippie, Nathan James. Sun: Living Colour, Reason to Rebel. Mon: ABC, Boys Don’t Cry. Tue: Justin Townes Earle, American Aquarium.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Thu: Shake Before Us. Fri: ‘Club Musae’. Sat: Sunny Rude.

Bourbon Street, 4612 Park Blvd, University Heights. bourbonstreetsd.com. Wed: VJ K Swift. Thu: ‘Wet’. Fri: Two to Mango.

Sun: ‘Soiree’. Tue: Karaoke.

Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave, Hillcrest. thebrassrailsd.com. Fri: ‘Hip Hop Fridayz’.

Sat: DJs XP, KA. Sun: Daisy Salinas, DJ Sebastian La Madrid. Mon: DJs Junior the Disco Punk, XP. Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Wed: Reagan Youth, Systematic Abuse, Discitizens, Kodiak. Fri: More Zombie Than Zombie, Spiral Out. Sat: Kultelr KLTR, Stealth Jackson, The No Name Gang, Vanguard.

Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave, Downtown. cafesevilla.com. Thu & Sat: Malamana.

Fri: Joeff and Co. Sun: Oscar Aragon.

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

Thu: Brian Schwartz. Fri: Andrew Norelli.

Comedy Store, 916 Pearl St, La Jolla. lajolla.thecomedystore.com. Fri: Steve Byrne.

Croce’s Park West, 2760 Fifth Ave., #100, Bankers Hill. crocesparkwest.com.

Thu: Gilbert Castellanos and the Park West Ensemble. Fri: Teagan Taylor Trio.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. dirksniteclub.com. Fri: Will Ramy and Firewater. Sat: DJ Dizzy D. Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Fri: Jacob Szekely. Sat: M’tafiti Imara.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Fri: Kieran Lux, Noah Newton, Vinnymui, Jango Phett, Jay Jay. Sat: Mark Battles, Derek Luh, Euroz Ray, Bock Kap. Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd.com. Thu: Don Diablo. Fri: Brett Bodley. Sat: Sid Vicious. Sun: Wiz Khalifa.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave, Downtown. henryspub.com. Wed: Johnny Tarr, DJ Christopher London. Thu: Mark Fisher, DJ Yodah. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: DJs E, Yodah. Mon: ‘Kinetic Soul’. Tue: Big City Dawgs.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego. Wed: DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. Thu: Josh Damigo, Nancarrow. Fri: New Found Glory, We Are the In Crowd, Fireworks, Candy Hearts. Sat: Pinback, Tera Melos.

Sun: Sondre Lerche, TEEN. Mon: Angus and Julia Stone, Connor Youngblood.

Tue: Anberlin, Lakes.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Wed: ‘Fully Patched’. Thu: ‘A Celebration of Life’ benefit show. Fri: ‘S.H.A.F.T.’. Sat: ‘Ascension’. Sun: ‘Underground Revolution

Radio’. Mon: ‘Roots Reggae Jah Jah’.

Tue: ‘High Tech Tuesday’.

Legends Comedy Club, 9200 Inwood Drive, Santee. legendscomedyclub.com.

Fri: Jesse Egan.

Porter’s Pub, 9500 Gilman Dr., UCSD campus, La Jolla. porterspub.net. Sun: Brother Ali, Bambu, DJ Last Word.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave, Hillcrest. richssandiego.com. Wed: DJ Marcel.

Thu: DJ Moody Rudy. Fri: DJs Dirty Kurty, Will Z. Sat: DJs K-Swift, Taj, Nikno.

Sun: DJs K-Swift, Cros.

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

Thu: Red Lotus Review. Fri: Big John Atkinson. Sat: Baja Bugs.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd.

Wed: Gilbert Castellanos jazz jam. Thu: The Johnny Stachela Band.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: Sham 69, Total Chaos, Sculpins. Thu: Said the Whale, Aempire, Good Graeff. Fri: Cymbals Eat Guitars, Slothrust, Inspired and the Sleep. Sat: Takahashi, East of Sweden, The Anomaly, Future Age. Sun: Little Barrie, Schitzophonics, Amerikan Bear.

Mon: Ought, Viv Vates, Joyce. Tue: Spero, Future Crooks, Citrus, Astral Touch, DJ Mike Delgado.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Wed: Bombay Bicycle Club, Milo Greene, Luxley. Thu: Boyz Noise, Bauuer. Sat: Paloma Faith, Marques T’Oliver.

Stage Bar & Grill, 762 Fifth Ave, Downtown. stagesaloon.com. Thu: Superbad.

Fri: Disco Pimps. Sat: Hott Mess, DJ Miss Dust.

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., San Diego, Normal Heights. sycamoreden. com. Thu: Tom Ward Trio. Fri: The Jackson Price Band. Sun: The Big Decisions.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Rd, Spring Valley. 619-469-2337. Wed: Karaoke. Thu: Dinosaur Feathers, Detangler, Derdeverde.

Fri: ‘Acid Varsity’. Sat: Digital Lizards of Doom, Shakedown Daddies, Spero.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Wed: Ben Kweller, Holiday Mountain. Thu: Blitzen Trapper, Cassorla. Fri: Aaron Behrens and the Midnight Stroll, Ranch Ghost. Sat: Vinyl Junkies Record Swap. Sat: The Whigs, The Nervous Wreckords, Greylag. Sun: Phaeleh, Illuminauts, Mystery Cave. Mon: The King Khan and BBQ Show, Javier Escovedo and the City Lights, Northern Tigers. Tue: Shonen Knife, Death Valley Girls, The Rosalyns, The Touchies.

The Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla. thechecafe.blogspot.com. Mon: Divitech.

Tue: Bogsey and the Argonauts, R. Ariel Adrian, Orange, Isaac.

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. thehideoutsd.com. Wed: The New Mastersounds, Sure Fire Soul Ensemble. Fri: Retox, Doomsday Students, Hot Nerds. Mon: Literature, Heaven.

The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. theloft.ucsd.edu. Thu: ‘Dark Nights and Bright Lights’. Sat: Run River North, Sister Speak, Soda Pants.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. theMerrow.com. Wed: Future Age, Foreign Film, Jarryd Ramborger. Thu: The Family Crest, The Whiskey Circle, Triumph Of The Wild. Fri: Blood Dancer, Dead Label, Fermentor. Sat: Hell on Heels 10 Year Burlesque Extravaganza.

Sat: Hell On Heels Burlesque Revue.

Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Ancient River. Tue: Tolan Shaw, Nicely.

The Tin Roof, 401 G St, Downtown. tinroofbars.com. Wed: Live band karaoke. Thu: Clint Westwood Band. Fri: Crown Town, Craig Suede Duo. Sat: Random Radio, Kris Bradley. Sun: ‘2014 Blues Summit’. Mon: The Kracker Jax. Tue: DJ Man Cat. Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Thu: Frantic Flintstones, The Blackjackits, The Tramplers. Fri: Deep Sea Thunder Beast, Archons, Red Wizard, Dead Ghost. Sat: Gigan, Pyrrhon, Artificial Brain, Temblad.

Sun: Open mic comedy. Mon: Karaoke.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos.com. Thu: Rockin’ Aces. Fri: Leon’s Old School Karaoke. Sat: Mama Tokus.

Tue: Bayou Brothers.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Wed: The Funeral and the Twilight, They Feed at Night, 13 Wolves, Groove of Death, DJ Mikey Ratt.

Fri: ‘Hip Hop vs. Punk Rock’. Sat: Lowbrow, Caskitt, Western Settings, Dead on the Wire, Chamber Sixx. Tue: Ghetto Blaster, Fortune Club, The Stalins of Sound.

Turquoise, 873 Turquoise St, Pacific Beach. theturquoise.com. Wed: Vera Cruz Blues; Tomcat Courtney (7 p.m.). Thu: The Jade Visions Jazz Trio (7 p.m.). Fri: Afro Jazziacs (9 p.m.). Sat: Tomcat Courtney (4 p.m.); Salsa Veracruzana (9 p.m.). Sun: Sounds Like Four (4 p.m.); Bviolin Mystic Groove (7 p.m.). Mon: Zinchiladas (7 p.m.). Tue: Grupo Global (7 p.m.).

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: Roots Covenant, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: In Motion Collective, Mark Sexton. Fri-Sat: JGB Band.

Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band.

Tue: Bombshelter.

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 47

Brendan Emmett Quigley

Orange is the new black Across 1. Machu Picchu native 5. Chevy full-sized sedan 11. Big name in cosmetics 14. Chicken’s home 15. May baby, usually 16. First Steely Dan album to win a Grammy 17. Aquarium denizen with blue and yellow stripes 19. 1.5 miles on the Chicagoland Speedway, e.g.

20. Playfully innocent 21. Here, in Hérault 22. Straight 24. Place to get a shot 26. “We R Who We R” singer 27. Yellow-colored Easter treat 28. Cartoonist Feiffer 30. “Frozen” character who sings “Let It Go” 33. Twelve months in Madrid 35. Pot component 37. Gulf of Naples resort island 40. Lt.’s underling 41. Woodwind instruments with 24 keys 42. Group of Apaches?

44. ___-Caps (movie treat) 45. Court sentence?

46. Reality star Jenni Farley’s stage name 48. Sharpen, as a knife 52. “Free ___” (common protest sign) 54. Towing fee 56. Keister 58. Some dashes 59. “___ Sequitur” (comic strip) 60. Clearasil rival Sept. 17’s answers

48 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

61. You can’t compare them 65. Page of Google, e.g.

66. Really despicable 67. “Night” writer Wiesel 68. “I’ll tell you anything” 69. Letterman trademark 70. Exchanges rings, say

Down 1. Polar formation 2. “That’s it!”

3. “You understand what I’m saying?”

4. Chest-beating creature 5. Stephen King classic 6. California beachfront city 7. Buf-___ (facial sponge) 8. Shapiro of NPR 9. Most luxurious 10. Camel droppings?

11. Guy who’s high when singing 12. Not quite closed 13. Guitarist’s prop 18. Jeans flaw or feature 23. College football game played in Florida 25. Classic frozen dessert 26. Game played in convenience stores 29. ___-ovo vegetarian 31. Word for a miss 32. Appliances taken out of windows around now, briefly 34. Clean sheet score in soccer 36. Big, big stretch of time 37. Souvenir shop purchase 38. Feel under the weather 39. Better than not bad but not great 40. Salamander in witches’ brew 43. Por ___ (for example, in Spanish) 44. Pawnee director of parks and recreation Ron 47. Breathe with difficulty 49. Online login 50. Psychology 101 topic 51. Language class lesson 53. Humblebrag, really 55. 2014 FIBA World Cup winners 56. Meatless burger brand 57. Big and clumsy types 62. Energy 63. CrossFitter’s back muscle 64. Recently out

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 49

50 · San Diego CityBeat · October 1, 2014

October 1, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 51