San Diego CityBeat • Nov 12, 2014

Anything but easy Homelessness, cancer and the loss of a leg haven’t stopped eccentric artist

Diana Duval by

Kinsee Morlan • P.18

Peters P.4 DeMaio P.7 Rosewater P.21 Punk P.23

2 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

Everybody calm down Possessing more than passable understanding of Slater that never aired. The interview detailed the elementary arithmetic, Carl DeMaio on Sunday sexual-harassment claims. That same day, Pintar decided it was finally necessary for him to concede told police about what Bosnich had given her. She failure in his aggressive attempt to unseat Rep. Scott made copies of the mail pieces and gave the origiPeters. So, in what must have been a chilly chat, he nals to Peters before she left for a vacation. The pocalled Peters to congratulate him. Soon after, he lice picked up the materials on June 11. hightailed it over to his favorite local station, KUSI, Does this qualify as coordination? Details in the to play the role of the victim on TV. affidavit support Pintar’s claim that she was iniDeMaio attributed his loss to 11th-hour “false tially concerned about Bosnich’s welfare. And any smears” perpetuated by the Peters campaign and campaign manager worth her salt would’ve met said Peters needs to answer for new information with Bosnich and made the best possible use of the that’s come to light since the election. information he provided. Campaigns are war. Don’t Playing the victim is nothing new for the thineven begin to say DeMaio wouldn’t have done the skinned DeMaio, and neither is his knack for spinsame thing. We’ll just laugh at you. ning a narrative to his advantage. First, we don’t 2. Did Peters take possession of a “black bindwhy for certain Peters got upwards of 5,000 more er” / “playbook” / campaign “bible”? No. DeMaio votes than DeMaio. One opinion comes from elecreported that a binder full of campaign strategy had tions analyst Vince Vasquez, who’s hardly a raging gone missing in the break-in. There’s no evidence liberal. In the first of a series of tweets on Sunday, that Peters or Pintar ever had it. Again, all they had Vasquez said, “Peters won a clear and decisive vicwas some direct-mail pieces.

David Rolland tory. To say DeMaio lost due to the alle3. Did Peters lie? Well, he at least gations or the media is sour grapes. No misspoke in mid-October on NBC 7’s place for revisionism.” He added: “Voter Politically Speaking show when he apopinions are shaped, hardened way bepeared to say that he turned the DeMaio fore voting begins. Few wait until EDay campaign information over within 24 to ask “what are we voting on?” hours. Peters says he was referring to the Meanwhile, all DeMaio had to do is emailed information that Bosnich sent hand the ball to KUSI’s Steve Bosh for to Pintar, but that was forwarded after Bosh to run reckless with pro-DeMaio 48 hours, not 24. On Politically Speakrhetoric masquerading as factual reporting, it’s obvious that DeMaio was talking ing. The basis for the KUSI segment was about physical materials, but he erronean affidavit for a police search warrant— ously suggested Peters had a “playbook” Scott Peters related to a May break-in at DeMaio that contained direct mail. The mail campaign headquarters—that a judge unsealed last pieces were picked up by police six days after PinFriday at the request of NBC 7 and U-T San Diego. tar received them, but, again, the police knew about News stories about the documents fueled minor them the day she received them. Y’all can decide for outbreaks of hysteria on social media, with DeMaio yourselves how egregious this stuff is. supporters ranting about another Watergate and 4. Did Peters drag DeMaio through the mud “political espionage.” Let’s clear some things up: at the last minute? That’s DeMaio’s spin, and KUSI 1. Did the Peters campaign coordinate with and the U-T repeated it as fact without challenge.

Todd Bosnich? According to the affidavit, Bosnich, But there’s no evidence that Peters had anything to a former DeMaio staffer, emailed MaryAnne Pintar, so with Bosnich’s allegations or “promoted” them, as Peters’ campaign manager, on May 29, telling her the U-T said this week. Was Peters happy about Dethat DeMaio had sexually harassed him and giving Maio getting dragged through the mud? Absolutely. her some internal campaign intelligence. Pintar forIt’s understandable that DeMaio and his friends warded the emails to the police two days later and needed something to lash out at after a bitter dethen agreed to Bosnich’s request to meet in person. feat. But as it relates to Peters, the evidence, so far During a June 5 meeting, Bosnich handed Pintar at least, doesn’t match the fervor. We don’t have the an envelope containing proofs of some direct-mail space here to get into what the documents do and pieces supporting DeMaio and criticizing Peters, don’t say about Bosnich. Maybe next week. as well as a CD copy of an interview that Bosnich did three days earlier with KFMB radio host Mike What do you think? Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Technically speaking, vegans can eat this issue of CityBeat.

Volume 13 • Issue 14

Cover photo by Kinsee Morlan

Arts Editor Kinsee Morlan

Contributors Ian Cheesman, David L. Coddon, Seth Combs, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., 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 manager Beau Odom Accounting Alysia Chavez, Linda Lam, Monica MacCree Human Resources Andrea Baker

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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 · November 12, 2014

Reverse racism Aaryn Belfer’s admonition in her Aug. 20 “Backwards & in High Heels” column—“All white people... should be in serious dialogue” about racism— is predicable, but, inadvertently, she seems to suggest a reverse racist message: that it’s always or primarily whites who are more racist than are other peoples, and that’s a dialogue that equally needs to be seriously confronted.

I don’t believe she intended any conscious insinuation, as her heart is in the right place. Still, I never hear anyone publicly suggesting that people of color or various ethnicities ever consider their own racist attitudes and behaviors. Why is the whole white race (as if there really was such a simple abstraction) implicated as guilty? Most minorities would not stand for such generalized prejudices.

So-called demands for dialogue about racism have often assumed that white people need to be explaining things and are guilty in soul (while every one else is innocent and can stay in accusation mode). Such “dialogue” seems just more “monologue” controlled by certain political factions and suasions of the rainbow coalition (many who routinely pit themselves both politically and academically against white men as the enemy—including white women).

If the U.S. population is more than 300 million people (a huge statistical field), there can always be a cherry-picking of tragic instances that suggest skewed exaggerations (even while those skewed exaggerations can point to real problems). Because some white people have engaged in atrocities or racist endeavors, then anyone with white skin is somehow implicated as guilty? No double standard? I refuse to accept the idea that because my skin is white, I should be suspected of more racist inclination than other peoples.

I don’t dispute plenty racist evils—some very ugly and prevalent—happen in this country, and people of color are subject to more consequential results; however, I deplore this prevalent rainbowist racism that somehow because my skin is white, I am always more suspect.

Also, while there are police inclined to power abuse and racism, there are equally thousands of white police officers across the country who do good and humane things from time to time.

If some white people find rationalizations for inequality and oppression, there are equally people who automatically believe the worst about a white person versus a minority when a negative event occurs, automatically believing the white person must be the guilty party. This, too, is racism and is more prevalent than what some would like to believe.

Brian Becker, South Park

Looking out for their own Regarding your Sept. 10 editorial about the deaths in county jails: County inmates have a slight advantage over state prisoners in that there is some oversight, as disingenuous as it may be. State prisoners have only the local coroners and California’s inspector general, who never investigates inmate deaths unless they end up in litigation. And as most people are aware, the Coroner’s office is run by the local sheriff, who, like the local district attorney, is unwilling to investigate any inmate deaths that might implicate or find liable another law-enforcement agency.

So who really cares? Only the family members of those who die. No attorney will touch such a

case unless that person was beaten, shot, stabbed or strangled by law enforcement and they have evidence and witnesses to be able to prove that a death was caused by said law-enforcement agency.

I know this because I have been down that road and will tell you they will do almost anything to withhold evidence, threaten witnesses, refuse to answer questions or cooperate in any way. And to make things worse, you must ask permission to sue the state by filing a claim in which the statute of limitations is six months. If you’re lucky, you might get the coroner’s report in five months!

Law enforcement no longer serves the people; it serves itself!

Frank Courser, Escondido Editor’s note: The San Diego County Sheriff ’s Department does not run the county Medical Examiner’s office (the coroner).

An editorial that’s not annoying I just wanted to thank you for your fantastic Sept. 17 editorial, “You, football fan, hold the power.” Aside from voicing a much-needed perspective on domestic abuse, this editorial was written in a relaxed, un-argumentative tone that made reading it a good experience. I read, and heard, every word.

Usually, I find this “editorial” column quite annoying. Even though I often agree with the subject matter, I’m put off by the one-sided, scolding tone that it is written in. It always sounds like a passionate, unapproachable, yelling enthusiast who is pointing his finger at me, and it automatically makes me annoyed as I attempt to enjoy the rest of your magazine. The latest editorial column, “You, football fan, hold the power,” was very well-written, and it made me think. I wanted to follow the author’s advice. It made me want to continue reading all of the articles in the magazine, instead of feeling annoyed while skimming through them.

I hope this writer continues to write the editorial pieces. It’s the first article, and it really sets the tone for the entire issue.

Brett Wagner, Ocean Beach

‘Nasty’ cover image Question for you: On your Oct. 8 issue cover, why didn’t you pose Scott Peters as Moses descending the Mount with the 10 Commandments, or as Mohammed circling the Karbala in Mecca? I guess it was just easier to pick on the central figure of the Christian faith. My wife and I found your cover to be not just offensive, but disgustingly so!

CityBeat should offer an apology to your readers of the Christian faith, and to all who have just seen the cover, even if they didn’t read the feature article to which the cover is supposed to relate. This is truly nasty gutter politics. Shame on you!

Lou Cumming, La Jolla

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

Project Censored Ocean acidification tops the annual list of important stories ignored by the mainstream media

by Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez

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“It’s not as dramatic as say, an asteroid is hitting us from outer space,” Roth said.

No, the changes caused by ocean acidification are gradual. Sea butterflies are among the most abundant creatures in our oceans and are increasingly born with shells that look like cauliflower or sandpaper, making this and similar species more susceptible to infection and predators.

“Ocean acidification is changing the chemistry of the world’s water faster than ever before, and faster than the world’s leading scientists predicted,” Welch said, but it’s not getting the attention is deserves.

Our oceans may slowly cook our food chain into new forms with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Certainly 20 years from now, when communities around the world lose their main source of sustenance, the news will catch on. But will the problem make the front page tomorrow, while there’s still time to act?

Probably not, and that’s why we have Project Censored and its annual list.

Our oceans are acidifying—even if the nightly news hasn’t told you yet.

As humanity continues to fill the atmosphere with harmful gases, the planet is becoming less hospitable. The vast oceans absorb much of the carbon dioxide we’ve produced, from the industrial revolution through the rise of global capitalism. Earth’s self-sacrifice spared the atmosphere nearly 25 percent of humanity’s CO2 emissions, slowing the onslaught of many severe weather consequences.

Although the news media have increasingly covered the climate weirding of global warming—hurricane super-storms, fierce tornado clusters, overwhelming snowstorms and record-setting global high temperatures—our ocean’s peril has largely stayed submerged.

The rising carbon dioxide in our oceans burns up and deforms the smallest, most abundant food at the bottom of the food chain. One vulnerable population is the tiny shelled swimmers known as the sea butterfly. In only a few short decades, the death and deformation of this fragile and translucent species could endanger predators all along the oceanic food web, scientists warn.

This “butterfly effect,” once unleashed, potentially threatens fisheries that feed more than 1 billion people worldwide.

Largely left out of national news coverage, this dire report was brought to light by a handful of independent-minded journalists: Craig Welch from the Seattle Times, Julia Whitty of Mother Jones and Eli Kintisch of ScienceNOW. It’s also the top story of Project Censored, an annual reporting project that features the year’s most underreported news stories, striving to unmask censorship, self-censorship and propaganda in corporate-controlled media outlets.

Computer modeler Isaac Kaplan, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office in Seattle, told Welch that his early work predicts significant declines in sharks, skates and rays, some types of flounder and sole and Pacific whiting, the most frequently caught commercial fish off the coast of Washington, Oregon and California.

Acidification can even rewire the brains of fish, Welch’s story demonstrated. Studies found rising CO2 levels cause clown fish to gain athleticism, but have their sense of smell redirected. This transforms them into “dumb jocks,” scientists said, swimming faster and more vigorously straight into the mouths of their predators. These Frankenstein fish were found to be five times more likely to die in the natural world. What a fitting metaphor for humanity, as our outsized consumption propels us towards an equally dangerous fate.

ill

2. Top 10 U.S. aid recipients practice torture: Sexual abuse, children kept in cages, extra-judicial murder. While these sound like horrors the United States would stand against, the reverse is true: This country is funding these practices.

The U.S. is a signatory of the United Nations’ Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, but the top 10 international recipients of U.S. foreign assistance in 2014 all practice torture, according to human-rights groups, as reported

by Daniel Wickham of online outlet Left Foot Forward.

Israel received more than $3 billion in U.S. aid for fiscal year 2013-14, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Israel was criticized by the country’s

6 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

own Public Defender’s Office for torturing children suspected of minor crimes.

“During our visit, held during a fierce storm that hit the state, attorneys met detainees who described to them a shocking picture: In the middle of the night dozens of detainees were transferred to the external iron cages built outside the IPS transition facility in Ramla,” the PDO wrote, according to The Independent.

The next top recipients of U.S. foreign aid were Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Iraq, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. All countries were accused of torture by human-rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Kenyan police in Nairobi tortured, raped or otherwise abused more than 1,000 refugees from 2012 to 2013, Human Rights Watch found. The Kenyan government received $564 million from the United States in 2013-14.

3. Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secret deal to help corporations: The TransPacific Partnership is like the Stop Online Piracy Act on steroids, yet few have heard of it, let alone enough people to start an Internet campaign to topple it. Despite details revealed by Wikileaks, the nascent agreement has been largely ignored by the corporate media.

Even the world’s elite are out of the loop: Only three officials in each of the 12 signatory countries have access to this developing trade agreement that potentially impacts more than 800 million people.

The agreement touches on intellectual property rights and the regulation of private enterprise between nations and is open to negotiation and viewing by 600 “corporate advisors” from big oil, pharmaceutical and entertainment companies.

Meanwhile, more than 150 House Democrats signed a letter urging President Obama to halt his efforts to fast-track negotiations and to allow Congress the ability to weigh in now on an agreement only the White House has seen.

Many criticized the secrecy surrounding the TPP, arguing the realworld consequences may be grave.

Doctors Without Borders wrote, “If harmful provisions in the U.S. proposals for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement are not removed before it is finalized, this trade deal will have a real cost in human lives.”

4. Corporate Internet providers threaten net neutrality: This entry demonstrates the nuance in Project Censored’s media critique. Verizon v. FCC may weaken Internet regulation, which Electronic Frontier Foundation and other digital-freedom advocates allege would create a two-tiered Internet system. Under the FCC’s proposed new rules, corporate behemoths such as

Comcast or Verizon could charge entities to use faster bandwidth, which advocates say would create financial barriers to free speech and encourage censorship.

Project Censored alleges corporate outlets such as The New York Times and Forbes “tend to highlight the business aspects of the case, skimming over vital particulars affecting the public and the Internet’s future.”

Yet this is a case where corporate media were circumvented by power of the viral web. John Oliver, comedian and host of Last Week Tonight on HBO, recently gave a stirring 13-minute treatise on the importance of stopping the FCC’s new rules, resulting in a flood of comments to the FCC defending a more open Internet. The particulars of net neutrality have since been thoroughly reported in the corporate media.

But, as Project Censored notes, massmedia coverage only came after the FCC’s rule change was proposed, giving activists little time to right any wrongs. It’s a subtle but important distinction.

5. Bankers remain on Wall Street despite major crimes: Bankers responsible for rigging municipal bonds and bilking billions of dollars from American cities have largely escaped criminal charges. Every day in the U.S., low-level drug dealers get more prison time than these scheming bankers who, while working for GE Capital, allegedly skimmed money from public schools, hospitals, libraries and nursing homes, according to Rolling Stone.

Dominick Carollo, Steven Goldberg and Peter Grimm were dubbed a part of the “modern American mafia” by the magazine’s Matt Taibbi, one of the few journalists to consistently cover their trial. Meanwhile, disturbingly uninformed cablemedia “journalists” defended the bankers, saying they shouldn’t be prosecuted for “failure,” as if cheating vulnerable Americans were a bad business deal.

“Had the U.S. authorities decided to press criminal charges,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Lanny Breuer told Taibbi. “HSBC [a British bank] would almost certainly have lost its banking license in the U.S., the future of the institution would have been under threat and the entire banking system would have been destabilized.”

During the course of decades, the nation’s bankers transformed into the modern mafioso. Unfortunately, our modern media changed as well, and are no longer equipped to tackle systemic, complex stories.

This was a shortened version of the full list, which originally appeared in the now-shuttered San Francisco Bay Guardian. Read the rest of the top-10 list at altweeklies.com/ aan/project-censored/Story?oid=7869890.

John R. Lamb

john r.

spin cycle

lamb The long goodbye “Passions spin the plot: We are betrayed by what is false within.”

—George Meredith For San Diego, the Decade of Carl DeMaio ends not with a bang, but with some flailing and a whiny whimper. Should we have expected anything less?

While local media outlets whose owners had a financial stake in the tight congressional race that DeMaio conceded Sunday seethe with crocodile outrage over a bloody political fight lost, San Diegans are left to ponder if this is the last we’ll see of this curious manchild who first appeared on our doorstep some 10 years ago.

A self-promoter as prolific as San Diego may ever see, DeMaio vaulted into the city’s political consciousness as a self-proclaimed “government budget geek” intent on beating San Diego’s mounting financial deficits into submission.

“We seek big change in the way city government operates, not only by offering cost-savings ideas but by facilitating a public process to build political will for government reform,” he said back in the early days.

But the numbers from his Performance Institute think tank raised eyebrows among his detractors almost immediately, and thus began his rise to become what he gleefully described as “the skunk at the party.”

The thing about skunks is that they are unaffected by their own fragrance and have little control over who’s hit by the smell. DeMaio burned bridges with fellow Republicans from the get-go, starting with Mayor Dick Murphy and ending with Mayor Jerry Sanders, whose favorite word when talking about the credithogging guy was “bullshit.”

DeMaio and Sanders made nice long enough in 2012 for the outgoing mayor to anoint his most rabid critic at City Hall as his choice to replace him as San Diego’s top politico, a race he would eventually lose to Bob Filner. Perhaps one of the most frigid spectacles wrapped in a warm public-relations blanket, the event prompted perhaps the most telling line of that nasty

race when Sanders revealed, “I respect Carl, but I like beer.”

In many ways, it was a sentiment that DeMaio cultivated and yet somehow found simultaneously confounding. It always seemed like it was not enough for DeMaio to be cast as the contrarian—he also wanted to be liked.

By the time DeMaio found his way into the race to unseat incumbent Rep. Scott Peters in the 52nd Congressional District, you could count elected-official support on one hand. Even Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who’d already committed to backing him in 2013, could barely reiterate his endorsement when asked just days before the election.

It’s Spin’s hunch that DeMaio never cared whether he was liked, but he craved to be respected.

That was the brass ring that he tried to will himself. But it didn’t help that he stepped on many fingers as he headed up that ladder in dogged pursuit.

Former City Attorney Mike Aguirre, who many consider a close second in San Diego’s alltime self-promotion depth chart, once called DeMaio “an Ivy League charlatan.” Aguirre frequently considered one’s academic underpinnings as an accurate measuring stick of culpability—among council members, he considered Peters most liable in the city’s pensionunderfunding debacle because he attended Duke University.

But what guys like Aguirre, Filner and DeMaio all share is an unwavering belief in their own virtues, whatever the cost.

Such iron-clad constitutions can bring great results when targeted for the greater good, but with it comes the risk of appearing blind to one’s own faults.

This trio also shared another common trait: an almost manic love / hate relationship with the media. Swallow the Kool-Aid with no resistance, and unfettered access is yours, they seemed to say.

Gag a little on the intake and the door becomes padlocked.

DeMaio is now reaping the benefit of those cozy relationships, busy selling his version of victimhood to willing media megaphones like KUSI—whose owner, Michael McKinnon, invested generously in

Carl DeMaio’s unsurprising nuclear exit DeMaio’s campaign. Mega-developer Doug Manchester’s own U-T San Diego seems ready to continue the bitter campaign battle well into 2016, when San Diego will likely be abuzz with political fervor, which would only be heightened should longtime U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer decide against seeking a fifth term.

Spin won’t bore you with the details this early, but just be aware that the campaign dartboard season has begun. Names like state Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and Council President Todd Gloria, both of whom are terming out of their respective roles, float on the political ether as potential challengers to Faulconer.

But Gloria could just as easily seek his mentor Susan Davis’ congressional seat should she decide against seeking reelection in 2016. Meanwhile, some even hint that Faulconer—on the record as opposed to a local minimum-wage hike at a time when voters seem headed in the opposite direction— could take a shot at higher office earlier rather than later. For a Republican in Democrat-dominated California, however, that would be an incredible risk.

Which leads us back to DeMaio.

Now that he’s lost two consecutive major elections, is his political career over? Again, Spin’s hunch is that he’ll revert back to Ballot

Measure Carl, perhaps leading the charge for a pension-reform initiative at the state level. Spin talked to several campaign masterminds, and none could envision a scenario in which DeMaio runs for elected office in the foreseeable future.

Then again, when a KUSI reporter on election night floated to Mayor Faulconer the idea of knocking off another Democratic City Council member in 2016 to return control back to Republicans, the mayor grinned. “One, maybe two,” he said.

Clearly, the Republican machine will be gunning for District 1, where Councilmember Sherri Lightner will be termed out.

Look for two-time contest loser Ray Ellis to experiment with the concept of three’s-the-charm.

Perhaps the best lesson in this election: If Republicans want a bare-knuckled fight, perhaps Democrats have now learned that it’s time to defend themselves. San Diego’s GOP brain trust can’t whine about one muddy race at the same time portraying council candidate Carol Kim as some Manhattan shopaholic and not expect to get punched in the nose.

Dukes up for 2016!

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

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

aaryn

backwards & in high heels

belfer An experiment in not exercising a hard-won fundamental right On this most recent Election Day, the one that saw his presence. the U.S. Senate floor—and those of some governor’s Dynasties are the latest It Girl, too. NPR cormansions and local Podunk cubicles across the counrespondents giggled during their election-night try—get scrubbed clean with the asses of Democrats, coverage about the many families who continue to I did something that pissed off pretty much everyspawn successors to power and privilege. Sure, Liz one I know, and a whole bunch of someones I don’t: I Cheney dropped her bid for the Senate, but plenty stayed home (mostly, but more on that in a sec). of other familiar names (Bush, Udall, Landrieu) will Since I came of voting age, I have never not be headed directly for those lifetime health benefits voted. Never. I have shown up to even the puniest courtesy of voters. And let’s not get going on the big of puny primary or special elections. Despite the money flying around. worst weather, latest work shift or darkest cyniIn the big scheme of things, I don’t think the vile cism, I’ve always voted. I have literally worn nose Republican peeps are terrifically different from the plugs while checking boxes. But this time, I threw vile Democratic peeps. Their vileness is just brandmy hands in the air. ed differently. For sure, I think anyone—which is Initially, I’d planned to do my not-voting expretty much everyone—who did nothing after 20 periment quietly. But then, I don’t do much quietchildren were slaughtered in Connecticut, should ly, so instead I turned it into a very public temper be barred from politics for life. tantrum. In case you’ve never witnessed a temper Nevertheless, it probably shouldn’t have surtantrum, it generally doesn’t reflect well on the tanprised me—though it totally did—when my defense trumer. Not to give away the ending or anything. of not voting was met with abrupt, pointed, vicious On the day before the election, I outed myself in and vehement ballot-box shaming. I was the antia Facebook post linked to a George Carlin bit from vaccination activist of the democratic process.

1980-something, in which he states my current senOne friend said that his grandmother wasn’t altiment about The Process. (Russell Brand did this lowed to vote and that, to him, “not voting is one in a BBC interview more recently, though he did it of the worst things a person can do.” Another prowithout a masturbation pantofessed her unending love for me mime.) Having suffered through before calling me an asshole in the Bush years—probably the all caps. Another, a comedy geAnother professed her most politically and socially connius in her own right, said of unending love for me scious I’d ever been in my life to Carlin, “Great comic. Shitty citithat point—I’ve experienced imzen.” Ouch. before calling me an molating frustration and anger One poor liberal soul who’s asshole in all caps and despair that comes with behunkered down for the long haul ing wonky; I’ve threatened before in Idaho lamented her ongoing to not vote. However, I’ve never effort, spending “season after followed through on that promise, and since I have season of trying to oust good ol’ boy redneck milbeen especially despondent about the state of things lionaire officials with shitty policies on everything lately, I wanted to see what it would feel like. To be from guns to gays.” And yet another posted a link to clear, this was a purposeful decision and not an Ia terrifying article about what’s at stake. “Is it too had-no-idea-there-was-an-election-yesterday-can’tlate?” she asked. “Can you still go?” wait-to-text-my-vote-on-The-Voice apathy. This was At that point, I was still flailing on the floor, me stomping my foot and clenching my fists to say hair wild, fists pounding, feet kicking, tears flying that I’m fed up with this bullshit system. as I muttered between gasps for air about Citizens United and Sandy Hook and Arne Duncan and all And it is bullshit. the false choices!

I mean, let’s just be real about reality for a And then. quick minute. For their governor, Floridians got “I wish you were voting Yes on 47,” said a friend to choose between a right-wing Republican and whose heartbreak felt as immediate as if it were a former right-wing Republican who’s now supmy own. posed to be trusted as a Democrat, something he And so it was that I ended my drama, drove to came to after he had no success getting elected as my polling place and voted—albeit on only that one an Independent. How many Liebermans does one thing, which, predictably, brought down its own country need? torrent of judgment, to which I say, step off. I was Try as they might, Wisconsin cannot relieve itthere and I exercised my right in my way. self of the mouth-breathing troglodyte that is Scott It did not feel good to not vote. Even without Walker, who may well be headed for the 2016 presithe drubbing, it felt really, really bad, even. It felt dential ballot, along with Chris Christie, who, by wrong. Because who wants to be the asshole—the the way: Bridgegate! And that other Scott (Brown, shitty citizen—who doesn’t vaccinate her child? formerly devoted to Massachusetts, now devoted Certainly not me. to New Hampshire) is like herpes. Sure he lost his senatorial bid, but who knows where he’ll flare up Write to aaryn@sdcitybeat.com next to profess his devoted devotion. Maybe he’ll do and editor@sdcitybeat.com. a Carl DeMaio and decide to bless California with

8 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

by michael a. gardiner Michael A. Gardiner

with a peanut and chili de arbol salsa echoing the earth and fire flavors of the shark meat with added richness brought to bear.

Among the best bites at Común are its first. The tuna belly (toro) in chicharrón is God’s own canapé. You’ll wonder why anyone would ever want to eat toro or chicharrón without the other. The raw radish starter is simplicity itself, but the radish’s bite marries perfectly with the aioli’s richness, and the sea Común Kitchen’s Baja yellowtail salt pulls every ounce of flavor out of the vegetable. Fried Brussels sprout Caesar—a new starter for the winter menu—is a take on a Tijuana original (the Caesar Hotel where the salad was created is across Avenida Revolución from White’s La Justina Restaurant in Tijuana). This version is built around the crispy, caramelized fried Brussels sprouts I The full Baja first tried—and loved—at one of White’s pop-ups.

And it was one of the last of those Plancha Baja The most exciting development on the San DiMed pop-ups, with Diego Hernandez of Corazon ego food scene is the ongoing Baja invasion—a de Tierra in the Valle de Guadalupe, that prodistinct, high-end cuisine known as “BajaMed” vided the model for another crucial part of what and the influence of an equally exciting brand Común is about: monthly “Mi Casa Su Casa” tastof street food. While several chefs have incorpoing dinners featuring high-profile chefs trading rated some of these influences, none has proved dishes with White. The most recent featured as creative with the full range as Chad White. All Michelin-star chef Drew Deckman. If Deckman’s are on display at White’s new East Village resyellowtail, yellow beets and capers was not the taurant, Común Kitchen & Tavern (925 J St., best dish of the evening, then White’s vegetablecomunsd.com). forward cauliflower with sea urchin, black truffle Común’s everyday menu pays tribute to Baand mushroom butter was. It was a world-class ja’s rich street-food culture. From elotes (grilled tasting menu focused on the heights of contemcorn cooked in lime juice and served in a cup porary BajaMed cuisine for $60. These monthly with mayonnaise, butter and a garnish of crumevents are not to be missed. bled chicharrón) to a diverse selection of tostaComún highlights White’s unique take on das, most of these dishes would be immediately what’s happening in the Baja food scene—and recognizable—at least in broad outline—to those San Diego’s. He takes the essential elements of familiar with Baja’s street foods. The details, Mexican cuisine—the optimal local ingredients, though, make the difference. the various techniques and heritages (indigenous, Común’s octopus tostada is based on tentacles Creole, European, Asian)—and finds creative cooked sous vide (under pressure in a temperaways to present them. Perhaps the most amazture-controlled water bath), yielding fantasticaling thing is not how different Mi Casa Su Casa is from the rest of the month but how similar. ly tender octopus chopped into bite-size pieces, charred on the grill and plated with Romesco Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com sauce, red onion, cilantro and ripe avocado. Anand editor@sdcitybeat.com. other standout was the smoked-shark tostada

the world

fare

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

by ian cheesman

beer &

Courtesy: San Diego Brewers Guild

chees Can you feel the magic?

While escorting my daughter during trick-or-treating this year, I was struck by the unrelenting joy spilling out of her. Part of that mania was certainly driven by the imminent access to hundreds of high-fructose-cornsyrup-delivery vehicles, but there was something more to it. Maybe it was anticipation of the many absurd and macabre spectacles she was due to behold. Perhaps it was just the hysterical laughter she was sharing with her troupe of costumed spazzes. Whatever it was, one thing was clear: The night was for her, and she knew it.

I’m long past the age of feeling attached to re-appropriated pagan rituals, but every year around this time, San Diego Beer Week (SDBW) offers me a taste of that once-familiar holiday giddiness. The best part is, the more of Beer Week I indulge in, the less I’m capable of committing its events to long-term memory.

Every year is as fresh and shiny as the first.

As wondrous as SDBW is, it was not magically bestowed upon us by a benevolent beer god on high. It’s the lovechild of the San Diego Brewers Guild, a nonprofit mutual-benefit corporation seeking to promote San Diego as a beer destination with few rivals. Since 1997, the guild’s been working to consolidate the humblebrags from our innumerable brewslingers and amplify them for the world to hear.

Given the festival’s run from Nov. 7 through 16, you might be reading this in the belly of the beast, within one of the many venues that SDBW has been celebrating since its inception.

For the last five years, SDBW has snowballed in size and popularity, growing from 300 events in its inaugural year to an anticipated 600 this year. Similarly, the event’s Twitter following has more than doubled to 12,000-plus just in the last three years. It’s hard to tell if supply or demand is winning the battle, but they’re both trying.

This year’s SDBW is unique not only in the

10 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

Behold, the beast with many livers volume of events, but also in a slight shift in its philosophy. While plenty of non-San Diego beer has historically found its way into various SDBW Keep the Pint nights, 2014 marks the first invitation for neighboring guilds (Los Angeles and San Francisco) to participate and share their wares in the Meeting of the Guilds event. It either signals the emergence of a greater confederation of California brewing or a diabolical plot to silence our rivals in a Red Wedding-esque explosion of violence. Let’s hope it’s the former.

SDBW 2014 has not only scaled with our eversurging brewery count; it’s likewise broadened the variety of events it offers. This includes a stab at a world-record-size bottle-share, beer trolley tours and an almost disturbing volume of beer-brunch events. I’m not sure when the outlook on drinking before noon shifted from “degenerate” to “mandatory,” but I’ll take it.

If you’ve yet to visit sdbw.org and explore some events, capitalize while you can. SDBW may sound like an assembly of brew festivals, but it’s so much more. As Tom Nickel, brewer, brewpub proprietor and O.G. guild member, shared, “There are so many good events that you can’t go to everything. And that’s part of the charm.”

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

by Mina Riazi mina riazi

pansive array of dishes. A bowl of mixed beef soup sat beside a platter filled with black mushrooms and tofu, which rested near a heap of salt-and-pepper chicken. Last, but certainly not least, was a small bowl bearing two cow bones halfimmersed in a clear, herb-flecked liquid. Kathy, the Trieu Chau matriarch, flashed a warm smile from where she stood near the entrance.

Thankful for her encouragement, I tucked into my meal.

Kathy, her husband and her son run the no-frills Chinese-Cambodian eatery, keeping it open seven days a week. When I saw the easyTofu, mushroom and broccoli going, confident way other patrons ordered their meals, I knew I was the only first-timer there. Trieu Chau’s menu, much like its décor, encompasses a hodgepodge of diverse elements. Chinese, Cambodian, Thai, Laotian and Vietnamese dishes fill its pages.

A narrow kitchen wedged between the two dining rooms is where the magic happens. Trieu Homespun comfort food Chau’s mixed beef soup is a beautiful thing: Hunks of meat bob together in a broth reddened On a sun-scorched twist of University Avenue, by a fistful of dried chili powder. Rice noodles, beneath a cloudless blue sky, sits Trieu Chau. delicate and translucent, swim in the steaming, The restaurant’s faded exterior and barred winlemongrass-flavored brew. From chewy to meltdows begin a visual story that develops inside: A in-your-mouth, the beef pieces offer a nice range jumbo flat screen, bleached red tables, newspaof textures. But relishing the soup requires some per stacks and dusty knick-knacks create a space level of grace and concentration. Extricating the my mom might call “messy” before cleaning her noodles is no easy task, and carefully piling each fork with her shirtsleeve. component in a duck spoon is even trickier.

Unfailingly optimistic, I think the place feels This fattened my appreciation for the salt-and“cozy” and “comfortably cluttered.” But anyone pepper chicken, which are crunchily deep-fried who’s visited the decades-old, mom-and-pop joint and pleasingly easy-to-eat. The only vegetarian will know I’m sugar-coating the truth. Because, dish on my list arrived next, offering cloud-soft really, Trieu Chau (4653 University Ave. in City slabs of tofu alongside Chinese broccoli and Heights) feels less like a restaurant and more like mushrooms. Spoon it over rice so that you don’t an estate sale where food happens to be served. waste the slick, sweet sauce.

A scattering of patrons filled one of the two The marrow-rich bones concluded my meal. I dining rooms on a recent afternoon. This inusually smear the buttery marrow onto toast, but cluded a snaggletoothed man slurping soup who the Chinese eatery doesn’t serve its bones with paused every few minutes to vigorously clear bread slices. Heck, I couldn’t even find a small his throat. On his way out, he pointed a crooked, spoon to aid my scavenging. Luckily, though, I wrinkled finger at the cluster of bowls dotting my did come equipped with a more important tool: an appetite. table and said, laughing, “How’re you gonna finish all that?” The truth is, I didn’t quite know.

Write to minar@sdcitybeat.com As often happens when I order food on a nearand editor@sdcitybeat.com. empty stomach, I had accumulated quite an ex-

One Lucky

Spoon

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

[T echnology ] no life

offline

by dave maass

If you were my sugar cyber-Santa It’s early, I know. The idea of baking Christmas hams and risking an encounter with razor-thin glass shards when you reach into the ornament box, or breaking out the dreidels and running to the store for just the right gauge candle for Bubbe’s menorah, or championing godlessness in a rant about capitalism while waiting in the line at Walmart—ugh. It’s not even Black Friday yet, who the Blitzen do I think I am?

Well, I’ll tell you: I’m the elf who’s making sure Santa doesn’t leave you a snowflake sweater that might as well have been bedazzled with chunks of coal from a miner’s black lungs. I recommend you either lay this issue of CityBeat folded open above the toilet or leave this column open on your web browser for your lover to see.

Now, as I was compiling this list, I realized that a lot are big ticket items that may only be a reasonable purchase if Elon Musk is the man in the felt fat suit. Still, one can always believe in Christmas miracles. Nevertheless, I’ve jammed a few cheaper ideas at the end.

If you were my Silicon sugar daddy: I have an answer to the age-old question of what to buy for someone who has everything, especially in an era of on-demand consumerism: Buy them things that aren’t available yet.

First on my list: Panono (panono. com). Looking like that little flying lightsaber practice ball that zapped Luke Skywalker in the ass in the first Star Wars, it’s a camera with 36 lenses that can shoot 360-degree panorama photographs when you toss it into the air. Panono, available in two colors, can be preordered for $549, but I recommend also picking up the tripod adapter for $14.99 for low-light or indoor situations.

Here’s another age-old question: Where’s my McFlyin’ hoverboard? Guess what: The folks at Hendo (hendohover.com) are now making them.

While the boards themselves aren’t yet ready for mass production, you can buy the hover engines so you can play with the underlying technology at home. For $350, you can preorder a little white box (called a “Whitebox”) that will hover in the air, but for $849, you can preorder one that you can move around wirelessly from your smartphone.

If you’re spending more than a grand on your lover anyway, then you may want to put a ring on it. We all know that diamonds were never really anyone’s best friend, but now, with the Mota Smart Ring (mota.com/ mota-smart-ring), you can wear your best friends instead of a rock. Available in “midnight black” or “pearl white,” the ring has a little screen that will alert you to social-media updates, emails and other things. These are available for pre-order through Kickstarter at the discount price of $75

12 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

Hendo hoverboard for one or $145 for a matching set.

Love me, love my dog. Spend big on me, spend big on my dog. Developed by UCSD neuroscientists, CleverPet (getcleverpet.com) is a computerized distraction device (almost an arcade game) to keep your pet occupied while you’re away. It’s got lights, sounds, buttons and treats and apparently is based on legitimate animal psychology. If you pre-order, you can get one for $249.

Like most of the others, CleverPet doesn’t ship until 2015, so here are a few stocking stuffers so you’re not just leaving luxury IOUs: You don’t need to be rich to be my Hanukkah Harry: As I complained a year ago, I end up spending more money each year replacing frayed earbuds than on the music I listen to on them. I’ve tried out a large variety of cord spindles and they’ve always been totally ineffective or easily lost. Until now. Check out the Fosmon Headset Smart Organizer: You Panono just place an earbud in the cups on either side, then wrap the cord around the middle. This little treasure is easily found on Amazon (amzn. to/1ArbPUF) for a couple of bucks.

If your beau is shaken up about privacy in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, here are two items worth checking out: San Diego technologist Jeff Hammett (also CityBeat arts editor Kinsee Morlan’s husband) is recommending YubiKey by Yubico (yubico.com) for managing how you log in to your devices and online accounts through two-factor authentication. Prices start at $25.

Drones are hot shit right now, but the entry price point is often outside the limits for would-be enthusiasts.

YubiKey Behold, the Bionic Bird, an elegant, electronic bird you can control with your smartphone. The basic kit is already sold out, but, for $120, you can pre-order the Holiday Gift Set, with charger, extra set of wings and a Tshirt. These ship in time for Christmas, but as I’m writing this, there are only 25 left.

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

the

SHORTlist

1

COORDINATED BY KINSEE MORLAN

FUNNY BUSINESS

How does one become a comic legend? Fans of the now-iconic sketch-comedy troupe Monty Python have celebrated its co-creator and star John Cleese for decades. But have more causal fans ever stopped to wonder where the now-75-year-old comedian came from? The answer starts in the southwest of England in a lower-middle-class family, and it’s all laid out in vivid detail in Cleese’s new comical memoir, So, Anyway....

Cleese is currently touring in support of the book, and San Diego is one of only roughly a dozen stops in the United States— Cleese will bring his sharp wit to the University of San Diego’s Shiley Theatre (5998 Alcala Park) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20. Reflecting on a career that spans generations, he’ll discuss his book and his politically incisive humor and engage with fans.

“He’s only going to a few cities, and the fact that we were able to get him, we’re thrilled,” said event organizer Julie Slavinsky of Warwick’s bookstore.

“I think this appeals across generations. You’ve got middle-aged Monty Python aficionados, and you’ve got the next generation just finding that comedy.”

While on tour, Cleese will appear in conversation with various comedians. In San Diego, the comic and author will be interviewed by Bob Odenkirk, wellknown for his work on HBO’s Breaking Bad, as well as the sketch-comedy series Mr. Show, which drew heavily from Cleese’s work.

2

ART

ALL FOR ONE

Dance might not be in your wheelhouse, but if any group can convert the mildly interested to the wildly enthusiastic, it’s Pilobolus Dance Theater. Widely considered the superstars of contemporary dance, Pilobolus is the type of genre-blurring performance troupe that gets invited to give talks at the official TED conference or perform live on Oprah. The interest and attention stems from the artists’ and choreographers’ ability to create and perform original dance pieces that are so unified, it seems as if it’s one huge, organic entity on stage rather than several individuals working together. Pilobolus will do its thing at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, in the concert hall at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido (340 N. Escondido Blvd.). artcenter.org

ANDY GOTTS

HRender at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., North Park. Paintings, drawings and cut-paper compositions from Marianela de la Hoz, Bhavna Mehta and Lynn Susholtz. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14. 619-584-4448, artproduce.org HInnate Practices at Low Gallery, 3778 30th St., North Park. New works by Rio de Janeiro artist Marcelo Macedo and Oakland’s Max Kauffman, who explore urban surroundings, nature and close relationships with the spirit world. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14. 619-3485517, lowgallerysd.com HSouvenirs at Bay Park Press Gallery, 4138 Napier St., Bay Park. New works on paper by artist and musician Anthony Lukens, many started as sketches while he was touring with his band, The Donkeys. Opening from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14. bayparkpress.com HTaking Flight at Bearcat Tattoo Gallery, 2419 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy. Over 50 artists display original art based on the theme of flight. Opening from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. 619-269-2979, sd-too.com HChicano Park Day Fundraising Art Show at Chicano Art Gallery, 2117 Logan Ave., Ste. 1, Logan Heights. Over 50 artists from all over Southern California will showcase artwork priced at $100 and under to raise funds for Chicano Park Day. From 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. chicano-park.org

“Each city that hosts him is going to have a little bit different experience,” Slavinsky said. “It’s not going to be that canned, ‘This is what the book’s about.’ Every city has different interviewers asking different questions.”

Tickets are $30 and include a signed copy of the book. Doors open at 6 p.m., and seating is first-come, first-served. warwicks.indiebound.com

3

GET IN THE ZONE

If you want to make any part of town seem cooler, give it a name—like Historic La Jolla Cultural Zone. From 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, tour the area and take in eight architecturally and culturally significant institutions, including the 101-year-old Bed & Breakfast Inn, designed by Irving Gill; The Cuvier Club, formerly a World War II USO hall; the La Jolla Historical Society’s Wisteria Cottage Galleries, (where you can see a photographic exhibition of Gill’s work); and St. James by-the-Sea, with its cool stained-glass windows and Austin pipe organ. The event is free, including admission to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, which is offering tours (at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.) of the current exhibition, Jack Whitten: Five Decades of Painting. mcasd.org/events

Roots at World Beat Cultural Center, 2100 Park Blvd., Balboa Park. Synergy Art Foundation’s 11th annual fundraiser features an art show and auction curated by art critics Robert Pincus and Mark-Elliott Lugo, as well as live music, wine and beer, vegetarian food, dance, drum circles and more.

From 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $35. 619-230-1190, synergyart.org HQuestion Authority? at HB Punto Experimental, 2151 Logan Ave. Section B, Barrio Logan. New sculptural works from local artist and engineer Dave Ghilarducci that tackles issues of conformity and government surveillance. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. RSVP at neal mok@gmail.com Hung Out to Dry at Basic Urban Kitchen, 410 10th Ave., East Village. Between 3 and 7 p.m., participating artists will create original artwork on-site to literally hang to dry. Artwork will be available for purchase starting at 7 p.m. From 7 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday, Nov. 18. thumb printgallerysd.com

BOOKS John Connolly at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The award-winning thriller novelist will sign and discuss The Wolf in Winter, the latest installment in the Charlie Parker series. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com HBonnie ZoBell at North Park Branch Library, 3795 31st St., North Park. A reading, Q&A and book signing with the author of What Happened Here, about a cast of characters living on the same block in North Park, near the site of the PSA Flight 182 crash in 1978. At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12. 619-533-3972, bonniezobell.com

SARA DAVIS

Alex Marwood at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The London-based journalist will sign and discuss her latest psychological thriller, The Killer Next Door. At 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 12. mystgalaxy.com

Pilobolus

Dedication of the La Jolla Recreation Center , 1915

HSan Diego Jewish Book Fair The 20th annual book fair features dozens of author appearances, as well as work-

shops, cooking demos, a Family Day festival and more. See website for participating venues and schedule of events.

Through Sunday, Nov. 16. Free-$21.50.

858-362-1348, sdcjc.org HHoward Schultz and Rajiv Chandrasekaran at Qualcomm Hall, 5775 Morehouse Drive, Sorrento Valley. The Chairman/CEO of Starbucks and the national editor of The Washington Post discuss their book, For Love of Country: What Our Veterans Can Teach Us About Citizenship, Heroism, and Sacrifice. At 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 13. Free-$26. 858-5871121, warwicks.indiebound.com Michael Martinez at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The sci-fi/fantasy writer will be promoting his new book, The Enceladus Crisis. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13.

858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Reyna Grande at Southwestern College, 900 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista.

Grande will discuss her book, A Distance Between Us, a memoir tracking her life before and after illegally immigrating from Mexico. At 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 13.

619-421-6700, swccd.edu Raymond M. Wong at La Mesa Branch Library, 8074 Allison Ave., La Mesa. Wong will discuss his memoir, I’m Not Chinese: The Journey from Resentment to Reverence. At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. raymondmwong.com Kari Sherman and Carey Laubenberg at EarthWise Pet Supply Grooming & Wash, 7805 Highland Village Place, Suite G101, Carmel Mountain. The authors will sign and discuss their new book, True Tails From The Dog Park. From noon to 2 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 15. kariandcarey.com San Diego Literary Gala at San Diego Chinese Historical Museum, 404 Third Ave., Downtown. This second annual event will feature the work of Ghalib Shiraz Dhallah, Noel Alumit and Ocean Vuong, an emerging Vietnamese poet. Guests will also enjoy an eclectic array of food and a hosted bar. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $40. 619-338-9888 HSean Brock at The Chino Farm, 6123 Calzada del Bosque, Rancho Santa Fe. The James Beard Award-winning chef of Husk in Charleston will discuss and sign his debut cookbook, Heritage. Food samples included. At 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 16.

619-889-2271, goodearthgreatchefs.com Jane L. Crane at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author will sign and discuss Half a Piece of Cloth: The Courage of Africa’s Countless Widows. At 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. 858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com Rare Book Appraisal at Ducky Waddle’s Emporium, 414 N. Coast Hwy. 101, Encinitas. Ducky Waddles staff will appraise your rare or valuable book for free and/or possibly purchase it. From noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. 760-632-0488, duckywaddles.com HBernard Guillas and Ron Oliver at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The executive chef and chef de cuisine of the Marine Room restaurant will sign and discuss their new cookbook, Two Chefs, One Catch: A Culinary Exploration of Seafood. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17.

858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com Steven Erikson at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The sci-fi writer will sign and discuss Willful Child, a star trekking farce chronicling the voyages of the starship A.S.F. Willful Child. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. The star of White Chicks, Don’t Be a Menace to South Central..., and other spoof comedies gets back to his stand-up roots. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, and 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14-15. $28. americancomedyco.com HTig Notaro at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. She was named one of Rolling Stone’s “50 Funniest People Now” and Louis CK is quoted as saying that she was one of the best standup performances he ever saw. At 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 19. $25. 619-5701100, sandiegotheatres.org

DANCE

“Your Twiggs Travel Across my Face Casting out my Youth”

by Marianela de la Hoz is on view in Render, an exhibition opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, at Art Produce Gallery (3139 University Ave., North Park).

HSandy Althomsons at Upstart Crow, 835 West Harbor Drive, Seaport Village.

The Doctors Without Borders epidemiologist will discuss Refugee Crisis: My Time in South Sudan. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18. upstartcrowtrading.com HJason Magabo Perez at Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. In conjunction with One Book, One San Diego, the local author will discuss So Very Many Swing Shifts: Filipina Nursing Migration &

My Mother. At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18. 619-236-5800, sandiegolibrary.org Maria Duenas at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Duenas will discuss The Heart Has Its Reasons, a story of second chances. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19. warwicks.indiebound.com

COMEDY HMarlon Wayans at American Comedy

14 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

HBallet and Beyond at Spreckels Theater, 121 Broadway, Downtown. The 22nd Anniversary City Ballet season begins with this program of cutting-edge contemporary ballet by Malashock Dance, Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater and City Ballet. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14-15 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. $29-$79. 858-272-8663, cityballet.org HPilobolus at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. The renowned modern dance company showcases their signature flipping, swinging, flying, and lifting that challenges the way audience thinks about dance.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $21-$50.

800-988-4253, artcenter.org HArabesque at Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Realism merges with symbolic movement when seven dancers conjure the agrarian cycles and rural rituals of Southern Vietnam. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $12-$46. 858246-1199, artpwr.com

FOOD & DRINK HSan Diego Beer Week The 10-day event promotes San Diego’s thriving craft beer culture with a countywide festival featuring tastings, pairing dinners, workshops, beer garden events and more. See website for full list of events, locations and schedule. Through Sunday, Nov. 16. $35-$100. 619-358-9081, sdbw.org Mi Casa Su Casa | Forbidden Fruit at Comun Kitchen & Tavern, 935 J St., East Village. Chef Hanis Cavin of Carnitas Snack Shack will cook up a Cook Pigs Ranch fatty swine for a five-course dinner and pair it with Julian Hard Cider. From 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. $52-$78.

619-358-9707, comunsd.com HCraft Beer & Bites at SILO in Makers Quarter, 753 15th St., East Village. Enjoy local craft beer and food, play a few games of bocce ball and peruse fashion trucks at this semi-regular event. There’ll also be live art and home-brewing demonstrations. From 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. $20-$30. 619-702-5655 Helm’s Brewing Anniversary at Helm’s Brewing Co., 5640 Kearny Mesa Rd. Ste. C/N, Kearny Mesa. Celebrate two years of Helm’s Brewing. Ticket includes 10 tasters in a commemorative glass and raffle tickets. At 12:30 and 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $25-$35. helmsbrewingco.com The History of Cheesecake at Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village.

George Geary, author of The Cheesecake Bible, will explore the mystery and lore of cheesecake from the first Greek creation to New York and beyond. From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15.

858-349-8211, CHSanDiego.com San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival at Embarcadero Marina Park North, 1

Marine Way, Downtown. The international showcase features wine-tasting seminars, cooking classes, food tastings and more.

See website for schedule of events. Sunday, Nov. 16, through Sunday, Nov. 23. $40-$625. sandiegowineclassic.com HThe Fish Taco TKO at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, 2816 Historic Decatur Road, #116, Point Loma. This signature event will pit top fish-taco makers against each other. Sample craft beer while weighing in on the chefs’ fish taco creations. From 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18. $45. stonelibertystation.com

HOLIDAY EVENTS Holiday Shopping Party at SoLo, 309 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Peruse the North County boutique’s unique selection of gifts and books while enjoying a glass of wine and the music of Big Boss Bubeleh. From 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. 858-794-9016, solocedros.com HHoliday Bazaar at Encinitas Community Center, 1140 Oakcrest Park Drive, Encinitas. Peruse original arts and crafts from local vendors, nosh on holiday treats and bid on silent auctions at this annual event from the San Dieguito Art Guild.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. 760-805-0434, OffTrackGallery.com

MUSIC Bahia Belle Cruise with Steal Dawn at Bahia Resort Hotel, 998 W. Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. The San Diego cover band plays on a cruise around Mission Bay. Board free with a donation of five nonperishable food items to San Diego

Food Bank. At 8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14. $10. 858-488-0551, bahiabelle.com Lortie Plays Saint-Saens at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown.

French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie plays two contrasting works by the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and French composer Camille Saint-Saens. At 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14-15, and and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. $20-$96.

619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org Argus Quartet at Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Dr., Encinitas. The new chamber music foursome presents a program entitled “Music by the Sea.” At 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 14. $13. encinitas.tix.com Frank Sinatra Tribute at Oak Park Branch Library, 2802 54th St., Oak Park.

Singer Gary Burt sings the songs of Frank Sinatra and discusses his influence on the music industry. At noon Saturday, Nov. 15. 6195273406, sandiegolibrary.org

Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra at Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, 120 Stevens Ave., Solana Beach. Sheryl Staples (violin) and Cynthia Phelps (viola) perform Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante” one week before they perform with The New York Philharmonic. At 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $25. 619-466-8742, mainlymozart.org HSofia Rei Trio at Museum of Making Music, 5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad. The New York-based artist sings in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Her music combines traditional South American rhythms with jazz harmonies, electronic sounds and more. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $17-$22. museumofmakingmusic.org Songwriters Acoustic Nights at Swedenborg Hall, 1531 Tyler Ave., Hillcrest. The sixth anniversary show of this monthly songwriter showcase will feature Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin, Jeff Silbar, Aaron Bowen and Cody Lovaas.

At 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. $8. 858-550-

The hunchback is back

8088, comedyuc.com HDornob at Iranian-American Center, 6790 Top Gun St. Suite 7, Mira Mesa.

Celebrate the release of the band’s new album, SEGAH. There will also be AfroCuban music from members of the Afrojazziacs. At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. $15. 858-552-9355, facebook.com/ DornobCollective San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory Artist Faculty Concert at Mingei International Museum, Balboa Park. Musicians from the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory’s artistic faculty perform works ranging from Vivaldi, John Williams, Eugene Bozza and Paul Hindemith. At 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. Free-$10. 619-233-3232, sdys.org Cameron Carpenter at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. The

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

THEATER

As pure spectacle, La Jolla Playhouse’s American premiere of the stage musical The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an unqualified success. The tale of the outcast Quasimodo unfolds inside the belfry of Notre Dame Cathedral on a jaw-dropping set designed by Alexander Dodge. Add the elaborate costumes of 15th-century Paris and the cathedral statues and stained-glass windows that magically come to life, and you have as visually exciting a production as has been staged in San Diego in recent memory.

If only the score were the equal of the visuals. This show, directed by Scott Schwartz, and produced in association with New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse “by special arrangement” with Disney Theatrical Productions, features the same songs composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz wrote for the 1996 animated film.

That means that the anthemic “The Bells of Notre Dame” and the rip-roaring “Hellfire” (the closest thing to a show-stopper) are intermingled with saccharine ballads like “In a Place of Miracles” and “Someday.” While the sheer sweetness of the musical storytelling that typified the Disney cartoon is less on display at the Playhouse, there’s still an overload of earnestness in the romance between gypsy Esmeralda and handsome Capt.

Phoebus, and the tried-and-true “triumph of the human spirit” specter lurks behind every narrative corner.

Quarrels with the score aside, Brent-Alan Huffman’s direction of a towering orchestra and the solemn vocals of the SACRA / PROFANA choral ensemble fill the theater with emotion. Noteworthy, too, are some exceptional performances, topped by stentorian-voiced Patrick Page as the villainous Dom Claude Frollo. Ciara Renee is beautiful and evocative as Esmeralda, and in the title role, Michael Arden, laudably conveying Quasimodo’s torment, humanity and heroism.

Even with these intuitive star turns, Hunchback relies heavily on exposition, straining to remind us that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that we make our own monsters. A disappointing finale that might have been brilliant ultimately resorts to telling instead of showing. But, in any case, this show’s Broadway feel suggests it could be New York-bound.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame runs through

KEVIN BERNE

Ciara Renee (center) shines as Esmeralda.

Dec. 7 at La Jolla Playhouse. $15 and up. lajolla playhouse.org.

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

OPENING The Burial at Thebes: In ancient Greece, Antigone pays the price for defying her uncle and burying her brother, who’s viewed as a traitor. Opens Nov. 12 at UCSD’s Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre. theatre.ucsd.edu Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas: A total jerk is surprised when his tiny, wretched heart grows by a factor of three. Opens Nov. 15 at The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org Enron: A highly stylized, satirical chronicle of the scandaldriven downfall of the Houston energy company and its arrogant CEO, Jeffrey Skilling. Opens Nov. 13 at Moxie Theatre in Rolando. moxietheatre.com I Do, I Do, I Do: A woman is in a heap o’ trouble after promising to marry three different dudes. Opens Nov. 14 at PowPAC in Poway. powpac.org Pericles, Prince of Tyre: A young prince sails the seas, falls in love and marries, loses his wife and then his daughter and eventually lives happily ever after. Opens Nov. 15 at The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org Twelfth Night: After a shipwreck, much love is professed and identities are mistaken on the Adriatic coast. Opens Nov. 13 at MiraCosta College in Oceanside. miracosta.edu/theatre Wicked: The Wizard of Oz, told from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glenda the Good Witch. Presented by Broadway San Diego, it opens Nov. 12 at the Civic Theatre, Downtown. broadwaysd.com

For full listings,

please visit “T heater ” at sdcit ybeat.com

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

flamboyant young rockstar of the classical organ will push Copley’s restored and augmented pipe organ to its limits.

At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. $25-$60.

619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.com Anna Savvas at Scripps Miramar Ranch Library, 10301 Scripps Lake Drive, Scripps Ranch. The pianist will perform works by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Ravel and Debussy as part of the “Pleasure of Your Company” chamber music series. At 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. srfol.org HPalimpsest at Conrad Prebys Music Center, UCSD campus, La Jolla. UCSD’s premiere chamber ensemble performs. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19. Free-$15.50.

858-534-3448, music.ucsd.edu/concerts

PERFORMANCE Matsiko World Orphans Children’s Choir at Seaside Center for Spiritual Living, 1613 Lake Drive, Encinitas. Cultural dance, drama, and powerful drum routines from a group of children from Peru, India, and Liberia. At 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. $10 suggested donation. 760753-5786, seasidecenter.org Best of Broadway’s Best at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. Musical performance and lecture series featuring Bruno Leone, who sings and chats his way through the lives, music and lyrics of many of Broadway’s greatest composers and lyricists. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18. $19-$34. 858454-5872, ljathenaeum.org

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HMalachi Black at D.G. Wills Books, 7461 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at USD will read from his new collection of poetry, Storm Toward Morning. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. 858-456-1800, dgwillsbooks.com HVeteran Writers: Homecoming at San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. Hear stories from veterans Adam Stone, Gil Sotu, Kelli Hewlett and others at this debut event. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. sosawweallonline.com Marvin Bell at Parma Payne Goodall Alumni Center, SDSU campus, College Area. The acclaimed poet will read from

his collected works in honor of the 25th anniversary of SDSU’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18.

619-594-5443, mfa.sdsu.edu/events.htm

SPECIAL EVENTS HFit Foodie 5K Race Weekend at Hilton Bayfront, One Park Blvd., Downtown.

A weekend event featuring dinners, a 5K run, celebrity chefs, a fitness bootcamp, yoga demonstrations, giveaways and more. From 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 15, and 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. $55. 619-312-1212, fitfoodierun.com HRady[x] Smart Home Tech Conference at UCSD Rady School of Management, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. Tech industry insiders from Google, Qualcomm, IBM and more discuss how technology will change everyday life. From 1 to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14. $10-$25. 858534-9000, radyx.splashthat.com HNorth Embarcadero Grand Opening at North Embarcadero, 1000 North Harbor Drive, Downtown. Check out San Diego’s newly revitalized North Embarcadero and Broadway Pier. There’ll be musical entertainment, street performers, arts and crafts, a kids’ zone, food trucks and more.

From noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. portofsandiego.org/nevp America Recycles Day at Ripple Textiles, 9090 Kenamar Drive, Suite C1, Miramar. Bring your gently-used clothes, accessories, shoes and household textiles. There’ll be live music, food trucks, local vendors and more. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. 858-246-7674, rippletextilerecycling.com HGuided Walking Tour at North Park Theatre, 2891 University Avenue, North Park. This guided tour will visit historically significant parts of North Park, some of which date back to 1912. The tour will also visit several businesses in the area.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $10. 619239-8836, northparkhistory.org Mo’olelo 10th Anniversary Celebration at SDG&E Innovation Center, 4760 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. Celebrate the performing arts company’s 10th anniversary and support future productions. There’ll be an awards presentation, drawings, performances and more. At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $75. moolelo.net HOpen Doors La Jolla Visitors can enjoy free admission and tours at participating institutions that make up the historic “Cultural Zone” of La Jolla. Participants include the La Jolla Recreation Center, MCASD, St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church and more. From 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16. 858-454-3541, mcasd.org

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS Syria and Chemical Weapons at Room 011,Storm Hall West, SDSU, College Area. Theodore Postol, professor of science at MIT, discusses the weakness of U.S. claims that the Syrian regime was responsible for the Sarin attack in 2013. At 5:20 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. 619-6077387, hostler.iwa.sdsu.edu HRichard Pell at UCSD Center Hall, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla. The Pittsburghbased artist talks about his work with the Center for PostNatural History, which is dedicated to the collection and exposition of life forms that have been intentionally altered through selective breeding or genetic engineering. At 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. 858-534-2230, visarts.ucsd.edu HArchitectural History of the World’s Fairs: 1851- 1915 at San Diego History

16 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

Center, Balboa Park. For the second in the year-long Balboa Park Centennial Lecture Series, USD Professor Molly McClain will discuss the cultural heritage in the years leading up to and including the 1915 Exposition. From 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. $12. sandiegohistory.org HNoah and Alexis Beery Visit the Fleet at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, Balboa Park. Diagnosed early in life with cerebral palsy, the Beery twins share their story of how genome sequencing helped treat their disease. From 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. $14.95$17.95. 6192381233, rhfleet.org Banfield Future Vet Program at New Children’s Museum, 200 W. Island Ave., Downtown. This one-hour interactive presentation provides a unique opportunity for kids and families to experience the world of veterinary medicine. At 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 15.

Free-$10. 619-233-8792, thinkplaycreate.org HGauguin to Warhol at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 334 14th St., Del Mar. Ariel Plotek, associate curator of modern art at the San Diego Museum of Art, will discuss the museum’s current modern and contemporary offerings. At 9:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 17. $5. sdmart.org Tales of Loss & Redemption: The Country House in the National Trust at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. The Royal Oak Foundation’s executive director, Sean E. Sawyer, will discuss the National Trust’s role in rescuing some of Britain’s greatest country houses.

At 6:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17. $25. 858454-5872, ljathenaeum.org/lectures Artist Talk: Jennifer George and Diantha Zschoche at Women’s Museum of California, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, Point Loma. The artist-photographer and poet discuss their work in creating the current exhibit, Exposing Scars: Giving Abused Women a Voice.

From 1 to 3 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17. 619233-7963, womensmuseumca.org Ned DeLoach at Birch Aquarium, 2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla. The noted photographer, diver and author will share his underwater imagery and tales of his diving adventures. From 7 to 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17. $15. aquarium.ucsd.edu Sessions in Contemporary Art at MCASD La Jolla, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. The last of four seminar courses led by chief curator Kathryn Kanjo taking a close look at the major movements that have defined the art of our time. From 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18. $15-$20. 858454-3541, mcasd.org HExploring Engagement Panel at Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way. Join James Enos other artist participants in an engaging panel discussion exploring the facets of the Exploring Engagement program. From 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 18. $10. oma-online.org Caitlin Rother at SDSU, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area. Join the investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling true-crime author to explore what it is that drives journalists, followed by a television newsroom tour at Channel 10. From 9 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18. 619-5945200, adventuresbythebook.com HAnnabelle Selldorf at MCASD La Jolla, 700 Prospect St., La Jolla. The principal of Selldorf Architects will share her wide-ranging creative body of work, as well as discuss her proposed design for MCASD’s expansion. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19. 858-454-3541, mcasd.org

For full listings,

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

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

Kinsee Morlan

Diana Duval, at her solo show at San Diego Art Institute in September

‘Art owns me’ For Diana Duval, art is anything but easy, but that’s never stopped her by

Kinsee Morlan

T

wo anime-loving teenage girls linger in front of a smattering of paintings and drawings hung salon-style inside San Diego Art Institute. Diana Duval surprises the duo from behind.

“I’m the artist,” she says. “Let me know if you have any questions.”

“Me,” a self-portrait by Duval done in The girls are somewhat star-struck. a style she calls “fracturism” They compliment Duval on her work and

18 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

ask how she became an artist. They mention their own attempts at anime-style illustration and want to know how to improve.

Duval advises them to go to art school and, while warning of the difficulties that come with living the life of an artist, encourages them to pursue art as a career. She then says her own work is for sale if they want to take some of it home.

“Really, you never know who might have the means to buy art,” she whispers to me later.

Duval’s modest Encanto apartment is overflowing with art. It’s been a few months since her solo show at SDAI, and all of the work from the exhibition is now either hung on the walls or stacked up around her, joining an increasingly hard-to-manage inventory. Whether it’s one of her assemblage sculptures, drawings or oil and acrylic paintings, the art scattered around the apartment is all very recognizably hers.

Black and red are the most prominent colors in her palette. Her ornate frames are handmade from inexpensive Home Depot lumber, spruced up to look like elegant, gilded, antique-style metal frames. East Asian imagery and symbols are common.

Several of her works are in an abstracted style she calls “fracturism,” which distorts reality just enough to become somewhat disquieting. Skulls, bones and other dark elements often make their way into her work. And those knowledgeable of art history quickly recognize Duval’s tendency to appropriate old, mostly European masters’ compositions in contemporary ways, often replacing central male figures with females and adding other noticeable panache.

“That’s a Lady Gaga portrait,” Duval says, pointing to a large oil painting leaning against her television. “The title is ‘Birth of the Sacred Monster Creator.’ It’s a knockoff of Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus.’”

Later, she shows off a flawless painting of a vase filled with mostly pink flowers.

There’s one striking, abstracted red flower that stands out from the rest.

“What do you think of this piece?” she asks. “It’s kind of a spin on just a regular sort of still-life painting.

“I put a little mouse in it, too,” she adds, laughing. “I have a mouse in my freezer. It’s in an apple-juice jar hanging from a string by its tail. I can only keep him out to draw him for about 30 minutes before he starts to thaw.”

Duval’s eccentricities abound. She embodies her art and wears only red and black—mostly clothes and quirky hats she designs and fabricates herself. Even her fingernails are painted all red on one hand, black on the other. She also cuts and styles her own jet-black hair in a distinct fashion that makes her stand out in a crowd.

And then there’s the missing leg. Duval

Kinsee Morlan

often paints self-portraits or includes autobiographical imagery in her work. Wooden crutches or wooden legs are used in her sculptures, and a few severed legs make appearances in her paintings and drawings.

Years ago, Duval was diagnosed with a deadly and aggressive type of cancer.

Rather than take her chances in having the tumor removed, she opted to have 27-anda-half inches of her right leg amputated.

She says cancer was one of the best things to ever happen to her.

“It really made me concentrate on my artwork,” she explains. “After my diagnosis, I applied for the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and was accepted my first try.”

Duval graduated with plenty of accolades and support from her professors, one of whom encouraged her to send her portfolio to New York galleries under a man’s name because women weren’t yet as accepted in the fine-art world. A divorced, broke mother with no family to help her out, Duval moved back to San Diego after art school and began trying to make it as a working artist. Her disability, though, eventually landed her on Supplemental Security Income (SSI). She was also approved for Section 8 housing, but she says a misunderstanding and three failed housing inspections—which she blames on an inept landlord and a busy schedule attending art school—eventually stripped her of Section 8 status and landed her out on the streets.

“I lost everything,” she says. “I lost all

Duval, with a self-portrait, “Me, Too,” and other works my artwork, all my art supplies. It’s just— imagine yourself walking out of wherever you live with three suitcases of clothes and nothing else.”

Duval ended up homeless for more than two years. She slept in her car and used her SSI money to buy art supplies and rent out a garage where she painted and stored her work.

“But I looked like I look now—I kept up my hair and makeup,” Duval says. “Most

people never even knew.”

The homelessness ended after Duval ran into an assistant to former state Sen. Christine Kehoe. The assistant told Duval that Kehoe would help get her back into Section 8 housing, and the senator did.

“I’ve been here 14 years now. I can’t believe it,” Duval says. “When I moved into this apartment, I was starting all over. I had nothing—nothing. The first real series of self-portraits I did started the moment I moved here. I had no furniture whatsoever, but I had some art supplies and a stack of really good paper, so I just sat in one of the bedrooms with charcoal, a pencil and eraser…. And I just created all these selfportraits, and every one came out so different. I realized that we’re different people every millisecond of every day.”

Duval doesn’t have a computer or a cell phone. The only way to reach her is her home phone, which is hooked up to an answering machine with a recorded message that simply says, “Hello.” Everyone who calls for the first time thinks it’s actually her, which makes for a collection of hilarious, confused recordings. She used to have a more professional message that said something about reaching artist Diana Duval’s studio, but she says the recording ultimately got her in trouble with the Social Security office.

“They said, ‘If we find out you’re selling your work and not claiming it, you’ll be in trouble,’” Duval explains. “I have to be really careful. I just need a huge jump, a big push so I can be independent.” (To see her

art, you can schedule an appointment at 619-262-5640.)

Duval wants to break away from government support, but she says it’s been hard to make enough money from her art to survive.

“It’s a really difficult transition to get off the system,” she says. “They make it really difficult. Like, once, I received a letter stating that, if I get a check for, say, $300, I only get to keep $107. Would you work for only a third of your pay?”

Duval’s eyes drift back to the portrait of Lady Gaga. She recently sent handwritten letters to someone she thought was representing the singer, but her letters were returned unopened. She says she’ll reach out to her again and to other famous women who might be interested in having their portraits painted in the style of a historical masterpiece. “The Mona Lisa,” for example, could be reimagined with the face of Nicki Minaj.

Whatever Duval does, she says giving up art or trying to make a living in another way isn’t an option.

“I’m not saying I like it or that it makes me happy, necessarily,” Duval says. “I think art owns me in a sense. It’s not easy. I mean, I’ll work for, like, 20 hours straight on a piece. I become obsessed in some sense of the word, you know, and I live that piece.”

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

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

Seen Local

Kinsee Morlan

Aztec Brewery artifacts emerge Last week, two schoolgirls, confused about why the computer lab at the Logan Heights Library was closed in the middle of the afternoon, watched as city contractors lugged a large painting by San Diego artist Eugene Taylor through the hallway. Other library patrons gathered as the ornately framed oil painting—which depicts the moment Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II got word of Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés’ arrival—was hoisted onto a wall in its new home, adding much-needed color to the formerly drab computer lab.

During the next few weeks, the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture will finish installing the city’s collection of historic art that was salvaged from the former Aztec Brewing Company building into various rooms and nooks inside the library.

Some folks have been waiting decades to see the collection of art reemerge.

“One of the great joys of having had a career for 14 years in one place is that I get to see the completion of projects that have a long lifespan,” says Dana Springs, executive director of the arts commission.

“Finally having this Aztec Brewery collection on display will be really rewarding.”

The San Diego History Center’s collection of photos of the Aztec Brewing Company depict the brewery and tasting room as looking more like a lavish chapel or art museum than a beer hall. Located at 2301 Main St. in Barrio Logan from 1933 to 1953, the so-called Aztec Brewery Rathskeller was adorned with original murals by Spanish artist José Moya del Pino, paintings by Taylor, hand-painted wooden ceiling beams, stained-glass windows, furniture, chandeliers and other decorative elements.

When the building housing the old brewery was scheduled to be torn down in the late ’80s, local muralist Salvador Torres and other artists and community members helped convince the San Diego City Council to declare the collection of art and painted artifacts historic. The work was eventually donated to the city and, until recently, has been tucked away in storage.

In 2012, the city won a $400,000 federal grant to restore the art and have it reinstalled somewhere back in the same neighborhood. It was originally

Art that moves

Workers haul an oil painting by Eugene Taylor in the Logan Heights Library. intended for the Mercado del Barrio mixed-use project on National Avenue, but a commercial tenant (preferably a restaurant) that could meet the strict set of parameters necessary to exhibit the collection of public art never materialized at the Mercado. The city eventually resolved to have the work installed in the Logan Heights Library instead.

“It’s city-owned property, it has broad public access and it’s in the Barrio Logan / Logan Heights neighborhood,” Springs says.

Not all of the Aztec Brewery artifacts could be restored, she says, but the majority of important and recognizable works from the rathskeller were brought back to life by experts at the Balboa Art Conservation Center.

“The conservation team has performed miracles,” Springs says, noting that some of the work was made with unconventional and unstable materials.

The city, particularly City Councilmember David Alvarez’s office, which helped secure funding for the project, is working with library staff to organize a community celebration once all the work is up.

Springs, alluding to controversy surrounding the perceived value of the collection and arguments about where the art should eventually end up, used the upcoming public-art unveiling as an opportunity to issue a challenge to San Diego’s growing brewery scene.

“A lot of discussion has been had about the historic nature of the pieces and the value of the pieces, but I think people are going to be amazed at the sheer beauty of this work when they see it,” she says. “And hopefully it will inspire all of our local tasting rooms to engage artists in their interior design work.”

—Kinsee Morlan

management and executive versions, and each cleverly illustrates the amount of work he San Diego artist and engineer Dave Ghilarthinks they actually do. ducci’s new work blends aesthetics with In another piece, Ghilarducci projects an electronics and engages the audience image of a sheep onto a wall. It looks like through playful anti-authoritarianism. a static drawing at first, but floor sensors “I have this bizarre respect and lack bring it to life. of respect for authority,” says Ghilar“I’m looking at the whole paradigm ducci, whose solo show, Question of art being static, because it’s been Authority? opens from 6 to 9 p.m. static for hundreds of years,” he says.

Saturday, Nov. 15, at HB Punto Ex“While I think there’s room for what perimental (2151 Logan Ave. in Barwe’ve done in the past, I think art needs rio Logan; RSVP to nealmok@gmail. to evolve.” com to attend).

The inspiration for three electro—Kinsee Morlan mechanical sculptures, for example, Write to kinseem@sdcitybeat.com was Ghilarducci’s recent loss of his “Proverb Generator” and editor@sdcitybeat.com. engineering job. There are worker,

by Dave Ghilarducci

20 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

Blind principles Jon Stewart tackles the contradictions of fundamentalism

by Glenn Heath Jr. On June 11, 2009, journalist Maziar Bahari was in Tehran, covering the Iranian presidential election that pitted incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadnejad against more progressive candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Despite allegations of fraud and corruption, Ahmadnejad was hailed the winner, getting 62 percent of the vote. This sent Mousavi’s base of supporters into a fury, producing violent protests that brought Iran’s steep internal divide to national attention. Bahari, a native of Iran who’d immiKim Bodina (left) and Gael Garcia Bernal grated to London, filmed the aftermath and began filing reports for Newsweek. He was imprisoned for oners, painting the phantasms as strong enough to his efforts, spending more than 100 days being inter- withstand the pressure and Bahari as their weak and rogated by the secret police. disappointing stand-in. Meant to provide subtext to Rosewater dramatizes Bahari’s story through the character, this motif only produces passive-aga series of ideological crossroads that challenges gressive ridicule for a man who can’t withstand a bit the character’s sense of identity. Starring Gael Gar- of yelling and gut punches. cia Bernal as the embattled reporter, the film takes Rosewater is neither subversive nor damning in aim at the contradictions inherent in a government its picture of blind faith, not to mention a completely founded on isolationism and fundamentalism. It inert representation of the political-film genre. Each sounds like heavy-duty material on paper but feels scene exists in a stagnant purgatory between satire quite weightless in the hands of The Daily Show’s and drama, never having the courage to choose one Jon Stewart, making his debut as a film director and or the other. Aside from a few flashes of magical rescreenwriter. This can be attributed to the mishmash alism, Bahari’s story is aesthetically pedestrian, conof tones that define nearly every scene. cerned more with the internal struggle of desperate Bahari was incarcerated men trying to reclaim the stafor many reasons, according tus quo of their lives. to his captor, a blunt-force Much will be made of Rosewater weapon of the Iranian govthe film’s two central perDirected by Jon Stewart ernment named Rosewater formances, and each has its Starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Kim Bodina, (Kim Bodina). Treachery, scenery-chewing moment Shohreh Aghdashloo and Claire Foy indecency and espionage are in the sun. But the film as a Rated R mentioned often, but it’s the whole doesn’t understand last of the three that Stewhow to cinematically infer art gives the most exposure. the subtext of the characters’ Early in the film, Bahari sits down with a Daily Show struggles, content to literalize conflict and resolution correspondent for one of the program’s standard sa- through dialogue. This failure lies entirely on Stewtirical interviews, in which he’s labeled a spy, a bit art’s shoulders; he depicts these verbal confrontaof subversive comedy that Rosewater later takes as a tions in a standard way that evokes something one confession. As a stand-in for Iran’s crippling regime, might find on a cable-access channel. His ambition the interrogator is portrayed as a culturally hollow, to step away from the show host’s desk and into the sexually repressed brute who can’t even fathom a director’s chair is admirable, but the end result hapsense of humor. hazardly addresses too many important ideas to be Through Rosewater’s character, we get a simplis- deemed successful. tic understanding of Iran’s long history of ideologiRosewater—which opens Friday, Nov. 14—attempts cal manipulation, which is contrasted with Bahari’s to blur the line between genres, impressions and vermore complicated relationship with the country of sions of the truth. Despite these intentions, the film his birth. During his detainment, the journalist is lacks the necessary tension and vibrancy for any of visited by the ghosts of his father and sister, both these ideas to take root in any discernible way. activists who spent years in prison being tortured.

Stewart addresses the legacy of emotional suppres- Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com sion through this family lineage of political pris- and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Miscalculations

The Theory of Everything

In many ways the spring- and summer-movie seasons are preferable to the mind-numbing conformity of the Oscar blitzkrieg that kicks into full gear around this time of year. During the hotter months, you’ll find mainstream films with a pulse; Pompeii, Edge of Tomorrow and Lucy are all excellent recent examples.

Each has more energy and spark in one frame than The Theory of Everything contains in its entire running time.

One of the frontrunners for multiple Academy Award nominations, the new biopic about genius cosmologist and physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his conflicted

CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

relationship with wife Jane (Felicity Jones) reeks of banality. It’s so stylistically safe and toothless that one must question why it exists at all, other than to provide a tasty opportunity for audiences to get hooked by Oscar bait.

Directed by James Marsh, a filmmaker of great skill who seems to be operating on autopilot here, The Theory of Everything—which opens Friday, Nov. 14—attempts to dramatize Hawking’s early days at Cambridge in the 1960s, where he and Jane fall in love. The narrative often hinges on the melodrama of their romance and impending marriage, something that’s complicated when Hawking is diagnosed

with motor-neuron disease. Hawking’s profound genius as a scientist and thinker grappling with the contradictions of time and energy is only referred to in passing.

Such a calculated sidestep wouldn’t be egregious if the material that replaced it weren’t so dour. Redmayne, whose performance borders on mimicry, can’t break free of the inert script written by Anthony McCarten. Jones does her best to transcend the simplicity of her role as a dutiful housewife turned sour by circumstance. Still, neither actor can save this blasé television movie posing as serious art.

Opening

Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the San Diego Public Library in East Village.

Beyond the Lights: On the brink of superstardom, a talented young musician struggles with the pressure of the public limelight.

Balboa Park: The Magic City: Director Jack Ofield’s 1995 documentary about one of the world’s great urban parks, from its creation to current form. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, at the Lemon Grove Library.

Dumb and Dumber To: In this sequel to the 1994 hit comedy, walking morons Lloyd (Jim Carrey) and Harry (Jeff Daniels) return to the big screen to grace us with their idiocy.

Pelican Dreams: Documentary filmmaker Judy Irving follows the journey of a pelican that was placed in a rehab facility after being rescued on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Rosewater: Gael Garcia Bernal stars as a journalist who becomes imprisoned after filming the aftermath of the 2009 elections in Iran. It’s directed by Jon Stewart of The Daily Show. See our review on Page 21.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

The Liberator

The Theory of Everything: Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) is diagnosed with motor-neuron disease just as he’s graduating with a doctorate degree in physics from Cambridge and starting a new life with his wife (Felicity Jones). See our review on Page 21.

In Secret: Elizabeth Olson’s despairing Parisian housewife breaks free from a loveless marriage when she meets her husband’s alluring friend. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Scripps Ranch Library.

Pearl Peeps Viewer’s Choice: The lady in charge is giving you, the viewer, the ultimate privilege of choosing the movie.

Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Beerfest: Lager enthusiasts drunkenly pursue the crown of beerfest champion in a contest against their European archrivals. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

San Diego Fall Film Festival: This inaugural event will showcase more than eight hours of short films, music videos and mini-documentaries, all made by San Diego filmmakers. Starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, and runs through Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

SIGGRAPH 2014 Computer Animation Festival: Experience the world’s most innovative, accomplished and amazing digital film and computer animations.

Screens at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.

La Ciudad: The lives of four Hispanic immigrants intersect while they try to start fresh in New York City. Screens at 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, and 7:15 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 19, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Jurassic Park: The tyrannosaurus rex in the mirror is closer than it appears.

Screens at midnight on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the Ken Cinema.

Awake: The Life of Yogananda: This documentary covers the life and influence of the famous spiritualist who brought Hindi practices to the west in the 1920s.

Big Hero 6: An inflatable robot develops a bond with a prodigy named Hiro, and the two band together and become hightech heroes.

Camp X-Ray: Stationed at Guantanamo Bay, a soldier (Kristen Stewart) befriends a suspected terrorist (Peyman Moaadi) who’s been imprisoned for eight years.

Ends Nov. 13 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Force Majeure: While on vacation in the French Alps, a Swedish family experiences a traumatic event that reveals the deepseated emotions and frustrations that have long simmered under the surface.

The Green Prince: A Palestinian militant serving time in an Israeli prison is convinced to spy for the opposition. Ends Nov. 12 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Interstellar: Christopher Nolan’s new science-fiction epic follows a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to find a new home for humanity.

Low Down: A teenage girl (Elle Fanning) recounts the time she spent with her musician father (John Hawkes) in Hollywood during the mid-1970s. Ends Nov. 13 at the Ken Cinema.

The Overnighters: In this doc by Jesse Moss, a pastor in a North Dakota town reaches out to a group of oil workers with hopes of helping them face their demons.

San Diego Asian Film Festival: More than 150 films from around the world will screen at this 10-day event that also features parties and panels. Runs through 15 at various venues. Get details at sdaff.org.

Before I Go to Sleep: Nicole Kidman stars as woman suffering from extreme amnesia who must start every day by piecing together her memory. Mark Strong and Colin Firth battle for her affection in this thriller by Rowan Joffe.

The Way He Looks: A blind teenager living in Brazil searches for his independence with the help of his best friend. Screens through Nov. 20 at the Ken Cinema.

Out of Sight: Jennifer Lopez is the twinkle in George Clooney’s eye in this wonderful crime caper from Steven Soderbergh. Screens at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17, at Arclight La Jolla.

One Time Only

Life of Crime: Jennifer Aniston stars in this black comedy written by the great noir master Elmore Leonard. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17, at the San Diego Public Library in East Village.

Citizenfour: Laura Poitras’ documentary about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden explores the abuses of national security in post-9/11 America.

Shanghai Kiss: An starving actor living in Los Angeles struggles to embrace his Eastern roots. Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library.

For a complete listing

Volver: Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura are haunting in Pedro Almodovar’s

the “E vents” tab.

Cape Fear: Robert De Niro stalks and torments Nick Nolte’s suburban family in a seedy remake of the original Robert Mitchum thriller. Screens at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 12, at Arclight La Jolla.

Safety Not Guaranteed: A cynical journalist is inspired when he reads an ad asking for a time-traveling companion, leading him on a journey that opens up a world of possibility. Screens at 6 p.m.

22 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

Monk with a Camera: This documentary follows the life of a privileged American named Nicolas Vreeland who walked away from his life to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Now Playing

Begin Again: A struggling talent agent (Mark Ruffalo) finds hope in the music of an aspiring folk singer (Keira Knightley). Screens at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6, through Saturday, Nov. 8, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

The Liberator: Simon Bolivar (Edgar Ramirez) fights countless battles against the Spanish Empire in South America.

Screens through Nov. 20 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

sprightly ghost story about a family forever haunted by unrequited love. Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

of movies, please see “F ilm S creenings” at sdcit yb eat.com under

General disassembly

one that kicks more ass than most. But focus too intently on the noise and the intensity, and you might miss out on the humor and satire that comes with it. Their new album’s title is a wink at Black Flag, for starters. They also released an EP called Never Mind the Bombings, Here’s Your Six Figures length again. Just like a 7-inch here and and supposedly recorded a children’s althere. And we were, like, ‘We could even do bum called Plays Pretty for a Bunch of Fucksomething cooler than that’—like a fake ca- ing Babies, tipping their jocular cap to Sex reer of a band.

Pistols and Nation of Ulysses, respectively.

“Start out sounding really punk on the Even when United Nations do broach cassette—it’s straightforward,” he continues. political topics, they do so in a tongue-in“And by the time you get to the 10-inch, it’s cheek way. Take this couplet from “Revolong and stretched out, complex. lutions at Varying Speeds,” for At some parts it’s really preteninstance: “What’s the difference tious. We like that narrative; evbetween the real UN and the ery hardcore band starts out bepigs you see on stage? / At least ing almost not quite good enough we can take a joke.”

Nov. 15 to play, but very straightforward.

“A lot of it’s parody. Some And at some point, they hit their of it’s satire. Some of it’s metaThe Casbah stride where... they really know satire, even,” Rickly says. “Peohow to play. They’re keeping it ple in quote-unquote political twitter.com/ basic, but they’re really good at TheOfficialUN bands… you get this impression it. We’ll have that period, and that, like, ‘Oh, these guys are then we’ll have the period preaching all this stuff.’ We’re not preaching where there are cool anything; we’re just presenting information touches thrown in. And in an absurd way that makes you rethink the in the end, we’ll have way you approach certain thinking.” the part where they For Rickly, there’s no particular agenda go too far.” behind United Nations, other than to make United Nations something entertaining, raw and, apparentare, indeed, a high- ly, kind of meta. But however people perconcept band, albeit ceive the band, Rickly just hopes their music leaves an impact.

“I don’t want people to have a super-heavy emotional response to it,” he says. “I don’t want it to change their lives.

“I just want them to be, like, ‘Holy shit!’”

United Nations form an intense art-punk committee • by Jeff Terich shit. That tends to happen with music as intense as theirs. With a new lineup comprising Rickly, guitarists Jonah Bayer and Lukas Previn, bassist Zac Sewell and drummer David Haik, United Nations has entered a newly elaborate and expansive phase on their latest release. Tracks like “False Flags” and “United Nations Find God” are one-minute blasts of visceral hardcore, whereas highlights like “Serious Business” and “Meanwhile on Main Street” blend punk with black-metal blast beats and indie rock’s sense of melody.

And on “F# A# $”—whose title is a jokey nod to Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s second album—the group even stretches out into a passage of atmospheric post-rock.

The gradual escalation from raw aggression into more intricately layered compositions isn’t just good sequencing; it’s all part of a fairly involved and kind of absurd concept behind the new album. You can buy it as a simple CD or LP, but The Next Four Years was initially released as a box set comprising a cassette, two 7-inches and a 10-inch EP. And when you listen to the separate parts in the right order, you hear the sound of a band evolving right before your ears.

“We decided we sounded better in short bursts,” Rickly says. “We had this idea, like maybe we’ll never do a full-

United Nations

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

Jesanne Rechsteiner

On “False Flags,” the fourth track on United Nations’ new album, The Next Four Years, vocalist Geoff Rickly yelps an unexpected plea to listeners: “Please don’t take these things too seriously.” In the context of that quote, he could be addressing a number of topics— politics and punk rock, to name a couple that come up a lot in the band’s songs. But there’s one other thing he’d prefer you not take all that seriously: the very band he fronts.

In fact, United Nations was never meant to be a full-time gig. When Rickly formed the eclectic hardcore band in 2005, he was still performing with emo powerhouse Thursday, which took up a considerably larger chunk of his time. United Nations released material sporadically, played live infrequently and featured a revolving-door lineup of members of other notable hardcore bands, like Converge and Glassjaw.

And even though Rickly is the only constant in United Nations, he concedes that even he’s not essential to the survival of the band.

“We always said it should be an idea more than anything,” he says. “We all made a pact: If the idea was still being held on to, anyone can be in the band. It wasn’t a gimmick, like, ‘Guess who this super-group is.’ It really doesn’t matter who’s in the band. Just forget who’s in it. I told the other guys, ‘If you don’t make a UN record without me someday, I’m going to be very disappointed.’”

Rickly might downplay the seriousness of United Nations, but on The Next Four Years, released in July via Temporary Residence, the band surely sounds a lot like they give a

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

Hanging from the Rafters, from left: Mike Brown, Lolly Brown and Kawika Hughson

notes from the smoking patio Locals Only Another band has pulled up stakes and left San Diego. Hanging from the Rafters have announced, via Facebook, a relocation to New York City after spending three years performing in California.

Singer Lolly Brown and drummer Mike Brown have already made the move across the country, and guitarist / keyboardist Kawika Hughson will be joining them shortly. As Lolly Brown explains, the group agreed that New York would be a more opportune locale for their style of electronics-heavy music.

“We have been struggling to get bookings in San Diego, and as an electronica band, there doesn’t seem much of an audience here for what we are doing,” she says in an email. “We have had some radio play here and there, and we have had some great shows in San Diego, but we’ve not gotten the momentum going that we believe we could generate in a larger city. We’ve talked about L.A., San Francisco and N.Y.

Music review Hideout Rookie (Thrill Me) Cory Stier is a man with his hand in quite a few different projects. When he’s not playing drums in San Diego’s Mrs. Magician or New York’s Cults, he’s booking talent at Soda Bar. And he’s launched yet another new musical outlet: Hideout, a duo comprising him and fellow Cults member Gabe Rodriguez. However, since Stier and Rodriguez live on opposite sides of the country, their collaborative partnership is one that primarily happens electronically, not unlike the track-swapping M.O. of The Postal Service.

You wouldn’t think that the duo was in separate cities, or even separate rooms, by listening to their debut album, Rookie. There’s a casual, liveband sound to the folk-tinged rock songs that Hideout cook up. As first track “All I Want” begins to gain momentum, it has a lightly psychedelic, ‘70s feel to its earthy strums and upbeat jangle. But as the song progresses—and the closer one listens—it becomes clear that there’s a lot more

24 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

as options for our band for quite some time.”

Brown lived in New York City before moving to San Diego, so it’s not an entirely out-of-the-blue move, but it does give the band a fresh start of sorts.

“There really is no place like N.Y.C. for music,” she says. “In my years there, I played The Limelight, Webster Hall, China Club—the scene has changed in N.Y., but the opportunities still abound.”

Hanging from the Rafters’ first New York show will be on Dec. 27 at Pianos. They also plan to set up shows in other East Coast cities like Boston and Washington, D.C., in the coming year and intend to record their second album in 2015.

“We want to get it our music out there, and we feel we will reach a broader audience,” Brown says.

“And as Michael and Kawika agreed, this is a bucketlist thing if you are a musician.”

—Jeff Terich

to it than simply two dudes jamming in a room.

Rookie is very much a studio creation, but one that never sacrifices the chemistry and dynamic between the two musicians at the center of it. Squint just a little bit and “Where You’ve Been” sounds like it could have been performed by four or five musicians. It just so happens that there are, in fact, quite a few layers to it—keyboards, guitars and harmonized, multi-tracked vocals. Even a relatively straightforward track like the acoustic “Skylights” has an arrangement that would ordinarily call for a minimum of four musicians.

It’s pretty clear, the deeper you dive into Rookie, that Hideout have little interest in sounding like a duo. Rather than embrace a less-is-more approach, they essentially ignore whatever logistic limitations are in front of them, including geography, and simply make the biggest and best pop record they could. And as guitar-driven pop records go, Rookie is a damn good one.

Hideout will perform at Soda Bar on Dec. 27.

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

—Jeff Terich

if i were u Wednesday, Nov. 12 PLAN A: Single Mothers, Hot Nerds, Ditches @ The Hideout. Single Mothers are a Canadian punk band that sounds a bit like a super-noisy The Hold Steady. Their singer, Drew Thomson, has a sing-speak style similar to Craig Finn’s, but their aggressive music is just a little bit more inyour-face. Just how I like my punk rock.

PLAN B: J Mascis, Luluc @ The Casbah.

J Mascis probably needs no introduction, but here’s one anyway—he’s the guitarwielding frontman of Dinosaur Jr. and a singer / songwriter in his own right. The only reason I’m not giving him Plan A is because he doesn’t make nearly as much noise as a solo artist as he does in Dinosaur Jr. But he’s still J. BACKUP PLAN: Death From Above 1979, Biblical @ House of Blues.

BY Jeff Terich Thursday’s Geoff Rickly. They’re a bit conceptual, and a bit satirical. But if you’d prefer to ignore that aspect in favor of their roaring and eclectic sound, then that works, too.

PLAN B: Blonde Redhead, Dot Hacker @ House of Blues. New York trio Blonde Redhead have a long history of releasing interesting art-pop records, from their noisy early days up to their newer, dreamier material. It’s pretty much all good, and all stylish, so expect a great set. BACKUP PLAN: The Weeks, Turbo Fruits, Sol Cat @ Soda Bar.

Sunday, Nov. 16

PLAN A: Water Liars, Jimmy Ruelas, Creature and the Woods @ Soda Bar. Last year, I caught Water Liars opening for The Burning of Rome and was pleasantly surprised by their raucous Americana. Imagine a younger, leaner Crazy Horse—or Fleet Thursday, Nov. 13 Foxes if they knew how to rock the fuck out.

PLAN A: Flying Lotus, Thundercat @ PLAN B: Preservation Hall Jazz Band and North Park Theatre. Earlier this year, I Allen Toussaint @ Belly Up Tavern. Two saw Flying Lotus do a trippy, beat-heavy of New Orleans’ greatest exports are arrivlive set at FYF Fest, and ing in town for what looks though it was essentially like a hell of a show at the just one dude and his elecBelly Up. Soul legend Allen tronic devices, it was a hell Toussaint and the Preserof a lot of fun. The Los Anvation Hall Jazz Band are geles producer has a new sharing the stage to celalbum called You’re Dead! ebrate the music of the Big that’s super-good, and he’s Easy. Sounds like a hoot! being joined by bass virtuoso Thundercat. So, really, Monday, Nov. 17 don’t miss this show. PLAN PLAN A: Streets of B: Twin Peaks, MeatbodLaredo, Max Jury, Paies, Criminal Hygiene @ per Days @ The Casbah.

Soda Bar. I’m feeling cauA little bit of alt-country tiously optimistic about twang goes a long way, as the return of Twin Peaks, Flying Lotus far as I’m concerned, but but knowing that David Lynch and Mark Frost are involved makes it when the right band comes along, I can seem like—wait, this isn’t the TV show? Oh, never get enough. Streets of Laredo defiit’s a fuzzy garage-rock band? My mistake. nitely have the promise and talent to be just such a band. They’ve got energy, heart and But, hey, they’re pretty catchy! some great tunes. I’m eager to see where they go from here.

Friday, Nov. 14

PLAN A: The Presets, Le1f, Chela, Frankie Chan @ North Park Theatre. The Presets are a fine-enough band, but that’s not why I’m recommending this show. Nope, the reason to go is to see Le1f, a theatrical and flamboyant MC who needs no guest rappers or backup dancers to leave a mark. Throw your hands in the air when he drops “Wut” into his set. BACKUP PLAN: Los Straitjackets with Deke Dickerson, The Outta Sites, Low Volts @ The Casbah.

Tuesday, Nov. 18

PLAN A: Lord Dying, Lazy Cobra, Castle, Supersonic Dragon Wagon @ Brick by Brick. Lord Dying is not genuine nobility; it’s a sludge-metal group that blends burly riffs with catchy melodies. If you’re just starting to wade into heavier music, this isn’t a bad place to start. And if you already love metal, then they should scratch the Tuesday-night head-banging itch. PLAN B: Musee Mecanique, Celestial Shore, Geyser House @ Soda Bar. Maybe you don’t want to get pumSaturday, Nov. 15 meled on a Tuesday night. That’s cool. Try PLAN A: United Nations, Silver Snakes, Musee Mecanique instead. The California Sick Feeling @ The Casbah. See Page group plays pretty chamber-pop with lots 23 for my feature on United Nations, an of gorgeous flourishes that are a bit more always-evolving hardcore band fronted by soothing than a night of burly metal.

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

HOT! NEW! FRESH! Far East Movement, Waka Flocka Flame (Hard Rock Hotel, 11/26), The Soft White Sixties (The Loft, 12/11), Strung Out (Brick by Brick, 12/13), Mystic Braves (Casbah, 12/16), Corrections House (Soda Bar, 12/18), Big Sandy and the Flyrite Boys (Casbah, 12/20), Hideout (Soda Bar, 12/27), Silverstein (HOB, 1/31), Lotus (BUT, 2/18), Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake (HOB, 2/19), Martin Sexton (BUT, 3/12), Nickelback (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 6/27).

GET YER TICKETS The White Buffalo (BUT, 11/21), Love Revisited (Casbah, 11/22), The Ready Set, Metro Station (HOB, 11/22), Chris Robinson Brotherhood (BUT, 11/2526), Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Viejas Arena, 11/28), Cake (BUT, 11/30), OFF! (Epicentre, 11/30), John Waters (North Park Theatre, 12/1), Jonathan Richman (Casbah, 12/2), Chris Isaak (BUT, 12/3), Pallbearer (Soda Bar, 12/6), X (Casbah, 12/11), ‘Wrex The Halls’ w/ Cage The Elephant, alt-J, Interpol, Spoon, Billy Idol, Banks (Valley View Casino Center, 12/12), Ryan Adams (Copley Symphony Hall, 12/15), Dick Dale (BUT, 12/21), The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (HOB, 12/21), Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven (BUT, 12/30), Donavon Frankenreiter (BUT, 12/31), Pato Banton (BUT, 1/2), Tower of Power (BUT, 1/17), Guster (HOB, 1/21), Big Head Todd and the Monsters (1/23-24), The Wailers (BUT, 1/27), Patti Smith (Balboa Theatre, 1/31), Kenny Wayne Shepherd (BUT, 2/5), Meghan

26 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

Trainor (HOB, 2/18), Alan Jackson (Valley View Casino Center, 2/20), Cursive (Casbah, 2/22), Cold War Kids (North Park Theatre, 2/25), Twin Shadow (BUT, 3/13), Buddy Guy (Balboa Theatre, 4/11), OK Go (HOB, 5/1), One Direction (Qualcomm Stadium, 7/9).

November Wednesday, Nov. 12 Hot Water Music at The Irenic. Death From Above 1979 at House of Blues.

Single Mothers at The Hideout.

Thursday, Nov. 13 Twin Peaks at Soda Bar. Har Mar Superstar at The Casbah. Flying Lotus, Thundercat at North Park Theater. Relient K at House of Blues. Bob Schneider at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, Nov. 14

Sunday, Nov. 16 The Misfits at House of Blues. Water Liars at Soda Bar. Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Allen Toussaint at Belly Up Tavern. Adrian Belew Power Trio at The Casbah.

Monday, Nov. 17 Psychedelic Furs, The Lemonheads at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

Tuesday, Nov. 18 Lord Dying at Brick By Brick. P.O.D. at The Merrow.

Wednesday, Nov. 19 Bastille at Viejas Arena. Cold War Kids at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at House of Blues.

Tig Notaro at Balboa Theatre.

Thursday, Nov. 20

Los Straitjackets at The Casbah. Say Anything, Saves the Day at House of Blues. The Presets, Le1f, Chela, Franki C at North Park Theatre.

Frontier Ruckus at Soda Bar. Noah Gunderson at Belly Up Tavern. Jerrod Niemann at House of Blues. Lauryn Hill at North Park Theatre.

Friday, Nov. 21 The 1975 at SOMA. Minus the Bear at The Casbah. The White Buffalo at Belly Up Tavern.

Saturday, Nov. 22 Tegan and Sara Saturday, Nov. 15 Blonde Redhead at House of Blues.

Tegan and Sara at North Park Theater.

United Nations at The Casbah.

Primus at California Center for the Arts (sold out). Purling Hiss at The Hideout. Love Revisited at The Casbah. The Ready Set, Metro Station at House of Blues. Michael Franti at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Ira Glass at Balboa Theatre.

Sunday, Nov. 23 Capital Cities at House of Blues.

Monday, Nov. 24 Life Leone at Soda Bar.

Tuesday, Nov. 25 Alvvays at Soda Bar. Modern Baseball at The Epicentre. Chris Robinson Brotherhood at Belly Up Tavern.

Wednesday, Nov. 26 Chris Robinson Brotherhood at Belly Up Tavern. Cash’d Out at The Casbah. Peter Hook and the Light at House of Blues.

Friday, Nov. 28 Captured by Robots at Soda Bar. Alice Cooper at Harrah’s Resort. Trans-Siberian Orchestra at Viejas Arena. Circa Survive at House of Blues. Teen Daze at The Hideout.

Saturday, Nov. 29 Chrissie Hynde at Balboa Theater.

Sunday, Nov. 30 Cake at Belly Up Tavern. OFF! at The Epicentre.

December Monday, Dec. 1 Chet Faker at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

Into It. Over It. at Soda Bar. John Waters at North Park Theatre.

Tuesday, Dec. 2 Alex Clare at House of Blues. Jonathan

Richman at The Casbah. Fleetwood Mac at Viejas Arena.

Thursday, Dec. 4 The Robert Cray Band at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, Dec. 5 Supersuckers at The Casbah. Mike Birbiglia at Balboa Theatre.

Saturday, Dec. 6 Moving Units at Brick by Brick. O.A.R., Matt Nathanson at California Center for the Arts. Horse Feathers at The Casbah.

Pallbearer at Soda Bar.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. 710bc.com. Wed: Open mic, open jam. Thu: Live band karaoke. Fri: Matt Heinecke (5 p.m.); Brothers Gow, Groovesession (9 p.m.). Sat: Chill Clinton, Z.A.N.E., Brothers Burns, J Phatts.

Sun: Karaoke. Tue: ‘EDM Tuesday’.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Thu: Anthony Smith and Tony Miceli. Sat: 145th Street. Sun: Tres Compadres.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco. com. Wed: Karl Hess. Thu-Sat: Marlon Wayans. Sun: Blake Wexler.

Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla. brocktonvilla.com/beaumonts.html.

Thu: Luke Daniels. Sat: Rare Form. Sun: Kayla Hope.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Greensky Bluegrass, Dead Winter Carpenters. Thu: Bob Schneider, The Wind and the Wave.

Fri: BoomBox, Ichisan. Sat: BoomBox, Ichisan. Sun: Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Allen Toussaint. Mon: Psychedelic Furs, The Lemonheads. Tue: Inspired and the Sleep, Trouble in the Wind, Taken

By Canadians.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Thu: Hill Street Stranglers.

Fri: ‘Club Musae’. Sat: Dread Daze.

Bourbon Street, 4612 Park Blvd, University Heights. bourbonstreetsd.com. Wed: ‘TRW’ w/ VJ K Swift. Thu: ‘Wet’. Sun: ‘Soiree’. Tue: Karaoke.

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

Sat: ‘Sabado en Fuego’ w/ DJs XP, KA. Sun: ‘Noche Romantica’ w/ Daisy Salinas. Mon: ‘Manic Monday’ w/ DJs Junior the DiscoPunk, XP. Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Thu: Like Silk Sounds, Golden Goddess Crystalle. Fri: Blackout, Xanadoodz, Neon Knights. Sat: Black Market III, Doug C and the Blacklisted, Talk Like June. Tue: Lord Dying, Castle, Lazy Cobra, Supersonic Dragon Wagon.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego. Thu: Viceroy. Fri: Saeed Younan, Lee K.

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

Fri: Joeff and Co. Sun: Oscar Aragon and Bruno Serrano. Tue: Noche Bohemia.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Thu: Sex Panther. Sat: ‘Awakening’.

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

Wed: Nathan Collins. Thu: Teagan Taylor

Trio. Fri: Benedetti Trio. Sat: Eve Selis.

Sun: Besos de Coco. Mon: Nina Francis.

Tue: Steph Johnson and Rob Thorsen.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. dirksniteclub.com. Fri: Nemesis. Sat: DJ Dizzy D. Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Fri: Joshua White. Sat: ‘A Celebration of Daniel Jackson’ w/ George Bohanon, Ben Vereen.

Tue: Kristin Horb.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Sat: Seasons Change, With Age, Scarlett Avenue, I Am the Conqueror, Empty Spaces.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown, Downtown. f6ixsd.com. Fri: Mike Zee and Shadow Man. Sat: DJ Mo Beatz. Sun: ‘Maximum Sunday’.

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

Sat: DJ Karma.

Gallagher’s, 5040 Newport Ave, Ocean Beach. 619-222-5303. Thu: Revival, DJ Reefah, TRC Soundsystem. Fri: Pool Party, DJ Lya. Sat: Modern Day Moonshine, DJ Chelu.

Hard Rock Hotel, 207 Fifth Ave, Downtown. hardrockhotelsd.com. Thu: Radios Silent, Glass Spells. Fri: DJs Kyle Flesh, Johnny Rayburn. Sat: Dev. 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: Death From Above 1979, Biblical. Thu: Relient K, Blondfire, From Indian Lakes.

Fri: Say Anything, Saves the Day, Reggie and the Full Effect (sold out). Sat: Blonde Redhead, Dot Hacker. Sun: Misfits, Total Chaos, Sculpins. Tue: Smallpools, Magic Man. Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Thu: ‘Kizomba Night’. Fri: ‘Acid Varsity’. Sat: ‘Toombao’.

Tue: ‘High Tech Tuesday’.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave, Kensington. 619-284-2848. Fri: Cumbia Machin, DJs Viejo Lowbo, Number Juan.

Sat: The Sleepwalkers, Silvertooth Loos and The Witch, Pat James and the No Names.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave, Coronado. mcpspub.com. Wed: Jackson and Jesus. Thu: Ron’s Trio. Fri: In Midlife Crisis. Sat: Trunk Monkey. Sun: Ron’s Garage.

Patricks Gaslamp, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii.com. Wed: The Rayford Brothers. Thu: Myron and the Kyniptionz. Fri: Trey Unplugged, Mystique Element of Soul. Sat: Francois Sims, The Groove Squad. Sun: Fat Shirley. Mon: The Groove Squad. Tue: Walter’s Chicken Jam. Porter’s Pub, 9500 Gilman Dr., UCSD campus, La Jolla. porterspub.net. Wed: Blu, Zoolay, Stakzamillion. Fri: Sean Forbes.

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

Thu: DJ Von Kiss. Fri: DJs John Joseph, Will Z. Sat: DJ Blaine Soileau. Sun: DJ Cros.

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

Thu: Mick Steady. Fri: Guilt Singer. Sat:

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November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

Lady Star.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos jazz jam.

Side Bar, 536 Market St, Downtown. sidebarsd.com. Thu: DJ XP. Fri: ‘S-Bar Friday’. Sat: DJ Dynamiq.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: The Contenders, Javier Dunn, Josh Damigo and the Freeloaders. Thu: Twin Peaks, Meatbodies, Criminal Hygiene. Fri: Sons of Bill, David Wax Museum. Sat: The Weeks, Turbo Fruits, Sol Cat. Sun: Water Liars, Jimmy Ruelas, Creature and the Woods. Mon: The Eeries, Grizzly Business. Tue: Musee Mecanique, Celestial Shore, Geyser House.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Thu: The Ghost Inside, Every Time I Die, Architects, Hundredth, Backtrack. Sat: Dirty Loops.

Somewhere Loud, 3489 Noell St, Midtown. somewhereloud.com. Sat: ‘How the West Got Loud’.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St, Midtown. spinnightclub.com. Fri: DJ Harvey.

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

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

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., San Diego, Normal Heights. sycamoreden. com. Thu: The Tom Ward Combo. Fri: Drew Andrews, Manuok. Sun: The Liquorsmiths.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Wed: J Mascis, Luluc. Thu: Har Mar Superstar, The Pizza Underground, Lizzo, Pony Death Ride.

28 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

Fri: Los Straitjackets with Deke Dickerson, The Outtasites, Low Volts. Sat: United Nations, Silver Snakes, Sick Feeling. Sun: Adrian Belew Power Trio, Astra.

Mon: Streets of Laredo, Max Jury, Paper Days. Tue: ‘Hip Hop Beat Battle’ w/ DJs Artistic, Tramlife.

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. thehideoutsd.com. Wed: Single Mothers, Ditches, Hot Nerds. Sat: LA Hell Gang, Wild Pack of Canaries.

The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. theloft.ucsd.edu. Wed: Nathan Hubbard Trio, Keith Kelly Ask Not. Sat: Airto Moreira and Eyedentity, Steph Johnson Trio. Mon: Kronomorfic.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. theMerrow.com. Wed: Mystery Skulls. Thu: Grizzled Mighty, Billy Shaddox. Fri: Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons, Ashleigh Flynn. Sat: AJ Froman, Verigolds, Royal Heart. Tue: P.O.D., Taurus Authority.

The Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: ‘Dub Dynamite’ w/ DJs Rashi, Eddie Turbo. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’ w/ DJs Kid Wonder, Saul Q. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ w/ Tribe of Kings. Tue: ‘Trapped in the Office’ w/ DJ Ramsey.

The Tin Roof, 401 G Street, Gaslamp. tinroofbars.com/Home/SanDiego. Wed: Pat Hilton. Thu: Southern Caliber. Fri: New Jam City, Kris Bradley Duo. Sat: Random Radio, Johnny Tarr. Sun: ‘G Street Sessions’. Mon: The Kracker Jax. Tue: Roger Clyne and Mexican Moonshine, Andrew Zapp,.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Fri: ‘Hip Hop vs.

Punk Rock’ w/ Toothless George, 10-19,

Old English, Aim for the Engine. Sat: Shady Francos, Muscle Beech, Burning Palms.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos.com. Thu: Mercedes Moore. Fri: Groove Mercenaries. Sat: Detroit Underground. Tue: Theo and Zydeco Patrol.

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

Wed: Vera Cruz Blues (4 p.m.); Tomcat Courtney (7 p.m.). Thu: The Jade Visions Jazz Trio. Fri: Gabriela Aparicio (4 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (7 p.m.). Sat: Vera Cruz Blues (4 p.m.); Tomcat Courtney (7 p.m.); Gabriela Aparicio (9 p.m.). Sun: Sounds Like Four (4 p.m.); Big Boss Bubale (7 p.m.). Tue: The Trio (4 p.m.); Grupo Global (7 p.m.).

Ux31, 3112 University Ave, North Park. u31bar.com. Wed: Caliens, Apex Realm, Ricky Gutz, Dunda Batidas. Thu: The Traveler’s Club. Fri: Lee Churchill. Sat: DJ Qenoe. Sun: TRC Soundsystem. Tue: Lee Churchill.

West Coast Tavern, 2895 University Ave, North Park. westcoatstavern.com.

Wed: DJ Clean Cut. Thu: DJ Chris G. Fri: Billy the Kid. Sat: Mr. Dee Jay. Tue: DJ Clean Cut. Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com. Wed: ‘Wu Tang Wednesday’. Sat: ‘80s vs. 90s’ w/ DJs Gabe Vega, Saul. Sun: ‘Pounded by the Surf’ party. Tue: ‘Videodrome’.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: ‘Club Kingston’ w/ DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: ‘Ocean Beach Hip-Hop Social’. Fri: New Kingston, KL Noize Makers. Sat: Polyrhythmics, Gooding. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Jelly Bread, The Quick and Easy Boys.

Brendan Emmett Quigley

Behind the music Across 1. Rossignol equipment 5. Sandwich alternative 9. Whaler’s direction 13. Diminish 14. Like U2 15. Parks on a bus 16. Dreamworks film about insects 17. “Anaconda” rapper 19. Sandwich order 20. Operating room?

21. Individually 22. “All About That Bass” singer 26. Put pen to paper 27. Indie ___ (rock snob’s edge) 28. Rings 29. Jack of kiddie’s rhymes 31. Sailor 34. Nobel Peace Center capital city 35. “Fat Bottomed Girls” band 36. Flash alternative 37. “___ kind of a funny story” 38. Some special teams plays 39. Man with a van, likely 40. Phlebotomist’s target 41. Boardroom pointer 42. “Bootylicious” singers 46. Comic Maron with the “WTF” podcast 47. “I heard that one already” 48. Sailor 49. “Baby Got Back” rapper 52. Casino game 53. Wine region Last week’s answers

54. Has down cold 55. Toaster brand 56. Joseph McCarthy’s henchman Roy 57. One of Kraftwerk?

58. Season whose shopping time seems to start before Halloween

Down 1. Bunch of bees 2. Yeezy 3. Calculus subject 4. “Oh really? ___ who?”

5. Watch spot 6. Potato preparing device 7. Do some posing?

8. Fraternity letter 9. Camera setting 10. High card 11. Rush order?

12. Rule opposed by Gandhi 14. Absurd 18. “Olympia” painter 20. Plum loco 23. Seat of Hawaii County 24. Building units?

25. Qom home 28. Luau staple 29. Certain Muslim 30. Litter box user 31. Tried 32. Supersized 33. Manhattan location?

35. Call it a day 36. Actor Brolin 38. “Raging Bull” star 39. Flying rate 40. Pest control target 41. Tests with logic questions 42. ___ Maul (sci-fi villain) 43. Hose material 44. Cries of pain 45. Bib covering?

46. Dim sum soup 49. Egg holder 50. Speedy Jaguar 51. Alex and ___ (jewelers) 52. Quagmire

November 12, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

30 · San Diego CityBeat · November 12, 2014

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