San Diego CityBeat • Nov 28, 2018

2 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

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NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 3

UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

Us and them

B

ack in March, just before President Trump was scheduled to land in San Diego to visit prototypes for his proposed border wall, the UnionTribune published an editorial from San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. In it, the mayor tried to make the president understand the importance of a bi-national relationship with Mexico. In a rather smart take on the matter, Faulconer wrote his piece in a language that perhaps Trump would understand. “[Trump] would see firsthand how a major American city benefits from having not just a modern border crossing but also a working relationship with Mexico,” Faulconer wrote in the piece. “San Diego is living proof that a healthy economy, low unemployment rate and strong international ties are not mutually exclusive.”

In speaking to the president in the parlance of business, our Republican mayor was smartly attempting to put the delicate matter of the border in terms that are often lost in news narratives. And while the message was subtle, the overall concept was bold: A cooperative relationship with Mexico is not only good for our city, but the U.S. as well. If that relationship is strained or stressed, the U.S. will suffer not only culturally, but economically as well.

We are already seeing evidence of this. Just a few days ago, the president tweeted that if Mexico didn’t begin to ship the Central Americans currently in Tijuana “back to their countries,” he would “permanently” close the southern U.S. border. Given that this tweet came shortly after a group of people were shelled with tear gas after getting a little too close to the fence on the U.S. side.

The fact that Trump is completely unmoved by the sight of people fleeing from gas projectiles, including mothers with diapered children, speaks volumes about his capacity to understand any matter on a human, humane or humanitarian level. And as this crisis at the border continues to escalate, we often look to our local leaders for guidance or, at the least, to counter the Trump administration’s false narratives, which are then regurgitated on outlets like Fox News. U.S. Reps. Juan Vargas and Susan Davis released statements in support of the Central American migrants, with the latter saying that the clashes at the border are a result of the Trump Administration refusing “to follow the law” when it comes to processing asylum claims.

She’s not the only one attempting to make this point. Incoming New York congressperson Alexandria

Ocasio-Cortez has deftly pointed out that past and current U.S. foreign policies that have caused despots and gangs to rise up in countries like Honduras and Guatemala, the same countries where many of the migrants are fleeing. She has also pointed out that if Trump had sent caseworkers to the border to process asylum claims, rather than sending U.S. military troops at a cost of $72 million (so far), then much of this disaster could have been diverted.

But what of our own local elected representatives?

Sure, it’s expected when our local congressperson or senators speaks up against the Trump administration’s policies and even, in the case of indicted Rep. Duncan Hunter, when they align themselves with said policies.

But what about the elected officials who live and work right here? When it comes to progressive politicians, of whom there are many more newly elected ones since Nov. 6, many seem reluctant to speak up on the matter. This is troubling considering we’ve seen what happens when politicians align themselves with the president.

Escondido Mayor Sam Abed has been an outspoken proponent of the president’s hardline policies on immigration despite the fact that he was once an immigrant himself (he is originally from Lebanon).

But he was recently bounced out of office with some speculating that his opponent’s victory was due to an influx of Latinx votes. And then there’s the case of County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, who briefly became a Fox News talking head when she aligned herself with Trump over California’s “sanctuary” laws. In the end, it didn’t help her in her run for Congress in the 49th district, as she finished a distant fifth in the June primary.

So if speaking up in support for progressive immigration policies can seemingly only help local progressive politicians, why aren’t more doing just that?

And if the optics of the humanitarian crisis seem too bold of a stand to make, why not, as the mayor has done before, attempt to make the case in bold, declarative economic terms? Trump is winning the narrative. We are already seeing Tijuana residents blaming the migrants for being unable to cross the border to get to their jobs in the U.S. And as things get worse for them, things will only get worse for us.

—Seth Combs

Write to seth.combs@sdcitybeat.com

This issue of CityBeat is screaming at the top of its lungs, “What’s going on?”

Volume 17 • Issue 15 EDITOR Seth Combs WEB EDITOR Ryan Bradford ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Ramos STAFF WRITER Andrea Lopez-Villafaña COLUMNISTS Aaryn Belfer, Ryan Bradford, Edwin Decker, John R. Lamb, Rhonda “Ro” Moore CONTRIBUTORS Christin Bailey, Torrey Bailey, Jackie Bryant, David L. Coddon, Beth Demmon, Ombretta Di Dio, Julia Dixon Evans

HUMAN RESOURCES Andrea Baker

CONTRIBUTORS (CONT’D) Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Lizz Huerta, Tigist Layne, Jonathan Mandel, Lara McCaffrey, Scott McDonald, Jim Ruland, Ben Salmon, Ian Ward

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EDITORIAL INTERNS Sara Harmatz

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4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

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UP FRONT | LETTERS

COVER

FUN GUIDE

When your Voter Guide came out [Oct. 10], I put it away and got it out when my daughter and I started filling out our ballots.

It was a good review. Fun to read, too! Please do a guide every year. I love your publication and look for it every week.

Ernestine Smith Little Italy

VOTING HOPELESSNESS

Hey, Seth Combs, I read your article in the paper. The one about voting (or not voting rather) [“So you didn’t vote. I get it,” Nov. 7].

You write about how you feel it’s your generation’s fault for why younger generations feel a sense of hopelessness when it comes to voting. I had read the article while at work getting to know one of my co-workers.

The article was a great read, especially while I passed time getting to know one of my coworkers. Keep up the good work.

@SDCITYBEAT

Ryan Martinez Otay Ranch

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ON THE

UP FRONT From the Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Letters to the Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Side-Eye of Sanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sordid Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

WE WANT FEEDBACK Did you read a story in San Diego CityBeat that made your blood boil, or caused you to laugh so hard you pulled a stomach muscle? If something inspires you to send us your two cents we welcome all letters that respond to news stories, opinion pieces or reviews that have run in these pages. We don’t accept unsolicited op-ed letters.

Email letters to editor Seth Combs at seth.combs@sdcitybeat. com, or mail to 3047 University Ave., Suite 202, San Diego, CA 92104. For letters to be considered for publication you must include your first and last name and the part of town where you reside.

Note: All comments left on stories at sdcitybeat.com will also be considered for publication.

4 5 6 7 8

FOOD & DRINK World Fare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Final Draught. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

THINGS TO DO We’ve been a huge fan of Laurie Nasica since first seeing her work at the weekly Sketch Party night at Whistle Stop. The French-born Nasica (who also goes by the name Los Freedom Fries) became our go-to artist for our annual Fiction 101 issue in 2016 after sketching three simple, but lovingly rendered illustrations for the top three stories. “When reading stories that I intend to illustrate I try to visually conceptualize every aspect of it,” says Nasica. “Almost every time there will be a certain element that will stand out to me and that is what I chose to focus on. I tend to focus on a detail or a simple action that I find significant rather than depicting the big picture.” Follow Nasica on Instagram at @losfreedomfries.

The Short List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Calendar of Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

ARTS & CULTURE Theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Feature: Fiction 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-18 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-20

MUSIC Feature: Laura Gibson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Notes From The Smoking Patio . . . . . . 22 The Spotlight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 If I Were U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Concerts & Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24-26

IN THE BACK Astrologically Unsound . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 CannaBeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 5

UP FRONT | NEWS

ANDREA LOPEZ-VILLAFAÑA

Doing what they can Despite challenges, assistance and aid to migrants in Tijuana is coming from U.S. organizations

By Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

T

he walls inside the Centro Cultural de la Raza’s showroom were almost completely empty with the exception of several handmade signs indicating where to place donated food, water, toiletries and other items.

Just a few months ago, museum volunteers were placing artwork against the walls in an effort to liven up the Balboa Park space.

But on Friday, they were busy sorting through the hundreds of items that were being donated for Central American migrants in Tijuana.

Volunteers carefully packed beans, feminine products and cooking oil into cardboard boxes, while a museum volunteer checked people in who were interested in driving the donations to Mexico.

The process of collecting and transporting donations has been difficult and despite some roadblocks, both literal and figurative, community members continue to collect donation items.

Migrants fleeing violence and poverty in Central American coun-

tries began arriving to the border city just last week. However, conditions at the shelter where a majority are staying have worsened as the number of migrants staying there has increased.

There are currently more than 5,800 migrants staying at the Unidad Deportiva Benito Juárez, a sports facility in Tijuana that has been turned into a shelter. Other smaller shelters in Tijuana are also housing migrants from the caravan.

The Mayor of Tijuana, Juan Manuel Gastelum, declared an official humanitarian crisis on Friday but said he would not use any of the city’s resources for the migrants and instead asked the United Nations for help. However, long before that official declaration, immigrant rights’ activists in Tijuana were categorizing the situation as a humanitarian crisis.

While the city of Tijuana has provided a shelter for migrants to stay in, Enrique Morones, founder and director of the nonprofit Border Angels believes it is nonprofit

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

Volunteeers spent Friday afternoon organizing donations at the Centro Cultural de la Raza organizations that have brought the majority of aid to the migrants.

Morones said that prior to first members of the migrant caravan arriving in Tijuana, Border Angels volunteers and staff were preparing and gathering items they knew would be needed based off previous caravans.

“It’s thanks to the different organizations, and there are many, that are taking food and water,” Morones said. “If we weren’t, who knows what would happen to them?”

He added that it was incredible that city officials knew the migrants would arrive in Tijuana, yet in his

opinion, they were not prepared for the number of migrants in the city.

On Saturday, Border Angels organized a “Caravan of Love” where volunteers and staff drove down to Tijuana to drop off donations.

However, traveling into Mexico with truckloads of donations is not an easy task. Certain items, such as medicine and used clothing, are prohibited from being transported into Mexico. Drivers can also be taxed based on the number of items they are traveling with.

Morones said Border Angels coordinated with the Mexican Consulate in San Diego to allow for the transportation of items in 20 cars.

The Otay Mesa Detention Resistance volunteers also joined the group since they previously had some difficulty transporting donations into Mexico.

Volunteers with the Otay Mesa Detention Resistance (OMDR) and BorderClick, another organization that has been taking donations to Tijuana, have often been stuck with paying taxes for the donations they take to Mexico.

“Taking donations across is a challenge,” BorderClick member Alejandro Martinez said. “You need to hide certain things and other times [Mexican] customs will fine you. So sometimes we’re paying out of our own pockets to cross donations.”

While the groups have good intentions, it has been a learning process, according to Magdalena Ramirez, a member of the Otay Mesa Detention Resistance group.

Given that this was their first donation drive, many volunteers have had to learn what kinds of items can be transported and how many items can be taken across the border at once.

According to Ramirez, when OMDR first began taking donations across the border, their volunteers who took large loads of donations had to pay taxes on the donations.

The taxes were sometimes as much as $150, but they have since advised volunteers to take smaller loads in their cars.

She said the taxes and the recent border closure that occurred on Sunday—after members of the caravan attempted to rush to the border in San Ysidro—has not deterred volunteers from signing up to drive items to the shelters. The OMDR is extending their donation drive until Dec. 22, to continue helping. BorderClick will also continue accepting donations and they are especially looking for more tents to be donated.

“At the end of the day if we have to pay those taxes then so be it we will pay those taxes because we need to get those items down there,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez was personally taxed 200 pesos (around $10) when she drove donations down, but witnessing the conditions at the sports facility firsthand has only proven to her that they need to continue their work.

“You can see just the obvious necessity for shelter, people have these makeshift tents and it’s very inhuman conditions in which folks are staying in,” Ramirez said.

“People need actual shelter, but we can’t provide that so we at least want to bring whatever we can.”

While the International Organization for Migration has reported that 70 people have signed up to return to Central America, there are still thousands of people who are waiting for the opportunity to apply for political asylum in the U.S. Thousands will continue spending their days in shelters in Tijuana.

Ramirez said that despite the obstacles volunteers have encountered they will continue transporting donations.

“There is still a great need for a lot of things and people go through donations really quickly and so we will continue to do that work.”

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CULTURE | VOICES

RHONDA “RO” MOORE

A SIDE-EYE OF

SANITY

Caring beyond Election Day

W

e, the People (no, I’m not being hyperbolic, unlike certain documents that some people would do well to re-read) must confront the issues (still) holding us back and that were exposed during the election. A sampling: • Character assassinations in lieu of issue-focused campaigns (a candidate having to remind voters of their distinct ethnicity has been a way of life for too long).

• Ads that hinged on painting minority candidates as “the dangerous other” took negative ads to a whole new level of foulness (xenophobia is a hell of a drug.

Stop taking it).

• Hate speech masquerading as campaign rhetoric.

• Blatant voter suppression in multiple states (no, I don’t mean faux-voter fraud).

• Misinformation campaigns that led to highly anticipated—and needed—propositions and referendums going down in defeat.

These tactics are symptoms of even more toxic practices that have been permitted to seep unchecked into the bedrock of our democracy. It’s past time to call out hypocrisy not only in policymaking, but also in how narratives are presented to the public by the policymakers themselves.

Now’s the time to remember that the issues that pushed us to the polls aren’t just political capital politicians spend to get our vote. They are the matters impacting—and frequently derailing—regular citizens’ daily lives.

It’s time to demand that good government no longer means profit for the few. The government’s function is to serve the citizens’ interests, not pad corporate bottom-lines. Taxes aren’t collected to just pay government salaries; they’re supposed to fund programs that work for our collective benefit.

This midterm election sent a message, even where more qualified candidates were defeated. The message was that the trends of the few at the expense of the many—companies over citizenry—are intolerable.

People have spent the past two years (some of us drinking heavily) watching as the current occupant of the White House, as well as the legislature, roll back regulatory protections and dismantle programs all in the name of returning the country to “greatness.”

Leadership pushed through policies that dragged the working-class closer to the poverty line, while undermining consumer protections, endorsing hate speech and deconstructing laws intended to regulate corporations doing business in (and with) this country.

The profile of the U.S. is so lowered that world leaders don’t even try to hide their contempt anymore.

It’s up to all of us to make our representatives act right and work to meet our needs at every stage of the process. We should demand they stop humoring incompetence. I can’t say it enough: They. Work. For. Us. There needs to be public calls for corporate enti-

ties to get their hands out of our pocket (yes, I’ve been reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X again), and more practically speaking, it would be great if folks listened instead of going with knee-jerk defensiveness. Stop acting like talking about dismantling systemic racist institutions—or combating bigotry, the patriarchy, xenophobia, and religious elitism (some of y’all Christianity-claiming folks need to get a serious grip)—is anti-white rhetoric or some coordinated campaign to oppress white people. Because people of color are exhausted—I mean flat-out tired, of explaining that calls for inclusion aren’t demands for special consideration. I mean, how can it be special when we weren’t being considered in the first place?

We know most white people have little interest in acknowledging, let alone correcting, disenfranchisement. That is, until it becomes profitable to pay lipservice to “the cause.” Trust me when I say it’s difficult to stay mentally balanced while also constantly being expected to do the work of those responsible for the inequity and subjugation of others. The same people who patently refuse to admit there’s even a problem are all but screaming it’s still not your turn.

Too many white progressives are spending more time championing the status quo than supporting efforts to actually progress. When they spend more time obstructing, while the disenfranchised attempt to raise awareness meant to secure their rights, it becomes more difficult to believe claims of ally-ship.

Many younger people are bitter that their efforts to create a more cohesive society ended in skewed narratives or were labeled as divisive. Hopefully, they’ll learn before they burn out that it requires a certain kind of calm to continue advocating against deep-seated bias and passively accepted prejudice.

It takes fortitude to stand firm when disparaged and met with roadblocks intended to not just narrow, but to completely obliterate, paths forward; paths carved out by past civil rights activists. I could spend hours listing the ways people encounter blatant disdain, disrespect, pettiness and hostility just by bringing up the idea of intersectional equality. And I lose a bit of faith every time I see people using “social justice warrior” like a pejorative and unilaterally dismissing any “uncomfortable” topic of conversation.

So, this time, campaign promises need to be more than just another tweet or slogan not worth the paper or computer screens they were written on. It’s imperative we all do our part.

I really want to be convinced that harmful, supremacy-bolstering policies won’t be the only lasting legacy of white people’s incessant need to manifest their destiny.

It’s past time to call out hypocrisy not only in policymaking, but also in how narratives are presented to the public by the policymakers themselves.

@SDCITYBEAT

A Side-Eye of Sanity appears every two weeks.

Follow Ro Moore on Twitter at @BookBlerd.

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

UP FRONT | OPINION

EDWIN DECKER

SORDID

TALES

The return of the Nigerian Prince

S

o I received an unnerving extortion scam email recently and it freaked me the freak out. This is no easy task. Given that my email address is publicized and collects swaths of SPAM, I have become fairly skilled at sniffing out viruses, hoaxes, scams, chains and bogus George Carlin quote attributions. However, this message, bad grammar and all, shook me to the core.

“Hello, I know, your pass word is [12345]… I placed a malware on the adult vids (porn material) web-site and you know what, you visited this website to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching video clips, your internet browser initiated operating as a RDP (Remote Desktop) that has a keylogger which provided me access to your screen and also webcam. Immediately after that, my software program gathered your entire contacts from your Messenger, social networks, as well as email.

What did I do? I made a double-screen video. 1st part shows the video you were watching (you have a good taste lmao), and 2nd part shows the recording of your webcam. exactly what should you do?

Well, I believe, $2900 is a fair price for our little secret....

Note: You have one day in order to make the payment. (I have a specific pixel in this email message, and at this moment I know that you have read through this email message). If I do not get the BitCoins, I will definitely send out your video recording to all of your contacts including family members, coworkers, etc....”

Apparently this is a new variation of what’s called a sextortion scam and is becoming one of the most popular cons to date. The FBI received 13,000 complaints in July alone, and Bitcoin has disbursed over $4,000,000 in the last three months according to the internet security firm, Barkly.com. This new grift is so effective, even the Nigerian Prince is jumping on the scamwagon.

There are several versions of the email, all of them written with the same bad grammar, spelling and syntax as the Nigerian Prince-type scams, which made me instantly suspicious. I probably would have deleted it right then had it not been for the fact that the password he referenced was correct! It was the first five characters of an 8-character password I used a few years ago.

What the shit is this? I thought. How did that crafty prince get my password? Is my webcam really watching me? Are all my friends, coworkers, family—my mother!— about to see my O-face? I had so many questions, but one thing I knew, I would not be paying that ransom.

For one reason, what would stop him from blackmailing me again? Secondly, I wasn’t all that concerned about the type of porn I might have been

caught watching. Thankfully, my sexual preferences are relatively mainstream—certainly nothing that would get me arrested, fired or thrust into the crosshairs of the #MeToo firing squad.

Still, how did he get that password? Well, according to Barkly.com, it was likely gleaned from one of those massive internet data breaches of the last decade.

Most likely one of the 117 million accounts that were lifted from LinkedIn in 2012 and sold on the dark web.

Seeing my password in the hands of that dastardly son of a West African king, along with a threat to publicize my ghoulish O-face and O-grunts, made my heart drop to my Nikes. If it weren’t for the suspiciously hilarious way the email was written, I might have flatlined right then. For instance, the comment, “I placed a malware on the adult vids (porn material) web-site,” would have been horrifying if it wasn’t so hilariously indecipherable. There was also the “$2900 is a fair price” remark which is like saying, “Hey man, extortion is a lot of work! I have to create the malware, edit the video, compose the blackmail letters—be reasonable!”

But the best part is the bad grammar. Why are they always written like that? I wondered. Is the sloppy writing an accident, or by design? Well, turns out, it’s by design. It is an effort to prevent false positives, which refers to email recipients who engage with the scammers but don’t ultimately pay.

“Reaching out to scores of potential victims isn’t much work nowadays,” says economist Steven D. Levitt (via BusinessInsider.com)… “but with each reply… the scammers are required to put forth more effort. Therefore, it’s in the scammers’ best interest to minimize the number of false positives who cost them effort but never send them cash. By sending an initial email that’s obvious in its shortcomings, the scammers are isolating the most gullible targets.”

So what should victims do if they get one of these emails? For starters, don’t panic. And don’t pay the ransom! They did not hack anyone’s machine and they do not have a video of anyone blaspheming themselves to a Hentai tentacle diaper porn video (not that there’s anything wrong with that). In fact, don’t even respond. Take a deep breath, change passwords, enable two-factor authentication on any sensitive accounts and stick a piece of tape over any webcam. In fact, people should take those steps even if they don’t get the latest scam email. And for crissake, lay off the tentacle porn.

How did that crafty prince get my password? Is my webcam really watching me?

Are all my friends, coworkers, family—my mother!—about to see my O-face?

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

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NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | FOOD & DRINK

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE I

Come for the duck, stay for the offal

t never occurred to me that Peking duck could be a loss leader. But maybe that’s the best way to understand Yummy House (4633 Convoy St., Ste. 102); use a famously upscale dish to draw in customers and get them back for Yummy House’s less legendary, but equally good dishes.

The history of Chinese food in America is one of changing perceptions. At the turn of the 20th Century, Chinese food was a symbol of exotic sophistication. Within two decades, Cantonese cuisine became the food of foreign interlopers, but by the 1950s, Peking duck—a classic Imperial Chinese dish dating back to the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)—began appearing on menus accompanied by unabashedly upscale tableside service. Nixon’s famous trip to China cemented that perceived status.

The preparation of Peking duck consists of the bird being pumped with air under its skin, then hung and roasted in open ovens. It’s traditionally served in three courses: 1.) crispy lacquered skin; 2.) stir-fried meat with thin crepe-like pancakes, slivered scallions, cucumbers and a sweet, savory and slightly spicy sauce and, finally; 3.) broth from the remainder of the bird.

At Yummy House, the skin truly was the dish’s greatest glory. The meat was slightly under-seasoned, but still juicy and tasty. The soup, on the other hand was dreadfully bland. Did they use the same carcass four times? How is it possible to make a flavorless broth made from something as flavorful as duck? But oh, that skin.

Two other dishes at Yummy House use the same garnishes, sauce and pancakes as the Peking duck: pork with brown sauce and the “crispy large intestines with thin pancakes.” The former would be great for even the most squeamish and unadventurous of eaters. With a slightly sweet flavor profile, it’s basically comfort food in Chinese form. The latter would be even better if it were “crispy” as the name suggests.

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

But offal may be what Yummy House does best.

Pork liver with pepper is a joy: thin slices of stirfried pork liver that’s tender and with a minerality that’s perfectly balanced by the chili’s heat.

Even so, the best dish at Yummy House may be the beef tendon hotpot. The flavor profile was almost in the zone of French beef daube or a good, old-fashioned beef and tomato stew (if only more Americans appreciated the texture of tendon).

Yummy House also does a terrific job with vegetables. Stir-fried string beans is a Sichuan classic but this version only hints at heat. The stir-fried cabbage with pepper was, again, more comfort food than distinctly Chinese and wouldn’t have been out of place in just about any culture’s cuisine. But the most satisfying vegetable dish was the shredded cauliflower with yuba noodles. While it may not have been exactly cauliflower-forward, it was, perhaps, the most well rounded dish at Yummy House.

MICHAEL A. GARDINER

Peking duck Yummy House’s Peking duck is good, no doubt.

It should be right under the restaurant’s name on the menu. But the offal and vegetable dishes may be better and maybe that’s the idea: get ‘em in the door with that duck and get ‘em back for the other good stuff.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

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UP FRONT | FOOD & DRINK

BY BETH DEMMON

FINAL

DRAUGHT Hoppy holidays

iconic West Coast-style IPA that’s consistently brewed, packaged, and distributed by a whole bunch of people I love and respect. I’m getting warm and fuzzy (also thirsty) just thinking about it.”

I

n the wake of one of the most turbulent years in modern history, I don’t think I’m alone in yearning for the sentimental cheerfulness of the holiday season (and of course, the flavors that come along with it). This year, I asked a few San Diego beer personalities what local beers they’re most looking forward to pairing with food, family and festivities.

Spoiler alert: it’s a lot of IPAs. Douglas Constantiner, CEO/co-founder, Societe Brewing Company “The beer I look forward to every year around this time is Port Brewing’s Santa’s Little Helper. It’s such a great way to kick off the holiday season, plus Imperial Stouts are perfect this time of year. It’s a touch hoppier than your traditional Imperial Stout, so along with the classic big roasty and toasty flavor, it’s able to stand up to the heartier food that’s commonplace this time of year.”

Aleks Kostka, head brewer, Culture Brewing Company “Currently, Wet Hop Magical & Delicious Pale Ale at Fall Brewing. Any opportunity to have a wet-hopped version of a classic beer is plenty reason to be thankful, especially since these beers don’t stick around all year. Get to Fall quick before the Wet Hop Magical & Delicious is gone, mainly due to me drinking all of it.”

Port Brewing’s Santa’s Little Helper

Doug Hasker, regional brewer, Gordon Biersch San Diego “While I am thankful for all San Diego beer, I am specifically thankful for AleSmith X [Extra Pale Ale]. In my seemingly 100 years of brewing German-style lagers, it was AleSmith X that acted as the gateway for me. When I finally started brewing West Coast-style beers, it was AleSmith X I wanted to emulate. This beer pairs well with football, turkey and gravy, and, to this day, it’s one of my goto beers around town when I see it.”

Jill Davidson, senior sales & brand development manager, Pizza Port and president emeritus of the San Diego Brewers Guild Fall Brewing’s “The Pupil by Societe. It’s an ex- Magical & Delicious tremely well made, straightforward, Pale Ale

@SDCITYBEAT

Bill Lindsay and Jonathan Barbarin, co-founders/brewers, Thunderhawk Alements “We are super thankful for Home Brewing Company’s Country Boiz SMASH IPA. The Idaho 7 hops and Idaho malt work in tandem to create an amazing balance not experienced in most SMASH beers. It’s fruity, dank, dry, with a hint of tropical flavor and enough bitterness to make the West Coast IPA fans holler.”

Jeff Wiederkehr, co-owner/head brewer, Burning Beard Brewing “My beer of choice for this season is The Spelunker by Societe. Generally, I stay away from craft browns as they have conditioned me to believe that they will all finish like a mouth full of candy corn, but Societe, as usual, nails it with light notes of caramel just turning to toffee, a light roastiness that balances the semisweet finish, and capped with enough hops to remind me that it was brewed in San Diego. I will pour this over pecan pie and be thankful.”

Write to bethd@sdcitybeat.com or check her out on Instagram at @thedelightedbite.

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

EVENTS

SHORTlist

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

SAN DIEGO

LIGHT IT UP We know that sometimes our indierthan-thou reputation precedes us, but don’t get us wrong: It’s not that we’re above going to the big, traditional and touristy local events. We just think it’s im� portant to also share and rec� ommend events that may be a little more off the radar in hopes of exposing readers to something truly unique and memorable.

That being said, there are a ton of holiday celebrations this week and while some readers will be tempted to attend a light-centric event close to home, there are a few that may not be so close, but are worth checking out.

For many readers, the an� nual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights (Sunday, Dec. 9 and 16) is the most notable holiday event, but before that, there’s the 20th annual Little Italy Tree Lighting and Christmas Village (littleita� lysd.com) on Saturday, Dec. 1 from 4 to 8 p.m. If Little Italy’s giant nutcrackers and the lighting of two Christmas trees (one a 25-foot tall poinsettia tower) aren’t your thing, then head to South Park

NORTH PARK

for the South Park Holiday Walkabout & Tree Lighting from 5:30 to 10 p.m. In addition to the neighborhood’s unique independent businesses RACHEL COBB offering treats, there will be live entertainment, special offers and the lighting of the Luminaria tree at Grape Street Square (southparksd.com).

For those in North County, check out the La Jolla Christmas Parade and Holiday Festival (at Girard Avenue and Kline Street, lajolla.com), a tradition that’s been go� ing on for nearly six decades.

Happening Sunday, Dec. 2 from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., festivities will include music and photos with Santa. How� ever, we like the San Diego Botanic Garden’s Garden of Lights event even more.

Opening Dec. 1 and happen� ing throughout the month, the giant garden will be trans� Garden of Lights formed by 125,000 sparkling lights. There will also be snow for sledding, food trucks, marshmallow roasting and horse-drawn wagon rides on select nights. Ad� mission ranges from $5 to $18 and more info can be found at sdbgarden.org.

NORMAL HEIGHTS

CHILI WEATHER Giving back to the community doesn’t always have to be a chore. In fact, it can even be fun as is the case with the annual SoNo Fest & Chili Cook-Off, which raises funds for McKinley Elementary School’s Spanish, art, and music programs. Now in its ninth year, the neigh� borhood festival hosts 40 local chefs cooking up some novel takes on chili, as well as 22 breweries and a cocktail bar by Cutwater Spirits. There will also be a holiday craft market for gift shopping, two stages of live music, a food truck and a play zone for the little ones in the family. The festival hap� pens from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2 at the intersection of 32nd and Thorn Streets. The event is free but there are additional prices, which can be found at sonofestchilicookoff.com.

BEERS AND CAMERAS

SoNo Fest & Chili Cook-Off 12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

HERE IT IS We’ve long been huge fans of photo� grapher Stacy Keck and her amazing pics. She’s even graced our pages and cover a few times. Now, along with fellow creative Nic Roc, she’s opening You COURTESY OF THE ARTIST Belong Here (3619 El Cajon Blvd.), a creative space de� signed to be “an af� ��� fordable, inclusive and inspiring place for creatives to work and play.” The duo will celebrate the ac� complishment with the You Belong Here Grand Opening & Art Exhibition on Thursday, “Nocturne 2” Nov. 29 from 6 to 9

by Cataphant p.m. The exhibition will include 22 of the best and brightest local art� ists including CityBeat faves such as Alanna Airi� tam, Cataphant, Lauren Siry and more. The event is free, but all attendees are encouraged to RSVP at Eventbrite (just search for “You Belong Here”).

ART

HOLIDAY EVENTS

H You Belong Here Grand Opening & Art Exhibition at You Belong Here, 3619 El Cajon Blvd., Normal Heights. The opening of the new creative space designed to be “an affordable, inclusive and inspiring place for creatives to work and play.” The exhibition will include 22 local artists including Alanna Airitam, Cataphant, Lauren Siry and more. From 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. Free. eventbrite.com

Liberty Station Tree Lighting & Holiday Festivities at LIberty Station North Promenade, 2848 Dewey Road, Point Loma. Peruse through goodies and gifts, grab a bite from local eateries, enjoy an outdoor viewing of holiday movies and more. From 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30.

Free. 619-756-7992, libertystation.com

HUndocuqueer: Stories from Bordertown at Museum of Photographic Arts, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park. Local photographer Beto Soto captures the experience of San Diego’s LGBTQ and DACA recipients in this pop-up exhibition. Opening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. Free. 619-238-7559, mopa.org HMesa College Fall 2018 Student Art Exhibition and Art Sale at Mesa College Art Gallery, 7250 Mesa College Drive, D101, Claremont. Students will be selling one of a kind artwork, ceramic and jewelry.

Includes the reveal of the most recent window installation by Katie Ruiz. From 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. Free. 619-3882829, sdmesa.edu/art-gallery HRising Tide at San Diego Art Institute, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Multi-media show with works which create immersive environments and space for contemplation. Artists include Francisco Eme, Jacob Sundstrom and Jana Brike. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30. $5. 619-5647644, sandiego-art.org HSanctuary Print Shop Activation at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 1100 Kettner Blvd., Downtown. Through a series of workshops, artists Sergio De La Torre and Chris Treggiari transform the museum into a space for collaboration, dialogue, and action to create protest posters. From noon to 1:15 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. through Saturday, March 2. See website for other workshop dates. Free.

858-454-3541, mcasd.org Magnetic Content at San Diego Watercolor Society Gallery, 2825 Dewey Road, Liberty Station. Close to 100 original ready-to-hang paintings will be showcased at this show juried by award-winning artist Joan Mckesson. Opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. Free. 619876-4550, sdws.org

BOOKS HPatrick Coleman at The Book Catapult, 3010 Juniper St., South Park. The local author and poet will discuss and sign his new collection of prose poems, Fire Season. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. Free. 619795-3780, thebookcatapult.com Matt Coyle at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The San Diego Book Award winner for “Best Mystery” will discuss and sign his new book, Wrong Light. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4. Free. warwicks.com

FOOD & DRINKS Taste and Tequila Old Town at Old Town San Diego, 4010 Twiggs, Old Town. Tastings of the area’s best Mexican food and spirits at several restaurants, as well as music and entertainment throughout the area. From 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. $25-$35. 619291-4903, oldtownsandiego.org HSono Fest and Chili Cook-Off at 32nd and Thorn Streets, South Park. The chili cooking competition features a craft beer and wine garden, local handmade vendors, live music, and of course, many choices of chili made by 40 competing chefs. Benefits McKinley Elementary School. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. Free-$20. 619-916-7247, sonofestchilicookoff.com

H = CityBeat picks

HTree of Life Ceremony at Village Hillcrest, Fifth and University Avenues, Hillcrest. Mama’s Kitchen hosts San Diego’s premiere event to commemorate World AIDS Day. There’ll be a candlelight vigil, songs and the tree lighting. At 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1. Free. mamaskitchen.org HNorth Park Toyland Parade & Festival at University Avenue between Utah and Iowa Streets, North Park. The 55th annual parade includes marching bands, dance groups, vintage cars, city officials and more. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1. toylandparade.com HOB Holiday Parade at Ocean Beach, Newport Avenue and Abbott Street, Ocean Beach. The 39th annual parade and street fest includes floats, marching bands, community characters and, of course, Santa Claus. From 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1. Free. oceanbeachsandiego.com HWinter Wonderland Festival at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Frolic in real snow, decorate Christmas cookies, and rendezvous with live reindeer while also supporting local vendors. From 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1. Free. 760-839-4190, artcenter.org HSouth Park Holiday Walkabout & Tree Lighting at Grape Street Square, Grape and Fern Streets, South Park. The quarterly festival showcasing local independent businesses will include a tree lighting at 5:30, as well as holiday treats, live entertainment and special offers. From 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1.

Free. southparksd.com HLittle Italy Tree Lighting and Christmas Village at Piazza della Famiglia, 523 W. Date St., Little Italy. Walk through twinkling lights, 10-foot tall nutcrackers, Christmas carolers, live music and entertainment and more. Includes two tree lightings including one that is made entirely from poinsettias. From 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1. Free. 619-955-5285, littleitalysd.com HChula Vista Starlight Parade at Third Ave., Chula Vista. A winter wonderland with real snow for sledding, holiday treats, train rides, bounce houses, ornament making an, of course, a family-friendly parade. From 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1.

Free. 619-233-5008, starlightparade.com HGarden of Lights at San Diego Botanic Garden, 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas. The San Diego Botanic Garden will be a winter wonderland with snow, carolers and over 100,000 sparkling lights illuminating the Garden. From 5 to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 1 through Sunday, Dec. 30. $5-$20. 760-436-3036, sdbgarden.org HLa Jolla Christmas Parade and Holiday Festival at Girard Ave. and Kline St., La Jolla. The tradition that’s been going on for nearly six decades includes live music and stage entertainment, as well as photos with Santa. From 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. Free. 858-4054004, lajolla.com

MUSIC HOrkesta Mendoza at Price Center East Ballroom at UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. Performance blending mambo and cumbia with psychedelic pop, twang rock, and analog electronics led by Sergio Mendoza. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. $9$35. artpower.ucsd.edu

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 @SDCITYBEAT

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 HShapes & Sounds at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. Figmentum will present a concert of graphic and open score works, featuring music by Alex Temple, Kyle Rowan, Lauren Redhead and more. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30. $5-$15 suggested donation. figmentummusic.com Mozart and Dvorák at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. Part of the Jacob’s Masterworks series, concertmaster Jeff Thayer performs Mozart’s final violin concerto, as well as selections from Lutosławski and Dvorák. At 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1. $26$100. sandiegosymphony.org The Intermission Orchestra: Fall 2018 Concert at Price Center West Ballroom, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. Performance of music from video games, anime and other popular media including Civilization VI, Black Butler and more. From 7 to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 1. Free. facebook.com/ events/519590618452413

PERFORMANCE It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play at Off Broadway Live, 9490 Cuyamaca St., Santee. The classic story of George Bailey comes to life as members of the Pickwick Players perform a live, ‘40s-style radio broadcast of the Frank Capra classic. Various times. Friday, Nov. 30 through Saturday, Dec. 15. $15-$20. 619-448-5673, pickwickplayers.net

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HVAMP: Will It Fit? at Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. So Say We All’s

@SDCITYBEAT

monthly storytelling showcase will feature tales about tight squeezes, whatever they may be. Readers include Bryan Hayes, Elizabeth Marro, Kaitlin Malcolm and more. From 8:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. $5 suggested donation. 619-2846784, sosayweallonline.com HNon-Standard Lit: Aguilar + Tawater at Gym Standard, 2903 El Cajon Blvd. #2, North Park. The final reading of the NonStandard Lit season will feature readings from Alfredo Aguilar (What Happens on Earth) and Hanna Tawater (REPTILIA). At 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2. 619-501-4996, gymstandard.com

SPECIAL EVENTS HAllegory Tattoo: Live Music/Fundraiser at Allegory Tattoo, 3641 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Donation drive and fundraiser for the Alpha Project that includes a raffle and live music from Mike Pope, Dude Cervantes and more. Attendees should bring new hygiene products (toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, etc), blankets, towels, socks, etc. to donate. From 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1. Free. 619-500-4828, allegorytattoo. com

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS HAn Artist’s Perspective: Materiality and Process at THE LOT La Jolla, 7611 Fay Ave., La Jolla. A casual and engaging lecture series featuring artists from MCASD’s latest exhibition (Being Here with You/ Estando aquí contigo) discussing inventive approaches to process and materials. At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. Free. Reserve ticket in advance at mcasd.org

BOOKS: THE FLOATING LIBRARY

Famous last words

I

n March of 2016, Jim Harrison was found dead at his writing desk in Patagonia, Arizona. The poet, novelist and nonfiction writer of some 36 books was best known for his 1979 novella, “Legends of the Fall,” which was adapted into an Academy Award-nominated film in 1994.

He was a legendary gourmand and a friend of Anthony Bourdain, but his first love was poetry, and he published more volumes of poems than prose.

Harrison’s final collection, Dead Man’s Float was published two months before his death. Earlier this year, Copper Canyon Press released a new edition that includes Harrison’s final poem, an untitled work written by hand in the journal found on his desk when he died.

Dead Man’s Float is a meditation on death, old age, and illness, yet is filled with birds. A lifelong bird lover, Harrison wrote his first novel while recuperating from a tumble off a cliff while bird watching. Their lightness, he said, lifted him when his soul felt heavy.

“Birds are poems I haven’t caught yet,” he writes in “Tiny Birds,” but even in death they are a source of mystery and beauty. Here are the final lines of his poem “Seventy-Four”: … I once saw a bird fall out

of a tree stone dead. I nudged it surprised at its feather lightness that allowed it to fly.

I buried it in earth where they don’t belong any more than we do. Dead birds should be monuments suspended forever in air.

For Harrison, poetry was a kind of flying that allowed him to push his pain aside and forget about his ailing body, but poems like “The Present” serve as a reminder that he was never able to completely leave his body. As he puts it, “the cost of flight is landing.”

Instead, he reflects on poets whose suffering was much worse than his. Lorca, Machado and Mandelstam all have something to teach him.

Harrison is at his most poignant when reflecting on the nature of memory. In his poem, “Seven in the Woods,” he reflects on sleeping in the forest at age seven and again in his 70s. The time between these two events disappears yet the future remains unknowable.

It is the burden of life to be many ages without seeing the end of time.

We see you, Jim.

—Jim Ruland

The Floating Library appears every other week.

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 13

THEATER DAREN SCOTT

Holiday love in bloom

A

s soothing as a hot cup of Earl Grey, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley imagines a post-Pride and Prejudice scenario in which heroine Elizabeth Bennet, now married to her beloved Mr. Darcy, is hosting family and friends for Christmas at her family estate in Pemberley. Chief among the guests is her younger sister, Mary (Nadia Guevara), who is both beautiful and bookish, but seemingly uninterested in romance. That doesn’t last for long in this charming if not sedate play written by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon. Mary soon encounters a candidate for romance (Carter Piggee) who is as awkward as she is, but just as infatuated.

New Village Arts’ production, directed by Kristianne Kurner (who also designed a magnificent set), relies on the script’s refined drawing-room conversation, as well as its quaint British-isms and featherweight romantic conflicts over which Jane Austen devotees swoon. It’s all very pretty and proper, with whatever edge it possesses provided by the talented Guevara.

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley runs through Dec. 23 at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. $28$39; newvillagearts.org ••• ut for its country music-inflected tunes and a plot constructed around a returning soldier’s psychological trauma, Clint Black’s Looking for Christmas would fit nicely among the Hallmark Channel’s sugary and sentimental holida������������������������� y movies. This world premiere at the Old Globe’s intimate White stage is a predictable yuletide diversion that embraces familiar tropes of the season: the shopping crush, the precocious child’s Christmas pageant, etc. The plight of surviving Army vet-

B

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

OPENING: Our Town: Thorton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning play about the people of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire. Presented by UC San Diego Theatre, it opens Nov. 27 at the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre at UCSD in La Jolla. theatre.ucsd.edu A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes: Kate Benson’s award-winning comedy about a family Thanksgiving dinner that is presented as a competitive sport. Presented by UC San Diego Theatre, it opens Nov. 28 at the Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre at UCSD in La Jolla. theatre. ucsd.edu

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley eran Mike Randolf (Aaron C. Finley), who’s literally haunted by the ghost of his best friend (DeLeon Dallas) who was killed in Afghanistan, is thoughtfully explored in terms of its impact on Mike’s wife and child (Liana Hunt and Kaylin Hedges). Black’s songs, all but four of them taken from his 1995 album Looking for Christmas, comfort and distract, guaranteeing that Mike’s woes won’t undermine a happy ending or a happy Christmas.

Overall, Looking for Christmas is prone to cloying cuteness when it’s not occupied with the soldier’s anguish, but it certainly has its heart in the right place.

Clint Black’s Looking for Christmas runs through Dec. 31 at the Old Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre. $39 and up; theoldglobe.org

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

—David L. Coddon

She Kills Monsters: In Qui Nguyen’s comedy, a young woman picks up fantasy role-playing games after the death of her sister. Presented by the Grossmont College Theatre Arts Department, it opens Nov. 29 at the Stagehouse Theatre in El Cajon. grossmont.edu/campus-life/ arts-culture/theater-arts The Snow Queen: A young girl searches for a friend who has been bewitched by an evil queen in this play based on a Hans Christian Andersen story. Presented by The Theatre School @ North Coast Rep, it opens Nov. 29 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. northcoastreptheatreschool.org Scrooge in Rouge: When a case of food poisoning kills most of the cast of a production of A Christmas Carol, three actors must play all the parts. Presented by OB Theatre Company, it opens Nov. 30 at the OB Playhouse in Ocean Beach. obtheatrecompany.com The Year to Come: Playwright Lindsey Ferrentino’s world premiere play unfolds backward and centers on a family get-together in Florida for New Year’s Eve. Directed by Anne Kauffman, it opens Dec. 4 at the La Jolla Playhouse. lajollaplayhouse.org

For complete theater listings, visit sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

@SDCITYBEAT

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 15

We like ‘em short and not-so-sweet when it comes to our annual fiction challenge Illustrations by Laurie Nasica s autumn transitions into winter, many of us will curl up next to a fire to read the latest novels. For regular CityBeat readers, late November means one thing: our annual Fiction 101 contest, where we ask promising writers to say a lot with a little.

Of the nearly 200 submissions we received this year (in case there’s any confusion, the stories have to be 101 words or less), there are always two things that stand out to us: First, there are some really talented people living in this city, many of whom are unpublished (but really should be). Second, our readers are a weird bunch. While some specialize in the macabre and scary, there are others who strike a more hopeful tone… but with a twist.

In fact, while the prompt in which to write these stories is simple, the stories themselves are anything but simplistic. It certainly wasn’t simple to pick the winners, but the stories below were the ones that really stood out to us. Hopefully they’ll make for some suitable fireside reading material.

The Homecoming

By Gayle Hicks, Kensington “There he is!” One of the animal control officers jumped from the truck onto the underpass shoulder.

Ears perked, a mongrel brindle stood poised. The officer cooed, “Here boy.” The brindle stared warily, then ran out of sight. Returning to the truck, the officer bemoaned, “Some homeless person’s poor dog.”

The brindle hid until a disheveled man appeared to whom he ran enthusiastically. Two burgers emerged from a bag. One was laid on the ground; the brindle devoured it.

Contented, both lounged against a concrete wall. Stroking the brindle’s head laying in his lap the man sighed, “Good to be home.”

16 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

@SDCITYBEAT

selves explaining tweeting to a new generation. The early results were promising. #VOTE was number three, right after #FakeNews and #NoCollusion.

Steve Montgomery North Park

The Arbitrator

Dead of Winter

By Bill Peters, Point Loma He stood in the kitchen. “You sure you want to do this?”

Her answer was to fetch her suitcase, grab her keys, and go out to face the frigid air and her dead battery.

He grabbed the jumper cables from his truck. Once he rigged them up, she turned the key on her frozen Toyota. The engine moaned twice then roared to life.

He wrapped up the jumper cables and returned to the house. She waited for 20 minutes until the heat was blasting in her car. Then, as always, she cut the engine, grabbed her suitcase and ran inside.

August, 1963 Inside the blue jar is a reverie.

Summertime. Hellish heat, jungle humidity—only the stars provide relief. The crickets sound manic, desperate.

Her mom is on the porch, Pall Mall to her lips, exhaling clouds of melancholy. Robin drops to the wooden floor, Indian-style, scooting back until her bottom is at mother’s toes. She hands the jar back over her shoulder and gingerly pushes the straps of her nightie sideways. The menthol hits, her nostrils flare, then a delicious, icy shiver as Noxzema is gently stroked on sunburned skin.

“What’s wrong, Mom?” “Nothing, honey. I’m having a baby.”

Patty Berg Encinitas

Summer Swelter Two hours sitting baking in the scorching back seat of our once-black, now-silver 2008 Saturn Ion with little brother and housekeeper, Lolita. Dad fumbles with the radio trying to find a perfect waiting en la linea song. There is no perfect waiting en la linea song. Two cars away. Lolita’s nervous… she shouldn’t be.

Visa: Check.

Passport: Check We’re next. Dad finds “American Pie.” Light turns green…

Go. Officer: “Bringing anything back from Mexico?”

Little brother: “Yes… her,” sausage like fingers pointing directly at Lolita.

Dad fretfully smiles.

And the three men I admire most, The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost…

@SDCITYBEAT

Salomon Maya Chula Vista

Little Moments The plane angles to the west and through an opening in the cloud cover, you catch a final glimpse of the city below.

The angle of the plane keeps you pressed against the seat and your eyes are soaked while Mozart washes through your headset with the sadness, and you are struck by what an incredibly cinematic moment this would make. You hide your face by looking out the window. The lump in your throat is a big one this time, and that’ll be yours for a while. For now, though, this plane is heading west and you’re going with it.

Stephen Keyes Leucadia

Contrasts Cold wind blew wisps of gray hair about her ears, but afternoon sun warmed her cheeks and the contrast was stark and pleasing to her.

Before the war and Spanish flu that took him, she’d sit here on the porch and wait while daddy finished the churning. Alfred’d appear over the rise, sun making him all but invisible,‘cept his hair all slicked back and wet.

Soft fur wound around her leg, reminding her of approaching dark.

Everything gone now but the cat, the swing and an old woman—her memories spreading warmth throughout her body in the windy cold.

Vicky Lee

Chula Vista

The kettle boiled over, screaming a broken battle cry.

A sinister smile dances across your lips as you watch the Earl Grey bleed black, swirling tendrils, creeping toward the false refuge of the surface. “There is no escape,” you whisper, as you summon Charybdis with your spoon.

“Can we talk?”

His voice breaks your entrancement. You meet his gaze evenly, his cup placid between his hands. “I’m so sorry…” he continues, but his words are lost to you.

And he said tea is the perfect arbitrator, you think wryly... but he knew nothing of the devil and the deep blue sea.

Earth First & Last Simon brushed his teeth while the earth rumbled, thinking the extra movement would finally get those rear molars.

He never worried about quakes until books fell from the shelves. When the temblor ended he went outside. He needed to pick up eggs for breakfast.

His walk took him by the old cemetery. He was surprised by how disturbed the graves were, with caskets pushed up and empty. Perhaps it was vandals, a quake couldn’t do this.

When he reached the Shop-Mart, he saw a few people standing around seemingly stunned. One of them asked, “How’d you screw up?”

Tim Calaway Rolando Park

Backstroke “Waiter there’s a fly in my soup!”

The server came over to my table.

“What is this fly doing in my soup?”

He took a look, shrugged and answered, “Looks like the backstroke, sir.”

I decided this was the first and last time I went to a Comedy Club to have dinner.

Dan Adams Bay Park

That Flat Feeling Sophie considered keying his pickup or putting sugar in the tank. Or maybe a potato in the tailpipe would send the right message.

Instead, she sits on the curb and listens to the hiss until his tire deflates. It takes three minutes. Hers had taken most of 18 years, but she knew what deflation felt like.

Sophie slips a note under his wiper.

FIXING FLATS: Place lips over valve stem.

Exhale.

Harder! Bear down if you ever want to be full again.

HARDER! Warning: If you give up, the blowback will explode your insides.

She also knew what that felt like.

Hashtag Vote Tweet-A-Vote was supposed to be it—the thing that would finally get those elusive millennials to put down their SuperVapes long enough to vote. Twitter had long ago been relegated to the land of MySpace, Napster and AIM. But in 2040, millennials still clung to the favored platform of their youth. So RockTheVote fired up the Wayback Machine and littered millennial Facebook feeds with throwback tweets from the good old days. Gen Z grandparents found them-

Kate Cummings El Cajon

John Shaw Rancho Bernardo

FICTION 101 CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

FICTION 101 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 Love-Time Continuum

Eager for Understanding

Peddling lovers offered me a bribe today. They said for a quarter they’d give me a rock that carries holographic reflections of the universe, and the power for me to find my true love. So I gave them my last quarter and looked at the rock seeing through Milky Way galaxies and infinite dimensions until I found you.

We were walking down paths in a beautiful dream, you held my hand and we kissed often. The Formica stuck on the rocks beneath our feet projected our images back into space, past the galaxies again, and into the rock in my pocket.

By Patrick Beardley, University City

She stood in front of the podium scared and eager for understanding. Her voice ached for companionship as she put her tiny foot upon the step. The air was fertile. She placed her mouth to the microphone and her palms ran with the sweat of vulnerability. This was her chance to transform from one who makes comments to one who others comment about. She wanted to be the sight, not the vision. But her want to be embraced kept her from saying how she truly felt. She decided not to say anything disagreeable, and delivered her speech to paltry applause.

Lori DuPont Golden Hill

Daddy Longlegs “I have no respect for you,” she thought as she watched yet another daddy longlegs hanging in a shabby web, doing the “dry till you die” thing.

“Do you want to die,” she called out. “Try a different spot!”

Currently numbed by “compassion burnout,” this outburst surprised her. News of deadly shootings and insane political corruption no longer fazed her. She couldn’t feel a thing.

Movement in the spider’s web roused her. Buddhist or not, she whacked a nearby fly with some cardboard and threw it into the web. As the spider sprang for the fly, she cried.

Marilyn Mangion Hillcrest

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

It Just Happened

Aunt and Niece

I’ve always loved the saying, “He really let himself go.” It captures everything so well.

You never choose to get fat; you just “let yourself go.”

You let down your guard, lose control for a moment, and, next thing you know, you’re eighty pounds heavier, all paunch and rolls and bulges. You didn’t plan for this to happen—you just let yourself go. It’s so easy.

We all do sometimes. I sure did last night. I relaxed my vigilance for one second. Next thing I know, I’m standing over his body, covered in blood, holding a tire iron in my hands.

A piece of something green, gross and fragile is stuck between my aunt’s teeth, remnant of a sandwich eaten alone in a foreign country. She talks about the sandwich but has no idea that her teeth are hosting basil, parsley or cilantro.

And I don’t tell her. My aunt goes back home by plane; I stay in the foreign country 20 years and counting. I never tell her about the green intruder, about the fragility of eating abroad, alone, unseen.

Beatrice Basso Scripps Ranch

David Schmidt La Mesa

@SDCITYBEAT

CULTURE | FILM

Play your hand

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Joel and Ethan Coen’s new Western anthology deals in fate

by Glenn Heath Jr.

I

f legend holds true, the Old West was a place of shaped by a personal series of bad decisions.

Some unfortunate characters don’t even have the brutal uncertainty that dealt many an unlucky hand. People lived and died moment-to-moment, power to wring their own neck. In Meal Ticket, a limbless British thespian (Harry Melling) performs iconic town-to-town and bullet-to-bullet.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs embraces such vola- monologues and poems for lowly mountain folk as his tility in six unconnected frontier fables. Ranging in gruff caretaker (Liam Neeson) scowls from stage left. length and tone, each exhibits a sense of bitter irony The travelling duo represents unquenched capitalism and cold fate long associated with the work of film- at its most vicious, and glaring inequality between makers Joel and Ethan Coen, who have spent decades supply and demand. It doesn’t end well.

Tom Waits’ gravelly voice carries through the valtwisting classic genres into newly formed knots.

Much of the Coen’s work inspires a bleak view of ley of All Gold Canyon, a brilliant single location study mankind. Verbose and wry characters make fatefully in brazen endurance that finds an aged miner spoiling bad decisions that lead only to their untimely demise. the splendor and silence of nature in order to score The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (now streaming on Netflix) big. Here, the Coen’s display their stunning ability to is no less biting, although it takes a little time to real- create montages without the crutch of music. Instead, ize just how dire things can get. Even when the film they rely solely on Waits’ intense presence to fill an seemingly expresses a sunny disposition, that’s just its otherwise picturesque wide screen landscape.

The Gal Who Got Rattled is devilishness playing possum. by far the longest chapter of An old-timey hardback fills Buster Scruggs and, in many the frame with prose and colTHE BALLAD OF ways, it’s the most moving. or plates. Pages turn and the Only days after setting out for first chapter (which shares the BUSTER SCRUGGS Oregon on a wagon train, Alice film’s title) is set in motion, Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen Longabaugh (Zoe Kazan) loses featuring a quick inaugural her useless older brother to crescendo that’s both jarring Starring Tim Blake Nelson, Zoe Kazan, cholera. With his deadweight and funny. Set deep in MonuBill Heck and Liam Neeson firmly buried six-feet deep, she ment Valley, echoes of song Not Rated finds herself exposed to the break the eerie quiet. manipulation and opportunPlaying a guitar on horseism of the era. A kindly cowboy back and breaking the fourth wall with his melodic hound dog drawl, outlaw Buster named Billy Knapp (Bill Heck) tries to solve her crisis Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson) passes the time belting with a proposal.

Billy’s long speech about certainty as a fool’s erout a tune. He may be dressed entirely in white duds, but this man is no Gene Autry; moments after entering rand becomes the abiding central thesis. In the final a bar he dispatches a gang of roughnecks with the ease chapter, aptly titled The Mortal Remains, a grouchy of a veteran killer. This hero shoots people in the back. group of travellers on a fast moving stagecoach esBy beginning their dusty opus with a walking, yo- pouse the idea that stories can provide viewers meandeling contradiction, the Coen’s properly poison the ing by association, thoroughly subverting the emocentral concepts behind classic Western iconography. tional connection just made in the previous segment.

As one half of the charming bounty hunter team Near Algondes pushes this concept into the absurd: James Franco’s stoic bandit tries to rob a desolate de- onboard, Brendan Gleeson’s enforcer serenades his pository only to find himself caught off guard by the companions with an Irish ditty about heartbreak and death. The Old West is strewn with these kinds of lunatic bank teller (Stephen Root).

A hangman’s noose tightens around the criminal’s telling tunes; songs that tell a sad story, but not the neck, and then it doesn’t, and then it does again. To whole story. quote Buster Scruggs, “one thing leads to another” in this yarn, and the escalating action proves essen- Film reviews run weekly. tial to the Coen’s argument that everyone’s destiny is Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

CULTURE | FILM

Chef Flynn

Recipe for success

T

eenage culinary prodigy Flynn McGarry claims he began cooking after growing bored with his mother’s recipes.

Meg McGarry remembers things a little differently, citing her son’s fascination with experimentation as the driving force behind his passion of choice.

These competing perspectives speak to the root tension within Chef Flynn, a paint-by-numbers documentary by Cameron Yates about the young chef’s rise to fame.

Spanning roughly the time that Flynn began doing pop-up dinners in his family’s living room at the age of 10 all the way to his departure for the New York City restaurant scene at 16, the film tries to unpack what is revealed to be a prickly relationship between parent and child. Once a filmmaker and artist, Meg explains that she gave it all up to have children. The resentment in her voice is palpable.

Once Flynn’s career took off she became his confidant, manager and even sous-chef. There’s a certain novelty in watching the young boy give an initial tour of his bedroom/service kitchen.

Meg’s futile attempts to wrangle her son’s bored friends, who’ve all volunteered to help with the initial supper club at their makeshift restaurant Eureka, also rings true. But the adult world of fine dining soon comes calling, overwhelming all sense of fun and play.

Chef Flynn (opening Friday, Nov. 30, at the Ken Cinema) claims its importance through access: Meg’s video documentation of her son’s rapid ascent makes up much of the footage. Yet, the close proximity doesn’t do much to expand the film’s scope beyond conventional means. It’s never in doubt that Flynn just wants to escape his mother, and that Meg wants space too, something she won’t admit.

Flynn’s age and talent ultimately threatens the modern cu-

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

linary world’s strict hierarchies, but by the time Yates gets around to confronting these ideas, both of his central subjects seem genuinely exhausted. They just want to move on to the next chapter alone.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

OPENING All About Nina: When a new professional opportunity coincides with a romantic one, a rising comedy star is forced to confront her own deeply troubled past. Opens Friday, Nov. 30, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Chef Flynn: In this documentary about celebrity and parenting, a teenage culinary prodigy navigates the high intensity world of fine dining while also juggling his overprotective mother. Opens Friday, Nov. 30, at Landmark’s Ken Cinema.

Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable: A portrait of photographer Garry Winogrand, best known for his portraits of spontaneous New York life in the 1960s. Opens Friday, Nov. 30, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Joel and Ethan Coen’s new yarn is a six-shooter anthology that deals with themes of revenge, justice and storytelling in the Old West.

Now available for streaming on Netflix.

The Possession of Hannah Grace: A police officer recently released from rehab begins to experience bizarre and violent events while on the graveyard shift at the local morgue. Opens in wide release Friday, Nov. 30.

ONE TIME ONLY Ang Larawan: Two grown sisters clash over the decision to sell the final masterwork by their painter father in this Filipino drama. Screens at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

Lorna: The titular 60-year-old woman tries one last time to find love in this charming drama/comedy from the Philippines.

Screens at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

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

@SDCITYBEAT

PARKER FITZGERALD

MUSIC

Laura Gibson aura Gibson’s music isn’t exactly upbeat.

“Everything I’ve ever written deals with grief in some way,” says the singer-songwriter and Oregon native. “Even my purest love songs have grief as a current running through them.”

Since 2006, Gibson has been weaving whispery vocals and gentle guitar melodies into indie-folk gold. Her fifth album, Goners, which was released in October on Barsuk Records, delves into dark corners, and explores grief with dreamlike logic and mythical storylines. “[For Goners,] I wanted to make something that stared directly at the idea of grief—both personally and as a culture,” says Gibson. “It’s about the way we as humans are together in pain, the way we come together and nurture one another, but also the ways we put up walls and act against each other.”

However free-associative Goners’ idea of grief may have become, its initial inspiration was pointed. Gibson began crafting half of

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the album’s final 10 songs during a monthlong residency at Everglades National Park in South Florida. Surrounded by the sublime, lush greenery, Gibson found herself away from home during the tumultuous-by-contrast 2017 presidential inauguration.

“I was grieving for our country,” she says. “It was a strange time to be alone, and to be stepping back from this fight I wanted to be a part of.”

She channeled that grief into her lyrics, along with the grief of losing her father at a young age, and the pressures of societal expectations.

“As a woman and an artist,” she says, “sometimes I don’t feel like I quite fit within the greater culture’s markers that let you know you’re progressing the right way in the world. I don’t even know how to conform to those markers.”

The result is an album that deals with personal grief though the abstract. Many of Goners’ songs tell fable-like stories with Gibson’s fantastical literary language. In particular, the recent return of wolves to

Oregon—after the species was hunted and trapped into near extinction in the 1940s— caught Gibson’s fascination. In the summer of 2017, a mating pair of wolves was spotted on Mount Hood for the first time in a half-century.

Inspired by the symbolic parallel to the stories she wanted to tell, wolves seeped into many of Gibson’s lyrics. The album’s first single, “Domestication,” tells the story of a wolf trying to live as a woman. In the end, she fails and returns to the wild. “I was

born a wolf in women’s clothes,” Gibson sings against a palette of thundering drums and otherworldly harmonies.

For the music video, Gibson drew inspiration from a photograph of women from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints [FLDS], wearing pastel dresses in front of a picture of their leader.

“I thought it would be amazing to build a world, and tell a story within that world, that looked like this picture,” says Gibson. “‘Domestication’ took its name from the process of wild dogs becoming domesticated. For the video, I wanted to use it in a sense of women and home life.”

Donning pastel dresses, their hair in milkmaid braids, Gibson and her female counterparts re-created the aesthetics of the FLDS world. The opening scene shows Gibson singing amid a choir-like formation of 12 expressionless women. Their hands folded in front of them and they move only to worship the photo of their fictitious leader. In the final scene, sitting around a sprawling dinner table, the women rebel.

After they tie their leader to his chair, they begin to behave like wolves—laughing while devouring and throwing handfuls of food with wild abandon. Gibson co-directed the video alongside acclaimed Portland photographer and director Alicia Rose.

“I’ve always been more comfortable in the position of being the one gazing instead of feeling gazed at,” Gibson says. “It was transformative to be able to create my own world, and see myself surrounded by this group of strong, beautiful women I really love.”

Another challenge Gibson set for herself was trading her signature guitar for keys on many of the album’s tracks.

“I needed some other sounds, so I ended up playing a lot of piano and Wurlitzer,” she says. “Some of the songs started on guitar, but they didn’t really take on life until I played keys on them. It just served these songs, and opened them up in a different way, sonically.”

The result is Gibson’s most imaginative—and perhaps strangest—creation to date. Still, Goners signals a new era for Gibson, not a final zenith.

“I’m not sure what the next season of music and creative life will look like for me after touring this record,” she says, “but I’d like to be playing and making songs for my whole life. I feel like I’m just now getting to a place where I have some important things to say.”

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

MUSIC

BY RYAN BRADFORD

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO LOCALS ONLY

I

conic rock club The Casbah (casbahmusic.com) is turning 30 years old in January and the venue has been steadily rolling out show announcements for its anniversary month. As in past years, much of the Middletown club’s January shows will focus on local bands who have played the venue in the past. The difference, however, is that many of these bands are reuniting for the first time in years or simply don’t perform that often anymore.

“What we’re doing is similar to what we did for our 25th and 20th anniversaries,” says Casbah co-founder and co-owner Tim Mays. “Just trying to bring back bands who’ve played numerous times over the years mixed in with a couple newer things. So far, we’ve booked 28 days of January and we’ll announce the rest soon.

I’m stoked with the way it’s turned out.”

While some of the shows are from notable bands currently on the scene such as The Donkeys, The Mattson 2, Hot Snakes and Pinback, the reunion shows are notable. Mays says he’s particularly excited about a reunion show featuring ’90s math-rockers Chinchilla. Bands such as Via Satellite and The Dragons will be playing their first shows since the death of a bandmate (Via Satellite will also be using the occasion to release their final album, A Thousand Mountains, which was recorded before the death of drummer Tim Reece). There will also be reunion shows from Transfer, Goodbye Blue Monday, The Dropscience and Three Mile Pilot.

Tim Mays at The Casbah with Lucy’s Fur Coat circa mid-’90s “I’ll have to pace myself that month, because every night there’s something I’m looking forward to seeing,” says Mays.

There will also be a few touring bands scheduled to appear in the month of January, including shows from Mustard Plug and Man Man. Mays also booked a two-night stand for Seattle punk-rock legends

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

THE

SPOTLIGHT ARLENE IBARRA

Fucked Up

Hot Snakes will play The Casbah in celebration of the club’s 30th anniversary The Melvins after trying to convince the band to do so for years.

From it’s humble beginnings in its former space (now Kava Lounge) to its eventual move to the club’s current location at the corner of Kettner Boulevard and Laurel Street, The Casbah has developed a reputation for both supporting and nurturing local bands. Mays sees the club’s anniversary month as a means to celebrate this fact.

“A lot of our nights throughout the year are touring bands, but it’s the local bands that we try to help develop and work with to get to a point where we can book them on shows on a weekday or on a weekend opening up for somebody,” Mays says. “To get them to the point where they can do their own Friday or Saturday nights. The Schizophonics are a good local example. When they first started, they were playing Monday or Tuesday nights, and while they were amazing even back then, it’s taken then a while to get where they are. Whenever we can help develop a band like that, where they can eventually come in and headline their own show, that’s what we’ve always strived to do. Local bands are the glue that holds the whole calendar together.”

Another factor playing into the 30th anniversary is the idea that, despite the club’s location and size, The Casbah has lasted as long as it has while also maintaining a loyal staff. Clubs come and go all the time in San Diego, but The Casbah keeps on trucking.

“If I sit and think about it, it’s crazy. I can’t believe it’s been this long,” says Mays. “Here we are, 30 years later, and we’re still able to get bands to come and play who played their something like 25 years ago. So it’s a testament to the bands and The Casbah that we’re still doing it and that people still like to come here. And we don’t take that for granted.”

R

ecently, a friend and I were lamenting the lack of “album bands” these days. These are the bands that treat the album experience as a cohesive whole rather than a list of songs strung together. For example, Led Zeppelin immediately comes to mind as an album band. Their catalog is filled with singular, monumental records.

But then I remembered Fucked Up. They’ve always been an album band, and a great one at that. Since breaking out with 2008’s The Chemistry of Common Life—an hour-long experience of lush chaos—this Canadian hardcore band have found ways to up the ante with each succeeding album. David Comes to Life, 2011’s masterpiece, found the band exploring narratives and even more musical density. I’m still not sure exactly what the storyline of that album was, but I do know the overall effect of listening to it is like giving your ears a deep-tissue massage.

This year, they put out their most ambitious work yet: Dose Your Dreams, an eclectic mix that tones down lead singer Damian Abraham’s bark, while allowing the band to explore genres such as techno and disco. Not going to lie: it’s often fucking weird, but it’s never boring. And keeping you on your toes is exactly what an album band is supposed to do.

Fucked Up plays Dec. 5 at Soda Bar.

—Seth Combs

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC

IF I WERE U

BY CITYBEAT STAFF

Our picks for the week’s top shows

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 28

PLAN A: Mt. Pleasant, BRUIN @ Seven Grand. Two great local bands in a cool setting. Mt. Pleasant mixes ’60s-inspired psychedelia with post-punk rhythms while BRUIN specializes in electro-tinged indie rock mixed with synthy, purple-drank beats.

PLAN B: Pocket Hole, Downers, Daytrip @ The Casbah. Last week, we raved about Pocket Hole’s new EP, Marine Layer, but Downers and especially Daytrip are just as aurally pleasing. The latter band’s self-titled EP should be streamed regularly for anyone needing a little pick-me-up. BACKUP PLAN: STAL, Moon @ Soda Bar.

sorts of technical wizardry. However they do it, the result is hypnotizing. BACKUP PLAN: Lemaitre @ The Irenic.

SATURDAY, DEC. 1

PLAN A: El Ten Eleven, Tennis System @ The Casbah. See above for more info on these guys. PLAN B: Mock Orange, The Band Apart @ Soda Bar. The Indiana-based Mock Orange made a name for themselves in the late ‘90s emo and pop-punk scene, and they’ve been going strong ever since.

Their latest, Put the Kid on the Sleepy Horse, is proof that a band can evolve well beyond their youthful tirades and into a group that’s content with adulthood. BACKUP KRISTY BENJAMIN PLAN: Brockhampton @ Valley View Casino Center.

SUNDAY, DEC. 2

PLAN A: Tropa Magica, San Pedro El Cortez, Vlush @ Soda Bar. Formerly known as Thee Commons, East L.A. band Tropa Magica mix cumbia, punk and psychedelic rock for a sound that is as lively as their legendary shows. Songs like “Koopa-Cabras” and “LSD Roma” sound boygenius straight out of a south-of-the-border Quentin Tarantino flick, while tracks like “Primus Sucks” are evidence of their punkish playfulness. PLAN B: Ben PiraPLAN A: boygenius @ The Observatory ni & The Means of Production, Billy Prince, North Park. This band is Julien Baker, Phoe- Jake Najor & The Moment of Truth @ The be Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, three of the Merrow. The Chicago-born, NYC-based Pirani brightest singer-songwriters in the world has soul in his blood. And while his voice has right now. Expect to hear some songs off limits, his take on old-school R&B (think Motheir brilliant self-titled EP, as well as some town and the prime years of Atlantic Records) songs off their individual efforts. PLAN B: is golden. Show up early for local drummer Sean Rowe, Girl Blue @ The Casbah. Even Jake Najor’s project. You will not regret it. with his grizzled, tear-in-your beer barti- BACKUP PLAN: Michael Bolton @ Pechantone, Rowe is a songwriter first. He makes ga Resort & Casino. Why the hell not? songs for cathartic, transitional moments. A song like “I’ll Follow Your Trail” is a beautiful tribute to parenthood, while “To Leave Something Behind” will almost surely be PLAN A: Fell Runner, Orchid Mantis, played at someone’s funeral. Beautiful, mov- Natula @ Soda Bar. L.A.-based Fell Runner ing stuff. BACKUP PLAN: Eyedress, Minor is cool, but we’re particularly excited about the openers at this show. Atlanta’s Thomas Gems, Shindigs @ Soda Bar. Howard makes mesmerizing collage pop under the name Orchid Mantis, while local singer Natasha Kozaily’s recently released PLAN A: Moon Honey, Hexa, Spooky Cig- Natula EP is filled with danceable gems arette @ Soda Bar. They might look like punctuated by her inimitable voice. BACKthey got lost on the way to Burning Man, but UP PLAN: Necrot, Crematory Stench, Moon Honey has some pretty great songs, Corpsemaker @ Brick by Brick. particularly the ballads. Try out “That Dog” and “The Cathedral” and if you like what you hear, you will not be disappointed by the group’s spirited live show. Show up early for PLAN A: Mac DeMarco @ Music Box. locals Hexa and Spooky Cigarette, as both A stripped-down solo set from everyone’s are excellent. PLAN B: El Ten Eleven, Ten- favorite goofball singer-songwriter. Best nis System @ The Casbah. The first of a known for his unique guitar style and selftwo-night stand at The Casbah, El Ten Elev- depreciating lyrics, DeMarco himself deen play mostly instrumental soundscapes scribes his music as “jizz jazz.” K. BACKUP created by looping, effects, vamping and all PLAN: Wanted Noise @ Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, NOV. 29

MONDAY, DEC. 3

FRIDAY, NOV. 30

TUESDAY, DEC. 4

@SDCITYBEAT

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Daybreaker (Music Box, 12/15), Grupo Corrupta (Music Box, 12/29), Aviator Stash (BUT, 1/3), Rob Garza (Music Box, 1/18), Mae (Soda Bar, 1/19), Louis XIV (Casbah, 2/15), The Expendables (Observatory, 2/15), Aziz Ansari (Copley Symphony Hall, 2/24), Darlingside (Music Box, 2/27), Hypocrisy (Brick By Brick, 3/16), Action Bronson (HOB, 3/13), Yung Gravy (Music Box, 3/14), The Dip (Soda Bar, 4/5), Max Frost (Casbah, 4/8), Space Jesus (Music Box, 4/11), White Denim (BUT, 4/28).

GET YER TICKETS Godflesh (Brick by Brick, 12/1), Old 97s (BUT, 12/2), Hoobastank (Observatory, 12/4), Fucked Up (Soda Bar, 12/5), Big Business (Whistle Stop, 12/5), Squirrel Nut Zippers (BUT, 12/6), Pale Waves (Irenic, 12/7), Neko Case, Destroyer (Observatory, 12/8), Fleetwood Mac (Viejas Arena, 12/8), Kurt Vile (Observatory, 12/9), AFI (Observatory, 12/10), Amine (Observatory, 12/11), Middle Kids (Soda Bar, 12/13), Thou (Che Café, 12/13), Earthless (BUT, 12/16), The Soft Moon (BUT, 12/17), Ministry (HOB, 12/18), Thundercat (Music Box, 12/23), No Knife (Casbah, 1/27), Donavon Frankenreiter (BUT, 12/28-29), Sublime with Rome (HOB, 12/29-30), Hot Snakes

(Casbah, 1/4), Jefferson Starship (BUT, 1/9-10), Adolescents (Casbah, 1/19), Parquet Courts, Snail Mail (Casbah, 1/21), Bananarama (Observatory, 1/27). MØ (Observatory, 2/5), Sharon Van Etten (Observatory, 2/28), Queensrÿche (Casbah, 3/27).

NOVEMBER WEDNESDAY, NOV. 28 Stal at Soda Bar. The Downers at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, NOV. 29 Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus at Observatory North Park. Andre Nickatina at House of Blues. Bret Michaels at Belly Up Tavern. Unearth, Fit for an Autopsy Brick By Brick.

FRIDAY, NOV. 30 Mark Farina at Music Box. Wheeler Walker Jr. at Observatory North Park (sold out). Kottonmouth Kings at Brick

by Brick. Lemaitre at The Irenic.

DECEMBER SATURDAY, DEC. 1 Godflesh at Brick by Brick. Tribal Seeds at Observatory North Park.

SUNDAY, DEC. 2 Old 97s at Belly Up Tavern. Justin Courtney Pierre at The Casbah. The Black Dahlia Murder at Brick by Brick.

MONDAY, DEC. 3 Fell Runner at Soda Bar.

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

TUESDAY, DEC. 4 Hoobastank at Observatory North Park.

Mac DeMarco at Music Box (sold out).

The Charlie Daniels Band at the California Center for the Arts.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 5 Big Business at Whistle Stop. Fucked Up at Soda Bar. The Devon Allman Project at Music Box. Aaron Lewis at House of Blues. The White Buffalo at Observatory.

THURSDAY, DEC. 6 Squirrel Nut Zippers at Belly Up Tavern. The Buttertones at The Irenic.

FRIDAY, DEC. 7 Beach Fossils, Wavves at House Of Blues. Har Mar Superstar, Sabrina Ellis at The Casbah. Pale Waves at The Irenic. Chris Robinson Brotherhood at Observatory North Park.

SATURDAY, DEC. 8 Neko Case, Destroyer at Observatory North Park. Fleetwood Mac at Viejas Arena. Author & Punisher at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, DEC. 9 Kurt Vile & The Violators, Jessica Pratt at Observatory North Park. Skating Polly at The Casbah. Suuns at Soda Bar. AFI at Observatory North Park.

MONDAY, DEC. 10 Doyle at Brick by Brick.

TUESDAY, DEC. 11 Amine at Observatory North Park.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12 Bernhoft and the Fashion Bruises at The Casbah. Valley Maker at Soda Bar. KSHMR at Observatory North Park.

Atreyu at House Of Blues.

THURSDAY, DEC. 13 Robert Cray Band at Belly Up Tavern, Thou at Che Café. Barry Manilow at Viejas Arena. Middle Kids at Soda Bar. Mariachi Sol De Mexico at Balboa Theatre.

FRIDAY, DEC. 14 Death Valley Girls at Soda Bar. Fu Manchu at The Casbah. Third Eye Blind, Lord Huron at Valley View Casino Center.

SATURDAY, DEC. 15 Fu Manchu at The Casbah. Queen Naija at SOMA. Green Jellÿ at Brick By Brick.

SUNDAY, DEC. 16 Earthless at Belly Up Tavern.

MONDAY, DEC. 17 Thom Yorke at Observatory North Park (sold out). The Soft Moon at Belly Up Tavern.

TUESDAY, DEC. 18 Ministry at House of Blues. Vera Sola at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 19 Fishbone at Music Box. Aviator Stash at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, DEC. 20 Hippie Sabotage at Observatory North Park. Lumerians, JJUUJJUU at The Casbah. Dick Dale at Belly Up Tavern.

FRIDAY, DEC. 21 Banes World at Observatory North Park.

SATURDAY, DEC. 22 Missing Persons at Viejas Casino. Pulley at Soda Bar. Slushii at Parq.

SUNDAY, DEC. 23 Thundercat at Music Box. El Vez at Casbah.

MONDAY, DEC. 24 The Claypool Lennon Delirium at Observatory North Park.

MONDAY, DEC. 26 Easy Wind at Belly Up Tavern,

TUESDAY, DEC. 27 Poolside at Music Box,

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 28 Hideout at Soda Bar. Donavon Frankenreiter at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, DEC. 29 Donavon Frankenreiter at Belly Up Tavern. Mannheim Steamroller at San Diego Civic Theatre. X, Los Lobos at

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

@SDCITYBEAT

BY CHRISTIN BAILEY

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

Talon, Speed Claw, Malison. Sat: Karbonite, Systematic Abuse, Plight, Warwound.

Sun: Red Room. Tue: Karaoke.

Observatory North Park. Sublime with Rome at House of Blues.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Fri: Cubicolor, Endo. Sat: Tube & Berger.

FRIDAY, DEC. 30 X, Los Lobos at Observatory North Park.

Sublime with Rome at House of Blues

SATURDAY, DEC. 31 Weatherbox at Soda Bar. Ekali at Bang Bang. BoomBox at Music Box. Michael Frenti & Spearhead at Belly Up Tavern.

SUNDAY, JAN. 1 Keith Sweaty at Bar Pink.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Wed: Open Mic. Thu: Karaoke. Fri: Casual Yak, AJ Froman, Electric Elms. Sat: Stay for the Fireworks, Mango Habanero, Mozaiq. Sun: Karaoke. Tue: Sensi Trails, The Gentle Giants.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘#HipHopWednesdays’. Thu: ‘SUBdrip’. Fri: ‘House Music Friday’. Sat: ‘Juicy’. Sun: ‘Church’. Mon: ‘Organized Grime’. Tue: ‘Technically Speaking’.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Jenny Johnson.

Fri: Rod Man. Sat: Rod Man. The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Wed: Karaoke. Thu: The Kinky Fingers, Vaneer, Danny Dodge. Fri: Silver

@SDCITYBEAT

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park. Wed: DJ Sorryshark. Thu: ‘Chyurch with Mikey and Andrew’. Fri: Dethsurf, The New Kids, The Rebel. Sat: Rally Club, Murder Pony. Sun: ‘Annual Holiday Prom’. Mon: DJ Diana Death. Tue: ‘Tiki Tuesday’.

Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Thu: Daniel Cervantes. Fri: dB Jukebox. Sat: Rare Form.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: Jake Shimabukuro. Thu: Bret Michaels. Fri: Led Zepagain (sold out). Sat: The PettyBreakers, Pompatus of Love. Sun: Old 97’s. Mon: Dweezil Zappa. Tue: Jonny Lang (sold out).

Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave., City Heights. Fri: Hapax, Post Tropic, Void Lust, Disorder, FN1.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’. Thu: ‘The Low End’. Fri: ‘We Are Your Friends’.

Sat: ‘Staybad X H2O Party’. Sun: ‘Misfits Live Tribute’. Mon: ‘Blue Monday’. Tue: ‘Techno Tuesdays’.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Thu: Unearth, Fit for an Autopsy, The Agony Scene, I AM, A Hero Within.

Fri: Kottonmouth Kings, Crazytown, Izzy Projectz, Sylint, Dread Pirate. Sat: Godflesh, INTRCPTR. Sun: The Black Dahlia Murder, Ghoul, Gost, Uada. Mon: Necrot, Crematory Stench, Corpsemaker.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

ASTROLOGICALLY UNSOUND Weekly forecasts from the so-called universe ARIES (March 21 - April 19): This week, you will be capable of extraordinary feats for five minutes, but this will only happen after a bird flies too close to you and your body is surging with adrenaline.

successful (and saccharine) as Birthday Cake Flavor. Just like that flavor, we have all arrived to at the same pleasant conclusion about what you are, but it’s really unclear how.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): The reason you’re more likely to get in a minor car accident within 10 minutes of your home is because your neighbors are trying to send you a message.

SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21): If you drive fast enough—I mean really fast—no one can stop you for speeding. But please do remember that it’s still getting into trouble even if you’re not getting in trouble.

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): Whoever had the idea of coming up with the number zero—the means to measure nothing, to see the absence of something and give it a name—had this week in mind.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21): Bad choices have consequences. I mean, who do you think you are? Bank of America? Wells Fargo? JPMorgan Chase? Citigroup? (List continues for several pages).

CANCER (June 21 - July 22): The two irrefutable truths of the universe: hard work doesn’t always pay off but getting hit by a mail truck almost always pays out.

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19): Life, like clay, is malleable. It’s a mess.

Dirt you’re supposed to do something with.

The people who like it won’t stop saying how fun it is and then you’ll say, “Yeah, I’ll try it sometime.”

LEO (July 23 - August 22): Selfdiscovery is a process. It begins when you first realize that the baby in the mirror is you and a half hour later you’re reading this horoscope. Time flies!

VIRGO (August 23 - September 22): There is no amount of preparation that can prevent you from clicking on the wrong corner on your first move in Minesweeper and immediately dying.

LIBRA (September 23 - October 22): Your social maneuvering is as

AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18): The difference between spelunking and being hopelessly lost in a cave oftentimes boils down to preparation. But really, it mostly depends on whether or not something is chasing you.

PISCES (February 19 - March 20): This week, it is important to practice patience. But not the kind of reverent and zealous patience that includes reading the preface to a book.

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

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

COLEY BROWN

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Wed: Pockethole, Downers, Daytrip. Thu: Sean Rowe, Girl Blue. Fri: El Ten Eleven, Tennis System. Sat: El Ten Eleven, Tennis System. Mon: Year of the Dead Bird, Head, Heir Gloom. Tue: Shindigs, Battery Point, Los Shadows.

Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Fri: Daniel Shibuya, Melodik Tribe, David Twist. Sat: ‘Fear of Noise’.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Bay Park. Fri: The Bi-National Mambo Orchestra.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Fri: Beach Bums, 3LH, El Chisme. Sat: Piatt Pund, The Sea Monks. Mon: Open Mic. Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. Mon: Improvisers Ensemble.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wed: JG Duo. Fri: Mystique.

Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: Brenna Whitaker.

Thu. Shawn Pelofsky. Fri: Sophia Alone.

Sat: Pam Ann. Sun: ‘Keep It On the DL’.

Mon: Tue: ‘A Well-Strung Christmas’.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave., Downtown. Fri: DJ Drama. Sat: Dre Sinatra.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: Evan Diamond, The Lover The Liar, Electric Elms. Sat: ‘Bear Night’.

Sun: Ben Pirani, Billy Prince, Jake Najor & The Moment of Truth. Mon: ‘¡Noche Retro!’ Tue: The Petty Saints, Sideyard, Jesse Howard.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Robert Allen Shepherd.

Thu: Andre Nickatina. Fri: Groove International. Sun: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Tue: Robin Henkel.

Mr. Peabody’s, 136 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. Thu: The Romantic Cowboys.

Fri: Custard Pie. Sat: The Traumatics.

Sun: Anthony Ortega Jazz Quartet. Mon: Open Mic. Tue: Karaoke.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: Clapton Hook. Thu: Kim Jackson. Fri: Viva Santana. Sat: Detroit Underground. Sun: Cerissa McQueen. Mon: Casey Hensley.

Tue: Bob James.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy.

Thu: Friendsgiving Radio Latina. Fri: Mark Farina, Chris Herrera, Chrysocolla.

Sat: Dimelo Urban Latin Nights. Sun: Kasbo. Tue: Mac DeMarco (sold out).

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown. Thu: ‘TakeOver Thursday’. Fri: DJ Scooter.

The Irenic, 3090 Polk Ave., North Park.

Fri: Lemaitre.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Thu: ‘FUEGO’. Fri: Tech Support, Donald Thump, Mr. Smith. Sat: ‘Ascension’. Sun: ‘Noise Music Sunday Matinee’.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave., Kensington. Thu: Cut Up, The Dodges, Se Vende.

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

Wed: ‘Deathcab for Karaoke’. Thu: ‘No Limits’. Fri: ‘Cool Party Bro’. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’.

Mon: ‘Motown Monday’. Tue: ‘Trapped in The Office’.

Wed: Young Lions, Wednesday Jam Session. Sat: Erika Davies. Sun: Mad Hat Hucksters, Tweed Ride.

Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: Flipp Dinero. Sat: Lary Over, Joe Maz. Pour House, 1903 S. Coast Highway, Oceanside. Wed: Open Mic. Thu: Modern Bummer, Kids in Heat, Deth Surf. Fri: Great Electric Quest, CAGE. Sat: Bumpasonic. Sun: School of Rock. Tue: DJ Lexicon Devil.

Proud Mary’s, 5550 Kearny Mesa Road, Kearny Mesa. Wed: Michele Lundeen.

Thu: Tomcat Courtney. Fri: 145th Street Band.

The Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest. Sat: ‘Sábados En Fuego!’

Rich›s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Wed: ‘Mischief with Bianca’. Thu: ‘#LEZ + House Music’. Fri: ‘Electro-POP!’ Sat: ‘Voltage’. Sun: ‘We Care 10’.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: Boss Jazz w/ Jason Hanna & Friends. Thu: Kick-Stomp Ensemble. Fri: Chloe & the Ladells w/ Alvino and the Dwells. Sat: Baja Bugs.

Sun: ‘Acoustic’. Tue: ‘Everything and Anything Jam’.

Rosie O’Gradys, 3402 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Thu: DJ Doug, HOUSE PARTY. Fri: Becca Jay Band.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave., Downtown. Fri: Wolfgang Gartner. Sat: Two Friends.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Stal, Moon. Thu: Eyedress, Minor Gems, Shindigs. Fri: Moon Honey, Hexa, Spooky Cigarette. Sat: Mock Orange, The Band Apart. Sun: Tropa Magica, San Pedro El Cortez, Vlush.

Mon: Fell Runner, Orchid Mantis, Natula.

Tue: Wanted Noise.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Mid-

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · NOVEMBER 28, 2018

Mac DeMarco plays Music Box Tuesday, Dec. 4 way. Thu: Joey Trap, Lil Waterbed. Fri: Buddha Trixie, Bad Kids, Ignant Benches, Stray Monroe, Former, Foxtide. Sat: New Challenger, Our Second Home, Mandala, Blackcast, Zero South.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: ‘BrokenBeat Night’. Sun: Pocari Sweat.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Midtown. Fri: Tara Brooks, Christopher James. Sat: Tara Brooks, Christopher James.

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Thu: ‘Burlesque Boogie Nights Two Year Anniversary Show’.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: ‘Original Stylin’. Sat: Hell Fire, Toke, Great Electric Quest, Monarch, Tzimani. Sun: ‘PANTS Karaoke!’

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Fri: ‘’90s Dance Party’.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St., Bay Park.

Wed: ‘Jazz’ with Leonard Patton. Thu: Liz Grace, The Swing Things. Fri: Dave Gleason. Sat: Full Strength Funk Band.

Mon: ‘Sexy Salsa & Sensual Bachata’.

Tue: Sue Palmer.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Thu: LOWER CLASS BRATS, The Bar Stool Preachers, Slaughter Boys.

Fri: Violencia, Headdress, Frantic, Agonista, All Beat Up. Sat: The Stitches, Gross Polluter, The Widows, Killing California, Slaughter Boys.

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

Wed: DJ Mo Lyon. Thu: ‘Boombox Thursdays’. Fri: Senema. Mon: ‘#31 Flavors’.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park.

Fri: ‘Death by Dancing’. Sat: ‘’80s vs. ’90s Dance Party’. Mon: ‘Electric Relaxation’. Tue: ‘Videodrome’.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach. Wed: ‘Club Kingston’. Thu: High Tide Society, The Joshua Tree.

Fri: Elektric Voodoo with Fresh Veggies Micro Brass. Sat: Hot Buttered Rum, Shakedown String Band. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Decades.

@SDCITYBEAT

BY LARA MCCAFFREY

IN THE BACK

CannaBeat

Industry braces for Phase III

C

alifornia’s three cannabis licensing authorities are due to release the third phase of regulations for adultuse and manufacturing of cannabis in early December. These new regulations will be implemented on Dec. 31, and while they might not dramatically alter the current regulations, they are similar to past emergency regulations and have a few notable changes, some of which San Diego cannabis law experts are concerned about.

“Some of the proposed regulations add clarity to lingering questions our clients have—for example, how to update the agencies when there are certain changes to the business premises, procedures or owners,” says Patrick Murphy, an attorney with the Law Office of Kimberly R. Simms. “But unfortunately, a lot of the amendments add to the complexity and overall costs of operations.”

Over 2018, new cannabis regulations have been applied through three phases, hence the name Phase III. The Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), California

@SDCITYBEAT

Department of Public Health (CDPH) and California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) are the three governing bodies involved with formal rulemaking.

Murphy stresses that the proposed changes aren’t final yet and aren’t yet available for the public to view. However, he sees some as problematic if they become final, like the proposed prohibition on both white-labeling (where a company ostensibly relabels another company’s product to make it seem as if it’s their own product) and intellectual property licensing deals.

“Many licensees are building their business on white-labeling for brands that have not been able to acquire licenses,” says Murphy. “Also, many out of state companies and celebrity brands would be prohibited from entering the California marketplace if this regulation passes. The adoption of this provision would truly shock the supply chain.”

Edward Wicker, a lawyer specializing in cannabis law, also finds some proposed changes troublesome. He says Section 5003, which adds more information about who can be considered an owner of a cannabis business, is particularly concerning.

COURTESY OF EDWARD WICKER

Edward Wicker “It seems problematical that the definition of owner could be extended to someone that simply involved in branding or marketing or sales,” says Wicker. “Those are expansions that don't really seem necessary or logical.”

A proposed change requiring the BCC to approve all branded cannabis merchandise is another that Wicker describes as burdensome.

“I understand that the purpose of BCC is to regulate cannabis and the cannabis

business,” says Wicker. “But maritally branded items like T-shirts, hats, pens and things of this nature, that have absolutely no plant material or medicinal effects whatsoever—it just seemed completely unnecessary for BCC to get involved in trying to regulate these items.”

Proposed changes are not all doom and gloom, however. For example, Wicker likes the changes to Section 5601. This section describes requirements needed for temporary cannabis event licenses, which are needed for events where users consume cannabis. Wicker says prior regulations unduly restricted locations for such events.

The proposed changes to the section would allow temporary cannabis events to take place anywhere with prior local government approval.

And while Phase III regulations will go into effect Dec. 31, this might not be the end of the changes.

“This is truly just the beginning of our newly regulated industry and the changes are likely to keep coming for years to come,” says Murphy. “This is not an industry for the faint of heart.”

CannaBeat appears every other week.

NOVEMBER 28, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 27