March 30, 2016 Issue
Junya Watanabe: Rakiraki rock star
When Junya Watanabe, chef-owner of Rakiraki Ramen and Tsukemen (4646 Convoy St.), talks with you, he looks through you. There's an air of the rock star about Watanabe. Part of it is his hair, another Read more
The folly of oversized hotel tax hikes
While waiting for the overdue official draft of a ballot initiative that’ll attempt to pave the way for a new NFL stadium, it was time to turn to the tourism industry Read more
Letter: Berning thoughts
Every Monday morning at the Norman Park senior center, I moderate a discussion group on world affairs. Starting in April, every Thursday evening I’ll run a discussion group on books. My featured selection each week will alternate between fi... Read more
Lorena Gonzalez zips into the Sacramento power lane
The scheduling requests to meet with state Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez have grown considerably since her recent appointment as head of the Assembly’s mega-powerful Appropriations Committee. Read more
Quantic, Tinashe and other San Diego concerts
Punk supergroup Head Wound City, featuring members of The Locust, Blood Brothers and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, reunited last year after more than a decade of inactivity. Read more
Photo by Dan Allen
Cooper Baker melds computer technology and sound art to striking results
Despite a title that sounds like a college town reggae festival, Sweet Gongs Vibrating might be the San Diego Art Institute's most engaging exhibition since introducing its Curator-in-Residence program more than a year ago. Read more
Craft Shoot: Black Phoebe
Heather Rae Morton is as sociable and congenial as any South Park shopkeeper. The owner of Black Phoebe Ceramics doesn't automatically expect people (including this writer) to know just how long and arduous the process of making the items i... Read more
Buckfast Superbee reunites
Buckfast Superbee are playing a reunion show after seven years apart. On April 30, the punk band will perform at The Casbah with Furious IV (who are also reuniting after more than seven years) and Diamond Lakes. Read more
The Verigolds take a diverse approach on new album
The more The Verigolds experiment with arrangement, the better the results. "Skypipe" finds an unusual mixture of acoustic guitar, mandolin, violin and vibraphone, and it's absolutely gorgeous. Read more
Ken Cinema will showcase seven classic films April 1 to 7
Landmark's Ken Cinema has made it a recent tradition to spend an entire week showcasing classic films. From Friday, April 1 through Thursday, April 7, San Diego's favorite vintage theater offers an impressive program spanning from the silen... Read more
Coming home means everything in ‘Mountains May Depart’
Pet Shop Boys' rousing anthem "Go West" plays over the beginning and ending sequences in Jia Zhang-ke's Mountains May Depart . It's a strangely perfect music choice for a beguiling decade-spanning drama infused with the contradiction inhere... Read more
Pinegrove plays songs of friendship and loss
A stereotype of rock 'n' roll that existed many years ago was that of a non-stop party. Playing music for a living meant being rewarded with backstage trysts with groupies and cocaine, and bran Read more
What works (and what doesn’t) on San Diego beer logos
An artist, a writer and a branding expert walk into a bar... But seriously, it's no secret that beer is big business in San Diego and nothing can make or break that business more than the logo. Read more
Photo by Ken Jacques
‘Rocky’ still rocking
Twenty-five years after playing the inimitable Frank 'N' Furter in Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show at the San Diego Rep, Sean Murray is reprising the role—with a bang—at Old Town's Cygnet Theatre, of which he is also artistic direct... Read more
Generation Y should I vote?
Asking millennials about "the election" unleashes either a full-fledged verbal assault on Donald "Small Hands" Trump or a fist pump with a side of "Berning up" puns. But, when interrupting them and clarifying that the question refers to the... Read more
Beer industry snapshot
The latest tally of brewhouses in San Diego County is 121, with another 26 planned or in the works. As with so many other industries that are prone to boom-and-bust cycles, it’s only natural to wonder if San Diego is entering a bubble. Read more
Keep it divey, San Diego
Agreeing to compile a roundup of just five San Diego dive beer bars is akin to asking to be crucified. Read more
The sensuous chill of watching Yanni in 2016
Maybe I'm being judgmental, as I've never really listened to Yanni, but who under 80 years old has? For me, at least, the musician has been the ubiquitous epitome for New Age (aka bad) music, a punchline, and cursed to the annals of awkward... Read more
We’ll always have parasite
Welcome to the bottomless hole of wrongheaded empathy—the daddy guilt version of that "bottomless cup of coffee" that (if you ask politely) the Denny's waitress will keep refilling until you finally die in the booth. Read more