Seth Combs has covered the San Diego arts and music scene for over a decade. He's also written for Spin, Zagat, and The Hollywood Reporter. He likes dogs and comic books, but is pretty iffy on your band.
RSS
Seth Combs
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
The Spotlight: Cory Branan
It seems fitting that, back in 2014, Rolling Stone knighted Cory Branan as one of the “10 New Artists You Need to Know.” It wasn’t like Branan was some kind of spring chicken, having already released four records over 15 years. Read more
SIXES craft sonic blasts of pissy garage-rock
It’s four sonic blasts of bouncy, pissy garage-rock that, given enough people enclosed in a small space, has the capacity to get people moving. A few listens and each song has the capacity to get stuck in your head, remaining there for days. Read more
Fine Lines: Lizzie Wann
The words of Lizzie Wann will strike hard and fast for anyone who has an aging parent. Throughout The Hospice Bubble & Other Devastating Affirmations, her debut collection for Puna Press, she reminds the reader of the preciousness of time. Read more
Photo via Flickr / Nick Doty
Kicking the can on storm water repairs
This was a common refrain throughout February and March as San Diego seemed inundated with rainfall. For those who live on or near one of San Diego’s many canyons, such as myself, these rains can be particularly stressful. Read more
Photo by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña
The sublime lands of Lynn Schuette
It’s true that Schuette’s paintings may have something in common with 19th Century painters such as John Martin, Frederic Edwin Church and Caspar David Friedrich, but they also incorporate elements of Surrealism, Romanticism, Cotopaxi and even Lumini Read more
Brian Maienschein’s first test
For those who missed it, Maienschein switched from Republican to the Democratic party just as the new Assembly session was set to begin. Read more
He’s from a different time
Biden’s dismissive non-apologies about his touchy-feely behavior makes it clear that he still has a long way to go. Read more
Pharlee joins the ranks of excellent psych-rock scene
The instrumentation is tight, the vocals are soaring and the solos are epic. Read more
Photo by Hannibal Matthews
The Spotlight: T-Pain
T-Pain was something of a pioneer and deserves any career renaissance he has coming to him. Read more
Photo Andrea Lopez-Villafaña
Who’s really afraid of rent control?
For younger locals, the dream of finding their own place seems like a pipe dream at best. Read more
Michael James Armstrong walks the line
Michael James Armstrong is one of the greatest working artists in San Diego. His latest exhibition, Line & Fuzz, which runs through April 13 at Quint Gallery in Bay Ho. Read more
Photo via iStock
Time to talk about white supremacy
For many readers, it’s likely a situation that has become more and more commonplace in our daily lives. A relative, an acquaintance, even a friend says something that’s highly problematic. Read more
Jake Najor and the Moment of Truth get loose
At the very end of “High Costa Living,” the blistering blast of funk that opens drummer Jake Najor’s debut long-player, singer Mixmaster Wolf mutters what could be a bit of a mantra for the rest of the album saying simply, “something like that.” Read more
Get out of the car
I’ve been walking to work a lot lately. This was inspired by a number of factors—the desire to live a healthier lifestyle and leave less of a carbon footprint being two reasons—but mainly I simply want to start getting used to driving less. Read more
Photo by Alec Stanley
The Spotlight: T. Hardy Morris
Rock is a tricky business. For every act that breaks through, there are hundreds of thousands of bands and artists that fade away into obscurity. Read more
“Unacceptable” bullying
I’ve been thinking a lot about my dad’s advice while watching both Democratic and Republican members of Congress come after Rep. Ilhan Omar for her supposedly anti-Semitic remarks on Twitter a few weeks ago. Read more
Photo by Emiliano Ledezma
The cult of Tulengua
The “cult” in this instance is Tulengua, the bi-national, cross-border, bilingual and multi-racial hip-hop trio made up of Jordan (aka La Reina Negra), Lilienthal (aka alan lili) and Jaime Mora (aka Jimmy, aka Jimmy.thevillain). Read more
Photo by Paul Husband
Low isn’t afraid of change
There are bands and artists that I wish I’d discovered when I was young. I feel if I had heard the music of Low when I was still in my teens, I might be a different person today. Read more
A quick note on that cartoon
We encourage readers to write letters or, if they prefer, to continue to tweet to the publisher, the Editorial and Opinion Director (Matt Hall) or to Breen himself to let them know just how disappointing this was to them. Read more
She knows exactly what she’s doing
By now, everyone has hopefully seen the video of Senator Dianne Feinstein going full Andy Rooney aggro on a bunch of Sunrise Movement kids who just want to live on a planet that doesn’t, you know, burn them alive. Read more