1. Tell 'em Large Marge sent ya!
2. Cast your gaze upward for the CRASH-BOOM-BASH.
3.Go crazy at midnight for movies.
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5.
6.
P IS FOR PEMEX: It's good enough for me (11)
Bennie wrote: I've been using Pemex for about 2 m... [more]
CRITICAL MASS: Ride the city on your bike, it's rad (9)
Glory wrote: Re: Does anyone else find it ironic... [more]
Happy hour of the week: Wine Steals (3)
Nio wrote: dSGBMV I am need to price... [more]
BLONDE ON BLONDE: Two heads, two voices, much better than one for Alison Krauss & Robert Plant (20)
rebecca wrote: I have seen Robert Plant many, many... [more]
NINA'S PICKS: Catching up with Miranda (1)
Tiffany Fox wrote: Hey Nina. We'll have to duke it out... [more]
July 03, 2008
BIKE LOVE: Pee-wee rides again
"PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE"
MIDNIGHT JULY 5
THE KEN
Whenever the opportunity to see a film like this on the big screen presents itself almost 25 years after it was originally released, you should probably go. Not just because it's about a sweet red bike with streamers on the handlebars and you love sweet red bikes with streamers on the handlebars, but because it's basically obese with adult humor that you didn't catch the first time because you were way, way too innocently preoccupied with, well, the sweet red bike with streamers on the handlebars.
And now that you're all grown up you'll finally understand why Mom and Dad locked up all your Pee-wee toys and forbade you to ever scream along to the word of the day again after that whole "Nurse Nancy" ordeal went down.
SIGNED! Drew Andrews goes big time
Thanks to Rosey, we found out that Drew Andrews of Via Satellite and The Album Leaf has been signed to Minty Fresh Records (aka the original home of Liz Phair).
Drew will be playing songs from his upcoming album, "Only Mirrors," at local bars in the next few weeks. So stop in and congratulate one of the city's hardest working musicians!
July 23rd at The Casbah
July 24th at The Beauty Bar
August 7th at Bar Pink Elephant
August 8th at The Habitat, 1008 21st St
More information about Drew can be found here.
BIG DRAW: Comic-Con's big gravitational pull this year is...
Your time to shine in a convention center filled with 125,000 fantasy-loving freaks will soon be upon us (July 24-27). And beyond the climax of costumery held in Ballroom 20 (the Masquerade, which is full to bursting: no new applicants accepted), and the "Famous Monsters of Filmland" 50th birthday, what's this year's big Comic-Con draw?
Well, we wouldn't hump a security guard at the door to see "Wicked" sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury.
And kudos to our own editorial cartoonist Steve Breen for participating, but we can see him on barbecue day in the cafeteria. And someone called Dean Koontz the poor man's Stephen King (it wasn't us).
Sure, we'd like to shake that X-rated and animated creator's hand (Ralph Bakshi). And we still remember a Lynda Barry "Marlys" strip we read a decade ago about the magic of life and chicken conjuring. But unless Al Jaffee's doing a 50-foot "Mad" fold-in, no comic book writer or the like's gonna bring in the knee-high booted masses like a bad-ass creation come to life.
What human celebrities will be on tap? Lindsay Wagner (the original "Bionic Woman"), Katey Sagal ("Married With Children," "Futurama"), Erik Estrada ("CHiPS," "Sealab 2021"), and Richard Hatch (of "Battlestar Galactica," not the chile pepper).
We think they're still hammering out the lineup. In April, New York Comic Con got the first look "The Spirit" - adapted and directed by Frank "Gory" Miller, with hotties like Eva Mendes and Scarlet Jo(must we spell the Nordic rest?)hanson and Samuel L. Jackson (his temper is hot). The Best Coast deserves its glamorous share.
We'll hold back on our nerdgasms until more celeb wattage is unveiled. Or until we don our capes.
Comic-Con tip of the day: Child care's offered for a fee, but really, can't you just pass junior off as Diaper Man (another Ralph Bakshi creation)?
Keep up-to-date with our guide to Comic-Con International 2008.
Photo: James Baird, UT
STREET PEOPLE: Dressing the monkey
July 02, 2008
Jeff Horowitz, 26, and his company, DressMonkey create choices for fashion-savvy men.
DressMonkey provides a way for men to custom-design and order blazers online that are more stylish and cost less than most off-the-rack blazers. Customers choose from a variety of fabrics and cuts and customize every detail right down to the number of pockets and buttons.
The blazers are manufactured in a factory near Shanghai, China, and shipped to San Diego, where they clear U.S. customs. They are dry-cleaned and boxed in San Diego for shipment throughout the United States.
Horowitz, who grew up in Southern California and graduated from Claremont McKenna College, where he learned Chinese, dreamed up DressMonkey with his business partner, Coley Dale, also 26, when they were both working in Shanghai, China. Horowitz, who worked as a business development manager for a Chinese logistics company (the only non-Chinese employee), and Dale got caught up in China's entrepreneurial enthusiasm and started DressMonkey.
Age: 27
Are you a clothing designer? No, I have no formal training.
What is DressMonkey? DressMonkey is a brand-driven, Internet-based e-commerce company that allows young working professionals to design high-quality and custom-tailored blazers.
When did you start DressMonkey? Coley and I started DressMonkey in the fall of 2005, while living together in Shanghai.
PLAYLIST: Forefathery fun for the liberated
Open your mind and trip on "Gonzo," or give your pet a valium and take in some grade-A explosives. Unwind at the club and let the dancer on the platform do all the work. Click play and we'll explain.
HORN OF PLENTY: Wynton Marsalis plays rare club gig in San Diego
Ask Wynton Marsalis about his dues-paying days as a teenage musician in New Orleans or his new live album with Willie Nelson, "Two Men With the Blues," and the Pulitzer Prize-winning trumpeter, composer and bandleader happily answers in vivid detail.
But ask him to recall the last time he and his 14-man Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performed in a club, as opposed to a concert hall or on a festival stage, and he draws a blank.
"It's unusual. We almost never play in clubs, so I can't remember when we last did," said Marsalis, who performs two nearly sold-out shows here Tuesday night at downtown's 250-seat Anthology with his talent-packed big band.
"I know we played at a club a couple of times, but it's so rare I can't remember where. I know it's fun; it's fun to be that close together on stage. It's like when (Count) Basie played at the Famous Door in New York, the musicians were all really close together. 'Sweets' (Basie trumpet star Harry 'Sweets' Edison) told me what he loved about playing in that club is how it helped them get their dynamics together, because they were literally on top of each other."
Continue reading "HORN OF PLENTY: Wynton Marsalis plays rare club gig in San Diego" »
FILM: Hunter S. Thompson and a history lesson for progressives
July 01, 2008
"Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson"
Not rated
(narrated by Johnny Depp!)
Opens Friday
Grade: A
Click here for showtimes
See a trailer of "Gonzo" below
Name a profession (besides grunge rocker) where gunshot suicide has taken the rebel greats, where felo-de-se for their kind is a giant Wiki entry?
Among writers, controlled substances and horniness and even melancholy misanthropy can be a whiskey wellspring of inspiration. And self-destruction. You'll learn from Alex Gibney's trippy and intelligent documentary, "Gonzo," that Hunter S. Thompson fits the profile.
Thompson's whiskey was Wild Turkey and his hallucinogen-filled suitcase went on assignment with him -- he's best known as a Rolling Stone political writer, covering the George McGovern and Jimmy Carter campaigns, and the first embedded journalist to cover and piss off the Hells Angels.
But Gibney, who won an Oscar this year for his indictment on U.S. torture practices, "Taxi to the Dark Side," and made his first splash with that corporate disaster tale "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," also does three things for the tale of Hunter S. Thompson.
1. Gibney turns his life into a work of art, making a kind of visual literature on screen that matches the wild, vibrant, experiential, first-person narrative that defined "gonzo," the style of reportage Thompson invented in his most productive, red-hot years.
Sure, it's like shooting fish when your source material for a doc includes footage of America's greatest growing pains (civil rights, Vietnam War, Nixon) set to a Bob Dylan soundtrack. But the years in which Thompson lived were epic, and often he was a front line participant, like with the brutal police battle at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 (one of the rare times he cried).
Continue reading "FILM: Hunter S. Thompson and a history lesson for progressives" »
SEND OFF: Get a little music with your Beauty
CRAIG YERKES: His memory and music live on
Like many in the San Diego music community, we are reeling over the death of Craig Yerkes, whose skills as a multinstrumentalist helped his band, The Grams, win several San Diego Music Awards.
Yerkes, 40, died late Saturday morning after his car hit a tree on Camino del Rey in Bonsall, according to the California Highway Patrol. An investigation is now under way to determine the cause of the crash. A concert in Yerkes' honor will be held July 27 at the Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley. All proceeds will go to his wife, Grams' violinist Elise Ohki, and their two sons. Yerkes is also survived by his sister, local music mainstay Marcia Claire.
"As a musician, Craig was a combination of two qualities you rarely see together -- shockingly abundant talent and utter humility," said Peter Bolland, the leader of the band The Coyote Problem and a professor of philosophy at Southwestern College. "Rock 'n' roll was way down the list (of priorities) for him. It was his boys, his wife and life itself that mattered most. Craig spent many years out of the music business. What pulled him back recently was Chuck Schiele, who gave Craig and his wife an incredible slot in The Grams to play music they liked. We're all kind of gut-kicked about this."
The Grams released its second album, "Love Factory," in April and the group won Best Americana honors at each of the two most recent San Diego Music Awards. A highlight of the album is "Via Katalin," a sparkling instrumental that featured Yerkes and his wife.
Our deepest sympathies go out to Yerkes' family. The San Diego music scene will be less vibrant without him.
BLONDE ON BLONDE: Two heads, two voices, much better than one for Alison Krauss & Robert Plant
Who needs Led Zeppelin?
Not Robert Plant, thank you very much. After reteaming for a lone concert with fellow Zep co-founders Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones in London last December (for which a staggering 20 million e-mail attempts were made by fans to buy tickets), he quickly dashed hopes for a full-on reunion tour. Plant's priority, he made clear, was this year's joint concert trek with Alison Krauss -- with whom he made last year's excellent "Raising Sand" album -- not a nostalgia-driven, gazillion-dollar payday with the once-again mighty Zep.
Granted, the unexpected combination of this hammer-of-the-gods English rock legend with a pristine-voiced American bluegrass queen may have initially seemed like a strange equation and then some. But judging by their superb performance last night at Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay, Plant made the right choice.
At least he did if his goal, as he has stated, is to explore heady new musical territory rather than bask in past glories. That's not to say a more extended Zep reunion won't be welcome, if and when it ever happens. But, in the immediate here and now, he's clearly as elated to be making music with Krauss as she is with him, and their pairing on stage here was a delight from start to finish. It was also a prime example that, under the right cirumstances, smaller is definitely better.
Or as Plant told the sold-out audience of 1,450 (and a near-record number of "boat people" in the adjacent marina) last night after delivering a delightfully slowed-down, banjo- and violin-fueled version of "Black Dog," a Zep classic that dates back to 1971: "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a rather intimate setting this evening. Nevertheless, we'll change that -- we'll make it more intimate... Welcome to the Raising Sand Traveling Revue." (See bottom of this review for the complete set-list, complete with the musical keys for most of the songs performed.)
CANCELLED: The government hates Boy George
If there's one thing Boy George is good at, it's getting attention. (And those crazy outfits he wears are just the start.)
A few years ago, he was arrested for cocaine possession. That earned him a stint sweeping the streets of New York City as part of his community service.
And right now, in England, he's awaiting trail for allegedly assaulting and falsely imprisoning a male escort. Yes, you read that right.
That's why the United States has denied Boy George a work visa and he's had to cancel his entire US tour, including a scheduled stop to play Viejas on July 12. Refunds are available at point of purchase.
But who better to explain the situation than the man himself? Here he is making nice with Meredith Viera.
THE LAW: The time has come. The time is now.
Today's the day.
It's time to go hands-free when talking on your cell phone and driving.
According to the law that went in effect this morning, drivers must use a hands-free headset, earpiece or speaker while using cell phones. Strangely enough, text messaging is not illegal. (But much more dangerous, so don't do it!)
There are some areas that will be granted a grace period. Police in Oceanside and San Diego are giving warnings for about a month before issuing tickets. But all other areas, including all San Diego freeways, are on extra alert. The cops are just waiting for you to do it.
Because, look, it will cost you $97 the first time you get caught and $211 each time after that. That's a lot of money. And the city really needs cash right now.
There's no word on whether the law will keep the roads safer because studies show that driving and talking is the danger, not actually holding the phone up to your head.
But it's the law. So answering that call from your best friend in New York while you're stuck in traffic? Is it worth $100?
NC-17 RATINGS: Are they still relevant?
Thanks to last summer's double dose of "Knocked Up" and "Superbad," combined with Judd Apatow-branded TV cult classics "Freaks and Geeks" and "Undeclared," I could not be more in love with Seth Rogen. And being the tried-and-true Jersey Girl that I am, I am super stoked about the upcoming Kevin Smith film starring none other than Rogen himself (yes he does work on projects not involving Apatow) "Zach and Miri Make a Porno."
The film sounds like Smith's getting back to his roots of honest emotion and complete vulgarity as the plot centers on two broke best friends. The female lead played by Elizabeth Banks (shown with Rogen above), who teams up with Rogen to make a porno film for some quick cash, but end up falling for each other along the way.
While production wrapped back in March, the film has hit a new, and perhaps damaging, bump in the road - an NC-17 rating.
Continue reading "NC-17 RATINGS: Are they still relevant?" »
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