EastGirlsWest

It’s Friday, and yesterday I was on KPBS with the lovely AnnaMaria Stephens to talk about the weekend.

Her picks included next week’s San Diego stop on the True Colors tour, which she also wrote about in CityBeat.

As for me, I can’t say enough good things about Starlite, THE new restaurant from Tim Mays and friends. You can read about the visionary designers here, and a detailed review of the dining experience on this other blog. Bottom line? Damn good food, freakin’ great drinks, absolutely gorgeous space. Highlights include: the hexagonal entryway, the sunken bar, all chandeliers. Plus the frites and the Starlite Mule, served in a copper mug. I will be back.

There’s more more more, so click here and listen.

Tonight, The Husband and I are off to this delicious event. I’m wearing a fancy dress and silver shoes!

It’s that time of the month again! I was on These Days this morning with another roundup of San Diego I Feel Good About. The highlights:

- Bright Eyes is playing SOMA on Tuesday the 8th. The new album is a little alt-country and I like it. And SOMA? Always a good time when you’re surrounded by screaming 13-year-old girls at an all ages venue. Doesn’t make you feel old AT ALL. No siree.

- Aqualung at HOB on Monday the 7th. If you’re like me and never got sick of “Brighter Than Sunshine”, no matter how many times you heard it last year (I’m not ashamed to admit it), maybe you want to go! His new record is quite enjoyable in it’s Coldplayishness.

- The Myth Project II: Sensitive Habitats. Now this sounds fantastic. Created by Patricia Rincon and a team of collaborators, this new work has two different site specific performances over the weekend. If I wasn’t a hysterical bride-to-be with no time and even less sanity, I’d be there. Theatre, circus, dance, video, and visual art combine for a modern take on the relevance of ancient myth. Note: Myth II is the first performance at the Centro Cultural de la Raza since the boycott has been lifted.

You can listen to today’s Weekend Preview here, and find out what my fellow contributor David Coddon recommended.

Her departure from the city of Chula Vista sounds like a pretty sweet deal. And it does seem as if Laurie Madigan and her husband have a history of borderline professional ethics issues. But despite all that, I do have some sympathy for the woman.

Madigan is a (now former) assistant city manager of Chula Vista. Her recent sick leave and resignation have been well chronicled by The San Diego Union-Tribune over the past week. Why? Well, turns out that in addition to a golden parachute, Madigan also had an extremely generous sick leave policy while still employed. She began an extended sick leave in early February, but since then has continued to teach one class at UCSD in partnership with her husband.

Madigan was able to take her sick leave with full pay, you see. And the UT is cheesed off that she was “double dipping” and earning money from her teaching job while taking advantage of a boffo benefits plan with the city. This was all reported before Madigan revealed exactly what precipitated her sick leave. She has since confirmed that she has rheumatoid arthritis.

As someone with RA, I can definitely support the idea that there is a HUGE difference between working a stressful, full-time job and co-teaching a class once a week.

When I was first diagnosed, I worked at home, part-time, which was all I could handle. Luckily, I was (and remain) in a stable financial situation, with an employed partner and enough breathing room in our budget to allow me to take it a bit easier than usual for a couple of months. Unable to remain in any seated position for more than ten minutes, in chronic pain, and frankly rather depressed - going into an office five days a week would have killed me.

I can definitely sympathize with the idea that Madigan may have found going into an office every day, to throw herself into what sounds like a fast-paced and stressful job, to be detrimental to her health during an arthritic flare up. But leaving the house for three hours once a week to co-teach a class with a supportive partner? Come on. Let’s assume that teaching this class is something she enjoys. That sharing her knowledge with eager, smart students is a relaxing and rewarding break from the Blackberry wielding bureaucrats she’s dealing with on a daily basis. Oh, and the pay for teaching this class? $1,447.00 - compared to her city salary of $184,000.00. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that she’s not doing it for the money.

I think the UT was too zealous in covering kind of a non-story. The real story here? Someone in this country (and one could assume, her coworkers) has a kick ass sick leave plan! And probably good health insurance! Must be one of those “gold plated” health plans Bush keeps referring to. To be fair, this might be expected due to her income bracket and lifestyle. But the way health care and worker benefits are headed these days, I don’t think that’s safe to assume anymore.

Message to the UT: how about more stories on the prevalence of auto-immune diseases and the growing legions of the uninsured. Want something to investigate? Look into why my HMO makes it nearly impossible for one to receive actual health care. Now that’s a story.

UPDATE: Kelly Davis at CityBeat has also weighed in - read here.

Listen to Weekend Preview on These Days on KPBS in about an hour. I’ll be, well, previewing the weekend. Both ‘Attention Eileen Myles‘ at Voz Alta and the Citybeat ‘Bordering Beauty‘ soiree sound like desirable options for Friday night. If you’re feeling Irish, why not go to ShamRock on St. Patrick’s Day?

My mom came for a visit. We went to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art.

We also saw the movie Notes on a Scandal. Dench and Blanchett are sublime.

Also, hiked at Torrey Pines State Reserve. And went to The Getty Museum in LA.

Shopped at the Hillcrest Farmers Market (San Diego I Feel Good About).

Me and The Betrothed went to see the French Kicks at The Casbah. Wore my new t-shirt from Mighty Girl, which was a big hit.

Oh, and I went to Chicago and ate here, worked here, and saw much missed old friends.

I’m reading What is the What.

Went to see Blowup at MoPA. After, had my favorite roasted duck and white bean soup at The Tractor Room.

P.S. I’m on the teevee tomorrow night. Tune in at 8:20(ish)!

For three years in the 90s, I lived in Rochester, New York. I spent the bulk of my time there with a flock of other transplants - we had all moved to Ra-cha-cha (as it was known to us) from bigger, better cities. Like New York. And Boston. While Rochester eventually became a pleasant place to live, it took a bit of adjustment.

In an effort to cheer up and convince ourselves It Wasn’t So Bad, we began compiling a list of places and things that made life in our gray, chilly corner of upstate New York bearable…even occasionally fun or interesting. The farmer’s market, a good diner, the one cute store where you could find a unique gift. The list was christened, “Rochester We Feel Good About”.

While I don’t think San Diego is in need of anything near the boostering and spin that life in Rochester required, I can’t help building my own feel good list about it. Especially when I’m getting on The 8 for the eighth time in one day because it’s impossible for me to drive goddamn anywhere without getting on a highway. Because really, I’ve never lived anywhere that involved so much merging and multiple lane nagivation.

Is it really east coast of me to say highway? Should I be saying freeway? Are they interchangeable?

My point it this: the highway is worth it when it gets you to certain places, like Venissimo Cheese. Tay brought the first Venissimo bounty into our home a few weeks ago, and I finally made it there myself today. And while Venissimo is now on my SDIFGA list, it has it’s own list of charms:

- free samples of any cheese you’d like to try
- each cheese card marked with a cartoon sheep, goat or cow to let you know from which animal the cheese hails
- friendly staff (they give out free samples!)
- cheeses named “ewe-phoria” and “ewe-f-o”
- a detailed receipt that includes the cheese name, a long description, and wine pairing suggestions

I adore cheese. I feel really good about this place that sells the cheese. In fact, Tay and I just enjoyed some Pata Cabra and Lamb Chopper on sourdough with picholine olives, a tasty bottle of red and an overall sense that this Monday was not so bad.

So I had my first, non-fundraising radio gig yesterday.

I’ve been on the air in many cities and on several stations over the years, always for the same purpose: to ask public radio listeners for money. Not to blow my own horn, but I have become rather skilled at this, and am comfortable in front of a microphone when ending every sentence with a phone number.

But yesterday everything was wacky! No phone number, no “why you should support this station” message points, no coffee mugs to describe in loving detail. Yet, still the microphone.

I was in the KPBS studio with David Coddon of the Union Tribune, and Tom Fudge, host of These Days, to talk about some interesting and worthwhile stuff going on in San Diego this weekend. The show does a fantastic job covering arts and culture in San Diego, and it was so much fun to be there and contribute a small piece to the ongoing conversation.

The segment is called Weekend Preview, and you can hear it every Thursday at approximately 10:40am. Rumor has it I might get to make an occasional reappearance, so keep listening. As for my debut, you can check it out here. Also, a few quick links to my recommendations:

- Eva Zeisel & John Dirks exhibits at the Mingei International Museum
- Wine Vault & Bistro
- The Soft Lightes at The Beauty Bar

And if you found this information helpful, and enjoyed listening to Weekend Preview, perhaps you’d like to call 1-800-576-KPBS and support great programming like These Days with a financial gift to your local public radio station. The number again is one, eight hundred, five seven six, KPBS.

Before I moved to Southern California, I had the distinct impression that it might be somewhat lacking in the area of art and culture (or as they say in Boston, aaht and cul-cha). I’ve since discovered that this stereotype of So-Cal, no doubt invented and perpetrated by east coasters like myself, is not entirely true. I mean, there’s definitely some stuff going on.

In fact, there are three events, all happening in the next few weeks, that I feel compelled to share. If you live in San Diego you should check them out. If you live somewhere else, I offer these events up as proof that, well, there’s definitely some stuff going on. Pretty good stuff.

SPACECRAFT GALLERY presents New York artist Craig Kane

Spacecraft is the super cool new gallery and studio space in North Park, conceived, built and run by my uber talented friend Chris Puzio (among others). Here’s the scoop on the featured artist according to the Spacecraft crew:

“A San Diego native, Craig Kane returns to America’s finest city with a large exhibition of small painting and sculpture at Spacecraft Gallery in North Park. Craig’s miniature painting and diminutive scenes impart his urban melancholy with humor, surprise and magic!”

The opening receptiong is this Saturday from 6-9pm, and the show will be up through 2/9/07. Spacecraft Gallery is located at 2865 North Park Way (behind the North Park Theater).

JOHN DIRKS, SCULPTOR — A Retrospective

John has been honored with a beautiful exhibit at the Mingei International Museum - featuring 40 sculptures spanning four decades (including a piece from the Hanson/Betrothed collection). The Mingei says “These elegant architectural sculptures combine exotic woods and acrylic.” I say his work is simply stunning. Check out Kelly’s photos if you can’t make it. If you go, make sure you get there before February 11.

¡VIVA OBJECTS!

Avid collectors Steve Aldana, Ron Kerner and Dave Hampton are the masterminds behind Objects USA - an online gallery and resource for mid-century art and design. Later this month they present ¡VIVA OBJECTS!, the latest in a continuing series of sales exhibitions. The preview and reception (not to be missed!) is on Friday, Jan. 26th at 7pm, and the show will be open on Jan. 27th and Jan. 28th from
10 to 5.

Items for sale are all vintage, from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, and include paintings, sculpture, pottery, furniture and functional objects for indoor and outdoor use. Many of the pieces are rare finds, often from the artist’s personal collections, and are offered for sale and viewing for the first time in decades.

I remember when I was in elementary school, 4th grade, I think, we had an event called ‘Pioneer Day’. We spent days stocking up a fleet of red, Radio Flyer wagons with all the necessary supplies: tent stakes, rope, snacks, basic tools and sleeping bags. We made covers for the wagons out of thick manilla paper, and organized ourselves into small families for the great pretend trip west.

When Pioneer Day came, we lined up at one of the grassy acres behind the playground, and then our teacher rang a bell to begin the Land Rush. At the sound of the bell we ran like crazy, pulling our wagons, panting to outrace the competition for the best land claim. When we reached the prized piece of land that we wanted, we pulled out our tent stakes, roped off our area, and went to find the teacher who would measure and value our claim.

This was our bland, hopeful, sterilized version of westward expansion. In our homemade pioneer costumes, it all seemed fairly simple.

Joan Didion is from California, and she explores it’s settlement and growth in the incredible book Where I Was From. But her book isn’t a love letter to The Golden State. Instead, she methodically takes apart the myths that define the move west - especially to California - for many Americans. Brave, adventurous pioneers crossing the Sierras? Try heartless, greedy opportunists who left young orphans abandoned in the mountains, starving and bound to freeze to death. Hearty, hard-working settlers with an entrepreneurial spirit? They courted and relied upon federal money from the start. A booming post-war economy that helped grow idyllic, middle class communities? Look at the slow demise of town of Lakewood, and how it bred the infamous Spur Posse.

In Didion’s revised view of her home, the stories and the statistics are often bleak and unsettling. One of the last chapters in the book focuses on the California prison system, noting that in 1995, the state began spending more on its prisons than its two university systems.

In an NPR interview from a few years ago, Didion, a fifth-generation Californian, said she grew up feeling about her home state: “..we paid this immense price to get there…and we were now safe and redeemed and living in this very remote place.”

My voyage to California took place in my 1997 Volkswagen pulling a UHaul trailer, with two of my best friends from my childhood, my past, where I’m from. Driving me to the Pacific Ocean and into my future. Our own dicey moments in crossing the Rockies never amounted to more than turning on the heat to keep the radiator from extreme temperatures. And reaching Las Vegas felt like a surreal stop in a Gold Rush town on steroids after two days in the grand Rocky Mountains and the vast, still desert of Utah.

I’m not sure I felt safety or redemption upon arrival, although I was relieved - in an old fashioned kind of way - at having achieved safe passage. And to me, as an outsider who has settled here, California does seem to have a fearless embrace of what is next, what is new, what is most modern. Although unlike Didion’s experience, I feel this is often at the expense of the past, for which there is little reverence. It is a complicated place, despite it’s sunny disposition.

I know people tend to either love or hate Didion, and I have to confess to being a fan. This book really amazed me, and I could go on and on…but will stop here. If you’ve read it, please comment and let me know your thoughts. If you haven’t, I recommend. Especially if you live here.

Our friend Dave Rolland, who is the editor of San Diego CityBeat, wrote a great column in this week’s issue about recently meeting President Clinton. The gist is that he discovered the stories about Bill are true: he IS that smart, that charming, that thoughtful.

Sigh.