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Sunday, September 30, 2012

ARCHIVE / 30TH ON 30TH: NORTH PARK'S MONTHLY MIXER

Yellowtail and fruit salsa taco plate from El Take It Easy is a sample of past tastes at 30th On 30th event.  

GUEST BLOG/By Jay Porter--Here’s the program in general: on the 30th of each month (that’s Sunday night), a bunch of restaurants and bars on and near 30th Street offer specials, such as a feature appetizer for $3. This makes it easy for you to go on a restaurant crawl and check out all the amazing places on the 30th Street Corridor. Most places start their specials between 5 and 6pm. So come on out and join us on Thurs., August 30th along San Diego’s Restaurant Row.

So far [italics] here are the participating specials. Look for more updates as the date gets closer!
Updates: 30th Street Blog, http://30thstreet.org/30th-on-30th/

El Take It Easy: $4 surf and turf ceviche tostadas topped with chicharrones and $6 mezcal margaritas

The Linkery: $2 half pours of Alesmith X and pulled pork sliders for $3 (cash only, includes tax and service).

Ritual Tavern: Mesquite Charred Pulled Chicken Sliders on Sadie Rose Silver Dollar rolls for $3 each. Kostritzer Oktoberfest Lager draft pours will be $2 for 8oz.

Alchemy: $1 Carlsbad Aqua Farms oysters

Carnitas’ Snack Shack: pork meatballs, white cheddar polenta, Javier’s BBQ sauce – $4

Sipz Vegetarian: Outside we will offer $5 orange chicken along with rotating appetizers. For guests dining inside we’ll have $3 fried tempura appetizer, $3 4-piece cali roll or combo of the two for $5, $2 sake.

Station Tavern: jalapeƱo mac ‘n cheese bites for $3

Bluefoot Bar & Lounge: $3 pints of 30th Street Pale Ale and $4 horchata shots

Splash: house made “Splackers” and a glass of wine for just $5. Even better, come for lunch on the 30th and get a complimentary $5 tasting card with your lunch purchase!

Air Conditioned Lounge: $5 wells and draft beers, $3 Fireball whiskey shots with purchase of any draft beer.

U-31: 5pm-9pm: $3 Mozzarella cheese sticks with marinara sauce, $3 tater tot nachos and $2 Bud light drafts

Hipcooks: We will have our doors open from 6-9pm, we will be celebrating our one year anniversary and 30th on 30! Drop in to say hello, we will be recipe testing and tasting and serving cake and ice cream! Please RSVPif you know you will attend!

Tiger! Tiger! $3 wood-fired cheese sandwiches

***
Blog Source: Jay Porter, 30th Street Blog, http://30thstreet.org/30th-on-30th/
 



Image: Fancy taco from El Take It Easy.  This taco features local yellowtail carpaccio, roasted sweet corn and fruit salsa on a tortilla.  Jay Porter suggests pairing these tacos with a bottle of Domaine Tempier rose.

Note: El Take It Easy, 3926 30th Street, San Diego, 619-291-1859 was featured in Sunset Magazine “The Best of New World Mexican” by Jonathan Gold, 2012.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

"FOOTLOOSE" IN NORTH PARK/The Musical



CULTURE IN THE ‘HOOD—San Diego Musical Theatre’s run of “Footloose/The Musical” plays from September 28 thru October 14 at the venerable Birch North Park Theatre, 29th & University.

Tickets: www.sdmt.org or call 858-560-5740.

San Diego Musical Theatre is a non-profit, regional, professional theatre, producing Broadway musicals, year round in San Diego. San Diego Musical Theatre's future goals are to produce five musicals each year, increase the number of equity performers in each show and build our own Performing Arts Center. The Performing Arts Center would be the home to San Diego Musical Theatre, a place where we can develop our own youth theatre program and where other local arts organizations may perform. 

Friday, September 28, 2012

WOULD YOU TRADE YOUR CAR FOR A NEW BIKE?




ZANY BIKE PARADE IN SAN DIEGO--Want to be in a neighborhood bicycle parade? The folks at West Coaster Magazine reminds us come Saturday, Sept. 29 for one day only you’ll have your chance to show up in circus garb or whatever eclectic look you wish as part of the annual San Diego version of New Belgium Brewing Company’s “Tour de Fat” celebration.   

The free event, which raises money for local nonprofits through beer and merchandise purchases, just exceeded the $2 million mark for total funds raised since its inception 13 years ago. Last year’s San Diego Tour de Fat festival raised nearly $21,250 and had about 3,000 attendees.

Where:  Golden Hill Park, north on 25th St at Russ Boulevard (more like an alley than a boulevard).

Here’s more from event organizer: New Belgium Brewing:

“…Hold on tight, San Diego, we’re headed back for another round! New Belgium Brewing’s cycling circus, Tour de Fat, is coming to town for one day on Saturday, September 29 at Golden Hill Park. Tour de Fat rookies and veterans alike are encouraged to grab a bike and join us for a whimsical day of entertainment and two-wheeled revelry, all while raising money for San Diego County Bicycle Coalition and San Diego Mountain Bike Association.

“For those who haven’t experienced Tour de Fat, it is a thrilling rite of passage that includes an unparalleled costumed bicycle parade, New Belgium beer, eccentric entertainment, local food, unusual bike contests and much more.


“The bike parade starts at 11 am and for 3 miles winds around the south of Balboa Park ‘hoods of Golden Hill and South Park.  Stay after the parade for some folly from noon to 4 pm at Golden Hill Park…”

Read up on New Belgian Brewing and the Tour de Fat’s history and find out about the popular Car-for-Bike Swap.  For juicy details you have to click: http://www.westcoastersd.com/2012/09/25/tour-de-fat-returns-to-san-diego-sept-29/

More info: http://www.newbelgium.com/events/tour-de-fat/tour-dates/san-diego.aspx

Thursday, September 27, 2012

ARCHIVE / DUMP THOSE UNUSED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS



NO QUESTIONS ASKED--It’s not a far reach to say the majority of drug use among our kids begins at home as they raid the medicine chest for left over prescription drugs.  In an effort to rid homes of dangerous prescription drugs falling into the wrong hands, the Drug Enforcement Administration is leading a no questions asked campaign to drop off unused drugs at safe and approved locations.  

When: Take Back Day is Saturday, September 29, 2012, 10 am to 2 pm.

Countless locations across San Diego County have been tapped to be collection points for anyone wishing to drop off prescription drugs.  Me, I’d just flush them, but those who wish to drop them off at a safe location on Take Back Day (Sept. 29) can locate the collection site nearest you, visit: http://www.dea.gov

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

SPACE CADETS / LIGHT THE NIGHT




MACRO/MICRO—Do you recognize this intriguing globular cluster of stars in these two photos?  Actually, only one (top image) is from outer space.  The other (lower) is a constellation of city lights surrounding London, England as recorded with a digital camera from the International Space Station.  Taken in February, 2003, north is toward the top and slightly left in this nighttime view.  The encircling “London Orbital” highway by-pass, the M-25 is the easiest to pick out south of the city.  Even farther south are the lights of Gatwick airport and just inside the western (left side of image) stretch of the Orbital highway is Heathrow airport.  The darkened Thames river estuary fans out to the city’s east.  Slightly west of the densely packed lights at the city’s core aretwo small “dark nebulae,” which are Hyde Park and Regents Park.

The real space image is of the central region of the small galaxy NGC 1705.  It blazes with the light of thousands of young and old stars in this image taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

Photo Credits:
--London: ISS Crew, Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Lab, JSC, NASA.
--Galaxy NGC 1705 by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope

Monday, September 24, 2012

ARCHIVE / NORTH PARK AS AMERICA'S HIPPEST NEIGHBORHOOD




COMPILATION OF COOL—If you can trust establishment magazines to pick what’s hip here’s the current roster of top neighborhoods with eclectic energy according to Forbes Magazine online.  Forbes teamed with Nextdoor.com to make its compilation of cool.  They also collected great photos.   This blog’s own North Park neighborhood was mentioned and an image is posted above (Forbes’ North Park photo is at least 10 years old, but North Park is even more hip and being mentioned is frankly a big kick given the rest of the national list.  New North Park photo (lower) is posted for comparison.  Nice job by Forbes/Nextdoor.com.

For the mag’s roster view it yourself at:


Says Forbes in its online feature:
 “…Nextdoor.com helped us dig through data on more than 250 neighborhoods in the biggest U.S. cities. We assessed each area’s walkability according to Walkscore.com; the number of neighborhood coffee shops per capita (with a little help from NPD Group’s report); the assortment of local food trucks (and their ranking according to Zagat’s); the number and frequency of farmers markets; the number of locally owned bars and restaurants; and the percentage of residents who work in artistic occupations. We also factored in Nextdoor's Neighborhood Hipness Index, which is based on how often words associated with hipness appeared on each Nextdoor neighborhood’s site pages, and Nextdoor conducted a survey in which members sounded off on their communities…”

HIP, HIP, HOORAY.
Forbes List without rankings
--North Park, a Mid-City neighborhood in San Diego, CA.
--H Street Corridor, Washington DC
--Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA.
--Wicker Park, Chicago, IL
--Pearl District, Portland, OR
--LoHi, Denver, CO
--Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, NY
--East Austin, Austin, TX
--Capitol Hill, Seattle, WA
--The Uptown, Oakland, CA
--Warehouse District, New Orleans, LA
--Downtown, Portland, ME
--North Loop, Minneapolis, MN
--North Liberties, Philadelphia, PA
--Hampden, Baltimore, MD
--Little Five Points, Atlanta, GA
--Allston-Brighton, Boston, MA
--Mission District, San Francisco, CA
--Wynwood, Miami, FL
--Lower Westheimere, Houston, TX

Sunday, September 23, 2012

SUNDAY REVIEW / CARL SANDBERG, A MAN OF OUTSPOKEN ORDINARINESS




PBS BIO IS MASTERFUL--Darn those writers, who write about literary figures long dead as if they were still alive.  Easy pickings to bash someone who died in 1967 as someone “not keeping up with the times.”  Off to the woodshed, hack.
            A biography either has legs of authenticity or it doesn’t.  Don’t judge the subject if there failings by the biographer. 
            Recently, PBS ran “The Day Carl Sandburg Died,” [9-24-12] as part of its erudite American Masters series.  As a bio it was near perfect.  Unless you spent, decades in library stacks studying Sandberg’s works, the PBS bio heaped insight upon insight into Sandburg’s life.  It was huge.  Archival film made Penelope Niven’s bio majestic and yes even, fresh.  Niven did her homework and provided comments by critics and detractors alike.  Even naysayer for hire Gore Vidal had his say.
            Critics of the PBS effort have rushed to call Sandburg, the person boring.   As if it were incurable.  Here’s an example of one reviewer: “…(Maybe he [Sandburg] would seem more engagingly human if he’d done a more thorough job of messing up his personal life. It worked for Woody Guthrie.)…”
            So, a measure of American poets is reduced to how much they drink and womanize? 
            Yes, I’m old fashioned.  Grandkids will be the first to tell you.   But, for the life of me, why do mainstream critics feel the need to visit the back alleys of the personal lives of artists to make a point.
Let’s stick to addressing the works of our iconic national artists.  What’s wrong with examining Sandburg’s greatest works and learning from them?

Image: PBS.org
Thank you, PBS for posting the entire episode: http://video.pbs.org/video/2280767465


SUNDAY REVIEW—A new online literary review appearing exclusively on Pillar to Post (www.tomshess.blogspot.com).