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- NORTH COUNTY
Toast Of The Coast
ENCINITAS – The new Beach Grass Cafe in Encinitas (sister to Beach Grass Cafe in Solana Beach) offers casual coastal favorites prepared with style.
- POP MUSIC
For Bedingfield, life's a 'Pocketful of Sunshine'
British pop singer Natasha Bedingfield catapulted to fame in 2005 with her infectious songs “Unwritten” and “These Words (I Love You, I Love You)” dominating Top 40 radio for months. Two years after its release, “Unwritten” lost out to Christina Aguilera's “Ain't No Other Man” for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammys.
- POP MUSIC
Rooney hopes to restart buzz behind the band
Ned Brower is feeling both elated and a bit perplexed.
The drummer-vocalist and his mates in the pop-rock quintet Rooney have spent a couple of days in Los Angeles shooting videos for “Are You Afraid?” and “I Should Have Been After You,” tracks on 2007's “Calling the World.”
- POP MUSIC
Up close and personal
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.
- HIDDEN GEM
Dr. John and The Lower 911 | “City That Care Forgot”
As one of New Orleans' leading musical ambassadors, Dr. John looks all around the still-hurting city and sees greed and neglect, conspiracy and even murder. You know me, I can't let that slide, he declares on “Dream Warrior.” With his crack three-man band augmented by horns and strings and such guests as Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson and Terence Blanchard, the good Doctor wisely couches his anger and contempt, as well as his empathy and sorrow, in the kind of irresistibly funky R&B that has made his city such an indelible cultural landmark.
- ALBUM REVIEW
He did it his way
He's hardly a household name, except in very cool households. Yet Alejandro Escovedo sure ought to be.
He's been around since the 1970s, playing in bands like the Nuns, Rank and File and True Believers, and “Real Animal” is the latest in a long-running line of his solo albums dating back to 1992.
- CURTAIN CALL
A look ahead
- DINING GUIDE
Haute in the 'hood
Lately, it seems as though you need venture no more than a few miles – or blocks – from home to sample refined cooking once reserved for more upscale restaurants. Chefs clearly have raised the bar for the neighborhood restaurant, making it a destination spot even for those who live far from the 'hood.
For instance, when was the last time you got an amuse-bouche before dinner and a sorbet palate cleanser between courses at your neighborhood eatery? Those are the sort of special touches you can expect at The Better Half, a new bistro in Hillcrest that strives to bring haute cuisine to local diners.
- EVENTOS LATINOS
Best Bet | Alacranes Musical: More than just the image
Pasito Duranguense bands are the metrosexuals of regional Mexican music. Members of Alacranes Musical, which on Sunday ends the series of Latino concerts at the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar, prove this.
- Films in focus
- American Spirit
On the morning of July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress took one of the most important steps in the creation of this nation by voting to adopt the Declaration of Independence, removing the colonies from the rule of Great Britain.
As an anniversary worth celebrating, that's hard to beat, and as a place to hold that celebration, it's hard to beat the USS Midway Museum, which has been hosting July 4 festivities since 2004.
- A Declaration Of Independence Timeline
- ART REVIEW
In Plain Sight
Kenneth Capps' sculptures don't look precisely like weaponry or surveillance devices, but they make you think about both. The title of his exhibition, “Metered,” has its origins in “Meter XII” (1989), which stands a dramatic 12-½ feet tall and resembles something you might come upon in a parking lot, an industrial park or along a street.
- Happy hour
- Street
Jeff Horowitz, 26, and his company, DressMonkey (dressmonkey.com), 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.
- ALBUM REVIEW
Ry Cooder | “I, Flathead” Nonesuch Records
The last of Cooder's California Trilogy, “I, Flathead” is an eclectic gathering of 14 tracks, collectively telling the fictional tale of honky-tonk salt-flats racer Kash Buk. Packaged with a 90-page novella from Cooder, “I, Flathead” mixes country ballads, mariachi-accented rave-ups and straight rock 'n' roll.
- ALBUM REVIEW
G. Love & Special Sauce | “Superhero Brother”
On their third studio disc for Brushfire, G. Love and the always-tight Special Sauce continue their typical blend of funky hip-hop and soulful blues. G. Love spells out what we all need a bit more of with a soulful piano touch on “Communication,” evokes the Philly streets he grew up on with the bouncy “City Livin” and soars with a deft mix of funk and gospel on “What We Need.”
- ALBUM REVIEW
Ottmar Liebert + Luna Negra | “The Scent of Light” and “Up Close”
One live disc (“The Scent of Light”) and one studio recording, this duo of soft music albums from the pop flamenco guitarist is about as good as background music can be. Each disc offers 10 tracks of mellow, romantic faux flamenco guaranteed not to offend anyone. It's music for romance and quiet nights. But careful, you may find yourself falling asleep.
- ALBUM REVIEW
Mates of State | “Re-Arrange Us”
Mates of State lack the drama and punch of tumultuous couplings like Tammy and George or Ike and Tina. And rather than ever finding even a twinkle of domestic frenzy, marrieds Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel opt for the pastoral (“My Only Offer”) and saccharine (“Blue and Gold Print”).
- ALBUM REVIEW
Patti Rothberg | “Double Standards”
Patti Rothberg is tough, but not overbearing about it. She also doesn't come across as too defensive or as a sex kitten making a show of her claws.
- ALBUM REVIEW
Three 6 Mafia | “Last 2 Walk”
“Last 2 Walk,” its first album since the excellent “Most Known Unknown,” from 2005, sounds like vintage Three 6 Mafia: bruising production, gloriously foul-natured lyrics, single-minded focus on life's pleasures – the humorously lewd “I'd Rather” and “Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)” – all under a cloud of paranoia.
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