OB FLASHES: News, Calendar and Whatever – July 14

Wall Street Journal Blog: LAID OFF: Janice Sowles of Ocean Beach, Calif., a shipfitter at NASSCO-General Dynamics, waited for a ride outside the gate after being laid off Monday morning (7/12/10). In all, 290 employees were laid off. (San Diego Union Tribune/ZUMApress.com)

Volunteer(s) Needed to Update Websites of Town Council and Planning Board

Two of our most revered local community organizations, the OB Town Council and the OB Planning Board, both have websites that are outdated.  Both organizations, ironically, need someone to step forward and volunteer their skills and abilities to update their internet sites.  The community groups use their websites to notify us about meetings, agendas and minutes, and need to be current.  If you are that someone, please contact the Town Council here, and the Planning Board here.

Stand Up Is Dead Comedy Tour at Winston’s Friday July 16th

The Stand Up Is Dead comedy tour is coming through San Diego on July 16 at 7:00 pm at Ocean Beach Comedy at Winston‘s Beach Club in Ocean Beach. Stand Up Is Dead is in the middle of a never-ending tour that has recently been showcased at the 2010 SXSW Festival’s inaugural year of comedy, and performed in Las Vegas, Houston, San Antonio, San Diego, Modesto, Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Austin, and is on its way to Wilmington, Athens, Lafayette, and more. The show features headliners Steven Kendrick and Danny Rios, as well as Joe Charles, Jim Panetta, and host Jesse Egan.

Steven Kendrick is a national headlining comedian (Ed:and member of the OB Rag) who has worked with the Van’s Warped Tour, Doug Stanhope, Ron White, Nick DiPaolo, SXSW in Austin, the Altercation Punk Comedy Festival, and more.

Danny Rios performs all over the country, and is currently based out of Houston, Texas, where he has recently won the Funniest Person in Houston contest and is a driving force behind the up and coming Houston Comedy Union. He also performed on NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2008.

Joe Charles has performed for the US troops in Kuwait and Iraq, has worked with Cheech and Chong and Bill Burr, and is currently performing all over the country.

Stand Up is Dead is not a dark show, a dirty show, an edgy show, or a punk alternative themed show of any sort. It is a movement. A renaissance of sorts, Stand Up is Dead has the salt, or if you will, the realness that seems to be lacking in most stand up performances nowadays. There are exceptions of note, but not enough. More often than not, when watching a stand up performance, some portion of the audience is left saying, “OK, I get it, that was a cute observation, an entertaining pratfall… But who are you?” And it’s that group of people this show speaks to. Stand Up is Dead is a raw, real, and at times artistically challenging performance. At the heart of it though, at the end of the night, when the curtains draw to a close… it’s just flat-out fucking funny.

Check out Stand Up Is Dead featuring Steven Kendrick, Danny Rios, and more at Ocean Beach Comedy at Winston’s Beach Club at 1922 Bacon Street in Ocean Beach on Friday, July 16 at 7:00 pm. The show will be preceded by an hour-long open mic show. Tickets are $5 general admission, and will be available at the door.

A Historian’s View on Growing Up in OB – July 15th

The OB Historical Society will present Vonn Marie May on Thurs., July 15th, 7 p.m. at PL United Methodist Church, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., O.B. Vonn Marie May’s memories of Ocean Beach are filled with wonderful and humorous stories about the community and its many characters.

Vonn’s mom was one of the “Hotties” during the era when the Arizona and other bars were filled with babes clad in muumuus. Vonn has extensive knowledge of OB, Point Loma and San Diego histories. Professionally, she has been on the boards of many historical organizations and has helped get some of our most important sites designated. She also helps lead historical walks around the communities of San Diego. Come learn history from a historian that loves Ocean Beach.

Join OB Historical Society on their Annual OB Historical Walk – July 17th

On Saturday, July 17th, at 10am the OBHS will lead participants on its Historic Walk. Meet at the OB Library, (Corner of Sunset Cliffs Blvd. & Santa Monica). Following the walk you are invited to join them in a tour of the Hidden Garden.

New Homeless Sticker Going On Sale

The San Diego Regional Task Force on Homeless will be beginning the sale of the new alternative homeless sticker this week, we have learned. Stores in OB will be carrying the “Together we end homelessness” sticker, as well as the OB Rag will be. We will be providing more details when we know more.  The new sticker will go on sale for $2.50, and ALL proceeds will go toward groups who help and/or feed homeless people.

Ocean Beach’s “Don’t feed the bums” sticker taken to a new level in Miami

by Malika Dickerson / examiner.com / July 13, 2010

O.B. Made national news back in June when The Black smoke shop began selling “Don’t Feed the Bums” stickers. The stickers began popping up all over Ocean Beach; an area of San Diego known for its tolerance of all walks of life. Residents of O.B. Soon began to counter the growing support for the “Don’t Feed the Bums” mantra. Opposition forces clashed (sic) in a number of protests around Ocean Beach soon after.  …

Now, the City of Miami, Florida’s Downtown Development Authority has approved an ordinance that would prohibit unauthorized people and groups of people from giving food to the homeless by charging a $300 fine to violators. That earned the MMDA a title of “Worst Persons” from Keith Olbermann last night [7/12/10].

For the remainder of this article, go here.

Voices of OB’s Homeless

Christine Schanes writes for Huffington Post and was in OB during the recent protest in front of the Black.  Since that scene, she has spent a lot of time in the community recording the voices of homeless (house-less). Here is a sampling:

OB Wildlife, adult, unhoused: “First, they’re trying to market the whole area [of Ocean Beach] as a place from the 1960’s with “love-ins” and “then someone comes up with the sticker — a stupid idea. I question the integrity of the sticker. They [The Black] make money off the sticker so they’re helping themselves. Second, it’s better for businesses that homeless people pick-up small change because 100 percent of that money goes back to the OB Community. Go ahead, run a test [on where money given to homeless people is spent]. All the money goes back to them — the local shop owners.”

Hannah, 18 years old, unhoused, lives in a truck: “I just want your [housed people’s] respect. We just want to live our lives and be respected. It’s a downturn economy. There are more people on the streets than I’ve seen before and a lot of them are young people.”

Shaggy, 20 years old, unhoused: “I think the sticker is outrageous and not fair because they’re taking out what some people are doing, not everyone. We’re human beings, too. We’re just as likely to help them [the tourists] as they are to help us.

Schanes also interviewed ‘housed’ people.  Go here for the remainder of the article at HuffPost.

“Hodad’s Too” to Open in “Sept-ober”

by Jamie Yoo / San Diego’s Entertainment Magazine / July 13, 2010

Nobody in their right minds would voluntarily wait for 60-90 minutes for a burger—unless it’s a Hodad’s burger we’re talking about!

Hodad’s, located in Ocean Beach, has been a San Diego favorite since 1969 when Byron and Virginia Hardin first started serving these now famous burgers right on the beach. Today, in its current Ocean Beach location, Hodad’s draws in mobs of hungry people, creating long lines that extend down the street and around the corner.

Normally, people would not tolerate such a wait, but it seems that they have made an exception for Hodad’s.

For the remainder of this article, go here.

Top Chef winner turned away from South Beach Bar & Grille

By Barbara De Lollis /USA TODAY / July 13,2010

Remember Michael Voltaggio, the youthful chef at a posh California hotel who won the Top Chef reality show contest last year? Well, today San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Diane Bell tells us that Voltaggio was turned away from the South Beach Bar & Grille in Ocean Beach, Calif., on Sunday because “his ID was washed out and illegible.”

No kidding.

Bell writes:

At the door, Voltaggio pulled up a web page bio of himself on his iPhone to prove his identity and that he is 30 years old, but to no avail. The doorman insisted that Voltaggio show a state-issued ID.

Voltaggio, who’s about to leave the Michelin-starred Dining Room at the Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena to start his own restaurant, complained that he’d driven there from Los Angeles to try the restaurant’s tacos, Bell adds. The restaurant manager, however, wouldn’t budge from the entrance policy.

Voltaggio wrote a couple of messages on Twitter after he left the restaurant, one blasting the doorman. In his second tweet, according to Bell, says: “I’m glad South Beach turned me away. Sushi Ota in San Diego is really good.”

New Restaurant Bar on Voltaire Offers 16 Craft Beers and Late Night Kitchen

Thanks to San Diego CityBeat we have more food and drink news: Sessions Public, which recently opened at 4204 Voltaire St. (at Catalina Boulevard) between Ocean Beach and Point Loma, is home to 16 taps of craft beer, including quite a few soughtafter beers from Ballast Point Brewing Company. The restaurant is open every day for lunch at 11 a.m., and the kitchen stays open until 1 a.m., cooking up a menu of farm-to-table plates, including a BLT made with tempura-fried bacon on brioche from Liberty Station’s Con Pane and a Cobb salad with wild prawns and a creamy sriracha dressing. Seasonal desserts include a homemade nectarine cobbler and sweets from Azucar, a Cuban-style patisserie in Ocean Beach. sessionspublic.com

Jazz 88 OB Music & Art Festival September 11th

Jazz 88.3 and the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association will re-launch the Jazz 88 Ocean Beach Music & Art Festival. It will be held on Saturday, September 11, 10:00am to 7:00pm on Newport Avenue, and will include 26 bands, 7 stages… and much more.  Go here for more details.