OB Rag

OB Assisted Gates: Camera Lucida Series Concert

By Eric / blogsandiego.com

Searching for a spiritual gate, if in need of a mantra or a blissed sound trigger, try the sounds of Charles Curtis, OB resident and Camera Lucida Concert Series curator among many other titles and accolades. These live concerts consist of the best players the region and often beyond has to offer in the manner of old world, classical, intensely magical, and proficiency. Musicians include the top San Diego Symphonists and top UCSD players, joined by special guests to create some of the highest quality chamber music in the US.

I attended the presentation on April 2nd, consisting of Bach’s Preludes and Fugues for String Trio (arr. Mozart), Strauss’ Sextet for Strings from Capriccio, Op. 85, and Brahms’ Sextet for Strings in B-flat, Op. 18. The Strauss piece was especially sweet, balanced in a moment, delicately calling into the upper right-hand section of my brain to question noble dances of a certain imagined time. Throughout, the playing was superb, the mood blissful, and the audience proved fully engaged as they offered a standing ovation with multiple call-backs for the players to be recognized.

Rally Commemorates Chernobyl, TMI, continuing meltdown at Fukushima on Sunday, from Noon to 3pm

“Shut Down San Onofre” Momentum builds following Radioactivity Release and Design-Error Shutdown of the Plant

April 20, 2012 (SAN ONOFRE) – Nuclear Industry Expert Daniel Hirsch and Irvine City Councilmember Larry Agran will join a dozen other speakers at the “Shut Down San Onofre” rally at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on Sunday, April 29, to support the view that the reactor should never be restarted. The event occurs just after the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the 33-year anniversary of the Three-Mile Island accident, and the first Fukushima Daiichi meltdown anniversary — an accident which is far from over.

Finally! The bike and pedestrian bridge over Rose Creek is finished. As an avid bike rider, I ride the circuit around Mission Bay all the time. My bicycling buddies and I have been waiting for this crucial link to be done and over with, so we can avoid running along the very busy streets that surround the Park.

Constructed for a year and coming in at $2.9 million, the bridge – renamed the Mike Gotch Memorial Bridge after the former Mission Beach-based San Diego City councilman – was dedicated yesterday, April 20th. Many of us remember Mike Gotch fondly. He passed away a few years ago from skin cancer.

Originally called the Rose Creek Bikeway and Pedestrian Bridge, the project – as the City informs us –

“is the vital missing link between the existing regional bicycle network that connects the existing bicycle facility along Pacific Beach Drive to the Class I bikeway at North Mission Bay Drive. This project is described and in conformance with the Mission Bay Master Plan and the Pacific Beach Master Plan. This bridge and bikeway will create a safe and convenient route over Rose Creek and significantly help minimize the use of Grand Avenue as the only route over the Creek.”

Every now and then, we like to say ‘thanks’ to the people and businesses that help keep the OB Rag in business.

And we ask our readers and supporters to check them out and say ‘thanks’ to them by going on their websites and using their businesses.

So, here are a few of the more recent sponsors

There’s Sorrentino’s Pizza, up in Clairemont Mesa.

Vets for Peace

Adams Avenue Unplugged!

I jump at every chance available to me to soften the racist and xenophobic noise that emanates from Arizona incessantly.

Why? Because when you’re subjected to second class citizenship as I was as a child in the Grand Canyon State your life’s dreams are filled with images of a better world, a world where all people are treated with dignity as human beings who are deserving of love.

So, along these lines, two dear friends of mine, Marjorie Cohn, attorney, professor of Thomas Jefferson Law school, author of several books (her latest, “The United States and Torture: Interrogation, incarceration and Abuse”), Angela Garcia-Sims, retired educator and educational consultant extraordinaire, and I have put together a panel to discuss the implications of SB1070, Arizona’s racial profiling law. The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding this sad piece of legislation on Wednesday, April 25.

Our panel on the matter will take place

Monday, April 23, at 7:15 pm to 8:45 pm in Room 323 at

Thomas Jefferson School of Law,

1155 Island Avenue, San Diego.

Farmers Market Building Demolition by Walmart

By Save Our Heritage Organization / April 19, 2012

On Tuesday – April 17th, Walmart began demolition of the historic Farmers Market, an iconic building that is an important link to the heritage of the Logan Heights and Sherman Heights communities. This was done without community notice or the preparation of an Environmental Impact Review or even review by the historic resources board which should have occurred prior to approval.

On Wednesday a judge issued a stay, stopping the work, pending a hearing. The hearing is scheduled for this coming Monday, April 23 at 9am, at the Hall of Justice, 330 W. Broadway, Dept. 66. The public is encouraged to attend.

by Dirk Ebers

When the weather in San Diego warms up — as it will this weekend — many residents opt for a wardrobe change. From gents in tank tops to ladies in short shorts, the flesh displays ramp up as the temperature rises.

In a word, it’s all about skin. And as the cladding gets more scanty, some curious ethical dilemmas arise:

Is it cool to flaunt one’s body parts? When others flaunt, is it okay to look?

As a man, there’s one flesh display that I find especially confusing: cleavage, meaning female breasts, or more specifically, the space between them.

“Please! Señores, help me!”

These are the words screamed by Anastasio Hernández-Rojas as over a dozen U.S. Border Patrol agents beat and tasered him. PBS has just uncovered new video1 showing how Anastasio laid in the dirt defenseless, begging for his life, as Border Patrol agents continued to beat him.

The video elicits haunting reminders of the Rodney King beating2, as Anastasio cries out “¡Nooo! ¡Nooo! ¡Déjenme! [Leave me alone!] ¡Nooo! ¡Señores!” Anastasio later died at the hospital.

Watch the video clip and sign a petition telling the Justice Department to investigate this death immediately.

http://act.presente.org/sign/anastasio/

 Emergency Community Rally at Farmers Market Building on Wednesday The Sherman Heights community was alerted today- April 17th – to…

Peter Douglas, creator and long-time executive director of the California Coastal Commission was fighting an ongoing battle with cancer when he learned he’d been named the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards’ Hero of the Seas for 2012. He wrote that he was honored and would be there to accept if his body and the universe gave him dispensation. Sadly, Peter passed away on April 1. His now posthumous award is in recognition of 40 years working to assure public access to and scenic protection of California’s more than 1,100 miles of spectacular coastline. Last year a delegation from the World Bank visited California and told him his state has the best coastal protection on earth.

New Building Opens designed in the style of Monterey’s Cannery Row

The Log / April 10, 2012

Point Loma Seafoods, a staple at America’s Cup Harbor since 1963, has just put the finishing touches on its $2.7 million renovation.

“Point Loma Seafoods did an incredible job with its renovation,” said San Diego Board of Port Commissioners chairman Lou Smith. “This is a business that truly understands the meaning of community.”

San Diego City Council president Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer and Board of Port Commissioners members Smith, Scott Peters and Bob Nelson celebrated the restaurant’s makeover and grand reopening April 5, and dedicated its public art component.

By Jim Madaffer / Mission Times Courier / April 12, 2012

The East Village skyline’s architectural landmark is taking shape. The signature dome of the New Downtown Central Library can now be seen from various vantage points downtown and beyond. After decades of dreaming, the City’s newest and most state-of-the-art public building is set to open in mid-2013.

I had an opportunity to tour the main library construction project recently and walked each floor to see what will surely become an icon of perseverance and a gift to future generations of San Diego. The construction site reminds me of an erector set with each piece of the building carefully set with precision equipment and high technology.

The $185 million nine-story New Central Library was designed by San Diego architect Rob Quigley and will undoubtedly be the signature statement of his career. Construction is on schedule and on budget.