Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, October 29-Wednesday, November 4, 2026: Failure | Agriculture | Theo Katzman | The B-52s | Moenia | The Creepy Creeps | The Black Angels | Clay Street Unit | Fitz & The Tantrums

Silly Labu turns 16 on Halloween. 

I think I've overextended myself yet again and now I'm having a little regret that I'm gonna miss the final two nights of HalGLOWeen at the San Diego Zoo. I'll be working Friday and Saturday nights, so I guess I'm glad that on Sunday I made the extra effort to watch a final performance from the mariachis, who finally played my favorite song to hear them do. I suppose I could've requested it before, but I'd rather just hear their mix of inspiration. If you haven't seen them and you're a pass-member, I highly recommend you take advantage when they play every hour on the hour for a half hour starting at 6pm on Friday and Saturday night. Easy to catch a set before your big Halloween plans flesh out. I've never been super big on Halloween, but I'll try not to yuck anyone else's yum. You should bear in mind, however, that there are only like a dozen tickets left for the Casbah's Halloween extravaganza, so get those before they're gone. 

More important than all the Halloween and Día De Los Muertos weekend planning, however, is that this is the final weekend before election day. Make sure you're filling out your ballot and returning it to an OFFICIAL BALLOT DROP-OFF site and NOT dropping it in the mail. Early voting sites are also open that make it super easy to drop-off and grab extra "I Voted" stickers in a plethora of languages. Besides all that, have a fun and safe Halloween weekend, drive safely and cautiously as the streets will be full of pedestrians, and save me a Snickers. 

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, October 22-Wednesday, October 28, 2026: Hovvdy | zzzahara | Juanes | She Wants Revenge | Kishi Bashi | matt pond PA | beabadoobee |

After a long night of merch with Peter, Bjorn, and John at Music Box (10.16.26)

It's been busy around here. I'm finding that there just aren't enough hours in a day to do everything I wanna do and also get the 10-12 hours of sleep my body is suddenly demanding as I age. It's discombobulating to say the least. It's also hard to then match my timeline with Darren's, who wakes up at 4:15 everyday and is home from work by 3pm, when I'm about wrapping up the bulk of my work and ready to set out on the day's adventures. We make it work, but I know he misses me. I worked for PB&J on Friday, but Saturday we made it out to HazPaca and had tacos in Jamul before I carried on to the zoo for a quick hour at the end of the night. Drinking just isn't the same as it used to be either. When I got home, we had adult cocktails which made Sunday a worthless wasted day, making this whole week feel like I've been treading water, with a whole bunch of things on my to-do list while also working the Protomartyr show, and Hovvdy on Thursday. But slowly but surely I'm catching up with things and was at least able to do some stuff I wanted to accomplish before the rain came. And so here we are. Listings done. See you at Hovvdy. Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Only two weekends left of nighttime Zoo for HalGLOWeen. Find me at the hippos or watching the mariachis. xx

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, October 15-Wednesday, October 21, 2026: Peter Bjorn & John | Shakey Graves | Untamed Youth | Juice | Bonnie Raitt | Bayfest | Bella Vita Fest | High Vis | Julia Jacklin | Melvins | Protomartyr |

Over the weekend, Darren and I finally gave in and bought a new America The Beautiful National Parks Pass. If you don't know, TFG put his stupid face on it, so we were reluctant, but decided that I miss Cabrillo Monument enough and because we're hoping to spend some time in Big Bear soon that we should have a pass. Over the weekend, I also worked at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was a whole bunch of fun. 

This weekend is supposedly gonna be back to hot af again, and I'm pretty over it, but it sure has been nice this week actually getting to wear a hoodie at night. I am *so ready* for sweater season. It was also rad to get so much rain, it was a good preview and warning of what exactly we need to do before supposed big winter rains, like doing a better job of maintaining our backyard things so they don't collect water and resealing the roof of my van in some older rusty spots. That's what happens when your van is over 25 years old, but I sure do love having it. 

There is so much happening this week in San Diego so I'll just leave it for you to explore. I will be working the PB&J show on Friday, hopefully getting enough sleep to do Turtle Yoga on Saturday, and spending some time at HazPaca and the Zoo. There are a zillion tours coming through, so hopefully there's something awesome on your radar. Also, San Diego County Parks has a whole bunch of family fall stuff that you might consider, though I didn't add them to the listings. 

Stay safe out there, vote early and take your ballot to a dropbox NOT THE MAIL. Let's put an end to the cruelty and ridiculousness of all of this nonsense around us. 

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, October 8-Wednesday, October 14, 2026: Evening Elephants | Blonde Redhead | Punch Brothers | AJ Lee & Blue Summit | MANÁ | Dillinger Four | Dinosaur Jr | Y La Bamba | Deer Tick | LP | Charli XCX

Mariachis at San Diego Zoo HalGLOWeen perform 30 minute sets F/Sa/Sun at 5/6/7/8pm

Because nobody asked, my way of dealing with the crazy heat (when I can) is to run all my errands, work, and explore San Diego at night, answer all my morning emails, then sleep all day, until it's cooler enough to do it all over again. I worked at Bread & Salt on Friday and Quartyard on Saturday, but I had enough time after QY to visit the hippos at the Zoo since they're now open late on weekend for HalGLOWeeen. On Sunday I was able to sleep way way in and pretty much spooned my wall unit air conditioner until I went to the zoo in the late afternoon until closing. Not quite satisfied, I went to La Jolla Cove to finish cleaning up my van for my job this week, then visited the sea lions for awhile. When you're up late, you learn the late spots to eat, to shop, to fill up gas, so I did a little run of my favorite spots, gassed up, then decided to see the Mexican tall ship Cuauatemoc that was set to leave in the morning. The Port was an embarrassing mess of plastic cup and cans and food containers spilling out from every trash can, but I guess those guys work late, too, because while I there, a cleanup crew came to bag up and haul the trash...didn't sweep up or deal with the DIRTY DIAPERS I saw in gutters, but it helped some. (People are the worst.) 

Anyway, I had to do listings early this week, so I knocked them out on Sunday night and proceeded to sleep all Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday should be fun, interesting work days for me and then hopefully back to life's normal rhythms and weather.

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. FUCK TFG. San Diego and Los Angeles would be galaxies better if we didn't have that motherfucker and his mess dragging our shit down. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, October 1-Wednesday, October 7, 2026: Author & Punisher | Acid Mothers Temple | Federico Aubele | Laundry Day | OKTOBERFEST | Brian Fallon | L7 |

Hal-GLOW-een Starts This Weekend at San Diego Zoo. Don't forget to visit Ama!

Alrighty, kids. Padres win the wildcard and move on in the playoffs. Their next games are Saturday at 5pm and Sunday at 1pm against the Brewers, so you will have plenty of time to watch the games and still enjoy your San Diego weekend with Oktoberfests, Beachfest, and tons of shows all over the place as well as the kickoff of HalGLOWeen at San Diego Zoo, when it will be open until 9pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and it's also Kids Free month. The Safari Park has a different celebration with Autumn Festival where they'll be open until 7pm on Saturdays and Sundays (October 3–4, 10–11, 17–18, and 24–25), and kids are free there, too, but note that in the past, the lower areas of the park are closed before dark and festivities are relegated to the main entry plazas and the lagoon area of the park. With Elephant Valley finally open, I don't know if that area will be accessible late, but I sure hope it is. This weekend I'll be working at Bread and Salt on Friday and at Quartyard on Saturday and then for L7 on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'm gonna do my best to get next week's listings done by Monday...gimme grace if they're late. 

Have fun this weekend, stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.  

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, September 24-Wednesday, September 30: San Diego Yarn Crawl | Slow Magic | Vieux Farka Touré | Melt Banana | Fu Manchu | Oktoberfest | CRSSD | Chasing Abbey | Teenage Burritos | Mavis Staples | Dogstar | DeVotchka | Jack White |

Fuck it, I'm 50! Stay Pesky, My Friends!!

Let's just talk for a minute about my week. I agreed to work for an event that turned out to be a MAGA comedy show (an oxymoron if ever there was one), then we did a little birthday party for my mom, my niece, and myself, but my mom was sick so it was a little bit of a bummer. After, while Darren and Toby packed stuff up for him to move back to campus, I went to the zoo for a little bit, and then finished the night at Adams Avenue Street Fair. But when I got home, there was mystery water all around my studio and the side of the house. Come Sunday, we were in a full on plumbing emergency, people were called, things were inspected, and I about had a nervous breakdown with the prognosis. I'll spare you the disgusting details, but I left to the zoo to be away from the situation and went straight from there to work the Temples show at Casbah that night. I honestly considered just sleeping in my van on Kettner Boulevard because I didn't want to deal. Instead I went home and drank too much hard cider and then slept through the bulk of the major work being done on the property. It was resolved (mostly, though there's cleanup still happening around the property) but I've been trying to be busy elsewhere. 

On Tuesday, I literally covered all corners of the county trying to find a certain thing at several Costcos before I gave up and went to the Safari Park for the afternoon. It was kind of a mistake though, because when I should've been doing these very listings, I was shopping, so then when I did get them going, I only got halfway through and then got an email to work for J Roddy on Wednesday, so now it's 4am and I'm still wrapping them up. And while I was doing them, I realized that the San Diego Yarn Crawl starts ON THURSDAY, which means my alpaca ranch is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC for four straight days in a row!! So all this week, I've been trying to think if I want to commit to something for my 50th birthday and realized that I am really only creating anxiety for myself...so no party, no meetup. I'll be going where I want, when I want, and doing whatever I want in between, without committing to anything else except my merch night with Fu Manchu, and hoping to get some time in at the zoo, at SeaWorld, and at the alpaca ranch. And that will be the best gift I could give to myself. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Also, if you live in a 100 year old building, you should maybe check those pipes BEFORE  El Niño hits. At least we got this fortified now for that possibility, painful as the process was. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, September 17-Wednesday, September 23, 2026: Clorox Girls | Talib Kweli | Peter Hook | Adams Avenue Street Fair!! | Artwalk Carlsbad | Friko | José González | Temples | Be Your Own Pet | Cowboy Junkies | Brandi Carlile |

Birthday Girls - Me and My Mama Before Beluga Yoga (9.13.26)

We're all ready halfway through September and it always seems like the busiest time of the year as San Diego becomes a city for locals. There is so very much happening, particularly because of Adams Avenue Street Fair this weekend, but it's always a busy one in my family since a bunch of us are Virgos and Libras. So I don't really know how the weekend will land...I'm working at the Civic Theatre on Friday and Casbah on Sunday, and we'll have a family cluster birthday celebration on Saturday before hopefully getting in some time at Adams Ave. And Toby moves back on campus this weekend, too. Things are good. At least if you can block out the $8 gas, $9 eggs, and the whole shitstorm happening with TFG hell bent on ruining life for all of us. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.  

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, September 10-Wednesday, September 16, 2026: Helms Alee | Thievery Corporation | The Frights | Funky But Chic | Pierce The Veil | Sessions Surf Fest | Arlo Park | unsane |

Okapi Kimara recently turned 1 year old. (Taken 9.9.26)

I'm gonna save my words for my diary post because at the moment it's still hot as balls and I'm selling merch for Far at the Casbah. Ryan Hall Yall and others say we should get back to normal this weekend, and I cannot wait. It was really fun going on my California roadtrip, but I can't help but feel deep concern for so many of the people I saw on the road who were vehicle dwellers because they don't have other options. Today I saw an unhoused man and his dog was trying to find some tiny bit of shade and it broke my heart. If the dude wasn't openly pissing on the sidewalk, I would've pulled over to offer them water. We just found out Toby has Covid, and several of Darren's students have had it recently, too, so he just got this year's booster and hopefully I can find some way to get it without insurance. When I say stay safe out there, there's always reasons. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, September 3- Wednesday, September 9, 2026: LABOR DAY WEEKEND | Leavers | SHĀHERI | Fools & Fables | Pire | Tijuana No | Fenix TX | Charlatans UK | DanceDanceToTheRadio | moondaddy | Sleep | One Loud Drawing | Manchester Orchestra |

Elk Grazing at Point Reyes State Park (8.28.26)

I had a pretty amazing adventure traversing Coastal California. As you could see, I ended up staying two weeks, which means I still did listings, my work newsletters, and managed my email on the daily, with a couple long work days/nights to try and really make sure I didn't come back overloaded with full inboxes. I'm posting about the trip little by little on my Instagram, but briefly I'll just say I stayed at four different campsites and our nephew's house in Hercules and a couple of random beach and street parking to sleep when I needed it. I went to four zoos (Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Oakland, and Sacramento) and maybe a dozen or more California State Parks, plus lots of time in Morro Bay with otters and sea lions, Point Reyes with Elk, and elephant seals in San Simeon. I also so sooo many wild birds, my favorites being magpies, wild turkeys, and ocean-adjacent osprey. 

Now I'm back and I'm looking forward to Friday night at the Casbah for Fools & Fables, and was looking forward to seeing Charlatans UK again (in case you don't know, they were my first concert ever when I was 14) but I got called to work for Jerry's Middle Finger, so that should be a fun night, too. Then next week I'll be working for One Line Drawing at the Casbah which will be super rad, featuring Jonah from Far and some local faces playing support. Also, in case you don't follow, the San Diego Zoo has extended hours until 8pm this Saturday through Monday, and SeaWorld will be open until 9pm on Friday and Monday and 10pm on Saturday and Sunday. I think you know where you'll find me. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, August 27-Wednesday, September 2, 2026: David Byrne | FEA | GLU | NAS | La's Wasted Youth | Built To Spill | Thee Sacred Souls | Muse | The Loons | Cancerslug | MCR | Pallbearer |

23yo Gorilla Dara Loves Her Cypress Tree at San Francisco Zoo

I didn't expect to extend my trip as much as I have, but I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to see and do in the Bay Area and it's nice to have a home base that has fast wi-fi and hot showers not run by coin machines. Camping was fun for my trip up, but just setting up a bed every night can become cumbersome. It also feels like we have business to take care of up here, but I have to tread lightly, so maybe its better for another trip when Darren can be up here, too. Since I've been here so long, now it just feels like a regular week of work, so I've been alternating between listening to and/or watching the Keffe D trial and the Lindsey Clancy trial. The former is kind of a palate cleanser of the latter. I spent most of the day today packing and preparing for my drive home, though I hear San Diego has been an oven the whole time I've been gone, so I'm not in any race to be home, especially since Darren will be working an OT shift all day Saturday. I'll be home sooner or later. But in the meantime, I did this week's listings. Enjoy. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, August 20-Wednesday, August 26, 2026: The Midnight Pine Farewell Show | Morricone Youth | Cheekface | Jejune | The Film Company | The Breeders | IV and the Strange Band | Wayne Hancock |

I'm on my roadtrip and am doing my best to stay offline, so if any venues updated, I won't get it in here until later. I'm presently in Morro Bay and just extended for one more day because I liked the first site I stayed at so much and I'd rather camp with a reservation than take my chances in Monterey at the site with no reservations. Anyway, hope San Diego is doing okay without me though I hear there's been no relief in the heat, so hope you're hanging in there. I'm gonna publish early because the phone app won't let me schedule for the morning. See you all soon. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, August 13-Wednesday, August 19, 2026: Black Heart Procession | Owl Be Damned | El Tri | The Sword | Interpol | Tijuana Panthers | Noah Kahan | Black Joe Lewis | Will Sheff | ILUKA |

Grizzly Pool Party at Oakland Zoo (10.5.25)

I did it!! Thankfully it's a little bit of a slower time in San Diego right now, but I did two weeks of listings so that I can go on my roadtrip and not have to lose a whole night of my trip trying to do next week's listings, though I'm not exactly sure how long I'll be gone, so the week after might be an issue. That being said, thank you SO VERY MUCH for the amazing Venmo donations I got last week!! I started this site 20 years ago with no real mission other than to share cool shit, photos and setlists from shows, and trying to plan for upcoming shows. I've had offers to fold or sell, been trashed relentlessly for not updating my design, for not monetizing every corner of the page, for my opinions and fire/pandemic/political coverage. I've been told "nobody reads that shit," even by friends, told that it isn't work, even as it got me every job I've had in 20 years: CityBeat, North Park Theatre/Observatory, DoSD, SoundDiego, and the Casbah, a position I've had for 17 years while sidehustling the others over the years. Anyhow, I wasn't expecting the donations, but they're super appreciated. When every other site goes paywall, subscription, or membership, I've just kept doing the thing. 

All that said, I'll probably post next week's listings a day or two early while I'm camping, but didn't wanna do them all at once because they're a bit overwhelming to scroll through -- but you'll hear from me as I travel. I may go dark from socials for a day or two, but you know you can never shut me up. And fingers crossed that they can get the Timber Fire under control, or I might have to reevaluate my plans and route altogether. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, August 6-Wednesday, August 12, 2026: The Technicolors | WILLIS | Judy Collins | Beach Bunny & The Beths | Tiki Oasis | Day We Ran | Old 97s | Kid Congo | Ani Defranco | Alela Diane |

St. Vincent & San Diego Symphony at The Shell (8.1.26)

I don't wanna say we're in the clear with the oppressive weather, but it feels to have subsided some and it doesn't feel quite as bad as it has. And frankly, seeing other parts of the country and the awful fires everywhere, I'd still rather be right here. Which is funny, because in my delusion and sleep deprivation after doing these listings, I committed to my next California road trip by booking a couple campsites up the coast. I gave myself enough time that I can cancel if necessary but still book before all the sites were gone. One of my favorite campgrounds is first-come first-served, so I'll just have to take my chances on that one, but otherwise, I think I planned a little better and am more cognizant of what I need to make it happen. All that to say, I will do my best to get listings up per usual the next few weeks, but if I can't pull them off, you know where else to look, I'm certain. It is very possible that I might start weaning the listings anyway, as it is a whole ton of labor for literally ZERO pay, and apparently LiveNation no longer sees me as a valid photographer, so I don't really even get free shows in return anymore. We'll see. In the meantime, listings are below. Stay safe out there-- I've been seeing a few friends are quarantining after getting surprise C-19 diagnoses. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, July 30-Wednesday, August 5, 2026: Ghee | The Paranoyds | Zach Bryan & Ryan Bingham | St. Vincent | Black Moth Super Rainbow | Tortoise | Sarah McLachlan | Eagles of Death Metal | Death Cab For Cutie |

Morning Yoga with Turtles at SeaWorld (7.26.26)

First of all, I wanna say that it was fun seeing everyone's Comic-Con adventures on socials, but I have never been so proud of myself for making the call that it was just no longer for me. I had a very low-key, (mostly) stress-free, week and weekend. I even made it on time for SeaWorld morning Yoga with Turtles. I've also been really feeling the itch for a roadtrip, so I've been bingeing camping, gear, hiking, and all related videos. I'm not actually going anywhere when the weather is this gross, but I'm gonna make it happen sooner or later. I'm considering tagging along when my niece goes back to school in NorCal so we'll see how that planning goes or maybe if I just leave on a whim. 

Meanwhile, as I was putting together these listings, it became apparent that we're moving out of the lull of summer and the touring bands are coming in full-force. My nieces can't stop talking about Zach Bryan, who plays two shows at Snapdragon, St. Vincent is playing the Shell with the San Diego Symphony (though I've seen BOGO offers on tickets because any ticket where you might actually see her are like $117, and the Port has made sure that FREELOADERS are no longer welcome. WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE DOING!!??? So much for Public-Private Partnerships), and then Sarah McLachlan plays the same venue on Sunday. We've also got Death Cab coming back on Tuesday, and the sold out Modest Mouse show at The Sound, and then more of our indie niche bands like Tortoise, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Tortoise, among others. I'm at the stage of life where if I can't be near an a/c or shade and a bathroom, I'm probably not gonna do it. I haven't shot a show in so long that now I'm getting rejected because my entire feed is orangutans and hippos. But you go on with your bad selves. 

I will give a warning that late hours at both the San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld come to an end on August 9 (and I'm already freaking out about it), but maybe it will mean that I set out to intentionally explore more parts of San Diego that I haven't before. We'll see. In the meantime, stay cool, stay safe, and nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, July 23- Wednesday, July 29, 2026: COMIC-CON 2026! | Monophonics | What's Golden | Guantanamo Baywatch | Rainbow Kitten Surprise | Howard Jones | dashboard confessional | The Stray Cats | santigold

This week took extra long to do the listings because of course, Comic-Con is here. While I'm not putting activations and off-site pop-ups in this list, I will have a separate post once I get myself together to do it. 

What I did wanna say this week was that I did merch for DakhaBrakha on Sunday and it's always so rad to get to work for a band that is just lovely in every way. Their merch was organized, they treated me great, their show was AMAZING, and the proceeds from their merch goes to help organizations that work to bring aid directly to Ukraine. It was a beautiful night. After work, I drove up to La Jolla Cove and watched the baby sea lions for awhile before calling it a night. I'm already an insomniac, and now that I'm in a particular age of womanhood and San Diego decided to turn hot and humid on me, I'm enjoying the hours after the sun sets until it rises again even more than ever. Which also means that after a marathon Monday and Tuesday night working on listings, on Wednesday I went downtown and walked 6000 steps after midnight to see what activations I could find, either built or in the process of being built. Not gonna lie, I can already predict the spots that are gonna have crazy lines, but even a Prize Pig like me, who LOVES free shit, cannot imagine waiting in this week's heat for any of it. I'm not knocking anyone who lives for the Con and is truly excited by this week, but I'm not regretting my retirement from the press pass pool...hopefully some young person with influencer stars in their eyes gets to break in and provide coverage. More on that in another post. For now, here are the regular listings, with Con specific events indicated by SDCC. If you wanna see my full list of Comic-Con related events, go to my COMIC-CON PAGE HERE. As for me...I'll be keeping my vampire hours or sitting in the shade at the zoo or hiding in by the a/c vents in Wild Arctic at SeaWorld...as I do. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Comic-Con International 2026 Is Here!

Okay. So I've updated my Comic-Con 2026 PAGE  with all the activations and events I could muster the energy to gather. But more fun than that, I went downtown on Wednesday night around 11pm and drove/walked the majority of the footprint. I was done by 1:30am and even more crews were rolling out, so I'm certain many worked through the night after the bars closed. I got about 6000 steps on my little path, but that was with no sun, no people, no traffic, and no time constraints. Photos and such below. After the jump. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, July 16-Wednesday, July 22, 2026: San Diego PRIDE | Evanescence | Friendship | Mohama Saz | Low Cut Connie | Starcrawler | Alex Lahey | DakhaBrakha | Wic Whitney | San Diego Comic-Con |

Denny manspreading while trying to keep cool (Taken 7.15.26)

I really should've done these listings sooner, because it has been a week. I'm ready for a mid-summer rainstorm if I'm being honest. And not that little weak rain we got on Saturday (while Darren and I were birding in South Bay)-- I mean like sky-clearing, jacket-requiring cold rain. You would think I would just find a public Cool Zone and go work from there, but I'm stubborn and you should've seen my laptop, backpack, shade umbrella and supplies that I carried around on Tuesday to watch World Cup with the Orcas at Seaworld. It was comedic, if I'm being honest, but definitely a unique way to watch a soccer game and I'm glad I did it. 

As for this weekend, I tried to track down Pride stuff for the weekend, but obviously a lot of events spring up at bars and venues that don't otherwise host events year round, so I only checked a couple obvious spots. The same thing is gonna happen next week for Comic-Con. This is the first year I didn't request a press pass after more than a decade of going, so I'm not on all the lists and whatnot for events, parties, and activations, so I'll just have to dig around. I will say that other local guides do a pretty good job of making lists, but you can sometimes tell they have to reach a certain word count, so I'll extract the info into the easiest morsels that I can. 

And lastly, if you still subscribe to DoSD, good for you. I haven't been a part of the org for a very long time, and the people running the local part seem to do a good job, but Faye, yours is not the first live music event DoSD is hosting, Young Lady. Back in my day...

well, let's just say Marjy and I busted our asses to launch that site for a whole lot of people who weren't us to make bank. So yeah. Good luck with that. 

Stay safe this weekend. The MAGA fucks will certainly be out to harass and oppress the LGBTQIA+ communities this weekend, so be a good ally and if you see something, say something. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, July 9-Wednesday, July 15, 2026: Kurt Vile | 5SOS | Fresh Veggies Micro Brass | Chris Stapleton | Jim Rao Fan Club | The Farmers & Friends | Wynonna Judd & Melissa Etheridge | Dylan Leblanc | Afroman | Jack Botts | The Spits | Babe Rainbow |

6 year old Ama always loves to mug for the camera (7.6.26)

I was thinking this would be a chill week...I did most of my listings overnight on Monday thinking it would give me the free time to get more zoo time in since I didn't get much in the week leading up to Independence Day. But no. Not a chance. On Tuesday I had a whole situation where I found a dog in the alley and it became a whole episode, and then Wednesday I was up early for plumbers who have now found a gas leak and ended up working three hours longer than I expected. So. Here are listings. I probably missed a couple things, but I am jonesing for some zoo time and might actually still have time to see my gorilla boys. Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, July 2-Wednesday, July 8, 2026: Squid Pisser | The McCharmleys | Gothic Summer Dance Party | Band Argument | Dance Dance To The Radio | Independence Day!! |

The Belugas were so happy to show off their new barrel toy (Taken 6.29.26)

I had gotten pretty good about starting my listings on Monday nights, so then I wouldn't have it bearing on my mind all week, but with it being Independence Day and also the beginning of a new month, I'm pretty checked out for the week. Like, I know I still have to work, but running ads this week is just a waste of money and effort because everyone else seems pretty checked out, too, and honestly, it's just too nice in San Diego right now to sit on a laptop for hours on end. Plus, it's just such a weird time in general right now...like 250 years is kind of amazing, and then it's black-clouded by the POS in office. I can't even buy a renewal for my Parks Pass without his ugly bloated face on it. So gross. So yeah. Enjoy World Cup wins, laugh at Country Fair fails, and enjoy your 4th of July, however you choose to spend it. And ffs, lock your pets in your house because losing them is a heartbreak that never really goes away. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. RIP, KD. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, June 25-Wednesday, July 1, 2026: Tim Kasher | Dawes | Tulengua | Maren Morris | OB Street Fair | Three Bad Jacks | Missing Persons | Kid Cudi | Anna Ballew |

Karen & Kaja Sharing A Bounty of French's Mustard (Taken 6.24.26)

I just haven't been feeling right this week. I guess this is life when you're born the year of our country's bicentennial, but ICK. Do not like. 0/10, do not recommend. So I I missed an Open Alpaca Ranch day over the weekend and haven't had a whole lot of Zoo and SeaWorld time this week, and , but the little time I've had still manages to fill my soul with the good good. I also had a couple merch gigs this week, with Skillibeng on Sunday and Aaron Hibell on Wednesday. I didn't get my act together this year, so I missed out on a few opportunities to hit the San Diego County Fair, but it's still going until the 6th if you're trying to make a day of it. The Casbah had a few announces this week and the Brian Fallon (from Gaslight Anthem) show nearly sold out in just a few days, so keep eyes out for an announcement on that front. The 4th of July holiday coming up usually messes everyone up and things get out of rhythm, and with it being on a Saturday this year, I don't expect any less, but maybe I'll sneak off to the mountains or something to get away from the noise. 

Also wanted to mention if you haven't heard, Tara and Dean Reis bought the bar on El Cajon Blvd formerly known as Cricket Pub. They've been cleaning it up and making it nice, but I just read that they're doing a Bar Pink takeover because Lorenxo & Barb will be in town. So if you wanna come hang out at the super fun new bar, literally across the street from my house, check it out on Monday. Like Bar Pink, it's cash only, so come prepared and then leave a 5 star review on the platforms. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.