Since at least the beginning of jazz, photographers have chronicled the lives and performances of musicians. Now, a local nonprofit is following in their footsteps by preserving the lives of local musicians on video.
As executive director Jonathan Bewley explains in this week’s Q&A feature, the goal is to “get the artist to open up, and back out of the way. And that renders incredible results. … The music-listening public can get closer to the artist through their own words.”
In Other News:
• Not too long ago, a Point Loma resident returned home to one unpleasant sight: a big thick, oozing, foamy mess spewing up from a storm drain. He’s got a photo to prove it. He called the city. Nothing happened. He called the city again. Nothing happened.
So what on earth was the mystery foam? A prank? Too much detergent in a washing machine? (Happens to the best of us.) Naw. It’s nothing really odd or harmful to the bay, a city spokesman tells our environmental reporter Rob Davis. Even so: yuck-o.
• Bruce Reznik, the executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper, announced his resignation, leaving San Diego’s environmental community at risk of losing one of its most prominent voices.
• In arts, our artist/blogger Dani Dodge discloses one of her pet peeves — “win-win” — but admits it’s actually a good description of an event today that spotlights paintings from a renowned local artist along with teens and teachers from around the county. The paintings illustrate personal journeys and the proceeds go to a good cause.
• We’ve kicked off a question-and-answer series with a panel of San Diego-area economic leaders by asking the question, “Where did San Diego’s economy go wrong?“
Mark Cafferty, president and chief executive officer of the San Diego Workforce Partnership, says part of the problem is that we’re still operating like we were when unemployment was 3.5 percent, instead of changing our policies to react to the 10.6 percent unemployment which has been typical of recent quarters.
Elsewhere:
• A website called cruisecritic.com fact-checks several claims about the crippled Carnival cruise ship. It turns out that no one on on board actually ate Spam. But Pop-Tarts, yeah.
Also: Three people walked off the ship and into the hands of law enforcement this week. “Every other ship that comes into our port always has one person who didn’t take care of some warrant,” a Harbor Police official tells AOL News.
Take-home message for suspected crooks: you cruise, you lose.
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What We’ve Learned This Week:
• Internal Combustion Engine: There’s a supposed horror-film line that goes like this: “He’s calling from inside the house!” This week, the U-T got its own scare from within. A local artist invited to contribute to its new arts blog used the opportunity to post an angry tirade blasting the U-T for just about everything short of wet paper delivery.
Her missive set off an often-bitter debate — in our pages and elsewhere — over the state of local arts coverage.
• Teacher Lifetime Employment Act? The new documentary Waiting for “Superman” has stirred up more debate about teacher tenure. One union leader in the film is painted as a villain who stands behind teachers accused of being bad. “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lex Luthor,” writes one film critic, while Variety thinks she should get an “Oscar for Best Performance as a Foaming Satanic Beast.”
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Yikes. So how does teacher tenure really work? Are teachers truly un-fireable? Our education reporter Emily Alpert explains how the system works, and our commenters have a thought or two (or 18).
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• The Coffee Collection (engaging stories to savor over a cup from North Park’s Caffé Calabria, our home away from office remodeling this week):
• Delayed Ejection I: They’ve been farming in a small plot of land in City Heights for more than two decades. But now, the city has effectively (and belatedly) told Cambodian refugees to scram.
• Delayed Ejection II: They’ve been operating a coffeehouse in Greater Logan Heights for seven years, turning it into a community gathering spot. But now, they may have to scram too.
• This Does Compute: An elementary school in South Park has helped students get a better handle on math in just a year, becoming a beacon for other schools. With this kind of good press, maybe I’ll stop confusing the neighborhood with the TV show.
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Quote of the Week: “Where it’s really going to affect someone is going to be when somebody’s neighbor is out lobster diving at La Jolla, and they have some sort of a problem because they didn’t recognize there was pretty large surf. They’ll send a unit from our headquarters, but it will take a long time for it to get there. People will really notice the effects when their neighbor doesn’t make it.” — Lifeguard Sgt. Bill Bender on the hazards of cutting the city’s nighttime lifeguards.
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Please contact Randy Dotinga directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.