February 24, 2017

Don Christofferson '68, Sandi Patty '74, and Linda Skeen Christofferson '70 pose for a photo after Sandi Patty's Forever Grateful Concert last Friday.   "We have been fans of Sandi's ever since her singing career began in 1979.  She was as fabulous as ever!" report the Christoffersons.

This wonderful color photo of the Cotton Patch Restaurant, on Midway Drive, surfaced this week on Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook page.   I'm not sure when it closed, but it opened in 1947 and, in its heyday, spun off 20 Boll Weevil hamburger joints.

Most of the folks from the Class of '65 are turning 70 this year and I assume many of them are enjoying retirement.  Not San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore.  He announced this week that he'll be running for re-election in 2018.  Click HERE to read the article in the Union-Tribune.

I have just learned that Gunnar Biggs '71 stars as "The Muse" in "An Iliad" at the New Village Arts Theater in Carlsbad.  Sadly, there are only two performances remaining this weekend.  Click HERE for details.

Last call for the ArtReach fundraiser this Sunday at The Music Box, 1337 India Street, at 2:30.  It's chock full of Colts and benefits a good cause.  I won't be able to use my two free tickets.  They can be yours if you contact me in a timely manner.

In reading an article about 5' 8" Adam "Mighty Mouse" Eaton I learned that Bob Boone '65 is now the Washington Nationals Vice President and senior advisor to General Manager Mike Rizzo.  Says Boone, “If you can really play, nobody cares about your size.”

News of the passing of Ron Hunt '70 was shared by his cousin Steve Stone '72.  Ron died April 7, 2016.  Click HERE to read an obituary.

February 17, 2017

I love the artwork that sometimes accompanies articles in the New York Times.  This one came with a piece entitled "Move Over Wikipedia, Dictionaries Are Hot Again!"

A new restaurant is coming to Pacific Beach.  It's called the Waterbar and will be located in the spot previously occupied by Joe's Crab Shack, Rusty Pelican, and Halligan's 4 Fish.  PB Ale House has been featuring entrees that will be on the Waterbar menu.  I almost ordered the Tuna Melt, until I read the ingredients and recoiled in horror: "Orange Juice-poached medium-rare Wild Albacore, mayonnaise, pickle, dill havarti, on an open-faced brioche."  That is NOT a Tuna Melt!!  My friends had to hold me back.  I wanted desperately to get in the kitchen and bitch-slap the chef.

Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee" was number one on the KCBQ Top 30 list from February 19, 1971.  CLICK here for a larger version that may be legible.

Bobby Freeman died January 23rd.  His 1958 "Do You Wanna Dance" symbolized music of the '50s. No, he didn't go to Crawford.  Some of us are of an age to bemoan his passing.

Greetings from Oakdale, California -- gateway to romantic Modesto.  '66 classmates Ken Burton and Richard Morse apparently met up in a bar somewhere between their respective abodes in Tracy and Sonora.  I know I shouldn't criticize, but the photo was taken without a fill-in flash with a Budweiser neon sign in the background.  I had to convert it to black and white for it to be legible.  Actually, it makes the guys look kind of distinguished.

Michael Downing '65 passed away January 17th.  There will be a memorial service in Las Vegas on Saturday February 18, 2017 at 1:30 at Grapevine Fellowship Church, 800 N. Bruce St., Las Vegas, NV, 89101.  Click HERE to read an obituary and/or sign the guest book.

February 10, 2017

Finally a little good news out of Crawford High.  The Union-Tribune published a nice article on Wednesday about Crawford's Soccer Program, and the two foreign-born players who have earned college scholarships because of it.  Click HERE for an enjoyable read.

Live Jazz will not be performing at the Amigo Spot Saturday night, so you might want to head over to La Mesa Wine Works and listen to The Jamacha Project, a quartet that is three-quarters Colt -- Chris Anderson '72, Barry Cogdill '73 and Mark Phillips '72.  Downbeat is at 6:30 PM.

Mark your calendars for the ArtReach Fundraiser at the Music Box at 2:30 PM on February 26th.  It features Sue Palmer, San Diego's Queen of Boogie Woogie, and The Shenanigans.  The Shenanigans are local folks, some of whom attended Crawford -- John Gunderson, Dave Good, Joe Dyke.   Jim Gunderson has graciously underwritten this event so that we can have an amazing afternoon of music while also benefitting the organization I co-founded and now head.  It is called ArtReach and our mission is to increase access to visual arts education for elementary school students, especially in schools that serve low income families.  Our free/very low cost programs connects students to practicing artists and sequential art lessons at schools that would otherwise have no access to structured art making.  I co-founded this organization with my sister Sandi Berman Cottrell. She too is a Crawford grad.  So, it's kind of a Crawford family affair -- Susan Berman Silbert '73

Tony Flores '72 shares a photo of himself and John Velguth '71 at La Jolla Shores in 1971.  Click HERE for an enlargement and -- if you're sitting down -- a recent photo of the dynamic duo (and Ray Sandoval '69).

My heart goes out to Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Shelby Miller who lost his recent salary arbitration case.  A trio of arbitrators decided that he will only be paid $4.7 million in 2017.

February 3, 2017

This just in!!  Guy Gonzalez '70 will be sitting in on guitar tomorrow night with the Live Jazz Quartet at the Amigo Spot in Mission Valley.  7 PM. 1333 Hotel Circle South.  Come early and dine.  Be there or be square!!

I'm thinking about getting me some of them Jimmy Dean breakfast Delights.  The TV spots say they contain "real" ingredients while the print ads tout "genuine" ingredients.  I'm pretty sure this is an improvement over "fake" ingredients.  Reminds me of the "Genuine Imitation Naugahyde Seat Covers" I once purchased.

Remember when El Cajon Blvd. was Highway 80 and motels were called Auto Courts?  Me neither, but -- if you have Facebook -- you can look at a series of 1947 shots of the Blue Jay Auto Court, 5070 El Cajon Blvd, on Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook Page.  Click HERE to see what's there today.

A wonderful 1952 photo of the Spreckels Theater showed up on Greg May's Vintage San Diego Facebook page last week.  I've enlarged it and posted it to my Vintage San Diego Photos web site.  

Sandi Patty '74 will make a San Diego stop on Friday, February 17th at Faith Chapel in Spring Valley as part of her Forever Grateful tour.  Click HERE for more information.

Ringling Brothers Circus hired local musicians to fill out their small traveling core players. I did several summers with the band.  It was a brutally tough chop-killing gig -- but FUN!  Plus I got to hang backstage with the clown band -- Joe Dyke ’65

Sally Bots Chew '69 is doing some serious downsizing.  She gave me her Jackson Elementary class photos, which I've posted to the Jackson Elementary Page.   Anyone who'd like the originals can contact me.

And she gave me her annuals, which I will re-gift to the person or persons who want them the most.