Editor’s Note: Michael Patrick Welch, renowned New Oreans writer, musician, teacher and friend of The Escondido Grapevine, conducted an interview with the provocateur known to Andy Kauffman and Bob Zmuda fans as Tony Clifton. While others have shunned this outstanding piece of informational journalism, we embrace it and re-print this as a public service. “After years of chasing Tony Clifton to get his thoughts on…
As a Cal State San Marcos professor of history, of course, Jill Watts is also a student of history. Watts knew that many U.S. history textbooks, in the all-important pages about the hugely consequential Franklin Delano Roosevelt presidency, make passing references to what the black press of the day coined the “Black Cabinet,” an unofficial group of African-American advisers to FDR as he navigated the politics of the Great Depression and the New…
Happy Mardi Gras season beginning with the Epiphany on Jan. 6 culminating Carnival Day, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. You know what that means. Time for king cake. Americans usher in the new year with diets and lifestyle resolutions galore, but many people across the globe — particularly those from predominantly Catholic countries — celebrate the calendar change with a sweet pastry known as king cake….
Fifteen years ago this week the Witch Creek Fire devastated Escondido, Rancho Santa Fe and North County San Diego. This is part of my first-hand coverage done as editor of the Rancho Santa Fe Record. I won the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s first place prize for local news coverage for this, and the other 26 stories, numerous photos, and overall coverage I produced during, and…
The battle for Lake Hodges raged not against water, but against bureaucratic chains that bound its potential like steel fetters. In the harsh, unforgiving landscape of North County, where nature’s fury could ignite with the slightest provocation, men and women stood resolute, challenging the cold calculus of state mandates. The lake, a titan of water constrained by governmental decree, trembled at 273 feet—the lowest mark…
California, ever the avant-garde of legislative theatrics! Starting January 1, 2025, prepare for a smorgasbord of new rules, ranging from the progressive to the peculiar. Cannabis cafés and expanded outdoor drinking? A toast to your libations, but do mind the irony of laws encouraging indulgence while protecting your credit score from the ravages of medical debt. Even financial institutions aren’t safe from the guillotine of…
A new ” Darwin’s Crosswalk” law in effect this year could surprise drivers with a $64 parking ticket. California’s new “daylighting” law aims to improve pedestrian safety by prohibiting drivers from parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk. But not all off-limit spots will be marked. A law with the kind of practical, no-nonsense thinking that usually comes along after someone’s had enough funerals is…