If David Ross has your phone number, then it's likely you've gotten a call or message in the last few months with Ross lamenting that his Water Man Check-in Center might be forced to close soon. Known as the "Water Man" because he hands out bottles of water to the homeless, Ross' nonprofit Isaiah Project runs a storage facility (aka the Check-In Center) that currently provides 250 homeless folks with a place to store their things. Modeled after a successful project in L.A., the Check-In Center was the result of a settlement with the city after city workers conducted unannounced clean-ups in East Village. As I wrote in a previous story:According to several witnesses CityBeat spoke w... More

Michael Herana climbs out windows and scales ladders to get his shots. One of his recent panoramas is a gorgeous photo of the Downtown cityscape taken from the rooftop of the St. James Hotel. He says street culture and the same graffiti artists whose murals he often photographs have influenced his approach.---“I’m trying to get on as many rooftops as I can this year,” Herana said. “It’s hard, but I’ve been shooting ground level for so long now that I literally want to elevate my work to a higher level.” Herana uses the name Mike Sumoto when he’s behind his camera. His photo on CityBeat’s cover this week, “Planet San D... More

John “Swami” Reis caught the local music scene by surprise on Saturday, announcing that he’s done with Swami Sound System, his weekly show on FM 94/9. “I'm doing my last SWaMiSounDsYStem on fm949 tonight,” he said in a brief message on Facebook shortly before the show started. "[H]uge thanks to goes out to all the turbaned devotees for lending a kinky ear. [I]t was an awesome 7 years of ear bashing!"  It’s unclear why he's ending the show. Reis did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment. Garett Michaels, the alt-rock station’s program director, said he was not warned about the announcement and hasn’t decided how to fill... More

If David Ross has your phone number, then it's likely you've gotten a call or message in the last few months with Ross lamenting that his Water Man Check-in Center might be forced to close soon. Known as the "Water Man" because he hands out bottles of water to the homeless, Ross' nonprofit Isaiah Project runs a storage facility (aka the Check-In Center) that currently provides 250 homeless folks with a place to store their things. Modeled after a successful project in L.A., the Check-In Center was the result of a settlement with the city after city workers conducted unannounced clean-ups in East Village. As I wrote in a previous story:According to several witnesses CityBeat spoke w... More

Earlier in the week I went to see the Mid-Century Minx store on Adams, but it’s only open on Friday and Saturdays so I have to go back (have to!) but since I was in the neighborhood I thought I would duck in an old stand-by: Resurrected Furniture (2814 Adams Avenue, University Heights, 619-283-3318.) With antique stores the stock can be hit or miss, depending on when you drop in, but this visit yielded some interesting finds: A stack of Heller plates & mugs (like they use at Influx Cafe), a couple of very dainty white china cake plates, a cabinet full of blue and white china (I love the mix of patterns, while the shade of blue barely varies.) There was a mid-century plant print in ... More

When most people picture getting a tattoo, they envision a pierced-up, heavily inked dude with a tattoo gun. Sulu'ape Angela Bolson shatters that stereotype. You can find Bolson in a small room at Big City Tattoo in North Park, kneeling on a mat with her clients, strange-looking tools in-hand, with a team of female "stretchers" helping her pull a client's skin taught so she can employ the hand-tap tattoo technique. She learned the traditional art form by apprenticing for a year and a half under a hand-tap master in Western Samoa.---In Samoa, tattoo artists use bone tools for their trade. The process is painful and can take a significant amount of time. In the United States, where s... More