First Night Monterey scores $15,000 arts grant for Latin jazz blowout.

Attorney General Jerry Brown and the California Arts Council announced today that First Night Monterey was one of 42 arts groups around the state that were funded.

The organization's director, Ellen Martin, says the money will pay for a musical extravaganza in the town of Greenfield featuring the B-Side Players of Los Angeles and Salinas's own Mambo Tropical, along with garage bands, folkloric dance troupes, a puppet theater performance, and maybe even a magic show.  No date has been set for the event, but Martin says it could coincide with next year's Harvest Festival.

The grant money—more than a half million dollars in all—is payback of a sort for the people of California.  It is part of a $9 million anti-trust settlement in a case against five music distribution companies, and three national retailers, according to the AG's office.  The 2003 lawsuit alleged that the companies colluded to set minimum advertised prices for CDs.