The Green in the Rainbow
When will Monterey County businesses start courting gay couples?
In the famously branded village of Carmel-by-the-Sea, some restaurants, hotels and boutiques have designated themselves pet-friendly. Considering the roughly 45 million dog owners in the United States, it’s an explicit invitation for animal lovers to ...
At Long Last, Love?
Is the debate on gay marriage in California – and Monterey County – finally coming to an end?
Surrounded by the bright decor of rainbows and the pounding rhythm of drums, Sandy Hamm and Adrianne Jonson held their banner high: First Married Couple Monterey County. As Marshals of the Salinas Valley Pride Parade, ...
Issues / 2008 / Oct 16
Stealing from the Arts
First Night Offices Robbed
Burglars broke into First Night Monterey's Archer Park Community Center headquarters Tuesday night, robbing the small nonprofit that stages the city's ambitious and art-heavy New Year's Eve celebration of their Mac computer and external hard ...
Rock On
Sanctuary Rock Gym hosts the ABS climbing competition for the ninth year.
With chalk on their hands and hard routes on their minds, climbers from all over the state drove to Sand City on Saturday, October 18 for the American Bouldering Series (ABS) climbing competition.
All Hope Is Gone
SLIPKNOT
Forget what the Bible has to say about hellfire and brimstone: Slipknot has now redefined the term. Following a three-year hiatus to allow its members to focus on side projects, the nine-piece masked marauders from ...
Public Citizen
10|16 THURS Rock the Vote| SEASIDE—Speak with candidates, learn about ballot initiatives, listen to live music and get free food at today’s event. County Supervisor-elect Jane Parker gives a talk; candidates include Assembly hopeful Bill ...
Pacific Thai
Thai Shtick: P.G.’s Pacific Thai Cuisine does a delicious Cali-Thai thing.
I know it’s your favorite Thai dish. I love every tangy, tasty bite of this staple too. But please, whatever you do, refrain from ordering pad Thai at Pacific Thai Cuisine. Don’t get me wrong. ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): “Sometimes the fastest way to get there/ is to go slow,” sings Tina Dico in her song “Count to Ten.” “Sometimes if you want to hold on/ you’ve got to let ...
Local Endorsements
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE Todd Hornik With one empty seat on the bench, a second soon to be vacated due to a retirement and a busy court that could benefit from an additional judge anyhow, voters ...
Belt Tightening
State budget cuts hit Monterey County and its cities.
The state adopted its latest-ever budget on Sept. 23, reducing state spending by $10.3 billion. The 2008-09 plan cuts into education, transportation, health care and assistance to low-income families; and the governor’s $510 million in ...
Bunnies for Bunnies
Playboy centerfolds help get the little fuzzies adopted.
Deanna Brooks has come a long way in transforming herself from farm girl to femme fatale. Perhaps it’s her humble, down-home charm– offset by her feisty tenacity– that makes her so likeable. She giggles when ...
Updates
BEEFING UP PATROL… The California Highway Patrol and Monterey County Sheriff’s Office are joining forces with the Salinas Police Department to blitz city streets with cops. Salinas police unveiled “Operation Impact” on Tuesday, Oct. 14. ...
Art Listings for Oct 16, 2008
Art Listings for Oct 16, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK american Galleries-carmel Hyper-realist wine art by Eric Christensen, demonstration 1-5pm, 10/18. Dolores between Ocean and Seventh, Carmel. 626-7800. american galleries-cannery row Hyper-realist wine art by Eric Christensen, demonstration noon-4pm, 10/19. 660 Cannery ...
Run for Her Money
Harbor district commissioner challenges popular Salinas City Councilwoman.
In an unusually uneventful Salinas election season, Vince Ferrante hopes to unseat longtime Salinas councilwoman Jyl Lutes by touting his budget balancing skills, nitpicking the school teacher’s record and (sound familier?) calling for change. “I’ve ...
Better weight loss through game theory
A friend of mine recently slimmed down on Weight Watchers. She joined two months ago, and in just a couple of weeks, she’d shed 10 pounds. She’d been trying for a year to lose weight, ...
Burning Book
Local adventure hobbyist releases a novel that carries a momentum to match his life’s spirit.
Wearing a short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt tucked into crisp jeans that end in sensible shoes, the 50-year-old Andrew Peterson could be a genial math teacher. Or a store manager on his day off. But Peterson is– ...
Food Chain
Forkful of Freedom
NIBBLING AWAY… As we grudgingly face the ever-more possible possibilities made clear by all economic indicators in a world gone wrong, along with the many depressing realities already plaguing more of the world, it becomes ...
Range of Talents
Point Lobos State Park icon Chuck Bancroft’s multi-faceted skill set is a natural wonder itself.
After nearly 30 years patrolling in one of the most ecologically diverse, spectacularly scenic areas known to man, Ranger Chuck Bancroft is as much a part of Point Lobos State Reserve as its watchful Cypress ...
W
Total Recall: Oliver Stone’s W. tells us what we already know about the sitting President.
Oliver Stone’s latest head-first dive into the deep end of the American political pool is a tale of two movies: One a humanizing portrait of a failure as a young man; the other a damning ...
Rabbit Ridge comes through when other Chardonnays disappoint.
Last summer, soon after the judges of the California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition named Charles Shaw’s 2005 Chardonnay the best in the state, we put Two-Buck Chuck to the test against three boxed wines. ...
Novel Concepts
Salinas’ Kelly Parra follows well-received Graffiti Girl with quirky Invisible Touch.
Budding local author Kelly Parra creates characters with a challenge ahead of them. “I like to write about girls who are strong at heart,” she says. “They have their faults, but they have a journey ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for Oct 16, 2008
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Mexican: A group of very young soldiers in the Mexican Army were being chased through the castle by U.S. Marines. At the end of the chase, the Mexicans realized they were trapped on a ...
Innocence Lost
Angela Strassheim’s stunning photography “pushes buttons”at Monterey Museum of Art/La Mirada.
The girl in the photo is standing ankle deep in a kiddie pool, hand on her waist, her body awkwardly crooked in a white one-piece swimsuit, hair windswept, eyes sullen, skin freckled. She’s in the ...
The Secret Life of Bees
Artificial Sweetener: The Secret Life of Bees sticks to predictable Southern drama.
In The Secret Life of Bees, a young black voting-rights activist (Alicia Keys) expresses one of the paradoxes of Southern racism in 1964: that white bigots hate black people, even though so many were raised ...
Losing the Farm
Agribusiness giants Roger and Basil Mills’ Monterra home lots face foreclosure.
Following the lead of a Salinas employee retirement fund, an Escondido-based bank has unleashed a flurry of foreclosure filings against Monterra home lots. On Oct. 9 La Jolla Bank filed default notices for 11 loans ...
Home Page
Restoring Pacific Grove homes while keeping their spirit intact.
The plaque by the door reads “L. Gydison 1889.” The original owner and date of construction thus define Pacific Grove’s historical homes but in this case, a second plaque could read “Love’s Labors Rewarded 2007.” ...
How could the presidential debates be more fun?
Asked at CHOMP in Monterey
Follow-up: If you were president, what would you illegalize? Michael Pajuelo | Phlebotomist | Marina A: I’d like to see the candidates duke it out in a UFC cage and take an IQ test to ...
Getting Animated
Composing film scores pushes Randy Newman to produce some of his best work yet.
Randy Newman is not afraid to court controversy. The Oscar, Grammy and Emmy award-winning songwriter has offended many with songs including “Rednecks,” a biting track from his 1974 CD Good Old Boys that employs the ...
Day After Tomorrow
JOAN BAEZ
Jack White did it for Loretta Lynn. Ryan Adams did it for Willie Nelson. And now Steve Earle has done it for Joan Baez– and by “it,” I mean a younger talent has infused new ...
Letters to the Editor for Oct 16, 2008
ROCK STEADY Although I wouldn’t want to be responsible for picking the 20 most influential local bands of the past 20 years, I do know I would have to include The Chicano All Stars. I’m ...
All U Need Is Mosh
PLASTILINA MOSH
It’s been 10 years since Mexico’s Plastilina Mosh garnered buzz on both sides of the border with their genre-mashing, electro-hip-hop-rock debut, Aquamosh. The duo of Jonaz Gonzalez and Alejandro Rosso rocked the mic like a ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$480,000 Recent Sale 1316 Wanda Ave., Seaside Built: 2005 Size: 2,472 square feet Features: 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 2 stories Amenities: Bay view, two bedroom suites, steam shower, two-way fireplace in family room, two balconies, ...
The Butterfly Effect
A dwindling monarch population will visit P.G. this year.
Thousands of Halloween-colored butterflies will alight in Pacific Grove’s Monarch Grove Sanctuary over the next several weeks, an annual roosting ritual they’ve honored for generations. But butterfly enthusiasts anticipating the fluttery migration worry about a ...
Squid Fry for Oct 16, 2008
Squid Fry for Oct 16, 2008
CARMEL CLOUDS… There’s trouble in paradise over at the Center for Photographic Art, the venerable institution originally established as the Friends of Photography by the likes of Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. Here’s the scoop: ...
