A River Tamed
The Carmel River is a wisp of its former self, but hope is around the bend.
After giving several talks on his new book, Ray March is irritated with the inevitable audience question about solutions. “I’m the messenger,” he says. “I don’t have the answers.” The pathetic state of the Carmel ...
Issues / 2012 / May 31
Smart Travels
Hard traveling provides an endless source of inspiration for singer-songwriter Jordan Smart.
The other day, a woman approached singer-songwriter Jordan Smart while he was playing his guitar at Lovers Point. It was the fifth anniversary of her husband’s death and she was spreading his ashes in the ...
Killer Clown
Henry Phillips’ blend of comedy and music earns a rising cult following.
Typical Henry Phillips tunes start saturated in ’70s-era, James Taylor folk. “She never was abused when she was younger,” he sings with Neil Diamond tenderness. Then, when you least expect it, Phillips employs a mild-mannered ...
Pay to Play
Enviro, business PACs throw big dollars at county supervisor races.
When yard signs spring up like mushrooms, it signals the season of big campaign spending. The cost of those signs, and the glossy brochures stuffing mailboxes countywide: $1.1 million. That’s what the eight candidates for ...
Land Gamble
The Esselen Nation makes an encore bid for a piece of Fort Ord.
Louise Ramirez stands on the side of Reservation Road in Marina and points through a chain-link fence, past beeping construction machinery, at a green ridge in the distance. “That’s what they promised us, that 45 ...
Crafting Creativity
Small artisan-supporting Etsy works to launch local craftspeople toward profitability.
The names are the same. So is the retail platform: Etsy. And the result: success. Monterey County residents Sarah Burns, Sarah Cerney and Sarah Lapp each use Etsy, an increasingly popular online hub that supports ...
Cold Precision
Jack Storms’ very uncommon glass art stars in a big show at Jim Miller Gallery in Carmel.
As one of just three standout “cold glass” craftsmen in the country, Jack Storms is already a rare enough artist. (Most glass is super-heated and blown into shape, or cast in sand.) But he’s the ...
Brezsny's Astrology May 31-June 6, 2012
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Let’s waltz the rumba,” said jazz musician Fats Waller, suggesting the seemingly impossible mix of two very different types of dancing. That’s an excellent clue for you to follow up on, ...
By The Numbers 5-31-12
Real Estate
$1,000,000 Recent Sale 10 Via Paraiso, Monterey Built: 1930 Size: 1,800 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2-car garage Amenities: Fireplace, patio, fenced yard, workshop, hardwood floors, koi pond Seller: Joseph and Linda Byrd ...
Time to Eat
If Carmel’s current, major food moves take you into a time warp, you’re not alone.
I keep waiting for Marty McFly to blow past me on Carmel’s Ocean Avenue in his DeLorean, or for Bill and Ted’s excellent phonebooth to come crashing into the Bernardus lavender gardens. “Who knows?” I ...
The Mexican Eats
Weekly contributor Gustavo Arellano’s smart new book Taco USA defines Mexican-American grub.
Gustavo Arellano writes “Ask a Mexican,” a controversial weekly Q&A in which he answers, with pointed humor, various questions about Mexicans. (The syndicated piece has been discontinued in the Weekly’s opinion section in print but ...
Letters To The Editor 5.31.12
Strings Attached I am again saddened by the folks who are seemingly puppeteering Byrl Smith (“Bad advice drives Byrl Smith’s campaign to cynical places,” May 24-30). There were two separate opinion pieces today: a letter ...
Snow White and the Huntsman
Snow What: Latest iteration of fairy tale irritates and bores, just like Kristen Stewart.
We’re seeing a lot of Snow White lately – see also: Mirror, Mirror – and I’ve been trying to figure out why. It’s probably down to the backlash against women daring to demand agency over ...
Headhunters
Head Game: Norway’s Headhunters conjures the intensity of the Coen brothers without the payoff.
“You don’t need a Ph.D. to realize I overcompensate for my height,” smirks Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie). A short, po-faced corporate headhunter, he works overtime trying to keep his Nordic goddess of a wife (Synnøve ...
Making Noise
Wasted Noise’s debut album arrives with a release party at Casa Sorrento in Salinas.
Reggae-rocking local favorite Wasted Noise is readying to release its first full-length album on Friday at Casa Sorrento. The popular Salinas band has been together since 2005 but when they’ve inched close to dropping an ...
Punched Out
Youth boxing program continues in wake of molestation arrest of veteran coach.
The teen alleging Salinas boxing coach Daniel Lujan molested her has heard from a few skeptics, but police say that’s typical in these cases. “We have had at least one call vouching for his character, ...
Surf’s Up
Venture airline attempts Netflix-style travel subscriptions out of Monterey.
No planes, no FAA approval? Apparently no problem for Surf Air, a would-be luxury airline with a business model modeled after Netflix. The company doesn’t actually own or operate an aircraft yet. It’s still waiting ...
A farm-worker-turned-farm-owner urges a phase-out of all fumigants.
California’s strawberry farmers are about to get the help we need to make our farms both “greener” and safer, with new farming techniques. State officials recently announced an exciting new effort to help farmers transition ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen 5.31.12
SATURDAY 6 | 2 NEIGHBORS BESIDE NEIGHBORS | CARMEL VALLEY – Sara Sturtevant, director of the Mandell Gisnet Center for Conflict Management at Monterey College of Law, presents on the Neighbor Project and resources available ...
Microenterprise abounds, and Jill Allen wants to harness it.
It’s Friday afternoon, and that means it’s payout day for the artists of the @risK Gallery on Salinas’ Soledad Street. Those artists who have sold pieces in the past week come in at the pre-appointed ...
Squid Fry 5.31.12
Squid Speaks
IN THE FLOW… After an exhausting trip to the calamari debacle on the wharf (see second item), Squid oozed back to the lair and hunkered down with a bowl of shrimp-flavored popcorn and a 38-page ...
Street Talk 01.26.12 (Asked @ Carmel River Beach.)
Street Talk 01.26.12 (Asked @ Carmel River Beach.)
Follow-up: Your favorite beach, river or body of water? TIMON SLOAM | Artist | Los Altos A: It’s one of my favorite places to paint because it gets beautiful evening light and good protection from ...
