Soldiering On
Monterey County vets struggle with civilian life, but new projects promise help and hope.
Three grizzled Vietnam vets sit in a dimly lit room next to the bar at Seaside’s American Legion building. All African American, all moving well past middle age, they fall silent when asked where all ...
Military Anonymous
A local ex-Army officer teams up with a psychologist to create an online healing space for vets.
The urgency some vets feel to escape a world incompatible with the one they knew in combat is the focus of veteran Jon Elber and psychologist Randy Berlin. They’re trying to address, and reverse, the ...
Issues / 2012 / July 05
On the Gaydar
Pacific Grove native Chip Hall founds first ever LGBQ student club of its kind – in the military.
In a job that demands as much togetherness as any – serving in the country’s armed forces – Chip Hall felt coldly alone. Until the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in September 2011, federal ...
Out of the Shadows
Monterey Museum of Art’s new Rodin exhibit defies convention to enlightening effect.
Last week Ted Wells – the guest curator of MMA’s new exhibition Auguste Rodin: Light and Shadow – led some local children on a pre-opening tour of the show. Along the way he found himself ...
Brezsny's Astrology July 5-11, 2012
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Members of the Nevada Republican Party have concocted a bizarre version of family values. A large majority of them are opposed to gay marriage and yet are all in favor of ...
By The Numbers 7-05-12
By The Numbers 7-05-12
$2,050,000 Recent Sale Fifth Avenue, 2 NW of Santa Rita, Carmel Built: 2002 Size: 1,690 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 1-car garage Amenities: 2 fireplaces, elevator, vaulted ceilings, patio, deck, steam shower, air ...
Tastebuds Talking
Mundaka Carmel Chef Brandon Miller’s yelp for help in the battle against mediocrity.
Chef Brandon Miller’s new-and-going-fast “fuerte” burger ($11.50) is a juicy triumph, a saliva symphony that starts with a kick-in of pig butt. “Gotta have some pork fat in burgers,” he says. Pork butt makes up ...
Pica Fresh Mex
Meat Me There: Pica Fresh Mex does tasty flavor in Oldtown Salinas.
Given that salsa is Spanish for “sauce” – and even mole and guacamole are considered salsas – it would seem wise for every Mexican and Tex-Mex joint to make it a centerpiece, to craft it ...
Letters To The Editor 7.05.12
Team Margot I’ve known Margot for 40 years and she has always been a sweetheart to me (“If you must invade Monterey County’s singular company town, follow the rules,” June 28-July 4). She gave Spreckels ...
The Amazing Spider-Man
Eight-Legged Freak: A reboot of the epic franchise offers no reason for the retelling.
The Amazing Spider-Man? That’s a stretch. More like the Half-hearted Spider-Man. The Just-Sorta-There Spider-Man. The Familiar Spider-Man. Spider-Man 3 may be the least satisfying of Sam Raimi’s Peter Parker trilogy, but it’s still livelier than ...
To Rome With Love
Spaghetti Told Western: Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love roams aimlessly through the ancient city.
The original, more euphonious title for Woody Allen’s 42nd feature film was The Bop Decameron, but Allen changed course, he told an interviewer, when he realized the illiterate masses (I paraphrase) didn’t have a clue ...
Back to Basics
The Lightfighters get a boost from a sultry new lead singer.
Craigslist isn’t always the best venue to bring musicians with like tastes together. But Savannah Keen was eager to find a home for her powerful voice and decided to give it a shot anyway. Multi-instrumentalist ...
Two Times Two
Shee Haw’s pair of hard-traveling ladies brings infectious country to Monterey County for back-to-back shows.
It kind of sounds like the beginning of an alternate version of Thelma & Louise… but without a tragic ending: Texan Bridget Moser and Wisconsin native Mandy Lee first met eight years ago at a ...
Electrifying Stuff
Electronic music-pioneering Tropo comes to Pacific Grove.
With names like Deadmau5 and Skrillex drawing massive crowds and raking in up to $100,000 for a single performance, electronic dance music has officially arrived. For Tyson Leonard, a classically trained violinist at the Berklee ...
Affiliation Action
SVMH mulls merger with Natividad after all other suitors back away.
While CNN editors were scrambling to rewrite their June 28 headlines on the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, Natividad Medical Center CEO Harry Weis was crunching numbers. Only 17 percent of ...
History for Sale
Trader Joe’s developer looks to historic Cooper Molera adobe as future project site.
Developer Doug Wiele uses the Cooper Molera adobe’s garden as an office, spreading out on benches when he’s in town working on one of several Monterey projects. Wiele and his company, Foothill Partners, are eying ...
Seaside Sequel
Rubio and Bachofner head to a rematch
The number 21 dogs Ralph Rubio, a Carpenters Union organizer who was Seaside’s mayor from 2004-2010. His last challenger, Felix Bachofner, beat him at the polls by a mere 21 votes. “I wasn’t going to ...
Rep. Sam Farr says Republican-led “war on the oceans” has local impacts.
Politicians often declare battles that have nothing to do with bombs or troops, like the “war on women” or the “war on poverty.” Now, Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel) is coining a defensive political fight the ...
Monkeywrench Unit
Vets snub Fort Ord rules with new sign honoring soldiers
Local activists have taken a cue from Edward Abbey in their mission to preserve the former Fort Ord for public use. On Sunday, June 24, a small group of veterans and conservationists marched into an ...
Factory farming uses a vast majority of U.S. antibiotics, so why is there so much resistant bacteria in the meat supply?
America’s cheap meat habit is costing more than we bargained for. The factory farming of cows, pigs, poultry and fish sucks up 29 million pounds – 80 percent – of antibiotics sold in the United ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen 7.05.12
ONGOING MUSEUMS FOR MILITARY | MONTEREY – The National Endowment of the Arts has designated the Monterey Museum of Art, along with dozens of others across the country, as “Blue Star Museums” offering free admission ...
Ugly events can be manageable with informed compassion.
Two columns for the price of one, on the theme of life or death, and how to do both with dignity. One: I frequently receive email from a regular reader, a smart man with definite ...
Squid Fry 7.05.12
Speak Out, Squid
SPOILER ALERT… Squid was in the mood for a flick last week, perhaps a rom-com to confirm that somewhere – other than in the Weekly’s online comments, where a pair of Steve Collins fans calling ...
Street Talk 07.05.12 (asked @ Valnizza’s Deli in Monterey.)
What makes you feel most independent?
Follow-up: What military training would you want? AARON MONTGOMERY | Field Tech | Salinas A: My job, because I’m able to support myself and my family, and just the freedom of living in America in ...
