Thursday, May 28
New Salinas museum shows the medical profession the way it used to be.
After 14 years of collecting artifacts, the Museum of Medical History opens this weekend at Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital''s Downing Resource Center. The museum houses a world-class collection of antique medical instruments. While most date ...
Jewels by Mail--Hard-to-find classical recordings are available by mail order.
Have you found yourself waiting hopefully for your favorite classical or opera LP recordings to reappear on CDs? Or, worse, have you lately discovered that the CD you planned to collect entered and exited the ...
It's a pooch-meets-man story with serious implications in AR Gurney's Sylvia, opening at Pac Rep.
"It''s got drama, soap opera, sight gags, nice comments about relationships, life and caring...and all that good stuff," says director Stephen Moorer about Pacific Repertory''s Sylvia, opening this week. On a basic level, AR Gurney''s ...
Coast Weekly's local endorsements for the June 2 primary election.
This year, the CW editorial board had a particularly tough time making endorsements in some races--and in some races, we didn''t. We battled over issues that will no doubt confound many of you when you ...
Secession issue threatens to derail bond measure in Pajaro Valley.
It''s no secret that schools in California are long overdue for a facelift. State legislators are working on a $9 billion educational facilities bond measure for November''s ballot to remedy the worst cases. But in ...
Open Records, Closed Doors Edition
Open Sez Me The elusive Walter Wong, the county''s environmental health director, is in cover-your- ass mode, as we can all see from his missive in today''s Letters to Ed. section. Wally had the sympathies ...
But is He Blues?--Guitarist Terry Hiatt makes his MoCo debut; Those Darn Accordions do their darn thing.
Yeah, he does blues, but it''s tough to call Terry Hiatt a bluesman. His self-produced, 1996 debut album, Brother Piranha, has a bunch of blues-based music that''s all twisted together with jazz and rock and ...
Director Terry Gilliam creates a masterfully literal translation of the gonzo classic--but misses its heart.
You know the feeling you get when you''re the only sober person in a room full of people who are all ripped out of their gourds? That painful realization that you''re over-the-counter while everyone else ...
Cypress Grove
Poke your head in the door of Cypress Grove between lunch and dinner, and you might catch chef and proprietor Kurt Steeber taking a break from roasting bones, reducing essences and unmolding terrines. In fact, ...
Vote for 1
1. Name, age, occupation, number of years in district. 2. How much do you plan to raise & spend? Is there anyone you would refuse money from? 3. What is your position on the "English ...
Vote for 1
1. List your name, age, occupation, years in district. 2. Anyone from whom you would refuse to accept money? 3. What is your position on the "English for Children" initiative? 4. How would you fix ...
Preparations are underway for 10th annual Artists Studio tour.
To the degree that the meaning of art can be reduced to a single axiom, it is certainly the case that art is a journey of discovery-both for the artist who seeks to express the ...
Berry, Berry Good
Imagine strawberries that really taste like strawberries--not the big-as-a-saucer, hollow-on-the-inside, white-shouldered, ubiquitous variety found on every supermarket shelf in the continental United States; the real strawberries, like they used to taste. That is, if you ...
Primary Elections 06/02/98 17th Congressional District
1. Name, age, occupation, number of years in the district. 2. How much do you plan to raise & spend? Is there anyone you would refuse to accept money from? 3. Should Monterey Peninsula College ...
CW's positions on the June 2 ballot measures.
219 Statewide initiatives We Say: Vote Yes Placed on the ballot by the state legislature, Prop. 209 requires that all statewide initiatives, and legislative and local ballot measures apply uniformly in all parts of a ...
Letters
No on 227 Proposition 227 would replace current bilingual programs with "sheltered" English immersion programs which would "not normally exceed one year." If it becomes law--and doesn't work well--it will take another ballot initiative or ...
Vote for 1
1. Name, age, occupation & number of years in Monterey County? 2. How much do you plan to raise & spend? 3. Should the sheriff's department shut down medical marijuana clinics sanctioned by Prop. 215? ...
City, citizens fight over Monterey's history.
As the country commemorates National Historic Preservation Month this May, Monterey, a city famous for its history, struggles to define its own past and determine the future of historic preservation efforts, a struggle that could ...
Vote for 1
1. Name, occupation and number of years in Monterey County? 2. How much money do you plan to raise & spend to become assessor? Are there any contributions you would not accept? 3. What are ...
Art Attack--Monterey's City Council says "No" to arts and preservation.
On May 19, 1998 the Monterey City Council unanimously rejected the Arts and Historic Resources Initiative. They declined to allow the voters to have their say on the November ballot. The essence of the initiative ...
Vote for 1
1. Name, age & occupation. How many years have you lived in the district? 2. How much do you plan to raise & spend in this election? Is there anyone you would refuse to accept ...
Jazz Does MoBay--Smooth in Aptos, straight-ahead in Carmel...and the Rock and Art Festival announces a headliner.
The summer season of outdoor concerts is in full swing: Last weekend''s sold-out Santa Cruz Blues Festival actually had sunshine and warmth, and it felt like El Ni¤o had finally lost its grip on the ...
Election Day--Ready, Set, Vote
It''s the same but different. This election day, there is a new way to vote--the open primary--and a wide-open race for governor with no incumbent running for re-election. But campaigning hasn''t changed and there''s a ...
Thursday, May 21
Letters
Vote for Hunter I urge you and your readers to support Kurt Hunter for supervisor, in District 2. Kurt has the ideas and the energy to make constructive and cost effective changes in our county ...
The Mucky Duck
"S omething for everyone" is how chef Victor Salazar describes the popular downtown spot where he has been behind the line for the last five years. Poring over the various menus, his assessment appears to ...
Monterey County Sheriff Norm Hicks confronts pre-election accusations.
Monterey County Sheriff Norm Hicks currently faces every elected official''s nightmare: Two weeks before election day, the state attorney general''s office has requested that the Monterey County district attorney''s office investigate Hicks on charges of ...
June ballot propositions create some strange political bedfellows.
The last few years have seen the people of California presiding over the state''s most controversial political decisions and this June 2 will be no different. Though there are fewer ballot measures on the primary ...
The once-reclusive movie star has become as verbose as his latest character.
Warren Beatty, the reclusive screen idol--riveting as the bumbling bank robber in Bonnie and Clyde, the re-incarnated jock in Heaven Can Wait, the crusading journalist in Reds, the visionary gangster in Bugsy--has always been extremely ...
Festival Time There's Memorial Day music all over the place: outdoors, indoors and everywhere in between.
If you haven''t done it already, it''s time to get ready for Memorial Day music festivals. It''s time to fix the zippers on your sleeping bags, clean the mildew out of your coolers and dust ...
Trivial Distractions
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Finally, the answer to this, and many other burning culinary queries... Part of the reason it''s so challenging to meet deadlines when one writes about food is ...
Maestro's Farewell--Despite last-minute complications, there were memorable moments in Clark Suttle's farewell concert.
The setup for last weekend''s Monterey County Symphony was--at least for me--a disappointment. As orginally announced, departing music director Clark Suttle''s last concert aimed for the stars: Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss and Brahms'' ...
Calendar of Seasons--Local classical presenters announce plans for their fall '98 through spring '99 seasons.
Carmel Music Society Nov. 3 Sergei Nakariakov, trumpet Nov. 30 Beaux Arts (piano) Trio Jan. 11 Vladimir Feltsman, piano Feb. 1 Cho-Liang Lin, violin Mar. 9 Heidi Hau, piano (winner of 1998 annual competition) Mar. ...
Agit-prop performance piece at CSUMB raises toxic-waste awareness.
While most theater in the area has slipped into the revival of comfortable, non-threatening plays, there was a performance piece this week at CSUMB that at least strove to make a social impact in the ...
Slyding into Jazz--With a new album in the making, Dogslyde returns to MoCo.
Last seen in town giving a dynamite performance with the Left Coast Jazz All-stars in January, trumpeter Clyde "The Slyde" Sutliffe brings his 1996 Bammie-nominated group Dogslyde to The Jazz Store Saturday. The Bay Area-based ...
Just Say No--We need to halt large subdivisions until we revise the General Plan.
Monterey County is cherished for the beauty of its coastline, rolling oak hills, expansive farmland, and open spaces. Recreational opportunities and natural beauty attract business, residents and tourists. Tourism and agriculture drive our economy. Yet ...
Frank Sinatra--Old Blue Eyes
Sure, Frank Sinatra had alleged mob connections and hadn''t sung on key since the late ''70s. And yes, he once recorded a cover of "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" that made even his most ardent fans ...
Squid Festival fishermen and chefs will demonstrate dozens of ways to prepare Monterey's favorite cephalopod.
Put a few of the things that make Monterey County famous in a pan, stir ''em up, and you''ll have made yourself a pretty fine dish. But while artichokes might be fairly familiar, garlic holds ...
A further look at LandWatch and its State of Monterey County 1998 report.
According to President Mike DeLapa, LandWatch grew out of a recognition that Monterey County was slated for tremendous amounts of growth over the next 20 years without an adequate, comprehensive assessment of the county''s actual ...
Did Judy Pennycook use her influence to push through her subdivision?
Despite earlier denials from District 2 Supervisor Judy Pennycook that she attempted to influence county staffers working on a subdivision of her North County property, a key county official this week admitted he met with ...
Robert Redford, the golden boy of Sundance, chases a golden guy from Hollywood.
I detect the scent of a golden statuette wafting in the breeze. Robert Redford''s adaptation of Nicholas Evans'' best-selling novel is a countrified, monolithic thing of beauty--gorgeous to behold despite the fact that its overlong, ...
Monterey County--at The Crossroads
Decades from now, when Monterey County is either one of the last habitable coastal areas in the state of California, or the last place to succumb to the effects of rampant sprawl and over development, ...
According to the LandWatch report, the 14 major highway and road segments evaluated by county transportation agencies:
* Three are at Level of Service D * Four at Level of Service E * Five are at Level of Service F * Portions of one are at Level of Service D and F ...
Freshly painted murals have replaced the weathered panels on Cannery Row.
If you''ve been down to the aquarium end of Cannery Row this month, you will have noticed something a little different: The old Cannery Row murals have been replaced with fresher, brighter Cannery Row scenes. ...
May Madness
The Hills Are Alive...Arrrgh! I wouldn''t personally pay to see public officials making fools of themselves. They seem to do enough of that for free (or in the case of county supervisors, they do it ...
Thursday, May 14
Seinfeld Syndrome--Whaddaya do when nobody tells you nothing? You hit the streets in search of info.
Apparently doomed to echo the mass media push to be all things Seinfeld this week, I started to prepare a "Column About Nothing." That would be easy since there was nothing on my desk about ...
Producers explain why duplicate productions of the same play show up in the same season.
This summer, audiences will be treated to two productions of the musical Gypsy. Separated by a mere two weeks and less than 20 miles, Baby June, Gypsy Rose and friends take the stage at The ...
Three others are also campaigning in District 17
Along with the two Republican nominees Cares and McCampbell and incumbent Democrat Sam Farr, there are three other candidates on the District 17 ballot. They are Art Dunn, Scott Hartley, and Rick Garrett. Dunn, a ...
Two Republicans challenge each other--and Farr--in the 17th District.
Imagine if you will, a 28-year-old Republican cook representing the 17th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. That''s the goal of Mark Cares, a red-headed, enthusiastic young Republican who''d like the chance to sit ...
Salinas Nightlife--Hot In The City
What kind of nightlife does Salinas have to offer? Despite the arrival of several new restaurants, plenty of movies, some good theater, and the best performing arts center in the county, the overwhelming popular response ...
Prop. 223 aims to whittle school administration costs, but teachers remain mum on support.
From standardized tests to the end of bilingual education, what to do about the sorry state of California schools has been one of the most hotly debated issues of the political year, and strong political ...
Sam Farr raises as good as he spends.
Despite the fact that your voice in Washington, Congressman Sam Farr, is politically popular and running for reelection during a very shiny moment in the economic cycle, he is leaving nothing to chance, and plans ...
Tarpy's Roadhouse
Long on imagination, with expertise to back it up--that's the impression you're likely to come away with after experiencing Tarpy's Roadhouse. Whether you're strolling the lovingly tended grounds, studying the mouth-watering menus, or enlisting their ...
Is Prop. 220 a good plan for county courts, or politics as usual?
No doubt many voters in the June 2 primary will be uninspired by Proposition 220, the court consolidation initiative. It doesn''t have big money backers flooding the airwaves with misleading commercials. Nor does the measure ...
Two Challengers face an uphill battle to unseat District 2 incumbent.
There''s not much apparent fire being generated in the District 2 supervisorial race. Unlike in District 3, where numerous candidates are scrambling to fill an open seat, in District 2 a well-connected, some say entrenched, ...
It's 9:30pm and the sidewalks are rolled up. Will Steinbeck salvage Salinas nightlife?
It is 9:30 on a Saturday night and downtown Salinas is quiet--so quiet that even a mediocre quarterback could lob a long pass down Main Street without hitting a single car. Or a single person. ...
Here's an advance look at the $10.5 million National Steinbeck Center, opening next month.
When the National Steinbeck Center opens June 27 in Salinas, visitors will get to inhabit, however briefly, the world of Nobel Prize-winning author, John Steinbeck. Visitors (an estimated 140,000 to 300,000 a year) will enter ...
Savory Finds
You are what you eat. Brillat Savarin, 19th century man of science and letters, bon vivant and dyed-in-the- wool gourmand is likely spinning around in his grave, still reeling from liberties taken with his most ...
Letters
Headlines Where??? We enjoyed your "10 Censored Stories" in the April 30 edition. Why is it that the so-called main media press cannot or did not include such stories? Talk about "controlled press." We certainly ...
Theory In Action--Why needle exchange programs make good sense.
According to White House sources, senior health officials in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)--including HHS Secretary Dr. Donna Shalala--recently recommended to President Clinton a move toward some kind of federal funding for ...
Modeling class in Seaside offers opportunity to work with live model.
Standing in the middle of a studio with one''s drawers on the floor, the center of everyone''s attention has got to be most people''s worst nightmare (or biggest thrill, depending on personal tastes). For George ...
Being Courtney means never having to say you're sorry.
About the only conclusion one can draw from Kurt and Courtney, director Nick Broomfield''s engrossing and darkly funny documentary about the life and death of grunge rocker Kurt Cobain, is that in our invasive, media-driven ...
Of Land and Water
Do As We Say, Not As We Do In the face of threatened water rationing by the California-American Water Co., Squid is glad to know the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District has done its best ...
Requiem for a Clarinetist--Homage to Rosario Mazzeo conjures memories.
For Mother''s Day, clarinetist John Laughton and pianist Melinda Coffey served up a short program of music that falls sweetly on their instruments. It began with a new piece by New York composer Annette LeSiege ...
Family Tradition--John Lee Hooker, Jr., has a new lease on life and is beginning to make his musical mark.
First time I saw his name, I thought somebody must''ve made a mistake. There''s only one John Lee Hooker and, at 80 years old, he''s no junior. But I was wrong. There is a John ...
Thursday, May 7
Letters /
Who is John O'Grady???? This letter is to respond to the April 23-29 issue entitled "Too Bad." Who is John O'Grady? How does he make his living? I wonder if he understands that Clara Baber ...
Here are some of the places serving up special offerings on Mom's Day
For all the years that Mom packed your lunch, had dinner waiting when you got home and kept the cupboards stocked with all of your favorite snacks, she deserves a day when someone else is ...
California community colleges have no policies regarding faculty/student dating.
A Monterey Peninsula College counselor a few weeks ago pled no-contest to charges of threatening a student who rebuffed his advances. But interestingly enough, there is no policy at California community colleges prohibiting faculty and ...
Parris In The Springtime--Rebecca Parris and Milton Fletcher, Jr. highlight jazz offerings.
Somehow, the sound of jackhammers blasting away outside Rebecca Parris'' Seattle hotel room could not drown out what she had to say as we conversed over the phone the other day. The outgoing jazz singer ...
On the Edge--Exhibit at Claypoole-Freese promises controversy.
Been waiting for something controversial to get you back into an art gallery? Wait no longer. The four-artist exhibition opening Friday at the Claypoole-Freese Gallery is almost guaranteed to raise some hackles around the community. ...
Multicultural history of Monterey Bay region explored at upcoming conference.
So you think you know your regional history? You''re hip to the Sicilian fishermen who settled Monterey Bay; the dairy farmers from Southern Switzerland who settled southern Monterey County? Ahh, but there''s a million wonderful ...
Mexican action star Carlos Gallardo guns down Hollywood.
"Hollywood can go to hell!" --Carlos Gallardo In 1994, El Mariachi, an extremely low-budget ($7,000), Spanish-language action flick made by twenty-something Mexican filmmakers Robert Rodriguez and Carlos Gallardo became one of Hollywood''s biggest breakout hits. ...
Tentacles Sticking to Everything
Don''t Slam The Door On Your Way Out Developer Priske-Jones Inc. of Ventura saw the writing on the wall and dropped a bombshell on the board of supervisors Tuesday with a surprise announcement it was ...
Pea Soup Vs. Pea Soup
It''s no small curse, at the tail end of this tenacious El Ni¤o winter, to venture inland a few miles and be reminded that somewhere it''s really spring. That, in itself, is a welcome tonic; ...
Local programs address teen pregnancy and pregnancy prevention.
Teri Short was 17 and a student at Salinas High in 1982 when she gave birth to her first son. Two years later, she had another child. And then another. There were no "teen mother" ...
Vocal Treasures--Frederica von Stade and I Cantori give voice to lesser-known works.
While the viral cure for AIDS remains elusive, the social cure for the dreaded disease got a major boost in Monterey County last Friday when international opera star Frederica von Stade gave a concert in ...
Permaculture lecture targets sustainability.
Farmer Dave is coming to town to give a lecture on permaculture. In case that sounds like an apparent predilection for curly hair and the formation of a new and bizarre agricultural society, a little ...
Growing Unicorn --Tweaks and twists signal changing attitude.
"We''ve gone through a sort of...well...I don''t want to say shakeup...but a shakeup in my attitude," says Carey Crockett, founder and artistic director of Unicorn Theater. After putting in a couple of all-night work sessions ...
Spike Lee shoots and scores in his best film in years.
A great basketball player, almost by definition, is someone who has grown up in a constricted world, not for lack of vision or ambition, but for lack of money; his environment has been limited to ...
Of Mommies and Mayors--Why women should be both.
People who know that I have a small child wonder why I work. Sometimes, I wonder myself. If you aren''t already well established in a career, postpartum is probably not the time to start. You ...
Three teen moms tell why they got pregnant, and how they've coped.
This Sunday, on Mother''s Day, millions of Americans will honor the women who brought them into the world. But will anyone bring flowers to 18-year-old Salinas resident Carmen Lopez, who gave birth to her son ...
Love's Catering
Ever since they were tall enough to reach the kitchen counter, the Love sisters have loved being in the kitchen. Coming up with enticing menus, designing beautiful plate presentations, and creating tablescapes and dcor to ...
Monterey Action Coalition proposes hotel tax to provide dollars for arts and history.
"We didn''t know what a big scar the demolition of the San Xavier warehouse would leave in our hearts," says Barbara Bass Evans, co-chair of the Monterey Action Coalition (MAC), a grassroots activist group. The ...
Mother's Day--I Remember Mama
Mothers'' Day is a way to say "thanks" for all the changing of diapers, wiping of spit, and countless other thankless tasks endured by those who gave us life. So what are Monterey County residents ...
