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The Weston Gallery is hosting an exhibit of 20 portraits by the celebrated photographer Yousuf Karsh (now 91 and retired). Karsh has photographed many, if not most, of the icons of the 20th century and his images are in virtually every major museum collection in the country.

Among the 20 richly textured, 30-x-40 images at the Weston Gallery are portraits of Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, Martha Graham and Joan Baez. Also featured is one of Karsh''s most famous photos, a glowering Winston Churchill, taken in 1941.

The story, legendary among portrait photographers, is that while posing the shot, Karsh asked Churchill to stub out his trademark cigar. When the crotchety Churchill refused, Karsh snatched the cigar from the Prime Minister''s lips and tossed it aside. The photograph became the image by which Churchill is best remembered.

The exhibit is at the Weston Gallery, 6th and Dolores, in Carmel, until August 10.

Site for Sore Eyes

Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh) was one of the first authors to fearlessly include his e-mail address on his book jacket (mchabon@earthlink.com if you''re so inclined). Chabon also cultivates a Website called "Bumps on My Head: Underpinnings, Recurrent Subjects and Passing Fancies" (http://home.earthlink.net/~mchabon).

The theme of Chabon''s site is organized on the principles of phrenology, the antiquated belief that the bumps and irregularities on a person''s skull offer clues into their personality. Thus visitors are greeted by the image of a colorful symbolical head.

Chabon''s third novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, will be published in September. In Chabon''s own e-words: "I would describe it as a heartbreaking work of staggering genius but the phrase is a bit shopworn these days."

If you know the Websites of other published writers, please send the URLs to artifacts@coastweekly.com. Why? Because we''re nosy, that''s why.

Helter Skelter

From the Georgia Institute of Technology comes this fascinating statistic: The average time we spend waiting for Webpages to download comes to about nine minutes a day. That must have been one tedious study. Anyway, we did the math, since that''s our job, and that''s about an hour a week--a valuable hour that could be better spent waiting for stoplights to turn green, water to boil, or cats to pounce.

Some of us, of course, don''t mind waiting. Charles Manson, after being denied parole for the ninth time a few years ago, told the Board of Corrections officers that he was too busy to be concerned about his lack of freedom. "I''m involved in too many things. I have a Website I''m working on."

Festival Watch

Only 21 days and counting until the 20th Steinbeck Festival opens. This year''s theme is "From Manuscript to Masterpiece: John Steinbeck and the Arts." Translated, that means you''ll be able to see Steinbeckian theater, dance, opera, film, fine art and poetry. Among the tapestry of events are speakers, panels, literary and architectural walking tours of Oldtown Salinas, bus tours of Steinbeck Country, a jazz concert, and a book fair. The Western Stage will also present a trilogy production of East of Eden.

For information call 775-4731, or to view a complete schedule of events, visit www.steinbeck.org.

--Tai Moses

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