Thursday, September 28
Support the future--go see a show this week.
Rock Every fuzzy riff and approach to any kind of instrument or music seems to have been tried. Has every scrap of compiled notes been used up? It''s a big question. Seated amongst friends talking ...
The Pacific House safeguards an impressive collection of American Indian artifacts.
It''s a little-known secret, but the upstairs floor of Monterey''s Pacific House Museum holds a treasure trove of Indian artifacts from tribes as diverse as the Aleutians of Alaska to the Plains Indians of Kansas. ...
Think the Australians don't like all the hoopla the Olympics have brought to their little continent? Think again.
downunder For weeks before I arrived Down Under for the Games of the New Millennium, all I heard about the host Australians was that they were leaving in droves and didn''t care if the world ...
The Bush League
As of the time we uploaded this week's paper to the web, we were unable to post this story on our website. We urge you to pick up a copy of this week's Weekly at ...
by Aaron S. Birk
street talk Well, Professor Toro of the Monterey Herald put us down Saturday before last when he defined Street Talk as an item that "allows anyone to blather on about topical issues as though the ...
The Monterey World Music Festival delivers an international experience in our back yard.
With a new lineup and an expanded schedule, this year''s World Music Festival is poised to bring a bigger chunk of the globe to a greater number of people. This year marks the fourth incarnation ...
Two kids hurt at the fair.
Having a child get injured on a carnival ride is the stuff of parents'' (not to mention carnival operators'') nightmares. At the Monterey County Fair last month, two local kids did get hurt--on the same ...
The move to govern single-connection water systems pits property rights against the rights of the state.
No one should be surprised that it''s come to this. For at least five years, the community has known that too much water is being drained from the Carmel River, jeopardizing the river''s sensitive ecological ...
Move 'em Out
"Where''s Larry Flynt when you need him?" (Squid, 9/21-27). What the hell are you talking about? My first letter in response to your comments was so heavily edited I thought the Weekly had never heard ...
No Known Cure!
The other night, Squid watched Republican senatorial candidate Tom Campbell whine about incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein''s lack of motivation when it comes to campaigning for her third term. And why should she bother? With her ...
Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous is a tribute to rock 'n' roll and the '70s.
This sweet, amiable, accurate, and knowing coming-of-age tale is Cameron Crowe''s semi-autobiographical boyz-to-men story about how he grew into the role of a rock ''n'' roll journalist in 1973. Of course, the movie is about ...
One woman's love of Chinese food had inauspicious beginnings.
sidedish My sister worked as a waitress at the Ho-Ho Inn, a Chinese restaurant on Cass Street in Detroit. She sat a plate of Egg Foo Yung in front of 5-year-old me. I quickly renamed ...
A good understanding of classical music means breaking old habits.
Classical In the 23 years I''ve been teaching music history for Monterey Peninsula College, I have always aspired to replace fancy with fact, to demystify the experience of listening to music. Does this effort rob ...
Laying fiber optic cables on the ocean floor is touchy business.
Imagine sitting down in front of a television or computer and having instant access to over 10 million channels of high-speed communication. The time spent downloading files from the Internet is cut from minutes to ...
From The Editorial Desk
Studying the past may be an imperfect way of predicting the future but it does provide some pretty powerful clues as to what might go down. That's particularly true when it comes to individuals. Many ...
Remembering a Peaceful Soul
Piano Joe died last fall and the guests at Dorothy''s Place Hospitality Center and Kitchen in Salinas have sorely missed their friend''s presence and his music. Piano Joe was a homeless man who Dorothy''s Place ...
Girl on the Bridge finds the love of life and filmmaking that made French films great.
Girl on the Bridge is a film about luck and love and hurling weighted, razor-sharp knives at sexy, waifish women with big round eyes. It''s so French it doesn''t even need the subtitles that bop ...
Akaoni means fresh fish and abundant sake in serene surroundings.
One thing that''s cool about the whole human gumbo is that even though we really need each other, sometimes, when it comes down to it, the world''s people are worlds apart. Take raw fish, for ...
Thursday, September 21
It's the season when fighting fire can really get under your skin.
831-Tales from the area code At 3am the call comes over the loudspeaker. Three sharp tones, a pregnant pause, and then the deafening buzzer that grinds its way into the firefighters'' skulls and yanks them ...
The Eyes of Tammy Faye documents the real life story of a (heavily) made-up survivor.
After the holocaust, three things will remain, says Tammy Faye Bakker-Messner''s most recent TV co-host, gay comedian Jim J. Bullock: roaches, Cher and Tammy Faye. The well-documented public life of this Christian televangelist is the ...
The Ventana Wilderness Society responds to criticism of the condor release program.
One day this summer, a small flock of California condors landed on the roof of John Alvord''s Pfeiffer Ridge home in Big Sur and stationed themselves there like giant feathered gargoyles with bad breath and ...
Growing houseplants from cuttings is cheap, easy and satisfying.
Several years ago I lived in a low-slung ranch house up on Monterey''s Spaghetti Hill. The rental home was woefully unremarkable, a boxy stucco job with wide eaves offering too much shade from those rare ...
An art show devoted to putting the brakes on development.
Take a quick tour through the Monterey County Cultural Council''s newest Art in Public Places show and you might think the exhibit was designed simply to explore the multitude of styles and media commonly used ...
Doctored results from water quality tests, millions in fines and a surprise in a water tank have put Alco Water Service in a pickle.
Jim Hively wasn''t out to bust anyone when he discovered problems with the Moss Landing Harbor District''s water supply earlier this year. He was just doing his job. As the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute''s ...
By installing simple water storage systems, rainwater could provide a rainbow of benefits.
The argument about the county''s so-called "water shortage" has raged for the better part of three decades, with millions of dollars and many angry words being spent trying to solve the problem. Scratch below the ...
Location, Location, Location
This year, the Monterey County Film Commission Screenwriting Contest (can we just agree to call it the MCFCSC?) is including a new award in its annual competition. The "Monterey County On Location Award" will be ...
Suicide rates among the elderly, especially white males, are higher than you might think.
They have lived full lives, seen their children grow and become parents themselves, and retired after decades of hard work in anticipation of a slower pace of life. But for many elderly people in Monterey ...
But What About the Articles?
Where''s Larry Flynt when you need him? The outspoken publisher of Hustler and defender of First Amendment rights might have a thing or two to say about recent developments in Monterey. After outraged mom India ...
Technology and Morality
Way back in 1980, I read a book by Jeremy Rifkin titled Entropy: A New World View. It''s a seminal treatise on how humanity, in its infinite arrogance, continues to think that it can defy ...
From The Editorial Desk
We humans are a very wasteful sort of animal. When we tear down a building or a fence, we're likely to just toss the leftover boards into a dumpster and forget about it. We plunk ...
Guitarist Terrence Farrell and Ballet San Jose display courage.
classical Guts. String instruments need them. String players require more. The solo musician must have enough to spill some as an expected dimension of every performance. But it''s the classical guitarist who needs the most. ...
Five recent short story collections give us glimpses into the lives of characters very much like ourselves.
books Try this experiment: Go to your local post office, or to a nice spot on the coast where people tend to gather, or perhaps your favorite produce stand on the outskirts of town. Then ...
A collection of Chagall's most beloved images appear as limited-edition prints.
The brilliant colors of 41 large-scale, first-edition Chagall prints (silkscreen serigraphs and metal-engraved lithographs) dazzle visitors to Congregation Beth Israel''s exhibit hall. "This is the first time that these particular images of Chagall''s have ever ...
Building with salvaged materials can save dollars, help the environment and make an artistic statement.
Near the top of Prescott Avenue, on the border between Monterey and Pacific Grove, you''ll find a varied lot of houses, new, old and somewhere in between. Years ago, this area was "the country" and ...
Marina is an unlikely place to find authentic English ales.
sidedish The first question on most people''s minds is how a brewery located in Marina, California can claim to make authentic English beer. The answer is that English Ales Brewery is brewing off contract to ...
Falling under the sensory spell of Deetjen's Big Sur Inn.
We decided we would zip down for an early dinner on Sunday. Deetjen''s had a slot at 6:15 so we figured, leave around 5, put the cruisemobile on autopilot, open the sunroof, fire up the ...
Annoyed By Tabloids
street talk Gossip rags touting crack-addicted schnauzers, monkeymen from space and prophecies of doom can wreak havoc upon the minds of those who take them as truth. Then again, they can send you rolling with ...
The locals are full of spirit, check out the music.
rock The Metro Santa Cruz printed an article called, "Get in the Groove" as a how-to guide for musicians who want to make it in the Santa Cruz music scene. In it, writer David Spinoza ...
Thursday, September 14
Miles Davis smiles on Wayne Shorter's original composition for the MJF.
The year was 1964 and the band was called the Miles Davis Quintet. In a matter of just four fast and furious years, the group defined the essence of "modern jazz," securing a reputation as ...
From The Editorial Desk
With the Monterey Jazz Festival playing sweet 'n' low (and rough 'n' rowdy) this weekend, it seemed like a good time to ask, "Why Jazz?" At the same time it's proven itself to be a ...
Swimmers and surfers aren't just grossed out by Monterey Bay's dirty water. They may actually be sickened by it.
This weekend, 1,500 athletes from across the country and the world will plunge into the frigid ocean off Lovers Point to compete in a 1.5-kilometer swim, the first leg of the Seagate Triathlon in Pacific ...
Mountains, Movies, Molehills
Having lived in California all my life, and having done so all over the State, I have to say that not much amazes me. Except of course for the potential of the citizens of Monterey ...
They Can't Jive With 55
The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District Board of Trustees should thank their lucky stars that Proposition 39 will appear on November''s ballot. Why? According to a district report, the school facilities need about $60 million ...
Why the High School All-Stars have a passion for yesterday's jazz legend
Performing this weekend at the Monterey Jazz Festival, alongside proven pros, is the High School All-Star Band, whose members are selected through a nationwide audition process open to all aspiring young musicians. The All-Stars will ...
Organizational breakdown threatens San Jose Cleveland Ballet's season.
classical Things have suddenly gone grim for those increasing numbers of local balletomanes who''ve been attending performances by the San Jose Cleveland Ballet. The Cleveland partner of this major two-city company has abruptly shut down ...
The virtuoso guitarist has three distinct musical personas--and they'll all be on hand this weekend at the MJF.
After three shows over the course of three days this weekend, concertgoers who''ve never heard the celebrated guitarist Bill Frisell are likely to come away with three distinct theories about who he is: 1) a ...
New technology and a bit of luck help MBARI scientists understand toxic algae.
Your high school chemistry teacher probably didn''t cop to the role that chance plays in scientific discovery. But Lady Luck has always helped science lurch forward, and marine scientists who specialize in toxic algae blooms ...
A restored version of the 1970 music documentary Gimme Shelter chronicles death of a dream.
Gimme Shelter captures a turning point in recent history with a precision that''s almost painful to watch. Newly restored and being given a limited, local theatrical release, Gimme Shelter documents the Rolling Stones'' infamous free ...
The Board of Supervisors has a chance to put the brakes on development in North County.
Things are turning upside down as North County runs dry. A community leader who advocates a moratorium on development insists she''s not anti-development. Attorneys opposed to the moratorium say killing it is the environmentally conscious ...
Three books about jazz history show the glory of many and the vision of a few.
books History will undoubtedly be far from our minds this weekend as we sway to the sparkling brilliance of Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Nicholas Payton, Brad Mehldau, Les McCann, Ruben Blades and others. ...
A Jones For Melody
There''s bound to be one or two (OK, maybe more) sad sacks who couldn''t get tickets to the Monterey Jazz Festival. What to do? More specifically, what to do this Sunday? Rather than staying home ...
Club Octane gets red-tagged before it gets off the ground.
rock There is a whole lotta music banging its way across Monterey this week. It''s more than just your usual one or two nights at the Long Bar--there are gigs all over town. In fact, ...
An inveterate jazz junkie recounts how he cultivated an ear for the hard stuff.
Jazz. True to its roots in sexual slang, the word itself sounds vaguely pornographic. Setting aside the vast range of musical styles that fall under its general heading, "jazz" is still seen, or heard, by ...
New works by Zimbabwean stone sculptor Gedion Nyanhongo explore the inner spirit.
''I prefer to be called a universal artist, an ambassador of all cultures," Gedion Nyanhongo tells me. The sculptor is describing the themes that he handcarves in various kinds of serpentine (Nyanga, springstone and opalstone), ...
Faithful poses the question: Can anyone really be trusted?
theater review The MPC Players'' current production of Faithful, by Chazz Palminteri and directed by Conrad Selvig, is a darkly funny, tense and thought-provoking treatise on marriage, fidelity, faith, power, deception and sex. The production, ...
The food at Salinas' Golden Fish is swimmingly good.
Okay, it''s Thursday evening and we''re heading to Old Town, Salinas. Night is just starting to fall on the sleepy Main Street, USA. Smack dab in the middle of the Western town center sits the ...
Thursday, September 7
Artifacts.
Two Guys Dancing About Science What do you get when you combine two big bungee cords, the cure for malaria and a meditation on the miseries of income taxes? The unlikely answer is "The Bounds ...
Letters.
Dear Squid... I have enjoyed your sarcasm over the years, but I am disappointed that you would think a mother would have to be hysterical to object to a title like "barely legal" (Squid Fry, ...
Up-and-coming country star Andy Griggs downplays his pretty-boy image and talks up his music.
Since releasing his debut CD last year, Andy Griggs, one of the stars of Saturday''s "Country Fest 2000," has gotten plenty of attention for the visual side of his career. With his shaggy blond hair ...
The Tao of Steve offers a likable love story that fails to deliver its promised philosophical depth.
Watching the The Tao of Steve is like eating a cluster of so-so grapes: Even though the grapes aren''t very good, you feel compelled to keep eating, hoping you''re going to come to that one ...
streetalk.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling against a medical marijuana club in Oakland that was dispensing pot to patients. The ruling puts the lid, so to speak, on Proposition 215, the medical ...
Roman Loranc's photographs aim to restore the beauty of the Central Valley to the collective imagination.
The American Heritage dictionary defines " remnant" as "a leftover piece of fabric remaining after the rest has been used or sold." In ecology circles, the word is also used to describe surviving traces of ...
Summer Stock gives its audience lots of reasons to get happy.
theater review In 1950, MGM Studios released the movie musical Summer Stock, starring Gene Kelly and Judy Garland. Now, the Western Stage presents an original stage version of the film, directed and choreographed by Roxanne ...
Scientific progress in the field of genetic engineering hatches profound moral and scientific questions about the future.
Jeremy Rifkin is prominent in the movement examining the moral and scientific implications of genetic engineering. He is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and author of The Age of Access, The Biotech Century, ...
Trout fishing in this part of America just got a lot more complicated.
Such a strange fish. And such a baffling set of rules protecting it. Onchorynchus mykiss, commonly known as the steelhead, is an odd creature. Technically a trout (which belong to the salmonid family), the steelhead ...
An innovative menu, a historic setting, and even a resident ghost.
Between 1833, when Stokes Adobe was built as a one room home, and 1996, when Kirk and Dorothea Probasco, along with Chef Brandon Miller, opened Stokes Adobe Restaurant, the now two-story (since about 1848) adobe ...
From The Editorial Desk
It wasn't that long ago that Frankenstein scared the bejeesus out of people. The idea that one human being could be fashioned out of spare parts by another person seemed inherently gruesome and dangerous. In ...
A retro journey to Michael Keenan's Outer Edge and back.
831... Tales From the Area CodeHair designer extraordinaire? Enigmatic raconteur? Playful purveyor of kitsch? Gentle negotiator? At least one thing about Michael Keenan is certain: He''s a character. Keenan is the colorful owner of the ...
What has your sommelier done for you lately?
uncorked A summer what? Try this: say summel-YAY. Okay, you may still cringe at the tongue-twisting, foreign word, but today you are much more likely to enjoy your experience with a sommelier. Why? Quite simply, ...
Music by Astor Piazzolla shines on two new recordings.
classical Last May, this column prophesied a compact disc release by the Eroica Trio of the new works on their program for Chamber Music Monterey Bay. Astonishingly, just such a thing has taken place. With ...
Residents rally against a proposed movie "megaplex" planned for--say it isn't so!--a shopping mall.
In a city where citizens regularly take up arms against retail centers in touristy Cannery Row and fight hotels downtown, it doesn''t come as any great shock that a collection of protesters is now out ...
