Thursday, December 27
'TIS THE SEASON...
Boy do I suffer during the holidays. It''s tough enough, living day to day, trying to narrow the endless desert between my thoughts about life as conceivable and life as it exists. At Christmas time, ...
Greetings from the Colonel
This holiday season, families on the Monterey Peninsula and across America will gather with neighbors and friends to rekindle old friendships, revive honored traditions and renew the hope and love that is part of the ...
The holidays put more stress on a system that is short-staffed and overworked.
Nurse Joanne McCarthy wants to talk about 90-year-old Charles Seaver''s swollen leg, but he''d rather reminisce about his glory days as a jock. "Have you been on antibiotics?" asks McCarthy, an R.N. and a certified ...
Best Of The Rest
thursday 12|27 Poetry Reading 7pm. Friends of recently deceased writer Don Marsh gather to read his work. Marsh was a published novelist and poet whose weekly poetry e-mails were sent worldwide. Thunderbird Bookshop, 3600 The ...
Big News, Asked in Sand City
Q: What was the most important local news event of 2001? Follow Up: Do you trust the press? Sharron Smith Production Assistant/Monterey A: How about all the demolishing happening in Carmel. They like to knock ...
'Rape Drugs' In Use Locally
Following the arrest of two men from Marina for allegedly raping a 21-year-old Carmel woman with the help of a so-called "rape drug," the executive director of the Monterey Rape Crisis Center has issued a ...
GET READY TO RUMBLE...
Squid loves nothing better than to curl up on the futon with two beers and a coupla pails of popcorn to watch a good fight. The meaner the better! So imagine Squid''s diabolical delight at ...
When board junkies go skiing with the Army.
It''s 3pm on a December Friday afternoon, and the ski rental department at the Presidio''s Outdoor Recreation Department is going nuts. Snowboard manager Dave Chappell, his reddish curly hair pulled back in a ponytail, finishes ...
PRIZED LOCATION...
Folks at the Monterey County Film Commission recently announced that they have added another prize their 2002 Screenwriting Competition. In addition to the grand prize for best screenplay, which is worth $2,002 plus free tuition ...
A devoted vet and her blind Pomeranian are out to change the way people think about pets.
Sonith Balonith the Bandit Kisser, aka Tosey, Superbear, Sugarbear, Heartbeart, Boogaloo Down Broadway, Bun Bun Baroozer sits comfortably on the couch next to his owner, veterinarian Dr. Joann Donahoe, and his seeing eye cat, Shawny ...
New Year's resolutions don't all have to be about self-denial and discipline.
Why are New Year''s resolutions so frequently about deprivation, about discipline? "I will lose 20 pounds, I will eat 2 grams of fat a day, I will masticate each mouthful 100 times." We restrict our ...
There's a party to fit every pocketbook for this New Year's Eve.
So here we are, just a couple days past Christmas with feelings of joy in the air and promises of peace on earth. Mop-up operations are still taking place throughout the county in living rooms ...
If the predictable teen-movie stereotypes seemed stupid the first time around, they're even worse in Not Another Teen Movie.
Hard on the heels of the teen-movie craze of 1999 arrives this tin-eared and often mean-spirited parody, which unites smart-alecky genre references with gross gags. Of the tag team of writers (no fewer than five ...
Congratulations to everyone who entered this year's contest.
By the time deadline closed, we had received nearly 150 entries, and by the time we got done reading, Clark Coleman's gem had taken first place, just a couple points away from runners-up Michael Benson ...
On the last night of 2001, First Night takes flight.
First Night Monterey, now in its ninth year, is the biggest First Night event in California. The theme of this year''s celebration, "Flights of Fancy," will be exemplified in whimsical artistic presentations, many of them ...
Hotpicks
friday 12|28 It''s Beginning to Look A Lot Like New Year''s MAX CABELLO Hard-rocking blues guitarist Max Cabello provides the soundtrack for Ocean Thunder''s weekend kickoff. This is the third (maybe fourth, but who''s counting?) ...
Thursday, December 20
Best Of The Rest
thursday 12|20 MMA Art Mixer 5pm. Monterey Museum of Art hosts their "Third Thursday" mixer, featuring wine, refreshments by Cafe Abrego, music, and their "Artist Miniatures" exhibit. Monterey Museum of Art, 559 Pacific, Monterey. Free. ...
Cameron Crowe opens American eyes with Vanilla Sky.
When I first heard that Cameron Crowe was planning a remake of Alejandro Amenábar''s 1997 film Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), I thought it was an odd choice for him. At the time, the ...
Mo Bigsly returns to Ocean Thunder with their blend of funky, party, dance rock.
A couple months ago I watched a music video titled "Booty Kiss." It was shot in an ''80s style-one of those nostalgic house-party scenes where the band plays on an outside stage, surrounded by hungry ...
Any Day Now
It''s the big event of the year that will shape the next 20. By the end of December, the Draft General Plan will be available for public consumption, downloadable from the General Plan update Web ...
Monterey County's elite: The playthings they loved, the games they played.
(photos, left to right):JABBER JOCKEY When she was a child, Carmel Mayor Sue McCloud used to do her homework while talking on a homemade telephone with next-door neighbor Gil Neill (now a Carmel engineer). Unlike ...
Squidfry
Invisible, Like The Cheshire Cat, Sec. of State Hulk HoganINVISIBLE, LIKE THE CHESHIRE CAT Squid has the perfect gift idea for anyone flummoxed about what to get recently ousted water board member Ron Chesshire for ...
One man's obsession with the sky.
Earlier in the day, the wind showed some life, then it died. It''s too light now and coming from the wrong direction, George Reeves says, pointing to a limp windsock that swivels gently from a ...
A routine chat becomes a spurious scandal.
APacific Grove artist named John Middleton is at the center of a mystery this week after being visited by an FBI agent earlier in the month. Middleton, an artist who restores old paintings, works in ...
Making A List
Asked at Northridge Mall in Salinas. Q: If the city of Salinas were to give a Christmas present to its residents, what should it be? Follow Up: What''s on your list? Teresa Munuz Instructional Aid/Salinas ...
Hot Picks
thursday 12|20 Smooth Holiday Groove: CHRIS BOTTI, NORMAN BROWN AND ALEX BUGNON This Christmas concert is as likely to inspire listeners to get up and dance as to sing along. Trumpeter Chris Botti has spent ...
For Jim Harrison, food is just the starting point for philosophical explorations.
Jim Harrison is one of America''s great food writers. He has also written the screenplays for two Hollywood movies-one starring Jack Nicholson and the other starring Brad Pitt-and also 14 books of poetry, three novellas ...
'Tis the Season, Personal Shopper, Finis
''TIS THE SEASON And there should be a room full of jollies at SLY MCFLY''S on Friday when SISTA MONICA headlines Sly''s holiday party. By this time, Sista Monica is almost a household name with ...
Or, How An Entire Society Has Conspired to Keep Secret the Recipe for Tamales.
The seasonal tradition of tamale-making across the world is as venerable as images of magi overseeing mangers at Christmastime or neighbors leaving up Christmas lights well into Lent. But just as the Blessed Mother Mary ...
Christmas Cycle, The Good Guys, Aid for AIDS
CHRISTMAS CYCLE Christmas is here. Again. As usual, I''ve managed to ignore it completely until the very last possible moment, whereupon I plunge headlong into a temporarily depressed state (kinda like California) because I haven''t ...
Ansel Adams' students learned their lessons well.
The figure of Ansel Adams looms large in the history of photography, not only because of the photographer''s artistic achievement but because of his galvanizing instruction in his workshops and printed manuals. From Yosemite to ...
Thursday, December 13
I've been dreading this for years.
And I'll stand in line this weekend to see the first installment of THE LORD OF THE RINGS. I don''t remember when I first read J.R.R. Tolkien''s fantasy masterpiece, probably in ''74 or early ''75, ...
Stalking the wild fruitcake in its native habitat.
It''s a long and perilous journey to the New Camaldoli Hermitage. One must travel an hour and a quarter south of Carmel on Highway One, shrewdly passing puttering tourists while taking care not to spill ...
Steven Soderbergh infuses his remake of Ocean''s Eleven with style and fun.
A clever, ingratiating, and altogether inoffensive update of the 1960 Rat Packer of the same name, Ocean''s Eleven may be exactly what audiences are seeking right now. Heavy on style and boasting the kind of ...
Home-movie documentary chronicles relationship between Jerry Garcia and David Grisman.
Maybe the best way to describe Grateful Dawg is "Captain Trips Unplugged," a collection of home-movie footage cobbled together into an 80-minute documentary tracing the friendship and musical collaboration between Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia ...
Local lawmakers ignore the latest claim against state Senate redistricting scheme.
Alan Clayton says the map he has drawn as an alternative to the state Senate''s new redistricting plan protects the rights of Latinos, environmentalists and Monterey County Democrats. But he has yet to find local ...
Wireless antennas prompt rules and ruses.
(photo) TeleCommunion: The new steeple at the First Baptist Church in Monterey contains state-of-the-art cellphone equipment. A Monterey Pine tree behind The Presidio barely disguises another celltower. It would have been quite a cross. Six-feet ...
MEET THE NEW BOSS...
Squid's already PO-ed that the Central Coast will soon be represented by an out-of-town Republican, but the news that the Monterey Peninsula's next likely Senator is an anti-choicer sent Squid into a beak-clacking, ink-spewing, tentacles-flailing ...
A local wine professional remembers learning the ropes atop the World Trade Center.
In the wine industry, the last quarter is the biggest season of the year. September, therefore, was prime time for those who sell wine to have an audience with those who buy wine--the retail buyers, ...
The Big Sur Land Trust is trying to buy paradise.
Corey Brown walks toward a small clearing in a pine forest five miles south of Carmel and five minutes up a steep dirt road above Highway One. He stops at the crest of the knoll, ...
Hang on to Your Wallets
If the President''s recent exhortation to shop for the sake of the country seems a little obscene, given the crying want elsewhere in the world, take heart. On Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 10am and 7pm, ...
My Generation, Not Fade Away, Dock of the Bay
MY GENERATION...I know the holiday season is upon us, you know-- fa la la la la and all that, but I''m worried about the coming winter, after the first of the new year. Tourism, the ...
Best Of The Rest
thursday 12.13 Holiday Castles and Houses 1-2:30pm (3-5 yrs); 3-4:30pm (6-9 yrs). Let your kids be the architects as they build candy castles and graham cracker houses, create holiday crafts and sweets, and generally have ...
Paul Fleischman hits the right tone in Seek.
All good books manipulate language to turn words on the page into powerful images, smells and tastes, but in Seek (Cricket Books, $16.95), a brilliant new novel for young adults by award-winning Monterey author Paul ...
First the bikinis, then the band.
First, let''s get the glitzy stuff at Blue Fin Cafe & Billiards tonight out of the way: There will be beautiful, bikini-clad women there from 7-9pm for the Politically Incorrect party brought to you by ...
Taking the cure for the modern malaise.
Over the years the reports about Paraiso Hot Springs have trickled in, typically dispatched by friends and acquaintances just returned from an extended two-day soak in the elderly resort''s soda springs. They always say the ...
Be It Resolved
Q: If the city of Monterey makes a New Year''s resolution, what should it be? Follow Up: Have you ever kept a New Year''s resolution to yourself? Rita Kamacho Hospitality/Monterey Fix the schools. Roofs are ...
Very Disappointed
This letter registers my profound grief over the cover story in your Dec. 6 paper ("The Lord''s Player"). As a longtime resident and regular reader of your newspaper, I found the story not worthy of ...
Hot Picks
This week's Hot Picks were preened and strutted by Anthony Cardott, Kate Folsom, Alex Gilrane, Traci Hukill, Jessica Lyons, Andrew Scutro and Chuck Thurman. thursday 12.13 Stomp Three Times PEPPERSTOMP Just about anyone can enjoy ...
Thursday, December 6
Hotpicks
thursday 12|6 Olden Times Revisited CHRISTMAS IN THE ADOBES What''s Christmas without a tour of old houses? Okay, maybe it''s an idiosyncratic local tradition, but this self-guided tour of the historic buildings of Monterey, all ...
Letters
Don't Pick on Ag Once again the Weekly has done the local agriculture industry, and the thousands of local people that work in it, a tremendous disservice by allowing Suzanne Du Verrier to insinuate that ...
The Rev. H.H. Lusk gave his church 40 years. His church forgives his 18 felony charges.
It will all be about him. The women cooking in the church kitchen, the fancy hats with the feathers, the joyful singing, the visiting pastors all lined up in a row on the altar, the ...
The Holiday Craze
Here we are sitting in the middle of the holiday season. Turkey day is far behind us, and Santas everywhere are gearing up for another shopping spree. Shops everywhere burn the midnight oil and people ...
Partners go 'round and 'round; lovers' fortunes go up and down in Ed Burns' Sidewalks of New York.
For his fourth feature, Sidewalks of New York, quadruple threat Edward Burns (who writes, directs, stars, and produces) shows a lighter touch than ever before. This wispy, cosmopolitan slice-of-life is fueled by hand-held camerawork, montage, ...
For four decades, Rev. H.H. Lusk did not hesitate to use his position to influence local politics.
Upstairs from the chapel at Bethel Baptist Missionary Church, a large maple conference table dominates Reverend H. H. Lusk''s office. It''s a not-too-subtle symbol of the pastor''s power. A dozen people could be seated around ...
Time Waits for No Squid, Just in Time for Cold, Flu and Smallpox Season, A Well-Lighted Place
Time Waits for No Squid Squid has a morning ritual and considers it a bad omen when that ritual is interrupted. It''s a cephalopod thing. Squid must have a cup of coffee in one hand, ...
Four generations of women from the Chappellet family showcase their artwork.
Sometimes the history of a place can be read in the generations of a single family. The story of the Chappellet family is a quintessentially Californian story, involving ventures that seem to sum up entire ...
At La Boheme, elegance meets rusticity to artful effect.
The preparation of just one good meal-salad and dressing, some kind of appetizer or first course, entree, side dishes and dessert-can be a rewarding challenge. Restaurants, of course, have to crank out any one of ...
Best Of The Rest
thursday 12|6 Music for Youngsters 10am. Music Together hosts a demonstration and activities for children from infants to age 4. Songs, chants, movement and playing with music. Shotokan Karate School, 33 Park, Monterey. Free. 645-9726. ...
Leon Panetta convenes world-class panel for forum on war and terrorism.
Pictured: William Perry Over the weekend, Israel was bloodied by yet more suicide bombers. In response, Israeli helicopter gunships rocketed Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat''s headquarters, incinerating his helicopters. This week, the pressure grew as Prime ...
Another alumnus of the Naval Postgraduate School heads to space-the first to live on the International Space Station.
Pictured: NPS in Space: Clockwise from Left: Eugene Cernan (Class of ''64) in the Valley of Taurus Littrow, the Moon; Daniel Bursch (''91), who heads to the International Space Station this week; the Shuttle Endeavour; ...
Ozomatli dances into Planet Gemini with a roar on Friday.
The sound of Los Angeles is something to be experienced. The city itself has a music all its own, tumbling out of car windows and old houses near East, and South Central. It isn''t just ...
Suit Filed Over Redistricting
A coalition of Latino activists have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to sue the state of California in an attempt to overturn new state Senate and congressional districts, approved by the Governor in September. ...
Another fresh installation at Galeria Tonantzin deconstructs the image of Mary.
She is standing, hands folded in prayer, her head haloed in golden light. Her face is calm and her eyes are gently closed. In another scene she is holding the baby Jesus, looking serene and ...
Tom Russell, along with his old saddle-pal Ian Tyson, heads up Cowboy Poetry and Music fest.
It''s 9am on Thursday morning, and Tom Russell is in a hurry. Last night, he did a concert with cowboy poet Paul Zarzyski at the University of Redlands. It was a successful gig, and this ...
Avoiding the "P" Word, Call for Performers, Personal Shopper
AVOIDING THE "P" WORD... When KAYE BOHLER called the other day to remind me that she had a gig at SLY MCFLY''S this Saturday she only had one request. Well, OK, it was actually two ...
Pie Tin, Viticultural Victors, Perfect World
PIE TIN... If you bake it they will come. If they don''t come--meaning tourists whose numbers have recently declined on The Peninsula--you have to go to them. The MONTEREY BAY PIE COMPANY, a unique retail ...
