Photographer and author John Livingstone is launching a two-year project to digitally record images of businesses of the Monterey Peninsula. He plans to spend 2004 and ’05 on the project, which will, he hopes, provide a permanent historical record for local municipalities of what their downtown businesses looked like back at the dawn of the 21st century.

“I’ll be starting next week in Carmel, my hometown,” he says, noting further, “it might take six months just to do Carmel.” Livingstone will ask storeowners, managers and/or employees to pose in front of their storefronts, and will donate the finished pictures to municipal archives. He has no outside funding, so each business owner will be asked to pay $25, which will include participation in the project, an 8X10 photograph of themselves or their storefront, and a copy of Livingstone’s 1988 pictorial history Carmel By Itself: Portrait of a Unique American Community. Call 626-4120 or 402-1559 if you’d like to take part.

THE DIVINE WITHIN…Tonight at Carmel’s Thunderbird Bookstore, Rick Moss will be presenting his techniques for clearing away what he calls “ego-mind blockages” to help people access the “whole and perfect Diamond” that radiates their true inner beauty and wisdom. He’s outlined his theories in a lovely, hand-crafted book and CD called The Light-Traveler’s Notebook, which lays out a plan, in lyrical format, for using what he calls pre-cognitive re-education to redirect our lives. Interested? Show up at 7pm, and see what a clearing session is all about. 624-1803.

EROTIC ART NEEDED…The fifth annual Erotic Art Show, which takes place Saturday evening Feb. 14—Valentine’s Day—at the Monterey Fairgrounds, is seeking art in all media. Cash prizes will be awarded in the following categories: most erotic (natch), most original, and best of show. Entry fee is $10 for one piece, or $25 for three, and all artwork must be in place at the Fairground’s Turf Club by Feb. 13. Call Brad Mallory at 899-1007 for details.

LAST CALL…Deadline for the California Coastal Commission’s youth coastal art and poetry contest is Jan. 31. Students K-12 are invited to submit poetry or artwork with a coastal or marine theme. Gift certificates will be awarded to winners and their sponsoring teachers. Visit www.coastforyou.org or call 1-800-Coast-4U for contest rules.