BAY AREA BUDDY… Pacific Repertory Theater’s production of Buddy—The Buddy Holly Story opens June 9 at the Post Street Theatre in San Francisco, and key PRT staffers have been running back and forth to the City by the Bay getting the show ready. “It’s the first time I’m getting paid to have an opinion,” admits PRT’s technical director John Rousseau, who says he’s a “consultant” on the SF production. (Welcome to the heady world of punditry, Mr. Rousseau). It’s quite a coup for the Peninsula’s sole Equity theater, which has snagged the West Coast rights to the hit rock ‘n’ roll musical. PRT founder and artistic director Stephen Moorer already took the Carmel production to San Jose for a three-month run, directed a touring version in Los Angeles, and is directing the upcoming San Francisco show, which stars original cast members Travis Poelle as Buddy and Scott Free as the Big Bopper, along with a handful of other local actors from the original production. Tickets are on sale now: 415-321-2900 or www.poststreettheatre-sf.com.

GOLD STAR… Local author Ed Mitchell recent won the Best Action Book award from the Sacramento Publishers and Authors Association for Gold Raid, his second thriller novel. Like his first book, Gold Lust, which won the National Publishers Freedom Award for Best New Fiction from a small press, Gold Raid is set largely in Monterey. Both award winners, both dealing with men, gold, and the lust for money—congratulations.

MORE GOLD STARS… Kudos also go to Sarah Chang, Louis Gularte, Gabriele Micheletti, Alana Murphy and Allyson Spiegelman, ages 11-18, of Monterey County, who were chosen along with three other young musicians to take part in this year’s Carmel Bach Festival’s final Family Concert, to be held Aug. 7 in Carmel’s Sunset Theater. It’s lovely recognition of our most excellent young classical musicians, and the teachers who train them.

PHOTOG SCHOLARSHIPS… Full-time college students with a GPA of 3.5 or better who intend to pursue an arts career are invited to apply for a scholarship funded by Byte Technology and the Weston family. Applicants must have limited income, and should submit a portfolio, letter of recommendation from a college professor, and an essay titled “What photography means to me” before June 15 to Suzanne Hamilton at Byte Technology, 482 Alvarado St., Monterey. Call 656-9178.