GIVE A LITTLE—A LOT…The world is getting real lumpy man. There is so much pain and suffering on this planet, yet most people, unless their own soft, weak little asses are directly affected right now, just go on pretending that everything is all right. Let’s face it, you have to be a dope, or on dope, to not see how incontrovertibly screwed up (I really want to use a stronger word here) things have become. Bob Dylan, who’s been catching the human wavelength more clearly than most the past few decades hit it right on about ten years ago with the title of his album, World Gone Wrong.

The world has gone wrong. Don’t be stupid and continue believing otherwise, or worse still, ignoring it. I used to be more tolerant of ignorance, but in the modern world, the only obstacle between people’s learning/not learning about truth is their own density. One of the great Italian colloquialisms I heard a lot growing up was “capa tosta”—the spelling might be off here—which translates to “hard head.”

Well, the biggest problem I’m having today is getting past the small-mindedness of vast numbers of people who can’t extrapolate, using simple common sense, that the cloistered lifestyles and provinciality they so desperately cling to will inevitably crumble if the foundation of human life is continually allowed to erode. That foundation is built upon simple caring and respect for everyone…every single one. Everywhere.

That’s why organizations like the Monterey County AIDS Project (MCAP) and so many like them, are so important.

They toil away, day after day, watching the world at play, while the sick just decay, and the dying keep on trying to remove the source of crying, while the jolly live their folly telling lies they keep denying.

Get up and help somebody. Do something good with what you’ve got, whatever it might be. If you’ve got some money, buy a couple of tickets to the upcoming Feast For AIDS at Pebble Beach’s Beach Club. Buy a few more for somebody who would love to be there but can’t afford it, like the many people living with HIV/AIDS, or maybe your regular bartender or waitress or somebody who should be there, you know what I mean. Be generous with your spirit and let the flow of love go forth into the world. Then, go there and talk to people. Find out what’s going on. Let yourself have a little fun. Eat, drink, dance and drop a bundle of cash on these hard working selfless folks who continue to save people’s lives when they can, and make others’ lives a bit more livable when they can’t.

BE GOOD AND HAVE FUN…The particulars are as follows: Saturday, Dec. 11 at 6pm, Beach and Tennis Club, Pebble Beach. There’s a champagne reception, then seven courses of great food and wine, by local and visiting greats, coordinated by the one and only Jeffrey Jake, Executive Chef for the Pebble Beach Company and Chairperson for this great event. There’ll be dancing to Lorelei and the SwingKings with special guest Lee Durley, live and silent auctions, cash drawings and a night of such joyful, loving interaction between humans that anyone fortunate enough to be there is guaranteed to be transformed.

<>Open your heart, open your wallet, call 394-4747 (MCAP)…it’s Thanks-GIVING.

SAINT JULIA…There was a lot of giving thanks to Julia Child at last week’s incredible Julia Child Tribute Dinner at Highlands Inn. Food and Beverage Director Rob Weakley put together a wonderful lineup of big name chefs (George Morrone, Richard Reddington, Mark Gaier, Clark Frasier, Michael Mina and Mark Ayers) to bang out course after course of delicious, inspired food. Of course everyone there—the list comprised a Who’s Who of local food and wine cognoscenti—was thrilled to share their Julia stories with anyone who’d listen, for as long as they would listen.

In fact, during American Institute of Wine and Food’s (an organization founded by Julia, along with Robert Mondavi and Richard Graff) Monterey Chapter Chairperson Mary Chamberlain’s pre-game speech before dinner, she so enthusiastically rambled on with story after interesting story about Julia Child that I (along with, I’m sure, all the serious restaurant people in the house) was worrying about the chefs and staff in the kitchen trying to time the incredibly complex dinner for 190. But alas, as always, the staff rolled with the challenge and began the nightlong joy ride along the culinary coastal highway.

The event benefited AIWF’s various scholarship funds and brought not only money, but spiritual funding in the name of one of our greatest-ever natural resources, the incomparable Julia Child. A hearty right on to the folks at Highlands Inn, all the many staff and volunteers who worked the event and all the fine foodies who showed up to clang the pots and pans in the name of everyone’s friend, Sweet Julia.

It’s the time of the year for soul searching, introspection and peaceful acceptance of our fellow living beings on this battered planet. Spread some love today.