Thursday, October 27
The furor over whether Karl Rove outed Valerie Plame is rooted in the Bush administration’s lies about Iraq.
“We’ve secretly replaced the White House press corps with actual reporters,” The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart quipped. And, lo, it appears to be true. On the issue of whether Karl Rove exposed the identity of ...
NewsBriefs
RWE/CAL AM: LEAKY COMPANY? The problems that plague Cal Am, the local division of the American Water Company, apparently are seeping down from the top. Cal Am currently has a plan in front of the ...
ENDORSEMENTS 05: District and School Board
VOTE NOV. 8, 2005
SPECIAL DISTRICTS MONTEREY PENINSULA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Judi Lehman Four years ago, Lehman ousted then-director Ron Chesshire from his seat on the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. During her tenure, Lehman has promoted conservation and ...
HOMEPAGE: Quail Meadows Retreat
HOMEPAGE: Quail Meadows Retreat
“It’s big but not too big,” says Tricia Silverie of her 4,700-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath French-style country home. Located on three and a half acres in Quail Meadows, the home Silverie and her husband Daniel ...
Letters
RICKETTS HAD HELP I just read Eric Tamm’s very interesting and enjoyable article “Of Myths and Men in Monterey” [Oct 13-20] and I would like to make a few comments. The article seems to imply ...
Water War Hero
Bill Woodworth, advocate of conservation and personal responsibility, dies at 87.
Bill “Woody” Woodworth always believed that the real problem with the Peninsula isn’t a water shortage, it’s water storage. Woodworth, a Monterey Peninsula Water Management District board member from 1978-83, a retired Air Force meteorologist, ...
ArtListings
ArtListings
Links to galleries within this section: Back Porch Fabrics | Carmel Art Association | Carmel Foundation | Center for Photographic Art | Chapman Gallery | Coast Gallery | Concepts Carmel | Exotic Fine Art | ...
Real Soul Rocker
Nora Cruz returns with harder sound.
For those local residents who were fans of Santa Cruz vocalist Nora Cruz from the mid-‘80s to the mid-‘90s, they should expect something a little different with the latest incarnation of her band. From 1986 ...
Sweet Savory Season
Roasted Root Risotto captures the flavor of autumn.
I was sitting in a café sipping hot chocolate. Outside the window, a restless wind blew leaves around the grey afternoon, and the warm cup felt just right in my hands. Autumn is a sweet ...
The Good Fight
George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck details the battle between newsman Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Director and co-screenwriter George Clooney strikes just the right tone in this screen story of TV newsman Edward R. Murrow’s courageous battle in the ‘50s against the Commie-baiting Sen. Joseph McCarthy, whose bullying and deceitful ...
Streettalk
A Haunting: Asked outside of Morgan’s Café, on the corner of Pearl and Abrego, Monterey
Q: If you were a ghost who would you haunt?Follow-up: What’s the best Halloween costume you’ve ever seen?Kirsten LykinsDispatcher | Monterey A: I would haunt George Bush. I would follow him everywhere until he goes ...
Freak Show
How a local production team turns a gruesome hobby into a bizarre artistic venture.
EXT: A SMALL OFF-WHITE HOUSE AT THE END OF A ONE WAY STREET—DAY A man in his early 30s slowly walks towards the house. The man has an explosion of reddish-blonde hair and is carrying ...
A Big Bang
Tussle brings Kling Klang to Big Sur.
“How would you describe the sound of Tussle?” I ask Alex Georgopoulos, the band’s bassist and one of its two percussionists. “How would you describe us?” he counters, turning the tables. “Um,” I say after ...
A Cut Above
If you can stomach the gore, Saw II is a well-made horror film.
One-part Silence Of The Lambs, one-part Ten Little Indians and still carrying a lasting dosage of Se7en, Saw II reveals a horror franchise to be reckoned with. A superior grade of actors and a virtuosic ...
FOODCHAIN: New Season of Pleasure
BRIGHT IDEA… Wow, daylight is gone. Those late afternoon tee-times are history. I’m gonna see if my boy Jon Magnusson (Bistro 211 owner) will take me with him to Iceland (where he’s from) next time ...
Bi-coastal Harmony
Rebecca Coupe Franks returns to the Central Coast.
After eight years in Santa Cruz, jazz trumpeter Rebecca Coupe Franks decided last year that owning a house was more important than staying in a region she loved, which led her to New Paultz, a ...
Cracks appear in the Constitution.
The phone rings with a blocked caller ID but I know who it is. My friend the film critic has just put down the same article I’ve just finished reading, a front-page blockbuster in the ...
Flow Power
Parkour, a movement sport imported from France, uses the streets as acrobatic props.
On a Sunday afternoon at a Carmel playground filled with boisterous children, two teenagers appear, seemingly out of nowhere. Making an almost invisible leap, one is suddenly crouching on top of the bright blue play ...
Nature’s Structure
Don Worth’s close-up, organic vision.
“My style is very straightforward, with things seen as clearly as possible,” photographer Don Worth says. “That is the most important thing in my work—clarity.” Worth, who signs copies of his new book, Close to ...
ENDORSEMENTS 05: Ballot Measures
VOTE NOV. 8, 2005
STATE PROPOSITIONS | Special Election Initiatives Among the politicians in our state and nation, there are some who are deeply committed to pubic service, and some who are deeply cynical. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is neither—though ...
SquidFry
SquidFry
PR WATER WAR… Squid wasn’t really surprised to hear about the early-morning call from Cal Am spokesman KEVIN TILDEN canceling the company’s ads in the Weekly. But it’s always a bit of a shock to ...
DiscSpace
DiscSpace
COLOSSUS | West Oaktown |Om Records Charlie Tate debuts his East Bay hip-hop collective Colossus with an homage to his newfound home: a bold set entitled West Oaktown. Having done stints supporting Roy Ayers, Fred ...
FORUM: Madam President
Think Hillary Clinton has a friend in
Imagine this: You see a woman, tall and elegant, with a power-flip hairdo and ruby lips, take an oath of office. You hear her aides call out the words, “Madam President.” Could it be real? ...
The Green Zone
Citizens’ initiative would limit growth to urban areas, and raise the stakes in fight over future development.
To Monterey County Supervisor Fernando Armenta, the growth plan that anti-sprawl activists hope to place on June’s election ballot heralds an “all-out political land-use war.” Armenta, who voted against the last General Plan draft and ...
Thursday, October 20
District and School Board
Endorsements 05
SPECIAL DISTRICTS MONTEREY PENINSULA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Judi Lehman Four years ago, Lehman ousted then-director Ron Chesshire from his seat on the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. During her tenure, Lehman has promoted conservation and ...
Blown Off Course
Two hurricanes send a homeless man all the way to the Peninsula.
Warren Stevens is an American refugee. Maybe. He might also be a good storyteller. He’s standing at the Holman/68 exit of Highway One with a cardboard sign that reads, “Hurricane Vet needs help donations food ...
A Lot of Money
Long-empty property on prime Seaside corner will become retail center. No housing included in below-cost proposal.
A divided City Council voted late last month to sell a prime slice of Seaside for a price well below its assessed value, and a fraction of what the City’s redevelopment agency shelled out to ...
Newsbriefs
No News (Good News) in PG Despite a flurry of unconfirmed reports, Lighthouse Cinemas in Pacific Grove will not be closing any time soon, according to Alan Stokes, vice president of film marketing for Metropolitan ...
DiscSpace
DiscSpace
DANGER DOOM | The Mouse and the Mask | Epitaph Records With Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming as their inspiration, Danger Doom is a hip-hop fanboy’s wet dream: MF Doom’s bizarre, effortless flows are well-complimented ...
Letters
MOCO: NOT OUR NAME When will the Weekly stop abbreviating the name of our fine county with a word that—if not offensive, then at least is gross to a huge portion of our county’s residents. ...
Puppet Master
Director Dave McKean brings the fantasy world of Neil Gaiman alive with the assistance of the Jim Henson Company in MirrorMask.
The work of fantasist Neil Gaiman finally makes it to the screen—its innate sense of wonder intact, even—with this entertaining if sporadically overstuffed package of magic, mystery, and masked madwomen. Gaiman, a native Brit who ...
It’s Our Water! ~ Ch. 3
Local Businessmen JOIN THE FIGHT!
in a conference room at the Marriott hotel (co-owned by attorney PETER CONIGLIO, a former Monterey Mayor) Local businessmen sit AND TALK. They’ve been summoned here today by Coniglio, who shined a SPOTLIT “W” symbol ...
ArtListings
ArtListings
Links to galleries within this section: Back Porch Fabrics | Carmel Art Association | Carmel Foundation | Center for Photographic Art | Chapman Gallery | Coast Gallery | Concepts Carmel | Gallery at Blackstone | ...
It’s Our Water! ~ Ch. 5
Meanwhile, in Another Part of the World!
It’s a month before the November election--and Cal Am’s JUDGMENT DAY. Suddenly VICTORIA KAPLAN, the national organizer for Public Citizen’s “Water for All” Campaign, bursts into CAL AM’s smoke-filled room! The light of day (or ...
Creation Myth
Ed Asner & Co. bring The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial to Carmel.
In 1925 America was changing. A brutal world war had ended, social traditions were under strain, jazz played, the Harlem Renaissance flourished. In response to this “decadence,” a wellspring of Christian revivalism bubbled up across ...
Arnold Live
Governor stumps for props in Marina.
Speaking to an invitation-only crowd of mostly construction workers in Marina Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger staged a carefully-crafted public appearance (reporters sat quietly behind an iron fence with no questions allowed) stumping for his “special ...
Mining Justice
North Country shows how a female mine worker filed the nation’s first class action lawsuit for sexual harassment.
In North Country, New Zealand female director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) makes efficient use of Bob Dylan songs to punctuate a deeply personal story from the harsh terrain of the singer’s Northern Minnesota origins. Based ...
Session Stars
Joe Beck and Bill Mays have emerged as real players.
It was a well-known occupational hazard for jazz artists, a soul destroying scourge that led some of the music’s greatest figures to drop out of sight while they handled their addiction. No, I’m not talking ...
TheaterListings
Links to theater and stage organizations within this section: | CET & Indoor Forest Theater | MPC Drama Dept. | MoCo Theatre Alliance | Pacfic Rep | Unicorn Theatre | theater opening | Great Tennessee ...
It’s Our Water! ~ Ch. 4
Our Hero!
Back at the water district, District Trustee ALVIN EDWARDS has a plan. “Cal Am MISMANAGES our water delivery system! It makes a lot of money off of a public resource! “Let’s take back OUR WATER!” ...
HOMEPAGE: Private Light in Peters’ Gate
HOMEPAGE: Private Light in Peters’ Gate
A 30-acre spread formerly belonging to the artist Charles Rollo Peters is Monterey’s tony Peters’ Gate neighborhood. (Peters sold the estate in 1909 and moved back to his hometown of San Francisco, after spending years ...
Squidfry
Squidfry
BACTERIA IN THE BREAK…The surf season is in full swing and Squid has been scoring big around Monterey County over the last few weeks. Unfortunately, some of his buddies are coming out of the water ...
It’s Our Water! ~ Ch. 6
Can You Hear the People Sing?
At the last minute, Cal Am officials have a collective CHANGE OF HEART. “We will FIGHT Measure W! Sure, we told you all that we wouldn’t campaign against the ballot measure. but we changed our ...
It’s Our Water! ~ The Heroic History of Measure ‘W’
Chapter 1: The Multinational’s Local Minions!
California American Water company officials sit in A dark, underground room, smoking CIGARS and sipping Cristal, laughing about their plot to DOUBLE LOCAL WATER RATES as soon as the state approves the hike! And TRIPLE ...
Street Talk
Water, Water Everywhere: Asked at Marina State Beach, Marina
Q: What do you think is a big waste of water?Follow-up: What’s your favorite water activity?Krista StoverHostess | Salinas A: The everyday use that people aren’t aware of, or that they just don’t realize they’re ...
FOODCHAIN: Give ‘Em the Business
GOOD WORK…The figures are coming in from COMMUNITY FEEDS OUR NATION, the absolutely wonderful event at the Aquarium on Oct. 7. It looks like the event raised in the neighborhood of $220,000 (nice neighborhood), all ...
Ballot Measures
Endorsements05
STATE PROPOSITIONS | Special Election Initiatives Among the politicians in our state and nation, there are some who are deeply committed to pubic service, and some who are deeply cynical. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is neither—though ...
It’s Our Water! ~ Ch. 2
The Carmel River Dies
Environmentalists and friendly fishermen walk along the dried-up Carmel River. They try to save flopping fish. But they are TOO LATE! “Poor little DEAD STEELHEAD! You will never grow into a mature fish, and will ...
A Coup for Salinas
Chicken Scratch Flats gives ‘casual chic’ a new meaning.
I think I have Salinas envy. No; I know I do. That glowing Maya Cinemas marquee thrusting upward into the night sky! When did the Steinbeck Center end of downtown become so…attractive? Last week Michael ...
Hittin’ a Winner
A report from the Fourth Annual Beer Pong World Championship.
LOS ANGELES—The rim of the keg cup sits less than an inch from Lloyd Christmas’ lips. He’s hunched over it like it’s the last fire on a very cold earth. His partner, Harry, is preparing ...
Thursday, October 13
NEWS FEATURE: Of Myths and Men
Ed Ricketts’ death, 50 years ago last week, preceded that of Cannery Row by only a few months.
He is the Jerry Garcia of American science—a bearded guru who ignored the social and scientific orthodoxies of his time; a progenitor of the counter-culture; an enigmatic ecologist whose pioneering work was initially rejected by ...
Locals Flavor
Jacks makes the most of its Portola Plaza location.
It’s good to be a local. The list of reasons runs long: Top-notch cuisine. Pine trees and sea otters. Endless parks and trails. That patient, sparkling Pacific. Add another to the list: two bucks. A ...
Women’s Voices
Stephanie Nakasian and Kate McGarry headline female vocalists’ showcase at Jazz&Blues Co.
In recent years there’s been a palpable sense of rising expectations as jazz fans eagerly await the emergence of singers capable of carrying the tradition forward. That sense of anticipation is what makes this weekend’s ...
Out of Touch
Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown is a sweet but unrealistic film.
I want to live in a world written and directed by Cameron Crowe. Not the world of Vanilla Sky but the world of Say Anything, Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous. Crowe World is a place ...
Letters
FITZ IS A BUM As a lifelong resident of MoCo, I think I have something to say about outsiders and reformers thinking “they” know what is best for “the Valley” and the rest of us. ...
DiscSpace
DiscSpace
ONE SELF | Children of Possibility | Ninja Tune Spearheaded by the acclaimed, ever hardworking DJ Vadim, the trio One Self brings together a creative blend of vocal talent—courtesy of accomplished MC-vocalists Blu Rum 13 ...
FOODCHAIN: The Future is Now
Well, by the time you read this, last week’s COMMUNITY FEEDS OUR NATION event at the Aquarium will be still be the talk of the town. As I write this, we’ve got two days to ...
HOMEPAGE: Forest Pieds-a-Terre
HOMEPAGE: Forest Pieds-a-Terre
One of the first things visitors may notice about the just-completed Forge Condominiums in Carmel is the fragrance. Pine branches drape above the gated courtyard, and combined with cool, sunny air, create a hyper-clean aroma. ...
Backyard Boosters
Local volunteers Ross and Ann Quattlebaum say they love Monterey County, and they walk the talk.
Adam Joseph Ten years ago, hiking through El Toro Park, Ross and Ann Quattlebaum came across a trail littered with trash. They stopped hiking and began picking up litter. A park ranger saw the Quattlebaums ...
ArtListings
ArtListings
Links to galleries within this section: Back Porch Fabrics | Carmel Art Association | Carmel Foundation | Center for Photographic Art | Chapman Gallery | Coast Gallery | Concepts Carmel | Gallery at Blackstone | ...
Brit Hit
England’s
Enough with the CGI animation, Disney, DreamWorks, et al: Between Tim Burton’s smashingly fine Corpse Bride and this excellent new outing from Nick Park and UK-based Aardman Animation, the limitations of pixilated renderings are revealed ...
Street Talk: Counting the Hours
Asked at Carmel Beach
Q: With Daylight Savings Time coming up, we lose an hour of our evening. What would you do if you could get it back? Follow-up: Are you a morning person? KEVIN O’CONNOR | Concierge | ...
Children’s Crusade
With its new production of
More often than not, “good children’s theater” is an oxymoron. Combining dodge-ball choreography with spelling-bee delivery, children’s theater is usually a spectacle that can only be truly appreciated by parents. Gail Higginbotham and Ariel Theatrical ...
TheaterListings
Links to theater and stage organizations within this section: | CET & Indoor Forest Theater | MPC Drama Dept. | MoCo Theatre Alliance | Pacfic Rep | Unicorn Theatre | theater opening | Communicating Doors ...
While oil companies blame environmentalists, they dump product to boost prices.
Refineries make the residential heating oil that warms most of America’s homes. Part of the reason home heating prices are skyrocketing is there are barely enough refineries to meet demand. Oil companies like it that ...
News Briefs
BACKPACK BRIGADE FOR HURRICANE RELIEF Picayune, Miss. has a population of just 15,000. This academic year, though, there are 500 additional students in the tiny school district alone. The new children, ranging in age from ...
SquidFry
SquidFry
LEAVE NO TRACE… Late last week Gov. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER signed SB 370, which requires California counties with touch-screen voting machines to use paper ballots in the event of a post-election recount. (Monterey County will make ...
Mixed Moves
Michael Smuin brings a rich variety of dances to the Sunset.
Michael Smuin will not be typecast. The former principal dancer and director of the San Francisco Ballet and creator of the San Francisco-based Smuin Ballet Company lives a varied life. He served time in the ...
Dozens feel ill after toxic gas drifts into neighborhood.
Ramon Lorico hadn’t even begun to warm his seat when his eyes started to burn inexplicably. The Salinas truck driver had parked himself on his couch at about 9:30pm on Oct. 7 to watch TV ...
Rapid Growth
The Bay Area’s Lyrics Born keeps hip-hop moving forward.
Some publications waste space holding Lyrics Born up against contemporary rap music. Writers are coming to realize such comparisons are not only inadequate, but also insulting. LB isn’t just an anomaly in the rap game; ...
Meth Explodes
The most deadly recreational drug has become the most popular, in Monterey County and everywhere.
Around 5:30pm on July 16, 2004, Pacific Grove police received an anonymous tip that a man was in his home at 316 Prescott Lane cooking and using methamphetamines. It was an unusual tip, but when ...
Thursday, October 6
Speaking Loudly About Libraries
National ‘listening tour’ kicks off in Salinas this weekend.
Are libraries a thing of the past, a throwback to a different era when the coolest piece of equipment librarians had to whisper about was the new microfiche? Or do they have a fundamental place ...
Go All-Organic!
CSUMB’s cafeteria could be pilot for nationwide move to organics on campus.
FOOD&WINE fall05 Demand for organic foods has been steadily expanding from what was an esoteric stratum into a demographically mixed consumer group—yet still only a handful of chefs in Monterey County restaurants are committed to ...
HOMEPAGE: Post-Modern in PB
HOMEPAGE: Post-Modern in PB
Realtors can be prone to hyperbole. But there’s something very genuine in Pat Parrish’s tone when she describes the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house she has listed in upper Pebble Beach. “It’s just a really jazzy house,” ...
Governor signs civil rights bill as he vetoes same-sex marriage.
Late last week, while the media focused on his veto of the same-sex marriage proposal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill intended to protect gay men and lesbians against discriminatory business practices. Apparently, not too ...
News Briefs
W is for Water California American Water’s parent company has a history of pollution, poor financial decision-making and dismal customer service, according to a recent report by Public Citizen, a national consumer advocacy group that ...
Chat Rock
Papa’s Garage met on the Internet, but they’re serious.
For years, bands formed when like-minded musicians met at one of their idol’s shows. Or after a night of sharing similar musical goals over drinks at a seedy bar. Or bandmembers were just childhood friends ...
DiscSpace
DiscSpace
THE ROLLING STONES | A Bigger Bang | EMI The darnedest thing happened the other day. I was in Circuit City and I witnessed a pack of hip teenagers—shaggy hair, jeans, etc.—circling around like sharks ...
Blood on the Snow
A successful hunt for the world’s best beet recipe.
FOOD&WINE fall05 My instructions were cryptic yet clear: figure out how to make a roasted beet dish that was briefly mentioned in the recent food issue of the New Yorker. The beet in question was ...
FOODCHAIN: The Business of Pleasure
GOOD WORK… When this hits the street it will be just one day until COMMUNITY FEEDS OUR NATION, the hurricane relief event Friday, Oct. 7 from 7:30 to 10:30pm at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s ...
Squidfry
Squidfry
WHO NEEDS LETTUCE, ANYWAY…Once again, the Monterey County Supervisors, in their infinite wisdom, gave away the farm, so to speak. Last week, the Supes voted 3-1 (no surprises here—Dave Potter was the lone dissenting vote) ...
Simple Pleasures
Eco author finds delight in life’s basic things.
It was something new back in 1969, Stephanie Mills’ valedictory speech at Mills College in Oakland: a devastating warning about the imminent danger of environmental catastrophe, delivered by a pretty, gentle-voiced young student. It was ...
Green Business
Serendipity Farms is winning against some pretty big odds.
FOOD&WINE fall05 When Jamie Collins quit her job as a social worker in 1997 to become a farmer, she wasn’t thinking about the price of cardboard boxes. She was excited about growing food because it ...
Adapted Sisters
In Her Shoes improves on—and loses emotion from—its chick-lit source.
Jennifer Weiner’s 2002 novel became a hit with the chick-lit crowd for its tragi-comic take on the contentious relationship between two adult sisters. Rose Feller (Toni Collette) is a successful Philadelphia attorney, but a plain ...
Sibling Subjugation
With The Pink Brothers, Allston James dissects a freaky family dynamic.
“Love is like a bottle of beer,” Ben Pink tells Able, his sad, beer-bellied younger brother. “Every time you take a sip, it changes.” When Able grimaces at the bottle of Moosehead in his hand, ...
Whirlybird Fantasies
Confronting dreams and nightmares above the fields of Salinas.
This would be the dream. Flying, with total control and supreme agility. Like Superman with better steering. Skimming sparrow-like along Salinas fields just feet from the golden grass; spiraling straight up from the ground in ...
In the wake of Katrina, folks on the left ought to face some difficult problems.
It shouldn’t hurt to be a child or a liberal, but sometimes it does. Like most Americans, I’ve been watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and if nothing else, it has given me insight as ...
Letters
FRANKLIN STREET FOUNTAIN? The City of Monterey is giving away tens of gallons of free water at least two mornings a week. What, you might ask, are requirements to get this wonderful gift? All you ...
The Opposite of Suck
Mike Mills’ debut is smart, funny, and gorgeously sad.
About once a year—twice, if we’re lucky—a first-time director shows up with something original, electrifying, and humane, a film that shows us a new way to see, that presents complex and memorable people in whom ...
Little Slice o’ Heaven
Local boutique wineries prove that small is beautiful.
FOOD&WINE fall05 The old adage goes something like: “How do you end up with a million dollars in the wine business?” Answer: “Start with 10 million,” or some such thing. As with many businesses, the ...
Real Old School
For 36 years, Sage has played both kinds of music: rhythm and blues.
A lot of bands last about as long as a store-bought loaf of bread. The guitarist ends up sleeping with the singer’s girlfriend, while the drummer starts drinking and drugging. Egos start to collide like ...
ArtListings
ArtListings
Links to galleries within this section: Back Porch Fabrics | Carmel Art Association | Carmel Foundation | Center for Photographic Art | Chapman Gallery | Coast Gallery | Concepts Carmel | Gallery at Blackstone | ...
‘True’ Stories: Asked at Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey
Q: What’s the biggest fish story you’ve ever told?Follow-Up: What’s your favorite fish dish? Paula DouglasArtist | Sacramento A: I once skipped a rock from the Old Wharf in Monterey all the way to Carmel. ...
