Stories for May 2007

Thursday, May 31

Hired Guns

No on A outspent opponents to finance consultants’ time-tested strategy.

It costs a lot of money to win an election in Monterey County. This year, the opponents in the Measure A race have raised a total of $1.42 million. According to campaign finance reports, the ...

La Vie Bohème in Salinas

Envisioning an artists’ enclave in the Alisal area.

On what is now a dusty, hidden strip in East Salinas, Victor Mehia sees creative potential. Using his car keys like a paintbrush, Mehia sketches an art institute in place of the used car lot. ...

PublicCitizen

ONGOINGINTERN WITH DENHAM | SALINAS— State Sen. Jeff Denham accepts résumés from high school and college students interested in volunteering for summer internships in his Salinas district office. Responsibilities include providing phone support, constituent correspondence ...

A Match Made In Marina

City Councilmembers choose Morrison’s replacement.

When the Marina City Councilmembers pick their next colleague on June 5, it will be akin to speed dating. The council will hear from 15 different applicants who will have three minutes each to charm ...

Huge and Cozy

>>REALESTATEKen and Connie Ward are moving to San Diego after five years at their Pasadera home, a seemingly effortless blend of geometry, artistry and physics, as comfortable to enter as reverie. The 5,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath ...

Getting With the Program

CSUMB Athletics mails off its bid for the big (or at least bigger) time.

These otter antics weren’t so cute. CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) men’s soccer slogged through a 2-15 season. Women’s soccer stumbled to 3-15. Men’s basketball, meanwhile, went 12-15; women’s hoops dribbled to 7-20; and women’s volleyball ...

Bad Lands

Set in Australia,

Jindabyne is a strange place. Located by the Snowy Mountains of Australia, a portion of the town was buried underwater when the power company dammed a nearby river for a hydroelectric plant. Though hidden most ...

Passion Rekindled

Marshall Otwell brings a renewed love of the piano to the Hyatt.

As the portentous year of 1984 came to a close, Marshall Otwell was at the top of his game. The widely respected pianist had just finished an eight-and-a-half-year run with legendary jazz vocalist Carmen McRae, ...

Ten Reasons to Vote Yes on Measure A

Why the citizen’s initiative serves Monterey County better than the supervisors’ GPU 4.

1. MEASURE A BETTER PRESERVES AG LAND AND THE AG ECONOMY.Monterey County has the fastest conversion rate of ag land to urban use of any county in California. Measure A will ensure that when development ...

Pregnant With Laughs

Knocked Up overcomes an implausible pairing to deliver hilarious comedy.

Genuinely brilliant comedy—not just something that provokes smiles and titters, but something that launches carbonated beverage out your nose—is a rare and precious thing. If you’re lucky, a truly raucous laugh-fest, like writer/director Judd Apatow’s ...

Worm War I

Chemical fertilizer giant sues little green worm-castings company.

TerraCycle Inc. is a small company in a decidedly unglamorous business: It sells all-natural plant fertilizers derived from worm excrement. But there is big money in bottled worm poop, which explains why the 3-year-old Trenton, ...

High End Eco

Element Earth hopes to make soy boxers and recycled-tire shoes chic in Carmel.

The black, long-sleeved hoodie looks basic. It’s not. It’s 68 percent bamboo, 27 percent organic cotton and 5 percent spandex. And it costs $63.The sweatshirt—made largely from the world’s fastest growing plant, which makes the ...

Compromise Now

We can’t wait for a perfect immigration reform bill.

>>THELOCALSPINIt’s one of the basic facts of life: To get what we want, we need to be willing to give something. It’s a lesson we are supposed to learn when we are very young, but ...

New Old Local Faves

Red Light Nightmare, Infrareds, Serpico, Darktown Rounders, Sex Farm—all in two bands, on one stage.

Performances by Red Light Nightmare were always memorable. This fan recalls one evening when the group was playing the small front room of the old Viva’s (which underwent a massive facelift and reopened as Monterey ...

Squid Fry for May 31, 2007

ANY DAY NOW… One of Squid’s censors— er, editors— calls Squid a pressure player. Thing is, Squid doesn’t just work well under pressure. Squid can’t work unless there’s pressure. Squid thinks that’s what’s happened to ...

What’s Wrong With Feedlots?

Most cows spend the last several months of their lives cramed into pens in feedlots where they are fattened up for slaughter. There, they are fed a diet that consists mostly of corn, but often ...

A Lot of Woman

Lily Tomlin’s solo show features a huge cast of characters.

Edith Ann is 5 years old. Her feet flail as she slides back and forth in a massive wooden rocking chair. She pulls at her shoelaces as she rambles on in a stuffed-up, snotty tenor, ...

DiscSpace

WILCO | Sky Blue Sky | NonesuchBack in 1995, Wilco debuted with a modest—but satisfying—country rock album titled A.M. Ever since then, the band, whose only constant members have been songwriter/singer/guitarist Jeff Tweedy and bassist ...

Asked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Street Talk

Q: WHERE WERE YOU FIVE YEARS AGO?Follow-up: Where do you see yourself in five years?MARY ALISON HIGI | Research Assistant | MarinaA: I was just entering my senior year of high school. I was trying ...

Money Makers

Thriving East Salinas shopping district pumps cash into city coffers.

In eclectic mix of locally owned shops and restaurants in East Salinas generate more sales tax revenue than most other shopping districts in the city. According to Salinas Redevelopment Agency Director Alan Stumpf, the Salinas ...

Slow the Flow

It’s time to heed the Stage 1 water alert that has been in effect for eight years.

Cal Am’s Steve Leonard is one of those people who truly is only happy when it rains. “There are no sunny days for me,” says the water company vice president. “Give me fog—when the demand ...

War Goes On

The peace movement must move.

>>OPINIONPublic opinion polls aren’t the same as political leverage. The Vietnam War went on for years after polling showed that most Americans opposed the war and even saw it as immoral.Slick phrases about the need ...

A Taste of the Open Range

A handful of South County ranchers switch to grass-fed beef.

I’m standing at the exit end of a cow, my arm plunged shoulder deep into the orifice commonly referred to as the poop chute. I consider how I came to find myself in this predicament, ...

Sicilian Sequel

Favaloro’s reincarnation recalls what made it a PG landmark.

Since I came to Monterey County only a short time ago, many people have mentioned Favaloro’s in the course of conversation. It seemed such an integral part of the Pagrovian life that I was surprised ...

Staying Warm

GET TO WORK… May was a fascinating month, calendarily speaking. It was one of those months that had two full moons in it. Also, we had five Weeklys (Weeklies?) in May, so ERIK CUSHMAN (the ...

Letters to the Editor for May 31, 2007

PUT YOUR VOTE ON PAPER Yes, I can assure Linda Tulett that voters here have grave and valid concerns about the security and accuracy of our elections [“New Registrar Faces Challenge,” May 24-30]. The $4 ...

ArtListings for May 31, 2007

Thursday, May 24

Sites Unseen

Three off-the-radar spots to camp when the rest of Big Sur is booked.

SUMMER•FUN Back when I worked at Big Sur Station, we had one tidbit of advice for people looking to do some last minute weekend camping during the summer months without a reservation: Don’t come down. ...

Letters to the Editor for May 24, 2007

DRIVERS AND BICYCLISTS UNITE I can relate to the situation in the article “Pedal Pushers” [May 10-16]. Some motorists may not realize that honking or driving too closely to cyclists may alarm the person on ...

Asked at Nob Hill in Pacific Grove.

Street Talk

Q: WHAT IS YOUR DREAM SUMMER VACATION?Follow-up: What are you actually doing this summer?MARI ASP | Personal Trainer | MontereyA: To travel to Norway, where I am from. It’s so beautiful there. I love the ...

Paint Fearless

David Fleming is unafraid to tackle any subject.

I know the gnaw of remorse that visits a sportsman who has battled an enormous fish almost to the boat before the line snaps, and the glimpse of a fin, the outline of a silvery ...

Sustainable Seafood and Agriculture: Fishing for Solutions

Here’s the major buzz on the hottest trend in food: sustainability. When someone figures how to put all this on a label, we’ll let you know.

TOTAL ENERGY USED. There’s a new low-carb diet: low carbon. Consumers want to know the greenhouse emissions of the total energy used in food production in order to reduce global warming. One component is “food ...

Sound Waves

Heavy metal surfer thumps music, reveals surprises.

The beautiful town of Carmel has many fixtures. There’s Ocean Avenue, with its upscale shops and faux European looks, the fanciful storybook cottages, the dogs frolicking along Carmel Beach. But there is one common sight ...

Summer’s Really Here

HARD TRUTH…Memorial Day weekend is here. This signifies the unofficial beginning of summer, especially in the areas of the country with more extreme seasonal weather patterns. It’s a weekend for barbecuing with the family, tending ...

What’s the Buzz?

It is a reassuring thing to see a director so synonymous with big budgets and technical effects paring back and making a film with the strong writing and layered themes of the best independent cinema.William ...

Local Beat

Militia of Love headlines a night of West Coast reggae.

For the last 20 years, bassist and vocalist Rob Melendez has been playing a kind of music that he has dubbed “California reggae.” “It’s a synthesis of rock, pop and reggae,” he says. “I’ve never ...

To Plan, or Not?

Measure A makes us take responsibility for the future.

>>THELOCALSPIN We are constantly being reminded that the decision we are making in the June 5 special election is extremely complicated, and that is true, in a way. But the fact is, we face a ...

Old-Fashioned Fun

Sleep-over camp, then and now.

SUMMER•FUN Oliver was my horse. A hunter-jumper in his previous life, Ollie was tall, well over 16 hands, and feisty. He w as an auburn bay, with a thick black mane and tail—one of the ...

Yo Ho Hum

The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy sails to a bloated conclusion

Nearly 45 minutes into Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) still hasn’t shown his face on screen. But because screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and director Gore Verbinski ...

New Oldtown?

Despite recent closures, city leaders say Salinas’ business district is on the upswing.

Comedian George Lopez will be the star of opening night at the Fox Theater in Oldtown Salinas this Friday and Saturday, May 25 and 26. He’ll even be the designated ribbon-cutter at a 3pm ceremony ...

New Registrar Faces Challenge

Tulett promises to bring accountability to troubled office.

Linda Tulett, Monterey County’s new registrar of voters, began work on Monday, May 21, arriving in a troubled office facing an important election. Her predecessor, Tony Anchundo, is in jail for misusing county-issued credit cards. ...

Crossing the Line

Marina Station kids will live near MPUSD schools but outside district boundaries.

Marina and the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District share a plan for the handful of new and expanded schools that will be built and remodeled in the city’s myriad of new housing developments. The nearly ...

Boredom Beaters

A day-camp resource guide.

SUMMER•FUNARIEL THEATRICALThree one-week workshops explore the art and joy of performing, and conclude with a show. A three-week production camp culminates with a performance of The Jungle Book. Ages 4-17.Run: One-week workshops start June 18; ...

squid Fry

POWERFUL FRIENDS… Generally, Squid likes rumors—starting them and hearing them. But recently, Squid heard one that made Squid’s cold blood boil: According to some cephalopods in the know, Monterey County’s LOCAL AGENCY FORMATION COMMISSION (LAFCO) ...

Staying Power

Aquarium’s flagship event expands upon ‘sustainability.’

For many in Monterey County, and the nation, 9-14 was as scary as 9-11. That’s the day the FDA issued a warning on E-coli contamination in spinach. It dawned on Americans that we could be ...

Past Fascinating

Rare tour of the Lower Presidio stirs its layered history.

Native-American fishermen haul their catch of fish and Nabalone up the lush hillside to their village, which commands a panoramic view of Monterey Bay. The women of the village leave an offering of food on ...

Public Citizen for May 24, 2007

ONGOINGINTERN WITH DENHAM | SALINAS— State Sen. Jeff Denham is accepting resumés from high school and college students interested in volunteering for summer internships in his Salinas district office. Responsibilities include providing phone support, constituent ...

Monster Party

The stinkiest, fattest and most fascinating summer shindig takes place on a beach south of Big Sur.

SUMMER•FUNThe bizarre sound—part snort, part burp, part snarl—rattles the air like a wet snare drum. The smell swoops into the nose with a unique stink that evokes old socks and rotten fish. The singular sight—beanbag ...

ArtListings for May 24, 2007

alvarado gallery Monterey Golden Blues and Monterey County Scenes. Monterey Conference Center, 1 Portola Plaza, Monterey. 646-5648. anton gallery Breaking Form: works by Rob Barnard, Mary Annella Frank and Reid McIntyre. Hawthorne Mansion, 701 Hawthorne ...

Theocons Of The World, Unite

Radical Islamists find sympathetic friends among Christian fundamentalists.

>>FORUMA few years ago, I heard someone call in to a right-wing radio show to rail against the feminists, the homosexuals, the atheists, and other usual suspects. The host enthusiastically agreed. The caller then voiced ...

Thursday, May 17

Spring Cleansing

What one food addict discovered when he gave it all up.

My love of food is what gets me arm-deep in the food chain every week, prying pearls of inspiration like so many wisdom teeth from the mouths of experts— the chefs, farmers, home-cooks, butchers and ...

Just Another Huge Week

SET ’EM UP, ZOLE… My sweetie and I are still in the throes of confusion over our new satellite TV and exactly what channels are available and for how much. We agree that all these ...

Numbed by War

The pain that crippled one Marine cripples all of us.

>>THELOCALSPINAdrian Jimenez accepts his cruel fate with a shrug. Reading his story, that is what’s most troubling. At 22, he is too world-weary to feel even a little bit sorry for himself. It’s as if ...

The Long Goodbye

Julie Christie stares down the clock in

Away from Her treats the trauma of loss with the dignity it deserves: as something that never goes away, but settles like a terminal ache deep in your bones. The drama, directed by actress Sarah ...

Soldiers Silenced

The Pentagon’s shortsighted milblogger crackdown.

>>FORUMIn a recent Saturday morning, Conference Room D outside the Ballston Westin Gateway hotel’s F. Scott Fitzgerald Ballroom was filled with bloggers. So, naturally, there was lots of fulminating about the mainstream media (MSM).But when ...

Letters to the Editor for May 17, 2007

GIVE JESSICA AN AWARDAfter reading Jessica Lyons’ “Sex And The County—Back To The Future,” I know who writes Squid Fry. It’s her, the only society gossip reporter in Monterey County with a head on her ...

Budget Plan Cuts Farm Money

Governor says funds have better uses.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s revised $145 billion state spending plan, released Monday, eliminates state funding for a program used to protect farmland and prevent urban sprawl.In an effort to reduce a $1.4 billion deficit without raising ...

Keeping Vigil

Local cancer victim’s memory lives on in the Relay for Life.

The Carmel High girls’ field hockey team almost never won, but its coach, Brenda La Mica-Hoge, taught her players to be proud of the small stuff—each well-executed play, each blocked shot on goal. Brenda knew ...

Pass the Arugula

CSUMB considers replacing eco-friendly Sodexho with a new food-service provider.

Given the choice, many college students would probably choose grease over greens. Yet CSU-Monterey Bay sophomore Josh Varon seems to have found the right combination of vegetables and fried food. Varon, who has dark hair ...

For the Birds

The region’s top birder chases species all over the county and the world.

Under a sky bruised by rain clouds, Don Roberson pulls his Isuzu Trooper into County Supervisor Lou Calcagno’s Moon Glow Dairy Farm behind the Duke Energy Power Plant in Moss Landing. “There is almost no ...

Asked at Custom House Plaza in Monterey.

Street Talk

Q: THE US HAS A NASTY OIL HABIT. DO YOU HAVE ANY NASTY HABITS?Follow-up: What isn’t a habit but should be considered one?Wendy Forsythe | College Graduate | New Jersey A: My husband would tell ...

Healthy Progress

Cooking for Solutions promises more wise and simple breakthroughs.

Two years ago, at the end of the Cooking for Solutions expert panel question-and-answer period, a scientist in the audience raised his hand. Why, he asked, given the sorry state of tuna and other top ...

Alive and Flapping

Condor chick is doing well in its Big Sur cave.

It’s been a big week for Joe Burnett, senior biologist with the Ventana Wildlife Society. From a room in the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, where his wife Wendy is about to give birth ...

Border Crossings

Tish Hinojosa explores the boundaries of popular music.

Since her 1989 debut, Homeland, Texas singer/songwriter Tish Hinojosa has effortlessly mixed coffeehouse folk, twangy country-and-western and percussion-heavy Latin music. “I don’t like to stick to one style, because I get bored with things,” she ...

A Lot of House

>>REALESTATEIn Pacific Grove, on a big piece of land that’s more meadow than yard, venerable pines and redwoods soar vertically, their canopies closer to the sky than the ground. They stand in demure composition to ...

Marine Down

Adrian Jimenez is fighting to make it the rest of the way home.

With his machine gun drawn, Lance Cpl. Adrian Jimenez searched from room to room. Sweat soaked into his undershirt as he scanned the brick-and-concrete structure—nobody was inside. Another empty residence, another sigh of relief.Outside, smoke ...

Artists’ Journey

Belle Yang documentary tells a Chinese immigrant family’s story.

A gaily painted kite bucks and twists in the wind, tail snapping loudly as it soars, seemingly fragile, but jerking hard against the string held taught by an elderly man below. Joseph Yang and his ...

Celtic Explosion

Culann’s Hounds bring big sound to London Bridge.

Over the last year, the San Francisco-based traditional Irish group Culann’s Hounds has been blowing up. Last St. Patrick’s Day, the quartet headlined a concert at the Great American Music Hall. That day also marked ...

The Master’s Voice

Jonathan Poretz learned a lot by playing Frank Sinatra.

Imitation can be a creative cul de sac for musicians, a dead end in the search for a personal sound. But immersing oneself in the work of a master can also unlock new avenues, enabling ...

PublicCitizen

5|17THURSBIKE TO WORK | COUNTYWIDE —Free breakfast for people who bike to work. Information on locations at Bike2work.com. MARINA TRAFFIC | MARINA —Chamber luncheon features “Marina Traffic Issues: Current and Future.” 11:45am-1pm. A Pizza Paradise, ...

ArtListings for May 17, 2007

Country Joe Returns

Folk rock icon brings Woodie Guthrie tribute to Big Sur.

The last time folk rock legend Country Joe McDonald played Big Sur was back in 1967. With former bandmate Barry Melton, his band Country Joe and the Fish performed in a field right off Highway ...

Squid Fry for May 17, 2007

MONEY TALKS… Squid keeps a close eye on Squid’s money—one-third of Squid’s income pays the rent and utilities, one-third pays for the Squidmobile and the final third for booze. And being such an accountable cephalopod, ...

Pie in the Sky

Adrienne Shelly’s last film is a breezy revelation.

I first saw Adrienne Shelly in 1989, starring in Hal Hartley’s micro-indie The Unbelievable Truth at Houston’s Landmark River Oaks Theatre. Shelly was a rarity among women in that age: She was blond; she was ...

Reason for Rhyme

A Sudan transplant continues his journey through verse.

Ibrahim Musa holds a plain folder containing the essence of his fateful life experience. Before coming to the US almost three years ago, the 49-year-old taught English, wrote poetry and was a journalist in his ...

Fast Family

A Laguna Seca Legend — and son — make a big weekend at the track bigger.

Dan Gurney’s favorite local memory involves a twist to rival those of the storied Seca corkscrew: In this tale there are no other racers giving chase, just military police.Gurney was in the Army, stationed at ...

DiscSpace

BLONDE REDHEAD | 23 | 4AD/Beggars BanquetBlonde Redhead, the trio of twin brothers Amedeo and Simone Pace and Kazu Makino, once traded in the sonic dissonance inspired by New York’s early ‘90s no-wave scene. Now, ...

Thursday, May 10

Blues in his Blood

J. C. Smith brings ace band to Sly’s.

It took a while for J.C. Smith to come around, but he finally got into the family business. Over the past seven years, the San Jose native has emerged as a top Northern California bluesman ...

Serious Readers

The financial class may not be happy with Murdoch’s version of the Wall Street Journal.

>>FORUMPredictably, some critics have decried the current efforts by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. to buy Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the Wall Street Journal. But let’s imagine the dynamics that might emerge if Murdoch ...

High Seas Highjinx

MPC promises a lively version of Pirates of Penzance.

I am the very model of a modern Major-GeneralWhen Gary Bolen, the chairman of MPC’s drama department, strolled through the nave of St. Paul’s Cathedral while visiting London last year, he stopped for a moment ...

The Morrison Behind the Mask

Formerly fiery ex-Councilman minds his manners.

Former Marina City Councilman Michael Morrison asks the bartender at English Ales Brewery to retrieve his beer mug, number 201. Dressed in a dark blazer over a white, collared shirt, Morrison reviews the laminated menu ...

All The Rage

The follow-up to 28 Days Later… also features zombies and a critique of the military.

Strictly speaking, the zombies in 28 Days Later… and its equally frightening sequel 28 Weeks Later… are not zombies. “Zombies” usually designates ambulatory corpses, while the “infected” in the 28 films are living, breathing humans ...

Letters to the Editor for May 10, 2007

CARMEL’S BIG (AND BUSY) ENOUGHIt sure appears that Squid’s ink impeded not only his/her vision but also obstructed the cephalopod’s listening skills [“Not in Carmel’s Backyard,” April 19-25]. Fortunately, Carmel’s Planning Commission heard over 30 ...

Old Soul

Young singer looks to the old pop classics for inspiration.

Dani Paige, 21, is not that impressed with the music being made by contemporary pop musicians. Rather, the Santa Cruz-based vocalist is influenced by artists that appeal to more mature audiences, including the late blues ...

Sacred Sounds

First-ever Monterey Gospel Festival brings 15 acts to Fairgrounds.

India Arie did it. So did Sam Cooke, Elvis and, for sure, Aretha Franklin. “American Idol” favorite and Oscar-winning Dreamgirls co-star Jennifer Hudson did it, too. And opera star Jessye Norman, from Georgia, who regularly ...

All Grown Up

Indie-rock auteur Kristin Hersh makes a big noise with a new album.

The last time Kristin Hersh played the Central Coast, it was as frontwoman for 50 Foot Wave, a power trio emitting a wall of melodic distortion for a small Santa Cruz crowd. Tiny and placid, ...

Stalking Flavor

New ways to celebrate asparagus in springtime.

According to Miss Manners, asparagus is one of the few foods acceptable to eat with one’s hands. The “asparagus exception” originated from a time when people ate using real silverware, which got stained by asparagus ...

Yes on Measure A

Why I am voting for GPI—though I don’t love it.

⃝⃝>>THELOCALSPINIn this line of work, a person tends to lose a lot of romantic notions. Many reporters come to the newspaper business with a passion to expose the dark deeds of villains and to cast ...

Wedding Crasher

The Oscar nominated After The Wedding uncoversa family’s secrets during the ceremony.

Hype and perceptions of “heat” don’t just influence the careers of individual actors or filmmakers, but can shape the ups and downs of different countries’ film industries. Currently the moviemaking nations generating the most worldwide ...

Pedal Pushers

Seaside’s bike-friendly rhetoric outpaces its infrastructure.

Biking back to work from the Seaside post office, I cruise down Broadway Avenue and, using my left arm as a signal, ease into the turning lane to make a left onto Fremont Boulevard. Just ...

Nerd Logic

What (or how) is Google thinking?

As with E=mc2 and the universe, everything that you need to know about Google—how it works, why it works, where it comes from, and where it’s likely going—can be summarized in one line. It’s the ...

Back to the Future

Looking back on the June 2007 election, and how Measure A saved the county.

~SEXANDTHECOUNTY Her leopard-print ballet flats clicked woefully up the US Supreme Courthouse steps. The girl reporter felt as if she had been here before—and written these same words. Covering the ongoing legal battles over the ...

Hunger Strikebreakers

Force-feeding is a new form of torture at Guantanamo, employed to quell a tragic protest.

>>FORUMGuantánamo is in the grips of a hunger strike—an age-old form of protest that marked such world events as the fight for women’s suffrage and Indian independence. The US military’s response to the hunger strike ...

Word Search

Pacific Grove looks to fill its unique poetry post.

For Rent: Pacific Grove 3br/1ba historic cottage. Nice wooden porch. A block and a half from Lovers Point and walking distance to shops and restaurants. Applicants should be struggling to pay bills—and able to whip ...

Asked at Toro Café in Salinas.

Street Talk

Q: WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEM THESE DAYS?Follow-up: What’s your favorite comfort food?TROY SIMONS | Realtor | Pacific GroveA: My number one problem these days is keeping my six kids in line. Just the other day ...

Pepperoni Resurrection

After a long decline, La Casa Sorrento Pizzeria reopens with the recipes that made it famous.

As far as owner Michael Hackett can figure, La Casa Sorrento has been supplying Salinas with pizza pies since the days of the Eisenhower administration. Hackett himself remembers going there in high school, right after ...

New (Again) Monterey

David and Nicole Brown have two businesses in the Central Valley; David not only works in Modesto but also on the Peninsula four days a week. It became clear to the couple that a house ...

The Big Time

POWER CHECK... I spend a lot of my thinking energy—a supply dwindling faster than Gulf of Mexico crude—focused upon our world and its inhabitants, trying to engineer creative ways to solve the systemic inequities that ...

PublicCitizen

5|10THURSPRAY FOR SUN | MONTEREY—Monterey County Parks Commission meets. Noon-1pm. Monterey Pines Picnic Area, Jacks Peak, 25020 Jacks Peak Park Rd., Monterey. Free. 755-4907. HIGH TECHNET | MARINA—At today’s Marina Technology Cluster meeting, two Electronic ...

ArtListings for May 10, 2007

A Democratic Plan

American politics experiences its greatest seismic shifts when citizens respond to the misuse or abuse of power. In Monterey County, the earth is shaking. There’s a growing revolt in response to a county Board of ...

Changing History

Chilean judge who prosecuted Pinochetvisits Monterey to talk about the bloody dictator and human rights.

By Mark C. AndersonJudge Juan Guzmán Tapia’s life changed when he won the lottery. Randomly selected from his spot on an appellate court in Santiago, Chile in the late ‘90s to investigate the suspected crimes ...

Nice Touch

MPC massage academy trainees soothe at bargain rates.

I had two options: Arrive at work at 9am on a Friday, sit in front of a keyboard and get writing. Or lie around in my underwear for an hour while being rubbed down with ...

Thursday, May 3

Home Bass

Ray Drummond, a Peninsula resident and New York jazz star, makes a rare appearance at the Hyatt.

Ray Drummond isn’t trying to keep a low Peninsula profile on purpose. And yet plenty of locals might be unaware that one of the world’s greatest jazz bassists walks among them.For the past five years ...

Letters to the Editor for May 03, 2007

SUPPORT FARMERS, NOT JUST FARMSThank you for pointing out a stock photo used in our No on Measure A brochure was from a coastal image in Santa Cruz, not Monterey County. As chair of the ...

Rent a Cop Shop

Salinas Police have an East Salinas substation. But they don’t have the money or the manpower to open its doors.

Dusty wood chips and a few discarded Styrofoam cups fill the brick-lined planters. From the rippling glass on the front door, it looks like someone tried to kick in the entrance, and a vandal has ...

ArtListings for May 03, 2007

Power Shift

How the Weekly became its own solar-energy plant.

Bradley Zeve, perched on a hydraulic lift wobbling 20 feet off the ground, leans forward and looks out across the roof of our office. “Oh baby, you’re so hot,” he shouts. Then he turns and ...

Democratic Opponents Make Nice

Contestants for Assembly seat trade accolades.

The race for Central Coast Assemblyman John Laird’s 27th District seat may not lead anywhere. But it is generating a lot of activity. Monterey-based chiropractor Stephen Barkalow says he plans to challenge frontrunner Bill Monning. ...

PublicCitizen

ONGOINGYELLOW RIBBON | COUNTYWIDE—The next Operation Yellow Ribbon care packages for US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan ships May 14. Each package needs a non-political letter or an unsealed card. Also needed are items for ...

Defending Our Bodies

The Supreme Court’s attack against abortion rights is an assault on women.

>>FORUMWithin minutes of the Supreme Court’s April 18 ruling in Gonzalez v. Carhart, which upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, e-mails poured into my inbox from feminist and pro-choice organizations. NARAL Pro-Choice America ...

Carmel Valley Rustic

>>REALESTATEAt the Graham/Scampa cabin, the air brims to its edges with birds trilling in every tree, like harmonic vibrations of the universe itself. The place is located on a private road branching from another private ...

Staff Favorites

How to navigate An Choi’s massive contemporary Asian menu.

“Everything is my favorite,” says Thanh Truong, enthusiastic owner of An Choi in Pacific Grove. “We started with everything I liked and had 100 items on the menu.“We had to shorten it. Now there’s 60.” ...

A Better World

SOME BAD STUFF… It’s a good thing I didn’t write this diatribe yesterday. I woke up hissing and screeching about everything in society. I almost hit the keys with one of my vitriolic assaults on ...

Southern Waves

Latin-jazz greats featured at Aquarium party.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is the perfect place to explore an awe-inspiring menagerie gathered from the far corners of the Earth. And you can see some cool fish there too. The night creatures I’m referring ...

Deep End

The director of

With the primarily Dutch language movie Black Book, director Paul Verhoeven returns to his European filmmaking roots. Back in the ‘70s, Verhoeven was working in Holland, where he made films including The Fourth Man and ...

Big Savings

Sustainability Academy helps local businesses cut waste and keep money.

Six local graduate students spent this semester inspecting toilets and sifting through trash. Their mission: to transform a local health care provider, Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas, into a beacon of environmental sustainability—and ...

Solar Future Now

Saving the world, one rooftop at a time.

>>THELOCALSPINI am amazed to find myself sitting in a solar-powered office, composing this column on a solar-powered computer. Maybe I’m being naïve, but I can’t get over it. From where I sit, it seems like ...

Tangled Web

With a plethora of villains, Spider-Man 3 only matches some of what made its predecessors great.

Handed the keys to a potential blockbuster comic-book franchise, Sam Raimi did exactly what you wouldn’t expect in 2002’s original Spider-Man: He made it fundamentally about a nerdy kid who couldn’t pay the rent and ...

Steer Crazy

Locals Sailing Day challenges and charms.

On board a 30-foot Coronado sloop named Mer Nav, Captain Dutch Meyer delivers a lesson that touches on technical terms, life-vests and introductions. It does not mention doing accidental 360s on the open ocean. But ...

DiscSpace

BRIGHT EYES | Cassadaga | Saddle CreekDubbed “wunderkind” by some soon after he began making records at age 13, the backlash against Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes has been equally hyperbolic. Pretentious, goes the chorus, often ...

Surreal Acoustic

Califone’s technofolk soft-sells high art.

Califone’s latest CD Roots & Crowns is a beautiful marriage of earthy folk and high-tech wizardry. It’s also both accessible and challenging. The album is full of vocalist Tim Rutili’s strange and striking lyrical imagery ...

Second Helping

Red Beans and Rice’s new release comes four years after the band’s last album.

After releasing their last album, 2002’s Homework, the popular local blues outfit Red Beans and Rice was at the top of its game. Their bluesy original song “A Good Love” was getting played on KPIG. ...

Asked at Stone Creek Village in Monterey.

Street Talk

Q: WHAT’S YOUR BEST SOURCE OF ENERGY?Follow-up: What do you find really drains that same energy?CASEY TORRES | Architect designer | MontereyA: I would have to say eating healthy foods gives me the best energy, ...

Peace Talks

As head of Assembly’s new anti-gang committee, Caballero brings fresh approach to Sacramento.

Shortly after her arrival in Sacramento, Assemblywoman Anna Caballero was appointed to chair the newly-formed Select Committee on Youth Violence Prevention. It’s an important post for the freshman lawmaker, and one that the former Salinas ...

Oh, Henry

Ping•Pong magazine returns with new character and a big party.

>>LITERATURE“The world is so rich,” wrote Henry Miller, “simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.” Ping•Pong, the original literary magazine published by the Henry Miller Library 11 years ago, would ...

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