Wednesday, April 30
Nation's Largest Mortgage Company has Huge Losses in First Quarter, but CEO Still Made Out Like A King
The nation's largest home mortgage company, Countrywide Financial Corp., based in southern California, reported a loss of $893 million for the first quarter this year, its first losing quarter in 25 years. Ironically, just last ...
Friday, April 25
Investors sue Cedar Funding.
Cedar Funding investors filed a scathing lawsuit Thursday, April 24, accusing the Monterey-based hard money broker of running a Ponzi scheme and demanding a receiver to take over the troubled mortgage fund. The lawsuit was ...
Thursday, April 24
Open Government
Marina Councilman aims to bring the Brown Act into the 21st century.
Marina Councilman Ken Gray wants his city to become a local leader in open government technology. Instead of driving to City Hall to see a posted Planning Commission agenda or fetching a staff report from ...
Letters to the Editor for Apr 24, 2008
MORE TO THE STORY While the farmers at ALBA (Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association) share Edward Moncrief’s concern [“War is not the answer,” Letters, April 10-16] with the portrayal of our complaints against the organization ...
Fighting For A Vote
Carmel Valley incorporation supporters have their day in court.
Carmel Valley incorporation proponents have long accused Local Agency Formation commissioners of stifling democracy. On Thursday, April 24, a Superior Court judge in the Monterey courthouse will rule whether LAFCO illegally stopped the incorporation process ...
County food bank sees less food, more people who need it.
Last week, the New York Times ran a photo of dozens of people scavenging for food in a dump in Haiti. A dump. Starving people there have rioted, burned tires and forced the ouster of ...
The coast is looking pretty clear for Democrats in November.
A recent Rasmussen poll gave incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana a comfortable 55-39 lead over Democratic turncoat and Karl Rove recruit John Kennedy, the state treasurer. Another new poll by Southern Media & ...
Baby Mama
Pregnancy comedy grates expectations for Tina Fey.
Whenever people star in their own American Express commercials, they’re not just selling credit cards, but establishing themselves as products, too. Tina Fey’s recent Am Ex spot provides a perfect showcase for her now-established comedic ...
Fish Food
Tracking the superior burrito of the sea.
The squid tastes like surrender. After around an hour and a half of prospecting, our hollow hunger forced us to give up on finding a fish burrito in Salinas. (Oldtown’s King Burrito has one but ...
Free Will Astrology | April 24-30, 2008
Aries (March 21-April 19): The U.S. government is spending over $500,000 per minute on the war in Iraq. Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil is raking in about $73,000 of profit per minute. Is there any connection? Though ...
Tally
The Weekly Tally, 04.24.08
$19,942 The cost in March of a truckload of pinto beans purchased by The Food Bank for Monterey County, up from $15,691 in December (see story). Source: The Food Bank for Monterey County.
Home Page
Redesigned P.G. home adds modern touches, privacy.
This custom reverse-floor-plan house in Pacific Grove is architecturally handsome in a style of its own, different from most in town and in complement with them, too. It is designed with clean lines implying modernism ...
What passes as art that you don’t think qualifies?
Asked at Bagel Bakery in Sand City
Follow-up: What is your favorite local piece of art? MARK OMAN | Writer | Carmel Valley A: Modern art that is all squiggles, lines and colors. Most modern American movies—they’re composed of special effects and ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for Apr 24, 2008
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Readers: The paperback version of my book is out in stores now, cheap enough so that even a Guatemalan can afford it. Buy, por favor! Now, on to the preguntas… Dear Mexican: Lately, I’ve ...
Squid Fry for Apr 24, 2008
Squid Fry for Apr 24, 2008
PRICE OF DEMOCRACY… Squid knows democracy isn’t free. That said, it normally isn’t as expensive as a home in Pebble Beach. The redistricting measure that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others hope will qualify for the ...
Slideshow: Sea Otter Classic 2008
Pro and amateur riders battle for honors on road and off at the 2008 Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca Raceway
A complete look at the pro and amateur riders battling for honors on road and off at the 2008 Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca Raceway While extremely high winds made it hard for vendors ...
Global Appeal
CSUMB draws two big acts in Dirty Heads and Ben Kenney to close out Earth Week concert schedule.
“I need some Valium, Zanex, Percocet, Darvocet, Vicodin, Caladapin, sleeping pills and NyQuil.” So goes the opening rap to The Dirty Heads’ “Insomnia.” The Huntington Beach-based hip hop/reggae/rock outfit co-headlines with Ben Kenny at the ...
Food Chain
Natural High
FROM THE NORTH… Just got back from a weeklong trip to the lake country about 100 miles north of Toronto (that’s in Canada). In an area majestically carpeted by trees, blotched by outcroppings of pre-Cambrian ...
Updates | 04.24.08
STYROFOAM BAN BLOWS FORWARD… Now that the Monterey Regional Waste Management District has signed off on a ban of polystyrene take-out containers, activists and lobbyists are making their arguments before city councils [“Foam Wars,” Feb. ...
One Man’s Gift
A community ponders life without Leeper.
It’s like the Pope without the robes, politics without the pandering, the Pacific without the waves. Monterey County without Ed Leeper – a lot of people can’t picture it. “Oh, I can’t imagine,” says local ...
Head Count
Some of the stats that matter for a conceptual artist.
Ed Leeper calls himself a serial artist, in part for his irrational passion for repetitive, statistic-driven work. “I’m really content with art work that takes a lot of time,” he says, and documenting that time ...
Matxain Etxea
Comfort food for the soul, charm for the heart in San Juan Bautista.
I have long tried to patronize locally owned restaurants, choosing to keep my dollars in the community. Yet, when offered a multi-course meal, including a bottle of red wine, dessert and coffee for a mere ...
Cedar Funding’s local investors say goodbye to sky-high payments.
Monterey-based hard money broker has deeply reduced interest payments, alarming hundreds of local investors who want their cash back. Previously, investors in Cedar Funding Mortgage Fund had received a rate of return averaging 10.75 percent. ...
Piece of Work
Ed Leeper’s curious kind of madness can make a lot of sense.
Ed Leeper poured animal blood all over his Purple Heart – while wearing a dress. He counted a half-ton of granite, pebble by pebble, 89,339 total, while sitting on a silent Palo Colorado ridge. He ...
Color of Money
The Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce shows off its green side.
A light bulb went off at Carmel Building & Design. Literally. As Andreas Baer of Monterey Green Action pedaled, the back wheel of the bike powered a generator that supplied juice to a 12-volt bulb ...
Mass for the Masses
Opera based on interviews with the homeless will benefit people in need.
Henry Mollicone’s opera The Face on the Barroom Floor became America’s most-performed opera soon after its premiere in 1978, and went on to productions around the world. Lasting less than 30 minutes, and using a ...
Waves ‘N’ Saves
OTB’s surf team becomes the first to be ready to rescue.
The idea makes sense: These chasers of small tsunamis spend more time at sea than the stars of TV’s “Deadliest Catch,” so why not train them to save lives? That was the idea of Kelly ...
Public Citizen
ONGOING WANTED: GOOD SAMARITANS COUNTYWIDE – The Salvation Army, Monterey Peninsula Corps, seeks nominations for good samaritans – those who have performed a heroic deed, risking their own lives, to prevent injury or save a ...
Space Cases
A small band of locals scours the sky for UFOs, finds humor.
Seen through military-grade night-vision goggles, the night sky trembles with life. It starts to resemble a Petri dish crawling with planes, satellites, birds and unidentified flying objects. Calistoga-based UFO researcher Ed Grimsley isolates one such ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$669,000 Recent Sale 1031 Olympic Lane, Seaside Built: 1990 Size: 1,300 square feet Features: 2 levels, with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a 2-car garage Amenities: A conglomeration of skylights and bright white and khaki ...
Married Life
Married Life examines a batch of characters with a twisted sense of right and wrong.
Corruption, immorality, decadence, secrecy, loyalty, selfishness, selflessness, murder, love, sex and indigestion are all swirling around one another in Married Life, director Ira Sachs’ adaptation of the 1955 John Bingham crime novel, Five Roundabouts to ...
Art Listing for Apr 24, 2008
Art Listing for Apr 24, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK ARTISANA GALLERY New gallery of paintings, sculpture, photos by various artists, grand opening reception 4/25-4/27. 309 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove. 655-9775. Emily Brown STudio gallery What It Takes to Fly: 12 local ...
Thursday, April 17
The rationale behind staying in Iraq is less valid with each passing day.
Any discussion of the congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker must begin with this stipulation: It was an exercise in PR, not policy-making. Whatever the two witnesses had to offer, they ...
The First Course
A taste of the flavors that will spice up the Weekly’s newest element of epicurean fare.
There’s a lot on Monterey County’s plate – ours is a complex epicurean atmosphere. So, starting this week, the Weekly offers something appropriately complex to complement our existing food coverage: A versatile column that offers ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
RECENT SALE $1,650,000 Guadalupe 3 N.W. of Sixth, Carmel Only seven years old, this home is one of Carmel’s newer architectural feats. The best feature is the ocean view from the master bedroom and living ...
Squid Fry for Apr 17, 2008
Squid Fry for Apr 17, 2008
BOW WOW WOW… Squid hearts Doggystyle, the debut album from Snoop Dogg that takes Squid back to happier days: sitting on Squid’s front porch sipping, well, gin and juice, of course. (Truth be told: Squid ...
New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
ERYKAH BADU
Erykah Badu never has been an artist whose music you get upon the first listen. Her first three releases unearthed a deeper level of appreciation with each spin. Such is the case with her latest, ...
Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box
MICKEY HART
“Silence spread thin like the skin of a drum, first there was rhythm then there was none.” “The Last Song” on Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box, written by longtime Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, reminds us ...
DA says elder care company put attendants with criminal records in seniors’ homes.
The Monterey County District Attorney recently settled a civil suit that accuses a Pacific Grove elderly care company of false advertising led to placing personal attendants with criminal records in the homes of seniors. Central ...
Monochrome Magic
Michael Kenna’s photographs reveal the rewards of patience.
Very still, this square: night stillness, with a halo of light emanating from behind an erect trio of cigarillo-slender smokestacks. Two bristling tangles of pipes and lights, and then at dead center, that familiar monumental ...
Carving Out an Existence
Ex-doctor-now-sculptor Paul Wilson faces death, keeps creating.
Every one of Paul Wilson’s wood sculptures begins and ends with what nature gives him. “God in Paul,” is the phrase Bill Mack, a longtime collector of Paul Wilson’s wood sculptors, uses to define the ...
Art Listing for Apr 17, 2008
Art Listing for Apr 17, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK american art Gallery Betsy Podlack opening reception 3-6pm, 4/17. Dolores between Ocean and Seventh, Carmel. 625-4030. aromas pottery open house Works by Jane Rekedal, 10am-4pm, 4/19-4/20. 1560 Cannon Rd., Aromas. 726-2349. @ ...
Attack & Release
THE BLACK KEYS
Attack & Release features an unexpected pairing: Danger Mouse of the hugely successful soul/hip hop outfit Gnarls Barkley with the blues-rock duo The Black Keys. On past releases, The Black Keys had recorded their primal ...
Lending a Hand
Options to help avoid foreclosure.
Socorro Bernal has heard plenty of sad stories as the lone foreclosure counselor for the Monterey County Housing Alliance, a Salinas-based nonprofit that helps residents in danger of losing their homes. “We have adult men ...
Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?
Morgan Spurlock takes a wild swing at the War on Terror.
The same personal, quippy filmmaking that made Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me such a breezy delight all but dooms his second feature-length effort, Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden? It’s one thing to ...
Citronelle, Carmel Valley
Flavor Savior
Chef Michel Richard is our culinary community’s man of the hour. I’ve been anxiously enduring a fair grace period for his new restaurant, Citronelle, to find its rhythm in its new home at Carmel Valley ...
Iron Laden
Local scientists are cautious about dumping iron in the ocean to curb global warming
The rapid pace of global warming is driving worldwide efforts to shore up the primary culprit, carbon dioxide. One particular technology, pioneered by scientists at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, may be the closest we’ve come ...
Home Page
Well-preserved Monterey mansion beckons with warmth, grandeur.
A property that’s designated historical by the state of California must be of a certain age and have undergone such specific attention to its needs as to be rendered not renovated or remodeled, but preserved ...
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgetting Sarah Marshall plays its protagonist’s exposed emotions for laughs.
How do you forget someone you can’t escape? You can’t. But Forgetting Sarah Marshall, for all its tortured breakup hardships and indecent exposures, makes us laugh long and hard enough to forget we’re watching a ...
Letters to the Editor for Apr 17, 2008
Shock – Then Awe – in P.G. I was shocked when I first heard that the mayor was planning to permanently close off parts of downtown to traffic and make it a pedestrian-only area [“P.G. ...
Food Chain
Death, Taxes, My Synapses
Money Man… Well, the taxman hath come and gone, bless his heart. Hopefully you all found a way to recoup a good amount of the tithing you all so patriotically committed to the many important ...
Lightning Up
The 4/20 Reggae Festival rastafies an easy Sunday afternoon in Salinas.
Though his band is headlining the 4/20 Reggae Festival at the Fox Theater this weekend, Ralston Grant of the longtime reggae group the Twinkle Brothers has no idea what 4/20 means. “I don’t even know ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for Apr 17, 2008
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Mexican: Why don’t Mexicans have enough gratitude for America to learn to speak English? Are they too stupid? Too lazy? What – they can’t learn two or three words a day? Is this asking ...
Attack&Release
THE BLACK KEYS
Attack&Release features an unexpected pairing: Danger Mouse of the hugely successful soul/hip hop outfit Gnarls Barkley with the blues-rock duo The Black Keys. On past releases, The Black Keys had recorded their primal blues-rock sludge ...
Political Déjà Vu
Simón Salinas may return to state politics; Butch Lindley considers county supe post.
The June 3 ballot will ask voters two questions. First: “Shall Jeff Denham be recalled (removed) from the office of state Senate District 12?” The next item on the ballot asks voters to choose a ...
‘A Basic Human Right’
Event promotes literacy in Monterey County and worldwide.
One quarter of Monterey County’s residents read below the fourth-grade level, according to a Community Foundation for Monterey County report. This same study found 11 percent of county residents aren’t literate in any language. “People ...
What’s a creative way to help afford your mortgage?
Asked at Devendorf Park in Carmel
Follow-up: If you could own any real estate, where would it be? JESUS AGUILAR | Maintenance | Marina A: Try to get another job. Go back to school to learn another skill. Talk to the ...
Ripple Effect
Monterey’s Sea Studios focuses its latest episodes on how simple choices affect more than the world’s oceans.
Sea Studios Foundation, headquartered on Cannery Row, is churning out ocean-focused nature shows almost as fast as the restaurants on Fisherman’s Wharf churn out clam chowder. Their urgency is understandable: The planet’s future is at ...
Free Will Astrology | April 17-23, 2008
Aries (March 21-April 19): A reader from Fiji is encouraging me to pay a visit. “Fiji is heaven on earth,” she says. “You’ll be ecstatic here.” While I have no doubt that’s true, it’s hard ...
Public Citizen | April 17-23, 2008
4|17 THURs MORTGAGE WORKSHOP | CARMEL – Keller Williams hosts a workshop for homeowners, answering questions about loan modification, short sales and foreclosures. 6-7:30pm. Keller Williams Realty, 26200 Carmel Rancho Blvd., Carmel. Free. 899-1000. 4|18 ...
Tally
The Weekly Tally, 04.17.08
1/3 The proportion of greenhouse gases produced to satisfy current human eating habits worldwide. On Earth Day (Tuesday, April 22), the Aquarium’s Portola Restaurant will host a Low Carbon Diet lunch event featuring a smorgasbord ...
Long-contentious Butterfly Village project shows some hope.
Last week, Monterey County and the HYH Corp. agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by HYH against the county, in which HYH claimed that the county had treated it unfairly with respect to its proposed ...
Play Like Girls
Eccentric rockers Agent Ribbons arrive at Live.
The release of Agent Ribbons’ 2006 album On Time Travel and Romance was a ploy to lure a comic book artist to the band’s hometown: The quirky duo’s vocalist/lead guitarist Natalie Gordon admits she fabricated ...
Shaken foundation
County foreclosures are expected to almost double this year; bargain hunters are in the driver’s seat.
Her son killed himself over a house. At least that’s what Maria Alonzo believes. Abel Cardona Jr. and his wife, Maria Solis, bought the north Salinas home in May 2006. “It was the home of ...
Thursday, April 10
Rockers to Roll
Say No More holds a benefit for a bus.
Afew weeks ago, the members of pop rock band Say No More were barreling across the flat-as-a-board Texas countryside in their 1973 Dodge Tioga, a big van they had nicknamed “Gumby” for its stagnant-green paint ...
Squid Fry for Apr 10, 2008
Squid Fry for Apr 10, 2008
Outta Here… After five years at the Monterey County Herald, Executive Editor Carolina Garcia is departing our shores for the overpopulated, smog-choked, landlocked San Fernando Valley. On Monday she was named executive editor of the ...
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Mexican: What is it about the word “illegal” that Mexicans don’t understand? – Mondo Minuteman Dear Gabacho: Take your pick, Mondo. Mexicans don’t understand the word “illegal” because: (A) when paying their gardeners, nannies, ...
Butterfly Reborn
Monterey County, developer and opponents reach agreement on controversial subdivision.
After 20 years of legal battles and ballot-box fighting, county officials, land-use watchdogs and developer Moe Nobari have reached an agreement about the planned Butterfly Village subdivision. As part of a settlement, announced Tuesday, April ...
The Counterfeiters
The recent winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year revisits the holocaust with fresh eyes.
Salomon “Sally” Sorowitsch bears little resemblance to the innocent, law-abiding victim in most Holocaust movies. Indeed, with his prominent jaw, compact but wiry frame, and furtive eyes, Sally looks more like someone to be picked ...
Love Fest in Salinas
County, Salinas officials agree on tax sharing, farmland preservation.
Monterey County Supervisors and Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue practically had a group hug Tuesday, April 8, after announcing an agreement over tax sharing and farmland preservation. While Donohue didn’t cry on Supervisor Fernando Armenta’s shoulder, ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
505 Total new listings in Monterey County for February 2008. 102 Total closed sales in Monterey County for February 2008. $1,025,891 Average sale price for homes in Monterey County for February 2008. Source: Monterey County ...
The Big Shot
Local photographers among nominees for the world’s best XXL Biggest Wave photo of the year.
When Sand City photographer and surfer Wayne Kelly arrived at Ghost Tree just after dawn on Dec. 4, he wasn’t impressed. “The buoys indicated there was the potential for XXL-sized waves, but I was kind ...
Smart People
Smart People’s great cast punctures the world of academia.
Intelligence runs in the Wetherhold family DNA. Smart People’s curmudgeonly protagonist, Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid), indifferently teaches literature at Carnegie Mellon University, where his bright son (Ashton Holmes) is a student. His daughter Vanessa (Juno’s ...
Foodchain
Back for More
Where The Legends Go… Although it has been two weeks, post-partum waves of euphoric joy, laughter, fond memories and flowering legends still ripple across the Monterey Peninsula and the rest of the food and wine ...
New column powers down racism by busting stereotypes.
It began as a one-time, satirical column in OC Weekly, featuring the most outlandish questions and answers staff writer Gustavo Arellano could devise. A big reader response was anticipated to the column, “Ask a Mexican,” ...
Public Citizen
ONGOING SANCTUARY ADVISORY COUNCIL | COUNTYWIDE – NOAA’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary seeks applicants for two alternate positions representing research and tourism on its advisory council. The council meets every two months in daytime ...
Free Will Astrology | April 10-16, 2008
Aries (March 21-April 19): High-definition TV makes everything look more vivid than standard broadcast technology. Images are so high-quality they almost appear 3-D. While this is enjoyable to viewers, some performers are uncomfortable with the ...
A Lot of Character
Chuck Thurman, 1954-2008: Former Weekly associate editor was known for his curiosity, zest for life.
Monterey County lost one of its good men last weekend in the passing of Chuck Thurman. James Charles Thurman was 53, and long-time readers of the Weekly will remember him in a variety of roles: ...
Art Listing for Apr 10, 2008
Art Listing for Apr 10, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK Big Sur river inn restaurant Oil landscape paintings by Tyson Curtis. Highway 1, Big Sur. 667-2700, bigsurriverinn.com. blackstone gallery Kanchi: collaborative, underwater ocean photography exhibit by Ryuijie and Camille Lenore, artist reception ...
28 Days With a Camera
A Canadian documents Monterey County day by day.
He says it with the kickback cadence of a too-cool college kid, speaking at a clip that’s the polar opposite of the standard shutter speed on his $2,500 Canon. For… sure. Its easy rhythm resonates ...
On Your Feet
P.G. mayor envisions a “pedestrianized” downtown.
During his State of the City address in March, Pacific Grove Mayor Dan Cort proudly ticked off the City’s recent accomplishments. P.G. had balanced its budget, planted thousands of trees, joined the county tourist bureau, ...
Spot On
P.G.’s “Green Spot” makes its public debut at the Good Old Days.
On a sunny Tuesday afternoon in Pacific Grove, Applied Solar Energy’s Oliver Boekbinder, lanky and scruffy, chats with a visitor about solar batteries. His co-worker Nora Carlton, neat and compact with red-framed glasses, taps away ...
Out of the Woods
Luckily for us, Arlo Guthrie, who visits Sunset on Sunday, never realized his dream: to be a ranger.
Arlo Guthrie never meant to have a musical career that has spanned almost five decades. Even though his dad, Woody, was one of the most influential American songwriters who ever lived, the younger Guthrie didn’t ...
CINDY BLACKMAN
Music For A New Millennium
With The Bridge Called My Back, Emcee Change of the local rap funk outfit Para La Gente strikes off on his own with a 13-song, 50-minute-long solo outing. Wisely mixing up the subject matter on ...
Home Page
P.G. mid-century-modern apartments offer bay views, bright interiors.
Pacific Grove has the newest Tenants in Common on the Peninsula. Beth Cort refurbished and redesigned the 1962, two-section building, constructed before architecture had changed dramatically from the 1950s into the 1960s. It’s called Oceans ...
Dems Question Carmel Election Results.
Monterey County Democrats may challenge the results of the April 8 Carmel-by-the-Sea mayoral and City Council election. “We have a major concern here that this ballot design might have decided the election,” says MCD Central ...
CSUMB Professor Awarded Fulbright Scholarship
Prestigious award will send service-learning director to South Africa.
After 11 years of shaping CSUMB’s Service Learning Institute into a national model, Seth Pollack will help confront an international epidemic. As a Fulbright Scholar, Pollack will work with South African academics using a service ...
Post offices may be closing. What government service do people take for granted?
Asked at the Giant Artichoke in Castroville
Follow-up: What would you put on a stamp? CAITLIN KILTY | Teacher | Prunedale A: Probably law enforcement. We are always on the defense [about them] until we need them. They really do a lot ...
Rancho Cañada Developer Rejects EIR.
Al Williams, one of the developers behind the proposed Rancho Cañada Village, says he will reject the environmental impact report prepared by Bay Area consultant ICF Jones & Stokes. “I’m not gonna accept it. It’s ...
Stalling Pattern
Ballot counting changes, but Carmel voters stick to the tried and true.
For nearly four hours late Tuesday, April 8, it was a waiting game in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Conversations piddled around grandkids, travels and recent surgeries but inevitably returned to a central question: “When will the results be ...
Strange Course
Flash in the Pan fields more often-bizarre questions from readers.
Q: Dear Flash, I hear that you’re not supposed to use olive oil for frying. But I’m vegan, so my oil options are limited, and olive oil is my favorite! – Frazzled Frybaby A: The ...
JOSEPH ARTHUR
Could We Survive
Joseph Arthur belts out six folky ballads on Could We Survive that will leave nobody surprised that Peter Gabriel was the first to bring him into the spotlight. The graphic lamentations of war Arthur provides ...
Letters to the Editor for Apr 10, 2008
War Is Not The Answer The Board of ALBA is concerned that the Weekly presented the complaints of two of ALBA’s 24 tenants in a hostile manner [“Land War,” April 3-9]. The facts in this ...
Walking Meditation
Robert Larson and the Marlboro Man.
Digital communication floods modern human existence so inescapably that its ubiquitous grid structure has become the normal page on which daily life is written and filmed, bulletined, messaged and photographed. Santa Cruz artist Robert Larson ...
EMCEE CHANGE
The Bridge Called My Back
With The Bridge Called My Back, Emcee Change of the local rap funk outfit Para La Gente strikes off on his own with a 13-song, 50-minute-long solo outing. Wisely mixing up the subject matter on ...
Thursday, April 3
Public Citizen
4|3 THURS WATERSHED TALK | SALINAS—Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Chris Rose gives a presentation on the Gabilan Watershed, which encompasses the city of Salinas. 2pm. City Hall Rotunda, 200 Lincoln Ave., Salinas. ...
Leatherheads
Director George Clooney is not afraid to poke fun at himself in the football farce Leatherheads.
George Clooney’s 1920s football comedy Leatherheads – his third film as a director – sums up the modern-day matinee idol’s attitude toward his own fame. Clooney plays Dodge Connelly, the aging captain of the Duluth ...
Real Rocker
Poison frontman-reality star Bret Michaels aims to set Salinas on fire.
Reality television hit a new level of ridiculousness when the VH1 reality show “Rock of Love” debuted in 2007. The program, now in its second season, features a parade of frequently soused female strippers and ...
Land War
ALBA farmers clash with staff over leases, treatment and produce prices.
Irene Zamudio touches the soft green leaves of her organic fava beans. Raspberry plants sprout a row over as traffic buzzes past on Hall Road in Las Lomas. In about a month, the berries will ...
Local pot-busting team loses funding
Volunteers prepare to clean up busted grow sites.
The 15-year-old County of Monterey Marijuana Eradication Team soon may be jonesing for more green. COMMET, which was granted $177,000 in the 2007-08 fiscal year, recently received notice from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services ...
Food Chain
A Legend is Born
In The Beginning… I had been anticipating opening day at the first ever Pebble Beach Food & Wine for a while. I remember sitting on the patio at Spanish Bay on a magnificent afternoon about ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$298,000 Price, down from $786,000, for a 6-bedroom, 5-bath foreclosed house on Merritt Street, King City. $259,000 Price, down from $386,000, for a 4-bedroom, 2-bath foreclosed house on Larkspur Street, Soledad. $559,000 Price, down from ...
Rancho Cañada Developer Rejects EIR.
Al Williams, one of the developers behind the proposed Rancho Cañada Village, says he will reject the environmental impact report prepared by Bay Area consultant ICF Jones & Stokes. “I’m not gonna accept it. It’s ...
The Big Joke
April Fools marks the start of a local comedian’s National Humor Month.
With April Fools Day unacceptably brief and tax time seriously grim, Carmel’s Larry Wilde established April as National Humor Month in 1976. Wilde also gave the little town that has everything the ultimate luxury item: ...
Art Listing for Apr 03, 2008
Art Listing for Apr 03, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK ANTON GALLERY Yosemite: Gabriel Goldreim photographic works. 1095 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. 373-4429. bay photo lab Female pin-up exhibit by Glen McDowell, reception 6-8pm, 4/4. 202 Monterey St., Salinas. 596-3143. carl cherry ...
Letters to the Editor for Apr 03, 2008
Calling Pony Express The Aromas Post Office is a large part of our identity. It was established in 1894 and there was a population of 40. Now there is a population of several thousand and ...
Home Page
Carmel cottage’s allure comes from subtle and unusual touches.
Norma Prince lives in an enchanting house. Her pleasing decor happens to bring to mind a cottage-like adjective, but not to exclusivity. It’s also elegant with a simple layout and inherent magnetism. It’s small – ...
Another Reason to Love Salespeople
As part of our annual tribute to National Humor Month, The Carmel Institute of Humor conducted an in depth survey from members on the current status of the American Sense of Humor. The Institute's membership ...
Dems come-from-ahead campaign has a familiar look to it.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve wrestled with the feeling that history will repeat itself and the Democrats once again will blow their chance to take back the White House in November. I’ve had visions ...
Squid Fry for Apr 03, 2008
Squid Fry for Apr 03, 2008
AIN’T NOBODY HUMPIN’ AROUND… Squid gives Carmel-by-the-Sea props for its brand-spankin’-new city website – featuring meeting agendas, hot events and (soon) videos of City Council meetings. Squid looks forward to sprawling on Squid’s computer chair, ...
Special Judgment
Three legends show the kids how it’s done
The 15 judges who will evaluate the 50-plus student bands that will travel here to compete would make a pretty insane group themselves—Ron Westray, George Stone, Lauren Sevian, Jon Nordgren, Mike Galisatus, Lynne Fiddmont, Matt ...
Tally
The Weekly Tally, 04.03.08
14.5 The length, in feet, of a burmese python involved in a south county animal hoarding case announced last week by the spca. The case, which led to a guilty plea, included 230 other snakes, ...
What movie should everyone see before they die?
Asked at Blockbuster Video in Marina.
Follow-up: What movie should never have been made? What is a funny movie you’ve seen? JO ANN MCCLAIN | Accountant | Castroville A: No Country For Old Men was an excellent story and was suspenseful. ...
All About the Grind
Local skate standout Zarosh Eggleston conjures his most inspired move yet.
His passion is evident everywhere. The walls of his home are lined with more than 350 skateboards. His mailbox is made of skate decks. In his living room, hundreds of skate magazines pile up like ...
Freedom Fighter
Iraqi author and activist visits Monterey.
The Ba’ath regime jailed and tortured Haifa Zangana while she was a pharmacy student at Baghdad University in 1972. She and three friends, all Iraqi Communist Party members and in armed struggle against the Ba’ath ...
Never-Ending Story
State order to stop overpumping the Carmel River elicits boos, cheers from Peninsula residents.
If the state orders California American Water to reduce the water it pumps from the Carmel River by 50 percent over the next seven years, Peninsula hotels will shutter their doors and world-class golf greens ...
Ballot counting changes, but Carmel voters stick to the tried and true.
For nearly four hours late Tuesday, April 8, it was a waiting game in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Conversations piddled around grandkids, travels and recent surgeries but inevitably returned to a central question: “When will the results be ...
Snow Angels
Lovely storytelling gives way to terminal despair in Snow Angels.
Near the beginning and the end of writer/director David Gordon Green’s Snow Angels, he features an identical montage of small-town Northeastern everyday life – provided “everyday” takes place in the middle of a bone-chilling winter. ...
Last Call
Juilliard String Quartet showcases major works for CMMB’s last concert of the season.
The last time the Juilliard String Quartet played at Sunset Theatre was before total renovation of the place. A passing blackbird attracted to the aphoristic “complete” string quartets by Anton Webern entered the back of ...
Olympic Food Fight
Fast Food Nation vs. the People’s Republic of Mystery Meat
Athletes testing positive for steroids, however, isn’t the only scenario the USOC hopes to avoid by packing its own lunch. There are safety concerns based on recent news about tainted Chinese food – dumplings laced ...
Serious Pluck
Christian McBride leads a stacked Next Generation Festival lineup.
Don’t let the name fool you. While the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Festival showcases talented high school and college musicians, the event also offers plenty of opportunities to catch some of the reigning generation ...
The Real Dirt
Planned Del Rey Oaks resort would sit on top of major munitions area.
A posh golf course resort that would double the size of tiny Del Rey Oaks will go before the city’s Planning Commission on Wednesday, April 9. The commission will study changes in city code that ...
Green with Envy
Carmel-by-the-Sea resident wants to install a fake lawn..
Carmel-by-the-Sea resident Sidney Widrow stoked controversy when he applied for a permit to install synthetic turf on roughly 140 square feet of his front lawn. The application has prompted debate among city officials, residents and ...
Catching On
Mouth of the Valley finds its groove.
Sean Michael White sits at a desk in an octagonal shaped room that doubles as his living room and recording studio. In front of him, lines of music scroll across a computer screen like the ...
Inconvenient Al makes his party wait.
History may record that there were three distinct windows of opportunity for Al Gore to play a decisive role in this year’s Democratic primary contest. The first was in the days leading up to Super ...
