Sunday, August 31
2008 First Tee Open
Images from the final day of the First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.
As one of the finest golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach is a favorite to many pro golfers. This weekend's First Tee Open saw some of best, including Tom Watson, Hale Irwin and Nick ...
Friday, August 29
Yes, he can!
The Obama speech simulcast drew a full - and enthusiastic - house at the Golden State Theatre in downtown Monterey Aug. 28.
Under the marquis of the Golden State Theatre, volunteers coax pedestrians into the lobby and hand them modest, round stickers that read: "Obama '08." Inside the spacious lobby, lined with folding tables and poster signs, ...
Thursday, August 28
Obamania
Local Democrats swarm downtown in support of Barack Obama.
Barack Obama had a nearly-full Golden State Theatre audience on their feet cheering "Yes We Can!" as he walked up to the podium at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. His speech was simulcast live ...
Home Page
French doors, light and imagination bring down the house in Carmel Meadows.
Like a handsome emcee creating a sense of anticipation while welcoming one and all, this foyer seems to throw its arms back, thrust out its chest and smile broadly, knowing what will be revealed. Stepping ...
Food chain
Dead Ringer
TOP OF HIS GAME… Watching the Olympics has reminded me just how much I love sport. The searing heat of competition, the camaraderie among participants, the excruciating emotional risk, the exhaustive expansion of individual and ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for Aug 28, 2008
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Mexican: Why do Mexicans paint stripes on their donkeys in Tijuana? --Avenida Revolución Reveller Dear Gabacho: Same reason we put worms in tequila bottles, celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and star in Beverly Hills Chihuahua: ...
Squid Fry for Aug 28, 2008
Squid Fry for Aug 28, 2008
WHERE’S GERRY… Squid rushed to Salinas City Hall on Aug. 25 hoping to hear the charming Irish brogue of Gerry Kehoe. The City Council arranged a special meeting to approve a development agreement for Kehoe’s ...
Giving to the Pour
A peek at how Passionfish constructs their one-of-a-kind wine list.
It just doesn’t happen. It would be like going to a San Francisco Giants game and paying 25 cents for a hot dog. Yet that’s Passionfish Restaurant, a big-league dinner house where the wine is ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): My Aries friend David’s acupuncturist diagnosed his current condition as an “encroachment of phlegm in his triple heater.” That’s also an apt metaphorical description of what’s going on in your psyche. ...
It’s Pho Real
A tasty recipe, why pho is great for summer, and a look at the best local hubs.
I first fell for pho one hot night in Bangkok, in an alley where food carts were serving nothing but Thai-style pho, aka Guoi Tiao, or “noodle soup.” A vendor called out to me. I ...
As V.P. nominee, the senator brings foreign policy muscle.
And the winner is: Joe Biden. It did not take a newfangled text message, just an old-fashioned leak, to identify Barack Obama’s running mate. Word of the Biden selection spread late Friday night, barely 12 ...
Art Listings for Aug 28, 2008
Art Listings for Aug 28, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK CARMEL FOUNDATION Action photography by artist of the month George Szemes. Outcalt Activity Building, Eighth and Lincoln, Carmel. 624-1588. galerie rue royale Dark/Light: works by Todd White, artist reception 7-10pm, 8/30. Dolores ...
Local delegate dishes from Denver.
It’s day two of the Democratic National Convention and Shawn Bagley is strung out on speeches and protests, stargazing George Stephanopoulos and Willie Brown. “I am a political junkie and this is Disneyland– plus a ...
Public Citizen
ONGOING DISASTER TRAINING CLASS MONTEREY—Learn how to be self-sufficient in the event of a local disaster where help is delayed for two or three days (and yes, this involves more than a case of beer ...
Is black America genuinely strong enough to deal with the results of an Obama presidency?
Over the past year and a half, according to national polls and political pundits, black America has revised its opinion about the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama from “Well, whoop-tee-do!” to “Run Obama Run.” African ...
Traitor
Radical Schooling: An American operative gets entangled with some Islamic jihadists in Traitor.
Once we get past the obvious similarities to the Bourne franchise– rogue American ex-operative being chased all over the globe by CIA/FBI spooks that think he’s a terrorist– Traitor simmers down into a reasonably smart ...
News Updates: Casino in Salinas; Pacific Grove taser; Sherwood Village seniors; Lindsey's carbon neutral campaign; Measure W's defeat.
BETTING ON BANKER’S… Salinas card room Banker’s Casino is scheduled to open Thursday, Aug. 28. Sal Jimenez says the Salinas Police Department agreed to give his business a temporary 90-day permit if he agrees to ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$395,000 Recent Sale 207 Cosky Drive, Marina Built: 1966 Size: 1,440 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, RV parking, 1 story Amenities: Fireplace, large fenced yard, patio Seller: U. and T. Leao Buyer: E. ...
Speaking In Numbers
The Weekly Tally
$250,000 The grand prize awarded as part of PacRep’s “California Dream Raffle” to benefit Golden Bough Initiative. three hundred prizes, including a hybrid car, are up for grabs. visit www.pacrep.org. Source: Kathi Kammerdiener, PacRep spokeswoman.
All Things Arianna
The inside poop on the Huffington Post.
It’s a mythical story– one in which our (super) heroine/goddess, realizing her power, uses her smarts, sexuality and social connections to climb her way to the top of the greasy pole of the Hollywood, Washington ...
Mean Strings
Judgement Day looks to rock a new Salinas venue with their unique metal.
Brothers Anton and Lewis Patzner take the stage looking like they just finished orchestra practice. As soon as they plug in their respective violin and cello, though, all similarities with other classical music forms cease ...
Don’t Do Anything
SAM PHILLIPS
It’s hard to tell if this is the end of the third, or the beginning of the fourth phase of Sam Phillips’ career. In the mid-’80s, she was a popular, if undistinguished, Christian artist who ...
A New Bag
Monterey Bay Reggaefest displays the genre’s changing influences.
To most people, reggae music is one thing: a slow-boil mix of African music, Caribbean music, American R&B and ska popularized by the genre’s early greats including Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. These days, however, ...
Lands Apart
An on-the-ground report from NorCal’s biggest concert of the summer.
One rather happy woman pulled down her friend’s top and proceeded to explore her pal’s areola for a photo. A strange man wearing batting gloves and a big look of concern– and carrying a small ...
A Dictator and Democracy
Mao Zedong urges youth to ‘Rock the Vote’ at Anchor Blue.
Mao Zedong’s face stares arrogantly from a white T-shirt. A crowd of soldiers salutes him from the bottom of the image. Below, black lettering reads: “Rock the Vote.” Mao’s visage is still a common sight ...
The Gleam II
THE AVETT BROTHERS
Two summers ago, The Avett Brothers performed at our 100-person-capacity venue, Monterey Live. Boy, have things changed for the North Carolina trio since then. The group has sold out amphitheaters, played the country’s most revered ...
Hamlet 2, Frozen River
Let the Sun In: Two wildly different Sundance favorites come to town.
Every year, scores of aspiring and struggling filmmakers bring their labors of love to the Sundance Film Festival. The luckiest ones leave Park City, Utah, with two kinds of prizes. A handful of films exit ...
Letters to the Editor for Aug 28, 2008
OUR CRYSTAL BALL ISN’T AS CLEAR I remember Tom Hayden as a legendary leader at the University of Michigan when I was there. This man knows more about grassroots organizing than most people ever will. ...
Voices Heard
Central Coast contingent lobbies lawmakers to change farmworker union elections.
Osiris Salgado grabs an armful of red flags emblazoned with the black United Farm Workers eagle and hands them out to her North Monterey County High School classmates. The students have just arrived at the ...
‘It Sunk’
Bankruptcy trustee sues investors, Cedar Funding creditors cry foul.
Frustrated Cedar Funding investors lashed out at bankruptcy trustee staff Aug. 21 for suing creditors. Trustee Todd Neilson is suing investors on 11 different properties because David Nilsen allegedly assigned the deeds of trust within ...
Make It Rein
Discovering Salinas River State Beach by horseback.
For a short while, I experience the fantasy version of a beach horse ride: Loping along the sand, triple-beat of hooves blending with the rushing waves, mist spraying my face, wind blowing my hair… and ...
Here&Gone
DAVID SANBORN
David Sanborn is one of the most influential saxophonists of the 20th century. His influences, however, are the less known saxophonists Ray Charles featured in his early bands: Hank Crawford and David “Fathead” Newman. On ...
Besides freedom, what’s worth fighting for?
Asked at the Steinbeck Plaza in Monterey.
MARTIN BLAIN |Composer | England A: Equal opportunity, particularly gender equality. Women are still exploited on many levels all over the world. The Sound of Music: My work. Being an experimental orchestral music composer, I ...
Monday, August 25
ARE SHARKS REALLY THE EATING MACHINES WE'VE MADE THEM OUT TO BE?
In the waning days of August, beachcombers flock to the coast for one last dip (unless it's foggy and cold! )before returning to the dull routine of school. But are any sharks lurking (not in ...
The Monterey Bay Aquarium tracks a white shark from Monterey to Baja, thanks to a pop-tag and GPS.
When commercial fishermen unintentionally catch a great white shark in their nets, it’s John O'Sullivan of the Monterey Bay Aquarium that gets the assignment to retrieve it. O'Sullivan may have the best job on the ...
Sunday, August 24
McCain uses Obama's VP candidate Joseph Biden in new ad, to attack Obama.
Not unexpected, there was a quick response from the McCain headquarters after Obama's announcement of his VP. The McCain camp started advertising a television ad Saturday using VP candidate Joseph Biden, in his own words, ...
Saturday, August 23
Hillary is out — Biden is in — as Obama announces his pick for Vice-President in 3am email.
Hillary fans may shed a tear this morning as the news spreads that presidential hopeful Barack Obama selected long-time US Senator Joseph Biden as his vice-presidential candidate. Biden brings a wealth of foreign policy experience ...
Friday, August 22
2009 West End Celebration
Wild art and creative culture join forces in Sand City.
It was not just another Saturday in Sand City. The garage and studio doors of the city's industrial city blocks open up for the annual West End Festival, which brought artists from all over Monterey ...
Thursday, August 21
Slideshow: Car Week 2008
Photos from the this year's car events in Monterey County.
High-end cars from all eras and genres made rolled in to the Monterey Peninsula last weekend to be sold, raced and just plain admired.
Slideshow: Weird and Whacky
The popular parodist, “Weird Al” Yankovic, plays again on the Central Coast.
“Weird Al” Yankovic's name suits him well. At his second performance in Monterey, the tall, goofy guy with his signature long, dark curly hair rides a Segway onto the Golden State Theater stage and raps ...
By The Numbers
$1,350,000 Recent Sale 819 Cedar St., Pacific Grove Built: 1947 Size: 2,854 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3-car garage, 2 stories Amenities: Pool, workshop, fireplace, skylights, deck, dog kennel, security gates Sellers: Mccoy ...
Public Citizen
8|21 THURS GANG PREVENTION SUMMIT | SALINAS– Jack Calhoun, founder and president of the National Crime Prevention Council, gives a gang prevention talk, “Youth As Resources: A New Paradigm in Youth Policy.” Presenters also include ...
Get Smart
The Do’s And Don’ts Of Personal Networking Sites.
There it was, lurking in the background of a self-portrait snapped by a social-networking girl in a bathroom where someone forgot to flush. It was gross, but hard not to look at, in a train-wreck ...
Precocious local golf talent Sydney Burlison completes a fun and frenzied summer.
Stanford University’s women’s golf head coach first contacted Sydney Burlison when she was 11 years old. Seven years later, the recent Robert Louis Stevenson High School graduate readies to embark on a full golf scholarship ...
Outta Here
P.G. City Manager Jim Colangelo dishes on his decision to quit.
At first it’s hard to recognize the dude strolling up to Monterey’s East Village Coffee Lounge. In a black shirt, dark shades and a new circle beard, Jim Colangelo looks hipper than usual. And trimmer. ...
The Rocker
Career Encore: The Office’s Rainn Wilson gets a second chance to be a drummer in The Rocker.
In everyone’s life, there comes a time when– for the sake of his sanity and long-term happiness– he must come to terms with his place in the world. The high school football second-stringer must understand ...
Raising Your Bar
How to Find the Perfect College Bar for You: An Interactive Quiz
Welcome. You have just turned 21. Or you have just turned over your tuition check to the strange man with the darkroom dorm room in exchange for a hallelujah-worthy ID– holograms and all. But you’re ...
Jellies for Everyone
An Aquarium scientist’s book brings little creatures to the people.
One look at their drifting dance is often enough to send visitors into a reverential reverie. “People come to MBA, see the jellies and are hypnotized,” says Chad Widmer, Monterey Bay Aquarium senior aquarist. “They ...
A Lot of Class
The most exciting developments at the area’s colleges.
CSU MONTEREY BAY One for the books Located in the heart of campus, the soaring Tanimura & Antle Memorial Library facility will rapidly become the heart of the school– and a major ventricle for the ...
P.G. golf course recovers from fungicide burnout.
On a foggy coastal morning in August, four ladies in caps and visors putt on the ninth hole at the Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links. But the greens are bumpy, and the women seem irritated. ...
Squid Fry for Aug 21, 2008
Squid Fry for Aug 21, 2008
ALL FIRED UP… It’s longer than that of a gnat, but Squid can’t brag about Squid’s attention span. (This cephalopod is often distracted by shiny, pretty things. Like sequins– oooh! And dog collars.) But back ...
News Updates: A pond near the PG Middle School; Dilworth goes partisan; Granny in handcuffs; UFW's one-stop shop.
STORMWATER RECYCLING… Last year, we reported on Pacific Grove Mayor Dan Cort’s vision of converting a corporate yard behind P.G. Middle School into a 150 acre-foot reservoir. On Aug. 20 the City Council considered a ...
Art Listing for Aug 21, 2008
Art Listing for Aug 21, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK mpc art gallery Expansions: printwork by art students. 980 Fremnt St., Monterey. 646-3060. Portnoy Galleries Oil paintings by Po Pin Lin, artist reception, 4pm, 8/23. Sixth Avenue between Dolores and San Carlos, ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for Aug 21, 2008
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Mexican: I am the proud uncle of five Mexican-redneck kids who recently moved to Wausau with their mamá wisconsiana after living in la Capirucha all their lives. I’ve talked to them on the phone ...
Letters to the Editor for Aug 21, 2008
WE’VE MOVED ON TO PARIS VS. MCCAIN Al Gore’s call to action was issued a month ago. Has it already vanished from our consciousness? It’s time to call it back to active memory, because the ...
Dreams of Obama
Transformational president or another disappointment? That’s up to us.
Barack Obama, it is true, is a transformational leader. But he needs a transformational movement to become a transformational president. He is transformational not only by his charisma and brilliance, but by embodying the possibility ...
Good Sh*t, Sherlock
Western Stage’s version of the detective legend is high grade.
What 21st century citizen has not pondered the fate of the most famous Victorian detective, the greatest detective of all? You haven’t? Funny, nor have I. But no matter if you give not a whit, ...
Towering Twins
The Le Boeuf Brothers Quintet featuring Mike Ruby lands at Live.
What does the future of jazz look like? These days it strongly resembles Remy and Pascal Le Boeuf, remarkable Santa Cruz-raised twins who are in the midst of exploring some of the music’s most exciting ...
Resort Living Ain’t Cheap
Del Rey Oaks golf-and-hotel project looks for new investors.
The main financial backer for the Resort at Del Rey Oaks is pulling out of the project due to the downturn in the economy. David Gazek, a senior vice president for Federal Development, the company ...
Construction Zone
Marina vocational training center and church struggle as The Dunes stalls.
Shoreline Workforce Development Service’s welcome mat in Marina is a gravel road that turns into a dirt road and leads nowhere. A chain-link fence blocks access to 10th Street, which runs behind Shoreline’s employment training ...
Conquer
SOULFLY
Although we were all raised to not judge a book (or a CD) by its cover, an exception can be made with Soulfly’s sixth studio effort, Conquer. The cover depicts an ancient warrior with six ...
What is your definition of a Saturday Night?
Asked at the Mucky Duck in Monterey.
Follow-up: What is the strangest or most obscene thing you have ever seen on a social networking site? KEELY PATTERSON | Student/Legal Assistant | Salinas A: A small get-together at someone’s house, where we can ...
American Teen
False Document: Nanette Burstein’s American Teen doesn’t ring true.
Has reality TV ruined the movie documentary? Watching American Teen makes one wonder. Nanette Burstein’s new documentary was supposed to conjure the “types” of high school characters from 1985’s The Breakfast Club, but instead it ...
Damn Fine for 99
Tommy’s is an amazingly affordable little place in Marina.
“You people ready for breakfast?” The owner, personality and voice of Tommy’s Restaurant in Marina, Judy Chang, is an aging, black-haired woman who barks her words and throws plates of food and mugs of coffee ...
Ear Food
THE ROY HARGROVE QUINTET
Trumpeter Roy Hargrove is the definition of a questing musician, having tried his hand at a number of different styles. From funk/hip-hop work on Hard Groove to Latin on Habana, Hargrove hasn’t always succeeded but ...
Classical Edge
Legendary Philip Glass joins Wendy Sutter at Big Sur’s Henry Miller Library.
Long before the Basin Complex Fire devoured most of the Ventana Wilderness and came close to destroying the community of Big Sur, the Henry Miller Library was planning to host a benefit concert by composer/pianist ...
Now a Word From Our Sponsors
Crunching numbers for this years Democratic and Republican national conventions.
In 1992, the Democratic and Republican national convention committees took in a whopping $8 million, combined, in private money. You’d think that would buy all the hooch, hors d’oeuvres and balloons that you could possibly ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your next assignment is to inject more fun into your job – or into anything that feels like work, for that matter. You’ve got a head start because lately you’ve been ...
The Long View
The new Ryan Ranch Disc Golf Course presents a sturdy (and lengthy) challenge.
There are many challenges for local disc golfers at the new Ryan Ranch Disc Golf Course. Large oak tree canopies act like giant catcher’s mitts, grabbing soaring discs from the sky. Bright red patches of ...
The Clement Monterey
Making the Grade: The Clement Monterey’s sparkling new restaurant is something to C.
When I was young, elementary school report cards contained only S’s, I’s and U’s, labeling our budding academic aptitude as satisfactory, improving or unsatisfactory, respectively. The more discerning A through F letter grades didn’t appear ...
Why Monterey would be a cool capital.
California’s elected leaders are sweating out another budget stalemate this summer. Temporary state workers are hot under the collar after losing their jobs, and the permanent employees may see their paychecks cut. Commentators are heatedly ...
Evil Urges
MY MORNING JACKET
My Morning Jacket’s latest is the sort of album that critics adore, because it allows us to flex our smarts by pointing out the different styles that a talented and ambitious band incorporates into its ...
Home Page
Spacious rooms, expansive views and calming fountains bring balance to Carmel Valley home.
RRonda Reinke is a premier Feng Shui professional, having studied in the United States with one of the top five Feng Shui masters in the world and furthering her skills in China. Thought of as ...
Food Chain
Ready to Roll
ON RAMPING UP… Well, I’m sitting here inspecting the dozen or so vintage, classic, extremely rare automobiles I bought at the various auctions during car week. This year I tried to buy according to color ...
Agent Change
Deputy City Manager Charlene Wiseman resigns with Colangelo.
One day before her two-year anniversary as Pacific Grove’s Deputy City Manager, Charlene Wiseman is explaining her resignation. She hasn’t made it official yet, but she says she plans to leave at the end of ...
Thursday, August 14
Home Page
Pebble Beach home offers soaring ceilings, privacy and more space than imaginable.
To say it’s a “really pretty place” in no way indicates the added glamour of this property on Crest Road in Pebble Beach. The house piques one’s interest right away because of its sophistication sans ...
Wide Opening
A talent contest gives locals a chance to shine like – and share the stage with – superstars.
The harmonica sounds out clear and strong. Guitar strumming starts, voices begin to stir, and the bright lights illuminate a raven-haired girl with matte, red lips and kohl-rimmed eyes. Her diminutive stature contrasts sharply with ...
Bottle Shock
A Vine Romance: Bottle Shock’s filmmakers Randall Miller and Jody Savin pour it on.
When father-and-son winery owners Jim and Bo Barrett start to argue, they climb into a homemade boxing ring built in the dirt near their rows of vines. At least, the Barretts as played by Bill ...
More Than Fair
The case for Jessica Simpson, who anchors a suddenly striking county fair lineup.
Blond hair the way God meant it to be, blond like Clorox sunshine. A caviar body, if you like your caviar lacquered in barbecue sauce. Breasts like plucked guinea hens, undercooked and overstuffed. And those ...
Art Listings for Aug 14, 2008
Art Listings for Aug 14, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK Lu Lu’s Silk Art Gallery Chinese Folk House: Paintings by Chunming Yu. Mission and Fifth, Carmel. 620-1122. Masaoka Design Gallery Spectra: New work by Nancy Francioli, opening reception 5-8pm, 8/16. 13766 Center ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for Aug 14, 2008
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Mexican: As a Mexican, I’m always ashamed of the fact that a lot of Mexican women just come to the United States to have babies and to utilize this country’s welfare. I know a ...
Public Citizen
8|14 THURS FOOD VS. FUEL | MARINA– Abundant Biofuels Chairman and CEO Chuck Fishel discusses biofuels and his company’s solution to rising fuel costs. 5:30-7:30pm. Marina Technology Cluster, 3180 Imjin Road, Suite 149, Marina. $10/members; ...
Mixmaster
DJ Spooky brings the beat of the avant-garde back to Big Sur.
Paul Miller’s lectures– like his “Remix Culture” talk at Chapel Hill, N.C., viewable on YouTube– leap over a dizzy range of terrain, from the films of Méliès to black inventor Garrett A. Morgan to Grandmaster ...
Feeling Randy
The man who rescued country with multi-platinum hits visits Monterey.
Back in 1984, The New York Times basically announced the death of country music in a piece by Robert Palmer titled “Country Music in Decline.” “Audiences are dwindling, sales of country records are plummeting and ...
Alternative Energy and Economic Development
Salinas’ pitch to bring prestigious Rocky Mountain Institute to town.
Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue wants to bring in esteemed environmental consultation group Rocky Mountain Institute to evaluate how the Salinas Valley can move toward alternative energy and develop green-collar jobs. “I want to look at ...
Food chain
Heart of the Party
SIX HUNDRED FOR SUR… “The winds of change blow through, and leave me in the clear blue sky of mind more quickly when I greet them with an open heart.” A friend of mine, Beth ...
Bordering on Genius
An innovative immigration tale as only El Teatro can tell it.
Mexican music sails out the doors as a line of people spills down the wooden porch of El Teatro Campesino in San Jaun Bautista. Two people working the box office pace nervously up and down ...
The coast’s biggest benefit goes off beautifully.
Siku Glacier Ice Vodka martinis poured from ice sculptures and wine from more than 10 local wineries flowed perpetually. A maze of more than 150 silent-auction items, including local art, wine and gift certificates, occupied ...
Letters to the Editor for Aug 14, 2008
ADJUST THE PICUTRE Zachary Stahl’s recent article regarding Measure W (“Dirty Glossy Things” Aug. [7-13]) misses the key factor: the broader picture related to this and similar measures. Our country’s “non-system” of health-care delivery has ...
Squid Fry for Aug 14, 2008
Squid Fry for Aug 14, 2008
FOWL PLAY… Squid has been stuck to the edge of Squid’s seat– mainly to stave off “office butt”– while following three pigeon poop threads on the P.G. message board www.morriefisher.com. The site, of course, isn’t ...
The Dirt on Gases
EPA’s global warming whistle blower Jason Burnett sets his sights on local politics.
During his first stint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Jason K. Burnett tried to set tougher standards for lethal soot particles. The Bush administration killed the proposal; shortly thereafter, Burnett quit. About a year ...
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Exchange Student: Woody Allen takes his affairs abroad again in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
It used to be that you couldn’t get Woody Allen out of New York at gunpoint. For decades, New York City seemed to be Allen’s muse and inspiration even more than his frequent leading ladies ...
Real-Deal Résumé
Ron Thompson has played with the best; now he hits Live.
Ron Thompson has shared the stage and held his own with the best blues music players in the world. The Bay Area musician has jammed with B.B. King at the legendary bluesman’s Universal City club. ...
Live At The 1994 Monterey Jazz Festival
SHIRLEY HORN
Long overlooked by jazz historians, vocalist and pianist Shirley Horn is featured with her longtime trio, bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams, on this concert concluding the Festival’s 37th anniversary. While always known for ...
Solzhenitsyn’s final years a paradox.
hen I first heard of Alexander Solzhenitsyn during my childhood in the Soviet Union, he was the officially reviled author of forbidden books. To my anticommunist parents and their friends, he was a hero who ...
50 Years Of Dave Brubeck: Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival 1958-2007
DAVE BRUBECK
The latest collection of six Monterey Jazz Festival archival recordings, which highlight either a single night’s concert or a career of performances, includes a stunning collection of pianist Dave Brubeck’s work. The 10 pieces, from ...
Primo Restaurant and Wine Bar
Primo looks to build upon small plates and big wines.
The likeability factor is high at Primo, a pretty new restaurant and wine bar in Pacific Grove. The idea of being able to enjoy small plates or a full meal with wines by the glass ...
The Free Way
How to do car week gratis (or on a budget that knows no speed limit).
The best things in life are free. They just don’t go zero to 60 in 2.5 seconds. The 2009 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport, a prototype showing at the Concours concept gallery on Pebble’s putting ...
People’s Champ
Bravely blind testing the best wines for county fairgoers to drink.
In medievel times, sommeliers were the first to taste a wine to see if it was acceptable for the king and queen. If it was spoiled or poisoned, he’d save them. Some things have changed ...
Beetle’s Got Legs
The love affair never ends for devotees of the VW bug.
The salesman wasn’t selling. Despite offers that dwarfed what his three beautiful Volkswagen Beetles cost, Bob Lewis of Bob Lewis Volkswagen wasn’t interested. His species of Bug was too rare. A trio of drop-top fuel-injected ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): Golden Globe-winning actress Edith Evans had some advice for actors who were just coming into their full power: “Don’t indulge yourself by showing off; the moment that you begin to find ...
Obama’s faith-based plan courts GOP votes.
In the old days politicians would slip preachers some hundreds under the table, and preachers would deliver the flock on Election Day. It was borderline illegal, but at least it left the Constitution alone. The ...
Does your car have a name? If your car could talk, what would it say?
Asked at Highlands Gas Station in Carmel Highlands.
Follow-up: What is the fastest speed you have ever driven or been driven by someone else, and in what kind of car? TIM CEPIN | Actor’s Union Rep | Salinas A: No, my car doesn’t ...
Kittens and Cougars
Recent urban sightings underscore the need to study local mountain lions.
On a typical foggy morning in early July, Kathy Aliotti’s walk with her chocolate lab in Monterey’s Via Paraiso Park took an unexpected turn. As she neared the baseball diamond, she came upon a mountain ...
Veggie Rail
Grower-Shipper Association studies delivering Salinas Valley crops by train.
Tom Nunes Jr., president of The Nunes Company, remembers when Salinas Valley lettuce was packed into refrigerated railcars and shipped across the country by train. “They’d come right into our coolers, right into our packing ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$1,065,000 Recent Sale 4 Via Zaragosa, Monterey Built: 1989 Size: 2,721 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, 2-car garage, 2 stories Amenities: Ocean view from upstairs, 2 fireplaces, alarm system, master bath has a ...
News Updates: Oil spills; Empty seats; Delgado's ascent; Fort Ord's main gate.
SLICK MOVE… After we reported that Save Our Shores has returned to Monterey, the state Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response announced it will give oil spill equipment and ...
Live At The 1977 Monterey Jazz Festival
TITO PUENTE
Puente’s big 15-piece Latin jazz band plays with all of the charisma and virtuosic skill with which he was long associated. Interestingly enough, it was this concert that’s credited with bringing the great timbale player ...
Bag Blockage
Bill targeting plastic grocery bags stalls in state Senate committee.
Assemblyman Lloyd Levine was jogging next to the Los Angeles River, gazing at the sparkling water, when he noticed plastic bags strewn across the river’s banks, the surrounding trees, even floating on the river’s surface. ...
Ice cream social yields more than a tasty dessert.
I found the flier tucked under the welcome mat at my front door. “Dear Neighbors– You’re invited to the party of the year. Our very own neighborhood ice cream block party, celebrating good neighbors, good ...
Chop Job
Riding the skies in the sheriff’s whirlybird.
Crammed in the back seat of a Monterey County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, I feel like I’m in a squirrelly crop duster– not an omnipotent criminal chaser. The chopper flies low over row crops outside Salinas’ ...
Eight is Enough
Forget the superstars. Tune in to these lesser-known Olympians.
The 2004 U.S. Olympic basketball team featured such high-priced NBA pros as Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson– but barely limped to a bronze medal by beating Lithuania. The vaunted ’08 squad, meanwhile– featuring Kobe Bryant ...
Brave New Country
Simpson on the switch from pop – and talking to herself.
Jessica Simpson just made me feel stupid. “I’m not related to Al Gore,” she laughs. “That’s funny. You hear all these things. It’s kinda crazy.” As I make a mental note to move a certain ...
Tropic Thunder
Silly Salvo: Ben Stiller abandons subtle satire for broad gags in Tropic Thunder.
Ben Stiller is not a subtle guy. On his short-lived, self-titled Fox comedy series in 1992, Stiller oversaw some terrific satire, but the style was often broad. In the decade since he became a household ...
Four Play
The best outdoor public pools to visit this summer have their various strengths.
As the June-July gloom starts to drift away, Monterey County residents can look forward to warm, sunny days. The options the weather encourages are everywhere: surfing, hiking, camping… But the Pacific’s waters are cold and ...
Friday, August 8
Face-lifts and light rail
Letter From Beijing: Expat from Mo.Co. surveys the new&improved China
Not to be outdone by the “parachute” journalists and “template” writers, as one who has lived in Beijing almost from the month when the city was selected to host the Olympics, here’s my two cents. ...
Thursday, August 7
Tased ’n‘ Confused
Seaside PD installs Taser cameras; fatality court date set for next year.
Seaside Police Officer Uriah Allen puts on his game face– jaw set, eyes trained ahead– and prepares to get tased. Allen’s jolt comes at a turning point in the Seaside Police Department’s relationship with Taser ...
Squid Fry for Aug 07, 2008
Squid Fry for Aug 07, 2008
WELCOME TO DEATH ROW… Ol’ Squid’s got more original gangster in common with the best West Coast rappers than most bipeds might think– beyond the bitches and the blunts. Like Tupac Shakur, Squid has long ...
Modern Guilt
BECK
Produced by hot beatmaker Danger Mouse and bearing an ominously portentous title, Modern Guilt raises expectations that its creator, Beck, has no interest in living up to. A moody run-through of the thematic preoccupations that ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): Do you get aroused from squeezing balloons until they explode? Do you quiver with delight as you watch popcorn pop? Have you ever been patient enough to stand in front of ...
Garden of Eatin’
Gardiner’s Resort now uses its stunning setting as a spot to serve food.
After 51 years in business, Gardiner’s Resort, Carmel Valley’s renowned “world’s first tennis resort,” decided to invite the neighbors to dine. Visitors are now welcome for lunch and dinner year-round. The 25-acre grounds are an ...
Of Steinbeck and Mexico
Annual festival celebrates Salinas’ native son, and, this year, his love of Mexico, its people and culture.
Today and for the next few days, a man is being remembered and celebrated by the national institution created around his life, ideas and legacy. John Steinbeck was a writer and thinker, born in Salinas, ...
Reformation Affirmation
Getting back together was the best move The Starlite Desperation has made.
It begins with military precision. As drummer Jeff Ehrenberg and bassist Dana Locano lock into a rhythmic stomp, singer and guitarist Dante Adrian White adds strafing shards of guitar fire to The Starlite Desperation’s “Born ...
Dirty Glossy Things
Misleading flier goes out to voters as they receive mail-in ballots for Measure W.
A notorious anti-tax group is drawing fire from Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System supporters for distributing a flier that exaggerates hospital executives’ salaries just before voters received ballots for Measure W, a hospital bond measure. ...
Speaking In Numbers
The Weekly Tally
2000,000 The estimated number of vintage posters and pins, hood ornaments and display pieces, rally plates and apparel items at Automobilia Monterey, which takes place Aug. 12-13 at the Embassy Suites in Seaside and benefits ...
What tempts you the most?
Asked at Spirit West Coast at Laguna Seca
Follow-up: What would Jesus do tonight? RON JAMERSON | Retail Store Manager | Grass Valley A: Money– and having the security to take care of my family. Some nights I work later to support them ...
The U.S. must lead the effort for a nuclear-free Middle East.
Israel and the entire Middle East are approaching a stark existential choice: a nuclear holocaust or a nuclear-free Middle East. “Israel will almost surely attack Iran’s nuclear sites in the next four to seven months,” ...
Fire Songs
THE WATSON TWINS
The vibe of this first full-length album from The Watson Twins is wholly American, and that encompasses a whole lotta elements: soul, country, R&B, folk, indie rock, gospel and jazz. Once one learns that the ...
Two Men With the Blues
WILLIE NELSON AND WYNTON MARSALIS
Even if you know Miles Davis titled one of his pieces “Willie Nelson” out of respect and admiration for the country crooner, you still might think this pairing with Wynton Marsalis might be a disaster. ...
Food Chain
Fringe Benefits
HOPE FLOATS… As sunshine begins to crack through the foggy days here in never-never land and smoke recedes, rebuilding proceeds and our summer accedes, word of special tributes and fundraisers abounds as we neighborly folk ...
Money Pit
Marina pumps millions more dollars into The Dunes.
The Marina City Council Aug. 5 voted to inject nearly $106 million in redevelopment funds into The Dunes on Monterey Bay, despite insistence from residents to postpone the complex development deal. After a nearly four-hour ...
Brideshead Revisited
Estate Tax: In this new version of Brideshead Revisited, times takes its toll on the film’s two protagonists.
I’m not sure that Evelyn Waugh, a Roman Catholic convert, would have endorsed this accomplished adaptation of his 1945 novel about the pre-World War II chasmic divides of class and religion and one man’s efforts ...
Law and Albacore
Oceana board member and actor Sam Waterston on the state of the sea.
Something about Sam Waterston exudes authority. Maybe it’s his unwavering eyes beneath a thick bushy brow, or his tendency to enunciate words with a crispness that matches his perfectly tailored suit. It could be his ...
Public Citizen
8|7 THURS REENTRY FACILITY MEETING | SALINAS–Monterey County officials host a community meeting on the proposed reentry facility, which would offer services to inmates (including substance abuse, mental health, education, vocation and character-based/cognitive education) intended ...
Home Page
Carmel Valley home’s features are surprising and intriguing.
Bernard Jones had been successful in the adobe brick business before the “mid-century” subdivisions arrived. By 1960 there was little interest in adobe so he designed several post-adobe homes in Carmel Valley to be built ...
Art Listing for Aug 07, 2008
Art Listing for Aug 07, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK 2016 Sunset collective Open house photography reception, noon-10pm, 8/9 and noon-5pm, 8/10. 2016 Sunset, Pacific Grove. 238-0902. alternative café Garter Belts and Gasoline: pin-up and hot rod art, opening reception 7-9pm, 8/8. ...
Crude Awakening
If it leaks, a sunken tanker holding 3 million gallons of oil could mean a Central Coast disaster.
It was two days before Christmas in 1941, barely two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The crew of the Montebello knew there were Japanese submarines off the California coast, but they voted to ...
Hanging With Jesus
A report from the ground at Spirit West Coast.
The T-shirts say things like “Silly Rabbits, Jesus is for Everyone” and “Virginity Rocks.” Banners line the sides of vendor booths announcing that “National Pro-Life Cupcake Day is on Oct. 9” and “Pornography is for ...
Letters to the Editor for Aug 07, 2008
BETTER THINGS TO RUN Shame to the Monterey County Weekly to allow this racist and bigot to be in the paper [Gustavo Arellano’s column, “Ask a Mexican”]. This guy reinforces the stereotype of a Mexican. ...
New World
Sandy Cressman found her jazz soul in Brazil.
Brazilian songs have spiced up the jazz repertoire ever since bossa nova recordings topped the pop charts in the early 1960s. But few American jazz singers have immersed themselves in Brazilian music as deeply as ...
Serving a Winner
Newly renovated public tennis courts have Seaside beaming.
On a breezy summer Friday, Seaside’s Wheeler Street tennis courts– perched above the city like a condor’s nest– pulse with festivities. Dozens of community members are here to celebrate the ribbon cutting of four refurbished ...
Fiery Lit
The Return of Ping Pong
Jonathan Ames’ short fiction story “Book Tour Diary” would have pleased Henry Miller. It reads like a little black book of sexual escapades, but with a strange revelation that drops the reader into messy human ...
When it comes to petroleum pollution, there’s plenty of blame to spread around.
Tar balls on beaches and oil-coated cormorants make the presence of oil in the cold, gray Pacific undeniable. Here are some of the top culprits: • Oil platform leaks. In 1969 the blowout of a ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$900,000 Recent Sale 4170 Marguerita Way, Carmel Valley Built: 1957 Size: 2,409 square feet, 1 acre Features: 5 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2-car garage, 1 story Amenities: Mountain views, fireplace, wood floors throughout Sellers: Thaler Trust ...
Pineapple Express
High Times: Pineapple Express takes a funny but unfocused stroll through 1970s cinema.
Like Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova, the match just did not compute. Screenwriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were part of the Judd Apatow comedy stable, the guys behind the broader-than-the-Mississippi comedy of Superbad. Director ...
Save Our Shores renews its boater outreach program.
This summer, after a three-year hiatus, Save Our Shores re-joins the swell of Monterey Bay area advocacy groups with an eye on oil contamination. Rather than focusing on the splashy oil spills that make headlines, ...
Vayniac Nation
The new-media mogul who spits for Joe Six-Pack.
Let’s dispense with professional jealousy right off the bat: part of me wanted to hate Gary Vaynerchuk’s new book, 101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World, because all of me ...
Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
With the Big Sur fires mostly contained, officials prepare for mudslides and floods.
As if on cue, a tumble of rocks smacked into a truck holding emergency response workers in Big Sur. It was July 23, and the county’s emergency service team was giving its federal counterpart a ...
If Obama doesn’t talk about race, then who will?
Myron Wyckoff of Carmel Valley is troubled by the turn the presidential contest took last week. The retired Army sergeant first class was referring to assertions by John McCain’s campaign that Barack Obama played the ...
Tuesday, August 5
California considers ban on plastic bags — would be the first state to adopt measure.
A year ago we reported on the growing island of plastic trash, now twice the size of Texas, floating about 100 miles off the California coast. The story reported how every plastic product ever manufactured ...
Monday, August 4
Energy, sexism and Barack Obama: The first woman speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, discusses her new book about power in Washington, D.C.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who represents California's 8th Congressional District, covering much of San Francisco County, is the highest-ranking elected woman in U.S. history. And she has a new book coming out this ...
