Thursday, February 28
Sounds Crazy
Locally sown Gnome Life Records takes an eclectic triple bill to P.G. Art Center.
For his senior art project at UC Santa Cruz, Fletcher Tucker constructed a raft out of garbage and discarded materials, including a set of 80-gallon plastic drums from a local gummy bear factory. While most ...
Semi Pro
Will Ferrell whiffs with the basketball comedy Semi-Pro.
Will Ferrell fans, take note: the master buffoon has let us down in Semi-Pro, but it’s not for a lack of trying. Just the opposite, actually. We’re used to him doing absurd things for a ...
Voice Coach to the Stars
Robert Edwards taught Hollywood how to sing; now he instructs locals.
Local teacher Robert Edwards believes everyone starts singing shortly after they are born. Unfortunately, the singing he is referring to is not music to everyone’s ears. Edwards – who has worked with big-name vocalists including ...
Divine Deliverance
TED prizewinner Karen Armstrong fights to unify religions.
Although author Karen Armstrong has diligently studied and written about the world’s religions, she’s as stumped as anyone about one of life’s – and TED’s – biggest questions: “What is our place in the universe?” ...
Letters to the Editor for Feb 28, 2008
Merger Is Bad News If you oppose media consolidation, you ought to oppose the merger of KAZU and KUSP [“Urge to Merge,” Feb. 21-27]. Having two public radio stations gives us listeners excellent choices, but ...
KoKoRo Sushi
Salinas’ KoKoRo Sushi wins with its specialty rolls, magnetic hosts and homemade sauces.
Mr. Pinch loves sushi. Mr. Pinch also loves sauces. Mr. Pinch would love this new place called KoKoRo Sushi in Salinas – and the seriously saucy signature sushi rolls that stand out there. Mr. Pinch, ...
Free Will Astrology | Feb. 28 - March 5, 2008
Aries (March 21-April 19): What’s the opposite of a freak out? Let’s call it a freak in. I suspect you’re about to enter into this state. That means you will have at your disposal all ...
Public Citizen
ONGOING MISS CALIFORNIA RODEO | COUNTYWIDE—The California Rodeo Salinas accepts applications for the 2008 Miss California Rodeo Salinas. The July pageant includes horsemanship, personality, appearance, and scholarship. Winner takes home a $2,500 college scholarship and ...
By The Numbers
192 Average number of days houses have been on the market in Aromas; average price as of Feb. 17: $741,036. 12 Average number of days houses have been on the market in Big Sur; average ...
What celebrity would you like to punk? And how?
Asked at Whole Enchilada Marketplace in Moss Landing.
Follow-up: Worst celebrity arrest photo? Dream celebrity couple? MATT LEVEY | Geoscientist | Moss Landing A: Russell Crowe – because he always gets in fights. I’d punk him by getting a girl scout to try ...
Under Fire for Hires
Opponents critique PG city manager for hiring former county co-workers.
Competence or cronyism? Depends on your point of view. In the minds of some Pacific Grove residents, City Manager Jim Colangelo has acted unfairly by hiring his former co-workers while laying off long-term PG employees. ...
Squid Fry for Feb 28, 2008
Squid Fry for Feb 28, 2008
Who Do You Trust… Chemtrails and UFOs in the sky. Fluoridated water. Elvis listening in. Ah, yes, Squid can talk conspiracy theory with the best of ‘em. But lately, Squid’s favorite conspiracy theory hits a ...
He needs to woo progressives who might vote Green or independent.
Ralph Nader is running again for president. After four previous bids, mounted in varying forums and with varying goals, Nader is used to the slings and arrows that will be tossed his way. He is ...
Tally
The Weekly Tally 02.28.08
The number of strategies deployed by Aubrey de Grey, who visits the Peninsula to speak at the BIL Conference (see story, cover section), to repair and reverse aging on the cellular and molecular level. Source: ...
Just a Little Lovin’
SHELBY LYNNE
One must wonder just how many people buying music today remember Dusty Springfield. One of pop’s best loved divas in the ‘60s, she had a series of hits penned by Burt Bacharach and others that ...
Food Chain
No Whining
Quit Yo’ Bitchin’… The Weekly’s Best Of issue is almost here. Each year – this is either my eighth or ninth one – the community inevitably gets all in a snit about the selections. Stop ...
Roots and Grooves
MACEO PARKER
James Brown’s saxophonist Maceo Parker is the current artist to get star treatment by today’s best big band, WDR. Just as in previous releases with Joe Zawinul and the Brecker Brothers, the band works with ...
Burning Up
A fiery Big Read will warmup county residents to great literature.
Libraries across the county are stocking up on copies in anticipation of a spike in interest. Borders has a few dozen backordered. Salinas firefighters and Mayor Dennis Donohue have their copies already. It’s safe to ...
Art Listing for Feb 28, 2008
Art Listing for Feb 28, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK homescapes carmel New exhibit of giclees by Tom O’Neal. SE Corner of Seventh and Dolores, Carmel. 624-6499. ledbetter art studio Open house, with artist Emy Ledbetter in attendance, 3/1, noon-5pm. Third and ...
Harvest Boon
P.G. Council picks a farmers market organizer.
Pacific Grove has taken another step toward becoming the sustainable city that leaders envision. On Feb. 20 the City Council selected Iris Peppard to manage P.G.’s planned farmers’ market, which is expected to open in ...
BIL offers its own excellent adventure for roughly $6,000 less than TED.
BIL stands for a lot of things. The tag words at the top of its wiki website offer a glimpse. The title changes come with every refreshing click of the mouse – offering a fun-if-not-informative ...
Bang! Bang!
TED winner Neil Turok shakes up astro-physics with his version of the universe’s birth.
Neil Turok is a thug. A spectacled, sweatered, antenna-eared thug, but a thug nonetheless for taking on the baddest mo’ fo’ in cosmology. That’s right: The Cambridge University chair of mathematical physics has challenged fellow ...
Connecting the Dots
Tracing tangible results of TED-inspired ideas.
The questions being asked at this week’s TED conference sound like the sort only to be debated late at night, and after several bottles of wine. But they are being discussed here in broad daylight, ...
Cannery Row Condos go to Coastal Commission; ‘no’ vote recommended.
The Ocean View Plaza project refuses to die. The notorious condo-and-retail development, planned for Cannery Row, has taken several seemingly fatal blows over the past dozen years, but, like a slasher-flick monster, it always comes ...
Man for the Ages
Key speaker at BIL has a plan to beat aging – and it actually makes sense.
In Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, the protagonists take on the Grim Reaper in a series of challenges that include Battleship and Clue. Aubrey de Grey, a former TED speaker and this year’s most anticipated ...
Taxi To The Dark Side
The winner of the 2008 Oscar for Best Documentary uses the story of a cab driver to illustrate how the war on terror has corrupted our nation’s values.
On Dec. 5, 2002, a young Afghani taxi driver named Dilawar, from a rural valley near Yakubi, picked up three passengers. Soon after, all four men, including Dilawar, were detained by U.S. forces and sent ...
Web Exclusive
Mettee-McCutchon appointed to Monterey County Board of Supervisors
So much for letting the voters decide. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed Marina Mayor Ila Mettee-McCutchon to the Monterey County Board of Supervisor, representing District 4. “Ila’s experience in local government and involvement in her ...
PG may revive tax measures voters rebuffed in November.
Second time’s the charm? Although Pacific Grove voters rejected a package of three tax measures last November, the City Council may put two very similar measures back on the June ballot. One would double the ...
Permeating Borders
Son de la Frontera embodies flamenco’s deepest roots and broadest fusion at Sunset Center
First, there are family lineages as consequential as any David begat in the Holy Bible, bloodlines as minutely codified as any Godolphin Arabian’s running through Man O’ War. It’s thick and heavy, the scrutiny that ...
Capstone Cops
Salinas hopes to squash street violence through a new community-policing initiative.
Carlos Castro walks his knee-high son along a trail in Salinas’ Cesar Chavez Park. Castro has lived in the blue row homes overlooking the East Salinas park for three years. “My neighbors are good,” Castro ...
Democrats are risking a brokered nomination.
The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in his classic 19th-century treatise Democracy in America. “But from time to time one can see the old ...
Old Growth
DEAD MEADOW
Dark psychedelic garage rock continues to be all the rage, as if veteran bands like Brian Jonestown Massacre and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club hadn’t already exhausted the idea. Sure, Dead Meadow has been around since ...
Dave Eggers maintains a furious pace of creativity.
In 2000, Dave Eggers burst onto the national literary scene with the publication of his creative memoir . The book balanced the emotional journey of Eggers raising his brother Toph after their parents succumbed to ...
The Really Big Question
Will the TED conference elite yield something concrete for the rest of us?
One of the world’s largest gatherings of thinkers and achievers takes place this week in Monterey. Most of us are not invited. The best we can do is figuratively press our noses to the glass ...
Home Page
Modern interior suits this classic Pacific Grove home.
What a nifty cottage. It’s sophisticated, handsomely remodeled (tankless hot water heater, dual-pane windows, crown molding, newer electrical, plumbing and sewer connection, etc.) and attentively cared for. It was built on a corner lot in ...
Thursday, February 21
Letters to the Editor for Feb 21, 2008
The Reign Of Mccain In response to “The McCain I Know” in the Feb. 7-13 issue of the Weekly, I’d like to add what I think is a very important point about the upcoming presidential ...
Oscars Wild
A look at how a rich and varied year in film should be reflected at the 80th Academy Awards.
With a muckraking tale of black gold, a psychopath armed with slaughterhouse air-gun, Tic-Tacs that lead to teenage pregnancy and a memoir written with blinks of an eye, 2007 was a wonderfully mixed year in ...
A Morning In Paris
ATHIMA BEA BENJAMIN
This first recording of Abdullah Ibrahim’s (Dollar Brand) singer wife was completed in 1963, but the tapes were lost until 1997 when they surfaced in the hands of the session’s recording engineer. Benjamin was discovered ...
Free Will Astrology | February 21-27, 2008
Aries (March 21-April 19): I’m 99 percent positive that in the coming week you will not wind up in a hand-to-hand battle on top of a speeding truck with a rogue agent of the secret ...
Radio Heads
An enthusiastic tribe of amateur radio hams descends upon Del Rey Oaks.
The chatter resonating throughout the faux wood-paneled walls of the Monterey Moose Lodge in Del Rey Oaks this Friday and Saturday will be full of phrases such as “off-frequency operation,” “spurious emissions,” and “non-iodizing radiation.” ...
Still Hangin’
Endless Summer principals reunite in Carmel.
It felt like a scene out of a surf movie. The clear blue skies, the swells that rose from beneath dark kelp to form perfect curls, the light on the water – it all seemed ...
Safe Inside the Day
BABY DEE
Rediscovered, in a sense, for the indie-rock scene by Antony and the Johnsons and Drag City all-stars Bonny “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney, Baby Dee is actually quite the musical veteran: She’s gone from being ...
Politics
Denham Recall Moves Forward
Political insiders have tossed another name into the potential race for embattled Republican State Sen. Jeff Denham’s 12th District seat: soon-to-be-termed-out Assemblyman John Laird. The recall campaign against Denham turned in signatures on Feb. 8 ...
State Says Salinas Water Company Overcharged Customers
The state Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) has issued a scathing report lambasting Salinas-based Alisal Water Corporation for overcharging customers, not properly responding to complaints and withholding financial data. The report, which was finalized late ...
Sticky-ing to Tradition
As Tet celebrations draw to a close, a look at ways to keep the great food coming.
The Kitchen God knows your family secrets. According to Vietnamese customs, about one week before the first day of the Lunar New Year in February, that god, Ong Tao, flies to heaven to share his ...
Presidential candidates must have the courage to say no to the Pentagon.
Americans are worried about the impending recession and the Wall Street crisis, as well as the exhilarating and unpredictable presidential contest. But another threatening force is bearing down on the nation: our out-of-control military machine. ...
Food Chain
Bring the Heat
HOT AND BOTHERED… I was hanging around annoying the guys in the kitchen at Bernardus Lodge the other day, interfering with Chef de Cuisine Christophe “Hurricane” Grosjean while he was preparing for the pending evening ...
Home&Garden: Ten That Make The Cut
Good natives to plant.
DOUGLAS IRIS (Iris douglasiana) This perennial herb bursts with flowers that range in color from cream to purple. The plant can handle full sun on the coast but needs afternoon shade inland. ALUM ROOT (Heuchera ...
One public radio station proposes a plan to buy the other, or to consolidate operations.
Santa Cruz-based public radio station KUSP recently announced a proposal to buy its Monterey County counterpart, KAZU. But CSUMB Foundation officials (the Foundation owns the station and its license) say KAZU is not for sale. ...
Be Kind Rewind
Be Kind Rewind extols the virtues of community creations.
If you’re reading this paper, you probably feel a fundamental sympathy for the idea that “local and independent” means something in an era of corporate homogeneity. You may be sitting in your favorite non-Starbucks coffee ...
Squid Fry for Feb 21, 2008
On The Bench… Squid’s the first to admit that judicial elections aren’t normally wrought with mudslinging, scandalous sex and whistleblowers. This June would be no exception, except this is Monterey County’s bench, where the bar’s ...
Absinthe Minded
Monterey Live reinvigorates the spirit of the legendary liquor with a special cabaret show.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was known for wandering around Paris with a hollow walking stick filled with it. Vincent Van Gogh drank it heavily—and a number of his works took on its mouthwash-green hue. Pablo Picasso, ...
In Bruges
Two hitmen take a trip to a historic European city in the black comedy In Bruges.
It wasn’t so long ago that Colin Farrell was poised to be a box-office king. But the Irish actor wasn’t so well-suited to paycheck movies like S.W.A.T., Daredevil and Alexander, which made him more of ...
What Makes A House A Home?
Asked at Hayward Lumber in Pacific Grove.
Follow-up: What would make a creative name for a color? JOHN WOOD | Contractor | Pacific Grove A: All the unique objects inside [a house] that people collect make it a home. My wife is ...
Youth Interrupted
Seaside’s Youth Diversion Program loses funding.
Rafael Hernandez was doing his best to keep his son Zuri on a straight path. But as the Seaside High 10th-grader began hanging out with new friends, getting disciplined at school and closing himself off ...
Home Page
Family-friendly Las Palmas Ranch home is ready for its next owners.
River Road exits south from Highway 68 east to 16,000 acres of beautiful land once belonging to the Las Palmas Ranch. The ranch is now divided into three communities called Las Palmas I, II and ...
Art Listing for Feb 21, 2008
Art Listing for Feb 21, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK american tin cannerY Artist Fair: One-day fair of artists from area galleries, schools, museums, associations. 10am-5pm, 2/23. Free. 125 Ocean Blvd, Pacific Grove. 333-0930 or 641-0196. Pacific Grove Art Center Captured Views, ...
Leaving Iraq will be painful, but necessary.
Except for a hardy band of neo-con optimists and the official apologists of the Bush regime, almost everyone is agreed that the United States has gotten itself into a nasty, self-wounding mess in Iraq where ...
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
One of the most hyped albums of the year, Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut might not live up to every accolade bestowed on it by lonely internerds all across the superhighway, but it’s an impressive first ...
Foam Wars
Plastics lobby tries to roll back wave to ban polystyrene.
It’s energy-efficient, cheap and more environmentally friendly than most people realize. Heck, you might even call it sustainable. Contrary to popular belief, it is recyclable – and the claims that it poses a human health ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
11 Percent of the average home price gain in 2007 over 2006. 3.5 Percent drop in new listings in 2007 compared with 2006. 33.6 Percent drop in home sales in 2007 compared with 2006 Source: ...
Home & Garden: Modern Light
Architect’s legacy lives in Monterey County and the world.
It is said that shortly after the Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula officially opened its doors in 1962, a group of healthy Pebble Beach women, thinking it was a spa, wanted to check in for ...
Home&Garden: Gardening Tight
Even the laziest gardeners can grow food in small spaces.
I could list my gardening limitations to the soundtrack of a slow violin. My yard is a thin strip of lava rocks that I, as a renter, don’t have the liberty to disturb. And even ...
Home & Garden: Flora Plan
Finding the right plants to thrive on low maintenance, little water.
Instead of grass, Carol LeNeve’s front yard is mostly covered in ankle-high Carmel creeper, a shrub with dark-green, oval leaves. LeNeve, dressed in a purple turtleneck and jeans, walks down her stone path toward Camino ...
Home & Garden: Ten That Make The Cut
Good natives to plant.
DOUGLAS IRIS (Iris douglasiana) This perennial herb bursts with flowers that range in color from cream to purple. The plant can handle full sun on the coast but needs afternoon shade inland. ALUM ROOT (Heuchera ...
Public Citizen
2|22 FRI DON’T MULTIPLY LIKE RABBITS |COUNTYWIDE—Win one of 10 spay or neuter surgeries for your animals by entering the Monterey County Animal Services’ drawing. Must be 18 or older, live in unincorporated Monterey County, ...
Home & Garden: Gardening Tight
Even the laziest gardeners can grow food in small spaces.
I could list my gardening limitations to the soundtrack of a slow violin. My yard is a thin strip of lava rocks that I, as a renter, don’t have the liberty to disturb. And even ...
Tally
The Weekly Tally 2.21.08
12,246 The height, in feet, of White Mountain, the third highest peak in California. Bob Coomer climbed it – in a wheelchair – and presents a slide show illustrating his experience at Marina’s REI this ...
Thursday, February 14
Drawing Room
Hartnell College exhibit shows fine lines of the creative process.
The artists’ model is hunched forward, leaning into a sturdy staff. My drafting pencil is poised just above the surface of the page as I pause for an inward breath… Suddenly, from behind, my drawing ...
What Would You Write On a Candy Heart?
Asked at East Village Coffee Lounge in Monterey
Follow-up: What would you name a new sexual position? REBECCA MENEZES | Musician | Seaside A: “I Like To Be Eaten,” because I think it would funny to accidentally give a bag of those to ...
Food Chain
Smug Check
Not Just On V-Day… This issue kisses the stands on Valentine’s Day. Ohhhwwweeeeeeee. Remember the old Donna Summer song, I Love to Love You Baby… sing it with me… love to love you baby… I… ...
Letters to the Editor for Feb 14, 2008
Colangelo Kicks Ass I am the sustainability intern for the city of Pacific Grove. I would like to explain all of the projects that we are working on. I began my job in early November.Within ...
Perfect Game
The weather was only the beginning of the story at the highest-earning AT&T Pro-Am yet.
The biggest question leading into the ’08 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was not the one posed by comedian Gary Mule Deer hours before the first tee time. “Do you think,” he said to the ...
Path to the White House goes through late-night TV
Perhaps you’re a seasoned veteran of Congress with a flair for bilateral coalition-building. Or maybe you’re a public policy savant whose national health-care plan is so comprehensive it ensures that every pet in America is ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
350 Number of new listings inMonterey County inDecember 2007. 100 Number of houses that soldin Monterey County inDecember 2007. $864,077 Average price paid for all houses sold in Monterey County in December 2007. Source: Californiarealestatecenter.com
Love and Sex
Love and Sex 2008: The Survey Results
Learning will change your life. Or in this case, it will at least lead you to look at your co-workers a little differently. The official results* of the Weekly’s “Love & Sex Survey” (see next ...
Saving Chinatown
Salinas downtown board announces plans for an Asian-American cultural center on Soledad Street
Changing Soledad Street’s vacant storefronts and drug corners into an effervescent Salinas neighborhood with lofts alongside homeless services is quite a leap. To help bridge the gap between the neighborhood’s present and future, stakeholders want ...
Public Citizen
2|14 THURS VETERAN’S CEMETERY PROJECT | MARINA – The Monterey County Veteran’s Cemetery Citizens Advisory Council meets to kick off the cemetery project, finally in its first phase after years of effort. Discuss goals and ...
Definitely, Maybe
Definitely, Maybe definitely fails to properly convey the substance of the ‘90s.
In the romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe, advertising executive and newly divorced dad Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) is introduced bopping merrily down the sidewalk. He’s listening to Sly & the Family Stone’s “Everyday People,” and grooving ...
Tally
The Weekly Tally
The percent of respondents to the Weekly’s official Love & Sex Survey who reported that they have had sex on film. Twenty-four percent said they have had sex at the movies (see story). Source: Weekly ...
Dead Forever
A release featuring The Grateful Dead’s longtime manager invokes an era alive on the walls of his Monterey home
Rock Scully’s Monterey home is a museum of rarely seen psychedelic artifacts, a rainbow of rock-and-roll rarities that throw anyone entering the room into an entranced state of awe. There’s a framed original poster from ...
Sardine Science and Cents
Moss Landing Marine Labs dives into the fishing business
If everything goes according to plan, a few years from now you’ll sashay into a local high-end restaurant and order a plate of lip-smacking sardines. You’ll buy anchovies by the pound at a grocery store’s ...
Squid Fry for Feb 14, 2008
Picky, Picky, Picky… Squid likes to pick on Salinas City Councilman Sergio Sanchez. But Squid isn’t going to kick Sanchez while he is on the ground. First, some drunks sucker-punched him in front of the ...
Home Page
Spacious P.G. home is livable now, but would be worth investing time in scores of needed projects.
The first view of 507 Lobos Ave. from the street is of an end wall with two windows on either side of a centered chimney. Few might guess the scope of the well-laid-out home on ...
Art Listings for Feb 14, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK AVERY GALLERY Black History Month Exhibit: Jody Gulley, Kenji, Sandra Gray, Kevin Garnett. Artists’ reception, 3-6:30pm, 2/17. Seaside City Hall, 440 Harcourt St., Seaside. 899-6811 or 794-2334. BUTTERFLY AND LANTERN New oil ...
Flute Shot
Ali Ryerson takes her increasingly influential jazz weapon to the Hyatt.
After languishing on the sidelines for much of jazz’s history, the flute has floated gracefully into the spotlight, contending with the brassy trumpets and saxophones successfully. Ali Ryerson is among the half-dozen players most responsible ...
He’s telling it like it is, but is anyone listening?
The little man who wasn’t there at the Republican TV debates is Ron Paul, the short-of-stature libertarian physician and congressman. The debate moderators, who are threatening to become the ruin of electoral politics in the ...
Starting Out in the Evening.
A graduate student pursues an elderly writer in the finely observed Starting Out in the Evening.
At first glance, Starting Out in the Evening appears to be one of those hoary May-December romances set in the rarefield literary environs of New York’s Upper West Side in which Woody Allen used to ...
Recipe for Love
Valentine’s Day directions to reach her heart by way of belly.
They say the best way into a man’s heart is through his belly. Well, women have bellies too, you know. Faster than a shot of tequila, more romantic than Brokeback Mountain, as sensuous as your ...
Killer’s brother speaks in Monterey at national death penalty conference.
Bill Babbitt turned in his brother for murder, and 19 years later watched him die in San Quentin’s death chamber. In 1980, Bill’s brother, Manny Babbitt, broke into a Sacramento apartment and beat its occupant, ...
Thursday, February 7
Though gone from the presidential race, John Edwards’ message shouldn’t be ignored.
There was brutal irony in the live coverage of John Edwards’ exit from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Perhaps the story would have been different if the media had paid more attention to ...
Chris’ Classic Confections
Chris’ Classic Confections in Monterey also rolls out homemade cakes, pies and sandwiches with excellence.
Ifirst met Barbara McHale and her son Chris Beavers at the Monterey County AIDS Project Feast for AIDS last fall. We struck up a conversation and McHale gave me her business card for Chris’ Classic ...
Cassandra’s Dream
Woody Allen revisits London less successfully with Cassandra’s Dream.
New York City has become so safe that Woody Allen was forced to relocate to London to become a killer. The bard of Manhattan is now on his third U.K. murder mystery, and this one ...
Letters to the Editor for Feb 07, 2008
Share The Pain, Pal Your article in the Jan. 24-30 of the Weekly regarding Pacific Grove [“America’s Lost Hometown”] is timely and well-written. I offer a few comments on the state of our town, having ...
Clinton Wins Cali
About 55 percent of Monterey County Dems vote for Clinton.
Sugar cookies shaped like Sen. Hillary Clinton’s head sit on the white tablecloth tables at Chapala Restaurant in Salinas on Tuesday night. Blue “Hillary for President” signs cover the walls along with a few green ...
Getting Weir
Why the contenders will find themselves chasing a Canadian in ’08.
Even on the heels of a Super Tuesday, immigration hasn’t been the hottest of topics in the Pebble clubhouse. That’ll change when a 155-pound Canadian makes off with the $1,080,000 first prize (that’s U.S. currency), ...
The Daly Show
His game in disrepair, ‘The Lion’ stalks new projects, including a helpful golf guide.
John Daly likes to walk up and smack it. He does precisely that on page one of his best-selling autobiography. I’ve beat up hotel rooms, houses, and cars. I’ve gambled away a couple of fortunes. ...
Seaside Approves Tax
Measure R will pump nearly $6 million into public safety budgets.
Steve Cercone embodies the awkward relationship some city leaders have with the state law prohibiting them from campaigning on the job. Knowing that the election results will determine his department’s future, on Tuesday night the ...
Local GOP cheers as California Dems turn out for Clinton.
Argribusinessman Jeff Taylor may sound a little kooky. In 2006, he ran against Rep. Sam Farr as a write-in candidate, and in late 2007, he announced that he’ll again challenge the long-time Democratic incumbent. But, ...
Ticket Trials
Monterey vice mayor going to the mat over stop - sign ticket
In New York, former mayor Rudy Giuliani used city cops to taxi his then-mistress Judith Nathan to secret rendezvous in the Hamptons. In Monterey, city politicians get away with a lot less. Last July, Officer ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
18 Number of houses sold in Monterey up to Jan. 26, 2008; average price $652,000. 14 Number of houses sold in Monterey in December 2007; average price $661,000. 14 Number of houses sold in Monterey ...
Public Citizen
2|7 THURS. NEIGHBORHOOD GRANTS INFO | SEASIDE—The Neighborhood Grants Program of the Community Foundation for Monterey County offers grants and technical assistance training to residents of under-served areas of the county who organize and act ...
Why he never should be elected president.
Sen. John McCain’s smirky, sanctimonious, don’t-you-realize-who-I-am debate performance Jan. 30 pretty much nutshells why he never should be elected president. Despite a strong showing on Super Tuesday, he is not qualified to lead the United ...
Country for Two Old Men
How Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, who both play Monterey this week, revolutionized the genre.
Merle Haggard has weathered some rough times. He was a ditch digger, a short-order cook, a truck driver and a laborer in the oil fields around Bakersfield. The legendary country musician also has served several ...
Comedians to the Fore
The best funnymen to watch as they take the game – and having fun – seriously.
Golf Digest Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde recently ranked the top comedian golfers. From fifth to first, it went Larry David, Ray Romano, George Lopez, Bill Murray and, at the top, Tom Dreesen. It’s an accurate evaluation, ...
Food Chain
Well Putt
Ready… Bing!… Oh Bing. If only we could wish upon a star-studded cast of hapless hackers for one more weekend singsong stroll behind you, the joyful warbler, Godfather of Clambake Central, Bada Bing, doobee doobee ...
Greening the Greens
Environmentally friendlier golf courses are gaining recognition.
Golfers competing at this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am may be inspired (or distracted) by abounding natural splendor: Birds soaring over the bluffs, waves crashing off the shore, ocean breeze scented with hints of ...
Art Listing for Feb 07, 2008
Art Listing for Feb 07, 2008
OPENING THIS WEEK BUTTERFLY AND LANTERN New oil paintings on Dutch linen by Lawrence Hollien. Reception, with artist, 6-9pm, 2/15. 845 Wave St., Monterey. 655-0303. carmel art association New works by Pamela Takigawa, Helene Goldstein ...
What Golf Club Best Defines You?
Asked at Bayonet/Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside.
BOB CAIN | Self-Employed | Salinas A: My seven iron. It’s an easy-going club, like me, but only when I hit it well. When I hit it well, it makes me feel like I’m a ...
Rough Operation
Keeping Pebble preened in the face of savage storms isn’t easy.
Emerald carpeting greets rough-edged cliffs with a dramatic kiss. Behind them, ocean and sky blend seamlessly to provide the perfect backdrop. Pebble Beach Golf Links, despite a January full of peril, still looks above par. ...
Wilmot Will Run
Marina Councilmen Hug It Out for Mayor’s Seat
Marina councilmen Gary Wilmot and Dave McCall both wanted to run for mayor. With Mayor Ila Mettee-McCutchon in the race for county supervisor, the two colleagues flirted with the idea of sliding over to the ...
Nearly Nine to Five
Some Salinas politicians say the city needs a full-time mayor.
Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue puts in 40-plus hours a week as the city’s head policymaker, media magnet and hand-gesturing orator. And “it’s still not enough,” Donohue says. For his time, the city pays Donohue $800 ...
AT&T Pro-Am 2008
The Industry Legend: Tom Dreesen survived abject poverty to pal with Letterman, Sinatra and Eastwood—and anchor the AT&T Clambake.
People say a lot of things about standup comedian Tom Dreesen. That’s how it goes when you’ve been in the entertainment game long enough to spend 13 years opening for Frank Sinatra, 500-plus evenings on ...
Fool’s Gold
As a romantic adventure, Fool’s Gold is as dazed and confused as its leading man.
Sure, I “get” the Matthew McConaughey thing, to the extent that it’s possible for a straight guy fully to understand. The chiseled torso, the lazy grin, the surfer-boy looks – if you had a police ...
The Weekly Tally
The Weekly Tally
1.5 million The amount John Daly paid for the custom tour bus he traveled in to the AT&T pebble beach pro-am earlier this week, or about $420,000 more than first-place check at the AT&T Pebble ...
Squid Fry for Feb 07, 2008
Speed Racers… Forget the AT&T Pro-Am, traffic court’s the place to spot local celebrities (or at least local politicians). Monterey Vice Mayor Jeff Haferman’s getting all the press for his stop-sign ticket. But a few ...
Minimalist Lens
Dresser exhibit in Carmel shows photographer’s growth over 25-year period.
Waters sprint over rocks in a breathless frisson, effervescing the center of “Rushing Water, Virginia River, Zion National Monument, Utah, 1989.” They sweep the light across the rectangle in a bright rushing stripe, contrasting with ...
