Sunday, May 31
Slideshow
The Butterfly Criterium bike race returns to Pacific Grove.
Road racers got a chance to hit the streets of Pacific Grove during Sunday's Butterfly Criterium with the return of this short-track road race that made it's debut in 1970s, but stopped for many years ...
Last Call
Crucial local music haven Monterey Live to suddenly shut its doors Monday.
At 7:15pm Saturday night, a text message was received by the Weekly, stating: “Monterey Live is closing down this Monday so come in tonight and tomorrow and give your support.” After corroborating the text message, ...
Friday, May 29
Governor stops in Salinas to offer gift cards in exchange for guns
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today a new Salinas program that will allow residents to exchange their firearms (no questions asked) for gift cards. "Gifts for Guns," modeled after a program in the Los Angeles County ...
Army officially transfers Fort Ord land for munitions cleanup
The Fort Ord Reuse Authority announced today that the Army has officially transferred 3,340 acres to FORA, clearing the way for a multi-year munitions and unexploded ordinance cleanup plan for a portion of the former ...
Thursday, May 28
Seaside man sentenced for possessing more than 400 child porn images and movies
A local judge today sentenced John Harmon, a 51-year-old Seaside resident, to more than three years in prison for possessing child pornography that was originally detected after he turned in his computer for service, the ...
Concern over strange hitchhiker puts Carmel Middle School on lockdown.
The presence of a hitchhiker on Carmel Valley Road prompted Carmel Middle School administrators to put the school on lockdown for about 20 minutes this morning. Several weeks ago the same man, a Carmel Valley ...
Slideshow
Animal Collective creates a blissful soundscape among the Big Sur redwoods.
"I wish the fog would come lower, because that would be awesome!" said one member of the Animal Collective before the band began its encore at Henry Miller Library Wednesday evening. The outdoors venue, just ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$699,000 Recent Sale 4760 Sea Ridge Court, Seaside Built: 2005 Size: 2,925 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2-car garage Amenities: Custom built-in oak shelving, fireplace, fenced yard, patio with built-in seating and fire ...
Grooving in Pacific Grove
Wine, Art&Music event takes a walk on the wild side.
While Pacific Grove lays claim to many family-friendly events – the Butterfly Parade, Good Old Days and Feast of Lanterns – when the sun goes down and the grown-ups want to make merry, P.G. is ...
Tonal Bliss
Ambient sounds and amiable atmosphere in Big Sur.
The Tonalism all-night ambient music happening at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur has a unique objective: to put its attendees to sleep – or at least into a heavy state of relaxation. All ...
Squid Fry for May 28, 2009
Squid Fry for May 28, 2009
Restoring Balance… Squid struggles with channeling positive vibes through the relentless chatter of Squid’s mind. Squid is not alone, as some sensitive humans mistake a compliment for a criticism. Case in point: a recent Marina ...
Quick hits on previously reported news
Updates
SUPREME BLOW… The California Supreme Court on May 26 decided that voters legally outlawed same-sex marriage through Proposition 8. The much-anticipated decision doesn’t dissolve the unions of 18,000 gay and lesbian couples sanctioned before the ...
Public Citizen for May 28, 2009
Public Citizen
ONGOING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY | DISTRICT FIVE – Supervisor Dave Potter seeks a District 5 (Carmel, Carmel Valley, Big Sur, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Monterey, Hwy 68, Las Palmas) resident to sit on the Monterey County ...
Drag Me To Hell
Horror Show: Sam Raimi delivers a subtly devilish good time in Drag Me To Hell.
It’s not a metaphor, the title of cult-favorite director Sam Raimi’s return to his low-budget roots – sort of – with Drag Me to Hell. I spoil not. The opening sequence of this hard-to-pin-down horror ...
Hell No, GMO
Environmentalists and organic farmers collect signatures to ban genetically modified organisms in Monterey County.
A group of environmental activists and organic farmers are stepping up their campaign to ban genetically modified organisms in Monterey County – and they’ve got Supervisor Dave Potter’s attention. Potter recently asked the county’s agricultural ...
Art Listings for May 28, 2009
Art Listings for May 28, 2009
OPENING THIS WEEK alternative café En Fuego: Group show of four Latino artists including post-industrial subjects by SF painter Adam Flores, murals by LA artist Paul Torres, portraits and Mexican icons by Mitsy, spiritually dark ...
What went wrong, and how to fix it.
When voters cast their ballots on May 19, they weren’t just saying “no” to the propositions; they were saying “no” to the Sacramento status quo. Can we really expect voters to support propositions put on ...
The Dish on Doggies
Cypress Inn gives locals a guide to the town’s best dog-friendly restaurants.
Only in a small community where champagne buckets double as doggie bowls and customers can order filet for the four-legged love of their life would beef-flavored lip balm seem plausible. Here’s how it happened: A ...
The Botti Beautiful
Young jazzman with a horn performs for charity at Monterey Conference Center.
Trumpeter Chris Botti has been plastered all over the 831 in dramatic black and white photos promoting his performance Saturday, June 6 at the Monterey Conference Center. A brooding blond with a sharp nose and ...
The Greening of Gonzales
Sustainability is the farm town’s new mantra.
Walking from Gonzales’ green-arched downtown across the railroad tracks, Harold Wolgamott, a multi-hat wearing city official, points out a small business park tucked behind a packing shed. Seed company Asgrow left the park several years ...
Fueling Frustration
A new state rule teases biodiesel consumers who want more.
A huge red arrow points toward a fuel pump at Alliance Mart gas station in Monterey, advertising “BIODIESEL HERE NOW.” But the fuel that flows from the pump is only 5 percent plant-derived. The rest ...
Letters to the Editor for May 28, 2009
Unlucky 13 The California real estate assessment valuation-benchmark created by Proposition 13 is now almost 35 years old, which is really too long for a California parcel to “escape” an actual taxable-assessment. If the escape ...
Bucks for Books
Monterey scales back library hours, among other proposed cuts, as city leaders try to plug a $7.6 million budget gap.
John Steinbeck would not have wanted to see any city cut its library hours. But for storytelling purposes, he likely would have appreciated the irony: In 2004, Salinas, Steinbeck’s birthplace, considered shuttering its libraries because ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): While reading a crime report in the online version of Northern California’s Arcata Eye newspaper, I came across this entry: “A dreadlocked man attacked a lamp post on the Plaza with ...
Soledad turbines On Ice?
Bird is the word in the windfarming faceoff between turbines and condors.
Soledad wants to build a seven-turbine wind farm to power its wastewater treatment plant. Sounds simple enough only the few remaining California condors frequently fly over the city and the Department of Fish and Game ...
Mellow Fellow
Donovan brings his hurdy-gurdy sounds to the Central Coast.
Hippie folk sensation Donovan was the pied piper of the flower children, and his hits like “Season of the Witch” and “Sunshine Superman” continue to be potent reminders for baby boomers of those acid-fueled Sunday ...
GOP looks for different “profile,’’ but has same old faces.
It was a curious story, straight out of the man-bites-dog files: “California Representative Kevin McCarthy, the chief recruiter for House Republicans, said he wants his party to select candidates based less on ideology and more ...
Opinion: One man’s take on his culture’s stereotypes
¡Ask a Mexican!
SPECIAL CINCO PREGUNTAS EDITION Dear Mexican: Can you please confirm the fact that there are doctors, lawyers and other professionals living in Mexico? I’m a Mexican-American woman living in Chicago who had a HEATED discussion ...
What do you wish your car ran on?
Asked at Marina State Beach.
Follow-up: What artistic work really energizes you? ERIK OLSON |Sales | Aptos A: Hydrogen, because it’s an endless fuel source. We have the technology to make it happen. Think of emissons being made only of ...
Wednesday, May 27
CSI: Condor Goes National
NYT covers condor shooting investigation.
The New York Times has picked up the strange tale of the Monterey County hunt for the shooters of two condors. As the Weekly reported in April, a corsortium of environmental groups is offering a ...
Carmel Unified Superintendent Biasotti pleads guilty to DUI.
Yep, I was drunk. That's the word from Carmel Unified School District Superintendent Marvin Biasotti, who was arrested for DUI after drinking wine at a school-related event April 25. Biasotti initially pleaded not guilty, pending ...
Gay marriage supporters gear up for 2010.
Tuesday's state Supreme Court ruling upholding Proposition 8, the California Constitution amendment banning same-sex marriage, sets gay rights advocates up for a 2010 ballot proposition to repeal the ban. On Tuesday night's "Tonight Show," Gov. ...
Tuesday, May 26
Court upholds Prop. 8 but lets marriages stand
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/26/BAE017PTAD.DTL&tsp=1
Thursday, May 21
On the Road
Kelley Calvert embarks on a cross-country journey, powered by biodiesel, in search of something elusive.
Weekly contributing writer and MIIS instructor Kelley Calvert decided to find herself some hope this summer. How she's doing it, though, is a little different: The thirtysomething bought a biodiesel VW and is going to ...
Letters to the Editor for May 21, 2009
Peace Out As a Navy Mom for Peace, I especially appreciated being invited to hear Greg Mortenson speak at the Naval Postgraduate School on May 12. Mortenson is, of course, the author of Three Cups ...
What really pisses you off?
Asked at May 16’s “Happy Protest” in Monterey.
Follow-up: What’s your secret for true happiness? CARMEN FERGUSON |Waitress | Monterey A: When people are upset and take it out on me. I’m at work, I enjoy serving the public with a smile, so ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for May 21, 2009
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
Dear Mexican: My wife and I have an argument going on about pirates. While I know there were Spanish and Portuguese pirates back in the early 1600s and 1700s, were there EVER any MEXICAN pirates? ...
Art Listing for May 21, 2009
Art Listing for May 21, 2009
OPENING THIS WEEK alvarado gallery An exhibit of three artists with varied takes on Monterey: Carol Keyes retraces Monterey’s history with 3D and mixed media paintings; Dorothy Smith Stoffey’s watercolors paint a picture of the ...
Big Peace
Mill Creek Redwood Preserve Trail taps the serenity of Palo Colorado Canyon.
To stroll along the softly contoured Mill Creek Redwood Preserve trail, which begins near Bottchers Gap at the end of the rugged, ragged Palo Colorado Canyon near Big Sur, is to gift oneself with a ...
The recession may help stop our activity addictions.
“Faster, faster, faster til the love of speed overcomes the fear of death.” That quote, from Hunter Thompson, seems to have been the motto of the last decade. Globalization, together with new technology, made everything ...
Let’s print the news—not cover it up.
Two recent local stories have raised questions about the bounds of acceptable journalistic discourse, questions we think about every day and that evoke surprisingly strong passions in readers – not to mention the people we’re ...
Legends of the Fall
Carmel author’s new book is a tale of the rise and demise of two British dreamers.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, there was a band called the Rolling Stones. Not the geezers who’ve been making worldwide tours with Mick Jagger’s leering face staring down from a JumboTron ...
Good Cents
King City school district tries to plug a multi-million dollar hole with help from the similarly cash-strapped state.
King City Joint Union High School District is broke, and trying to put education on layaway. The district is set to run out of cash in July, and is counting on a $13 million state ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$775,000 Recent Sale 7020 Valley Greens Drive #10, Carmel Valley Built: 1967 Size: 1,666 square feet Features: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms Amenities: Vast views of the Quail Lodge golf course, fireplace, deck, vaulted ceilings Seller: ...
Surf Report
A beginner’s guide to riding the waves in a boat – not on a board.
Buck Johnson promised thrills and spills. The sea delivers both. Spills come first, as I’m paddling through the white water, out past the breakers, which seems a bit like throwing uppercuts at a wall while ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): The fleas infesting dogs’ skin have greater leaping power than the fleas on cats. Why do you think that is, Aries? Maybe you should use your waxing brainpower to get to ...
The Unknown Legend of Captain Lingcod
The teacher-surfer-boater’s tale bounces from Carmel Valley to Big Sur.
The surf coach picks his way through the boulder field with surety. Carrying his custom-painted surf gun under his arm, his remarkably intact 59-year-old body visibly unclenches itself from the paralytic effects of the ice-water ...
Sun Thing
Animal Collective goes from Letterman show to Henry Miller Library.
The sound you heard when Animal Collective performed their tune “Summertime Clothes” on the Late Show with David Letterman on May 7 was that of a highly creative underground band crashing into the mainstream. After ...
Salinas May Repeal Big-Box Ban
Voters in Salinas might not get to weigh in on Wal-Mart.
With Wal-Mart bankrolling the campaign and cash-strapped Salinas footing the bill to put a big-box ban on the ballot, some councilmembers are reconsidering sending this fight to voters. Salinas Councilman Tony Barrera’s vote was one ...
Eeksperience the Mouse
A ska gigolo with a poncho, but so much more.
He can be a pimp or a cowboy, wearing a robe or a poncho, but his main character is a mouse. A towering figure at 6’6,” Eek-A-Mouse is one of the original Jamaican singjays, who ...
Spring Fling
Taking the plunge at the newly reopened Arroyo Seco River.
As we round the dusty bend more than 200 feet above the green, surging Arroyo Seco River, the mountainside reveals a striking juxtaposition of fire-swept death and spring’s wild resurgence. Charred oaks wither over a ...
Voters soundly reject budget-related measures.
It didn’t sound like a tweet of defeat: “A big thank you to the pollworkers who are still finishing a long day in service of democracy! (I was a pollworker before I ran for office.)” ...
Quick hits on previously reported news
Updates
LEAD WEIGHT… As we reported online May 12, one of the oldest condors released in Pinnacles National Monument recently died of lead poisoning at Los Angeles Zoo. Ventana Wildlife Society biologists found Condor 286 in ...
Squid Fry for May 21, 2009
FUNNY IN SEVEN LANGUAGES… He started the gig five months ago, and on May 16, Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy was formally inaugurated as the 13th president of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Yes, even in ...
Hint of Hope
How we might save our food systems and other mouthwatering munchies.
The bad news: We’re f***ed. That was the early takeaway from the increasingly vital Sustainability Institute the Aquarium puts on as part of Cooking for Solutions to school media on food issues facing us: Our ...
Teachable Moment
Superintendent’s DUI is a lesson for Carmel High journalism students.
On a recent Monday afternoon, the reporters for Carmel High School’s biweekly newspaper, The Sandpiper, lean into their laptops. Two girls sit shoulder-to-shoulder and answer questions in unison. A boy in an oversized hoodie slumps ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen
ONGOING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY | DISTRICT FIVE – Residents of District 5 are invited to apply for a seat on the Monterey County In-Home Support Services Public Authority Advisory Committee. Send a resume and letter of ...
Anvil ! The Story of Anvil
New rock doc breaks heavy metal ground looking back at a band that helped shatter the mold.
There’s no shortage of movies that implore you to reach for your dreams. Most of them are fictional, and, let’s face it, most of them are bullshit. Because in real life, talent is no predictor ...
Hefty Hundred
Naval Postgraduate School celebrates a century of unparalleled education.
More astronauts have studied at Naval Postgraduate School than any other institution, including the last man to walk on the moon, Capt. Gene Cernan, and one of the most recent people in space – in ...
Wednesday, May 20
Big Sur camping and hiking open for business.
Big Sur has risen from the ashes—in time for summer camping and hiking. Pfeiffer Big Sur state park will reopen Friday, May 21. “This is great news because we know how important this particular campground ...
Monday, May 18
Monterey City Council considers layoffs.
The ax drops on Tuesday. Monterey's City Council will likely initiate employee layoffs at its May 19 meeting. If the action is approved by councilmembers, 20 positions will be eliminated or reduced (13 full-time and ...
Sunday, May 17
Slideshow
The Sunshine Freestyle Surfabout draws big crowds out to the beach during a warm coastal weekend.
The 29th year of the Surfabout contest had the local big name riders competing in an array of events in qualifying rounds Saturday. Riders swooped, spun and duck dove though nice swells on Carmel Beach ...
Thursday, May 14
Sizzling Stuff
Live photo-blogging from Cooking for Solutions 2009.
An often minute-to-minute ramble through what the Aquarium calls "the culinary event of the year—an elegant way to discover how your healthy choices protect the health of the soil, water and ocean wildlife"—including celebrity chef ...
Salinas to meet goal of issuing a library card to every student
Salinas is wrapping up its drive to get a library card in every student's hand May 19 with an assembly at Washington Middle School. This will bring the Salinas Public Library's distribution of cards to ...
Blues and Red Alerts
KRML may become Carmel’s emergency radio station.
Fans of KRML radio know it for its live jazz concerts, Carmel-centric talk shows and robust blues repertoire. But when the station owner went bankrupt this spring, KRML’s identity dissipated into the airwaves. Now the ...
Higher Plein
The Carmel Art Festival celebrates with spirited competition, live music and more.
Often the Carmel artistic experience is enjoyed only through a gallery window on Ocean Avenue or its surrounding streets. The annual Carmel Art Festival changes that. Now in its 16th year, this four-day event spills ...
Quick hits on previously reported news
Updates
CITIZENS ON PATROL… The same day the Salinas Police Department announced a series of high-profile arrests in gang-related shootings and armed robberies, a 34-year-old man became the city’s 13th homicide victim. On May 8 Police ...
Nice TAT
Student film festival channels artfully crafted shorts.
Barbed wire bristles around the edges. A long institutional hallway looms ahead. Doors slowly close. A heavy feeling of confinement permeates the artfully made documentary Letters From Within, which debuts at CSUMB’s Teledramatic Arts and ...
Brother Act
Kicking it in a worthy new film about soccer – and life.
Have we got a pair of slumdog millionaires for you! In Rudo y Cursi, Y Tu Mama Tambien stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal reunite as two hardscrabble soccer fans whisked from the drudgery ...
Duking It Out
Third annual tribute to Mr. Ellington.
Imagine throwing 10 musicians onstage who haven’t rehearsed together and getting them to dig deep into the repertoire of one of America’s finest composers. It sounds like a recipe for disaster—unless you’ve assembled the best ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$700,000 Recent Sale 24800 Lower Trail, Carmel Built: 1980 Size: 2,076 square feet Features: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms Amenities: Ocean view, vaulted ceilings, fireplace, large wrap around deck, one bedroom has private entrance Seller: Flagg ...
Astronomic Gastronomy
Thomas Keller’s obsession with the best made him a legend – and Cooking for Solutions’ 2009 Chef of the Year.
is flagship French Laundry restaurant is so popular that potential guests must call at 10am precisely two months in advance to harness any hope of paying $240 a head for a menu of nine small ...
¡Ask A Mexican! for May 14, 2009
One man's take on his culture's stereotypes
My wife is from Michoacán state. We’ve bought a home in the small town of her birth. I love everything about the quiet little place. Even her mother is kind to me, as if I ...
County Bounty
Crazy tasty news from the culinary community keeps coming.
A local ballplayer-winemaker looks to charm his way into the arms of The Bachelorette on ABC. One of the biggest dance venues-pool halls-bars in the county is back – after three years dormant – but ...
Letters to the Editor for May 14, 2009
BLASTS FROM THE PAST Hello. A friend of mine posted a link to the article (“Gimme 20–The 20 most memorable bands from the last 20 years on the county’s club scene,’’ Oct. 9-15) on Facebook. ...
Squid Fry for May 14, 2009
Squid Fry for May 14, 2009
UPPING THE ANTE…Squid’s been watching a lot of World Series of Poker these days. Squid’s not a huge fan, and prefers flipping channels between Under the Tuscan Sun and Notting Hill, but Squid’s Sweetie has ...
Harumi Sushi
Rolls Up: Harumi Sushi settles into Seaside’s multifaceted food landscape.
I must admit, I was a raw fish sushi virgin until I met my husband. Sure, I ate futomaki (spinach, mushroom, cucumber, egg, and pickled plum/radish), inari (sushi rice-stuffed tofu pouches) and tamago (sweet egg ...
Lord of the Things
Goth Toph mixes art with other pursuits.
In the old stone-frameddining cavetucked into the back of the Sardine Factory, Lord Toph snacks on battered squid and red wine. A candelabra flickers dim light at the end of the long table. Off in ...
Further Ahead
CFS 2009 expands already ambitious slate of educational events.
The most important thing to bring to 2009 Cooking for Solutions is an appetite – for both increasingly vital information and earth-friendly foods. After eight years, the Aquarium has only amplified this weekend, an outgrowth ...
Angels&Demons
Cardinal Sin: In Angels&Demons, everyone once again takes Dan Brown way too seriously.
Dan Brown gets a bad rap for his unique brand of beach-reading literature, but maybe he just should have been born 60 years earlier. If his work was going to be turned into cinema, it ...
Think globally, act locally – and rapidly.
Monterey County recently celebrated the 39th anniversary of Earth Day with a Sustainable Cities Symposium. It was a chance to look back at the great progress the U.S. has made since 1970. In the past ...
Behind the Lettuce Curtain
U.S. Supreme Court decision on Voting Rights Act case may affect Latinos in Monterey County.
The U.S. Supreme Court may strike a section of the Voting Rights Act intended to protect minority voters, in Monterey County and elsewhere, from discrimination. While considering a lawsuit filed by a Texas municipal utility ...
Get Involved
Public Citizen
ONGOING FREE ENERGY ASSESSMENTS |MONTEREY COUNTY – AMBAG, in conjunction with PG&E, offers free energy-efficient lighting installations to reduce energy bills and CO2 emissions for local nonprofits. Contact Charlie Buck of the Energy Watch Program, ...
Angels & Demons
Cardinal Sin: In Angels & Demons, everyone once again takes Dan Brown way too seriously.
Dan Brown gets a bad rap for his unique brand of beach-reading literature, but maybe he just should have been born 60 years earlier. If his work was going to be turned into cinema, it ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): “Some people will never learn anything because they understand everything too soon,” wrote Alexander Pope. Most of us have been guilty of that sin: jumping to conclusions so quickly that we ...
Company
Couples Therapy: MPC’s Company momentarily has its moments.
Dropped into a genre dominated by book musicals with traditional narratives and character developement like Hello, Dolly! and Camelot, with Stephen Sondheim/George Furth’s Company Company, the concept was the thing – not the story. When ...
What would your last meal be?
Asked at Clementine’s Kitchen in Del Rey Oaks.
Follow-up: If you could be any fruit or vegetable, what would you be and why? SETH FLEISCHMAN | Raw food chef | Pacific Grove A: Raw quiche. I love cashews and it’s very tasty. I ...
Deed of Distrust
County investigates alleged mortgage fraud in South County.
It looked fishy to Monterey County Assessor Steve Vagnini. Eleven houses in Soledad and Gonzales were deeded to Antonio Gomez for prices ranging from about $4,000 to $20,000 each over a six-week period from mid-March ...
Top Dogs
Three Dog Night unleashes their deep stash of Top 10 hits on Salinas.
Three Dog Night – named after the indigenous Australian technique of cuddling with three wild dingoes instead of one on the extraordinarily cold nights – may have left the handlebar mustaches, the bellbottoms and the ...
Art Listing for May 14, 2009
Art Listing for May 14, 2009
OPENING THIS WEEK carmel art association A free, live painting demonstration by artists featured in the gallery’s May exhibition, including Mark Farina, Alica Meheen, Dick Crispo and Gerard Martin from 11am-4pm, 5/16. Dolores between Fifth ...
Wednesday, May 13
Coastal Commission postpones ecoresort hearing.
Ed Ghandour, the developer of the proposed Monterey Bay Shores ecoresort on Sand City's shoreline, won another small victory May 7: The California Coastal Commission postponed the hearing on the resort's coastal development permit application, ...
Tuesday, May 12
Pinnacles condor dies of lead poisoning.
One of the oldest condors released in Pinnacles National Monument died at Los Angeles Zoo May 11, according to an Associated Press report. Ventana Wildlife Society biologists found Condor 286 in early March suffering from ...
Sunday, May 10
Hip-Hop Tour Stop
Tech N9ne and MURS perform at Salinas' Fox Theater for a hip-hop show that shares space with Mother's Day.
On the bright, warm Sunday afternoon of Mother’s Day, two massive tour buses sit side-by-side in the parking lot behind Salinas’ Fox Theater. They are wrapped with vivid graphics, including a spoof of Michael Jackson’s ...
Friday, May 8
SEIU members say union is misusing funds to fight election
Monterey County SEIU members say the union is misusing members dues to fight a worker campaign to join National Union of Healthcare Workers. In press release today, unhappy SEIU Local 521 members say union President ...
Police announce arrests in string of robberies, gang-related shootings
The Salinas Police Department today announced a series of high-profile arrests in gang-related shootings and armed robberies, crediting more anonymous crime tips for breakthroughs on seven cases. During a press conference where a table of ...
Thursday, May 7
Obama taps former NPS associate provost for assistant secretary of defense.
First chief spook Leon Panetta, and now President Obama has tapped Naval Postgraduate School professor Paul Stockton to be an assistant secretary of defense. Stockton, currently on leave as a Senior Research Scholar at the ...
Pebble Beach Food&Wine Team to mount "Harvest" event Sept. 5-6
Fresh off the second annual indulgence of Pebble Beach Food&Wine, Rob Weakley and David Bernahl, the founders and directors of Coastal Luxury Management based in Carmel, have laid out a blueprint for another stunner this ...
Fuzzy Find
Animal Control collects kittens from a Seaside tree stump.
A jumble of tiny pink paws, pert wedge-shaped ears and plaintive mewls filled the tiny cage in Seaside's Animal Control truck. On the sunny afternoon of May 4, a downtown Seaside resident found five kittens ...
State of the Union
Monterey County employees petition to leave SEIU and join National Union of Healthcare Workers.
More than 2,000 Monterey County employees could be leaving the once-powerful local SEIU chapter to join fledging National Union of Healthcare Workers. But it’s still unclear whether disgruntled union members who led the petition drive ...
Star Trek
Going Boldly: J. J. Abrams’ energetic Star Trek embraces some astral history, and throws some away.
You tell me, Trekkers and Trekkies: more than 40 years since its inception, what does the Star Trek “brand” mean, anyway? Director J. J. Abrams has let it be known in publicity interviews that he ...
What’s good about the bad of the economic downturn?
Asked at City Center in Seaside.
Follow-up: What’s the last material thing that you would sell? MARIA ORTIZ | Hospitality | Seaside A: Bars make more money, and it brings people closer together. Foot Traffic: My car because it would give ...
Hip-Hop Step Up
Tech N9ne and Realization top two very strong shows in Salinas and Monterey.
“When you say ‘hip-hop,’” says Mark (“Foot”) Lofton, manager and MC of hip-hop band Realization (formerly 40831), “people think stupid booty shaker music – they think rap. Rap is what they play on the radio. ...
Fist First
Salinas native Angie Ruiz whups tail on TV.
For weeks on end Angie Ruiz has been learning roundhouses, throwing backhanded blows, and running after bad guys – in heels, no less. The Salinas-raised actress realized that she’d “rather play James Bond than be ...
Flight of the Ghandour
Superior Court rules in favor of planned Sand City ecoresort.
Vindication tastes sweet as water for the developer of a proposed “ecoresort” in Sand City. Ed Ghandour of Security National Guaranty scored a legal victory April 29, when a Superior Court judge invalidated the local ...
Era is R-Over
Karl Rove plays hardball, performs standup at CSU Monterey Bay.
Ahigh school student with an emo haircut who sounded like a surfer asked Karl Rove how many times he has broken the First Amendment. Rove fired back, asking which aspect of the First Amendment the ...
Sound Waves
The strong shows will extend through August.
Extra Golden is just one of the many impressive acts the Big Sur Spirit Garden has secured for the upcoming spring, summer and fall seasons. Jayson Fann, the founder and director of the Spirit Garden, ...
Seaside Stories
A new book on an unusually diverse, and accepting, community.
“Seaside is the most important city in the region,” says Stanford historian and director of the Seaside History Project, Dr. Carol Lynn McKibben, “in terms of how it fits into the literature of urban America ...
Dueling belief systems won’t be resolved on May 19.
What is the May 19 Special Election really all about? Power. While television ads, political mailings and news coverage of the state’s seemingly never-ending budget battles would lead a person to believe that the election ...
Spirited Effort
Extra Golden leads a robust upcoming schedule at Big Sur Spirit Garden.
After Ian Eagleston traveled over to Africa to document the Benga music of Kenya, the musician returned home with something more than his doctoral thesis: a new group called Extra Golden. Eagleston was living in ...
Brezsny's Astrology
Free Will Astrology
Aries (March 21-April 19): When they pray, Muslims face the Kaaba, a cube-shaped building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Every mosque around the world typically has a niche that shows the precise direction of that holy ...
Heeling Power
Local martial artist teaches dressy girls to fight back.
Imagine dainty femmes, clicking down the street one minute and busting Jackie Chan moves on would-be attackers the next. It’s a role reversal that adds a sexy-violent twist to Hollywood plot lines. But in the ...
Albee’s Damned
PacRep’s Woolf revival displays comedy, tragedy in classic take of marital woes.
There are moments in Michael Jacobs’ performance as George in the Pacific Repertory Theatre’s new production of Edward Albee’s groundbreaking play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, in which Jacobs seems not so much to stand ...
Real Estate
By The Numbers
$370,000 Recent Sale 233 Hillcrest Ave., Marina Built: 1998 Size: 1,596 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2-car garage Amenities: Vaulted ceilings, fireplace, wood flooring, landscaped backyard with stone fountain Seller: P. and S. ...
Opinion: One man’s take on his culture’s stereotypes
¡Ask a Mexican!
SPECIAL PANDEMIC EDITION Is it true that most Mexicans are carriers of the swine flu due to the fact they eat a lot of chicharrones, or is it the fact that your women are so ...
What California can look forward to after the budget-related measures fail on May 19.
The most recent polls show Propositions 1A-1E – the budget fix Sacramento lawmakers came up with in late February, when they approved a plan to balance the $42 billion deficit – failing at the ballot ...
Milk Man
Former Harvey Milk aide talks about change in Salinas.
“Please don’t divorce my daddies!” reads one sign among the many multicolored banners that plaster the paint-chipped walls inside the Salinas Center for Change, where a full house of about 75 people gather to rally ...
Tart and Soul
Big Sur Bakery chef/new mom Michelle Rizzolo shares some sweet secrets for Mothers Day.
Michelle Rizzolo is glowing. Her porcelain complexion radiates warmth – not just because of the ovens and stoves ablaze in the Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant kitchen but also from the flush of recent motherhood. ...
Squid Fry for May 07, 2009
Squid Fry for May 07, 2009
DIS-ORIENTATION… Considering recent reports that the number of hate groups has grown 54 percent since 2000, California has seen a spike in anti-gay crimes after the passage of Proposition 8, and blacks and Hispanics now ...
Ghost of Girlfriends Past
Romancing the Clone: Michael Douglas steals the show from Matthew McConaughey in Ghost of Girlfriends Past.
Matthew McConaughey has his shirt on throughout Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Are you ladies still reading? Good, because there’s a lot to enjoy in director Mark Waters’ (Mean Girls) saccharine sweet comedy, including a number ...
Kick-Down, With Conditions
Seaside offers down payment loans – with some hitches – for first-timers of modest means.
State law requires cities to set aside about 20 percent of redevelopment funds for affordable housing. In Seaside, where the lack of water limits new housing construction, the city is complying mainly by offering down ...
Quick hits on previously reported news
Updates
SEASIDE DOT FINALLY… At long last, the city with the seahorse logo has unveiled a new website, featuring pretty pictures, readable fonts and user-friendly tabs. A community events calendar tracks meeting dates and city-sponsored shindigs. ...
Letters to the Editor for May 07, 2009
ROVE=GOEBBELS? Having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years, I expected Karl Rove’s appearance in Monterey on Monday to be met with throngs of angry protestors. Rove is by any objective measure ...
Realty Check
First-time homebuyers are swooping in on Seaside’s foreclosure boom.
Scott Newton strides barefoot over the hardwood floor of his new central Seaside home. His girlfriend, speech therapist Ky Merriman, whips together a salad while he gives a short tour of the almost 1,000-square-foot ranch. ...
More Spooning
Fresh French food, a high “C” note and other various vittles.
The snails were a surprise. After all, I’d seen a lot of things along Alvarado in just the last few months – a cellist in a cape climbing the front of Monterey Live, old ladies ...
Public Citizen
5|7 THURSDAY HISTORICAL RESOURCES REVIEW | SALINAS – The Monterey County Historical Resources Review Board is slated to recommend the Board of Supervisors designate the Hatton Barn to the county’s Local Official Register of Historic ...
Art Listings for May 07, 2009
Art Listings for May 07, 2009
OPENING THIS WEEK AVERY GALLERY May Art Show: Avery collects art from City Hall workers, Art Commission members, Public Works, and participants in the Tour, Taste & Talent program of three weeks ago, and wraps ...
Wednesday, May 6
Seaside City Council to consider fire safety issues at Thursday’s meeting.
City Council meetings can be snoozers, but two items on Seaside’s Thursday agenda are hot—at least, if you’re into fire safety. The city has been awarded a federal grant, Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency ...
Marina City Council raises rents for Preston Park, Abrams
The Marina City Council Tuesday voted 3-2 to increase rents for current tenants at Preston Park and Abrams apartments by 3.3 percent and 4.7 percent for new renters. Councilmen Frank O'Connell and Bruce Delgado wanted ...
Tuesday, May 5
Marina City Council weighs rents increases for Preston Park, Abrams
The Marina City Council tonight is slated to increase market rents at Preston Park and Abrams apartments by either 3.3 percent or 4.7 percent. The City Council first considered the budgets of the former Fort ...
Condor Recovers
Gunshot, lead-poisoned condor returns to the Big Sur wild.
Biologists with Ventana Wildlife Society re-released Condor 375, the juvenile female that was suffering from lead poisoning and three gunshots, into the Big Sur wild May 1. [story continues below] Watch Video Veterinarians treated the ...
Monday, May 4
Rove vs. Wade
Karl Rove mocks student for asking dumb question
A young student with an emo haircut asks Karl Rove in a surfer-like accent how many times he has broken the First Amendment. Rove, who is well versed in ridicule as a Fox News pundit, ...
