The 2023 Festival of Languages, Cultures and Ideas kicked off at CSU Monterey Bay this morning, March 9, and continues through the whole day tomorrow. The two-day event features Cuban music groups, local authors, taiko drummers, a Japanese tea ceremony, panel discussions and more.

Monterey-born young artist Grace Aniela Wodecki is having her first solo show, Traced, opening Saturday, March 11 at Sylvan Gallery in Sand City.

On Friday, Feb. 17, Salinas-born illustrator Rick Law posted on Twitter that he is “sad to hear that it sounds like Salinas Valley Comic Con in my hometown of Salinas is not to be again.” Law, best known for his career with Disney, wrote that he “had discussions to appear at the next event, …

Did you know that John Steinbeck’s dad was once a Monterey County treasurer? 

Tim Jackson announced today, Jan. 31, that he will be stepping down as the artistic director of Monterey Jazz Festival. A national search to fill his big boots has already begun.

The Arts Council for Monterey County—in partnership with Urban Word, a New York City-headquartered youth program that fosters creative writing, poetry, spoken word, college prep, literature and hip-hop—is launching the Monterey County Youth Poet Laureate program. On Monday, January 23, the C…

Lakecia Benjamin has been selected as the 2023 Monterey Jazz Festival artist-in-residence. Benjamin, 31, is a jazz, funk, and R&B saxophonist from the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City.

The two venues located in the Red Lion Hotel building on Munras Avenue at Highway 1 in Monterey—Urban Kitchen and The Urban Lounge—are closing permanently. 

While the media concentrate on the late '80s when The Cult enjoyed its biggest commercial moment, for Ian Astbury, the band’s frontman and singer, it continues to be a harmonious journey. 

Steve Copeland is a comic, clown and circus host, working with fellow performer Ryan Combs for almost 15 years. The pair are touring with Paranormal Cirque, an unusual big top spectacle in that its purpose is—in part—to startle audiences, or as he says, “to scare the pants off you.”

The legend of Northern California photography, Bill Owens, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his classic collection Suburbia, now on display in the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel. 

A unique duo of partners in music and life will perform at Folktale Winery on Sunday, Sept. 25.

Tonight, Aug. 12, is the opening night of The Testament of Mary in the interpretation of actress/playwright Jane Press, directed by Maryann Schaupp Rousseau. This one-woman show, served in the tiny magical box of the Carl Cherry Center’s theater, is a lovely treat audiences will not regret. 

Brian Edwards has been in the library business since 1999, when he started in his local library in Alameda, shelving books. He was into arts as a youngster, and librarian streak runs in the family—his mother was a librarian and a storyteller. She was laid off during funding shifts in the 90s…

The bloody tragedy of Macbeth, first performed in 1606, was reportedly riddled with real-life tragedy. An actor died unexpectedly, so playwright William Shakespeare himself was tapped to fill in on stage. A prop mishap, in which a real dagger was used onstage rather than a fake, led to anoth…

Pacific Grove native Peter Gunn has been a well known skater in Monterey County, Southern California and Pacific Northwest, as well as a skilled skate park builder sought after around the world. Gunn had a bad crash on Thursday, June 23 while skating, and suffered acute head trauma.

We don’t typically write about Santa Cruz bands but we have a dual pretext to do so in the case of Smoke Chaser, a newly formed collaboration of singer-songwriter Ryan Masters (vocals, rhythm guitar), guitarist Jon Spivak and the drummer Eric Satzman that also happens to include a Pacific Gr…

The power of a movie franchise is set on the premise of familiarity. Each film, part and sequel comforts viewers with full-immersion into a universe they know through and through, a universe seemingly forever expanding.

Every collection has its beginning. There is always an element of coincidence and luck, but great collections are born out of years of systematic decisions, relentless pursuit and meticulous order. There is also the will and a skill to impose order, a talent not uncommon among lawyers. Here’…

There was more than one will written by musician and music video pioneer Michael Nesmith, who came to fame in the 1960s as one of The Monkees rock group and died at his Carmel Valley home on Dec. 10, 2021. One handwritten will from 2014 was submitted to Monterey County Superior Court in Dece…

The life and works of one of our biggest local literary stars, Scotland-born writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) will be discussed on Monday March 21, followed by a cup of tea. Join famed Stevenson historian, Santa Rosa-based Roger G. Swearingen, and the Carmel Woman's Club in a litera…

There is a nation-wide effort to get more poetry, diverse and anti-racist books into the hands of young people around the United States. 

Urban Arts Collaborative at Salinas is now showing “Soul Food,” a solo exhibit of artwork by Salinas cook-turned-artist Alejandro Pio. 

There are many apples in Watsonville but this one is special. We are talking about a brand-new mural in Taylor’s Alley, where—in addition—seven existing murals have been restored. 

The city of Carmel and Pacific Repertory Theatre are set to sign a lease agreement for the management of the historic city-owned Forest Theater if City Council approves at a meeting tomorrow, March 1.

Steve-O has suffered through some punishing stunts. Think firecrackers blasting where the sun doesn't shine, nether regions stapled or slammed with a baseball bat. But the Jackass star sets firm limits. 

Last week I invited the community (and myself) to a new movie starring Channing Tatum titled Dog, which—in my naivete—I hastily interpreted as a goofy comedy at best (think 21 Jump Street) and a family-friendly tearjerker such as Lassie, at worst. I mean, how bad it can be, right? I thought …

Channing Tatum driving along Big Sur’s coastline in a new movie Dog from MGM that hits theaters Friday, Feb. 18 is a pretty universal post-Valentine’s Day treat or just a casual feel-good comedy. The movie is a perfect eye candy (the cutest guy, the cutest dog, the cutest ocean), but it will…

Salinas locals are thrilled to hear that one of their own, Palma High School graduate, cartoonist, director and writer Mike Rianda, might win an Oscar for best animated film next month. The Mitchells vs. The Machines, nominated on Feb. 8, is based on his Salinas childhood. It's available now…

Pat Hathaway spent his life taking and collecting photographs, and his historical photo collection includes over 80,000 images from different parts of the Central Coast, documenting daily life and big events, including things the opening of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the bridges of Cannery R…

UPDATE: Walt DeFaria was seriously injured after being hit by a car on Dec. 31, a couple of days after this interview was conducted. He is in stable condition at Natividad hospital, where he was treated in the trauma center and doctors predict a four- to six-week stay. He is now undergoing r…

Michael Nesmith, musician, television idol, video pioneer and Grammy award winner, died at his Carmel Valley home this morning. He was 78.

Artists Ink., a nonprofit arts organization based in East Salinas, and Teatro Xochitl Ollin, a group of young storytellers within Artists Ink., are preparing for auditions and the production of a short film titled East Side Cenicienta, a modern take on Cinderella based in the community of th…

Kathleen Madigan is funny.

Founded in 1986 and made up of local theater producers, actors and technicians, Monterey County Theatre Alliance held its annual meeting Nov. 28 on Zoom, its main stage since Covid. The nonprofit has been addressing the pandemic with a program of Zoom readings and performances and focused on…

Anyone can pull together a few hundred historic race cars, call in food trucks and invite a dozen or so winemakers to pour their wares—if they are well-connected, that is.

As you might know by now, sci-fi author Frank Herbert’s grandson, Byron Merritt, lives in Marina. Now, does he live in Marina because of the famous Marina dunes? This intriguing question was posed by my newsroom colleague Christopher Neely, and before I got an answer from Mr. Merritt, I did …

The 11th annual Salinas Valley Pride Celebrations put the local LGBTQ+ community in the spotlight on Saturday, Oct. 16 at Central Park in Salinas. Supporters came out to celebrate Pride with informational booths, games, painting, food and performances, including a fabulous drag show. Perform…

Making art can be a slow, deliberate process, but hanging it can sometimes be a frantic, last-minute effort. At the art hub The Shop in Monterey on Friday afternoon, Sea Sevilla was busy getting the finishing touches on her one-woman show, The Animal Kingdom, that's about to open imminently—…

With almost a half century of performances under her belt, Patti Smith still commands a stage. Whether she is screaming into a mic, spitting on the floor and forcing the crowd to their feet during her punk rock ballads, or painting a reflective mood as she spills out one of her poems, Smith …

William Giles, born in 1934, was one of the first practitioners of manipulated polaroid—a radical attack on photography as mimesis. He studied and worked with many known photographers including Minor White, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lang and others. His photographs document the civil rights move…

Guess what? It's Car Week. And there will be 20-plus events around town for the next ten days. Here are a few of the Weekly's highlights.

It was a windy afternoon in Sand City so the unveiling of the new ground mural in the Art Park on Thursday, Aug. 5, was purely symbolic. 

Pacific Grove-based writer Alka Joshi released her debut novel, The Henna Artist, in the beginning of 2020, just at the outset of Covid-19. She admits that last year, locked at home, she felt more hopeful and connected than ever because she had a chance to talk to over 6,000 people on Zoom. …