Recent: MontereyCountyWeekly.com

[831] Asked at Peet’s Coffee at The Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library on CSUMB. : What is our society’s most insidious addiction? - Monterey County Weekly

Amanda Stein — 2009-11-12

ALEX OLSON | Deck Hand | Seaside A: Complacency. Everybody gets too comfortable where they are at and they don’t want to change or put forth any effort in anything. Java Junkie: Coffee. You would think people’s lives are at risk with the way people fight to get in line. REBECCA BARRON | Shift Lead/Barista | Seaside A: Pop culture. People dedicate their lives to watching television. Bad Connection: Internet. People should have the ability to turn it off. They become so...

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[831] Opinion: One man’s take on his culture’s stereotypes : ¡Ask a Mexican! - Monterey County Weekly

Gustavo Arellano — 2009-11-12

Dear Mexican: Whenever I see an ad for a Mexican ramera, they always describe themselves as “spicy.” Are Mexican women hiding habañeros in their panochas? --Concha Curious Dear Gabacho: “I wish I could say that ‘Mexican Spitfire’ Lupe Velez was to blame for the ‘spicy’ epithet so often associated with Mexican femme pulchritude,” says William Nericcio, author of Tex(t)-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the “Mexican” in America,...

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[cover] No Ordinary Joe : The caffeine highs and financial lows of local coffeehouse icon Morgan Christopher. - Monterey County Weekly

Zachary Stahl — 2009-11-12

There are two Morgan Christophers. There’s the charismatic coffeehouse king who turned a blighted corner into downtown Monterey’s most popular café, breathed life into a tricky space next to Osio Cinemas, and transformed Sand City into the hip place to drink in killer craft beer, fair trade coffee, savvy conversation and edgy art. There’s the man admired because he brought a big city buzz to a tiny town, spawned arguably three of the most popular coffee shops in the county...

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[831] DIY Diesel : Local visionaries design a mini fuel refinery with big possibilities. - Monterey County Weekly

Melissa Cessna — 2009-11-12

Tucked away behind an unmarked door in a hangar behind the Marina Municipal Airport resides a grease-smeared contraption small enough fit on a forklift – a peculiar maze of coils, pipes and gauges – that looks equipped for alien contact. Besides adrenaline junkies en route to neighboring Skydive of Monterey Bay, not many have set eyes on this mechanical miscellany. If they did, they probably didn’t realize that they were looking at a reactor that produces pure diesel fuel made entirely of...

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[opinion] Squid Speaks: Squid Fry - Monterey County Weekly

Squid — 2009-11-12

FISHY WATERS… .Yes, sometimes even Squid gets the seaweed pulled over Squid’s slimy and beady eyes. Here’s the scoop: Last week, Squid got a bum steer from a tipster who put Baja Cantina in the darkest dungeon reserved for greedy capitalists, claiming they were up to something cold by charging $20 per soon-to-be-former Quail Lodge hotel employees for a going away party. What Squid didn’t catch was that the union leaders fighting Quail management also have a bone to...

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[dining] Ripe With Possibilities : How bizarre weather will affect Monterey County’s 2009 wines. - Monterey County Weekly

Paul Wetterau — 2009-11-12

It was dark… and way too early. Not even 5:30am. I was a little worn from the night’s Merlot. But I was ecstatic: I would help Bernardus harvest Pinot Noir from its seven-acre Ingrid’s vineyard. Last harvest, I traveled all the way to Bordeaux, France, to join the effort – braving bums fighting me for my sidewalk sleeping spots, bus drivers shouting at me for unknown reasons, and hostel vagabonds who smelled so bad I didn’t mind them stealing my soap – only...

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[dining] Toothy Truths : Seaside’s tastiest place, kickin’ kitchens and bakeries to believe in. - Monterey County Weekly

Mark C. Anderson — 2009-11-12

Seaside has famously struggled to realize designs on a downtown – the City Center languishes half empty and the inspired train platform/mixed-use hub that’s been proposed at the east end of Broadway has yet to really leave the station – but there’s a spot between the two that’s quietly become a prominent place to digest the city’s identity. A short stretch of sidewalk between Fremont and Del Monte, across from the Goodwill, has long been home to two...

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[news] Money Talking : Local stimulus dough goes to transit - and a squid study. - Monterey County Weekly

Robin Urevich — 2009-11-12

The giant $787 billion federal stimulus program is like the elephant in the famous parable about the blind men who describe the massive beast based on the small part each is able to touch. It is so big and so new – only about 43 percent of the money has been spent nationwide – that despite all the chatter, no one can yet pronounce the program a success or failure. Monterey County will take in $70 million for everything from roads to academic research and schools to social services....

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[news] Preservation Row : John Mandurrago’s Carmel development fight is in extra innings. - Monterey County Weekly

Robin Urevich — 2009-11-12

Just as Carmel residents voted recently to put to rest a decade-long struggle over the Flanders Mansion, another seemingly endless fight over preservation is headed for court. This one – involving local homebuilder John Mandurrago – is the longest in recent memory, according to City Planner Sean Conroy. “Odysseus only took nine years to get back to port, and they wrote an epic poem about it,” says Mandurrago’s attorney, Dennis Beougher, of the Salinas law firm...

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[news] Poetry in Motion : An innovative educational approach in Salinas. - Monterey County Weekly

Zacahry Stahl — 2009-11-12

While Salinas’ plan to pay for more police was derailed by last week’s failure of Measure K, school children were absorbing a promising approach to building peace at El Sausal Middle School. Chicano author Luis Rodriguez visited the school and CSU Monterey Bay as part of the Service Learning Institute’s Increase the Peace program. “Measure K was great for providing some financial resources to institutions like law enforcement,” says Miguel Lopez, a CSUMB liberal...

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[news] Tree Thuggers : Big debate drives tiny revisions to P.G.’s two-for-one policy. - Monterey County Weekly

Kera Abraham — 2009-11-12

After a wild storm snapped a 30-foot Monterey pine in Georgia Booth’s yard, the Del Monte Park resident not only paid $4,000 to remove it, but also $250 for the arborist’s report and tree removal permit required by the city of Pacific Grove. When a city form asked about her plans to replace the tree with two more native pines, she checked a box saying she’d prefer not to: “I already had a landscaped yard.” But nine months later, in fall 2008, a volunteer with the...

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[news] Neon Green : Local electricians plug into the sun. - Monterey County Weekly

Kera Abraham — 2009-11-12

Eco-energy was electric in Castroville last weekend, when a labor union’s parking lot doubled as a solar tech training lab. During the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Nov. 7-8 “Solar Power Road Show,” IBEW’s Los Angeles chapter taught more than 100 local electricians how to install rooftop photovoltaic systems, avoid hazards with solar wiring and use a hand-held “solar eye” to map a site’s sun exposure throughout the year, among...

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[news] News That Remains News : The Buzz - Monterey County Weekly

Staff — 2009-11-12

Fire Reserves Questioned…Supervisor candidate Ed Mitchell alleged Nov. 10 that the county Board of Supervisors hasn’t enforced fire protection laws in the Pesante-Berta Canyon area of Prunedale. He has complained to the state Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the State Fire Marshall. [ZS] Water Wait… A judge granted the local water district's request to stop the state water board from enforcing the Oct. 20 cease-and-desist order that limits the Peninsula’s water supply....

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[news] Get Involved: Public Citizen - Monterey County Weekly

Staff — 2009-11-12

11|12 THURSDAY PESTICIDE MAPPING | MONTEREY – The Pesticide Watch Education Fund hosts a discussion with Humboldt State University professors Sheila and Steven Steinberg, who produced a comprehensive pesticide atlas of Monterey County. 5:30pm reception. 6:30pm presentation. Portola Hotel & Spa, 2 Portola Plaza, Monterey. $25 online/$35 door. www.pesticidewatch.org/events. REDUCING SMALL ARMS VIOLENCE | MONTEREY – The Monterey Institute of International Studies hosts a talk by...

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[features] Real Estate: By The Numbers - Monterey County Weekly

Adam Joseph — 2009-11-12

$625,000 Recent Sale 27665 Schulte Rd., Carmel Valley Built: 1972 Size: 1,891 square feet Features: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2-car garage on 1 acre Amenities: Pool, fireplace, wide-plank wood floors, pot-bellied stove Seller: Cozad Trust Buyer: B. and L. Trainer Agent: Harriette Schofield, 901-7176 $1,950/mo. For Rent 1084 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove Size: 1,200 square feet Deposit: $1,950 Features: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms Amenities: Fireplace, breakfast nook, wood floors,...

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[literature] Just Stories : CSUMB staffers unleash social-justice book 'Fire and Ink'. - Monterey County Weekly

Zachary Stahl — 2009-11-12

A burly San Quentin inmate falls into a pit of rage upon news of his grandmother’s death. A Vietnamese social worker appeals to soldiers to save 11,000 civilians. A Japanese mother breaks her silence about internment. These are some of the dramatic takes from Fire and Ink: An Anthology of Social Action Writing, which was edited by CSU Monterey Bay professors Frances Payne Adler, Debra Busman and Diana Garcia. “These retrieved stories of injustice and resistance not only give...

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[music] Cowboy Dirty : Milo Tremley strums comedy songs at The Planet. - Monterey County Weekly

Adam Joseph — 2009-11-12

Comedian-musician James Lee Reeves, known on stage as Milo Tremley, usually sports a white cowboy hat, a black suit and a devilish goatee. But his shtick fits better in a Vegas dressing room than on a dude ranch. In “Yeast Infection,” a little ditty sung in the tune of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” features a medical lexicon of the biological occurrences that go along with being a woman: “Yeast infection, menstruation, P.M.S. neurosis/ cellulite and...

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[music] Oh No-No’s : Jose’s hosts a punk band that found one another on Craigslist. - Monterey County Weekly

Adam Joseph — 2009-11-12

Punk rock and Minnesota don’t usually go hand and hand, but Minneapolis garage rockers The No-No’s prove that punk can thrive just about anywhere. And on Saturday, punk will boom in Monterey. The quartet formed about two years ago when lead singer Katie Kramarczuk (KtK) and drummer Nats Babel (**NATS**) answered a Craigslist ad placed by bassist Matt Von Ende (.matt) looking for musicians who dug the Ramones’ first record. Shortly after the trio got together, local punk...

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[cover] Home Brew: MC on OFC : Morgan Christopher in his own words. - Monterey County Weekly

Staff — 2009-11-12

“It’s not a big story,” Morgan Christopher says. “It’s just a little tale of a small guy who went out of business.” That might’ve been the case if Christopher hadn’t won over so many with his places and alienated so many with his methods – and done it with so much personality, sass and publicity. His newsletters present a perfect peek at that approach. Here are some excerpts from an eventful year: Lastly, as always, we appreciate you...

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[music] Let It Floja : Quilombo Arte’s deep lineup features Cambio’s second solo album and Mexico City’s Bocafloja. - Monterey County Weekly

Walter Ryce — 2009-11-12

People use music to motivate a workout, to lift up the spirit, to allay sorrow, to set a mood, to lull shoppers. The stacked hip-hop performers at Giovane’s on Friday, under the banner of Quilombo Arte, use music – a bevy of beats, samples, guitar, bass and words – as a political tool. But don’t write this off as message music. “Good music is always first, then the message,” says Mike Fernandez, aka Cambio, the MC of local hip-hop band Para la Gente....

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