Cover Story
‘We aren’t who we are’
Late one night in New Orleans, in what you might loosely call the wrong part of town, three women took a taxi cab to a hurricane-ravaged cemetery dressed as goats. That is, if goats wore white lab coats and gleefully ran about on their hind legs. These weren’t ritualistic weirdoes, as frightened passersby seemed to…
Attorney tries to block testimony in Myers case
Attorneys for Ty Hill, the Santa Maria County man facing a possible death sentence for his alleged role in the 2010 kidnapping and murder of Nipomo teenager Dystiny Myers, called roughly a dozen law enforcement and fire officials to the stand in an attempt to suppress statements made by another suspect to first responders. According…
The thug life
It takes a lot to melt my heart like a stick of butter in a frying pan. I’m immune to the stuff that usually gets people’s tear ducts flowing in a sappy and utterly unoriginal emotional display. At weddings I speculate about the date of the couple’s inevitable divorce. At sickbeds, I scour the room…
World blues, cowboy folk, Cali pop, Latin stew, political punk, and country hip-hop, oh my!
Every once in a while SLO Brew drops a crazy awesome week on music fans. Don’t get me wrong. There’s almost always some act I want to see there, but this week you can choose from Taj Mahal at The Fremont, Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, The Mother Hips, Ozomatli, NOFX, and The LACS…
What cheers you up when you’re feeling down?
Vee Mossburg interior designer “People with smiles.” Garrett Momburg construction “My lovely wife.” John Merritt Empire Media Corporation owner “Money, gorgeous women, and bright aspiring reporters.” Andrew DeMille Edufii owner “Yoga. It puts the important things into perspective and sets the little things aside.”
Can’t get enough ballet?
The Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo and Barry Goyette–long the dance company’s go-to photographer–are certainly shaking things up this year. Not only is the dance company performing The Nutcracker to a live orchestra for the first time in its history (read all about that adventure on page 28), but this year they’ve also called…
I (am forced to) love a parade!
Before I got married, my idea of Christmas decorations was pulling a Christmas-themed mug out of the back of the cupboard for my coffee. Pa rum pum pum pum! I didn’t see the point of putting up lights or getting a Christmas tree. I mean, you just have to take the lights down again, and…
It’s alive!
As far as anyone at the Civic Ballet can recall, The Nutcracker has never been performed to a live orchestra on the Central Coast. It’s too complicated. It’s too expensive. And, as dance companies know, the community already flocks to the annual holiday classic anyway. The Nutcracker is the lifeblood of ballet in America, providing…
Degas’ dancer
The Little Dancer of Fourteen Years, or La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans, a sensationalist piece by Edgar Degas, shocked Paris at its unveiling. Critics compared the young ballerina to a sexualized monkey, an Aztec, or a small pickled fetus. The sculpture’s unusual subject provoked an investigation, still ensuing, into Degas’ relationships with the little…
Clubs: 12/6
Goin’ South … BRANCH ST. DELI: 203 E. Branch St., Arroyo Grande, 489-9099. Live music Fri. from 5:30-8:30 p.m. THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Road, 773-5000 or cliffsresort.com. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Road in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the…
This is not my beautiful house
When I was a wee lass, one of the best parts of the Yuletide season—apart from watching my folks sweep up the remnants of shattered tree ornaments when the cat knocked down the old Tannenbaum for the fourth time in a month—was building a gingerbread house. Gingerbread houses are like that computer game, SIMS, where…
Rodney Strong 2011 Sauvignon Blanc Charlotte’s Home Sonoma County
This tangy, fruity wine is a lovely choice for spicy stir-fries, curries, chile verde pork enchiladas, or main dish salads with fruit and goat cheese. The winemaker said he enjoys it with guacamole and corn chips (I’m thinking nachos). I also enjoy this beautifully balanced white wine as an aperitif. Grown in vineyards planted in…
Patz & Hall 2010 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast
Here’s a great buy for Pinot Noir grown in the prime appellation, Sonoma Coast: Normally $45 retail online, you can get it for $33.99 at Tastes of the Valleys Pismo. This cool-climate Pinot has an impressive array of ripe red and black fruit flavors, spice box notes, and a lovely thread of minerality that tells…
Seeking good eats
I live to eat; I don’t eat to live, and that’s why I’m constantly searching for amazing food experiences, whether I’m in my home neighborhood or I’m traveling ’round this bountiful planet Earth. For a long, long time I wouldn’t dream of eating fast food. That was until I found a place that was the…
Questions For: Bill Mulder, SLO Cross enthusiast
NEW TIMES What is SLO Cross? MULDER SLO Cross is a cyclocross event of short-course road racing, trail riding, and an obstacle course, all on a hefty road bike with skinny tires. NEW TIMES How often do these events take place? MULDER Once or twice a year. NEW TIMES Who organizes it? MULDER…
Wealth doesn’t necessarily involve money
Things that I find unfair and/or misunderstood are excruciatingly hard for me to resolve in my mind. I try always to be fair and open-minded. I try to educate myself, investigate, and research facts and examine a thing from all sides before I take a stand. For the past year and better, I have been…
Celebrate the solstice
Many ancient and modern cultures in the northern hemisphere celebrate the winter solstice as the time the sun stops its freezing and dark southern migration and starts its return to bring warmth and light to the northern hemisphere. On our modern calendar, this is normally on Dec. 22. In the first century CE, a Roman…
Dunes fighting is a waste of energy
As usual, follow the money if you want to get to the bottom of the dunes flap. There are those whose livelihoods depend on keeping the off-roading there status quo, and combined with the huge and ever-expanding ATV lobby (made up mostly of out-of-county people), they are not going to go away. Except, of course,…
Good neighbors don’t act like this
So Excelaron is suing SLO County for denying its application to drill for shale oil in the Huasna Valley, a rural, agricultural community of homes and ranches, claiming the denial “rendered Excelaron’s mineral rights useless and valueless … .” Five years of enquiry resulted in the findings of the Planning Department, the Planning Commission, and…
It’s about integrity
More comment about Gibson’s Zippergate: I hope your guest Shredder got scolded about comparing this affair to JFK and Kennedy’s (“Adult content,” Nov. 22). The Gibson affair “of the heart” with his tax-funded assistant for the past two to six years isn’t about the right or wrong of their relationship. It’s a lot more about…
Consider more humanitarian justice
Concerning the letter from William L. Seavey of Cambria and his statement that Canadians “honor their native cultures” (“Oh, Canada!” Nov. 22): I would suggest he read the book by John Reilly printed in Canada in 2010 and now in its fourth edition. This concerns his experience working as a judge and the native clients…
Thank you, you’ve been a terrible audience!
If you were wondering who the miscreants were who decided to ruin the Dec. 1 Cal Poly Choirs’ “A Christmas Celebration” by clapping longer than mob psychology deemed necessary, then wonder no longer—my four friends and I were those miscreants. I realize now that we didn’t take your patience into account when we decided to…
Cougars & Mustangs
Happy end of the semester—er, quarter, Mustangs! You made it! It’s a Christmas miracle! Your hard work paid off, and now you’re ready to relax and enjoy your time here on the beautiful, sunny Central Coast. Time to head to the beaches! Of course, it’s winter, so the anesthetizingly-cold water may not be your cup…
Experience the fermentation
The Central Coast is simply swimming in wine. You can’t pop a cork in this county without hitting someone on his or her way to a tasting in Paso Robles, a beautiful wine bar in downtown San Luis Obispo, or a student studying viticulture at Cal Poly. But the owner of Proof Wine Collective, Josh…
Quarters no more?
A report is expected to land on Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong’s desk by Dec. 14, detailing what it would take for the university to convert from the quarter system to semesters. Cal Poly has used the quarter system since its establishment in 1901, but most schools worldwide break their class schedules into longer, semester-sized…
Tased and confused
It’s hardly surprising that accounts of a barroom scuffle involving pepper spray, repeated tasings, three police officers, and a skinny 23-year-old differ drastically depending on whether it’s the arresting officers or the defendant talking. The matter could be settled once and for all with accurate, unbiased recordings of the incident (which should exist), but six…
Citizens to help Paso spend new tax revenue
With Steven Martin freshly seated at the table, the new Paso Robles City Council’s first act on Dec. 4 was to adopt the bylaws and begin the recruitment process for a seven-member advisory committee that will guide the council on how to spend revenues generated by a 12-year, half-cent sales tax increase voters approved in…
SLO to see the light
Nighttime city streets in downtown San Luis Obispo may soon be a bit brighter thanks to a new public-private partnership that promises to bring energy-saving LED street lamps to the city. On Dec. 4, the city council voted unanimously to move ahead with a special California Energy Commission and Pacific Gas & Electric program to…
SLO urged to rethink investments
It was a night for San Luis Obispo city employees and the newly returned council to be proud of: they completed a sweeping water rate study, implemented a plan to install a fleet of energy-efficient LED street lamps, and waved the final wand over the city’s new two-tier pension plan. But a little black cloud…
Grover shooting suspect dead after standoff
A man who authorities say shot and seriously injured his estranged wife, leading to an interagency manhunt, was found dead after an hours-long standoff. According to Grover Beach police, William R. Forgey, 46, of Roseville, was able to evade a joint task force and return to the scene where he allegedly shot his wife. It’s…
Fire adds stress to finals week
Dozens of college students will need to find new places to study after a small fire burned through their apartment building’s electrical system on the 1200 block of Murray Street, rendering the place uninhabitable. According to a press release from San Luis Obispo City Fire Department, a tenant’s carbon monoxide detector had sounded earlier in…
Coast Guard officer killed in panga incident
An early-morning raid on a suspected drug-smuggling skiff off the Central Coast ended in the death of a U.S. Coast Guard officer, according to a release from a top Coast Guard official. On Dec. 2, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter CGC Halibut, based out of Port Hueneme, was investigating a possible panga in the water.…
New Pismo city manager is a familiar face
The city of Pismo Beach has finalized its pick for a new city manager. On Dec. 4, the city council approved the selection of Jim Lewis, currently the assistant city manager for Atascadero, following a nation-wide recruitment process, in which more than 80 candidates were considered for the top city spot. Lewis, who’s also served…
