Cover Story
Beer and loafing in Las Vegas
“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride … and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well … maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten,” wrote Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in…
Movers and tweekers
When New Times tagged along with some 200 officers from various local and federal agencies comprising the Central Coast Safe Streets Task Force for a large-scale drug bust at the tail end of 2012, the FBI agents running the show were tight lipped. All media knew was that arrest warrants were served at several locations…
Seven days of thunder!!!!!!!
Having live music every night of the week doesn’t really work. You end up competing against yourself. At least that’s the common wisdom. I mean, sure, some places have a guitarist or something seven days a week, but a full slate of bands, night after night after night? Well, hang onto your dance card, music…
Bar-gender!
I’ve lost worse bets,” says Bull’s Tavern general manager Cody Hartwell, who looks adorable in pigtails and a cowgirl hat. “Wait, I thought this was the transgender convention,” I retort before ordering a Miller Lite. Nope, it’s payback time. For the past three years, Bull’s and McCarthy’s Irish Pub have been having a little contest…
A plucking good time
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain takes itself very seriously. Not really. An orchestra comprised of eight singing ukulele players, the group plays innovative arrangements of everything from the Sex Pistols to Tchaikovsky to the theme from Shaft, exclusively on instruments bought with loose change. And these guys shred. They’re like the Jimi Hendrix Experience…
Don’t feed the critics
In the second act of Little Shop of Horrors, Skid Row assistant florist and budding botanist Seymour Krelborn (played by Kelrik Productions founder Erik Austin) discovers that the bizarre and sensational plant he’s been growing (to draw customers into the failing Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists) requires much more to sustain itself than the few drops…
Another kind of thinking
Gerhard Richter Painting is a film that stares. Director Corinna Belz’s documentary on the contemporary German painter—screening at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art on Monday, April 15, at 7 p.m.—takes long, unblinking looks at Gerhard Richter and his artistic process. Often, once a shot has been framed, it stubbornly stays put, even while…
Clubs: 4/11
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 Pismo…
Bites: Eat to recover
I’m on my 3,621st sit-up when the gym buzzer alerts me to the glorious 40-second rest period I’m afforded between the Crossfit exercises my out-of-shape frame is trying desperately to do. I reach up from my corpse position—in yoga, this is actually a free-choice, relaxing pose, but in Crossfit it’s an inevitable pose designed to…
Luminesce 2010 Pinot Noir Arroyo Grande Valley
I love Pinot Noir, which is why I constantly seek it out. Luminesce is a great new fave by winemaker Kevin Law, who makes three excellent pinots. This is his value-priced pinot, mostly grown at Laetitia Vineyard, and it’s delicious. Friendly and fruit forward, it opens with tangy flavors of bright cherry, layered with darker…
Tercero 2010 Gewurztraminer The Outlier Santa Barbara County
This unusual white isn’t the typical spice bomb Gewurztraminer. Dry and subtle, aromas and flavors of tangy pear and spice make this a pretty, well-balanced wine. It has one percent residual sugar, which most won’t notice, and it’s not cloying. It’s a good choice for spicy foods, but not too hot. Winemaker Larry Schaffer recommends…
A revolution in Paso Robles
In 1996, during my first meeting with Gary Eberle at his Paso winery, we tasted through an impressive lineup of California cabernets that included his flagship cab. He said candidly that he didn’t like the way critics rated wines. I had just left my job at Wine Spectator magazine as the tasting coordinator who set…
Make a school better
When you drive west on Tefft Street, past the Nipomo public library, please notice Dana Elementary and the gorgeous mural designed and painted by kindergarten parent, Jennifer Marsh. Volunteers will soon be working on five other outdoor murals depicting students’ art work. During Spring Break, I spent the majority of five days creating the 6th…
Atascadero leaders need to understand what they have
With regard to the controversy surrounding the Patrick Klemz article on the city of Atascadero (“Wide-open spaces,” March 28): I think the writer did an excellent job with his research regarding the leadership of Atascadero. Len Comamarino understands what it would take to make the downtown more viable. Have a conversation with him. I did…
I’ll avoid the clowns, thanks
Thanks to Jerry James for the SLO Special Election ballot (April 4), but why did he leave Andrew Carter on the ballot? I’ll be voting for Don Hedrick again, as he is the only candidate trying to keep any semblance of San Luis Obispo and not joining with the rest of the officials in establishing…
No option was the best
I usually like your “poll,” but for the week of April 4 there was no choice I could pick. Catholic priests who molest children, like all child molesters, are sexually turned on by children, not by adults of either sex. Therefore, allowing them to marry would not be a solution to their crimes.
‘Culture’
Is the homeless man getting you down? Are you paying a fortune in rent for your downtown SLO business and looking for someone to blame? (Besides your rich landlord, of course.) Are you living paycheck to paycheck on your minimum-wage salary, and looking for a way to make your misery trickle down the economic totem…
I see opportunity
Let me first say that I was directed to read a couple of pieces about the state of commerce in Atascadero that were printed in New Times. The cover story was “Wide-open spaces” (March 28) and the commentary was “We believe in Atascadero” (April 4). After that, I came across “Say ‘no,’ get nothing” (letters,…
The final reel
The elements in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ powerfully fill a void that exists inside many children. For kids of a certain age, home is everything, the center of the world. But over the rainbow, dimly guessed at, is the wide earth, fascinating and terrifying.” So wrote Roger Ebert. For some, it can be difficult to…
Cougars & Mustangs
As a silly, excitable geek, I’ve been in a flutter about the preparations I’ve been making for Homestuck Day on April 13. Gotta get that costume complete! Gotta hide the Betty Crocker mix and fill the bathtub with Faygo! This room isn’t filled with enough posters of crappy movies! I’m sure that all went over…
Liftoff!
San Luis Obispo is home to a variety of places to eat, but when you’re looking for a place that’s truly out-of-this-world, there’s only one option: Pluto’s. Pluto’s opened its doors on March 27 and offers American, or California-style, food made right before your eyes. It features huge, freshly made sandwiches and salads that could…
Begging for change
In a sweeping 600-plus-page report, the city of San Luis Obispo recently laid out its major goals and financial plan for the 2013-15 fiscal years, ahead of the budget going before the council for approval in June. When the council met to discuss the report on April 9, the issue of the day wasn’t staff…
Nuclear bill focuses on money
State Democrats recently proposed legislation requiring the operators of coastal nuclear reactors to disclose all projected costs before passing relicensing costs on to ratepayers. Senate Bill 418, if passed, would require the state’s two coastal nuclear operators to assess and publish all projected costs that may flow from a decision to relicense the aging reactors.…
Shumey gets 40 years for murdering mother
A mentally troubled San Luis Obispo man convicted in February for murdering his mother and firing a shotgun at responding officers has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. Christopher Shumey, 36, was found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder and later found legally sane in the second phase of his trial.…
Citizens selected for sewer consultant search
Morro Bay officials and the public will have equal ranks on a subcommittee tasked with choosing the next planning consultants for the city’s wastewater reclamation facility project. The City Council originally planned to let two of its members—Christine Johnson and Mayor Jamie Irons—three senior city staffers, and two citizens evaluate applications and sit on an…
Federal judge stops Monterey Shale fracking leases
Recent expansions in the use of hydraulic fracturing—known colloquially as fracking—by oil operators transformed the discussion of what was once a little-understood exploration practice into a heated national debate. Now, opponents of fracking want federal land managers to adapt their practices to this new industrial and political climate when approving leases to drill for oil…
Date set for tased suspect’s trial
The bar patron whom Morro Bay police officers doused with pepper spray and tased several times during an arrest last summer will get his day in court more than a year after the incident, with a jury trial scheduled for July 8. Attorneys and San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Rita Federman agreed to the…
Excelaron files notice of appeal against county
The oil company Excelaron has filed a notice that it intends to appeal a March 11 decision by a San Luis Obispo County Superior Court judge to toss its original lawsuit against the county. In its lawsuit, Excelaron contends that the county board of supervisors’ August 2012 denial of the company’s plan to drill as…
Foreman gets probation in Nacimiento pipeline deaths
More than four years after the accident, a Teichert Construction foreman was sentenced for involuntary manslaughter in the drowning deaths of two men working on the Nacimiento pipeline. Henry “Hank” Duggins was sentenced April 5 in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court by Presiding Judge Barry LaBarbera to three years felony probation, according to the…
What’s the biggest gamble you’ve ever taken?
Jenn Cook waitress/bartendress “Every day at the slots. Gnu!” Rodi Bragg store clerk “Suing the Paso Robles Police Department over a civil rights case.” Shirley Fisher restaurant manager “Married three times, divorced three times, never to do it again.” Sam Silva karaoke DJ “I don’t know, $200 on blackjack? Unsafe sex with strangers? I could…
