Club Akusaa brings its Latin and American fusion to the Chapman Estate on April 3
If you’ve never been to the Chapman Estate on the cliffs above Shell Beach, this Friday, April 3, might be the perfect time. It’s opening night of the venue’s Sunset in the Garden live music series, and local trio Club Akusaa is playing from 5 to 7:30 p.m. ($5 donation requested; visit chapmanestatefoundation.org for more…
SLO County ponders the future of using treated sewage on land after moratorium extension
San Luis Obispo County has continuously banned applying treated sewage sludge on unincorporated land, and the prohibition was recently extended for three more years. On Feb. 10, the Board of Supervisors approved stretching an interim moratorium that’s been in place since 2004 until March 31, 2029. The moratorium extension is a move Atascadero resident David…
San Miguel CSD deadlocked over vacant board seat amid past groundwater dispute
A regional groundwater dispute that began more than a decade ago is now shaping who can sit on the current San Miguel Community Services District (CSD) board. In 2013, a group of North County landowners, including former board member Raynette Gregory, filed a “quiet title” lawsuit against several public water agencies, including the San Miguel CSD,…
Twig & Arrow Salon marks 10 years, rebrands as The Standard in SLO
After 10 years, Amanda Miller rebuilt her entire hair salon. Now rebranded as The Standard, the downtown San Luis Obispo salon at 712 Marsh St. marks a decade-long evolution from Twig & Arrow, the three-chair space Miller opened in 2016. But the most significant shift isn’t the name, it’s the system behind it. At the…
For love or money
I have concerns about the safety of some energy resource projects and the trustworthiness and reliability of the permitting agencies. Let’s start with Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Is it safe? Is it sustainable? One of the conditions to renewing the permit was to fix the cooling process that kills 2 billion bottom-of-the-food-chain fish eggs and larvae…
The beauty of protest and finding community
She was small, thin, elderly, and perhaps not in the best of health. And yet she was standing in a crush of people waiting to join the protest march. I was wearing my yellow day-glo traffic vest and feeling a bit like the maître d at a wildly overbooked restaurant: “Watch your step, thank you…
We need someone who represents us, not PG&E
Susannah Brown, who calls herself a moderate Democrat, is running against Dawn Addis, the incumbent for the 30th Assembly seat. But Ms. Brown seems to have an agenda. According to the New Times article “Batting for blue” (March 26), Ms. Brown disagrees with the current plan to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant running for…
The surprising freedom of an electric car
As a mother of two young kids, I didn’t expect my first electric car purchase to bring me this much joy—or this much peace and quiet. But our new Hyundai IONIQ 5 has done exactly that. First, the silence. No engine roar, no rattling—just smooth, almost magical acceleration. My kids actually asked if the car…
Palatable sludge
Controversial opinion: We shouldn’t truck our waste to another county. I’m talking about biosolids. Don’t know what that is? Well, you’re not alone! It’s also called treated sewage sludge. Sounds gross. Still confused? Well, it’s what’s left after they—the big “they”—pull the water out of our wastewater. Turns out, they don’t always dispose of that…
Sugar + Spoon caramels honor founder’s great-grandmother’s original recipe
Every May, Anne Marquart, owner of Sugar + Spoon Handmade Caramels in Paso Robles, unveils her lavender and honey flavor, a Mother’s Day favorite produced in collaboration with local vendors Hambly Lavender Farm and Sierra Honey Farm. Go for the goldFind Sugar + Spoon Handmade Caramels at Etto Pastificio in Paso Robles or order online…
Laird and Addis introduce bill to revive local funding from Diablo Canyon operations
A new bill is in Sacramento hopes to bridge a funding gap resulting from extended operations at Diablo Canyon Power Plant. On March 26, State Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) and Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) introduced Senate Bill 931, which aims for local governments and public services to receive funding while Diablo Canyon remains…
Central Coast author Maylia Baird published her debut novel at age 19
What were you doing at 14? Atascadero native Maylia Baird was hunched over her desk hand writing her debut novel by candlelight. Last year, at 19, Baird self-published The Ship of Dreams. Buy the book, follow the authorRaised in Atascadero, 20-year-old author Maylia Baird’s debut young adult historical romance novel, The Ship of Dreams, is…
Morro Bay moves forward to buy Cayucos out of former wastewater plant
Morro Bay is moving forward with a $3.87 million agreement to purchase the Cayucos Sanitary District’s 40 percent stake in the jointly owned former wastewater treatment plant. The property, located along Atascadero Road and the Embarcadero, has been jointly owned by the two agencies since 1953, when the original plant was constructed under a joint…
Roses are red, poetry’s not dead
April is Poetry Month, which means poetry galore. Visit slobookbike.com for more info, but here are the basics. Poet CAConrad leads a Somatic Poetry Workshop at SLOMA on Tuesday, April 7 (6:30 p.m.; free at eventbrite.com). What he calls (Soma)tics are ritualized structures designed to elicit “extreme presence.” On Wednesday, April 8, CAConrad offers an…
Development debate in Grover Beach sparks joint City Council and Planning Commission housing discussion
With new buildings cropping up and a ballot initiative to counter that change on the horizon, Grover Beach has almost hit its state-issued Regional Housing Needs Allocation [RHNA] numbers for the current cycle, which ends in 2028. Grover Beach resident Kelvin Coveduck said that the city would actually exceed that goal by 2027, at the…
Paso’s Chris Tso inducted into Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Fame
Way back in 1975 in Syracuse, New York, young guitarist Chris Tso—who now lives in Paso Robles—founded The New York Flyers with keyboardist Phil Dalessandro. Later they added Earl Hamilton (drums) and Mike Marzullo (bass). That band was recently inducted in the Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Fame with a ceremony Thursday, March 5,…
First case of avian flu detected in a SLO County marine mammal in Morro Bay
A young male sea lion found deceased at Morro Strand State Beach tested positive for avian influenza (H5N1), also known as bird flu, marking the first confirmed case in a marine mammal in San Luis Obispo County. The sea lion, estimated to be 1 to 2 years old, was sampled by the Central California Marine…
Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is funny, violent, sci-fi take on the gangster genre
Written and directed by BenDavid Grabinski (Happily), this crime comedy adds a sci-fi twist to the typical violence and quippy dialog. Crime lord, Sosa (David Keith), is celebrating his son Jimmy Boy’s (Jimmy Tatro) release from prison with a series of parties throughout the night. Two of his men—loan shark Nick (Vince Vaughn) and triggerman…
Bait finds actor struggling to keep his career alive
Creator Riz Ahmed stars as Shah Latif, a struggling actor who has bungled his biggest audition yet as the new James Bond. After his ill-fated try at the part, a quick-thinking and desperate Shah decides to make a public appearance outside of the auditions to get his name in the papers, and perhaps a second…
Charming 2008 Be Kind Rewind screens April 6 at Bay Theatre
Writer-director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) helms this charming 2008 comedy about Jerry McLean (Jack Black), a conspiracy theorist and bumbling video store clerk who accidently erases all the store’s tapes after he becomes magnetized. The struggling store is already imperiled, housed in a building condemned as a slum and with just…
