Cover Story
Jazz echoes through the Cambria pines
The jazz scene has certainly gotten classier with age. In the 1930s it was something a bit more scandalous, its artists synonymous with alcoholics, reefer addicts, and criminals. “Their satanic music, jazz, and swing, results from marijuana use,” former Federal Bureau of Narcotics Director Harry J. Anslinger famously accused. Decades later, in the hit musical…
Support your local farm
I have a great deal of respect for San Luis Obispo’s food and wine community because of everyone’s constant efforts to extend a helping hand. And it’s not about wineries and restaurants patting each other on the back for their own financial gain. Our charitable restaurateurs and vintners have always supported local farms and farm…
Supervisors: Do right by DeVaul
There was another hearing by the Board of Supervisors last week about Sunny Acres and a nuisance abatement. Since I was unable to stay for the entire six-hour meeting, I have questions for the officials: • Is Mr. [Dan] DeVaul’s property zoned differently from other ranches in the county that have numerous vehicles? • Which…
Breathe in the fun
Sniiiiiiifffffff! Ya smell that? That’s the smell of country music, y’all. Yes, it does smell like manure with hints of sun-baked cotton candy, carnival ride-induced puke, and righteous indignation at having to pay eight bucks for a freakin’ beer, but that’s the price you pay to catch the sights, sounds, and—yes—smells of the Mid-State Fair.…
Art After Dark
August 1, 6 – 9 p.m. ARTS Space Obispo: 570 Higuera #165 (SLO Creamery), 544-9251. The Tomato Show celebrates summer’s harvest with paintings by Katie Winkler. Opening reception cooking Demo by Nicola Allegretta from Mama’s Meatballs. Frame Works: 339 Marsh, 542-9000 or SLOART.com. Impressions of France, the beautiful pastels of Tricia Reichert. Jeff Claassen Gallery:…
Accordionists unite!
New Times The Squeezebox Square Off accordion competition at Old Vienna is being called a “Battle of the Bellows.” What’s a bellow? Zoa Musick That’s the middle part of the accordion. New Times What is the history of the accordion? Is it predominately a German instrument? Musick My opa [German for grandfather] and my little…
Sour grapes, headhunters, and The Drifters
Author Ken Jones recently released his second book, The Wrath of Grapes: How Not to Start a Winery discussing the challenges of opening a small winery. He will attend a book signing at Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay on August 2. New Times What inspired you to write this book and what is it about?…
Taste-bud art
Spend an hour talking with the organizers and participants of ARTS Space Obispo’s Tomato Show, and you may begin to view food in an entirely new—not to mention sensuous—light. Words like mellow, luscious, rich, subtle, smoky, and mild replace terms traditionally employed to describe art. “I was inspired by the purity and the simple beauty…
What is the most important technological advance of the last 50 years?
Jason Perry Football player “I think everybody’s answer would be the Internet.” Ester Cervantes Retired cosmetologist “The faster technology. It’s all so fast now!” Jesse Cervantes Retired from the military “The phones – cell phones. And computers. I came to age in the 1950s—everything was different then.” Jackie Davis Nurse I don’t want to be…
Let’s go green in Los Osos
Funny how history repeats itself. The early Los Osos Community Services District (CDC) got elected on STEP collection and ponds. Then they succumbed to razzle-dazzle corporate sewer propaganda and wasted millions and six years on a rejected project. The recent STEP survey was simply a side dance in the County/Carrollo Engineering “evaluation” process. Motivated Dreamers/Taxpayers…
No dream town for the less fortunate
On July 24, 2008, I read on the front page of The Tribune that Sunset magazine named San Luis Obispo a top 10 dream town (August 2008 issue). That is true if you are one of the affluent, but if you are on a set income or homeless, SLO is not a dream town. Our…
Abalone not gone, not forgotten
Glen Roberts’ reaction to your article, “The snails did go quickly” (July 10, 2008) is not unusual. I’ve been hearing such for the past 40 years from a public brainwashed into believing abalone have become scarce due primarily to over-fishing by humans. Sufficient scientific study has well documented that sea otters, not fishermen, brought about…
No way you’ll print this, stupid
I understand that journalists may have an opinion protected by our Constitution and many times I have agreed with the “liberals,” so to speak, on many issues and, in fact, was far ahead of them on conservation and the environment. However, I now see very clearly how the “pointy-headed intellectuals” use the valuable freedom of…
Sheriff busted
Once again, the local yokel county sheriff is caught abusing his authority (Re: “Why Worry,” July 24, 2008). When will the citizens get fed up with his shady activities, disguised within law enforcement authority that was bestowed upon him by the unwary and now duped and abused citizens of SLO County? He has flaunted California…
Hedges should be scrutinized
I’m just a bit confused as to why more legal questions aren’t being raised at the state and even local level about the appropriateness of the Sheriff’s Department enforcing certain federal drug laws and not honoring the laws of the state of California instead (Re: “Why Worry,” July 24, 2008). The issue of state sovereignty…
Corrected on surfer snobbery
I would like to reply to Ike Gonzalez, who wrote the letter “Surfing Into the Sunset” in last week’s New Times (Letters, July 24, 2008), which questioned my quote from Sunset magazine (August 2008 issue, page 67): “You have a lot of cultured and educated people here, but it’s not a stuck-up town—I’m not sure…
The Montebello needs attention
Thank you for having the courage to inform the community of this inevitable problem that we must acknowledge and quickly solve (“Taking Watch on the Montebello,” July 17, 2008). I share Talley’s frustration in that no one will take this problem seriously and do anything proactive about it. It’s obvious that removing the oil before…
Fast facts
Looking for an evening of food, art, and gambling but don’t feel like traveling to Las Vegas? The Pacific Repertory Opera will be hosting an “Evening in Monaco” on Saturday, August 9, at 7 p.m. at the Embassy Suites in San Luis Obispo. Risk-takers can indulge in roulette, poker, or blackjack. Don’t feel like gambling?…
Partners on an international mission
Central Coast Rotary Clubs have teamed with Cal Poly’s Engineering Department to make clean, potable water more available in countries where supplies are scarce. According to Rotary International, 32,000 children younger than age five die each day from preventable diseases, most of which, the club said, are caused by contaminated water. The local Rotary Clubs…
Correction
In the July 24 cover story “Why worry?” the last name of Elaine McKellips, who has filed a lawsuit against Sheriff Patrick Hedges, was misspelled.
Inclusionary housing not so inclusive
The average house in San Luis Obispo County sells for about $500,000. In an attempt to put more moderate- to extremely low-income residents in homes, the county will soon require that there is at least some affordable housing in new developments. They call it inclusionary housing but the catch is that inclusionary housing isn’t always…
Pismo pier water is worst in area, but not even close to worst in the state
A new report by the National Resources Defense Counsel shows that the bacterial contamination level in the water 14 yards south of the Pismo Beach Pier in 2007 was an averaged 23 percent higher than the accepted state standard. Though 23 percent may look trivial in comparison to the report’s highest figure—83 percent at Avalon…
DeVaul criminal case gets new judge, new date
Another judge has jumped the Dan DeVaul ship, but a new pro-bono attorney has also climbed on board. Judge John Trice and attorney Jeffrey Stulberg will now attempt to navigate the Sunny Acres seas with DeVaul, who was previously representing himself and was to be before the bench of Judge Jac Crawford. Crawford is the…
Earthquake and entrapment roil Lynch’s medical marijuana trial
Three days into the testimony stage of the federal trial of Charles Lynch, the Arroyo Grande man sat straight-faced, wearing a grey suit, pressed white shirt, and green tie, flanked on each side by a public defender. The trial of Lynch, who operated a medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay until it was raided last…
Investor, business partner abandon Reclamator
A year ago, a Texas-bred businessman came to Los Osos armed with a mysterious invention he touted as the miracle sewage solution Los Osans had been waiting for: the Reclamator. Tom Murphy talks about the Reclamator like the proverbial car that runs on water; it converts raw sewage into drinkable water, he says, and he…
Claiborne & Churchill 2007 Dry Rose Cuvee Elizabeth
This brilliant Rose offers everything I love in a glass of pink wine. Colored a pretty cranberry-hue it offers aromas and flavors of ripe black cherries, strawberries and spice notes with the zippy tang of fresh raspberries, it’s like a taste of summer. Named for the Thompson’s daughter Elizabeth, the artist featured on the label…
Lazy rivers – and writers
Greetings, suckers! I’m dictating this to my new intern, Ortander, who is floating along beside me in his intern inner tube in the lazy river area of a fabulous local water park, where teenagers are voluntarily hurtling to their deaths as I suck nutrients through an umbrella straw and rock to the occasional sound of…
Dan Burrell – Mid-State Fair Security Supervisor
NEW TIMES: How long have been the Mid-State Fair Security Supervisor, and how did you first get involved? BURRELL: I’ve been doing this for 19 years now. When I first moved into town I came to the fair for the first time and it was just amazing to me… the people, the excitement. I wanted…
