Cover Story
The machine of the body
“Where exactly am I in this body?” It’s a question artist Guy Kinnear repeatedly comes back to, both in his work and in our conversation at Steynberg Gallery, where his figure paintings and sketches currently hang. “Do I inhabit it, or am I it?” he asks. The search for the elusive, invisible “I” within the…
Cipolla is the new sheriff PIO
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department just got a lot handsomer. Central Coast anchorman Tony Cipolla has been selected as the new public information officer. According to a department news release, Cipolla was formally offered the position on June 14 after completing a lengthy vetting process. He will replace former PIO Rob Bryn, who…
Extraordinarily ordinary
Bruce Barton insists he’s not all that into art. I can’t tell if he’s just saying this because no one expects him to, like Andy Warhol famously claiming “I like boring things,” or if he’s serious. An exhibit of Barton’s near-photographic digital drawings—the majority of them bizarre juxtapositions of animals in human places and situations—is…
Sexy sideshow!
Imagine a mash-up between the Jim Rose Circus and a ’30s burlesque and you’ll have an idea of what you’ll experience at The Pretty Things Peepshow on Friday, June 16, at The Z Club (9 p.m.; 21-and-older; $10 standing; $12 seating; $20 VIP seating at brownpapertickets.com/event/254570). Sword swallowing! A human blockhead driving nails into his…
Ahh … Live Oak!
It’s hard to say what the best part of the Live Oak Music Festival is. Obviously there’s the music, a consistently diverse selection of genres performed by proficient and highly entertaining players. My buddy Chad finally decided to go this year, but he told me, “I don’t want to camp too close to the stage.…
Check it out!
There’s some awesome and unusual stuff happening at your local library this summer. In addition to annual summer reading programs, the San Luis Obispo County Library will offer free live performances and activities for children and teens, like a presentation by the Central Coast Paranormal Investigators, a manga drawing workshop with rockstar illustrator Irene Flores,…
Clubs 6/14
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…
Milk it
When you see a flock of sheep, is the first thing you think of ice cream? Don’t worry; it’s not weird. At least it’s not weird to Negranti Dairy and Artisan Creamery owners Wade and Alexis Negranti. In December 2010, Alexis decided to leave her desk job to milk sheep at the crack of dawn.…
Italian wines, SLO grown
Few people are fortunate enough to be passionate about their job; most Americans are stuck in the 8-to-5 weekday grind. During the 16 years I’ve written this column, I’ve never witnessed a shortage of passion among the Central Coast’s ardent winemakers and growers. But no matter how much they love growing or making wine, selling…
Qupe 2008 Syrah Purisima Mountain Vineyard Santa Ynez Valley
This striking Syrah was grown in the Beckmen family’s Purisima Vineyard along Ballard Canyon Road in Los Olivos. It’s typically one of my favorite of winemaker Bob Lindquist’s many vineyard-designated Syrahs. He describes it as one of their most elegant Syrahs—not surprising, since the vineyard is 100-percent biodynamically farmed by winemaker Steve Beckmen. Pretty, refined,…
Marquis de Goulaine 2010 Rosé d’Anjou Loire
I prefer new vintages when it comes to Rosés, but this French pink surprised me. This full-bodied wine tastes of ripe red fruit, yet it doesn’t have a sweet aftertaste. Elegant notes of strawberry, raspberry, and cherry are nicely balanced by subtle citrus notes. Irresistible on its own as a summertime quaffer, it’s also a…
Cougars & Mustangs
All right, everybody out of bed right now! Move it, move it, MOVE IT! What are you doing oversleeping on this perfectly functional weekday morning? Don’t you know you’re in college?! I said out, Jenkins. Don’t think you can feebly shake your pillow at me; I’ll have none of it! Which reminds me, get out…
Scrub-a-dub-dub
Shove over, Rubber Duck; I’m exhausted by your priggish grin. The logic is simple, Duck: Bath-time is for getting clean, not for fun. And clean has never felt better than with vegan sandalwood-vanilla soap from Babylonian Soap Company (BSC) in Morro Bay. The BSC beauty product line is all natural, locally made, and free of…
Water, unlocked?
Despite years of telling Cambria residents there’s not enough water to go around, the Cambria Community Services District now has some good news: That water shortage? No so bad, it turns out. And while that’s music to the ears of the hundreds of lot owners on a long-standing waitlist to develop their properties and open…
A new era
It’s been about 36 hours since elections officials unofficially closed the books on the June 5 California primary, and Julie Rodewald is in the war room stamping stacks of ballots with the words “Invalid Write-In” in red ink. On the other side of the room, staffers are combing through stacks of ballots—50 at a time—and…
Neal to take over for Jensen
Warren Jensen is calling it quits. The 26-year San Luis Obispo County veteran will be retiring from his post as county counsel on Sept. 29. “I’ve been very appreciative of the opportunity to be county counsel and work with just an outstanding group of people here in the office as well as around the county,”…
County adopts budget
San Luis Obispo County supervisors rocketed through its first two days of budget hearings in less than three hours. While it may sound like a rush job, the latest round of budget negotiations is actually the tail end of a seven-year plan to reach the “new normal.” “There really shouldn’t be anything new,” Assistant County…
Morro Bay benefits after contractor woes
What began as collective fist-shaking over a contractor’s missed deadline to repave city streets has been turned around in Morro Bay’s favor. In lieu of holding the contractor, Sacramento-based International Surfacing Systems, liable for missing a deadline to complete the city’s street-rehabilitation project by the start of the summer tourist season, the once-bitter City Council…
Transient accused of child molestation
Police say a man tasked with supervising a friend’s children has been arrested and charged with multiple lewd acts against a minor. Theodore Eli Epp, 26, who is known by Grover Beach police officers to be a local transient, was arrested in Arroyo Grande on May 22 on suspicion of molesting three children; ages 9,…
Not so fast
City leaders in Arroyo Grande put the brakes on a plan to go charter. The plan was to draft a new city charter, which would go to voters in November. But city leaders decided at the June 12 City Council meeting to slow the process. If approved, Arroyo Grande would join San Luis Obispo as…
Morro Bay bar patron maced and tased
A fun-filled night came to an abrupt end just after midnight on June 8, when Morro Bay police officers repeatedly tased a man and sprayed him with mace inside the bar, prompting a full evacuation. According to half a dozen witnesses, Brian Lopez Martinez was calm and coherent and not causing any trouble that night.…
Questions For: Go-Go Amy
NEW TIMES So how did you get into this show? GO-GO AMY Well, I produce the show and I dance burlesque in it as well. I’ve always been a fan of both burlesque and sideshows, so I wanted to create a show that was sexy like burlesque with the variety of a sideshow. NEW TIMES…
Protect our children’s future
The First 5 Children and Families Commission of SLO County is dedicated to improving the lives of children, prenatal to age 5, and their families. The Commission funds programs that serve children at a local level by creating a comprehensive and integrated system of information and services to promote early childhood development. Every dollar invested…
The 99-percent stimulators get my vote
I found out that Ron Paul wants to abolish the federal income tax and replace it with a federal sales tax. It would have to be about 20 percent. The 99 percent pay more in payroll and sales taxes than income tax. For the 1 percent, it is the opposite. The less your income, the…
Where do you stand, Debbie?
I guess Debbie Arnold’s response to my e-mail, prior to her election, got missed in my spam folder. So I’ll ask here: Debbie, are medical marijuana patients going to be able to rely on your small government stance and will you let the next dispensary applicant through? As a conservative, you shouldn’t want to continue…
Medicinal needs? Yeah, right!
Gary, I don’t think the issue is with actual people who are sick getting marijuana (“Why get mad about marijuana, and not alcohol?” 6/7), it’s the extreme number of 18- to 30-year-olds with bad backs, migraines, glaucoma, etc., etc. It’s the people gaming the system to get their weed that seems to be bothering people.…
Let’s get back on track, energy-wise
In River Lockhart’s letter titled “To close Diablo, or not to close Diablo” (6/7), the writer asks the question: Should we shut down Diablo or not? I say no, and here is why: Shutting down the current reactor merely leaves the waste problem for the future. Building a new reactor using Integral Fast Reactor designs…
A lot of people like your take on libraries
Thank you, Ryan! What a wonderful tribute to the joy of going into a public library (“On the books,” June 7). And you know what? Four-hundred, seventy-five members of the Morro Bay Friends of the Library agree with you! These fine folks actually do pay a little bit every year to support our public library…
Yes, libraries are an important part of our infrastructure
Thanks so much for your wonderful commentary discussing the joy of discovering the public libraries (“On the books,” June 7). Just this Tuesday (June 5), I joined a group of concerned citizens led by Brian Reynolds, director of San Luis Obispo County Public Libraries, at the office of State Senator Sam Blakeslee to discuss the…
Voters vote
Being registered to vote does not make you a voter. The act of casting your ballot makes you a voter. In Morro Bay, thanks to our 2006 voter empowerment initiatives, it takes a majority plus one of voters to elect a candidate to office. Such was not always the case. In the past, plurality-only candidates…
Dignity Health will stay the course
To the San Luis Obispo County Community, You may have recently seen activity regarding labor negotiations between SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and Dignity Health. As you may know, French Hospital Medical Center and Marian Regional Medical Center are Dignity Health hospitals on the Central Coast, which have technical and clerical staff employees represented by…
Who you gonna call?
There’s nothing I hate worse than a party pooper. I can’t think of a better term for an asshole who ruins everyone’s good time because, well, he’s an asshole. But we all know the type of person I’m talking about. You know, it’s Thursday night and you and your buddies are hanging out at the…
What’s your favorite conspiracy theory?
Andy Tong student “That there’s only one real government party, and the labels ‘Republican’ and ‘Democrat’ exist only so that there will always be a scapegoat.” Scott Nairne teacher “That high school kids are all dumb. It’s not true!” Tony Estevez retired “That Bush stole the election.” Robert Eskridge business owner “That when you drive…
