Cover Story
Come for the music, stay for the friends
Nearly 25 years ago, a group of friends–all DJs at KCBX, many of whom regularly attended the Strawberry Music Festival at Camp Mather in Yosemite—started pondering the idea of a similar festival on the Central Coast. “We started to wonder, can we do something like that here for KCBX?” said Haila Hafley-Kluver, who also had…
What is the hardest musical instrument to learn?
Athena Fowler BooBoo Records employee “The Theremin, because you play it based on your body mass and how close you are to the instrument.” Ryan Albrecht Vandenberg Air Force Base employee “The bagpipes would probably be really hard. Where would you take lessons? Have you ever seen anything in the newspaper about bagpipe lessons?” Phil…
Cougars & Mustangs
As someone who once sort of learned how to give CPR—or at least was supposed to—I know all about medical stuff and how bodies do things. As a result, I’ve been poking a collapsed Cuesta student with a stick for the last 45 minutes trying to see if she’s dead. So far, my results are…
Corrections
• A recent article (“Arroyo Grande hates on charter-bashing bill,” May 16) confused two South County municipalities’ interests in becoming charter cities. Grover Beach put a failed charter measure on the November ballot. Arroyo Grande has yet to pursue such a measure but has formed a committee to analyze the cost-benefit of moving in that…
AbelMaldonado strives to repeal A.B. 109
Former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado recently made a stop in his hometown of Santa Maria to ask Californians to help him “end this crazy thing called A.B. 109.” Enacted in October 2011, Assembly Bill 109, or the prison realignment act, aims to solve overcrowding problems at the state’s prisons by releasing low-level offenders to county…
Fire season starts on the Central Coast
The Central Coast’s first major wildfire this season lasted almost a week and burned 4,346 acres in and around the Los Padres National Forest southeast of the Carrizo Plain. The Grand Fire burned on the eastern slope of the San Emigdio Mountains, about 12 miles from the hiking destination Mount Pinos. Pushed up the mountainside…
Paso sewer connection fees come under scrutiny
The winning bid for the Paso Robles sewer upgrade came in $3.1 million under budget, but city staff warned that developers shouldn’t expect a major break on connection fees. Under the current plan, the fee the city charges a developer to hook up to the sewer will increase from $7,600 to $10,900 per dwelling unit…
SLO City to students: Be ‘civil’ or pay big
They call it “community civility,” and it’s part of the city’s Neighborhood Wellness efforts, but the latest decision by the San Luis Obispo City Council to work more closely with local colleges to rein in rowdy behavior now also includes ever-growing double fines during the first weeks of school. On May 21, the SLO City…
Dystiny Myers witness pleads; sentencing set
The District Attorney’s Office’s star witness in the prosecution of co-defendants Rhonda Wisto and Frank York has followed through with his plea deal and pleaded guilty—a move which could have him out of prison in 15 years. Jason Greenwell, 22, of Nipomo, formally pleaded guilty in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court on May 21…
Twin Cities ranks high on a union list of costly hospitals
Templeton’s Twin Cities Community Hospital landed in the Sacramento spotlight May 14 with the release of a report by a nurses union pushing health-care reform. The California Nurses Association (CNA) published the report just as Assembly Bill 975—a proposed law to ratchet up state regulation of nonprofit hospitals—seemed to stall in committee. According to the…
Hats in the ring
If you’re a registered voter in the city of San Luis Obispo, then by the time you read this, there may be a ballot for the June 18 special election sitting in your mailbox. At one point, there were plenty of candidates to choose from—seven in all—running to fill the void created when former councilman…
Run on
Can you ever say it’s not a gorgeous day out in the vineyards when you’re wine tasting? Whether you’re trying to stay dry from the rain or cool from the heat, sitting back with a glass of wine while looking out on acres of green just sounds relaxing. But don’t relax yet. Wait until after…
Good News, bad news
There is a group of Christian fundamentalists who have embarked on an extensive and well-organized mission to evangelize elementary school children in SLO County and around the nation using the resources of the public schools. While the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in 2001 that it is legal for any club to use…
Ranting on reporting
Four years ago, I stumbled into journalism almost on accident. Several drives—namely, my hopelessly egotistical dreams of writing the ninth Great American Novel,* my empty bank account, radical politics, and a family that stubbornly refused to eat knock-off Captain Crunch for every meal—were satisfied under one heading in Cuesta’s course catalog: Jour 202A, Intro. to…
Pay the Chinese back
We’ve been sustaining Chinese cyber attacks on our companies for years, and more recently our government institutions. They have been traced back to the People’s Liberation Army. U.S. government and businesses alike need to go back to when the attacks began, and account for the cost of the damage, and the potential future losses of…
Congrats
With Cuesta College’s graduation soon to take place, it’s important for all of us to remind ourselves how lucky we are for the California Community College System. The importance of a college of education for Californians has increased dramatically. Our economy and communities cannot survive unless we produce enough college graduates to fill the high-skilled…
Free market, baby!
Remember when those lunatics in spandex sped through town, cutting off access to your house and making that coffeehouse in Avila Beach so mad the owner pissed lattes for a week? I’m told it was a planned event, though why anyone would throw on a pair of tiny shorts and pedal around town with a…
A shot to the heart
If you’ve ever woken up in a rose bush, covered in glitter and wearing a banana suit, tequila was probably to blame. If you’ve ever found yourself in your living room watching Three’s Company, drunkenly ordering an edible bouquet to be sent to an ex, tequila was probably to blame. If you can’t remember your…
Costa de Oro 2011 Pinot Noir Gold Coast Vineyard
This estate-grown wine from winemaker Gary Burk is delicious and inviting. A tasty blend of plums, blackberries, and spice, it’s beautifully balanced and easy drinking. Of course, this versatile pinot is best at the table paired with local wild salmon, ahi, or steak. Just released, it’s quite drinkable now but will benefit from aging three…
Everything’s coming up rosés
Are you macho enough to say you love pink wine? I am. If you’re also answering yes, you won’t want to miss this outstanding new Central Coast wine festival devoted to Paso Robles’ pretty pink wines. The second annual Real Men Drink Pink! is approaching fast, and tickets to this rockin’ hot party won’t last…
Clubs 5/23
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…
Take a shine to Moonshiner
What does it mean to let go? Does it mean throwing off the shackles of the rat race and disappearing into nature? Embracing your dream? Surrendering to love? For Moonshiner (aka Dan Curcio, formerly of Still Time), it means all these things and more. His new album, released Friday, May 24, at SLO Brew (doors…
A journey into darkness with Xan Cassavetes
If you want to be a filmmaker with a name like Cassavetes, you have a serious legacy to live up to. But Xan Cassavetes, daughter of independent film legend John Cassavetes, has more than acquitted herself. Responsible for the superlative documentary The Z Channel (one of my all-time favorite films; if you haven’t seen it,…
Artifacts: Exotic exposure
Remember when I told you about local artist Jeff Claassen’s Kickstarter campaign, the Puzzle Painting? Well, it’s only fair to mention Santa Maria photographer Mark Velasquez’s crowdfunding project as well, this one happening on indiegogo.com. Love him or hate him—in his conservative hometown, people have done plenty of both—Velasquez has become known for his bold,…
Old-school cool
It’s Saturday, May 18, 2013, but as I look around, it could just as easily be 1945—an America buoyed by winning World War II, increased economic prosperity, and a new sense of freedom. I’m at Pismo Coast Village RV Resort’s sixth annual Vintage Trailer Rally Open House, and everywhere I look are trailers, everything from…
The voice in the stone
It wasn’t Michelangelo’s David that struck choreographer Diana Stanton on her honeymoon in Florence, but his unfinished masterpieces, known as the Prisoners. These marble figures, which today line the hall of Florence’s Accademia Gallery, do seem to be trying to free themselves from the crushing paralysis of the stone, their faces and limbs reaching desperately…
