Cover Story
All grown up: The evolution of the SLO Little Theatre to SLO Repertory Theatre
After two days of auditions, only 15 actors had shown up. Only four of them were men, and no one was quite right to play the male leads of Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein in the upcoming production of Picasso at the Lapin Agile. So Kevin Harris, managing artistic director for the San Luis Obispo…
Lovely day
Garden party goods: An Afternoon of Epicurean Delights unfurls this June 4, transforming the tranquil grounds of Pismo Beach’s Historic Chapman Estate into an elegant garden party. Marvel at the panoramic ocean views, stroll through the lovely gardens, and lounge poolside, while tasting offerings from more than 50 of SLO County’s most renowned and award…
New Waves: SLO local Chris Burkard’s film explores surfing in Iceland
A storm was brewing. The ice cracked and broke as the ship made its way across the ocean. It was September 2015 in Iceland with temperatures hitting anywhere from 20 to minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. San Luis Obispo native Chris Burkard and his friends were here to surf near the waters of Ísafjörður, a town…
Tasty barrels, brah: Wine, Waves, & Beyond is more laid back than ever June 2 to 4
What makes up a classic VW bus? If you grew up in the ’60s and ’70s, you’ll probably say way more than four tires, a bright coat of paint, and some fuzzy dice. For many folks, the mere sighting of these rotund automobiles is enough to get old memories freshly flowing. Romantic drive-in movies, spontaneous…
Wine not? Boozing it up at Paso Wine Fest
It’s only noon on Saturday, May 20, in Paso Robles, but the sun’s rays are already oppressively warm, clocking in at around 91 degrees as I drive around downtown, looking for a parking spot. I’m heading to the Paso Robles Wine Festival. Even though the downtown park and immediate surrounding streets are blocked off, it’s…
Self-love
For artist Adriana Lemus, the term selfie takes on an all-new meaning. Lemus has been drawing and sketching nude models for more than three years and came to value the beauty in the various shapes, sizes, and dimensions of every body. Her vision is that every woman will come to appreciate and love her own…
Unleash the truth
We’ve all been there. Everything is fine—until it’s not. Explore what happens when the past resurfaces at a staged reading of The Great God Pan at the SLO Repertory Theatre June 2 and 3. Jamie’s life in Brooklyn seems just fine: a beautiful girlfriend, a budding journalism career, and parents who live just far enough…
A night in old Vienna
Enjoy a night out at the New York City’s Met Opera with out ever leaving home on May 27 with a live screening of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier at the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center at 2 p.m. Set in an idealized Vienna of the past, Strauss’ most popular opera concerns a wise woman of the…
Blurred lines: Dirty Pictures gives abstract expressionist take on the landscape
It all started with painting sports murals for teams like the Minnesota Vikings back in the 1980s. That led artist Tom Shultz to painting retro cars, and then his focus continued to shift even further, to the road. “The cars got smaller and the landscapes got bigger,” the now Atascadero-based Shultz said of his gradual…
Punkified roots trio The Devil Makes Three returns to the Alex Madonna Expo Center on May 26
The Devil Makes Three has become a staple around here, at first a hard-to-categorize trio that played the old SLO Brew location, delivering a mix of ragtime, roots blues, jazz, and folk wrapped in a punk ethos. “We bend genres pretty hard,” frontman Pete Bernhard admitted in press materials. That band’s sound struck a nerve…
Better internet coming to Shandon schools
After years of struggling with sub-par internet service, students and staff at the Shandon Joint Unified School are finally getting an upgrade. The district is getting assistance and funding from SLO County and Cal Fire to bring the long-awaited extension of a fiber optic line that will bring high-speed internet to the far-flung school district.…
County to slap Cal Valley pot growers with lawsuits
SLO County is serving five marijuana growers in the California Valley with lawsuits for allegedly violating the county’s cannabis urgency ordinance, which put a moratorium on new grows. The Board of Supervisors voted in closed session May 23 to initiate the litigation, which is to be filed in SLO County Superior Court within a week,…
What’s your favorite play?
Trista Noland Cal Poly student “I saw Stupid Fucking Bird at Spanos Theatre the other night. But I think my favorite is Into the Woods, I saw it when I was younger but I still love it.” Kenzie Montagna sales manager “I haven’t yet, I’ve only lived here a year and a half, and there’s…
If it grows together, it goes together
Everyone keeps telling us to “dine with the seasons,” and there’s a big reason why. First, seasonal produce is peak produce, so it just tastes better. Second, eating local, seasonal stuff is milder on the Earth. I mean, why eat that sub-par plum shipped in from who-knows-where, when you can have a totally delicious kumquat…
Blast from the Past: Matewan
What’s it rated? PG-13 | When? 1987 | Where’s it available? DVD and Blu-ray. Writer-director John Sayles (Eight Men Out, The Secret of Roan Inish, Lone Star) helms this story—based on the true event of a 1920 coal miners’ strike in Matewan, W.Va.—about a labor unionizer named Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper in his film debut)…
Clubs 5/25/17-6/1/17
Goin’ South THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Rd., Shell Beach, 773-5000, cliffsresort.com. FIGUEROA MOUNTAIN BREWING CO.: Singer/Songwriter Night every Wed. from 8-10pm. 1462 E. Grand Ave., Arroyo Grande, 474-8525, figmtnbrew.com. 5/26: The Caverns; 6/3: Vista Point Duo from 8:30-11pm. HARRY’S NIGHT CLUB AND BEACH BAR: Cypress and Pomeroy, downtown Pismo Beach, 773-1010. Thurs.: Front…
Nurturing our land
If you look at an aerial view of Our Global Family Village, the quarter-acre is split into four sections. Founder Teresa Lees has set up her farm to correspond with the four corners of the globe: Central and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Within these specific areas she grows produce native to each land.…
Nowhere to go: Gaps in resources for homeless services highlight SLO’s geographical divide
Little pieces of tape marked off space on the floor of a 20-by-30-foot room at the Department of Social Services in Arroyo Grande, dividing the room into equal portions for sleeping. During the day, this room functions as a conference room for SLO County employees. However, on winter nights, when the temperature dropped below 40…
In constant flux: SLO County’s ever-changing draft marijuana ordinance causes confusion, ruffles feathers
The winding, rocky road to establishing marijuana regulations in SLO County continued with the release of a new draft ordinance on May 1—which looked nothing like the previous one. In February, the Board of Supervisors gave county staff feedback on a previous draft, which proposed to cap the total number of marijuana cultivation sites in…
Correction
In the May 18 cover story “Path less traveled,” SLO Natural Resources Manager Bob Hill was incorrectly quoted. Policy changes to open space hours would first require an environmental review, which could potentially lead to an environmental impact report under the California Environmental Quality Act.
County declares end to drought emergency
After spending 38 months in a state of emergency due to the drought, the SLO County Board of Supervisors finally lifted that designation on May 23, marking a local conclusion to one of the harshest droughts in state history. The county’s action follows Gov. Jerry Brown’s April 7 executive order that ended the statewide drought…
San Luis Ranch goes to SLO Planning Commission
The 580-unit San Luis Ranch housing development is one step away from going in front of the SLO City Council for final consideration. The SLO Planning Commission will hold two meetings on May 23 and 24 at 6 p.m. in City Hall to review a final environmental impact report (EIR) and other planning documents related…
Cayucos struggles to hang on to its fire department
The Cayucos Fire Department is hanging by a thread, combatting alleged Brown Act violations as it weighs what options are left to keep things afloat. The Cayucos Fire Protection District’s board was recently accused of violating the Brown Act, which governs public meeting laws, for nearly forming a citizen advisory committee without public notice (it…
Air pollution officials threaten violation over dunes dust
SLO County’s Air Pollution Control District is mulling slapping the California Department of Parks and Recreation with a formal violation for failing to properly enact dust mitigation measures at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. The incident marks one of the few times the district has come close to issuing such a violation under…
Resist greedy urges, save the planet
I resist writing a response to Al Fonzi’s opinion pieces, and someone usually says it for me, but this week I cannot. Al, you are not a climate scientist, you have proven your allegiance to the fossil fuel industry on many occasions. Perhaps you think using every spec of carbon-based energy a good idea; I…
SLO County has the power to stop dust pollution
The air downwind from the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area has been especially awful during this season. Yet, state park’s Off Highway Vehicles Division has completely halted all work for this season’s agreed-upon mitigations. Nothing has been accomplished except a bit of fence. The fierce winds pick up everything. While Mesa and Oceano community…
Protect SLO’s natural resources
Thank you for publishing “Path less traveled” (May 18), regarding the proposal by certain members of the community to allow nighttime recreational access to San Luis Obispo’s open space areas. I understand the reasoning behind the proposed change, but the primary purpose of the city’s open space program has always been protection of natural resources.…
Monument defenders unite!
The Carrizo Plain National Monument is one of the crown jewels of San Luis Obispo County. It’s a place where pronghorn antelope and tule elk roam the landscape. Where ancient pictographs tell stories and inspire wonder. Where the Caliente and Temblor mountain ranges rise above the valley floor. Where fields of native grasslands stretch as…
Neither bigots nor haters
The former SLO High School instructor who wrote an opinion piece for the student paper should be chided for submitting an article expressing his religious beliefs in what is likely a totally student-driven endeavor. Students are, after all, a captive audience required to attend school, and he is an authority figure at that institution. How…
Read the First Amendment, dummies
Politics have become toxic. The left claims the right is racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and misogynist. The right claims the left is intolerant of divergent views, overly politically correct, and squelchers of free speech. Hey guys, you’re both right! Extremism for the win! I took heat last week for defending SLO High School teacher Michael Stack’s…
Night hiking isn’t restricted in national parks
Let me get this straight. Currently the city of San Luis Obispo has more than 60 development projects under review or under construction. These will potentially add more than 3,000 new residential units—that’s 3,000 more homes folks!—and more than 500,000 square feet of commercial space. The environmental and social impacts that these new developments will…
Those high school tennis courts are indeed open
In a recent letter to the editor, Maurice Gendron (“Morro Bay High tennis courts aren’t always open,” May 11) discussed the high school’s tennis courts not being open to the public. Unfortunately, Mr. Gendron did not contact the school or my office to find out whether the courts are open for public use. Had he…
Morro Bay’s emergency fund pays for open space
On May 23 the Morro Bay City Council voted to purchase the eucalyptus-covered Cerrito Peak, also known as Eagle Rock, with $350,000 from the city’s general fund emergency reserve. While some community members questioned whether the purchase constitutes an actual emergency, city Development Director Scot Graham said the city received more positive reinforcement to preserve…
