Cover Story
Is there a doctor in the house?
JoAnne Smith dislocates joints two or three times a week. A strong sneeze can jolt her shoulder out of its socket, she said, and when she stands, her knees pop and crack and she has to take short, shuffling steps. Smith was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danos Syndrome (EDS) nearly a decade ago. It’s a rare genetic…
There’s no place like home
Listening to “Homesick,” a track off of Welcome Home, the soon-to-be-released CD by Each Passing Day, it’s easy to hear why the track won top honors at the West Coast Songwriters Competition Grand Finals in Berkeley a few weeks ago. Penned by Each Passing Day’s chief songwriter and SLO County native Loren Radis, the tender…
Carlson 2005 Pinot Noir
Owner/winemaker Chuck Carlson is the winemaker for Curtis Winery on Foxen Canyon Road in Los Olivos. Every year he buys Pinot Noir for his eponymous brand from his neighbors, the Talley’s in the Arroyo Grande Valley, known for their ultra-premium Pinot. This elegant, impressive Pinot is one you’ll want to stash in your cellar. Rich…
Talley Vineyards 2006 Riesling Arroyo Grande Valley
This elegant white opens with lovely notes of pink grapefruit and Meyer lemon that highlight its delicious flavors of melon, white peach, and honey. This well-balanced wine by Leslie Mead complements Asian and Spanish cuisine, fish, poultry, and pork. It’s also quite refreshing unaccompanied. Only $14 at Talley’s tasting room. You can reach New Times’…
Out of ‘unsafe’ structures, but to where?
The cooling breeze was a welcome one, breaking the still heat of the late afternoon. Dan DeVaul smiled and leaned back against the trunk of a eucalyptus tree, shaded and peaceful. Or so he seemed. The only indication that tranquility was lacking at the DeVaul ranch on Sept. 2 was the subtle tremor in Darcene…
A prestigious winery changes hands
One week ago Domaine Alfred, one of the finest Pinot Noir producers in SLO County, held an amicable reception for their neighbors in Edna Valley to introduce the estate’s new owners, the Crimson Wine Group of New York, which was represented by its president and CEO Erle Martin. A guest approached Domaine Alfred founder Alfred…
Artifacts
Yeah, we like darkness…and art ART AFTER DARK September 5, 6-9 p.m. Info: 544-9251 or programs@sloartscouncil.org Steynberg Gallery: 1531 Monterey, 547-0278. There will be Bacon: The Art of New Times. Images from 22 years ofNew Times history. ARTS Space Obispo: 570 Higuera #165 (SLO Creamery), 544-9251 or artsobispo.org. The Peace Library: Artists’ Books of War…
Pismo welcomes a new fine art space
New Times Why the heck open a gallery in Pismo? Why not SLO or Cambria? Janice Simich I grew up in Pismo Beach and have lived here my whole life. I went away to college and came back. I thought it would be a great location for a gallery and I am more familiar with…
Pawn for a day
Chess Live isn’t your run-of-the-mill board-game experience. In fact, the events’ founder, Nancy Castle, who conceived the experience after a trip to Europe, doesn’t even like board games. Castle appreciates and constructs her Chess Live experience from ideas, such as the thought of a physical manifestation of a mental struggle. The game reduces the human…
Flowers for Frankenstein
What happens when you take a parrot tulip as your subject, and apply an unlikely combination of Victorian and psychedelic aesthetics with Frankensteinian ruthlessness and curiosity? If you’re Santa Barbara-based photographer and graphic artist Margaret Morrison you end up with botanical print constructions titled Nouveau Victorian. If you’re the rest of us, well, you’re probably…
What is the most important issue in the upcoming presidential elections?
Samuel Blair merchandise processor “Protecting the environment. I oppose ideas like increasing offshore drilling. By the time we could get those programs up and running we could already have made the transition to alternative fuels.” Stephanie Hook student/administrative assistant “Making healthcare, education and other social services more affordable and accessible to the general public.” Hugh…
Fast facts:
Here’s hoping! Fort Hope, a non-profit organization and frontier children’s museum, is hosting a fundraising barbeque in collaboration with Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Luis Obispo on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Trinity Hall, located at 6565 Edna Road, Highway 227. Come for a taste of old-fashion fun and enjoy…
Be a guide
They travel miles and miles every year to visit the Central Coast. They lounge on our beaches, refuse our food, and pick fights. They even mate in public. Funny thing is, we never get offended. We don’t even shelter our eyes from their antics. Instead, we gather round to watch! We revel, astounded, in the…
Slacklining wins approval in SLO
When Cal Poly student Jerry Miszewski first started pursuing his love of slacklining around SLO town, he thought the process seemed harmless enough. Slacklining basically consists of tying a rope between two trees and then walking on it. It’s like a tight rope, but the rope is slack and bows in the middle and sways…
Chinatown
Opponents of the Chinatown project, a hotel-housing-shopping behemoth proposed for downtown SLO, got a chance to raise their concerns with the project’s architect directly. Mark Rawson, the architect who has increasingly become the face of Copeland-family-backed projects spoke before a group of about 30 people, Sept. 2, at Steynberg Gallery. Rawson’s presentation highlighted the project’s…
Santa Margarita Ranch exposes Planning Commission rift
The developers of Santa Margarita Ranch are in hurry-up mode. They want the San Luis Obispo Planning Commission to make a decision on their plans, even if it means denying the project. At least one commissioner thinks his colleagues are purposefully stalling. Planning commissioners have been dissecting the proposed 6,195-acre agricultural cluster development for about…
Disaster loans offered to businesses affected by salmon closure
The closure of the 2008 salmon fishing season has made SLO County one of several California counties declared a disaster area by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). In response to the declaration, the SBA announced it is offering economic injury disaster loans through March 2009 to small businesses impacted by the closure. Many local…
Obama campaign training comes to SLO
Barack Obama’s Southern California campaign staff is offering training to volunteers as part of Camp Obama, a two-day workshop on Sept. 5 and 6 at Cal Poly. Participants will learn how to implement Obama’s message for change at a grassroots level by improving their community organizing skills. The workshop is open to all persons and…
A fall into the abyss
Workers’ compensation insurance is designed to protect people. It helps ensure that an on-the-job injury does not mean financial disaster. In California it was important enough for the Legislature to legally mandate that all employers have some form of workers’ compensation. But what happens when an employer decides not to follow the law? For Stephanie…
Where is the art?
Plump strawberries, mouth-watering tri-tip, award-winning Pinot Noir—Santa Maria is known for many things. But stuff like public art and fine galleries? Probably not on the list. The blue collar city in northern Santa Barbara County is surrounded by art-loving communities and breathtaking vistas that have long inspired artists, but it hasn’t fully developed a definitive…
Obama, you’re two-faced
Over the last 30 years, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman and Washington insider, Senator Joe Biden [D-Del.), has been a powerful leading influence on our foreign policy. It seems incredible for a candidate for president, who has been so critical of our many wars, immoral policies, and our poor standing in world opinion, and who claims…
Be kind to Mother Nature
When the paved asphalt ends, so does the road. Why do trucks continue into areas where children make sandcastles and people happily run their dogs and enjoy a peaceful hike? The Nipomo Dunes are such a unique display of Mother Nature’s genius that the roar of trucks, ATVs, and the RV city really does rob…
Simone is not alone
A few nights ago I received what I consider a strange phone call. A woman, who identified herself as Gladys, said she was representing the “California Coalition of Churches,” and that she was taking a survey regarding California’s Proposition 8. She went on to state that “they” believed that marriage should only be between a…
Survey the surveyors
I had two uninvited, and ultimately unwelcome, visitors knock on my door recently. Their stated intentions were to “conduct a survey” about Proposition 8, the upcoming ballot measure that would reverse recent judicial and legislative decisions which open the state of marriage to any couple seeking it. The visitors soon revealed that they were not…
We need more services for autistic children
The recent article regarding the state of autism services in our county was a pleasure to see (“Autism services are extensive, but questioned,” Aug. 14, 2008), however there was some information that was not quite accurate. Autism services in our county are by no means “extensive,” nor do they “abound.” It was wonderful to hear…
Everyone deserves health care
History will be made if Governor Schwarzenegger signs The California Universal Health Care Act, Senate Bill 840 (Kuehl). This bill provides for a not-for-profit, single-payer health insurance plan similar to Medicare, which will cover all Californians. Hopefully, our governor will have the courage to stand up to the insurance industry and guarantee that all Californians…
Be an informed voter: register early
The presidential general election on Nov. 4 is quickly approaching, and election officials around the country are busy preparing for a voter turnout that likely will be unprecedented in size. San Luis Obispo County is completing the ballot layout and finalizing the sample ballot, which contains information about local contests and measures, in preparation for…
Mike White – Owner of Boo Boo Records
NEW TIMES: How long has Boo Boo Records been around? WHITE: The first store opened in 1974 near the SLO railroad station. I started working here in 1978 when we moved downtown. There have been a few other stores in other cities but today we have just our downtown store. NEW TIMES: How is the…
Bail me out
Two cases in the news, two bail amounts. For Charlie Lynch, the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary, bail was set at $400,000. In the other case, former sheriff’s deputy Bryan Goossens, arrested on suspicion of downloading child porn, was released on $5,000 bail. Wha? Glen Starkey the other week did a nice piece pointing…
