Thinking Locally
The photography nonprofit The Weston Collective set its sights on a big project in a small place – Seaside, specifically Broadway in Seaside, where the nonprofit is located. For this first exhibit in their “Facing Seaside” project, photographers Zach Weston and Jake Thomas set out to document their neighbors down the street. This show features three photographs each of five local businesses, each with a street view, an employee portrait and a product image. The businesses – Sweet Dreams Delight Bakery, El Corazón de Oaxaca, Side Affects, The Covenant and Cuz’s Sportsman Club – represent a cross-section of Broadway’s cultural and commercial diversity. Photographs, they say, are worth 1,000 words but there are also accompanying words for a little bit more context and story. [SR]
5-8pm Thursday, March 3. The Weston Collective, located inside MLK Jr. School of the Arts, 1713 Broadway, Room B5, Seaside. Free. 233-2100, thewestoncollective.org.
Raise The Curtain
The pandemic freeze on live events is melting, and a new venue is celebrating with three nights of live music each week. Brad Mallory and Jacqueline Kabat of Tribe in the Sky have teamed up with Chef Brad Kreitler and brothers Rene and Rob Diaz to bring The Urban Lounge to life. This week, Monterey-based trio The Rogue Brothers offers up classic rock and Motown hits on Thursday; the Chuck Brewer Band mixes covers in with original tunes on Friday; and Saturday, Reija and the Ironheads cover iconic metal tunes and rock favorites. Yes, there is a bar, and you can order food upstairs at The Urban Kitchen to make it a full night out. [SR]
7-10pm Thursday-Saturday, March 3-5. The Urban Lounge, 1425 Munras Ave., Monterey. No cover; ages 21+ only after 9pm. 649-4771.
Art Becomes a Story
“We’ve done artists, we’ve done authors, now we have authors writing about California artists,” Salinas Public Library officials write about the upcoming event titled “When Art Becomes a Story: Remembered Lives of Women Artists,” which will be devoted to two authors writing about local art. When author Joanna FitzPatrick inherited a coastal landscape painting by a great-aunt, her subsequent move to Carmel sparked her curiosity. The resulting exploration led to the book The Artist Colony, set in Carmel in the 1920s. Artist Agnes Pelton traveled and exhibited her art around the world, settling in the Palm Springs area in the 1930s. In The Pelton Papers, author Mari Coates follows Agnes’ life and her search for her creative vision, self-acceptance and place in the world. Here, both authors’ stories come to life. [AP]
4:30-5:30pm Friday, March 4. John Steinbeck Library, 350 Lincoln Ave., Salinas. Free. 758-7311,salinaspubliclibrary.org. Register online at biy.ly/SalinasLibraryArtTalk.
Tor Tours
One of the great joys of living in Monterey County is its literary history, and one of the undoubted giants of the Central Coast scene is poet Robinson Jeffers, the subversive bard of Carmel who penned visceral and thought-provoking prose and poetry about the environment, art and aging. When not waxing poetic on becoming a vulture’s lunch, Jeffers dabbled in architecture, planning out his Carmel castle, known as Tor House, where he would live with his wife and two children. Jeffers even carried stones and helped in the construction. Tor House has become a Jeffers museum and, after a long pandemic pause, has reopened to full indoor/outdoor tours. [CN]
10am, 11:30am, 1pm and 2:30pm, Saturdays. 26304 Ocean Ave, Carmel. Tours are one hour long. Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 for students. Buy tickets online at torhouse.org/tours. 624-1813.
On The Railroad
Go back in time to when the railroads were king. The Monterey & Salinas Valley Railroad Museum opens for free the first Sunday of each month, inviting the public in to experience a diorama that re-creates local railroads of Monterey County as they looked last century. The railroads were instrumental in transforming Monterey County into what it is today, from where people settled to how the agriculture industry evolved. For example, check out the 1923 wooden Fruit Growers Express refrigeration car, which relied on blocks of ice. [SR]
10am-4pm Sunday, March 6. Monterey & Salinas Valley Railroad Museum, 26 Station Place, Salinas. Free. 789-8097, msvrr.org.
Bloom COUNTY
The Monterey County Composers’ Forum presents their spring concert, “Music in Bloom.” The program includes brand-new works by local composers and songwriters such as: Steve Ettinger, Alex Gatica, Paula Kaiser, Carleton Macy, Edward Moncrief, Julie Roseman and Dale Victorine. Pacific Grove-based composer Carleton Macy presents his new piece “Medication,” one of seven pieces to be introduced during the concert. “There’s always a wide variety of music,” Macy says about the work of these contemporary composers. “Some of it is semi-improvised.” The forum produces three concerts per year at Hidden Valley Music Seminars, each time featuring new music by local composers and songwriters. They are a nonprofit, and they are open to all who would like to explore the rewarding art of writing and performing music. Masks, proof of vaccination and social distancing required at the event. [AP]
3pm Sunday, March 6. Hidden Valley Music Seminars, 104 W. Carmel Road, Carmel Valley. $10. 385-0973, mccomposers.org.
Seeds of Change
The EcoFarm Conference (the Ecological Farming Association’s yearly get-together of farmers, agricultural researchers and food industry leaders, typically held at Asilomar Conference Center) convenes virtually this year with the theme “Rooted in Resilience.” Across a week of activity, there will be workshops (in both Spanish and English) on indigenous farming techniques, soil health, farm insurance and how to influence what gets included in the federal Farm Bill. There’s also be a special event focused on personal and community resilience through the challenges of the past two years – in other words, how do we deal with the “climate change, racism, and overall sense of exhaustion” that is so very normal to feel right now? We could all use guidance on that question, whether we’re farmers or not. [TCL]
Wednesday, March 9-Sunday, March 18. Online event. $200. To register, visit eco-farm.org/conference/2022/register.
Write It Off
The National Steinbeck Center, which hosts the program, is in need of writing coaches to work with middle school students who are nominated to take part in the renowned Steinbeck Young Authors Program’s annual Day of Writing. March 24 is an in-person event at the center and on March 25, the tutoring is virtual. The Steinbeck Young Authors Program teaches reading comprehension and critical thinking, with the goal of students completing a thoughtful and provocative essay. That’s where volunteer writing coaches come in. On the Day of Writing they help encourage, inspire and assist students in completing essays, which are then published in The Steinbeck Young Authors Anthology. So if you want to help the next generation of thinkers and writers gain confidence, sign up to volunteer. [DF]
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