Independence Day celebrations unfurl throughout the county.

• It’s a step in the right direction. On June 20, Governor Moonbeam signed the 2014-15 state budget into law. Amazingly, it includes an additional $4 million for the California Arts Council. It’s the first increase for the agency in 11 years, and a 400-percent jump over the $1 million ceiling that has been in place since 2003-04. Believe it or not, back in the halcyon financial year of 2000-01, the council received a whopping $31 million in funds. Time to get those grant proposals polished up, maybe this thing is starting to turn around.

• I love old movies shot in Monterey County. The 1952 film noir, Clash by Night, is an under-appreciated entry in this genre. Directed by the great Fritz Lang, it features excellent performances from Barbara Stanwyck and Paul Douglas (as well as a capable Marilyn Monroe). You’ll recognize a lot of locations, including the house that now houses the Monterey Peninsula Art Foundation at 425 Cannery Row. An interesting historical side note is that during the shooting, the now-famous nude calendar photos of Monroe surfaced and reporters swarmed around and hounded the actress. Consider how much uproar ensues when that happens today. Can you imagine the heat Monroe must have taken for those photos in 1952?

• So there’s this dude named Jimmy Moon who’s been bouncing around these parts for a while in between musical sojourns to L.A. and Sicily. He makes really lush, interstellar synthpop that strikes a gravitational balance between beat, melody and galactic expansiveness. He’s releasing a retrospective of the last three years of his work in the fall, but I highly recommend a tour of his site, www.jimmymoon.net. A specific highlight is the music video “They Fought in the Temple.”

• Local author Adam Clay recently published his independent novella, Destiny’s Playground. While he describes it as romantic fiction, it appears to tackle some intriguing philosophical issues – namely human interconnectivity and epiphenomenons, the sensations you feel when you have thought something into being. The nickel synopsis goes like this: “Brad Ford works in a popular grocery store and Heather Burlingame works at a talent agency. Little do they know, they are surrounded by epiphenomenons linking them together on a daily basis. But, in the city they live and work in, their fast-paced lifestyles disagree with the signals that are being sent.” Sounds good. You can find it on Amazon, but you should pick it up from Old Capitol Books or Do Re Mi.