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LOUNGE LIZARDS… Boats and Beats was a Wednesday lounge party Squid could sink its beak into. Started back in May, the gatherings at the new-ish, stylish Inn at Del Monte attracted an after-work and bohemian crowd looking to chill the heat off the mid-work-week in a cool setting overlooking Squid’s beloved bay. Sparked up by Jennie Kay Banta-Kratzer, her husband Frank Kratzer (DJ Sparkinzi) and Tito Rivera (DJ Teeto) – Jennie describes themselves as “part of a group called W.A.R.M.T.H. International out of Detroit, the West Coast contingent” – they were sailing along as steady as an 808 drum machine, sporting a vibe Squid’s colleagues describe as “hipster” and “big city.” Until the city of Monterey took notice. And permits were scrutinized. The verdict? Not allowed. Now, the music, and Boats and Beats, are dry docked. Banta-Kratzer is cheekily chagrined that she’s been promoting – no, she says “blasting” – a “speakeasy to every media outlet in Monterey County.”

Hotel owner Nick Yaqub says they have applied for and are optimistic they will get the proper permitting. Squid hopes Yacub gets the okay. The Haiti earthquake relief party Ryan Lama of 831 Magazine slapped together back in March and W.A.R.M.T.H. International’s mid-week mixing of open-minded hotel travelers and suggestion-packing locals of Boats and Beats, deserves cloning.

SUMMER SCHOOLING… Squid usually doesn’t get too heavy, but can’t help feeling seriously saddened by the recent violence in central Seaside. On a single day in late July, bullets flew into two different houses off Mingo Avenue. No one was hurt, but police pried slugs out of the walls. The next day, four more shots were fired at Del Monte Manor, the apartment complex on Yosemite Street where cops have noted an alarming uptick in young-knucklehead behavior like fights and robberies. The guns popping on streets full of little kids is just chilling. Should Squid blame the thuggish behavior on Seaside’s struggling, under-funded public schools? On lax gun control laws, coupled with glorified media violence? On economic and environmental deterioration that leaves teenagers with little hope for the future? Probably a little of everything, but Squid’s gotta put some of the responsibility on the bangers themselves. If you’re reading this, Young Gun, you’re too smart to be pulling that ish. Play soccer, go to a museum, swim in a clean river, trade your glock for a camera. Be a better role model for that little brown-eyed boy watching you on the street.