Dylan Music

Museums in Monterey County have been ordered to close again. The uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 has forced museums around the region to reassess how they connect with their guests, even while their doors are shut.

About one-third of Santa Cruz County’s population identifies as Latino, according to the latest Census Bureau figures. Yet there hasn’t been a single bookstore in the county that catered specifically to Spanish readers, until now.

A new book takes a look at Monterey County’s haunted past. Author Patrick Whitehurst fills Haunted Monterey County with tales of the supernatural, from the “vistas of Big Sur to the streets of Monterey.”

The Monterey Museum of Art is beginning an Artist-in-Residency program. The plan is to host international artists to bring different perspectives to the area. Spanish artist Paz de la Calzada is the first artist-in-residence.

Santa Cruz is a place of natural beauty, ocean breezes and family-friendly tourist attractions. But a new collection of short FICTION stories explores a seedier side of this beach town filled with murder and mystery.  Susie Bright edited the collection called Santa Cruz Noir.

Nestled between the music scenes of Santa Cruz and Monterey, Seaside can be overlooked as a place to go for dinner and a concert. But one Seaside native has been working to change that through word-of-mouth.  

When the Monterey Jazz Festival kicks off tomorrow, it will be celebrating 60 years of the event.   I recently spoke with Tim Jackson, the artistic director at the Jazz Festival, which supports KAZU.

I started by asking him to take us back to the beginning when local radio disc jockey Jimmy Lyons got it all started.

Tonight the West End Celebration will kick off with a talk by Michael Nesmith. The annual arts gathering in Sand City continues through the weekend. 

Nesmith, who was a member of the 1960s pop band The Monkees, also has deep roots in the Sand City art scene and still has a studio there.   I recently spoke to him about that and his new book, Infinite Tuesday.

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The Monterey Jazz Festival, which supports KAZU, is one of the most iconic annual jazz events in the world.  But despite making its home in Monterey, this region rarely produces the young talent who perform during the event in the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra. This year is different.