thursday 5|15

It Takes a Village

CARMEL ART FESTIVAL It's the tenth year that Carmel is sponsoring four days of live artistic happenings at various locations around town, in an effort to remind people of the village's illustrious origins. The festival's centerpiece is a two-day plein air painting competition Thursday and Friday, which draws artists from all over to paint local landscapes on the spot; awards are presented Saturday at 4pm at the Carmel Art Association on Dolores Street. A sculpture exhibition Friday from 6-8pm at the Winfield Gallery on Dolores, a Youth Art show at the Carmel Youth Center Friday and Saturday afternoon, and free stuff in Devendorf Park are more highlights. (See story pg. 29). [SF]

Today through 5/18, around Carmel. Free. For details call 642-2503 or visit www.carmelartfestival.org.

friday 5|16

Angels and Insects

ANIMALIA VENUSTIORA: BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Bugs fascinate the kid in everyone: collecting butterflies, watching fireflies, keeping an ant farm, swatting away mosquitoes, whatever. This exhibit at the Center for Photographic Art features two artists who focus their work on the delicate, miniature world of insects. Jo Whaley shows butterfly and insect forms against found object backgrounds; Linda Broadfoot refers back to 18th-century animalia printmaking in her hand-worked Polaroid monoprints of insect life. Together, their pictures truly conjure up a world of beautiful creatures. [SF]

6-8pm reception. Center for Photographic Art, Sunset Center, San Carlos at 8th, Carmel. Free. 625-5181.

Sweet Voices

CAMERATA SINGERS The greatest classical songs of the last 400 years come to life through the a cappella vocals of the Camerata Singers, presenting their new concert, Chapels and Cathedrals. Music director John Koza has put together a presentation from many historical eras, including music by Mendelssohn, Martin Luther, and Franz Beilbl's Ave Maria. After intermission, the music switches to the 20th century, with spirituals, traditional movements and a variety of themes and sounds. The concert also features the premiere of Dona nobis pacem ("Grant us peace"), a piece by UCLA grad and composer Jefferey Parola. It may be the closest one can get in this life to hearing a choir of angels. [KF]

8pm Saturday at Carmel Mission Basilica, Rio Road and Lasuen Drive, Carmel. 8:30pm Sunday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1071 Pajaro St. For tickets and information call 642-2701.

Genius With a Pick

SHANE DWIGHT He's been compared to Tommy Castro, and his guitar playing is phenomenal, especially for someone in his twenties. Shane Dwight is good enough to have his own namesake blues band, backed by musicians many years older than him. Dwight's fame also is fed by his unique, country-tinged voice. Luckily for the Monterey Peninsula, Dwight is bringing his style and his band down here from the Bay Area for a show at Sly's. Of course, they've been in our neck of the woods before, slaughtering the competition and winning the Monterey Bay Blues Festival Band Competition. This is a great chance to say you saw him when. [KF]

9pm. Sly McFly's, 700 Cannery Row, Monterey. 372-3225.

saturday 5|17

Find Your Heart in Castroville

ARTICHOKE FESTIVAL It's billed as "everyone's favorite vegetable," and folks who don't like 'em can get the hell out of Monterey County. Okay, we added that last part, but is it possible to live a hop, skip and a jump away from the Artichoke Capitol of the World and not love this delectable, edible thistle? We think not. To honor this flowery veggie, the little town will host a classic, down-home celebration with a parade, produce market, artichoke eating contest, 10K run, cooking demonstrations, arts and crafts, field tours, car show, RV Jamboree and, of course, artichokes cooked every which way. Yum. Returning after a successful debut last year will be Argo-Art. Rules are loose, but all art must include artichokes. It's open to artists ages 7 to 97, with $4,900 in prizes. And did we mention lots o' tasty 'chokes? Start fasting now, and indulge through Sunday. [JL]

10am-6pm Saturday, 9am-5pm Sunday. $6/adults $3/kids under 12. Free parking and shuttle buses to the main grounds. Most of the festivities take place on or around Merritt Street, Castroville. www.artichoke-festival.org. 633-2465.

Slow Food Guru

ALICE WATERS If Alice Waters' name appears in the culinary history books as the inventor of California Cuisine, that won't do her justice. Since the Berkeley radical-turned-restaurateur opened Chez Panisse in 1971, she has helped foment a revolution in eating that incorporated politics and the seasons. This was cooking as a function of sustainable agriculture and smart hedonism. Collaborating with Waters in the revolution are an army of organic farmers, like-minded restaurateurs and hip food lovers. Add to these ranks the children of the Carmel Middle School, who received a grant from Waters' Chez Panisse Foundation to build a project known as "the Habitat." Waters speaks today at the dedication of the school's ten-acre "Edible Schoolyard" project, along with local chefs Kurt Grasing and Sara LaCasse. [EJ]

11am-3:30pm. Carmel Middle School, 4380 Carmel Valley Rd. $20 suggested donation (students free). 624-2785.

Round and Round

24 HOURS OF ADRENALIN Here's a plan for the weekend: Grab a few friends, throw your mountain bikes in the truck, drive over to Laguna Seca and take turns riding those bikes for an entire day starting at noon Saturday and ending at noon Sunday. It's a relay race, so have a place--like a pocket--to put a baton. Registration is open until 11am Saturday. Winners in the various team categories win cash prizes and jerseys. [AS]

Noon Saturday to noon Sunday. Laguna Seca Recreation Area, Highway 68, Monterey. The event is free to spectators. (905) 944-9436 or www.24hoursofadrenaline.com.

sunday 5|18

Thatched Roofs by the Sea

CARMEL HOME AND GARDEN TOUR Besides the rolling thatched roofs, Cotswold cottages, and English gardens flourishing in the salty fog air, Carmel's architecture is imbued with the history brought by artists, poets, and famous architects. In Carmel's Treasures, a tour put on this Sunday by the Carmel Heritage Society, Carmel's oldest home (circa 1774), and some of its most recently renovated (like the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts) are on display in a self-guided tour. A walk through the 1948 Frank Lloyd Wright House, facing Carmel Beach, gives the rare glimpse of what it would be like to live with the Pacific Ocean and white-sanded Carmel Beach mere feet from the glassy living room. [BW]

1-5pm. $20/advance, $25/day of event. Pick up tickets and map of homes on Saturday until 4pm at the First Murphy House, 6th and Lincoln, Carmel. Tickets and maps available Sunday until 2pm at the First Murphy House, or the Frank Lloyd Wright House, 26336 Scenic Dr., Carmel. Order tickets by phone 624-4447.

Gutted, But Not Gone

MONTEREY SYMPHONY The Monterey Symphony finishes off its season with a concert at the gutted Sunset Center. Kate Tamarkin again takes the stage as conductor, wearing her black dress and white hard hat. This year an effort was being made to lure back some of the 200-plus subscribers who dropped out when Sunset closed for renovations. This concert features works by Ravel, Vivaldi and Stravinsky, as well as Jeffery Van presenting his own work "Concerto For Two Guitars," accompanied by Patricia Dixon. [KF]

3pm Sunday, 8pm Monday and Tuesday. Sunday and Monday, Pacific Grove Middle School, 835 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove. Tuesday, Sherwood Hall, 940 North Main St., Salinas. 624-8511.

'Diva of the Sonnet'

ACTRESS MARION EATON Ms. Eaton will give voice to the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay this afternoon, performing Millay's "Renascence" and a cycle of Millay's sonnets. Characterized in Poetry Speaks as "the prototypical reckless, self-determined, romantic 'New Woman,'" Millay was "a diva of the sonnet, publishing some of the sexiest, wisest, most passionate and most feminist poetry of the 20th century." Eaton, who has worked with Robert Leopold, professor emeritus at San Francisco State University on the memorized poetry performance, has performed extensively on stage and in film. [JL]

2pm. Community Room, Monterey Public Library, 625 Pacific St., Monterey. Free but reservations required. 646-3477.

Out of the Strings of Babes

YOUTH MUSIC MONTEREY SEASON FINALE Almost 200 students from elementary through high school will perform tonight in the season finale concert of Youth Music Monterey. The younger set will play a selection from Holst's "The Planets," the Youth Orchestra will play selections from The Music Man and Sibelius' "Finlandia," and the honors orchestras will join forces with the Santa Cruz County Youth Symphony in a closing performance of the Finale from Brahms' Symphony No. 1 and Massenet's Le Cid Ballet Suite. Parents are encouraged to bring their young children to this evening of great classical music played by their peers--there's no better music education than that. [SF]

3pm. $10/adults, $8/seniors, $5/children. Sherwood Hall, 940 N. Main St., Salinas. 375-1992.