MONTEREY UNCORKED… Squid has impeccable party manners and knows that when one is invited to a holiday festivus (and this week, that’s turkey-n-trimmings at Squid’s favorite aunt’s house), one brings a gift. And as Monterey County is the undisputed wine capital of the Central Coast, Squid thought a bottle of local vino would do the trick. Seems Squid has that in common with Jack Ellwanger, founder of the Pelican Network and an eccentric hellraiser of the independent, Big Sur ilk. Ellwanger last week fired off an irate email to President Barack Obama, telling him, “What a slap in our faces to gift the House Speaker with an expensive bottle of wine from Italy.” He pointed out the way through our economic future is by practicing sustainability at home. And in our home, most of the wine-making is done by family farms. “Let us know next time you will be in California and we will show you truly great wine – and teach you why it is important to our land and our economy to support the people who make them,” Ellwanger writes.


It was a barn-burner of a letter, pure vintage Ellwanger. Only problem is, he sent it to president@whitehouse.com, an email address that doesn’t work because that domain name doesn’t exist. (Not to fret, though; the CIA still has a vigilant clipping service, and after they’re done clipping out the David Petraeus saga from this week’s People magazine, maybe they can clip Squid Fry for the president too.)


SOUND CONTROL… When Squid gets tired of plumbing the depths of Monterey County for gossip juicier than slow-cooked turkey, Squid occasionally indulges in a mellow concert, a good place to let the tentacles unwind. 


After a few shows at the newly reopened Golden State Theatre, Squid was surprised to see the best thing that’s happened to Monterey nightlife quietly slink out of earshot. 


The lobby shows have indefinitely relocated to the main stage, behind two layers of double doors, to protect the sensitive ears of Alvarado Street passersby. “The noise was tearing up the street,” proprietor Scott Grover tells Squid. So he’s planning on building sound-proofing doors (price tag TBD). 


Squid wonders if the Monterey noise police were on patrol, the same forces that drove out Hippodrome and Luxe Lounge in a city that seems to forget forgot the word nightlife contains “life.” 


Grover smartly didn’t wait around for a complaint, though rumor has it a Monterey City Council member walked by during a set and nearly blew out his or her eardrums. “We’re just stepping up and saying, ‘Well, yeah this was pretty damn loud,’” Grover says. Pre-empting complainers in a city teeming with them sounds like survival mode to Squid; here’s hoping it works.