Discovered


Searching for the Lost City in Guadalupe

For nearly 30 years, Peter Brosnan has been trying to uncover and preserve the famous “Lost City” buried underneath the drifting sand of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes. [Los Angeles Times] The city itself existed only briefly back in 1923, when legendary... (Continue reading)

Discovering Hearst Castle at your own pace

By DAVID CONGALTON Last Friday afternoon, I was part of the first group to participate in Hearst Castle’s new self-guided Gardens and Vistas Tour, arguably the most dramatic change in visitor policy since the castle first opened to the public... (Continue reading)

Orson Welles’ four all-time strangest gigs

A tip of the hat to Peter Hartlaub, Cal Poly graduate, former Telegram-Tribune reporter, and currently the pop culture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Pete is responsible for an offbeat Chronicle blog about parenting and just about anything else... (Continue reading)

Theatre Review: PCPA’s “Macbeth” Is a Must-See

By C.L. ALEXANDER So . . . many a live production aims to shower its audience with wondrous sights and sounds, but few directors prove capable of shaping the resulting barrage into a fluent, coherent and fascinating theatrical experience. In... (Continue reading)

Concert Review: Elton John and Billy Joel

BY DAVID CONGALTON The Elton John-Billy Joel “Face 2 Face” concert tour has been the largest grossing act on the circuit for the last few years, and it’s not tough to understand why. Take the two top pop piano players... (Continue reading)

Facebook now second most-popular website

Facebook has surpassed Yahoo to become the second most popular web site in the U.S., according to Compete, a Web analytics firm. Only Google attracts more visitors. [Los Angeles Times] Facebook attracted nearly 134 million unique visitors just in January,... (Continue reading)

Theatre Review: “I Hate Hamlet” and Vaudeville Revue are delightful and distracting

By C.L. ALEXANDER So . . . the current playbill at The Great American Melodrama in Oceano is stuffed to overflowing with something we all need more of in the midst of economic, political and personal woes: diversion. It is... (Continue reading)

Movie Review: Crazy Heart

BY DAVID CONGALTON You have seen this movie before. Many times. In some ways, “Crazy Heart” is the cinematic twin of last year’s “The Wrestler.” Stop me if you’ve heard this one before—aging former wrestling/country music legend hits rock bottom... (Continue reading)

Chronicle discovers Paso Robles

Last Sunday’s Chronicle features a nice travel tip of the hat to Paso Robles, a place the paper calls “Wine country with a rural feel.” [San Francisco Chronicle] “Twenty-five years ago, Paso Robles was cowboy country. Now there are more... (Continue reading)

Theatre Review: “Mousetrap” merits more applause

By C.L. ALEXANDER So . . . it’s terribly, terribly hard to cast a community theatre production in which all of the actors seem perfectly suited to their roles. Directors facing a shortage of age-appropriate, gender-appropriate or (dare it even... (Continue reading)