Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Musician Fred Ross has toured the world with the legendary funksters Pee Wee Ellis and Fred Wesley (formerly of the James Brown band.)  Fred has also recorded with Aretha Franklin, whose CD went gold, Narada Michael Walden, members of Tower of Power, Santana, Chakra Kahn and The Commodores to name a few. Currently Fred is touring the US and Europe as lead vocalist with Everyday People performing a tribute to the music of Sly & The Family Stone and more.

After a Jazzy listening set, the dance floor is opened for dancing to Soul/Funk/Blues.

May 29, 2011, 4:30, $35
A Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society presentation
Douglas Beach House on Miramar Beach
307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
650 726-4143, www.bachddsoc.org

Do you subscribe to Comcast Basic Cable television service?

Did the quality of Basic Cable go down last November when Comcast reorganized the Basic Cable channels?

In November 2010, the cooking channel and CSPAN-2 (which is Book TV and secondary political presentations) were dropped from Basic Cable.

Take this survey and tell Comcast a little bit about how Comcast Basic Cable changed after the Xfinity hardware reorganization that took place last October or November 2010.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KGCPCGT

Please write your additional comments here on coastsider.com. I will tally the results and contact Comcast at the end of May.

The Coastside Farmers’ Market in Half Moon Bay is sponsoring a blood drive on Saturday, May 28 from 9am to 2pm in honor of Memorial Day. Santiago will be back this year, and he’ll give you a tangerine and a song to perk you up after your donation!  The BloodMobile will be available until 2 pm, so go on and make an appointment to donate.

Every pint collected these next 10 days will make an incredible difference in the lives of those in need—many of them from the Coastside!

WE will feed you tasty tangerines, sweet strawberries and cherries to cheer you up!

PLEASE:  make an appointment to donate right now, and I’ll see you at the Market.

Erin Tormey

Kurzweil theories can’t be easily dismissed out of hand. He has just too long a track record as a prescient tech pioneer.  He has been a leader in the fields of optical character recognition, text-to-speech synthesis, voice recognition, and artificial music.  Musicians will recognize the Kurzweil synthesizer as the first keyboard capable of generating artificial music that sounds like the original - a single machine that can toot like a trumpet, swing like a piano, and thrill like saxophone.

Kurzweil is not only predicting that we will see a merging of mind and machine by the year 2030, he says this merger will provide us with the smarts to start tackling mankind’s most profound limitations. In Kurzweil’s new world, disease, aging, hunger, poverty, and even death will be soon conquered by the super mind. Kurzweil is personally planning to stick around long enough to see the reanimation of his late father—cloning his Dad’s body and inserting an artificial intelligence he creates from his own memory of dear old dad.

The movie delves deeply into the social and philosophical implications of Kurzweil’s world of “Singularity” both through Kurzweil’s own words and though interviews with the likes of Colin Powell, Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly, 3Com and Metcalfe’s founder Robert Metcalfe, evolvable hardware researcher Hugo de Garis, Segway inventor Dean Kamen, and Kurzweil’s friend Stevie Wonder. There is an attempt to balance Kurzweil ebullient confidence of the better world to come with other more cautions points of view.  Iconic American composer Philip Glass contributes the original music used in the film’s score.

“Whether Kurzweil is a good salesmen of his ideas is irrelevant here because of how entertaining they are. He’s the intellectual equivalent of a Michael Bay explosion. That’s not meant to belittle the subject matter though. The answers he’s come up with lead to the kind of questions we’ve always asked ourselves, and they demand that we re-frame them to make sense of the world we live in currently. .. Now who wants to live forever?”
Cole Abaius. FilmSchoolRejects.com

More info: www.HMBFilm.org

More info and a trailer at: www.HMBFilm.org

When you have dinner at Flavor in El Granada on Monday, May 23, 20% of your bill will be donated to Coastside Children’s Programs.

In addition to services for full-tuition families, CCP subsidizes over 50 low-income Coastside families so that parents can afford a safe and quality environment for their children while they work.  CCP provides more than child care. They work on character development, environmental sciences, healthy habits, and more in our 3 after school programs and 2 preschools.

Come join in the fun and help us raise money to restore and enhance the Pescadero Marsh Watershed. FREE admission 10-5 includes exhibits, vendor fair, special kids’ activities, live music, fly-tying demo’s, and more!

Then join us in the evening for a Celebration Dinner and Live Auction. Proceeds benefit CASE’s efforts to restore the native Steelhead to Pescadero and Butano Creeks. Dinner tickets are $35, which includes a complete seafood dinner, and can be purchased online at www.CASEforOurEnvironment.org, or by calling 650-619-5780.

Auction items include a rich array of premium fly-fishing gear and fishing trips, restaurant/hotel getaways, local art, and many other exciting items.

The Pescadero Steelhead Festival is organized by the Coastal Alliance for Species Enhancement (CASE), a local non-profit dedicated to protecting all the native wildlife in the coastal watersheds. The event features exhibits, demonstrations, and educational presentations to raise public awareness about the need for immediate restoration of the natural habitat in the Pescadero Marsh and surrounding areas.

Praised by his mentor Herbie Hancock as “a musical painter,” West African-born guitarist Lionel Loueke has enjoyed a recent meteoric rise, including Downbeat’s top Rising Star in 2008 and 2009. The NY Times declared Loueke “a startlingly original voice… a spellbinding presence…one of the most striking jazz artists to emerge in some time.”  For this performance he will be playing from his recent CD Mwaliko and acclaimed CD Karibu, “a jamboree of sprung rhythms, splashed with African and Brazilian flavors, in which Loueke scat-sings, drums on his guitar, mouth-clicks and plays some wicked jazz.” (Time Mag.) Angelique Kidjo and Esperanza Spalding also join him in duets on Karibu.

“a startlingly original voice… a spellbinding presence…one of the most striking jazz artists to emerge in some time.”  - NY Times

May 22, 2011 – 4:30, $35 Douglas Beach House on Miramar Beach 307 Mirada Road, Half Moon Bay, CA

[NOTE: PCT has been recommended by the county to manage public, educational, and governmental TV services on the Coastside.

PCT Honors will happen on May 20th at the Mildred Owen Concert Hall. The amazing program identifies and thanks wonderful local people for their service to our community while serving as a fundraiser for our TV station.

PCT’s non-profit Public TV channel is the oldest such station in the US and has provided vital support to our Northern California community for over 30 years. Thanks to PCT sponsors and friends, last year we opened a new computer lab which is being used by community groups like the Partnership for a Safe and Healthy Pacifica to reduce teen access to alcohol.

2011 Honorees
Cheryl Yoes – Owner of Dial Glass
Mike O’Neill – Pacifica School District Board of Trustees Member
Mike Perez – Director of Pacifica Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission
Horace Hinshaw – Pacifica Tribune Sport’s Editor
Tom Minshew – Principal of Terra Nova High School
Mike Crilly – Superintendent of Jefferson Union High School District
Joe Marchi – Producer of TV show “Regards to Broadway”

Each of the above honorees has demonstrated their commitment to Pacifica by supporting various programs and non-profits like ours in their own way. Please contact us for interviews or for detailed information about these wonderful honorees.

The event will feature live entertainment, a live auction and an honors program. Those wishing to may also donate cash and/or raffle/auction items for our event by calling the sponsorship number below.

Tickets: $20 General admission, $30 at honoree table
Advance tickets: 650-355-8000
Location: 1220 Linda Mar blvd. Pacifica 94044
Media/sponsorship contact: Marty Anaya - 650-355-8001

The 2nd Annual Cougar Casino - tickets are on sale now at Longboard Liquors!  Also available at The Longbranch Saloon & Farm the night of the event.  This event supports our local Half Moon Bay High School Football Program.

Come to the Longbranch Saloon, 321 Verde Road, HMB and enjoy the atmosphere of the old west.  Dine on a delicious BBQ’d tritip dinner, No Host bar, casino games include Roulette, Black Jack, Craps and two Texas Hold’em tables.  Gaming prizes and raffle prizes.  Silent Auction includes local items, dining packages, sporting events and a one-of-a-kind handmade Cougar quilt to the highest bidder.

Tickets are $40 or $70 per couple

Please join the Coastside Land Trust on Saturday, May 28, at the Songbird & Seabird Workshop and Walk with Alvaro Jaramillo.

Songbird & Seabird Workshop — 1–2:30 pm

Back by popular demand after his previous sold-out event, Alvaro Jaramillo will present an entertaining workshop on the songbirds and seabirds found on the Coastside. Learn about their behavior, field marks, ecology, and migratory patterns. Light refreshments will be served.

Cost: Suggested donation is $15. Seniors $5. Under 18 free.

Location: Sea Crest School, 901 Arnold Way, Half Moon Bay

Bird Walk — 3–5 pm

Participants will walk through beautiful blufftop open space, looking for birds and applying the knowledge learned in the workshop. Dress in layers, wear sturdy shoes, and bring bird field guides, binoculars or scopes if desired. Meet at Smith Field, west end of Wavecrest Road, Half Moon Bay. Snacks and beverages will be served after the walk.

Cost: Free

Both the Workshop and Walk are suitable for beginning to expert birders, as well as families.

Upcoming Events & Activities

Envirotokens. New Leaf Community Market in Half Moon Bay donates 10¢ to the Coastside Land Trust for every bag token you put in our box. Each year we must re-qualify to be in the program. Qualification is determined by local voter support. This year, New Leaf is doing online voting to save paper. Please click here