Mr. Toy's Mental Notes

A few days ago I saw in the Herald a small obituary for Ace Hill, who was my favorite local jazz pianist.  Many years ago, back in the mid '80s, we used to go listen to him and the Ace Hill Trio at the old Monterey Bay Club in what was then the Monterey Sheraton. It was the best jazz club this town ever had. It was cozy, intimate, warm and inviting. Unfortunately, when Marriott took over the hotel, they turned it into just another sports bar, I guess because its cheaper to buy a big screen TV than pay for actual talent. One weekend a friend of ours, an accomplished musician herself who conducted a choir my wife played for, was in town for the Bach Festival. We asked her if she'd like a little jazz on top of her Bach. She replied "I won't tell anybody." She asked Ace to play My Funny Valentine for her, and he complied. When we left she said "He sure knows his way around a piano." Just before his breaks he would play a little tune called "Hold I...

I had a letter published in the Herald today. I wrote to support the preservation of two businesses near Monterey's Municipal Wharf, Adventures by the Sea and Monterey Bay Kayaks, both of which are on city property at Del Monte Beach. It seems the city is still considering evicting them in order to knock their buildings down to open up the last sliver of bay views from Del Monte Boulevard. It was right to relocate and demolish the meat packing plant, Jaguar dealership, motorcycle shop and dry cleaner that were between the street and the beach. A beautiful park now is in their place. However, these last two businesses provide shoreline recreation opportunities, and cannot be relocated inland without destroying their function. A little better view would not compensate for the loss of their services. It might make the beach look post card perfect, but there will be less to do once you get there. Keep them there, please.

...in that is. We have an Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card, which is the railroad equivalent of those airline mileage credit cards. It was issued by MBNA. A couple months ago we got a notice in the mail indicating that the terms of our account were about to change. It said that if we were late on even a single payment, MBNA would have the right to permanently increase our interest rate without giving notice. This would be in addition to any late fees. Naturally, I wasn't too keen on this. In fact, I considered it totally unacceptable. Late fees, a single penalty for a single offense, are one thing. Perpetual punishment for a single offense is quite another. The fine print (it was all very fine print, actually) said we could reject the change, if we did so in writing. However, if we rejected their terms, they would have the right to cancel our account at any time. Not a pleasant prospect, since we're saving up for some free Amtrak trips that we could probably not otherwise ...

1. I was born at the old Carmel Community Hospital on November 3, 1959. 2. My educational history: -1962-1964 Bay School, Carmel, CA (Preschool) -1964-1968 River School, Carmel (K-3) -1968-1969 Liberty School, Salem, OR. (4) -1969-1971 Cummings School, Salem (5-6) -1971 Whittaker Jr High School From Hell, Salem (7) -1972-1974 Judson Jr. High, Salem (7-8) -1974-1978 Verdant Vales School (boarding school), Middletown, CA. (9-12) -1978-present School of Hard Knocks. 3. My favorite band of all time: The Beatles 4. My favorite bands of the ‘70s: Tie between the Doobie Brothers and Fleetwood Mac 5. Favorite jazz musician: Diana Krall. My wife calls her my “girlfriend." I have all of her albums and both DVDs. 6. Current occupation: Audio/Visual technician in a hotel conference facility, nearly 9 years. I do sound for wedding ceremonies there, too. Lots of weddings. 7. Previous occupation of note: movie theater management at Capitol and Elsinore theaters in Salem, and the Golden Bough and...

Yesterday I saw an interesting pair of bumper stickers on a car at Del Monte Center. One said: War is not the answer The other said: I'm proud to have a son in the Army ----------------------------------------- A couple weeks ago I saw this wonderful philosophy: Work like you don't need the money Love like you've never been hurt And dance like nobody's watching

Among many it is accepted as gospel that when a big chain store moves in, the locally owned businesses are driven out of business. Certainly that has been the case in many communities. However, based on local experience, I've witnessed several cases where local stores gave up too easily. H&H Hardware in Seaside was a good example. They were probably the best hardware and home improvement store the Monterey Peninsula ever had, plus they had an exceptional arts and crafts department as well. But when Orchard Supply moved into Sand City, the owners of H&H almost immediately threw up their hands and gave up. What a waste of community goodwill. Orchard, while nice, never lived up to its promise. I can't tell you how many times I've gone in there looking for something basic that they didn't have, including lamp parts, and standard recessed shower soap dishes. Furthermore, Orchard Supply's service has deteriorated in recent years. Their slogan "We've got ...

A little over a year ago, I posted an entry called Popular Trends that I hope will go away soon. I thought it might be interesting to see if anything had changed. So here is a status report: Reality TV. Status: the novelty seems to be wearing off, but its not waning fast enough for me. Shouting news commentators. Status: Fox is still at it, but CNN canceled Crossfire. Breast implants Status: there is a growing "natural beauty" movement. Websites such as DOMAI and Super Beauty honor the beauty of unenhanced natural nude women. A related picture book called Natural Beauties is a best seller on Amazon.com . Dove, the beauty bar people, have launched a Campaign for Real Beauty with the goal of showing women of all ages that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. They've teamed up with the Girl Scouts on a self esteem program. Electronically enhanced vocals of female pop stars. Status: Still there, but may be waning as singers like Norah Jones grow in popularit...