SHELLY CONE

The United States celebrates its independence on July 4 with fireworks, and the beginning of the school year in September with a sigh of relief. For many Latin countries, however, September is the time for celebrating independence. Las Fiestas Patrias is the national celebration of two holidays, Cinco de Mayo (which technically happens in May) […]

In an artists’ world, nothing is really ever complete. Everything can be improved upon or changed. The smallest details can be an artist’s harshest enemy and most difficult challenge. Such is the case with Santa Maria artist Hattie Stoddard. Sitting in her dining room, sipping Crystal Light, Stoddard reflected on her mural work at the […]

There are some who like it cool and those who like it hot. PCPA’s take on Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado is for the latter. It’s definitely hot. A love story at its heart, Hot Mikado balances the American swing-era style and attitude atop a Japanese setting to tell a story laced with political jabs […]

To say that life was hard for Francisco Jimenez would be a gross understatement. Life didn’t hand him lemons, it gave him ground crops. And they weren’t handed to him—he had to pick them himself. But life also has a way of giving purpose to struggle, and in the case of Jimenez, he found that […]

For some artists, perhaps the only other thing more valuable than their work is time—time to create, and time to think about creating. Such time was an elusive thing for artist Carol A. Kemp, who goes by the moniker of CarolK. To make the most of what she had, she committed to a project that […]

This is the story of a group of guys trying to make it big in rock’n’roll. It’s a story like a lot of other stories in a lot of other cities. It’s a story about young friends who are passionate about music, give up the comforts of a secure lifestyle, move in together, and devote […]

The end of summer is always a mixture of sadness and relief: sadness as I recall all the things I didn’t get to do and realize that now, with summer ending, I don’t get to do them, and relief in knowing that lazy days will turn into a finely orchestrated schedule of work, school, soccer, […]