Have you ever collided with an unlicensed driver who had no auto insurance?
Has anyone noticed how many unlicensed drivers are cited every time the police set up a DUI checkpoint?
BY STEVEN MAYER, Californian staff writer
smayer@bakersfield.com | Friday, May 29 2009
Clinica Sierra Vista's Steve Schilling is mad as hell, but he has little choice about whether he's going to take it anymore.
Not with massive cuts looming as a result of the state's "giant meltdown" and "out of control public expenditures," Schilling said Thursday night.
Such criticisms of government spending may sound strange coming from a progressive who runs a nonprofit network of 26 taxpayer-funded clinics that serve the poor and uninsured in three counties.
But with scores of Clinica jobs on the chopping block, Schilling says he can't be silent anymore about what he sees as a fundamental failure by the governor and the Legislature.
"I sat down today with 80 of my employees and said, 'Best-case scenario, on July 1, half of you will be gone. Worst-case scenario, all of you will be gone."
For the rest of the story, go to http://tinyurl.com/ldtdw8
A local band of talented young musicians will perform a tribute to the 40-year-old Beatles album Abbey Road beginning at 9:30pm Friday at Sandrini's in downtown Bakersfield.
Bako-bred violinist Paul Cartwright (who now lives in LA) is playing bass and singing a lot of the McCartney parts.
Cartwright has recently been showing up on the CDs, Webcasts and live performances of some relative heavyweights in jazz and pop. The son of the late, great Bako guitarist Tim Cartwright, Paul is definitely one to watch.
This latest musical incarnation is apparently temporary .. or occasional. They call themselves Chrisanova and Friends: Besides Paul, they include Joey Romley and Tyler Evans (both of Backup Johnny), Therese Muller, and drummer Rob Ruiz.
Definitely worth a look and a listen.
by STEVEN MAYER
Californian staff writer
smayer@bakersfield.com
Bill Gruggett can hear music hidden beneath the surface of an unfinished plank of old maple. He knows that the right guitar in the right pair of hands can create a sound that softens even the hardest of hearts.
These are skills that are impossible to measure. They are not taught in schools and they don’t guarantee fame or fortune.
But for untold numbers of guitarists, guitar makers and vintage guitar collectors, the Bakersfield luthier is considered a master.
He can build or rebuild anything with strings, they say. But after watching Gruggett labor for half a century mostly in the shadows, his friends and admirers say it’s high time he receives the recognition he deserves.
This weekend and next, he will.
A tribute to the 71-year-old guitar craftsman will kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Trout’s. One-of-a-kind vintage guitars — including locally built Gruggetts, Mosrites, Hallmarks and Standels — are expected to be on display. And a bevy of musicians are set to perform, including Red Simpson, Deke Dickerson, Brian Lonbeck, Mike Hall, Phil Hernandez, John Azparren, and others. Then on Sunday, June 7, Gruggett and more than two dozen other local and international talents will be honored at the third annual Bakersfield Country Music Awards beginning at 1 p.m. at the Nile Bar & Grill.
After working under the radar for most of his life, Gruggett can hardly believe the attention.
“I never even dreamed something like this would happen to me,” he says from his home in Oildale. “All of a sudden, a lot of people are making a fuss over me.”
Artie Niesen, longtime drummer and proprietor of Front Porch Music in Bakersfield, will perform with the Wild Blue Rose Band at the Trout’s event. He says Gruggett is “the best luthier in the area” and something of a wizard with wood.
Many agree.
Bob Shade, a vintage guitar collector, guitar maker and musician who lives in Maryland, places Gruggett alongside such electric guitar pioneers as Leo Fender, Adolph Rickenbacker — and Semie Moseley, the founder of Bakersfield’s own Mosrite guitar company.
“Bill is one of those guys you would like to think you can aspire to talent-wise,” Shade said in an e-mail. “As good as you think your own guitar building talents are, there is always someone out there who is better. That person is Bill Gruggett.”
Since the late 1950s, Gruggett has built hundreds of his own guitars, but he’s improved countless others with his noted fret work, refinishing expertise and major and minor repairs done throughout the years. Health problems have slowed him down, but Gruggett says he’s been feeling better since doctors put a pacemaker in his chest about three months ago.
Born in Tulare in 1937, Gruggett moved to Bakersfield in the late 1950s where he started working on used guitars, mandolins and violins in his spare time.
He also started playing bass guitar at local honky-tonks, where a raw form of country music was evolving that later came to be known as the Bakersfield Sound.
From 1962 to about 1966, Gruggett worked at Mosrite’s factories in Bakersfield. Mosrite would ultimately produce perhaps 50,000 guitars, but it was demanding work.
After four years without a vacation, Gruggett left Mosrite to work with another Mosrite-trained luthier, Joe Hall, the founder of Arvin-based Hallmark guitars.
Then in 1967, Gruggett struck out on his own. He designed and built the “all-new” Stradette model. The body was shaped like a violin, with a double-cutaway where the body meets the neck to allow easy fingering.
Gruggett built the first 40 Stradettes in his garage, and then moved to a factory on Chester Avenue.
Between 1967 and 1968, Gruggett’s company started about 300 guitars but only finished 120 of them.
Gruggett later returned to Mosrite where he helped build the Brass Rail model guitar, which featured a brass rod running the length of the neck.
His second association with Semie Moseley lasted just six months.
That’s when Gruggett embarked on a period of craftsmanship that guitar enthusiasts treasure, a time when dozens of one-of-a-kind musical instruments were lovingly formed using the highest standards and the finest woods obtainable.
“I put my heart and soul into every guitar,” Gruggett says.
And if you listen close, you can hear music in the wood.
I had the privilege this week of interviewing an 18-yr-old who, at age 6, was abandoned on a street corner in Bakersfield.
Now he works at the Dream Center coffee house and will enter the Navy in November. He says he literally joined the Navy "to see the world." I hope he does.
If you buy a coffee from him at the shop at 18th and L streets, tip big.
GO ALEX! http://tinyurl.com/r6m3xm
Pet owners are increasingly postponing or ignoring preventive pet care in an attempt to save money, according to a release from Veterinary Pet Insurance, the nation’s oldest and largest pet insurance company.
Yet California had the highest number of pet insurance enrollments in 2008 and accounted for more than 94,000 insured pets as of March, according to the release.
I know this might piss off some dedicated pet lovers, but if we Californians have the luxury of spending billions each year on our pets, really, how bad off are we?
Can you imagine the Joad family (in Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath") driving to California from the Oklahoma Dust Bowl in the heart of the Great Depression worrying about whether their dog can get a liver transplant or their cat has to go on a special diet during therapy?
Joe Silva -- the local man we wrote about who spent weeks trying to convince the federal government he's NOT dead -- has succeeded! Here's his e-mail: "As of today, I have received all my pensions..I am no longer dead like the VA, Social Security, and military agencies said I was."
Congrats, Joe! May you live long and prosper. Full story link: http://tinyurl.com/d3223w
BY STEVEN MAYER, Californian staff writer
smayer@bakersfield.com | Saturday, May 02 2009
Joe Silva swears he's not dead, despite government's insistence to the contrary.
Still, when three separate gargantuan federal agencies say you've kicked the bucket, it may be time to check your pulse.
"I might be old but I'm not dead," Silva insists as he looks through a pile of paperwork spread across his kitchen table.
"Shouldn't the government require a copy of a death certificate before they terminate your retirement pension?"
The exaggerated reports of Silva's death came to light in April when the 77-year-old Bakersfield man received a letter from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs addressed to "representative of the estate of Joseph F. Silva."
"We are sorry to learn of the death of Joseph F. Silva and wish to express our sympathy," the letter begins.
But the strains of compassion quickly yield to the business at hand: "Any checks received after the date of death ... should be returned."
Two California Highway Patrol officers involved in a shooting last September that left a 14-year-old girl wounded have apparently been fired by the department.
CHP Officer David Mata and his partner, Jose Magdaleno "are no longer employed with the CHP," the department said in a statement released Friday.
"Because this is a personnel issue," the statement continued, the department was prohibited from saying anything further.
But the attorney representing the wounded girl had plenty to say.
Meanwhile, should the ousted officers be charged by the DA for filing a false report with a law enforcement agencey?
Or is getting canned punishment enough?
The pension fund for Kern County employees has taken some big hits of late. Not only has the slump on Wall Street hammered the pension's assets, but a multi-million-dollar investment with a questionable asset management fund has placed about $85 million in pension money at risk.
Then to add insult to injury, the Santa Monica-based consultant that advises the local pension fund was paid handsomely for the very investment advice that appears to have sent millions of dollars into the hands of accused thieves.
Wilshire Associates Inc. was paid more than a half-million dollars over the past three years by the Kern County Employees' Retirement Association. And as the primary consultant for investments, it was Wilshire that advised the local pension fund to invest millions with Westridge Capital Management.
Then, earlier this year, Westridge managers were accused of defrauding investors -- including charity endowments and pension funds -- to the tune of $553 million.
For the full story, click HERE.
Meanwhile, I want to hear from Kern County employees and retirees. Are you OK with the way your pension is being managed? Should Wilshire Associates be paid by YOU for sending $85 million into a black hole?
Steven Mayer, Government Team Reporter
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