Salinas Underground

This episode is for all the hip-hop heads out there! Our guests represent three generations of Salinas hip-hop and they came on the show to share their stories. All three have unique stories but all revolve around the same theme, hip-hop. We also talk about some events coming up including one this Saturday, October 20 at Somos Gallery in Oldtown Salinas.

In this episode, we wrap up our experience at this years Ciclovia. This yearly events shuts down over 1 1/2 miles of Alisal Street to cars and allows pedestrians to take over. Seems like the words has got out because this event looked more organized and better attended than other years. The best part of this event is that it is mostly planned and accomplished by some of the awesome youth that lives in Salinas.

This week our guests are Paloma and Jehan from Salinas Valley Recycles also known as the Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority. The tell us about some upcoming events and programs they have going on. They also explain to us exactly what they do and how they are separate, and similar, from both the companies that pick up our garbage and the cities that all work together to try to minimize how much stuff we throw away.

This week we talk about Warcorpse, Cujo's band, show in Santa Cruz. If you have not listened to them time to hit up the old Google machine and listen for yourself. We also talk about the strange excitement about Salinas PD being featured in a TV show and we wonder how that helps "transparency" as the police chief claims.

In this episode, James and Oz talk about the usual events and happenings going on around Salinas but one event changes the conversation. The Monterey County Republican Women recently invited Sherrif Joe Arpaio for lunch on the peninsula. Why they thought he was a good speaker is is baffling but it also shows that while Monterey County is a California county on the coast, it is still a very divided area politically.

This week our guests are Steven and Eva from Hole Foods Vegan Donuts. What makes their donuts vegan? Why did they start a vegan donut business in Salinas and many other questions get answered in this fun interview. Follow them on Instagram @vegandonuts831 to see where they pop-up next. And get there early, they sold 700 donuts in two hours at their last pop-up.

In this episode a scheduling conflict made us call in the services of our old friend and proprietor of XL Public House James for co-hosting duties along with Oz. They talk about the upcoming arrival of Caltrain service to Salinas. Also, now that Salinas has some sort of nightlife to speak of how does it compare to other cities in the area?

This week in addition to our usual events calendar and talk about local news our guests are a couple of the cast members from the musical HAIR currently going on at the Western Stage. Colin and Lizzy tell us all about what makes this musical special and share their personal history at the Western Stage. The next shows are Friday, August 31st and September 1st so go to WesternStage.com and get your tickets!!

In this episode, we welcome our new social media manager Leah!! She does not only help us make our social media better but she is also the person to talk to if you have an event that you would like us to add to our event calendar and mention during our events segments of the podcast. We also talk about a cool new portal the city of Salinas has that allows anyone to access a ton of city data. We go through some of the most interesting numbers. How many city employees make over $100k? How many LED streetlights do we have in town, figure out here!

This week we talk about major economic changes coming to Salinas. Will the corner of Blanco and Main be home to a new shopping center and will the center have Trader Joes? Also, a major development being planned by the airport might finally bring the R&D jobs that Oz has been yelling about for years. Also upcoming events and general madness!