Salinas Underground

Enchantrix Theatre is preparing to do its version of the hit rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. We sit down with director Colin St. John and the long-haired man himself, Stephan Sams, to tell us about the production process. They found an empty warehouse in Castroville and turned it into a temporary theatre, which allows them plenty of space to put on a spectacular show. The show opens on May 9th, and you can get tickets at Enchantrix.net.

Several new and old council members were elected last November, and they are already busy trying to make their mark on the city. Their current target is the rent stabilization ordinance passed last year to help the over-burdened renters in Salinas. What is rent stabilization, and how does it work? Does it even work? Oz tries to answer those questions and comes up with a unique solution that would make Salinas more resilient to gentrification and more attractive to businesses. 

Uli grew up in Monterey County and is on a mission to find unique stories that will uplift and inspire others. He sits down with us to tell us his story of discovering his true self. That discovery was the seed that started his latest project idea.

The 13th Annual Watsonville Film Festival was held earlier this month, and for the first time in its history, it screened films outside of Watsonville. In Salinas, they presented some films at Maya Cinema in Oldtown, most of which quickly sold out of tickets. We set up our equipment at XL Publichouse to record some interviews at the after-party. We talked with Andrea Leon, DJ Werm, Cari and Hector to talk about the festival and their experience in Oldtown. 

There was an update on the flailing effort to recall a city councilmember. That makes me wonder who is actually pushing for this and why a small group of companies is throwing a lot of money at it. Also, the Amazon warehouse on the edge of town is going up, and with it, some changes to the Salinas employment landscape.

Andrew Sandoval is a council member who came on the podcast to talk about both a political process and what it's like to be the target of that process. We discussed what it could mean for him and the constituents of District 5 and who is behind the effort. This episode is a way to hear about parts of running a city that usually happens in the background, and it is very enlightening and educational. 

Over three days in June of 1967, Monterey was the center of the music world and hosted a festival that would introduce the country to some of the most legendary acts of all time. It also kicked off the "Summer of Love" that welcomed thousands of people from around the country to the Bay Area, who changed this country forever. Names like Paul McCartney and Smokey Robinson all came together to celebrate this new style of music called Rock and Roll and set the stage for other music festivals like Woodstock and Coachella. And it all happened in Monterey.

James Mena is a very creative and motivated content creator from Salinas. You have probably seen him on your Explore page. If you haven't, you will soon. He is also a co-host on the Stay Low Podcast, the sports show of Salad Bytes Media. This week, we turned the mic around on him and asked him about how he started his content creation journey and what was next for him. 

The election has changed the makeup of the city council, with some new and old faces taking the lead in Salinas. They take over a city on the brink of a significant transformation. One of the largest Amazon warehouses in the world is going up on one edge of town. Across town on the Northside, houses are finally being built north of Boronda Rd. Also, after hearing that the Parade of Lights might not happen this year, the city came together and is back on. This year's edition will wind through Oldtown on Sunday, December 1.

Cary Swensen is an educator who has ideas for making affordable housing more accessible to Salinas citizens. She plans to use her educational background and transparency to come up with unique solutions to problems for a city with a limited budget. She sits down with us to tell us those plans and what she has been hearing from the people of District 3.

In 2020, Anthony Rocha was new to city politics, but he was not inexperienced. He is back this year to tell us why he thinks he deserves another four years on the city council. He talks about the projects he is proud of and his plans for a second term. District 6 will soon be surrounded by thousands of new houses and has some of the busiest roads in town. Listen to his plans for the future of his district.

In 2020, Orlando Osornio was new to the local political scene. Four years later, he is running for re-election of the same position. He sits down to discuss his plan for another four years on the council. He also talks about what he least expected when he was first elected and the problems he hears from his constituents in District 4.

For several years, Artists Ink has been hosting a really cool event called "Artist Alley" during the monthly Art Walk in Oldtown Salinas. Long-time listeners of the show will also have heard some interviews we have done on location at the event itself. This event is much larger and is hosted at Sherwood Park. Dozens of local artists set up their work, bands are playing on the stages, and plenty of food vendors keep everyone's bellies full. It is a fun event that showcases how much local artistic talent we have. I ended up chatting with a Salinas-based writer named Ricardo Ibarra about his first book, "El Chico Infinito," trying to find other like-minded people in a small town and being a Mexican-born writer living in the United States. Most of the interview is in Spanish, so some of you might have to bust out Google Translate to understand it completely.

Nobody wants to talk about it, and everyone seems to have the wrong opinion, but election season is back in Salinas. Also, several new businesses are coming to the mall that will attract customers of all ages. How can Oldtown compete with the millions of dollars being poured into the mall?

Sal Rodriguez and his cousin Gabriel Barboza are on a mission to change people's lives in a unique way. Listen to their story, which started out in the Salinas Valley and then led them all over the world, all while they gained new experiences. Enter Scalp micro pigmentation, and Gabriel saw a vision of his future. He became a certified SMP artist and started a shop in Southern California. He soon called Sal, who enrolled in classes and became certified himself. They have a great story that has a lot of chapters left to be written. 

After his first sip, Fabian Torres fell in love with craft beer. That love of drinking it soon became a hobby of brewing at home. The step after the hobby was starting his own brewery, which he did when he founded First Gen Brewing. He recently came back home to Salinas after spending some time in Kalamazoo, Michigan, gaining more knowledge about the brewing industry. We sat down at a table at one of his pop-up events featuring his beer and food from Chef Alex. I talk with Fabian, his brother, and a couple of the attendees of this fun event on a sunny afternoon in Salinas.

Recently, the Salinas community lost a big pillar with the passing of Sergio Alejo, the owner of Stonies Taphouse. We were fortunate enough not only to know him personally, but back in 2020, we were able to get him into the studio so he could tell his story in his own words.  This episode originally came out on January 10, 2020.

Local journalism has been struggling for years now, and we have not escaped that issue here in Salinas. We certainly do not consider ourselves journalists, but we think it is important to talk about other issues happening in town that sometimes don't get the time they deserve. With that, we are introducing "SUP Independent" a once-a-month episode where we talk about the nuts and bolts of the city. From new businesses to sidewalk and road repair, this is all that stuff we don't talk about but is so important to the function of our city. In this episode, we discuss potential new restaurants opening in town and the revitalization of the old El Rey Theatre in OIdtown.

Colin St. John is an old friend of the podcast and a veteran of the local theatre scene. He will be directing Enchantrix Theatre's rendition of the classic Little Shop of Horrors for the next four weekends. They are transforming a circus tent-esque space in Moss Landing into their version of Skid Row, including the famous hungry plant. This is a great chance to see an American classic. If you have never had the experience or if you have seen it before come watch it again so close to the ocean that you can hear the whales arguing outside.