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In the tradition of the excessive parties thrown by Jay Gatsby—the character from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby—The Gilroy Foundation named its 27th annual dinner and auction, held on Oct 1, after that famous book and encouraged guests to indulge and give generously. The foundation has been raising funds for local charities and providing scholarships for local students since 1980.

The contest has closed. Check the Friday issue to find out who won!

 Tired of the same old cover bands? Saturday is a night to support original music played by area musicians at Gilroy’s District Theater. San Jose’s MobLand headlines. The melodically metal band is releasing a new CD, which fans who buy tickets for the show will get for free at the door.MobLand is a four-piece featuring singer Rayne, guitarist Alan Kuczer, bassist Bryan Lujan and drummer Bill Mickesh. They’ve been compared to Scorpions, Def Leppard, Led Zep and Foreigner, with a mix of metal, rock and catchy tunes. We hear some Alice in Chains in there too.According to their bio: “After jamming with some local rockers for several months, Alan met Rayne (former singer of the Burnpool and White Noiz) through a Craigslist ad. In the first jam session, it was clear they made a powerful and cool guitar/vocal combination.”They take metal to some surprising places, like a cover of Billy Joel’s “Big Shot,” you have to hear.Also on this triple header is MAXX12, a San Jose band that doesn’t just bring hard rock, but has a whole apocalyptic world view. Check out the trio’s bio, which places it in a world where every nuclear reactor on the planet malfunctions and the survivors unite: “From the blackened sand of a fallen land, from a slaughtered people rises hope! Enter now the metal warriors, defenders of the MAXX12 Nation.“Rooster crows fiercely at dawn’s light awakening our sleeping minds, Mongoose quickly strikes the snake long cold in the grass coming to steal the warmth of our homes.”We said original, right? Yes, it’s good to see bands doing something new and not the same old covers.The third act of this triple crown is San Francisco’s Bradford, a name to which we are partial. They are a solid heavy-hitting five piece, whose members are Bret Bradford, vocals; Mark Randall, rhythm guitar; Tom Spencer, lead guitar, Scott Garbutt, bass; and Bill Morrissey on drums.They sound like a modern version of Van Halen and with some Pearl Jam thrown in. These are the kind of bands you used to have to drive to San Jose or Campbell to see, but they are right in our backyard at the District Theater. Don’t miss it.The show goes from 8-11 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10, a steal of a deal.

The Poppy Jasper International Film Festival (PJIFF) on Feb. 27 announced its full film lineup for its 2023 edition.  This year’s festival—which will screen at venues in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista—will take place April 12-19.  The complete PJIFF program includes features, documentaries,...

More than a decade after Irenne Zwierlein – a Native American tribal member who previously inked plans with a major developer to build on roughly 6,000 acres of pristine property just south of Gilroy known as Sargent Ranch – forged documents in an attempt to prove herself the rightful leader of the local Amah Mutsun Tribal Band of Ohlone/Costanoan Indians, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs made a move last week that left her rivals “absolutely blindsided.”

The 34th Annual Miss Gilroy Garlic Queen pageant opened with a video montage – set to pop/country artist Taylor Swift’s song, “22” – and finished with crowd favorite Olivia Echeverria, 22, being crowned 2013 Miss Gilroy Garlic Festival Queen Pageant winner.

Rosalinda Gerardo loaded up her SUV in her San Martin driveway on Oct. 25 and went inside her house to get her twin 9-year-old girls and her 5-year-old daughter to bring them to school.When she came back outside, the black Chevy Suburban was gone.“I just stood there looking and went, ‘Oh my gosh, what is going on?’” she said. “I thought maybe my husband took it to get gas, but when I called him, he didn’t have it. He walked to work. If it wasn’t happening to me, I wouldn’t have believed it.”Her vehicle was stolen, but it gets worse. The car was specially fitted for her daughter, Jocelyn, who has a rare, painful and debilitating condition in which her flesh calcifies to bone and she can’t function without a wheelchair, glasses, hearing aids and a computer that lets her communicate.It was all in the Suburban.“It was horrible,” she said. I’m just thankful my kids weren’t in the car.”Gerardo reported it to police and took to social media hoping someone could help. Four days later, Gilroy Police came through.An officer spotted the car on Leavesley Road and took off after it. It turned onto Luchessa Avenue where two people jumped out. The driver fled onto Highway 101 and drove off the road, through a fence on ranchland. Officers followed and the Suburban rammed a police car, injuring the officer when the airbag deployed.Police finally surrounded and arrested the suspect, a woman named Valeria Olmos, 22. They also grabbed the two who had jumped out, Izaak Diaz, 23, and an underage girl.They were charged with stealing the car, assault, resisting arrest and violation of probation.What followed was some good news and some bad. The car was totaled, but insurance would cover it.Corporal Lamont Toney found the purple and black wheelchair being towed behind a bicycle by a homeless man. The man told him he got the chair in a dumpster at a homeless camp by Alexander and Eighth streets. But, said Gerardo, it was so badly damaged it couldn’t be used. Searching Olmos’s home, police said they found the $5,000 communication device, but not Jocelyn’s glasses or her specially made $7,000 hearing aids, which were in her backpack.The wheelchair will take months to replace. They have improvised one that allows her to go to school at Blackford in San Jose, but Jocelyn is is in so much pain, she needs her wheelchair’s special padding and design to be able to function.“My daughter can’t sit up or speak,” said Gerardo, who works in San Jose as a mental health caseworker. Her husband is a concrete contractor. “She’s a really fragile child. Imagine you are stuck in a chair and you can’t get up and move around. It’s heartbreaking.”The computer Jocelyn uses with her feet to communicate was OK, but they broke the mount and arm so she can’t use it.“I can’t believe these people had no compassion. You would think they would have a little bit of humanity and see that the car had a wheelchair and toss it out without destroying it.”However, she found some humanity from the Gilroy Police Officers Association, which contributed $1,000 to help offset expenses. She thanked them Sunday, letting them meet her family at police headquarters.“This is why we do our job,” said Gilroy Sgt. Robert Locke-Padden. “To help people like this. We have to see so much and do so much. Sometimes we’re dealing with negative situations where people are getting arrested. It’s really heartwarming where we can do something and see something positive, get something back that was taken from them. It helps to fill your soul. That stuff is really important for police officers.”Gerardo said the officers really made a difference.“They went above and beyond and really worked their butts off. I think more people should give them credit.”  

The Gilroy Yamato Hot Springs lies out of sight amid steep, earthy embankments and lush wilderness hillsides, but plans are afoot for this ghostly shell of an aging 18th century jewel tucked away off Roop Road in the mountainous sanctuary of Henry W. Coe State Park, roughly 17 miles southeast of downtown Morgan Hill.