Films This WeekCheck out the movies playing around town.With: Reviews Movie Times click here.Santa Cruz area movie theaters > ....... New This Week EVERLY Salma Hayek stars in this action thriller about a woman holed up in her apartment with an impressive arsenal of firepower taking a stand against gunmen sent to kill her by her...

It’s slightly dirty, and they serve cheap drinks. Stella Celeste, Santa Cruz, Barrista               Everyone wants to participate in whatever games you’re playing, or add an element of their own expertise into whatever you’re doing. Joaquin Heinz, Santa Cruz, Barrista           A sense of community, and...

Win tickets to see Colin Hay at the Rio Theatre on SantaCruz.com Sure, Colin Hay was frontman for Men at Work, the Australian rock group that brought us the ’80s hits “Who Can It Be Now?” and “Down Under,” but Hay’s prowess as a singer-songwriter extends far beyond that band and that era. With 12 albums...

Jewel Theatre’s ‘Harper Regan’ is a heady twist on the current extreme-adventure zeitgeist Extreme journeys are making a pop-culture comeback. The success of movies like Wild, Into the Wild, All is Lost and 127 Hours shows the current thirst for stories about leaving behind life as we know it for unexplored territory, no matter how dangerous...

Celtic selkie lore comes alive in dazzling ‘Song of the Sea’ Anyone who loves seals (and who doesn’t around here?) will be utterly charmed by the magical Irish animated feature Song of the Sea. Ditto anyone with a taste for ancient Celtic folklore, fairy tales and mythology. Directed by Tomm Moore, whose previous film was the...

New owners for Santa Cruz’s leading local salsa company Many locals are familiar with salsa company Teresa’s Gourmet Foods, which was started by Mark Hoffman 20 years ago, and whose products can be found at New Leaf and Staff of Life. But it’s been through some big changes. Just a couple of years ago, Hoffman sold...

Jessica Pratt’s second album seeks to rectify the wrong impressions left by her surprise-hit debut Anticipation is a new thing for Jessica Pratt. Her 2012 debut self-titled record, a tortured, disjointed ‘70s folk-inspired album, was a surprise hit in indie circles. Now her sophomore record, On Your Own Love Again, which was released on Drag City...

It was in the ’80s that reggae started to gain a wider, more international audience. That was also when—for the most part—reggae stopped evolving. Locals Echo Street, who fiddle with funk, soul, and rock elements, consider themselves first and foremost a reggae outfit, even though their sound is very different than just about any other reggae...

San Lorenzo Valley students to try new kind of farming While soil has replaced marine life in today’s conventional agriculture, the ancient farming practice of aquaponics may be making a comeback, and now local youth are rolling up their sleeves to learn how it’s done. Aquaponics combines aquaculture, or fish farming, and hydroponics, or growing plants...

Science is confirming many of the beliefs about digestion that ayurveda has made for centuries This winter’s round of colds and flus was a brutal one, characterized by illnesses that dragged on well past the average seven-to-10-day cold duration. I watched my coworkers drop like flies around me, and before I knew it, I, too, was...