Emotional journey of restitution in ‘Woman In Gold’ One of the most interesting aspects of the film Woman In Gold, is a subtle thread running through the story about immigrants and their contribution to the richness of American culture. The film’s title comes from a famous painting by acclaimed Viennese artist Gustav Klimt, the subject of...

Songwriting contest makes music for at-risk youth possible When funds are sparse, extra curriculars are the first to go—so, while playing the recorder is an archetypal memory for many adults, children today are less and less likely to experience the wonder of making their own musical notes at school. For that reason, the annual Songwriters Showcase...

Win tickets to see Planet Booty at the Blue Lagoon on SantaCruz.com A self-described “endorphin-fueled, electro-funk dance party machine,” Planet Booty is the brainchild of two brothers from Indiana, Nathan and Dylan Germick. The six-piece has a retro sound that pays tribute to Miami bass, JBs-era funk, and ’80s pop, but is also right at home...

Hydrogen-gas cars that are coming this summer. Scott Oliver, Santa Cruz, Professor               Reconciling growth with the small-town sensibility that Santa Cruz has. Barry Jackson, Boulder Creek, Winemaker             I’d like to see a TED talk on local homeless issues. Thea Mertens, Santa Cruz, Wellness...

The awesome thing about technology is that one guy can start a dance party at a club with just his laptop. The downside is—it’s just one guy and his laptop! That’s not much of a party, is it? That’s the position of locals Stereo Stereo, who want to shake up people’s notion of what it means...

Photographer Peter Harris on going digital Handsomely framed wide-format prints from far-flung travels appoint the office of photographer Peter Harris, whose day job as Studio Research Associate for UCSC’s Digital Arts allows him to ply his expertise with computerized imagery and über-tweaked digital printing. A huge color Epson printer, banks of specialized ink cartridges and oversized...

Radicchio from Dirty Girl Produce, wine etiquette fail, and a treat from Gayle’s The enlightened growers of Dirty Girl are always my second stop at the Saturday Farmers Market on the Westside. There, amidst the gleaming globes of new onions, the deep verdigris-hued kale and flouncy fingers of carrot lay something new. Radicchio. Oh, we know...

Where agriculture and Silicon Valley intersect, opportunity abounds A robot that can harvest fruit, a kite that uses infrared imagery to predict crop yields, and a mobile application that makes it easy for growers to manage their operation from field to store are just some of the technologies under development today in the budding local AgTech...

Janis Ian on Godzilla haikus and touring with Tom Paxton Janis Ian is a natural writer. In addition to being a Grammy Award winning songwriter, she’s also written a children’s book, short stories, journal entries about the ups and downs of life as a Jewish lesbian, independent musician, and now she’s taken to writing Godzilla haikus....

A proposal would have the local public station joining forces with Los Angeles powerhouse KCRW Despite talk of locally operated, nonprofit radio station KUSP (88.9 FM) merging with Santa Monica public station KCRW, KUSP’s general manager says nothing about the station’s future has been decided. “That is absolutely not happening to the best of my knowledge,”...