The Coastal Watershed Council wants you to fall in love. Since 1995, this nonprofit group has sought to ignite Santa Cruzans with a passion for the San Lorenzo River and the desire to explore, enhance and protect this waterway that flows through the heart of the city.
Painted on a cement wall along the Third Street Levee, a sign reads “Agua Es Vida—Water is Life.” The human body is 60% water, and in Santa Cruz that means we are the San Lorenzo River, and the river is us. When we drink water, wash our derrière, make our wine, water our gardens, we become the San Lorenzo River. It flows through the middle of our town and through every cell in our bodies.
The Coastal Watershed Council’s goal is to make people feel safe at the river and provide opportunities for people to connect with nature, to learn, to recreate.
Executive Director Laurie Egan tells me the CWC’s work is all about instilling love of the San Lorenzo River in kids. They work with communities adjacent to the river, and Egan says she hears kids on the school bus field trips saying, “Oh, that’s my aunt’s house,” or “Hey, my mom works there.”
Immersion Learning
The CWC staff and volunteers take them to the river to immerse them in nature. “We’ll have kids don their little waders and get to go into the river itself to look for aquatic bugs and species that help to indicate water quality,” Egan explains.
“Putting on waders is intimidating even for an adult,” she says. “Waders are these funky pieces of equipment and you’re stepping into them. And as you step into the water, it feels cool against your skin and vacuum seals the waders. The kids are trepidatious at first, so our educators will hold their hand to get them in the water.”
Egan says that by the end, “The kids are all smiles, having a blast, finding way more bugs in the river than they ever thought, seeing all the birds and different species. They have the best time.”
The Coastal Watershed Council’s goal is to get Santa Cruz to embrace the river as a focal point of our community—as our drinking water source, as critical habitat for threatened and endangered species, and as a place we can all spend time in nature in our daily lives. She says there will come a day when we can drink our double-lattes on a fancy Front Street coffee-shop patio while we gaze over this stunning river.
Recovering Our River History
“The San Lorenzo River is alive, a live thing that is part of our life’s blood,” Egan says. When the indigenous Awaswas people lived in this area, thriving for 10,000 years, they knew better than to build permanent structures in the floodplain. The mouth of the San Lorenzo River used to be a wetland, and the Awaswas would migrate as the estuary changed size.
Egan says that all changed when the Spanish colonizers came: “They built more permanent structures. We lost that connection to nature.”
The CWC wants to repair that connection by working with the schools through “watershed rangers, environmental education programs and climate change education.”
ELIXIR OF LIFE: The San Lorenzo River flows directly through downtown Santa Cruz, and new housing developments will have a bird’s-eye view. PHOTO: Coastal Watershed Council
The CWC has hosted events like the Share a Meal and Share a Story event in San Lorenzo Park, where people from different backgrounds eat together and share their stories. The Wes Modes Secret History Project interviewed and filmed over 20 people about their connection to the river. The CWC’s Watershed Rangers youth education program also shares stories about people who love the river.
And hundreds of volunteers removed invasive species. Egan says, “We’re not only removing the invasive species but we’re seeding new native ones. We’re increasing the biodiversity in these spaces on the river. We worked with over 300 volunteers last year.”
The Coastal Watershed Council is roots driven, community focused and dedicated to engaging both young and old residents to work for what the future holds for this river. Egan says, “Really, instilling love of this river is what is key for us.”
From now through Dec. 31, readers can donate to SantaCruzGives.org. Founded by Good Times in 2015, Santa Cruz Gives has raised more than $5 million to help local charities (63 this year). These are some of the participating groups along with a very brief description of the projects these donations will fund.
Diversity Center of Santa Cruz County—Producing a documentary about people who saved lives during the AIDS crisis.
Ecology Action—Organizing leadership training to prepare locals for climate change impacts.
Queer Youth Task Force—Putting together a website resource to raise awareness about trans issues.
Regeneración: Pajaro Valley Climate Action—Mentoring 10 or more students on how they can advocate for climate action.
San Lorenzo Valley Museum—Crafting an educational program on early San Lorenzo Valley industries.
Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery—Creating the Enchanted Forest Adventure, a new exhibit at the museum.
Shared Adventures—Making the group’s activities for individuals with mobility challenges more family oriented.
Veterans Surf Alliance—Serving the community with beach cleanups and storm cleanups, and providing help to other organizations.
Vets 4 Vets Santa Cruz—Connecting veterans with each other and the broader community through community-focused events.
Watsonville Wetlands Watch—Planting projects on school campuses that offer hands-on learning opportunities.
Santa Cruz Gives is funded by the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County, Community Foundation Santa Cruz County, Applewood Foundation, Joe Collins, Driscoll’s, Inc., Monterey Peninsula Foundation, 1440 Foundation, Santa Cruz County Bank, and Wynn Capital Management, as well as the generosity of the readers of Good Times, Pajaronian and Press Banner.
In a little less than a year, Cabrillo College will break ground on a sprawling, multi-story housing project on its Aptos campus, a development that will offer 624 beds for students attending both the college and UC Santa Cruz.
Groundbreaking is estimated to begin in November 2025, after being delayed from this year as UCSC and Cabrillo officials hammered out the complexities.
It is expected to open in 2027.
Once complete, the project will include a child care center, situated underneath 25 family apartments. It will also include laundry facilities.
There will also be four-bedroom apartments with two bathrooms and a mini-kitchenette.
It includes offices for both academic and mental health counseling and a space for health services.
A sky study lounge on the upper floors will offer ocean views, and there will be a rooftop garden, outdoor study areas and a pavilion for outdoor gatherings.
The development will be located on Cabrillo’s lower campus—off of Cabrillo College Drive—in a grassy field used for soccer games by the college and other community members on weekends.
“That’s one concern,” Cabrillo President Matt Wetstein said. “We’re going to lose some community soccer space.”
But with housing costs in Santa Cruz County among the highest in the nation—and with a recent survey of 65,000 community college students showing that roughly 20% are facing homelessness at any time—the project meets a critical need, he said.
The project will also help Santa Cruz County meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation requirements set by the state, Wetstein said.
“This student housing project will greatly benefit our students, 20% of whom are housing insecure, and will help alleviate the housing crisis in our local community,” he said.
To qualify for the housing, students must be taking 12 units, be making progress toward a degree and be earning a C average or better. They must also be considered low-income, earning 30% to 50% of the median household income.
College officials briefly considered placing the project on the hilly area above the horticulture building, but opted for the flatter soccer field because it’s easier to develop and nearer the necessary infrastructure, he said.
To pay for the project, UCSC will issue bonds and the state of California will pay them. Neither Cabrillo College nor taxpayers will be responsible for the costs.
UCSC will contribute an additional $70 million to the construction costs, bringing the total project cost to $181 million.
“We are thrilled to see this student housing project advancing to the next phase,” said UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Cynthia Larive. “It will provide essential, affordable housing for our students and Cabrillo students. The project will also strengthen the transfer pathway between our institutions, giving students the opportunity to start at Cabrillo, then finish with a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Cruz, all while living in the same housing. That is both unique and extremely beneficial.”
The complex is one of three joint student housing projects between the UC and the state Community College systems, and the first such partnership between these segments in the state’s history.
The other two are between Riverside City College and UC Riverside, and Merced College and UC Merced.
Releasing a new song about a presidential candidate days before the election—and calling that song “Racist Piece of Shit”—is a surefire way to get noticed. But Fishbone has never really had any difficulty attracting attention.
The band formed in Los Angeles in 1979 has made a career out of confounding those who would try to categorize its music, and the lyrics have never shied away from social commentary. Fishbone comes to the Rio Theatre on Dec. 18.
When Fishbone came on the scene, there was no other band like them. An all-Black lineup of musicians playing a stylistic mashup of ska, punk and hardcore metal, Fishbone confused some but won the devotion of others. “We were just playing music that we liked,” Angelo Moore says with a shrug. “We weren’t really caring about what other people thought.”
Moore name-checks some of the artists who inspired Fishbone: “Funkadelic, James Brown, Sly Stone, Louis Jordan, John Coltrane, [Charles] Mingus and Sun Ra,” he says, implicitly challenging the notion that his group fits neatly into any one genre.
Another hot band of the era, the BusBoys, gave the group its first break. “Our very first gig was at Madame Wong’s,” Moore says. The L.A. club was a hub for the city’s punk, new wave and power pop scenes, and exposure there gave acts a foot in the door to bigger audiences. But an opening spot for the BusBoys was no guarantee of success. “I felt like we had to win over a lot of the audience,” Moore says, “because the color of our skin didn’t match with the stereotype.”
Moore says that Fishbone impressed the concertgoers with their music. “We didn’t have too much trouble winning over white people, because we were playing a lot of rock and fast-tempo stuff,” he says. Paradoxically, with audiences of color it was a different story. “We weren’t playing the kind of music Black people were used to hearing,” he explains. “You’ve got the whole Black rock scene—Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Miles—but it’s small compared with the overall Black scene of R&B, funk and hip hop.”
Somehow, Fishbone found a way to earn fans across the musical and racial landscapes. Four of the group’s albums made it onto the Billboard 200 charts between 1988 and 1996, and two Fishbone singles—“Sunless Saturday” and “Everyday Sunshine,” both from 1991—reached the upper registers of the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Moore has remained quite busy inside and outside of Fishbone. Under his own name and/or using his alter ego moniker Dr. MadVibe, he has released six albums since 2000; his latest was released just this year. Moore has also collaborated and/or guested on numerous tracks by other artists, variously providing vocals, sax and Theremin for acts as diverse as Ugly Kid Joe, Avenged Sevenfold, Gwen Stefani and Bad Brains.
But even those projects can’t contain his creative impulses. Moore’s Brand New Step project has three albums to its credit, and his description of the music makes it clear that his eclecticism knows few bounds. “It’s electronic dance music on the poppy side,” he says. “We’ve got guest rappers; we’ve got all kinds of stuff on there. It’s a whole ‘nother world I’ve created, man.”
Yet Fishbone remains Moore’s primary focus. Over the past decade-plus, Fishbone has continued to tour, but the group wasn’t heard on record for some time. Fishbone’s most recent studio album, Still Stuck in Your Throat, was released more than 18 years ago.
But the group hasn’t taken the route of becoming a nostalgia act, touring on the strength of decades-old material. “Racist Piece of Shit” is merely the latest in a resurgent release schedule from Fishbone. In 2023 the group released a self-titled five-song EP, highlighted by “Estranged Fruit,” a collaboration with NOFX. Earlier this year, Fishbone debuted another collaborative release, the single “Growing Up Punk” featuring MC Homeless.
Those releases are the sound of Fishbone getting warmed up; at the time of our conversation, Moore is in the recording studio making final tweaks to the mixes of a clutch of new songs. Tentatively set for release in early 2025, the new material will take the form of not one but two Fishbone albums. “We’re going to call it Son of Fishbone: The Stockholm Syndrome,” Moore says.
Fishbone’s major-label era ended in the mid ’90s, but the group pressed on with a constantly shifting lineup, taking on additional musical styles and continuing to earn critical praise. Today Moore and fellow founding member Christopher Dowd front a six-man lineup of younger players. The through-line that connects Fishbone’s body of work is its social perspective.
“From where I’m standing as a visionary and a creative, I make sure that [people] hear and see my opinion,” Moore says. He tries to stay positive but observes that the United States is in an evil time; that’s reflected in the lyrics of Fishbone’s latest single, a song about a familiar orange-hued real-life character. “We all know that the Joker is funny, and he’s colorful,” Moore says. “He’s one of my favorite characters in Batman. But you don’t vote for him for president!”
Fishbone plays at 8pm on Dec. 18 at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, 831-423-8209. Tickets: $42. riotheatre.com
PULL QUOTE:: When Fishbone came on the scene, there was no other band like them. An all-Black lineup of musicians playing a stylistic mashup of ska, punk and hardcore metal, Fishbone confused some but won the devotion of others
Aglow with sprightly carols and melodramatic musical effects, Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s new and utterly delightful A Christmas Carol has already enchanted half the town.
Small wonder, with its vivacious cast of five adults—playing dozens of characters—and two youngsters, Christmas Carol is a timeless tale. And from the tireless imagination of arch story teller Charles Dickens, to the astute adaptation by SCS Artistic Director Charles Pasternak (something in the name Charles?), comes a tale of tight-fisted greed in the person of Ebenezer Scrooge transformed into a better man thanks to the eye-opening visitations of a trio of spirits.
Full disclosure: I went through at least three tissues in an effort to maintain my composure during this shamelessly uplifting tale of a life redeemed on the eve of Christmas. Perhaps it was the suite of traditional Yuletide carols sung in close harmony by the company. Or maybe it was simply that Dickens’ story is, sentimentally speaking, perfection.
Whatever the reason, I was touched to the core and I wasn’t alone.
The casting was also perfection. I expected nothing less from the amazing Julie James, playing at least half a dozen characters with word-perfect delivery, energy and bravado. Julie’s ability to morph into myriad characters without missing a beat is the stuff of legend. Also, I looked forward to the sensitive and energetic performance by Charlotte Munson, equally nimble portraying many genders and ages, from Scrooge’s nephew to a Cratchit family child.
Amplifying the dazzle in this production were SCS newcomers Robert Zelaya as Bob Cratchit, among others, and a feisty Andrea Sweeney Blanco as Mrs. Cratchit and the shimmering Ghost of Christmas Past. These two players added their singing, dancing and nimble acting skills to the high-spirited capers inspired by Pasternak’s direction. Incomparable casting helped infuse the well-known story with new relevance and joy.
But it was Mike Ryan, crafting the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from grim tightwad to a generous Santa, that generated the most resounding moments of surprise and delight. Not to mention stagecraft. As many performances of his as I’ve seen, I’m still amazed by Ryan’s evolving power as an actor. Scrooge’s enchantment by his younger self, his pain overhearing his former sweetheart denounce the greed and wealth that have replaced her in his heart. Scrooge’s emotional isolation was most poignantly revealed in the scenes where he is shown the humble pleasures of the Cratchit family. Without wealth, they are rich in happiness and love. Again, praise to Pasternak the director, who not only created the stage adaptation of the story but sculpted miniature yet eloquent scenes to illuminate the age-old themes.
Ryan seemed as entranced by these poignant memories as if they were his own. And of course that’s the job of a fine actor, to disappear into the character and in the process create fresh embodiment of the author’s insights. A spellbinding bit of stage magic.
And by the time Scrooge is shown his own future death—unmourned, unacknowledged—his transformation is complete. “I am not the man I was,” he cries out, asking for a second chance. Fabulous physical acting, graceful, bold, and all of it underscored by the spectacular costuming of B. Modern. The tassled nightcap and brocade dressing gown of Scrooge, the lovely little Jane Austenesque gowns of the party scenes, and the sparkling finery of the spirits showing Scrooge the realities of his life.
Pasternak unleashed some inner genius in setting the action throughout the aisles, stairs and stage of Vets Hall, whose intimate interior brought the audience into a close community, gathered to hear this sweet, harrowing and joyful tale. The production opens with the players carrying candles and singing; it ends with a full-throated invitation to “Come, all ye faithful!” A seamless job of lighting (Stephen Migdal) and music (Luke Shepherd) gave the actors a gorgeous fictional world in which to work. As Belinda Cratchit, Sigrid Breidenthal looked fetching. And young Lincoln Best was the perfect Tiny Tim.
The players took turns narrating the scenes, introducing what was to come, and each episode of Scrooge’s spiritual journey was reinforced by a traditional English carol, beautifully sung in close harmony by the quintet of actors. I reached for my Kleenex with each sweet, familiar Yuletide song. The magic of the season is matched by the magic of live theater in what, if Charles Pasternak gets his wish, will become a holiday tradition in this lucky town.
A Christmas Carol, Vets Hall, 846 Front St., downtown Santa Cruz. Through Dec. 24. The show runs almost 90 minutes with no intermission. Tickets at santacruzshakespeare.org.
A barrage of restaurant closures rocked Santa Cruz County restaurants and their followers this year.
Here appears an RIP rundown on the departed, plus a handful of spots that shuttered but found new life, and a legendary destination that’s got flavor left in the chamber.
English Ales Taproom (111 Capitola Ave., Capitola) represents the most recent shuttering. The Marina HQ is up for sale and the mini-but-mighty village hangout is done.
FLASHbird Chicken, the fried-chicken joint from the Alderwood team, discontinued its Scotts Valley (245 Mt. Hermon Road, Suit Z) and Pleasure Point (830 41st Ave., Santa Cruz) locations last month, though the Abbott Square spot is still flapping (725 Front St., Suite 102).
Rock N Roll Donuts (1335 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz) dropped the curtain on its downtown Surf City and Cannery Row spots last month too.
Cruz Kitchen & Taps (145 Laurel St., Santa Cruz) and its take on microbrews plus contemporary-comfort-Californian grub poured out in October.
Popular Café Sparrow (8042 Soquel Drive, Aptos) was grounded in spring, citing rising costs and inflation.
New Bohemia Brewing Company and its social taproom (1030 41st Ave., Santa Cruz) said so long after nine years on a high-trafficked corner.
On the renewal front, some restaurants went away only to be reimagined or replaced, pronto. Barceloneta became Ibiza (1541 Pacific Ave. B, Santa Cruz), shifting toward daytime hours and offerings, like blessedly messy falafel wraps and chicken schnitzel salads.
West End Tap transformed into Izakaya (334 Ingalls St., Unit D, Santa Cruz), channeling the Japanese training and family history of restaurant partners Quinn Cormier and Geoff Hargrave.
Firefly Tavern closed, allowing for the debut of CT Lights, which morphed into Tarros Mexican (110 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz) with its Michoacan- and Guanajuato-based plates and mug club.
Café Mare is now Oblo Cocktails and Kitchen (740 Front St., Suite 100, Santa Cruz), from Sugo partners Marco Paoletti and Andrea Loporcaro.
Palapas rode into the sunset, clearing the way for Cali-Mex inspired seafood and cocktails with Dos Pescados (21 Seascape Village, Aptos).
Uncie Ro’s Pizza, sayonara; hello, Ozzy’s Pizza (1036 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville), purveyors of a fine wood-fired sourdough pie.
Capitola Bar & Grill now sleeps with the fishes, while Pete’s Fish House (231 Esplanade #102, Capitola) splashes a raw bar program, great wine list and lots of seafood, from the family behind neighboring Margaritaville.
And, finally, Mackenzies Chocolates (1492 Soquel Ave Santa Cruz) is grateful for four full decades sharing inventive and luxurious chocolates. The final day, Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 2024, is still two weeks away. So there’s time for some celebratory—and therapeutic—chocolate.
DISH DISPATCH
Crab season, as predicted, has been delayed to at least Jan. 1…Chef Jessica Yarr of the Grove Cafe (6249 Hwy. 9, Felton) has intro’d a collection of cooking tools and pantry go-tos for the Grove Kitchen Corner a few steps from its sister spot, open Friday–Sunday. This Sunday, Dec. 15, the cafe hosts a traditional roast for neighborhood night, with rosemary-crusted roast beef or pork, roasted root vegetables, brown gravy and two English desserts, $40, thegrovecafe.org… Big Sur Foragers Fest happens Jan. 24–26, 2025, bigsurforagersfestival.org…Speaking of, gifted foragers lead an adventure through Soquel Demonstration Forest’s towering redwoods and magnetic huckleberry bushes to teach local mushroom identification by way of hidden habitats and ethical habits, followed by a grazing platter and insider tips on preparing your own finds, Jan. 4, floraandfungiadventures.com…Author-educator Alan D. Wolfelt, sweep us out: “Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.”
The youngest of seven kids, Gabriel Zamarripa spent much of his formative childhood years in the kitchen with his mom, cultivating his love for cooking. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, he immigrated to Santa Cruz at age 14, saying he loves the area and the not-too-cold/not-too-hot weather. His first of several restaurant jobs was at Burger King, and eventually a fire grew in his soul to start his own business, which he did with Taquizas Gabriel four years ago.
Following a classic trajectory, Taquizas Gabriel went from pop-up to catering to food truck to a permanent space in the Capitola Mall. Gabriel defines the cuisine as traditional meets modern Mexican: His mom’s recipes are the foundation, with creative touches added by Zamarripa and his wife.
The birria—juicy, slow-cooked beef that draws rave reviews—is available in tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas, nachos and fries. The Baja tacos are another hit, limey and fresh beer-battered white fish, pico de gallo, cabbage and their “famous” chipotle aioli. Street tacos are also available in chicken, carnitas, carne asada or al pastor, with three housemade salsas: red, green tomatillo and spicy habanero. For dessert, the conversation starts and ends with fried-to-order crispy and crunchy churros filled with vanilla cream.
How did your previous experience inspire you?
GABRIEL ZAMARRIPA: Over the years working at several places, I noticed other people couldn’t handle the pressure of a kitchen very well. But for me, I loved and embraced it, and challenged myself to have the discipline to make every order perfect and execute the food consistently. I really found myself becoming a leader and wanting to run my own kitchen. There were definitely struggles on my way to owning a successful business, but I made it and am very proud to be here.
Chat about your catering.
We started by doing small parties and eventually moved up to bigger events like weddings. We got such good feedback and were often asked to expand our menu, so we now allow our clients to somewhat customize the menu to their liking. We obviously offer great Mexican food, but can also cook Italian cuisine and recently did a Hawaiian menu. All our food has a Mexican influence, but we like to be challenged to diversify our flavors.
CHELSEA WOLFE Chelsea Wolfe’s haunting exploration of America’s blues has always carried a grave, desolate beauty. From her lo-fi beginnings via The Grime and the Glow to the electrified darkness of Apokalypsis and Hiss Spun, Wolfe’s evolution has been striking, and her evocative voice remains constant. Her latest record, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, showcases her most forward-facing work, melding heavy rock guitars with elements of trip hop. Wolfe’s acclaimed voice takes center stage, blending raw emotion with ethereal grace on her stripped-down, sold-out tour An Intimate Evening of Songs Laid Bare. MELISA YURIAR
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $35/adv, $40/door. 423-8209.
FRIDAY 12/13
THEATER
BITTERROOT Ever watch a play hoping for a specific outcome that never happens? Renegade Theater’s current run of Bitterroot allows the audience to decide the fate of Prospero, the protagonist stranded in Montana with his daughter for the past 12 years when his evil brother moves to town. Will Prospero take revenge on those who wronged him? Will his daughter marry the son of an enemy? This dramatic, funny, heartfelt adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest explores updated themes like patriarchy and humanity’s relationship with nature, pushing the envelope of possibility within a classic tale. ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
INFO: 7pm, Actors’ Theatre, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz. $14. 431-8666.
ROOTS
LEYLA MCCALLA & YASMIN WILLIAMS Leyla McCalla is a bilingual multi-instrumentalist who first came to fame as a member of the Grammy Award-winning Black roots group, the Carolina Chocolate Drops. On her own, McCalla chronicles her cultural and racial heritage with an expansive worldview. Her original music draws from a diverse array of traditional and modern sources. Virginia-based Yasmin Williams is primarily a guitarist, but her artistry is also apparent on multiple instruments. Her third and latest full-length release is 2024’s Acadia, a showcase for her songwriting and expressive, finger-style guitar technique. BILL KOPP
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $42. 427-2227.
SOUL
PIMPS OF JOYTIME Can we reclaim the term jam band from the bland, show-off genre that’s ruined many a first date when an enthusiastic dude decides things are going well enough to pull out his live bootleg tapes and give the object of his affection “a treat”? Pimps of Joytime jam and one doesn’t have to be high or trying to learn to play the guitar to appreciate it. Mixing a wide range of influences from around the globe into an infectiously danceable brew, the Pimps of Joytime will impress audiences everywhere, not to mention any tape-collecting guitar students. KEITH LOWELL JENSEN
FOODMAN Music writers love to describe artists as defying genres, but when it comes to Japanese producer Takahide Higuchi, aka Foodman, defying genres is his specialty. Since 2011, he has blended, folded and sauteed a cornucopia of styles like house, bass, techno and ambient for a sound that is, well, deserving of a chef’s kiss. Joining Foodman is San Francisco’s Nathan Ho, who takes classical music and gives it the glitch and bass treatment, and Santa Cruz producer and multimedia artist kinch. This once-in-a-lifetime triple threat of a lineup takes place at the experimental room Indexical to close out their 2024 season with a bang. MAT WEIR
INFO: 8:30pm, Indexical, 1050 River St., #119, Santa Cruz. $20.
SATURDAY 12/14
HOLIDAY
YULE ILLUMINATION Yule Illumination is a feast for all the senses, described as “a circle of true magic to guide you through a potent evening.” The program features rituals, music, poetry and food and drink. Hosted by Santa Cruz Mountain Priestess Temple founder Julie Grant, the evening features music by Gina Rene plus San Francisco-based mystic and yoga/meditation instructor Fox, priestesses Lisa Flynn and Janel Greenland and more. The banquet dinner will feature a menu by local chef Gretchen McNelis Heimsoth. BK
THE SUN KINGS Here come the Sun Kings! Okay, sorry, that was low-hanging fruit, but what better way to introduce a Beatles tribute band? For a quarter of a century (three times longer than the actual Beatles were together), this Fab Four has astounded audiences with their perfect harmonizations, melodies and playing. Unlike other tribute bands, the Sun Kings play the gamut of the Beatles catalog, from their innocent love songs like “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” to the acid-ridden “Helter Skelter” and final words of “The End.” After all, the love they take equals the love they make, so why not take a magical mystery tour down classic rock lane? MW
NEVA DINOVA Neva Dinova is entering a new era. Though admired by loyal fans, the Omaha-bred band has long existed in the shadow of peers like Bright Eyes and Cursive. That may change with Canary, their reinvigorated new record featuring a fresh sound, perspective and lineup. Frontperson Jake Bellows has quietly released music for over two decades while avoiding the spotlight. Canary offers an unfiltered look at Bellows’s egoless psyche, embracing the imperfections—buzzing amps, string noise, vulnerable vocals—that define Neva Dinova’s raw beauty, marking a triumphant second act for an underrated indie group. MY
INFO: 8pm, Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $22. 713-5492.
MONDAY 11/16
JAZZ
CHARLIE HUNTER Audiences may be confused at a Charlie Hunter show, looking for the unseen musicians, sure they’re hearing more players than the lone person onstage. Nobody’s hiding behind the curtains, and no one’s aping to tape; Hunter’s just a musical maniac, playing seven and eight-string custom guitars, managing to sound like two or three proficient musicians at a time, with organ sounds, bass and guitar all coming out of one instrument. He has serious chops and is a strong enough composer to keep it from feeling gimmicky. Plus, the musicians he tours with are of such a high caliber that on some nights, he’s the special guest. KLJ
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $52. 427-2227.
In a landscape dotted with fast food joints, it almost seems impossible to eat tastefully, carefully and healthily.
Not so, says Good Times Wellness writer Elizabeth Borelli, whose new book focuses on the joy of eating and cooking. She travels back to her roots in Italy and shows journalist Sean Rusev how it’s done.
“Borelli doesn’t write like an insufferable foodie,” writes Rusev. “She’s not on a purity trip. Organic is aspirational to her. Finding the freshest ingredients is a goal, not an edict.”
And she has some tips one might not have thought of.
Want to eat less and more slowly? Try making your meal beautiful, a work of art that you will want to admire rather than wolfing it down.
Sharing a glass of wine with friends during the meal will set a more graceful pace. If you want a treat, like chocolate, savor it slowly. You’ll eat less that way.
Her book, like her column here, has tons of practical tips for enjoyable, thoughtful eating, the way Mediterranean people eat their food, fresh, local, more natural than processed.
It’s a guide to ethical hedonism. You can have the good stuff, but it’s so much better if you take the time to prepare it, source it and enjoy it.
The Los Angeles avant-garde band Fishbone is back next week, playing the Rio Theatre, a very welcome return for a band that continues to confound and challenge listeners.
Leader Angelo Moore was a highlight of the recent David Bowie tribute group. He stole the show from the likes of Todd Rundgren and Adrian Belew. Bowie would have loved how far Moore pushed his music past all boundaries.
I once had the privilege of being in the studio with Moore while he was recording parts for an album by the San Jose band, Insolence. He was putting down a saxophone accompaniment to one of their songs.
He played his first take on a tenor sax and I thought that was it. He hit it perfectly on the first try. Little did I know.
He went to his car and returned like a dozen times, each one with a different sax, ranging from a giant alto to a tiny toy one, layering over his first take, until he created the craziest-sounding orchestra of the horn. It was pure genius, as is everything he does. Don’t miss this show next Wednesday.
Thanks for reading and enjoy your week
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
START THE DAY Sunrise on the Westside. Photograph by Sabrina Dalbesio
GOOD IDEA
Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is reducing fees to adopt until Dec. 17. During this nationwide event, BISSELL Pet Foundation sponsors adoption fees to help shelters make adoption affordable for prospective pet owners. Dogs and cats will be just $50, including vaccinations, spay or neuter, and an identifying microchip—services worth over $400.
Shelter hours are 11am-6pm, but pet introductions stop at 4:30 or 5pm.
Listings of adoptable pets can be found at scanimalshelter.org.
The shelter is at 1001 Rodriguez St., Santa Cruz.
GOOD WORK
The Central Coast Community Energy (3CE) and Santa Cruz City Schools (SCCS) have added three new electric vehicles to the SCCS fleet, including two electric shuttle vans and a full-sized electric school bus. 3CE provided a rebate of $257,265 to SCCS, including $50,000 for each of the electric shuttle vans and $157,265 for the school bus.
Electric vehicles not only support sustainability but also provide significant savings in fuel and maintenance, enabling schools to allocate more resources to educational priorities.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege enjoyed by few.”
I recently learned that plastic bags will be banned in the stores in Santa Cruz County. The plastic bags that come from Safeway are 100% recyclable and there was a place to return them outside the store. They can be washed and reused 125 times. The paper bags are not recyclable at the dump in Ben Lomond. The only paper product they recycle is cardboard, so all the paper bags, newspapers, magazines and so on go into the general pile that becomes landfill somewhere. There are a lot of good reasons to ban plastic, but not all plastics. Some are made from corn oil and are biodegradable, some can be reused, some can be crushed into new products, some can be melted down and made into more plastic bags.
This ban on the plastic bags that have become the liners in our trash cans, the trash bag in our cars, the bags we reuse around the house, in favor of paper bags seems counterproductive. The paper bags are thin and the handles come off. And they cannot be reused and they can’t be recycled but the plastic bags are sturdy, can be used many times and are recyclable, so it seems this new ordinance should be looked at a little deeper. As it is now almost everything that’s not metal or glass or cardboard, or returnable clear plastic bottles and milk jugs goes into the general pile of garbage and that is just loaded on big transport trucks and shipped to different places to become a mountain of eventual toxic waste.
The recycling center used to be set up with bins for clear plastic, colored plastic, and milky plastic and if we did that, even if the colored plastic, for instance, has no use today, at some point in time it can be or at least dealt with in a specific way. As it is now there is no way to separate the broken window glass and sheetrock, yard clippings, household garbage, paper and plastic bags from each other. Anything we can do to reduce our waste is a good thing.
Michael Dunn
ENDANGERED MONARCHS
Scientists have completed their annual Thanksgiving Monarch Count with Lighthouse Field as the most important overwintering site in CA out of 400 sites. 1,303 Monarchs were counted in Lighthouse Field, 200 at Natural Bridges and 107 in Pacific Grove.
UCSC Biologists and USGS Scientists are working to determine the cause of the steep decline from last year’s count of 10,000, and the increase over the past three years.
Monarchs are Red Listed as Endangered by the IUCN and are being reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department this month to re-list their status from Vulnerable to Endangered.
Santa Cruz is the place the Monarchs want to be! Locals know why 🤣
There was an oft-repeated phrase by the grandmother of author Elizabeth Borelli, whose release party for her new Mediterranean plant-based cookbook and guidebook to the gut, Tastes Like La Dolce Vita, will be Saturday, Dec 14 at the Museum of Art&History.
“Rushing makes me go backward.”
In the book she tries to channel her Italian side, awakened by a 2023 trip to Tuscany that had her reexamining her American habits around cooking and eating, specifically the speed at which she did both. But this wisdom was not from her nonna.
”That’s my Grandmother McCarthy,” Borelli laughs. Perhaps partly at the memory of the character who said it, and also at my assumption she was from the Boot.
Borelli has invited me to her home to talk, to cook and eat together at the same deliberate pace as Italians. But when I arrive, an airy space brimming with natural light not far from the Aptos Montessori campus, much of the prep is underway or complete. I plant myself against a pillar rising to the ceiling from her countertop, a half-circle rounding towards the high-ceilinged living room, as she makes recipes from her 6-Step Mediterranean Makeover workshop and from her archives.
Chefs are by and large territorial—I know because I am one—but at no point does she make me feel in the way, or oppress me with a frantic energy, the way some chefs repel you from their roost. The only remotely bad vibration comes when one of her electric burners decides to take a nap in the middle of a sautée.
She moves about her kitchen with assurance, pausing to sing praises of various snacks and hacks she keeps on hand to elevate her dishes: a vegan jerky pulsed in the Vitamix into bacon bit-size; sun-dried tomatoes softening in Extra Virgin Olive Oil for a “savory dimension;” a jar of cashews that have been soaking in water overnight, ready to puree into angelic, dairy-less cream.
She gestures for me to put my hand out and pours into it spruced-up pumpkin seeds.
”They’re so good and so easy to make,” she says. “Just a little bit of Braggs amino acids, baked in the pie plate, then I sprinkle some herbs.”
Today she used Trader Joe’s Salmon Rub, “for that barbecue-y flavor,” but she also favors their Everything But The Bagel Spice.
Consume enough of her new book and you’ll hear a non-judgmental authorial voice, someone who, yes, had a transformative epicurean experience in the Tuscan countryside, but isn’t trying to make the reader recreate that in their home using life savings to do so, importing the finest sourced olive oil or preserved tomatoes grown in guaranteed Italian soil. She is realistic about the web of “childhood influence, environment, and convenience” we all face when trying to change our behavior around food, and is purely out to raise our awareness about the Mediterranean capacity for mindful eating.
Choose to do that in the most economical way you see fit.
After all, she plunked down money for an espresso machine back in the States after falling in love with the one in her rental villa. Even Italian gas stations have one. And what was its eventual fate?
She cracks up.
“Now I don’t even know where it is.”
FRESH START Farmers Markets and some local grocers have the freshest local ingredients to make the healthiest food. Photo: Tarmo Hannula
Organic Aspirations
Borelli doesn’t write like an insufferable foodie. She’s not on a purity trip. Organic is aspirational to her. Finding the freshest ingredients is a goal, not an edict.
The book is part travelogue, part-time travelogue and family heritage study, part plant-based interpretation of Italian cuisine, part Mediterranean diet direction, all told in her joyful teacher voice that evangelizes for ethical hedonism, realistic that humans are “hardwired to choose pleasure and avoid discomfort.” She writes with forgiveness for you wandering from the path before you even get on it. Her exclamation points, used liberally, feel like affirmation.
Dialoguing with her is like being teammates in Charades and she’s so excited that you’re about to give the correct answer but she has to allow you to get there on your own. When I synthesize several of her findings in her book, she leads me gently.
”So, slow chewing releases more serotonin, so more pleasure…”
“Mmhmm…”
“And having a glass of wine with friends means more time for digestion because it’s more conversational and there’s less likelihood for overeating because it’s spaced out…”
”Mmhmmmm…”
She’s letting you know she’s actively listening, but she’s also excited about your epiphanies. The way she nods is similar, as if to say, “You’re getting it…”
She wants you to talk to your body the same way. Listen without condescension, don’t assume you know what it needs.
That same warm, encouraging tone is all over the page. Some readers may already be familiar with it from her regular health and fitness column in the Good Times, where she draws on her background as a certified plant-based nutrition expert and yoga teacher.
She writes: “Even when you know there’s a habit you should change, it doesn’t mean making that shift is easy.”
Isn’t that a refreshing contrast to all the thought leaders framing their onerous lifehacks as simple? Just wake at 4am if you want to increase your productivity. Just buy a chest freezer and convert it into an Artic dunk tank if you want to burn fat.
They condescend to their viewers, who condescend to their bodies.
She warns in the book that, “like any ecosystem, the biome in your belly will always seek regularity, or your personal version of normal,” so removing something with no nutritional value, even with the best of intentions, is a bit like telling your body “I know best.” It will rebel.
“You’ll obsess, you’ll crave and you’ll feel like nothing else will satisfy you until you give in,” she writes.
Even in our bodies, Nature abhors a vacuum.
“Your gut acclimates to whatever your norm is,” she says, ambiently stirring the contents of several pans. “Your digestive system is looking for homeostasis, no matter how unhealthy. So if you’re used to eating a ton of sugar, it not only is emotional, with dopamine gratification, your gut is going to crave that short-term high that ends up being a long-term low.”
She illustrates with vegan doctor Dr. Joel Furman’s efforts to change patients’ habits. If he told someone they had to give up the pack of cigarettes they smoke per day, they might retort in a childlike manner, “‘Well then, what are you going to give me?’”
Borelli advocates “listening to your inner signals of hunger, satisfaction, fullness, cravings, fulfillment, and pleasure.”
There is no mileage in self-recrimination, but neither is there in invalidation. Think of your gut as your inner child. Retorting “You’re not actually hungry right now” is dismissive parenting.
WHAT’S MISSING? MEAT! Mediterranean cooking can be healthy and tasty with plant-based ingredients. Photo: Elizabeth Borelli
Sorry, We’re Closed
Borelli is mother to two girls, Talia and Hayden, who accompanied her to Tavernelle, where the travelogue portion of her book is set. The three experienced wide-eyed the ways Italy does things radically different: no eggs or protein to start the day, just a pastry; portions half the size of our own; and between 1-3pm, restaurants close so the staff can go home and eat.
By contrast, Borelli writes, “Lunch in the US is a drive-by, something we squeeze into our day to prevent hangry behavior and avoid passing out.”
In California, employees working more than six hours are entitled to one 30-minute unpaid lunch, and two 10-minute rest breaks, tops.
In Italy, it’s an event. Wine. Friends. Family. Borelli recounts a lunch she and her girls were treated to when they took a gelato-making class on a lark after tasting the restaurant’s ravioli “dotted with savory basil gelato,” a delectable temperature contrast, then spotting a flyer advertising the tutorial. This kismet moment is a crucial catalyst in the book that encourages Borelli to cast off her overscheduling shackles and embrace improvisation.
Many Americans think of food the way they think of retirement: something to look forward to at the end of all their toil. They are not wired to take care of themselves, they work jobs that likely forbid it, and “they think they’re not going to live as long as they are.”
This is why it’s essential we develop healthy eating habits now and make what adjustments we can while we still can.
The Land of Good & Plenty
Borelli shows just as much curiosity about me as I for her. We bond over parallels. We both have Mediterranean blood from our patriarchs, she Italian, myself, Croatian. Both households were guided by silence: a stroke stole her nonna’s voice, and my dido’s (Croatian for grandfather) voice box was removed to halt his throat cancer. I think fondly of his waist-high arugula growing like Jurassic ferns when she writes about her “sweet, close-knit comunita” in Westerly, Rhodes Island eating what they “grew, canned and stored.”
Her parents kept up that same tradition and pace in southeast Connecticut, dutifully gardening in conducive months and preserving at summer’s close, but she and her sisters felt “deprived,” feeling the constant “allure of American habits.” They wanted the junk food and TV dinners their peers had.
Older generations had their own unhealthy habits to master. As much as she loves her “loud, opinionated, wonderful” aunts who “own the space they occupy” in opposition to how as an American girl Borelli was encultured to “be smaller,” Scarcity exists as generational trauma so that whoever lived through it teaches their offspring who teach theirs that the plate must be cleaned.
“I don’t want any leftovers,” my nana would say.
Borelli’s Italian father taught her how to cook, but not Italian food.
”Crepe Suzette,” she says. “Sweet and Sour chicken. We lived near Johnson and Wales Culinary School, RISD, Brown; universities bring a lot of diversity in cooking. We were always going out to dinner and trying to recreate what we’d had at home.”
She brings out their cookbook, beaming. I mind the binding, failing from loving overuse, remarking on the signature inside, flipping serendipitously to a recipe for Carmelized Garlic, just the kind of condiment Borelli likes to stock.
The arrival of her own book could not come at a better time. Many of us are disequilibrated by the recent election, some by the results, but most everyone by the process itself. Borelli had a column about that very topic, how to soothe your limbic system on Election Day.
We talk about the sway food costs had over this election, the validity of voting for your wallet, but how that’s complicated by the American insistence on having everything we want, all the time. Produce picked underripe by international labor, trapped in slow transit, should be paid dearly for on both sides of the plate. Obliterating seasons does not make our food taste better. Globalization may have allowed for the incredible circulation of goods, but some nutritionists argue that obeying our region, and eating what it can produce when it can produce it, leads to better gut health.
In Italian small-town grocery stores, Borelli found “freshly baked bread stacked in wicker baskets,” and wedges of cheese “neatly displayed to announce its origin in a way that seemed important.” There could be no doubt of its derivation, the distance it traveled to her plate.
CLEAN COPY Borelli’s book displays recipes that are plain and easy to follow. Photo: Sean Rusev
Think Global, Buy Local
Finding a market back home in Santa Cruz like the ones she patronized in Italy is futile. Does anyone come close?
The Cabrillo Farmer’s Market, she says definitively. “I go to Cabrillo every Saturday. They have the most variety. Pinnacle is a huge grower and their produce is less expensive or the same as a grocery store. And no farmers market these days can compete with the grocery stores.”
And how about our beloved brick and mortars?
“If you’re just going to go to one place, I would say Shopper’s Corner. If you eat fish, they have a great selection and they’re not astronomically expensive. It’s really fresh. They have a huge variety of fresh produce, a lot of it’s local, and local small producers of olive oils, vinegar.”
“I really like Staff of Life for a couple of reasons. Number one is their bulk selection. Nuts. Grains. Flour. I got our beans for less than two dollars a pound. They have probably 15 or 20 different kinds. They’ll have organic peppers for really cheap because they get it from Pinnacle. I got some super nice Italian broccolini below market prices.”
She douses beautiful ivory beans in water, shaking them in a fine mesh colander.
“The fresher local beans you don’t have to rinse as much or cook as long.”
Any suggestions for anyone feeling squeezed by sticker shock?
“Batch cooking and freezing. Buy in bulk. Always shop the sales. Buy the store brand.” She gestures toward the bubbling tagine. “This whole dish [serving two people at least] cost probably five dollars.”
One to One
It’s time to eat. By chance it’s 2pm, square in the Italian window.
We carry the food to the table in handsome earthenware as she tells me one woman’s recommendation to her: “‘When I want to lose weight, I make everything as beautiful as possible. And when I do that, I don’t just eat, because the meal is so much more satisfying.”
Our meal is immensely satisfying: a spicy Caesar and a trio of greens she sliced with scissors; a kind of rapid-fire cassoulet with white beans and chard that marries the vegan jerky and sun-dried tomatoes; and the tagine, tasting as luscious as it smelled.
[NOTE: The reader should prepare themselves, especially in the early sections, by reading her book on a full stomach. Borelli is not only a skilled cook but knows how to describe food in the most desirous terms.]
She pours wine and our conversation returns to addressing cravings. Borelli recommends sublimation over subtraction, using something close to a one-to-one replacement. We both laugh when we recall the carob craze of the ’90s, when people—some for allergies or sensitivities, but most for weight loss and calorie-counting reasons—thought they could swap chocolate for carob. For chocolate, there is no substitute.
”If the person has diabetes and they have to stop eating chocolate for that reason, there’s a lot of really good alternatives right now. We’re so lucky, because it used to be if you wanted to eat sugar-free or low-sugar candy, it was horrible.”
I mention the bitter high-cacao options gracing a lot of higher-end grocery stores.
“Exactly.”
There is that cheerleading again.
“If you’re going to eat your chocolate, sit down and make sure you’re getting a full experience. Then you don’t have to eat a tremendous amount to get the same feeling of satisfaction.”
I raise my wine glass and ask how one would replace its contents. If not turned back into water, what does pinot noir become?
She tells me about a travel partner trying to quit drinking when they were together in Portugal. More and more bars offer mocktails, and bartenders aren’t skimping on creativity when it comes to their creations, but this friend got a special kick out of the NA wines “because they come in a wine bottle.” Taste is one thing, but the art of substitution extends to the visual delivery.
”She will use a wine glass so she feels like she’s getting that behavior part of the experience, just not the part that doesn’t work for her.”
Much of the book is Borelli identifying what doesn’t work for her, and interpolating that for the reader.
Consapevole, Abbondanza
Helpfully, pizza is the same in English as Italian. This comes in mighty handy when, early in her Tuscan adventure, Borelli and her daughters wander haplessly and map-lessly to restaurant after rural restaurant shut for private events before seeing that word calling out like a beacon in a dusty parking lot.
When I ask her what words she knew in Italian before writing the book, the first one is abbondanza. The direct translation is, of course, “abundance,” but its usage is fluid—to well wishes, and living a life of plenty, even some might think that is too much. A kind of invitation: “go for it.” When your plate is empty and you’ve had seconds but there is still more food, Abbondanza!
When I ask her if there is an Italian phrase for mindful eating, she says that that’s redundant. Rather than a double negative, a double positive.
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There was an oft-repeated phrase by the grandmother of author Elizabeth Borelli, whose release party for her new Mediterranean plant-based cookbook and guidebook to the gut, Tastes Like La Dolce Vita, will be Saturday, Dec 14 at the Museum of Art&History.
“Rushing makes me go backward.”
In the book she tries to channel her Italian side, awakened by a 2023 trip...
