The RTC should continue to pursue zero-emission passenger rail service in Santa Cruz County. The train will provide an easy way to bypass Highway 1 congestion, as well as a reliable transportation option for residents who can’t or prefer not to drive.
To pay for the project the RTC can hire staff instead of paying consultants, use local contractors, continue to get state and federal grants, and pursue cost saving approaches. The cost of building the rail system will be cumulative over years of construction and is less than Highway 1 improvements and road maintenance projects
Rail opponents keep talking about railbanking. County residents already voted against railbanking by 73%, because we want the train and the trail both. We all know that starting a legal battle to remove the tracks wouldn’t get the trail built faster. It would only benefit a few trackside land owners looking for a payoff.
The RTC should move forward with rail service along with the trail between North and South County.
Judith Carey, Russell Weisz | Santa Cruz
PAINFUL TRACKS
A letter in Good Times last week captured something essential about Santa Cruz County. It wasn’t about rail policy or billions in infrastructure—it was about a few dozen feet of track in front of the Boardwalk that keeps injuring cyclists. The problem has been known for years. It’s still not fixed.
That single letter asks a question that should echo through every public meeting in this county: if we can’t handle the little things, how do we expect to take on the big ones?
We can’t seem to repair our roads on schedule. We struggle to coordinate bike and pedestrian safety projects. METRO service is thin and unreliable. Sidewalks vanish mid-block. Crosswalks fade and stay faded. And yet, we’re talking about building and operating a $4.3 billion passenger rail system.
The reality is that Santa Cruz County’s government systems are stretched thin. Each small issue—like that dangerous crossing—reveals a deeper problem: no sustained focus, no accountability, and no follow-through. When the simple things stay broken, it isn’t because people don’t care. It’s because our institutions have grown used to tackling symbolic projects instead of concrete ones.
If we can’t install 25 feet of safe track filler to stop bike crashes, how will we design, fund, and manage a county-wide rail system that depends on dozens of complex crossings, bridges, and coastal bluffs?
Fixing the small things first isn’t just practical. It’s the only credible path toward the big things. Until we can deliver on everyday basics—smooth pavement, working buses, safe crossings—grand promises about zero-emission rail are just noise on top of broken tracks.
As union members, we know what it means to stand together for the essentials that keep families safe and communities strong. Right now, Republicans in Congress are holding the federal budget hostage and pushing cuts that would rip away healthcare from millions of families.
Working families already carry enough burdens: rising costs, stagnant wages and the daily stress of making ends meet. Increasing healthcare costs in the middle of these challenges is not just irresponsible, it’s cruel.
Democrats are standing firm to protect Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies and reverse Medicaid cuts because they understand healthcare is a lifeline, not a bargaining chip. Working people can’t afford higher premiums or lost coverage just to satisfy an extremist agenda.
Unfortunately, Republicans are willing to gamble with our health, our jobs, and our economy to score political points. Unions fight for good jobs, fair wages, and benefits at the bargaining table; and Congress should do no less for the American people.
One of the reasons I moved to Santa Cruz from San Jose was the music scene. There seemed to be only boring cover bands in San Jose and I craved hearing original music, not the same old tired 1970s disco hits.
We’ve got far more culture in our small town than in the giant city of almost a million people to the north. On almost any night you can find at least five shows, some by cover bands and many by those writing their own music.
But I’ve been surprised to see cover bands even here selling out theaters. Bands covering the likes of Journey, ABBA, the Dead and Tom Petty are packing houses.
As you’ll see in Richard Stockton’s cover story, the answer is in following the money. Bands playing tunes by other bands get paid big bucks; original bands earn pennies to the dollar (even though promoters have to pay fees for using other people’s music). People want to dance to songs they already know, both here and in San Jose.
To make matters worse for those living over the hill, Santa Clara County has passed an ordinance charging wineries as much as $14,000 a year for live music permits. Talk about killing the golden goose.
But it means more music over here, which is a good thing. My own prediction for the years ahead is that downtown will have even more music venues because all the new apartment residents will want more nightly entertainment.
Until I read Richard’s article, I had forgotten about how so many of the biggest original bands started by playing cover songs, even on record (like the Beatles). I generally have no interest in going to a cover band concert. I’d rather see the original artists, or if they aren’t around, I’d rather listen to their recordings.
But I’m in the minority there, as the crowds at our venues show. People love the hits, no matter who is playing them. That said, I have seen some big bands with only a couple of original members (Yes; Dead and Co). but my rule is I won’t go if there are no originals. What are your thoughts on it? Are you happy with cover bands, and if so why? Do you have patience for up-and-coming bands that only play original music? (Write us at ed****@*****ys.com.)
Other articles you need to read: Geoffrey Dunn brings us the story of the first surfers in Santa Cruz, who hit the waves in 1885. No wetsuits or fancy boards.
Mark C. Anderson clues us in on Mane Kitchen & Cocktails, the upscale fine dining downtown restaurant taking over the old Betty’s location. And a new cookie spot, Insomnia. We also get the lowdown on La Posta from Andrew Steingrube and the three-year struggle operating by a closed bridge that’s taking longer to finish than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge.
Thanks for reading and eating.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
WHALE FAIL Chanticleer multi-million-dollar project; short-term results. Photograph by Jan Gitler.
GOOD IDEA
Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County and DoorDash today celebrated their 10,000th Healthy Food Box delivery through DoorDash’s Project DASH program, marking a major milestone in a partnership that has expanded access to nutritious food for local families in Santa Cruz County. Through this partnership, DoorDash delivers food to CalAIM members referred to SHFB Santa Cruz County via local health clinics.
At an event held in Watsonville, the milestone was commemorated with a symbolic handoff of the 10,000th delivery, followed by a DoorDash Dasher completing the delivery to a Santa Cruz resident. The delivery was part of SHFB Santa Cruz’s work, providing over 10 million pounds of fresh produce and pantry staples annually to hundreds of thousands of neighbors across Santa Cruz County, through over 100 distribution sites.
GOOD WORK
Community Bridges Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Program remains fully funded and operational ensuring continued support for local families despite the ongoing federal government shutdown.
While some federal nutrition programs—such as SNAP (CalFresh in California)—may experience delays or pauses in benefits starting November 1, WIC participants will continue to receive their benefits without interruption. All scheduled appointments will proceed as normal, and participants can continue to use their WIC cards for healthy food purchases. For more information: communitybridges.org/WIC.
“Families depend on WIC to ensure their children have the nutrition they need to thrive,” said Dana Wagner, Community Bridges WIC Program Senior Program Director. “We want to reassure our participants that WIC is open and ready to serve, even during this uncertain time.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘The starving artist is alive and hungry in Santa Cruz. Music is not a career here, it’s an obsession.” —Laura Strange
In recent years, the story of the three Hawaiian princes—David Kawananakoa, Edward Keliiahonui and Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole—transporting the Hawaiian sport of surfing to Santa Cruz in the 1880s has been woven into the fabric of local lore.
Moreover, the role that Antoinette Swan, the Hawaiian-born matriarch of a prominent business family in Santa Cruz, played in chaperoning the princes on their local sojourn has also been duly celebrated, including at the popular exhibit, Heʻe Nalu Santa Cruz, currently staged at the Museum of Art and History through Jan. 4 of next year.
The focus of the narrative, of course, has been on the princes’ wave-riding exploits at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River on July 19, 1885, perhaps deservedly so. That attention, however, has narrowed the historic perception of what was a much broader, more profound and complex relationship to the greater Santa Cruz community. Further research of the archival record reveals that the three princes were much more broadly involved in the day-to-day dynamics of their host city than their celebrated one-day activities at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River might suggest.
While it’s been well chronicled that the eldest of the princes, David, arrived in Northern California to study at St. Matthew’s Hall, a military school for boys located in San Mateo, as early as 1884, local newspapers began identifying their activities here frequently following their arrival.
On the weekend before their celebrated surfing exhibition, for instance, the Santa Cruz Sentinel noted that “the Olympic Rink [downtown] was honored by the presence of the Hawaiian princes, Friday evening, who received their first lesson in skating. They fell down about as many times as ordinary individuals.” A pair of skates, the newspaper opined, “has no respect for rank. They level all persons who can’t skate.”
The day after their wave-riding exploits, the Sentinel reported that “one of the Hawaiian princes jumped off the Railroad bridge” and “struck the water [with] a ‘dull thud.’”
The following winter, in January of 1886, it was noted that “the Hawaiian princes will return to their college at San Mateo today, after spending their [Christmas] vacation in this city. They had made Santa Cruz their home away from home.
An item in the San Francisco Call in July of 1886 noted in an “item from Santa Cruz” that “a number of Honolulu people visiting here, and a luau was given in their honor, on Tuesday evening… Three Hawaiian princes were present, and the menu included the native dishes, poi and Komenolomi [likely made from salted salmon, tomatoes, and onions].”
The following summer, the princes were back in Santa Cruz again, during which time they participated in a “reception” held aboard the Claus Spreckels’ lavish family yacht, the Lurline. “The Hawaiian Princes played their guitars and mondolins,” the Sentinel reported, “playing the music of their native land. The ‘hula hula’, the national dance of Hawaii, was danced by two of the jolly yachtsmen, much to the amusement of the spectators.”
Their performance at St. Matthews was also reported by the Honolulu Advertiser of June 11, 1887, in great detail. David received scores of 100 for punctuality, military conduct and scripture, 95 in deportment, 87 in music, 85 in French, while dropping to 47 in geometry. Jonah received a 100 in writing, 99 in punctuality and military conduct, while below 80 solely in elocution, in which he received a 77. Edward also received outstanding grades, with perfect scores in punctuality, deportment, military conduct and writing, while dipping to an 83 in the violin, and a 73 in algebra.
Then came tragic news. On October 6, 1887, the Sentinel reported that: “His Highness Prince Edward Keliiahonui, who has spent a number of summers in Santa Cruz, breathed his last at Iolani Palace, Honolulu, on September 24th. For some time he has been prosecuting his studies at St. Matthews Hall, and was taken ill. The resident physician at St. Matthews thought it best for the young Prince to be sent to his native land…Arriving at the Palace, medical aid was summoned, and it was that he was suffering from an attack of typhoid fever, with little hope of recovery.” He died shortly thereafter. He was only 18.
As late as November of 1889, the two surviving princes were still visiting Santa Cruz, according to the Sentinel, “where they are the guests of Mrs. L. Swan.” As it turned out, the royals were on their way to Britain, where they were to further their education abroad once again. It’s possible the pair had taken their sidetrip to Santa Cruz to retrieve the redwood surfboards that they had crafted in Santa Cruz four years earlier, as it has been recently discovered that they surfed in Britain.
In a letter written by Jonah while in England, he noted that the brothers had traveled to the British coastal resort of Bridlington as reward for good work in their studies. “We enjoy the seaside very much and are out swimming every day,” he declared. “The weather has been very windy these few days and we like it very much for we like the sea to be rough so that we are able to have surf riding. We enjoy surf riding very much and surprise the people to see us riding on the surf.”
Upon their return to Honolulu, however, the princes faced an imposing imperial threat. In January of 1893, a group of American and European businessman, aided by the U.S. military, overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy.
Two years later, then 24-year-old Jonah, a fierce advocate for Hawaiian independence, fought in a rebellion against the U.S.-supported republic and was sentenced to a year in prison. While Kuhio was incarcerated across the Pacific, the weekly edition of the Santa Cruz Surf in July 1896 made the fascinating observation that “the boys who go in swimming at Seabright Beach use surfboards to ride the breakers, like the Hawaiians.”
Their legacy—in Santa Cruz and along the Pacific Coast—had taken root. But by then, the two princes had put Santa Cruz behind them. They had bigger fish to fry.
Jonah left Hawaii immediately upon his release from prison and traveled the world. In 1902, he returned from exile to participate in Hawaiian politics. While his brother David headed up the state’s Democratic Party (and was a delegate to the 1900 Democratic National Convention), Jonah joined the Republican Party (as a supporter of Teddy Roosevelt) and was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1903 as a “delegate” from the Territory of Hawaii, a position in which he served for nearly 20 years.
Back in Santa Cruz, a final coda to the princes’ story appeared in the Santa Cruz Surf on October 2, 1905, in the form of an obituary for “Mrs. Antoinette Don Paul Marie Swan,” who had died the day before at her family home on Cathcart Street. The obituary noted that Swan “was courtly in manner, and had a charm in her dealing with people that won many friends. She was a kind neighbor and a devoted mother, loved by her children.”
She was clearly a well-liked and widely respected member of the community.
Local surf historians Kim Stoner and Don Iglesias will give a guided tour of the Heʻe Nalu Santa Cruz exhibit at 6pm on Friday, Nov. 7 at the Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. Free.
In 1995, wolves were reintroduced to the American wildlife area known as Yellowstone Park after a 70-year absence. They hunted elk, which changed elk behavior, which changed vegetation patterns, which stabilized riverbanks, which altered the course of the Lamar River and its tributaries. The wolves changed the rivers! This phenomenon is called a trophic cascade: one species reorganizing an entire ecosystem through a web of indirect effects. For the foreseeable future, Aries, you will be a trophic cascade, too. Your choices will create many ripples beyond your personal sphere. I hope you wield your influence with maximum integrity.
TAURUS April 20-May 20
I authorize you to explore the mysteries of sacred laziness. It’s your right and duty to engage in intense relaxing, unwinding and detoxifying. Proceed on the theory that rest is not the absence of productivity but a different kind of production—the cultivation of dreams, the composting of experience, and the slow fermentation of insight. What if your worth isn’t always measured by your output? What if being less active for a while is essential to your beautiful success in the future?
GEMINI May 21-June 20
You are not yet who you will become. Your current struggle has not yet generated its full wisdom. Your confusion hasn’t fully clarified into purpose. The mess hasn’t composted into soil. The ending that looms hasn’t revealed the beginning it portends. In sum, Gemini, you are far from done. The story isn’t over. The verdict isn’t in. You haven’t met everyone who will love you and help you. You haven’t become delightfully impossible in all the ways you will eventually become delightfully impossible.
CANCER June 21-July 22
By the time he became an elder, Cancerian artist David Hockney had enjoyed a long and brilliant career as a painter, primarily applying paint to canvases. Then, at age 72, he made a radical departure, generating artworks using iPhones and iPads. He loved how these digital media allowed him to instantly capture fleeting moments of beauty. His success with this alternate form of expression has been as great as his previous work. I encourage you to be as daring and innovative as Hockney. Your imaginative energy and creative powers are peaking. Take full advantage!
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Black activist Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” He was proclaiming a universal truth: Real courage is never just about personal glory. It’s about using your fire to help and illuminate others. You Leos are made to do this: to be bold not just for your own sake, but as a source of strength for your community. Your charisma and creativity can be precious resources for all those whose lives you touch. In the coming weeks, how will you wield them for mutual uplift?
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Who would have predicted that the first woman to climb Mount Everest would have three planets in Virgo? Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei did it in 1975. To what did she attribute her success? She described herself not as fearless, but as “a person who never gives up.” I will note another key character trait: rebellious willfulness. In her time, women were discouraged from the sport. They were regarded as too fragile and impractical for rugged ascents. She defied all that. Let’s make her your inspirational role model, Virgo. Be persistent, resolute, indefatigable and, if necessary, renegade.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
Among the Mbuti people of the Congo, there’s no word for “thank you.” Gratitude is so foundational to their culture that it requires no special acknowledgment. It’s not singled out in moments of politeness; it’s a sweet ambient presence in the daily flux. I invite you to live like that for now, Libra. Practice feeling reverence and respect for every little thing that makes your life such an amazing gift. Feel your appreciation humming through ordinary moments like background music. I guarantee you that this experiment will boost the flow of gratitude-worthy experiences in your direction.
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Martin Luther King Jr. said that harnessing our pain and transforming it into wise love can change the world for the better. More than any other sign, Scorpio, you understand this mystery: how descent can lead to renewal, how darkness can awaken brilliance. It’s one of your birthrights to embody King’s militant tenderness: to take what has wounded you, alchemize it, and make it into a force that heals others as well as yourself. You have the natural power to demonstrate that vulnerability and ferocity can coexist, that forgiveness can live alongside uncompromising truth. When you transmute your shadows into offerings of power, you confirm King’s conviction that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Apophenia is the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns in seemingly random data. On the downside, it may cause a belief in delusional conspiracy theories. But it can also be a generator of life’s poetry, leading us to see faces in clouds, hear fateful messages in static and find key revelations in a horoscope. Psychologist C.G. Jung articulated another positive variation of the phenomenon. His concept of synchronicity refers to the occurrence of meaningful coincidences between internal psychological states and external events that feel deeply significant and even astounding to the person experiencing them. Synchronicities suggest there’s a mysterious underlying order in the universe, linking mind and matter in nonrational ways. In the coming weeks, Sagittarius, I suspect you will experience a slew of synchronicities and the good kind of apophenia.
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
Philosopher Alfred Korzybski coined the phrase “the map is not the territory.” In other words, your concepts about reality are not reality itself. Your idea of love is not love. Your theory about who you are is not who you are. It’s true that many maps are useful fictions. But when you forget they’re fiction, you’re lost even when you think you know where you are. Here’s the good news, Capricorn: In the weeks ahead, you are poised to see and understand the world exactly as it is—maybe more than ever before. Lean into this awesome opportunity.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Babies are born with about 300 bones, but adults have 206. Many of our first bones fuse with others. From one perspective, then, we begin our lives abundant with possibility and rich with redundancy. Then we solidify, becoming structurally sound but less flexible. Aging is a process of strategic sacrifice, necessary but not without loss. Please meditate on these facts as a metaphor for the decisions you face. The question isn’t whether to ripen and mature—that’s a given—but which growth will serve you and which will diminish you.
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
Beneath every thriving forest lies a lacework of mycelium. Through it, tree roots trade nourishment, warn each other of drought or illness, and make sure that young shoots benefit from elders’ reserves. Scientists call it the “wood-wide web.” Indigenous traditions have long understood the principle: Life flourishes when a vast communication network operates below the surface to foster care and collaboration. Take your cues from these themes, Pisces. Tend creatively to the web of connections that joins you to friends, collaborators and kindred spirits. Proceed with the faith that generosity multiplies pathways and invites good fortune to circulate freely. Offer what you can, knowing that the cycle of giving will find its way back to you.
LUMASI Denver-based producer Lumasi has gained a widespread following with his TikTok videos, sharing his remixes of his girlfriend’s favorite songs with her. Centering songs around rich, rhythmic bass lines and flipping popular tunes by artists spanning from Ariana Grande to SchoolBoyQ, Lumasi creates sets that anyone can dance to. From bedroom productions to festivals and stadiums, tracks like “Mourning Dub” and “Transformation” showcase wobbly wubs and hypnotic soundscapes that immerse listeners into danceable vibes. His live performance presents addictive melodies and nostalgic remixes that will transport audiences to new sonic dimensions that feels oddly familiar. SHELLY NOVO
MAKIN MAK WAREP Makin Mak Warep seeks to respond to and reconnect with “American Indians.” Tapestries woven with the intention of fostering a connection with Muwekma Ohlone descendants, the land, and their histories. As a reply to the Chochenyo texts written by Monica V. Arellano and Gloria E. Arellano-Gómez, and their dance ceremony, Kalie Granier created the tapestries with pigments from lichens harvested on the Djerassi lands. While calling back to Ohlone ancestry, these pieces illuminate a new generation of First Nation descendants by layering tradition with the experience of inhabiting contemporary American society. SN
INFO: 6pm, MAH, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz, Free. 429-1964.
FRIDAY 11/7
ROCK
TOJO, KEHOE & GREINER This evening of music features a trio of acclaimed Northern California musicians joining forces. Yuji Tojo is a world-renowned fingerstyle guitarist inspired by flamenco to create a hybrid of classical jazz and rock. Gary Kehoe is a Bay Area drummer who has been part of the Santa Cruz music scene for more than four decades. He has known and worked with Tojo since the 1980s. Percussionist Jim Greiner has won multiple awards for his work and has been heard on countless recordings and motion picture soundtracks, including films featuring Susan Sarandon, David Spade, and Willem Dafoe. BILL KOPP
LAEL NEALE Sub Pop artist Lael Neale has recorded four albums over 10 years as she’s gone from her family farm in Virginia to the life of an indie musician in Los Angeles and then back to the family farm once again during the pandemic, getting back in touch with her own rhythms, and then answering the industry pull, returning once again to LA. Her pace is quickening; three-quarters of her discography has come out in the last four years, and she has a unique, non-abrasively piercing voice that does the storytelling work with support from her dreamy and roomy guitar playing. KEITH LOWELL JENSEN
UNPOPABLE Ever wonder what a bass made from a balloon sounds like? Wonder no more because Unpopable will be performing songs featuring Addi Somekh playing a balloon bass. For decades, Addi has been finding new ways to bring joy through balloons. Earlier this year, his group Unpopable put out an album, Angels and Aliens, that features this whimsical instrument. To see them live is to experience a night of fun. When combined with an electronic bass, drums, and a lot of fuzz, the balloon bass creates a mesmerizing show. Audience members will find themselves subconsciously swaying along the aethereal sounds. ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
EARL SWEATSHIRT Rapper Earl Sweatshirt got the world’s attention by joining Tyler the Creator’s collective Odd Future, and then catching the world’s attention once again with his mixtape EARL, all before he reached adulthood. He might have blasted off even faster if he hadn’t taken a year and a half break from recording to sober up while attending a boarding school for “at-risk” teens in Samoa. This son of a law professor and critical race theorist mother, and a South African political poet father, is all grown up now. Boarding school and Odd Future are both behind him, and he’s still one of the most exciting voices in hip hop. KLJ
INFO: 9pm, Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz. $62. 713-5492.
SUNDAY 11/9
PUNK
APRICOT COURT Ever since the world reopened in 2021, there’s been quite a resurgence in the local punk scene. It began with the hardcore scene getting a defibrillator to the heart with bands like Gulch, Drain, Scowl, Sunami and others. Then came the second wave of punk bands such as Outpatient X, Terra, and Apricot Court. Hailing from Pacific Grove, this trio keeps the early days of California punk alive with long hair and ripping tracks. For the last couple of years, they’ve been hitting the area hard by playing everywhere they can, and this week they’re giving back to the people with a free show at Streetlight Records. MAT WEIR
L’ECLAIR Calling the six-piece instrumental band L’Eclair “jazz” is to truly understate their sound in an (almost) insulting way. Yes, there’s definitely an element of jazz, but there’s also soul, funk, African, and lots of cosmic space. Led by Bulgarian brothers Stef and Yavor Lilov, L’Eclair has–what the internet calls, “relentless grooves,” meaning these guys can jam. Their fifth and latest, Cloud Drifter, released this year, is spontaneous and airy while still keeping the grooves, well, groovin. For fans of Khruangbin who want their music a little weirder and synthier. MW
PATTERSON HOOD & CRAIG FINN This unique tour is a pairing of two acclaimed songwriters, both of whom have thriving careers leading acclaimed bands of their own. Scion of legendary Muscle Shoals musician David Hood, Patterson Hood leads the Drive-By Truckers, nominally a Southern rock band but truly something much deeper. Craig Finn is the singer and lyricist in Brooklyn, New York rock sextet The Hold Steady, a leading light on the alt-rock scene. Both bands are critics’ favorites, and this tour showcases the musical storytelling work of their primary songwriters in an intimate, stripped-down setting. BK
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $42. 423-8209.
I’m watching JAM and the Buttered Biscuits (formerly the Jeffrey A. Meyer Band) at The Shanty Shack in Santa Cruz. Their original songs have such great funk grooves I see a man eat chicken with his jaw chewing in time to the beat. The audience is reserved, they quietly watch, nobody dances. Then the band breaks into a funk version of the Beatles song “Eight Days a Week.” A young woman with black hair to her waist twirls onto the dance floor, her shoulders and hips roll like they’re wired to the bass line. She throws her head back and joins the crowd as they all belt out the lyrics. They know every word. Ain’t got nothing but love, babe.
HORSE WITH A NAME America singer Andy Barr, of Corralitos, says audiences at the Crow’s Nest like to hear classics from his world-famous band. Photo: John Carlson/WHeartM.com
“One minute, you think you’re on top of the world and the future is bright, the next minute you’re playing in a cover band” — Facebook meme —
The rub between original inspiration and inspired interpretation of a familiar work fires the creativity of every working musician in town. We typically value artistic creation over imitation; some even equate doing original works with authenticity and playing covers with selling out. But hold on: Bob Dylan’s first album had nine covers, and the Beatles recorded 25 cover songs before Rubber Soul. Many of Mozart’s melodies were lifted from French folk songs, and isn’t our amazing Santa Cruz Symphony basically a cover band?
A local band can earn $500 to $8,000 for playing other people’s hits at a bar, wedding or corporate event. Original bands, meanwhile, scrape by on a percentage of the door. As Drain frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro puts it, “It’s not an easy place to live for most people with actual professions, let alone people trying to stay afloat as musicians.”
The result: Santa Cruz’s soundscape leans heavily toward tribute acts and cover bands. It’s not that local artists lack creativity—it’s that “Sweet Child O’ Mine” helps make the rent.
A successful local musician might earn about $52,000 a year. But in Santa Cruz, the housing wage—the hourly rate needed to afford a two-bedroom without being rent-burdened—is nearly $78 an hour. That gap forces many musicians out or locks them into cover gigs as survival work.
Scowl’s Kat Moss says it flat out: “It’s really hard to have a steady place to live.”
DON’T SMILE Local hardcore rockers, Scowl, are moving up in the world, mystically. Photo: Alice Baxley
The strange reality of cover music is this: the band doesn’t pay to perform the songs, the venue does. U.S. copyright law requires venues to hold blanket licenses from ASCAP, BMI, and other PROs (performing rights organizations). That license allows a cover band to run through Beatles, Beyoncé or Blink-182 without a cease-and-desist letter showing up the next morning.
For a mid-sized venue in Santa Cruz, those licenses add up quickly. A 150-capacity bar running music five nights a week might owe nearly $1,000 to ASCAP annually. Add BMI, SESAC, and GMR, and the yearly “royalty bill” can hit $5,000–$12,000.
Every song that gets the crowd singing is already prepaid, regardless of whether the band makes money or the venue sells enough drinks.
Anyone who has put paintbrush to canvas, or pen to paper or guitar pick to string knows that for an “original work” to ring true, it must be based on what has come before. The joy I’m expressing from down in the cockles of my heart needs to feel familiar to your cockles. Every original musical voice is born from learning the craft by playing covers. The rub within the creative person’s soul is they want to express that voice while addressing the need to give their audience something familiar.
SongwriterLaura Strange is the creator and producer of the popular rock-opera Karen with a K: a Musical Temper Tantrum. Strange writes the songs for the all-original social satire and draws a hard line between original and cover performance. She says in Santa Cruz there are working stiffs, devoted to playing and creating music with little financial benefit, while others make more playing cover songs for “meaningless casual gigs at wineries.” Her working-stiff job is caregiving older folks, and she says that pays for her freedom to let her creativity rip, to be devoted to music for art instead of for money.
“The starving artist is alive and hungry in Santa Cruz. Music is not a career here, it’s an obsession. Everyone needs to have a real job to support their musical habit.”
I ask her if she ever goes to wine bars to perform covers. She says, “I will now and then.
“You know, it’s a little bit of money and it’s someplace that I can go drink for free. I love this area so much, but I starve to stay here.” For Strange, it’s about writing the songs. Even when she’s learning someone else’s song, she will start changing it to line up with how she’s feeling.
LOADED UP Santa Cruz band Drain has a new album out this week and a big upcoming tour that includes the USCS Quarry and Coachella. Photo: Lylian Bolin
James Durbin served as the lead vocalist for the heavy metal band Quiet Riot from 2017 to 2019 and with a monstrously talented voice, plays with numerous tribute bands. On August 15he released his original single called “Hold Me.”
I spoke with James about cover songs as he was driving to a performance with The Lost Boys, a ’70s-’80s tribute band. “I feed those kids back in my house with cover songs. I’m in the business of selling a good time, of selling a one-way ticket back to your best memories that are set to the soundtrack of your life.”
When I ask him why cover tunes are so effective with audiences, Durbin says it takes you back to a moment.
“I was born in 1989 and most of the music I listened to after 15 was from 40 years before. I’ve always gravitated toward older-skewing music; there’s something about the soul of it. It’s about the innocence in the time it was created.” He believes that because things were simpler then, we can escape how chaotic life is now and go back to that innocent feeling through songs.
Durbin is grateful to play covers and feels responsible to take care of seminal music like Journey. “I have to do my absolute best with these songs because they were created by the best.” Durbin says audiences notice when he taps into his love of the classics. “When I sing the classics, I hear Steve Perry or Lou Reed in my head. I’m just trying to be some minuscule part of whatever magic they captured when they performed it.”
SANTA CRUZ IDOL James Durbin says playing covers not only feeds his family, but is a deep tribute to the great musicians who came before him. Photo: Tarmo Hannula
Rick McKee, a.k.a. Ukulele Dick, creator of The White Album Ensemble, agrees with Durbin that we want to hear that song again because it means something to us.
“The song happened at a time in your life when something special happened to you,” he says. “You play your originals at open mics, nobody cares. Play a Neil Young song and people go crazy because maybe they found themselves while living in a hippie commune, or when they met their first love.”
North Dakota emigree and Watsonville resident Jeffrey A. Meyer says that at the end of the day, they are a proud original band no matter what the venue, “but it’s nice to sprinkle in some choice tasty covers when you have three hours to play. I have much respect for cover bands, playing some of the greatest songs to have ever been written and serving them justice. It’s not an easy thing to do.”
Venues will sometimes request cover songs to serve their clientele. One bar owner said, “Look, this is Campbell. They want to hear things that they can dance to and that they know.” Meyers said they started throwing covers into the middle of their original tunes. “For example, we’re playing an original song, and in the middle, we throw in Tom Petty, ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance,’ and then come back out into the original song. In a way that links the songs. It reinterprets the Tom Petty song and people like the familiarity. We play ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’ and ‘Eight Days a Week.’”
Larry Graff is a founding member of the Banana Slug String Band, a beloved Santa Cruz environmental education group, as well as the Grateful Dead-based Painted Mandolin. Larry tells me that even though the Banana Slugs play all original tunes, they haven’t encountered resistance to that because they’re mostly playing for kids. “The original tunes are very participatory, so they’re having fun right away and they don’t care that it’s original.”
Graff says Painted Mandolin started off as a Jerry Garcia-inspired acoustic band, traditional bluegrass along with some of his tunes. “Sometimes we changed the arrangements, so it was uniquely ours, which was very successful because people recognized the tune, yet it was a cool new arrangement.”
At that point they started writing original songs and Graff says that was the challenge, playing original tunes when people expect covers.
“Our originals have to measure up to the songs by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan.”
Depending on the stage, Graff says sometimes it’s important to play originals. The band played the Strawberry Music Festival main stage this year; Graff says, “It’s good to present original material on a big stage like that. There’s an expectation that they’re hiring you and paying a lot of money for you to be original. We will be original.”
Alex Lucero is a recording artist rooted in Santa Cruz who performs a vibrant mix of soul and Americana. His band has independently released six all-original, full-length albums, with a new, seventh one called “The Drive Home.”
Like many of the musicians in this story, I caught up with Alex by phone while he was driving to a gig. I ask the songwriter, since he has recorded many dozens of originals, why and when would he play a cover song live? Lucero says a cover is a likely choice when playing a live show and the audience has never heard you before. “A lot of audiences only want to hear songs they’re familiar with, and as soon as they’re not familiar with the song, they kind of check out mentally.”
Lucero says they were primarily a cover band 10 years ago and as his repertoire of originals got larger, he wanted to perform as an original artist rather than playing other people’s music. Even then, he found that throwing in a cover or two in a three-hour concert would spark familiarity and build common ground. They hear Alex Lucero’s voice in the way he does the song, and it can clue them into deeper ties with his music.
“If you can take somebody’s tune and put your own spin on it and make it your version, that’s what all the greats did.” Alex points out that for Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Chris Stapleton, Joe Cocker, for every single one of those bands, their top hit was a cover. “You know, Jimi had ‘Hey Joe,’ and Led Zeppelin used all the blues stuff from the ’40s and ’50s.”
Alex agrees with Larry Graff’s notion that the venue can affect the cover/original mix, remembering that when they did a Kuumbwa show last year, they did all originals. “When people are paying $35 a head to come and sit for an evening of Alex Lucero band music, I almost feel like it’s getting in the way to play a cover.”
ARTIST OF THE YEAR Good Times’ readers selected Alex Lucero as artist of last year. He sells out venues with covers or originals and toured the US last year. Photo: Effie Benjamin
Bob Prikazsky is owner/operator of El Vaquero Winery, an emerging music venue in the south Santa Cruz County burg of Corralitos.
Bob says that there are bands that specialize in doing a great job on covers, but there are other bands that have messages. And that is difficult because people want to hear music that is familiar to them. “New music from a new band is pretty difficult to dance to until you become familiar with it.”
The El Vaquero owner has seen the journey of Alex Lucero with his audiences and says that Alex has played enough originals for a long enough period that people recognize his music, they love it, and they dance to it.
“Just by familiarity with him, people are now accepting his originals. It just takes a lot more time.”
Prikazsky notices that in the rock ’n’ roll genre, there are significantly fewer local bands that are going after original music. “Most of them are focused on dance music to keep the crowd happy. The majority of rock bands these days do covers. It can pay the bills, as compared to people who are doing originals, generally kind of starving artists.”
Sleepy John Sandidge, legendary radio voice and show promoter, agrees with Larry Graff that whether to cover or not can depend on the venue. “People are more likely to dance at Moe’s Alley than at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. The Kuumbwa is a listening room where originals are easier to sell.”
Sleepy John says the idea at KPIG radio was to establish their sound and get people listening with the familiar likes of the Doobie Brothers, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Then they drop in something new, like Robert Earl Keen. “People go, ‘Hmm… haven’t heard of him. Good song though.’”
Sandidge suggests if you’re frustrated that people would rather hear you play covers than originals, maybe you need to write better songs. “You’re competing with ‘Why Don’t We Just Get Drunk and Screw.’ Originals have to be that strong to break through on a commercial station like KPIG. Exposing more obscure originals, well, that is one of the great functions of community radio.”
Laurence Bedford, owner-operator of the Rio Theatre, Santa Cruz, tells me the Rio is having more and more sold-out tribute shows, including ABBA, the Eagles, Elton John and, of course, the Beatles. Bedford says, “It’s the older crowd. I think that demographic is what is creating the audience for our cover bands. It’s nostalgia.”
The Rio Theatre owner reports he fields calls from publishing rights companies like BMI and ASCAP about cover performances.
“These copyright people are on your ass for that. Even though it’s not the original artist playing it, we have musicians playing songs that have been copyrighted. Some of these third-party copyright people will come at you because they want part of the pie. They say they’re going to give it to the artist, but I don’t know how you’re going to give that money to John Lennon.”
A music venue owner/operator, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells me that he totally agrees with Laurence Bedford. He suggests that one difference between himself and Laurence might be his experience working with movies and TV.
“I kind of know the way lawyers are and the way the business works, and I just know that it’s total bullshit. I know it’s just a bunch of groups of lawyers, and there’s no money getting to the artists.” He says that lawyers came to him and said, “Hey, your venue is covering Bruno Mars.” But the venue owner says that no one has ever played a Bruno Mars song on his stage. “So, fuck ’em.”
Rhan Wilson is a founding member of Jazz the Dog, a Santa Cruz–based trio featuring himself on guitar, vocals, looping, with Rick Zeek on guitar, vocals, and Patti Maxine on lap steel and vocals. They blend Americana, soulful originals, and reimagined covers with an improvisational edge.
Wilson says the decision to cover or not depends on the gig you take; for a wedding gig, you’re probably going to play hits that they want to hear; if you’re trying to do an artistic showcase, then that’s a whole different thing. “I have been approaching covers as if they were originals, and make it sound good for the context. The Beatles wrote such great songs that you could play a Beatles song in any style, and it would still hold up.”
Wilson observes that for songs we have listened to on the radio, we tend to think that’s the definitive version, when in fact that was just one of the many ways that song could be presented. “Do I want to be a Michelangelo, or do I want to be someone who can forge Michelangelo paintings? To be known for being able to reproduce somebody else’s work instead of creating my own, influenced by my heroes? It’s a lot of work to sound like somebody else, but that’s a gig. Cover bands can get good money, they’re really good at it and people love it.”
Andy Barr is a guitarist and songwriter whose work spans both a high-profile role as a touring vocalist, pianist and guitarist for the classic rock band America, and his own venture, Formerly Alien with Amy Merrill, showcasing his songwriting imagination, an original sci-fi/ “space folk” band.
When I ask Andy why he would play a cover, he laughs and says, “When I sing an America song like ‘Sister Golden Hair,’ it is kind of like doing a cover. There’s a lot of reasons why you might play a cover in Santa Cruz, like to entertain people at the Crow’s Nest, a beautiful thing to do. When I choose to play someone else’s music, it’s a creative act in that I am the creative instrument without needing to be responsible for the source material. I get motivated to learn a song because it’s doing something to me and I want to understand why, like I’m trying to get closer to the magic of a song. It’s like becoming intimate with a person; I want to spend some time with this music to see what we can learn from each other.”
When Barr sings and plays guitar for America, he says he spends a long time learning the songs, because for “Sister Golden Hair” to feel good to people in the audience, who have known the song from when they’re teenagers, it has to feel authentic. “I put a lot of time into singing them as if they are my songs, I’m trying to sing it from a place of what resonates with me. These songs live in the hearts of millions of people who have their own relationship with it.
My role in that band specifically is to deliver the music in a way that they are they still have ownership of what it feels like to them. I’m trying to deliver it in a way that retains its holiness. I sometimes get feedback from people who say, ‘It reminds me of the first time I heard it, on a record player.’
“If that’s the feedback I get, I feel like I’ve done my job.”
Preacher Boy, a Santa Cruz slide guitar player known for his modern blues music, reminds us that it all starts with the songwriting. “‘Hotel California’ didn’t just fall out of the sky. Some dude sat at a desk with a pen, paper and a guitar and wrote it. If you don’t perpetuate that process, the well dries up.” He says that he doesn’t go to music to see what he expects. “I want my imagination sparked. I want to be rendered alive. Nobody knew they wanted Jimi Hendrix before he showed up.”
Different goals, different measures of success
As a comedian, I have no cover opportunity. People come to hear the unique perspective of the comic and using other comic’s material is absolutely verboten. That said, every working comic knows that if the majority of the crowd is not familiar with what the joke is referencing, that joke is in serious trouble and is likely to yield a response of crickets. So again, even in the non-cover art of comedy, familiarity is paramount.
In Santa Cruz, there is palpable tension between making art and making a living. There is a lot to be said for paying the rent; ten out of ten landlords agree.
Covers can be a pragmatic choice for many musicians who want to earn a living and still fulfill the love of performing. Their success is measured by crowd interaction, dancing, and the immediate gratification from hearing familiar hits.
The monetary tension is there when you choose between built-in crowds versus the crowd you’ve got to convince. The tension is there between feeding your artistic dreams and feeding your kids. The tension is there between choosing a listening room or a party venue. And the tension really comes home when you ask yourself if your original song is going to grab them like “Eight Days A Week.”
A pair of lions adorn brand-new Mane Kitchen & Cocktails’ online emblem, which feels fitting on a couple of fronts.
One, its four-night debut last weekend in the former Betty’s Eat In (1222 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz) generated real roar. That came thanks to smart bistro fare, shiny art deco design and the minor miracle that they nailed their debut target date of Halloween, when downtown is as lively as any night of the year.
Two, a pair of lions, who happen to be astrological Leos, are providing the pedigree and leadership in the kitchen and behind the bar.
Desmond Schneider—after time at Pete’s Capitola, Alderwood, Seabright Social and popular popup Pizza Bones—has assembled a mouthwatering lineup.
Thursday night the limited opening offerings wove through items like fresh oysters from the raw bar up front, a Mane Wagyu blend burger, chicken liver pâté, and Monterey Bay rockfish crudo with grilled avocado and trout roe.
“I’m not doing anything anyone hasn’t heard of—I’m capturing my French and Italian cuisine training, taking those classic dishes and making them my own with little nuances, California style and California-grown ingredients,” he says. “Counting on good farming practices, seafood from the bay, and having fun with the food.”
He pairs with beverage ace Julianna Mireles, whose résumé stacks up experience at Red Room Cocktail Lounge and Hollins House (where she and Schneider met), though the most compelling part of her bio might be the fact she’s a lifelong musician, sailor and Reiki practitioner. Or as Mane promotional material put it: “She infuses her craft with rhythm, flow, and energy.”
Some of her current tastes include “Aloe Darling” with Chareau aloe liquor, violet liqueur, gin and lemon, and a Mane Margarita with mezcal, Amaro Montenegro, passionfruit, pineapple, lime, pomegranate and Tajin.
Hours are 5–10pm Tuesday–Saturday to start (with the bar open later). manekc.com.
BETTER LATE
Another eatery just made its own Pacific Avenue debut on Saturday, Nov. 1, a day after Mane’s Halloween debut. You won’t see many chains appearing in this column, but this one earns an exception because Insomnia Cookies (1010 Pacific Ave., Suites C&D, Santa Cruz) bolsters the late-night options around the area, which are sparse. Insomnia started at University of Pennsylvania by then-student Seth Berkowitz in 2003; now Surf City’s is targeting Banana Slugs. The cookie options are legion—20+ all told—with brownies, ice cream and custom ice cream cookie sandwiches too. Hours run to 1am nightly, and until 3am Thursday–Sunday, with delivery options built in. insomniacookies.com
HAN LOH AND BEHOLD
Hanloh Thai’s delicious three-year run as resident restaurant at Bad Animal (1011 Cedar St., Santa Cruz) concludes Dec. 14. Chef-owner-operator Lalita Kaewsawang took to Instagram to mark nine years in operation—from a scrappy pop-up using coolers and folding tables to a slot on LA Times 101 Best Restaurants List. Kaewsawang invites guests to visit in the remaining six weeks, adding, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to cook my food and share my stories.” She also adds an encouraging note for fans of her gai tod hat yai chicken and splaa nueng manao black cod: “This isn’t goodbye, it is a pause before the next adventure.” hanloh.com.
TURBO TOPPINGS
On Nov. 1 Miss Teen California Jasmine Wu joined Campaign for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture’s Pesticide Reality Tour, part of the “Turn the Red Farms Green” push to transition fields around Watsonville-area schools and homes away from poisons, farmworkerfamily.org/cora…Good Times Best Of Santa Cruz 2026 nominations remain sizzling,goodtimes.sc/best-of-ballot…The Scotts Valley Fall Festival & Bake Off brings tastings, food trucks, games, artisan vendors and more at the SV Community Center noon-3pm Saturday, Nov. 8…Martha Stewart, do the honors: “I believe in eating real food.”
For Patrice Boyle, founding and owning the thoroughly Italian bistro La Posta is the dovetailed culmination of her evolved passions throughout life. Initially earning a degree in music theory from Santa Clara University, she then went to grad school, where she became enthralled with wine and started a winery at age 28. When that sold, it afforded Boyle the opportunity to live abroad in Italy for six months. Moving to Santa Cruz after that, she wanted her own restaurant pairing the Italian wine and food that so inspired her.
La Posta is that, opened in 2006 in a historic Seabright neighborhood space that was originally a cash store/post office (hence the name). Boyle renovated it to be reminiscent of the restaurants she frequented in Italy, giving a casual and welcoming vibe with plentiful red, umber and mahogany. Changing weekly, Boyle defines the menu as pan-Italian cuisine through the lens of local farmer’s markets, with everything including the breads and doughs made in-house from scratch. Succulent starters are fresh local lettuce salads and fried pillowy gnocchi, and entrée bests are a variety of pastas and pizzas, sole piccata and prosciutto-wrapped chicken. Dessert options include handmade cookies and gelato.
How does your musical background influence La Posta?
PATRICE BOYLE: My love for music inspired my love for Italy. As a child, I fell in love with Italian opera and that led to my degree in music theory, which eventually evolved into a love for Italian shoes and ultimately Italian food and culture. Music theory is incredibly complex, dynamic and systematic, and this taught me to have an analytic mentality that parlays well to the restaurant industry. It helps recognizing structure and framework in music, and learning to apply that to owning a restaurant.
What’s it been like navigating the bridge closure?
What we are dealing with is basically a three-year emergency, but the conundrum is that emergencies aren’t supposed to last for three years. It reminds me of the pandemic because we are continually having to remake and rework our business while dealing with something totally out of our control. Trying new things and adapting not only takes financial capital, but also time, and is very speculative. It’s a major challenge for sure, but we are doing our best and our loyal regulars are really helping.
Anyone driving at night in parts of the Pajaro Valley may occasionally notice an unsettling purple glow illuminating the sky.
This comes from LED lights used by cannabis greenhouses to create longer light cycles young marijuana plants need to grow.
And while the burgeoning cannabis industry has become a part of the local agriculture industry since voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2016—taking space in farms and greenhouses once occupied by food crops—the result of the red and blue lights adds to existing light pollution, says Lisa Heschong, a fellow of the Illuminating Engineering Society and part of Dark Sky Santa Cruz.
That can harm wildlife and diminish enjoyment for night sky enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars and planets, she says.
“We are living in, or adjacent to, the Monterey Bay sanctuary,” she says. “We have a plethora of state parks with endangered species such as the steelhead trout that migrate through the San Lorenzo River, and light pollution is interfering with all those ecological systems that are so precious to us.”
And this means that Santa Cruz, once considered a place removed from larger and brighter cities, has lost its luster for astronomy buffs.
“People have spoken about coming to Santa Cruz to be able to see the night sky and get away from the glare of the Bay Area, but that is going away,” Heschong says. “We’re losing our night sky in Santa Cruz also.”
While state regulations address energy use in buildings, agricultural buildings are excluded, because it was assumed that light was not a major component of those operations, says Santa Cruz County Cannabis Licensing Manager Sam LoForti.
But Santa Cruz County residents, at least the ones who live farther away from Monterey County, will likely not have to contend with the glowing purple of nighttime greenhouses. That’s because the county hasan ordinance governing outdoor lighting and its effects on neighbors.
“We have a requirement that you can’t have pollution,” LoForti says. “You have to have full blackout curtains on your greenhouses.”
In Monterey County, ordinances prohibit neighbors from illuminating nearby properties and require that lighting be unobtrusive and that long-range visibility is reduced. But the county has no such ordinance regarding nurseries, meaning that the greenhouse in question—Wave Rider Cannabis Co.—is not breaking any rules.
The business did not return requests for comment.
Despite a growing number of businesses entering the cannabis market, state lawmakers have left the issue of light pollution virtually untouched, Heschong says.
But the new and emerging problem needs attention. Heschong says.
“It’s very unnatural, it’s not good for the neighbors, it’s not good for the plants and animals that are nocturnal,” she says.
While some people baked sourdough bread and cut their own hair during the COVID-19 pandemic, David Litt, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, picked up a far more dangerous hobby. “Learning to surf is like learning a language that wants to kill you,” Litt writes in his new memoir, It’s Only Drowning, which he discusses Nov. 6 at Bookshop Santa Cruz.
For his third book, following 2017’s Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years and 2020’s Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn’t, and How Fixing It is Easier Than You Think, the author chronicles the year and a half he spent surfing as a novice while connecting with his brother-in-law, Matt, an avid surfer. According to Litt, the two are polar opposites, especially socially and politically. But instead of looking for common ground, Litt finds neutral ground, at least in the water, and in an increasingly divisive time in America.
“What started off for me as a book about surfing really became about an unlikely friendship,” Litt says. “I think there’s lots of people who have written first-person books about surfing. But I don’t think anyone has written a memoir about learning to surf as a grown-up.”
A Yale graduate, Litt worked as President Obama’s speechwriter for four years, including writing for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinners. He also was the Washington, D.C., editor for Funny or Die, and briefly contributed to Billy on the Street with Billy Eichner. Matt, on the other hand, is an un-vaxxed and conservative-leaning electrician by trade. He sings in a ska band and likes death metal and Joe Rogan’s podcast. Litt listens to Lizzo, Stephen Sondheim and NPR. Their only shared love is of Taylor Swift.
While Litt was experiencing lockdown-induced depression and anxiety over the fate of the country, he noticed that his brother-in-law was flourishing. So in early 2022, at the age of 35, Litt started taking surfing lessons in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where he lives with his wife. He even attended a surf camp in Costa Rica and injured his nose.
“In parts of the country, there was this kind of uptick in people learning to surf during the pandemic,” Litt says. “These people were looking for something to do where you could get outside and could get in the water. I was at a moment in my life where I needed to try something new, but was feeling pretty adrift. And I think, ‘Well, that seems like the least me thing I can be doing where I would definitely get myself killed.’ And I think that was very appealing at the time.”
For Litt, surfing is a communal experience. For Matt, it’s about “rugged individualism” and “self-reliance.” But the two became surf buddies, keeping their conversations to small talk and visiting beaches and wave pools in New Jersey, New York, Texas, Spain, France and their ultimate destination, Hawaii’s world-renowned North Shore. In Santa Cruz, they surf famous locations like the Hook, Steamer Lane and Pleasure Point, and hang out downtown and in Capitola.
“It was definitely one of the most fun parts of the trip, and one of my favorite places I’ve ever surfed,” Litt recalls. “It was the first place I’d really been where surfing was fully a culture, rather than a subculture, like it is in New Jersey. It came at a moment when I was starting to feel just a little more comfortable on a surfboard and I could enjoy myself and not just be trying to avoid falling. For me, Santa Cruz is associated with those first couple of times when I rode a wave and it was just really fun. The waves, the conditions, the vibe. It was the place where I first felt the pure, unadulterated freedom and fun that you get from surfing that’s so addictive.”
Along the way, Litt learns to forgo some of his liberal attitudes toward Matt and accept their differences. As long as they’re in the water, he writes, life is good.
“When I started surfing with Matt, I assumed we would end up realizing that we agreed on all kinds of things, which really meant that he would end up agreeing with me,” Litt says. “That’s not what happened. We’re still very different people. But I am certainly a more courageous, open-minded and flexible person when it comes to how I think about the world and my own life. I think I learned all of those things from him, not because it turns out that we’re actually totally alike, but because we’re still pretty unlike.”
David Litt discusses his book with Hilary Bryant at 7pm on Nov. 6 at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Free. bookshopsantacruz.com
I’ve been surprised to see cover bands even here selling out theaters. Bands covering the likes of Journey, ABBA, the Dead and Tom Petty are packing houses.
Sub Pop artist Lael Neale has a unique voice that does the storytelling work with support from her dreamy and roomy guitar playing. Friday at Crepe Place, 8pm
Bob Dylan’s first album had nine covers, and the Beatles recorded 25 cover songs before Rubber Soul. Many of Mozart’s melodies were lifted from French folk songs, and isn’t our amazing Santa Cruz Symphony basically a cover band?
