We are deluged with your comments about our article about the 59-unit housing project at the Food Bin site on Mission Street, which has no onsite parking. I’m turning this column over to your comments on our social media sites.
NOT RIGHT
Whoever approves this needs to have their parking spots taken away from both their residents and their place of employment.
Affordable housing is based on a $57 hourly minimum wage. Think about that.
You have to earn $28.83/hour full time to be able to live in these “affordable units” and only 8 of the units are $28.83/hour full time affordable. All no parking for residence or for the business below the units.
How can someone think this is a good idea?
Paul Doherty
NOT SO BAD
I’m hopeful about this project because of the ongoing updates to Metro, ongoing improvements to the bikeability of roads, traffic calming projects that protect pedestrians, and the fact that it’s building dense housing close to important services like groceries, medical, schools. I know plenty of car-less people in Santa Cruz and I hope the trajectory that we’re on allows more and more people to live without needing cars. This is the answer to our housing crisis.
Marisa Gomez
FACT CHECK
This Good Times article contains TWO MAJOR ERRORS that have caused confusion and consternation among readers. First, $57,650 is the upper limit of “very low income” for an individual to qualify for any of the eight very low income apartments — not the low end of a range of incomes. And, second, each of the SRO apartments planned for this project will have full — not partial, as the article implies — bathrooms and kitchens. Editor: please correct the online version of article, and admit to these errors in a public statement. The gross misinformation spread in the article is very damaging to public discourse about this project. Such errors also damage the credibility and reputation of your newspaper.
Jim MacKenzie
Photo Contest
FOGBOW over Porter Sesnon State Park, Aptos.Photograph by Dianna Glidden
Good Idea
For five years beginning in 2015, Santa Cruz County’s Sobering Center was a place for detainees who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol and first-time DUI suspects.
That program freed up jail space, allowed arresting officers to get back on the street and kept the suspects out of emergency rooms.
But the Coronavirus and a fire forced the center to close in 2020. Last week county officials cut the ribbon on the new Sobering Center, located at 265 Water St., just a stone’s throw from the Main Jail.
Good Work
For more than two years, Aptos residents have had to travel to other areas to check out a book, movie, magazine.
Sunday, Aptos opened its community hub, or as Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend put it, its “new living room.”
The 12,400-square-foot building is outfitted with updated technology, an outdoor reading room, garden, patio, children’s reading area, rideshare and bike parking, group study rooms, a gallery, a community room and terrace, public art and historic displays in partnership with the Aptos History Museum.
Quote of the Week
“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”—Mary Oliver
A man was killed in Boulder Creek after a tree crashed into his home, as winds pounded Santa Cruz County after several heavy rainstorms on Sunday.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Ashley Keehn identified the man as 45-year-old Robert Brainard III.
Deputies and firefighters responded around 3:30pm to a report of a tree that slammed into a home on the 14100 block of Highway 9.
Keehn says that one resident made it out of the house, but another was trapped inside.
“Unfortunately, the resident inside sustained injuries from the tree falling into the home and was pronounced deceased at the scene,” she said.
There were no other injuries reported, although downed power lines and fallen trees forced the closure of several roads throughout the county. As of Monday morning, five remained closed.
Late Monday morning, sun rays were breaking through the clouds that have dumped several inches of rain over the past few days.
National Weather Service of Monterey Bay meteorologist and hydrologist Carolina Walbrun said that rain is expected to continue throughout Monday, which will abate and allow the county to dry out through Tuesday.
Another rain system is expected on Wednesday, with a drying period on Thursday and Friday.
•••
How much rain fell?
(In inches)
Santa Cruz hills: 3.29
Coast: 2.24
Felton: 3.24
Davenport: 2.49
Aptos: 2.12
Boulder Creek 4.76
Ben Lomond: 5.02
Scotts Valley hills: 2.61
City of Scotts Valley: 1.87
South County: average of 1.8
•••
The most damage came from the wind—measured as high as 65 miles per hour—which slammed the county for several hours and wreaked havoc on the county’s power system.
Pacific Gas and Electric said that a total of 29,975 people were without power throughout Santa Cruz County as of 11:30am on Monday.
The winds also knocked down several trees.
Paige Gordon stood near her Live Oak home Sunday afternoon, hours after a towering eucalyptus tree—felled by heavy winds— smashed through the top floor and rendered the entire structure uninhabitable.
High above her head, the wind roared through the small stand of eucalyptuses from which its fallen brethren came.
Gordon lives in the house with her husband and 7-week-old and 17-month-old children. Nobody was injured when the tree came down at 9am, she says. But the tree crashed through the attic and into the upper floor.
Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian Numerous trees dropped to the ground and over homes and vehicles on Moran Way in Live Oak.
“If my kids had been upstairs when that happened, somebody could have died,” she says.
Gordon says she has been grappling with the rules protecting the grove—a protected habitat of monarch butterflies—and with limited county budget to maintain the trees since she moved in three years ago.
“They don’t take care of this parcel,” she says. “It is frustrating, because it could have been avoidable.”
Trees also crashed into several other houses throughout the Mid-County neighborhood, all of them from county-owned property.
It is not clear whether the county will be responsible for the damages.
Santa Cruz County Supervisor Manu Koenig, whose First District covers the neighborhood, says officials are looking at the issue.
Koenig says that the county has been looking at problems with the trees for the past year, and has removed several trees to protect the residents.
But the rules protecting the area can limit those efforts, he says.
“We’ve been navigating the monarch butterfly habitat management plan on the one hand, and of course our obvious concerns are keeping neighbors safe,” he says. “We do need to strike this balance between the natural environment and the human environment. It’s a constant challenge.”
Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian Santa Cruz Firefighters secure the scene on Ocean View Avenue in Santa Cruz Sunday evening where a large tree fell across several homes, vehicles and the entire roadway.
Don Davis, a 39-year-old Boulder Creek resident, called the storm “anticlimactic,” particularly compared to last year.
A storm like this was simply water off a duck’s back for a guy like Davis.
“I’m the grumpy old ‘mountain man,’” he said, noting even if the power goes out there are plenty of ways to stay entertained. “I tell people, ‘Back in my day, movies were called books.’”
But he recognizes downstream residents may face greater flooding impacts than he would.
“I’m right by the river, but up on the hill,” he said. “You guys all get your flooding from us.”
Fred Cox, 71, of Scotts Valley said authorities had predicted Mother Nature would be meaner, particularly in terms of the wind.
“I didn’t see any more than 35-mile-per-hour gusts,” he said. “They were talking about 50-60.”
Nevertheless, auburn forest litter was strewn across Highway 9, causing motorists to slow down and dodge large sticks and redwood boughs.
Cox said he was thankful a 10-foot oak tree had recently been removed from his property.
“I’m grateful that the redwood trees are getting water,” he said. “I’m grateful that the reservoirs are filling-up.”
Aptos resident Diane Marcel, 61, had arrived in Felton to check on her two endurance horses Anden and Disney.
“They’re really stressed out,” she said, as one twirled around the stable. “They’re high-strung.”
But the forecast had been revised downward, meaning it wasn’t looking like the river was, in fact, going to overtake its banks—and so they wouldn’t have to evacuate.
“We’re feeling pretty lucky actually,” she said, noting last year they had to evacuate four times, whereas this winter that hadn’t happened. “We’re all relaxed.”
However, some boarders hauled their livestock from the Covered Bridge Equestrian Center to other locations—just in case.
Throughout the afternoon, the weather made a mess of things throughout much of the San Lorenzo Valley, with first responders directing traffic around a downed tree on Highway 9 north of Brookdale and Boulder Creek Fire Protection District firefighters preventing people from approaching tree-damaged wires along Two Bar Road near Boulder Creek as they waited for a PG&E crew to appear.
Around 3:30pm, Capt. Matt Sanders of the Ben Lomond Fire Protection District said, after a slow night, they’d just received 4-5 calls for service in the previous hour or so.
A controversial new measure is on the March ballot that could affect the future of housing development in the City of Santa Cruz. As the election nears, two sides that claim to support the building of affordable housing are at odds on how to get there in the heart of the nation’s most expensive rental market.
California’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance gives city’s the power to enact their own affordable (or inclusionary) housing requirements for building developers. In Santa Cruz, the current ordinance adopted in 2020 requires developers to make 20% of the total units for residential projects affordable.
The definition of “affordable” is tied to the area’s median income (AMI) and is broken down into categories ranging from very-low to above-moderate income, according to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. In Santa Cruz, the AMI for a household is $132,800. A family of four could be making $132,000 per year and still be considered low-income.
Measure M would raise the number of affordable units that developers are required to build for a given project. Some affordable housing advocates say that the measure actually hinders future development in the city. The measure would also trigger a vote of the people in the event that the city wants to change zoning laws to build taller buildings. Opponents say that this puts projects like the city’s planned homeless service center in jeopardy.
Both sides are looking to sway voters on March 5 with their vision of what affordable housing looks like.
Housing for People
Before Measure M, there was the Housing for People initiative. The initiative was born in the summer of 2023 out of residents’ concerns over real estate development in downtown Santa Cruz. This included the city’s downtown plan expansion, which would redevelop 29 acres south of Laurel Street. The plan would bring 1,800 units of new housing, 20% of which would be required to be affordable to people with moderate, low and very low incomes.It includes 60,000 square feet of commercial retail space, as well as a new 3,200-seat arena for the Santa Cruz Warriors basketball team.
The downtown plan’s proposed development could allow for buildings up to 12 stories, about double the current zoning limits. In order to do that, the city would have to “upzone”, or raise the height limits with a change to the zoning ordinance. Public input is not necessary for that to happen.
By October of 2023, the Housing for People initiative had amassed nearly double the 3,100 required signatures to get on the March 2024 ballot. Now known as Measure M, the initiative would do two things if passed:
Raise the city of Santa Cruz’s affordable housing rate to 25% for all new housing developments over 30 units
Require a vote by city residents to approve any changes to the general plan or zoning ordinances that increase height limits to developments.
Opponents say that if passed, Measure M would kill all housing development—including affordable housing—in the city. Developers couldn’t afford to build projects if a quarter of them had to be below market rates.
In early January, the “No on M ” campaign kicked into gear, touting support from various pro-housing organizations. These include Affordable Housing Now, Housing Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz YIMBY and the UCSC Student Housing Coalition. The Santa Cruz County Democratic Party and the Santa Cruz City Council have also taken an official position against Measure M.
Local leaders who have historically been pro-affordable housing have also come out against the measure, and are campaigning to strike it down.
HOW HIGH? An artist’s rendition of what a 12-story development would look in the South of Laurel neighborhood. Measure M proponents are wary of taller buildings being built without residents’ approval. Image: Russell Brutsche
20 or 25
Don Lane, former three-time mayor of Santa Cruz, has worked on affordable housing initiatives throughout his career, including 2018’s Measure H. He is against Measure M.While initially thinking that taking a vote on height limits for development projects was a good idea, he says that Measure M’s raising of the affordable housing percentage to 25% is not.
“You’ve got to be careful because, if you go too high, we’ll just won’t be able to go forward and build those projects and we just won’t build houses,” Lane says. “They’ve reached too far and they wanted to sort of sell this as a pro-housing measure. It sounds good, but I think it’s counterproductive.”
Lane cites a recent report commissioned by the city staff which states that raising the affordable housing rate would make the city less desirable for developers if the affordable housing requirement is raised to 25%.
During the Santa Cruz City Council meeting in which the report was presented, city planning director Lee Butler also said that since the affordable housing rate was raised to 20% in 2020, only one development project has met that target number.
Frank Barron, a retired land-use planner and a key figure in developing Measure M, says that the pandemic, high interest rates and building costs could have contributed to the slowing of construction projects. He also says that the city’s fears of turning away development by adopting the 25% rate should be put to the test.
“[If] after Measure M passes and five years from now—supposing what they say is true—and it’s shut off all development, […] the city council can put it back on the ballot,” Barron says.
Other cities—San Francisco, for example—have lowered their affordable housing requirement in recent years. Development projects within the city of San Francisco are now required to make 15-21% of units affordable, down from 22 to 33%.
Elizabeth Madrigal, a Santa Cruz resident who works for an affordable housing developer in the Bay Area, says that raising the rate to 25% would result in no housing being developed. She, like Lane, also cites the study commissioned by the city.
“If Measure M were to pass it would stop all market-rate housing and also affordable housing,” Madrigal says.
Joe Quigg, a retired affordable housing developer in the area, says that raising the affordable rate to 25% won’t stop large developers from building in the city. It may deter smaller, local developers, but projects like the eight-story Anton Pacific building on Pacific Avenue and Front Street would still go up.
“A lot of the reason I support [Measure M} is that increasing the affordability won’t be a problem for larger projects. Because the new state laws give higher bonus densities to those projects and they’ll be able to do a lot more units,” Quigg says.
The City of Santa Cruz website lists all development project applications currently in the pipeline. At the time this article was written, the website lists applications for nearly 50 “significant projects” which would build “25 or more new housing units or over 25,000 square feet of commercial [development],” according to the city.
How High?
Taking any amendments to the city’s general plan or any zoning changes to a vote is a form of direct democracy, according to proponents of Measure M. Keresha Durham, a bilingual educator and part of the Measure M campaign, says that city officials have not been listening to the will of residents.
“They would have voted in different ways on different issues, you know. They’re not providing affordable housing. We need more affordable housing and we also need more democracy,” Durham says.
Durham also says that local officials are prioritizing the needs of large housing development firms instead of those of the community, and that the over 6,000 signatures they gathered to put the measure on the ballot reflects that. The original name of their group was Housing for People not Unaffordable Towers.
She also says that even the current projects going up, like Anton Pacific, will be out of reach for working-class families and students.
Don Lane says that while the measure might have only intended to require a vote around changes in building heights, the language in the final version does not make that clear. Lane says the measure could trigger a vote on changes to a residential fence’s height. He also pointed out that the new homeless services development planned for Coral Street would have to be voted on.
“They thought they were just talking about tall buildings but they just didn’t write it that way,” Lane says.
Frank Barron clarifies that the measure only seeks to vote on housing developments over the height limit—not fences— and that the Coral Street project would be exempt from a vote under state law.
Currently, the height limits on buildings within the city limits is six to eight stories. Frank Barron says that he is not against more development, or even taller buildings, but that if the height limits are to be increased they should be taken to a vote.
“It’s not even [that] it’s bad, it should be subject to the vote of the people,” Barron says.
Visit cityofsantacruz.com to read the full text of Measure M and official arguments against it.
Every day kids are being left at school and parents have had to take off work to pick them up because of a shortage of bus drivers.
PVUSD Transportation Director Mark Verch says the district needs 75 drivers to complete all of its routes, but is currently short 21.
And even with the mechanics, fuelers, trainers and dispatchers taking shifts, there are school routes every day that go unfilled, leaving families scrambling to find ways to get their kids to school and home again, Verch says.
During its Jan. 24 meeting, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees approved a $1000 financial reward for anyone who recommends qualified bus drivers to take students to and from school, and on field trips.
That problem has been bedeviling PVUSD–along with districts across the U.S.–with the low pay and high cost of living driving people out of the industry.
“It really hurts, knowing those kids are going to have to find a different way home,” he says.
Another impact, he says, is on field trips.
The low numbers leave just five buses available every day to take kids on extracurricular trips, so one that involves all the fifth-graders from a school will fill that.
Teachers as a result must put in requests for field trip transportation months in advance.
“It’s on a first-come, first-served basis,” he said. “It hurts to reject a field trip, because that’s special for the kids. It’s all impacting the students. That’s what it comes down to.”
Verch says the problem stems largely from the pay, with hourly wages ranging from $19.68 to $25.11.
But the position also comes with a somewhat onerous application and certification process, which can take up to six months, and which makes California the strictest state to become a bus driver, he says.
This includes 20 hours of classroom work, and several written tests administered by the California Highway Patrol and the Department of Motor Vehicles. Drivers must also go through 20 hours of on-the-road training under the tutelage of an instructor. But that can be hard when the instructors are busy covering shifts, Verch says.
“They’re all now having to take on these roles of filling the vacancies, including our supervisor who goes out and drives, which means they aren’t able to fill their duties. So their work is also suffering,” he says.
The requirements, he says, speak to the importance of the job.
“This is somebody’s child,” he says. “We want to make sure they are getting the best service and the best drivers out there to protect these students, so there are no accidents.”
Another challenge for school districts is the state law that mandates transportation for special education students, but not for those in general education. So during a shortage, priority for buses shifts to that population.
The shortage is not limited to PVUSD.
Santa Cruz City Schools spokesman Sam Rolens says that district is in somewhat better shape, with four unfilled positions and two who are in the hiring process.
Still, with pay for Santa Cruz Metro drivers ranging from $25.81-$35.93 per hour, the competition for qualified drivers can make retention a challenge.
“You have a lot of employers to choose from,” Rolens says. “We work hard to make sure that we’re being competitive with the Metro, but any time you’re in an industry where there are options, it’s hard.”
Across the U.S., the number of school bus drivers has steadily declined since the economic recession of 2009, when roughly 290,000 were employed, according to a November, 2023 study by the Economic Policy Institute. That number has decreased to 192,400.
PVUSD Superintendent Murry Schekman said that a pay increase would help address the problem. But such a proposal would be a big ask, since the unions representing teachers and school employees have “me-too” clauses in their contracts, which require that raises for any sector go to all employees.
“When you give a pay raise, it should go to everyone,” he says. “The benefits in PVUSD are so good that people stay when they see them, but I sure wish we paid better.”
Proposing pay increases could also be a hard sell for the cash-strapped district, which is facing enrollment decreases and subsequent loss of per-pupil funding.
What is your favorite go-to, good times restaurant?
Isai Rincon, 19, UCSC Game Design major
Betty Noodles on Front St near the Metro Center is where my friends and I go. For a while they were called Monster Pot. The pho is my favorite. —ISAI
Leah Leichty, 27, Face and body painter
Anywhere I can get some good sushi. I’m basic—poke, sashimi, sushi, anything fish, I love it. You can’t go wrong with a great rainbow roll. —LEAH
Bob Ertl, 55, Marketing
The Crow’s Nest is where we go the most. Laili on Cooper St is a great little restaurant for after an event Downtown. —BOB
Aurora Friedman, 21, UCSC Human Biology major
My friends and I like Kianti’s pizza and pasta bar. We’re broke college kids so it’s high-end for us. On weekends, they do fun dancing with pizza dough. I really like the jalapeno cheese bread and a salad. —AURORA
Jeff Aldrich, 47, X-ray laser science manager
It’s past now, but The Dolphin, for breakfasts every Christmas morning. Now, Café Palomar for breakfast and lunch. I go there and watch people play volleyball and see the boats go in and out of the harbor. —JEFF
Regina Kim, 19, and Vince Moreno, 19, UCSC computer science majors
We go home to be with family for big celebrations, but for here, Arslans Turkish Street Food is the best. We love the kabobs. —REGINA and VINCE
Pajaro Middle School has seen its share of setbacks in the past year.
First, there was the flood in March 2023 that brought mud and debris into the classrooms and forced closure of the school. It was the second time in the past three decades the school has flooded.
As a result of the most recent event, all 450 students were shifted to Lakeview Middle School, and to Ohlone and Hall District elementary schools.
But even before that calamity, the school’s athletic field was in need of an upgrade, with uneven playing surfaces and gopher holes to contend with.
So now, as workers begin the repairs that are expected to allow students to return to class in August, Pajaro Valley Unified School District has kicked off a campaign to raise the $1.5 million needed to install an artificial turf field.
The ongoing $4.6 million repairs–most of which is covered by state and federal relief funds–do not include the field.
In the meantime until the field can be built, the district will replace the grass to give the students a place to play.
Interim Superintendent Murry Schekman told the PVUSD Board of Trustees that he will help assure the field gets built.
My time in the district is limited, but if the money is not there, I’m going to hang around until we raise that money.”
Donations can be sent to 294 Green Valley Road, Watsonville, CA, to the attention of the Office of the
Superintendent. Checks should be made payable to the Pajaro Middle
School Field Fund. PVUSD’s Federal Tax ID will be shared with donating parties.
For information, or for a tour, call interim Superintendent Murry Schekman directly at 840-7675 or email mu************@pv***.net.
Winegrower Richard Hanke and winemaker Gary Robinson had a fortuitous meeting whilst cycling around the back roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Finding they shared a passion for local, mountain-grown fruit and structured, age-worthy wines, it eventually led to the formation of Left Bend Winery.
“Our name,” the duo says, “refers to the slight leftward bend in the San Andreas fault, which helped form the Santa Cruz Mountains.”
Hanke and Robinson now make an abundance of different wines including Cabernet Sauvignon, a Cab and Syrah blend, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Carignane, Riesling, and a Sierra Morena red blend.
There’s also a voluptuous ruby-red called Mashup v6 Solera. (Solera: a set of barrels in a winemaking process for aging wine by blending multiple vintages over time – with the introduction of younger fruit-forward wine each year.)
The Mashup ($58) is a standout concoction of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc with “rich aromas of cherry, blackberry bramble, currant and plum.” Flavors of sweet tobacco, dried herbs, Earl Grey tea and black cardamom add a ton of pizzazz to this very tasty elixir. “Fine-Grained grippy tannins persist with hints of expressive peppercorn through the finish,” says Left Bend.
Left Bend Winery, 1020 Mt. Madonna Road, Watsonville, 408-502-9280. Leftbend.com
Celebratory Sparkling Wines
Frank Family Vineyards has two terrific bubblies that will delight any discerning palate – a 2016 Napa Valley Blanc de Blanc Carneros and a 2017 Napa Valley Brut Rosé Carneros, each $60. French imports include J. Laurens la Rose No.7 (about $30), and Cote Mas Brut (about $20). Some of our wonderful local wineries making superb sparkling wines are Equinox, MJA Vineyards, Sarah’s Vineyard, Odonata Wines, Lester Estate Wines, Beauregard Vineyards, Windy Oaks, Ser Winery, and Silver Mountain Vineyards (Silver Mountain’s sparkling wine is available only at the winery).
Much like flash fiction, 10 minute plays loaded with fresh energy seem to captivate without sagging. The always appealing 8Tens at 8 Festival of Short Plays—produced by Actors’ Theatre through February 18—almost always delivers something you can savor on the spot, or take home and chew on. Sometimes the results just plain take your breath away, be it due to a singular performance, for example Jonathan Carter Schall in Bram Hartman’s Come On, Ref!, or ingenious characters matched by resourceful players, as in Sam Weller‘s Talking to Myself, insightfully directed by Helene Simkin Jara.
Even near-miss concepts, can spring to life in the hands of a focused actor, as John Denham Bennett, the soldier in On the Road to Tikrit proves mesmerizing, transcending the script itself. Of course, not everything captivates everyone. Several pieces were chosen for their social justice subtext, which often shouted above the dramatic setting and felt like so much preaching to the converted.
This season’s selections seemed drawn along large thematic lines, the mysteries of mortality were explored more than once in Part 1 productions, and social equity situations made their way into many of the Part 2 plays. On the whole, humor and surprise worked better than politics. And several pieces veered into sentimentality.
The Part 1 cycle of performances started off with an outrageous, laugh-out-loud funny glimpse at the real life absurdities of old age, Stop Saying That with a spot-on ensemble cast. Kudos to all! Surprise endings dotted Part 1 selections, for example in the very clever study of opposites attracting in Sense of Direction, acted with real chemistry by Scott Kravitz and Shannon Marie McDonough. Scott Kravitz again powered the haunting Signing Off, written by local actor/director Gail Thornton Borkowski. The struggle to stay normal in the face of some unknown terror was given a highly relatable scenario. A surprise ending worked its magic.
Part 2 of the cycle yielded that rarest of theater experiences—a perfect play. A charming O’Henry situation in The Stocking Exchange, by Lynnmarie May, was smartly directed by Sally Bookman, and well acted by Linda S. Gunther and always memorable Martin Sampad Kachuck. In a little over ten minutes this two-hander established its premiss, worked it up into a fever pitch, and then landed back after a very satisfying emotional arc into an “ah!” ending. The audience at the first week’s matinee was enchanted.
Every now and then the chemistry among playwright, director and actors came into entertaining balance. In Part 2, a wacky riff on predation and inter-generational conflict, The Hill, Andy Waddell and Lyndsey Marks worked a sit-com script with brisk expertise. The result, directed by Kathryn Adkins, was a delicious romp through an old, old story.
Sam Weller‘s inventive Talking to Myself, explored youth’s early ambitions mirrored ingeniously by middle-aged regrets, pulling no punches in its scathing dialogue and crisp acting by Isaac Ludington and Andy Waddell. Weller’s confident writing made this another high point of the 8Tens, Part 2.
In the final piece of Part 1, Ward Willats once again unleashed his range in a dazzling bit of absurdity called Waitering for Godot. We find Willats at a cafe table, Philip Seymour Hoffman channeling Robin Williams. Willats’ vocal abilities are limitless. Matched by Shannon Marie McDonough as the waiter waiting for him to leave after seven cups of coffee. At one point in the hilarious, sophisticated little study Willats’ character, named Godot, comes unglued and offers a dizzying monologue of increasingly outrageous clichés. Kudos to director Gerry Gerringer. A spectacular display of stage magic in an engaging evening of new, short plays.
This annual showcase is one of the reasons why we live in Santa Cruz.
Prepare your ears for the astounding rock music of the 17th century. The 51st season of the acclaimed Santa Cruz Baroque Festival is upon us, and is already the stuff of legend.
While it would be impossible to adequately honor the Festival’s brilliant founder, Linda Burman-Hall—to whom this season is dedicated—she would definitely be impressed by the current programming.
This season’s Artist-in-Residence is wunderkind Jörg Reddin—organist, Baroque musician, singer and conductor—who currently occupies one of the roles once held by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The choral director/organist at the Bach Church in Arnstadt Germany is making his North American debut at the Festival. A virtuoso singer of Baroque opera and cantatas, Reddin has recorded solo organ works and performed throughout the leading music festivals of Europe. He is, in a word, major.
Joining Redding in the course of the Festival concerts will be illustrious collaborators, including UCSC opera director soprano, Sheila Willey; keyboard virtuoso Vlada Volkova-Moran; oboist Marc Schachman, Erick Anderson, Violoncello, Penny Hanna Viola da Gamba, and the UCSC Chamber Singers conducted by composer/choral director Michael McGushin.
You’ve heard about the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival for as long as you’ve lived in Santa Cruz, and if you’ve never attended one of the concerts, this is the year to make up for that oversight. Burman-Hall, who tragically died last summer, founded the group so that the exquisite music of the late 17th century (and early 18th century) could be performed in as close to authentic style as possible.
A recording artist and rock star on harpsichord, Burman-Hall was devoted to the mesmerizing chamber music—Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Scarlatti, and friends—that enlivened countless ballrooms, private salons and royal courts from roughly 1600-1750. Over the years, the SC Baroque Festival expanded its focus to include even more rarely-performed music, as well as works by later maestros such as Beethoven.
Intensely, some might say fanatically, devoted to the music that paved the way for the glory days of classical music, the Baroque Festival revels in the ornate music of the pre-digital golden age. Expect bursts of musical extravagance, dancing counterpoint amidst mathematical inventions and ravishing string and woodwind ornamentation. There is nothing boring about Baroque music, it takes your consciousness to new and unexpected neighborhoods. Can you say Monteverdi?
With Reddin at the organ, giving Baroque-lovers a taste of virtuoso Bach, the remaining concerts of this year’s Festival promise to be unforgettable.
On February 24, Artist-in-Residence Jörg Reddin takes the keyboard of the Peace United Church organ to perform Virtuoso Bach by Candlelight, solo organ works from Bach’s churches in Arnstadt, Weimar and Leipzig. (Tickets).
On Saturday March 9, Bach and his Precursors, also at Peace United Church, Reddin is joined by Sheila Willey, Vlada Volkova-Moran on organ, Penny Hanna’s viola da gamba, and the UCSC Chamber Singers performing sacred songs and organ works by Bach and Dieterich Buxtehude. (Tickets) Listen closely and you can practically hear Bach inventing the algorithm.
The season finale April 6 features Erik Anderson at the UCSC Recital Hall performing J.S. Bach solo cello Suites on Baroque Violoncello. (Tickets).
Powerful and intricate, Baroque Festival concerts are as breathtaking as live music gets. Presented in settings with great acoustics. Prepare your ears to be astonished!
While many artists express serious reservations about the Spotify music streaming platform – and with good reason – North Carolina-based singer-songwriter David Wilcox has taken a different approach: he’s embracing some of the platform’s opportunities for flexibility. His latest album – My Good Friends, something like his 20th studio release – came out last August in CD and download formats. But the streaming version bears the subtitle The Guided Tour, and features interstitial narration from Wilcox.
“I love that Spotify has this ability to share a whole other version of the record,” he explains. “It’s not just the songs one after another; there’s room for me to introduce each song.” The Guided Tour configuration of the album allows Wilcox to set the songs up, providing backstories. He says that the narrative framing provides a metaphorical three-dimensional setting for each of his up-close-and-personal tunes. “That way,” he says, the listener can “discover each song with a certain emotional momentum and focus.” The resulting experience creates an intimate atmosphere akin to a house concert.
Wilcox admits that the process of creating those narrative connective bits was itself a journey of discovery for him as an artist. “When I started to walk myself through the songs, it was like looking through a journal,” he explains. He found himself reflecting on questions: “What have the past couple of years been about for me? What have I learned? What have I struggled with? Where have I found my hope? Why did this song come? What is it trying to tell me?” Wilcox admits that in some cases, he found that his newest songs revealed depth he hadn’t appreciated until that moment.
Not surprisingly for an artist whose reputation is built upon the warm give-and-take that is found in intimate performances, Wilcox says that conceiving the spoken-word introductory pieces for My Good Friends (The Guided Tour) informed the manner in which he presents those songs in concert. Conjuring a reference from the not-wholly-unrelated discipline of stage acting, Wilcox says that he has always appreciated the idea of subtext, “that whole Stanislavski theater thing.”
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And he applies that “art of experiencing” method acting approach to public performance. “You know the line you’re going to say or sing,” he explains. “So you don’t need to think about that. Instead, you think about why you’re saying it.” Connecting with the meaning of a song as he sings takes him back to the thoughts and feelings at its core. “If a song moves me, it moves me because it’s coming from the place I want to go emotionally,” he says.
On occasion, if rarely, Wilcox writes a song that’s somehow too personal to share widely. “There are one or two of my songs that I don’t play,” he admits, “for the sake of the people who are in those songs.” But when it comes to opening up his own inner world, everything is fair game. “I’m happy to share anything about me,” he says. And that openness is a key to the emotional resonance of Wilcox’s music. “Early on, I came to this idea: If you’re willing to share almost everything, you’re vulnerable,” he says. “But if you share everything, then you’re safe.”
Like many touring musicians, Wilcox found himself with time on his hands during the pandemic. Some of that time was inevitably spent reflecting on the pros and cons of a life on the road. And Wilcox arrived at a decisive conclusion. “I love touring more than ever now,” he says. “And I think that’s because I’m doing it for different reasons.”
Some musicians are out there for the return on their investment, “for the get-back,” he says. “They’re investing their time and money, thinking that [touring] will pay off. They’re assuming that the struggle will eventually give them the success that will nurture their self-image and make them feel like this time of questioning, doubt and struggle was worth it.”
But Wilcox says that he never approached touring with that set of assumptions and goals. For him, such an approach would have represented “sort of taking out a loan on my self image against the future,” he says. “And pretty soon I’d be paying interest.” Instead, the David Wilcox brand of touring is built upon a fundamentally different idea. “I always wanted to make it so if I [knew I] was going to die next year, I would still choose to do this. It [would be] worth it just for now.”
In practice, that means that touring is characterized by an easygoing informality. “When I’m setting up a tour, instead of – for example – getting a string of hotels up the west coast, I just call friends and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to be in town on such-and-such,’” he says. “These people will come to the show, and then we’ll come back, sit and sip tea and talk about stuff, and then go for a walk in the morning.”
And that, says David Wilcox, “feels like community.” Because it is.
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David Wilcox with Jean Rohe 7pm Friday Feb. 2 Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz ($35-$45)
We are deluged with your comments about our article about the 59-unit housing project at the Food Bin site on Mission Street, which has no onsite parking.
By TODD GUILD and DREW PENNER
A man was killed in Boulder Creek after a tree crashed into his home, as winds pounded Santa Cruz County after several heavy rainstorms on Sunday.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff's spokeswoman Ashley Keehn identified the man as 45-year-old Robert Brainard III.
Deputies and firefighters responded around 3:30pm to a report of a tree that slammed into...
