Four years ago, Watsonville native Brando Sencion was working at a non-profit and brewing beer at home. When he and his brother, Kristian, who had been working in restaurants for over a decade, would hang out and talk, the idea of opening their own pizza and beer spot kept coming up.
Then words turned into actions, they worked on their baking skills and found a location. But before opening, they decided to make a pizza pilgrimage to the Big Apple to sample and become inspired by the best pies that the city had to offer. Upon returning home, they opened The Slice Project which Brando says has a classic neighborhood pizzeria vibe, with no-frills counter service set amidst a clean and modern ambiance.
They have on-site dining and takeout, and are open Monday-Thursday 12-8pm, Friday 12-9pm and Saturday 2-9pm (closed Sunday). Their New York-style pizzas are 19-inch thin-crust with classic tomato sauce base, headlined by the best-selling Pepperoni, Pineapple Express and the Supreme. They also offer a white sauce version with cheese and lemon zest, as well as Detroit-style pizzas cooked in a square pan with a thicker crust and caramelized crispy edges.
Give me the skinny on your signature thin-crust pie?
BRANDO SENCION: My brother and I pay homage to the best New York pizza that we could find. Before starting the business, we traveled to New York to try out different pizzerias. We brought that inspiration home, taking the best parts of the pizzas we tried and incorporating them into our own recipes. We are happy to be able to offer our version of New York pizza to our community.
Tell me more about the Detroit-style?
BS: The Detroit is a pizza that my brother and I first tried in San Francisco. The first time I had it, I fell in love and told my brother that we had to put this on our menu. The cheesy crust edges on the pie paired against the texture of the soft dough really blew my mind and convinced me that it was both really good and really different. It has become a classic and popular option on our menu, and guests often remark that it is truly addicting.
300 Main Street, Watsonville, 831-319-4851; sliceprojectpizza.com
On Feb. 15, 1989, while I was walking to my gig at Laughs Unlimited Comedy Club in Old Sacramento, the victim of an armed robbery positively identified me as her assailant. I was arrested for seven armed robberies, and it took the police 29 hours to figure out they had the wrong guy. While in hard lockup I learned how to con people, I made criminal connections, and I was assimilated into a gang–pretty much everything you need to make it in show business. This is how it happened.
The Haircut
I wanted a new look for the stage, an edgy look. The beautician cut it short with spikes and dyed it black. She added mascara and eyeliner, and I had the crazed look I wanted. She said, “You look dangerous.”
It’s my first night out with my new haircut. I’m in the basement restroom of Dos Padres Restaurant in Old Sacramento, two blocks from Laughs Unlimited. It’s 35 minutes until I go onstage and I’m getting up for my set. I put on mascara and eyeliner and throw punch lines into the mirror. I see a Planned Parenthood sticker on the condom machine and say, “I believe in Planned Parenthood. There is a right time and a wrong time to have parents.” I dance on my toes, warming up like a prizefighter.
“I am The Reframe Wizard. You can say, ‘California public education is 49th in the nation,’ or you can say, ‘Thank God for Alabama!’ ” Jab, jab, uppercut.
“How did I get so successful? I was a salesman going door to door selling No Soliciting signs.” Boom!
I head for the stairs but there is congestion, I can’t get around three big cowboys. They grab my arms and yell, “Don’t freak out! Don’t freak out!”
Who grabs a total stranger and yells, “Don’t freak out”?! I flap my arms up and down, giving all three a ride. It seems that three drunken cowboys are forcing me to square dance. Or maybe I’m in the hands of an organ harvesting cartel and am going to wake up with no kidneys. I try to remember if I had signed my organ donor card.
I yell, “Police!”
They go, “Yes!”
I yell louder, “Police!”
They go, “Yes!”
And I go, “Police?”
“Yes. We’re undercover.”
Oh, thank God they’re cops. I am so relieved. I figure it’s time to straighten this out, “Hey fellas, what’s up? I’ve got a show to do, I’m on in 30 minutes.”
They handcuff my hands behind my back. They walk me outside and stand me against a brick wall. I’m being kept from getting to my gig and it gets harder to breathe. It keeps getting darker, it keeps getting later.
LEMONS TO LEMONAIDE Richard Stockton mugshot Photo: Richard Stockton
That’s Him
I apparently look guilty to everyone with my hands handcuffed behind my back. Everyone passing by stops to take a long, hard look at what the bad guy looks like. (He’s got to be guilty. Why else would the police have him?) I have never seen people look at me with such revulsion and disgust, and I’ve played some rough rooms. I don’t quite get what is happening yet, but this is bumming me out, I need to be in an elevated mood to perform standup at Laughs Unlimited Comedy Club.
The cops bring forward a well-dressed young lady who stops 20 feet from me. She has mascara running down her face, my guess from crying. Her hair hangs in tangles, she is breathing hard, and she looks at the ground like she is afraid to look at me. My arresting officer tries to get her to move towards me, but she refuses to come closer. He asks her to look up, and she follows his arm and pointing finger to look at me for three seconds. I see her grimace, purse her lips and nod. “That’s him.” Then she turns away and never looks at me again.
I want to ask her, “Excuse me miss, what exactly do you mean, ‘That’s him’?” I do not know at this point what I am being charged with. In a perverted twist of double-blind eyewitness theory, all parties, both the police and the eyewitness, know I am the suspect, both know what the crime is. The only “blind” participant is me.
As “Sarge” reads me my rights, he tells me it is for armed robbery. I urge him to walk two blocks to the comedy club where I have worked all week. His youngest deputy says, “Sarge, you sure we got the right guy? He’s got all these comedy club paycheck stubs in his wallet.” Sarge looks at the night sky, takes a deep breath and says, “I got a positive ID.” He spins me around and hisses, “Gotcha!”
I’m pushed into the back seat of a police car by a hand on the back of my head. I’m not going to my gig, and I feel my spirit leave my body. The car floats through the streets of Sacramento, past buildings I have been in but now are strange, cold, distant. We turn into the rear of the police compound on 7th and H. Two cops walk me across the parking lot towards the buildings, stripping me as we walk. They take my wallet, they take my belt, everything out of my pockets, and look them over as we walk.
From the moment Sarge had said, “Gotcha!”, their attitude towards me changed from fear and suspicion to contempt. Police you meet in public are trained to be nice, in jail they treat you like the scum of the earth.
“It says seven counts of armed robbery. You? You committed armed robbery seven times?”
You’re In The Jailhouse Now
They take all my possessions except for my contact lens case and put me in a holding cell packed with 30 men who are in for everything from peeing in public to murder. I’m wearing a silk white jacket, a skinny black tie and makeup. Wearing mascara and eyeliner is not the look you want in jail.
Hours pass. The tank is hot with the smell of men, I close my eyes and doze standing up. Two men are talking, they’re here to stand trial for murders they had allegedly committed in Folsom Prison.
“Hey man, I hear they’re having trouble with the pool up at Folsom.”
“What’s wrong with the pool?”
“The water keeps turning red.” Har, har, har.
There is no easier way to learn how to con people than to go to jail, and I quickly get the hang of it. A six-foot six-inch skinhead steps in front of me, he has a swastika tattooed on his cheek. He pulls my arrest sheet out of my hands, tantamount to a bitch slap. The cell falls silent, they all want to know what the weirdo is in for. The skinhead moves his lips. I’m amazed he can read.
“Armed robbery. You?” There are murmurs of approval.
He frowns.
“It says seven counts of armed robbery. You? You committed armed robbery seven times?”
I shrug. “Who keeps count?”
Gasps of admiration. Everyone is smiling and nodding their head at me. I’m thinking, “I could make it big here.”
My eyes are burning, I know I’ve got to take my hard contacts off and put them in my carrying case, but I do not want anyone to know of my vision weakness. A place opens against the wall, I sit down and lean back. It takes me 30 minutes to take off my contacts by covering my lens case and removing my lenses with movements that look like I have an itch on the bridge of my nose. I get them into my lens case undetected.
They call 20 of our names and we file into a second waiting room where we are given a quarter and get to use a pay phone. I call my brother and explain that he’ll need to purchase a bail bond for $50,000.
I hear the big guy from Folsom Prison counseling a young man to not follow a life of crime, but to get out, go home and take care of his family. The younger man says, “But I go crazy when the baby starts crying at night.”
“Well, when the baby cries you get up and get it a bottle. You take care of that baby and do not follow me here. It doesn’t get better here.” I am fascinated by this jailhouse shaman, this wise convict counselor, and want to get a look at him. He senses me looking at him and spins around, his red eyes bore into mine. His glare says, “Fuck with me and I will kill you.” I get the message loud and clear and we never make eye contact again.
They lead us into a big wire cage for strip search. We stand in a circle facing the center and we’re ordered to strip. I try to get into a Gandhi state of mind, but I am so mad and so afraid that my veins stick out and my muscles twitch. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that I look like a homicidal maniac?
We strip and are told to put our hands over our cocks while cops with billy clubs stand behind us. One at a time we bend over to grab our ankles while a cop gets down on one knee to look up our ass. The kneeling cop tells us to cough three times. I think, “At last, I’m receiving the very best of Republican health care.”
I remember a joke about an inmate who had saved a fart for this moment, but I doubt it would get a big enough laugh to warrant broken bones. We are given uniforms; they’re like blue flannel PJs with white stripes, along with cloth booties and a towel. They take us to our cells and tell us which bunk is ours. This is a relief–the way to make time pass in jail is to sleep.
Saved By An Angel
I lay in my bunk and think of the guy out there who did the robberies. What if I’m a dead ringer for him? What if seven people take the stand, point at me, and say I robbed them at gunpoint? There is no solace in being judged by 12 of my peers. My peers are dumb as fuck. I’m going to convince a lifetime Walmart cashier and a guy who hands out shoes in a bowling alley that seven people who are sure I robbed them have it all wrong?
I fall asleep in my bunk, but even in sleep I still hear the sounds of the jail; steel doors slamming, voices shouting, canned laughter from a TV.
It takes the police twenty-nine hours to figure out that they got the wrong guy. I am saved by my investigating officer, Detective Allan Aires, an African-American man who takes the time to look into my innocence. As he grills me about my whereabouts for the day, I tell him that they have the wrong guy.
“That’s it? You’re just saying that you’re not the guy?”
“Yes sir.”
“How many times have you been arrested?”
“I’ve never been arrested in my life.”
“What? You’ve never been arrested?”
“No sir. Never.” Detective Aires spins away, runs his hands through his hair, trying to square my lack of a record with the charges of seven armed robberies. He shakes his head. “OK. I’ll check out your story, but if you’re lying to me, I will fuck you up.”
Detective Aires saved me. He goes away for 24 and returns to say, “I believe you.”
When the jailhouse cops begrudgingly take me to get my belongings for release, they are incensed that they have to let me go: “Guess there’s not enough on you to make it stick this time, asshole. We’ll be waiting for you.”
In The End It Was Hair and Skin
After I get out on February 17, I contact Detective Aires and he agrees to try to expunge my record. I meet him down at the jail and we talk about my case. He is deeply concerned about how I’m taking my experience with his department. He laughs, “You’re not going to be too hard on us from the stage are you?” Then he shows me a picture of the man they finally arrested for the holdups.
“Richard, you can see the resemblance.” It’s a Polaroid of a skinny Italian man with spiky hair. The only resemblance is our hair and the color of our skin.
Tell It To The Judge
I’ve been seething about my bust for 34 years and that’s why I was so excited to read about the new California statute, Senate Bill 923, that gives police and prosecutors guidelines to make eyewitness testimony more reliable. I asked retired Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge John Salazar how this new statute will help.
Judge Salazar said, “If a police officer arrests somebody, and they have a good sense that this is the right person, consciously or subconsciously there could be some bias in that procedure, unless it’s blind. If there is unconscious body language, nodding your head, tensing up, gesturing, leaning, you don’t want to take that identification, because once the victim identifies someone, typically they stick with it. In their mind they build up their assurances that this is the right person.”
I said, “But in my case, they did it right there, handcuffed. I looked guilty as hell.”
“That is why the new law is there, to minimize suggestiveness. The way the officers did it with you would not be allowed now, under this law, which wouldn’t eliminate it, but help prevent misidentification. Police can do things, like not handcuff you. That is one of those things lawmen typically won’t do anymore. It clearly means you’re a suspect. But just standing there, whole different thing. We want people to look like they normally do. With bias, where is your impartiality? Where is your ‘innocent until proven guilty’? You lose that.”
PROGRESSIVE TIMES Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge John Salazar. Photo: Ben Rice
What I Hope
Last week I told my jail tale to Santa Cruz defense attorney Zach Schwarzbach, and he said, “You are very lucky. That detective did not have to help you, many wouldn’t.” I often think about what Detective Aires did for me and I hope I can find him through social media. I want to thank him for these past 34 years of freedom that let me raise my children.
I hope we can help police, prosecutors and juries make “innocent until proven guilty” a reality.
I hope that the good citizens serving on juries study the science of eyewitness reliability to keep innocent people out of prison.
And for the 2,305,258 Americans who are currently locked up, I hope we can exonerate those who are in there for walking to work with the wrong haircut.
If you want to learn more about mistaken eyewitness identification, please visit www.californiainnocenceproject.org. A longer version of Richard’s jail tale is in his latest book, Love at the In-N-Out Burger, available at Bookshop Santa Cruz and Amazon.com.
It’s melting toward midnight on a recent Friday at Red Room Cocktail Lounge when the barkeep with the hoop earrings yells out a challenge: “Sing along with this song or we’re shutting this sucker down.”
Fortunately the song in question belongs to one Whitney Houston. Moments later a couple of dozen strangers are shout-singing, “So when the night falls / My lonely heart calls / Oh, I wanna dance with somebody!”
The Red Room was not a planned part of this after-hours action, but it’s not a bad place to end up. And while it might not seem to qualify as an eatery, that’s where the surprises begin.
Surprise #1: The Red Room serves food (!). OK, the one-item menu—on my latest visit the item being a turkey-harvarti-pesto panini made in the adjoining kitchen—isn’t extensive, but it’s not nothing.
Surprise #2: A tall, bearded man by the door is carrying a hot bag like you’d see with an Uber Eats driver, only built for walking around. Turns out it’s loaded with stromboli and other handmade Italian treats he makes at his food trailer and then hand delivers.
He texts me his menu, and it looks good—more stromboli, big burgers, hoagies, enchiladas, chef salads.But because he finds municipal and county laws on mobile .
“It’s a gray area,” he says. “Street vendors and food trucks are deprioritized by [local lawmakers] in favor of McDonald’s and Jack in the Box.”
He did add this: “Check out the people by the Catalyst.”
Cue the next surprise: The options there include not one but two good-vibe family operations with well-above-average food—staying open as late as 2am on the regular. Hallelujah.
El Buen Taco has been dropping anchor in the Catalyst parking lot for five months. Friendly owner-operator Jerry Velasco, a Scotts Valley High School alum and father of four, slings quesadillas, street tacos and a best-selling surf-and-turf burrito with carne asada and shrimp. I tried the other top seller, the Baja fish taco, and it proved spot on.
They’re there 6-11pm Tuesday-Thursday, until 2am Friday (and also hold it down in the Costco parking lot daily 9am-5pm).
Velasco learned to cook in the home kitchen with his mom, to wash dishes in a restaurant kitchen with his dad and knows why he remains in the game.
“I love making people’s day,” he says. “It’s a good feeling that keeps me motivated to do what I do.”
The other truck is Evil Wings, which dishes a prodigious amount of munchie-friendly fare: wings a la mango habanero, Buffalo, Asian chili, lemon pepper and beyond, burgers (Impossible included), Philly cheesesteaks, specials like quesabirria, crazy fries and onion rings, hard shell tacos, choco churros and zanier desserts and the Diablo Challenge, a dare to take down four muy picante wings in two minutes to earn six free wings, any flavor.
The operation is all Irene Lopez, her mom Irma Tapia, and her boyfriend Gerardo Rojo, a career restaurant chef — and each has a “regular job” to boot. (Irene is a nurse.)
On top of that, Lopez and her mom sell breakfast sandwiches, wings, burritos, tacos, tortas, fries, and nachos at Kitchen 831 (2890 Soquel Ave.) 6:30am-3pm weekdays.
Lopez loves the combo of character-rich guests and the chance to help the unhoused.
“You get a lot of different clients,” she says. “And we give the homeless food—we never throw anything away.”
I love that this up-and-down late night mission ends on a high note.
EXTRA SERVING
A buffet of nourishing nuggets: 1) Santa Cruz Restaurant Week cometh Oct. 18-25 with bargain three-course set menus; 2) Santa Cruz’s own Pescavore tuna jerky—perhaps the perfect protein snack—is now on the shelves at Wal-Mart; 3) The Pizza Series has a new logo from Jim Phillips of Santa Cruz Skateboards fame and a grand opening target of early November, mbcrfg.org; 4) Wilder Ranch State Park hosts an heirloom apple tasting Oct. 14—70 varieties, $5. Tasty.
FEL is a tribute to Florence Elsie Lede, winery founder Cliff Lede’s mother. Florence was a home winemaker who provided the early inspiration for Cliff’s love of wine. FEL wines are located in Cliff Lede Vineyards in Yountville, and those who have visited this remarkable winery know what gorgeous wines are produced there. It’s a stunning winery with a beautiful tasting room and outdoor area. We celebrated my husband’s birthday there several years ago. We had lashings of food and wine that day – all perfectly paired and delicious.
Cliff says FEL’s 2021 Anderson Valley Pinot Noir ($42) “bears the hallmark characters of cherry and chocolate with intense mission fig and cranberry on the nose.” It’s simply delicious.
FEL Wine at Cliff Lede Vineyards, 1473 Yountville Cross Road, Yountville, 707-944-8642. Felwines.com
ONX Wines & Vineyards
It’s hard to visit even a fraction of the many wineries in Paso Robles. But ONX Wines is now sending out flights of four different wines in a sweet little tasting kit. The kit I sampled contained Indie Rosé (Tempranillo), Reckoning (Syrah), Mad Crush (Grenache) and Caliber (Cabernet Sauvignon). Each kit contains information about each wine, along with food-pairing suggestions. I was mad about the Mad Crush, with its marvelous flavors of strawberry, fig, cedar and berry. And I went with ONX’s suggested pairing of a barbecued chicken sandwich. Delish! These beautifully packaged tasting kits are $65 and would make delightful gifts for wine lovers.
Made in Italy, the Valdobbiadene Metodo Classico Prosecco Brut is a festive sparkling wine that’s very nicely packaged. And from the Languedoc region of France are these reasonably priced wines: Domaine Jean Claude Mas, Cote Mas Brut Rosé; Crémant de Limoux, NV; Domaine J.Laurens, Rosé N 7, Crémant de Limoux, NV.
Where do we go when we die? Is it a magical plane of existence located in the wisps of clouds? Or is it lurking just outside our visible senses? Are we able to communicate with the dead and can psychics get answers to questions we were never able to ask? Can the dead try to get our attention with whispers and things that go bump in the dark?
This Halloween season, get ready for your skin to crawl up and down your neck, while watching The Thin Place.
The Actor’s Theatre, downtown’s charming black box performance space, is premiering its first full-length play of the season, The Thin Place. Written by Obie Award-winner Lucas Hnath, this spooky production opens, eerily enough, on October Friday the 13th and closes on Halloween.
Not only is this the first full-length play of the Actor’s Theatre since 2019, this run is also only the second production of The Thin Place in California. Directed by horror aficionado and MCT member Miguel Reyna.
“I wanted to direct this play by Lucas Hnath because it is a simple, yet unconventional piece of theater,” says Reyna in between directing scenes at rehearsal. “It’s a play that can challenge the audience to think about what is real and what is an illusion.”
The Thin Place asks us to examine our beliefs and whether there is life beyond this life that we know. And while you might not leave with any definite answers, you’re guaranteed an ethereal time.
The stage set is minimal, but the emotional range of the actors draws you in so closely, that anything else would be a distraction. There’s a reason ghost stories are told around campfires, but in this case it’s the stage lights that cause the goose bumps.
“It’s an intimate play that asks for an intimate setting and Actor’s Theatre is perfect for this type of performance,” says Reyna.
The Thin Place stars Jennifer Galvin as Hilda, a woman who is haunted by her own familial scars. Galvin’s voice draws you into the realm where things may not be what they appear.
Her counterpoint is Tara Micmilin as Linda, who recently moved from England to the states and is a psychic, or perhaps she’s more (or less) than that. Linda is confident, brash, and empathetic. Hilda is demure, with a story to tell.
Rounding out the cast is Linda Sarah Michael as Sylvia and Ward Willits as Jerry. Together, their chemistry is palpable and electric.
Hilda has been experimenting with ESP and other “demonic activity” as her grandmother calls it, since she was a child. Linda’s loud gregarious arrival is seemingly off-putting. Yet, her candor and honesty make her character sympathetic as the occult ripples through the room.
Live theater is unlike any other medium, far surpassing mere spectator entertainment like TV or cinema. While being surrounded by like-minded souls in a darkened room, actors create magic onstage that can be life changing. In the case of The Thin Place, it can also be frightening.
“I love horror because horror is a device that examines and exposes the limits of the human condition. Horror is the boldest form of storytelling, it takes risks,” says Reyna.
Speaking of risks, on closing night, Oct. 31, is the Gaelic festival Samhain, the night when the veil between this world and “the other” is thinnest. Will you take a chance and head to The Actor’s Theatre that night? Will you allow the spirits to envelope you? Will you ever be the same?
The Actor’s Theatre is located 1001 Center Street and tickets can be bought online at www.santacruzactorstheatre.org
Maria Gaspar uses jail bars, film and sculpture to challenge the prison industrial complex.
Chicago-based artist Maria Gaspar grew up a few blocks from the Cook County Jail, the largest single-site jail in the United States, with around 6,000 prisoners.
Gaspar uses visual art and sound to transform prisons and jails with the goal of creating a world without incarceration. Her first West Coast exhibition Compositions is at the UC Santa Cruz Institute for the Arts and Sciences (IAS) Gallery at 100 Panetta Ave. from September 26 to March 3, 2024.
GT: Tell me about Compositions.
Maria Gaspar:Compositions includes glass casts of jail bars from Cook County Jail that I sourced. There’s video footage of a jail being dismantled that’s 60-hours-long. There are photographs and works on paper where I hole-punched images of jails. I basically punched out jails and prisons in Illinois. There will be community workshops where people can come and punch out images of California prisons and jails.
GT: Where do you see your art within the larger abolition movement?
MG: I think about Ruth Wilson Gilmore, the Visualizing Abolition Project at the IAS, or Angela Davis and many others who’ve been working towards abolition for a very long time. I think about creativity and imagination. Art forms have historically been threatening to the status quo and it’s the first thing taken away in public schools. Art has this ability to radically transform who we are and how we interact with one another.
I think about abolition as a durational process with different speeds. At times you need an urgent response. And sometimes it takes time to give yourself space to unpack and negotiate relationships. So much of it is about being kind. All of those things are antithetical to how we are pressured to function in a capitalist society.
GT: How did growing up near the jail impact you?
MG: I think back to being a kid growing up on the west side of Chicago and seeing friends targeted by police. Many were also targeted to join the military. I’m first generation Mexican-American, so there’s a lot in my neighborhood we’ve experienced around immigrant detention, and we’re seeing that even more now. I visited the jail when I was part of a Scared Straight program. I had no idea what abolition was when I was that age! There was no conversation about what it meant to see people locked up in cages. I feel privileged to have the time to think through these ideas as an artist, but also as an educator and somebody who works in prisons.
EIGHTEEN IRON JAIL BARS
GT: You mentioned that you “sourced” the jail materials. How did that go?
MG: The demolition of a part of the jail was happening and I was filming the building coming down. A judge came by and we talked. He was taking photographs of the demolition. He returned 20 minutes later and handed me a jail bar as a memento.
Like, “Here’s a gift.” It was strange to get gifted a jail bar that has confined people and taken their lives away. I wondered, “Should I be holding this?” At a certain point I thought, “Let’s transform these bars.” I found out that the guards were informally collecting some of the bricks and bars. They were placing these at the entry of the demolition site.
So, I walked over and said, “I’m an artist. Can I grab a couple?” I did this for a couple days and at a certain point there were no more materials. The demolition was still happening but I think there was this tension like, “What is she doing with these? She might be up to something.” I was able to collect 23 pieces of debris.
TRANSFORMATIVE SONIC SCULPTURES
GT: Tell me about the music in Compositions.
MG: I’ve brought 18 iron jail bars for James Gordon Williams and other musicians to create improvised sonic sculptures. My new title for this is We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat, which is from the autobiography of Angela Davis. I think about what sounds and voices have been heard through those jail bars. And how music can help those materials be freed, sonically. It’s transformative.
This story is dedicated to Tamario Smith who died at 21 in the Santa Cruz County Jail in 2020 due to overconsumption of water.
The term “Americana” is awful because it encompasses so much but says so little. It’s the easy way out. The lazy man’s description. But when it comes to Bart Budwig, it’s hard to call him anything but Americana because his music hits every end of that vast spectrum. It’s part Steve Earle, part Justin Townes Van Zandt and mixed with some John Prine and Bruce Springsteen. His latest album, 2020’s Another Burnon the Astroturf has the soul of a rock album, the sunbaked dirt of a country album and the voice of a roadhouse jukebox. MAT WEIR
INFO: 8pm, The Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10. 429-6994.
FRIDAY
ART
FESTIVAL OF MONSTERS
Monsters are awesome! And they’ve been a part of culture as long as we’ve had culture. So this week, there is a 3 day Festival of Monsters in Santa Cruz. Much of the event is a ticketed conference, but Friday’s festivities are free and open to the public. It includes Unwieldy Creatures author Addie Tsai doing a reading and conversation, a Black Nerds Create panel, a keynote from author Mallory O’Meara on the topic of the Legacy of Women in Horror, and other fun stuff like a ceremonial opening of the Festival of Monsters and really cool exhibit at MAH. AARON CARNES
INFO: 9:30am, Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, 705 Front Street, Santa Cruz. Free. 429-1964.
JAZZ
CHAMPIAN FULTON TRIO
Twenty years into her jazz career, NYC-based vocalist/pianist Champian Fulton has long since mastered the crucial art of putting her own idiosyncratic spin on standards from the jazz canon. You can hear echoes of the singer Fulton has cited as a primary influence – Sarah Vaughan – in her richly textured, self-assured vocalizing. Earlier this year she released her 16th album as a leader, the “live” session, Meet Me at Birdland. She was last seen locally as part of Mondays with Kuumbwa, the weekly online performance series during the pandemic. On this trip, Champian will front a trio that includes bassist Jayla Chee and drummer James Gallagher. DAN EMERSON
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz $31.50/adv, $36.75/door. 427-2227.
EXPERIMENTAL
MARY LATTIMORE
Harp music is supposedly what the angels play, and it’s possible that Mary Lattimore is one such heavenly being, because her sound is certainly otherworldly. But her music is less lying around noshing on grapes in the clouds, and more falling through a mirror into a strange and unnerving wonderland. Her soundscapes are fully-realized explorations of various tableaus, with songs titled “Til A Mermaid Drags You Under” and “Horses, Glossy on the Hill” that evoke the precise sensations that those images suggest. Lattimore’s music is dizzying in its expansiveness, but somehow anchored by the depths it traverses. JESSICA IRISH
Local duo Maya McNeil and Ben Pearl—who comprise The Lilac & The Apple—have prepared a selection of spooky songs to celebrate autumn. Inspired by traditional music, the pair will resurrect age-old murder ballads, ocean laments and ghost stories at the intimate mountain venue Lille Aeske Arthouse. They also promise some original tunes and have plenty to choose from with their debut album, Waiting For the Light To Change, slated to be released later this season. With earthy sensibilities, sultry tones and talk of a costume contest, McNeil and Pearl are set to deliver a show worthy of the living and the dead. ADDIE MAHMASSANI
When asked about his band’s third full-length, Careful!, Nic Gohl said, “I wanted these to be interesting songs, but in a way where a two-year-old would vibe out to it.” Which is truthfully the best way to describe this Chicago quintet. Formed in 2014, their 2018 self-titled debut was described as “where Deerhunter left off” by Pitchfork. They combine post-punk melodies with modern indie rock sensibilities ala The Killers, for moody and introspective tracks that challenge anyone within earshot not to dance. MW
Born in the Midwest, Willi Carlisle now lives in the Ozarks, which he captures the sound of through his poetry sewn folk. The travelin’ troubadour brings a rare updated version of folk music, singing about the here and now in the same tradition of Woody Guthrie. Then there’s songs like “Vanlife” which grabs the honky tonk country sound of Hank Williams while singing about living in a van and eating at 7-11. His songs are fun–with elements of humor and touches of sadness, bringing a tried-and-true classic American style with the details of the highs and lows of modern society. He’s joined by Rachel Baiman, who’s latest album is all about American capitalism and the devastation it creates. Old Woody would approve. MW
According to NPR, säje is “taking the vocal jazz ensemble into the 21st century.” In 2020, the supergroup received a Grammy nomination for its very first composition, the tender and pensive original, “Desert Song.” After that auspicious beginning, the all-female quartet attracted an energetic following, with fans around the world reveling in the magnificent harmonies that happen when Sara Gazarek, Amanda Taylor, Johnaye Kendrick and Erin Bentlage sing in unison. Their self-titled, self-produced debut album is as much a tribute to the power of collaboration as it is a technical feat, marshaling intricate vocals and nuanced storytelling in service of female empowerment. AM
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz, 320 Cedar St, Santa Cruz. $36.75/adv, $42/door. 427-2227.
TUESDAY
CLASSICAL
JESSE COOK
Jesse Cook’s Libre Tour brings rhumba rhythms from his 11th studio album, Libre, to town this week. The composer has been exploring diverse genres through his life, studying classical and jazz guitar early on but later eschewing strict conventions to immerse himself in gypsy jazz and world music. His style has evolved into a genre reminiscent of the flamenco rumba one hears in Andalusia, but the musician has a note of warning: “If you go to Spain and you play [my] music, they’ll say, what is this? They don’t recognize it as Flamenco because it’s not, it’s a hybrid.” AM
INFO: 7:30pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz. $35-$55. 423-8209.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Indigenous Semai people of Malaysia have an unusual taboo. They try hard not to cause unhappiness in others. This makes them reluctant to impose their wishes on anyone. Even parents hesitate to force their children to do things. I recommend you experiment with this practice. Now is an excellent time to refine your effect on people to be as benevolent and welcoming as possible. Don’t worry—you won’t have to be this kind and sweet forever. But doing so temporarily could generate timely enhancements in your relationship life.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus author Shakespeare reshaped the English language. He coined hundreds of words and revised the meanings of hundreds more. Idioms like “green-eyed monster” and “milk of human kindness” originated with him. But the Bard also created some innovations that didn’t last. “Recover the wind” appeared in Hamlet but never came into wide use. Other failures include, “Would you take eggs for money?” and “from smoke to smother.” Still, Shakespeare’s final tally of enduring neologisms is impressive. With this vignette, I’m inviting you to celebrate how many more successes than flops you have had. The time is right for realistic self-praise.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I hope beauty will be your priority in the coming weeks. I hope you will seek out beauty, celebrate it, and commune with it adoringly. To assist your efforts, I offer five gems: 1. Whatever you love is beautiful; love comes first, beauty follows. The greater your capacity for love, the more beauty you find in the world. —Jane Smiley. 2. The world is incomprehensibly beautiful—an endless prospect of magic and wonder. —Ansel Adams. 3. A beautiful thing is never perfect. —Egyptian proverb. 4. You can make the world beautiful just by refusing to lie about it. —Iain S. Thomas. 5. Beauty isn’t a special inserted sort of thing. It is just life, pure life, life nascent, running clear and strong. —H. G. Wells.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): I read a review that described a certain movie as having “a soft, tenuous incandescence—like fog lit by the glow of fireflies.” That sounds like who you are these days, Cancerian. You’re mysterious yet luminous; hard to decipher but overflowing with life energy; fuzzy around the edges but radiating warmth and well-being. I encourage you to remain faithful to this assignment for now. It’s not a state you will inhabit forever, but it’s what’s needed and true for the foreseeable future.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The published work of Leo author Thomas de Quincey fills 14 volumes. He inspired superstar writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, Nikolai Gogol and Jorge Luis Borges. Yet he also ingested opium for 54 years and was often addicted. Cultural historian Mike Jay says de Quincey was not self-medicating or escaping reality, but rather keen on “exploring the hidden recesses of his mind.” He used it to dwell in states of awareness that were otherwise unattainable. I don’t encourage you to take drugs or follow de Quincey’s path, Leo. But I believe the time is right to explore the hidden recesses of your mind via other means. Like what? Working with your nightly dreams? Meditating your ass off? Having soul-altering sex with someone who wants to explore hidden recesses, too? Any others?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo journalist H.L. Mencken said, “The average person doesn’t want to be free. He wants to be safe.” There’s some truth in that, but I believe it will be irrelevant for you in the coming months. According to my analysis, you can be both safer and freer than you’ve been in a long time. I hope you take full advantage! Brainstorm about unexpected feats you might be able to accomplish during this state of grace.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran philosopher and writer Michel Foucalt aspired to open up his readers’ minds with novel ideas. He said his task was to make windows where there had been walls. I’d like to borrow his approach for your use in the coming weeks. It might be the most fun to demolish the walls that are subdividing your world and preventing you free and easy interchange. But I suspect that’s unrealistic. What’s more likely is partial success: creating windows in the walls.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): More and more older people are transitioning to different genders. An article in The Guardian (tinyurl.com/GenderMeaning) describes how Bethan Henshaw, a warehouse worker, transitioned to female at age 57. Ramses Underhill-Smith became a man in his 40s. With this as your starting point, I invite you to re-evaluate your personal meanings of gender. Please note I’m not implying you should change your designation. Astrological omens simply suggest that you will benefit from expanding your ideas. Here’s Scorpio singer Sophie B. Hawkins, a mother who says she is omnisexual: “My sexuality stems from an emotional connection to someone’s soul. You don’t have to make a gender choice and stick with it.”
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian author Mark Twain said that in urgent or trying circumstances, uttering profanities “furnishes a relief denied even to prayer.” I will add that these magic words can be downright catalytic and healing—especially for you right now. Here are situations in which swearing could be therapeutic in the coming weeks: 1. when people take themselves too seriously; 2. when you need to escape feelings of powerlessness; 3. when know-it-alls are trying to limit the range of what can be said; 4. when people seem frozen or stunned and don’t know what to do next. In all these cases, well-placed expletives could provide necessary jolts to shift the stuck energy. (PS: Have fun using other surprises, ploys and twists to shake things up for a good cause.)
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In Roman mythology, Venus was goddess of love, desire and beauty. Yet modern science tells us the planet Venus is blanketed with sulfuric acid clouds, has a surface temperature of 867 degrees Fahrenheit, and is covered with 85,000 volcanoes. Why are the two Venuses out of sync? Here’s a clue, courtesy of occultist Dion Fortune. She said the goddess Venus is often a disturbing influence in the world, diverting us from life’s serious business. I can personally attest to the ways that my affinity for love, desire and beauty have distracted me from becoming a hard-driving billionaire tech entrepreneur. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. How about you, Capricorn? I predict that the goddess version of Venus will be extra active in your life during the coming months.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Thousands of heirloom food species are privately owned and hoarded. They once belonged to Indigenous people but haven’t been grown for decades. Descendants of their original owners are trying to get them back and grow them again—a process they call rematriation—but they meet resistance from companies and governmental agencies that commandeered the seeds. There has been some progress, though. The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin has recovered some of its ancestral corn, beans and squash. Now would be a good time for you Aquarians to launch your own version of rematriation: reclaiming what was originally yours and that truly belongs to you.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I like Piscean poet Jane Hirshfield’s understanding of what “lies at the core of ritual.” She says it’s “the entrance into a mystery that can be touched but not possessed.” My wish for you right now, Pisces, is that you will experience mysteries that can be touched but not possessed. To do so will give you direct access to prime riddles at the heart of your destiny. You will commune with sublime conundrums that rouse deep feelings and rich insights, none of which are fully explicable by your logical mind. Please consider performing a homemade sacred ritual or two.
The Festival of Monsters comes to MAH at Abbott Square this weekend, and creepy décor is all around. As scary movies abound, we wonder, who are your most memorable monsters?
Kipp Van Vugt, 11, Student
“The first monster I once thought about is the Pyro. It’s an internet thing, like a creepypasta. My favorite is probably the Wendigo—and I don’t know who the scariest monster is, there’s a lot of scary ones—too many. The scariest thing was riding the Giant Dipper at The Boardwalk.”
Julia Testay, 19, Student
“I think my first monster was Frankenstein. Frankenstein is still my favorite, I like his story, and that it was written by Mary Shelley. I think the scariest are vampires in general, because of the way they prey on people.”
Ken Irwin 20 Student
“I saw a vampire on the internet when I was six—just the stereotypical archetype with slicked back hair. I kinda wanted him to get me. I was like, ‘oh, this guy’s suave, like, what do you mean it’s a monster?’ Zombies are just scary to me. My favorite monster would be the Thing, from The Thing, the alien, the shapeshifter.”
Katherine Morrisroe, 20, Student
“My first and still the scariest is the banshee! We listened to a radio program in second grade for Halloween, and it just terrified me. My favorite is Dracula.”
Denilson Pocasangre, 21, Student
“My first monster was the werewolf—in the Twilight movies. And Creature from the Black Lagoon, that would be my favorite monster.”
Suzanne Rudiger, 72, Retired
“The Hand, that was creeeepy. It was in the 1950’s, black and white. And it was just this hand that you never knew where it was, and it would crawl up like a gecko and get you. It’s still the scariest. My favorite is Sully, the big, blue furry guy from Monsters, Inc”
The group Housing For People cleared a big hurdle this week after gaining the necessary signatures to put their initiative on the ballot for the March 2024 primary elections.
The group amassed over the target number of signatures and filed their petition with the city of Santa Cruz on Monday Oct. 9.
Frank Barron, a member of the Housing For People group and retired Santa Cruz City planner, says that the results of their petition shows significant support from city residents for their cause.
“it indicates that there’s a lot of support out there,” Barron says. Barron recalls the enthusiasm for the petition as he went door to door to gather signatures in the run up to the Oct. 9 deadline. “A lot of people [were] like ‘Hell yeah! Sign me up.”
Santa Cruz City Clerk Bonnie Bush confirmed that the group’s petition had been filed and had obtained the necessary signatures.
“The number of signatures that we counted was 6810,” Bush says.
That is 3,100 signatures over the required amount, which Bush says is 3,693.
According to their website, the Housing For People initiative has two core goals:
To increase the affordable housing allocation rate to 25% within the Santa Cruz city limits.
To grant citizens a right to vote on new developments that exceed the city’s current height limits.
According to Barron, the group’s petition began circulating about 3 months ago, giving the group only half of the allotted time to qualify their petition for next year’s ballot.
“We’re just kind of taking a breath,” Barron says when asked what’s next for his group’s campaign.
The initiative is a direct response to the development in downtown Santa Cruz, including the city’s Downtown Plan Expansion, which would redevelop 29 acres south of Laurel St. 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. 60,000 square feet of commercial retail space, as well as a new 3,200-seat arena for the Santa Cruz Warriors basketball team, is also part of the plan.
City planners are looking to rezone for the expansion plan’s proposed development to allow for buildings up to 12 stories, about double the current zoning limits.
Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley is a critic of the Housing For People initiative, saying that the group has not gotten enough public input or support. Keeley previously stated that the group’s demands were “cooked in someone’s living room.”
“[Keeley] is not going door to door and talking to a lot of individual voters. He’s probably talking to people, you know, in his circle,” Barron responds. “I don’t know what he’s basing that on.”
When Keeley was elected mayor in January 2023, he attempted to assuage concerns over building heights by amending the plan to its current 12-story limit. He also recommended a net 20% affordable unit allotment, regardless of any density bonuses that would allow developers to build to the maximum unit and height limit.
Keeley said to GT that Housing For People’s demand for a 25% affordable unit requirement was “pulled out of a hat”.
Barron counters that claim and says the 25% came from an earlier recommendation from the city’s Planning Commission regarding affordable housing allotments for new developments.
“They went through this whole process […] and then they voted to recommend that the city council adopt the exact same thing. 25% for projects that have 30 or more units and it was never brought to the city. It was somehow cut off by city staff,” Barron says.
Barron does admit that there are many residents that don’t see a problem with taller and denser buildings. But he says that the aim of their initiative is to let everyone have a say in how they want new developments to move forward.
“We’re saying ‘democracy, what’s wrong with democracy?” Barron says.
My brother and I pay homage to the best New York pizza that we could find. Before starting the business, we traveled to New York to try out different pizzerias. We brought that inspiration home...
y positively identified me as her assailant. I was arrested for seven armed robberies, and it took the police 29 hours to figure out they had the wrong guy. While in hard lockup I learned how to con people, I made criminal connections, and I was assimilated into a gang–pretty much everything you need to make it in show business. This is how it happened...
It’s melting toward midnight on a recent Friday at Red Room Cocktail Lounge when the barkeep with the hoop earrings yells out a challenge: “Sing along with this song or we’re shutting this sucker down."
Fortunately the song in question belongs to one Whitney Houston. Moments later a couple of dozen strangers are shout-singing, “So when the night falls /...
FEL is a tribute to Florence Elsie Lede, winery founder Cliff Lede’s mother. Florence was a home winemaker who provided the early inspiration for Cliff’s love of wine. FEL wines are located in Cliff Lede Vineyards in Yountville, and those who have visited this remarkable winery know what gorgeous wines are produced there. It’s a stunning winery...
Where do we go when we die? Is it a magical plane of existence located in the wisps of clouds? Or is it lurking just outside our visible senses? Are we able to communicate with the dead and can psychics get answers to questions we were never able to ask? Can the dead try to get our attention with...
Maria Gaspar uses jail bars, film and sculpture to challenge the prison industrial complex.
Chicago-based artist Maria Gaspar grew up a few blocks from the Cook County Jail, the largest single-site jail in the United States, with around 6,000 prisoners.
Gaspar uses visual art and sound to transform prisons and jails with the goal of creating a world without incarceration. Her...
Twenty years into her jazz career, NYC-based vocalist/pianist Champian Fulton has long since mastered the crucial art of putting her own idiosyncratic spin on standards from the jazz canon. You can hear echoes of the singer Fulton has cited as a primary influence – Sarah Vaughan – in her richly textured, self-assured vocalizing. Earlier this year...
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Indigenous Semai people of Malaysia have an unusual taboo. They try hard not to cause unhappiness in others. This makes them reluctant to impose their wishes on anyone. Even parents hesitate to force their children to do things. I recommend you experiment with this practice. Now is an excellent time to refine your effect...
The Festival of Monsters comes to MAH at Abbott Square this weekend, and creepy décor is all around. As scary movies abound, we wonder, who are your most memorable monsters?
"The first monster I once thought about is the Pyro. It’s an internet thing, like a creepypasta. My favorite is probably the Wendigo—and I don’t know who the scariest monster...
