Plus Letters to Good Times…
Meaty Matters
Overstepping It
Hate Speech?
Holiday Deadlines
This Memorial Day it’s all about the red, white and blue. But it seems the color green is just as patriotic. Sure, green building practices become more commonplace, but if we’ve learned anything over the last decade, when the push to become more environmentally aware reached a wildly high plateau, it’s that, individually, we have to take matters into our own hands. The locals spotlighted in our annual Green Issue have done just that—they took creative eco-tinged ideas and concepts and boldly ventured forth, hoping those ideas would make a difference in the environment. And they have. Meet this year’s Eco Patriots.

Editor’s Note: The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico dominates the headlines as this goes to press, which makes our annual environmental issue a fitting reminder that the call to be an eco patriot grows louder by the day. This year, we found a special group of luminaries whose work in the world somehow makes a positive difference in the environment. From the guy whose “hippie” parents gave him the high spirits he needed to become a titan on the Green landscape to the gal whose fashion designs curb environmental waste, it’s hard not to be inspired. Behold: The Eco Patriots of 2010. 
See also: Eleven Steps to Green Living in 2010 and Tips for Greening Your Business (below).

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What goes really well with meat and zesty barbecue? The answer is Zinfandel. This spicy, jammy wine is a fine match with just about anything barbecued or grilled and it’s also fabulous with pizza.

As my husband and I head over to Aptos St. BBQ one Saturday night, we grab a bottle of Sones Cellars Zinfandel, Central Coast ($26 from DeLuxe Foods of Aptos). Friends kept telling me how good the barbecue place is, so we had to try it. Being very familiar with Sones Cellars’ wines, I knew we would have no problem enjoying the Zin. Thanks to the expertise of winemaker Michael Sones, it’s a sure thing that the full-throttle flavor of a good Zin will be captured in every bottle.

Felton’s Oak Tree Ristorante merrily applies local ingredients to its Italian masterpieces
An ancient oak stands not far from a redwood forest. Its namesake, Oak Tree Ristorante, was recently visited by Danny Glover, or so I am told. I just missed his visit by days, but found celebrity just the same, on the white plates at this lively Felton restaurant.

Under the arms of this tree, where La Bruschetta once existed, a colorful border of roses and camellias shields a large patio from Highway 9. Protruding from the front door is a redwood sculpture of a shapely woman meditating cross-legged in the lotus position. I pulled on the burl girl’s arm, splitting her in half as the door opened into the bright restaurant where more beautiful burl had been made into countertops. The bright-eyed staff, conversing in Italian, was enjoying morning espresso from demitasse cups.

It’s interesting how the scent of morning coffee can transform the ambiance of a popular seafood restaurant into that of a cozy coffee shop. This was my experience last week as we sampled the new weekend breakfast at Stagnaro’s on the wharf.

The Marine Mary ($8) was a sight to behold. A pint glass of Bloody Mary was decoratively embellished with a skewered pair of prawns and two pimiento-stuffed green olives. Two red straws were cradled in the channel of crisp celery, and a large wedge of bright-skinned lime hugged the rim. I tasted both Tabasco and a hint of horseradish in this Sunday-perfect eye-opener.

A mixed bag of stellar acts shine at this year’s Santa Cruz Blues Festival
Music Festivals seem to be recession-proof—from the East Coast’s massive Bonneroo to the West Coast’s epic Coachella and the hundreds of smaller festivals in between—cash registers are ringing and communities are celebrating. And like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, blues fans will be swooping down to Aptos Village Park for the 18th Annual Santa Cruz Blues Festival on Saturday, May 29 and Sunday, May 30. Although corporations fund most musical festivals, in Santa Cruz, low back chairs and beer on tap are the frothy face of what is an increasingly rare locally owned event.

We’ve got a crush. On a bag. A purse. A carryall. Whatever you want to call it. It’s so pretty it makes us blush. Meet the Couture Pleated Purse by Lex Designs. We’ve written about its designer, Alexis Meschi, in the past, and gushed about her impressive frocks, but this time around, we’re smitten with her trio of cream, blue, and pink purses. The Couture Pleated Purse is priced at $240—but for a hand-made, stunning design, what else do you expect? We’re talking gorgeous here. Clearly, we’re obsessed. The roomy bag is four-inches deep, 13-inches tall and 19-inches wide. We’ve seen it in person and our favorite is the pale pink, with its rows of pleats and origami style flower attached to it. In any color, this originally designed bag goes with any outfit. Dress up jeans and a T-shirt, take it with you for a spirited shopping trip to the city, or use it to spruce up your evening attire. This bag is for the fashionista who clearly has something to say (and plenty of stuff to carry).

Couture Pleated Purse, $240, by Lex Designs, available at http://www.etsy.com/shop/lexm, or at Stripe, 107 Walnut Avenue, Santa Cruz, stripedesigngroup.com, 421-9252

MGMT isn’t pretending, just ask the president of France
Indeed, what does Brian Eno know? It’s not surprising that the members of MGMT liken their relationship to the English ambient innovator as a master/apprentice dynamic, whether or not they’ve ever actually met. In fact, the band even asked Eno to produce the aptly-titled track, “Brian Eno,” but were shot down because he hadn’t heard of them.

However, nowadays Brian Eno seems like the only person who hasn’t heard of MGMT, which will come to the roomy Santa Cruz Civic with psychedelic trio Tame Impala opening on Saturday, May 29.

For a lot of bands, there’s one definitive show that changes everything; an inextinguishable fire is lit and there’s no turning back. Call it something in the stars, call it the apex moment when all the hard work culminates into one triumphant display of maturation, call it Fate casting down her signal to say, “I’ve been watching you and I’m here to help.” For Santa Cruz’s burgeoning Hammond organ trio, On The Spot, that gig was last September at San Francisco’s Boom Boom Room. Three years since first assembling, having joked around from the start that someday Soulive would be sitting in the crowd at one of their shows, guitarist Danny Mayer, organ player Kris Yunker, and drummer Emery Nelson were invited to play—insert jaws dropping here—a Soulive after-party.

I think it’s long overdue that it should be abolished. It’s just plain discriminatory, pure and simple. And like all things discriminatory, there’s just no place for it in our society.

Ned Hoey

Santa Cruz | Photographer