Glitz and Glam are swapped with empty bottles and food wrappers in this upcoming Santa Cruz fashion show at The Rio on Friday.
Santa Cruz teens will take the runway dressed in recycled chic, embracing their creative expression through the FashionTeens program. In this program, students design and construct a garment over several weeks and present it in a fashion show open to the general public.
A Loofah gown, crushed iPhone corset, and soda can vest are some of the outlandish pieces that will take the stage. Every piece showcased will be made from upcycled materials, with the focus on sustainability.
Kathleen Crocetti, a Mission Hill Middle School art teacher, started the program 13 years ago, teaching students sewing skills and creative problem-solving. She is also responsible for having students make all of the mosaics over the bridges leading to downtown Santa Cruz and the big murals in Watsonville.
“We partnered with Goodwill, my students and I would walk down there, and they’d give us one item of clothing for free, then we would spend weeks and weeks deconstructing and remaking those items,” says Crocetti.
After crafting something new from the old, they would hold a fashion show at the school, displaying what they’ve learned. The fashion shows got the word spread, and FashionTeens took flight.
“We couldn’t hold it at the school anymore. We didn’t have enough space for the audience that was coming,”says Crocetti. “I would have 100 to 112 students participating.”
While Crocetti hung up her scissors and measuring tape this past June, FashionTeens expanded to include all of Santa Cruz County with Crochetti’s legacy living on. Thirteen schools now offer the program run by teachers, parents and volunteers.
Students in 6th-12th grades are given full creative freedom to make their outfits (as much as you can have for a school-sanctioned event, of course), and the products of their hard work are visually exciting and have social and societal implications at times.
Zuki Tanaka-Kopp,15, is in her third year of FashionTeens, and is jumping into the deep end with her piece called “The Poison of Propaganda”. It consists of a white bedazzled mini dress covered in circuit board shards, old wiring bent into swirls across the breast, shells of iPhones past cinched around the bodice and a computer mouse dangling around the neck.
“It’s supposed to be about the influence of not only TV and Social media, but the government using social media and TV as a tool for propaganda” says Tanaka-Kopp.
The nature of the show isn’t to sell to a consumer or show off the predicted trends of tomorrow, it’s to showcase the hard work of the creative minds and their influential messages. Gehena Rivera, 17, in her first year of FashionTeens, is working on her piece “The Waste We Carry”. A set of upcycled outfits connected by an umbilical cord of her trash has arguably more meaning than any high-fashion piece on the runway now.
“The concept of it is everything and nothing,” says Rivera. “ We’re all connected, which is both a positive thing and a negative thing”
Nyaumi Candelaria, 16, has been in the program since 6th grade. Growing up in the program, her eyes were opened to critical issues that her peers decided to cover.
“I’ve learned a lot from everyone who takes social justice approaches to their outfits,” Says Candelaria. “Everyone is so passionate about a different subject, and they all incorporate it into their pieces and I think that’s so wonderful that we can learn a lot from each other”
While the students turn their artistic visions into reality, sewing skills, and new subjects are not the only thing they’re learning. They learn social skills, creative problem-solving, confidence and eco-consciousness.
Audrey Sirota, Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education has witnessed first hand the positive effects that the program has on the children.
“Exploration of complex social issues, creative problem solving, which is so important in today’s world, and gaining confidence and valuable life skills,” she says.
“It takes a bit of engineering to construct because not all these kids can sew, ” says Tina Brown, a fashion stylist who has worked with FashionsTeens for 10 years.
Marley Bachtel,16, has been in the FashionTeens program since 6th grade. Her skill set has grown, both metaphorically and literally.
“I’ve learned a lot of sewing skills and crafting skills in general, but I’ve also learned a lot of social skills doing this,” says Batches. “With FashionTeens comes a lot of community and trying to navigate through social interactions.
FashionTeens highlights fashion as an art, mode of self-expression, and vessel for change. The youth of Santa Cruz gets to show off all that they have worked for this Friday, at The Rio Theatre.
Gliding across the California redwood, a 10-inch slimy and bright yellow slug has weaved its way into the 2024 California legislative session with Assembly Bill 1850, which would make the banana slug the official state slug.
A banana slug is a member of the Ariolimacidae family and can be found up and down the California coast from San Diego to Del Norte and, of course, Santa Cruz. They are most prominently found within California and are very beneficial to the state’s plant life.
The goal of recognizing the banana slug as the official state slug is to help preserve the species. By naming the banana slug the official state slug, California hopes to enhance education, appreciation and research of the banana slug, according to the bill’s text.
AB1850, authored by Gail Pellerin, (D-Santa Cruz), was introduced in January.
“I see this bill as a way of demystifying government and making that connection with civic engagement from a young age,” Pellerin said. “A lot of kids in our district and actually around the state have been really interested in this bill and kind of following it through the government process and the legislative process.”
All over Santa Cruz, the banana slug is a prominent figure; it can be found within the redwood forests and on the UCSC campus.
The banana slug is so sacred to the University of California Santa Cruz, that they have made it the campus mascot for more than 25 years, naming it Sammy the Banana Slug.
It is known by pronouns “they/them,” said Scott Hernandez-Jason, UCSC assistant vice chancellor of communication and marketing.
“I think this bill is another way to draw attention to the amazing biodiversity of our state and also at the same time teach people about why the banana slug deserves to be our state slug,” said Hernandez-Jason.
Unlike some garden slugs, the banana slug is very helpful, said nursery technician at the University of California Davis, Marlene Simon. “They’re almost kind of like the recyclers and composers of the forest. They’re the good slugs,” said Simon.
There are multiple species of banana slugs all ranging in size and color.
“You can find banana slugs all over the redwood forest and it’s really interesting because they eat a little bit of everything, ”said scientist Laura Lalemand of Save the Redwood League. “They’ll eat dead animals, they’ll eat dead vegetation and plant material, and they’ll even eat plants, but they do not eat redwoods.”
They clean up the environment as they go by nourishing the forest trees by breaking down and composting waste on the forest floors. Banana slugs can be bright yellow, brown, white and green. In Santa Cruz, yellow is the most common color.
The state tree of California is the redwood and around California the banana slug can often be found in the nook and crannies of the tree’s branches. They are also known to eat the competing young shoots that go against the redwood species.
Without banana slugs, there would be no thriving redwood trees and without the moist redwood forest environment, there would be no slugs.
“Redwood trees create this nice moist environment that allows the banana slugs to thrive and move around while finding mates,” Lalemand said. “Besides the moisture part of it all, all those nook and cranny places to hide and store food are what make the redwood a great habitat for the banana slug.”
The banana slug would join other state symbols including the state bat, the pallid bat, and the state mushroom, the Californian Golden Chanterelle.
New music, new moves, what better way to celebrate spring? NewMusicWorks and Tandy Beal & Company join together for an extraordinary coupling of music and movement featuring premiere scores by seven living composers, plus new choreographies by Tandy Beal—guaranteed to swing and surprise.
On board are world premieres by Philip Collins, Michael McGushin, Cary Nichols and Stan Poplin, and near-premieres by Hyo-shin Na and Matthew Schumacher, plus a vintage 1990s classic by Jon Scoville.
Hats, a suite by composer Jon Scoville commissioned and premiered by NMW in 1997, was written for clarinet, alto and soprano saxophones, violin, cello, double Bass, piano and percussion. Scoville’s luscious creation is described by impresario/composer Phil Collins as “a five-movement suite of infectious jazziness, celebrating styles from the Caribbean to Harlem. With dances choreographed by the one and only Tandy Beal.”
We checked in with local legend Tandy Beal about her ideas for this new and refreshed choreography. “The heart of the project is an insouciant arc of music that Jon made,” Beal responded, “funny, phat, boisterous, with one beautifully lyrical section. Each of these sections takes its name from a particular style of hat.” It all came about, Beal explained, since “we had all been hibernating through Covid. So I opened the invitation to some other wonderful Santa Cruz dancers to share the joy, to remember who we all are and, once again, to be able to share the skills we have. So these are new and tailored to fit the dancers and this music. Nancy and John Lingemann will do one of their gorgeous tangos to Borsalino, for example, and Karl Schaffer directs MoveSpeakSpin with one of his great prop dances with Jane Real, Laurel Shastri and himself.”
Beal said she has “updated a few repertoire works to delight people—hopefully! In these uneasy times,” she mused, “we need a moment to remember the bearable lightness of being, and that an ebullient spirit is what gets us through.”
Musically, this concert is filled with sizzle starting with a stunning piece by Philip Collins for two soprano voices. Another new work combines the incredible chemistry between Stan Poplin’s double bass and Cary Nichols’ electric guitar. Michael McGushin’s world premiere of The World showcases soprano, clarinet and string quartet. Satellites by Matthew Schumacher features piano and electronics. Domestic Counterpoint is a 2024 world premiere by Philip Collins, who describes the work as “a new octet, composed in memory of Judy Foreman” for orchestral ensemble. Many Paradises, a 2024 work by Hyo-shin Na was written for violin, cello and piano. And two more world premieres, one by Michael McGushin for soprano and piano, with text by poet Jane Hirshfield, and another by Philip Collins for two sopranos with text from a Sappho fragment.
And then the house will rock with the movement of Scoville’s Hats, illustrated by Beal’s choreography. The dances include Trash Can Lid, choreographed by Tandy Beal and performed by Keith Cowans and Jane Real; Skimmer, choreographed by Beal, and performed by Raina Sacksteder and Nicolette Kaempf; Mad Cap, performed by MoveSpeakSpin, Jane Real, Karl Schaffer, Laurel Shastri and directed by Karl Schaffer;Borsalino, choreographed and performed by John and Nancy Lingemann; and Flat Hat, choreographed by Tandy Beal and performed by Keith Cowans, Raina Sacksteder, Nicolette Kampf, Jane Real and Saki. Gorgeous stuff for all the senses.
Dance of the Living Composers Saturday, April 20, 7pm, Peace United Church of Christ, newmusicworks.org Tickets: $35 general; $30 seniors; $15 students.
Shemekia Copeland isn’t sure what to make of the Blues Music Award for Instrumentalist Vocals that she received recently.
Does it mean she’s the best singer in blues, male or female? Or was it another way to honor her after she’d already won 14 BMAs in categories from the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year (the top prize), to Album of the Year and Contemporary Blues Female Artist.
She said she was shocked with the award. “I feel like I’m more of a storyteller than a singer. The one thing I can say is I don’t sound like anybody else. My voice is different. That’s one thing I appreciate about myself,” Copeland said.
Widely considered today’s Queen of the Blues, Copeland is back playing shows this year, bringing her songs and vocals to fans around the country.
But she won’t be playing straight-up traditional blues, at least in terms of subject matter.
“In order for anything to grow, it kind of has to evolve,” Copeland said from her California home in a recent interview. “That’s kind of been what I’ve done for a long time—evolve and grow as an artist so my music can do the same. That’s very important for me.”
That evolution can be heard on Done Come Too Far, Copeland’s album from 2022, which is the final installment of a trilogy that also includes 2018’s America’s Child and 2020’s Grammy-nominated Uncivil War—records that find her reflecting on Black America’s past, present and future.
“It’s always been important to me to sing and talk about things that others don’t,” she said. “I want to be different and I want to talk about what goes on in the world. I’m very much trying to bring people together.”
That’s the aim of searing history-based songs like “Too Far To Be Gone” which addresses the Civil Rights movement with allusions to Rosa Parks, John Lewis and Martin Luther King, Jr., and “Gullah Geechee,” which looks at the ongoing impact of slavery.
When it comes to facing difficulties and having burdens to bear, Copeland believes people should recognize we’re all the same.
“It shouldn’t be ‘my ancestors went through something worse’ or anything like that. That’s one of the things that gets lost,” she said. “We should all be aware of what others had to endure and be sympathetic. Not just ‘screw you.’”
There are other topical songs on the album as well, like “Pink Turns to Red,” on which she decries the country’s gun violence epidemic, and “The Talk,” about a Black mother talking to her son about an encounter with police—something Copeland will soon have to do with her boy, Johnny.
Done Come Too Far isn’t all serious. There are also a pair of funny songs, a zydeco number and a torch song, “Why Why Why,” that’s a stunning showcase for her voice.
Plus, there’s Copeland’s version of her late father Johnny “Clyde” Copeland’s “Nobody But You,” which can only be heard as a loving nod to her past.
At 8 years old, Shemekia joined her father on stage at New York’s famed Cotton Club and spent her teenage years learning the blues and the business with her dad.
Signed to Alligator Records at 18, Copeland immediately became a blues and R&B sensation, hailed for her vocals, performance and personality. Her 2000 album Wicked garnered the first of her four Grammy nominations and 2005’s The Soul Truth earned eight Blues Music Awards, establishing her as one of the genre’s top artists.
With 12 albums and decades of performing now under her belt, the 44-year-old doesn’t feel like all that much is different decades after she began singing with her dad.
But she said she’s grown up.
“I love that. Aging has been the best thing that’s happened to me. Age and acceptance have been wonderful for me,” she said.
Perhaps the biggest change for Copeland came six years ago, with the birth of Johnny, who’s named for her father. She said wants her son to have confidence, to be himself and love himself unconditionally.
“I really want to make the world a better place for him,” Copeland said. “I want to be the best version of myself I can be for him.”
Her husband, Brian Schultz, who makes the new album on the semi-autobiographical “Fell in Love With a Honky,” grew up in Nebraska, in Scottsbluff. But she said the move has been great for her family and her husband, who says “he’s never going back anywhere it snows.”
Copeland is a steady presence on the live music scene, but maintains a schedule more akin to country acts than hard-touring rock or blues musicians, who commonly play five or six shows a week on tours that last a couple of months or so at a time.
“I don’t consider myself a touring musician,” she said, noting she likes performing on weekends, rather than being out on long tours.
“I love going out and performing. I’m a weekend warrior,” she said.
Rapper and producer Mak Nova, aka Mak Daddie The Prince, grooves and flows through a whole set before crowds even understand what hit them. With poetic—even mystical—leanings, songs like “Butterfly with Fangs” and “Walkabout” are a wondrous collision of vintage Afrofunk inspiration, modern hip-hop attitude and New Age self-empowerment. Nova’s latest single, “Oh Ah,” finds the rapper in quiet and contemplative territory, with a catchy melody carrying a message everyone can learn from: I make room for my inner child and get the scoop/and if she leads me astray/that’s just the way to the truth. ADDIE MAHMASSANI
Take a true story and add a great actor—that’s live theater at its most compelling. Steve “Spike” Wong’s performance is just that in his original play White Sky, Falling Dragon, based on his father’s life, Captain Ernest Wong, USAAF. After WWII service as a bombardier, Capt. Wong returned to his Watsonville home with a secret from the past. The tension between his obligations to his traditional Chinese family and his dreams for the future clash smartly in this cross-genre exploration. What does it mean to come home? Wong has some unforgettable answers to that age-old question. Fasten seatbelts and enjoy the ride—Wong is a brilliant storyteller. CHRISTINA WATERS
INFO: 7:30pm, Actors’ Theatre, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz. $35. 431-8666.
COUNTRY
LOVE AND THEFT
Country music is having a moment in 2024, and the Chaminade Resort is poised to make it more accessible on the West Coast. Their new series, called Nashville Nights, spotlights local favorites from that Tennessee city where cowboy hats and honky-tonkin’ are part of a regular night out. Nashville staples Love and Theft kicks off the series. They’re a duo of dudes smoking cigarettes, drinking whiskey and pining for the one that got away—aka all the things that country music is known for. They even opened for Taylor Swift back in her Nashville days! JESSICA IRISH
Known for her electric blues, gospel and R & B sound, Shemekia Copeland is a powerful vocal force. Her songs are chock-full of empowered messages on being an independent woman who understands the complicated truths about living in America, especially as a Black woman. Songs like “Ain’t Got Time for Hate,” “Money Makes You Ugly” and “When A Woman’s Had Enough” showcase her range of electrified emotions, not to mention her incredible vocals. As the daughter of Johnny Copeland, she hails from a lineage of musical talent, yet her songs are undeniably her own. It’ll be a night of dancing. JI
The Santa Cruz mountains are in musician Johanna Lefever’s heart. While life has taken her to Alaska and beyond, she keeps returning to where she grew up to find inspiration and renewal. Saturday’s show at Lille Aeske will be special, not just because of how important the region is to this adventurous songwriter but because she is gearing up to release a second album, a follow-up to 2009’s Restless Heart. It will surely be packed full of lessons she’s learned through her travels. Multi-instrumentalist Cassi Nicholls joins the bill for an enchanting night of clear-voiced song. AM
Earth Day began way back in 1970. Since then, the effects of climate change have gotten noticeably worse. So, it matters now more than ever that everyone stays involved in issues that concern the planet. (That should be everyone since everyone lives on this planet!) Earth Day is great for people to gear their priorities toward environmentalism, healthy living and sustainability. It’s also an opportunity to have some fun. In Abbott Square and Downtown Santa Cruz, eco-minded vendors, face paintings, inspirational talks, the Passport Program for kids and an “environmentally-focused” fashion show will add to the festival flair. Plus, local legendary band Coffee Zombie Collective will be playing the hits. Get inspired to be better stewards of our planet. AARON CARNES
INFO: 11:30am, Abbott Square & Downtown Santa Cruz. Free.
SUNDAY
FESTIVAL
SHLY SHLY FEST
As part of the Making California More Trans Than It Already Is Tour (#besttournameoftheyear), Santa Cruz’s dream-pop punks I’ve Never Been Here Before will be joined by June Henry (Kansas freak folk), the Reverent Marigold (Michigan possessed antifolk) and Pighati (sorrowful transfolk from San Francisco) at Shly Shly Music’s first Queer Folk Festival. Shly Shly Music is a new West Coast booking, planning and show promotion outfit highlighting queer artists and community connections. Of course, a tour lineup does not make a festival, so joining the previous four will be Half Calf, along with the Last Arizona, Stink Animal and the Bad Smells, Flat Animal and Rosiemakesjunk. MAT WEIR
INFO: 5pm, SubRosa, 703 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $15. 426-5242.
MONDAY
AMBIENT
LARAAJI
Hard work and productivity aren’t qualities usually associated with soothing, ambient music like that made by multi-instrumentalist Laraaji and his musical collaborator Arji OceAnanda. But the 80-year-old master of the electronic zither has turned out more than 50 albums of atmospheric, soothing sound since his debut in 1978. Studying Eastern mysticism and playing a pawnshop zither on the streets of New York started Laraaji on the path to becoming one of the trailblazers of the chill genre. Laraaji, who also plays piano and mbira, has worked with elite producers like Brian Eno and Bill Laswell. OceAnanda, a trained Reiki healer, joins in on iPad synth and percussion to produce the duo’s signature sound. DAN EMERSON
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $36.75/adv, $42/door. 427-2227.
METAL
GALACTIC GORE ’24 TOUR
Behold! Three of Earth’s mightiest galactic death metal bands will descend upon Santa Cruz for a night of organ-melting, face-hugging riffs where nobody can hear the screams (read: the back room at the Blue Lagoon). Atoll, Xoth and Atrae Bilis are together on one stage for one Monday that definitely won’t suck. Each band brings a brand of sci-fi-themed death metal, from drifting among the cosmos and galactic empires to postapocalyptic destruction. But hark! Not all is as dark and lost as advertised. Headbangers might find refuge in the songs of A Band of Orcs’ human subservient captives, Grimpire, as they sing about brutal battles, terrible times and their lord, Gzoroth. Ok, maybe “refuge” isn’t the right word . . . MW
INFO: 8pm, Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $15/adv, $20/door. 423-7117.
Activist, poet and music manager John Sinclair died last week at 82. He was someone about whom everybody concerned about cannabis reform, of any age, should know.
There’s no doubting Sinclair’s place in the history of American counterculture and the fight for legalizing weed, but for all the lore surrounding him, the best story in which he was involved (if only tangentially) is also perhaps the greatest story in rock-and-roll history.
Between songs during the Who’s set at Woodstock, Abbie Hoffman leaped on the stage and started ranting into a microphone about Sinclair having recently been convicted for possessing a couple of joints and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Hoffman called Woodstock “a pile of shit,” presumably because he thought nobody should be having a good time, what with Sinclair in prison and everything.
“Fuck off my fucking stage!” Who guitarist Pete Townshend yelled at him. What happened next is subject to some dispute, but in the most widely accepted version of the story, Townshend unstrapped his Gibson SG and thwacked Hoffman in the noggin with it before booting him into the crowd with one of his Doc Martens. That job done, Townshend strapped back up and moved on to the next song.
Sadly, none of this was captured on film (supposedly, the makers of the Woodstock movie were changing equipment or something) but there is audio of Townshend yelling. Hoffman always insisted that Townshend had hit him with his guitar accidentally, but there’s no doubt that Townshend was fuming. To be clear, Townshend also thought Sinclair’s conviction was unjust, but, well, at that moment, it was his fucking stage, and he has never been known for suffering fools.
Two years later, Townshend would release what many believe to be his magnum opus, the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” which can be interpreted at a backlash against the hippie worldview (which Townshend never fully embraced in the first place) or at least against the kind of groupthink and sloganeering that had by that point made the hippies insufferable to a good number of Americans, and not just the straights. But Sinclair was no mere sloganeer.
Also two years later, Sinclair would be released from prison after having served two years for offering a couple of joints to an undercover cop (he wasn’t selling them). His release was in part a result of the outpouring of protest his conviction had sparked, including massive rallies and a song, “John Sinclair,” by John Lennon (like Townshend, Lennon was something of a hippie skeptic despite being largely aligned with the movement’s goals).
Sinclair never stopped fighting for legalization. He was able to claim a kind of victory in 2019 when he became one of the first buyers of legal adult-use weed in Michigan. But a much bigger victory came in the Supreme Court in 1972. Sinclair, who was leader of the White Panther Party, was accused of conspiring to blow up a CIA recruiting office. Sadly for Michigan prosecutors, the high court ruled in the landmark case that warrantless wiretaps were illegal, and the charges were dropped.
Sinclair’s activities and accomplishments are too numerous to list here, but among the highlights: he managed the proto-punk band MC5 in the ’60s, hosted a radio show for years out of Amsterdam, worked on numerous anti-racism campaigns, and was a renowned and prolific poet.
His victory on the pot conviction was also a landmark case in that it came thanks to the Michigan Supreme Court declaring the state’s cannabis laws to be unconstitutional. New laws would be enacted before the War on Drugs reached a fever pitch, but soon after that ruling, Sinclair helped organize the first annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor, a pro-legalization event that continues to this day.
While “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was well-targeted at figures like Hoffman who were mostly all about self-aggrandizement, it’s important to remember that the movement also included a lot of people like John Sinclair, who walked the walk. His life also offers an object lesson for the many people who seem to think cannabis reform is the only important issue.
“The chapter of Honey B Market is coming to an end,” owner-operator Katie Belanger writes in a social media post. “I have been feeling the full spectrum of emotions about it, but oddly, [I’m] mostly at peace.”
Yes, that qualifies as a buzzdown for fans of her fermentation/natural foods hive at 1005 Cedar St. in Santa Cruz. But there is some good news (beyond the fact she’s welcoming in customers as long as she has inventory): Belanger will continue to supply local grocers with her Funky Bean brand fresh unpasteurized tempeh, and to lead classes on tempeh and sourdough (more at funkybeantempeh.com). Plus, we can always hope a cool tenant takes over.
“I cannot promise what the next chapter will look like,” she adds, “but I can promise that I will continue to create, from my heart, because it’s truly the best medicine for my soul.”
Other notable restaurants are also at various stages of ending and reemergence.
Legendary—and long dark—Bocci’s Cellar (140 Encinal St., Santa Cruz) is for sale for the first time in decades, listed price $1,199,000. “Own a piece of Santa Cruz history!” reads one real estate ad for the 3,200-square-foot Victorian.
Meanwhile, oceanview community favorite Palapas Restaurant & Cantina (21 Seascape Village, Aptos) has new ownership, including chef-owner Trent Lidgey of One Fish Raw Bar in Campbell. Remodeling for the new joint starts May 18. The incoming spot will be called Dos Pescados and work around a revved-up agave-centric cocktail program, raw bar and a new menu with Mexican-style seafood dishes like hamachi collar.
One more opening note: The debut menu at Hook & Line (105 Walnut Ave, Santa Cruz, eathookandline.com), which opened in the former Soif last week, (sea) stars elements like Manresa brioche with cured salmon, whole-fried local rockfish, bouillabaisse, uni toast and oysters. The gleaming rectangular bar area looks great too.
OTHER FISH IN THE SEA
The Pacific Fisheries Management Council decided to close the California ocean salmon fishery for 2024. Meanwhile the shortened crab season—which was limited by the number of traps allowed but served as a lifeline for local fishers—wrapped last week too. One opportunity that all inspires is to support area boats by shopping local and looking for less celebrated—and mighty tasty—catch, like rockfish, halibut and black cod. Get more information online at Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, where I’m a contributor. montereybayfisheriestrust.org.
GOOD TASTES
Not news: SFMOMA bursts with inspiring art. News to me: Its ground-floor restaurant grace (named after Grace McCann Morley, SFMOMA’s forward-thinking founder; 151 3rd St., San Francisco) does some eye-catching—and palate-pleasing—yummies like spring bisque “cappuccinos,” braised chicken pot pie, salmon en brioche and buckwheat kake-soba noodle bowls, sfmoma.org…Discretion Brewing (2703 41st Ave Ste. A, Soquel) pours $5 pints of a spotlighted craft brew every Monday, discretionbrewing.com…The Midway (1209 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz) is now open Mondays, dishing plates like ricotta-and-nettle mezzelune and chicken liver toast with fennel and hazelnut, themidwaysantacruz.com…Americans now put away 250 million pounds of avocados a year, up from 100 million a decade back. Not bad for what was once marketed as “an alligator pear.”…Like divinity professor Rev. Halford Luccock once said, “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra.”
Two weeks before the first Covid shutdown, Jon Bates and his business partners Jason and Keike bought the iconic Seabright Brewery and rebranded it as Seabright Social. Buying a restaurant/bar just before a pandemic was hardly ideal timing, but the popular neighborhood spot has persevered.
Bates had been working in wine sales, but said he got sick of “living behind a windshield.” Becoming a restaurant owner was the fulfillment of a longtime dream of his, especially in the Santa Cruz community that he loves.
It’s a community gathering place with a modern gastropub feel, family and dog-friendly with a beautiful spacious patio blocks from the beach. The menu is centered on upscale American pub food. Appetizer faves are the smoked and fried chicken wings and the charcuterie Pub Board.
Entrée bests include the fried chicken sandwich, shrimp and grits, and the carnitas or carne asada tacos. A warm-in-a-skillet chocolate chip cookie topped with gelato makes a great punctuation. Open every day, hours are 11:30am-9:00pm (until 9:30pm Fri/Sat).
What was it like buying the restaurant right before Covid?
JON BATES: The hardest thing was opening once we were allowed to in June 2020. Hiring front-of-house was easier, but it was so hard finding cooks because so many had changed professions. We’ve spent the last four years working hard to put the right people in place, be a real restaurant and rebrand, while also respecting the history of the Brewery.
How has the food been elevated?
JB: To start, we invested in a unique high-end oil filtration system that results in all the fried food being really clean. It allows us to filter and clean our oil often, as well as be eco-friendly with recycling it. And I’m so happy to have chef Desmond Schneider on the team, he has brought so much change to our restaurant. The primary menu hasn’t changed much, but the ingredients and purveyors we use have. His passion to make everything from scratch has motivated and improved our kitchen noticeably.
519 Seabright Avenue, Santa Cruz, 831-426-2739; seabrightsocial.com
The rains bring us grace. Outside, the plants bounce and grow, with glistening raindrops on their petals, leaves and stems. Back in the inside world, no one is droning on fearfully about drought on radio or TV news. The water agencies aren’t pushing us to conserve, and there is no water rationing. The reservoirs are full!
With the drought officially over in every county in California, it’s natural to think water conservation is, well, passé. But there are many good reasons to protect our water resources. Experts can’t predict the weather after 2025. Things could change on a dime.
Today, most municipalities in California prefer that residents keep rainwater on site. In the past, that was considered theft in some places. Rain was considered public property. Today, sometimes it’s even mandated to keep stormwater onsite. If we don’t capture rain, it flows into the storm drains and out to the ocean, taking with it car oil, trash, pet waste and other icky stuff. When that happens, surfers and sea mammals can get sick with bacterial infections.
The easiest thing to do to catch rainwater is to create a water-retentive landscape—e.g., mulch 4 to 8 inches deep. This wicks moisture into the soil, where plants can use it. Rain gardens, dry creekbeds, and infiltration basins all look like naturalistic landscape features, but they also capture rainwater, to the benefit of the garden.
Greywater was actually illegal until water activists started lobbying hard. In 2009, the California Plumbing Code was updated; for the first time, greywater became legal. It was a time of celebration. Greywater is water reuse, which ultimately reduces the effluent that spills into the ocean, polluting it.
Santa Cruz gets more average rainwater in a year than most of the state—about 31 inches of rain per year and well over 100 in the mountains. For comparison, San Jose averages about 16 inches of rainwater in a year.
The numbers are persuasive. For example, about 600 gallons of rainwater can be harvested off of a 10-by-10-square-foot roof during a 1-inch rain storm. That adds up to 18,600 gallons per year. You can harvest water off all structures..
How it works: Start with gutters and downspouts that are in good repair. Water needs to be able to flow through them freely, down into a tank. Some municipalities give out small 55- or 65-gallon tanks for free. They can be used singly, or daisy-chained together. Tanks should be fitted with spigots for accessing the water, screened lids to keep out debris, and overflow pipes.
In Santa Cruz, environmentalists had been putting in greywater systems on the down-low, until legalization in 2009.
Greywater can help a household cut its water use by nearly half.
Greywater systems require few upfront costs and few or no permitting hurdles.Nutrients from bits of skin, dirt and earth-friendly cleansers—which contain biodegradable compounds—are broken down by soil microorganisms and alchemize into plant food. (By the way, greywater is never, ever toilet water. That’s blackwater.)
Most homeowners opt for so-called “simple systems.” Laundry-to-landscape systems send wash water to the garden; they don’t require a permit and are easy to install for handy DIYers, who need to spend only $200 to $250 for materials. To have a contractor do the installation, the average cost is $1,500 to $2,500.
Branched drain systems divert bath and bathroom sink water by separating it from toilet water and then piping it to the garden. These do require a simple permit, which costs around $150 and is (or is supposed to be) easy to get. It involves a simple alteration to the plumbing of the bathroom sink or shower. They can be more complex to install.
Greywater works well with roses, lavender, and many perennials and shrubs. The exception is acid-loving plants like rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. It also is also suitable for edible plants, particularly fruit trees, vines and plants that are staked or trellised. Greywater should never touch the edible parts of a plant; it should not be used to water strawberries, root crops or leafy greens.
GREYWATER HONEY-DO LIST
DO keep in mind that there is not a single documented case of anyone getting sick from greywater. This is why it was legalized in 2009 when the California Plumbing Code was updated.
DO install a clearly labeled three-way valve (see picture), which directs water to the landscape or the sewer. The valve, which is necessary, gives you a choice of where to send the water. It is installed on a wall next to the washing machine, or shower or sink in the bathroom.
DO use biocompatible household cleaners, personal care products and laundry detergents that are free of hazardous chemicals, toxins, salts or boron. Bleach, other toxic chemicals, and wash water from baby diapers, should always go to the storm sewer, not the garden.
DO make sure that greywater is always covered with 3 inches or more of mulch, gravel or soil in the landscape. It should never be exposed, form a pool, or run off your property—that’s sloppy.
DO keep greywater away from playgrounds and recreational facilities, and minimize contact with kids and pets. Keep greywater at least 100 feet away from waterways.
DON’T store greywater, or it will become blackwater.
DON’T run greywater through sprinklers to water your lawn—it’s illegal. Plus, it will clog your sprinklers. Greywater is best for planted and mulched landscapes, not lawns. If you want to use greywater for drip irrigation, there are neat high-tech filtration solutions like Aqua2Use.
RESOURCES
The Environmental Working Group rates products on toxicity, helping inform consumers on which ones are safe for greywater.
Oasisdesign.net is the website of Art Ludwig, known as the godfather of greywater. It is the most information-packed website on all aspects of greywater, with all questions answered and greywater installation materials available for sale.
Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, Vols. 1 and 2, 3rd editions (2019, Rainsource Press) by Brad Lancaster (harvestingrainwater.com) is an inspiring and creative how-to book with great text and illustrations showing land-based ways to save water, such as through creating moisture-retentive landscapes.
Visit the Water Institute at Occidental Arts & Ecology Center in Mendocino County, where they give tours and host trainings. Or find a plethora of the latest water conservation news online.
The company bushman.com makes good-quality rainwater tanks in a wide range of colors, shapes and sizes.
Check if your municipality or water agency offers rebates. Look at the “Rebate” page on the websites for information. It’s an easy application process.
A woman walks toward me on Seabright Avenue in Santa Cruz. She is fastidiously buttoned up and well heeled, she carries a tiny dog, clearly from out of town. She stops me: “Do you live here?”
I say, “Yes, I do, ma’am. How may I help you?”
“Well, I love Santa Cruz. But I do not understand why everywhere I go in this town I smell skunks. I do not see them, but I smell skunks everywhere here.”
I nod, “They’re shy. They like to stay in the backyard.”
The pungent Skunk strain of cannabis is the legendary genetic building block of thousands of strains produced today. What most folks—even locals—don’t know is that Skunk cannabis was first developed and grown in Santa Cruz County 50 years ago.
It’s flying skunk, it’s a sativa high, it’s… a band?
I tend to miss the most obvious connections. As the ’70s ended, long before I heard that Santa Cruz was the epicenter of the Skunk cannabis growing world, I briefly served as a singer and guitar player for a country rock band called the Skunk Band. We opened for Larry Hosford.
When I asked the Skunk Band’s leader where they got the band name, he handed me a joint. I still didn’t get it. While I was too innocent, or rather too dense, to appreciate the name of the band, I did appreciate how I played my guitar on their pungent weed. My stint with the Skunk Band faded from memory and I forgot about them and their weed for 40 years. Then I met Wayne.
In 2018 I moved to Watsonville, in south Santa Cruz County, when I found a farm out in the vineyards that let me set up my Airstream trailer for a crash pad. I became friends with Wayne. Wayne would not stop rattling on about his frozen weed seeds.
At first it sounded like stoner-babble but little by little his ramblings about his seeds and some character he called Sam the Skunkman began to form a larger tale. I started researching the story of the legendary Sam the Skunkman, and Wayne’s story turned out to be true.
It goes like this: in 1978 Wayne bought 100 seeds of Flying Skunk from Sacred Seeds, a psychoactive strain he and his grower buddies loved. He paid $1 a seed to a guy named David Watson, who developed the cannabis seed strain in Watsonville, California.
But life happened and Wayne could not grow out the seeds. He read on the back of the seed package that they would keep much longer if they were frozen, and that’s what Wayne did: He froze all 100 seeds. Like Bilbo Baggins’ obsession with The Ring, Wayne never could stop talking about his frozen seeds.
My All-Encompassing Disclaimer
In researching this story of the first Skunk strain and Sacred Seeds, I spoke with three Santa Cruz seed producers from the ’70s about Skunk—and I got three different stories. All I know for certain is that these guys can smoke me under the table.
I have no idea if the controversial Sam the Skunkman is a genetics genius, a marketing genius, a benevolent scientist or a fast-talking opportunist. Maybe he is all of those. His story has become legend, and while we may each believe different portions of it, I take the legend itself as folklore of our times.
Whether you accept Sam the Skunkman’s story as Johnny Appleweed or not, we know he did create the first cannabis seed company in the country, Sacred Seeds. We know the seeds he sold in 1978 were called Flying Skunk, a strain that became the building block for thousands of strains we grow today.
He did evade the clutches of the law to recover his hidden seeds. And we know that the first F1 hybrid strain that preceded Skunk No. 1 was lost.
TRIPLE THREAT Sam the Skunkman combined Colombian sativa
with Acapulco Gold and Afghan indica. Photo: Sacred Seeds
Roots of Skunk
The legend goes that before he took his seeds to Amsterdam in 1982 and became Sam the Skunkman, our hero called himself David Watson.
Hmm… a pothead dodging the law to grow a plant that is a felony moves to Watsonville and calls himself Watson.
Why not? It’s elementary, my dear Watson.
His former associate Phil Noland tells me, in the ’70s, Watson used a tiny greenhouse, 10 feet by 20 feet, near Mt. Madonna. He combined Colombian seeds (sativa) with Acapulco Gold and Afghan (indica) seeds, to bring down the enormous height of the Colombian sativa plant and mitigate the odor to make it more grower friendly.
He also wanted to reduce the long maturation period of the pure Colombian strain. Look at the front of the Flying Skunk seed package from 1978 and notice the thin blue font that says, “Extra Early.”
After the police busted his Watsonville seed operation in 1982, Watson sneaked back onto the crime scene and recovered his safely hidden 250,000 seeds.
They changed cannabis history.
He took his seeds to Amsterdam to share with Nevil Schoenmakers of The Seed Bank of Holland, who used Watson’s Skunk No. 1 to make Skunk-based sativa brands that proliferate worldwide today.
David’s Skunk No. 1 strain was wildly popular in Amsterdam; he became the toast of the town and started calling himself Sam the Skunkman.
The Lost Strain
The first F1 strain that preceded Sam’s Skunk No. 1 is lost. The ancient landrace genetics are gone. Extinct. Unless some crazy hippie had a stroke of cryogenic madness, the first strain is no more, gone like smoke in the wind.
It would be preposterous to think that some nutso stoner froze the original hybrid cross. But Santa Cruz is where preposterous happens. Wayne is our nutso.
Wayne knows a lot about his seeds: “The intense odor of this first strain made us call it Skunk. The difference between these seeds and the ones that grow Skunk No. 1 is these are the F1 strain, the first crossing of Colombian, Afghan and Acapulco Gold strains. They are not true breeding (true breeding takes five generations)—these seeds will give you an array of phenotypes.”
Why Skunk Matters
What is this strain called Skunk? It is very high in sativa, which makes you creative, focused, inspired and happy. Skunk is not like the heavy indica-based dispensary herb that is so popular with young folks.
A 20-something turned me on to cannabis that looked like brown glass, a dab of concentrate. We used a blowtorch to smoke it out of a quartz bowl, at which point I renamed it Flat on My Back on the Floor Weed, because that’s how I ended up. I lay there, listening to ocean waves, and we were in Sacramento.
Sativa will not make you pass out on the floor. Sativa may make you dance on the floor. It may make you paint the floor. It may make you think you are the floor, but it will not knock you out.
I’ve got nothing against passing out, and if you want to do that, fine, delve deep into indica. It’ll make your body feel good.
But if you are trying to brainstorm what you could say to your wife about last weekend, Skunk is your junk.
Time Capsule Seed
In February of 2020 Wayne gave me 40 of his frozen seeds. We didn’t know if they would sprout.
I felt like Frodo putting on The Ring for the first time as I laid the seeds between damp paper towels on a plate. Are these seeds too old to germinate? I found myself looking at them throughout the day, keeping the towels damp.
On the third day one cracked open and a tiny white sprout appeared. Over the next two weeks 38 of the 40 seeds sprouted at an incredible germination rate. I put the sprouts in potting soil, and in May I replanted them into a hoop house.
One would expect the Sacred Seeds that Wayne bought in 1978 would have an array of phenotypes that express their Afghan or Colombian/Mexican origins, and that is what happened.
In Wayne’s hoop house, one plant might be squat and purple, with five wide leaves per stem that look Afghan (indica), and the next plant might be incredibly tall (I had to cut their tops off four times) with seven narrow leaves of a Colombian (sativa.) But the thing is the smell.
My Airstream is 100 feet from the hoop house and inside my trailer it smelled like I live with a skunk.
We were going for seed production, so Wayne shook the male flowers all over the female flowers. I kept trimming the tops. In mid-November we hung the plants upside down in a shed. And finally, it was time.
My first inhale did not seem to do all that much.
I inhaled again.
Pleasant enough, but I wondered if this weed works. Was the legend of the first Skunk strain bullshit?
I hit it a third time, deep. Then I looked at my guitar fretboard and could see all the notes like I was looking at a piano keyboard.
I thought of the Jimi Hendrix Chord (E7 #9) and a way to play it above the 12th fret appeared in relief on the fretboard.
I played with effortless focus. Would Aldous Huxley say that I had opened the “doors of perception”?
Happy Weed
After I started writing about Wayne’s seeds, Sam the Skunkman emailed me from the Netherlands and said that the famous Skunk No. 1 he made in the ’80s “was a 3-way hybrid of Afghan X Colombian X Acapulco Gold. These were true breeding (meaning the phenotypes grow out to have the same physical characteristics). The F1 strain that I made before that was not true breeding.”
So, one would expect the Sacred Seeds that Sam sold Wayne in 1978 would have an array of phenotypes that express their Afghan or Colombian/Mexican origins. And that is what we see; out in Wayne’s hoop house, one plant might be squat, with five wide leaves per stem that look Afghan (indica), and the next plant might be incredibly tall, with seven narrow leaves of a Colombian (sativa).
Wayne’s vision is that everyone who wants to feel great could start by germinating 12 seeds, discard the males and grow their six plants that the state of California allows. He thinks of himself as a holy man.
He is a holy man; he had a colostomy.
When he came home from the hospital I screamed like James Brown, “Whaaaow! Poppa’s got a brand new bag!”
Wayne and I sit on his porch smoking the flowers grown from his time capsule Skunk seeds and I ask him how it makes him feel.
“It’s the most creative weed I’ve ever used. You start laughing, talking, it puts you in a good mood. It’s more fun, it’s happy weed.
In high doses it gets psychedelic.” Combining these ancient landrace genetics resulted in a new strain that features the uplifting high and citrus flavors of its sativa side, together with the short flowering time, feeling of relaxation and heavy yields that are characteristic of indicas.
It was Jeff Nordahl of Jade Nectar, a cannabis wellness company, who named Wayne’s seeds Grandpappy Skunk. I stood with Jeff in the noon sun on his mountain top in Boulder Creek.
He turned to me, squinted and said, “Those seeds you gave me that Wayne froze in 1978 are the grandfathers and grandmothers of the first Skunk.”
I like to smoke it as is, but some growers are selecting the phenotypes they prefer, to access landrace strains that are centuries old, or more likely thousands of years old.
The way I have encountered this psychoactive strain again and again makes me think that there is something beyond coincidence here. In the end, the story of the Skunk strain is a circle that coheres—a circle of legend, genetics, of a place that believes in its own magic, and of our desire to open Huxley’s “doors of perception.”
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The pungent Skunk strain of cannabis is the legendary genetic building block of thousands of strains produced today. What most folks—even locals—don’t know is...
