I have seen the future of rock, as Jon Landau famously said, and it’s not a performer, but a venue—the Godzilla-sized golf ball of a hall in Las Vegas, named the Sphere.
U2’s show there last weekend was unlike anything I’ve seen in my years of concert-going. The sound was perfect, the videos, which covered the whole of the dome, from floor to ceiling, were mind-blowing and it was the apotheosis of the art of presenting a concert to an audience of 18,600 people.
It’s the largest spherical structure in the world at a cost of $2.3 billion. It has what looks like a typo–167,000 speakers– and features the highest definition LED screen ever made. It has haptic seats and artificial wind that pumps pleasing scents. There is also enough room in the spacing of the seats to be comfortable and each seat has high speed internet, which you will need to blow away your friends with videos.
I almost don’t have words to describe the two-hour performance of the band’s “Achtung Baby” album, along with some greatest hits.
A few impressions:
At one point they turned night into day. The sun rose, the dome seemed to fall away and we were all standing in the Nevada desert. This wasn’t like some Disney trick, where you feel skeptically manipulated the whole time. It was a complete take over of the senses. The light, the images, the air…it was like a 4-D experience. We were out there together and had a great band providing the soundtrack.
Not only could you hear every instrument more distinctly than on the best home stereo but you could really hear every word singer Bono said between songs, as if he were speaking directly to you in the front row. How many shows have I been to where the between-song patter was more of a blur of static than genuine communication? And no performer was better suited to be heard than this Irish poet, who spoke about religion, war, faith, marriage.
There are few bad seats in the house (some blocked views under an overhang in the 100 section). The rows are steep and tough to navigate, but not only does every row feel closer to the band than in any other arena, but the visuals extend from roof to floor, and can be seen as well from the highest and furthest seats.
Since the Beatles played baseball stadiums where they could barely be heard, rock shows have focused more on packing the house than on sound, with the exception of a few acts: Pink Floyd; the Dead; Springsteen; Taylor Swift. But none has devoted as much passion to the art of large concerts as U2, from 1993’s circus-like Zooropa tour to 2014’s Innocence + Experience show, where they built a screen down the middle of the arena.
What’s the local angle? We are looking at building a new arena in Santa Cruz for the Warriors, which will also feature music performances. Let’s make sure they give us the best in sound and lights for artists, not just sports. This thing will be dated the minute they build it, but we should make sure they go for the best quality for sound and vision.
As for the Sphere (which is really only 80 percent round) I’m going back ASAP, even though the trip costs about a month’s salary. I’ve waited a lifetime for a venue that made musical magic instead of killing it and I need to see it again.
Brad Kava Editor
THE FUTURE IS SPHERE Two views, inside and outside. Photos by Brad Kava
Quote of the Week
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time” —Leo Tolstoy
GOOD NEWS
The Watsonville City Council in March will consider either shortening the crosswind runway at Watsonville Municipal Airport—or deactivating it altogether—which is the airport’s effort to meet Federal Aviation Administration guidelines and keep its pilots safe.
Either move would open up portions of the city for development such as housing and businesses, Watsonville Principal Planner Justin Meek said.
Included in the master plan update—which was paid for with a $550,000 grant from the FAA—is potentially lengthening the 4,500-foot main runway to 5,181 feet, reconfiguring several taxiways, improving airfield drainage and boosting security for the pedestrian and vehicle access gates.
Inside your loop pedal is a world that is entirely your creation; yes, sometimes you do get to be God.
Usually that means becoming a novelist, or inventing new math, or saying “yes-and” in improv, but digital technology has placed a record-and-overdub stomp box under the foot of every musician who dreams of a bigger sound, of layering soundtracks to create a world of their own making.
At Rick Walker’s Live Looping Festival this weekend, there will be 35 acts and that means 35 completely unique experiments with loop pedals; be it a funk groove, a wind scape, a wall of orgasms, ten part harmony, or white noise from hell. What would it feel like to hear 99 strips of bacon dropped into a pan of hot grease at the same time? What will the artists at Rick Walker’s looping festival ask us to feel?
“Looper pedals are devices that record parts of your performance and play them back for as long as you want them to,” says the website Swamp Industries. “Most looping pedals now have the ability to record multiple layers on top of each other and some even give guitarists the option to add in.”
Operating a loop pedal is intuitive; if you can tap your foot in time, you can stomp on the box on the first beat to start the recording. Another tap of the pedal will playback what you just recorded. Step on it a third time and you can record an overdub track.
You can keep adding overdubs until you reach white noise or pass out.
I pass out after way too much weed and way too many overdubs (I get loopy) with my guitar at high volume. In my own little world with my Boss RC-3 Loop Station and my guitar I sound like a band. I build funk grooves and rap at farmers markets. I have risen to the top of the bottom rung of show business.
RICK WALKER with LOOPERS-GUITAR. Photo: Dan Coryo
Victor Wooten Gets Loopy
Master of funk Victor Wooten sleeps with his basses and writes bass grooves with his looping pedal. His favorite quote is from poet Maya Angelou,
“People won’t remember what you said, people won’t remember what you did, they will remember how you made them feel.”
In his book The Spirit of Music Wooten says, “If I can grab you with feeling, I got you, then I can make you listen. That’s the power of playing simple and repetitive. By the third time through, you get it, and you’re lost to the groove and we’re off on our metaphysical, musical journey.”
Wooten says repetition is how we live, “B. B. King played the same five notes for seventy years and changed the world. Repetition in music creates the feeling of wholeness, the feelings that make emotional engagement irresistible. My looping pedal is one of my favorite friends to jam with, because the looping pedal never gets tired. It never judges. If you didn’t like the last line you recorded, you can erase it and re-record that line. You can explore this wild, wide realm of music in any way you want.”
The Birth of the Loop
“Repetition is a form of change,” says Brian Eno.
Looping was born from experiments on tape in the early 1950s. The name of this technique derives from its realization: to join the two ends of a tape to create a closed loop, without a beginning or end. Local guitarist and bandleader Rhan Wilson (Jazz The Dog) remembers his start.
“When I was 15, I had the original looper; it was called an Echoplex. It was literally a loop of tape, and I would play two chords on that looper and then practice over it for hours, practicing solos over the chord pattern.” A drummer was walking by, stoned on LSD, and he was lured into Rhan’s garage by his Echoplex and guitar, and they started playing together. Stories like this repeat in Santa Cruz over and over like an endless loop.
In the 1970s King Crimson founder Robert Fripp and master producer Brian Eno called their looping recordings Frippertronics. They taped and looped ambient sounds and recorded the 1973 album “No Pussyfooting,” an experimental work where the artists recorded on one reel-to-reel recorder and recorded that recorder onto a second one, adding guitars, creating a dense ambient sound.
It was not a hit, to say the least, but like other records, like the Velvet Underground’s debut, few bought it but thousands were inspired by it.
Frippertronics guitar looping master Michael Peters tells me he is looking for a new state of mind, a different sense of when time stops.
“It feels like everything is here and now, but stuff keeps developing anyway. I had a moment of realization when I saw how a fountain was standing still and moving at the same time. Computers let me experiment with searching for that clarity again.”
Rick Walker’s Live Looping Festival is the Space X of music.
Ringmaster Rick Walker
“It’s a way for one person to make an awful lot of noise,” says looping guru Robert Fripp of King Crimson.
Apart from all the pop, rock and funk of looping, there is a whole other universe of experimental looping, and that is what will go down at the Santa Cruz Actors’ Theatre Friday, Nov. 3 through Sunday, Nov. 5.
This is Rick Walker’s Y2K23 20th Anniversary International Live Looping Festival. It’s live, nothing is pre-recorded. There is one thing that I can promise you about the festival performances: they will be like nothing you have ever heard before. It’s live looping, the musical version of the improv actor’s “yes-and.”
Geekamighty! Is this eclectic, motley crew of nerds a cult? A subspecies? They all seem to know each other and support each other. They are not in it for the money, that is not possible. Maybe they’re in it for the digital facilitation of deep emotions. Maybe this is how we fall in love with our AI.
I asked the festival producer and ringmaster Rick Walker, “Who are you people?”
“I think we are cyclically rhythmical human beings.” (Rick beats the microphone against his chest to simulate a heartbeat.)
“Lub-dub, lub-dub… and when you walk places… dup, dup, dup, dup. We are bipedal, our planet revolves every 24 hours. We mark our lives by our cyclical revolutions around our nearest star. If you look at all the dance music of the world, you have parts that are played cyclically, we are rhythm machines.” I agree, thanks to the Catholic Church, practicing the rhythm method has produced so many of us.
“But why looping?”
“I’ve always loved drum machines, sequences and computers, things that were rigid, and alien, and then do things with them that were really human. That’s what brought me to looping. I have hosted 70 artists from 17 countries and they are all really in love with live looping.”
“Why did you name your festival the Y2K23 International Live Looping Festival?”
“I stole the name from Michael Peters. He made a project called MYY2k in the year 2000, making a separate audio recording every day for that entire year.”
“How did you become a looping festival producer? How did you get into this game?”
“I was lonely. I wanted to meet other people who were excited about this new technology, which was really brand new and affordable. So, I started doing small live looping festivals in Big Sur, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Menlo Park, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco. For a couple years I did that, I made these little festivals.”
“What are we likely to see at the festival this year?”
“We are a live looping festival. We don’t allow people to come in and just play loops and manipulate them like DJs. As a matter of fact, we’re very strict about that. We don’t let that happen.
“So, any loop you make, you have to make it in front of the public. You have to be a good musician; you can’t just be pushing buttons.
“When you’re a looper, you actually are doing real time composition extremely fast, improvising. It’s the exact opposite of Schoenberg. You have people who are very conceptual, loopers who come to play in the festival are very intelligent. Thirty-five artists are going to play this time. Every single one of them is different. The weekend nights I always save for the foreign artists because I want them to have the best slots. They’re coming from far away, right?
“We have Friday and Saturday night and the Headliners concert on Sunday. And then on Saturday, I have a special event the whole afternoon, it’s going to be a bass looping festival. Only bass players from 2 to 7 Saturday, including a lot of local loopers. It costs $25 a day to get in.”
For more about Rick Walker, check out his Ted Talk: TEDxSantaCruz: Rick Walker – An Interactive Presentation of Live Audio/Visual Looping
Some of the Looping Festival Acts
Bill Walker
Bill Walker – bro on the show Rick Walker says about his brother Bill, “He is a fantastic guitar player and has tremendous command of the technology, it’s like a symphony using one guitar. He is a tech genius and also a great slide player; the combination is magical.”
Bill Walker tells me, “Our live looping community is a diverse group of musicians, and what ties us together is this technology that we all use in different ways to extend our range to layer tracks. I’ve used a looping station in a duo that sounds like there are ten of us. I’m always creating loops and then stripping them away and then putting them back in.”
He also uses a Looperalative, a machine invented and produced by Bob Amstadt, another performer in the festival. These guys are so connected, they invent tech for each other.
To see Bill Walker in action, go to: Bill Walker + Violoncheloops Live Improvisation at Y2K18 International Live Looping Festival.
Michael Peters, layering with rotating wheels
Michael Peters
Playing deeply layered soundscapes, at times bluesy, at times Indian, Michael Peters has been looping even before there were loop pedals.
“I started experimenting with a “Frippertronics” setup around 1979, and used it on several live concerts. Eventually, like everyone else, I started to use the new analog, and later digital delays because they could create the same long delays without being as cumbersome and heavy as a pair of tape recorders. As wonderful as digital loop boxes are, the less-than-perfect sound of tapes seems warm and organic in comparison. In live situations, there is definitely something magical about the pair of rotating tape wheels. It creates a world, like sediments in geology, it contains some layers that are disappearing while new layers are being added.”
You can read Michael’s Looping History at: https://loopers-delight.com/history/history.html
Michael Frank, edgy to a point
Michael Frank
Michael Frank taps his fingertips in off-beat rhythms up and down the neck of his guitar, the rhythm counters the throb of electronic sounds, also made with effects on his guitar. The whole thing is like a meditation, a dark mantra perhaps. Frank, 66, was born in Gologne, founded the band The Absurd and has continually used loop pedals, playing at the first Cologne Livelooping Festival in 2008.
You can read more about Michael Frank at: https://www.y2kloopfest.com/2023/09/24/michael-frank
Joel Gilardini, not your father’s Swiss watch, more doom-sludge with digital accuracy
Joel Gilardini
Rick Walker says he is most proud to bring Joel Gilardini to Santa Cruz, and calls him the leading expert in the loop relative world. Gilardini is an experimental guitarist and sound designer based in Zurich, Switzerland. He is the mastermind of the experimental-doom-sludge project The Land of the Snow.
Sludge metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines doom metal and hardcore punk. Joel is a member of the noise-industrial combos Mulo Muto and Psychic Drones.
You can learn more about Joel Gilardini at: https://www.youtube.com/user/joelgilardini
Katie Martin, a woman of substance
Katie Martin
Katie Martin is a multimedia artist and songwriter based out of Alabama, with a unique blend of blues, folk, and soul that is immediately compelling.
Mixing hand drawings, photography, videography and prose, each album is paired with a collection of artwork in both the digital and physical realms so that the listener can experience the albums on multiple levels. She has performed in Live Looping and Songwriting festivals across the United States and Mexico.
As an artist whose work emphasizes introspection and growth, Katie’s songs have also been featured on the “Women of Substance: Music with a Conscience” podcast.
You can learn more about Katie at: katiemartinmusic.com
Laurie Amat, porn orchestra
Laurie Amat
Laurie Amat never actually got to wear the head of a giant Eyeball, but she did work as a backup singer for The Residents. Laurie Amat has been called “The Voice on Everyone’s Lips”. She explores the broad possibilities of voice, breath and body in live performance, recording and multimedia.
Ms. Amat’s approach to singing has always stemmed from the power of the voice as an instrument which conveys natural human emotion. The result is a visceral and sensual exploration, which continually challenges boundaries. Her recording and performance techniques have expanded to use electronic devices as sound-altering instruments.
Ms. Amat’s experimental checkered past also includes performances and recordings with The Residents including her vocal direction/vocals for the critically acclaimed “Residents’ Freak Show”, performed in Prague, CZ.
In addition to her extensive solo voice-work, she collaborates in a wide range of groups and performers such as The Reverend Screaming Fingers (Lucio Menegon), The Ambassador of Trouts (Adrian Gormley) and is a member of the Porn Orchestra.
You can learn more about Laurie Amat at: You Tube/Laurie Amat performs in the 2021 PVDLoop Festival!
Bob Amstadt, the Looperlative Creator
Bob Amstad
Bassist Amstadt was drawn to bass guitar and the new wave/punk/post-punk (now termed dark wave) 30 years ago and was mesmerized by what could be done with early looping technologies. He invented his own looping technology, now known as Looperlative, a breakthrough device used by some of the other acts in the festival. Michael Peters is using one of Amstadt’s loopers.
You can learn more about Bob Amstadt at: amstadt.com.
If Life Is A Cycle, Looping Is A Bicycle
The legendary Laraaji, pioneer of ambient music, says, “My music turns into wafting sound. The idea is to move faster than the mind can track, so the mind gives up and goes to a relaxed place and gives up thinking for a while.”
Rhan Wilson agrees, “It’s repetition, and I think that allows us to get closer to God. In a pattern we can meditate, we go deeper. African music is very repetitive, and that’s how you get the emotion. Rick Walker’s looping festival is so cool, all these different people are finding different ways to use this tool.”
Music critic Bill Kopp says, “It’s a tool we’re still discovering the possibilities for.”
Exploring the possibilities is the name of the looping game. Live looping has turned into something anyone can do; rockers, meditators, sound-scapers, even comics who build funk grooves to tell jokes over. There is a whole new world in that little digital box, tap your foot and it’s yours to create.
The Y2K23 20th Anniversary International Live Looping Festival will be on Nov. 3, 4, 5, at the Actor’s Theater, located at 1001 Center Street in downtown Santa Cruz. Tickets are $25 a day. For information about the festival, please go to: https://www.y2kloopfest.com/
What is the evidence, despite what nearly all economists believe, for the assertion that Santa Cruz’s housing market is somehow not subject to the economic law of supply and demand (as “Housing for People” promoters claim, and the Editorial Note repeats in the 10/18 issue)? No one expects more building of market rate apartments to completely ‘solve’ affordability, but it will affect it. Even without the required affordable housing, building new, denser housing frees up older, less expensive housing elsewhere for others. The “Housing for People” initiative should more accurately be labeled “Less, More Expensive Housing for Fewer People” given its likely (and possibly illegal) effects on our housing market. Santa Cruz is changing regardless of some people’s interest in trying to keep it the same forever (ignoring that they or their forebears changed it when they arrived…). Either it will become increasingly exclusive, or we can actively shape it to provide more housing opportunities for our workers and younger generations who otherwise need to go elsewhere.
Dan Brumbaugh
Santa Cruz
HOUSING AND SUICIDE
For many of us, November is the month of Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season. It is a time when people gather with family and friends to express gratitude and appreciation for the good things in their lives. Families celebrate Thanksgiving as one of the few days of the year they are blessed to have so many loved ones under the same roof. Those less fortunate may spend Thanksgiving in homeless shelters or the cold. A few may receive a traditional Thanksgiving lunch, but many others will go hungry.
November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. The purpose is to raise awareness for unhoused children and families and to educate the public on ways to help end thiis occurrence. Estimates say 1.3 million children under six experience homelessness in the United States. Over one-half of them experience depression and anxiety.
According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, approximately 550,000 unaccompanied youth and young adults up to age 24 experience a homelessness episode longer than a week. 43% of homeless youth are unsheltered. Many of them have experienced significant trauma before and after being unhoused.
The Jason Foundation is dedicated to the prevention of youth suicide through educational awareness programs that equip us with the tools and resources to help identify and assist at-risk youth. If you have friends or loved ones who are homeless, it is necessary to know the warning signs and risk factors associated with suicidal ideation. Knowing this information could be crucial in saving that young person’s life. For more information, please visit www.jasonfoundation.com.
Kari Faux is on her way up, and no one is going to stop her. The Little Rock-based rapper has bars, and she knows it. Think Cardi B, think Megan Thee Stallion; Kari Faux matches both women with clever lyrics, confidence, and sexuality. Tracks like “Leave Me Alone” will resonate with introverts who require personal space. Childish Gambino has already guest starred in a music video, and surely it won’t be long until the rest of the industry’s innovators snap to attention when they hear her name. JESSICA IRISH
This month’s First Friday jaunt in Boulder Creek will not be complete without a stop by Lille Aeske Arthouse’s latest exhibition: “Grim Reaper, Reimagined” by Caitlin Jemma and Aleah Pechthalt. Working across media, these two Washington State artists explore the human form and associated concerns surrounding sexuality, age and impermanence. Jemma’s photography presents a twist on the mythic Grim Reaper, taking aesthetics that are generally gloomy and making them glam. “The Glam Reaper,” she writes, “is our galactic mother who reminds us that we are all made of stardust.” On Saturday evening, she will be playing disco-folk tunes from her recent album, True Meaning. ADDIE MAHMASSANI
The Chris Robinson Brotherhood disbanded in 2019 after the tragic death of guitarist Neal Casal, but the band’s music lives on through the Santa Cruz-based Brotherhood of Freaks. A seasoned tribute band, this musical brotherhood consists of local greats Steve Sofranko, Mike Cross, Mike Johnson, Paul Garcia and Kyle Gorath. One part Rolling Stones, one part Grateful Dead, one-thousand parts CRB and a lot of heart come together onstage to create a big danceable party AM
If it’s possible to be too fun, Say She She wins the award. The multi-national trio of Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown converged in Manhattan after pursuing music separately in London, DC, and New York respectively. Often clad in funky black and white with bejeweled Gogo boots, these women are expert vocalists, crafting tight, shimmering harmonies that fuse R&B, soul, funk, psychedelia and, of course, disco. Their sophomore album Silver has received rave reviews, with The Guardian describing it as “infused with the wonky post-disco spirit of early 80s NYC.” AM
The man. The myth. The storyteller. Henry Rollins is a man who does what he wants and always has. He became one of the most recognizable hardcore singers alive after joining Black Flag in 1981. Known for his blatant honesty, fast-paced mind and insane performance style that threatened a bloody beating to anyone who looked at him wrong. He covered himself in tattoos back when that was a shocking thing. After Black Flag he formed the Rollins Band and continued being one of the hardest frontmen in music. More than that, he is also an author, an activist, an actor, an avid record collector, an even more avid reader, world traveler and the list just keeps going on. Basically the last true Renaissance Man. MAT WEIR
Nathan Hill, whose debut novel, The Nix, arrived with a splash in 2016, comes to Bookshop Santa Cruz to celebrate the release of his sophomore novel, Wellness. In Wellness, Hill tackles the world of diet culture, exploring the evolution of a long-term relationship along the way. The result is a moving meditation on aging, love, and the multitudes of human experience. His ability to span decades, as well as page numbers, has earned him comparisons to Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace. But those guys ended up as recluses, and Hill is on tour— seems wise to catch him now, before he follows suit. JI
INFO: 7pm, Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz. Free. 423-0900.
TUESDAY
HIP HOP
NONAME
When it comes to the world of chill, introspective slam-poetry hip hop with jazz tendencies, Noname is one that continues to change the game. She first gained notoriety in 2013 when she appeared on a mixtape by Chance the Rapper. She dropped her debut mixtape, Telefone, in 2016 to much acclaim. Two years later she released her first album, Room 25 to even further acclaim. Then, she pulled back, tweeting that her heart wasn’t in it anymore as she turned her attention towards activism and launched her Noname Book Club. The club has spread to 17 cities and focuses on members reading radical books by authors of color. However, it looks like Noname has returned to the road this year, first appearing at Coachella last April. MW
INFO: 9pm, Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $28.50adv/$33door. 713-5492.
INDIE ROCK
THE CRANE WIVES
Formed in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2010, The Crane Wives have encompassed the true meaning of indie rock. They play folk. They play rock. Their first album, 2011’s Safe Ship,Harbored was self-produced. If the name sounds familiar that’s because they took their name from the 2009 Decemberists’ album, The Crane Wife. In the past 13 years The Crane Wives have released six studio albums, and three live ones including one recorded during the lockdown in true indie rock fashion. This Tuesday, Felton Music Hall, nestled among the redwood groves, will be the perfect venue for their rootsy sound. MW
Chef Jessica Yarr knows how to cook up a good time.
Santa Cruzers familiar with her Chicken Foot pop-up downtown have known this for a while. Now the gentle people of Felton, where she came of age at her parents’ Bigfoot Discovery Museum and recently opened The Grove Cafe + Bakery, are learning that in full-flavored ways.
As of late last week, national audiences got their own serving.
Last Thursday and Friday, Yarr appeared on Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay.” After she took down fellow chef Matthew Zafrir in a qualifying cookoff—surprise ingredient: white asparagus—she picked the food item she wanted to outcook Flay on: pierogies, a nod to both her grandmothers’ heritage.
Before Yarr v. Flay, show co-host/celeb chef Anne Burrell—an alum of Pebble Beach Food & Wine, which returns in 2024 after several years dark—yelled something like, Be warned! adding, “Flay is short for flavor!”
Yarr didn’t flinch. “Yarr is short for Y’are going down!”
While I didn’t taste their creations, it’s hard to believe the judges got it right in voting Flay victorious, especially if authenticity matters. (Flay’s take looked more empanada than anything.)
Meanwhile, Yarr featured pierogies as a special in Felton last weekend, where fresh pop-up events, expanded hours, local wine and craft beer represent new updates.
New hours are 8am-4pm Tuesday-Thursday, 8am-6pm Friday-Saturday (with 3-5 pm happy hour) and 8am-3pm Sunday brunch. Nov. 10, a four-course vegan tasting menu featuring Goldmine Adaptogens arrives, and feels like a winner.
thegrovefelton.com
REALLY DOUGH
One kitchen door closes, another opens: Reef Dog Deli is done in Capitola, but a promising new occupant opens this month. La Marea Café (marea meaning “tide” in Italian) will star Detroit-style pizzas, salads and seasonal specials from Westside Farmers Market darling Jayne Dough (aka Jayne Droese), plus fresh coffee from Syllable Coffee, sourdough bagels and other breakfast goodies. jaynedoughpizza.com
SIPPY TRIPPY
Sunday, Nov. 12, Downtown Wine Walk’s fall edition drops tasting stations at an archipelago of retailers. Given the roster of participating wineries—including Big Basin Vineyard, Raffaelli Vineyards, Doon To Earth, Random Ridge, Lago Lomita Vineyards, Inversion Wines, Roudon-Smith Winery, Bargetto Winery, Birichino, Stirm Wine Co., Rexford Winery and Windy Oaks Estate—the $45 passport presents sturdy value. downtownsantacruz.com
KEEP IT COMING
Turbo news nibbles: 1) Santa Cruz’s own Cruz Foam—the crew behind a Styrofoam alternative crafted from shrimp shells that’s handy for food handling—just earned a nod as one of Time Magazine‘s Best Inventions of 2023 for Cruz Cool, a proprietary cooler made from the same stuff; 2) Big Sur Food & Wine takes flight (and pours flights) this weekend, Nov. 2-4, bigsurfoodandwine.org; 3) Winemaker Mark Bright’s bespoke Saison Cellar & Wine Bar is officially open in Scotts Valley, saisoncellar.com.
Ratana Bowden grew up working in her family’s restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, before moving on to a corporate job in electronics. She married an American and moved to Santa Cruz 17 years back. After taking time to enjoy living in the United States, she found herself wanting to open a Thai restaurant here. In 2012 when she was offered ownership of Real Thai Kitchen. The menu is classic Thai food based on passed-down family recipes. Egg and spring rolls, chicken satay and lettuce wraps highlight the starters, and they have wonderful Thai soups like hot and sour, tom kha, ginger and wonton. The papaya salad, a favorite both here and in Thailand, is another can’t-miss item. The noodle dishes are headlined by a traditional pad Thai as well as pad see ew, with choice of proteins. Also, almost every dish on the menu can be made vegetarian or vegan. The crowd-pleaser dessert is another classic favorite: mango sticky rice with coconut milk. Hours are 11am-2:30pm and 5-9pm on weekdays (until 9:30pm Fri), and 12-9:30pm on Sat/Sun.
What are the four “S’s” of Thai cuisine?
RATANA BOWDEN: Salty, sweet, sour and spicy. Some dishes have all four, but many dishes have only two to three. When you eat Thai food, the taste is not boring because all these flavors combine and are fun to eat. And a common misconception is that all Thai food is spicy. But sometimes, it’s not, and even when it is, the spice is balanced by other flavors. And Thai food is also fun because it is shareable with everyone else at the table, and is meant to be enjoyed this way so that guests can try many different dishes.
What is your vision for Real Thai Kitchen?
RB: I want it to be like a second kitchen for our guests when they don’t feel like cooking. That’s one reason why our food isn’t expensive and we focus on making it very affordable. When people eat at the restaurant, I want them to feel like they are eating at home and feel very comfortable, and we always try our best to give great service.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Our bodies sometimes serve as the symbolic ground where order and disorder fight for supremacy,” writes storyteller Caroline Kettlewell. Here’s good news, Aries: For you, order will triumph over disorder in the coming weeks. In part through your willpower and in part through life’s grace, you will tame the forces of chaos and enjoy a phase when most everything makes sense. I don’t mean you will have zero problems, but I suspect you will have an enhanced power to solve problems. Your mind and heart will coordinate their efforts with exceptional flair.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I recently endured a three-hour root canal. Terrible and unfortunate, right? No! Because it brought profound joy. The endodontist gave me nitrous oxide, and the resulting euphoria unleashed a wild epiphany. For the duration of the surgery, I had vivid visions of all the people in my life who love me. I felt their care. I was overwhelmed with the kindness they felt for me. Never before had I been blessed with such a blissful gift. Now, in accordance with your astrological omens, I invite you to induce a similar experience—no nitrous oxide needed. It’s a perfect time to meditate on how well you are appreciated and needed and cherished.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Unless you are very unusual, you don’t sew your clothes or grow your food. You didn’t build your house, make your furniture, or forge your cooking utensils. Like most of us, you know little about how water and electricity arrive for your use. Do you have any notion of what your grandparents were doing when they were your age? Have you said a prayer of gratitude recently for the people who have given you so much? I don’t mean to put you on the spot with my questions, Gemini. I’m merely hoping to inspire you to get into closer connection with everything that nourishes and sustains you. Honor the sources of your energy. Pay homage to your foundations.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega has had a modest but sustained career. With nine albums, she has sold over three million records, but is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has said, “I always thought that if I were popular, I must be doing something wrong.” I interpret that to mean she has sought to remain faithful to her idiosyncratic creativity and not pay homage to formulaic success. But here’s the good news for you in the coming months, fellow Cancerian: You can be more appreciated than ever before simply by being true to your soul’s inclinations and urges.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Everything in the world has a hidden meaning,” wrote Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis. Did he really mean everything? Your dream last night, your taste in shoes, your favorite TV show, the way you laugh? As a fun experiment, let’s say that yes, everything has a hidden meaning. Let’s also hypothesize that the current astrological omens suggest you now have a special talent for discerning veiled and camouflaged truths. We will further propose that you have an extraordinary power to penetrate beyond surface appearances and home in on previously unknown and invisible realities. Do you have the courage and determination to go deeper than you have ever dared? I believe you do.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): How many glowworms would have to gather in one location to make a light as bright as the sun? Probably over a trillion. And how many ants would be required to carry away a 15-pound basket of food? I’m guessing over 90,000. Luckily for you, the cumulative small efforts you need to perform so as to accomplish big breakthroughs won’t be nearly that high a number. For instance, you may be able to take a quantum leap after just six baby steps.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In the 17th century, John Milton wrote a long narrative poem titled Paradise Lost. I’ve never read it and am conflicted about the prospect of doing so. On one hand, I feel I should engage with a work that has had such a potent influence on Western philosophy and literature. On the other hand, I’m barely interested in Milton’s story, which includes boring conversations between God and Satan and the dreary tale of how God cruelly exiled humans from paradise because the first man, Adam, was mildly rebellious. So what should I do? I’ve decided to read the Cliffs Notes study guide about Paradise Lost, a brief summary of the story. In accordance with astrological omens, I suggest you call on similar shortcuts, Libra. Here’s your motto: if you can’t do the completely right thing, try the partially right thing.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Who would have guessed that elephants can play the drums really well? On a trip to Thailand, Scorpio musician Dave Soldier discovered that if given sticks and drums, some elephants kept a steadier beat than humans. A few were so talented that Soldier recorded their rhythms and played them for a music critic who couldn’t tell they were created by animals. In accordance with astrological omens, I propose that you Scorpios seek out comparable amazements. You now have the potential to make unprecedented discoveries.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian novelist Shirley Jackson wrote, “No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids dream.” Since she wrote that, scientists have gathered evidence that almost all animals dream and that dreaming originated at least 300 million years ago. With that as our inspiration and in accordance with astrological omens, I urge you to enjoy an intense period of tapping into your dreams. To do so will help you escape from absolute reality. It will also improve your physical and mental health and give you unexpected clues about how to solve problems.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn writer Kahlil Gibran believed an essential human longing is to be revealed. We all want the light in us to be taken out of its hiding place and shown. If his idea is true about you, you will experience major cascades of gratification in the coming months. I believe you will be extra expressive. And you will encounter more people than ever before who are interested in knowing what you have to express. To prepare for the probable breakthroughs, investigate whether you harbor any fears or inhibitions about being revealed—and dissolve them.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): November is Build Up Your Confidence Month. In the coming weeks, you are authorized to snag easy victories as you steadily bolster your courage to seek bigger, bolder triumphs. As much as possible, put yourself in the vicinity of people who respect you and like you. If you suspect you have secret admirers, encourage them to be less secretive. Do you have plaques, medals, or trophies? Display them prominently. Or visit a trophy store and have new awards made for you to commemorate your unique skills—like thinking wild thoughts, pulling off one-of-a-kind adventures, and inspiring your friends to rebel against their habits.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’m glad we have an abundance of teachers helping us learn how to be here now—to focus on the present moment with gratitude and grace. I love the fact that books on the art of mindfulness are now almost as common as books about cats and cooking. Yay! But I also want to advocate for the importance of letting our minds wander freely. We need to celebrate the value and power of NOT always being narrowly zeroed in on the here and now. We can’t make intelligent decisions unless we ruminate about what has happened in the past and what might occur in the future. Meandering around in fantasyland is key to discovering new insights. Imaginative ruminating is central to the creative process. Now please give your mind the privilege of wandering far and wide in the coming weeks, Pisces.
Homework: What is the kindest act you ever did? Care to do it again?
The Watsonville City Council will stop allowing virtual comments during its public meetings for the rest of the year after it received two anonymous calls filled with racist language and expletives during the Oct. 24 meeting.
Both were from anonymous callers, one insulting Jewish people and the other one falsely connecting young black men to crime.
Two days later, the Capitola City Council received a similar series of calls that continued throughout the meeting, prompting the city to end Zoom participation for the foreseeable future. The calls also forced the council to move three items from the agenda to a future meeting, said Vice Mayor Kristen Brown.
“We felt that it was not in the best interest of the community to continue hearing those kinds of statements,” she said.
In all instances, the calls were disconnected by city staff.
Such incidents are increasing locally and nationwide. The Sacramento City Council in September ended its virtual public comment after similar incidents earlier this year, and the Morgan Hill City Council on Oct. 4 was assailed by anti-LGBTQ and racist comments.
But ending virtual comments has put elected and civic leaders in the position of balancing First Amendment rights with maintaining decorum and protecting the public from hateful language.
Capitola City Manager Jaime Goldstein said that there are certain bounds for communicating in a forum such as a public meeting.
“City council meetings are not necessarily a pure free speech venue,” he said. “They are about city business.”
Comments falling outside that, Goldstein said, do not necessarily have to be allowed.
“You could argue that (talk of) murdering certain ethnic groups is outside the subject matter of the city,” he said.
Watsonville City Manager Rene Mendez said the issue will return for an in-depth discussion in January or February.
It is not clear how the protocol for virtual comments will change in Watsonville, but one possibility is moving the public comment period to the end of the meeting, when those wishing to make hateful comments are less likely to wait, Mendez said.
He added that there is no legal requirement to offer virtual public comments. When they are allowed, the city will default to the idea that people have the right to express their opinion, Mendez said.
Still, the city needs tools to protect the community from hate speech, he said.
“We are here to obviously listen and hear people, but it has to be done with decorum and it should not be offensive and it shouldn’t be hate speech, none of that,” he said. “I don’t think there is any place for that in expressing yourself to your government, in particular when it offends and it is really hurtful to a lot of people.”
After the Capitola City Council briefly recessed following the comments, Mayor Margaux Keiser said such speech will not be tolerated.
“We here in Capitola are made up of a wide array of people,” she said. “All walks of life–male, female, queer, black, white, hispanic. Some of these comments that have been said here tonight are not indicative of our beliefs here in Capitola.
“I will also extend my sincere apologies for anyone that was offended this evening,” Keiser said. “I know I was, and I personally won’t stand for it.”
Watsonville City Councilwoman Kristal Salcido said she wants to see specific language for how the council will allow virtual comments.
“…So what happened earlier can never happen again,” she said. “We should not be used as a platform for hate speech. I know we all condemn it. I think we can do better and we will.”
A group that studies and archives the history of local Filipino people—and provides educational materials of that history—on Wednesday suspended its work with Pajaro Valley Unified School District, alleging that the Board of Trustees erred when they rejected a contract renewal for a ethnic studies curriculum on Sept. 13.
UC Santa Cruz Assistant History Professor Kathleen Gutierrez accused the trustees of “insufficient deliberation,” and said they should have delved more deeply into the curriculum—in use by district high schools since 2021—before voting to end the contract.
The curriculum in question is Community Responsive Education (CRE), an ethnic studies program in use at the district’s three comprehensive high schools since 2021.
To date, Watsonville in the Heart has dedicated $60,879 in resources to PVUSD, with an additional $4,580 earmarked for the district, Gutierrez said.
“At the very least, I expect them to be a little more evidence-based to clarify both to teachers, students, community members and other collaborators what exactly CRE’s work does, and why or why not it should continue with the district,” she said.
The reason for the board’s rejection dates back to a 2019 pilot ethnic studies curriculum that was developed for the California Department of Education, portions of which members of the Jewish community, educators and lawmakers deemed anti-semitic.
One of the authors of the rejected curriculum, Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, also created (CRE).
Tintiangco-Cubales is a professor of Asian-American studies at San Francisco State University.
PVUSD adopted that curriculum in 2021, and it is now in use at the district’s three comprehensive high schools. The $110,000 contract was up for a one-year renewal at the Sept. 13 meeting.
The state curriculum was scrubbed and rewritten, and the issue was addressed on Aug. 27 in a two-hour conference with prominent Jewish leaders, lawmakers and State Superintendent of Public Education Tony Thurmond.
During that conference, Sen. Scott Wiener, co-chair of the Jewish Caucus, said that attacks on the Jewish community will get worse unless the issue is addressed.
Educators work hard, Wiener said, to assure that education is not a “gateway to teaching anti-semitism.”
“And the original draft of the curriculum had some despicable language in it that was just straight-up anti-semitic,” he said.
This publication has been unable to find the original draft of the state’s curriculum.
The Jewish News of Northern California reported that it ‘reflects an ‘anti-Jewish bias.’”
Additionally, the curriculum did not “meaningfully address anti-Semitism, is sharply critical of Israel, is supportive of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, and seems to use an anti-Semitic trope with the inclusion of a rap lyric that supporters of Israel “use the press so they can manufacture,” the story said.
In a letter to the PVUSD board and administrators, Tintiangco-Cubales said she was shocked to learn that the reason were the “unfounded allegations that I am ‘bigoted’ and ‘antisemitic,’” she wrote.
“As a lifelong educator, I view this deeply harmful experience to be a teachable moment, and it is in that spirit–and a commitment to justice in the face of injustice–that I offer this letter.
Tintiangco-Cubales called the allegations “an act of defamation” that “malign my character and integrity.”
The basis for their decision was unfounded claims of antisemitism,” she wrote. “Had they spent even a slight effort to research me, my work, and CRE, they would have realized the claims were false. They never reached out to
meet with me or any of my colleagues at CRE, nor did they consult with Ethnic Studies teachers in PVUSD.”
She also points to support from the Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as Jewish studies scholars.
To see the letter in its entirety, click here or visit tinyurl.com/ATICUresponsetoPVUSD.
A call for comment to Scott Wiener’s office was not returned.
PVUSD Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Claudia Monjaras, who at the time was Director of English Language Arts and Ethnic Studies, said that CRE has been woven into classes such as Ethnic Literature, World and U.S. History and Art. A dance class was in the works, as was a training for district administrators.
The curriculum, she said, uses personal experiences, stories and knowledge of ethnic groups, and also critiques dominant power structures and “intersectional forms of oppression.”
There is no evidence that CRE contains the same anti-semitic language as the rejected curriculum. But the controversy was enough to earn a no-vote from Trustee Kim De Serpa, who pointed out that Santa Cruz City Schools, Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley school districts have declined to use CRE, as has the County Office of Education.
“(PVUSD has) already been in our district teaching for two years with a pedagogy that I don’t know what they’re teaching,” De Serpa said. “It makes me very uncomfortable as a Jewish woman. I am shocked actually.”
Board Vice-President Georgia Acosta agreed, and said the district should have better vetted CRE before approving it.
“I also think that in light of recent events in our community, that we’ve seen bigotry first hand, racism, discrimination, and I am just absolutely appalled that our district is affiliated … with anything of the kind,” Acosta said. “That just absolutely appalls me beyond disgusting belief.”
But not everyone had a dim view of CRE.
Student Trustee Ruby Romero-Maya said she has taken three courses through CRE, and that the program has had a positive impact on how she views the world.
“It’s really amazing how a course can change your perspective and how you think of things and question what you’re learning,” she said.
Roy Recio, founder of the Tobera Project, said in an email that CRE was a successful program for PVUSD, and questions the motives of the people opposing it. Tobera is asking the district to reconsider the decision.
“Unfortunately, a third-party, far-right conservative group from outside the region is trying to besmirch and undermine (Tintiangco-Cubales’) professional work and spread misinformation regarding her ‘antisemitic’ beliefs,” Recio wrote in an email. “Trustee Kimberly De Serpa has been duped into taking the bait to these baseless claims without doing her due diligence in researching the matter without bias or favor.”
Recio added that Tintiangco-Cubales has “denounced any such claims of hate, discrimination or bias in her 30-year professional career.”
“She is a staunch trailblazer of ethnic studies on all levels of education, and has a remarkable track record of delivering set goals with the utmost respect for all communities,” Recio said.
Monjaras did not immediately return a call for comment.
PVUSD spokeswoman Alicia Jimenez said that, while the ethnic studies classes will continue, professional development for teachers and administrators is on hold.
It is not clear when—or if—the district will select a new ethnic studies program, Jimenez said.
The Watsonville City Council in March will consider either shortening the crosswind runway at Watsonville Municipal Airport—or deactivating it altogether—which is the airport’s effort to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) guidelines and keep its pilots safe.
That was the message to the City Council Tuesday night from Watsonville Municipal Airport Director Rayvon Williams, who was presenting the newly minted 2023 Airport Master Plan.
Either move would offer “significant growth potential,” lessening restrictions in the airport’s safety zones and potentially opening up portions of the city for development such as housing and businesses, Watsonville Principal Planner Justin Meek said.
The council unanimously passed the 324-page plan, which is a blueprint for development and operations for the next 20 years.
They also approved an addendum to the 2003 environmental impact report and the Airport Layout Plan.
Included in the master plan update—which was paid for with a $550,000 grant from the FAA—is potentially lengthening the 4,500-foot main runway to 5,181 feet, reconfiguring several taxiways, improving airfield drainage and boosting security for the pedestrian and vehicle access gates.
The 2023 master plan update—which totals $163.8 million in projects over the 20-year plan horizon—also predicts an increased number of operations, defined as takeoffs and landings, from 55,000 in 2021 to 89,900 in 2040.
Williams pointed to the airport’s importance to the community, which includes bringing $67 million to the local economy and 452 jobs.
It also served as a command center during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and hosted President Joe Biden earlier this year, he said.
“We’re going to do whatever we can to make sure this critical resource continues,” he said.
Between 2017-2019, Williams applied for $2.5 million in grants to refurbish the runway and taxiways, with new striping, marking and lighting.
As the airport worked with the FAA in 2018 to install satellite-based technology, the federal agency told Williams that the shorter crosswind runway does not meet federal visibility standards for intersecting runways.
Since the airport does not have a control tower to direct operations, the intersecting runways require visual line of sight for takeoffs and landings to ensure safety.
While the FAA denied Williams’ request for an exception, the agency did agree to fund $500,000, part of what it would cost to make the so-called “threshold relocation,” a move complicated by the fact that it would go through an area populated with endangered tarplants.
But the FAA recently told Williams that it would no longer provide that funding for economic reasons.
This leaves Watsonville Airport with the need to address the visibility issue. So Williams presented four options to the council: 1) fund the runway by shortening it by 870 feet, 2) at virtually no cost shorten it by 1,590 feet or 3) deactivate it entirely.
All three would mitigate the visibility issue, Williams said.
A fourth option—deactivating the airport entirely—seemed to be a nonstarter with the council and with Williams, who said that that estimated 30-year, $30 million process would include relocating the businesses and pilots and a federal “paperwork nightmare.”
The council elected to bring back two options for further discussion in March: either shortening the runway by 1,590 feet or deactivating it.
Williams pointed out that none of the options would mean removing any part of the runway; it could still be used in emergencies, and could be reactivated if necessary.
Just 2% of the roughly 60,000 flights per year use the runway, Williams said. Still, it is a critical part of the airport, he added.
“Preserving that crosswind runway is extremely important, because we are a heavy training environment,” he said. “Fixed-wing training, rotary-wing training. A crosswind runway is key to safety. So closing that runway is really an anathema to me because it really does reduce the utility of the airport.”
Many of the council members viewed the options as a way to help address the ongoing affordable housing crisis, since shortening the runway—or deactivating it—would significantly reduce the airport safety zones and allow for development in more areas near the airport.
Councilwoman Kristal Salcido pointed to the city’s urban limit line, and to the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation, which requires Watsonville to plan for 2,250 affordable housing units by 2031.
“There are no easy decisions to be made here,” Salcido said. “All seven of us care the most about our population and the people of Watsonville. We are dealing with a very real housing crisis, and the opportunity to develop and make some hard decisions.”
Mayor Eduardo Montesino appeared skeptical of the airport’s benefits, and was leaning toward deactivating the runway.
“At some point, we’ve got to cut our losses and go for community opportunities,” he said. “And this is a community asset that has functioned in my view…as a playground for rich people to have an airplane.”
That drew ire from Tracy Laws, who serves as secretary for the Watsonville Experimental Aircraft Association.
Laws said her husband worked hard to earn his pilot’s license.
“We do not consider ourselves rich by any means,” she said. “We work hard, we live paycheck to paycheck and make sacrifices so he’s able to fly.”
Councilman Casey Clark described the airport as “critical infrastructure,” and expressed skepticism about deactivating the crosswind runway simply to open up development, since the city already has a hard time filling the space it has.
“I am all about development, but I have a major frustration with the way the city has been going for quite some time,” he said. “We have been building housing all over the place, but it has been all nonprofit low income and that doesn’t help our city with its tax base.”
I have seen the future of rock, as Jon Landau famously said, and it’s not a performer, but a venue—the Godzilla-sized golf ball of a hall in Las Vegas, named the Sphere. U2’s show there last weekend was unlike anything I’ve seen in my years of concert-going. The sound was perfect, the videos, which covered the whole of the dome, from floor to ceiling, were mind-blowing...
At Rick Walker’s Live Looping Festival this weekend, there will be 35 acts and that means 35 completely unique experiments with loop pedals; be it a funk groove, a wind scape, a wall of orgasms, ten part harmony, or white noise from hell. What would it feel like to hear 99 strips of bacon dropped into a pan of hot grease at the same time?
What is the evidence, despite what nearly all economists believe, for the assertion that Santa Cruz’s housing market is somehow not subject to the economic law of supply and demand (as "Housing for People” promoters claim, and the Editorial Note repeats in the 10/18 issue)? No one expects more building of market rate apartments to completely ‘solve’ affordability...
If it’s possible to be too fun, Say She She wins the award... Often clad in funky black and white with bejeweled Gogo boots, these women are expert vocalists, crafting tight, shimmering harmonies...
Chef Jessica Yarr knows how to
cook up a good time.
Santa Cruzers familiar
with her Chicken Foot popup
downtown have known this for
a while. Now the gentle people
of Felton, where she came of age
at her parents’ Bigfoot Discovery
Museum and recently opened The
Grove Cafe + Bakery, are learning
that in full-flavored ways.
Ratana Bowden grew up working in her family’s restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, before moving on to a corporate job in electronics. She married an American and moved to Santa Cruz 17 years back. After taking time to enjoy living in the United States, she found herself wanting to open a Thai restaurant here. In 2012 when she was offered ownership of Real Thai Kitchen. The menu is classic Thai food based on passed-down family recipes.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): "Our bodies sometimes serve as the symbolic ground where order and disorder fight for supremacy," writes storyteller Caroline Kettlewell. Here's good news, Aries: For you, order will triumph over disorder in the coming weeks. In part through your willpower and in part through life's grace, you will tame the forces of chaos and enjoy a...
The Watsonville and Capitola city councils will change their policies regarding virtual comment during public meetings after anonymous racist and anti-LGBTQ calls.
