If we had not gotten lost, we would have never found ourselves looking down on Aptos High School from the mountain above. Seeing the sprawling school from the mountain side made me understand what a huge pillar of this community the high school is, huge in size and community support. Sometimes you just don’t know what you will find until you get lost.
Into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. —John Muir
Freedom Boulevard is my road home. I have driven by Aptos High School five hundred times, and I never gave the school a thought. “Not my place, not for me.”
Except for an occasional morning or afternoon traffic jam at the entrance to the school on Freedom, the arches emblazoned with Aptos High School in blue and white letters, towering over the entrance to the region’s high school, never entered my mind. And if we had not of gotten lost on the mountain above the school, we never would have gotten to see this amazing school.
Rebels Without a Compass
Indigenous tribes for centuries cultivated and maintained intricate trail networks before federal agencies claimed them. I don’t know who created or owns the trails behind Aptos High School, but you can get sensational panoramic views of the school from trails up on the mountain.
We find a path up the mountain out of the church parking lot, next to the Highway Patrol Office on Soquel Avenue. My compadres have their dogs on leashes to keep them from frolicking in the poison oak, which is everywhere. We notice there is no trail signage, none. The path is obviously used by lots of people, horses and even dirt bikes, but this surely is not a government-maintained path.
We are undeterred, we are rebels without a compass. We claim hiking days for our rebellion against structure and rules. We do give a wide berth around homes, we respect people’s privacy, but out on a trail there is no barrier we will not climb, no fence we will not hop, and no double negative we won’t use. Our favorite verse from Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”:
Was a high wall there that tried to stop me A sign was painted said: Private Property But on the back side it didn’t say nothing This land was made for you and me
Our point man takes a steep animal path up the hill, and I scramble up the incline after my compadres on all fours. Once we make it to the ridge there is a well-worn, level, human path through a beautiful multi-treed forest that reminds me of the flora in Bonny Doon. We walk silently, not at odds, but the climb up the steep hill to the ridge has winded us and we focus on the next step, the next breath.
We come upon a rope swing, impossibly tied to an oak tree limb high over a steep ravine. This swing over the canyon is the first inkling I get that we might be near where young people congregate. Who would climb out this oak limb to attach the rope so far above the ravine floor? Images of myself as a teenage boy seep out of my reptilian memory, and I picture a young person inching his way out the limb. We don’t understand yet that we are lost but I’m wondering if Aptos High School is closer than we think.
What kind of person would scale this oak tree to tie the rope swing so high up and so far out over the ravine? Maybe we’re closer to the high school than we had imagined.
We originally had a destination—the Aptos water tower—but as we continue up the ridge trail, our point man says that we missed the turnoff to the water tower and we are now lost. We no longer have any idea where we’re going. We continue on the ridge trail, now wonderfully lost. For a few moments we are set free, untethered, on a path to nowhere.
Getting lost may be the last frontier. Maybe the only one. If you know where you are, if you clutch your map that says “You Are Here,” everything is prescribed, you’re just passing through a predetermined experience. There is no adventure; it all is just theater, where everything gets reviewed, everything gets Yelped. It’s the triumph of metaphor over reality. Getting lost may be our last hope.
“I wish I didn’t have to perform Iron Man every night.” —Ozzy Osbourne
The next clue that we were on a trail above the high school is when we found the gnome in the tree. I’m thinking, “Here’s a gnome in a tree, and gnomes and knights are all the rage on TikTok. Feels like high school students must be close.”
Another clue that we were approaching the high school.
Indeed, a few steps further and we find Tee 3 of the Aptos High Disc Golf Course. The course rocked for years but closed down during the pandemic.
I’m sorry to have missed the water tower up the mountain behind the Highway Patrol Office on Freedom and Soquel, but we wandered lost, were set free, to feel our relationship with the entire mountain, not just the 18 inches wide path in front of us. And we wandered lost until we stumbled upon the disc golf course markers and then Aptos High School below us.
Aptos High has approximately 1,500 students, but it looks like a small college. It has a performing arts center, two gyms, a football stadium and a baseball park. The place shines with affluence.
How to get there, or not: There was no signage, so I suggest you do this only as your personal sense of adventure allows, but there are paths off Mockingbird Ridge Road, as well as from the Soquel Avenue church parking lot, that go up the ridge of the Aptos mountain and drop you on a trail that runs along behind Aptos High School. You can also walk from the high school entrance road up onto the mountain to find trails with stunning views of the school. Again, we were headed elsewhere, got lost, that’s my alibi and I’m sticking to it, but the trail up on the mountain behind the school shows a panorama of the beautiful campus. My buddies and I end up sitting on a bench at the entrance to Aptos High School. One says, “This is how I want to go to high school. When it’s closed.”
My dad, Bobby Magnante, he’s a tattoo artist. I love traditional tattoo art, like Japanese style. That’s what I grew up with.
Freya Magnante, 19, Student
MAXIMILLIAN
Robert Morris the minimalist sculptor. And Richard Serra too. New York paid him a lot of money to create Tilted Arc, a sculpture in a public plaza. It was a big, brown, rusty, curved steel wall. It disrupted the flow of people walking and they all hated it. They said, it’s ugly, it’s in my way! And they made him take it down.
Maximillian Murray, 20, Art History/Physics Student
MAYA
I like Frida Kahlo. I like her art about feminism, and care on the body. My favorite artist is my mom, Luz Howse.
Maya Howse, 15, Student
ORIEN
I like Jackson Pollock. People try his splatter thing, and nobody pulls it off. There’s a substance to it that nobody can figure out—and they’re huge. When I saw them, it really inspired me. I’ve had dreams of being in a Pollock studio in the brick pillar of a bridge with giant canvases. I keep having the same weird dream about him—it’s like I’m him.
Orien Boisvert, 41, Artist
LYNNE
I love Théophile Steinlen. I love his cats and critters, like his Le Chat Noir. They’re very stylized poster art, I would say Art Nouveau, from that era. I love the simpleness of it. My eyes naturally track curves; I’m not a straight-line person.
Lynne Achterberg, 75, Professional Volunteer for Animal Rescue
DANIEL
Andy Warhol. I like his rich imagination and the colorful preservation of that time and history. I really think he changed the world of art.
Residents of a Watsonville neighborhood are pushing back against a proposed housing project meant to help homeless individuals staying along the Pajaro River levee. They say that local officials have ignored their concerns over crime and safety and are moving ahead without addressing complaints connected to the encampment.
City and county officials say that the community should stand behind efforts to address homelessness in the area, which leaves neighbors feeling their voice is being drowned out.
The “Recurso de Fuerza” (Resource of Strength) tiny home micro village was first proposed in 2023 as a joint effort between the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey to address homelessness along the Pajaro riverbed. For years, unhoused people have camped in the levee area at the border of Watsonville and Pajaro and are particularly vulnerable during events like the Pajaro flood in 2023.
Additionally, the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project, which will construct levees and improvements along the lower Pajaro River and its tributaries, is slated to begin in 2024. This means that the encampment would have to be moved at some point in the near future.
In late 2022, Monterey County officials surveyed the enclave of around 50 people to determine the problems they faced. Occupants of the camp cited immigration and citizenship assistance, job development, mental health services and substance abuse intervention as prerequisites for housing stability.
Monterey County received in 2023 an $8 million Encampment Resolution Funding grant from the State of California, which will be used to create Recurso de Fuerza. The management of the 34-unit facility would be a collaboration between Monterey County’s Homelessness Services Program, Santa Cruz County’s Health and Human Services department and the City of Watsonville.
In April 2024, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved a $5 million agreement with San Francisco-based nonprofit DignityMoves for the development of the facility, and $2.5 million to manage the village and provide services for the first two years. DignityMoves has experience running similar projects throughout California.
Originally set for a June 2024 groundbreaking, the project has stalled and is expected to begin later this year.
A rear lot on the premises of the Westview Presbyterian Church in downtown Watsonville was selected as the site for Recurso de Fuerza, which is located off the Highway 129 thoroughfare. It is roughly a half mile from the Pajaro levee campsite and was chosen in order to ease the transition for future residents and maintain an access corridor.
But residents of a mobile home complex on the 100 block of West Front Street have begun to voice their opposition to the project. The complex runs up against the levee area where the encampment is situated, and neighbors say they have been subjected to increasing crime and harassment by people connected to the encampment. Numerous residents are now saying that city and county officials failed to adequately inform them of their plans for the micro village, and that the move will create a corridor of crime and unsafe conditions for both residents and the encampment dwellers.
What About Us?
Enedina Rodriguez has lived in this mobile home complex for 25 years. Lopez, like many other residents, is a working-class Mexican immigrant who made Watsonville her home. But she currently feels endangered by the encampment just yards from her dwelling. Rodriguez sits in her living room accompanied by five other neighbors. They have gathered here to share some of their alarming experiences.
Rodriguez recalls an incident in which a person from the encampment began ransacking the garbage bins on the curb in front of the complex. When Rodriguez asked her to stop, the woman reacted aggressively, threatening her with bodily harm.
“She began chasing me, wielding a shovel,” Rodriguez says in Spanish. “Then she threatened to slit my niece’s throat with a machete. We called the police and they took her away.”
Other neighbors complain of car break-ins and vandalism in their front yards and say that they feel like they are under siege in their own homes.
“Some of them don’t do harm, but others do. They are not well from their senses; one day they could be good and another they are doing bad. And in one of those [bad days] they could take our life,” Rodriguez says.
The police get called constantly, according to residents, but the issues persist in an area that they say is neglected by their representatives due to its socio-economic demography. While the neighborhood is just minutes from city hall, it is in an isolated industrial area with little through traffic.
Lorena Vasquez lives at the end of Walker Street, across from the mobile home complex. She runs a daycare out of her home during the day and works nights as a caregiver. Over the last several months, Vasquez says she has been “terrorized” by a man she believes has connections to the encampment.
In April 2024, a man began camping out in his car in front of Vasquez’s home for days on end, even trying to peep inside her house. Initially, Vasquez assumed it was an unhoused person needing a place to park and did not call the police. But things took a turn when the man tried to break into her home. Vasquez then called police and he was picked up for trespassing, according to arrest records.
That’s when Vasquez learned that the man—Daniel Zavala Zavala—had previously been arrested for shooting a gun into an occupied dwelling in February 2022. After learning this, Vasquez quickly filed for a temporary restraining order in April of this year.
But one night when she was out to dinner, she saw through her doorbell camera that Zavala had returned and was intent on breaking in.
“He was going all around the outside of the house trying to get in. He was holding a machete. That’s when I called the police and I told them that Daniel Zavala was back,” Vasquez says in Spanish.
He was arrested again and was still in custody as of July 22.
Watsonville Police spokesperson Michelle Pulido says that there have not been an] unusually high number of calls for service coming from the neighborhood in the last months. She did say, however, that the department has heard concerns from residents about crime in the area and has engaged with the public on the matter.
In late June, a community meeting was held for residents in the greater downtown area and Pulido says that crime concerns were brought up. Also in attendance was Watsonville District 1 Councilmember Eduardo Montesino, who represents residents of West Front and Walker.
Montesino says that the city has been turning a blind eye to the issue of homelessness and is fully behind the Recurso de Fuerza project. As for concerns over safety, he disagrees that the project will increase crime.
“What [residents] are experiencing is the few people that are on the streets that are causing havoc, but they’re not seeing the vision that we also got to do something about the homeless population. They’re our neighbors, and people just are not seeing where there’s the potential to see something different and help people out of that situation,” Montesino says in a phone interview.
But there is also pushback to the project within the council itself, with one member concerned that the city and county are getting in over their heads.
‘Service Desert’
Watsonville District 5 council member Casey Clark says that the first time he heard about the Recurso de Fuerza project in June 2023, he felt it had already been decided without input from Watsonville city officials. One of his main issues is the site selection, which he says he has brought up to county officials.
“I see it going somewhere more appropriate and I have suggested two sites to the County of Santa Cruz, which I just get told ‘No,’” Clark says in a phone interview.
Clark argues that the Westside Presbyterian Church site is a “service desert” and says that other sites are more suitable for the project. The facility will include an indoor and outdoor dining area, showers, lockers and a housing navigation center.
A key detail is that the micro village is meant as temporary, transitional housing for a period of six months. Enrollment in the program is voluntary and there is already a waitlist for the units, according to Monterey County officials.
Clark says that the organization tapped to manage the facility is not equipped for the task. Earlier this year, Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County (CAB) was chosen to contract with Monterey County as operators for Recurso de Fuerza.
Emily Watson, interim director for Homelessness Prevention and Intervention Services, says that CAB is uniquely positioned to take on the management of the project and has extensive experience working with unhoused populations. CAB is planning to staff 10 to 15 workers at the site, including case managers for the residents.
The neighbors on West Front Street say that the encampment occupants’ rights are being held in higher regard than their own.
“Why is our voice not being heard?” asks Catalina Torres, who is a spokesperson for the group and has attended multiple city council meetings to bring the issue forth.
“They need to stop this [project] and take the time to find the right place for it outside the city. They have rights, but what about our rights?” Torres says in Spanish.
Councilmember Montesino says it’s not up to the council to say yes or no on the micro village, as it controlled by the county and state. He wants the West Front Street residents to keep an open mind.
“I just want people to realize and to listen to what the actual project is. I want people to be open,” Montesino says.
Santa Cruz County District 4 Supervisor Felipe Hernandez, who represents Watsonville, says he is in favor of the project. According to Torres, she and other residents have reached out to his office to raise their concerns. Hernandez categorically denies that they have made any attempts to reach him. But even if they had, Hernandez won’t budge on his support for Recurso de Fuerza unless there is a consensus from Watsonville officials to halt it.
“So, I’m fully onboard for the project and indifferent to the opposition until there’s some alignment [amongst the council],” Hernandez says in a text message.
As I sip a Gypsy Queen at Carmel’s Cypress Inn, I think about getting tossed and turned, hours earlier, by the crisp and nearly onshore emerald waves down the hill from this hotel once owned by Doris Day. I look up at the five framed CDs presented to Terry Melcher, Day’s son, by the Recording Industry Association of America for 500,000 sales of “Good Vibrations, 30 Years Of The Beach Boys,” hanging above.
I wonder how exactly it is that I ended up here—a Canadian expat working for a Central California newspaper. And, as the Beach Boys’ return to San Jose this weekend at Music in the Park draws near—with Los Gatos-bred John Wedemeyer leading the guitar lineup—my mind wanders to the role this four-piece from Hawthorne, California, may have played in my arrival in the Golden State. And I can’t help considering the band’s role in shaping the development of surf culture—or at least the place it occupies in the popular imagination.
Somehow I’d forgotten about the weekend nights when my dad would put on a Beach Boys greatest hits cassette, and I would run ’round, ’round the living room to “I Get Around.” My mom called it getting “rambunctious.” I didn’t exactly understand what the lyrics were all about. And I didn’t really care. The music awoke something inside, a sense that musical frequencies could be something to which you could devote your being.
Artifacts of surf culture at Terry’s Lounge. Photo by Drew Penner
I understood the Beach Boys to be emissaries of a sunny Californian culture that seemed appealing to someone accustomed to windows iced shut all winter. In Canadian “lake country,” the idea of surfing seemed more distant than a Caribbean vacation. Even then, I had the sense that this was a reflection of a moment in American history that had already passed, and transformed into something else. The broken beats in the Beach Boys’ drum machine-laden collaboration with hip hop trio the Fat Boys on the 1987 “Wipe Out” single brought the myth to a new generation.
BIRTH OF SURF CULTURE
Nowadays, you’re more likely to hear hip-hop music blaring from vehicle stereos in the beach communities of Southern California. But as I drove home to Santa Cruz, KZSC 88.1FM was playing “Cherish” by the Association. The still-full moon beamed milky light past towering palms, as I arrived, and I saw one of my roommates in passing. He came to California from the Midwest in 1976 and remembers cruising around LA to the sounds of Wolfman Jack on the airwaves. I asked him about hearing the Beach Boys as a kid. “It was a whole culture,” he said. “It basically made California—and it was fun, too.”
The previous weekend I’d driven down to Los Angeles for the California Journalism Awards dinner and headed to Torrance Beach, near where I lived during the pandemic. I wanted to see if there were any rideable waves. There weren’t. In my favorite nearby coffee shop, I was approached by a 77-year-old man named Richard Kelsey, and we struck up a conversation. Kelsey has been living in Seattle, but he grew up in Torrance. His family moved there in the ’50s.
“Hermosa Beach was kind of Ground Zero for the beach culture,” he said. “Surf music came, and it was just a new type of music—and everybody liked it.”
His father surfed a wooden board. Kelsey followed in his dad’s oceanic footsteps.
However, the hardcore surfers didn’t exactly buy into the Beach Boys schtick at the time, he recalled. He didn’t think much of the act at first, either. Although, one day that changed. “They came to Torrance High School,” he said. “It was a big local thing.”
Kelsey was quite impressed with their performance.
“They certainly didn’t embarrass themselves at all,” he said. “They were great.”
Kelsey hadn’t been back to Torrance in half a century. And now, upon his return, what struck him most was how little things had changed. “It was surprising,” he said. “There’s way more money here, of course. It’s a trillion times more expensive.”
And he credits the Beach Boys—and their ilk—with helping shape the place.
“It put the beach communities—especially in LA—on the map, for sure,” he said. “Nevertheless, those things kind of come and go.”
THE MOTHER SPORT
Back in Santa Cruz, the place with arguably the most vibrant surf scene, you can’t throw a stone without hitting someone who played a role in growing the wave-based pastime. It’s as good a place as any to gauge the Beach Boys’ impact on beach culture.
Randy French, who founded sailboard manufacturer Seatrend in Santa Cruz in 1976, and then later Surftech, used to ship 80% of his boards to SoCal. He says the Beach Boys didn’t appeal to the older generation of surfers, who preferred instead the sounds of jazz and blues. Those guys, he explained, felt like the group was capitalizing on a culture they didn’t have much to do with. “My generation,” he added, “we liked the Beach Boys.”
BOARD GAINS Randy French’s surf culture memorabilia. Photo by Drew Penner
French was close with the stuntmen for the film Big Wednesday. And he ended up making surfboards with Robert August, star of the 1966 documentary The Endless Summer.
“Surfing is the mother sport of all the satellite sports—skateboarding, windsurfing, snowboarding, kiteboarding,” French said. “All of that emanated from surfing.”
French, who at one point was sponsored by O’Neill, would go on to sell boards in dozens of countries.
“Running surf companies is an art form,” he said. “The guys that made the money in the surf industry aren’t the guys that made boards.”
Another local with ties to the venerable O’Neill brand, which was founded in 1952, is 76-year-old Michael Yankaus, who was the art director there from 1985 to 1991.
Yankaus recalls owning a ’56 Mercury “Woodie Wagon” in the mid-’60s.
“It was considered to be the cool surf wagon,” he said.
He also remembers the artwork for Surfin’ Safari (1962), which featured the Beach Boys in a thatch-adorned ride on the sand at Paradise Cove in Malibu. “Their first album cover was really cool.”
Another influence was The Endless Summer movie poster, created by Surfer magazine art director John van Hamersveld. Yankaus even went to the film premiere in LA.
“It was packed,” he said.
Decades later, he would wander into a Santa Cruz paint shop and select a fluorescent orange hue to bring to O’Neill’s 1980s graphic design.
Randy French displays the program for a screening of “The Endless Summer.” Photo by Drew Penner
After the Beach Boys’ music was featured in the 1973 George Lucas film American Graffiti, Capitol Records released the hits collection The Beach Boys Endless Summer—which catapulted the group back to the top of the charts.
In a 1992 interview in Goldmine, co-founder Mike Love took credit for the name, stating the original concept was more generic.
“They were going to do a Best of The Beach Boys Volume Three,” he told the publication, adding while he loved the “vibe” of the record, he wasn’t a fan of the artwork. “It was awful.”
MUSIC AND MEDITATION
One day in 1984, in a Dutch airport on the way to a Transcendental Meditation assembly, Yankaus spotted Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love.
“He had just gotten his luggage; and I was just walking in to locate mine, and we crossed paths,” Yankaus said. “I said, ‘Hey, surf’s up!’”
They ended up rooming for the duration of the course.
“We did yoga together, meditated in a group with 5,000 other people,” he said. “And see, the Beach Boys were gigantic in Holland.”
Yankaus, a TM teacher, was impressed by Love’s friendliness and his respect for the practice, which they’d both learned (as did the Beatles) from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
NEON BRIGHTS Santa Cruzan Michael Yankaus served as the art director at O’Neill’s from 1985 to 1991.
“He was just awesome,” Yankaus said. “He’s always been very supportive of the TM program, as Paul McCartney and Ringo are.”
Yankaus, the former director of the Silicon Valley Transcendental Meditation Center, sees plenty of similarities between music, meditation and surfing.
“Surfing is one of the best things that ever happened to me, and that’s why I still do it,” he said, during our interview at the second-floor TM space in Capitola. “Whatever was bothering you is gone after you catch a wave.”
The Beach Boys brought the guru on tour with them in 1968. Even though that effort ended in disappointment due to low ticket sales in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Love said he didn’t regret trying to spread the message of TM.
“I thought I could do some good for people who were lost, confused, or troubled, particularly those who were young and idealistic but also vulnerable,” Love said in his autobiography. “I thought that was true for a whole bunch of us.”
Yankaus says the group has been broadcasting upbeat messages to audiences since their earliest days.
“The Beach Boys really created a positive vibe in the youth in the United States,” he said. “They had their fingers on the pulse of what was happening.”
NORTH VS. SOUTH
I met Mark Gray, 75, in the Billabong store in the Pleasure Point neighborhood of Santa Cruz, where he explains surfboard and wetsuit technology to shoppers. Over the years he’s written for outlets like Surfer’s Path and Surfer, and helmed Surfer’s Japanese publication. He’s the product of parents who met on a ship to India in the ’40s. He was in his early teens when surf music popped off in 1962.
“That’s when I started surfing,” he said, recalling how he would hitchhike from Redwood City to Half Moon Bay to catch waves.
He remembers how the surf culture of Northern California had a slightly different flavor to the southern half of the state, given the colder climate and the influence of the beat poets from San Francisco’s North Beach—which ultimately morphed into the Grateful Dead–soundtracked hippie generation.
So, while the groups of SoCal would tend to play surf music exclusively, the NorCal bands would perform a mix of hits and surf rock, he explained.
He saw the Beach Boys wanting to ride that wave to mainstream success.
“They were trying to attach themselves to a trend,” he said. “But the ‘Pet Sounds’ album was really quite remarkable.”
THE NEXT WAVE
Unfortunately, as he sees it, it was the fact that surf music was intrinsically linked to the Pacific Ocean communities that spelled its downfall. While it surged for a while, pop audiences of America couldn’t always relate—though some groups, like the Beach Boys were later able to capitalize on nostalgia.
“It was really a music of the coast,” Gray said. “A lot of the surf music was primitive.”
He remembers going to a “surfers stomp” party in Santa Cruz on Seabright Beach, back when it was called Castle Beach (because of the castle-shaped bathhouse that was turned into the Casa del Mar restaurant).
Recently, there’s been a renewed interest in surf culture, particularly from the new wave of transplants to Silicon Valley who can now spend more time near the beach, due to pandemic-prompted work-from-home policies.
“They could live anywhere, because they had enough money, so they’d get an apartment where they could see the waves,” Gray said, noting some of them started to get good at surfing quite quickly. “A lot of them were trying to go from a longboard, to a mid-length, to a shortboard.”
With the early 2000s came the rise of “indie surf” and “Lo-Fi” music. Groups like the Growlers, Wavves, Best Coast, Beach Fossils and the Drums—who are musically indebted to the reverb-heavy sounds popularized by the Beach Boys, and others, back in the 1960s—began to provide the soundtrack to parties in beach towns and beyond. Meanwhile, Australian bands King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and Tame Impala have extended beachy rock’s contours in new directions.
“I think that surf music is still alive and well,” Gray said.
Drew Penner is the editor of the Los Gatan newspaper. He also hosts the Frequency Horizon electronic music and surf culture podcast, Fridays from 10-midnight on 92.9FM Pirate Cat Radio (kpcr.org).
The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music needs a new name.
I’m not talking about the “Cabrillo” part, which could be dropped in light of the recent strong political sentiment against the conquistador. I’m talking about the “Contemporary Music” part.
It just sounds…boring. And this festival is anything but.
This ain’t your father’s classical music. The Cabrillo fest is to classical music what prog rock is to rock or avant garde jazz is to smooth jazz.
It’s music to take you to a new and unexplored place, to maybe make you a bit uncomfortable, with the intention of blowing your mind and expanding your musical horizons.
Started 61 years ago, it’s the longest-running contemporary music festival dedicated to new music for orchestras.
I almost missed my first one because the name was so bland. But then I heard music by John Cage, John Adams, Philip Glass and Aaron Copland and there it was…head exploded. It reminded me of the first time I saw Pink Floyd, before I knew such things existed.
The unusual thing is that this festival is known worldwide and attracts far-away music lovers. I wonder sometimes if they appreciate it more than the locals do. The New York Times called it a “mecca for new music lovers” and I’m proud to have it on the cover of Good Times and hope if you haven’t checked it out, this might encourage you to give it a shot.
Historical note: the festival had its birth in 1961 in an Aptos coffee shop called Sticky Wicket, where an Italian composer named Robert Hughes came to study with composer Lou Harrison and they produced a small festival outside the shop. When Cabrillo College opened, the festival moved there and put on its first show on Aug. 21, 1963. It lasted for 15 years before Prop 13 devastated public arts at the school.
The performances moved to churches and a tent on the UCSC campus before arriving at the Santa Cruz Civic in 1991.
So what do we call it now to show how exciting it is and to show lovers of the rave, EDM or jam band cultures that this is something they can totally relate to? Send your ideas to ed****@*******es.sc.
Speaking of music: we have an article by Bill Kopp about a brilliant indie songwriter called The Philharmonik playing this week and one by Mat Weir about notable local country band Kentucky Mule.
And for food, you must check out Andrew Steingrube’s intro to Lago di Como, a glorious taste of Italy.
Thanks for reading.
Brad Kava, Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
CHILLIN’ Taken on Cowell’s Beach, dude on lounge chair surfboard, with a front-row seat watching the surfers at Lighthouse Point. Photograph by Craig Ferguson
GOOD IDEA
Registration for Kids2Parks will open July 29. Kids2Parks is an equity program to bring students from Title 1 schools to state parks. The registration period for field trips planned for the 2023-24 academic year will run until Aug. 18.
Kids2Parks offers funding for field trips to most local state parks to elementary schools in Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties for schools with a high percentage of low-income families.
It includes Castle Rock State Park, Castro Adobe State Historic Park,Seacliff State Beach, and Wilder Ranch State Park, to name a few.
Apply at thatsmypark.org/k2p.
GOOD WORK
The Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust will hold its 10th Anniversary Seafood Celebration on Sunday, Sept. 29 at the Monterey State Historic Park Memory Garden to celebrate 10 years in support of sustainable Monterey Bay seafood and honor local fisheries champions.
This milestone event serves as an important fundraiser and community-building opportunity that celebrates hardworking fishermen, dedicated local seafood businesses, sustainability-driven chefs, partner food relief organizations, and supporters of the Monterey Bay fishing community.
There will be seafood tasting stations with locally inspired culinary delights featuring seasonal Monterey Bay seafood. The fundraiser includes a silent auction, as well as live music and guest speakers. INFO:montereybayfisheriestrust.org/
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.” —Isaac Asimov
In the July 10 edition, the article “Wages of Aging” concerning the 2024 State of the Workforce report said that “Mid-wage jobs, with an average salary between $50,000 and $74,000, were mostly concentrated in the healthcare industry.” To clarify, those jobs are primarily concentrated in that industry, but are also found in the education, building and design and logistics industries.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING?
There is not now, nor will there ever be “Affordable Housing” in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is the most expensive rental market in the country. A family of four with both parents working requires an income of around $180,000 to live here. The vast majority of employment in Santa Cruz is in ”service” work. None of these jobs pays enough to rent, much less buy a home.
According to the county Civil Grand Jury, Santa Cruz City government has no idea who is living in so-called “affordable” housing. However, proponents of the massive build-in of these expensive high-rises claim that the condo debacle as well as the proposed garage/ library are designed to help provide “low income and affordable” housing. Anyone who claims that these projects will alleviate the crushing costs of living in Santa Cruz is lying.
–John Morris, Santa Cruz
IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE, AGAIN?
In response to Steve Kettmann’s Opinion (fear mongering article) on “A Democratic Moment” he spoon feeds the reader with inflamed opinionated accusations DJT will be a dictator and an authoritarian based on what? His dislike of Trump’s personality? His tweets? His policies, that he actually never addresses and that Trump is rising in popularity with THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?
Yes, there are Americans across the country who like, agree and want Trump’s policies implemented. Are those people wrong or bad? Simply stated, they want different policies than Biden’s. They don’t like what they got with Biden and are begging for a better life with the leadership they felt safer with and prospered under when Trump was in office.
Let’s face it, life under Biden has been one disaster for the American People after another. People are living in uncertainty for what tomorrow will bring, being on the edge of WWIII.
Has Steve considered all Americans’ right to vote for who he doesn’t agree with? Do they have a right to choose and vote for who they want? Or do we all have to agree with Steve Kettmann?
Steve, the real threat Trump presents is to the Democrat Party’s power and control over the nation.
The Philharmonik, a musician currently based in Sacramento, believes that in today’s music world, there are only two paths to success. “You either have to have a plethora of talents that you .can use, a very wide skill set,” he suggests, or you have to have a lot of money so you can bring in people who have that skill set. “And let me tell you,” he says with a smile, “I do not have the money.”
Having a wide skill set no doubt helped The Philharmonik become the 2024 winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest. And he’ll be in Santa Cruz showing off those skills at a concert at Woodhouse Blending & Brews. The event is cosponsored by Soul Good Entertainment and Creative Minds.
Even before he first picked up an instrument, The Philharmonik (born Christian Gates) was a serious music lover. “I was listening to a lot of ’70s music, he says. “But I wasn’t allowed to listen to hip hop; it was the thing I listened to in secret, to rebel.”
And he went deeper than merely listening. “I’d read all the credits, see who was producing,” he recalls. That was especially true when he immersed himself into hip hop. “I’d find out where the samples were coming from,” he says. “And then I’d listen to those songs. So hip hop played a huge role in my returning back to the classics.”
Those classics include an eclectic assortment of the very best: Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix and even Elton John. Listening to The Philharmonik’s music, keen listeners may hear the influence of Donny Hathaway. “When I was a child, one of the first CDs I got was a compilation,” he recalls. “So I grew up on a lot of Bobby Caldwell, Christopher Cross, Prince … all of those are right down my alley.”
Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, The Philharmonik was also immersed in other musical forms; he learned piano and studied classical music, and he sang in a choir. “Those things gave me a foundation,” he says. “They gave me a head start when I wanted to create. When I started making my own music, I already knew how to play piano and sing, so all I had to do was write.” He believes that his musical self-sufficiency developed in large part thanks to those formative years of study.
In high school, The Philharmonik enrolled in a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) class. MIDI is a technical standard that allows multiple digital instruments to communicate, synchronize and work together. For a self-sufficient, multi-instrumentalist in the tradition of Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren, Prince and Paul McCartney, MIDI opens up a world that allows a solo musician to create and render fully arranged music.
Combining his keyboard and MIDI skills, The Philharmonik began working as a producer while still in high school. He was still involved in the sorts of musical activities his fellow students enjoyed—“having rap battles, beating on desks,” he says—but he took everything several steps beyond. By graduation in 2011, he was “messing around” with a demo copy of Fruity Loops, a computer-based digital audio workstation.
The Philharmonik released his self-titled debut album in 2018 on Sacramento-based Sol Collective. The following year, he toured as the opening act on Hobo Johnson’s first national tour. Sidelined (like everyone else) during the worst of the Covid era, The Philharmonik dove into the creation and development of his second long player.
MASTERFUL FUNK Now is the time to catch soul man, the Philharmonik, because he seems perched to blow up.
Released in 2022, Kironic expands his artistry in many directions. Across its ten tracks, the album moves seamlessly between styles— funk, R&B, pop, rock, psychedelia and hip hop—in a way that effectively erases the divisions between those styles.
The album’s opening track “Am I Dreaming?” asks the musical question: What is the meaning of life? In addition to a rich and soulful musical foundation, The Philharmonik’s music features thoughtful lyrics that probe such big questions. “I like to observe a lot,” he explains. “And I like to reflect that in my music.” He says that he endeavors to put a philosophy class into his music. But there’s still room for ruminations on love. “I study a lot of musicians,” he says. “But I also study a lot of poets.” And that emphasis makes itself known in a real, organic form on Kironic.
Considering such a directed, together artist as The Philharmonik, it might come as a surprise to learn that as recently as a few years ago, he considered giving up his musical pursuits. “When the second album got released, we were still coming off the pandemic,” he explains. “When it was released, I feel like it flopped.” Dealing with the aftermath of an auto accident, The Philharmonik hit what he describes as a dip, a dark moment. He recalls thinking, “I’m creating my best work, but I don’t know why I’m doing this any more. And I don’t know how much more I have in me.”
Back in 2019—“just as a feeler,” he says—The Philharmonik submitted an audition to NPR’s Tiny Desk program. He wasn’t chosen, but he tried again a few years later. “The second time, I knew exactly what to do,” he says. “I trusted myself.” He told himself, “This is the last thing I’m throwing at the wall. If this doesn’t make it, I’m done.” He won the 2024 competition, and performed on the popular program in May.
But it wasn’t the accolades that came with the Tiny Desk win that got The Philharmonik back on track. “It was the win itself,” he says. “I needed proof [to] myself: ‘This is worth it to me.’” He says that if he encounters another difficult point in his career, he can look back to Tiny Desk and remind himself: “Remember what you did when you saw nothing ahead? You kept going.”
The Philharmonik plays at 7pm July 28 at Woodhouse Blending & Brews, 119 Madrone St, Santa Cruz; 831-313-9461. $15 adv/$20 door. Tickets through Eventbrite. And check out his Tiny Desk video.
‘That’s the thing about country music over other genres,” Coleton Joe Tidwell says, before pausing and taking a final drag from his cigarette. As he exhales he adds the butt to a small pile he’s been building in the form of a log cabin.
“People love country music because it tells stories. When we began I wrote more abstract lyrics that were out there and creative. As we progressed I wanted to tap into the concept of songwriting instead of concept albums.”
It’s exactly the sort of thing one would expect from the singer and primary songwriter of five-piece country outfit Kentucky Mule. That’s because while other bands might say that statement to sound deep and introspective while being basic and clichéd, Kentucky Mule breathes a sun-soaked, scent of fresh grass life into their songs.
This Saturday they’re bringing their blend of working-class, American folk tunes, mountain string music and honky tonk to Moe’s Alley when they open for San Francisco’s The Sam Chase & The Untraditional.
Though barely two years together, Kentucky Mule has already made a name for themselves in the Santa Cruz music scene, country and beyond.
“When we first started playing we found ourselves in front of audiences who were not there to have a country music experience,” laughs drummer Troy Nadeau. “But it was cool because a lot of people would come up to us afterwards and say, ‘I never thought I’d like country!’”
“That was always my favorite sentence,” Tidwell agrees.
“And we heard it a lot,” guitarist Scott Willis says.
The base for Kentucky Mule was poured when Tidwell and Willis met as the pandemic lockdowns began to lift. Willis already had bass player Will Lermini in his back pocket.
“He’s my first pick for bassist, always,” Willis says.
They knew Nadeau from the local scene and had played with him in other projects so he was quickly added to make Kentucky Mule a quartet.
Nadeau just so happens to also be a sound engineer by trade and has a self-built home studio where he records all of the band’s music. It’s a tradition that dates back to Kentucky Mule’s very first practice.
“The first time we ever played together we recorded our first song,” Lermini says.
That track is the harmonica-driven, soul-searching “Hounds,” still available online.
Because of Tidwell’s prolific writing from playing solo gigs over the years prior to the band forming, Kentucky Mule already had a couple dozen original tunes right out of the gate.
“Because of all that work we had the opportunity to hit the ground running with a full set of originals,” Nadeau recalls.
“Our first set was like 80% originals, which was pretty amazing,” Tidwell says.
Soon after, the boys were joined by fiddle player Lizzy Smith, the lime juice and garnish that completes the Kentucky Mule recipe. Tidwell tells GT that Smith “really makes the sound” of the band and that everyone knew she had to join after meeting her and seeing her play.
The feeling was quite mutual.
“I’m so excited to be a part of this band,” Smith writes in a text message.
Last year they released their debut EP, Beginner’s Luck, a four-track collection of songs about questioning traditional values, working hard for minimum pay while capitalists get rich and driving fast down Highway 17. Tidwell’s voice flows from silky smooth to whiskey grizzled depending on what the song—and sometimes chorus—calls for. In only 12 minutes and 48 seconds, Beginner’s Luck throws down the gauntlet and harvests a gamut of Americana styles from outlaw and country rock to folk and western ballads complete with a slide guitar.
Then there’s the freshly released Deep Roots Ranch Live Sessions EP that just dropped on July 15. As the name implies, it was recorded live at Deep Roots Ranch outside of Corralitos, surrounded by the local mountains, fields of wild plants and that California sun sinking down just right at the golden hour.
A monster of an EP, Deep RootsRanch captures the band’s best side. It’s built with boot-scootin’ honky tonk and beer-swiggin’ stories about finding one’s place in this life. There’s even a 1960s-style string ballad that sounds like something Robert Hunter would’ve written. Which is on brand because, ultimately, Kentucky Mule is a live experience, as anyone who’s seen them play can attest.
With skill and ease they follow one another through the songs, sometimes running one tune into another, à la jam band style. Part of that stems from all members having backgrounds in punk and heavier music, with local psychedelic metal bands like Supernaut and Knuckledragger represented.
Then there’s also their grateful side.
“Being a Deadhead [helps],” Lermini says. “I try not to turn my nose up at anything and be as open as possible to all of it.”
It’s a very democratic take on music, which makes sense considering the band’s punk rock background. Someone not familiar with the genres might not think country and punk (or metal) have much in common, but they’d be wrong. All began as music “of the people, by the people and for the people,” with songs about everyday life and struggles.
It’s a connection not lost on Kentucky Mule and they’ll continue to sing their true stories whether they make it in Nashville or not.
“Country music is supposed to be the voice of the average person,” Tidwell says. “But the popular option for country today isn’t giving people that voice. The more you move away from that and corporatize what was supposed to be the music of the masses, something’s definitely off.”
Kentucky Mule opens for The Sam Chase & The Untraditional July 27 at Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $20/adv, $25/door. 479-1854.
Aries singer-songwriter Lady Gaga has written many songs, both for herself and other artists. She has famously declared that some of her most successful songs took her just 10 minutes to compose. They include “Just Dance,” “Poker Face” and “Born This Way.” According to my interpretation of the astrological omens, you could be rising to Lady Gaga levels of creativity in your own sphere during the coming weeks. And I won’t be surprised if your imaginative innovations flow with expeditious clarity, like Gaga at her most efficient.
TAURUS April 20-May 20
During the winter, some animals hibernate. They enter a state of dormancy, slowing their metabolism, breathing and heart rate. Other animals enter a similar state during the summer, conserving energy when the weather is hot and dry. It’s called estivation. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, many of you Tauruses would benefit from a modified version of estivation in the next couple of weeks. You’re in prime time to recharge your energy through deep relaxation and rest.
GEMINI May 21-June 20
The English word “amphibian” is derived from the Greek term amphibios, which means “living a double life.” The original meaning of the English word was “combining two qualities; having two modes of life,” though eventually it came to be used primarily to describe animals that function well on both land and in water. You Geminis are of course the most amphibious of all the astrological tribes. You can feel at home in a variety of situations. This may sometimes stir up confusion, but I see it as one of your greatest potential strengths. In the coming weeks, I hope you enjoy it to the maximum. It should serve you well. Wield it to take advantage of the sweet perks of versatility.
CANCER June 21-July 22
I dreamed that a young elephant appeared on the back deck of my house and stuck its trunk through the open sliding glass door. I got up from my chair and gently pushed the animal away, then closed the door. But after I woke up, I was sorry I had done that in my dream. What was I afraid of? The elephant posed no danger—and may have been a good omen. In some cultures, elephants in dreams and visions are symbols of good luck, vitality, long life and the removal of obstacles. So here’s what I did. I dropped into a deep meditative state and reimagined the dream. This time, I welcomed the creature into my home. I gave her the name Beatrice. We wrestled playfully and had fun playing with a red rubber ball. Amazingly, later that day, a certain obstacle in my actual waking life magically disappeared. The moral of the story, my fellow Cancerian: Welcome the elephant.
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
Some bamboo species grow very quickly—as much as 36 inches per day. I suspect your capacity to burgeon and blossom will display a similar vigor in the coming weeks. You may be surprised at how dramatic your development is. I’m hoping, of course, that you will be acutely focused on channeling your fertility in positive ways. Don’t feed an urge to recklessly gamble, for instance. Don’t pursue connections with influences that are no damn good for you. Instead, decide right now what areas of your life you want to be the beneficiaries of your growth spurt. Choose the beauty and power you will encourage to ripen.
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
For months, we heard and saw crows pecking on the roof of our rental house. Why? Were they grubbing for food? It was mildly annoying, but seemingly no big deal. Then one night, their small, regular acts of mayhem climaxed in an unexpected event. Rain began to fall around 8pm. It was constant, though not heavy. At 9, the ceilings in five rooms began to leak. By 10:30, our house was flooded. We managed to rescue most of our precious items, but the house was damaged. We had to find a new place to live. I don’t expect anything nearly this drastic to befall you, dear Virgo. But I do encourage you to check to see if any small problem is gradually growing bigger. Now is a favorable time to intervene and forestall an unfavorable development.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
Two Scottish veterinarians researched the health of rhesus monkeys that are compelled by human handlers to dance on the streets of Islamabad, Pakistan. When I first learned about this, my response was, “Wow! Don’t those doctors have anything better to do? That is the most obscure research I have ever heard of.” But later, I decided I admired the doctors because they were motivated primarily by compassion. They found the monkeys were under severe stress, and they publicized the fact as a public service. Their work will ultimately lead to better treatment of the monkeys. In accordance with astrological omens, Libra, I advise you to seek out comparable ways to express altruism in the coming weeks. By engaging in noble and idealistic acts, you will attract good fortune into your sphere both for yourself and others.
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Do you place any limits on how deep and expansive you allow your yearnings to be? Are you ever worried that maybe you desire too much and are at risk of asking for too much? If you answered yes to those questions, Scorpio, I will give you a temporary license to rebel against your wariness. In accordance with astrological rhythms, I authorize you to experiment with feeling the biggest, strongest, wildest longings you have ever felt. Please note that I am not advising you to immediately go out and actually express those longings to the hilt. For now, I’d like you to simply have the experience of entertaining their full intensity. This will be a healing experience.
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
You will never guess the identity of the strongest animal on the planet. It’s not the gorilla, tiger or elephant. It’s the dung beetle, which can lug loads that weigh 1,141 times as much as it does. The equivalent for you would be to pull six double-decker buses crammed with people. I’m happy to inform you that although you won’t be able to accomplish that feat in the coming weeks, your emotional and spiritual strength will be formidable. You may be surprised at how robust and mighty you are. What do you plan to do with all that power?
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
By age 35, you have already shed over 50 pounds of skin. The flesh that covers you is in a constant state of renewal. In the coming weeks, I expect your rate of regeneration to be even higher than usual—not only in regard to your skin, but everything else in your life, as well. Here’s a proviso: Renewal and regeneration are always preceded by withering or dwindling. To enjoy the thrill of revitalization, you must allow the loss of what was once vital but is no longer.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
Among people who go hiking a lot, “death march” is a term that refers to a long trudge through boring scenery in bad weather. Let’s use this as a metaphor for your life. I believe you have recently finished your own metaphorical version of a “death march.” Any minute now, you will begin a far more enjoyable series of experiences. Get ready for an entertaining meander through interesting terrains in fine weather. Be alert for unpredictable encounters with inspiration and education.
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
Alex Larenty gives massages to lions at the Lion Park near Johannesburg, South Africa. They especially love foot rubs. Even Jamu, king of the local beasts, rolls onto his back so Larenty can get a good angle while caressing and kneading his paws. I bring this to your attention, Pisces, because it’s a good metaphor for the unique power you will have in the coming days: a knack for dealing successfully with wild influences and elemental powers through the magic of kindness, affection and service.
Ask hardcore fans about the Big Four, and they’ll list Dr. Know, Agression, Ill Repute and Stäläg 13—bands from Oxnard that popularized the “nardcore” (a combination of hardcore and Oxnard) sound of the ’80s. Yet, despite their 1984 debut album, In Control, being a modern genre classic, Stäläg 13 broke up only a year later when their tour fell through. They reunited in 2003 for several years and even got a new singer (with original vocalist Ron Baird’s blessing) when the latter decided to stop touring. Now, Baird is back with the boys, making Holding On Vol. 1—a brand-new banger of an album dropped last March like Danny Way from a helicopter. MAT WEIR
INFO: 7pm, Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $13/adv, $17/door. 423-7117.
SALSA
MERIDIAN BROTHERS
Launched in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1998, Meridian Brothers are known for their brand of psychedelia-tinged tropicália. In some ways, Meridian Brothers is as much a sociological project as a dance music outfit. The prolific group has released 11 albums since its inception. Meridian Brothers’ latest release (available digitally, on vinyl and even on cassette) is presented as a self-titled collaboration with El Grupo Renacimiento, a legendary (in the literal sense of that word) salsa dura group from the ’70s. The album features lyrics that explore and address real-life, street-level concerns: addiction, social marginalization, police brutality and class struggles. BILL KOPP
Americana, rock ’n’ roll and the blues walk into a bar . . . and Paul Thorn and Band are there waiting to play all three. Country music might have been taking a quick whiz in the bathroom, but it’ll also be a part of the fun. Songs like “It’s a Great Day to Whup Somebody’s Ass” and “I Don’t Like Half the Folks I Love” have a certain down-home country twang. Thorn’s band is made up of guys who really know their stuff, and their music is made for rocking out with a cold one in one hand and a hot date in the other. JESSICA IRISH
INFO: 7:30pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $32. 423-1854.
SATURDAY 7/27
HARDCORE
Death Lens plays the Catalyst
DEATH LENS
Death Lens combines the best of punk rock and shoegaze as their foundation, then adds the chaos of hardcore shows to their performances. Once the band revs up, nothing can stop them. To see them live is to be embraced into turmoil, energy and community, and attendees can now expect a broader range of sounds as they incorporate songs from their latest album into their setlist. The shows make space to experience an emotional release from a world that constantly pushes people down, encouraging hope for a better future. Death Lens is unapologetically themselves, expressive punk rockers who keep evolving and speaking on the reality of the world while highlighting community and inspiring positive change. ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter Mason Jennings is full of surprises. The folk rocker has played in the synth-pop band Painted Shield and released an album of heavy metal covers, exploring the music he grew up on—all while writing and recording over a dozen albums of the storytelling folk songs he is most known and loved for. On Saturday, Jennings brings his folk band and probably a few surprises to Felton. Another artist known to spin tales in his songs, acoustic balladeer Jack Symes, will be opening the show. KEITH LOWELL JENSEN
Jan Harwood spent her career years as a psychiatric social worker. Since retiring, she has turned her energies toward writing. Her sharply satirical songs are written for the Raging Grannies, a troupe of vocalists dressed in old-timey “granny” gear. (They’re also part of the pioneering, century-old Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.) Harwood has also written poetry books, children’s books and two mystery novels. Her seemingly unending wellspring of creativity is celebrated with a signing for her latest, Patchwork: True Stories from My Life, a richly varied memoir of tales from the 93-year-old’s fascinating journey. BK
INFO: 2pm, Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Free. 423-0900.
MONDAY 7/29
JAZZ
CLÁUDIA VILLELA QUINTET
JazzTimes magazine described Cláudia Villela as a “Brazilian-born genius with a blistering voice.” Now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the singer, pianist and composer with a five-octave voice that has made her one of the most in-demand guest artists in jazz circles will perform her signature mix of samba, jazz and blues covers and original compositions. The Cláudia Villela Quintet also features saxophonist Gary Meek, guitarist Jeff Buenz, bassist Gary Brown and drummer Celso Alberti. KLJ
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $36.75/adv, $42/door. 427-2227.
TUESDAY 7/30
PSYCHEDELIC
Gary Wilson plays Moe’s Alley
GARY WILSON
Before the Flaming Lips danced around in rainbow and mushroom costumes while singing about fighting robots, Gary Wilson was onstage hanging out with blow-up dolls and bandmates in monkey costumes. Wilson is freaky, wearing wigs of every color, shape and quality (read: some of them are pretty ratty), using duct tape and fake blood, and singing songs that would make Ariel Pink jealous. He’s been doing his thing since the ’70s and is pretty open about how LSD has informed his creative approach. He’s a rebel in his industry, pushing the boundaries of performance while making music that’s, put simply, very good. JI
Before The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, there was Hamlet. After 424 years, it still stands as the ultimate—nay, the archetype—of political dramas with murder, betrayal, revenge, madness and humanity’s struggle. “To be, or not to be,” “to thine own self be true,” and “there are more things in heaven and earth” all took root in the Western vernacular and continue to flourish today. Indeed, no drama is more timeless than that of the Prince of Denmark. The show, directed by Susan Dalian, runs through August 31, so there’s time to realize something is rotten in the state of Denmark. But don’t worry, though this be madness, yet there is method in it. MW
INFO: 2pm, Audrey Stanley Grove, 501 Upper Park Rd., Santa Cruz. $5-$50. 460-6399.
There is not now, nor will there ever be “Affordable Housing” in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is the most expensive rental market in the country. A family of four...
The Philharmonik, a musician currently based in Sacramento, believes that in today’s music world, there are only two paths to success. “You either have to have a plethora of talents that you .can use, a very wide skill set,” he suggests, or you have to have a lot of money so you can bring in people who have that...
Meridian Brothers are known for their brand of psychedelia-tinged tropicália. In some ways, Meridian Brothers is as much a sociological project as a dance music outfit. Friday at Woodhouse Brewing
