Dina Lusztig Noyes started writing out of necessity in order to make sense of the thoughts running through her head. She was barely in her teens when the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, and had to grapple with the isolation of the lockdown in a new way.
“I just didn’t really know what else to do with myself. So at some point I sat down and I was like, well, there’s a lot of words in my head [and] there’s no real way to get them out because there aren’t exactly many other people around,” she recalls.
Lusztig Noyes, who just turned 17, proceeded to write an entire fantasy novel at age 14 and self-published it. It was a turning point, she says, one which made her realize her capabilities. But that was only the beginning. Soon after, she moved on from prose to find her power in poetry.
Now, Lusztig Noyes has been selected to be Santa Cruz County’s inaugural Youth Poet Laureate. Out of five finalists, she was selected by a panel of local poets and educators during an event at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz on April 10. The other finalists included Gregory Souza, Simon Ellefson, Sylvi Kayser and Madeline Aliah. The competition was open to any county resident aged 13 to 18.
The Youth Poet Laureate will serve a one-year term from 2024 to 2025.
Lusztig Noyes is quick to point out that the momentous honor is not only about her. She says the final felt more like a celebration of the artform than a coronation.
“I just felt that everyone was [there] to support everyone else,” Lusztig Noyes says about the Kuumba event.
The Youth Poet Laureate—much like the Poet Laureate—acts as an advocate and county ambassador for poetry, social action and civic engagement. According to the Santa Cruz Public Libraries website, the winner will “champion their own poetic practice while also encouraging their peers to take part in the artform through readings, workshops and appearances at events and engagements throughout the county.”
The establishment of the Youth Poet Laureate post was orchestrated by current Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate Farnaz Fatemi. A UC Santa Cruz graduate and longtime area resident, Fatemi was selected for the 2023-2024 term. After assuming the role, Fatemi says that creating a youth poet initiative was a priority.
“I heard from the arts council and county office of education that […] in the past few years different teenagers had asked, ‘why don’t we have a program for a Youth Poet Laureate?’” Fatemi says.
Soon after, Fatemi teamed up with Santa Cruz Public Libraries and it began to take shape. Her goal is to guide the nascent program while still in her post, but have it eventually taken up by youth poets.
“I’m committed to seeing this program for the next several years, work on this program for the next several years, whether I’m Poet Laureate or not. But also to try to make it self sustaining and youth-led,” Fatemi explains.
At the celebration on April 10, Fatemi says that the poet and attendees all experienced something powerful.
“They got something out of it. They felt more hopeful about the world and they felt more hopeful about our community. There were people in tears; it was so sweet.”
Lusztig Noyes echoes the call for more youth-centered poetry programs and events in the county. As inaugural Youth Poet Laureate, she hopes to establish a youth poetry open mic night locally.
“I respect the fact that adults have probably been doing this art form for a lot longer, but I don’t feel like their voice can capture what ours can because we have a very different perspective than they do,” Lusztig Noyes says.
“I want to create a space where I feel like people who are like you, people who do have fresher perspectives, feel comfortable; and feel open; and feel welcome.”
Her work grapples with themes of gender identity, mental health and self-reflection on issues of class. But her influences are more unlikely, citing humorists Douglass Adams and David Sedaris as favorite authors.
Lusztig Noyes says her work is not only to be read, but also to be heard.
“I encourage all those who read this article and enjoy what they read to try and find me at an event and hear what these poems are supposed to sound like, not just what they’re supposed to look like.”
Dina Lusztig Noyes and the other finalists will be reading their poetry at the Scotts Valley Multicultural Fair on Saturday, May 4, 2024.
Poems by Dina below:
CHANGE
Friend, you say it like I wanted this.
“To my knowledge you were born without a uterus.”
Look at me! I’m pretty now, but not without a phallus.
And you breathe now into the table.
You are in pain and to help I am unable;
and so I write, because this is a fable.
It’s hard for me to say that this is just.
Privilege shoots down right to disgust;
and so for life my jaws have shut and rust.
Because I was born a boy: femme of mind,
but not of body (god could never dare to be that kind).
And so I, stag, dream to look a hind.
But I was also born with paper skin.
My ivory organ burns quite easily, akin
to kindling that will never be called sin.
I was born third generation:
not first, not second, past the pain of relocation,
Charles Moothart launched his career collaborating with fellow early-aughts Laguna Beach garage-psych legends Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin. When he’s not playing drums in Segall’s backing band or working on the pair’s hard rock project Fuzz, Moothart can be found recording his own songs with the Fast Band. Far Out Magazine writes, “Being sweet, harsh, and more than a little bit zany in places, Moothart’s latest shows promising signs that he may be able to go toe-to-toe with Segall in the next few years.” ADDIE MAHMASSANI
ANN ALTSTATT: WHY IS THERE SOMETHING INSTEAD OF NOTHING?
Sometimes, it’s not clear when something is lacking. Sometimes, something is only understood through how it affects another thing or someone else. Taking a moment to explore something or someplace from different angles and different perspectives can reveal new details or new understandings of it. Not everything can be directly and fully known immediately and through one angle. Inspired by dark matter and “things that cannot be fully known,” Ann Altstatt explores temporary and hidden stories in their latest exhibition. Specifically, they look at the intersection of scientific inquiry and mysticism to find new ways to understand the material world and find new meanings and stories. ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
INFO: 5pm, Indexical, 1050 River St. #119, Santa Cruz. Free.
SATURDAY 5/4
AMERICANA
GRAHAME LESH & FRIENDS
Grahame Lesh, the son of Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, is Northern California royalty. The musician carries his father’s legacy as the vocalist and guitarist for multiple country-rock projects, including the Terrapin Family Band and Midnight North. The latter band’s latest offering, Diamonds in the Zodiac, features soulful arrangements, optimistic reflections and some highly respected collaborators. Phil Lesh appears on bass for the lead single “The Colors Here,” while producer Amy Helm, the daughter of drummer Levon Helm, provides vocals. Also memorable is the album’s centerpiece, a contemplative ballad called “Jupiter” set to lyrics Robert Hunter wrote. AM
Downtown Santa Cruz brings in free family fun and education from noon to 4pm. Schools, after school activities, camps, artists, face painters and performers ring the area from Abbott Square and along Pacific Avenue. It’s a day for kids to strut their stuff. There are kid DJ’s, dancers, musicians, artists and actors taking center stage in an event that draws thousands of families. It’s also a chance for exhibitors to show what they offer for kids year round. The event has grown over the years and this year’s should be the most popular ever. Downtown businesses join in the celebration with special discounts for the day.
INFO: noon to 4pm. Free. Exhibitors will be lined up on Cooper Street and Pacific Ave (between Church St. & Locust St.)
AFRO-BRAZILIAN
SAMBADÁ
Brazilian-born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Papiba Godinho has a long history of touring internationally and teaching capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art and game that includes dance, acrobatics, music and spiritual elements. He’s the founder and director of a local Raízes do Brasil Capoeira School and has led the band SambaDá since 1998. The group’s lead singer, Dandha Da Hora, is a master dancer, vocalist and percussionist. Born and raised in Salvador, Bahia, Da Hora has been a member of Ilê Aiyê, one of Brazil’s leading musical and cultural institutions, since she was six. The septet has developed an infectious blend of samba, reggae and funk. Though the group plays locally frequently, this is a unique and special Capoeira performance you won’t get at a typical SambaDá show. DAN EMERSON
Mark Twain said, “Laughter without a tinge of philosophy is but a sneeze of humor. Genuine humor is replete with wisdom.” Today, one only needs to look at the work of David Sedaris to see how that truth cuts through time. Author, humorist, lecturer and stylish dresser, Sedaris can be described as the modern Mark Twain. His books, short stories and column musings deliver hard truths about being a person in a world of Covid, MAGA and people who use the word “awesome” too much. Make sure to bring a favorite Sedaris book (or buy a copy of his latest at the event), as he’s known for staying after shows, sometimes for hours, signing and drawing personal messages for fans. MAT WEIR
INFO: 7:30pm, Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. $30.50-$61.50. 420-5240.
JAZZ
JEFF HAMILTON ORGAN TRIO
A former protege of the late Mel Lewis, jazz drummer Jeff Hamilton has developed a reputation as a player who is a masterful accompanist while maintaining a distinctive style. Among his most high-profile gigs have been stints with singer Diana Krall, big bandleader Woody Herman, singer Rosemary Clooney and pianist Monty Alexander. He is also coleader of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and a former member of the LA Four. Since 1992, Hamilton has recorded and released 16 albums as a bandleader. At Kuumbwa, Hamilton will be joined by organist Akiko Tsuruga and guitarist Steve Kovalcheck. DE
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $36.75/adv, $42/door. 427-2227.
WEDNESDAY 5/8
METAL
EXHUMED
The first thing to know about San Jose Deathgrind band Exhumed is that they are not for weak-stomached individuals. The second thing to know is they’re not for anyone without a bit of a twisted sense of humor. Anyone who meets the criteria will most likely love the absolute brutality that is Exhumed’s music and imagery. After all, not everyone can find solace in songs like “Dinnertime In The Morgue,” “Open The Abscess” and “Rapid Unplanned Disassembly,” but it’s guaranteed someone reading this is already looking up tickets. Exhumed’s 34-year onslaught has been defined by over-the-top gore and raging circle pits. This Wednesday, they launch an all-out assault at the Blue Lagoon with Skeletal Remains and Morbikon. MW
INFO: 7:30pm, Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $20/adv, $25/door. 423-7117.
COMEDY
COLIN QUINN
Long ago, in the days of yore, when television couldn’t be recorded without the proper VCR equipment, Saturday Night Live’s satirical news segment Weekend Updatehad but one host. His name was Colin Quinn, and he was wry, ironic . . . and maybe sometimes a little drunk? Quinn is a quintessential Irish New Yorker, with a thick Brooklyn accent and a self-deprecating bent to his humor. His ability to maintain a straight face while cracking big jokes is almost inhuman; the man even sat next to Will Ferrell in a wig and managed not to lose his cool, which makes Quinn even funnier. JI
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $35-$45. 423-1854.
Imagine yourself way back in January, embarking on a trip to the 50th annual Fungus Fair at London Nelson. Perhaps you convinced a skeptical friend to join you, only to find a line wrapped around the building. And facing a choice between fungus and friendship, trudging back to your car, consoling yourself with a pledge to start earlier next year.
If you too are wondering when mushrooms became all the rage, Far West Fungi, a regional specialty grower, is stepping up with two exciting days’ worth of answers. Far West’s Kierra Garrone and Erin Raser are the planners behind the inaugural Santa Cruz Mountain Mushroom Festival, May 4-5 at Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton.
Garrone and Raser represent the generation following in the footsteps of Far West founder John Garrone, who started out selling mushrooms out of a Volkswagen bus at a San Francisco Farmers’ Market in the ’80s. Today Far West’s eight-acre mushroom farm in Moss Landing produces about 25,000 pounds of mushrooms per day. Yet the family passion for mushrooms extends beyond the culinary into multiple realms of health and sustainability.
So, it makes perfect sense that Far West is stepping onto the events planning stage—and that during our conversation I would learn words like “myco-curious” and “shroom boom.” I was also surprised to learn that the $50 billion-plus global mushroom market is expected to expand at a rate of almost 10% from 2022 to 2030 in response to the booming culinary and medicinal demand.
The planning duo, who are also sisters in law, said they spent the past year traveling to multiple conferences, seminars and trade shows around the country, taking note of the best people and practices. The resulting list of presenters, experts, teachers and performers scheduled along five stages is expansive.
Truly, there are many sides to the humble fungi. Flavor, sustainability and health benefits are familiar. But mushrooms also have medicinal, therapeutic and even spiritual value. With subjects ranging from “thinking and being with fungi” to a mushroom mixology lab and a panel on psychedelics, it was hard to choose where to focus.
So, let’s lead with the news, the latest advances in mushroom research. Allison Feduccia, PhD, is a neuropharmacologist, psychedelic researcher and educator. Her list of credentials is too long to list here, but her talk about Psilocybin Therapy for Mental Wellness promises a look at how psilocybin-assisted therapy and microdosing are revolutionizing our approach to mental wellness.
Interest in medicinal mushrooms, including but not limited to psilocybin, is a big shroom boom topic, and the festival provides multiple opportunities to learn more.
On the food front, Maria Finn—author of Forage, Gather, Feast, Recipes from West Coast Forests, Shores and Urban Spaces—imparts a wealth of mushroom wisdom. Her new book explains how to find and what to do with the delicious foodstuffs you can dig, snip or catch. But her message is less about living off the land than encouraging a relationship with nature in what she calls ecosystem-based living.
Finn wisely notes, “nature has its own systems; we’d be better suited to adopt them than to impose ours onto nature. Nature knows what we need when we need it. Mushrooms come out in the fall, providing a rich source of vitamin D when the sunlight dwindles.”
When asked to name her favorite place in Santa Cruz to forage, she mentioned the beaches north of Davenport, May through June.
Maria left me with an important tip: if you do decide to forage, make sure you get your picks checked by an expert before you eat them. Zooming back out, Kierra and Erin described the upcoming event as a maker’s fair in a music festival format. You’ll find everything from hands-on cultivation workshops to tantalizing cooking demonstrations.
The wild energy of youth is pouring from the practice rooms of Be Natural Music on rehearsal day. Evening approaches in the hours after school, and the kids have traded textbooks for guitars and drums, saxophones, and microphones.
Days before Be Natural’s annual fundraising concerts begin, the band members of Le Son are laying down their playful blend of ska and traditional jazz. “Yoga Matt,” their guitar playing music teacher, bandmate and taskmaster, calls out the tempo changes before launching into a crazy, overdriven solo, backed by the sax, bass, drums and keyboard of the teenage boys.
By the end of the hour-long rehearsal, the combo has run through a creative mix of jumpin’ genres, from the ska classic “One Step Beyond” (“because it’s fun”), to the hard bop “Song for My Father,” creatively reimagined, a piece by the late American jazz pianist Horace Silver.
The quiet between songs is filled with the riffs of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” coming from the band rehearsing next door in Studio B.
Le Son doesn’t seem to notice. They’re hesitant to start the next song because “the timing is scary.”
Matt holds their attention with a firm reminder that practicing at home every day will make the time changes easier.
A ferocious rendition of Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow” filters in as Le Son launches into Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.” When a first take goes awry, Matt keeps things humorous while hinting at his holistic attitude about learning. “Are you guys okay?” he asks. “Are you getting protein in your breakfast?”
AMERICAN NIGHTMARE Adrian Sanchez on guitar and Avel Gonzalez on bass will join bandmates Ozzie, Mica, Gus and Max for Be Natural Music’s Spring concerts. PHOTO: Be Natural
At the top of the hour, the kids gather up their instruments to head home, as a new band arrives, the pre-teens of American Nightmare.
Tomorrow, they will be performing for an audience at Pono in Downtown Santa Cruz, at the first of Be Natural’s fundraisers. No one knows what the turnout will be or how the show will go, but the kids appear cool and ready for the challenge.
YOGA MATT
Ozzy Osbourne may have changed little Matt Pinck’s life forever way back when, and his future world for the better. The grinding metal of Black Sabbath proved unforgettable to the 7-year-old, when his brother invited him to listen to the band’s new record.
“‘Iron Man’ is obviously cliché, right? But the power chords, I couldn’t believe it,” he says, tracing his way back from his present vocation teaching a new generation the joys of music.
Later, in 7th grade, his brother handed him a CD. “Ride the Lightning,” by Metallica.
“He shaped me a couple times, without realizing it.”
The founder and driving force behind Be Natural Music, now known as “Yoga Matt,” began his journey here with piano lessons at 5 years old, getting airplane stickers on his sheet music as a reward for sight-reading. As a kid he wrote a lot of music, and even tried playing tuba and saxophone.
“I did pretend radio shows with a cassette tape recording—just goofy stuff.”
Soon he was taking guitar lessons, being taught the fundamentals and the rudiments, something he appreciates and makes a part of his method as a teacher.
“My first guitar was called a Hondo,” Matt laughs. “It was so fake. I was like, what’s a Hondo guitar?”
By junior high he was into metal—Metallica and Megadeth.
“My room had a second-floor window where I would rock out with the window open. The neighbors hated it!”
His advanced education in music continued, including studies at UC Santa Cruz, Berkeley and Cabrillo. He earned his music degree in jazz guitar, but his love of rock music remains.
Matt came to Santa Cruz from Southern California, following a girl who broke up with him on his birthday in 1997, and has been teaching music here for 25 years.
“When I got here, I was just teaching door to door. I just fell into it, I just started teaching.”
His girlfriend at the time got him to teach at a Montessori school in Felton, teaching 4-year-olds the piano.
“The first thing I learned was I was too intense. Which I still am, I’m still pretty intense. I remember the first kid I made cry. I actually used to make a lot of kids cry. I even made some parents cry. I don’t do that anymore.”
Matt jokingly credits his early education with his penchant for excellence.
“I went to Catholic school,” he laughs. “They’re too strict! I got hit on the knuckles by nuns in the ’50s and ’60s!”
A later influence on his career in teaching came from studying martial arts for four years, when he placed third in the nation for ages 12 to 15. The philosophy of the Be Natural schools reflects his time in the dojo, a blend of structure and playful coaxing to excel.
“I’m known for being a hard-ass for teaching in this town,” he says. “You need to have discipline, and you need to have fun. As a teacher it’s a balancing act.”
Matt’s wife and music partner, Sarah, teaches voice, saxophone, harp and piano at Be Natural.
They met at a natural food store, The Herb Room, in 2011 and married in 2022. The pair honeymooned in Europe from Amsterdam, through Belgium, Paris, London and Dublin.
“We busked the whole way and we had the best time of our lives.”
They love to perform as street musicians when they travel—recently to Kona—Sarah with her alto sax and Matt on guitar with his little 5-watt street cube amp.
THE SCHOOLS
The modest size of Be Natural on Water Street belies all of its creative activity. There are nine teachers at the Santa Cruz school, and 10 at the sister school in Cupertino. There are 190 students in SC, and 60 of them are in bands.
Importantly, Be Natural is a jazz and rock performance school.
“It’s because when you’re on stage there’s a difference,” Matt explains. “When you’re in a band and beginning to bond together, it gives you interaction and meaning. It gives you purpose.”
The live shows that the bands perform every spring are also part of learning and growing.
“When you’re up on stage at Abbott Square and a lot of people are listening, those nerves are still there, and some kids still get nervous, so I have to coach them on that too.”
Matt explains the significance of the name. “There’s a play on the natural half-step, the musical note. But it also has to do with a healthy lifestyle—musicians are known to be pretty unhealthy unless they get rich enough to have really good caterers—or blood transfusions. Our shirts say ‘Just Be.’”
THE KIDS
PJ Corbal, the lead singer of Faceplant, came to Be Natural like many of the students, wanting to sharpen her skills for a school project. Dressed for the day’s rehearsal in cut-off jeans, Doc Martens-style boots and an oversized flannel shirt, she is the playful spark at the center of her seriously focused bandmates: Kai on bass, Dylan and Max on guitars, and Frank behind the drums.
PJ explains between songs why the kids still appreciate the music that was written before they were born, with rock from the ’90s most often at the top of the list.
“The older rock music is just more real and less produced and artificial.” she says. “It’s music that a live band can learn and perform.”
She’s a big fan of Damon Albarn, the singer from Blur and Gorillaz. Kai says Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers is his favorite bass player, and Frank names drummer Daniel Carey of Tool as an inspiration.
The setlist for today’s practice includes a long-rehearsed challenge, the song “Limelight” by the Canadian prog-rock band Rush. The young musicians handle the complex arrangement and rhythm changes with confidence, and their pride in accomplishment shows as they nail the last note.
But it’s not all classic rock for the kids of Be Natural.
Some of the new musicians are “metalheads,” as Matt calls them, but many of the youngest kids, especially the girls between 7 and 9, love the chance to practice pop tunes, songs from Disney musicals like Frozen, and Broadway shows like Hamilton.
The enthusiasm the students have for their favorites is the opportunity Matt takes to inspire well-rounded musicians. “I really appreciate the kids who are studious,” he says, “and I think comes from their parents.”
“Kids will come in to work on something they’re doing in school, like Hamilton, but we have them do their warm-ups, some scales, and then land on what they’re working on.”
When kids come to Be Natural with songs to practice that they don’t love, Matt makes sure they’re given something extra.
“We get kids that say, ‘I’ve got to practice a song I’m doing for school,’ but some are terrible, like the worst songs ever. So we’ll teach them how to play the song, but we tell them, you should also learn a song that you like that you listen to on your phone.”
Matt notes the difference in music culture as it’s changed from the ’80s and ’90s.
“Kids have so much media at the tips of their fingers now. With the music, it’s overstimulated, there’s too much to check out. And everything’s mixed, so kids hear classics through a remix. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but it’s nice for them to know that song was written in 1970.”
PIZZA PARTY At fundraisers like this (at Woodstock Pizza) kids get excited about
making music. PHOTO: Be Natural Music
SUMMER IN THE CITY…
When summer arrives, it’s time for Be Natural’s music camps. In the five-day camp, musicians hone their craft, learn basic music composition, and prepare for a multi-track, professional-quality recording session. Students participate in the full production of an original song and music video.
Bands often begin in the summer camp because there are many new kids. The teachers have basic songs to start with and the kids begin adding songs that all can agree on.
THE BANDS
Matt explains that the Be Natural bands are constantly morphing, as students come and go, and occasionally changing their name, many of which reflect the personalities of the members.
“We had a band called Not My Fault,” Matt says. “A perfect teenage sentiment.”
A band called The Uninvited became Lies and Lullabies and the dad of one of the band members, a tattoo artist, drew their logo.
“We used to have a band called MEH,” says Matt. “They hated it, but they wouldn’t come up with anything else.”
A band of 12-year-olds called Bananaman created a yellow T-shirt featuring a “banana man” slipping on a peel.
The youngest students with Be Natural are a mere 4 years old and band members are generally from 10 to teens. A band is currently re-forming in Cupertino with retirement-age members, called Young @ Heart. Matt is considering bringing back a similar band of seniors for the Santa Cruz location.
THE GIFT OF MUSICIANSHIP
Yoga Matt shows his passion and dedication for teaching music when asked about what kids get from learning music in an environment with a holistic approach.
“So many things—it helps kids’ cognitive skills, it helps you focus, it helps you in math and science. Besides that, what about your nervousness and your self-doubt, and how you feel about yourself? You’re here and you feel good. We help them cope with humor and being able to handle criticism and critique. That’s huge, and that’s what you’re faced with playing onstage, playing in front of your peers. Besides that, you can’t underestimate friendships. It’s sweet. Insecurity is such a common thing.”
He remembers a surprise birthday party at the school for a longtime student.
“I looked around and I thought, ‘All these people met through us’ It’s a trip, The psychological, emotional part.
“Every time I see someone from the way past, the last time I saw them at 10 or 12, you can really see how much they’ve grown. I saw some kids a couple weeks ago, and you could tell they’re so stoked for what I taught ’em.”
FAME
Matt shows an obvious pride in his students who have made music a career or a big part of their lives, but he’s honest and even protective about them aspiring to fame and stardom.
“There is no from here to here to fame unless you’ve written the right song at the right time with the right sound and the right person hears it at the right time—and I tell kids that fame kills you, it gets really harsh.”
He explains how the internet has changed the nature of fame and success.
“I keep finding a bunch of our kids in big bands that are really popular on Instagram. Will they become rich and famous? No, but there are so many levels of fame now, like pockets of fame.”
Matt wants the kids to be heard and appreciated. They ask how it’s done, and he explains how they need a distributor. Be Natural maintains a library of music from the bands on Soundcloud and uses Distrokid to distribute to other platforms.
KEEPIN’ IT REAL Be Natural rockers Lies and Lullabies kick off the 2024 fundraisers at Pono. PHOTO: Be Natural Music
CONCERT DAY
It’s a typically beautiful day in Downtown Santa Cruz as the kids of Be Natural gather at Pono restaurant for their fundraiser. In the minutes before concert time, there are still empty tables in the large space, but the kids are focused on sound checks and psyching each other up.
Yoga Matt takes the mic and starts to rev up the audience, while the first band takes the stage.
The tables fill quickly, and soon the room is SRO, filled with music and excitement. New arrivals are waiting outside hoping to get in. The sound is great and the crowd is almost as loud as the bands.
Matt is on fire and Sarah is beaming as the kids play their sets. At the show’s end, Matt is pleased and proud. He says it was the biggest crowd they ever had there, and they stayed around.
Matt’s verdict of the Pono show: “epic.”
Be Natural’s Fundraising Concert Series continues through May. Students will be performing at Abbott Square on Kids Day, May 4 from 11:30am to 2:30pm, and on May 5 from 12:30 to 4:30pm at Bruno’s Bar & Grill, 230 Mt Hermon Rd, Scotts Valley.
If you could learn a musical instrument, what would it be? What music would you play?
Kiko Leiani
My dad’s teaching me bass because I’m trying to play reggae. I feel like it opens up a whole new world. It would be nice if I could play music with my dad and his friends.
Kiko Leiani, 15, Student
Miguel Higareda
Probably violin, because it’s the most like singing, in a way. A lot of people use the violin to interpret people’s voices when they do covers. But I have no clue what song or style I would play.
Miguel Higareda, 25, Barista
Tiernan Boyd
I’ve been into ska music lately, so I’d like to learn something more brassy, like trumpet or saxophone, any band instrument that’s brassy.
Tiernan Boyd, 24, Herpetologist and Musician
Brady Harmon
I’ve studied piano, but I’d love to be better. I can’t play a song, so I can’t say that I can play. When I paint I can use both hands, and I used to be able to write with both, so not being able to do that with piano was annoying.
Brady Harmon, 27, Behavioral Technician
Michelle Boyd
It would be violin, and I would play classical and zydeco music. The violin sings, doesn’t it, violin is almost like lyrics when you hear it.
Michelle Boyd, 54, UCSC Medical Reception
Alex Hubbard
It would be really cool to play a Flying V electric guitar so I could play a sped-up version of “Stonehenge” from the Spinal Tap documentary.
Are you ready for how downtown Santa Cruz is going to look in a few years? Giant towering buildings on both sides of Pacific Avenue. The historic Clocktower dwarfed by a structure that looks like it was transplanted from New York City.
That’s what politicians say the voters wanted when they voted 60-40 percent against the Measure M ballot measure that would have put new tall buildings to a vote. Is that really what you were voting for? Didn’t the politicians tell us that no developer would ever want to put up a building higher than 12 stories?
You can read about the new proposed complex in WIlliam S. Woodhams’ story in our news section today. Some say it’s a done deal and there’s not much objectors can do, because after all, for years everyone has been calling out for more housing and now it’s being delivered.
On the lighter side, we have dual cover stories bach to bach. On one hand, there’s a look to the past, one of the great works of Johann Sebastian Bach presented by our symphony, previewed in interviews by Christina Waters.
On the other hand, you can read about how Santa Cruz changed the future of music and allowed you to get a new release by Bach or Taylor Swift online in the blink of an eye. Mat Weir’s story about the Internet Underground Music Archive shows a huge local accomplishment by some idealistic UCSC students.
Too many people only see us as a laid-back surf town but major history and inventions have been made here.
You ever get the feeling that the government is going to do what it wants regardless of how it affects people? (See above!) Imagine you have a house and your city decides to block your driveway for the summer tourist season. They pile giant blocks of wood and put up a fence, after they originally said that wouldn’t happen and there is open space right across the street.
That’s what happened to a Capitola couple who have been renting out their apartment by the Capitola wharf. The city just parked its building materials in front of their garage, the only place for renters to park from now through August. There goes the business.
And when they complained, they were told to “file a complaint.” Homeowner Mark Nicholson, who is a science fiction writer, says it feels like his dystopian novel came true. Journalist Josué Monroy talked with him and city officials.
PHOTO CONTEST
SURFER SILHOUETTE: A vibrant winter sunrise glows behind our favorite statue. The Boardwalk, Wharf, and Loma Prieta enhance this stunning view from West Cliff Drive. Photograph by Andrea Randall
GOOD IDEA
Nighttime drivers in Capitola are greeted by flashing red lights around several stop signs. That’s a brilliant idea, literally and figuratively. No one can miss those signs and we wonder why all street signs aren’t similarly lit up. In New Jersey signs have reflective tape along the posts, which makes them unmistakeable. Why not something more helpful in our county, especially with our obscuring fog.
GOOD WORK
Oral Health Access (OHA) has been working to help the County’s oral health. Its new strategic plan includes mobile dentistry at senior centers, group meal sites and living facilities; promoting transportation options to get to appointments; oral health education and hygiene kits; as well as advocacy for dental coverage to be added to basic Medicare. For teens it will provide onsite care at middle and high schools, work on peer-to-peer education campaigns, and integrate oral health into classrooms. And for diabetic patients, it will increase education with patients and providers about the direct correlation between oral health and diabetes.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” —Neil Degrasse Tyson
CORRECTION
In our story about saving rainwater there was a miscalculation for how much water you can save in a 1-inch rain event off of a 1,000-square-foot roof. It should have read a 10 X 100 roof not a 10 by 10 roof. Thanks, sharp-eyed readers.
“Take a Hike With Richard Stockton” appears weekly on the Good Times website.
I make the mistake of turning on NPR. As I drive past the Corralitos Market and Sausage Company on Hames Road and turn left on Browns Valley Road, I hear a Texas politician pontificate about his divine knowledge of when life begins. For me, that would be my first cup of coffee. I turn on my windshield wipers and wonder, “Why the hell am I heading for the Byrne-Milliron Forest in this storm? Who would drive through driving rain to climb a mountain?” I’m indeed a curious duck.
SIGNS OF CONFUSION Browns Valley or Brown Valley? Google Maps says Browns.
The Roses of Yesterday and Today sign with monarch butterflies on it is an easy landmark for the road up to the parking lot. Turn left onto the entrance road across from the Roses sign. It’s about a mile up to the Land Trust parking lot.
YESTERDAY’S FLOWERS Welcome to the forest.
My Prius is the only car in the parking lot. There is a blue porta-potty that claims a video camera is capturing everything. I wasn’t too keen on using the porta-potty anyway but reading that my defecation reflex efforts are going to be captured on video makes me want to take my chances with a poop bag in the woods.
I start from the parking lot and find the Byrne Trail. The rain has slacked off, but the wind picks up. It blows harder and harder. The trees bend sideways, creak and pop. Is this a little crazy to be up here now? Yeah, it probably is. I’ll try not to get hit in the head with a redwood limb.
Why do I love hiking in a storm?
Inclement weather can turn a hike into an adventure. Even the easiest trail feels like it’s going into uncharted territory. You can’t see far, you pay more attention to what’s under your feet. You become wild. You’re not just a person invading the landscape, you’re part of it.
Rain is easy. We’re made of water. Wind is different. Wind is to be reckoned with. Wind can be frightening. I was near a tornado once. Very near.
It’s 1996, I’m in Lubbock, Texas, and the comedy club put me up in a motel room that has indoor-outdoor carpet on the floor. The walls shake every time a cattle truck goes by. I pace the floor and berate myself.
“I’ve been a comic for ten years and I’m playing in Lubbock, Texas, at a club called Froggy Bottoms. My career is on fire!”
That’s when I hear the wind. At first it whistles around the windows but grows to pound the little motel and the walls shake. I turn on the radio. The DJ says, “Get down, people. The big blow’s comin’. Ya’ll, it is time to git to the root cellar!” The radio dies and the lights go out. I tremble in the dark as the walls rattle and the wind howls. I’m going to die in Lubbock, Texas.
I go to the door, because being from California, I know that it is safer in a doorway. I open the door three inches. I see a lawn chair blow by. A garbage can shoots down the street. I see a young boy, caught out in the tornado. He is being blown down the street. I should go out and carry him to safety, right? Where exactly is it safe? Am I going to do nothing? Will I let a child perish?
Wait a minute. He is on a skateboard. He has his jacket pulled up over his head as a sail to catch the wind. He shoots past and I hear him yell. “Yeeeeeeeeeehaaaawoo!”
I shake and he sails. There it is. You can cower in fear or go on the ride of your life. No, I did not save that boy. He saved me.
Tornadoes aside, how dangerous is it to hike in a storm?
CLOUD COVER The view from Byrne Trail’s observation deck.
In the Central Coast I think we can probably get away with hiking in weather. Our climate is so temperate, you’re not going to freeze, you’re not going to die of thirst, and it’s not like I’m going to get lost on the Byrne-Milliron mountain and starve to death. It would be hard to get lost enough to have an intermittent fast.
I talk to a woodlot owner, with 20 years in the forest industry. He says, “Walking in the forest during windy conditions can pose risks, especially if there are old or weak trees. You may be able to hear a tree start to fall, but the question is if you will have enough time to react and get out of the way. It can be dangerous, particularly in softwood stands.”
Softwood? That would be redwoods, right? Like the giants that are creaking, moaning and groaning all around me?
I make it to the Byrne Trail observation deck and can look over Watsonville all the way to the ocean and a panorama of much of Monterey Bay. This observation deck alone is worth the trip. Binoculars are amazing up here.
The deck looks like a stage, with Monterey Bay as the backdrop. I feel like King Lear, shouting into the wind.
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drench’d our steeples, drown’d the cocks!
A PATCH OF BLUE as the wind dies down
The rain stops, the wind dies down. Blue sky opens over the ocean and the angry heavens pass over us. I’ll bet you a dollar that back in the day, Ohlone people would stand here to check in on their land and their tribe. It feels like they are here now.
I’ve walked the mountain, with nothing but the feel of the wind and rain across my face. I’m at peace with my storms. Tromping around a mountain of old trees in a violent storm? Probably not a good idea and I don’t recommend that you do it. Unless you have to. Then pull your coat up over your head to catch the wind.
How to Get There: Take Highway 1 to Freedom Boulevard, cross over the freeway and drive up Freedom to Hames Road. Drive through the metropolis of Corralitos, which consists of the Corralitos Market and Sausage Factory, and continue straight. Turn left at Browns Valley Road and go until you see the Roses of Yesterday and Today sign, with monarch butterflies on it. Turn left there. The road up to the Land Trust parking lot is approximately a mile after you turn off Browns Valley Road.
Byrne-Milliron Forest Land Trust: a 2.9-mile loop trail near Watsonville, California. Considered a moderately challenging route, it takes maybe 2 hours to complete. This is a popular trail for birding, hiking and walking, but you can still find solitude. The trail is open year-round and is great to visit anytime. Dogs are welcome and may be off leash in some areas.
An Australian Cattle Dog, called a Queensland Heeler. They’re smart, loyal, fun, very active. You can get one from a farm where they breed them for cattle work. I think my dream dog is a long haired chihuahua mixed with a Cattle Dog.
—Dawn Howell, 34, Aspiring Farmer
Demitrius Ackerman
I would probably say Golden Retriever. I like their fluffy hair. They’re a snuggly dog and they seem pretty energetic too.
—Demitrius Ackerman, 16, Student
Geneva Ludington
Probably a Doberman. They’re kinda scary looking, but they’re really sweet, and they’re good to train.
—Geneva Ludington, 15, Student
Alexander Mills
My first dog was a West Highland Terrier, a little Scottie dog. He had the spunkiest personality, and I’ve just been obsessed with that breed ever since. They’re stubborn little beasts—and so am I.They’re the little white ones with beards.
—Alexander Mills, 20, UCSC Student, works at Santa Cruz Cinema
Lindy Howell
Manx cats are pretty cool. I ended up with two barn kitties, and one was a Manx with just a stub of a tail. He was more of a wild creature, used to running around, catching. He brought me lots of presents.
—Lindy Howell, 64, Radiographer
Christopher Criswell
American Bull Terrier. I have one now—American Bull Terrier crossed with a hound. She’s got long floppy ears and she wiggles, she wiggles around. She’s beautiful, she’s a happy dog.
When the Town Clock was dedicated in 1976, it represented Santa Cruzans’ hopes for the future and recalled memories of turn-of-the-century Pacific Avenue when trolleys lumbered by and the clock sat atop the Odd Fellows Building.
On March 4, the day before the primary election, the local developer Workbench submitted a pre-application plan to the City of Santa Cruz for a massive 18-story, 260 apartment building at the former site of Santa Cruz County Bank and the Rush Inn.
The Clocktower Center would be the tallest building in the county and most likely the tallest building ever submitted to the city, according to Planning Director Lee Butler.
The next morning the clock rang and voters quashed Measure M by a 60-40 margin. The measure would have required an election for buildings taller than the city’s current limit of 5 to 8 stories depending on where they are located, and would have raised the number of affordable units from 20% to 25%.
The failure of Measure M points to the public’s appetite for more housing, according to electeds, city officials and developers.
“The critical and pretty utter defeat of Measure M showed us that we are not alone in our effort to solve this crisis,” said Tim Gordin of Workbench. “There are so many people in the city who are supportive of new projects and whose voices were really heard through that vote.”
Others disagreed. They went to reddit and Nextdoor to say they felt misled by the opponents of Measure M who promised no 18-story buildings in the run-up to the election. Former Mayor Don Lane accused proponents of Measure M of “scaremongering.”
Largely missing from the public debate over Measure M was the issue of the state’s density bonus law which makes local zoning codes seemingly impotent to stop high-soaring projects if certain affordability requirements are met. In Santa Cruz, almost all tall projects could be permitted because of the city’s 20% affordable-inclusionary rate, according to Butler. This would have almost certainly made Measure M ineffective to stop this project.
California law incentivizes affordable housing through density bonuses which allow developers to build taller than the city’s height limits. Every city is required to submit to the state a Housing Element that shows how the city expects to reach its housing goals as set by the Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA). This process is done in cycles and a new cycle started in 2023.
For the Clocktower Center, Workbench is applying a new density bonus law, effective January 1, which allows it to build 100 percent more units because it will reach the 24% requirement for affordable units. This is why the project can reach 18 stories.
The Clocktower Center is symbolic of the new era of development in the city.
There are currently 2,830 housing units in 47 proposals, plus as many as 260 Clocktower units, proposed for the city in various stages of approval. This is approximately 75% of the city’s RHNA goal set by the state that ends in 2031.
Two other significant projects have been proposed for the Westside in recent weeks, both on Almar Avenue. One submitted by Workbench at 831 Almar is for a six-story, 120 apartment commercial and industrial space for “students and workers” who will be able to use the rail-trail. A 50% density bonus is being invoked. Also because projects located within half a mile of a transit stop don’t have to include parking, Workbench doesn’t have to comply with minimum parking requirements.
At 844 Almar, a three-story 42 low-income unit rental building is proposed by CRP Affordable Housing. The triangle-shaped lot across from Safeway is owned by the Rittenhouse-Melrose family. Plans request a 54% density bonus for the site.
The change to Santa Cruz’s streetscape from Downtown to the Westside will be immense.
“Whatever settles out on this Town Clock project and other projects around town, may it be the Food Bin, wherever it may be, what is undeniable is that Santa Cruz will change rather substantially, buildings will be taller, buildings will be denser,” said Mayor Keeley.
Projects like the ones on Almar are mainly due to the new regulatory environment, according to Butler. Almost as important are the high rents caused by the housing shortage that make landlords salivate.
This new era of development is characterized by developers overwhelmingly proposing rental projects instead of condominiums, according to Butler, the planning director.
“From the early 2000s to 2017 or so the only rental projects that were coming through the city were 100% affordable and all the other projects were ownership. It has very much flipped,” said Butler.
The city will look at encouraging developers to build more owned condominiums to balance the increase in rental housing.
Developers are confident their projects can get built because of the city’s need to fulfill state housing requirements. High rents don’t hurt either. At the Anton Pacific that is set to begin leasing in June, a 500 square foot studio is asking for $2,977.
Ironically, Santa Cruz was part of the 6% minority of California cities to fulfill the state’s last housing requirements.
According to the Downtown Plan, updated in October 2023, building height is limited to 35 feet in the North Pacific Area of Downtown. Development may be allowed “to a maximum height of 50 feet (4 stories)” where the Clocktower is proposed if approved by the city council. The 18-story proposal could be almost 200 feet tall.
“It is somewhere between naive and irresponsible to put that 16 or 18 story proposal out there,” said Doug Engfer, ex-water commissioner and homeless garden board member. “I guess charitably the big building is more of a red herring and the eight story building is really what they intend to build.”
Gordin insists it is a serious proposal to alleviate the housing crisis and contribute to urban lifestyles that are more fun and less detrimental to the planet. Moreover they could still go 20% larger.
“Hopefully people understand our viewpoints. Measure M or not we could have submitted two days later, two days before, one month before, one month later it doesn’t matter. This is the project we can do currently,” said Gordin.
THE POLITICAL RESPONSE
The Clocktower project has not been evaluated to see if it fits “city design and site development standards,” per the request of Workbench, however it meets the requirements of SB 330, a law that prevents the city from trying to alter the project.
When the city passed the South of Laurel expansion to the Downtown Plan in June 2022, the change allowed for buildings of exceptional height. A single building could have risen 225 feet by the Warriors arena. The furor from the city’s perceived overreach led to the “Housing for People initiative.” In response, Keeley, who had recently been elected as the first at-large mayor in Santa Cruz history, led a political compromise to shrink maximum building heights from 18 to 12 stories.
Keeley has gotten emails about the Clocktower building but this time around he is not sure there is much the city can do. In the big picture, the state has taken power from cities on zoning issues. Still the city can meet its housing needs without towers, according to Keeley.
Council member Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson agreed and said that the project “is out of scale for the community” and “we can meet our goals without towers and we have outlined how in our recently certified housing element.”
Susie O’Hara, who will represent District 5 when she is sworn in November, doesn’t think “anyone in Santa Cruz reasonably believes that the proposed project fits the scale of that corner.” When she is on the council she will “proactively engage with developers like Workbench to propose projects that don’t completely upend the progress we’ve made as a community.”
Johann Sebastian Bach sits at the top of every musician’s forever playlist. And Bach’s B Minor Mass is widely considered the apex of his work for voice and instruments.
A dazzling summary of Bach’s technical genius, the B Minor Mass overflows with stylistic variety, intricate composition and crystalline counterpoint. Finished late in his life, Bach considered it to be a legacy work, an electrifying summary of his countless innovations, his gift to the future of Western music.
As Picasso is to visual art, so Bach is to music—everyone who came after him was influenced by his vision. A performance of this ultimate work for chorus, soloists and symphonic orchestra is rare. But we have two chances to hear it, at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on May 4 and at Watsonville’s Mello Center on May 5.
MAJOR MINOR MASS Santa Cruz Symphony conductor Daniel Stewart leads his first B-Minor Mass. Photo by Kevin Monahan
The Conductor: Daniel Stewart
A ten-year contract with his Santa Cruz orchestra and a new residence in the Bay Area demonstrate music director Daniel Stewart’s commitment to local audiences. The maestro is now adding to his résumé his first-ever B Minor Mass. No stranger to massive musical works, Green recently guest conducted Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the San Francisco Symphony at the invitation of Esa-Pekka Salonen, and he is passionate about the upcoming Bach performances.
Good Times: How do you approach something this big?
DS: I haven’t had the pleasure of doing the B Minor Mass and the upcoming concerts are more special for that reason. So I made sure to really immerse myself in the operatic and the choral repertoire. Working with the Metropolitan Opera, for example, I have learned truly what it is to bring disparate forces together over a great physical space.
A non-musician might think of it in terms of coordinating a complex choreography on a big physical scale. I mean, when you see something happening, at halftime at a football game, there’s a lot of space involved and a lot of things going on. But they’re coordinated to one very metronomic beat yet with subtlety and nuance and flexibility.
I have to ask: why the excitement over the B Minor Mass?
DS: Well, Bach is such a singular force of musical, cultural influence. If you were to look for a similar figure in the world of painting, you’d almost have to roll Leonardo and Michelangelo, plus some others, into one. It’s just astonishing how influential and how visionary this one particular person is. And then you have to realize that the B Minor Mass is literally the summation and culmination of Bach’s work.
The material was taken from so many different parts of his life. He wrote five new pieces of material and he reworked some from 20 years before. It really is a summation of genius.
The music is so transformational, inspiring and brilliant, and it works so well in so many different arrangements, from small ensemble to symphony. This conversational, give-and-take counterpoint is the study of balance between musical ideas. And that makes it universal, enduring and so just astonishingly simple—deceptively simple.
How will this piece appeal to a younger audience? A first-time listener?
DS: To be in the presence of wonderful music, there’s no way you’re not going to find delight. And surprise, and wonder. We just have preconceptions, and that’s why I think we need our open rehearsals so that people come in and see the process. We can tie ourselves in knots over how to repackage classical music, but the essential aspect of it is there’s nothing that needs changing. It’s just the perception of it and access to it. If you hear magnificent classical music, it’s resonant. Because music itself speaks so eloquently for itself.
What size orchestra will you be using?
DS: We’ll be using close to our regular complement of musicians, probably about 60 positions. The majority of instruments will be strings, so you’ll see a slightly smaller version of our orchestra than normal.
Can you talk a little about the particular challenges of producing the B Minor Mass?
DS: The main factor is rehearsal time. We have such a very limited amount of time available to rehearse and so that’s always the greatest challenge. But as far as stamina and energy and all that goes, certainly you have to prepare the singers. The time involved—it’s over two hours—brings athletic challenges. But then again there are operas that last five hours! Musicians are more than capable and remarkably athletic in terms of their stamina, their preparation, their focus and their behind-the-scenes magic, creating a seamless and elegant presentation.
Have you discovered some special pleasures that you didn’t anticipate?
DS: Everyday, everyday, overwhelmingly beautiful, overwhelmingly inspiring, it’s the kind of experience that you get in the best moments in nature. You’re just absolutely in awe of the majesty of this. It makes you feel grateful to be alive.
Do you audition the soloists?
DS: Yes, yes, that’s one of my great privileges because I get to not only design the menu for each concert and for each year, you know, in terms of what, what we’re going to offer, but I very, very carefully cast all of the soloists and all of the performers involved. Coming from the Metropolitan Opera, I am fortunate to have many friends among leading musicians. So we’ve brought in some of the world’s greatest singers, and it’s just such a joy to introduce them to our lovely town.
We’ll have a superstar soprano, Hera Hyesang Park—her career is really taking off. And two other dear friends, Andrew Stenson and Sarah Couden, will join us, and Christian Pursell. Cheryl Anderson brought him to my attention. I was just absolutely delighted to see what an accomplished young artist he is. And so I could not miss that opportunity to really tie in his very special local origin story to this performance.
Do you ever get stressed about whether it will all come together?
DS: No, because I plan it so meticulously. And I don’t want to leave anything significant up to the risk of not being ready, but that being said, I think Picasso said have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it. But we’re always striving towards that. This is how we bring about transformative experiences, life-changing moments.
And you’re working once again with Cheryl Anderson.
DS: How wonderful it is to have a collaborator of her caliber, of her vision, of her heart. She’s one of my favorite musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with and I’ve enjoyed more than I can say our many collaborations.
So it’s a special relationship that the chorus and the symphony have with one another and so much of that is because of the tremendous cultivation that Cheryl has put into the whole vocal world here. It’s been a rich relationship and a rich collaboration.
DO RE MI Cheryl Anderson, director of Cabrillo College’s Choral and Vocal Studies program.
The Choral Director: Cheryl Anderson
Cheryl Anderson has had her expert hand in all phases of Monterey Bay area musical life. As director of Cabrillo College’s Choral and Vocal Studies program, she works in concert with the Santa Cruz Symphony for a major concert each spring. This year she has prepared her chorus of 85 voices for the B Minor Mass, the ultimate thrill for choral singers.
Tell me a little bit about your history with this piece.
CA: We did the B Minor at the Cincinnati Conservatory. We did every major Bach work. And then we had the pleasure of having Robert Shaw conduct us at the Conservatory, and that was so life-changing. It’s your north star really, but not just the music—the whole experience. Basically it’s embedded in my DNA. Coming to Cabrillo was the first time I had the kind of depth of personnel that I felt could really handle it. We did it at Holy Cross, and at the Mission and then at Peace United. Maybe 15 years ago. When Danny took me aside and said, “What would you think about the B Minor with the Symphony,” I just screamed! Wow!
Will you need to edit this piece?
CA: We don’t cut anything. It’s one of those pieces, for people who know the work, it would be like cutting off the bottom six inches of the Mona Lisa.
How do you prepare for something this huge?
CA: It’s not ostensibly different from other pieces that we do. We begin rehearsals with a warm-up, of course, and then we do about two hours of singing together. Then we split up, and anything that was egregiously difficult, we work on, in sectionals. We spend about an hour in sectional, so about three hours and 15 minutes.
At what point will your chorus begin working with the musicians?
CA: Danny generally comes the week before we start working with instrumentalists, about two weeks before concert. Then a week before, we get together for the first time with the orchestra at the Civic. So four meetings with musicians and conductor before concert.
Are you looking forward to this epic event?
CA: Oh, my God. I am so thrilled. I’m just beyond elated. I will hate for it to be over.
Is it hard to give the directing over to the conductor?
CA: No—that’s why I work with people that I adore and have faith in. And I get to sing. I always try to sing with them. I love it.
What are your favorite parts?
CA: Well, I love the Gloria—the Gloria’s where I learned that Bach dances.
And when the tenors and basses come in at the et aeternum—it’s a game changer. There’s nothing like it—nothing. As a group, they take over for four pages in this melismatic firestorm of beauty. [A melisma is an ornamental vocal technique involving one syllable sung across multiple notes.] It’s spectacular. That’s the first thing I rehearsed. What in the world caused him to write that for a bass section that just like a train came through the middle of the mass. It sounds like, “Now we’re celebrating!”
HARMONIC CONVERGENCE Cheryl Anderson will lead the Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus through Bach’s B Minor Mass, the ultimate thrill for choral singers.
Any special vocal exercises for this work?
CA: They need the vocal agility to be able to sing that many fugues with that many melismas—it’s a huge deal for singers. We do a lot of agility exercises. This may be too technical, but I like to do a tongue trill on a very fast passage of so fa mi re do on the solfeggio and up to re and all the way back. And we do that once and then you take a breath and do two of them and then 3, of them, 4,5,6 of them to test the ability of your breath to manage the notes that are coming up. The management of breath that allows the tone to remain alive.
I’m there for coaching soloists often on a Tuesday afternoon of the first rehearsal. I have to mention the bass soloist, Christian Pursell, who graduated from Cabrillo. And then Cincinnati Conservatory. He’s been at the Met; he sang in San Francisco Opera, with the Mormon Tabernacle and the Montreal Symphony. He’s really been all over the world. He is very young. And he’s just brilliant.
What is the biggest challenge of presenting the B Minor Mass?
CA: I think endurance. And it’s physical and it’s mental and emotional. And so, we try to front load every single note so that it becomes almost second nature. You turn the page and you already know what’s going to be on the next page.
Do you ever have fearful moments about readiness?
CA: I would be lying if I said, no, no, I never have. But then I just look at a particular angle or what I might not have prepared well enough. At this point in my life, having done this as long as I have, I realize that when people come to work on this music it’s because they want to be there. They’re there to learn and to participate in something they couldn’t find in any other life experience.
BONO VOX Bass/baritone Christian Pursell began his musical studies at Cabrillo College. Photo by Riccardo Riccio
The Soloist: Christian Pursell
Bass/baritone Christian Pursell, who began his musical studies at Cabrillo College under the tutelage of Cheryl Anderson, now travels across the country developing his career in opera. The critically acclaimed singer recently made his Carnegie Hall debut in The Grapes of Wrath with MasterVoices. Delighted to be coming home to sing his very first B Minor Mass, Pursell talked about his hopes for the upcoming performance.
What’s exciting about this concert?
CP: I love doing Bach. Ever since high school when I was one of the Young Artists winners at Carmel Bach Festival. This piece is Bach’s version of the complete artwork. There’s amazing four-part harmony in Bach’s choral writing that just can make you cry. There’s really nothing like his harmonic progression. That’s the reason why in school students learn all about Bach, because his composition level is unmatched.Such stunning, beautiful music. I have two arias in the work, my chance to contribute. It’s a big project and I’m just one piece in it.
How do you prepare for a concert like this?
CP: Well, I scale my voice to each unique situation. In this case, I know the Santa Cruz Symphony, and the Civic Auditorium is a large, wide space. So I’m going to be aiming my voice toward various areas, using power in my voice. But the acoustics are very much in the favor of singers. I’m surprised at how good the acoustics are at the Civic. So the audience can hear everything. I would treat this as any opera gig with an orchestra. I’m going to be projecting my voice, and within that projection I will add as many colors as possible. This is kind of gesamptkunstwerk, a very grand piece of music that is bringing all these musical forces together.
At what point will you work with the orchestra?
CP: We will be just a couple of days in rehearsal. And it’s a large work so there’s going to be limited opportunities for me to run the piece. Typically what happens with a symphony gig is there’ll be a meeting with the conductor and the soloists to go over all the solo material with a pianist and run technical details. Tempi, where a rubato or fermata will be—all those details are taken care of with the orchestra. And as with all professional musicians, we’re ready to go at the first orchestra rehearsal. Then it’s just fine-tuning. So if we’re all prepared, then the better chance we get to be artistic and musical and make the Bach even more special.
How do you prepare for your solos? Do you sit at a keyboard and work through the material?
CP: Yes, absolutely. I grew up a pianist and so I’m able to self accompany myself to a certain extent, but usually you need another pair of ears. So I’ll work with a coach. In this case, I know the piece very well since I actually performed it last year in San Francisco. So this is a piece very familiar to me and close to my heart. And so I’ll review it, make sure that I’m pronouncing everything well and not missing any notes, and then just show up ready to perform.
And what’s next? Are you working in an opera this summer?
CP: Yes, that will be at Cincinnati Opera, where I’m singing in Don Giovanni, the role of Leporello. This is my first time doing it. I spent over a week this last month in Milan coaching the role with three different Italian coaches. So I’m feeling prepared. Not memorized yet. But prepared.
Are you looking forward to coming here to Santa Cruz to sing?
CP: I feel very close to Cheryl [Anderson]. She was a great mentor and a big supporter. I’ve always wanted to perform with my hometown symphony. And this is my first time doing it. So I’m so excited. A coming home moment!
The Santa Cruz Symphony presents Bach’s B Minor Mass in collaboration with the Cabrillo Symphonic Chorus and four renowned vocalists. Saturday, May 4, 7:30pm at the Civic Auditorium and Sunday May 5 2pm at the Mello Center for Performing Arts.santacruzsymphony.org
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If you could learn a musical instrument,what would it be? What music would you play?
My dad’s teaching me bass because I’m trying to play reggae. I feel like it opens up a whole new world. It would be nice if I could play music with my dad and his friends.
Kiko Leiani, 15, Student
Probably violin, because it’s the most like...
