Page 215 | Good Times

Letters

Letters to the Editor

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October 18, 2023

SMALL INDIVIDUAL ACTS

Democracy and civilization are preserved through small, individual acts. This is mine.
I live in Soquel (technically Santa Cruz), and have been raising funds to support Ukraine’s struggle for independence and freedom. I’ll be traveling to Lviv next week at my own expense to do my part, and thought this might make for an interesting story. I’d love the increased visibility to help with fundraising (we’ve already collected ~$10K in only a month).
More details on my Substack here: https://tallmartin.substack.com/p/im-going-to-ukraine

Martin Buhr

HOUSING PROBLEMS

Putting high density housing along transport corridors or in commercial centers has been promoted as a way to counter sprawl and protect regional farmland for decades now. However the high rise at the former Taco Bell (RIP) is pretty outrageous. It will only result in neighboring property owners selling up to the next big city developer with deep pockets.

Roseanne Hernandez Cattani

MORE HOUSING TROUBLES

My husband and I are both teachers and we are planning to leave. It doesn’t make sense to live in a place where everyone wants to live in the 1950s like the population hasn’t grown! For all you locals who don’t want transplants coming into your precious retro-enclave, I leave you with this thought: Are you willing to fill the empty positions that will be left when those of us who can’t own homes leave? If you want a vibrant city full of skilled workers, we need affordable places to live, otherwise, you’ll be left with a quaint town full of aging homeowners reminiscing about the good old days, and not much else.

O’Brien Celina

HOSPITAL SHORTAGE

Why not report on the fact that there is NO TRAUMA center for those already here, and each trauma has to be airlifted out at a cost of about $45,000 with no way to get home? How about how all of us here right now would burn alive sitting on our ONLY artery out of here, Hwy 1? Or, how are we to evacuate in a tsunami? Who is selling us all out to our possible deaths? Now there’s a storyline. Also, it has taken 45 minutes to an hour to get a flight, this is stuff people should know before their loved one needs immediate trauma care.

Chrissy Brown

Free Will Astrology

Astrology

Rob Brezsny

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October 18, 2023

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ARIES March 21-April 19 JooHee Yoon is an illustrator and designer. She says, “So much of artmaking is getting to know yourself through the creative process, of making mistakes and going down rabbit holes of research and experimentation that sometimes work out—and sometimes don’t.” She adds, “The failures are just as important as the successes.” I would extend this wisdom, applying it to how we create our personalities and lives. I hope you will keep it in mind as you improvise, experiment with and transform yourself in the coming weeks.

TAURUS April 20-May 20 Sometimes, we droop and shrivel in the face of a challenge that dares us to grow stronger and smarter. Sometimes, we try our best to handle a pivotal riddle with aplomb but fall short. Neither of these two scenarios will be in play for you during the coming months. I believe you will tap into reserves of hidden power you didn’t realize you had access to. You will summon bold, innovative responses to tantalizing mysteries. I predict you will accomplish creative triumphs that may have once seemed beyond your capacities.

GEMINI May 21-June 20 Gemini novelist Meg Wolitzer suggests that “one of the goals of life is to be comfortable in your own skin and in your own bed and on your own land.” I suspect you won’t achieve that goal in the coming weeks, but you will lay the foundation for achieving that goal. You will figure out precisely what you need in order to feel at home in the world, and you will formulate plans to make that happen. Be patient with yourself, dear Gemini. Be extra tender, kind and accommodating. Your golden hour will come.

CANCER June 21-July 22 Some astrologers say you Crabs are averse to adventure, preferring to loll in your comfort zones and entertain dreamy fantasies. As evidence that this is not always true, I direct your attention to a great Cancerian adventurer, the traveling chef Anthony Bourdain. In the coming weeks, I hope you will be inspired by these Bourdain quotes: 1. “If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.” 2. “What a great way to live, if you could always do things that interest you, and do them with people who interest you.” 3. “The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that’s enlightenment enough—to know there is no final resting place of the mind.” 4. “Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.”

LEO July 23-Aug. 22 Author Iain S. Thomas writes, “The universe is desperately trying to move you into the only spot that truly belongs to you—a space that only you can stand in. It is up to you to decide every day whether you are moving towards or away from that spot.” His ideas overlap with principles I expound in my book, Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings. There I propose that life often works to help dissolve your ignorance and liberate you from your suffering. I hypothesize that you are continually being given opportunities to grow smarter and wilder and kinder. In the coming weeks, everything I’ve described here will be especially apropos to you. All of creation will be maneuvering you in the direction of feeling intensely at home with your best self. Cooperate, please!

VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22 “Never do anything that others can do for you,” said Virgo novelist Agatha Christie. That’s not a very Virgo-like attitude, is it? Many astrologers would say that of all the zodiac’s signs, your tribe is the most eager to serve others but not aggressively seek the service of others on your behalf. But I suspect this dynamic could change in the coming weeks. Amazingly, cosmic rhythms will conspire to bring you more help and support than you’re accustomed to. My advice: Welcome it. Gather it in with gusto.

LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22 I’m not enamored of Shakespeare’s work. Though I enjoy his creative use of language, his worldview isn’t appealing or interesting. The people in his stories don’t resonate with me, and their problems don’t feel realistic. If I want to commune with multi-faceted characters dealing with fascinating dilemmas, I turn to French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850). I feel a kinship with his complex, nuanced understanding of human nature. Please note I am not asserting that Shakespeare is bad and Balzac is good. I’m merely stating the nature of my subjective personal tastes. Now I invite you to do what I have done here: In the coming weeks, stand up unflinchingly for your subjective personal tastes.

SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21 As much as I love logic and champion rational thinking, I’m granting you an exemption from their iron-grip supremacy in the coming weeks. To understand what’s transpiring and to respond with intelligence, you must partly transcend logic and reason. They will not be sufficient guides as you wrestle with the Great Riddles that will be visiting. In a few weeks, you will be justified in quoting ancient Roman author Tertullian, who said the following about his religion, Christianity: “It is true because it is impossible.”

SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21 As a Sun-conjunct-Uranus person, I am fond of hyperbole and outrageousness. “Outlandish” is one of my middle names. My Burning Man moniker is “Friendly Shocker,” and in my pagan community, I’m known as Irreverend Robbie. So take that into consideration when I suggest you meditate on Oscar Wilde’s assertions that “all great ideas are dangerous” and “an idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea.” Oscar and I don’t mean that interesting possibilities must be a risk to one’s health or safety. Rather, we’re suggesting they are probably inconvenient for one’s dogmas, habits and comfort zones. I hope you will favor such disruptors in the coming days.

CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19 Some people might feel they have achieved the peak of luxury if they find themselves sipping Moët & Chandon Imperial Vintage Champagne while lounging on a leather and diamond-encrusted PlumeBlanche sofa on a hand-knotted Agra wool rug aboard a 130-foot-long Sunseeker yacht. But I suspect you will be thoroughly pleased with the subtler forms of luxury that are possible for you these days. Like what? Like surges of appreciation and acknowledgment for your good work. Like growing connections with influences that will interest you and help you in the future. Like the emotional riches that come from acting with integrity and excellence.

AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18 There are over 20 solutions to the riddle your higher mind is now contemplating. Several of them are smart intellectually but not emotionally intelligent. Others make sense from a selfish perspective but would be less than a blessing for some people in your life. Then there are a few solutions that might technically be effective but wouldn’t be much fun. I estimate there may only be two or three answers that would be intellectually and emotionally intelligent, would be of service not only to you but also to others and would generate productive fun.

PISCES Feb. 19-March 20 Naturalist John Muir didn’t like the word “hiking.” He believed people ought to saunter through the wilderness, not hike. “Hiking” implies straight-ahead, no-nonsense, purposeful movement, whereas “sauntering” is about wandering around, being reverent towards one’s surroundings and getting willingly distracted by where one’s curiosity leads. I suggest you favor the sauntering approach in the coming weeks—not just in nature but in every area of your life. You’re best suited for exploring, gallivanting and meandering.
Homework: My new book is available: Astrology Is Real: 6 Revelations from My Life as an Oracle. https://bit.ly/IsAstrologyReal

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ROB BREZSNY FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Street Talk

Street Talk

Jeanette Prather

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October 18, 2023

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**Jeremy Carlson, 64, Owner, Dyeing For A Brighter World**

“Dylan said ‘money doesn’t talk, it swears.’ It’s gonna take a lotta cursing. It takes a lot of money, and where do you get it? At this point I’m shocked that I’m still here.”

“It’s impossible, right? A million dollars as a starting price. The market is oriented to the people who can be here for the summer. For most people the only option is to live outside of here and come to work.”

“Our mistake was not being born 30 years sooner. That’s where we messed up. Even three years ago at least you could get a decent interest rate.”

**Mike Wood, 40, Social Worker, and Jamie Wood, 36, Environmental Scientist/Mom**

“We own a condo. What made it possible? About 10 years of saving—and Covid. In 2020 prices dipped a little and we were able to get in.”

“We bought a house 12 years ago, by working very, very hard and being diligent, but I couldn’t do it now. The neighborhoods are changing. We’re not seeing the same vibrancy with the types of people that can afford the housing.”

“I would need a new line of work. I’m a teacher, but it would be nice to have a job that could afford you a house. My partner and I work in two of the least lucrative industries in one of the most expensive places on Earth. That’s a tough combination.”

Turning Weed Into Beer

Cannabis

Jeanette Prather

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October 18, 2023

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There are many criteria for assessing how challenging the still-new legal cannabis business is: mounting losses or declining profits, businesses going belly-up, layoffs. But there’s at least one more: the increasing trend of cannabis companies expanding into noncannabis industries.

Diversification—a strategy where a business offers a variety of products—often makes sense and that’s especially true when a core business yields narrow profit margins, as cannabis generally does. The high costs often stem from high taxes and regulations that might be necessary, but are expensive to comply with and the continued federal illegality of weed. That’s why we often see merch like t-shirts, branded ballcaps, beer koozies and the like in local dispensaries.

Among the big, publicly traded cannabis companies, Tilray Brands is probably the best-known diversifier.

Recently, it has started to seem almost more of a beer company than a cannabis company. It is now the fifth-largest craft brewer in the United States, in fact, having purchased a clutch of breweries including storied brands like Redhook Ale, Sweetwater and Widmer Bros.

Tilray is also a pharmaceutical company—with most of its products being cannabis-based—a fashion marketer, a producer of hard liquor and a maker of energy drinks. It also grows cucumbers. But beer is where it’s putting most of its brand-expansion money, though for now it still makes most of its money from cannabis.

In August, Tilray shelled out $85 million to Anheuser-Busch InBev for eight craft brands. AB said it was unloading the brands in part because of shortfalls stemming from the idiotic “boycott” of Bud Light staged by the American right wing in response to AB running a one-time internet ad featuring a trans person.

Whether that’s a genuine reason for the sale can’t be known, but large brewers have been exiting the craft-beer market in recent years to concentrate on their core, watery, mass-market brews. It’s also difficult to know why Tilray is getting so heavily into craft beer, at least from listening to what its executives say about it. The company now bills itself as a “lifestyle consumer packaged goods company.”

Note that the word “cannabis” is entirely absent from that description. In a “town hall” meeting with the investment platform Public, in January, Tilray Finance Chief Carl Merton added the “cannabis” back in while describing the company as a “diversified cannabis lifestyle consumer packaged goods company…across adult-use and medical cannabis, beverage-alcohol, and wellness consumer products.”

During an August conference call with investors, Tilray CEO Irwin Simon explained the acquisitions this way: “Ultimately, upon legalization one day, is there the opportunity for adjacencies in the THC and CBD world, and having that distribution system, having those manufacturing facilities?”

Apparently, that was a rhetorical question. It seems far-fetched to believe that cannabis could be plugged into a beer-distribution system, but big corporations do love their “synergies,” even when they don’t really exist.

To some degree, at least, Simon might have been thinking mostly about regulatory compliance and is hoping that federal legalization will have weed governed similarly to alcohol, with producers, distributors and retail shops regulated separately. It’s possible it will go that way, but it’s also possible that it won’t. And even if it does, that doesn’t mean companies can just patch weed onto their booze-distribution systems. It seems much more likely that Tilray is just looking for ways to shore up its losses.

And to be fair, things have improved.

A couple of weeks ago, the company reported that its revenues were up 15% in its most recent quarter and while it still is reporting losses, those have narrowed.

Tilray is right that federal legalization will be key to its success, but assuming it happens, it will have little to do with its beer acquisitions or its other non-cannabis businesses. It will be because Tilray and all other cannabis players will be able to do business like anybody else, including transporting weed across state lines, writing expenses off their taxes like every other business does and getting services like banking and insurance without excessive amounts of hassle.

In the meantime, a lot of the pressure could be taken off the industry if states like California were to lower taxes and ease up on the more onerous regulations. For the moment, the chances of that seem as frustratingly remote as the chances that Congress will legalize weed.

Vigil For Palestinians Held At UCSC

Breaking News

Aiyana Moya

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October 16, 2023

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On Monday night, UCSC group Students for Justice in Palestine held a vigil to mourn the Gazans killed by Israeli bombing and siege. Over a hundred people stood in silence at the UCSC Quarry Plaza as night fell.

A speaker whose identity was kept hidden—all speakers wore masks to hide their identity in consideration of their safety—gave a brief history of Palestine over the last seventy-five years. The vigil was not merely for the twenty-four hundred Gazans killed since Oct. 7th, but for all those Palestinians who have died under Israeli occupation, he explained.

Another speaker recited the opening of the Quran, Sura Al-Fatiha, upon the request of his friend in Gaza.

Another speaker acknowledged the danger Palestinian face today and thanked the crowd for coming despite the personal risk they faced doing so: “I know it is easier to speak out from the safety of social media but it means a lot seeing the community mobilize like this,” they said.

There was no noticeable disturbance of the proceedings.

Draped in a Palestinian flag, two people cried. Students drew messages of solidarity on the side-walk and placed candles around the Palestinian flag.

The organizers told the crowd that no video of the event or pictures of people’s faces would be allowed. The organizers of the event declined to comment.

New Bill To Fast-Track Pajaro Levee Work

Breaking News

Todd Guild

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October 16, 2023

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New Bill To Fast-Track Pajaro Levee Work

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed legislation that will expedite the reconstruction of the Pajaro River Levee, moving construction start date and completion time years earlier than anticipated.

Assembly Bill 876 fast-tracks the work by exempting the project from certain local environmental laws and regulations under the California Environmental Quality Act through construction.

The $400 million upgrade to the levee, which local, state and federal officials celebrated last year, was years in the making. The communities surrounding the levee have suffered numerous floods since the levee was built in 1949, which also flooded in 1955, 1958 and 1998. An upgrade authorized in 1966 by the Federal Flood Control Act never occurred.

A breach during winter storms in March forced the evacuation of hundreds of Pajaro residents and damaged homes and businesses.

“For far too long, Pajaro Valley residents have demanded investments in infrastructure to keep their river levee safe during extreme weather and storms,” Assemblymember Robert Rivas stated in a press release. “And today, we are answering that call and taking urgent action.”

Work to repair the damaged portions in advance of the winter rains is already underway. Newsom signed an executive order earlier this year to expedite the emergency repairs and also approved $20 million in state funds to help rebuild the community of Pajaro.

Monterey County Supervisor Board Chair Luis Alejo said the bill is the first of its kind, and shows that Pajaro and Watsonville are a priority in Sacramento.

“Getting the work done as soon as possible to improve the flood protection level on the Pajaro River is a top priority,” Alejo said. “We are thankful the Governor has signed the legislation by Speaker Rivas and our other state legislators to exempt the project from state environmental laws for the duration of the project.”

Controversial Zionism Conference On Track For This Weekend

Breaking News

Aiyana Moya

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October 13, 2023

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Controversial Zionism Conference On Track For This Weekend

Amid devastating violence in Israel and Palestine, an upcoming academic conference that will discuss Zionism has garnered increased scrutiny, but organizers say that the current conflict is proof the conversation is needed now more than ever.

The conference, which is put on by the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism’s (ICSZ) and will have sessions in Santa Cruz and New York on Friday and Saturday, will discuss “how the IHRA definition of antisemitism both amplifies and hides repressive power and state violence.”

In 2016, the 35-member International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) defined antisemitism as, among other things, “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

ICSZ director Emmaia Gelman, who is Jewish, says a goal of the conference is to examine Zionism, which she says is not inherently antisemitic.

“Conversations like this are being subjected to all kinds of new horrible claims of antisemitism,” Gelman says. “[The scholars at the conference] work is dedicated to anti-racism. We’re talking about people who think deeply about how racism, which includes antisemitism, is produced and the systems of power that produce it.”

Christine Hong and Jennifer Kelly, who both teach in UCSC’s Critical Race & Ethnic Studies department, helped found ICSZ and several other UCSC faculty members are part of the organization’s advisory board. Multiple UCSC departments and centers are co-sponsoring the upcoming event and a few UCSC faculty members are slated to speak.

In anticipation of the event, a group of seven UCSC faculty members wrote a letter to the UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, saying the conference’s topics “legitimize the hatred of Jews and Israel.” UCSC issued a statement in September making clear that the University does not endorse the event.

ICSZ director Emmaia Gelman, who is Jewish, says that since the violence that started last weekend, lecturers scheduled to speak at the conference have been threatened.

“The verbal attacks on people involved in this conference have already been incredibly vicious and disgusting,” Gelman says. “There have been racist emails directed at scholars of color who are involved in the conference. And so can that translate into physical danger? Absolutely.”

Because of the controversy Gelman says organizers are taking extra security measures to protect the speakers and attendees. She also says that the events that transpired over the weekend have sparked even greater interest in the conference, with more than 250 people registering at the two conferences in New York and Santa Cruz.

“People are really desperate to have to hear from people who have been doing research on Zionism to understand what’s going on,” Gelman says. “People viscerally feel that something is missing from this story.”

PVUSD: Strong Support For Possible Bond

Breaking News

Todd Guild

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October 13, 2023

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Pajaro Valley Unified School District will likely have enough voter support to pass a $315 million bond on the November 2024 ballot.

That was the message to the Board of Trustees Wednesday from Dale Scott, whose eponymous consultancy company conducted a straw poll of 407 likely voters, gauging their attitude toward helping foot the bill for millions of dollars in much-needed maintenance and construction projects districtwide.

The poll results painted a largely favorable picture of the public’s perception of PVUSD, with 78% agreeing that its schools are the community’s most valuable asset. Additionally, 84% said that good schools increase property values.

If the bond goes before voters, it would require a 55% approval from the 59,193 voters who reside in PVUSD.

“You are in excellent position for the presidential ballot,” Scott said. “People seem to know how they feel about the district and the potential for a bond going in.”

No action was taken on approving a bond, or on the specific financial details if it is approved—that will come during future meetings.

But the example presented in the poll—adding six cents per $100 of assessed value on annual property tax bills—gave a picture of what it might look like.

That amount, if approved, would raise an estimated $18.36 million per year for the district, the poll said.

If the district decides to move forward with the bond, the board would have to approve a resolution by June or July, Scott said. That would require a 2/3 majority vote by the board.

The bond would follow in the footsteps of Measure L, a $150 million bond approved by voters in 2012.

That bond has funded construction, restoration and maintenance projects at all of the district’s schools and buildings, most notably the sports complex at Pajaro Valley High School.

But before it was passed, a skeptical school board pared it down from $250 million, believing the smaller number would be more palatable.

But the lower amount left thousands of projects throughout the district unfunded.

This includes classroom renovations, leaky roofs and pipes and outdated plumbing, in addition to ventilation and air conditioning system upgrades. Security and emergency communication systems upgrades are also on the list, as is a new performing arts center at Pajaro Valley High school.

In other action, the Board of Trustees approved an interim contract for a chief business officer to fill the spot when current CBO Clint Rucker leaves later this month, and as the district seeks a permanent one.

Kim Sims, who retired from the Guadalupe Union School District in June 2017 after serving as their financial director, has been a freelance CBO for five years.

Sims’ annual salary is $209,713, although her contract stipulates that she work no more than 719 hours, or roughly one month.

Rucker said he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Solar Eclipse Viewable Saturday

Breaking News

Aiyana Moya

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October 12, 2023

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This Saturday, people all over the US will be able to see a crescent-shaped partial solar eclipse as the moon passes over the sun.

In the Bay Area and Santa Cruz, the moon will cover between 70% and 80% of the sun according to Paul Lynam, resident astronomer at U.C. Santa Cruz’s Lick Observatory. Because the eclipse will be happening on the morning of Oct. 14 around 8:05am, during bright morning daylight, the eclipse will be barely perceptible to the unbeknownst early riser.

Still, it’s worth taking the time to notice—even though solar eclipses happen twice a year around the world, it’s rarer that they happen somewhere as convenient as our city, Lynam says.

Lynam stresses the importance of safe viewing during eclipse: never look at the sun directly, always use an indirect method like a basic pinhole camera or use safe viewing sunglasses—like the ones the Santa Cruz Public Libraries are handing out.

He says his favorite way to witness partial eclipses like this one is simply by standing by a tree: the leaves on the tree create a pinhole effect and can project an image of the sun onto the ground, which will appear as crescent shapes scattered on pavements.

Historically, Lynam says astronomers would use partial eclipses like this one for timing purposes. The time of the eclipse would provide information about the orbital patterns of the moon and characteristics of the sun.

With modern technology, relying on eclipses for those purposes is not necessary anymore: but, astronomers still take advantage of total eclipses to learn about the characteristics of the sun’s outer atmosphere. Because solar light is obscured during total eclipses, astronomers can better observe the sun’s outermost atmosphere, a subject that has been a source of mystery for astronomers.

The next solar eclipse in the United States will be happening in April of 2024 and Lynam is planning on traveling to Texas where he can experience the eclipse in totality. He recalled the most recent total eclipse that he saw in 2017 in Tennessee.

“It was wonderful, but it probably wasn’t wonderful in the sense that you might expect,” Lynam says. “I quite enjoyed the peripheral things around it rather than the actual Eclipse itself. So I enjoyed seeing the streetlights come on in the daytime and the change in the insect and animal behavior.”

In the meantime, Lynam says there’s always something to be gained by going out to observe the nighttime skies, especially in winter, a time that displays constellations that people might be more familiar with.

“It’s always a nice activity over weeks or months to spend a few minutes if it’s a clear night and notice the patterns of the stars changing,” Lynam says. “It reflects the motion of the Earth progressing in its orbit and the individual movements of some of the planets because they rarely stay fixed in position over more than a week or two.”

And even though he works nights, Lynam says he plans on trying to see the partial eclipse this Saturday.

“It’s for me very early in the morning, because I’ll probably go to bed at five or six in the morning,” he says. “But I do plan to make the effort at least to look up a couple of times during that two hour period to see the progression of the moon shadow in front of us. It’s always worth the effort.”
Use NASA’s interactive eclipse map to check when the eclipse will pass over your area.

Andrew Duhon Brings New Orleans Vibes To Felton

A&E

GT Staff

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October 12, 2023

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Andrew Duhon Brings New Orleans Vibes To Felton

Andrew Duhon’s current album “Emerald Blue” is roux rich, darkened with earth, and textured by deceptively understated performances that pulse like nearby hearts.

Inspired sweetly by sojourns to visit his girlfriend in Washington state and tautly by his pandemic experience amid the struggling scenes outside his own New Orleans window, Duhon chain wrestles the challenges of the day, smoothly navigating his way with harmony, awareness, and humility.

As an album largely written during the pandemic, it’s not surprising that various circumstances and issues from that period filter through the “Emerald Blue” album.

The song “Slow Down,” for instance, found its roots in the pre-pandemic hustle of being an independent artist– wrangling shows and tours while attempting to maintain some semblance of a “normal.” Of course, as the old adage goes– be careful what you wish for.

“I agree that the nature of the quarantine, for me, was a proof of concept that if only I would’ve given myself that time and respite to write, I could be effective in doing so. But I still haven’t ever given myself that time voluntarily,” laughed Duhon during a recent interview.

“That’s the interesting thing about “Slow Down”– it was one of the first songs that I shared during the quarantine because it wasn’t inspired by the quarantine. It was inspired before that when I was hustlin’ and never stopping. It was a question of, ‘Can we just slow down and enjoy this stuff before we are gone, before it goes away, before the opportunity to slow down doesn’t exist anymore?’ But then there’s that other piece, a passion for something kind of feels like a vent more than it does a job. It’s clear to me that if money didn’t exist or I didn’t have to do anything, I would still write songs.”

Though dark and dangerous, the downtime experienced by every working artist on the planet also offered opportunities for much-needed rest and creative rejuvenation. It was also an opportunity to virtually meet up with fans on a deeper level. Duhon used his Patreon platform as a means to workshop songs in real-time, allowing access for fans into the process few would have considered before COVID-19.

“It doesn’t feel comfortable to me to share, wide open, my whole life. I’m carefully editing some songs to figure out what I have to say– that’s the part that I want to share that’s intimate,” said the native of Metairie, Louisiana. “Patreon is a much more intimate crowd, a smaller community that is choosing to pay a monthly membership to be a part of [it], and I found that much easier to share a little more intimately the process of the songs.”

Through the process, Duhon found a new comfort in his own abilities and fresh courage to explore the situations and stories he feels are important.

“I think there was a bit of a pivot with those two ideas ‘What is it that I have to say?’ and ‘Write what you know,’ Duhon said. “‘Everybody Colored Their Own Jesus’ is a good example of me feeling fairly confident, ‘Okay, I know enough in my own experience to write about this.’ But the pivot is about me being less precious about the whole thing – less precious about the recording, less precious about how other folks might take this. I think I’m comfortable enough now that I’m being thoughtful in the process so the product will remain thoughtful, and hopefully, it will inspire thought. But if it’s not completely squaring with someone else’s worldview, that’s okay.”

For the recording of “Emerald Blue,” Duhon engaged percussionist Jano Rix (Wood Brothers), bassist Myles Weeks (Seth Walker, Eric Lindell), and keyboardist Dan Walker (Heart, Courtney Marie Andrews) as his band at Maurice, Louisiana’s Dockside Studios, reuniting with GRAMMY-winning, golden-eared producer/engineer Trina Shoemaker.

“I got back together with Trina partly because after the quarantine, to me, it was about putting together the [people] I felt most comfortable with and most confident that they knew exactly where I was coming from because we had traveled some road together. Trina, at the top of that list, we had already made two other records together, and she just understands what needs to be done at the helm of the ship navigating a particular record,” said Duhon, who worked with Shoemaker previously on 2009’s “Songs I Wrote Before I Knew You” and 2013’s “The Moorings.” “I find that extremely comforting in what can be a pretty nerve-racking, precious process. You’re putting down in track form what you have created, essentially making it a static thing, where otherwise, it always moves. Every time you perform it on the road, it’s moving, it’s changing, but that (recorded) track won’t change. It’s going to be what it’s going to be. It’s an important place to make decisions, and I feel like Trina has been the person I trust the most to help make those decisions.”

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Letters

Brew Chew

Baby Food

Letters

Free Will Astrology

Street Talk

Turning Weed Into Beer

Vigil For Palestinians Held At UCSC

New Bill To Fast-Track Pajaro Levee Work

Controversial Zionism Conference On Track For This Weekend

PVUSD: Strong Support For Possible Bond

Solar Eclipse Viewable Saturday

Andrew Duhon Brings New Orleans Vibes To Felton

Letters

Free Will Astrology

Street Talk

Turning Weed Into Beer

Vigil For Palestinians Held At UCSC

New Bill To Fast-Track Pajaro Levee Work

Controversial Zionism Conference On Track For This Weekend

PVUSD: Strong Support For Possible Bond

Solar Eclipse Viewable Saturday

Andrew Duhon Brings New Orleans Vibes To Felton