If you chart the course of any comedian’s career, you see hills and valleys, but David Cross seems to have broken that mold and consistently climbs higher and higher up the mountain of success. From his legendary role on Arrested Development, to being the manager of Alvin, Simon and Theo, to his dabbling in Marvel’s cinematic universe, to writing on the under-appreciated completely influential Ben Stiller Show, to pairing up with Bob Odenkirk for the four star Mr. Show and a constantly evolving life onstage doing comedy, to name a few things, Cross has become, by hook or crook, one of America’s most cherished voices.
Cross is currently on tour with his newest performance, The Worst Daddy in the World (he became a dad seven years ago at age 52), and is coming to the Rio Theatre on October 26th. During this performance Cross will reflect on being a dad, but he also takes on the world at large and translates the zeitgeist into jokes and stories that put things into a saner perspective.
From his home in Brooklyn, New York, Cross has no problem talking about how his life in comedy started in Georgia. “My 19th birthday was the first time I did an open mic. For 99.9% of stand ups, the first year, at least, is a struggle. You go to every open mic night and you’re probably getting some hosting work, but nothing significant. Then I moved to Boston, and the scene was so thriving and it was already legendary at that point. And then I got lucky, very lucky.”
Cross’ arrival in Boston coincided with the infamous Comedy Boom, where comedy took the nation by storm and every major city suddenly had a high demand for stand-up comics. Boston was one of the major places where the Comedy Boom was occurring. “They had so many gigs available that they had to book every comic just to get bodies on stage. It didn’t matter if you were good or even funny or not, you got work,” says Cross.
When Cross arrived in 1983, the Boston comedy scene was run by some legendary alpha male comics like Lenny Clarke, Steve Sweeney and Denis Leary. “There were plenty of women comedians, but it was definitely a boys club, run by boys,” says Cross. A self-proclaimed “weirdo”, Cross was seeking a level of expression that transcended the typically misogynist comedy that was all the rage at the time. “I arrived in the middle of this burgeoning scene that officially, and lazily, became known as Alternative Comedy. I was in the mix of that stuff where people like Janeane Garofalo and Marc Maron and Louis C.K., and all these great comics, were starting to find their voice onstage. And our energy was different. We were younger and not so ensconced in the world.”
This collection of young comedians found a foothold in Boston at the club Catch A Rising Star and eventually became known as the Alternative Comedy movement. “We never labeled it that.” says Cross. “We knew we were different and had a different approach. It didn’t take too long for audiences to find us. We were young, a little punky, a little cocky. We didn’t walk around with matching jackets with Alternative Comic written on the back, but we definitely felt that something special was going on.” The alternative comedians just didn’t look like their predecessors. “We didn’t wear blazers with the sleeves rolled up and the skinny piano tie or anything like that. We wore ripped jeans, and shorts and bowling shirts or whatever. It was very organic and like any movement, we began to influence the comedians that came after us. It was not planned. We didn’t elect a group of officers and have meetings at the clubhouse. At a certain point other people started mentioning and writing about us.”
And the rest, as they say, is history. David Cross will be performing at The Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Avenue, on Thursday, October 26th. Tickets are available at www.riotheatre.com
Climate change and sea level rise are changing local beaches, but Santa Cruzans can weigh in on how local parks will adapt.
In a survey that will end Oct. 30, parks and recreation departments want to hear from residents: how do they use Seacliff and New Brighton State Beaches and what do they value most in the state parks?
This information will be key as the departments develop a plan to address the rising sea levels and rebuild the beaches, which sustained major damage during the winter storms earlier this year. Due to the storms, the Seacliff campground remains closed, there was a period where public access was restricted and the pier was damaged and taken down.
The departments are conducting a scientific study that looks at how climate change will damage the beaches, evaluating effects on cliff erosion, beach access, campground availability and other features. The study looks at both the immediate impacts as well as future impacts, extending into the year 2100.
By providing feedback on what residents use the most at these beaches, the parks departments can quantify what features are most important and what changing those will mean for the community—important information as the parks department looks to make the parks more climate-resilient.
“By letting us know what people value, why do you go to Seacliff or even why you haven’t been to sea cliffs before? What’s been preventing you and what are those access barriers? All of that information is important to us,” says Scott Rohl, associate park and recreation specialist. “It’s important to help us know what sort of use patterns we should be analyzing and how climate change might affect that. And the only way we can really have a great handle on how people use these parks is by a survey like this.”
Growing up, Jesus Lopez remembers the lengths he would go to stay connected to the world through the internet.
He would regularly carry his bulky egg-shaped IMAC, along with a keyboard and mouse, to a library or local internet hub to get connected.
“I would have to lug that thing over to a coffee shop and connect to WiFi that way,” Lopez says.
A son of migrant farm workers, Lopez was born and raised at the San Andreas migrant labor camp between La Selva Beach and Watsonville. It was the early 2000s and broadband internet access was not widespread, especially not in poorer, far-flung communities like San Andreas.
“The only [access] we could get at the time, was dial up at the house and that was expensive and I really had to work toward convincing my parents,” Lopez says.
Almost 20 years later, Lopez, who is now the sales and marketing manager for local ISP Cruzio, is helping families get access to broadband internet through Equal Access Santa Cruz (EASC).
His mission to make the internet accessible to families across income levels was accelerated by the onset of the pandemic in 2020, when the shift to remote learning laid bare the disparity in internet access for low-income families.
“When the pandemic hit, a lot of the communities that we were hooking up all felt and looked pretty much exactly like where I grew up,” Lopez says.
A 2021 Census Bureau report found that one in five households with K-12 students in the state did not have reliable internet. As schools switched to distance learning, access to high-speed, reliable internet was necessary to attend virtual classes.
Now, thanks to initiatives like EASC, residents across Santa Cruz County are getting connected at a high rate and for low cost.
Network Needs
In 2020, as students and teachers rapidly adjusted to remote learning, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education (COE) and Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) reached out to Cruzio to ensure students weren’t left behind due disparities with internet access.
In response, Cruzio partnered with the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County to form EASC. Its flagship project was to provide internet access to over 100 families at the Buena Vista Migrant Center outside Watsonville.
Since the completion of the Buena Vista project in 2021, EASC has continued to expand affordable access for families, including those in rural areas.
According to Cruzio’s website, EASC has connected 1,200 students and families to new internet access, and enhanced broadband availability in 60% of the Watsonville and Pajaro area, among other projects.
James Hackett, Cruzio’s director of business operations, says that, initially, the task was daunting as they became aware of the large number of families that did not have reliable and affordable internet access in the area. He remembers when Jason Borgen, chief technology officer for the County Office of Education, first showed him the list of underserved families.
“He just fires up a spreadsheet with like three or four hundred addresses. It was like ‘Whoa, okay, we need help. This is big. This is bigger than we expected,’” Hackett says.
The list was made up of families who were already enrolled in low-income benefits programs, so the qualification process for low cost broadband access was easy, according to Hackett. A broadband plan that normally costs $75 could be offered for as low as $15 a month.
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education saw a marked increase in access for K-12 students within the first year of EASC’s program.
“[Thanks to the partnership with EASC] We were able to reduce the number of students without broadband access from 18% to 3% from Spring 2020 to Spring 2021,” says Nick Ibarra, director of communications and engagement for the COE.
Ibarra says the efforts included distributing thousands of cellular hotspots and chromebooks, subsidized rates for broadband, and installing rooftop antennas on schools and other locations to boost coverage in rural areas.
As local efforts continue, the issue has prompted state and federal legislation seeking to address the challenges.
A Broader Reach
In the two years since EASC took action to expand broadband internet access locally, state and federal initiatives have also attempted to address the “digital divide.”
In July 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 156, the Broadband Trailer Bill, which allocated $6 billion to expand broadband access and infrastructure in the state. The bill’s goal was building the “middle mile” broadband infrastructure, a state-owned open-access network.
This network resembles a road system in which smaller, local streets connect to various highways. In this example, the middle mile infrastructure are the highways, or the midpoint to which the localities trying to connect to broadband must build their own “roads” to reach. The closer communities are to that middle mile highway, the less they need to spend on creating the infrastructure to reach it.
When SB 156 was passed, it was lauded as a crucial step towards connecting underserved communities. However, in August 2023 the California Department of Technology changed its map outlining which communities get middle mile infrastructure without a public process, according to a report by Electronic Frontier Foundation. This slashed the proposed 10,000 miles of fiber optic broadband cable to 8,300 miles.
“These uninformed cuts to critical infrastructure will drastically raise the cost of building high-speed, high-capacity internet networks in unserved and underserved neighborhoods. It also jeopardizes the funds these communities need to build these networks. These changes run counter to the purpose of S.B. 156 and all efforts to close the digital divide.” the report stated.
The state said the cuts were due to inflation and the high construction costs. In September, Newsom reversed course and announced that he would “divert funds from the January 2024 budget to universalize broadband services throughout California,” according to Liana Bailey-Crimmins, director of the California Department of Technology.
In June 2023, the Biden administration unveiled its own national initiative to expand broadband access. The Broadband Equity and Deployment bill (BEAD) is a $42 billion grant program aimed at providing reliable and affordable broadband internet access to all residents and small businesses in the country by 2030. California is among 19 states to which a $1 billion allocation would be granted.
While state and federal initiatives move at a glacial pace, localized efforts continue to address the equitable access gap.
Local Connections
In October of this year, the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) published a white paper titled “The State of Broadband in the Monterey Bay Region.”
MBEP was established to advocate for reliable and affordable internet service, according to its website. It has partnered with organizations such as The Central Coast Broadband Consortium and the Salinas Valley Broadband Authority to develop its Digital Equity Initiative.
The white paper makes recommendations on how to span the digital divide by raising awareness among area residents about the benefits of broadband in all aspects of their lives. These include improved education and healthcare available digitally.
According to the paper’s findings, 42% of households in Santa Cruz County are eligible for the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, but only 25% of those eligible households are taking advantage of the program.
Access to reliable broadband infrastructure is the other part of the equation, and MBEP has found that the geographic challenges of the region make access to broadband more difficult for some residents.
“The rural nature of numerous communities within the tri-county area has contributed to the limited or lack of the infrastructure needed for fiber technology, leaving many residential and commercial community members needing more reliable broadband service,” the paper says.
According to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) data cited by the paper, only about 79% of residential areas in the county have broadband coverage from either fiber optic or fixed wireless transmission.
MBEP calls for a “hybrid model” solution to address the disparities in access for Santa Cruz County, as well as San Benito and Monterey County. This would require efforts to determine which method of broadband delivery is best suited for a particular area.
Equal Access Santa Cruz has been working with MBEP for years and is on board with the conclusions their research came to.
“We strongly agree with most elements of that white paper because a lot of it comes from [collaborating] with them on coming up with those ideas,” Hackett says.
“But the idea of using a hybrid of technologies, fiber optics where it makes sense; fixed wireless where it makes sense. That’s basically the foundation of everything that we are proposing for the solution,” says Hackett.
For now, EASC continues to hook people up.
Earlier this year, EASC linked up with Housing Matters to provide broadband service to its The Casa Azul project. Casa Azul consists of two one-bedroom apartments and five studio units for people with one or more disabilities and have been homeless for a year or more.
Hackett says that the partnership with Housing Matters served as a test run for its larger upcoming project, Harvey West Studios. That project will consist of 120 units of permanent housing for chronically homeless individuals.
Now in its third year running, the founding of EASC was a true silver lining during the uncertainty of the pandemic in 2020. Despite the trying circumstances that brought this equity initiative about, Hackett is glad that people are finally getting what he and his team have been advocating for all along. “Okay, finally, people are understanding that, yeah, this is a major problem. But, our primary goal is to get affordable high speed broadband there to everybody in the region,” Hackett says.
The city of Watsonville is looking to make its first update to its retail cannabis business ordinance in four years, after complaints from business owners who say the ordinances are more strict than those imposed by the state of California— and are cumbersome and time-consuming.
At a city council meeting on Oct. 10, Aaron Newsom, co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of Santa Cruz Veterans Alliance, spoke about the challenges of operating under Watsonville’s current regulations. Newsom has one of Watsonville’s three retail licenses and says the proposed changes would help an industry that is already hurting.
“The industry has gone through a lot of hard times in the last few years and it has made doing business very difficult,” he says. “I think some of these changes could make it a little more doable to do business and make this work in the city.”
There are 16 proposed tweaks to the current ordinance, which include allowing a new establishment, opening more of the city to new businesses and waiving some distance restrictions.
Currently, residential setback from retail cannabis shops is 250 feet and from schools is 600 feet.
“If we’re going to look at allowing dispensaries in other commercial zones, then we might also need to look at either waivers or changing the distance requirements for a retail facility,” says Planning Director Suzi Merriam.
Currently, retail cannabis is allowed in Industrial Park General Industrial and Visitor Commercial zoning districts.
That, along with a rule limiting signage to one 20 square-foot sign, has left the existing retail cannabis shops hidden in industrial regions of the city with little hope of attracting customers. Creme de Canna, for example, is down a 500-foot driveway. One proposal therefore asks the city to allow larger signs.
Other proposals include increasing store hours, relaxing requirements for annual business license renewal and requiring background checks for only store owners.
Currently, businesses must complete a new application package and submit a business plan every year.
“It’s a pretty big lift to review every year, so we’re wondering if there’s a way we can look at modifying this and paring it down to the information that we’re really interested in,” Merriam says.
The item before the council was only for discussion and no action was taken. Merriam told the board she was “taking the temperature” of the board for items that will be brought back for in-depth discussion at future meetings, likely sometime in 2024.
Currently, Watsonville has three retail businesses. That’s compared to two in Capitola and five in the city of Santa Cruz.
The current regulations also make it hard to compete with the still-active black market, Merriam said.
The definition of who is considered an owner also confuses things. Under the ordinance, even someone who gives $100 to a retail business is considered an owner and must undergo a weeks-long background check, Merriam says.
Changing that to the state threshold of 20% ownership would ease that process, she says.
Of all the proposals, only the requests to decriminalize psychoactive plants and allow flavored vaporizer products garnered a “hard no” from the council. The rest will come back for further discussion.
Councilwoman Vanessa Quiroz-Carter says she would support bringing all the proposals back, and said that loosening some of the restrictions could benefit the city.
“What’s in place by the state is already incredibly strict, and I think we’re shooting ourselves in the foot if we’re rejecting businesses that want to be here,” she says.
Councilman Jimmy Dutra says that increasing the number of dispensaries, saying it could hurt already struggling businesses.
“I think adding another one would not probably be good for any bus because it sounds like they are not doing so great,” he says.
Councilwoman Kristal Salcido says that the community and other city departments should be involved in the process for future discussions.
“The more information the better,” she says. “We can’t just have one presentation on this. We need more input from more departments than just planning. A lot of these requests are shifting policy.
“All of these things have meaningful public safety implications, and we’ve heard nothing from public safety today,” Salcido adds.
“Pumpkinhead is on display at our office,” Anthony Austin says into the microphone. “We see it everyday.”
To his left stands a seven foot tall, lifelike replica of the demonic monster from the 1988 horror classic, Pumpkinhead. The creature stands in all its glory with spindly veins, sunken ribs, massive, flesh ripping claws and its signature evil grin. It’s so realistic it looks as if only actor Lance Henriksen (as the vengeful Ed Harley) can kill. Pure nightmare material.
Ok, a lifesize demonic monster might be a weird piece of decor for–well–practically any office. But when the company is Trick or Treat Studios (TOTS)–one of the premiere Halloween, horror and cult media memorabilia companies in the world–Pumpkinhead is only one villain in a rogues gallery of monsters, psycho killers and creeps.
“So It’s a little bit weird when it’s not there, like today,” continues Austin, Director of Sales for TOTS. Instead, Pumpkinhead was terrorizing the lobby of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art And History to kick off the annual Festival of Monsters.
Surrounding the foyer a ghoulish collection of realistic horror masks from every decade and subgenre of spooky gazed down upon the audience and guest speakers. Among them Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein, The Night King from Game of Thrones, Pennywise from IT, Michael Myers from Halloween and even a gruesome Art the Clown from the recent hit film franchise, Terrifier.
“Terrifier 2 came out and people were walking out of the theater because they couldn’t deal with the gore,” Austin tells the MAH audience. “It’s probably going to be our present day Halloween or Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
What started as a small company by two horror movie fanatics unimpressed with the replica masks on the market has grown to a $30 million, international company.
Along with their signature masks, TOTS also sells everything from tabletop games, action figures, enamel pins, t-shirts, air fresheners, movie prop replicas and more. All of which is sold around the world from Brazil to The Netherlands and everywhere in between. Their masks and props often go viral online and can be seen in TikTok and YouTube videos. Like the Slashstreet Boys–a horror satire group that parodies boy bands–whose videos all have millions of views.
However, despite Trick or Treat Studios success, many in their hometown are not aware of the cool horrors unleashed upon the world from the heart of Santa Cruz.
“I don’t think a lot of people know we’re here,” Austin admits. “I think we’re well known nationally but I don’t know about Santa Cruz.”
When asked how many MAH attendees didn’t know about the company, a multitude of hands shot up in the air. Or in Austin’s words, “That’s a lot of people.”
So how did a local horror memorabilia company grow to be a monster in the industry while still lurking in the shadows of its home town? It all started in a seemingly normal way with two not-so-ordinary horror fans.
KILLER KAR Christine, the 1958 Plymouth Fury with lots of fury, lives in Zephro’s garage and so far hasn’t killed anyone, as far as we know. PHOTO: Contributed
IT’S IN THE BLOOD
“I shouldn’t say this,” Chris Zephro admits. “When I was in junior high I had the same typewriter as the school. So I forged my work permit to be a projectionist at the Mann’s Village Westwood [Theater]. It was the greatest job ever because I could see movies for free.”
A lifelong fan of “anything horror”—Zephro even drives one of the 1958 Plymouth Furys used in the 1983 killer car film, Christine—the Trick Or Treat Studios co-founder seemed destined to be in the business. As a child growing up in Los Angeles, his father was a film distributor and good friends with Irwin Yablans, producer of Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch and others.
“It was his film essentially,” Zephro says of the original Halloween. “From the concept to the poster and the whole premise. He even hired John Carpenter. It was all Irwin Yablans.”
Zephro was familiar with the Santa Cruz Area after his mother moved to Boulder Creek when he was a child. After graduating high school he moved to Santa Cruz County first attending Cabrillo College then graduating from UC Santa Cruz. He returned to Los Angeles to work for Warner Brothers but eventually returned to the area. It was here where he joined corporate America, working for a data storage company over the hill.
However, Zephro grew bored, disinterested and unhappy in the corporate life. Instead he decided to chase his passions like an ‘80s movie stalker after the final survivor. Enter the creature creator himself, Justin Mabry.
As a child in Jackson, Mississippi in the late 1970’s and ‘80’s, Mabry loved buying masks every Halloween season. Yet, as he grew older he realized the masks on the market were often cheap or didn’t accurately represent the monsters on the screen. He began altering them, adding fake blood or small details, and by the time he was a teenager he was already sculpting his own.
Mabry told the Jackson Free Press in 2014: “When I was 17, me and my dad went and sat down with a bunch of business executives who offered to send my molds to Mexico and China for mass production. I said no. I was a kid; I had no idea how business worked.”
This would change as he grew up and eventually Mabry sold his masks independently. Zephro started as a client (“I was one of his biggest customers” he admits) but the two quickly became friends, bonding over slasher films, monster merch and everything collectible.
So when Zephro decided he was done working for The Man, Mabry was the first person he thought of. “Basically, I just gave him a call on my drive home from work and asked if he wanted to start a mask company,” he remembers.
“We were both like-minded in that some of our favorite mask and costume companies just weren’t where they were [in quality]. And we knew it would be viable because there were a lot of people like us.”
When he arrived home, Zephro told his wife the idea and suggested they use the money the couple was saving for a downpayment on a house. A bold move that might have axed some marriages. “Thankfully she was really supportive of the idea and away we went.”
Who would want to work for a soul-sucking company when you can be surrounded by some of your favorite things with people who love them just as much or even more?
Trick or Treat Studios opened in 2009 for $25,000. Zephro wanted to keep it local for two reasons: first, Santa Cruz is home. And second? “I was really sick of driving over the hill,” he says.
And why not Santa Cruz?
After all, it’s home to the vampires of The Lost Boys. It shares with Watsonville the honor of being where Killer Klowns From Outer Space landed. Recently Santa Cruz was the doomed vacation spot for the Wilson family in Jordan Peele’s US, of which TOTS sells merchandise made directly from the screen-used props and costumes. A practice they use with many of their products in order to assure detailed accuracy.
“It also makes it easier to go through approvals and why not?” questions Teresa Ganaden, Director of Operations. “If this guy did it for the movie, you’re going to say he didn’t do it correctly?”
Zephro says during its first year TOTS only made $48,000 and everything was run out of his house. Back then, the company had 18 masks. One of those originals, the Shock monster mask, remains his favorite to this day.
“It was one of the first production samples I received from the factory,” he recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh man, this is so sweet.’ It’s on the back of my business card.”
While the company had a built-in clientele base from the start, it wasn’t until their second trade show that Zephro realized things were about to really take off. He remembers there was a lot of interest on the first day but not many buyers.
“I think people assumed the masks were much more expensive than they were,” he explains. “So I printed prices in big numbers and put them under each mask. All of a sudden there was a 30 yard line to get to the booth, it was crazy.”
With their masks gaining popularity, the company began making costumes. Those led to props then to collectibles and–currently–the action figure market. With so much inventory they moved to a warehouse off Carriker Lane in Soquel to accommodate everything. Recently they moved again to an even bigger warehouse off 17th Avenue.
DROOL YOU GHOUL Pennywise from the Stephen King story ‘IT’ is one of many licensed characters in the Trick or Treat collection. PHOTO: Mat Weir
They began acquiring licenses for 1950’s and 1960’s sci-fi and monsters from New Comic Company LLC. They stretched their reach further with “Hellboy” from Dark Horse Comics and “The Goon” from Avatar Press. But it wasn’t until 2014 when TOTS received its first, killer licensing.
“Universal Studios owned the rights to Halloween 2 and Halloween 3,” Austin says. “Chris repeatedly kept emailing the Universal Studios rep, everyday. Every single day but they would never respond. After about the fiftieth time they responded, ‘If you stop emailing us we will entertain the idea of you taking the Halloween 2 license.’”
For roughly $60 on the retail market, that movie’s Michael Myers mask was a huge success for Trick or Treat Studios. No other company had gone after the sequels; they all wanted the original Halloween license, leaving a large space in the horror market that TOTS gladly filled.
“It’s been fun to watch the Myers collection grow,” states Ganaden. “It started with Halloween II, then the original [movie] through Halloween: Resurrection. We acquired the new franchise and last year the Rob Zombie [version]. So we’ve had every single Michael Myers mask. That’s our guy.”
Zephro’s wife, Lauren, has sort of the opposite profession, but it’s still creepy. She works in the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s crime lab, reconstructing dead bodies and crime scenes.
“I make monsters and she deals with putting monsters in jail,” he says. Even meeting his wife showed he wasn’t afraid to make the big reach.
They met at World Gym, where Zephro, 5-feet, 4-inches tall, approached Lauren, who is 6-feet, 3-inches. “I told her that if I were taller, I would marry her,” he said. She didn’t care about the height difference.
They have been together for 27 years and have a daughter at Aptos High.
Their house on Vienna Drive has become a must stop for daring trick or treaters. More than 500 show up to see the stage sets he creates in his “killer” trick or treat area.
CULT OF CHUCKY
In 2018 Trick or Treat Studios wanted to build the most screen-accurate Chucky doll ever created. That’s the murderous “Good Guy” doll possessed by the spirit of a serial killer from the Child’s Play and Chucky movie and television franchises, of course. Who wouldn’t want a screen-accurate, life-like version of him in their home?
That was the question. So the company decided to first test the waters with a Kickstarter campaign. At that time Child’s Play merchandise was scarce. According to Austin the only way to buy a life-size Chucky was through private builders with prices anywhere in the range from $2,000 to $3,000.
The campaign surpassed its $100,000 goal in a single day. Since then the 30-inch Chucky doll–complete with creepy eyes, posable limbs and a magnetic grip to hold his signature knife–remains a company best seller at $599.99.
“That was our first million dollar item,” Austin recalls. “Other than the Halloween 2 masks, the Chucky doll really put us on the map.”
“Since 2018 we’ve sold anywhere between 20,000–30,000 [Chucky dolls],” says Assistant Sales Manager, Laura Blum.
Blum and Austin have been with TOTS for six and seven years respectively, so they’ve seen it grow from a national to an international company. The company currently has offices in Massachusetts, Maryland, Los Angeles, Dallas and Mexico.
“It’s been a dream job,” Blum says. She’s not alone in that sentiment.
“I love my job,” exclaims Creative Lead and Product Development Coordinator, Sam Furst, from the Boston office. “We are really passionate about the things that we do. We put a lot of care into it and a lot of thought and time.”
Furst joined the company in 2018 and is one of the mind’s behind TOTS graphic designs and creative promotions, like their 2021 Captain Spaulding action figure from Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses. The 30 second promo was shot like an old school commercial straight out of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
Furst has worked on the company’s action figure line since its launch in 2020.
“We’re approaching these as if they were made in the ‘80s and ‘90s,” he says. “Not ‘How do we make these the most 100 percent accurate’ but ‘How can we make these a fun toy?’”
“We were recently at the North American International Toy Fair in New York and debuted over 60 new action figures,” declares Zephro.
Like their new GWAR action figures, detailed after the horror/shock rock metal band that dress as gruesome–and hilarious–intergalactic alien warriors. Furst, a longtime GWAR fan (called “bohabs,”) says those are his current favorite project. However, he is quick to point out that while monsters are TOTS main focus, they’re into everything “so cool.”
“We just announced the True Romance action figures,” he explains. “A lot of it just comes down to what we love.”
Do You Want To Play A Game?
In addition to action figures, which are Mabry’s passion project, TOTS also expanded into the table top game market, one of Zephro’s obsessions. Walking through the TOTS warehouse, one will currently find a room half-filled with several shelves of boardgames (many still factory sealed) that looks more like a small boutique than a personal collection.
“He buys two or three of everything,” explains Julie Stockwell, Corporate Accounts Manager. “One he plays and the other two he saves for future value.”
“We’ve played Dungeons & Dragons together since about 2000,” reminisces Joe Stoken, Director of Business Development – Gaming Division.
“Then we transitioned to board games because we couldn’t always get everyone together each week. That’s where our love affair with board games really started.”
The types of games produced range from bluffing card games like Creature Feature–designed by Richard Garfield creator of Magic: The Gathering–to their newest licensed tabletop feature, Halloween. The latter follows the direction of the original 1978 film, with one person playing as Michael Myers and the others as main and secondary characters–or victims depending on how the game plays out.
True to TOTS standards, the board itself is a stunningly detailed map of the different houses–and the street they are on–from the movie.
“We studied the houses meticulously,” explains Stoken.
Many of the items Trick or Treat produces are made with the screen-used props and molds directly from the studios and producers.
“Justin and I never ship a product we wouldn’t have in our own collection,” Zephro declares. “Sometimes we’ll even compromise delivery dates. If it’s not ready, it’s not ready. I’d rather have something delivered late and perfect than on time but I know it wasn’t what it could’ve been.”
COME PLAY WITH US FOREVER AND EVER
It’s this dedication, passion and pride in their work that transcends all levels of Trick Or Treat Studios. Plus, it’s just plain fun, a word that was used often to describe working for TOTS.
“I drive from Salinas and see people getting pissed, stuck in traffic then having to go to their jobs,” says Ganaden, Director of Operations. “But it’s very different coming here, it’s fun.”
Take a tour of the Santa Cruz warehouse on 17th Street and it’s easy to see employees enjoying their job. Inside the office of Warehouse Manager, Jose Moreno, the walls are adorned with original 1980’s horror movie posters like the slashers Prom Night and Maniac, along with masks and other collectibles.
The main office is no different. From signed pictures, original art and movie posters to creature masks, replica monsters and movie props, walking around it’s impossible not to nerd out to something unexpectedly cool. Which makes it easy to see why employees want to stay as long as possible.
Who would want to work for a soul-sucking company when you can be surrounded by some of your favorite things with people who love them just as much or even more?
“I was really excited when I found this job, it’s fun,” Sales Manager Blum says. “We have a family dynamic after all the years together.”
Usually when someone says their work is “like a family” it’s code for “leave while you still can,” but not here. Instead of boring trust falls for team building exercises, Zephro will sometimes rent out a movie theater for the TOTS crew to watch their favorite horror films.
“Anything that there’s a core connection to, [Chris] will take us,” states Ganade.
They even call the communal office space the “living room” where employees will sometimes gather with their laptops to work and joke around.
“When we do trade shows it’s like a family gathering,” Austin says of their customers and fellow industry retailers. “Half the conversations are usually about ‘How’s life? How’s the family?’ The Halloween industry is a lot smaller than you think.”
This past August TOTS announced moving into 2024 they will be discontinuing items from 15 different licenses. Some of these include major brands that helped define the company such as the Chucky franchise and Halloween II & III as well as a few newer names like Us and Nope.
However, fans will be excited to know TOTS recently acquired the licenses to Thundercats, The Goonies, Ghostbusters and Santa Cruz favorite, The Lost Boys. For Trick or Treat Studios, it comes down to the passion for what they do and always in the name of fun.
“I get to work with a number of my favorite special effects artists and bands that I like,” Zephro says. “It’s been something else.”
“I was really excited when I found this job, it’s fun,” Blum says. “We have a family dynamic after all the years together.” Usually when someone says their work is “like a family” it’s code for “leave while you still can,” but not here. Instead of boring trust falls for team building exercises, Zephro will sometimes rent out a movie theater for the TOTS crew to watch their favorite horror films. ?
My bed is next to a window. If you look close from outside, you can see me sleeping. I woke up to the window open and a guy was grabbing my legs from the window! I’m freaking out trying to call for help but nothing is coming out. I can’t talk, I can’t move. When I break out of the sleep paralysis, I see that the window is shut. It was a total dream, but it was so vivid.
Andy Berdejo, 25, Union sheet metal worker
My friend Jonah and I got into the abandoned Agnes Mental Asylum. We started opening doors down a long hallway. One door went into a dark room with padded walls and no windows. Then Jonah walked to the next door while I waited, and out of nowhere the padded cell door just goes slam. just slams shut. We ran out of there super fast, and we had such an eerie feeling. We knew we couldn’t explain it.
Elan Levine, 21, student
My cat, Trashy, had died. Then two days later, I saw her reflection in my window. It was my cat visiting me. I opened the window—and there was nothing there. It made me a little scared, because if my cat is there, then what other ghosts are out there? But I would like to live in a haunted house with friendly ghosts.
Johan Olvera, 28, Business owner
I sleep in the living room part of a mobile home. We have a little hallway going to the master bedroom, maybe 15 feet. You can hear footsteps when people are walking because it’s wooden. One time, I swear, I could hear footsteps coming toward me down the hall leading out into the living room, but they never came out. That always stuck in my head.
Lucy Medina, 23, Accountant-CPA student
When I was three or four, I talked to a little ghost girl. I had a ball that I would throw into the closet and it would bounce back to me. I would throw it, and it would take a couple of seconds, and it would throw back again. I think I stopped playing with her when we moved away.
Sarah Conrad 44 Massage therapist
In Spain, I shared a room with a friend at a plaza where a bloody Reconquista battle was fought. In the night, suddenly I felt a dark, forlorn, scary fog. I was afraid, but I thought, no, I can’t be afraid, I had to project love. Then there was a kind of orb that pushed it away. In the morning I asked my friend, “Did something happen to you last night?” She said yes, and with such a look in her eyes.
Do YOU have a memory of something strange, unsettling, supernatural, ghostly, that happened to you? Tell your story in the comments, or send it to le*****@*******es.sc — we would love to hear it!
Laith is a Texan songbird with a true country twang, and his songs run the emotional gamut, from uptempo ditties that are sure to get a linedance started to emotive barnburners. His most recent album, Lightning, features catchy drum beats and deft musical solos, and songs like “Song for Levon” that pay homage to the greats that have clearly informed Laith’s music—perhaps Levon Helm and The Band sit like saintly advisors on Laith’s shoulder. His songs are always surprising, and his playful lyrics are unexpected and intimate. JESSICA IRISH
The first thing David Cross wants people to know is that if they only know him as Tobias Fünke from the show, Arrested Development, then they definitely don’t know David Cross. While the veteran comic has made a career of playing lovable–and sometimes even wholesome–characters, his stand-up is fast, sharp and hilariously riddled with adult themes and language. On his 2022 special, I’m From The Future, religion, anti-vaxxers, politics and even the Holocaust are all fair game. But if there’s one thing Cross will want audience members to take away from his show, it’s merch, so bring some spending money. MAT WEIR
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $46.62. 423-8209.
FRIDAY
DANCE
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE NUTCRACKER
For anyone already feeling burnt out on the same old holiday stories year after year, the Santa Cruz City Ballet is mixing it up. As Halloween weekend arrives, the dancers present “THE Nightmare Before Nutcracker,” a performance that asks the chilling question, “What if the rats win?” The brand new, original production reimagines Tchaikovsky’s classic Christmas ballet in spooky fashion, playing out some worst-case scenarios involving a Rat Queen triumph in an inverse Land of Sweets. The story consists of dances spanning multiple genres, and audience members are encouraged to come in costume for a contest and treats—maybe even a sugar plum. The are also showtimes at 1pm and 4:30pm on Saturday. ADDIE MAHMASSANI
INFO: 7pm, Scotts Valley Performing Arts Center, 251 Kings Village Road, Scotts Valley. $22.50. 466-0458.
BLUEGRASS
POSSESSED BY PAUL JAMES
For 18 years Konrad Wert has been Possessed by Paul James, his American folk singer alter-ego. Possessed is the correct word, as Wert’s music sounds otherworldly although it’s firmly rooted in bluegrass, folk, country and even punk rock. Songs like “Hurricane” contain as much fire as a traveling preacher’s sermon. His 2013 album, There Will Be Nights When I’m Lonely, broke out into number 12 on Billboard’s Country/Bluegrass chart and was featured on NPR, MTV and even CMT. His 2020 documentary, When It Breaks, was an honest and raw depiction of the struggle he had choosing music over his prior career, teaching special education. With Wert’s own brand of songs about life, society and protest, it’s hard not to think he’s possessed by Woody Guthrie. MW
Start off Halloween weekend on the right foot with a night of cumbia, Afro-Latin beats and plenty of dancing. Hailing from Oakland, La Misa Negra is a seven-piece powerhouse of sound that delivers booty shaking grooves with infectious energy that will make even the shyest of dancers want to hit the floor like nobody’s watching. La Misa Negra has shared bills with everyone from Stevie Wonder to SZA, George Clinton, Ozomatli and more. Opening the night up is the Bay Area’s own emcee, Deuce Eclipse (ex-Zion I crew) who combines real life themes with party beats for timeless hip hop tracks. MW
What do you get when you cross belly dancing with dubstep? That’s one of many questions a Beats Antique show answers. Formed in 2007, the Oakland-based group puts on a live spectacle like no other, blending Middle Eastern fusion with the percussive intensity of a rave and the performative spirit of Burning Man. Zoe Jakes is known to enchant crowds for hours with her take on belly dance, which incorporates tango, Indian dance, popping, ballet and more. There is a brass section; there are aerialists; there are glitch beats, Afro-rhythms and bejeweled masks. To call this group “experimental” is only to scratch their shimmering surface. AM
INFO: 9pm, Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, $39.50. 713-5492.
HALLOWEEN PARTY
MUSEUM OF THE MACABRE: AN EVENING OF CREATURES, CAVES, AND COCKTAILS
The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History is getting a makeover–a SPOOKY makeover! This All Hallow’s Eve celebration includes a costume contest (there’s a theme, so start thrifting and sewing now), a screening of the cult classic Tremors, interactive exhibits featuring the creepiest elements of the natural world, and—last but never least—curated cocktails, vegan Venezuelan noshes from Areperia 831, and delightful beers from Discretion Brewing. If it can be found in a dank and dreary cave, it will probably be a part of this night; outdoor exhibits will include fungi and fossils and small animals that crawl in the night (oh my!). JI
INFO: 6pm, Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, 1305 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz. $15-$30. 420-6115.
MONDAY
JAZZ
Miho Hazama
MIHO HAZAMA
Composer and bandleader Miho Hazama could be considered a modern practitioner of “third stream” music, the term used for combining classical music and jazz. Hazama studied classical composition in her native Japan and started her career with an eye on becoming a film composer. Then she took a fruitful detour into jazz, and moved to New York in 2010 to study at Manhattan School of Music, where she formed a 13-piece jazz-classical orchestra that was the first version of her current ensemble, m_unit. Nominated for a Grammy in 2019, she was cited by jazz bible Downbeat as one of its “25 For the Future.” DAN EMERSON
INFO: 7 pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St. $47.25/adv, $52.50/door. 427-2227.
WEDNESDAY
ROCK
MELVIN SEALS & JGB
Deadheads around the world suffered a serious gut-punch in the mid-90s when Jerry Garcia and his frequent collaborator John Kahn died within a year of each other. But the Jerry Garcia Band—one of Garcia’s many musical side projects—survived in the skillful hands of Melvin Seals, who plays in town Wednesday and Thursday. As the member of the band with the third-longest tenure, the keyboardist has carried the torch for the past 18 years. He plays his organ with irrepressible joy and one of the best smiles around, keeping the soul of one of music’s most cherished communities groovy and bright. AM
British playwright Tom Stoppard’s 1984 play-within-a-play comedy, Rough Crossing, launches the Jewel Theatre’s ultimate season with madcap flourish.
Hellbent on creating a theatrical success (a career revival perhaps?) playwrights Sandor Turai (J. Paul Boehmer) and Alex Gal (Christopher Reber) cross the Atlantic en route to New York on the SS Italian Castle, somewhere in the upscale 1930s, thanks to impeccable costuming by B. Modern and stunning set design by Tom Buderwitz.
The two colleagues plan to finish their destined-for-Broadway musical, “The Cruise of the Dodo” (and it gets funnier), accompanied by a handsome young composer Adam Adam (Tommy Beck), who is engaged to the leading lady. The glitch comes when the playwrights (and the composer) accidentally overhear leading lady Natasha Navratilova (Marcia Pizzo,) and fellow actor Ivor Fish ( David Ledingham) in flagrante delicto. (Pizzo poured into a shimmering silver evening gown is sheer glitz.)
Panic ensues as the writers brainstorm a scheme to keep their heartbroken composer from abandoning the whole project. This gathering of gifted Equity actors is reason enough to sit back, take in the Stoppardian absurdity and laugh our heads off. But there’s one more reason to put down your iPhone and get tickets for this play. And that reason is Danny Scheie.
Imagine a precision ‘30s screwball comedy in which a central character—John Cleese filtered through Burns & Allen—unleashes linguistic distortions as well as elegant solutions with the random genius of a blackjack dealer.
The voice! Quicksilver with a splash of mince. Add the speed and the nimbleness of a Charlie Chaplin. There you have Scheie’s impossibly adroit cabin steward, Dvornichek.
Always there when you need something, and always mangling the delivery of that something. Scheie’s split-second timing—shared by the entire cast—is legendary. And it’s on full display in this sprightly vehicle, even with all of its predictable jokes.
To watch Scheie’s can-do steward spinning around, retrieving and dispensing snifters of cognac (mostly to himself) is to ease back into a simpler, pre-digital era where humor was based on clever sight gags rather than irony.
In the savant steward Dvornichek, Scheie polishes one more role that flat out belongs to him. A role that must be dispatched with unerring word perfect bravura, a straight face, and a gleam in the eye.
Scheie is in good company—bravo tutti—with special praise for Boehmer, the second coming of 30s star William Powell, as the elegant woebegone Turai. Listening for Stoppard’s insider playwriting jokes is part of the treat, and the entire madcap comedy moves impeccably thanks to the smart staging by director Art Manke.
Already 40 years old, filled with Mussolini jokes and white slave trade i.e. sex trafficking allusions that are groan-making as well as un-PC, Rough Crossing is not life-changing theater.
Neither profound nor poignant, it is a piece of entertainment that lays no claim to gravity or grace. Instead it offers a steady stream of sight gags, wit, and farcical dialogue. Plus the pleasure of watching six actors exchange tongue-twisting lines, navigate improbable situations, and sing/dance their way through three brisk Andre Previn tunes.
It felt good to laugh as loudly as all of us did through opening night’s performance. The ending, led again by Scheie, was so over-the-top absurdist that it overcame the play’s few moments of lull.
Rough Crossing is a vivacious reminder of just how much the Jewel Theatre has meant to this town.
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Rough Crossing, written by Tom Stoppard, directed and choreographed by Art Manke, produced by the Jewel Theatre Company.
Local musicians Bonny June and Ken Kraft answered my phone call in the voices of their alter-egos, Countess June and Count Kraftula. Vampire-vaudeville is not a genre currently on any Billboard charts, but as they told me about the creepy, hilarious songs they’re working on lately, I started to think it could be.
June and Kraft along with bassist Craig Owens (or, this week, “Batman Owens”) comprise Bonny June & Bonfire, a band with Americana roots, songwriting chops and theatrical flair. Since 2018, the trio has put on one of the most creative Halloween events in town, transforming themselves into monsters and playing an entire show in their adopted identities. This year their Halloween musical returns to Kuumbwa Jazz via Ron Sandidge’s Snazzy Productions. With the full moon set to fall on the night of their performance, it promises to be their wildest show yet.
Last year’s show at Kuumbwa was a resounding success and “dream come true” for the band. “It’s the best thing I do,” says June of the Halloween show, “and it’s only once a year.”
A life-long writer and performer, June grew up in San Diego. “I’ve always sung,” she says, “but I never considered myself to be a songwriter until 2009 or so, I just started writing songs out of the blue.” Around that time, she met Kraft through the annual Mars Studios singer-songwriter contest. He added his decades of experience as a rock guitarist in Snail and other bands, and then the duo recruited Owens, who played in country singer Lacy J. Dalton’s band for over 20 years.
“All three of us sing,” says June. “We do a lot of harmonies, and we love the way that our blend sounds.” In 2012, the fire of Bonny June & Bonfire really started burning with the release of their debut album Bright Moon Pearls.
What makes June’s music distinct is its emphasis on dramatic narrative, an interest that often leads her to embody outlandish characters as she sings. “They’re story songs,” she says. “So we introduce them with little stories in between the songs.” Fans began noting that Bonny June & Bonfire shows felt like mini-musicals or vaudeville revues. The band embraced those descriptions and now proudly bills itself as an Americana-Vaudeville act.
“At first I was writing make-you-cry make-you-laugh love songs, songs about rising above adversity, inspiring songs,” June says, “but then I found that audiences like comedy, so I started trying to be funny!” This realization in addition to June’s childhood love of old-fashioned monster programs like Monster Rally and Creature Features led her to an unexpected place in her songwriting.
“I decided to write a song about a werewolf, and the werewolf was a female werewolf, so a little bit of a twist on it,” she says. “It’s a bluegrassy, folky tale, and that was our first monster song.” Called “Wolverina,” the song lives alongside Warren Zevon’s 1978 masterpiece “Werewolves of London” in the pantheon of monster music.
“It’s absurd!” June says. “It’s the perfect mix of spooky and silly.”
Bonny June & Bonfire seem to be onto something magical, because ever since they started writing character songs like this, they simply cannot stop. The theatricality of their Halloween show has grown and grown, to the point that they have incorporated a fourth performer (Cheryl Henson a.ka. “Devil Maycare”) who helps debut one of two new songs: a cover of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels’ 1966 jam “Devil with a Blue Dress.”
How big will this Halloween Bonfire get? We’d have to consult a psychic for all the details, but it’s safe to say it’s not dying down anytime soon. They are writing a full-length vampire musical called Kraftula.
Kuumbwa Jazz Center – October 28, 7:30pm – $30
Tickets at snazzyproductions.com
Bonny June & Bonfire’s Halloween Favorites
Favorite Horror Story
Bonny: We both love Poe, but I’d have to say Dracula, the book
Ken: If it’s a move, Alien 1 and, as a close second, The Exorcist
Your Best Costume
Bonny: Countess June. It’s pretty darn good, because now they have the real fangs, you know?
Ken: Count Dracula. It’s fabulous.
Best Past Costume
Bonny: I was a sea monster when I was about 20!
Ken: I never dressed up for Halloween before I became the Count. I was always playing the Good Times Ball or The Catalyst. I dressed like a rock star, I guess!
The details of an empanada can elevate what’s inside. That said, the interior ingredients from the premiere empa-empire of the area, Fonda Felix, are done with tastebud IQ—note the braised pork shoulder and purple chile, the Argentinian beef, the black bean mole-plantain, the rock cod-seaweed, and the Halloween-inspired pumpkin-brown sugar-coconut.
But details like the specific folds of the outer edge, the right baking temp to capture puffy, chewy and flaky in correct quantities, a glorious garlicky-vinegary-parsley-y chimichurri—best when authentic to the true epicenter of the empanada, Argentina—help.
Diego Felix, who hails from the greater Buenos Aires area, leads a band of benevolent pirates doing empanadas in the heart of Westside’s Swift Street Complex 8am-6pm (until 11:30am Monday-Tuesday), where a new kiosk interface adjacent to their shared commercial kitchen makes for easy-to-order indulgence.
To add other excitement, they also do pop-up-style dinners at the courtyard around the corner in front of 11th Hour Coffee, and points further afield, including a private installment at Lester Estate this Saturday, Oct. 28, flush with sandwiches from la parrilla and—sí—outstanding empanadas. Dios mio. fondafelix.com
DI-VINE DEVELOPMENT
Saison Cellar & Wine Bar opens in Scotts Valley’s Kings Village Shopping Center (by Erik’s Deli Cafe) this Friday, Oct. 27. The brainchild of Mark Bright, of celebrated San Francisco dining destination Saison and sister spot Saison Cellar in Los Gatos, SCWB works two ways. One part comes with couches, dining tables, bar seating and an outdoor area, with tastings by the flight or glass. Part two is the cellarscape, with a lounge and wine club-style lockers all designed for peak sharing and sipping.
SOLAIRE REMIX
Word of a fly facelift-tastelift is circulating—briskly—with the debut of new spot Solaire Restaurant + Bar, part of Hotel Paradox’s ambitious renovation (pool deck and lobby included). Chef Stefen Shattó’s international tapa-driven fusion stars items like “paradise” pad Thai, 72-hour short rib, cioppino and honeycomb bread with rosemary butter and wildflower honey harvested from boxes on the hotel’s roof. Open daily 7-11am and 11:30am-9pm. hotelparadox.com
MYCELIUM MOVEMENT
The family behind Far West Fungi just announced a full-sized festival to honor 40 years of partnership with the area’s ‘shroom community. The debut Santa Cruz Mountain Mushroom Festival breaks through the understory May 4-5 at Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton with cooking demos, DIY workshops, panel discussions, guided nature walks, children’s activities, curated art, musical talent and more. farwestfungi.com
GAMER CHANGERS
Two regionally relevant stories surfaced across Monterey Bay this month. First off, Woody’s at the Airport—an honest, fresh produce-focused, rustic revelation from Chef Tim Wood—was just named #1 airport restaurant in the country by a USA Today survey. Meanwhile, Monterey County is now furnishing permits for residents to serve dine-in food at their homes. An online application will be accessible soon on the Monterey County Environmental Health Bureau website.
f you chart the course of any comedian’s career, you see hills and valleys, but David Cross seems to have broken that mold and consistently climbs higher and higher up the mountain of success. From his legendary role on Arrested Development, to being the manager of Alvin, Simon and Theo, to his dabbling in Marvel’s cinematic universe...
Parks and recreation departments... are conducting a scientific study that looks at how climate change will damage the beaches, evaluating effects on cliff erosion, beach access, campground availability and other features
A 2021 Census Bureau report found that one in five households with K-12 students in the state did not have reliable internet. Now, thanks to initiatives like Equal Access Santa Cruz, residents across Santa Cruz County are getting connected at a high rate and for low cost.
The city of Watsonville is looking to make its first update to its retail cannabis business ordinance in four years, after complaints from business owners who say the ordinances are more strict than those imposed by the state of California— and are cumbersome and time-consuming.
At a city council meeting on Oct. 10, Aaron Newsom, co-founder and Chief Operations Officer...
“Pumpkinhead is on display at our office,” Anthony Austin says into the microphone. “We see it everyday.” To his left stands a seven foot tall, lifelike replica of the demonic monster from the 1988 horror classic, Pumpkinhead. The creature stands in all its glory...
My bed is next to a window. If you look close from outside, you can see me sleeping. I woke up to the window open and a guy was grabbing my legs from the window! I’m freaking out trying to call for help but nothing is coming out. I can’t talk, I can’t move. When I break out of...
British playwright Tom Stoppard's 1984 play-within-a-play comedy, Rough Crossing, launches the Jewel Theatre's ultimate season with madcap flourish.
Hellbent on creating a theatrical success (a career revival perhaps?) playwrights Sandor Turai (J. Paul Boehmer) and Alex Gal (Christopher Reber) cross the Atlantic en route to New York on the SS Italian Castle, somewhere in the upscale 1930s, thanks to...
Local musicians Bonny June and Ken Kraft answered my phone call in the voices of their alter-egos, Countess June and Count Kraftula. Vampire-vaudeville is not a genre currently on any Billboard charts, but as they told me about the creepy, hilarious songs they’re working on lately, I started to think it could be.
The details of an empanada can elevate what’s inside. That said, the interior ingredients from the premiere empa-empire of the area, Fonda Felix, are done with tastebud IQ
