A former recreational therapist, when Julie Kellman fell in love with plants, she moved to Santa Cruz and opened what would become a popular local nursery.
She and her husband, Dan, who went to high school here, met as kids when their families lived in the same hippie commune in Tennessee. They re-connected as young adults in Lake Tahoe and fell in love at Echo Lake.
Julie decided to follow her passions again and cultivate her budding love for food when she and Dan opened Seascape Foods in Aptos in 2005, a community-focused market and deli that places paramount priority on all things local, organic and natural
Julie describes their fresh handmade food as quick, but restaurant quality. Their breads are scratch-made, headlined by the Seascape Sourdough, Whole Wheat and Franchese.
They opened a second location in Aptos at 7506 Soquel Ave.
The most popular sandwich is the spicy Turkey and Bacon, the Brie and Apple is also a crowd pleaser, and the chicken and veggie soup highlights the soup choices.
Hours are 8am-8pm every day.
Where does your passion for locality come from?
JULIE KELLMAN: I grew up in a small town in Tennessee with many small locally owned businesses. Then one day a big box store came in and eventually destroyed all the local businesses. It was really sad and it took away the hearts and passion of the people in town. That’s what I love about Santa Cruz, when I moved here in 1996 there were very few big box stores. Everyone was really supportive and all about local and that’s our passion here—it’s what drives us everyday.
Talk to me about local wine?
JK: the Santa Cruz mountains are an incredible Appalachia and we are really lucky to have so many great wineries and talented wine makers in town. Our main focus is to highlight many of these local wines, especially pinot noir and chardonnay, which our area is very well known for. And beyond wine, we also feature many local beers and ciders. And one thing I love is when the wine beer and cider makers deliver their products themselves and educate me on them.
Most debates improve as the night advances, even the iffy ones (Is this a simulation? Is a hot dog a sandwich? Would you rather be forced to sing along or dance to every song you hear?).
The great debates, meanwhile, get greater, like Who serves the best slice in town?
To be fair, not many quality spots rock by-the-slice. But those that do serve memorable options
The Pizza Series’ Detroit-style pepperoni, Slice Project’s Bianco, Pleasure Pizza’s atypical Santa Barbara, and Bookie’s strawberry and stracciatella can all make cases for consideration. (Side note: let’s call Bookie’s smart new personal pies a “slice” to be inclusive and because they’re the bomb.)
But none of those do a slice with as much oomph, identity or garlic (about five cloves a slice).
Something about that vampire repellent, at a quasi-vampire hour, combined with ribbons of portobello, organic sauce, crisp pepperoni, hardy sausage and green onions, earns the Big Sur slice at Pizza My Heart my lasting loyalty and a special nod as Good Times continues its downtown-centric survey of after-hours eats—yes, PMH is open till 12pm nightly, uncommon around these parts.
PIZZA RULES
No matter where you land on a go-to slice, it’s hard to question this: deep into the night, the pizza category comes on strong.
Venerable family-owned Upper Crust Pizza & Pasta stays open until 11pm Friday-Saturday on Mission, (10pm on Soquel Drive) while carrying a loaded menu: thick-crust Sicilian pies, wings, muffalettas, salads, meatballs, house-made spaghetti. Then there’s a true champion of the wee hours, Woodstock’s Pizza on Front Street. It goes till 1am on weekends (and midnight otherwise) peddling classics (Grateful Veg and All Meat Orgy) and creative takes (Siracha-Cha and Kickin’ Carnitas) to go with sandwiches, salads, and 16 beer taps. And $9.99 pitchers after 9pm don’t suck either.
EXTRA HOURS, EXTRA CREDIT
Maybe it’s a coincidence that a few S.C. institutions, old and new, have longer hours. Or maybe they’re institutions in part because they stay open.
Take the Crows Nest with its ambitious live music program, outsized drink menu and underrated food, open till 11pm on social evenings (shutting sooner on school nights).
And new smash hit Special Noodle and its handmade dumplings—from soup to pork-and-cabbage—plus headlining noodles that Good Times’ Christina Waters calls “unbeatable,” also open until 11 on weekends.
Or Boardwalk Bowl’s Coasters Bar and Grill, which comes steady on karaoke and basics—think pizza, burgers, sandwiches and salads—until 11pm, drinks till midnight.
Or Capitola fixture Britannia Arms, doors wide open until 12pm for Irish BLT’s, bangers, mash, fish and chips. Oh wait, kitchen closes at 9pm. Which inspires a hunt for street food, the star of the next late-night installment (send any tips, oversights or insults to @MontereyMCA on IG).
BONUS CUTS
Nourishing nuggets, rapid fire: 1) Pretty Good Advice has a second location coming to Pacific Avenue in November; 2) Just down the block, Alderwood Pacific closed suddenly late last month, with promises to reopen; 3) Pare Filipino Pop-up with chef Paul Suniga happens 5-9pm every Sunday at After Hours Cocktails; 4) Fresh new organic cafe The Grove in Felton now has beer and wine flowing and starts dinner service mid-month.
Santa Cruz County historian Sandy Lydon, who is giving his last lecture Oct. 14 at the Rio Theatre to celebrate his pending retirement, sees himself as riding a donkey facing backwards.
He doesn’t “do future,” he says, he shares the past.
His talk, titled “You Can’t Hide! Learning to Hear the History and Landscape of Calamity Cruz County,” will provide historical perspectives to help people navigate living in Santa Cruz County.
Good Timescaught up with him for some pre-lecture insights.
Good Times: They say those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it. What should Santa Cruz learn from and not repeat?
Sandy Lydon: As with most Americans these days, Santa Cruz County residents live in a fog of hyperbole. Everything unusual that happens is “historic” or “unprecedented,” usually shouted by a TV reporter at the top of their voice. They then put the microphone in the face of a 20-something who confirms it, shouting “Never seen anything like it!”
Back in the old days, an old-timer would emerge from the smoke and, when asked, would say, “It’s happened before – back in’06, ’93, was a lot worse in ’88.”
Shiny-shoed politicians come by and anoint the moment as special – they too have short memories – and folks begin to replace it as it was before.
The community is behaving as if it has no memory, no past, no history. People want to rush back to something called normal when events suggest otherwise.
It may not make us feel special, as we’ve always been told, but it all has happened before, over and over. To behave as if it hasn’t is just plain stupid.
GT: If you could go back in time and change something in Santa Cruz’s history, what would it be and why?
SL: I believe that the Stupidest Thing Ever Done came in early 1850 when the southern county boundary was drawn down the middle of the Pajaro River. By dividing the valley in half, the state legislature created political and economic orphans on each side—Pajaro in Monterey County and Watsonville in this one.
The continuing tragedy confronted by residents of Pajaro is the result of that boundary. The recurring tragedy of the flooding in Pajaro is caused by the jurisdictional mayhem resulting from that boundary.
GT: How did you get into the history game and how did a guy from Hollister become an expert on Santa Cruz?
SL: I was a math and science whiz in high school and went to UC Davis as a pre-meteorology physics major. One of the most popular history classes was the History of the Trans-Mississippi West taught by W. Turrentine Jackson.
It was everything my Physics and Calculus classes weren’t. Along the way I began exploring Asian History and in 1961 was teaching full time (and coaching baseball) at Elk Grove High School. I was 21.
I was lucky that in 1968 Cabrillo College created a full-time history position that included Asia. And, just as Japan and China bordered on the Pacific, so does Santa Cruz. I’ve been connecting the two sides of that ocean ever since.
I also believe that it’s very difficult to explore and transmit the history of a place where one has grown up. Too many rumors, rivalries, and legends get in the way. I fight hard to stay neutral even though I have now been here for over a half-century.
GT: How do you feel about Santa Cruz’s future, particularly concerning housing and the downtown development? Are we heading in the right direction?
SL: I don’t do future. My motto continues to be “forever looking backward.” My favorite Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, is often depicted in paintings as riding a donkey seated looking backwards. That’s me.
The history of this place always had a floating population of people – mostly men – living on the margins. Those populations waxed and waned depending on the economics of the time. They usually lived along the railroad tracks or in river bottoms. During the deeper depressions such as the mid-1890s, it was observed that entire families were living there. Even as a Hollister kid I clearly remember there were “camps” of unhoused living in the San Benito River bottom.
What’s different here in the 21st century is our attitude towards them. The “old time” treatment was that the Sheriff would just drive them “away.” If it’s any consolation, there’s always been an economically marginalized population on the edges, challenging the community’s compassion and creativity.
GT: What should we be doing to recognize our minorities such as the indigenous people, the Chinese history, the Croatian history and others I’m missing?
SL: When I was in elementary school, America was seen as the Great Melting Pot. Immigrants came in and surrendered everything—language, culture—and emerging with nothing left but their physical appearance.
I started researching and telling the story of the Chinese immigrants in this region soon after I arrived. China was not accessible (until Nixon in 1972) so I began to explore the overseas Chinese communities. It was, in part, a painful story to tell as the anti-Chinese movement in this county was particularly vicious. It needed to be told even though the community didn’t want to hear it. Succeeding Asian immigrant groups confronted similar wrath and discrimination—the Japanese, Filipinos, South Asians, Muslims.
What I learned over the years as I explored the stories of non-Asian groups—Irish, Azoreans, Italians, Blacks, Indigenous, Latinos, Croatians , Dust Bowl—they all suffered a Fresh Off the Boat discrimination.
Perhaps if we are able to recognize it as part of our past, we might avoid it in the present. As my Harlem-born collaborator and mentor the late Tony Hill (RIP) always said, “Knowing what we know now, why don’t we start over and do it differently?”
We’re getting better at it, but the virus of racism is always here, waiting to be called forth.
GT: Tell me about the talk you are giving at the Rio. What do you want to tell people and why should they come?
SL: Good, solid, objective history was driven into hiding by Covid 19. Libraries, archives, bookstores, museums and history classrooms (mine) closed, driving those seeking any history to the Internet, that giant uncensored, un-curated restroom wall in cyberspace where the ratio of good history to rumor and fabrication is one to 99.9 %. I’m a classroom teacher and believe in the wonders that can occur when a group of eager folks is gathered together, shoulder to shoulder and LISTENING. And reacting. Aren’t many classrooms as big as the Rio Theatre.
I’m older than Joe Biden. I’m bursting with stories to tell that I believe will help attendees begin to understand how this place got this way. We’re experiencing an epidemic of community amnesia.
This is a seductive, calming place that encourages forgetfulness. Foggy mornings, seventy-degree afternoons. Hard to remember the roar of the creeks, the roar of the fires, the terror watching the lightning dance ever northward. Even harder to imagine the water table dropping until the pumps start sucking air.
We see it ass-backwards –we see the calamities as aberrations in a timeline of benign calm. It’s the other way around. The calm stretches keep the calamities from slamming together.
I picked the date of this event—Oct. 14—intentionally: just three days before the 34th anniversary of the Loma Prieta Earthquake. I plan to talk about that earthquake at the Rio. Not statistics or an interrupted baseball game, but how it affected me, the Hollister earthquake cowboy who thought he knew about earthquakes. I think about Oct. 17th every day and I hope I never forget it.
I’m gonna be the Old Timer and the History Dude. Let’s see if I’ve still got the chops.
If you go:
The lecture is Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, 7 p.m., at the Rio Theater, $35.
Council member Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and community-organizer Joy Schendledecker are the two candidates hoping to represent District 3 on the Santa Cruz City Council following next year’s election.
The two candidates will have launch parties this week and weekend as they vie for the Westside district.
District 3, which includes parts of the lower Westside and extends up to Nobel Drive by UC Santa Cruz, captures a fairly representative slice of Santa Cruz made up of businesses, ADUs, small apartment buildings and single family homes. The candidates said traffic safety, the future of West Cliff Drive and local development were all on people’s minds.
City voters have historically hit the ballots in June but this year, due to a statewide change, residents can expect an earlier primary in March 2024, with a potential runoff in November.
Kalantari-Johnson and Schendledecker both lost high-profile races last year, but they have kept busy. Kalantari-Johnson took a moment away from the city council to visit Joe Biden and recently secured a $1 million grant to prevent violence against children. Schendledecker immersed herself in local politics by writing a political column and becoming an Assembly District Delegate to the California Democratic Party.
Now, they will face off in their own neighborhood.
Homelessness
On homelessness, the two have opposing visions.
Schendledecker disagrees with the city’s controversial ordinance that bans overnight RV camping—an ordinance that Kalantari-Johnson introduced and touts as one of her accomplishments from her time on the city council.
The ruling prohibits vehicles 20 feet or longer from parking on city streets from midnight to 5am and establishes designated safe-parking programs around the city that accommodates around 70 RVs overnight. Critics of the ordinance say it penalizes unhoused and caters to homeowners on the Westside, while supporters point to the litter, unsightliness and safety concerns around the overnight RVs.
Schendledecker said the safe parking program for RVs is insufficient because people need access to more sanitation areas and gray water pick-up.
“It ties criminalization to services,” she said.
Kalantari-Johnson said that the city is setting an example for other communities around the state that struggle with similar issues related to overnight parking.
“I think other coastal communities will look to us,” Kalantari-Johnson said.
Kalantari-Johnson defends the work the city has done to reduce homelessness by 29% this year.
“We are no longer allowing large unmanaged encampments to fester and cause public health/public safety issues to those living in them and surrounding community members, and we’re not just shuttling people around… we’re offering shelter… and get on a pathway to housing,” Kalantari-Johnson said.
Schendledecker thinks it is better to have the Armory (a 135 bed shelter and service-hub) than not, but said, “a carrot-and-stick approach is not the best way to treat people. And a lot of people get left out and it is extremely expensive.”
Taxes
To continue the various services the city provides, Kalantari-Johnson supports a sales tax increase that would fund things like the city’s fight against homelessness.
Schendledecker said this is regressive and hurts the poor. She would support a progressive property transfer tax instead, that would also apply to commercial properties.
Kalantari-Johnson stands by her support of the sales tax that was defeated last election. She said the tax should delineate where money would go, so voters know how the council intends to allocate the revenue. Santa Cruz is a small city with big city problems, she said.
But Schendledecker thinks the city should go a step further. She wants to put revenue from a tax into a dedicated fund, like the affordable housing trust fund that already exists, so a future city council couldn’t change how the funds are used.
West Cliff Drive
Both candidates said the topic of West Cliff Drive is top of mind for many people in District 3. While work is expected to start soon on restoring two-way traffic, the long-term future of West Cliff Drive as laid-out in the 50 year plan will determine if the city is to anchor-down or manage a retreat.
Preserving access with a minimum amount of consequence to the neighborhood’s livability is paramount, according to Kalantari-Johnson. When asked about managed retreat, Shebreh laughed.
“[It is a dirty word] for some people,” she said.
Coastal erosion is inevitable so the challenge “is how to preserve as much as we can for as long as we can for as many uses as we can,” said Kalantari-Johnson.
Schendledecker agrees but wants “more space for bikes and people.”
She also wants to work with the Coastal Commission on making West Cliff drive more resilient.
Still, she thinks that due to the reality of climate change, it might be inevitable that we need to reimagine the iconic street.
“At some point we’ll have to go one-way or no traffic,” she said.
The Council
Schendledecker thinks it’s time to redefine city governance.
She wants a ground-up approach, where residents in District 3 would organize assemblies, sending up their concerns to the district council member, who would take it to council.
“I think there is a perception in the community that the city manager and the staff lead the council rather than the council leading the city manager and the staff, and I think people rightly feel like there is a lack of accountability from staff and council,” said Schendledecker.
Kalantari-Johnson disagrees with this approach: she supports the council’s current process.
Before meetings Kalantari-Johnson said she reads the agenda packet, talks to relevant staff members and has weekly meetings with the city manager before entering the chamber.
“[If you are] diverging from staff recommendations, that means you are giving staff a message that you don’t think they know how to do their job,” said Kalantari-Johnson. “That creates divisiveness and frankly nothing will get done.”
Kalantari-Johnson said she ran in 2020 to facilitate bringing the council together, because “nothing got done” in 2018-2019. During this time, council members Glover and Krohn were accused of bullying and harassment and were subsequently successfully recalled—the recall in Santa Cruz history.
“You have to work well with people,” said Schendledecker. On the council she would, “tone down the activism. Not the ethics.” She cites Sandy Brown as someone who is able to bridge the divide.
But she believes the recall happened because of Santa Cruz Together’s fear that a progressive majority would enact tenant protections.
“Drew and Chris being a kind of jerk… provided a cover to get rid of them,” said Schendledecker.
Housing
District 3 is required to accommodate 372 housing units, the fewest units of any district, according to the city’s new housing element.
According to the plan, the majority of the new housing—40%—will be developed in District 4, now encompassing an expanded downtown district. Some residents are concerned about the city’s vision for downtown and one group thinks voters should weigh in on the plan. The Housing for People wants to bring a ballot initiative that seeks to require buildings exceeding the current zoning to go before voters and raise the inclusionary ordinance for affordable housing from 20% to 25% city-wide.
Schendledecker is “very sympathetic” to Housing for People.
“I am happy to go to the voters,” she said.
“I would of course like to see more inclusionary units but I want to see housing get built so that’s something I’m advocating for,” said Kalantari-Johnson about housing across the city. She has put forward an agenda item to form a Housing Element sub-committee to study if it would be possible to increase city-mandated affordability without styming private development.
If you go:
Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson’s launch party will be held Friday Oct. 6 at Vino at the Sea, 55 Municipal Wharf Ste B, from 5 pm-7:30 pm.
Joy Schendledecker’s campaign launch will be on Sunday Oct. 8 at Pizzeria Avanti, 1711 Mission St, from 2-4 pm.
California residents can expect increases to their Pacific Gas and Electric bills beginning this year, if the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approves them next month.
Two possible plans would increase bills for its 16 million customers by either 9% or 13%.
The CPUC will vote on the increase on Nov. 2.
The increase is intended to fund wildfire risk reduction, safety and climate resiliency improvements and clean energy projects.
The decision authorizes PG&E to recover $1.6 billion more in customers’ rates in 2023 than in 2022, the company said in a press release.
The CPUC requires PG&E and other utilities to submit a proposal every four years to determine increases to offset the cost of operating, maintaining and improving the safety and reliability of the company’s electric and natural gas systems, PG&E said in a press release.
“We are dedicated to making it right and making it safe for our friends, families and neighbors,” said PG&E Corporation Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Office Carla Peterman. “We look forward to working carefully with the Commission and all stakeholders to arrive at a final decision that is in the best interest of our customers and supports California’s bold plans to transition to a safer and cleaner energy future,”
The increases would fund the undergrounding of more than 2,100 miles of power lines, which the company says reduces wildfire risk by nearly 98% and also reduces the costs of vegetation and overhead line maintenance. It will also fund additional safety inspections and enhanced public safety power shutoffs.
At 11:20am today, anyone with a cell phone can expect an emergency alert from the federal government.
The alert is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission.
The national test will consist of two portions, testing Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) and Emergency Alert System capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 11:20am.
The message will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
The WEA portion of the test will be directed to consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all WEA-compatible cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.
The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions.
This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.
The purpose of the test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level.
Our excellent and evolving Santa Cruz Symphony is offering some appetizing extras this season, and you won’t want to miss a chance to catch the Mads Tolling show this coming Sunday, Oct. 8, the opening concert of the expanded 2023-24 Recital Series.
Mads Tolling & the Mads Men are wildly talented musicians changing the way you’re going to think about live music. Jazz standards and cinematic classics are reimagined and swung through the brilliant violin stylings of two-time Grammy Award winner Mads Tolling.
Yes, you might not think of the violin as an instrument designed for jazz. But Tolling and company will change your mind about that preconception. The native of Copenhagen, Denmark was turned on to jazz at the age of 14.
Jazz genius Miles Davis was the instrument of change and by the time Tolling was 20 he was mad for jazz, coming to this country to study jazz at the renowned Berklee College of Music. Even while he was a student he started touring with Stanley Clarke and his band, and with the Turtle Island String Quartet.
The touring has never stopped, and the Grammy awards began. Tolling not only performs and jams with jazz greats from his San Francisco base, he’s a composer as well, and was commissioned by the Oakland East Bay Symphony for a violin concerto.
What’s exciting about the Danish-American violin explorer is his cross-over tendency that has taken him through the classical repertoire, into the heart of American jazz, into the eclectic sounds of his latest project, Mads Men. What Santa Cruz audiences will enjoy this coming weekend is Tolling’s playful celebration of ’60s style jazz classics, with the Mads Men Sam Beven on bass, Colin Hogan on piano, and Eric Garland on drums as his world-class backup band.
Remember all those irresistible 60s studio band numbers? Herb Alpert and “A Taste of Honey”? Tijuana Brass, the theme from The Pink Panther?
Coaxing uncanny, unbelievable sounds from his violin, Tolling has a lot of fun swinging his way through innovative versions of Bob Dylan by way of Jimi Hendrix. From blues to salsa to every great TV theme song, and pungent movie soundtrack favorites, the Mads Men work through imaginative morphings of soul-to-jazz licks and through it all there’s the incredible violin virtuosity of Tolling who is busy readjusting our ears and expanding our understanding of what a stringed instrument should be doing.
Mission Impossible? yeah, that’s part of his bag of instrumental tricks. You’ll remember all these classics from the great decade of popular media music, but Mads Tolling and the Mads Men will also soothe your need for nostalgia, and transform “easy listening” into a higher artform.
Mads Tolling kicks off the Sunday afternoon recital series, that continues with Hakan Ali Toker on Nov. 5, Destiny Muhammad on Dec. 17, and Gwendolyn Mok on Jan. 7. Nothing is as exciting and memorable as live music, and the Santa Cruz Symphony Sunday Afternoon Recital Series is the perfect avenue into new experiences for every music lover, newcomer or veteran.
Sunday, Oct. 8 at 2pm at the Samper Recital Hall, Cabrillo College.Tickets.
Scott Hill clearly recalls the first time he saw the legendary Santa Cruz Bl’ast! and how the event changed the course of his life. The guitarist and singer for long running stoner rock band Fu Manchu witnessed the power of the boundary pushing punk meets metal act at the now defunct Balboa Theater in Los Angeles on a night in November 1985.
Hill was familiar with the other punk groups on the bill—JFA and Die Kreuzen—but when Bl’ast! began playing the pulse pounding bass intro to “Only Time Will Tell” he and his buddies were excited by what they heard and ran down to stand in front of the stage.
“We just got annihilated for 40 minutes,” Hill says of the experience.
On the drive home, Hill and his bandmate in the SoCal hardcore group Virulence decided they had to change their sound after being so impressed by Bl’ast!
“I would say if I didn’t see that show or didn’t get into Bl’ast! then Fu Manchu wouldn’t exist,” Hill says.
Santa Cruz’s biggest punk export until newcomers like Drain, Bl’ast! began making their mark in the Santa Cruz music scene in the mid 1980s. Their debut album, 1986’s The Power of Expression, was released on one of the most influential independent record labels of the 1980s, SST Records, which was run by Greg Ginn of Black Flag.
“During that Power of Expression time is when it all kind of gelled,” Bl’ast! vocalist Clifford Dinsmore says. “And then we just started musically advancing at a really fast rate and we started formulating the songs for It’s in My Blood.”
With its tempo shifts, proficient playing, and unexpected detours, It’s in My Blood predicts the boundary-breaking[1][2] hardcore of current acts like Turnstile and Fucked Up. The wild sound came after the departure of guitarist Steve Stevenson and as a reaction to being pegged by some as Black Flag disciples. “The whole point was to be totally different from anything,” Dinsmore says. “We just hated the typical drumbeat of hardcore.”
Guitarist Mike Neider helped the band go into a new direction on It’s in My Blood. “We wanted to do something different,” he says. “Kind of some left turns, downs, ups, and all the way around.”
It’s in My Blood even had an assist from Santa Cruz rock royalty: Ken Kraft of Snail engineered the recording of the album in Mars Recording Studio near Aptos.
“He was so open minded and just cool about what we did that he just helped us get a good sound for the time,” Dinsmore says.
Unfortunately, the band’s next album, 1989’s Take the Manic Ride, found the songs slathered in 1980s style production. “We wanted it live,” Neider says. “We wanted it raw. No studio at all. Unfortunately, we got the opposite.”
After Take the Manic Ride, the band essentially fell apart and came back together again in different iterations—Blackout, LAB—with players like Brant Bjork of Kyuss fame. They eventually came together again for a full-fledged west coast reunion tour in 2001.
There’s been tantalizing bits of progress since then for Bl’ast! fans. In 2012, a lost Bl’ast! recording session was found that included songs from when William DuVall—now of Alice in Chains—was in the group. Bl’ast superfan and rock legend Dave Grohl mixed the session, which was released as the album Blood in 2013.
Grohl came back into the fold for the 2015 single “For Those Who Graced the Fire,” which included Grohl on drums, Dinsmore on vocals, Neider on guitar, and Chuck Dukowski, formerly of Black Flag, on bass. The song includes pummeling and precise riffs and rhythms that testify to the band’s continuing explosive power.
The current incarnation of Bl’ast is a powerful beast that features Dinsmore, Neider, and original bassist Dave Cooper along with former Queens of the Stone Age players Nick Oliveri and Joey Castillo. Bl’ast! recently played a few Southern California shows, where both Neider and Dinsmore were impressed by their own band’s sound.
“There hadn’t been the two-guitar crush since 1987 when William DuVall was in the band,” Dinsmore says. “To hear it that way again was really unreal.”
Bl’ast! plays the big room of The Catalyst—a venue they never got to perform in during their initial run—for the first time in almost 10 years. After that, there might be an even bigger surprise for longtime fans. “If we schedule it right,” Neider says, “you’re going to hear a couple of really gnarly records that will take place with this five piece, maybe with some guests involved.”
Bl’ast!, Excel, and Lost Cause perform Saturday, Oct. 7, 8pm. $25/advance, $35/general admission, $40/last chance. The Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. https://catalystclub.com
“The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can’t fake it. . .try to fake three laughs in an hour–ha ha ha ha ha—they’ll take you away man.” – Lenny Bruce
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A bushy-faced New Jerseyan, Jewish Deadhead moves to Santa Cruz from Chico and becomes the cornerstone of the comedy scene for the next two decades.
Ok, the punchline needs some work but that’s why I’m a journalist and not a comedian. The person in reference, of course, is DNA, who made this his legal name after losing both of his parents when he was 27 and chose to be called by his initials. For 17 years he has brought laughter, music and art to his second adopted community, and this year he celebrates a milestone: the 10th anniversary of the Santa Cruz Comedy Festival (SCCF).
“I watch comedy and comedy festivals like some people watch sports,” he says matter-of-factly. “I’ve designed and curated the particular line-up this year to satisfy the most people.”
For the Big 1-0, he’s pulled all the stops to make this the biggest fest to date. From Oct. 4 to 7, 40 comics will descend on 10 venues across the downtown and greater area for laughter, music, fun and possibly the cathartic breakdown.
This year features a cornucopia of returning local comedians such as Mac Ruiz, BJ Rankin, Chree Powell and Curtis Taylor III and venues like the Blue Lagoon, Streetlight Records and Kuumbwa Jazz Center.
“Every year except the drive-in year [2020] we’ve had a show at the Kuumbwa,” DNA says. “Lenny Bruce used to play jazz clubs, you know? Comedy and jazz have a deep connection.”
Yet 2023 also has lots of firsts with venues like Abbott Square and Rosie McCann’s joining the mix to new acts such as Art Critique with comedians literally critiquing art (“It’s where high-brow meets low-brow” according to DNA) and the Talkies–a multimedia comedy troupe out of Los Angeles.
“They make short films, some of them make PowerPoint presentations,” he explains. “It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.
Then there’s the Friday night headliners at the Rio Theatre: Marcella Arguello, Louis Katz and Moshe Kasher. All three have gigged in Santa Cruz in the past, but never together and never before at SCCF.
With so much to do, see and laugh with (or at, depending), we’ve narrowed the spotlight.
MAC ATTACK
JUMPING IN Local comedian Max Ruiz at Rosie McCann’s PHOTO: Mat-Weir
No matter what the profession, hobby or skill, everyone has to start somewhere and that’s usually at the bottom. For comedians that means open mics and local showcases, two things Santa Cruz comic, Mac Ruiz, is very familiar with.
“The Blue Lagoon is where you go to cut your teeth, it’s the punk room,” she explains over coffee. “It’s your training. When we had the Poet & Patriot it was the Friday Night Lights or homecoming room. Everyone’s there and you don’t have to be a certain way. Now we have Rosie’s which is the preppy room. It’s in a restaurant and a bar so you can order a steak, salad and glass of wine or grab a shot of whiskey and a beer while watching stand-up.”
She should know. Although a transplant to the Santa Cruz scene, she planted hard and quickly grew roots, hitting the rooms in 2019 and now co-hosts the weekly, free, 8pm, Monday night show at Rosie McCann’s.
“I wasn’t serious about comedy until I moved to Santa Cruz and saw there was such a healthy scene here,” says Ruiz. “It seemed like such a good community so I jumped in and pretty much immediately felt welcomed.”
Ruiz’s comedy is open and vulnerable. Her act often includes personal stories of trauma she takes the power back from through laughter.
“We all go through a lot of silent battles that maybe no one will ever know about,” she explains. “If I can take those battles, put them out there, and have even one person relate or gain the courage to get through their own, that’s what gives me the courage to continue.”
A five year veteran of the SCCF, this week Ruiz performs at the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery with Eddie Pepitone and J.T. Habersaat on Wednesday, Oct. 4 and is hosting the Woodhouse Blending & Brewery on Saturday, Oct. 7.
“That’s going to be a really cool show people should check out because we’re going to have two stages,” she says. “Which is something I’ve never seen before at the festival.”
WOKE BULLY
Marcella Arguello
Marcella Arguello’s origins in comedy sound like a scene from a Hollywood film.
“Jim Gaffigan told me,” she remembers. “I went to see him headline Punchline San Francisco years ago before he was hugely famous. We were just shooting the shit and he just said out of nowhere, ‘You should try comedy.’”
Born in Modesto, Arguello is no stranger to Santa Cruz.
“Modesto’s great because it has access to everywhere,” she says. “We’d take a short drive to go camping, or the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, or San Francisco. As teenagers going to The Mystery Spot was the jam! We did it every summer.”
The daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, Arguello says she was always the good kid growing up, at least academically.
“I would kiss my teacher’s ass but then be a bully to some kids,” she explains. “They couldn’t tell on me because the teacher wouldn’t believe them. It was the beginning of learning how to deal with the Hollywood industry.”
Since her humble days doing stand-up around the Bay at places like the Punchline and the Brainwash Cafe–a laundromat in San Francisco that doubles as the longest running open mic in the city’s history hosted by Tony Sparks–Arguello has earned a long list of credits.
She wrote for Netflix’s Bill Nye Saves the World, appeared as herself on Fuse TV’s We Need to Talk About America (a reality show where first generation, bi-racial comedians dissect American culture to side-splitting and contemplative ends with new episodes dropping this month), and hosted Tubi’s clip show, The Cache. Her first album, Woke Bully, debuted at number three on the Billboard Comedy Charts and was named one of the Best Comedy Albums in 2019 by NPR.
This past February, she released her first MAX (ne: HBO MAX) special, Bitch, Grow Up! The hilarious 30 minute set takes audiences through topics like her height (6’2”), her dating life and her childhood pledge through the D.A.R.E. program to never take drugs, then growing up.
“It’s literally one show, one take,” Arguello admits, saying she only cut out two jokes.
Her fast-paced wit and sharp tongue is a warning to any would-be hecklers.
“Much to the chagrin of my father I’ve always been quick to point out some logical fact or misstep. I’m the ‘Well, actually’ person in my family.”
As her star rises, she remembers her roots, personal and comedic, which is advice she would give anyone with the passion–or self-loathing–to get up in front of strangers for several minutes in an attempt to make them laugh.
“I wish younger comedians would watch older comedy,” she says. “There are so many great women comedians, especially in the 1990s!”
As for the festival, she’s excited to come back to Santa Cruz and share the stage with old friends.
“You want to know how long I’ve known Louis [Katz]? The last show I watched before I started doing stand-up was Dave Attell with Louis opening and we all partied after. I was 21 so that was 17 years ago.”
KILLING IT WITH KATZ
Louis Katz
Louis Katz is a comedian’s comedian.
His 2018 album, Katzkillz, was named one of the Top Five Comedy Albums of the Year by Vulture.com. He was featured on NBC, HBO, and five times on Comedy Central. His episode of This Is Not Happening–a four year long running show created by Ari Shaffer featuring comedians telling crazy, bizarre and hilarious stories from their lives–has nearly 3 million views.
So why isn’t he a household name?
“It’s cool being a comedian’s comedian but it would also be nice to be an audience’s comedian,” he laughs. “But I’m happy and grateful for all I’ve achieved and where I’m at. So few people get to make a living doing this.”
Just like his other Rio co-headliners, Katz’s stand-up career started in the Bay Area. However, his comedy writing goes back to when he was only nine years old with his jokes read live on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The show had prompted elementary school kids to send their best material.
“So the truth is,” he laughs. “A lot of kids did. They just didn’t become comedians so nobody gives a shit.”
In the pre-internet days, comedy wasn’t as mass marketed as it is today. There were basically three ways to get it without going to the clubs: albums, movies and Saturday Night Live, which Katz would stay awake for and sneak to watch when he could.
“It was like this secret world,” he remembers. “It was on late at night but made fun of all the things that happened during the day. Like, they’d have commercials but they weren’t real. I loved the subversiveness of it.”
Another favorite around the Katz home was the legendary Mel Brooks.
“There’s two different kinds of Jewish families: either you’re a Woody Allen family or a Mel Brooks family. Like the Beatles and the Stones of Jewish comedy,” he says. “And we were a Beatles and Mel Brooks household.”
While attending his junior year at UC Berkeley, Katz joined a local sketch comedy group and it was during his first show that something clicked.
“The second night really killed and I remember I couldn’t sleep. I was just staring at the ceiling thinking, ‘This is it. This is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.’”
While his time in the Bay might’ve been short–only four years before moving to New York where he still lives–he remembers it fondly. He would look in the back of weekly newspapers for lists of open mics and curated shows he might be able to get a spot on.
BURNING MENSCH
Moshe Kasher
Here’s another one for you: a comedian who’s been sober for 29 years goes to Burning Man 2023—where celebrities, influencers and “regular” people posted about a rainy, mud-filled hellish landscape–but has the time of his life.
In fact, it was Kasher’s 22nd time and his favorite year yet.
“It was funny to be inside of a fake news story,” he says. “We were there and there was rain, and mud and it was inconvenient. But then we’d look at the news and go, ‘Oh, I think we’re in a refugee camp.’
“People love to hate Burning Man and listen, I can’t hold that against anybody. There’s a certain degree of schadenfreude when you see people who’ve been annoying you for over a decade talking about their special, annual third eye opening retreat. I get it.”
Born in Queens, NY but raised in Oakland, Kasher’s dive into the world of EDM (electronic dance music) is like many others in this area: 15 years old with a friend at a Bonny Doon Full Moon rave.
“That night definitely changed the trajectory of my life,” he remembers.
“From there I became all of the things when you’re sober and deep into the rave scene: a promoter, a dj, a sober ecstasy dealer that would very awkwardly see people from my Friday AA meeting who had gone out to party, so I’d hide in the shadows with a bag full of Molly pills in my pocket so they didn’t know what I was doing there. The rest is history.”
Kasher describes his family business as “writing words.” His grandfather was a journalist and Yiddish author. His aunt is a Holocaust historian, author and documentarian.
Along with his specials, Kasher’s writing credits include episodes of shows like Betty, This is Not Happening and his 2017 Comedy Central show, Problematic. He’s a successful author, with his 2012 autobiography Kasher In the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy From Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient And Then Turned 16 and the forthcoming Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes about the six subcultures that’ve defined his life.
Kasher’s also no stranger to podcasting. His first in 2011, The Champs was co-hosted by Neal Brennan (co-writer of Chappelle’s Show) and DJ Douggpound (Tim and Eric Nite Live!) which featured guests like musician Questlove, comedian Wanda Sykes, NBA player Harrison Barnes and more. It ran for five years and was voted “Best Podcast” in the L.A. Weekly’s “Best Of 2014” issue.
In 2020 Kasher and his rabbi brother created Kasher vs. Kasher a short-lived, four episode podcast about how to do Judaism during a pandemic and lockdown.
“We’re like the perfect see-saw of a Jewish family,” he jokes of his brother. “An entertainer and a comedian.”
His current show, The Endless Honeymoon Podcast, started in 2019 and features Kasher and his wife–the incredibly funny and dry-witted Natasha Leggero–and their guests. People call in asking for relationship advice that is dished out with one scoop of sincerity, a couple dashes of sarcasm, smothered in comedy and lightly roasted. Think Love Line only the hosts are married and much funnier than Dr. Drew..
It’s named after their 2018 Neftlix special, The Honeymoon Stand Up Special, with the same format only includes the added bonus of a half hour solo set from each.
“We actually started doing that show together in Santa Cruz at the Vets Hall,” he recalls of their 2016 The Honeymoon Tour. “The Mermen played before us. I will never forget that show, it was really awesome.”
IT’S ALL IN THE DNA
DNA
Along with stand-up and the Bay Area there’s another thing all these comics have in common: DNA. After all, he’s the reason for the Santa Cruz Comedy Festival in the first place.
When asked, neither Arguello, Katz nor Kasher could remember just how–or when–they met the man with the famous beard. In a way, it’s an appropriate response. Whether it was Chico, Santa Cruz or the greater Bay Area, DNA’s always been there in the background connecting people to each other, throwing a concert or hosting a show and doing everything he can to support whichever community he’s in.
“In a weird way, we all met DNA long before we even existed if you think about it,” Kasher slyly observes.
He’s not wrong.
DNA is the double helix tying this all together. There are so many comedians and musicians that he’s helped along the way whether it was by booking them, passing along sagely advice, or just being a friend to listen and laugh with.
“Back in the day we would get into every room we could,” Arguello remembers.
As the owner of DNA’s Comedy Lab he brought stand-up and experimental art to Downtown Santa Cruz, earning him the honor of “Biggest Leap of Faith” by ex-Good Times editor, Jacob PIerce. Even as the pandemic took his business and the fires threatened his home, he believed in the power of comedy to bring a community together and that year’s SCCF was held as a drive-in with audience members honking out their laughter through their car horns.
For 13 years until 2019 he hosted the weekly, free, Blue Lagoonies comedy showcase featuring local amateurs, up-and-coming performers and Bay Area headliners. After taking a year off after the pandemic, he’s returned as the show’s producer and sometime host or performer.
He’s been a board member of San Francisco’s Comedy Day in Golden Gate Park for the past dozen years. For the last eight of those, he’s been able to get volunteer Santa Cruz comedians to wake up early on the day of the festival, drive to Robin Williams Meadow and build the entire event. Everything from setting up the flatbed truck stage to building the green room tents, taking care of the trash, helping out with sound and more.
“It’s a great team building thing,” he exclaims. “Last year we all almost died because it was flash flooding with torrential rain. A two ton ten almost fell on our heads and we almost got electrocuted on stage. But–you know– I think those sorts of things are good for people.”
“DNA has been very instrumental for me, feeling that it’s possible for everyone to be included,” remarks Ruiz, who volunteers for Comedy Day. “However you identify. Whatever the color of your skin is and anything in between. Everyone has a place. That’s really set a high standard for me.”
Truthfully, he’s probably reading this right now thinking “Why are you talking about me when there’s the festival, comedians and community to highlight?” Which is so very DNA of him. A mystic truthseeker trapped in the body of a hippy, Deadhead comedian who just wants to see those around him rise up and do good. Or as he likes to say: “It’s not all about you. Nothing is all about anyone. It’s all about us.
FLY FISHING FILM TOUR If you’ve never seen the intricate dance of a fly fisher’s line upon a peaceful river, you’re in luck: the annual Fly Fishing Film Tour is coming to town. The self-described “traveling roadshow of the best fly fishing films in the world” covers an impressive spectrum of fly fishing experiences, with footage gathered in fish-packed waters around the globe. In addition to top-notch cinematography, the organizers encourage local conservation efforts and community-building, promising a live emcee, raffle prizes and local fly shop presence. Even if it’s not your thing, go in honor of your grandpa. ADDIE MAHMASSANI
6pm, Aptos Grange, 2555 Mar Vista Drive, Aptos. Free. 688-3974.
THURSDAY 10/5
ROCK
NIGHT BEATS The psychedelic garage rock universe of Night Beats continues to expand with Rajan, the project’s sixth and latest album. The record’s name is a loving nod to Night Beats founder Danny “Lee Blackwell” Rajan Billingsley’s mother, who, in the Indian tradition, passed a shortened version of her surname—Sundarajan—on to her son. Psychedelic Baby Mag says that the album “lands somewhere between Spaghetti Western film score and psych pop-opus.” It’s a swirling combination of jazz, blues, soul and hip-hop that starts with a banger called “Hot Ghee.” AM
LUCKY CHOPS All the hits, but brass, brass, and more brass. Lucky Chops is a six-person ensemble of saxophones, trombones, trumpet, drums, and a sousaphone. The band rocks out to covers of all the best pop, Motown, and funk of the past and present, as well as originals. Listening to Lucky Chops feels a bit like getting booted back to the height of ska, when trombone players were rockstars and skanking was king. Openers Coffee Zombie Collective bring a bluegrass energy to their covers, spanning from The Flaming Lips to Bruno Mars. The theme of the night is: everything familiar is new again. JESSICA IRISH
SECRET EMCHY SOCIETY Ever wonder what if Buck Owens and Nick Cave had a secret, queer love child born somewhere along the dust of Highway 5? The answer lies much closer than Bakersfield, as the Secret Emchy Society comes straight out of Oakland. Formed by Cindy Emch, the “First Lady of Queer Country” according to the Huffington Post. Secret Emchy Society came together at the last minute, literally, when her friend threw her onto a show with a 45 minute set without notice. Emch told the house band to follow her lead and the rest is history. Part Americana, part honky tonk, some hellbilly for spice and wrapped in a tortilla of dark story telling. MAT WEIR
8pm, The Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $12. 429-6994.
COMEDY
SANTA CRUZ COMEDY FESTIVAL When DNA, the local king of the comedy scene, lost his fledgling experimental club a year into Covid, he could’ve walked away from it all. Instead he continued his yearly comedy fest with the mission to bring together Santa Cruz through laughter. Now in its 10th year, the Santa Cruz Comedy Fest opens on Wednesday and continues for the next three days. It culminates on Friday with three big name headliners: Louis Katz, Marcella Arguello and Moshe Kasher. But have no fear, the entire festival is filled with comedians of all ages, stages and rages with local and not-so-local performers appearing at 10 different venues downtown like Streetlight Records, The Blue Lagoon, and Rosie McCann’s. MW
8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave.,Santa Cruz. $25. 423-8209.
SATURDAY 10/7
BLUEGRASS
BREWGRASS FESTIVAL 2023 Is there a better way to spend your Saturday than sipping craft beers and vibing to bluegrass bands? That’s a rhetorical question, because of course that’s the best way to unwind from a long week of working for The Man. The Roaring Camp Railroads has a solid lineup of killer bands at this year’s Brewgrass festival including Rattle Can, Wolf Jett, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Goat Hill Girls, and Hot Buttered Rum. As far as beers go, there will be a bunch of breweries pedaling their ales. Shanty Shack Brewing Co, Humble Sea Brewing Co, Hop Dogma Brewing, and Buena Vista Brewing Co. AARON CARNES
1pm, Roaring Camp Railroads, 5401 Graham Hill Road, Felton. $65/adv, $75/door. 335-4484.
MONDAY 10/9
ROCK
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE After three decades, we’re still not quite sure how to label the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Psych rock? Garage? Shoegaze? Experimental shoegaze psychedelic garage rock? Originally formed in San Francisco by Anton Newcombe, this wild musical experiment has put out a plethora of different music over 20 albums that encompasses everything listed above and more. As tumultuous as their music is, their personal relationships and wild off-stage antics that sometimes make it on stage have earned them notoriety in the media and an almost mythological status in underground music. Fun fact: their tambourine player, Joel Gion, not only used to be a Santa Cruzan but also worked for several years at Streetlight Records. MW
8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $30. 423-8209.
TUESDAY 10/10
SKA
MUSTARD PLUG Mustard Plug have been playing ska-punk since the early 90s. The Grand Rapids, Michigan bunch toured non-stop in the late 90s during the mainstream ska-boom. They weren’t one of the bands with a hit on the radio, but they had a huge cult following. In the 2000s, they kept the ska flame burning with their ironically titled “Ska is Dead” tour that showed that the music still drew big crowds. But something interesting about the group—their records got better the longer they remained a band. Their latest, Where Did All My Friends Go?, is an incredible album. It was recorded by The Descendents’ Bill Stevenson and released on Sept 8 by the hip new ska label Bad Time Records, showing that Mustard Plug are still making relevant music in 2023. AC
8pm, Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $23/adv, $26/door. 713-5492.
JAZZ
HIROMI Grammy-winning pianist Hiromi releases her 12th studio-album, Sonicwonder, this month to the delight of jazz aficionados around the world. Hailing from Japan, the virtuosic star consistently delivers high-energy live performances, blending post-bob with prog-rock and stride, a style that ragtime players like Mary Lou Williams and Fats Waller championed. Sonicwonder takes the composer’s innovation to the next level with funk grooves and synthesizers in the mix, bouncing fluidly between jazz and dance club vibes. “The word ‘wonder’ has a lot of meaning,” Hiromi says. “It fits the musical view that I have for this project…it is definitely a new adventure for me.” AM
7pm & 9pm, Kuumbwa Jazz, 320 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz. Sold Out ($42-$63). 427-2227
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