Santa Cruz County will keep its emergency shelters—at 846 Front St. in Santa Cruz and 215 E. Beach St. in Watsonville—open tonight as Mother Nature gears up to dish out another round of inclement weather.
And as emergency crews respond to car accidents and deal with downed power lines, others have been racing up the mountains to enjoy snow-based recreation.
In a post on its website this afternoon, PG&E acknowledged the improved weather conditions across the state but warned of potential danger in the hours ahead.
“PG&E crews continue to work to assess the damage and restore service to customers in hard-hit areas, which were battered this week by winter storms that brought strong winds and snow levels lower than typical,” the spokesperson said. “We understand the importance of electricity to you and your family. Your comfort, warmth and safety are our priority.”
Over 970,000 power customers have been impacted—although 97% of outages had already been restored by noon Sunday.
“PG&E is focused on restoring those in hard-hit areas that have been experiencing extended outages while preparing for the incoming weather,” the spokesperson said. “Customers are urged to stay safe and remain prepared.”
In fact, at 6:24pm, a Santa Cruz County spokesperson said on Twitter that Graham Hill Road had opened after PG&E cleared wires and a broken power pole from the route.
Meanwhile, the Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Management sent a warning that drug and alcohol use in freezing weather can be fatal.
“Individuals with pre-existing medical conditions such as heart and liver disease, alcoholism or drug intoxication, are the most vulnerable to hypothermia during frigid weather,” an official for the agency tweeted.
The National Weather Service Bay Area said the storm will continue through early Wednesday and will likely bring snow to areas above 2,500 feet.
And along with the frigid news, here are some good tidings:
The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History reported it had documented the extremely rare Santa Cruz Mountains beardtongue—a perennial herb that typically doesn’t appear until at least May.
“Talk about early bloomers…” a spokesperson for the museum wrote, adding, “we found it locally amongst the snow! This! week!”
Do a Google search of history’s most infamous punk rock moments, and a few are guaranteed to pop up: The Sex Pistols on the Bill Grundy Show, GG Allin on the Jerry Springer Show and FEAR on “Saturday Night Live,” on Halloween Night 1981.
It would be the first and only time FEAR was invited to perform the sketch comedy show. A crowd of slam dancing kids—featuring the likes of Ian MacKay from Minor Threat, Tesco Vee of the Meatmen, John Brannon of Negative Approach and others who FEAR invited—wrecked the stage. Frontman Lee Ving egged them on.
“It’s great to be here—in New Jersey,” Ving said before a chant of “boos” escalated from the audience.
“SNL” star John Belushi owed FEAR a favor after a deal to have them write the soundtrack for his movie Neighborsfell through. The network cut the air halfway through the band’s fourth song, “Let’s Have a War,” after the slam-dancing punks caused $20,000 in damage to the set, stage and camera equipment.
Yet, for the Los Angeles-based hardcore act, it was just another notch in their leather-studded belt of chaotic performance art, much like their earlier stint in Penelope Speer’s legendary doc, The Decline of Western Civilization.
“I’ve heard the story a few times,” FEAR’s current bassist, Geoff Kresge, says. “When playing in L.A., they keep saying, ‘We’re from Frisco.’ But when they played in San Francisco, they’d say they were from L.A. because there was a rivalry. They set the trap, and people in the crowd took the bait every time.”
Since 1977 singer Lee Ving has been at the forefront of FEAR when he formed the band with bassist Derf Scratch, Burt Good on guitar and Johnny Backbeat on drums. The following year they released their first single, “I Love Living in the City,” with Good and Backbeat replaced by Philo Cramer and Spit Stix, respectively, shortly after.
Unlike other punk acts then—and now, for that matter—FEAR stood out with Lee’s antagonistic, right-wing character. Instead of preaching anarchy and anti-government politics, songs like “Let’s Have a War,” “Public Hangings” and “Foreign Policy took the progressive and dystopian lyrics of other punk bands and gave them a fair and balanced twist before the days of Fox News.
For anyone who wasn’t in on the joke—or at the very least offended easily—it’s easy to see how anger sometimes ensues. Ving antagonizes audiences, screaming obscenities at fans and hits them with quick-witted one-liners. And after 46 years, plenty of punks, activists and normies have foamed at their mouths, to FEAR’s delight.
“It’s unfortunate that [Ving’s] level of dry wit, sarcasm and antagonistic poking and prodding has historically been taken the wrong way by casual listeners and people who don’t understand it’s a performance,” Kresge admits. “The entire concept of the band since the beginning was performance art.”
The subtlety and nuance can easily be overlooked. Take, for instance, the band’s classic song “New York’s Alright If You Like Saxophones” off their debut, FEAR THE RECORD. It sounds like a massive anti-New York song with lyrics like “New York’s alright if you wanna get pushed in front of the subway.”
However, Ving spent many years living in New York as a young musician, playing jazz and studying music theory. One of his first jobs was bartending at Slug’s Saloon, a jazz club on East 3rd Street.
In a 2022 Appetite For Distortion podcast interview, Ving said, “I want people to be able to play. None of us, especially those who’ve had the privilege of living in New York, want to not understand music.”
They even had Flea on bass for a brief stint in the 1980s—yes, that Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He rejoined them onstage for a song or two at the 2001 Ventura Warped Tour. It was an incredible, unforgettable moment for those in the audience, like my 17-year-old self and my friends.
“It’s all about giving the most memorable performance, and what’s more memorable than being so offended that your children are going to be offended when they’re born?” laughs Kresge. “Unfortunately, you have to tell people ‘It’s a joke; those aren’t his real beliefs. Lee Ving is a character.’”
After all, even his name, Lee Ving, is a joke, like many early punk pseudonyms. But, unlike others, it’s a damn good one. So good it earned him the role of Mr. Boddy in the 1985 cult classic comedy Clue, based on the Hasbro board game. Rumor, the studio wanted Ving because an executive thought Lee Ving as Mr. Boddy was a funny attempt at foreshadowing.
Kresge is a lifetime FEAR fan whose resume includes AFI—and co-writer of most of AFI’s early material up to 1996’s Very Proud of Ya—Tiger Army, the Horrorpops, Blank 77 and co-founder of Viva Hate. He joined in 2018 after FEAR’s management decided to overhaul the band and return to the group’s punk roots. By then, Ving was the only original member, so Cramer and Stix were asked to rejoin, along with fresh blood like Kresge, who brought Eric Razo into the mix.
“Our audition for the band was in front of a sold-out show—600 or 700 people—at Slim’s in San Francisco,” Kresge recalls. “And here we are, five years in with this new line-up—we must be doing something right.”
While Cramer is no longer with the current line-up, Stix remains. Like Ving, he’s a classically trained musician, growing up in the jazz scene, the son of a big band musician. As a teen, Stix played with jazz giant Don Ellis.
It might seem like an unlikely origin story but listen to songs like “We Destroy the Family,” “I Am a Doctor” or “Welcome to the Dust Ward.” It’s easy to see a jazz fusion influence—weird time signatures, off-beat rhythms and a cacophony of sounds mix to create untraditional songs as catchy and unforgettable as any curated pop track.
“The last session we did, I brought in a couple of songs, and Spit asked me what time signature they were in,” Kresge remembers. “I told him, ‘I don’t know,’ and he sat down and told me. I have no idea. But both Lee and Spit are trained musicians, whereas me and Eric are self-taught.”
That last session was for the upcoming, untitled double album. On Jan. 31, the band released a three-song teaser EP. The title track, “Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock ‘N Roll),” features Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Duff McKagan. Kresge says the best is yet to come as the band recorded over 50 tracks, guaranteeing they will have plenty of material for the future.
“They span the decades of the band as far as the sound is concerned,” Kresge says. “We’re staying true to what the band originally set out to be but also expanding on that.”
He hints fans will even get a special treat of previously unreleased material that’s only been performed live. Songs like Jossie Cotton’s “Johnny Are You Queer?,” a tweaked and reworked track based on something Cramer originally wrote. Punk rock mythology claims Cramer lost the writing credits in a coin toss.
“I think people who have been fans of the band for any length of time will like the record,” Kresge says.
FEAR performs with Seized Up, Curb Creeps and Anti Social on Saturday, March 4, at 8pm. $37/$45 plus fees. The Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave.,Santa Cruz. catalystclub.com
Early Friday morning, officials closed Hwy 17 in both directions after frigid, windy weather swept through the Central Coast late Thursday and Friday and brought snow into the mountainous regions.
Hwy 152 and Hwy 9, the other two major roadways connecting Santa Cruz County to the Bay Area are also closed, with no estimated time of reopening as of 9am.
Santa Cruz County officials are asking residents to cancel all travel except in cases of emergency.
“Public safety and road crews are significantly strained and rescues or other assistance may not be possible should travelers become stuck, trapped or otherwise need assistance,” the county stated in a press release.
Snow blanketed much of Hwy 17 where it snakes through the Santa Cruz Mountains, leaving some motorists to brave the icy conditions and others to abandon their trips.
Aptos resident Erik Kayhart was coming home from a show in San Francisco late Friday night when he saw some vehicles stuck on Hwy 17. He drove up the hill just past Redwood Estates, before he turned around to wait out the weather.
As of 9am on Friday morning, with Hwy 17 still closed, the sleep deprived Kayhart holed up in a McDonalds in Los Gatos, drinking coffee and waiting for conditions to change.
The high winds overnight toppled trees and blew down wires, causing closures of numerous roads throughout Santa Cruz County, including Bear Creek Road, Eureka Canyon Road and Graham Hill Road.
Soquel-San Jose Road is closed at Smith Road, and a slide in the area of Ellen Road and East Zayante has forced a soft closure.
In a Twitter post from Thursday night shared by the National Weather Service, Meteorologist Brian Garcia said there would be precipitation and snow in the Bay Area and Santa Cruz Mountains.
“We are looking at snow already falling in Northwest California even down to the coast and Humboldt and in Mendocino counties, and that is sinking into the Bay Area,” meteorologist Brian Garcia said. “You can see all these clouds moving in Northwest California, heading down towards our little neck of the woods in the Bay Area.”
Winter storm warnings have been issued everywhere in elevations of 1000 feet and above. The highest accumulations will be above 2000-2500 feet. It doesn’t mean there won’t be snow below that, but most of the accumulating snow should remain above that.
There’s a low probability that we’ll see any accumulating snow on the coast. Even so, if you don’t have to drive tomorrow morning, don’t. Caltrans and other road crews will be clearing roads.
Meanwhile, this weekend, drivers through Hwy 17 and down the 101 or interstate 5 should expect snow. Conditions are expected to be dangerous as snow and heavy rain are expected to cause low visibility and hazardous road conditions.
“If we look at the precipitation and how it’s going to roll through, we can see that the precipitation starts to come in just a few hours here and through North Bay and then starts to spread across the Bay Area core, probably around one to 3am,” Garcia added.
Around sunrise on Friday, Santa Cruz and Monterey are expected to be hit with showers, which should clear up by midday.
UPDATE:
Santa Cruz County officials are asking residents Friday to cancel all travel plans except in cases of emergency because of a winter storm that is impacting many major roads around the county.
Snow, ice and high winds have combined with fallen trees and downed power lines to create hazardous conditions around Santa Cruz County and have closed major thoroughfares like state Hwy 17, which closed in both directions overnight.
The county’s Emergency Operations Center has been activated to monitor the storm activity and to coordinate the response by public agencies. The county advised people to use libraries or other public facilities to warm up, charge electronic devices and use the internet if their homes are being affected by power outages. santacruzpl.org/branches
In a 10-2 decision, a 12-person jury has found Caltrans partly responsible for the 2019 death of 22-year-old pedestrian Josh Howard along Hwy 9.
In a verdict announced Wednesday afternoon in Santa Cruz County Superior Court after days of deliberation, the jury set damages at $19.25 million, ordering Jeremy Shreves, the motorist who struck Howard, to pay 51% ($9,817,500) and Caltrans to pay 49% ($9,432,500).
“The community has spoken up,” said Kelley Howard, Josh’s mother, who brought the lawsuit forward alongside Dimitri Jaumoville, the victim’s father. “It was good to hear other people who weren’t related to Josh feel the way I do.”
Howard said pursuing the lawsuit wasn’t about the money, but holding Caltrans accountable for neglecting to fix a busy road with narrow shoulders, despite persistent outcry from area residents.
“This isn’t a way to run a state agency,” she said. “[Local residents’ complaints] just fell on deaf ears, for years.”
While the final verdict wasn’t unanimous, the jury voted 12-0 that the road was dangerous, a point Caltrans’ lawyers had fiercely disputed throughout the trial.
One of the jurors, 81-year-old Santa Cruz resident Alice Tarail, said she understood it could set a precedent.
Having led a walking group through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, she was familiar with the section of Hwy 9 where Howard was killed. She wanted to make the state agency pay a greater percentage of overall damages, but she was still impressed with the way the group had come up with a compromise.
Jurors had suggested a range of totals, from several hundred thousand to $50 million.
“It was intense,” Tarail said of the process to get to the minimum of nine in-agreement to decide the case.
A week ago during closing arguments, plaintiffs’ attorneys asked jurors to consider $72 million in damages, of which Caltrans would pay 75%, with Attorney Dana Scruggs pointing to the department’s failure to improve the section of road.
But Shelby Davitt, an attorney for Caltrans, said there’s only one person to blame for Howard’s death: Shreves.
“He shouldn’t have drifted towards that edge line,” she said. “He didn’t turn his wheel.”
She clicked to a screen with a giant blue “0” on it, indicating no pedestrian accidents had occurred there prior to Howard’s death.
Judge Timothy Volkmann ordered the jurors to keep an open mind and avoid communicating about the case, including via social media, and sent them out to deliberate. Then he turned to Howard’s parents.
“I’m extremely sorry for your loss,” he said. “I have two kids of my own.”
Volkmann told the family that he was impressed with how well their lawyers represented their position. And he commended Caltrans’ representatives, too.
“Exceptional efforts,” he said. “All five of these attorneys are welcome in my court at any time.”
After the verdict arrived, Caltrans’ lawyers said it was too soon to say whether they’d appeal the decision.
It’s been 48 hours since I heard the news, and I still can’t believe it. Dan Lamothe—son, friend, barber, volunteer fireman, ex-bassist and founding member of Stellar Corpses—has died. Even now, as I write this, I can’t wrap my head around it and have difficulty typing through blurry eyes. I’ve been lost in a fog of shock and denial; calls to and from friends across the county and country, drenched in an endless downpour of tears. I never knew I could cry so much.
He died suddenly while training in Ben Lomond to be a firefighter, wanting to give back to the community that gave him so much. Dan—”Mothman,” “Mothy,” or “Big Moth,” as his friends affectionately called him—was only 38, an age that defies all rational explanations of what happened.
I first met him 21 years ago, when I was a fresh transplant to town going to UC Santa Cruz with hardly any friends and a Los Angeles-sized chip on my shoulder. I remember him being cool in every sense of the word. Cool haircut (a psychobilly pompadour, shaved on the sides, ending in an Eddy Munster widow’s peak), cool clothes, cool girlfriend, cool tattoo (“Who gets a giant neck tattoo as one of their first pieces” I’d ask him years later. He just replied with his famous wide grin and laughed, “Yeah, Didn’t really think that one through”).
I remember him being pretty quiet, so I thought he was too cool for school and standoffish. I quickly learned that wasn’t the case; he didn’t waste his breath when he had nothing important or funny to say. He walked humbly and observed the people around him, taking it all in.
As many know, I learned he was hilarious when he opened up. Always cracking jokes, trying to make his friends laugh, especially when things around us turned sideways, and impending doom seemed imminent.
After learning of his death, I drove around in a daze during the twilight moments of the early morning. I was listening to the title track off Stellar Corpses’ Dead Stars Drive-In album–something I hadn’t heard in years for several personal reasons. I pulled over and parked along the cliffs overlooking the Capitola pier, and as the sun rose, I decided my wrecked soul couldn’t hear the chorus “Dead stars still burn” anymore. The next song, “Be Still My Heart,” opens with the line, “walk with me into the morning sunlight, into a world that’s cold and no one ever makes it out alive.” Great. Once again, the waterworks came, and I could swear Dan was having a good laugh, part of that classic Mothy humor.
Alice and Paul Grimm with Lamothe at the Blue Lagoon. PHOTO: Mat Weir
He was a huge presence in the Santa Cruz music and punk scene. As a musician, he was an inspiration to many. Paul “Wolfman” Grimm (they/them), who played stand-up bass in Fulminante and other various projects and toured with Stellar as a roadie when I couldn’t, has told me countless times it was watching Dan play that inspired them to pick up the instrument.
Over the years, Dan and I would see each other at parties or group hangs with the usual downtown punks and dregs. We became friends but never really spent any time together outside of that. However, we’d start becoming true friends several years after he and singer Dusty formed Stellar, and—technically second but to fans “first real”—the line-up of Emilio Menze on guitar and Matty Macabre on drums was well established.
Dan meant so many different things to so many other people. Because so much of our time was spent around the music scene, those are some of my strongest memories of him. Along with a couple of other bands I’ve toured with over the years, the Stellar Corpses are one I’ve seen live the most to this day. After decades of seeing live music for my own pleasure, as a roadie and as a bartender, believe me when I say I’ve seen thousands of bands, but there was nothing like a Stellar Corpses show, and I rarely missed any.
Of those early days, one favorite stands out. April 17, 2010, we had them at Streetlight Records—where I also work– for International Record Store Day. It’s a day none of us will ever forget for two reasons. First, they were excited to play in a place that meant so much to them growing up. And second, we had to pull the plug on them halfway through because the band was pumping out so much energy, they caught one of our speakers on fire! It immediately became a badge of honor, and we would all laugh about it many times after.
Dusty Sheehan, Kyle Moore, Emilio Menze, Dan Lamothe and Mat Weir on tour in 2011.
After a couple of years of being friends with the band, I jumped at the opportunity when they asked me to roadie on a 12-city, 17-day U.S. tour in 2011. By then, Kyle Moore had taken over drums, and he was the only one I didn’t know well (which would change quickly after that and several more tours). That stint would generate multiple online blog posts from the road culminating in my–and their–first cover article, published in the July 27-Aug. 3 issue of the Santa Cruz Weekly. Dan was so stoked to have made the cover of a local paper and ensured I knew it often, even years later. When it came out, I was proud but also a little doubtful. Why would this awesome rock band I admired be stoked about something I did? My version of imposter syndrome.
I always loved their music, but it was that first tour where I truly learned to respect them as performers. Whether it was to a nearly sold-out show with punk legends like T.S.O.L. or to 10 people because shady, drug addict promoters didn’t do their job or didn’t tell them the local acts bailed, Dan and the band gave their all, every time. Even when the power went out twice at Miss Lips Lounge–El Paso, Texas’ premier lesbian bar, the boys kept playing with Dan and Kyle, filling the dead space with solos and rhythm duets until the power was restored.
I would tour with Stellar again a year later and work for them another year or two after that for an unofficial Viva Las Vegas show and countless times around Santa Cruz. Through endless, brotherly teasing, Dan and Emilio would always make each other laugh in the van (which hilariously had an “I’m proud of my Eagle Scout” bumper sticker). Often it was directed at Kyle (who Dan lived with for several years), who was “Band Dad” making sure we got to each stop on time, everything in the trailer fit neatly in a real-life game of Tetris, and fixing whatever was needed. Like the time on that first tour when one of the trailer’s tires blew outside Fresno on the second day. Or the night after that in Redondo Beach, when the singer thought the trailer could clear a parking structure height restriction. It couldn’t, and he ripped open the top like a sardine can.
In a bit of comical foreshadowing, Dan had told me before the tour about all the trouble they had with the trailer on the last stint.
“The damn thing kept coming unhinged from the frame. We had to get it welded in five different states,” he told me. “But don’t worry–we have a new trailer and tires. Everything should be fine.”
Whether it was for Stellar Corpses or his short-lived honky tonk duo, Oh Bears! Dan could really slap that bass. Self-taught, too. He would listen to his favorite rockabilly and psychobilly songs and try replicating what he heard. He earned the nickname Danimal just for that reason (and Caveman Dan for another, completely different one). Listen to his recordings –songs like “Steel Butterfly” or “Valley of Madness,” and you’ll hear someone who loved what he did but took the time to learn and practice his craft. It’s a quality that shined live as Dan would always have a huge smile when surrounded by his friends on stage.
And oh man, did Dan have a lot of friends. Just go on social media and see the incredible outpour of love, loss and heartbreak surrounding his death from Santa Cruz and throughout the country.
Of course, nobody’s perfect, but if there was one person on this planet not to have a single enemy, it was him. He always showed respect and never had an ego, even when fans would gush over him. I’ve spoken to so many friends in the last two days, some who had lost touch with him or had grown apart for the usual reasons. But they all agreed that whenever he saw you, no matter how long, he greeted you with a smile, gave you his full attention, and acted like it had only been a day since your last interaction. To this day, I’m still friends with many people I never would’ve met without Dan introducing us, and I’m a better person for it.
He made you feel seen and loved. That you mattered, and he was just happy to be around you. Oh, and he loved Nintendo. Whenever someone on tour had one, he was guaranteed to be posted up playing games for at least some time before a show.
It’s a tragic irony that I hardly have any photos with Dan in two decades of friendship. I was always too busy being in the moment with him or making sure I documented the tours and shows to include myself on the other side of the camera. I am thankful I at least had enough foresight to do that, to keep his legacy for posterity. However, the lesson here is when you’re having fun with your friends, take 2 minutes to snap a photo. And, of course, don’t forget to tell them you love them. I wish I had told him more, and now I won’t be able to again.
Yet, I constantly told him how proud I was to be his friend. Whether it was over beers on his back porch deck or when he’d come into Streetlight Records to dig through the vinyl section only to order an obscure, Swedish honky tonk album. It didn’t matter if he was playing bass, working as a barber or training to be in the fire department; Dan approached the task just like he approached his life, by diving head-first.
He loved life and made his friends love it when he was around. I won’t say some worn platitudes like the world grew darker when he died. Because for so many of us that loved him, it didn’t grow darker. It completely stopped. None of us will ever be the same after this. Ever. Nothing about this is ok, and it will be a long, slow journey to figure out how to get by, one day at a time. Big Moth was taken from us way too soon, and we can do nothing about it except honor the man and live the way he did. With a passion for our lives, love for what we do and kindness for one another.
Damn it, Dan! We all miss you so much. Dead stars still burn. So long, goodbye.
Santa Cruz County education officials envision a future where every high school in the county will have a “hub” for students to access a wide range of counseling and mental health services.
Until then, the county will launch wellness centers in two schools—expected to open in the 2023/24 school year–—thanks in part to a $1 million grant recently secured by Congressman Jimmy Panetta.
Panetta visited the Santa Cruz County Office of Education (SCCOE) Thursday to discuss the importance of providing mental health services for young people.
Panetta shares a troubling statistic to show just how necessary mental health resources are: in 2020, officials recorded more than 6,600 deaths by suicide among young people, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 10-24.
Once the centers are open, students can walk in when they need to talk to a counselor, regardless of their insurance status.
Superintendent Faris Sabbah says access is critical, given that 284,000 students are coping with depression, with two-thirds not receiving treatment.
The issue significantly affects LGBTQ youth, who are four times more likely to consider suicide, Sabbah says.
The centers will also be a resource for teachers, who frequently build strong relationships with their students but are not always equipped to offer the mental health support they may need, says SCCOE Climate and Wellness Coordinator Hayley Newman. More importantly, their prominent location on campus will normalize the idea of mental health care.
“Students can dip their toes into wellness at the level they feel comfortable with,” she says.
Watsonville High School Junior Katalyna López, who sits on the SCCOE’s Youth Mental Health Leadership Council, says that she, like many of her peers, has struggled with her own mental health. She wants to help build a system where teens are comfortable expressing their concerns.
“I advocate for increased mental health awareness because I know what it’s like to feel afraid to express your feelings and not know how a person will react or if they are going to support you,” López says.
With potential annual staffing costs at each of the eight proposed centers ranging from $80,000 for a wellness navigator to $150,000 for a clinician, Sabbah notes one of the biggest challenges is finding ongoing funding.
Organizers are looking into several possible one-time and ongoing funding streams, including conducting a capital campaign. School districts will also help pay for the services from their budgets.
“It’s definitely a community-in-action project,” Sabbah says. “I think it’s going to be as fundamental as part of a school as the instructional aspect is. It’s that high in our priorities for us.”
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education (SCCOE) has not announced which schools will receive the first centers.
Senior Network Services and Meals on Wheels (MOW), which works out of Live Oaks to provide roughly 250,000 meals to older adults in the community, might need to find a new home sooner than expected.
The Live Oak School District (LOSD) Board of Trustees will discuss whether to move forward with the June eviction date tonight but is expected to uphold its decision.
The District and the Senior Center Organization jointly purchased the Live Oak property at 1777 Capitola Road in 2004. When the Senior Center disbanded in 2016, it turned over its claims to the buildings to LOSD, which has continued to rent the space to Meals on Wheels and Senior Network Services.
In 2018, the district announced plans to provide teacher housing on the property, hoping to help recruit and retain teachers. Initially, the idea was to create a mixed-use housing project that would include a space for MOW to provide services.
But in May 2022, the district announced an eviction date of Oct. 21 for MOW. The organization scrambled to find a replacement site, and in December, MOW was granted an extension through June 2023. The district has signaled it plans to remain committed to that date.
That leaves Community Bridges—the organization that runs MOW—less than four months to find a new site with the amenities it needs, including freezer space, a dining area and a commercial kitchen.
“We know this is not a permanent location,” Community Bridges CEO Ray Cancino says. “We know that we have not been wanted, yet I think there is a reality that we have only asked for one thing, which is more time. More time for us to make the right decision in choosing the right location and investing in the right program.”
At the time of its eviction, the district told Community Bridges the Senior Center needed roughly $500,000 in maintenance. Community Bridges responded with an estimate of its own for a little more than $100,000; they offered to foot that bill on the condition that the lease was extended for two years.
Cancino doesn’t understand why the district would move forward with plans to demolish the building without plans to develop the site. In addition, he says, Community Bridges has been negotiating with the district on the possibility of a mixed-use housing project that could include MOW.
“There is a long road ahead for them, from pre-approval to pre-development plans to assessment fees to the analysis that is needed that they haven’t even committed to doing,” he says. “I don’t think they even have the $300,000 for demolition.”
Community Bridges estimates that setting up in a temporary location would cost $180,000 per year for the next two years, leading to 18,000 fewer seniors they could serve.
Seniors Council Area Agency on Aging Executive Director Clay Kempf says that if the LOSD Board votes to move forward with the eviction, it would violate an agreement in Measure E, a $14.5 million bond measure approved in 2004 that allowed LOSD to purchase the property.
The language of that bond explicitly states that the funds would be used to keep Meals on Wheels running.
“To renege on that promise, not only does it affect those 18,000 meals per year, but it calls into question, do senior organizations want to partner with other parties going forward?” Kempf says. “It creates a real lack of trust which only harms all of us.”
Live Oak School District did not respond to Good Times’ request for comment.
Live Oak School District Board of Trustees Zoom Meeting is today at 6pm. losd.ca
TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen’s ninth album, Opening, was selected by the U.K.’s Arts Desk as the “Jazz Album of the Year.” The record features 10 original compositions plus Gustavsen’s arrangements of works by Norwegian composers Geir Tveitt and Egil Hovland. “For me,” Gustavsen says, “playing the piano is very similar to a meditation or prayer.” Most of the musician’s material echoes his adoration for classical music and his love of Scandinavian folk music. Some of his compositions are inspired by his days playing in church decades ago. Gustavsen has played at the Athenaeum, SFJazz and performed Kuumbwa in 2018, following the release of The Other Side. Drummer Jarle Vespestad—a member of Gustavsen’s ensemble since their 2003 debut—and bassist Steinar Raknes, who joined the trio in 2021, will join the pianist. $47.25/$52.50; $26.25/students. Thursday, Feb. 23, 7pm. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. kuumbwajazz.org
THY ART IS MURDER WITH KUBLAI KHAN TX, UNDEATH, I AM, JUSTICE FOR THE DAMNED It might get a bit loud. Australian deathcore outfit Thy Art Is Murder formed in 2006. The Sydney band, featuring singer Chris “CJ” McMahon, guitarists Sean Delander and Andy Marsh, drummer Lee Stanton and bassist Kevin Butler, released four studio records following their 2008 debut EP, Infinite Death, which reached No. 10 on the AIR Charts. The Sydney band’s second full-length album, Hate, ignited more notoriety, debuting at No. 35 on the ARIA Charts, making them the first deathcore band ever to breach the Top 40. $27/$32 plus fees. Friday, Feb. 24, 6pm. The Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. catalystclub.com
BRIANNA CONREY’S ‘PIANO: AN ALL-WOMAN SHOW’ Local pianist and storyteller Brianna Conrey makes her Santa Cruz debut with an extensive celebration of women composers spanning nearly 250 years of music written for solo keyboard instruments. Female composers continue to “struggle with sexism, imposter syndrome, being mothers who were also artists and gaining professional recognition.” Many second-guessed whether they had talent at all. Yet they composed anyway. “Piano: An All-Woman Show” celebrates their music and stories. An audience favorite and quarterfinalist at the 2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition, Conrey is known for elegantly expressive interpretations of familiar standards and for “pushing the repertoire envelope,” resulting in “standout performances.” Critics have praised her “glittering scales,” “sparkling voicing” and “well-shaped, clarified vision.” Equally at home with words as she is with music, Conrey’s “magical,” “heartwarming” stories balance poignant observation with the “joyfully humorous.” Her writing focuses on modern womanhood, creativity and family life and has been featured in P.S. I Love You, Forge and Human Parts. $20/$25; $12.50/students. Friday, Feb. 24, 7:30pm. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. kuumbwajazz.org
MARK HUMMEL’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY HARMONICA BLOWOUT Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blowouts have carried the blues torch to fans everywhere. The Blowout started on a Sunday night in 1991 at Ashkenaz in Berkeley with four harmonica players—Rick Estrin, Mark Hummel, Dave Earl and Doug Jay. The traveling blues show has featured many top harpists, including Huey Lewis, John Mayall, James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, John Hammond, Magic Dick and Gary Primich. The guitar spot has been just as killer with Elvin Bishop, Duke Robillard, Anson Funderburgh, Jr. Watson, Steve Freund and Charles Wheal. Blowout tours have covered thousands of miles to every corner of the U.S., Canada and a few European tours. 2023 marks Blowout’s third decade, following two years of postponements. This year’s all-star lineup featuresMagic Dick (J. Geils Band),John Nemeth, Sugar Ray Norcia, Aki Kumar, Bob Welsh (Fabulous Thunderbirds, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite),Anson Funderburgh on guitar, Wes Starr on drums and Randy Bermudes on bass. $40/$45 plus fees. Sunday, Feb. 26, 3pm. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. moesalley.com
DAVE ALVIN AND JIMMIE DALE GILMORE WITH THE GUILTY ONES AND OLIVIA WOLF Roots music legends Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore have been buddies for 30 years but only recently realized they had never played music with each other before. So, in 2017, Grammy winner Alvin and Grammy nominee Gilmore decided to hit the highway to swap songs, tell stories and share life experiences. Though Texas-born Gilmore was twice named “Country Artist of the Year” by Rolling Stone, and California native Alvin first came to fame in the Los Angeles punk group the Blasters, they discovered their musical roots in old blues and folk music are the same. During these unstructured shows, audiences experience classic original compositions from the two and songs from a broad spectrum of songwriters and styles—from Merle Haggard to Sam Cooke to the Youngbloods. This tour, the duo has a full band in tow, a new album, Downey to Lubbock and a slew of new yarns to share. $30/$34 plus fees. Saturday, Feb. 25, 8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton. feltonmusichall.com
THE MERMEN The Mermen’s songs have been described as “instrumental tone poems,” “sonic landscapes” and “wordless odes.” The band has been dubbed “the sound of California.” The group’s 100-plus original instrumental tunes—released on 12 records—unleash a distinct, sprawling range spanning many moods. Originally from San Francisco, the Mermen were initially rooted in instrumental surf and psychedelic sounds of the 1960s. Although they delve into many genres, the band’s founder, songwriter and guitarist Jim Thomas’ modern melodic visions are at the heart and soul of the Mermen. The Mermen always perform as a trio during their live shows: Thomas on guitar, Jennifer Burnes on bass, Martyn Jones on drums. They envelop the American sound—think Aaron Copland and bluegrass (Thomas played in the bluegrass flatpicking championships in Winfield, Kansas, in 1977). A Mermen performance is a unique musical experience with traces of influences ranging from Native American to the Ventures. During live shows, the Mermen’s songs mutate into lengthy improvised variations on a theme in the vein of the Grateful Dead and Phish—new music is often created on the spot. $20/$25 plus fees. Saturday, Feb. 25, 8pm. The Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. thecrepeplace.com
COMMUNITY
FIFTH ANNUAL CLIMATE OF HOPE FORUM: ARTIVISM – CREATIVE ACTION FOR JUSTICE This year’s program will feature artists from various backgrounds who promote healing, environmental justice and community resilience through film, music, photography, poetry, murals and other art forms. A sample of the participants: Lil Milagro Henriquez, M.A., executive director and founder of Mycelium Youth Network, an organization dedicated to preparing and inspiring frontline youth for climate change; poet, singer/songwriter and teacher Bob Gómez, Watsonville’s first Poet Laureate; Consuelo Alba, Watsonville Film Festival co-founder and executive director; Xicana visual artist, muralist, cultural worker and active organizer Irene Juarez O’Connell, co-director of Food What?!, a program that engages youth across Santa Cruz County in healing relationships with land, food and each other. The audience will interact through polls, chat, resource-sharing and organized watch parties. The forum will also stream live on Facebook.Free (donations appreciated). Thursday, Feb. 23, 4-6pm. regenerationpajarovalley.org/climate-of-hope-2023
The first thought that came to mind as I set up my tent alone on the Appalachian Trail was, “this might get creepy.” I was about four miles from any campsite and the sun had set. A frigid wind was blowing bits of snow around the dark woods.
A friend and I had set out to hike the trail’s Georgia section over spring break during our junior year of college. It meanders through the heavily wooded southern Appalachian Mountains for more than 78 miles, with about 19,000 feet of elevation gain.
After a few days of intense knee pain, though, my hiking buddy made the difficult choice to exit the trail at the only road crossing. I decided to continue for the next 60 miles, curious about the solo hike experience.
On the first night, howling winds rattled my tent, and the unseasonable cold froze my water bottles solid. I rose at sunrise the following day, relieved that I hadn’t become frozen bear bait or the subject of a true crime podcast. That was enough to tint the rest of my trip with gratitude.
I returned from those 60 solo miles wild-haired, wind-chapped and loving the little things. A bit of “type-2 fun,” as outdoor enthusiasts often call mildly unpleasant experiences, can leave us feeling rejuvenated.
I’m reminded of this as a 1940s-style narrator chirps, “an expedition is the same thing as a vacation. It just depends on your attitude,” over footage of icy water and stormy clouds. The clip is a preview for A Baffin Vacation, one of 24 films showing during the Banff Mountain Film Festival.
The UCSC Adventure Recreation program brought the festival to Santa Cruz over 30 years ago, and it’s become an annual tradition.
“We’ve been doing it long enough now that people who came as children are now coming [to the Banff Mountain Film Festival] as adults with their children,” Kathy Ferraro says. She’s helped organize the screenings for most of the 30 years it’s come to Santa Cruz.
The festival begins in Banff, Canada, where outdoor athletes, filmmakers and organizers gather to select which films will go to hundreds of communities on the annual world tour. The selections usually involve extreme outdoor sports, expeditions, environmental stewardship and other related subjects.
This year, “it’s the gamut,” Ferraro says. “There’s something for everyone.”
BIG BACKYARD
A Baffin Vacation is one of Ferraro’s favorites. Sarah McNair-Landry’s and Erik Boomer’s 12-minute film documents their 45-day arctic expedition of kayaking and climbing around Baffin Island, Canada.
Baffin Island, known in Inuktitut as Qikiqtaaluk, is the fifth-largest island in the world but sparsely populated—probably because of the weather. It extends into the Arctic Circle and contains no shortage of glaciers, fjords and enormous peaks, including the tallest vertical cliff in the world.
The intense landscape draws daring adventurers from around the world. But unlike most, McNair-Landry grew up there. She considers the glaciated peaks and iceberg-dotted seas her backyard.
“We live on Baffin Island, and we think it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet,” Boomer says.
He and McNair-Landry planned for this particular adventure for about a year, eventually deciding to make a film with the sole purpose of submitting it to Banff.
“We both grew up watching the festival and being inspired, and it certainly affected us in a huge way,” Boomer says.
As if 45 days in a row of kayaking and climbing through the arctic weren’t challenging enough, filming added a new set of difficulties. Limited battery power—made worse by colder temperatures—and heavy loads restricted the two’s ability to film.
“One of the biggest challenges was filming each other in the action while also being there for safety purposes,” Boomer continues. He and McNair-Landry have both been involved in outdoor adventure films before, but this was one of their first endeavors without the help of film crews.
The two consider the selection to be part of the international festival an honor and hope it inspires audiences to “push themselves and have a great adventure, but mostly that they are inspired to treat each other and expedition teammates really well,” Boomer says.
BENEFITING ADVENTURE REC
Human connection is a common thread that weaves throughout the festival. Spending time outdoors has a way of bringing people together and helping us appreciate the basic joys of life.
“It’s a perspective shift,” says Dustin Smucker, associate director of the Adventure Rec program at UCSC. “I’ve been taking groups out into the outdoors for about 25 years, and I continue to find it deeply meaningful.”
Smucker watches students find health, friendships and discoveries about themselves and the world around them.
“There’s something about the time in nature, particularly with a group that has a similar sort of intention that takes us from feeling like we’re a universe of one to recognizing we’re just part of one universe,” he explains.
The rec program offers kayaking trips, surf lessons, backpacking, climbing and all sorts of other outdoor adventures for a few thousand students every year. Proceeds from the Banff Mountain Film Festival lower the cost of those programs, making it easier for students to find community and adventure outside.
As one of the program’s largest fundraising events of the year, around $12,000 was raised in 2022. Ferraro expects a sellout this year.
Ferraro and Smucker predict that Santa Cruz audiences will particularly like the films about mountain biking.
MUST-SEES
North Shore Betty follows Betty Birrell’s journey learning to mountain bike at age 45 and continuing to send three decades later.
In Balkan Express, freeskiers Max Kroneck and Jochen Mesle explore the Balkan Mountains by bike and skiing.
For the surfers, Fabric: Heritage delves into Mainei Kinimaka’s embrace and preservation of her indigenous Hawaiian heritage.
A few films feature climbing, but one takes things even higher as Rafael Bridi attempts to slackline between two hot air balloons in Walking on Clouds.
Some films defy categorization, such as Eco-Hack!, a 17-minute examination of biologist Tim Shields’ unorthodox methods for saving desert tortoises from ravens in the Mojave Desert.
Meanwhile, others focus on the outdoor industry, cleaning trash from Mount Everest and a group of New York City kids finding quiet on a weekend camping trip.
Banff inspires, whether planning a polar expedition or a 30-minute lunch break in a park.
The Banff Mountain Film Festival runs Friday, Feb. 24 through Sunday, Feb. 26 (7-10pm each day) at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $23/day. ucsctickets.universitytickets.com
