This week, I wrote a cover story about Michèle Benson, the longtime GT photographer and filmmaker who pulled together the definitive history of our most famous club with her 2009 documentary The Catalyst, and is now deep into tracing the history of the Santa Cruz music scene for her next. What I didn’t mention in the story is that I’m one of the interviewees in the new film; actually, I was going to write a whole section of the piece about what that was like, but it turned out I had so many more important things I wanted to get in there that I couldn’t waste any space rattling on about that.
So I thought I’d waste this space instead! Because I think it’s kind of funny what happens when you get into a situation like this. When Benson first asked me to participate, I thought, “Well, how much do I really know about the history of this music scene?” I warned her I know a lot more about certain eras than other ones, and she said that was perfect. And though she claims that interviewing is not her specialty, when I actually sat down in front of the cameras, she asked all the right questions that got me going off on everything from ’80s punk and alt-rock to ’90s and 2000s, uh, punk and alt-rock. But also Americana and ska and emo and folk and electronic—and suddenly I was on a roll about all kinds of Santa Cruz music for an hour and a half.
Times that by 200, which the list of people she’s interviewed now exceeds, and you get a sense of what Benson is dealing with trying to tell this story. But for a lot of reasons, which I think are laid out clearly in the story, I think it’s hugely important that she has taken this on, and I’m totally in awe of her. Check out the piece, and then check out her work at allaccessfilm.net and michelebenson.com.
A great horned owl at Lighthouse Field. Photograph by John Myer.
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GOOD IDEA
MEMORIAL PARK
On Monday, the Deputy Sheriff’s Association announced a $100,000 donation to a memorial for Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller, who was killed in the line of duty in June of 2020. This is the largest donation in DSA history, and will help the memorial reach its goal of $805,000. In addition, the campaign has raised $18,000 through contributions from community members and businesses. The memorial will be at Willowbrook County Park in Aptos, where Sgt. Gutzwiller would walk his dog Shasta. To learn more, visit countyparkfriends.org/willowbrook.
GOOD WORK
WATERSHED MOMENT
Last week, the Coastal Watershed Council’s (CWC) Executive Director Greg Pepping announced he will be stepping down this June. The CWC works to protect watersheds across Santa Cruz County. Pepping has been with the CWC for 12 years, and in a blog post about his decision, he highlighted some of the CWC’s achievements he is most proud of: a youth education program called the Watershed Rangers, the Chinatown Dragon Gate artwork and bridge renaming, to name a few. Read the full post at coastal-watershed.org/cwc-ed-change.
I’m standing in the parking lot of the Westside studio where Michèle Benson has been shooting her documentary about the history of the Santa Cruz music scene. We’re waiting for her next interviewee to arrive, and she’s telling me how this project has ballooned and sprawled in every direction, growing exponentially into something she couldn’t have imagined when she first got the idea that she should preserve a few local musicians’ stories for posterity. In six years, she’s filmed interviews with more than 200 people, from every era of Santa Cruz music. And not just musicians—she’s also interviewed the club owners, promoters, band managers, record-label heads, photographers, audio techs, instrument builders, recording-studio engineers, DJs and fans of the local scene. If there’s anyone in the Santa Cruz music scene she hasn’t talked to, she’s probably trying to set up an interview with them right now—although god knows where she’ll make room for it.
“I’ve got three 20-terabyte drives—full. Because I’m shooting three cameras, 4k high-def, for at least an hour to two hours each person,” she says. “It’s a gig a minute per camera. When I get done here, I go home and I download what I’ve done. If I shoot for two hours, I go home and download for six. And that’s not even looking at it.”
In other words, this movie is her life. Not just the movie, which has the working title of All Access—Music in the Cruz, but everything swirling around it, including a web archive through which she plans to allow literal “all access” to these hundreds of hours of interviews she’s shot for the film.
“I’m going to edit down each person’s interview, and that’ll live on a website called All Access Film Archives,” says Benson. “Because there’s no reason for me to be the only person that hears each one of these. They might get a couple minutes in the feature documentary, but there’s so much that is profound. Like Rick Turner, who builds Renaissance guitars for Lindsey Buckingham, he told me all this really cool stuff that somebody who wants to be a luthier and is coming up the ranks would love to hear. So they’re all gonna have their own little place. It’ll be like our own Library of Alexandria, where you had all the scrolls, you know? And then people that are coming up can add the new bands—then it’s a living library.”
It’s a hugely ambitious project, which she says could also include a compilation album of Santa Cruz music from subjects in the film. There is so much to do to realize this vision, and it would be easy to be overwhelmed by it all. But when this afternoon’s interview subject, Mike Barnes, walks up, Benson practically bounds into the studio with her trademark energy.
Barnes is a longtime local producer and songwriter who, among other accomplishments, worked for one of Santa Cruz’s most revolutionary music companies, E-mu Systems. E-mu produced groundbreaking digital sampling synthesizers like the Emulator series, which through the ’80s and ’90s was used by a diverse range of artists like David Bowie, Stevie Nicks, New Order, the Residents, Herbie Hancock and Tangerine Dream. Many of the sounds on iconic ’80s and ’90s pop records like Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Peter Gabriel’s So and Depeche Mode’s Violator were created using the Emulators; in the 2009 BBC 4 documentary Synth Britannia, the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant revealed that every single sound on “West End Girls” besides the vocals was created using an Emulator 2.
Over the next 90 minutes, Barnes will spin an incredible tale of Santa Cruz’s surprisingly huge role in the evolution of music technology from the late ’70s to the 2000s. This is exactly the kind of largely unknown Santa Cruz music history Benson is pulling together in All Access.
But before the interview, there’s the prep. Benson flits around the recording space, testing levels and making adjustments while catching up with Barnes. She asks him who he’s working with these days, and he praises local singer Kat Factor (whose “future folk” group Gone Gone Beyond released their sophomore album 2030 last summer).
“She’s one of Santa Cruz’s best,” he says.
Benson pauses, as if making a mental note. One of the first things you notice about her is that she’s rarely still, except when her eye is looking into a camera. Suddenly, she’s right next to Barnes on the soundstage, as they discuss whether or not he should wear his pretty-hip-looking hat during the interview.
At first she says no, but after tweaking the lights for a little while decides, “Now I can do either. If you keep it there, I’m good to go.”
“Just for a little color, given that I’m wearing black, and the background’s black,” he says.
Benson nods, whirling over to the other side of the cameras. “That’s just the way it is,” she says. “So many years of rock and roll, and you end up having a wardrobe of black.”
EVERYTHING CLICKS Benson would know. For decades, she could be seen at the front of stages all over Santa Cruz, her long blonde hair in sharp contrast to her black outfit and cameras. After growing up in South Florida in the late ’60s and graduating high school, she moved to Southern California, but it wasn’t the surf-and-sun California she’d imagined. Then one day in 1974, she took a fateful car trip.
“I’d always liked photography, but I wanted to go to film school, and it was either New York or L.A.—and I don’t like being cold. So it was L.A., but I ended up in Simi Valley, and there was no ocean, and it was really strange. I kind of just got in my car and started driving north and I stopped in Santa Cruz for gas. This is where I stopped. I looked around, and then I basically drove back down to Simi Valley, got my stuff, packed my car up and moved up here.”
She did start film school in San Francisco, but had no idea she would find her true calling in her newly adopted home.
SANTA CRUZ STORIES Singer Tammi Brown sits for her interview with Benson. The award-winning vocalist is one of the more than 200 people connected to the Santa Cruz music scene that Benson has filmed. PHOTO: Michèle Benson
“At San Francisco State, they wouldn’t let you touch cameras until the middle of your junior year. I didn’t want to learn theory forever,” she says. “So I looked into San Jose State, and you could be hands on right away. Charles Chess was the film professor there, and he studied under Stanley Kramer. So I transferred to San Jose State, and I used to drive over the hill all the time. And the day I graduated from San Jose State, Jay Shore offered me the job as a photographer at Good Times.”
Shore, of course, was the editor and publisher who started GT—“Santa Cruz’s First Entertainment Paper,” as the masthead proclaimed—in 1975. Benson arrived in the early days, and she loved the energy.
“I’d say it was a combination of the best Dream Team and the Wrecking Crew,” she says of the staff then. “Richard Curtis was the first art director, and then Randy Nowell came in, but I was there as staff photographer through all those transitions. I’d not only go out and shoot everything for the paper—I mean, the restaurants, the music, the lead stories, the cover or whatever—but then I had to go back, develop the film, do the contact sheet, pick the shots, do the half-tones, make sure the art director still liked it. So it was an interesting time. But we worked really well as a unit. It was strong and I think the community resonated with Good Times.”
Music, though, was her favorite thing to shoot, and she was often at the Catalyst, the Civic, the Cocoanut Grove and other local clubs several nights a week. She loved shooting up-and-coming local bands of the time like the Humans and Tao Chemical (which featured GT’s Rob Brezsny as frontman), as well as groups like the Doobie Brothers and Snail that had already gone on to some fame. Meanwhile, with Santa Cruz as an established hub for touring acts by this time, she was getting to regularly shoot the likes of Jerry Garcia, Neil Young (who was briefly a local musician—Benson has live shots of the Ducks from 1976), Tina Turner, Iggy Pop, B.B. King, the Go-Gos, X and many more.
“Michelle was great,” says Randy Nowell, who was GT’s art director in ’80 and ’81. “She had great contacts around town. And when she’d do studio work, she was terrific at connecting with people. She reminded me of how Annie Leibovitz used to get her great stuff in the ’70s—just relating to people.”
Benson was GT’s first woman photographer, and locally one of only a few in two male-dominated worlds: photography and rock ’n’ roll. But anyone who saw her at work knows she was absolutely commanding—and she’d go to any lengths to get a good shot.
“One time at the Coconut Grove, I was supposed to shoot Talking Heads and B-52s, and I was so little, I couldn’t see,” she remembers. “And this guy goes, ‘Hey, come over here.’ And he heaves me up and puts me on his shoulders.”
The late, great Bay Area writer and artist Susan Subtle actually got a photo of this moment. “There’s a whole crowd of people, and you can see the band, and there’s the back of my head, with me on some guy’s shoulders in her shot,” says Benson. “And she went, ‘Click. Well done.’”
FILM CLUB By the late ’90s, Benson was off on other projects, but she was still in love with the Santa Cruz music scene.
“Every time I walked up to the Catalyst stage with my camera—every time—I fell in love all over again,” she says.
And she was starting to imagine a film specifically about the club that had been central in sparking that love affair. It took a decade of shooting interviews and compiling her material, but her first documentary The Catalyst was finished in 2009. It’s a definitive history of the legendary Santa Cruz spot, with great live footage of Patti Smith, Willie Nelson, the Tubes, the Humans and so many others, along with some pretty hilarious stories, like Greg Kihn talking about playing the Catalyst on mushrooms. But what struck me the most the first time I saw it was the level of access she had to the Catalyst’s behind-the-scenes workings, like the wild “Catalyst Follies” that were thrown for many years by the staff but not known to the public.
“They were my family. That’s it. That was really the thing,” says Benson. “There was the musical family, but then there was the Catalyst family. And, you know, I did spend more time in the Catalyst than I probably did in my own living room. Good Times was across the street, so I’d go interview a band or shoot some show, or see a soundcheck. And I lived close enough that I could walk home, and the bouncers would walk me home, because I had 55 pounds of camera gear on my shoulder and now it’s 1 in the morning.”
COLLECTING STORIES Jay Shore, who hired Benson at Good Times and kept her on the masthead until he sold the paper in 1988, says people often underestimated Benson, thinking she must be some kind of groupie because she was a woman doing rock photography.
“She was a very serious journalist,” says Shore, who now lives in Oregon.
He thinks she’s the natural choice to be doing a documentary on Santa Cruz music. “I’m not surprised she’s doing this,” he says. “In retrospect, I think she must have always had it in the back of her head, to tell this history.”
That may be so, but Benson remembers the exact moment she decided to make this idea a reality.
“I was doing an interview with Larry Hosford up at MARS Studio [in Aptos] in the summer of 2016,” she says. “And it was Larry and Ken Kraft and Roger Buffalo and Ken Capitanich. I was just doing an interview to pick up some stuff for a little documentary I was working on about Tom Scribner, and on the break, as we’re changing and putting mics on and moving people around, I’m listening to these guys banter about ‘Oh yeah, I remember when we flew down to L.A. and we went in Columbia Records to do the recording for Larry’s album, and next door was George Harrison.’ So what ended up happening is George Harrison came in and was working with Larry, and Tom Scribner is there with a saw, and now you’ve got a Beatle, you know. And I’m listening to this random talk and going, ‘There’s a way bigger story here than what I’m doing.’”
After thinking about it all day, she called Capitanich that night to get the whole story. That kicked off a string of more than 200 interviews that has yet to end, but might be wrapping up soon.
One of those interviewees was Tiran Porter, who found fame as a guitarist for the Doobie Brothers, and has played with countless Santa Cruz musicians, his work immortalized on more than 40 albums. Porter has known Benson since 1981, back when she was a GT photographer.
“I played in maybe five or six different bands that played the Catalyst,” says Porter, “and every time I played there, she was right in front with her camera. I would always approach her if I saw her in the street and go, ‘Hey, can I see some of those shots?’ And she would never show them to me.” He laughs, and I get the feeling this is some long-running joke between them. Benson has a lot of those.
Porter got involved in the film after running into Benson at the Whole Foods in Capitola a few years ago. She told him about the documentary, and he asked if she had a narrator in mind. When she said no, he volunteered, and since then he’s shot several interstitial segments for the film with her, as well as sat for an interview himself.
One thing Porter has noticed about Benson’s interviewing style is that it gets far beyond the record-keeping of names and dates, into more philosophical territory.
“She’s a very spiritual person,” he says. “She’s coming at this from a really deep place—and it becomes all the more deep when you realize that she’s been doing this all through the pandemic, when most musicians have not had a way to ply their trade.” He says that’s given many people involved with the scene the time “to
really think about what we’re doing.”
For Benson, All Access has given her something to throw herself into through the catastrophes of the last two years, including personal ones.
“It’s kept me alive,” she says. “Through the pandemic, through the fires, through the illness and the loss of my husband.”
She sees the documentary and its spinoffs as a chance to give back to a place that has been the center of her personal and professional world—and that she’s still a bit in awe of, almost five decades after she arrived.
“There’s this alchemy between all of us that really rises Santa Cruz to the top when it comes to music,” says Benson. “And that’s why I did it, because I just have a love for this place. I thought I was going to move to Florida with my husband, but I couldn’t leave without telling the story. And I wanted to give back to the community that has given to me for decades, helped me build my chops as a photographer, as a writer, as a filmmaker—and as my friends and family.”
Porter believes Benson is the right person to tell this story, one that’s long overdue to be told.
“I think it’s important because the Santa Cruz music scene is important,” he says. “We’ve been a really glowing example of a music community for a long time. And it’s about time that somebody outside of Santa Cruz knew it.”
HELP THIS FILM GET MADE Michèle Benson is seeking financing for post-production costs on ‘All Access—Music in the Cruz.’ To learn more about the project and to donate, go to allaccessfilm.net.
Betwixt Jones-Cruz stood up in front of the 200-300 people spilling out of Roaring Camp’s Bret Harte Hall in Felton Saturday. In her eulogy for her friend and fellow Scotts Valley High School freshman, 15-year-old Mateo Deihl, who was discovered to have killed himself the morning of Feb. 3, she recalled his stunning smile and how brave he was while exploring outdoors. And she recited a poem she wrote in the aftermath.
“Your breath hits my face,/With every cool gust of wind;/Your laugh mimicked identically/By the finches in your tree.” it began, and then later, “I hope you take the last of your suffering/And paint the skies for us./I know they will be beautiful/As long as you are the artist.”
Afterwards, she told Good Times that she was in an afterschool group with the student, where she was struck by how casually he described the frequent mistreatment he faced, like getting thrown to the ground by his backpack.
His mom, Regina Deihl, says her son, who was Latino, faced racial discrimination, in addition to other bullying, that was not adequately addressed by Scotts Valley Unified School District.
Superintendent Tanya Krause did not respond to requests for an interview by deadline.
At the district’s most recent board meeting, Feb. 8, administrators listened to parents speak in quivering voices about their worries in the wake of Mateo’s death. Teacher John Postovit mentioned the death in his report. “At the high school we have obviously had a pretty bad week,” he said, noting students held their own vigils on campus and counselors had been meeting with students daily. “We are working through it, trying our best to help the students.”
Mateo’s suicide not only set off a wave of grief within the Scotts Valley community, but it has also forced educators to reckon with diversity issues on campus. The day after her son’s death, Regina took to a moms’ group on Facebook to highlight the racist behavior she says the boy faced at school. “I have been sobbing all day, but decided to look at my phone,” she said. “My son’s name was Mateo. He was sweet, kind and polite. He came to us from the foster care system at 7. He had been severely abused and neglected for years. As a result, he was tremendously empathetic towards other kids.”
But while her son received the I Care Award for being compassionate to others while at the district’s middle school, he’d also faced serious difficulties, Regina posted. “He was bullied mercilessly for his race (he was Hispanic) and the other kids told him he was annoying,” she said. “Recently some kids stopped talking to him because they were afraid he would report their drug use to the office.” Both middle and high school administrators “were aware of the situations but did nothing substantive,” she added.
A survey conducted by the district last year found that although high school students felt teachers create a safe and welcoming environment most of the time, they also felt the school is least welcoming of students from different racial or ethnic backgrounds.
“I’ve heard kids talk to me about how other students (Black students) are lesser, using the n-word, all four years of high school,” one anonymous respondent wrote. “There is a serious race discrimination problem among the students and it needs to be addressed earlier.” In November, SVUSD approved a $13,000 contract with Phoenix, Arizona-based Inclusion Counts, LLC to conduct diversity training.
During the board meeting’s public comment period, parents acknowledged SVUSD has been taking steps to stamp out racism. But they also demanded more action. Elizabeth Anderson said the community failed Mateo.
“I’m just feeling devastated,” she said. “We weren’t able to be there for Mateo in his life, and I think we owe it to him to honor his loss and his death.”
Anderson gave the district credit for starting multiple initiatives to stem the tide of bigotry, but called on administrators to create a crisis-intervention plan. “The reality is they weren’t enough,” she said. “What are we truly willing to do—as a community—to never have to do this again?”
Trustee Roger Snyder said he was “heartbroken” and “speechless” at the news of Mateo’s death. “I just want to acknowledge that this was a terrible week,” he said. “It’s clear that there’s more for us to consider.”
In an interview, Regina said she wants to see bullying, drug use and racial equity issues dealt with by the district. She said prior to the pandemic, in a conversation with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, she learned that SVUSD was offered trauma-informed teaching resources but had declined them.
A spokesperson for the COE said it’s not aware of Scotts Valley Unified doing such a thing.
“We have shared resources with the district in the same manner we do with every district,” Nick Ibarra said. “SVUSD has always accepted our support and collaborated with our staff to implement best practices of trauma-informed care.”
The district is also an active participant in our student services network meetings, where issues of Social Emotional Learning and mental health are regularly discussed, the media rep added.
Just weeks ago, the family had negotiated a 504 plan for Mateo, who had PTSD, Regina said. The federally instituted system makes accommodations for students with disabilities, so that they can learn more effectively. But a teacher wouldn’t allow her son to have an extension on a test after a computer glitch prevented him from studying, she said. “Teachers are not properly trained,” she said. “Or, at least this teacher did not know that they needed to follow these plans.”
Mateo was also subjected to comments and jokes about his racial background, she added. “What we need is actual action,” she said. “The goal is to get these problems fixed.” Regina says she doesn’t believe the way the district has implemented its restorative justice program is working, either. “We want Mateo’s legacy to be an improvement in the systems that support vulnerable children,” she said. “He endured a great deal while he was in the schools here, and unfortunately, those issues—which I certainly brought up with the school district—have not been rectified.”
Ashley Perlitch, the moderator of the Scotts Valley Families for Social Justice Facebook page, noted concerned parents are encouraged to join the Scotts Valley Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Community Group, which works on these issues. Regina says she wants to see more suicide prevention and mental-health outreach instituted, and, during their son’s Celebration of Life, the family pointed to Oakland-based foster child psychological-services provider A Home Within as offering useful solutions.
At the event, friends and teachers shared stories of a boy with a radiant smile who would go out of his way to make people laugh.
One teen boy told the mourners how Mateo was exceptionally kind and liked to include others in activities, such as when a girl asked to watch the Disney movie Frozen with them at the Scotts Valley Library.
And Cameron Ross, 14, said despite the limitations of digital schooling, it was actually during the pandemic that his friendship with Mateo blossomed.
“I remember all of us singing songs over Zoom,” he said, adding Mateo loved dogs, and was a fun guy who’d take on heroic challenges. “Mateo ate one of the spiciest chips in the world.”
He told GT he was touched by the pipe cleaner butterfly Mateo made for him.
“It was a selfless act,” he said of the gift. “I just thought it was a kind thing.
Randy Klein, one of his teachers, said when Mateo died it set off an emotional shockwave.
“His impact on our community is widespread,” he said. “I will always cherish knowing Mateo.”
When the official program had come to an end, Christina Miller, of Ben Lomond, she used to have a student in Scotts Valley, but pulled him out of the district over fears he might be a target for bullies.
“He couldn’t get out of there fast enough,” she said of her white stepson, adding she can only imagine how much worse the situation may have been for a child of minority background.
Crystal Hernandez, 35, whose 24-year-old cousin, David Hernandez, killed himself in November, said in an interview she made a point of coming to the event to show her support for Mateo’s family.
“It’s not easy to talk about suicide,” she said. “It’s a conversation that needs to be opened.”
As attendees began filtering back across the hillsides towards Scotts Valley, and elsewhere—now wearing “BE KIND” bracelets—Mateo’s mom expressed her gratitude.
“I thought it was beautiful,” she said of the assembly. “I really appreciated the community coming out.”
Santa Cruz is one of four counties in the state to try out pesticide notification pilot projects. For a certain class of pesticides known as California Restricted Materials, growers must submit notices of intent to the county agricultural commissioner’s office 24 hours before application.
The information sometimes becomes public after the applications, but never before. Activists across the state have protested the lack of transparency for years, and called for public postings.
The 2021/2022 state budget contains $10 million in funding for the creation of a statewide system by the Department of Pesticide Regulation. DPR plans to launch the statewide notification system in 2024. In the meantime, county agricultural commissioners in Santa Cruz, Riverside, Stanislaus and Ventura will design programs to test locally.
The program in Santa Cruz will focus on the area surrounding the Senior Village Community in Watsonville. Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo estimates it will cover around 1,400 homes.
The county still has not decided on a notification method yet.
“We’re at this point considering having the community within the pilot area have the ability to sign up to receive notifications,” says Hidalgo. “And those are going to be either through text, or potentially email.”
The county might also create a website that will provide more information about the pilot and pesticides.
“It’s kind of a compliment to our current regulatory process and being able to enhance what protections are currently in place,” says Hidalgo. He adds that the notifications are not meant to scare people and that the county has strict pesticide regulations.
But local activists see things differently. In a Jan. 19 letter to Hidalgo, organizers from Safe Ag Safe Schools and other local nonprofits wrote, “We are concerned that your characterization of California as having ‘the most robust pesticide regulatory program in the nation,’ might mislead the public about our level of protection.”
“While California may indeed be among this country’s leaders in many aspects of pesticide regulation, it is the leader of a poorly regulated nation,” the letter reads. “Dozens of countries better protect their residents from pesticide harms simply by banning the worst of them.”
The county does use a number of pesticides that are banned in more than a dozen countries. The pilot program will alert participants to the application of three pesticides: chloropicrin, 1,3-dichloropropene—known more commonly as telone—and metam potassium.
Exposure to these fumigants can potentially cause irritation to the eyes, skin and respiratory system. High exposure to some of them could cause cancer.
With advance warning, people can better protect themselves by closing windows, wearing appropriate protective equipment or avoiding certain areas during pesticide sprays.
Scaling Up
The pesticides covered in the pilots will vary according to local agricultural practices. Notification systems might also operate differently.
“An advantage of having more pilots throughout the state is that we get to try out some slightly different ways of doing notification, to really be able to get feedback from community members, growers, commissioners about what’s working and how we can then roll that up into a statewide system,” says Karen Morrison, acting chief deputy director for the California Department of Pesticide Regulations.
In addition to collecting feedback from the local pilot areas, DPR will host workshops on the statewide system later this year.
Mark Weller, the organizing strategist for Californians for Pesticide Reform, says activists worry about the accessibility of the systems.
“We’d love to jump up and down, but we don’t know the details,” he says. “We don’t know if this is going to be another restricted system like the one in Monterey for the schools, where if you want to know, you’ve got to sign up. And then you only learn about four pesticides anyway.”
The activists ideally want a website with notices of intent, explanations about specific pesticides and resources for people who suspect they might have been exposed.
“And if that takes until 2024, OK. But what they need to do right now is post the stuff they receive already,” says Weller. “We need the public support to make sure it’s fully transparent. And that the state take more action to actually reduce the use of toxic pesticides rather than just taking years to end the secrecy about them.”
People in Santa Cruz County can provide feedback by calling the county agricultural commissioners office at 831-763-8080.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You’re slipping into a phase when stuff that has been invisible will become visible, at least to you. You will have extra power to peer beneath the surfaces and discern the hidden agendas and study the deeper workings. Your interest in trivia and distractions will dissipate, and you’ll feel intensified yearnings to home in on core truths. Here’s your guiding principle during this time: Favor the interests of the soul over those of the ego. And for inspiration, have fun with this quote by religious scholar Huston Smith: “The Transcendent was my morning meal, we had the Eternal at lunch and I ate a slice of the Infinite at dinner.”
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “You cannot have fun with anything that you don’t love or admire or respect,” declared comedian Mel Brooks. I agree! The joyous release that comes through playful amusement is most likely to unfold when you’re in the presence of influences you are fond of. The good news, Taurus, is that in the coming weeks, you will have a special inclination and knack for hanging around people and influences like that. Therefore, you will have an enhanced capacity for mirth and delight and pleasure. Take full advantage, please! As much as possible, gravitate toward what you love and admire and respect.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “The thing about inspiration is that it takes your mind off everything else,” says Gemini author Vikram Seth. I bring this truth to your attention because I believe you will soon be the beneficiary of steady, strong waves of inspiration. I also predict that these waves will transport you away from minor irritations that are best left alone for now. Be alert and ever-ready to spring into action, my dear, so that as the inspirational surges flow, you will harvest the maximum rewards from their gifts.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): The advice that Reb Nachman of Breslov offered two centuries ago is just right for you now: “Never ask directions from someone who knows the way, or you will never be able to get lost.” In the coming weeks, you will attract tricky but palpable blessings from meandering around without knowing exactly where you are. It’s time for you to find out what you don’t even realize you need to know; to stumble upon quiet little wonders and marvels that will ultimately prove to be guideposts for your holy quests in the future. Yes, I understand that being in unknown territory without a reliable map isn’t usually a pleasure, but I believe it will be for you. PS: Our fellow Cancerian, author Rebecca Solnit, wrote a book entitled A Field Guide to Getting Lost. It might be helpful during your wanderings. Read a summary of it here: tinyurl.com/GuideToGettingLost
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “You face your greatest opposition when you’re closest to your biggest miracle,” wrote author and filmmaker T. D. Jakes. According to my analysis of upcoming astrological omens, that’s good advice for you. I suspect that the problems you encounter will be among your best and most useful ever. With the right attitude, you will harness the challenges to generate magnificent breakthroughs. And what’s the right attitude? Proceed with the hypothesis that life is now conspiring to bring your soul exactly what your soul needs to express its ripest beauty.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Always remember this,” said actor Hattie McDaniel (1893–1952). “There are only 18 inches between a pat on the back and a kick in the rump.” Metaphorically speaking, I believe her advice will be useful for you in the coming days. Lately, you’ve had to deal with too many experiences and influences akin to kicks in the rump. But now that will change. Soon there’ll be a surge of experiences and influences that resemble pats on the back. In my estimation, you have finished paying your dues and making course corrections. Now it’s time for you to receive meaningful appreciation and constructive approval.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Author Gayle Forman offers a set of truths that I suspect will be useful for you in the coming weeks. They may even be inspirational and motivational. Forman writes, “Sometimes fate or life or whatever you want to call it, leaves a door a little open, and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key, or pick the lock or knock the damn thing down. And sometimes, it doesn’t even show you the door, and you have to build it yourself.” Are you ready for the challenge, Libra? I think you are. Do whatever you must do to go through the doorways you want and need to go through.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash described her process. “I dream of songs,” she began. “I dream they fall down through the centuries, from my distant ancestors, and come to me. I dream of lullabies and sea shanties and keening cries and rhythms and stories and backbeats.” Scorpio, I would love for you to explore comparable approaches to getting the creative ideas you need to live your best life possible. I would love for you to draw freely from sources beyond your conscious ego—including your ancestors, the people you were in previous incarnations, gods and spirits, heroes and allies, the intelligence of animals and the wisdom of nature. The coming months will be a favorable time to expand your access. Start boosting the signals now!
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Author Madeleine Thien has lived in Vancouver, Montreal, and Iowa City, and has taught at schools in Hong Kong and Brooklyn. Her father was born and raised in Malaysia and her mother in Hong Kong. She has a rich array of different roots. Not surprisingly, then, she has said, “I like to think of home as a verb, something we keep recreating.” That’s an excellent meditation for you right now, Sagittarius. And it will continue to be worthy of your ruminations for another four months. What’s the next step you could take to feel comfortable and secure and at peace?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The fastest animal on earth is the peregrine falcon, which can reach speeds of 200 miles per hour when it dives from a great height. The seventh-fastest creature is the humble pigeon. Having been clocked at 92.5 miles per hour, the bird outpaces the cheetah, which is the fastest land animal. I propose we make the pigeon your spirit creature for the coming weeks. On the one hand, you may seem mild and modest to casual observers. On the other hand, you will in fact be sleek, quick, and agile. Like the pigeon, you will also be highly adaptable, able to thrive in a variety of situations.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion,” wrote Aquarian author W. Somerset Maugham. Yes! I agree! And that’s the perfect message for you to hear right now. If you choose to take advantage of the potentials that life is offering you, you will explore and experiment with the mysteries of self-discipline and self-command. You’ll be a trailblazer of discernment and poise. You will indulge in and enjoy the pleasures of self-regulation.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 1961, Piscean cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to orbit the Earth in a spacecraft. As his feat neared its end, Gagarin left the capsule at 20,000 feet above the ground and parachuted the rest of the way. He arrived in a turnip field where a girl and her grandmother were working. They provided him with a horse and cart so he could travel to the nearest telephone and make a call to get picked up and brought back to headquarters. I foresee a metaphorically comparable series of events transpiring in your life, Pisces. Be flexible and adaptable as you adjust to changing conditions with changing strategies. Your exceptional and illustrious activities may require the assistance of humble influences.
Homework: Name the three things most worthy of celebrating right now. Then celebrate them! newsletter.freewillastrology.com.
The Ben Lomond man who used a homemade assault rifle to kill a federal law enforcement officer outside an Oakland courthouse nearly two years ago pleaded guilty on Feb. 11 to the charges in Northern District Court in San Francisco.
Steven Carrillo, who formerly served in the U.S. Air Force as a staff sergeant, faces four decades in federal prison when he is sentenced in June. He still faces state charges in Santa Cruz County for the killing of Sheriff’s Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller. He is also accused of attempting to kill other law enforcement officials in the 2020 crime spree in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
At the hearing on Feb. 11, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers indicated that she was considering rejecting the sentence—which both defense attorneys and prosecutors have agreed to—without “a sufficient independent factual basis for the plea,” according to NPR.
If she does reject the sentence, Carrillo would face a jury trial, where his guilty plea could be used against him.
Carrillo had previously pleaded not guilty to the federal charges but changed that plea after prosecutors on Jan. 31 announced they would not seek the death penalty.
Carrillo admitted to killing David Patrick Underwood, a federal officer providing security for the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building on May 29, 2020, and wounding a second officer.
Eight days later, prosecutors say Carrillo killed Gutzwiller and injured three other law enforcement officials during a chaotic and violent spree in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The officers were investigating after someone saw one of Carrillo’s vans parked in a remote area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and noted that it appeared suspicious.
A friend came over for wine and munchies—a good opportunity to open up a nice bottle of wine. Pelican Ranch’s 2020 Pinot Noir on a cool evening was perfect. In fact, we enjoyed the whole bottle!
Grapes for this gorgeous 2020 Pinot Noir ($65) are from Peake Ranch Vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills, a highly-rated spot for growing the sensitive Pinot fruit. This wine was made from cloning 667 grapes.
“The tradition at Pelican Ranch of making a rich, multi-layered Pinot Noir from the famed Santa Rita Hills AVA began in 2004,” says winemaker Phil Crews. “The flavor synergy includes red raspberries, strawberries, cherries and hints of sassafras—and the full-bodied mouthfeel is capped with a hedonistically silky texture.”
Phil and his wife Peggy run Pelican Ranch and their delightful tasting room is off the windy Bean Creek Road. It’s well worth a visit, especially to taste this exciting new Pinot. Pelican Ranch Winery, 2364 Bean Creek Road, Scotts Valley. 831-332-5359. pelicanranch.com
Wine Walk in Aptos Village: Taste of the Mountains Looking for a fun afternoon of wine tasting? Then head to Aptos Village for the next Wine Walk organized by Wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Nearly 20 local wineries will be participating, pouring wine at various shops and businesses in Aptos Village, all within walking distance. At check-in, you’ll receive a glass and a map of the pouring locations. Saturday, Feb.26, 1-4pm. $40 online/$50. winesofthesantacruzmountains.com.
Priest Ranch Grenache Blanc 2019Priest Ranch Grenache Blanc ($24) is a terrific wine with good acidity and minerality combined with a touch of tannin. Dancing with spices such as sage and rosemary, this crisp white wine pairs well with triple-cream cheese. 6490 Washington St., Yountville. 707-944-8200. priestranchwines.com. Shipping available at wine.com.
Jade Barth started visiting Blossom’s Farm Store and Coffee Shop as a customer. Shortly after moving close to the Corralitos location, she bumped into the owners at another coffee shop in town where she expressed interest in working for them. An hour later, she was hired. It was fate. Barth has been Blossom’s staffing lead for four months. Her passion is evident. In addition to straightforward café drinks and fresh bread, bagels, tarts and scratch-made soups, Blossom’s does fermenting; they make kimchi, sauerkraut and kvass all in-house. Everything is local and organic. They also do apothecary (more on that below). Their mission says it all: healing with a focus on sustainability and biodynamic farming. Blossom’s is open 8am-5pm Monday-Saturday, and 9am-4pm Sunday. Barth riffed recently with GT about apothecary and the spot’s aesthetic.
Tell me about the apothecary. JADE BARTH: Throughout the week, the owners bring different ingredients from their farm that our staff uses to produce our apothecary items, such as tinctures, salves and digestive bitters. Everything is made in-house, and all of our recipes are cultivated from the owner’s knowledge of herbal remedies. These items are designed to help with internal and external ailments, all while providing a 100% natural way to work with the body and address the root causes of these ailments.
What makes Blossom’s so comforting? Every nook and cranny of the store has all been thoughtfully decorated. From the lighting to the artwork on the walls and even the items themselves are all artfully arranged. It all contributes to the feeling of the space. I’m greatly affected by my physical surroundings and often find myself tiring of spaces quickly. But at Blossom’s, I feel comfort and love for the space, enjoy spending a lot of time there and plan on being there for a long time. I also feel at home with my co-workers, really supported and seen by the owners and appreciated for the work that I do.
Lunch at Copal is now a warm winter reality, so we jumped at the chance to sample some of the righteous house specialties last week out on the sunny back patio. Bypassing the margarita I really wanted, I sipped a bouncy Topo Chico sparkling water (my partner treated himself to a nostalgic guilty pleasure—a Diet Coke), until our lunches arrived. The addictive nature of crisp fresh taco chips dipped into zippy fresh salsa cannot be beat! The smoldering black beans in thick clay bowls are worth the visit! Ditto the smoky, complex salsa served in glazed mini-bowls. My partner’s eyes popped when his Oaxacan Taco Plate ($16) arrived, three housemade tortillas filled with al pastor pork, brilliant purple cabbage shreds, guacamole and radishes. Thick slices of lime—another brilliant color note—added visual, as well as flavor appeal. “I love these radishes!” he crooned, as he polished off the first taco, pausing only to reach for a forkful of my nopales, and some of the fragrant black beans. I was deep into the mystic of my quesadillas ($15), loaded with Oaxacan cheese, mushrooms and emerald green epazote. Everything I love about Mexican food was on this plate. The melting cheese, the nopales glistening in salsa guajillo, the magic of black beans strewn with quesa fresca. I could practically hear the sounds of the zocalo threading through the Mission Street traffic outside. Copal (1203 Mission St., Santa Cruz) now offers lunch 11:30am. to 2:30pm. Wed-Sun. copalrestaurant.com.
Sparkling Juices Surge Gone are the days when ice tea was the go-to lunch drink. Catering to the refined, upscale tastes of those who need something sexy, but can’t indulge in the laid-back aftermath of craft beers in mid-day, there are billions of new sparkling juices, a flavor step up in intensity from those lightly (invisibly) flavored cans of sparkling water. I am now a fan of the cold-pressed sparkling juice by Suja Organic Elements. We recently discovered the streamlined bottles of this delicious and shockingly healthful product, the strawberry passionfruit Suja at the neighborhood New Leaf, on sale for $3.99 (that’s a sale price!). Designer punch, if you will. Definitely pricey, but considering that it’s delicious, spritzy, filled with vitamin C and D and zinc and prebiotics, plus adaptogens from mushrooms—well, it’s a lot of good stuff for one small 354 ml bottle (when not on sale it will run you $4.50 per bottle). They make this in grapefruit citrus and blueberry ginger as well. I’m thinking this stuff is part of a new wave of non-alcohol drinks designed to please the pampered palate into thinking it’s a nouveau alcohol-free bubbly. Frankly, it would be righteous inflected with a bit of gin. But if it’s part of your non-alco regimen, you might give it a whirl. Even better, imho, is a line of refreshing sparkling juice drinks from the Kimino family-run organic orchards in Japan. We loved the Sparkling Ume plum flavor ($3.49 for a tiny 250ml bottle). Tart, barely sweet and perfumed with the spring flavor of plum, this lovely liquid claims no additives. All organic, and there are other flavors as well including mandarin orange and a yuzu sparkling juice. This too would make a sophisticated adult beverage with the addition of anything made by Sean Venus. But not necessary. You can have a good time with this lovely member of the growing sparkling juice nation. Inflation is everywhere. Deal with it.
Aptos Wine Wander Top wines and your favorite Aptos Village businesses. Nice combo, coming up Saturday, February 26, from 1-4pm ($40). Tickets and details here.
A pedestrian pathway that would connect Capitola’s Upper Beach and Village Parking Lot and Monterey Avenue that has been in the works for nearly six years is changing course.
In 2016, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) awarded Capitola $250,000 to create a pathway between the parking lot and Monterey Avenue, to establish a path for pedestrians away from cars. Capitola also allotted $50,000 from its General Fund to the project.
The pathway was initially set to border the rail corridor until Monterey Avenue. But with the future of the rail trail segment that runs through Capitola up in the air, the City is looking at alternative routes.
Public Works Director Steve Jesberg said that the City’s original route could have also faced issues with soil contamination. But an alternative path once blocked by a large Cypress tree has now opened after the tree fell earlier this winter.
The new proposal is a sidewalk alongside the existing road to the parking lot. According to Jesberg, six large oak trees will need to be removed or heavily trimmed for the proposed sidewalk to have a complete pathway to Monterey Ave, but that is less than the number of trees that would need to be removed along the rail path.
Regardless, the council asked staff to return with an official design of the new pathway that would include the number of trees that would need to be removed.
Capitola also signed a letter supporting Senate Bill 843, which will increase renter’s tax credit for low-income California renters for the first time since 1979. The bill was introduced by Senator Steve Glazer and would give single households making $43,533 or less $500 and joint filers making $87,066 or less $1,000 in tax credit.
