Page 426 | Good Times

Complaints About Homelessness Mount in Watsonville

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September 24, 2021

Complaints About Homelessness Mount in Watsonville

On many days, when groups of school kids crowd into Conchita’s Ice Cream in Plaza Vigil for an afternoon treat, handfuls of people experiencing homelessness show up, some pushing shopping carts loaded with their possessions through the store and others demanding free items.

The people, who can increasingly be seen camping in the City Plaza and throughout the city, have become an issue for business owners who say they discourage customers with aggressive behavior.

“They come in and want everything for free,” said owner Conchita Gonzalez. “I don’t do free.”

Gonzalez, who runs the store with her cousin Marta Gonzalez, said they have seen people bathing in the fountain in the Plaza, and others under the influence of drugs.

Once, a person had a roll-away bed in the Plaza, and many others sleep on the park’s benches, Marta Gonzalez said.

Both say they frequently feel unsafe, asking friends to stay with them when working alone. They often close their store early when things get too out of hand, as do other business owners in the Plaza.

“We have to deal with their mental problems,” Marta Gonzalez said. “It’s getting out of hand.”

Carl Miller, who owns the Stop & Shop Family Bargain Center at 18 East Lake Ave., said that people occasionally try to steal clothes from the shop, although he said he would help them if asked.

Miller points out that many people are living just a few paychecks away from being homeless themselves.

“We’re all doing the best we can,” he said. “But to me, I don’t think it’s appropriate for these guys to be laying on the sidewalks.”

Watsonville Police Officer Lourdes Gombos, who with a mental health worker forms part of the City’s Crisis Assessment Response and Engagement (CARE) team, said that the department has seen an increase in complaints about people sleeping in public and aggressive behavior such as yelling at passersby and brandishing weapons.

But how the police respond depends on the totality of the situation, she said. City ordinance prohibits blocking walkways, but it is illegal to cite people for outdoor camping, Gombos said.

Outright bans on outdoor camping have been largely prohibited across the U.S. since the Ninth District Court of Appeals ruled in 2018 that outdoor camping cannot be criminalized unless the individuals are given an alternative shelter option.

That case, Martin vs. Boise, has reshaped the way many jurisdictions are dealing with their homeless populations.

“Unless it’s actually a crime, the police focus on intervention,” Gombos said.

In many cases, the CARE team talks to the people in an attempt to gauge their life situation and offer services.

“We can guide them to whatever it is they are looking for, whether it be shelter, food or financial aid or counseling services or rehab services,” she said.

Many people, Gombos says, do not accept the help offered to them.

“The main reason is that they are not ready to give up their habits and they would rather be in a place where there are no rules,” she said.

Business owners have the right to remove people from their shops, but the owner has to say they want the person arrested for trespassing, Gombos said.

“We are trying,” she said. “It’s just difficult to find housing first of all, and find people that actually do want to get the services.”

Watsonville homeless — *A man sleeps on the sidewalk on Carr Street in downtown Watsonville recently. PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian*

Pajaro Valley Shelter Services Executive Director Mike Johnson said that it is difficult to gauge the number of people considered unsheltered in the county, since the pandemic stalled last year’s point-in-time count.

In 2019, he says, 2,400 people were considered homeless countywide. He estimates the current number could now be 40% higher, after more than one year of fallout.

According to Johnson, 57% of the people living in the county’s transitional housing programs immediately lost their jobs when the Covid-19 shutdowns began in March 2020.

That left service providers scrambling to provide basic needs such as goods and diapers, he said. Many have since gone back to work but are still struggling to rebuild, Johnson says.

“If you take that dynamic and multiply it across the whole county, you can see the people that are extremely low to low-income are suffering more than everyone else in terms of their income potential and their ability to pay rent,” he said. “Meanwhile, rents have stayed the same or gone up.”

Johnson said that anyone seeing the growing numbers of encampments needs to “have a heart.”

“We have to remember that these folks for the most part aren’t choosing the situation that they are in,” he said. “It’s not that they said, ‘I don’t want to be housed,’ it’s just not available for them. They are doing what they can to survive, and they are people like the rest of us. They have just fallen through the safety net.”

Santa Cruz County Housing for Health Director Robert Ratner says that the pandemic has exacerbated the housing crisis, with staffing shortages in the health and human services sectors and many offices that were closed during the pandemic.

The Watsonville Vets Hall, which was temporarily converted to a homeless shelter to help keep people safe during the pandemic, closed in August. While several residents were moved to two local hotels, many went back onto the streets.

In addition, many people with housing vouchers are finding a tight rental market along with many landlords who are not participating in that program.

The problem could worsen, Ratner says, as the eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end of September.

But the county has many programs in place to help homeless residents, Ratney said.

Ratner points to the Watsonville Works program, which pays homeless people to perform cleanup work around the city, and to the Community Action Board’s Youth Homeless Outreach team, which works to get unsheltered young people back into housing.

The county’s Rehousing Wave—part of Homeless Action Partnership, aims to find food, shelter and services for more than 800 people.

Two large affordable housing projects are in the works in Watsonville, Ratner said, one on Freedom Boulevard and one on Miles Lane.

Ratner says that the best way to address the problem of homelessness is to make sure it doesn’t happen in the first place.

“I think prevention is really a key thing to focus on,” he said.

Anyone facing eviction can call the Community Action Board at 778-4535, Families in Transition at 740-2947, Live Oak Community Resources at 476-7284 and Mountain Community Resources at 335-6600. The countywide hotline is 316-3222. Help can also be found by texting the word “Rent” to 211-211.

CDC Chief Overrules Agency Panel and Recommends Pfizer-BioNTech Boosters for Workers at Risk

The New York Times and GT Staff

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September 24, 2021

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CDC Chief Overrules Agency Panel and Recommends Pfizer-BioNTech Boosters for Workers at Risk

By Apoorva Mandavilli and Benjamin Mueller, The New York Times

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday overruled a recommendation by an agency advisory panel that had refused to endorse booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine for front-line workers. It was a highly unusual move for the director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, but aligned CDC policy with the Food and Drug Administration’s endorsements over her own agency’s advisers.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Thursday recommended the boosters for a wide range of Americans, including tens of millions of older adults, and younger people at high risk for the disease. But they excluded health care workers, teachers and others whose jobs put them at risk. That put their recommendations at odds with the FDA’s authorization of booster shots for all adults with a high occupational risk.

Walensky’s decision was a boost for President Joe Biden’s campaign to give a broad segment of Americans access to boosters. The White House had come under criticism for getting ahead of the regulatory process.

The White House could begin promoting and rolling out a plan for booster shots as soon as Friday. That would be in keeping with the administration’s previously announced plan to offer the additional doses this week.

The CDC’s statement arrived well past midnight, a sign of the complicated and confusing decision-making surrounding the boosters. The CDC advisers similarly spent two days debating who should get boosters and when, and could not agree on whether occupational risk should qualify as a criterion.

“I am surprised that Dr. Walensky overturned one of the four ACIP votes today, and I believe others will be as well,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, an infectious disease expert at Stanford and the American Academy of Pediatrics liaison to the committee.

But the vote on boosters for occupational risk “was close,” Maldonado said, and agreed with Walensky’s decision.

“This addresses not only waning immunity but those at high risk of exposure,” Maldonado said.

Minutes before Walensky’s statement, Dr. Amanda Cohn, who oversaw the two-day meeting of the panel, tried to prepare the advisers for the director’s decision.

“Dr. Walensky is reversing the decision to not recommend use of a booster dose in persons at high risk for occupational or institutional exposure,” Cohn wrote in the email. “I am hoping to share this news with you before you see it in the press.”

Walensky’s decision to go against her own agency’s advisers came as a surprise to at least some of her staff members. The CDC director’s endorsement of the advisory committee’s recommendations is typically just a formality. Hours before her statement, agency insiders predicted she would stick with the usual protocol because doing otherwise would undermine the process and upset the advisers as well as her own staff.

But experts outside the CDC said Walensky may have had no choice but to align herself with the FDA’s decision.

“There’s a complexity here, because Dr. Walensky was part of the White House announcement” on boosters, noted Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

Walensky said providing booster shots to health care workers and others who risk contracting the disease on the job would “best serve the nation’s public health needs.”

She approved the panel’s decision to endorse third shots for people over 65, patients in nursing homes and other institutional settings, and those with underlying medical conditions.

Walensky’s decision revealed the continuing divisions and confusion among federal regulators and outside advisers about how to contain the virus nearly two years into the pandemic.

On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized booster shots for certain front-line workers. But the CDC’s advisers disagreed that the doses were needed by so many healthy people.

Whatever the scientific reservations, millions are expected to seek out booster shots. In one recent poll, about three-quarters of vaccinated Americans said they would opt for a booster if the doses were available.

State health departments generally follow the recommendations of the CDC. But many Americans were scrambling for boosters even before the FDA’s authorization, typically by finding a cooperative pharmacist or by claiming to be unvaccinated.

The CDC’s advisers acted on what they described — with considerable frustration — as scant research, mulling over conflicting data points that seldom pointed in one direction.

In the end, the panel unanimously endorsed booster shots for adults over 65 and for residents of long-term care facilities, who most clearly will benefit.

The committee also backed the shots for people 50-64 with medical conditions that leave them at risk for severe COVID-19, as well as those 18-49 who have certain medical conditions, based on an assessment of their individual needs.

Only Americans who already have received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will qualify for booster shots. The panel was not asked to judge whether people who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines should receive the additional doses, which have not been authorized by the FDA.

Several experts on the CDC panel nevertheless urged a mix-and-match strategy, saying that they could see little reason not to offer a Pfizer-BioNTech booster to someone who qualified but had received, for example, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Some members warned that delivering multiple rounds of booster shots, available periodically when authorized, would tax an already burdened health care system.

The CDC panel’s guidance followed weeks of internal disagreement and public debate among American health officials and advisers. In mid-August, Biden announced plans for a booster rollout, but scientists and regulators were quick to point out there was little research on who might benefit and how the doses should be distributed.

The FDA’s acting commissioner, Janet Woodcock, said Wednesday that the agency’s authorization would allow for booster doses “in certain populations such as health care workers, teachers and day care staff, grocery workers and those in homeless shelters or prisons, among others.”

But some members of the committee said there was little evidence to suggest that vaccinated teachers, and even health care workers, were at risk of repeated exposure to the virus. The decision reflected fears that such a broad recommendation would effectively throw the doors open to an all-adults booster campaign.

“My sense was that the committee felt that that was sort of a hole that you could drive a truck through,” Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory panel, told reporters at an online briefing Thursday.

Over the two days, the panel wrestled with the public’s expectations for COVID vaccines, the safety of third doses and how a booster program would affect nursing home residents. Booster doses alone would not turn back the pandemic, some scientists noted: Only vaccinating the unvaccinated would do that.

“We may move the needle a little bit by giving a booster dose to people,” said Dr. Helen Talbot, an associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University. But, she added, “the hospitals are full because people are not vaccinated.”

The advisers also grappled with a lack of clarity on the goal of the vaccines: Should it be to prevent all infections, or to forestall severe illness and hospitalization?

Many suggested that booster doses could do only the latter, and that trying to thwart all infections was impossible. That reasoning supported limiting who should receive the doses, the experts said.

On Thursday, CDC scientists presented models indicating that, if booster doses were to slightly increase people’s protection against hospitalization, the additional shots could prevent more than 2,000 hospitalizations for every million doses given.

But it was not clear how long additional protection from a booster would last, raising the prospect that boosters would need to be given repeatedly.

Boosters can reduce infections in nursing home residents, who are among those at highest risk. Even so, cases in nursing homes will persist when community transmission is high, according to a modeling study presented at the meeting.

The advisers also wrestled with the practicalities of endorsing a booster shot for only Pfizer-BioNTech recipients, when close to half of vaccinated Americans have received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

“I just don’t understand how, later this afternoon, we can say to people 65 and older, ‘You’re at risk for severe disease and death, but only half of you can protect yourselves right now,’” said Dr. Sarah Long, a pediatrician and infectious diseases expert at Drexel University College of Medicine in Pennsylvania.

Committee members also expressed concern Thursday that some recommendations — particularly that certain younger Americans be allowed booster shots after an assessment of individual risks — would mean that only the wealthy and educated would gain access to additional shots.

Some experts seemed to suggest Wednesday that it might be better to hold off on recommending any booster shots until recipients of all three vaccines could qualify for them.

Moderna’s booster authorization may arrive in a few days to weeks. The company has applied to the FDA for authorization of a booster shot carrying half the dosage given in the first two shots, which has complicated the agency’s deliberations.

Some global health experts have criticized the Biden administration for pushing booster shots when much of the world has yet to receive a first dose. But analysts noted that even if the United States distributes booster shots, there should still be considerable excess vaccine supply this year, and they urged the government to begin sending the extra doses abroad.

No More Apologies: Inside Facebook’s Push to Defend Its Image

The New York Times and GT Staff

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September 23, 2021

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No More Apologies: Inside Facebook’s Push to Defend Its Image

By Ryan Mac and Sheera Frenkel, The New York Times

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, signed off last month on a new initiative code-named Project Amplify.

The effort, which was hatched at an internal meeting in January, had a specific purpose: to use Facebook’s News Feed, the site’s most important digital real estate, to show people positive stories about the social network.

The idea was that pushing pro-Facebook news items — some of them written by the company — would improve its image in the eyes of its users, three people with knowledge of the effort said. But the move was sensitive because Facebook had not previously positioned the News Feed as a place where it burnished its own reputation. Several executives at the meeting were shocked by the proposal, one attendee said.

Project Amplify punctuated a series of decisions that Facebook has made this year to aggressively reshape its image. Since that January meeting, the company has begun a multipronged effort to change its narrative by distancing Zuckerberg from scandals, reducing outsiders’ access to internal data, burying a potentially negative report about its content and increasing its own advertising to showcase its brand.

The moves amount to a broad shift in strategy. For years, Facebook confronted crisis after crisis over privacy, misinformation and hate speech on its platform by publicly apologizing. Zuckerberg personally took responsibility for Russian interference on the site during the 2016 presidential election and has loudly stood up for free speech online. Facebook also promised transparency into the way that it operated.

But the drumbeat of criticism on issues as varied as racist speech and vaccine misinformation has not relented. Disgruntled Facebook employees have added to the furor by speaking out against their employer and leaking internal documents. Last week, The Wall Street Journal published articles based on such documents that showed Facebook knew about many of the harms it was causing.

So Facebook executives, concluding that their methods had done little to quell criticism or win supporters, decided early this year to go on the offensive, said six current and former employees, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisal.

“They’re realizing that no one else is going to come to their defense, so they need to do it and say it themselves,” said Katie Harbath, a former Facebook public policy director.

The changes have involved Facebook executives from its marketing, communications, policy and integrity teams. Alex Schultz, a 14-year company veteran who was named chief marketing officer last year, has also been influential in the image reshaping effort, said five people who worked with him. But at least one of the decisions was driven by Zuckerberg, and all were approved by him, three of the people said.

Joe Osborne, a Facebook spokesperson, denied that the company had changed its approach.

“People deserve to know the steps we’re taking to address the different issues facing our company — and we’re going to share those steps widely,” he said in a statement.

For years, Facebook executives have chafed at how their company appeared to receive more scrutiny than Google and Twitter, said current and former employees. They attributed that attention to Facebook’s leaving itself more exposed with its apologies and providing access to internal data, the people said.

So in January, executives held a virtual meeting and broached the idea of a more aggressive defense, one attendee said. The group discussed using the News Feed to promote positive news about the company, as well as running ads that linked to favorable articles about Facebook. They also debated how to define a pro-Facebook story, two participants said.

That same month, the communications team discussed ways for executives to be less conciliatory when responding to crises and decided there would be less apologizing, said two people with knowledge of the plan.

Zuckerberg, who had become intertwined with policy issues including the 2020 election, also wanted to recast himself as an innovator, the people said. In January, the communications team circulated a document with a strategy for distancing Zuckerberg from scandals, partly by focusing his Facebook posts and media appearances on new products, they said.

The Information, a tech news site, previously reported on the document.

The impact was immediate. On Jan. 11, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer — and not Zuckerberg — told Reuters that the storming of the U.S. Capitol a week earlier had little to do with Facebook. In July, when President Joe Biden said the social network was “killing people” by spreading COVID-19 misinformation, Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president for integrity, disputed the characterization in a blog post and pointed out that the White House had missed its coronavirus vaccination goals.

“Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed,” Rosen wrote.

Zuckerberg’s personal Facebook and Instagram accounts soon changed. Rather than addressing corporate controversies, Zuckerberg’s posts have recently featured a video of himself riding across a lake carrying an American flag, with messages about new virtual reality and hardware devices. (After this article, which described Zuckerberg as riding an electric surfboard, was published, he wrote on Facebook that it was actually “a hydrofoil that I’m pumping with my own legs.”)

Facebook also started cutting back the availability of data that allowed academics and journalists to study how the platform worked. In April, the company told its team behind CrowdTangle, a tool that provides data on the engagement and popularity of Facebook posts, that it was being broken up. While the tool still exists, the people who worked on it were moved to other teams.

Part of the impetus came from Schultz, who had grown frustrated with news coverage that used CrowdTangle data to show that Facebook was spreading misinformation, said two people involved in the discussions.

For academics who relied on CrowdTangle, it was a blow. Cameron Hickey, a misinformation researcher at the National Conference on Citizenship, a nonprofit focused on civic engagement, said he was “particularly angry” because he felt the CrowdTangle team was being punished for giving an unfiltered view of engagement on Facebook.

Schultz argued that Facebook should publish its own information about the site’s most popular content rather than supply access to tools like CrowdTangle, two people said. So in June, the company compiled a report on Facebook’s most-viewed posts for the first three months of 2021.

But Facebook did not release the report. After the policy communications team discovered that the top-viewed link for the period was a news story with a headline that suggested a doctor had died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, they feared the company would be chastised for contributing to vaccine hesitancy, according to internal emails reviewed by The New York Times.

A day before the report was supposed to be published, Schultz was part of a group that voted to shelve the document, according to the emails. He later posted an internal message about his role at Facebook, which was reviewed by The Times, saying, “I do care about protecting the company’s reputation, but I also care deeply about rigor and transparency.”

Facebook also worked to stamp out employee leaks. In July, the communications team shuttered comments on an internal forum that was used for companywide announcements. “OUR ONE REQUEST: PLEASE DON’T LEAK,” read a post about the change.

At the same time, Facebook ramped up its marketing. During the Olympics this summer, the company paid for television spots with the tagline “We change the game when we find each other,” to promote how it fostered communities. In the first half of this year, Facebook spent a record $6.1 billion on marketing and sales, up more than 8% from a year earlier, according to a recent earnings report.

Weeks later, the company further reduced the ability of academics to conduct research on it when it disabled the Facebook accounts and pages of a group of New York University researchers. The researchers had created a feature for web browsers that allowed them to see users’ Facebook activity, which 16,000 people had consented to use. The resulting data had led to studies showing that misleading political ads had thrived on Facebook during the 2020 election and that users engaged more with right-wing misinformation than many other types of content.

In a blog post, Facebook said the NYU researchers had violated rules around collecting user data, citing a privacy agreement it had originally struck with the Federal Trade Commission in 2012. The FTC later admonished Facebook for invoking its agreement, saying it allowed for good-faith research in the public interest.

Laura Edelson, the lead NYU researcher, said Facebook cut her off because of the negative attention her work brought. “Some people at Facebook look at the effect of these transparency efforts and all they see is bad PR,” she said.

The episode was compounded this month when Facebook told misinformation researchers that it had mistakenly provided incomplete data on user interactions and engagement for two years for their work.

“It is inconceivable that most of modern life, as it exists on Facebook, isn’t analyzable by researchers,” said Nathaniel Persily, a Stanford University law professor, who is working on federal legislation to force the company to share data with academics.

In August, after Zuckerberg approved Project Amplify, the company tested the change in three U.S. cities, two people with knowledge of the effort said. While the company had previously used the News Feed to promote its own products and social causes, it had not turned to it to openly push positive press about itself, they said.

Once the tests began, Facebook used a system known as Quick Promotes to place stories about people and organizations that used the social network into users’ News Feeds, they said. People essentially see posts with a Facebook logo that link to stories and websites published by the company and from third-party local news sites. One story pushed “Facebook’s Latest Innovations for 2021” and discussed how it was achieving “100 percent renewable energy for our global operations.”

“This is a test for an informational unit clearly marked as coming from Facebook,” Osborne said, adding that Project Amplify was “similar to corporate responsibility initiatives people see in other technology and consumer products.”

Facebook’s defiance against unflattering revelations has also not let up, even without Zuckerberg. On Saturday, Nick Clegg, the company’s vice president for global affairs, wrote a blog post denouncing the premise of The Journal investigation. He said the idea that Facebook executives had repeatedly ignored warnings about problems was “just plain false.”

“These stories have contained deliberate mischaracterizations of what we are trying to do,” Clegg said. He did not detail what the mischaracterizations were.

Three Reportedly Swept Out to Sea Along North Coast in 8 Days

Drew Penner

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September 23, 2021

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Three Reportedly Swept Out to Sea Along North Coast in 8 Days

Authorities are urging the public to take caution in the waves, as the hunt for a San Lorenzo Valley teen who was swept out to sea continued throughout the week.

Cash Ebright, 17, was last seen body surfing in black swim trunks at Laguna Creek State Beach, near Davenport, just before 6pm Monday.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, California State Parks, the California Highway Patrol, Santa Cruz Fire and CalFire responded, but were unable to locate him as of Tuesday.

Ebright was the third person to be swept out to sea along a few-mile stretch of Santa Cruz County’s North Coast within eight days.

“While our coast is beautiful, it can also be extremely dangerous,” said Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Ashley Keehn. “We encourage people to visit and enjoy the views and everything it has to offer, but please do so with extreme caution.”

On Sept. 14, 30-year-old Chicago resident Conrad Mitko was swept off the rocks at Panther State Beach around 4pm.

“There was some long-interval swell,” said Gabe McKenna, the State Parks public safety superintendent for the Santa Cruz district. “It was difficult to access him.”

Mitko’s body was recovered around 6pm, just to the south of the main beach area.

Two days earlier, 26-year-old David Guzman, from San Jose, was pulled to sea near Davenport Landing Beach while swimming, authorities said. He wasn’t seen for days.

Then, on Sept. 18, Slava Korneev, a 39-year-old microfluidic-wave-scientist from San Jose headed to the county beach, to ride his hydrofoil.

“I was surfing, foiling, these little waves,” he said. “Then I saw something floating in the water close to the north part of the beach.”

At first he thought it was a dead seal. But when he paddled toward it, he saw it was clearly a human body.

Korneev wasn’t sure if he should pull it to shore, or not.

“A set wave came, and I tumbled in the wave with that body,” he said, adding he quickly decided to head to shore and seek assistance.

Korneev didn’t have cell phone reception, but he spotted a man fishing on the beach.

“I asked the fisherman to call the police,” he said.

After the man took off by motorcycle, Korneev looked for the body again, but it had drifted out of sight, he said.

By the time the fire department made it to the beach, the current had brought the body to shore, according to Korneev.

“It unfortunate that I met this human in such circumstances,” he said, noting the incongruity with the majestic oceanic scene, as the tide pushed in. “This beautiful picture was broken by this discovery.”

McKenna said it’s important to respect the power and unpredictability of the ocean.

“As we move into the fall and the winter, the occurrences of large northwest swells increase,” he said. “Never turn your back, and know your limits.”

Scotts Valley Welcomes Found Art Collective

Christina Wise

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September 23, 2021

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Scotts Valley Welcomes Found Art Collective

Scotts Valley is a glimpse of Americana right here in Santa Cruz County. From hotels and restaurants to Fourth of July parades and banners of high school graduates adorning Scotts Valley Drive, the city seems to bend and flex with the times. Visitors can find a platter of tasty sliders to a comfy hotel to call home for a night, and everything in between.

Now, they can find a little more in the way of an artistic persuasion, too. The Found Art Collective celebrated its grand opening on Sept. 16, and the community turned out to welcome the funky new addition to the city. The soft opening was on May 1st; the town’s ribbon cuttings were delayed due to Covid-19, but with the Art, Wine and Beer Festival happening just a few weeks ago, Scotts Valley was ready to bring out the giant gold scissors to mark the occasion.

Artist Terry Kirihara was excited to add her talents to the shop’s bounty. A figurative sculpting artist, Kirihara sculpts figures as well as vases from clay. After retiring from her career at Nob Hill, Kirihara found her passion in art.

“I decided it was time to get my stuff out there and see what I can do,” she said of her decision to join the collective.

Elaine Sherer is the owner of Found Art Collective. As a former Ohio-based woodworking artist, she and other artists used to trade their goods with each other.

“I would attend art shows east of the Mississippi, and I got to know the potters, the glassblowers, the woodworkers, and we’d all exchange pieces after each show,” she said. “I have a huge collection of pottery, and by the time I got to California, I had so much I needed to open a store.”

The shop is dotted with all types of pottery that Sherer has collected over the years, including when her shop was based in Pleasure Point.

“We have contemporary functional and vintage pottery from a variety of artists, along with jewelry, all-natural bath and body products, cards and tableware,” she said. “We really want to support our local artists, and help them make a living, and we get new stuff all the time. Tell your friends about us, and come purchase something. Even if it’s one little item, it might make a difference for that artist.”

One of those artists is Loren Stirling. A disciple of Steve Jobs, Stirling was a product designer with Apple. Now retired, Stirling’s focus is on teapots and ceramics, and he has amassed a collection of hand-sculpted face masks that are on display at the shop. (Seeing as how they’re made from clay, they’re not Covid-compatible.)

Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Danny Reber was on hand for the grand opening and was eager to spread the word about the new shop.

“All of us at the Chamber are excited to welcome Elaine and her store to town, and we know that this curated collection of local artists will fit right in,” he said.

Found Art Collective is located at 5167 Scotts Valley Drive, and is open Thursday thru Saturday, noon to 5pm. Interested parties needing special hours may text 831-221-0280 for a shopping appointment.

Watsonville Wetlands Watch Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Johanna Miller

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September 23, 2021

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Watsonville Wetlands Watch Celebrates 30th Anniversary

The extensive slough system that runs through the heart of the Pajaro Valley has become a cornerstone for local recreation, wildlife viewing, education and research.

These wetlands are home to various species of animals and plants, many rare and endangered. They help replenish groundwater, buffer the town from storm impacts and are popular spots for walkers, birdwatchers and scientists.

“You can talk to anybody in this city, in English or Spanish, and they would be familiar with the word ‘wetland,’” said Christine Johnson-Lyons, a founder and longtime board member of Watsonville Wetlands Watch (WWW). “People know what they are, and at least one reason why they’re so important.”

But 30 years ago, public understanding and opinion of such habitats were limited. Wetlands across the state had been decimated for generations, drained and filled for urban development and agriculture.

The majority—about 90%—of California’s natural wetlands have already been degraded. And in 1991, one of Watsonville’s own sloughs nearly became part of that statistic.

A major, 800-home development had been proposed for the uplands of Struve Slough—right on top of sensitive habitat. Concerned, a group of residents banded together, urging that the city put a stop to the project.

“It was a long haul,” said another founder, and current board member Bob Culbertson. “We expressed concerns, and the developers blew us off. We kept persisting, challenging every new plan they proposed. We told them about the endangered species, and they were like, ‘Thanks for your input’ and just kept moving forward with their plans.”

WWW sued developers, taking them to court and working for years on a new plan, which eventually resulted in saving Struve Slough from the development.

The group’s success kickstarted an effort in Watsonville to preserve and restore the city’s wetlands. Now, they are one of the most influential nonprofits in the region, leading various restoration and greening projects, trail building and maintenance, as well as education and training programs for students.

“This has become an incredibly impressive organization,” said executive director Jonathan Pilch. “We work with so many diverse and incredible partners … There is so much enthusiasm and energy on the board, from our volunteers and the entire community.”

Pilch has been working with WWW for the past 16 years, acting as director for the past five. When he started, he said, the organization had only two official staff members. Today, they have 15.

Their volunteer base has also increased exponentially, he said.

“At those early restoration days … we’d get a handful of volunteers, maybe eight or 10,” Pilch said. “At our last major Wetlands Day event in 2019, before Covid, we had about 400. We have seen amazing growth just in the past decade.”

WWW’s education programs have taken off as well. Pilch estimated that they have reached about 30,000 students, many of them through a partnership with the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. The organization’s headquarters at the Fitz Wetlands Educational Resource Center is on the Pajaro Valley High School campus.

“There wasn’t wetlands education at all, prior to the programs we brought forward,” Johnson-Lyons said. “The impact WWW has had on these children and teens … it’s thrilling to think about.”

For years, the organization’s Green Careers Institute aimed to teach high schoolers about climate change and the work being done to stop it. When the pandemic hit, they switched gears and launched the Climate Corps Leadership Institute (CCLI), a program blending distance learning and in-person activities. CCLI students participate in training programs and projects and are paid a stipend for their work.

“We’ve seen incredible growth of student leadership here,” Pilch said. “Some have returned locally, and others went on to new places as future leaders.”

*Alma Leonor, a restoration technician with Watsonville Wetlands Watch, waters a young oak tree at Callaghan Park in Watsonville Monday. —Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian*

Emely Cortez, Bilingual Conservation Outreach Specialist for the city of Watsonville, participated in WWW programming when she was in high school.

“It was the most wonderful program I’ve ever done,” she said. “It was intimidating at first … I came from a background with not a lot of opportunities. But [WWW] made me feel safe and welcome. They encouraged me to pursue college and think of a career.”

Cortez ended up triple-majoring in environmental studies, science and communications with a minor in political science, before coming back to work in her hometown.

“I realized that giving back is what I like to do … to people and the environment,” she said. “So I came back to work for the city. I was like, ‘If they gave me all these resources to succeed, why not come back and do the same for others?’”

Cortez said she now has younger cousins who are participating in WWW.

“It makes me happy that the newer generations are taking advantage of these programs,” she said.

WWW works with the City on its Urban Greening Plan, adopted in 2012. The plan calls for an additional 40,000 trees to be planted to increase the city’s currently low tree canopy cover of 8%. A good target, Johnson-Lyons said, is closer to 30%.

The organization hosts tree planting events and offers free shade and fruit trees to the community to help in the effort. On Oct. 2, WWW will host a Native Plant Sale, where people can reserve plants to pick up at the Fitz Center at 500 Harkins Slough Rd. between 9am-1:00pm. Proceeds will support the nonprofit’s restoration and education work.

A big focus of that work, Pilch said, is looking at the intersection of environmental issues and community health. This need is more important than ever, he said, as the effects of climate change continue to be more apparent.

“Our story will continue to evolve in the face of ongoing, and new challenges,” he said.

Culbertson also alluded to their work with Action Pajaro Valley and their success in passing Measure U in 2002. Measure U, which limits where and how the city can expand, expires next year. WWW is joining in the campaign for the measure to be extended to 2040.

“What we do [at WWW] is not just theoretical,” Culbertson said. “It’s not just saying, ‘save the Earth.’ It’s real, on-the-ground work. It’s been great, very satisfying to be involved, working with such a dedicated group of people to protect our wetlands.”

Added Johnson-Lyons: “This 30-year milestone has given me a chance to pause, look back at and recognize all that we’ve accomplished. And to look ahead, to continue the great work we’ve been doing.”

Candidates Set for Watsonville City Council Special Election

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September 23, 2021

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Candidates Set for Watsonville City Council Special Election

Two relative newcomers to Watsonville politics will face off for the vacant District 2 seat in a special election slated for Dec. 7.

Francisco “Frank” Barba and Vanessa Quiroz-Carter turned in the paperwork required to run for office just before the deadline on Monday evening. Alicia Urbieta Islas, another candidate who pulled papers on Monday, did not meet the 5pm deadline.

They will battle for the seat vacated by Aurelio Gonzalez, who stepped away from politics last week because of a family emergency. The winner will hold office through 2024.

Although neither Barba nor Quiroz-Carter have held a public office, the two have been peers on the Watsonville Parks and Recreation Commission. Barba first joined the seven-member body that oversees the city of Watsonville’s parks in September 2020. Quiroz-Carter was appointed to the commission in January shortly after running unsuccessfully for the District 2 seat against Gonzalez, an incumbent who was first elected to the City Council in 2018 via a special election.

District 2 contains several neighborhoods east of Main Street through Beck Street—including the communities surrounding Watsonville High School—as well as portions of California Street and Palm and Hill avenues.

Neither candidate returned a call asking for comment on this story as of 5pm Tuesday.

Candidate statements for both Barba and Quiroz-Carter are up for a 10-day public review, a period in which District 2 voters can challenge any information included in the statements through the Watsonville City Clerk’s Office.

According to his candidate statement, Barba works with Jacob’s Heart Children’s Cancer Support Services and is a Lion’s Club member. He also used to work at Safeway, where he was part of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 839.

Born to immigrant parents, Barba is a lifelong resident of Watsonville and a 1997 graduate of Watsonville High. He holds an associate degree in liberal sciences from Cabrillo College.

According to the statement, he has been endorsed by Santa Cruz County Supervisor Greg Caput, Santa Cruz County Board of Education Member Ed Acosta, Watsonville Mayor Pro-Tem Ari Parker, Pajaro Valley Unified School District Trustee Oscar Soto and community organizer Barbie Gomez, who was recently named Woman of the Year by the Pajaro Valley Chamber and Commerce and Agriculture.

“When elected, I will listen to our Community—not push a divisive agenda,” the statement reads. “We are all stronger when we come together.”

Quiroz-Carter in her statement says she is an adjunct instructor at Hartnell College and has served on the Santa Cruz County Women’s Commission. She has also been a board member of the nonprofit Families In Transition.

She is a descendant of immigrants from Mexico and a third-generation Watsonville resident. She first attended Cabrillo College before transferring to UC Berkeley, where she received a bachelor’s in English literature. She also holds a master’s in communication from Cal State East Bay.

“I’ve dedicated my career to building community through education and public service … As your city council member I will work to amplify voices of community members, and work with you to bring positive change and opportunity to Watsonville,” the statement reads.

Participating in her first election Quiroz-Carter impressively received 46% of the 1,714 votes cast by District 2 residents in the Nov. 3, 2020 election.

Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Sept. 22-28

GT Staff

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September 22, 2021

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A weekly guide to what’s happening.

ARTS AND MUSIC

BANFF CENTRE MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL VIRTUAL FESTIVAL Bring the adventure home! Fluff up your couch cushions, grab a snack of choice, and make sure you have a good internet connection because the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour is Virtual! Travel to the most remote corners of the world, dive into daring expeditions, and celebrate some of the most remarkable outdoor achievements, all from the comfort of your living room. Films can be purchased individually or as a bundle. Banff will also be screening Award Winners: Monthly Film Series; join us online for a mixed program of award winners from the 2020, 2019 and 2018 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festivals. Catch up on missed films or relive some of the best that Banff has to offer. Just announced is the Encore Classic Films from the past 10 years. Audience favorites. Don’t miss out! Screening until Oct. 24, 2021. Visit riotheatre.com for more information about the online programs and how you can support your local screening. You may also go directly to the Banff affiliate link for the Rio filmfest.banffcentre.ca/?campaign=WT-163945. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.ay, Sept. 28, 12:01am. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.

SHEDM: THE FEMALE CREATORS OF DANCE MUSIC Sundays: DJs are mixing in the darkest bass beats by our favorite female and LGBT producers. Don’t miss out. Guest DJs every week. Motiv nightclub is open and fully remodeled—there are all-new bathrooms and state-of-the-art dance floor lights. Add to your calendar: facebook.com/events/3008160246139834.Sunday, Sept. 26, 9pm. Motiv, 1209 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz.

FOOD TRUCK FRIDAY Food Trucks, and live music and beer garden! We have a great lineup of food trucks for you, and the Shady Rest Band is performing! The beer and wine garden will be in full swing, with a great selection of Steel Bonnet beers and wines. For more info visit foodtrucksagogo.com. Friday, Sept. 24, 5-8pm. Skypark, 361 Kings Village Road, Scotts Valley.

JAKE SHIMABUKURO Every major artist has that one defining album or performance, but for ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, his entire career has been filled with such magical achievements. Since he first came to the world’s attention with his deeply beautiful and original take on George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in a viral video that dominated YouTube in 2005, the Hawaiian-born Shimabukuro has virtually reinvented the four-string instrument, causing many to call him “the Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele.” Friday, Sept. 24, 8-9:30pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.

ONLINE ARTISTS’ TALK “ADAPTATIONS: SHIFTING STATES OF BEING” As part of “Adaptations: Cabrillo Art, Photography & Art History Faculty & Staff Exhibition” this will be the last in a series of three Artists’ Talks. Join Cabrillo faculty members Carmina Eliason, Greg Mettler, Janet Fine, Angela Gleason, and Carl Rohrs as they discuss their work that in some way or other deals with ideas of portraiture through representation, gesture and symbolism. Wednesday, Sept. 22, 6pm. Cabrillo College Gallery, 6401-6599 Soquel Drive, Aptos.

COMMUNITY

CLIMATE JUSTICE—STOP THE MONEY PIPELINE MARCH & RALLY Get loud! Learn about the connection between banks and the fossil fuel industry and what we can do! Join us outside the Wells Fargo Bank in downtown Santa Cruz. This event is being organized by Novasutras, Santa Cruz Climate Action Network and Youth for Climate Justice, with assistance from other local climate activists. Are you ready to join our next chance to make some fossil-fuel-funders uncomfortable, and stand up for climate justice? Friday, Sept. 24, 2:30pm. Wells Fargo Bank, 74 River St. Suite 207, Santa Cruz.

CUÉNTAME UN CUENTO Acompáñanos para una hora de cuentos, actividades y canciones en español. Este programa es para niños de 0-8 y sus familias. La hora será miércoles a las 4:30pm. Nos reuniremos en el porche exterior. Cuéntame un Cuento se llevará a cabo en Capitola durante el período de construcción de Live Oak. En caso de mal clima, se cancelará la hora de cuentos. Join us for Spanish Storytime, activities, and music! This program is best suited for kids ages 0-8 and their families. Storytime takes place on Wednesday at 4:30pm. We will meet on the outside porch. Storytime will take place at Capitola during Live Oak’s construction period. In the event of bad weather, storytime will be cancelled. Wednesday, Sept. 22, 4:30pm. Capitola Library A Santa Cruz City County Public Library Branch, 2005 Wharf Road, Capitola.

EVERGREEN AT DUSK: CEMETERY HISTORY TOURS Welcome back to our second year of Evergreen at Dusk historical tours. We invite you to discover the stories and secrets found within Evergreen Cemetery, one of the oldest public cemeteries in California, on a self-guided or private tour of the grounds. Bring your curiosity as you explore the final resting place of Santa Cruz’s early settlers. The 45-minute tour uncovers the stories and tombstones of the people who made Santa Cruz what it is today. Designed for the daring, the curious, and the history-loving. This tour is great for all ages! Each tour should take 30-45 minutes to complete. The time you select is when your group/household tour begins, we recommend arriving 5-10 minutes early to ensure you can begin right on time. Upon arrival, find the MAH table near the iconic Evergreen Arch. We will give you the printed map and guide with a brief introduction to Evergreen. Following the welcome, you are then free to follow the scavenger hunt like map and travel back in time uncovering the stories buried across the grounds. Go at your own pace and begin your adventure. We’ll be there on-site to help you get from tombstone to tombstone if assistance is needed. This tour will be led by a MAH staffer and is available to two households per night. Dig deeper into the stories and history of the cemetery. This tour has to be on your Santa Cruz bucketlist. Please be sure to wear your mask if you are not vaccinated and maintain a 6-ft distance when around other explorers or MAH staffers. Thursday, Sept. 23, 4-7pm. Evergreen Cemetery, 261 Evergreen St., Santa Cruz.

FELTON TODDLER TIME Join Librarian Julie on our beautiful Felton patio for Toddler Time. Toddler Time is a weekly early literacy program for families with children ages 0-3 years old. Music, movement, stories, fingerplays, rhymes, and songs are a fun way for your child to learn. Let’s play and learn together! Make sure to bring something to sit on. We ask that adults please wear a mask. Repeats weekly. Wednesday, Sept. 22, 11am. Felton Branch Library, 6121 Gushee St., Felton.

GREY BEARS BROWN BAG LINE Grey Bears are looking for help with their brown bag production line on Thursday and Friday mornings. Volunteers will receive breakfast and a bag of food if wanted. Be at the warehouse with a mask and gloves at 7am. Call ahead for more information: 831-479-1055, greybears.org. Thursday, Sept. 23, 7am. California Grey Bears, 2710 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz.

LA SELVA BEACH PRESCHOOL STORYTIME Join us for a fun interactive storytime. We’ll read books, sing songs and use rhythm and movement. This event is suitable for children ages 3-6 years. There will be an arts and crafts project to take home. This event will be held outside on the back patio. Please bring something to sit on and dress for the weather. Masks will be required. Repeats weekly. Tuesday, Sept. 28, 11am. La Selva Beach Branch Library, 316 Estrella Ave., La Selva Beach.

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME IN THE SECRET GARDEN Join us in the Secret Garden in Abbott Square at the MAH for storytime! We’ll share stories, songs and rhymes in a safe environment! This 30-40 minute program is intended for children aged 2-6. Do it yourself craft kits will be provided every week. Every other week we will feature STEM-related stories and concepts. Tuesday, Sept. 28, 11am. Abbott Square, 118 Cooper St., Santa Cruz.

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME ON THE FELTON PATIO Join Librarian Jackie on our beautiful Felton patio for Preschool Storytime. Preschool Storytime is a weekly early literacy program for children ages 3-5 years old and their caregivers. Music, movement, stories, fingerplays, rhymes, and songs are a fun way for your child to learn. Let’s play and learn together! Make sure to bring something to sit on. We ask that adults as well as children ages 3 and up please wear a mask. Repeats weekly. Thursday, Sept. 23, 11am. Felton Branch Library, 6121 Gushee St., Felton.

GROUPS

COMMUNITY PILATES MAT CLASS Come build strength with us. This very popular in-person community Pilates Mat Class in the big auditorium at Temple Beth El in Aptos is in session once again. Please bring your own mat, small Pilates ball and Theraband if you have one. You must be vaccinated for this indoor class. Suggested donation of $10/class. Thursday, Sept. 23, 10am. Tuesday, Sept. 28, 10am. Temple Beth El, 3055 Porter Gulch Road, Aptos.

COMPLEMENTARY TREATMENT FORUM Complementary Treatment Forum is an educational group, a safe place to learn for women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets every fourth Saturday, currently on Zoom. Registration required, contact WomenCARE 831-457-2273. Saturday, Sept. 25, 10:30am-12:30pm.

ENTRE NOSOTRAS GRUPO DE APOYO Entre Nosotras support group for Spanish speaking women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets twice monthly. Registration required, please call Entre Nosotras 831-761-3973. Friday, Sept. 24, 6pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

S+LAA MENS’ MEETING Having trouble with compulsive sexual or emotional behavior? Recovery is possible. Our small 12-step group meets Saturday evenings. Enter through the front entrance, go straight down the hallway to the last door on the right. Thursday, Sept. 23, 6pm. Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center, 2900 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz.

WOMENCARE ARM-IN-ARM WomenCARE Arm-in-Arm Cancer support group for women with advanced, recurrent, or metastatic cancer. Meets every Monday at WomenCARE’s office. Currently on Zoom. Registration is required, call WomenCARE at 831-457-2273. All services are free. For more information visit womencaresantacruz.org. Monday, Sept. 27, 12:30pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

WOMENCARE TUESDAY SUPPORT GROUP WomenCARE Tuesday Cancer support group for women newly diagnosed and through their treatment. Meets every Tuesday currently on Zoom. Registration required, call WomenCARE 831-457-2273. Tuesday, Sept. 28, 12:30-2pm.

WOMENCARE: LAUGHTER YOGA Laughter yoga for women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets every Wednesday, currently via Zoom. Registration is required, please call WomenCARE at 831-457-2273. Wednesday, Sept. 22, 3:30-4:30pm.

OUTDOOR

CASFS FARMSTAND Organic vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers are sold weekly at the CASFS Farmstand, starting June 15 and continuing through Nov. 23. Proceeds support experiential education programs at the UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems. Friday, Sept. 24, noon-6pm. Tuesday, Sept. 28, noon-6pm. Cowell Ranch Historic Hay Barn, Ranch View Road, Santa Cruz.

HISTORIC RANCH GROUND TOUR Discover what life was like a century ago on this innovative dairy ranch. This hour-long tour includes the 1896 water-powered machine shop, barns and other historic buildings. The vehicle day-use fee is $10. For more information, call 831-426-0505. Spaces are limited and early pre-registration is recommended. Attendees are required to self-screen for Covid-19 symptoms when pre-registering. Masks and social distancing are also required at all programs. Saturday, Sept. 25, 1-2pm. Sunday, Sept. 26, 1-2pm. Wilder Ranch State Park, 1401 Coast Road, Santa Cruz.

SANTA CRUZ BEACH BOARDWALK FALL CAMPOUT Sleep under the stars at the Boardwalk! Free play in arcade, food, games; Luminaria Dedications, beach movie, $5 donation to ACS. Gather your family and friends and sign up for a memorable overnight event and help support the American Cancer Society. beachboardwalk.com/overnights. Friday, Sept. 24. Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, 400 Beach St., Santa Cruz.

SEYMOUR CENTER OUTDOORS Activities include tide pool investigation: hone your observation skills and watch animals such as sea stars, sea urchins, and hermit crabs gracefully move in their environment; outdoor scavenger hunt: explore the pathway of giants and find nine outdoor objects hidden around the Seymour Center; larval fish geocache: why do baby fish look so different from their adult forms? What kinds of strategies do fish use for raising their young? And just what kind of fish live in Monterey Bay, anyway? Find the answers to these questions in five secret containers located throughout the Coastal Science Campus. Marine Animal Selfie Station: Grab a selfie with one of our life-sized wooden marine animals—be sure to use #SeymourCenter on your social media profiles. The Seymour Center Outdoors is free to visit with a suggested $10 donation per household. Become a sustaining supporter of the Seymour Center, and purchase a membership! To learn more visit seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/visit. Saturday, Sept. 25, 11am-2pm. Seymour Marine Discovery Center, 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz.

SUNSET BEACH BOWLS Experience the tranquility, peace and calmness as the ocean waves harmonize with the sound of crystal bowls raising vibration and energy levels. Every Tuesday one hour before sunset at Moran Lake Beach. Call 831-333-6736 for more details. Tuesday, Sept. 28, 6:30-7:30pm. Moran Lake Park & Beach, East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

YOU PICK ROSES We are growing over 300 roses, deeply fragrant, lush and in every color, and we want to share them with you! Get out of the house and enjoy cutting a bucket of roses for your pleasure or to share with family and friends. Visit birdsongorchards.com to make a reservation. Once you have made a purchase, you will be sent a calendar link to pick a time for your reservation and directions to our farm in Watsonville. Friday, Sept. 24, 11am. Sunday, Sept. 26, 11am.

Todd Barry Brings His Brand of Alt-Comedy to the Catalyst Atrium

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September 22, 2021

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Comedian Todd Barry has an old joke about Fugazi, the almighty high priests of DIY punk rock. The joke rests on the idea that Fugazi didn’t believe in charging more than $5 for a show, a fact lost on people outside of punk rock. Barry wonders if everyone in the band felt as fervently bound to this principle as the band’s leader Ian MacKaye. Perhaps, say, the drummer had a different point of view. “Hey fellas,” Barry jokes. “I have the craziest idea. How about six bucks? I was thinking that extra dollar times 800 people a night, times five shows a week means I don’t have a roommate when I’m 47.”

This joke appeared on his 2001 album, Medium Energy. And if you’re wondering, MacKaye doesn’t mind being teased.

“We met because of the Fugazi joke,” Barry tells me in an email. “I think he’s good with it. He usually comes to my D.C. shows and has given me a tour of the Fugazi house.”

In the past two decades, Barry has become a fixture in alternative comedy with his wry, intelligent wit, deadpan delivery and offbeat, sardonic material. He has played venues large and small, landed a Netflix comedy special in 2017 (Spicy Honey), and has had roles in Bob’s Burgers, The Sarah Silverman Program and The Wrestler, the 2008 film that nearly earned Oscars for Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei.

Though, after all these years, Barry does still have a thing for offbeat venues. He comes to Santa Cruz for the first time in his career to perform at the Catalyst Atrium, which rarely—if ever—hosts comedy shows, as part of his ironically titled “Stadium Tour.”

“I’ve never been to the Catalyst, but I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve seen many types of venues. I did a show in a barbershop last night,” Barry says. “I’ll make it work.”

His fascination with what are considered “secondary markets” and the unlikely towns you end up in if you step away from New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago led him to write the 2017 book Thank You for Coming to Hattiesburg: One Comedian’s Tour of Not-Quite-the-Biggest Cities in the World. This is the path that countless punk and alternative bands proudly follow. But for some reason, when most comedians hit these markets, they see it as a sign of failure. Barry thinks it’s great.

“I like going to cities that don’t necessarily get every band/comedian that is on tour. The people are excited that you made the effort,” Barry says. “Also, I like checking out places I might not go to otherwise.”

One of those places was Santa Cruz, where he sat and had coffee. He says he landed there after performing at Sally Tomatoes in Rohnert Park. That particular show was the subject of one of his essays in the book.

He does occasionally open up for bands, a gig that can be a nightmare for comedians if the fit isn’t right. He is very careful about choosing bands like Yo La Tengo that match his low-key energy.

“I usually work with bands who have a chill, well-behaved crowd, so it usually works out,” Barry says. “And I’m not completely unknown, so that helps.”

It helps too that he came from that world. In the mid-80s, he played drums in the South Florida jangly post-punk band the Chant. He still plays drums, and he even gets to join some better, well-known bands on stage. Once, for instance, he joined Superchunk on stage to play a cover of the Misfits song “Horror Business.”

Earlier this year, Barry tweeted a video of his Superchunk performance at the Foo Fighters, asking if could sit in on a future show, saying that his performance was “flawless and in the pocket.”

“I only play once in a while, mainly when a friend’s band is playing and I muscle my way behind the drum kit,” Barry says. “Dave Grohl has not responded to me, but that 11-year-old girl who challenged him to a drum-off is amazing. Light years better than me.”

Toddy Barry performs at 9pm on Friday, Sept. 24 at Catalyst Atrium, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $20. 831-423-1338.

Ukulele Prodigy Jake Shimabukuro’s Mind-Blowing Show Hits the Rio

Adam Joseph

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September 22, 2021

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Ukulele Prodigy Jake Shimabukuro’s Mind-Blowing Show Hits the Rio

Jake Shimabukuro is to the ukulele what Béla Fleck is to the banjo, Yo-Yo Ma is to the cello and Trombone Shorty is to, well, the trombone. He’s an ambassador to an instrument that never experienced a mainstream following—Tiny Tim doesn’t count.

The Hawaii native’s 20-plus albums have showcased interpretations of traditional Japanese exoduses into psychedelic realms, a dazzling arrangement of Chick Corea’s “Spain” and original compositions inspired by the Nashville Sound.

Each of the uke phenom’s records is sans boundaries and different from the previous release. But the award-winning musician’s upcoming Jake & Friends marks his most ambitious: 16 tracks featuring collaborations with 18 of the world’s most celebrated musical talents.

“When my manager suggested the idea, I remember thinking, ‘This is never going to happen,’” Shimabukuro admits.

Jake & Friends took over a year to complete, but it’s in the can and loaded with music royalty—Jack Johnson, Kenny Loggins, Lukas Nelson, Warren Haynes, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Strings, Moon Taxi, Michael McDonald, Sonny Landreth, Bette Midler and several others. It hits the streets Nov. 16.

Notables who Shimabukuro had worked with—like Jack Johnson, Jimmy Buffett and Ray Benson, the deep-voiced founder of longtime Texas swing outfit Asleep at the Wheel—reached out to friends who jumped at the opportunity to team up with the uke master.

“The first phone call Ray [Benson] made was to Willie Nelson,” Shimabukuro says. “I was so nervous being in the studio with him.”

It didn’t help that Shimabukuro had been told that he’d only have two takes with Nelson.

“We had only met the night before we went into the studio,” Shimabukuro recalls. “[‘Stardust’] is one of the most iconic songs he plays. When I walked into the studio, [Nelson] was reviewing the lyrics, and he just looked up and said, ‘Are you ready?’ I felt like I wasn’t there; it was surreal. I kept my headphones off of one ear because I wanted to hear his voice in real-time.”

The Youngbloods’ ’60s peace and love anthem “Get Together” couldn’t be a better bookend. Shimabukuro’s ukulele interpretation paired with Jesse Colin Young’s voice makes the listening experience almost more meaningful and dynamic than the original. Young’s voice is aged and out-of-shape, but it works; the authenticity is primeval. That renowned refrain—Come on people now, smile on your brother/Everybody get together, try to love one another right now—resonates as an impassioned call-to-action just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.

Jake Shimabukuro will play on Friday, Sept. 24, at Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. 8pm; $40/$60. Proof of vaccination or negative Covid test (taken within 72 hours) required for entry. riotheatre.com.

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Complaints About Homelessness Mount in Watsonville

CDC Chief Overrules Agency Panel and Recommends Pfizer-BioNTech Boosters for Workers at Risk

No More Apologies: Inside Facebook’s Push to Defend Its Image

Three Reportedly Swept Out to Sea Along North Coast in 8 Days

Scotts Valley Welcomes Found Art Collective

Watsonville Wetlands Watch Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Candidates Set for Watsonville City Council Special Election

Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Sept. 22-28

ARTS AND MUSIC

COMMUNITY

GROUPS

OUTDOOR

Todd Barry Brings His Brand of Alt-Comedy to the Catalyst Atrium

Ukulele Prodigy Jake Shimabukuro’s Mind-Blowing Show Hits the Rio

Complaints About Homelessness Mount in Watsonville

CDC Chief Overrules Agency Panel and Recommends Pfizer-BioNTech Boosters for Workers at Risk

No More Apologies: Inside Facebook’s Push to Defend Its Image

Three Reportedly Swept Out to Sea Along North Coast in 8 Days

Scotts Valley Welcomes Found Art Collective

Watsonville Wetlands Watch Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Candidates Set for Watsonville City Council Special Election

Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Sept. 22-28

Todd Barry Brings His Brand of Alt-Comedy to the Catalyst Atrium

Ukulele Prodigy Jake Shimabukuro’s Mind-Blowing Show Hits the Rio