Young People Lead Santa Cruz’s Climate Strike

-

September 24, 2019

Young People Lead Santa Cruz’s Climate Strike

Tamarah Minami, an eighth grader at Mission Hill Middle School, has been busy with extracurricular work the past couple of weeks. Her project is a big one. Tamarah and her classmates want to ensure the planet they call home gets a fair shot at a sustainable future.

Tamarah, 13, has been leading weekly meetings with students from other schools to organize local support for the Global Climate Strike on Friday, Sept. 27—in which students around the world will walk out of their classrooms and into the streets, demonstrating against the forces behind the climate crisis. She believes adults have underestimated her generation.

“And now we are strong because so many young people are speaking up,” Tamarah says.

Climate organizations, student associations, labor unions, and faith-based groups are collaborating on the strike week that began Friday, Sept. 20, and will culminate this Friday, Sept. 27. Over the past year, high school climate protests have been spreading around the world with increasing momentum, thanks in large part to Greta Thunberg. The 16-year-old Swedish student inspired students everywhere when she first began her “Friday for Future” school strikes in the fall of 2018, making her a worldwide icon. Earlier this month, Thunberg sailed to New York City to address the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Tamarah cites Thunberg’s activism as an inspiration.

Last year, a report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that humans must cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and reach zero emissions within 20 years after that. The findings spurred international calls for action.

Grant Black, a politics major at UCSC, is a co-coordinator of the local hub of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate justice organization that’s received considerable attention in its support of the Green New Deal. Black has been helping to organizing Santa Cruz’s student strikes.

“We are telling politicians to either step up or step aside, because we only have 11 years to address this crisis, and less time to address it politically,” Black says, “so we are fighting hard for a Green New Deal for all people.”

Young people like Black have amassed considerable support for their green vision and a brighter tomorrow. Issara Willenskomer sees himself as something of an “elder advisor” to the Sunrise Movement’s local hub. He emphasizes that adults are playing a secondary, supportive role in the youth-led effort.

“The young are the ones with actual skin in the game,” he says.

With the walk-out coming up on Friday, Santa Cruz City Schools Superintendent Kris Munro tells GT that state law “doesn’t allow us to excuse student absences for walk-outs or political activities.” She adds, however, “We believe in supporting student voices and encouraging good environmental stewardship.” Munro says there will be several in-school activities related to the climate crisis planned for various campuses.

In solidarity with the youth-led student strike, an array of local climate activist groups are hosting teach-ins, guerilla street theater events and panel discussions.

Pauline Seales, 75, a key organizer of Santa Cruz Climate Action Network, stresses that all of this climate activism has a non-violent focus, so parents don’t have to worry about their kids participating.

Seales, who earned a physics degree from Leeds University in the United Kingdom, compares the world’s nations to a large fleet of buses. The whole fleet, she explains, has been heading toward a cliff for some time.

“Most of them have got the message that there is, in fact, this precipice ahead,” she says. “Many have begun slowing down, and some have even begun turning around. Some have made a lot of progress on that, and some are just starting. But we, in the American bus, have as a driver a guy who is shouting, ‘There is no precipice! No reason to worry! Press on—full speed ahead!’ But the people in the bus are beginning to get pretty darned upset.”

A schedule of events is available on the Climate Action Network’s website, scruzclimate.org.

NUZ: Santa Cruz Leaders Don’t Care About Your Silly Housing Crisis

Nuz

-

September 24, 2019

20

NUZ: Santa Cruz Leaders Don’t Care About Your Silly Housing Crisis

Last week, Nuz called out neighborhood activists for using the idea of transitional encampments to fuel a recall effort against city councilmembers Drew Glover and Chris Krohn.

Those same recallers have, of course, not suggested any better ideas to address homeless issues. But zooming out, there are bigger themes at play here. It is time for this town to stop arguing and start fixing its problems. Santa Cruz’s failure to do that is a pandemic that stretches beyond a conservative coalition of anti-Krohn groups.

You need look no further than Krohn himself.

Take for example the Santa Cruz City Council’s short-sighted move last month to unceremoniously ax the Corridor Zoning Update, a years-old effort that aimed to plan for smarter housing growth—much of it affordable—on Santa Cruz’s four busiest streets. Although Krohn and Glover have not gotten much heat for it, they both voted to kill that plan, in spite of all the ranting and raving the two of them do about the “housing crisis” and “struggling” renters. They did so because—their own grandstanding aside—a huge part of their political coalition is privileged NIMBY single-family homeowners, some of whom happen to live a couple blocks from the busy streets where we really should be upzoning for denser housing. Though it was good policy, the plan was a work in progress. It was on the backburner, while staff focused on implementing the Housing Blueprint Subcommittee recommendations. But in a surprise 4-3 vote, the council’s super-liberal majority pulled off a political stunt to toss the corridor plan out quickly, without any real public input. Planning staff will now have to do the council’s busywork involved in putting the corridor plan to bed, instead of the actually important work of making housing cheaper.

Since the vote, Krohn has argued that there are other important progressive values besides housing affordability. Like “quality of life,” although—let’s be honest—that’s really just rich-people-speak for “no new buildings over two stories tall.”

It seems like an odd principle to stick to—especially considering that corridor development would be along busy bus routes, which is where California communities should be growing if we’re serious about cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Development along the corridors would reduce the spread of sprawling suburbanism across the region and make it easier for commuters to live without cars.

And this is where, when you look at it closely, Krohn’s world view starts falling apart.

Take his antics on the City Council, for instance. Whenever Krohn sees his more moderate colleagues declining to back him on the tenant protections he supports, he interrogates the other councilmembers, asking why they don’t care about renters. He hunts for rabid applause from supporters who show up to cheer him on. And given the current housing shortage, the sense of urgency is palpable. The truth is that protecting renters is great, but honestly—when you’re in a housing shortage—the best way to stop average rents from continuing to soar is to build housing. (At the very least, you could stand up for both types of solutions, if you truly cared.)

And yet, Krohn spent three years weaponizing his divisive rhetoric to undermine corridor upzoning. He then helped hammer the final nail into the corridor coffin on Aug. 27. After finally accomplishing his goal, Krohn flipped his logic on the housing crisis’ urgency. He’s found a new way to argue that he’s still the most “progressive” guy in the room, in spite of constantly finding unique reasons over the years to vote against housing projects and plans. He has conveniently come to discover a list of considerations to ponder besides housing. Like protecting the “livability” of homeowners, in this case.

Krohn defends his point of view by saying the corridor plan was unpopular, anyway. And maybe he’s got a point there. It’s almost like someone’s been campaigning against it!

Looking ahead, Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 any day now. And when he does, last month’s anti-corridor vote will leave Santa Cruz in violation of state housing law.

Now, that is a development that won’t make Santa Cruz look too progressive.

Patti Smith’s Lonely New Year at the Dream Inn

Wallace Baine

-

September 24, 2019

0

Patti Smith’s Lonely New Year at the Dream Inn

My family and I have a New Year’s tradition, born of my daughter’s experience living in Korea.

We bypass staying up past midnight—a custom too freighted with booze and melancholia anyway. Instead, we rise before dawn and greet the sunrise on the beach, as the Koreans do. In our case, we largely have Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz to ourselves. Then it’s off to the best breakfast we’ll have all year, at the Crow’s Nest.

If Patti Smith’s new memoir Year of the Monkey is to be believed, a few years ago, while we were lingering over our crab omelettes and brioche, Smith herself was about a mile up the coast, stumbling alone around an unfamiliar waterfront looking for breakfast and, more urgently, coffee. She found the Ideal Bar and Grill—which was, alas, closed—then plopped herself down at a bench to brood.

Gifted with hindsight or clairvoyance, would I have abandoned my family to rescue Patti Smith from her coffee-less misery? Almost certainly. But The Year of the Monkey might have turned into a much different book.

Dreamy, lyrical, even hallucinatory, Monkey is a wistful chronicle of Smith’s life in 2016, and the latest in a series of her enormously successful memoirs, preceded by the National Book Award-winning phenomenon Just Kids (2010) and its follow-up M Train (2015).

The new book hinges on two significant losses in Smith’s life: the deaths of her close friend and music producer Sandy Pearlman, and even closer friend—and former lover—playwright Sam Shepard.

But it begins in Santa Cruz, on New Year’s Day, with Smith waking up at the iconic Dream Inn, which throughout the book she calls “the Dream Motel” as a way to take ownership of it and enlist it as the book’s central metaphor.

That New Year’s Day opening—Smith lost and alone in a part of Santa Cruz which is usually clogged with tourists, scrounging for a cup of Nescafe, and dialoguing with the Dream Inn sign—is key in setting a tone. A midwinter ghost-town vibe pervades this whole book, even as it follows Smith to San Diego, Venice Beach, Arizona, Kentucky, Seattle, and New York.

STREET POET

Before she was a publishing-industry powerhouse, before she was a punk-rock icon, Patti Smith was a street poet.

Considering that the world has consistently given her nothing but fame and applause for following her muse wherever it may take her, it’s no shock that her latest book defies all familiar categories, playfully exploring the seam between reality and fantasy. It’s full of half-buried dream imagery and mysterious characters who emerge from somewhere out of the American landscape. Smith herself calls this weird state of consciousness “skating along the fringe of dream,” and later, “more of a visitation, a prescience of things to come, like a tremendous swarm of gnats, black clouds obscuring the paths of children reeling on bicycles.”

Literal-minded readers looking for a documentary tone or for rockstar gossip are likely to come away perplexed, even mystified by this swirl of images, themes and references—Australia’s mystical Ayers Rock, Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño, ’80s pop singer Belinda Carlisle, on and on. But fans of Smith’s previous memoirs should know the score by now. Smith’s poetic sensibility is driving the bus here, and anyone who takes Monkey on its own terms, as a 170-page prose poem, will be rewarded with a rich, kaleidoscopic narrative of surprises and insights.

Death and loss haunt nearly every sentence of this book—again, no shock to anyone who has experienced Patti Smith’s work. The political horror that accompanies any memory of 2016 is referenced only obliquely—“an avalanche of toxicity infiltrating every outpost” as she called the 2016 election. Instead, the beating heart of the book comes with Smith’s visits to Shepard at his Kentucky horse ranch. Shepard, nearly as admired in his artistic realm as Smith in hers, was afflicted with ALS in his final years. And Smith’s account of the once-virile playwright—no longer in control of his body, darkly commenting “We’ve become a Becket play”—is heartbreaking.

Smith, 72, has been as intimate with grief as any living artist, having survived the death of her first love and muse Robert Mapplethorpe and her husband, guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, along with countless others close to her. Her previous books (and her particularly strong late-1990s string of albums) have been fearless meditations on not just coping with loss, but learning to incorporate the memories and spirits of those she’s lost in her own dream of life.

She chronicles her string of losses in Monkey and adds, “Yet still I keep thinking that something wonderful is about to happen. Maybe tomorrow.”

That’s not denial. That’s defiance.

Autumn and Libra–Let Choice Begin: Risa’s Stars Sept. 25-30

Risa D’Angeles

-

September 24, 2019

0

Autumn and Libra–Let Choice Begin: Risa’s Stars Sept. 25-30

Early Monday morning, the sun entered Libra, sign of balance and poise. Libra, a cardinal sign, initiates autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Autumn begins the “dark half of the year.” It also signals the Soul half of the year. From now ’til winter solstice, the amount of light available each day lessens. The days become shorter and darker. There is a part of us that will long for the rituals (Ray 7) of light to protect us during the darkening months. We look toward the Festivals of Lights soon to begin.

Autumn equinox, a moment in time when there is balance of light and dark, expansion and contraction, between summer and winter, can feel bittersweet. Autumn holds a different sort of promise—that hidden within darkness is light, the Soul (light) hidden within the darkness of matter. This light is to be birthed at Winter Solstice.

In Libra, humanity is given a choice. Libra is called the “sign wherein humanity chooses” which path to follow—back to Virgo, or moving forward to Scorpio. Do we choose to continue with material (Virgo) experiences, or are we strong enough to enter into the tests and trials of discipleship (Scorpio)? Libra allows us an interlude in which to ponder these choices, and then, as one of the signs of crisis, Libra forces us to choose. We stumble about within this crisis until the right choice is made.

In Libra, we enter into the Arjuna/Krishna story. Arjuna awoke one morning to the sounds of battle. Krishna, the Teacher, told Arjuna (aspirant/student), he would need to choose a side to fight on (support, identify with). Arjuna declined to choose until a crisis ensued. Libra (our choice) is a “crisis point” for each of us.

ARIES: You think about loving your work and those you work with, and communication is good with everyone (though you must battle against critical thoughts). You seek to help others more, which inspires them, and then work is even better and more fulfilling. Loyalty toward you emerges, new goals are considered, workflow increases—and so does success. It’s like a river flowing harmoniously for everyone. It begins with you, the leader.

TAURUS: You may not be romantic outwardly because of so much work to be done to insure humanity and the future’s sustainability. But this doesn’t mean you feel less love. It’s just that you’re focused, determined and disciplined. You must follow your own instincts and intuition and not let relationship concerns get in the way. You have been tending to others non-stop for weeks. You must rest now. The world goes on. And new challenges are ahead.

GEMINI: Mental, emotional and physical stability are concerns now, and so you must assess, tend to, ask for, create, and call forth what is not only safe but also what comforts and creates security. We are in an era of destruction, darkness (Kali Yuga), change, disruption, hope, anticipation, choice, and opportunity. Soon it will be time to make plans. Unusual plans. Something is ending. And something new begins. Watch for both.

CANCER: You feel the need to communicate with everyone. You realize everyone has a gift, and if they ask enough questions, that gift emerges and then you learn more and more about those in your environments. You, too, have gifts, and when you come out from under your shell—communicate and share—we see your gifts, too, and we learn from them. You are very perceptive now, more than usual. However, something saddens you, something obstructs your happiness. What is it?

LEO: There’s an inner and outer reality concerning interactions with individuals and groups, and also your creativity and leadership. Something is in opposition. You think you have to choose one over the other. Do you? Oppositions are actually only different sides of the same golden coin. Eventually they integrate, unify and synthesize. What is occurring that seems in opposition? Is it spiritual, emotional or material factors, needs of self or others, or a feeling of being worthy or unworthy?

VIRGO: You want to talk about issues, values and ideas important to you—things not often communicated, including your beliefs, how you want to serve, your new emerging identity and all the things you hope, wish and plan for. You’re practical, orderly and organized in your approach. These are important assets, especially when you look deep within. Gradually, a new sense of self-identity emerges.

LIBRA: It’s your birthday month. What do you wish for this year? Plans created long ago are slowly being implemented. I hope all your dreams and aspirations come true. I hope for you solitude that leads to revelations and kindness that leads to forgiveness. Some hidden issues are not quite ready for the light of day. For now, you’re organizing inner things so you can later order and organize outer relationships and environments.

SCORPIO: Plan to have a social get-together of friends and acquaintances you care about. Include local sustainable and seasonal foods and biodynamic wines. Scatter several controversial books around, select some Satie, Chopin or Liszt (salon music). Consider an afternoon high tea. Suggest a subject to discuss, like how to create communities, the focus and purpose of community, who would be attracted, and how community would prepare everyone for the Aquarian Era to come. Criticism isn’t invited.

SAGITTARIUS: Do all that you can to create compromise between you and those you work with. Things small can escalate into things quite large. This includes good things, so give those around you what they want and need (as well and as much as you can) and this will be reflected back to you in terms of recognition and rewards. Be dashing as you perform these acts of kindness. You’ll become even more attractive and radiant. You’ve done this before. You’re honing your skills of charm and intelligence.

CAPRICORN: You could feel overwhelmed by too many events flooding your reality, not eating adequately and in a timely matter, or simply because you’ve been “on” for so long. The work you are doing has much to do with what you’ve done before. It seems perhaps you’re completing a long cycle of this type of work. You create pleasant and intelligent environments wherever you are. Many look to you for vital information, ideas, beauty, engagement, and love. Know you are valuable in many ways.

AQUARIUS: Soon (or now), you may want to discuss finances, daily events, schedules, relationships, etc. with someone, perhaps a parent, partner, family, or close friend. Speak with candor, ease and a neutral tone. Do not be frightened to discuss anything. Sharing eases your heart. When we speak the truth, truth holds us. When needed, ask for teamwork, understanding and consideration. In your daily life things change and then change some more. You too bring change.

PISCES: The focus is on relationships, close and intimate. You find yourself of many minds—one seeks to create harmony and goodwill, another to increase discipline and efficiency, and another to forge ahead with personal ideas and plans. It seems they are all in opposition. Ponder deeply on them; visualize them working together, and eventually a synthesis (unity) comes forth. It may be difficult at first. The time is not quite yet. Patience.

Film Review: ‘Downton Abbey’

Lisa Jensen

-

September 24, 2019

0

No one knows Downton Abbey better than Julian Fellowes, creator and longtime scriptwriter for the insanely popular PBS television series—unless you count the untold gazillions of rabid fans who embraced the show during its five years on the air.

As a token of thanks, Fellowes treats his fans like royalty in the movie adaptation of Downton Abbey. We’re invited to join the king and queen of England on a visit to Downton, an event of such epic pomp and ceremony that it takes a big screen to contain it all.

The faithful will adore every juicy frame of the Crawley family’s cinematic adventure—the subtle rustling of every beaded gown (the year is 1927); every fashionably bobbed and waved hairdo; every pointed remark between beloved characters, both upstairs and downstairs. Beneath the dazzling narrative focus on the royals’ impending visit, the busy subplots are devoted to catching up with as many familiar characters as possible.

But there’s also just enough storyline skipping along the movie’s glittery surface to entertain the uninitiated, propelling things to a satisfying conclusion (or two), stylishly done.

Scripted by Fellowes for director Michael Engler, another Downton veteran, the movie takes a more lighthearted approach to storytelling, without so much of the angst that can be developed in the episodic TV format over time. The news that King George V and Queen Mary will be spending one night at Downton, en route to some other royal engagement nearby, throws the household into turmoil. It’s a huge honor for affable Lord Crawley and his American-born wife (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern). But while take-charge daughter Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) faces a logistical nightmare, the downstairs staff frets over how they will feed, serve and wait upon such grand guests.

Turns out they may not get the chance when the royal traveling staff arrives to take over—complete with officious butler, waspish housekeeper, a snooty French chef (Philippe Courbet, straight out of a Monty Python routine), and an entire fleet of footmen and maids. To restore order, Lady Mary coaxes the former Downton butler, the indomitable Carson (Jim Carter), out of retirement. The image of Carson striding purposefully up the long and winding drive to Downton, shimmering on a hill like Camelot, is the movie’s most iconic moment.

When the Downton staff rebels at having to serve the very servants who are replacing them, a plot is hatched to take back their turf, led buy the ever-capable ladies’ maid Anna (Joanne Frogatt), steadfast valet Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle), and feisty cook Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol).

Meanwhile, Crawley’s son-in-law Tom Branson (Allen Leech) investigates a sinister stranger nosing around town in advance of the royals’ visit. And Downton’s current butler Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier)—coping with isolation, but determined to stay true to his sexual identity—finds an unexpected ally in a handsome, worldly young man from the royal entourage (Max Brown).

In another subplot, distant relation Maud Bagshaw (Imelda Staunton) is about to leave her estate to her young companion Lucy (Tuppence Middleton), provoking a showdown with Dowager Countess Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith), clan matriarch and staunch defender of the Crawley family legacy. Smith, of course, is Fellowes’ secret weapon. She makes an elegant feast out of every syllable he feeds her, and while the writing is impeccable, it needs Smith’s imperious, pitch-perfect delivery—especially her acerbic exchanges with Violet’s companion Isobel Merton (Penelope Wilton)—to steal every scene she’s in.

Chances are, if you have a favorite regular cast member, he or she is in here somewhere. The darker complexities of all their relationships can only be hinted at here, but at least Fellowes and company provide two hours of easy entertainment, with plenty to look at along the way.

DOWNTON ABBEY

*** (out of four)

With Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Elizabeth McGovern, Imelda Staunton, Robert James-Collier, and Maggie Smith. Written by Julian Fellowes. Directed by Michael Engler. A Focus Features release. Rated PG. 122 minutes.

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology Sept. 25-30

Rob Brezsny

-

September 24, 2019

0

Free will astrology for the week of Sept. 25, 2019

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Comedian John Cleese speaks of two different modes toward which we humans gravitate. The closed style is tight, guarded, rigid, controlling, hierarchical, and tunnel-visioned. The open is more relaxed, receptive, exploratory, democratic, playful, and humorous. I’m pleased to inform you that you’re in a phase when spending luxurious amounts of time in the open mode would be dramatically healing to your mental health. Luckily, you’re more predisposed than usual to operate in that mode. I encourage you to experiment with the possibilities.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Upcoming adventures could test your poise and wit. They may activate your uncertainties and stir you to ask provocative questions. That’s cause for celebration, in my opinion. I think you’ll benefit from having your poise and wit tested. You’ll generate good fortune for yourself by exploring your uncertainties and asking provocative questions. You may even thrive and exult and glow like a miniature sun. Why? Because you need life to kick your ass in just the right gentle way, so you will become alert to possibilities you have ignored or been blind to.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Novelist John Irving asked, “Who can distinguish between falling in love and imagining falling in love? Even genuinely falling in love is an act of the imagination.” That will be a helpful idea for you to contemplate in the coming weeks. Why? Because you’re more likely than usual to fall in love or imagine falling in love—or both. And even if you don’t literally develop a crush on an attractive person or deepen your intimacy with a person you already care for, I suspect you will be inflamed with an elevated lust for life that will enhance the attractiveness of everything and everyone you behold.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You know your body is made of atoms, but you may not realize that every one of your atoms is mostly empty space. Each nucleus contains 99% of the atom’s mass, but is as small in comparison to the rest of the atom as a pea is to a cathedral. The tiny electrons, which comprise the rest of the basic unit, fly around in a vast, deserted area. So we can rightfully conclude that you are mostly made of nothing. That’s a good meditation right now. The coming weeks will be a fine time to enjoy the refreshing pleasures of emptiness. The less frenzy you stir up, the healthier you’ll be. The more spacious you allow your mind to be, the smarter you’ll become. “Roomy” and “capacious” will be your words of power.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “We don’t always have a choice about how we get to know one another,” wrote novelist John Irving. “Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly—as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth.” This principle could be in full play for you during the coming weeks. For best results, be alert for the arrival of new allies, future colleagues, unlikely matches, and surprise helpers.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In North America, people call the phone number 911 to report an emergency. In much of the E.U., the equivalent is 112. As you might imagine, worry-warts sometimes use these numbers even though they’re not experiencing a legitimate crisis. For example, a Florida woman sought urgent aid when her local McDonald’s ran out of Chicken McNuggets. In another case, a man walking outdoors just after dawn spied a blaze of dry vegetation in the distance and notified authorities. But it turned out to be the rising sun. I’m wondering if you and yours might be prone to false alarms like these in the coming days, Virgo. Be aware of that possibility. You’ll have substantial power if you marshal your energy for real dilemmas and worthy riddles, which will probably be subtle.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “I just cut my bangs in a gas station bathroom,” confesses a Libran blogger who calls herself MagicLipstick. “An hour ago I shocked myself by making an impulse buy of a perfect cashmere trench coat from a stranger loitering in a parking lot,” testifies another Libran blogger who refers to himself as MaybeMaybeNot. “Today I had the sudden realization that I needed to become a watercolor painter, then signed up for a watercolor class that starts tomorrow,” writes a Libran blogger named UsuallyPrettyCareful. In normal times, I wouldn’t recommend that you Libras engage in actions that are so heedlessly and delightfully spontaneous. But I do now.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You could call the assignment I have for you “taking a moral inventory,” or you could refer to it as “going to confession.” I think of it as “flushing out your worn-out problems so as to clear a space for better, bigger, more interesting problems.” Ready? Take a pen and a piece of paper, or open a file on your computer, and write about your raw remorse, festering secrets, unspeakable apologies, inconsolable guilt, and desperate mortifications. Deliver the mess to me at tr**********@gm***.com. I’ll print out your testimony and conduct a ritual of purgation. As I burn your confessions in my bonfire at the beach, I’ll call on the Goddess to purify your heart and release you from your angst. (P.S.: I’ll keep everything confidential.)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Two hundred years ago, Sagittarian genius Ludwig Beethoven created stirring music that’s often played today. He’s regarded as one of history’s greatest classical composers. And yet he couldn’t multiply or divide numbers. That inability made it hard for him to organize his finances. He once wrote about himself that he was “an incompetent business man who is bad at arithmetic.” Personally, I’m willing to forgive those flaws and focus on praising him for his soul-inspiring music. I encourage you to practice a similar approach with yourself in the next two weeks. Be extra lenient and merciful and magnanimous as you evaluate the current state of your life. In this phase of your cycle, you need to concentrate on what works instead of on what doesn’t work.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “When you hit a wall—of your own imagined limitations—just kick it in,” wrote playwright Sam Shepard. That seems like a faulty metaphor to me. Have you ever tried to literally kick in a wall? I just tried it, and it didn’t work. I put on a steel-toe work boot and launched it at a closet door in my basement, and it didn’t make a dent. Plus now my foot hurts. So what might be a better symbol for breaking through your imagined limitations? How about this: use a metaphorical sledgehammer or medieval battering ram or backhoe. (P.S. Now is a great time to attend to this matter.)

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In 1965, Chinese archaeologists found an untarnished, 2,400-year-old royal bronze sword that was still sharp and shiny. It was intricately accessorized with turquoise and blue crystals, precision designs and a silk-wrapped grip. I propose we make the Sword of Goujian one of your symbolic power objects for the coming months. May it inspire you to build your power and authority by calling on the spirits of your ancestors and your best memories. May it remind you that the past has gifts to offer your future. May it mobilize you to invoke beauty and grace as you fight for what’s good and true and just.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “All human beings have three lives: public, private and secret,” wrote Piscean novelist Gabriel García Márquez. I will add that during different phases of our lives, one or the other of these three lives might take precedence; it may need more care than usual. According to my analysis, your life in the coming weeks will offer an abundance of vitality and blessings in the third area: your secret life. For best results, give devoted attention to your hidden depths. Be a brave explorer of your mysterious riddles.

Homework: “It is hard work and great art to make life not so serious,” said John Irving. How are you doing with that? freewillastrology.com.

Oingo Boingo Former Members Reunite for Dead Band’s Party

Steve Palopoli

-

September 24, 2019

0

Oingo Boingo Former Members Reunite for Dead Band’s Party

My parents took me to some concerts when I was a kid, but Oingo Boingo was the first concert I cared enough about to get to myself—which is saying something, since I wasn’t even old enough to drive back in 1988.

But at least one of my high school friends was, and she drove us four hours to see Boingo at the Greek Theater in L.A. I knew every line to every song, and sang them all at the top of my lungs like the obnoxious teenager I was. To everyone I ruined that show for, consider this a long overdue apology. I was pretty sure that night that life was not going to get any better.

It did—I mean, I’d never even had a bagel by then, let alone sex. But still, it was one of those “first concert” experiences you never forget.

The weird thing is, me and my other friends in Central California who liked Oingo Boingo thought they were, like, you know, superstars. Maybe not a household name, but c’mon, “Dead Man’s Party?” “Weird Science?” “Only a Lad?” Who didn’t know Oingo Boingo’s crazed, spooky, ska-influenced take on New Wave?

A lot of people, it turns out. In fact, Johnny “Vatos” Hernandez, who was Oingo Boingo’s drummer, and has brought together some of his former bandmates to play the Boingo oeuvre as Oingo Boingo Former Members—which comes to Mountain Winery in Saratoga on Saturday—says that outside of L.A. (where heavy play on pioneering alternative-rock station KROQ did kind of make them local stars) and pockets along the West Coast and in the Southwest, the band never really did make a dent before breaking up in 1995—and for good reason.

“It was always kind of a cult band,” says Hernandez. “It never really got a chance. We had a reluctant rock star in the band, Danny Elfman—he only liked to tour for six weeks after an album, and that’s all we would do. So what would happen is people would want us to come back in three months, and we wouldn’t do it. They’d want us to come back in a year, and we’d say, ‘No, we won’t do it, because we’re doing another album.’”

Elfman is now of course better known for being possibly the world’s most in-demand film composer, his decades-long collaboration with Tim Burton, and being the singing voice of Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas. After sustaining hearing damage from years of playing rock shows, and deep into his composing work, he swore off ever returning to Oingo Boingo again. And he wasn’t sure he wanted anyone else to, either.

“This is not something that Danny wanted to revisit. We didn’t start out on friendly terms when I said I wanted to start playing the band’s music again,” admits Hernandez. “We had to fight with lawyers and all kinds of stuff to even say that we were Oingo Boingo. First we did the tribute to Halloween, and then I said, ‘Danny, let me just say Boingo Dance Party,’ and he goes ‘Uh, alright.’ And then it was, ‘Danny, let me just say Oingo Boingo Dance Party, how’s that?’ ‘OK.’ And then five minutes later, ‘Danny … ’ Finally, he goes ‘Why don’t you just call it Oingo Boingo Former Members? You’ll cut right to the chase.’ Two years later, I finally listened to him. So that’s our current name. Handpicked by him.”

The reconstituted band—now featuring Boingo superfan Brendan McCreary on vocals—plays songs from every era of the band. Besides the “hits,” they also play a lot of fan-favorite deep cuts. Hernandez has been surprised to see a new generation of fans in their 20s and 30s at the shows—who also know all the words.

“We played the Whiskey, and I was sitting there going ‘Who are these people?’” he says. “They were all singing along with ‘No Spill Blood,’ ‘Only a Lad,’ ‘We Close Our Eyes,’—‘Good For Your Soul’ even.”

Though Oingo Boingo never had a pop breakthrough, the band had a huge influence on the ’90s ska revival that came later. Though they never got a lot of credit for it in the media, guitarist Steve Bartek—who is also part of the Former Members group—says that doesn’t matter much. He’s been impressed and gratified that bands like No Doubt (who wanted him to produce their second album) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have so freely acknowledged their debt to Boingo. “The fact that the musicians say those things means a whole lot,” says Bartek. The members of Oingo Boingo don’t worry about their legacy, he says. “No one’s sad that we were a little ahead.”

For better or worse, Hernandez says, the band’s off-kilter, apocalyptic-dance-party songs—especially social-protest-tinged ones like “Grey Matter,” “Nothing To Fear (But Fear Itself)” and “New Generation” are as timely as ever.

“It holds up,” he says of the band’s music. “It was written during the Reagan administration, and not much has changed. It’s the same crap that we’ve been going through all this time, so all those songs are pretty relevant today.”

Oingo Boingo Former Members perform with the Tubes and Dramarama on Saturday, Sept. 28, at Mountain Winery, 14831 Pierce Rd., Saratoga. 7pm. mountainwinery.com.

Music Picks: Sept. 25 – Oct. 2

Andrew Gilbert

-

September 24, 2019

0

Santa Cruz County live entertainment picks for the week of Sept. 25

WEDNESDAY 9/25

COUNTRY

PAUL CAUTHEN

Texas country singer Paul Cauthen’s deep baritone has a striking resemblance to the great Johnny Cash. But aside from a big cowboy hat and lyrics that indulge in self-destructive debauchery, that’s where Cauthen’s similarities with Cash end. Cauthen will challenge your idea of what country can be by mixing funk, R&B and gospel with the classic country sound. It works surprisingly well. He wrote his new record Room 41 isolated in a Texas hotel over two years, giving in to his unhealthiest impulses. It’s a mix of fire-breathing preacher and unrepentant sinner all wrapped into one. AC

8:30pm. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $12 adv/$15 door. 479-1854.

COUNTRY

VICTORIA BAILEY

Victoria Bailey is something of an enigma. The Huntington Beach artist plays country music, folk tunes, pop numbers, and even jazz songs. And while we’re still trying to piece it all together, one thing is undeniable: Victoria Bailey’s talent is endless and effortless. Her sweet, smooth and sultry voice glides over the golden road of melodies supplied by her backing band or her own guitar strumming. MAT WEIR

9pm. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 429-6994.

THURSDAY 9/26

DREAM-POP

AMO AMO

If you listen to psychedelic dream-pop, it’s required you wear peasant dresses and macramé necklaces with lockets full of potpourri satchels. Don’t try to argue with me. Or else, how will you thoroughly enjoy dancing to Amo Amo? How will you get with the flow, how will you connect? You could put flowers in your hair, or glue tiny gems under your eyes. Intricate henna hand tattoos work. Gauzy veils would be gorgeous as you twirl and sway to Amo Amo. Rings, trinkets and jeweled headbands are all wonderfully visual cues you’ve lost within the mellow, spiritually attuned rhythms. AMY BEE

9pm. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $12. 423-1338.

FRIDAY 9/27

INDIE

KENDRA MCKINLEY

Kendra McKinley’s Facebook page says her genre is “Girl Music.” That’s odd, because I have a lapel pin that asserts “Girl is not a genre.” Hmm. One of us is being funny. McKinley does have a great sense of humor, and it runs through all her girlie tunes, often playful and sarcastic simultaneously. From chamber-pop to funk influences, the songs maintain the integrity and wit of an accomplished singer-songwriter who dares to be gentle, sensual, confident, and silly all at once. AB

8pm. Lille Aeske, 13160 Hwy. 9, Boulder Creek. $20. 703-4183.

SATURDAY 9/28

ROCK

JIM MESSINA

How old were you when you penned your first surf-rock classic? Jim Messina was 16. That was before he joined Neil Young and Stephen Stills in Buffalo Springfield, and before he helped shape the genre of country-rock in Poco. In the’70s, his collaborative project with Kenny Loggins (Loggins and Messina), gave birth to the massive hit “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” and they even had a live album go to No. 5 on the charts. Pretty good for a guy who insulted my mommy by asserting that she can’t dance! MIKE HUGUENOR

8pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz. $50. 423-8209.

COMEDY

JESSICA SELE

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: a sober comedian walks into the Comedy Lab … OK, I need to write an ending. Best to leave the jokes to ex-San Franciscan Jessica Sele. Now living in L.A., this hilarious stander-upper doesn’t hold back on any topic, be it dates with mobster hitmen or how to have a normal life in the end times. MW

7 and 9:30pm. DNA’s Comedy Lab, 155 S River St., Santa Cruz. $20. 900-5123.

SUNDAY 9/29

FUNK

SINKANE

By the time Ahmed Gallab was 5, he’d lived in London (where he was born), Sudan (the country of his ancestral origin) and Ohio. As a young adult musician, he did session work with indie artists ranging from Caribou to Yeasayer. When he finally made the jump to releasing his own music under the moniker Sinkane in 2007, no genre was off the table. With the last two albums (Life & Livin’ it and Dépaysé), Sinkane has verged on creating his own entirely new style with elements as varied as prog-rock, free-jazz, Sudanese-pop, electronic, and funk. AC

8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $15 adv/$19 door. 704-7113.

MONDAY 9/30

INDIE

SOCCER MOMMY

On Clean, the debut full-length of Nashville indie rockers Soccer Mommy, the band happily embraces both sides of its identity. On songs like “Skin,” and “Your Dog,” the Mommies sound a lot like indie’s golden age: all syrupy beats, slinking bass parts and light jangle. Then, on single “Scorpio Rising,” they go full Nashville, matching the lush acoustics with a massive, yearning chorus, and a video that features a Chevrolet in a floodlit field, Tennessee plates and all. Led by the plaintive and unaffected voice of singer Sophie Allison, Soccer Mommy will pick you up and drop you off. MH

9pm. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $15. 429-4135.

TUESDAY 10/1

JAZZ

MADELEINE PEYROUX

Vocalist Madeleine Peyroux made one of jazz’s most dramatic debuts of the 1990s with Dreamland, an album that seemed to emerge from a hazy time warp where the edges of Billie Holiday’s voice had been buffed away with a soft cotton cloth. And just as suddenly as she appeared, Peyroux was gone, unheard for years. Her second act, launched with 2004’s Careless Love, has revealed a more complicated and curious artist. Her subsequent albums found her mining a century of American songs, while writing new material with brilliant musical partners. Her latest release Anthem is a defiant response to the 2016 election. ANDREW GILBERT

7:30pm. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $36.75 adv/$47 door. 427-2227.

Love Your Local Band: The Randy Savages

Aaron Carnes

-

September 24, 2019

0

If you’re seeking to further your knowledge on wrestling, rather than streaming another documentary on Netflix, you can simply show up to a performance of local pop-punk band the Randy Savages and listen closely to the lyrics.

“We try to be as historically accurate as possible. We put a lot of research into the songs,” says bassist/vocalist Jesse Williams. “We use a bunch of wrestling jargon and name-drop wrestlers. We get pretty immersed in it. Oh yeah!”

Of course, you will likely learn the most about Randy Savage, as each band member is dressed as the Macho Man himself: tights, wrestling belts, headbands, and super cool sunglasses. Several songs are about Savage, some are covers from his long-forgotten rap album, others are from his point of view—like “Dig It,” which gives a glimpse into Savage’s mind as he’s lacing up his boots, preparing to get out there and be interviewed by Mean Gene before the big fight.

“His dialogue is just great. You can turn it into lyrics pretty easily,” Williams says. “There’s no lack of inspiration.”

At the beginning of live shows, the band even enters from the back and points at the crowd while Savage’s infamous entrance music plays.

Originally, Williams proposed a band that played pop-punk songs about wrestling to guitarist Nick Carroll, who loved the idea. Coincidentally, Carroll happened to start wrestling himself. He’s taught Williams some moves, and they have been known to spar a little during sets.

“He’ll do a foot stomp or maybe a groin chomp. Give me a big knee to the nuts,” says Williams. “Then we’ll go back to playing songs.”

7pm. Saturday, Sept. 28, Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $7. 423-7117.

Santa Cruz County’s Fall Foodie Lineup

Christina Waters

-

September 24, 2019

0

Could anything be more laid back, 100% California than live outdoor music, spicy food and cold beer?

Nope. That’s why Aptos Village Park is the place to be next Saturday, Oct. 5, when the popular food, fine wine and craft beer fest known as Gourmet Grazing on the Green pops up once again.

This festival has it all, from a shuttle service to and from Cabrillo College parking lot K, to an etched commemorative wine glass for your collection. Tickets include an afternoon of food and drink sampling and all the live music fit to rock. From Alfaro to Zameen, this event has your food needs covered. Top local purveyors like Hula’s, Friend in Cheeses, Shadowbrook Restaurant, and Ella’s at the Airport are regulars at Grazing. Wineries like Bonny Doon, Hallcrest, Kathryn Kennedy, and Storrs will doubtless be on hand, along with Venus Spirits and Discretion Brewing. But there are dozens and dozens of sampling opportunities while you stretch out on the grass and kick back. Remember to pack your hat, sunscreen and a layer or two—sunshine is expected. The event provides shaded tents, table umbrellas and chairs for guests to use. And for such a good cause. The Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group raises money to fund new research and support organizations such as Hospice of Santa Cruz. Tickets $65 adv/$70 door, minors $35, designated drivers $40/$50.

sccbg.org/gourmetgrazingonthegreen

Love Apple Farm Veggie Class

From master grower Cynthia Sandberg comes a terrific workshop, Winter Vegetable Gardening, on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 10am-4pm. Learn how to start and tend to a successful vegetable garden in our mild California winters. Over 30 different kinds of winter vegetables will be covered in an intensive, all-day workshop. Everyone gets to sow a flat of seeds to take home and transplant. Sandberg was for many years the exclusive restaurant gardener for 3-star Michelin dining room Manresa, and there is nothing she doesn’t know about tomatoes and other important vegetables.

Classes at Love Apple Farms’ retail location, 5311 Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley. $79, plus $10 materials fee. growbetterveggies.com.

Fish Hook

Continuing its Sustainable Coastal Communities salon, Soif Wine Bar is partnering with UCSC’s Coastal Science and Policy program to zero in on the topic of “A World without Salmon.” A chilling prospect that will be examined by local experts with global expertise. The dinner and discussion features National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Director and salmon expert Steve Lindley, along with Ian Cole and Charles Lambert of Ocean2table, a community supported fishery. Ocean2table will also provide local and sustainable seafood for the evening’s multi-course menu by Soif Chef Tom McNary.

Lindley, a researcher at UCSC, and the Ocean2table entrepreneurs, will lead the discussion on the history of salmon fishing, the current state of the industry and more. The Oct. 15 event is $75 per person, plus $25 for wine pairing. Reservations are required and can be made by calling Soif at 423-2020. The evening starts off with a small reception at 6:30pm, followed by seated dinner and discussion at 7pm. soifwine.com.

Salad Daze

Two of the area’s top playwrights are fond of specific salads. One always orders the dinosaur kale salad with grilled Fogline Farms chicken at Avanti Restaurant. The other has been seen digging into the cherry tomato and garbanzo bean-intensive Insalata Mista at Cafe Iveta. You’d do well to sample these bowls of greens with benefits.

LATEST ARTICLES

LATEST ARTICLES

LATEST ARTICLES

LATEST ARTICLES

STREET POET

DOWNTON ABBEY

WEDNESDAY 9/25

PAUL CAUTHEN

VICTORIA BAILEY

THURSDAY 9/26

AMO AMO

FRIDAY 9/27

KENDRA MCKINLEY

SATURDAY 9/28

JIM MESSINA

JESSICA SELE

SUNDAY 9/29

SINKANE

MONDAY 9/30

SOCCER MOMMY

TUESDAY 10/1

MADELEINE PEYROUX

Love Apple Farm Veggie Class

Fish Hook

Salad Daze