Santa Cruz on High Alert After Threat of ICE Raids

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July 16, 2019

Santa Cruz on High Alert After Threat of ICE Raids

It’s Friday night on the steps of the Santa Cruz Courthouse, and close to 200 people are standing in solidarity with the local immigrant community and those at detention centers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

For Tina Gomez, the gathering is a helpful way for immigrants to feel supported in smaller communities.

“The vigil opens minds, and hopefully unites us Latinos together. It’s important to take a stand and be present,” Gomez says. “I’m glad that they had this here, so at least I can take a stand. This [treatment] is wrong. They treat animals better than they treat these children.”

The July 12 vigil was part of a nationwide movement called Lights for Liberty, which advocates to “close the camps” where undocumented immigrants are being held in federal detention centers. A similar rally happened at the Watsonville Plaza at the same time.

At the vigils, groups like Santa Cruz Indivisible, Your Allied Rapid Response (YARR) and the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project provide support and information on legal rights and services. Members of the Santa Cruz Dreamer Project, like Blanca Cortez and her daughter, pass out flyers and information about the Rapid Response Hotline. Undocumented community members can call the number to find out if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been spotted in the area. Community members can also call to report ICE sightings.

“I’m a mom, so I feel like this is important not just for me but for my daughter to attend,” Cortez says. “I plan to do more activism, and we both plan to be more involved. It’s a reminder to my daughter about how lucky she is, and how to support others.”

immigration vigil — Hundreds flooded the front steps of the Santa Cruz County Courthouse with signs and candles to participate in Santa Cruz’ Lights for Liberty Vigil, a nationwide protest of detainment camps at the U.S.-Mexico border. PHOTO: NATALYA ESTRADA

Over the past week, undocumented residents around the country—especially those in the 10 U.S. cities identified in news reports—have been on edge since President Trump announced that immigration raids would start this past Sunday.

“They’re going to take people out, and they’re going to bring them back to their countries, or they’re going to take criminals out, put them in prison or put them in prison in the countries they came from,” Trump said on Friday. The raids were expected to take place over the course of several days.

Although cities listed so far don’t include less-populated areas like Santa Cruz, Doug Keegan, program director and attorney at the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project, advises immigrants with vulnerable statuses to be on high alert.

“It sounded to me like they were targeting larger cities like San Francisco or Los Angeles, but there could be some spillover in our area,” Keegan says, reminding people to be careful about going out in public. “ICE is really going after low-hanging fruit. People need to understand that they need to take common-sense approaches to protect themselves.”

Keegan estimates that close to 70% of Watsonville residents have at least one undocumented person living with them.

ICE has not said whether any agents are present in the Santa Cruz region. Agency Spokesperson Paul Prince, representing the San Francisco and Northern California region, reports that 2,327 arrests were made between January and March of this year throughout the state, and 1,245 individuals were deported during those three months.

Research last year by UCSC Professor Regina Langhout showed that the detrimental effects of deportations extend beyond the individuals detained, impacting families and the community at large. The study found that family members left behind can suffer multiple psychosocial consequences, and that separation of a child from a parent due to a deportation is associated with economic hardship, housing instability and food insecurity.

statue of liberty — A woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty greets vigil attendees at the Santa Cruz Courthouse. She holds a piece of paper with the words from the poem “The New Colossus,” which is written on a plaque at the actual Statue of Liberty. PHOTO: NATALYA ESTRADA

Valeria*, who lives undocumented in Santa Cruz, says her husband was detained by ICE last month and is currently in custody.

“It’s difficult for my children and I, who don’t get to see him,” she says. “It’s really emotional. We have a lot of problems since he was taken.”

Her family’s uncertainty grows as money becomes tighter and food becomes scarce. Valeria picks fruit from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., and says she still does not have enough money to pay next month’s rent, let alone support her children. That reality could leave her with difficult decisions to make should her husband get deported to Mexico.

“We want to stay here. It’s better here for my children. There’s better education, better opportunities and a better life for us here,” Valeria says, adding that they have no real family elsewhere. “We are alone. We don’t have enough money or resources. Most of our lives are here, and we can’t just leave.”

Valeria has considered speaking to immigration lawyers, but she says there are few services in the area, and that she doesn’t have money to pay a lawyer. She was told that her husband is being held in San Luis, Arizona, but hasn’t been able to speak with him since his arrest.

Prior to recent immigration raids, California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a video on Twitter telling immigrants they have the right to be careful before opening the door. “I just want to say, folks that are anxious about a knock on the door, when we talk about knowing your rights, ‘No abras la puerta.’ Without a warrant, you don’t have to open the door. You have the right to due process. You have the right to legal representation,” Newsom said.

Local law enforcement in both the county and city of Santa Cruz have refused to cooperate with ICE under most circumstances. As reported by GT in 2018, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart wrote to then-state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon that “fear of detention, deportation and family separation” was bad for public safety, undermining trust in law enforcement. After the passage of California’s Sanctuary State Bill, Hart, who oversees the jail system, stopped cooperating with ICE altogether.

The Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) participated in a controversial 2017 federal anti-gang operation, in which some immigrants were arrested because of their immigration status. SCPD has since outlined its official immigration policy, stating that an individual’s immigration status “is not a matter for police action,” and that local and state agencies do not have authority to enforce national immigration laws.

It also mentions that “officers shall not dedicate department time or resources to the enforcement of federal immigration law where the only violation of law is presence in the United States without authorization or documentation.”

*Name has been changed to protect source’s identity

Santa Cruz Beekeeper Fights for Rule Changes

Jacob Pierce

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July 16, 2019

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Santa Cruz Beekeeper Fights for Rule Changes

After she gave away all of her bees this past spring, the grief hit Donna Gardner hard. “I spent at least the first two weeks crying and not sleeping at night,” she says of her abrupt end to beekeeping.

For eight years Gardener had carefully cultivated hives in the yard behind her Sunnyside Avenue home, and she’d grown to appreciate the inner workings of honeybee civilization. Each hive had one queen and a few male drones, plus the mortuary bees to remove corpses and housekeeping bees to keep the hive clean. Certain bees tend to the queen, while others take care of the larvae or stand guard to keep out intruders. There are also forager bees that leave in search of pollen or nectar, then return to the hive to do what’s called a “waggle dance” for their fellow workers, providing directions to the location of some flowers in relation to the sun.

“If you ever watch bees going in and out of their hive, it’s mesmerizing. It’s so calming. I love coming home on a warm day, and you can smell the honey, and you can smell the propolis, and it smells really good. I miss that,” says Gardner, who used to give neighbors jars of honey made possible by the neighborhood’s flowers.

But now her hives are wrapped up in the city’s red tape—maybe for good.

Gardner believes the trouble started one day when the bees in one of her three hives started getting aggressive. Although her hives faced away from the street, they were only 9 feet from the sidewalk. She says her husband Tom came home from work early, put up a sign saying that their bees were angry, and stood watch, imploring people to walk down the other side of the street. Gardner called a beekeeper friend who picked up the hive that night after the bees went to sleep and brought it back to his property. Gardner says two people, including a neighbor, got stung that day.

It wasn’t long after that incident that the Gardners got a notice in the mail telling them that they were violating city law. Santa Cruz city rules state that bee hives must be at least 20 feet from the property line, and that residents may have no more than two hives. Additionally, each beekeeper is required to obtain a permit. The cost of each permit, Gardner would learn, was more than $1,500.

By the time a notice of violation arrived in the mail, Gardner was down to just one hive. Another one of her hives had gotten aggressive, so she gave it away. The notice warned her to take “remedial action” and get rid of the hive, or else she would get fined. She gave the last hive away. So Gardner was surprised earlier this month, when an invoice still arrived from the city for $615 or $738—it wasn’t clear which—for costs associated with the inspection.

The cost of appealing the fee is steep enough that she wonders whether there’s any point in bothering to file one.

Bees play an important role in ecosystems around the world. Researchers have found that one-third of crops require help from pollinators like bees in order to grow. With bee populations falling, environmentalists have begun to panic. But there’s some disagreement over the importance of honeybees in particular. Although several bee species have landed on the endangered species list, the honeybee is not one of them.

After learning about the regulations, Gardner searched the city’s website for a permit, only to learn that it wasn’t available online. She stopped by the Santa Cruz Planning Department, where Gardner says the planner needed her help to actually track down the permit, reinforcing her view that the requirement is an arcane frivolity.

Ralph Dimarucut, a management analyst with the city of Santa Cruz, says he can appreciate that sense of frustration. He says the feedback is helpful and promised to pass it along. “We just want to make it as easy as possible,” he tells GT.

In general, it does not appear that many bee hives are getting tagged. Santa Cruz Planning Director Lee Butler says there have been three instances where bee hives were hit with notices of violation since 2010.

Embarking on a new mission to convince the city to loosen its bee rules, Gardner enlisted the help of her neighbor Nicki Nelson, a lawyer. Together, they crafted Gardner’s dream ordinance. Gardner is suggesting changes including and end to city fees, and that a hive need be only 6 feet from the property line. Nelson says that since looking into the issue, she’s found Santa Cruz’s bee ordinances to be far stricter than other communities nearby.

Nelson and Gardner reached out to City Councilmember Drew Glover, who founded Project Pollinate, an advocacy organization focused on preserving pollinators. They set up a meeting later this month with Glover, who says he first learned about cumbersome restrictions from the Santa Cruz Bee Guild. “The question is, ‘Why is the city putting up barriers or making it more difficult?” asks Glover, who says he hadn’t brought up the issue at the city yet because he’s been focused on topics like homelessness.

Butler says the planning department has a plan to update its beehive regulations, although that item doesn’t have a specific timeline. “It’s in the queue,” he says.

Gardner is eager to start a community discussion about pollinators. She also hopes she gets the opportunity to be a beekeeper again.

“This was my teeny, tiny, little thing that I felt like I could do for good,” she says. “And the benefit was I got honey.”

NUZ: Franzen Loves Homeless Birds, Surfrider Sold

Nuz

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July 16, 2019

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NUZ: Franzen Loves Homeless Birds, Surfrider Sold

When PG&E starts shutting off power lines this summer in high-wind events, the electricity could be down for up to five days in an effort to prevent wildfires. It’s a pain for us customers. But PG&E won’t care, because it’s cheaper for investors than making needed upgrades. A recent Wall Street Journal investigation found that the utility’s transmission towers are an average of 68 years old, even though their average life expectancy was 65 years, and the company hasn’t been regularly inspecting infrastructure. For information on how to prepare for outages and receive shutoff notifications, visit pge.com.

Over the last 10 years, California experienced 4,300 outages—more than any other U.S. state—affecting more than 22 million Californians, according to Eaton’s annual Blackout Tracker. Homeowners who’ve been prudent enough to install solar panels may be off the hook, but only if they have a home battery handy. According to California government data, 7,700 homes in Santa Cruz County now have solar.

The San Francisco-based PR firm Edelman reached out and helped compile this data, even offering to connect Nuz with its client Sunrun, which makes a revolutionary home solar battery that—blah, blah, blah, all right, this isn’t an advertisement.

RARE OPPORTUNITY

Retired auditor Dave Lane is buying downtown Santa Cruz’s Surfrider Café, which he plans to rename Kind Brewery. Lane, who finished last in last year’s Santa Cruz City Council race, says he’ll expand beer offerings, in part by installing a new microbrew system and 10 more taps. He adds that he’ll keep the beer-and-burger joint’s menu mostly the same.

Let’s hope so, or else customers are sure to grill, burn and roast him to a temperature even hotter than voters did in 2018.

ARM IN FARM

Local birdwatcher Jonathan Franzen, who also happens to be a New York Times best-selling novelist, will give the keynote speech at an upcoming Homeless Garden Project farm-to-table dinner. The Boulder Creek resident apparently enjoys looking for birds at the Westside garden, which will host a Sustain Farm Supper with dishes from four local chefs for $150 a head. More information’s available at homelessgardenproject.org.

The age-old question for HGP’s own homeless garden project remains: “Will they ever find that poor garden a home?” For more than 20 years, the plan has been to move it to Pogonip, a Santa Cruz park. But over the past couple of decades, that plan has hit more bumps than a tractor on a backcountry road. The latest hitch has been the revelation that, back in the day, ol’ Pogonip Club members used to shoot clay pigeons, prompting the city to begin an environmental review to study how much lead contaminated the soil. The organization’s leaders are still eager to get planted, hopefully in 2021.

The Promise of Freedom: Risa’s Stars July 17-23

Risa D’Angeles

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July 16, 2019

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The Promise of Freedom: Risa’s Stars July 17-23

Living on Earth is living on a planet of duality. We understand night because there is day, up because there is down, right because there is left, darkness because of the light. There are times when duality is presented to us in great measure.

We are in that time now, living as we are in what is spiritually referred to as the Kali Yuga Age—years when the darkness (hiding the promise of light) is allowed to be out and about in the world. Darkness that is equal to the light, a profound duality. This duality is manifesting in our country in language, behaviors, political thinking, and perception.

Duality has purpose. When pointed out, we discern what our position and beliefs are, and more choices become available. Presently, two different political views, like two sides of a gold coin, prevail: the politics of grievance, intolerance and victimhood, and, on the other side, the politics of hope and goodwill. One is bright with promise. The other leads to violence and destruction. One sings, the other is unable. One has hope, the other despair. One allows for freedom, the other suppression. This duality underscores the battle for freedom in our country, and highlights a profound developmental stage within humanity.

Disciples know three things: 1. Before a new harmony emerges, conflict and chaos appear; 2. The promise of freedom is greater than the problems encountered on the journey towards that freedom; 3. The U.S. is an experiment in freedom. On Monday, the Sun enters Leo, sign of individual free thinking—away from tribal, mass thinking. Leo is the sign of the Soul, always choosing goodwill.

ARIES: What is your lineage, what are your cultural roots, your heritage? How are interactions and relations with family and relatives, and how are you feeling about yourself these days? Your energy may be low. You must rest, be in the sun and sleep a bit more, tend more to family and the home, and bring into your environments that which sustains, comforts and supports you. No moods will be allowed.

TAURUS: You may be in touch with past relationships and friends. This will allow you to review not only your self-worth, but also what you value about yourself. You will find that you must begin or assume again plans for community development, new neighborhoods based on community cooperative ideals. Communication between two factions may be needed. Notice any values conflicts. What is right beside you is most important.

GEMINI: A new beginning, a reorientation or a re-evaluation of your values has been called forth. Changes have occurred, opportunities are appearing. You must keep up with these, for you can be a spokesperson for many. A smaller reality must fall away in order for you to embrace a larger one. Usually you’re silent about such things. Who can you talk to now? The soul brightens up each day, calling your personality to choose.

CANCER: A new beginning is occurring for you. A new seed thought has been planted in your heart and mind. I know you sense and feel it. Forces and energies not yet fully known call you to a greater self-discovery. Perhaps it concerns where you live and your present world work. You have/will become more adaptable, which increases your self-acceptance and self-worth. Something ends quietly, and something greater begins.

LEO: Review your career path, your finances and your spiritual knowledge and beliefs. This will shift into focus what is most important for you. You will recommit to something, someplace or someone from long ago. This surprises you. You’re finally learning from (and listening to) others. Many have loved you over lifetimes. What does your heart tell you about these things?

VIRGO: You will enter into regions of the mind not often explored, and will find over time what ideas and beliefs from long ago need elimination so that new regions of the mind can develop. Hidden aspects of self will be encountered. Observe everything. The eclipses brings endings with new beginnings. Along with your retrograde journal, are you writing in your eclipse journal?

LIBRA: Is there a conflict between previous choices and present ways of being? Holding onto the past is a comfort. However, you also want to move forward. You cannot do both. Review what the past means to you and why you made certain decisions that keep you from certain situations and people. The eclipses this month bring forth startling and surprising thoughts, ideas, events, and life changes. The ideas of forgiveness and inclusion follow.

SCORPIO: Bold steps may be taken in areas of goals, culture, study, education, and career. You may even travel a bit, leading to a new direction in life. Careful in the retrograde. Something dramatic and different may occur at work—or has it already? As time passes, you’ll understand the opportunities being offered to you. If you could do anything in the future, what would that be?

SAGITTARIUS: Unexpected events will affect your dream world, your intuition and the place where inspiration comes from. You are to tend to finances once again. It’s important to know what your relationship is with money and sharing with others. This will expand and change. Also, someone may come along in the next three months, and then new ideas and revelations occur. Be charming and kind.

CAPRICORN: Allow yourself to rest more. Don’t be guarded, don’t overwork or stress yourself. If you do, someone or something may catch you off guard. Too many details these days are exhausting and distracting from what’s important. Tell everyone in your environment you need extra help. Create an agenda of tasks for others to do. Allow them to perform those tasks. Then give them stars. In the meantime, lay about and languish a bit.

AQUARIUS: At first the weeks ahead feel uncontrollable, surprising and uncertain. Then you realize life is changing at such a rapid pace that you may as well be happy, expectant and excited about it. This response expands your imagination and vision, elevates and vivifies your life force, and you feel divinely connected to all forms of life, all planes and kingdoms. This, by the way, is joy. Now you can nourish others with it.

PISCES: You will begin to see things—life’s events, choices—in a new light. This will be good. You will learn to not turn away when upset or sad, but to turn toward and make amends. You will also begin to have a calm perspective and faith in the future, knowing what comes forth will be perfect. Something will occur that changes you—a gift, a task, recognition, a new role, a family member, a question.

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology July 17-23

Rob Brezsny

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July 16, 2019

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Free will astrology for the week of July 17, 2019

ARIES (March 21-April 19): An Aries reader sent me a boisterous e-mail. “I was afraid I was getting too bogged down by my duties,” he said, “too hypnotized by routine, too serious about my problems. So I took drastic action.” He then described the ways he broke out of his slump. Here’s an excerpt: “I gave laughing lessons to a cat. I ate a spider. I conducted a sneezing contest. I smashed an alarm clock with a hammer. Whenever an elderly woman walked by, I called out ‘Hail to the Queen!’ and did a backflip. I gave names to my spoon (Hortense), the table (Beatrice), a fly that was buzzing around (Fallon), and a toothpick (Arturo).” According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Aries, you’d be wise to stage a comparable uprising.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Welcome home, homegirls and homeboys. After observing all your homesteading in homes away from home, I’m pleased to see you getting curious about the real home brew again. I wonder how many times I’ll say the word “home” before you register the message that it’s high time for you to home in on some homemade, homegrown homework? Now here’s a special note to any of you who may be feeling psychologically homeless or exiled from your spiritual home: the coming weeks will be a favorable time to address that ache and remedy that problem.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The world is full of eternally restless people who seethe with confused desires they don’t understand. Fueled by such unfathomable urges, they are driven in unknown directions to accomplish fuzzy goals. They may be obsessed in ways that make them appear to be highly focused, but the objects of their obsession are impossible to attain or unite with. Those objects don’t truly exist! I have described this phenomenon in detail, Gemini, because the coming months will offer you all the help and support you could ever need to make sure you’re forever free of any inclination to be like that.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): What would you say if I asked you to tell me who you truly are? I wouldn’t want to hear so much about your titles and awards. I’d be curious about your sacred mysteries, not your literal history. I’d want to know the treasured secrets you talk about with yourself before you fall asleep. I’d ask you to sing the songs you love and describe the allies who make you feel real. I’d urge you to riff on the future possibilities that both scare you and thrill you. What else? What are some other ways you might show me core truths about your irrepressible soul? Now is a good time to meditate on these riddles.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Isaac Asimov wrote a science fiction story about a physicist who masters time travel and summons William Shakespeare into the present time. The Bard enrolls in a night school class about his own plays—and proceeds to flunk the course. Modern ideas and modes of discourse are simply too disorienting to him. He is unable to grasp the theories that centuries worth of critics have developed about his work. With this as a cautionary tale, I invite you to time-travel not four centuries into the future, but just 10 years. From that vantage point, look back at the life you’re living now. How would you evaluate and understand it? Do you have any constructive criticism to offer? Any insights that could help you plan better for your long-term future?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to buy yourself toys, change your image for no rational reason and indulge in an interesting pleasure that you have been denying yourself for no good reason. In addition, I hope you will engage in at least two heart-to-heart talks with yourself, preferably using funny voices and comical body language. You could also align yourself gracefully with cosmic rhythms by dancing more than usual, and by goofing off more than usual, and by wandering in the wilderness and seeking to recapture your lost innocence more than usual.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Although you’ll never find an advertisement for Toyota or Coca-Cola or Apple within my horoscope column, you will find hype for spiritual commodities like creativity, love and freedom. Like everyone else, I’m a huckster. My flackery may be more ethical and uplifting than others’, but the fact is that I still try to persuade you to “buy” my ideas. The moral of the story: everyone, even the Dalai Lama or Desmond Tutu, is selling something. I hope that what I’m saying here purges any reluctance you might have about presenting yourself and your ideas in the most favorable light. It’s high time for you to hone your sales pitch—to explain why your approach to life is so wise, to be a forceful spokesperson and role model for the values you hold dear.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You are growing almost too fast, but that won’t necessarily be a problem—as long as you don’t expect everyone around you to grow as fast as you. I suspect that you also know almost too much, but I don’t anticipate that will spawn envy and resistance as long as you cultivate a bit of humility. I have an additional duty to report that you’re on the verge of being too attractive for your own good—although you have not yet actually reached the tipping point, so maybe your hyper-attractiveness will serve you rather than undermine you. In conclusion, Scorpio, I invite you to celebrate your abundance, but don’t flaunt it.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The snow leopards of Central Asia crave a lot of room to wander. Zoologists say that each male prefers its territory to be about 84 square miles, and each female likes to have 44 square miles. I don’t think you’ll require quite that vast a turf in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. But on the other hand, it will be important not to underestimate the spaciousness you’ll need in order to thrive. Give yourself permission to be expansive.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I want to do things so wild with you that I don’t know how to say them.” Author Anaïs Nin wrote that in a letter to her Capricorn lover Henry Miller. Is there anyone you could or should or want to say something like that to? If your answer is yes, now is a good time to be so candid and bold. If the answer is no, now would be a good time to scout around for a person to whom you could or should or want to say such a thing. And if you’d like to throw in a bit more enticement, here’s another seductive lyric from Anaïs: “Only the united beat of sex and heart together can create ecstasy.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Did you hear the story about the California mom who started a series of forest fires to boost her son’s career as a firefighter? She is an apt role model for behavior you should diligently avoid in the coming weeks. It’s unwise and unprofitable for you and yours to stir up a certain kind of trouble simply because it’s trouble that you and yours have become skilled at solving. So how should you use your problem-solving energy, which I suspect will be at a peak? I suggest you go hunting for some very interesting and potentially productive trouble that you haven’t wrangled with before—some rousing challenge that will make you even smarter than you already are.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The heroine of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is curious, adventurous and brave. First, she follows a well-dressed rabbit down a rabbit hole into an alternate universe. Later, she slips through a mirror into yet another parallel reality. Both times, with great composure, she navigates her way through many odd, paranormal, and unpredictable events. She enjoys herself immensely as she deals with a series of unusual characters and unfamiliar situations. I’m going to speculate that Alice is a Pisces. Are you ready for your very own Alice-in-Wonderland phase? Here it comes!

Homework: Name something you could change about yourself that might enhance your love life. Testify at freewillastrology.com.

A Taste of 8 Emerging Santa Cruz Winemakers

Christina Waters

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July 16, 2019

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A Taste of 8 Emerging Santa Cruz Winemakers

On Sunday, July 21, Soif Winebar and Merchants will bring together a galaxy of the newest winemakers in Santa Cruz for a unique afternoon tasting. The Santa Cruz Mountains was one of the state’s first American Viticultural Areas (AVAs), and today a new generation of winemakers continues to reveal the terroir of the area through sustainable, biodynamic and non-traditional practices. This Sunday at Soif offers an incredible opportunity to meet eight of these winemakers.

Alexis Carr—who started at Soif two years ago and now serves as wine shop manager—grew up in Santa Cruz, went off to school in Vancouver and earned a master’s degree in biodynamic strategies. She has up-and-coming winemakers on her radar.

“Santa Cruz wine and food is such a tight community,” she says. “I began making friends with the new winemakers who always invited me to come and try some of their wines.” What she tasted was terrific. Carr was impressed by how “crazy brave” it was for so many young entrepreneurs to put their energy into sustainable and biodynamic wine practices. “It takes heart and soul to do this,” she says.

On July 21, eight winemakers will present and pour their wines, accompanied by bread, cheeses and small bites by Soif chef Tom McNary. (Featured wines will also be available for purchase.)

Among the featured winemakers will be Ryan Stirm, who studied viticulture, eonology and sustainable agriculture at Cal Poly before working in wineries in California, Australia and Austria. Stirm Wine Company specializes in Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Noir and award-winning Riesling made from old-vine grapes.

Keegan Mayo of Assiduous Wines was born on the Big Island of Hawaii but moved to Santa Cruz at age 8. Mayo learned his craft at UC Davis, Mumm and in New Zealand before returning to create wines from organically farmed vineyards.

Florèz Wines was founded by James Jelks in 2017. Born in Santa Cruz, Jelks went through the UC Davis viticulture and enology program, then worked around the globe before coming back to produce wine in Santa Cruz County using organic and dry farming practices.

Madson Winemaker Cole Thomas was an organic vegetable farmer before turning his hand to wine. Working with Jeff Emery of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, Thomas expanded his wine knowledge. He met viticulturist Ken Swegles while bottling wine, and together they launched Madson Wines.

Margins Wine produces low-intervention wines using grapes from underrepresented regions, vineyards and varietals. Winemaker Megan Bell is committed to locating sustainably farmed vineyards and earned her degree in viticulture and enology from UC Davis before apprenticing in Napa, the Willamette Valley, New Zealand, and France’s Loire Valley.

Ryan Stirm and Andrew Nelson from San Luis Obispo’s Lapis Luna Wines will represent Companion Wine Co., a collaboration among Central Coast winemakers. The endeavor celebrates terroir-driven, natural wine with an emphasis on Riesling.

Samuel Louis Smith Wines sources grapes from sustainably managed vineyards throughout the Central Coast. Winemaker Sam Smith, also head winemaker at the historic Morgan Winery, learned to make natural wine in New Zealand, Australia and France.

Stagiaire (from the French word for apprentice) makes wines exclusively from organic vineyards crafted by winemaker Brent Mayeaux. After learning to farm and make wine naturally in New Zealand, Australia and France, Mayeaux moved back to the U.S. to produce his own wine.

New Wave Santa Cruz Winemakers, July 21 from 1-4 p.m. at Soif, 105 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz. $20 adv/$25 door. soifwine.com.

Music Picks: July 17-23

Aaron Carnes

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July 16, 2019

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Santa Cruz County live music picks for the week of July 17

WEDNESDAY 7/17

JAM ROCK

CALIFORNIA KIND

What makes a jam band work is equal parts knowing your fellow musicians, plus a healthy dose of just-for-the-hell-of-it chaos. Like the name suggests, California Kind gives listeners all the highs when life gets them low. Maybe that’s because the band’s roots run deep in modern rock music, featuring members who have played with Rod Stewart, Bruce Hornsby, John Fogerty and many more. As a group, they’ve worked with Warren Haynes, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, just to name just a few of the original heads. Watch for a debut album later this year. MAT WEIR

8 p.m. Michael’s on Main, 2591 Main St., Soquel. $15 adv/$20 door. 479-9777.

THURSDAY 7/18

INDIE

COSMO GOLD

You know a band is chill if they hang out in the bathtub together. I’m not sure if it’s something Cosmo Gold do on the regular, but you can see the band hanging out in the tub with bored expressions and delightfully ’70s yellow outfits in the new video for “Drown The Fly.” It’s a low-key, indie-pop ditty with upbeat ’70s, quasi-disco grooves pumping along while singer Emily Gold sings, “I am so scared to die.” Gold is the daughter of ’70s pop-rock hit-maker Andrew Gold (“Thank You For Being a Friend”), and has been playing music as a solo artist for a while. She formed Cosmo Gold as a full-on collaborative band earlier this year. AARON CARNES

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

FRIDAY 7/19

ROCK

MOON EATER

Local four-piece rock outfit Moon Eater released a killer self-titled record in 2012 that straddles the line between punk fury and blues-rock precision, ripping up and shredding every riff like a pissed-off Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Then in August 2013, the group played its final show as members moved away. Now the band is once again rocking and rolling Santa Cruz with six years of pent-up energy. If you weren’t around the scene back then but love meaty guitar licks, the band will be more than happy to adopt you for the night. AC

9 p.m. Poet And The Patriot, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. Free. 426-8620.

FOLK-ROCK

AMY HELM

The list of artists who’ve asked Amy Helm to sing on their records is astounding. Roseanne Cash, Steely Dan, Mercury Rev, Chris Smither, the Holmes Brothers, the Band. OK, well, that last one is kind of a gimme, since Helm’s dad does happen to be Leon Helm, the late drummer for the Band. After his death, she carried on the Midnight Ramble series of concerts at “the Barn” on his Woodstock, New York property. While she’s been surrounded by fame, she deserves to be discovered for is her own music. She started out in the alt-country band Ollabelle and released her second solo album last year. Anyone who likes her father’s music—and by that, I mean everyone—will appreciate how Helm has inherited the Band’s talent for soulful, rootsy rock with a fantastic beat. Her vocals only seem to get more gorgeous as she matures as a performer. STEVE PALOPOLI

7:30 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $25 adv/$40 gold circle. 427-2227.

SATURDAY 7/20

ALTERNATIVE

TOMMY GUERRERO

Famous as an original member of skate team Bones Brigade, Tommy Guerrero has also played guitar and bass since the late ’70s. With varied influences from Joy Division to Coltrane, Guerrero’s albums reflect the full gambit of his musical tastes. Lately, his explorations have taken an ethno-jazz, Afrobeat direction. The album Road to Knowhere is like a long, dusty drive through Death Valley, when the pavement turns to gravel and the GPS no longer works. Maybe you’re lost, maybe not. Maybe it’s about how far you’re willing to go. AMY BEE

9 p.m., Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $15 adv/$20 door. 479-1854.

COMEDY

SAM TRIPOLI & EDDIE BRAVO

Is the Queen of England really a Reptilian? Did pop sensation Avril Lavigne really die (or get whacked!) just to be replaced by a clone? For anyone intrigued by these dire questions, DNA’s Comedy Lab welcomes conspiracy theorists, writers and comedians Sam Tripoli and Eddie Bravo to discuss, debate and laugh at some of today’s hottest conspiracies. Along with hosting the Punch Drunk Sports podcast, Tripoli also hosts the Tin Foil Hat podcast, and Bravo is known for his many appearances on the Joe Rogan Experience (not to mention training Rogan in jiu-jitsu, the highest credential for conspiracy experts in some circles). MW

7 and 9:30 p.m. DNA’s Comedy Lab, 155 River St., Santa Cruz. $20 adv/$25 door. (530) 592-5250.

SUNDAY 7/21

BLUES

SUGARAY RAYFORD

In just about every sense, Sugaray Rayford is a towering figure. At 6’5 and 300 lbs., the ex-Marine is a commanding presence without even saying a word. But when you add in his voice (a soulful bellow, halfway between a croon and a wail) the native Texan could make a stadium go quiet. In May, the singer was named Soul Blues Male Artist of the year by the Blues Music Awards. Coming just months after the release of Somebody Save Me, it’s a banner year for one of the looming voices in modern blues. MH

4 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $15 adv/$20 door. 479-1854.

ROCK

BENMONT TENCH

Benmont Tench might be the actual heart of rock’n’ roll. His catchy keyboard and organ riffs are all over the classics—not just as part of his old group, Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, but also on albums from U2, Warren Zevon, Elvis Costello, Neil Diamond, Bonnie Raitt, and many, many more. There’s no way some of those venerated songs would be what they are without Tench and his boisterously fervid keyboard talents. His solos are as good as the rest, with a gently gruff voice, kinda like a mellowed-out Petty (if that’s possible) and simple lyrics and melodies that hit the heart with every beat. AB

8 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $40 adv/$45 door. 427-2227.

MONDAY 7/22

KIM NALLEY: PAYING RESPECT TO ARETHA

It might seem strange that Kim Nalley, the commanding San Francisco jazz and blues vocalist, is paying tribute to the Queen of Soul. But before Aretha earned her crown with her iconic Atlantic hits, she spent 1961-66 recording for Columbia in the mold of a contemporary jazz singer focusing on standards, blues and pop tunes (including a tribute to Dinah Washington). Nalley can sing it all, putting a personal stamp on just about any tune. Her not-so-secret weapon is a stellar band featuring ace bassist Michael Zisman, highly responsive drummer Kent Bryson, and the soul-steeped pianist Tammy Hall, a brilliant accompanist. ANDREW GILBERT

7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $31.50 adv/$36.75 door. 427-2227.

Love Your Local Band: Karla Hutton

Aaron Carnes

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July 16, 2019

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Local singer-songwriter Karla Hutton recalls the second song she ever wrote, “Spaces In Between.”

She wrote it while a friend was going through cancer treatment. As she processed the experience, she thought a lot about the ordinary moments this friend was missing out on.

“It was just something I chose to express about a person’s relationship to time, and what means the most,” Hutton says. “Those little moments in between are really the life that we take for granted: working in the garden, driving to work, walking on the beach. The little stuff that adds up.”

The song is an emotive folk song that she wrote five years ago when she attended a songwriting camp at Yosemite after flirting with songwriting for years. Even though she was used to writing—she’s owned a marketing company for 25 years—she didn’t think of herself as a songwriter.

“I kind of got hooked,” Hutton says. “I decided to go for it.”

She continued to write songs from her experiences, as well as moments she’s witnessed from the people around her. “Why We Stay” is another songs she’s really proud of. It tells the stories of three people that chose to stay in situations instead of running away, including a married couple that stay together for the kids and a Paradise fire survivor.

“I don’t write love songs. I don’t write happy-go-lucky songs. I write about things that move me and move my heart emotionally,” Hutton says. “That’s the energy I need to express. I want to be able to evoke an emotion that resonates with me and hopefully it resonates with an audience.”

Film Review: ‘Wild Rose’

Lisa Jensen

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July 16, 2019

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If the Jeopardy answer is “Three chords and the truth,” the question must be, “What is country music?” Rose-Lynn Harlan, the hard-luck young heroine of the musical melodrama Wild Rose, believes this so strongly she has the phrase tattooed on her arm. A freewheeling saloon singer in a backwater honky-tonk, Rose dreams of country stardom in Nashville—not an unusual dream, but dang near impossible for Rose-Lynn, who is stuck in her native Glasgow, Scotland, half a world away.

Directed by Tom Harper from an original script by Nicole Taylor, Wild Rose begins on the day Rose-Lynn (Jessie Buckley) is released from prison after serving a one-year sentence for bad behavior. After a pit stop at her boyfriend’s house for a quick tumble, she heads home to the housing project where her disapproving mum Marion (Julie Walters) has been raising Rose-Lynn’s two estranged little kids (named Wynonna and Lyle) in her absence.

Bounced out of her former singing gig at the neighborhood country saloon and forced by the fed-up Marion to finally take responsibility for the children she hardly knows, Rose-Lynn has to accept a day job cleaning house for classy, upscale Susannah (Sophie Okonedo). Turns out the easily distracted Rose-Lynn is miserable at motherhood, and an unreliable employee. (As soon as Susannah leaves the house, Rose-Lynn starts sampling her cosmetics, her liquor and her stash—for which there are no consequences whatsoever. The filmmakers just seem to think it’s a cute interlude.)

All Rose-Lynn cares about is the music, and pursuing her obsession of getting to Nashville by any means necessary. Since she doesn’t write her own songs, or even play an instrument, her entire country persona is borrowed from other artists and their music. (Songs by John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Wynona Judd, among others, are covered by Buckley on the soundtrack.)

And yet she’s only a bit daunted when somebody suggests to her that the only way to achieve her dream is to start telling her own story. Ultimately, the narrative works through its familiar changes to circle back to that tattoo: how much truth (especially about herself) can Rose handle?

Taylor’s script asks us to suspend a great deal of disbelief, and not always willingly. Buckley is a powerful singer with a gutsy stage demeanor, but it’s not entirely plausible that Rose-Lynn inspires such ardent devotion in everyone on the evidence of a single song or demo. (Okay, maybe her mother—except that in this story, her Mum is her harshest critic.) It’s a bit much when she persuades a staid barrister to go to court in hopes of getting her probation ankle bracelet removed by taking him to see her act at the saloon, where he starts rocking out.

When Rose-Lynn gives Susannah a few country music recommendations, Susannah becomes smitten with the genre literally overnight. (“I can’t stop listening!” she gushes.) She’s also smitten with Rose-Lynn herself, and instantly devotes all of her energy and resources to the would-be star’s career. At a climactic performance, even those with whom Rose-Lynn has most severely burned her bridges turn out to cheer her on. And while Taylor’s plot rolls out a familiar refrain of rift, reversal and resolution, the storytelling plateaus don’t always feel earned.

Rose-Lynn’s oblivious self-absorption is wearying at times. Still, the movie often entertains with cheeky attitude, occasional flights of musical fantasy and droll dialogue (when you can penetrate the characters’ thick Scottish dialects). When Susannah’s young twins appear out of the blue, the startled Rose-Lynn gasps, “It’s like The Shining!” As she dances around Susannah’s house with the vacuum, singing away, imaginary back-up musicians start appearing around every corner, adding their licks.

Those who are already fans of the genre will get the most out of Wild Rose, as uncluttered and predictable as a country lament.

WILD ROSE

**1/2 (our of four)

With Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters and Sophie Okonedo. Written by Nicole Taylor. Directed by Tom Harper. A Neon release. Rated R. 101 minutes.

Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Screwball ‘Pride and Prejudice’

Christina Waters

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July 16, 2019

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Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Screwball ‘Pride and Prejudice’

Kate Hamill’s madcap romp through the jewel in Jane Austen’s literary crown, Pride and Prejudice, had the Santa Cruz Shakespeare opening night audience laughing out loud. A lot.

Part farce, part Monty Python, part game-show sitcom, this two-and-a-half hour spin on Austen’s romantic comedy of manners loads its deck with cross-casting, cross-dressing and screwball antics. Playing multiple roles, eight actors work briskly through the tale of neurotic Mrs. Bennett (Carol Halstead), a country woman with upscale ambitions, desperately seeking at least one well-heeled husband for her quartet of unmarried daughters. Once the long-suffering Mr. Bennett (a wonderful Allen Gilmore) dies, the family will be left penniless, hence Mrs. Bennett’s hunger for an eligible bachelor.

The turmoil of locating husbands unfolds on an enchanting set whose circular window revealed the moon rising through the eucalyptus groves throughout the opening performance. Except for the central figure Lizzie (Allie Pratt), who finds the game of snaring a husband to be repugnant, the Bennett daughters are highly available; youngest Lydia (a deft Madison Pullins), Jane (Karen Peakes) considered the prettiest, and Mary (Landon Hawkins) considered the least likely to attract a suitor.

Hawkins transforms himself onstage from a pigtailed wig and garish green gown into the handsome Mr. Bingley, who along with his sister (Ian Merrill Peakes) has just moved into the neighborhood, to the wheezing delight of Mrs. Bennett. The Bennett girls meet Bingley and his friend—the awkward, handsome Mr. Darcy (Lindsay Smiling)—at a neighborhood ball, and the game of class conflicts and rigid courtship codes of Regency England begins.

As a savvy postmodern playwright, Hamill is keen to point out how little things have changed since Austen’s day, when women were taught that destiny entailed marriage, period. And her approach involves great helpings of parody, slapstick and often-delicious sight gags in which characters switch in and out of drag with the pace of an ’80s Times Square disco. Opening night’s audience roared its approval during both acts, but especially the second, when the comedy was more acutely pitched against the seriousness of Austen’s social insights. As an irreverent deconstruction of the novel, Hamill’s Pride and Prejudice is full of fun, though not all of it equally successful.

Moving fluidly in and out of no fewer than three different characters, Ian Merrill Peakes owns many of the choicest moments. As the suave and ultimately chastened Mr. Wickham, he is elegant and seductive. As the hard-drinking sister of Bingley, he is a vision of drag perfection, providing a jaundiced counterpoint to the histrionic Mrs. Bennett. And as the country pastor coming to woo the lovely Lizzy, he is comic perfection. Armed with twitches, bodily mannerisms and vocal dazzle that John Cleese would kill for, Peakes reduced the opening night’s audience to tears of laughter. Genius.

I longed for more chemistry between the play’s central character, the smart and sensible Lizzy Bennet, and her adversary-turned-suitor Mr. Darcy. The connection between the actors, Pratt and Smiling, should tighten as the season continues. Here, as in other places, the director’s choices seemed ambivalent. And the scenes with the outrageously upper-crust Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Pullins again) fell into the cracks between camp, farce and social commentary, without illuminating any of those ideological strands.

The play itself—intent upon hilarity with a modern spin, while at the same time underscoring Austen’s social wisdom—seemed uncommitted to any particular point of view. And in that, it showed its 21st-century sensibility.

Pride and Prejudice offers a meaty and engaging evening’s entertainment. A feast for the eyes, thanks to costumer B. Modern and scenic designer Dipu Gupta, it will give fans of Jane Austen much food for thought and amusement.

‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Kate Hamill and directed by Paul Mullins, adapted from the novel by Jane Austen, runs at Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s Grove in DeLaveaga Park through Aug. 3. santacruzshakespeare.org.

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RARE OPPORTUNITY

ARM IN FARM

New Wave Santa Cruz Winemakers, July 21 from 1-4 p.m. at Soif, 105 Walnut Ave., Santa Cruz. $20 adv/$25 door. soifwine.com.

WEDNESDAY 7/17

JAM ROCK

CALIFORNIA KIND

8 p.m. Michael’s on Main, 2591 Main St., Soquel. $15 adv/$20 door. 479-9777.

THURSDAY 7/18

INDIE

COSMO GOLD

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

FRIDAY 7/19

ROCK

MOON EATER

9 p.m. Poet And The Patriot, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. Free. 426-8620.

FOLK-ROCK

AMY HELM

7:30 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $25 adv/$40 gold circle. 427-2227.

SATURDAY 7/20

ALTERNATIVE

TOMMY GUERRERO

9 p.m., Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $15 adv/$20 door. 479-1854.

COMEDY

SAM TRIPOLI & EDDIE BRAVO

7 and 9:30 p.m. DNA’s Comedy Lab, 155 River St., Santa Cruz. $20 adv/$25 door. (530) 592-5250.

SUNDAY 7/21

BLUES

SUGARAY RAYFORD

4 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $15 adv/$20 door. 479-1854.

ROCK

BENMONT TENCH

8 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $40 adv/$45 door. 427-2227.

MONDAY 7/22

KIM NALLEY: PAYING RESPECT TO ARETHA

7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $31.50 adv/$36.75 door. 427-2227.

WILD ROSE