Page 592 – Good Times

Love Your Local Band: RA-BE 333

Aaron Carnes

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July 2, 2019

In 2013, when RA-BE 33 (aka Rob) moved to Santa Cruz, he decided it was time to get serious about rapping. Originally from New Jersey, he’d rapped plenty, but he always treated it like a hobby.

Once here, though, he hit the ground running. Since 2014, he’s released five mixtapes, and in June, he released his first official EP, Write of Passage. The five original songs were produced by Resonant Sun with extra support from Dropical. He also brought in three local female singers, Marya Stark, Carmen “Mama” Crow and Gina Rene.

“I love the sound of a female voice,” Rob says. “It really brings a good counter-element, and a more full dynamic sound.”

Rob’s sound is a hybrid of classic hip-hop beats, trap, bass, and a hint of world beat. The back and forth of his lyrical verses with the singers’ soulfully ethereal vocals creates a hypnotic element in the music.

“It’s about me breaking through the threshold of my creative edge as a writer, as an emcee and as a musician,” he says of the new release. “Really stepping into my most powerful role as a creator, and walking through my own hero’s journey in the process.”

rabe333.com.

Cafe Delmarette’s Recipe for Downtown Nostalgia

Christina Waters

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July 2, 2019

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Cafe Delmarette’s Recipe for Downtown Nostalgia

The Delmarette was an institution when my mother was a girl, one of those classic lunch counter soda fountain places run by sturdy women in aprons who called you “Hon.”

Despite multiple transformations—and one big earthquake—this tiny landmark continues to serve honest, delicious breakfast and lunch items to a multi-generational clientele.

I love this place, and when a chef with three Michelin stars reminded me that this is one of the best espresso places in town, I took the hint. Laid back yet can-do, today’s closet-sized Delmarette is stacked to the rafters with artwork, chalkboards, bags of coffee beans, and adorned by wooden tables, chairs and one long bench that reminds me of grade school furniture somewhere in the 1960s. The city rolls by and the Del Mar theatre marquees keeps watch over a trio of serene staffers who thoughtfully prepare, and personally serve, every single item.

I was presented with an impeccably designed double macchiato (beans from Cat & Cloud, $3) that sipped rich, rounded and buttery, but not bitter. David was right. And from the all-star list of “Famous Toasted Sandwiches,” I went for the headliner, Rita’s Breakfast Sandwich ($8.50). Awaiting my main dish, I noted that Delmarette offers a choice of exotic iced teas made of hibiscus, passionfruit-jasmine, and caramelized pear. You can select your favorite milk from among hemp, almond, soy, coconut, and two organic cow’s milks.

I used to tease my students when they told me their favorite Santa Cruz food was the rococo California Burrito. They would laugh if they could see me noshing on this over-the-top house special. Rita’s is a culinary study in grilled layers: herb-laced frittata, roasted potatoes, aioli, and white cheddar cheese were all pressed together into a glorious gooey mass between slices of toasted compagnon bread. An opulent breakfast that arrived with potato chips! Such indulgence. I added Cholula. Next time, I’ll add ham for a few dollars more. Delmarette has a vibe that qualifies as only-in-Santa Cruz. Not fast food, so bring a book and relax. In warm weather the outdoor seating beckons.

Cafe Delmarette, 1126 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 420-1025, cafedelmarette.com.

Popping Birichino

Get ready for some delicious Full Steam Dumpling action on Thursday, July 11, when the winemakers from Birichino, Alex Krause and John Locke, prepare a neo-Throwback Thursday event at the tasting room with what Locke calls “older vintages of this or that” intended to pair with steamed bao, gyoza and assorted spicy dumplings.

Birichino, 204 Church St., Santa Cruz. birichino.com.

Farmers’ Market Breakfasts

It’s peak season for morning feasts to complement the experience of shopping for ultra-fresh produce at our various neighborhood markets. While you need to know that the two breakfasts scheduled for July at the Santa Cruz farmers’ market are already sold out, you can still jump in for your place at the Aug. 10 table with Chef Katherine Stern (of La Posta fame), who will be cooking up tomato and roasted corn salad, Fogline Farm pork loin, grilled little gems, marinated rock cod, potato biscuits, and lemon verbena-poached peaches with raspberry fool, all accompanied by 11th Hour coffee. Don’t miss this!

santacruzfarmersmarket.org. $45.

Truck Stop

On the third Friday of the month during the summer, and fourth Friday in September and October, look for Food Trucks on Pacific Avenue. Rogue Pye, Ate3One, Union Foodie, Nomad Momo, and others will be parked and loaded. No alcohol served. Come hungry.

Film Review: ‘Yesterday’

Lisa Jensen

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July 2, 2019

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Imagine if the Beatles had never existed. It was devastating enough for me as a teenager when the band broke up. How could life as we know it go on? If there had never been any Beatles, I rationalized grimly, at least we wouldn’t know what we’d missed.

In his audacious new movie Yesterday, director Danny Boyle poses an even gnarlier idea: suppose The Beatles had existed, and enjoyed their incredible nine years of productivity together—but then suddenly disappeared from the collective memory of basically everyone on Earth? Everyone but one guy. Imagine the potential for comedy (not to mention plunder and exploitation) if that guy were a struggling singer-songwriter who could take his pick from the entire song catalog of the Fab Four, certain that no one in the audience had ever heard of John, Paul, George, or Ringo.

Scripted by veteran Richard Curtis (Four Weddings And A Funeral; Love Actually), for the ever genre-bouncing Boyle, Yesterday is a sly, persuasive morality play about the wages and nature of success dressed up as a pop-cultural comedy. It’s also entertaining as hell, especially for those of us who do remember The Beatles, thank you very much, and will appreciate every in-joke, downbeat, visual and audio cue Boyle employs with such shameless glee throughout his tall tale.

Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is marginally employed as a stock clerk at a big-box warehouse store in his native Suffolk, England. But he lives to sing and play guitar at neighborhood pubs and sparsely attended local festivals, gigs arranged by his self-appointed manager, Ellie (Lily James), his longtime best friend and most ardent cheerleader.

On the night Jack is ready to give up on his dream, his bike is clipped by a bus. After he wakes up in the hospital, minus a couple of broken teeth, everything is the same—except that when he plays “Yesterday” on the new guitar Ellie buys him, no one has ever heard of the song before. Or Paul McCartney. Sure enough, when he rushes home and Googles “Beatles,” all that comes up are pictures of shiny black insects.

Apparently a 12-second global blackout has shifted Jack into an alternate reality where his friends, family, life, and culture are the same (except for a few other random omissions that are some of the movie’s funniest throwaway jokes). But despite his initial protests that the music is not his, when he switches his playlist to Beatle songs, acclaim follows. His video on the warehouse company channel goes viral. Ed Sheeran (playing himself) pops round to take him on tour to Moscow (guess which song is a big hit there). A slinky, shamelessly craven L.A. agent (the hilariously acerbic Kate McKinnon) lands Jack a deal with a ginormous record label. (When he tries to sneak one of his own original songs into the session, she airily decrees it “Simple, without being charming.”)

The tension between how much Jack is willing to sacrifice of himself for the fame he thinks he wants gives the story depth. Meanwhile Boyle riffs cheerfully on Beatles iconography. The band’s career stages are cleverly referenced in Jack’s early black-and-white promo stills, skinny suits and later Help-era turtleneck. During the slo-mo bus impact, the music swells in an eerie remix of those closing notes from “A Day In The Life.”

Boyle also fools around with the notion that even the most celebrated legacy suffers when separated from its context. People keep trying to “improve” the song lyrics (“Hey Dude,” anyone?) or Jack’s Beatles-inspired suggestions for album titles. When someone asks him what “a hard day’s night,” actually means, Jack doesn’t know.

Patel is wholly engaging as the conflicted Jack. James is both radiant and playful, and Joel Fry is excellent as an embarrassingly clueless buddy who achieves maturity on the road with Jack. And a lovely what-if scene toward the end ties it all up on an irresistible grace note.

YESTERDAY

**** (out of four)

With Himesh Patel and Lily James. Written by Richard Curtis. Directed by Danny Boyle. A Universal release. Rated PG-13. 117 minutes.

Good Times Purchases Watsonville Register-Pajaronian

Local News

GT Staff

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July 1, 2019

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Watsonville, Calif.—Santa Cruz’s Good Times weekly has purchased the 151-year-old Watsonville Register-Pajaronian and its companion publication Aptos Life from News Media Corp. of Rochelle, Illinois.

Founded as The Pajaronian on March 5, 1868, the newspaper has an illustrious history. It became the nation’s smallest daily paper to earn a Pulitzer Prize for public service in 1956 after its photographer caught the county’s district attorney participating in illegal gambling.

Published since 1975, Good Times is Santa Cruz County’s largest circulation publication. “This acquisition gives us additional reach in the mid-county and south county areas,” said General Manager Lee May. In June, Good Times was honored to be chosen among the state’s three top publications of its size for the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s “General Excellence” award.

News Media Corp. publishes more than 70 media titles in nine states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming. “We were pleased to find a Northern California-based publisher with adjacent properties that was a good fit for the Pajaronian. This transaction enables us to focus on the success of our core properties in the Midwest,” said NMC president Nickolas Monico.

Owned by a succession of local owners for its first 72 years, the Pajaronian was sold in 1940 to the Cincinnati, Ohio-based E. W. Scripps Company, a national newspaper chain, and merged with the Watsonville Register to become the Register-Pajaronian. In 1995, News Media Corp. bought the publication.

An affiliate of Good Times that publishes weeklies in southern Santa Clara and San Benito counties will operate News Media’s four Monterey County weeklies: King City Rustler, Greenfield News, Soledad Bee, Gonzales Tribune. They will join a group that includes this year’s CNPA General Excellence winner for newspapers of its size, the Gilroy Dispatch.

Silver Mountain’s Sublime Cabernet Sauvignon

Josie Cowden

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June 26, 2019

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Silver Mountain’s Sublime Cabernet Sauvignon

Winemaker Jerold O’Brien of Silver Mountain Vineyards is celebrating 40 years in the business of making wine. He must be doing something right!

One of the things he is definitely doing right is organically farming his estate grapes, stewarding the environment and handcrafting all his wines. He also carefully sources non-estate grapes from respected vineyards. Fruit for his Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 ($44) comes from the esteemed Bates Ranch Vineyard in Gilroy, resulting in a luscious and very drinkable deep-red wine with lots of backbone. “The tannins are soft and well-integrated with flavors of wild blueberry, cedar, vanilla, forest floor,” says O’Brien.

This is the kind of wine that you open to reward yourself at the weekend. Sit back and savor all the Cab’s typical aromas of black currant, tobacco and coffee, plus the sublime flavors of rich, dark fruits such as black plums and blueberries.

Silver Mountain has two very different tasting rooms, one on the Westside of Santa Cruz and the other on O’Brien’s estate in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Silver Mountain Vineyards, 402 Ingalls St. Suite 29, Santa Cruz; Silver Mountain Drive, Los Gatos. 408-353-2278, silvermtn.com.

Cruise on the Rhine with Lester Family Vineyards

If cruising is for you and you love good wine, then you might want to sign up for a cruise on the River Rhine with Steve and Lori Johnson of Lester Family Vineyards in Aptos. This high-end, seven-night cruise aboard the AmaSerena includes free-flowing wine with lunch and dinner, visits to historic wineries and vineyards, daily Sip and Sail happy hour, an onboard wine tasting with the Johnsons, and a gourmet wine-paired dinner prepared by AmaWaterways’ award-winning culinary team featuring Lester Estate Wines. Dates are Nov 17-24, 2019.

*Info: Contact Margaret Miner at Barefoot Travel Agency, VinoDestinations, mm@dr********.com, or 925-399-4269.*

North Coast Coffee’s Search for the World’s Best Beans

Georgia Johnson

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June 26, 2019

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North Coast Coffee’s Search for the World’s Best Beans

North Coast Coffee Roasting has flown under the radar for nearly 20 years. With a focus on certified-organic coffee, head roaster Chris Carhart and colleague Ken Noyes have traveled the world in search of the best cup of coffee.

Though the labor involved in the roasting and brewing process can be overshadowed at some coffee houses by slick marketing and indoor plant-intensive decor, it all comes down to the sourcing and final product for Carhart and Noyes. It’s not easy to maintain more than two-dozen blenda. Both Cathart and Noyes worked at grocery stores in Santa Cruz before they landed their jobs roasting coffee five days a week.

Why organic coffee?

CARHART: Going organic, we feel, is the best way to affect change. We are interested in sustainability and someone getting paid what they deserve for their work. But for many farms, it’s really difficult to go organic and provide the practices that we require.

NOYES: Some roasters aren’t strictly organic, so they have other options of sourcing that we don’t. With our paperwork, even if the farm is using organic practices and inputs, if they haven’t been able to get organically certified, we can’t use that coffee. And for some smaller farms going organic doesn’t work. It’s a really expensive, long process, and some people can’t justify it. But for us, it gives us a floor for quality.

You travel to source the beans yourself, right?

CARHART: In the last six months, we’ve been to Guatemala and Honduras meeting with other roasters from around the country and visiting farms and mills. It’s kinda neat to meet other professional roasters from all over. We traveled over 500 miles and cupped over 100 types of coffee. It was intense. It wasn’t a vacation. At the end of it, I was like, ‘Kenny, are you tasting anything?’ My palate was shot.

NOYES: Yeah, you can only taste so much. With our Honduras trip, we were able to secure a lot from one particular female-owned farm, and we’d like to highlight that at some point. It was special to find that farm, and they make really good coffee.

North Coast Coffee Roasting will be pouring fresh, free cups of joe starting at 7:30 a.m. during the TAC Skimblast Contest at Seabright Beach on Saturday, June 29. Their coffee is available at local grocery stores including Staff Of Life, New Leaf and Shopper’s Corner. northcoastroasting.com.

Why Your Hearing Could Be Worse Than You Think

Georgia Johnson

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June 26, 2019

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Why Your Hearing Could Be Worse Than You Think

There have been many times I’ve come away from a concert or Fourth of July fireworks with my ears buzzing. I usually chalk it up to a great time, maybe the liquor, or both. When I finally go to sleep in a daze, thinking about how good the show was, it’s easy not to give a second thought to the background noise still reverberating in my head hours later. The next day, I’d wake up and the noise would be gone—and I’ve always taken that temporary quality for granted.

For more than 50 million Americans, the ringing, hissing or humming background noise won’t stop after a few hours. It continues for days, weeks, months and, for some 2 million people, it never goes away at all, impairing their day-to-day life. Prolonged exposure to loud noises increases the risk of developing the constant perceived ringing, but any damage can cause symptoms.

The receptive issue—that ringing sound—is often diagnosed as tinnitus, says Santa Cruz Ear Nose and Throat Doctor Daniel Spilman. It’s common for patients to come in complaining about ongoing ringing, Spilman says. He and his two partners generally see a few people per day about tinnitus, which adds up to about 10% of their clients. The doctors start by asking patients to rank the ringing and discomfort they are experiencing.

“What it comes down to is, if you hear ringing, does it bother you? The levels of bothersomeness start with, ‘Well I notice it a little bit, but it doesn’t bother me,’ then moves up to, ‘I notice it when I’m trying to fall asleep and it’s irritating,’ to, ‘Well, I hear it all the time and sometimes I can’t hear people over it, I can’t concentrate or get work done. It’s driving me crazy,’” Spilman says. “Obviously that last group is a pretty miserable group. Most people don’t fall into that group. Most people are in the mild level of symptoms, where they notice it and it occasionally irritates or distracts them.”

Repeated, loud noise exposure can lead to permanent damage to the inner ear, but Spilman says that alcohol coupled with loud noise can also exacerbate the issue—not ideal for those that frequent concerts, or on the Fourth of July. “There are tiny hairs in there that pick up the vibrations of sound, but when you hit them with a high enough pulse of energy, you actually kill them,” he says. “Not every time, but repeatedly the tiny hairs die off and you have spots in your ear that aren’t picking up sound anymore.”

Spilman says that one theory for the symptoms of tinnitus is that when the brain sends signals to the ear, it doesn’t receive anything back from particular spots. The perceived, ongoing, ringing may come from that signal. But tinnitus doesn’t always stay forever. It can fade away, or it can come and go. Regardless, Spilman says the best thing to do after loud noise exposure is give the ears a break to prevent permanent injury.

People who develop tinnitus are often exposed to sounds louder than noisy traffic—particularly those who work in construction, with firearms or in the music industry. But tinnitus can happen to anyone, regardless of workplace or background. Prevention mostly involves hearing protection. Over-the-ear headphones and earplugs are the best preventative measures to take for long periods of loud noise, but they aren’t always used since standard noise-reduction earplugs can degrade the quality of music.

While basic foam ear plugs are the go-to inexpensive solution to protect hearing, they block out sound rather than filtering it. This is probably why many people choose not to wear ear plugs, because they can “spoil the experience.” There are plenty of cheap, hi-fidelity ear plug options that don’t block sound altogether, but just let less sound through. Although they’re more expensive than foam ear plugs, they’re still available at around a $10 starting price.

Beyond preventative measures, there aren’t many fixed one-time solutions for those experiencing tinnitus. One of the first steps is called masking, or playing loud background music or white noise to cover up or “mask” the noise. For people with more hearing loss, hearing aids, counseling and biofeedback can help teach the brain to ignore certain signals. Not all services are covered by general health insurance, though, especially for more extreme cases.

Many seek therapy or support groups for tinnitus, and there are research links between tinnitus and anxiety, depression, self-harm, or even suicide. It’s the most common disability for veterans. Around 1.5 million vets live with tinnitus, and in 2012, the country spent $1.2 billion on tinnitus-related compensation to veterans, according to the American Tinnitus association.

“You’re cured if it never comes back, right? But it’s not like we can do an X-ray and it’s gone,” Spilman says. “When you get it and you have good hearing, there is a very good chance that you will resolve it—especially if you don’t injure your ears again. Once you have hearing damage, you’ll probably be living with it, but it’s still very common that it fades away and disappears. Even if that happens, is it cured? We don’t know, it could come back.”

5 Things To Do in Santa Cruz: June 26-July 2

Things To Do This Week

GT Staff

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June 26, 2019

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5 Things To Do in Santa Cruz: June 26-July 2

A weekly guide to what’s happening

Saturday 6/29

‘A Decade of Dance, Drum and Dissent’

Duniya Dance and Drum Company’s A Decade of Dance, Drum and Dissent is coming to Santa Cruz’s Tannery Arts Center. The San Francisco-based company performs and teaches traditional and innovative pieces from Guinea, West Africa and Punjab, India. This performance features a wide range of Duniya Dance and Drum Company’s repertoire, including Bhangra, Bollywood, Dancehall, Afro-Pop, spoken-word, and live West African dance and drumming. Photo: Vijay Rakhra.

INFO: Saturday 6/29 2 and 8 p.m. Colligan Theater, 1010 River St., Santa Cruz. $25 general admission.

Art Seen

Pine Needle Basket-Making Workshop

Join docent Cheryl VanDeVeer in learning how to make a woven basket from local Ponderosa pine needles. No experience is necessary, though expert pine-needle basket weavers are welcome to join. Children 10 and older may attend if accompanied by an adult. Get there early; the class capacity is 20 and may fill up. Meet at the visitor center.

INFO: 10 a.m.-noon. Saturday, June 29. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, 101 N Big Trees Park Rd., Felton. 335-7077. Free event/vehicle day-use fee $10.

Green Fix

Seacliff History Tour

Learn the history of Seacliff and surrounding Aptos in this one-hour, half-mile history walk. Led by docent Pete Wang, the tour focuses on the Ohlone, Raphael Castro, Claus Spreckels, Aptos Landing Wharf, the development of Seacliff Park—including Paul Woodside, the “Madman of Seacliff”—and the Cement Ship.

INFO: 11 a.m. Sunday, June 30. Seacliff State Beach Visitor Center, State Park Drive exit from Highway 1, Aptos. 685-6442. Free/vehicle day-use fee $10.

Saturday 6/29

Integrated Pest Management

Ah, summer. The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, fruits and vegetables abound—and there are plenty of pests to go with them. Michael Pollan likes to find roadkill pests and put them down woodchuck holes as a warning, but that seems a bit dramatic, doesn’t it? (Disclaimer: he only did that once.) Join UC master gardeners Delise Weir and Trink Praxel to learn how integrated pest management strategies are used to control insects, weeds, vertebrate pests, and plant diseases while keeping health and environmental risks as low as possible. They will cover the basic steps of integrated pest management, which help to identify the pest and its impact, explain various control options available and find the least toxic approach. Arrive 15 minutes early for check-in or registration.

INFO: 10 a.m.- noon. UC Cooperative Extension, 1430 Freedom Blvd. Suite E, Watsonville. Free.

Sunday 6/30

Planned Parenthood Rummage Sale

The organizers of the Planned Parenthood rummage sale are still collecting items, but they already have some highlights, like fancy tables and a single-person sea kayak. There will also be books, clothing and shoes, kitchenware, small appliances, sporting goods, and jewelry. All profits go to Planned Parenthood to support reproductive health, education and rights. In the previous three years, the organizers have raised over $18,000 for the organization. For those wishing to sell items, contact Eric Hoffman at er***********@ya***.com.

INFO: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 840 Eddy Lane, Live Oak. Free.

Opinion: June 27, 2019

Steve Palopoli

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June 26, 2019

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EDITOR’S NOTE

It doesn’t always register at first when someone you’ve been seeing around Santa Cruz for years seems to vanish, especially if they were more of an acquaintance you’d run into on Pacific Avenue every so often—maybe shared a mutual friend or two with, or worked together at one point—but didn’t know all that well. Eventually, however, something clicks in your head: “Whatever happened to so-and-so?”

I certainly had that moment about Janet Blaser, especially since she was part of the same local media landscape that I was back in the early 2000s, and I was used to reading her stuff and seeing her at various things around town. But I wasn’t expecting her name to come up when Wallace Baine told me about a book by a former Santa Cruz resident about finding a new life in Mexico.

“Do you remember Janet Blaser?” he asked me. “Of course,” I said. “So that’s what she’s doing now.” When I saw the pictures of her living it up in Mazatlán—a city I’ve visited myself and really enjoyed—I definitely had a momentary pang of longing for the expat life.

In a time when there’s a hugely politicized attempt to frame Mexico as a scary, suspicious place, Blaser’s book Why We Left, which features stories from 27 women who have moved there from the U.S., is especially timely. As Wallace writes in his cover story this week, these contributors are not trying to sell readers on emigrating to Mexico, but their stories about the hardships and benefits of making that leap—one that, let’s face it, a lot of people here talk about in one form or another when someone they really don’t like gets elected in the U.S.—provide a window into the real issues with living on both sides of the border.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

Understand the History

Thank you for the reporting on El Salvador by J. Pierce. We in S.C. are fortunate to have some El Salvadorans among us, and as an educator who’s worked with them, I know them to be especially loving, caring, hard working people. Most of them have been through trauma and still experience worry and grief because of the instability, poverty and violence which continues to affect their families. It’s good to understand more history and know about Les Gardner and others who are supporting positive changes. It would be good to include information about ongoing efforts that we all might contribute to. It is so obvious, as pointed out, that if we share our resources for education and positive solutions, we all benefit.

Also, I appreciate the concise, readable articles in GT concerning important issues like Credit Union/banking that I’d otherwise be uninformed about.

Nanda Wilson
Felton

Re: El Salvador (GT, 6/19): I am so thrilled to see both the editorial and interview of Les Gardner. I have known and worked alongside Les for a number of years and what the article missed is that Les’ heart is what drives him. He sometimes hurts for people, and then digs in to correct what he considers wrong. He is extremely generous with his time, has a ferocious spirit and does not stop until the task he has set forth in front of him is complete. He works both quietly and effectively. Thank you to the Good Times for highlighting Les Gardner, who is on the top of the list of those in our community who make a difference.

Leslie Steiner
Felton

Re: Public Banking

Thanks to Jennifer Wadsworth for the article on public banks. Just a heads up, Santa Cruz has its own active group lobbying for public banking called People for Public Banking. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, the City of Santa Cruz, and the City of Watsonville have all signed on to support AB 857, a bill which when passed will allow for licensing of public banks. Right now, the Department of Business Oversight grants licensing for commercial banks, but there is no method to apply to be a public bank. This bill will allow cities, counties, regions and combinations of the same to apply to become a public banking institution.

— Lynda Francis

Re: Disc Golf

A few corrections: Walter Morrison invented the Frisbee in 1948 and sold the rights to Wham-o, Ed Hedricks improved the design by adding the concentric rings on the top, called the rings of Headricks. It was Dan Roddick, not Riddick.

In Santa Cruz, we started playing Frisbee golf at UCSC with object golf, such as fire hydrants and poles. The course ran through the campus and the quarry was the hardest hole. The next course was at Cabrillo. The suburban courses had the undesirable buildings and crowds during class time.

Tom Schott found DeLa and we would work a job during most of the day and then go clean and build the course after work. It wasn’t until after the course was built (4×4 posts) that it became popular and Tom started World Disc that it needed permission from the City.

— Gene Lytle (original winner of the Santa Cruz Masters Cup)

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

Submit to ph****@go*******.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.

GOOD IDEA

County leaders are reminding residents that power outages may happen this summer. To mitigate the risk of catastrophic forest fires, Pacific Gas & Electric will shut off portions of the electricity grid during periods of high temperatures and extreme winds. Shut-offs could last for days. Individuals relying on respiratory devices, dialysis, feeding devices, motorized equipment, and refrigerated medication are all at risk during extended power outages. Those who rely on such equipment can fill out a brief survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YRBCNZN.

GOOD WORK

Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School has received a $200,000 matching grant from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation to build a new recreation area. The space will include a sports court, an amphitheater, an outdoor classroom, and a community gathering space. The campaign to complete the Kirby School campus is now more two-thirds of the way to its $1.275 million goal. Groundbreaking will begin this month on a project to convert one of Kirby School’s exterior parking lots into an acre of student-centric space.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can.”
-Beryl Markham

Music Picks: June 26-July 2

Aaron Carnes

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June 25, 2019

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Santa Cruz County live music picks for the week of June 26

WEDNESDAY 6/26

FOLK

CRYS MATTHEWS AND HEATHER MAE

Crys Matthews and Heather Mae are longtime social justice songwriters and friends, and the Singing OUT tour, a spirited stage show they put on during Pride month, is a natural extension of that friendship. Singing OUT has all the empowering missives and compassionate dissents found within Mae’s and Matthew’s music, but they’re not just gigging together—they’ve curated songs to tell a story of love and struggle, culminating in a message of pride. As Mae says, it’s about “where we have been, where we are going, and not losing hope.” AMY BEE

7:30 p.m. Michael’s On Main, 2591 Main St., Soquel. $15. 479-9777.

FRIDAY 6/28

PUNK

BAT!

Deep within an American metropolis, there is a crime-fighting bat keeping the city safe from evil men and bad music. We’re not talking about that billionaire Bruce Wayne. This is a three-piece rockabilly, punk rock, surf outfit that is—let’s be honest—better than the DC comics character. Come to a Bat! show and you will have some actual fun, not sulk in your drama. The group’s songs are fueled with rock ‘n’ roll mayhem and a non-stop party atmosphere. And they sport some pretty cool outfits, too. AC

8:30 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $12 adv/$15 door. 423-1338.

ROCK

JOHN HIATT

Even if his name is only vaguely familiar, John Hiatt has had a successful four-decade career in music. Beginning with Three Dog Night covering his “Sure As I’m Sitting Here,” which went to No. 16 on the Billboard charts in 1974, Hiatt has been covered by, performed with or written for names like B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, and Iggy Pop. He even had Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe as part of his backing band during the late ’80s and early ’90s. This year finds Hiatt touring the country solo with just his trusty acoustic guitar, on the tails of new release The Eclipse Sessions. MAT WEIR

8 p.m. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $45. 423-8209.

SATURDAY 6/29

WORLD

THE DOGON LIGHTS

Ride It, the Dogon Lights’ recent full length, is a kind of celestial Afrobeat—roots music planted not in soil, but in the dusty expanse of night sky. Using traditional African instruments from Mali, Morocco and Burkina Faso, Dogon Lights craft a uniquely hypnotic, psychedelic hip-hop that’s not quite Afro-futurist, but always keeps an eye to the stars. Self-described as “Afro-galactic hip-hop,” the Oakland group takes its name from the creation myth of Mali’s Dogon people, who regard themselves as the descendants of Sirius. MIKE HUGUENOR

9 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $10 adv/$15 door. 479-1854.

INDIE

MOBILITIES

For indie-progressive band Mobilities, music’s not about playing to the esoteric elitists who exploit a niche and then play gatekeeper. No, music’s for the hordes, so why not incorporate all the best tidbits and cast the widest net? Why not flow through rock, indie, punk, alt, and hip-hop the same way moods flow through the neurological system? If feelings are transient, then music must be, too. Not static, but eternally crumbling like sand into the shores of the psyche, only to be built up again by the next person with a bucket, a shovel and a dream of sandcastles. AB

8 p.m. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 423-7117.

COMEDY

KASEEM BENTLEY

In this post-Chappelle, call-out age of progressivism, many comedians are having a hard time discussing sensitive topics. Kaseem Bentley has no problem gracefully diving into race, economic divides, gentrification, and every other issue currently at the forefront in his native city of San Francisco. It only made sense to name his debut stand-up album Lakeview after his hometown neighborhood, even if he has spent most of his recent time in L.A. writing for Problematic With Moshe Kasher. MW

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

SUNDAY 6/30

BLUES

VANESSA COLLIER

When you hear “blues legend,” do you picture a sweaty guitarist with intense facial expressions, or maybe a spazzy harmonica player? Forget all that. The blues singer-songwriter you need to see is Vanessa Collier, mistress of the saxophone. This isn’t sweet, sexy jazz; she plays roots music with a deep funky groove, and her sound boils over with blues at its rawest. AC

4 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $10 adv/$15 door. 479-1854.

MONDAY 7/1

ROCK

THE FUTUREBIRDS

On paper, the Futurebirds are a southern rock band. They’ve got the acoustics, the vocal harmonies and the slide guitar, all coated in a fine layer of twang. But then there’s also the expansive reverb, the Sonic Youth-y shredding, and the trippy jam interludes. On 2017’s Portico II, the Fat Possum signee takes the traditional American rock format, and twists it just enough for some weird colors to show through—kinda like if the Band had collaborated with Wayne Coyne instead of Dylan. MH

9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $12. 429-6994.

JAZZ

KENNY WERNER

Growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, you didn’t have to be a jazz fan to encounter the unmistakable sound of Toots Thielemans’ chromatic harmonica. Featured on many film and television soundtracks, pop albums and classic Brazilian recordings, he was a singular studio musician and jazz artist of the first rank. Piano master Kenny Werner, one of jazz’s great improvisers, toured widely with the harmonica master in the years before his death in 2016 at the age of 94, and he’s put together a tribute to Thielemans with Swiss-born harmonica master Gregoire Maret. Thielemans himself passed the torch by appearing on Maret’s debut album, one of his final recordings. ANDREW GILBERT

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

LATEST ARTICLES

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rabe333.com.

Cafe Delmarette, 1126 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 420-1025, cafedelmarette.com.

Popping Birichino

Birichino, 204 Church St., Santa Cruz. birichino.com.

Farmers’ Market Breakfasts

santacruzfarmersmarket.org. $45.

Truck Stop

YESTERDAY

Silver Mountain Vineyards, 402 Ingalls St. Suite 29, Santa Cruz; Silver Mountain Drive, Los Gatos. 408-353-2278, silvermtn.com.

Cruise on the Rhine with Lester Family Vineyards

Info: Contact Margaret Miner at Barefoot Travel Agency, VinoDestinations, mm****@dr************.com, or 925-399-4269.

North Coast Coffee Roasting will be pouring fresh, free cups of joe starting at 7:30 a.m. during the TAC Skimblast Contest at Seabright Beach on Saturday, June 29. Their coffee is available at local grocery stores including Staff Of Life, New Leaf and Shopper’s Corner. northcoastroasting.com.

‘A Decade of Dance, Drum and Dissent’

Pine Needle Basket-Making Workshop

Seacliff History Tour

Integrated Pest Management

Planned Parenthood Rummage Sale

EDITOR’S NOTE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

GOOD IDEA

GOOD WORK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

FOLK

CRYS MATTHEWS AND HEATHER MAE

PUNK

BAT!

ROCK

JOHN HIATT

WORLD

THE DOGON LIGHTS

INDIE

MOBILITIES

COMEDY

KASEEM BENTLEY

BLUES

VANESSA COLLIER

ROCK

THE FUTUREBIRDS

JAZZ

KENNY WERNER

*Info: Contact Margaret Miner at Barefoot Travel Agency, VinoDestinations, mm@dr********.com, or 925-399-4269.*