NUZ: The Great Housing Data Gag, and the Sentinel’s Missing Piece

Nuz

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August 20, 2019

NUZ: The Great Housing Data Gag, and the Sentinel’s Missing Piece

In a bold gambit to do something—literally, anything—about soul-crushing housing costs in Santa Cruz, the city council has moved to … continue studying whether they should figure out how much it actually costs to rent here.

At an Aug. 13 meeting, councilmembers debated whether to start a new rental housing database with information on rent hikes, lease terms and evictions.

The black hole of housing data does make it tough to track local cost-of-living trends, but starting a database without any other policy changes comes off as an epic case of beating around the bush. Average rents shot up more than 11% in the last year alone, according to estimates by housing listing service Rent Jungle.

Framed as a way to build “trust” between landlords and tenants, a pilot project expected to cost $30,000-125,000 would focus on collecting data voluntarily from now forward, capturing none of the drastic rent increases reported in recent years. Now, a two-person council committee will consider launching a more robust tracking program to get good data faster.

Similar databases are a divisive issue in cities like Beverly Hills, where the local apartment association is suing the city for violating constitutional privacy rights with a plan to create a “de facto registry of residents and rents.”

At last week’s meeting, Nuz particularly appreciated a community member’s riff on the city’s descent into a “bureaucracy of nothingness.”

If the City Council majority truly believes in just-cause evictions as a policy solution, it could pass a new tenant protection ordinance. It might wouldn’t go over well after the defeat of Measure M last fall, but it would let city staff focus on the important work of approving new housing units—seeing how we’re in a housing shortage that’s really at the root of this whole mess.

Should we get moving on solutions to start digging us out of the problem, or should we sit around arguing about how deep the hole is?

PEN IN DOUBT

Ever since late July, when crime reporter Michael Todd left the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the daily hasn’t had a full-time journalist dedicated to cops, courts or even the infamous crazy squirrel beat.

Instead, the Sentinel’s cop stories are getting covered by committee, with reporters Nick Ibarra and Jessica York picking up the slack. Santa Cruz needs those two covering policy stories, and crime reporting is a notoriously draining gig. Here’s hoping management does its job and brings another warm body into its newsroom soon.

COMMIT TO MEMORY

The Sentinel picked up the story of a legal threat against Santa Cruz, which GT broke last week, that aims to force district elections on city.

In the Sentinel article, City Councilmember Chris Krohn lamented the demise of a short-lived Charter Amendment Committee, which was gonna do the important legwork of studying possible ways to improve elections. It really is a shame. It sounds like Krohn really has a bone to pick here, and it’s about time someone starts asking tough questions!

Let’s see, who are some people he should talk to? What was the name of that guy who was instrumental in kicking the whole committee to the curb in the first place? Oh, yeah. Chris Krohn. Start with him.

HARD PASS

The Santa Cruz Warriors have hired a new head coach in Kris Weems, who had been an assistant for the team. Outgoing Head Coach Aaron Miles will be heading up to the Golden State Warriors with Head Coach Steve Kerr, which makes sense because he was Kerr’s guy to begin with. Fans of the Warriors will tell you that the last two seasons’ Warriors teams performed well in spite of Miles’ game management, not because of it.

Before joining the Santa Cruz organization, Weems apparently spent three years as director of athletics for the Menlo School in Atherton, California. If he knows how to call timeouts and make in-game adjustments, the Sea Dubs should be fine.

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology August 20-26

Rob Brezsny

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August 20, 2019

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): It’s not cost-efficient to recycle plastic. Sorting and processing the used materials to make them available for fresh stuff is at least as expensive as creating new plastic items from scratch. On the other hand, sending used plastic to a recycling center makes it far less likely that it will end up in the oceans and waterways, harming living creatures. So in this case, the short-term financial argument in favor of recycling is insubstantial, whereas the moral argument is strong. I invite you to apply a similar perspective to your upcoming decisions.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): African American slaves suffered many horrendous deprivations. For example, it was illegal for them to learn to read. Their oppressors feared that educated slaves would be better equipped to agitate for freedom, and took extreme measures to keep them illiterate. Frederick Douglass was one slave who managed to beat the ban. As he secretly mastered the art of reading and writing, he came upon literature that ultimately emboldened him to escape his “owners” and flee to safety. He became one of the 19th century’s most powerful abolitionists, producing reams of influential writing and speeches. I propose that we make Douglass your inspiring role model for the coming months. I think you’re ready to break the hold of a certain curse—and go on to achieve a gritty success that the curse had prevented you from accomplishing.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): For 25 years, businessman Don Thompson worked for the McDonald’s fast food company, including three years as its CEO. During that time, he oversaw the sale and consumption of millions of hamburgers. But in 2015, he left McDonald’s and became part of Beyond Meat, a company that sells vegan alternatives to meat. I could see you undergoing an equally dramatic shift in the coming months, Gemini—a transition into a new role that resembles, but is also very different from, a role you’ve been playing. I urge you to step up your fantasies about what that change might entail.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot,” wrote author Audre Lorde. As an astrologer, I would add this nuance: Although what Lorde says is true, some phases of your life are more favorable than others to seek deep and rapid education. For example, the coming weeks will bring you especially rich teachings if you incite the learning process now.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The American idiom “stay in your lane” has come to mean “mind your own business,” and usually has a pejorative sense. But I’d like to expand it and soften it for your use in the coming weeks. Let’s define it as meaning, “stick to what you’re good at and know about,” or “don’t try to operate outside your area of expertise,” or “express yourself in ways that you have earned the right to do.” Author Zadie Smith says that this is good advice for writers. “You have to work out what it is you can’t do, obscure it, and focus on what works,” she attests. Apply that counsel to your own sphere or field, Leo.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Yisrael Kristal was a Polish Jew born under the sign of Virgo in 1903. His father was a scholar of the Torah, and he began studying Judaism and learning Hebrew at age 3. He lived a long life and had many adventures, working as a candle-maker and a candy-maker. When the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945, Kristal emerged as one of the survivors. He went on to live to the age of 113. Because of the chaos of World War I, he never got to do his bar mitzvah when he turned 13. So he did it much later, in his old age. I foresee a comparable event coming up soon in your life, Virgo. You will claim a reward or observe a milestone or collect a blessing you weren’t able to enjoy earlier.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Sailors have used compasses to navigate since the 11th century. But that tool wasn’t enough to guide them. A thorough knowledge of the night sky’s stars was a crucial aid. Skill at reading the ever-changing ocean currents always proved valuable. Another helpful trick was to take birds on the ships as collaborators. While at sea, if the birds flew off and returned, the sailors knew there was no land close by. If the birds didn’t return, chances were good that land was near. I bring this to your attention, Libra, because I think it’s an excellent time to gather a number of different navigational tools for your upcoming quest. One won’t be enough.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): What do you want from the allies who aren’t your lovers? What feelings do you most enjoy while you’re in the company of your interesting, non-romantic companions? For instance, maybe you like to be respected and appreciated. Or perhaps what’s most important to you is to experience the fun of being challenged and stimulated. Maybe your favorite feeling is the spirit of collaboration and comradeship. Or maybe all of the above. In any case, Scorpio, I urge you to get clear about what you want—and then make it your priority to foster it. In the coming weeks, you’ll have the power to generate an abundance of your favorite kind of non-sexual togetherness.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As the CEO of the clothes company Zappos, Sagittarius entrepreneur Tony Hsieh is worth almost a billion dollars. If he chose, he could live in a mansion by the sea. Yet his home is a 200-square-foot, $48,000 trailer in Las Vegas, where he also keeps his pet alpaca. To be clear, he owns the entire trailer park, which consists of 30 other trailers, all of which are immaculate hotbeds of high-tech media technology where interesting people live. He loves the community he has created, which is more important to him than status and privilege. “For me, experiences are more meaningful than stuff,” he says. “I have way more experiences here.” I’d love to see you reaffirm your commitment to priorities like his in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. It’ll be a favorable time to do so.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Medical researcher Jonas Salk developed a successful polio vaccine, so he had a strong, rational mind. Here’s how he described his relationship with his non-rational way of knowing. He said, “It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It’s my partner.” I bring this up, Capricorn, because the coming weeks will be a favorable time to celebrate and cultivate your own intuition. You may generate amazing results as you learn to trust it more and figure out how to deepen your relationship with it.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian environmentalist Edward Abbey once formulated a concise list of his requirements for living well. “One must be reasonable in one’s demands on life,” he wrote. “For myself, all that I ask is: 1. accurate information, 2. coherent knowledge, 3. deep understanding, 4. infinite loving wisdom, 5. no more kidney stones, please.” According to my analysis of the astrological omens, now would be an excellent time for you to create your own tally of the Five Crucial Provisions. Be bold and precise as you inform life about your needs.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “We may be surprised at whom God sends to answer our prayers,” wrote author Janette Oke. I suspect that observation will apply to you in the coming weeks. If you’re an atheist or agnostic, I’ll rephrase her formulation for you: “We may be surprised at whom Life sends to answer our entreaties.” There’s only one important thing you have to do to cooperate with this experience: set aside your expectations about how help and blessings might appear.

Poet Muriel Rukeyser said, “The world is made of stories, not atoms.” I’d add, “You are made of stories, too.” What’s your favorite story that you’re made of? freewillastrology.com.

The Woman Who Brought Shakespeare to Santa Cruz

Christina Waters

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August 20, 2019

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The Woman Who Brought Shakespeare to Santa Cruz

In the audience for rehearsals of this season’s The Winter’s Tale sat a familiar figure, a petite woman whose experience with this, one of Shakespeare’s last plays, is intimate and familiar. She was of course Audrey Stanley, who founded Shakespeare Santa Cruz back in 1982, and who still attends each opening night of the festival now reborn as Santa Cruz Shakespeare.

“I love watching something grow, seeing what the others have done,” she tells GT. Such enjoyment of another company’s work is refreshingly generous for someone whose life has been a series of theatrical milestones: the first woman to direct Shakespeare at the celebrated Ashland Festival in Oregon; founder of England’s University of Bristol Dramatic Society Touring Company; first tenured professor of theater arts at UCSC; the first actor to play Puck sitting in a swing high overhead the Redwood Glen.

Stanley became famous for her meticulous framing of The Winter’s Tale at Ashland—framing that heightened the play’s unique structure and mythic motifs. Echoing the myth of Hades and Persephone, the play begins in the winter created by a rift in the friendship between two kings. In Greek mythology, Hades kidnaps Persephone, the goddess of the harvest. Her mother Demeter plunges the land into perpetual winter, and only when Persephone is allowed to leave Hades does springtime return, bringing fertility and abundance. And love.

Shakespeare’s version creates a radical split between winter, occurring in King Leontes’ Sicily, and springtime in King Polixenes’ Bohemia. The tale is separated by a sudden flash-forward 16 years, the only time such a temporal leap occurs in all of Shakespeare. The contrast, which reflects the sudden jealousy of King Leontes, and his subsequent banishment of his wife Hermione, requires our complete surrender to the depth of the characters’ pain. Only then will we be able to embrace the pastoral playfulness of the play’s second half, with a bit of magic at the end.

Stanley’s 1975 version of the production stressed the play’s “three worlds” within these two halves. The first, “a tragedy of sexual jealousy,” as she calls it, in Sicily, then the “strong rural comedy” of Bohemia 16 years later, and finally a stunning redemption back in Sicily. When asked today to characterize The Winter’s Tale, Stanley immediately responds: “Tragedy and comedy, the lot! It has everything.” And so the tough job of the director is to “maintain unity while still moving the action forward.”

Stanley’s own narrative begins with her childhood in Whitstable, Kent, and London, where she was first introduced to theater through pantomimes at a young age. Asked when she knew that her life would be in theater, Stanley recalls that she began “as a child of 5, directing and acting, both at the same time. I organized my friends and we gave a performance on the beach.” In an oral history with Cameron Vanderscoff, she recalled, “We had a very enterprising young English teacher who took us up to London on the milk train at 6:00 in the morning to sit outside the Old Vic Theater and attend performances there. So I saw early Laurence Olivier and Alec Guinness in plays. It just was very natural to me to do that.” The theater company she started at the University of Bristol is still going strong today, she notes with pride.

From Bristol to Canada, Colorado and finally San Francisco, Stanley acted and directed her way west, where she worked on her PhD in Dramatic Art at UC Berkeley while teaching at UCSC’s emerging Theater Arts program in 1969. The death of her colleague C.L. Barber kickstarted the desire to establish a Shakespeare festival on the UCSC campus. Did she suspect the festival would be a success? “Of course. I never doubted.” With a chuckle, she quickly adds that her co-conspirator Karen Sinsheimer (wife of then-UCSC Chancellor Robert Sinsheimer) helped make it happen: “We were like two war horses with a runaway chariot.” She smiles broadly at the memory. “Karen organizing the board of directors, and me doing the practical things,” Stanley recalls. Those practical things involved bringing in former London colleagues Tony Church and Julian Curry, both Royal Shakespeare Company actors. Thanks to the ACTER program, which brought actors in residence from England to U.S. universities, others happily followed—including Patrick Stewart and Paul Whitworth. “The Royal Shakespeare Company actors raised the game for local actors,” she recalls.

Stanley says the current production of The Winter’s Tale interests her. Is this play a particular challenge? I ask. “An actor—a good one—can convince the audience of anything,” she laughs. The woman who brought Shakespeare to Santa Cruz still can’t get enough theater. “When I visit England, I like to have my fill of theater,” she said with twinkling eyes. “Sometimes three plays in one day!”

Powers of the Heart—Burning Man 2019: Risa’s Stars August 20-26

Risa D’Angeles

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August 20, 2019

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Powers of the Heart—Burning Man 2019: Risa’s Stars August 20-26

Burning Man 2019 begins this week (Aug. 25 – Sept. 2) in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Participants co-create Black Rock City, a temporary metropolis dedicated to art and intentional community. Burning Man is a man-made city of art, where everything occurring is created entirely by its citizens. Every year, Burning Man has a theme. This year’s is “Metamorphoses,” a word that means a major change in form/structure/nature (not death, but change; for example: caterpillar, pupa, butterfly).

Metamorphoses is also a book of verse of mythological tales and legends written by the first-century Roman poet Ovid concerning “human folly and godly whims and luckless heroes changing into birds, beasts, trees, mountains and stars,” as the organizers of Burning Man put it. Life is unpredictable, the journey transformative. And so, reflecting these legends, everything at Burning Man is unpredictable. Each day is a journey, a celebratory tapestry of internal and external transformations.

The people behind Burning Man say of this year’s merriment: “Alchemists have sought to master the art of metamorphosis through esoteric [occult] means, transmuting base metal to gold [code—personality to the Soul], breathing life into the inanimate, hoping to achieve transcendence over the matter, challenging gods and kings. Burning Man’s 2019 Metamorphoses theme explores new forms of alchemy, reliant not on the elusive Philosopher’s Stone but on the limitless powers of the heart.

ARIES: Notice you begin to seek perfection, first at work and then with partnerships and relationships, till finally you find you’re tense and critical about everything and everyone. Be aware of this and try not to fall into this dead-end way of being. Mars (action) is in Virgo, and one could enter into criticism or tend toward service. Virgo can at first be critical. But spiritual Virgo is about service to self and to one another. What in your life are you in service to? What are you tending to each day?

TAURUS: You may find your attention directed toward the animal and/or plant kingdoms. Each day you concern yourself with the kingdoms that need your loving care. If it’s gardening, consider your fall and winter garden—a garden of white and gold—and figure out what roses to choose when bareroots are available. For the animal kingdom, tend to their health, teeth, fur, fins, or wings. Their devotion serves us as they learn from us how to be human.

GEMINI: Some of us, feeling we have little safety or constancy, and experiencing emotional vulnerability, seek security and hope at home. We need home to fulfill deep and needful longings. Is this you, Gem? It’s good therefore to have the home environment cleaned, refurnished with added features of safety and security. Being attentive to all that surrounds us creates a golden light to shine down upon us. Venus smiles at these words.

CANCER: Concerned about finances, you attempt to quickly clear any debts, paying bills as soon as they arrive. Then, worrying less, you concentrate on communications and social interactions, which make you less lonely. It’s time to contact siblings, old school mates, friends, family and neighbors. You are always seeking and learning more. You see the times are deeply changing us.

LEO: Finances and resources will take a turn upward. So find resources that develop and cultivate your creativity and self-esteem. Should lots of money find you, maintain its value by investing in silver and gold. You will want to manage your resources in these unusual times in unexpected ways as the tried and true financial path is quickly crumbling. Remember to tithe to organizations that assist those in need, including our beloved animal kingdom.

VIRGO: You may be looking in the mirror, wondering how you’re seen by others, and consider a change in appearance. You want to be attractive. If brave, you’ll seek to be stylish, hip and just a little auteur. Altering how we look alters how we feel about ourselves. Tend to forgotten tasks put off for rainy days, of which there may not be in these dog (god) days of summer. It’s a happy time for you.

LIBRA: There are several messages attempting to get through to you, and they affect your future. These messages are possibly coming through dreams. Have at your bedside pen and paper should you wake with remembered impressions or dreams. A refinement is occurring within creating greater levels of goodwill, which creates Right Relations. Art of all types helps you remember your own creativity. Do you remember yourself as an artist long ago?

SCORPIO: It’s important to maintain diplomacy amidst new and added responsibilities. You’re to be in groups with like-minded people who, like you, have very high objectives. Stand equal with everyone, including superiors. You have an authority that others recognize. Tend to self with disciplined kindness. Be kind, and do not control others, as you would not have them control you.

SAGITTARIUS: Perhaps recently you have felt you’re not meeting financial, emotional, psychological, or intellectual needs and responsibilities. You have sought freedom and new ways of fulfillment. You also want fame and fortune. All our desires and aspirations are embryonic stages of what eventually will actually come forth. Life events are slower at times, fast at other times. You will be developing new gifts in the coming months.

CAPRICORN: Your mind often asks solemn questions about the meaning of life, and your life in particular. Continue with your manifestation drawings and writings, sharing them with family and friends. Your daily journal work creates a magnetic field around you. What you hope for and what you need one day unite due to your constant attention. Think on these words: community, gardens, devas, greenhouse, family, travel, beauty, and art.

AQUARIUS: Notice if you feel certain levels of crisis. These are small psychological signposts that your emotional life is changing. It’s important to always follow what is right. You can include practicality and disciplines with kindness. Be sure to discuss the many alternatives before making an important decision. Be in charge, be the leader, stand tall. A new reality is emerging. You may be tested as to what path to take.

PISCES: Your need order, beauty and harmony in all surroundings. Order and organization assist us, especially when difficult decisions must be made. Orderliness helps all events to proceed easily and smoothly. You are very sensitive to deep psychological situations. Focus first upon your needs. When met, you can then assist others. If you always give yourself away, soon you’ll disappear. Don’t. Pisces are needed to save the world.

Music Picks: August 21-27

Aaron Carnes

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August 20, 2019

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Santa Cruz County live entertainment picks for the week of Aug. 14

WEDNESDAY 8/21

HIP-HOP

REVERIE

Life wasn’t always easy for Reverie, but at least growing up in L.A.’s Highland Park neighborhood, there was always hip-hop. At 18, she started rapping over her brother’s beats, transforming notebooks of poetry into vivid, nimble bars. Even then, her style was confident, with an ear for hip-hop’s underground and an eye on the horizon. Now, 10 years later and with international acclaim behind her, Reverie is an integral part of L.A.’s underground scene. At the Catalyst she brings longtime friend and collaborator Gavlyn, a fellow Latinx artist from the city of angels. MIKE HUGUENOR

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

THURSDAY 8/22

ACOUSTIC

SMALL TOWN THERAPY

Leif Karlstrom and Adam Roszkiewicz are the multi-instrumentalist talents behind Small Town Therapy, an acoustic duo that composes string duets which sweep the musical range, from sweet Celtic ballads to jaunty, old-timey fiddle-offs and airy improvisations. Watching the two collaborators is like seeing a lifetime of letters between old friends come to life; engaged in a conversation with no end, engrossed by the high peaks of harmony and valleys of discord, their allure magnified by two stories entwined, yet telling only one tale. AMY BEE

9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10. 429-6994.

FRIDAY 8/23

AMERICANA

DAVE ALVIN & JIMMIE DALE GILMORE

Dave Alvin founded blues-rock group the Blasters in the late ’70s. Jimmie Dale Gilmore started hippie country band the Flatlanders in 1972. Both musicians have continued on with successful solo careers in their respective fields. That’s what makes their collaborative album Downey to Lubbock so interesting. They don’t seem like an obvious pairing, but they work well together, mixing the full range of American roots music into a single album of mostly covers, with two spectacular originals, switching off vocals like old friends at a jam session. AC

8:30 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $30 adv/$35 door. 479-1854.

COMEDY

SEAN GREEN

Sean Green was dragging a fake dead body around North Hollywood when police handcuffed him. In his defense, he was just doing his part on the unaired reality TV show America’s Biggest Asshole, but trust me, that line only works so many times. In 2011, Green quit his Quiznos job in Pennsylvania to pursue comedy in L.A., where he quickly found himself working at another Quiznos. Since then, he’s written for MTV, Vice, and ESPN+, hosted the Sports Gambling Podcast, and finally got out of the toasted sub game. MH

7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. DNA’s Comedy Lab, 155 S River St, Santa Cruz. $20 adv/$25 door. 900-5123.

SATURDAY 8/24

AFRO-SOUL

MALIMA KONE

Malima Kone, who hails from Burkina Faso, West Africa, belongs to the jeli tradition of the Bwaba people, meaning that he’s a storyteller. His foray into music began at the age of 3. By 9, he was playing the kora (a 21-string African harp) with his uncles and father, learning everything by tradition. Today, he lives here in Santa Cruz, and not only carries his history and African heritage with him, but also incorporates the music into other global influences like reggae, soul, jazz—not to mention that he sings in five languages. AC

8 p.m., Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $20-40 adv/$30 door. 427-2227.

ROCK

SOFT WHITE SIXTIES

Eclectic rockers the Soft White Sixties play around with glam-funk styles and faux-60’s soul while steadfastly maintaining Stones-style rock grooves over analog synths and thick hazy guitars. Lead vocalist Octavio Genera struts with a deep, sexy croon and swoops up into a gritty, almost-falsetto known to make listeners weak in the knees. His rock-star swagger never gets in the way of topical lyrics reporting on the current social climate, from gentrification to immigration. Soft White Sixties recorded its newest album Alta California with a Spanish version also made available. AB

8:30 p.m., Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $15 adv/$18 door. 704-7113.

REGGAE

LOS CAFRES

Since 1987, Los Cafres has given the world their spicy blend of Argentinian reggae. While still sticking to the genre’s island-roots style, Los Cafres adds their own flavors, creating a musical gumbo of sound, rich in love that cooks at a slow, healthy simmer. After three decades of music, this eight-piece shows no signs of slowing as it continues a Three Decades Tour through the U.S., Mexico and Chile and continue to release new music, like “Tu Meta,” which dropped on Aug. 2. MAT WEIR

9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $32.50. 423-1338.

MONDAY 8/26

JAZZ

WIL BLADES

Both a birthday celebration and a going away party, this concert marks a personal milestone and a major change of scenery for Hammond B-3 wizard Wil Blades. For the past two decades, he’s been a leading force on the formidable instrument in the Bay Area, playing funk, soul, jazz, and hard bop. A few weeks ago he planted his flag in Los Angeles, eager to seek out new opportunities. While he’ll still be performing regularly around the region, Blades is leaving in style, with a stellar cast of collaborators, including legendary drummer Mike Clark and New Orleans alto sax star Donald Harrison Jr. The program also includes left-field L.A. guitarist Jeff Parker, and Berkeley drummer Scott Amendola. ANDREW GILBERT

7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $26.25 adv/$31.50 door. 427-2227.

TUESDAY 8/27

ROCK

MAGGOT HEART

Have you ever heard of the “sound of a comedown in the blue light of the dawn?” Never fear, Maggot Heart is here to make sure the heavy, paranoid vibes are ominous and real. The brainchild of Linnéa Olsson, Maggot Heart is music for wild rides down a dark, empty freeway with nowhere in mind but a need to get out. Mixing the energy of early Nick Cave and the rocker sounds the Gun Club, Maggot Heart reanimates the throes of deathrock over a rolling river of doom rhythms. MW

8 p.m. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.

Love Your Local Band: Aurora Beam

Aaron Carnes

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August 20, 2019

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Don’t call Watsonville band Aurora Beam math rock. Sure, the group has complex riffs and an instrumental prog-rock vibe that usually gets associated with the subgenre, but they also have a loose groove and incorporate unique influences. The band’s members call it “jazz punk.”

“We gave ourselves our own label, because I don’t think we’re math rock,” says drummer Shane Luevano. “We’re a little bit more than what that genre entails.”

The group started three years ago as a two-piece with Luevano and guitarist Mario Martinez-Sanchez.

“Mario had played in other bands. One was a five-piece band. Getting everyone’s schedules in line—we always seemed to be free at the same time. It just worked out,” Luevano says.

As the group found their sound by digging into complex parts and pulling from every genre they could imagine, they found they liked having just the two members. Martinez-Sanchez even got a setup where his guitar would send a low signal to a bass amp and a higher one to his guitar, creating a full sound.

“There’s a musical understanding between Mario and I,” says Luevano. “There are times when we don’t have to say anything. We just play our instruments and it goes together.”

9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.

Soquel’s Nick Gallant Goes Into the Wild

Aaron Carnes

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August 20, 2019

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Soquel’s Nick Gallant Goes Into the Wild

Local singer-songwriter Nick Gallant remembers going to the Salton Sea, setting up his recording equipment, and getting ready to record the song “I Don’t Want To Wait Anymore” for his latest album State Park. He was parked in his van, and he looked around at the desolate and decaying landscape around him, with dead fish everywhere, wondering why he felt he had to drive all the way out here just to record a song.

“The feeling of solitude, of this being my own journey, sunk in for me. I felt a great sense of purpose that I was doing this for more than just the recording,” says Gallant. “I was doing this for me, as a man, trying to bond with myself and learn about myself.”

The song’s expression of loneliness is striking, a noticeable contrast for the folk-rock songwriter, who’s released four albums prior to State Park and is most known for his upbeat folk-pop 2013 tune “Wanderlust,” which was featured in Tap Tap Revenge, a popular mobile game that was downloaded 2 million times.

Gallant wanted to make a different kind of album. To do that, he needed to break out of his normal routine of recording music in the privacy of his home studio. For State Park, he recorded each song at a different California state park from last November through April.

The idea was initially sparked by his love for state parks, where he likes to camp with his family as frequently as possible.

“When I’m camping, it creatively gets me in tune with writing. I’m writing music while camping,” Gallant says. “Why not put the two together and actually record an album at state parks?”

For this project, he visited the parks alone. Most of them are in Southern California—he flies down to Southern California two days every week for his day job, managing the music/audio team for Disney Games and Interactive Experiences. Instead of a hotel, he’d rent a van and spend the evening recording the track at a park.

It was a completely different experience for Gallant, who’s used to having total control and cherishes his ability to be meticulous about everything he records. When he was recording these songs, there were other people around. He had to play and sing more quietly than he normally would. Because of the limitations, he wrote one of his quietest, most vulnerable recordings to date.

“I’m the guy that auto-tunes my vocals. I’m really nitpicky. This way was kind of like, ‘Let it go,’” Gallant says. “I was excited to do this record. It’s not going to be overproduced. These songs were meant to be recorded this way.”

Other environmental elements reared their head unexpectedly. On the album closer “My Shadow”—a particularly reflective, sad song recorded at Silverwood Lake State Park—it poured rain during his visit. The sound of the rain hitting the van was picked up by the microphones. Gallant kept it.

“I was forced to be OK with some of the environmental stuff that made it onto the recording,” Gallant says. “It was dark and stormy subject matter. And then there’s this rain in the background. It was kind of amazing when it happened.”

Now that the record is finished, he’s well aware that it’s unlikely to yield a pop-y single like “Wanderlust” that gets licensed for a popular video game. But how many people listen to the record doesn’t really matter to him. The experience means a lot to him for a variety of reasons.

“This whole process made me realize that just the process of making a record was important. The record could come out and no one would listen to it. That would be okay,” Gallant says. “The journey of making it was just as precious to me as the actual product. Not every creative endeavor in my life has been that way. I hope when I die that my two sons will sit down and crack a beer and listen to my 15-20 records that I made and remember me in that way.”

Nick Gallant performs at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22, at Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way. $10 adv/$15 door. 479-1854.

Venus Spirits Debuts Cocktails-in-a-Can

Christina Waters

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August 20, 2019

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A hidden Eden for those who like to roam winding back roads and splendid open meadows—that’s Corralitos. This is the old West, where not very long ago stagecoaches rumbled through the coast range foothills. Now home to sprawling ranches, this south county landscape also grows serious grapes, and attracts winemakers able to handle them.

Next Sunday, Sept. 1, come and enjoy a self-guided tour through six Corralitos wineries, some of them rarely open to the public. The leisurely afternoon, playfully dubbed The Barrels of Corralitos, includes a logo glass, a map and a ticket to savor flights and barrel samples at these featured wineries located a mere 20 minutes south of Santa Cruz: Lester, Alfaro, Nicholson, Storrs, Windy Oaks, and the recently added El Vaquero. All of these produce intriguing examples of Santa Cruz Mountain appellation terroir, inflected by the unique growing conditions of Corralitos. Alfaro’s plantings include a mineral-driven Gruner Veltliner, Storrs is one of the state’s top producers of Chardonnay, and Windy Oaks’ constellation of Pinot Noirs is legendary. The 11 a.m.-4 p.m. tasting tour includes live music, winemaker tours and finger foods for purchase. Not to miss! Tickets $75.

corralitoswinetrail.com.

Venus Cocktails-In-a-Can

The man doesn’t sleep! Sean Venus continues his quest to bring high-quality, artisanal spirits to greater California consumers. To that end, Venus Spirits has just launched a line of ready-to-drink cocktails smartly packaged in 12-oz. cans. What’s in these unbreakable containers fetchingly decorated with pastel waves? Bestsellers from the Santa Cruz tasting room, that’s what. The new line (thus far) includes Venus Spirits’ Gin and Tonic (pale blue motif), a Gin Gimlet with Cucumber and Basil (the green one, of course), and a Vodka Mule (in a pink design). All three cocktails are 8% A.B.V. and will sell for around $15-17 per four-pack.

“We have hit another special milestone for our brand,” says entrepreneur Venus. “With these canned cocktails we can bring the Venus cocktail experience to our customers throughout California and eventually beyond.” Can you say “product placement” in the next Lionsgate production? Cocktails in cans are easy and accessible, perfect for beach barbecues or picnics or camping or to stash in your golf bag. Endless applications. Look for Venus Spirits canned cocktails in the Santa Cruz tasting room now. Venus has also begun an eagerly awaited expansion to include an 11,500-square-foot building with a new restaurant, larger distillery, warehouse, and tasting room. The restaurant is set to open in Spring 2020. Stay thirsty, my friends!

Venus Spirits Distillery & Tasting Room, 427 A Swift St., Santa Cruz. venusspirits.com.

Westcliff Tasting Notes

Always fun to see what he’s up to, Andre Beauregard of the legendary Beauregard winemaking family. Well, for one thing, there’s his fresh, crisp 2018 Westcliff Wines Pinot Gris priced at a very user-friendly $15 (available at Shoppers Corner, where Beauregard moonlights as resident wine buyer.) We enjoyed this light, summery wine (13.1% A.B.V.) with dinner of grilled steelhead and quinoa risotto the other evening. Perfect for picnics, BBQs and al fresco conversation, the Westcliff Pinot Gris is loaded with tart apples, citrus and a tinge of honeydew melon. For sipping, not meditating. Do try it.

Film Review: ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’

Lisa Jensen

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August 20, 2019

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Film Review: ‘Where’d You Go, Bernadette’

My spidey sense always cautions me to be wary of anything that smacks of “Chick Lit”— fraught relationships between mother and daughter or husband and wife; tension between a freewheeling protagonist and her censorious neighbors; lots of shopping. The first few scenes of Where’d You Go, Bernadette seem to tick off all the appropriate boxes—especially with Cate Blanchett center stage in the title role, in full-on ditz mode.

Yes, it’s weird to see patrician, often-austere Blanchett as Bernadette, rattling around the house like Lucy Ricardo, carrying on lengthy sarcastic monologues about her life while ordering stuff on her tablet (she does all her shopping online), then wading through cartons of new purchases. Or feuding with a sniffy neighbor about a mountain of wild blackberry bramble between their two yards.

Blanchett does it well—in fact, she’s terrific in her instant transitions from icy and imperious to flirty to sardonic. But it’s a little disorienting, like watching the young Katharine Hepburn play an airhead in Bringing Up Baby.

Things soon settle down for Bernadette, and the movie. Directed by the ever genre-crossing Richard Linklater from a script he wrote with Holly Gent and Vince Palmo, it’s adapted from the hugely best-selling 2012 novel by Maria Semple. While the book was a comic odyssey about the search for a woman in flight from 20 years of domesticity, Linklater chooses to keep protagonist Bernadette Fox front and center throughout his movie, caught in the throes of suburban life in Seattle with her tech-sector husband and their teenage daughter. The main mystery here is not where she’s gone away to, but how she got here in the first place.

The unfolding of Bernadette’s backstory is the most interesting part of the movie. She’s introduced as “just” a housewife in a somewhat ramshackle old house she shares with husband Elgin (Billy Crudup)—creator of a computer animation program snapped up by Microsoft—and teen daughter Bee (fresh and appealing newcomer Emma Nelson). Easily annoyed, Bernadette dislikes other people, but she’s devoted to her family. Dad works a lot, but mother and daughter are so deeply bonded, Bee calls her mom her best friend. They sing along to Cyndi Lauper in the car, and when Bernadette is challenged by an uptight neighbor (Kristen Wiig), Bee staunchly backs her up.

But like the old paint on the walls, Bernadette’s surprising past life is deftly peeled away. No spoilers here if you haven’t read the book, but her story is revealed in glimpses of video docs, old articles and a smart sequence of dueling monologues when Elgin and Bernadette, in separate conversations, reflect on their marriage.

So the movie is not about Bernadette finding herself, but reclaiming who she once was and bringing that aspect of herself back to life. In Linklater’s design, the title refers not so much to her physical absence toward the end of the story, but to the vacation she’s apparently taken from herself, submerged in family life for the intervening years.

The sitcom elements in the first half get a bit wearying, especially the animosity between the neighbors. Crudup and Blanchett are the same age, but his Elgin seems too young, almost insubstantial a partner for her Bernadette, or it may be that his character’s reserve is outshone by Blanchett’s vivacity.

While the woman-empowering message is not subtle (“If you don’t create, you become a menace to society,” an old friend and colleague bluntly tells Bernadette), it’s worth pondering. And the movie offers up some truly awe-inspiring visuals of towering ice floes dotted with penguins and lounging seals in Antarctica, where the story winds up. Linklater deserves big kudos for capturing this glorious landscape on film, while it still exists.

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE?

*** (out of four)

With Cate Blanchett, Emma Nelson, Billy Crudup, and Kristen Wiig. Written by Richard Linklater, Holly Gent & Vince Palmo. From the novel by Maria Semple. Directed by Richard Linklater. An Annapurna release. Rated PG-13. 104 minutes.

Extra Large Plans Last Local Gigs

Wallace Baine

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August 20, 2019

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Summer in Santa Cruz has its distinctive touchstones: RVs lumbering along on West Cliff Drive, kids swarming the beach in red junior guard bathing suits, and the music of Extra Large emanating from a beach somewhere along the county’s coastline.

But after more than two decades together, Extra Large has announced that its tenure as one of Santa Cruz’s most popular live music acts is over. After the band’s last gig this summer—Sept. 28 at the Capitola Beach Festival—Extra Large will be no more, at least in Santa Cruz.

“After 20-some-odd years, we have made the decision that we’re going to stop performing here, and quit while we’re ahead,” says the band’s lead singer and songwriter Russ Leal. “We made the decision that we wanted to stop performing here on our own terms, and not be at a show where people might go, ‘Y’know, you guys are done. We’re over you.’ We wanted to go out extra large.”

The band also features Leal’s wife Valerie on vocals, as well as Gary Andrijasevich on drums, Chris Sandman on bass, Dave Byron on lead guitar, and Dan Becker on keyboards and accordion. The Leals have a second home in the Los Cabos area of Mexico, and they say the band will continue to play gigs there. But for locals, the Extra Large Era is over.

Extra Large first emerged in the late ’90s, as a unique player on the local music scene. They weren’t easily categorizable in a genre, and they preferred to play original music rather than covers. “We could have gotten more corporate gigs if we were some kind of cover band or tribute band,” says Valerie Leal, “but we just didn’t do it.”

The band tends to talk about their music in terms of mood more than genre. The sound is a groove-oriented mélange of reggae, soul, R&B, hip-hop, and funk, but the common thread is an upbeat and sunny message of enjoyment and relaxation, a sense of in-the-moment jubilation that fits well with summer on the beach. The band has also released a number of recordings of its original music, most recently 2017’s Just Smile. They’ve been voted Best Local Band by GT readers nine times.

The Crow’s Nest has been one of Extra Large’s spiritual homes for many years, and on Aug. 29, the band will play their final show on the beach there. Valerie Leal says that with each passing show this summer, the decision has become more real for her and her bandmates. “During performances, we’ll make eye contact with other members of the band, and it’s this kind of surge of emotion,” she says. “It’s becoming a reality in a way that it wasn’t when we first made the decision.”

Russ Leal began his music career as the son of a well-known jazz saxophonist in Santa Cruz named Frank Leal. Russ was performing with his dad in the 1990s when Scotts Valley restaurateur Patti Malone approached him and asked him if he had his own band. “I lied,” he says. “I told her, yes. Then I got a band together.”

Since then, the band has played throughout Northern California. In Santa Cruz County, they quickly developed a reputation for original feel-good vibes. But in out-of-town markets, they continuously had to sell themselves to audiences. “People identify with our music,” says Valerie Leal. “Russ writes the most positive, happy songs and, especially in this current (political) climate, people are appreciating that a lot. We make them smile.”

As for the rapidly approaching end of Extra Large, Russ Leal has found a kind of exhilaration with each passing show. “To be honest, since we’ve made the decision, I’ve had more fun than I’ve ever had,” he says. “For example, when we played [Capitola’s Wednesday Night Summer Twilight Concert], there were thousands of people there and I thought, ‘This is the last time I’m going to be here doing this, I’m going to give them everything I got.’”

Extra Large performs 5:30 p.m. to sunset on Thursday, Aug. 29, at the Crow’s Nest, 2218 East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz. Free. crowsnest-santacruz.com.

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PEN IN DOUBT

COMMIT TO MEMORY

HARD PASS

WEDNESDAY 8/21

HIP-HOP

REVERIE

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

THURSDAY 8/22

ACOUSTIC

SMALL TOWN THERAPY

9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10. 429-6994.

FRIDAY 8/23

AMERICANA

DAVE ALVIN & JIMMIE DALE GILMORE

8:30 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $30 adv/$35 door. 479-1854.

COMEDY

SEAN GREEN

7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. DNA’s Comedy Lab, 155 S River St, Santa Cruz. $20 adv/$25 door. 900-5123.

SATURDAY 8/24

AFRO-SOUL

MALIMA KONE

8 p.m., Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $20-40 adv/$30 door. 427-2227.

ROCK

SOFT WHITE SIXTIES

8:30 p.m., Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $15 adv/$18 door. 704-7113.

REGGAE

LOS CAFRES

9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $32.50. 423-1338.

MONDAY 8/26

JAZZ

WIL BLADES

7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $26.25 adv/$31.50 door. 427-2227.

TUESDAY 8/27

ROCK

MAGGOT HEART

8 p.m. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.

9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.

Nick Gallant performs at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22, at Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way. $10 adv/$15 door. 479-1854.

corralitoswinetrail.com.

Venus Cocktails-In-a-Can

Venus Spirits Distillery & Tasting Room, 427 A Swift St., Santa Cruz. venusspirits.com.

Westcliff Tasting Notes