Rob Brezsny’s Astrology Oct. 9-15

Rob Brezsny

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October 8, 2019

Free will astrology for the week of Oct. 9, 2019

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Love is when you meet someone who tells you something new about yourself,” wrote poet André Breton. I think that’s an excellent principle to put at the top of your priority list in the coming weeks, Aries. To be in maximum alignment with cosmic rhythms, you should seek input from allies who’ll offer insights about you that are outside your current conceptions of yourself. You might even be daring enough to place yourself in the paths of strangers, acquaintances, animals, and teachers who can provide novel reflections. There’s just one caveat: Stay away from people who might be inclined to fling negative feedback.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Constantine P. Cavafy’s poem “Waiting for the Barbarians” imagines the imminent arrival of an unpredictable agent of chaos. “The barbarians are coming today,” declares the narrator. Everyone in town is uneasy. People’s routines are in disarray. Faces look worried. What’s going to happen? But the poem has a surprise ending. “It is night, and the barbarians haven’t come,” reports the narrator. “Some people have arrived from the frontier and say that there aren’t any more barbarians.” I propose that we use this scene as a metaphor for your life right now, Taurus. It’s quite possible that the perceived threat isn’t really a threat. So here’s my question, taken from near the end of the poem: “What are we going to do now without the barbarians?”

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Some folklorists prefer the term “wonder tales” rather than “fairy tales.” Indeed, many such stories are filled with marvelous events that feature magical transformations, talking animals and mythical creatures like elves and dragons and unicorns. I bring this up, Gemini, because I want to encourage you to read some wonder tales. Hopefully, as you do, you’ll be inspired to reimagine your life as a wonder tale; you’ll reframe the events of the “real world” around you as being elements in a richly entertaining wonder tale. Why do I recommend this? Because wonder tales are like waking dreams that reveal the wishes and curiosities and fascinations of your deep psyche. And I think you will benefit profoundly in the coming weeks from consciously tuning in to those wishes and curiosities and fascinations.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I suspect that in the coming days you’ll be able to see into everyone’s souls more vividly than usual. You’ll have a special talent for piercing through the outer trappings of their personalities so as to gaze at the essence beneath. It’s as if your eyes will be blessed by an enhancement that enables you to discern what’s often hidden. This upgrade in your perception may at times be unsettling. For some of the people you behold, the difference between how they present themselves and who they actually are will be dramatic. But for the most part, penetrating to the depths should be fun, enriching, even healing.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “This heart is rusty,” writes poet Gabriel Gadfly. “It creaks, it clanks, it crashes and rattles and bangs.” Why is his heart in such a state? Because he has been separated from a person he loves. And so he’s out of practice in doing the little things, the caring gestures and tender words, that a lover does to keep the heart well-oiled. It’s my observation that most of us go through rusty-heart phases like this even when we are living in close proximity to an intimate ally. We neglect to practice the art of bestowing affectionate attention and low-key adoration. We forget how important it is for our own welfare that we continually refresh and reinvigorate our heart intelligence. These are good meditations for you right now, Leo.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “All the effort in the world won’t matter if you’re not inspired,” writes novelist Chuck Palahniuk. I agree! And that’s a key meditation for you right now. Your assignment is to enhance and upgrade the inspiration you feel about the activities that are most important to you—the work and the play that give you the sense you’re living a meaningful life. So how do you boost your excitement and motivation for those essential actions you do on a regular basis? Here’s a good place to begin: visualize in exuberant detail all the reasons you started doing them in the first place.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I hope you are embarking on a vigorous new phase of self-redefinition. I trust you are excited about shedding old ways of thinking about yourself and eager to revise and reimagine the plot of your life story. As you do, keep in mind this helpful counsel from physicist Richard Feynman: “You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It’s their mistake, not my failing.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You’ve probably heard the saying, “Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.” It’s often attributed to inventor Thomas Edison, but 16th-century artist Michelangelo expressed a similar idea. “If you knew how much labor went into it, you would not call it genius,” he said about one of his masterpieces. I’m guessing that you Scorpios have been in a phase when these descriptions are highly apropos. The work you’ve been doing may look productive and interesting and heroic to the casual observer, and maybe only you know how arduous and exacting it has been. So now what do you do? I say it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your efforts. Celebrate! Give yourself a thrilling gift.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you,” declared astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. If that’s even a little bit true, I bet you won’t believe it in the coming weeks. According to my analysis, the universe will make a great deal of sense to you—at times even exquisite, beautiful, breathtaking sense. Life will be in a revelatory and articulate mood. The evocative clues coming your way about the nature of reality could tempt you to believe that there is indeed a coherent plan and meaning to your personal destiny.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In 2005, Facebook was a start-up company barely on the map of the internet. Its president asked graffiti artist David Choe to paint murals on the walls of its headquarters. Choe asked for $60,000, but the president convinced him to be paid with Facebook stock instead. Years later, when Facebook went public, Choe became a multi-millionaire. I suspect that in the coming months you will be faced with choices that are less spectacular than that, Capricorn, but similar and important. My conclusion: Be willing to consider smart gambles when projects are germinating.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Experiment is the sole source of truth,” wrote philosopher and polymath Henri Poincaré. “It alone can teach us something new; it alone can give us certainty.” He wasn’t merely referring to the kinds of experiments that scientists conduct in laboratories. He was talking about the probes and explorations we can and should carry out in the course of our daily lives. I mention this, Aquarius, because the coming days will be prime time for you to do just that: ask provocative questions, initiate novel adventures and incite fun learning experiences.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In my opinion, Piscean singer, poet and actor Saul Williams produces high-quality art. So he has earned a right to critique mediocre art. In speaking about movies and TV shows that are hard to enjoy unless we dumb ourselves down, he says that, “We have more guilty pleasure than actual effing pleasure.” Your assignment in the coming weeks, Pisces, is to cut back on your “guilty pleasures”—the entertainment, art, and socializing that brings meager returns—as you increase and upgrade your actual effing pleasure.

Homework: I discuss some of my ideas about astrology in an article published at tinyurl.com/robonastrology.

Henry Chadwick Resets After Indie Success

Aaron Carnes

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October 8, 2019

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Henry Chadwick Resets After Indie Success

In 2016, local singer-songwriter Henry Chadwick’s life flipped upside down when he released his debut solo EP Guest At Home. One of the songs, “Alright,” was getting an unusually high number of Spotify plays, which grabbed the attention of Rolling Stone and Time, both of whom wrote about it.

As exciting as it was, Chadwick was also overwhelmed. At that point in his life, he was playing in several projects at once. He was recording songs, jamming with friends at their shows and playing drums with successful local roots-rock group the Coffis Brothers. But his solo project—the thing he really wanted to do—was showing potential. He made the decision in 2017 to leave the Coffis Brothers after eight-and-a-half years, and pursue his solo career full-time.

As this was all happening, he wrote the song “Never Say No” about his state of upheaval. It’s a numbed-out, tense, piano-driven pop song that explores the contradictions that happen when a person feels overwhelmed with all the things they want.

“I was spreading myself too thin. I had to kind of reassess my priorities,” Chadwick says. “Writing that song was a cathartic thing.”

This song is the lead single off his latest EP The President Of Make Believe, which was released last month on Brooklyn indie label Swoon City Music, his first signing. It also comes after the full-length Marlin Fisher (2018), which followed his breakout EP. Three years removed from the stressful urgency he expressed in “Never Say No,” the music has softened.

“It’s less angsty than it used to be. It feels happier singing it now than when I wrote it. I feel like I feel happy with where I’m at,” Chadwick says. “It feels really good the last couple years to just be putting new music out.”

The President Of Make Believe was supposed to be released in 2016. When “Alright” took off, a couple different labels reached out about putting out new music, including Swoon City. They went back and forth negotiating the terms of the release. Meanwhile, Chadwick was getting antsy to move forward. Since he had more music, he recorded and self-released Marlin Fisher. It’s a heavier and smoother—though still Beatles-esque—collection of indie-pop songs, this time produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliot Smith, Kurt Vile). Once it got going, all the focus went towards that album. But he and Swoon worked out a deal eventually, and now they are releasing this three-year-old EP, which is musically diverse, with influences ranging from the Beach Boys to the Kinks to David Bowie.

“I just kept tracking things,” Chadwick says. “It always happens different than you think it would, but not always in a bad way.”

His LP didn’t have any breakout singles the way Guest At Home did. But he got written about in Rolling Stone again—this time, a longer piece. “Alright” continues to accumulate Spotify plays; it’s currently just under 200,000. His next highest song, “Guest At Home,” has 17,000 plays. He’s hopeful about the potential for “Never Say No,” and has a full team behind him.

“When a song reaches a point on there where it reaches a lot more ears, it takes on a little bit more of a life of its own, which is cool,” Chadwick says.

He’s also touring more and getting his name out however he can. Of course, he just wants to continue to write and record more music.

“It’s hard to know what brings people out, and the analytics of what’s reaching who,” Chadwick says. “I’m working on new demos now. I’m going to go in the studio this fall and work on some new stuff, hopefully. It’s good to keep charging ahead.”

henrychadwick.net.

Libra—Everything in Balance: Risa’s Stars Oct. 9-15

Risa D’Angeles

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October 8, 2019

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Libra—Everything in Balance: Risa’s Stars Oct. 9-15

Tuesday evening, as the first star appeared at sunset, the Jewish Festival of Yom Kippur began. Jewish festivals always begin at sunset. The holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur is a Day of atonement, repentance, fasting, and prayer. We continue to ask forgiveness from everyone, including God, during these sacred days—also called the Days of Awe.

Wednesday is the birthday of famous Russian painter, designer, writer, theosophist, esotericist, traveler, and philosopher Nicholas Roerich (Oct. 9, 1874), known for his Peace Pact.

Here we are in Libra, our harvest time. Sunday is full moon, Libra solar festival. The Harvest Moon time. Libra brings forth an interlude, when the light—moving here and there, up and down—seeks a place of contemplative rest. Autumn brings us to the dark half of the year. In Libra, the Virgin stands within the “cave of the heart” gestating the new consciousness/light to be birthed at Winter Solstice, when the week-long Festival of the New Group of World Servers begins.

In Libra, Persephone enters the underworld, remaining with Pluto until spring. We enter the underworld with her. We eat pomegranates, persimmons and pumpkins. Ceres, Persephone’s mother, stands in grief at the loss of her daughter. We grieve with her. The golden leaves fall. Autumn is here.Everything comes into balance.

ARIES: Something appears, is seen, recognized, brought to balance, and creates an interlude in your relationships. Perhaps you identify how to have true Right Relations with those who love you. Perhaps you learn that through relationships your true self emerges because relationships are an I/Thou situation and this always balances you, provides structure and discipline, and leads to true intimacy.

TAURUS: There are times when others tell you their deepest needs. Sometimes you can’t hear or understand them. This month, your needs—usually hidden and unknown to you, thus hardly ever tended—will emerge. Changes, small and subtle, begin to manifest in how you express yourself, and to whom you speak. It’s important to initiate a discussion of long-term wishes, desires and wants. Since your usual word is “no,” everyone listens attentively.

GEMINI: Who is your family? What does family mean to you? Perhaps family means criticism and judgments, or gardens of nourishment. Whatever family signifies for you, it’s time to create your own family, and build balance and love, discipline and rules, kindness and communication into it. We have times when we can recreate certain events and ideas. This time has arrived for you. When you praise others and show gratitude, an alchemy of love emerges.

CANCER: You’re both in the world and not, at home while also working, all at the same time. Family’s close by and yet it’s not. It’s always in your heart. Both you and family have spiritual work to accomplish, though perhaps not in the same geographical region. A new set of realities concerning resources emerges. Your specific and particular skills are a deeply needed resource. When you share them, they nurture and nourish, and we are grateful.

LEO: A tradition—perhaps religious, and including the emotional and intellectual—becomes important. It summons you to a discipline, structure and ritual that brings order and stability to your life. Perhaps you’re remembering a parent, teacher, someone older and wiser than you, who instilled ethics and justice, seeing you as equal. Who is this person? What is this ritual? Honor this. Ask and offer forgiveness.

VIRGO: You have resources in common with another. Resources don’t only refer to money. They include values and/or possessions held in common, intimacy, interaction, and relationships. There’s a question about relationships, and perhaps a feeling of restriction and grief? Remember the beginnings of your relationships and their original emotional value. Can you discover this again? What seems so far away is usually what is closest by.

LIBRA: Libra’s month is an important passage of time, a growing-up time and a maturing developmental stage for everyone. There’s a challenge to choose which path to take. A challenge to change, too. Perhaps frustrations and time issues, shadows and pressures, are distractions. You want wisdom to guide you. There will be times of stillness and times of acceleration. Saturn, your father, guide, disciplinarian, Dweller on the Threshold and Angel of the Presence, loves you.

SCORPIO: Your deepest desires come forth and although directed at others, the reality is the desire to know the self, to create a new image that better defines you, and the need for a partnership between your emotions, intellect, body, and soul. Emotions may become more passionate; people may shy away should you display too much depth of feeling. Assess who’s safe, who understands, who will support, encourage, defend, and who truly loves you.

SAGITTARIUS: Turn toward your religious roots, studying the teachings as tools and guidelines that illuminate and make sturdy your inner and outer life. This may sound old-fashioned. However, Jupiter, as a major planet of love and spirituality, is traveling through Sagittarius, where your sun resides. Jupiter provides you with love, wisdom and direction. Another choice is to maintain a state of self-enforced contemplation, solitude and seclusion. Include lots of music, reading matter, deep pools of water and food.

CAPRICORN: An old cycle ends and a new cycle begins. It’s connected to the harvest festival, the gathering of summer fruits and placing them into a root cellar of cool darkness. It’s time to begin fall and winter planting. I suggest reading the book Agriculture, a study of biodynamic planting, which uses special plant, animal and mineral (homeopathic) preparations, and follows rhythmic influences of the sun, moon, planets, and stars (reminding you that you are one).

AQUARIUS: An entirely different set of ideals (values, goals) begin to dawn, and your view your life changes. Notice it seems the rules have changed, previous values become less important, things taken for granted are no longer useful, and perhaps your faith is being tested. It’s time for new journeys, new studies, definitely new adventures, and travels to new cultures. The disillusion felt will not last forever. Life becomes more realistic. Something about home beckons.

PISCES: While thinking about life and death, and the process of aging, take walks in the early morning and evening. Focus upon making contact with the elements, the devas and nature (plants). Nature is the most balancing of kingdoms. Gather seeds, pods, notice what is ripening yet still green, stop and view the architecture; notice what soothes and comforts. Read A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander. Begin your own photographic journal. Life finds you in other places soon. The groups are gathering.

Music Picks: Oct. 9-15

Mat Weir

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October 8, 2019

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Santa Cruz County live entertainment picks for the week of Oct. 9

WEDNESDAY 10/9

INDIE

ZACH DEPUTY

By now, most people have seen someone perform solo with a bunch of instruments and a looping rig, and just blow the audience away by creating what sounds like an entire 10-piece band. Georgia singer-songwriter Zach Deputy does this, but he takes it a step further and makes his looping station a one-man-dance-party band. We’re talking funk, reggae, drum ‘n’ bass, calypso, electronica. He’s sitting up there on stage creating it himself, alone, using all his fancy technology and having a blast. You’ll be surprised at how effectively those grooves will get under your skin. AC

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

THURSDAY 10/10

JAZZ

BILLY COBHAM

Billy Cobham is the definitive jazz-rock fusion drummer. From the groundbreaking combo Dreams to his seminal work with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew to his game-changing tenure in Mahavishnu Orchestra, Cobham’s combination of torrential power and polyrhythmic precision still inspire awe today. An undiminished force at 75, the longtime resident of Switzerland has assembled a combustible band focusing on the music from his second album, 1974’s Crosswinds. ANDREW GILBERT

7 and 9pm. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $36.75-52.50. 427-2227.

FRIDAY 10/11

HIP-HOP

KRS-ONE

Rapper KRS-One has been critical of the materialism and sexism in hip-hop. He’s also made comments about a lot of rappers’ lackluster performances. Hey, if KRS-One wants to be critical, he has every right to be. Not only is he about as old school as you can get—his mid-’80s group Boogie Down Productions helped redefine the genre to be more artful and conscious—he’s also always been one of the most consistently high-energy rappers to see live. Between spontaneous freestyle verses, and rants about the metaphysical world, his energy is unparalleled. He’ll outlast rappers half his age, and still spit the best bars you ever heard. AC

9pm. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $25. 423-1338.

INDIE

PETE YORN

This coming November, Pete Yorn will be touring backed by his indie dream-pop group Day Wave. But for now, he plays Felton as part of the You & Me solo acoustic tour. Instead of his normal melodic vocals, hazy atmospheric ambiance and sparkling guitar riffs, folks will hear his music in its rawest and starkest form. But even his acoustic renditions have a reflective vibe that invites the listener to sink into a cushion-y porch swing and watch as summertime raindrops refract tiny rainbows against the screen door. Yorn’s music will invoke daydreams from the subconscious while he wistfully lulls alone on his guitar. Bring someone to philosophize and cuddle with. AMY BEE

9pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $27 adv/$29 door. 704-7113.

SATURDAY 10/12

COMEDY

JUDAH FRIEDLANDER

Judah Friedlander has seen the future, and in it, he is president. As early as 2012, the be-trucker-hatted comedian was regaling his future constituents with the abuses of power he’d one day wield with his presidential authority. “You like Hawaii?” he asked an unsuspecting audience member. “Ok, well I’m gonna move it to Michigan. Much closer.” You might recognize Friedlander for his iconic role on 30 Rock, but did you know he was once known as “the Hug Guy” in a Dave Matthews Band video? Nothing but respect for my president. MIKE HUGUENOR

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

SYNTH-POP

ASHE

Ashe’s emotive vocals and vintage pop sound make listening to the singer-songwriter’s tunes feel like a journey through the heart. Laden with dynamic melodies and dramatic lyrics, Ashe soars from impassioned vociferations on a messy divorce to quiet, pained platitudes on the nature of heartbreak. Her songs contain a soft edge of whimsical fun from the quirky musical arrangements. These almost-silly moments make you grin when waters are darkest and deepest, and pull you back toward safer shores. AB

8:30pm., Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $13. 423-1338.

ROCK

BRANDON “TAZ” NIEDERAUER

He’s wild, crazed and has shredded the guitar on the same stage as Gregg Allman, Buddy Guy and Slash. Oh, and he’s only 16 years old. Brandon “Taz” Niederauer says he’s living proof that dreams come true. Niederauer picked up the six-stringed axe at the age of 8 after watching School of Rock and never put it down. Four years later, he was cast in the Broadway production of his inspirational catalyst. This is one artist to keep on the radar—only time will tell what he has planned for the next eight years before he ultimately retires at 24. J/k! MAT WEIR

7pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $12 adv/$14 door. 704-7113.

SUNDAY 10/13

PSYCHEDELIC POP

AARON LEE TASJAN

Renowned as both a guitarist and a songwriter, Aaron Lee Tasjan’s melodic sense, sartorial style and proclivity for 12-string electrics have drawn more than a few comparisons to a certain four many consider to have been fab. On this year’s Karma for Cheap, however, the Nashville musician leans a little heavier into the ’70s, coating his psychedelic melodies in the glittering excess of glam rock. Songs like “The Truth is So Hard to Believe,” with its platform-booted stomp, and the piano-rocking “The Rest is Yet to Come,” will get your sequins shaking. MH

8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $12 adv/$14 door. 704-7113.

MONDAY 10/14

HIP-HOP

THE PALMER SQUARES

Oh snap, son! The Palmer Squares are back on tour. This Chicago-based hip-hop duo first gained attention in the beginning of the 2010s on YouTube. In 2012, the group dropped its debut release, the Spooky Language EP, and have since continued on the independent path, releasing their own music, videos and, most recently, a podcast. For fans of Lyrics Born, Atmosphere, Run the Jewels or any woke hip-hop with beats and melodies that ride the line of funky and weird. MW

8:30pm. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.

How Bantam Merged Fine Dining and Pizza

Christina Waters

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October 8, 2019

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I love the boisterous pace and energy of Bantam, although I admit that Katya and I try to get there right at opening time in order to score our favorite spots at the bar. And before the noise level rises.

Chef/owner Ben Sims was chopping and dicing along with his team in front of the hard-working wood-fired pizza oven, so we made a point of sampling some of the evening’s menu in addition to some liquid refreshments. We tasted a few wines by the glass, then zeroed in on an icy flute of Blanc de Blanc ($12) and a pour of Ampelos Cellars Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir ($14), both solid choices with the food to come.

A plate of house bread and salted butter made sense with a starter of cauliflower pickles ($6), bright yellow from turmeric and tossed with black sesame seeds. They were crunchy and dazzling to the tongue. Perfect, light pickling made them almost addictive. Another opening plate of creamy burrata ($12) with wood-oven figs and hazelnuts in an oregano olive oil sauce was diverting, but might have prospered with less oregano and more figs. Adventurous idea, though.

Two more dishes that we shared last week brought home the obvious: Bantam is a serious restaurant disguised as a neighborhood pizza joint. Our main plate was an elegant creation of grilled scallops astride a landscape of black lentils surrounded by avocado cream ($25). The scallops were perfect—tender inside, golden crisp outside. Crimson Jimmy Nardello peppers joined the shellfish, and everything gleamed in an intense citrus oil. This was a spectacular constellation of flavors and textures. Earthy luxury, and a dynamite pairing with both the bubbly and the Pinot.

Since we had been sharing each plate, we both had room for a little something more. Dessert? You bet. We instantly went for a special blackberry and strawberry crumble, topped with almonds and a scoop of bold, house-made ginger ice cream ($9). This deeply satisfying pastry gave currency to the concept of bypassing dinner and going straight to dessert. The berries were warm from the oven, the almondy crumble an exact topping—not too much, not too skimpy. And the icing on the cake (I can’t help it) was the tart and barely sweet, ultra-creamy —almost gelato-esque—ginger ice cream. Berries, almonds and ginger ice cream: you do the math. Thank you Bantam for locating yourself very close to where we live.

Bantam, 1010 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz. 420-0101, bantam1010.com.

Animal Branches Out

Just when you thought it was merely a sophisticated bookstore with a wine bar attached, now there’s fried chicken at Bad Animal (and no, the chicken isn’t the animal in question.) Proprietors Jess and Andrew continue with their Left Bank Brunches on Sundays, and in the evening, Chef Parker is growing and morphing the Southern Sunday Supper menu (5-8:30pm) in homage to the New Orleans institution Willie Mae’s Scotch House, featuring not only fried chicken (be still my heart) but the ultimate comfort food, macaroni and cheese.

Bad Animal, 1011 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. 900-5031, badanimalbooks.com.

Love Your Local Band: Asari

Aaron Carnes

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October 8, 2019

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When local instrumental quartet Asari formed a year-and-a-half ago, the goal was to play quietly and unassumingly enough to hear people’s conversations as they performed. That’s pretty much the exact opposite of what most musicians want, but Asari began with a different goal: not to take over events, but to blend in with them.

“You can engage or you can not engage,” says drummer Andrew Hawes. “I’m inspired by other art forms. So we try to make live music that leaves space for other things to happen.”

Asari wants to bring ambience to an event while also pushing boundaries musically. The group, which also features Ravi Lamb on guitar, Shahya Khodadadio on bass and Will Henry Dias on keys, mixes jazz, hip-hop, and R&B, and gives the whole thing a modern, low-key, chill vibe. The musicians are all highly skilled and each have a long resumé, spanning Boostive, Beat Tape, Redlight District, and Ginger and Juice. Asari plays originals but also give jazz standards a new twist.

As the band grew, they started to play actual clubs show, where the intent is generally to be an overpowering force. In those cases, the band frequently brings in guest singers, horn players or other instruments. The musical influences are similar, but the shows also depend on what the guest musicians are bringing to the table.

“We like to incorporate live sampling and improvisation,” says Hawes. “We try to be collaborative with what feels good for the artist.”

9pm. Friday, Oct. 11, Michael’s On Main, 2591 Main St., Soquel. $8 adv/$10 door. 479-9777.

Film Review: ‘Raise Hell: The Life And Times Of Molly Ivins’

Lisa Jensen

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October 8, 2019

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Film Review: ‘Raise Hell: The Life And Times Of Molly Ivins’

She was an Amazon among puny mortals. As if she wasn’t already unusual enough as a progressive in Texas, the smart, savagely funny political journalist Molly Ivins also stood 6-feet tall.

Not gifted with conventional proportions, she felt entitled to hold outsized opinions expressed with outsized gusto. The zenith of her popularity came as a syndicated columnist in some 400 U.S. newspapers during the George W. Bush era (she called him “Shrub”), giving her plenty of fodder for her trademark blend of savvy political insight and stinging humor.

As Ivins herself once said about American politics, “You can laugh, you can cry, or you can throw up. Crying and throwing up’s bad for you, so you might as well laugh.” There’s plenty to laugh at—and get riled up over—in Janice Engel’s documentary Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins. Ivins succumbed to breast cancer in 2007 at age 62, but Engel’s film celebrates all the ways the outspoken writer raised hell in her own life as a pioneering woman in a world and profession run by good ol’ boys.

Through documentary footage and interviews, Engel allows Ivins to tell much of her own story in her own words. When back-up is called for, Engels solicits commentary from folks like Rachel Maddow and political columnist Jim Hightower, but it’s the particular zing of Ivins’ own voice that makes this movie so irresistible.

Raised in Texas by an authoritarian, staunchly Republican father and a college-educated, homemaker mother, Ivins found her given name Mary too ordinary, so switched to Molly. Ordinary, she never was. She went to Smith College, studied political science in Paris and earned a Masters degree in journalism from Columbia.

Her checkered career in her chosen profession stretched from intern at the Houston Chronicle and cub reporter at the Minneapolis Tribune to co-editor and political reporter at the alternative paper The Texas Observer. Ever determined to avoid “the snake pit” — to which female reporters were traditionally exiled to write about food and fashion, ca. 1970—Ivins instead cracked the boys’ club of male reporters covering the Texas legislature. She saw it a riotous example of cronyism, corruption and sexism (“How could you not find it funny?”), inspiring her to perfect her talent for savage satirical barbs.

Having freelanced some pieces to The New York Times, she accepted a job at that august paper, but disliked the way her down-home exuberance was routinely edited out of her columns to fit the more staid NYT style. She was sent west to become the paper’s Rocky Mountain bureau chief (“I was the chief,” she recalls, “and I was the bureau”), but ran into more trouble with editor Abe Rosenthal over using the expression “gang-pluck” to describe a Denver chicken-killing festival. Accused of trying to insert vulgar language into the minds of their readership, Ivins deadpanned, “Damn if I could fool you, Mr. Rosenthal.”

She was soon seduced back to Texas by the Dallas Times Herald, where she was given free rein to write about anything (and in any way) that she pleased. From this platform, she was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, published popular books of her collected essays and vastly increased her fan base by going into syndication.

Through it all, Ivins retained her razor-sharp wit, her sense of fun and her finely-honed moral outrage at the utter disregard of those in power for everybody else. Along with the pleasures of watching Ivins in action, answering fans and critics alike with irreverent aplomb, Engel’s movie serves up an affectionate portrait of Ivins’ longtime friendship with another strong, salty Texas woman, Ann Richards, herself something of a pioneer as a Democratic female governor of Texas.

Sadly, we can only imagine the glee with which Ivins might have squared off against the current crop of scoundrels in Washington. But her clarion call to “have fun, do good and raise hell” is more timely than ever.

RAISE HELL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MOLLY IVINS

**** (out of four)

With Molly Ivins. Written by Janice Engel and Monique Zavitoski. Directed by Janice Engel. A Magnolia Pictures release. (Not rated) 93 minutes.

Santa Cruz Film Fest: 5 Must-See Picks for 2019

Steve Palopoli

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October 3, 2019

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Santa Cruz Film Fest: 5 Must-See Picks for 2019

There are plenty of other gems besides Dosed and General Magic at this year’s Santa Cruz Film Festival. But with more than 100 films to choose from, it can be hard to know where to start. Here are five that shouldn’t be missed.

THE TONY ALVA STORY

The opening film of the festival, this documentary traces the legacy of Tony Alva from his Dogtown and Z-Boys years at the center of the upstart skateboarding revolution to today—which sees him, at 61 years of age, the oldest pro skater ever. Tuesday, Oct. 8, 7:30pm, Del Mar Theatre. Encore screening: Wednesday, Oct. 9, noon, Colligan Theater.

AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY

This experimental documentary from Arthur Balder is in part a conversation between Susan Sarandon and painter Tigran Tsitoghdzyan, as they discuss life, art and philosophy while he paints her portrait. Shot over three years, the film’s tone captures the mysterious quality of Tsitoghdzyan’s unbelievably photo-realistic and yet oddly surreal paintings.

Saturday, Oct. 12, 4:45pm, Colligan Theater.

REBORN

Considering that this year saw season three of Stranger Things, It: Chapter 2, and American Horror Story: 1984, ’80s retro seems to be bigger than ever in horror. Trending right along with it is Reborn, a Stephen King-type story about a girl who develops electrokinetic powers after being brought back to life as an infant. On her 16th birthday, she escapes her life in captivity to seek out her birth mother, leaving a trail of destruction. The era-appropriate cast includes Barbara Crampton, whose scream queen reign in the ’80s was sealed by Reanimator, Michael Pare and Rae Dawn Chong. Wednesday, Oct. 9, 9:15pm, Del Mar. Encore: Saturday, Oct. 12, 9:15pm.

MAN IN CAMO

“Oh god, it’s so narcissistic! Who would make a film about themselves?” That’s the question asked—and answered!—in the trailer for Man in Camo. In fact, artist Ethan Minsker did make this film about himself; funny, weird and challenging, it reflects his outlaw mentality in every way. On the one hand about his own life and career, which started with making zines and films during the ’80s heyday of Washington D.C. punk rock, Man in Camo is also about the rebellious nature of art. Saturday, Oct. 12, 7pm, Colligan Theater.

RUTH WEISS: THE BEAT GODDESS

This is the U.S. premiere of this documentary, which traces the life of 91-year-old Ruth Weiss, the German-born poet who escaped the Nazis with her family in World War II and eventually became part of the Beat scene. In the early ’50s, she and Jack Kerouac took up a “haiku dialogue,” in which they would write haiku back and forth to each other over bottles of wine. In 1959, she published her first book Gallery of Women, written in her jazz-inspired poetry style. She continues to write and perform poetry to this day, including at the San Francisco Beat Festival in 2016. Saturday, Oct. 12, 2:30pm, Colligan Theater.

The Santa Cruz Film Festival runs from Oct. 8-13. For showtimes and venues visit santacruzfilmfestival.org.

Santa Cruz Film Fest 2019: Tech Before Its Time in ‘General Magic’

Wallace Baine

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October 3, 2019

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Santa Cruz Film Fest 2019: Tech Before Its Time in ‘General Magic’

In 1989, the World Wide Web was just struggling to be born, and the mobile connectivity that has remade the world’s economies and transformed human culture didn’t yet exist.

But what did exist was Marc Porat’s large red sketchbook.

Porat is the central protagonist in the engrossing new documentary General Magic, which plays at the Santa Cruz Film Festival on Friday, Oct. 11. In ’89, Porat was a young, Stanford-educated technologist and aspiring Silicon Valley visionary working at Apple.

In the film, Porat drags out his battered 30-year-old notebook. It’s what inside that notebook that gives the viewer a jolt, the shock of recognition in something relatively ancient, like seeing someone playing basketball in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The drawings show what everyone would today recognize as a smartphone; it’s a sleek, pocket-sized device on which there are small icons representing apps for news, weather, maps, and shopping—a full 18 years before Steve Jobs stood on a stage and introduced the iPhone to the world.

“There comes a moment,” says Porat in the film, “when, for some reason, you’re in the future and you see something very very clearly. That’s what happened to me.”

General Magic, one of the highlights of this year’s SCFF, is the story of the Silicon Valley startup of the same name that had the right vision in the right place, but at the wrong time.

In 1990, Porat spun off from Apple and founded General Magic with the idea to produce his revolutionary device, which he originally called the Pocket Crystal. To do so, he enlisted a kind of technological dream team, which included Macintosh pioneer Andy Hertzfeld, legendary Apple engineer Bill Atkinson, programmer Megan Smith (who would later become the Obama administration’s chief technology officer), and many more.

The company failed. The Pocket Crystal morphed into the Magic Link, which was released in 1994, sold poorly, and quickly sank in the marketplace without a trace. The documentary makes the case that the vision was simply way out in front of the technology at the time. But the spectacular failure of General Magic laid the groundwork of the wireless world of today.

Though legendary in the office parks of Silicon Valley, the story of General Magic remains largely unknown to the wider public, even among the tech-savvy. Matt Maude, the film’s co-director with Sarah Kerruish, says in a phone interview that he had never heard of General Magic before embarking on the film project.

“When I first heard about it,” says Maude, “without even seeing the device itself, only the drawings of Marc’s concepts, this idea that you could fit in all of the functionality that an iPhone can do now into a device made for market in 1992 or ’93, that sounded to me insane. And that they were doing it with 1MB of RAM and 1MB of memory. It’s the equivalent of thinking about the 76KB that were aboard the (Apollo 11) lunar module. It’s just beyond belief.”

The film may not have been possible if not for the General Magic’s own in-house footage, mostly shot by Santa Cruz-based filmmaker David Hoffman in the early ’90s at a time when exuberance and enthusiasm were still abundant in the company’s Mountain View offices.

“We got in contact with a lot of people who had worked at General Magic and said, ‘Could you send us any photographs from that time?’” says Maude. “We were just amazed that people would send us ream after ream of photos. Every once in a while, we’d see someone else in a photo holding a camera and we’d get in contact with that person and ask for photos. And even, at one point, there was a guy in one of the photos holding a video camera. We found him, and he happened to have 300 hours of footage in a garage in Hawaii. That footage, combined with David’s, made the film.”

The old footage is balanced with present-day interviews with nearly all the central characters in the General Magic story. That includes former Apple CEO John Sculley, who emerges as the film’s primary black hat. Sculley—who had taken over Apple after the 1985 ouster of Steve Jobs—had encouraged Porat and supported the project until Apple released the Newton, its own hand-held mobile device, which the staff at General Magic considered a betrayal.

“We wrote to John,” says Maude. “We told him we were making a film about General Magic and we wanted him to be as candid as he could. He’s an antagonistic presence. People told us, ‘Why are you interviewing this guy?’ People think he’s an SOB across the entirety of Silicon Valley. But if you’re willing to own your mistakes and speak about them with regret and compassion, that’s a good human quality. I hope he has his moment and that people see him as three-dimensional.”

But clearly the most sympathetic character remains Porat, the leader of the revolution that came too early. In his 1990s public pronouncements about the General Magic vision, Porat exudes a Jobs-like aura of messianic confidence and computer-geek excitement. If Silicon Valley was built on companies with heroic and charismatic CEOs, Porat filled the role. However, the present-day Porat, like a retired ballplayer who never got that elusive championship ring, projects a vulnerable what-might-have-been wistfulness.

General Magic’s failure had many sources. The Magic Link device was a bigger and clunkier than Porat’s original vision. “It looks kind of like a Fisher-Price toy,” says Maude. Also, the company developed alliances with Sony and AT&T in the early days of the internet, when online worlds were still being marketed as closed systems (think ’90s-era AOL). By the time the internet had been liberated from such proprietary models, General Magic was slow to pivot.

Silicon Valley has transformed the idea of business failure, removing the stigma and recasting it as a kind of necessary tonic for later success. General Magic buys into that notion completely, even stating explicitly, “Failure isn’t the end. Failure is the beginning.”

Indeed from the ashes of General Magic rose the revolution that we are all living today. Tony Fadell, the inventor of the iPod and one of the pioneers of the iPhone, was a young General Magic go-getter and is interviewed in the film. Andy Rubin, who brought Android to the world, was also on staff. That’s 98% of the world’s cellphone market, spawned in one office.

Still, the film stresses, there was a price to pay. “It’s a strange kind of cliché that comes out of Silicon Valley, that failure is necessary,” says Maude. “But that kind of cutthroat business was not pleasant for anyone who experienced it. In fact, it’s really fucking painful for anybody who goes through it. If you’re going through it, where a company you’ve built or have been part of for years implodes, it’s devastating.”

When the film was finished, Maude and his collaborators invited more than 100 former General Magic staffers to a New York screening. “The cathartic energy in that room was ridiculous,” he says. “For a lot of those people, it was a failure, a black mark on their CV. For them to be able to walk away from (the film) and be like, ‘You know, that wasn’t a bad part of my life because it led to me being who I am now, or helped me understand how to create products today, that’s special. That’s all part of the story, too.”

GENERAL MAGIC

Playing at the SCFF on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 2:30pm at the Del Mar. Encore screening: Friday, Oct. 11, 7pm, at the Colligan Theater. santacruzfilmfestival.org.

Theater Review: ‘Company’

Lisa Jensen

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October 2, 2019

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The poster says it all. The new Actors’ Theatre production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company is advertised with the symbol for wifi superimposed over an image of the New York City skyline, all under a lyric from the show: “You haven’t got one good reason to be alone.”

This adds an extra thematic dimension to Sondheim’s story of a 35-year-old bachelor harassed by his married friends to take the plunge into the joys of matrimony—and all the baggage that comes with it. Originally produced in 1970, the show is cleverly updated to the digital age by director Andrew Ceglio, who ponders the very notion of connection—like, with another actual person—in this selfie era, when every private experience is recorded, Instagrammed and shared.

That’s the subtext, with characters whipping out their phones at every turn to snap pics of each other or play back their messages while life marches on around them. But Ceglio and his crew also score points the old-fashioned way in this splendid production, with a strong cast of singing actors and a minimalist, almost non-existent set (by MarNae Taylor) that gives them all plenty of room to move, sing and kick up their heels.

With a book by George Furth on which to hang Sondheim’s music and lyrics, the show begins with a birthday party thrown for singleton Robert (Bobby Marchessault) by the five married couples who are his best friends. They all insist it’s high time for Robert to settle down and find a wife, despite the often-uncertain nature of marital bliss in their own lives. The story proceeds through a series of vignettes in which Robert hangs out with this or that couple, observing their relationships.

Easygoing Harry (David Jackson) has been on the wagon for a year, while his intense wife Sarah (Anya Ismail) denies herself forbidden foods—like the brownies she rhapsodizes over in such orgasmic detail. So they take out their frustrations on each other when a playful karate demonstration turns combative. Much-married Joanne (a terrific Lori Rivera) drifts through their freeze-frame chokeholds and hammerlocks to sing the ironic ditty, “It’s The Little Things You Do Together.”

Robert smokes dope with David (Benjamin Canant) and Jenny (Eleanor Hunter), a self-described “square,” whose belated reaction to the drug leaves the men (and the audience) in hysterics. Peter (Alexander Garrett) and Susan (Melanie Olivia Camras) have secured a terrace apartment with a great view, but are contemplating divorce to simplify their lives.

Meanwhile, three women Robert is dating parade in and out of the action. April (Sarah Kauffman Michael) is a “dumb” stewardess who shares the wistful “Barcelona” duet with Marchessault. Feisty Marta (Brittney Mignano, so good as Red in Into The Woods at Cabrillo Stage this summer) ably dispatches the fast-paced lyrics to “Another Hundred People.” Kathy (a poignant Lori Schulman) might be the one that got away. Together, they make a very funny, ’40s-style pop trio in “You Could Drive A Person Crazy.”

As bride-to-be Amy, getting spectacularly cold feet on the way to wedding her longtime sweetie Paul (Robert Gerbode), Melissa Harrison steals the show, tearing into Sondheim’s complicated comic tongue-twister, “(I Am Not) Getting Married Today,” with hilarious brio. The other characters onstage flash their phones like paparazzi amid Amy’s frantic snit.

Marchessault provides a solid center as Robert, who may or may not be learning from his friends’ mistakes. Rivera’s Joanne, who represents the “mature” viewpoint with third husband Larry (Michael Stark) in tow, delivers a thunderous rendition of the martini-soaked power ballad, “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

Ceglio’s choreography (including some chorus line razzle-dazzle), and Daniel Goldsmith’s musical direction (he also leads the four-piece band hidden upstage) are spot-on. Joyce Michaelson’s costumes accent each character’s distinct personality.

And does life imitate art? Look around at Intermission to see how many people in the audience are on their phones.

The Actors’ Theatre production of ‘Company’ plays through Oct. 13 at Center Stage. sccat.org.

LATEST ARTICLES

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WEDNESDAY 10/9

INDIE

ZACH DEPUTY

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

THURSDAY 10/10

JAZZ

BILLY COBHAM

7 and 9pm. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $36.75-52.50. 427-2227.

FRIDAY 10/11

HIP-HOP

KRS-ONE

9pm. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $25. 423-1338.

INDIE

PETE YORN

9pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $27 adv/$29 door. 704-7113.

SATURDAY 10/12

COMEDY

JUDAH FRIEDLANDER

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

SYNTH-POP

ASHE

8:30pm., Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $13. 423-1338.

ROCK

BRANDON “TAZ” NIEDERAUER

7pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $12 adv/$14 door. 704-7113.

SUNDAY 10/13

PSYCHEDELIC POP

AARON LEE TASJAN

8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $12 adv/$14 door. 704-7113.

MONDAY 10/14

HIP-HOP

THE PALMER SQUARES

8:30pm. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.

Animal Branches Out

RAISE HELL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MOLLY IVINS

THE TONY ALVA STORY

AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY

REBORN

MAN IN CAMO

RUTH WEISS: THE BEAT GODDESS

GENERAL MAGIC