Seven years ago, Sabine Silver took up the harp. She was pregnant at the time, and a poet friend recommended she try the instrument out.
“We both agreed that only to play the ancient bardic music of the angels would be sounds fitting for the gift of life growing within me,” Silver says.
She immediately fell in love with the instrument. For the last three years, she’s been performing with her harp on stage, but not in the typical way—she amplifies it and runs it through lots of atmospheric effect pedals. She brings a dreamy, psychedelic, gothy element to her music, and a lot of theatrics, including colorful outfits, makeup and stirring performances. Sometimes she’ll recite a capella monologues or play songs that are as long as 45 minutes.
“The music really does tell many stories,” Silver says. “My intention is to essentially construct a dream-world full of things and sounds [people] have never seen or felt before, to uncover rooms in their caves perhaps forgotten about, to put them into a trance, to trigger such a quality state of higher beauty and refinement.”
She lived in Santa Cruz more than a decade ago, and moved back last summer. Silver brings her fourth album Lucky Penny to the Blue Lagoon on June 12.
If her music sounds intense, that’s because it’s written from an intimate space.
“I’m an expert eavesdropper. And the music that I write these days is inspired completely by eavesdropping, whether it’s said or not said,” Silver says. “Whether it’s a thought or an emotion, the synchronicities and patterns moment-to-moment in life.”
9 p.m. Wednesday, June 12, Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.
The inordinately gifted Jazzmeia Horn has been piling up prestigious awards for most of the last decade, including top honors at the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition and first place at the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2015.
The Monk contest triumph resulted in her Grammy Award-nominated 2017 debut album A Social Call, which was voted the best jazz vocal debut in the 2017 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. On A Social Call, she gracefully interpreted spiritual and gospel songs, 1970s R&B and blues, as well as standards inextricably linked to her formative influences, Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan.
Horn, 28, arrives in town with a sneak preview of her second album Love and Liberation, a project slated for release in August. It focuses on her original songs, a side of her artistry she’s excited to introduce.
“A Social Call had some really fun arrangements and the sound is truly mine, but with Love and Liberation, my audience can now hear my soul expressed fully!” Horn wrote to GT in an email from China, where she was on tour with her band. While she sees her first album as “a call to bring social awareness to a particular dysfunction in our society,” her second “is a call to action. In order for one to love one has to be liberated, and liberation is an act of love.”
Part of Horn’s liberation entails calling her own shots on the bandstand. She’s been honing her skills as a bandleader, working with some of the top young players on the New York scene. The combo she brings to the West Coast for this run includes bassist Corcoran Holt (who performed in the Bay Area last year with legendary tenor saxophonist/composer Benny Golson), drummer Jeremy “Bean” Clemons, and pianist Keith Brown, the son of Memphis piano great Donald Brown and a regular accompanist for veteran heavyweights like trumpeter Charles Tolliver and saxophonist Steve Slagle.
For Brown, Horn’s expansive toolkit as an improviser makes the gig the best kind of proving ground. “Playing with Jazzmeia is great because you’re playing with someone who is an amazing vocalist who can also scat, create melodies and hear harmony as well as any instrumentalist,” he says. “You really have to be on your toes ‘cause she can go so many different places in an instant.”
In many ways, music is Horn’s birthright. She grew up in a very musical family, and her mother encouraged her to express herself at a young age. By 3 years old, she was performing in her church’s choir. She soaked up the sounds around her, but jazz didn’t enter her consciousness until she enrolled in the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, a Dallas institution known for alumni like Erykah Badu, Norah Jones and Roy Hargrove.
It was at Booker T. that a music teacher told her that considering her given moniker, it behooved Horn to get acquainted with her namesake art form. A mix tape of definitive jazz vocalists got her started, and before long she was absorbing influences from far and wide. She zeroed in on Nancy Wilson’s narratives and Nina Simone’s power, Betty Carter’s playfulness, Sarah Vaughan’s tone, and Shirley Horn’s phrasing.
She’s hardly done with her studies. Always on the lookout for the deepest sources of soul, Horn keeps her ears filled with creative nourishment. She cites several albums in regular rotation, including underground L.A. phenom Georgia Anne Muldrow’s Overload, Donny Hathaway’s Everything Is Everything, 1950s standard Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown, and Malian diva Oumou Sangare’s Ko Sira. For Horn, jazz isn’t a destination as much as a vehicle for sonic exploration.
Jazzmeia Horn performs at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 10, at Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $36.75 adv/$42 door. 427-2227.
Nina Simon, the internationally renowned creative force behind the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, is preparing for a new journey.
In November of last year, a startling bit of news emerged from behind the walls of the Museum of Art and History (MAH) when Simon, the organization’s dynamic executive director, announced that she was leaving after eight years and a major turnaround at the local art institution. The news sent cultural shock waves throughout the community.
Simon’s tenure was not without some controversy—it is Santa Cruz, after all—as the 37-year-old Simon pushed more than a few envelopes in traditional museum management and curating styles during her tenure.
Trained as an engineer at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, Simon employed many of the cutting-edge ideas she had explored in her innovative blog Museum 2.0, first book The Participatory Museum and follow-up title The Art of Relevance. In so doing, she ruffled the feathers of some art and history traditionalists, most a generation or two older than herself.
But even for her critics, it’s hard to deny that Simon—along with the talented staff she assembled around her, and the community that rallied behind her vision—had turned a floundering, seemingly visionless institution into a thriving, dynamic organization remarkably in tune with the pulse of the greater Santa Cruz community.
The numbers tell the tale in a rather startling way: When Simon assumed her leadership role at MAH, the museum’s annual budget was in disastrous shape. Income in 2011 was $630,000, with expenses at $835,000. MAH was headed for bankruptcy. During the last calendar year under Simon’s tenure, MAH’s annual budget was $2.5 million—nearly a 400% increase in little more than eight years—and the MAH was running in the black by roughly $400,000.
Even more significantly, annual attendance at MAH in 2011—and let us be candid, the place often felt like a morgue—stood at 17,000 people. By last year, attendance had increased nearly nine-fold, to 148,000 visitors. And perhaps most critical of all, the attendance had radically changed in terms of age, race and income levels.
Simon’s impact on MAH was almost instantaneous. She eliminated a staff position and imposed salary reductions (including for herself), quickly raised $1 million, and assembled a Renewed Ambition Task Force charged with redefining funding goals and identifying growth opportunities. In short, she moved mountains.
Eight years later, she has decided on a change in the course of her professional career, forming a separate nonprofit—OF/BY/FOR ALL—that will attempt to bring MAH’s concept of community engagement to museums and other cultural organizations around the world. With only a short time left at MAH, Simon talked with Good Times Senior Contributing Editor Geoffrey Dunn about her accomplishments, where she hopes MAH is headed and the new challenges before her.
It’s hard to believe it’s been eight years since you took over the helm of MAH. Has it gone by quickly for you, or was it more difficult than it seemed?
NINA SIMON:The time has gone quickly, but it’s also fundamentally changed my life. When I started at the MAH, I loved Santa Cruz in the abstract. Leading the MAH meant embracing Santa Cruz County in all its depth and complications. We opened the doors for new people to get involved, and they flooded in. They brought brilliant and kooky ideas. They donated their time and creativity. We hugged and we argued. We started conversations and relationships that will never end.
I did an extensive interview with you for Good Times shortly after you took over MAH. I re-read it this week, and one of the things I couldn’t help but notice was that several, if not most, of the goals you envisioned then have today become a reality. And concepts like ‘Museum 2.0’ and ‘interactive encounters’ and ‘the participatory museum’—which were all rather new and even a little vague back then—are now part of the community vernacular. Did you accomplish all, or most, of what you set out to do? And did you expect these ideas to be so thoroughly embraced by the community at large?
I accomplished most of what I hoped to do—and, well, more. But it wasn’t really me that did it. It was our community, which not only welcomed a new way of interacting with a museum, but did so with gusto. Over eight years, we invited hundreds of thousands of new people—people of every age, income level, race, and ethnicity—to come in.
HOT SPOTSimon has also pushed to make the museum a gathering place for community events like Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead.
And they weren’t just visitors, they were volunteers and collaborators co-creating new exhibitions and events. They were donors and members supporting a new public mission. Some of our most successful programs—and our extraordinary financial growth—are thanks to our partners.
I think the concept of being a team player is part of your mantra.
There are a lot of museums around the world trying to involve people more actively in how they work. In most cities, a few people get involved, and a lot of people complain. In Santa Cruz, we had the opposite. A ton of people got involved, and only a few complained. We got further, faster, because the whole spirit of creative community participation is so close to the heart of what Santa Cruz County is all about.
Agreed. Given that, what do you consider to be your most definitive accomplishments at MAH?
There are many internal accomplishments: the financial turnaround, building a strong and diverse staff and board, and rebuilding the mission and culture of the institution. But externally, I’m most proud of three community projects: the Princes of Surf exhibition [2015], the Lost Childhoods foster youth project [2017], and the reinvention of Abbott Square.
Since I was involved in the ‘Princes of Surf’ exhibit [with partners Kim Stoner, Bob Pearson and Barney Langner] let’s start there. I know you said that this exhibit had a profound impact on you and that, in part, inspired you to write your second book, ‘The Art of Relevance.’ What was it about that exhibit that proved so pivotal?
It was an exhibition that was truly community-sourced. Kim walked into the MAH office one day, and later with you, telling this fantastical story about how the first surfboards ever used on the mainland U.S.A. were hidden in storage in Hawaii, and that they were made right here in Santa Cruz. From the very start, that exhibition was driven not just by your group’s enthusiasm, but by dozens of partners who truly took ownership of the project.
A lot of times, organizations will talk about partnerships in a very transactional or superficial way. But in the case of Princes of Surf, the partnerships were deep. They took the MAH further than I could ever have imagined. And for me personally, it was a really powerful testament to what can happen when an institution gives up control and shares power with passionate community members.
Passions definitely run deep in those communities. I was in the middle of it and was blown away not only by the passion, but also by the breadth of its traction.
What those community members taught us was that Princes of Surf was not just an exhibition about surfing. It was an exhibition about crossing cultures. I’ll never forget the Polynesian biker club that came down to help with the big paddle out, and the Hawaiian elder who blessed the boards. These partners brought in new voices and perspectives that enriched the exhibition. They taught me that no one owns the story. No one owns the objects. They are a shared heritage that bind us to each other across our differences.
You told me the other day that ‘Lost Childhoods’ also had a profound impact on you.
That exhibition was our most ambitious attempt to put together all the ways we involve community at the MAH. We worked with partners—foster youth and advocates—who had no reason to trust us, or even know we existed. But we built that trust, and we built the exhibition together.
‘LOST CHILDHOODS’MAH’s 2017 foster youth exhibit only happened after Simon’s team convinced young people and advocates who had “no reason to trust us, or even know we existed” to participate.
The co-creation involved was deep and hard and important. The resulting exhibition told stories that had never been told, coming from voices that had often been silenced. And it encouraged visitors not just to participate, but to take action to help foster youth, and by doing so, make our community stronger.
In many ways, that was a revolutionary exhibit.
The model we created for Lost Childhoods—the “community issue exhibition”—is now a signature model for the MAH. We wrote a toolkit on how to do it and shared it around the world. We refined the model again this year for the current exhibition on seniors and social isolation, We’re Still Here. The community issue exhibition model was spearheaded by Stacey Marie Garcia, our director of community engagement. I think it’s a game changer for the MAH and for the world of museums. It shows that art and history can spark social action to build stronger, more connected communities. And I know Stacey and the team will keep doing just that.
What led you to take on Abbott Square? In some ways that seemed like a stretch.
Six years ago, we started out thinking about Abbott Square as a MAH expansion project—a way to connect the museum to the vibrant creative life of downtown. We’d also learned from a Latinx-focused ethnographic study that outdoor programming was particularly appealing to local Latinx families. We wanted to reach more people, and more diverse people, and we saw Abbott Square as a great place to do it.
And that idea kept evolving.
Once we started community conversations about the potential for Abbott Square, the “why” shifted to community desire for a town square. While locals were interested in the MAH, they were much more interested in having a downtown gathering place. What started as being about the MAH became more about the community. Community members’ expressed needs and desires drove the planning of Abbott Square and led to major decisions we would not have made if this project was “just” a MAH extension—the addition of the food court being the most significant. While this was exciting, it was also a bit disconcerting. At times, it felt like we were taking on a new sister project to the MAH in Abbott Square, as opposed to an expansion of our existing work. Some MAH donors questioned whether we were really in the business of building a public plaza and whether we should raise money to do so.
That seems like a legitimate question.
To my grateful surprise, that sense of separation resolved itself as the MAH’s strategy evolved in alignment with the project. While we were designing Abbott Square with community members, we were also strengthening the MAH’s overall commitment to build a stronger, more connected community. We knew this impact could only happen if we expanded our work further beyond our walls.
I know a lot of people thought it would never happen, that it was a disaster in the making.
Building Abbott Square was intense. We raised $5 million from our community, but we also dealt with hundreds of community members—including people in power —who simply did not believe the project was possible. Henri Matisse once said that creativity takes courage. We needed a lot of both to get this project done.
DOWNTOWN SQUARE The launch of Abbott Square Market required a $5 million fundraising effort and overcoming serious skepticism.
Every time I see moms with strollers meeting up in Abbott Square, or a pack of teens coming down after school, I’m reminded how many people didn’t believe this was possible. I’m reminded how easy it would have been to give up on this project. But I’m also reminded how satisfying and meaningful it is to do the impossible. One of my absolute favorite things to do is to sit in Abbott Square and watch people discover it for the first time. People have adopted it so quickly into the life of downtown, and I’m proud of that.
Some of the changes you imposed on the museum, including Abbott Square, generated criticism, mostly from some of the old guard types who wanted more traditional explorations of art and history.
Not everyone liked how we, and I, led the MAH. But as a leader, I have to weigh those small number of critical voices against the hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic people who got newly involved—including many who had never felt welcome in a museum before. For every critic, there were literally a thousand new people telling us how grateful they were for the changes. When I think of the loudest critics of our work, I think of people who wanted the MAH to be a more exclusive, elitist, academic place.
I think that’s the wrong vision for a public institution. I think it’s the wrong vision for Santa Cruz. For a museum to survive and thrive today, it must be relevant and meaningful for many people from many backgrounds. It must sway to the pulse of the cultural community in which it resides. It must be radically inclusive, constantly working to invite new people to connect for new reasons. That’s what we tried to do at the MAH.
I remember our first encounter nearly a decade ago. One of the things we discussed was the financial situation at the MAH—it was dismal then—and I had seen the annual audits that had been conducted over the last several years. You really turned things around in short order. And as a former executive director of a local nonprofit, I was duly impressed. What was your approach to the money dance?
We turned around quickly, and then grew aggressively year over year. Over time, we quadrupled the budget and built healthy reserves for the first time in the organization’s history. We did it in three steps. First, we made hard cuts, scaling back to a core operation we could sustain. Then, we started doing new things with spit and duct tape to give people a glimpse of what we hoped to create. Finally, we asked those who were intrigued to invest and help us build a new kind of museum.
It was a radically new way of seeking resources.
We brought in millions in new funding from two major sources: national foundations, which saw the MAH as an innovative leader in the cultural sector, and local donors who care about making Santa Cruz County better. Most of these local donors were younger and more social justice-oriented than traditional museum supporters. I didn’t solicit people who wanted to see their favorite artist on the wall. I worked with donors who saw art and history as vehicles to strengthen and connect our community. It turns out there are a lot of people who care about our community and who believe that creative, new approaches can help us grow. The MAH’s unique community-driven model, and our incredibly diverse participants, makes it a place where they want to contribute.
So why leave the MAH now?
While I wouldn’t say I’ve done everything I could do at the MAH, I do feel like I’ve taken it from a place of instability to a place of richness and maturity. I knew I could do a lot of good at the MAH when it needed change and new energy. Now it has such wonderful energy, such amazing people. I know they—and a new director—will keep growing. The MAH is strong, and frankly, I think there’s another leader out there who can do more with its strength than I can.
In what ways is your farewell to MAH a new beginning for you?
I’ve spent the past eight years in a passionate love affair with Santa Cruz, doing work that is deep, local, and unbounded. There are no divisions for me between work and life. It’s all a celebration of what it means to build community here in Santa Cruz County. Every morning when I unlock the museum, I feel like I’m diving into the center of a web of beauty and diversity and unexpected connections. It will be a profound loss to no longer be tied into that web of love. But I’m ready to launch free so I can spread that love to other places. Over the past several years, I’ve learned how hungry people are for institutions that are truly public, where they can connect and grow together. We’ve done that at the MAH, and I’m eager to share what we’ve learned with colleagues leading public institutions around the world.
The Museum of Art & History will celebrate Nina Simon’s eight years as executive director this coming First Friday (June 7), from 5-9 p.m., with an hour of special acknowledgements beginning at 7 p.m.. 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. santacruzmah.org. For more on Simon’s next chapter, visit ofbyforall.org.
For years, scientists have been finding plastic in the bodies of whales, birds and other marine wildlife. Sometimes it’s straws or entire plastic bags, though small particles can also wreak havoc. Since plastic litters huge swaths of the natural world, it didn’t come as a huge surprise last year when a study found plastic particles in people, too.
The study, led by a gastroenterologist at the Medical University of Vienna, found plastics in human stool samples. Around the same time, another research effort co-authored by South Korea’s Incheon National University and Greenpeace East Asia found the same contaminants, known as “microplastics,” in 90% of the 39 table salt brands sampled worldwide. These microplastics are only a centimeter or less in length, no larger than the size of a sesame seed.
As World Oceans Day approaches on Saturday, June 8, the evidence about microplastic is piling up, and so is the pollution. One type of tiny plastic contaminant is the fiber that comes from clothing made of synthetic materials like nylon, polyester, fleece, and Spandex. Microfiber yoga pants, outdoor apparel and sports jerseys are major culprits.
Sarah-Jeanne Royer, a researcher studying plastic degradation at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, says these fibers come off when we shake, wear and wash our clothes. From washing machines, microplastics flow to nearby waterways and get washed into the ocean, since particles are too small to be caught by wastewater treatment plants. Marine animals consume the fibers, which then start working their way up the food chain.
“The fibers are so tiny, about a fifth the diameter of a human hair, that every time we eat, we are actually eating these invisible fibers because they get deposited on our food,” Royer says. “You can think of a sunny day at home when you look at the sun coming through your window, where you can observe all of these particles floating in the air. A lot of those particles contain microfibers. Hence we drink them, we breathe them, and we eat them even without knowing it. They are in our bodies.”
It’s unclear what happens to plastic microfibers once they enter the body—whether they break down or just pass through. The chief concern with plastic consumption is not so much from the plastic itself, but from the toxins and chemicals that may leach into our bodies.
Royer says that there are between and 140,000-700,000 microfibers released in each load of laundry that we wash, depending on the type of clothing and size of the load. Royer and her team are testing how quickly different types of microfibers break down.
To combat microfiber pollution, the Santa Cruz-based nonprofit Save Our Shores is advocating for new laws to mandate installation of microfiber-trapping filters on home washing machines. The group also hopes to partner with the county and researchers at UCSC to launch a county-wide research project about these filters.
“We are trying to get people to voluntarily install them, and then get researchers to check and see how many microfibers come out of the machine before and then after the filters have been installed,” says Katherine O’Dea, executive director of Save Our Shores, which has included microfibers on its “Sinister Six” list of top plastic ocean pollutants. “That will help us with two things: the volume that is being put out into the waste stream, and then how well the filters are working.”
The project has garnered a tentative $30,000 commitment from the California Ocean Protection Council, and Save Our Shores hopes for an additional $70,000 via grants and fundraisers to conduct a 300-person, multi-year study.
“To our knowledge, no one has really looked at local waters or wastewater to find out how much is in our water,” says Tim Goncharoff, zero waste programs manager for Santa Cruz County. “That would be really useful information to have, so that going forward we can document improvement, but we’ll need some baseline data.”
In the absence of robust local research, Goncharoff says the county has not yet taken a position on microfibers. At around $100 each, the filters are designed for residential and smaller-scale uses. Filters for industrial machines are not yet available.
TESTING THE WATERS
In addition to microfibers, Save Our Shores’ list of “sinister” pollutants takes aim at single-use toiletry bottles, water bottles and coffee pods. The group is also working to curb balloon sales, and has been warning contact lens users not to flush their used lenses down the toilet. The nonprofit has made political headway.
“The county is going to ban the sale or use of bottled water in county offices and at county events,” O’Dea says. “The progress isn’t as fast as I’d like to see, but we are making some.”
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors also approved a ban on small, single-use plastic bottles of soaps and other personal care products in hotels, inns and vacation rentals in the county’s unincorporated area. The ordinance, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, will go into effect late next year. State Assemblymembers Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) and Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley) co-authored a bill proposing a statewide ban this year. The bill, which must still be approved by the California Senate, would take effect in 2023.
Still, there have been missteps along the way. When companies began using recycled plastic to make textiles—Patagonia’s recycled polyester jackets made from plastic soda bottles, for instance—it seemed like a big environmental victory. Plastic that might otherwise litter the beach could now be put to good use. But that was before researchers learned about the danger of microfibers.
For now, Save Our Shores isn’t necessarily advocating for fewer purchases of synthetic garments, since all apparel contains some kind of fiber byproduct. The group says washing machine filters are a more efficient option for those who can afford them.
UCSC Adjunct Associate Professor Myra Finkelstein says that the interesting thing about microfibers is that they seem to have a “fairly straightforward fix.” But even those who install the filters aren’t off the hook.
“People still have to dispose of the filters and fibers properly,” says Finkelstein, a wildlife toxicologist. “You can’t just wash them down the drain. Also, the plastic fibers will go into the landfill when you throw them away. We need to start thinking about how we cut back on plastics across the board.”
Santa Cruz nonprofits will celebrate World Oceans Day this weekend. On Friday, June 7, the Sanctuary Exploration Center at 35 Pacific Ave. will host an opening of ‘From Ocean Trash to Ocean Inspiration,’ featuring five locals who transform trash into art. Save Our Shores will host a March for the Ocean on Saturday, June 8, from 3-6 p.m. from Lighthouse Field to Cowell Beach, where activists will create a human chain to highlight sea-level rise. saveourshores.org.
It took a few months, but a records request we filed about bullying and harassment claims at the city of Santa Cruz finally turned up something unexpected: new details about the abrupt resignation of the city’s former parks director last year.
I’ve now made two of these public records requests, the first in February, to learn about complaints filed under the city’s Respectful Workplace Conduct Policy. The policy, which went into effect at the city in April 2017, garnered attention over the winter, after City Councilmembers Chris Krohn and Drew Glover landed in the spotlight for allegedly displaying sexist behavior.
Mayor Martine Watkins raised the alarm by acknowledging perceptions she said she’d heard from community members that the two men were “intentionally bullying” her because she’s a woman. Krohn and Glover—the council’s two left-most members—have both denied those claims.
I made my original request for bullying and harassment complaints against Glover and Krohn in February. The city claimed that all records were exempt from disclosure, so I made a follow-up request in early March, this time just for the number of complaints against each employee at the city, and for the date of each complaint. In responding to my second request, the city repeatedly said it needed extensions, only to miss its own deadlines and then self-impose new ones when I followed-up.
Now, city officials say that many of those records, including the complaint counts against the two councilmembers, are exempt from disclosure—at least for now. That’s because there are ongoing city investigations into complaints against Glover and Krohn, says City Manager Martín Bernal. “The reason we can’t provide anything on that is they’re not concluded yet,” Bernal says.
But more than two months after I filed that second request, the city has finally turned over information about a separate previously undisclosed complaint against a former employee that isn’t exempt from public records requests, according to Bernal and City Attorney Tony Condotti.
The complaint was against former Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Director Mauro Garcia. That complaint, which GT has not yet seen in full, was dated March 5, 2018, about three weeks before Garcia announced his surprise retirement last year. Bernal had promoted Garcia, the former parks superintendent, to the director post less than two years prior. Apparently, the complaint and resulting investigation explain why Garcia left so suddenly.
“We accepted his resignation as a result,” Bernal says.
Despite speaking with multiple sources who had professional relationships with Garcia, GT has been unable to reach the former parks director for comment. It’s unclear whether he still lives in the area. “I don’t know where he is or what he’s been doing,” says Bernal, who adds that Garcia’s poor conduct was not at all criminal in nature. Exactly what behavior spurred the complaint and resignation remains unclear.
After Garcia left, both he and Bernal cited personal reasons as the impetus for the parks director’s departure. “Martín has been just awesome,” Garcia told the Santa Cruz Sentinel last year. “But it’s time to go on to the next stage and take care of family business.”
Bernal, for his part, told the daily at the time that Garcia had been “an effective department head. He got a lot of things done.”
Bernal now tells GT that he said those things in order to protect the identity and privacy of the complainant. He adds that the city is weighing similar concerns as officials prepare to respond to a follow-up request we made to learn more about Garcia’s behavior and the circumstances under which he left. Bernal says city officials will have to heavily redact much of the information in its next response.
Other notable complaints against city personnel, Bernal says, were against former Santa Cruz Police Officer David Gunter, who was fired and recently sentenced to house arrest for sexually battering coworkers. The city did not include any information about Gunter in its records response to GT, but Bernal notes that the city did post an investigation into Gunter’s conduct, which garnered media coverage on its website, cityofsantacruz.com.
There may be additional complaints that Bernal and Condotti have deemed exempt from disclosure. Courts have found that public agencies may consider a range of factors in withholding records—for instance, if the complaints are trivial in nature, whether the complaint was sustained, or the rank of the accused official. The higher an official’s status, the more likely it is that the information’s release would serve the public interest. In Santa Cruz, such judgment calls are made by Bernal and Condotti.
The city’s original records response, sent to GT by Condotti, did not reference any information about former parks director Garcia. After weighing the issues involved, Bernal says he thought better of that decision. He ultimately prompted a follow-up release of information about the complaint, partly because he didn’t want to give the appearance that he was hiding anything or protecting anyone. Condotti tells GT, via email, that he believes the city had no legal obligation to issue information about Garcia, but “a decision was made to err on the side of transparency.”
As for the complaints against Glover and Krohn, Bernal says that he expects the investigations to wrap up in the next few months, at which point more information will become available.
The two councilmembers both say they can’t speak about the situation right now. Krohn tells GT via email that based on what he’s heard from attorneys and the city’s human resources department, “This is a confidential issue.”
Glover says he is happy to hear that GT has been digging to learn more. He also says he can’t confirm or deny anything, though he would be happy to discuss once the process is completed.
“As soon as I am given the authority to do so, I will be happy to share anything you’d like,” Glover says. “If there is something going on around Respectful Workplace Policy, I think it’s super important because those policies are rooted in progressive values, and the ability for people to feel good where they are. Regardless of what’s happening, I’m really happy that the policy exists.”
Two separate Santa Cruz groups critical of citycouncilmembers Chris Krohn and Drew Glover have filed notices of intent to try and recall the controversial local politicians.
The first effort stalled at the city clerk’s desk due to a paperwork issue in the filing documents. The second group’s paperwork initially got approved, but GT has learned that the second notice may too get rejected due to a possible discrepancy in one of the signee’s listed addresses. If anyone can get the right paperwork in, The clock will now start ticking, giving petitioners 120 days to gather signatures from 7,939 city voters about whether to hold a recall election to decide Glover and Krohn’s political futures.
Some reasons listed on both petitions for requesting a recall have to do with the Ross homeless encampment, which closed weeks ago. Other criticisms focus on the city not enforcing safety and environmental codes at the camp. Forgive Nuz for asking the obvious question here … but how many of the right-wingers who signed onto either of these petitions ever cared about the wellbeing of a homeless person?
Anyway, the local recall effort will strike even many Krohn and Glover critics as premature and poorly timed. And if the effort is unsuccessful, it may only serve to embolden them.
EXTRA CHANGE
Santa Cruz County Bank and Lighthouse Bankhave announced that they are joining forces.
The merger will be bring Lighthouse’s customers to Santa Cruz County Bank, boosting total assets to nearly $1 billion. The banks are saying that Santa Cruz County Bank is also absorbing Lighthouse’s two banking locations, one in downtown Santa Cruz and the other in Cupertino. That raises two interesting questions.
First of all, will Santa Cruz County Bank actually keep Lighthouse’s North Pacific Avenue location, which is practically across the street from Santa Cruz County Bank’s newly renovated River Street spot, one-fifth of a mile away? And secondly, how many Silicon Valley-ites will want to keep their piles of money in a bank called Santa Cruz County Bank, which happens to have a chunk of a surfboard as its logo?
Time will tell.
CLIFF AND WHEN
The one house on the wrong side of West Cliff is now up for sale, with a price of $5.5 million, according to Zillow. The 1307 W. Cliff Dr. home is the only house on the oceanside of the iconic coastal street. It may sound like a steep price, even for a home right above the water in Santa Cruz. But just think: It’ll only take one or two landslides, and you’ll have your own houseboat!
Sunday, June 9, is Pentecost—50 (pente) days after Easter, and one of the most important festivals for the Aquarian Age.
It is good to understand Pentecost in today’s language as we enter the Aquarian Age with its incoming “new world religion.” In the coming new era (Aquarius), two festivals already celebrated in the Catholic/Christian Church will predominate, the Resurrection (Easter) festival and Pentecost gradually falling away.
Before Christ’s ascension, the disciples, realizing their teacher would be leaving, became very sad. Christ in his compassion said he would send a “Great Comforter” to them. This comforter was the Holy Spirit in the form of tongues of fire. The disciples were told that one week after the ascension they were to follow a man carrying a water pitcher (prophesy of Aquarius). He would lead them to an “upper room,” of high mental comprehension. And so, while they were there, according to Acts 2:2-4:
“Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the upper room where they were sitting. Then, flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled above each of them. And everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. They were filled with virtues and abilities.”
These “tongues of fire” imparted to the disciples soul virtues—joy, inspiration, vivification and great love. Speaking “in tongues” means the disciples began to speak languages other than their native Hebrew, the many languages of humanity.
This gift of different languages allowed the disciples to speak to the hearts of humanity, which produced over time Goodwill and Right Human Relations. Pentecost symbolizes the establishing of Goodwill and Right Human Relations in our world. Pentecost promises to all of humanity a “tide of inspiration so that we may all begin to understand each other.”
ARIES: All that you value—physical, emotional, mental, spiritual—you can move forward on bringing into manifestation. The last weeks have been about planning. Now is the time to negotiate with others. As you define your plans and goals, you will also define your values and everyone will know where you stand. Business activities are important. Life seems more elaborate. Elaborate more.
TAURUS: During both days and nights, waterfalls of information flow into your mind to be instantly forgotten. However, they’re not really lost. They’re embedded within your imagination for later revelation, action and application. These times find you constantly changing, which is not under your control. New projects must come into form and matter for humanity’s welfare. You’re responsible for them. Who else can understand these ideas?
GEMINI: As a new self-awareness unfolds, you’ll find there’s less ability to adapt to old ways of being. You will begin to form new alliances and new realities emerging from the new Aquarian laws and principles. You’ll move back and forth between old and new ‘til you’ve anchored the more inclusive Aquarian principles. Tend to the Earth (Ray 3) around you. It’s your spiritual task to do so, and it will help in your new becoming.
CANCER: If you observe carefully, you’ll discover your mind restructuring itself, gaining new dimensions, creating new understandings of self and others’ behavior. What you feared before is being replaced by joy. You’re aware of the changes accelerating daily in the world. No longer in resistance, you now work with those changes. Spirit comes into matter (mater, mother) through you. Align with this realization.
LEO: As the past continues to be present, think of it as a gift allowing you to reminisce, forgive and release many behaviors that, when remembering, you may not be happy with. Here’s a way to redo and correct the past, bringing love to all interactions. When a sad or unhappy event/interaction is remembered, redo it by re-visualizing what should have occurred. Healing in your heart then occurs to you and everyone involved.
VIRGO: First read Leo for healing and release from past wounds inflicted upon self and others. Think about your relationship(s) and ask yourself how they’ve changed in the past seven years. In what ways did you bring change to them, and in what ways have you been changed by encounters with others? A new accelerated cycle (of change) begins soon. You will never again be who you were before.
LIBRA: Family life affects you (everyone) profoundly. Over time, very deep changes with family have occurred. You made choices years ago that affected the family. Are those choices still valid and in effect? Of what importance is family to you? Who is your family now? You reflect upon these thoughts both as the child you were and as an adult creating your own family. What resources from childhood do you cherish? Have you forgiven and offered gratitude yet?
SCORPIO: The planets have brought a focus to family life, childhood issues, motherhood, and nurturance. Here are questions to ponder and to answer: what feelings came forth; what thoughts emerged; what wounds surfaced; what dissolved; what became larger than life; how did all of this affect you? The past weeks have been difficult. Now there will be a drive toward relationships. Do not be irritable, angry or pushy. Be constant, kind and patient. Like a Taurus, your shadow self.
SAGITTARIUS: If I write about giving, what do you immediately think about? I will write about giving because it’s the most powerful of all actions creating a magnetic force field directing us toward others and away from ourselves. When giving to others in small ways and large, a great love emerges and encompasses us. We become free. When we give, we are then given to so we can give more and more. It takes a great and courageous spirit to do this. Quite like your spirit in hiding.
CAPRICORN: The ways you’ve been responsible for and handled money and resources has been beneficial. Soon a change occurs in the use of money and resources which makes you more aware of monetary inflow and outflow so you can better save and prepare for the future and adjust to the coming times in ecological, innovative, informed, and sustained ways. You will work with more of the whole and not only discrete parts. This is what “permaculture” means as it defines and organizes. You will seek to become a “permaculture family system.”
AQUARIUS: It’s good to take stock of the following things in your life, pondering upon and answering the following questions. What is vulnerable in your life now? Is something wounding you? What issues are you concerned with? What in your life needs care, tending and healing? What’s almost too big to handle, and what’s dissolving. Know that many in your life stand with you in love and friendship. You are the future for many. Carry on always doing your very best.
PISCES: A life event, journey or a meeting with someone occurs bridging the past with the present and future, creating a new unfolding self-identity and new opportunities to serve others. You will, in the coming weeks, need extra care, rest and tending while experiencing solitude. A wound slowly heals; something is taken away, and a greater, larger, more loving presence envelops you. Mantras are a solace. Here’s one just for you: “The joy of the Divine Self is my strength—at the center of all love I stand.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I don’t think we were ever meant to hear the same song sung exactly the same way more than once in a lifetime,” says poet Linh Dinh. That’s an extreme statement that I can’t agree with. But I understand what he’s driving at. Repeating yourself can be debilitating, even deadening. That includes trying to draw inspiration from the same old sources that have worked for you in the past. In accordance with current astrological omens, I suggest you try to minimize exact repetition in the next two weeks, both in what you express and what you absorb. For further motivation, here’s William S. Burroughs: “Truth may appear only once; it may not be repeatable.”
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Peter Benchley wrote the bestselling book Jaws, which was later turned into a popular movie. It’s the story of a great white shark that stalks and kills people in a small beach town. Later in his life, the Taurus author was sorry for its influence, which helped legitimize human predation on sharks and led to steep drops in shark populations. To atone, Benchley became an aggressive advocate for shark conservation. If there’s any behavior in your own past that you regret, Taurus, the coming weeks will be a good time to follow Benchley’s lead: correct for your mistakes; make up for your ignorance; do good deeds to balance a time when you acted unconsciously.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Some birds can fly for days without coming down to earth. Alpine swifts are the current record-holders, staying aloft for 200 consecutive days as they chase and feed on insects over West Africa. I propose we make the swift your soul ally for the next three weeks. May it help inspire you to take maximum advantage of the opportunities life will be offering you. You will have extraordinary power to soar over the maddening crowd, gaze at the big picture of your life and enjoy exceptional amounts of freedom.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): “I think gentleness is one of the most disarmingly and captivatingly attractive qualities there are,” writes poet Nayyirah Waheed. That will be emphatically true about you in the coming weeks, Cancerian. Your poised, deeply felt gentleness will accord you as much power as other people might draw from ferocity and grandeur. Your gentleness will enable you to crumble obstacles and slip past barriers. It will energize you to capitalize on and dissipate chaos. It will win you leverage that you’ll be able to use for months.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Is the Loch Ness monster real? Is there a giant sea serpent that inhabits the waters of Loch Ness in Scotland? Tantalizing hints arise now and then, but no definitive evidence has ever emerged. In 1975, enterprising investigators got the idea to build a realistic-looking papier mâché companion for Nessie and place it in Loch Ness. They hoped that this “honey trap” would draw the reclusive monster into more public view. Alas, the scheme went awry. (Lady Nessie got damaged when she ran into a jetty.) But it did have some merit. Is there an equivalent approach you might employ to generate more evidence and insight about one of your big mysteries, Leo? What strategies might you experiment with? The time is right to hatch a plan.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Earlier in your life, you sometimes wrestled with dilemmas that didn’t deserve so much of your time and energy. They weren’t sufficiently essential to invoke the best use of your intelligence. But over the years, you have ripened in your ability to attract more useful and interesting problems. Almost imperceptibly, you have been growing smarter about recognizing which riddles are worth exploring and which are better left alone. Here’s the really good news: The questions and challenges you face now are among the finest you’ve ever had. You are being afforded prime opportunities to grow in wisdom and effectiveness.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): How many languages are you fluent it? One? Two? More? I’m sure you already know that gaining the ability to speak more than one tongue makes you smarter and more empathetic. It expands your capacity to express yourself vividly and gives you access to many interesting people who think differently from you. I mention this, Libra, because you’re in a phase of your cycle when learning a new language might be easier than usual, as is improving your mastery of a second or third language. If none of that’s feasible for you, I urge you to at least formulate an intention to speak your main language with greater candor and precision—and find other ways to expand your ability to express yourself.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Here’s Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano from The Book of Embraces: “In the River Plate basin we call the heart a ‘bobo,’ a fool. And not because it falls in love. We call it a fool because it works so hard.” I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because I hope that in the coming weeks, your heart will indeed be a hard-working, wisely foolish bobo. The astrological omens suggest that you will learn what you need to learn and attract the experiences you need to attract if you do just that. Life is giving you a mandate to express daring and diligent actions in behalf of love.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): When he was 20 years old, a German student named Max Planck decided he wanted to study physics. His professor at the University of Munich dissuaded him, telling Planck, “In this field, almost everything is already discovered, and all that remains is to fill a few unimportant holes.” Planck ignored the bad advice and ultimately went on to win a Nobel Prize in Physics for his role in formulating quantum theory. Most of us have had a similar experience: people who’ve tried to convince us to reject our highest calling and strongest dreams. In my view, the coming weeks will be a potent time for you to recover and heal from those deterrents and discouragements in your own past.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Not all, but many horoscope columns address your ego rather than your soul. They provide useful information for your surface self, but little help for your deep self. If you’ve read my oracles for a while, you know that I aspire to be in the latter category. In that light, you won’t be surprised when I say that the most important thing you can do in the coming weeks is to seek closer communion with your soul; to explore your core truths; to focus on delight, fulfillment and spiritual meaning far more than on status, power and wealth. As you attend to your playful work, meditate on this counsel from Capricorn author John O’Donohue: “The geography of your destiny is always clearer to the eye of your soul than to the intentions and needs of your surface mind.”
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian biochemist Gertrude Belle Elion shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988. She was instrumental in devising new drugs to treat AIDS and herpes, as well as a medication to facilitate organ transplants. And yet she accomplished all this without ever earning a PhD or MD, a highly unusual feat. I suspect you may pull off a similar, if slightly less spectacular feat in the coming weeks: getting a reward or blessing despite a lack of formal credentials or official credibility.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Today Mumbai is a megacity with 12.5 million people on 233 square miles. But as late as the 18th century, it consisted of seven sparsely populated islands. Over many decades, reclamation projects turned them into a single land mass. I foresee you undertaking a metaphorically comparable project during the coming months. You could knit fragments together into a whole. You have the power to transform separate and dispersed influences into a single, coordinated influence. You could inspire unconnected things to unite in common cause.
Homework: To connect with me on social media, go here: freewillastrology.com/social
For more than a decade, Rufus Wainwright has been breaking the mold.
Or rather, he’s been breaking lots of molds. Since 2007, Wainwright has recorded a live tribute to Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall, released an album of Shakespearean sonnets reinterpreted, and written two operas. The piano player has also celebrated 20 years in the industry and is getting ready to return to his singer/songwriter roots release his ninth studio album in 2020.
Wainwright says he looks forward to returning to “beautiful” Santa Cruz for his June 8 show at the Rio Theatre. “I’m always up there looking for the vampires,” referencing, of course, The Lost Boys. “I haven’t found them yet. Shout-out, though! Maybe they’ll show up this time.”
Writing two operas sounds like a big undertaking. Does that get easier?
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT: No, it gets harder and harder, but that’s why we love it. The point of writing operas for me is to challenge myself. With songwriting, I like to do the same, but there is a difference between when you’re younger and finding your voice and when you’ve had some experience, and things come a lot faster. Opera always forces me to push myself that little bit extra.
What kind of a challenge did homophobia pose when you were starting out as a gay musician in the 1990s?
I was so ambitious and so driven and crazed for success when I was very young that I just put blinders and did whatever I could to garner as much attention as possible. It obviously worked [laughs]. Looking back, I feel like there were opportunities I was not offered, and there was always a box they tried to put me in. Being an out gay musician was very unusual at that time, but I didn’t want to be labeled that, either. So I even had trouble with my gay community. I didn’t want to belong to anyone. Now with the Trump era, these issues have become far more relevant and far more treacherous. A lot of stuff is coming out of the woodwork against minorities of all kind. We’ve got to stick together now.
On Take All My Loves—9 Shakespeare sonnets, Carrie Fisher performed Sonnet 29. Did you know her?
She was a very, very good friend of mine and sadly passed away. Hollywood is nowhere near as fabulous as it was.
You wrote “Sword of Damocles” before the 2018 midterms. Can we expect more political songs?
We’ll see. I finished my new album, which is coming out in about a year in April. So it will be coming out in 2020. There’s no overtly political song on there. That being said, so much can happen between now and then. And sadly, it seems Republicans are ratcheting up as much as they can. I imagine a song or two could pop up.
How will your next album sound?
I worked with Mitchell Froom, who’s a great producer. We don’t have a name yet. It’s very much a return to my California roots. I recorded it in some of the great rooms of L.A. and great studios with great set players, young and old. I wanted to come back to L.A. and make a good old-fashioned songwriter record.
I’m not sure any pop music vocalist has stronger command of the vibrato than you do. Any tips on how I can up my karaoke game and incorporate that into my repertoire?
Vibrato is tricky with karaoke. I did karaoke in Japan once. They actually graded you, depending on how good the computer thought you did, and I did terribly. The karaoke did not like my voice, so I don’t know if you should follow my example. My big thing has always been listening to opera and going to see opera singers and productions. That genre can be a bit dull, but when it all comes together—the orchestra, the singer, and the story and the music—there’s nothing like it. And it lasts forever in your mind, and then translates into your voice, hopefully.
Rufus Wainwright performs at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 8, at the Rio Theatre, 1103 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $35 general/$55 Gold Circle. 423-8209.
The verdant pathways of Robert Eberlee’s gardens offer plenty of green space to spread out. There, on Sunday, June 9, the mesmerizing music of Erik Satie will be interpreted by musicians, singers and artists in honor of the mighty New Music Works. (If you ever took piano lessons, I’ll bet you can hum the opening passages of “Gymnopedie” right now.)
Yes, it’s the ever-fabulous Avant Garden Party, liberally laced with at least a half-dozen works by the French Dada composer performed by such accomplished guest artists as soprano Sheila Willey, pianists Sarah Cahill and Michael McGushin on four-hand piano, Bill Walker’s electric slide guitar, and the experimental jazz of the Poplin/Nichols duo.
For many Garden Party devotées, the piece de resistance is al fresco fare from the hand of master chef and world-wandering culinary surrealist India Jozseph Schultz. To accompany the Satie satays from the wizard of wok, you’ll be able to purchase wine, both various reds and some very special whites. Birichino’s memorable Albariño will be on hand, and an intriguing Gruner Veltliner—one of the few made on the West Coast—from Alfaro Family Vineyards. In addition to fascinating tea ceremonies from the experts at Hidden Peak Teahouse, this year’s party will also offer a silent auction headlined by a South African safari. Be amazed at Dag Weiser’s life-size paper installation of Satie’s Paper Castle sketch, plus a piano relay performance of Satie’s truly strange instrumental chorale. Musical esoterica, including special tributes to Satie in the form of edgy works from John Cage and La Monte Young. If you love Dada—and the spicy appetizers of Jozseph Schultz, or lusty live music performed in a gorgeous garden—this is truly the party that kick starts the summer.
New Music Works’ Avant Garden Party, 2-6 p.m. on Sunday, June 9. $17-$37. newmusicworks.org.
Fresh Favorites
During the initial frenzy, the kitchen at Bad Animal made some choice impressions. For example, a buoyant Mas de Chimeres Grenache from Clin d’Oeil ($11) that is now my current favorite red wine. Also lingering long in our memories is a glass of one of the house bubblies, a Cremant de Bourgogne from the house of Celine and Laurent Tripoz ($14) that was as crisp as it was lively. A substantial portion of paté ($12) was a fragrant homage to everything French, and arrived with cornichons and outstanding (no, really, the best I’ve had in years) bread.
Vim Peek
A spiffy neo-retro interior punctuated by indigo walls and a curved bar makes the new Vim an attractive addition to the Westside. Open less than a month, the small restaurant is still fine-tuning its menu. Attentive service is a big plus. The wine menu—which offers fine local varietals from Storrs, Birichino and Soquel Vineyards—also provided a memorable Italian red, a Marzemino 2015 from Costaripa ($14) with lively balance and welcome tannins.
The top dish of our opening meal at Vim was an entrée of perfectly prepared, plump sea scallops ($34) on a bed of tender cauliflower florets and chard. Grapefruit beurre blanc made a tangy sauce. Hoping to see a larger menu as they move forward, perhaps a green salad or fresh local salmon, and maybe a chicken entrée. Opening a new place involves lots of micro-details, and it takes time to establish a clear identity. More soon.
Vim, 2238 Mission St., Santa Cruz. Dinner nightly 5-9 p.m., until 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Closed Tuesday. vimsantacruz.com.
