Q&A: Inside the Plan for Felton Music Hall

Lauren Hepler

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June 18, 2019

Q&A: Inside the Plan for Felton Music Hall

In 2007, recent UCSC grad Thomas Cussins was learning the ropes of concert booking at the Catalyst when he had a breakthrough with Bermuda reggae act Collie Buddz.

The artist had been dropped by Sony, and Cussins was enlisted to plan a tour that eventually led to his own Oakland company Ineffable Music Group, which now represents acts like Buddz, Hieroglyphics, Citizen Cope, and Stick Figure.

It’s fitting that Cussins, who still books shows at the Catalyst and venues like Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre, is also the new owner of the Felton music venue previously occupied by the short-lived Flynn’s Cabaret. The new Felton Music Hall will host its first show on July 3, and it’s the legacy of the former Don Quixote’s that Cussins hopes to revive with co-owners Buddz and L.A. musician Citizen Cope (of “Let the Drummer Kick” fame).

In an interview with GT, Cussins shared what he misses about past Santa Cruz music scenes, how San Francisco still siphons off big-name artists, and what to expect at Felton Music Hall.

How did you end up in Santa Cruz?

THOMAS CUSSINS: I toured UC Santa Cruz, and as soon as I saw the redwoods and the beach, I wanted to be there. I studied history and economics. I absolutely loved it, because I felt like my job was to learn.

Were you into the music scene back then?

I stumbled into music. I was renting apartments at Cypress Point to pay for school, and I rented one to a guy who said, “I have a lot of friends, I’m really good at music, but I can’t get a show.” I said, “Well, how hard can it be to get a show?” I figured out it was actually pretty hard.

We did a show at what used to be called Club Caution, and after a while I finally realized that the main game in town was Catalyst. I worked my way into an internship there for Gary Tighe.

What did the Catalyst teach you about the music business?

When I showed up, I said I’d do absolutely anything. I was setting up parking horses, driving bands around, hanging out, running errands, whatever. I just really wanted to get into that booking office.

I think the best thing I learned from Gary was to never burn any bridges. He was really big on that. He’d take phone calls from really big agents, then also take phone calls from people that, you know, never had done a show before and just talk them through the process.

Your company Ineffable now blurs the lines between an agent, a festival organizer and a music venue operator. Why did you start your own company?

It was always musician-centric. How can we allow these musicians to make a living doing music, and then we all get to do music every day?

We started our business on Myspace, so we found out you need to be very versatile and move quickly from one thing to the next. I really think we only got an opportunity because of the demise of the CD. There was kind of the business crash, so to speak, with people not buying CDs before streaming in the Napster and LimeWire days. That’s where we got the opportunity, because people needed to figure out new revenue streams. Our take at that time was to put music anywhere you possibly can.

Fast forward to streaming being so big. It’s really nice that a lot more artists can afford to do music as a career, as long as they control that music and they’re not on a label.

You also recently bought into the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo. Do you see reviving older venues as the next frontier?

With big festivals and big corporate companies doing a lot of bookings, I was always like, ‘How can I try to get somebody to come play the Catalyst?’ It’s a lot easier if I can also give you San Luis Obispo, Berkeley and Petaluma, you know? The thought process was to be able to offer people a run that would be a little bit more enticing.

How does Felton come into the picture?

I would go to Don Quixote’s shows all the time. I always felt there was a magical vibe there. There’s a certain feeling you get when you’re up there in the woods. The thought of that space and that location going out of business and somebody coming in that didn’t make music the central focus, I was like we have to figure out a way to do this.

In terms of how it relates to Santa Cruz and the bigger picture, certain types of shows work in different rooms. There’s a certain type of show that I just couldn’t book at the Catalyst.

What kind of shows do you think will work well for Felton Music Hall?

Paul Thorn, who’s playing our first show on July 3, I think that’s a good example of something that I’d love to be able to book, and it wouldn’t necessarily be ideal at the Catalyst. A lot of Grateful Dead-type stuff is great up there, a lot of blues, reggae—well, reggae’s great everywhere. But rock ’n’ roll, and everything—I don’t like to book based on genre. I like to book more based on vibes.

I really hope that we can continue to have a situation where the Santa Cruz area is considered a separate market from San Francisco. That’s always been the biggest battle—to say, “Hey, no, you can still play San Francisco.” The Bay is far enough away, with a buffer zone in San Jose.

How much work are you doing on the space?

We have done ADA work that needed to be done. We’re augmenting the sound system. Other things will happen as it goes along. We really want to keep the vibe the same as it was with Don Quixote’s. That’s why with the Felton Music Hall logo, there’s a small picture of Don Quixote in it. We want to pay homage.

What will be the food and drink setup?

It’s going to be a limited menu. We’ll be focusing on about eight items that will do really well, and working with local folks to craft that. There’s the main bar and a shop bar on the venue side. We’ll be open seven days a week, 4 p.m. to after dinner.

How do you hope to impact the music scene in Santa Cruz County?

I really want the default fun activity to be going to see live music, and that’s what I always kind of try to push. The more that we can encourage and develop local talent and take the leap to be part of a band and get out there to play, the better that everyone will be. That’s where the next great Santa Cruz band will come up.

We’ve got such a great tradition with bands like the Expendables and Devil Makes Three. When I was in college, there was a band called Sourgrass and a band called Wooster. Those bands don’t exist anymore, and that bums me out. You have this great talent, and it’s very difficult to make it.

Felton Music Hall opens July 3 at 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. 704-7113, feltonmusichall.com.

The Movement For California Public Banking

Jennifer Wadsworth

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June 18, 2019

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The Movement For California Public Banking

Silicon Valley Bank opened in 1982 to serve startups overlooked by big lenders, which saw the fledgling tech sector as inherently risky. Roger Smith and Bill Biggerstaff, the two Wells Fargo defectors who founded the small bank with Stanford professor Robert Medearis, had deep roots in a culture that would turn Santa Clara Valley into the innovation capital of the world.

With more than $60 billion in assets, Silicon Valley Bank has long since outgrown its small-bank status. Those early days make it part of a rich tradition of community lenders that make decisions based on deep knowledge of the local market and close relationships with borrowers, but small banks have become a dying breed.

Here in the Monterey Bay, residents do still have Santa Cruz Community Credit Union. And even though Santa Cruz County Bank is merging with Lighthouse Bank to create a local powerhouse with roughly $1 billion in assets and a location in Silicon Valley, it is still not, by any means, a huge conglomerate.

But the broader decline of small banks across the Greater Bay Area reflects a broader trend driven partly by economies of scale and partly by growing compliance costs. From 1985 to 2010, the number of banks in the U.S with assets under $100 million fell from 13,000 to just 2,625.

At his confirmation hearing two-and-a-half years ago, Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin blamed laws enacted after the 2008 global financial crash. “Regulation is killing community banks,” he warned Congress. “We’re losing the ability for small and medium-sized banks to make good loans to small and medium-sized businesses in the community, where they understand those credit risks better than anybody else.”

Some experts blame the regulatory burden of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, which bolstered oversight of the financial industry. Others, the 2001 Patriot Act, which imposed greater scrutiny on banks and exorbitant penalties on rule-breakers. Multi-million-dollar fines for violating suspicious-activity and cash-transaction laws force many local banks to shut down or acquiesce to bigger buyers with well-staffed compliance departments. Meanwhile, stricter supervision for new banks has decimated the number of applicants trying to break into the industry.

MONEY MODEL

California lawmakers have looked to an unlikely source of inspiration to fix things: North Dakota.

That’s because the rural Midwestern state boasts six times the number of locally owned financial institutions than the rest of the country. Its secret? A public entity that supports small private lenders by helping with capitalization and liquidity and allowing them to take on larger loans that would otherwise go to out-of-state megabanks.

A proposal paving the way for the public banking option on a more local level has made serious headway in several states, including California. AB 857—a bill introduced by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and co-sponsored by Assemblymember Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley)—would authorize counties and cities to charter banks mandated to serve the public interest.

Jake Tonkel, a 28-year-old medical-device engineer campaigning for a Public Bank of Silicon Valley, envisions one that would slash debt costs, fund infrastructure and spur entrepreneurship. “If San Jose had control of its own finances, we could use it to reach the goals that the city is trying to achieve,” he says. “We can fund climate mitigation and put solar on more roofs. We can invest in affordable housing and small businesses and shape the city into what we want it to look like.”

The Bank of North Dakota is considered the only truly public bank in the U.S., and it’s held up as an archetype by advocates of alternative financial systems.

Founded 100 years ago to extend credit to broke farmers and ranchers, the Bank of North Dakota has evolved into a reliably profitable financial powerhouse. According to its 2016 annual report, the state bank recorded its 13th straight year of record profits, garnering more than $136 million in income while expanding its loan portfolio by $449 million.

Proponents of the North Dakota model credit the publicly owned bank for helping the state glean from the booms and weather the busts inherent in today’s economy.

This past year has seen the movement intensify. New Jersey’s governor campaigned on the promise of a public bank. Leaders in Oregon, Vermont and Washington D.C. have held public meetings to talk about the practical benefits of the public system.

Several major cities that joined the California Public Banking Alliance, an advocacy organization that supports the bill, have completed feasibility studies, including Oakland and San Francisco. For its part, the city of Santa Cruz has signed on in support of AB 857.

Many cities face their own unique set of challenges, from steep startup costs to legal barriers and tepid political will. Advocates hope the idea of public banking will catch on, in part, because of its potential appeal to both sides of the aisle. Conservatives might appreciate the potential cost-saving and local control offered by public banks, while progressives might buy in as a way to combat climate change and other societal ills.

When the subject came up at a city hearing a few months ago in San Jose, Republican Councilman Lan Diep applauded a plan to study the concept. “On the idea of public banking,” he said, “I’m actually quite intrigued.”’

Tonkel, a Peace Corps alum, first started considering the impact of big banks after returning home to Los Gatos from the anti-oil pipeline 2016 protests at Standing Rock. That resistance raised awareness about the impacts large financial institutions have on controversial projects. When he got back, he closed his Bank of America accounts.

Now an activist who pushes cities and customers to think about how they bank. Tonkel wants to change the fundamentals of the Bay Area’s economy. For starters, he says the public Bank of Silicon Valley would serve the community’s interest.

“That,” he says, “could cause the ripple economic effect on our communities that we really need.”

NUZ: Junkie Hideout, Plus UCSC’s Growth Problem

Nuz

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June 18, 2019

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NUZ: Junkie Hideout, Plus UCSC’s Growth Problem

From our office windows along the San Lorenzo Riverwalk, Nuz has noticed many a ragamuffin ducking under the city’s bike and pedestrian bridge to meet with Santa Cruz troll folk. GT reps have even spotted junkies dealing drugs and shooting up immediately after walking out from under that very bridge, which is going on two years old and sits near a children’s playground.

The typical thinking around levy improvements like this one is that they activate our public spaces by putting more eyes on the trail. While that may be true, this particular bridge, which first opened in the fall of 2017, has also provided a perfectly shaded hiding spot for junkies to shoot up—it’s easily accessible, mostly concealed from view. And yet when the Coastal Watershed Council moved in as GT’s neighbor last year, we spotted the nonprofit’s staffers frequently walking over to politely ask the under-the-bridge urchins to move along.

Now, a new city sign next to the bridge says that the area is “temporarily closed.”

Temporarily … right.

A sign reading “No Shooting Up/Drug Deals” or just “Christ, People, There Are Kids Around!” would have been more to the point.

BOOM’S DAY

Incoming UCSC Chancellor Cynthia Larive sees no reason to waver from UCSC’s stated goal of planning to accommodate 9,000 new students by the year 2040 and grow to a possible enrollment of 28,000.

Honestly, it’s a controversial stance to espouse as you prepare for a huge career move. But hey, California’s population is growing, with UC Merced and UC Riverside already picking up more than their shares of the slack. It’s also worth noting that before the campus opened in 1964, UCSC was planning to grow to 27,500 students by the year 1990.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can now plainly see that such growth would impact Santa Cruz’s already nightmarish housing market. But if you were a UC regent looking at the numbers, and you saw a California coastal city repeatedly failing to plan for growth that your predecessors laid out 45 years earlier, how sympathetic would you be?

CALL IT LIKE IT IS

Councilmembers Chris Krohn and Drew Glover have each posted responses to recall efforts against them.

After some minor hiccups with two separate recall efforts, the city of Santa Cruz accepted notices of intent submitted by the second group, Santa Cruz United, on June 6.

Discussions about recalling the two Santa Cruz councilmembers aren’t new. They go back to the fall of last year. And let’s be honest: a recall effort that begins before one councilmember even takes office is, at least on some level, disingenuous.

A Change of Seasons: Risa’s Stars June 19-25

Risa D’Angeles

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June 18, 2019

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A Change of Seasons: Risa’s Stars June 19-25

We change seasons this week. Spring flows into summer Friday at 8:54 a.m. PST, as the sun slips into Cancer and summer begins in the northern hemisphere. Summer solstice is the longest day of light of the year.

Summer is a time of rebirth and resurrection–divine fertility restored to the Earth. At summer solstice, we come into the full light of the day before the dark half of the year begins. When summer begins, the waxing-light half of the year ends and the dark half of the year begins (the Sun begins to decrease in light after three days). Esotericists (the NGWS) begin preparing for winter solstice and the birth of the Holy Child (new light). This year’s Winter Solstice is the Festival of the New Group of World Servers, a festival that only occurs every seven years.

At summer solstice, the Sun is at its most northern point, resting at the Tropic of Cancer before beginning its journey southward, reaching the Tropic of Capricorn at Christmas. Midsummer is almost here (June 24), nativity of St. John the Baptist and a midsummer feast day festival (a Masonic Rite). Uriel, the golden teaching angel, assumes guidance and direction of the Earth for the summer. As summer begins, Neptune retrogrades (till November’s end).

ARIES: What is revolution to you? This question will be around for the next seven years—hoping you will, with focused mind (Mercury) and deep aspiration (Mars), initiate several levels of the new era attempting to come forth. It can only emerge from humanity itself, and since you’re always the first, the leader, it’s your work assignment and spiritual task to do. Uranus is your helper.

TAURUS: You are the world. That’s a reality to many around you. It’s through you that others change how they see the world—no longer separate from the Earth, but part of it. This, you say, is how we will save the world. You will teach that the past is no longer with us. That the future is something we create together. You will build bridges from then to now, to up and over there. Uranus in Taurus is your helper now. And Venus, the morning star.

GEMINI: Mercury’s in the evening sky now, showering your nights with reflection, analysis and new information. What are you thinking and dreaming? Mercury is the reason you’ve been concerned with your health and well being, and what resources are available to care for yourself and others. There’s a tremendous push to solve a health issue. Allow new spiritual direction to come forth expanding your ability to move forward. You know what is needed. Pray for strength and willingness.

CANCER: It’s your birthday month. Happy birthday. I hope you have cupcakes with lots of frosting, baskets that hold treasures to be kept forever, passing them down through generations. Your life these days seems to be a dream. Stay in the dream a while, allowing it to soothe, care for, nurture, and protect you. In the meantime, there’s discipline needed at home. What is it? Make a dreamcatcher.

LEO: How can you serve humanity and simultaneously honor the kingdoms that serve and uphold you? You are kind and loving. Your heart is open to everyone. But there’s one kingdom in particular that calls to you. Is it the mineral, the plant, the animal, or the human kingdom? Find a place of retreat where you can concentrate, then focus on and communicate directly with this kingdom. Your future work, and the life of that kingdom, depend upon this.

VIRGO: Find Mercury and Jupiter in the evening sky. Find Venus in the morning sky. Plan a voyage. Seek an academy of higher learning in arts and sciences. Study compassionate communication. Hang silver bells in trees, crystals in windows. Make a peace pole. You are on a quest for higher wisdom, higher understanding. Nothing but a great adventure will soothe your restless heart. Set it a-sail for places unknown.

LIBRA: New responsibilities may come up at work, new stages of leadership. Be aware that others are watching you in order to learn. Be kind, mentor, nurture, and teach them. Let them know they are important. You’re in the position to mother, nourish and be the Light of their world, the Light of all those around you. Take this responsibility seriously. It’s a spiritual task only you can do at this time.

SCORPIO: A depth of feeling, more than usual, arises within you when pondering relationships, sex, intimacy, and resources. It’s most important to decipher the truth about these things, articulating as best you can. Be sure to include your hopes, wishes and dreams. Then you create in those listening an idea which becomes an ideal within them. Something they were seeking and only you knew about.

SAGITTARIUS: You have many skills. However, at times, your mind wanders with questions such as, “When is my next adventure, my next job, my next meal, my next love affair?” These questions (among others) keep you from realizing the many gifts you actually have developed (over lifetimes), have access to and display. And so, it’s time again for a bit of gratitude—a time out, so to speak. What are you grateful for? Say it aloud.

CAPRICORN: What’s occurring that makes you think you’re not being heard or listened to? Do you feel your stated needs aren’t recognized, and this is wounding? Do you feel something at home is about to change? When it seems no one’s listening, we must pay attention to ourselves, write a book (journal) and supply ourselves with what we need. Neptune’s refining you, Chiron’s healing you, and Uranus is radically altering you. Nothing will stop this.

AQUARIUS: You feel the need to solidify your ideas, thoughts, impressions, and philosophy. You want concrete solutions to long-standing questions. You want to be spontaneously creative, yet within defined boundaries and structures. You seek freedom of movement, while always having a place to come home. Recent journeys are defining future needs. The answers aren’t all in yet, but your heart’s desires are becoming well known. Your life proceeds from there.

PISCES: It is interesting about Pisces. Often, they’re seen as behind the scenes, lacking strength, practicality, and action. However, they have a different way about them. Pisces has courage based upon their gift of compassion. Their compassion creates insight, and insight is skillful. Pisces have finely honed sudden insight, and hold within themselves the power to change from inside out. This change is occurring to you, Pisces. A bit more patience is needed now.

How Santa Cruz is Encouraging Recycled Art

Wallace Baine

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June 18, 2019

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How Santa Cruz is Encouraging Recycled Art

As far as places to score art materials go, the city of Santa Cruz’s Resource Recovery Facility—known forever and always to locals as “the dump”—is never going to be mistaken for Lenz Arts.

It’s loud, dusty and windswept. There are large, dangerous machines about. The CalTrans-orange vests you have to wear are flattering to no one. And frankly, it’s on the way to nowhere, a long haul for just about anyone in Santa Cruz County.

But soon the place is bound to be crawling with artists—and not just because of those famously scenic ocean views.

The landfill located just west of the entrance to Wilder Ranch State Park is the focus of a city program known as SCRAP (Santa Cruz Recycled Art Program) in which artists of all kinds are encouraged to forage for thrown-out materials to remake them into … well, anything. Through a formal application process, the program appoints about a half-dozen artists every year and grants them access to the wealth of materials at the landfill and recycling center—metal, wood, plastic, textiles, electronics, whole artifacts or pieces of them, almost any non-hazardous material.

After several months of visiting the landfill, the SCRAP artists will unveil their artistic expression to the world with a show at the R. Blitzer Gallery in Santa Cruz.

The program is in its fourth year, and many of the artists who participated in its first three years are exhibiting their work this month at the Felix Kulpa Gallery and Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore facility on Swift Street. The exhibits are designed to draw attention to the fast-approaching deadline (July 1) for artists to apply for round four.

Mary Tartaro is the program’s coordinator and a mixed-media found-object sculptor in her own right. Her sculpture Redeemer is a kind of feminist answer to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue that looms over Rio de Janeiro. But Tartaro’s piece is composed entirely of stuff other people had thrown away. She’s eager to invite as many artists as possible to apply for the program, urging artists to think not just outside the box, but outside the building.

Tartaro says she’d encourage people not to look at the work of past SCRAP artists as a template for what is expected or acceptable. “I would tell people to take it in a direction where it’s never gone,” she says. “What if someone’s media is performance art? Or video? What if there’s no physical object involved?”

Even if there are no artistic rules, there are plenty of ground rules at the recycling facility. During a recent tour of the landfill, site superintendent Craig Pearson welcomed artists and praised the program but repeated four times within as many minutes: “I am responsible for your safety.”

Chosen artists will be expected to behave safely and conscientiously at the site, to check in with the staff, be aware of their surroundings and stay away from places where they don’t belong, says Pearson.

With the familiar beep-beep-beep of heavy machinery hanging in the air, artists followed along as Tartaro and Beth Tobey, the city of Santa Cruz’s arts program manager, escorted prospective program artists around the site among the trucks, loaders and forklifts.

Each of the artists has their own approach and interests. Pam Dewey of Santa Cruz, for example, has dedicated much of her artistic efforts to quilting. And if the design of her quilts are more or less traditional, the materials definitely are not. She is almost certainly the only person in Santa Cruz County that has a quilt on her wall made from the skin of smoked turkeys. “I used to live in New York,” she says, “and I would always be pulling things off the street. Quilts are all about recycling. For me, it’s all about reusing things with a history.”

Artists also learned basic strategies for how to score the best stuff—come on Saturdays and Mondays, for instance, when most people come to dump unwanted materials—and to hang around, be patient or even offer to help people unload their cars and trucks.

Tartaro says she would like to see some of the artists take on pieces that serve an environmental or social-action purpose. Using such recycled materials and having this kind of access to the waste stream is, she believes, a good opportunity to make some kind of comment about overconsumption.

“It’s sad sometimes when you go out there and see what kind of materials come in. You’re like, why are you throwing that away?” Tartaro says. “We’re all just so pressed for time. And that’s because we all have jobs so we can buy more stuff that will soon become trash. You start to ask, ‘Why do we need all this stuff?’”

SCRAP Artists Exhibition runs through June 30 at Felix Kulpa II, 209 Laurel St., Santa Cruz and ReStore, 719 Swift St., Santa Cruz. To apply to be a participating artist in the 2019 SCRAP program, go to scedo.slideroom.com. Each artist will receive a $500 stipend and four months of access to the Resource Recovery Facility in Santa Cruz.

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology June 19-25

Rob Brezsny

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June 18, 2019

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Free will astrology for the week of June 19, 2019

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Orfield Laboratories is an architectural company that designs rooms for ultimate comfort. They sculpt the acoustic environment so that sounds are soft, clear and pleasant to the human ear. They ensure that the temperature is just right and the air quality is always fresh. At night the artificial light is gentle on the eyes, and by day the sunlight is rejuvenating. In the coming weeks, I’d love for you to be in places like this on a regular basis. According to my analysis of the astrological rhythms, it’s recharging time for you. You need and deserve an abundance of cozy relaxation.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I hope that during the next four weeks, you will make plans to expedite and deepen your education. You’ll be able to make dramatic progress in figuring out what will be most important for you to learn in the next three years. We all have pockets of ignorance about how we understand reality, and now is an excellent time for you to identify what your pockets are and to begin illuminating them. Every one of us lacks some key training or knowledge that could help us fulfill our noblest dreams, and now is a favorable time for you to address that issue.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In the next four weeks, you’re not likely to win the biggest prize or tame the fiercest monster or wield the greatest power. However, you could very well earn a second- or third-best honor. I won’t be surprised if you claim a decent prize or outsmart a somewhat menacing dragon or gain an interesting new kind of clout. Oddly enough, this less-than-supreme accomplishment may be exactly right for you. The lower levels of pressure and responsibility will keep you sane and healthy. The stress of your moderate success will be very manageable. So give thanks for this just-right blessing!

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Some traditional astrologers believe solar eclipses are sour omens. They theorize that when the moon perfectly covers the sun, as it will on July 2, a metaphorical shadow will pass across some part of our lives, perhaps triggering crises. I don’t agree with that gloomy assessment. I consider a solar eclipse to be a harbinger of grace and slack and freedom. In my view, the time before and after this cosmic event might resemble what the workplace is like when the boss is out of town. Or it may be a sign that your inner critic is going to shut up and leave you alone for a while. Or you could suddenly find that you can access the willpower and ingenuity you need so as to change something about your life that you’ve been wanting to change. So I advise you to start planning now to take advantage of the upcoming blessings of the eclipse.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): What are you doing with the fertility and creativity that have been sweeping through your life during the first six months of 2019? Are you witheringly idealistic, caught up in perfectionistic detail as you cautiously follow outmoded rules about how to make best use of that fertility and creativity? Or are you being expansively pragmatic, wielding your lively imagination to harness that fertility and creativity to generate transformations that will improve your life forever?

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Mythologist Joseph Campbell said that heroes are those who give their lives to something bigger than themselves. That’s never an easy assignment for anyone, but right now it’s less difficult for you than ever before. As you prepare for the joyous ordeal, I urge you to shed the expectation that it will require you to make a burdensome sacrifice. Instead, picture the process as involving the loss of a small pleasure that paves the way for a greater pleasure. Imagine you will finally be able to give a giant gift you’ve been bursting to express.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In 1903, the Wright Brothers put wings on a heavy machine and got the contraption to fly up off the ground for 59 seconds. No one had ever done such a thing. Sixty-six years later, American astronauts succeeded at an equally momentous feat. They piloted a craft that departed from the Earth and landed on the surface of the moon. The first motorcycle was another quantum leap in humans’ ability to travel. Two German inventors created the first one in 1885. But it took 120 years before any person did a backflip while riding a motorcycle. If I had to compare your next potential breakthrough to one or the other marvelous invention, I’d say it’ll be more metaphorically similar to a motorcycle flip than the moon landing. It may not be crucial to the evolution of the human race, but it’ll be impressive—and a testament to your hard work.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the year 37 A.D., Saul of Tarsus was traveling by foot from Jerusalem to Damascus, Syria. He was on a mission to find and arrest devotees of Jesus, then bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished. Saul’s plans got waylaid, however—or so the story goes. A “light from heaven” knocked him down, turned him blind, and spoke to him in the voice of Jesus. Three days later, Saul’s blindness was healed and he pledged himself to forevermore be one of those devotees of Jesus he previously persecuted. I don’t expect a transformation quite so spectacular for you in the coming weeks, Scorpio. But I do suspect you will change your mind about an important issue, and consider making a fundamental edit of your belief system.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You could be a disorienting or even disruptive influence to some people. You may also have healing and inspirational effects. And yes, both of those statements are true. You should probably warn your allies that you might be almost unbearably interesting. Let them know you could change their minds and disprove their theories. But also tell them that if they remain open to your rowdy grace and boisterous poise, you might provide them with curative stimulation they didn’t even know they needed.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Some children are repelled by the taste of broccoli. Food researchers at the McDonald’s restaurant chain decided to address the problem. In an effort to render this ultra-healthy vegetable more palatable, they concocted a version that tasted like bubble gum. Kids didn’t like it, though. It confused them. But you have to give credit to the food researchers for thinking inventively. I encourage you to get equally creative, even a bit wacky or odd, in your efforts to solve a knotty dilemma. Allow your brainstorms to be playful and experimental.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Spank yourself for me, please. Ten sound swats ought to do it. According to my astrological assessments, that will be sufficient to rein yourself in from the possibility of committing excesses and extravagance. By enacting this humorous yet serious ritual, you will set in motion corrective forces that tweak your unconscious mind in just the right way so as to prevent you from getting too much of a good thing; you will avoid asking for too much or venturing too far. Instead, you will be content with and grateful for the exact bounty you have gathered in recent weeks.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Your inspiration for the coming weeks is a poem by Piscean poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It begins like this: “The holiest of all holidays are those / Kept by ourselves in silence and apart; / The secret anniversaries of the heart, / When the full river of feeling overflows.” In accordance with astrological omens, Pisces, I invite you to create your own secret holiday of the heart, which you will celebrate at this time of year for the rest of your long life. Be imaginative and full of deep feelings as you dream up the marvelous reasons why you will observe this sacred anniversary. Design special rituals you will perform to rouse your gratitude for the miracle of your destiny.

Homework: It’s my birthday. If you feel moved, send me love and blessings! Info about how to do that at freewillastrology.com.

Anthkrna Brings ‘Chaotic Bliss’ to Santa Cruz

Aaron Carnes

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June 18, 2019

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Anthkrna Brings ‘Chaotic Bliss’ to Santa Cruz

Drummer Ryan Scott Long has a hard time describing his two-piece band Anthkrna. There’s a lot of Indian musical influence. There’s a jazz aesthetic. It’s got elements of trance and pumped up breakbeats. It’s 100% improvised. With all that going on, the best description he can give is “chaotic bliss.”

It’s a sound that can inspire a lot of different reactions, he says.

“You can be on the other side of the room meditating peacefully, engaging with the performance, or you can be that crazy festival person, dancing your ass off the entire night. It really depends on how the listener is feeling,” says Long.

The project, which comes to the Crepe Place on June 21, isn’t Long’s primary musical outlet. It’s just something that he and VoidTripper (aka Jared Warren) do on occasion. The two are longtime friends who used to play in an Oakland punk band together, until Warren dove deep into studying Indian classical music and learning how to read Sanskrit.

“It’s way different than anything I’ve ever tried to do with anyone before,” Long says of Anthkrna. “From an artistic standpoint, it challenges me to be more creative and just see what we can get away with. It’s a lot of fun.”

His primary focus is the relatively new group And Then Came Humans, another duo for which he plays drums, with Mike Sopko on guitar. Currently Sopko lives in Cleveland, Long lives in New Orleans, and they play 200-250 shows a year.

The group isn’t as out there as Anthkrna, but it’s still very experimental, and an opportunity for them to flex their musical chops and think creatively. The band released its debut album In Heat Wave last year; it’s quirky, catchy and has a solid groove. The title track is a weird, funny song with jokey vocals, cartoonish synthesizers, jazzy guitars, and a funky drumbeat. Some of the songs are just downright bizarre musical experiments that barely have a melody.

Even as a two-piece, Anthkrna manages to get a real fullness to its sound. The duo also wants to add more instruments to the group, specifically Long playing the keyboards, singing and drumming at the same time.

“We worked really hard in the music trying to find a sound that works, and to just continue to expand on creative ideas,” Long says. “As simple and silly as that might sound, it really does come down to that.”

Long’s love for the duo setup explains why he’s playing in Anthrkna whenever he gets a break from the full-time schedule of And Then Came Humans.

“Two people is the way to go. It’s forced me to completely change the way I play. And to understand how to sound fuller without necessarily having to add more notes or to be busy,” Scott says. “I have to find ways to be able to stand alone, like I’m just playing a groove. I’m not even playing a fill. And just having that be everything that needs to be there. And being okay with that.”

But the two projects allow him to show off completely different artistic sides, Long says.

“What I do with Jared, I’m not doing anything near that ballpark with Mike. They’re so different from each other,” Scotts says. “Anthkrna is more like the Picasso. It’s still groove-oriented, and people get into it. But we don’t know what’s going to happen next at any point in time.”

Anthkrna performs at 9 p.m. on Friday, June 21, at the Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 429-6994.

Savor Summer Harvest at UCSC Farm Cart, PopUp Picnics

Christina Waters

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June 18, 2019

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Summer in this neck of the woods always means that farmers markets are bursting at the seams with vibrant visuals, texture, aromas, and the sheer buzzing, blooming diversity of flavors.

While I like to graze around the county at our various outdoor markets, one of the ones dearest to my heart is the UCSC Farm & Garden Market Cart now open on Fridays from noon-6 p.m. at the base of the UCSC campus at the corner of Bay and High streets.

Under the canvas awning, the shaded tables are ablaze with colorful berries, flowers, aromatic onions, and other special treats grown and picked by apprentices at UCSC’s agroecology program. Early-season offerings from the farm include strawberries, blueberries and an array of tender lettuces, arugulas and other greens. As the growing season progresses, we can look forward to sweet corn, the famous dry-farmed tomatoes, plums, potatoes, oodles of sweet and hot peppers, heirloom variety apples, basil, and much more.

Flower bouquets—some romantically old world, others clearly created with free-form artistry—are also sold at the cart every week. I find it almost impossible to pass up the bouquets loaded with dahlias, sweet peas, sunflowers, nigelia, roses, and delphinia. And this will go on into late October, maybe early November. See you there!

PopUp in the Park

It’s official! Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks has unveiled PopUp Picnics in the Park, returning to Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park in downtown Santa Cruz for the fourth summer in a row. This year’s picnics will happen every Thursday through Aug. 15 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30pm. Picnickers can purchase lunch or bring their own. Savor the view of downtown from the Mission’s plaza, or enjoy lunch under the shade of avocado and redwood trees.

Many people we know swear by this Thursday al fresco event, where Taquitos Gabriel’s, a favorite from past summers and a popular Mole & Mariachi Festival competitor and food vendor, will be serving each week. The menu includes tacos, plates, burritos, quesadillas, and drinks with occasional specials, such as the wildly popular mole, and items priced from $2-10. Taquitos Gabriel’s plans to donate a portion of proceeds back to Friends on behalf of the Santa Cruz Mission State Historic Park to fund education and restoration projects at the park. So order generously!

Factoid: the Santa Cruz mission is home to the oldest building in the entire county. The park’s signature adobe was built in the early 1820s by Ohlone and Yokut Indians, and is the only structure remaining from the Mission Santa Cruz founded in 1791. Many visitors and residents make the mistake of thinking that the small replica mission chapel is the oldest adobe on Mission Hill. But they would be wrong. So after you finish up your quesadillas, do take a look at the old 18th-century adobe preserved within the state park.

Toasting the Avocado

Avocado toast with bacon and tomatoes, accented with cilantro and lime juice, might just be the best open-face variation on the old BLT extant. It is done smartly at Cafe Iveta on Delaware and runs a mere $8.50. Pair it with the refreshing house lemonade and remember why you live here. And the owners of the almost-open Barceloneta at 1541 Pacific Ave. (the site of the former Benten) assure me that that they are “getting close!” We’re waiting with open mouths to welcome the new tapas eatery and owners Brett and Elan Emerson to Santa Cruz.

Love Your Local Band: Burning Pictures

Aaron Carnes

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June 18, 2019

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In late May, local four-piece Burning Pictures released its first single “Seaglass,” a dreamy Americana tune that could easily accompany a drive up the California coast.

On lead vocals is singer-songwriter Joe Kaplow, an artist already beloved in town, but this isn’t his band, per se. He’s one of four equal members—with Bobcat Rob Armenti, Michael Whalen and Elliot Kay—who take turns writing and singing songs. It’s a local all-star Americana supergroup.

“Joe will write a song that’s a very intimate, heartfelt thing. And then Mikey will bring in something that’s got a much more danceable, up-tempo, funky vibe to it,” Kays says. “Certain people in the band contribute different elements that are all important to the music.”

The group plans to showcase this diverse talent by releasing three more singles this year (and eventually, a full-length record). Each song will be written by a different member of the band, who will also sing lead, with the exception of Kay, who writes but doesn’t sing lead.

“We idolize a lot of bands from back in the day that were great being a sum of their parts,” Kay says, like The Band and the Beatles. “It’s really difficult to keep multiple people together in the same place long enough to really build something together.”

The group played its first official show in April, but the members have played together for over a year. They used to be the backing band in Kaplow’s solo project.

Eventually, Kay says, the group decided, “Let’s just give it a band name and all write and contribute our material and have it be more of a democratic thing.’”

9 p.m. Friday, June 21, Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $12 adv/$15 door. 479-1854.

Music Picks: June 19-25

Aaron Carnes

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June 18, 2019

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Santa Cruz County live music picks for the week of June 19

WEDNESDAY 6/19

ROCK

SUMMER CANNIBALS

Summer Cannibals ditched its work in progress—nearly an entire album’s worth of material—when bandleader Jessica Boudreaux fought her way out of a toxic relationship. Using the ensuing complicated feelings and sense of freedom Boudreaux experienced, Summer Cannibals started a new super-charged project, Can’t Tell Me No (which comes out June 28). It has the same raw energy of their other two albums, but a new level of social confrontation stands front and center, unapologetic. Short and fierce rock anthems proudly rail against those who explicitly or tacitly try to silence women. AMY BEE

9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10 adv/$12 door. 429-6994

THURSDAY 6/20

AMERICANA

THE REAL SARAHS

In 2017, the Real Sarahs released sophomore record Afternoon with the Dirty Birds. It was an unusual album for the acoustic trio, as it showcases the group’s folksy songs backed by the roots-rock stylings of the Dirty Birds. The band followed the record with 2018’s Headed For The Hills, a return to doing what it does best: strumming acoustic instruments and singing lush, hooky harmonies. These are gorgeous, emotive songs that’ll make you feel like you’re lost in a daydream. AARON CARNES

7:30 p.m. Michael’s On Main, 2591 Main St., Soquel. $10. 479-9777.

COMEDY

BETHANY VAN DELFT

Some comedians tell jokes; others tell stories. Bethany Van Delft is somewhere in the middle. This Bostonian stand-up veteran is never afraid to dig into her life and bare it all: being a mother to a child with Downs Syndrome, balancing her comedy career with a life at home while raising kids “who don’t need therapy,” and her hatred for “diversity” comedy showcases. She also currates a weekly showcase in Boston called “Artisanal Comedy” that highlights out-of-the-box comedians who might not fit into a normal stand-up night. She’s also been featured on Comedy Central, SF Sketchfest and the 2 Dope Queens podcast. MAT WEIR

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

FRIDAY 6/21

JAZZ

CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT & SULLIVAN FORTNER

A once-in-a-generation talent, Cécile McLorin Salvant has surpassed the oversized expectations that greeted her triumph at the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. In February, she earned her third consecutive Grammy Award for best jazz vocal album, a highly interactive duo project with New Orleans pianist Sullivan Fortner, The Window. Brimming with divergent musical ideas, Salvant is an expanding creative universe. Sardonic, ironic and open-hearted, her music embraces folk-song simplicity and art-song sophistication, singer-songwriter revelation and bebop exultation. ANDREW GILBERT

7 and 9 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $31.50-$47.25. 427-2227.

SATURDAY 6/22

COMEDY

ADAM CONOVER

Adam Conover from the TruTV show Adam Ruins Everything calls himself an investigative comedian, which sounds like the set up for a raunchy joke, but it’s really just a label for those who research the wackier and weirder aspects of human knowledge and then crack jokes about what they find. On his podcast and show, Adam uses his nerdy visage and endearing charm to disarm our natural tendency to shut down when someone is trying to teach us facts, and then brings out an expert once we are defenseless. It’s a good tactic. But the question is: how good is his stand up? Only one way to find out! AB

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

METAL

SUPER MADNES

Naoki Kodaka penned the soundtrack for the NES Batman game, and wrote the tunes for Blaster Master, Spy Hunter, Fester’s Quest, and about 20 other classic-era titles. In the pantheon of video game music, Batman often gets lost in the shuffle of bona fide jams like Duck Tales and Mega Man 2, but Super MadNES hasn’t forgotten. At the Blue Lagoon this Saturday, the live-video-game-music metal band pay tribute to Kodaka with a full version of the Batman soundtrack, along with other period classics. If you got a utility belt, bring it: the bat signal waits for no one. MIKE HUGUENOR

7 p.m. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz. $10. 423-7117.

FOLK

GHOSTS OF PAUL REVERE

Ghosts of Paul Revere isn’t so much a bluegrass group as a rock band that just happened to only have country instruments when it started. Listen past the surface and a whole world opens up, heavily influenced by the Beatles, Radiohead and others outside of so-called traditional music. MW

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

MONDAY 6/24

INDIE

ZOE BOEKBINDER

While some of the music on Zoe Boekbinder’s Shadow could be described as delicate, Boekbinder herself is anything but. Described as “ageless, beautiful, heartbreaking, and wise” by Neil Gaiman, Boekbinder’s voice is a powerful thing. Throughout Shadow, the New Orleans singer-songwriter looks straight into the darkness that follows her and pierces it, finding something like light on the other side. Boekbinder throws a bit of Amanda Palmer into a songwriting style reminiscent of Songs: Ohia, with a bit of the ol’ Big Easy for good measure. MH

9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz. $8. 429-6994.

TUESDAY 6/25

INDIE

MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ

Matthew Logan Vasquez’ latest single “Trailer Park” is a refreshing celebration of the diversity of rural Texas, where over a high-energy rock tune, he sings about the neighborly mix of “rednecks, hippies, Latinos, liberals and conservatives.” The song is one of the few upbeat tunes on his third record Light’n Up, where he devotes most of his time detailing a dark period in his life where he was caring for his ailing father. Better known as a member of Delta Spirit and Glorietta, Vasquez seems increasingly at home in the solo format, going into more introspective waters. AC

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Anthkrna performs at 9 p.m. on Friday, June 21, at the Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 429-6994.

PopUp in the Park

Toasting the Avocado

9 p.m. Friday, June 21, Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $12 adv/$15 door. 479-1854.

WEDNESDAY 6/19

ROCK

SUMMER CANNIBALS

9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10 adv/$12 door. 429-6994

THURSDAY 6/20

AMERICANA

THE REAL SARAHS

7:30 p.m. Michael’s On Main, 2591 Main St., Soquel. $10. 479-9777.

COMEDY

BETHANY VAN DELFT

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

FRIDAY 6/21

JAZZ

CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT & SULLIVAN FORTNER

7 and 9 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $31.50-$47.25. 427-2227.

SATURDAY 6/22

COMEDY

ADAM CONOVER

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

METAL

SUPER MADNES

7 p.m. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz. $10. 423-7117.

FOLK

GHOSTS OF PAUL REVERE

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

MONDAY 6/24

INDIE

ZOE BOEKBINDER

9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz. $8. 429-6994.

TUESDAY 6/25

INDIE

MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ

9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $13 adv/$15 door. 423-1338.