Walking past the Tannery’s housing complex, Michelle Williams reflects on something her financial advisor said to her four months ago. Williams, who has served as executive director of Arts Council Santa Cruz County for nine years, gets emotional just thinking about it.
The advisor told Williams and her husband Jonathan Vaden that if they cut $10,000 annually out of their already-meager budget, they could begin seriously saving for one of three things eight years from now: a house, their retirement or college tuition for their two children. They would have to pick one.
“We’re going backwards, instead of forwards, in our financial lives,” Williams remembers thinking. “We have no hope of ever buying a home here.”
With that reality setting in, Vaden started looking for work. Not long after, he was offered a lucrative marketing position in Tampa, Florida. Vaden accepted it, and now he, Williams and their two sons will be moving at the beginning of their upcoming summer vacation. They’re already in escrow on a house.
“Our financial lives will change overnight,” Williams says, in near-disbelief.
Williams, who rents in Santa Cruz’s Seabright neighborhood, has seen the town’s housing crisis impact workers in every sector of the economy. She personally knows many artists who could not afford to live locally, were it not for the affordable units at the Tannery Arts Center, which is also home to the Arts Council offices. Away from the campus, Williams knows many other creatives who struggle to juggle various jobs while navigating stressful housing arrangements. She wonders how any service workers could ever survive here.
Educators are feeling the squeeze, too, Williams has noticed. The parents of one of her son’s friends are both teachers—and like Williams, they’ll be moving away in June. They’re headed to San Diego, where they’ve been able to find higher-paying jobs, as well as cheaper housing.
Williams stresses that, for all its flaws, she loves Santa Cruz as much as ever. The decision hasn’t been easy.
“It’s been a combination of love and heartbreak,” she explains. “It’s not like I was burned out. It’s not like I ran out of passion for this job. It’s math. It doesn’t work, and it hasn’t worked. We’ve got to make it work. We owe it to our kids and our futures.”
At the Arts Council, Williams’ announcement kickstarts the search for a new leader. The nonprofit oversees First Friday art walks, the Ebb and Flow Festival, grant programs for artists, and art education programs for 17,000 school kids.
BUILDER BEWARE
It’s one thing to recognize that Santa Cruz is one of the least affordable housing markets in the country. Doing something about it is another.
Over the past year, the city of Santa Cruz has taken action—adopting a relocation assistance ordinance for tenants who see large rent increases, streamlining accessory dwelling unit rules and approving 205 new units of market-rate housing on Pacific Avenue and Laurel Street. City leaders have expressed hopes of building an additional 100-percent affordable housing complex next door.
Matt Huerta works as the housing program manager for the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, which will hosta housing-related discussion with state Sen. Scott Weiner at Peace United Church on Friday night. He says Santa Cruz’s leadership on housing has been mixed.
The city, he explains, needs to take action on more items—like making changes to fee structures on new housing construction. “They makes steps in the right direction and have demonstrated an openness, but there’s a lack of progress,” Huerta says. “There’s a lack of strong enough political will to get the big things done.”
Last year, local activists filed a lawsuit against the approved downtown development, alleging that the complex skirts affordable housing requirements. Huerta views the challenge as a setback for the city because the project is badly needed, he says, even if affordable units won’t be built on site.
Williams isn’t deeply familiar with all of Santa Cruz’s policy workings, but in visiting Tampa, she says she’s been impressed by how committed the Florida city is to solving whatever problems seem to arise. She gives the example of an intersection where the city did a large overhaul. The first didn’t improve traffic, so Tampa is breaking ground again, this time with a revised plan, she says.
“Tampa felt like a city that—through its infrastructure investments, its public transit investments, its cultural facility investments—was working really hard to make it a place where everyone felt welcome, and to make it as easy as possible to live there,” she says. “That was my experience as an outsider. I don’t know how to solve the housing crisis, but it seems like for some, there is this dedication to keeping Santa Cruz as it is, from whatever moment in time people got here.”
HOME OF THE BRAVE
There were other aspects of life in Santa Cruz that tested the patience of Williams and her family.
Just over a year ago, Williams’ home was broken into, and the thief stole her purse, the family’s computers and their minivan. Her family probably left a door unlocked, Williams admits. The thief tossed pretty much everything from their van, including the middle seats. When cops found the vehicle, its interior was covered in blood and littered with syringes—prompting six weeks and $13,000-worth of repairs, she says.
After the whole ordeal was over, Williams says her family looked at the thief with compassion. She adds that they still felt committed to Santa Cruz, even though her kids would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and say, “Mommy, can you go make sure all the doors are locked?”
This year, though, she says, the family has decided that it’s time to move on.
“You get to the point,” she says, “where you’re like, ‘I can’t live like this on so many different levels.’”
At the misty hour of 4 a.m. on Feb. 15, six explosions rocked the 500 block of Windsor Street in the Seabright neighborhood.
Outside, an armored vehicle and a dozen unmarked cars from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surrounded a family home as scared and confused neighbors rushed to see what was happening. The experience brought back memories of the 2017 raids in the Beach Flats, where ICE officials arrested members of the notorious MS-13 gang, along with 11 other undocumented individuals (10 were released shortly after).
With incidents like these in mind, recently elected Santa Cruz City Councilmember Drew Glover has suggested launching a citywide human rights commission, similar to models in San Francisco and Santa Clara County.
The commission, Glover tells GT, would advocate for human and civil rights, as well as investigate and mediate discrimination complaints.
The idea has been on his mind for some time. Glover, a longtime local activist and one of two new African-American members of the council, says people of color experience bigotry more often than white people would expect, both on an individual level and systemically.
Glover believes that if a commission had already been in place, it would have helped quell some of the fear and confusion caused by events like the recent immigration raid. The council has agreed to discuss the raids in a community meeting.
Glover is still working through many of the specifics for how the commission would address problems of bigotry.
Santa Cruz is no stranger to racism and stereotyping. Last November, anti-rent-control flyers circulated around the county with the caption, “Meet Your Neighbors” over a picture of what was implied to be MS-13 gang members. The photo was later revealed to be from a Salvadoran prison. Over the last two years, “It’s OK To Be White” flyers have popped up along the river levy, at bus stops, in the library, and on telephone polls. Glover says it would be “foolish” to ignore that bigotry is becoming more apparent in the community.
He says he’s hopeful that the council will vote as early as April 23 on whether to explore his proposal, and he has a loose archetype for the commission that he’s ready to submit.
The group that he’s proposing would be far more robust than the city’s existing committees. He says it would consist of seven members, each representing a subcommittee focusing on one of the following topics: citizenship issues, the environment, the homeless, people with disabilities, protection against race-based discrimination, and justice issues facing schools and students.
The commission could meet every two months, with the subcommittees meeting in between to report back with recommendations. Once chosen, subcommittee commissioners would go through “comprehensive equity training.”
“All of that can be fleshed out in the conversation on how we want to structure the commission,” Glover says.
One consideration that may weigh on the council is that it isn’t clear how much the commission would cost. Even without the addition of new programs, financial deficits are projected to reappear before long. Despite a successful quarter-cent sales tax approved by voters in June, Santa Cruz is one of many cities feeling the squeeze of growing pension costs. On the campaign trail, Glover invoked a quote often attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. that a budget is a “moral document,” and he has criticized cuts in social services spending.
As to whether this new commission would assist those most in need or just create more bureaucracy, Glover insists that the body would lend needed assistance to marginalized groups.
He isn’t ready to say where he might suggest saving money instead, but when he scans the city budget, he questions “if it represents Santa Cruz values.”
Glover gives the example of the Grille at DeLa, a restaurant at the city-owned DeLaveaga Golf Course, where the city is spending $925,000 on maintenance and renovations that are running more than $600,000 over budget, as the council recently learned when approving a budget allocation. Leaky pipes, termites, dry rot, and a failed deck all contributed to the cost overrun. Public Works Director Mark Dettle says crews worked on the project over several years, and that for future projects, he would like to have his team report back to the council in six-month intervals.
Glover says the city needs to make allocations where it sees the highest need.
“When looking at the needs of the city, I would prioritize human rights and supportive services over something that serves a small percentage of our community,” he explains. “The money is there.”
So far, the City Council seems open to exploring the human rights idea. Glover initially proposed the new commission at the tail end of a discussion about the ICE raids. After the city attorney mentioned that it wasn’t the appropriate time, Glover brought up the idea a few minutes later, during the council’s calendar review. Councilmembers Sandy Brown, Justin Cummings, Donna Meyers, and Cynthia Matthews all spoke positively about the concept, though some council members expressed concern over the budget and wondered if the principles could be worked into existing commissions.
“Establishing a whole new commission, as newer councilmembers will learn, is a big commitment,” Matthews said at the meeting. “It would be worth sitting down and thinking how to incorporate these into already existing commissions and programs.”
That’s what Santa Cruz Parks Ranger Jeremy Mathews said about a possible encampment near Depot Park, in a Facebook comment thread about homelessness on Tuesday, March 26. The implication was that a planned nighttime sleeping site and day-storage facility in that spot will never open. And he might have some inside intel—Mathews’ mom Cynthia is a longtime member of the City Council, and she made a motion that same night to reconsider the idea after hearing community frustration. With two councilmembers absent, her motion passed 5-0, so she wasn’t alone in having concerns.
Before Mathews wrote that sentence, no one had even mentioned Lot 24, so it was a weird thing to bring up. It almost felt like he wanted to tell everyone a secret he’d heard at dinner!
In the thread, Mathews told stories about how large the rats have gotten in the current Gateway encampment, and he liked a comment saying that no one would show up to a new sanctioned camp anyway, because it would be drug-free. The overall theme was that government leaders need to stop messing around and crack down on those lazy, drug-addicted homeless people who can’t get their lives together.
Mathews certainly doesn’t seem shy about letting loose online, whether or not it’s appropriate for a city employee to do so. Nuz also has a screenshot of the time in August of 2016 when Mathews jumped into the comments of a friend’s post calling out Judge John Salazar, who he apparently had sentencing disagreements with. Mathews wrote, “Salazar needs to go.”
LEVEL OF DISCOURSE
Anti-corridor-rezoning group Save Santa Cruz is refashioning itself as an anti-three-to-six-story-building-in-general group. In addition to opposing taller apartment buildings on major streets like Soquel Avenue, Ocean Street and Mission Street, the group has expanded to opposing them downtown, too, according to a Facebook post about a proposed Front Street housing development along the river.
Nuz doesn’t even feel comfortable making fun of these old-school NIMBYs, because their pathological fear of tall-ish buildings is so extreme that they might be candidates for batophobia—which is defined as, “the abnormal fear of being near an object of great height.” But if that’s the case, these architecture haters already can’t go downtown, because the old Hotel Palomar is eight stories and probably taller than anything that will ever get built there again.
Save Santa Cruz has built its premise on the idea that this town is at risk of turning into Santa Clara County. It’s no secret that Silicon Valley is itself unaffordable, but that’s partly because the region isn’t building enough housing, despite adding high-paying jobs faster than you can say “Google.” The mayor of Cupertino, home to Apple, even joked about building a wall around his city. (It didnot go over well.) If we truly put the kibosh on development locally, we’ll run the risk of going one step further and turning into Carmel, with Santa Cruz continuing to lose the young, boot-strapping creative community that helps make it a special place (see page 11).
Here’s an idea: maybe we could have an honest discussion about growth and try to learn more about our options, instead of lethargically whining about every single rendering for a building that doesn’t look like the kind of home that a hippie might dream up during a watercolor-painting session?
FLYNN’S LIMBO
After a $650,000 overhaul that saw the Felton institution Don Quixote’s reopen as Flynn’s Cabaret and Steakhouse last summer, a mystery buyer has stepped up to (maybe) buy the revamped music venue.
Flynn’s owner Bradd Barkan says that a sale has become a financial inevitability after opening delays related to overhauling the in-house kitchen, inconsistent bookings and a recent non-compliance claim over disability access to the club’s bathrooms. “I don’t really have any more money,” Barkan tells GT. “It is in escrow, so that’s the reality.”
A real estate broker involved in the deal says the sale is moving quickly, but is by no means final, and the identity of the would-be buyers remains confidential. Rumor has it that the prospective new owners have ties to Petaluma’s Mystic Theatre and Monterey’s California Roots music festival. “There’s lots of rumors as to who exactly they are,” Barkan says. “I can tell you they have some deep musical connections.”
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A mushroom shaped like a horse’s hoof grows on birch trees in parts of Europe and the U.S. If you strip off its outer layer, you get amadou, spongy stuff that’s great for igniting fires. It’s not used much anymore, but it was a crucial resource for some of our ancestors. As for the word “amadou,” it’s derived from an old French term that means “tinder, kindling, spunk.” The same word was formerly used to refer to a person who is quick to light up, or do something that stimulates liveliness. In accordance with astrological omens, I’m making “Amadou” your nickname for the next four weeks.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them,” wrote novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez. “Life obliges them over and over to give birth to themselves.” Here’s what I’ll add to that: As you mature, you do your best to give birth to ever-new selves that are in alignment with the idealistic visions you have of the person you want to become. Unfortunately, most of us aren’t skilled at that task in adolescence and early adulthood, so the selves we create may be inadequate or delusory or distorted. Fortunately, as we learn from our mistakes, we eventually learn to give birth to selves that are strong and righteous. The only problem is that the old false selves we generated along the way may persist as ghostly echoes in our psyche. And we have a sacred duty to banish those ghostly echoes. I tell you this, Taurus, because the coming months will be en excellent time to do that banishing. Ramp up your efforts now!
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “When spring came, there were no problems except where to be happiest,” wrote Ernest Hemingway in his memoir. He quickly amended that statement, though, mourning, “The only thing that could spoil a day was people.” Then he ventured even further, testifying, “People were always the limiters of happiness except for the very few that were as good as spring itself.” I bring these thoughts to your attention to prepare you for some good news. In the next three weeks, I suspect you will far exceed your quota for encounters with people who are not “limiters of happiness”—who are as good as spring itself.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): It’s time to prove that Cancerians have more to offer than nurturing, empathizing, softening the edges, feeling deeply, getting comfortable, and being creative. Not that there’s anything wrong with those talents. On the contrary! They’re beautiful and necessary. It’s just that for now you need to avoid being pigeonholed as a gentle, sensitive soul. To gather the goodies that are potentially available to you, you’ll have to be more forthright and aggressive than usual. Is it possible for you to wield a commanding presence? Can you add a big dose of willfulness and a pinch of ferocity to your self-presentation? Yes and yes!
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): General Motors manufactured a car called the Pontiac Aztek from 2001-2005. It wasn’t commercially successful. One critic said it looked like, “an angry kitchen appliance,” and many others agreed that it was exceptionally unstylish. But later the Aztek had an odd revival because of the popularity of the TV show Breaking Bad. The show’s protagonist Walter White owned one, and that motivated some of his fans to emulate his taste in cars. In accordance with astrological omens, Leo, I suspect that something of yours may also enjoy a second life sometime soon. An offering that didn’t get much appreciation the first time around may undergo a resurgence. Help it do so.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Of all the female sins, hunger is the least forgivable,” laments feminist author Laurie Penny. She’s referring to the hunger “for anything, for food, sex, power, education, even love.” She continues: “If we have desires, we are expected to conceal them, to control them, to keep ourselves in check. We are supposed to be objects of desire, not desiring beings.” I’ve quoted her because I suspect it’s crucial for you to not suppress or hide your longings in the coming weeks. That’s triply true if you’re a woman, but also important if you’re a man or some other gender. You have a potential to heal deeply if you get very clear about what you hunger for and then express it frankly.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Only one of Nana Mouskouris’s vocal cords works, but over the course of an almost 60-year career, the Libran singer has sold over 30 million records in 12 different languages. Many critics speculate that her apparent disadvantage is key to her unique style. She’s a coloratura mezzo, a rare category of chanteuse who sings ornate passages with exceptional agility and purity. In the coming weeks, I suspect that you will be like Mouskouris in your ability to capitalize on a seeming lack or deprivation.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Your tribe is symbolized by three animals: the scorpion, the eagle and the mythological phoenix. Some astrologers say that the scorpion is the ruling creature of “unevolved” or immature Scorpios, whereas the eagle and phoenix are associated with those of your tribe who express the riper, more enlightened qualities of your sign. But I want to put in a plug for the scorpion as being worthy of all Scorpios. It is a hardy critter that rivals the cockroach in its ability to survive—and even thrive—in less than ideal conditions. For the next two weeks, I propose we make it your spirit creature.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Sagittarian novelist Gustave Flaubert declared that, “Our duty is to feel what is sublime and cherish what is beautiful.” But that’s a demanding task to pull off on an ongoing basis. Maybe the best we can hope for is to feel what’s sublime and cherish what’s beautiful for 30-35 days every year. Having said that, though, I’m happy to tell you that in 2019 you could get all the way up to 95-100 days of feeling what’s sublime and cherishing what’s beautiful. And as many as 15-17 of those days could come during the next 21.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Sommeliers are people trained to perceive the nuances of wine. By sampling a few sips, the best sommeliers can discern facts about the type of grapes that were used to make the wine and where on earth they were grown. I think that in the coming weeks, you Capricorns should launch an effort to reach a comparable level of sensitivity and perceptivity about any subject you care about. It’s a favorable time to become even more masterful about your specialties—to dive deeper into the areas of knowledge that captivate your imagination.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Every language is a work in progress. New words constantly insinuate themselves into common usage, while others fade away. If you traveled back in time to 1719 while remaining in your current location, you’d have trouble communicating with people of that era. And today linguistic evolution is even more rapid than in previous ages. The Oxford English Dictionary adds more than 1,000 new words annually. In recognition of the extra verbal skill and inventiveness you now possess, Aquarius, I invite you to coin a slew of your own fresh terms. To get you warmed up, try this utterance I coined: vorizzimo! It’s an exclamation that means “thrillingly beautiful and true.”
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): One of history’s most audacious con men was George C. Parker, a Pisces. He made his living selling property that did not legally belong to him, like the Brooklyn Bridge, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Statue of Liberty. I suspect you could summon his level of salesmanship and persuasive skills in the coming weeks. But I hope you will use your nearly magical powers to make deals and perform feats that have maximum integrity. It’s OK to be a teensy bit greedy, though.
Homework: Name a beautiful thing you were never capable of doing until now. freewill astrology.com
The new moon occurs in the early morning on Friday, April 5, at 15 degrees Aries. New moon times are festival times of the new initiating light. As the pale crescent moon appears in the sky, the New Group of World Servers (NGWS), men and women of goodwill, gather together to distribute the cosmic light to humanity. The NGWS ponder upon how the plan of betterment and goodwill can manifest in the world.
Aries, with its task of initiating all things new, is like a searchlight seeking to anchor new rhythms and new archetypes into the world. During the month of Aries, the will-to-good and the forces of restoration stream into the Earth. When the will-to-good enters the Earth, it becomes goodwill, Right Relations and the truth, happiness and peace humanity seeks.
The NGWS, often unrecognized, are the ones who meet world need, and are devoted to enriching the quality of life and the welfare of all living beings. They understand planetary and cosmic relationships and the power of Goodwill to bring about real change. Every seven years, the festival of the NGWS is celebrated. It happens at winter solstice of this year. During this Aries new moon festival, we begin our preparations.
ARIES: It’s most important to think about tact and positive Right Relations instead of the usual competitiveness, lack of tact, frustrations, headstrongness, and any sort of aggressiveness. Have the intentions to bring forth diplomacy. Allow your endeavors and activities to create spiritual resources that serve others. As you make all things new, make them harmonious, too.
TAURUS: Your subconscious comes to life, and all your assertive abilities go into hiding. In the deepest parts of yourself, you gather courage and become brave. You may remember things from the past which create worry or anxiety. Tend to your heart, body and nervous system with care, choosing extra rest and foods that lessen inflammation. A spiritual presence enters your life. Revelations continue to occur. You may attend or join a church or spiritual group.
GEMINI: Friends might visit to chat and discuss new ideas. You might meet new ones or join a group or organization that attracts you socially. Some relationships that are not close may fall away, to later reform themselves into better and closer friendships. Whatever your goals, it will be friends who help you move from here to a greater “there.” Friends offer to help with all your hopes, wishes and dreams. And they help you to truly value yourself as well.
CANCER: You wonder about worldly attainment, how you present yourself in public. You want to be remembered. If you’re usually shy, this will disappear. The world is your stage for a while, and there’s an opportunity to establish yourself. You work hard at becoming the best you can be. And you are the very best due to your determination and drive. Be impulsive, trust yourself and shed your shell just for a moment or two.
LEO: You find yourself setting goals, planning and considering far-distant travels. Interest in philosophy, religion, education and expanding your horizons appear in dreams. This is a good time for you. Gathering your talents and gifts, you’re optimistic and vitalized. In the days ahead, you’ll be blazing a trail into the wide and adventurous unknown. Aspiration, a sense of adventure and visualizations are your guides.
VIRGO: It would be good to read Jung’s Red Book, along with Memories, Dreams and Reflections. And it’s good to look at, study and draw symbols so that you can begin to anchor greater ideas and archetypes which would energize your life. They will release the most positive dimensions of your personality and soul. There will be a seeking for redemption and the way toward this will be revealed in dreams.
LIBRA: Although you’re not quite aware of this, you’re quite brave. Others see this and are attracted to your courage. You recognize bravery in others because it already rests within you, at first, like a shadow. You have a great sense of justice, and seek, most of the time, peace and harmony. However, there are times when anger takes hold and you lose your way. Think of this as a rainstorm cleansing and clearing the air around you. Love more, no matter what.
SCORPIO: Here are questions you might ask yourself: where is my service, what is my service, and whom do I serve? How is my health, and am I tending to my duties with responsibility and care? Do I practice Right Relations with all my relationships, and with all kingdoms? Am I determined, do I have hope? Do I hold my intensity in high regard, and am I non-judgmental?
SAGITTARIUS: Most important at this time is your self-expression, your level of creativity, the supreme effort of distinguishing yourself from all others. Are you seeking something romantic or attempting to have children or simply pursuing entertainment, fun, pleasure, wellbeing, and happiness? You can be fun to be around these days, as long as you don’t get impatient. You are quick to frustration. Don’t wear red or drive fast. And don’t gamble.
CAPRICORN: There is a shift or perhaps an acceleration of your foundation and base of operation. Psychological roots, family lineage, your childhood, how you were nurtured, and how you learned to nurture come into focus. You are fiercely protective of your family, and you actively pursue changes in your home. Be very careful of anyone’s anger, impatience, demands made upon family and loved ones. Make serious plans to play more and be in the garden. What are you growing there?
AQUARIUS: Notice if thinking accelerates and ideas race through your mind. Writing, news, communication, speech, connections, and making contacts all become supremely important. They have to be quick, though, or you lose patience and interest. You become more alert, capable of making snap decision; independence of thought is a primary need. Remember, every other sign thinks and acts much slower than you. Follow up on ideas, aspiration and impressions. Your creativity is there.
PISCES: You will be wondering what is of value to you as there is a simultaneous giveaway, sale and general release of much of what you considered materially valuable in the past. You will find yourself with perhaps a suitcase or two, and a laptop—nothing more. And you’ll be on your way. This is a significant time for you. Guard your money. Think before spending. Go where you are needed. Have patience with someone. Love more. Time, like love, heals everything.
Sullivan Fortner has made his name as a frequent collaborator with some of jazz’s most eloquent improvisers. In recent months, he’s reimagined the concept of Caribbean jazz with Trinidadian trumpeter Etienne Charles. He’s been even more visible accompanying sensational vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, with whom he earned a Grammy Award in February for their album The Window. They kick off the Stanford Jazz Festival together on June 22.
But Fortner is ready to step out as a bandleader in his own right. At his Kuumbwa show on Monday, April 8, Fortner will present his trio for the first time in California. Comprised of bassist Ameen Saleem and drummer Jeremy “Bean” Clemmons, it’s the same group that’s featured on his consistently engaging 2018 album Moments Preserved. The late trumpet star Roy Hargrove, Fortner’s employer for eight formative years, plays on two tracks.
Fortner met Saleem on his second gig with Hargrove. Looking to launch a new combo a few years ago, Fortner asked Saleem for a drum recommendation, working on the theory that, “If you want to make a bass player happy, get the drummer they run with,” Fortner says.
The pianist had already played with Clemmens several times, and what stood out most was “his massive sound,” Fortner recalls. “It was like the first time I heard Justin Brown or Marcus Gilmore, these modern guys who imply a whole lot of rhythms on top. When the time would fluctuate, it was hard to understand what they were doing, but when you play with them it’s very clear and easy.”
Growing up in New Orleans, Fortner heard a lot of the great piano lore “in the air,” catching strains of James Booker, Allen Toussaint and Professor Longhair. “It was stuff you’d hear on the street, but I didn’t really absorb it,” he says. “I was more attracted to the modern jazz scene—what Nicholas Payton was doing, and the older masters like Kid Jordan and Alvin Batiste.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin and a master’s from the Manhattan School of Music, Fortner first started gaining attention in 2009 with vibraphonist Stefon Harris. Landing the gig with Hargrove the following year gave him another boost of confidence, at least until he asked veteran pianist Rodney Kendrick for an honest appraisal.
“He said, ‘You got potential,’” Fortner recalled. “He said, ‘You sound alright, but you definitely sound corny. You need to learn from somebody. Take your black ass over to see Barry Harris.’”
A product of the fecund post-World War II Detroit scene, Harris has mentored generations of musicians, and is still passing on hard-won wisdom at 89. Harris introduced Sullivan to concepts he gleaned directly from modern jazz architects Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker.
“They say bebop is the gateway to everything,” Fortner says. “Going and listening to Barry Harris play, he’d drop little nuggets. He’s like a poet. Some things were easy to understand, and some things I still don’t understand. He’s not giving you the steps. It’s very much him sitting at the piano working out things.”
The time he spent with Harris clearly paid off. A panel of distinguished players didn’t think Fortner sounded corny at all when he won the American Pianists Association’s 2015 Cole Porter Fellowship in Jazz, earning a $50,000 prize and a deal with the Mack Avenue label. The formidable competition included Kris Bowers, Emmet Cohen and Christian Sands, who each performed one number with a big band and on a song accompanying NEA Jazz Master Dianne Reeves.
Looking for more experience playing with vocalists, Fortner got up the nerve to contact Cécile McLorin Salvant when he was offered a gig at the Greenwich Village piano room Mezzrow. “I was scared to call her,” he says. “I thought, she won’t play with me, but I talked to her pianist Aaron Diehl, and I wrote her a message on Facebook. Luckily, she responded, and she was really into it. From the first note it felt right. We’ve been doing a lot of things since then. We’re kind of riding high.”
As a bandleader, Fortner is just starting to soar.
Sullivan Fortner performs at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 8, at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $26.25 adv/$31.50 door. 427-2227.
New Leaf Community Market will open the doors of a new Aptos Village store—the grocer’s fifth area outpost—on May 1. In addition to kickstarting the long-awaited action at the expanding Village, the newest New Leaf promises an expansion of flavors, including “a delicious deli featuring made-to-order pizza, ramen and wok bars,” according to store manager Justin Reyes.
A large outdoor green space should tempt patrons to stay and picnic during their visits to the new 17,000-square-foot store, which was built to echo the architecture of the vintage 1881 Hihn apple barn that once occupied the location. Expect a huge selection of organic everything, plus a full-service coffee bar, an organic juice and smoothie bar, and the delightful option of soft serve ice cream. We’re all invited to come celebrate the May 1 opening.
But wait, there’s more! In the coming weeks, we can also expect to sample the exceptional coffee and espresso specialties at the new Cat & Cloud Coffee moving in at Aptos Village. Later this summer, look for the opening of David Kinch’s new Mediterranean restaurant, Mentone, named for a city on the French/Italian Riviera. Look for lavish pizza and plenty of highly authentic pesto from the man with three Michelin stars. Next up will be Penny Ice Creamery and a Sante Arcangeli Family Wines tasting room. Sounds exciting, and I know the folks in Aptos will be happy when the multi-year construction dust has settled.
The New Leaf Community Market at Aptos Village will open May 1 at 161 Aptos Village Way, Aptos. newleaf.com.
New Chef at La Posta
After many years of chef Katherine Stern’s exceptional handiwork, the La Posta kitchen has a new creative force. La Posta owner Patrice Boyle (also the owner of downtown’s Soif) tells me that San Francisco native Dante Cecchini took the helm at La Posta last week. After many years of cooking in the city, chef Cecchini has moved into Santa Cruz. “We are very, very happy to be working with him!” says Boyle. I, for one, can’t wait to taste Cecchini’s work …
New Menu at Avanti
Jonathan and Tatiana Glass, new owners of Ristorante Avanti are winning new fans and keeping old ones happy with beautiful tableware, a patio expansion and a never-better menu. Rita and I are hooked on the fresh seafood specials at lunchtime. Partnered with exceptional seasonal veggies and brilliant, creamy polenta, the lunch entrées are memorable indeed. I have to stop ordering the house duck confit and try one of the new meatball sandwiches on the menu. If wine shaman Bob Marsh feels at home here, that’s a sign of success.
Home Again
Meanwhile, atSoquel’s Home Restaurant, culinary ace Brad Briske is planning a Spring Garden Party on Sunday, April 7, from 2-6 p.m. The outdoor meal will be a collaboration between the cottage restaurant and the Soquel Fermentation Project. Guests can plan to sample new SFP releases, plus locally sourced foods in a truly charming spring garden atmosphere. (Remember when Etan Hamm first planted that garden?) Briske tells us that the party will go on,rain or shine. Plan to be there.
Home, 3101 N Main St., Soquel. 431-6131.
Burger of the Week: Oswald
Anteing up$20 gets you a burger big enough for two—and enough fries for three—at downtown’s Oswald. Blue cheese, aioli and caramelized onions top off the seriously juicy burger.
We paired ours with the evening’s cocktail special involving gin, pomegranate juice, blood orange and more blood orange ($11). Great service, great food and a great chance to see everybody in town. Our go-to downtown cocktail spot.
Even if you’re familiar with the events on which it’s based, there’s still plenty of suspense dished up in Hotel Mumbai.
This harrowing thriller from director and co-writer Anthony Maras depicts the shocking attacks by jihadi terrorists that fanned out across the city of Mumbai, India, for three days in November of 2008. Maras narrows his focus to the luxury Taj Palace Hotel, where staff, guests and refugees fleeing coordinated attacks in other parts of the city found themselves trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse with three assault-weapon-toting terrorists inside the hotel.
One way to portray historical events onscreen is to stick as closely as possible to known facts with documentary-style realism, allowing dramatic significance and personal stories to emerge organically out of the situation—as Paul Greengrass did so effectively in United 93. Or you can tart it up with a lot of Hollywood window dressing in support of a completely fictional main story, like Titanic.
In Hotel Mumbai, Maras attempts to combine the two. Only one of his main characters is based on a specific real person, Taj head chef Hermant Oberoi (played by Anupam Kher), a well-known culinary star in India who organized the hotel staff to protect the guests and out-maneuver the gunmen during the three-day siege. The rest of the characters tasked with bearing the emotional weight of the story are largely fictionalized, although their actions in the movie are often based on actions taken by various people trapped inside the hotel at the time.
Dev Patel gets star billing (although this is truly an ensemble piece) in the everyman role of Arjun. A young Muslim waiter at the hotel with a wife and adorable child to support, he earns our empathy right away when he’s unable to find the correct shoes in time for his shift, to the displeasure of the impeccable Oberoi.
Arriving on the same day is a globetrotting young married couple: American David (Armie Hammer) and his Muslim wife Zahra (Nazanin Boniadi), who have come to Mumbai to replicate their stateside wedding for her family in India. They have their infant son in tow, along with young British au pair Sally (Tilda Cobham-Hervey ). Vasili (Jason Isaacs)—a cool, imperious Russian—is a repeat customer who’s in the middle of ordering a couple of girls off the appetizer menu in the dining room when the Taj gets word that terrorists are running amok in the city.
Oberoi tells the staff that their No. 1 objective is to protect the guests, but he gives everyone the option of returning home to their own families. Most stay, including the resourceful Arjun, to help Oberoi gather the guests in a relatively safe area to wait out the siege. But the stakes rise when three armed terrorists sneak into the hotel and start perpetrating bloody mayhem from within, raining gunfire on anything that moves and burning entire wings in their wake as they hunt relentlessly for more victims.
Moral imperatives and random acts of heroism ensue, as Maras tries to hew to the fine line between stark realism and the purely sensational. You can feel him trying to take the high ground to deliver a sobering account of events (real and imagined), but as the body count escalates, it all starts to play out like a horror movie. Yes, the horror for these people was all too real, depicted here with deft precision; if you long to experience the nerve-shredding anxiety of a terrorist attack, this movie is for you.
But there’s nothing especially transcendent in Maras’ storytelling — some epiphany that would make wading through all the bloodshed more meaningful. The narrative is calculated to give us a rooting interest in the fate of certain characters. The gunmen are interchangeable young men with earbuds plugged into a faceless jihadist, whose vicious directions they obey without question. Hotel Mumbai is a visceral, handsomely produced record of unimaginable brutality, but our emotional reactions—while shaken—are not stirred.
HOTEL MUMBAI
**1/2 (out of four)
With Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, and Jason Isaacs. Written by John Collee and Anthony Maras.Directed by Anthony Maras. Rated R. 125 minutes.
Guard Juan Toscano sticks his arm up to deflect a pass in the third quarter of the Santa Cruz Warriors’ home playoff game.
It’s Friday night, March, 29, and Toscano corrals the ball, sending his team into a full-on sprint and into its transition offense, with the Warriors hunting for mismatches, and ready to feast on the opposing Oklahoma City Blue’s tiniest of miscommunications. Once he reaches the key, Toscano pitches a pass to Damion Lee, who draws a couple defenders while striding toward the rim. Lee then spins and tosses the ball underhand to Antonius Cleveland, who’s waiting in the corner for a three-pointer. Cleveland hesitates, drawing contact from the nearest Blue defender. He sinks the shot as an official blows his whistle, signaling a shooting foul. Cleveland hits his free throw to complete a four-point play, Santa Cruz’s second of the game, and it puts the Warriors up 94-68 with four minutes left to play in the third quarter.
The team’s big four-point plays epitomized its performance in the Western Conference Semifinals—dizzying skill, mixed with a little bit of luck, for a show-stopping display explosive fireworks. The Santa Cruz Warriors went on to win 117-102 on their home floor at Kaiser Permanente Arena, behind a hot start and impressive shot making.
The team may need more of all that this upcoming week, if it wants to keep its season alive. With Friday night’s win behind them, the Warriors now move on to play the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Tuesday, April 2 on the road in the Western Conference Finals. The winner of that game will go on to play in the development league championship.
Toscano, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, grew up in Castro Valley in the East Bay, not far from Oakland—home to the Golden State Warriors, Santa Cruz’s big-brother NBA affiliate. Toscano’s family and friends showed up Friday night to watch him play, he says, adding that he’s honored to be a part of the organization this year, given his local ties.
“It is a pretty special thing,” he says. “But that’s in the back of my mind right now. I just want to win a championship. And after that, I’ll look back and reminisce.”
Santa Cruz attacked the basket early Friday, repeatedly sprinting the length of the court for transition points, cutting to get open shots and moving the ball. That got the Warriors off to a hot start, giving them a commanding 27-point lead to close out the first half. Santa Cruz Head Coach Aaron Miles says the team wanted to make as big of a statement as possible from the opening tip-off. The Blue had been able to overcome a 23-point first-half deficit in its previous match three nights earlier against the Salt Lake City Stars.
When it came to making shots this past Friday night, the Blue were cold from the start. The Warriors weren’t. The Blue shot 29 percent from three. The Warriors shot 43 percent on three—59 percent in the first half. The team’s strong shooting performance masked some of its lazy transition defense later in the game. Santa Cruz could do well to cut out such lapses when it travels to Texas to take on the Vipers Tuesday night.
The Vipers have long excelled at maximizing their offensive efficiency. They led the league in three-pointers this season, just like they usually do—and just as their affiliate Houston Rockets have at the NBA level.
Averse to long two-pointers, the Vipers have developed a reputation for shooting as many lay-ups and three-pointers as possible. It appears to have paid dividends. The Vipers have seen as much team success as anyone, going 2-2 in the championship game since 2010.
I asked previous Santa Cruz Warriors Coach Casey Hill for his take of the Vipers’ overall strategy back in 2014,, and he told me then that it was one way to approach team-building, but that the Warriors had a different one: Santa Cruz was focused on developing players, whereas Rio Grande Valley was using its unit as a laboratory to develop a system and a philosophy.
As was the case several years ago, that philosophy is helping to power an offensive juggernaut at the development level. Miles, the Warriors’ current coach, says his team has to be ready for that kind of attack, as well as for Viper personnel more than capable of carrying it out.
“Lay-ups and three pointers. And everyone they get—they give them confidence to shoot it, and they move the ball well, and they attack the paint and do kick-out [passes],” Miles says. “No mid-range [shots]. It’s worked for ’em.”
The Santa Cruz Warriors play the Rio Grande Valley Vipers Tuesday, April 2 at 6 p.m. Pacific Time. The game will air on ESPNU.
Buying the right piece of furniture can be stressful, but not if you’re selecting a new piece from the Ekornes’ Stressless line, made to order in Norway.
They focus on selling quality, eco-friendly furniture that lasts a lifetime.
If you are design-challenged, you can hire Lori to help you with your space.
They offer mattress systems, including their Oxygen Pillow and sleep wedges, all designed to deliver deep, restorative sleep.
Many of their home décor items are made by local artists.
Best Home Decorating
Botanic and Luxe
Shop owners and best friends Leilani Kanter and Ariel Carlson grew up in Kaua’i together. They bring the Aloha spirit to every aspect of the store.
If you purchase a plant here, they are very serious about helping you understand what it takes to keep it alive, even if that means helping you find the perfect air plant.
Botanic and Luxe is the perfect gift destination. Just don’t expect to leave without also buying something for yourself.
They will wrap your gift so that it looks like you spent hours getting it just right.
In addition to home goods, they also offer natural beauty products, including hard-to-find OLO perfumes.
7775 Soquel Drive, Aptos, 662-6000; 819 Bay Ave., Capitola, 464-5300; 75 River St., Santa Cruz, 457-5000; 4604 Scotts Valley Drive # 10, Scotts Valley, 461-5000; 595 Auto Center Dr, Watsonville, 761-7600, sccountybank.com
303 River St., Santa Cruz, 219-4122; 311 Capitola Rd. Ext., Santa Cruz, 346-1897; 5310 Scotts Valley Dr., Unit C, Scotts Valley, 777-5711, lloydstire.com
RUNNER-UP Aptos Tire, Pasillas
Toy Store (kids)
Childish
1127 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, 454-8208, childishsantacruz.com
