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Music Picks: April 17-23

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April 16, 2019

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Santa Cruz live music highlights for the week of April 17

WEDNESDAY 4/17

FOLK

GAELYNN LEA

Gaelynn Lea is a talented, classically trained violinist, but it’s her captivating vocals that seduce the ear. She sounds wispy, yet powerful; controlled, but free. Most inexplicably, she has an Emerald Isle lilt coupled with a touch of twang. It’s a great combination, adding tons of feeling to her songs, which touch upon disabilities and empowerment. In “Dark to Light and Dark Again,” Lea matter-of-factly croons: “Muscles, nerves and skin and bones/They carry us on our journey home…But our bodies, they never fully contain us/We rise above that matter which seeks to detain us.” It’s an honest, accessible assessment, gracefully delivered. AMY BEE

INFO: 7:30 p.m. Michael’s On Main, 2591 Main St., Soquel. $12 adv/$15 door. 479-9777.

THURSDAY 4/18

AMERICANA

M. LOCKWOOD PORTER

“The Dream Is Dead” is an optimistic song. No, really, it is. M. Lockwood Porter wrote it to talk about how the myth of the American Dream is just that—a myth. The problem with believing in myths is that is traumatizes people who don’t understand that no matter hard they try, they can’t achieve them. If we can accept this, we can build a whole new society where maybe people can be a lot happier. This kind of unexpected optimism is all over his latest record Communion in the Ashes, an album of heartland rock ’n’ roll that will make you feel whole again. AARON CARNES

INFO: 9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $7. 429-6994.

FRIDAY 4/19

REGGAE

FREDDIE MCGREGOR

You don’t have to be a hippie, stoner, Rastafarian, or iconoclast to appreciate reggae music, though it doesn’t hurt. Soul music at its core, Jamaican reggae fundamentally changed the sound of the world, and Freddie McGregor played a large part in it. Starting out at the tender age of 7, McGregor sang in pre-reggae rocksteady group the Clarendonians before going out on his own. In the ’80s, he had a string of hits worldwide, including UK Top 10 hit “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely.” Today, he’s a living reminder of reggae’s connective power across generations. MIKE HUGUENOR

INFO: 9 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $25 adv/$30 door. 479-1854.

JAZZ

GERALD CLAYTON TRIO

An inordinately talented pianist who hails from a vaunted Los Angeles jazz dynasty, Gerald Clayton turns every performance into a bedazzling sojourn. His latest album, 2017’s Tributary Tales, explored an array of jazz and funk idioms with an expansive cast of players, but as a touring artist he usually works in a trio context. The L.A.-based pianist heads north with a different kind of trio for a gig that marks the Kuumbwa return of guitarist Anthony Wilson. They’re musical lives are deeply intertwined, as Wilson spent years performing with Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Alan Hampton rounds out the combo. ANDREW GILBERT

INFO: 7 p.m., Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $29.40 adv/$34.65 door. 427-2227.

SATURDAY 4/20

HIP-HOP

EARL SWEATSHIRT

L.A. rapper Earl Sweatshirt emerged with his debut Mixtape Earl at the age of 16. From the moment that album dropped, it was clear that he was not only an incredible voice, but the most talented rapper in the bizarro Odd Future crew. His latest record, Some Rap Songs, seems at first like a throwaway with short (mostly under-two-minute) rap tunes most likely spit off the top of his head. But he delivers some of his most profound and personal raps yet. “I think … I spent my whole life depressed/Only thing on my mind was death/Didn’t know if my time was next.” AC

INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $28 adv/$32 door. 423-1338.

SUNDAY 4/21

ROCK

ZENITH SUN

Zenith Sun might not be a household name, but the two guitarists in the emerging group are more familiar. Eric Lindell and Anson Funderburgh hit the stage for some classic rock ’n’ roll, Chicago blues, and good ol’ fashioned Americana goodness. These two friends have played together throughout the years, but Zenith Sun is a new venture for the seasoned musicians. This is part of Moe’s “Afternoon Blues Series,” so don’t forget doors open at 3:00 and the house begins rockin’ at 4:00. MAT WEIR

INFO: 4 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $20 adv/$25 door. 479-1854.

MONDAY 4/22

ALT COUNTRY

NORMAN BAKER

“Rollicking” is one of those descriptors only appropriate for a certain kind of sound, and Seattle’s Norman Baker has it. Rootsy and rollicking in equal measure, Baker’s country is far from the Florida-Georgia Line, tucked in behind the rusted-out truck about halfway up the hill. “She don’t mind I don’t got much money/My tattered shoe don’t matter to you,” he sings, with Pacific ease, on “Dinner Plans.” Simple needs brought to vivid life: that’s Norman Baker. MH

INFO: 8:30 p.m. Flynn’s Cabaret & Steakhouse, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $10 adv/$12 door. 335-2800.

TUESDAY 4/23

HIP-HOP

TOKYO JETZ

Gonna be honest, I hate Florida. In a matter of 30 minutes, the weather can change to half-sunny, half-cloudy, somehow-raining-with-wind yet still too hot for shorts. To see how crazy that makes anyone, look no further than a simple “Florida man” Google search. However, if it keeps producing strong lyricists like Tokyo Jetz, I’ll reconsider my opinion. This Jacksonville rapper gained notoriety from her freestyle videos she would record in her car and quickly caught the attention of the Grand Hustler himself, T.I. Two albums later, her gritty rhymes and disgusting beats are drawing more blood than ever. MW

INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $15 adv/$20 door. 423-1338.

Film Review: ‘Ash Is Purest White’

Lisa Jensen

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April 16, 2019

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It begins like a gangster melodrama—a flinty tough guy, his bold, sexy girlfriend, and the circle of underworld petty criminals in which they move. The time frame is contemporary, and the locale is an urban landscape of discos and motorbikes in an industrial city in the Shanxi province of northern China, where an epic drama of fierce loyalty, loss and regret unfolds in Ash is Purest White.

From the trailer for this movie, you might expect some sort of violent morality play acted out in the city streets. But writer-director Zhangke Jia has something more complicated in mind. After its flashy beginning, the story plays out over the next 15 years or so as the characters struggle to find themselves, each other and their bearings in an era of extreme social upheaval and cultural change.

Qiao (Tao Zhao) is a poised young woman at the center of a local “jianghu,” a mafia-style family of criminal “brothers.” Her position in this boy’s club is secure because her boyfriend Bin (Fan Liao) is the enforcer for the boss. They go disco dancing to “YMCA,” and sightseeing around the vast countryside. In the shadow of a famous Shanxi tourist attraction, the Datong Volcano Cluster, Qiao says she’s read that, “Anything that burns at a high temperature is made pure.”

But things change fast when Bin is violently attacked in the street one night by a rival gang. Qiao fires a gun to chase off the attackers, saving Bin’s life. Next thing we know, she’s behind bars for possession of an illegal firearm; then we see her with short hair, in shapeless prison garb, serving a five-year sentence. But Qiao’s emergence back out into the world is where Zhangke’s real story begins.

The world she knew is disappearing. The jianghu have scattered. The notorious Three Gorges Dam, which will wipe entire towns and villages off the map and displace thousands, is being built. (The story stretches from 2000 to roughly 2017.) When her belongings are stolen and Qiao has to live by her wits on the street for a while, it might be a new beginning for her. Instead, she launches herself on an odyssey to find Bin—who has gone through profound changes of his own.

The story is divided, visually and psychologically, into thirds. Colors are neon red and poison green in early gangster scenes, drab greys and beige when Qiao emerges into the new world, and she’s dressed in black in the third section, when she’s become a kind of enforcer herself, a scowling nanny to the hapless remaining members of her former tribe.

It’s intriguing to watch the ever-shifting dynamics of Qiao and Bin’s personal relationship. Typically, movies (and drama in general) serve up a small slice of their characters’ lives, but Zhangke is more interested in the long term, showing how actions and consequences progress not only through individual lives, but also across the vast, sprawling landscape of China itself in an era of change. Coal mines close, the streets fill up with the disaffected unemployed and increasingly hell-bent youth, and Bin’s “brotherhood” of old-school, Western-style gangsters becomes outdated.

Zhangke’s scope is ambitious, yet for all his thematic ideas, I wanted to feel more involved in the central story of Qiao and Bin. Their prickly relationship is never meant to be taken for a great love story, but if viewers are completely indifferent about whether or not they reunite, the movie loses a lot of its momentum along the way. It’s stylish and admirable, often surprising in interesting ways, but rarely engaging.

Tao Zhao’s performance, however, is totemic. She evolves from sure, confident party girl to avenger, from stoic prisoner to resourceful street hustler, finally becoming the face of weary pragmatism itself. Or perhaps the face of China itself, resolute against all odds. The question of whether she is “made pure” after her various trials by fire—or simply survives—is left to the viewer to decide.

ASH IS PUREST WHITE

*** (out of four)

With Tao Zhao and Fan Liao. Written and directed by Zhangke Jia. A Cohen Media Group release. Not rated. 136 minutes. In Mandarin with English subtitles.

Love Your Local Band: The Avi Zev Band

Mat Weir

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April 16, 2019

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By drawing inspiration from acts like Yes, the Beatles and Frank Zappa, Avi Zev builds towers of songs, filled with levels of meaning and sound, out of multiple key changes and chord progressions, all in four minutes or less. True to classic prog-rock style, the Avi Zev Band bleeds genres together, with pop, rock, jazz and the dreamier elements of surf all swirling together into a marshmallow haze for the ears. Or they can simply call it prog-pop.

But don’t confuse sweetness for empty calories. Zev’s songs are chock full of social, economic and political awareness, like in their first video, for 2017’s “1st World Blues,” where Zev sings, “What we want/We’ve been told/And we’re the ones being bought and sold.”

“It was near the time of Trump’s ascendency and one of the songs I had in reaction to some of the complacency I saw,” says Zev.

Born in Illinois, his family moved to Walnut Creek when he was 3. When he moved to Santa Cruz for college in 1997, he quickly settled in and made it home. Since then, Zev has played in a number of different music acts around town, including cover bands, rock groups and hip-hop group Blyndsite. When they broke up in 2012, Zev decided it was time to go in his own direction.

“I started writing songs and assembling players,” he says. “We’ve gone through a rotation of players before coming upon the current lineup.”

The line-up in question features: Zev on vocals, guitar and keys; Matt Wolfe on drums; Nat Canyon on rhythm guitar; and newest member, fresh for 2019, Tiphanie Bowens, on bass. They are currently working on a new five-song EP, yet to be named. Zev says the new material is more “streamlined” than their previous recordings, but adds that people can decide for themselves at the Blue Lagoon on April 19.

INFO: 8:30 p.m. Friday, April 19. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.

Actors’ Theatre Explores Transgender Identity in ‘Looking for Normal’

Christina Waters

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April 16, 2019

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Actors’ Theatre Explores Transgender Identity in ‘Looking for Normal’

Smart direction, skilled performances and a plunge into the fireworks of self-discovery energize the Actors’ Theatre production of Looking for Normal. It will come as no surprise to audiences that director Tandy Beal knows how to move actors across a stage, but her ability to incite an ensemble into confrontations as poignant as they are raw is a fresh surprise.

Much has changed, evolved and erupted in the almost two decades since Emmy-winning playwright Jane Anderson debuted her play in 2002. The idea that a happily married man would feel so intensely that he’s in the wrong body as to opt for the agonies of gender reassignment surgery is not a new one. Today’s conversation around gender tends to erupt into rhetoric and identity politics. But in Looking for Normal, it’s the history of that conversation that motivates Anderson, who went on to write for television’s Mad Men, and created the Oscar-nominated Glenn Close film The Wife.

Married for 25 years in the straight-arrow Midwest, Roy (Jerry Lloyd) and Irma (Kristin Brownstone) seek counseling from their amiable pastor (Avondina Wills). Caught in the upheaval are Roy and Irma’s teenage daughter (Solange Marcotte), twentysomething son Wayne (Nicolas Terbeek), and emotionally dense father (Frank Widman) and mother (Tara McMilin).

It all starts with Roy’s admission to his wife that while he loves her, he is committed to becoming the woman he was always meant to be—to which his stunned wife replies, “There’s no way you’re a woman—because only a man could be that selfish!” Indeed, Roy’s myopic fixation on his desired change propels this situational drama; a blend of Greek tragedy and high-key sitcom spun through Thornton Wilder.

Once Roy has announced his decision, each member of the family steps forth to react, and ultimately to interact with their shock, dismay and feelings of betrayal. At the center is a remarkably vulnerable performance by Lloyd, whose graceful handling of his character’s pain and determination outweighs the script’s shortcomings. As his wife, Brownstone gets some of the best lines and most painful/hilarious confrontations. Absolute confidence and just the right amount of wry acceptance (kudos again to Beal) distinguish her portrait of the wife who discovers that she can’t stop loving her husband, no matter how much he has changed.

The play as written often makes puzzling choices, including sexual development, menopause and the act of impregnation described in detail as variations on the theme of normal human behavior. Is the playwright suggesting that transitioning one’s gender is as typical as having a period? And even Beal’s savvy can’t quite rescue a non-sequitur sermon about the book of Genesis and God-given gender.

But the short drama offers powerful moments and strong visual play. Actors are on stage throughout, sitting in the shadows until their moment to address the audience. The staging gives quiet dignity and flexibility to the explosive confrontations to come. In a few choice soliloquies, Roy’s grandmother (Lillian Bogovich) steps out of the past to reveal her own sexual curiosity during the early 20th century.

As a humorist, Beal is pitch-perfect. The stand-up gestures used by Marcotte as the budding teenager talking us through the biology of puberty are silly, funny and hilariously recognizable. I found the consummate portrayals of central characters compelling enough to sweep through flaws in the text. For theatergoers intrigued by the history of gender issues—before social media obscured common sense and critical debate—this play boldly and candidly introduces some of the key issues and implications that still resonate today.

There is much to chew on in this unflinching production. A sure hand at the helm and some very fine performances make for absorbing theater.

‘Looking for Normal,’ written by Jane Anderson and directed by Tandy Beal, runs through April 28 at Actors’ Theatre, Center Stage, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz. sccat.org.

Mark Kozelek Brings Sun Kil Moon to Kuumbwa

Steve Palopoli

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April 15, 2019

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Mark Kozelek Brings Sun Kil Moon to Kuumbwa

Santa Cruz music fans have been following saxman Donny McCaslin’s incredible growth as a musician and musical innovator since he was a kid playing around town in his father Don McCaslin’s iconic jazz band Warmth. The group Donny put together as a teenager is a bit of a local legend, having played the Monterey Jazz Festival three years in a row while he was still at Aptos High.

Most of the world, however, discovered Donny McCaslin in 2016, when David Bowie brought him in with his New York jazz combo to collaborate on Blackstar, Bowie’s final album.

McCaslin is the kind of boundary-bludgeoning, genre-hyphenating talent that some people can’t quite wrap their heads around. In other words, a perfect match for indie-rock madman Mark Kozelek, who started his career fronting the San Francisco 4AD band Red House Painters in the late ’80s, and in 2002 more or less restarted that project as Sun Kil Moon. In 2010, Sun Kil Moon evolved into a solo project for Kozelek, who also records under his own name, leading to a prolific decade of increasingly wild experimentation with different collaborators.

“Donny and I met a few years ago in Australia. We were playing different nights at the same venue and he joined us on stage on his night off,” says Kozelek. “I later learned it was him who worked on David Bowie’s Blackstar, and I loved the horns on that record. He’s a great collaborator because he’s a genius sax player, and knows how to listen and adapt to any style. He finds a spot in the music that makes sense.”

Sun Kil Moon contributed to McCaslin’s 2018 album Blow, with Kozelek unleashing a very weird and funny story in “The Opener” (the song also has a great video). In turn, McCaslin’s contributions are essential to the newest Sun Kil Moon album, which was almost called Mark Kozelek with Donny McCaslin and Jim White—until Kozelek saw the title for hip hop duo Suicideboys’ 2018 debut album I Want to Die in New Orleans, and renamed his record I Also Want to Die in New Orleans.

What McCaslin and Kozelek did on “The Opener” would have fit right into I Also Want to Die in New Orleans. Beginning with 2014’s Benji, Kozelek’s Sun Kil Moon albums have become increasingly sprawling, as he’s taken his trademark laid-back vocal style and stretched it into a vehicle for epic stories that are sometimes spoken, sometimes sung. On the new record, McCaslin helps him open up these unorthodox songs even more, providing a richer, more complex (and more unapologetically jazz) backdrop for the narratives than they had on last year’s This is My Dinner. On songs like “Couch Potato” and “I’m Not Laughing at You” (both of which run just under 12 minutes), the sonic backdrops are essential to the way the words come across.

Kozelek says he didn’t just stumble into this shift in style five years ago.

“Once you’ve made 30 or 40 conventional albums and you’re pushing 50, it’s time to make a change, unless you want to become what they call a hack,” says Kozelek. “I don’t have an ounce of hack energy in my blood. Mid-life told me it was time to explore collaborating with guys like Jimmy LaValle,

Justin Broadrick, Donny McCaslin, Sean Yeaton, Steve Shelley, Jim White, and Ben Boye, and it’s broadened my horizons. I’m loving playing music with all of those guys.”

One of Kozelek’s trademarks is interesting covers, which have ranged from a slew of AC/DC folk-ups to a whole album of Modest Mouse songs on the 2005 Sun Kil Moon record Tiny Cities to the Misfits’ “Green Hell” and Dayglo Abortions’ “I Killed Mommy” on 2013’s Like Rats to standards like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on 2016’s Mark Kozelek Sings Favorites. Longtime fans will appreciate that he hasn’t abandoned the art, revisiting AC/DC’s “Rock ’N’ Roll Singer” and detouring into a one-minute take on the Partridge Family theme “Come On Get Happy” on This is My Dinner. I most recently saw him at a Leonard Cohen tribute show at the Chapel in San Francisco doing a memorable version of “Famous Blue Raincoat.”

But Kozelek doesn’t see his cover songs the same way he does an album of originals like I Also Want to Die in New Orleans.

“Getting praise for how you cover songs is a hollow victory,” he says. “It’s a fun thing to do, but I’m backstage and everyone says, ‘That was amazing!’ and I say, “Yeah, Leonard Cohen wrote some great songs.”

Sun Kil Moon performs at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17 at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $30/$35. folkyeah.com.

5 Things To Do This Week in Santa Cruz: April 10-16

GT Staff

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April 10, 2019

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5 Things To Do This Week in Santa Cruz: April 10-16

A weekly guide to what’s happening

Green Fix

Birding For Beginners

On this one-and-a-half hour walk, be prepared to hike 2 miles on uneven surfaces, with many stops to view the birds, plants and scenery along the way. Bring your binoculars if you have them (binoculars are also available to borrow), clothes for variable weather and good walking shoes. Everyone is welcome, but children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by adults. Rain cancels.

INFO: 9 a.m.-noon. Friday, April 12. Wilder Ranch State Park, 1401 Coast Rd., Santa Cruz. Meet at the interpretive center. 426-0505. Free/$10 vehicle day-use fee.

Art Seen

‘Looking For Normal’

Santa Cruz County Actors’ Theatre continues its 2019 season with the full-length staged production of Jane Anderson’s Looking For Normal, directed by the renowned Tandy Beal. The production is a domestic comedy-drama about Roy and Irma, who have been married for 25 years. They have two children and are respected members of their church and their community. But when they go to their pastor for marriage counseling, Roy confesses that he identifies as a woman and wants to transition genders. The play explores the complexities of marriage and family, and deconstructs the very notion of love.

INFO: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday. Show runs Friday, April 12-Sunday, April 28. Center Street Theater, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz. sccat.org. $32 general/$29 student or senior. Photo: Jana Marcus.

Saturday 4/13

Climb For Good

Spend an evening climbing with your friends while supporting Hospice of Santa Cruz County, the oldest and largest hospice non-profit in Santa Cruz, which serves around 1,000 children and teens annually. This event features climbing opportunities for both experienced and new climbers, music, refreshments, and raffle prizes. All climbing gear is included with each donation. All donations will be given to the Hospice of Santa Cruz County Youth Grief Support program. Parents or guardians must accompany children ages 6 and over.

INFO: 6:30-9 p.m. Pacific Edge Climbing Gym. 104 Bronson St. #12, Santa Cruz. 430-3000, pacificedgeclimbinggym.com/hospice. $20 donation.

Saturday 4/13

Natural Dyeing With Onions

Local artist and maker Kaitlin Bonifacio has been working with natural dyes for years, making beautiful scarves and textiles using avocados, onions skins and indigo. She started her local business Yuzu and Rose out of the Craftsman Collective space in Soquel last year, and has since been teaching workshops using indigo and other natural dyes for attendees to create homemade, one-of-a-kind baby slings, napkins and pillowcases to take home. Onion skins in particular make a beautiful, yellow-hued dye. Hangings will be mounted on driftwood, making the perfect addition to your home decor, or a thoughtful gift.

INFO: Noon-2 p.m. The Craftsmen Collective, 4600 Soquel Drive, Soquel. 325-1553, thecraftsmencollective.com. $55.

Thursday 4/11

‘Councilwoman’

Hosted by the Watsonville Film Festival, the second event of the Reel Work Film Festival tells the story of Carmen Castillo. Castillo is a Dominican woman who maintains her job cleaning hotel rooms as she takes on her new role in politics as a city councilwoman in Providence, Rhode Island. She faces skeptics who say she doesn’t have the education to govern, and the film shows a behind-the-scenes journey of a worker taking on the political system.

INFO: 7 p.m. Watsonville Civic Plaza Community Room, 275 Main St. 4th Floor, Watsonville. reelwork.org.

Testarossa Cuvée 2016 Chardonnay

Josie Cowden

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April 10, 2019

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In the market for a moderately priced Cuvée 2016 Chardonnay to sip as the weather warms up? For about $18 a bottle, Testarossa Winery of Los Gatos produces a really well-made Chard.

With its straw-yellow color and lovely aromas of tangerine, tamarind-orange, peach, apricot, banana, and vanilla, it’s a delightful semi-sweet mouthful of almost-tropical nectar. A multi-vineyard blend of grapes harvested in Monterey, this lovely wine that I found at Aptos Natural Foods has bright acidity and a balanced finish. It comes with a screw cap. What could be easier?

“Cuvée Los Gatos by Testarossa pays homage to the historic 19th-century town which Testarossa has called home since 1997,” the label explains. Testarossa Winery sits on an old novitiate property where wine has been made since 1888. It’s well worth visiting—if only to walk through the tunnel where stunning old photos of yesteryear’s Silicon Valley are displayed, along with old photographs of Jesuit fathers checking the barrels back when they made wine there.

Testarossa now has three places to enjoy their fine wines: Los Gatos, Carmel and a new spot called Wine Bar 107 attached to their Los Gatos tasting room. “Wine Bar 107 is an extension of the Testarossa Winery experience,” say the folks at Testarossa. Wines are paired with small plates in a beautiful setting during afternoons and evenings Thursday-Saturday. Add in live music, and it’s a new upbeat offering for wine lovers.

Testarossa Winery, 300 College Ave., Los Gatos. 408-354-6150, testarossa.com.

Wrights Station Supper Club

Wrights Station is putting on a three-course paella dinner by Living Roots Catering Company, featuring organic, sustainable and locally sourced food. Upon arrival you’ll get a complimentary pour of your favorite Wrights Station varietal, then purchase by the bottle or glass to go with dinner. A first course will include greens from Blue Heron Farms and goat cheese from Harley Farms. Dessert is flourless chocolate cake served with Verve coffee.

Friday, April 12, from 6-9 p.m. at Wrights Station Winery, 24250 Loma Prieta Ave., Los Gatos. Tickets $80. wrightsstation.com.

‘Ink Knows No Borders’ In Central Coast Poetry Book

Wallace Baine

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April 10, 2019

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‘Ink Knows No Borders’ In Central Coast Poetry Book

Rhetorically speaking, the issue of immigration these days is a world of diatribe and invective, talking points and impotent argument. But a new book wants to bring a little poetry to the subject.

Ink Knows No Borders attempts to elevate the immigration debate with an anthology of poems by writers from every conceivable ethnic background and corner of the world—all expressing, in the most vivid and evocative language, exactly what it means to leave one homeland and settle in another.

From its first line (“We were not prepared for it—America, the land cut like a massive slab of steak,” from poet Joseph O. Legaspi), the book guides the reader through the often-harrowing and heartbreaking experience of immigration in a way that politicians and pundits don’t dare.

On Thursday, April 11, the book’s co-editor Patrice Vecchione will host an event at Bookshop Santa Cruz with contributing poets Alice Tao and Ellen Bass (newly named Santa Cruz County Artist of the Year), as well as poet Shirley Ancheta, who will read a contribution from her late husband Jeff Tagami. Together, they will represent the 65 poets featured in the book.

Vecchione is a Monterey-based writer and poet who has served as the editor of almost a dozen anthologies of poetry, dating back almost 30 years. She says that Ink Knows No Borders follows a narrative thread.

“The book has an arc,” she says. “It starts with young childhood and leaving the home country, and gradually moves into getting older and arrival, and all the complexities that people have to deal with when they come to a new country.”

Vecchione says the idea for a book of poems about immigration long preceded the 2016 election and debate over “the wall.”

“I got the idea for the book after 9/11,” she says, “when I saw how certain Americans were treating certain other Americans, and I was upset at the time. But it wasn’t the right time for me professionally.”

When Donald Trump was elected president, and how America treats its immigrants was suddenly the most pressing political debate, “I felt that it doesn’t matter what else I have to do, this has to be number one.”

Taken together, the poems present a fine-grained portrait of the volatile process of one culture attempting to fold into another, from an elderly Middle Eastern woman ritually washing her feet for prayer while in the bathroom of an American Sears store to an Asian woman struggling to explain that she was overcharged in a nursery.

“Poetry is a way to talk about and address a crisis like this in a way that no other art form can,” said Vecchione. “It’s made of language. It’s personal and it’s specific. This book shows you everything you can imagine about what life is like as an immigrant.”

Patrice Vecchione, co-editor of ‘Ink Knows No Borders,’ with guest poets Ellen Bass, Alice Tao and Shirley Ancheta, will read and discuss the new collection at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Free. bookshopsantacruz.com.

Opinion: April 10, 2019

Steve Palopoli

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April 10, 2019

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Reading over the playlists that Jennifer Otter Bickerdike created for locals in Wallace Baine’s cover story this week, I loved that she included “I Still Believe” by Tim Capello. If you didn’t waste countless hours listening to the Lost Boys soundtrack in 1987 like my friends and I did, you might think you don’t know it, but of course you do! It’s the sexy shirtless sax guy song from the movie! Oh Tim Capello, where art thou?

The point is, Bickerdike’s Santa Cruz cred is legit. Like her, I also got a lot of my music education scouring the shelves of Santa Cruz record stores, and when I could sense the tone of awe in her mention of Cymbaline Records, I could tell she is a kindred spirit. It’s no wonder that the incredible music culture of Santa Cruz in the ’80s and ’90s would produce the woman who would write a book called Why Vinyl Matters.

To go along with the Record Store Day theme (Bickerdike was the official host of RSD in the U.K.), I’ve also written a short guide for those who will be celebrating at local record stores this Saturday—hopefully it will help you get your hands on the rare release you’re looking for. Happy hunting!

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

From Storming to Performing

Jacob Pierce’s GT article Cringe Movement (GT, 3/6) about the local council skirmish makes for painful reading, but once again, I am grateful to Pierce for shedding light on local controversies. I think there are kernels of truth in every quotation from the various sources he included.

In a previous life, I trained cross-functional corporate teams in process improvement. One of our key slides showed the stages any new team goes through: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing. Looks like our new council team has jumped right into Storming.

We are all sick of the blame game, and come to think of it, even “forgiveness” can be another way of saying who is right and who is wrong. It’s more important for everybody to look at their own part in the situation, asking: what did I do to cause problems, and how can I make amends by doing it differently? This is how to transition to the Norming stage.

Before the January election, the Climate Action Network drafted and encouraged the previous council to pass a Climate Emergency Mobilization Resolution. We are now hoping to work with the council—and the city staff—to re-prioritize its policies, budget, and projects to bring about the necessary reduction in carbon emissions. The new “norm” needs to include everyone focusing on the emergency facing us. If we don’t take care of our runaway climate (with its storms, floods, fires, and sea-level risings) many, many more of us are going to be homeless.

I’m glad the article ended with council members saying they are willing to move forward. Let’s move on to Performing. We have important work to get done.

Dana Bagshaw
Santa Cruz

IN THIS TOGETHER

The local homeless debacle reflects a lack of vision and leadership on the part or our elected leaders.

This is not the society we want our grandkids to grow up in. Calcutta in Central Coast California? We can do better.

It won’t disappear if you ignore it. One idea: locate a homeless center at the former location of ToysRUs.

Good Central location. Near hospitals. Easy access to downtown via Soquel or freeway, car/bus/bicycle. Maybe provide free shuttle service to public services.
Plenty of parking for RVs. If we provide a place where people can sleep in their RVs, they won’t need to conflict with the needs of residential neighborhoods.
Plenty of room for tents on asphalt instead of in rat-infested mud (Camp Ross? This is not Burma!).
Easily fenced for security.
Existing commercial buildings can be converted to provide both support services and housing.

If we as a society can provide a reasonable and safe place for people to sleep (Wake up, “Camp Ross” is neither), we will be doing a service to all residents of Santa Cruz.

Expensive? Of course. But, lacking a bold vision, we continue to kick the can down the road while conditions continue to deteriorate for all residents of Santa Cruz County.

The U.S. Census Bureau says there are 105,586 housing units in Santa Cruz County.

A property tax of one dollar a day on each of those units would generate $38 million a year, plus whatever commercial property tax might add.

Focus on the goal; addressing the problem of homelessness, a problem that increasingly negatively affects all of us. Like it or not, we are all in this together.

Paul Lawton

Ben Lomond

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

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GOOD IDEA

The county of Santa Cruz is inviting members of the public to a series of open houses to review draft strategies in connection with the county’s first-ever strategic plan. County officials are laying out a detailed roadmap for implementing goals. Starting Thursday night, April 11, there will be five planning and outreach events, in locations from Santa Cruz to Watsonville. Spanish translation will be available, and all ages are welcome. For more information, visit sccvision.us.

GOOD WORK

Volunteers with Santa Cruz County Greenway picked up 412 pounds of trash from the coastal rail corridor this past weekend, executive director Manu Koenig reports. On Saturday, April 6, Greenway cleaned up the portion of the corridor just east of the San Lorenzo River truss bridge, where a path improvement is under construction. The collected garbage included used syringes, broken bottles and bedding. Greenway favors removing the train tracks and building a wide bike-and-pedestrian trail, instead of planning for a rail-with-trail approach.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Record stores can’t save your life. But they can give you a better one.”
-Nick Hornby

Music Picks: April 10-16, 2019

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April 9, 2019

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Santa Cruz live music highlights for the week of April 10

WEDNESDAY 4/10

PUNK

HANS GRUBER

Is there a better band name than Hans Gruber & the Die Hards? It’s almost impossible to not crack a smile after saying it. Somehow, it makes sense that the group would pack a tight-knit, ska-punk sound explosive enough to detonate Nakatomi Tower. On Wednesday, they’re pulling the big heist—er, show—at the Blue Lagoon, with local wrestling accompaniment the Randy Savages and Reno’s own Lil’ Cap’n Ahabs, Boss’ Daughter. MAT WEIR

INFO: 9 p.m. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $5. 423-7117.

THURSDAY 4/11

CUMBIA

CELSO PINA

In Latin America, Celso Pina, the king of Cumbia, is an electrifying figure. Also known as “the Accordion Rebel,” Pina has been at the top of the cumbia genre for decades, famous for his infectious mix of Mexican accordion music, native rhythms and tropical instrumentation—all of which is infused with a celebratory, pan-Latin American spirit. A forward-thinking musician, Pina has often collaborated with world renowned artists like Cafe Tacuba, Control Machete and Lila Downs, bringing cumbia music into the new millennium and keeping the genre relevant to younger generations. MIKE HUGUENOR

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

INDIE

EMAEL

White noise can be peaceful or a nuisance, depending on one’s mood. Likewise, Emael’s mix of organic instruments and earthy-yet-otherworldly electronic beats whir and blend to create glitchy, discordant sounds which soothe as much as they disrupt. The group pours multiple genres in the ’ol mixing pot and have come up with a fresh and delicious potion of eclectic “indie chamber pop.” Chanting vocals and repetitive lyrics add to the witchy, fantasyland cadences, almost like Emael are casting a powerful musical incantation on their captive audience. AMY BEE

INFO: 9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $7. 429-6994.

FRIDAY 4/12

INDIE

THE PRIDS

Pop music is at its best when tinged with all those icky dark emo feelings. The Prids know how to turn what might be merely fluffy into something weightier, with dreamy sonics swirling above heavy bass lines that promise a storm but never break. The clever lyrics and anthem-esque, doubled-up vocals flash through the storm clouds in brilliant forks of light, illuminating the secret heartache on every young emo’s face. The Prids could be looked at as Pixies Lite or R.E.M. Ebon, which is really a compliment (and an improvement?) either way. AB

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

ROCK

JOE KAPLOW

If you haven’t heard the name Joe Kaplow, you probably aren’t a local. That’s OK, we won’t tell. But don’t worry, there’s a chance to get acquainted with Joe and his band—celebrating their debut record release, Time Spent In Between—at Michael’s on Main. Kaplow’s music is a timeless mix of blues, folk and country, with a head filled with too much thinking. Luckily, he takes his stories, ideas and metaphors out of his mind for long walks through sun-soaked melodies and into steep canyons of emotion. MW

INFO: 8:30 p.m. Michael’s on Main, 2591 Main St., Soquel. $12 adv/$15 door. 479-9777.

SATURDAY 4/13

BLUES

JIMMIE VAUGHAN

You know Stevie Ray Vaughan was good, because in every photo he’s making that “guitar legend” face like he’s feeling every note. His older brother Jimmie is a bit more subtle, although no doubt a hipster-retro cool guy. He’s no less of a remarkable guitarist, though. Jimmie founded the Fabulous Thunderbirds in the ’70s, but has also released several impressive electric blues albums of his own. His approach to the blues is just so damn cool. Come on, look at those shades! AARON CARNES

INFO: 8 p.m. Rio, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $45. 423-8209.

SUNDAY 4/14

HIP-HOP

LEIKELI47

Rapper Leikeli47 is fierce. Her flow sounds like a call-to-arms, especially set to her upbeat, energy-infused beats. Sometimes personal, sometimes political, it all has the same fearless vibe. But perhaps all of this, while worth noting, is second to the enigma of the rapper herself, who only performs wearing a mask. Who is she? What is she hiding? Or maybe she wants the attention taken off her as a person, so that we can focus on the razor-sharp lyricism she drops in her songs. She moves comfortably from hardcore rap to R&B. And her music is really fun. AC

INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $16/adv, $20/door. 423-1338.

MONDAY 4/15

JAZZ

KURT ROSENWINKEL STANDARDS TRIO

Kurt Rosenwinkel was barely 20 years old when he dropped out of Berklee to hit the road with vibraphone legend Gary Burton, taking over a chair that had launched the careers of Pat Metheny and Mick Goodrick. He’s more than lived up to the promise of that auspicious gig, establishing himself as one of the most eloquent and influential guitarists of his generation. While he’s an esteemed composer, Rosenwinkel is touring with a trio that focuses on his arrangements of classic jazz tunes, featuring drummer Mark Whitfield, Jr. and Italian bassist Dario Deidda. ANDREW GILBERT

INFO: 7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $31.50 adv/$36.75 door. 427-2227.

TUESDAY 4/16

WEST-AFRICAN

MDOU MOCTAR

The amount of international talent coming into Santa Cruz area can be dizzying. But for those with adventurous tastes, this is one show in particular that shouldn’t be missed. An iconoclastic guitar wizard, Mdou Moctar taught himself to play on a homemade guitar before getting his hands on the real thing. By then, he had already carved out a unique voice, fusing traditional Tuareg harmonies with raga, psychedelic and an undeniable, if unorthodox, pop sensibility. Performing blazing rock pyrotechnics in traditional garb, Moctar is a testament to the power of music worldwide. MH

INFO: 7 p.m. Flynn’s Cabaret, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $16 adv/$20 door. 335-2800.

Good TimesGood Times

Good TimesGood Times

WEDNESDAY 4/17

GAELYNN LEA

THURSDAY 4/18

M. LOCKWOOD PORTER

FRIDAY 4/19

FREDDIE MCGREGOR

GERALD CLAYTON TRIO

SATURDAY 4/20

EARL SWEATSHIRT

SUNDAY 4/21

ZENITH SUN

MONDAY 4/22

NORMAN BAKER

TUESDAY 4/23

TOKYO JETZ

ASH IS PUREST WHITE

Birding For Beginners

‘Looking For Normal’

Climb For Good

Natural Dyeing With Onions

‘Councilwoman’

Wrights Station Supper Club

EDITOR’S NOTE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

GOOD IDEA

GOOD WORK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

WEDNESDAY 4/10

HANS GRUBER

THURSDAY 4/11

CELSO PINA

EMAEL

FRIDAY 4/12

THE PRIDS

JOE KAPLOW

SATURDAY 4/13

JIMMIE VAUGHAN

SUNDAY 4/14

LEIKELI47

MONDAY 4/15

KURT ROSENWINKEL STANDARDS TRIO

TUESDAY 4/16

MDOU MOCTAR