Page 718 – Good Times

Opinion February 28, 2018

Steve Palopoli

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March 1, 2018

EDITOR’S NOTE

In the midst of production on this week’s issue Monday, we received information about accusations of sexual impropriety by Watsonville City Councilmember Oscar Rios. Our News Editor Jacob Pierce worked literally through the night on this story, speaking with the victims at length and corroborating their stories, as well as reaching out to Rios, to make sure that the piece about the allegations in this issue would not be some shallow rehashing of various press releases, but real first-hand accounts of these stories from the women who came forward with them. It also became an examination of how issues of sexual assault have affected women involved in progressive causes. Rios resigned a mere few hours later, and I don’t think this will be the end of this story, but having been in the room as the conversations around this story unfolded, I have to laud the courage of the women involved and the sensitivity of Pierce’s reporting on it. #MeToo has definitely come to Santa Cruz County, and I’m sure this is only the beginning.

Also in this issue is Andrea Patton’s look at Highway 17 one year after the devastating floods that affected thousands of Santa Cruz commuters. She examines not only what’s been done to Highway 17 in that time, but also the remarkable history of the infamous mountain road that connects Santa Cruz and Silicon Valley, and discovers it has long been a hot-button issue here. Anyone who drives Highway 17 every day will definitely want to give it a read.

STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

Welcome, Wallace

Congratulations to Good Times and to Wallace Baine. I’ve been saddened by the recent changes at the Sentinel and while I certainly wish them well, I couldn’t be happier to learn of Wallace Baine’s newest adventure. I think Good Times will be a great outlet for his talents and perspectives. I’ve admired Wallace’s work and look forward to his continuing take on what’s happening in town and the broader environment, and I trust Good Times will be an environment in which he thrives. In these hard times we need the Good Times.

Matt Guerrieri | Santa Cruz

Local Law Enforcement Leaders on Guns

According to the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are more than 500,000 shootings per year. As law enforcement executives in Santa Cruz County, each of us individually may have different views of how best to reduce gun violence, but we are all committed to providing leadership to prevent and reduce gun violence and to keep our children and teachers safe in our schools. Here are just some of the practices we agree will make a difference.

First, police and prosecutors must proactively investigate and prosecute existing gun laws. The local police should faithfully examine tips from community members concerning violent or unstable people who possess guns and make threats.

Second, local courts must view gun crimes as serious crimes worthy of meaningful sentences and high control post-incarceration supervision. Emphasis should be placed on guns possessed by violent mentally ill offenders, domestic abusers, animal abusers and violent gang members.

Third, California has some of the most stringent laws on firearms; we applaud our legislature for their foresight. California should continue to place reasonable restrictions and limits on future sales or transfers of assault rifles and other firearms that have high-capacity magazines and fire high-velocity bullets. Gun lobbyists must be reasonable, working in good faith with government, to find real solutions.

We need laws that make sense. In our state, possession of a club is listed as a felony, but possession of an unpermitted and concealed firearm in a crowded movie theater is a misdemeanor. The legislature should also carve out exceptions to privacy laws to allow mental health care workers to provide information to law enforcement when lives may be saved.

Fourth, firearms dealers must be required to harden their facilities or store all firearms in a safe when closed. Gun stores have been the target of thieves searching for firearms in this county many times in the recent past.

Finally, each and every gun owner must do their part. When not using a firearm, lock it up! Leaving unattended firearms in a building or vehicle is reckless. And all of us have a responsibility to prevent a family member with a history of violent outbursts to have access to a firearm. We are here to help with those situations if you need us. Santa Cruz County, we can begin with meaningful and civil discourse that leads to action.

Every reasonable person, regardless of one’s position on the Second Amendment, grieves for the lives lost in senseless acts of gun violence. The question becomes, are we willing to make a personal sacrifice to save lives? Every law enforcement executive in this county is willing, ready and able. Are you?

The County Chiefs of Police and Sheriff

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GOOD IDEA

BUYER BE THERE
The Santa Cruz County Planning Department has confirmed that out of the 65 units going into the new Aptos Village project, 10 of them—15 percent—will be deed-restricted and affordable. Although the prices for these new little homes are a fraction of typical home prices in this area, they still start at $256,000 for a one-bedroom. Applications are due May 18, and there will be two informational sessions before then, both of them at the Rio Sands Hotel. Visit sccoplanning.com for more information.

GOOD WORK

STREET TALK
Now that Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) has announced a plan to begin neighborhood policing, the city’s cops are getting ready to unveil the nitty-gritty details behind the new vision. SCPD will hold four events, one in each of the recently established neighborhoods—downtown, upper Westside, lower Westside, upper Eastside, and lower Eastside. The events run from Saturday, March 3 through Thursday, March 8. For more information, visit cityofsantacruz.com or santacruzpolice.blogspot.com.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“What are men to rocks and mountains?”
-Jane Austen

Golden Roots Kitchen’s New Take on Meal Delivery

Aaron Carnes

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March 1, 2018

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Golden Roots Kitchen’s New Take on Meal Delivery

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t’s been a busy week—but then, isn’t every week busy? You want good, healthy food, but you don’t have the time to prepare it yourself, and you don’t feel like going out to eat every night. One solution is a meal delivery service. Though there’s plenty of popular national services, locals can look up Golden Roots Kitchen and get a taste of Santa Cruz in their meals. The service area includes Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Bonny Doon, and as far south as Aptos. Founder Melanie Geist tells us more.

How does Golden Roots Kitchen work?

MELANIE GEIST: Each week we offer a variety of dishes comprised of nine different options. Customers can choose a package, or order à la carte. You can choose pick-up or delivery on Tuesdays. We strive to create dishes that are flavor-driven and thoughtfully prepared, keeping both our clients’ health as well as the environment in mind. We offer organic meals which are sustainably packaged in reusable glass jars, as well as compostable and recyclable materials. We are not content to put a recipe on the menu that does not really excite us. As lovers of travel and food, a lot of international flavors inspire our meals, and my training as a natural chef has helped me uncover traditional cultures’ food wisdom: simple tools like soaking and sprouting and the use of seasonal foods and powerful herbs and spices that make food more bioavailable and digestible. We are always in the kitchen testing and retesting recipes to keep it fun for our clients and to stay inspired ourselves. We try to keep the food mostly plant-based. We do offer animal protein, but we only offer one animal protein per week. There’s a lot of protein through legumes. We also offer high-protein grains like buckwheat.

How is it different than other meal delivery services?

One thing is that meal kits seem to be the most popular services available. The main difference between us and them is you don’t have to prepare the meals. Everything is fully prepared with Golden Roots. But the other big difference is the preparation methods. We take all this time and care to take the additional initial steps. There’s no way that those things can be done in the meal kit services because it’s a several-day production to get food ready just to be cooked so that the nutrients are ready for consumption. I think having a varied menu keeps it a little more interesting. I think some of the meal kit services, the meals start to look the same. We also use a lot of herbs and earthy spices which helps in the nutrient density and digestion components, but also makes the food really flavorful and interesting. I think that a lot of the services, the food is a little more simple. Simple can be great. But we aim for the exciting.

goldenrootskitchen.com, 471-7787.

Author Karen Joy Fowler on the Writing Life

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March 1, 2018

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Author Karen Joy Fowler on the Writing Life

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f she didn’t write books, Karen Joy Fowler might spend most of her time reading.

“I have to read while I’m writing a book,” says the author of the celebrated Jane Austen Book Club. “I am in this space of needing to do other things. My brain keeps searching. It may have nothing to do with what I’m writing, but the cross pollination of ideas is important. One book can influence the next. And reading keeps my enthusiasm for books front and center.”

Fowler made her home in Davis for many decades until her husband’s retirement. “He wanted to go back to southern California and I had visions of retiring to Whidbey Island in the Pacific Northwest,” she says. “So we settled on Santa Cruz.” Where she’s lived for 10 years.

About the nuts and bolts of her writing practice: “I don’t write every day,” she admits, with something close to a laugh. “Too many distractions. Except at writers retreats. That sort of hothouse environment allows me to not think about dinner or shopping, and just write.” Her favorite retreat is Hedgebrook on Whidbey Island. “Listening to others reading strengthens me as a critical reader. Often it’s a wake-up call for me. I can learn what I think through a piece that is not my own.”

Fowler’s eyes are the color of storm clouds over the ocean, an intense blue-grey. She chooses her words carefully and without unnecessary drama. She is devoted to Pilates.

“I never took a writing class, I have no literary background. My degree was in political science. And perhaps that is why I bring a wide lens to my stories. I’m always aware that there’s a big world out there.”

She admits to a “mystifying confidence,” about her writing, characterizing herself as persistent, “even when things aren’t working. I am very stubborn.” Fowler claims that writing the first draft of a book helps her clarify the project itself. “Quite recently I had some insight into what is now a four-year novel I’m working on. I was at a family dinner, trying to answer someone’s question about what kind of book I was writing. I realized I wasn’t clear about what kind of book it was.” Process provides insight, something many writers agree upon. In the writing, the book’s focus emerges.

“I would prefer to work faster, but I can’t,” she says. An impish smile crosses her face. “But I don’t believe that distractions are necessarily bad. It can appear that I’m wasting time, but the ideas are percolating in the background.” From anyone else, that might sound like a dodge.

Fowler spent her first 11 years in Bloomington, Indiana. “I read a lot,” she says. “Books in the library there weren’t cataloged according to genre. The titles were simply all arranged alphabetically. So I never thought in terms of genres, didn’t care about genre distinctions. That freed me.” And that freedom resulted in Fowler’s eclectic portfolio of short stories, novels, science fiction, and fantasy. “When I went to my first science fiction writers conference I found a community that had a much clearer continual conversation. They were my people.” Now she grins and her eyes morph to pale blue. Her tone becomes hushed, even reverent when she mentions Ursula Le Guin and Donna Haraway, whose literary territory interweaves with her own. Intrigued by entwinings of gender as well as genre, Fowler founded the James Tiptree Award which focuses on expanding explorations of gender. “Sarah Canary,” her first book, “pushed back against the idea that communication could even be possible. The central character is inexplicable,” Fowler explains. “She cannot communicate. So those who meet her impose their view of who she is according to who they are.” Fowler clearly relishes breaking through expectations. “There are no rules when writing a novel. And while genre does have rules, they are rules I can break. Otherwise the books would be formulaic and predictable.”

A passionate reader, Fowler often re-reads books she has loved. Jane Austen, for example. “She’s a puzzle to me, a puzzle I like thinking about. I don’t think there’s a more elastic writer. She is a romance writer and she’s a feminist. She’s a Rorschach. As a young girl I thought her books were romantic comedy.” She pauses. “When I re-read a book I bring with me the ghosts of all my previous selves. They change the book with each reading, or rather it is never the same book that I’m reading.”

Fowler confesses that she burned out on Jane Austen when writing her bestseller on the 18th-century novelist. “There’s no shortage of books about her,” she says, eyes twinkling. Currently working on a book set in 19th Century California, Fowler happily admits that right now she has “no deadline, no rush.”

Mount Eden Vineyards’ Premier 2015 Chardonnay

Josie Cowden

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March 1, 2018

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Mount Eden Vineyards’ Premier 2015 Chardonnay

You get a big bang for your buck with Mount Eden’s 2015 Chardonnay. Full, lush tropical fruit dominates this wine’s aromas and flavors, and it is a premier example of Central Coast Chardonnay. Jeffrey Patterson, a much-respected winemaker round these parts, has been at the helm of Mount Eden since the early ’80s, and he continues to turn out excellent wines.

Grapes are harvested from Wolff Vineyard in the bucolic Edna Valley near San Luis Obispo—an ideal grape-growing region resulting in the best possible fruit. This is the 31st year that Mount Eden has been making premier Chardonnay from Edna Valley, receiving many awards along the way. The 2015 Chard won 90 points from Wine Enthusiast magazine and 88 points from Wine Spectator.

This reasonably priced Mount Eden Edna Valley 2015 Chardonnay can be found in stores all over for about $20. Barrel-fermented and aged on the lees (“lees” refers to deposits of dead yeast) for 10 months, Mount Eden gives the same care to these barrels as they give to their more expensive estate wines.

Mount Eden says that 2015 was another drought-influenced year “with the crop being miniscule and the flavors magnified,” and the result is a nose of earthy complexity with notes of white flowers and guava. Rich and subtle on the palate, it’s enhanced with flavors of lemon and toasty oak.

Mount Eden does not have a tasting room, but you can make an appointment for an “intimate tour” of the original upper wine cellar and learn the history of the winery. Note: It’s at 2,000 feet and located up a two-mile private road. No tasting is offered on the tour.

Mount Eden Vineyards, 888-865-9463. mounteden.com.

Quote from a Local Winemaker

“The fun part for me is controlling as many of the variables in growing fruit and making wine as I can, but, as mortals, we love the minor variations that Mother Nature adds to each year’s vintage. For us, it’s like opening a Christmas present. You kind of know what is in the box but are not quite sure what’s in there till the final wrapper comes off!”

Oscar Predictions for 2018

A&E
Film

Lisa Jensen

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February 28, 2018

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[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter the OscarSoWhite hashtag movement a couple of years ago, the Motion Picture Academy’s demographics have altered. With membership now opened up to a younger, more diverse crowd of film pros, you might expect this year’s nominees to feature a few plucky mavericks vs. the mainstream favorites. But—surprise! Almost none of the nominees qualify as “mainstream,” including the two top contenders: Guillermo del Toro’s lush, eerie, romantic fantasy The Shape of Water, and Martin McDonagh’s blackly comic morality play Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

While the predictive winners in all four acting categories are pretty much set in stone (results have been uniform throughout the awards season), there’s still plenty of room to stir up trouble! Here’s what I think will happen:

BEST PICTURE Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. Usually, if you subtract the four (out of nine) nominees whose directors didn’t get a nomination in their category, that narrows the field to five serious contenders. But even though McDonagh wasn’t nominated for directing Three Billboards, it’s already won a Golden Globe for Drama, and the Screen Actors Guild Ensemble award. The Shape of Water is my favorite movie of the year, but I think it will rack up its Oscars elsewhere.

The Post was a favorite going into the season, with its timely tale of crusading journalists standing up for the truth, but here, the lack of a nomination for director Steven Spielberg suggests it’s run out of steam since then. Less likely (but not impossible) upsets might by Greta Gerwig’s smart, beloved indie comedy, Lady Bird, or Jordan Peele’s darkly subversive racial-politics horror movie Get Out (Gerwig and Peele both scored directing nominations).

BEST DIRECTOR Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water. He’s already won every award there is in this category—in compensation for Three Billboards walking off with most of the Best Picture prizes—but mostly because Del Toro’s irrepressible, iconoclastic personality infuses every frame of this rapturous movie. Gerwig won a Golden Globe in the comedy category, and Peele earned a Best First Feature nod from the Directors Guild of America (although Del Toro won Best Director from the DGA), so anything is possible.

BEST ACTRESS Frances McDormand, Three Billboards. Bet the rent; name an award in this category, and she’s already won it. And deservedly so.

BEST ACTOR Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour. Another shoo-in, like all four favored acting nominees. Besides, there has to be some kind of recognition for a guy who started out playing Sid Vicious tackling the role of Winston Churchill.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Allison Janney, I, Tonya. She doesn’t just “disappear” into the role of Tonya Harding’s cold, heartless mom; Janney plays her in a trance-like state of viperish perversity.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards. He’s got all the buzz, as the hot-headed deputy dragged kicking and screaming to a kind of redemption. I thought his co-star, Woody Harrelson (also nominated) was just as good in this category. But I’d have liked to see a shout-out for Doug Jones in The Shape of Water. A longtime Del Toro co-conspirator (he played Fauno/Pan in Pan’s Labyrinth, and was recently seen as the impossibly elongated alien First Officer Saru in Star Trek: Discovery), Jones’ poignant Amphibian Man romancing Sally Hawkins gives the movie its heart and soul.

OTHER Here’s where those new Academy members may prevail with an Original Screenplay award to Peele for Get Out, beating out Del Toro and McDonagh (Although the latter has scored some pre-Oscar awards for Three Billboards). Veteran director James Ivory looks poised to win the Adapted Screenplay award for Call Me By Your Name. Expect Blade Runner 2049 to score gold for Cinematography, while Phantom Thread wins in the Costume department. (Although, for a movie about the fashion industry, I found the clothes as lackluster as everything else in Phantom Thread.) Meanwhile, The Shape of Water should swim to victory for its atmospheric sea-green Production Design, and its expressive Original Score by Alexandre Desplat.

The 90th Annual Academy Awards will be broadcast at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 4 on ABC.

Music Picks Feb. 28-Mar. 6

Cat Johnson

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February 28, 2018

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Live music highlights for the week of February 28, 2018.

WEDNESDAY 2/28

JAZZ

MILES ELECTRIC BAND

Miles Davis landed at the center of the jazz/rock fusion movement with the release of Bitches Brew, but that seminal 1969 album marked the start of a new journey rather than a culmination. He continued to evolve over the next two decades, adding and subtracting elements from rock and funk, Brazilian and Indian music, West African and psychedelia. The Miles Electric Band explores a broad swath of this territory, and features a rhythm section with players who toured and recorded with Davis, including Rolling Stones bassist Darryl Jones, percussionist Munyungo Jackson, and drummer Vincent Wilburn. They’re joined by a blazing cast of younger players, including saxophonist Antoine Roney, guitarist David Gilmore, tabla player Debasish Chaudhuri, and New Orleans trumpet star Christian Scott. ANDREW GILBERT

INFO: 7:30 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $35. 427-2227.

THURSDAY 3/1

AMERICANA

MCCOY TYLER & FRIENDS

I don’t know if you know this, but McCoy Tyler has a lot of friends. You might have seen him booked as the McCoy Tyler Trio or the McCoy Tyler Band or the McCoy Tyler Wild Psychedelic Ride Through Santa’s Village. Maybe not the last one. But the iteration that makes the most sense is McCoy Tyler & Friends, because that’s what all of these monikers really are: Local boy Tyler playing his unique, earnest brand of Southern rock ’n’ roll meets classic Americana meets power pop with his very talented Santa Cruz friends. If you’re lucky, you may end up being one of his friends someday. AC

INFO: 7:30 p.m. Michaels on Main, 2591 S. Main St., Soquel. $8. 479-9777.

FRIDAY 3/2

ROCK

JERRY JOSEPH & THE JACKMORMONS

Salt Lake City is a trip—having grown up there, I can say that. The Mormon church has a presence that weaves through most things, but the area is also cradled by one of the most spectacular mountain ranges you’ll ever see, the people tend to be neighborly, and Salt Lake has an outstanding arts and music scene—including a robust music underground. Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons is one of the local-bands-done-good from the area. Led by prolific singer-songwriter Jerry Joseph, from the groups Little Women and Stockholm Syndrome, the band ventures into psych-leaning rock, a bit of jam, and a lot of lyrical poetry, and has extended its reach far beyond SLC. CJ

INFO: 9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $12. 429-6994.

FRIDAY 3/2

R&B

BOOKER T. JONES

Way back in the way, way back, Booker T Jones wrote and performed some legendary soul-R&B classics. His instrumental “Green Onions” for his band the M.G.’s is arguably one of the most famous instrumental tracks ever put to wax. It’s got a real “Hit the Road Jack” vibe, but 1,000 times better. The M.G.’s are considered originators of the grooving Southern soul in its infancy. Jones’ accomplishments in music are too numerous to list here—just set your alarm for March 2, and go enjoy the music of a legend. AC

INFO: 7 & 9 p.m. Kuumbwa, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $35/adv, $40/door. 427-2227.

FRIDAY 3/2

ROCK/REGGAE

ZACH DEPUTY

Zach Deputy has a feelgood reggae-funk-Latin thing going on. The multi-instrumentalist songwriter and looper has described his sound as “island-infused drum ’n’ bass gospel ninja soul.” Based in Savannah, Georgia, Deputy sometimes sings about mundane topics, such as Chevys and scrambled eggs and mornings, but he does it in a catchy, endearing way. He seems like your brother’s good-natured friend who’s always welcome at family gatherings because he’s fun to be around and makes everybody feel good. And he’s a kickass musician to boot. CJ

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

SATURDAY 3/3

REGGAE

WARRIOR KING

Born in 1979, when classic Jamaican roots reggae was all but over, Mark Dyer—later to be known as Warrior King—would grow up to embody this classic ’70s sound, and its uplifting spirit. Back in the ’90s, he went by the name Junior King, and was a popular dancehall artist. His change to Warrior King was more than just a style change, it was about embracing his spiritualism. He dedicated his music to fighting oppression, and loving God. “Virtuous Woman” was the debut single as Warrior King in 2001. Ever since, he’s had a loyal fanbase for creating incredible reggae. AC

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

SUNDAY 3/4

R&B

ADRIAN MARCEL

Adrian Marcel first hit the scene five years ago—at the ripe age of 22—with his explosive mixtape 7 Days A Week. His smooth voice and wide range of R&B, hip-hop and soul music influences have led the Oakland native down a path of collaborating with everyone from Kelly Rowland and Sage the Gemini to Raphael Saadiq, who also produced the singer’s debut mixtape. Last year, Marcel dropped his long awaited debut full-length, GMFU, and continues to represent Bay Area sounds to a new generation across the country. MAT WEIR

INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $20/adv, $25/door. 429-4135.

MONDAY 3/5

PSYCH ROCK

EARTHLESS

According to the Oxford Dictionary, “earthless” is an adjective from the 17th century defined as “unencumbered by material or earthly things; spiritual,” and it’s the perfect name for this trio of headbangers from San Diego. No strangers to Santa Cruz, Earthless has been delighting heshers and rockers since 2001 with a no-holds-barred brand of controlled chaos. Packing in more jam than a Smucker’s plant, Earthless explores the space in between sounds, taking listeners on a psychedelic spin through structure and improvisation unlike any before them. MW

INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $20/adv, $22/door. 429-4135.

TUESDAY 3/6

FOLK-ROCK

MAMMALS

New York’s Hudson Valley has a rich folk music history; the legendary Pete Seeger championed environmental and social causes in the area, among others. Folk-rock group the Mammals is part of a new generation of bands carrying on the Hudson Valley music lineage, sharing its legacy with the global audience of roots music fans. Co-founded by Seeger’s grandson, Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, the band brings a high-energy vibe to folk traditions and a truth-to-power ethos of which Seeger would have been proud. In 2008, the band went on hiatus and now they’re back, with a performance Tuesday at Flynn’s Cabaret (formerly Don Quixote’s). CJ

INFO: 7:30 p.m. Flynn’s Cabaret, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $15. 335-2800.

IN THE QUEUE

SWEET PLOT

Funk and rock out of San Francisco. Saturday at Crepe Place

JOURNEY UNAUTHORIZED

Don’t stop believing in classic rock tributes. Saturday at Rio Theatre

A LOVE SUPREME CELEBRATION

All-star tribute to John Coltrane. Saturday at Michael’s on Main

MOLOTOV

Rock ’n’roll out of Mexico City. Sunday at Catalyst

CLAUDIA VILLELA & KENNY WERNER

Brazilian jazz vocal sensation and her pianist. Monday at Kuumbwa

Q&A: Conn Hallinan on Fake News

Local News

Steve Palopoli

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February 28, 2018

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[dropcap]T[/dropcap]o paraphrase an old saying often attributed to Mark Twain, everyone talks about fake news, but nobody does anything about it. How did our culture get to a point where anything can be decried as fake news, and what can be done to restore faith in legitimate news reporting? These are the questions Conn Hallinan will explore in his talk “Stumbling Around Freedom: A History of the Press” on Tuesday, March 6, at the Kresge Seminar Room at UCSC. Hallinan—who, as a former Kresge Provost and faculty leader of the UCSC journalism minor for 22 years, has been the mentor to many aspiring journalists at the university over the years—spoke to GT about the issues facing the mainstream and alternative media.

One of the things you’re going to examine at Tuesday’s event is our relationship, as consumers, with the news. Our culture seems to be in a kind of fake-news Chinese finger trap where both sides of an issue are trying to pull at the truth of any story they don’t like. How did we get to a point where everything can be labeled fake news?

CONN HALLINAN: I don’t think there’s any one particular thing that you could say ‘this is the reason.’ But the internet has made information available to a wider number of people than any other information system in the history of humanity. It means that there’s an enormous amount of material out there, and most doesn’t really have any checks and balances. There’s good and bad in that. There were checks and balances that existed when you basically just had the mainstream press, but they were ideological checks and balances. And they basically had one view of the United States: the United States was always good, and our enemies were always bad. The United States has the best medical system in the world, has the greatest democracy in the world, etc. A lot of it was pretty old-fashioned propaganda stuff, particularly during the 1950s and the early 1960s. But I think what happened is a number of things. First of all, there was really a breakdown when the Cold War began to break up, and the war in Vietnam came along. Suddenly people began to question what they were reading in newspapers. The New York Times may have exposed the Pentagon Papers, but they strongly supported the war before that happened. People who went and saw The Post may have been impressed by what they did around the Pentagon Papers, but The Washington Post editorialized in favor of the war right from the beginning.

And so there was a collapse, a sort of recognition that people had been jobbed about Vietnam, about civil rights. The fact that when the civil rights movement began, none of the Northern papers sent reporters into the South—the first people to do that were in the alternative press. And I think there was a general kind of political and cultural questioning. But the current polarization, you know, I hate to put it on one thing, but Fox News and Rupert Murdoch have had a tremendous impact here, because Murdoch’s style of making money is to demonize the enemy. And that’s what Fox News does all the time.

What kind of damage does it do to our society when people buy into the Nixon/Trump strategy of positioning ‘the media’ as the enemy?

Well, you know, there was a reason why the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights is on press freedom. That’s not by accident—it’s not the Second Amendment, or the Third Amendment, it’s the first. And the reason why was because even at that time there was a recognition, having come out of a very hierarchical situation where you had a king who ran everything, that government had to be taken to task—that there had to be a transparency that allowed democracy to take place. Because the thing about democracy is it’s not simply the right to vote. It’s the right to make choices, to know when you’re voting for something that there is a choice there. Without the media, there is no choice. People don’t know what the issues are.

What can legitimate news sources, especially in the alternative media, do to better establish and maintain their own credibility in this era? How do we fight fake-news fatigue?

Boy, that is the $64,000 question, you know. It really is. And I wish I had a quick answer to that, but I don’t. I guess the only thing is, there’s this line that Shakespeare gives Hotspur in Henry IV, Part One. It is “Speak the truth, and shame the devil.” And I don’t know what else to do but to do that.

At various times in American history, the media has made a difference in people’s lives. I mean, it certainly played that role in every great moment, every great social revolution in U.S. history. And that’s true throughout the world. The media played a critical role.

There are two problems. One is that the media is very isolated from the majority of American people. Two, how many editions of the media monopoly were there? Ten, twelve, something like that? We know that fewer and fewer corporations control larger and larger amounts of the media, and that’s just the reality. I mean, it is an absolute problem. And it means that what you’re reading in newspapers is increasingly what a very narrow section of the political and economic spectrum wants you to read in newspapers. Now, how are newspapers going to win back people’s trust when you’re not going to get hard-hitting articles on the oil industry from a lot of newspapers because a lot of newspapers are owned by the oil industry? Or agribusiness, or whatever industry. So you got a problem.

My feeling has always been that you can influence the mass media. I believe that; I’m not a cynic on that question. But you do it by holding their feet to the fire. And the only way you can really hold their feet to the fire is to make your reporting better than their reporting, to make your research better than their research, to contact communities that they aren’t interested in, or maybe don’t even know exist. And to give those communities voice.

Then I think you can have an influence on the mass media, and in any case you can call out the devil. And in the end that’s what this is about. This is about shaming the devil. I think that the underground media, the alternative media, has shown it can do it in the past. I’m absolutely convinced that it can do it in the future.

Conn Hallinan will speak on ‘Stumbling Around Freedom: A History of the Press’ at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6, at the Kresge Seminar Room at UCSC. Admission is free. Hallinan blogs at dispatchesfromtheedgeblog.wordpress.com.

Giveaway: Psychedelic Furs

Music

Cat Johnson

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February 28, 2018

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“Love My Way,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Heaven,” “The Ghost in You”—hit after hit after hit, the Psychedelic Furs were an era-defining band in the 1980s. Whether you were new wave, goth or punk, the Furs had something for you; the band had enough edge and mystery to give their mainstream popularity underground credibility. Formed in the late ’70s in London by brothers Richard and Tim Butler, the band went on a 10-year hiatus in the early ’90s but reformed in 2001, and it has been touring and performing ever since. If you want to revisit your youth, or just witness one of the great post-punk bands, get out your hairspray, cuffed jeans and paisley shirt and hit the Catalyst on March 11.

INFO: 8 p.m. Sunday, March 11. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $35/adv, $38/door. 423-1338. WANT TO GO? Go to santacruz.com/giveaways before 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 5 to find out how you could win a pair of tickets to the show.

Love Your Local Band: Austin Shaw

A&E
Music

Aaron Carnes

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February 28, 2018

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[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ast September, laid-back local folk-rock singer-songwriter Austin Shaw released his debut album to a packed house at the Kuumbwa. That same year, he did some touring with Americana legend David Bromberg, as well as ’90s alt-rockers Dada.

“It was a busy 2017,” he says.

Only a few years earlier, Shaw was living in New York, working at an investment bank firm. Music was barely a part of his life.

“It’s the antithesis of what I’m doing now,” he says of his not-so-long-ago old life. “I was working endless hours and wasn’t inspired or enjoying my job. I was doing it to make money. I was doing it because that’s what you do. You graduate from college, and you go and get a job, and get on that treadmill.”

He visited his sister in San Francisco, and enjoyed the break from the rat race so much that he decided to call his boss and quit right there. After flying back to get his stuff, he first lived in San Francisco, then Santa Cruz, lured by the surfing and easy beach life.

Since then, he’s become quite a prolific songwriter. In the past, he’d mostly played covers. But he also wrote stories, and after his sister made a comment about how much they were like songs, he pursued the craft.

“I’ve always been a big fan of storytellers, the James Taylors and the Paul Simons of the world, [up] to new guys like Mason Jennings. There was always something that I connected with. I was actually an English literature major in college,” Shaw says. “Once the floodgates were open, it started to flow.”

INFO: 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $9/adv, $12/door. 479-1854.

6 Things to Do in Santa Cruz Feb. 28-Mar. 6

Things To Do This Week

GT Staff

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February 28, 2018

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6 Things to Do in Santa Cruz Feb. 28-Mar. 6

Event highlights for the week of February 28, 2018.

Green Fix

Community Art Fundraiser

The U.S. is facing the largest removal of protected lands ever, and the Monumental Action organization, a Felton-based grassroots organization, believes that the key to protecting our land is through art and creativity. The president recently shrunk Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and there are at least 10 more monuments on the chopping block, and many others at risk. Monumental Action will host its first community art fundraiser on First Friday to continue their mission in bringing awareness and visibility around the importance of the environment and public lands.

INFO: 7-10 p.m. Friday, March 2. Luma Yoga and Family Center, 1010 Center St., Santa Cruz. artfuluprisings.wixsite.com/monumentalaction. Free.

Art Seen

‘Imagining Safe Space: A Contemporary Fiber Arts Show’

At this show, “make the most with what you have” is an understatement. Professional textile artist Marilou Moschetti and emerging artist Laurie McCann collaborated on an exhibit to encompass what safe spaces mean and why they matter, using mostly recycled and repurposed materials. McCann says she was heartbroken by the lack of spaces for both animals and people, and wanted to create a show around the importance of safe spaces. Both fiber artists showcase 3D objects like cocoons, nests, caves and other forms made from sustainable cloth, twine and paper.

INFO: Show opens Friday, March 2. Reception 6-9 p.m. Resource Center for Nonviolence. 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz. 423-1626. rcnv.org. Free.

Sunday 3/4

Gregg Levoy Workshop

Lecturer and best-selling author Gregg Levoy is a human potential expert. A former behavioral specialist at USA Today, Levoy has led self-empowerment talks and workshops at Microsoft, American Express, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Smithsonian Institution, just to name a few. Levoy will be coming to Santa Cruz to lead a psychological, spiritual and practical exploration workshop to help others respond to their life callings. Before quitting your job to become an entrepreneur, go to this workshop to better understand what a calling is, and how you can ensure success before you make the leap.

INFO: 10:30 a.m. Free talk and music, 12:30 p.m. workshop begins. The Center for Spiritual Living, 1818 Felt St., Santa Cruz. 462-9383. $30.

Friday 3/2-Sunday 3/11

‘A Raisin in the Sun’

UCSC Theater Arts and Cultural Arts and Diversity presents A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. The 1959 Broadway hit tells the story of a lower class African-American family’s experiences and struggle to gain middle-class acceptance in the face of racism and poverty. Renowned Hollywood actress and UCSC alum Adilah Barnes will play the lead role; you may know her as Anne Marie on ABC’s Roseanne. The title is a nod to Langston Hughes’s poem, “A Dream Deferred,” and the play centers around institutionalized racism and injustices still present today. A Raisin in the Sun is an opportunity for more discourse around racism and economic inequality, because Black history and experiences don’t end in the month of February.

INFO: UCSC Second Stage Theater Arts Center. 1156 High St., Santa Cruz. ucsctickets.com. General admission $18, student/senior $10. Free to UCSC undergraduates with identification, other UCSC affiliates $8.

Friday 3/2

Paul Richmond ‘The Naked Eye’ Opening Reception

Monterey-based Artist Paul Richmond has felt at odds with traditional notions of masculinity his entire life. To him, the concept of masculinity is flexible, nebulous and complex. With this in mind, Richmond painted a series of all-male portraits to explore masculinity in a variety of ways and expressions. From pigment application to color exploration, he invites others to reach beyond the immediate surface to better understand the complexity of what it means to be masculine. Show runs through Saturday, June 30.

INFO: Opening reception 5-9 p.m. Faust, 110 Cooper St. Ste 100F, Santa Cruz. paulrichmondstudio.com. 420-0701. Free.

Saturday 3/3

Diversity Mural Celebration

If you’ve driven past the Louden Nelson Community Center on Laurel Street recently, you may have seen members of the Diversity Center Youth Program hard at work on Santa Cruz’s newest mural. The LGBTQ+ youth inspired mural is called “Unify, Decolonize, Thrive” and represents the past, present and future of marginalized people through history. After nearly two years of collaboration, the mural is complete. There will be a ceremonial reception and guest speakers to celebrate the completion.

INFO: 1-3 p.m. Louden Nelson Community Center, 301 Center St., Santa Cruz. 425-5422. Free.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

GOOD IDEA

GOOD WORK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Quote from a Local Winemaker

MILES ELECTRIC BAND

MCCOY TYLER & FRIENDS

JERRY JOSEPH & THE JACKMORMONS

BOOKER T. JONES

ZACH DEPUTY

WARRIOR KING

ADRIAN MARCEL

EARTHLESS

MAMMALS

IN THE QUEUE

Green Fix

Community Art Fundraiser

Art Seen

‘Imagining Safe Space: A Contemporary Fiber Arts Show’

Sunday 3/4

Gregg Levoy Workshop

Friday 3/2-Sunday 3/11

‘A Raisin in the Sun’

Friday 3/2

Paul Richmond ‘The Naked Eye’ Opening Reception

Saturday 3/3

Diversity Mural Celebration