Page 723 – Good Times

Tequila & Taco Music Festival returns to San Lorenzo

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August 21, 2018

Tequila & Taco Music Festival returns to San Lorenzo

August means many things to many people. End of summer, beginning of school, tequila and tacos. You heard me. The mighty Tequila & Taco Music Festival takes over San Lorenzo Park in downtown Santa Cruz this weekend, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 25-26.

Here’s what you need to know: You can purchase a two-day pass for $60, and what that gets you (besides a sunburn unless you remember your SPF 30!) is a major Tequila Sampling (Saturday only, from 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.), and access to gourmet street tacos, craft beer, tons of arts and craft vendors, award-winning margaritas (all for purchase), and live music All. Day. Long!

What I’m jazzed about is the prospect of sampling the raspados (shaved ice) specialties from Exotico Tequila, which have been described to me as sno-cones with tequila-spiked flavors of raspberry lime, watermelon mint margarita, and tequila sunrise. Now that’s an adult beverage on a cone! On Saturday, dance along with Universal Language, Patron Latin Rhythms, and Adelaide; on Sunday catch Adelaide, Sambada, and Metalachi. Kids 12 and under are free. $10 admission each day, $40 for the Saturday Tequila Tasting Experience. Olé!

More info at tequilaandtacomusicfestival.com.

Changes

I’m looking forward to some delicious changes coming soon in our neck of the woods. Like the brewpub plus oasis of Southern cooking promised by Greater Purpose Brewing Company, already making plans to colonize the former Logos Bookstore space. Another idea is brewing just up the road at 1011 Cedar St.—(across from Café Limelight)—in the form of an independent bookshop plus wine salon with a working title Bad Animal, which will be loaded with intriguing texts on literature and the humanities, and include a space to drink wine, listen to poetry readings, and wander through the bookshelves. Hoping that Barceloneta, 1541-B Pacific Ave., will be up and running and serving tapas any day now (it was three years ago that the former occupant Benten closed). And, looking forward to the Aptos installment of the mighty Companion Bakeshop. Soon.

Happy Birthday Rita!

One of the great gals of Santa Cruz celebrated her recent birthday with a Mediterranean spread of finger foods, Italian wines, tons of fresh fruit, and a choice birthday cake. Rita’s favorite—the Orange Chiffon tube cake from Gayle’s—absolutely shredded my stereotypes about chiffon cakes, i.e. structureless, unrich, uninteresting food for people who fear calories. This Orange Chiffon baby was generously glazed with orange frosting and loaded with sensuous texture. Light, yes. But not wimpy! And the subtle perfume of fresh orange made every single bite a pleasure. A glass of Prosecco added its own touch!

Dessert of the Week

According to poet Stephen Kessler, with whom we dined last week, the Pizzeria Avanti homemade pies (sweet, that is) are the best in town. Kessler is a serious pie man. We joined him in a slice of warm fresh peach pie with vanilla ice cream and had to admit it was dee-lish. The pie was barely sweetened, and offered up fresh peaches and a flaky, delicious crust with every bite.

Class Act

The New Leaf Market folks do such interesting cooking demos. I’m keen on the upcoming Cooking with Wild Seaweeds demo happening from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 30, at the Westside New Leaf Community Market. Join New Leaf’s very savvy nutrition consultant Madia Jamgochian, along with Ian O’Hollaren, founder of Seaquoia Wild Seaweeds, as they unleash edible secrets about sea vegetables, aka seaweeds. Nutritional powerhouses, seaweeds are loaded with protein, vitamins, and, my favorites … minerals. The presenters will share creative ways to incorporate fresh sea veggies—harvested just up the coast—into your kitchen, including how to make—and taste—four recipes. 1101 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz. $35/30.

Preview: Che Apalache Comes to Michael’s On Main

A&E
Music

Aaron Carnes

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August 21, 2018

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Preview: Che Apalache Comes to Michael’s On Main

Last year, Buenos Aires-based four-piece string band Che Apalache were on its first ever U.S. tour. Frequently, the foursome played its a capella song “The Wall,” which band leader/fiddle player Joe Troop says is “against that stupid-ass wall that that moron of a president wants to build.”

It’s a gorgeous song with four-part harmonies and rich old-timey Americana influences that takes a firm political stance. (“If such nonsense should come true/Then we’ll have to knock it down.”) The song earned them some hooting and hollering in support—and some negative reactions from audience members who walked out saying, “You just lost half of your fans with that political talk.”

Normally, the group doesn’t sing such explicitly political lyrics. In fact, they prefer to think of their very existence as a much more powerful political statement of cross-cultural harmony: four guys—two from Argentina, one from Mexico, and one from North Carolina—playing a hybrid of bluegrass, old-timey music and Latin folk music with songs in Spanish and English. Or, as they’re calling it, “Latin grass.” As peculiar as the individual components may seem, it ends up sounding quite natural.

Even Troop is a little shocked at how well the concept ended up working out.

“Fusion can be such a dangerous and cheesy thing. There’s so much bad fusion, you’re like ‘Oh god, don’t do that. That doesn’t sound good,’” Troop says. “The music is just a reflection of what we are as people. It’s coming from a true place.”

The concept of Latin grass is a relatively new one for the group. When the band started playing together in 2013, they were doing strictly bluegrass and Appalachian folk music. It wasn’t until just before the group’s first U.S. tour last year that they discussed fusing Latin folk music into the music.

That was also right around the time they were getting good. Initially, Troop, who had moved to Argentina in 2010, started teaching banjo and violin lessons to anyone interested. The guys that are his current bandmates initially started out as his students, primarily interested in the instruments themselves, and less so with bluegrass as a genre.

“I totally indoctrinated them. I was like, ‘This is really cool music,’” Troop says. “I’m a stickler for being rooted in something. Bluegrass is like a code that we can all be rooted in. Bluegrass and old-time Appalachian folk music.”

Before starting Che Apalache, Troop formed a bluegrass duo with an Argentinian musician he had met, Diego Sánchez. His bluegrass quartet came a little later, initially as his side project. When he noticed how good they’d gotten, he shifted gears and focused on them, excited that he could try out some of his four-person arrangements.

“I was training the guys that I’m now playing with how to play from scratch,” says Troop. “All of a sudden a couple years ago, it was like ‘Oh damn, they’re really good now.’ It just sort of happened. It kind of took me by surprise.”

The group released its debut album Latin Grass last July, and has already toured the U.S. twice, finding an audience with bluegrass aficionados, Latin music lovers, and people who don’t really care for either style, but like the melding of the two.

Down in Latin American, where there’s less awareness of bluegrass, the band has been doing surprisingly well, too. Some folks understand the bluegrass language they’re working with, others just react to the music on a primal level.

“The audience down there would get up and dance and join in,” Troop says. “We had a couple of occasions where people were just responsive in a way that Argentinians would be to Argentinian folk music.”

Che Apalache performs at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 29 at Michael’s on Main, 2591 S. Main St., Soquel. $15. 479-9777.

Pleasure Point’s Modern Life Home & Garden to Close After 33 Years

Local News

Lauren Hepler

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August 21, 2018

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Pleasure Point’s Modern Life Home & Garden to Close After 33 Years

Pleasure Point interior design store Modern Life Home and Garden will close this year, amid growing uncertainty about the future of the local market for traditional furniture stores.

The primary catalysts for the decision to shut down after 33 years in business: An expiring long-term lease, cost cutting among online competitors and a lack of new, younger customers.

“Some businesses have to shut down because they’re not profitable,” says Modern Life owner Jill Sollitto, who bought the store from its original owners in 2006. “I’m making a conscious decision not to invest back into the home furniture business, because I have no idea who my customer is going to be in 5-to-10 years.”

Sollitto’s lease is set to expire in the spring for the store at 925 41st Ave., which sells a range of designer furniture and home accessories. Likely facing a rent increase and wary of committing to spend some $500,000 over the life of a new five-year lease, she says the decision to close was made after months of consideration.

With a customer base “overwhelmingly” age 40 and up, Sollitto says millennials contending with unprecedented housing prices are often a tough sell on pricier furniture. Across age groups, the rise of online furniture businesses has also made one dreaded question much more common: “Can you match their price?”

“When that starts happening with 60-year-olds, it’s kind of game over,” Sollitto says. “I don’t want to cheapen my products.”

A transplant from the Hudson Valley region of New York who is also active with small business groups like Think Local First Santa Cruz, Sollitto says she hasn’t ruled out a future design business less reliant on a traditional retail model. She adds that a few Bay Area furniture businesses have expressed initial interest in taking the space over, and that the timing for bowing out aligned well with several of her five employees’ plans to retire.

Modern Life will begin its farewell with an invite-only sale starting soon, followed by a public sale starting around Labor Day.

Sollitto says her initial desire to get into the furniture business was driven by a love of design, which prompted her to take over the store when its original owners retired.

“I’m glad I did,” she says. “It’s been a great 12 years.”

Update: Aug. 22, 3:05 p.m. – This story previously misstated the length of Modern Life’s new prospective lease.

Film Opening: ‘The Super Stoked Surf Mamas of Pleasure Point’

A&E
Film

Georgia Johnson

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August 21, 2018

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Film Opening: ‘The Super Stoked Surf Mamas of Pleasure Point’

It’s not often that one sees pregnant women shredding the gnar on Santa Cruz’s surf breaks, and the short documentary Introducing the Super Stoked Surf Mamas of Pleasure Point, which screens this week in Santa Cruz, explores why. After all, the pregnant waddle is hard enough—try fitting it into a wetsuit and doing it on a surfboard.

The film tells the story of five badass local women—Mayra Aguilar, Jenny Bennett, Grace Gooch, Katie Loggins, and Ashley Lloyd—who came together through their love of surfing Pleasure Point. When they all got pregnant around the same time, they didn’t feel that they should have to give up surfing. So the group surfed together during and after their pregnancies, some leaving the water at about eight months and returning eight weeks postpartum.

The women stretched their wetsuits over their bellies and went out together in a mommy surf club. They wore specialized “baby on board” neon-pink T-shirts, and were looked after by other surfers—a break from the often competitive and aggressive surf scene at Pleasure Point.

Make no mistake, the women in Super Stoked Surf Mamas have been surfing Pleasure Point for years and are completely comfortable with the swell and breaks, particularly at second point. Their familiarity and confidence in their own bodies and skills allowed them to show that pregnancy doesn’t have to mean a nine-month house arrest.

Directed and produced by Bay Area filmmakers Elizabeth Pepin Silva and Paul Ferraris, the film recently premiered at Europe’s largest surf film festival—held in Anglet, France—where it won the Audience Choice Award, an honor rarely given to a non-French film. In it, the women talk about why pregnancy and surfing don’t have to be mutually exclusive, despite surfing culture’s wary attitude toward motherhood.

“In some ways we, as a society, treat pregnancy like an illness or something that you have to be careful about,” Pepin Silva tells GT. “Women’s bodies are designed to have kids. Women used to work out in the fields, and they’d go into labor, pop the kid out and be back in the field, there was no choice.”

Since the Surf Mamas couldn’t afford constant childcare while they were surfing, they brought their little community together and took turns looking after the children, so each woman could go out and catch some waves while the others babysat. The idea of community-driven childcare isn’t exactly revolutionary, but even today it’s all too rare. The Surf Mamas found a way to adapt to motherhood while also building their community, something that Pepin Silva says may have changed her mind about having kids.

“Surfing is such an integral part of my life, and back then I just couldn’t see a way of balancing motherhood and being pregnant with surfing,” she says. “I didn’t know any women who had been pregnant and had surfed, and that’s one of the many reasons I chose not to have kids. But if I had a group of women like the Surf Mamas, my decision might have been different.”

‘Introducing the Super Stoked Surf Mamas of Pleasure Point’ screens 7-9 p.m. Friday Aug. 24. Santa Cruz Hope Church, 4525 Soquel Ave., Soquel. surfmamas.brownpapertickets.com. $12 adults, $6 children. The film will also be released on Amazon in March 2019 for Women’s History Month.

David Byrne Reclaims Relevance, Legacy on New Tour

A&E
Music

Steve Palopoli

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August 17, 2018

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David Byrne Reclaims Relevance, Legacy on New Tour

The “Final Transmission” episode of Documentary Now—the recent Netflix series in which Fred Armisen and Bill Hader lovingly skewer a different famous documentary in each installment—begins with a shot of Armisen’s feet as he walks out on stage in a white suit and says, “Hi. I got a cool little toy.” He puts down an ’80s toy robot and starts singing a song about the street he lives on, with lyrics like “that’s a mailbox on the corner, over here is a stop sign” and “a lady reads a book in front of a building.”

It’s a parody of the famous opening scene of Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense—the best music documentary ever made—which begins with a similar shot of David Byrne walking out by himself with a boombox and saying “I’ve got a tape I want to play for you.” Armisen’s song is a send-up of what is often seen as a streak of overly cute quirkiness in Byrne’s work; it most closely mirrors “Don’t Worry About the Government” from Talking Heads’ first album, ’77. That song was the main reason the band was labeled more “conservative” than their punk and New Wave counterparts at the time; the word wasn’t meant in the political sense, but as a way of saying Talking Heads seemed artsy and safe for mainstream consumption in the midst of a boundary-pushing New York scene. (Ironically, the real first song in Stop Making Sense is “Psycho Killer,” which was considered somewhat dangerous when it was released in 1977, because many people mistakenly thought it was about that year’s Son of Sam Killer).

The “quirky” tag continued to dog the band the same way Byrne’s oversized suit in Stop Making Sense dominated his public persona (he once joked that his epitaph would be “Why the big suit?”). Talking Heads put out brilliant album after brilliant album—from the jittery rush of ’77 and More Songs About Building and Food to the ordinary-world-turned-upside-down darkness of Fear of Music, the swirling polyrhythmic mystery of Remain in Light and the stomping funk of Speaking in Tongues, they had the most stunning, inventive run of any American rock band from 1977 to 1984. Yet somehow it was still the harmless Americana of 1986’s True Stories and the straight pop of the Heads’ last two records, Little Creatures and Naked, that Byrne was most identified with for many years.

So you better believe it’s no coincidence that Byrne is playing nothing off True Stories or Little Creatures on his newest tour, which comes to the San Jose Civic on Saturday. And the only thing off Naked that he’s playing this time around is “Blind,” Talking Heads’ angriest and most political song—which now seems like it was about three decades ahead of its time when it was released in 1988.

“Blind” fits in perfectly with the songs on Byrne’s newest solo album, American Utopia, which is a raw and jagged rejection of the state of Donald Trump’s union. Clearly, Byrne realized this was the best solo album he’s ever done (it’s also his first to land in the Top 10), and saw a chance to build a tour around it that amounts to a no-holds-barred bid to claim his rightful legacy as one of America’s most relevant songwriters. American Utopia’s best songs—“Everybody’s Coming to My House,” “Here” and “Dog’s Mind”—are oddly sort of buried on the album. However, they are they’re front and center in the setlist, which remains mostly constant because of the highly choreographed nature of the show. He knows what he’s got.

For this tour, he’s also reclaiming Talking Heads and solo songs that audiences might have missed the first time around, like the amazing “I Should Watch TV” from his 2012 album with St. Vincent, and “Dancing Together” from his wild 2010 concept record with Fatboy Slim (which turned the Imelda Marcos story into a club-dancefloor musical, and later became an off-Broadway production). “The Great Curve” and “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” are two Talking Heads masterpieces that never got the pop culture moments they deserved, while “Once in a Lifetime” and “Burning Down the House” are the ultimate remember-how-great-that-band-was-everybody statements.

He’s most definitely playing “This Must Be the Place” on this tour as a way of saying, “Yes, I know you’ve heard Arcade Fire and every other indie band playing it, but this is really my song.” If Byrne has got to look at the word “quirky” shoved in front of his name for the rest of his life, he definitely wants to see “but important” in between.

David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ tour comes to the City National Civic in San Jose on Saturday, Aug. 18. sanjosetheaters.org.

What gives you hope?

Columns

Matthew Cole Scott

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August 15, 2018

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“Love. Not just romantic love—I mean any form of love. Wanting the best for another person.”

Sharon Romanowsky

Santa Cruz

Student

“The ocean. It brings me tranquility and peace of mind. ”

Georgi Sneckner-Longvoya

Arroyo Grande

Retired

“Children’s laughter and excitement, and them noticing little things that we take for granted.”

Janelle Bartlett

Aptos

Retreat Manager

“Hard work and dedication. ”

Skyy Bistaccato

Santa Cruz

Compliance Director

“Really small things give me hope. Just a good conversation with people, or learning someone’s name. A good handshake.”

Dante Park

Santa Cruz

Barback

5 Things to Do in Santa Cruz August 15-21

Things To Do This Week

GT Staff

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August 15, 2018

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5 Things to Do in Santa Cruz August 15-21

Green Fix

Younger Lagoon Reserve Tour

This 90-minute behind-the-scenes hiking tour takes visitors into Younger Lagoon Reserve adjacent to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. Part of the University of California Natural Reserve System, the Younger Lagoon Reserve contains many diverse coastal habitats and is home to birds of prey, migrating sea birds, bobcats, and other local wildlife. See what scientists are doing to track local mammals, restore native habitat, and learn about the workings of one of California’s rare coastal lagoons. Participants must be physically able to walk up and down steep inclines. Space is limited to 14, so sign up early.

INFO: 10:30 a.m. Select Thursdays and Sundays, including Thursday, Aug. 16. Seymour Marine Discovery Center. 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz. 459-3800. seymourcenter.ucsc.edu. Free with $9 general admission to the Seymour Center.

Art Seen

‘Planet Pulse’

Today’s museums, galleries, and private collections are overflowing with landscape paintings that showcase the pristine beauty of our natural world. But what happens when the real-life versions of these images no longer exist? Or when the sprawling fields of green and the glistening waves of the ocean are replaced with landfills and oil spills? The latest show from the Santa Cruz Art League combines art and science to put Earth and climate change at the forefront of conversation. “Planet Pulse” highlights artists whose works heighten discourse and consciousness about the present and future state of our environment and our home.

INFO: Show runs through Sunday, Sept. 9. First Friday reception 6-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. Santa Cruz Art League. 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz. scal.org. Free.

Thursday 8/16

Fifth Annual Desi Comedy Festival

The largest South Asian Comedy Festival is stopping in Santa Cruz this week, featuring seven comedians from the Bay Area and Los Angeles. During their 11-day, nine-city tour, the comedians on the Desi Comedy Festival hope to use comedy to express their various cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds while providing a space for South Asian voices.

INFO: 8 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz Center. 320 Cedar St., #2, Santa Cruz. kuumbwajazz.org. $17-$50. Ages 18-plus recommended.

Thursday 8/16

‘Perfect Little Worlds’

Award-winning local author Clifford Mae Henderson’s fifth book Perfect Little Worlds is set in Santa Cruz in October 1989, during the Loma Prieta Earthquake. The novel details the true story of people getting trapped in the tunnels that were once used as delivery tunnels below the Pacific Garden Mall. Henderson worked as a baker at the Plaza Bakery (where Jamba Juice is currently located) at the time, and her book is a blend of fictional characters and nonfiction recollections of the earthquake.

INFO: 7 p.m. Bookshop Santa Cruz. 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. 423-0900. bookshopsantacruz.com. Free.

Wednesday 8/15-Sunday 8/19

‘The Producers’

Based on Mel Brooks’ Academy Award-winning movie, The Producers is a hilarious musical comedy that took Broadway by storm, winning 12 Tony Awards and three Olivier Awards. Impoverished by a string of flops, New York producer Max Bialystock recruits timid accountant Leo Bloom to help him pull off Broadway’s greatest scam. They aim to produce the worst show ever and run away with millions, but they soon learn that show business can be a kick in the teeth. Photo by Steve DiBartolomeo.

INFO: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Cabrillo Crocker Theater. 6500 Lower Perimeter Road, Aptos. 479-6154. cabrillostage.com. $21-$46.

Opinion: August 15, 2018

Steve Palopoli

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August 15, 2018

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Whenever young people ask me if they need to go to grad school in journalism to pursue a career as a reporter, I say no. It’s not that I have anything against J-School; I’m definitely not one of the “Journalism school is a scam” conspiracy theorists. For instance, my hope for every college undergrad interested in this field is that they can take enough writing and “Journalism 101” type courses to build a solid foundation for their future, and hopefully connect to at least one great mentor. And I know several fantastic journalists who have taken their education further, getting high-level degrees and going on to do great work as reporters and editors. My only concern with years and years of J-Schooling (besides the economics) is that sooner or later, you have to take the leap into the real world, and I think there’s sometimes a disconnect between what’s being taught in classrooms and what we’re doing out here.

I think artists have it even worse. At least journalism is understood to be a business—it seems like artists are constantly being told that to admit they need a business plan amounts to selling their soul. That’s why this week’s cover story from Wallace Baine about UCSC’s Dean of the Arts Division Susan Solt is so interesting to me. Can great artists also be trained to be great businesspeople? And do university art programs have a responsibility to do so? Solt’s answers to these questions definitely defy conventional wisdom, and the story is an interesting look at how the philosophy at UCSC is evolving.

STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

Demand Parking Reform

“A parking space in a structure takes up about 350 square feet [counting ramps]. A decent studio apartment can also be carved out in 350 square feet. How is it that we have a culture in which we have somehow created ample free [or low cost] housing for automobiles and really, really expensive housing for humans?”

The man who made this statement on a recent podcast is Patrick Siegman, an urban planning consultant who has worked with cities to reform parking policies since the 1990s. In 2016, Patrick was the staff member of NelsonNygaard tasked with developing a Downtown Parking Strategic Plan for the City of Santa Cruz. The plan was supposed to be completed in January 2017. I speculate that the reason the plan was never developed has something to do with the library-garage plan that city staff proposed in late 2016. It may be inconvenient for the city to hear from a consultant who says in the podcast, “Parking is one of those things that is so badly in need of reform. There is so much waste.”

Another staff person at NelsonNygaard told the City Downtown Commission in 2015, “Looking at the city’s parking code, I can hazard a guess that maybe it might have been put in place in the 1960s.”

Based on city parking policy that outside experts say is badly in need of reform, city staff are projecting a parking deficit in the future. Staff say this deficit justifies investing $45 million on a 600-space parking structure. We say reform the parking policy before considering a huge investment.

We’ve asked the City to acknowledge that the demand for parking in the future is highly uncertain. Already, ride-service companies have made big dents in parking demand in many cities. And automated vehicles could reduce parking demand by 85 percent, according to modeling by Kara Kockelman at the University of Texas.

We’ve proposed that instead of building a huge new parking structure, the city’s Downtown Parking District build one level of parking on its existing surface parking lots. This could provide a low-cost platform for nonprofit housing developers to construct housing above for the people who work in the restaurants and stores downtown. This could be done at the lot next to Calvary Church. It could be done on the lot next to the library, allowing the library to expand its second story with housing above. Or one level of parking could be built below a two-story library on the north end of the lot where the Farmers Market currently meets, allowing most of the lot to continue to be used as an event space.

In order for any of these ideas to have traction, we need to give the city a strong message that a 600-space garage is unacceptable. The City Council will take up the library-garage plan at its meeting on Aug. 28.

Rick Longinotti | Campaign for Sustainable Transportation

CORRECTION

In last week’s news story “Team Building,” we misspelled Cathy Sarto’s last name and misstated Tom Campbell’s former title. Campbell is a former member of Congress. We regret the errors.

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

Submit to ph****@*******es.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.

GOOD IDEA

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission has released its draft environmental impact report for the proposed North Coast Rail Trail. The 45-day public review and comment period is open until Sept. 24, 2018. The proposed project is a 7.5-mile multi-use bicycle and pedestrian trail stretching along the rail corridor from Wilder Ranch State Park to Davenport. It comprises the majority of Segment 5 of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail (MBSST) and includes parking improvements. For more information, visit sccrtc.org.

GOOD WORK

New Leaf Community Markets’ customers have chosen nine local nonprofits to be beneficiaries of the Envirotoken program for the next six months. Each time a New Leaf customer brings his or her own grocery bag, they receive a token worth 10 cents, which they may direct to FoodWhat?!, Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, Grey Bears, Homeless Garden Project, Native Animal Rescue, Planned Parenthood, Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter Foundation, Save Our Shores, or Walnut Avenue Family and Women’s Center. New Leaf has donated more than $700,000 since 1993.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”
-Pablo Picasso

Music Picks: August 15-21

Cat Johnson

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August 15, 2018

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Live music highlights for the week of August 15, 2018.

THURSDAY 8/16

INDIE-FOLK

PARSONSFIELD

A band that got its start playing the folk music club at the University of Connecticut, Parsonsfield is a self-described “multi-genre” outfit with an indie-rock-meets-folk-rock sound that brings to mind Iron and Wine and the Decemberists. Boasting catchy hooks, lush and clever instrumentation, thoughtful and open-hearted lyrics, and a passionate delivery, the band gracefully blends roots and indie styles, rising above the noise of a crowded genre to present something immediately engaging and fresh. CAT JOHNSON

INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $12/adv, $15/door. 423-1338.

THURSDAY 8/16

BLUEGRASS

BLUE SUMMIT

Blue Summit is a fast-rising sensation on the Northern California bluegrass scene and beyond. Led by AJ Lee, a Turlock-raised and one-time Santa Cruzan mandolin player, vocalist and bandleader, the outfit has long been part of the scene—in large part because the member grew up in and around bluegrass festivals. Drawing from traditional bluegrass, as well as swing, folk, rock, soul and old-time music, Blue Summit is garnering critical praise for its first album, Sweet Company, and establishing a loyal base of fans who understand that they’re witnessing the rise of one of the next great acts of the genre. CJ

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

FRIDAY 8/17

SOUL

HARRY & THE HITMEN

Santa Cruz’s favorite soulfully funky sextet is back and ready to get down with a little help from their friends. For more than a decade Harry and the Hitmen has worn out the soles of many of Santa Cruz’s shoes with their unique takes on classic Motown songs and their completely original tunes that could easily be mistaken for golden-era Stax. This Friday, be sure to stay hydrated on the dancefloor, because attendees will also have to keep up with two other down ’n’ dirty Santa Cruz funk acts, Strange Hotels, and Eric Morrison and the Mysteries. MAT WEIR

INFO: 9 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $10/adv, $15/door. 479-1854.

FRIDAY 8/17

INDIE-POP

SALES

A lot of indie-pop bands go for a large, dreamy sound with pulsating moodiness that sweeps you away before you even get a chance to make out the lyrics. Florida group Sales writes songs that could very well take this approach, but instead opts for a much more intimate execution. It sounds as though Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih are playing their duel guitar parts in the room next to you, with Morgan’s conversational vocals right in your ear. It’s an unpretentious, soft voice that seems to carry with it the weight of all the heartbreak in the world. The lack of gloss with this group really works to deliver unfiltered emotion. AARON CARNES

INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $17/adv, $19/door. 429-4135.

SATURDAY 8/18

INDIE-ROCK

SUPER WHATEVR

The band currently in the running for best/most annoying name is Orange County’s Super Whatevr. (And yes, they are short an “e” because whatevr, who cares?) Here’s the thing though: the band writes from-the-heart rock jams that are a little punk, a little ’90s alt-rock grit and just a shade of emo breathiness. The band, currently signed to Hopeless Records, writes some pretty deep songs, and their latest album, Never Nothing, is about how we all deal with demons. Whatever it is, it’s never nothing. Sorry, I mean whatevr it is. AC

INFO: 9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $12/adv, $14/door. 429-6994.

SUNDAY 8/19

BLUES

INDIGENOUS

Robert Cray once said, “All the blues greats took chances and developed their own style. They didn’t copy.” By that definition—and a few others if we’re being honest—Indigenous is one of the blues greats of our time. Since 1998, they have blazed through the world with their fiery blend of blues, jazz and rock. Guitarist and founding member Mato Nanji has a style of his own that audiophiles and music junkies love because, even in his uniqueness, trained ears can hear Nanji’s influences mixed throughout his shredding. This is part of the Moe’s Alley’s “Afternoon Blues” series, so don’t get there any later than 4 p.m., or you’ll have the blues for a whole different reason. MW

INFO: 4 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $15/adv, $20/door. 479-1854.

TUESDAY 8/21

JAZZ/FUSION

VICTOR WOOTEN TRIO

Bassist extraordinaire Victor Wooten returns to town after January’s sold-out Rio Theatre triumph, but this time he’s playing two intimate shows at Kuumbwa. Still touring in support of his recent trio album Trypnotyx, Wooten is again joined by tenor saxophonist Bob Franceschini, best known for his work with guitarist Mike Stern, and Dennis Chambers, the definitive drummer where jazz, funk and fusion converge. Since gaining renown (and five Grammy Awards) as a member of Bela Fleck’s protean Flecktones, Wooten has developed a singular body of work that is as genre-encompassing as the Flecktones, but with a much bigger bottom. ANDREW GILBERT

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

Love Your Local Band: Wild Blue

A&E
Music

Aaron Carnes

-

August 15, 2018

0

Paul Logan plays bass and sings in local trio Wild Blue, which covers songs by acts like Jimmy Buffet, the Eagles, Harry Nilsson and Fleetwood Mac. And of all of the labels put on his band, Logan thinks the typically tongue-in-cheek “yacht rock” might actually be the best fit.

“I think it’s a reflection of just how much somebody like Jimmy Buffett has had to do with the success of having feel-good music about piña coladas and cheeseburgers,” Logan says. “This is not politically relevant stuff. It’s just feel-good music, and that’s all it is.”

The music is also really challenging to play, and relies on near-pristine vocal harmonies—which is why when the band formed 12 years ago, they didn’t play a live show for two years. They wanted to get every detail of every song in their yacht rock catalog absolutely perfect.

“We play songs that no one else plays, because they take too much work,” Logan says. “People come and hear us and they go ‘Wow, I remember that song, I love that song. I haven’t heard it in 20 years.’ Then they throw 50 bucks in our tip jar.”

Logan waited five years for bandmates John Tindel (guitar/vocals) and Scott Slaughter (keys/vocals) to become available, because he considered them phenomenal vocalists.

Now the band is playing a farewell show for Tindel who’s moving out of the area. They haven’t played locally in recent years because they get booked so often for high-end corporate gigs in Monterey. But for this special occasion, they will return to Michael’s on Main. They plan to continue if and only if they can find someone of Tindel’s caliber to replace him.

INFO: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15. Michael’s on Main, 2591 S Main St., Soquel. $10. 479-9777.

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