Page 727 | Good Times

The Poetry of Santa Cruz Mountains Wine

Christina Waters

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December 11, 2018

Is it optimistic to believe that in wine, there is truth? Maybe. But certainly, in wine, there is poetry. In his first collection of poems, American Oak, Bonny Doon native Jake Young finds inspiration in wine and the land that produces it.

Thumbing through the pages of Young’s handsome new book, I find the flavors, weather, wildlife, and vintages that inflect our slice of California, explored in spare, pungent lines. Understanding that wine is a living moment of its place of origin, Young’s poems offer glimpses of our sensory memory, inflected by surprise. Memories of flavors and top notes, the feel of the land in our hands and mouths. A newly bottled Chardonnay contains “a hint of graphite, like wetting a pencil on my tongue.”

Abstract yet intimate, his work takes us along with him watching a heron, savoring a coastal sunset, feasting on sunlight and silence. Young currently lives in Missouri, where he’s completing a doctorate in English literature, but his heart belongs to the Santa Cruz Mountains, where he spends summers working at Beauregard Vineyards.

“My work in the wine industry found its way into my poetic writing almost immediately,” Young says. “I became fascinated with the concept of terroir while working at the winery.” That experience sparked the poet’s understanding “of the many ways that food and wine connect us to the land, and thus to nature … place, and culture.” He also happens to be a Certified Specialist of Wine with the Society of Wine Educators.

The sensory mysteries of our coastline, vineyards and fog-drenched canyons run through this new book, from which Young will be reading locally next Thursday, Dec. 20—appropriately enough, at a winery, Stockwell Cellars. An accomplished debut collection by a poet with his taste buds tuned to the natural world.

Also reading from his newest book of poems will be another literary artist named Young. Gary Young. And yes, there is a connection. Gary Young is a much-admired, award-winning poet and printer who teaches creative writing at UCSC. (He is also the father of the aforementioned Jake Young.) He will be reading from his latest collection of poems, That’s What I Thought.

Gary is a shaman of the tenderest, and darkest, in humans. Capable of capturing in compact images the fleeting beauty of our place in the world. Each of his poems reaches deep within the reader, embedding itself within our cellular structure.

In other words, sensuous poetry such as that by the Youngs, père et fils, calls out for a glass of wine—wine loaded with as much terroir as the poems themselves. So you absolutely will head over to Stockwell Cellars next Thursday, Dec. 20, for some fine locally crafted wine and equally fine locally crafted poetry. Given the context, you’ll probably discover that in vino veritas is more than just a line from Kierkegaard.

Poetry Reading by Jake Young and Gary Young. Thursday, Dec. 20, 5-7 p.m., Stockwell Cellars, 1100 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz.

Wine of the Week

Zaca Mesa’s vivid and lyrical 2013 Z Cuvée Rhone-style blend of Grenache, Mourvedre and Cinsault scored 91 Wine Enthusiast points, yet costs only (gasp!) $9.99. Of course you can guess where this outrageous bargain is happening. Shopper’s Corner.

Better hurry, I might just grab it all for myself. Seriously, this is a beautiful blend from the

winery’s Santa Ynez Valley estate vineyard, offering the immediate appeal of dark berries, thyme and firm tannins riding on exactly the right amount of alcohol, 14.2 percent, which I would call medium-light. The tang of plums in the finish. Wonderful with steelhead, pasta, and/or roast

chicken. Get some quick.

Quattlebaum Asks: Is the World Ready for Singer-Songwriters with Banjos?

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December 11, 2018

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Quattlebaum Asks: Is the World Ready for Singer-Songwriters with Banjos?

Austin Quattlebaum was intrigued by the banjo, but he didn’t really like bluegrass. Then he caught some jam bands at a Florida rock festival incorporating banjo into their sound. The floodgates opened a few months later, when he caught avant-jazz banjo player Béla Fleck.

“My whole brain cracked open,” Quattlebaum says. “That’s when I decided to try to do the banjo thing.”

It was a smart move. Growing up in Savanna, Georgia, all his friends were strumming guitars. He wanted to join in, but he didn’t see much point in being just another guitarist in the oversaturated landscape of guitar players.

The singer-songwriter, who’s currently based in Portland, Oregon, tours the country with just his vocal chords and a banjo (and occasionally a guitar), picking and strumming somber indie-folk songs that are spacious and emotive, and have an implicit groove to them. When he plays, you can hear the reverberations of the rustic mountains clashing with the breezy ocean.

“It is a new thing for a lot of people,” Quattlebaum says of solo singer-songwriter songs on the banjo.

Before Portland, he went to college in Asheville, North Carolina. There, he got a proper education on his instrument, but it was, of course, in the context of a bluegrass band. The school had an Appalachian folk music department. But he’s OK with it now that he’s more acquainted with the instrument.

“When you’re a banjo player studying bluegrass, it’s kind of like the Suzuki method in classical violin. If you don’t really have that foundation, it’s kind of hard to take it in a new direction,” Quattlebaum says. “I’ve never considered myself a traditionalist. Even growing up in the South and practicing bluegrass in North Carolina, I feel like even if I wanted to be like ‘I’m a traditional bluegrass player,’ the locals still would have been like, ‘Nope.’”

He hit the road after college, rambling the countryside in his Volkswagen, armed with his banjo, eventually landing in the Sierra foothills near South Lake Tahoe. There he recorded his first solo album, 2013’s The Ghost Tangled in the Oaks, which has some prominent country and bluegrass elements in it. The songs are also full of stories and an overall storytelling approach to songwriting. After its release, he started the band the Crow and the Canyon in Portland, and joined the Sam Chase in San Francisco, as well as occasionally contributing to a third band over in the Sierra foothills. But he wasn’t the primary songwriter in all of these projects.

He kept on writing and performing as a solo artist, originally under his full name, but eventually shortening it to just Quattlebaum. His participation in those other bands recently lowered significantly, giving him the chance to finally record a lot of these solo songs he’s been working on for a while.

Quattlebaum released his follow-up album, EP Vol. 1, in October. The bluegrass and country influences are nearly buried underneath the surreal and lonesome, almost vintage folk sounds that dominate the new record.

“It was time for some new music and the older album … it was old. It didn’t really feel like me anymore. I wanted to put out something a little more representative of my solo show,” Quattlebaum says.

The new songs also have less storytelling and are more abstract lyrically. Quattlebaum says that there are usually stories somewhere in the music, but that it tends to come out more abstract, with lines pieced together artfully like poetry.

“I’ll just puke out a bunch of words on the page, and then go back through and kind of rearrange my thoughts. Sometimes in that method of editing, the story gets lost, but there is still some descriptive writing in there,” Quattlebaum says.

He’s developed his show to be a more complete, full, live experience. Which is why he switches his instruments around on stage, and even tries to incorporate some comedy and funny stories in between songs.

He’s finds all kinds of ways to mix it up as just one person.

“I’m not doing just straightforward rollicking bluegrass stuff the whole time. It’s more dynamic than that,” Quattlebaum says. “I like to get spacey and dance-y sometimes, but then I do kick it into high gear and play some bluegrass stuff as well.”

Quattlebaum plays at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 13, at the Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. 429-6994.

Film Review: ‘At Eternity’s Gate’

Lisa Jensen

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December 11, 2018

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If you’re looking for a portrait of artistic torment and isolation from the inside-out, look no further than At Eternity’s Gate. The subject is Vincent van Gogh in the last years of his life, impoverished and churning out his delirious canvases with no encouragement whatsoever in the sun-splashed rural village of Arles in the South of France. Directed by artist-turned-filmmaker Julian Schnabel, it’s more like a feverish plunge into the act of creation itself than a conventional biopic about the facts of Van Gogh’s life.

This is familiar territory for Schnabel, who’s drawn to stories about creative people in conflict with society (Before Night Falls, Basquiat, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). What Schnabel gets absolutely right in Eternity’s Gate is the way Van Gogh’s single-minded hunger to get what he calls his “visions” of life (especially nature) down on canvas isolates him from the townspeople who don’t understand his unconventional pictures, and see him as a dangerous lunatic.

To this end, we often see landscapes, objects, and people in the movie through a slightly distorted camera lens, trying to approximate that woozy, dreamlike state in which we all believe Van Gogh must have painted. Outlines are sometimes blurry, contrasting colors often shockingly vivid. In one lovely shot, Van Gogh (played with manic fervor by Willem Dafoe) sprawls, embraced and half-obscured by huge fronds of green and gold wheat, as if he’s becoming one of his paintings.

But this subjective view from the artist’s perspective has its drawbacks, too. The camera is in constant, reeling motion, especially in the first half-hour or so, so pack your Dramamine if that sort of thing affects you. And when we’re not seeing things through Van Gogh’s eyes, Schnabel invites us to commune with the artist’s neverending angst and mania through extreme close-ups of Dafoe’s furrowed, sunken cheeks and unnaturally bright eyes, a portrait of torment that can get a little claustrophobic—especially when juxtaposed against dull ochre and poison green interiors borrowed from Van Gogh’s paintings.

The good news is Dafoe can be utterly mesmerizing, and Schnabel has assembled a stellar cast in supporting roles. Oscar Isaac is quite good as Paul Gauguin, who is at first Van Gogh’s compatriot and mentor in Arles; they debate painting what the artist sees instead of real reality. But their relationship starts to fray when Gauguin’s advice to work slowly and build the canvas clashes with Van Gogh’s insistence that a painting must be done fast, “in one clear gesture.” (Schnabel also turns Gauguin into a seer, telling Van Gogh, “The people in your portraits will be famous because you painted them, not because of who they are.”)

Rupert Friend has a couple of touching scenes as Van Gogh’s loyal brother, Theo, and Diving Bell alumnus Mathieu Amalric has a winsome moment as the benevolent asylum doctor immortalized in Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr. Gachet.” Mads Mikkelsen has one scene as a stoic priest disputing Van Gogh’s claim that his bizarre painting style is “a gift from God.” Van Gogh’s response—“Maybe God made me a painter for people who aren’t born yet”—also seems sort of jarringly prescient (although much of Van Gogh’s dialogue and his occasional voice-over observations are culled from his well-documented letters to Theo).

Schnabel’s storytelling fails in two key emotional scenes in which a confrontation or confession plays out, immediately followed by the exact same dialogue, while Van Gogh sobs or looks stricken. It’s an annoying device that stops the narrative cold and suggests Schnabel didn’t trust us to understand what was going on the first time. It also calls attention away from the drama onscreen to the filmmaker himself.

Still, the movie offers some arresting images (a frosty field full of dying sunflower stalks), and thoughtful insights into the creative life. (“I paint to stop thinking,” Van Gogh tells Theo.) But for all of Schnabel’s determined technique, nothing in his movie ever quite achieves the emotional clarity of a single Van Gogh painting.

At Eternity’s Gate

**1/2 (out of four)

With Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac, and Rupert Friend. Written by Jean-Claude Carriere, Louise Kugelberg and Julian Schnabel. Directed by Julian Schnabel. A CBS Films release. Rated PG-13. 110 minutes.

DeMarcus Cousins Makes Santa Cruz G-League Debut

Local News

Steve Palopoli

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December 10, 2018

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DeMarcus Cousins Makes Santa Cruz G-League Debut

DeMarcus Cousins got in some shooting drills during his debut practice with the Santa Cruz Warriors at Kaiser Arena on Monday afternoon.

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has said that Cousins, who was traded to the Warriors over the offseason, may play in a game during his time with the team’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz.

Cousins is working his way back from a torn Achilles he suffered last season while playing for the New Orleans Pelicans. No date has yet been set for his first game with Golden State.

Think Local First 2019 Directory

Special Publications

GT Staff

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December 10, 2018

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Opinion: December 5, 2018

Steve Palopoli

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December 5, 2018

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EDITOR’S NOTE

One of the things I’ve always liked about writing for an alt-weekly instead of a daily newspaper is the way stories develop over time. Many of the cover stories you see each week were actually conceived months earlier, and sometimes originally slated to run at an earlier date. But once they secure a spot on the editorial calendar, they become part of an ongoing conversation. The writer’s vision for the story can change radically over the course of a few weeks or even months as they dig deeper and deeper into the research on it.

But sometimes it’s not so much that their vision changes as it intensifies. Everyone who writes for an alt-weekly like GT is here because they want to tell stories and reveal truths, and all of us take it very seriously. Sometimes we get downright obsessed with a story as we track it over time. I think you’ll see what I’m talking about when you read Maria Grusauskas’ profile of Martha Hudson this week. This story has been on the editorial calendar for most of the year, and over that time I’ve watched Maria follow Hudson closely and gain a more and more comprehensive understanding of her lifestyle. I think it adds immeasurably to the final result. Notice the level of detail in her descriptions while you read, the way smaller points accrete into larger ones, from the culture of car living to the challenges of DIY entrepreneurism to Santa Cruz’s lack of affordability to body image issues. It’s a good example of why I love what we do here, and how we do it.

STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

Re: “Façade Crumbles” (GT, 11/14):

Dear conservatives: You say you believe in jobs. But jobs require affordable housing. Jobs can’t be created unless (1) employers can afford business accommodation, and (2) workers can afford housing within reach of their jobs, on wages that their employers can pay!

Dear employers: Did you get that? Lower rents make it easier for you to pay your workers enough to live on.

Dear retailers: Lower rents mean your customers have more money left over to spend at your store.

Dear home owners: Sure, you like high prices when you sell. But then you have to buy again! And then your kids have to get into the market without the benefit of a previous sale. And what if you have a misfortune that sends you back to square one? As a home owner-occupant, you are both landlord and tenant, and while the establishment wants you to think and vote solely as an owner, your interests as owner are probably outweighed by your interests as occupant.

Dear renters: Sure, rent control might protect you against being forced out by rising rents. But if you need to move out for any other reason, you won’t be able to get another rent-controlled dwelling, because investors won’t build new housing unless it’s exempt from rent control. What you really need is not protection from the market, but a reduction in “market” rents.

Dear developers: You say the solution is to build more housing. But are you really going to build so fast that you reduce rents and prices, and therefore reduce your profits? Of course not—unless something forces your hand!

SOLUTION: Put a punitive tax on vacant lots and unoccupied buildings (except properties waiting for permits), so that the owners can’t afford not to build accommodation and seek tenants. A vacancy tax, by increasing supply and reducing owners’ ability to tolerate vacancies, strengthens the bargaining position of tenants and therefore reduces rents (and forces landlords to expedite any necessary repairs in order to attract tenants). It yields both an immediate benefit, by pushing existing dwellings onto the rental market, and a long-term benefit, by encouraging construction.

Dear politicians: The need to avoid the vacancy tax would initiate economic activity, which would expand the bases of other taxes, allowing their rates to be reduced, so that the rest of the city/state/country would get a tax cut. Can you sell a tax cut? In California, a peculiarity of the state constitution means that a local vacancy tax requires a 2/3 popular vote. Impossible? No! In Oakland, in the 2018 midterms, the proposed vacancy tax got the necessary votes. What’s your excuse?

Gavin R. Putland
Melbourne, Australia

Re: Housing Measures

“Measure H is what we all agreed upon,” Singleton says. No, he must be working in an echo chamber. Despite outspending opponents 100 to 1, Measure H lost by well over 10 percent.

If Singleton had read your story in August, he’d know that proponents got this on the ballot even though two polls showed that it would fail. Our county must pay the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars for a doomed election. What a hasty waste of public funds by the Board of Supervisors.

The precinct-by-precinct returns show that Measure H got closest to two-thirds in the City of Santa Cruz. Since Pogonip Park is closed as of yesterday, why not put a $140 million affordable housing project at the end of Golf Club Drive? And call it Keeley Lane. It could house the same folks living there already.

— Bruce Holloway

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

Last month, the Soquel Creek Water District got word from state water regulators that its concept proposal for groundwater replenishment had been accepted. The district has now been invited to submit a formal proposal. The state already provided a $2 million planning grant for the project, known as Pure Water Soquel, which could now be eligible for up to $50 million in additional money. The project would involve pumping treated wastewater into the aquifer to protect groundwater levels and stave off saltwater intrusion.

GOOD WORK

The Mountain Community Theater is living up to the lessons of Kris Kringle, the man celebrated in Miracle on 34th Street, the Play, which the theater has been performing at its Ben Lomond stage this holiday season. Starting Friday, Nov. 30, the theater company began donating all proceeds to support victims of the Camp Fire. Mountain Community Theater will continue doing so for its final three performances this weekend on Dec. 7, Dec. 8 and Dec. 9. For more information, visit mctshows.org.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“When all’s said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it’s not so much which road you take, as how you take it.”
-Charles de Lint

5 Things To Do in Santa Cruz: December 5-11

GT Staff

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December 5, 2018

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5 Things To Do in Santa Cruz: December 5-11

A weekly guide to what’s happening.

Green Fix

Exploring UC Santa Cruz Natural Landscapes

There are only three days left to see the Ken Norris show at UCSC that’s been open since November. The exhibit showcases work inspired by the UC reserves, more than 50 plots of land that are owned by the University of California. The UC reserves that are managed by UCSC in particular include Fort Ord, Big Creek, Younger Lagoon, and Año Nuevo, so there will be some recognizable landscapes for Santa Cruzans to ooh and aah at. Plus, all of the featured work was done by students, UCSC alumni and community members.

INFO: Show open through Saturday, Dec. 8. Open house 5-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7. UCSC Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, 257 Cowell-Stevenson Road, Santa Cruz. norriscenter.ucsc.edu. Free.

Art Seen

Pasajera: An Evening of Flamenco

Seattle-based Flamenco dancer and singer Savannah Fuentes is bringing her latest show, Pasajera: An Evening of Flamenco, to Santa Cruz. Fuentes has independently produced more than 250 shows, and will be joined by two exceptional Spanish Flamenco artists, Spanish-Romani guitarist Pedro Cortes and singer/percussionist/dancer Jose Moreno. The performance will be the 14th stop of 18 on their West Coast tour that started in Washington.

INFO: 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7. Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th Ave., Live Oak. brownpapertickets.com. $20 general admission.

Saturday 12/8

Kitka!

Tandy Beal and Company presents its third event in the ArtSmart Family First Saturdays Concert Series, Kitka. Kitka is an American women’s vocal ensemble based in Oakland that specializes in Eastern European vocal traditions and folk music. The event will be a community singalong, where attendees are welcome to join or just listen in. Photo: Tomas Pacha.

INFO: 11 a.m. Vets Memorial Building, 846 Front St., Santa Cruz. kitka.brownpapertickets.com. $15 general, $10 children.

Friday 12/7

Library 150th Celebration

The Santa Cruz Public Library (SCPL) service began in 1868, and has since amassed a collection of thousands of books of every genre imaginable. In celebration of the big 150, the library is holding a special First Friday Sesquicentennial Celebration Event. There will be live music by Joshua Lowe and the Juncos, Edith Meyer cake, and homemade spiced cider. SCPL has also invited local artists and the Museum of Art and History to exhibit work in the Downtown Branch that celebrates libraries, words, stories, and writers.

INFO: 5:30-8 p.m. Santa Cruz Public Library, 224 Church St., Santa Cruz. 427-7707. santacruzpl.org. Free.

Monday 12/10

Altai Kai Throat Singing

Throat singing is one of the world’s oldest forms of music—and yes, it is “singing” with the throat. But the special part about throat singing is that a singer is able to make varying notes simultaneously, resulting in a unique multi-toned harmony. The Altai Kai Music Ensemble group from will he Republic of Altai in southern Siberia is visiting UCSC to present an evening of throat singing and folk music.

INFO: 7:30 p.m. UCSC Music Center Recital Hall, 402 McHenry Road, Santa Cruz. 459-2292. ucsctickets.com. $10 general, $5 parking.

An Intensely Drinkable Pinot from Windy Oaks Estate

Josie Cowden

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December 5, 2018

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An Intensely Drinkable Pinot from Windy Oaks Estate

Windy Oaks is nonstop busy these days. With three tasting rooms to take care of and a plethora of different wines to make, it’s a constant juggling act for proprietors Judy and Jim Schultze. But the good news is that their wines are very popular and fly off supermarket shelves—often selling out quickly.

I found the 2016 Pinot Noir in Aptos Natural Foods for about $27. It’s made with estate-grown grapes from the Schultzes’ Terra Narro Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where “a perfect blending of terroir, climate and personal attention gives Windy Oaks Pinot Noirs a complexity not usually found in Pinot Noirs outside France.” A garnet hue and aromas of cherry candy, underbrush, incense and fir balsam, plus deep flavors of strawberries, cherries and a touch of clove, make this wine very drinkable right out the door.

Windy Oaks’ main tasting room is on their property at 550 Hazel Dell Road, Corralitos, and they do a wine-and-cheese-pairing at their Carmel-by-the-Sea tasting room every Friday night.

More info at windyoaksestate.com, 786-9463.

Michael Termini’s Donated Dinners

Not only does Michael Termini run his busy company Triad Electric, he is also mayor of Capitola—and constantly on the go in the community. As a trained and talented chef, Termini has donated his special 10-course “Golden Egg Tasting Menu” dinners at local fundraisers for years—always raising much-needed funds in live auctions for local organizations such as Hospice of Santa Cruz County and the Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group.

He donates about 12 of these “Golden Egg” dinners a year. Recently, Michael and his wife Alexa prepared wonderful plates of food for 20 people at a private home in Santa Cruz—and two friends and I helped serve the courses. It was a ton of work, but drinking some terrific wines helped ease the burden, including Loma Prieta’s Pinotage, House Family Vineyards Pinot Noir and an exotic Pinot Noir by Kings Mountain.

A Tale of Two Brews

Lily Stoicheff

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December 5, 2018

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Within the last decade in Santa Cruz County, the star of third-wave coffee seems to have risen simultaneously with that of craft beer.

Every year has seen at least one much-anticipated opening of a new brewer of beans or malt, and it’s not uncommon for these businesses to become hubs and even develop their own unique culture. Now a visit to any given part of town can be an opportunity to fill one’s cup with that neighborhood’s specific brand of handcrafted brew.

While I consider myself a true cross-county imbiber of suds and jo, there are brands that I return to again and again. Lately, my mornings have started with the whir of my grinder pulverizing the whole-bean Sumatra dark roast coffee from the Westside’s Alta Organic Coffee and Tea. This low-acid coffee is smooth and rich with the flavor of dark chocolate, a delicious and luxurious way to start the day.

Their beans are widely available in local grocery stores, and offered by the cup throughout the county (Steamer Lane Supply on West Cliff Drive might be their most scenic purveyor), but I try to stop by their warehouse to pick up my bag o’ beans for that “shop local” feeling. Inside, they have a small, minimalist coffee counter where they can brew you your favorite cup or sample their other roasts. Alta Organic Coffee and Tea is open during the week and during the Westside Farmers Market on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. altaorganiccoffee.com.

On the other side of the county, Fruition Brewing is set to open a brewery and beer garden in East Lake Village in Watsonville in early 2019. A long held dream of partners David Purgason and Tallula Preston, both allums of the local craft beer industry, Fruition Brewing will offer a rotating variety of lagers, pale ales, saisons and dark beers. The couple has launched an Indiegogo campaign to finish furnishing the brewery with a goal of raising $40,000 by selling generous investment perks through Dec. 19.

Having had the opportunity to try many of Purgason and Preston’s homebrews over the last few years, I could not be more excited for this hardworking duo to open their brewery, and look forward to enjoying many more of their well-crafted beers. indiegogo.com.

Love Your Local Band: Wildcat Mountain Ramblers

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December 5, 2018

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Love Your Local Band: Wildcat Mountain Ramblers

Robert Cornelius used to listen to rock radio. But then one day he was driving around, a typical ’70s teenager singing along to the Tubes’ “White Punks On Dope,” when it struck him: he wasn’t that into it.

“This music has nothing to do with me as a person, and it’s not very good. I know all the words. Why do I listen to this?” Cornelius remembers thinking.

That day he made the decision to check out what was on the other radio stations. He discovered KFAT, and bluegrass music. His life was forever changed.

“I really love bluegrass and Americana music,” Cornelius says. “I’m doing my best to spread that everywhere. I really find it interesting musically, but it makes me feel good, it touches me in a very emotional way.”

It wasn’t until he was 30 that he started playing music. He was particularly attracted to the banjo. He started the Wildcat Mountain Ramblers in 2001, after he and Susanne Suwanda were prodded into playing the school fundraiser event at Cornelius’ kids’ school. Someone who saw that performance invited them to play at the Frog’s Tooth Vineyard in Murphys.

Initially, the music was all bluegrass, all the time, but eventually, the traditional bluegrass tunes were tempered by Beatles, Clapton, Grateful Dead and Johnny Cash tunes.

“The instrumentation is definitely traditional bluegrass, but we try to be true to the sound that the song was written in. People like to hear songs they know,” Cornelius says.

They will even let audience members hop up on stage and sing songs if they are so inclined—because, really how much more fun can you have than singing a song with a real band.

“I say it’s like karaoke with real live Okies. Come on up and let us know, and we’ll try to figure it out,” Cornelius says. “It’s all about having fun, everyone having a good time.”

INFO: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, Michael’s on Main, 2591 South Main St., Soquel. $17/adv, $20/door. 479-9777.

Good TimesGood Times

Good TimesGood Times

Wine of the Week

At Eternity’s Gate

EDITOR’S NOTE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

GOOD IDEA

GOOD WORK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Exploring UC Santa Cruz Natural Landscapes

Pasajera: An Evening of Flamenco

Kitka!

Library 150th Celebration

Altai Kai Throat Singing

Michael Termini’s Donated Dinners