In the ever-widening world of weed chemistry, one active ingredient has emerged as the breakout wellness star of California’s legal cannabis market—and it’s not the one that gets you high.
First discovered in the 1940s and demonized during the post-Reefer Madness era, CBD—a cannabinoid like its better-known psychoactive cousin, THC—has reemerged in the world of legal cannabis as a pain-and-anxiety-relieving alternative to more psychoactive cannabis products, as well as to synthetic painkillers like opioids.
“Everyone’s initial thought with the adult use was we would see a large increase in recreational use,” says Jessica Kim, a product specialist at KindPeoples Collective. “It’s increased a lot on the medical side, even though these folks don’t have medical recommendations.”
Across the board, Kim says much of the demand for CBD products at KindPeoples stems from either newcomers or older customers returning after a long break from cannabis.
“They’ll come in and say, ‘I don’t want to get high, but this is what’s wrong with me.’”
From anxiety to arthritis to Crohn’s disease to neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease, would-be patients are now inundating a growing number of CBD purveyors, from organic grocery stores selling less-concentrated hemp derivatives to cannabis dispensaries like KindPeoples that offer a wide array of CBD blends.
CBD’s medical potential has been an area of interest for researchers since around 1980, when isolated studies started to show positive effects of CBD treatment for conditions including epilepsy. Since then, larger-scale studies were severely constrained by prohibition, and research in the U.S. is just now beginning to systematically evaluate CBD’s efficacy to treat specific symptoms.
Key to the perceived wellness benefits of CBD is the way the chemical interacts with cell receptors in the endocannabinoid system, which helps regulate the body’s neurological system, stress levels, sleep cycle, memory and other functions. “CBD kind of selectively fits into the receptors in your brain that THC would normally go into,” Kim says. “It just doesn’t impart that psychological high people are used to.”
With the range of CBD oils, vaporizers and topical creams on the legal market growing by the day, such products are a prime example of the way consumers frustrated with high-cost, pharmaceutical-centric healthcare are seeking new regimens of personalized medicine.
This year, Santa Cruz massage and bodywork studio Vital Body Therapy became the first in town to offer CBD massage. “Over 65 percent [of our clients] say that they come to us to manage their chronic pain. So, when over 80 people chose the CBD massage the first month we offered it, we were further convinced that people are committed to finding alternative ways to manage their pain instead of using opioids,” says Kelly Stoll in an email.
Owners Stoll and Jennifer Galvin also now offer a growing range of custom-formulated CBD massage creams, balms and an epsom soak sold by recently-launched sister company Vital Body Therapeutics.
If the world of CBD seems vast, that’s because it is. Key to the appeal of CBD topical creams, oils and vaporizers is that products offer different ratios of CBD to THC—or CBD-only products available over the counter—which Kim says can be tailored to different symptoms.
For neurological conditions like Parkinson’s—a more recent area of focus for CBD wellness advocates—Kim recommends products with high ratios of CBD, starting around 20 parts CBD to 1 part THC. The ratio of THC is often higher for epilepsy patients and those looking to treat autoimmune diseases like Chron’s Disease and IBS. For acute pain, like arthritis, Kim recommends more balanced ratios of 2-to-1 or 1-to-1 to take full advantage of THC’s strong analgesic effects.
Even if there’s no shortage of demand for CBD, the economics of such products are still evolving. Hemp-based products, for instance, don’t carry the 15-percent state-mandated excise tax for cannabis products, and Kim says dispensaries are often able to discount larger quantities. Still, the products don’t come cheap—weighing in around $60 for a 1,000 mg tincture combining CBD and essential oils at KindPeoples.
Vital Body Therapy strives to offer reduced-price body work on a case-by-case basis to clients who cannot afford it—many of whom are also members of Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM).
“It’s truly a choice people are making based upon their own history of addiction or powerful stories of family members and friends who have died from opioid overdosing that started with a simple prescription to help manage their pain,” says Stoll.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa writes that in the Arab world, to say a mere “thank you” is regarded as spiritless and ungenerous. The point of communicating gratitude is to light up with lively and expressive emotions that respond in kind to the kindness bestowed. For instance, a recipient may exclaim, “May Allah bless the hands that give me this blessing,” or “Beauty is in the eyes that find me beautiful.” In accordance with current astrological omens, I propose that you experiment with this approach. Be specific in your praise. Be exact in your appreciation. Acknowledge the unique mood and meaning of each rich exchange.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you need this advice from mythologist Joseph Campbell: “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.” He says it’s “a rescue land . . . some field of action where there is a spring of ambrosia—a joy that comes from inside, not something external that puts joy into you—a place that lets you experience your own will and your own intention and your own wish.” Do you have such a place, Taurus? If not, now is a great time to find one. If you do, now is a great time to go there for a spell and renew the hell out of yourself.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): When he was 20 years old, future U.S. President Thomas Jefferson had an awkward encounter with a young woman who piqued his interest. He was embarrassed by the gracelessness he displayed. For two days afterward, he endured a terrible headache. We might speculate that it was a psychosomatic reaction. I bring this up because I’m wondering if your emotions are also trying to send coded messages to you via your body. Are you aware of unusual symptoms or mysterious sensations? See if you can trace them back to their source in your soul.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): There’s a zone in your psyche where selfishness overlaps generosity, where the line between being emotionally manipulative and gracefully magnanimous almost disappears. With both hope and trepidation for the people in your life, I advise you to hang out in that grey area for now. Yes, it’s a risk. You could end up finessing people mostly for your own good and making them think it’s mostly for their own good. But the more likely outcome is that you will employ ethical abracadabra to bring out the best in others, even as you get what you want, too.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): You probably gaze at the sky enough to realize when there’s a full moon. But you may not monitor the heavenly cycles closely enough to tune in to the new moon, that phase each month when the lunar orb is invisible. We astrologers regard it as a ripe time to formulate fresh intentions. We understand it to be a propitious moment to plant metaphorical seeds for the desires you want to fulfill in the coming four weeks. When this phenomenon happens during the astrological month of Leo, the potency is intensified for you. Your next appointment with this holiday is Aug. 10 and 11.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In her poem “Dogfish,” Virgo poet Mary Oliver writes, “I wanted the past to go away, I wanted to leave it.” Why? Because she wanted her life “to open like a hinge, like a wing.” I’m happy to tell you, Virgo, that you now have more power than usual to make your past go away. I’m also pleased to speculate that as you perform this service for yourself, you’ll be skillful enough to preserve the parts of your past that inspire you, even as you shrink and neutralize memories that drain you. In response to this good work, I bet your life will open like a hinge, like a wing—no later than your birthday, and most likely before that.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libra fashion writer Diana Vreeland (1903-1989) championed the beauty of the strong nose. She didn’t approve of women wanting to look like “piglets and kittens.” If she were alive today, she’d be pleased that nose jobs in the U.S. have declined 43 percent since 2000. According to journalist Madeleine Schwartz writing in Garage magazine, historians of rhinoplasty say there has been a revival of appreciation for the distinctive character revealed in an unaltered nose. I propose, Libra, that in accordance with current astrological omens, we extrapolate some even bigger inspiration from that marvelous fact. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to celebrate and honor and express pride in your idiosyncratic natural magnificence.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Maybe happiness is this: not feeling like you should be elsewhere, doing something else, being someone else.” This definition, articulated by author Isaac Asimov, will be an excellent fit for you between now and Sept. 20. I suspect you’ll be unusually likely to feel at peace with yourself and at home in the world. I don’t mean to imply that every event will make you cheerful and calm. What I’m saying is that you will have an extraordinary capacity to make clear decisions based on accurate appraisals of what’s best for you.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I’ve compiled a list of new blessings you need and deserve during the next 14 months. To the best of my ability, I will assist you to procure them. Here they are: a practical freedom song and a mature love song; an exciting plaything and a renaissance of innocence; an evocative new symbol that helps mobilize your evolving desires; escape from the influence of a pest you no longer want to answer to; insights about how to close the gap between the richest and poorest parts of yourself; and the cutting of a knot that has hindered you for years.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “It has become clear to me that I must either find a willing nurturer to cuddle and nuzzle and whisper sweet truths with me for six hours or else seek sumptuous solace through the aid of eight shots of whiskey.” My Capricorn friend Tammuz confided that message to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were feeling a comparable tug. According to my assessment of the Capricorn zeitgeist, you acutely need the revelations that would become available to you through altered states of emotional intelligence. A lavish whoosh of alcohol might do the trick, but a more reliable and effective method would be through immersions in intricate, affectionate intimacy.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Not even five percent of the world’s population lives in a complete democracy. Congratulations to Norway, Canada, Australia, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Denmark, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Sweden. Sadly, three countries where my column is published—the U.S., Italy, and France—are categorized as “flawed democracies.” Yet they’re far better than the authoritarian regimes in China and Russia. (Source: The Economist.) I offer this public service announcement as a prelude to your homework assignment. According to my astrological analysis, you will personally benefit from working to bring more democracy into your personal sphere. How can you ensure that people you care about feel equal to you, and have confidence that you will listen to and consider their needs, and believe they have a strong say in shaping your shared experiences?
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Mystic poet Kabir wrote, “The flower blooms for the fruit: when the fruit comes, the flower withers.” He was invoking a metaphor to describe his spiritual practice and reward. The hard inner work he did to identify himself with God was the blooming flower that eventually made way for the fruit. The fruit was his conscious, deeply felt union with God. I see this scenario as applicable to your life, Pisces. Should you feel sadness about the flower’s withering? It’s fine to do so. But the important thing is that you now have the fruit. Celebrate it! Enjoy it!
Homework: If you could make money from doing exactly what you love to do, what would it be? Testify at Freewillastrology.com.
Uranus retrograded on Tuesday this week, joining the other retrogrades (Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto and Chiron) in this unusual retrograde season. Uranus is one of the “outer planets, beyond the personality-building planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars), and the social (Jupiter and Saturn) planets.
Uranus (seventh planet from the Sun and Ray 7) is the planet of the Aquarian Age, of electricity, change, innovation, discovery, revolution and revelations. Uranus brings surprises and many things yet unimagined. When Uranus is retrograde (till 2019), we have inner stirrings, unusual revelations, and the rules of thinking shift and change, we think unusual things, much of which are of the future. Uranus works in sudden ways and is called the Great Awakener, and it is we (humanity) who are “awakened,” with quick liberating results. Uranus overturns conventions and traditions, allowing all that has outlived its usefulness to fall away.
Which brings us to Saturday’s new moon, solar eclipse. During solar eclipses, something essential, its job complete, falls away. Uranus retrograde and the new moon solar eclipse support each other. Both making room for the new to come forth. Uranus brings social change to our world. Retrograde Uranus prepares us for revolutionary changes, revelations that may shock us in the next year. Listen for hints (Q) till then. For now, we are in the calm before the storm! Addenda: questions need to be asked about the California firestorms.
ARIES: It’s important to assess with truthfulness what you know, recognizing your knowledge as a gift to be shared with others. You can be strong-willed and driven with self-confidence and authority. However, your fire quickly extinguishes and your attention shifts elsewhere. It’s important to acknowledge others’ points of view. Allow others to share their accomplishments. Then you become a true source of real leadership to be emulated.
TAURUS: You remember many things from the past. Much about family and friends that will reappear. Don’t allow other people’s beliefs, criticisms or behaviors to offend or deter you. Identify with your own thoughts, ideas and intuition. It’s important to feel secure with the information you present to others. However, do not present unusual ideas and visions to those who will either appropriate or test you with them. Maintain protection.
GEMINI: Filled with ceaseless curiosity you interact with everyone and everything. Many may want to communicate with you. Listen to what they have to say. Some may be important. Notice indecision. It reflects the dual nature of our world. Careful with distractions and complete what you’ve begun. Do only what keeps your mind agile, interested, directed, and focused. You’re to initiate the intelligent new narratives we need to hear.
CANCER: It’s important to ponder deeply upon the more essential decisions you need to make. You must have all the facts, be practical, proceeding slowly. There’s value in taking your time, contemplating different choices. This gives you focus for significant decisions. Determination colors all your actions these days. You’re developing a greater level of concentration. Concentration is the first level of meditation (the Leo level).
LEO: Your voice is stronger, more powerful, more outspoken than usual. You might say things you don’t mean or didn’t think about. Your tone may have changed, too. Arguments and intellectual competition, irritability, impatience, and impulsiveness seem to have cropped up. Concentration is almost impossible so you make quick decisions. All of this makes you more creative, dexterous and getting to the heart of what matters. You’re on the “burning grounds.” Be fierce.
VIRGO: You’re able to communicate with the dream world, with angels and devas, the angelic builders in the plant kingdom. All decisions made will be based on an instinctual sense of things. You may encounter mysteries not understood. Use your imagination, envisioning the world you want to live in. Stand firm within your own beliefs while listening carefully to what others believe. Our minds change when we learn more.
LIBRA: It is good to seek recognition for your professional work. You’ve worked hard, gaining success and status, climbing every step of the ladder. You’ve been generous with your knowledge, time and skills. You rule with a keen sense of ethics and order. Your pride in your work and the many decisions that helped you reach that state is good and appropriate. It’s also essential to remember those who helped along the way. Who are they? Thank them.
SCORPIO: Much of your knowledge has been gained through experiencing the underbelly of life here on Earth (a Mystery school). You have a keen awareness of sorrow and pain, of betrayal, trust and mistrust. You have a sense of ethics and justice. Your most important task is the quest for truth and through this truth a sense of identity emerges. Knowing all that you know, you could rule the world. You know the danger, though.
SAGITTARIUS: You shine like the Sun. You realize you’ve worked long and hard to be able to shine. You’ve gained strength, expanded borders, extended horizons, projected yourself into fields and hoped to make the world better. You lead others through dramatic explanations. You love your heritage and a sense of self-identity has resulted. When you over-act you pay the consequences. But always you win in the end. Don’t let your crown slip.
CAPRICORN: Your determination has always been your great strength. You search for greater inner identity when sharing resources with another. With that “other,” good changes occur in your life. This allows all that’s hidden to come into the light. Remember anger, sadness, disquietude, and unsettledness present you with a message. You’re perhaps overtired, overwhelmed, needing rest and a respite. Contemplate these things. Remain in the garden.
AQUARIUS: Sometimes, in trying to understand relationships, you allow others to have more power. Eventually you become depressed with this situation and wonder what’s wrong. It’s not good for you to remain in the shadows. You need equality, care, excitement and a deepening love so you can begin to trust and settle down. It’s good that others recognize your leadership skills. You bring the future to humanity. Gracefully.
PISCES: It’s good to realize you’re at the helm—the organizer, achiever and advisor of your life with rules and a time watch. Few see or recognize these qualities of responsibility. It’s as if everything’s falling away (again) and disappearing. Placing your entire heart into work can make the nerves suffer. Subtle changes will occur over time. Visualize and imagine, draw and paint, in detail, your perfect and precious life. Clouds never obscure the bright golden sunshine of your very own perfect self.
I’ve tried quite a few hacks to simplify or improve my time in the kitchen, but nothing has made as much of a difference as subscribing to Live Earth Farm’s CSA.
For a long time, I resisted joining the community-supported agriculture program—which delivers a box of produce from Live Earth and other nearby farms to a pickup location every week—despite the fact that I frequently shop at our amazing local farmers markets. I assumed it would be too expensive and inconvenient, and that I would end up supplementing my subscription with trips to the grocery store anyway. I could not have been more wrong, and am still impressed with all of the ways it has been a positive introduction into my life.
For starters, the quality of their organic produce is exceptional. Each week, I can’t help but swoon a little over the dry-farmed tomatoes, butterball potatoes, dark leafy greens, young onions, cute bunches of radishes or luscious strawberries still warm from the sun. Having just come from their farm outside of Watsonville, everything is fresh. Oddly enough, I thought I might miss shopping, but I’ve found having the choices made for me (and knowing they’re picking the best each week) is liberating.
Live Earth also lets you know what’s coming before you pick it up, and their online hub makes it easy to substitute or add in additional produce. This summer, my zucchini plant has taken over my garden, so I’ve been opting out of summer squash and doubling up on stone fruit and berries. You can also add bread from Companion Bakeshop, preserves from Happy Girl Kitchen in Pacific Grove, pastured eggs and other pantry staples.
I’ve also been surprised at how much money I’ve saved. Each share is around $25 a week, and even with veggie-centric diets, my boyfriend and I struggle to eat it all before the next pick-up. And I’ve discovered that by not going to the store multiple times a week, I’ve actually saved money in grocery store impulse buys.
But the best part is how good it feels to support our local farmers and sustainable agriculture directly. I knew it would be delicious, but I didn’t realize it would be this easy.
The little-known story of how disc golf took Santa Cruz by siege.
The Local Star: Shasta Criss
Santa Cruz pro Shasta Criss caught the disc golf bug relatively early—as a high schooler in 1992. The black-bearded 41-year-old traveling pro plays on the Disc Golf Association’s ProLine team, and feels most comfortable playing both tournaments and casual rounds in a zip-up hoodie and baseball hat.
Criss is a seasoned professional, with 21 career wins and more than $60,000 in career earnings, but he fondly remembers how it all started. He began playing his “home course” of DeLaveaga, lovingly referred to as “DeLa,” with a group of his buddies and a single disc in the early ’90s. In college, he was playing disc golf more regularly, and then, after taking a five-year hiatus where he was “trying to figure out life,” he came back to the sport shocked and inspired at how much the game had changed.
“When I started playing again around 2002, the disc and plastic technology had changed dramatically,” says Criss. “I saw people throwing shots I didn’t know were possible. I wanted to throw like that and get good at disc golf.”
He soon began devoting more time and energy to “the beautiful game,” working long nights so he could spend all day at DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course—playing multiple rounds of the 29 holes, incrementally improving his putts, drives and approach shots.
While still an amateur in 2005, Criss decided to play his first tournament, the Faultline Classic. “It was a pro-only tournament, but I didn’t care,” he says. “I just wanted to play.”
His horrible finish didn’t deter him in the slightest, and he started playing in more and more tournaments. His finishes became better, and he became better. Way better.
In 2006 he began playing pro, and four years after jumping into the world of competitive disc golf, Criss won his first tournament, the 2010 Faultline Classic, at the age of 33.
Criss’s proudest accomplishments came last year, when he won two national tournaments—Oregon’s Beaver State Fling and the Masters Cup, held every year at DeLaveaga. Since turning 40 in 2016, he now competes in the Masters Division.
Playing the sport that he adores, and currently in the middle of the longest tour of his career—a string of big tournaments that will take him clear across the country and back in his retrofitted van—Criss is living his dream.
FOR THE W Shasta Criss secured a recent Pro Masters win at the Minnesota Majestic. PHOTO: REBECCA HEIAM
Criss believes the sport has a pretty quick learning curve. “People can get good after a year or two. It took me a long time to get good, but once I had the desire to I saw results and improved quickly,” he says.
Pros will typically carry 20-plus discs with them, and multiples of the same disc, but he believes that all beginners need is one disc to start. Once you figure it out a little, then it’s time to throw different discs. For less than $10, those new to the sport can buy a midrange driver than will fly straight with little side to side movement.
“A midrange driver is perfect for learning, because they’re easier to control,” he says.
Criss calls the disc golf community a “tribe” that spans all walks of life and is growing across the country and world. The love of the flying disc and the game creates a bond that he says is indescribable.
“On tour there is one constant: your friends and fellow competitors,” says Criss. “The camaraderie is what really makes the game special.” Criss says that he is “beyond stoked” to be a part of a disc golf family that continues to grow.
Even though Criss is a globe traveling, touring professional his heart he will always live in Santa Cruz County. This is where he picked up his first “magical” disc—this is where the love affair was born.
DISC DIEHARD A disc golf enthusiast at the DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course shows off a permanent homage to the sport. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
When Tom Schot designed and built DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course in 1984, he could have never imagined how popular—or how important—it would become.
DeLa is where Criss honed his skills. It also remains a top bucket-list destination for almost any disc golfer. Everyone in the sport has heard of DeLa, and the legendary course is the home of California’s largest tournament, the Masters Cup, now in its 33rd year.
“It’s pretty amazing to see how much disc golf has grown in Santa Cruz County, and what it is today,” Criss says.
A 29-hole wooded and highly technical disc-golf-wonderland, DeLa has single handedly made Santa Cruz County a world-class disc golf mecca. Mythical holes like “the Fridge, “the Lady,” and of course “the Top of the World,” bring thousands of locals and disc golf pilgrims to DeLa each year.
But while DeLa is undeniably the biggest and baddest local course we have, it isn’t the only game in town.
“My first love will always be DeLa, but Black Mouse in Felton is definitely worth the trip,” says Criss. The short technical course set among the redwoods on a steep slope in the San Lorenzo Valley offers a unique and exciting challenge for disc golfers of all skill levels.
For true beginners, Aptos High’s modest course has plenty of baskets that are perfect for practicing short drives, approaches, and putts. If you’re willing to travel to Monterey, Criss is a big fan of the two courses at Cal State Monterey Bay, and the “user friendly” course at Ryan Ranch.
Being a disc golf pro in Santa Cruz County certainly has its perks. The first is the weather; disc golf diehards can play year round. The second is competition. Courses like DeLa attract solid competitors to smaller monthly tournaments, and to big tourneys like the Masters Cup in the spring and Faultline Classic in the fall.
The DeLaveaga Disc Golf Club hosts a wide variety of events and tournaments perfect for getting your feet wet. Bag Tag nights, held every Tuesday at DeLa, attract pros and novices alike, and are sublime arenas for learning rules and techniques, skill building, and offer a fun and casual way to get into competing.
“Playing with more experienced players is the best way to get better,” says Criss. He adds that he will always be a student of the game. “No two rounds are the same,” he says. “There is always something to learn and get better at.”
Just a decade ago, most people would scoff at the idea of a “professional disc golfer.” But today, says Criss, “there are more and more people making a living off the sport. It is important however that we remember our roots and origins as the game grows into something bigger than we ever expected.”
Throws of Passion: The Disc Golf Origin Story
Disc golf didn’t start with a bang. Instead, it started with a Wham-O—and a man affectionately known as Steady Eddie.
While the age-old question of who played disc golf first remains a heated topic argued over many a pint, there’s no denying that the sport as we know it today wouldn’t exist without the tireless and steady efforts of Ed Headrick.
A serial inventor and top engineer at the Wham-O toy conglomerate (which also brought the world the Hula Hoop, the Slip ’N Slide, and the Hacky Sack, among other things), Headrick is credited with inventing the world’s first Frisbee in 1966.
For many years, Frisbee golf really didn’t fit into the promotional plans Wham-O had for its flying pieces of plastic. Pretty much from day one, however, small groups across the nation were using the Wham-O projectiles to play the earliest games of Frisbee golf. Throwing Frisbees at targets was just plain fun.
One groundbreaking event, the first American Flying Disc Open in 1974, was a legendary gathering of Frisbee enthusiasts, and is arguably the place where Frisbee culture was born. Hundreds of Frisbee golfers or “Frolfers” descended on the city of Rochester, New York in the hopes of winning what was then a sweet prize: a 1974 Datsun B2W. Pretty much overnight, Frisbee golf—eventually known more popularly as disc golf—had arrived.
DISC JOCKEY Santa Cruz skate culture meets disc golf at the shop at DeLaveaga Park. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
Sensing growing excitement surrounding the flying plastic discs he had created almost a decade earlier, Headrick created a new Sports Promotion Department at Wham-O, and hired the Datsun-driving AFDO champion Dan “Stork” Riddick as its director. Many people who had been playing some version of Frisbee golf for years were shocked to learn that their informal hobby was a real sport.
In late 1975, Headrick designed, built, and installed the world’s first disc golf course at Oak Grove Park in Pasadena. Originally, simple poles were used as targets. But Headrick struck gold with his next, much-needed creation: the basket we know today, which he called the Disc Golf Pole Hole. When he installed them at Oak Grove Park, the popularity of the course, and disc golf in general, increased dramatically.
In the Summer of 1976, Headrick founded the Professional Disc Golf Association. The group has become a huge part of his legacy, and remains the largest disc golf organization today. Early disc golfers jumped at the opportunity to become a part of the PDGA, a legit governing body and a way to feel like they were a part of something bigger than their local clubs.
Disc golf was still in its infancy, but Headrick saw it as the next big thing. Abandoning his comfortable and well-compensated position at Wham-O, he went all-in on the disc golf dream. He began travelling the country, promoting the sport, designing courses, and selling his Pole Holes.
A natural salesman and true hustler, Headrick watched proudly as the popularity of disc golf started to snowball. Each new Headrick course attracted new players to the sport, and cities and towns began clamoring for his designs. After a few years of barely making it, his gamble started to pay off, and by 1979 the young sport of disc golf was well established.
Disc Covered: A Guide to Santa Cruz Disk Golf Parks
DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course
1468 Upper Park Road, Santa Cruz
Near the end of the 19th century, DeLaveaga Park was donated to the government as part of a trust for “educational and recreational purposes.” The California National Guard used the park for training exercises, and the ridge that now hosts DeLa’s most famous hole–“The Top of the World”—was used as a lookout point for the military in World War II.
But by the time Tom Schot received permission to construct an 18-hole disc golf course in 1984, the park’s long-since-unused upper region had become a dumping ground littered with overturned cars, refrigerators, washing machines and countless broken bottles. Little did anyone know Schot was masterminding a course that would not only rescue and transform the space, but also become a national mecca of disc golf.
Schot’s course, which initially used 4×4 wooden posts as targets, was specifically created to host the 1987 World Disc Golf Championships. The newly formed DeLaveaga Disc Golf Club (DDGC) helped him get the course ready for action, clearing out tons of junk, twisted underbrush and poison oak.
On its way to becoming a world-class disc golf destination, the course—now boasting 29 holes—has morphed and mutated over the years, but many aspects of Schot’s design remain intact today. Around 200 people play DeLa each day, and the DDGC, now one of the most respected disc golf clubs in the nation, has been at the forefront of establishing and transforming disc golf culture in Santa Cruz County.
DeLaveaga is a natural cathedral boasting towering redwoods and groups of Monterey Pines that form the backbone for many of the course’s holes. Banana slugs abound, and the hoot of an owl might cause players to pause mid-throw. The course is a gorgeous mixture of flora and fauna, a truly special place that delights disc golfers from around the world.
DeLa Cart Course
401 Upper Park Road, Santa Cruz
DeLa’s second course is Santa Cruz County’s newest disc golf experience. Open every Wednesday and Sunday after 3 p.m., the newly installed disc golf course is located on the front nine of the DeLaveaga golf course. For $17 a player, and $15 per person to rent a cart (carts are optional), players can compete on the same course layout as the final round of the 2016 Masters Cup.
Even though walk-ons are welcome, it’s recommended that you reserve tee times a week in advance to enjoy gently rolling terrain, meticulously manicured fairways, and spectacular old growth redwoods and pines—without burning too much of a sweat. Hazards like sand traps, putting greens, and cart paths are all “out of bounds,” and carry a one-stroke penalty.
Many of those who have disced on the golf course say that the new course layout is more challenging than its purely disc golf counterpart. Using a detailed map from the clubhouse, drivers and their groups follow the main cart path in a counterclockwise loop around the front nine, starting and ending at the clubhouse. Most holes are friendly for left-to-right throwers.
There are few, if any, places in the United States where disc golfers can play a round using golf carts, and the new course at DeLa has been extremely popular. The course is operating on a trial basis.
TOP SPOT Mac McCormick throws from the famous Top of the World at DeLaveaga. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
Black Mouse Disc Golf Course
7179 Hacienda Way, Felton
At Black Mouse, an ancient redwood forest keeps discers, squirrels, and the occasional mouse shaded and comfortable on hot days. Designed and installed by SLV Junior High School students, “the Mouse” is a true technical course. Hanging branches provide tight windows that require precise throws on almost every one of Black Mouse Disc Golf Course’s 18 holes.
Booming drives don’t matter here—Black Mouse is all about control. A putter and midrange driver is all you need to have a good round. Pros and amateurs alike will enjoy the wild elevation changes and its tightly wooded holes that serve as a nice counterpart to the wide open play at the area’s other top courses.
Black Mouse will test all of your shots—short putts, forehands, tomahawks, etc. Most of the course’s holes are short and birdie-able (150-200 feet) with a little finesse—and maybe some luck. On the other hand, the near constant slope and ubiquitous redwoods give every hole disaster potential.
The course rarely gets crowded, so experts like to hit Black Mouse to not only work on their short game, but also enjoy the peace and quiet the course has become known for. The views of the San Lorenzo Valley are spectacular.
Some players complain that Black Mouse is hard to navigate, that some holes require “blind shots,” and that signage isn’t always as clear as it should be. It’s definitely recommended that you google “Black Mouse Disc Golf Course” and download and print out a map.
Play is free, but be sure to put loose change in the “Black Mouse box” to ensure the course remains the gem that it is today.
Before it became an official club sport in 1998, disc golf was already a popular part of UCSC’s intramural sports program. When the sport was introduced to campus in the 1970s, there were no baskets (officially called Disc Golf Pole Holes) to speak of; students threw Wham-O-style Frisbees at a variety of targets like telephone poles, redwood trees, and the occasional car.
Eventually, the UCSC Disc Golf Club (UCSCDGC) established courses, but these too were informal, lacking anything in the way of baskets or tee pads.
In 2015, everything changed. After years of clamoring and pushing hard for their beloved sport, the UCSCDGC convinced OPERS to install a nine-hole disc golf course on campus. The modest course that now snakes across the outer rim of the East Field Complex has become a popular place to play for students, and some non-Slugs as well. The slightly hilly par-3 course boasts top-of-the-line baskets and incredible views of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary and Santa Cruz. It’s designed to play like a “seaside links course,” and is a wide-open, often windy, place to practice medium range drives and putting. In spite of hilly terrain, elevation changes, and a variety of hole locations and lengths, a round will be more memorable for its beauty than its challenge. Still, it’s a fun course, and worth a visit.
Navigating the course can be a bit confusing, but course maps are provided by the OPERS office in the East Fieldhouse. One thing to note: this is not a circular course—hole nine ends up far away from hole one, so getting back to your car may require a bit of a hike.
Harbor High Disc Golf Course
300 La Fonda Ave., Santa Cruz
Practice makes perfect. And Harbor High Disc Golf Course is a perfect place to practice.
Bring a handful of discs—you won’t need more than a midrange driver and putter—and frolic about on this five-hole course placed strategically around Harbor High School’s track and football field.
It’s a great place to start for newbies, and vets looking to hone individual parts of their game. Practice drives on the football field itself, and then spend some time working on putt mechanics. The course is a great place to figure out the nuances and personalities of new discs.
The course itself really doesn’t put up much of a challenge, and the basket locations are pretty wide open. The baskets themselves are top quality.
Use Harbor High Disc Golf Course as a warm-up spot or practice zone, and remember that it’s, of course, closed during school hours.
Bridge to Bridge Disc Golf Course
287 Water St., Santa Cruz
Tom Schot and the City of Santa Cruz installed the Bridge to Bridge Disc Golf Course in downtown Santa Cruz with noble intentions. The nine-hole course, established in 2012, was strategically placed to increase foot traffic along the San Lorenzo River’s levee.
But that dream never manifested. In Bridge to Bridge’s infancy, park rangers routinely patrolled the area of San Lorenzo Park between the county courthouse and the river, but for the last couple of years the park has been known more for its homeless-encampment controversies than anything else.
It’s a shame, as Bridge to Bridge is a beautifully designed, technical disc golf course that is a sublime place to work on putts and midrange drives. The course was designed with beginners and intermediate-level players in mind, and most holes are pretty basic—less than 200 feet. The narrow stretch of parkland is the perfect place to learn the basics of the game. Many holes are “aceable,” but require some mojo and maneuvering to avoid shrubs and small trees. A full round of pitch and putt holes can be played in less than an hour.
The City of Santa Cruz spared no expense in creating Bridge to Bridge, and each hole has top-of-the-line DGA Mach III baskets and granite tee pads. In reality, most experienced players would prefer to drive a few miles and disc at DeLa, but if you’re in downtown Santa Cruz and have a burning desire to disc, Bridge to Bridge is there for you.
Just off Highway 1, at the far end of River Street in the Harvey West neighborhood of Santa Cruz, a temporary micro-city is still humming along despite another deadline fast approaching for its residents. Behind a tall fence topped with barbed wire, tents housing some five dozen people are arranged in neat rows, personal touches like prayer flags and a water station thoughtfully arranged near the front entrance.
Outside the city-backed homeless encampment, temporary no parking signs posted when the camp first opened in February still list a June 30 expiration date. Now, with just over a week to go until the city’s next self-imposed deadline for an alternative shelter, GT has learned that the city is poised to again delay a decision on the camp amid ongoing resistance to proposed longer-term locations.
“It doesn’t look like we’ll be taking anything to City Council on the 14th,” city spokesperson Eileen Cross wrote in an email, referring to next week’s Santa Cruz City Council meeting.“No decision has been made on River Street.”
Cross adds that “the city and county are continuing to explore feasible options of locations to move the camp to,” though she did not specify individual sites or neighborhoods. Santa Cruz County Spokesperson Jason Hoppin, meanwhile, says the county is more focused on the potential for increased state funding and youth homelessness outreach.
“The River Street camp itself was always something the city did,” Hoppin says. “Their efforts to relocate people and find a new location for that—that’s going to be up to them.”
With the future of the River Street camp uncertain, some local homeless advocates are taking matters into their own hands, launching efforts to create more options for people to sleep safely in cars or store personal belongings. At the county level, nearly $2.5 million in federal funding has also flowed this summer into efforts to address homelessness among young adults and school-age children who lack stable housing.
In the process of identifying potential paths forward, Santa Cruz is grappling with an increasingly acute situation felt in cities throughout California and beyond.
“It’s a huge issue up and down the coast,” says Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, where policymakers in the state capital are also exploring city-sanctioned camps for some 600 people. “The West Coast, from San Diego to Seattle, all saw pretty significant increases in homelessness.”
PUBLIC LAND DILEMMAS
Perhaps the biggest question now is how far local governments in Santa Cruz and cities with similarly outsized homeless populations will go to use public land to alleviate homelessness while policymakers discuss longer-term fixes for affordable housing.
Four sites were previously proposed for an interim shelter facility to be open for 18-24 months until a new permanent shelter could be built, including a county facility on Emeline Avenue, the National Guard Armory near the DeLaveaga Golf Course, Pogonip Clubhouse off Golf Club Drive, and Dimeo Lane near the city landfill. Though homeless advocates and some residents have urged immediate action, many would-be neighbors have staunchly opposed the proposals, stalling a decision.
“It’s been an endless cycle,” says Brent Adams, who heads local nonprofit homeless services and advocacy group the Warming Center Program, alluding to evictions prior to the River Street camp in San Lorenzo Park and elsewhere. “We think there needs to be a more holistic and street-aware approach to shelter.”
While public agencies debate next steps, grassroots groups like Adams’ have started to offer up stop-gap measures—some with government support, some without.
The Association of Faith Communities, for instance, has appealed for public funds to expand its SafeSpaces program offering free parking spaces to the estimated 30 percent of homeless residents who sleep in their cars each night, one third of whom live in their cars with a child. The Warming Center Program, which operates with no public funding on a $65,000-a-year budget, has offered its namesake winter shelter since 2014 and in June began a free service that allows homeless residents to store their belongings while not in use.
Last Thursday evening, Adams and the Warming Center’s one paid employee stood outside a white passenger shuttle bus parked at a running city meter in the lot behind the downtown Wheel Works. A slow trickle of men and women walked up to the bus, gave their names and waited for the gray plastic bins with their belongings — bedding, clothes, shoes — to be retrieved for the night.
One man with a bald head and bright blue eyes, Larry, said he lived at a home in the Santa Cruz Mountains for 40 years and used to commute to Silicon Valley for work as an engineer. Finding a new job after a layoff proved impossible at an older age, he said, which led to spending the last few weeks sleeping in a quiet spot with good light, on the street near downtown.
Still, Larry, who declined to give his last name, said he was hopeful he’d find a new place in the mountains in a few more weeks. He described himself as “independent,” but also said living on the street was for him something like an out-of-body experience you might read about in a book. He even sympathized with neighbors in houses and apartments who remain divided over what to do next.
“They’re in a tough spot,” he said. “It’s a lot of people.”
THE MAKING OF A STALEMATE
The official numbers, tallied one day every other year by a team of volunteer surveyors, say that Santa Cruz was home to 2,249 homeless individuals last year—up from 1,964 people in 2015, but well below the 3,536 people counted by the point-in-time survey in 2013. About 68 percent of people surveyed last year lived in the county prior to becoming homeless, and 38 percent of people had been homeless for 11 months or less.
Still, advocates and public officials alike question whether statistics capture the full range of people living in various stages of homelessness. Gray areas like constant couchsurfing, long stays in motels or families living doubled or tripled up are often overlooked, along with people who may try to avoid being counted or stay in more isolated outdoor areas.
“I think we forget all the different faces of homelessness,” says Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Martine Watkins, who also works as a community organizer for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. “We have a lot of kids who are homeless in our county.”
About 17 percent of those tallied in the 2017 homeless count were children under the age of 18. During the 2016-2017 school year, the county reported 3,263 homeless school-age students, mostly living in overcrowded homes or apartments shared with other families.
Starting this school year, Santa Cruz County Schools and Pajaro Valley Schools will each receive $175,000 annually for the next three years to serve homeless students. As part of more than $2 million in federal funding for youth homelessness announced by the county this summer, schools will also benefit from $100,000 annually to be spent on a new Youth Homeless Response Team to bring children who may be on the street or in shelters back into the school system.
Though homelessness can result from a range of circumstances—job loss, medical conditions, substance abuse, evictions—the reckoning about the future of the issue comes at a time of increasing anxiety about widening economic disparities in the county. A disconnect between high costs of living and scarce high-wage work in Santa Cruz has earned the city several dubious distinctions in recent years.
One 2015 UCSC report named the city the “least affordable small metro area in the entire country.” Just two weeks ago, the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California reported that Santa Cruz County is the second-poorest county in California—Los Angeles County topped the list—with nearly 24 percent of area residents falling below a localized poverty rate of $33,953 for a family of four.
“Housing costs are really the single-largest component of what’s driving at least the California poverty measure,” says Tess Thorman, co-author of the PPIC study. “Any changes in that statewide will really have an impact on poverty.”
Though Santa Cruz built more housing than required by state regulators from 2007-2014 for residents earning $41,700 a year or more, the city did not report building any of the minimum 75 units ordered for residents earning less money. The city’s latest state-mandated housing assessment from 2015 attributes the gap to the recession-era dissolution of statewide redevelopment agencies, which previously provided permanent funding for affordable housing.
As residents with and without housing await word on what might come next, Hoppin says an estimated $8-10 million from the state that could be made available on an emergency basis by the end of this year could be a game changer. Still, even good news comes with caveats.
“That funding is one-time, and it has to be spent in a relatively short amount of time,” Hoppin says. “We have a lot of work ahead of us to figure out how we’re going to spend it.”
The latest record by offbeat math rockers Giraffes Giraffes, called Memory Lame, is cut into 37 chapters, most with mind-bogglingly long titles that might seem like non-sequiturs. But in fact, they tell a story—one that begins right here in Santa Cruz.
The title of chapter 2 is “Free Concert at the Boardwalk and Eddie Money Rips Into ‘I Wanna Go Back’” which, for guitarist/vocalist Joe Andreoli, is an iconic Santa Cruz image.
“Eddie Money is playing in Santa Cruz. Every year he’s there. That’s just what happens,” Andreoli says. “That starts off this sort of stream of events that the person has.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Giraffes Giraffes would set their story in Santa Cruz; the band basically started here. Originally from the East Coast, the duo (Andreoli and drummer Kenneth Topham) relocated to Santa Cruz a little over a decade ago, after a friend told them how well their music would work here. The two had started jamming while still living on the East Coast. Andreoli previously played in a post-rock band; drummer Ke Topham, a spazzy psych-rock group. Together they started spitting out math rock, but with a fun, almost silly edge.
In Santa Cruz, they blossomed into a real band, and were almost immediately embraced by the scene here. They’ve since moved back to the East Coast, but the group recorded its first two records here, and still have fond memories of their early years in Santa Cruz.
“I often wonder if we had stayed in New England, if we would have really gotten the same amount of traction or interest,” Andreoli says.
The fact that Memory Lame starts at the Santa Cruz beach near the Boardwalk is just a setup. With some reluctance, Andreoli explains to me the premise of the record, which features a man in Santa Cruz falling and hitting his head on the ground. He has a rush of memories—some his, some other people’s. They continue as he drifts off into the unknown.
“I wanted it to almost feel like a book or even a classical movement, something with a lot of different sections that are like these memories, these different things that either happen to me or to Ken or the people that we know, or sort of like universal memories or scenes that a lot of people can identify,” Andreoli says.
This is all mostly instrumental music, so there’s no literal narrative. The songs jump around, often times in little spasms that last less than a minute. Some came to be by the band musically interpreting some element of the song title. For instance, one chapter called “Martian Tears” refers to a time when Andreoli was a kid and he and a friend used to burn sheets of plastic just to watch it melt. They called it “Martian tears,” and it made a weird whipping sound. So he tried to make his guitar mimic that sound from his memory.
Overall, the record is somewhat less aggressive-sounding than their past work, something Andreoli attributes to being essentially the first album they’ve done that was recorded in a studio. It’s also the first time they’ve worked with an actual label, Top Shelf.
“Our whole career, we’ve been independent. We just did everything. We like having total control over every aspect of our band,” Andreoli says. “There was some curiosity. What’s it like on the other side? There’s pros and cons, but it’s been a total net gain working with Top Shelf.”
Despite the math rock tag, the band tends to not play in an overly technical manner, or in a way that’s stiff or serious. There’s always this sort of goofiness to the way they assemble songs, which ends up impacting everything they do in the context of the band.
“We just want to have fun. That’s the only motivation for us to be doing any of this. It’s to be enjoying ourselves and enjoying seeing other people. When we play, we face each other, because it’s like this thing that we’re doing together,” Andreoli says.
Giraffes Giraffes plays at 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 10, at the Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10/adv, $12/door. 429-6994.
When Billy Bob Thornton won an Oscar for his screenplay, Sling Blade, he cited advice he’d once been given by legendary director Billy Wilder: if he wanted a great acting role in a movie, he’d better write it himself.
Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal must have gotten the same memo. The two Bay Area performers—actors, singers, rappers and poets—have written themselves a couple of terrific roles in their remarkable movie, Blindspotting, a love letter to the diverse culture and community of Oakland. Both actors turn in virtuoso performances as friends confronting issues of race, class, identity, and their own volatile, longtime friendship.
Far from a typical crime drama about violence on the mean streets, it’s much more intricate, rich, and satisfying. Director Carlos López Estrada, in his feature film debut, makes bold, stylistic choices in every frame. And while the story can be intense, it’s told with plenty of sharp humor as the filmmakers celebrate the cultural vitality of the city they love.
Collin (Diggs), who is black, and Miles (Casal), who is white, have been best friends since they were 12, and grown up together in the neighborhood. Collin is on probation (for a crime that is not revealed until late in the movie). With only three days left to serve on his sentence, he’s looking forward to moving out of the halfway house where he’s under strict curfew and resuming his life—if he can just stay out of trouble.
Not so easy, with Miles in the picture, who’s prone to making scenes when he feels like a line has been crossed. Which happens a lot in their day job driving a moving van around the city, where they mostly pick up the discarded remnants of previous lives—old furniture, family photo albums—and cart them to the dump so the houses can be gutted and gentrified by the new class of “white hipsters” being lured to tech jobs in the Bay Area from places like Portland.
Collin inadvertently misses his curfew by a few minutes one night, when an incident involving a white cop and a black fugitive plays out alongside his van, putting him under even more intense scrutiny. Matters are further complicated when Miles acquires a gun, for the “protection” of his girlfriend, Ashley (Jasmine Cephas Jones), and their young son. Meanwhile, Collin tries to warm up his relationship with his ex, moving company receptionist, Val (Janina Gavankar), which cooled when he went to prison.
But it all adds up to something way more interesting than a gangsta melodrama. Inveterate rhymers, Miles and Collin can’t help improvising sly verses just walking down the street together, observing life. (Although in the electrifying finale, the rhymes are much more harrowing.)
Director Estrada keeps the action popping right off the screen: Collin’s nightmare plays like a music video from Hell; on his morning run past the cemetery, he envisions black victims standing silently by their headstones. When the nature of his own crime is finally revealed in flashback, it’s a scary clash of race, culture, and simmering tension, yet the narration by two men of color who saw it all is raucously funny. (The white hipster involved is variously referred to as “Neil Patrick Harris,” and “Portlandia.”) But it also illustrates one of the movie’s major themes—no matter how deeply immersed Miles is in the ethnic culture of the community, he’s accorded an extra degree of privilege because of his race.
Diggs is warm, pragmatic, and surprisingly explosive as Collin. (Diggs won a Tony in Hamilton on Broadway while this project was seeking funding.) Casal’s Miles is the smooth operator, peddling discarded items with his honeyed verses. With the easy rapport of the longtime friends they are in real life, they’re consistently entertaining, even as the movie ramps up to its intense, yet transcendent conclusion.
BLINDSPOTTING
**** (out of four)
With Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs. Written by Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs. Directed by Carlos López Estrada. A Lionsgate release. Rated R. 95 minutes.
The sun had dipped above the horizon, but local artist Yolande Harris wouldn’t have seen it amidst the chilly July haze encircling the end of the Santa Cruz Wharf. She lowered her hydroscope into the water and watched as a shoal of anchovies swirled around it. She listened to and recorded the happenings of another world just beneath the surface, and amidst the white noise of hissing and snapping, she could hear sea lions bark and perhaps a dolphin click.
“It’s a very magical sound,” she says of her recordings. “Watching the surface and motions and swirling, I get totally taken away. It’s hypnotizing.”
Harris is a woman of the sea. She has always been, in retrospect, having grown up sailing and swimming with her family in the Atlantic before eventually moving to Santa Cruz a couple of years ago.
The same is true for her art, a collection of marine sounds aimed at deepening our understanding of the ocean. Harris’s latest work is part of a larger series presented by local chamber and experimental music group Indexical. The performance, titled “Melt Me Into the Ocean,” is a one-time evening event that uses sound to connect participants to this sense of place and community.
“The experimental scene in Santa Cruz is really growing, and there are a lot of people that are interested in it that just don’t know it yet,” says Madison Heying, the event’s curator, and a teaching fellow and Ph.D candidate in cultural musicology at UCSC. “There are a lot of people here who are open to experiencing new things, and that really want to experience art that challenges their senses and how they look at the world. This challenges how they listen and what they think of as music.”
Harris’ contribution has two parts. The first is a walk to the Walton Lighthouse along the West Jetty Walkway with headsets, and the second is a sunset performance featuring a dreaming sea lion dancing to her oceanic recordings. Harris will be joined by Maidens of Delos, who will be playing ancient Celtic battle trumpets that look like monsters to accompany their piece on ancient Greek sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Casey Anderson will also be using radio transmitters and receivers together to explore sound and Ann Alstatt and Kyle Lane-McKinley will be contributing a more visual composition of surreal collage and conversation around the history and future of Santa Cruz landscapes and scenery.
“There are a couple of misconceptions about experimental music. One is that it looks haphazard, that people are just making crazy sounds or anyone could do it, when actually a lot of discipline goes into making experimental music,” Heying says. “The other misconception is that it’s not approachable, and it definitely can be. That’s one of our goals with this event in particular and Indexical in general—we really don’t want anyone to feel like there is a barrier to entry.”
In “Melt Me Into the Ocean,” Harris will use her wharf and harbor recordings, along with some deepwater recordings borrowed from the Monterey Bay Research Institute (MBARI). MBARI records and streams the sounds from 900 meters below the surface, compared to the Monterey Bay Canyon’s depth of nearly 4,000 meters—which is far deeper than the Grand Canyon. On the particular segments Harris has used, there are whales and a deep hissing echo radiating from within the canyon walls.
“What I asked [MBARI] for was not the most perfect Humpback whale song. What I wanted to hear was the mass of sound that is under there,” Harris says. “There are many different things going on, and I wanted to try and understand what the environment of that space is, and try to listen to the context of the environment.”
Harris’ main performance will be reliant on the evening light. She says instead of having an arc of a beginning, middle and end like most performances, her work is a trance-like space that doesn’t revolve on time, but rather sunlight. The diminishing light will provide a transition as it fades and her sea lion projections become clearer.
“It’s about standing on the edge of the land and looking out at the surface. How do you know the huge depth and environment that’s beneath there?” Harris says. “There are many ways, and I thought sound is a way that can ease you into that, give you a different kind of information and sensation of immersion in it.”
She says that, above all, it’s about people’s ability to stand at the edge of the ocean and imagine—and in listening to the recordings and seeing the projections, her work allows them to do that.
“It’s largely about taking time to imagine. I hope there will be more serious attention given to it if people can imagine,” Harris says. “In terms of conservation, it’s too easy and convenient to ignore the ocean, and use it just for pleasure and entertainment.”
Harris isn’t interested in the surface itself; she wants to dip below it. For her, identity is not visual or limited to the surface—it’s beyond what the eye can see. So she uses sound in an embodied experience that extends beyond visual or tangible aspects.
“If you give something a real presence,” Harris says, “then you can’t ignore it anymore.”
‘Melt Me Into The Ocean’ takes places at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11. Ocean View Park, 102 Ocean View Ave., Santa Cruz. indexical.org. Free.
The green thumbs of Ben Lomond’s vibrant Mountain Feed & Farm Supply will be rolling out a new workshop series this summer called Bringing the Harvest Home. Supporting regional ag, these workshops will focus on preserving foodstuffs to fill your pantry using fresh produce direct from farms and delivered to the participants at Mountain Feed on the day of the class. Think of it as a homegrown “meet and greet” between farmers and home-preservers, as well as a way to keep your pantry stocked with peak harvest all year long,
On Aug. 11, Canning Tomatoes provides an intensive class in creating new tomato recipes such as tomato paste, ketchup and soup. Preservationist extraordinaire Jessica Tunis—a self-described food nerd—will walk participants through the basics of canning whole tomatoes. Tunis has been doing this for a decade, and her lively style in the kitchen will make the class accessible to the beginner as well as those who already have some skills in preserving foods. Bringing the Harvest Home classes are two hours long, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., $60. Participants will take home recipes, a flat of produce, a case of jars, and the new skills to preserve new harvests in bulk. Pre-registration is required—these classes will fill up fast, so reserve your space now! mountainfeed.com.
As the Soif Spins
Patrice Boyle, prime mover and shaker of La Posta and Soif, contacted me with the bracing news that there’s a new chef in the Soif kitchen. As of Aug. 1, Tom McNary, formerly of Carried Away, now heads the restaurant of the durable wine bar and dining room, replacing the brief tenure of Marshall Bishop. Turns out that McNary and Boyle share a large and growing passion for all things farmers market—the growers, the fresh-harvest action, and the amazingly vibrant produce. “Ultimately, what we serve people matters,” Boyle explains. “And it is something I need to stand behind. When I opened Soif in 2002 we were not big farmers market shoppers, and I realize now I have become a bit of a zealot.” And she’s not alone. We all run into our friends, neighbors, and work colleagues at one or the other of our county’s incredible weekly farmers markets. “I think local farming is important and makes a difference, not the least of which is that it’s delicious,” Boyle says. Soif is on the verge of intensifying its devotion to the fresh and the local, as well as sophisticated cocktails and far-flung wines. Anticipate seeing farm fresh vegetables, herbs, cheeses, fruits, pastured meats appear with increasing vigor on the menus at Soif.
“Tom shares that point of view,” Boyle says. “There are certain areas where that alignment is crucial, and this is a big one for both of us.” The new Soif chef is already underway checking out the kitchen territory. And while the menu won’t immediately reflect a radical change,
we can expect McNary’s influence—with the help of farmers market foraging—to show up in the days and weeks ahead. “It’s always exciting here,” Boyle confirms. Not a bad phrase to describe the entire Soif experience. Always exciting. Stop by, order something cool and wet, and welcome chef Tom McNary to his new gig.
Spirits of the Week
Shakespearean Pop-Ups at The Grove in DeLaveaga Park. On Friday, Aug. 10, look for Venus Sprits to be serving “Venus” inspired cocktails—at the opening of Venus in Fur, of course. And the following week, Saturday, Aug. 18, Birichino offers tasting flights for $5 before Romeo and Juliet. More reasons to see this season’s Santa Cruz Shakespeare productions!
