“I got my canned goods and bottled water in the garage, I’ve got stuff in the freezer. I’ve got Jameson.”
Babs Mahoney
Aptos
Horticulturist
“Yes, I’m prepared. We have kitty crates for my three cats. It’s a little scary, but I’ve been living in California all my life, and earthquakes don’t bother me.”
Mysti Adams
Santa Cruz
Office Manager
“I’m going down with the ship at this point.
”
J. Hamm
Santa Cruz
Solar Tech
“Yes. I’m prepared to die.”
Mike Brady
Santa Cruz
Retired
“I’m moving to Minnesota Nov. 1, so if we don’t have an earthquake before then, I’m covered.”
Our picks for the best live music in Santa Cruz County this week.
THURSDAY 9/21
NEW WAVE
STAN RIDGWAY TRIO
Wall of Voodoo may be a one-hit wonder, but that hit was one of the weirdest songs to chart in the ’80s, 1982’s “Mexican Radio.” Stan Ridgway was the brains behind Wall of Voodoo, and he’s been playing solo since 1983. His voice is right up there with David Byrne’s in terms of New Wave strangeness, and there’s always an unrelenting tension in his music. AC
A pioneer of the ecstatic free jazz movement of the mid-1960s, tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders pointed a generation of musical seekers into the outer reaches—sonically, emotionally and spiritually. But he’s never been more influential than he is right now, judging by the crossover success of Kamasi Washington, who borrows liberally from the cosmic jazz recordings that Sanders and Alice Coltrane made in the wake of John Coltrane’s death in 1967. For this duo performance, he’s joined by pianist William Henderson, an underappreciated master whose credits include stints with Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, and Elvin Jones. He’s been the anchor of Sanders’ band for more than three decades. ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: 7 and 9 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $35/adv, $45/door. 427-2227.
THURSDAY 9/21
INDIE
VANDELLA
People throw around the phrase “’70s rock ’n’ roll,” but there were so many vibrant subsets of rock in that decade, it’s hard to pin down one definitive sound. In the case of San Francisco’s Vandella, imagine a mixture of the cool soft-rock sounds of Fleetwood Mac, Donna Summers at her disco-est, and a bit of Exile on Main Street-era Rolling Stones as they dig into some grimy blues rock. AC
Simply mentioning that Willie Watson was a founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show is probably enough to pack his upcoming gig at Don Quixote’s. But OCMS was just the launch pad for Watson, who is currently one of the darlings of the American roots music scene. A folk singer-songwriter who is firmly planted in traditional music, Watson does what the best folk singers have always done: make those traditional songs his own and pass them along to new audiences. With a style set that includes bluegrass, Southern gospel, Irish music and more, Watson keeps the troubadour tradition alive and well. CJ
Musicians are used to spending time alone inside lonely buildings in strange urban landscapes, and they love to write songs about it. But rather than make another typical “road” album, Former Woods bassist and Babies frontman Kevin Morby decided to explore the same emotions in a different way. His new City Music is a concept album about a reclusive old woman named Mabel who spends her days in her Upper Manhattan house. It’s a captivating record that catches some of Morby’s Babies-style beach-pop, jangle-rock style, but with a bit more depth. AC
On Friday, Sept. 22, two of the area’s hottest Latin bands join forces for a party that promises to be a cross-cultural celebration of all things rhythm and dance. Broken English is a high-energy outfit whose repertoire includes dance music from around the Caribbean and beyond. Flor de Caña is a Santa Cruz-based septet that blends Cuban son, Colombian cumbia and an otherworldly rhythm section, complete with bass, guitar, Cuban tres, button accordion, congas, bongo, timbales, maracas, guiro and bell to create a unique, lively, contemporary sound of its own. CJ
It’s easy to see why Michael Crenshaw was once described as a “latter-day Buddy Holly.” For nearly four decades, his 1950s-style guitar and smooth crooning have been just as iconic as his signature glasses. So who better to team up with on tour than Los Straitjackets—the mighty, lucha-libre-masked quartet of 1960s instrumental surf music? Both acts are masters of their trade, delivering new and covered tunes with a unique dash of their own flavor that often has a lingering aftertaste of sweet nostalgia. MAT WEIR
Jim Lauderdale is a quiet legend of American roots music. The North Carolina-born singer-songwriter launched his career in the late ’70s, and his work spans just about every genre in the roots lexicon: bluegrass, country, honky tonk, gospel, folk, soul. He came of age during the era where rock acts leaned heavily on folk traditions, so Lauderdale’s resume also includes collaborations with rock acts, including Elvis Costello, the Grateful Dead, John Oates and more. His songs have been recorded by a bunch of chart-topping stars—George Strait has recorded more than a dozen of them—but Lauderdale has managed to maintain a relatively low profile, and a creative integrity that has stretched over decades. CJ
INFO: 7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $20/adv, $25/door. 427-2227.
TUESDAY 9/26
ROCK
L7
All hail L7! This legendary Los Angeles band was a fixture of the grunge era, and influenced the riot grrrl scene. L7 also co-founded Rock for Choice, a pro-choice benefit festival that ran from 1991-2001. While their third album, Bricks Are Heavy, which spawned the alt hit “Pretend We’re Dead,” was voted by Rolling Stone as one of the essential ’90s albums, fans know any of their first four records should be recommended by any record store clerk worth his or her salt. L7 split in 2000, but in 2014 announced a reunion with all of the original members. MW
Now in its fourth year, the Santa Cruz Surf Film Festival is a showcase for the best new surf films from around the world. This year, the two-day fest features films about surfers from age 5 to 75 riding longboards, shortboards, finless boards, big waves and more. Festival highlights include One Shot, a documentary about surf photography, The Endless Winter II: Surfing Europe, Positive Vibration, about a surfboard drive to get boards to Jamaica, and The Church of the Open Sky, a feature-length release from award-winning Australian filmmaker Nathan Oldfield.
INFO: 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 29 and 30. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $16-$50. 423-8209. WANT TO GO? Go to santacruz.com/giveaways before 11 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 25 to find out how you could win a pair of tickets to the festival.
Frootie Flavors formed back in 1995, just as queercore bands were becoming more visible in the Bay Area, and the Santa Cruz queer-pop duo felt an obvious kinship to the scene. However, when they’d go up to play in San Francisco, they felt a little out of place bringing their upbeat, dancey pop music to the stage.
“I always felt like we were the country bumpkins when we went up to San Francisco to play,” says drummer Vnes Dowling. “We’d go up there and a lot of bands were edgy punk or just experimental with lots of style. We’d be like, ‘we sing cuntry songs—songs from the cunt.’”
The band would always kill, though. They brought a party: saucy sing-alongs, and lyrics that might seem offensive on the surface, but were silly and empowering to the LGBTQ community. The only time they ever bombed was when they got booked to play a queer youth prom in front of kids who wanted to hear hip-hop and R&B.
“We were just a little bit too fuddy duddy for them,” says Dowling.
She describes Frootie Flavors as an “activist dyke band” in the early years. They played queer marches and nearly every year of Santa Cruz Pride. In 1999, singer Stu Doogan transitioned to male, and later Dowling to non-binary. The bass player that joined the band in 2001 was also trans.
“We became a transtastic power trio,” she says.
Over the past nine years, however, they’ve had a new bass player, Valerie Atha, who identifies as a lesbian—“we’ve become a dyke-trans band again,” says Dowling.
In 22 years, the band has maintained the same fun spirit. It’s what keeps the members playing, and the fans still coming out.
“Our main thing is always having a good time. Our main theme as a band has always been partying. All of our songs are very catchy; it’s a sing-along every time. We get a lot of audience participation going,” Dowling says. “We’re so Santa Cruz.”
May 11, 2017: Few things will coax celebrities into the Santa Monica Mountains on the eve of summer, but Dior is one of them. For some, Dior’s 2018 Resort show locale is an excuse to dust off their furs and Stetsons in lieu of silk jacquards and twill trousers—think Charlize Theron meets McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Among the hundreds of fashion denizens in attendance is Santa Cruz resident Vicki Noble, tottering around the Bedouin celebrity tent. She sits right by Rihanna, though neither of them know it.
“Whoever that is,” Noble tells me later, with a shrug. “I wouldn’t know her if I saw her.”
Similarly, Noble, with her cropped white hair and square-rimmed glasses, is pretty much indistinguishable from many people you’d pass on Pacific Avenue. At 70, she’s a professor, a psychic reader, a gardener, and most importantly to her, a feminist. She had been invited to Dior’s 2018 Resort show because the artwork on the clothes parading down the runway was from the Motherpeace Tarot deck, which she co-created with Karen Vogel nearly 40 years ago.
Dior’s southwestern-inspired collection highlighted strong female figures, drawing inspiration from Georgia O’Keeffe and images from the Motherpeace Tarot. Christian Dior was a tarot aficionado rumored to have had his cards read before his shows. Dior’s new artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, is also a lover of the tarot.
Dior’s Maria Gazia Chiui gifted Noble this leather jacket showcasing the Motherpeace tarot deck’s death card image. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
Chiuri is the first woman to run the Dior line in its 70-year history. An outspoken feminist herself, she is seeking to reinvent what the Dior name stands for, restoring Christian Dior’s original vision, according to Noble. Chiuri came across Noble’s work when she read her book, Shakti Woman, and stumbled on the Motherpeace Tarot deck.
The Motherpeace Tarot deck was published in the early ’80s, co-authored by Noble and Vogel. The two women created the deck to celebrate femininity and strong women of color, a break from the typical masculine focus of much of tarot arcana. With help from friends, they self-published the 78-card deck in Berkeley after mortgaging their home.
“We were revising world history to include women,” Noble says. “Maria Grazia saw that, and she wants to revise world history to include women, too.”
April 12, 2017: It’s the eve of Noble’s birthday, she has a plethora of activities planned—including getting tattoos—but when she checks her inbox she has an email from Paris, asking if the Motherpeace designs can be used in the Resort collection just three weeks later.
“I was there when she opened the email,” former student and longtime friend Teresa Diaz recalls. “She said, ‘oh, I am just going to delete this’ and I said, ‘oh, no you’re not. You open it right now.’”
“I thought it might be a joke,” Noble says now. Though she almost deleted the email, she says she had been feeling like something was a bit off in the universe around that time, and that something was coming her way—but she wasn’t sure what. So she opened it.
Noble lives in a little house off East Cliff Drive, within minutes of her three children. She prides herself on her two beehives and countless cherry tomatoes. She is a proud grandmother, and, like grandmothers do, dotes on her three grandchildren while spending countless hours in her garden. But there is nothing stereotypical about her.
She is a healer and professor of feminist studies and women’s spiritualism. She travels around the world leading women’s retreats and workshops.
“She always has been very much who she is as a healer, energetic being and oracle,” says Diaz. “She is pretty consistent with who and how she is, even as she moves through different contexts and cultures. She’s really a ‘bridge person,’ and streaming radical feminist qualities into mainstream fashion is just a perfect role for her.”
But Noble hasn’t always been a healer, or a feminist for that matter. Originally from Iowa, Noble was married with two children at 22 because she says that’s what you did at the time if you didn’t know what else to do. But she loved reading and writing, and came across Kate Millet’s Sexual Politics, where she found feminism while living in Colorado Springs.
“It hit me like a lightning bolt,” Noble says. “It was a heresy for me to even have that book on my coffee table, being an Air Force wife.”
She divorced and eventually moved to Berkeley, where the Motherpeace magic happened. Noble recalls buying her children a tarot card deck at the flea market, and drawing on the two blank cards—which got her thinking about starting her own deck, though she had little to no experience with tarot.
“We tried to get the deck published with U.S. Games, but they wanted artistic control,” she says. “Of course we said no to that.”
Though she has published eight books, Noble has always been on the wrong end of the publishing industry. She says many publishers want to change her, change what she stands for, and often don’t understand her methods and easygoing way of life.
“The last publisher told me she wanted me but she was concerned about my platform,” she says. “I had to Google, ‘what’s a platform?’’’
She feels that this latest development with Dior is a way around the publishing industry, and that in a way, she has circumvented the establishment altogether. Even though her work isn’t very commercially successful, she says everything has always worked out, one way or another. “The universe has always taken care of me,” she says.
And so it has. Motherpeace has since sold more than 300,000 copies, and sales have doubled since Dior licenced the deck and debuted the line. Come August, Paris Jackson would wear Dior’s Wheel of Fortune sheer dress to the MTV Video Music Awards. Beyond that, Noble won’t see what the entire collection will look like until it’s released in November.
“My work is terrifically interesting, it just wasn’t making its way into the mainstream,” she says. “Until now.”
July 3, 2017: It is a hideously hot day in Paris, but Dior can’t afford to wait for weather. It is Paris Fashion Week, but perhaps more importantly, it is the label’s 70th anniversary. Everyone celebrates with lavish amounts of champagne and oversized brimmed hats, while frantically fanning themselves with Dior fans. Noble opts for a leather jacket given to her by Chiuri and long sleeves—a decision she comes to somewhat regret upon her arrival. Everyone is wearing Dior, and some are wearing Motherpeace designs on T-shirts or dresses. She rushes up to each of them to say hello and get a photograph. Just a week before, she had gotten her check from Dior and decided to take the month off, which she doesn’t often do. An invitation to Dior’s Haute Couture fashion followed, and the company flew her to France.
“Normally it wouldn’t have been possible, it was too spontaneous, I don’t live my life that way,” she says, noting that at her age traveling is more difficult. “But I said yes, and off we went.”
She still fully intends on keeping to her eccentric feminist roots, but she admits it’s nice to visit the “God realm” that is Dior’s world every now and then.
“It’s such a fantastic story of creativity,” says Noble’s neighbor, Tracy Shaw. “That’s why everyone should be creating things—just keep creating, and you never know. Forty years later you might get picked up by Christian Dior.”
Noble’s collaboration with Dior is far from over, she’s expecting to return to Paris in the fall to do some kind of event, as requested by Chiuri. Though the details aren’t clear and dates aren’t set, she thinks it’ll be in November. Until then, she is back to reality, having rewarded herself with a new laptop—which she is still getting used to—and car, which she fittingly named Dior.
For more information about Motherpeace and Noble’s work, visit vickinoble.com.
There’s truth in advertising in the indie movie Beach Rats. Writer-director Eliza Hittman’s drama follows the dubious exploits of a Brooklyn youth who hangs out with his lowlife buddies all day at the beach at Coney Island, while secretly exploring his attraction to men online at night.
A darling of the festival circuit, the movie has won kudos for Hittman at places like Sundance and L.A.’s Outfest for her sensitivity to the issue of sexual identity. But as the movie itself unspools (at a very long-seeming 95 minutes), the delicate subject of sexuality becomes increasingly hijacked by the portrait of young men as pack animals—much as the protagonist’s individuality gets hijacked into the herd mentality.
This is largely Hittman’s point, of course, the anguish of establishing a selfhood that goes against the grain of the accepted “norm.” The problem is that Hittman never manages to convey her character’s anguish as he drifts through his dead-end life. In the central role of Frankie, Harris Dickinson has a certain visual presence, but the part of Frankie as written is the definition of “aimless”—reactive, static, and ultimately uninteresting.
Frankie and his three pals spend their days riding the subway and wandering around Coney Island. It’s summer, so there’s no school, and none of them are employed (they look about 18); on the boardwalk, they tentatively ogle girls and (much more skillfully) pick pockets so they can buy weed. Closer to home, Frankie has a more viable source of drugs, the painkillers prescribed for his father, who’s dying of cancer.
At the boardwalk, Frankie is vamped by Simone (saucy Madeline Weinstein), whom he takes home to his den in his parents’ basement, determined to establish a relationship with her. It’s a dodge to conceal his secret life of posting selfies and talking to older men on a live chat website as he gradually works up the nerve to schedule real-life meet-ups with them. Searching for some kind of road map beyond the attempted guidance of his caring, but harried mom (Kate Hodge), Frankie asks if Simone has ever made out with another girl. Sure, she says, then tells him that girls making out is “hot,” but guys making out is “just gay.”
Random moments like this seem to be leading somewhere. But Hittman squanders viewer interest in Frankie’s conflicted sexuality as we keep following him and his delinquent buds on their repetitive and boring rounds, tanking up at the smoke lounge, or stealing his mom’s jewelry to pawn for cash to buy more drugs. Meanwhile, he drifts through various sexual encounters largely unaffected by any discernible emotion. What ought to be a defining moment when he unexpectedly feels something for one of his dates is lost by Frankie’s inability to make a moral choice or stand up for himself.
But by this time, it’s occurred to the viewer that confusion over his sexual identity is the least of Frankie’s problems. He ought to be more worried about wandering off into the woods at night with strangers. It never occurs to him to aim any higher than the black hole of drugs and apathy he and his deadbeat buddies have mired themselves in. He ought to be concerned that he has no job, no visible skills, no prospects, and no ambition to ever change anything.
A character study is one thing, but the protagonist ought to have a character worth studying. “Coming of age” suggests a transition from one stage to another, some evidence of growth or transformation. But as Frankie doggedly fails to take away anything of value from his experiences, we start to wonder why we should invest so much time and sympathy in him. And once we stop caring about him, the whole movie devolves into ennui.
BEACH RATS
** (out of four)
With Harris Dickinson, Madeline Weinstein, and Kate Hodge. Written and directed by Eliza Hittman. A Neon release. Rated R. 95 minutes.
Radio host Georgia “Peach” Beardslee—a self-proclaimed “racist”—went on a rant via the KSCO (1080 AM) airwaves last week, complaining about the ‘liberal globalist techies’ trying to control everyone’s lives. It was a spiel that began sounding rather routine—for her, anyway.
It was part of a diatribe against GT for what she called a “hit piece” about her twice-weekly show (“Shock Waves,” 9/13). Beardslee also complained on her Sept. 13 broadcast that good news stories have a footnote citing every fact. Soon after that, co-host Sam Quinten chimed in, looking to add something to her point about techie liberals.
“Bill Gates owns all the local newspapers,” Quinten remarked, ironically—although not unsurprisingly—without citing anything whatsoever, “the [Santa Cruz] Sentinel, the [Monterey] Herald, the San Jose Mercury News. And guess what else he owns: Good Times.”
Well, allegations that the Microsoft cofounder suddenly owns GT were honestly news to us. In fact, as anyone who did even the most basic bit of research would learn, GT is locally owned by Nuz, Inc.
We tried checking with Quinten, curious to hear where he got his information. Quinten didn’t get back to us, but we also called KSCO owner Michael Zwerling, who didn’t take kindly to the misinformation that his employee was spreading around.
“That’s real horse shit. That kind of stuff is just not acceptable,” Zwerling said. “Maybe he was confused, but it doesn’t matter. Don’t shoot your mouth off about stuff you don’t know.”
Zwerling, who was listening to the show at the time, says that even he believed the tidbit when he heard it—illustrating, he admits, how easily misinformation can spread. As Zwerling and I talked, he suddenly remembered chatting with GT co-owner Dan Pulcrano nine years ago. As for the Sentinel, Herald and Mercury, they are all owned by Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund that’s squeezing every last penny it can out of media conglomerate Digital First Media. Not local, but still not Bill Gates.
“When other people take it at face value, that’s not good,” he says. “It makes us look not credible.”
Of course, this was not the first controversial on-air moment for Quinten and Beardslee, who frequently whines about “white genocide” and that “white people are being replaced.”
Michael Barkun, a political science professor emeritus for Syracuse University, says openly racist broadcasting is pretty rare for radio—though it’s more common on YouTube channels or other fringe outlets.
“What’s unusual is not the content, but the medium,” says Barkun, who’s authored books on racism and also read GT’s previous story about Beardslee. “The ideas are pretty basic right-wing extremist material.”
Last week, Beardslee, who could not be reached for comment, also invoked conspiracy theories about the Rothschilds, a German family that anti-Semites believe controls the world’s political and banking frameworks, and she openly criticized Zwerling’s Zionist views.
Zwerling, who himself is Jewish, admits that such comments often hurt his feelings. But he adds that he still wants his embattled, cash-strapped radio station to be a place where people can speak freely.
“You’d better believe it hurts me to hear these things on the radio station that I own,” he says. “I don’t have kids or grandkids, so I pour my money into KSCO.”
He admits that maybe in 1991 or 1992—shortly after he bought the station—he probably would have yanked a host off the air for good if they said things like the ones he hears now from Beardslee—who owns a construction business based in a Capitola home, according to online listings.
He adds that if Beardslee were to “cross the line, in my mind,” which, he adds “is really a much harder line to cross for me, than for most people,” he would still fire her. For instance, if she were inciting violence, that would get his attention. But anything beyond that, he fears, could spell trouble.
“I think it’s very dangerous to step on the Constitution,” he says.
But this begs the question: What does the Constitution have to do with what people say on the airwaves, really? Or with inflammatory hate speech, or whether or not someone’s bosses discipline them for things they say?
Nothing at all, Zwerling admits. “I can’t hide behind the First Amendment. As some email said, ‘Don’t hide behind the Constitution or freedom of speech,’” he says. “I just wish to God that we had more of a variety of opinions. It hasn’t been the forum I wanted it to be.”
Often on KSCO, Zwerling adds, the call-in portion of any given show turns into “mostly a slobberfest.”
But does Zwerling at least worry that maybe Beardslee could be inciting racism locally?
Listeners, he has decided, are above that.
“Give people some credit for having some intelligence,” Zwerling says. “But God, I think it’s really dangerous when people are protected. Let people be open to everything and let them make up their minds. I wish more non-conservatives would call the station and take advantage of the station. It’s mostly wingnuts—I hate to say it—who take advantage of the radio show.”
Thomas Pettigrew, a psychology emeritus professor at UCSC, has studied racism for decades. He says via email that overwhelming research shows “that such far-right episodes do tend to galvanize bigots,” and can even manifest themselves in incidents of violence in extreme instances—although he doesn’t “fear that a bombastic radio show will have a major overall opinion effect” here in Santa Cruz.
Zwerling, who sometimes goes by his initials, “MZ,” has openly talked about bankrolling his station—something he does with money from a health supplement company he created 21 years ago. Part of him now wishes he hadn’t been so open about his personal support for KSCO because he fears, as a result, few people support it by purchasing ads—and his staff, he thinks, doesn’t feel a sense of fiscal urgency.
“People know,” Zwerling says, “that Daddy Warbucks—MZ—will make up the difference.”
Look out across Monterey Bay, and you may notice a dense fog, or, on a more clear day, the far reaches of a mountainous peninsula. You’ll likely spot a few waves crashing, or maybe even some hungry predators on the hunt for a fishy meal.
What you definitely won’t see, though, are oil rigs. That total lack of heavy machinery dotting the horizon makes for an awfully calming design feature—one for which we owe thanks to environmentalists like Dan Haifley, who founded Save Our Shores in 1978 and advocated for the establishment of a marine sanctuary in a fight that began more than three decades ago.
When dedicated in 1992, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) was the largest marine sanctuary in the continental United States, at nearly 4,600 square nautical miles, stretching from Cambria to Marin County. As the sanctuary celebrates 25 years, Haifley has been looking back on his battle to protect the space, which he’ll discuss in a lecture through the Democratic Women’s Club on Saturday, Sept. 23.
“We were burning the midnight oil a lot, but it was gratifying and quite a bit of fun,” says Haifley, now the executive director for the O’Neill Sea Odyssey. “There were moments that were difficult, like when an ad opposing the sanctuary was posted in the New York Times, but overall it was a great way to spend seven years,”
A 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill—to date, the third-largest spill ever in U.S. waters—was a call to action, as was a growing opposition to oil and gas exploration off the California coast. It helped too that then-Congressmember Leon Panetta, like Haifley, wanted to protect the Monterey Bay’s rich biodiversity.
Haifley recalls promoting the largest possible boundary for the sanctuary, thinking that it would never be approved, in its entirety, due to pushback from then-President George H. W. Bush’s administration. But Bush approved the boundaries for the sanctuary, despite his background in offshore oil development. Haifley credits scientific research around the bay, along with a large pool of grassroots organizers, for creating a swell of support.
Haifley says that likely wouldn’t happen the same way today, especially now that President Donald Trump has ordered a review of any new sanctuaries or the expansion of existing sanctuaries established in the last 10 years. (The administration has set its sights on national monuments, too, mostly to accommodate mining and similar business interests.) In a different political climate, natural crude reserves between San Francisco and Davenport might have proved too tempting for the industry not to tap into, Haifley says. Protecting it all, he explains, “would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to do today.”
“1992 was the year to do it—we got lucky in terms of timing,” he says.
Haifley says that the new review process for marine sanctuaries could potentially lead to the loss of the Davidson Seamount—a 2009 addition to the MBNMS—although he believes that both research and the immense public support should prevent the federal government from making any changes locally.
Future proposals to create national marine sanctuaries will now likely have to wait a bit longer. Under the Obama administration, Surfrider Foundation and Sierra Club tried to lay groundwork to protect the San Luis Obispo County coast with a proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. But after Trump’s inauguration, work has slowed. But Haifley believes a tide of support will carry projects like this sooner or later.
“People are just being patient, they are waiting, and we had to wait for a couple of years, too,” Haifley says. “Just organize, gather your facts, check them twice, get people onto your side and present a solid case. If it doesn’t happen today, it may happen tomorrow, but persistence is very important.”
The Democratic Women’s Club will host a 25th anniversary celebration of the MBNMS at 10 a.m. on Sept. 23 in the Santa Cruz Police Department Community Room, where Haifley will speak. For more information about the sanctuary, visit montereybay.noaa.gov.
You may not have tasted Michael Muccigrosso’s Pinot Noir,as Muccigrosso Vineyards does not have a tasting room and his wines are not sold all over. But the 2010 Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot ($35) is exceptional, so it’s worth calling to find out where they will be pouring next. One such opportunity to taste it will be at Gourmet Grazing on the Green on Oct. 7 in Aptos Village Park. (Visit sccbg.org for info.)
“Noble, yet racy. Subtle, yet direct. Sublime, elegant and worthy,” Muccigrosso says of his fine Pinot. “Imagination is the only limitation, but you’ll recognize the telltale black cherry and vanilla notes that dignify Santa Cruz Mountain Pinot Noir,” he adds.
It’s not easy to snag Muccigrosso’s well-made Pinots. His winery is a small operation and his website isn’t always up-to-date. But you can contact Michael’s nephew Travis Muccigrosso-White, who is very involved in the winery, at 408-761-5030. Facebook is another way to get ahold of the winery, and wine can be delivered if ordered by the case. Travis’ email is tr**********************@gm***.com.
Muccigrosso Vineyards, 21450 Bear Creek Road, Los Gatos, 408-354-0821.
Nourishing Generations Educational Project
Nourishing Generations’ mission is to provide hands-on nutrition, cooking and fitness activities to at-risk children and families, thereby spreading the word about healthy cooking and eating, and the benefits of exercise. An upcoming fundraiser will take place at the MAH, and the event not only promises to be fun and informative, but will also garner much-needed funds for the program. Local chefs, brewers and winemakers will be participating, including Roberto Mendoza, executive chef at Cin-Cin in Los Gatos.
Nourishing Generations appreciates support from the community and the generosity of sponsors such as La Vie Pure Food Collective and Santa Cruz County Bank. Businesses pitch in, such as Live Earth Farm in Watsonville with their weekly donated farm box of fresh vegetables and fruit, connecting children with an awareness for how good fresh produce can taste. The event, which includes a silent auction, is from 3-6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 8 in the beautiful garden space of the Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. Tickets are $40 ($45 at the door). Music is by Eric Morrison and the Mysteries. Visit nourishinggenerations.org for more information, or call 419-0759.
So many festivals this week. Wednesday (East Coast) is Virgo new moon just after midnight. In the evening, at sunset, Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) begins. Thursday is the U.N. World Peace Day and, in the evening, as the new moon is sighted at sunset, Islamic New Year begins. Friday, as the Sun enters Libra (1:02 p.m., West Coast), Archangel Michael, the great protector with sword in hand, assumes protection for the Earth. At that moment, Autumn begins. It’s equinox. Day and night, light and dark are in balance. We, too, seek balance and begin preparing for Winter Solstice. We are in the “dark half of the year” now.
On Friday, in the United States, transiting (in the sky) Uranus squares the U.S. natal Pluto. We’ll see what happens. Uranus/Pluto signify unexpected and transformative events unfolding. Let’s see what happens.
Much has been said in Christian circles about Saturday, Sept. 23, concerning Revelation 12—“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman (pregnant, about to give birth) is clothed with the sun, moon under her feet, a crown of 12 stars on her head.Then another sign appears: a red dragon with seven crowned heads, 10 horns.Its tail sweeping a third of the stars from the sky, flinging them to the earth.” We’ll watch for that, too. While waiting, watching and wondering, let’s be festive.
Gathering with family, eating pomegranates (Garden of Eden “apples”), honey with apples, honey cake, apple raisin challah and chicken baked in honey, wishing everyone a sweet and happy new year. (Rosh Hashanah).
Dancing Peace dances during World Peace Day. Its theme: “Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All.” From 9-9:30 a.m., the Secretary General begins Peace Day celebrations by ringing the Peace Bell in the U.N. Peace Garden. Inscribed on the bell in Japanese characters, “Long live absolute world peace.” Peace on Earth, Goodwill to everyone on this day. internationaldayofpeace.org.
ARIES: Do you feel divided between four ways, standing in the middle wondering which paths to pursue next? There are several past issues that need tending and closure before you will know how to proceed. They are being presented to you now, so observe, assess, ponder, pray and have the intention to carefully and kindly complete all things unfinished. Then the next page turns.
TAURUS: Maintain the trajectory into the future even though pressures and people pull you back. The new realities must be brought forth and each sign has the responsibility for a facet of that diamond. Taurus has the illumination needed for others to understand the plans and purposes of the new era. You have land to buy, a model to construct, a community to build, a garden to plant, expansions to bring forth so that many will be saved.
GEMINI: You experience confusion when you don’t stand directly in the center of all realities. You must do this to observe both sides in order to create a triangle of synthesis, with you standing at the apex. There are two paths outlined for you. Knowledge creates thought which creates symbols which reveal revelations so that Right Choice can occur. Ponder upon these words. Draw and visualize the seven-pointed, six-pointed and five-pointed stars, a triangle and the Cross. Again.
CANCER: A fusion and synthesis are occurring between what you were taught and what you now know and seek. Money is a concern. Know that it will always be available. With others be kind, never critical. Listen deeply. Respond with compassion, never impatience. The homeopath aconite neutralizes impatience (an excess of electrical energy). At times you feel like a rainstorm.
LEO: It’s possible that thoughts and feelings from previous relationships are being remembered. It’s possible there could be anger about the experiences in childhood which influences your behavior in adult relationships. It’s good to ask what you learned in each relationship. And to ask, “Did I give enough?” There’s still time. Everyone is learning from everyone else, all the time. Your self-identity changes.
VIRGO: Tend to finances; ask for assistance if puzzled, embrace the future by investing in supplies to sustain you and others for two years. Plan on others joining you. When self-critical beliefs occur, heartache results. It’s important to know the difference between good and evil, dispassion and intrusion. It’s best to always use words of praise, which neutralizes mental and emotional illusions and distortions.
LIBRA: Something profound, transformative and new has been occurring at home affecting the foundations of your life. Through autumn you’ll know more. Good things are coming about in your professional life. Is family visiting, changing or are you missing kinfolk? Are you thinking about religions or spirituality? Tend with care and kindness to all relationships. Your group sustains, nourishes and fortifies you. But someone’s left out.
SCORPIO: It may feel that you need to structure your surroundings so that nothing is left to chance. Also, you want to nurture and build an even, growing participation in a social sphere. Groups need you and you need the group for sustenance. You wonder what to do with your money as you are offered two choices. One grows, one dims. How do you decide which to choose? Which is more sustainable? Think precious metals.
SAGITTARIUS: It’s time for something new in terms of relationships. It is also time to travel somewhere you’ve been before to assess it with new eyes. Do be aware of how much work you’ve done, how hard and where you are today. In the next 18 months, your usual ways of thinking and interpreting will change. Your creativity will change, too. Some of this is already occurring. Is it topsy-turvy at home with life tumbling about?
CAPRICORN: You asked for a playful column. I see why. Pluto and Juno in your first house of self-identity. Everything about your life is deep and profound and you need someone else to make the jokes, freeing you from the Plutonian depths. Let’s not talk about money. You have enough. You don’t have enough. You have enough. In between is a childhood wound. You desire to transform all environments. There is a prayer that turns your abode into a shrine.
AQUARIUS: There’s a new reality in your life as the old realities tumble after. Perhaps you grew up with too little or more than enough money. Either reality offered you a certain lens concerning money. And here we are today, the monetary world collapsing. Don’t be fearful. From the ashes emerge great opportunities. Ponder upon priorities considering the world situation. What must (can) you do now? You’ll come to true answers.
PISCES: Things feel very complex. In your state of solitude all expectations are surfacing, informing you that they must be forgotten. Disappointments, sadnesses and unrealized hopes, leading to despair, can actually make us ill. It’s important to be aware of this. Then see a holistic doctor who does astrology with homeopathy. Deep, deeper to deepest layers will be uncovered. In safety. The new psychology.
