Wait … did our local daily just throw shade at the big boss?
When you think about it, though, it makes perfect sense. Sure, in her touching Editor’s Notebook piece profiling outgoing Editor Don Miller, the paper’s Managing Editor Kara Meyberg Guzman did touch on the uncomfortable topic. And yet, what made the mention surprisingly refreshing was the way she approached it—with a sense of optimism and acceptance.
“Many blame the hedge fund’s financial greed for gutting its newspapers’ budgets and staff, but Miller said that’s not the whole picture,” Guzman wrote, breaking down the recent history of ownership. “The newspaper chain the Sentinel belongs to had gone through a bankruptcy prior to the sale, and the hedge fund had to bail out MediaNews Group.”
We’re well into the 21st century, and everyone already knows that big corporations own most daily newspapers. It’s a fact of life, one that leaves some of America’s oldest institutions teetering somewhere between a local community’s public interest and the profit-sucking objectives of CEOs or their henchmen. So, counterintuitively, one could posit that the idea of plainly referring to the Sentinel’s ownership actually sounds like a surefire way to establish some credibility and win some of that all-important community’s trust.
The Watsonville-based radio station KPIG appears to understand this. They’ve been talking frankly about their ownership for years.
“We’re doing what we do. And they’re to do what they do, which is get their money,” says DJ John Sandidge, who explains that the owners know to keep their hands off programming. “They invested a lot of money, and their job is to get money back out. All corners are cut. Or were. There are no corners left.”
That kind of straight talk makes a listener want to turn up the volume, and it’s probably part of what helps KPIG outperform other stations. Which, of course, makes Mapleton more money. What the hell do they care what a DJ who calls himself “Sleepy John” is telling Santa Cruz locals?
Guzman’s honesty about Alden Global Capital came off that same way—at least to me—in her moving reflections on a paper going 161 years strong, and on Miller, the man who lead the operation for the past decade. Surely, no executive got their feelings hurt by that … right?
What’s interesting is that the story has disappeared from the internet. The link to the article has gone dead. No amount of googling or perusing the Sentinel’s website seems to be fruitful.
Is it possible that the story disappeared in some other way that doesn’t involve an administrator scrapping it?
Well, if the story simply got lost on the back end, the editors should have the power to repost it—something the Sentinel has done in the past.
Guzman tells us she can’t comment. Sentinel publisher Gary Omernick never got back to us, nor did Digital First Media, the part of the Alden news organization to which the Sentinel belongs.
Ken Doctor, a media expert based in Aptos who writes the blog Newsonomics, says readers generally expect a newspaper to be transparent about its own operations—especially because reporters are always sticking their noses into everyone else’s business. Still, he said it was “surprising” to see Alden’s shoutout in print.
“It didn’t surprise us that they pulled it in that way, because DFM is a very sensitive company,” says Doctor, a Sentinel subscriber, who enjoyed Guzman’s column and remembers it being well-received for its frankess. “They would say, ‘Why would we want to see our own write about us in print?’”
We hate to sound preachy, but journalism is a public service, especially with the meager wages reporters are making these days. And for a decent journalist, nothing is more important than their integrity and independence. Both are difficult to develop, especially once they’ve been compromised.
And yet, until someone explains what the heck happened with last month’s column, it looks like the Sentinel’s owners are placing their own ego above all else.
If Alden Global Capital is willing to erase their own local reporting, it may be difficult for us to read the Sentinel—or any Digital First Media paper—the same way.
Last October, just before Whiskey West was about to go on stage at Moe’s Alley, acoustic guitarist/singer Eric Winders was telling upright bassist Devon Pearse about a song about redneck hippies. Pearse responded: “Isn’t that what we are?”
They both laughed, but it’s kind of true. The four-piece band, which also includes Liz Smith on fiddle/vocals, and Steve Tatowicz on drums, plays a mix of traditional bluegrass and outlaw country, but there’s a healthy dash of Santa Cruz hippiedom in their laid-back vibe and breezy feel-good sound.
“We love that thing country music provides—we associate it with the redneck world. Real country music has a beautiful simplicity to it,” Winders says. “Also, I grew up with the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers. I think that influences us all to a certain degree.”
Whiskey West formed a couple of years ago, but had a different lineup. The current lineup came together last April, and clicked immediately. Since then, they’ve been gigging and having a good time, playing feel-good country dance music for folks in Santa Cruz. They’ll be releasing their debut EP at their upcoming Catalyst show. It’s got four originals and one traditional song.
“A lot of the music we play is about suffering, vengeance, drinking, and heartbreak,” says Winders. “We try to counter that by putting on a good fun show that will put smiles on people’s faces.”
Reggae and dancehall artist Junior Reid was frontman and lead vocalist for the legendary Jamaican group Black Uhuru for three albums, Brutal, Positive and Black Uhuru Live in New York. He’s also the vocalist behind the song “It’s Okay (One Blood),” a worldwide reggae anthem reminding listeners that wherever we come from, humans are all of one blood. On Feb. 10, Reid makes a much anticipated return to Moe’s Alley, along with his One Blood Band band. The evening includes performances by his sons Yung JR and Juju Reid. Also on the bill: Woven Roots and DJ Spleece.
INFO: 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $25/adv, $30/door. 479-1854. WANT TO GO? Go to santacruz.com/giveaways before 11 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 1 to find out how you could win a pair of tickets to the show.
Our picks for the best live music in Santa Cruz County for the week of January 24-30, 2018.
WEDNESDAY 1/24
METALCORE
CONVERGE
After its peak in the early-to-mid 2000s, “metalcore” has become something of a dirty word. That is, unless you’re talking about Converge. Since 1990, this Massachusetts band has torn down convention and experimented with the strange to create a fierce sound all their own. It’s an intricate blend of heavy metal and hardcore punk played in the controlled chaos of jazz theory, and brings together music aficionados from all walks of life. MAT WEIR
New Orleans is a hotbed of musical styles, including funk, jazz, R&B, soul, brass band and zydeco—and the New Orleans Suspects have a handle on all of them. An all-star outfit comprising “Mean” Willie Green of the Neville Brothers on drums, Jeff Watkins from the James Brown Band on saxophone, Jake Eckert of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band on guitar and vocals, CR Gruver of Polytoxic on keyboards and vocals, and Eric Vogel of the Nigel Hall Band on bass guitar, the Suspects play high-energy songs full of life, Crescent City soul and irresistible grooves. CJ
In 2003, former pro skater Tommy Guerrero had an unexpected hit with his third solo album Soul Food Taqueria. It’s a sample-based, chilled out collection of easy guitar melodies and laid-back beats. Guerrero spent the next 15 years creating equally experimental music veering into distinct territories like Latin, jazz, and alt-rock, while generally staying in the downtempo vibe. He’s teaming up with L.A. Jazz duo Mattson 2 to create some new, entirely interesting music. Considering that the duo worked with Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bundick last year to deliver a phenomenal record, hopes are high that this collab with Guerrero will blow a few minds. AC
INFO: 9 p.m. Michael’s on Main, 2591 S. Main St., Soquel. $25. 479-9777.
FRIDAY 1/26
SOUL
ORGONE
California soul band Orgone has a sound that pulls from ’60s and ’70s funk and groove styles, but the group adds a 21st century flair by infusing hip-hop and electronic elements. Hailing from Los Angeles, the eight-piece formed in the late-’90s and performed as a backing band for hip-hop groups. It made a splash on the pop music scene with a cover of “Funky Nassau” by the Beginning and the End. These days, the band takes center stage with an infectious blend of deep funk, Latin jazz, Afro-beat and blues originals, as well as a healthy dose of classic soul covers. CJ
Remember the Monkees, that ’60s band that was made for TV, that didn’t write their own songs, and didn’t even play their own instruments? That was the how the Monkees started, anyway. Eventually, the band took over songwriting duties, and showed that they weren’t just four pretty faces. Michael Nesmith was an extremely talented member of the group, having penned the hit “Mary, Mary,” among others. Post-Monkees, he wrote some more hit singles, like the top 40 “Joanne” for country-rockers First National Band. Nesmith coming through town is a rare treat that shouldn’t be missed. AC
INFO: 8:30 p.m. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $48.92/gen, $69.52/gold. 423-8209.
SATURDAY 1/27
HIP-HOP
JOYNER LUCAS
For three years, Joyner Lucas has been solidifying his name in the hip-hop world. With the “Ross Capicchioni” track off his 2015 mixtape, Along Came Joyner, he bewildered critics and fans alike. How many other artists can say their track made legendary lyricist Busta Rhymes exclaim that he was so amazed, “I can’t even put it into words”? Lucas released his fourth mixtape, 508-507-2209, last June, hitting number seven on the Billboard Heatseeker Albums chart, with three new singles going viral. MW
Music is a healing force. This is the credo of experimental New York group Sunwatchers. And considering how unhinged and dissonant the music is, you have to wonder a little about what they are healing if the antidote is songs by a wailing-saxophone-led avant-rock band. If you take the time to read the group’s long biography, it’s clear they’ve thought long and hard about this. Seeing themselves less as overt political commentators, they see the surreal, hard-edged instrumental music they play as an alternative form of communication, one that doesn’t rely on the trickery of words. Tapping into that magic is indeed a healing force. AC
A Los Angeles native with deep ties to the Monterey Bay area, Katie Thiroux is a triple threat, a rapidly rising bassist, composer and vocalist who’s earned distinction in all three pursuits. Her second album, 2017’s Off Beat, made several Top 10 lists, and she’s been growing by leaps and bounds as an accompanist with the likes of reed virtuoso Ken Peplowski and pianists Helen Sung, Tamir Hendelman and Eric Reed. ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: 7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $22/adv, $27/door. 427-2227.
TUESDAY 1/30
CELTIC
JIM MALCOLM
Dubbed the “ultimate Scots troubadour,” Jim Malcolm travels the world performing traditional and reworked Scottish ballads and folk songs, as well as his own original music. A master of his craft, Malcolm is a renowned vocalist, and an impressive fingerpicking guitarist and harmonica player. Considered one of the finest singers in Scotland, he has 10 albums under his belt and is a presence on the international Celtic scene. On Tuesday, Malcolm performs at a house concert in Soquel. The concert is presented by the Celtic Society of the Monterey Bay. CJ
Event highlights for the week of January 24, 2018.
Green Fix
Watsonville Wetlands Restoration
The Watsonville Wetlands are some of the largest and most abundant wetlands. They’re home to more than 220 species of birds, and countless other animals. Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of California’s wetlands have been destroyed or degraded. Every fourth Saturday presents a chance to pitch in for ours, with seasonal restoration work and time for birdwatching. Sturdy shoes, shade and reusable water bottles are recommended. All ages, no experience necessary.
Maryjo Koch doesn’t overlook the little things. When it comes to painting birds nests and honeybees, every little twig and hair matters. With acute attention to detail and precision, Koch is one of the world’s most accomplished naturalist painters around. Her hyperrealistic specimens are often found in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where Koch works. She has illustrated 18 books, and her work has been featured across the globe.
INFO: Wednesday, Jan. 24-Friday, March 16. Opening reception Wednesday, Jan. 24, 4-7 p.m. UCSC’s Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, 11 Cowell Service Road, Santa Cruz. 459-2953. cowell.ucsc.edu/smith-gallery. Free.
Urinetown is a critically acclaimed Broadway classic about, er, a town that doesn’t have private toilets. In an attempt to regulate water consumption, Urinetown has outlawed the use of private facilities, and people must use public, pay-per-use amenities owned and operated by Urine Good Company, a malevolent corporation run by the corrupt Caldwell B. Cladwell. Will Urinetown’s residents be ever be free to pee? There’s only one way to find out.
INFO: Shows at 2 and 7 p.m. Hawks’ Nest Theater at Mount Madonna School, 491 Summit Road, Mount Madonna. 408-847-2717. mmsurinetown.bpt.me. $16 adults, $11 18 and under.
Saturday 1/27
Laura Hecox Day
Honor the Museum of Natural History’s founder with a day of activities, including tidepooling and a beach clean-up. Hecox was the first Santa Cruz lightkeeper and a naturalist who shared her profound love of the environment and marine life with the world through her curated exhibits. Before passing away in 1916, Hecox donated her collections to the city; they became part of the Santa Cruz’s first public museum. Celebrate Hecox’s legacy while enjoying the beauty of our own rocky coast. Layers, comfortable shoes and reusable water bottles are recommended.
INFO: Beach cleanup 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Seabright Beach, intersection of East Cliff Drive and Mott Ave., Santa Cruz. To register contact vo*******@*************um.org. Free.
Guided tidepooling 1-2:30 p.m. 511 41st Ave., Santa Cruz. Pre-registration is required, register online at santacruzmuseum.org/public-programs. $10 general admission, $5 members, children free.
Are Zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Why do giraffes have blue tongues? And how on Earth did baboons get the best butts? Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom might have answers to these and many way more important questions. Their new presentation “Into Africa” captures the wonders of wild African landscape and wildlife. The lecture is based on Frans Lanting’s landmark photo exhibition of the same name, produced as a partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Society. Proceeds will benefit the marine science education and conservation programs at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.
INFO: 3 and 7 p.m. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. 459-3800. seymourcenter.ucsc.edu. $20/$45.
They say you have to know the past to know the future, and that’s true for music, as well. Santa Cruz Symphony’s “Songs of the Past, Present, and Future” features works from Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Michelle Bradley. After the intermission, Rimsky Korsakov rounds out the evening with “One Thousand and One Nights” inspired by Scheherazade and featuring concertmaster Nigel Armstrong.
INFO: 7:30-10 p.m. Jan. 27: Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. 420-5260.
2-4:40 p.m. Jan. 28: Henry J. Mello Center for the Performing Arts. 250 East Beach St., Watsonville. SantaCruzTickets.com. $29-$85.
Mary Maleta Wright had already proven herself a serious competitor on the Soquel High School cross country team when Melissa McConville joined their sophomore year, sparking a longtime friendship.
Since then, they’ve kept in touch—and kept running too, through pregnancies, moves to college and various careers. Wright ran on Division 1 teams at UCLA and Cornell University. McConville, who ran independently while at UC Santa Barbara, still competes in marathons. She’s also the creator of the popular she.is.beautiful race series, which takes place each year in both Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara.
Together, the two started shopping around for a running club a couple of years ago, but struggled to find the right fit.
“None of them really appealed to us. We were looking for something all-women,” McConville remembers. “We’ve run with men in the past. But there’s a different kind of energy, a camaraderie [with just women]. We both love men. We’re married to them. But men get egotistical when you’re beating them or running at the same pace as them.”
Gathering feedback from other runners, they launched their all-women team, which they called Arete, in 2016 with 20 members. The team has already grown to 80 members in Santa Cruz, with other chapters springing up around the Bay Area and beyond.
McConville can’t help feeling in awe of the club’s quick expansion. Less than two years in, she and Wright are already thinking about taking the club national.
“It’s huge. We had our first meet-up in spring of 2016. We had a goal, and it was an investment in time and money. We said we had a goal—that this would be worth it if we have 20 people,” Wright explains. “In 2017, we decided it would be worth it if we have 50 people. In 2017, we had 150 people.”
Some of the group’s secrets lie in its name—pronounced ahr-i-tey, a Greek word for virtue—that reflects the group’s philosophy. Michelle Kern, 53, who has been running with the group since its first year, sums up the meaning of the word as “Excellence in fulfillment, living up to one’s full potential.” The group’s runners believe that competitors must develop mind, body, and soul in order to achieve arete.
The idea of an all-women’s team for experienced and intermediate runners is a new one. Wright says the current national atmosphere—with sexual harassment grabbing headlines—may have fueled interest in building and seeking community. Women on the team who must run in the dark of early mornings to fit it into their schedules always run in a group of five or six and feel safer in the streets together.
Wright and McConville, both 32, each bring their own unique perspectives to the club. Wright, a certified running coach, is an expert in training, conditioning, and running techniques, whereas McConville is more plugged into the running community and trends.
More than 60 members competed in the recent California International Marathon held in Sacramento, with all top 10 Arete members finishing in under three hours and 20 minutes, a 7:37-per-mile pace. Included in that group was 62-year-old Karen Kunz from the Sacramento chapter, who set an age-group course record of 3:15:06. Becky Lavelle, 43, a former reserve on the U.S. Olympic triathlon team, ran a time of 2:56:55. That puts her within 12 minutes of the qualifying standard for the Olympic Trials.
Certain club members who’ve reluctantly moved away have since started Arete teams in other locations. Other supporters found the club online, mostly through Instagram, and there are now chapters in Santa Barbara, Oakland, Sacramento, and Chico.
Arete, which just surpassed 200 members, is having its Santa Cruz Season Launch Party this Saturday. Wright and McConville are up front about the club not being right for any rank beginner. “Must be able to run six miles continuously” is the requirement listed on the website, and there are race time levels, “Open,” “Intermediate” and “Advanced” for athletes to aspire to.
The joy of that aspiration is right there in the group’s name.
“It’s just the idea of making improvements in all aspects of your life,” McConville says, “while, still feeling grateful for where you are.”
Arete Women’s Running Club is holding its 2018 season launch party at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3, at New Brighton Middle School. There will be a fun run, complimentary coffee, brunch, physical therapy, and an info session. For more information, visit runarete.com.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter months of renovations, Motion Pacific Dance Studio welcomed hundreds of excited visitors on Jan. 17, 1998. They were asked to leave their shoes at the door, and a few pairs quickly turned into a mountain of hundreds of shoes. Those who couldn’t get in overflowed into the parking lot or peered in through the window.
“We had no idea how much interest it had generated,” Motion Pacific co-founder Molly Heaster said of the new studio. “When we had our grand opening, we had over 700 people show up. It was crazy. I was hiding in the office. We thought, ‘Oh god, our brand new sprung Canadian maple floors—we should have people not wear their shoes!’ It was unbelievable.”
Before opening, the building needed new bathrooms, showers and ceilings. Perhaps the most memorable renovation, Heaster says, was installing fire sprinklers, since it involved an entirely new waterline installation that spanned across the street.
“The city made us pay for it,” she remembers. “It was $17,000, and every time I pass that section I feel like that’s my waterline.”
Twenty years, two locations and a new waterline later, Motion Pacific has bloomed into much more than just a dance studio. It’s a community space. The studio offers more than 1,500 dance classes annually and more than 20 dance workshops while hosting annual events like Santa Cruz Dance Week, the Stockings Cabaret, the Incubator Project and the max10 performance laboratory to bring the community together around dance and dialogue.
After the All The Right Moves dance studio unexpectedly closed in the mid-’90s, many local dancers and performers were without work and a place to practice. Together, Heaster, Carmela Woll and Greg Favor opened Motion Pacific to fill the creative hole and provide a permanent place to embrace dance of all kinds, for all ages.
Motion Pacific has always been a dance melting pot. Even early on, the ambitious class schedule listed ballet, belly dancing, tap, jazz and, of course, hip-hop and breakdancing. Motion Pacific’s original building, now the Sherwin Williams paint store, was right next door to the Santa Cruz Dance Gallery—today known as the 418 Project. Together, Motion Pacific and the 418 were like a downtown dance hub, each establishing a rich legacy of dance and arts in Santa Cruz.
“Dance has the potential to push us to go deeper. It can provide us an opportunity to cultivate community engagement, self-reflection and expression, compassion and human connection,” says current Motion Pacific Director Abra Allan. “I believe that people feel that potential when they are in the studio, or in the street for Dance Week, and that’s what attracts people to Motion Pacific and keeps people coming back.”
Dropping the Boom
Motion Pacific was the foundation for much of the breakdancing and hip-hop movement in the ’90s. Local dancer and Motion Pacific instructor Gary Kendell founded the Boom Squad, a dance group made up of seven members (including Woll and Heaster) learning hip-hop and synchronized breakdancing—something not at all common at the time, especially for girls.
Motion Pacific dancer and instructor Melissa C. Wiley teaches youth classes. PHOTO: CRYSTAL BIRNS
“People understand hip-hop now as independent from what they did at that time,” Heaster says. “Back then, hip-hop was associated with a lot of negativity, and gangster rap. People would say, ‘Isn’t it promoting guns and violence?’ And we would say no, there’s a lot more to it than that.”
The Boom Squad performed around the Bay Area, frequently holding shows in Santa Cruz. They were wildly popular and won awards for their performances. Kendell left Motion Pacific and the Boom Squad a couple of years after it opened and went on to create the Jabbawockeez dance group before passing away in 2007. Many of the Boom Squad members went on to own their own studios, including David Bortnick, owner of Santa Cruz’s Pacific Arts Complex, and Ryan Curren, who owns Truckee Dance Factory.
True to the nature of Motion Pacific, Heaster says that there was also an educational and community aspect. There were often multiple other dance groups along with the Boom Squad, and Heaster recalls there being 13 different groups at one point, and members would often be part of more than one. She and other dancers would go to local schools, homeless children and women’s shelters and recovery centers to teach hip-hop and dance.
“One school we went to, there were weeks of parent protests and concerns and letters before we even got there,” Heaster recalls of the controversy around hip-hop in the late ’90s. “We went in and there were more parents and administrators in the room than there were children.”
Heaster says people were often surprised to learn about the positive message of their project.
“When we started the studio, we wanted a place to be able to dance, and I didn’t feel that hip-hop needed to be in a separate studio the way it had been,” Heaster says. “You’d find hip-hop classes in fitness studios and gyms, it wasn’t considered an art in the dance community. Now people understand that there are foundations just like in ballet and flamenco.”
The Bunheads and the Breakers
But Motion Pacific was founded as more than just a hip-hop dance studio. Heaster herself had been trained as a tap and ballet dancer, too, and the dozen or so teachers she hired came from various dance backgrounds and specialties.
“I remember sitting in the first staff meeting and looking around the circle and being so impressed with the teachers and faculty they had,” says longtime ballet teacher, studio manager and Motion Pacific board member Rebecca Blair. “There were hip-hop, yoga, fitness, tap, jazz, and ballet teachers. It was a full plate, they had a huge plan to have everything at this one studio and they were really pursuing that.”
She explained that not many places offered strong teachers and classes across a broad range of dance at that time. It was new to have one place with everything from a high level of ballet and technical street dance to fitness classes for all ages.
“Molly and Carmela said their dream was that the bunheads and the breakers would warm up together in the same lobby, and it happened,” Blair recalls. “Within a couple weeks, I’m in a lobby with people that I otherwise had no access to know. That was such a sweet opening in my life, and I feel a responsibility to pass that onto my students.”
Incubating Talent
Motion Pacific quickly gained a high profile locally for the neo-burlesque Stockings Holiday Cabaret and the Santa Cruz Dance Week parade events where hundreds of dancers and spectators dance in the streets of downtown Santa Cruz. When Heaster was still the owner of Motion Pacific, she says the company was best known for its annual anniversary shows every January. Renowned artists came out for these shows, like Blanche Brown’s Afro-Haitian group, Christy Hernandez’s tap dance group, and Ballet Folklórico de México. Motion Pacific dancers would also participate in holiday parades and dance at the start of the AIDS Walk each year, where they would wake and warm up participants on chilly mornings.
Molly Heaster (left) and Carmela Woll (right) founded Motion Pacific with Greg Favor in 1998 as a dance studio for all ages and experience levels.
With community roots in mind, the studio has amped up its approach to inclusivity and giving back, especially to young choreographers and performers. Within the last five years, the newest introductions of the Incubator Project and max10 performances have given dancers and artists the opportunity to push the envelope and experiment outside of their comfort zone.
“That’s really a lot of what we have been spending our time doing since,” Allan says. “Building and sustaining a thriving educational program while building as much presenting opportunity for our artists locally and regionally as we can.”
The Incubator Project is a biannual residency program that caters to new and emerging choreographers and gives early stage dancers the opportunity and support to create a large-scale professional show over several months.
“The Incubator Project enabled me to further develop ideas that I had and put them into practice in ways that I didn’t know where possible,” says former Motion Pacific dancer and teacher Eli Weinberg, who was also one of the first people selected for the Incubator Project when it began. “I didn’t quite understand how to be making work in the community outside of that educational school setting, so there was a lot of learning about how you make performance work in the real world. That was really profound, to have that kind of support coming out of college.”
Weinberg’s show, “This Land is My Land,” involved at least six months of work integrating music, theater and dance into an hour-long historically based show that drew hundreds.
“I found this woven community at Motion Pacific, and it didn’t feel like you were necessarily sacrificing any other opportunities or spaces to be there,” Weinberg says. “I had a rich history of people who were investing in dance-making and teaching over a long period of time, and it almost felt like you were a step in a larger generation of what was going on.”
Around the same time, Motion Pacific adopted max10, a series of 10 short, 10-minute shows aimed at experimental new work. The “performance laboratory” idea was created in Venice, California by local choreographers David King and Cid Pearlman and brought to Santa Cruz, where the triannual show is wildly popular.
“These are opportunities for people to come and express their Santa Cruzness, express themselves, and do that with the support and connection to the larger audience and community,” says Cabrillo College Dance Department Chair and former Motion Pacific board member David King. This is the type of show, he says, that makes Motion Pacific such a unique gem within Santa Cruz.
“There has never been a time when there has been a greater need, and recognition of what’s different about dance and physicality,” King says. “We live in a swipe right/left world, but when we are face-to-face and in the room sweating together, it’s a very different way, a much richer way, of being with each other than through screens.”
Changing Hands
Under the stress of annual rent increases, the start of the recession, and a decrease in class enrollment, Motion Pacific moved to the Arts Center on Center Street in 2008. Now the Actors’ Theatre location, it was the only place Heaster could find at the time. It was comparably much smaller and didn’t have a sprung floor. It was a temporary solution to their problems, but Motion Pacific lost some teachers and students because of it.
After the move, Heaster was the last of the three co-founders to bow out. She didn’t want the studio to close after 11 years, so she made a short list of people she trusted. Allan remembers getting a call from Heaster out of the blue, asking if she would take over Motion Pacific.
“I had no idea Molly was thinking about letting it go,” Allan says. “It was a pretty quick yes for me—it wasn’t on the phone call that I said yes; in my head I was like, ‘No, you cannot say yes immediately when somebody asks that.’”
Allan took over Motion Pacific as the owner and director in the fall of 2009. She made getting out of the temporary space an immediate priority, and began searching for new locations. After looking at a couple of other downtown spots, the current 4,000-square-foot space (originally a Yellow Cab storage building) in The Mill became available. Framed by auto body shops and car dealers, the industrial area and proximity to downtown was a perfect place to relocate.
“It was a monster project,” Allan says. “Start with the idea of what people say about a kitchen remodel and multiply it by 100.”
The new facility opened just over a year later in the spring of 2011. Allan also moved to have the company become a nonprofit organization, allowing for more contributed income and restructuring the organization of Motion Pacific to include a board of directors. The studio was able to operate previously under a fiscal sponsorship umbrella of Dancers Group San Francisco, though nonprofit status has since allowed them to move into their own fiscal support system.
Along with the financial shift, Allan envisioned the studio as a more performance based elements, since she says there was a definite lack of dance performances in town.
“Once we were at this facility, it became about starting to build and present programming,” Allan says. “There was a lot of discussions with my advisory board about presenting programs that supported artists at every level of their development, both people that had never performed and people that had been performing for decades.”
Staying Long Term
It’s no secret that rent and the high cost of living in Santa Cruz often drives out some of the best and brightest, and the dance community is no exception. The cost of living in Santa Cruz is more than double the national average, and Allan says Motion Pacific has lost many teachers and artists because of it. In the last five years of the Incubator Project, Allan says all of the participants have left town after completing their residency and relocated to begin a professional career.
“Of course our job is to incubate and support artists wherever they decide to go, and really the end game is to support artists to live and work here locally in Santa Cruz,” she says. “The cost of living is something that is discussed constantly.”
Interestingly, the cost of living hasn’t deterred other creative outlets from opening. Allan says that though the number of studios has gone up, the number of potential young dancers is going down because of the comparatively high cost of raising a family in Santa Cruz.
“Since we opened this space in 2011, we have had two new studios open within a mile and a half of us,” Allan says. “We are having to take that into consideration and find our niche while honoring our history.”
Though Santa Cruz is an expensive place to live, it’s also recognized as a creative hub of the Bay Area. Motion Pacific has always been a valuable resource for UCSC and Cabrillo dancers, since the performance options are more limited in college. Between Motion Pacific, the 418 Project, the Tannery and much more, Santa Cruz is an attractive creative destination, if you can afford it.
“We aren’t interested in just presenting dance,” Allan says. “We want the impact to be bigger.”
For more information about Motion Pacific, visit their website at motionpacific.com.
In celebration of 20 years, Motion Pacific will be announcing free community classes, family dance parties and special performances throughout the year.
Feb. 3 Scott Wells & Dancers
Feb. 22 max10
Feb. 23 E&C Dance
Feb. 25 Junior Company Solo Show
March 16, 17 Incubator Artists, OVA
April 19 Dance Week Kick Off
May 19 Spring Showcase at the Civic Auditorium
June 2 Teen and Junior Company Self Produced Show
July TBA.CabaGay—A benefit for Motion Pacific and the diversity center
[dropcap]J[/dropcap]ust weeks into cannabis legalization, Santa Cruz County’s dispensaries are licensed and open for business, and SC Labs is licensed to conduct the now state-required testing of all products for a roster of chemicals that will grow from 12 to 66 come July.
But without a license, growers and manufacturers can’t enter their product into a distributor’s inventory, and a slow trickle of temporary state licenses is just beginning to reach the small pool of cultivators and manufacturers who were in a position to apply.
As all await a new cannabis ordinance that may or may not be able to include them, there is talk among the industry that the environmental impact report, which cost taxpayers $451,689 and serves as the informational foundation of the ordinance, could be scrapped entirely—a hypothetical that County Supervisor John Leopold says is “too early to tell.”
A public meeting and panel discussion on the Future of Cannabis is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 24 at the Resource Center for Nonviolence—co-hosted by Cannabis Advocates Alliance, WAMM, the SC Veterans Alliance, and GreenTrade, a coalition seeking to promote an environmentally responsible cannabis trade in Santa Cruz County.
Next week, the county will hold two public meetings to present a path forward for the establishment of legalized cannabis cultivation and manufcaturing in the county. The meetings are 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31 on the fifth floor Board Chambers in the county Governmental Building and 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1 at the Felton Community Hall. At 9 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 5, the public is also invited to a meeting in which county staff will present its recommendations for the new ordinance to the Board of Supervisors.
Colin Disheroon of Santa Cruz Naturals, like many dispensary owners in the county, says he stocked up on product in anticipation of this interim period. But his inventory is quickly shrinking, and he’s disappointed by the selection and pricing offered by the now-mandatory distributors that have approached him.
“The cost of edibles has almost doubled,” he says, adding that the available flowers are of commercial grade quality—not ideal for a dispensary whose mission has been, for the last seven years, to prioritize organics.
“It’s a lot of monocrop product coming from big corporate greenhouse grows in Salinas Valley, and there’s a good amount of product coming from far Northern California,” says Disheroon. “There’s almost zero local product coming from local farmers.”
The issue, of course, is not that Santa Cruz farmers aren’t already growing a significant portion of the state’s cannabis—with many farmers priding themselves in high-quality and heirloom strains. The problem, rather, is that as of Jan. 1, the gray market that fueled dispensaries for years is now obsolete.
“It’s black and white again,” says Disheroon. “I know a number of growers—growers that we have been working with for years—who are saying that their only option is to turn to the black market to stay in business. I think that we’re going to see that the black market is going to be producing nicer, higher-quality product than the legal market, and it’s going to be cheaper because of all the taxes.”
Cloudy Futures
Although Leopold cautions that we’re only a few weeks into legalization, and the county is working hard on drafting an ordinance that brings folks into compliance, it’s clear that not everyone will be able to comply with the new regulations.
“I don’t think that there was any delusion by policy makers at the state or local level that pure legalization would eliminate a black market,” says County Supervisor Zach Friend. “There’s a black market in all kinds of legal things now. So, that doesn’t surprise me. And when you get the commercial players in, what you may see is actually some of the early players unable to sustain from a price standpoint just because of competition statewide.”
Adding to the uncertainties is U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ rescinding of the Obama-era Cole Memos earlier this month, which protected cannabis-legal states from federal interference. And just two weeks ago, the Board of Supervisors in California’s Calaveras County, which had its cannabis ordinance already in place, voted to ban commercial cannabis, giving growers 30 days to cease operations. The ban came after the county had collected more than $3 million in licensing fees, and more than $10 million in tax revenue.
Echoing a mounting distrust within the industry of the revenue-focused powers that be, Disheroon doesn’t mince words: “We’re heading down the same path,” he says.
Bottle Neck
Who survives—or at least who will have a shot at it—in the new era of regulated cannabis will largely be determined by the conditions of the county ordinance. The rules, as of yet, seem like they may suit large-scale greenhouse growers on the Pajaro Valley floor—many with no prior experience growing cannabis.
A bud of the indica-dominant strain Dos-Si-Dos, ideal for relaxation, for sale at Santa Cruz Naturals in Aptos. PHOTO: KEANA PARKER
County and state tax revenues will pour in regardless of who and where cannabis is grown, and anonymous sources within the industry fear a bureaucratic ban on rural cannabis—as several stipulations in the draft ordinance make it infeasible for rural commercial farms, like the ones in the hills and mountains, to continue legally. In an October Board of Supervisors meeting, the board confirmed that “somewhere around” $1.4 million of its estimated annual $2.5 million in tax revenue would be used for enforcement of noncompliant operations. Santa Cruz County’s Cannabis Licensing Manager Robin Bolster-Grant says there will be a transition time before enforcement begins.
“Our standards have always been that if you are doing something egregious, if you are hurting the environment, we care about the impacts,” she says. “If folks are doing what they’ve been doing, there’s going to be a transition time, just like the state has given folks six months before they’re really focusing on track and trace [laws].”
During 2016’s open season of registration, 760 applicants paid the $500 fee to register. In retrospect, many could have held on to that payment.As of print time, around 80 requests for letters of authorization, which show good standing with the county—a required accompaniment for temporary state license applications—had been filed, according to Bolster-Grant.
“It’s an extremely small number. I would have expected close to a thousand, if everybody who is truly involved in commercial cannabis production was trying to obtain the state license,” says Dan Peterson, who resigned after nine months from his position as cannabis licensing manager in June of 2017, citing ethical reasons.
“I felt that it was a disservice, and unethical to be accepting money from people for their applications to get a license, and additional monies to have their cultivation sites inspected as a pre-licensing inspection, when we didn’t even know what the rules were or how they could come into compliance,” says Peterson of his reasons for leaving. “When I started to do the digging, because my job was to figure out how these people were supposed to become compliant and then help them become compliant, I quickly realized it couldn’t be done.”
As of print time, 49 letters of authorization had gone out, resulting in roughly 110 temporary state licenses, says Bolster-Grant by email, noting that the disparity in numbers is because the state has more categories than the county.
Bolster-Grant notes that many of the initial 760 registrants were speculative—attorneys throwing their hats into the ring and never following through, for instance. Only about 150 continued the process and opened a Cannabis Business Tax—a prerequisite for seeking a state license made public in November of 2016. But the narrowed pool of potential licensed cannabis businesses could also signify that people are pulling up stakes and moving their cultivation or manufacturing businesses out of county, quitting entirely, or hanging back until the 11th hour to see if they can comply with the ordinance. Small mom-and-pop businesses may also still be working to raise enough money to request their letters of good standing, which require county fees of $2,500 for a pre-licensing inspection, as well as $800 for each letter—with manufacturers who also cultivate paying that fee twice.
The county says that it’s cleared up a permitting snafu that sent license-seekers, including its 14 dispensaries, back and forth between the planning department, which would not issue a permit without a license, and the licensing department, which would not issue a license without a building permit, but other disincentives exist in the draft ordinance that may make it hard for anyone not on ag land to pull a license.
“I think that there are a lot of obstacles for the folks in some of the more remote areas, and fire regulations could be one of those things,” says Bolster-Grant, “but if you look at the state regulations and what they are requiring in terms of energy conservation, water conservation, a whole host of other things, those things in combination with what we already have on the books about environmental protection will certainly make it difficult or not feasible for folks in the mountains.”
She adds that the authorization requests came from all areas of the county, and will be considered on a parcel-by-parcel basis. Totaling around 40,000 square feet, the pending plots average about 2,000 square feet and range from 540-square-foot specialty grows to large South County parcels of 20,000 or 30,000 square feet, including two family farms in the cut flower industry.
“From a regulator’s perspective, I want everyone to be regulated and do well, but from my perspective, the [ag] farmers may not be perfect stewards of the environment or with pesticides, but they at least know how to be regulated, and how to file the necessary applications, pesticide use, water use. It gives them an advantage, and there is less of a learning curve,” says Bolster-Grant.
Peterson notes that those in commercial ag land in Watsonville—who were not required to pay a registration fee—also have the advantage of capital, legal representation, and immunity from a myriad of permitting obstacles required of rural plots. Most problematic is a Factory Industrial, or F-1 fire code, which was addressed in public comments to the EIR. The code, which includes manufacturing of airplanes, electric generation plants and hemp-fiber products, does not apply to any other rural greenhouses or agricultural buildings in the county; California Fire Code groups wineries, orchards and other small farms in rural residential areas under Group U.
Unlike Group U, F-1 requires a holding tank of 120,000 gallons of water and a 20-foot access road—a dealbreaker for many in the mountains because, “You can’t build a 20 foot access road because you’re in timberland area which is regulated by Cal Fire and you can’t remove trees,” says Peterson.
“For those folks that can’t make a go with it, the regulations are just too onerous, we are looking at what are the alternatives, and how do we establish a pathway,” says Bolster-Grant. “We have learned from this industry that they are very creative. You find an obstacle and they find another way to do it. I suspect that we’ll see some pretty interesting ideas about how to use what they’ve learned over these years to figure out how to continue.”
Organic Gathering
One such creative idea brewing among the industry is to write a ballot initiative, something advocacy group Association for Standardized Cannabis (ASC) is actively discussing. The initiative’s goals would be to lower taxes and straighten out the process to allow a thriving economy—especially if the ordinance adopted by the county makes compliance infeasible for many. The general public is advised to speak with local dispensary owners for information on how to support such an initiative.
GreenTrade is focusing on elevating the Santa Cruz brand and appellation—a crucial move, says board member Christopher Carr, if Santa Cruz wants to survive in competition with large corporate grows in Salinas, Monterey and Humboldt. Carr has received his county letter of good standing for Grateful Gardens—a 5,000-square-foot garden on a family farm in the mountains—and is awaiting state approval.
“There are many bigger operators around the county—guys and girls, families, that are still holding out, and I’m hoping that if I can do this as a small farmer, and set the precedent and continue to try to educate and shed light, I would hope that our leaders can get behind that effort in good faith too,” says Carr.
Carr says the next action will be ensuring that Santa Cruz has a voice in Sacramento, to find a way to reduce the state’s 15 percent excise tax. At a local level, says Carr, “We just want to use what’s available to get things done—it’s a democracy, Santa Cruz can figure this out, Santa Cruz can organize.”
Updated 1:53 p.m., Jan. 25: County meetings previously uncomfirmed have been confirmed, with dates, times and locations detailed in the fouth paragraph.
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]mmersed in the art world from an early age, Ralph Joachim brings a historic legacy of abstract painting to bold artworks created in his tiny beach cottage studio at Pleasure Point.
Tall and lanky, with an easy smile and kind hands, Ralph Joachim is fully devoted to his lifelong passion—painting. Though his painting career was interrupted by his successful practice as a Bay Area attorney raising a large family, Joachim plunged back into studio work 20 years ago when he moved to Santa Cruz full-time.
“My father, grandmother, and uncle [the celebrated geometric abstractionist Ilya Bolotowsky] were all painters, so I grew up with painting in my blood,” he says, framed by a wall full of his bold canvases, on the eve of his 80th birthday. “Art was all around me, like breathing air. I’d been exposed to it for so long that it was only a question of developing my own work. And I also enjoyed good health and good fortune.”
“In painting geometric abstractions, I emphasize the universal elements of shape, design, color, and space relationships that are free from the limitations of realistic subject matter.” — Ralph Joachim
Admitting that he wanted to develop “some singular, expressive work,” Joachim early on turned away from figurative painting and began experimenting with precise, geometric abstractions himself. Starting with Mondrianesque grids of black and white, he began to explore more expressive angles and shapes with vibrant color accents. And those led to the large-scale, richly colored pieces he has exhibited recently at the Blitzer Gallery.
“In painting geometric abstractions, I emphasize the universal elements of shape, design, color, and space relationships that are free from the limitations of realistic subject matter,” he explains. As he leads me through his personal gallery and studio space, Joachim admits to aiming for something of a Platonic ideal of pure shape, “to explore the underlying geometry of nature, the beauty of pure physics.”
His large abstracts display the extreme discipline required to adhere to non-representational images. Think Mondrian and Kandinsky and you’ll have some idea of the rigorous color shapes Joachim explores, especially in his more recent circular panels. “Who knew that Home Depot would have these plywood rounds,” he says with a grin, as he points to recent studies, done—as is all of his work—in brilliant acrylic paint. Diagonals of yellow pierce slow curves of purple, white and black. “These need a very large wall,” he says, pointing to a lofty double triptych in black and white. “I envision a very large conclusion as I work, similar to a mural. I’m experimenting all the time—enjoying seeing where I can push abstraction.”
Joachim works solely in acrylics. “They’re fast-drying, and for geometric abstraction, that’s important. I can achieve perfect, flat volumes and edges. No uneven shading, that would interfere with the harmony. The volumes must be smooth and precise.” Plus, he says, “acrylic paint cleans up well.”
Confined by the size of his studio, he has designed large artworks made of many panels, “focusing on the whole.” The modular design allows him to create manageably sized pieces that ultimately fit together into monumental artworks with metaphysical themes, such as the Creation, space, and the universe.
“You can’t ever capture the Absolute,” he says, “but you can begin to approach visual insights that apply universally.”
Transfixed by the ocean just outside his double Dutch front door, Joachim is nothing if not persistent. “I’m willing to keep experimenting to create something original, and not let myself be distressed by individual failures,” he says.
Coming out West for law school, Joachim stayed and built his family, and now a satisfying art practice. “Art and nature are powerful connections,” he says, “and this is a beautiful place.”
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]here’s no shortage of dark and dreary songs in the canon of early American music. Tales of lost love, death, sickness, war, and despair run through roots genres, including bluegrass, blues, gospel and folk music.
Ryan Boldt grew up listening to these songs, soaking in the depth, beauty, sadness and hope inside them. Songwriter and frontman for Deep Dark Woods, an alternative country band from Saskatoon, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, Boldt was raised Mennonite. One of his core musical influences was his grandparents, who were in a group that performed country gospel music.
Though the songs he listened to tackled hard topics, Boldt doesn’t see them as being dark. Rather, he says, they provide an honest glimpse into people’s lives.
“It was just the way people wrote back then,” Boldt says. “Singing songs was a way to feel better, and a lot of the things people were singing about were their mother dying or their loved ones passing away. I don’t consider it darker, it’s just something people did.”
Boldt embraces that same tradition of tackling life’s hardships through song. His appreciation for early American traditional music started early and has only grown since his teen years, when he started writing in that style. In addition to folk music, he’s influenced by gospel, sacred harp singing, Anglican hymns and “that sort of thing.”
Boldt’s understanding of vintage roots is immediately apparent in his music. The Deep Dark Woods—which formed in 2005 and recently released its sixth album,Yarrow—embodies the timelessness of folk and roots traditions while infusing them with electric guitar, drums and a rugged, rock ’n’ roll flair. In a foundation of traditional styles, he finds an authenticity and structure.
Boldt’s appreciation of things crafted and real extends to his hobbies outside of music, as well. He is a stonemason and enthusiastic gardener, and is, as he explains, “obsessed with curing meat.”
“I grew up eating a lot of that sort of thing,” he says. “I became interested in how it was made and figured it out on my own. Now I just do it myself rather than buying meat at the supermarket.”
Boldt takes the same approach to writing songs as he does to any of his other crafts: learn how something is done and where it came from before you start doing it yourself. A self-acknowledged history buff, he’s interested in world history, the history of cooking and music history—including how to structure a song. He sees a clear connection between his hands-on hobbies and his music.
“I think it’s really important when you’re creating something to know how it’s made before you make it on your own,” he says. “Painters knew how to paint a classic painting. They went out and created their own style, but they knew the history of it.”
For Boldt, knowing the history of songwriting, and how a song is crafted, is vitally important to his own work and he advises other songwriters to study the craft before they take it up themselves.
“You have to know how it works,” he says. “It’s like any other trade—you need to know how to lay bricks before you lay them.”
On Yarrow, Boldt puts his understanding of song structure and music traditions to good use. The album is a quiet standout of the contemporary roots and alt-country landscape. It blends classic country, early rock grooves à la Roy Orbison, a Nick Cave-like moodiness, and a grungy folk sound infused with gothic macabre. The whole thing is topped by haunting background vocals by Kacy Anderson of folk duo Kacy & Clayton. Woven throughout the album, Anderson’s harmonies add depth and emotional complexity to Boldt’s already emotionally charged songs.
The album sees Boldt telling tales of murder, prison, floods, sickness, loss and heartache over reverby guitar. His smooth, crooning vocals seem to echo through from another time. It’s familiar territory for the artist, who admits he doesn’t know if he could sing happy songs—even while he doesn’t see his music as being dark.
“Even if the subject is about dying or losing someone, there’s never hopelessness in the songs,” he says. “There’s always a bit of hope in the songs I sing.”
The Deep Dark Woods will perform at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 28. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $12/adv, $15/door. 429-6994.
Event highlights for the week of January 24, 2018.
Green Fix
Watsonville Wetlands Restoration
The Watsonville Wetlands are some of the largest and most abundant wetlands. They’re home to more than 220 species of birds, and countless other animals. Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of California’s wetlands have been destroyed or degraded. Every fourth Saturday presents a chance to pitch in...
The Watsonville Wetlands are some of the largest and most abundant wetlands. They’re home to more than 220 species of birds, and countless other animals. Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of California’s wetlands have been destroyed or degraded. Every fourth Saturday presents a chance to pitch in for ours, with seasonal restoration work and time for birdwatching. Sturdy shoes, shade and reusable water bottles are recommended. All ages, no experience necessary. 
Maryjo Koch doesn’t overlook the little things. When it comes to painting birds nests and honeybees, every little twig and hair matters. With acute attention to detail and precision, Koch is one of the world’s most accomplished naturalist painters around. Her hyperrealistic specimens are often found in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where Koch works. She has illustrated 18 books, and her work has been featured across the globe. 
Urinetown
Honor the Museum of Natural History’s founder with a day of activities, including 
They say you have to know the past to know the future, and that’s true for music, as well. Santa Cruz Symphony’s “Songs of the Past, Present, and Future” features works from Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss and Michelle Bradley. After the intermission, Rimsky Korsakov rounds out the evening with “One Thousand and One Nights” inspired by Scheherazade and featuring concertmaster Nigel Armstrong. 
