Consensus on Homelessness?

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Men and women of all ages packed the Louden Nelson Community Center on May 8 for the standing-room-only first meeting of the Santa Cruz Coalition on Homelessness. Organized by members of the Warming Center Program (WCP), local religious organizations and community advocates for homeless rights, the meeting focused on the everyday struggles individuals have on the streets and what is being done to meet their needs.

“Emergency shelters have been providing to meet some of these needs,” explained WCP organizer Brent Adams. “But a lot of the funding has gone away.” For the last three years, the Warming Center Program has been an essential tool in the battle against homelessness, often providing safer and more accessible shelter than the federally funded programs, he said.

Coalition organizers informed the audience on what other communities are doing throughout the West Coast to help meet the basic needs that are falling through the systematic gaps. Coalition organizers argued that they can meet many of homeless people’s essential needs through innovative thinking, empathy for others and some creative financing.

“I’m a tightwad and I don’t just want to write out a check,” said Ron Powers, founder of Loads of Love. Based out of a van and fueled by a generator, Loads of Love is a mobile laundromat where individuals without shelter can clean their belongings and feel a little more human for an hour. Powers is an Apple employee, who uses the company’s philanthropy program to fund his endeavor.

“There are a lot of companies that have services where whatever you donate, they will match,” he explained.

The meeting happened around the same time that the city of Santa Cruz released its 20-point Homelessness Coordination Committee report, aiming to solve a lot of the same problems coalition members had discussed, including access to showers, charging stations, storage and emergency shelter.

The City Council unanimously adopted the report at its May 9 meeting. The council chose to prioritize certain efforts, including year-round shelter and mental health services, while looking for buy-in and collaboration from neighboring jurisdictions, as well as giving direction to explore “what a state of homeless emergency is,” and if it would have any impact on local services. MAT WEIR

Film Review: ‘Norman’

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It’s a trope as old as the movies—and Jewish culture in New York. Everybody has an uncle or an in-law who specializes in connecting people to other people who might be able to do each other a favor some time. It’s the thrill of adding people as the web of connections becomes more intricately tangled that makes these usually small-time operators feel like big shots.

But what would happen if somebody involved in this roundelay of minor obligations suddenly came into a position of real power? How would that reverberate throughout the web—especially for the webmaster who constructed the whole thing? That’s the question posed by Norman, a droll, offbeat dramatic comedy of truth and consequences written and directed by New York-born Israeli filmmaker Joseph Cedar. It stars Richard Gere as a dealmaking, old-school New York “fixer” who gets in way over his head.

We first meet Norman Oppenheimer (Gere) trying to jump-start some shady-sounding financial scheme. It’s a confusing way to start the movie, but the details of this particular scheme aren’t important; all that matters is seeing Norman in action. Against his better judgment, his nephew, Philip (Michael Sheen) supplies his wheedling uncle with one bit of information, which sends Norman to Central Park at the crack of dawn to stalk a financial investor (Dan Stevens) on his morning run.

Roaming the city streets in a snap-brim cap, long coat, and muffler, earbuds constantly plugged into his phone, Norman doesn’t seem to actually live anywhere; he’s always on the move, looking for his next opportunity. (His business card reads “Oppenheimer: Strategies.”) One afternoon, he buddies up to a minor Israeli diplomat, Micah Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi) that somebody in his web wants to meet. That meeting fails to happen, but in the course of the hour or so they spend together, Norman insists on buying Eschel an expensive pair of shoes. (Shoes that will “last longer than the government I serve,” sighs Eshel, referring to his beleaguered party back home.)

Yet three years later, Eshel has become the Prime Minister of Israel. To Norman’s amazement, Eshel remembers him fondly when he goes to the reception at the New York consulate, introducing Norman to so many influential people (conveyed in a swoony, dreamlike montage) that Norman has to whip out his ever-present yellow legal pad and scribble down all their names and who they know on his way home.

But fortunes rise and fall as truth becomes ever more complicated and elusive. Players in the unfolding drama include Alex (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who’s investigating possible corruption in Eshel’s ties to New York, and Rabbi Blumenthal (Steve Buscemi), leader of Norman’s synagogue, who needs Norman’s help when their temple is facing eviction. Suddenly Norman finds himself where he thought he’s always wanted to be—right in the middle—but not necessarily in a good way.

Gere is effective as Norman. Well-meaning, but annoying in his relentless drive to link people up (“It’s the third time in five minutes you’ve tried to introduce me to someone,” Alex tells him), he’s desperate to embroider any chance remark or random encounter into a fantasy of significance and personal relationships that does not actually exist. When Eshel’s people stop taking his calls, they decide to brand him as a “delusional name-dropper.” (Hmm, sound like anyone else we know in the public eye?)

Ashkenazi is terrific as Eshel—debonair and determined to embrace compromise to keep himself and his agenda afloat. (He starred in the fine 2001 Israeli drama Late Marriage, about a thirtysomething bachelor involved with a Moroccan divorcee whose parents are pressuring him to marry a virgin.)

Norman has some sharp, sly moments, but the pacing often unravels over two hours, especially when focus shifts to complicated Israeli politics. Filmmaker Cedar tries to jazz it up with split-screen and other busy techniques, but the story feels a bit hollow. As sympathetic as Gere often is, his character is written as an empty archetype, who can’t quite sustain the whole movie.


NORMAN

**1/2

With Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen, and Steve Buscemi. Written and directed by Joseph Cedar. A Sony Classics release. Rated PG-13. 118 minutes.

Friday Food Destination: Watsonville Farmers Market

On Friday afternoons, a mouth-watering array of dishes, regional cuisines and snacks from Latin American countries line two sides of the Watsonville City Plaza, which is crowded with cross-generational community members and lately, one North County food writer.

With so many enticing smells wafting down the corridor, it can be difficult to decide where to go first. When in doubt, I always look for the longest line as an indicator of impending deliciousness, which, on a recent, exceptionally warm spring day led me to a stall offering ice cold drinks.

The most popular option was the mangonada—almost every person in front of me was walking away with a cold, sunny drink of chopped mango and lime spiced generously with chili and finished with a straw rolled in tamarind powder and a healthy squirt of Tapatio. But the weather is hot enough without adding to the furnace, so I order a tejuino, a sugary cooler made from fermented corn. My straw slid through the shaved ice and I tasted sweet corn, lemon and brown sugar.

Thirst quenched, I peeked into the Oaxacan stall and saw a woman grilling masa, and ordered a mamela. The base of this snack is similar to a tortilla, but thicker, chewier and toasted from the grill. It’s topped with frijoles, the wonderful, mozzarella-like queso Oaxaca, and a few spoonfuls of pickled vegetables. For a dollar more, I add a 6-inch quesadilla filled with diced, slippery nopales.

Although I’m running out of hands, Noe’s Churros causes me to pause. I watch as a hand-operated machine pulls and cuts the dough into long, thin, ridged doughnuts and drops them into a huge bowl of hot oil, until they’re fried to a golden brown. $1.25 later, I walk away with dessert and mix with the rest of South County in the tree-studded plaza.


1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays at Watsonville City Plaza.

Zayante Vineyard’s 2012 Santa Cruz Mountains Zinfandel

This could be one of my last articles on Zayante Vineyard. Although an abundance of Zayante’s varietals are in wine stores and supermarkets right now, the winery is up for sale—so who knows what changes are afoot when the new owners come in?

Winery owners Kathleen Starkey-Nolton and Greg Nolton, along with winery co-owner Marion Nolten, have always made affordable wines, and the 2012 Santa Cruz Mountains Zinfandel is no exception. At just under $20, it’s worth the search to get some. Or head to Deluxe Foods in Aptos where the shelves are bursting at the seams with local wines, including those of Zayante Vineyard.

Zayante’s Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Zinfandel has earthy aromas of plum and strawberry jam—with a balance of fruit that leaves a lingering finish. The Noltens’ mission has always been to produce “the finest wines in California,” and they’re doing a stellar job.

The fascinating Zinfandel grape has many fans, and it’s always a sure-fire hit with anything barbecued—its typical peppery-jammy aromas and flavors adding lip-smacking spiciness.

After the devastating loss of their son three years ago in a motorcycle accident, Kathleen and Greg continued with the winery, producing their quality wine. But now they are moving on, and I wish them well for their future.

Zayante Vineyard, 420 Old Mount Road, Felton, 335-7992. Before you head to Zayante Vineyard, check zayantevineyards.com for opening times.


Route 1 Farms Summer Dinners

Route 1 Farms’ spectacular al fresco dinner events are coming right up.

June 25 is at Rancho del Oso with Chef Stephen Beaumier of Mutari Chocolate in Santa Cruz, and Richard Alfaro of Alfaro Family Vineyards as the featured winemaker.

Aug. 13 is at Rancho del Oso with Chef Jessica Yarr of Assembly in Santa Cruz, and Eric Stockwell of Stockwell Cellars.

Sept. 24 is at Ocean Street Extension with Chef Katherine Stern of La Posta in Santa Cruz and Denis Hoey of Odonata Wines. This dinner is sold out but you could request to be put on the waitlist.

Visit route1farms.com for more info.

Rob Brezsny Astrology May 17—23

 

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “A two-year-old kid is like using a blender, but you don’t have a top for it,” said comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Would you like to avoid a scenario like that, Aries? Would you prefer not to see what happens if your life has resemblances to turning on a topless blender that’s full of ingredients? Yes? Then please find the top and put it on! And if you can’t locate the proper top, use a dinner plate or newspaper or pizza box. OK? It’s not too late. Even if the blender is already spewing almond milk and banana fragments and protein powder all over the ceiling. Better late than never!

 

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): My pregnant friend Myrna is determined to avoid giving birth via Caesarean section. She believes that the best way for her son to enter the world is by him doing the hard work of squeezing through the narrow birth canal. That struggle will fortify his willpower and mobilize him to summon equally strenuous efforts in response to future challenges. It’s an interesting theory. I suggest you consider it as you contemplate how you’re going to get yourself reborn.

 

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I invite you to try the following meditation: Picture yourself filling garbage bags with stuff that reminds you of what you used to be and don’t want to be any more. Add anything that feels like decrepit emotional baggage or that serves as a worn-out psychological crutch. When you’ve gathered up all the props and accessories that demoralize you, imagine yourself going to a beach where you build a big bonfire and hurl your mess into the flames. As you dance around the conflagration, exorcise the voices in your head that tell you boring stories about yourself. Sing songs that have as much power to relieve and release you as a spectacular orgasm.

 

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In normal times, your guardian animal ally might be the turtle, crab, seahorse, or manta ray. But in the next three weeks, it’s the cockroach. This unfairly maligned creature is legendary for its power to thrive in virtually any environment, and I think you will have a similar resourcefulness. Like the cockroach, you will do more than merely cope with awkward adventures and complicated transitions; you will flourish. One caution: It’s possible that your adaptability may bother people who are less flexible and enterprising than you. To keep that from being a problem, be empathetic as you help them adapt. (P.S. Your temporary animal ally is exceptionally well-groomed. Cockroaches clean themselves as much as cats do.)

 

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Lady Jane Grey was crowned Queen of England in July 1553, but she ruled for just nine days before being deposed. I invite you to think back to a time in your own past when victory was short-lived. Maybe you accomplished a gratifying feat after an arduous struggle, only to have it quickly eclipsed by a twist of fate. Perhaps you finally made it into the limelight but then lost your audience to a distracting brouhaha. But here’s the good news: Whatever it was—a temporary triumph? incomplete success? nullified conquest?—you will soon have a chance to find redemption for it.

 

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): While shopping at a funky yard sale, I found the torn-off cover of a book titled You’re a Genius and I Can Prove It. Sadly, the rest of the book was not available. Later I searched for it in online bookstores, and found it was out of print. That’s unfortunate, because now would be an excellent time for you to peruse a text like this. Why? Because you need specific, detailed evidence of how unique and compelling you are—concrete data that will provide an antidote to your habitual self doubts and consecrate your growing sense of self-worth. Here’s what I suggest you do: Write an essay entitled “I’m an Interesting Character and Here’s the Proof.”

 

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Leonardo da Vinci wrote a bestiary, an odd little book in which he drew moral conclusions from the behavior of animals. One of his descriptions will be useful for you to contemplate in the near future. It was centered on what he called the “wild ass,” which we might refer to as an undomesticated donkey. Leonardo said that this beast, “going to the fountain to drink and finding the water muddy, is never too thirsty to wait until it becomes clear before satisfying himself.” That’s a useful fable to contemplate, Libra. Be patient as you go in search of what’s pure and clean and good for you. (The translation from the Italian is by Oliver Evans.)

 

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): My friend Allie works as a matchmaker. She has an instinctive skill at reading the potential chemistry between people. One of her key strategies is to urge her clients to write mission statements. “What would your ideal marriage look like?” she asks them. Once they have clarified what they want, the process of finding a mate seems to become easier and more fun. In accordance with the astrological omens, Scorpio, I suggest you try this exercise—even if you are already in a committed relationship. It’s an excellent time to get very specific about the inspired togetherness you’re willing to work hard to create.

 

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In ancient Greek myth, Tiresias was a prophet who could draw useful revelations by interpreting the singing of birds. Spirits of the dead helped him devise his prognostications, too. He was in constant demand for revelations about the future. But his greatest claim to fame was the fact that a goddess magically transformed himself into a woman for seven years. After that, he could speak with authority about how both genders experienced the world. This enhanced his wisdom immeasurably, adding to his oracular power. Are you interested in a less drastic but highly educational lesson, Sagittarius? Would you like to see life from a very different perspective from the one you’re accustomed to? It’s available to you if you want it.

 

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “You remind me of the parts of myself that I will never have a chance to meet,” writes poet Mariah Gordon-Dyke, addressing a lover. Have you ever felt like saying that to a beloved ally, Capricorn? If so, I have good news: You now have an opportunity to meet and greet parts of yourself that have previously been hidden from you—aspects of your deep soul that up until now you may only have caught glimpses of. Celebrate this homecoming!

 

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): I predict that you won’t be bitten by a dog or embarrassed by a stain or pounced on by a lawyer. Nor will you lose your keys or get yelled at by a friend or oversleep for a big appointment. On the contrary! I think you’ll be wise to expect the best. The following events are quite possible: You may be complimented by a person who’s in a position to help you. You could be invited into a place that had previously been off-limits. While eavesdropping, you might pick up a useful clue, and while daydreaming you could recover an important memory you’d lost. Good luck like this is even more likely to sweep into your life if you work on ripening the most immature part of your personality.

 

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Time out. It’s intermission. Give yourself permission to be spacious and slow. Then, when you’re sweetly empty—this may take a few days—seek out experiences that appeal primarily to your wild and tender heart as opposed to your wild and jumpy mind. Just forget about the theories you believe in and the ideas you regard as central to your philosophy of life. Instead, work on developing brisk new approaches to your relationship with your feelings. Like what? Become more conscious of them, for example. Express gratitude for what they teach you. Boost your trust for their power to reveal what your mind sometimes hides from you.


Homework: Imagine what your life would be like if you even partially licked your worst fear. Describe this new world. freewillastrology.com.

As Above, So Below

The Sun and the planets shift about more than usual in the following days, which means more shifting about and activity on Earth. As the outer planets are contacted, we see signs of continued transformations in our world. Mercury and the Sun change signs this week. Mercury left risk-taking Aries and entered slow-moving, Taurus (Monday night), sign of the Art of Living.

On Saturday, Sun leaves Taurus (comfort) and enters Gemini, sign of the messenger instructing humanity in communication.

Friday (possible difficult day) things get all shook up due to interactions between Saturn/Uranus, Mars/Pluto and Venus/Jupiter. As above in the heavens, so below on Earth.

With Saturn trine Uranus (in fiery Sag and Aries), everything that is staid, unmovable, crystallized and locked into place is shocked into instability. Uranus doesn’t allow the old ways to hinder the new ways from forming. Uranus disrupts everything, allowing new rhythms to take shape.

With Mars/Pluto (Gemini/Capricorn), the old world comes tumbling down with a fury! Nothing seems to work. Messages (Gemini) are lost in the rubble.

With Venus opposite Jupiter (Aries/Libra), something new “over there somewhere (opposite us)” appears. We can’t comprehend it, so we ignore or destroy it. But Venus/Jupiter is benevolent, kind and expansive. They bring awareness, love and wisdom to our relationships. Eventually, we allow ourselves to see what new is being introduced. Gradually, we accept and integrate it. We always learn through conflict and chaos.

With Sun in Gemini we are more communicative, friendly, sociable, interested and curious to learn about everyone and everything. We gather information and share it. We listen to Blake Shelton’s music (Gemini Sun). And our hearts open. Why? Gemini distributes Ray 2 (Love/Wisdom) from a star in the Big Dipper.


ARIES: You may be dreaming more often, feeling more instinctive, sometimes confused, sensitive, inspired and insightful. Prayer, meditation, study, contemplation are good for you. They create compassion and a deeply caring way of being. When you find yourself in a group calling you to leadership to help create the future, the needed skills, tools and virtues appear. The new world is what you are to initiate.

 

TAURUS: You have one task now—a focus upon health. Tend to joints and bones and your heart, taking more calcium/magnesium, not allowing anxiety or stress, eating calming foods. Swimming in warm salt pools is recommended. Use practicality to care for yourself. You must choose daily—to be out and about socially, leading everyone into the future, or remaining at home, in the garden, building toward perfect health. Begin each day facing the early morning Sun. Eyes wide open.

 

GEMINI: Something revelatory happens between you and the world, you and work, and you and certain groups. You’re inspired, encouraged and guided. With careful study, years of preparation, and viewing the past in terms of cultivating your gifts, a spiritual pathway opens. Choices and commitments are more easily made, and gratitude settles in your heart. The next festival is the Gemini festival of Goodwill. Plan to participate.

 

CANCER: What have you been sensing, feeling and thinking of during these spring festivals? Do you feel you’re being introduced to new qualities within yourself, a new identity emerging? Do these days make you feel generous and at home? Is there a new reality or interest presenting itself? You want to participate fully. But you know it’s not quite the right timing. Are you gardening, redecorating, expanding your foundation? Love is close by.

 

LEO: You’re becoming more perceptive, intuitive and enlightened, and this affects those you work with. Someone, something (words, ideas, memories of someone in particular) will create a shift into greater and deeper awareness of how you have related in previous relationships. Your mind sorts through ideas of intimacy, money, sadness sometimes, and old dreams. Love is good, all the time, even when it hurts, which means you’re learning.

 

VIRGO: You will relate better with others, especially those close to you, if you offer love as unqualified and unconditional. This is something many of us need yet to learn. We don’t quite know how to love. But when we do so, we flourish and thrive and discover greater support and the needed guidance. Challenging others doesn’t work. Curiosity, listening, care and compassion do. They nourish all hearts.

 

LIBRA: Think, visualize and pray daily for all that you want and need your life to be. Include art, creativity and loving relationship partnerships. If you’re not sure of your needs, ask yourself each day, “What are my hopes, dreams and wishes? What are my abilities and gifts?” In the coming months, you become stronger, more resilient. Take cautionary care with money and resources. You need fishes in a fishbowl and an apricot canary.

 

SCORPIO: Use your resources and investments in terms of preparing for the future. Find a forward-thinking money manager. Think seriously about a new economy needing to unfold. It will look much different than our present one. Don’t speculate on the old economy. Consider precious metals. Study books on greenhouses and bio-shelters and the resources needed to create these environments. You then become forward thinking.

 

SAGITTARIUS: The planets are affecting your sense of self, your identity, your money, your family, home situation, creativity and possibilities in terms of relationships, partnerships, and for some, marriage. So many different realities pulsing about. Something kind and benevolent, something sacrificial and sad is remembered in your family. Are relatives and loved ones on your mind? Your remembering creates the needed relinquishment.

 

CAPRICORN: You’re thinking optimistically about doing something new about who you are in the world, your talents and gifts. You want to bring more grace, goodness, ease and beauty to your life and the life of humanity. You recognize everyone’s doing their very best, especially you, and you’re asking for more opportunities in the world. Begin writing (journaling) in earnest and even drawing how you want to serve the world. This is your next creative endeavor.

 

AQUARIUS: Money and resources are going through a definite change. You want adequate money in order to stabilize yourself in the future. This means more attention to the well-being of your finances. Don’t forget to always help others. When we serve others, our needs are always taken care of. The charts show a focus on home, past, present and future. Follow what calls to you. It loves you.

 

PISCES: Neptune in Pisces brings forth revelations and visions and, at times, confusion. Neptune blends many realities into one reality and specifics dissolve away. Be aware and observe this occurring. Neptune is not the planet of detail. It’s the planet of refinement, of parting the veils, of creative imagination and realms where dreams come true. Neptune transits can make us experience exhaustion. Magnesium, vitamins A, B and D3 help stabilize the body. Tend carefully to health in these times.

Preview: Kip Andersen on His Documentary ‘What the Health’

There’s a scene in the documentary Cowspiracy where director Kip Andersen charges into the lobby of the San Francisco Greenpeace office and asks the woman at the counter to see the program director. Andersen has been trying to get an appointment for two months, and wants to know why Greenpeace doesn’t focus on animal agriculture as the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenpeace’s PR person comes out to shoo him away, saying representatives will be in touch.

Cowspiracy, which got some star power from executive producer Leonardo DiCaprio, has become the most popular and arguably most controversial pro-vegan documentary of all time. That’s at least partially because Andersen doesn’t just take on the obvious targets: healthcare, pharmaceutical companies and factory farming. This is Greenpeace, after all—the same Greenpeace whose members routinely scale famous monuments to display climate change banners and put themselves in the path of whalers. But the former Boulder Creek resident is uncompromising, leaving no cow unturned—a man who, early in our interview, asks “Can you be an environmentalist and still eat meat?”

Andersen has taken the same confrontational approach with his follow-up, What the Health, in which he investigates the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries’ connection to our nation’s reliance on meat, dairy and processed food consumption. What the Health will be screened in Santa Cruz on May 17 followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker.

When you’re uncovering “one of the biggest health cover-ups in the history of mankind, how it got to be so, and what the solution is,” you’ve got to take risks, says Andersen of his scorch-earthed tactics.

He spent hundreds of hours researching, sending emails, making calls and showing up at American health nonprofits, only to have his questions ignored, he says. He claims the information he did find was tainted by questionable studies, media hype and political interference.

“It’s tough because with medical studies you have to dig really deep and go back to see how they were funded,” says Andersen. “A lot of times it’s like ‘Oh, that’s funded by the meat and dairy industry.”

Like the Siri-Tarino study, says Andersen, which was headed by Robert Krauss and sparked the “butter is back” craze in 2010 when it concluded that there was no significant evidence to connect saturated fat with an increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease, despite studies since 1965 saying the opposite.

When the study was repackaged and released in 2014, the chair of Harvard’s nutrition department called it “seriously misleading,” saying it contained “multiple errors and omissions,” and called for the paper to be retracted. Turns out, says Andersen, Krauss had been funded by the National Dairy Council since 1989, and received support from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Robert & Veronica Atkins Foundation (if you remember the Atkins Diet from the ’90s, it was pretty big on meat intake).

“That’s what they want: ‘doubt is our product,’” says Andersen, quoting the 1969 PR proposal from Brown & Williamson, a then-subsidiary of British American Tobacco, reviewing the state of the tobacco industry’s public relations and proposing next steps. “It’s formulated, it’s perfected. All you have to do is introduce doubt, and then people say ‘Oh well, I don’t know what to believe,’ and then move on with doing what they want to do.”

With the deep pockets and long-standing influence that these industries have, says Andersen, it’s no wonder that when we think protein, we think meat, and when we think calcium, we think milk.

A plant-based diet can offer those nutrients and more, he says, but it’s the combination of mass marketing, popular myths, and enough doubt to not know the difference that keeps people reaching for burgers instead of tofu, tempeh and seitan.

Cowspiracy has been called “vegan propaganda” by critics, who claim that it’s unrealistic to transition the global population to veganism, and that some of the facts used in the film were over-hyped. Andersen sighs.

“When Leonardo DiCaprio came on board, we had two of his lawyers down our throats for 10 months making sure we had every single fact sourced, at least one or two sources,” says Andersen. “It’s all his image—he’s worth, what, a billion dollars? It is the most lock solid.”

He’s also responding to the backlash surrounding the 2006 UN study cited in Cowspiracy, which states that 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions comes from meat production. In 2010, a UC Davis researcher criticized the study’s methodology, calling the numbers into question.

When asked if he’d wished they had included a bit of that controversy in the film, Andersen says yes—there is a long footnote on the website’s fact page—but he claims that the number should actually be far higher, not lower.

“If you talk to someone who truly does not have any affiliation with the meat and dairy industry—which those FAO numbers do,” he says, referring to the 18 percent, “Then the number is anywhere from 35 to 51 percent.”

Andersen’s referring to the Worldwatch “Livestock and Climate Change” report, which asserts that the 2006 UN number should be something closer to 51 percent.

But the hullabaloo doesn’t matter to him, says Andersen, because at screenings across the globe, he’s met receptive audiences.

“We’re in a paradigm shift, I feel, as a human species,” says Andersen. “Everybody really wants to know what’s going on—they’re hungry for it—to realize that we can know the truth and move on, not rely on these powers that be and cross our fingers that they’re telling the truth.”


Info: 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 17. Nickelodeon Theatre, 210 Lincoln St., Santa Cruz. Tickets available at the door 6-6:30 p.m. and online. 722-3253. tugg.com. $10.

What the Health is also available for download at whatthehealthfilm.com.   

Santa Cruz American Music Festival’s 2017 Lineup

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The all-woman bluegrass barbershop trio Baskery opens up the Santa Cruz American Music Festival at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 27, with an inventive sound anchored by an upright bassist and two multi-instrumentalists. The group busts out clever musical twists like banjo with heavy guitar distortion to give alt-country a fresh feel.

Next up is roots-rockers Record Company, best known for their 2016 hit “Off the Ground,” which leans heavily on guitarist Chris Vos’ bluesy slide.

The blues get into full swing after that with JJ Grey and Mofro, a Southern band pulling from influences as diverse as Otis Redding and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Grey’s charismatic, slightly guttural crooning may remind audiences of the late Joe Cocker, who actually co-headlined the festival (then called the Santa Cruz Blues Festival) in 2009 with B.B King.

Next, rock legend Stephen Stills will take the stage with the Rides, a blues outfit that features keyboardist Barry Goldberg and guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd. The group’s second studio album, “Pierced Arrow,” came out last year, although in concert Stills pulls out throwbacks like Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” the anti-war song he wrote 40 years ago. Melissa Etheridge (see main story) comes out last to finish a Saturday afternoon of rocking music.

Devil Makes Three Santa Cruz American Music Festival
POWER OF THREE The Devil Makes Three returns to Santa Cruz to headline the AMF on Sunday, May 28.

On Sunday, Barns Courtney’s voice rings with a timeless sound that is part pop star and part Robert Johnson. The English native guitar player, who grew up in Seattle, is up first Sunday to play viral online hits like “Glitter and Gold” and “Fire.” The Brothers Comatose, who hail from San Francisco, will take the stage with their upbeat, well-written bluegrass songs that drive forward with the energy of a steam engine.

After that comesbrothers, the Wood Brothers—guitarist Oliver and upright bassist Chris—who get deep into the roots of bluesy folk music. A couple years ago, multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix joined the group, sometimes playing his “shitar,” a beat-up acoustic with a bunch of percussive gizmos attached to it. The three harmonize beautifully.

A true highlight of the festival is 77-year-old Mavis Staples, who sang with the Staples Sisters on Stax Records, putting out hits like “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.” In her six-decade career, Staples has collaborated with Van Morrison, Billy Preston, Willie Nelson, Ry Cooder, Neko Case, Justin Vernon, Nick Cave, Ben Harper, Tune-Yards and Jeff Tweedy. The history of gospel, soul, pop, R&B and blues would not be the same without her.

Wrapping up the festival is the Devil Makes Three, the once local band that plays punk-infused bluegrass songs about religious themes, getting drunk and being messed up on drugs. That’s Santa Cruz music to raise your beer to. 


Update 05/17/17: A previous version of the article said that members of the Brothers Comatose are not brothers. Two of the band’s members are brothers. 

Melissa Etheridge’s Surprising Connection to Santa Cruz

Melissa Etheridge calls it “one of the finest beverages I’ve ever consumed.”

The two-time Grammy winner loves sipping on Know Label’s cannabis-infused wine, which is made with bud from the Santa Cruz Mountains to give tasters a full-body buzz.

“It’s pretty awesome,” says Etheridge, who’s bringing her Memphis blues sound to the Santa Cruz American Music Festival next weekend. Etheridge loved the beverage—technically called a tincture because it’s only sold medically—so much that she partnered with Santa Cruz resident Lisa Molyneux in the operation. Molyneux, who runs the Greenway Compassionate Relief delivery nonprofit, ferments the wine herself with grape juice she buys from a vintner friend in Santa Maria.

“People misunderstand. It’s not like an edible at all. You’re not going to get all messed up on it. It’s more like an awesome glass of wine that makes you feel really, really good,” Etheridge tells me, chuckling.

The Know Label wine is high in CBDs, but doesn’t contain any THC, so it isn’t psychoactive at all. The drink, which Greenway delivers, varies in price from $25 to $250, depending on the variety and bottle size.

Etheridge first became a vocal supporter of medical marijuana 12 years ago, after a bout with cancer. To this day, the card-carrying medical user says pot helps her cope with some of the gastrointestinal issues created by chemotherapy.

About a decade ago, Molyneux was on the lookout for celebrities who were brave enough to speak out on the benefits of medicinal cannabis.

Etheridge caught her attention, and Molyneux started going to meet-and-greets with the singer, giving her information about the industry—then more of a grassroots effort—and showing her how to get involved. For her part, Etheridge says she had already been hoping to join the movement. The two became friends after Molyneux purchased one of Etheridge’s guitars to benefit a breast cancer charity. They’ve cemented the bond over time, with Etheridge and her wife Linda Wallem often visiting Molyneux and her wife Syndy Reinecke, who co-own Greenway. Etheridge’s performance in Aptos Village Park on Saturday, May 27 will be her first gig in Santa Cruz County.

Now launching her own cannabis line, Etheridge hopes to help Molyneux re-open Greenway’s storefront dispensary, which closed in the fall of 2015 due to a combination of financial struggles, landlord disputes and zoning issues.

Melissa Etheridge Hollywood star
STAR POWER Melissa Etheridge got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011, a symbol of her success blending activist idealism with mainstream success.

Molyneux, a fellow cancer survivor, marvels at how her friend is unaffected by the spotlight. “She gets off the stage and can be making her kids pancakes,” Molyneux says. “It’s like, ‘Aren’t you the person who was just up there performing?”

For Etheridge fans, the music is not simply a collection of songs. Etheridge has built a relationship with listeners that goes both ways, and more than with most singers, Etheridge’s shows—and her whole catalog, really—sound like a conversation.

That’s a career trademark the singer shares with Bruce Springsteen, who Etheridge calls a “top five” influence on her.

“He’s going so strong still,” Etheridge says of the Boss. “That’s what I wanted. I didn’t need to have the huge hits. As Bruce told me, ‘Hits are fine, but what you really want is longevity. You want to remain relevant and be a voice for a people.’”

Etheridge found fame for impassioned tunes like “Come to My Window,” “I’m the Only One,” “I Want to Come Over,” and “Angels Would Fall.” She’s earned 15 Grammy nominations, and won twice. She also won the 2007 Oscar for best song for “I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore’s global warming film.

It’s easy to see what makes Etheridge such an effective activist. She does indeed seem unchanged by the spotlight, whether passionately belting out rock ballads to thousands of screaming fans or explaining to Dan Rather what it was like growing up a lesbian in the 1970s. That unassuming confidence makes her a powerful voice for the issues closest to her.

“When you don’t have another persona to try to maintain, you can just keep your truth and operate from there, so it definitely keeps you from going crazy, and is much easier to be yourself,” explains Etheridge, who grew up in Kansas. “All these places where you find me being an activist, they’re because they truly do affect my personal life. I’m an LGBT person. I’m a cannabis believer and consumer, and you’re going to find me pushing for that. And health and all those things are very personal to me. I’m able to put that out there. I’m from the Midwest, and I never thought about trying to be someone other than who I am. It’s much more enjoyable that way.”

Etheridge says “the next revolution” will be a rethinking of nutrition and what people do to their bodies by making bad food choices.

As my conversation with Etheridge winds down, I tell her about my favorite live television moment ever. I recall the 2005 Grammy Awards like they happened last night, with Etheridge, who’d just beaten breast cancer, walking onstage—her bald head glistening in the stage lights, her smile proudly beaming into the Staples Center crowd and her soulful alto voice screaming into the microphone. I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone look so alive.

Etheridge thanks me graciously and even starts getting choked up, which is rather incredible considering that she mentions a minute later that people still tell her pretty much the same thing I did about once a week.

Leading up until that night in 2005, Etheridge had hardly seen anyone other than close family for three months, and she had undergone a radiation treatment that morning, before going to the awards ceremony. Etheridge, a longtime Joplin fan, confesses that she would have been crushed if someone else had sung “Piece of My Heart” in her place. While planning her performance, Etheridge had considered, for about 30 seconds, wearing a wig, before reminding herself, “Good God, no. That’s so not me.” Clearly, she had no clue that her decision to perform—shiny head and all—would make her a source of inspiration among those suffering from cancer.

For all the confidence Etheridge showed striding across the stage, she says there was a moment immediately before when she was just hoping no one would make fun of her.

“I did not realize the social impact it was going to have,” she reflects. “Sometimes when you do things in a really personal way, just for yourself, they can end up impacting the whole world. Those are special moments you can’t plan.”


Santa Cruz American Music Festival is 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday, May 27, and Sunday, May 28, in Aptos Village Park. Tickets are $25-$1,000. Melissa Etheridge headlines Saturday afternoon. Visit santacruzamericanmusicfestival.com for more information.

Santa Cruz Tries Curbing Bird Poop Near Cowell Beach

Cowell Beach is famous for easy waves, gorgeous views of Santa Cruz and, unfortunately, being the “dirtiest beach in California.”

Heal the Bay, an environmental nonprofit based in Santa Monica, hands out the designation, annually ranking West Coast beaches according to the bacteria-richness of their waters. This year’s “Beach Bummer” rankings are due to arrive just before Memorial Day weekend, and city officials hope Cowell slides down the list. Their secret weapon: chicken wire. Lots and lots of it.

Water under the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf has grown cleaner, as the city of Santa Cruz and environmental nonprofits report a decline in bacteria levels following the installation of anti-pigeon fencing just above the shoreline. Though the fencing may have come too late to repair Cowell’s unfortunate rep this year, city officials and environmentalists remain cautiously optimistic about rankings in the upcoming report.

“We’ve made incredible progress toward determining the root cause behind these elevated bacteria levels,” says Vice Mayor David Terrazas, who’s been involved in cleaning up Cowell’s waters since it first appeared on the list. “I’d like to see us clean up whatever’s causing the issue, but also to get off Heal the Bay’s list entirely.”

Though Heal the Bay names Cowell and nearby Main Beach specifically, the wharf is the true bacterial epicenter, where levels are highest in shallow waters just below the beams. Walk 100 feet past the lifeguard tower, according to city staffers, and those results dissipate, with bacteria dropping to near-undetectable levels.

Cowell first landed on Heal the Bay’s report card in 2010, when it claimed second place among West Coast beaches whose waters exceeded state standards for bacterial counts. Cowell danced between first and second place in the intervening years, and has claimed the top spot since 2014.

That same year, members of local environmental nonprofits like the Sierra Club, Save the Waves and Surfrider Foundation partnered with the city and county of Santa Cruz to form the Cowell Beach Working Group, an organization dedicated to identifying and neutralizing the cause behind the high bacterial counts.

The group began by investigating a list of prospective polluters, from leaky sewers to animal waste left by dogs, birds and marine life. The lineup narrowed as the group tested hundreds of water samples over two and a half years, which revealed basically no traces whatsoever of human or dog DNA. That left one culprit: birds.

In 2016, the group installed fencing beneath the wharf, blocking pigeons from roosting and pooping into the water below. Nik Strong-Cvetich, executive director of Santa Cruz County’s own Saves the Waves, which works to conserve coastal ecosystems around the world, says the effect was immediate.

“When I first saw the results,” Strong-Cvetich says, “I thought, ‘Is there a mistake here?’”

When compared with the city’s 2015 water samples, just before the netting was installed, bacteria levels in 2016 initially dropped by more than half in late July, and continued declining through December. Save the Waves also reported a 50 percent drop in water samples that exceeded state standards.

“You could almost compare it to a car dropping from 60 to 10 miles per hour,” says Akin Babatola, the city’s environmental compliance manager. “That’s how sharp it was.”

Whether those changes will be reflected in Heal the Bay’s report is not guaranteed. Cowell’s spot on the report will be determined by water samples collected before the netting installation, which was completed in August of last year. Even then, Heal the Bay’s report is a comparison between several beaches, so Cowell could still earn first place if other beaches make greater strides in improving water quality.

“On a sanitary basis, the improvement is clear. We’ve made it,” said Akin Babatola. “On a relative basis, it’s not that easy.”

Progress aside, Babatola takes issue with the methods used to decide Heal the Bay’s rankings for dirtiest beaches. Coastal counties are legally required to routinely test bacterial levels in beach water samples. Heal the Bay relies on those results to decide their rankings.

Many areas, including Santa Cruz County, use a test called Colilert, which detects the presence of coliforms, generally a harmless type of bacteria that indicates the potential presence of viruses, parasites and disease-causing bacteria.

Babatola described the use of Colilert in this case as “flawed,” claiming the kit test tends to overestimate, as other microorganisms can falsely trigger the presence of coliforms. Colilert was originally designed to test drinking water, Babatola says, and thus doesn’t account for microorganisms found in ocean waters.

“You’re guaranteed to get a number higher than the true number of coliforms,” says Babatola, who presented his criticisms at a May 11 meeting for the Northern California Beach Water Quality Workgroup in Oakland.

Even using Colilert alone, bacterial counts still appear to be declining. But only testing throughout a full summer season—when bacteria levels reliably spike—will reveal the full extent of progress.

“If we can count them more accurately,” says Strong-Cvetich, “then I think we should go in that direction. But there’s progress being made on the overall bacteria count no matter how you count them.”

It may seem like it took an especially long time to get to the bottom of the issue, especially considering that Steve Peters, from the county’s Department of Environmental Health, told Santa Cruz Weekly five years ago that the causes of high bacteria levels were natural and may have included birds. Scott Collins, assistant to the city manager, says the process was a matter of investigating all possible contributors and ruling out the possibility of human contamination. Strong-Cvetich calls water quality “slow, arduous work.”

An independent technical advisory committee is reviewing the group’s testing methods and findings, and will recommend next steps early next year, Terrazas says. Until then, the group plans to continue modifying the netting to exclude birds that have figured out how to roost on and around it. Collins says they’ve joked about hiring a city falcon to deter persistent pigeons, just as the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club hired Rufus, a Harris Hawk, to scare off birds lingering around the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Strong-Cvetich suspects cases like Cowell’s will become more common as environmental agencies lose government funding. Just last month, the Trump administration proposed to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 31 percent.

“We might not be able to lean on the EPA to fund these types of things,” warns Strong-Cvetich. “If we want to solve environmental problems, it’s got to start locally, and it’s got to be collaborations between nonprofits and local government.”

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