Already garnering great guest feedback since opening last month, Poon Sup Thai Cuisine is owned by Myles Ritter and his wife and executive chef, Nongluk Ritter. Founding the restaurant to forge Nonglukโs long-time dream into reality, her lore began in Thailand where she learned to cook from a young age with her mom and then continued professionally after immigrating.
Mylesโ background is in construction and he is now learning the restaurant industry while supporting Nongluk at Poon Sup, defining the restaurantโs atmosphere as comfortable and thoroughly Thai with yellow walls, red accents and traditional dรฉcor.
He says their cuisine features fresh, cooked-to-order ingredients based on Nonglukโs generational family recipes combined with her own culinary creations. Myles starts the menuโs tour by highlighting apps like thinly-wrapped spring rolls, coconut-based tom kha soup and their chicken satay with a โwe sell tubs of itโ peanut sauce.
He says their top three-selling main dishes are classics: Pad Thai with sweet/sour tamarind sauce, raved-about pineapple fried rice and flat-noodled Pad See Ew. Mylesโ personal favorite, a dish he says Nongluk makes for him at home, is the deeply aromatic green curry fried rice with veggies and protein. Dessert stays classic with mango sticky rice and local ice cream, and beverage offerings boast Thai tea, coffee, boba and fresh-squeezed lemonade.
What inspired you to open Poon Sup?
MYLES RITTER: My wife loves to cook and make people happy. She worked around town at many other Thai restaurants; I was in awe of her talent and felt like she really deserved the opportunity to showcase not only her cooking ability, but also her passion for people. We found the perfect space here in Scotts Valley; weโve made it our own and have gotten amazing guest response. Weโve only been open about a month, but we look forward to continuing to serve the community.
What sets her cooking apart?
Iโd say that what people have been saying first and foremost is the quality, tenderness and freshness of the meats. Our beef is pink to the center, the chicken really takes on the infused flavors of the dishes and our seafood is extremely fresh and bursting with flavor. She really has had a passion for this since childhood and I feel itโs what she was born to do.
11 Camp Evers Lane, Scotts Valley, 831-201-4164; poonsupthai.com
MARINA CROUSE To say that singer Marina Crouse is a jazz musician is technically true. However, itโs also a vast understatement of her talents. This Bay Area musician can sing the poetry of jazz, the emotions of the blues and the romance of traditional Mexican boleros. Her 2022 album Canto de Mi Corazon (Song of my Heart) is a testament to that. Itโs her first all-Spanish album and it dares anyone with ears not to shed a tear at least once while listening. Itโs beautiful, sad, ecstatic, and timeless, much like the artist herself. This evening, be prepared for a true Bay Area gem. MAT WEIR
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $16-$32. 427-2227.
FRIDAY 8/14
HIP HOP
ATMOSPHERE When it comes to the underground hip hop greats, there are several lists one can compile, but all would include Atmosphere. Formed in 1996 by rapper Slug and DJ Ant in Minneapolis, Atmosphere has been dropping bars, knowledge and beats to hip hop lovers throughout the world. They were part of the original collective that would later form Rhymesayers record label, which would later sign acts like Living Legends, Murs, Aesop Rock, Brother Ali, Evidence, and Dilated Peoples. To see them is a blessing, but to see Atmosphere with the Bayโs The Pharcyde, DJ Abilities, Abstract Rude, and Plain Ole Bill is one night people will be talking about for years to come. MW
INFO: 6:30pm, Quarry Amphitheatre, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz. $56-$91. 459-4184.
THEATER
NEW WORKS WEEKEND Mountain Community Theater’s New Works Weekend is a celebration of local storytelling through eight original ten-minute plays. This year’s lineup spans comic farce, dark comedy, and supernatural romp, with writers tackling everything from a psychic radio show and the ghost of Mae West to an escaped memory care patient, a time-traveling surgeon, and Old King Cole’s throne room. Featured readers include MCT veterans Naomi Bowers, Tiffany Cesarin, Shireen Doyle, and Hannah Eckstein. Each performance is followed by a talkback with the writers, directors, and readers, offering a rare window into the craft behind the curtain. Goes until Aug 16. SHELLY NOVO
INFO: 8pm, Mountain Community Theatre, 9400 Mill St, Ben Lomond. $10. 336-4777.
SATURDAY 8/15
FOLK
THE MUSERS The Musers are the rascal Megan McLaughlin, bass sage Tom Kuhn, and lilting Leslie Jackson. Together they provide a safe space to get goofy. The Musers harken back to The Banana Slug String Band and even farther back to The New Zoo Revue. But instead of Freddie, Henrietta and Charlie, itโs Megan, Tom and Leslie. The Musers intentionally seek a playful level of songwriting and engagement with the audience. The Musers are a great palate cleanser, like a mouthful of lime sorbet to replace the banter of monkey chatter that takes up our days. Time to expand your joy with music. DNA
ANI DIFRANCO Ani DiFranco was indie before it was cool. The New York-born singer-songwriter was an independent artist before it was practical for most. But DiFranco has always done things her way, with artistic principle rather than profit as a foundational goal. Sheโs a hero to her legion of fans both for her outside-the-machinery approach to her art as well as her dedicated activism, and of course her emotionally direct lyrics. With two dozen studio albums (and even more live releases) to her credit, DiFranco has a deep catalog from which to draw at her lively, engaging shows. Valerie June opens. BILL KOPP
INFO: 8pm, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, 307 Church St., Santa Cruz. $68. 420-5260.
SUNDAY 8/16
SURF ROCK
TWIN FIN Surf rock traces its roots back to Southern California in the late โ50s and early 1960s. Country and western has a much lengthier pedigree. Honoluluโs Twin Fin draws proudly from both of those musical traditions, finding additional inspiration in pop of the โ60s and more modern sources like โ90s alternative rock. Combining those varied textures into an original blend, the group began releasing singles in 2022. A pair of EPs followed: 2023โs Bandaid and Saint of Summer in 2024. After that, it was back to singles, and in 2026 Twin Fin recorded another EP, the playfully titled Songs I Never Wrote. Circle Change opens. BK
BROKEN COMPASS JUBILEE Onstage, Broken Compass seems like they possibly arrived at the wrong gig. Theyโre too young, but from those first sweet notes you know youโre witnessing blossoming talent. Mix tradition with innovation and make it tight, tight, tight with harmonies and wicked pickinโ. This is a six-hour celebration with multiple bands, including locals Digginโ Trails who bring a raw, almost rockabilly style of bluegrass music that pairs perfectly with this afternoon of top-notch vibes. Locals Blue Dream Bluegrass provides a softer, dreamier sound between the fire and brimstone. Broken Compass is exquisite. DNA
APPRENTICE NIGHT As the latest show for the Santa Cruz Shakespeare Fringe Series, the acting and management apprentices will be putting on their own special performance! They will be showcasing their talents in a staged reading, which will center the show on the performers themselves and the dialogue rather than on costumes and set designs. The audience will be able to glimpse the potential of these hardworking, up-and-coming theater apprentices. It is an intimate performance that will enthrall the audience and show just what is possible when people allow their creativity to flow. ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
INFO: 7pm, The Audrey Stanley Grove at Delaveaga Park, 501 Upper Park Road, Santa Cruz, $15-$86. 460-6399.
TUESDAY 8/18
POETRY
KATE OโNEIL The depths of the soul, poured onto the page, and delivered as an offering, Kate OโNeilโs words are her soul-song. From the Connemara coasts to the Galway streets, OโNeil brings life to the ancient memories of trees, wells, and whistling winds. Verses trace the journey between loss and remembrance and parse the relationship between life and death. While some of her poems muse on lifeโs mysteries, a theme of commitment to a better world is highlighted throughout her works. An activist for social change since 1970, OโNeilโs work fans the eternal flame of resistance, hope, and bravery. SN
INFO: 7pm, Satori Arts, 815 Almar Unit 9, Santa Cruz. Free. 503-8441.
Scotts Valleyโs Enterprise Kitchen (100 Enterprise Way Suite G020, Scotts Valley) has another compelling concept doing to-go dinners.
Young mom-and-pop operators Marise and Daniel Malillos have launched Osso, which channels Filipino dishes they have loved their whole lifeโplot twist alert!โaccented by Italian techniques Daniel developed while attending culinary school in Italy and cheffing in Parma.
The menu includes chicken inasal, tapsilog, beef kaldereta, lumpia, tallow-fried wings and pancit inspired by spaghetti aglio e olio, with local produce, macro-friendly options and no seed oils.
โWe’re a Filipino-Italian kitchen that believes good food should connect, celebrate, and nourish,โ the Malillos write on their website. โWe cook the dishes we grew up withโrooted in the warmth of Filipino hospitality and an Italian love for seasonal, thoughtful ingredients.
โWe source with intention, cook with the seasons, leave out anything we wouldn’t want on our own table, and keep waste to a minimum. Every meal is prepared with care, made with real ingredients, and meant to be shared around a full, happy table.โ
Customers can order online by midnight Monday for Wednesday pickup, with individual dishes ranging $11 to $19.95 (and family-style options at higher price points), eatosso.com.
DOG DAYS
While weโre in the valley, the 2026 Scotts Valley Art, Wine & Beer Festival touches down 10amโ6pm Saturday, Aug. 15, and 10amโ5pm Sunday, Aug. 16, at Skypark (361 Kings Village Road). Thereโs plenty to recommend itโmore than 100 local artists, award-winning wineries, breweries and cideries, food trucks, a kids zone, live music and other performancesโbut my favorite element is the themes that uplift each day. Saturday stars a Cops โnโ Rodders Car Show and a wellness focus, while Sunday charms with a constellation of dog-focused vendors and organizationsโPS dogs are welcome throughout the weekendโincluding the angels of Peace of Mind Dog Rescue โre-living and re-lovingโ the hippie days of the 1960s with props and a photo booth for great photos of you and your dogs, svartfestival.com, peaceofminddogrescue.org.
GROWING CONCERN
Yesterday, Aug. 11, after this went to press, 100+ farmworkers, nurses, civil rights advocates and residents of Californiaโs ag communities rallied at the South Side Lawn of the State Capitol to generate attention around a legislative hearing to check whether the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is honoring its duty to protect public health and the environment. Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta was among those who spoke. Spoiler alert: The departmentโs coming up short, as California Labor Federation of Monterey Bay rep Cesar Lara observes. โDPR is not doing its job, and real people are paying the price,โ he says. โThey are farmworkers, children who live next to fields, and families across the San Joaquin Valley, the Central Coast, and rural California who breathe pesticide drift from fields every day.โ More at pesticidereform.org.
QUICK SIPS
Deep Park Wine & Spirits (783 Rio Del Mar Blvd #27, Aptos) continues its robustโand often freeโeducational tasting series with three consecutive complimentary 4-7pm Friday events Aug. 14, 21 and 27, deerparkwines.comโฆMidtown Fridays! Summer Block Party rumbles on 5-8:30pm TGIF style through the end of the month in all its free, live music-energized, food truck-fed, family-friendly community glory (1111 Soquel Ave.) organized by Event Santa Cruz, santacruz.orgโฆI came up with a new food word for upscale poke bowl spots: bespokรฉ, pronounced โbespokey,โ youโre welcomeโฆVictor Hugo, march us out: โNo army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.โ
Those labels and more have been used to describe Ani DiFranco. And with good reason: the 55-year-old singer-songwriter has forged a distinctive path through the world of music, arts and letters, resolutely doing things her way. Sheโs gained a legion of dedicated fans in the process. Ani DiFranco comes to the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on August 15.
Growing up in Buffalo, New York, DiFranco labored under many of the same assumptions as most aspiring artists: To have a job in music, she believed, you had to have a record deal.
โThat was the prevailing wisdom,โ she says.
With that in mind, she initially followed a traditional, well-worn path.
โWhen I was 15 or so, this fella came along; he wanted to be my manager and make me a star.โ DiFranco made a demo tape, and her manager shopped it to labels.
His efforts proved unsuccessful. Meanwhile, DiFranco was wising up.
โBy the time I exited my teen yearsโmaybe even beforeโI was finding my own perspective on things, including the music industry.โ
At a certain point, she asked herself, โWhy do I need a record deal? Screw that!โ She made 100 cassette copies of her demo and began selling them at her shows. There and then, Righteous BabeโDiFrancoโs own defiantly independent record labelโwas born.
โI started alone in the world with nobody backing me up,โ she says with a smile, โand I ended up thinking, โMaybe I should stay that way.โโ Some 36 years on, she still releases her albums via Righteous Babe; 2024โs Unprecendented Sh!t is her most recent.
Even in 1990, DiFranco was ahead of the curve.
At that point in history, six major labels controlled more than 90% of record sales worldwide. Today only three conglomerates exist; independent labels have increased their market share and are now responsible for about 45% of U.S. sales.
Many artists find that the supposed advantages of signing with one of the โbig threeโ are outweighed by the benefits of staying indie. So while DiFrancoโs motives have always been more about art than commerce, her strategy proved a prescient one.
โWe all have access to knowledge thatโs not โof time,โโ DiFranco says. So while she had no idea that being an indie artist would be a norm by the third decade of the 21st century, she suggests that the change was in the air even back in the early โ90s. โIt just shows me that any of us has access to knowing about the future when our awareness is really dilated.โ
DiFranco believes that the advantages of independence from the โindustryโ are many. In her view, the main upside is โnot having to do that icky dance of compromise, of trying to hold onto some sense of myself while I do what others think is the most salable thing.โ
She concedes that there are major advantages to having ready access to experts in music production, mixing, releasing and marketing, but the alternative to all that is maintaining control of oneโs creative journey and art. โAnd itโs all worked out,โ she says. โWhen youโre following your heart, your spleen or whatever organ is leading, the universe will collaborate.โ
In the years since crafting her debut record, DiFranco has released 21 studio albums of new material under her own name. She has also produced several albums for other artists, and contributed to various artistsโ collections and recordings by celebrated acts including Dr. John, Rising Appalachia and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
Along the way, DiFranco has also released a staggering number of live albums: nearly 30 to date. So while her studio releases are well crafted and critically praised, she gives the impression of preferring live performance over being holed up in a recording studio.
โWhat I do as a musician is all about being in the moment,โ she explains. โSharing music with people in a moment is the most exciting thing, because itโs an exchange, a conversationโeven though I have the microphone.โ
DiFranco says that going into a studio and โsinging to an imagined audience is not nearly as compelling.โ At their best, her many live releases succeed in capturing the vibe of that conversation.
Ani DiFrancoโs creative impulses have led her beyond writing and playing her own music. In 2004 and 2007 she published two volumes of original poetry, Self-evident: poesie e disegni and Verses.
In 2024 DiFranco returned with an inspiring book for children, Show Up and Vote. In March of this year she coauthored a collaborative work with Lauren Coyle Rosen. The Spirit of Ani: Reflections on Spirituality, Feminism, Music & Freedom is a personal deep dive into those big ideas.
In 2010, Anaรฏs Mitchell debuted her folk-opera concept album Hadestown; DiFranco portrayed Persephone in that project. And in 2024, DiFranco took to the Broadway stage, reprising the role for a nearly five-month run.
โIt kicked my ass so hard,โ she says with a laugh. โTheyโre very exacting.โ Yet she truly enjoyed the experience of applying her talents to the work of another artist. โThe only way I could have poured my energy into something that somebody else created is to believe as deeply in the work as I do.โ
And whether on record or in performance, Ani DiFranco brings that same commitment to her original music.
Ani DiFranco with Valerie June Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium Saturday, Aug. 15, 8pm$67.25
With a voice like rolling thunder and the fierceness to back it up, Derrick Lee Weeden unleashed theatrical lightning at Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s opening of Fences, August Wilson‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning spotlight on Black America in the mid-20th century. So seamlessly did Weeden climb into the towering role of Troy Maxson that we forgot we were watching an actor. We were watching the character himself. A former baseball player in the Negro leagues, the now over-the-hill Maxson is restless and angry, blaming all his failures on being Black. His sons have grown up, Lyons (ML Roberts) trying to score music gigs and always in need of money, and Cory (Iyanu Olukotun) hoping for a chance to play football despite his dad’s hostility. Long married to his practical wife Rose (Carolyn Ratteray), Maxson spends his weeks toiling as a garbage man, and his weekends down at the neighborhood bar with his buddy Bono (Michael J. Asberry).ย
But this is no sitcom, and nothing is simple. Things are coming unraveled for all of them, even Troy’s sweet damaged brother Gabriel (Avondina Wills), wounded during the war and now reduced to trying to sell produce from a hand basket while raving about his close relationship with Saint Peter.
When he’s not taking snorts from a pint of gin, Maxson attempts to enlist his youngest son in sawing lumber for a fence he’s building for his wife. Bono, who loves Maxson despite his flaws, warns: “Some people build fences to keep people out . . . and other people build fences to keep people in. Rose wants to hold on to you. She loves you.”
Opening night’s audience loved him too. Weeden, most recently seen with SCS as Gloucester in the 2023 King Lear, owns the role of Troy Maxson. Weeden makes us feel every mistake he’s ever made, every regret that eats him up and fuels his barely containable rage. The stage seems to bulge as he unburdens his heart in language of Shakespearean beauty (but a whole lot rougher!). He even rages against death. “Death ain’t nothing. I done seen him. Done wrassled with him… Death ain’t nothing but a fastball on the outside corner.”
Maxson isn’t a man we can simply love, hate, or even fully understand. He’s human, flawed, funny, tragic, and ultimately, thanks to Weeden and his magnificence, unforgettable. As his mistakes come tumbling out in Wilson’s musical dialogue, he falls back on, “I’m doing the best I can.” And he is doing the best he can. But he’s done it his way, full of love, bad luck, a kind of ethics, hard work, and regret.
Despite the challenge of sharing the stage with such a masterful leading player, there were many fine performances. As the streetwise best friend Bono, Michael J. Asberry is funny and deeply touching. Avondina Wills hits it out of the park as the sweet, loony brother Gabriel. As Rose, Carolyn Ratteray has some of the best lines ever written about what it’s like to sacrifice for the person whose hard work sustains your own. “I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams . . . and I buried them inside you,” she tells Troy. Yet I longed for some toughness and more variation in her stage presence.
Director Susan Dalian‘s production is thoughtful, smart, and flush with juicy stage business. Everything works. Except the way it ends. Wilson’s play should have ended with Scene 4 of the Second Act, after Troy’s monstrous, drunken elegy to everything he wanted and everything he didn’t get. Fastball in the outside corner. Weeden’s vocal virtuosity, his shambling bittersweet power, his caged-animal roar as he confronts deathโ that was the ending to this epic drama.
But Wilson doesn’t end it there. He continues with the family gathering at the old house for Troy’s funeral. Perhaps this coda of a family re-organizing itself was meant to reinforce the largeness of his absence. And Maxson’s absence was huge. But Maxson’s story was Derrick Lee Weeden’s show. Stagecraft just doesn’t get any better than this!
Kudos to Charles Pasternak for edgy and excruciatingly timely programming.
A new fence installed along the coastal bluff in Capitola is crumbling, a result of faulty installation. Local planning officials say the contractor will be reinstalling the fence in the coming weeks.
Built in late April and early May, the Capitola Bluff Fence Project is within a right-of-way owned by the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC).
The project is near a popular series of dirt bike jumps that officials removed after determining they were dangerous.
โIt’s not really an entertainment trail,โ says RTC director of capital projects Amin AbuAmara. โSo hopefully they will find another place for these bike jumps.โ
There is technically no trespassing on the right-of-way, since the RTC owns it, AbuAmara said.
However, since the makeshift path has been there so long, and is overlooking an unobstructed coastal view, the commission worked with the community to ensure any structures meet local regulations.
The project consists of 1,300 linear feet of wood-style pre-fabricated concrete fencing winding through coastal vegetation adjacent to Park Avenue from Grove Lane to the 850 Park Avenue condominiums.
The chosen colorโSequoia Sandโreplicates an enticing, authentic wood look and feel. The fence is designed not to block access, but โkind of guides the people away from the edges of the cliffs,โ AbuAmara said.
The project was proposed by the SCCRT and funded by Measure D, a comprehensive package of transportation initiatives passed in 2016.
While the fence is located within Capitola city limits, the property is part of the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, constructed and maintained by Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC), Capitola Public Works Director Jessica Kahn stated in an email.
The fence โwill be repaired when they get the material on site,โ said Vice Mayor Gerry Jensen, who serves as Capitolaโs RTC commissioner. โIt was either installed incorrectly or it was a manufacturer deficiency.โ
The RTC continues working with the manufacturer, supplier and contractor to repair the fence โat no cost to taxpayers, RTC or City of Capitola,โ Jensen said.
As director of capital projects, AbuAmara oversees this project for the RTC. โThis is a split-rail fence using concrete rail and posts,โ he said. โGenerally they are more durable than the wood split rail fencing.โ
The RTC selected Texas-based Hilltop Concrete to manufacture the precast fencing. โThere are limited manufacturers in the United States that do this specific type of installation, and they are subject to specifications like reinforcement in these units so they can withstand some loading,โ AbuAmara said.
Reliable manufacturers of the concrete split rail fence are so few in the United States that โyou can count them on your fingers,โ he said.
For public works contracts, agencies are prohibited from sole-sourcing materials by requiring a specific state or geographic brand to ensure bidding remains competitive, AbuAmara noted.
The RTC determined that concrete would be more durable and less maintenance than wood, but something happened during the manufacturing process to undermine the compressive strength of the cement, AbuAmara said.
Whether the mix had the wrong amount of water, the wrong time to cure or misplaced steel reinforcement bars, somewhere along the way of production, officials found that some of the rails have less compressive strength than the manufacturer promised.
Amara said the manufacturer will retrieve the batch number and test everything that is there. โThey will give us the product,โ he said. โThey are acknowledging some of these may be mistakes in manufacturing, especially the cracks or exposed reinforcement.โ
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Unfortunately, sometimes a project does not sit well with some members of the community, and the fence has been exposed to vandalism.
Working with the Coastal Commission, the RTC designed a path with both upper and lower trails in an effort to sustain exposure to ocean views, and โno trespassingโ signs near houses, but โOnce you pass that fence, you are exposed to danger,โ AbuAmara said. โThat fence was broken. They broke into the rails and just broke it down.โ
The project contractor BNO Construction and Hilltop Concrete have been cooperative, said Jensen.
โThey acknowledged that maybe there has been a mistake in the mix and they want to make it whole,โ he said. โIt is not definitive. We havenโt arrived at a consensus with the manufacturer yet.โ
DOES IT COST MORE THAN WOOD?
The fencing material is under warranty by the manufacturer with a contract value of $155,265, according to AbuAmara.
โWe will hopefully reach good solutions with the contractor and manufacturer,โ he said.
Although more expensive than wood, planners selected the material, a rebar framework surrounded by reinforced concrete, since it is typically more resilient and longer lasting than wood. In June, Jensen visited the site and climbed up the fence.
Sure enough, the cement boards broke.
โThe rebar placement might have been incorrect material,โ he said. โI appreciate the leadership of the RTC and how fast they jumped on it. It’s a thing that’s going to prevent some tragedy in the future.โ
The project is now awaiting new material, and fencing should be complete in the next four to six weeks, Jensen noted.
โConcrete is good in compression but in tension itโs weak. When it comes to tension like a beam hanging between two columns, you have to reinforce it,โ AbuAmara said.
As the sun went down on a late July Tuesday, Shanty Shack Brewing came to life. As the smell of beer, weed and paint fumes mingled through the air, artists of every stripe crowded picnic tables, trading inspiration and joints over the booming music.ย
Periodically, members of the audience would jump up to join for a freestyle rap, passing the mic across an increasingly crowded stage, while the audience cheered them on.
Artists worked on graffiti walls bordering the patio, covering old art with new pieces, accompanied by the music of instrumental hip-hop group The P$ycho-Nauts Collective, featuring trumpet and flugelhorn player Duhran Wilson.
โIt’s really amazing that they’re holding space there,โ says the band’s cellist and vocalist, Phil Cagan, 28, also known as ILL Phil. โIt’s a very, I’d say, like, sacred place of, you know, people coming together.โ
Artists need places like this, where they can just โjam and experience flow state together as a community,โ said freestyle rapper Michelle Leus, 31, better known on stage as Thug Shells, about her experience at Art Night.
โI remember what it was like for someone to give me a microphone for the first time, and how amazing it felt, knowing that that was going to be my career forever,โ added Leus, explaining that safe spaces like this give other artists that same opportunity.ย
Art Night is also a great way to connect with other artists and locals in Santa Cruz, and an opportunity to bounce ideas off of other artists and get to know different mediums, says artist Joyleen Torwan, 32, who also uses the artist name Jay_Tea.
โThe whole point is to encourage people to have a space to come paint,โ says one of the live artists of the night, Erika Rosendale, 39, who also goes by Miss Teal, who added that Art Night provides an environment for artists to have the opportunity to express themselves without the pressure to prove themselves.
โThis is a really open, inclusive environment, where sometimes the graffiti world isn’t necessarily that way,โ says Rosendale.
Visual artist and DJ Elijah Pfotenhauer, also known as Painted Ladder, brought the art night idea to brewery co-owners Nathan Van Zandt, 39, and Brandon Padilla, 40, a few years back and has helped to solidify Art Night as a community staple in Santa Cruzโs art and rap scene.
โHe’s always had this idea,โ says Van Zandt. โHe wanted an art night where artists could get together and talk about what they’re working on, and just kind of hang outโand you know, do some art.โ
Pfotenhauer, the artist behind the brewery’s logo (a grinning shack), has been friends with the local brewmasters throughout their Fern Street journey, trading ideas about art and beer. Throughout, Art Night had always been an idea in the 46-year-old artistโs mind.ย
Having been a part of art nights in the past, Pfotenhauer had noticed how surrounding himself with other people working, helped him focus.
โI wanted to just have somewhere to meet up with friends and draw and work on whatever,โ says Pfotenhauer. โIt just helps me to be around other people that are creating, you know, and so like gives me a little bit more inspiration or structure that I sometimes need.โ
Shanty Shack was the perfect place, not only does the brewery have a backyard like atmosphere, Pfotenhauer explained, but Padilla and Van Zandt are accommodating to creative ideas.
PAINT AND POUR Artist Joyleen Torwan poses in front of a work in progress at Shanty Shackโs Art Night. PHOTO: Gwyneth Holcombย
Artistry has always been a central tenet of the business, explains Padilla, while they consider beer making to be their art, and the business owners have also made it an aim to be dedicated to fostering artistry of all types. They also have a featured gallery wall to spotlight a different artist for the month.
โThe point of Shanty Shack is to bring up all these different creative people together,โ says Padilla. And โbeer is a nice open canvas for that kind of stuff, for people to meet and talk to each other, and have the different artists come and do their thing.โ
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Art Night took off, and since occurs nearly every Tuesday evening starting at 6pm.
I can always count on Art Night being something new, says Van Zandt. โIt keeps evolvingโkeeps getting better.โ
The evening usually begins a little quiet, starting at 6pm, and artists slowly trickle into the Harvey west patio to work on their craft. Occasionally musicians or DJs will come and share their art as well, taking the opportunity to display their talents.
Itโs also the day of the brewery’s only discount, Tie Dye Tuesday, where in-house beers and seltzers are $2 off for customers wearing tie dye.
Every other Tuesday night, from 8-10pm Art night transforms into an underground rap cypher, where local artists take turns freestyling, says Pfotenhauer, and the next cypher is planned for Aug 25.
It has โa little bit of this Burning Man spirit of like bring your, bring your own project to work on and see what happens,โ adds Padilla.
As the brewery approaches its 10-year anniversary this winter, Art Night has also come to serve another purpose, getting people in the doorโanother example of how businesses are getting creative to foster community, while fighting rising costs and declining sales.
โMost places in our industry have to struggle with Tuesdays just being a slow day, middle of the week, and, yeah, Elijah’s art night has been able to draw a crowd for us,โ says Padilla. โIf Elijah hadn’t been doing Art night, we likely wouldn’t be open on Tuesdays at all.โ
Due to rising expenses, the team at Shanty Shack has also shrunk over time. Currently Van Zandt and Padilla split the majority of the business rolesโthat previously were divided between a full staffโand Van Zandtโs wife assists with booking artists.
โCraft breweries in general are on the decline,โ says Van Zandt, โwhereas when we first started it, they were growing by double digits.โ
Art night has thus become part of the larger goal to also bring people into the brewery on a consistent basis, adds Van Zandt.
โThey wanna have awesome beer, awesome food and awesome music,โ says Van Zandt. โArt Night is one of the ways that we’ve been trying to have a community come together, because we need more people drinking beer.โ
In a Festival of Contemporary Music, the expectation that each new composition presented will be understood, embraced and appreciated by all is simply absurd.
The disruptors of the art-form were neither understood nor appreciated at first. Now we speak with great reverence of the riots which accompanied premieres of compositions by Stravinsky or Shostakovich. Who can forget the loud arguments against the โsimplistic, repetitive tonal styleโ of Philip Glass or Arvo Pรคrt? And yet today we appreciate the genius of all these composers ahead of their time.
As an avid consumer of contemporary music, I notice a trend โ especially in younger composers โ to meet certain expectations of their critics. We welcome, even expect composers today to write music fitting a stylistic mood of the post-modern world. But why should we limit our experiences to defined stylistic genres? Shouldnโt we embrace the stylistic multiverse the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music presents year after year? A Festival Orchestra capable of delivering a truly diverse array of musical styles with intensity, enthusiasm and commitment, surely represents the artistic integrity of our community.
So I ask again, what is the virtue of artistic freedom? If the core of everything we do at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music is the creative process, then the diversity of our programming is our true strength. As described by a concert attendee just before opening night – โyou will hear something you hate, and then you will hear something that changes your life, and it might even be in the same composition.โ
This is the Cabrillo Festivalโs vision for artistic freedom. It is an open minded, inclusive, collegial and supportive sandbox for creativity. It might lead to confrontational opinions, sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly. Yet if we approach it all with open hearts and open minds, it has the potential to change our lives. As one of the remaining bastions celebrating unadulterated artistic freedom, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music promises to keep all engaged, challenge the norm and break all expectations.
Cristian Mฤcelaru | Music Director and Conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
POSITIVE FEEDBACK FOR NEGATIVE REVIEW
Christina Watersโ scathing online critique of the featured composition on the first Saturday night of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music was a breath of fresh air in local cultural criticism.ย Its description fit what sounded to me like an exercise in stupefaction whose droning monotony was an insult to the audience and the kind of pretentious nonsense that gives “new musicโ a bad name.
If it had been amateur night there would be no reason to come down so hard on a beginning composer, but Cabrilloโs prestige as a venue for first-rate contemporary concert music is a standard that invites critical scrutiny. Waters has proved over the last 40 years to be Santa Cruz journalismโs most enthusiastic, serious, sharp-witted champion, profiler and critic of the artsโa vital role in any cultural communityโand the honesty and courage of her writing deserves to be saluted as a healthy contribution to our cultural discourse.
Santa Cruz and its artists in all forms and genres benefit from independent, intelligent, candid debate about the arts. Good Times deserves credit for publishing what was certain to be provocative. Bravo!
Stephen Kessler | Santa Cruz
AGING OUT IN SANTA CRUZ
Wow ,Bryanna Smithโs letter last week made me climb out of my easy chair, grab my cane and hobble to the computer to write this response! Iโm 77 and moved here when I was 7 and my husband was born and raised here. She thinks we boomers killed downtown, killed the art scene and made it impossible for artists to live here, plus we killed the potential for families to live here?
We still attend Open Studios and from what Iโve seen, those artists live here. We raised our kids here and our kids raised our grandkids here. As did most of our friends. We support live music and we and our friends are probably the old geezers you see having fun at Moeโs Alley, Abbottโs Square, The Ugly Mug, The Rio, Kuumbwa etc. To think that the โolder generation has seriously negatively impacted the city we grew up inโ tells me that Bryanna has more growing up to do.
Weโve got two controversial stories in this weekโs issue.
The first is the cover story, which is about the UCSC parking price hikes. When writers Sean Rusev and Roz Spafford proposed it, I figured it was a simple news story about a price raise, which is all too common these days.
But no.
They assured me there was way more to the story and there is. This is a story about a campus that is alienating students, who feel like they are being used as ATMs, handing over money at every turn. And itโs violating standards of listening to students, unions and faculty governing committees about what they want and need.
Finally, itโs a campus that is not being open with the press, even the student press, about what itโs doing. The administration and its public relations officer were not forthcoming about whatโs going on with impossibly high parking fees. Not coincidentally, we imagine, they made their changes over the summer when students werenโt around to be heard.
This is a powerful investigative read and an important story for the campus and those of us who want to visit it for events, schooling or jobs (itโs the countyโs biggest employer with some 8,500 workers).
We have another story about a crumbling cement wall in Capitola that writer Kristen McLaughlin compares to a certain reflecting pool.
Finally, the one thatโs already drawing heat is a negative review by arts critic Christina Waters of a performance at the Cabrillo Festival of New Music that she absolutely hated.
In the old days Good Times wouldnโt print a bad review, figuring that the paper would tell readers whatโs good and ignore the bad.
But, really, thereโs room for a critic to let people know what went wrong or what they should avoid. Musicians and producers benefit from hearing an objective voice critiquing their work. David Bowie once told me he needs to hear from outsiders because artists are surrounded by people who only praise what they do, no matter how bad it might be.
When I interviewed him he had read everything Iโd ever written about him and many other pieces Iโd written as well and gave me feedback. That was probably the best interview Iโd ever done.
It was with that in mind that I ran Christinaโs review this week in print. It had already run online and received some letters you will read below.
Can a writer and a paper have credibility if they only print positive reviews? Iโd love your answer to that.
Thanks for reading.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM A great photo can show us something we see every day and expose it differently, in all its glory! Photograph by Jo Koumouitzes
GOOD IDEA
Visitors have long come to the Scotts Valley Art, Wine & Beer Festival for live music, local artists, food and wine, but this year they’ll find something new woven into the celebration: Wellness Day, a free community event on Saturday, Aug. 15, at Skypark.
The new event is the result of a partnership between the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce and Therapy Works.
Wellness Day invites festivalgoers to pause between the art booths, live entertainment and local food vendors to explore practical ways to support their physical, emotional and mental well-being.
Wellness Day takes place Saturday, Aug. 15, 10am- 3pm during the Scotts Valley Art, Wine & Beer Festival at Skypark, Scotts Valley. Admission is free.
GOOD WORK
In 2026, California is the #7 best state for public education according to ConsumerAffairs, the journal of consumer research. It compared each stateโs public school system across four key categories of academic outcomes, school funding, higher education, and school safety to determine which states offer the best public education in the country.
The Golden State shines as the 2nd-best state for higher education with the most affordable two-year tuition at $1,438; the fourth highest college retention rate with 86.9% of first-year students returning for a second year; and an average of $1,910 in grant aid per student (10th highest in the country). Consumeraffairs.com for more.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
โMy teaching conditions are the studentsโ learning conditionsโ โPopular education motto
What are your must-see TV series, past and present?
SOPHIA
โAvatar: The Last Airbender, the animated series. The characters control the four elements. It taught me so much about life. I feel like everyone should watch it at least once. It makes me wiserโI love it. Now Iโm watching Peaky Blinders. Cillian Murphy is amazing, and I love the accents.โ Sophia Sebring, 20, UC Santa Cruz cognitive science major
SKYE
โI used to be obsessed with Lost. I loved that show so much. Itโs a really crazy story, partly supernatural, which is really fun. A plane crashes on an island, and the passengers have to survive. Now Iโve been watching House of the Dragon. Itโs amazing.โ Skye McNeal, 20, San Francisco State apparel design and merchandising major
CHLOE
โChowder was a surreal animated series on Cartoon Networkโall the characters are named after foodsโand I had a Chowder-themed birthday party when I was 11. I like Bobโs Burgers and The Walking Dead, but I donโt watch much television.โ Chloe Escobar, 20, UC Davis art history major
ASHLEY
โWhen I was a kid, it was Avatar: The Last Airbender. It was a series I could watch out of order and still follow the overarching story. It starts out kind of kid-like, but gets much deeper. Right now Iโm really into Bridgerton, set in Regency-era Britainโvery dramatic, but very great.โ Ashley Linder, 27, patient service representative, Sutter Health
CLAIRE
โI would say Rowan & Martinโs Laugh-In, with Ruth Buzzi, Goldie Hawn, Arte Johnson, Jo Anne Worley and Lily Tomlin. Now we watch Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry Davidโthatโs my favorite show.โ Claire Wirt, 65, music producer / concert promoter
SLAYDEN
โThe first thing that pops into my head is that I miss Thatโs So Raven. It was hilariousโthat was my favorite show growing up. Curb Your Enthusiasm is my go-to, or The Simpsons. I love The Simpsons!โ Slayden Wirt, 27, marine animal care
Chef Nongluk Ritter brings recipes rooted in her childhood in Thailand to Poon Sup Thai Cuisine, the new Scotts Valley restaurant she owns with husband Myles Ritter.
The Scotts Valley Art, Wine & Beer Festival brings food, drink and a weekend of dog-friendly fun to Skypark, while new Filipino-Italian kitchen Osso adds another flavor to Scotts Valley.
Ani DiFranco has spent more than three decades proving artists can succeed on their own terms. The indie trailblazer brings her fiercely independent spirit to the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium Aug. 15.
Derrick Lee Weeden delivers a thunderous, unforgettable performance as Troy Maxson in Santa Cruz Shakespeareโs production of August Wilsonโs Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences.
A new concrete safety fence along the Capitola bluff is already crumbling, and transportation officials say defective materials or faulty installation are likely to blame.
Shanty Shack Brewingโs Tuesday Art Night gives Santa Cruz painters, musicians, DJs and freestyle rappers a place to create, collaborate and find community over a beer.
This weekโs letters debate artistic freedom and Christina Watersโ scathing Cabrillo Festival review, while one longtime resident pushes back against criticism of Santa Cruzโs older generation.
Good Times editor Brad Kava weighs UCSCโs controversial parking hikes, questions about campus transparency and why honest criticismโeven a scathing reviewโis essential to credible journalism.
