Be Our Guest: Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy

0

 

Drummer Tommy Igoe’s range extends to jazz, rock, pop, Broadway and more. An award-winning artist who was chosen top jazz drummer of 2014 by Modern Drummer readers, Igoe splits his time between the Bay Area and the East Coast. His West Coast group, the Groove Conspiracy, consists of 15 Bay Area music veterans and features Santana vocalist Tony Lindsay and Drew Zingg, former lead guitarist for legendary rock band Steely Dan. On Jan. 30, Igoe and company pay tribute to Steely Dan with a performance covering the band’s entire catalog.


INFO: 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 30. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $27/adv, $32/door. 427-2227. WANT TO GO? Go to santacruz.com/giveaways before 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 23 to find out how you could win a pair of tickets to the show.

Love Your Local Band: Tsunami

0

Local rock group Tsunami plays lots of festivals and events, and they’ve gotten used to promoters asking them for a one-sentence description. What they’ve come up with is: “Out-the-gate, on-your-feet rock ’n’ roll band.”

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.

The group plays covers from the ’60s, ’70s, and sometimes ’80s. Danceability is important, and they like to add some surprises, like give a Carole King song a reggae flair. It’s tricky sometimes, but they feel like they’ve created something distinct.

“We try to keep it new. We rehearse a lot to bring in new material,” says singer Cynthia Larson. “We like the ’60s and ’70s; that’s kind of our era. Not too many bands go back that far. There are a lot of people that love that music.”

One thing they bring to the music is a never-ending fun spirit, not to mention lush harmonies. Three of the members of the group provide not just backing vocals, but lead.

“There’s three lead singers in the band. I’m one of them,” says Larson. “For us, it’s almost like another instrument in the band. We trade off vocals. There’s usually always some kind of harmony in there, sometimes three-part, sometimes just two-part. It definitely adds a whole other dimension.”


INFO: 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $10. 335-2800.

Why D-League Players Make Less than $30K

0

As they hunt for a playoff spot, the Santa Cruz Warriors are traveling this week to rainy Mississauga, Ontario, a suburb just outside Toronto, where the skies are forecast to be just above freezing.

Needless to say, the squad, led by young players like point guard Phil Pressey, isn’t there looking for vacation weather, but for wins in their two games as part of the D-League Showcase, the annual basketball summit.

Over the course of 22 games, sports writers and scouts will descend on the showcase or watch it over Facebook Live to get a close look at the athletes one step from the NBA—most of whom play on a salary of $19,000 a year. It’s a number that sounds low to casual fans of the Development League, which is owned by the NBA, even though players are getting paid more on average than they were last season. While out of town, they’ll also be getting a per diem for meals. That’s a usual for road trips, and one of the perks that come with the job—not the least of which is an opportunity to follow their dreams. Even if a player only gets called up to big leagues once during a whole season, he can more than double his salary during that 10-day contract.

Hopes and aspirations aside, this money is modest compared to what an ESPN news junkie might imagine.

“It’s still quite a paltry amount of money to make to be a professional athlete,” says Santa Cruz’s Adam Johnson, editor of D-League Digest, a blog that covers the organization.

Generally, fans and players sometimes offer vague ideas about how the league can improve. Some of the more candid Warrior players even mulled over salaries aloud at the team’s media day in November. Shooting guard Cameron Jones, who had spent a couple years playing overseas, said that although he was happy to be back in Santa Cruz, it was difficult talking himself into what he knew would be smaller paychecks than the ones he cashed when in Russia, Greece and Israel.

“The D-League has so much potential. The players are good, but the travel and the pay—the NBA can do better,” Jones said, before quickly acknowledging he isn’t exactly sure how he would make changes. All-Star Carmelo Anthony said in October that the league needs to “rebrand” and do a better job of developing talent.

In the D-League there are two salary tiers—$19,000 and $25,000. Until last season, there was an additional lower tier of just $13,000 that has since been eliminated, bumping up the salary cap of each team. The D-League, instead of individual teams, pays all player salaries.

Chris Murphy, president of the Santa Cruz Warriors, says that although it is true these players aren’t going to get rich while in the D-League, money doesn’t tell the whole story. The Santa Cruz Warriors, he notes, have free lodging at a hotel on Beach Street, across the road from the ocean. They get fed after games and are given a few free meals a week through partnerships with local restaurants, not to mention health insurance.

“I’m not trying to justify the amount that they get,” Murphy says. “They’re here for five and a half months. I think everyone looks at things as an annual salary, and everyone sees the type of money that the NBA players make, so everybody just assumes that everyone makes a lot of money.”

On a Friday January night, sitting in the front row of Kaiser Permanente Arena, Johnson is carefully taking notes on a fast-paced, physical game against the Grand Rapids Drive, while keeping an eye on Twitter and working on articles for his website, a hobby he devotes himself to when he isn’t selling medical supplies for work or spending time with his two young sons.

One possible way to increase salaries, as Johnson has written about for the Digest, would be for the players to unionize. It might require help from the National Basketball Players’ Association, which so far has shown only tepid interest, at least publicly, in getting too deeply involved.

Still, Johnson says that eliminating the lowest salary tier was a step in the right direction—so too are the two-way contracts that found their way into the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ union. The new agreement allows NBA teams to create two new roster spots for less developed players—the types who would normally get cut from teams—who will make closer to $70,000 a year and split their time between their NBA team and its D-League affiliate.

The D-League has been growing steadily, having added three teams during the past offseason, and now boasts 22 total, enough that more than two-thirds of NBA teams have a D-League affiliate. Johnson suggests, however, that if the league continues growing without increasing pay, the talent pool might begin to dwindle.

But once the league gets to 30 teams, and each NBA team has an affiliate, Johnson hypothesizes it will suddenly become plausible for teams to start contributing to their players’ salaries because each franchise is making the same investment—thereby creating bigger paydays.

“Then every team can contribute their portion toward the D-League if they have to increase their salaries,” he says. “Meaning once everyone’s bought in, it’s an equal share to everyone that’s donating. When you don’t have everyone buying in, then not everyone’s contributing the same amount.”

Murphy is skeptical of such a path, noting that, with the way the league is set up, an NBA team can nab a player on any D-League team at any time—provided they’re not already under contract with another NBA team—and sign them. It would be heart-wrenching, for instance, if the Santa Cruz Warriors pay good money to a talented young guard for months, only to have him signed suddenly by the Los Angeles Clippers. He adds the Warriors are part of the majority of D-League teams that are not profitable.

Murphy thinks the organization can stay competitive, provided it grows slowly. That, he feels, will give players who would otherwise make more money overseas the chance to see that they could have big role in the D-League and have a more direct path to the NBA.

That’s probably why players like Jones, who wrestled over whether or not to get a bigger paycheck overseas, often end up opting for the D-League route.

Alex Hamilton, who’s had some impressive games as the Warriors’ backup point guard, said in November that he originally didn’t want to go into the D-League, mostly because of the pay. “As time went on,” he continued. “I really started to think about it. It’s not all about the money. You really have to put yourself in the best situation for you to succeed and take a bigger step.”


For information on how to watch games online, visit dleague.nba.com.

MAH Collects Spoons for Sculpture

0

When we heard the museum was asking for cutlery, the mysteriously spooky Tom Waits spoken-word piece “What’s He Building in There?” came to mind.

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) staff announced on Friday, Jan. 13, that they are looking for … spoons. Not just any spoons—nay, that would hardly be artistic enough—but used spoons. Turns out it’s for a sculpture in the secret garden in the newly improved Abbott Square, which is scheduled to be unveiled this spring. Apparently, the art piece is inspired by Scotts Valley’s zany former Tree Circus, which once caught the attention of Ripley’s Believe it or Not, before many of the trees were sold, due to financial hardship, to a garden and amusement park in Gilroy, where some of them remain today. (Apparently, money does not grow on strangely shaped trees.)

The spoons will be strung together, as if to make long vines hanging from a canopy.

The museum is also still taking suggestions on what to do with the nearby and recently vacated Octagon. Applications for residency in the historic eight-sided building are due Sunday, Jan. 22.

Visit santacruzmah.org for more information.


STRIKE OUT

The J20 General Strike protesting the inauguration has finalized its schedule for Friday, Jan. 20, complete with teach-ins and workshops. “I’m really excited about the range,” says Andrew Smith, who’s been attending strike committee meetings. “We have UCSC grad students talking about securing and encrypting your phone, and we have people focusing on the mental health aspect.”

After an 11 a.m. march leaving from UCSC, workshops will go from 1:30 to 5 p.m. with venues like Sub Rosa, Santa Cruz Public Library and the Galleria. At 4 p.m. protestors at the clock tower will knock down a symbolic fake brick wall. 

Laughter Yoga Evaporates Stress

There are many counterintuitive things about laughter yoga. For one, you don’t need a yoga mat. “The word ‘yoga’ means union. That’s what we’re going to be doing tonight. We’re going to unite laughing with deep breathing,” says Carla H. Brown, a health and wellness expert and laughter and levity professional for the past 10 years. Wearing a satsuma-orange shirt and a beaming smile, Brown is leading the Wednesday evening laughter yoga class at the Tannery, which consists of a dozen or so attendees standing in a circle—some of them veterans, and some self-conscious virgins like myself.

You also don’t need a sense of humor: “The laughter is going to start off fake and simulated,” Brown tells us. “But it’s going to become contagious, because that just happens with humans.”

The point is to laugh for no reason at all other than because we can. And that’s exactly what we do for the next 45 minutes, as Brown leads us through various exercises that transform the group into children—or primates, really—doubling over in laughter as all of the cares and worries of daily life evaporate into guffaws, gesticulations and a wild, ridiculous display of silliness. Because, while the mind knows the difference between real and simulated laughter, the body doesn’t—and the physiological effects of an evening spent forcing laughter are immense. Most notably, it’s a powerful tool for mediating stress.

“In our world, we get a lot of cortisol, but we don’t always get to run or walk it off. So it continues to run in our system, and it keeps affecting us for a longer period of time,” says Alicia Kosman, a former hospice nurse and trained laughter leader for the past two years.

Indeed, the stress hormone cortisol is a known cause of many diseases, and a mounting body of evidence has shown laughter to decrease its levels in the body.

“When we are laughing, we’re also breathing,” says Brown. “And when we stress out, we stop breathing, we cut off our oxygen supply to our brain, we become stupid, we go into fight or flight, we release cortisol, which is also an aging hormone.” says Brown. When we laugh, blood flow increases—while stress constricts blood vessels—and feel-good chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin are released. Blood pressure is lowered after a good laugh, and the immune system gets a boost. We become present, alive, and connected with our bodies.

But even while no yoga poses are employed in laughter yoga, it’s a legitimate exercise.

“Ten minutes of deep belly laugh—they call it hearty belly laughter in the industry—is like 30 minutes on the rowing machine,” says Brown. Laughter also invigorates the internal organs, and maintains a healthy endothelium, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke. By the time we’ve reached the final savasana stage of deep relaxation—following a three-minute climax of straight laughter—lying on the floor, bathing in those feel-good chemicals, I am physically and emotionally spent.

“There’s a lot of people for whom the e-word, exercise, is loaded with shame and guilt. But if we can disguise it with something playful, they’re still getting the movement,” says Brown, noting that the practice has been excellent for seniors as well as for helping Parkinson’s sufferers relieve their pain.

Conceived by Madan Kataria, M.D., a physician in Mumbai, India, in 1995, laughter yoga as a “wellbeing workout” has expanded from just a few people in a park to an international phenomenon with thousands of social laughter clubs sprouting up in more than 65 countries. “The first time I tried it, I thought it was the stupidest thing I’d ever done,” says Brown. “I did it for 10 minutes, and it changed my entire day, but I still thought it was stupid.”
Now she’s at the forefront of a growing laughter yoga movement, locally and beyond, leading weekly classes at the Tannery, and bi-weekly sessions for women with cancer in WomenCARE, as well as multiple-week class series through Parks and Rec and trainings for corporations and businesses.

“It changed my life,” says Brown, who says her laughter practice helped her counter the stress of her life as a former perfectionist and control freak. “Your life is worth more than the stress that you give yourself and feed yourself every day—whether you’re in a career, or you’re parenting, or you’re caring for someone, or your own life is just filled with a ton of stress that you didn’t expect. In the long term, in five years, you will not remember the circumstance, but your body will. So the more that you invest your time and energy in cultivating joy and aliveness through things like laughter yoga, the more you can enjoy your life while we still have it.”


Brown will lead six-week laughter yoga series ‘Hardwire Happiness with Laughter Yoga’ ($88) at Louden Nelson Community Center, 5:30 p.m. on Thursdays beginning Jan. 26 and April 27; and ‘Laughter Meditation for Mindfulness’ ($98) beginning March 9. Brown leads regular classes at 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the Tannery ($10-13), at 12:30 p.m. on first and third Thursdays for members of WomenCARE (Free), and will be participating in the MAH’s Power Hour from 7-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 20. For more information visit Laughter Yoga Santa Cruz on Facebook, meetup.com/Santa-Cruz-Laughter-Yoga, or call Carla H. Brown at 806-392-5768.

Film Review: ‘Elle’

0

Paul Verhoeven knows a thing or two about sex and violence. The Dutch-born filmmaker, perpetrator of Basic Instinct and the notorious Showgirls, has made a career out of exploring our darker impulses—where they come from, where they lead, how they spill over into our everyday lives, and how they might filter down through the generations. All of these themes converge in Elle, Verhoeven’s intense drama of violation and vindication, featuring a typically poised-yet-fearless performance from Isabelle Huppert.

The film is scripted by David Birke, from the novel, Oh …, a contemporary French thriller by author Philippe Djian. After decades in Hollywood, Verhoeven returned to his Dutch roots a few years ago for the brilliant and intricate World War II thriller Black Book. In Elle, he is working for the first time in France, and in the French language. But nothing is lost in translation in this perverse morality play about perpetrators and targets, and the shifting lines between them.

Michele LeBlanc (Huppert) is the boss at a Paris company that produces popular, excessively violent fantasy video games. One night, she herself is violently raped by a masked intruder who breaks into her home. Reacting with what we think of as ridiculously French aplomb, she cleans up, takes a bath, orders take-out, and talks with her visiting grown son, Vincent (Jonas Bloquet). The next day, she has all the locks changed and the doors repaired, but she never goes to the police, or tells anyone—until she mentions it casually at dinner a few nights later, to the horror of her ex-husband, Richard (Charles Berling), her best friend and business partner, Anne (Anne Consigny), and Anne’s husband, Robert (Christian Berkel).

At work, we glimpse her dynamic with her young, mostly male employees, including one surly game designer who’s always clashing with her, and the nerdy one with a crush on her. Her daily routine also brings her into contact with the young stud hired for sex by her aging mother (Judith Magre), and the friendly young couple next door (Laurent Lafitte and Virginie Efira). As Michele stocks up on pepper spray and weaponry, it’s clear that she (and Verhoeven) are lining up potential suspects.

But Elle is far from the typical revenge melodrama. There are complications, beginning with the horrifically violent games on which Michele’s empire depends. (We see one early in the movie, in which a giant, many-tentacled monster brutalizes a human female.) Michele, herself, has a matter-of-fact approach to consensual sex. And a dark incident from Michele’s childhood gradually comes into play, involving her long-estranged father, for which she might be seeking absolution.

None of these factors (or all of them) may have anything to do with the crime done to Michele, but it sets up the context in which the psychological game of cat-and-mice plays out. Although not quite as innovative as the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo films, Elle echoes a similar view of damaged men acting out. As different as their personalities are, Richard and Robert are interchangeably ineffectual. Hapless Vincent is henpecked by his domineering girlfriend. Threatening texts and obscene digital images ramp up the stakes.

But there’s also a lot of wry, unexpected humor, with witty dialogue and droll observations. When Richard, who writes middling literary fiction, tries to pitch a scenario for Michele’s game company, she explains that her customers are the wrong demographic. “The demographic oblivious to quality,” he mutters.

Huppert has gotten a lot of buzz for her performance (and has already won a Golden Globe). One thing is the sheer stamina required: she’s onscreen in practically every frame, in a part far more rich and complex than most actresses ever get, especially over age 50. But Huppert never chews the scenery. In a part that’s decidedly not warm and cuddly, in an often disturbing film, it’s her subtlety, craft, presence, and her ability to surprise us—along with her almost supernatural cool—that keeps the viewer riveted.


ELLE

(***)

With Isabelle Huppert. Written by David Birke. Directed by Paul Verhoeven. A Sony Classics release. Rated R. 130 minutes. In French with English subtitles.

Chef Mazi on How To Cook Mushrooms

0

The Santa Cruz Mountains are flush with wild fungi, if you know where to look. And if you don’t, locally foraged mushrooms are also plentiful this time of year at natural food stores and farmers markets. Slowly simmered in a stew, coated in cream and twirled around your fork in a pasta dish or piled on top of homemade ramen, they are an earthy, satisfying component to almost any winter dish.

But how can a home cook be sure they’re doing right by these delicate forest blossoms? Texture is hugely impactful to the flavor, and seemingly easy to get wrong. I’ve seen many friends swear they detested mushrooms, only to pull a 180 when they were prepared by a skilled chef. With so many varieties available to locals, how should we be cooking them, and what are we doing wrong?

Chef Zachary Mazi of Ulterior is a foraging veteran and an authority on preparing wild fungi. He is currently working on a book on the art and science of cooking mushrooms, which will explore the nuances of different edible varieties. He advises, first, to not wash mushrooms until you’re ready to use them. Doing so degrades enzymes found in mushrooms, and they’ll begin to break down.

He also suggests cooking mushrooms on low heat. “The same enzymes that break these mushrooms down when washed also convert some of the molecules in the mushroom into the flavors we love. This is why drying them intensifies the flavor,” explains Mazi. “For that same reason, when cooking fresh mushrooms, the flavor will be intensified by slow and low heat first, as high heat denatures the enzymes.”

For particularly delicate varieties, like Black Trumpets (Craterellus cornucopioides), Mazi recommends drying them dirty, at which point they become more durable and can be rinsed in cold water and rehydrated in boiling water. Be sure to reserve the hydration liquor for sauces and soups!

He also recommends drying the delightful maple-flavored Candy Cap mushroom (Lactarius rubidus), which intensifies their sweetness. One can then makes an alcohol extract in rum or brandy to be used for baking, making simple syrups, and as a substitute for vanilla extract.

Cab Franc from Burrell School Vineyards

I was driving home from Anne Moulton’s memorial in Campbell and stopped at the Summit Store in Los Gatos to buy a bottle of Burrell School wine. Anne, who founded Burrell School Vineyards with her husband Dave Moulton, passed away recently and I wanted to pay a tribute to her by writing about their wine.

Curtis Cooke, the wine, spirits and craft-beer buyer at the Summit Store, helped me choose a bottle. It turned out he had also been to Anne’s memorial.  

Burrell School makes an excellent Cabernet Franc and their Estate Pichon Vineyard 2012 Cab Franc is no exception. It sells at the Summit Store for about $28–affordably priced for such a luscious wine. Dave Moulton says this is the eighth Cabernet Franc made from their Pichon Vineyard, located on the slopes of Mount Umunhum near Lexington Reservoir. It’s a “sleek, spicy wine,” as Moulton calls it, with red berry and cherry flavors. It pairs well with chicken, roast pork, pasta, meatballs in tomato sauce, and a variety of cheeses.

Burrell School’s tasting room will be open Saturday for the quarterly Passport event (see below), a golden opportunity to try their excellent wines.

All Moulton’s wines have a school theme in their names—in honor of the historic 1890 school house where he handcrafts distinctive wines—and this Cabernet Franc is called Extra Credit.

Burrell School Vineyards, 24060 Summit Road, Los Gatos, 408-353-6290, burrellschool.com.


Passport Wine Tasting

The first Passport event of 2017 is from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 21. The purchase of a Passport allows you a complimentary tasting at participating wineries. Visit scmwa.com for more info.


Hunter Hill Vineyards & Winery Still For Sale

The beautiful estate of Hunter Hill is up for sale for $2.3 million. On the books for some time now, the price includes the house, swimming pool, tasting room, vineyards, and all the wine-making equipment. Visit hunterhillwines.com to see the listing.

Waters of Life for Thirsty Humanity

The sun enters Aquarius Thursday afternoon right after Mars squares Saturn (a transit that can be a quite challenging—we move forward and are pulled back). Aquarius is the sign of humanity and of serving humanity in need. Friday is the inauguration of the new U.S. president. The president’s role is to serve the people. Aquarius (humanity) is the shadow side of Leo (the leader). All leaders are learning to lead, and learning how to have Will, Love and Intelligence in order to have Right Action. Leo’s counterpart is Aquarius, what Leo longs for. Aquarius is the future, and all Aquarians come from there.

Aquarius is the new age, culture and civilization. Aquarius, with Uranus, brings to humanity “all things news.” Aquarius and Uranus can shock us with the change, bringing forth things unexpected and revolutionary. Aquarius calls humanity to approach life from a group-oriented spiritual point of view. Aquarians have a great need for freedom, and the ability to serve others with Love/Wisdom (from Jupiter). This love is not romantic personal love, it’s a deep love for humanity. It’s the Knight’s quest for the Holy Grail, a “chalice filled with the waters of life gathered for thirsty humanity.”

Aquarius is a fixed sign which is a steadfast energy. This fixedness helps Aquarius to remain in the present, while also being aware of what’s ahead. Aquarians are the World Servers, the Water Bearers. The “water” is electrical energies from Uranus, which brings forth all things new. Astrology is both the language and tool of Aquarius. Astrology, an energetic scientific system of relationships, provides the waters of understanding to humanity. Here is the keynote of Aquarians: “Water of Life am I, poured forth for thirsty humanity.”


ARIES: You are working toward a goal (perhaps many), seeking accomplishment. You are able to hold great focus. You are your own leader and authority. You are ambitious and professional; your heart goes into your work. You enjoy recognition, success. You can have pride and arrogance. Pause a while. See where you’ve come from, and where you’re going. Help others along the way. Lift them up.

TAURUS: Your life endeavor is to understand the world. Looking over the horizon, you’re able to see what’s ahead. So you prepare, allowing no hindrances to stall progress. You’re proud of your abilities and great patience. You’re curious and want others to be curious, also. Alas, many aren’t. You’ve acquired vast knowledge, more than most. Now you hide away, under cover, in order to quietly help others. We see you.

GEMINI: You will soon realize you must go farther, wider, deeper into the ageless wisdom mysteries. You must finally accept that where you are may not be where you should be. You long to be somewhere else; a place that reflects your deep spiritual values. As you attune more to your heart, you discover that a change is needed for your spiritual growth to continue. The path of discipleship is not easy. You’re on it now. Keep moving forward.

CANCER: You attempt to bring harmony to relationships, hiding any disharmonious factors from the world. Sensitive to the slightest shift of energy, when rejection is in the air you scuttle beneath your shell in protection. It’s important to not protect others when their behavior has been harmful. It’s most important to seek out the truth and only the truth. Not one side. Otherwise you become separate, and lonely.

LEO: There are so many daily responsibilities that, at times, you feel overwhelmed by tasks large and small—serving, sharing and teaching others. Like Cancer, you’re sensitive, especially to criticism. Therefore, be not critical … ever. Soon the hard work and seeking of perfection will ease. You’ll meet crisis with determination and clear vision. Cultivate your gifts. They will be needed in the world.

VIRGO: Things we need to acknowledge for Virgo: you’re unique and special, dramatic and able to express yourself creatively. Your fun-loving side emerges … sometimes. When is that, again? You’re at times adventurous, risk-taking. Then you pull back. Combine Old World traditions with technology. Children are most important. At times you’re the child with an inner restlessness. You find your way.

LIBRA: There’s so much pride in what you’ve created—self-identity, profession, social network—a social yet private life. You protect yourself while building secure foundations, your own new family and a new heritage. Relationships, most important, teach you how to love, share, give, take and cooperate. One thought in all this building up-ness: don’t deny or reject your past. It contains the “jewel in the lotus.”

SCORPIO: Privacy is your keyword, your template, guide, amulet, talisman and good luck charm. Privacy protects, provides refuge (like the Buddha) and is your sangha (community). You protect your home, family, possessions, and personal life. Even your heritage is somewhat private. Privacy allows you to build a safe foundation from which you emerge into the world. But just for a while. We see you sometimes. We like you.

SAGITTARIUS: You need variation. You’re laughing. You sense restlessness, the need for a scene change. You’re proud of your gifts—intelligence, agility, friends, adaptation, strength, fluent communication, knowledge, curiosity, awareness of future trends, everyone knowing you while you remain unknowable. Talents and gifts equal responsibility. What and whom do you advocate for? Especially when so often you’re the star in the spotlight?

CAPRICORN: There’s an image, a “presence” you present to others. It makes an impression. Some embrace you for this, others don’t understand you. The rejection comes as a surprise, because you’re at your best when in the world—tending, serving, casting light on shadows. Some people are those shadows. When you’re nearby they must hide, turn away. Allow them. Bless them. That is the only way they can survive. They will change. Your character strengthens them.

AQUARIUS: There’s a need for introspection and seclusion for a time. Because you must gather strength, especially in the winter, directing all energies toward self-healing. While also in the world tending to worldly tasks. You feel often alone in a crowd, set apart from others. Aquarians are unusual; they hear a different drum beat. You’re not quite comfortable at this time, seeking the feeling of home.

PISCES: Your tolerance and openness, humanitarianism, sense of equality with everyone, lack of bias and prejudice, and having no sense of social status whatsoever creates the magnetic appeal surrounding you. Sometimes you must separate from people. Even as you adapt easily, you do not easily enter into close relationships except for one or two. You’re here, but not. A silver cord keeps you grounded, for a while. Not too long.

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology Jan 18—24

0

 

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Are you more attracted to honing group dynamics or liberating group dynamics? Do you have more aptitude as a director who organizes people or as a sparkplug who inspires people? Would you rather be a Chief Executive Officer or a Chief Imagination Officer? Questions like these will be fertile for you to meditate on in the coming weeks. The astrological omens suggest it’s time to explore and activate more of your potential as a leader or catalyst.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): An eccentric Frenchman named Laurent Aigon grew up near an airport, and always daydreamed of becoming a commercial pilot. Sadly, he didn’t do well enough in school to fulfill his wish. Yet he was smart and ambitious enough to accomplish the next best thing: assembling a realistic version of a Boeing 737 cockpit in his home. With the help of Google, he gathered the information he needed, and ordered most of the necessary parts over the internet. The resulting masterpiece has enabled him to replicate the experiences of being a pilot. It’s such a convincing copy that he has been sought as a consultant by organizations that specialize in aircraft maintenance. I suggest you attempt a comparable feat, Taurus: creating a simulated version of what you want. I bet it will eventually lead you to the real thing.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The weather may be inclement where you live, so you may be resistant to my counsel. But I must tell you the meanings of the planetary omens as I understand them, and not fret about whether you’ll act on them. Here’s my prescription, lifted from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden: “We need the tonic of wildness, to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground.” And why does Thoreau say we need such experiences? “We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, to witness our own limits transgressed.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Welcome to the most deliciously enigmatic, sensually mysterious phase of your astrological cycle. To provide you with the proper non-rational guidance, I have stolen scraps of dusky advice from the poet Dansk Jävlarna (danskjavlarna.tumblr.com). Please read between the lines: 1. Navigate the ocean that roars within the seashell. 2. Carry the key, even if the lock has been temporarily lost. 3. Search through the deepest shadows for the bright light that cast them. 4. Delve into the unfathomable in wordless awe of the inexplicable.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): What exactly would a bolt of lightning taste like? I mean, if you could somehow manage to roll it around in your mouth without having to endure the white-hot shock. There’s a booze manufacturer that claims to provide this sensation. The company known as Oddka has created “Electricity Vodka,” hard liquor with an extra fizzy jolt. But if any sign of the zodiac could safely approximate eating a streak of lightning without the help of Electricity Vodka, it would be you Leos. These days you have a special talent for absorbing and enjoying and integrating fiery inspiration.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Eighteenth-century painter Joshua Reynolds said that a “disposition to abstractions, to generalizing and classification, is the great glory of the human mind.” To that lofty sentiment, his fellow artist William Blake responded, “To generalize is to be an idiot; to particularize is the alone distinction of merit.” So I may be an idiot when I make the following generalization, but I think I’m right: In the coming weeks, it will be in your best interests to rely on crafty generalizations to guide your decisions. Getting bogged down in details at the expense of the big picture—missing the forest for the trees—is a potential pitfall that you can and should avoid.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal penned the novel Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age. It consists of one sentence. But it’s a long, rambling sentence—117 pages worth. It streams from the mouth of the narrator, who is an older man bent on telling all the big stories of his life. If there were ever to come a time when you, too, would have cosmic permission and a poetic license to deliver a one-sentence, 117-page soliloquy, Libra, it would be in the coming weeks. Reveal your truths! Break through your inhibitions! Celebrate your epic tales! (P.S. Show this horoscope to the people you’d like to be your listeners.)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): When Pluto was discovered in 1930, astronomers called it the ninth planet. But 76 years later, they changed their mind. In accordance with shifting definitions, they demoted Pluto to the status of a mere “dwarf planet.” But in recent years, two renowned astronomers at Caltech have found convincing evidence for a new ninth planet. Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown are tracking an object that is much larger than Earth. Its orbit is so far beyond Neptune’s that it takes 15,000 years to circle the sun. As yet it doesn’t have an official name, but Batygin and Brown informally refer to it as “Phattie.” I bring this to your attention, Scorpio, because I suspect that you, too, are on the verge of locating a monumental new addition to your universe.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The tomato and potato are both nightshades, a family of flowering plants. Taking advantage of this commonality, botanists have used the technique of grafting to produce a pomato plant. Its roots yield potatoes, while its vines grow cherry tomatoes. Now would be a good time for you to experiment with a metaphorically similar creation, Sagittarius. Can you think of how you might generate two useful influences from a single source?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Some guy I don’t know keeps sending me emails about great job opportunities he thinks I’d like to apply for: a technical writer for a solar energy company, for example, and a social media intern for a business that offers travel programs. His messages are not spam. The gigs are legitimate. And yet I’m not in the least interested. I already have several jobs I enjoy, like writing these horoscopes. I suspect that you, too, may receive worthy but ultimately irrelevant invitations in the coming days, Capricorn. My advice: If you remain faithful to your true needs and desires, more apropos offers will eventually flow your way.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The word “naysayer” describes a person who’s addicted to expressing negativity. A “yeasayer,” on the other hand, is a person who is prone to expressing optimism. According to my assessment of the astrological omens, you can and should be a creative yeasayer in the coming days—both for the sake of your own well-being and that of everyone whose life you touch. For inspiration, study Upton Sinclair’s passage about Beethoven: He was “the defier of fate, the great yea-sayer.” His music is “like the wind running over a meadow of flowers, superlative happiness infinitely multiplied.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If I’m feeling prosaic, I might refer to a group of flamingos as a flock. But one of the more colorful and equally correct terms is a “flamboyance” of flamingos. Similarly, a bunch of pretty insects with clubbed antennae and big fluttery wings may be called a kaleidoscope of butterflies. The collective noun for zebras can be a dazzle, for pheasants a bouquet, for larks an exaltation, and for finches a charm. In accordance with current astrological omens, I’m borrowing these nouns to describe members of your tribe. A flamboyance or kaleidoscope of Pisceans? Yes! A dazzle or bouquet or exaltation or charm of Pisceans? Yes! All of the above.


Homework: What part of yourself are you scared of? Is it time to give that part a peace offering? Testify at Freewillastrology.com.

Be Our Guest: Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy

Tommy Igoe
Win tickets to Tommy Igoe on Monday, Jan. 30 at Kuumbwa Jazz

Love Your Local Band: Tsunami

Santa Cruz band Tsunami
Tsunami plays Friday, Jan. 20 at Don Quixote’s

Why D-League Players Make Less than $30K

d-league players make less - Santa Cruz Warriors
Some are calling for changes to the D-League, although there isn’t a clear path ahead

MAH Collects Spoons for Sculpture

MAH spoon sculpture
Why the Museum of Art and History is asking for cutlery

Laughter Yoga Evaporates Stress

laughter yoga santa cruz
Laughter Yoga grows in popularity, as both a powerful stress antidote and exercise

Film Review: ‘Elle’

Elle film review
Controversial director Paul Verhoeven returns with intense and disturbing ‘Elle’

Chef Mazi on How To Cook Mushrooms

Chef Zachary Mazi, How to Cook Mushrooms
Mushrooms are plentiful this time of year, but are you cooking them correctly?

Cab Franc from Burrell School Vineyards

Burrell School Vineyard
Estate Pichon Vineyard 2012 Cabernet Franc from Burrell School Vineyards is sleek and luscious

Waters of Life for Thirsty Humanity

risa d'angeles
Esoteric Astrology as news for week of Jan. 18, 2017

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology Jan 18—24

Astrology, Horoscope, Stars, Zodiac Signs
Free Will astrology for the week of January 18, 2017
17,623FansLike
8,845FollowersFollow