Now is the time to plan for Thanksgiving, and that includes choosing some fine wines. We are blessed to have an abundance of superb local wineries, and it feels good to support them.
Loma Prieta Winery’s 2014 Saveria Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir is a good bet for cracking open around the holidays. Pinot Noir pairs well with poultry, and if you’re looking for something special, then this Pinot ($50) fits the bill with its aromas of wildflowers, cranberry sauce, woodsy fern, pekoe tea, dill, and sandalwood. Loma Prieta owner Paul Kemp says the wine has tangy flavors of bright cranberry, pomegranate, orange marmalade, and more … and that the overall impression is of “savory breeziness.” Two suggested pairings are with grilled game hens stuffed with cranberry-orange rice, or duck legs in orange sauce.
Loma Prieta Winery, 26985 Loma Prieta Way, Los Gatos, 408-353-2950. Open Saturday and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. lomaprietawinery.com. Check the map on their website for directions.
Fundraiser for Hospice
From 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3 the Sockshop & Shoe Company will hold a fundraiser for Hospice—and eight percent of all sales that day will be donated to Hospice of Santa Cruz County. Snacks will be available, as well as donated beer by Discretion Brewing, and wine from Sante Arcangeli. Live music is by the Joint Chiefs. Raffle tickets for various prizes are $5 (five for $20). Sockshop and the adjoining Legs store will donate eight percent of sales over the whole weekend (Nov. 3-5). It’s an opportunity to support Hospice and load up on gifts for the holidays.
Sockshop & Shoe Company, 1515 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, 429-610.
Premier Cruz: A Mountain Cabernet Experience
Taste world-class Cabernet Sauvignon from winemakers of the Santa Cruz Mountains paired with delectable small bites, and bid on rare, exclusive and library wines, with several rare older vintages offered. The event is 3-6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4 at the Toll House Hotel in Los Gatos. Tickets are $65. Contact Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association at 685-8463 or email contact@scmwa for a list of participating wineries and more info. scmwa.org.
Santa Cruz resident Peggy Flynn is bringing three indigenous citizens of Botswana to the U.S. for the first time ever, and her list of concerns includes indigestion, weather and goats.
“They seemed sad when I told them there are no goats,” she says. “They may be cold, so I told them I have robes that they can wear. But I realized they likely don’t know what a robe is.”
The San people are from the Kalahari desert in Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa. They are what many refer to as Bushmen, and are hunter-gatherers acclimatized to temperatures over 100 degrees. Needless to say, Santa Cruz’s marine layer will take some getting used to.
With the help of many others, Flynn is bringing them here for an art auction at the Museum of Art and History (MAH) on Nov. 10. As part of the Peace Corps, she spent more than three years in Botswana with the San people. She learned about their history and culture, but was particularly moved by their artwork. In their village, there are around 16 artists that work regularly at an art collective. They are untrained, and use art as a means of income and to pass down their culture, history and folktales.
Their work can best be described as folk art, though it’s by no means typical. Jackals, elephants, and zebras dance across a canvas in a stunning overlap of vibrant colors and patterns depicting some of the most beautiful landscape and wildlife in the world.
“It’s a cultural exchange,” she says. “The value of the exchange is wherever we meet people from a different place, we get to meet and hopefully understand each other better.”
Though Flynn has a plethora of activities planned, including going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the redwoods, she brought the Batswana (the term for citizens of Botswana) artists to Santa Cruz first and foremost for the art auction. She plans on selling 15 paintings, 35 prints, three decorated plates and a Botswana safari trip for two. Several people have tried to coerce her into selling some pieces before the auction, including myself, but she won’t have it.
This will be the first time San art will be on exhibition in the U.S., says Flynn, though some artwork made a brief appearance on the tails of British Airways airplanes. Right now, her main concern is getting Ndodonyane Ditsheko, Xhoma Simon, and Jan John to Santa Cruz. Traveling through Heathrow Airport is a feat in itself, but imagine doing it without understanding English, never having been on an airplane, or knowing what a terminal is. The Bushmen speak Setswana, a clicking language, and see more zebras and lions than cars and buses. They will travel on a 17-hour flight to the U.S., and Flynn says they are the first Batswana people to travel to America.
“I just can’t imagine what they are going to think when they see the aquarium, when they see marine life,” she says, adding that they have never seen the ocean, let alone what’s in it. “I want to show them our diversity, even in this little place. I want to show them who we are.”
The Batswana art techniques are not being taught or passed on through the generations, and it’s predominantly the elderly who are painting. But once they die, painting techniques, heritage and history die with them. With this in mind, Flynn hosted art auctions in Botswana on behalf of the village. After hearing that the San teen pregnancy and dropout rate are the highest in the country, she planned the Santa Cruz auction to fund a year-long art workshop to support young San girls and continue the lineage of painting.
“The girls will sit with the elders, paint and learn about their stories in a supportive environment,” Flynn says. “A nurse will be there and can give them a safe place to talk about their challenges.”
The San people are believed to be humanity’s ancestors, the first Homo sapiens dating back more than 30,000 years ago. But they live in poverty and are often identified by racial and cultural stereotypes perpetrated by commercial media and in movies like The Gods Must Be Crazy, and based on outdated assumptions and generalizations of indigenous African people.
In bringing them here, Flynn hopes to dispel assumptions about them and their lifestyle, while also giving back to her ancestors and the people that welcomed and gave her so much—including her Batswana dog, Cocoa Puff, who lives with her in their westside home.
“These people, even though they are an ancient tribe, are not a stereotyped group living in leather loincloths,” Flynn says. “The best way to show that is to see the art and meet them.”
The auction will be at the MAH from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10. Tickets are $50, including food and beverages, and are available at the door or online at tinyurl.com/artsaveslives. For more information on the project, visit kalaharisan.org.
“I’m like a shark,” says Phil “LandPhil” Hall over the phone, with a laugh. “If I stop, I’ll die.”
He’s not kidding. The prolific musician is currently talking to me from his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, where he’s finishing a 27-date tour with his stoner-based death metal band, Cannabis Corpse. In December, he’ll hit the road again with his first band, the crossover thrash metal group Municipal Waste. Neatly nestled between those tours, Hall will be playing guitar with yet another band, the “sensual” crossover thrash band Iron Reagan. On Nov. 3, they join German thrash legends Kreator and American death metal heshers Thrown Into Exile for a show at the Catalyst.
Spawned from the depths of Virginia in 2012, Iron Reagan began as a project for Hall and vocalist Tony Foresta—who also sings for Municipal Waste—to record with their friend, drummer Ryan Parrish, formerly of Darkest Hour.
“We made some demos, and people seemed to respond positively to it,” Hall remembers. “Then it snowballed and picked up a lot faster than we expected.”
For the non-metalheads out there, the band took its name as an homage to Iron Maiden, with a nod to the thrash scene that blossomed in the 1980s. After recording the initial demo in 2012, Iron Reagan picked up guitarist Mark Bronzino of A.N.S., Kicking Spit and Mammoth Grinder.
“I remember listening to their demo and thinking it was sick,” says Bronzino of Iron Reagan. “More of an East Coast thrash sound, and I liked that. I originally helped them book a show in New Brunswick, and a couple months later Tony hit me up to tour.”
Since that demo—released on the Oakland-based independent metal label Tankcrimes—Iron Reagan has been a whirlwind of thrashing sonic destruction. In 2013, they brought Hellbear bassist Rob Skotis into the fold, and the core lineup was solidified when Bronzino moved to second guitar. That same year, the band dropped its debut full-length Worse Than Dead, a blistering 19-song album clocking in at about 26 minutes. The following year, they released a split EP with Exhumed and a solo EP titled Spoiled Identity, then signed to Relapse Records and dropped their second full-length, Tyranny of the Will. After another year of touring off those records, they put out yet another EP in 2015, this time with Toxic Shock.
“Five years have already gone by, but it seems just like yesterday when we started,” laughs Hall.
This past February saw the sharks of thrash’s third full-length release, Crossover Ministry. As all good artists should, Iron Reagan dreads repetition and decided to switch things up with their newest endeavor. From the colorful, almost psychedelic cover to a drawn-out writing process (compared to Tyranny, which was practically completely written while on a two-month tour with GWAR) and even darker songs, Crossover remains in the Iron Reagan realm of an audio flying kick to the face, while still keeping things as fresh as a new beer.
“We tried to pick songs that fit together and made sense,” Bronzino says. “Musically it is a darker album, because of the state of the world, and we’re also trying not to be stagnant.”
Iron Reagan also switched up its tour schedule this year. Instead of the long, massive tours as they’ve done in the past, they’ve been booking shorter chunks of shows throughout the country.
“We’ll probably play more international dates as well, but we were playing so many fucking shows a year,” Bronzino says. “But I guess everyone still is, because we all have other bands!”
Not for the faint of heart, Iron Reagan’s music features solo screaming and gang vocals. Most of their songs are roughly two minutes long, with some as short as seconds. The songs might be short, but the compressed intensity is a fission bomb of sound.
It may seem like a strange sound to come from the South, but for decades Richmond has had a thriving metal scene that includes GWAR and Lamb of God. More recently, there’s been a wave of fresh musicians, including the bands Windhand and Cough. There are so many venues around town that it’s hard not to bump into a resident or touring musician.
Hall says Richmond is a vibrant scene in part due to the Virginia Commonwealth University School for the Arts. Iron Reagan plans to contribute to that further with several more collaborative EPs next year, he says.
“I treat it like a full-time job and I love it,” he says of the band’s packed schedule. “You’d be surprised at how much work you can get done if you do it each day.”
Iron Reagan plays the Catalyst on Friday, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. Show is 16 and over; $18/$20.
As lots of locals—and their out-of-town friends—have discovered, there’s a flashpoint of social action centering on the indoor/outdoor possibilities of Abbott Square Market. Even on an early Tuesday evening, we found plenty of groups meeting, noshing, and sipping out on the generous terrace behind the Museum of Art and History. Inside, we glided past the streamlined beer and wine bar (one half of the Front & Cooper concept), and headed for the long cocktail bar with its beautiful back bar of back-lit bottles.
We didn’t have long to wait for a seat at the bar, and started sizing up the hefty chalkboard list of special cocktails. Individually-crafted spirit mixes and ambitious combinations—that’s the buzz at Front & Cooper, and so we decided to get into the spirit. On a warm evening, a cold drink with lots of ice sounded especially right. For that, my friend Katya decided, there was the Holy Water ($9), a blend of Aperol, Chareau aloe vera liqueur, and fresh cucumber water. I found myself intrigued by the Pogonip ($12), made of liquid nitrogen-chilled herbs, gin and lime. I asked about presentation, and was told by one of the three resident mixologists, that the Pogonip was blended and served in a classic martini goblet. I fantasized about something in the way of nuts, or pretzels, or some sort of bar finger food, but I happily settled for just my cocktail. Because there’s a single mixing station at the far right end of the bar, and we were seated at the other, we couldn’t enjoy the sight of our cocktails being concocted. Next time, I’ll try to sit closer to the mixology action.
My pea-green Pogonip offered subtle hints of the herbs—apparently the liquid nitrogen treatment helps to preserve much of the herbal flavor during the muddling process—beneath the aggressive top note of lime-y-ness. Gin was all but undetectable, both in flavor (too much lime, I suspect) and in physiological punch. Perhaps the lack of a brand name gin in the description should have told me something. But the Holy Water was a sensational thirst-quencher (again, little in the way of apparent alcohol). A beautiful crimson hue—thanks to the Aperol bitters—the handsome cocktail offered an intriguing middle tone, thanks to the fairly light proof (25 percent) aloe liqueur, a versatile spirit that deserves its very own cocktail showcase. Visually, it was equally delightful, since two long curls of cucumber had been entwined into a double helix inside the goblet. The more I sampled the two cocktails, the more I wondered about the pricing; $9 for the Aperol/Chareau blend, and $12 for herbs, lime and gin. Chareau, incidentally, is an innovator in the brave new world of botanical liqueurs. Nice scene at the bar, by the way—by the time we left, there was plenty to do, see, and flirt with at the downtown attraction. Front & Cooper, open noon to 10 p.m. daily, till midnight Friday and Saturday.
Grow Your Own Garlic?
Why not—and you can learn how, from the ground up, on Sunday, Nov. 5 from 9:30 a.m. to noon at UCSC’s Hay Barn. Garlic farmer Pete Rasmussen of Utah’s Sandhill Farms will team with Orin Martin, manager of the Alan Chadwick Garden at UC Santa Cruz, to teach you how to select, plant, care for and harvest a great garlic crop. Learn about the many varieties of garlic, soil prep, seasonal care, harvest and storage tips. Yes, there will be roasted garlic to taste! $15-$30—pricing details and pre-registration online at brownpapertickets.com, or call 459-3240.
Pop culture is having a John Carpenter moment. Earlier this year, reviews for Jeremy Gillespie’s horror film The Void excitedly described it as “Carpenteresque,” the same phrase that writer-director Jeff Nichols used to describe his acclaimed science fiction thriller from last year, Midnight Special. Sci-fi and horror films are suddenly awash in the steely light-blue shroud that was the trademark look of Carpenter’s early films four decades ago.
Normally, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a director with a filmography like Carpenter’s acknowledged as hugely influential. But for some reason, it’s always taken a long time for Hollywood to catch up with him. Even his 1978 breakthrough film Halloween—the low-budget tale of mysterious killer Michael Myers that changed the industry forever by becoming the first megahit indie movie—was dismissed by most critics. Today, of course, it’s considered one of the best horror films of all time, and it has lost none of the power that enthralled its first audiences. If anything, Carpenter’s empathetic and realistic depiction of the teenage girls who face off against Myers (including, most famously, Jamie Lee Curtis) has made it stand out even more over the years from the hundreds of imitators that have come in its wake.
The same pattern of initial critical hostility overcome by appreciative audiences—followed, eventually, by a full-on cultural lovefest—emerged with most of Carpenter’s best films, from his 1974 debut Dark Star (originally his student film at USC) to his 1976 pioneering siege movie Assault on Precinct 13, through 1980’s The Fog, 1982’s The Thing, 1983’s Stephen King adaptation Christine, 1986’s Big Trouble in Little China, 1987’s Prince of Darkness, 1988’s They Live and 1995’s In the Mouth of Madness. Incredibly, all of these films recovered from their initial critical write-offs to find cult followings and go on to be considered classics. (Only his two warmest and most immediately accessible movies, 1981’s Escape From New York and 1984’s Starman, truly got their due right out of the gate.)
At the same time, thanks to the fact that Carpenter composed the pioneering electronic scores for most of his own movies, “Carpenteresque” has also become a popular adjective in the music world. Music journalist Aaron Vehling described it earlier this year as “the go-to descriptor for dark-tinged, arpeggiator-heavy synth scores.” Just this month, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Atticus Ross released a cover version of Carpenter’s famous theme for Halloween, becoming the umpteenth musicians to do so over the years. While it is most often covered by goth-type bands like Electric Hellfire Club and Celldweller, it’s also been tackled by artists as eclectic as cellist Tina Guo and German classical guitarist Leif M. Schaffland.
In the last few years, Carpenter has embraced his musical legacy, releasing his non-soundtrack debut album Lost Themes in 2015, which he recorded with his son Cody Carpenter and his godson Daniel Davies. Lost Themes II followed the next year, and remarkably, critics didn’t have to take their time coming around to either record; both received positive reviews for staying true to—and building on—the electronic sound of Carpenter’s movie music.
This year, Carpenter is revisiting his original scores with the release of the Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 album and the subsequent tour that comes to the Catalyst on Sunday, Nov. 5. (In a well-timed Carpenter tie-in, the Midnights at the Del Mar series will be presenting The Thing on Friday, Nov. 3, and Escape From New York on Saturday, Nov. 4.) He even directed a music video for “Christine” that recaptures the atmospherics of the movie, with the sinister steel of the iconic car set against chilly, dreamlike streets.
John Carpenter is backed on his current tour by his son, Cody Carpenter (left), and his godson, Daniel Davies (right). PHOTO: SOPHIE GRANDSARD
I spoke to the 69-year-old Carpenter last week by phone about his current tour (on which he is backed by his son and godson), and discovered that pretty much the only person who doesn’t put much stock in John Carpenter’s immense cultural influence is John Carpenter. Self-effacing and seemingly somewhat ambivalent about his own work, he was, for instance, skeptical about my insistence that “Carpenteresque” is really a word that people use. Put in the somewhat odd but very entertaining position of having to prove to one of my favorite directors that his stock is at an all-time high, I pulled out my ace in the hole, reading to him from the transcript of a recent interview I did with Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of the Netflix show Stranger Things—which is certainly one of the hottest zeitgeist properties out right now. The Duffer brothers’ love of all things John Carpenter is fairly well known, but in particular I read him what Matt told me about why the character of Mike has the movie poster for The Thing in his basement on the show: “Even though it would be pretty much impossible for that poster to be in the boy’s basement, we put it in there anyway. You can see it when they’re playing D&D. Oh man, we were obsessed with that movie when we were in high school. There’s something about the creature design. I don’t think anyone’s been able to pull it off as successfully since. That’s the scariest creature design. The fact that they did that in camera is incredible. We did strive to do as much as we could in camera, and we couldn’t get close to achieving what they achieved. It really makes you respect those guys and what they were able to pull off.”
I know that ‘The Thing’ got a lot of flak when it came out. Does it feel like a vindication to hear a quote like that from the makers of one of the biggest pop culture phenomena of the last couple years?
JOHN CARPENTER: That’s very, very nice. It feels great. I can’t think of one thing that’s wrong with that. (Laughs.) Look, I took a lot of shit for that movie. But I kind of know why, I think. Because what I did not put in that movie was any hope. And audiences and critics, that’s what they needed back then. They needed hope, and I just cheated them of it. So I’m a bad guy.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen popular opinion of a movie do a complete 180-degree shift the way it did with your version of ‘The Thing.’ Reviewers were so hostile at the time, and now it’s revered almost universally as one of the best movies of the ’80s.
I don’t understand why it did that turn. Do you know?
Well, it’s a great movie. Maybe pop culture just had to catch up with it. And now it has a huge fan base, as do most of your films that a lot people didn’t seem to get when they were released. One of my favorites from that time is ‘They Live,’ which I think is one of the best political films of the ’80s.
Well, thank you.That one was a lot of fun, we had a good time.
I remember someone asking you around that time if the fascist aliens were a metaphor and you said something like, ‘No, they’re Republicans.’
Yeah, well it’s true! I mean, come on now! I was enraged at the time, I had to make this political statement. So I did it under cover of a teen science fiction movie. Plus, we got to have this big fight.
Oh man, yeah, that fight. And now the line “I’ve come here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of bubblegum” is quoted all the time.
I know! It worked out alright for us.
Did an awareness that these films have found big cult followings have anything to do with the timing of the ‘Anthology’ album and tour?
My son and godson and I, we realized last year when we were playing concerts around the world that what audiences really loved was the movie music. So I thought, why don’t we do an album of movie music? I mean, why not? And here we are. Anthology is an album that encompasses my movie career from the ’70s to the ’90s. It’s scenes from my films that were chosen for various reasons. We also re-recorded music from Jack Nitzsche and from Ennio Morricone. So it’s not just me as a composer, but others, too. So we’re going to play that live—attempt to play it live.
Are you going to show the scenes from the film while you’re playing it?
Yes, we are.
What’s the difference for you between playing these themes live and recording them in the studio?
Well, they’re both great, but I get to work with my son and godson on this. And I’m telling you, there’s nothing like it. I didn’t ever think I’d have the chance to do this. Daniel, my godson, is a guitar virtuoso, and my son is a keyboard virtuoso. So I’m just in the middle, playing really simple stuff and dancing around and being happy. That’s my job.
You did once say, ‘I can play just about any keyboard, but I can’t read or write a note.”
That’s the way it is. It’s true. I know my own worth as a musician—I have limited chops.
Does that have anything to do with why your music sounds different than other composers’ work?
I don’t think so. It just means I have my limitations, and they’re very obvious to most people.
You feel more confident as a director?
Confident? Ehhh, well, it’s all kind of equal to me. In other words, what I do as a director and what I do as a musician are very similar. I’m just the luckiest human being on the earth. Because I’ve been directing for many years, and I do love cinema, but I get to have kind of a different career—late in my life. And it’s fabulous.
You have music videos now!
Oh stop, ha ha. Yes, I do. I directed one. It’s true.
I enjoyed how the video for “Christine” was clearly done not just for people who might be discovering your music, but also for your movie fans who will recognize a lot from the film.
Well thank you. I had a great time making it. It was really fun. Although I had to stay up all night, which is a little tough. Several months ago, we were talking to someone in advertising or something, and they said, ‘You know what you ought to do is make a video. Not a music video where you’re performing, but a story video.’ And I thought, ‘Wow, OK.’ So we talked about it, and the first thought we had was, ‘Let’s do Christine stalking somebody.’ And it just worked from there.
When you were putting together ‘Anthology’ and going back and listening to soundtracks of yours that you maybe hadn’t listened to for a while, what surprised you the most?
Well, I now know—and don’t ask me what it is, because I’m not going to tell you—what my musical signature is. I discovered it, and I went “Oh really? That’s it? Really! How disappointing.” But I now know what it is that I relied on to get me through when I was doing this music. So that was interesting. But I really truly enjoy a lot of the music that we play. It’s fun. Some of it’s scary. The theme from Starman is much more hopeful and sweet, and we did one of those. A lot of it rocks out, I have to be frank with you. The rhythm section of the group I’m playing with is Tenacious D’s rhythm section. They are unbelievably great.
How’d you hook up with the guys from Tenacious D?
Daniel knew them, and hung out with them a bit. He loved how they sounded and the kind of stuff they did, so we all got together. We’re having a blast.
The soundtrack to ‘Halloween’was really what put you on the map as a composer. I’ve read about what the initial response to the movie was like, but I’ve never heard anything about the early reaction to the music. Did anyone realize that it was going to go down as one of the most famous horror movie themes of all time?
No. God, no. They didn’t pay any attention to it. It was just on the movie, and everybody accepted it. Nobody said anything to me about it, necessarily, so I thought, “OK, as long as they don’t throw shit at the screen, I’m happy.”
That was an era when composers were doing a lot of epic, sweeping scores—John Williams’ ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Superman,’ Jerry Goldsmith’s ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture.’ Of course, ‘Halloween’ was a very different movie, but was the intimacy and rawness of the theme a reaction to that at all?
No, it was absolutely functional. Because I came from student films, and this was a low-budget movie. Low-budget movies and student films, they don’t have any money. They don’t have enough money to get an orchestra or a composer. So somebody who is cheap and fast has to do the music. And that’s me. Halloween took three days for the score. I did five or six pieces, and then cut them in at various places in the movie. We didn’t have any more money than that.
Now all of these darker goth-type bands love to cover your music, especially the ‘Halloween’ theme. Has that surprised you? Did you ever expect to be a goth icon?
Ha, well, I don’t know about that. But it always surprises me when something of mine shows up. I’m just delighted by it, it’s great.
There are a lot of those covers now. I’m sure you know that.
No, not particularly. That’s something else you have to realize about my career: no one tells me anything.
When you did the ‘Lost Themes’ albums, was it to get a little bit of freedom to compose without having to base the music on the visuals of a film?
Well, you know what, I should say yes. Or I can tell you the truth.
Oh, I definitely pick the truth!
OK, well, the truth is that ‘Lost Themes’ is an extended improvisation with my son and I playing. We’d play video games, we’d go down to the music room and improvise a little music, come back and play video games, go back and improvise a little music. This went on and on for a while, so I had a whole bunch of music. He went off to Japan, and I was hanging around here, and I got a new music attorney. And she said, “You got anything new?” I thought, “Well, I have this stuff here,” so I sent it to her. A couple of months later, I had a record deal! What the hell is that? That’s what happened. I didn’t plan it.
What’s it like to see your work and influence rise and fall over the years, and then all of a sudden have it rise sharply like this?
It’s bewildering. I mean, I don’t know why. But I’m trying not to ask. Just go with it. Just go with the flow, that’s all I do.
JOHN CARPENTER performs at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5, at the Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave. in Santa Cruz. The show is 16 and over; tickets are $39.50 and up. Catalystclub.com.
The Midnights at the Del Mar series will show Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ on Friday night at midnight, and ‘Escape From New York’ at Saturday at midnight at the Del Mar, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz.
Tom Miller has booked bands in Santa Cruz County since the late ’70s, first at O.T. Price’s Music Hall in Soquel for a decade, and later for Henfling’s, Highway 9’s roadside tavern in Ben Lomond. When he started working at Don Quixote’s International Music Hall, he was bringing acts from every corner of the world—Scotland, Hawaii, Spain, the Sahara Desert, the Appalachian Mountains.
“We tried to bring the world to our community,” Miller says.
But Don Quixote’s, now under the ownership of Bradd Barkin, is in the process of switching its name to Flynn’s Cabaret and Steakhouse, and its booker of 13 years has moved on.
“It was time for me to leave, so I left,” Miller says.
As Barkin takes over as booker at the Felton venue, other local music venues are re-examining how they operate, as well—Santa Cruz’s Rio Theatre, for instance, is booking fewer shows these days, amid increased costs and steeper competition.
Miller, meanwhile, has found himself a new gig booking shows at Michael’s On Main in Soquel, where he hopes to bring a lot of the same acts he’s developed relationships with over the years, continuing a tradition of eclectic sounds that include Americana, world music and indie rock. His first show will be jazz fusion legend Brand X at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
“He’s done some really excellent work in Santa Cruz, bringing all this diversity in the world of music to Santa Cruz, and exposing Santa Cruz as a community, and raising the bar,” says Michael’s on Main owner Michael Harrison, who purchased the longtime restaurant with his wife Colleen Harrison last December.
Michael’s on Main has already had live music in some capacity for roughly a decade, often bringing in local bands to jam around dinnertime. Since the Harrisons took over, they say they’ve made live music a priority, going after more established acts, and in April, Harrison started Grateful Sundays, an evening devoted to the music of the Grateful Dead, which has been a hit, he says.
With Miller on board, Harrison says that that Michael’s on Main will become a major musical hub for Santa Cruz County. There will be two stages: a newer, seated listening room in the front that allows for 80 people, and another stage at the bar, where shows have always been, that can hold about 150. Miller and Harrison are shooting to have live music most nights of the week, with seated room shows primarily on the weekdays and bar room shows on the weekends. “It could be any kind of music. It doesn’t have to be just singer-songwriters. It can be throat singers from Tuva playing traditional Tuvan instruments,” Miller says.
Harrison plans to remodel the venue, hoping to increase the capacity for shows in the bar area by the spring.
In Felton, Barkin also says he’ll renovate to increase capacity, something that he suggests can be done by taking out a wall in the middle of the hall. He’ll change the name from Don Quixote’s to Flynn’s after the remodel, he says.
Barkin says he plans to rely on a lot of outside production companies to bring shows to him. Not committed to any genre in particular, he wants to bring in bigger acts, and believes his venue can attract more big-ticket shows in the $50 range. “I can’t continue to have $10 dollar shows in here for people that may not draw,” Barkin says.
While Harrison takes Michael’s on Main in more of an entertainment-oriented direction, Barkin has a different recipe for Flynn’s. “The business plan is this is a restaurant with a music venue, not a music venue with a restaurant,” says Barkin, who thinks Flynn’s will soon be “a nice, high-quality five-star restaurant.”
It isn’t only smaller local venues that are shifting their approaches. Rio Theatre owner Laurence Bedford says he’s slowly moved away from booking shows himself over the past three years. Lately, he’s booking almost nothing on his own, counting on production companies like Snazzy Productions and Folkyeah to plan shows and sell tickets, while he operates the 685-seat venue more like a rental house. The music business, he explains, can be unpredictable. Changes in the setup of guarantees—the minimum sum a band expects to get paid—he says, have made margins slimmer than ever for promoters.
“There is a thing with booking your own shows all the time: You never really know how well it’s going to do. You’re not always sure it’ll sell out. The guarantees have gotten higher,” Bedford says. “Doing really well one time and losing twice doesn’t really work well when you have bills every month. I found myself bidding against people I do other shows with. We decided that it wasn’t worth going there, so we just decided to support them.”
At the same time, John Sandidge, who runs Snazzy Productions, says that in the past five years, there’s been an increase in non-local production companies coming to Santa Cruz and booking shows. Many of them book packages of shows, sometimes all over the state, making it more difficult for mom-and-pop production companies to compete.
“We bring in more big acts than any town our size,” Sandidge says. “So the big money smells success down here.”
Bigger companies, Sandidge says, can offer bigger guarantees. But even if ownership and booking arrangements change, Sandidge says music fans often don’t notice the difference, as many of the same acts keep coming through town.
As the industry evolves, the Rio has been branching further outside the musical realm. Bedford has been hosting more films and talks like lectures sponsored by the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.
This month, the 68-year-old venue has seven events on the calendar—three films, two concerts, the Planet Cruz Comedy show and a fundraiser for Native Animal Rescue. “We’ve become a place that facilitates other types of things besides music,” Bedford says, “in order to stay alive.”
Wednesday, Nov. 1 is always All Saint’s Day. And Thursday, Nov. 2, is All Soul’s Day. A time when spirits come for a visit, when the veils between worlds become transparent. All of this in Scorpio, sign of all things mysterious, secret, clandestine, furtive and covert. Scorpio for the disciple is the mystery teachings, the Ageless Wisdom. Scorpio calls the Disciple to the Temple.
Of all 12 signs (except Pisces, the Savior), Scorpio (the Disciple) is the most veiled, concealed, hidden, unknown and buried in misunderstanding. When encountering a Scorpio person, one always senses a subtle aura of mystery and intrigue. Something’s always shifting, reorienting and transforming around Scorpio. Often dressed in indigo blues, deep violet and black, usually with sunglasses (even at night), Scorpio hides away for several reasons—to protect and be protected, to observe without being observed. Scorpio, extremely intelligent, is a strategist. They understand all that is unseen, veiled and buried. If spiritually inclined, they lift everything into the Light. To be with a Scorpio (family, friend, lover, enemy, etc.) is to be aware of death, rebirth, resurrection and regeneration … daily.
Since Scorpios are aware of others on invisible levels, and since experiences of betrayal have trailed them throughout lifetimes, Scorpio conceals from everyone (except trusted intimates) their innermost secrets, lest more betrayal occur. If you’re considered trustworthy, this is the highest compliment Scorpio offers. Tend to the Scorpios in your life with understanding, kindness and care. They’re often weary from constant inner and outer battles, the nine spiritual tests and the concept of death always surrounding them.
ARIES: As so many changes continue to occur, you become sensitized and aware of everyone’s behaviors, beliefs and responses in all interactions. You are also concerned with the right use of money and resources, your capacity to discern and discriminate and your ability to give (and give some more). Closeness is important to you at this time. All that you value shifts to a higher intimate level.
TAURUS: The ways we act and respond in relationships stem from childhood and family experiences and observations. Although you often hide yourself away from the world, you’re dedicated to loved ones. You would never think of leaving them. This dedication allows those close to you to grow, blossom, bloom, transform and evolve. Do you feel loved enough in return?
GEMINI: No matter how compelling it is to return to a previous situation, you will not and cannot remain there. The purpose of the return is to review the lessons, realize the goodness, offer gratitude and forgiveness and then leave again. These liberate your future. The Nine Tests of Scorpio shadow you. You pass them. You cultivate focused spiritual intention.
CANCER: Are you feeling restricted by anyone or anything in your life? Is there a need for a rebalancing with friends or family? Are you concerned with choices, enough rest, future resources? Let’s discuss rest. You need rest in great amounts. A specific creativity is calling to you. Does it have to do with home, herbs, teas and gardens? Are you planting biodynamically?
LEO: Remember when life was lived outside? When we picked fruit, gathered water at the well, and made fires to cook on? Remember long walks at daybreak and sunset as the moon and stars appeared? Remember the sense of community. There was also loneliness and separation and long snowy winters. As adults, we are able to release what’s sorrowful. Through loving forgiveness. Remember?
VIRGO: You seek more freedom—especially financial. This has been on your mind for a while now. One of the most important recieve of receiving money is tithing to those in need. When we give things away we experience freedom. The heart opens. What we give returns ten-fold. What you are really seeking is liberty. Create a freedom journal. Write what makes you free. Draw the Statue of Liberty.
LIBRA: Your future is emerging in great transformative waves—reorganizing your self-identity, how you see yourself, your professional and personal realities and interactions with the world. Listen carefully to all communication. They tell you what must be balanced to create a future filled with freedom. Begin with forgiveness. It heals you first.
SCORPIO: Happy Birthday to all Scorpios. In coming months, there will be new discoveries, a new identity, and new learnings concerning how you see yourself. It begins with you creatively helping one another. Helping others reconciles us to our own humanity. We see the needs of the times through the needs of others. Then we begin to help build the new world—the new sharing society. You are the resource behind this idea, which becomes an ideal within humanity.
SAGITTARIUS: In nonviolent (compassionate) communication classes we learn to compassionately understand the self and others’ needs. Being able to discern needs becomes a creative act, deeply internal, yet profoundly affecting all outer experiences and interactions. Cooperation (a virtue) begins in earnest. If you haven’t already, begin to learn Compassionate Communication techniques. Its effects are extraordinary.
CAPRICORN: Profound changes continue, with self-identity and life direction. Group work is of great importance. In groups people see you as one who comes in to transform them. Some like this, some don’t. However, this is your task in groups. Understanding this helps you maintain focus and confidence. You manifest the group’s spiritual work. Before any work, call in the Soul of yourself and all others. The Soul protects and safeguards you.
AQUARIUS: Your resources depend on your state of mind. It’s most important to downsize so you can move forward quickly when needed. Don’t let this be traumatic. Either keep what you have or give it away so you are less dependent on physical non-essentials and more focused upon freedom, which your future will call for. Balance is in having less. And then you can proceed onto a new adventure.
PISCES: With Neptune in Pisces, here is what it feels like. “Amidst the whirling forces we stood confused, swept up and down the lands, blinded, nowhere to rest.” Finally, we (Pisces) say, “Here I stand and will not move till I know the law governing this very moment. Facing many ways, I will determine for myself which way to go, traveling no longer up and down the land, no longer be blinded. I will only upward move. And then find rest.” (The Old Ancient Commentary for Pisces.)
Free Will astrology for the week of November 1, 2017.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): America’s Civil War ended in 1865. A veteran from that conflict later produced a daughter, Irene Triplett, who is still alive today and collecting his pension. In the coming months, I foresee you being able to take advantage of a comparable phenomenon, although it may be more metaphorical. Blessings from bygone times, perhaps even from the distant past, will be available to you. But you’ll have to be alert and know where to look. So now might be a good time to learn more about your ancestors, ruminate exuberantly about your own history, study the lives of your dead heroes, and maybe even tune in to your previous incarnations.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “I wasn’t in the market to buy a Day-Glo plastic fish from a street vendor,” testified a witty guy named Jef on Facebook, “but that’s exactly what I did. The seller said he found it in someone’s trash. He wanted 50 cents for it, but I talked him up to a dollar. The best part is the expression on the fish’s face. It’s from Edvard Munch’s The Scream.” I bring this testimony to your attention, Taurus, because I feel it’s good role-modeling for you. In the coming days, I bet you won’t know exactly what you’re looking for until you find it. This prize may not be highly valued by anyone else but you. And it will amuse you and be of use to you in just the right ways.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Where are Chinese gooseberries grown? In New Zealand. What is a camel’s hair brush made of? Squirrel fur. When England and France waged their Hundred Years’ War, how long did it last? 116 years. When do Russians celebrate their October Revolution? In November. Trick answers like these are likely to be a recurring theme for you in the coming weeks, Gemini. That’s why I advise you to not be a Master of the Obvious.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In accordance with the astrological omens, I recommend you indulge in any or all of the following exercises. 1. Dedicate an entire day to performing acts of love. 2. Buy yourself flowers, sing yourself a song, and tell yourself a story about why you’re so beautiful. 3. Explain your deeply felt opinion with so much passion and logic that you change the mind of a person who had previously disagreed with you. 4. Make a pilgrimage to a sacred spot you want to be influenced by. 5. Buy a drink for everyone in a bar or cafe.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Dear Rob: I saw a photo of you recently, and I realized that you have a scar on your face. I hope you don’t mind me telling you it resembles an ancient Mayan hieroglyph that means ‘Builder of Bridges for Those Who Are Seeking Home.’ Did you know this? If so, do you think it’s an accurate title for what you do? – Renegade Leo Scholar.” Dear Scholar: Thanks for your observation. I don’t know if I fully deserve the title “Builder of Bridges for Those Who Are Seeking Home,” but it does describe the role I’m hoping to play for Leos. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for your tribe to clarify and cultivate your notion of home.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Author Clarissa Pinkola Estés encourages us to purge any tendencies we might have to think of ourselves as hounded animals, angry, wounded victims, leaky vessels aching to be filled, or broken creatures yearning for rescue. It so happens that now is a perfect time for you to perform this purgation. You have maximum power to revise your self-image so that it resounds with more poise, self-sufficiency and sovereignty.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I used to scoff at people who play the lottery. The chance of winning big is almost nil. Why not invest one’s hopes in more pragmatic schemes to generate money? But my opinion softened a bit when the planet Jupiter made a lucky transit to an aspect in my personal horoscope. It really did seem like my chances of winning the lottery were unusually high. I started dreaming about the educational amusements I’d pursue if I got a huge influx of cash. I opened my mind to expansive future possibilities that I had previously been closed to. So even though I didn’t actually get a windfall during this favorable financial phase, I was glad I’d entertained the fantasy. In alignment with current astrological omens, Libra, here’s the moral of the story for you: Meditate on what educational amusements you’d seek if you had more money.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In the early stages of Johnny Cash’s development as a musician, his mother hired a coach to give him singing lessons. But after a few meetings, the teacher counseled him to quit. Johnny’s style was so unique, the seasoned pro thought it better not to tamper with his natural sound. I hesitate to offer you comparable advice, Scorpio. I’m a big believer in the value of enhancing one’s innate talents with training and education. On the other hand, my assessment of your destiny between now and October 2018 impels me to offer a suggestion: It may be useful for you to give some credence to the perspective of Johnny Cash’s voice coach. Make sure you guard and revere your distinctiveness.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I used to nurture a grudge against Tony Pastorini. He was the high school math teacher who kicked me out of the extracurricular Calculus Club because my proofs were too “intuitive and unorthodox.” The shock of his rejection drove me away from a subject I had been passionate about. Eventually, though, I came to realize what a good deed he had done. It would have been a mistake for me to keep specializing in math—I was destined to study literature and psychology and mythology—but it took Pastorini to correct my course. Now, Sagittarius, I invite you to make a similar shift of attitude. What debt of gratitude do you owe a person you have thought of as a source of frustration or obstruction?
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the lore of ancient Greek mythology, the god Prometheus stole fire from his fellow deities and sneakily gave it to us humans. Before our patron provided us with this natural treasure, we poor creatures had no access to it. As I gaze out at your possibilities in the coming months, Capricorn, I foresee you having Promethean inclinations. Your ability to bestow blessings and spread benevolence and do good deeds will be at a peak. Unlike Prometheus, however, I don’t expect you’ll get into trouble for your generosity. Just the opposite!
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Here’s a parable you may find useful. An armchair explorer is unexpectedly given a chance to embark on an adventure she has only read and dreamed about. But she hesitates on the brink of seizing her opportunity. She asks herself, “Do I really want to risk having ragged reality corrupt the beautiful fantasy I’ve built up in my mind’s eye?” In the end she takes the gamble. She embarks on the adventure. And ragged reality does, in fact, partially corrupt her beautiful fantasy. But it also brings her unexpected lessons that partially enhance the beautiful fantasy.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “A game of chess is usually a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders,” said chess grandmaster Savielly Tartakower, a Pisces. “It is a struggle against one’s own errors,” he added. “The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.” I think this is excellent counsel during the current phase of your astrological cycle, Pisces. It’s time to risk bold moves, because even if they’re partly or wholly mistaken, they will ultimately put you in a good position to succeed in the long run. Here’s a further point for your consideration. Remember the philosopher Rene Descartes’ famous dictum, “Cogito ergo sum”? It’s Latin for “I think, therefore I am.” Tartakower countered this with, “Erro ergo sum,” which is “I err, therefore I am.”
Homework: Meditate on death not as the end of physical life, but as a metaphor for shedding what’s outworn. In that light, what’s the best death you’ve experienced? freewillastrology.com.
Coming in at roughly 35,219th on the list of despicable things that Richard Spencer, Steve Bannon and the rest of the so-called “alt-right” have done is ruin the term “alt” for a lot of people. Even if it ranks relatively low on their list of offenses, as the editor of an alt-weekly newspaper, I’m here to tell you it’s still really bad. Alternative culture has always stood for inclusiveness and new, expanded understandings of how we define communities—it’s a term intended to add more identities to the larger conversation about the makeup of society. The rejection of diversity by Spencer et al. is anti-“alt” in every way, and the real shame in the mainstream’s willingness to let them use the term is that we already had a number of perfectly fitting names for what they are: racist, misogynist, homophobic, etc.
That’s why I’m so delighted by this week’s cover story. Oberon Zell is an alternative icon in the classic mold: brash, bright and genuinely anti-Establishment, he brought the goddess-worshipping, back-to-the-Earth modern pagan movement into the cultural spotlight in grand fashion. My favorite quote from Aaron Carnes’ story about him is from a local pagan describing how Zell boldly went down “the wizard route”: “He’s always been like, ‘yep, this is who I am.’ … he’s willing to be weird so that other people can see that it’s OK.”
Yes. I love when we can profile fascinating locals like Zell who have made their cultural mark in a way that our readers probably don’t know about. And what better week of the year to feature a legend of the occult arts? Have a happy and safe Halloween!
I appreciate Stett Holbrook’s characterization of the changed risks associated with a changed climate as “the terrifying new normal” (GT, 10/18). I, like so many people, feel heartbroken, sad, and fearful about the extreme natural disasters that have become everyday events. The world is still reeling from recent devastating hurricanes, earthquakes, and flooding. And now, the fires are highlighting the horrifying reality of climate change right here in our home, California.
While I am grateful that I can count on the Good Times to report climate change as a reality, I feel sad that the scant references in the article regarding measures for mitigating climate change reinforce the prevailing conversation about climate change causation, rather than even mentioning the primary cause. When Holbrook asks the question about whether Santa Rosa will be “better built to reduce CO2 emissions,” or when he includes the quote by Richard Heinberg about investment in mass transit and green energy, he fortifies the palatable idea that to most effectively address climate change, we need to look to transportation and energy sustainability.
What he fails to do is to also interview an expert on the devastating impacts of animal agriculture, the leading cause of climate change and so many other environmental disasters.
There are many ways that people respond to humanitarian crises—prayer, opening one’s home, raising funds, donating supplies, etc., are helpful. It is essential that we provide support to those in need. It is also crucial that we take responsibility to address climate change. The strongest measure any individual can take to reduce her/his/their personal contribution to climate change is to adopt a plant-based diet. When enough of us do this, we will be able to turn climate change and its devastating consequences around.
Beth Love
Santa Cruz
Give Voice
As per your articles in Aug. 30 edition: Don’t forget that every American should have a voice in defending their name or views, whether unpopular figures or politically polarized. Be it taking a defamation case to court or deflecting support of any business or organization, irrespective of your personal opinion of such, we must, in keeping with a free society, defend all who exercise this right. GT needs to spotlight the corporate censorship of the politically incorrect and speech which you deem undesirable. It is not so important that we agree, but rather in the way we handle our disagreement. I totally disagree with the entertainer who asserted in your Aug. 30 publication that the opioid crisis is a red state/blue state issue. And I, for one, will tell you that addiction knows no party and concern for such and is not a monopoly of any particular political persuasion. There’s moral indignation everywhere; let’s not concentrate it in your brand of journalism. Your latest article on CBD was absolutely flawless, and I am greatly anticipating follow-ups in the future. Thank you for your attention to these medicinal marvels.
Amy Anderson
Santa Cruz
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GOOD IDEA
PLANT YOURSELF
Volunteers for the Coastal Watershed Council have been hard at work by the lower San Lorenzo River, planting native species like coyote brush, manzanita and California blackberry in place of the invasive species that they removed earlier this fall. The first planting was last weekend, and they’ll continue from 9 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Oct. 28, meeting on the banks of the San Lorenzo near the dog park. They’re looking for extra hands, and students from UCSC’s Rachel Carson College will come to help.
GOOD WORK
PAGE MOURNER
Jory John climbed the charts of the online forum Reddit over the weekend via a picture of the book All My Friends Are Dead. The book’s a humorous take on extinction, co-written by John, who grew up in Santa Cruz. In the hilarious picture on Reddit, a young child reading it is doubled over crying. With 91 percent of users upvoting it, the post made it to the top three on Saturday. “My son did not enjoy this book. 0/10,” the post was titled. “Do not recommend.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, ‘Never take candy from strangers.’ And then they dressed me up and said, ‘Go beg for it.’”
