Around 3,000 people poured into the 13th annual unSCruz gathering May 3–5 at the San Benito County Fairgrounds. The four-day mix of freestyle art projects, bizarre vehicles, outlandish costumes, food and drink, music, dance and more went its course this year with a theme of “Cosmic Odyssey.”
Described by organizers as “a radically inclusive regional burning man event,” unSCruz—which spreads out over the fairgrounds, indoors and outdoors, in a wide spectrum of venues—includes a sound rooms, open art sessions, creative kitchens, acrobatics, experimental lighted and flame-breathing vehicles, games, bizarre architectural constructs, music, dance, unique campers and tents all under the umbrella of non-judgmental acceptance.
OUT OF THE DESERT What doBurning Man fans do in the off season? Head to Hollister and drive a wild vehicle. Photo: Tarmo Hannula.
“For me, it’s an opportunity to express myself in a way I don’t usually get to do,” said Rachel W., a woman from San Francisco who was working on a large mural inside the Art Auditorium. “There’s a great community of people here. This is my third year and it just keeps getting better.”
unSCruz is largely based on the principles of Burning Man, which began in 1986 and is described by organizers as “a community and global cultural movement.”
This wood structure is based on the hexagon. PHOTO: Tarmo HannulaA blast of flames blows skyward from a giant model of a fire extinguisher while two DJs deliver a mix of tunes from atop the vehicle. PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula
Burning Man has become a large-scale event that unfolds in the western United States desert over a week and focuses on “community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance.”
While activities spill across the course of each day, nightlife takes on a grander mission with many of the contraptions and vehicles boasting their vast array of lighted contraptions and flame-throwing fixtures propelled by natural gas.
These men tour the grounds in a three-wheeler. PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula
“I enjoy coming for the art and the community, the people and the interactions,” said one man who goes by Twisty. “That’s one of the things that keeps me coming back. I put in a lot of work but I also get a big reward. The interactions with people, not only individual interactions, but also with groups. It has changed over the years; usually I would encounter music from artists that I would never normally go to because they’re in another part of the world and they come to an event that I am at. That was the initial draw. But I see so much more creativity in the art and the passion and energy people put into this.”
Booths and interactive stations around the grounds featured such names as Word Play Cafe, Saints & Sinners, Ki$$ 4 Spanks, Magic Lantern Society, Sparkle Farkers, Purplorium, The Spoon House, and The Museum of No Spectators. In the Fireball Shooting Gallery, guests were able to shoot balls of fire at a variety of targets. Scads of activities and hands-on creative projects for kids were also on the menu, where visitors could share in day care to free themselves up for pockets of time.
This small shack was dressed up to serve as a worn-out, early-day saloon complete with a working full bar. PHOTO: Tarmo HannulaDylan Cortez-Modell of Richmond steps out of a boat-like rig named Air Pusher. PHOTO: Tarmo HannulaBen M. and Rachel W. of San Francisco choose art materials inside the new addition to unSCruz, an aft auditorium. PHOTO: Tarmo HannulaThis giant metal insect, equipped with thousands of electrical lights, flaps its wings with someone swings in the seat at the bottom. PHOTO: Tarmo HannulaDJ DeFunkt work the tunes from their colorful booth. PHOTO: Tarmo Hannula
Prominent farmworker activist and organizer Dolores Huerta joined several other speakers at a public meeting in Watsonville Saturday to raise awareness about the dangers of agricultural pesticide use on farmworkers, children, consumers and residents throughout Santa Cruz County.
Childhood cancer rates in the county are more than 38% above the nationwide childhood cancer rate of 16.3%. This makes the cancer rate for children up to age 14 the second highest of all California counties, according to Dr. Ann López, the director of the Center for Farmworker Families.
The meeting was organized by the Campaign for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture (CORA).
CORA’s website states that more than 1 million pounds of pesticides are used in Santa Cruz County each year. The majority of this usage is concentrated in the Pajaro Valley, often near houses and schools.
López said that “98.5% of the pesticides associated with childhood leukemia and 95.2% of pesticides tied to childhood brain cancer were applied in 2019 in this zip code 95076 alone.”
The ZIP code encompasses all of Watsonville.
Huerta urged the community to stop buying berries grown by Driscoll’s because much of their produce is sprayed with toxic pesticides.
She also said that Driscoll’s won’t let its farm workers unionize, and as a result, they aren’t able to improve their working conditions.
“The one thing about having a union contract is [that] when you sit down at the table to negotiate, you can say to them, ‘We don’t want you to use pesticides.’ You can make that a condition of the work.”
Among the speakers was Marciela Cruz, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer after working in strawberry fields in Salinas. She said she had undergone eight chemotherapy sessions and had to have her entire stomach removed. Her doctor told her the cancer may have been caused by her exposure to toxic pesticides sprayed in the fields.
Mireya Gómez-Contreras, the administrative co-leader of Esperanza Community Farms, interpreted for Cruz.
Regarding the non-organic field behind MacQuiddy Elementary, Gómez-Contreras, on Cruz’s behalf, said that if Cruz could speak to the rancher who owned that farm, she’d tell them “to get rid of the ranch or to turn it organic because the pesticides are affecting all of the farmworkers.”
According to López, Monterey County—compared to every other county in the state—has a higher percentage of schools and students in areas with the greatest pesticide use, affecting 29 schools and 18,525 students.
She said that the lifetime cancer risk at Ohlone Elementary school in Royal Oaks is twice the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s threshold.
“In general, Latino schoolchildren are 3.2 times more likely than white students to attend schools with the highest use of the most hazardous pesticides.” López said.
“The disparity is most notable in the Pajaro Valley area. “You would not find this in north [Santa Cruz] county,” she said.
The meeting drew a crowd of over 100 people, who gathered on a dirt road between MacQuiddy Elementary and two agricultural fields. The location reflected the importance of organizations like the Center for Farmworker Families and the United Farm Workers (cofounded by Huerta) as grassroots movements.
At the end of her speech, Huerta led the crowd through her famous “Sí, se puede” chant to encourage them to continue fighting against pesticide use.
When the Regional Transportation Commission purchased the Santa Cruz Branch Line in 2012, it did not perform a full boundary survey. This was a critical failure. Around 2023 the RTC finally complete a survey and began to understand how encroachments, easements and physical constraints affected the corridor.
By then, the damage was done. For over a decade, the RTC promoted a vision of the “ultimate trail” running beside active rail, assuring the public that this was feasible. That vision became the basis for ballot measures like Measure D (2016) and Measure L in Capitola (2018). Yet all of those measures were built on incomplete information.
Had the RTC surveyed the corridor when they acquired it, the public debate might have been radically different.
RTC staff and commissioners have made sweeping promises without the facts to back them. And rather than acknowledging the corridor’s serious limitations, they have doubled down, spending millions on studies and promoting plans that don’t align with reality.
These include backdoor negotiations, selective release of information, and a consistent pattern of avoiding inconvenient truths.
Documents obtained through Public Records Act requests are starting to reveal what’s really been going on: quiet internal discussions about impossible trail widths, legal complications from easements, and mounting project costs.
Even today, RTC leaders refuse to confront the obvious: that years of misleading promises have led to unrealistic expectations and deep public division. Instead of owning up to their mistakes, they let community groups battle it out while sitting silently on the sidelines.
This is not just bad planning. It’s bad governance. The public deserves the truth—and a transportation commission that works with facts, not fantasy.
Cami “Clemensen” Corvin | Capitola
SPEAK UP OR FAIL DOWN
Please alert citizens of this process. Current public feedback mechanisms regarding proposed wastewater rate increases—such as attending public meetings or submitting written protests—place the burden on individual consumers and often result in low participation.
This leads to decisions being made without meaningful representation of public sentiment. To promote greater community engagement and ensure transparent, inclusive feedback on proposed rate increases, I propose that the utility board implement prepaid, pre-addressed postcards mailed to each customer and include a simple “Yes/No” check-box option.
They would reach all residents, regardless of internet access, language fluency, or physical ability. It would simplify the protest/feedback process, resulting in more representative input allowing officials to make decisions with a clearer mandate from the community. They should Include the postcard in monthly utility bills.
This small investment in public outreach would help build trust, improve accountability, and ensure that any decision to increase rates reflects the will and needs of the community.
If you are reading this at 3am, I’m here to tell you there are better ways to deal with insomnia. Check our important cover story by Richard Stockton, who talks to sleep experts for suggestions on how to conquer that crazy monster under the bed that keeps you up at all hours.
A bad night’s sleep isn’t just uncomfortable: it has major health consequences. It shortens lives, affects brain power and can send you downward toward heart attacks and strokes.
The worst thing I know is when you are too awake to sleep but too tired to do something constructive. That’s a living hell. If you have felt that or are feeling it now, check out Richard’s story for some serious suggestions. And please, if you have other solutions that work, drop us a line at ed****@*****ys.com so we can pass them on in our letters section.
This won’t help you sleep: we’ve got schools looking out on fields being sprayed with toxic chemicals and the highest childhood cancer rate in the state, right here in Watsonville, the nation’s food basket. Isabella Blevins covers Dolores Huerta’s local speech and movement to do something about the problem in our news section.
Sorry, it’s 4am…what was I going to say next?
Oh yeah: how about making your mother proud this Mother’s Day weekend with some environmental work? Check out Mark C. Anderson’s dining column for some tips. You’ll also find out where to get some tasty and healthful mushroom dishes.
Mom deserves some fun this weekend: check the Calendar section. There’s a great comedy show at the Vet. That could be a real surprise treat.
There is little worse than getting diagnosed with cancer. It can rock you to the foundations. But one of the great things about our community is that there are people who devote themselves to helping. Our Wellness column profiles an important such organization, WomenCARE.
“For more than 30 years, this Santa Cruz nonprofit has been a lifeline for local women navigating the cancer journey, offering free services rooted in community and care,” Elizabeth Borelli writes. “With a main office in Aptos and a South County location dedicated to Spanish-speaking clients, WomenCARE welcomes women of all ages, backgrounds and cancer types with open arms and full hearts.”
Have a great Mother’s Day weekend and celebrate the ones who birthed us all.
Brad Kava | Editor
PHOTO CONTEST
WHAT’S UP, DOC? Matias brought his pet rabbit Patches to a packed Kids Day in Downtown Santa Cruz last Saturday. Photograph by John Koenig
GOOD IDEA
Waste Free Santa Cruz celebratea a major milestone in the effort to reduce single-use waste across the county. Over the course of three months, the Just Bring It campaign diverted thousands of disposable coffee cups from the landfill and normalized the habit of bringing reusable cups.
Some 37 coffee shops partnered with nonprofits from January through April and promoted reusable alternatives. Waste Free Santa Cruz will be part of the All County Cleanup Day on May 10. Visit wastefreesantacruz.org.
GOOD WORK
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has settled a consumer protection lawsuit against Sun Bum for misleading customers by advertising its products as “reef-friendly.” The judgment is the first one obtained by any prosecutor against a major sunscreen manufacturer for “reef-friendly” advertising.
The complaint alleged that its advertising was false and misleading because other chemicals in its sunscreen were harmful to reefs. Sun Bum was ordered to pay $300,000 in civil penalties and to stop false advertising. Cases have been filed against Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘There is no aspect of your wellness that can retreat at the sign of sleep deprivation and get away unscathed.’
Being with my kids, having fun with them. When the sun is out, we’re outside, whether it’s on the trampoline or playing in the garden.
Andrew Wall, 47, Horticulturalist
EILEEN
Playing basketball with my kids, we do a lot of sports together.
Eileen Wyatt, 39, Artist
JESSICA
Messy games with my little girl, playing in mud, or playing with slime.
Jessica Jennings, 36, Baker
JENNIFER
Playing with the kids, playing dress-up like a princess or fairies and playing with legos.
Jennifer Tilton, 46, Technology
JASON
Watching old Disney movies that I watched as a kid, like Lion King or Aladdin, those came out when I was a kid. I have a four-year-old, so I get to do all the fun stuff that I’m not supposed to do.
Jason Paris, 38, Costco
JEFFREY
Go to the beach and let your hair hang down. Hang out with the boys, barbecue, have some laughs and play the guitar. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 15. I got my first guitar at the Farmer’s Market and I never put it down.
Just for now, you might benefit from moderating your intensity. I am pleased to see how much good stuff you have generated lately, but it may be time to scale back a bit. At least consider the possibility of pursuing modest, sustainable production rather than daring to indulge in spectacular bursts of energy. In conclusion, dear Aries, the coming days will be a favorable time for finding the sweet spot between driving ambition and practical self-care. Your natural radiance won’t have to burn at maximum brightness to be effective.
TAURUS April 20-May 20
Classical ballet dancers often seek to convey the illusion of weightlessness through highly stylized movements. Innovative Taurus choreographer Martha Graham had a different aim, emphasizing groundedness. Emotional depth and rooted physicality were crucial to her art of movement. “The body never lies” is a motto attributed to her, along with “Don’t be nice, be real.” I recommend you make those themes your guides for now, Taurus. Ask your body to reveal truths unavailable to your rational mind. Value raw honesty and unembellished authenticity over mere decorum.
GEMINI May 21-June 20
Gemini photographer Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971) was a trailblazer. She was the first American woman war photojournalist, the first professional photographer permitted into the Soviet Union, and among the first to photograph a Nazi concentration camp. She was consistently at the right place at the right time to record key historical moments. She’s your role model in the coming months. You, too, will have a knack for being in the right place and time to experience weighty turning points. Be vigilant for such opportunities. Be alert and ready to gracefully pounce.
CANCER June 21-July 22
“Each negative word in a news headline increases click-through rates,” writes Joan Westenberg. “Negative political posts on social media get twice the engagement. The system rewards pessimism.” She wants to be clear: “Doomsayers aren’t necessarily wrong. Many concerns are valid. But they’ve built an attention economy that profits from perpetual panic. It’s a challenge to distinguish between actionable information and algorithmic amplification, genuine concern and manufactured outrage.” Westenberg’s excellent points are true for all of us. But it’s especially important that you Cancerians take measures to protect yourself now. For the sake of your mental and physical health, you need extra high doses of optimism, hope and compassion. Seek out tales of triumph, liberation, pleasure and ingenuity far more than tales of affliction, mayhem and corruption.
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
Bees are smart. The robust and lightweight honeycombs they create for their homes are designed with high efficiency, maximizing storage space while using the least amount of resources. Let’s make the bees’ genius your inspirational role model for the coming weeks, Leo. It will be a favorable time to optimize your own routines and systems. Where can you reduce unnecessary effort and create more efficiency? Whether it’s refining your schedule, streamlining a project or organizing your workspace, small adjustments will yield pleasing rewards.
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
In 1971, Virgo poet Kay Ryan began teaching English at a small community college. Though she wrote steadily, working hard to improve her craft and publish books, she never promoted herself. For years, she was virtually unknown. Finally, in 2008, she flamed into prominence. In quick succession, she served as the US Poet Laureate, won a Pulitzer Prize and received a $500,000 “genius grant” as a MacArthur Fellow. Why am I telling you about her long toil before getting her rightful honors? Because I believe that if you are ever going to receive the acclaim, recognition, appreciation and full respect you deserve, it will happen in the coming months.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
Libran author Diane Ackerman combines an elegant poetic sensibility and a deft skill at scientific observation. She is lyrical and precise, imaginative and logical, inventive and factual. I would love for you to be inspired by her example in the coming weeks. Your greatest success and pleasure will arise as you blend creativity with pragmatism. You will make good decisions as you focus on both the big picture and the intimate details. PS: If you immerse yourself in the natural world and seek out sensory-rich experiences, I bet you will inspire a smart solution to an achy dilemma.
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Scorpio-born Sabina Spielrein (1885–1942) was one of the earliest woman psychoanalysts. In the 21st century, she is increasingly recognized as a great thinker who got marginalized because of her feminist approach to psychology. Several of her big contributions were Scorpionic to the core: She observed how breakdown can lead to breakthrough, how most transformations require the death of an old form and how dissolution often serves creation. These will be useful themes for you to ruminate about in the coming weeks. For best results, be your deep, true, Scorpio self.
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
In the middle of his art career, Sagittarian painter Paul Klee (1879–1940) was drafted into the German army as a soldier in World War I. Rather than fighting on the front lines, he managed to get a job painting camouflage on military airplanes. This enabled him to conduct artistic explorations and experiments. The metal hulls became his canvases. I am predicting a comparable opportunity disguised as an obstacle for you, Sagittarius. Just as the apparent constraint on Klee actually advanced his artistic development, you will discover luck in unexpected places.
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else,” wrote poet Emily Dickinson. I often feel that truth. As much as I would love to devote 70+ hours a week to creative writing and making music, I am continually diverted by the endless surprises of the daily rhythm. One of these weeks, maybe I’ll be brave enough to simply give myself unconditionally to ordinary life’s startling flow and forget about trying to accomplish anything great. If you have ever felt a similar pull, Capricorn, the coming days will be prime time to indulge. There will be no karmic cost incurred.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
David Bowie was a brilliant musical composer and performer. His artistry extended to how he crafted his persona. He was constantly revising and reshaping his identity, his appearance and his style. The Ziggy Stardust character he portrayed on stage, for example, had little in common with his later phase as the Thin White Duke. “I’ve always collected personalities,” he quipped. If you have ever felt an inclination to experiment with your image and identity, Aquarius, the coming weeks will be an excellent time. Shape-shifting could be fun and productive. Transforming your outer style may generate interesting inner growth. What would be interesting ways to play with your self-expression?
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
The Voynich manuscript is a famous text written in an unfamiliar script filled with bizarre illustrations. Carbon-dated to the early 15th century, it has resisted all attempts at deciphering its content. Even Artificial Intelligence has not penetrated its meaning. I propose we make this enigmatic document an iconic metaphor for your life in the coming weeks. It will symbolize the power you can generate by celebrating and honoring mystery. It will affirm the fact that you don’t necessarily require logical explanations, but can instead appreciate the beauty of the unknown. Your natural comfort with ambiguity will be a potent asset, enabling you to work effectively with situations others find too uncertain. Homework: What’s your worst excuse for not being completely devoted to your dreams? Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
Nick Llobet spent a long time pondering their identity and began piecing together an answer in their latest album, Way to Be. Dabbling in everything from blues to flamenco, classical to classic rock, they weren’t sure they would find their unique voice. A chance meeting with Patti Smith at a train station reinvigorated Llobet’s pursuit of music. Performing as youbet, they began crafting a witty, heartfelt album, exploring themes of self-doubt and self-discovery. Youbet’s bright, twinkly guitars blend nicely with their knack for whimsical wordplay. It’s what they playfully dub “choose your own adventure music.” SHELLY NOVO
Seasoned in the underground New York hip hop scene, Mike brings his honest, introspective sound to Santa Cruz. Since forming his collective, [sLUms], Mike hit a stride, releasing 12 albums since his breakout project, May God Bless Your Hustle, in 2017. Blending sticky samples and sonically rich rhythms, Mike spits out his deep thoughts through his muffled, monotone sound. Regarding Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me and Adam Rapp’s Punkzilla as influences, his artistry speaks to both the mind and the soul. SN
INFO: 9pm, Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $32. 713-5492.
EXPERIMENTAL
LIMBS
Human bodies are fragile but also resilient. Too often, we see images of bodies vandalized, destroyed and assaulted. To pay homage to those who became numbers and whose bodies were too destroyed to be identified, the “Unidentified body parts” collective has put together a new, collaborative exhibition called Limbs. For this project, Limbs were sculpted out of clay and then ceremoniously set on fire. The charred limbs have been turned into art pieces for Indexical attendees. Through these pieces, people can reflect on the dark realities people face. The opening reception will include a reading of Kanafani’s A Letter from Gaza (1957). ISABELLA MARIE SANGALINE
INFO: 5pm. Indexical, 1050 River St. #119, Santa Cruz. Free. (509) 627-9491.
SATURDAY 5/10
COMEDY
MARK LUNDHOLM
Burt Bacharach may have sung “What the world needs now is love,” but the truth is, laughter is a close second. Thankfully, Santa Cruz has no shortage of great comedy shows. This Saturday, share some laughs and support local veterans at Laughter & Love for the Legion. Held at the Downtown Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building, the show is a benefit for the American Legion Post 63 and the American Legion Riders Chapter 64. It will feature headliner Mark Lundholm, whose comedy has earned him timeslots in all 50 states and 10 countries. Attendees who splurge for the VIP ticket will receive an autographed copy of Lundholm’s book: SHORTCUTS: Better Ways for Better Days. MAT WEIR
INFO: 7pm, Veterans Memorial Building, 846 Front St., Santa Cruz. $25/$45. 454-0478.
SUNDAY 5/11
INDIE
WILD IRIS
Flowers and brunch are nice, but nice enough for moms? Nah, these women gave us life, shaped who we’d become, patiently listened to way more trivia about Star Wars, Pokémon, and Harry Potter than is reasonable. This Mother’s Day, Discretion Brewing encourages everyone to celebrate mamas with Santa Cruz folk/rock troubadours Wild Iris. Guitar, stand-up bass, fiddle, mandolin, drums, and Kate Mullikin’s passionate vocals and lyrics will inspire some foot stompin’ and sing-alongs. A top-tier Mother’s Day gift. KEITH LOWELL JENSEN
The Marsalis family is musical royalty. Ellis and Dolores Marsalis raised Branford, Delfeayo, Ellis III, Wynton and Jason; all have charted renowned paths in the jazz world. The youngest of the family, Jason Marsalis, began his career behind the drums at age six, playing jazz, funk, Celtic music and fusion. By 2013, he branched out to the vibraphone and was leading his own group. The acclaimed In a World of Mallets brought him wider attention; that year, he earned the “rising star” distinction in Downbeat’s critics’ poll. Leading his Quartet, Marsalis explores the world of jazz and beyond. BILL KOPP
INFO: 7pm, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $47. 427-2227.
TUESDAY 5/13
POST-PUNK
ACTORS
Founded in 2012 by singer and guitar player Jason Corbett, Actors is a dark and brooding post-punk act with upbeat, danceable melodies and tempos a la Duran Duran and Depeche Mode. Corbett had spent years chasing success in metal and rockabilly bands. However, it kept evading him. He paused and asked himself why he even bothered in the first place. He decided to dig into the music of his childhood, acts like David Bowie, Gary Numan, and Roxy Music, for a new take on a familiar sound. Within a year, Actors landed their first live television spot, proving what real artists know: stop chasing clout and create something personal. MW
Ziggy Alberts’ musical journey began as a teen in Queensland, Australia. Thinking he’d go into dentistry, his life changed when his parents gifted him a guitar. He took up busking and, in short order, cultivated a dedicated following. Indeed, Alberts’ emotionally resonant music and lyrics struck a chord with Aussie music fans. Plus, he walks the talk, having launched his own sustainability-focused label, Commonfolk Records, in 2012. A run of EPs and albums culminated with 2018’s Laps Around the Sun; that album went Double Platinum in Australia. His latest release, 2025’s New Love, climbed to #18 on the Australian chart. BK
DIY AMERICANA Hurray for the Riff Raff plays Wednesday at the Rio Theatre. PHOTO: Denny
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF
Alynda Segarra wasn’t yet a legal adult when they left their Bronx home to ride the rails around America as a member of the traveling ragtime band Dead Man Street Orchestra. They eventually settled in New Orleans and founded Hurray For The Riff Raff to record some original tunes. The singer-songwriter combines country, folk, and rock influences with a strong DIY ethic (they self-released their earliest albums). Steeped in Americana tradition while boasting an original take and unique perspective with a willingness to be outspoken, Segarra is the musical heir to outsider country deity Townes Van Zandt. KLJ
INFO: 8pm, Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $32. 423-8209.
Buzzcocks came roaring out of the UK punk scene of the late 1970s. But the influential Manchester group launched in 1976 stood apart from contemporaries like Sex Pistols and The Clash. Guitarists Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle combined the hard-charging aesthetic of punk with an inerrant pop sensibility and an experimental bent.
The band’s provocatively named 1977 debut single, “Orgasm Addict,” was predictably banned by the BBC, but charted nonetheless. 1978’s “What Do I Get” distilled youthful angst into a tidy under-three-minute package, and earned Buzzcocks their first UK Top 40.
The band’s prowess as a singles act was underscored by the 1979 compilation Singles Going Steady. As the group developed, Buzzcocks’ music became even more boundary-pushing.
Combining mayhem and melody, the landmark A Different Kind of Tension even cracked the U.S. market’s Billboard 200. Standout tracks “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” and “You Say You Don’t Love Me” combined petulance and love-song sentiments. A critics’ favorite, Buzzcocks exemplified the nexus in which punk and pop met.
Burning brightly, by 1981, the band broke up, with members going on to other musical pursuits. But by 1989 Shelley and Diggle re-formed Buzzcocks with a new rhythm section. Bass and drum roles would be filled by a succession of musicians, but between 1991 and 2014, the group released six more well-regarded albums.
Long after the punk era wound down, the band continued to champion—and maintain the freshness of—its hybrid style. Shelley died in 2018, and today Steve Diggle leads a three-piece Buzzcocks.
Never ones to trade in nostalgia, Buzzcocks released Sonics in the Soul in 2022. Featuring 11 new songs written and sung by Diggle, the album once again found the band having it both ways: the record remained true to the musical values that earned Buzzcocks’ sterling stature in punk and post-punk, yet never coasting on past glories. While Shelley’s distinctive vocals are no longer part of the mix, Diggle ably carries the Buzzcocks banner into present day.
Diggle explains that the influence of ’60s artists—in a single breath he mentions The Who, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and The Kinks—loomed large over Buzzcocks, even at the iconoclastic height of punk. He says that when Buzzcocks started, “people thought that punk was all the same thing, because it was mainly an attitude.” But he and Pete Shelley believed there was room for experimentation within the punk format. “We mixed a bit of discordant, avant-garde stuff in with the pop tunes,” he says, noting that krautrock from what was then West Germany inspired his own songwriting.
Diggle recalls listening to music by Köln-based experimental band Can. “I thought, ‘That’s kind of weird: a German trying to sing English.’” Intrigued and inspired, he decided, “I’ll be an English guy trying to be a German singing English!” The result was “Autonomy,” a track on the band’s brilliant debut LP, 1978’s Another Music in a Different Kitchen. It’s a krautrock-flavored tune with razor-sharp guitar runs, a motorik beat that recalls Neu!, and a snarling melody that presages Public Image Limited.
The band’s approach of combining eclecticism and consistency has served it well. Days ahead of a North American run in support of Sonics in the Soul, Diggle was busy in a London recording studio, putting the finishing touches on Attitude Adjustment, Buzzcocks’ upcoming 11th album. “We span the generations,” Diggle says, noting that audiences at Buzzcocks shows range from teenagers to people the band members’ age (he’s 69).
Buzzcocks have long since become part of the UK’s cultural fabric. To wit: a popular and long-running British TV quiz show is called Never Mind the Buzzcocks. The band helped mainstream punk music and attitude, doing so without losing credibility. “The music has transcended the years,” Diggle says. “The songs have a timeless quality to them.”
Part of the enduring quality of Buzzcocks’ music is its relentless energy. But as propulsive as the band’s best-known songs are, the group is about more than being loud and fast. As long ago as 1978, the band’s Love Bites featured a Diggle-penned acoustic-based number, “Love is Lies.” And Diggle promises that Attitude Adjustment will continue to showcase Buzzcocks’ winning, varied approach. “There’s some grooves, a heavy bit in the middle, and even ‘Jesus at the Wheel,’ a song about religion,” he says. “But it’ll still all sound like Buzzcocks.”
Though he’s very much focused on the current tour and the upcoming album, Steve Diggle doesn’t mind taking a moment to reflect—and marvel—at what’s come before. “When we were making those early records, we didn’t think about how long they were going to last, or what would happen. It was for the moment, wasn’t it?” Pausing a beat, he adds, “But it’s a great thing that the Buzzcocks body of work has carried on through the test of time.”
Buzzcocks, with Strawberry Fuzz, play at 8pm May 14 at the Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets: $43.95. 831-713-5492.
With characteristic spunk, veteran mystery ace Leslie Karst has dashed off the second book in her new Hawai’ian Island-based series, Waters of Destruction. Natural elements are wreaking havoc with her deceased victims, as well as with her resourceful investigators.
In her first Orchid Isle Mystery installment, Molten Death, Karst’s victim was knocked off by fire in the form of volcanic lava. In her new work, Karst’s victim turns up drowned. But as you can already foresee, things are seldom what they seem here in the laid-back Hawai’ian Islands.
Karst’s Waters of Destruction protagonist is the can-do Valerie Corbin, a former caterer newly ensconced on the Big Island of Hawai’i with her wife Kristen. Valerie knows her way around a restaurant, and Kristen is a pro with power tools and electrical wiring. Already friends with local restaurant manager Sachiko and her Native partner Isaac, these California transplants are anxious to make friendly connections with the locals and their volatile island ecosystem. Valerie says yes to every offer that comes her way, bartending, canoe paddling and, of course, sleuthing.
Readers familiar with this author’s swift-moving style will already guess that her protagonist is ready for anything, especially cocktails right on cue at the sunset hour. Dreaming up sexy island-appropriate cocktails keeps our protagonist busy when she finds herself subbing at the Speckled Gecko for one of Sachiko’s no-show bartenders. A dead no-show bartender.
While Kristen offers to help a friend remodel her house on the opposite side of the island, Valerie’s sleuthing skills not only land her in the center of an unsettling island death, but plenty of hot water as well. Readers who raise their eyebrows at the many coincidences that pepper the narrative just don’t have the right attitude of suspended disbelief that makes reading this book so much fun.
Waters of Destruction moves faster than a 20-foot pipeline, but not so fast that characters can’t be fleshed out; local dialects are used and described, and a sense of the islands’ humid atmosphere fills each page.
Karst knows how to keep those pages turning, juggling relationships while loading her narrative with clever detection gambits and peppering chapters with snippets of island history. The scent of native botanicals like heliconia and pua kenikeni perfume the background, along with close-ups of competition canoe paddling—shades of The White Lotus. Karst’s tale pumps up the tropical seaside ambience as the action zeroes in on a duplicitous prime suspect. On each page, emotions run as high as three cups of Kona espresso.
As always—Karst’s readers will recall from her Santa Cruz–based Sally Solari series—the back of the book offers a handful of Karst’s own tempting recipes. The Hilo Sunset cocktail instructions had me running to my liquor cabinet for gin, Campari, and triple sec. Kalbi Ribs will have you hoping you still have sesame oil, mirin and ginger in your larder. Also helpful is Karst’s glossary of Hawaiian words and phrases in the back of the book. Not only is Waters of Destruction a fun read, it’s a lot of aloha bang for your buck.
Leslie Karst’s in-person book launch takes place at 7pm on May 8 at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz. 831-423-0900. Free.
Trimmed to fit the space-time needs of youthful Santa Cruz audiences, and sung in Italian with recitative plot lines spoken in English, Mozart’s dazzling comic masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro takes over the UCSC Recital Hall for four performances beginning May 29.
Director Sheila Willey says Figaro “simply has the best music, the most charm, the best written characters.” She maintains, “It has drama, comedy, romance—it is the full package.” Figaro also offers clever social critique, lots of disguises and hiding in unexpected bedrooms, plus some of the finest vocal quartets ever written.
The hugely popular musical entertainment debuted in Vienna in 1786, with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and brilliant libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Willey and her UCSC Opera Program team have set the upcoming production on an estate in the 1920s.
“I love Figaro set in the 18th century, but wanted to give the students a chance to work in a time that felt a bit more within reach: a mere 100 years ago. Our production is set on a country estate in the Hudson River Valley. We have some of the evening glamour of East Coast society with the relaxed feeling of a country garden party. Our costume designer, Brooke Jennings, is creating some very beautiful looks.”
This masterwork contains some of the most difficult and humorous music in all of Mozart’s stage works.
“I’ve been having such a wonderful time becoming Cherubino,” says opera student Err Shirley. “And being able to sing Mozart’s work in Italian! It’s a really unique and important experience to be able to perform in a full-length opera in general as an undergraduate, but to be able to do it in Italian has been an exciting challenge. Working with Sheila is always a treat.”
Produced and directed by UCSC Opera Program Director Sheila Willey and performed by the UCSC Orchestra, Figaro will be staged May 29–31 at 7:30pm and June 1 at 3pm in UCSC’s Music Center Recital Hall. Tickets ($0-$29) must be reserved in advance at eventbrite.com/cc/ucsc-opera-4238503
Without music, said Nietzsche, life would be a mistake. Like so many, I’ve suffered the turmoil of our current worldscape and found solace in music. Singing with the Santa Cruz Chorale has given me and my colleagues an oasis of creativity and peace. A sure way into the joy that great music can provide is through the masterwork by Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, which forms the centerpiece of the Santa Cruz Chorale’s upcoming concerts. The style we know today as polyphony—many vocal parts weaving a sonic tapestry of overlapping themes—was given its innovative shape by this Italian composer 500 years ago.
The a capella concert, with the traditional litany of Palestrina’s Mass along with works by Heinrich Schütz and modern composers Randall Thompson, Charles V. Stanford and Arvo Pärt, takes place May 17, 8pm, and May 18, 4pm, at Holy Cross Church, 126 High St. santacruzchorale.org
Music in May, founded by Juilliard graduate Rebecca Jackson-Picht, offers another opportunity for renewal that only the performing arts can provide. Celebrating its 18th season on Memorial Day weekend, MiM offers exquisite chamber works by Mozart, Mendelsson, and many others in three programs at Peace United Church in Santa Cruz and Samper Recital Hall at Cabrillo College, May 23, 24 & 25. For more about the artists and ticket information, visit musicinmay.org.
Espressivo Orchestra, led by guest conductor Daniel Henriks, director of I Cantori di Carmel, offers a concert of ultra-romantic music at 7pm on June 8 at Peace United Church (also in Monterey on June 7). In addition to Georges Bizet’s Symphony in C, and Pastorale d’été by Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, the concert includes Hector Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été, joined by the vibrant soprano of Emily Sinclair, Bay Area performer and teacher of vocal repertoire. Yes, Lars Johannesson will be there with his magic flute. Full details at espressorch.org.
Note: The time was changed for Espressivo’s June 8 concert.
With characteristic spunk, veteran mystery ace Leslie Karst has dashed off the second book in her new Hawai’ian Island-based series, Waters of Destruction. Natural elements are wreaking havoc with her deceased victims, as well as with her resourceful investigators.
In her first Orchid Isle Mystery installment, Molten Death, Karst’s victim was knocked off by fire in the form of volcanic...
