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Cruzio Promises to Protect Digital Privacy

Local News

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April 4, 2017

Cruzio Promises to Protect Digital Privacy

As anyone who follows digital privacy issues has heard by now, the Republican-controlled congress voted last week to repeal actions designed to prevent internet providers from spying on their customers.

Cruzio, Santa Cruz’s local service provider, has already stepped up to say that not only has the company never fiddled with their customers’ data, but the company’s co-founder and president Peggy Dolgenos proudly insists it never will.

These President Obama-era Federal Communications Commission rules—which have not yet gone into effect—would have stopped companies like AT&T and Comcast (which has a history of wildly misrepresenting its internet speeds) from tracking and selling customer information, like browsing history, location and much more.

“Data collection, data mining. Those big telecommunications companies saw what Google and Facebook were doing to track customers, and they said it wasn’t fair,” explains Dolgenos. “Instead of saying Google has to ask your permission too before selling your information, history and location, Congress did what AT&T and Comcast wanted them to do and said, ‘You can do even more than Google.’”

Cruzio has joined other small providers around the country in fervent opposition to the privacy broadband rules repeal, a rollback President Donald Trump is expected to sign into law.

“It gives our competitors a competitive advantage over us because they’re going to get the money from selling your information. They’re charging you in two ways,” Dolgenos says.

Nevertheless, we’ll hold out hope that, at least in liberal-leaning Santa Cruz, Cruzio’s decision to forgo extra money-making through nefarious schemes turns into a smart marketing move. If so, perhaps Watsonville’s Graniterock Construction—which has said it would happily build Trump’s proposed border wall—might take note.

QUESTIONABLE PARKING JOB

Although some downtown business leaders appear skeptical of a new parking garage, as GT reported last week, others’ positions are more complicated. On the latter list is Hula’s Island Grill owner Ian McCrae, who we incorrectly reported opposes the garage outright.

“We’re still gathering information. We haven’t taken a public stance on it,” says McCrae, who concedes that some people have misunderstood Hula’s position ever since the restaurant held a parking meeting a few weeks ago.

Obviously, it’s still early, and the City Council has not approved a couple million dollars in design work yet. But Casey Beyer, who took over as director for the Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce April 1, calls it a “reasonable plan” to combine the garage with a brand new downtown library.

“It’s going to change the whole street. But is that a bad thing, if it’s designed properly?” Beyer asks. “What I hear is that people would ride bikes and take public transportation to get downtown, instead of the city putting in a garage. But how many people who come downtown can regularly ride their bikes or take public transit options?”

Local Tap the Flow 24 Project Raises Funds for Clean Water

Mat Weir

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April 4, 2017

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Local Tap the Flow 24 Project Raises Funds for Clean Water

The most ambitious artists are always trying to outdo their last project, constantly self-analyzing while attempting to get their message across to a mass audience. That’s why Ra.be (pronounced “Robby”) feels he must be fearless.

“I have an energy of ‘yes,’” he says. “I go into a project being 110 percent positive.”

Good thing, too, because Ra.be is the mastermind behind the Tap the Flow 24 project, a music and visual project with a tight deadline and a big heart.

Ra.be’s idea for Tap the Flow 24 was to collaborate with other artists, musicians and videographers to write and record new songs—with accompanying videos—within a 24-hour time period for each. The songs are then uploaded online where fans can donate money to download them. The proceeds are donated to generosity.org, a nonprofit that helps provide clean drinking water to people around the world. Recently, Tap the Flow 24 released a compilation of all eight videos in honor of World Water Day.

The inspiration for the project came to the freestyle hip-hop artist after moving to Santa Cruz four years ago. A year later, he brought it back with a new twist.

“I thought it would be a really amazing idea if we could take these talents that we were blessed with and turn them into a form of service with something we all believe in, which is clean water for everyone,” he says.

The project blossomed with its first video, “Thundering Heart” by Tryllium, featuring Marya Stark. The crew spent 12 hours on the concept, writing and recording of the song. After a 90-minute break, they scouted locations around San Luis Obispo and shot the final project. Since then, the collaborative artists have refined their process, cutting it down to a few hours.

“We wrote, recorded and shot ‘Conduit’ in 10 hours at Indigital Studios,” says Ra.be. “It was produced by LowGritt [Santa Cruz’s Logan Gritt]. He’s produced a number of tracks and albums for me, and is a wonderful artist on his own.”

From the tainted taps of Flint, Michigan and Kentucky to the year-long Standing Rocking protest of the North Dakota Access Pipeline, clean water has been a major issue dominating the news. According to a 2013 United Nations study, 780 million people around the world do not have access to clean water, and 85 percent of the world’s population live in the driest parts of the planet. When the Standing Rock protest began, Tap the Flow 24 was already off and running, but Ra.be knew he had to show solidarity.

“I ended up doing a take on Wu-Tang’s ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ called ‘Water Rules Everything Around Me,’” he says with a laugh.

Last month, Tap the Flow 24 dropped the final song for the album—featuring Cello Joe, Ra.be, Kat Baxter, and Galactic Vibes—bringing the 21-month project to culmination. As he performs some of the songs at shows around town, he hopes awareness of the project will continue to grow. Anyone interested in the Tap the Flow 24 project can go to rabemusic.bandcamp.com for the music, or give.generosity.org/taptheflow24 to donate to the project.

“Everyone has so graciously offered their time and talent thus far,” says Ra.be. “The intent is to create a bigger impact by inspiring more people to donate for more wells.”

Preview: Descendents to Play Two Nights at the Catalyst

Music

Steve Palopoli

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April 4, 2017

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Preview: Descendents to Play Two Nights at the Catalyst

With his biochemist alter ego and the spiky-haired, bespectacled caricature of his look that has become iconic after appearing on Descendents’ album covers for the last 35 years, Milo Aukerman is punk rock’s original nerd.

Still in his teens when he took over as lead singer for Descendents in the early ’80s, both Aukerman’s own style and the band’s melodic hardcore sound were instantly defined on 1982’s Milo Goes to College, their debut record. As Descendents rose from obscurity in the SoCal punk scene to be recognized as arguably the original pop-punk band, Aukerman’s geeky mystique also grew, especially after he left music to get his doctorate in biology, alternating for years afterward between punk rock and a career in biochemistry. Now, with Descendents touring and even releasing their first album in 12 years—2016’s Hypercaffium Spazzinate—Aukerman is proud to know he’s inspired a generation of punk nerdlings.

“Punks need to get educated, too,” he says by phone, with a laugh. “I always like to hear from people who say, ‘I went to college because of you.’ I’ve even heard from people who went all the way through grad school, got a Ph.D., and now they’re working at a university. That’s always very heartwarming to me. That’s the kind of schizophrenia of my personality; I have this equal passion for science and music.”

Certainly in 1982, no other punk band was writing songs like “Suburban Home,” a title the uninitiated might assume to be ripe with irony. It is not. Written by then-bassist Tony Lombardo, who was also a mailman, it featured lyrics like “I don’t want no hippie pad/I want a house just like mom and dad” that must have puzzled a hell of a lot of punks back then.

“We kind of took the punk sound and applied our own more nerdy perspective to it. Especially in ’81, ’82, that came across as completely against the grain,” says Aukerman. “It was like, ‘These guys don’t have tattoos, they don’t have Mohawks, and yet they’re playing this extremely fast, aggressive music.’ That’s been something we’ve been real proud to inject into punk—almost an anti-punk viewpoint.”

After all, the original view of punks, he says, was “more of a doofus, Sid Vicious kind of a deal. Nothing against Sid or whatever, but I just have a whole different life experience than that.”

By the mid-’90s, though, the sound Descendents had helped to pioneer (let’s not forget the Buzzcocks, although Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto might have punched you if you called them “pop-punk” in 1977) had broken through to the mainstream, with bands like Green Day and Blink-182 all over the radio. At the time, Aukerman had left the band, with the other members (led by drummer Bill Stevenson, who had been the architect of Descendents’ sound) soldiering on as All. Ingeniously, they picked this moment to come back together for 1996’s Everything Sucks, the first Descendents record in nearly a decade and the one that endeared them to the Warped Tour generation. The album will be re-released next month in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

“You think about what people define as ‘pop-punk,’ and then you look at what we did on Milo Goes to College and it’s like, ‘wow, that’s really more punk than pop. So when we started to write for Everything Sucks, it was like, ‘we gotta put the punk back into punk-pop.’”

Aukerman admits that was also the most stressful time in the band for him, simply because their sudden discovery by a legion of new fans meant they were burning themselves out trying to do 200 shows a year. He retreated to his science gig again, and the rest of the band went back to All. But after coming together again sporadically for years, he believes they’ve worked out a way to keep Descendents together for the long haul.

“Back then, we thought ‘let’s cram as many shows as we can into one year!’ Now we’re thinking ‘no, let’s see how many years we can do this.’ Because this is something that’s so valuable and so precious to us right now that we don’t want to mess it up by grinding ourselves into the ground,” he says.

It comes at a time when he’s starting to see his own view of the band shift, having finally given up his day job.

“It’s only as of the last year that I’ve considered music a career,” he says. “Prior to that, music was a hobby. And that gave me a unique perspective of ‘it’s a hobby, it’s supposed to be fun. ‘That’s been my mantra from the very start of all this. When it stopped being fun, I would leave. And then after a few years, I’d think ‘wait a minute, it wasn’t that bad! I should get back to this!”

Info: 9 p.m. on Thursday, April 6 and Friday, April 7 at the Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets are $35.

Preview: Homeshake to Play the Catalyst

Music

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April 4, 2017

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Like Homeshake’s previous two records, the new Fresh Air is a riff on ’90s R&B, but to me it sounds slower, weirder, and more surreal. But Peter Sagar, who uses Homeshake as his moniker, insists that this is actually his fastest record.

Insist is a strong word. Much like his music, Sagar speaks as though he’s coasting somewhere between “just finished meditating” and “about to take a nap.” He doesn’t demand I believe him, so much as politely suggest that the BPMs on his laptop register, on average, slightly higher than the prior records.

Sagar’s low-key approach spills over into the delightfully strange and peculiarly infectious music of Homeshake. When he started the project in 2014, he had left a gig as Mac DeMarco’s touring guitarist. The non-stop touring life wasn’t for him, and he found himself never having time to focus on his own indie bedroom music, which he had been doing plenty of prior to DeMarco’s status as a slacker indie rock god. But thanks to DeMarco’s enormous success, Sagar now had a built-in audience.

“I was travelling around with my best friends—it was obviously great. But it had to stop, otherwise I would have completely lost my mind,” Sagar says. Regarding his own touring schedule, he says that “instead of spending every waking hour trying to find another tour to do, I just go to the places that I’m supposed to, I guess. I play as little as I can. I’m not much of a road dog.”

Touring wasn’t the only thing wearing him down—he was also getting sick of the guitar. He’d played under a variety of pseudonyms since he was 19. He toured with DeMarco since his very first tour, and watched him become a Pitchfork buzz artist. But when he started Homeshake, it was a complete reset: back to playing solo, but with keyboards, electronics, and lots of ’90s R&B influences.

“Ideas stopped coming to me on the guitar,” Sagar says. “It’s pretty invigorating after spending so much time writing on one instrument to open a door to a new texture with a different layout, even just the difference between the way you see the keys on the keyboard. I needed something to shake up the creativity.”

The songs meander at a snail’s pace, and are filled with a combination of modern and retro R&B sounds. It’s touched by nostalgia, but coated in outer space freakishness, and plenty of falsetto vocals. It’s oddly romantic, but not sensuous. The structures and instrumentations are loose, yet little meticulous elements pop in and out sporadically. Generally, Sagar says, he tries to keep the songwriting and recording process simple. (“I don’t like getting too lost in some black hole of little details. It’s best sometimes to revert to your original decision.”)

Fresh Air, Sagar says, is his most positive release. He once said that his greatest influence was sadness, but that’s not the case anymore. Still, it’s not actually a happy record; the vibe is not so much sunshine as heroin-induced coma.

With Fresh Air, Sagar’s entire process changed. Rather than trying to write complete songs, he’d lock himself up in his home studio and write a bunch of instrumentals. He’d take the ones he liked best and try to flush them out into complete songs with vocals and other details. His goal was one song per day. It was released approximately a year and a half after his last album, Midnight Snack. He says he started working on Fresh Air immediately after finishing Midnight Snack.

In terms of what the albums are about, Sagar seems deliberately vague. Other sites have reported that his first two records dealt with his departure from DeMarco’s band. He laughs and calls that “clickbait.”

Fresh Air, he says, is about trying to find spiritual balance, a process that confounds him.

“I don’t really know how to go about it, so I just wrote a bunch of songs. I can feel relaxed, so maybe it worked,” Sagar says. “I’ve grown up a little bit, I guess.”

INFO: 8:30 p.m., April 10, Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $10/adv, $12/door. 429-4135.

Zameen Brings Mediterranean to Pleasure Point

Christina Waters

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April 4, 2017

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Zameen Brings Mediterranean to Pleasure Point

We love Mediterranean flavors, me and Bev, so we arranged a rendezvous last week at the newly opened Zameen at the Point, a vibrant slice of Pleasure Point ambiance with a healthy dose of tzatziki on the side. Packed with hungry fans of all shapes and sizes, Zameen offers a short, spicy menu of appealing classics, from the signature Moroccan Madness Soup to hummus to the house specialty lamb burger.

Bypassing crispy calamari, we went for an order of freshly-made dolmas ($7) and sweet potato fries with an outrageous pomegranate walnut dipping sauce ($6). I had to try the lamb burger, on a ciabatta roll with tzatziki, baby greens, feta, tomatoes, and pickled onions ($12). Bev went for the special lamb wrap, in a spicy sauce with almonds, raisins, cucumber, cinnamon and, yes, more of the irresistible tzatziki (think garlic, dill, and yogurt).

The cool thing here is that you can customize your Zameen order. Choose a wrap, a salad (mixed greens, veggies, olives, garbanzos, feta, lemon vinaigrette), or a bowl (saffron rice or pearl couscous). We sat and started on our luscious dolmas—served with sliced lemons and ripe cherry tomatoes— and terrific sweet potato fries, and noticed that many of our fellow diners had embraced the bowl approach to build-your-own lunch. Once you’ve decided on a delivery system—wrap, salad, or bowl—you can then add your choice of main attraction: falafel, chicken, gyros or lamb. Bev’s lamb wrap was a monument to soft pita that enfolded a substantial interior of spicy (with cinnamon and garlic) lamb, plus all of the other goodies. My lamb burger, frosted liberally with tzatziki and pickled onions, was delish (a bit too much bun) and came with a king’s ransom of textbook french fries, which are not exactly Mediterranean, but definitely a welcome addition. Next time, I would go with one of the bowls, and probably add the lamb. We ate till we could eat no more, and some goodies came home with us, mostly fries and dolmas. The vibe is excellent here at Zameen, yet another star in the hot surfing constellation that is Pleasure Point. Critical mass has been achieved, what with East Side Eatery, Verve, Kaito, Betty’s, Penny Ice Creamery, and now Zameen.

Verve’s Chocolate Sin

I caved in. I couldn’t resist it any longer, the barely legal chocolate orange cake that is one of the main gluten-free temptations at Verve these days, thanks to Manresa bakers. A pretty creation, the deep deep chocolate cake is barely sweet, feather-light, and topped with a thin layer of ganache icing flecked with cocoa nibs. The entire ethereal bon bon is perfumed with orange, and comes with a thin transparent ribbon of candied orange peel. $5 and terrifyingly good. Oh, and it’s gluten free too. I ate an entire one of these in a single sitting, in training for my trip to Vienna next month, where I will cruise the pastry shops in between operas.

Liquor License for Bantam

It’s true, chef Benjamin Sims told me last week: his chic little Westside pizza bistro has acquired its very own liquor license. But no, Ben said with a smile, I can’t get a dirty martini at Bantam just yet. There are some hoops to jump through, code-wise—more sinks, different configuration of infrastructure. The wine bar will remain, but the front window counters will be expanded to become prime real estate for those Moscow Mules to come. When? Sims rolled his eyes. “Probably two months.” So that means Bantam’s cocktail scene will unveil just in time for the summer. Stay thirsty, my friends.

Humble Sea Brewery’s Long-Awaited Opening

Food & Drink

Lily Stoicheff

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April 4, 2017

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Humble Sea Brewery’s Long-Awaited Opening

Hours after receiving their final approval from the city to open on St. Patrick’s Day, it was standing room only at Humble Sea. Santa Cruz’s newest brewery and taproom had intended for their first weekend to be a soft opening for family and friends so they could get their sea legs, so to speak, but co-owners and San Lorenzo Valley natives Nick Pavlina, Taylor West and Frank Scott Krueger quickly discovered that they have a lot of friends.

Anticipation for the opening has mounted over the last year as Humble Sea began releasing a steady stream of IPAs, saisons and lagers with quirky sea-themed names—like Toy Boat, Walk the Dank, and Socks and Sandals—to Santa Cruz taprooms and restaurants. Hopheads fell for their juicy renditions of trendy lupulin-heavy styles. While Pavlina didn’t originally plan for Humble Sea to be known as a hoppy brewery—he prefers brewing slower-fermenting lagers—he admits they’re fun to brew and allow the brewery to keep up with the growing demand.

As realized by Stripe Design Group, the new, light-filled taproom on Swift Street carries the nautical theme with a crisp Aegean blue-and-white color scheme and thick ropes rigged across the ceiling. Most of the gathering area is outside around picnic tables and upturned barrels, the briny scent of nearby waves hanging in the air.

While the taproom is now open five days a week, Humble Sea’s journey is far from over. Stalled by much-needed PG&E upgrades for their custom-built 10-barrel brew house, Pavlina and assistant brewer Ben Ward are making do on a one-barrel system. While this means they’re able to frequently try new recipes, they’re unable to fill growlers or crowlers at this time, and for now their largest pour is 12 ounces. Further build-outs in the beer garden and a second story event space are also in the works.

So far, visitors don’t seem to mind. The garden and taproom were packed on a warm Wednesday afternoon, and more than 15 beers in a range of styles were on draft. A selection of hot-pressed sandwiches and snacks are also available. “The first weekend was hectic,” admits Ward. “But it feels good to be open. We already have some repeat customers.”

820 Swift St., Santa Cruz, 200-3732. humblesea.com.

Bottle Jack Cellars’ 2013 Zinfandel

Josie Cowden

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April 4, 2017

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We had a friend from Greece staying with us for two weeks, and it was a joy to show her around the Santa Cruz area. On her last night, we went to Au Midi in Aptos—owned by French couple Muriel and Michel Loubiere. Without a doubt, it’s one of the best local restaurants, and I’m always impressed with the food. Chef Muriel prepares the most exciting and innovative cuisine with a delicious French flair.

Taking along a zesty 2013 Zinfandel by Bottle Jack (corkage fee is $15) turned out to be a good move. This excellent Zin paired well with all of our entrees, especially with my husband’s hearty beef stew.

Bottle Jack winemaker John Ritchey says of this Santa Cruz Mountains Zinfandel, “OK, maybe not an Italian variety, but very closely related to one,” with “cherry, raspberry, blood orange, tea leaves and juniper with a black pepper finish.” What he really means is that it has all of the boldness of an Italian Zinfandel, with the sweet-tart flavor of blood orange adding extra pizzazz. At $28, it is an excellent buy. Ritchey says the grapes are harvested from dry-farmed, self-rooted, head-trained vines, and the Zin is one of their flagship reds. It was also a gold-medal winner in the 2016 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

Bottle Jack is open from noon to 4 p.m. every third weekend for wine tasting, and I suggest you head on out and meet the winemaking team of John and his wife Katharine. The next weekend they’re open is Saturday, April 15 and Sunday, April 16. April 15 also happens to be Passport Day, when many wineries are open to the public for a complimentary tasting—if you buy a Passport from the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association, that is. Check their website at scmwa.com for more information on Passport events.

Bottle Jack Wines, 1088 La Madrona Drive, Santa Cruz, 227-2288. bottlejackwines.com.

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology April 5—11

Rob Brezsny

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April 4, 2017

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ARIES (March 21-April 19): Be interested in first things, Aries. Cultivate your attraction to beginnings. Align yourself with uprisings and breakthroughs. Find out what’s about to hatch, and lend your support. Give your generous attention to potent innocence and novel sources of light. Marvel at people who are rediscovering the sparks that animated them when they first came into their power. Fantasize about being a curious seeker who is devoted to reinventing yourself over and over again. Gravitate toward influences that draw their vitality directly from primal wellsprings. Be excited about first things.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Are you weary of lugging around decayed guilt and regret? Is it increasingly difficult to keep forbidden feelings concealed? Have your friends been wondering about the whip marks from your self-flagellation sessions? Do you ache for redemption? If you answered yes to any of those questions, listen up. The empathetic and earthy saints of the Confession Catharsis Corps are ready to receive your blubbering disclosures. They are clairvoyant, they’re non-judgmental, and best of all, they’re free. Within seconds after you telepathically communicate with our earthy saints, they will psychically beam you 11 minutes of unconditional love, no strings attached. Do it! You’ll be amazed at how much lighter and smarter you feel. Transmit your sad stories to the Confession Catharsis Corps now!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Now is an excellent time to free your memories. What comes to mind when I suggest that? Here are my thoughts on the subject. To free your memories, you could change the way you talk and feel about your past. Re-examine your assumptions about your old stories, and dream up fresh interpretations to explain how and why they happened. Here’s another way to free your memories: If you’re holding on to an insult someone hurled at you once upon a time, let it go. In fact, declare a general amnesty for everyone who ever did you wrong. By the way, the coming weeks will also be a favorable phase to free yourself of memories that hold you back. Are there any tales you tell yourself about the past that undermine your dreams about the future? Stop telling yourself those tales.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): How big is your vocabulary? Twenty thousand words? Thirty thousand? Whatever size it is, the coming weeks will be a prime time to expand it. Life will be conspiring to enhance your creative use of language . . . to deepen your enjoyment of the verbal flow . . . to help you become more articulate in rendering the mysterious feelings and complex thoughts that rumble around inside you. If you pay attention to the signals coming from your unconscious mind, you will be shown how to speak and write more effectively. You may not turn into a silver-tongued persuader, but you could become a more eloquent spokesperson for your own interests.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): We all need more breaks from the routine—more holidays, more vacations, more days off from work. We should all play and dance and sing more, and guiltlessly practice the arts of leisure and relaxation, and celebrate freedom in regular boisterous rituals. And I’m nominating you to show us the way in the coming weeks, Leo. Be a cheerleader who exemplifies how it’s done. Be a ringleader who springs all of us inmates out of our mental prisons. Be the imaginative escape artist who demonstrates how to relieve tension and lose inhibitions.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): People in your vicinity may be preoccupied with trivial questions. What’s more nutritious, corn chips or potato chips? Could Godzilla kick King Kong’s ass? Is it harder to hop forward on one foot or backward with both feet? I suspect you will also encounter folks who are embroiled in meaningless decisions and petty emotions. So how should you navigate your way through this energy-draining muddle? Here’s my advice: Identify the issues that are most worthy of your attention. Stay focused on them with disciplined devotion. Be selfish in your rapt determination to serve your clearest and noblest and holiest agendas.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I hope that by mid-May you will be qualified to teach a workshop called “Sweet Secrets of Tender Intimacy” or “Dirty Secrets of Raw Intimacy” or maybe even “Sweet and Dirty Secrets of Raw and Tender Intimacy.” In other words, Libra, I suspect that you will be adding substantially to your understanding of the art of togetherness. Along the way, you may also have experiences that would enable you to write an essay entitled “How to Act Like You Have Nothing to Lose When You Have Everything to Gain.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): If you have a dream of eating soup with a fork, it might mean that in your waking life you’re using the wrong approach to getting nourished. If you have a dream of entering through an exit, it might mean that in your waking life you’re trying to start at the end rather than the beginning. And if you dream of singing nursery rhymes at a karaoke bar with unlikable people from high school, it might mean that in your waking life you should seek more fulfilling ways to express your wild side and your creative energies. (P.S. You’ll be wise to do these things even if you don’t have the dreams I described.)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): If you’re a Quixotic lover, you’re more in love with love itself than with any person. If you’re a Cryptic lover, the best way to stay in love with a particular partner is to keep him or her guessing. If you’re a Harlequin, your steady lover must provide as much variety as three lovers. If you’re a Buddy, your specialties are having friendly sex and having sex with friends. If you’re a Histrionic, you’re addicted to confounding, disorienting love. It’s also possible that you’re none of the above. I hope so, because now is an excellent time to have a beginner’s mind about what kind of love you really need and want to cultivate in the future.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Your new vocabulary word is “adytum.” It refers to the most sacred place within a sacred place, the inner shrine at the heart of a sublime sanctuary. Is there such a spot in your world? A location that embodies all you hold precious about your journey on planet Earth? It might be in a church or temple or synagogue or mosque, or it could be a magic zone in nature or a corner of your bedroom. Here you feel an intimate connection with the divine, or a sense of awe and reverence for the privilege of being alive. If you don’t have a personal adytum, Capricorn, find or create one. You need the refreshment that comes from dwelling in the midst of the numinous.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You could defy gravity a little, but not a lot. You can’t move a mountain, but you may be able to budge a hill. Luck won’t miraculously enable you to win a contest, but it might help you seize a hard-earned perk or privilege. A bit of voraciousness may be good for your soul, but a big blast of greed would be bad for both your soul and your ego. Being savvy and feisty will energize your collaborators and attract new allies; being a smart-ass show-off would alienate and repel people.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Here are activities that will be especially favorable for you to initiate in the near future: 1. Pay someone to perform a service for you that will ease your suffering. 2. Question one of your fixed opinions if that will lead to you receiving a fun invitation you wouldn’t get otherwise. 3. Dole out sincere praise or practical help to a person who could help you overcome one of your limitations. 4. Get clear about how one of your collaborations would need to change in order to serve both of you better. Then tell your collaborator about the proposed improvement with light-hearted compassion.

Homework: Who’s the person you’d most like to meet and have coffee or a drink with? Why? Testify at Freewillastrology.com

Two Retrogrades and Two Festivals

Risa D’Angeles

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April 4, 2017

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Two planets (Saturn and Mercury) retrograde this week and we have two festivals (Palm Sunday and the Aries Spring Festival). Sunday is Palm Sunday and next Sunday is Easter. Tuesday is full moon and the Aries Spring Resurrection Festival, the first of the Three Spring Festivals. The two retrogrades (Saturn and Mercury) can, at first, create confusion as we all turn inward. Retrogrades are magical unpredictable times, fun and humorous to observe.

Saturn retrograde (until Aug. 31) helps us with discipline, structure and patience, rethinking responsibilities and commitments, restructuring plans and projects. We become wiser during Saturn retrogrades.

Almost everyone knows about Mercury retrograde (April 9–May 6), turning us inside out, upside down and sideways. Three weeks of magic and mayhem as the trickster Mercury shifts our perceptions inward. We assess (synthesize, eliminate) everything we learned since Mercury’s last retrograde (December/January).

Palm Sunday, beginning Passion Week, biblically marks the triumphal entry of Jesus of Nazareth, overshadowed by the Christ, into Jerusalem (City of Peace). Palms (symbolizing peace, victory and respect) were waved, heralding the Messiah, the Promised One. In our days now, we await His return.

Spring’s first full moon is the Aries solar Festival, when the Love of the Father, the Forces of Restoration and the Spirit of Resurrection flow into the Earth (the Mother). They offer humanity a new “livingness” by restoring moral and psychological health. They bring about the new Aquarian culture and civilization and the new Spiritual Materialism.” And a new hope and vision for the new world to unfold. Join us, everyone!

ARIES: Everything changed for you when Mars entered Aries. Your energy lifted and became more available. You also felt more impatient, wanting to move forward, engage in new enterprises, make new impressions in the world. You might feel the need to assume leadership over everyone and everything. Careful. Be kind. Be a leader, but understand that you move more quickly than others. Always have love.

TAURUS: You tell everyone you’d rather remain at home and research and not go out and about for a long time. You want to catch up on tasks not tended to for the past many years. Needing to maintain reserves of energy to get through each day, you need privacy and solitude. Many previously learned behaviors may arise. Observe them. Consider, are they useful? You may dream more. Record all dreams. Over time they tell you a story.

GEMINI: You need to participate in your affiliations and groups of friends, seeking their cooperation in either working on a project with you or listening to you with care and intention so you can clarify your thinking. If leading a group, teach cooperation, organize them as a team to achieve a particular goal. Ask each member their hopes, wishes, dreams and aspirations for the future. You’re achieving Aquarian goals. You’re mentoring humanitarianism.

CANCER: You want to be recognized for your knowledge, abilities, and what you accomplish each day. It’s good to want this recognition for it stimulates your ability to share and provide information to others. Many are in need of real and true information. You always ask the question, “What is real and true?” When we ask, the answers are always given. For those seeking new work or a job, after mid-May step forward into the world.

LEO: You may feel a hunger for things far from your usual life and ways of living. Other cultures, people, places and things seem to be summoning you in subtle persistent ways. You’re restless for new realities, a new adventure. You need new activities, conversations, goals, new subjects to study. An outer fire blends with your inner Leo fire. Everything you seek will appear. Careful with legal issues. Cultivate patience.

VIRGO: You may be called to be more cooperative and this may be a challenge. But you can do this. Relationships will be the challenge, the wound, the confusion. It may be good to consult with someone concerning how to settle differences and how to allow everyone to be heard. Careful with impatience and ending things too quickly. Reconcile with those you have had differences. Love more.

LIBRA: Life seems to be accelerating, moving faster each day. Sometimes those around you move too quickly and you feel left behind. Perhaps you’re working too hard and too long. Even though you may have abundant energy, tend to your health, make tending to your health a consistent daily practice. Careful with inflammation and infections. Slow down on glutens, grains and all sweets. Eat apples. Be calm with co-workers.

SCORPIO: Intimacy is important for you at this time. There are many types of intimacy—from friendship to lovers, intimacy of the mind, the heart, and physical intimacy. Things held in common with another is an intimacy. Knowing your values is an intimate level concerning the self. Sometimes, intimacies end and a new intimacy begins. Both affect you deeply. Be aware of your subtle feelings. Realize what you need. Ask for it. Intimates will help.

SAGITTARIUS: There’s so much energy flowing through your body and mind you simply can’t seem to find self-discipline. That’s OK if you use that unbounded energy for creative activities. You could also find children, or those who are child-like, to play with. Romantic things are good, too, and your love life may sense a deeper level of passion. Make sure you get enough sleep. Don’t risk anything by gambling. Play (innocently) more. Reveal yourself more.

CAPRICORN: Much of your energy is focused at home or where your domestic self resides. You’re highly instinctual at this time and protective. It’s important that you feel secure because you are called to make important decisions concerning family and the home. When feeling unusually moody or frustrated tend to home repairs and re-arrange family activities. Step back if arguments begin. Old emotional issues may resurface. They’ve arrived for review. Soothe them. Then they disappear.

AQUARIUS: So many ideas and plans on your mind that you feel a bit overwhelmed and scattered and so you try to share these ideas with others but so many errands and tasks come in between you and sharing with others that you feel frustrated and can move into arguments if you’re not careful. Realizing you could feel impatient and impulsive, be careful driving and when using machinery, scissors or knives (while cooking). Your inventive original mind slowly reveals your future.

PISCES: It’s a good time to create a journal of values (past, present and future values, aspirations). Often we can ascertain values by deciding what we need. Tend to monetary issues—bank accounts, taxes, insurance, inheritances, precious metals, etc. With Venus continuing its retrograde, money, values and resources need attention. Have you changed to a local bank yet? If not, do so. Don’t impulse buy. It’s important to acknowledge your value and worth. Meditation upon the self is good.

From the April Fool’s Files: Mystery Spot Shut Down for Building Code Violations

Local News

Jacob Pierce

-

April 1, 2017

4

From the April Fool’s Files: Mystery Spot Shut Down for Building Code Violations

[Editor’s Note: This story ran on April 1 as our traditional celebration of April Fool’s Day. Since the holiday has now passed, and we’re not in the business of fake news, we have marked it as such to avoid any confusion. Again, to be SUPER clear: nothing is wrong at the Mystery Spot, we love them, and we thank them for being so gracious about our fooling. Long may they tilt!]

When Santa Cruz County officials announced they had red-tagged the Mystery Spot in Happy Valley, shockwaves immediately reverberated through the community.

The owners say they had no choice but to close up shop after they learned about their beloved institution’s building code violations.

“We realize the optics of this are not great,” says Planning Director Kathy Previsich. “But at the same time, we cannot let our love of this institution tilt our decision. These crooked buildings are unsafe to let anyone to enter.”

Protesters denouncing the closure lined up outside the Mystery Spot, which believers say is a vortex, where the laws of physics get distorted.

Skeptics, of course, simply say it’s a couple of oddly shaped wooden structures on a hill. Either way, the news has been difficult for many Mystery Spot fans and team members.

“You know, maybe this wouldn’t mean anything to county inspectors, but I’ve spent the last six months honing a dry sense humor and corny puns,” says tour guide Erik Jung, who’s now thinking about applying for a job on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. “The gravity of the situation is still sinking in. I’m sorry, this has just been really hard.”

Activists and politicos are already chiming in about how to save the property—or at least reuse the destination, which has been deemed unstable.

Former Santa Cruz City Councilmember Micah Posner tweeted from his newly created Twitter account that maybe the Mystery Spot could be used for affordable housing.

Santa Cruz Transportation Manager Jim Burr has begun to look into using the property for a seven-story parking garage. Former County Treasurer Fred Keeley suggests putting a brand new Santa Cruz Warriors arena there instead.

“Imagine, we could have everyone’s favorite basketball team playing, surrounded by trees,” Keeley says. “Boy, doesn’t that sound fun?”

And Santa Cruz Shakespeare has begun to look into using the buildings for a performance of “The Tempest.”

Still, some Mystery Spot supporters aren’t ready to give up just yet. James Durbin has started writing a benefit song to save the fun joint, and even sent us an advance copy of the chorus:

Mystery Spot,

You bring me joy when I don’t feel hot.

I love Santa Cruz so much.

President Donald Trump heard about the developments via Fox News, which reported the shutdown, and immediately took to Twitter to condemn the decision. Mystery Spot - Trump Tweet

As longtime Santa Cruzans mourn, First District County Supervisor John Leopold has announced a community meeting to discuss the Mystery Spot’s future.

“Visitors from all over Santa Cruz and beyond have celebrated this institution for more than seventy years,” Leopold says. “It’s time for a balanced community dialogue to hear concerns, while we look for a path forward. We’re trying to have an informed discussion.”

The discussion about the future of the Mystery Spot will be at Gotcha Cultural Center at 1 APRIL FOOL Drive, Soquel at 7 p.m.

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