Page 928 – Good Times

Waves of Relief

Local News

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April 6, 2016

Helping someone who’s come back from fighting overseas can be a life-changing experience. In that spirit, for the fifth year in a row, Operation Surf Santa Cruz is bringing wounded vets and active duty servicemembers to Santa Cruz for six days of healing fun in the ocean. Sponsored by the nonprofit Amazing Surf Adventures (ASA), the group’s mission is to help current and past soldiers overcome challenges through surfing and ocean education, and they’ll be in Santa Cruz April 12 through 18.
“We talk to guys who have seen their friends blown up and die in their arms,” says Robert Oliveros with a somber tone, adding that veterans and active duty soldiers “have made huge sacrifices, so it’s just a way of giving back.”
There are many ways of “giving back,” but the one Oliveros has chosen to volunteer for comes with more sun than most, and some awesome waves. And those involved with Operation Surf Santa Cruz say they can see its impact immediately.
“The difference between when they arrive and when they leave is night and day,” says Brent Edwards, who has spent the last year and a half as a board member for ASA, and has participated in Operation Surf since it arrived in Santa Cruz. Edwards served as a Marine for six years himself, even doing one tour of the Middle East during the Gulf War. “They find parts of themselves they didn’t think existed anymore. It’s really amazing,” he says.
Instructors paddle alongside the new surfers—some who have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or are missing limbs—helping them to pick up speed on the wave and then steadying them as they stand.
“Operation Surf helped me realize that I was limited in my capabilities,” one injured vet says in a promotional video. “Surfing definitely changed my perception of my injuries. I realized that my injuries aren’t going to hold me down anymore, and I can do just as much as I did before I got hurt.”
Rodney Roller, a professional surfer and amputee, founded the effort in 2010. Van Curaza later took the reigns, launching the program in San Luis Obispo, where he and his wife Amanda currently run a surfing school, and brought it to Santa Cruz in 2011. The idea is to pair each soldier or vet with an individual surfing instructor for a one-to-one experience.
“The crux of the program is really the bond that is created between the participant and the instructor,” Edwards says. “They stick together all week, and many of those bonds last years. We become an extended family for them to rely on.”
To date, the program has helped more than 500 veterans through the calming power of shredding the ocean.
Many of the vets and active-duty members have never surfed prior to the event; some even come from landlocked states and have never even seen the coast. The most inspiring part, Edwards says, is seeing many of the participants hitting the waves with missing limbs from their time in duty. “We always like to say we help out people with physical wounds and unseen wounds,” says Edwards.
This year, 18 new participants will arrive in San Jose, where they will be taken to Santa Cruz in a motorcade, escorted by a fanfare of police, firemen and civilians. Participants spend the first day taking in their surroundings, meeting volunteers, bonding with one another and learning about ocean safety.
The opening ceremony takes place at the Santa Cruz Wharf entrance at 9 a.m. on April 13 with a full military color guard and a few speeches from the organizers. After that, the vets and soldiers surf for the next five days, spending a few days at Cowell Beach and then moving to Capitola over the weekend. Each night, the surfers are taken out to dinner where they can talk about the day’s events and relax with each other and their instructors.
Organizers spend almost the entire year planning for this event, enlisting over 50 volunteers to help with water safety, surfing instructions and gathering help in the local community. Places like the Richard Schmidt Surf School, the Crow’s Nest, the Dream Inn and even CrossFit all have a hand in helping Operation Surf Santa Cruz run as smoothly as possible.
“In one event, we can have almost 400 volunteer positions,” says Amanda Curaza of Operation Surf. “So it takes a huge amount of effort and hours to make it happen.”
The general public is also welcome to show their support by participating in the opening ceremony and cheering on the surfers.
“We live in such a beautiful place, with the resources needed to surf, that it’s almost our responsibility to give back,” Oliveros says. “Plus it’s just a really fun event.”
Operation Surf has been such a success that ASA recently began a chapter in Cocoa Beach, Florida. This year, they were invited by British organization Help For Heroes to start the event in the United Kingdom in September.
“We’re really excited,” says Curaza. “Van has figured out what works well—and why—so we hope to repeat it, continue it, and keep it growing.”

Operation Surf Santa Cruz continues to need volunteers throughout the week and to prepare for its 2017 event. Visit facebook.com/operationsurf for more information.

Be Our Guest: Stephane Wrembel

A&E
Music

GTWebmaster

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April 6, 2016

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A French-born gypsy jazz guitarist, Stephane Wrembel is a standout in the contemporary jazz scene, with his brilliant musicianship and lively, soulful style. Well-known among gypsy jazz enthusiasts, Wrembel is a veteran of the spotlight, including a performance at the 2012 Academy Awards and work on the scores for the Woody Allen films Midnight In Paris and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. A student of tradition, Wrembel also thrives on moving sounds and styles forward and is influenced by world music of all styles.

INFO: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $22/adv, $27/door. 427-2227. WANT TO GO? Go to santacruz.com/giveaways before 11 a.m. on Friday, April 8 to find out how you could win a pair of tickets to the show.

Love Your Local Band: Steve Palazzo

A&E
Music

GTWebmaster

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April 6, 2016

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Steve Palazzo has been involved with music his entire life. A couple of decades ago he was making instruments. And since the early ’90s, he’s been a full-time guitar teacher. However, a lot of folks might know Palazzo for the bluegrass band Homefire, which was together for a quarter-century before calling it quits just a few years ago.
That hasn’t stopped Palazzo from playing music. Now he plays shows under his own name, drawing from similar roots music influences but with a more intimate feel.
“Part of it was I wanted to do some different stuff besides straight-ahead traditional bluegrass. I wanted to do smaller ensemble stuff,” Palazzo says. “It’s been fun working on these tunes with a smaller group. There’s certain things we couldn’t do with a bigger ensemble. We put a little more emphasis on the vocals.”
There’s also an album in the works, one that Palazzo has been working on for the better part of a year. Part of the reason it’s taken so long is that he’s been bringing in different local and touring musician friends to record on various tracks. He’s hoping to have his solo record out this spring, and believes Americana music lovers will truly appreciate it.
“I’m attracted to those roots styles. There’s traditional fiddle tunes, one track is a Johnny Cash tune, but we arranged it with fiddle and mandolin, and two guitars. It’s traditional stuff,” Palazzo says. “I’ve played this music long enough where my versions of these tunes are never exactly like anybody else’s at this point. There’s some straight-ahead bluegrass, but then there’s just some fingerpicking stuff.”

INFO: 7 p.m. Sunday, April 10. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $15. 335-2800

What’s the highest you’ve ever been?

Columns

Matthew Cole Scott

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April 6, 2016

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“Spending time with my family on days like this.”

Thomas Bischoff

Santa Cruz

Firefighter

“Aside from climbing Mount Whitney, which is over 14,000 feet, the highest Iâ€™ve been was witnessing my first mother give birth to her baby.”

Michelle Wilczynski

Santa Cruz

Registered Nurse

“I had a toothache, went to the dentist, put a Sony Walkman on my head and he gave me nitrous oxide. I was having a ball.”

Jeff Aldrich

Santa Cruz

Research Entomologist/Consultant

“The highest Iâ€™ve ever been was at the top of the Giant Dipper on April 20th.”

Dan Alexander

Santa Cruz

Construction Superintendent

“Literally in a stargate above our planet going at the speed of light during a third eye meditation.”

Torreyanna Marie

Santa Cruz

Teacher/Counselor

Sex, Drugs and Rockabilly

A&E
Film

Lisa Jensen

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April 6, 2016

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It’s tough to get a movie biography right, to find a way to make the messy facts of someone’s life as compelling as fiction. Last year, Steve Jobs did it, condensing the material into three key moments in its subject’s career that charted his personal and professional evolution.
Then there’s I Saw The Light, the biographical drama about legendary country singer-songwriter Hank Williams. Writer-director Marc Abraham doggedly trots out the facts of Williams’ astonishingly short and productive life (36 hit songs before his death at age 29). But the material is presented without much insight, and the storytelling feels flat. It’s like watching somebody else’s home movies—interesting for awhile, but not personally involving.
Fortunately, the film stars the highly watchable Tom Hiddleston, the accomplished British thesp best known to movie audiences as Loki in the Thor franchise. He may not be the first person you’d think of to play Alabama-born proto-rockabilly crooner Williams, but Hiddleston has presence to burn, and he looks great in a cowboy hat. He even does his own singing. With a fresh, honest approach that doesn’t try to imitate Williams, Hiddleston sells the music with his laid-back demeanor and killer grin.
Early on, we see Hiddleston’s Hank perched on a stool in the spotlight, singing, his face shaded by the brim of his hat. It’s a great, iconic image, but it soon proves to be a metaphor for a movie that never quite gets beneath the surface to the man under the hat. Then, we cut to 1944, with Hank getting married to his sweetheart, Audrey (Elizabeth Olsen) by a justice of the peace at a gas station in rural Alabama.
Hank and his band sing in honky-tonk bars and appear weekly on a local radio program. He dreams of Nashville, and appearing on the Grand Ole Opry, but he’s shy about singing at auditions. He gets a music publishing deal as a songwriter, which leads eventually to his band making their first studio recording. At home, tensions mount between Audrey and Hank’s manager/mom, Lillie (Cherry Jones), while Audrey pressures Hank to let her perform with the band—even though her singing is so strident that the radio station engineers discreetly turn off her mic when they’re broadcasting live.
But Abraham never builds these scenes into a compelling narrative; it’s just a series of vignettes that all start to feel the same. Hank drinks way too much. He fights with Audrey, who says he’s squelching her dreams. He flirts with random women, many of whom end up in his bed. He takes pills on the road, and morphine injections for back pain, and makes promises to do better by his loved ones that he never keeps.
But despite the accumulation of these details we never really understand who Hank is, or what private demons drive him. Abraham never uncovers the person behind the image; he’s content to stick with the persona of the raw talent living the self-destructive honky-tonk life.
Meanwhile, connections between scenes are often vague. Hank is strumming his guitar on the porch when an unknown woman materializes on the step beside him; they lob some sexy banter back and forth until Audrey appears in the doorway and the mystery woman melts out of the scene—and the movie. Later, with no prelude, we suddenly see Hank shaking with the DTs in a hospital bed, trying to dry out.
Still, the music can jolt the movie to life. That Hiddleston does his own singing lends authenticity to these scenes, whether he’s onstage with the band, or strumming a bittersweet “Your Cheatin’ Heart” for his producer, accompanied only by his own guitar, or singing a lullaby to his infant son. Singing “Lovesick” for his debut at the Grand Ole Opry is a highlight early on, and a wry, saucy onstage version of “Why Don’t You Love Me Like You Used To Do” wakes things up with a bang. If only Abraham had been able to infuse the rest of the movie with that kind of energy.

I SAW THE LIGHT
**1/2 (out of four)
With Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen. Written and directed by Marc Abraham. A Sony Classics release. Rated R. 123 minutes.

The Natural Eye

A&E
Art

Christina Waters

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April 5, 2016

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[take this out]Every now and then a photograph transports its subject into a compelling new space. Coastal cliffs overlooking beach and waves: A familiar subject. Yet everyone who sees Tim Matthews’ shot of Pomponio Beach is stopped in their tracks. The image is that powerful. It demands your attention. Such a photograph could easily make a career. But in Matthews’ case, the career was already well underway.
“It was low tide, my wife and I had stopped to walk on the beach after a visit to San Francisco,” Matthews recalls of the engaging image. The image is faintly perfumed with warm color. “I call it digital tone,” Matthews says with a grin. Shot with his Nikon D810, the image was run through his computer, then cropped and printed.
“They all start out in color,” he observes, as we both study the haunting seascape. “Then I desaturate it. I like black and white.” The slight blush of color warms up the heroic shelf of cliffs and sand. The haunting image is 14 x 21 inches, a size the tall photographer with a shock of boyish white hair tends to favor.
What makes it so memorable is that Matthews’ cliffs plunge diagonally across the picture plane, revealing both the sand at our feet as well as the cliff edge towering above and then out of the left top corner of the print. The diagonal implies everything about the setting. The cliff begins, and ends, far beyond our point of view. The shot begins, and ends, with a seasoned eye.
Born in Santa Cruz into a family deeply rooted in the Central Coast, Matthews grew up in Hollister and went to UCSC.

Seacliff pier, the Capitola skyline, all blurred, just out of reach, in characteristic pinhole fashion. They feel, and look, like memories.

“I used to tell people that I majored in sailing and minored in geophysics,” he says. Other directions called. Always a sailor, Mathews began work in the marine industry, at O’Neill’s and West Marine. “That’s when I really began doing photography,” he explains. “Doing catalog work for West Marine and for NHS skateboards. And I still have some long-standing clients, mostly for artist’s portfolio work and catalogs.”
Pursuing his own fine-art photography “off and on,” Matthews got serious about it in the mid-’80s, now showing his atmospheric black and white prints at six to eight shows each year. “And I’ve been doing Open Studios for the past four or five years,” he says. Then with a smile, “Sales are always nice.”
The barnlike structure Matthews shares with his wife’s etched glass business contains a bohemian warren of studios and offices. Elegantly framed prints line two walls, and a suite of softly blurred color prints are stacked along one corner. “I don’t do much color now,” Matthews admits, showing me each of the subtly colored images. “I fooled around with a pinhole camera for a while, and made these. I call the series “Childhood Memories.” Seacliff pier, the Capitola skyline, all blurred, just out of reach, in characteristic pinhole fashion. They feel, and look, like memories.
“With the 2008 recession,” he continues. “the commercial business slowed down. I started playing around with the scanner, digitizing old negatives and making digital prints out of them.” He was a bit surprised with the results. “I realized I should be doing my own work,” he says. Matthews’ work offers up the timeless beauty of nature. Waterfalls, rushing streams, foggy coastlines. “My actual vision has stayed consistent. Landscapes. The natural world has always been my influence and my interest,” he explains. “My family had a farm in Aptos. I have always had a connection to the natural world, an older world.”
Matthews held out for a while, resisting digital. “I was attached to film. And early digital technology was expensive,” he says. But that was then. “The last time I shot film was 2011,” he says.
Matthews contends that the rise of the iPhone and “all the stuff on Facebook and Instagram doesn’t bother him. “Everything’s changing,” he admits with a slow grin. “Everything’s become more visual.”
“I’m not trying to make a living with these,” he says, although he does admit that he sells a lot of his elegant matted and framed prints to people who want to decorate their second and third homes, and to coastal resorts. “I run the glass studio here, and do metalwork for the glass projects,” he says. He likes his neighbors, John Crawford and Richard Mayhew—both oil painters—who work in the buildings next door.
Matthews continues to explore his love for the natural world. “Nostalgia in advance,” he calls his prints. The rugged grandeur of his images from field trips to the Sierras, such as his Mono Creek series, were influenced by Paul Strand and Minor White. “I’m intrigued by the drama of the diagonal and by abstract composition,” he says. “I do enjoy the craft of it. It’s part of the process. There’s big difference between uploading something to the Internet and working with prints.”
The photographic prints of Tim Matthews invariably return to the irresistible natural magnets—the mountains, the water. “Yes it’s been done,” he agrees. “But everything’s been done.”

Tim Matthews’ prints are at R. Blitzer Gallery through April 4. timmatthewsphoto.com/about.html

Food for Thought

Film

Lisa Jensen

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April 5, 2016

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Whatever you may think you know about the city of Los Angeles, you may find your assumptions challenged by City of Gold. No, it is not (as the title suggests) a movie about the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It’s a fascinating foodie doc about Jonathan Gold, esteemed food critic for the Los Angeles Times, whose insightful writing about the culinary scene in L.A. has earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism.
Gold has not won this accolade by choosing the most exquisite verbiage to describe plates of decadent delights. He’s not that kind of food writer. What Gold does is hit the streets in his bottle-green pickup truck, cruising strip malls, ethnic neighborhoods, vendor carts, and food trucks all across the sprawl that is L.A. in search of undiscovered eating experiences. And discover them he does, incredible treasures in the most unexpected places, mostly run by immigrant families who make up the vast cultural diversity of the city and its many, many burbs. More of an explorer than a food critic, Gold writes insightful pieces about understanding cultures through the medium of food.

As Gabbert follows Gold on his rounds, we get a vivid glimpse of the many worlds that make up L.A.: from Grand Central Market to Marisco’s Jalisco food truck; from Jitlada’s Thai cuisine to Little Ethiopia to Chengdu Szechuan.

Director Laura Gabbert starts her film with an apt quote from the late and much-lauded food memoirist, M. F. K. Fisher: “First we eat. Then we do everything else.” Which is certainly one thing we as humans all have in common. And our commonality is very much at the heart of Gold’s work, to whom we are then introduced, pausing thoughtfully over the empty screen of his laptop before plunging into his next review.
A somewhat gnomish-looking character (with long, cottony hair left over from a past life playing electric cello in a punk band), Gold never tries to go out in disguise to keep his identity secret. But he does make reservations under a variety of assumed names—so it’s not until he actually walks in the door that restaurateurs know it’s him.
Many proprietors of the eateries he champions (often in hole-in-the-wall storefronts you wouldn’t look at twice while driving by) credit him with saving their businesses. Says one observer, Gold brings “value to restaurants and experiences that other people weren’t writing about.”
As Gabbert follows Gold on his rounds, we get a vivid glimpse of the many worlds that make up L.A.: from Grand Central Market to Marisco’s Jalisco food truck; from Jitlada’s Thai cuisine to Little Ethiopia to Chengdu Szechuan. Gold stops for fried grasshoppers at a Oaxacan cafe in Koreatown, hot dogs at Earle’s Wieners, a vendor cart in South Central, and refers to a location in passing as “that Romanian Chinese Islamic place.” Small wonder that when Gold shows up, chefs eagerly bring out tastes of their grandmother’s cherished recipes for him to try.
Gold is modest about his work (which he calls “exploring the mosaic of the city on somebody else’s dime”), and wry about his methods. (He doesn’t take notes when he eats, he says, because “it would be like taking notes during sex.”) But he takes the work seriously and knows his stuff. As one interviewee says, “I don’t know any Korean who knows more about Korean food than Jonathan Gold.”
While watching this movie, I kept thinking of Blade Runner, and its futuristic vision of a Third World L.A. as a steaming stew pot of Asians, Latinos and replicants all jockeying for position. (Paranoia Alert: Blade Runner’s future world was set in—ulp—2019!) Gabbert presents a much more promising vision, with Gold spearheading the way toward a rational yet passionate embrace of cultural diversity.
At a UCLA commencement address at the end of the movie, Gold speaks about the liveliness of the local cultural scene, constantly reinventing itself with new foods and ideas to share. “We are all strangers together,” says Gold.
This is what community is. And when ignorant voices in society talk about closing borders, building walls, and homogenizing our cultural experience, this is what we lose.

CITY OF GOLD
*** (out of four) With Jonathan Gold. A film by Laura Gabbert. A Sundance Selects release. Rated R. 91 minutes.

La Onda

Aaron Carnes

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April 5, 2016

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If some folks feel that a vegan option is limiting, they haven’t been looking hard enough—especially in Santa Cruz.
La Onda is a completely vegan, healthy snack that owner Taran Rowe envisioned as an alternative to hummus. The spreads are almond-based, and she’s finding that they can be used on lots of different foods. She offers a couple of tasty flavors for folks (vegans or otherwise) to sample. We asked Rowe about the Santa Cruz-based product, which can be found at various grocery stores and farmers markets around the county.

What’s La Onda mean?

TARAN ROWE: La Onda means “the curve of the ocean wave.” It also means “new wave.” It’s an inspiration behind my product. It’s a new wave of snacking. I developed the product while I was living in Central Mexico. I took a year and a half off and moved down there. I got really into food and vegan snacking. That’s kind of how this came about.

Why almonds?

Almonds are one of my favorite nuts. I feel like they have a really unique, neutral taste. I’m also interested in how they have all these heart-healthy benefits. I’m a big believer in good fat, and almonds are packed with good fats and vitamin E. It blends really well with all the over-savory ingredients.

Your website says you are ‘re-inventing the way we look at food.’ Explain.

I’m the kind of person, like most of American culture, that’s really big on snacking. So I feel like I wanted to put something out there really thoughtfully creative. I have my ingredients listed at the top of the container. It’s one of the first things you look at, exactly what’s in your snack. I feel like with a lot of snacks, the ingredients are kind of hidden on the side. I also think the word “vegan” gets a bad rap. People can use this with their veggies or their crackers. Through the process of making this, I’ve had a lot of feedback from customers that are using it as pizza sauce, pasta sauce, salad dressing. It was originally created as a hummus alternative for dip. It’s also great as a dairy substitute. You can use it instead of mayo. It has a fun texture, so it adds a crunch. Put it in pasta. It’s also really spreadable and creamy.

What are your flavors?

Right now, I have three flavors in most of my stores: roasted garlic, original and habanero. I have one that’s kind of a seasonal flavor, a sesame ginger flavor. Also, in different seasons, I’ll make whatever’s in stock at the farmers markets. Sometimes I’ll create a flavor around that. The original, I would describe it as the perfect blend of a hummus and a vegan cheese. It’s a little more creamy in comparison to a hummus, but has the cheesy, bold flavor.

415-961-3598, eatlaonda.com.

Opinion

Steve Palopoli

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April 5, 2016

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EDITOR’S NOTE

The last couple of weeks, I’ve had a kind of fever. I might just chalk it up to the effects of putting out what, as far as anybody can remember, is the biggest issue in Good Times’ 41-year-history. I can’t really blame that, though, because I get this particular delirium every year around this time. Like earlier this week, when I suddenly found myself eating a burrito at Tacos Moreno for the first time in at least a year. Why? Oh, right, because while poring over the list of Best of Santa Cruz ballot winners multiple times, my brain stored away the fact that they had won first place for Best Burrito in Santa Cruz, and sent me there.
After I finished, I walked down the block back to my car and passed Montgomery’s Barber Shop. I seriously found myself staring in the window, slack-jawed, as if in some kind of fugue state (luckily, they were closed). Why? Oh yeah, must be because they won Best Barbershop. On the drive back, I passed Samba Rock Acai Café. Something clicked in my brain again: runner-up, Best Acai.
And it’s like that all the time while we’re putting together the Best of Santa Cruz County issue—suddenly the places and people who fill up these pages jump out to me whenever I look in their direction. I feel kind of like Neo in The Matrix, except instead of knowing kung fu, I know to go to Sanford’s Martial Arts (Best Martial Arts winner!) to learn karate.
Pretty soon, it’ll pass, and I’ll go back to experiencing Santa Cruz in a reasonably normal way. But in the meantime, I should probably make the most of it. If you see me sharing a Gary’s Snappy Dog with Best Life Coach Janette Valentino while getting a mani-pedi at Tracy’s Nails, you’ll know why.
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Read the latest letters to the editor here.

Winter Shelter Program Ends
Re: “Cold Shoulders” (GT, 2/10): Nearly 400 people are about to lose a place to sleep, eat and shower. That’s the number of people who used the Winter Shelter Program between Nov. 15 and Mar. 21. This program provides temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Santa Cruz County during the coldest and wettest months of the year. The program ends April 1.
While the staff has operated the program for many years and has previously experienced the hard reality of ending the program, knowing that participants have no other place to sleep this year is especially poignant for me because I’m in charge of winding down operations. As the new executive director of Homeless Services Center, I have the agonizing task of closing the program, knowing full well that most of these men, women and families will be sleeping rough when the program ends. They’ll need to find a safe place to sleep, a place where they won’t be given a ticket for sleeping, a place where their belongings are safeguarded, a place to eat, a place to shower and use a bathroom, and a place to stay warm and dry so their already fragile health won’t worsen.
During February, 76 people used the Winter Shelter each night on average, and we had a few nights when the population was in the high 90s. The Winter Shelter has a maximum capacity of 100. As of March 21, a total of 8,465 bed nights were occupied. For the 137 nights that the program was open, people were able to sleep in a safe place, take a hot shower, and enjoy a nutritious dinner and breakfast. Now that the program is ending, I can’t help but think “What about the other 228 nights of the year?”
The people served by the Winter Shelter are merely a fraction of the total number of people who are homeless in Santa Cruz County. According to the 2015 homeless census, there are nearly 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in Santa Cruz County and 84 percent of them are unsheltered.
What can be done between now and November, when, hopefully, but not with certainty, we will start another season of providing shelter during the coldest and wettest months of the year? It’s hard to answer this question, because Emergency Shelter funding is changing. The federal government has prioritized funding for housing, which is great, but it’s at the expense of funding “day services,” which include shelter, showers and meals. To be clear, I’m all for housing. I led the “180” Permanent Supportive Housing initiative for three years, and so far we’ve housed nearly 500 people who were chronically homeless, and more than 90 percent of those people are still housed. Housing is the foundation for people to start on their pathway to improved health, well-being, community integration, and independent living. But what happens in the meantime, while people are finding their pathway to housing? Shelter programs play an important part in this process.
At the Homeless Services Center, we provide residential shelter, transitional housing, supportive services, and medical respite care for more than 200 people. Every day we meet people where they are in their experience of homelessness, with compassion, dignity and respect. It’s heartbreaking to close the Winter Shelter Program knowing that people will have no safe place to sleep for the next 228 nights.
Phil Kramer | Executive Director, Homeless Services Center

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

Submit to ph****@go*******.sc. Include information (location, etc.) and your name. Photos may be cropped. Preferably, photos should be 4 inches by 4 inches and minimum 250dpi.

GOOD IDEA

MOVE IT, DONâ€™T LOSE IT
Anyone whoâ€™s ever tried moving houses at a popular time to relocateâ€”like, say, the end of Juneâ€”knows that it can be hard to find a moving truck. Thatâ€™s why itâ€™s a good idea that Eastside Santa Cruz will be getting a new neighborhood U-Haul dealer when Holiday Smog, which is at 1671 Capitola Road, offers the service.

GOOD WORK

PRESENT PREZ
Scotts Valleyâ€™s John Pecoraro got a big wish granted this month when he met presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail in Santa Barbara. Pecoraro, who is 44, suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and has a life expectancy of four months. Kudos to the Dream Foundation for making it happen.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

â€œNobody who ever gave his best regretted it.â€
-George Halas

Music Calendar Mar 30-Apr 5

GT Staff

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April 5, 2016

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WEDNESDAY 3/30

FUNK/ROCK

PIMPS OF JOYTIME

Pimps of Joytime has been described as a “post-genre” band, and I can’t say I disagree with the sentiment. With a solid base of funk and groove, the Brooklyn-based band has a fuzzed-out, rock quality that sounds more like the Black Keys than anything in the booming neo-funk movement. With electronic sensibilities that add an additional layer to the sound, the band, led by singer and guitarist Brian J, is indeed a bit hard to pin down. One thing is certain though: they get audiences jumping and spirits soaring. CAT JOHNSON
INFO: 8:30 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $15/adv, $20/door. 479-1854.

FOLK

MOUTH OF BABES

The duo Mouth of Babes has been together for less than two years, but they’ve enraptured crowds wherever they go. In part, it’s their infectious, soulful folk songs. But it’s also the chemistry between the two ladies. They are both veterans of the modern folk scene, with Ty Greenstein coming from Girlyman and Ingrid Elizabeth coming from Coyote Grace. They harmonize beautifully together, and the in-between song banter is like watching two best friends sharing all of their inside jokes with the crowd. AARON CARNES
INFO: 7:30 p.m. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $12/adv, $15/door. 335-2800.

FRIDAY 4/1

JAMGRASS

LEFTOVER SALMON

Long before phrases like “jamgrass” and “progressive bluegrass” were regular phrases in any roots music lover’s vocabulary, Leftover Salmon was playing a rocking blend of bluegrass, country, rock and jam that they dubbed “slamgrass.” Hailing from Boulder, Colorado, which has become a hotbed for forward-thinking bluegrass fusion acts, the band helped further the bluegrass movement and bring acoustic roots styles to mainstream audiences. On Friday, Leftover Salmon hits the Rio in what promises to be one of the great jamgrass shows of the year. CJ
INFO: 8 p.m. Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $28/gen, $42/gold. 423-8209.

DESERT BLUES

SONGHOY BLUES

With rolling rhythms, trance-inducing melodies and electric instruments, desert blues from West Africa is among the most exciting and engaging of contemporary musical styles. Songhoy Blues puts its own twist on the genre, with a garage rock-meets-desert-R&B sound, inspired by rock legends Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles. The band plays to honor and celebrate its displaced people and culture, who were once among the most prominent of Mali’s many ethnic groups but have now been pushed to the margins. The music is the story of hope, struggle and resilience. CJ
INFO: 7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $15/adv, $20/door. 427-2227.

SATURDAY 4/2

ROCK

SWMRS

A long time ago—in the year 2004—in a city called Oakland, two kids not even old enough to get into a PG-13-rated movie watched Jack Black’s School of Rock and thought, “Hey, we should start a band!” Fast-forward to 2016, and the now foursome is rocking the charts with its own blend of pop melodies. Opening up for the Bay Area pop players are local acts Jackie Zealous and the Watergate Sandals to add a refined mix of surf and garage rock to keep your feet moving and your heart racing. MAT WEIR
INFO: 8:30 p.m. Catalyst Club, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $12/adv, $14/door. 429-4135.

SUNDAY 4/3

INDIE

CAR SEAT HEADREST

Depending on where you first heard of Car Seat Headrest, it’s either a brand new artist, or a grizzled veteran act. Both are true. Will Toledo, the sole consistent member of the group, is a young man, but he spit out a dozen records on Bandcamp between 2010 and 2015. Last year he signed to Matador and re-recorded some of his favorite tracks for them, and this year he has his first Matador record of new material coming out. The 23-year-old seems right at home at Matador, as echoes of Guided By Voices, Yo La Tengo and Pavement ring throughout his tunes. AC
INFO: 9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $10. 429-6994.

GARAGE

NIGHT BEATS

For a three-piece garage band, Seattle’s Night Beats really draw from a hodgepodge of influences. At times they dig into the early tripped-out LSD psych-rock records of the ’60s, other times it’s ’70s sludge, and there are even dominant traits of old-school R&B. The group excels at these genres, and are at their best when they mix them all up into something of their own making. They started in 2009, and have three LPs under their name, including 2016’s Who Sold My Generation. AC
INFO: 8 p.m. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $12/adv, $15/door. 335-2800.

MONDAY 4/4

JAZZ

CHRISTIAN McBRIDE AND THE MACK AVENUE SUPERBAND

With the rise of online distribution, 1999 wasn’t an auspicious year to launch a new jazz label, but Detroit’s Mack Avenue Records has thrived by documenting established masters (Gerald Wilson and Gary Burton) and rising stars. The label is deep enough to field a revolving cast of luminaries on its Superband tours, and the lineup that lands in Santa Cruz is particularly strong on the crowd-pleasing front. Led by bassist extraordinaire Christian McBride, the rhythm section features his longtime collaborator Carl Allen on drums and 26-year-old pianist Christian Sands. Alto saxophonist/flutist Tia Fuller and tenor saxophonist Kirk Whalum, who’s better known for his work in R&B and pop, round out the quintet. ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $30/adv, $35/door. 427-2227.

TUESDAY 4/5

HIP HOP

YUNG LEAN

Swedish rapper and producer Yung Lean has been professionally dropping beats and mixtapes for the last three years, and he’s captivated the online world with hits like “Afghanistan,” “Hoover,” and “Miami Ultras.” For those not familiar with the current trends in Swedish hip-hop, Yung Lean has brought Thaiboy Digital, another country brethren, to warm up the audience with an intense mix of the country’s digital craze. MW
INFO: p.m. Catalyst Club, 1011 Pacific Ave. Santa Cruz. $18/adv, $20/door. 429-4135.

IN THE QUEUE

SCOTT COOPER & THE BARRELMAKERS

Local Americana jam band. Thursday at Moe’s Alley

METALACHI

Heavy metal meets Mariachi. Friday at Catalyst

REVEREND LOVE JONES & THE SINNERS

Bay Area rock and soul. Friday at Pocket

STEEP RAVINE

Santa Cruz-born progressive bluegrass outfit. Saturday at Crepe Place

HEARTLESS

Northern California rockers pay tribute to legendary band Heart. Saturday at Don Quixote’s

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EDITOR’S NOTE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

GOOD IDEA

GOOD WORK

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

WEDNESDAY 3/30

FUNK/ROCK

PIMPS OF JOYTIME

FOLK

MOUTH OF BABES

FRIDAY 4/1

JAMGRASS

LEFTOVER SALMON

DESERT BLUES

SONGHOY BLUES

SATURDAY 4/2

ROCK

SWMRS

SUNDAY 4/3

INDIE

CAR SEAT HEADREST

GARAGE

NIGHT BEATS

MONDAY 4/4

JAZZ

CHRISTIAN McBRIDE AND THE MACK AVENUE SUPERBAND

TUESDAY 4/5

HIP HOP

YUNG LEAN

IN THE QUEUE

SCOTT COOPER & THE BARRELMAKERS

METALACHI

REVEREND LOVE JONES & THE SINNERS

STEEP RAVINE

HEARTLESS