Love Your Local Band: KR3TURE

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Oh, these DJs—all they do is stand behind their laptops and press play, right? Well, that may be the case for some electronic musicians, but it certainly isn’t for Krikor Andonian, who makes electronic music under the moniker KR3TURE. The audience may see him standing behind a laptop, but they’ll also see him playing a guitar, a melodica, a flute, a saxophone, and maybe even a harmonica.
“I’m primarily a multi-instrumentalist. I would feel awkward standing on stage not playing anything. That’s why I make music, because I love playing,” Andonian says. “I call it ‘acoustic electronic’ or ‘live electronic.’ It definitely has an electronic feel, but it’s written on instruments.”
People might already be familiar with Andonian. He’s one half of Feral Fauna, and he used to be a part of local group Audiafauna. Whether it’s with either of those groups, or in his solo work as KR3TURE, he always approaches electronic music through a unique lens. It’s not strictly computer music. Any way he can best express himself, he’ll take it. The main difference with a KR3TURE set is he’ll most likely use sampled and glitched-out vocals, but that blend of organic and electronic will still be there.
“The lines today are blurred. We’re like a cyborg generation. It’s whatever inspires us the most,” Andonian says. “Wherever we hear the sounds that we want to use, then we’re going to use those tools. I think there’s something really powerful about electronic music. You can definitely go on journeys with acoustic music. I borrow from various people the things that I like, and make my own amalgamation of those elements.”


INFO: 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 27. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $10. 335-2800.

What qualities do you admire in others?

“Kindness in others, and their ability to smile, be nice and crack jokes.”

Maddy Prader

Boulder Creek
Ice Cream Scooper/Hostess

“Patience, compassion and drive.”

Julianna Perry

Santa Cruz
Teacher

“Honesty and integrity. ”

Scott Collora

Houston
Correctional Officer

“Fairness and compassion.”

Julia Butterfield

Santa Cruz
Teacher

“People who are humble, people who can admit that they’re wrong, and who don’t have such a big ego about life.”

Noelle Bush

Santa Cruz
Veterinary Technician

Rob Brezsny’s Astrology July 27 – Aug 3

 
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Free your body. Don’t ruminate and agonize about it. FREE YOUR BODY! Be brave and forceful. Do it simply and easily. Free your gorgeously imperfect, wildly intelligent body. Allow it to be itself in all of its glory. Tell it you’re ready to learn more of its secrets and adore its mysteries. Be in awe of its unfathomable power to endlessly carry out the millions of chemical reactions that keep you alive and thriving. How can you not be overwhelmed with gratitude for your hungry, curious, unpredictable body? Be grateful for its magic. Love the blessings it bestows on you. Celebrate its fierce animal elegance.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The people of many cultures have imagined the sun god as possessing masculine qualities. But in some traditions, the Mighty Father is incomplete without the revitalizing energies of the Divine Mother. The Maoris, for example, believe that every night the solar deity has to marinate in her nourishing uterine bath. Otherwise he wouldn’t be strong enough to rise in the morning. And how does this apply to you? Well, you currently have resemblances to the weary old sun as it dips below the horizon. I suspect it’s time to recharge your powers through an extended immersion in the deep, dark waters of the primal feminine.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): An Interesting Opportunity is definitely in your vicinity. It may slink tantalizingly close to you in the coming days, even whisper your name from afar. But I doubt that it will knock on your door. It probably won’t call you seven times on the phone or flash you a big smile or send you an engraved invitation. So you should make yourself alert for the Interesting Opportunity’s unobtrusive behavior. It could be a bit shy or secretive or modest. Once you notice it, you may have to come on strong—you know, talk to it sweetly or ply it with treats.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): [Editor’s note: The counsel offered in the following oracle was channeled from the Goddess by Rob Brezsny. If you have any problems with it, direct your protests to the Queen Wow, not Brezsny.] It’s time to get more earthy and practical about practicing your high ideals and spiritual values. Translate your loftiest intentions into your most intimate behavior. Ask yourself, “How does Goddess want me to respond when my co-worker pisses me off?” or “How would Goddess like me to brush my teeth and watch TV and make love?” For extra credit, get a T-shirt that says, “Goddess was my co-pilot, but we crash-landed in the wilderness and I was forced to eat her.”
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Be alert for white feathers gliding on the wind. Before eating potato chips, examine each one to see if it bears a likeness of Rihanna or the Virgin Mary. Keep an eye out, too, for portents like robots wearing dreadlocked wigs or antique gold buttons lying in the gutter, or senior citizens cursing at invisible Martians. The appearance of anomalies like these will be omens that suggest you will soon be the recipient of crazy good fortune. But if you would rather not wait around for chance events to trigger your good luck, simply make it your fierce intention to generate it. Use your optimism-fueled willpower and your flair for creative improvisation. You will have abundant access to these talents in the coming weeks.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You have just begun your big test. How are you doing so far? According to my analysis, the preliminary signs suggest that you have a good chance of proving the old maxim, “If it doesn’t make you so crazy that you put your clothes on inside-out and try to kiss the sky until you cry, it will help you win one of your biggest arguments with Life.” In fact, I suspect we will ultimately see you undergo at least one miraculous and certifiably melodramatic transformation. A wart on your attitude could dissolve, for example. A luminous visitation may heal one of your blind spots. You might find a satisfactory substitute for kissing the sky.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): For many years, my occupation was “starving artist.” I focused on improving my skills as a writer and musician, even though those activities rarely earned me any money. To ensure my survival, I worked as little as necessary at low-end jobs—scrubbing dishes at restaurants, digging ditches for construction companies, delivering newspapers in the middle of the night, and volunteering for medical experiments. During the long hours spent doing tasks that had little meaning to me, I worked diligently to remain upbeat. One trick that worked well was imagining future scenes when I would be engaged in exciting creative work that paid me a decent wage. It took a while, but eventually those visions materialized in my actual life. I urge you to try this strategy in the coming months, Libra. Harness your mind’s eye in the service of generating the destiny you want to inhabit.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You have every right to celebrate your own personal Independence Day sometime soon. In fact, given the current astrological omens, you’d be justified in embarking on a full-scale emancipation spree in the coming weeks. It will be prime time to seize more freedom and declare more autonomy and build more self-sufficiency. Here’s an important nuance to the work you have ahead of you: Make sure you escape the tyranny of not just the people and institutions that limit your sovereignty, but also the voices in your own head that tend to hinder your flow.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Of all of the forbidden fruits that you fantasize about, which one is your favorite? Among the intriguing places you consider to be outside of your comfort zone, which might inspire you to redefine the meaning of “comfort”? The coming weeks will be a favorable time to reconfigure your relationship with these potential catalysts. And while you’re out on the frontier dreaming of fun experiments, you might also want to flirt with other wild cards and strange attractors. Life is in the mood to tickle you with useful surprises.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You have a special talent for accessing wise innocence. In some ways you’re virginal, fresh, and raw, and in other ways you’re mature, seasoned, and well-developed. I hope you will regard this not as a confusing paradox but rather as an exotic strength. With your inner child and your inner mentor working in tandem, you could accomplish heroic feats of healing. Their brilliant collaboration could also lead to the mending of an old rift.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Where is everybody when I need them?” Even if you haven’t actually spoken those words recently, I’m guessing the voices in your head have whispered them. But from what I can tell, that complaint will soon be irrelevant. It will no longer match reality. Your allies will start offering more help and resources. They may not be perfectly conscientious in figuring out how to be of service, but they’ll be pretty good. Here’s what you can do to encourage optimal results: 1. Purge your low, outmoded expectations. 2. Open your mind and heart to the possibility that people can change. 3. Humbly ask—out loud, not just in the privacy of your imagination—for precisely what you want.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Millions of Pisceans less fortunate than you won’t read this horoscope. Uninformed about the rocky patch of Yellow Brick Road that lies just ahead, they may blow a gasket or get a flat tire. You, on the other hand, will benefit from my oracular foreshadowing, as well as my inside connections with the Lords of Funky Karma. You will therefore be likely to drive with relaxed caution, keeping your vehicle unmarred in the process. That’s why I’m predicting that although you may not arrive speedily at the next leg of your trip, you will do so safely and in style.


Homework: Is it possible there’s something you really need but you don’t know what it is? Write Tr**********@***il.com.

Leo—Shining Like Sunlight

Leo is the month in which we praise one another. Recognizing the creative luminous light of purpose within everyone’s life. We seek to discover everyone’s talents, abilities and gifts. We praise them and then everyone’s evolution advances, expands, increases, multiplies and magnifies. We shine like sunlight.
As we praise each other, we gradually cultivate love, a healing tool emanating from the heart of the Sun to our hearts. In Leo we unveil the ability to embrace and hear each other, heart to heart. We realize that crisis and the dark moments actually shape our dreams and visions. We tell each other we are never alone. For we were born in these times and for each other. Each of us an immense force of Love.
All of this is revealed when the Sun is in Leo. Leo is the sign of the Soul. When we praise each other unconditionally, we realize we needn’t make ourselves whole again. We are already perfect. And life becomes a continuous unveiling of true identity, experience after experience, crisis after crisis, praise after praise. Praise neutralizes and nourishes.
Praise is our “call” to each other. To discover the most essential meaning and purpose in our lives, and living this out in relationship with self, others, nature, and the planet. Praise helps us develop selfhood. Praise foreshadows and prepares us for the Light of the Soul. Praise unveils the Soul.


ARIES: A few questions based upon looking at your chart. What’s occurring in your work world? Transformation? How are you holding up? What’s happening with relationships and/or marriage? Do you feel committed or uncommitted? How do you see yourself? Are you feeling like a revolution has taken hold of your body, emotions and mind? It has; life is hard, the world is changing. Hold on. Love is underlying everything.
TAURUS: Everyone around you has become a source of support and ideas so that you can become more of yourself. New viewpoints, archetypes, new rhythms, even the consideration of different geographical locations shifts your worldview, tilting it from how and where you grew up into an entirely new vista of thought. Take very special care of your health. Clean and clear your environments.
GEMINI: I often write about devas, light beings, angels, referring to the work at Findhorn. We must begin to work with devas for they build all things in form and matter. Eventually we will work with them directly in creating the new culture and civilization. We must ask to be able to see them. We begin by communicating with them from the heart. Do you have roses? There are rose devas and all types of flower and plant devas. They like you.
CANCER: You’re sensitive, and especially sensitive during Leo, more than usual. Are you sensing your energy from low to erratic? Rest is needed. Are finances and money concerning you? Do you want to discuss these issues but feel apprehensive? In between all that you do each day, between responsibilities and tasks, the focus must be upon retreat, things contemplative and quiet. You need quiet to heal, actually. Rest your eyes.
LEO: It’s a concentrated fiery time for you, Leo, as three fires from the Sun enter our world. We’re all in the Burning Ground. Leo is the fire from the Sun which makes you very sensitive. You are emerging from behind the scenes in order to offer new ideas, presenting them to the world so that they are accepted and understood. There’s a light emanating from your heart that people see and sense. Visualize that light with all the Seven Ray colors touching all of life.
VIRGO: Notice if your thoughts are at times in the past then quickly leaping to the future. It’s important to make the present your most important focus. Being in the past or future makes the practicality difficult. Focus on religious and spiritual feelings. So many new thoughts concerning your self-identity occur in the coming months. Rest, and imagine who you might be. Tend to all responsibilities with grace and goodwill.
LIBRA: It’s most important to act, dress and present your very best professional self at all times. Make yourself as beautiful and/or as handsome as possible—tailored, conservative, emanating quality, eminence and value. In all that you do, be a guiding light to those around you. A Vesta Light. Observe carefully your partner’s needs and wants. Relationships can quickly become topsy-turvy. Safeguard and stabilize them.
SCORPIO: Do you feel rather awkward? Are things uncomfortable? Are you more than the usual ill-at-ease, out of your depth, self-conscious, discomfited? Things are really unusual this month for some signs ruled by Mars. Don’t turn against yourself or others when difficulties arise. Mars is taking its time in its trajectory forward. Use money wisely. Expect delays. Turn to art, music, good food, and the spirituality of the heart. And understand the Burning Ground.
SAGITTARIUS: All relationships, intimacies, friendships, partnerships, interactions will require on your part a greater sensitivity and awareness. Step back from being the beautiful, smart and glamorous one, the one who brilliantly displays and voices your wounds. Observe others for a while to see if they are feeling sad, overwhelmed or neglected. You will be called to repair, tend to, sustain and maintain all relationships. The reward will be surprising.
CAPRICORN: For the next month it’s good to have young people nearby, good to study something, good to travel, good to tend and care for the neighborhood. For the next year there will be continual transformation and change. All changes will turn to blessings. More and more you will want to explore places unknown, through the written word or travel. Everything that occurs will make you better, more grace-filled. You will be guided toward a new independence.
AQUARIUS: It’s good to remember happiness and joys shared with others. If you have children or are around them, pay special attention to them. Seek to know their gifts and support them. It’s good to entertain now, have friends around, sharing food, experiences, ideas, ways to build community. Are you experiencing a more-than-usual need for nurturance and nourishment? Offer this to others. You will help to create something—like the new culture and civilization and new sharing society.
PISCES: Traveling and communicating, writing and teaching—many goals will begin to appear in daily life and in dreams. You will feel anxious to move forward into a new life, with new targets and aspirations. Careful with medicines and all drugs. Don’t gamble. Careful with fire and hot things. Mars is moving forward again. Use restlessness and discontent to know it’s time to travel and move about again. Pack lightly. You need much more art and beauty around you.


Risa is founder of the Esoteric Astrological Studies Institute. Reach her at ri**********@***il.com. Read more at nightlightnews.org or on Facebook, at Risa’s Esoteric Astrology.

Healing Leaky Gut Syndrome Through Diet

Most people don’t think much about their guts. Here’s some food for thought: over the last decade, we’ve found that the nearly 30-foot-long apparatus is teeming with 40,000 species of microbes, which not only fluctuate in response to what we send down the hatch, but also affect our mental and physical health.
The concept of “leaky gut syndrome” emerged about 30 years ago, and for most of those years it was dismissed as medical woo embraced only by alternative medicine circles. But the importance of a healthy gut is becoming more accepted, especially with a burgeoning supply of scientific evidence.
“Within integrative medicine it’s definitely one of the things we look at and treat as an underlying mechanism behind a lot of diseases,” says Dr. Akil Palanisamy, a Harvard-trained physician who also studied Ayurvedic medicine in India at the Arya Vaidya Ayurvedic Institute. “There is a lot of research behind it now—I think several thousand research papers have been published. They’ve studied probably about 35 different autoimmune diseases, and every time that they’ve checked, they have found that leaky gut is involved.”
In addition to 100 different kinds of autoimmune diseases, including lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, Palanisamy, currently an M.D. at the Institute for Health and Healing in San Francisco, says he believes that all diseases begin in the gut—a fundamental premise of Ayurveda, even thousands of years before the microbiome was discovered.
In leaky gut syndrome, increased gut permeability allows microbes and undigested food to leak into the bloodstream, flaring up the immune system. Doctors who recognize leaky gut syndrome believe this inflamed immune response to be the cause of many chronic diseases, with food allergies and autoimmune diseases leading the way as far as scientific evidence goes. Some doctors—like Dr. Sandy Newmark, who heads the Pediatric Integrative Neurodevelopment Program at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine—report that a significant percentage of children with autism also have leaky gut syndrome.
“What people often don’t understand is that food sensitivity is both the result of a leaky gut, and it also drives it forward or perpetuates it,” says Dr. Dawn Motyka of KSCO’s Ask Dr Dawn. “Once you have food sensitivities, then you eat those foods and they’re irritating. The irritation makes your gut more leaky, and then you develop potentially additional food sensitivities because the big molecules leak across the gut. And this is a big thing. It can be definitely validated.”
But while conventional Western medicine recognizes that the intestinal lining is porous—that’s how vital nutrients squeeze out into the bloodstream during digestion—it has yet to recognize leaky gut syndrome, at least not officially.
“The main reason you haven’t heard about it in regular medical circles is no one’s got a drug,” says Motyka.
A drug, of course, would be irrelevant: the cure is in the diet, says Palanisamy.
“The cause of gut permeability is usually not just one factor but a combination of factors that break down the lining over time,” says Palanisamy. He lists the common culprits: food sensitivities, including dairy and gluten which can lead to the overgrowth of pathogenic bacterias and fungus; parasites; environmental toxins; and certain medications, including antibiotics and the long-term use of Advil or aspirin.
“And then finally, stress also is a big factor that affects the gut permeability, so the mind-body connection is really huge,” says Palanisamy.
Early symptoms include bloating and bowel changes, says Palanisamy, progressing to more serious signs of inflammation, including fatigue, malaise, joint pain, and skin changes.
To heal and strengthen the gut, Palanisamy recommends a “paleovedic” diet, which is akin to a plant-rich version of the paleo diet, customized to fit each patient’s dosha, or body type. He emphasizes the importance of a plant-based—rather than meat-based—diet in his book The Paleovedic Diet: A Complete Program to Burn Fat, Increase Energy, and Reverse Disease.
Gut-healing foods include bone broth and fermented foods, as well as spices—including turmeric, ginger, fenugreek, and cinnamon, to name a few—which help with assimilation of nutrients and strengthening the digestive tract, says Palanisamy. And then, of course, there is the golden cure: ghee, or clarified butter, an Ayurvedic remedy that has long been proven to contain butyric acid, which a healthy gut naturally produces.
“Ghee balances ‘Agni,’ digestive fire, especially in the gut for healthy digestion and assimilation, which is key to health and longevity,” says Manish Chandra of Santa Cruz Ayurveda, who hosts a monthly talk series in town. “A well-lubricated intestinal lining of the gut wall supports immunity and protects its integrity, thereby populating healthy microbes. In Ayurveda, we treat the gut to treat the brain, because healthy bacteria in the gut produces mood-regulating neurotransmitters.”

Music Picks July 20—26

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WEDNESDAY 7/20

COUNTRY

TREVOR MCSPADDEN

Texas-born singer-songwriter Trevor McSpadden is a country crooner whose throwback sound blends his Lone Star dancehall roots with the grit of time spent in Chicago’s nightclubs and the newfound West Coast perspective. The result is a sound that is smooth, weathered and heartfelt, as McSpadden winds tales of home, broken hearts and lover’s arms down a well-worn musical path made familiar by honky-tonk and classic country greats. Also on the bill: local singer-songwriter McCoy Tyler. CAT JOHNSON
INFO: 9 p.m. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $8. 429-6994.
 

THURSDAY 7/21

TRADITIONAL BALKAN

EVA SALINA & PETER STAN     

Eva Salina is a renowned singer and teacher of traditional Balkan music. Her accordion accompanist Peter Stan is from Romania, but the two musicians cut their teeth in the Balkan diaspora of New York City’s Roma communities. Their performances offer a range of emotion, from mournful ballads to lively and sensual compositions that seamlessly weave Eva’s rich voice with Peter’s playful and intuitive improvisations, staying true to the intricate expression inherent to traditional Eastern European music. KATIE SMALL
INFO: 7:30 p.m. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $12/adv, $15/door. 335-2800.
 

FRIDAY 7/22

POST-PUNK

PSYCHEDELIC FURS AND THE CHURCH

Anyone looking for their fix of ’80s dreary college rock nostalgia would be hard-pressed to find a better touring package this year. Most folks know the Psychedelic Furs from their song “Pretty in Pink,” both as inspiration for and the most famous song from the John Hughes movie of the same name. But the Furs were responsible for one of the best albums of the ’80s, Forever Now, a melding of post-punk, goth lyrics and British pop. Australia’s the Church pulled from a similar pool of influences, but experimented more with psychedelic soundscapes. Their hit in the U.S. was 1988’s “Under the Milky Way.” AARON CARNES
INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $35/adv, $38/door. 429-4135.

FOLK

CHUCK BRODSKY

Modern-day troubadour Chuck Brodsky has been a quiet favorite of the contemporary folk scene for decades. With warmth, wit, unusual melodies and tight guitar chops, he tells stories of everyday people, political leaders and, one of his favorite and recurring themes, baseball. Joining the Philadelphia-born Brodsky are local standouts singer-songwriter Sherry Austin and lap steel virtuoso Patti Maxine. CJ
INFO: 7:30 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $25/gen, $32/gold. 427-2227.
 

SATURDAY 7/23

LATIN-ROCK

LA SANTA CECILIA

Right now, the most exciting thing happening musically in Los Angeles is the new wave of American Latin-rock bands. These are groups playing punk, ska, alt-rock, goth, everything—and La Santa Cecilia is one of the best. The band’s sound is rooted in traditional Latin rhythms—Bolero, cumbia, Ranchera—along with soul and rock ’n’ roll. But what makes La Santa Cecilia so great is the sheer joy emanating from the music. It grooves while staying mellow, and it just makes you feel good with every listen, whether you’re dancing or sipping on a glass of whiskey. AC
INFO: 9 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $18/adv, $22/door. 479-1854.

COUNTRY ROCK

THE JAYHAWKS

The Jayhawks emerged from the Minneapolis music scene in 1985; the band has weathered more than one lineup change since, but their original alt-country sound remains. Also on the bill for the night is Fernando Viciconte, a Portland-based roots rocker with a 20-year catalog of music ranging from hard rock to country folk. Viciconte’s most recent album, Radio, combines psychedelic electric sitar, 12-string guitars, and mandolin. REM’s Peter Buck played guitar on eight of the album’s 11 tracks; Buck also produced the Jayhawks’ most recent album, Paging Mr. Proust. KS
INFO: 8 p.m. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton. $25/adv, $30/door. 335-2800.
 

SUNDAY 7/24

REGGAE-ROCK

KANEKOA

Playing a feel-good, soul-shaking style of music that’s described as “ukulele-powered Hawaiian reggae folk rock,” Kanekoa is one of the most beloved musical acts from the islands—a long-running favorite of locals and visitors, alike. With a strong focus on the beauty and strength of the natural world, Kanekoa lets the music lead the way as they stretch out into long-form jams and inspired improvisations. As Bill Kreutzmann, drummer for the Grateful Dead said, “Kanekoa is the Hawaiian Grateful Dead.” CJ
INFO: 8 p.m. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. $8/adv, $12/door. 479-1854.
 

MONDAY 7/25

BLUES

MARCIA BALL BAND

Like whiskey, Michael Caine and Birkenstocks, Marcia Ball just seems to get better with age. At 67, she’s a guiding spirit on the Austin scene, a trenchant songwriter, rollicking pianist and captivating singer equally effective on aching ballads and earthy barrelhouse rave-ups. Her last album came out a couple of years ago, Tattooed Lady & The Alligator Man, but she’s never relied on a new release for set list. Ball returns to town with a killer band featuring bassist Don Bennett, drummer Corey Keller, tenor saxophonist Eric Bernhardt, and guitarist Mighty Mike Schermer, the former Santa Cruzan who returns to Kuumbwa on Aug. 18 for a gig celebrating his 50th birthday. ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: 7 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $25/adv, $30/door. 427-2227.
 

TUESDAY 7/26

DANCE-PUNK

MOVING UNITS

Dance-punk was all the rage a decade ago, an era that yielded groups like Franz Ferdinand, the Rapture, and Interpol. Of course dance-punk is just a clever way of saying, “influenced by Joy Division.” One of the lesser-known early adopters of the dance-punk revival was L.A.’s Moving Units, a band that started all the way back in 2001. It didn’t get the album sales or the critical praise some of the other groups got, but it has stayed true to sound, and continue to release music. Appropriately, they are currently doing a Joy Division tribute tour, which comes to Santa Cruz on Tuesday. Anyone that loves first wave and/or second wave Joy Division should definitely come out. AC
INFO: 9 p.m. Catalyst, 1011 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. $10/adv, $14/door. 429-4135.


IN THE QUEUE

DAYNA STEPHENS

Standout jazz saxophonist and composer. Wednesday at Kuumbwa

VAUGHN BENJAMIN & AKAE BEKA

Reformation of St. Croix reggae band Midnite. Friday at Moe’s Alley

BELANOVA

Grammy-winning Mexican pop outfit. Sunday at Catalyst

HOT CLUB OF BALTIMORE

World-class early-jazz ensemble. Sunday at Don Quixote’s

STEEL PULSE

Legendary reggae band. Monday at Catalyst

Be Our Guest: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

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Shakespeare’s beloved comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream tells the tale of four young Athenians caught in a love quadrangle. One of the Bard’s most popular works, the play is full of magic, fairies, misunderstanding, thespians, and, of course, love. If it’s been awhile since your last encounter with Shakespeare, this is a fantastic, family-friendly production to reintroduce yourself and to support a centerpiece of Santa Cruz community theater. Now in its third year as an independent nonprofit and with more than $1 million raised for a new outdoor theater, the future for Santa Cruz Shakespeare looks bright, indeed.
Read our review here.


INFO: Through Aug. 28. Grove at DeLaveaga Park, 501 Upper Park Road, Santa Cruz. $16-$52. 460-6399. WANT TO GO? Go to santacruz.com/giveaways before 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 28 to find out how you could win a pair of tickets to the play.

Love Your Local Band: Dickless Juli

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If the name offends you, don’t worry—the music will, too.
‘Fallopian Dudes’ was the only runner-up band name for ska/surf/punk trio Dickless Juli. Their song titles and lyrical content are equally cheeky: “Reptar Stomp,” “Questions My Mom Asks Me,” “Indo Bored,” and “Nike Don’t Surf” are just a few.
Both UCSC grads, Tyler Engel and Joey Parks grew up together in San Pedro; they met Juliana Mireles in 2013, while working at a bourgie country-club restaurant. “She told me that she loved metal music and only played drums with a double-bass pedal,” Engel recalled. “I laughed in her face. Like, I actually laughed, in her face.”
Dickless Juli shows are energetic, unpredictable and cathartic. The band celebrated Pride 2015 in Dolores Park, where they dragged all of their equipment, including a generator, to play a three-hour set to a crowd of 200 people. Audience members joined them onstage to sing Jimi Hendrix covers.
A photo taken during a house show on Bay Street is the cover for their debut album, H.A.R.D. (as in, “Has A Real Dick”). “At the end of that show I was dripping sweat,”
Juli says. “It was so hot in there. People were moshing, all the doors and windows were closed ’cause they didn’t want the cops to get called. We started late after Joey locked my keys in my car; I had set up my drums, but hadn’t gotten my sticks out. He got a friend to jimmy the window, but I was so mad at him. I was so mad, and Joey and Tyler discovered that Juli plays better drums when she’s pissed! After that they started picking fights with me before every show.” 


INFO: 9 p.m. Monday, July 25. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, $5. 423-7117.
 

How Shrubs are Transforming Summer Cocktails

I am part of a tribe of people who uses an apothecarian collection of vinegars for more than just dressing greens or making pickles. We drink it. It may seem unappealing at first, but the mildly sweet, tangy jolt is addictive. A healthy glug of amber apple cider vinegar in a glass of water in the afternoon is crazy refreshing—like instant grown-up lemonade without all the sugar.
But if that seems a little intense, don’t worry—I still think the best way to enjoy an invigorating kick of acid is in shrub form. These oddly named drinking vinegars have a long history, though they fell out of favor in the modern era. Now, they’re enjoying a revival among bartenders, farmers and all of their patrons and friends. The concentrated mixers are made by pulling the juice from fresh fruit and citrus with sugar, and cooking it in vinegar, which cuts the sweetness of the fruit and preserves the cordial. Take this concoction, pour it over ice and top it with soda water for the most elegant summer cooler you can imagine.
Shrubs are still a little hard to come by unless you’re making them yourself, so I was thrilled to discover several versions at the Serendipity Organic Farms booth at the Live Oak farmers market. Owner Jamie Collins provides her organic fruit and herbs to field-to-glass cocktail queen Katie Blandin Shea of Bar Cart Cocktail Co. to create delicious botanical elixirs, like my favorite: a blueberry shrub with white sage, lime zest and white wine vinegar ($12 for an eight-ounce bottle). This lapis lazuli-colored shrub is not too sweet, its creamy berry flavor offset by delicate earthy sage. It pairs perfectly with equal parts Venus Spirits’ Gin Blend No. 1, soda and late-afternoon sunshine. A strawberry, chamomile and orange zest version with apple cider vinegar is also available, and Collins revealed that she and Blandin Shea will continue to collaborate on different combinations as the seasons change.
Another exciting opportunity to enter the world of shrubbery (Ni!) is at Mountain Feed & Farm Supply’s Summer Shrub Party, from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Friday, July 22. Emily Han, author of Wild Drinks & Cocktails, will be teaching a free workshop on making shrubs from fresh produce and herbs. Shrub one, shrub all! mountainfeed.com.

Zayante Vineyards’ Estate-Bottled Chardonnay

This estate-bottled Chardonnay 2013 is totally produced by Zayante Vineyards—the grapes are grown on their land, the wine is bottled on the premises—and winery owners Greg Nolten and Kathleen Starkey-Nolton are fastidious about getting everything just right. The luscious flavors of the Chardonnay on the palate are highlighted by toasty oak and a slight flinty complexity from the soil. Beautiful aromas of crisp green apples and pears make this wine very refreshing and drinkable, “reminiscent of a fine French white burgundy.”
“Our exclusively estate-grown wines are produced from naturally farmed grapes,” say the Noltens. “Our philosophy is that only the finest grapes produce the finest wine. We go out of our way to ensure we grow the finest grapes possible.”
So what you’re getting here for about $18 is a delicious Chardonnay from a small family-owned winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains. You can find it all over in liquor stores and supermarkets.
Zayante Vineyards is open by appointment and for the quarterly Passport event (the next dates being Nov. 19 & 20). They can also be found every Tuesday from 2:30-6:30 p.m. May through October at the Felton Farmers Market in the St. John’s parking lot on Hwy. 9, and they will be the featured winery on the Chardonnay II sailing vessel from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2. If you have never sailed out on the briny while drinking good wine and eating tasty hors d’oeuvres, then check out chardonnay.com for a full list of wine sails through October.
Zayante Vineyards, 420 Old Mount Road, Felton, 335-7992. zayantevineyards.com.


Roudon-Smith Winery

Al Drewke of Roudon-Smith Winery has closed his tasting room on Hangar Way in Watsonville and is moving to the Stomping Ground—a brand new wine and food concept in Gilroy which is all set to be a happening spot. More on that soon.


Back Nine Adds More Local Wine

The Back Nine Grill & Bar in the Inn at Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz has added more local wines to their list. We can now look for Morgan, Bargetto, Bruzzone, Storrs, Kathryn Kennedy, and J.D. Hurley as well as other California wines. For a full wine list and menu visit backninegrill.com.

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vinegar fruit shrubs
Drinking vinegars make a modern resurgence for field-to-glass cocktails

Zayante Vineyards’ Estate-Bottled Chardonnay

This estate-bottled Chardonnay 2013 is totally produced by Zayante Vineyards—the grapes are grown on their land, the wine is bottled on the premises—and winery owners Greg Nolten and Kathleen Starkey-Nolton are fastidious about getting everything just right. The luscious flavors of the Chardonnay on the palate are highlighted by toasty oak and a slight flinty complexity from the soil....
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