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Town Hall

News - Town Hall

Town Hall with Supervisor Neal Coonerty

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 14:43 Supervisor Neal Coonerty
Town Hall with Supervisor Neal Coonerty

The state is planning to close Twin Lakes, Seabright and Blacks state beaches this summer. What will this mean for Santa Cruz?  

State Parks plans to close these beaches as of July 1 of this year.  

I am gravely concerned about [this]. This sandy shoreline attracts approximately half a million visitors every year. Locals and tourists enjoy swimming, picnicking, and having family gatherings and bonfires at these beaches.

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News - Town Hall

Assemblymember Bill Monning

Tuesday, 24 January 2012 15:19 Bill Monning
Assemblymember Bill Monning

Gov. Jerry Brown recently released his 2012-13 proposed budget, which includes continued cuts to services and the ability to ask voters to raise taxes.  How do you feel about the proposed budget and what does it means for our area?

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News - Town Hall

Town Hall with Congressman Sam Farr

Tuesday, 10 January 2012 14:23 Congressman Sam Farr
Town Hall with Congressman Sam Farr

Much has been made of President Barack Obama bypassing congress to get things done in recent weeks. How do you feel about that? Was it his only choice in light of congress’ frequent stalemate?

There is one clear consensus that has emerged from the Tea Party-led gridlock in congress: their priority is to defeat President Obama. To drive the point home, it was stated as such by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell just a short time after Republicans took control of the House.

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News - Town Hall

Town Hall with Supervisor Mark Stone

Tuesday, 03 January 2012 13:40 Supervisor Mark Stone
Town Hall with Supervisor Mark Stone

The Board of Supervisors will consider extending its moratorium on PG&E’s SmartMeters at its Jan. 10 meeting. What would extending the moratorium accomplish? Does the Board have any plans to approach the installation of SmartMeters differently than it has been?

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News - Town Hall

Town Hall with Assemblymember Bill Monning

Tuesday, 27 December 2011 00:00 Assemblymember Bill Monning
Town Hall with Assemblymember Bill Monning

Looking back at 2011, it can feel like quite a turbulent year for the State of California: deep cuts to education and social services, a divisive political climate, an economic slump.  What toll did the year’s events take, and where will our Golden State go from here?

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Heart Surgery For UC

Regents spare classes—for now—and drain staff healthcare surpluses instead Gov. Jerry Brown announced a $100 million mid-year cut to the 10-campus University of California system in December, just as UC Santa Cruz staff and students left for winter break. UCSC's share of the cut is $6.5 million, but no classes will be affected through the end of the current school year.

 

Hometown Glory

Chris Rene welcomed back to Santa Cruz with open arms at ‘Love Life’ event On Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012—a day that Mayor Don Lane announced would officially be referred to as Chris Rene Day in Santa Cruz—the local hero took the stage of the sold-out Civic Auditorium to celebrate his homecoming and give something back to the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that made his recent success possible. The rapper/songwriter and Santa Cruz native is coming off a year that saw him finish in the top three on the first season of FOX’s The X Factor, and enthusiasm for his return was evident in the line of fans that stretched around the block of the auditorium, hours before its doors opened. Many fans carried signs and wore homemade T-shirts featuring words of solidarity for the artist, including his catch phrase, “Love Life.”

 

Meter Moratorium Continues

Board of Supervisors votes to continue opposition of SmartMeter installations Late last year, the already loud local outcry over SmartMeters rang out even louder, as some residents took matters into their own hands and removed meters from their homes. The action led to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) shutting off several of these residents’ power. Following a flood of public concern at its Dec. 13 meeting, the County Board of Supervisors directed the county’s public health officer, Poki Stewart Namkung, to return on Jan. 24 with an analysis of one month’s research on the health effects of the wireless meters.

 

Miss Lonely Hearts

“I feel like modern country—it’s just a f*cking mess. No doubt,” says Wyatt Hesemeyer, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Miss Lonely Hearts. “A lot of people that are trying to play ... ’50s country do it by making it as over the top as they can,” he adds, “they’re yodeling and wearing oversized cowboy hats, they try to make it cute, but it wasn’t supposed to be cute. It was supposed to heartfelt or interesting or funny.” Hesemeyer, whose warm, raw vocals intoxicate the listener like a glass of Bulleit Rye Whiskey—his favorite brand—has a characteristic bluntness that imbues his music with honesty instead of camp. Backed by a full band—Patrick O’Connor (drums), Keith Cary (lap steel), Mischa Gasch (upright bass), and Parker McDonald (lead guitar)—Miss Lonely Hearts cranks out pure country with a splash of  shufflin’ 1950s rock and roll. And according to Hesemeyer, their unadulterated sound has a big draw.

 

Dead Men Rocking

Weekend after weekend, the salty air of Beach Street fills with the screams of Boardwalk patrons on mechanical thrill rides. Folks from all walks of life turn up in droves, sometimes waiting in line for more than an hour for that exhilarating jolt of fear—the same rush that draws people to horror movies, skydiving, morbid rock concerts and Ouija boards. For some, it’s a type of reanimation ritual: a way of shocking back to life feelings that have been deadened by years of clock-punching, TV-watching and zombie-marching in a culture empty of spirit, where the motels, drive-ins, strip clubs and burger shacks loom like tombstones above the buried bones of massacred masses, and the pulse of the planet fights to be heard, “Tell-Tale Heart”-style, through smothering layers of concrete, asphalt and smog.  

 

Film, Times & Events: Week of Feb 9

Santa Cruz area movie theaters >

 

Pushing the Envelope

‘What Is Erotic?’ makes its seventh run at The 418 ll through history, artists have been pushing us to examine our views of what is and isn’t erotic, with subjects ranging from the relatively tame (Francisco Goya’s “La Maja Desnuda”) to the extremely challenging (Mapplethorpe’s photography, Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?”). Santa Cruz keeps this tradition alive via “What Is Erotic?”a festive and daring fundraiser for The 418 Project. Themed “In the Boudoir,” this year’s event—the seventh overall—hits The 418 on the weekends before and after Valentine’s Day. The fun, bawdy character of “What Is Erotic?” will be evident right from the Pre-Show Erotic Salon: Staying in character, the actors will playfully interact with audience members. Moondance O’Brien, one of this year’s performers, reveals that the show’s cast and crew refers to the members of this “welcoming committee” as “fluffers.” “Some people might be feather ticklers; some people might be reciting poetry; some people might be offering spankings,” she explains. Other performers will hand-feed chocolate-dipped strawberries to audience members. All such interaction is consent-oriented, but O’Brien ventures that “the majority of people who come to this show have a sense of what they’re going to experience. They’re pretty eager.”

 

Inside Occupy Santa Cruz

Public nuisance or radical experiment in direct democracy? The mood at Occupy Santa Cruz (OSC) General Assembly meetings was angry and defiant early last month, especially after protesters heard eyewitness accounts of the violence in Oakland and Berkeley. But the atmosphere became noticeably calmer and less defensive after the City of Santa Cruz’s injunction to shut down OSC was appealed to federal court on Nov. 15. The decision by U.S. District Judge Howard R. Lloyd whether or not to hear the case, and the arguments relating to federal jurisdiction, principally the First Amendment, is scheduled for Jan. 3, 2012 in San Jose. The appeal delayed a State Superior Court hearing scheduled for Nov. 16 in the Santa Cruz County Court House, which seem to cool down the militant rhetoric of preparing for an eminent, forcible eviction of the Occupiers of San Lorenzo Park. The appeal to federal court of what Santa Cruz City Attorney John Barisone described as a “routine public nuisance suit” has also gained the web-based attention of Occupy movements across the country. It is a big question, after all: Does the First Amendment’s protection of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly include OSC?   

 

Steven Graves

Steven Graves has started to dream in songs. The 48-year-old Capitola resident heard the lyrics to his latest in the gray space between waking and sleep. “I wrote the whole song in about 20 minutes, got up, laid down the guitar parts—I’ve never been able to do that before,” he laughs. A dream is a fitting metaphor for Graves’ career. A former land use consultant, he left the field in 2010 to pursue his passion for music.

 

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    Lighted Boat Parade 2011

    Photo slideshow.  Judging cetegories: Sailing, Power, People Powered, Commercial/Sponsored Vessels, Best of Theme and Best Music. Enchanted Harbor at Santa Cruz Dec. 3, 2011 Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Harbor Yacht Club. . . . . . . ..

     

    Losing Baggage

    Pam Houston’s genre-breaking book takes readers on adventures far and deep within You could say it was prescient that Pam Houston began writing her latest book on an airplane. But then, the award-winning short-story writer and novelist often writes on airplanes—and when she started writing these vignettes she had no idea they’d morph into a novel. “I was invited to an evening called ‘Unveiled’ at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison, where a group of us was going to read new, untested work,” said Houston. “I took the assignment so literally that I wrote the first 12 chapters on the plane and in the hotel the night before. After I read, Richard Bausch said, ‘Write 100 of them, and that’s your next book.’”

     

    An Offer We Can’t Refuse

    Adam Theis’ army of musicians, Jazz Mafia All-Stars, marches to Kuumbwa Adam Theis is a musical whirlwind. As the kingpin of the Jazz Mafia, a San Francisco-based collective of jazz musicians that routinely backs up everyone from Carlos Santana to Thomas Dolby to legendary rapper Lyrics Born, Theis is at the center of the cyclone. Factor in his symphonic work with his hand-picked orchestra, and you can understand why in 2009, Theis was awarded the sought- after Gerbode-Hewlett Foundation Emerging Composers Grant—which brought his vision of an army of musicians working together one step closer to fruition.

     

    Hamadi Organics

    Hamadi Organic’s tagline, “Tested on Actresses, Never on Animals,” says two important things about the hair care line off the bat: one, it’s ethical and, two, it’s good enough for the stars. Indeed, the likes of Scarlett Johansson, James Franco and Eva Mendes rely on Hamadi creator Jamal Hammadi to tame and style their tresses with his eco-friendly concoctions. (And, yes, the creator's name has two m's and the company's name only has one.)

     

    What is your idea of a romantic date in Santa Cruz?

     

    Burgers Your Way

     

    Loma Prieta Winery

    Last week I wrote about a red blend for Valentine’s Day, but as the year’s most romantic day approaches and you’re still looking for something downright voluptuous, then Loma Prieta’s Petit Sirah fits the bill.

     

    Karaoke in Santa Cruz

    Let your star shine with karaoke in Santa Cruz Boardwalk BowlBocci’s CellarBritannia ArmsFog BankHenfling’s Tavern & GrillHindquarter Bar and GrillI Love SushiMalone’s GrilleMichael’s on MainSir Froggy’s PubTrout Farm Inn

     

    Beats with Brains

    Hip-hop collective Doomtree meditates on technology with ‘No Kings’ Indie rock fans would be forgiven if they mistook the tale of Twin Cities hip-hop collective Doomtree for that of folk strummer Bon Iver. After all, just as Justin Vernon did with For Emma, Forever Ago, the seven-member crew laid down all the demos for their forthcoming album, No Kings, while sequestered in a remote Wisconsin cabin—far away from the noise and lights of the city and out of cell phone reception. "We definitely wanted to isolate ourselves from distractions," says Margret Wander a.k.a. Dessa, a singer and emcee with the group.

     

    Behind the Break-up

    Authors Maira Kalman and Daniel Handler open up On a Bookshop Santa Cruz wall, notes are taped above a pile of books whose covers depict a luminous white coffee mug suspended against a red backdrop. “We broke up because I’m not a gorgeous Australian who lives in China. Accents, right?” reads one note. The words, “We broke up because...” are printed on pages of a notepad near the shop’s display, prompting book shop visitors to share their break up stories. The notes correspond directly with the title of the books piled below: “Why We Broke Up,” by Daniel Handler (a.k.a. popular children’s author Lemony Snicket).

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