Bruce Bratton hosts University Grapevine, linking local and campus issues, every Tuesday 7:30-8:30 p.m. on KZSC 88.1 fm.
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SALZ ART CENTER PEPPERED WITH QUESTIONS. There's an idea floating around and being seriously considered by a small group for the Santa Cruz Art League to sell or lease its Arts Center building at 526 Broadway to help launch the proposed fifty six million dollar (that's $56,000,000!!!), Salz Tannery Art Center Project.
The Art League owns the Arts Center building free and clear. It's one of the oldest Art organizations of its kind in California. The Center promotes local arts, the well lit gallery shows work well and the little theatre continues to house some of our finest play productions. It has a well-used classroom, it has been recently remodeled, and is one of our most stable and productive cultural institutions. To risk what many generations have struggled to support, for such an iffy, unclear project as the creating of the Salz Tannery project is a very dangerous prospect especially at this budget-crunching time. First of all, every member of the Art League needs to be heard from on this issue, not just a select small group. Second, there are some important issues to address before any moves are made. Questions like: since the non profit developer Artspace dropped out of the Salz Project, who and what do we know about the new for-profit developer? To what extent will UCSC be involved? Will their money and competition allow the Art League to continue running its own programs?
Why should the Art League risk its building and programs if even the City of Santa Cruz hasn't made a significant financial commitment? The Salz Tannery is a long way from the center of town. You can't walk there safely along the levee and under the bridges, and where would you park if you drove? What about the Costco traffic, what about the homeless shelter? What about the toxic cleanup from the tannery? Where's the pedestrian access to the Tannery going to be? There's been a big letdown in the projected number of visitors to our Museum of Art & History since it opened, how many locals would bother driving to the Tannery Center? The Art League is doing nicely right where it is. It could build and enlarge the present center. It's been a very solid core for arts in our community. Don't risk it for as risky a dream with little chance of getting any broad based community funding or support. We need to ask the Redevelopment agency all those questions. The Agency will get the Broadway League property if this sale and switch comes to pass. Are any local artists in the planning part of this proposed live/work/art space? Email the Redevelopment Agency and let them know your concerns, ask those questions; they should have as many answers as they do proposals.
CABRILLO MUSIC FESTIVAL. New music enthusiasts have been talking about Christopher O'Riley's Sony recording of Radiohead and they've got tickets to the August 8th concert. Lou Harrison's friends and fans have locked into their night with Dennis Russell Davies Tribute Concert on Sunday, August 3rd. For the rest of the population of Santa Cruz who haven't experienced The Cabrillo Music Festival, now's the time to act. You'll hear music you've never heard before, you'll like some of it, some not so much. You'll talk about the music, the friendly audiences, and I guarantee you'll want to hear more. I've attended almost every concert since Carlos Chavez last year as conductor back in the early 70's, and learned more about music from this festival than any other source. Attend the free rehearsals at the Civic this week then go online at www.cabrillomusic.org and read about the concerts, call 831 420-5260, get your tickets and see why this Festival has won so many awards.
STUDYING SHAKESPEARE. Cabrilho College's Don Young and Jeff Towle will be leading a series of four discussions and one summing up get-together on Shakespeare's comedy Measure for Measure. The discussions happen Saturdays from 10 till noon, starting August 16th through September 6th. Don, who formerly taught literature at Cabrilho, usually takes on the tricky Shakespearean humor while Jeff focuses on the weighty matter of the plays. They've done two other Shakespeare play series in this form and I loved both of them. Don and Jeff make them great fun and an excellent opportunity to deepen your understanding of the Bard. You'll see another side of Don Young too, and that's worth going for. They use the Pelican Shakespeare edition, which you can get at the Capitola Book Café. The series is free, no tests, no papers, no grades, just talk about Measure for Measure. Call 662-0302 for info on the discussions.
SANTA CRUZ SIDEWALKS. With our Santa Cruz downtown sidewalks looking grimier than ever, why not stain them? Maybe use pretty colors like Rio de Janeiro does (I know Rio uses tiles). The Pacific Avenue sidewalk's grunge has been discussed for decades and since chewing gum isn't going to stop, somebody must have thought about coloring or staining. Why not?
FLIPPING FOUR FILMS. It's almost embarrassing, I liked Lara Croft: Tomb Raider- The Cradle of Life! I realize I could have my artistic license revoked by saying this but I thought Angelina Jolie was almost as much fun to watch as Sean Connery in the old and genuine James Bond films. The plot is nutsy, the FX are usually obvious, but Jolie carries it all off. It probably helps that I've never seen the video game, and could care less, however this film is fine summer blockbuster fare. It's much better than Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. Now I liked the first Spy Kids, the second one was miserable, but being a 3-D fan I was hoping for the best and got the worst. First of all they use the red and blue lenses which are cheaper and less effective than the Polaroid system so the color and the dimension quality suffer. The acting and the story is not worth discussing, and of course it was the big box-office hit of last weekend, so go figure. Seabiscuit is just an exceptional Hollywood film. It's the kind of film Hollywood can do so well. It's nice , well written, happy, predictable, beautiful, and you'll cry at least three times. He probably won't become famous, but Gary Hacker does all the horse vocals in the film. William H. Macy shouldn't have been in it but it's still worth seeing. Northfork which opens soon at the Nick is, and I quote the publicity material, "a fairy tale about roots to the land , a surreal fantasy , part Gothic , with both its tongue in its cheek and its heart on its sleeve and so forth". I quoted that stuff because I didn't, and still don't, have a clue what it was about. It stars James Woods, Nick Nolte, Daryl Hannah, Peter Coyote and Kyle MacLachan. The Polish Brothers directed and produced it, they also did Twin Falls, Idaho which was brilliant, and Northfork isn't.
MAH SILENT FILMS. The Museum of Art & History is presenting a silent film series titled The New Woman at the Movies UCSC film professor and author Shelley Stamp is the curator of the series. This Thursday (7/31) at 6:30 p.m. they'll be showing Theda Bara the famed vamp (as in vampire) in A Fool There Was (1914). Also showing will be Lois Weber's film Fine Feathers. Weber not only wrote and directed it but she stars in it too, she was a very rare influential woman in early Hollywood history. The last film will be A Girl's Folly and Eleanor's Catch both to be shown on August 14th. Get there early, seats are limited. Call the museum at 429-1964 ext. 20 for info.
COMEDY OF ERRORS. Shakespeare Santa Cruz's production was probably as good as you can get from a dopey play like this one. The acting was really not together and delivered with no enthusiasm at the beginning of the performance I saw, but they tightened up later. Shakespeare got better at comedy later on and with Measure for Measure, Merry Wives of Windsor, and As You Like It, he set the standard for comedy for all time. Even the Santa Cruz touches added to the play lacked imagination. They were like Hollywood attempts to portray surfers or beatniks, just clumsy and not clever. But Comedy of Errors is still good summer fun and it's in the outdoors glen, take your visitors, but see Private Lives first.
SUMMING UP. Ever alert Scott MacClelland sends in more clever words and meanings. Control = a short, ugly inmate. Eyedropper = a clumsy ophthalmologist. Pharmacist = a helper on the farm. Subdued = A guy that works on one of those submarines. Lastly is this one, but don't blame Scott just in case you happen to run into him at the Cabrillo Music Festival Arbitrator = A cook that leaves Arby's to work at McDonald's.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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UCSC'S EASTERN ACCESS. UCSC has always wanted an eastern access to their campus. That means, if you look at your maps, an almost straight shot through the Pogonip property. A two or three lane highway through the Pogonip would ruin the absolutely finest pearl in our hard-won fight for the string of Green Spaces, aka "the greenbelt", that surrounds our unique city. Now, anybody with an ounce of sense knows that making it easier to drive cars onto campus means more cars will be on campus, as in DUH! The results would be no different than widening Highway One. It'll work for a brief time and when it's easier and faster to drive someplace, people do just that. The campus has a huge parking problem now, what'll happen when it's even more accessible? Then all those cars will go right back to parking in all the surrounding neighborhoods. They have to park someplace. What we need are more shuttles, maybe that overhead monorail that was discussed a few years ago could be developed. All those Westside people who think an Eastern access would give them back their car-free neighborhoods need to do some research and come up with just one example of where and when it worked.
PRIVATE LIVES. Shakespeare Santa Cruz's production of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" is brilliant in every possible way. Don't miss it. It proves what Noel Coward fans have known for decades, that there are as many deep painful truths as there are belly laughs in "Private Lives". Kent Gash's direction coupled with an excellent cast will have you both laughing and thinking about the plays' bitter lines, and whether money can really buy happiness. When this 1930's play is coupled with Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors", it becomes a cutting edge update on Willy's finest comedies. Rumors from other playgoers say that "Comedy of Errors" is equally good. I'm seeing it this weekend. It's set in Santa Cruz which adds extra zaniness and all the actors had fun performing the first weekend. I predict you'll have trouble getting tickets if you wait too much longer, so call 459-2159 ASAP.
THE WORLD FAMED SALZ TANNERY ART CENTER. I haven't heard much lately about the plan to convert the Salz Tannery into an art center. What a great idea. If I remember correctly there's going to be a performing arts theatre in there, and boy do we need one. With the collapsible 500 seat theatre in London Nelson Community Center being threatened, a new community theatre would be a real attraction and money maker. Having affordable living spaces for artists would also show our intention to energize the community. We should all let the Redevelopment Agency know how important this new Art Center is to us.
FINE FILMS. Helena Bonham Carter does her usual good job in The Heart of Me. She's in love with her brother in law and it's all veddy 1930's British with stiff - upper things, and few laughs. It's BBC Masterpiece Theatre stuff and I liked it, not loved it, so take your chances. I Capture the Castle is from the same 1930's British material. It was filmed on the Isle of Man but you wouldn't know it. It's about a widowed father and his two daughters trying to make a life while living in a deserted castle. Tara Fitzgerald and everybody else in it do perfect acting jobs. And, if you're not careful, you won't recognize "old" Henry Thomas who used to be young Henry Thomas, the sweet little boy who finds and protects E.T., go see it. There'll be a benefit screening 7pm Thursday, July 24 in aid of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries. Tickets are on sale at The Nick or at your local library. It opens to the public the next day.
FOOLISH FILMS. Bad Boys II is two and a half hours long and it's not dull, but it's boring, if you catch my drift. It stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence yet again (hence the II). The script is terrible, it doesn't work, and their pairing is just plain aggravating. I'll admit the chase and crash scenes are technical marvels, but the bloodshed and gore are useless and needless for the plot and, it's two and a half hours long. I wouldn't go if I were you. I've tried before and tried this time to like Rowan Atkinson ("Bean") but watching him do a James Bond goof ball in Johnny English is just not my cup of tea. He works so hard to do what Peter Sellers and John Cleese do so easily and he fails. There isn't a laugh in this film, save your pennies, pounds or Euros.
SPEAKING OF GREENBELTS. The world must know by now that the City of Santa Cruz is having money problems. Actually, the rest of the world also has money problems. One solution brought forth by City Councilperson Mark Primack is to start building on the Greenbelts. Doesn't this contradict what he promised in his campaign? The Pogonip and Moore Creek lands are probably safe but Arana Gulch and the almost-holy Delaveaga property have nothing on paper to protect them. Our Greenbelt resulted from a citizen initiative and popular votes since then have continually shown we want to preserve those open spaces. The Sentinel's Sunday editorial stated "in times of crisis even sacred cows need slaying" but with the animal rightists, vegans, vegetarians, we may need to start arming bears or bearing arms over this ill thought-of development scheme.
A SANTA CRUZ MOMENT. There we were, about 20 musical saw players and 100 on lookers gathered around the Tom Scribner musical saw statue last Saturday afternoon. Mayor Emily Reilly just happened by and spontaneously gave a fine welcoming speech to the musicians from all over the world. At that exact same time noted bubble-man Tom Noddy strolled by and immediately after the Mayor's talk, blew bubbles as the sawyers played what else?? "I'm forever blowing bubbles". All unplanned and good community fun, you should have been there.
UCSC ARTS & LECTURES 2003-04. There are a few days left to take advantage of the pre-season ticketing prices and rewards. You probably know that UCSC Arts & Lectures brings to our community some of the world's most exciting performing arts events. We get to see and hear jazz, world music, classical music, theatre, dance and contemporary stuff too. This year's new season is a perfect example with Laurie Anderson, Bobbie McFerrin, The Second City, Spalding Gray, and the Turtle Island String Quartet all coming right here. Buying season tickets now will give you 15% savings, and you'll have the choice of the best seating. More than 15,000 folks attend the performances each year. Arts & Lectures is a self supporting program and now with decreased funding and budget cuts, the program needs extra support i.e. donations. If you become an A&L member you get great extra deals such as reserved parking, wine receptions, meet the artists, backstage tours, UCSC library privileges, and more. Call the A&L box office at 459-2159. You can get the full details about the season and membership by going to their website at www.events.ucsc.edu/artslecs.
"FINIGI" OR EVEN "CESIGI". Those are the Esperanto words for "to close", in case you've forgotten. We once again enjoy contributions from our constant Brooklyn reader and latent saxophonist, Doug Pomeroy who sends more of those winners from the ever popular Washington Post contest. Entrants had to take a word, change just one letter and supply a new definition. This year's winners: Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period. Giraffiti (n.): Vandalism spray painted very, very high. Hipatitis (n.): Terminal coolness. Inoculatte (v.): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you. This one got extra credit... Osteopornosis (n.): A degenerate disease.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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SANTA CRUZ NEIGHBORS. The July monthly meeting of the Santa Cruz Neighbors provided enough community issues to last until the next millennium. The combined power and interest of neighbors, business, and the University is at the very least awesome. I've mentioned members names and the associations before and won't repeat them now. Look them up by emailing SCneighbors@hotmail.com or checking out the archived column "Your Neighbors, Cookies and Cabrilho". Just think about these topics that were brought up at that meeting. Look at them as heads up, or future City Council candidates' issues, or the beginnings of some intense community protests, and also as an overview of where the city is going. How about zoning the entire city for parking permits? It would stop students from parking in your neighborhood in order to take the bus up the hill. How about stopping the Roaring Camp train from going down Beach Street? It would ease up the nasty traffic problem down there. How about the Carbonero neighbors getting radar guns and tracking down the speedsters who rip through Carbonero trying to evade the Fish Hook curve traffic tie up? One of my personal predictions for the big battle of the decade is that UCSC and many neighbors are working to finally get that Eastern access though Pogonip. That access was promised and planned way back in 1962 according to Wes Scott, director of Parking at UCSC. You may have read that plans are underway to make King Street into a bicycle boulevard with signage to divert cars off the street. The genuine issue coming from this meeting, and damned near every meeting of every organization, is about growth. Should Santa Cruz grow denser within the city, or should we expand the city limits, are key points we have to deal with. Dealing with more and more cars, more and more UCSC students, creating new sources for water, are all issues facing us from every point of view. But again, as I've pointed out for many years, these aren't just Santa Cruz problems, it's a global problem, and we just have to think locally.
CITY COUNCIL GUESSES, PART 2. I mentioned last week that I hadn't heard any women's names as possible City Council candidates in 2004. So I asked Jane Mio of The Downtown Commission, she said no, never, and why would I? I asked Candy Jackson of The Downtown Association she said the same thing. I asked Katherine Beiers, she said, she's thinking about it and hasn't made up her mind. So that's that so far for women. Folks figure Ed Porter is the most vulnerable if he decides to run, and no one is willing to even guess what Mark Primack will do. Scott Daly, Mike Rotkin's appointee to the City Planning Commission said he and Joe Marini were thinking about running, but with Ryan Coonerty running they'll probably support him and not run. This is a long time before the next city council election. Names and plans will change a lot. So will endorsements, watch them carefully, and let me know if you hear anything.
FLIPPING ON FLICKS. There was a lot of talk about serious troubles on the set of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but Sean Connery manages to make it an oblique amount of summer film fun. When you have any one movie with Dorian Gray (and his picture) plus the invisible man, Sherlock Holmes Moriarity , Tom Sawyer, and Dracula's girlfriend all working on the same team, there has to be some fun, go see it. While you're there you should see Pirates of the Caribbean also known as The Curse of The Black Mascara. Johnny Depp is drunk, cute, weird, and wears a lot of mascara which makes it more fun than the LXG film previously mentioned. The next Disney film will be, and I'm not kidding, The Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy. A very clever idea, since Disneylands are doing poor business lately they're turning the most popular rides into films, which will of course make every little urchin want to ride them again. When they get to It's A Small World I'm not going, I always hated that ride. Swimming Pool is opening Friday at the Del Mar. It previewed to the press with a warning to not give away the surprise ending, so I won't. It stars Charlotte Rampling and it's about how she writes a new mystery novel. Go see it, good fun and you'll think about it afterwards.
CREDIT TO THE COMMUNITY. The brand new Santa Cruz Community Credit Union is open, wide open and it looks superb. Architect Teall Messer, and interior design consultant Wayne Palmer outdid them selves. The building is very environmentally friendly, and it looks good too. Wait until you see how important the old mural looks in its new location. Bruce Fox of the SCCCU sent me an important document; at least I think it's important. In addition to the two free ATMs in front of the 324 Front street Union building, Fox says there are 10 affiliated free ATMs in the City limits, there are 26 affiliated free ATMs in Santa Cruz County, 2,954 in the State of California, and 17,062 free ATMs in the USA when you use our Community Credit Union. There's going to be a Grand Opening Fiesta at the Credit Union Thursday, August 21 from 4-6pm. It's a great place for a party. More hats off to Donna Zavada, new CEO Ginger McNally and Alan Savat for giving me a grand tour on opening day.
ERRATA AND EFFLUVIUM. What about Dennis Kucinich not showing up at that NAACP event? He probably had something important like a hip replacement or a serious case of bad advice, bad goof there, not like there was much hope anyway, but he seemed like a nice guy and I'm not saying that I've seen all the important sights in the world, but I did see Ceil Cirillo walking up Pacific Avenue in shorts that other day, and that has to account for something. Folks at that Santa Cruz Neighbors meeting were saying the City is now holding residents responsible for the damaged sidewalks in front of their homes even though the damage was caused by the City planting those damned liquid amber trees. There is also no proof that God made those particular trees. Since UCSC students race to park their cars on campus at night there will soon be 24/7 parking enforcement. That'll teach those little devils.
PAINFUL, PROVACATIVE, PROTOTYPICAL, PRIAPIC, PYRRHIC, PUNCTILIOUS, PROPHETIC, PROPRIATORY AND PURPOSEFUL PARKING METERS BEING TESTED. (never mind about priapic) The City, in its increasing need for more money, has now installed a new type of parking meter as a test. These meters have a sensor loop buried in the street that resets the meter to zero when you leave your parking space. No more parking on someone else's nickel (25 cents?) These are tough times and like the rest of the world, Santa Cruz needs money to fund as many necessities as possible. This is only a test to see if it's profitable enough working with the meter company, who would get a percentage of the unused meter time.
BEAUTIFYING PACIFIC. John Craver of Walnut Street Café took the lead and Keith Holtaway plus the Downtown Association did the fantastic deed of planting about a dozen Passion Flower Vines along that wooden slat fence on Pacific at Church Street, where the plaza should be located. Keith sez John drove up in a truck full of the plants and about 10 merchants pitched in and planted them all in 45 minutes. Keith is doing the bi-weekly watering and the vines are growing. Parks and Rec. has no more budget for these type of things and I think we need to give a big round of applause to those business folks who chipped in the money and time to accomplish the planting. It is not known at press time if the owner of that corner property, Louis Rittenhouse, chipped in or not, but I will take bets.
SOME NEEDED CLOSURE. S. Kelly sent these thought provoking quotes way back in Dec. of 2002. They're still timeless. I'd kill for a Nobel peace Prize. Borrow money from pessimists—they don't expect it back. Half the people you know are below average. 42.7 % of all statistics are made up on the spot. All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand. This does not apply to Santa Cruzans—A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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CITY COUNCIL GUESSES. This is a great sport in Santa Cruz…guessing who’s going to run in next years City Council race. So far guessers seem to agree that all the incumbents will run again. Other names bandied about are Scott Daly and Joe Marini, and if I don’t hear from them soon I’ll give them a call, just to check up. It’s been rumored Christopher Krohn has been considering running again, but he’s never mentioned it to me…I’ll let you know about him too. Astute observers will notice there are no new women’s names in the guess list. Why is that?
FIRST NIGHT NEWS. Mr. Blake Smith a local fellow was just appointed the executive director of First Night. He’ll be in the new First Night office in the Galleria in a week or two. Blake has an extensive background in marketing, the arts, and managing organizations, has a degree in theatre, and has lived here for ten years. Trink Praxel, president of the First Night Board, tells me that almost 25% of First Nights across the country took a year off last year. Times are tough. First Night Santa Cruz is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year. They’re planning a huge procession and are instituting a new ticket idea, where you can reserve a space at a specific performance and not wait in those long lines. The emphasis this year will be on the indoor venue performances. Performers and artists should get in touch with First Night at 425-7277 in about a week.
FILM FLACKING. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 3 (Rise of the Machines). And of course Reese Witherspoon plays herself in Legally Blonde 2 (Red White & Blonde). These films defy criticism. By that I mean they don’t need any reviewing or critiquing. You both know and like what they are, or you don’t. There’s nothing new in either film, both are poor imitations of the earlier versions and it’s just something to do in the summer, that’s all. On the other hand I was thinking what if some Hollywood genius paired Witherspoon and Arnold in a domestic comedy or even a tragedy? What a couple, just try to imagine them together. Actually it’s more fun to sit at home imagining them together than seeing either of those miserable films, it’s cheaper too. The Legend of Suriyothai is a new film from Thailand with a cast of 160 elephants plus some actors, and 3500 extras. The elephants are more fun to watch. It's 16th century Thailand court intrigue, love story, plus legend. The present queen of Thailand funded and supported the film. It's 142 minutes long, but it seems a lot longer unless you like those elephants.
WEDDING NOTES. I missed reporting on lots of news since Metro dropped my column last February. For example Kate Hawley and Paul Whitworth, both of Shakespeare Santa Cruz fame, were married late last year in either Carmel or Pacific Grove, I forgot which. Kate also mentioned that Joseph Ribeiro also of Shakespeare Santa Cruz performed the ceremony. No I don’t know what anyone wore. Neil Coonerty announced that he and Lucie Rossi got married two weeks ago. That’s no surprise since I caught them necking in the frozen food section of the Mission Street Safeway several months ago. Congratulations to all concerned.
THE LOUIS RITTENHOUSE Jr. STORY. Kathy Colbran (former Santa Cruzan) emailed me last week with a story about Louis I couldn’t resist. Seems that Kathy’s friend Carole was about to have her 23rd birthday. What Carole really wanted for a present was a) for a gorgeous man to sweep her off her feet, and b) get a bouquet of flowers. Kathy was shopping on Pacific for the present and walked into Louis’ wondrous toy store. Eric Fingal and I remember the store name as Klein and Trumbly. Kathy tells Louis about Carole’s birthday dream, one of Louis’ clerks says “Ah, c’mon Louis…do it!” So not only does Louis agree to do it but shows up on Carole’s birthday with a bouquet of roses, “grabs her, dips her in front of everyone, and plants a big wet one on her lips”. “He made Carole’s day. What a romantic. What a Willy Wonka!” Kathy said. She added that dreamers and romantics like that are few and far between. I liked that story; it shows that Louis had a heart and a sense of humor, which I knew. Now if we could just get him to do the decent thing for the city his family has made so much money from and turn his Church and Pacific Street lot into a plaza or do some minimal thing to beautify that blight on his family name.
ALL HAIL HUNTER! Ruth Hunter has had many more birthdays than almost anybody. She’s having a special party this Sunday because The Santa Cruz Women's International League for Peace and Freedom is giving her a roast. Not just a mother and grandmother but also an author and writer in several Santa Cruz newspapers, Ruth has taken an activist part and fought the good fight in many causes. This is an excellent way to pay tribute to her good works. The party, which is a vegetarian “roast”, will be from 2-5pm at the De Anza Club House, 2395 Delaware Ave.
ABOUT HISTORICAL PHOTOS. If there’s one thing about historical photos, it’s that there’s never an end to the facts to be learned from them. After I ran the “fire photo” in my first Bratton Online column, Sandy Lydon emailed to add contributions to the data I’d printed. Now after seeing Michael Hemp’s new edition of “Cannery Row” with photographs from the Pat Hathaway Historical Photo Collection, we have new information on that fire. It started on September 14th, not 15th, and burned for days. It destroyed two, not several, canneries and took out the Coalinga Oil and Transportation Pier and a number of boats. The burning oil slick almost destroyed Fisherman’s Wharf, but the wind changed, and the Wharf was saved. So the historical photos I run in these weekly columns are really research documents. Hopefully the photos will always be subject to new information and scrutiny. So when you have anything to add or contribute to the photos, do get in touch.
WORDS, WORDS, MY LORD! Doug Pomeroy of Pomeroy Audio in Brooklyn sends these winners of a N.Y Magazine contest. They took a well-known foreign language expression, changed a single letter and provided a definition for the new expression. For example; Ex post fucto = Lost in the Mail. Rigor morris = The cat is dead. Monage a trois = I am three years old. Veni, vidi, vice = I came. I saw, I partied. Felix Navidad = Our cat has a boat. Zit geist = The Clearasil doesn’t quite cover it up. And not least Aloha Oy = Love, greetings, farewell; from such a pain you would never know.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
It's free! Click here.
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SANTA CRUZ NEIGHBORS. This new organization hasn’t finished its mission statement yet, but the idea behind it is to ‘guide the general direction of government”. I joined SCN and have attended their meetings because it sounded like it has a lot of potential to do good. It also has the potential to do bad, read on. It’s a city wide organization that intends to develop the entire city into active neighborhoods. Each of the proposed 17 neighborhoods will have leaders and will all network through the Santa Cruz Neighbors. In a long meeting/interview Debbie Elston, one of the prime movers of SCN told me there were no political aims or goals in any of its plans. I asked her about district elections, about supporting city council candidates, supporting UCSC’s eastern access and lots of issues. Debbie replied, and this is important, there’s no ruling any of that out for the future, if the neighborhoods want to organize and support an issue. As an example, Debbie’s neighborhood the Westlake Homeowners is fighting Maynard Manson’s proposed 50 Apartments up on High street, and Cardiff Place. It’s possible the SCN could unite behind The Westlake Homeowners to stop Manson. It would be formidable opposition if it happened. SCN wants quicker and more effective action and reaction with our city government. They state that the City Council is too removed, too out of contact with the people they represent. They plan to create better interaction by establishing a Neighborhood Service Team as a liaison with City departments to determine and act on any proposed changes to their neighborhoods.
WHO BELONGS TO SCN? The membership of SCN is interesting; can you determine a pattern here? Three former candidates for city council; Aldo Giacchino, Dave Eselius, and Greg Lopez attend meetings. Keith Holtaway from the Downtown Association, Martin Bernal City of Santa Cruz, Jim Howes S.C. City Police, Randy Strong from Bogard Construction are on the SCN email list and it goes on. The more active leaders are Lynn Robinson (husband is John, president of the CVC and PR rep of the Seaside Corporation) Greg Hendee (wife is Julie, City Redevelopment Agency) and David Britton who told of his West Cliff Drive neighborhood’s work helping the Oblates of St. Joseph’s get their chapel expansion approved. As previously mentioned Santa Cruz Neighbors is a growing organization. We’ll be hearing more from them I’m sure.
FILM FLACKERY. Somebody must have suggested that The Hulk is really Shrek’s twin brother. The usually competent director Ang Lee just couldn’t make this Hulk thing work. The film is no fun, no excitement, poor effects; even San Francisco doesn’t look all that great. Rent it someday when you have weird guests or people from New Jersey visiting. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle is just like Elvis Mitchell, one of the sharpest film critics, said in the NYTimes. ”It’s like eating a honeycomb drenched in Red Bull”. Seriously though, the film is truly unusual. They make no pretense about having a plot. It’s all just effects, stop action, flying, and cutting from scene to scene with no reason at all. Seeing Charlie’s Angels is like riding the Giant Dipper you do it just because you want to, and you have nothing else to do with your money, or time. Capturing the Friedmans is a painful and well made film. It’s a true documentary about a happy family that turns tragic while you watch. The family is faced with child molesting and child pornography charges. The questions of truth, love, family bonding, and how the Friedmans deal with it, will have you squirming for hours or even days after. Go for it. Respiro won awards in Cannes, Telluride, and Toronto but none from me. I think most of the local critics at the screening liked it, not me. It’s about a woman on an island near Sicily who the town folk think is nuts. Maybe she’s just sort of a Santa Cruz type but she definitely does have problems. The plot is based on some legend, I guess. But I still never believed it or got the point of the whole thing. 28 Days Later is a fine film. Made in England and it’s one of those ”two people almost alone in the world after everybody’s been killed” type films. Very scary, fine acting, thrilling plot and it was a huge film in England when we were there last year, don’t miss it.
ABOUT CABRILHO COLLEGE. I’m not sure how they pulled it off, probably lots of donations, but the new Horticulture Center is a wonderful addition to our community. The community room, the Floyd Younger Learning Center, it’s all great. Take your visitors up there; it’s an 11 acre view site above the Cabrilho campus. Call 479-6338 for details.
EXCLUSIVE EVENT. San Francisco Mime Troupe creator Ron G. Davis, one of the western world's wildest, creative people, is doing something new and he's doing it July 8th in San Francisco at SOMA. That's the South Of Market Art Center opposite Trader Joes - 934 Brannan 8th & 9th St. Ron's an old friend and he sent this event note because we trust each other, so don't miss it. Aside from the fact that Ron's going to be 70 the next day, he's presenting material he's been working on for the last ten years. He and David Solnit (co-founder Art and Revolution) will present and discuss approaches to "Art and The Age Of Empire". There'll be songs by Brecht, Eisler and Weill by Joyce Todd McBride and Co. There'll be a paper movie on Darwin's Worms and Csaba Polony (editor of Left Curve) will moderate a discussion. Call 415-863-1414 and if you read about this event years from now you'll be sorry you missed it.
OUTLAWING COOKIES? According to The Santa Cruz Sentinel of May 13, 2003, a San Francisco attorney has filed a lawsuit against Nabisco for making Oreos using trans fats. The attorney Stephen Joseph says that other major snack food sellers had reduced the trans fat content but Nabisco didn’t. Furthermore, the Oreo label doesn’t list the artificial fat with the other nutritional information. I’m not going to get all riled up about Girl Scout Cookies and trans fats until they start selling them door to door in mid January. My old empty boxes of Girl Scout Cookies say there’s between 6 and ten grams of fat per four cookies. Plus they contain soybean oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil and cottonseed oil. I’ll look into this, or do get in touch asap if you have data on trans fats. If we hurry maybe the Girl Scouts can tell Unilever or Weston’s, the Canadian Food conglomerate who make the cookies, to cut out all the bad ingredients.
SBC/PACIFIC BELL HINT. After waiting 28 minutes to get a billing question answered I asked the first live voice that answered, when’s the least busy time to call? She said on Saturday mornings when they open at 8:30am. After that try Wednesdays through Fridays at 8am. Not only was that wait a terrible waste of time, I lost $ 418.00 at solitaire, and that’s a lousy way to start your day.
THE CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC. Before getting into the best of the concerts to plan on, the Cabrillo Festival still needs housing for musicians. What they need is housing in the downtown Santa Cruz area. Offers from Aptos and Soquel are coming in but it’s too difficult for the musicians to get back and forth. The housing is needed from July 25 through August 10. Contact the Festival office at 426-6966 M-F 9am – 6pm. Or email nancy@cabrillomusic.org. Tell her you read it here, that’ll help everybody out. For 41 years now the CFCM has been making great strides in introducing new music. This year there’s more new music than any year I can remember. My picks of the concerts are the Friday August 8 when pianist Christopher O’Riley performs songs from Radiohead and Saturday night with two west coast premieres of music by John Adams and Thomas Ades. Other concerts such as the Opening night musics of Wong, Daugherty, and Del Tredici on August 1st and Saturday night August 2nd the Monsters in the park will sell out quicker than most, so buy those tickets now. Dennis Russell Davies playing on the Tribute to Lou Harrison night Sunday August 3 with a post concert encore of Dennis playing Lou’s piano works will be by far the sentimental favorite, buy those tickets ASAP too. The San Juan Bautista concerts always sell out, the evening tickets going first. Check on them too. Go online to www.cabrillomusic.org or call 420-5260.
THE YEARS MOST IMPORTANT FILM. I've written about The Russian Ark before. I've talked about it many times when I critique films on KZSC. I've seen it twice and am going again. If you like and read author Susan Sontag, here's what she said about it " Alexander Sokurov...the living filmmaker I most admire...has been producing one astonishing ,elegiac masterwork after another for quite some time, but in RUSSIAN ARK he has scaled new, seemingly impossible heights of cinematic virtuosity, visionary intelligence, and beauty. There has never been a movie like RUSSIAN ARK. If you're up for an ecstatic experience at the movies, there is no one like Sokurov...Susan Sontag. That's the very highest of praise, and the film will only be at the Nickelodeon for one more week. If you really like film go see it, experience it. If you want to know more about Russian Ark go to www.wellspring.com/russianark or see The Russian Hermitage Museum at www.hermitage.ru if you just want to know more about the director Alexander Sokurov go to www.sokurov.spb.ru and it must be seen on the big screen.
SUMMARIZING SILLINESS. The nearly irrepressible Scott MacClelland sent more daffynitions when I told him how great the response was. Try these; Burglarize: what a crook sees with. Eclipse: what an English barber does for a living. Parasites: what you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Subdued: a guy that works on one of them submarines. Then he sent one more; Remiss: to have one’s virginity restored. Thank Scott when you see him next time.
NEXT WEEK. A truly inspiring story and one that’s probably true, about Louis Rittenhouse. Don’t miss it.
Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.
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