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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DEAR OLD BRANCIFORTE HIGH SCHOOL. In mentioning Chris Rock's wife being from Santa Cruz I wrote that she'd gone to Branciforte High School. I'm not sure who which email came in first to tell me I was wrong. Pat Matejcek, Geoff Dunn, and Thomas Leavitt all let me know nearly immediately that there never has been a Branciforte High School. Harold van Gorder says in his book, Now and Then that a friend of his went to Branciforte school in 1880, and he went there in 1909. He says that school opened around 1860, and was torn down to make room for the Santa Cruz Hospital around 1929. Other notes show a B40 grammar school and a B40 junior high school but never ever a Branciforte High School. Mrs. Rock probably attended B40 Junior High.
FREE FILMS. Video tapes and movies on DVD go very fast from our public libraries. Next time you want a couple of good ones that seem to always be available check out After Pilkington starring Miranda Richardson. It's every bit as exciting a mystery as Hitchcock ever made; it was filmed in 1988. Brief Encounter, an early David Lean masterpiece (1945), features Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway and Celia Johnson and it too is a better way to spend an evening than seeing Troy.
THE 40 THIEVES, A BIT MORE INFO. Both Sharon Freeman Korzep and Geoff Dunn wrote in to tell all of us that the group known as 40 Thieves was a very genuine group. According to these informants the Thieves began before WWII and were a powerful city political organization. David Koester our former City Manager was a member as was Sharon's grandfather Patrick Freeman and his fellow city councilman Sam McNeely. They didn't meet in caves but they had and still have a picnic section in DeLaveaga Park with their club name on it for all to see. One rumor has it that Louie Rittenhouse is a member but I didn't check on it for obvious reasons.
AARON COPLAND'S LINCOLN PORTRAIT. Aaron Copland wrote Lincoln Portrait in 1942, just after the start of WWII. It's for full orchestra and a narrator. It's been recorded by such people as Gregory Peck, Eartha Kitt, Katherine Hepburn, Orson Welles, Margaret Thatcher, Adlai Stevenson, Marian Anderson, William Warfield, Carl Sandburg, and Norman Schwarzkopf. On Sunday May 30 at 3pm Cabrilho College's 65 piece Symphonic Wind Ensemble conducted by Jon Nordgren will play Lincoln Portrait and I've been asked to be the narrator. The Ensemble will also perform Aritiunian's Trumpet Concerto, Leonard Bernstein's Overture to Candide, and Alexander Ticheli's An American Elegy. Alexander Ticheli's An American Elegy was written to commemorate the tragedy at Columbine High School. The Elegy now includes an alma mater song he wrote especially for Columbine High. The concert is in Cabrilho College's Theatre and for ticket information call 479-5653.
SHREK 2. Shrek 2 is not nearly as funny, quick, or clever as Shrek 1. After we'd heard the naughty dialogue and became used to watching a green ogre it was a tough act to follow. It is actually boring in many parts. Many, many mothers and dads desperate for some good entertainment have been crowding the theatres but if you watch closely the kids just sit there. They don't laugh; they just stare at the bright colors and all the motion. Wait and rent it or better yet learn how to hypnotize your kids, it's just about the same thing as plopping them in front of Shrek drek like this. But it's still better than Troy.
SLIPPING DOWN LIFE. I hope that someday Lili Taylor gets several awards for her acting. She's been almost only in independent films, and she can carry a picture. She is magnetic in Slipping Down Life, but the film is not very good. It's a sad saga of a guitar player (Guy Pearce) and a fan that is so loyal she carves his name onto her forehead. It is a depressing film to say the least and the way it ends is miserable too.
THE EPILEPSY NETWORK. The Epilepsy Network is the only non profit organization in our county dedicated to supporting those whose lives are touched by epilepsy. It's estimated that there are 4500 folks with epilepsy in Santa Cruz County. They're having a huge auction of sports items plus a big party on June 4th at the Seascape Golf Club. For all the information go to www.epilepsynetwork.org or email info@EpilepsyNetwork.org or phone 831-423-6110.
SANTA CRUZ PRIDE. Sunday, June 6 is the big parade day for the GLBTIQ, and the parade's Grand Marshal will be reverend Mel White who used to be a ghost writer for Billy Graham, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. GLBTIQ stands for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Questioning in case you'd forgotten. Go to their website and get details on the Dyke March to be held on Bulkhead Street, and more about Pink Saturday and the big event in San Lorenzo Park from noon to 5pm on Sunday. Go to www.santacruzpride.org and also call 831-427-4009 because they need a lot of volunteers for an entire week of happenings.
QUEASILY QUOTES. Scott MacClelland who rarely misses a beat sends us these little gems. "He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." -Oscar Wilde. "He has the attention span of a lightening bolt" -Robert Redford. "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." -Groucho Marx.
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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1953 CITY COUNCIL PHOTOGRAPH. In the latest breaking news, Sharon Freeman Korzep tells us that the bald gentleman sitting next to Mayor C.L. Dysle is none other than her grandfather Patrick Freeman. Sharon, who plays flute with Cabrilho's 65 piece Symphonic Wind Ensemble, goes on to tell us that Grandpa was also a member of the Santa Cruz Elks Club. More than that, he belonged to the Knight's of Columbus, and to the 40 Thieves group. 40 Thieves you ask? No I've never heard of them either. So now we have identified 4 out of 7 of the 1953 City Council by face identification...amazing. But now the plot gets deeper who and what were the 40 Thieves? A Branch of George Bush's secret fraternity, I don't think so, but let us know if anything comes to you.
OPERA NEWS. This summer is an extra wonderful time to go to the San Francisco Opera. They are staging La Boheme, The Cunning Little Vixen, and Doktor Faust. If you've never been to a professional opera La Boheme is a perfect beginning. The San Francisco Opera house has supertitles so you can follow all the action without studying beforehand. It also has Anna Netrebko singing Musetta's role. Anna Netrebko is with no possible arguments the most beautiful opera star in the world and has the voice to match. She's from Russia and was more ort less discovered by the S.F. Opera and has been singing all over the world in just the last few years. Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen is not as charming an opera and it will be the S.F Opera debut of Dawn Upshaw, which many opera enthusiasts have been waiting for, for a long time. Vixen is called an erotic fairy tale for grownups and takes place in a 1960's Czech pub. Busoni's Doktor Faust is another take on the Faust legend and won't have many laughs. Take or send your summer visitors to the San Francisco Opera, it's the United States second largest and second best opera company right after the Metropolitan and we're lucky to be able to drive there. There are standing room seats starting at $10. Rush seats go on sale the day before the performance Students $15, seniors and military $30. Regular seats go from $25 balcony to $155 orchestra. Check out the great website at www.sfopera.com or call 1 415-864-3330.
NEW MUSIC WORKS. For 25 years Santa Cruz's New Music Works has been having garden parties, wild and nearly wacky garden parties. This year the Avant Garden Party will be on Sunday June 6 from 2 to 6pm at the estate of Rob and Sunny Fish in Aptos. Music by Eric Satie, John Cage, Steve Reich, Jon Scoville, and Allen Strange will be featured. A return of the Santa Cruz Aquamaids is happening. There'll be foods by Jozseph Schultz, Marc Westburg from Barosa and Chocolates chef David Jackman. There'll be wines and a guest appearance by the San Jose State Saxophone Quartet and the UCSC Percussion Ensemble. There'll also be an auction of rare and exquisite treats and secret delights. I'll be the auctioneer and I make deals so get there early and whisper things to me and the fix is on, no problem. The Avant Garden Party is one of our finest traditions don't miss it. Call 831 687-0770 for tickets and save $10 by buying in advance.
SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING. Once in a rare while, and I wish it were more often, we get to see a perfect film. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ...and Spring is one of those perfect films. It's from Korea and is written, directed and edited by KIM Ki-duk. The director says that he wants the film "to portray the joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure of our lives through four seasons." This film does that. Try not to read anything about the film, it's too beautiful and too sensitive a story to try to put on paper it can only be filmed, not written. Another description says this film is a totally original universal story about the human spirit, moving from innocence, through Love and Evil, to Enlightenment and finally Rebirth. It opens at the Nickelodeon this weekend.
VICTORIA STATION, THE PLAY. Once again The 60gRit Theatre Company created a fine, but short evening of excellent theatre. They staged Harold Pinter's Victoria Station a short (25 minute) play involving a taxi cab driver and his dispatcher. It was directed by Greg Paroff. The 60gRit Company did this play in the Question Mark "? Gallery" now located at
1101 Pacific Avenue
on
Cathcart Street
across from the China Szechwan Restaurant in the new University Building. The 60gRit company has continuously brought us evenings of demanding, tough, and very entertaining theatre. Don't miss their next production or the one after that either.
TROY AND VAN HELSING. You know what the film Troy is like. It's got Brad Pitt, 8 million special effects soldiers and a bunch of bimbo actors running around in the sand in Mexico pretending its ancient Greece. You get to see Brad's buns, if that's your thing. What ever happened to actors like Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, and Victor Mature? You always had fun watching those real movie stars hold the plot together, no matter how implausible, in just one mighty hand. Brad Pitt comes off as weak and puny as Kevin Costner. Pitt can act and has done a few good roles (Fight Club was one) but not in Troy or even Troy 2. Van Helsing is a failed attempt at making a gothic comic book into another special effects mess. There is no plot and if Hugh Jackman wasn't having such a successful run on Broadway right now his career would be in trouble. Avoid these films like the plague.
SHAOLIN SOCCER. By all rights this big time spoof film should be the last film ever made on how a losing team fights all odds and wins the world title to something or other. The film has been around for years. I have Earl Jackson's DVD dating back to either 1997 or 2001. But it's been edited and many English language bits have been added. Its fun, and effective and you'll just laugh a lot. What more can you ask for? It opens this weekend at the Nickelodeon.
KZSC'S JOKE OFF. I was a judge at UCSC's KZSC's Joke Off last Sunday night. It was a comedy competition between 10 students for spots on the larger KZSC Laugh Riot comedy night happening Friday, May 28. These 10 students were really funny. Only one topic was untouched, we heard sex, college life, movies, animal rights, Dr. Seuss, disabilities, you name it they had fun with it, all except politics. Not one mention of Bush, Kerry, Iraq, Washington, not even Schwarzenegger or Sacramento!! Not one word about the new or old chancellor. It seems to be true, our kids today don't know enough or care enough about politics to even poke fun at it. Don't miss the Laugh Riot, there are some brilliant student comics on that campus. Speaking of comics, Katherine Beiers tells us that comic Chris Rock's wife is or was a Santa Cruzan. She went to Branciforte High.
NOTES TO FILM FANS. This is no joke, some especially gifted minds in Hollywood have paired the accomplished British actress Judi Dench with none other than Vin Diesel. They'll be together in The Chronicles of Reddick...coming soon. Just a warning.
QUOTES TO CLOSE BY. "The cynics are right nine times out of ten." -H.L.Mencken. "The difference between pornography and erotica is lighting." -Gloria Leonard. "Hell is other people." -Jean Paul Sartre.
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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GANGS IN SANTA CRUZ. The most interesting evening so far of my 12 weeks of attending the Santa Cruz Police Department's Citizen Police Academy was last Thursday nights talk by patrol officer Dan Brierly. Dan is a recognized expert with the Santa Cruz County Superior Court and a member of the California Gang Investigator's Association.
Dan spoke for nearly two hours about gang activity in Santa Cruz. Considering that we hear or read next to nothing about local gang activity I thought you might be interested in what Dan had to say. The Nortenos are active in both Watsonville and Westside Santa Cruz. That's from the middle of Chestnut street westward and many of the Latino agricultural workers are Nortenos. They paint WSSC into what we usually call graffiti. The Northside Santa Cruz gang paints NSSC and variations on those letters in their paint decorations. They use the numbers 14, and 1 and 4. Their color is red and you'll see Roman numerals XIV in tattoos as well as the five pointed star. The Nortenos are the Nuestra Familia.
The Surenos contain such gangs as the Beach Flats Surenos who paint BFS, the Brown Pride Santa Cruz gang painting BPSC, the Santa Cruz East Side gang painting SES (the SES are the oldest gang in Santa Cruz.) They are the Mexican Mafia according to Officer Brierly. Their colors are blue and the number 13 belongs to them.
Covering the lower Ocean Street neighborhood (Broadway to San Lorenzo and the Jesse Street marsh to Broadway) we have the Mara Salva Tucha or Trucha if you want to read about them online. They have between 100-200 members and paint MS on their territory. There are also The White Power Gang or The Skins, they have no colors or special number and use the swastika reversed as a logo. The famed motorcycle gang Hells Angels use red and white as colors and the number 81 their logo is the skull or death head.
We didn't hear much about The African American gangs; the Crips, the Bloods and the Guerilla Family and what they do around here. Officer Brierly also mentioned that the 18th Street gang is both Los Angeles' and the USA's largest and oldest gang.
You can go to www.knowgangs.com and see and read much more about gangs and even buy gang merchandise. Brierly said that the reason we are now hearing so much about gangs in Santa Cruz is that Chief Belcher didn't talk much about them, and the new Chief of Police Howard Skerry is talking about them. As you have probably heard the gangs are run out of our prisons by the gang leaders and of course the whole thing according to Brierly is based on the buying and selling of drugs.
1953 CITY COUNCIL HISTORIC PHOTO. Tim Seidl and Lynn Miguel Woolhouse both informed us that if you want a complete list of members of our Santa Cruz City councils over the years just go to www.santacruzpl.org/history/gov/sc.4shtml that does give the names but not which faces they belong to. So for now go back to last week's photo and note that the second guy from the left standing is Thomas Polk Williams. The fifth standing gentleman on the right is Sam McNeely. The man with the gavel we can assume to be the mayor C.L. Dysle. We have only four more to identify then I'll reprint the photo and send the data to Special Collections and our City museum. Thanks again to Lynn Woolhouse for telling us who these city servants are. Lynn even picked out Phil Reader in the Sentinel newsboys' historic photo from the column before!!
WATSONVILLE'S HOME DEPOT. It seems that everybody has a different idea of what is happening with the Home Depot store in Watsonville. Yes, there's a lawsuit, and yes Home Depot is moving earth around to prepare for what they want to build. I emailed Jennifer Brager who's been spearheading the battle to stop Home Depot in Watsonville. I asked her to tell me/us in 50 words or less what's the Home Depot battle like from the people who don't want a Home Depot. Or at least not from the point of view of newspapers who stand to make hundreds of thousands of dollars from Home Depot advertising.
Jennifer replied in 61 words: "Last year, the City Council approved a Home Depot store in Watsonville. The community group, No Home for Depot filed a lawsuit to prevent construction of the store. The Superior Court sided with Home Depot and the community group filed an appeal. The appeal hearing will take place May 4th. A decision will be made within 90 days of the hearing."
That didn't quite do it for Jennifer, so to update our education on the topic she said "Here's another 142 words: The community group, No Home for Depot, has been opposing a planned Home Depot store at the corner of Green Valley Road and Loma Prieta Avenue since the early stages of the proposal. Last year, the City Council approved the project and No Home for Depot filed a lawsuit to prevent construction of the store. The local Superior Court sided with Home Depot and the group filed an appeal. The hearing before the California State Court of Appeal will take place May 4th. A decision will be made within 90 days of the hearing. Meanwhile, Home Depot, expecting a favorable decision by the court, has started the massive grading of 6,000,000 cubic yards of dirt to prepare the site for building. Local sources report that the grading project isn't an easy one and underground springs have been causing all sorts of problems." We need to thank Jennifer for a long and well fought battle that is far from over yet. Let's hope we don't get into an even worse fight up here on our North Coast.
NOT MEAN GIRLS, STATION AGENT, OR GODSEND. Mean Girls is only one silly millimeter above all the rest of those air headed teen girlie films and isn't worth a teensy poof of hairspray. Godsend, the Robert De Niro, Greg Kinnear disaster film, is about cloning human babies. Not that that isn't a topic worth contemplating, but this film becomes nearly sickening and definitely dull in the process, avoid it. Station Agent, the latest version of Snore White and Her Severe Dwarf, is just a voyeur's excuse to stare at a dwarf, never say midget, as he pretends not to notice all of us and his fellow actors staring at him.
CHANGING OF THE REGIME IN CUBA. Thursday, May 13 at 7pm, Carol Cross, Cuba activist with the San Francisco Friends of Cuba Alliance will present the Bush administration's latest plan to "hasten democracy in Cuba". Joined by Dawn Gable of the Cuba Study Group, the evening will focus on this week's call for regime change in Cuba. This plan is either a cynical political ploy or a dangerous provocation. The evening's main feature will be Estella Brava's just released short film - Free to Fly - which paints a vivid picture of the impact of the travel ban on Cubans, Cuban-Americans and all U.S. citizens - and stress how you can support 400 US citizens who will challenge this policy and say "NO!!!! This has got to end!" The event will be at Live Oak Grange, 1900 7th Avenue (between Capitola Road and Highway 1.) One could say "they don't got to show you no stinkin' badges" (or licenses in this case.)
SUPERSIZE ME starring MARION NESTLE. Marion Nestle isn't really the star of this documentary against McDonalds but she is an old friend. She's the food authority who defines "calorie" in the film. As you probably know, Supersize Me is the story of a guy who goes on a 30 day total McDonald's diet. You get to see just how bad fast food is. Marion Nestle is an author, teacher, and an authority on the dangers of fast food. She sent me her website, it's www.foodpolitics.com; go to it and check out her books and her interviews. Her work and her statements on fast food will stick with you much longer than this cute, fun little film.
CITY COUNCIL CAMPAIGNS GETTING ORGANIZED. City Council campaigns are scurrying around trying to line up the most experienced crews possible. It's still almost impossible to get anyone to admit to running. It'll be interesting to see if Mssrs. Daly and Marini run from the business sector even with Ryan Coonerty in the race along with all the incumbents who all sound like they're re-running.
I'M NOT SCARED. This very beautiful film won awards in Berlin and Italy and it deserved them. Filmed in southern Italy, or the Basilicata and Puglia regions to be exact, it's about a kidnapping and the 10 year old boy who accidentally finds the kidnapped child. The director Gabriele Salvatores also directed Mediterraneo which won an Academy Award. It isn't just a scary film but it's also a touching drama of how a young boy faces some sad reality. You won't forget this film, go see it.
KZSC AND UCSC LAUGH RIOT HAPPENING. On Sunday, May 16 at 8 p.m. a bunch of judges (me included) will laugh our fool heads off at The KZSC Joke-Off, listening to the hottest campus cut ups (i.e. comics) at College Ten's Namaste Lounge. The two winners from this raucous evening, which also includes a performance from Humor Force V, will have places in the line-up of The KZSC Laugh Riot Friday night May 28th in Kresge Town Hall on the UCSC Campus. This is all a benefit for station KZSC. The Laugh Riot will feature San Francisco's comics Kaspar Hauser, W. Kamau Bell, Jasper Redd, and Santa Cruz's own Prank the Dean. I am definitely in this for the laughs and you can get details at www.splangy.com/kzsc . It's all being put together by Jesse Thorn and Jordan Morris, hosts of KZSC's "The Sound Of Young America" heard on KZSC. The Joke?Off is free and tickets to the Laugh Riot online at www.kzsc.org or at Streetlight Records. I'll meet you there.
THE SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL. There have been at least four Santa Cruz festivals over the years but this on tops them all. Now in its 3rd year, there are some excellent films not to miss. I was a judge of several entries so I can promise you that Children of The Wind, a 32 minute film by Moonsik Chung from Korea that screens on Wed. May 19 in the UCSC Media Theatre, is a disarming and incredibly sensitive piece of filmmaking. I didn't see very many of the others that were selected but that's the fun of a Film Festival seeing films without the hype, flim flam, and hokum. Some of the finest films ever made have only been shown at film festivals. So for nine days starting Thursday the 13 through Friday May 21 you should have a marvelous time. Get tickets to your favorites as soon as possible.
CLOSING QUOTES. "Nothing is wrong with California that a rise in the ocean level wouldn't cure." -Ross McDonald. "Not only is there no God, but try finding a plumber on Sunday" -Woody Allen. "I never miss a chance to have sex or appear on television" -Gore Vidal
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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