Native Sons of the Golden West, circa 1946. The only person I can identify is Alice Earl Wilder, the woman in the hat 3rd from the right. She was known as our unofficial sixth county supervisor because she attended most of the County Supervisor meetings. The bridge is the old one over the San Lorenzo. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection, click for bigger version. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

CITY COUNCIL RACE, CORRECTIONS AND REACTIONS. First of all Bonnie Moor isn't going to run for City Council, and thanks for the email about that. Thomas Leavitt, former candidate for city council, sent in a letter and check it out completely at letters to the editor above. Thomas predicts no council candidate will take a stand on Home Depot or Orchard Supply out on the Westside. Leavitt goes on to predict a dire future development-wise and a mass community outrage followed by a revolution. Do read his letter for full impact.

COMMUNITY TELEVISION OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY. How come we never read or hear anything about the happenings at our local Community Television station? Are they still searching for a new executive director? What will the station do when the money support from Comcast runs out? And when will it run out? How come the station doesn't have a newsletter, or send out press releases?

THE CABRILLO MUSIC FESTIVAL. After reading the program in advance I wasn't prepared for the amount of absolutely wonderful music that we heard this year. It was one of the finest CabMuFests ever. The James MacMillan West Coast premiere of Tryst was my favorite and John Adams The Dharma at Big Sur wasn't. Thomas Ades' Asyla (which is the plural of asylum) is a piece that will get better each time you hear it and Christopher Rouse's Concert de Gaudi lacked his usual wild depth. The Chronicle was there to review last Saturday night and Sunday afternoon and hopefully more of the rest of the world will be made aware of what a treasure we have in the Cabrillo Music Festival. I learned through music director Marin Alsop's website www.marinalsop.com that her dad LaMar Alsop is a world class whistler, of course he's also a violinist and concertmaster of the NYC Ballet Orchestra. Marin's mom Ruth Alsop is a cellist and she plays in the same orchestra. How about if the Santa Cruz City Council makes Marin Alsop an Honorary Santa Cruzan next year? Or how about a key to the city? We need to show her how much we appreciate her sticking to Santa Cruz all the while her career is growing sky high. Stopping to think about it, we could make her Honorary Mayor or even Honorary City Manager and you can't get any higher than that!!!

FESTIVAL EXPRESS. Hurry to see this 1970 film on the big screen and with theatre sound, it's leaving this Thursday (Aug 19) from the Nick. Janis Joplin, a very young Jerry Garcia, and the Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, The Band, and Sha Na Na are all at the peak of their art. As one interviewee says about this drunken-non-stop-jam session, we had all been doing drugs for years but we'd never had unlimited liquor. What a time that was and, you'll never see Janis Joplin any better than she is in this film. Hurry and don't miss it.

THE VILLAGE. This is an odd film. William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Adrien Brody, all do ok acting but the plot, or what's left of the plot, leaves the audience in a state of "Huh?" It's senseless, even boring, and I agree with everybody who left the theatre saying they could have written a better script themselves.

MARIA FULL OF GRACE. As you know from all the great reviews, this is the film about the teenage girls from Colombia who risk their lives smuggling heroin as mules. Catalina Sandino Marino is the star and focus of this film. It's her first film and the critics are right she does deserve an Oscar, do not miss this film. You'll also see the down side of how long stem roses are processed in Bogota and probably won't look at roses the same as you used to. (note: Maria smuggles either cocaine or heroin, the official film website says both drugs are smuggled by ingesting pellets, and yes Colombia is noted for cocaine.)

ALIEN VERSUS PREDATOR. This is not a film about Wal Mart buying out Toys R Us, or Scott Kennedy arm wrestling Mark Primack, or MRC Greenwood taking on Ceil Cirillo. It's a simple monster versus monster film, and I do mean simple. I liked it! As I always say "if you don't like roller coasters don't get on a roller coaster ride". This film has all the monster film clichés, which I won't list because you know what they are. And it hangs together as well as any Godzilla film, except maybe minus the Godzilla or Mothra charm.

A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD. Colin Farrell is the main character in this complex and blah film and he just doesn't fit the part. Farrell seems to be acting on or in a different film than Robin Wright Penn or Dallas Roberts who plays Farrells love interest. Sissy Spacek is in it too and she doesn't help any, the entire film just doesn't work.

SHAKESPEARE AND THE WOOLF. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is one of my favorite plays of all time and it was exciting to see Shakespeare Santa Cruz's version. Their version is almost 100% based on the Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton 1966 film, and that's not all bad. The play could have been more creative or the director could have explored some other way of presenting it, but it's still one of the most exciting and mesmerizing nights of laughs and deep pain ever created for the stage. What is curious is that Shakespeare Santa Cruz always changes the settings and periods of every Shakespearean play they do, but for Virginia Woolf they copy the film almost gesture for gesture. By all means go see it, seeing it on film is no substitute for the live version. The Taming of The Shrew is another non subtle version of Shakespeare's play all done with the usual S.S.Cruz broad strokes. It's set in the 1940's and everybody smokes cigarettes for some reason. It's just another Shakespeare Santa Cruz production.

A PLEA TO SUBSCRIBE. I've been cranking out this Bratton Online column for over a year and the results, reactions and support have been truly inspiring. Your emails, letters and direct responses have been much greater than at any time when I was writing for the newspapers, and don't stop. As for statistics the column received 196,713 "visits" in the first 9 months which staggered me. But "visits" aren't the same as subscribers. And it's the number of subscribers that counts. So please take a minute and subscribe to the column. It is completely and irrevocably FREE. It is completely confidential, I have no idea of who is subscribing (unless you tell me personally), we will never release the subscription list and you'll be helping me get the column more distribution. What happens when you subscribe is that every week as soon as the column is finished, you get an email consisting of a few sentences I write outlining what's in this week's column. You click on that and voila there's the latest bratton online column with historical photo and newly raised muck, so take a minute and click on "subscribe" either at the top of this column or over at the right scrolling down below the advertisers. Thank you very much, and tell your friends to subscribe too, you've been a great help.

NATIONAL POLITICS. Kate Minott sends in this activist statement...
If you support John Kerry, please drive with your headlights on during the day on Friday.
If you support George W. Bush, please drive with your headlights off Friday night.

QUIXOTIC QUOTES. "Happiness is the full use of your powers along lines of excellence." -John F. Kennedy. "If a man does his best, what else is there?" -General George S. Patton. "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." -Albert Einstein. That last one is worth reading again.

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Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.

RIO DEL MAR, 1940's. This popular old photo is different now. Erstwhile Covello & Covello photographer and archivist Eric Fingal has carefully removed the old large white scribbling that used to appear in the lower right hand corner. You can see early views of pot belly beach up that street on the right. As has been said before: too bad you didn't buy that property when you had the chance. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection, click for bigger version. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

OUR CIVIC GYMNASIUM. There's been threatening talk about shutting down the Civic Auditorium because the city couldn't afford to run it. After seeing and hearing the Cabrillo Music Festival in there for four concerts last week I think it would be a good idea to shut it down. Better yet get some professionals to operate the place. Microphones went out on Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's opening night concert. Spotlights flickered and distracted Conductor Marin Alsop on the Vespertine concert. The air conditioning was so loud on the Absolutely Orchestra concert all the windows had to be shut. Outside noises like some ice cream cart tune ruined the ending of one piece for which the Kronos Quartet had created a profound sense of silence. I agree that having an auditorium right next to the fire department required little brain work in the original planning but the Civic needs work. For one thing, anybody in show business in Santa Cruz knows that dozens of concerts and events are turned away every year, thanks to lazy management. Those are events that would bring in many tax dollars IF the management knew what it was doing. To have a world renowned event like The Cabrillo Music Festival play under such amateurish and poorly managed conditions is downright embarrassing. I wrote in the past that the Civic is truly a better gymnasium than an event venue then I heard from gymnasium people saying it wasn't any better as a gymnasium than a performing arts place. Take the operation of the Civic Auditorium away from City Parks and Recreation for starters, and let's get this show on the road.

COLLATERAL. Those darned Scientologists like Tom Cruise and John Travolta are pretty good actors. Cruise is best playing a cool sharp slicker and Collateral gives him miles of elbow room to act up a storm. He's mean, quick, precise, bloodless, and nearly non human as a hired assassin. Jamie Foxx works nearly as well as the clueless cabbie who learns the ways of the world in one night of driving Cruise's cab. The film is a fast paced thriller, go see it and be sure to bone up on Miles Davis early career before you go.

THE CITY COUNCIL RACE??? Well we've got Green Party bus driver Bonnie Moor and she's a feisty union woman, then there's Tony Madrigal another Union member with no particular stands that I've ever heard and Ryan Coonerty who seems to have all the business votes. All four of the incumbents are running with Mark Primack and Ed Porter being the most vulnerable, from what I can gather. Issues? What issues? Let's see who takes stands on Home Depot or Orchard Supply or any retail development in the Lipton/Wrigley area on the West Side, that'll be fun.

DOOR IN THE FLOOR. This is a strange film that was taken from part of a John Irving book. Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger both play non nice survivors from a family car tragedy that leave them with sexual problems that will have you itching after you leave the theatre. Bridges deserves the Oscar that most critics say he earns in this film.

I, ROBOT. Too bad about this movie but wow, the original book by Isaac Asimov was only brilliant, unique, and set standards for Science Fiction for decades. The film is so sloppy, illogical and formulaic that it begs the question why make it? The very challenging idea of accepting robots as near human has perplexed humans since somebody though of it. This film fails on all counts. Considering the really pooper script that Will Smith had to work with, he does ok but wait and rent it, if even that.

CABRILLO MUSIC FESTIVAL. The important thing is to get tickets ASAP to the Saturday night concert The Dharma at Big Sur. Let's hope the Civic can get its act together for this performance. John Adams, who is America's leading composer and Pulitzer Prize winner, will be here live as Marin Alsop conducts the Festival Orchestra. The Dharma was the commissioned piece that was played to open The Disney Concert Hall in LA. That same night you can hear works by Mark-Anthony Turnage and Thomas Ades. Since the rest of the new music world is talking about these composers especially Ades, you definitely need to hear them. So far the Christopher Rouses' piece Concerto per Corde on Saturday night was my favorite, followed by everything the Kronos Quartet performed. The Kronos have been together for 30 years, have only changed one cello player in that time and they've been coming to Santa Cruz almost that long, what a group.

DE-LOVELY. This latest version of Cole Porter's life is not much more than a faux Hollywood 1940's musical but it has so much great music and such a sad biography and such talented actors I cried all the way through it. The vehicle they invented to tell Cole's biography is nutsy but it works. The first Cole Porter film with Cary Grant never dealt with Cole's homosexuality, this film does that but ignores his wife's lesbian persuasion. Maybe next time we can get it all. Wait 'til you hear Begin the Beguine in a minor key, whew, and why, but the rest of his classic song renderings are magnificent.

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY. I liked this film. It's another in the "Matt Damon, who am I" series and both films have been well written and well acted. More importantly the suspense is taut, it has world wide locations especially Berlin. I caught at least two trolleys every day right next to the World Clock in Berlin's Alexanderplatz. It's what you want to see in an international spy thriller and I'm betting there'll be a dozen more Bourne films. Go for it.

FACING WINDOWS. This is another super pastry chef movie, it's also part Holocaust memory film, it's mostly about a married woman and her affair with a guy sees watches in his window across the courtyard. I wish this one man could have been a watchmaker or classical music composer but no, we get another pastry maker. See this film, and you'll think about it for days afterwards, it's won awards all over Italy.

GARDEN STATE. Yes, it takes place in New Jersey, and it is a film about young love. But it is such a complete departure from all other love stories on film you'll be amazed. It is clever, funny, very funny, and Natalie Portman is an excellent actor. Be sure to see it.

THAT DAMNED WALL. Deeply embedded spies in Aptos report that the "Ugliest concrete wall ever constructed by the human race" is not just ugly but it's twice the six feet height that the County permitted the out-of-county developer to build. It's that yuck wall at the corner of Soquel and Haas Drive near Cabrilho College. The developers have been red-tagged by the County and are screaming bad things because the County let them build it in violation. Tuesday's Board of Supes meeting will hear a few well chosen words from the neighbors, and the world will hear more words after that. The wall by the way was created for the 10 upscale homes priced at over $1 million dollars apiece.

QUOTES FOR QUARTETS. These aren't necessarily for quartets but they're musical and it was the only "qu" word I could think of. M. Scott MacClelland (I don't know and don't want to know what the M. stands for, it's something new) supplied all of these. "The hardest of all arts to speak of is music, because music has no meaning to speak of." -Ned Rorem. "Music will express any emotion, base or lofty. She is absolutely unmoral." -G.B. Shaw. "'Bed', as the Italian proverb succinctly puts it, 'is the poor man's opera.'" -Aldous Huxley. See you at the Cabrillo Music Festival.

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Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.

GOVERNOR EARL WARREN. This Republican governor was first elected in 1943 and was reelected in 1947. So this photo op was probably part of a re-election campaign visit. President Ike Eisenhower appointed Warren Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. On the other hand Warren was the governor who signed the Japanese internment bill. On the other hand he publicly regretted that deed. He died in 1974. Who are those other guys around those fish? photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection, click for bigger version. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

ORGANIZING AGAINST WIDENING HIGHWAY ONE. Political notable Paul Elerick is the Chair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation. He and the Campaign are organizing opposition to the November sales tax ballot measure that is supposed to fund the widening of highway one. Paul says he wants voters to reject the freeway tax. He says "the true cost of the widening are unknown, widening won't fix the traffic jams, and the tax measure sacrifices bus, rail and other types of transportation to pay for this widening." So far the freeway tax is $577,000,000 and it'll take 30 years to pay off. That's a ridiculous price especially for this County and especially when we know that it'll be three more years before the environmental reports and the detailed designs for the widening project will be complete. It is going to take until 2017 to finish this widening, which means even worse traffic delays during the construction. But for me the real bottom line is that widening freeways has never worked, anywhere. Freeways fill up as soon as they are opened, old and new jammed freeways are not just the way of life in California but all over the USA. Check out the Campaign for Sensible Transportation's website at www.sensibletransportation.org. Call 688 2304 to see how you can help stop the widening and spread the word to oppose the November sales tax ballot measure.

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. Nope the queen of diamonds doesn't happen in this new version, and in addition Jonathan Demme changed much of the plotline too. The new ending is really mixed up and cleaned up in traditional Hollywood style. Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington and Liev Shreiber all jump into this sci-fi plot like they really believed it. It also helps that Jonathan Demme knows how to direct such capable performers. Demme has loaded the screen from start to finish with not just his long time acting friends such as Dean Stockwell, but he adds odd gimmicks to nearly every set change. Note the Paul Robeson Othello poster on one wall! If you're a film fan you have to see this film just for the Demme cleverness, but it's also a very intriguing film that'll keep you glued. It's just that sell out Hollywood ending that spoils the real quality. See it anyway. Late breaking news...I ran into Eric Thierman at the Manchurian Candidate and at the Cabrillo Music Festival last night. I never knew that Eric was Jonathan Demme's art director on Caged Heat, Demme's first film. Eric liked M. Candidate too.

SANTA CRUZ'S NEW REGAL THEATRE!! The people at the Cinema 9, which used to be owned by Signature, figure it'll be next month that the new owners will make some changes. I think I mentioned before that Regal Cinemas or Regal Entertainment Group bought Cinema 9. Regal is the largest distributors of motion pictures in the world, according to their website. They own 6,119 screens in the USA. So far the Santa Cruz Signature Cinema 9 isn't listed on Regal's website, I looked. There'll be changes in the concession stand and in the main lobby, but any other changes like maybe the name itself, haven't been announced.

CUBA FILM SCREENING. The Cuba Study Group of Santa Cruz County is showing another in their series of Cuban films on Thursday, August 19 7 pm. at the Live Oak Grange, 1900 17th Avenue near Capitola road. They're showing Stephen Olsson's film,"Our House In Havanna". Olsson won awards with this film and he's made documentaries and films for BBC, PBS, CNN, NBC, CBS, CANAL+ and National Geographic. Our House in Havanna has been shown throughout Latin America and Europe and tells of the changes in Cuba over the last 40 years. Donations taken at the door. And there'll be a discussion after the film. Call 465-8272 for information.

JOHN TUCK TO TURN 70!! John Tuck is going to be 70 years old on Saturday. It had to happen, and many people thought he was much older. Naturally he's having a party, a very big party and he's also tried to invite every one of his old friends. He forgets more than he used to so if you didn't get an invite call him at 460-1553.

SECRET OF THE SEQUOIAS. While vacationing last week up on Highway Four past the towns of Murphys and Arnold I had a chance to check out the Bear Valley Music Festival, now celebrating its 36th year!! It's in the village of Bear Valley in case you start looking for it. Old time members of the Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra used to tell me about this festival and its worth looking at. Each year the folks in Bear Valley put up a huge white tent and every night for two solid weeks they create concerts. The tent by the way, isn't one of those soaring Santa Fe or Venice type things it's more plain and industrial looking with bleachers inside. David Tannenbaum and the David Grisman Quintet played there last year. This year The Fifth Dimension and Papa Doo Run Run played there earlier this week. This Saturday August 7 the orchestra will play Berlioz, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff. Saturday they'll actually do Mozart's Magic Flute with Evelyn de la Rosa soprano and it'll close Sunday the 15th with the Bear Valley Symphony playing some Grieg and Bruch's Scottish Fantasy. Carter Nice has been the Music Director for 21 of the 36 years. The best idea is to go to www.bearvalleymusic.org or you could call them today at (209) 755-2574 in case you're going up that way.

SAM FARR'S WEBSITE AND EMAIL NEWSLETTER. Sam wants us to spread the word about his email list and his website. Por ejemplo his last e-newsletter tells where our Congressman stands on lots of issues. Read all about affordable housing, setting organic food standards, high gas prices, the body count in Iraq, and then tell him what you think about all that. Go to www.farr.house.gov you'll find lots of links on this newly designed website of his that will connect you to his emails and all other issues.

MUSICAL SAW FESTIVAL. The world's original and never duplicated Musical Saw Festival happens this Saturday and Sunday. It was 26 years ago that Tom Scribner, John Tuck, Paul Dragavon, Marghe McMann and yours truly started the festival as a way to pay for that statue of Scribner that sits in front of Bookshop Santa Cruz. From 1 p.m. to about 2:30 on Saturday a bunch of musical saw players will gather there to play their saws and swap saw stories. It's the only time of the year you can meet and talk to musical saw players. They come from Japan, Germany, and Czechoslovakia and places you wouldn't dream of. On Sunday the real Festival begins up at Roaring Camp in Felton starting at 10am and going on through the day. It's all free but you do pay to park at Roaring Camp. Call Morgan Cowin the president of the International Musical Saw Association at 415 459-7722 for more information. Marlene Dietrich used to play the musical saw in case you'd forgotten.

OLD BUDDY STEVE KESSLER. Steve Kessler was one of the old Santa Cruz gang of newspaper people. He edited "The Sun". The Sun followed the collapse of the Santa Cruz Express. Steve has always done translations of Latin American poets amongst other things. His last book is,"Written In Water: The prose poems of Luis Cernuda". Now he edits the Redwood Coast Review, a quarterly centered in downtown Gualala, Ca. You can subscribe to the Redwood Coast Review by sending check or money order to Coast Community Library, PO Box 808, Point Arena, CA 95468.

SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ AND THE CABRILLO MUSIC FESTIVAL. There's no doubt about it, our little town and County swings hard with culture these next three weeks. I'll see you at all four Shakespeare productions (don't forget the two shows only of Lysistrata August 16, 23). Call 549-2159 for Shakespeare and also the Civic Auditorium concerts and the one in San Juan Bautista of The Cabrillo Music Festival. Call 420-5260 for the CabMuFest.

UNQUENCHABLE QUOTES. "He uses music as an accompaniment to his conducting." -Oscar Levant about Leonard Bernstein. "A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it." -Sir Thomas Beecham. "Of all the noises, I think music is the least disagreeable." -Samuel Johnson. Musicologist Scott MacClelland sent these apropos gems to us, as you could probably figure.

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Bruce critiques films every Friday on KZSC-FM (88.1) on The Bushwhacker Breakfast Club at 8am.