WATER STREET AND MORRISSEY BOULEVARD. June 12,1953. The Texaco Gas Station was owned by "somebody" and Strate according to the names over the door. It's now the corner where the savings bank is located. No sign in 1953 of the Lucky Store that was there in 1970 or the Liquor Barn that followed it. Now of course there's the Post Office. I have no idea and no photos of what was on the Northwest corner where Safeway is now. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection, click for bigger version. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

AMY GOODMAN INTERVIEWS RALPH NADER. I tell you that Amy Goodman comes up with good stuff almost every time. In this interview with Ralph Nader she gets him to cover almost everything we care about. Read what Nader says about the misguided SEIU and how the presidential debates are sterile. He says we need more groups like the California Nurses Association. He doesn't want Universal Health Care it gouges us...he wants full Medicare for all. Nader says Hillary has sold out and she and Bill are part of the Corporatization problem. He talks about Al Gore, Dennis Kucinich, tells how Barack Obama wants to expand and modernize the military!! Then Amy has him discussing whether or not he'll run and how Bush is a "national security menace". This is a must read and thanks to Alternet and Amy for allowing me to run this. Click here http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/09/131226

ORGANIZING AGAINST MISSION SAFEWAY. Seth Levy sent an email and I quote, "Dear Neighbors, On July 5 while most of us were on vacation or distracted by the July 4 holiday, the City Planning Commission unanimously approved the doubling in size of the Mission Street Safeway.
This project will continue the trend of transforming Mission Street into an automobile intensive strip mall so sadly typical of Bay Area and California development. The city report under-estimates that this will add some 1900 car trips daily to our city streets which are already beyond the capacity we can tolerate.
Now is the time to use the power of the internet and word of mouth to unite everyone in opposition to this unbridled growth. This is not just a narrow issue about moving traffic from one street to another until the entire city is one giant grid-locked speed bump. Rather we need to address the root causes of this traffic to begin with.
I hope that everyone can send a quick email to the city council expressing your opposition to the new Safeway. Email them at citycouncil@ci.santa-cruz.ca.us
I encourage everyone to forward this e-mail and get as many of your friends and neighbors involved in opposing this and other looming Santa Cruz area mega-developments. I'm trying to collect as many e-mail addresses as I can so that we can keep everyone informed of what is happening with upcoming neighborhood and city council meetings regarding this project. You can email me at stopthebigboxes@yahoo.com
I'll forward/add these contacts as we finally organize the opposition to this project. An unscheduled meeting has been planned for this sometime next week.
Rather than continue with the many negative aspects of the current plan, here is a Safeway renovation plan I would have supported:

1. Small or no increase in Safeway retail store size.
   
2. Pedestrian friendly mixed-use on site housing.
   
3. Adding sidewalks and crosswalks where none now exist on Miramar, Almar, and Seaside streets to provide safe pedestrian access.
   
4. A pedestrian/bike bridge across Mission Street.
   
5. No new traffic light on Mission. This would add a direct automobile only route from the expanding University to Safeway through residential neighborhoods on the steepest most dangerous hill in town (Miramar St.).
   
6. The new building should comply with the higher Gold LEED green building standards and must include solar power panels on the roof.
   
7. There must be safe bicycle lanes to the new store on at least one or preferably more blocks of Mission street leading up to the entrance.
   
8. Safeway should commit to supporting our local farms and businesses not just the cheapest imported foods which are then sold at a premium.
   Imagine how much money this incredibly busy monopoly Safeway location has created in the last 40 years. It is time we insisted on a development which benefits the community as well as the Safeway Corporation. Sincerely, Seth Levy.

IS BONNY DOON STILL BURNING MAD? YES! This rare little community nestled snugly between UCSC on the south and Lockheed on the north faces at least its share of environmental problems according to The Highlander the almost monthly newsletter published by the Rural Bonny Doon Association. The Rural Bonny Doon Association is the oldest environmental group in the county dating back to 1957. (Full disclosure...I was once the editor of The Highlander and president of the RBDA). So now they are worried about what the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will do when it takes over the 7,000 acres of Coast Land and Dairies property. Mountain bikers, equestrians, and hikers are fighting over who and how trails will be made and used. Cemex (once Lone Star Cement) wants to expand their dynamiting and add 17 acres to their quarry. Neighbors don't like that idea too much. The RBDA and CLUE (Coalition for Limiting University Expansion) are heating up their negotiations trying to stop UCSC from expanding quite so much. Former Dentist Bill Cunningham is still trying to build a major event center in the heart of Bonny Doon, even though the neighbors tried to stop him many years ago. Fast Buck Bill was one of the many names applied to Cunningham. Then there's the Timber Production Zone reduction problem, the proposed Bonny Doon fire district change in boundaries and much much more. BUT after they take a two month summer break they will be having a 50th year celebration of the founding of the RBDA at their Sept. 12 meeting at 7:30pm at the school. They are celebrating their obvious victory in keeping Bonny Doon Rural and Natural. Congratulations.

BROCKLEBANK ON SCOPE PARK. Jean Brocklebank cares a lot about the future of SCOPE Park and has a great idea for it. She emails, "Just a little thought about a little park. On Fridays, when we come to downtown on Water Street from the eastside and stop at Pacific before turning left, thence to two of our favorite places (the library and Clouds), we glance towards SCOPE Park. Every time. We look at that bit of greenery in the midst of an intersection owned by vehicles, all spewing exhaust. We see that small place doing its best to cleanse the air, to provide a carbon sink in a polluted world. We smile at the whimsical mural. We see hope for a city determined to develop every last square inch of life-giving soil. Why does this wee corner of breath have to be anything other than what it has been and is now: a simple respite from concrete, asphalt, stucco, and high rises?
Mike Rotkin, in another of his now famous mean-spirited snippy comments, recently groused that it was not as though the City Council was preparing to destroy a greenbelt. He did not say "fer crissakes." He didn't have to. He is as transparent as cellophane and besides, he wouldn't know the "peace of place" if he was standing in its midst.
Can we citizens propose a Citizens Maintenance Crew and pick up the litter and pull a few weeds each month and maybe rake the dirt to make it look nice? It would be our contribution to the beleaguered Parks & Recreation (P&R) Dept. until the managerial staff of the City, all making obscene salaries of more than $12,000/month, not including their benefits and retirement packages decide to give a monthly charitable contribution earmarked for P&R SCOPE Park maintenance? I like my idea. Simple, effective. Probably never happen then, huh? Still, I can dream". End of Jean's email.

CABIN NEWS. Well, I had a deal that Robert Ward formerly of Good Times now living in sin and in Atlanta tried to put together, but that fell through, so back to square one and nada. So if you know of a cabin in Northern California available from July 20 – 31 please let me know. Neither of us smokes and we assume that the area won't either. I'd do the same for you!!

PATTONS' PROGRAM. Gary tells us why the Monterey County Board of Supervisors is like Dick Cheney, and he's not joking! He tells us that The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission report will move to widen Highway One and that will require a vote of the people. A huge and growing problem Gary talks about is that the World Wide Web, or www as we know it, could change democracy and world politics except that we have to take more of an active part in politics to make it happen. He then relates San Luis Obispo's farmland usage and what's happening with the development of Fort Ord. Read it and listen to it here.

TO HELL WITH SOY. We've seen some news lately about soy and genetic tampering but this one article in AlterNet lays out the entire problems with eating soy products. Bloating, all kinds of allergies, and over 100 years of negative reports on soy. It tells too how soy is in everything; tofu dogs, canned tuna, everything, read it and subscribe to AlterNet while you're at it...it's a great source for whatever you should be aware of.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/56087

ELERICK'S INPUT. Paul tells about how he and the beaches survived the Fourth of July fireworks. He asks the big question why John Laird and Sam Farr were placed so far back in the Fourth of July parade lineup in Aptos. Then he says that Santa Cruz City Politician Lynn Robinson was riding in the car with Sam Farr in the parade. Paul must be wrong on that. Why in hell would a Santa Cruz City Politician be riding with our Congressman, except out of desperation, lack of decency and decorum? Elerick then asks questions about our real and imagined speed limits.

MATT KING SAYS GOODBYE TO US...AND THE SENTINEL. Matt emailed to say, "I'm leaving next week i'm going to be a part of it news corp news corp. i was offered a job this morning at the Middletown Times Herald Record. An 85k circ daily 90 minutes north and a little west of NYC. It's an Ottaway paper, but will likely soon be owned by Rupert Murdoch, which means Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity and I will be colleagues. It's a place where I can learn to be a great reporter and a big step professionally, even though I'll still be paid like I'm delivering the paper and not reporting for it. And after 11, let's call them interesting, years, I get to go home. The bad news for me and my California people is that I'll be outta here in about nine days, so i won't get to do the farewelling I'd like to (please direct complaints to the bozos at the Sentinel who laid me off last month), but I'll get around as much as i can manage in the next week and will at the least be in touch in a more personal way. Thanks everyone for your support over the last couple of weeks". End of Matt King's email.

EAGAN'S EFFULGENCE. Scroll downwards (as if you didn't know by now) to see Tim's idea of the latest political tune from the Supremes.

LANDAU'S PROGRES. Don't let Hillary Clinton read what Saul Landau writes about her this week in Progreso Weekly! He doubts her morality and her intelligence and says that bin Laden probably supports her and would contribute to her campaign. Read it here www.progresoweekly.com

THOMAS LEAVITT EMAILS ABOUT SANTA CRUZ NEIGHBORS. "Looking at the latest missive from Santa Cruz Neighbors, it is interesting to see how narrowly defined the agenda is for each neighborhood group; very parochial, nothing in relation to the broader issues facing the city, and "public safety" issues predominate. This is, in essence, a reactionary agenda, and fosters a reactionary political
environment...MORE, CLICK HERE

WATERS WEIGHS IN. Christina carries on about Genoa and tells about some dining experiences in middle England at www.christinawaters.com .

PAUL HOSTETTER'S HOTLINE. Paul keeps track of more live performances going on around here than anyone I know of...click here to get his latest update.
http://www.lutherie.net/live.music.html . Paul's descriptions and insight into these acts are unique, and with no bs.

TRANSFORMERS. I can't believe I'm writing this, and would prefer that you don't repeat it, but I liked Transformers. Yes, I've toyed with my grandsons' miniature versions, and they are ok but the film version was so simple, so dumb, so fast moving, that it had a stupefying effect. The CGI stuff was amazing, the street scenes shot in downtown LA were sort of like King Kong's death scene, and the entire film pretended to be nothing more than fluff.

GYPSY CARAVAN. The musical performances were perfect, the performers were excellent musicians but there were parts of this documentary that were beneath amateurish and crude. Performances and views of the musician's lives were constantly edited and cut to ribbons in the wrong places. The attempt to convince us that Gypsies or Romani were not thieves and baby stealers and were just fellow humans was crude and unnecessary. Why the constant showing of the importance of money to the musicians was repeated so often became almost suspicious. Be sure to see it, it's no Latcho Drom, and Taraf de Haidouks our local favorite band, is always fun to watch.

PAPRIKA. One of the most creative and clever animated films I've ever seen. The imagination and the ability to draw this film is so far beyond Hollywood it is truly staggering. It's about dreams and reality. It has a very complicated story line but yet it is intriguing and fun. Disney's Fantasia led the way for this film and that was 1940. It's as if no other animated films in between accomplished anything. Don't miss this one.

EAGLE VS SHARK. You'll be reminded of Todd Browning's classic film Freaks IF you see this New Zealand attempt at comedy. Jemaine Clement star of HBO's Flight of The Conchords and he plays the same geek/nerd role. Napoleon Dynamite made it ok to laugh at stereotypes, so this is more of that.

JOSHUA. One of those New York apartment movies where the intelligent young couple have a son who is much like Damien, The Good Son, Rosemary's Baby, and it kept reminding me of the 1956 film The Bad Seed starring Nancy Kelly and Patty McCormack. This is a good, scary, creepy movie.

BROKEN ENGLISH. Parker Posey gives her finest performance yet in this film, and Parker Posey is always excellent. Drea de Matteo seems 10 years older than she was in the Sopranos but she does a good job. It's all about why Parker can't have a great relationship. We never find out why exactly but its fun to watch, and you should.

GREAT DVDS. I keep falling behind on my ongoing list of absolutely great DVD's that we've never seen on the big screens in Santa Cruz. They are all available at Cedar Street Video, or you can order them at East Cliff Video at 17^th and Portola or at Video 9 in Boulder Creek. Netflix may have them I don't know. Gloomy Sunday (1999) Germany and released here as The Piano Player. It's an almost true story about the composer behind the song, wonderful. Grbavica, The Land of My Dreams (2005) Croatia, beautiful story of a mother's love for her daughter. Warm Water Under A Red Bridge (2001) a bizarre and atypical Japanese comedy by Shohei Imamura. The Bridge(2006) USA the documentary of one year's suicides off the Golden Gate Bridge. Tickets (2005) Italy, Iran, UK three different stories by Ken Loach, Abbas Kiarostami, and Ermanno Olmi tied together by a railroad trip..brilliant. Army Of Shadows (1969) France and about the French resistance against Hitler. Tell them I sent ya, you'll love these gems.

UNIVERSITY GRAPEVINE. Every Thursday on KZSC 88.1 fm I host this live interview program from 4 -5 p.m. You can hear it world wide or anywhere else on your computer at www.kzsc.org. Coming attractions on Grapevine are...

THIS WEEK. (Thursday July 12th) Marcus Cato, executive director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz will talk about all four plays being staged this summer. The season runs July 17 through September 2^nd and tickets are going fast. Go to www.shakespearesantacruz.org for details or call the UCSC ticket office direct at 831 459-2159. After all that, Nikki Silva, one half of The Peabody Award-winning public radio off-beat storytelling NPR series The Kitchen Sisters will fill us in on all the projects that the sisters have going this summer and beyond.
NEXT WEEK. Thursday July 19 and Thursday July 26 I'll be on vacation, the column will be undergoing a renewal and on August 2^nd I'll be interviewing Angelo Grova of Michelangelo Studios and Jon Nordgren from Cabrilho College taking about Kiss Me Kate...more later.

QUOTES.
"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know exactly how it should be done---they see it done every night, but they can't do it themselves." -Brendan Behan. "Waiting For Godot is a play in which nothing happens, twice." -Vivian Mercier. "My agent gets 10 percent of everything I get, except the blinding headaches." -Fred Allen.

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

SANTA CRUZ'S MEMORIAL DAY PARADE 1948. This is the corner of Locust  and Pacific at either 10:40 or 10:50 am. according to either the People's Bank Clock on the right or our Town Clock in its original position at upper left. There were more holiday parades back then. The police weren't afraid of crowds and there was more to celebrate. photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection, click for bigger version. Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

OUR WESTSIDE BECOMING ANOTHER SAN JOSE. The attack of the Developers from Hell is now playing out on our Westside. Redtrees Properties who brought us Borders Bookstore and Safeway Stores who keep bringing us ...more Safeways are both engaged in projects that will change our Westside in every way imaginable. Safeway has their hearing at The Planning Commission this Thursday July 5^th at 7pm at the City Hall, they've been giving their customers handouts urging everyone to support their doubling in size and yet asking for a reduction in required parking spaces. The West Escalona, King, Miramar Neighborhood Association (423-4757) are organizing against the traffic light Safeway wants to install at Miramar and Mission. The increase in traffic estimated to be more than 9,366 per day will create huge changes in those neighborhoods.
Redtrees Properties is working on the biggest development in the history of the City of Santa Cruz out at 2120 Delaware at Swift and Delaware Streets. There'll be a meeting of the Westside Neighbors groups under the pushing of the Santa Cruz Neighbors Association also known as the Lynn Robinson Fan Club at The Garfield Christian Church Tuesday, July 17 at 7 p.m. Craig French head of Redtrees, Mark Primack architect for Redtrees, City Planning Director Greg Larson, and Principal Planner Alex Khoury will all speak in favor of whatever French wants. Larson and Khoury are supposed to be on the side of the residents, according to law but they both want this development, wait and see. Now's the time to go to this meeting and decide what the neighborhood wants, not what the developers want. You'll hear French say they don't have it all planned yet so just trust them and let them develop it piecemeal. See if The Santa Cruz Neighbors lets anybody ask questions from the floor or will they demand you write them down so they can screen the ones that don't help the developers. Remember how many times you've said "I don't want to see Santa Cruz turn into another San Jose"? Well, this is exactly how it happens, be sure to attend and get there early before the SCN members and developers stooges stack the attendance.

SENTINEL STORY CONTINUED. Thomas Leavitt sent the following email...
"It occurs to me that the public might be interested to know what Matt King had to say on his blog about being laid off. Especially since the Santa Cruz Sentinel has chosen to silently delete his last posting, along with at least 8 comments by members of the general public (including Glen Schaller), without posting any kind of notice that they had done so or explanation as to why on the blog itself... which, in fact, remains up, with no indication or notice that the author is no longer employed by the Sentinel. It is also interesting to note that Tom Honig says, "After a lot of consideration, I've decided to identify only one of those laid off, because he himself chose to announce that fact on his blog. That would be Matt King, whose "Apples and Worms" blog on school news was part of this website until today."
What he doesn't say is that Matt also mentioned the other folks who had been laid off, and he also doesn't mention that the Sentinel deleted Matt's final entry (which must be confusing to folks reading his posting). It will be interesting to see if my own comment about this gets deleted from the Sentinel site". Thomas sent the text of Matt King's final posting:

"I got laid off tonight. Other reporters shown the door were Roger Sideman, Soraya Gutierrez, Daniel Lopez and Isaiah Guzman. Photographer Kate Falconer and copy deskers Max De Nike and Jonathan Whitaker are also gone. The kinds of stories I'm interested in will not be a priority under the Sentinel's new ownership. Take it easy on the people who are left. They'll do their best to get out a good paper every day". Matt then posted his email address, and said thanks for reading and writing. His e-mail is mcking1973@gmail.com

SCOPE PARK. A better idea than selling SCOPE Park right now is to wait two or three years and see what happens to the value of that special piece of property. The powers that be also sold the Homeless Gardens for a fraction of what its value is today, why not wait on SCOPE PARK? Aside from the increase in value from all the big business and residences that are about to fill that area we will lose the view of the cliffs right above it forever. Parks and Recreation are campaigning hard to remove Public Lands so they will have less responsibility and less maintenance work. And they are selling our children's sense of place for quick bucks. With only a small investment SCOPE Park could become an outdoor coffee and dining space and produce needed income. Santa Cruz is becoming less unique every day, why hurry it along?

LA BAHIA. Some friends at last week's meeting of SCRP (Santa Cruzans for Responsible Planning) had a great idea, well they had several great ideas which I'm repeating here, but the first one was let's have Barry Swenson and Charlie Canfield put up story poles where they want their seven story La Bahia development to be. That way we can all see just how much of a visible effect it will have on everyone's views in that area. Seven stories will completely eliminate the view of the mountains from Beach Street and will be about as tall as the Coast Hotel from other vantage points. The arguments center on do we want, or mind becoming another very urban Huntington Beach with all their high rises? What will the promise of $600,000 in taxes mean in net profit to the city? Think about that in terms of water, traffic, police, and parking. Will it pay for the loss of what makes Santa Cruz beautiful?  This is spot zoning at its worst. If this goes through with the special deal to allow for the increase is height then others will follow, and we've lost the beach frontage., and of course the use of the beach if Canfield's lawsuit against the City wins. And why hasn't the Sentinel included any mention of The Boardwalk's suing the City in this Anniversary year in any of their bum kissy fluff pieces? That's got to be some kind of news.

CANADIAN MEDICAL SUPPLIES FOR CUBA STOPPED AT USA BORDER.
Homeland Security Officials "Detain" Medical Supplies Destined for Cuba at Maine/Québec Border Despite Earlier Successful Crossings Today With Five Tons of Medical Aid Collected by Canadians for Cuba. The aid collected in Québec by the Caravane d'amitié Québec-Cuba and destined for maternity clinics and nursing homes in Cuba, included a breast pump for nursing mothers, stethoscopes, used eyeglasses, a Physicians Desk Reference (PDR) and surgical gowns. Pastors for Peace spent six hours in a standoff with Homeland Security attempting to negotiate passage of the medical aid before the shipment was detained for thirty days to investigate its security threat to the U.S. According to Greg Pease, (207- 297-2554) the Homeland Security officer in charge, he received instructions not to permit anything in transit to Cuba into the U.S. "This detention by Homeland Security is outrageous." said Rev. Lucius Walker, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace. "While Cuba is offering full scholarships to U.S. students to study medicine in Cuba, the U.S. government is denying transit of such basic items as breast pumps and surgical gowns. Why does the Maine border patrol have and ax to grind over breast pumps and surgical gowns? The contradictions are incredibly mean-spirited."

"Actions like these illustrate even further the issues raised by Michael Moore's film SICKO." "This precious cargo, bound for Cuba was collected by Canadians who will link up with U.S. routes of the 18th Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan. We intend to deliver these supplies to Cuba." added Rev. Walker. This holiday weekend is the launch of the Friendshipment Caravan. Earlier crossings today into the U.S. from Vancouver into Blaine, WA and Winnipeg into Pembina ND occurred without incident.

Fourteen routes will stop in 125 U.S. cities, collecting aid and speaking out against the 45 year blockade of Cuba by the U.S. Over the course of two weeks, the Caravan expects to collect 100 tons of medical aid for Cuba.
On July 17, the Caravan including many Santa Cruzans intends to cross the U.S. border into Reynosa, Mexico. In past years, U.S. officials have attempted to seize the humanitarian aid it carried. According to Rev. Walker, anything is possible this year, given the continued antagonism by the Bush administration towards Cuba.

More information about the Pastors for Peace Caravan can be found at: www.pastorsforpeace.org or contact Lucia Bruno at 347-423-4330 or 212 926-5757.
Call your Senators and Representatives (202-224-3121) and Email Your Senators www.senate.gov/  and Representatives www.house.gov/writerep/ Now!
Please pass this on to your email lists and phone trees!

RAGING GRANNIES STATEMENT. Sherry Conable sent this...this Friday, July 6th, the recently arrested Raging Grannies! will be singing at: The Family Vigil for Peace of Santa Cruz! at the Collateral Damage Sculpture Garden and Town Clock Park, corner of Water and Pacific, across from the Main Post Office, 5-6PM!!!!! She also sent this...."it is the group statement that we were going to read last week to the Army Recruiters, in Capitola except we never got that far, since they cut us off at the pass!!!! It's very much worth reading... and you can check it out here. Sherry also added: "two of the recruiters in Capitola when asked whether or not folks being recruited right now will be sent to Iraq, said "it's very likely" and "it's almost for sure".

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Cabrilho Colleges professional 2007 Repertory season started off with several bangs and nicely choreographed kicks in Little Shop of Horrors. There is a new ending if you remember the film and some new songs too. The cast is absolutely perfect. They sing dance and act just the way they should. Everyone is mic'd and the volume is loud so it makes for some distancing between audience and cast but it's still wonderful entertainment. No, Rob Pratt isn't in the orchestra. It's in the 450 Forum on campus not the auditorium, which makes it more intimate, go see it quick, it ends July 22, and several shows are sold out. Go to www.cabrillostage.com for ticket advice, or call the Cabrilho box-office at 479-6154.

ROB PRATT OUT TO SEA. Rob Pratt once editor and writer for many Santa Cruz area papers, and former member of The Jazzbirds now has his own manager and his manager got him some ship gigs because Rob is a fantastic reed player. I emailed Rob to see what's up...he replied, "Greetings from somewhere between Ireland and Britain. Yes, it's true. I joined this ship, the Grand Princess of Princess Cruise Lines, on April 28. I'll be here until Aug 21. I got onboard in Galveston, TX, and we sailed across the Atlantic, spent about six weeks at ports in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Croatia and Turkey. About two weeks ago we repositioned out of the Med to base out of Southampton, U.K. Right now we're on our way back after stopping along the coast of Norway, above the Arctic Circle (at Akureyri) and at Rekjavik in Iceland. We stopped at Belfast, Northern Ireland today.

I'm having a grand time, really. We have to submit our work hours on a sheet at the end of every month, and I distinctly remember a few days ago calculating that I had averaged a shade under 2.5 hours of work per day during June. As a musician, I'm given "deck privileges," which means I can go almost everywhere passengers go, eat in almost all passenger areas, etc. Even with such excellent food, I've managed to lose about 20 lbs. Chalk that up to working out in lovely shipboard gyms, running around all day in places like Rome, Venice, Athens and Barcelona and swimming at gorgeous Mediterranean beaches. I left town for a while 'cause I got tired of web development. Glad I made the change. Like it so much out here that I'm only going to stay in Santa Cruz two weeks after Aug. Going back out on the Caribbean Princess in the second week of Sep.
Regards, Rob". What a guy, such adventures; I'll let you know when he writes again.

SICKO. Another Michael Moore triumph. Moore knows how to get his points across and he does. Al Gore did the same only muted and serious to reach his audience in his global warming documentary. Moore's film on healthcare which is a deathly boring and serious topic becomes funny, pushy, cute, bold film that is intended to get us all riled up, and I'll bet we see some action in Washington as a result. Even if you think you know it all... see this film, the situation with HMOs is much worse than you think

ANGEL-A. I've always been a sucker for angel movies, from The Horn Blows at Midnight staring Jack Benny, I Married an Angel, Stairway to Heaven and all way  to John Travolta's angel film Michael. Luc Besson directed Angel-A and the beautiful ex-model, now writer and director Rie Rasmussen is the angel. Poignant, clever, fast moving and funny... see it before it leaves, which is slated to be soon.

LIVE FREE-DIE HARD. Bruce Willis meets the usual enemies and faces down the dreaded internet monster that has taken over all our lives. It's a genuine formula film and has as many chases and tricks as possible. I don't remember seeing any women in it except for Willis's daughter...it's that kind of film. BUT its fun and you can't take it seriously anyway.

EVENING. Considering this film features Vanessa Redgrave, and Meryl Streep, it couldn't miss right?? Add to that the actress who looks so much like Meryl Streep is Mamie Gummer, and she's really Meryl's daughter. Meryl was pregnant with her during the filming of Kramer vs. Kramer in case you keep track of things like that. And Natasha Richardson plays the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and she really is the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave. Add actors such as Glenn Close, Toni Colette, and Claire Danes and it has to be the film of the century...but it's dreary, dull and hard to follow. It has to be the director's fault. But he's made some other good films over the years, so who knows? See it just for the very few minutes between Streep and Redgrave.

RATATOUILLE. The Pixar Studio's animation techniques are beyond belief and go beyond the state of the art in this easy to enjoy cartoon. This is an excellent film from any perspective. Sure, bring the kids because it's fast, exciting, hilarious, and sentimental too. Great voices by Peter O'Toole, Brian Dennehy, and Ian Holm. Its good fun and be prepared for thinking about how you can improve your cooking when you get home.

BILL MOYERS ABOUT RUPERT MURDOCH. Read this article from Tom Paine.com by Bill Moyers about Rupert Murdoch. Moyers says things like "If Rupert Murdoch were the Angel Gabriel, you still wouldn't want him owning the sun, the moon and the stars. That's too much prime real estate for even the pure in heart. But Rupert Murdoch is no saint; he is to propriety what the Marquis de Sade was to chastity. When it comes to money and power he's carnivorous: all appetite and no taste. He'll eat anything in his path. Politicians become little clay pigeons to be picked off with flattering headlines, generous air time, a book contract or the old-fashioned black jack that never misses: campaign cash. He hires lobbyists the way Imelda Marcos bought shoes, and stacks them in his cavernous closet, along with his conscience; this is the man, remember, who famously kowtowed to the Communist overlords of China, oppressors of their own people, to protect his investments there. www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/07/02/the_problem_with_murdoch.php

By the way Rupert Murdoch doesn't own Good Times anymore. That was a few years ago (no joke!!)

PATTON'S PROGRAM. Before I forget, always be sure to check out the internet links on each day of Gary's radio program scripts. He must put enormous time into finding these and they are invaluable in keeping up on land use news and data. Gary tells us of the Chamber of Commerce, The Farm Bureau and other right wing organizations pressuring the governor to cut back on Environmental Quality rulings, big business is threatened by the global warming issue. Read about it. Governor Schwartzenfutz has fired the head of Air Resources, and there's more to come! Monterey County elected official appear to be completely unconcerned about global warming. Gary says be sure to take the Highway 17 survey asap...it can't hurt. He warns about Safeway's proposed Westside development going before the Planning Commission on Thursday July 5^th and asking for a reduction in parking when they double the size of their store. Click here

ELERICK'S INPUT. Paul talks about The Grand Jury report on the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. He goes on to say an important part is missing and that the PVUSD shouldn't say the Jury's report is politically motivated.

LANDAU'S PROGRES. In 2000 Saul was making a film ("Maquila") about women factory workers in Juarez. He witnessed a police scene involving a women's corpse. In this article he tells how J.Lo (Jennifer Lopez) has now made a film dealing with the mass murders that resulted from the women gaining independence by working in those factory jobs. As usual Saul does an excellent piece of writing on this change in Mexico's labor market. Check it out. www.progresoweekly.com

EAGAN'S EFFULGENCE. Want to what would happen if the election were held today?? Scroll downwards and see Mr. Eagan's take on it.

WATERS WEIGHS IN.  Christina looked happy at the annual Shakespeare Santa Cruz luncheon last week but will probably not comment on what the food was like check out her new stuff at christinawaters.com

YOU TUBE AD. Leighton Kelly artist, performer, and graduate of Soquel High is opening a store in San Francisco. Go to YOU TUBE and check out his clever promo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkMcRqaLwPU

UNIVERSITY GRAPEVINE. UNIVERSITY GRAPEVINE. Every Thursday on KZSC 88.1 fm I host this interview program from 4 -5 p.m. You can hear it world wide on your computer at www.kzsc.org. Coming attractions on Grapevine are...

THIS WEEK.(Thursday July 5^th). John Jordan, executive director of The Dickens Universe at UCSC will bring us up to date on this year's universe which happens July 29-August 4^th go to dickens.ucsc.edu/index.html . My second guest will be Paul Figueroa from the Museum of Art and History and we'll undoubtedly talk about Plein Air Affaire 2007.

NEXT WEEK. (Thursday July 12th) Marcus Cato, executive director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz will talk about all four plays being staged this summer. The season runs July 17 through September 2^nd and tickets are going fast. Go to www.shakespearesantacruz.org for details or call the UCSC ticket office direct at 831 459-2159. After all that, Nikki Silva, one half of The Peabody Award-winning public radio off-beat storytelling NPR series The Kitchen Sisters will fill us in on all the projects that the sisters have going this summer and beyond.

QUOTES. Katherine Minott called these Chinese Proverbs when she sent them. S.K Tile Company of Soquel adds that each of these used to be preceded by "Confucius Say"...
Man who run in front of car, get tired.
Man who run back of car, get exhausted.
Man who walk through airport turnstile sideways, going to Bangkok
Man who drive like hell, get there.
Man who live in glass house, change clothes in basement.
War not determine who right, war determine who left.
Baseball wrong: man with four balls not walk.

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