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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BONNY DOON FIRE. A couple who sell real estate in Bonny Doon put up a Bonny Doon website that has a lot of area residents reactions and inside looks at the fire up there. Check out http://www.bonny-doon.info. Read Rachel Goodman's letter, read the other letters too. See why the entire county needs better communication especially during emergencies. I keep asking every so often, when will our city or county create a plan for floods, tsunamis, earthquakes...not just those inane Red Cross printouts but real escape routes and carpooling and disaster plans with specifics in them. We had nothing before the 1989 earthquake and we've developed nothing since...haven't we learned anything?
"FIGHT SIMMERS OVER PLAN FOR HUGE SAFEWAY STORE" That was the title of an article in the San Francisco Chronicle for Saturday, June 14. It is surprising to see how the residents around College Avenue and the Rockridge Center in Oakland are fighting Safeway's demolition of the existing store and 60,000 sq. ft. expansion when Santa Cruz went so ascend-up to support the same Safeway expansion here. Click on the link and see how the community is concerned about nearby businesses. Read how they care how out of scale the new Safeway will be. See how Safeway plans to put the parking underground. Oakland likes its small mom and pop businesses and is fighting to preserve them. One blogger calls it "Union-busting-Slaveway" in Santa Cruz we have a Sierra Club official being paid to help Safeway expand by fighting the environmentalists, and our city council never batted an eye over supporting and encouraging it. I agree Santa Cruz is weird, but not always in a good way.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/14/BAI7118U11.DTL
BARACKS SISTER. Maya Soetoro-Ng, Barack Obama's sister, came to Santa Cruz after her visit to Watsonville last week. She was also at many big deal fund-raisers but the one at London Nelson's big meeting room was for free, and it was wall to wall and everybody had a good time. Maya told mostly cute things like Obama's ears were big enough to hang umbrellas on. Obama loves Scrabble and they play annually. Obama taught her about poetry, philosophy, and why she needed to get credentials to make something of herself. Bill Monning who was there gave a special thanks to Emily Reilly who was also there and so was Cynthia Mathews, who spoke about measure T. (more later). He said the assembly campaign was clean and honest and dealt with the issues, and everyone agreed and applauded. Maya went on to answer when asked, that Obama did tell her he wasn't going to appoint a "potted plant" as vice president. We all assumed that means someone who wasn't decorative and would just sit there...and get "potted"??? :-) Maya and her mom had a pretty rough time of it and brother Obama was a good influence on her she said, and we believed her.
McCAIN SUPPORTERS. One political website lists all local campaign donors and supporters so I checked out McCain people...no surprises there. Harvey Nickelson was number one with $2,500, followed by Gary Reece of Gill properties also $2500, then came Terry Gritton, Henry Pearce and Theodore Showalter. That's in case you wonder who in hell would not just vote for but even donate to McCain...now you know.
COUNTY ONLY PROVIDES 75% OF BALLOTS? It was at Barack's sister's gathering that someone (maybe it was Bill Monning, I forgot) mentioned that our county only provides voting ballots for 75% of the registered voters. It was then stated that with the interest being so high for this next election that the turnout could be as high as 80%. If you know anything about there only being 75% let me know or tell Gail Pellerin or somebody...quick.
SENTINEL FIRINGS CONTINUE. There were still more Sentinel firings Friday June 20. Inside rumors have it that about half a dozen newsroom jobs were moved to Fremont. Details might follow but these latest reductions haven't been reported anywhere and the loss should not go unnoticed. I'll work on some verifying but it ain't easy.
FRANKLIN MARSHALL. Every so often somebody asks about Franklin Marshall and what ever happened to him. Franklin is the guy who was pushing the Children's Museum, then he actually printed a children's book about Louden Nelson (his spelling) that was full of lies and myths. After that Good Times did a story about Marshall that detailed most of the many schemes he tried to pull off around town that never worked. Well, he's back and I saw him, stay alert.
MEASURE T. If you've never toured our 9-1-1 Emergency Dispatch Center up in DeLa Veaga park near the Stroke Center, you should. Hopefully you've never had to use their expertise either but our Center has won awards for being so well run and efficient. The tax that supported the City of Santa Cruz's share of operational costs has run out. So there's a Measure T mail only ballot that'll be happening very soon. Vote Yes on measure T when you get your ballot in the mail. More on this later.
2120 PROJECT. Everyone knows some kind of development is going to happen in this huge plot of land on Delaware and Swift. We just need to make sure that the City and the developer Craig French know what the community wants and needs there. As Reed Searle wrote: There will be a hearing before the Planning Commission. This hearing is the final opportunity to make whatever points may be appropriate to the Commission regarding this project. The project is the biggest one in the history of the City, except for the University. This project will most certainly very substantially affect the Westside and indeed the whole City.
A final decision regarding the project will be made by the City Council. That hearing is scheduled for July 22. Recommendations by the Planning Commission are not binding on the Council, but may be persuasive. The Commission and ultimately the Council may approve, deny, modify or set a series of conditions on approval. Particularly as regards traffic, water and parking, suggestions for conditions to minimize expected adverse effects on the community could be very important. This project is expected to generate 5129 new daily auto trips at buildout. When all other projects in the mill are considered, a total of over 20,000 new Westside daily auto (and truck) trips are planned for our part of the city. By way of comparison, the SCCRTC monitoring report issued in March 2005 indicated daily traffic on Mission St at Baldwin, at 28,578. If most or all of the traffic to be generated by cumulative projects uses Mission St., and we certainly hope it would, we're looking at over 40% increase, and this is in addition to "normal " traffic growth. The traffic would intrude on residential areas unless there is adequate mitigation. The draft EIR does not attempt to alleviate this---it only says that intersection improvements and payment of the traffic impact fee are adequate mitigation. As noted in the notice of hearing, this Planned Unit Development may include up to 248 new residential units as well as 145 industrial or commercial units. The Westside is already short of parks, and no additional park space is provided for. Water, of course, is another very serious problem.
We are advised that the final draft of the EIR and the Staff report will be available on the Planning Dept website on Monday, June 23. That doesn't give much time prior to the Planning Commission meeting for review and preparation of whatever comments may be appropriate. Since the final decision is made by the City Council, comments may be made then as well. These are certainly encouraged and the hearing before the Council is surely the more important. Comments made before the Planning Commission will be reflected in the minutes of that meeting, so they are also significant. Until we see the final EIR and the staff report, we do not know whether the project will be approved, and if so, what conditions may be recommended.
I hope concerned residents attend both hearings. It is not an understatement to say that the future of the City is most definitely at stake. Certainly the proposed project has many good points. Whether the good parts can survive the imposition of reasonable conditions and even what conditions are reasonable, I don't know. I do know that we owe it to ourselves to be involved in the process. That first meeting of the Planning Commission is this Thursday June 26 7 pm., 809 Center St., Santa Cruz, CA All persons who may be interested are hereby invited to present oral or written statements at or before said hearing. Delaware Multi-Use Project, 2120 Delaware Ave. 05-285 APN 003-121-01.
Now fast-forward to the Saturday, June 21st edition of the Register R-P. Front page close-up of a firefighter and a raging inferno just off Highway 1, an above-the-fold headline, "Fire rages near Hwy 1" and an article entitled "City may ban sale of all fireworks – City Council calls special meeting". Here's the chance to reverse the decision to sell fireworks, let's hope the City Council hears from their constituents and does that. Along with preventing more needless fires, it would have to be a moral booster for those heroic men and women who have battled the recent fires around the clock. I hope they are represented at Wednesday's special meeting of the Watsonville City Council.
How much longer do we have to wait for officials to tell us what really caused the Trabing fire, the Martin fire, the Summit fire and the rest? Something needs to be done to make these facts known to the public. A KPIG disk jockey just proclaimed that lightning caused the fire on Buena Vista Avenue! He's about 24 hours off, since that fire took place on Friday, the electrical storm on Saturday. He's probably confusing the fire on Buena Vista with the lightning-caused fires the following day on the south side of Mt. Madonna. Has the arsonist who started the fires along Highway 1 been identified? It would be nice to know how the investigation is progressing!
These are our friends and neighbors whose homes have been destroyed. My daughter knows the families that lost their homes on Trabing Rd. She also knows the family who lives in the only house left standing on Trabing Rd. If these fires were deliberately set, we need to know, and we need to know what to look out for.
Too Many Close Calls at Trabing Fire in Buena Vista. Special thanks goes out to all the firefighters who doused flames and saved homes, pets, and farm animals in South County. Drivers on Highway 1 can see part of the fire damage between the Mar Monte and Buena Vista Exits. However, one has to drive down Buena Vista and Larkin Valley Roads, now that they have opened up by local law enforcement, to see that there were many close calls to people's homes. Unfortunately, some folks were not so lucky and suffered major losses, but the situation could have certainly been much worse. The Watsonville City Council has since called an emergency meeting to consider banning the sales of "safe and sane" fireworks for this upcoming Fourth of July celebrations, after they had just given a recent approval. These firework sales have usually funded many non-profit, church, cheerleading and local sports teams, and would certainly be a financial blow to some. But looking at the extent and seriousness of the latest blaze, keeping fire hazards to a minimum may be that ounce of prevention that will go a long way this summer.
RUSSIA BUILDS MONUMENT TO THE ENEMA. Simon Kelly and his old friend Gregory Tarsy sent this in, and I know you wouldn't believe this without some kind of proof so here's the link to Yahoo's site complete with the story about the new enema monument They say it isn't campy or kitsch it's sincere, and before you bother writing yes, I do think we need something similar in front of our city hall.
CHRISTINA WATERS WEIGHS IN. This week Christina rants about the underwhelming SF Opera production of "Das Rheingold," and savors a few good meals. Plus a hot sauce you absolutely require. All at http://christinawaters.com She also mentions cooking classes with Diana Kennedy and a winery saved from South County fires.
TIM EAGAN'S DEEP COVER. Tim and family were driven from their Bonny Doon home and he's taking his first week-long vacation in thirty years.
LANDAU'S PROGRES. Saul talks about "Life and Commercial Death Along The Mississippi". It's Landau's version of part of American history when you click there be sure to watch the Tiger Woods clip on You Tube that's right next to it.
LIME KILN HISTORY. After damning Chancellor Blumenthal last week for continuing to allow the historic lime kiln buildings to deteriorate Stan Stevens emailed to say, "I enjoyed reading your newsletter this week. I always go first to the photo. This one, with the Cowell oxen and limestone, allows me to suggest to you and your readers that our History Publications Committee (of which I am Chairman) recently published a book that ought to be acquired by anyone desiring more information on this important industry that was so critical to Felton and Santa Cruz: "Lime Kiln Legacies The history of the lime industry in Santa Cruz County, California" Welcome to the Lime Kiln Legacies website: www.limekilnlegacies.com
Lime Kiln Legacies, published in May, 2007, by the Museum of Art and History, traces the history of lime making in Santa Cruz County, California, from 1791 to 1946.In the late 1800s Santa Cruz was the most important lime manufacturing area in California. Much of the lime was transported by ship 75 miles north to San Francisco where it was used to make mortar and plaster for constructing buildings. Today, many of Santa Cruz County's historic lime kilns remain standing, and some are preserved in parks where they are popular hiking destinations (see links).The authors (all volunteers) are: Frank Perry, Bob Piwarzyk, Mike Luther, Alverda Orlando, Allan Molho, and Sierra Perry. Foreword by Kenneth Jensen. Index by Stan Stevens. Cover and book design by Mike Clark (Don Clark's son).Lime Kiln Legacies is now available from the Museum Store, at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz; price:
$24.95. And all good, independent book stores.
CLAIRE BRAZ VALENTINE AND WILMA MARCUS CLASS."THE CURTAIN OPENS" There'll be a three-day play writing-to-performance workshop in downtown Santa Cruz with Claire Braz-Valentine and Wilma Marcus Chandler. "See your creative ideas move from improvisation, memoir, poetry and narrative to a completed play with actors and directors bringing your script to life". Claire Braz-Valentine is a widely-published and internationally produced playwright, poet, newspaper columnist and writing teacher in both the Bay Area and Butte County. Wilma Marcus Chandler is a nationally published writer, playwright, actor and director who teaches theater in Santa Cruz. August 1, 2, 3 2008 Friday 7-9 pm, Saturday 10-4pm and Sunday 10-4 pm. Limited enrollment Fee: $190.00 (lunches included) Call: 831-475-4362 or 530-872-7918 for details and enrollment
MONGOL, THE MOVIE. It's hard to believe but this is a film about the soft side of Genghis Khan. It's like a John Ford western, Kurosawa's epics, and except for a little ethnic (and time) problem Jimmy Stewart could have played Genghis. It's exciting, well acted, absolutely beautiful, and from what they say it's been heavily researched...go see it.
MONGOL, THE PENCIL. I was going to make a joke about thinking "Mongol" the movie was about pencils as in "Mongol Pencils"? Being as how we are so internet-minded I looked up Mongol Pencils, wow!! First there's a Pencil of the Month club go here and check it out.http://www.pencilthings.com There you'll find all about collector's and really valuable pencils. You can go over-board and check into fountain pens...I remember fountain pens...go to the Pen Addict at http://penaddiction.blogspot.com . I'm not sure which is better the movie or the websites check them both out.
LOVE GURU. Mike Myers has made this the most tasteless and least funny of all his films. It's embarrassing to see how low he will go to make a buck. Ben Kingsley, Deepak Chopra, Jessica Alba, and Justin Timberlake are all in it too and they should all be ashamed.
GET SMART. Never being a fan of the original 1960's TV series I can only judge this one as it goes, and it's making millions at the box office but it's still a bomb. Anne Hathaway is gorgeous as always and Steve Carrel does what he can with lame idiotic humor but it is a waste of time. Not a smart or clever line in it. No wit, no cleverness, not even creative visual comedy that is worth your admission fees.
WAITING FOR GODOT FINALLY EXPLAINED!! In Die Weit for June 20, 2008 I caught this final answer to one of life's most intriguing problems.....
A French school teacher, Valentine Temkine, has succeeded, as Matthias Heine reports, in historically and geographically locating Samuel Beckett's absurdist play "Waiting for Godot", which supposedly took place in no-man's land. "Godot, whom Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for, is a Resistance smuggler, who is supposed to smuggle them out of occupied France into the Italian zone. The two of them are Jews on the run who come from Paris' 11 arrondissement. They are probably waiting to be rescued in the spring of 1943 on the dry, limestone heights of the Southern Alps, somewhere like the Plateau de Valensole. All of this is clearly indicated in the play – at least in the original French text." You can check out part of the source at www.signandsight.com
BRIT COPS IN HELICOPTER SEE AND CHASE AN UFO. Just read this report. It sounds amazingly real. http://www.telegraph.co.uk And it's just weeks since the Brits officials released all their official reports on UFO's.
SPAM NAMES. Tom Noddy gets what I like about goofy Spam Names and says, "Mr. Zongo M. Wederaogo...Like you, I'm not so interested in spam names that are odd only because they're culturally different than ours "Tom" (much less Noddy) is a fairly odd sound in several language groups who would need a vowel ending for it to sound "right". But this name is just too cool to skip. I googled it and Zongo is the name of a market town in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a not uncommon first or last name in that part of the world ... if I had a kid, I'd have to consider it. But I'd still hope he didn't grow up to become a spammer. Oh ... and this one too earns its place on the list for its musical quality: Miss Letisha Aisha", Tom Noddy. Mr. Les Fairbanks of New York City and a constant BrattonOnline reader adds, "I knew these people... E Pluribus Eubanks, and Shackup Sweetly" and Les never lies. My own weekly additions are Tameka Lusk, Fidole Forrest, Rory Orr, Linwood Pugh, Corby Serge, Isidro Camacho, Ewart Hong, Ania Lulu, Bat Meenie, Moultrie Jernigan, Cassandra Sherika, Hartwell Gamaliel, and Ilario Jaik. Rory Orr is a great name except when you see him you'd have to say "how are all the little Orr's" and you'd probably snicker. Then again you could drive by his house and say "hey isn't that the Orr House" and everybody would snicker some more and giggle a lot.
UNIVERSITY GRAPEVINE The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is the largest and most famous of all the many Silent Film Festivals around the world. It's all due to Stephen Salmons former Santa Cruzan (he was an usher at the Rio Theatre). He'll be on University Grapevine KZSC 88.1 this Thursday from 4-4:30 talking about the 13th annual festival held at The famed Castro Theatre from July 11-13.Then John Kegebin the ongoing blood and guts and now interim manager of our Santa Cruz County Fair will tell us about all the new attractions for this year's fair.
QUOTES. "Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers", Hans Christian Andersen. "Only that in you which is me can hear what I'm saying", Baba Ram Dass. "There is nothing new except what has been forgotten", Marie Antoinette. "Reality is a movie", Abbie Hoffman.
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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BONNY DOON FIRE. Ted Benhari of the Rural Bonny Doon Association reported in saying the rapid response and hardworking fireworkers kept the fire contained and everybody's very thankful.Other Bonny Dooners told me they are glad the overhead helicopters, smoke, ashes and anxiety are done with. Having to turn off the electricity to protect the firefighters was a necessity but it created huge communications gaps. No telephones except corded worked in most areas, no internet, no television and cell phones don’t work up there either. KSCO provided most of the news and it was only anecdotal. KRON had a blog and folks with power logged into that. Only 3 buildings were houses of the reported 10 structures that burned down. There are people working to get some better communications figured out just in case. Folks are quite disturbed about who where and how the fire started and if it really was partiers near the Moon Rocks location. More rumors say the Volunteer Bonny Doon Fire Department never got an official call, it went straight to the CDF. I was up there Tuesday, the many "thank you fire fighters" signs are inspiring. Just seeing the yellow suited firefighters still walking through what looked like a forest of blackened skeletons and even waving as I drove by was worse than any disaster movie I've ever seen. More on this later.
REACTIONS TO TANNERY TIRADE. Last week I tore into what I consider a terrible plot to house artists by giving them an unfair advantage over other deserving people who need affordable housing at the Tannery Project. The many reactions were and are more than encouraging. That our city, and Artspace and especially artists would be part of this scheme to give artists first chance at affordable housing is truly a shame. Santa Cruz isn't weird, at time like this it's sick.
BLUMENTHAL AND HISTORIC CAMPUS BUILDINGS. More on this in the future but isn't it terrible to see how all the UCSC Chancellors have purposely allowed the historic Lime Kiln buildings around the main entrance to campus go to rot? These buildings date back to the Cowell Ranch and earlier lime operations. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Cowell Lime Works Historic District. To bring them back to proper historic shape would cost less than the air conditioning in one of their new science buildings yet, like The Boardwalk and their beach flat properties they want to let them fall over and erase our history. If anyone knows the new chancellor, tell him to do something about our buildings, and take pride in our campus if he's at all sincere about all that talk of the community and campus sharing the future.
LA BAHIA AND OUR HISTORY. I took a long stroll through the interior of La Bahia last week and if you care anything about our local history or culture you should do the same. Artistic little stairways, curved and hidden patios, tiny balconies...an amazing little world all of its own. Canfield has used his same tactic here of letting everything rot and waiting to get it condemned as he has with all his Beach Flat properties. Now Charlie Canfield and Barry Swenson want to demolish the entire structure. Their offer to move the tower is only a cop out...especially when you consider that Swenson once upon a time saved the entire exterior of our old County Bank Building at Cooper and Pacific. Be sure to attend the Historic Preservation Commission's Public Hearing June 18 (Wednesday) at 7:30 in the City Council Chambers to tell those developers that you care about the message that destroying La Bahia will send. It'll be the major Catalyst for how our beach front's future will look.
THE BOARDWALK. After strolling through La Bahia I took an even longer walk through the Boardwalk. As I've said 100's of times over the years I love the Boardwalk and with three grandsons I go there more than ever. The wild and crazy energy never changes. Screams, racing- wildly charged teenagers, long lines at the new Fireball almost as long as the Giant Dipper lines, new places serving espresso of all things, and of course the roar of the Giant Dipper on it's skinny white framework never stopping. It dawned on me that after sitting on numerous boards and attending infinite meetings about how to get the 2 or 3 million annual Boardwalk visitors to shop in our downtown...the truth is we don't want them to. They are too young, too poor, and too focused on the beach, and boardwalk to ever buy anything our Pacific Avenue stores sell.
CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS. There are four Santa Cruz City Council seats open in the November election. Emily Reilly and Ed Porter are termed out and Tony Madrigal is running for sure, that's why you see him everywhere supporting everything. Mayor Ryan Coonerty is probably still making up his mind about whether to run again. Katherine Beiers definitely is running again and her campaign kickoff is Thursday July 17th. I'm guessing that Don Lane is running, Tim Fitzmaurice is kicking it around and says he's on the positive side of deciding.
FERDINAND MAGELLAN (NOT HIS REAL NAME!!) Last week I sent Leah Garchik at the San Francisco Chronicle my one-liner regarding the women who live on the island of Lesbos in Greece protesting the use of the word Lesbians...my joke was, "Yes, we should all feel sympathy for the suffering of the folks who live on Lesbos but shed a tear too for the Straights of Magellan for goodness sakes". She was nice and at least replied kindly. That's not the point here...in looking up the Straits of Magellan I find that Ferdinand Magellan's real name was Fernao de Magalhaes!! Yes he was Portuguese and the Spaniards changed his name...just like they did to Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho making him Juan Cabrillo. My little but lifelong campaign to get Cabrilho's name spelled correctly on our Community College and a few other places doesn't get far but that's probably because you're not Portuguese or Sandy Lydon.
The room full of farmworkers Barack cheered when Senator Obama stated, "I am committed to the concept of a holiday for Cesar Chavez. He inspired me as he inspired you with three simple words, 'si se puede'!" He later added, "25 years ago, I was inspired by the work of people like Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, and I decided to do grassroots organizing for change... The work I have done grew out of the United Farm Workers... I always marched with the Latino community ever since I was organizing."
Although the UFW had previously endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton and hosted a huge rally at Hartnell Community College in Salinas last January, Rodriguez stated, "Throughout his career, beginning as a community organizer to his present position as senator, Barack Obama has shared the values of the United Farm Workers." Rodriguez vowed to help the Obama campaign reach out to Latino voters.
Obama also hinted at a Monterey Bay appearance when he stated, "I am grateful for the support and I will continue working with you. I want a joint appearance with the farmworkers. Maybe in Salinas."
Labor leader Dolores Huerta, who also previously supported Clinton, is now supporting Obama. She told Amy Goodman on Democracy Now on June 5th, "Well, we have to vote for Barack. There's no question of that. But I just hope that he does a lot more to reach out to the Latino community." The UFW's endorsement will certainly help with that, and Obama is giving the right message to Latinos when he stated, "Your dream for a better future is what drives you the most. The same dream my father had when he came from another county. The same dream I have for my daughters. In the end, our separate dreams are one dream."
More Trash Talk: County Now Wants to Place Trash Incinerator in Pajaro Valley. Just when Pajaro Valley residents thought the County went too far by voting to place its new waste management center (EcoPark) in South County last March, the County has now stooped to a new low by proposing to place a plasma trash incinerator in the Pajaro Valley as well. No other sites are even being contemplated in other parts of the county, and the county is refusing to conduct an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the proposal. South County residents say this is an example of environmental injustice by the county trying to place is trash incinerator near Watsonville, which is approximately 80 percent Latino. The county claims this will be a "demonstration" project only, that it's a "clean" way to deal with trash, and the company AdaptiveARC will front the costs of about $15 million. But major expansion is what AdaptiveARC seems to have in mind, and there appears to be plans to not only burn tons of county trash, but to also open it up to anyone else who wants to burn their trash. Some residents have already vowed to fight it and are teaming up with GreenAction for Health and Environmental Justice, based in San Francisco. They say the company is not fully disclosing information about toxic gases that may be emitted and whether toxic substances are generated. The proposed incinerator would be placed near Pajaro Valley High School, where Latinos comprise 92 percent of the students, the Buena Vista Migrant Labor Camp that provides affordable housing to hundreds of migrant Latino farmworkers and their children, and the local Roundtree Watsonville Rehab Jail, which holds several dozen inmates and where several county workers are employed. Looks like another environmental injustice slap in the face to the residents of the Pajaro Valley. But a proposal for a similar plasma incinerator in Red Bluff, California, was recently withdrawn by the company after 2.5 years of opposition of Red Bluff residents. The issue here will come to a vote at the first Board of Supervisors meeting in early August. Stay tuned. (End of South County Report)
TV Golf on Father's Day. The final round of the U.S. Open was a classic, and gave us dads and granddads and excuse to hang out around the TV because it was Father's Day. The commercials were kept to a minimum (and TIVO took care of them altogether). Even non-golfers could appreciate the drama of Sunday's round. A journeyman pro Rocco Mediate, leader by a stroke, with only two players left on the course, had to have public sentiment going for him. However, with one of the two remaining golfers on the course being Tiger Woods, nobody was leaving the stands at the golf course, or their TV's. We have to wait for an 18-hole playoff between Tiger and Rocco Mediate on Monday, after Tiger birdied number 18. I started following golf as a little kid, caddying at the local golf course. It was during the end of Ben Hogan's career. Hogan I remember, he was a celebrity. Sam Snead too. But the golf attraction began for me with Arnold Palmer in the early sixties; Jack Nicklaus followed Arnie, along with Gary Player and a long string of other tournament winners. But today's golf fans are living though a special time in golf history, ever since Woods came on the professional scene. He is absolutely the best ever. Happy Fathers' Day, Tiger!
BECKMANN ON FELTON WATER FLOW. Peter Beckmann sent in this translation of those German abbreviations... "thanks for a nice "closing" article on the Felton water issue. I know, German has impossibly long word constructions, so here is the correct
meaning of RWE-AG: Rheinisch-Westfaelisches Elektrizitaetswerk - Aktiengesellschaft. Greetings - Peter
PATTON'S PROGRAM. Gary talks about Our Board of Supes discussing what to do about the Summit and Bonny Doon fire, relax building codes, what?? Global warming solutions act and he calls SB 303 a sham...see why. Monterey County's general plan gets a going over and in November we get to vote on a $10 billion bond issue...complications to follow. And Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park has a birthday. click here for all of above
EAGAN'S DEEP COVER. Tim takes a sidewise view of the gas prices...scroll downwards, but you probably knew that.
authorize $60,000 before accepting the State's offer to sell? One would have hoped that the Council will have a public hearing on the merits of what is the best use of the Beach. Instead, they opted to pacify the dog owners by spending the $60,000. If the EIR comes back opposing dog use, then the City can (try to) claim an overriding consideration, or it can continue to let the State pay for Beach maintenance etc. while leaving the Beach for the use of the general public. Probably a decent political decision, if one believes that political considerations should prevail. The Coastal Commission may weigh in, and there may well be (finally) a West Cliff Plan before dog use is considered. Stay tuned, if you have the endurance.
CHRISTINA WATERS WEIGHS IN. Christina blathers on a bit about Handel's opera, Michelin-starred "Range" in the City and a few updates on the Santa Cruz food scene. I ran into Christina at Handel's Ariodante...we tried to out do each other on how much we liked it. Read her opinions here at this week's www.christinawaters.com
THE INCREDIBLE HULK. It's nowhere near as much fun or as clever as Iron Man. Although there is a cameo ending that'll knock your socks off. Seeing the little usually weasly Tim Roth bulked up larger than The Hulk is snickeringly funny it doesn't make the film super. But Edward Norton as Bruce Banner does as good a job as possible and almost has you rooting for him. Tim Blake Nelson from "Oh Brother Where etc." is nearly worth half the admission price. But if you want to see it is has to be on the big screen just to take in the effects. You'll see scenes and shots that are almost straight out of King Kong and girl friend in his mountain lair and others that remind you greatly of Godzilla fighting Mothra, or King Ghidorah, or Anguirus. It's actually pretty good.
WAR, INC. Big cast of Hollywood liberals such as John and Joan Cusack, Ben Kingsley, Marisa Tomei, Hilary Duff and Dan Ackroyd. The problem, and why this film isn't very funny, is that I'll bet the director gave everyone a vote and voice in the dialogue. The jokes are all over the place, the plot is impossible to follow and the whole picture is way overworked. Too many small inside jokes, too broad a satire, too miserable a topic (Iraq War) and it simply doesn't click. Don't bother going. Besides that where was Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon? Even though we didn't need them.
THE HAPPENING. M. Night Shyamalan has made another flop. I won't list his other flops but this one is even worse. Mark Wahlberg and John Leguizamo battle some unknown invisible jerky essence that kills everybody. There's no message, no monster, no evil scientist, no nasty government experiment maybe the wind or chlorophyll is doing it. Don't even rent it.
ARNA'S CHILDREN. This documentary about the life of Arna Mer Khamis, was made by her son. She created a theatre for Palestinian children living in occupied Israel. The Theatre was destroyed by the Israeli Occupation Forces in 2002. Juliano Mer Khamis, Arna's son, returned to document her work in the film Arna's Children (2004) and was moved to rebuild the theatre. His film will be shown Saturday, June 21 7:30 PM at The Mill Gallery 131 Front Street, Santa Cruz. Meet the filmmaker of "Arna's Children", support the Jenin Freedom Theatre, and enjoy good food & beverages. Cosponsored by the Resource Center for Nonviolence & the Palestine-Israel Action Committee.Admission is free. Tax Deductible donations will be accepted to support the rebuilding of the Freedom Theatre. For more information, www.rcnv.org> or 831 423-1626.
HIP HOP FOR CUBA. A Hiphop send-off for the Pastors for Peace Caravan on Saturday, June 21 at the Live Oak Grange. It's an evening of spoken word, hiphop and music featuring The Movement, a San Francisco Bay Area group with a sound that utilizes high energy vocals, bluesy guitar, intense bass lines, synths, and carefully crafted rhythms. They'll be joined by local hiphop artists and the Hybrid Crew, a break-dance group that defies gravity. Catch a preview of their act o Youtube. All this interspersed with clips from a newly released Cuban film – Inventos: Hiphop Cubano – that tells the story of Cuban hiphop artists. A highlight of the evening will be the caravan bus, painted by local artists from the Watsonville Brown Berets, that will be donated to the Cuban Hiphop Center in Havana. Suggested donation at the door $5. Sponsored by the Santa Cruz Cuba Caravans. For more information contact 465 8272 or hiphopwithoutborders@gmail.com.
ENTHUSIASTIC MCCAIN SUPPORTERS Ron Clegg sent us this gem of a photograph... I don't think it needs very many accompanying words, do you?
SANTA CRUZ CHORALE PRESENTS MOZART. The June concert of the Santa Cruz Chorale will be the grand finale of their 25th season. They will present Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's famous Requiem, as well as giving everyone the rare opportunity of hearing two less well-known but equally marvelous compositions: Felix Mendelssohn's Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten and Paul Hindemith's Music of Mourning. Mozart's dramatic Requiem is the stuff of legend. Written literally at fever pitch, this was Mozart's last work and is one of the greatest settings of this wonderful text. The Santa Cruz Chorale will be joined by guest soloists and orchestra to present this brilliant gem of the choral repertoire. There will be two performances one on Saturday, June 21 8:00PM and the last is on Sunday, June 22 at 4:00PM at the Holy Cross Church 126 High St., Santa Cruz Tickets:$16 general, $13 seniors, $5 students Tickets available at the door or go to www.santacruzchorale.org or 831-427-8023 Co-sponsored by KUSP, 88.9 and the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County
HANDEL'S ARIODANTE. This is only the third time this opera has been presented in the US. The Met never did it, only San Diego and Chicago. In Handel's early operas (250 years ago) there are only a few duets. The characters come out, sing about their feelings, their plans, and their problems, and then go back offstage. Ariodante and some other parts were cast for castrati and seeing as how there are fewer castrati around nowadays (Wayne Newton, Eddie Fisher) they cast women in those roles making it a genuine same sex opera. Susan Graham who sang the lead part of Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking sang the role of Ariodante and brought the house down. Enormous ovations, I cried, it was beautiful. Ruth Ann Swenson was at her usual best. Go see this startling and moving example of early opera, six performances left. www.sfopera.org
CELL PHONES AND POPCORN. By now some well meaning friends must have sent you the You Tube of how if you take 3 or 4 cell phones, point them at popcorn kernels and set them ringing the corn will pop. It's a hoax friends, go here and check out how Bluetooth Headset maker Cardo Systems created the fake footage as a marketing gimmick. It's gets you wondering though why are we so eager to believe this stuff?
SPAM NAMES. Tom Noddy (not his real name) checks in again with Dr. Toddy Oun, Prince Albert, William Colgate II, which struck him funny but he wasn't sure why. Then he got personal with submitting Shelly D'Amour and closed with a name Shelly found in a penis ad...Miles Foreman. My weekly/weakly collection Lambert Crug, Ingemar Vinit, Freeman Fredda, Mika Mora, Elmo Ramos, Garrot Aziz, Deno Murillo, Tracey Lacy, Datz McDuffy, Coleman Mayo, Kragt Magoon, Reba Scruggs and Lazlo Chin. Notice that Deno Murillo? Yes, it is close to Donna Maurillo but she wouldn't do spam names...not ever.
UNIVERSITY GRAPEVINE. This week on University Grapevine (KZSC 88.1 fm Thursdays 4-5pm) my guests will be Susan Hillhouse and Paul Figueroa from The Museum of Art & History telling us about the Plein Air plans and all the other art events happening over the summer. My second guest will be the audio premiere of Santa Cruz's The Orange Man relating some of the many adventures he's had while in Orange and his view of the world.
QUOTES. "I saw the bathroom fixtures as a kind of American Trinity",Claes Oldenburg. "Never steal more than you actually need, for the possession of surplus money leads to extravagance, foppish attire,frivolous thought", Dalton Trumbo. "Jesus Christ was the first Communist", Fidel Castro.
Deep Cover
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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JOHN LEOPOLD TALKS ABOUT THAT CAMPAIGN. I asked John Leopold to write about that campaign, his reactions, his plans, and whatever he wanted for BrattonOnline.com. Here's his response:
Thanks for giving me a chance to address your readers.
After walking over 20 precincts in the last election I have an even better feel of the district than when I started. I ran into scores of people who go to our local schools, played opposite teams that I coached in Live Oak Little League, many past (and present) students of Cabrillo, and many working families and seniors. I was surprised by the number of people who didn't know who their supervisor is and the number of voters who were interested in having a change in leadership. Many told me that it was the first time in 20 years that they had seen a candidate for Supervisor on their porch and they were very glad to have a conversation about issues.
People are hopeful that the next supervisor will address some long standing issues in the district including doing something about the East Cliff Village Shopping Center and turning it into a community asset with the same kind of liveliness that we see on Sundays at the Farmer's Market. People were very interested in creating some space where people could gather and possible some type of bandstand to create a community space on a regular basis (not just once a week for part of the year). They are scared of dense housing being "dumped" in their neighborhoods but many seem interested in the idea of some kind of mixed use housing in areas where there is going to commercial redevelopment.
Public safety was brought up as a regular concern. The people I talked to seemed to like my ideas of addressing the shortage of deputies in the program that we have started at Cabrillo. We are collecting data so we can find out how to retain the best deputies as well how we provide activities for young people in the district and how we provide services to keep our families strong and healthy.
I think community members really responded to the idea of engaging the area in good community planning. Planning that looks at development issues, recreation activities, access to family supporting services and historic preservation. Many are hopeful that the next 1st District Supervisor will be a real environmental leader and address protection of our coast, conservation of our water supplies, preservation our forests and address global climate change. A lot of people outside of Live Oak are longing for a Supervisor who would be available to them on a regular basis because they don't feel Jan has given areas outside of Live Oak the same attention.
So I plan to build on the campaign organization that I assembled during the primary. I hope to expand the number of precinct captains and increase the number of precincts that I walk in advance of the election. I want to collaborate with the many organizations and volunteers that will be turning out voters for this upcoming historic election. My endorsement from every Democratic Club and the Democratic Party will certainly be helpful for the expected record turnout that we will see in the fall. I will also need to respond to the whisper campaigns that were started that claimed I wanted to do away with environmental regulation for affordable housing (not at all true) or that I wanted to build a string of homeless shelters in the district (a voter claimed to hear this directly from Betty at one of her coffees).
The biggest challenge will be raising the money necessary to reach the larger group of voters and generating the necessary volunteer support in what will actually be a slightly compressed election schedule. Anyone interested in either contributing or volunteering can visit my website at www.friendsofjohnleopold.com/contribute.html
Onward to victory, John.
John Leopold
santacruzleopold@hotmail.com
john@friendsofjohnleopold.com
Please visit my campaign website: www.friendsofjohnleopold.com
SAVING HISTORICAL LA BAHIA. The Historic Preservation Commission will hold a meeting when the public can say what they believe about how Barry Swenson wants to completely demolish the La Bahia apartments in spite of the historic designation. It'll be Wednesday, June 18 at 7:30pm in the City Council Chambers. Through some really stupid moves we let the authorities demolish the recently retrofitted Cooper House back in 1989. Now just because our existing City Council caves in to Dick Wilson and Swenson and Canfield we and our future generations will lose the La Bahia UNLESS like the Felton believers did, we too stand up for what we think is right and do so at this meeting. We also need to find out where anyone running for City Council stands on The La Bahia preservation.
FELTON'S FLOW VICTORY. You should go to their website to read all the media reports of the victory the people of Felton won over California American Water the giant water company that was ripping them off. Especially read the Monterey Herald's report. http://feltonflow.org:80 Felton is planning a big party on July 26, details on the website. As everyone says it shows what people can do when corporate structures get out of hand. It's the same kind of action and careful scrutiny the people of Santa Cruz have to exercise over developers like Barry Swenson and what he's sneaking through with the La Bahia project and Craig French and his wily actions in plotting 2120 Delaware. We can fight City Hall and in these cases La Bahia and 2120 Delaware it is City Hall that is doing absolutely nothing but kissing up to the developers. Here's a link from the FLOW website that answers that Who is Cal-Am question. California American Water is a subsidiary of New Jersey-based American Water. Despite the patriotic-sounding names, Cal-Am and American Water are both subsidiaries of the German company Rheinisch-Westfsches Elektrizitwerk Aktiengesellschaft (RWE) - the third largest water supplier in the world. RWE's business model calls for purchasing small water districts, consolidating them to reduce costs and applying for rate increases to boost profits.
COFFEE WITH THE ORANGE MAN. I wasn't kidding about my meeting with famed and reclusive author Thomas Pynchon here a decade or so ago and I'm not kidding about having coffee with the Orange Man (at Lulu's Octagon naturally!) last weekend. What a guy, what an idea and what reactions he's had since first dressing head to toe in Orange and walking Pacific Avenue mostly on Sundays since way last November. He was in mufti when we met by the way. We decided that the reactions he's had, both good and bad, really reflect the psyches of the people reacting. You can hear much more about him and his plans for the future on my radio program Thursday June 26th. No, I will not reveal his name or anything else about him, ever. Well maybe on the radio program.
ILLEGALLY HOUSING AT THE TANNERY. One of Artspace's reps said on the Community Television program that the IRS stated it's illegal to favor artists or anybody in housing at that Tannery project. She then said specifically that artists should keep in touch so that when the applications are available that artists hear about them first and get their names on top of the list. What a terrible and sad commentary on Santa Cruz and everybody supporting The Tannery. Saying NO to entire groups of people who need affordable housing like, service workers, teachers, field workers, and trying to jam the Tannery with artists. Why do artists deserve affordable housing more than anyone else? Let's hope the Sentinel and The Metro and Good Times keep on top of this and make the availability of housing fair and open to all in spite of Artspace and those elitist City Council members who believe artists have some right of entitlement. Let's also hope that the Cultural Council doesn't get involved and make artists addresses available to Artspace...SHAME. I believe any true artists worthy of the name should boycott The Tannery and demand fair and equal housing for all.
Things that made me happy... The results of recent elections, starting with Barack Obama 's winning the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. I had some of my faith in the Democratic Party restored when this happened. The super-delegate 'surge' for Hillary never materialized; in fact it went in favor of Barack. Thanks to all those Obama workers, along with the voters, that made this happen. Locally, Bill Monning was the big winner in the Democratic primary to replace termed-out John Laird. All the contenders ran ultra-clean campaigns, with Bill winning with twice as many votes as Reilly and Sprenger. Ari Symons was elected in the judge's race with 61% of the vote. Mark Stone won in the 5th supervisor's district. John Leopold didn't win the 1st District, finishing slightly behind Betty Danner, but neither came close to 50% needed to win in June. This one goes to a runoff in November, when you can bet more that twice as many voters will turn out than did last week. The good news continued with Measure R being approved to continue funding our libraries. The sneaky Prop 98 failed, it would have eliminated rent control in our mobile home parks. Prop 99 passed that would have been needed to protect rent control should 98 have won.
In Monterey County's District 4 Supervisor election, Jane Parker is actually leading Ila Matee-McKuchon by a close margin of some 300 votes, and the winner won't be known until sometime next week. I'm pulling for Jane Parker to hold her lead and win.
Mt. Madonna School knows how! As mentioned in a previous column, our grandson is now enrolled at Mt. Madonna School. The more I learn about Mt. Madonna School, the more impressed I am. Sunday, we attended a performance of Ramayana, put on by the students from this school. Each of the 200 students has some part in making this a success; our grandson had a small part in the play, his mom volunteered by putting makeup on the young actors. Here is a school that places importance on academics, athletics, performing arts and based on the number of parents that were, the importance of family. It was the 30th anniversary of Mt. Madonna School's production of this Indian classic epic, and was performed at a sold-out World Theater at California State University Monterey Bay. It was a very special day for us, topping off the three hours if music, intricate plots in the play and colorful special effects, with a nice dinner with our family at Tarpey's Road House in Monterey.
June 6th Marked 40-Year Anniversary of Tragic Death of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Americans of all walks of life, including Latinos, have never forgotten the tragic death of Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 6, 2008 after he was shot several times by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Kennedy was a long-time friend of farmworkers and labor leaders Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, who helped register record numbers of Mexican Americans to vote for Kennedy. That helped him win the California primary in 1968. Huerta had just introduced Kennedy before he gave his victory speech that night, and was at his side at the very moment he was shot just after midnight on June 5, 2008. He died the following day on June 6th. Kennedy was extremely popular within the Mexican American community as he came to support Mexican and Filipino farmworkers during the historic United Farm Worker (UFW) Grape Boycott, came to Cesar Chavez's side during his 35-day fast, and held a congressional hearing in 1966 regarding labor and civil rights violations in Kern County against strikers. His hearing brought national attention to the farmworkers' struggle. No other politician had ever come out with such a showing of support of our nation's most vulnerable workers or had such a bond with Mexican American leaders, and that is why many Latinos have never forgotten him.
Bill Monning Wins Big in State Assembly Race with 51 percent of the Votes. No one thought the Bill Monning win would be this huge. But it was huge indeed! Everyone thought it was going to be close, but at the end of the night, Monning walked away with at least 51 of the votes in a race with four candidates. The former attorney for the California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) and United Farm Workers (UFW) has spent his entire life fighting to improve the lives of our society's most needy residents, and now teaches at the Monterey College of Law and the Monterey Graduate Institute for International Studies. He is also the only candidate who is bilingual in Spanish and English, and will be able to continue working closely with the Latino community as well. That is why he was the only candidate with so many Latino leaders endorsing him. Bill held his victory parties at the SEIU union office in Santa Cruz and at his campaign office in Monterey on Tuesday night. Monning acknowledged and thanked his opponents in a very gracious manner, which just shows you what kind of candidate he is. He also gave a huge recognition to Assemblyman John Laird, who was present at his Santa Cruz party and who will be termed out of this very seat in November. Monning still has to run against the Republican candidate in November to make it official, but in a heavily Democratic district, Monning's victory on Tuesday night was the true win in the this race. Here are the results as of June 5th for all three counties combined (Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara counties):
BILL MONNING 19,997 VOTES (51%)
EMILY REILLY 9,379 VOTES (24%)
BARBARA SPRENGER 8431 VOTES (21%)
STEPHEN BARKALOW 1412 VOTES (04%)
Barack Obama's Sister Maya Soetoro-Ng to Visit Watsonville on June 19. Word just spread that Senator Barack Obama half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng will be stopping by Watsonville for a rally with local Democrats and community members on Thursday, June 19 from 5:30-6:30pm. She lives in Hawaii, and will be making several stops campaigning for her brother in California. Since she is reportedly bilingual in Spanish and English, her Obama message will resonate even better with Latino voters. The event will take place at Jalisco's Restaurant in Watsonville. With limited space, you may want to arrive early, and bring a donation for the Obama campaign. The event is being sponsored by Watsonville for Obama, the Pajaro Valley Cesar Chavez Democratic Club and the Latino Political Action Committee of Santa Cruz County.
Superdelegate Sam Farr Finally Comes Out for Obama. Yes, the Monterey Bay's sole superdelegate, Congressman Sam Farr, finally came out of the closet last Tuesday to support Barack Obama for president when it was safe to do so, just as expected. Many local Democrats and Obama supporters have grumbled about Farr not coming out sooner and about lacking the courage to stand with Obama early on. Farr had also declined to meet with a delegation of Santa Cruz for Obama activists, just a few days before. However, sources have said that Farr's wife, Shary Farr, was urging him to support Obama since a while back. Well, as the old adage goes, better late than never. Thanks for the long-awaited answer, Congressman!
EAGAN'S DEEP COVER. Scroll down to see Eagan's approach and helpful hints for Obama to "Pick-A-Veep" only Eagan.....
GARY PATTON This week Gary talks about how "Government is not a spectator sport" (truer words were never spoken), and the Monterey General Plan. As always, you should click here to read it.
WATERS WEIGHS IN. Christina's back from the Mojave with some strange and tasty travel tips, a few new wines you must try and ways to deal with the soaring costs of good food. All at www.christinawaters.com. You should also check out her story on Randall Grahm of the Bonny Doon Winery in the latest issue of Metro Santa Cruz. She didn't get into the Bonny Doon neighbors opinions of Mr. Grahm...now that would make some kinda reading, and probably lawsuits!!!
LANDAU'S PROGRES. Only Saul Landau would come up with a title like "Cell Phones Will Liberate Cuba: Pigs Will Fly"...click here to read Saul's take on Bush's cell phone idea.
KUNG FU PANDA. It sounded like a bad movie, it looked like a bad movie when I saw the trailers but then again they showed it at The Cannes Film Festival, Angelina and little Braddie were there with it, and many film critics loved it, so I went. Geez is it terrible, just the worst kiddy muck possible. All re-used trite clichés, just plain stupid. Avoid it forever.
YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN. This Adam Sandler mess is the worst film he's ever made AND that's saying a lot. He has made some all time barrel-bottom films too. This film is filled with genital jokes, dim old lady jokes, and just about any and all material that reeks. More than that Sandler (he wrote it too) tries to be funny with Palestine-Israel bits that should disgust anyone hoping for semblance of sense in that conflict. They should project this film on the Tannery Wall and make any artists moving in there watch it for life, it's that bad.
JELLYFISH. It's filmed in Tel Aviv and contains three women and their separate stories. It's odd that they don't meet because we expect them to..they always have before. The acting isn't very good, nothing much happens, and most of the serious film critics love it. I didn't like it at all, so you're on your own.
IS NOTHING SACRED OR WHAT? Remember that giant ferris wheel in Vienna where Orson Welles met with Joseph Cotton and talked about cuckoo clocks? Well maybe it'll be sold and hauled to England of all places. On the other hand it was built by Brits and dedicated by more Brits...so there are two sides to the ownership of this monumental masterpiece. Click here and see what you think. I rode on it when I went to Austria and it is memorable. Martin Kloiber of Furstenfeld, Austria informs me that the Riesenrad (home town name for that ferris wheel) used to be covered with big ads, but the Viennese made the mercenary owner not Prater Park, take them down.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE UCSC SANTA CRUZ CAMPUS. There are few books that should be on every Santa Cruzans book shelf and the new edition of this natural history of the UCSC campus is definitely one of them. The book has been out of print for almost 20 years and thanks to Tonya Haff , Martha Brown and Breck Tyler who re-edited it, it's now available once gain. Biggest credit goes to the Bay Tree Bookstore for publishing it. This is a warning it only costs $12.95 and there were only 3000 printed...it'll be gone quickly. It's a scholarly Natural History Guide complete with trees, geology, fauna, slugs, maps, diagrams, even early human history. Of course it's not only a campus guide it's a natural history guide for our entire area. There seems to be a problem with local bookstores NOT carrying it, so go up to the Bay Trees Bookstore on campus and get a copy or two quickly. Tonya and I will be talking about the book on University Grapevine this Thursday.
DAS RHEINGOLD UND SO WEITER.. The San Francisco Opera opened its summer season with the first of the four operas in Richard Wagner's The Ring. The voices were good, the projected spacey visuals out did and subtracted from the music which wasn't good, and the setting which was supposed to be Gold Rush Roaring 20's (for some reason) has been changed since the Washington DC opening of this specific production a few months ago. But again, the music and voices are quite good and there are only four more performances.
ARIODANTE BY GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL. Handel wrote more than 47 operas and Ariodante is regarded as one of his best. It's an early opera 1737 so that means no gorgeous duets or songs that you can hum. But Ruth Ann Swenson and Susan Graham are singing the leads, so if you want to see how opera began go for it. The SFOpera production starts this Sunday June 15th at 2pm go to www.sfopera.com for the other details.
DIMINISHED AND DRATTED SPAM NAMES. It's probably good news but there weren't as many funny names in this week's spam names. I got; Carmella Grass, Fatou Drisso, Marnie Shiloh, Francisca Frida, Dukey Dudley, Esperanza Fitch, Pinckley Stodgen, Lenora Lay, Scarlato Fountain and Tristan Ochoa. But on the other hand John Doering emails in to say "I agree that there are some quite interesting names in the spam-mail but here are some real names from a business and economics site: rgemonitor.com: Nouriel Roubini, Christian Menegatti , Arpitha Bykere, Kavitha Cherian, Italo Lombardi, Rachel Ziemba, Mikka Pineda, Vitoria Saddi, Mary Stokes and Elisa Parisi-Capone. John even included their impressive titles, and ended by adding, "I think these are more weird than the made up names". I disagree totally. These are good solid ethnic names that may sound weird to John, not to me. Back around 1975 when I was working with Manny Santana for the Cabrillo Music Festival (original name) I found one of the greatest names ever. Cashmere Tango Obedience.... I later met Cashmere and The Register Pajaronian did a story about this genial fellow from the Philippines who actually loved to dance, lived in Watsonville and whose real name was Kasimir Tango Obediencia. John Train of the New Yorker included Cashmere in his book More Unusual Names. If you do even a little internet search there are now thousands of what I consider funny AND REAL names here's some; Quessie Mae Knuckles , Positive Wasserman Johnson, Molester Jones, Cantwell F. Muckenfuss, III ,Voncil Shindledecker, Cash Register, Fannie Cheeks, ,Mittie J. Pigg, Annie Flucker, Ophelia Rump, Bonnie Craps, Major Michangelo Boyd, John Fairey, Heiner Krapp, Charles Fagg, Arizona Feaster, Sioux Furmeister, Bisco Fairbetter, Sedona Shindledecker ,S. Moochly Small, King Solomon Hurdle, Lunda Mungo, Golden Keys, Lemoine Morecock, Basil Smallpiece, Dillard Pickle, Brockenbrough Lamb, John Barf,Rose Hips, Theartrest Valentine, Mandy Pandy, Pensacola Moseley, Bernice Blow, Toppie Smellie, Herman Sherman Berman, Magdalena Babblejack, Carl Fillinger, DDS, Turley Curd (say that 3 x fast!), Prister B. Tealie, Wendall Mendall, Groover Blitch, Woody Dicus, Zilpher Spittle, Eppley Veach Pridgen, Strong Boozer, and the never to be forgotten Ozell Fluck. I agree, no more funny names...for a while.
UNIVERSITY GRAPEVINE. It's a genuine pleasure to announce that this is the Third Anniversary of University Grapevine. Over 200 guests from the community and the campus have been guests and it's still fun. County Supervisor Neal Coonerty was my first guest, he came back again for my second anniversary program and he'll be back this Thursday to tell us more about our Third District. After Neal, Tonya Haff one of the editors of The Natural History of The UC Santa Cruz Campus will tell us about how they created this new edition and maybe, just maybe we'll discuss the sex life of the Banana Slug...ugh. That's Thursday 4-5pm on KZSC 88.1 fm.
QUOTES. "If particular care and attention are not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and will not our selves be bound to obey any laws in which we have no voice or representation." Abigail Adams 1789. "Women of the future will make the moon a cleaner place to live." Lestoil advertisement. "A society in which women are taught anything but the management of a family, the care of men, and the creation of the future generation is a society which is on its way out." L. Ron Hubbard.
Deep Cover
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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ABOUT VOTING. It always happens...I rarely remember to list my voting endorsements in one short list a week before we go to vote. It's because I always write and assemble these columns on Mondays and usually before noon. It's all sent to Godmomas Forge who re-does things and puts it online sometime later ranging from very late Monday nights to Wednesdays. So like Paul Elerick in his Input this week all I can do is say I've tried hard to plug and promote Bill Monning for Assembly because he's brilliant, experienced and knows how Sacramento works. I'm hoping that Steve Wright has won; he's the most compassionate and best qualified person for judge. I've supported and pushed for John Leopold in our 1st District because I've known him for 20 years and Mark Stone for our Fifth District County Supervisors and I predict they'll win too. The Library Tax is necessary, and I certainly hope that 98 was defeated and 99 was passed. That damned Howard Jarvis Prop.13 appears to haunt and torture us forever. Let's just hope that the pollsters were wrong and that at least Santa Cruzans voted in healthy numbers to assure our community of the best possible future.
BORDERS BOOKSTORES CLOSING??? First I heard it just as a rumor about just our local Borders then I went online and checked it out. It seems the entire chain is in serious trouble and is going bankrupt. It's blamed on Amazon and Wal Mart. Check out the Crown Books story on Wikipedia and see how chains fail.
SAVING ARANA GULCH ONE STEP AT A TIME. Jean Brocklebank writes, "Thanks to everyone who contributed to the legal costs of our appeal! We have met our goal...and met it soundly before our June 30th self-imposed deadline. Each and every donation, in every form imaginable, contributed to this success. The City of Santa Cruz should know by now that protecting the special place called the Arana Gulch Greenbelt is the goal of a broad coalition of people from throughout the County as well as the state of California! This is neither a miniscule nor selfish neighborhood obstructionist action. This is a message with a broad sweep of passion and care. Thanks to one and all. Stay tuned for updates as this appeal goes forward.' Jean Brocklebank (check out Arana Gulch progress at http://members.cruzio.com/~arana/)
All this started at 6AM at Dominican Hospital two weeks ago. The staff at Dominican can be described as nothing short of superb. Courteous, responsive and very professional. One of the night shift nurses (not mine), a friend who knew I would be there dropped by sometime while I was asleep and left flowers and a nice note. That really impressed me, as it did her fellow hospital workers. Thanks, Connie!
The June 3rd Election
Unless there are some close races that require recounts, by the time you read this the results from the June 3rd election will be known. Predictions here (written Sunday 6/1) don't carry much weight "after the fact"; I'll just offer congratulations to Bill Monning, Ari Symons and John Leopold. Why the pre-election congratulations? Pretty simple. These three campaigns put forth the best effort to get their candidates known to the voters, get the important endorsements, and did the necessary precinct work.
I wish I could have voted in for Jane Parker in Monterey County's supervisor election. Something is going on in Monterey County, land-use wise that could cause so much money to be thrown behind Jane's opponent, Ila Metee-McCutcheon.
Dan Harper returns to the Sentinel. What a pleasant surprise to see Dan Harper's column again in the Sunday Sentinel. I've been reading the Sentinel online for several months after we cancelled our subscription only because there just wasn't anything there. However, with Dan Harper back on board, and the Sentinel showing some signs of life in other news areas, we're going to be renewing our Sentinel subscription. Dan, welcome back!
John Laird's Parks Funding Plan Approved by Budget Subcommittee The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Resources approved by a vote of 4-1 the proposal by Assembly Budget Committee Chair John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) to provide sustainable funding for California's chronically under-funded and under-staffed state parks. Under the proposal, Californians would receive free year-round access to parks in exchange for a once-a-year vehicle registration surcharge of $10.For details on this and other important work that John is doing, check out his website. The San Jose Mercury-News weighs in on this proposal, read their supportive editorial that can be linked to from John's website. Did I miss something in the Sentinel about this? We're sure going to miss John in the Assembly!
PATTON'S PROGRAM. Gary says that eminent domain worked positively in Felton when the people beat out that German water company. He also pays tribute to the power of the people when they join together and protect their environment. Patton says that agricultural land acreage is growing in Monterey County and adds that it's almost all grapes on hillsides and is that good?? Inclusionary Housing and how that works is explained in one program, and Patton closes with Monterey County's use of Transient Occupancy Tax and the tourism factor that Monterey sold out to years ago.
UFW Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Cesar Chavez's 35-Day Fast. Last Saturday, the United Farm Workers held a commemoration of the 35-day fast by labor leader Cesar Chavez in 1968 during the Grape Boycott. The event brought much attention to the farmworkers' struggle through national media and high profile visits by then-presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In attendance at the commemoration held at the UFW headquarters in Keene, California (about 20 miles outside of Bakersfield) was Maxwell Kennedy, son of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy, UFW president Arturo Rodriguez, former UFW General Counsel Jerry Cohen, and Helen Chavez, widow of Cesar Chavez, among others. Also, in attendance was Ligiah Villalobos, the script writer of the hit movie, Under the Same Moon, about undocumented immigrants. The event also featured an extraordinary photo exhibit of the original Grape Boycott strikers, which included both Mexican and Filipino farmworkers. Fortunately, the event escaped the typical 100+ degree Bakersfield weather.
Farmworkers March to Sacramento Regarding Heat-Related Death. Last Sunday, dozens of marchers departed from Lodi and headed north to Sacramento to bring attention to the plight of farmworkers and the tragic, heat-related death of 17-year old farm worker, Maria Isabel Vasquez, on May 14. Vasquez passed away after working in 95-plus degree weather while pruning grapevines outside of Lodi. Vasquez had just come to the United States from Oaxaca, Mexico in February to work and send money to her widowed mother. According to United Farm Worker officials, her supervisors failed to provide her with proper medical attention after fainting and going into a coma. After much delay, she was taken to the hospital, but it came too late for her. Doctors later discovered that Vasquez was also two months pregnant. Recently enacted state laws require employers to provide cold-drinking water, shaded areas, and additional rest breaks for workers while working under high temperatures. The farm labor contractors who hired Vasquez are currently under investigation by Cal-OSHA and the San Joaquin County district attorneys office. The UFW hopes to draw attention to conditions of farmworkers and to Vasquez's tragic story when they arrive at the steps of the state capital on Wednesday.
Superdelegate Sam Farr Watch. 17th District Congressman Sam Farr is still holding out and there is still no word about whom he, as an uncommitted super-delegate, is going to support for president. But for every day that passes, it is becoming more and more apparent that Barack Obama will end up winning the requisite number of delegates to win the Democratic nomination. Many expect Farr will commit to Obama once it is clear that he is the clear winner, but many of his other long-time backers are strong Clinton supporters. Farr has also been receiving an immense amount of calls, including a recent call by former President Bill Clinton himself, according to some sources. Farr recently turned down an opportunity to meet with a delegation of Santa Cruz for Obama organizers, which disappointed some Democratic activists. Naturally, there is plenty of speculation going around. Word to Congressman Farr: please give us an answer soon!
LANDAU'S PROGRES. Saul's article in Progreso Weekly is about how Bush got us into this mess and he doesn't even deal with Scott McClellan's book! Click here
EAGAN'S DEEP COVER. Mr. Eagan gets to the root of our problems of "Liberal Elitism" be very sure to scroll down and check it out...but don't take it personally..
POLICE IGNORE MULTIPLE TIRE SLASHINGS.
About 200 cars had tires slashed two weeks ago, on Myrtle, Chestnut and perhaps
adjoining streets? Jack Mead was one of the unlucky car owners. Jack has a small, efficient car, so the slashers may not have been ecoterrorists. He was unable to verify the numbers, and so are the rest of us, because the Sentinel thought the matter was unworthy of notice. So did the Santa Cruz Police Department, apparently, which treated this as "an incident" and not a matter for which a formal police report was appropriate. How unpleasant for the miscreants, who have been denied the publicity their efforts justified. Perhaps this small notice will satisfy them and remove the need for further demonstration of ---what?
HOW GREEN IS MY... WHAT? About 100 people attended a green conference at London Nelson last Thursday. Most of them probably thought they were to hear about conservation, green transportation, solar hot water and such like. The panel instead talked of various means whereby homeowners may finance solar energy generating panels. That was interesting, but probably not to very many of those attending. Joe Jordan was on the panel, and he, along with Fred Geiger, raised the issue of solar powered PRT. There's another meeting, same place, 6:30 to 9 on June 9, and lets just hope some wider issues will be raised.
CAPITOLA BOOK CAFÉ GOING FOR BEER AND WINE LICENSE. What a great idea!! Sit at their friendly little bar and have a glass while you read...why not? In England many of the finer cinemas serve beer and wine, I think the Del Mar and Nick should too.
GLORIA LORENZO ON MOTORCYCLE NOISE ETC. Gloria writes: "here are some ways to help balance the Local/State budget. County Sheriff and CHP could each send a car... one on Saturday and one on Sunday to 36th Avenue, between Portola Drive and East Cliff. I wonder how many tickets--expensive tickets-- they would issue, especially this summer, for noisy motorcycles, as well as the number of cars zooming thru the arterial stop sign at Floral Drive? One afternoon a neighbor (who has 2 small children) and I watched for over more than 2 hours. About one in five cars actually made a full stop. As to the noisy motorcycles--well--36th Avenue in recent years has become a favorite "raceway". No quiet enjoyment for those of us living in the area!
I am sure the new in-coming County Supervisor will be hearing about this--but what would be the remedy? Expensive speed bumps? Overhead cameras? Or the repeated writing of tickets for a few weeks in a row? Yes, Please Sheriff and CHP--Please Do This Soon! I vote for ticketing Now And Cameras later".
LEE QUARNSTROM RE THE ORANGE MAN. Lee dispatches "Don't you know that we Orange County taxpayers have dispatched an army of Orange Men (and Women; we believe in gender equality down here in the O.C.) to many cities around the world? No doubt you have seen the Orange Man who frequents Vatican City, putting smiles on the faces of the members of the College of Cardinals whenever there's a new Pope to be elected. We have Orange Men and Women in most U.S. state capitals, including Olympia, Pierre and Austin. There is an Orange Woman tickling the ribs of the otherwise dour Norwegians in Oslo and we've sent Orange Twins to the Twin Cities of Minnesota. We even have an Orange Man in Karachi. Your local Orange Man was given the Santa Cruz franchise after he'd done some preliminary work at Venice Beach and several Oregon municipalities. All in all, we feel our tax dollars have been well-spent." Lee Quarnstrom.
WEDDINGS OK, BUT MAKE GAY DIVORCES ILLEGAL!!! It's a good thing the religious right never thought up the real way to punish gays would be to let them get legally married... but not ever let them get divorced! Think about that one!!
ABOUT ASSISTED SUICIDE. Barbara Parrish wrote to say that Derek Humphry author of Final Exit and director of what used to be the Hemlock Society has updated their website, so take a look at the updated ERGO (Euthanasia, Research & Guidance Organization) web site at www.assistedsuicide.org it talks about the Right To Die Societies, it's all fascinating reading. Anyone remember when Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and Werner Erhard both spoke at the Del Mar Theatre in one of the startling events created by UCSC's Darla Chadima and Irving Oyle?
SEX AND THE CITY. Just to be clear I am now and always have been a total fan of this illustrious quartet. I tried to watch every chapter in their six seasons. I could try to relate why but it would take too long and besides that I'm not sure why. The movie is the same as the HBO series only longer. If you never watched the series don't go by any means you simply won't get it, if you watched a lot of the series it's just more of the same and as enjoyable as you remember it.
REPRISE. A Norwegian film centering on Oslo this over-done and effected plot is sure interesting but lacking. Two young men write novels and then we see what might and did happen to them after they mailed the scripts to the publishers. It's tricky, full of flashbacks, and what if's and renting it would be a good idea.
THE STRANGERS. Just because this film is based on a true slasher murder doesn't make it any different from all the other slasher films. It's pointless, the director doesn't know how to push suspense buttons, and the ending revelation doesn't do a thing for the plot. Just rent it.
FUGITIVE PIECES. It's a holocaust story... very dramatic, very complex, well acted, beautifully photographed and full of clichés. Nice clichés, but still clichés and you'll never quite be sure what the real point is, so go warned.
FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON. The Musee d'Orsay commissioned this homage to the original 50 year old film. All the dialogue is improvised, and like the original it's a beautiful look at Paris. Juliette Binoche does an amazing job of acting, and everybody else is good too. However... you leave wondering what the film was saying or what was the balloon supposed to represent...maybe just hot air.
HOUSING FOR SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ. One of the many ways we can help Shakespeare Santa Cruz continue their great contribution to our community is to provide housing for the actors and huge staff that arrive here in about a week. If you have housing that you would like Shakespeare Santa Cruz to consider, it is never too early or late to call Jennifah Chard, SSC Company Manager at 831-459-5531 or jwchard@ucsc.edu.
SFOPERA'S DAS RHEINGOLD. Wagner's Das Rheingold kicks off the summer opera tourist season. Handel's Ariodante is next and Donizetti's Lucia de Lammermoor is the closer of the three. There are many free San Francisco Opera events around the formal performances but for a genuine thrill take your summer visitors to see Lucia. Memorable plot, hummable music, and Natalie Dessay makes her SF debut. Then again, Ruth Ann Swenson stars in Ariodante. Go to www.sfopera.com and check it out. Also be sure to go across the street and take in the great and nearly secret San Francisco museum inside the City Hall, marvelous.
CLICK ON PAUL HOSTETTER'S AD. Dudu Maia is not another SPAM name, he's real and plays a bandolin (and probably a mandolin too) and he'll be here soon. Check out Hostetter's stupendous listing of musical events that never seem to be listed anywhere else. Check the right border for the Lutherie thing.
NEW MUSIC WORKS 27 ANNUAL AVANT GARDEN PARTY. Many of Santa Cruz's favorite classical musicians will be performing in a tribute to Lou Harrison at this year's Avant Garden Party. David Tannenbaum, William Winant, The Ariose Singers, The UCSC Percussion Ensemble and lots more friendly folks will be there. They'll do works by Jon Scoville, Phil Collins and of course mostly by Lou Harrison. Local chefs David Jackman of Chocolat Restaurant and Jozseph Schultz of India Joze fame will tempt your taste buds with their flair for flavor. Premium wines will be available, and of course, the extraordinary music that New Music Works has been presenting since 1979.
When: June 8th, 3:00 - 7:00pm
Where: The Garden of Eric Thiermann, 2888 Sandy Lane (near 30th and Brommer), Santa Cruz
Tickets: Available at Street Light Records, 941 Pacific Ave., or at the event.
THE CONSUL. Brian Staufenbiel's and Nicole Paiement's production of Gian Carlo Menotti's opera The Consul was a brilliant success. Excellent voices, fine orchestra, creative staging and an Pulitzer prize winning opera that is as up to date today as it was back in the day. I hope you saw it.
RACHEL CORRIE. April Bennett, Nabil Ghachem, Suzanne Schrag, and Marc Nicholson presented Madeline Izzo's play The Story of Rachel Corrie: A Death in Rafah last Saturday in performances that truly transformed the audience. Brian Heath directed this reading and surprisingly it got past the Palestine Israel debate and taught us all a new way to look at this ongoing tragedy. Congratulations to all and to the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom for staging it.
FOREIGN BODIES. Sommer Ulrickson brought her years of dance training at UCSC and recent living and studying in Berlin to create a startling one act piece of dance theatre titled Foreign Bodies at UCSC last weekend. Sommer has a phenomenal sense of staging and every movement of the piece was mesmerizing. Her choice of music was perfect and guided the theme from Oliver Sacks writings cleverly without overshadowing the plot. Let's hope UCSC brings her back at least yearly to create more dance theatre before she gets too famous which is bound to happen. Jim Bierman of UCSC's Theatre Arts Department agrees with my assessment of Sommer's talent and told me she will be back next year to work on some large theatre piece with a title like Hamlet's Revenge.
SPAM NAMES. They just keep on a'comin...por ejemplo Bryce Fergus, Florine Maldonado, Jami Beaver, Maribel Ham, Faith Zupp, Twila Tachett, Cosmo Athelstan, Franchot Delnaz, Innis Muh-cher, Cassie Shook, Cammy Enos, Rob Banks, Shawnda France, Abeu Glen...you have to admit that Florine Maldonado is hard to forget. Remember that old 1960's joke if Tippi Hedren married Johnnie Rivers wouldn't her name be Mrs. Tippi Rivers? Never mind.
UNIVERSITY GRAPEVINE. Jennifer Lienau-Thompson from the Santa Cruz City Museum by- the- whale will tell us of the numerous events happening at the museum this summer. After that Nancy Abbey of WILPF and the Pastors For Peace Caravans for Cuba will give us the facts on the next buses going to Cuba and about what's been happening on that island since Raul Castro was elected...yes elected.
QUOTES. "Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind", John F. Kennedy. "The day when nobody comes back from a war it will be because the war has been properly organized", Boris Van. "You have seen nothing in Hiroshima, nothing," Alain Resnais in "Hiroshima Mon Amour".
Deep Cover
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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