Blog Archives

May 29 – June 4, 2017

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT VISITS SANTA CRUZ. April 26, 1962.  Now there was a genuine “First Lady”. That’s Santa Cruz mayor Bert Snyder she’s shaking hands with. Erva Bowen is to Eleanor’s right. She was an early activist here and president of the NAACP. Read Erva’s obit in The Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 2011. Very impressive.                     
                           
photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.
[CORRECTION. This was previously credited to “anonymous”, which is not the case.]

Additional information always welcome: email bratton@cruzio.com

DATELINE May 29, 2017

SANTA CRUZ’S MYSTERY SPOT. You haven’t been there in years…admit it. Here’s a recent tour.
12 SCARY PLACES NOT TO VISIT. I think some of this is hype but check it out.
7 AMUSEMENT PARK DISASTERS CAUGHT ON CAMERA. Only a bit grisly…but we can’t be too careful.
THE WHARF FROM A TOURIST’S POINT OF VIEW. I’m not even sure what language this is, but check out the end of the wharf…nobody ever films that part. WE need to save it, tourists and locals love this adventure!

CABRILLO MUSIC FESTIVAL’S REAL HISTORY. For some reason, many, many promotional pieces have fallen into the trap of giving Lou Harrison, Bob Hughes and The Stickey Wicket some kind of credit for starting the Cabrillo Music Festival. It simply isn’t true. Lou Harrison did play at the First Festival but…but …but read Alyce Vestal’s reporting of how it really started. She’s got newspaper clippings from the Sentinel and The Watsonville Pajaronian (I’ve seen them) detailing everything she says. She was one of the three or four most important movers and shakers in getting it off the ground. She and I have been friends for decades and she sent me (us) this email last week…

re:  Cabrillo Music Festival.  The actual facts that are long hidden in the archives of time.

1962:  I was the president of the Watsonville Concert Association, and had just put together an Art, Music and Wine Festival that was very successful.  To raise money for a piano.  I got the idea that I wanted to create a major music Festival much like Tanglewood or Carmel’s Bach Festival.  I was singing in the Bach Festival at that time.

November, 1962: At a Gala Affair at the Aptos Beach Inn I ran into Ted Toews, who was the new conductor of music at Cabrillo College.  I was singing with him at that time.  We talked.  I told him of my dream. He said he was thinking about the same thing!  The seed of an idea was fertilized and was given birth 9 months later!

The Sticky Wicket and the Jowers were dead against it.  They said it would compete with their weekend musical series.  Bob Hughes was their director.  As things progressed and it was becoming apparent that the Festival was happening and was supported by the community, they jumped aboard the bandwagon.  At that time Bob Hughes was the “manager” of the Oakland Symphony under Gerhardt Samuels.  Hughes involvement in the Festival came after Samuels was selected as the first Festival Conductor.  Hughes did NOT create the Festival.

Lou Harrison was dead set against it, too.  He calligraphed a scathing letter to the editor of the Watsonville Pajaronian tearing apart every aspect of the Festival!  Pajaronian editor Frank Orr gave me the letter after it was printed because it was so beautifully drafted.  His basic reasoning was that the community didn’t even support its local artists, let alone a major and expensive Festival.  Later he hopped onto the bandwagon when he saw that it was a successful reality.

The first festival cost $15,000 !!!!

Another unsung hero involved in creating the Festival was Jerry Barnes.  He was responsible for raising the pledges for the $15,000.  He was a Watsonville business man and friend.  He went to 15 of his business friends, and somehow  convinced them that the Festival was an investment.  This took up all his time, and he lost his own business (agricultural broker), his marriage with 4 little kids was destroyed. He was so broke that he couldn’t afford to buy tickets to the festival.  Mary and Ted Toews bought his tickets!!! The rest is history.

ONE MORE FESTIVAL NOTE. Alyce Vestal (now Alyce Cadwallader) was married at that time to Pajaronian photographer Sam Vestal. Wikipedia says this about that…”In 1956 the Register-Pajaronian won the Pulitzer Prize for an investigative series by photographer Sam Vestal, working under the leadership of its longtime editor Frank Orr and with assistance of Watsonville Police Chief Frank Osmer. These revelations led to the resignation of Santa Cruz County District Attorney Charles Moore, and the arrest and conviction of one of his associates.

DEVELOPER BARRY SWENSON’S HEALTH? First I heard that developer Barry Swenson has Alzheimer‘s and is living at Golden Gate Villa. Then I got “news” that he had a stroke and was wheelchair bound. He’s probably in his 80’s…so you never know. I also just heard that his son Alex is running the developing.  I’ll bring you the latest news as soon as I hear something /anything. The Silicon Valley Business Journal April 14, 2017 reported…

“Two major high-rise apartment development sites in downtown San Jose have been sold to the same Chinese real estate giant that purchased San Jose’s Silvery Towers project in 2014”. Now  we have to wonder if Swenson will sell the 94 units they are building on Pacific Avenue?

NEEDFUL NEWS. If you look over to the right side margin, you’ll see a elegant bunch of BrattonOnline sponsors, underwriters, supporters. Look again and note a new one…”NEEDFUL NEWS”. Needful News is a community labor of love created and maintained by Chris Neklason co-owner of Cruzio, the Internet Store. I asked him about NN…he emailed…

“I guess the mission of NN is to make it easier for people to be informed and active citizens in our communities and in our republic. Part of being well informed is to be smart consumer of information, and that requires putting in the time and effort to absorb info from a variety of sources, to help correct for bias and to guard against falling into a silo or echo chamber.

Once informed, the other part is to use that knowledge to work with our elected representatives to sustain and improve our communities, our states and the country as a whole. NN tries to reduce the friction, effort and time required to exercise one’s citizenship by making it one-click convenient to stay informed and to stay in touch with the electeds.

Needful News is targeted towards the entire United States. Right now, the NN database of information sources is mostly filled in for California. Over time, I hope to bring more people on board and get the rest of the country into the database. (So far, I have several hundred hours of coding and data entry invested. I can’t wait to get some help…)” As I run across fun or quirky radio stations or publications, I’ve been using the NN Facebook page to share those discoveries and hopefully stimulate people into sampling more diverse information sources outside their normal orbit. I’m really encouraged by the quantity and quality of citizen websites out there, like BrattonOnline.

The Internet and platforms such as WordPress have really lowered the barrier to entry for folks to participate more in the information ecology. In many ways, it’s an extension of the eighties and nineties when more people had access to printers and copiers, which was the golden age of ‘zines.  With Needful News, I hope to make it easier for more eyeballs to encounter these sometimes hidden gems”.

Do check out Chris’s Needful News and thank Chris when you see him and check it out regularly, it’s more than a labor of love …it’s a new necessity. It’s got links to local and worldwide sites we all need to know more about.

GRAPEVINE NEWS. Last week (5/23) on Universal Grapevine two UCSC Students from Maria Astua’s writing class Robin Pama and Brandon Ayala brought up dozens of issues centered on the UC Campus wide strike on January 10. Issues and problems that were never focused on or publicized. Aside from teacher’s salaries being cut, dining hall workers fired before the summer months, bus problems, anti-union propaganda, they reported on something I’d never heard. That UCSC is classified as a UC RURAL campus…as contrasted to an UC URBAN campus. That means teachers, staff; anything associated with a RURAL campus is paid less. UC Merced is an URBAN campus by the way. Listen to their interview at KZSC.org for May 23. And if you know anything about this Rural/Urban thing let me know and I’ll pass it on.

CITIZEN JANE FOLLOW UP. Attorney Bob Taren sent thisJust a short note after reading and seeing the movie, Citizen Jane.  A little known but major fact is the key producer of the move was Santa Cruz’s own Juliet Page, daughter of Gail Williamson and Mitchell Page both long time activists. Juliet now lives in Madison, Wisconsin but she is also nationally famous for being the Director of Development in putting together the Highline, in New York City. The Highline is that decommissioned elevated railroad freight line that was turned into a park in the air. Look it over at  http://www.thehighline.org/about

WHY KSCO??? It wasn’t all that long ago that liberals and Democrats in general refused to talk on or visit KSCO. The Zwerling family was and still is loyal and even ardent right wing Republican supporters. Now of course Michael Zwerling is a genuine Trump believer. To think station profits go that direction makes many wonder why some otherwise decent folk would help the Trump cause by appearing, some even regularly on that station.

CONGRATULATIONS TIM FITZMAURICE AND LAURIE BROOKS. Tim Fitzmaurice is a former mayor of Santa Cruz. And besides that he even wrote an opera. Laurie Brooks was exec. dir .of The William James Foundation and the president of the Nonviolent Communication Organization. They got married the weekend before last. Details are hard to come by and send them best wishes by all means.

GREAT HOUSING DEAL FOR SOMEBODY. (a repeat) Absolutely no response to this great housing deal I printed here last week….times must be as bad as they say!!!  I have a good friend who is looking for a place to live somewhere near or here in Santa Cruz. He is a licensed plumber, carpenter, electrician, and painter. He and his wife are now commuting to their jobs here daily from Pacific Grove!!! A one bedroom or an ADU would be great and he’ll do all your ongoing necessary upkeep, repair work on your house, and of course pay a reasonable rent. Email me bratton@cruzio.com if you hear of anything and I’ll put you in touch.

COMING ATTRACTIONS, CAR ADS & COCA COLA COMMERCIALS. I go to many more films than almost anybody. I asked around and yes it’s true…Regal 9  and The Riverfront run just about 25 (twenty five) minutes of previews and commercials before the main feature starts. The Del Mar and Nickelodeon run only 8-10 minutes. So now you can plan accordingly.

THE CORRIDORS SHELL GAME
Faced with a standing room-only crowd of angry eastside residents, the city Planning Commission took the easy way out: shift the highest density re-zoning onto the Westside! The two of us from the Westside who attended the meeting last Thursday did not join in the cheers that accompanied this recommendation. A year ago in this column I warned Westsiders that if we didn’t get more involved in the Corridors Plan and lend support to Eastsiders who stood to bear the brunt of the impacts of high-density re-zoning we might find ourselves facing a similar fate should Eastsiders get organized, which is exactly what happened.  Fortunately a new group called Save Santa Cruz, comprised largely of Eastside leaders in this struggle is fighting for both sides of the river. However, it’s past time for Westsiders to take a closer look at the ramifications of the Corridors Plan and get involved. If you sit on the sidelines of this fight then expect to wake up one day to a number of 65 feet tall buildings along Mission St., packed with students, driving up rents, clogging the roads and dislocating what few low income workers have managed to hang on by their fingernails in this experiment in gentrification misnamed “smart growth.”

A few facts are important since Santa Cruz City Planning staff carefully note any misinformation, which is then used to discredit the messenger. Not that they aren’t above spreading a bit of misinformation themselves. The most misleading statement from Planning staff is that the current zoning in the commercial areas along Mission, Soquel, Water and Ocean already allows for buildings up to 40 feet in height and most of the re-zoning is no higher. Only at certain areas called “nodes” will buildings be allowed to rise to 50 feet and 65 feet if certain criteria are met. This is true but misleading. Yes, current zoning allows for heights of 40 feet but what current commercial establishment wants or needs to go that high? The owners of Shoppers Corner, The Herb Room, Lighthouse Liquors, Charlie Hong Kong, Rio Theatre, Lillian’s, Omei Restaurant and others are unlikely to be seduced into tearing down their structures and building up to 40 feet for just a commercial interest. However, if the city re-zones their properties to allow 3 or 4 or 5 stories of housing on top of a commercial space then dollar signs start to light up. This has the innocent sounding name of mixed-use and that is at the heart of this re-zoning campaign. That will be the incentive for the property owners to tear down, go dense and high. There’s money in housing in case you haven’t noticed. Given that even the city acknowledges that property values rise with mixed-use it is unlikely that the former tenants which are the familiar establishments we know and love will be able to afford the new higher rents which opens the market up to chains and froufrou tenants.

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Westsiders, it’s time to get involved unless you are prepared to be the losers in this struggle to save Santa Cruz.

~Gillian Greensite is a long time local activist, a member of Save Our Big Trees and the Santa Cruz chapter of IDA, International Dark Sky Association  http://darksky.org    Plus she’s an avid ocean swimmer, hiker and lover of all things wild).

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May 29, 2017

TELL ME SOMETHING I DON’T ALREADY KNOW.
Tell me something I don’t already know. It’s why people still read newspapers, and magazines, and interesting blogs too. I was always fascinated by Alexander Cockburn’s weekly column in the Nation Magazine. He would usually tell three “man bites dog” stories of about 500-600 words each, and they almost always were about issues or people or places I’d never before heard about and never expected to hear about in the way he told it. Cockburn, who died in 2012, had a nose for the unusual and a way to hook people. E.B. White of the New Yorker was the same way, but less bitter and more sanguine than Cockburn. New York Times columnists, Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins usually tell me something I do not know, in an entertaining way too, much more interesting than the staid and often confused duo of moral upbraiding, David Brooks and Ross Douthat. I look for the Cockburn-White-Dowd-Collins columns because I know there’ll be something new to learn, and there’ll likely be an aha feelingto go along. I’ve always felt this way too about our local columnist, Bruce Bratton. Go to BrattonOnline  if you want something new about local politics, often he asserts opinions that is not popular, and offers bits of Santa Cruz history you likely never heard before. Tell me something I don’t already know, Bratton has a long chapter in that book.

Okay, I get it.

Santa Cruz’s annual revenues collected this year are millions more than last year, but the city manager’s budget has us spending millions more this year, and beginning the year in a deficit mode. Why? The main culprit is what the city treasury dishes out in the way of public safety pensions—Police and Fire—and the deficits will be deeper every year until 2022, according to city finance director, Marcus Pimentel. And it will take more than a decade after 2022 to balance the city budget as current police officers and fire fighters will be retiring, and a lower tier pension system takes effect.

The situation had gotten so out of hand that Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011 “challenged fellow Democrats to drink the political castor oil” and reign in public sector pensions. (LA Times article here) Lawmakers did approve reform in 2012, but not much real change in savings has occurred…yet.

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Bernie quote of the week:
“And the time is long overdue for us to raise the minimum wage…a living wage is $15 an hour. Now I know it is a radical concept for our Republican friends…but we believe if you work 40 hours a week or 50 hours a week, that you should not be living in poverty.”

~(Chris Krohn is a father, writer, activist, former Santa Cruz City Councilmember (1998-2002) and Mayor (2001-2002). He’s been running the Environmental Studies Internship program at UC Santa Cruz for the past 12 years. He was elected last November to another 4-year term on the Santa Cruz City Council).

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SPECIAL PUBLIC MEETINGS TO CHOOSE THE NEXT COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER

The County Board of Supervisors will have two Special Meetings this week at the Hotel Paradox to interview possible replacements for Ms. Susan Mauriello’s job as “She Who Must Be Obeyed” aka, the County Administrative Officer (CAO).  Friday, June 2, 8am and Saturday, June 3, 8am.  According to material in the (one-page) agenda packets  available on the Board’s calendar, THERE WILL BE OPEN PUBLIC COMMENT at each meeting.  I hope you will attend and see who the six candidates are that Supervisor John Leopold says are being considered.  I wonder how the initial number of 25 people, that number given me by County Counsel Mr. David Nefouse, got whittled down to six?  Remember the $20,000 contract taxpayers paid with Peckham & McKenney, the head-hunter in Roseville, to recruit the CAO?

Last Tuesday, as Item #23 of the Consent Agenda, the County Board of Supervisors approved a Technical Advisory Board to lead recruiting efforts for the County Administrative Officer (CAO) replacement.  When I researched the supporting documentation, I was surprised to see that two of the six members are from outside Santa Cruz County.

Here is the list of who is on the Technical Advisory Board:

  • John Maltbei, County Manager, San Mateo County
  • Matthew Hymel, CAO, Marin County
  • Nancy Gordon, Director of General Services, Santa Cruz County
  • Dana McRae, County Counsel, Santa Cruz County
  • Fernando Giraldo, Chief Probation Officer, Santa Cruz County
  • Cecilia Espinola, Retired Director of Human Services, Santa Cruz County

Who chose this Board?
When I questioned this at the Board of Supervisor meeting, Chairman John Leopold stated that the Technical Advisory Board is meant to help the Supervisors decide on a CAO replacement because “they know what it takes to be a CAO.”   Well, why doesn’t the Group include the CAO of Monterey, Santa Clara and San Benito counties, with which our County coordinates projects, such as the Community Based Power joint power project?  Why is the retired Director of Human Services on the Board, and not the current Director?  Could it be that Ms. Espinola was chosen because she is a close friend of Susan Mauriello and will follow her orders on whom to select? Why aren’t the directors of ALL departments on the Board?  Why is County Personnel Director, Mr. McDougall, not on the Board? Hmmm…

I looked into who the two out-of-county people are….

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WRITE ONE LETTER.  MAKE ONE CALL.  MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.

~Cheers, Becky Steinbruner (Becky Steinbruner is a 30+ year resident of Aptos. She has fought for water, fire, emergency preparedness, and for road repair. She ran for Second District County Supervisor in 2016 on a shoestring and got nearly 20% of the votes).

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Tuesday, May 23, 2017

#143 “WE DON’T WORSHIP GOVERNMENT EITHER”
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President Donald J. Trump spoke recently at this year’s commencement exercises at Liberty University. Among other things, he said, “In America, we don’t worship government; we worship God.” Click that link if you’d like to see a video that shows him making those remarks. At Liberty University, those remarks were quite well received.

I have to give the president credit for being half right. In America, it is true that we don’t “worship government.” Worshipful deference to governmental officials (including the president) is the very opposite of what Americans have historically believed is the right relationship between the people and those whom they select to work on their behalf within the government.

However, the president is definitely half wrong, too, in his statement to the graduates. In America, it is emphatically NOT the case that “we worship God.” You might worship God. I might worship God, but “we” (that collective group of us) do not worship God. 

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~Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney for individuals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. You can read his blog at www.gapatton.net

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CLASSICAL DeCINZO. Check out DeCinzo’s view of our Santa Cruz School budget…roll down a few pages.

EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. See  another of Eagan’s “Classic Subconscious Comics ” down a few pages. Tim’s been vacationing in Spain… As always, at TimEagan.com you will find his most recent  Deep Cover, the latest installment from the archives of Subconscious Comics, and the ever entertaining Eaganblog.

CABRILLO FESTIVAL OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC…GETTING EXCITING!! This is a big week and plenty of excitement for this year’s CabFestConMus ( formerly CabMuFest) They emailed…” One Week ’til Priority Seating Deadline! Orders are pouring in for Cristi’s inaugural season. Act now to reserve the best seats in the house. Go here to get tickets and programs.

Also don’t forget about having a festival player guest in your spare room especially if you live near the Civic Auditorium.. Contact the festival if that’s possible.

LISA JENSEN LINKS.  Lisa writes: “While waiting for updates of my new book, let’s visit the Republic of Goodreads where old books go to be continually rediscovered, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com).  Also, cheer on an intrepid band of Afro-Cuban musicians for one last hurrah in The Buena Vista Social Club: Adios, reviewed in this week’s Good Times.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

CHUCK. Live Schreiber and Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men) do excellent jobs in this film about a punchy Bayonne, New Jersey part time boxer. He’s a druggie, boozer, jerk, and completely unlikable mug and we aren’t told how or why he got that way. His big claim to fame is that he once knocked down Muhammad Ali who got right back up and beat the crap out of him. It’s a pretty good movie…but there are better things to do.

BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB “ADIOS”. Nowhere near as good as the first documentary that  Wim Wenders directed. Most of the original Social Club died, the Club site has been totally changed and we learn that the original musicians got together for the first time just two days before they shot the world famous movie and resulted in that huge worldwide hit album. An amazing story, you’ll probably cry if you love their music at all. Go see it the music will still move you, and it adds to the “lure” of Cuba.

THE LOVERS. Debra Winger is still great as she plays the cheating wife of a husband who is cheating too. Beyond that, the two people they are cheating with are also cheating. It gets a bit confusing and the slow times gives you a chance to think about all the lies you (or your “best friends forever” have told) told when they were cheating. Not for a first date evening but excellent for long time relationship people to see.

BAYWATCH. It didn’t seem possible to make a movie that was worse than the original Baywatch tv show but they did. And as you’ve probably heard it’s one of the worst of the year so far. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the only person you’ll even stay awake to watch…if that gives you any clue. Don’t ask what it’s about…its not about anything, trust me.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN : DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES. The absolute bottom of the barrel in sequels. Even the dopey mugging by Johnny Depp (whose brother owned a bookstore in Santa Cruz) Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom doesn’t save the lack of a story or plot. The effects are built for 3D but add to the confused and twisted story. Avoid this one like the plague.

NORMAN. It has an 88 on Rotten Tomatoes, and for a quiet, serious, dramatic film that’s a very big deal. The full title is “Norman: The Moderate rise and tragic fall of a New York Fixer”. As the ads and reviews state, Richard Gere has never had a greater part and he’s never been better than he is in this saga of New York and money and Israel. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Steve Buscemi and Michael Sheen are equally wonderful. Gere plays a lonely, manipulative, well meaning guy who can’t help from making deals. He means well and will ultimately break your heart with empathy. See this film.

A QUIET PASSION. This one got a 94 from Rotten Tomatoes,,,not from me. It’s part of poet Emily Dickinson’s life story. Emily is played by Cynthia Nixon and she’s wonderful. He’s hard to recognize but Keith Carradine plays her dad. (remember when his real dad John Carradine played at Cabrillo College’s Summer Theatre?). The entire film and everybody in it is stiff, cold, unemotional, and it feels like only a string of quotes strung together, with not a genuine human reaction to be seen…or felt.

THEIR FINEST. Bill Nighy and Gemma Arterton lead off in this British semi-comedy set during WWII as England is being bombed while they are making a film trying to encourage the USA to enter the war. Jeremy Irons is in it for about 8 seconds. The film waves back and forth between drama and comedy. You won’t remember much of it afterwards, but it’s one of the best out and around at the moment.

ALIEN:COVENANT. I looked up “covenant”because after the movie I had no idea how the word applied. it means.. to engage in or refrain from, a restriction, an agreed relationship. But never mind, this is of course another Ridley Scott chapter in his hugely successful Alien sequels. No big stars except Michael Fassbender (but he plays two roles!). There’s also Billy Crudup and Sam Waterston’s daughter Katherine in lead roles. For Alien fans and collectors there are plenty of original Alien reminders. There are also copies of 2001 touches, if you care. Actually it’s another space monster alive and killing in the space ship drama, OR will the space monster make it back to earth melodrama. It’s an exciting film. You’ve seen almost all of it before but if you do go see it, be very sure it’s in a theatre on a big screen.

EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING. There’s not that separates this teen age Hallmark Greeting Card feel- good saga from the rest of the teeny muck cutesy flicks except the extreme cruelty of the girl’s mother. The acting is passable for a teen-age movie and all of the audience attending when I was there were teenagers. So go if you are a teenager, but any older than that….stay home or better yet go see Citizen Jane.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Total 100% Disney sights, sounds and drech. You couldn’t possibly tell the songs from this Disney production from any of the last 30 years of Disney product songs.  A wasted cast includes Emma Watson, Kevin Kline, Ewan MacGregor, Ian McKellan, Emma Thompson, Stanley Tucci, and Audra McDonald. BUT most of these actors play the roles of animated tea pots and candlesticks. There is or are no reasons to see this re-hash of every commercial triumph the Disney Factory has turned out for more than 50 years. And the kids will probably love it.

KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD. Jude Law is about the only good thing in this mess of a movie. It flopped miserably at the boxoffice…and it deserved it. Some tiny part of the Knights of the Round Table are in it, a little bit about Excalibur, one shot of the Lady In The Lake…and just about the dumbest,  most convoluted plot you’ve ever not wanted to sit through. Huge FX transformer monsters race around stomping on things and people, and never mind the rest, just avoid this one like the plague.

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UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer, (live only or archived for two weeks… (See next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. May 22 has activist and BrattonOnline columnist Becky Steinbruner talking about many Mid and South county issues, followed by attorney Bob Taren discussing late breaking political events and more opinions…Vinnie Hansen talks about her new mystery novel “Lostart Street” on June 6. She’s followed by Justin Stack from Listening Stack talking about ear health, hearing aids, and surfer plugs.  June 13 brings historian/author Sandy Lydon back to surprise us with NEW history. Then Don Stump the C.E.O. of Christian Church Homes fills us in on the background and future of CCH. Bookshop Santa Cruz features its top Short Story Winners on June 20. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always and only at bratton@cruzio.com

I love the guy’s assessment at the very end 😀

NEW UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVE FEATURE. Stuff changes at KZSC a lot. If you missed either of the last two weeks of Universal Grapevine broadcasts go herehttp://www.radiofreeamerica.com/dj/bruce-bratton You have to listen to about 4 minutes of that week’s KPFA news first, then Grapevine happens.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 9 years here’s a chronological list of some past broadcasts.  Such a wide range of folks such as  Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal, Anita Monga, Mark Wainer, Judy Johnson, Wendy Mayer-Lochtefeld, Rachel Goodman, George Newell, Tubten Pende, Gina Marie Hayes, Rebecca Ronay-Hazleton, Miriam Ellis, Deb Mc Arthur, The Great Morgani on Street performing, and Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Company. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011.

QUOTES.  “THE POPE”

“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso”, Pablo Picasso
“I  feel much freer now that I am certain the pope is the Antichrist”, Martin Luther
“My favorite time in the cycles of public life is the time when the Pope is dead and they haven’t elected a new one. There’s no one in the world who is infallible for those weeks. And you know, I don’t miss it”, Christopher Hitchens
“We’re all expendable. We think the world’s going to stop when a pope dies, or a king. And then… life goes on”, Sylvester Stallone        

COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS. Subscriptions: Click and enter the box in the upper right hand corner of each Column. You’ll get a weekly email notice the instant the column goes online. (Anywhere from Monday afternoon through Thursday or sometimes as late as Friday!) Always free and confidential. Even I don’t know who subscribes!!

Snail Mail: Bratton Online
82 Blackburn Street, Suite 216
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Direct email: Bratton@Cruzio.com
Direct phone: 831 423-2468
All Technical & Web details: Gunilla Leavitt @ godmoma@gmail.com

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

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