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DATELINE April 25, 2016
KUSP’S DEBT. The station is in deep trouble as we’ve all heard. On Wednesday May 4th. Their board is going to decide on one of these ideas… *if their fund drive doesn’t raise the money by April 30 they will either
- approve a potential loan which would be collateralized by the sale of Pataphysical Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.’s major assets.
- approve a potential sale of the major assets of the Pataphysical Broadcasting Foundation, Inc.
This data is from their Treasurer’s report…
The expenses of the station on a “bare bones” basis are about $60,000 a month. Absent significant new revenues in April of $50-$100K we will be out of cash and unable to make payroll sometime in May.
- $170,000 Secured Loans
- $90,000 Unsecured loans from individuals or guaranteed by individuals
- $260,000 Total “debt”
- $450,000 Unpaid programming fees (NPR, APM, Pacifica)
- $70,000 Unpaid accounts payable including vacation payable
- $780,000 Total liabilities or obligations of KUSP at March 31, 2016.
In case you missed it…that’s $170,000 KUSP owes our Santa Cruz Community Credit Union. AND a debt of $780,000 total. As their treasurer states in the report…” Even if the debt were forgiven, we still need to have the cash every month for the $60,000 in operating expenses”. Now go and turn on KUSP…is that what you think is a Santa Cruz Station?
VERIZON ON SUNDAY MORNINGS. Since becoming an iPhone owner I’ve got thousands of questions on how to use it. I went to two group classes at the Apple Store in Los Gatos. That worked fine. Last week the greeters at the Verizon store which, contrary to the 100 Cooper Street address they list on their website, is really at/in the 1300 block on Pacific Avenue…they told me that they have an open session every Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. to help Verizon/Apple users. I’ll meet you there.
NANCY RANEY THE SOUL OF THE NICKELODEON. Nancy Raney died last week, she was partners with husband Bill of the Nickelodeon until they sold it in 1997. Like KUSP in the early years, the Cooperhouse, and the Catalyst, the Nickelodeon was a real and genuine part of our community. It was Nancy who made it feel real. As a thank you to the local film family Nancy went to enormous pains to have the famous “Babette’s Feast” (from the 1987 film) re-created in the Casablanca Restaurant just for us. More than that, she presided over every weekly critic’s screening sessions with personal touches that none of us will ever forget. She was fun, kind, smart, and happy…and that’s getting more rare nowadays. She is very much missed.
DRONE. A special film. [THIS SATURDAY AT THE VETS HALL]
Theme: America’s Drone Program: The Dark Realities of Modern Warfare. Intimate stories from the secret CIA drone war on terror. People living under drones in Pakistan and drone pilots struggling with killing via joysticks in the US in the biggest targeted assassination program in history. And the people willing to stand up against the violations of civil liberties and fight for transparency, accountability and justice.
Speaker: Ray McGovern, retired CIA analyst and intelligence expert
Event Hosts: VFW Post 5888, Veterans For Peace, People United for Peace.
Saturday, April 30…7 pm • Chris Matthews Hall in the Vets Memorial Building, 846 Front Street, Santa Cruz.
See it, and go see Eye In The Sky starring Helen Mirren which is also a fine film. Go here to learn more about the USA’s role in this…
| STEPHEN CURRY…BEST SHOTS. I don’t know much about basketball but these clips of Stephen Curry are really impressive. |
ELERICK’S INPUT. Mr. Paul Elerick of Aptos writes…
MUSICAL REMEMBRANCES.
Driving home from Hollister with daughter and grandson, the conversation turned to music and Prince’s untimely death. Here we were, three generations talking about one of the greatest musical artists that ever lived, and all three of us could appreciate him. There have been many more losses of favorite entertainers, but Prince pointed out how much we lose when we take great people for granted, assuming they’ll be around forever.
We need the three miles of auxiliary lanes on Highway 1
Tuesday afternoon the Santa Cruz City Council will be voting (sometime after 4PM- 4/26) on whether or not to support the RTC’s transportation tax measure, now being called their Transportation Improvement Plan (TRIP). It’s important to know what will be lost if TRIP loses, it’s all in the link to the RTC above. If you care about funding a balanced transportation tax measure, listen to the arguments for and against it, and let the Council know how you feel.
TRIP’s opponents have tried to build their case by referring to the auxiliary lanes as simply more “highway widening” and will contribute to deathly global warming. They have done their best to kill the tax measure by gathering petition signatures for a plan that has basically no money for the highway, ignoring the fact that people still drive cars and will continue to do so. Think Congestion Relief and the fact that our South County neighbors will benefit from the auxiliary lanes, as well as people that live in mid-county who will be arriving home earlier when the auxiliary lanes are built.
(Paul Elerick is a member of, and former co-chair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org . He’s a current member of Nisene to Sea, a group of mid-county citizens committed to maintaining an open hiking trail from Cabrillo College to Nisene Marks State Park
GREENSITE’S INSIGHT.
THE HUMAN FOLLY OF MASSIVE TREE REMOVAL
While there is some good news in that the courts ruled against the city’s weakening its Heritage Tree Ordinance, other recent decisions spell disaster for our remaining big trees.
Last week the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to reject the appeal of a project spearheaded by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) and the Elkhorn Slough Reserve, to cut down 1225 eucalyptus trees which live in 4 separate groves in Elkhorn Slough. The fact that 75 of the trees are over 3 feet in diameter, that the groves provide habitat to a wide range of birds, vertebrate and invertebrate animals, bats and bees didn’t pass muster for their protection. The trees will be felled, herbicide painted on the stumps (despite their being within 100 feet of a wetland and 1.5 miles of a Monarch habitat) all in the hopes for “habitat restoration.” Destroying a habitat to restore a habitat, a goal that has few success stories, makes little sense in an era of ever increasing carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere. Large trees sequester the most carbon. All trees give us oxygen. It is folly to expect small seedlings to take root in the 6 inches of wood chips that will remain after the present trees are cut down and to reach the carbon sequestration potential of the removed trees in the short time we have left to reduce atmospheric carbon. Never mind the machinery and energy that will be expended to cut down and chip over a thousand trees.
Another project that will result in thousands of tree removals in our county is spearheaded by PG&E. The project involves the removal of all trees and bushes within 14 feet of underground gas transmission pipelines. Petunias can stay. This is a 24 feet diameter cleared zone and impacts public and private property. It will remove many trees in our city. The real devastation will be evident along Graham Hill Road where the project will result in the removal of hundreds of large trees such as Ponderosa Pines and Redwoods along the Graham Hill Rd. pipeline.
The stated purpose is safety and access for first responders should there be a gas pipe problem, requiring repair. The fact that there is not one single example of a tree causing a problem with a gas transmission line in 30 years of documentation nation-wide; the fact that removing trees may cause a water build-up around the pipes, causing corrosion; the fact that fire trucks and engines operate from the street and gas should be shut off and gas abated before any internal combustion engine appears on the scene fail to deter PG&E from its campaign which has met widespread opposition in other counties, for example Palo Alto. A group of us met with PG&E representatives and Bruce McPherson, chair of the Board of Supervisors in his office to express concerns and present counter evidence for such a devastating project. PG&E gave many assurances that have since proven to be untrue. The first test for how our city responds will be at Tuesday’s council meeting (4/26/16). The decision was made to agendize it as a “presentation” from PG&E, which allows for NO public comment. This seems a sure sign that the city wants no public opposition. Other cities are not taking this lying down. Why is 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).
| GORILLA WATCHES Iphone & Selfies!!! |
PATTON’S PROGRAM.
There is a “Special” meeting of the Santa Cruz Planning Commission Thursday April 28, and it’s important. The City of Santa Cruz suffered from a major earthquake in October 1989. Large portions of downtown Santa Cruz were destroyed. Almost amazingly, the City bounced back, and in deciding how to rebuild, the community debated, at length, over the issue of building heights along Pacific Avenue, the main downtown shopping street. It is a bit of an oversimplification, but property owners generally wanted to be able to build very tall structures, reasoning that they could finance reconstruction better if their property were more developable. The community at large, while sympathetic, wanted to preserve a more human scale for the downtown, and compromises were made on both sides, with the result you can see today. The downtown is vital, and thriving (not that there aren’t problems).
The plan that governed the rebuilding of downtown was called the “Downtown Recovery Plan.” Tomorrow, the City Planning Commission is going to consider amendments that would allow much taller structures on Pacific Avenue, between Cathcart and Laurel Streets, and on Front Street between Soquel Avenue and Laurel Street. Big, downtown residential structures would be built, if the standards are changed.If you care, you had better get involved now. The meeting is at 7:00 p.m. Thursday (4/28), in the City Council Chambers. Get more information at kusp.org/landuse.
Let’s talk about “Community Voices” and community choices. Recently, the Land Use Report has been part of KUSP’s “Community Voices” series, whichalso includes”First Person Singular,” a program that presents KUSP listeners with an opportunity to hear unique voices from the Monterey Bay Region. I truly appreciate the fact that KUSP has featured the Land Use Report for so many years. The first edition of the Land Use Report aired on July 28, 2001. That means that the Land Use Report has now been heard on KUSP for fourteen years, nine months, and three days. I don’t know how much longer KUSP listeners will be able to hear the Land Use Report. The station is facing major economic challenges, and there is a “May Day” campaign underway right now. If you want to keep KUSP community radio on the air, today would definitely be a good time to step up and contribute. As usual, I have a link in today’s transcript, at kusp.org/landuse. Whatever the fate of KUSP’s community voices programming, I hope listeners will remember the basic message of the Land Use Report. Here it is: Land use decisions will determine our future, and the choice is ours. Community choices can create the kind of future we want. Get engaged. Get involved. And get going! Read the complete scripts of the above at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse . Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor (20 years) and an attorney who represents indivuduals and community groups on land use and environmental issues. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, Two Worlds/365” – www.gapatton.net
CLASSICAL DeCINZO. DeCinzo visits the Monterey Bay Aquarium…again. Check it out.
EAGAN’S DEEP COVER. Eagan gets a charge from our electric car’s future!!! See below…
| LUCIA di LAMMERMOOR Opera trailer. Check out this production that’s coming to The Nickelodeon from London’s Royal Opera House. |
THREE (3) ONSCREEN OPERA SERIES IN SANTA CRUZ. First, we had and have the Metropolitan Opera series on Saturday mornings at the Regal Cinema 9. Then Landmark brought and brings us the All’Italia series at the Del Mar…which is really great. Last week I wrote…”The new (4 months now) Landmark chain is bringing filmed versions of live opera performances from opera houses around Italy to our Del Mar screen on Pacific Avenue. I can’t find many details and the production company All’ Opera Italia’s website is all in Italian. The spring series starts April 26 with Barber of Seville from Torino, Cerentola from Rome (May 25), La Favorita from Venice (7/27) that’ll be sung in French, and La Fanciulla del West from La Scala on August 10.The rest of them are sung in Italian with English subtitles and start at 7 p.m. The usual Santa Cruz tuxs and tiara’s are expected. Now Landmark is presenting Five operas from the Royal Opera House in London. This series will be at The Nickelodeon.!!! It’s started already with; 4/24 at 11am: Boris Godunov. 5/1 at 11am: Giselle. 5/22 at 11am: Lucia di Lammermoor. 6/12 at 11am: The Sleeping Beauty. 7/24 at 11am: Werther. BUY TICKETS. Go here for some details. Now all we have to do is support this incredible addition to our arts scene.
RARE & SPECIAL SITAR CONCERT. UCSC’s Music Department presents Ustad Shujaat Khan, sitar, who returns to UC Santa Cruz for a concert of classical Indian music. With Dibyarka Chatterjee, tabla, and Abhiman Kaushal, tabla. Ustad Shujaat Husain Khan is perhaps the greatest North Indian classical musician of his generation. He belongs to the Imdad Khan gharana (tradition) of the sitar (lute) and is the seventh in the unbroken line from his family that has produced many musical masters. His style known as the gayaki ang, is imitative of the subtleties of the human voice. Khan is the son and disciple of master sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan. His musical pedigree continues back through his grandfather, Ustad Inayat Khan; his great-grandfather, Ustad Imdad Khan; and his great-great-grandfather, Ustad Sahebdad Khan—all leading artists of their generations. Saturday, April 30, 2016 – 7:30pm Music Center Recital Hall, UCSC. Purchase tickets online (account must be created with University Tickets) or at the UCSC Ticket Office at the Theater Arts Center. Hours of Operation: Wednesdays/Thursdays 12:00-noon – 3:00pm Phone: (831) 4 59-2159 * Tickets also for sale at the Recital Hall, 1 hour prior to performance *
| THE REAL LOIS LANE. John Sandidge and I were trying to remember the other Lois Lanes.
Right now Amy Adams has the part. Back in the earlier film days there was Margot Kidder and poor old Christopher Reeve. but the “real” Lois Lane for me has always been Noel Neill from the early TV series…look here.. |
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Please join me in bidding a heartfelt farewell to Nancy Raney, the godmother of the Santa Cruz movie community, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). Longtime co-owner of the Nickelodeon, tireless supporter of film, books, and culture, world traveler, and lifelong adventurer, Nancy’s high spirits and buoyant personality will be sorely missed in this town.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
THAT IS THE QUESTION
(THE NEWEST FILMS IN ORDER OF PERFECTION)
A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING. Tom Hanks (born in Oakland!!) plays a weary broken marriage guy going to a very foreign Saudi Arabia to sell the king a high tech invention. The plot is from a novel and must be a fairly boring book. The movie is slow and pointless and ecept for Hanks’ typically great performance ther’s no reason to see this poke along plot. Hanks face is every bit as intriguing to look at and watch as Humphrey Bogarts is/was. It’s a pleasant movie, and you’ll stick with it all the way through…but I’d bet you’d have a tough time explaining it to your friends.
CINDERELLA, take# 97 (or The Huntsman: Winters War). Yes, it does have the mirror and “who’s the ugliest thing in the land” gimmick . It also has tons of dwarves whose names should be Poopy, Syphly, Pee Pee, Crotchy and awful things like that. A fully armed (remember Mad Max?) Charlize Theron along with Emily Blunt, Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain do their best to bring life and some semblence of excitement, or maybe even magic to this dull flick…and they couldn’t add anything worthwhile to this convuluted old prequel to Cinderella. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a measly 17 tomatoes. It’s evil sisters fighting each other, curses, ice walls (Game of Thrones stuff), and special effects dwarves…BUT if like that sort of thing, it’ll probably play for weeks.
MILES AHEAD. Don Cheadle directed this Miles Davis bio-pic and turned it into a shallow action packed Hollywood boring film. Davis was a dentist’s son, born in St’ Louis, married three times, and went to Juillard, but you wouldn‘t know any of that from this cheap shot. Cheadle made up a flimsy “who stole the master tape” as a plot and threw in a bullet loaded car chase just to make sure you’d watch. You will learn absolutely nothing about the genius behind Davis’ superior contribution to American music from this flop.
STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US
FROM BEST TO REALLY BAD
EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT. One of my maybe top 3 films from 2015. It also has a 99% from Rotten Tomatoes. This was Colombia’s best foreign film entry for the Oscars…it shoulda won! Filmed along the Amazon. It’s two separate stories of scientists exploring the jungles for certain rre plants. It’s really about how “whites” have ruined, killed, destroyed,the peoples and the environment as they stoled the rubber and lumber. There’s a very clear message for all of us here, today. (subtitled)
EYE IN THE SKY. Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman are Brits in Kenya who are involved in bombing humans by drones. Will they or won’t they bomb some terrorists because they might kill a little local girl. It’s hyped up suspense, manipulated beyond belief. It is Hollywood tension, and it’s done well but after a while you feel like you’ve been suckered in. Go warned, and of course Helen Mirren is excellent as always. I’ll miss Alan Rickman he had an unique style, great voice and quirky appeal…you couldn’t take your eyes off him.
10 CLOVERFIELD LANE. What a surprise…the reviews were coming in saying this is a well done, thrill -film from some very respected reviewers. They’re right, this is an exciting, involving, mysterious, well-acted, suspenseful movie. John Goodman stars as a creepy, misunderstood, possible deviate, who’s locked up a young beautiful woman Mary Elizabeth Winstead to protect her from what is (or isn’t?) outside the underground home-like prison. Great suspense, nicely filmed, believable, just go and have fun. Don’t read anything else about it, you’ll spoil the excitement and puzzlement.
HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS. Sally Field is now 70 and plays a empty-headed ditzy senior in this mean spirited good- for- nothing movie. Like “Big Fat Greek Wedding” tries to make a minority group cute, fun and quirky, Doris the movie, makes fun of seniors. Yet Sally Field who hasn’t had work in years does a good job with this piece of junk.
CRIMINAL. Another very bizzarre, violent, dis-jointed, poorly written, secret agent mess. It stars Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones and the new lovely Gal Gadot (former Miss Israel 2004), and they try hard to make sense of a gnarly plot. Ryan Reynolds mind and memories are stored in Kevin Costner’s brain. Costner is a former evil person, who now has to deal with secrets he can’t quite remember, and the whole thing goes downhill from there. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 26 out of a 100.
THE JUNGLE BOOK. I must confess to still being under the influence of the REAL Jungle Book movie. That’s the 1942 masterpiece starring Sabu as Mowgli. All real live action, no special effects, just Kipling and technicolor. This Disney commercial money maker is exactly that…a Disney money maker. Filmed darkly (to save FX expense) it’s a hodge-podge of Bill Murray’s looney asides, some old Disney songs and not one iota of what Kipling had in mind when he wrote the book. Send the kids, and you go to the movie next door, believe me.
BATMAN V SUPERMAN. Remember when these two heroes were nice guys with even some humanity and humor? Don’t even try thinking about a fully clothed Clark Kent getting into the bathtub with a naked Lois Lane (Amy Adams). Avoid thinking about Batman wanting to kill Superman or space monsters in Metropolis. Metropolis at least has Laurence Fishburne playing Perry White, editor of The Daily Planet. Ben Affleck as Batman??? Jeremy Irons as Batman’s butler? Then for some reason Wonder Woman comes in near the end. They have besmirched our legends…don’t go.
BREACHING THE BOTTOM. DEADPOOL. To be fair Deadpool is a fairly decent movie, because if you’ve followed the Deadpool comic book character for its many years (since 1991) you might relate to this meaningless , pointless, extra violent mess. Deadpool is a reluctant, foul mouthed superhero. If you like superhero/Marvel type graphic heroes, you could like this movie. Deadpool is making millions at the boxoffice.
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. Andrew Austin tells us about UCSC’s latest development plans on April 26. He’s followed by The Reel Work Film Festival’s Camille Walker. The bi-annual KZSC Pledge Drive
| UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE RADIO PROGRAM KZSC 88.1 FM or live online at www.KZSC.ORG TUESDAYS 7-8 P.M. |
happens May 3 with County Supervisor John Leopold co-hosting and Sandy Lydon co-hosts for pledges on May 10. On May 17 Brian Spencer from the See Theatre talks about T. McNally’s play, “Mothers and Sons“. He’s followed by Becky Steinbruner discussing Aptos issues
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In the wake of hearing about the Santa Cruz Metro cutting bus service, I wanted to share this bus commercial from the city of Karlstad in Sweden. From Wikipedia: “Karlstad is a city, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city had 61,685 inhabitants in 2010 with 89,245 inhabitants in the wider municipality in 2015, and is the 21st biggest municipality in Sweden. Karlstad has a university and a cathedral.” In comparison: “Santa Cruz (Spanish: Holy Cross) is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California. As of 2013 the U.S. Census Bureau estimated Santa Cruz’s population at 62,864.” That’s, fairly darn close I’d say. So how about them buses?
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and the legal measures in her lawsuit. Anita Monga artistic Director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (21st Year) returns May 24. Mark Wainer and Judy Johnson talk about the Community of Artists show on May 31st. The Short Story Winners from Bookshop Santa Cruz take over the June 14 program. 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
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 here… http://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-Darrow, 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. WHALES…
“Nature did not put whales on this earth to splash kids while stuck in a pen”, Jane Velez-Mitchell
“Ships are expendable; the whales are not,” Paul Watson
“By the end of the 20th century, up to 90 percent of the sharks, tuna, swordfish, marlins, groupers, turtles, whales, and many other large creatures that prospered in the Gulf for millions of years had been depleted by overfishing”, Sylvia Earle
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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 @ gunilla@thegoldenfleece.com
BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.
