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GOODBYE WALLY TRABING. Wally was one of my favorite customers and new friends when I was a clerk at Eastside Hardware back in 1970. He came in often just to plow through hardware and check out new gimmicks. We talked about San Francisco jazz a lot and he invited me to the sessions at his and Lois’ house. He played drums and I played washtub bass and washboard. Later I put together a trio with Wally on drums, Gary Patton on banjo and me still on washtub bass. Wally had an insatiable curiosity about the world and people and he loved writing about it. It was Wally who created much of the “stuff” that makes Santa Cruz what it is today…we’ll miss him very much.
Early last year, I followed PG&E’s instructions on how to be the LAST person in my neighborhood to be Smart Metered. I was asked why I didn’t want their Smart Meter and told a real person that this change would put a bunch of meter-readers out of a job and I wasn’t interested in following my energy usage on a daily basis. I have to give them credit for living up to their word. Their installers skipped right over me when they “did” the neighborhood. In fact, the Public Utilities Commission is now considering making PG&E offer an opt-out option of an analog meter with no communication hook up to their offices. PG&E has kept me up to date with phone messages as to what’s going on. They always start with “no action is required now” and close with “see PGE.com/smartmeter” for current status”. You have to poke around the site to find this:
“The CPUC released a Proposed Decision on PG&E’s plan on November 22, 2011, one step closer to a Final Decision. In its Proposed Decision, the CPUC identified two potential alternatives to wireless SmartMeter™ communications: either a SmartMeter™ with the radio-transmission turned off or a non-communicating meter (with no radio installed). The Commission refers to these alternatives as “radio-off” and “radio-out”. Could it be possible that PG&E is waking up to what their customers want or don’t want?
Congratulations to the newest members of the Sierra Club Santa Cruz Group Executive Committee
My best to these three new excom members, Tawn Kennedy, Mary Odegaard and Greg McPheeters. You have some big shoes to fill and lots of work ahead. It will take us all working together to keep the Club going forward. (Paul Elerick is thechair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
| UNCHAINED MELODY. Righteous Brothers. |
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary’s KUSP scripts this week cover the effect that Redevelopment money has on affordable housing. He talks about Climate Action Plan and Ecology Action. Then he details points from the Capitola General Plan and more on Village Parking. Patton tells about the concept of “taking” private property and then announces tours of Nisene Marks State Park. He DOES NOT say anything about why anybody would name their daughter Nisene!!! Go here to read his notes. (Gary Patton is “Of Counsel” to the Santa Cruz law firm of Wittwer & Parkin, which specializes in land use and environmental law. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, “Two Worlds / 365” – www.gapatton.net)
| SING ALONG…THE EVERLY BROTHERS |
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES, THE BOYCOTT OF.
Follow this link to a Huffington Post article about the lineup and history of the girl scout cookie.
VINTAGE DE CINZO. Whole Foods and a new view thereof…see downwards
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim shows us the real Mitt, see how he does it…scroll below.
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul’s weekly Progreso Weekly article states, « After 53 years, we ask. Did the Cuban revolution accomplish its goals? Likewise, what happened to the U.S., which has relentlessly tried to block Cuba’s revolutionary path? After the January 1959 revolutionary victory Washington’s elite understood that in Fidel Castro they might face serious rebelliousness to the accepted and enforced notion: Washington rules this hemisphere. In 1954, Washington punished President Jacobo Arbenz for nationalizing United Fruit company property in Guatemala (a U.S.-backed coup d’état), to again dramatize how the U.S. treated disobedience”. Read the rest of it here…
Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD from roundworldproductions@gmail.
Micaela reports…
“Summer has yet to arrive at Palmer Station, but the scientists showed up right on schedule to continue their field work for the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) studies in our operating area. Most of the research done at Palmer or off our research/supply vessel, the ARSV Laurence M. Gould (LMG), contributes to the Palmer LTER, making January our busiest month of the year. It’s also the most crowded, and that has mixed effects on the mood around town.
New faces bring new energy to station, adding variety to the dinner conversation and a chance to exchange books. At the same time, we must help new arrivals integrate into the existing social and work routines while adapting to changes ourselves. I liken the process to having a case of the hiccups– it’s not truly incapacitating, and at times it’s even funny, but you’re always glad when it goes away. This round of arrivals has led to a growth in the number of Gentle Reminders at our weekly station meeting, the time when we get to “gently remind” one another to do flush the damn toilet, stop slamming the doors (but remember to close them all the way), sort the trash properly, pull the hair out of the drains, leave the shovels by the correct door, etc. etc. etc. More people mean more reminders, especially if many folks are first-timers, and they sound less “gentle” every time they come up.
Yacht visitors made last week even more difficult by setting off the fire alarm in our bar after we had all gone to bed. They used our popcorn machine, a tricky contraption that has been the subject of many Gentle Reminders in the past (“Don’t put salt in the popper!”), without reading the instructions and over-heated the oil. Everyone had to tumble out of their bunks, lurching down to the muster point in their pajamas or dressing out in full firefighting gear with their eyes only half-open. Although we told them that we must do all our own emergency response during their tour, I don’t think they understood what that meant until Bill (my fellow First Responder) showed up barefoot with a fire extinguisher. I laughed and joked in order to reassure them that midnight turn-out did not rank on the list of Antarctic disasters, even as I led them down to their dinghy at a less-than-hospitable pace.
This week has gently-reminded me that Antarctic does have an etiquette, for all its roughness, loosely summarized as Don’t Burden on Other People Unnecessarily either by failing to pull your own weight or by creating more weight for someone else. Abide by this rule and you will get a warm reception anywhere in Antarctica. As long as you stop piling your boots in front of the door, sheesh. Put them under the bench where they belong.”
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.
| BOOKS, YA GOTTA LOVE’EM. |
HUMOR ABUSE. If you loved The Pickle family Circus or even if you missed it and wondered why it was and is so well loved and has achieved such a place in the hearts and minds of all of us who did see it here in Santa Cruz or on their near- insane tours go see Lorenzo Pisoni’s “Humor Abuse” now only through February 5th at A.C.T Theatre in San Francisco. Lorenzo is the son of Larry Pisoni and Peggy Snider, the creators of the Pickle Family Circus. He tells and acts out, and juggles, and back flips, and pratfalls, and trips, and does some serious emoting about his life with the circus. He’s an accomplished actor and as he tells us about his complex, confusing, terrible, hilarious, and competing relationship with his clown father he grabs every member of the audience and takes us on that same tour. Go see Humor Abuse, it isn’t really abuse, it’s the inside of a show business family. The very local angle here is that Lorenzo’s mom Peggy Snider lives, sculpts, and plays in Santa Cruz. And yes, she’s proud, more than proud of Lorenzo. It may not tour beyond San Francisco; it’s already played Seattle, and New York
CARNAGE. When you enclose Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz, and Kate Winslet in a room with lots of single malt scotch and have Roman Polanski directing them, you expectsomething monumental, important, and ultra artistic. It doesn’t quite happen in Carnage. It’s super fun to watch these cinema experts scream, belch, and vomit their way through the script…but somehow it doesn’t ring true even including that scotch usage. But go anyway, like Meryl Streep, these are some of today’s best actors.
THE IRON LADY. It’s funny how all us Americans say Meryl Streep does such a great job of portraying Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady. I wouldn’t know how Margaret Thatcher looked and acted from Margaret Mead. But still Meryl does a great job of acting…as usual. Sure, she got the Golden Globe so why not give her another Oscar, she’s just great. The film is weird, it doesn’t say much about what she accomplished, or the odds that were against her, it centers on her mental problems instead!!! Why, I’ll never figure out. Go see it, it’s boring in parts but again we have Meryl going at full steam and that’s always worthwhile watching.
MY TO TEN 2011 FILMS. About the only one I’m sure of so far is Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. That’s for sure my #1 film of the year, nothing comes close. The NY Times film critic Manohla Dargis worked hard on reviewing this masterpiece and wrote… check it out and be sure to watch it. No, the Academy probably won’t even mention it, but the National Society of Film Critics gave it “Best Picture of 2011 award. I also agreed with them on “Drive” and Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams“. But then again they liked “The Tree of Life” which proves there’s no accounting for taste!
FRINGE FESTIVAL HAPPENING. The first annual Santa Cruz Fringe Festival will happen downtown this summer from July 13-22. The new website just launched. You too can help spread awareness of the festival to artists that you know and the Fringe is accepting applications for all kinds of performance until February 29.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE CONTINUES. “Mentawai – Listening to the Rainforest” An experimental multimedia work of electronic sound collage by Linda Burman-Hall using field recordings of threatened and endangered species by biologist Richard Tenaza.It happens Friday
Jan 20 @ 7:30 PM in the Recital Hall at UCSC.
AN ENSEMBLE MASTER CLASS WITH ANDERSON & ROE. The dynamic duo-piano team of Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe are coming to Santa Cruz to teach an ensemble master class in the UCSC Music Center Recital Hall. Come hear music by much-loved composers played by pianist/teachers & UCSC music students – and then improved! Anderson & Roe, a duo-piano pair whose electric performances (live and on youtube) have garnered them millions of fans, will share some of the skills that bring them such success – in a hall which has some of the finest acoustics on the Central Coast, and features two superb matched grand pianos. Watch this awfully cute couple at . This occurs Tuesday, January 24, 2012 @7:00 p.m. UCSC Music Center Recital Hall
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 sometimes old programs are archived…(see next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. Wilma Marcus Chandler is on Tuesday, Jan. 17th talking about the current “8 Tens @ 8″ Play Festival. She’ll be followed by Peter McGettigan ace producer and cameraman at Community TV. Jim Emdy of KUSP and other radio outlets and I will talk about Opera Seasons on Jan. 24. Brad Cava of Santa Cruz Patch fame will be on the second half hour that night. Jan Karwin from The League Of Women Voters will be my guest on January 31 talking about the League and the Ballot measures they are backing. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click here then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, 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 Conpany. 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. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “We don’t know who discovered water, but we’re sure it wasn’t a fish“, John Culkin. “Earthworms do the twist“, R. Buckminster Fuller, “Everything changes but change itself”, John F. Kennedy.
BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
