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DATELINE May 5, 2014
OUR FISHERMAN’S WHARF…PACIFIC AVENUE!!! Does anyone else ever think about how our Pacific Avenue Downtown has disintegrated into a cheap Fisherrman’s Wharf tourist attraction?? How many more pizza joints, ice cream parlors, and coffee houses do we need?? More to the point…let’s make a guess….if Louis Rittenhouse got an offer for his Church & Pacific Corner mausoleum to house a Wax Museum or a Ripleys Believe it Museum would our City Council or Business Council or LOBA or Chamber turn it down? There are almost no stores selling any necessity downtown, we are forced to go to 41st or Amazon. Don’t we care about integrity, quality, character? Taco Bell at one end, Jamba Juice at the other and what’s in between? answer Forever 21. And do they really, put religious statements in the bottom of their shopping bags??? Our kids will someday wonder why we let it go like that…just to keep it “vibrant” at any price.???
| ELEPHANT & BOOGIE WOOGIE. As an aside, we’ve been assured that the piano keys are NOT ivory. This is from daughter Hillary’s FB page. |
GOOD TIMES MOVING AND A NEW PUBLICATION!!! Late breaking rumors have it that Good Times is working hard to save the rent bucks and is moving down Pacific Avenue to Charlie Canfields and Barry Swenson’s building (UCSC Educational ) at 1101 Pacific Avenue upstairs from Taqueria Vallarta. The other completely absurd rumor is that there’s a new “publication” in the works (not from Good Times) but who in their right mind would start a new publication around here? Absurd, but remember you heard it here first!!!
| UNIQUE PERSPECTIVES ON BONNY DOON. Back in 2009 Karla Hutton (formerly of Good Times) filmed Paul Hostetter and me talking about Bonny Doon. Here’s that clip, finally!!! |
DeCINZO’S AWARD. According to The Sentinel last week none other than Steven DeCinzo won the first place award for “editorial cartoon” from the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. That’s in the 15,001-35,000 circulation category. He certainly deserves it.
EBAY HELP WANTED. I have a bunch of collectibles I want to “share with the world” (sell). If you know of anybody local who can navigate EBAY and assist in this endeavor please get in touch. And do not assume that somebody else will jump on this..email me at bratton@cruzio.com and we’ll talk.
GOODBYE PHIL READER. Phil Reader died Thursday May 1st at 4:15 a.m. Anyone who knows about Santa Cruz history will know what a loss that is. Phil was not only good fun to hang out with, but an excellent researcher and writer. He wrote in depth articles about the human side of Santa Cruz history; Chinatown, our prostitutes, and he helped me a lot by researching the complete story of LONDON Nelson and his brother slaves Marlborough, Cambridge and Canterbury. Check here to read Readers research…and to remember Phil.
KING LEAR. I’ve seen maybe 10 different King Lear plays. I’ve been in the cast of two more « Lears », and I’ve seen this National Theatre Live production at the Del Mar twice already !!! This is without a doubt the best King Lear I’ve ever seen. Audrey Stanley and Michael Warren, both Lear experts agree with me !!! Reviews for this Sam Mendes production of King Lear at London’s National Theatre live have been nearly perfect. Simon Russell Beale as Lear gets raves in every review. The National Theatre Live production plays at the Del Mar for only two more screenings. Thursday 5/15 @ 7:30pm and Sunday 5/18 @ 11:00am http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/44084-king-lear . I’ll probably go again !!!
JIM HART FOR SHERIFF
The three candidates for Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s office spoke at a forum on April 28th, appearing before a standing room only crowd at the Santa Cruz Police Department meeting room. The forum was co-sponsored by the ACLU and People’s Democratic Club, Valley Women’s Club, GLBT, and others.
Candidate Jim Hart, current Chief Deputy Sheriff came across the best. His website lists a host of excellent endorsements, including the ones that impress me the most. In this case, Supervisor John Leopold’s endorsement was the best of Hart’s many endorsers.
Candidate Bob Pursley, is a retired Lieutenant from Sheriff’s Department. His website doesn’t list his endorsers but I’m sure he has some good ones. He was the only candidate who favored the license-plate tracking system currently under consideration by the City of Santa Cruz. A deal breaker for me, we’re tracked too much already, this is an unnecessary expense and an invasion of privacy.
Candidate Roger Wildey, is also a retired Lieutenant from Sheriff’s Department. He clearly was the candidate of choice for the NRA and Take Back Santa Cruz members in the audience, as well as the only Republican. Noting that he shared a freeway overpass sign with Tim Donnelly, the Tea Party candidate for governor made him a non-starter for me. My choice for Santa Cruz County Sheriff is Jim Hart.
(Paul Elerick is co-chair, along with Peter Scott, of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org , and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary is on vacation for a few weeks and prepared these Reports just before he left. He talks about The Army Corps of Engineers and our water. Then he deals with the future of Capitola and their general plan, and huge changes. San Benito County is dealing with fracking in a courageous way…he tells us about that issue. The San Clemente Dam owned by California America Water is slated for removal soon. Read about that problem. He ends the week talking about our San Lorenzo River and the Alliance to save it. Read all of above scripts at Gary Patton’s KUSP Land Use site http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse. Gary is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor, and an attorney who represents individuals 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 DE CINZO. Award winning DeCinzo looks at films…scroll down.
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Eagan takes on the Supreme Court and racism…that’s all !!! See below.
KING LEAR. I’ve seen maybe 10 different King Lear plays. I’ve been in the cast of two more « Lears », and I’ve seen this National Theatre Live production at the Del Mar twice already !!! This is without a doubt the best King Lear I’ve ever seen. Audrey Stanley and Michael Warren, bnoth Lear experts agree with me !!! Reviews for Sam Mendes production of King Lear at London’s National Theatre live have been nearly perfect. Simon Russell Beale as Lear got raves in every review. The National Theatre Live production plays at the Del Mar for only two more screenings.Thursday 5/15 @ 7:30pm and Sunday 5/18 @ 11:00am http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/44084-king-lear . I’ll probably go again !!!
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), Jewel Theatre Company concludes its ninth season with a bang in Joe Orton’s scabrously funny What the Butler Saw, truth is stranger than fiction in the 1930s-era true-crime doc, The Galapagos Affair, and the Art and Chocolate art studio tour returns for another tasty Mother’s Day weekend.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.
THAT IS THE QUESTION
……In order of perfection……
BLUE RUIN. I was up late watching King Lear the night before, and Spiderman 2 just three hours before, so that’s why I dozed off during this good film. It’s a low key revenge story about just a guy who is driven to avenge his parents death, and he really doesn’t know how. I’m going back. It won awards at Cannes, and that’s got to mean something.
SPIDER MAN, AD INFINITUM. I canm’t think of a scene or any part of this film that is worth even mentioning. Four movies of Peter Parker doing Tarzan and swinging through street scenes is almost enough. Adding Jamie Foxx as Electro (in whiteface) could not be more idiotic. This of course guarantees it’ll be an international box office blockbuster. It ends with Paul Giamatti in an techno-monster suit playing Rhino, meaning of course that there will be more such drivel. No, watching it in 3D didn’t help.
FACE OF LOVE. Annette Benning and Ed Harris are great actors, they are in a special group of actors that can convey a special something genuine. This isn’t the film to watch them hit their usual high marks. It’s an odd film about insanity, fatefull love, and some weird stuff. Robin Williams is in it too…and he’s far from being my favorite actor. I can never believe any word he says. Go warned and only if you want to see Benning and Harris together.
STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US
(from BEST 2 worst)
RAILWAY MAN. “Shell shocked”,(PTSD) Colin Firth just wants to kill his WW2 Japanese captor who is still alive. Firth and Nicole Kidman do good jobs with their roles but the film drags for some reason and loses impact. It’s still well worth seeing, but it could have and should have been better.
JODOROWSKY’S DUNE. Rotten Tomatoes gives this a 99%, it’s that great!!! Jodorowsky who is now 85, wanted to make Frank Herberts classic “Dune” into an opus that would have been extra magnum. He has Salvatore Dali, Orson Welles, Mick Jagger, David Carridine, and Pink Floyd committed to do it, but it never happened. This documentary is a telling and showing of Jodorowsky’s pic and plot. If you ever read Dune and thought it was one of the best Sci-Fi books ever written see this film very soon, it won’t be there long.
UNDER THE SKIN. If you liked Enemy and wonderfully challenging plots that will leave you wondering this is your film. I loved every minute of it. It’s intelligent, non Hollywood, beautifully photographed and of course it stars Scarlett Johanessen. Like Enemy the recent Jake Gyllenhaal piece of cinema history theending to Under The Skin will knock off your socks permanently. Check out the trailer…
LUNCHBOX.You’ve seen the lead Irrfan Khan in great films if you’ve seen any Indian films lately. HBO’s In Treatment, The Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire etc. It’s the touching, sensitive, no big action story of a non-relationship. It’s also a tour of contemporary Mumbai, India. It’s a wonderful film.
THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL.Like Salvatore Dali and Norman Rockwell Wes Anderson makes brilliant films but the intent, meaning, and any statements behind what you see are confusing. Budapest Hotel is one of Anderson’s simplest films. Lots of laughs, not much subtlety, and Ralph Fiennes is at his funniest best. Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Edward Norton and F. Murray Abraham are also inthe film for publicity purposes I guess. Rotten Tomatoes says Johnny Depp, Ursula Kuhnt, and Angela Lansbury are in it too, but I didn’t see them.
FINDING VIVIAN MAIER. A surprising and well made documentary about a very shy woman who hid her photography “hobby” from the world all her life. As the Nick’s site says, “She never showed her work to anyone, but since its recent (and accidental) discovery, she is now considered among the 20th century’s greatest photographers. Walking the streets of Chicago and New York City, Maier quietly captured faces, moods and moments (as well as many self-portraits) with her Rolleiflex and created unforgettable imagery that has only come to light in the last few years. Her strange and riveting life and art are revealed through never-before-seen photographs, films, and interviews with those who thought they knew her”. You’ll see a huge number of her photos; go if that’s your thing, or if you like good documentaries.
DIVERGENT. Shailene Woodley has come a long way from George Clooney’s daughter in The Descendents, or her wonderful job in “The Spectacular Now”. She’s the main thing in Divergent. She diverges from the approved 5 factions in this Chicago land of the far distant future. It’s a lot like Hunger Games and Shailene reminds me a lot of Jennifer Lawrence in looks and in the roles they play in both these flicks. Ashley Judd is in this too, so is Kate Winslett. Much war, blood, fights, teen age stuff. You could stay home and study about oil deposits in Santa Cruz County and be better off.
TRANSCENDENCE. Johnny Depp seems to be losing the zillion dollar attraction he used to have. This film is a dud. It’s about technology and re-creating dead people. Paul Bettany does his usual fine actiong job and so does Morgan Freeman who hasn’t had a chance to really act in years and just keeps playing the same old Morgan Freeman. It’s Man versus machine and dullness versus your cost of admission…you decide.
CAPTAIN AMERICA, Winter Soldier.You take Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson, and put them in a film like Captain America and what do you have?? Not much, just another bloody, violent, superhero, Marvel Comic blockbuster. It does have a few seconds where we can think about security versus fear as a way to run the USA. Redford plays an evil Wall Street warmonger, and Johansson jumps around a lot and she really does have an intriguing voice, if you stop looking and listen to her. She’s a good “guy” and works with Chris Evans as the Captain. Just go if you’re under 16, and bored.
BRICK MANSIONS. If all goes really, really bad then Detroit could look like this movie in 2018. It’s a terrible action, evil, crashing, jumping killing “action” flick. The now deceased Paul Walker stars in this mindless, over edited, special effects, pointless disaster. It’s a perfect example to use when you think that there are too many movies centering on violence on every theatre screen in the USA (and propably the rest of the world today).
HEAVEN FOR REAL. Jesus H. Christ, is this a god “faith-based” film or what??? Greg Kinear plays the preacher who’s son almost dies but goes to heaven anyways and probably, or maybe??? the kid sees jesus and his horse, and lots of Christian stuff. Don’t go unless your church is closed for some reason and you have nothing to do.
THE OTHER WOMAN. If you’ve ever wondered why Cameron Diaz is famous, you’ll still wonder after seeing this dog of a dumb comedy. Mick La Salle liked it and he’s just about alone. I never knew what Nicki Minaj did, I’m still not sure but she’s the best thing in this FLOP and everything else flops a lot in this film (if you catch my drift). I’m still trying to figure why I went.
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. Traci Hukill and Eric Johnson tell us about Hilltromper Santa Cruz on May 6., then Anita Monga artistic director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (May 29-June1) reveals this years featured films. Dan Haifley author of “50 Years of Safe Harbor” talks about his book on May 13 then Andrew Hsia-Coron talks about the anti fracking movement. Dr. Mark Bernhard discusses his Qiqong work with Santa Cruz Veterans on May 30, followed by Ed Penniman talking about The Santa Cruz Art League. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening. Email me always at bratton@cruzio.com
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 herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The update includes Nikki Silva, Michael Warren, Tom Noddy, 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. Hear them all!!!
BEST OF CLASSICAL STEVEN DeCINZO.
QUOTES. Ted Burke (of Crow’s Nest & Shadowbrook notoriety) sent this first quote…“Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for”, Joseph Addison, writer (1672-1719). “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!” Lear, Shakespeare. “When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools“, Lear, Shakespeare.
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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.
