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QUALITY, UNIQUENESS, WEIRDNESS, TOURIST ATTRACTION vs. INTEGRITY AND AESTHETICS…Take a look at our most visible corners….who’s there??? (corporations are people)… We’ve got Jamba Juice, Washington Mutual, Outfitters, Taco Bell, Subway and a liquor store. What are we saying to our selves and the tourists we cater to? Does anyone honestly believe that more tourists will come if we add Lowe’s and Target and corporations of that ilk? Why do you go to Santa Barbara, Cambria, Carmel and dozens of cities around the world and of course San Francisco?? Not for Target and Lowe’s, as has been proposed by that hired planner last week
FISH USING TOOLS!!! Brilliant scientific work last week from UCSC that proves fish have the ability to use tools. After watching the three hour hassle over Cypress Lounge’s entertainment permit on Community TV. I’m convinced that some members of our City Council could probably learn how to use tools too.
SENTINEL & NEWS COVERAGE. Lynn Robinson dropping out of Assembly race, Ellen Pirie not running for Supervisor anymore .In about two weeks maybe we’ll read in The Sentinel that Zach Friend is running for Pirie’s Supervisor job and maybe we’ll read in The Sentinel that police flack Zach is skulking around trying to find someone to run against John Leopold… SO What’s taking The Sentinel so much time to report the news that we tell them about in BrattonOnline? Must be that commute to Scotts Valley!!! But if you do see anyone from the Sentinel tell them Richelle Noroyan is running for City Council.
| THE LIBERATION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED. Lyn Ackley discovered this multi faceted brilliant statement. |
LA BAHIA…Jim Greene wrote: “If La Bahia was in Miami Beach it would have been gutted and refurbished completely on the inside, made earthquake-proof, and refinished on the outside with a gorgeous faded pink pastel exterior and not a foot added to it. What is wrong with Santa Cruz? I’ll tell you: it coddles developers and greedy interests at the expense of historical architecture and local legacy, which (surprise!) attracts tourism. Shooting ourselves in our own foot yet again!”
POGONIP PRESERVE. Bruce Engelhardt writes “Go to http://www.pogonipwatch.org/ to keep up on the effort to maintain the Pogonip Preserve as the peaceful nature preserve that it was meant to be, according to its original master plan.
Stop any efforts to destroy the lower eastern side of the preserve to put in a “multi-use” trail for mountain bikers, dirt bikers and other extreme sports enthusiasts who would drive hikers out of the park as they have at Wilder Ranch and many others.
Be sure to sign the petition at the Pogonip Watch website and to write our City Council members. We’re not opposed to bikes in parks, just not in Pogonip”.
Engelhardt wrote a second time… “The so-called “pragmatic” group that, for the most part, currently controls the city council seems to have little compunction about selling out the city’s natural and architectural heritage for a little economic advantage in the face of the current downturn, temporary though it may yet prove to be. I saw it first in their plan to create a generic mini-Sunnyvale hotel and conference center where the Dream Inn stands. Now it can also be seen in their plan to destroy a swath of forest and wildlife habitat in the lower Pogonip preserve in order to introduce mountain bikes into that area while articles in off-road bicycling magazines indicate that the bicyclists hope to use that trail as a springboard onto other trails in the preserve; thus, effectively scaring away wildlife as well as hikers on the nature trails (as they have at Wilder Ranch and the other parks).
So far, according to its master plan, Pogonip was the one preserve dedicated primarily to the peaceful contemplation of nature rather than as a platform of extreme sports activities but apparently, the fiscal needs of the city’s sizable bicycle industry as well as the travel industry take priority over the needs of a unique environment and the people who enjoy exploring it on foot. Of course a final decision on that point hasn’t yet been made but could be over the next few months unless enough Santa Cruzans stand up and object. Bruce Engelhardt”
| CONJOINED TWINS TALK ABOUT IT.All this relevancy courtesy of The Learning Channel. |
McHUGH & BIANCHI HISTORICAL PHOTO (LAST WEEK). Bruce, Thanks for posting the photo of the beautiful McHugh and Bianchi building. I was there the day they demolished the building and the sight of the wrecking excavator grabbing, crushing and disposing of a beautiful claw foot bathtub from the 2nd floor is burnt into my memory. If nothing else, they should have allowed the building to be dismantled where much of the building parts could have been re-used. City and developer seemed to be in a rush to build the Wells Fargo building. I believe it was torn down around 1974 when we were building Ron Lau’s cobblestone courtyard (think Steve Jarell’s Mountain Store and Courtyard Fabrics – later to become Kelly’s Bakery) behind the old Bookshop Santa Cruz building where Frank and Judy’s Pergolesi was located. All that is gone now too with the last hole in the ground to remind us of the Oct. 17, 1989 earthquake. At least we have the photos you post (Thanks to Covello & Covello) to remind us of many of the beautiful and historical assets we’ve had over the years. Thanks for your Bratton Online. Always a good read. Regards, Andy Fuhrman.
KPFA TO BECOME A “LOCAL” STATION. Plans are afoot for KPFA to erect a broadcast tower on the UCSC Campus to broadcast locally at 95.7. I think you can dial that number right now to hear a test signal. I’d appreciate it of any of you know the issues, conflicts, and problems behind the huge battle going on at KPFA…let me know.
| RIVERDANCE, RIVERDANCE. I know, I know Michael Flatley and all that, but still secretly I like to watch them once in a while. |
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about the popular ongoing Water Awareness Course that’s happening right now. Then he gets into the $500 Planners course that’s starting soon. He spends most of the week telling about Monterey County’s ongoing problems with water, with de-sal plant plans and good old CAL AM up to their usual bag of tricks. Go here for it all. (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)
Micaela Neus writes:
“Our spell of bad weather broke at last, and we celebrated on snowshoe! The storms lifted only two days before the springtime environmental restrictions came into effect, which make many of the local islands off-limits to recreational hiking. We took a tramp over the glacier, around a growing ice-cave near the shoreline, and onto a mostly off-limits stretch of land called Bonaparte Point. For most of the summer, the point will host at least three different species of
sea birds as they court, nest, and raise their own young while trying to eat that of their neighbors. Stay tuned for more information as the birds arrive. On our hike, we saw only a lone Gentoo Penguin and a Weddell Seal mother nursing her new pup.
The Palmer Station operating zone covers an approximately two-mile diameter area around the station, and most of these islands host extensive bird and animal life throughout the summer. To protect these valuable breeding grounds, the area has its own set of environmental protocols in addition to those that govern human activity anywhere in the Antarctic*. They come from an exhaustive survey of the local terrain – everything from geology to microbiology, underwater features to air quality, was considered in drawing up the particular regulations for working at Palmer.
Unfortunately, none of these protect Antarctica from of the mostly devastating environmental threats caused by climate change. The intrusion of King Crab into the Southern Ocean, for instance, has now been confirmed to have reached the Palmer Deep. Their blood must stay above a certain temperature to hold oxygen, and the cold Antarctic waters have limited their territories to more northern latitudes for thousands of years. Now, warming ocean currents have extended their range into bottom-dwelling communities that evolved without this predator. Biologists are predicting massive impact on the smaller echinoderms – like starfish and sea urchins – completely unique to the Antarctic.
*The international community recognizes “Antarctica” to include the ocean and any point of land (no matter the size) under sixty degrees latitude. (Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012).
| RAGING GRANNIES GO TO STARBUCKS. I’m not sure why the Grannies picked Starbucks and here they are, never better!!! |
VINTAGE DE CINZO. King Street and just one traffic possibility…look below a few feet….
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Scroll down to see this week’s Deep Cover unless you don’t like Screwworm maggots.
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul Landau states in this week’s Progreso Weekly titled “Judge Grants Dubious Probation“… “In 2001, Miami Federal Judge Joan Lenard sentenced five Cuban agents to long prison terms for conspiracy to commit espionage (although no evidence of espionage appeared during the trial). Rene Gonzalez, 55, like the other four, denied he ever engaged in or conspired to commit espionage. Rene will be released on October 7. Lenard’s conditions demand that Rene remain in Miami for three years and be monitored by parole officers, and that he not have any contact with terrorists. Neither condition makes sense. An admitted Cuban agent living in Miami; a man who infiltrated the anti-Castro Brothers to the Rescue and could not find an insurance company to write a policy on his life. Bookies would be taking bets on when – not if – he gets assassinated. Hit men abound in the area” Read the rest of it here. Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD from roundworldproductions@gmail.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.
| TOM LEHRER & PETER NICHOLS.Most of the world knows of Tom Lehrer’s genius and now local Peter Nichols acts and sings one of Tom’s big hits. |
CHRISTINA WATERS WEEKLY.Christina tastes twenty years of Cigare Volant at the Cellar Door and continues to fume over trans-fusion cuisine.
It’s all at http://christinawaters.com. Christina Waters has been writing about food, wine and controversial people in the Santa Cruz area for 25 years.
FILM FESTIVALS AND FAMILY FILMS.Be sure to check out the 23rd Annual Pacific Rim Film Festival which runs from Oct. 14ththrough Oct. 19th . www.pacificrimefilmfestival.
FILM REVIEWS… IN DESCENDING ORDER
50/50. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen do some of their very best acting in this comedy about Gordon-Levitt getting cancer and Rogen helping him as a buddy. You’ll even cry and be reminded of all the friends you have or had who dealt with cancer. Fine film, big or little screen.
HAPPY, HAPPY. Another fine film about two Norwegian couples who switch, or at least try it a few times. It’s a bit quirky but then again so are the 2 couples. Interesting, complex, mostly quite serious and you’ll forget it in a few days.
DREAM HOUSE. Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts and Rachel Weisz are part of this
Film that has no discernable beginning, end or even a plot. It is as nuts a film as are the people and actors in it. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 9 while 50/50 got a 95 which tells you something. Avoid this mess. Don’t go down the cellar stairs, don’t watch the children dissolve into the wall…you know, that sort of movie.
THE FUTURE. That makes two films that I simply couldn’t follow. This story and the people in it just weren’t the work necessary to stay involved. It has other world pretensions and some sort of spiritual angles (not angels) but you won’t care anyways. Don’t rent it either.
HOSTETTER’S HOT STUFF. Paul H’s and my writing days are actually in synch this week, He said, “Sorry I missed this before, but Lache Cercel is in the area—several gigs over the next week or so. No idea how someone of his caliber ended up being booked at the Crêpe Place in Santa Cruz, but that’s one of them. Wherever you can catch one of these shows, do it. Details here, as usual. And notice a number of other things coming up that I hope merit your attention. Cheers, ph.
SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ’S 2011 SEASON.This news from Shakespeare Santa Cruz…”Our 2011 summer season ended just over a week ago with the closing of The Comedy of Errorsat Montalvo Arts Center! Our thanks to the 23,895 audience members who attended one of the 69 performances of 4 productions over a 6 week period in Santa Cruz, and the additional 1805 audience memberswho attended one of the 8performances at Montalvo Arts Center! While the summer’s four productions received rave reviews from audience members and critics alike, our ticket sales declined by 5% over 2010!!!
THE LETTERS. See Productions opens their play, “The Letters” (set in Moscow in 1931)starring Helene Simkin Hara and Brian Spencer this Friday Oct 7,8, 13-16,20-22 at the Center Stage (1001 Center Street, Santa Cruz) at 8 p.m. I talked with Brian and director Al Muller on Universal Grapevine last week…this play sounds like a tense winner of intrigue, lying, politics, suspense. Go here for tickets
DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS & JOHN ORLANDO.Iranian Pianist Soheil Nasseri will playHormozFarhat’s Bagatelles (CA premiere), Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata and Chopin’s Fantasie in F Minor on Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 3 PM in Cabrilho College’s Music Recital Hall, VAPA 5001. Tickets atwww.ticketguys.com, 831-656-9507 and on our website. For general information: 1-831-539-0000. He’s perfecting and performing all of Beethoven’s piano works eventually…no small feat!!!
“THE KITCHEN” AT THE DEL MAR. I ran into Audrey Stanley at Peggy Snider’s Open Studio last weekend. Audrey said that the play titled “The Kitchen” is dark, funny, political and well worth seeing. The National Theatre of Great Britain Announces the new National Theatre Live season at the DEL MAR THEATRE, 1124 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz CA 95060. The National Theatre is delighted to announce the third season of National Theatre Live(NT Live), a successful initiative to broadcast live performances from the National’s stages to cinemas worldwide. Since its first season, which began with the acclaimed production of Phédre starring Helen Mirren, over half a million people have now experienced the National’s acclaimed work on movie screens around the world. David Sabel, the National Theatre’s Head of Digital Media, says: ‘It is thrilling to think that over half a million people worldwide have now seen a National Theatre Live broadcast. The programme has grown significantly, giving an ever-widening audience an unprecedented opportunity to engage with our work.’ A live performance of The Kitchenwill be broadcast from the National Theatre in London and presented in state-of-the-art High Definition in the 500 Seat Grand Auditorium of the Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz CA 95060. That’s Thursday night at 7:30 www.thenick.com. Additional titles for 2012 will be announced soon.
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. This Tuesday (Oct. 4.) Donna Mekis and Peter McGettigan talk about their trip in the last two weeks to Croatia and about Donna’s book Blossoms Into Gold followed by Davis Bantarelating stuff about his production of Sam Shepard’s True West.On October 11 Teresa Landerstells news about The Santa Cruz City Library system. Felicia Ricefollows her and will talk about UCSC’s Digital Arts and New Media.Author, actor and acting teacher Joanne Linville will take the entire hour on October 18 to talk about her book Seven Steps to an Acting Craft. County Supervisor John Leopoldwill again co-host the fall pledge drive on October 25. City Council person Katherine Beiers will be the guest on November 1st. Followed by Meg Sandow and friend discussing the Homeless Garden Project. The November 8th Grapevine has former Cabrilho Professor Don Young talking about his book,” The Battle For Snow Mountain”. On November the winners of Bookshop Santa Cruz’s Youth Writing contest will read their entries. 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. Plus 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. I saw this bumper sticker, “Keep Earth Clean…This is Not Uranus”.” Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing”, Vince Lombardi. “Real wealth can only increase”, R. Buckminster Fuller
BEST OF VINTAGE DeCINZO.In a roundabout way DeCinzo deals with King Street.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
