September 24 – 30, 2013

PRE-NICKELODEON SITE. This was the Lincoln Bakery back on May 16,1950. The house next door where they now have such an incredible sidewalk garden, was where actress Zasu Pitts lived (she was born in Kansas). The Nick opened July 1, 1969 with Bill Raney at the helm and Roy Rydell as designer.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

Dateline: September 23, 2013 (date column written)
MORE ON MAH. MAH really stands for More Arguments and Harangues. The responses to last week’s article on the deterioration of MAH in the last two years have been gratifying and even wonderful…in a way. Before continuing please go see “Museum Hours” at the Nickelodeon. It captures perfectly what so many in our community believe an art museum has been and should be.

Many, many emails came in fast and wonderfully supportive of returning MAH to being a Museum of Art and History. I won’t include anywhere near the amount of words that were received but hopefully enough to convince somebody or somebodies (plural) to re-think and give us back our Art and History.

This one came in within minutes of BrattonOnline being online…” I was so happy to read your piece about the MAH. I was wondering if it was only me who was not happy with the new direction the museum had taken. There are certainly a lot of people at the Friday evening ‘happenings’, so I thought everyone was happy about the new scene. But I was not. My membership is up for renewal; I’ve been a supporter of our local museum for many years now, but I questioned whether I wanted to renew this year. I miss a real museum!.

This one from a historian, “I thank you. Your review of MAH’s current (one more pop-up museum and I’m going to explode) life is refreshing and courageous. Bravo ‘.

From a former MAH staff member “As a former staff member at MAH, I have to give you praise and thanks for writing the recent article about the Museum of Art & History. While Nina Simon has provided financial stability for the museum, she has caused the institution to sacrifice professional standards and has indeed created a “circus.” I left because of these reasons and the fact that it was turning into another community center rather than a museum. You nailed it on the head, what many of us insiders (staff, historians, artists) have been thinking since 2010 when Nina started, and I applaud you for your article shedding light on this. I have had many conversations with these same individuals, many long-time Santa Cruzan’s like me, who are extremely disappointed by the tackiness. Not everybody is agreeable with this approach and it doesn’t seem representative of our entire community. The MAH can be participatory, engaging, community-focused and fun without compromising professional and aesthetic standards. Our community deserves better from our local museum! In appreciation”, (name withheld).

From a credentialed arts person,A lot of people have been appalled by the turn away from museum to events center, but very few are willing to speak out publicly or to stand up for the integrity of the institution. Thank you Bruce”.

From a MAH committee member. “I think M.A.H. is in trouble. Wish I could do something more to save it. Keep up your good work. I am reading and listening”.

There were lots more comments such as, “What Nina has done to our MAH is like turning the Del Mar and Nickelodeon into “Chuck E. Cheeses”. Obviously there’s more coming in on Saving MAH. I started listening to and reacting to negative MAH feedback more than a year ago, and am glad to act as a messenger….send me your opinions, and maybe we can make some progress.

MORE ON HERITAGE TREES. I asked Christopher Krohn (former mayor) to report on the City Council’s ruling on cutting down Dentist Christie’s Canary Island pines. He wrote…

“You Don’t Know What You Got ‘Til It’s Gone”

 

“The trees are too close to the building” was the refrain heard over and over at the City Council meeting last Tuesday (Sept. 10) in deciding to permit Dr. Bill Christie to chainsaw four 80-foot tall Canary Island Pine trees. It is reputed that these trees were planted between 60-70 years ago by none other than Roy Rydell.

Several people spoke for each side and the city’s climate action plan was brought ups several times. In that plan it discusses the importance of the urban forest. Carbon is sequestered by trees and the taller the tree the more carbon sequestered. So, if we are talking about mitigations, leaving four 80-foot trees up is better as a “sink” for carbon than placing more solar on parking lot roofs, if that is the trade-off, according to a local scientist and consultant. Councilmember Micah Posner was the only one, out of seven, who opposed cutting “all” the trees. He was in favor of leaving one, possibly two of the trees. He was spirited in his defense of keeping a tree.

The other council members seemed to rely on the current flawed city heritage tree ordinance in denying the appeal and granting the permit. They either are not aware of their legislative discretion to work out these matters with property owners, or they would just rather city staff make these decisions. It was almost shocking to hear certain council members say that the current ordinance is a good one, and that it is working. Talk about not seeing the urban forest because there are no longer any trees in the way…the city has allowed over 2000 permits to cut heritage trees and denied only a few over the past decade. This appeal, despite the council’s courteous manner, was a very tough sell. It shouldn’t have been this way though.

These trees, not only offer habitat to various birds, insects and other animals, but also provide cooling for at least 3 other buildings in the area that would otherwise be in direct sunlight (heat). What needs to happen now is for the city to: 1) inventory our trees so we know what we have and how many, 2) renew our heritage tree fund, 3) work with property owners to maintain tall trees so as to unburden the owners and make it a shared community responsibility, because it is, and 4) publicly declare the importance, significance, and outright aesthetic qualities of our trees, and see these living specimens as a tourist draw, source of clean air and helps improve our quality of life. Someone said recently, “When the tall trees are gone downtown, they are gone. No one will plant them again.”

TALK ABOUT SPECIAL EVENTS

#1. POMPEII ON WEDNESDAY. Cinema 9 is showing Pompeii at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday September 25….here’s all I could find in advance.

NCM Fathom Events, The British Museum and More2Screen are thrilled to present Pompeii from the British Museum, the first ever cinema event from the British Museum – an exclusive private view of the major exhibition Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum. The exhibition explores the homes and lives of the inhabitants of the thriving industrial hub of Pompeii and the small seaside town of Herculaneum nearly 2,000 year ago when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. This extraordinary one night event will take place on Wednesday, September 25 at 7:30pm (local time) in select cinemas nationwide. Don’t miss it! Introduced by British Museum Director Neil McGregor, cinema audiences will be treated to an exclusive view of the exhibition with insights from renowned experts who help bring these fascinating objects to life. With accompanying music, poetry and readings from eyewitness accounts, you will go behind the scenes of the exhibition to discover the stories of these famous Roman cities.

 

WATCH THE TRAILER

#2. OTHELLO ON THURSDAY. The Del Mar is shoing Othello on Thursday September 26 at 7:30.

The National Theatre of London presents a major new production of William Shakespeare’s celebrated play about the destructive power of jealousy. Olivier Award-winning actor Adrian Lester (Henry V at the National Theatre, BBC’s Hustle) takes the title role. Playing opposite him as the duplicitous Iago is fellow Olivier Award-winner Rory Kinnear (The Last of the Haussmans, James Bond: Skyfall), who is reunited with director Nicholas Hytner (Timon of Athens, One Man, Two Guvnors) following their acclaimed collaboration on the National Theatre’s recent production of Hamlet. Running Time: 180 minutes. VIEW OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Special Guest Introduction! Thursday Shakespeare Santa Cruz artistic director Marco Barricelli will introduce the screening from 7-7:25 p.m.

 

#3. FASHIONARTS ON SATURDAY. Now in it’s eighth year, this is one of Santa Cruz’s most fun nights. Angelo Grova of Michaelangelo Gallery and his team make it happen this Saturday, Sept. 28 at The Civic. The Trunk Show starts at 5 p.m. if you get VIP tickets quickly, and the stage/runway show is at 7 P.m. This year, they have an exciting trunk show featuring 16 vendors selling beautiful jewelry, apparel, accessories and fashion-related goodies. Open to VIP ticket holders before the show, open to the general public during the show (7-9) and for everyone attending the show, you won’t want to miss the excitement in the Civic parking lot after the show lets out! I wouldn’t miss it and never have!! I’ll be wearing Quail Run’s “Non-smoking” Jacket, a very unique one- of- a- kind creation by Judy Swanson.

APTOS LOCAL ECONOMIES. Lots going on in Aptos….both with the Mega Safeway plans being held up for two years….and the stalled plans for. Stay tuned and involved. Read this…

MUHAMMAD ALI 1981 WEIRD INTERVIEW.

Aptos residents are concerned about Safeway Corporation’s proposed mega-store expansion plans at Rancho del Mar Shopping Center.
To learn more, please click here to read our 2 page PDF.

To sign the online petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/reject-the-aptos-safeway-mega-expansion.
To send a message to Zach Friend, Santa Cruz District 2 Supervisor: zach.friend@co.santa-cruz.ca.us

Tom Noddy sent this great parody of the Nazis doing the Lambeth Walk.

Please forward this info on to friends and neighbors. Together, we have a voice for the future of Aptos!

Please JOIN Aptos residents in protecting our community.
October 8, 2013 at 7:15 pm (free)
ALE meets monthly the 2nd Tuesday of the month,
at the Aptos Grange, 2555 Mar Vista Drive, Aptos, CA 95003

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about The Santa Cruz City Council dealing with The Heritage Tree ordinance plus medical marijuana. He Talks about Verizon’s Cell Tower versus the neighbors in Carmel Valley. Methyl bromide and the legal issues around its use and a forum about the development of Fort Ord. Read all of above at Gary’s KUSP Land Use scripts http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse Gary Patton, former Santa Cruz County Supervisor, and 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

VINTAGE DE CINZO. DeCinzo took a look at military recruiting on the UCSC Campus a few years ago…see downwards a few pages…

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim Eagan gives us « Common Sense Solutions » for damned near everything…ha !! Scroll below a few pages

MY GRANDSON LEONARDO BOULANGER ON CBS !! Daughter Jennifer (graduate of Davenport Pacific Elementary,Westlake, Santa Cruz High and beyond)sent this video clip of grandson Leonardo Boulanger and dad George Boulanger in a kayak helping clean up Marina Del Rey waters on Coastal Clean-Up Day.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), experience the heyday of Beatlemania with the 17-year-old Liverpool girl who became The Beatles’ personal secretary in Good Ol’ Freda. And visit a spiritual and musical medieval landscape in a new stage production about the trials and travels of 15th Century mystic Margery Kempe.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

THAT IS THE QUESTION

……In order of perfection……

MUSEUM HOURS. A perfectly wonderful film filmed almost entirely inside Vienna’s Grand Art Museum. There’s a continuing story about bthe guard and his relationship with a woman visitor. It proves what most of us believe an art museum should give us. History, imagination, tradition, controversy, a peaceful place to ponder humanity and our creativity. I rarely if ever do this but go to Rotten Tomatoes and see what other critics say about this masterpiece. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/museum_hours I am not fooling when I say it changes the way you look at the world and art especially after the scene with the docent….see this film and see it quickly, and remember when our MAH would have such an inspiring impact!!

WOMEN’S SEX ADDICTION. Just go online and check out the huge number of AA type sites for sex addiction. This is one about women’s sex addiction.

THANKS FOR SHARING. Mark Ruffalo and Gwenyth Paltrow do fine work in this serious comedy. It’s about AA and Tim Robbins as a spoonser all dealing with sex addiction. See that You Tube an inch or two above these words. I didn’t know if they were kidding about there being an AA concept for sex addiction….and I’m still not sure. A good film never the less and another idea for a better title would be…”Much Ado About Rutting“.

SALINGER.I’d forgotten that three (3) crazed killers actually used Salinger’s Catcher in The Rye as justifying their killing. This is one odd movie. It seems to confuse Salinger with God, or somebody more special than just a writer. Like Thomas Pynchon he became a recluse and shied away from the public. The film says that his “newest” material like a few books will be released next year!!! We’ll soon see if he was worth all the spying and guessing. Only see this if Catcher STILL means that much to you. Wait until they do a film on Pynchon, then I’ll get to tell about my meeting him over in Live Oak when he lived here!!!.

POPULAIRE. An almost Jerry Lewis level French film parodying Hollywood cutesy romantic comedies of the ‘50’s. It takes place in Paris 1958 and is all about speed typing. I kept noticing that the french typewriter keys use AZERTY and not QWERTY like ours. Maybe rent it at Thanksgiving when the relatives are here.

STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US

(from BEST 2 worst)

SHORT TERM 12. I Left the theatre in such awe that I was calling it the best film of the year. Then I saw on Rotten Tomatoes that more than half the other critics said exactly the same thing…this is the best film of the year. Brie Larsen as a supervisor of at risk teenagers in a facility probably near San Diego is perfect in the part. All the acting is perfect, it’s a gut wrenching accurate portrayal of not just the teen agers but everyone involved. Please see this film if you appreciate good films.

BLUE JASMINE. Don’t expect to see much of San Francisco in this one, even though Woody loves “The City”, he didn’t show us much of it onscreen. Cate Blanchett goes beyond acting…she digs deeper into her character than we’ve ever seen onscreen. She is simply brilliant. Alec Baldwin is perfect as a sleek, snaky “Mr. Smarmy” type. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll fall all over in your praise of Mr. W. Allen and his “on again-off again” directing technique. See this movie just as soon as you possibly can.

PATIENCE STONE. A young Muslim girl is married to an oldformer Jihadist hero who has been totally paralyzed and just lies there through almost the entire film just breathing. She pours her life out to him and he is as patient as a stone. Go see this movie…it’ll tear you apart and you’ll love it.

THERESE. Audrey Tautou is an unhappy wife in this 1920 French setting drama. It’s about women’s place in history, love, tradition, and just plain survival. An excellent movie.

SPECTACULAR NOW.Remember Shailene Woodley? Well, not by name- nobody does, but she was George Clooney’s fantastic teen age daughter in The Descendents. She’s back as anolder teenager in this serious, beautifully directed, thoughtful movie. There’s a bunch of teen- age- angst movies lately and I like them, mostly. We’ve all been there and done that, and this movie will touch all of your rough memories.

DRINKING BUDDIES. This is one of thosevery hip new indie films where,I’ll bet, no one had a script. It looks just about spontaneous and it’s mostly boring about beer and couples making in a very large Chicago brewery. Olivia Wilde is gorgeous to watch and she was one of the producers too. Maybe rent it later, unless you attend AA meetings, in which case forget it entirely.

CLOSED CIRCUIT. This movie is almost like part of PBS’s “Silk” series, and that’s good. Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall act as two London lawyers and there’s a lot about British law problems. The main deal is a terrorist action and who’s secretly involved. You really don’t need to see this one…there are plot holes, and doesn’t it seem like many movies have plot holes recently?? Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 44. R. Tomatoes gave Getaway a 2!!!

RIDDICK. Vin Diesel is back whether you like it or not. He’s created his own, what you might call “acting style’. And like the earlier two Riddick films it’s got cheap special effects, miserable monsters BUT it’s exactly what Riddick fans want. Only see it IF you liked the first two Riddick jobs.

GRANDMASTER. I took about three years of film classes in Asian film from Earl Jackson at UCSC. He taught us a lot about Asian Film. Then he moved to Korea to teach Koreans about film!! Now he lives in Taiwan. He taught us how and why Wong Kar Wai the director of Grandmaster, is a great and exciting film maker. Wong Kar Wai directed Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love, Ashes of Time, and more masterpieces. Grandmaster is a dramatic bio-pic of Ip Man, an iconic martial arts teacher. It’s historical, perfectly photographed, grandly acted, confusing, and disapointing…unless you like any and all of Wong Kar Wai’s films, and I do.

ELYSIUM. Matt Damon , through some Hollywood miracle is becoming a much better actor than anyone thought possible. Jodi Foster is always a magnetic screen attraction except that her “accent” in this sci-fi film gets way out of her control. It’s about the year 2159 and how all the rich and perfect people live on a “2001” type wheel circling in outer space. The poor people who live on a savaged and depleted earth suffer a lot just like Bladerunner stuff. Earthman Matt Damon works hard to save the earth people. IF (that big word again) IF you like sci-fi films this is a fairly good one. An overused plot but effective…but only on a big screen.

THE BUTLER. A very odd film. At moments it’s moving, deep, and influential. But Oprah Winfrey will always be Oprah, and you won’t forget that it’s Oprah being Mrs. Butler. Forest Whitaker has never been my favorite actor and he’s worse in this feel-almost-good flick. Robin Williams playing Eisenhower? John Cusack as Nixon? Alan Rickman as Ronnie Reagan? But Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan is terrific!! And nope, you never get to see who would have played Obama. Wait a couple of weeks and rent it.

THE WORLDS END. This is part of a genre-parody-comedy-trilogy (which I didn’t know or remember) Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz being the other two movies. These guys (Simon Pegg is one of them) attempt to drink one beer at each of a bunch of pubs. The World’s End is the name of the last pub. Shaun of The Dead parodied zombie films and this one parodys another genre. It’s as if you were watching Mary Poppins and all of a sudden Bruce Willis comes in and shoots everybody. I sure wouldn’t see it twice.

THE FAMILY. Robert DeNiro plays another Mafia made man and Michelle Pfeiffer does her best with this boring, predictable, over used plot. DeNiro informed on the mob and the fuzz moved them to France for protection. Lots of blood, few if any laughs, and it’s still boring. You’ve seen it all before.

AUSTENLAND. I like Jane Austen books, and I’ve liked most of the films made from her books, and I walked out after the first ten minutes of this cheap and ignorant comedy. There is not one second of British humor in it, it’s gross, poorly directed and a complete waste of everybody’s time. It’s about an American Jane Austen fan who saves her money, goes to England and visits the hokey- schlocky Austenland. Don’t even rent it.

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. Author, poet, retired Cabrilho College professor Don Young also returns on September 24 to talk about his two new collections. Linda Hoeger- Thompson and Gus Ceballos talk about Companion for Life programs and services after Don Young. On October 1st Peggy Dolgenos co-owner/director of Cruzio will tell us what’s new in the internet world followed by Bruce Van Allen illuminating De-Sal and other pressing issues. Cathy Pickerrell from the Santa Cruz Chamber Players opens the program on October 8, then John Hibble curator of the Aptos History Museum talks about old and new things. Santa Cruz County Supervisor John Leopold returns to co-host the bi annual Pledge Drive on Oct. 22. 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 with program ideas.

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!!!

QUOTES. “I always pass on good advice— it’s the only thing one can do”, Oscar Wilde.

“First Left, go along the corridor. You’ll see a door marked Gentlemen, but don’t let that deter you”, F.E.Smith. “If this is the way Queen Elizabeth treats her prisoners, she doesn’t deserve to have any”, Oscar Wilde.

COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS.

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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on September 24 – 30, 2013

September 18 – 24, 2013

HISTORIC OCTAGON HALL OF RECORDS and OUR ORIGINAL COURT HOUSE (AFTER 1882). This beautiful stately two floor masterpiece was our first County Court House, built in 1867 and burned down in 1894. Next door and on the left was and still is the Octagon. Now Lulu Carpenter’s coffee house. Back then it was the official Hall of records.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

DAVENPORT WATER-CEMEX-RYAN-SANTA CRUZ-KEELEY & NEAL. The two greatest thing about rumors are that “there’s always more where that came from” and tracking them down almost always leads to surprises. Davenport used to have all their water needs supplied by Cementos Mexicanos or CEMEX as we call it. (I didn’t know that there’s a 587 seat auditorium on the Stanford campus named the CEMEX Auditorium!). Even though it is one of the world’s largest cement producers, Cemex pulled out of Davenport leaving those folks low and dry. Here’s where the rumor starts….fingers point to Fred Keeley trying to pull a water deal by the City Of Santa Cruz supplying water to Davenport. That’s not all bad, and if and when that water deal looks almost perfect Ryan Coonerty and Daddy Neal will get the credits and the plugs in Ryan’s campaign for Dad’s seat. I’m going to adjust that rumor as soon as I get more facts, so when you hear anything along that Davenport-Santa Cruz water sharing let me know.

MNOZIL BRASS &LONELY BOY. Peggy Snider sent this totally bizzare and brilliant clip. Watch it the first 5 minutes to really get the point.

MAH’s NEWEST MEANINGMostly Attendance and Happenings. Other folks among the numerous local residents sugggested Mostly Attendance and Hobbies. Then there’s Mediocre, Humdrum and all kinds of clever ways to re-name our gone to hell Museum of Art and History. We’ve lost the “Museum”, “The Art”, and “The History” concepts of what was once a professional institution with professional standards. The actual mission statement of MAH has changed and now we have what should be called our “second community center”. MAH Board members have been quitting over this, professional historians, curators and staff members have either left or are completely devastated by the community circus that Nina Simon has created in the two and a half years she’s been executive director.

The Sunday August 11 New York Times had an article titled High Culture Goes Hands-On. Read it here….lots of people in the Museum business read it, and responded. Nina Simon did too….she didn’t like the article.

It says that museums across the country are going for attendance numbers and crowds and are sacrificing traditional experiences with history and with art to bring in large crowds that then are used as proof to justify grants, and larger sums of monies to subsidize these halls of hobbies. (Yes MAH exhibited my collection of toothpaste, Don Lane’s collection of eggs, Lance Linares collection of bottle caps….and that helps make the point….we fell for the Attendance and Hobbies part of the new name.

Remember back in the day when you could sit or stand and just think about the art pieces you were able to see in person? Think how many thousands/millions of students and artists were influenced by seeing circulating masterpieces or from the local collections…not now. Consider the impact on the next generation of art and history-lovers; the kids. Where can we take our kids now to learn how to experience a real museum; a place that challenges the attention span a little? There are experiential activities everywhere, as I mentioned but the former MAH was our only real museum environment that offered art in a museum context; a respectful place that created the sense that what you’re seeing is important, and worthy of your consideration. Not just something you whip through as you’re doing activities.

The new mission statement is so stunning in its exclusion of any cultural references that you should read it… From the website; “Our mission is to ignite shared experiences and unexpected connections”. What does that mean?? Where’s History, where’s Art, where’s Tradition, most important where’s any statement about inspiration and education???

Historians have told me many times in the last two and a half years that there are no longer any qualified historians cataloguing and curating and handling our MAH’s collections. Future generations will suffer from this. Concerned community members are wondering why the MAH Board of Directors have allowed this hobby-circus to take over MAH. The NY Times article said museums justify the numbers game because they claim the newest art equals experiences. Is it fear of getting involved? Is it just let Nina do her thing, it’ll work out…a hands off approach?

We’ve gained a second London Nelson Community Center (where all this show biz & hobby stuff should take place) and we’ve lost a vibrant and rewarding Art & History Museum.

MAH’S NEXT ART EXHIBIT??

TONY MADRIGAL RUNNING FOR MODESTO CITY COUNCIL. I thought everybody knew that Tony is running for Modesto City Council. So far I haven’t heard of anybody from Modesto calling Santa Cruz and asking how Tony did on our City Council. Aside from accomplishing next to nothing Aside from his support for building the Coast Hotel, his arrest and jail time for texting while driving, he should have been punished for the rude, continual, and insolent way he used his laptop during Council sessions. Good luck Modesto !!!

ANOTHER ATTACK ON SCOPE PARK??? Celia Scott wrote to say, “I just discovered that Scope Park is in jeopardy of being developed for commercial uses again. On Tuesday Sept. 10 the Council went into closed session to consider selling the park to a developer for a proposed (unspecified) commercial project. Comments were to be taken from the public just prior to the closed session, but who even knows about it or what actually is proposed? Here we go again. As if there wasn’t enough bad news!” Celia sent that last week….any reports on what happened? Scope Park, for any newcomers, is that tiny greenspace with Peter Bartczak’s mural of dancing beachers at the corners of Mission-North Pacific-Water Streets.

PATTON TO OPEN NEW LAW OFFICE. As of October 1st. Gary Patton will be opening his own private law practice. Witwer and Parkin and Patton are best of buddies and Gary will be focussing on land use and environmental issues in his new place…to be determined.

INTERVIEW WITH TOM SCRIBNER

UCSC AND SHAKESPEARE BRAND. “Words, words, words” was Hamlet’s reply and Santa Cruz (as a “hamlet”) should be eager to hear UCSC’s reply to Shakespeare Santa Cruz asking for the right to use that name in their future plans. Any response other than 100% full granting of rights will prove there’s more to UC’s official closing of SSC than meets the eye.

THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN & BERKELEY’S DAILY PLANET. Napolitano News.

From The Saturday Sept.14 issue of U.C. Berkeley’s Daily Californian…. The ASUC Senate wasted no time at the beginning of the academic year, gearing up in its first meeting to debate a bill expressing that the senate has “no confidence” in Janet Napolitano as the incoming UC president. Napolitano’s appointment raised concerns due to the policies she implemented in her previous position as Secretary of Homeland Security. In response, the ASUC Senate will debate SB 2, titled Bill in Support of Undocumented Students and Immigrant Communities, on Monday. “The ‘no confidence’ comes from a lot of history — she has deported over 2 million undocumented immigrants,” said ASUC Senator Sean Tan, who authored the bill. “There’s a lot of fear in terms of what is her main priority as UC president, because she comes from a background of surveillance and apprehension and security.” As Homeland Security Secretary, Napolitano played a role in enacting immigration policies such as Secure Communities, a program that allows local governments to report undocumented immigrants to federal officials. Under her leadership, the Homeland Security Department deported a record number of undocumented immigrants, according to a report by UAW Local 2865, a UC student workers’ union. Read the rest of it here… (B. Bratton.. full bragging disclosure…I was writing for The Daily Californian 1958-1960)

ELERICK’S INPUT. Paul Elerick writes…

APTOS LOCAL ECONOMIES ORGANIZATION (A.L.E.)

ALE is moving ahead with the fight against Safeway’s expansion plans at Rancho Del Mar in Aptos. Meetings are held every second Tuesday of the month at the Aptos Grange. A few signs supporting ALE’s cause have started to appear, and Safeway has begun discussion with the County Planning Department. If you think that seven traffic signals between State Park Drive and Trout Gulch Road sounds like traffic mitigation we’ve got news for you. It isn’t anything but pure gridlock for Aptos residents, but that’s what is being proposed. Sooner or later there has to be public hearings on this fiasco.

NISENE 2SEA TRAIL UPDATE.

The trail is finally under construction by CCC workers brought in by the County. This has been a long wait; we’re now into the second decade of dealing with the County and the developer who owns the property. When finished, there will be a trail between Cabrillo College and Nisene Marks Park that can be used by hikers, bicycle riders and dog walkers. We were looking forward to an end-of-August completion date. (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).

FASHIONART SANTA CRUZ 2012

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about developing Fort Ord, and Monterey’s General Plan.

He tells of the Community Choice Aggregation public power system in Santa Cruz County, and about Conner Everts chair of P.O.W.E.R. There is yet another Dog Leash meeting Thursday at Simkins Family Swim Center. See there are the Off Leash Advocates and the Leash Law Advocates and their twains never meet! He closes with a long look at the history and meaning of the 1978 Measure J. Read all of above at Gary’s KUSP Land Use scripts http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse Gary Patton, former Santa Cruz County Supervisor, and environmental 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

VINTAGE DE CINZO. DeCinzo reminds us of the joys of Wilder Ranch scroll below.

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim Eagan hears a droning noise…beware very much !! And see below about three pages.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Life initates Art this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), in the weirdly engrossing film Museum Hours, set largely within Vienna’s venerable Kunsthistorisches Museum. And while we’re on the subject, come along on a virtual tour of the museums of Vienna.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

THAT IS THE QUESTION

 

SHORT TERM 12. I Left the theatre in such awe that I was calling it the best film of the year. Then I saw on Rotten Tomatoes that more than half the other critics said exactly the same thing…this is the best film of the year. Brie Larsen as a supervisor of at risk teenagers in a facility probably near San Diego is perfect in the part. All the acting is perfect, it’s a gut wrenching accurate portrayal of not just the teenagers but everyone involved. Please see this film if you appreciate good films.

PATIENCE STONE. A young Muslim girl is married to an oldformer Jihadist hero who has been totally paralyzed and just lies there through almost the entire film just breathing. She pours her life out to him and he is as patient as a stone. Go see this movie…it’ll tear you apart and you’ll love it.

THERESE. Audrey Tautou is an unhappy wife in this 1920 French setting drama. It’s about women’s place in history, love, tradition, and just plain survival. An excellent movie.

DRINKING BUDDIES. This is one of thosevery hip new indie films where,I’ll bet, no one had a script. It looks just about spontaneous and it’s mostly boring about beer and couples making in a very large Chicago brewery. Olivia Wilde is gorgeous to watch and she was one of the producers too. Maybe rent it later, unless you attend AA meetings, in which case forget it entirely.

THE FAMILY. Robert DeNiro plays another Mafia made man and Michelle Pfeiffer does her best with this boring, predictable, over used plot. DeNiro informed on the mob and the fuzz moved them to France for protection. Lots of blood, few if any laughs, and it’s still boring. You’ve seen it all before.

STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US

SPECTACULAR NOW.Remember Shailene Woodley? Well, not by name- nobody does, but she was George Clooney’s fantastic teen age daughter in The Descendents. She’s back as anolder teenager in this serious, beautifully directed, thoughtful movie. There’s a bunch of teen- age- angst movies lately and I like them, mostly. We’ve all been there and done that, and this movie will touch all of your rough memories.

CLOSED CIRCUIT. This movie is almost like part of PBS’s “Silk” series, and that’s good. Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall act as two London lawyers and there’s a lot about British law problems. The main deal is a terrorist action and who’s secretly involved. You really don’t need to see this one…there are plot holes, and doesn’t it seem like many movies have plot holes recently?? Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 44. R. Tomatoes gave Getaway a 2!!!

RIDDICK. Vin Diesel is back whether you like it or not. He’s created his own, what you might call “acting style’. And like the earlier two Riddick films it’s got cheap special effects, miserable monsters BUT it’s exactly what Riddick fans want. Only see it IF you liked the first two Riddick jobs.

GRANDMASTER. I took about three years of film classes in Asian film from Earl Jackson at UCSC. He taught us a lot about Asian Film. Then he moved to Korea to teach Koreans about film!! He taught us how and why Wong Kar Wai the director of Grandmaster, is a great and exciting film maker. Wong Kar Wai directed Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love, Ashes of Time, and more masterpieces. Grandmaster is a dramatic bio-pic of Ip Man, an iconic martial arts teacher. It’s historical, perfectly photographed, grandly acted, confusing, and disapointing…unless you like any and all of Wong Kar Wai’s films, and I do.

THE WORLDS END. This is part of a genre-parody- comedy- trilogy (which I didn’t know or remember) Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz being the other two movies. These guys (Simon Pegg is one of them) attempt to drink one beer at each of a bunch of pubs. The World’s End is the name of the last pub. Shaun of The Dead parodyied zombie films and this one parodys another genre. It’s as if you were watching Mary Poppins and all of a sudden Bruce Willis comes in and shoots everybody. I sure wouldn’t see it twice.

BLUE JASMINE. Don’t expect to see much of San Francisco in this one, even though Woody loves “The City”, he didn’t show us much of it onscreen. Cate Blanchett goes beyond acting…she digs deeper into her character than we’ve ever seen onscreen. She is simply brilliant. Alec Baldwin is perfect as a sleek, snaky “Mr. Smarmy” type. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll fall all over in your praise of Mr. W. Allen and his “on again-off again” directing technique. See this movie just as soon as you posspbly can.

ELYSIUM. Matt Damon , through some Hollywood miracle is becoming a much better actor than anyone thought possible. Jodi Foster is always a magnetic screen attraction except that her “accent” in this sci-fi film gets way out of her control. It’s about the year 2159 and how all the rich and perfect people live on a “2001” type wheel circling in outer space. The poor people who live on a savaged and depleted earth suffer a lot just like Bladerunner stuff. Earthman Matt Damon works hard to save the earth people. IF (that big word again) IF you like sci-fi films this is a fairly good one. An overused plot but effective…but only on a big screen.

THE BUTLER. A very odd film. At moments it’s moving, deep, and influential. But Oprah Winfrey will always be Oprah, and you won’t forget that it’s Oprah being Mrs. Butler. Forest Whitaker has never been my favorite actor and he’s worse in this feel-almost-good flick. Robin Williams playing Eisenhower? John Cusack as Nixon? Alan Rickman as Ronnie Reagan? But Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan is terrific!!And nope, you never get to see who would have played Obama. Wait a couple of weeks and rent it.

AUSTENLAND. I like Jane Austen books, and I’ve liked most of the films made from her books, and I walked out after the first ten minutes of this cheap and ignorant comedy. There is not one second of British humor in it, it’s gross, poorly directed and a complete waste of everybody’s time. It’s about an American Jane Austen fan who saves her money, goes to England and visits the hokey-schlocky Austenland. Don’t even rent it.

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. Thom Zajac discusses the 29 years of Comic News on Sept. 17. Patricia Matejcek returns that same night to talk about South Couny issues. Author, poet, retired Cabrilho College professor Don Young also returns on September 24 to talk about his two new collections. Linda Hoeger- Thompson talks about Companion for Life programs and services after Don Young. On October 1st Peggy Dolgenos co-owner/director of Cruzio will tell us what’s new in the internet world. Cathy Pickerrell from the Santa Cruz Chamber Players opens the program on October 8.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 with program ideas.

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, 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!!!

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

QUOTES. “Bad taste doesn’t exist; it’s just a figment of somebody’s paranoia”, Viva. “All writing is pigshit”, Antonin Artaud.”An intellectual carrot? The mind boggles“, “The Thing” produced by Howard Hawks.

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 @ gunilla@thegoldenfleece.com

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on September 18 – 24, 2013

September 10 – 16, 2013

MISS CALIFORNIA CONTESTANTS ATOP PALOMAR HOTEL. That’s Miss Tulare on the left and Miss Azusa on the right. Obviously it’s 6:14 p.m. and not so obviously it’s June 1963. Newcomers shopuld note that this was the original location of our Town Clock. Also note the two way traffic PLUS curbside parking spaces!!! (Copy date Sept. 9)

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

REPUBLICANS TAKING OVER THE STATE AND SANTA CRUZ!!! The omni-present Don Webber sent this scary article from the September 3 issue of the LA Times. The title is “California Republicans thrive at the local level”. It begins with,”GOP members hold close to half the 2,500 mayoral and City Council seats in the state. It’s at the state level that the party is largely irrelevant”. When you think how Santa Cruz elected Pamela Comstock to our City Council and Bruce McPherson to our County Board of Supervisors, it should cause some kind of concern.

When you read the entire article, and you really should, you’ll see how our Santa Cruz County follows this dangerous path…(from the article) “In the last two statewide election cycles, when Californians voted true to partisan form — bucking the national GOP wave in 2010, siding strongly with Obama in 2012 — Republicans won more local contests than did Democrats, and not just in rural or such traditionally conservative-leaning areas as the Central Valley. More than 75 cities in California have a majority of Democratic voters but Republican-run city councils; the GOP has toeholds in such otherwise blue bastions as Alameda, Los Angeles and SANTA CRUZ counties”. I didn’t have time to check party registrations in the other cities in our County. Anyone have details on those places?? Read it all here…

NEW SANTA CRUZ POLICE CAMERAS. The Santa Cruz Downtown Association’s Chip told me yesterday (Sept. 5th) that the Santa Cruz Police Department now has special license plate cameras. We both agreed that maybe, just maybe, they could photograph the damned loud motorcycle maniacs who remove the mufflers from their bikes and make Pacific Avenue such hell…especially on weekends.

S.S PALO ALTO AERIAL VIDEO BY ARCHER KOCH. Archer Koch used one of little drone quadcopters with cameras and gives us footage of the Concrete Ship. Just beautiful. WE know of course that it’s a reinforced concrete ship that was built in Oakland in 1919…but why is it named The SS Palo Alto? Why Palo Alto?

LOCAL HOTEL NEWS. Gary Patton in his KUSP broadcasts this week announces…There are a couple of significant hotel proposals coming up in Santa Cruz County. First, there is a new proposal for the so-called La Bahia Hotel, in the City of Santa Cruz. The proposal is to demolish the existing 44-unit La Bahia apartment complex and to build a new 165-room hotel. If you want to comment on the Notice of Preparation for the Environmental Impact Report, the comment period ends on September 20th. Second, in the City of Capitola, a Monarch Cove Hotel Project is being proposed. Again, historic structures would be demolished and 32 hotel rooms would replace them on the site. The comment period on the Notice of Preparation for the EIR on this project ends on September 26th“.

SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ…MORE!!! It’ll be years before Santa Cruz gets over the loss of Shakespeare Santa Cruz. But to add to the absolutely odd relationship between the University and SSC…the reason there were no performances inside on UCSC’s Centerstage is because the University was charging SSC too much money to rent the space. Go figure.

SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ…EVEN MORE. Some informative opinions and feedback on UCSC’s David Yager killing of SSC. Feedback from ACT’s artistic director Carey Perloff and a switch in Marco Barricelli’s contract.

ZACH “WHOSE FRIEND IS HE?” FRIEND. Mr. Kess Kaathoven sent this enlightening view of our first opportunity to see which way Supervisor Zach Friend is going to vote on development issues.

“On August 27, the Board of Supervisors approved a proposal that weakens the County’s regulations for the Coastal Zone, that sacred area of the County in the California Coastal Commission’s jurisdiction. The amendments weaken coastal protections, and make it easier to develop without a coastal permit, and those amendments reduce protections for Seacliff Village. Zach Friend, who represents Aptos, made the motion to weaken the regulations despite the fact that his constituents care deeply about their coastline.

In fact, when three of the Supervisors (Leopold, Caput and McPherson) voted the correct way to eliminate one of the provisions that exempted all residential additions no matter the size from coastal regulation, Friend voted “no.” This is the first foray of Mr. Friend into a real land use decision. Not only did he vote the wrong way on coastal protection (including protections for Seacliff Village, a part of his district), but he made the motion to weaken coastal protections. He stated at the hearing that since staff made the recommendation, he trusts that staff has done its job. This means that whatever staff wants they can have. He won’t think for himself or carefully review +whether staff is actually making a sound recommendation. So look out Aptos residents. If this is any indication on the Rancho Del Mar mega-Safeway store, he will defer to staff and will not be a lead for his constituents to broker a deal the community can support. One can only hope there are not many more pressing land use and environmental issues during his tenure. But, the Planning Department has a number of zoning code “reform” initiatives moving forward. Friend may well be Aptos’ enemy, not its champion”. Kess Kaathoven.

 

SAVE APTOS. Aptos Local Economies (A.L.E.) is a growing organization of Aptos Citizens working hard to convince Zach Friend and the community, of the dangers in allowing Safeway to build their Mega-store at Rancho Del Mar. Read this link and see their many concerns.

ELERICK’S INPUT. More on Rancho Del Mar from Paul Elerick

Aptos History emerges from a garage cleaning project

Buried deep in my garage “stuff”, I uncovered a January 1974 copy of the Santa Cruz Times, the weekly back in the day. Appropriate to today’s Aptos, it featured the headline, “Aptos Action & the land war”. Along with providing an excellent history of Aptos and how it looked in 1974, the big issue of the day was GROWTH! In this case it was a chain store: Monte Mart, a Monterey – based food and discount store. They began the push into Aptos by soliciting support of various improvement organizations as early as 1972. This managed to incite those of us who didn’t want a regional shopping center in place of Rancho Del Mar that would cater to shoppers driving up and down Highway 1 and push out local businesses.

Monte Mart people based their pushiness on a projection by the County that Aptos would have 15,000 residents by 1984. (The county was way off; Aptos population was recorded at 6,220 in 2010. Somebody should reprint the entire article from the 1974 issue of the Santa Cruz Times; it is a fantastic look into our past. The article could also include updates on what really happened to Monte Mart (it went away) and how Rancho Del Mar was developed into community based businesses.

One could replace the name “Monte Mart” with “Safeway”, the company has set their sights on turning Rancho Del Mar into a regional shopping center. Could history possible repeat itself by sending Safeway packing the same way Aptos residents did with Monte Mart back in the 1970’s? We should be able to learn something after 40 years, i.e., that we don’t have to give in to something we don’t’ want. (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 talks about fracking and our board of Supervisors banning it. He adds news too on Aptos High School’s soccer field and the lack of permits. The Coastal Commission’s webcast facilities and this week’s meeting in Eureka deals with affordable housing. He explains L.U.L.U. (Locally Undesirable Land Use). A garbage dump is a LULU, and he carries on from there. Read all of above at Gary’s KUSP Land Use scriptshttp://blogs.kusp.org/landuse (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

VINTAGE DE CINZO. DeCinzo resurects «the Holy See» scroll down a page or three.

EAGANS DEEP COVER.See below for Doctor Eagan’s diagnoses of our real health problems…

LISA JENSEN LINKS. “This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com), get smart with Jewel Theatre Company’s ambitious new production of Tom Stoppard’s witty, literate Arcadia, and get engrossed by Audrey Tatou as a desperate housewife of the 1920s in Thèrése. “Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.

THAT IS THE QUESTION

ADORE. Watch the trailer. Some critics are calling it trash. What do they know??

ADORE. If you liked Sophocles “Oedipus” you’ll love Adore twice as much. A more “fun” title would have been “The Motherfuckers” but it wouldn’t go over too well in some areas. Naomi Watts and Robin Wright are now and always have been, superb actors, and whoever it is that play their two sons are almost as good, but you won’t remember their names either. I wasn’t fooling about Oedipus. You’re forced to at least think about it for most of this film. Not as many laughs as Blue Jasmine but deeper and better.

PASSION. Brian DePalma has Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace playing two cuthroat women in international corporate business. It’s neither too serious nor quite funny enough…so you can’t ever get the gist of it. It’s mostly Hollywood type acting set in Berlin and elsewhere. Don’t bother going.

RIDDICK. Vin Diesel is back whether you like it or not. He’s created his own, what you might call “acting style’. And like the earlier two Riddick films it’s got cheap special effects, miserable monsters BUT it’s exactly what Riddick fans want. Only see it IF you liked the first two Riddick jobs.

AUSTENLAND. I like Jane Austen books, and I’ve liked most of the films made from her books, and I walked out after the first ten minutes of this cheap and ignorant comedy. There is not one second of British humor in it, it’s gross, poorly directed and a complete waste of everybody’s time. It’s about an American Austen fan who saves her money, goes to England and visits the hokey schlocky Austenland. Don’t even rent it.

STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US

SPECTACULAR NOW.Remember Shailene Woodley? Well, not by name- nobody does, but she was George Clooney’s fantastic teen age daughter in The Descendents. She’s back as anolder teenager in this serious, beautifully directed, thoughtful movie. There’s a bunch of teen- age- angst movies lately and I like them, mostly. We’ve all been there and done that, and this movie will touch all of your rough memories.

CLOSED CIRCUIT. This movie is almost like part of PBS’s “Silk” series, and that’s good. Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall act as two London lawyers and there’s a lot about British law problems. The main deal is a terrorist action and who’s secretly involved. You really don’t need to see this one…there are plot holes, and doesn’t it seem like many movies have plot holes recently?? Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 44. R. Tomatoes gave Getaway a 2!!!

GRANDMASTER. I took about three years of film classes in Asian film from Earl Jackson at UCSC. He taught us a lot about Asian Film. Then he moved to Korea to teach Koreans about film!! He taught us how and why Wong Kar Wai the director of Grandmaster, is a great and exciting film maker. Wong Kar Wai directed Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love, Ashes of Time, and more masterpieces. Grandmaster is a dramatic bio-pic of Ip Man, an iconic martial arts teacher. It’s historical, perfectly photographed, grandly acted, confusing, and disapointing…unless you like any and all of Wong Kar Wai’s films, and I do.

THE WORLDS END. This is part of a genre-parody- comedy- trilogy (which I didn’t know or remember) Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz being the other two movies. These guys (Simon Pegg is one of them) attempt to drink one beer at each of a bunch of pubs. The World’s End is the name of the last pub. Shaun of The Dead parodyied zombie films and this one parodys another genre. It’s as if you were watching Mary Poppins and all of a sudden Bruce Willis comes in and shoots everybody. I sure wouldn’t see it twice.

GETAWAY.This Ethan Hawke action car chase movie is and was a complete waste of time for everybody involved in making it….so don’t you waste your time in seeing it. The acting is literally non-existent. The car chase (about 95% of the movie) is poorly filmed, the plot is impossible and you’ll hate yourself if you do go..

BLUE JASMINE. Don’t expect to see much of San Francisco in this one, even though Woody loves “The City”, he didn’t show us much of it onscreen. Cate Blanchett goes beyond acting…she digs deeper into her character than we’ve ever seen onscreen. She is simply brilliant. Alec Baldwin is perfect as a sleek, snaky “Mr. Smarmy” type. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll fall all over in your praise of Mr. W. Allen and his “on again-off again” directing technique. See this movie just as soon as you posspbly can.

ELYSIUM. Matt Damon , through some Hollywood miracle is becoming a much better actor than anyone thought possible. Jodi Foster is always a magnetic screen attraction except that her “accent” in this sci-fi film gets way out of her control. It’s about the year 2159 and how all the rich and perfect people live on a “2001” type wheel circling in outer space. The poor people who live on a savaged and depleted earth suffer a lot just like Bladerunner stuff. Earthman Matt Damon works hard to save the earth people. IF (that big word again) IF you like sci-fi films this is a fairly good one. An overused plot but effective…but only on a big screen.

THE BUTLER. A very odd film. At moments it’s moving, deep, and influential. But Oprah Winfrey will always be Oprah, and you won’t forget that it’s Oprah being Mrs. Butler. Forest Whitaker has never been my favorite actor and he’s worse in this feel-almost-good flick. Robin Williams playing Eisenhower? John Cusack as Nixon? Alan Rickman as Ronnie Reagan? But Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan is terrific!!And nope, you never get to see who would have played Obama. Wait a couple of weeks and rent it.

THERESE & AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS. This is just an advance suggestion to plan on seeing both of these fine films. We got to see them ahead of time. Audrey Tautou stars in Therese and has grown way past her “Amelie” cutesy muck. More later.

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. September 10 has Tina Brown and Rose Sellery giving details on their Fashion Art Extravaganza 9/28, followed by Jeff Sanford talking about his Cartoon Jazz Orchestra’s newest release. Thom Zajac discusses the 29 years of Comic News on Sept. 17. Patricia Matejcek returns that same night to talk about South Couny issues. Author, poet, retired Cabrilho College professor Don Young also returns on September 24 to talk about his two new collections. Linda Hoeger- Thompson talks about Companion for Life programs and services after Don Young. On October 1st Peggy Dolgenos co-owner/director of Cruzio will tell us what’s new in the internet world. Cathy Pickerrell from the Santa Cruz Chamber Players opens the program on October 8.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 with program ideas.

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, 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. “I want to say something so embarrassing about September that even the leaves start blushing and turning red”, Jarod Kintz. “I’ll be damned if I’ll love just to love—there’s got to be more to it than that”, Humphrey Bogart. “Standing on a Street corner waiting for no one is Power”, Gregory Corso.

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 @ gunilla@thegoldenfleece.com

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on September 10 – 16, 2013

Column September 4 – 10, 2013

DREAM INN BEING CONSTRUCTED. This was April 26, 1963. On the far left you can see the old Sisters Hospital which moved to the Branciforte Plaza on Soquel. The Dream Inn is often considered the local environmentalist’s biggest loss, and spurred them on to organize more efficiently.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

THE DE-SAL ISSUE. So much has been said….and will continue being said about this learning experience for our community. We should not lose track of the lessons, and stay on point. Gary Patton as our attorney in a letter to the City Council on behalf of our Community Water Coalition sums up the situation nicely. And I repeat most of his points here (he took 33 pages to write it!!).

(LESSON ONE).It isn’t just the 400 letters that were written in response to the EIR it’s that to continue and to pursue completing the EIR is pursuing the De-Sal water plant.

(LESSON TWO). It isn’t just the people of the City of Santa Cruz who say that the plans for our De-Sal were and are faulty and dangerous, it’s the State and Nation wide agancies that have judged our de-sal and the EIR report so negatively. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says that the discharged brine and the proposed dredging and pproject construction plans are dangerous. In their words, “CDFW recognizes the City’s significant efforts to date to evaluate both the City’s water supply needs and adequate flows for fish; however, the results of those efforts have not been accurately reflected in the draft EIR”. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that the EIR is full of faults. (NMFS) The National Marine Fisheries Service say the cities data is insufficient, and that the City doesn’t have all the information. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) also recommends exploring land use alternatives before continuing with the present thrust towards a de-sal plant.

(LESSON THREE). Hold a series of educational meetings working with the community so we can reach a consensus.

(LESSON FOUR). We should never forget the people who pushed so hard and so long for a de-sal plant. People like Ryan Coonerty, Cynthia Mathews, Mike Rotkin, Neal Coonerty and Fred Keeley. These folks have woven themselves into our political fabric…they won’t go away, they are convinced they know what’s best for the community, and they haven’t given up on De-sal.

STEAMER LANE BY DRONE FILMING. Photographer Eric Cheng used his drone to take 5 minutes of absolutely stunning views of the Lighthouse, the surfers, the sea lions, and the stunning waves at Steamer lane on July 21 of this year. Jason Hopin wrote fine words when the Sentinel linked to this in July. I just found it….and you need to see it. The music was an excellent choice too.

LENZ ARTS AND PAINT. Over the last few years I’ve gripped a few times about how crappy Lenz Arts building used to look. Now they’ve painted it… and we all need to say thanks. Lenz is on of the most used corners in downtown and you’d think especially since they sell paint*, it would never have become as shabby as it did….thanks. *( I know that house paint isn’t the same as… etc.).

SHAKESPEARE SANTA CRUZ. I’m not sure what to say that hasn’t been said already. As readers of BrattonOnline must know by now, I was part of the small band of sisters and brothers led by Audrey Stanley who created Shakespeare Santa Cruz back in 1980 and before. I had a part in King Lear, the very first play presented and I’m almost positive that I attended every single play in its 32 year history. For an interesting dialogue including reactions from Marco Barricelli go to Isaac Butler’s “Parabasis” blog.

VETERANS HALL RE-OPENING (A CORRECTION). I mentioned in the last BrattonOnline that Greg Caput was the only member of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voting to re-build, re-hab and re-construct the Vet’s Hall. I’ve heard that from my fellow members of the Disabled Veterans of Santa Cruz County and lots of places. The truth is (from deep in the trustworthy bowels of our County government) that “the entire Board of Supervisors has always supported full reconstruction of the Vet’s Hall, and the Board has voted unanimously on every single item regarding the bidding, re-bidding and awarding of the
construction contract for the Vet’s Hall. To imply otherwise is factually wrong at best and disturbingly disingenuous”. I’m happy to print that correction, and happy too that the Santa Cruz Vet’s hall will re-open in a few weeks.

TRIPS TO SANTA CRUZ 1937 & 1938. See Highway 17 the way you always knew it could be.

NEW CLASSICAL RADIO STATION. KYZZ 97.9 FM. Dan Morookian of KZSC fame told me about KYZZ 97.9 fm. the new all classical station. It’s automated, no announcers, no identifying of any music being played, no commercials. It plays “Tchaikovsky tchotchkes” endlessly. That means big orchestra-romantic drivel. The recorded message keeps saying “Bach is Back, Beethoven is back” but after listening off and on for days, I never heard those guys at all. KYZZ I think is simulcast from KMZT a pseudo-Mozart station in LA.

NEW OLD HISTORICAL COWELL KILNS UCSC PHOTOS FROM 1920’S. Frank Perry the new director of The Capitoila Historical Museum told us on the Universal Grapevine program (Tuesdays 7-8 p.m. KZSC 88.1 fm) that more than 50 “new” photographs from the limestone quarry days on the Cowell UCSC campus were given to UCSC recently. They were from a limestone worker named Silva who took the photos with his Kodak Brownie camera. The photos had been in Portland all these years. Hopefully we’ll be seeing them soon.

JENNIFER BOULANGER’S NEW FENCE IDEA. Daughter Jennifer spied this fascinating and nearly bizarre yard decoration.
ANIMALS ON TRAMPOLINES. Carolyn Lagatutta (noted photographer) sent this one.

TIM GONCHAROFF OFF AND RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL.I met with Tim Goncharoff (his idea) last week. He’s really, really running for City Council. If you are on Facebook you’ve seen all his messages and plugs. He thinks that the City made a big mistake in their de-sal plans and wants to pursue water capturing and other measures long before pursuing de-sal again. He’s not setting a top on campaign limits and figures on spending $30,000 or more. He supported the warriors Arena. He was in favor of widening Highway One. He liked the ” bike trail on Arana Gulch”. He’s pro minimum wage for Santa Cruz. He couldn’t give me any names of supporters yet, but promised he would as soon as he got their OK. He wouldn’t say whether he’d vote more like Pamela Constock or Micah Posner. He’s got a degree in Planning and has worked as a professional for our county. He’s a member of the City Planning Commission. And has worked hard and suceeded in creating many environmentally sound County and City practices, such as the plastic bag ordinance. He has many good sounding conservation plans like wind power, solar power and more. He’s smart and works well with others. More later.

STORIES FROM THE URBAN FOREST. Gillian Greensite.

Part 2. HERITAGE TREE ORDINANCE: SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

The city’s Heritage Tree Ordinance was not passed by city council in 1973 as I described in Part 1 of Stories from the Urban Forest. Carole DePalma was able to find an old Sentinel article that jogged her memory of the sequence of events from those early years and gives us a more accurate historical record. The efforts started in 1973 and an emergency ordinance was imposed at that time but it was not until 1976 that the actual ordinance was voted into law. The removal of some large eucalyptus trees on the site of the former Santa Cruz hospital on Soquel Avenue sparked council member DePalma to initiate the proposal for a permanent heritage tree ordinance, which passed on a 5 to 2 vote. We owe Carole DePalma a vote of thanks for her vision and commitment to environmental protection at a time when the significance of preserving big trees was not so obvious as it is today.

So has the Heritage Tree Ordinance (HTO) done the job it was intended to do? Are the city’s large, significant or historical trees still alive 37 years after the ordinance was passed? The city has never made inventory of its heritage trees so complete numbers are unavailable but the data that is available suggests that the HTO has failed to protect our heritage trees.

In 2000, the Parks and Recreation Commission requested data from the then city arborist, Ray Sherrard, on how many heritage trees had been cut down in the previous 5 years. The results were staggering. Out of requests for permits to cut down 2,500 heritage trees, 2,350 permits were granted. According to the current city arborist, last year, permits were granted to remove 170 heritage trees and 11 were denied. She confirmed that last year was a typical year. That adds up to an additional 2,200 heritage trees removed, making a total of 4,550 heritage trees removed in less than 20 years. In a city less than 16 square miles in size.

Some loss of heritage trees over time is to be expected. Some trees may become a hazard, some may become diseased, some may cause structural damage with no options for addressing the problem. However, in my 38 years experience trying to save big trees, particularly on the lower westside, few fell into those categories justifying removal. In the majority of cases, the trees were healthy and sound, any structural problems fully capable of being resolved. So why are so many tree removal permits granted? I suspect that it’s the easy way out for the decision-makers. There has always been a tension between private property rights and the public good. Many don’t see trees as a public resource. They are outraged if they are told they can’t cut down a healthy big tree on their property. The city, instructed by the city attorney, caters far more to the tree owners than the trees or the ordinance that was passed to protect them. The Heritage Tree Grant program that was passed by council in 2002 to help property owners financially with the care of their big trees was de-funded a few years ago. The Parks Department could have added it to this year’s budget request but didn’t, which reflects their low priority for heritage trees. An ordinance is only as good as the people implementing it. Our remaining heritage trees will only be saved if we demand their protection”. Gillian Greensite. (Coming soon Part 3: Heritage Tree Ordinance Revisions: Sharpening the Axes).

ELERICKS INPUT.

EARLY JUMP FOR 2014 COUNTY SUPERVISORS RACE.

A lot has been said about Ryan Coonerty’s early announcement for the 3rd District County Supervisors election in 2014. His early announcement has raised some eyebrows as to why people are endorsing Ryan before the election cycle won’t start until next spring. These early endorsers shouldn’t come as a big surprise, except for a few. Ryan collared a long list of business, labor, electeds and developers during his run for a 2nd term on Santa Cruz City Council in 2010. Most, if not all, of these endorsers will certainly be on Ryan’s 2014 list for County Supervisor.

So who is missing from this who’s-who list in Santa Cruz County? Most of the environmental activists and all of the Progressive community. It might appear that the 3rd District election will be over in the June 14th primary unless somebody steps up. Remember, name recognition isn’t everything. Ask Eric Hammer who came within 145 votes of beating career politico Bruce McPherson last November. With the vote on Desal possibly being on the same ballot with Ryan, this race is far from over! (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).

A DEER DAY AT THE BEACH. Deer meet harbor seals at Hopkins Marine Station beach.
SANTA CRUZ SOJOURN. 1955 MISS SANTA CRUZ BATHING BEAUTY CONTEST.

HEAL THE SICK…EVEN LOCALLY?? We probably don’t “have all the information” as our Mayor sez, but how come in the last very few years, the HMO Secure Horizons has dumped all Santa Cruz citizens from coverage, Kaiser Permanente hasn’t allowed any locals to belong to their plan for decades, we hear hundreds of Medical professionals complaining about ever lowering reimbursements…and yet…and yet PAMF (Palo Alto Medical Foundation) is growing by leaps and bounds all over our county!!! Doctors from private practices and other services are joining PAMF, they are sure huge hereabouts. Somebody who knows should explain how this works. I like PAMF, they treat me “excellent well”, but how does this happen?

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary again discusses the concept of Land Use and what our involvement could and should be. He pushes the Carmel Valley Association as an example. He then tells us about the Aptos Local Economies (ALE) group who are working on action against the Safeway expansion in Aptos. Here’s their website. http://www.aptoslocaleconomies.com . The Pajaro River Flood Prevention Authority meets Friday 9/6. Their website is http://www.pajaroriverwatershed.org . He closes with news about a Seaside Sustainable Living tour on Sunday, 9/8. Read his website for full details. Read all of above at Gary’s KUSP Land Use scripts http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse (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 )

VINTAGE DE CINZO. DeCinzo has been on vacation, that’s why we haven’t seen his works in the Sentinel and won’t until next Friday. Scroll down for a classic DeCinzo now !!!

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim gives us a lesson in the recesses of our Congress. Wheel below.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “What? You haven’t seen 20 Feet From Stardom yet? Not even once? Find out why you should this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). Also more good news about the US edition of my novel, “Alias Hook,” coming soon from St. Martin’s Press!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975″

THAT IS THE QUESTION

SPECTACULAR NOW.Remember Shailene Woodley? Well, not by name – nobody does, but she was George Clooney’s fantastic teen age daughter in The Descendents. She’s back as anolder teenager in this serious, beautifully directed, thoughtful movie. There’s a bunch of teen- age- angst movies lately and I like them, mostly. We’ve all been there and done that, and this movie will touch all of your rough memories.

CLOSED CIRCUIT. This movie is almost like part of PBS’s “Silk” series, and that’s good. Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall act as two London lawyers and there’s a lot about British law problems. The main deal is a terrorist action and who’s secretly involved. You really don’t need to see this one…there are plot holes, and doesn’t it seem like many movies have plot holes recently?? Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 44. R. Tomatoes gave Getaway a 2!!!

GRANDMASTER. I took about three years of film classes in Asian film from Earl Jackson at UCSC. He taught us a lot about Asian Film. Then he moved to Korea to teach Koreans about film!! He taught us how and why Wong Kar Wai the director of Grandmaster, is a great and exciting film maker. Wong Kar Wai directed Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love, Ashes of Time, and more masterpieces. Grandmaster is a dramatic bio-pic of Ip Man, an iconic martial arts teacher. It’s historical, perfectly photographed, grandly acted, confusing, and disapointing…unless you like any and all of Wong Kar Wai’s films, and I do.

THE WORLDS END. This is part of a genre-parody- comedy- trilogy (which I didn’t know or remember) Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz being the other two movies. These guys (Simon Pegg is one of them) attempt to drink one beer at each of a bunch of pubs. The World’s End is the name of the last pub. Shaun of The Dead parodyied zombie films and this one parodys another genre. It’s as if you were watching Mary Poppins and all of a sudden Bruce Willis comes in and shoots everybody. I sure wouldn’t see it twice.

YOURE NEXT. A ” scarylonely big house in the woods, and who gets shot with an arrow next” plotline. Creepy, well acted, canyon-size plot holes like why don’t they close the drapes instead of having all those killer arrows knock them off. Who is doing it and why, is almost an unique twist, the killers wear animal masks and all in all IF you like “10 little indian” plots go see it.

GETAWAY.This Ethan Hawke action car chase movie is and was a complete waste of time for everybody involved in making it….so don’t you waste your time in seeing it. The acting is literally non-existent. The car chase (about 95% of the movie) is poorly filmed, the plot is impossible and you’ll hate yourself if you do go..

THERESE & AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS. This is just an advance suggestion to plan on seeing both of these fine films. We got to see them ahead of time. Audrey Tautou stars in Therese and has grown way past her “Amelie” cutesy muck. More later.

STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US

BLUE JASMINE. Don’t expect to see much of San Francisco in this one, even though Woody loves “The City”, he didn’t show us much of it onscreen. Cate Blanchett goes beyond acting…she digs deeper into her character than we’ve ever seen onscreen. She is simply brilliant. Alec Baldwin is perfect as a sleek, snaky “Mr. Smarmy” type. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll fall all over in your praise of Mr. W. Allen and his “on again-off again” directing technique. See this movie just as soon as you posspbly can.

IN A WORLD. An odd-ball Los Angelesrecording studio drama with comedy thrown in. It’s very hip, contemporary, next generation, flip material about the so-called voice over commercial recording business. Having cut several voice overs in my time in both LA and San Francisco, it didn’t seem all that cut- throaty to me but that was decades ago. Go see it but only if you speak today’s LA lingo. Yes, I liked it.

ELYSIUM. Matt Damon , through some Hollywood miracle is becoming a much better actor than anyone thought possible. Jodi Foster is always a magnetic screen attraction except that her “accent” in this sci-fi film gets way out of her control. It’s about the year 2159 and how all the rich and perfect people live on a “2001” type wheel circling in outer space. The poor people who live on a savaged and depleted earth suffer a lot just like Bladerunner stuff. Earthman Matt Damon works hard to save the earth people. IF (that big word again) IF you like sci-fi films this is a fairly good one. An overused plot but effective…but only on a big screen.

THE BUTLER. A very odd film. At moments it’s moving, deep, and influential. But Oprah Winfrey will always be Oprah, and you won’t forget that it’s Oprah being Mrs. Butler. Forest Whitaker has never been my favorite actor and he’s worse in this feel-almost-good flick. Robin Williams playing Eisenhower? John Cusack as Nixon? Alan Rickman as Ronnie Reagan? But Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan is terrific!!And nope, you never get to see who would have played Obama. Wait a couple of weeks and rent it.

PARANOIA. This could have been a contender…but it is so full of overused plot pieces you could just as easily take a nap at home. Harrison Ford isn’t too bad and neither is Gary Oldman but the so- called script is so hackneyed and predictable, it’s just sad. Don’t go…ever.

THE WOLVERINE. Hugh Jackman actually pulls this comic book hero action flick off….and in a good way. There’s enough of an almost believable (and followable) plot to keep you watching, and almost believing in what you’re watching. It seems like I’m saying this more lately BUT if you like comic book action films (Superman, Batman etc.) this one really works.

TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM. This documentary makes Stars out of the faceless, nameless back-up singers on hit pop albums. I suppose there’s a point to it, but how about documentaries featuring the recording engineers, the producers, and the musicians who also make a song a hit? Making hits is a very collaborative; sharing process…it ain’t just the back-up singing. But it’s a fun film.

WAY, WAY BACK. It’s filmed mostly in a rundown family owned seaside water park, and it has some good moments Steve Carell has a very serious role as a bad step dad and Toni Colette is the teen age lead’s mom. It’s a coming of age film and Sam Rockwell is the kid’s guiding light. Alison Janney is the next door drunk and way overplays it. Save your money.

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. On September 3 Susan Myer Silton tells us about Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia that she’s directing for our Jewel Theatre Company, and playing Sept.5-22. Then Doug Keegan the program director of the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project (SCCIP) brings us new news about their program.September 10 has Tina Brown and Rose Sellery giving details on their Fashion Art Extravaganza 9/28, followed by Jeff Sanford talking about his Cartoon Jazz Orchestra’s newest release. Thom Zajac discusses the 29 years of Comic News on Sept. 17. Patricia Matejcek returns that sema night to talk about South Couny issues. Author, poet, retired Cabrilho College professor Don Young also returns on September 24 to talk about his two new collections. Linda Hoeger- Thompson talks about Companion for Life programs and services after Don Young. 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, 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. All are from Henry V.

“O! for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act”.

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more”.

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers”.

“Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen,
Our bending author hath pursued the story”.

COLUMN COMMUNICATIONS.

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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on Column September 4 – 10, 2013

August 22 – 28, 2013

CABRILLO/CABRILHO COLLEGE. Circa 1962. Plenty of parking spaces here. According to Kevin Newhouse’s Aptos book…it was 1958 when the County voters voted to create a junior college. The location was a hassle then and it still is, being between Watsonville and Santa Cruz. Wally Trabing, longtime columnist for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, suggested the name “Cabrillo” even though Cabrillo or Cabrilho (his Portuguese name) never saw any of California north of Santa Cruz island.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

GREAT QUOTE“Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” –Nineteenth century Ne-hilawe- (Cree) proverb

DE-SAL AND BILL KOCHER. Pages can and should be written about the history and manueverings behind Santa Cruz and the de-sal battle. I’m with Jean Brocklebank’s warning that the city also went ahead with the EIR on Arana Gulch after it seemed to be a dead issue. They turned around and passed it later after the EIR was certified….they’ll do the same thing with De-Sal. I spoke with Bill Kocher just after he announced retirement. He said there wre plenty of people in the department who could handle his old job. Why they are looking so far afield seemed to baffle him. He said that the city will now be cutting all ties with Cal Desal. I’m personlly betting that Kocher never again links his name as a consultant or anything dealing with De-sal plants. He said, in many words and in many ways, that he was doing what the city asked him to do re: de-sal, and that they changed their minds. I’m betting that Rotkin, Keeley, Coonerty (Ryan and Neal) plus Mathews all truly believed in, and still believe in de-sal and pushed the rest of the council and staff into this mess.

Out of all this was Mayor Hilary Bryant’s statement and unbelievable quote in last week’s Sentinel…”You can’t let the community make the decision when they don’t have all the information,” Bryant said. Isn’t this what all bloated, better-than-thou politicians believe? That they have all the pure, undeniable facts with no bias, no angles, no financial ties, just pure information??? She doesn’t have “all the information”, the City Council doesn’t have “all the information”…and what’s worse, rumors now have it that she is thinking about running again. Let’s hope she has more information this time.

SAUL LANDAU— BOTH SAD AND GREAT NEWS. I’ve mentioned before that Bob Taren, a close friend of Saul Landau’s told me that Saul Landau has cancer of the bladder. Now Bob informs us that The Cuban government has awarded Saul Landau its highest honor the, “Cuban Medal of Friendship”. Alarcon is the past president of the Cuban Assembly. Bob said he was told that among those present at the ceremony was Pablo Armando Fernandez the port laureate of Cuba and other dignitaries. Ricardo Alarcon said “Saul Landau deserves this recognition and much more. He has given our people a sincere, unlimited, authentic friendship all his life. In his early youth he embraced revolutionary ideas and never abandoned them. He always upheld these ideas far from dogmatism, bureaucratic or sectarian distortions. He has been a loyal friend since the long gone times of Ramparts Magazine and Studies on the Left to Progreso Weekly, and his intense participation in the struggle for the liberation of our five compañeros unjustly punished for fighting against terrorism”… he said more than that.

In accepting the award Saul stated, “The Medal of Friendship and ICAP represent the virtues of the Cuban Revolution as in 1959, when I began supporting the solidarity movement as President of the Students Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Then, Cuba represented, as it does now, justice and equality as a force for global progress toward peace and the end of oppression. These values deserved universal support in the beginnings of the Revolution, in the same way they deserve it in 2013.I feel deeply honored and touched by this recognition. Read the entire piece from Radio Havanna Cuba . Saul’s an old friend from our days together in the San Francisco Mime Troupe and I’ve re-printed his weekly Progreso Weekly articles in BrattonOnline for over a decade.

Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD from roundworldproductions@gmail.com

OUTER SPACE MONSTER. Tom Noddy found this one.
Click for a larger image of this article from 1970…
thumb

CRAZIEST IDEA YET. Don Webber shook most of the western world with a question…”Why doesn’t UCSC build their own De-Sal plant?” They have the land, and from all we hear they have a crying need to expand, so they can build their own water source…who’s to stop them?

LATTÉ BREAKING NEWS & RUMORS. Supervisor Greg Kaput told me that if all goes well, and apparently it is going well that the Santa Cruz Veterans Memorial Building will open in September. He said all of our County Supervisors now support the re-supporting of the building….which they didn’t before. WE can now assume that oft-mayor and council person Mike Rotkin will change his prefix to “De-salinist, Feminist, Socialist Mike Rotkin“. Rumors have yet to be checked, but it’s being whispered that Greg Archer really isn’t Polish and that he’s just trying to pass. That DeCinzo cartoon last week the two of us “curmudgeons” sitting in front of Lulu’s at The Octagon was nearly scurrilous….I don’t hate Girl Scouts or even the forcing those little girls to wear uniforms and them having to make god pledges, I just think their door to door selling and competing over junk food cookies teaches them bad ideas.

NEW JAPANESE 2011 TSUNAMI FOOTAGE. Dale Matlock sent the clip shown to the right and added, “It’s amazing to see how this thing builds within the 26 minutes shown- and the relative calm of those behind and around the camera(s). You’ll need a tall glass of your favorite beverage to assist you to the end, where the fires are then raging. Not sure of the exact locale, or how close to the sea it is, but all I could think of was the San Lorenzo River and its tributaries during such an event. Cheers, Dale”. To which I’d add just how do you think our City Council would respond to a disaster of this size? How prepared is Santa Cruz? But of course it could never happen here. But when it does, the Tannery will be the first to go, then Pacific Avenue will flood out. But since the City Council has all the information about tsunamis and how we’ll be saved we don’t need to worry.

ELERICK’S “INPUT” & LISA JENSEN’S “LINKS”. Both Paul Elerick and Lisa Jensen are on vacations. No, not together…I don’t think they even know each other. Paul went to Michigan and Lisa and husband Jim Aschbacher went to Sweden, for some reason.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary’s on vacation now too but he writes and broadcasts aboutWater Wisdom and the State Water plan.He talks about The New Complete Streets Guidebook and how it minimizes car usage. There’s a Land Trust Bar BQ thiss Saturday August 24 (see details) there’s also a new Carmel River Stewardship Manual that could and should be applied to other rivers we all deal with. He closes with news about a rules for De-Sal projects happening in Sacramento next Wednesday.Read all of above at Gary’s KUSP Land Use scripts http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse (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

MAGIC MEMORY METAL. Even though you see it, you won’t believe it.
VINCE GUARALDI & BOLA SETE. They play “Star Song” on Ralph Gleason’s TV show back in 1963. Just so we can remember what it meant to swing.

EDUARDO CARRILLO MUSEUM. (MUSEO EDUARDO CARRILLO). Betsy Andersen tells us « We are seeking to reconnect with old friends of Eduardo’s. We would love to be able to stay in touch with them and hear their stories and let them know about news regarding Eduardo. We are having an event…See the video, meet our director Pedro Pablo Celedon at MAH, Thursday September 19th 5:30-7:30. She added that there is aRetrospective of Ed’s work scheduled for 2015 at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. More news upcoming. On top of that…Museo Eduardo Carrillo has been awarded $50,000.00 toward the completion of the documentary “Eduardo Carrillo: A Life of Engagement”. In awarding the grant, Peter Mithoefer, representing The Robert T. Keeler Foundation, said, “We look forward to the realization of this tribute to Ed’s inspiring life and work.” Professor Dr. Gilberto Cardenas, The Julien Samora Chair Latino Studies and the Director of the Institute of Latino Studies in at University of Notre Dame, Indiana says, “Eduardo was a true pioneer. He exhibited his art and was recognized in the early 1960’s. That was so early for a Mexican-American to gain recognition”. Ralph D’Oliveira, co-founder of the Tortuga Patrol mural project in Watsonville, CA states,“He was always just ahead of his time in terms of his art view. He didn’t believe you built fences to get ahead, you opened up fences-you opened up doors.” While earning his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees at University of California, Los Angeles the arts of Mexico were missing from the curriculum. In 1972, when his teaching career began at UC Santa Cruz, Eduardo developed culturally relevant classes for an increasingly diverse student population. He taught there for 25 years until his death in 1997. Our film will trace Eduardo’s discovery of his Mexican heritage in Baja, California. The simplicity of life, beauty of the land and authenticity of the people drew him back again and again. “Eduardo Carrillo: A Life of Engagement” will underscore his connection to his roots in San Ignacio, Baja, California. As the cultural environment of the 1960’s changed global perspectives so did his understanding of his place in the world. We will share how his evolving relationship to his ancestral homeland exerted its influence on his art. It was a geographical connection, a familial connection but beyond that it was a spiritual relationship that evolved over many decades. This story will be told in our film.For more information please contact: Betsy Andersen ,Director, Museo Eduardo Carrillo 831 239- 411 or spark@cruzio.com and Visit www.museoeduardocarrillo.org

VINTAGE DE CINZO. Curmudgeon DeCinzo checks out a “more uniform approach” to learning. See below.

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Check out Tim’s approach to GOP politics and how we really feel. Scroll a few feet downwards.

BLUE JASMINE. Don’t expect to see much of San Francisco in this one, even though Woody loves “The City”, he didn’t show us much of it onscreen. Cate Blanchett goes beyond acting…she digs deeper into her character than we’ve ever seen onscreen. She is simply brilliant. Alec Baldwin is perfect as a sleek, snaky “Mr. Smarmy” type. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll fall all over in your praise of Mr. W. Allen and his “on again-off again” directing technique. See this movie just as soon as you posspbly can.

IN A WORLD. An odd-ball Los Angeles recording studio drama with comedy thrown in. It’s very hip, contemporary, next generation, flip material about the so-called voice over commercial recording business. Having cut several voice overs in my time in both LA and San Francisco, it didn’t seem all that cut-throaty to me but that was decades ago. Go see it but only if you speak today’s LA lingo. Yes, I liked it.

THERESE & AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS. This is just an advance suggestion to plan on seeing both of these fine films. We got to see them ahead of time. Audrey Tautou stars in Therese and has grown way past her “Amelie” cutesy muck. More later.

ELYSIUM. Matt Damon , through some Hollywood miracle is becoming a much better actor than anyone thought possible. Jodi Foster is always a magnetic screen attraction except that her “accent” in this sci-fi film gets way out of her control. It’s about the year 2159 and how all the rich and perfect people live on a “2001” type wheel circling in outer space. The poor people who live on a savaged and depleted earth suffer a lot just like Bladerunner stuff. Earthman Matt Damon works hard to save the earth people. IF (that big word again) IF you like sci-fi films this is a fairly good one. An overused plot but effective…but only on a big screen.

THE BUTLER. A very odd film. At moments it’s moving, deep, and influential. But Oprah Winfrey will always be Oprah, and you won’t forget that it’s Oprah being Mrs. Butler. Forest Whitaker has never been my favorite actor and he’s worse in this feel-almost-good flick. Robin Williams playing Eisenhower? John Cusack as Nixon? Alan Rickman as Ronnie Reagan? But Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan is terrific!!And nope, you never get to see who would have played Obama. Wait a couple of weeks and rent it.

PARANOIA. This could have been a contender…but it is so full of overused plot pieces you could just as easily take a nap at home. Harrison Ford isn’t too bad and neither is Gary Oldman but the so- called script is so hackneyed and predictable, it’s just sad. Don’t go…ever.

STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US

BLACKFISH. We all need to see the documentary Blackfish. It’s abouthow cruel and even evil SeaWorld treats their Orca Whales. Orca Whales are members of the dolphin family it’s about how one of those killer whales killed a lovable and talented trainer. What it’s really about is how all of us are guilty of making Sea world and all aquariums and zoos and keepers of trapped animals and sea life vast sums of money for continuously torturing jelly fish, gorillas, elephants, just so we can pay and peer into their unnatural habitat. Wikipedia says, “Wild killer whales are not considered a threat to humans, although there have been cases of captives killing or injuring their handlers at marine theme parks.[8] Killer whales feature strongly in the mythologies of indigenous cultures, with their reputation ranging from being the souls of humans to merciless killers”. Yes the Monterey Aquarium is just as guilty as the rest of them. The actual amount of research and legitimate experimentation they do in re the torture of those trapped fish is minimal and we all know it. See the film Blackfish before responding.

STILL MINE. It’s another “crabby, but lovable old people” movie. This time it’s grandma played by a surprisingly old Genevieve Bujold who’s nearly nuts. (She’s really only 71) James Cromwell plays the 89 year old husband (he’s really only 73) who loves her and builds a house without a permit!! So you know it couldn’t have happened in Santa Cruz. Go see it, and bring a hankie, and your cane.

THE WOLVERINE. Hugh Jackman actually pulls this comic book hero action flick off….and in a good way. There’s enough of an almost believable (and followable) plot to keep you watching, and almost believing in what you’re watching. It seems like I’m saying this more lately BUT if you like comic book action films (Superman, Batman etc.) this one really works.

THE CONJURING. IF you like scary films this one is excellent. Vera Famiga seems to outdo herself in any role she’s given and here in this “based on a true story” film she plays a ghost hunter’s wife. Yes, there are the usual cellar stairs, spirit bodies hanging from trees, and so on BUT if you like etc.etc.

TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM. This documentary makes Stars out of the faceless, nameless back-up singers on hit pop albums. I suppose there’s a point to it, but how about documentaries featuring the recording engineers, the producers, and the musicians who also make a song a hit? Making hits is a very collaborative; sharing process…it ain’t just the back-up singing. But it’s a fun film.

WAY, WAY BACK. It’s filmed mostly in a rundown family owned seaside water park, and it has some good moments Steve Carell has a very serious role as a bad step dad and Toni Colette is the teen age lead’s mom. It’s a coming of age film and Sam Rockwell is the kid’s guiding light. Alison Janney is the next door drunk and way overplays it. Save your money.

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 Podcasts. New Capitola History Museum Frank Perry guests on August 27th followed by Cabrillo College Gallery director Tobin Keller. On September 3 Susan Myer Silton tells us about Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia that she’s directing for our Jewel Theatre Company, and playing Sept.5-22. Then Doug Keegan the program Director of the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project (SCCIP)brings us new news about their program.September 10 has Angelo Grova giving details on his Fashion Art Extravaganza, followed by Jeff Sanford talking about his Cartoon Jazz Orchestra’s newest release. Patricia Matejcek returns on Sept. 17 to talk about South Couny issues. Author, poet, retired Cabrilho College professor Don Young also returns on September 24 to talk about his two new collections. 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, 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!!!

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

QUOTES. “There are fools , damn fools, and jockeys who remount in a steeplechase“, John Oaksey. “Of course I have played outdoor games. I once played dominoes in an open-air café in Paris”, Oscar Wilde. “Anybody can win, unless there happens to be a second entry”, George Ade.

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 @ gunilla@thegoldenfleece.com

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on August 22 – 28, 2013

August 8 – 14, 2013

SANTA CRUZ BEACH & BOARDWALK 1940. By taking a closer look you can see the historic La Bahia Hotel in the lower left corner. You don’t need to look so hard to see the Historic Casa Del Rey Hotel that vanished with a FEMA payback right after the 1989 quake. Then there’s the Boardwalk pier and the freely flowing San Lorenzo River with the once-named “Opera Island” just before the railroad bridge.

photo credit: private photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

DENTIST CHRISTIE AND HIS ROOT CANAL PROBLEM. The case of Dentist William Christie versus his wanting to destroy the 4 Canary Island Pine trees that are on his property isn’t over yet. The deep roots are causing him great pain and obviously something needs to be extracted. Environmentalists and Tree lovers plus the Historical Building Preservationists are at odds over this and are eagerly waiting for the cities’ decision. Former mayor Chris Krohn, former professor Jim Funaro, UCSC’s Gillian Greensite and many others are working hard to save those 70 foot tall pines. Dentist Christie’s office is across the street from the Good Will Store and where India Joze used to be. That’s the corner of Union and Center….you’ve seen and read about this battle I’m, sure. Dentist Christie (and you know what they say about Dentists) has brought wild and weird politics into it Christie was once the Chairman of The Santa Cruz Police Review Board but he was so pro any and all police actions he was removed. Now in his appeal to the City he calls Krohn” a single uninformed individual”, “with too little to do” and that his actions are due to their “radically different political differences”. He even continued by calling ME “poorly informed, but deeply opinionated”. He repeated my line in this space about how Christie’s patients should go to “more environmentally minded dentists”. Near the close of his ranting and bitching he threatens the city with “I feel there could be legal ramifications here”. What a guy! what a dentist. You gotta wonder about a guy who opens a dental practice between and among four very young pine trees and then spends years, dollars and legal time fighting about their growing. It’s like moving to Times Square and complaining about the traffic. Or moving to Death Valley and suing over the amount of sand. There’ll be announcements any day now whether or not Our COURAGEOUS City Council will vote to save those trees. Be sure to read Gillian Greensite’s series on our Heritage Trees and how our Santa Cruz has treated them.

DENZEL WASHINGTON POSITIVELY GUARANTEES. Denzel and his script writers must have a thing about the word “guarantee”. I’d never noticed, but watch this clip, Ralph Davila found it.

LATTE BREAKING NEWS. Michael Bethke told me he is definitely NOT running for City Council or anything because he has a bad hip problem. Don Lane repeated the non-news that he too isn’t running for anything, it just seems like he is. You’ve seen those Segways around town, right? One of the Segway Tour owners set me straight, they are NOT for rent, and they are for tours only and there are two tours per day. Those Segways cost $7,500 each and people were breaking them…so tours only NO rentals.

HACKEY SACK LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN.

BAGS FOR SALE. I just learned the news that when our more than benevolent County Board of Supervisors passed that ordinance about plastic bags that they are now charging for what they used to give away for free. The money Safeway, Whole Foods, CVS gets from selling you those bags….they keep!!!. Another corporate crime aided by our Supes!!! That money should go to our arts organizations, our schools, or some environmental cause. Let’s right this wrong ASAP.

LOUIS SATCHMO 1933 INTERVIEW & CONCERT !! This took place in Copenhagen. Listen to him play and sing « Dinah » !!

STORIES FROM THE URBAN FOREST. by Gillian Greensite(The first in a series)

Part 1: “History of the Santa Cruz city’s Heritage Tree Ordinance. Like most cities in California and many across the nation, Santa Cruz has a Heritage Tree Ordinance, designed to protect large, old, unique or historic trees living within the urban boundary. Today, the need for such an ordinance seems a no-brainer. The urban tree cover is declining nation-wide at four million trees per year, according to the US Forest Service. The level of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere recently broke the once unthinkable barrier of 400 parts per million for the first time in three million years. Forty years ago, however, the need for an ordinance to protect our urban forest was not so obvious to the general public. But as is often the case, a few individuals saw the need, put their heads together and with the help of a sympathetic city council, passed the Heritage Tree Ordinance into law in 1973.

The spark that ignited the cause was the felling of an old English walnut tree for the construction of a building behind Holy Cross church. According to the story shared by M. Lachman, this particular walnut tree was not only good eats but had a unique history. It was from this tree in 1812 that the Mission Indians hung Father Quintana due to his cruel treatment of them, including beatings with a metal-tipped whip. While there is no reference to this particular tree in the historical records, its destruction was the incentive for Mr. Lachman to seek out landscape architect Roy Rydell and city planner Joe Hall to begin the process of crafting an ordinance to protect Santa Cruz’s old and significant trees.

There were differences of opinion on what should constitute a heritage tree. Some felt that the ordinance should cover only a limited number of outstanding trees such as the Black Walnut on Cedar St. before it was butchered. Others felt that the ordinance should include protection for a broader range of trees. Undoubtedly there were some who felt no trees needed protection, arguing that the marine terraces were originally treeless. The city council of the day, including the newly elected Bert Muhly, who played a significant role in the establishment of the California Coastal Commission, debated the various points of view and decided to protect trees based on their size, their uniqueness and their historical significance. The council also debated the appropriate size for a tree to be designated as heritage. With few ordinance models from other cities to use as a guide, the council came up with a figure based on a unique calculation. The circumference for a tree to be designated as heritage would be 44 inches or, as the local press reported the council’s deliberations, the size of council member Muhly’s waistline! As it turned out, 44 inches circumference or 14 inches diameter is somewhat similar to the tree size criterion for ordinances in other cities, although most protect trees of even smaller size.

Part 2: Heritage Tree Ordinance: Success or Failure? (Next Issue)

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary reports on our County Board of Supes being back and in session. He relates about PG&E and their problems in Monterey and how they relate to San Bruno’s disaster, and if the City should buy the Golden State Theatre. He deals with Monterey’s de-sal plans and plant and how the Monterey Herald newspaper likes the agreement. He tells about Cal Am and who owns the rights to our water…and Monterey’s water. Read all of above at Gary’s KUSP Land Use scripts http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse (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

VINTAGE DE CINZO. It couldn’t happen here to our very own Starbucks…could it ??See below a few pages.

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim Eagan introduces us to Rocco, the peoples candidate. Scroll down a page or four.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “In celebration of marriage equality, take a look at my favorite same-sex domestic partnerships in the movies—and feel free to suggest your own—this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com). After that, I’m on vacation, so meet me back here in two weeks!” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

SHAMU STILL ROCKS AT SEA WORLD. See the Blackfish documentary ASAP. Check out this ad from Sea World in Orlando. http://seaworldparks.com/seaworld-orlando/Attractions/Shows/Shamu%20Rocks

Or check out our very own Sea World San Diego also featuring a performing Shamu.

http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-sandiego/Events/Summer-Nights?from=Front_Page_Bottom_Promo

TO SEE….OR NOT TO SEE

THAT IS THE QUESTION

BLACKFISH. We all need to see the documentary Blackfish. It’s abouthow cruel and even evil SeaWorld treats their Orca Whales. Orca Whales are members of the dolphin family it’s about how one of those killer whales killed a lovable and talented trainer. What it’s really about is how all of us are guilty of making Sea world and all aquariums and zoos and keepers of trapped animals and sea life vast sums of money for continuously torturing jelly fish, gorillas, elephants, just so we can pay and peer into their unnatural habitat. Wikipedia says, “Wild killer whales are not considered a threat to humans,[7] although there have been cases of captives killing or injuring their handlers at marine theme parks.[8] Killer whales feature strongly in the mythologies of indigenous cultures, with their reputation ranging from being the souls of humans to merciless killers”. Yes the Monterey Aquarium is just as guilty as the rest of them. The actual amount of research and legitimate experimentation they do in re the torture of those trapped fish is minimal and we all know it. See the film Blackfish before responding.

STILL MINE. It’s another “crabby, but lovable old people” movie. This time it’s grandma played by a surprisingly old Genevieve Bujold who’s nearly nuts. (She’s really only 71) James Cromwell plays the 89 year old husband (he’s really only 73) who loves her and builds a house without a permit!! So you know it couldn’t have happened in Santa Cruz. Go see it, and bring a hankie, and your cane.

STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US

FRUITVALE STATION. A must see film. Not a documentary, it’s an amateur director’s first attempt, and not just because it’s almost in our neighborhood… it’s simply a “Must See Film”. It’ll give you all the more reasons why our justice system needs so much correcting and not only in the BART-Oscar Grant case. It’s been winning awards everywhere.

THE WOLVERINE. Hugh Jackman actually pulls this comic book hero action flick off….and in a good way. There’s enough of an almost believable (and followable) plot to keep you watching, and almost believing in what you’re watching. It seems like I’m saying this more lately BUT if you like comic book action films (Superman, Batman etc.) this one really works.

THE CONJURING. IF you like scary films this one is excellent. Vera Famiga seems to outdo herself in any role she’s given and here in this “based on a true story” film she plays a ghost hunter’s wife. Yes, there are the usual cellar stairs, spirit bodies hanging from trees, and so on BUT if you like etc.etc.

TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM. This documentary makes Stars out of the faceless, nameless back-up singers on hit pop albums. I suppose there’s a point to it, but how about documentaries featuring the recording engineers, the producers, and the musicians who also make a song a hit? Making hits is a very collaborative; sharing process…it ain’t just the back-up singing. But it’s a fun film.

RED 2. Sure Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta-Jones are in it,but trust me; John Malkovich and Bruce Willis ruin every scene and any bit of tension or believable minute of this junk flick. I defy anyone who claims to have liked this mess to repeat the plot to us. It is so convoluted, so impossible, so stupid.

MYSTERIOUS FAIRY U.K. INSECT. Just another odd You Tube curiosity.

UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE, the radio program I host, happens each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Universal Grapevine is 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. . . Kevin Newhouse guests on August 13 to tell us about his new Arcadia book on Aptos. He’ll be followed by Dean Kaufman, the Santa Cruz County Veteran Advocate. Santa Cruz County Supervisor Greg Caput talks politics and about his background on August 20. On September 3 Susan Myer Silton tells us about Tom Stoppard’s play Arcadia that she’s directing for our Jewel Theatre Company, and playing Sept.5-22.September 10 has Angelo Grova giving details on his Fashion Art Extravaganza, followed by Jeff Sanford talking about his Cartoon Jazz Orchestra’s newest release. 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, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sand hills, 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!!!

QUOTES. “A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first”, Chanakya “I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky,” Audrey Hepburn. “He plants trees to benefit another generation”, Caecilius Statius.

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 @ gunilla@thegoldenfleece.com

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on August 8 – 14, 2013

August 1 – 7, 2013

LA BAHIA…FORMERLY CASA DEL REY APARTMENTS. The La Bahia Apartments were originally designed as the luxury Casa Del Rey Apartments. Back in the Golden Age of Santa Cruz Tourism, before WWII, they were part of a sprawling tourist complex that included the Casa Del Rey Hotel (300 rooms), a 150-unit Cottage City, a trolley terminal and railway station, a night club, convention facilities in the Boardwalk Casino, gardens, tennis courts, a putting green, and the golf and country club at Pogonip.

photo credit: private photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

BING CROSBY, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, FRANK SINATRA. I don’t think people swing
like this anymore…from “High Society”

CITY COUNCIL NEWS. It’s only a little early to fan the flames on our City Council status but according to well planted sources Hilary Bryant won’t be running again. She’s had a much tougher time as mayor than she anticipated, they say. David Terrazas will be running and folks are still wondering why he bothers, or what he’s accomplished. Lynn Robinson is termed out of the City Council and it’s entirely possible she’s planning on running for Neal Coonerty’s Supervisor seat. Lynn would have the
support of the “rightish” Pamela Comstock supporters such as Take Back Santa Cruz, Debbie Elston’s Santa Cruz Neighbors, Cynthia Mathews’ Downtown Neighbors and that kind of organization. Names floating around for council seats include Rick Longinotti of the anti de-sal group, Ed Porter, past council member, is thinking about it too. Michael Bethke has
been attending anti-de-sal meetings and trying to make big impressions around town, and I’m guessing he’ll go for it. Richelle Naroyan‘s name has been floating around even though her last Council campaign “didn’t work
for her” and she quit running.

BOARD OF SUPERVISOR NEWS. As we read in last week’s Sentinel, Ryan Coonerty “de-murred” twice about his position on de-sal. That’s odd, especially when you consider that it was Ryan who voted and worked hard, many times, and voted and approved the spending of more than 17 million
dollars so far, just to investigate and promote de-sal.

BEAR HOE DOWN. Ah the joys of nature, before they attack!!!

COASTAL COMMISSION NEWS. Before, during and after his appearance on Universal Grapevine last Tuesday State Assemblyman Mark Stone talked about the past, present and future of the California Coastal Commission. He introduced me to former Commission member Steve Blank over at Lulu’s.

Steve retired from the Commission in June. Mark and every other environmental believer knew that Steve Blank was a vital force on the commission following closely in Peter Douglas‘s footsteps. Mark also added that the Coastal Commission is weakening and is bowing more and more to local government decisions. That’s bad news, because as we know so well in Santa Cruz County so many times local government decisions are controlled
by developers and weak supervisors
.

HOW SOON WE FORGET. It was two years ago that The California Coastal Commission voted 6-4 against approving a change in our city’s coastal plan to allow Charlie Canfield’s 125 room condo-hotel La Bahia Hotel to be built. Now Charlie Canfield’s back with Craig French as project manager wanting to build a 168 room hotel. We’ll see about those plans later. What caught my eye were statements in the Friday, August 12, 2011 Santa Cruz Sentinel by our then Mayor Ryan Coonerty and Mark Stone, who was our County Supervisor and a Coastal Commissioner (and was one of the 6 votes against changing the coastal plan). Mark Stone was quoted as saying, “I think a project like this can be done within the framework that exists”. Mayor
Ryan Coonerty said, “We are extremely disappointed. This was a good project that reflected the values of Santa Cruz”. “Mark Stone failed to represent the community, and I am extremely disappointed in his leadership”.

SPACE ROCKET LAUNCH.

DE-SAL ITEMS. It really isn’t a terribly big deal but just when you believe that our City Council is supposed to be representing us and not selling us a bill-of-goods we have Councilperson Cynthia Mathews trailed by Trink Praxel passing out pro De-Sal pamphlets at the League of Women Voters last meeting when the League had invited Gary Patton to talk to them about the area’s water problems. The huge question remains why is our city council so determined to sell us on de-sal? Is it Bill Kocher’s face saving plot? Who and what’s really behind this financial commitment the council has maintained….is something lurking?

SAN FRANCISCO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL. About 16,000 of us saw 17 newly discovered and restored silent films in 3 days and opening night. It’s been happening every year for 18 years in San Francisco’s historic Castro Theatre.

Three films, Denmark’s The Golden Clown (1926), Russia’s The House on Trubnaya Square (1925), and Germany’s The Weavers (1927) are permanently entered in my “Best Films I’ve Ever Seen” list…for life. More than being screened at the proper speed and being shown on the big screen,
the Silent Film Festival goes to great research and expense to bring the finest of live musical accompaniment to each film. Whether it’s The Matti Bye Ensemble from Sweden, the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra from Colorado or the renowned Gunter Buchwald singing and playing his carefully researched film scores, the live music adds considerably to this Silent Film art form. I’ve said before that “comparing Silent films to talkies is like comparing books to television”. That certainly was true again this year.

Please note that The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is moving its play dates to May 29-June 1st 2014 to take advantage of the less expensive hotel and off-season visitor rates. Plan ahead, go here www.silentfilm.org
to check it all out.

VINTAGE DE CINZO. The ever-alert DeCinzo strikes again with dis-arming candor….scroll below.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express, find out why the complex Danish drama, The Hunt, hits a bull’s eye. And the celebration of marriage equality
continues with a look at my Top Five favorite domestic partnerships in the movies.” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

THE HUNT. A magnificent Danish film about a kind, loving, father who is undone, and ruined by a little girl’s made-up story about how he molested her. Annika Wedderkopp who plays the little girl is the finest child actor I’ve seen in my life. She’s probably about 5 years old and carries the film. But Mads Mikkelsen as the victim is as superb an actor as always…you’ll recognize him when you see this masterpiece, and you should.

FRUITVALE STATION. A must see film. Not a documentary, it’s an amateur director’s first attempt, and not just because it’s almost in our neighborhood… it’s simply a “Must See Film“. It’ll give you all the more reasons why our justice system needs so much correcting and not only in the BART-Oscar Grant case. It’s been winning awards everywhere.

WOLVERINE. Hugh Jackman actually pulls this comic book hero action flick off….and in a good way. There’s enough of an almost believable (and followable) plot to keep you watching, and almost believing in what you’re watching. It seems like I’m saying this more lately BUT if you like comic book action films (Superman, Batman etc.) this one really works.

THE CONJURING. IF you like scary films, this one is excellent. Vera Famiga seems to outdo herself in any role she’s given and here in this “based on a true story” film she plays a ghost hunter’s wife. Yes, there are the usual cellar stairs, spirit bodies hanging from trees, and so on BUT if you like etc.etc.

RED 2. Sure Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta-Jones are in it, but trust me John Malkovich and Bruce Willis ruin every scene and any tension or believable minute of this junk flick. I defy anyone who claims to have liked this mess to repeat the plot to us. It is so convoluted, so impossible, so stupid..

THE GIRL MOST LIKELY. Just about the first half of this slight comedy is brilliant. It’s like a Sex and The City episode only more subtle. Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening carry the film and Matt Dillon has his first good role in decades. And it does fall apart later but go see it, if it’s still around…or sure rent it.

WAY, WAY BACK. It’s filmed mostly in a rundown family owned seaside water park, and it has some good moments. Steve Carell has a very serious role as a bad step dad and Toni Colette is the teen age lead’s mom. It’s a coming of age film and Sam Rockwell is the kid’s guiding light. Alison Janney is the next door drunk and way overplays it. Save your money.

ONLY GOD FORGIVES. This is an art film. It’s way beyond any Tarantino slasher effort, it has barrels more blood, deeper stabbings, redder blood rivers, and style, style, style. Ryan Gosling is the main drug dealer and chief stabber. He doesn’t say much and later he takes his trusty sword and stabs his Mom, and pulls out lots of her bloody organs. As I said, it’s a style film and is dedicated to Alexander Jodorowsky…which must prove, or excuse, something

STILL PLAYING AT A THEATRE NEAR US

TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM. This documentary makes Stars out of the faceless, nameless back-up singers on hit pop albums. I suppose there’s a point to it, but how about documentaries featuring the recording engineers, the producers, and the musicians who also make a song a hit? Making hits is a very collaborative; sharing process…it ain’t just the back-up singing. But it’s a fun film.

THE LONE RANGER. The SF Chronicle’s film critic Mick LaSalle called this mess “the worst film of the year“. It’s bombing terribly and Mick’s right, no-one should spend a dime, or their time to see this FLOP. Johnny Depp plays Tonto as another insanely odd character, and the Lone Ranger is portrayed and played as a jerk and doofus who hates guns!!! It’s got horse manure jokes, and racist American attitudes. Here’s a quote from Marley Brown of PolicyMic.com….”While the relationship between the ranger and
Tonto was supposedly one of mutual respect, the stereotypical portrayal of Indians in The Lone Ranger has been a source of anger and disappointment to many Native people, including the writer and filmmaker Sherman Alexie, who told the Los Angeles Times: “In the movies, Indians are always accompanied by ominous music. I always feel that something bad is about to happen. I am always aware of how my whole life is shaped by my hatred of Tonto”.

WORLD WAR Z. As long time movie goers we’ve seen 100’s of zombie stalking, zombie sucking and plenty more of searches for the magic never tried formula that will save the world. That’s all that’s in this “Brad Pitt saves the world” mess. Not that it matters, but there are more and larger plot holes in this film than you could possibly count. My original quote, “Zombies that run, gnaw, puke a lot and bash their heads into windshields do not a good film make”. Save your money.

SUPERMAN (MAN OF STEEL). Super hero films can really only be critiqued by comparing them to other super hero films. It’s a special genre. The plots, the acting, the visuals, direction, editing etc. are like no other film
types. This Superman is not funny, no cutesy Clark Kent-“changing in a phone booth” stuff. No funny Gene Hackman or Marlon Brando villain/dad figures. Man of Steel starts and ends dark. Henry Cavill makes a great Superman. The rest of the cast is strange. Kevin Costner and Diane Ladd as Supe’s earth parents, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White!!, Russell Crowe as Jor-el ??? And of course Michael Shannon as General Zod. Don’t pay extra for 3D glasses there aren’t that many special effects. Plus we learn that the “S” on Supe’s shirt doesn’t stand for Superman it stands for hope. I could go on for pages talking about the religious stuff in this film. Like Clark in church praying with a background shot of Jesus kneeling before he was crucified, etc, etc. Go see it (big screen only) and only if you really like superhero films.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY. It was cool to see my old UC Berkeley campus buildings in this latest Pixar flick. It has Stanford scenes too but it certainly isn’t up to Pixar’s high standards of film making. It’s boring,
but Pixar has succeeded in that computer generated challenge of how to make hair or fur look real…it may be overdone but it’s clever. The plot of teaching ways to scare kids runs very thin in minutes but damn, Pixar animation techniques especially in 3D look more real than real does!!!

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. Assemblyman Mark Stone will be on July 23 bringing us up to date on Sacramento and his job He’s followed by Attorney Bob Taren rapping on local issues. Ed Holmes talks about The San Francisco Mime Troupe’s annual visit on August 6. Kevin Newhouse will talk about the new Aptos History picture book on August 13. 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 pod casts. Click here http://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, 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. “Awards are like hemorrhoids; sooner or later every asshole gets some”, Frederich Raphael. “I’ve done my bit for motion pictures….I’ve stopped making them”, Liberace. “It’s greater than a masterpiece….why it’s mediocre”, Samuel Goldwyn.

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 @ gunilla@thegoldenfleece.com

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on August 1 – 7, 2013

July 17 – July 30, 2013

BAY & HIGH STREETS BEFORE UCSC. 1957. On the left is the present UCSC Campus. That’s Meder Street coming straight down to the bottom center. If you squint you can see them building Highway One over the San Lorenzo at the top left, and yes you should have bought property back then.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

DE-LAYING THE DE-SAL VOTE. Behind closed doors the plot is underway to delay the peoples voting on Santa Cruz’s de-sal plant. Delay it until even 2016!!! That way Ryan Coonerty won’t be facing it as an issue when he runs in for the Board of Supervisors in June. It’ll stop de-sal from being an issue in the City Council elections too. Finding all sorts of ways to hold up the EIR appears to be the main tactic. Just watch out that’s all. Who’s behind the “closed doors” you ask, and we’ll guess Bill Kocher, Fred Keeley, Cynthia Mathews, both Coonertys, and a few more subcutaneous suspects that we’ll name later.

ENDORSING RYAN COONERTY. Just a warning to folks who are thinking of endorsing Ryan Coonerty….WAIT!!! many, many names and ideas are being hatched as candidates and of course women are playing a big role in breaking the good old boy board of supes bastion. If you’re looking for a pro-de-sal plant, an anti homeless, limiting people’s time to speak at the City Council….Ryan’s your guy, but just wait until all the other candidates come forth.

HISTORIC TREE ORDINANCE. Santa Cruz has developed a wide split between the Environmentalists and the Historic Preservationists. It all is coming to a near fever pitch over the four 70 foot Canary Island pines around Dentist William Christies office across from The Goodwill Store in downtown Santa Cruz. Christie wants them cut down because they are mucking up his office building. One well known historic preservation friend of mine put it very clearly, “fuck the trees”. People who love trees and see more benefits in having big trees downtown like Chris Krohn, Gillian Greensite, Rachel O’Malley and Jim Funaro are working hard to save them. This “Christie vs. the Trees” battle grows into our City Council wanting to revise and weaken the entire City ordinance on historic trees and last Tuesday night the City Council started to hear about that. The citizens who like trees say the ordinance violates CEQA. The City ignored them so Wittwer & Parkin attorneys send a letter saying the same thing. Then City attorney Barisone says there is a threat of a lawsuit. There wasn’t and he knew that. But the Council went into one of their famous closed sessions. Yes, Micah Posner went along with all that stuff too, in case you wondered. We need a CEQA review on what the City is trying to do to our trees. If the council and Parks & Recreation Dept. have their way the city of Santa Cruz will look like early Barstow!!…or late Barstow?

SILENT FILM FESTIVAL. Now in its 19 year The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is again bringing newly discovered and restored silent masterpieces to the silver screen….and they’re projected and shown properly. Started by former Santa Cruzan Stephen Salmons (a once usher at the Del Mar) the festival has grown to world wide fame.

Go here www.silentfilm.org to read the complete four day schedule. It’s at the historic Castro Theatre, there’ll be around 16,000 participants (most of us stay over). You should go to see at least one of these classics. For me silent films compared to talking films are like comparing books to TV. I’ll be there all four days, I’ve been attending for at least 10 years and love every reel of it.

Sent by Gunilla, my intrepid Web Woman, this is a clip that well illustrates why you shouldn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions…

KENNETH BRANAGH’S THE MAGIC FLUTE….WHAT??? I was hugely surprised when I saw the 2012 film of art’s The Magic Flute directed by Kenneth Branagh at Cedar Street Video. I hadn’t heard one word anywhere in the opera gangs about it and having nearly worshipped Ingmar Bergman’s version decades ago it amazed me that Branagh would try another. He set it in World War 1, and then he had Stephen Fry write a new libretto. If I can sit through more than the opening eight minutes after many attempts, I’ll let you know.

NEW IMPORTED TOOTHPASTE. You may recall that I’ve been collecting tubes of toothpaste from all over the world for decades. I just want to thank Tamara Parker (formerly titled a para-legal now it and she are called Legal Document Services). Tamara just returned from Singapore with a tube of Yunnan Baiyao, and you know what that’s like!! And artist / painter Sheila Malone, recently came back from Paris and points east, added a tube of Soulange les dents sensibles, as we say. Yes, they both have du fluoride!!

ELERICK’S INPUT. Good Neighbor Paul Elerick, sends this…

NEIGHBORHOODS NEED TO CHECK THIS OUT

Here’s an unsolicited pitch for a great private social network tool called “Nextdoor“. Our neighborhood has been using Nextdoor to share important information, from lost pets to the horrific double-murder that recently happened nearby. “Neighbors” was used to warn people to keep their doors locked as law enforcement officers located and arrested the suspect in the killings, even before the reverse 911 message was put out.

It’s pretty simple to establish your own Neighbors network. It just takes somebody to take the lead to get started. All the information you need can found here. Our neighborhood has over 80 members signed up, with more members being added each week.

APTOS BUSINESSES ARE GOING AWAY.

We had the opportunity to enjoy a great meal at Sophia’s the other evening. It’s right across the patio from Eric’s Deli, next the Aptos Cinema in Rancho Del Mar. People were enjoying the warm evening, eating outside and visiting with neighbors. It’s depressing to know that Eric’s Deli has announced their closing, along with the Burger restaurant. Can Sophia’s be the next to fall to the Safeway expansion threat? Why are we being subjected to replacing these businesses with a “new” Safeway megastore? Nothing new on the traffic study that is required until Safeway actually moves ahead with their plans. But expect that move to happen. Will the proposed cost of water for new developments make any difference to ambitious developer’s plans? Stay tuned.

(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’s KUSP broadcasts cover; A Green Infrastructure Webinar, and opening a new road on Fort Ord to make it easier to get to Salinas. He talks about the pollution on Pinto Lake and plans for land use in Carmel Valley. He closes with a plug for The Ventana Wilderness Alliance. Read all of above at Gary’s KUSP Land Use scripts http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse (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)

VINTAGE DE CINZO. Ever vigilant DeCinzo takes a peek at Santa Cruz High School. Scroll downwards.

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Father Eagan takes a relatively “Christian” point of view….see below.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “Cabrillo Stage celebrates marriage equality with a fizzy production of La Cage aux Folles, and Pedro Almodóvar turns a disaster movie premise into a frothy comedy in I’m So Excited, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com).” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

BYZANTIUM. An intelligent, sensitive, feminine vampire story that works. It’ll leave quickly so go immediately. The bloodsucking is minimal, well done and even thoughtful. The acting is nearly perfect, so many flashbacks it’s tough to follow, but it all works out in the end…..go see it…today.

PACIFIC RIM. IF (and that’s a large “IF”) you like Godzilla monsters and Transformer monsters this is an excellent movie!!! Director G. Del Toro makes great movies and this crushing, stomping, “bigger than thou” film has enough plot so that you actually care about the people, and the plot! See it only on the big screen and if possible in 3D!!

HIJACKING.A one week only Nick wonder film. (a distributor decision). This almost documentary has background and concepts behind pirates hijacking ships that you never thought or read about. And it’s got tension that would make Hitchcock jealous. Another absolutely excellent film. Forget what you saw in the trailers, it’s much better and more intelligent.

I’M SO EXCITED. Pedro Almodovar is one of the finest directors working in the world today. He’s openly gay and so I suppose he can throw gay stuff all through this film. It gets tiresome and trite, and less fun than Le Cage aux Folles. It probably is more daring in Spain. Don’t go expecting to see Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas in it…they aren’t onscreen long enough to call it a cameo shot. With the S.F. Airport crash two weeks ago I didn’t think a comedy about an airliner about to crash was all that necessary. I didn’t like the part where some passenger ended up covered up in emergency foam on the runway either. Rent this one about a year from now, when plane crashes might be funnier.

Still playing at a theatre near us!!

UNFINISHED SONG.If you like sobby movies about old people Terence Stamp is 75 and Vanessa Redgrave is 76 and she’s dying and he’s taking care of her. Only he’s very snotty and nasty and she’s a saint. She dies and he finally gets happy anyways. Stamp was much better as General Zod in an earlier Superman movie. Go if you like crying and feeling sorry for old people.

TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM.This documentary makes Stars out of the faceless, nameless back-up singers on hit pop albums. I suppose there’s a point to it, but how about documentaries featuring the recording engineers, the producers, and the musicians who also make a song a hit? Making hits is a very collaborative; sharing process…it ain’t just the back-up singing. But it’s a fun film.

THE LONE RANGER.The SF Chronicle’s film critic Mick LaSalle called this mess “the worst film of the year”. It’s bombing terribly and Mick’s right, no-one should spend a dime, or their time to see this FLOP. Johnny Depp plays Tonto as another insanely odd character, and the Lone Ranger is portrayed and played as a jerk and doofus who hates guns!!! It’s got horse manure jokes, and racist American attitudes. Here’s a quote from Marley Brown of PolicyMic.com….”While the relationship between the ranger and Tonto was supposedly one of mutual respect, the stereotypical portrayal of Indians in The Lone Ranger has been a source of anger and disappointment to many Native people, including the writer and filmmaker Sherman Alexie, who told the Los Angeles Times: “In the movies, Indians are always accompanied by ominous music. I always feel that something bad is about to happen. I am always aware of how my whole life is shaped by my hatred of Tonto. Whenever I think of Tonto, I hear ominous music.” p.s. I just learned that when Columbus landed in America they didn’t name them “Indians” after the country of India! There wasn’t any country that was named “India” in 1492!!!

WHITE HOUSE DOWN.If you can believe Jamie Foxx as President Barack. H. Obama, then this action flick isn’t too bad. Bad spies, secret troops, storm the White House, they kill lots of people, they hold hostages and things like that. Now if you can believe that Channing Tatum (who was also the producer) can rescue our non-smoking president you could actually enjoy this dumb summer flick. It certainly shouldn’t be on anyone’s must see list.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY.It was cool to see my old UC Berkeley campus buildings in this latest Pixar flick. It has Stanford scenes too but it certainly isn’t up to Pixar’s high standards of film making. It’s boring, but Pixar has succeeded in that computer generated challenge of how to make hair or fur look real…it may be overdone but it’s clever. The plot of teaching ways to scare kids runs very thin in minutes but damn, Pixar animation techniques especially in 3D look more real than real does!!!

WORLD WAR Z.As luck would have it, I had an echo cardiogram and saw this movie on the same day. Believe me; the echo cardiogram was more interesting and more fun than this “Brad Pitt saves the world” mess. Not that it matters, but there are more and larger plot holes in this film than you could possibly count. Zombies that run, gnaw, puke a lot and bash their heads into windshields do not a good film make. Save your money.

SUPERMAN (MAN OF STEEL).Super hero films can really only be critiqued by comparing them to other super hero films. It’s a special genre. The plots, the acting, the visuals, direction, editing etc. are like no other film types. This Superman is not funny, no cutesy Clark Kent-“changing in a phone booth” stuff. No funny Gene Hackman or Marlon Brando villain/dad figures. Man of Steel starts and ends dark. Henry Cavill makes a great Superman. The rest of the cast is strange. Kevin Costner and Diane Ladd as Supe’s earth parents, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White!!, Russell Crowe as Jor-el ??? And of course Michael Shannon as General Zod. Don’t pay extra for 3D glasses there aren’t that many special effects. Plus we learn that the “S” on Supe’s shirt doesn’t stand for Superman it stands for hope. I could go on for pages talking about the religious stuff in this film. Like Clark in church praying with a background shot of Jesus kneeling before he was crucified, etc, etc. Go see it (big screen only) and only if you really like superhero films.

BEFORE MIDNIGHT.I definitely see too many action films. About 30 minutes into this part 3 of this Julie Delpy-Ethan Hawke piece of precious, boring fluff I was hoping Hawke would shoot Julie Delpy right between the eyes, or at least cut her throat so she couldn’t talk anymore. (Speaking cinematically of course). All the two of them do in this tedious, meaningless, piece of tripe is argue…and not well either. If you’ve seen their previous junk… Before Sunrise, Before Sunset or 2 Days in New York and 2 Days in Paris, you know what I mean. Besides that Julie Delpy is even worse when she’s topless. And she’s topless a lot in this Midnight flick.

NOW YOU SEE ME. Woody Harrelson, plus Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, and Morgan Freeman try hard to make this “magicians rob a bank” movie into a film worth buying tickets for, especially at today’s box-office prices. The idea is silly; none of these actors can convince anybody that they are magicians. Don’t go.

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. Assemblyman Mark Stone will be on July 23 bringing us up to date on Sacramento and his job He’s followed by Attorney Bob Taren rapping on local issues. Ed Holmes talks about The San Francisco Mime Troupe’s annual visit on August 6. Kevin Newhouse will talk about the new Aptos History picture book on August 13. 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 pod casts. Click here http://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, 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. “When men have to do with one another, they are like verbs…almost all verbs are irregular“, Soren Kierkegaard. “Why doesn’t everybody leave everybody else the hell alone?”, Jimmy Durante. “It took me a long time to discover that the key thing in acting is honesty. Once you’ve learned to fake that, you’ve got it made“, Peyton Place

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 @ gunilla@thegoldenfleece.com

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on July 17 – July 30, 2013

July 11 – 17, 2013

COOPER HOUSE aka. SANTA CRUZ COUNTY COURTHOUSE This magnificent structure stood at the corner of Pacific and Cooper Streets (now O’Neills). It became our Cooperhouse, a center of community and cultural attractions until the quake of ’89 caused minor damage and it was torn down for greedy profit, even though it was retrofitted before the quake.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

MORGAN FREEMAN & OUR DECLARATION.Apparently this was filmed in 2006 and has Mel Gibson in it, but it’s still worth watching.
A FAIRFIELD INN COMMERCIAL. Is this what we want?

RYAN COONERTY’S SUPERVISOR CAMPAIGN.Ryan did admit to me last week that my early announcement of his running for County Supervisor “speeded up his timeline”. Other reactions say it really flummoxed his campaign. Folks now wonder if Papa Neal Coonerty’s wheelings and dealings had a long time plan. First we have Daddy Neal in as our City Mayor followed by little Mayor Ryan. Now we have Pops leaving his Supervisor job early and plotting to get boy Neal in his seat. Fred Keeley also told me in no uncertain terms that “Yes” I’m supporting Ryan for Supervisor. Now we can do some deep wondering about Keeley’s heavy involvement in Bruce McPherson’s very recent Supervisor campaign and his equally serious work now on behalf of Ryan. Makes some of us wonder just what Keeley is up to? Yes as you can imagine it really does weaken Neal’s power, commitment, and influence on the Board of Supervisors being a lame duck. By the way Don Lane isn’t running for Supervisor in case you heard those rumors.

FAIRFIELD INN & A DESIGN REVIEW…WHAT’S THAT?? As you probably read The Santa Cruz City Planning Commission not only approved a new 86 room FAIRFIELD INN out on Mission Street near Moore Creek & Western Drive. Not only that but they said this cookie cutter Best Western-Holiday Inn-Super 8 copy was “well designed”!!! If anyone has ever wondered why the entrances to Santa Cruz are so ugly and why Ocean Street’s structures are so terrible looking it’s because Santa Cruz has no design committee. No-one in our city structure ever says no to developers…it’s as if we want to look like San Jose. This 3 story hotel was proposed and approved years ago. Then it had 103 parking spaces now the city allowed Lotus Management of San Jose to cut that back to 83. Go here to see what and how the Fairfield Inn will look like.

A VERY TALENTED PUPPET. Again, cousin Dean Hagen sent this absolutely amazing Little Richard puppet.(Actually it’s a marionette).

SANTA CRUZ COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION’S GREEDY “POLICY“. Our once friendly “community centered”, “community owned” now charges $15 each time they verify a low income senior’s bank account. Mindy Gardner, the branch manager of the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union Front Street office told me it’s their “policy”. It seems greedy, mean, corporation like, and not at all in the spirit of folks like Margaret Cheap who was a key creator of our Credit Union back in the day. I checked around about Verification of Deposit “policies”. Bay Federal Credit Union doesn’t do it, Dientes Community Dental Care doesn’t do it, even CVS and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation doesn’t charge when they too have to verify charges or account info, only our Santa Cruz Community Credit Union thinks it’s important to charge that $15. Boo!

MOTORCYCLE MENACING & NOISY NEANDERTHALS. Eric Rice emailed to say, “Hi: Enjoy the column every week. I’m with you on the need to silence loud, obnoxious motorcycles. I don’t understand why the City Council doesn’t order the police to make citing them more of a priority. I suspect Mr. Lee Quarnstrom’s assessment of law enforcement’s point of view is correct. Ever try working a guide dog anywhere near some of those noisy Neanderthals? My wife has, and it about scares the dog out of its harness”. Eric.

ELERICK’S INPUT. Paul’s back from vacation, obviously…

Michigan Trip Report

Returned from a great trip to Michigan last Tuesday. Had the enjoyment of attending a class reunion in Rockford, no longer a small town where I grew up, but a huge bedroom community for the City of Grand Rapids. Politics in that part of the state are old-time conservative, best to stay away for these discussions with relatives. But Michiganders continue to be a considerate, friendly people, their current state government not withstanding. I can recommend the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum as a place to visit in Grand Rapids. Very tastefully done for Grand Rapids’ native son. I can also recommend spending some time at a Grand Rapids west side Polish Social Club that’s open to the public two days a week. Great prices! Great burgers and drinks to go with them. Public education in the town of Rockford has reached the highest level I’ve seen. They have new high school, just graduating over 600 students. Curriculum is too large to cover but their language program includes Chinese, Japanese and Russian. Their new building also includes a performing arts theater, a TV station and an attached, lighted athletic stadium. When I asked how they pay for such a facility, nobody blinked, they just said they wanted the best education for their kids. Things have changed since 1955, the year I graduated along with 64 others. They consolidate their high school reunions with a lunch for everybody that graduated over 50 years ago. This even drew over 300 alumnae. It was fun.

Returned to Aptos in time for the July 4th parade that was bigger than ever (as usual). But it was sad to see one entry near the front of the parade sponsored by a Boy Scout troop. It was a mock-up of an army tank, complete with a cannon belching real fire, bringing back memories of napalm in Viet Nam. I have no idea why they drew such applause. It doesn’t speak well for the scout leader who let it happen, or the parade watchers who thought it was neat. But the parade was great, and well covered by the local media.

(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).

PETER THE ELEPHANT PLAYS RAG TIME!!!

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary reports on his KUSP program, “The land use decisions we make, though our local government process, will have a big impact on the future of our local economy, on our ability to achieve our social equity goals, and of course on the natural environment that sustains our human civilization and everything else. To me, our self-government system is really a three-layer cake. The “people” are the ultimate source of political power, but our system has the people delegating their power to elected representatives. Those elected officials, then, hire staff people who actually do most of the work involved in government. In this way of looking at the governmental process, it is vital that the elected officials forcefully and effectively transmit to the staff the demands, and the questions, and the concerns of the public. The elected officials are supposed to require the staff to be responsive to whatever concerns are uppermost in the public’s mind’. Read the rest of Gary’s weekly report at his KUSP Land Use scripts http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse (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)

VINTAGE DE CINZO. DeCinzo visits Big Sur…with a point to make. Look below a few pages.

EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim shows us four versions of Democracy….scroll down a bit.

LANDAU’S PROGRES. Bob Taren, a close friend of Saul Landau’s told me that Saul Landau has cancer of the bladder. We probably won’t be reading his columns any more. Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD from roundworldproductions@gmail.com

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes: “How bad can The Lone Ranger really be? What new twist can the great Neil Jordan bring to the vampire movie? Find out this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com).” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

UNFINISHED SONG.If you like sobby movies about old people Terence Stamp is 75 and Vanessa Redgrave is 76 and she’s dying and he’s taking care of her. Only he’s very snotty and nasty and she’s a saint. She dies and he finally gets happy anyways. Stamp was much better as General Zod in an earlier Superman movie. Go if you like crying and feeling sorry for old people.

FILL THE VOID. An Israeli filmabout very orthodox traditions, arranged marriages, love, religion, rabbis, bris ceremonies, and you leave thinking about women’s rights, the existence of God and things like that. Heavy, serious, debatable.

TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM.This documentary makes Stars out of the faceless, nameless back-up singers on hit pop albums. I suppose there’s a point to it, but how about documentaries featuring the recording engineers, the producers, and the musicians who also make a song a hit? Making hits is a very collaborative, sharing process…it ain’t just the back-up singing. But it’s a fun film.

THE LONE RANGER.The SF Chronicle’s film critic Mick LaSalle called this mess “the worst film of the year”. It’s bombing terribly and Mick’s right, no-one should spend a dime, or their time to see this FLOP. Johnny Depp plays Tonto as another insanely odd character, and the Lone Ranger is portrayed and played as a jerk and doofus who hates guns!!! It’s got horse manure jokes, and racist American attitudes. Here’s a quote from Marley Brown of PolicyMic.com….”While the relationship between the ranger and Tonto was supposedly one of mutual respect, the stereotypical portrayal of Indians in The Lone Ranger has been a source of anger and disappointment to many Native people, including the writer and filmmaker Sherman Alexie, who told the Los Angeles Times: “In the movies, Indians are always accompanied by ominous music. I always feel that something bad is about to happen. I am always aware of how my whole life is shaped by my hatred of Tonto. Whenever I think of Tonto, I hear ominous music.” p.s. I just learned that when Columbus landed in America they didn’t name them “Indians” after the country of India! There wasn’t any country that was named “India” in 1492!!!

Still playing at a theatre near us!! ……………..

DIRTY WARS.An amazing and very upsetting film that reveals a lot of the secret wars that the USA is fighting all over the world. It’s painful to realize just how much of a role we all play in this. And how much we are now, and have been lied to by Obama and our past presidents. I almost forgot to mention that the music in “Dirty Wars” is by and from The Kronos Quartet…and is brilliant.

KINGS OF SUMMER.This film could have been great, but it’s lacking focus, direction, a point….something. It’s about three boys escaping their crappy home lives and building a house of their own in the woods. It’s almost trite and cute, but it isn’t. It’s almost deep, moving and very personal, but it isn’t. You could rent it later and it wouldn’t be so bad.

WHITE HOUSE DOWN.If you can believe Jamie Foxx as President Barack. H. Obama, then this action flick isn’t too bad. Bad spies, secret troops, storm the White House, they kill lots of people, they hold hostages and things like that. Now if you can believe that Tatum Channing (who was also the producer) can rescue our non-smoking president you could actually enjoy this dumb summer flick. It certainly shouldn’t be on anyone’s must see list.

THE BLING RING.I believe Sofia Coppola has directed much more of a film than most viewers and critics are seeing. The film is based on a true story of young Hollywood teens robbing celebrity homes. They rob Paris Hilton’s palace and Lindsay Lohan’s place and have a great time doing it. They fool their parents, the police, and have created an exciting and very unique, illegal, thrilling and creative life style. The audience of young teens that I saw the film with, I’m sure watched it as a “How To” lesson and envied how much fun the real life young thieves were having. It’s a deep and well done comment on part of our culture, go for it by all means; it’s a very good movie.

MUD.Mathew McConaughey has never been better than he is inMud. So are the two kids who lead and steal the film from vets like Sam Shepard and Reese Witherspoon. It’s a fine film, with a story that doesn’t stop, about life in Arkansas along the Mississippi. Kids coming of age, adults living a very tough life, and the music, the photography all make it one of my favorite films of the year. Just go see it.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY.It was cool to see my old UC Berkeley campus buildings in this latest Pixar flick. It has Stanford scenes too but it certainly isn’t up to Pixar’s high standards of film making. It’s boring, but Pixar has succeeded in that computer generated challenge of how to make hair or fur look real…it may be overdone but it’s clever. The plot of teaching ways to scare kids runs very thin in minutes but damn, Pixar animation techniques especially in 3D look more real than real does!!!

WORLD WAR Z.As luck would have it, I had an echo cardiogram and saw this movie on the same day. Believe me, the echo cardiogram was more interesting and more fun than this “Brad Pitt saves the world” mess. Not that it matters, but there are more and larger plot holes in this film than you could possibly count. Zombies that run, gnaw, puke a lot and bash their heads into windshields do not a good film make. Save your money.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.This is just about the absolute worst Much Ado I’ve ever seen…on screen or on stage. These Hollywood television fools have absolutely no sense of Shakespeare’s words. They have no sense of the rhythm, the love, the depth and the wry humor that this play contains. No timing, no appreciation or understanding of what Shakespeare achieves when his works are performed properly. It’s as if these Hollywood second string actors said, “let’s stop snorting for an afternoon and film some Shakespeare. Don’t go by any means.

SUPERMAN (MAN OF STEEL).Super hero films can really only be critiqued by comparing them to other super hero films. It’s a special genre. The plots, the acting, the visuals, direction, editing etc. are like no other film types. This Superman is not funny, no cutesy Clark Kent-“changing in a phone booth” stuff. No funny Gene Hackman or Marlon Brando villain/dad figures. Man of Steel starts and ends dark. Henry Cavill makes a great Superman. The rest of the cast is strange. Kevin Costner and Diane Ladd as Supe’s earth parents, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White!!, Russell Crowe as Jor-el ??? And of course Michael Shannon as General Zod.Don’t pay extra for 3D glasses there aren’t that many special effects. Plus we learn that the “S” on Supe’s shirt doesn’t stand for Superman it stands for hope. I could go on for pages talking about the religious stuff in this film. Like Clark in church praying with a background shot of Jesus kneeling before he was crucified, etc, etc. Go see it (big screen only) and only if you really like superhero films.

BEFORE MIDNIGHT.I definitely see too many action films. About 30 minutes into this part 3 of this Julie Delpy-Ethan Hawke piece of precious, boring fluff I was hoping Hawke would shoot Julie Delpy right between the eyes, or at least cut her throat so she couldn’t talk anymore. (Speaking cinematically of course). All the two of them do in this tedious, meaningless, piece of tripe is argue…and not well either. If you’ve seen their previous junk… Before Sunrise, Before Sunset or 2 Days in New York and 2 Days in Paris, you know what I mean. Besides that Julie Delpy is even worse when she’s topless. And she’s topless a lot in this Midnight flick.

NOW YOU SEE ME. Woody Harrelson, plus Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg, and Morgan Freeman try hardto make this “magicians rob a bank” movie into a film worth buying tickets for, especially at today’s box-office prices. The idea is silly; none of these actors can convince anybody that they are magicians. Don’t go.

UNICYCLYING & JUGGLING. They’d get busted if they tried this on Pacific Avenue. I can’t embed the video, but it’s worth a click to check it out. Here’s where to click.

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. Audrey Stanley talks about Shakespeare Santa Cruz season on July 16, followed by Carolyn Swift discussing the brand new Capitola Picture book by Arcadia. Assemblyman Mark Stone will be on July 23 bringing us up to date on Sacramento and his job He’s followed by Attorney Bob Taren rapping on local issues. Ed Holmes talks about The San Francisco Mime Troupe’s annual visit on August 6. 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, 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!!!

BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

QUOTES. “A dead atheist is someone who’s all dressed up with nowhere to go“, James Duffecy. “What he lacked in depth as a preacher he made up for in length“, Mark Twain. “What do people say when God sneezes?”, Henny Youngman

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
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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on July 11 – 17, 2013

July 2 – 8, 2013

THE ALMOST HISTORIC “PALO ALTO” CONCRETE SHIP. This photo was taken in 1947. The “Palo Alto” was built of concrete by the U.S. Government in 1918, and it cost $2 million. It was towed to where it is today (Seacliff Beach) in 1930. It broke in half during a storm in 1932, and just sort of rots there as we peek.

photo credit: Covello & Covello Historical photo collection.

Additional information always welcome: email photo@brattononline.com

NEAL COONERTY OUT, RYAN COONERTY RUNNING.According to unimpeachable sources it was the out-and running news this weekend, Ryan is chasing around trying to gather supporters and endorsements and is running for Dad’s County Supervisor job. Earlier and well planned rumors had it that Lynn Robinson was going to run for the Supervisors job…nope. We can bet that Ryan’s going to his long time Developer Donators such as Bill Brooks, Craig French, Charlie Eadie, Jesse Nickell, George Ow, and Louis Rittenhouse. And he’ll go for his continuing Beach Boardwalk backers like Charlie Canfield and Chris Reyes. Anti-Desal folks need to remember that it was Ryan and Dad Coonerty who brokered or shuffled the UCSC Growth- City Water- “Bring on De-sal” deal. In case you’ve forgotten check out Ryan’s old City Council campaign website, read such endorsements as Joe Appenrodt, Bob Bosso, Scott Daly, Darrell Darling, Ken Haber, Tom Honig, George Newell, Mark Primack, Peter Prindle, John Burroughs, Robert DeFreitas, Carol Fuller… all of which means that there’ll be lots of big bucks spent on this next Supervisors Race. What we really need, instead of Ryan Coonerty is a woman on that all male, right leaning and very important Board of Supes.

FIREWORKS, HOW THEY’RE MADE!! It’s a bit stupid video , but so’s the holiday!

LAST WEEK’S FLOOD PHOTO. Scroll down to last weeks flood photo taken at Soquel and Seabright…Jeff Hawkins was kind enough to tell us “That Studebaker is a 1948 Champion, so I’m guessing the pic is from ’50-’54”.

MIKE ROTKIN NOT RUNNING, EVER. Mike said I could quote him when he said that he’s definitely not running for City Council, not running for the Board of Supervisors, and not running for State Assembly either. He said he’s happy with his job with the Union. I asked him about that and about the rumors that he was using his union work to make sure the proposed de-sal plant would use union labor so that the unions would come out in favor of De-Sal. He replied… “Bruce, I don’t know that my job is of any general interest, but I am Vice President for Organizing for the University Council of the American Federation of Teachers. We represent all of the lecturers and librarians in the UC system. I am paid hourly up to half time. My work involves service on the union Executive Committee, Helping coordinate organizing efforts on ten campuses, including teaching organizing skills, and I am the Chief Negotiator for the Librarians and on the bargaining team for the lecturers. I also advise on grievances and other contract enforcement issues but my work on that overlaps with many others” Mike continued, “There is no connection to any of my community work on desalination, but to answer your specific question, I’d love to see any and all jobs be union jobs, so, of course, I hope that the desalination project, if approved, would use union labor. But I wouldn’t be charging any work I did in advocating for that on that to my union. That’s just volunteer work as a community activist”. There we have it.

PHIL SLATER. According to Phil’s longtime friend Andy Schiffrin, Phil died peacefully after a lot of years of suffering from non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. The Chronicle and The Sentinel had fine obituaries, and Andy said the NYTimes was excellent. Here it is…

DOWNTOWN MOTORCYCLE SICKNESS. Chip from The Downtown Association wrote, “Bruce, I’ve actually done a bit of digging on the motorcycle thing. I’m sure it’s a much more interesting story that the cops love noisy bikes, but what I have learned is that the California Vehicular Code trumps our city noise ordinances and unless the mufflers are illegal (Which I’m sure some of them are) PD can’t really do much. Also, as you can imagine it’s not the easiest thing to enforce being the problem is three blocks away a second after the pollution occurs.” That’s got to be one of the lamest excuses I’ve heard. You’d think The Downtown Association would be a leader in trying to promote our downtown ambiance.

ANTON LaVey INTERVIEW. I’d had Anton on a few of the CBS and ABC radio programs I produced in San Francisco. We became friends and our Goodtime Washboard 3 trio even played at one of Anton’s Halloween Celebrations. He had a great sense of humor and we had fine times together.

PATTON’S PROGRAM. Once again, land use attorney and former Santa Cruz County Supervisor Gary Patton sums up the De-Sal issue…” The City of Santa Cruz and the Soquel Creek Water District are planning to build a 2.5 million gallon per day desalination plant, expandable to a 4.5 million gallon per day desalination plant.

Both the City and the District have real problems. The Soquel Creek Water District relies on groundwater, and faces groundwater overdraft and seawater intrusion. The City relies mostly on surface water, and has water supply problems in drought years. Both agencies decided some time ago that desalination is their best option. Both agencies have been members of Cal Desal, an industry support and lobbying group devoted “solely” to desalination. The Water District recently quit Cal Desal, but the City of Santa Cruz continues to be a member, and to fund the group. Skeptics, including members of the Community Water Coalition, a community group I represent as an environmental attorney, want to take a very hard look at the cost and other impacts of desalination, and thoroughly to consider alternatives” Gary also tells about Affordable housing and the law, about CPAD a great online resource, and about our Central Coast water problems.

Read all of above at Gary’s KUSP Land Use scripts http://blogs.kusp.org/landuse (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)

VINTAGE DE CINZO.Summers here and so are the Boardwalk Concerts….see a few pages down.

EAGANS DEEP COVER. T. Eagan depicts the adventures of Mindy Moderate, scroll below.

LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa writes “Looking for something fun to do with the kids this holiday weekend? Why not sign up for a summer refresher course at Monsters University? Read all about it this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com).” Lisa has been writing film reviews and columns for Good Times since 1975.

THAT IS THE QUESTION

DIRTY WARS…THE OFFICIAL TRAILER

DIRTY WARS.An amazing and very upsetting film that reveals a lot of the secret wars that the USA is fighting all over the world. It’s painful to realize just how much of a role we all play in this. And how much we are now, and have been lied to by Obama and our past presidents. See the film now at the Nick..quick…then Join local patriots in the spirit of Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden on The Fourth Of July to call for freedom for all Political Prisoners and freedom from War, the National Security State, Corporate Rule, Drone Strikes, Torture, Guantanamo, Monsanto, Nuclear Power, the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement, Hunger, Occupation, ICE, and Austerity Economics (this list is ever expanding). There will be large signs, displays and handouts to greet the morning traffic coming into Santa Cruz.

Declare Independence – Demand Freedom- July 4th Protest

10 A.M. – Noon

Ocean at Water Street

Santa Cruz

A growing list of sponsors includes: Peace and Freedom Party-SC, Women in Black, WILPF-SC, Code Pink-SC, People United for Peace, Palestine Israel Action Committee (PIAC), and Santa Cruz Against Drones (SCAD). Contact info: oflaherty@cruzio.com

I almost forgot to mention that the music in “Dirty Wars” is by and from The Kronos Quartet…and is brilliant.

KINGS OF SUMMER.This film could have been great, but it’s lacking focus, direction, a point….something. It’s about three boys escaping their crappy home lives and building a house of their own in the woods. It’s almost trite and cute, but it isn’t. It’s almost deep, moving and very personal, but it isn’t. You could rent it later and it wouldn’t be so bad.

WHITE HOUSE DOWN.If you can believe Jamie Foxx as President Barack. H. Obama, then this action flick isn’t too bad. Bad spies, secret troops, storm the White House, they kill lots of people, they hold hostages and things like that. Now if you can believe that Tatum Channing (who was also the producer) can rescue our non-smoking president you could actually enjoy this dumb summer flick. It certainly shouldn’t be on anyone’s must see list.

PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED HOLDOVERS -WORTH SEEING IN THEATERS

THE BLING RING.I believe Sofia Coppola has directed much more of a film than most viewers and critics are seeing. The film is based on a true story of young Hollywood teens robbing celebrity homes. They rob Paris Hilton’s palace and Lindsay Lohan’s place and have a great time doing it. They fool their parents, the police, and have created an exciting and very unique, illegal, thrilling and creative life style. The audience of young teens that I saw the film with, I’m sure watched it as a “How To” lesson and envied how much fun the real life young thieves were having. It’s a deep and well done comment on part of our culture, go for it by all means; it’s a very good movie.

MUD. Mathew McConaughey has never been better than he is in Mud. So are the two kids who lead and steal the film from vets like Sam Shepard and Reese Witherspoon. It’s a fine film, with a story that doesn’t stop, about life in Arkansas along the Mississippi. Kids coming of age, adults living a very tough life, and the music, the photography all make it one of my favorite films of the year. Just go see it.

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.

On July 9 Ellen Primack talks about The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, then Scott McGilvray talks about his film “Water for Santa Cruz” and the big de-sal event happening at the Rio on July 11. Audrey Stanley talks about Shakespeare Santa Cruz season on July 16, followed by Carolyn Swift discussing the brand new Capitola Picture book by Arcadia. Assemblyman Mark Stone will be on July 23 bringing us up to date on Sacramento and his job. Ed Holmes talks about The San Francisco Mime Troupe’s annual visit on August 6. 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, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems, 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. “On the fourth day of July following, a party of about two hundred Indians attacked Boonsborough, killed one man, and wounded two”, Daniel Boone

“Your mind must always go, even while you’re shaking hands and going through all the maneuvers. I developed the ability long ago to do one thing while thinking another”, Richard Nixon. “The true profession of man is to find his way to himself”, Hermann Hesse.

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

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BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.

Deep Cover by Tim Eagan.

Posted in Weekly Articles | Comments Off on July 2 – 8, 2013