RAIN??? THE CHRISTMAS FLOOD OF 1955. Wally Trabing told me that just about his first assignment at the Sentinel was covering this flood. Thats the Rittenhouse Building where it says “Mode O Day“`. Thats where the famous Rittenhouse murder took place up those stairs just under the “Mocks sign. Ask Louis Rittenhouse about that when you see him next time.
CITY COUNCIL CONUNDRUM.Our monarchs flutter by every year and like those wispy homeless creatures we also have our biannual City Council Candidates to keep track of. I love looking ahead and trying to ferret out whos going to run next time…that would be in the biggie November, 2012. So far we hear rumors of Rochelle Noroyan, Ron Pomerantz, Cynthia Mathews, Don Lane, Steve Pleich, and, were guessing Katherine Beiers and even Micah Posner. David Foster told me a month ago that hes figuring it will cost at least $30,000 to run in this City Council election. I never did get those figures on who gets how much in pensions City Council members receive, and how long they get it for, any figures or even facts on this out there???
LATTÉ BREAKING NEWS. Mark Stone tells me that The California Coastal Commission will be meeting here in our littlest County in March!!!
ABOUT “FUCK”, THE WORD.I couldnt forget Rooney Maras tee shirt after seeing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, (the American version) that read, “fuck you, you fucking fuck”. Looking it up, I learned of course that this memorable quote was from David Lynchs Blue Velvet in 1986.( Before he got involved with TM) Wikipedia has a great and long entry that makes the word more interesting than youve probably ever thought about.
THAT CRUISE SHIP DISASTER. Tennessee Ernie Ford and Dean Martin give us another take on that tipped ship.
SAVE THE POGONIP– KEEP IT BIKE FREE. Help keep the cyclists out of The Pogonip. From their website at http://pogonipwatch.org “The Pogonip, 640 acres of natural open space and wildlife habitat, is a treasured public common in Santa Cruz, California. With its variety of redwood and oak forests, coastal prairie, many streams flowing from springs down steep rugged slopes toward the San Lorenzo River, with miles of trails and a rich history, it is the jewel of the Santa Cruz Greenbelt, enjoyed by all”. Peter and Celia Scott write, “The Santa Cruz City Parks and Recreation Commission will hold a special meeting on Monday, February 6 to consider the proposed East “Multi-Use” Trail (EMUT) on the Pogonip. They will likely act to make their recommendation to the Santa Cruz City Council, who will then consider the proposal at a future meeting (date yet to be determined). Here are the details: Date: Monday, February 6 Time: 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Place: Santa Cruz City Council Chambers, 809 Center Street, Santa Cruz. The Commissioners will have before them the Final Draft of the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), which is set to be released by January 26, 2012. Please attend this meeting if you possibly can, to voice your opposition to this proposal. Further details are posted on our website at http://PogonipWatch.org/ Please also encourage others to sign our on-line petition, also available on our website. Peter and Celia Scott, for Friends of the Pogonip.
GROWING OPPOSITION TO GIRL SCOUT COOKIES. Lee Quarnstrom sent this in…The Washington Times says, “I worried that my “political” stand would cause uneasiness between us, but her response put me at ease: “Well,” she said, “they do use unpaid child labor to make their sales, and the troop only gets 10 percent of the revenues anyway.” True. According to the Girl Scouts website, the lions share of the money goes not to the troop but to bureaucrats up the chain of command in multicounty councils. The national office gets a piece of the pie, too, in the form of royalties based on gross annual sales volume – about 200 million boxes per year”. Be careful reading all of the article… much right wing anti-abortion junk in it.
ACTUAL CAR LEVITATION!!
SIERRA CLUB ESTABLISHES POINT BREAK PROTECTION IN SANTA CRUZ. OR COWELL BEACH MOST POLUTTED BEACH IN CALIFORNIA.
Pat Matecjek forwarded this from the Sierra Club Newsletter…
The site slated for dedication is on the coastline of Santa Cruz, a place credited as the birthplace of surfing in North America and home to the celebrated right-hand point breaks at Steamer Lane and Pleasure Point. It’s in the heart of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, where a diverse ecosystem flourishes. Mark H. Carr, a UC Santa Cruz professor of marine biology, explains that Monterey Bays northern section has a gyre, an ocean circulation pattern that traps water. “It tends to collect a lot of larvae,” he said, adding that it “may be sort of an important nursery habitat.” Carr also explained that giant kelp forests closer to the reserves northern boundaries stand on sandstone reef features, which support biological communities distinct from those in the granite-based forests farther south.
Save the Waves is working with local environmentalists, activists, and elected officials to draft a local stewardship plan to guide the preservation and education efforts after the dedication. The current decision in process is how to tackle water-quality issues along Cowell Beach, which has been called Californias most polluted beach
TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD & HIS LITTLEST FAN. My Florida cousin sent this clip. Watch the little kid on Ernies right…fabulous. (I think it’s his son).
GABRIELLAS NEW LITERARY SALON NIGHTS. Paul Cocking of Gabriellas says, ” On the first Tuesday of every month, join us for our regular menus good food and wine in the atmosphere of a Literary Salon hosted by various authors, poets and scholars.
A Salon “is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste.” Beginning Tuesday, February 7, and continuing the first Tuesday of every month, dinner will be offered with the speaker at 8:00 pm. Readings and discussion will start at 9:00 pm over desserts and beverages.
Literary Salon Series Calendar:
February 7 & March 6: John Dizikes & Dale Johnson
April 3: Stephen Kessler
May 1: Peter Kenez
June 5: Lisa Ortiz
July 3: Patrice Vecchione
call (831) 457-1677 to reserve your table now – limited seating!
ASHWIN BATISH LIKES THIS ONE. From the land of Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, the poetry of Tagore, the Mahabharata, Ramayana theres also this…
PATTONS PROGRAM. Gary tells of the Monterey and Santa Cruz Board of Supes agenda on Tuesday. He then says, “The Citys Draft Climate Action Plan outlines actions that the City will take to meet State requirements pertaining to climate change, to achieve the policies identified in the Draft General Plan 2030 update, and to accomplish the greenhouse gas reduction goals set by the City Council. One proposal is that the City Council establishes a Municipal Energy Office and a Sustainable Transportation and Land Use Planning Team. I applaud the Citys recognition that land use policy changes are absolutely necessary if we are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A compiled list of all of the actions that are recommended in the Draft Climate Action Plan is included in the Plan as Appendix A. I hope that listeners and readers will track down the draft document and get involved in helping to address the greatest environmental crisis of our times”. Then later he claims re the widening of Highway 1, “The result of the widening project, just about ready to get underway, will be to move that bottleneck down Highway One about a mile. The area on Highway One between Soquel Drive and 41st Avenue will then become the place where the massive “bottleneck” occurs. Moving that bottleneck down the road by a mile will cost us about $22 million dollars, and will ultimately provide no overall transportation advantages, except for those persons who regularly use Highway One between Morrissey and Soquel as a way to get to the Dominican Hospital area. That happens to include me, but even so, I am not personally delighted with the expenditure of $22 million dollars for this purpose, particularly since the highway in this area will shortly become more, rather than less frustrating while construction is underway”. Read it all here
(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. Pattons. Gary has his own website, “Two Worlds / 365” – www.gapatton.net)
ANCHOR IN ANTARCTICA. When you live and work in Antarctica what do you miss….? Micaela misses cats!!! She says, “ The austral summer peaks in January, theoretically. This season started with a cold snap and continued on through snow, slush, hail, rain and fog without ever making its way to sunshine. Combined with the above-average level of sea ice and thick brash (chunks that fall off the glacier), the weather has limited our typical outdoor excursions to little more than a few trips to the Adelie penguin colony on Torgersen Island and some whale-watching in the harbor. On the other hand, bad weather for boats is good weather for readers.
A few highlights from my bookshelf: Mawsons Will by Lennard Bickel (2000): The subtitle calls it “The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Told” and Im hard-pressed to argue. The tale of Douglas Mawsons struggle against the full host of Antarctic disasters: scurvy, crevasse, frost bite, insanity, and food poisoning. Lessons learned? Dont eat dog liver.
The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford (1999): A comparative biography of Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott, focused on their respective Antarctic careers in the broader context of early 20th-century Europe. Extraordinarily well-researched and delightfully written, this book revolutionized polar literature when first published and remains a landmark in the field. An absolute must-read for people willing to peek behind the curtain of these legendary adventures. Bonus: introduction by Paul Theroux.
The Storied Ice by Joan N. Boothe (2011): A new release from Berkeley Press that has done much to fill in my knowledge of exploration along the Antarctic Peninsula from the 1820s (when sailors first confirmed the existence of an actual continent) to the founding of the Antarctic Treaty System in the mid-1950s. Most polar literature focuses on the Australian/New Zealand side of the continent where the more famous explorers focused their attentions. The Peninsula has its own, possibly more varied history of exploration, conflict, disaster, and discovery that Boothe weaves together wonderfully. Best book for understanding the human history of the region around Palmer Station, where I live.
Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson (1999): One of only two works of fiction I will recommend. Robinson spent something like a month at McMurdo Station in 1995 as part of the National Science Foundations Artists and Writers Grant, and must have made good use of his brief time! His sci-fi novel may be a better insight into the politics, unique culture, and possible future of the continent than most non-fiction works published to date. This was the only book I read about Antarctica before my first deployment to McMurdo Station in 2007, and I couldnt have chosen better.
I still have a half dozen more books to read, but plenty of time to read them according to our forecast. If I manage to finish them before the end of winter, I will start downloading some of the explorers original log books, expedition accounts, and memoirs that are available–absolutely free!– from Project Gutenberg. At the moment, I’ve got the books, the couch, and the hot cocoa… if only we were allowed cats, life would be complete.
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012, or sometime after that!!)
VINTAGE DE CINZO. Dr. DeCinzo is right on top of our Mountain Lion scare…scroll below…
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim addresses some revolting historical developments…see down there.
LANDAUS PROGRES. Saul gets into Yiddish humor this week with “Republican Debates Comedy or Farce”. Check it and him out here
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa links in with the following…” “This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/), I ponder what last weeks Golden Globe Awards may or may not mean for the Oscar race next month, pick the best and worst looks on the red carpet, and get just a little snarky over Project Runway All Stars. Also, its Dueling Docs when Freud meets Jung in A Dangerous Method. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
LOCAL CONNECTION. Joshua Leonard whose folks live in Corralitos and attend The Penny University has an unique Hollywood Star bio, especially in 2011. He had an excellent role in Higher Ground a fine film starring Vera Farmiga and also appeared in a real turkey which only a few brave souls (me) attended, Shark Night in 3D. With a range like that he has nowhere to go but up. He could even be another Rory Calhoun or Zasu Pitts, well, maybe Rory.
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE. This is that Tom Hanks 9/11 film. This film doesnt jerk your tears; it sucks your tear ducts dry in 2 or 3 places. Go see it and realize just how much of the 9/11 tragedy you are still carrying around…and the acting is excellent too. Max Von Sydow plays a non speaking role!!
RED TAILS. Hokey, trite, tacky and almost racist doesnt begin to describe this hollow tribute to the brave Black pilots of WWII. Apparently George Lucas created this film straight from his heart and wanted to make a statement…but wow did he miss.
UNDERWORLD; AWAKENING. Kate Beckinsale wears some kinda wetsuit, and kills the dreaded Lysols or some aptly named vampires who dont look any more cinematically advanced than King Kong and they have absolutely none of his charm or grace…avoid this mess. Besides that to save money its in black and white..or dull grey and 3D. As you can guess, it was #1 in last weeks box-office bucks.
HAYWIRE. I must be honest…I dreaded seeing these four films listed above, they all sounded miserable. I dreaded them so much I completely forgot that Haywire was directed by Steven Soderbergh. Yes, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor. Antonio Banderas and actors like that are in it, but it reeked. The lead babe in tights Gina Carano is supposed to be a martial arts expert in real life but I dont think she can read any better than she can act. It was the worst and first Soderbergh I’ve ever seen part of.
HOSTETTERS HOT STUFF. Omnipresent Paul wrote (last Tuesday 1/17)…. “A SECOND quick and last-minute reminder about the remarkable and rarely-seen-in-these-parts Dan Newton at the mysterious Backstage Lounge in Santa Cruz (and if you are over the hill somewhere and want to see him the next night, check his calendar link for a Thursday concert in Mountain View) and Linda Burman-Halls rainforest soundscapes from islands in Indonesia on Friday at UCSC. And a few other things soon coming, with all pertinent details here Cheers, ph”.
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.ORGJim Emdy of KUSP and other radio outlets and I will talk about Opera Seasons on Jan. 24. Brad Cava of Santa Cruz Patch fame will be on the second half hour that night. Jan Karwin from The League Of Women Voters will be my guest on January 31 talking about the League and the Ballot measures they are backing. Lisa Jensen will guest on Valentines Night Feb 14th to talk about our choices for best films of 2011. (Wallace Baine cant make Tuesday nights). Kirsten Brandt will discuss her music and upcoming UCSC Concert on February 23. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people Ive interviewed in the last 5 years heres a chronological list of just this years 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 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 theres 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 thats just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “She was one of those women who go through life demanding to see the manager”, G.Patrick. “I like children—fried” W.C Fields. “All a child can expect is that the father be present at the conception”, Joe Orton.
BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on January 25 – 31, 2012
REMEMBER RAIN??? This was taken on December 3, 1951. Joseph La Bue accountant has an office there now. It’s on the South west corner across from where Wayne’s College Of Beauty used to be.
GOODBYE WALLY TRABING. Wally was one of my favorite customers and new friends when I was a clerk at Eastside Hardware back in 1970. He came in often just to plow through hardware and check out new gimmicks. We talked about San Francisco jazz a lot and he invited me to the sessions at his and Lois’ house. He played drums and I played washtub bass and washboard. Later I put together a trio with Wally on drums, Gary Patton on banjo and me still on washtub bass. Wally had an insatiable curiosity about the world and people and he loved writing about it. It was Wally who created much of the “stuff” that makes Santa Cruz what it is today…we’ll miss him very much.
ELERICK’S INPUT. PG&E Smart Meter Opt Out?
Early last year, I followed PG&E’s instructions on how to be the LAST person in my neighborhood to be Smart Metered. I was asked why I didn’t want their Smart Meter and told a real person that this change would put a bunch of meter-readers out of a job and I wasn’t interested in following my energy usage on a daily basis. I have to give them credit for living up to their word. Their installers skipped right over me when they “did” the neighborhood. In fact, the Public Utilities Commission is now considering making PG&E offer an opt-out option of an analog meter with no communication hook up to their offices. PG&E has kept me up to date with phone messages as to what’s going on. They always start with “no action is required now” and close with “see PGE.com/smartmeter” for current status”. You have to poke around the site to find this:
“The CPUC released a Proposed Decision on PG&E’s plan on November 22, 2011, one step closer to a Final Decision. In its Proposed Decision, the CPUC identified two potential alternatives to wireless SmartMeter™ communications: either a SmartMeter™ with the radio-transmission turned off or a non-communicating meter (with no radio installed). The Commission refers to these alternatives as “radio-off” and “radio-out”. Could it be possible that PG&E is waking up to what their customers want or don’t want?
Congratulations to the newest members of the Sierra Club Santa Cruz Group Executive Committee
My best to these three new excom members, Tawn Kennedy, Mary Odegaard and Greg McPheeters. You have some big shoes to fill and lots of work ahead. It will take us all working together to keep the Club going forward. (Paul Elerick is thechair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
UNCHAINED MELODY. Righteous Brothers.
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary’s KUSP scripts this week cover the effect that Redevelopment money has on affordable housing. He talks about Climate Action Plan and Ecology Action. Then he details points from the Capitola General Plan and more on Village Parking. Patton tells about the concept of “taking” private property and then announces tours of Nisene Marks State Park. He DOES NOT say anything about why anybody would name their daughter Nisene!!! Go here to read his notes.(Gary Patton is “Of Counsel” to the Santa Cruz law firm of Wittwer & Parkin, which specializes in land use and environmental law. The opinions expressed are Mr. Patton’s. Gary has his own website, “Two Worlds / 365” – www.gapatton.net)
SING ALONG…THE EVERLY BROTHERS
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES, THE BOYCOTT OF.
Follow this link to a Huffington Post article about the lineup and history of the girl scout cookie.
VINTAGE DE CINZO. Whole Foods and a new view thereof…see downwards
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim shows us the real Mitt, see how he does it…scroll below.
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul’s weekly Progreso Weekly article states, « After 53 years, we ask. Did the Cuban revolution accomplish its goals? Likewise, what happened to the U.S., which has relentlessly tried to block Cuba’s revolutionary path? After the January 1959 revolutionary victory Washington’s elite understood that in Fidel Castro they might face serious rebelliousness to the accepted and enforced notion: Washington rules this hemisphere. In 1954, Washington punished President Jacobo Arbenz for nationalizing United Fruit company property in Guatemala (a U.S.-backed coup d’état), to again dramatize how the U.S. treated disobedience”. Read the rest of it here…
“Summer has yet to arrive at Palmer Station, but the scientists showed up right on schedule to continue their field work for the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) studies in our operating area. Most of the research done at Palmer or off our research/supply vessel, the ARSV Laurence M. Gould (LMG), contributes to the Palmer LTER, making January our busiest month of the year. It’s also the most crowded, and that has mixed effects on the mood around town.
New faces bring new energy to station, adding variety to the dinner conversation and a chance to exchange books. At the same time, we must help new arrivals integrate into the existing social and work routines while adapting to changes ourselves. I liken the process to having a case of the hiccups– it’s not truly incapacitating, and at times it’s even funny, but you’re always glad when it goes away. This round of arrivals has led to a growth in the number of Gentle Reminders at our weekly station meeting, the time when we get to “gently remind” one another to do flush the damn toilet, stop slamming the doors (but remember to close them all the way), sort the trash properly, pull the hair out of the drains, leave the shovels by the correct door, etc. etc. etc. More people mean more reminders, especially if many folks are first-timers, and they sound less “gentle” every time they come up.
Yacht visitors made last week even more difficult by setting off the fire alarm in our bar after we had all gone to bed. They used our popcorn machine, a tricky contraption that has been the subject of many Gentle Reminders in the past (“Don’t put salt in the popper!”), without reading the instructions and over-heated the oil. Everyone had to tumble out of their bunks, lurching down to the muster point in their pajamas or dressing out in full firefighting gear with their eyes only half-open. Although we told them that we must do all our own emergency response during their tour, I don’t think they understood what that meant until Bill (my fellow First Responder) showed up barefoot with a fire extinguisher. I laughed and joked in order to reassure them that midnight turn-out did not rank on the list of Antarctic disasters, even as I led them down to their dinghy at a less-than-hospitable pace.
This week has gently-reminded me that Antarctic does have an etiquette, for all its roughness, loosely summarized as Don’t Burden on Other People Unnecessarily either by failing to pull your own weight or by creating more weight for someone else. Abide by this rule and you will get a warm reception anywhere in Antarctica. As long as you stop piling your boots in front of the door, sheesh. Put them under the bench where they belong.”
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/), she says that she’ll, ” catch up with the new Actors’ Theatre production of Eight Tens @ Eight , rock out with the new James Durbin CD, and chances are I’ll have something to say about the Golden Globes too”. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
BOOKS, YA GOTTA LOVE’EM.
HUMOR ABUSE. If you loved The Pickle family Circus or even if you missed it and wondered why it was and is so well loved and has achieved such a place in the hearts and minds of all of us who did see it here in Santa Cruz or on their near- insane tours go see Lorenzo Pisoni’s “Humor Abuse” now only through February 5th at A.C.T Theatre in San Francisco. Lorenzo is the son of Larry Pisoni and Peggy Snider, the creators of the Pickle Family Circus. He tells and acts out, and juggles, and back flips, and pratfalls, and trips, and does some serious emoting about his life with the circus. He’s an accomplished actor and as he tells us about his complex, confusing, terrible, hilarious, and competing relationship with his clown father he grabs every member of the audience and takes us on that same tour. Go see Humor Abuse, it isn’t really abuse, it’s the inside of a show business family. The very local angle here is that Lorenzo’s mom Peggy Snider lives, sculpts, and plays in Santa Cruz. And yes, she’s proud, more than proud of Lorenzo. It may not tour beyond San Francisco; it’s already played Seattle, and New York
CARNAGE. When you enclose Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz, and Kate Winslet in a room with lots of single malt scotch and have Roman Polanski directing them, you expectsomething monumental, important, and ultra artistic. It doesn’t quite happen in Carnage. It’s super fun to watch these cinema experts scream, belch, and vomit their way through the script…but somehow it doesn’t ring true even including that scotch usage. But go anyway, like Meryl Streep, these are some of today’s best actors.
THE IRON LADY. It’s funny how all us Americans say Meryl Streep does such a great job of portraying Margaret Thatcher in Iron Lady. I wouldn’t know how Margaret Thatcher looked and acted from Margaret Mead. But still Meryl does a great job of acting…as usual. Sure, she got the Golden Globe so why not give her another Oscar, she’s just great. The film is weird, it doesn’t say much about what she accomplished, or the odds that were against her, it centers on her mental problems instead!!! Why, I’ll never figure out. Go see it, it’s boring in parts but again we have Meryl going at full steam and that’s always worthwhile watching.
MY TO TEN 2011 FILMS. About the only one I’m sure of so far is Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. That’s for sure my #1 film of the year, nothing comes close. The NY Times film critic Manohla Dargis worked hard on reviewing this masterpiece and wrote… check it out and be sure to watch it. No, the Academy probably won’t even mention it, but the National Society of Film Critics gave it “Best Picture of 2011 award. I also agreed with them on “Drive” and Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams“. But then again they liked “The Tree of Life” which proves there’s no accounting for taste!
FRINGE FESTIVAL HAPPENING. The first annual Santa Cruz Fringe Festival will happen downtown this summer from July 13-22. The new website just launched. You too can help spread awareness of the festival to artists that you know and the Fringe is accepting applications for all kinds of performance until February 29.
AN ENSEMBLE MASTER CLASS WITH ANDERSON & ROE. The dynamic duo-piano team of Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe are coming to Santa Cruz to teach an ensemble master class in the UCSC Music Center Recital Hall. Come hear music by much-loved composers played by pianist/teachers & UCSC music students – and then improved! Anderson & Roe, a duo-piano pair whose electric performances (live and on youtube) have garnered them millions of fans, will share some of the skills that bring them such success – in a hall which has some of the finest acoustics on the Central Coast, and features two superb matched grand pianos. Watch this awfully cute couple at . This occurs Tuesday, January 24, 2012 @7:00 p.m. UCSC Music Center Recital Hall
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE. Each and every Tuesday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. I host Universal Grapevine on KZSC 88.1 fm. or on your computer (live only, or sometimes old programs are archived…(see next paragraph) and go to WWW.KZSC.ORG. WilmaMarcus Chandler is on Tuesday, Jan. 17th talking about the current “8 Tens @ 8″ Play Festival. She’ll be followed by Peter McGettigan ace producer and cameraman at Community TV. Jim Emdy of KUSP and other radio outlets and I will talk about Opera Seasons on Jan. 24. Brad Cava of Santa Cruz Patch fame will be on the second half hour that night. Jan Karwin from The League Of Women Voters will be my guest on January 31 talking about the League and the Ballot measures they are backing. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES. In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click here then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “We don’t know who discovered water, but we’re sure it wasn’t a fish“, John Culkin. “Earthworms do the twist“, R. Buckminster Fuller, “Everything changes but change itself”, John F. Kennedy.
BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on January 16 – 22, 2012
PACIFIC AVENUE, SANTA CRUZ, 1892. From McCaleb’s “Surf Sand and Streetcars” book we learn that this was Santa Cruz’s first electric streetcar line. This was known as the lower plaza. Front, Mission and Pacific Avenue. It shared the tracks with the horsecars..
LEON PANETTA’S SURPRISE SANTA CRUZ VISIT. The First Congregational Church on High Street was nearly packed and we were waiting for Bert Muhly’s Memorial Service to begin. You could feel the buzz, see the swiveling heads, and hear the whispers… Sylvia Panetta’s here!!! So was Leon of all people!!! Katherine Beiers presided over the 2 hour series of tributes to Bert and Lois. There were tears, laughs, and a genuine feeling of community as we all remembered our personal Bert stories. Bill Monning spoke; Sam Farr presided over the post ceremonies at the reception where Zun Zun played. Bert’s oldest son Bill spoke for 35 minutes and kept Bert’s speech making ability alive and well. Leon Panetta wowed the house by opening with “the last thing Bert would have expected is for the Secretary of Defense to be at his memorial”. Then Leon told of his fond and funny remembrances of the John Tuck/Paul Dragavon “1/4 of July” parties that we staged yearly during the 70’s when Leon was first introduced to Santa Cruz voters. Sam Farr mentioned to me after wards that I should have been included with John and Paul, but what the hell. Zach Friend asked me later what really went on at those legendary parties where upwards of 200-300 people would attend. I didn’t tell him. Keith Greeninger sang and talked how Bert had changed his life. Mark Stone, John Leopold, John Laird, and Don Lane were all there as well as a few other current council people. The Memorial was a fine get together of long time political friends. It’s just too bad that just a few “Developer Democrats” have been working so hard to break up such a community.
WIND MACHINE NEEDED IN SANTA CRUZ. Peter Bartczak sent this clip.
LOOKING FOR DICK YOUNT. Peter Fields sent this inquiry…”I’m assisting a gentleman who’s been compiling Harpers Bizarre reissues for CD. No one seems to know what’s happened to Dick Yount (Harpers Bizarre, Corny & The Corvettes), not even his ex-band mates; and its been over a decade at this point. While I could have sworn I saw an obit quite some time ago, I thought I’d contact you with your knowledge and resources to pose the question…”What ever happened to Dick Yount?”Your help is appreciated – thanks. Sincerely, Peter Fields. Any Bonline readers know about Mr. Yount??
21 MINUTE FILM OF 1955 SAN FRANCISCO.
ANONYMOUS LETTER ABOUT FRED. Culled from this week’s contributions (and thanks for those contributions) was this gem re Fred Keeley and why he should punch a time clock in and out from his office…
“I am embarrassed to admit that I have not been reading your online column until just a few days ago. Someone suggested that I read your Sierra Club articles, and I entirely agree with you. This Micah Posner rat is slimy and dangerous. Although I am a voting Sierra Club member, I hadn’t read anything about the election except the Sentinel’s articles, which are obviously one-sided. But I came to the quick conclusion that the election was not about conservation at all and only partially about bikes. It is really about control by pro-development interests. I am glad to see that others such as you agree. Thank you for continuing to report on this. And what is it with Micah Posner’s dirty clothes? Is he making a statement that it is good for the environment to not wash your clothes, or is he just slovenly? I read something that he wrote in September about his summer vacation, when he marched his family from Santa Cruz to Castle Rock, 50 miles in 10 days. He had his 5 1/2 year old daughter with him. I thought that bordered on child abuse. He was so proud that he marched that poor little girl 4 to 8 miles a day.
The real reason I am writing is to say that I work for the County, and am so pleased that Fred Keeley’s disgraceful behavior is finally getting out. I have a non-descript job in the County building, but have friends who work for Fred or are required to deal with him. It is insulting to me that he makes a ton of money (Sentinel salary database says $162,774) for so little work. People are afraid to talk about this. His staff is obviously intimidated by him so they are afraid to make decisions, but he isn’t there enough to make the decisions. The feeling around the County building is that his office functions OK because he has good staff, but don’t expect more than the minimum from them because they are essentially leaderless. I have also heard rumors that he waives penalties for his chums if they happen to pay their taxes late. The Grand Jury did an investigation of this last year, and I heard people chuckling about it, but I don’t think the Grand Jury report was very strong. In my opinion, Fred Keeley is the opposite of the myth he has created for himself – I do not see him as charming, nor an environmentalist, nor the Treasurer (his treasury manager is the real treasurer), nor concerned about Santa Cruz (just himself). I do see him as a pompous freeloader. One would be hard pressed to find a Fred Keeley supporter inside 701 Ocean Street, largely because he insults us other employees and the citizens who voted him into his nice job by putting as little effort into it that he can get away with, and then joking about it. An acquaintance of mine attended Mardi Wormhoudt’s retirement party when she left the Board of Supervisors, which was apparently attended by hundreds of people, and told me that Fred gave a little skit that included a strip tease down to his shorts and t-shirt, but also bragged to the audience that he went through a silly little job interview so the County could give him his job, and then bragged to the audience of hundreds that he doesn’t have to work very hard at it. So inappropriate and disrespectful. I hope you continue to write about Fred Keeley’s work hours. I doubt he will leave voluntarily, but perhaps the Board of Supervisors can do something. He needs to go do something he is interested in, because he is creating problems and costing taxpayers a lot of money to do something he isn’t interested in, and only does it part time”. Anonymous. Enough said? Probably not.
DONALD SUTHERLANDS FART STORIES.
ERASING ELERICK INPUT NAME. Maryellen Boyle sent emails to Paul and me about her name appearing in Paul’s Input last week. She said, “I am not a supporter of People Power’s Sierra Club list”.
She emailed again saying, “I am shocked to read your comment about me and my membership in the Sierra Club and the assumption that I joined the club to promote a bicycle agenda in the Sierra Club. Your assertion is quite incorrect. For the record, I voted against the People Power endorsed slate of candidates”. (Ed Note. Paul asked me to remove her name, as it was a mistake).
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about Carmel and their water supply problem. He relates issues with the proposed shopping center on highway 68. He discusses our Transportation Commission and the Catch 22 created around the redevelopment agencies. It’s all here and on KUSP.
(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)
MAJOR MAYOR SHIFTS. The Santa Cruz homeless problem has now shifted from Ryan Coonerty’ s philosophy of the healing power of jail time and arrest records to Don Lane’s concept of providing housing. Pundits around town are now worrying ahead of time that with our next Mayor Hilary Bryant’s background in Veterinary Medicine she’ll be pushing for spays and neuters!!!
CALIFORNIA’S BALLOT BOX BATTLE. There are six measures that could change civil society in California. And our local WILPF chapter is working on them. They say…”The yearly California Battle of the Ballot Box is already heating up, even though November voting is months away. The Santa Cruz WILPF January program will focus on six prospective ballot issues concerning… the death penalty, corporate purchase of our elections, health care, the environment and tax equity. Please join us! 7:00-9:00pm, January 17 Quaker Meeting House 225 Rooney Street, Santa Cruz . Free, all welcome, donations always welcome. For more information call (831 465 8272 ) or email wilpf.news@calcentral.com.
ANCHOR IN ANTARCTICA. Micaela writes re: the cold culinary arts…
Somebody ate my tuna fish. I searched through the week’s leftovers in “Debra Jo”, our name for our communal fridge, and found hush puppies, veggie pasta, chicken egg rolls, basil polenta and hot fudge sauce. All good things to eat (maybe not in the same meal) but I wanted my very own little tub of tuna fish salad. Apparently, it has disappeared into the abyss of our collective appetite.
Most of our meals happen buffet-style, where everyone serves themselves with giant spoons. Our two cooks prepare three meals every working day, and (almost) every meal is delicious. The baked goods deserve special mention. We bring down enormous quantities of food in our vessel, storing it a year’s worth of pork chops and tofu dogs in two shipping containers set up as freezers. However, bread is so bulky that we would never have room to store enough frozen bagels and dinner rolls for a month much less an entire season. Sacks of flour stack much more nicely, so the cooks bake daily and even keep their own sourdough culture.
Of course, eating someone else’s cooking means eating according to their taste and preference rather than your own. The demands of cooking for large groups of people under deadline also dictates how food is prepared and seasoned — not too complicated, not too salty or spicy, not too “ethnic” unless serving a theme meal like Mexican Day (Fridays here at Palmer).
While living at McMurdo Station in 2007-2008, I went an entire year without eating a meal prepared for fewer than one hundred people. By the time I returned to the States after six months of post-Ice travel in Southeast Asia, I had become obsessed with cooking. A year without having to cook did more to expand my palate and range of kitchen techniques than any foodie trend.
And that’s why I get upset thinking about my tuna fish salad, prepared with capers, lemon and dill without the use of wretched plastic-tub mayonnaise. Someone raided Debra Jo for an after-hours snack or maybe for sandwich fixings on Sunday (our only day off) and failed to heed the initials “MN” clearly written on the lid. I tried clarifying Fridge Etiquette at our station meeting during the “Gentle Reminder” portion of our agenda, and perhaps that will solve the problem. If not, then forget initials — I’m labeling my next batch of goodies “Fried Liver and Onions, Help Yourself.”
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April or maybe September 2012!!
VINTAGE DE CINZO. Boulder Creek’s source of boldness ??Seek DeCinzo below.
EAGANS DEEP COVER. The real Mitt Romney from the real Tim Eagan. Scroll to the usual place
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul Landau reviews Frank Bardacke’s book, “Trampling out The Vintage”. Saul and I agree completely on the book. Listen to Universal Grapevine Tuesday from 7-7:30 to hear me interview Frank. Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD fromroundworldproductions@gmail.com
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Direct from Lisa…”This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express, I reveal my new mantra for the New Year, mull over Dueling Dragons (Hollywood and Swedish versions of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, that is), and send a big shout-out to the Nickelodeon and Del Mar Theaters for their cool new digital upgrade. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
CHRIS ROCK ABOUT STRAIGHTS WATCHING THE OSCARS.
WAR HORSE. Why are there so many sappy, saccharine, Hallmark, trite, syrupy plots about horses. Think about National Velvet, My Friend Flicka, Horse Whisperer, Seabiscuit …all weepy sentimental slobbering stories. War Horse is worse than all of them. All it lacks is Roddy McDowell, Mickey Rooney, Barry Fitzgerald, and a teen aged Elizabeth Taylor. It even has the required duck that nips at men’s trousers. Don’t go ever, and don’t let anybody you care about go either. BUT there is one good thing about horses…read on.
SANTA CRUZ’S HORSE MEAT MARKET.Speaking ofhorse meat, Joe Giallo and his partner Nancy opened a horse meat market at 2590 Portola where Cole’s Bar BQ is now. Here’s a clipping from the Lewiston Daily Suntelling about Joe and selling horsemeat back in September 1974. My friend the late Jerry Predika ( artist and sausage maker) and I started writing a horsemeat cook book with a recipe for Filly Mignon and much, much more, but Joe got just one load of what they said was improperly refrigerated meat and shut up shop. The meat is delicious and almost fat free. Now we see that Obama has made horsemeat legal again!!! Scroll past the news of George Harrison going on tour, and that Sonny and Cher are breaking up and that Michael Tilson Thomas resigned as guest conductor of the Boston Symphony when he was 29.
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY. Gary Oldman gets better with every role he plays and he is simply wonderful in this star loaded cast. No one I talked to, me included, could decipher the plot of this complex foreign intrigue. It’s smart, intelligent, perfectly acted, neat photography and all that, but it’s hard to figure who’s doing what to whom…and why. See it anyways, better yet read it again before you go. I should have.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.This re-make isn’t like a director doing a brand new take on Hamlet’s character. It’s not as good, or as tight as the original. It’s exciting; the new Dragon lady is very cool, but not as cool as the original. The problem with it is…you won’t be able to stop comparing, remembering, and thinking ahead on the obvious similarities of the two plots. After saying all that, go anyways…good fun.
HOSTETTER’S HOT STUFF.There are loads of good things coming up, still including the incomparable David Lindley, John McCutcheon, BeauSoleil avec you-know-who, Linda Burman Hall’s sound projects with the most musical primates on earth besides we humans, a wealth of lovely Irish music of all persuasions, and as a bonus, something I neglected last time: accordion wizard Dan Newton in Santa Cruz, of all places! If anyone has a direct line to The Great Morgani, please tell him to come. They are birds of a feather. You need to click this link here, and the other stuff will be revealed. As before, I hope to see you at one or another of these splendid events. yrs, ph.
Memoir (and): A celebration with Claudia Sternbach, Wallace Baine, Richard Stockton and local authors. “This is the age of memoir,” proclaims William Zinsser in Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir. Memoir will come of age in our century, outgrowing the constraints bound upon it for so long, as the novel did in the twentieth century. Memoir (and) is a nonprofit literary journal born with these ideas in mind and whose mission is to publish traditional as well as nontraditional forms of nonfiction allied with memoir. Reading tonight is essayist Jaclyn Moyer (“Marigold”) and award-winning poet Charles Atkinson (“Passing Bell for Kobun Chino, Sensei”). Tonight’s event promises lively literary conversation with hosts Wallace Baine, the Santa Cruz Sentinel Arts Editor, Richard Stockton of True Fiction Radio, and Claudia Sternbach, author of Reading Lips: A Memoir of Kisses. Thursday, January 19 at 7:30pm at Capitola Book Café.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE RESUMES AT UCSC. Friday, January 13: “American Crossroads”. 20th-Century American Music for Piano with Mary Jane Cope, piano with Amy Beal (piano) and Kristin Harris Garbeff (cello). This is an evening performance of works for solo, duo, and accompanied piano by great American composers of the 20th century, including “Balinese Ceremonial Music” transcribed in 1940 for two pianos by pioneering ethnomusicologist Colin McPhee.
PROGRAM In a Landscape (1948) — John Cage (1912–1992) Piano Sonata no. 3 (1947) — Norman Dello Joio (1913–2008) Sonata, op. 6, for Cello and Piano (1932) — Samuel Barber (1910–1981) Four Piano Blues — Aaron Copland (1900–1990) Three Irish Legends — Henry Cowell (1897–1965) Balinese Ceremonial Music (1940) transcribed for two pianos by Colin McPhee (1900–1964). Friday, January 13, 2012. Music Center Recital Hall, UC Santa Cruz. 7:30pm (doors open at 7:00pm).general seating. tickets at santacruztickets.com
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 January 10th activist, author, teacher Frank Bardacke will give us background on his Cesar Chavez/UFW new book “Trampling Out The Vintage” then Jim Mosher returns to talk more about his work on regulating alcohol and marketing it to young non drinkers. WilmaMarcus Chandler is on Jan. 17th talking about the current “8 Tens @ 8 Play Festival. She’ll be followed by Peter McGettigan ace producer and cameraman at Community TV. Jan Karwin from The League Of Women Voters will be my guest on January 31 talking about the League and the Ballot measures they are backing. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click here then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “I hated America until I discovered TV”, Michael Gerston.”Every revolutionary needs a color TV”, Jerry Rubin.”Children who worship Batman grow up to vote for heroes“, Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber
BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on January 11 – 16, 2012
ONE MORE SNOW PHOTO, 1957. This was taken at Mission and Water Streets or Front and Pacific if you prefer. You know, Bank of The West and The Town Clock corner . We lost the McHugh Bianchi Building (on the far left) in 1972.
2012 & REPUBLICANS. Now that the New Year is finally here (there were some doubts earlier) we should look at and wake up to what’s really happening on the political scene. We watch, mostly stunned, while our County Treasurer Fred Keeley endorses more and more pro-growth and unqualified Sierra Club candidates. We remained stunned while cyclists led by Micah Posner (who’s running for Santa Cruz City Council) exert more “support the economy” pressure in his pro-growth run for power. If that’s not enough just read the BAY AREA GOP December 2011 NEWSLETTER… partially reprinted here…
Republican Opportunities Bloom in Santa Cruz
Republican opportunities are rising dramatically in Santa Cruz County with two prominent Republicans running for open supervisorial seats.
County Board of Education President Vic Marani is running in the 2nd District, while former state Senator and California Secretary of State Bruce McPherson is running in the 5th District.
Chairman Gene Scothorn says that the Santa Cruz County Republican Party “has new life, and there’s a lot of energy moving ahead into the 2012 election cycle.”
– – –
Vic Marani was elected to the county Board of Education in 2008, after serving earlier on the Pajaro Valley School Board. He has been working as an aide to state Sen. Sam Blakeslee until leaving to run for supervisor.
The 2nd District includes the beach communities south from Capitola plus Corralitos and the mountain areas north of it. Incumbent Supervisor Ellen Pirie is retiring.
Vic Marani served in the past as an educator and a coach, as well as chair of the county Republican Party. He and his wife have twin daughters and live in Rio del Mar. You can reach his campaign at (831)684-6167.
– – –
Bruce McPherson jumped into politics in 1993, pulling off what seemed like a miracle win for a Republican in a heavily Democratic Santa Cruz state Assembly district. He was well known as the editor of the local newspaper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
McPherson was elected to the state Senate in 1996 and served two terms. In 2005 he was nominated by Governor Schwarzenegger to become California Secretary of State.
The 5th Supervisorial District includes part of Scotts Valley, Boulder Creek, Felton, various mountain communities, and a little of the city of Santa Cruz. Incumbent Mark Stone is running for state Assembly.
Bruce McPherson says he is interested in running for local government because it is the “best, most responsive form of government.”
Folks who follow local politics beyond the Sentinel know that Vic Marani has worked for decades to place Republicans on as many local “non-partisan” boards as possible. School boards, committees, you name it and Marani’s influence is there. Now he himself is running. They must figure the time is ripe. More than that Republican Bruce McPherson is running for 5th district County Supervisor. Again folks tend to forget that McPherson followed Arnold Schwarznegger’s party line with total loyalty. Yet, the rumor persists that McPherson was a moderate Republican.
LATTÉ BREAKING QUESTION.Just mentioning Fred Keeley ( see above) County Building spies have asked for quite a while just what hours does Keeley keep? Then they wonder how many times per month does he go to Sacramento? And why? Just how much time and work is his staff/crew filling in for him? Fred’s already earned his place in history right between………. And ………., so what is he working on now?
GARY GRIGGS & DAVID GHARKY. Gary Griggs (another endorser of Sierra Club candidates for some unknown reason) Wrote in his 12/30/11 Sentinel column on wharves:
“The photograph also shows a second wharf, a little to the west of the present Municipal wharf, which was built by David Gharkey in 1856. The South Coast Railroad bought this wharf 20 years later and it soon became known as the Railroad Wharf. Tracks were extended to the end and freight and passengers could then be transferred directly to or from ships”. The problem here is that Katherine Beiers alerted me to the fact that it’s spelled Gharky. Just like Joao Rodrigues Cabrilho and LONDON Nelson we appear to have a community wide disinclination to the proper spelling of names. So here from the Santa Cruz Public Library very public files…
“The second wharf, slightly west of today’s Municipal Wharf, was constructed by David Gharkyin 1856 and lengthened in 1863. It was purchased by the South Pacific Coast Railroad in 1875 and became the Railroad Wharf, with tracks running out to the end. Here freight could be unloaded directly onto steamships, and ship passengers could reach county destinations directly by train. During the Civil War, Gharky constructed a high wharf extending out from Second and Main streets on Beach Hill, to serve the Powderworks, the only gunpowder factory in the west. It became known as the Steamship Wharf when the Pacific Coast Steamship Company made it its local headquarters”. We can all do better in 2012.
ROAMING WITH ROMNEY RUMORS.Ever-creative Romney Dunbar who has been doing all those business promotion spots on our local channels told me at Karla Hutton & Ted Benhari’s New Years Party that he’s about to announce his brand new in hotel channel idea. Sounds great and I’ll let you know more when I get his next final word.
WORST IDEAS OF 2011.The Whale’s Tale Restaurant.I still have the full color 11x 16 brochure of the proposed enormous 422 seat restaurant in the shape of a whale that Mark Gilbert wants to build out on our municipal wharf. Lets hope that idea has drowned a rapid death by now.
GOOD TIMES AND CHRISTMAS CHEER. Lots of folks were very surprised to hear that Christa Martin longtime staff writer on December 15, was let go, terminated, fired…whatever, just two weeks before Christmas. That leaves exactly two staff writers at GT. What’s next? Any couldn’t they have waited until this month???
KELLY GARRETT RETURNS.Kelly Garrett, long time Santa Cruzan journalist and partner with Jim Heth in running The Morning Star an actual Santa Cruz daily newspaper was back in town last week. Kelly and his two sons (who are fluent in Spanish) live in Naucalpan, a suburb of Mexico City. Kelly covers the cultural scene in Mexico City which he says is not just huge, never ending, and growing but it’s supported by the citizenry the likes of which is rare here. He’s writing furiously for Mexico Review which will debut in a week or two. I’ll pass on a link to it as as son as it’s online…in case you’re going South.
OUR OWN SENTINEL.Just in case you’re not a life-long subscriber to the Sentinel you NEED to read this one. Both Paul Hostetter and Welles Goodrich sent it in… “Santa Cruz woman thwarts mugger, hands him bag of dog poop”, read the rest here…
SENSIBLE TRANSPORTATION AND PETER SCOTT. Peter Scott sent this…
First of all; we hope the New Year brings you good things! Second, here are two items of interest:
1. Here’s a good letter to the Sentinel editor from Leonie Sherman:
Keep Pogonip wild.On a recent hike through the lower Pogonip, I encountered friendly families, elders and strolling individuals. As soon as I hit the U-Con trail, I was bombarded by speeding cyclists, most of whom did not even slow down as they passed me, none of whom issued a greeting. Cyclists on upper campus have cut illegal single tracks all over the mountain, leading to erosion and compaction, removing trees and whatever else is in their way. Mountain bikers have plenty of terrain to enjoy here in Santa Cruz and there is precious little space left for hikers, families and the elderly. A trail connecting Harvey West with Upper Campus and Henry Cowell already exists: the train tracks. Please oppose the foolish idea to create a multi-use trail, which would cater to a small number of individuals who take up a lot of space. Keep the Pogonip peaceful and wild”. Leonie Sherman, Santa Cruz. Read it again here
2. J. M. Brown’s December 25th Sentinel article is here. Brown’s piece is mainly about the current local Sierra Club election, but it refers to the proposed new trail on the Pogonip as one of the election issues. If you are a member of the Sierra Club, be sure to vote for the three incumbents. The ballot is on the last page of the latest Ventana newsletter (mailed December 15), which you should have received by now. Ballots are
due to the Sierra Club’s P.O. Box by January 11. Feel free to call me (831-423-0796) if you have any questions. It appears likely that the Pogonip trail issue will be coming up before the City’s Parks Commission in February, 2012. We’ll keep you posted. All the best, — Peter
p.s. Don’t forget to encourage your friends to sign our petition if they haven’t already done so.
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary’s KUSP reports take on CEQA, more about Monterey’s Fresh & Easy Chain Store, and about Land Watch in Monterey County. He then discusses and praises The California Coastal Commission and tells why they are absolutely necessary. He closes with a discussion of The Coastal Watershed Council. Read it all here
(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)
Michaela’s first words in 2012 are: “Palmer Station celebrated the New Year in classic Antarctic style–tipsy, cross-dressed, and cold. We construct our own makeshift costumes and also dress up the youngest person on station as “Baby New Year” (complete with adult diaper) to lead the countdown to midnight in our bar. After the cheer comes the First Polar Plunge of the Year, quickly followed by the First Dip in the Hot Tub around 2:30 a.m. to watch the sun set over the glacier.
This New Year promises big changes for Palmer and for all the U.S. stations. The National Science Foundation (NSF) finally announced that Lockheed Martin won the contract to manage the logistics and infrastructure for the US Antarctic Program (The Program). The support contract normally lasts ten years, but the economic climate led the NSF to extend the contract held by my current employer, Raytheon Polar Services Company (RPSC), for three additional years. Every month of the extension brought new rumors about “The Transition” often colored by a vague sense of threat: cutbacks, radical policy changes, stricter Physical Qualification (PQ) requirements, no more mail, etc. When the RPSC contract expires on March 31, 2012, we will start to see how these bureaucratic changes will effect those of us on continent in actuality. I bet that at least some of those rumors come true, although not the ones people expect.
The real anxiety about The Transition stems from conflicted reality of a career in The Program. Most people here do not feel that they work for some support contractor chosen by the NSF. We work for Antarctica, for the scientific research in general and for the quirky communities that we form amongst ourselves. The contractor companies have tremendous power over our day-to-day lives during their contract, but in the end they’re just passing through. When one company leaves, we apply to the same jobs with its replacement and carry on. However, our jobs allow us to come to Antarctica in the first place. Not to get hired means to lose access to the people and places that have come to feel like “Home.” The company therefore has no power and all power, simultaneously.
Whatever happens over the next few months, I’ll be in prime position to tell you about it. I recently accepted a winter contract that will keep me on-continent until next September or October. In fact, I might not return to the northern hemisphere until next New Year! ”
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012…well maybe longer…see above).
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul either ends last year or kicks off this new one with a statement like… “Obama could make a humanitarian gesture to free the Cuban Five. Cuba has already “conveyed to the U.S. government its willingness to find a humanitarian solution to the Gross case on reciprocal basis.” (Cuban government press release December 2011) The U.S. media ignores the statements of 10 Nobel Prize winners, Amnesty International and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions. All agree. The Cuban Five did not get a fair trial and merit a pardon or a new trial – not in Miami.Obama knows how to get Alan Gross home. After all, Israel swapped 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for one captured Israeli. READ IT ALL HERE
VINTAGE DE CINZO. Mr. DeCinzowelcomes the New Year with some food resolution ideas. Scroll down.
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim takes a chunk out of political campaigning, scroll below.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa boldly announces…” It’s a wrap this week at (Lisa Jensen Online Express ), where I bid adieu to some of the biggest hits and misses of the 2011 movie year. Meanwhile, my shameless love affair with The Artist continues as I present an illustrated guide to some of the vintage stars and classic movies that inspired it. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
THE ARTIST.This “film” is nearly perfect. Wonderfully acted, perfectly cast plus our local Dash Pomerantz as an added attraction, you should see this movie. It proves what I’ve tried to say for years…Silent Films are more interactive, they demand your attention, and you simply get more from them. I’ve been attending The San Francisco Silent Film Festival for nearly all of its’ 17 years and have seen at least 200 of the best surviving genuine silent films from around the world….and they are projected and screened properly. The plot of The Artist is corny and a lesser event compared to Silent Masterpieces such as Abel Gance’s Napoleon or Sunrise or Metropolis or any Chaplin or Doug Fairbanks efforts but it’s fun, unique and should be seen on the big screen.
TIN-TIN. I missed most of the Tin Tin books and was more of a Babar the Elephant enthusiast up to about age 8. But this Spielberg animation version of Tin Tin is well worth seeing. I’ll even say that there are scenes the scope of which I’ve never witnessed on the screen before. I was impressed by the new style of animation. Not “The Incredibles”/Pixar type, not Disney, and excellent. My LA grandsons and son in law and I saw it in 3D in Culver City less than a block from the original MGM Culver City Studios, which I last toured in 1954. Culver City has created a 2-3 city block pedestrian mall, and it’s working well from what I could tell.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL.Only if you like Tom Cruise and air-headed spy action thrillers should you see this one. It has something to do with secret drone bomb codes and Russia and suction cups and Dubai hotels. It has no meaning, no discernible plot and only suction cups make the film exciting. Go warned.
NEW MUSIC WORKS. The NMW Ensemble presents MANDOLICIOUS , conducted by Phil Collins, with Guest Artists, mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshall and Nigerian-American tenor Akindele ‘Akiva’ Olanrewaju Bankole present an evening of rare and new small ensemble treats spanning almost two centuries (1826-2011) by composers Mike Marshall, Akindele ‘Akiva’ Olanrewaju Bankole*, Mark Kilstofte, Luigi Denza, Johann Sioly, Franz Schubert andArnold Schoenberg (* world premiere). There’ll be a post-Concert Discussion with The Artists (at the end of the concert). Admission discounts available for Seniors, Students and Cabrillo College Music Students. Doors open at 7:30pm, showtime is 8pm on Friday, Jan. 13th, 2012 in the
Cabrilho College Music Recital Hall, Aptos. For more info, please visit: www.newmusicworks.org
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. Claudia Sternbach guests on January 3 to talk about her new book, “Reading Lips” after which Kathy Bisbee discusses her film and saving community TV. On January 10th activist, author, teacher Frank Bardacke will give us background on his Cesar Chavez/UFW new book “Trampling Out The Vintage” then Jim Mosher returns to talk more about his work on regulating alcohol and marketing it to young non drinkers. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “First coffee. Then a bowel movement, Then the muse joins me”, Gore Vidal. “I’m not feeling very well. I can only write prose today”, W.B. Yeats.. “One should not be too severe on English novels; they are the only relaxation of the intellectually unemployed”, Oscar Wilde.
BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on January 4 – 10, 2012
OUR TOWN CLOCK’S ORIGINAL POSITION ON JULY 27, 1964. This shows the removal of the clock from high atop the International Order of Odd Fellows Building on Pacific Avenue. It went from here to sit in Harvey West Park for 10 years before Gene Corridon with financial help and guidance from Bob Darrow, got it re-situated in 1975. Check out the more formal and detailed history here…
SUPPORT THE REAL SIERRA CLUB. Paul Elerick and many Sierra Club members and friends sent in the following bulletin and data. It’s important enough to lead off this week’s column…
ELERICK’S INPUT.
Attention Sierra Club Members – Keep the Sierra Club Strong and Independent
In the critical Santa Cruz Group of the Sierra Club election this December please vote for Kevin Collins, Dennis Davie, and Mark Sullivan. Their credentials are printed in this month’s Ventana Newsletter.The Santa Cruz Group of the Sierra Club is the oldest and largest independent environmental group in Santa Cruz County. Locally, the Sierra Club has been effective in challenging policy-makers on many conservation issues, including zoning and land use, timber harvest plans, biodiversity ,transportation, open space, water use, storm water management, oceans and fisheries, and climate change.
These successes are now at risk. A coalition of groups that support many projects that the Sierra Club opposes is attempting to take over the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club in the board election this December. This could silence a critically important independent voice in local conservation efforts.
If you believe that the Sierra Club should keep its historic focus on protecting wildlife and wild lands, please join me in supporting the current Executive Committee members, Kevin Collins, Dennis Davie, and Mark Sullivan in their bid for re-election.
If you are a Sierra Club member, you should have received your Ventana Newsletter by now, it has been mailed to Sierra Club members. Please complete the ballot on the back page, and mail the original per the instructions on the ballot page, (not a copy) before January 5. If you have a joint membership, remember that you can vote twice.
If you are not a Sierra Club member, you can help by forwarding this message to your friends that are members or have friends that are members. For more details on this takeover attempt, click here.
(Paul Elerick is thechair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
MORE ON SIERRA CLUB TAKEOVER. Paul Elerick’s link, and this one, takes you to a story in Santa Cruz Indy Media. The article, “Bicycle Wars: Cycling advocates seek control of Santa Cruz County Sierra Club” contains statements such as, ” But in a move that has some long time Sierra Club members crying foul, cycling advocacy groups are running a slate of three candidates for the board of the Santa Cruz County Group of the Sierra Club in the December election. This would be the second cyclist-sponsored candidate slate in two years, and is expected to decide control of the Santa Cruz Group Executive Committee. And, “The candidates have no prior history of volunteering for the Sierra Club, but do have extensive ties to local cycling advocacy groups. Tawn Kennedy is coordinator of Green Ways to School, a K-12 education project that is funded by a grant through People Power and the Hub for Sustainable Transportation. Greg McPheeters is the immediate past Chair of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, and Mary Odegaard joined People Power in advocating for the King Street bike boulevard. The trio is attempting to unseat the current Santa Cruz Group Executive Committee Chair, Kevin Collins, a long time Sierra Club forestry activist, as well as the Forestry Committee Chair, Dennis Davie, and the Secretary / Treasurer, Mark Sullivan, a local environmental attorney”. Read that entire Indy Media piece. It tells about Arana Gulch, the bicycle path through Pogonip, King Street’s bike boulevard, and more of Posner’s plots.
MICAH POSNER & PEOPLE POWER. I should have charged a dollar for every person who’s asked me about Micah Posner and his 350-500 member People Power club in the last year. Lately the questions center on Posner being one of the folks behind using the upcoming election to stack the Sierra Club with pro-development people. Check out People Power website at http://www.peoplepowersc.org . Now YOU can look for their non profit status, look for what happens to monies “donated” to People Power, how much does Micah take home? Do they have 350 members or 500 members? The P.P. website claims both! Do they donate $100 each? Why does Micah’s name creep into each development scheme around the County? I can’t figure it out. One deal/reason is that IF those pro-development people over take and outnumber the environmentally committed Sierra Club members there won’t be the Sierra Club opposing those developers deals and the toady’s that go with them.
LAND TRUST VICTORY PARTY??? What’s really happening behind the scenes of that Cemex Deal up in Davenport? The highly trained BrattonOnline spies reported that just last week That the Land Trust threw a victory party up in Davenport, that was nice, but how come County Supervisor Neal Coonerty wasn’t invited and Janet Webb, the president of Big Creek Lumber did get an invite?
Satchmo singing…what else?
MONSTER ATTACKS SMITH GRADE. Bonny Doon neighbors plus The Rural Bonny Doon Association, The Native Plant Society and Back Ranch Road folks are have started their own firestorm over Robert Mansfield’s plans to build a monster house on Smith Grade. Bob is Senior VP of Hardware Engineering at Apple. Check him out at the Apple website Depending on how you look at it, and it’s so big you’ll be forced to look at it, Mansfield is planning on a 9,300 square foot mansion. He’s planning on it being four stories high!! That includes his 4 “barns”, and his basement theater. They erected “story poles” last week and everyone from Empire Grade to Back Ranch Road and miles around are very angry, and worried because the CEQA comment period ends this Wednesday, and the planning dept hearing is scheduled for January 20th. As one neighbor stated “the story poles show the outlines of the facade, four stories high on a promontory visible from many locations all over the north coast. One issue is an Open Space Easement attached to the property in 1981, which was signed by Gary Patton as our Supervisor at that time” This invasion could happen to you and your property next month, tell the County Planning Department what you think about your environment, your neighborhood and our County before it’s too late.
CHICKEN WIRE MONSTER MACHINE. Trained docent Ken Sievers sent this clip of a genuine chicken wire making machine. Ken noticed that the late Barney Bricmont and I both handled that stuff at Orchard Supply Hardware. Before Orchard I did the same job at Eastside Hardware working for Ted Giubbini back in 1970. But who remembers Eastside Hardware anyways??? Barrios Unidos is at the Eastside location now. Look below for the clip of a barbed wire machine…geez!!
FAREWELL BERT MUHLY. I first met Bert and Lois Muhly at Jim and Katie Heth’s house when Lois was teaching at Soquel. Burt was one of the first people I called to connect with in our fight to stop P.G. & E. from building their Nuclear Power plant up in Davenport. We remained on the same side of almost every local progressive political issue for over 40 years. Bert always talked a lot and when he was scheduled to speak at Leon Panetta’s first local fundraiser for Congress way back in 1976 at Paul Dragavon’ s house I printed “Bert Muhly…brief political update 2:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m.”. He and I laughed about that nearly forever. More than being missed, Bert was essential.
BARBED WIRE MACHINE. Be very afraid of watching this clip!!! The accompanying music either makes the device nearly sexual, or it’s time for a vacation.
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary warns that a “Fresh and Easy” grocery store is moving into Monterey. He pleads with us to get involved next year with land use issues and the setting of local policies. He talks about a Bill Monning Bill and praises the many gifts that Bert Muhly gave our community. Read all of Gary’s weekly KUSP scripts here.
(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)
(Editors note; Fresh and Easy Grocery Stores are owned by TESCO. Tesco is British owned and is the third largest retailer in the world after Wal-Mart and Carrefour Hypermarkets. Tesco now has stores in 14 countries around the world. Santa Cruz will probably be next!!)
SANTA CRUZAN LU WATTERS…an early recording.
LU WATTERS BIRTHDAY. Lucius “Lu” Watters was one of Santa Cruz’s most famous musicians. He was born here on December 19. His trumpet style and love of Jelly Roll Morton style jazz made Lu the leader of the San Francisco jazz revival back in 1949 through the 50’s. Turk Murphy, Bob Scobey, Clancy Hayes and sometimes even Woody Allen on clarinet played his arrangements. Bruce Engelhardt sends this…Hi Bruce E. “All the Jazz programs out here are celebrating and playing the music of Santa Cruz’s own Lucius “Lu” Watters as the centenary of his birth fall on the 19th of December. Anything happening in Santa Cruz?
To BrattonOnline…” The note above is from my friend Tony Dunn who lives in Airey’s Inlet, which I believe is in Victoria state in southern Australia. It’s a coastal community. He’s a big traditional jazz fan, plays jug and sings with the Gut Bucket Jug Band and is a recently retired economics teacher at the equivalent of our city college which is located in Melbourne. If the Watters he’s speaking of is the founder of Dixieland jazz in San Francisco (out of which sprang Turk Murphy), his birthday should be noted and celebrated in Santa Cruz but so far, I’ve seen and read nothing about it. Perhaps we should organize some sort of celebration or commemoration for Watters next year. I was embarrassed to report back to Tony that I heard and read no mention at all about Watters’ birthday in Santa Cruz in this or past years. Bruce Engelhardt. I agree about us not doing anything to salute Lu Watters. How great to have one of the 10,000 ukulele artistes at least dedicate an evening to his music, or name a development or some meeting room in one of the four new hotels going up…after him!!! Why not???
ANCHOR IN ANTARCTICA. Our cold on the outside/warm on the inside correspondent sends season’s shivers…
“We celebrate holidays according to traditions that have sprung up at Palmer Station since it opened in 1968, each season’s crew tweaking the customs carried over from previous years. All of them have a very “handmade” flavor because we don’t go shopping for gifts or decorations at the local mall. Someone made our menorah from brass plumbing parts, for instance– it’s beautiful, if a bit heavy. The stockings come from recycling bits our everyday life: mesh nets used to catch krill samples, scraps of Carhart work pants, produce bags from the freshies.
The true highlight of the season is the Christmas gift exchange, when we employ our unique talents to create fantastic, one-of-a-kind gifts that we then use to torture one another. Everyone has a chance either to open a gift from under the plastic pine tree or to steal one already opened by someone else. Because the gifts range from stunning to so-so, the emotional roller coaster picks up momentum with every round of unwrapping (and of homemade eggnog) until no packages remain. I lost a gorgeous graphite drawing of seal in a handmade frame in the final round last year, and instead walked away with a package of hot chocolate powder. I would feel silly hanging a picture on the wall of my storage unit, anyway.
One day, I hope to celebrate Christmas at the South Pole with The Anti-Santa Claus– a worker with a naturally white beard who dresses up in a black Santa outfit, a mirror-image of the North Pole original, and runs around station playing pranks. He’s normally a quiet guy, I’m told. He simply understands that some jokes require such rare and precise conditions for the setup that you have a clear obligation to put the punch line in the proper place if you ever find yourself There to make them.
…Holidays spent “on ice” remind us of the simple truth– no matter how long we stay here, Antarctica is not Home. Christmas in particular has a special power to point out everything and everywhere that Palmer Station is not– a home with a partner, visiting aging parents or grown children, and out with friends you’ve known since childhood. Here will never be There, and we cannot recreate the rituals of holidays spent at out respective homes. So why try?”
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.
VINTAGE DE CINZO. Monster homes get the DeCinzo holiday spirit…scroll down.
BING CROSBY AND THE ONLY CHRISTMAS SONG
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim E. and animal friends warm up to global warming…see below.
THE NUTCRACKER ON A GLASS HARMONICA. The Shadowbrook’s Ted Burke sent this holiday gem. It says glass harp but it’s really an updated copy of Benjamin Franklins’ glass harmonica. Ted says he’s never tried it in the restaurant….maybe next year?
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul’s provocative article title is “Where’s Captain Hook in NPR’s Peter Pan”. In it he writes…”Operation Peter Pan (recall the Disney film?) used Cuban kids and parents to further their goal: overthrowing the revolutionary government. NPR’s claim of “no evidence” of CIA involvement would have dissolved had they asked Veciana or questioned why the CIA still refuses to release its 1,500 plus documents on that Operation – while de-classifying archives on the Bay of Pigs and the 1962 Missile Crisis”. There’s plenty more about this patently evil plot; read it all here…
Saul Landau’s WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP – available on DVD from cinemalibrestore@gmail.com . Nelson Valdes came to Florida in Operation Peter Pan and is Professor Emeritus at the University of New Mexico. Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD from roundworldproductions@gmail.com
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa (in her theatrical voice) humbly requests….”Clear the decks in your holiday schedule, and put on your dancing shoes, for one of the absolutely best movies of the year. I rave all about The Artist, and examine some of its silent-era forebears, this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
YOUNG ADULT. Charlize Theron must love to “play ugly” then change into her glamour self…she does that a lot and does it big time in Young Adult. It’s an “interesting” film and she plays a disturbed, alcoholic, partly funny children’s book writer. I liked it, it keeps you wondering, she’s always great to look at, and I hope she doesn’t win anything for this role.
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS. Camping and flapping it up Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law repeat and even add more silliness to this series in #2. The first Downey/Law/Holmes flick made nearly ½ billion dollars…that’s why there’s number 2, surely to be followed by guess what? It isn’t quite as silly as I expected but unlike the almost 235 Sherlock Holmes films listed on IMDB dating back to silents in 1908 and 1916 which take Holmes very seriously, this is just for fun. No one could follow the plot, there’s no tension, no suspense, and nobody tries to act. If that’s your favorite type film go for it.
WHO THE HELL IS JULIET. If you care about Cuba or appreciate excellent documentaries, this 1997 film breaks all the rules. Juliet is a 16 year old prostitute the director met while filming a story of a famous model’s life in Havana. Ten stars at least, it’s fresh, wild, free flowing and has a life rarely seen in films. It took two years to film, and its well worth renting. Go to East Cliff Video to rent it.
STUDENT SERVICES. Another DVD gem from Cedar Street Video. This 2011 French film is about a beautiful student who can’t afford college tuition (one of 40,000 young women in France) who work as occasional prostitutes. Excellent film, produced by IFC. Rent it locally. It wasn’t widely if ever, shown in the USA.
MR.SINATRA AND THE ART OF FLYING.
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. Forest critic Jodi Frediani talks about Cemex on December 20, then Pat Matecjek talks about the recent Arana Gulch decision and developments. (I’m taking December 27th off and we’ll do a re-play of UCSC Prof. Winifred Frick talking about Brown Bats and Gray Hayes detailing local effects of global warming). Claudia Sternbach guests on January 3 to talk about her new book, “Reading Lips” after which Kathy Bisbee discusses film and community TV. Jim Mosher returns on January 10th to talk more about his work on regulating alcohol and marketing it to young non drinkers. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus Nina Simon from MAH, Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man”, Benjamin Franklin. “New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual”, Mark Twain. “Time has no divisions to mark its passage; there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols”, Thomas Mann. “New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights”, Hamilton Wright Mabie
BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on December 21, 2011 – January 2, 2012
SNOW AND TWO WAY TRAFFIC ON PACIFIC AT 7:50AM. IN 1957. You say global warming, I say nostalgia, but whatever works we do have occasional snows around these Mediterranean parts. That lovely building for you newcomers was The Cooper House, formerly our “County Building”. It went down bureaucratically after the 1989 earthquake. It had been retrofitted just before the quake, but big bucks won out and we lost.
CEMEX SALE. That selling of the Cemex Davenport Territory last week was huge news*. I asked Jodi Frediani (Forestry Consultant for Sierra Club and Director of Central Coast Forest Watch) to tell us her side of that story. She wrote…
Land Preservation Goes Down a Slippery Slope…by Jodi Frediani
Clearly the media, along with the environmental groups that have joined to purchase the Cemex property near Davenport, are willing to look past the harm that logging can do when they chant land ‘protection’ or ‘preservation’. *Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News, calls this one of “the largest land preservation deals in the Bay Area in a generation”. According to Miriam Webster, the definition of ‘preservation’ is ‘to keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction; protect’. Even the land trusts themselves are saying the land will be ‘protected’, but from what? It seems the key factor will be to reduce or protect the property from development.
ROBIN WILLIAMS PLUS HAIRY FRIEND
Rogers tells us the ‘conservation easement’ that will be prepared will ‘limit development, logging, and other uses.’ The land trusts will then sell the property to a new owner, ‘probably a timber company’. Hmm. I question just how strong those limitations on logging can be, if the anticipated buyer is a timber company. Clearly the Devil will be in the details.
San Vicente Creek, which runs through the heart of the Cemex forest, is the sole water supply for the town of Davenport. It is anything but pristine which is also true for those streams that traverse Big Creek’s lands. And it is a crucial stream for the survival of Coho salmon and steelhead trout.
A number of enhancement projects have recently been implemented in the lower stream reaches to benefit fish, but the creek is listed as ‘Impaired for Sediment’ under the Clean Water Act. Logging was originally listed as the cause of the impairment, but was changed to ‘unknown’ after strenuous objections from the timber industry. Sediment is bad for fish.
Let’s hope that the conditions in any conservation easement will include substantial no-cut buffer zones along all segments of the watercourse, as well as ‘off-limits’ areas for preservation (that word again!) and retention of old growth. And how about reducing the rate of cut? The Cemex forest has been logged repeatedly and continuously for the past 50 years. Except for the handful of old growth, still there in part due to restrictions by the Department of Fish and Game, the rest of the forest is missing large trees, snags, downed wood and other components of a healthy forest ecosystem.
How about selling carbon credits instead of continuing to log? Why not use this land to grow and retain large trees, which sequester more carbon due to their size? Let this ‘working forest’ work for us all. And let’s hope the conservation easement over such a huge swath of our North Coast is developed in a transparent, open process soliciting and incorporating public input”. End of Jody’s story. There will be more to follow, you can be sure.
It appears that the project to build a bike path through and over Arana Gulch has moved ahead, an idea I never supported. The California Coastal Commissioners approved the AG “multi-use” plan on a 10-1 vote that included Commissioner Mark Stone’s amendments, the most important being that the City actually have the funds in place to pay for ongoing maintenance of the changes planned for Arana Gulch.
This issue has managed to split the environmental (and bike) communities, but its time to move ahead. It would have been nice to see an AG plan that saved the endangered species, and provided access to people with disabilities without the paved “trail”. One of the commissioners asked this question but didn’t get a straight answer. For those who want to see replay of this Coastal Commission hearing, it’s on their website and worth watching. You’ll find it the last item on their December 8th meeting agenda.
Are we going to be facing this same pressure when changing the bike rules comes up again for Pogonip? Most likely, but this one is outside the Coastal Zone so local government will have the call. It seems their strategy has been lately to have a “staff recommendation” that staff knows is what the majority of a council or commission wants so then gets a rubber stamp approval when it comes before them. You can expect the “mountain biker” community to be pushing for access to Pogonip; we’ll be hearing more on this from local candidates for office in 2012.
(Paul Elerick is thechair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
SANTA CRUZ CITY COUNCIL
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary states re LAFCO’s decision on UCSC’s water demands “Last week, the Santa Cruz County Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, voted to authorize the City of Santa Cruz to extend water service to the UCSC North Campus. This means the University can transform 240 acres of natural area into a new, dense development, with over 3,000,000 square feet of new buildings. My law firm represents the Community Water Coalition, and I testified that there really isn’t a secure water supply for all this proposed new development. While the Chairperson of the Commission agreed, saying, “I do not believe that the City has an adequate, reliable, and sustainable water supply,” he and most other Commissioners* voted to support the University’s application. The Chancellor of UCSC, who was present, had warned the Commission, in a letter threatening a lawsuit, that town-gown good will was on the line, to quote a headline in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. The fact that LAFCO has indicated that it will allow the City to commit its admittedly scarce water supplies to new development on the campus should make everyone pay even more attention to water policy issues. Tomorrow, Item #35 on the Board of Supervisors’ agenda provides a good overview of “water challenges in Santa Cruz County.” I recommend you read it, and I recommend you get personally involved!” Read the rest of Gary’s KUSP broadcasts here
(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)
ANCHOR IN ANTARCTICA. Each passing day actually grows four minutes longer as we spin closer to Summer Solstice in the southern hemisphere, thereby providing us four more opportunities to get into trouble. Yesterday, our research and supply vessel seized the chance to experiment with an irritating but thankfully rare form of mischief: an environmental spill.
The vessel has a large main crane used to move our shipping containers full of supplies onto shore. As cargo operations began Saturday evening, one of the crane’s hoses sprung a leak and squirted some hydraulic fluid into our tiny marina. How much? Less than a quart, certainly. But enough to launch our emergency Spill Response Team into action. The official work day had ended, so some people responded to the call for help in their jeans and tennis shoes, simply adding wools, hats and life vests as necessary. We deployed our floating barriers to stop the slick from spreading, wicked the oil out of the water with specialized, fuzzy-blue rags stuffed into nylon mesh (called absorbent berms), and then this morning packed the contaminated material into 55-gallon drums to ship it all the way to Port Hueneme, CA for hazardous waste processing.
Twenty people gave up their free time to spend over an hour cleaning up less oil than you’d find in a bottle of salad dressing. Add another few hours writing official reports, preferably illustrated with pictures of people in gym clothes using nets to scoop the oily blue fluff out of the water. And yet no one complained: we take even these minuscule spills seriously because the attitude about pollution in the past was a complete joke.
On another note, I had a moment that evening to survey the scene while I was kneeling on the pontoon of a Zodiac (our rubber boats). I was struck by how the ways we split up into teams, adopted roles or took on specific tasks mirrored our common partnerships and personal strengths in everyday life. Some stood advising from the deck while others got busy taking pictures, fetching absorbents, skimming with the nets, distributing the berm, etc. If I had a camera and a hot air balloon, I could have drifted through the scene capturing amazing portraits not only of individuals but of the group as a unique and contradictory whole. But I was busy doing stuff…
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.
VINTAGE DE CINZO.Monarchs adjust to local atmosphere…see DeCinzo fluttering below.
WHOLE FOODS “ORGANIC” CHINA PRODUCE???
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Eager Eagan shows us what a Trump Roast is like…scroll below..
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul’s article, « When Number 2 Acts Like Number 1 » closes with, “U.S. policy rests on false assumptions. Pakistan, Washington decided, has no choice but to obey its aid-giving ally. The Chinese, however, understand the possibilities that will open to them as Washington marches to the beat of imperial ignorance. China has moved resources and advisers to Pakistan, including nuclear experts. Washington can’t seem to grasp a decline that the rest of the world sees, in their once undisputed world power. It cannot keep its home in good repair, but it still acts as if it can make other nations bend to its will. The 24 dead Pakistani soldiers might become the symbol for the beginning of the end of U.S. Empire. It’s all here…
GOODBYE BARNEY BRICMONT. I first met Barney when he and I were clerks at Orchard Supply Hardware back in 1974. I worked in the “Industrial” section and cut chicken wire, and glass. Barney was in “paint” I think, and we remained friends through all those decades. Politically we were in The Peoples Democratic Club a lot and he’ll be missed very much. His daughter announced… Services will be on Friday, December 16th at 2 pm at the Pacific Garden Chapel, 1050 Cayuga Street in Santa Cruz. A reception will follow at 5 pm at the Silver Spur on 2650 Soquel Drive in Santa Cruz. In lieu of flowers, Barney’s family requests that donations go to the Public Schools Foundation of Santa Cruz County. Their address is 1840 41st Avenue Suite 102-244, Capitola, CA 95010.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa wishes you & yours to “join Christina Waters and me this season as we fight to restore the unfairly maligned reputation of the holiday fruitcake. She’s doing the baking over at her blog (http://christinawaters.com/), from a recipe I scored decades ago from my Danish Aunt Chris. I provide the back-story this week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/). Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
DINNER AT GABRIELLA’S. Charles Prentiss’ paintings were on the walls and he was in the corner, Paul Cocking was maitre’de ing and so we had Gastrique apples and Brussels Sprouts, pulled pork and linguine con squid. All great, tasty, and excellently presented. I mention this because I hadn’t’ been to Gabriella’s in a long time. Good non-touristy place to take your visitors.
NO NEW FILMS ON BIG SCREENS. Just be sure to see My Week With Marilyn, The Descendants, Like Crazy, Melancholia, Into the Abyss, and maybe Hugo or J. Edgar, if you run out of places to go.
GREAT FILMS ON LITTLE SCREENS. As previously stated (for many years) just about my favorite hobby/hangup/interest is to discover absolutely great and totally unknown (not distributed in USA) films at Cedar Street video or East Cliff Video. I have found nearly 200 masterpieces that way. I found this 100% perfect French thriller-kidnap-millionaire-ransom-enigma. You will never figure ahead in any step of the story. No blood (only a cut finger), masterful thinking, brand new (2011) never released here, great acting, superb photography it’s called “Rapt” directed by Lucas Belvaux. Just get it and restore your faith in intelligent, well directed thrillers.
“The Last Circus” is also beautiful, but gory, bloody like Fellini’s meeting with Chain Saw Massacre. From a Toronto critic… “There’s no doubt de la Iglesia intended The Last Circus — originally titled Ballad of the Sad Trumpet, after a popular Spanish song performed by a singer in clown-face — to be a showpiece. It is masterfully constructed, brilliantly photographed, and every frame blazes with commitment, imagination and inspiration. Even the copious allusions to past masters, including Fellini, Tarantino, Hitchcock, Chaplin, Peter Greenaway and Ken Russell, can’t dilute its originality.And in the end, that will be The Last Circus‘s major claim to cult glory. It’s a jaw-dropping, barnstorming mess of a yarn ramped up to 11 on every level. It may be bewildering, de trop, offensive, even sickening, but you won’t forget it and you’ll never see anything like it again”. I couldn’t have said it better.
SOUTH KOREA FILMS. Back in the day (like late 40’s and 50’s) films from certain countries changed the way films were made. First Italy, then Sweden, then Japan (De Sica, Bergman, Kurosawa) all made huge monies from subsidizing film those directors. Now it’s Argentina and South Korea who are making great cinema contributions. Go to the video stores and learn to read the secrets hidden in each labeling….great fun (and enlightenment).Films such as Tae Guk Gi, I Saw The Devil, Today and Tomorrow…all great, and available to RENT LOCALLY!!!
GEOFF HOYLE’S GEEZER.If you haven’t seen Mr. Hoyle do this solo show and especially at The Marsh theatre in San Francisco, just do it. He’ll be there February 9 – March 18, 2012. “Who knew that dying could be so side-splittingly funny? But then, given that “Geezer” is a solo by physical comedy maestro Geoff Hoyle, perhaps that’s not the right question. Who knew that Hoyle could be so deeply poignant?”—Robert Hurwitt, SF Chronicle. Hoyle trained in Paris with Marcel Marceau’s teacher, Etienne Decroux, developing his unique bravura comic style, a combination of court jester, vaudevillian and English music hall comedian. His regional appearances include Berkeley and Seattle Rep, A.C.T. and La Jolla Playhouse. His award-winning shows Feast Of Fools, The Convict’s Return, (Geni(us) and The First Hundred Years have been seen in Paris, London, New York, Berlin and the former Soviet Union. He was the original Zazu in The Lion King on Broadwayand first made his mark in the Bay Area as the Pickle Family Circus’ beloved clown, Mr. Sniff.Thursday & Saturday at 8:00 pm; Sunday at 5:00 pm. at The Marsh San Francisco, MainStage, 1062 Valencia Street at 22nd Street.
HOSTETTER’S HOT STUFF.Howdy – (ed. Paul says things like “howdy” because he lives in Bonny Doon). “Amidst the turmoil of daily life I’ve managed to assemble a few new things to look forward to, and will endeavor to add more soon. Of immediate interest, especially if you fancy eastern European folk dancing to socket wrench rhythms, is a dance—tomorrow—at Cabrillo with a particularly choice live band. Then the Festival of Living Music has a fine concert in the offing this weekend featuring seasoned and emerging artists (one of the things I love about FLM) as a lead-up to their season of many pleasures. More about that in due time. Maybe you missed Paul Mehling and the Hot Club of SF when they played in Santa Cruz, but they have a double-header coming up at Yoshi’s in Oakland, so all is not lost. Then there’s the Annual New Years Eve Balkan Blowout at Ashkenaz, with Brass Menažeri and the always-killer Édessa and then, ta da, it’s 2012 and there’ll be more to discuss in the near future about all that. Details here, of course: http://www.lutherie.net/live.music.html Support live music!!! yrs, ph.
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.
Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Paul Burdick returns to talk about justice on December 13th, then UCSC professor and author Patricia Zavella will talk about her new book published by Duke University , “I’m Neither Here nor There” all about Mexicans’ daily struggles with migration and poverty with lots of focus on our local problems. Forest critic Jodi Frediani talks about Cemex& Timber on December 20, then Pat Matecjek talks about the recent Arana Gulch decision and developments.. (I’m taking December 27th off). Claudia Sternbach guests on January 3 to talk about her new book, “Reading Lips” after which Kathy Bisbee discusses film and community TV. Jim Mosher returns on January 10th to talk more about his work on regulating alcohol and marketing it to young non drinkers. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Then there’s Pat Matejcek on environment, Nancy Abrams and Joel Primack on the Universe plus 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. ” Christmas is a time when you get homesick – even when you’re home”, Carol Nelson. “Isn’t it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for – I don’t know what exactly, but it’s something that you don’t mind so much not having at other times”, Kate L. Bosher. “Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice”, Author Unknown.
BEST OF VINTAGE DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on December 13 – 19, 2011
LIBERACE’S BROTHER GEORGE (in middle), HOCUS POCUS (as SANTA) & REINDEER IN SANTA’S VILLAGE May 9, 1959.
Santa’s Village was built in Scotts Valley right off to the east on hwy 17. about 1955. It went bankrupt in 1977. George Liberace played the violin and was the butt of many of his brother’s onstage jokes.
WATER TO UCSC OR TO YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS?It would seem like just about everybody in the County must know about the City of Santa Cruz’s water supply problem. But they don’t. The Sentinel prints it’s own Chamber of Commerce, LOBA, single sided pro- growth, pro- UCSC give away point of view, with little to no mention of any other way of looking at what’s happening. Basically it’s that Santa Cruz has very little extra water to even maintain status quo usage. Do we want to give that water (150 million gallons per year to UCSC’s 3 million square feet of new buildings on their proposed North Campus ~~~~ or do we want to give it to our normal city growth like our kids who want to build here, or when we want to add on an addition to the house…we can’t have both ~~~~~ even with de-sal? That’s what the LAFCO meeting Wednesday am (see Patton) is really about.
FEAR WORKSHOP. Almost like a Santa Cruz City Council meeting, but funny ha-ha not funny peculiar.
McPHERSON A “McNOTHING” SO FAR. Folks who know politics up in Scotts Valley, Felton, and all along the mighty San LorenzoRiver are waiting and worrying about the Republican money and Power machine to get cranking to start up Republican Bruce McPherson’s Supervisor campaign. He’s been suspiciously absent from their area get togethers, has done no noticeable or audible door knocking, while the other supe candidates are really working it. What has most folks wondering is, if McPherson has the know how or even the interest in taking care of the genuine local problems. Trying to imagine him handling drug houses, or dog and leash hassles, or neighbor’s property rights and your driveway makes for an impossible McPherson task. Does he understand the area? What’s he ever done in the San Lorenzo Valley? are huge questions. The existing conservatives and Republicans are excited and waiting for the balance and big bucks to tip their way both in the Valley AND because of both Ellen Pirie’s and John Leopold’s Supervisor Seats, this election could throw the entire County into an even more pro-growth conservative pocket. More and more George Wylie, with his long time hard work on the local Library and School boards is the person to vote for to replace Mark Stone as Supervisor. Check Wylie out. See that Arnie Levine, Harry Berggren, Dr. Kip Tellez, Chris Ungar and other notables endorse Wylie. And stay very aware.
THE ORIGINAL JINGLE BELLS.A little mood music and charming too.
TELL OUR LEGISLATORS….”END THE WARS”.
Peace Vigil – War Protest Dec. 13 You’re invited to join WILPF, MoveOn, and other peace activists at the intersection of Morrissey, Water, and Soquel NEXT Tuesday 12/13 from 5:00pm to 6:00pm for a peace vigil and war protest that connects the dots between war and corporate greed. We’ll send photos of the event to Farr, Boxer, Feinstein and Panetta so we’re not just protesting to each other. Wear warm, light colored jackets and bring a candle or flashlight. We’ll provide WILPF peace doves and peace posters – “peace not profits” – “books not bombs” – “ground the drones” – or bring your own favorite message to our legislators. WILPF Santa Cruz. So meet us at the triangle of Morrissey, Water and Soquel – 5pm – Tuesday Dec. 13
ARANA GULCH & THE COASTAL COMMISSION. Pat Matecjek writes, “If the CaliforniaCoastal Commission is convinced to approve the bike road across Arana Gulch, it will tear apart an important section of the Coastal Act which will lead to similar threats to endangered species habitat in other areas of the CA Coastal Zone. Please sign the petition.
Our fervent hope is that the Commission will pull the bike road out of the Master Plan and pass the rest of it. 3 meetings are scheduled the following week to involve the public in planning for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Scenic Trail along the rail corridor. So it makes fiscal sense to reallocate the $5 million allocated to the bike road to speeding up the development of the real east-west bike/ped route along the rail corridor”. Pat Matecjek.
END OF “FILM” AT THE NICK.The day (nights mostly) have arrived when technology has replaced one more part of our lives. In another week or so there won’t be any more “FILMS” projected on the four screens at the Nickelodeon Theatre. They’ll all be digital projections. Gone will be scratches and those little circles in the upper right that told us to turn around quickly and see the projector switch (up until you were 12). Gone too will be those huge 8 sided steel boxes with last weeks films standing in the corner waiting to be shipped. I didn’t ask if the new “cinema product” will be mailed to the theatre like Netflix dvd’s or will magically be digitally cabled and copied “online” or some other plan from the devil. I’m told that the latest screening invention will give us better resolution, and improved color. It’s sad news too that the Nick will be cutting back on the special “films” they’d play for a week just because they were important and wonderful and very few would attend. This “progress” sure is wonderful. Isn’t it??
STARTING GREY BEARS. The 38th Annual Grey Bears Holiday Dinner at the Civic last Sunday was so successful they ran out of food, but everyone had a great time. I remembered and Facebooked Gary Denny Sunday morning. Gary Denny was an UCSC student and along with another student Kristina Maillard they actually and truly started the Grey Bears. I think they fed about 150 folks that first December Holiday. This year it was over 1500 seniors in the Civic and another 1000 home delivered meals. Not bad for UCSC students.
CHUCK MOORE DIED. Back in the day (1964-and all of the 70’s) Moore’s Graphic Arts Print Shop over on Potrero printed (and mostly donated) every piece of Democratic Party literature in the County. Chuck Moore and his widow Elizabeth (Jimmie) attended, worked, cleaned up and hosted so many Democrat fund raisers they became synonymous. Good Times even chose Chuck and Jimmie the “Valentines Day In Love Couple” of the year award a few years ago. Old friends are welcome to a celebration of Chuck’s life at the old Moore household way up that damned winding road on April 28th. Elizabeth was at that Grey Bears dinner last Sunday she looked just fine. See you at that party in April, if not before.
ELERICK’S INPUT.
RESULTS OF THE 12/1/11 REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION VOTE
This 12 member commission failed to support their community at their last meeting, by not passing a compromise motion by Supervisors Pirie and Stone to delay spending $4 million dollars on another highway widening project. This will go to future “auxiliary lanes” between Soquel and 41st Avenues, a distance of less than one mile. The $4 million will go to design and land purchase, but not one foot of concrete for the lanes. The compromise would have delayed the highway widening for two years and used the $4 million dollars to fix local streets and roads that are falling apart. Road repair was the clear choice of citizens who spoke at the meeting. Nobody spoke against the compromise except a representative from the Santa Cruz Business Council who actually just supported the highway, not against the compromise. Thirty letters were submitted in favor of the compromise.
Unfortunately the 12 member RTC commission was deadlocked 6-6 on the compromise. You’ll be able to watch the replay of this contentious debate on Community TV, but it’s hard to explain how elected officials from all five Supervisorial districts and the City of Santa Cruz couldn’t get one more vote to pass the compromise. The three representatives from the Metro District, Capitola, Scotts Valley and Watsonville stuck together to kill it. It was especially revealing during deliberation that the Commission is all about widening the highway. Commissioners representing the Metro District and Scotts Valley commented that they seldom used Highway 1. Especially painful was the support of the one non-elected member of the RTC representing the Metro District voting against the compromise. Sometime it needs to be explained why one agency has three votes on the RTC, one of these being a non-elected “at large” member but still votes with the same weight as a county supervisor”.
(Paul Elerick is thechair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
ANTARCTICA WEATHER
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about LAFCO in Monterey on Monday, LAFCO in Santa Cruz on Tuesday and explains LAFCO and UCSC’s legal problem like this…
“In summary, state law gives LAFCO the job of deciding whether or not it is appropriate to allow a water service provider (in this case the City of Santa Cruz) to extend its water service to an area outside its jurisdictional boundaries. That is what UCSC is asking for, and there are some arguments in favor, but there are lots of arguments against that, too, particularly at a time of water supply uncertainty”. Read the rest here…
(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)
ANCHOR IN ANTARCTICA. Micaela declares…” The weather has turned nasty once again, but it doesn’t matter because this week I received one of the most prized Antarctic possessions: my own room. When seven people finished their tours of duty and shipped north on our vessel last week, I snapped at the chance to live alone for December. Since I tend to grow to the size of my container, like a goldfish or a guppy, I already made a mess of the place. But it’s my mess, and that makes it gorgeous!
Our rooms started out as basic military barracks built by Navy Seabees in the late 1960s, equipped with same standard-issue furniture, but nothing here stays normal for long. Over the generations, each room has been customized in some way, such as a homemade nightstand, extra shelves in the wardrobe, or varnished wood to replace the laminate on the desk. These items tend to stay with the room to be inherited by each season’s occupants, and so people naturally develop favorites. Last year, I lived in a room with a nautical knot display frame given to station years ago by the crew of the Lautaro, a Chilean ship that operates along the coast. In my new room, I enjoy a particularly well-built headboard that stops my pillows from sliding down the wall.
Most people rate sharing a room as the worst part of living in Antarctica. I guess not many people over thirty like bunk beds, and people under-thirty want a place to bring a lover. People at other stations will even hang bed sheets from the ceiling tiles to get some privacy (not here: the rooms are too small). One hears outrageous stories about bad roommates, and I did have one awful experience with a woman who wore a coonskin cap and a bolo tie, yet I don’t think that fully explains why we covet private rooms. We all have such different ways of doing the exact same thing. Rarely will a person drawn from a random pool fit into our own subconscious schedule perfectly, and we all feel a slight strain when forced to work into someone else’s routine.
The opportunity to be alone, however brief or contrived, belongs to the same category of healthcare as sunshine or good-tasting food. No artificial substitute has ever been found for the sense of well-being they impart, nor remedy for the ache of their absence. That’s how I’m justifying laying around in my underwear talking to myself, at any rate, since no one’s here to contradict me”.
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.
VINTAGE DE CINZO. Professor DeCinzo expands his views scroll down
EAGANS DEEP COVER. The deep Republican Dream revealed, scroll below.
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul says in his Progreso Weekly column, “Last month a Super Committee (12 Members of Congress) failed to decide – fortunately – our economic destiny: where our tax money would go – or not. Yes, capitalism failed again. And with it went democratic procedures in the political arena. Big Facts: Since 2008, millions got laid off, evicted or foreclosed and lost their pensions. Capitalism’s answer: “So you think we might have put a few people out of business today,” Jeremy Irons explains to a lower executive (playing the role of a failing investment bank chief in a fictionalized Lehman Brothers in “Margin Call”). Read it all here.
RABINDRANATH TAGORE.For no explainable reason, this Nobel prize winning poet and novelist (1861-1941) is just about unknown outside of India. UCSC professor Dilip Basu (almost retired now) has just finished translating Tagore’ s 3rd novel into English. It’ll be available soon and he’s coming on my Universal Grapevine radio program to talk about it, when the time is right.
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Lisa states…”This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/), I revisit one of my all-time favorite movies about movies, onscreen this weekend via the Dante Society Italian Film Series. Also, since we’re officially the 5th most artistic metro in the U. S. (based on number of artists per square inch, or something), I offer up some ideas for simple, cheap, yet arty holiday details”. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
INTO THE ABYSS. As we know it’s mostly Republicans who still support the death penalty but everybody should go see Werner Herzog’s latest film, “Into The Abyss”
Like all good Herzog films this documentary looks deep into the human psyche/soul and forces you to think about killing people. It features interviews with the real Texas murderers in their holding cells just days before they’re poisoned. You meet the victims and the murderers families ~~~~ it’s shocking. Then a former Texas executioner tells us about his more than 100 executions and why he quit doing them. Only Herzog could pull this off… if you have any Republican friends take one with you and see this film.
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS in 3D. It’s very true that this movie has received super reviews ~~~ not from me. It’s a high tech explanation of how Santa can get all the presents to every kid in the world, and on time!! The voices with this about average 3D animation are the best of and from the Brit studios but it’s dull, long, wordy, certainly doesn’t have any Pixar –type adult humor.
“THE DESCENDANTS”(FROM AN ISLAND VIEW). Before The Sentinel’s Wallace Baine there was film critic Rick Chatenever. Rick and wife and kids moved to Maui decades ago. Now Rick writes about film for The Maui Times. Here’s a link to his film column for last week, where he gives his impression of Clooney’s The Descendants and Hugo and much more. Read it all here… He wrote about The Descendants, “”The Descendants” is expected to land Oscar nominations for star George Clooney, director Alexander Payne and 18-year-old supporting actress Shailene Woodley, for openers. Set on Kauai and Oahu, kamaaina audiences will find everything onscreen feeling familiar. It feels mostly real, too, from the slack key soundtrack featuring Gabby Pahinui, Keola Beamer, Sonny Chillingworth, Jeff Peterson and more, through the Kauai locations, right down to the casual informality creeping into even the most tragic situations. The film’s title refers to the descendants of the islands’ earliest haole arrivals, who now own thousands of acres of paradise that they didn’t earn … and their ancestors didn’t exactly earn, either. Clooney plays the father of two daughters, whose wife lies in a coma in a hospital bed after an unfortunate speedboat accident. The upheavals in his life come in waves, and his struggle just to keep his head above water is another multifaceted acting achievement cloaked in his trademark understatement. Director and co-writer Payne’s contribution comes in a sense of bathos —truly tragic developments in the story may turn comic in the next instant. “The Descendants” is equal parts real family dynamics and actual island style — which turns out to be far more appealing than Hollywood’s usual drinks-with-umbrellas variety. Like a wiser, hipper, funnier “Hawaii Five-0,” it exports visions of what aloha actually looks like — warts and all —to audiences on the Mainland and elsewhere. While some little part of me wants to point out that film industry professionals don’t quite “get it” as much as they think they do, I can imagine airline reservations to the islands soaring after audiences get this heartwarming hit of all things local”. Thanks to Rick. Go see this film.
MOON WATCHING. Simon Kelly forwards this…” NASA Science News for Nov. 26, 2011…On Saturday morning, Dec. 10th, sky watchers in the western United States and Canada will witness a total lunar eclipse swollen to super-sized proportions by the Moon illusion”. And stay very aware.
BEST CHRISTMAS GIFT EVER!!! Don’t get too excited, I looked these balls up. They sell from $39 to $75, and get dirty easily, and must be maintained carefully.
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. Tuesday December 6th has Youth Symphony conductor Nathaniel Berman followed by UCSC’s Leta Miller author of “Music and Politics in San Francisco”. Judge Paul Burdick returns to talk about justice on December 13th, then UCSC professor and author Patricia Zavella will talk about her new book published by Duke University , “I’m Neither Here nor There” all about Mexicans’ quotidian struggles with migration and poverty with lots of focus on our local problems. “quotidian” means daily or commonly. I looked it up. I thought a “quotidian” was something The Great Morgani played with his foot , like an accordion only smaller. Jim Mosher returns on Dec 27 to talk more about his work on regulating alcohol and marketing it to young non drinkers. Next year Claudia Sternbach guests on January 3 to talk about her new book, “Reading Lips“. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Plus Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
BEST OF VINTAGE STEVEN DeCINZO.
QUOTES. “Liza Minelli comes out looking like a giant rodent en route to a costume ball”, S. Kaufmann. “What is Uncle Vanya about? I would say it’s about as much as I can take”, Roger Garland. “Critics are pygmies with poison darts who live in the valley of the sleeping giants”, Dagobert D. Runes
BEST OF VINTAGE DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on December 5 – 11, 2011
ONE WEEK WITH MARILYN and MY 1/50 SECOND WITH MARILYN, part 2.
The film now at the Del Mar “My Week with Marilyn Monroe” not only depicts a very unseen side of this most luminous star but it shows the powerful acting talent of Michelle Williams. I’m sure she deserves an Oscar but she doesn’t deserve a genuinely important award for real acting. And no I can’t think of any real acting awards at the moment.
As I said last week this is a great excuse to mention that Marilyn Monroe actually posed for me back on October 28, 1952. My Cousin, his wife Irene and I had just attended the live broadcast of the Charlie McCarthy-Edgar Bergen Radio program at the then CBS Vine Street Theatre (now the Huntington Hartford Theatre) in Hollywood. Marilyn was their guest. I had my faithful Argus C3 loaded with Kodachrome and, just by accident we entered the theater parking lot at the exact time Marilyn exited the stage door. I asked her in my best teen-aged tourist voice if I could take her picture….as you can see, she actually pushed aside the group around her and smiled as only she could. Yes, I still have the original color slide, and yes I still love her (in a special way)
MARILYN MONROE IN “NIAGARA” DRESS.Note that this is the dress she wore in my photo when she was promoting “Niagara”. It co-starred Joseph Cotton and Jean Peters
WALGREENS NEXT YEAR.I asked the folks at the Water Street Walgreen’swhat they knew about the new Walgreen’s opening next to The Saturn Café in George Ow’s building. They didn’t know much except that it’s going slower than they figured and it’ll be opening sometime next year”. All this apparently is good news because it seems like everyone really dislikes the downtown CVS.
SENSIBLE TRANSPORTATION IN OUR TIME??New news on the updated website, check it out…sensibletransportation.org
MCPHERSON CONTEST. Chris Finnie sent in this contribution in the WHY BRUCE MCPHERSON SHOULDN’T RUN FOR ANY OFFICE contest.
Hi Bruce,
The reasons you gave in your column would be enough. But, for me, there’s one more. When Carly Fiorina ran for Senate, she had an event at the Cocoanut Grove. Some local Democrats protested on the sidewalk outside. We had signs and flyers that we offered to attendees that detailed her record at HP–since that’s what she was primarily running on. I saw Bruce McPherson walking up to the door and approached him. With a big smile, I said, “Mr. Secretary, would you like one of our flyers?” He looked away with a face like he’d just bit a lemon, shook his head, and kept walking. However, the limo driver who dropped off campaign staffers did stop to talk to us. Seems he’d worked at HP and said everybody there hated Fiorina. A friend of mine who also used to work there saw my picture at the demonstration in the paper and shared it with fellow HP alums. She told me she was “so proud to tell them I know you.” But Carly Fiorina was not only the candidate Bruce McPherson supported, there was Meg Whitman, who also lost in a landslide in Santa Cruz County, his attitude toward us clearly demonstrated to me that he was not willing to engage with people he disagrees with and is, in fact, outright hostile to them.
I volunteered at an event for Eric Hammer the other night. The place was packed! But one guy surprised me. He said he was a friend of Bruce McPherson. Seems his wife went to school with Bruce. When I asked why he was at a Hammer event, he said, “His time is over. He should move aside for younger candidates.” Since I’m not far behind McPherson in age, I’m not sure that’s a good criterion. But I’m light years ahead of him in my opinions, and I don’t want to elect anybody like Bruce McPherson who wants to drag this county, state, and country back to the Dark Ages! His antiquated stances are out of synch with the voters of the county and the district–though pretty much perfectly in tune with Scotts Valley. Maybe he should run for mayor there! Chris Finnie.
MARCHING WITH ATHEISTS. Dennis Etler sends this…”Let’s all turn out for the annual Santa Cruz Holiday Parade on Saturday, December 3. Secular Humanists of SC County, SC Brights, SC Atheists, Monterey County Atheists, UCSC Secular Student Alliance, the Cabrillo College Secular Student Alliance and anyone else of a secular bent who cares to join us is called on to gather together at 9:30 AM at Laurel and Pacific next to the Saturn Cafe. You will be sure to see us all assembled behind our Reason’s Greetings Banner and Flying Spaghetti Monster mascot! It will be a lot of fun, and an opportunity to meet and greet one another and sing secular holiday tunes so if you can, please try to make it. Let’s show the community that nonbelievers are alive and well in Santa Cruz. The parade will be followed by the 4th annual Human Rights Fair celebrating the 63rd anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We’ll have a booth at the Galleria, 740 Front Street from noon to 5 PM, Hope to see you at the parade and fair. Reason’s Greetings, Dennis
ELERICK’S INPUT. Details regarding the RTC hearing on December 1
In last week’s BrattonOnline, I asked people to speak out on the expenditures our Regional Transportation Commission that prioritized Highway 1 widening over repairing local streets and roads. The link here will show you exactly what road projects are being lowered on the RTC’s priority list after widening. For more details and PICTURES of what we’re talking about, please click on: Details for the December hearing.
Smart Meter update…As accurately reported in both daily and weekly newspapers, PG&E is moving to offer an alternative to a Smart Meter edict as ordered by Public Utilities Commission. As one who called PG&E months ago asking to be on their “last to install a Smart Meter” list, I had a message from them on my phone mail announcing the PUC’s decision of November 22nd. They said simply that I didn’t need to do anything as the final details will be decided sometime in the future. We’ll see, but nowhere have I seen the issue of throwing their hard working meter-readers out of a job, or having the privacy of my home invaded by monitoring my appliance usage”.
(Paul Elerick is thechair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, http://sensibletransportation.org , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
POLISH SALT MINE!!! Ray Ginghofer sent this link to a salt mine in Poland that contains an absolutely unbelievable cathedral, art gallery and carvings from salt unlike any you’ve ever seen.
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary covers a lot of issues every day on KUSP but The Pogonip’s future is a very big deal. He says, “The City of Santa Cruz is thinking about changing its Pogonip Master Plan. In fact, it’s probably likely that the City Council will make the changes being discussed, absent some significant public involvement that says that things should stay pretty much the way they are now. Whether or not to change the current Pogonip Master Plan, and how Pogonip is used, is quite an important issue, and there are strong feelings on all sides. As usual, I am using the “bully pulpit” of the Land Use Report not so much to convey my own thoughts, but to urge you to get personally engaged and personally involved yourselves. If you track down the transcript of today’s Land Use Report, by clicking on the “Archives/Podcasts” link at the top of the KUSP Home Page, you will find some links that will introduce you to the topic.
According to the current Pogonip Master Plan, “Pogonip is a place to be appreciated for its natural beauty, habitat value and serenity, in contrast to the built environment. Pogonip should provide the community with education and recreation opportunities that are environmentally and economically sustainable.” The proposed changes to the Master Plan would provide for a “multi-use trail,” and introduce mountain biking into the Pogonip environment. And the City is not planning to do a full-scale environmental review. If you care, get involved! (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)
ANCHOR IN ANTARCTICA. Micaela Neus writes…” Tourist season opened this week with the arrival of the National Geographic Explorer, one of the smaller cruise ships that send passengers ashore at Palmer Station. Our station has a maximum occupancy of 46, compared to 150 passengers and about 60 crew members aboard the Nat. Geo. Explorer. Consequently, visits bring life on station screeching to a halt and everyone has a hand in preparing for so many guests in one afternoon. I volunteer as a guide, leading about a dozen people at a time around to the Aquarium, central buildings, power plant vista points, and then off to (where else?) the gift shop.
Oddly enough, the Nat.Geo.Explorer visited Palmer Station on the same day its predecessor sank near the South Shetland Islands in 2007. The M/S Explorer struck a chunk of iceberg, possibly one with a rock embedded in it that punched a 10″ x 4″ hole through the double-reinforced, ice-breaking hull. The impact occurred on a perfect
summer’s day and a calm sea state that allowed all 154 souls on board to get into lifeboats safely. In another lucky coincidence, several other ships were only a few hours away and promptly picked them up. If the conditions had been worse, the hole larger, or outside rescue further away, this story would have a much sadder ending.
The M/S Explorer was not the first cruise ship to go under in the Antarctic and it will not be the last. No one has died so far, but it is easy to imagination a common accident snowballing into a mass-casualty incident at sea. The International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO) does an excellent job setting environmental and life safety standards for private companies operating in the Southern Ocean and on-continent, but I wonder if any regulation could prevent a future tragedy. Human exceptionalism is our modern hubris– the belief that humans stand apart from nature, exempt from its realities and limitations. Can we really maintain sense of Antarctica as an unpredictable and powerful environment while standing in line for the all-you-can-eat buffet? ”
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.
VINTAGE DE CINZO. DeCinzo makes a « bank shot » scroll downwards
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul writes in his Progreso Weekly column about J. Edgar (The film)…” In the film old Hoover dictates his story to young Special Agents, but Hoover doesn’t tell the truth; rather he promotes himself by distorting the facts to reflect that he has single-handedly protected the country from ruthless killers, kidnappers (the Lindberg kidnapping occupies much film space) and all things that smack of communism, anarchism or pinko-leftism. Hatred spews patriotism, hatred of communism, but the film leads us to suspect Hoover hated himself. Unable to control his most loathsome impulse – his mother hated “daffodils” – he tries to achieve power over people and institutions. The film subtly suggests Hoover became his own internal enemy; his mother subverted him by not allowing his sexuality (identity) to emerge. His career stained, not marked, decades of U.S. history and many people paid a heavy price for his psychic dynamics”. Read it all here… Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow whose films are on DVD fromroundworldproductions@gmail.com
THE REAL MARILYN MONROE.Great trivia stumper….Who was the only Hollywood movie star to co-star with Marilyn Monroe in 3 (Three) films??? The answer is a few paragraphs down on the page…
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Santa Claus has his elves. Here in Santa Cruz, we have artists and craftspersons working overtime to create unique, original holiday gifts. This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/), I preview the most festive of the upcoming holiday art shows. Also, after you see Hugo(and I hope you do), read my illustrated guide to the wacky, wonderful world of French film pioneer Georges Mèlíes. (Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975).
DESCENDANTS.Once again George Clooney proves what an excellent actor he is. This film also proves that well made films still have a place in our lives. Just go see it. Seeing as how this film was made in Hawaii I linked up with Rick Chatenever, formerly film critic of The Santa Cruz Sentinel who has been living on Maui for decades and writing reviews for The Maui News for a long time too. He writes about The Descendants, “Maui Film Festival also gave us an early FirstLight look at Alexander Payne and George Clooney’s expected Oscar contender, “The Descendants,” which makes Hawaii a co-star in its compassionate bathos. Locals may quibble with its details, but its way of bringing lots of aloha to mainstream Mainland audiences is one more thing to be thankful for on this special day”. Rick emailed this Monday and stated, ” I’m writing about it more extensively in this week’s column … which won’t be out until Thursday (12/1) (Wednesday online). I wasn’t an extra in it (wrong island). There was some talk about me doing an interview/panel with Alexander Payne when he was on Kauai filming, but it didn’t materialize. My thoughts about the film are a little mixed. I imagine they’ll get clearer as I write them.I’ll keep you posted”. Aloha, Rick. (ed. note Rick and I ended up on the cutting room floor after being extras in a Star Trek movie)
MELIES TRIP TO THE MOON.
HUGO. Martin Scorsese hasn’t directed a good full length feature in decades, and Hugo is like Shutter Island, Aviator, Gangs of New York, Casino i.e. good material, good actors, but poorly directed. I’ll sure give credit to him for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, but like Clint Eastwood he’s got to hit you over the head withsuch obvious story lines to make sure you catch his drift. Scorsese’s film are full of jerky, rapid, edits to provide variety so you won’t get bored, and Hugo is full of bizarre edits, numerous unnecessary angles and pointless scenes. Note any of more than a dozen scenes that do absolutely nothing for the story or the characters. Ben Kingsley as George Melies is just fine, the kid who plays Hugo is average, Sasha Baron Cohen as the evil station cop is useless. The 3D isn’t necessary and to say this is a tribute to early film history is insulting. Cinema deserves better.
THE SKIN I LIVE IN, (The Return of) The Nick is bringing back this “stunning” film& I repeat my review from before.. It’s a rare treat nowadays to see a film that still has an identifiable Directors touch…and Almodovar’s films still have his stamp all over them. You might not like the creepy taxidermy-Frankenstein plot but it’s an excellently told story, not one of the all too often corporate driven plots.
GREY BEARS HOLIDAY DINNER, SUNDAY. Live and local entertainment throughout the Holiday Dinner is a long time tradition with The Grey Bears.
After some serious serenading by The Great Morgani in the Civic lobby “the big show” starts with The Ukulele Group “Mele O Ke Kupuna” (music of the elders) led by Barbara Sonnenshine. Then Ukulele Dick and Jayme Kelly Curtis serenade with Jazz and Tin Pan Alley tunes of the 20’s and 30’s. Elaine’s Dance Studio brings their stars of tomorrow to perform many dance styles. 10 year old violinist Benjamin Rivers will play some Holiday music followed by Lorraine Kinnamon’s Tehauni Dancers doing both Hawaiian and Tahitian Dances. Then Steve Bare & The Sixties Project close the 2 hour production with big and hot hits from back in the day. The entire stage event is managed and directed by Katie and Nancy Heth. I’m emceeing again, as I have for all 38 of the Grey Bears Dinners (except the first one).All seniors are invited, it’s this Sunday at the Civic and goes from11:30 to 1:30. See you there.
CUBA REPORT. John Waller of Pastors for Peace sends this…” This past summer, for the 22nd year, Pastors For Peace Caravan to Cuba succeeded in delivering tons of humanitarian aid and several vehicles to the Cuban People in direct and open defiance of the US Embargo and Unlicensed Travel Ban of the Treasury Department. Come see a slide show put together by Sandino Gomez, Yesenia Molina and other Caravanistas who
went to the island nation this past summer and hear a presentation about their experiences. We’ll talk about what’s next for the project with the two new executive directors at the helm and how you can get involved locally to make a difference globally. The presentation will be on Wednesday Dec. 7th at 6:30 PM at the Resource Center for Nonviolence’s new building located at 612 Ocean St. For more information about this event: www.rcnv.org, or call 831-423 1626 x103. For more information about Cuba Caravans, contact Pastors for Peace, www.pastorsforpeace.org
THAT MARILYN MONROE ANSWER The only actor to be in three films with Marilyn Monroe was none other than local boy …Rory Calhoun!!! Did you guess?
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. November 29 has Attorney Bob Taren returning to opinionate on matters and issues. After Bob, Jim Mosher talks about his teens and alcohol program. December 6th has Youth Symphony conductor Nathaniel Berman followed by UCSC’s Leta Miller author of “Music and Politics in San Francisco”. Judge Paul Burdick returns to talk about justice on December 13th, then UCSC’s Patricia Zavella author of “I’m Neither Here nor There” will talk about Mexican migration & poverty. Next year Claudia Sternbach guests on January 3 to talk about her new book, “Reading Lips”. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Plus Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “Don’t never trust no skirt“, Wallace Beery. “Everybody has something to conceal”, Humphrey Bogart. “To possess consciousness is to be a hypocrite“, Jacques Riviere.
BEST OF VINTAGE DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on November 28 – December 4, 2011
NEW HIGHWAY 9 RIVER STREET INTERSECTION IN 1956. An amazing photo showing the new highway, The Tannery in lower right, CPDES hall center right, and the baseball field, the Sashmill far left, new San Lorenzo bridge in lower center. No Harvey West Park, and UCSC’s future site way up at the right.
OCCUPY & FREE SPEECH. Spending just a few hours at the Occupy Santa Cruz site in the last weeks I was completely impressed with the method of group decisions. I spent more hours at the Berkeley Free Speech movement (Mario Savio, Bettina Aptheker etc.) in 1964. The significant difference is that at Berkeley the “steering committee” would meet in private (sometimes all night) to make decisions for the Protesters and announce their decisions to the group the next morning. “Occupiers” make their decisions at the totally open General Assembly meetings. A much better, efficient principle and I’m betting on “Occupy” all the way.
UC DAVIS CHANCELLOR LEARNS AN OCCUPY LESSON. We’ve read and seen the spraying but watch this beautiful display of what Occupy can be about, and how effective it is. As one commenter stated, if you look closely you can see Gandhi and Martin Luther King standing in the crowd with their arms folded.
GETTING ACROSS ARANA GULCH. #1. Last week I printed Kit Birskovich’s plea to “Save Arana Gulch”. You can read it by scrolling down to last week’s BrattonOnline.
#2. Then on 11/15 @5:07 p.m. Chris Schneiter of Santa Cruz Public Works Dept. wrote, “Someone forwarded the piece about Arana Gulch from your blog. The description is all wrong. How about giving people an opportunity to judge the Arana Gulch Master Plan and Trails on their own? The link to the correct information is here. I hope you take the opportunity to read it!
# 3. Then on 11/18 @4:14 p.m. Andy Schiffrin of wrote as an individual who works for Neal Coonerty to say, ” I read the piece in this week’s Bratton Online from Kit Birskovich regarding Arana Gulch and thought it presented a very misleading view of the proposed project”.
ARANA GULCH MASTER PLAN– A POSITIVE VIEW.The report on the Arana Gulch Master Plan in last week’s column misstated a great deal about the City’s proposal for this beautiful gem of a place.It says the proposal is to build “a wide paved road” across Arana Gulch. While there once was a proposal to construct a six lane roadway (the Broadway Brommer Expressway), it was defeated in the 1970’s. The current plan is to build an 8 foot wide pedestrian and bike path to provide public access to the special environmental resources on the site.
The report also describes a project that would be very disruptive to the landscape. That was also true of the road widening project, but the current plan is for a very different path that conforms to the contours of the landscape and has very minimal impact. As for impact on the Santa Cruz tarplant, the City’s plan is the best chance for its survival at Arana Gulch. The proposed path does not harm any existing tarplant and existing paths that go through the historic tarplant area will be removed and the area restored. The City will receive state and federal funding that, in part, will be used for tarplant restoration. Without the path the City will be unable to get that funding. While the City has been conducting tarplant habitat restoration each year since they’ve owned the property, a more robust program is needed in order to bring the tarplant and other coastal terrace species back.
The tarplant now is in severe decline, hanging on the edge of extinction at Arana Gulch. The Coastal Commission’s Chief Ecologist has described the City’s plan for tarplant restoration as “the last best option” for the tarplant. And any suggestion that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has drawn a negative conclusion about the City’s Plan and its effect on tarplant is simply wrong – they hold the opposite view and have given their required approvals for the plan. As for the assertion that the City’s proposal is contrary to the Coastal Act, the staff of the Coastal Commission, which includes the leading legal and environmental experts on the Coastal Act, hold the opposite view.
In my view, the project will provide significant net benefits to the community by giving the tarplant its best chance of surviving and providing access to this spectacular environmental resource to a much wider public.Thanks for letting me present a more positive view of this important project – Andy Schiffrin
# 4. So I sent Chris Schneiter’s critique to Jean Brocklebank of Friends of Arana Gulch.
Kit got it right. Chris cannot refute anything she said with a straight face. And he knows it.
The City has resubmitted the same project to the California Coastal Commission as has been submitted in the past. The “project” is called the Arana Gulch Master Plan” but is nothing more than a vehicle for the Broadway Brommer (BB) East West Bicycle Connection route that has been a Public Works project since the early 1990s. When the City Council agreed not to build a road for cars through Arana Gulch, they were lobbied successfully to build a bicycle connection instead. Seemed like a good idea, huh?! CalTrans got involved with Public Works and then the City started getting funds from Federal and State transportation grants allocated through the Regional Transportation Commission. The project was controversial from the beginning and opposition was strong. Arana Gulch, after all, is a greenbelt. An EIR for the BB project was produced and eventually certified by the same City Council that voted to stop the BB project. They certified the EIR to get their $40,000 reimbursed with RTC funds. Then a new City Council resurrected BB. Along the way, in 2002, the Arana Gulch greenbelt was designated “critical habit” for Holocarpha macredenia (Santa Cruz Tarplant) by the US Fish & Wildlife Service. That designation should have changed everything. But the City kept on in the quest to build the bike connection between two streets. Over 11 years ago, California Coastal Commission staff wrote to the City and said “As directed by the City’s Local Coastal Program, the preferred approach” (in planning for Arana Gulch) “would be to prepare a specific management plan for the greenbelt prior to consideration of a Broadway-Brommer Bicycle Pedestrian Path project.” The recommendation was for a separate Master Plan first, followed by an application for Broadway Brommer (BB) second. The City ignored this advice and four years later the City Council instead directed the Department of Parks & Recreation to include the BB project in the Master Plan document, thus assuring that BB became the Master Plan and vice versa. There has been nothing but confusion and controversy ever since, especially since more than half of the BB project is not even in the greenbelt.
One of the biggest obfuscations the City tells is that they have reduced the scale of the project by removing one of the two originally planned bridges (Hagemann Creek and Arana Creek). In the Master Plan draft EIR, the bridge over Arana Creek is called a “steel bridge span.” In the final EIR (p. 6), they changed it to “steel span,” removing the word “bridge.” Clever, huh? In point of fact, the BB route across the 100′ riparian setback on Port District property must rise from 10 feet above sea level to 43 feet to get over Arana Creek. True, the current non-engineered and not even design-doodled goal is to go over Arana Creek basically over the culverts (“not open water” as it says in the EIR), so their removal of the word “bridge” was self-serving. But it has to be a bridge because it has to provide through flow of flood water. Thus, the steel span is a bridge.
The City also hates when we describe the actual width of BB (euphemistically now called “an interpretive trail”). By CalTrans standards, it is 8 feet of pavement with 2 feet of gravel shoulder on each side, for a total of 12 feet minimum. Several of the architectural drawings show it even wider in places (13′ – 15′). Not only that, the City has added another 1500′ of the same kind of paving from the Agnes Street entrance, to meet the BB route (whatever it is called) on the top of the meadow at 73′ above sea level, thence to drop to the 10′ above sea level elevation, where it will have to rise again to 43′ to get over the steel-not-brdge-span, eventually to 73′ at 7th Avenue. Skateboard park anyone?
The link that Mr. Schneiter sent you will lead your readers to City materials geared to make Broadway Brommer appear to be just a wee “interpretive trail” for educational purposes. They have added the word “balance” to their introduction, all very polished with “protecting sensitive habitat” (which they will pave for BBrommer) and “prudent level of public use.” Read my lips: BBrommer is a Public Works project; it is a transportation project funded by transportation money (all documented in the record for the last 17 years) and no amount of window dressing will change that fact.
I urge your readers to go to the online petition and read what Friends of Arana Gulch says before they sign the petition to save our greenbelt from an industrial sized bike route project. FOAG fully supports the Master Plan as long as Broadway Brommer is removed. Without BB, the AG Master Plan really is a terrific document for resource management that will allow reconfiguration of the two entrances and pathway improvements to make them safer for all users, restore native species, save the Santa Cruz Traplant from extinction, be a real educational experience for all ages, and remain as natural open space surrounded by urban development ~ exactly why citizens voted in 1979 and again in 1994 to preserve its uniqueness.
Jean Brocklebank, on behalf of Friends of Arana Gulch
She said among other things, “Kit Birskovich got it right. Chris cannot refute anything she said with a straight face. And he knows it”. She also says, “Read my lips: Broadway Brommer is a Public Works project; it is a transportation project funded by transportation money (all documented in the record for the last 17 years) and no amount of window dressing will change that fact”.
# 5. Lastly I sent Andy Schiffrin’s reaction to Pat Matejcek of The Sierra Club and Friends of Arana Gulch. Her reply, and vivid dissection (diverse vivisection?)
ARANA GULCH MASTER PLAN– A POSITIVE VIEW. (Matecjek’ points are in bold)
The report on the Arana Gulch Master Plan in last week’s column misstated a great deal about the City’s proposal for this beautiful gem of a place.
It says the proposal is to build “a wide paved road” across Arana Gulch. While there once was a proposal to construct a six lane roadway (the Broadway Brommer Expressway), it was defeated in the 1970’s. The current plan is to build an 8 foot wide pedestrian and bike path to provide public access to the special environmental resources on the site.
********It’s actually a network of paved trails, one E-W, the other N-S and intersection.
The report also describes a project that would be very disruptive to the landscape. That was also true of the road widening project, but the current plan is for a very different path that conforms to the contours of the landscape and has very minimal impact.
So not true. Hundreds of feet of concrete retaining walls with numerous “pull-outs” to address the height differential between the Arana grassland 73′ and the junction point where the trail up from the harbor meets those from the Greenbelt (+/- 10′) = a giant skateboard ramp. There’s already 1 roller-coaster in this area – no one needs 2.
Thousands of cu. yds. of earth would be required to build the proposed “ramp” (desperately trying to own up to needing 2 bridges) that would run from this junction point to the “Welcome to the Upper Santa Cruz Harbor” sign. There isn’t the 15′ the city claims between the dry storage yard fence and the top of the 4-pipe structure carrying water between Arana Creek and the upper harbor, so the connection would be narrow. High tide and heavy rains would eat at the bottom of the “ramp”, as they currently do at the narrow bank that remains unless the “ramp” becomes a concrete dam.
Users traveling east and exiting the “ramp” area would be dumped onto the roadway against downhill traffic (pickups towing boats on trailers) as there is no sidewalk, no bikelane and no room for one.
As for impact on the Santa Cruz tarplant, the City’s plan is the best chance for its survival at Arana Gulch. The proposed path does not harm any existing tarplant and existing paths that go through the historic tarplant area will be removed and the area restored.
The proposed “trail network” divides what USFW has defined as “actual and potential tarplant habitat” into small, unmanageable sections – the parts it doesn’t directly pave over.
The City will receive state and federal funding that, in part, will be used for tarplant restoration.
IF the bikeroad is built, there will be some $ for “mitigation”.
Without the path the City will be unable to get that funding.
Who cares?. The city is on record as “selling excess real estate” to provide a tarplant restoration trust fund.
While the City has been conducting tarplant habitat restoration each year since they’ve owned the property, a more robust program is needed in order to bring the tarplant and other coastal terrace species back.
Not every year – lots of public nudging has been required. The city even cancelled an MOU they had w/ CA F&G that gave them $5K/year.
The tarplant now is in severe decline, hanging on the edge of extinction at Arana Gulch.
Thanks to the city’s policy of “benign neglect”. It’s time to move beyond the “Interim Management Plan” to the real and permanent one but the “canker” of a transportation project must be excised first. After the tarplant’s seed bank has been restored to healthy numbers for a few years, the city is free to bring back a transportation proposal to the CCC.
The Coastal Commission’s Chief Ecologist has described the City’s plan for tarplant restoration as “the last best option” for the tarplant. And any suggestion that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has drawn a negative conclusion about the City’s Plan and its effect on tarplant is simply wrong – they hold the opposite view and have given their required approvals for the plan.
The Center for Biological Diversity doesn’t agree.
As for the assertion that the City’s proposal is contrary to the Coastal Act, the staff of the Coastal Commission, which includes the leading legal and environmental experts on the Coastal Act, hold the opposite view.
Political pressure. Coastal Commission Staff was also supporting replacing La Bahia….
Before signing a petition that will deny safe access to Arana Gulch for eastside Santa Cruz residents and eliminate funding for tarplant restoration, I urge people to read the Coastal Commission staff report on the project prepared for the upcoming hearing in December (http://www.coastal.ca.gov/mtgcurr.html, Thursdays item #22.a).
What the city is proposing is extremely unsafe and doesn’t meet DOT requirements for a Class 1 bikeway.
Thinking citizens have every good reason to oppose the bikeway and to sign the petition:
1) it’s unsafe;
2) it’s unnecessary – the real E-W corridor will happen soon just 1/4 mile south along the rail corridor;
3) it’s a waste of $5+ million dollars that could be redirected to the rail trail or any number of more important transit needs;
4) disabled access can easily be accomplished from both/either of the existing entrances;
5) approval by the CCC would set a destructive precedent state-wide and weaken the Coastal Act.
Kit B. closed her Save Arana Gulch piece with a chance to sign a petition…
“We ask that California Coastal Commissioners vote to approve the Arana Gulch Master Plan ONLY if the proposed paved City-County connector bicycle project (called Broadway Brommer) through ESHA and “critical habitat” of an endangered species is REMOVED from the AG Master Plan. “Will you sign this petition? Click here
TRIP TO SANTA CRUZ, 1937, 1938. Carolyn Swift and others sent this rare and wonderful clip of Hwy. 17 and Hwy 1 travels that was filmed just about 74 years ago.
QUARNSTROM QUERIES. Lee Quarnstrom, longtime Santa Cruzan and reporter/columnist, writes to say, “Today’s column ( Nov. 15)brings at least two things to mind that I want to share with you: First, by referring to their northern acreage as the “upper campus,” UC officials have always made it clear that the land is ripe for future development. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a campus as “the grounds and buildings of a university or college” or “the grounds of a school, hospital, or other institution.” To me the phrase “upper campus” has always implied not a redwood forest with grassy meadows; it has strongly suggested the “grounds and buildings” planned for those grounds.
Also, you might recall, we lived on a Santa Cruz corner with Broadway on one side of our house. I closely followed the endless Broadway-Brommer proposals that seemed to pop up immediately after some previous proposal had been shot down by the city’s environmentally sensitive residents and their elected officials. Developers and their allies on city councils and boards of supervisors have never felt defeated just because some proposal or other to put a road through Arana Gulch had died; never, they knew, had a stake been pounded through Broadway-Brommer’s heart.
I can understand why residents living east of Arana Gulch might want another commuter route to Santa Cruz. But I’ve never been able to understand why anyone in Santa Cruz, including the business community, would favor opening a road — or even a bikeway — that would make it easier for Santa Cruz shoppers to speed out to 41 Avenue and the Capitola Mall”. Lee Q.
HUBBLE TELESCOPE AND 100 BILLION GALAXIES.
SIERRA CLUB SANTA CRUZ GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CANDIDATE’S FORUM
Last year’s election showed an unprecedented interest in positions on the Executive Committee of the Santa Cruz Group of the Sierra Club. Vying for the 3 open seats this year will be the incumbents: current Group Chair Kevin Collins, Secretary / Treasurer Mark Sullivan, and Forestry Committee Chair Dennis Davie and the challengers: Tawn Kennedy, Greg McPheeters, Jim Danaher, Mary Odegaard. The proceedings will be moderated by Nancy Abbey of WILPF.
WHAT: Sierra Club, Santa Cruz Group Candidates’ Forum
WHEN: Tuesday, November 29 @ 7 pm
WHERE: Room 3, London Nelson Center, 301 Center Street, Santa Cruz
This promises to be a lively and important discussion of the future of the Santa Cruz Group and the natural resources of Santa Cruz County.
ELERICK’S INPUT: WIDENING HWY.#1…OR NOT!!!
Next Regional Transportation Commission is December 1st. Please plan to attend!
On Thursday, at 9:00 A.M on December 1st a major decision will be made by the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) regarding funding the next segment of widening Highway 1. Why is this so important? The results of these twelve commissioners vote will determine how State Transportation Improvement funds (STIP) that are planned for Santa Cruz County will be used. The commissioners will be asked to either dedicate 100% of these funds for the NEXT 25 years to widening Highway 1, or to say no to this folly and steer that funding to major road and street repair and other needed transportation projects. It gets even more ludicrous! Even if the majority of 12 commissioners vote to take all the STIP funds to widen the highway, there still won’t be enough money available, even to partially complete the project. That would require the passage of a ½ cent sales tax or some kind of vehicle license fee increase ($10 has been discussed), or even both, plus all the STIP funds for the next 25 years. And even that may not be enough to complete the widening all the way to San Andreas Road.
What can you do? Attend the next RTC meeting on Thursday, December 1st. It’s at 9:00 A.M. at the County Board of Supervisors meeting room in the County Building. There will be an agenda published online 5-7 days prior to December 1st. E-mail or call members of the RTC to let them know that repairing local streets and roads needs to be a higher priority than widening the highway.
(Paul Elerick is the chair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
MAGIC…ALMOST
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about the Santa Cruz City Council proposing the spending over $480,000 on a contract for a “Permitting Advisor” for the proposed desalination plant. He details a proposal to facilitate the development of the UCSC North Campus Area. He praises the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors in rejecting a proposal from the County Planning Director to weaken the County’s land use policies in the Coastal Zone. He explains that community involvement in land use issues tends to be “oppositional” in character, but that’s ok. And he closes by saying, “What sometimes appears to be “late-breaking” opposition to proposed development projects can be frustrating to landowners and developers.
(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)
Not that the coming week needs any more excitement. We expect a visit on Thursday from one of the National Geographic Explorer (NGE), a cruise ship with an ecological and historical focus. More than one hundred passengers will come ashore in sets of twelve for a brief walk around station led by charming, good-looking tour guides like myself. All non-essential work stops so enough people are free to accommodate the crowd and we do not get very much done. However, tours do add variety to our lives and help get the message out to the public. Worth the hassle, no doubt.
We celebrate Thanksgiving the very next day with brunch and an early dinner, despite the fact that we still work. Holidays never meant much to me until I spent them on ice, honestly. Dressing up for dinner means more in a place where everyone wears issued clothing day after day. We hope to have one pie per person, thirty-four of each, and I’m making vegan pumpkin “cheesecake.” Will we make our quota? Stay tuned!
And then Saturday the Laurence M. Gould(LMG) returns from a research cruise further south down the peninsula. The weather prevented us from unloading all the cargo when she was at port two weeks ago… we can’t operate the crane in high winds. They had rough seas much of their research cruise too, unfortunately. The scientist’s net samples off the main deck as well as using other equipment to collect information about microscopic ocean life but large swells will force them to stop their work.
As for me next week will be a wet one. Any moment not spent attending to vessels or making my mother’s creamed onions will go to a water leak I discovered under the central building four days ago. Just a drain line (not sewer or a gushing supply line) but I had to crawl under there and slide along the ice in my waterproof suit with my flashlight and a hard hat. Living the dream, as they say”.
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.
LOOKING AROUND…THE HARD WAY!!!
VINTAGE DE CINZO. Crosby, Stills and geezers…scroll downwards
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Tim reveals the truth behind Supercommittee. Scroll below.
VALENCIA, SPAIN 1900.Clever, excellent way to show off old photos. Good music and cool animation. Only 1:31 long.
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul’s article this week is “Libya” He states, “I walked Tripoli’s streets. At a coffee shop near the hotel, a group of young men stopped playing with their worry beads, brought their jumping knees into upright positions and followed me. Like most of the young men I saw, my followers were well-dressed and looked healthy, maybe a bit overdosed on caffeine. I tried to ignore them as I wandered into the Suq – the old market – in downtown Tripoli. It was mostly boarded up. President Qaddafi had built new five-story department stores”. Read the rest here
THE OTHER BEAUTIFUL SANTA CRUZ. Note their town clock!!!
LISA JENSEN LINKS. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express, I preview a movie and a book to be thankful for, and explain why you have to go see the delightful SSC production of A Year With Frog & Toadright this minute. Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
WATERS WONDERLAND. “This week Christina Waters takes on holiday wines, vegetable drinks, fruitcake and the continuing saga of museum cafes. All at http://christinawaters.com.
REDWOOD ESTATES 1927. Up along Hwy 17 near Holy City
HOLIDAY GIFT. Peggy Snider sent this link. If you like historic things and places check it out.
MAGIC…LOOKS LIKE REAL BLOOD!!!
HBO’S ENLIGHTENED. I wrote about how much I liked this weekly semi-sweet saga starring Laura Dern. Carole De Palma says, “On the subject of this new T.V show did you know there is a Santa Cruz Connection?? Mike White’s mom and Dad grew up in Santa Cruz. I was in Gault School with Melvin White, when his father was a fundamentalist type preacher across the Street where the Pacific Cultural Center is now. His wife Lila Lohr grew up on the Westside and was a cousin. I guess they met in high school, married and had kids one of which is Mike White. Later Mel White became known for coming out of the closet and writing a book about it after being a preacher. One year he served as the Gay Parade leader here in S.C. Mike White is very gifted and funny and I think Enlightened is a riot. I believe he was raised in Southern Ca. Thanks for the petition on Arana Bike path and keep on doing what you do.
MELANCHOLIA. Lars Von Trier…that just about says it all about this film. Either you like his films…or not. I must confess that I didn’t understand Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa, or hardly any of the masters when I first saw them. However I had Pauline Kael as a Berkeley neighbor and she sure helped. I liked Melancholia. What’s it about? It’s about what you think when you stare off into the void wondering what’s happening today.
LIKE CRAZY. Deserves at least 3 or more Academy Awards, young lovers held apart by bureaucracy and fear. An absolutely sincere, touching, perfectly acted masterpiece.
MY 1/50 SECOND WITH MARILYN. I haven’t seen My Week with Marilyn Monroe yet, and this is a great excuse to mention that Marilyn Monroe actually posed for me back in October of 1952. I’ll copy and paste the color photo next week. No joke!!
MORTEN’S GALLERY OPEN STUDIO. A fantastic T’gvng Weekend thing to do is to take advantage of an almost last chance to see both Jenny and the late Geoff Morten’s Paintings, Prints and Ceramics. It’s a perfect thing to do with your weekend guests, the home and studios are great, well worth the drive and the art and craft is absolutely wonderful. Their works will be on show at their home and studios at 168 Mar Monte Avenue, La Selva Beach 95076 call 688-5173.
COCKING’S CRITIQUE & CRABBINESS. Paul Cocking of Gabriella’s Café sends this…” 1. events…besides the snow ball fight…like the dance deal…santa barbara has an art fair EVERY weekend…san rafael’s sidewalk coloring event is a HUGE event…we have a lot of artists…wine tasting…we have a lot of wineries…los gatos wine fair a very big deal…san luis obispo has music and food and main street closed every week…taste of santa Cruz. huge deal in santa monica…we have a lot of restaurants…organize halloween instead of trying to contain it…costume contests…music
2. close pacific avenue…santa monica’s huge success has nothing to do with their closing and reopening mall at one end…it’s an attraction in itself…see san luis, san francisco’s safe streets, san rafael, new york.
3. get the DTA to put an ad in the mercy news with all the thousands of dollars i have given them…where in the world does all that money i am legally bound to give them go? (we know)
4. make the ads in the convention and tourist bureau magazine affordable…hundreds of dollars for a listing?…don’t they get subsidies?…where in the world does all that money go? (we know)
5. condemn the empty hole at the end of pacific avenue…make it a park, plaza, attract events
6.put in a public market in one of our huge empty buildings (agent for one i spoke to had NEVER been to ferry plaza)
7. make it more difficult to open MORE bars and junky stores.
(Ed. note Need I say that was unedited???) Thanks Paul. While you’re at Gabriella’s you and your friends should check out Charles Prentiss’ latest paintings…he’s one of the very best.
HISTORICAL CORRECTIOM. Carey Casey corrects my historical photo guess about Zocolli’s from last week (scroll down to see the Pacific Avenue photo) Carey states in no uncertain terms… According to Chase’s Sidewalk Companion…, Plaza Grocery opened in that building in 1929. Robert O. Zoccoli bought the business in 1948. The building itself was constructed for Hugo Hühn (brother of F. I. Hihn) sometime in the period from 1866-77. Since the demolition of the 1860 Flatiron Building following the 1989 earthquake, the Zoccoli’s building and the 1866 Lulu Carpenter’s are the oldest remaining commercial structures in the downtown area. Thanks Carey, I should always consult my Chase S.C. Architecture book. (Which would make a great Holiday present for any friends).
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. UCSC’s Ralph Abraham will talk about 2 of his new books on November 22 followed by Gary Patton and UCSC Environmental Studies Interns. November 29 has Attorney Bob Taren returning to opinionate on matters and issues. After Bob, Jim Mosher talks about his teens and alcohol program. December 6th has Youth Symphony conductor Nathaniel Berman followed by UCSC’s Leta Miller author of “Music and Politics in San Francisco”. Judge Paul Burdick returns to talk about justice on December 13th. Next year Claudia Sternbach guests on January 3 to talk about her new book, “Reading Lips”. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Plus Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. The first two are from Ted Burke, “Witnessing the Republicans and the Democrats bicker over the U.S. debt is like watching two drunks argue over a bar bill on the Titanic.” And “The trouble with quotes on the internet is that it’s difficult to determine whether or not they are genuine“, Abraham Lincoln.
BEST OF VINTAGE DeCINZO.
Deep Cover by tim eagan.
Posted inWeekly Articles|Comments Off on November 21 – 27, 2011
PACIFIC AVENUE. December 1946 at 2:01 p.m. All those Christmas Decorations and that Chain Store in the lower right. I just now read that Optometrist Dr. Ray. G. Newcomer had his office right next to The Artistic Beauty Salon. That looks like Zoccoli’s was open way back then…in the same location…anybody know about that??
OCCUPY SANTA CRUZ COULD BE FAMOUS!! Every day we see, and the media seems too eager, to print how CITIES are resorting to violence by unleashing their cops to stop, harass, beat up, end & destroy OCCUPY sites. Our little seaside town talks a big talk about being progressive, kind, weird, intelligent and forward thinking. This is the time when our City Council can make real, genuine waves by creating a new and innovative way to work with and accept OCCUPY Santa Cruz. We could set new standards and methods of communication with OCCUPY. The world could look at us and respect, and even repeat the thoughtful, helpful way our city cooperates with OCCUPY. Our City Council has a great opportunity right now to make a difference, urge them to think ahead.
OCCUPY MONTEREY. Some well stated ideas from the other side of the bay.
BRUCE MCPHERSON FOR WHAT!!! SOME KIND OF JOKE??? After losing two state elections, after being Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointee, after supporting Sam Blakeslee by trashing John Laird and becoming one of our local 1% Bank owners Can Bruce McPherson hope to get elected to anything in Santa Cruz…wow!!! After never voting for any pro-gay legislation in his career can he seriously believe we’ve forgotten his Republican past life? We need a contest…send in your best reason for NOT supporting Bruce McPherson for Supervisor, even if you live in Scotts Valley!!! Or even in his own neighborhood Pasatiempo!!! Yes, we’ll accept his Santa Cruz Sentinel editorials when he owned the paper…the ones that made you so angry.
IS GEORGE BUSH REALLY SATAN?? Watch this clip
LOL-LAFCOOUT LOUD.The Nov.Dec. issue of The Rural Bonny Doon Association newsletter (The Highlander) has a great article that spells out what’s going on with the UCSC planning to grow, the lawsuit from CWC and The City of Santa Cruz. It’s too long to re-print here but it says things like…”The City of Santa Cruz (City) and UCSC are taking some of the last steps in gaining permission to develop the north (or upper) campus. There are a couple of lawsuits pending (see the July/August Highlander) but currently at stake are the water rights needed for the new development”.
. It tells about the problems neighbors such as Bonny Doon will have, past deals between UCSC and the City, and more. It says..
• The inclusion of an unnecessary section of campus reserve land in the most northern part of the proposed SOI. Presumably this is to allow UCSC to “give up” something for compromise or it signals their intention to develop this area at a later date.
• A new fairly straight (aka, fast) major road through the development area linking the east and west campus. • A major access road linking the new development road to Empire Grade near Waldorf School. This will be a third entrance to UCSC and there is no reason to think that it won’t be heavily used when the West entrance gets backed up during busy times of day.
Regardless of the outcome of the Dec. 7 LAFCO hearing, the growth issue is far from resolved. CWC may seek redress from the court system if the LAFCO approval goes through and UCSC could simply proceed with the development as planned while ignoring its impact on the City if the application is denied.
It is important to show up in force at the meeting, partly to show UCSC the level of opposition is great and partly to show the City that they made a mistake. Take Action! There are a number of actions individuals and groups can take if you would like to oppose the expansion and water giveaway, ranging from simple to involved:
Come to the LAFCO hearing Dec. 7.
THING WALKS THE STREETS. This was not on Pacific Avenue!!!
Speak up at the LAFCO hearing. Read the staff report on Nov. 15 and address any relevant issues”. Read the article, and stay vigilant, both the City and UCSC are more “vigilant” than you can believe.
ARANA GULCH’S NEW ROADS, STEEL SPAN BRIDGES & PETITION. Kit Birskovich writes to tell us…”I’m writing to you about a place that is very dear to my heart: Arana Gulch. In December the City of Santa Cruz will be seeking approval of their Arana Gulch Master Plan from the Coastal Commission. Included in this plan is a wide paved road to serve as a short-cut for bicycles through the greenbelt with two steel span bridges on each end, one longer than a football field. Think bulldozers, pavement, and endangered and threatened species’ habitat destruction. The coastal terrace prairie of Arana Gulch is a fraction of the remaining 1% of California’s original unique coastal prairie ecosystem. The Arana Gulch greenbelt, saved from development by a vote of the people in 1979 and again in 1994, is home for many sensitive species, including the Santa Cruz Tarplant (Holocarpha macradenia). It is a rare natural place in an urban setting, with two existing accesses serving City and County residents, who enjoy and appreciate its uniqueness daily.
The City’s draft Master Plan EIR states that there will be “significant and unavoidable” impacts to the endangered Santa Cruz Tarplant “which cannot be fully mitigated” if the Broadway Brommer project within the Arana Gulch Master Plan is approved, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service and CA Dept. of Fish & Game agree with the City’s determination. This non-resource dependent, City Public Works component of the Arana Gulch Master Plan is inconsistent with the Coastal Act.
So I signed a petition to California Coastal Commission, which says: “We ask that Coastal Commissioners vote to approve the Arana Gulch Master Plan ONLY if the proposed paved City-County connector bicycle project (called Broadway Brommer) through ESHA and “critical habitat” of an endangered species is REMOVED from the AG Master Plan.”
Will you sign this petition? Click here. Thanks! Warm regards,- Kit Birskovich.
ELERICK’S INPUT. Paul’s back from “boot camp” (see below) and writes, “County Planning Department messing around with General Plan/Local Coastal Plan.
One of the most aggravating actions taken on lately by County Staff is to start whacking away at General Plans and Local Coastal Plans relative to provisions of the California Coastal Commission.Readers should take a few minutes to read Item 49 on the Board Of Supervisors (BOS) November 8th agenda. It contains recommendations submitted to the Board by County Planning Director Kathy M. Previsich.
There are some alarming staff proposals regarding land use issues in it. Almost every important paragraph recommends changing a very clear statement like “shall be protected“ by adding “where feasible” and “unless present and foreseeable future demand for public or commercial recreational activities that could be accommodated on the property is already provided for in the area.” Big question; who makes these decisions? Past requests to rezone the Poor Clares property in Seacliff and other property that is presently protected by the California Coastal Commission come to mind right away. My recommendation? This proposal should be deep-sixed. These are proposed changes that would allow developers to get around the protection of existing Coastal Act regulations with new language in the County’s General Plan and Local Coastal Plan by just changing these documents enough to allow local agencies to interpret them any way they wish. With County resources running as thin as they, why are we spending time and effort on “fixing” something that is working just fine? So what action was taken on this issue on Nov. 8th? None. Item 49 didn’t come up for discussion until after the Board’s lunch break when Supervisor Pirie moved that it be continued until the next meeting. This was agreed upon by all the supervisors with no comment; it now appears as Item 45 on the November 15th Board Of Supervisors (BOS) agenda.
Personal P.S. I’m eight weeks into a process to repair a “left hind foot and ankle osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease”. Graduated last week to a walking “cast” and getting around a lot better than with the “scooter” thingy. Looking forward to getting out and about more and started last week by attending neighbor Don Young’s book review and talk at Capitola Book Café. Great crowd, lots of friends. I sure hope somebody taped Don’s presentation of his WWII experiences.
(Paul Elerick is the chair of the Campaign for Sensible Transportation, , chair of the Transportation Committee of the Santa Cruz Group Sierra Club. and is a member of Nisene 2 Sea, a group of open space advocates).
PATTON’S PROGRAM. Gary talks about Monterey County Supes and permits, he talks about Medical Marijuana locally and federally, he mentions Ponzi Schemes, Regional Transportation and more on General Plans and changes that developers will love. READ IT HERE.
(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)
The weather may dictate the day-to-day, but life in the long term conforms to Company Policy at our Antarctica stations. Although all property and materials belong to the National Science Foundation (NSF) as funded by Congress, our paychecks are not signed by Uncle Sam. The National Science Foundation (NSF) contracts out the non-science aspects of station life in ten year cycles, and the company they choose then subcontracts out sectors of the labor.
Right now I work for Raytheon Polar Services Company (RPSC), a subsidiary of everyone’s favorite weapons developer, Raytheon Technical Services. But not for much longer. The NSF will announce the next contract winner later this week, ending three years of contract extensions caused by the economic crisis.
This whole process is part of the general U.S. government trend towards using contract workers employed by corporations rather than creating government positions even in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. Antarctica has followed this model since the US Navy turned over operations to civilian control. Whoever gets the contract has tremendous influence on our quality of lives, naturally.
I know that people quit coming down after a decade or more of work in the Antarctic because they hated RPSC’s policies, and rumor says that some plan to reapply the moment the contract change becomes official. I don’t see how life under RPSC could differ too much from other multinationals. Same pros, same cons.
(Micaela Neus works for Raytheon Polar Services Company as a utilities technician and is currently living at Palmer Station, Antarctica until April 2012.
ENGAGING ANNOUNCEMENT.News just leaked out this week that Susan Hillhouse (curator at MAH) is now officially engaged to Sam Leask (he of Department Store, S.F. Opera and Dominican Hospital note). You can tell they’re happy by the way they light up Cooper Street. Congrats are definitely in order.
POGONIP WATCH’S NEW LOOKING WEBSITE. Peter Scott says, “We’ve just updated our website, so please have a look at it and send me any reports of glitches, suggestions for improvements, contributions—whatever. The home page has a new look, and there is now a “who we are” page and a page with a few photos. http://PogonipWatch.org/
VINTAGE de STEVEN DE CINZO. His last trick….see below
EAGANS DEEP COVER. Eagan reveals Cain’s universal appeal…see below.
LANDAU’S PROGRES. Saul writes, « OCCUPY WALL STREET Challenges legitimacy of the system” He states ,” Occupy America? Damn right! It’s ours – the 99%, not theirs (the 1%) – and our new communities cooperate for the common good. OWS has emerged not as a movement, nor a political tendency. These groups of citizens have declared the government, the economy and the political system as ILLEGITIMATE”. Read it all here.
LISA JENSEN LINKS This week at Lisa Jensen Online Express (http://ljo-express.blogspot.com/), we get ready for the 2nd Annual Morton Marcus Memorial Poetry Reading, and prepare for a sneak peek at the new Morton Marcus Archive at the revamped McHenry Library up at UCSC.(Lisa Jensen has been writing film reviews and a column for Good Times since 1975.
WEEKEND. An absolutely fine film. Think about those tender sensitive romance films with Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Greer Garson and Ronald Colman. The ones where they meet, fall in love, then are forced to split. Same old story here in WEEKEND except that it’s two men. Stupendous and Oscar worthy acting by 2 unknowns, and not a fake or phony note in it….go see it, quick. Because if you don’t go immediately then they’ll have to let it go, and trust me, you won’t find this film widely distributed.
THE SKIN I LIVE IN. It’s a rare treat nowadays to see a film that still has an identifiable Directors touch…and Almodovar’s films still have his stamp all over them. You might not like the creepy taxidermy-Frankenstein plot but it’s an excellently told story, not one of the all too often corporate driven plots.
LOVE CRIME. Kristin Scott Thomas’ film are almost always guaranteed wonderful and so is this back stabbing French femme vs. femme. It’s a French Wall Street murder plot…and exciting, and well made. Hurry, go see this one too.
IMMORTALS. “Power-hungry King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his ruthless army march across Greece, leaving burned-out villages and the corpses of the innocent in their wake. Hyperion’s goal is to find the long-lost Bow of Epirus; with this invincible weapon, he…” that’s an official quote from some website. If you can’t believe that Mickey Rourke’ s face couldn’t hold any more scabs and scars you should see this piece of crap film. Of course it was #1 at the box-office. It was one of the worst I’ve ever walked out of, even after trying my best to take a nap.
NODDY NOTE.This just in from Bubble Meister Tom Noddy…”I’m flying out to Abu Dhabi in the morning. They are opening a new science center there and I’ll demonstrate Bubble Magic and discuss the physics and mathematics of soap bubbles and soap films. 32 shows in 10 days …in the spring I’m invited to be a part of a magic convention in Kuala Lumpur. Abu Dhabi, Kuala Lumpur … maybe I’ll only go to places with cool sounding names from now on…oh hey … and I got an email from an astronaut who will go up to the international Space Station on December 21. He wants advice about soap bubbles ….honest. Tom Noddy.
FREE RADIO STATION CHANGE. Earth Firster Uncle Dennis Davie tells us…Free Radio Santa Cruz has changed its frequency to 101.3 MHz to better serve our listeners. Please tell everyone who is interested in better radio for Santa Cruz. Uncle Dennis FRSC EF! Radio.
SATYAGRAHA OPERA & GANDHI & PHILIP GLASS ON SATURDAY. Philip Glass has played Santa Cruz many times. Palookaville, Temple Beth El, Cabrilho and some I’ve forgotten and now’s a rare chance to see his opera about Mohandas K. Gandhi, Tolstoy, Tagore, Einstein , Martin Luther King and Akhnaten. (Satyagraha means Passive Resistance). The broadcast of Philip Glass’s Satyagraha will be presented live for only one day on Saturday, November 19, 2011 at 9:55 AM in Cinema 9 on Pacific Avenue.” The Met’s visually extravagant production is back for an encore engagement. Richard Croft once again is Gandhi in Philip Glass’s unforgettable opera, which the Washington Post calls “a profound and beautiful work of theater.” Plus, it’s sung in Sanskrit and there are not a lot of Sanskrit operas around nowadays.
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 November 15th the winners of Bookshop Santa Cruz’s Youth Writing contest will read their entries. Ralph Abraham will talk about 2 of his new books on November 22 followed by Gary Patton and UCSC Environmental Studies Interns. November 29 has Jim Mosher talking about his teens and alcohol program. Judge Paul Burdick returns to talk about justice on December 13th. Next year Claudia Sternbach guests on January 3 to talk about her new book, “Reading Lips”. Do remember, any and all suggestions for future programs are more than welcome so tune in, and keep listening.
UNIVERSAL GRAPEVINE ARCHIVES.In case you missed some of the great people I’ve interviewed in the last 5 years here’s a chronological list of just this year’s podcasts. Click herehttp://kzsc.org/blog/tag/universal-grapevine then tap on “listen here” to hear any or all of them… all over again. The Great Morgani on Street performing, Paul Whitworth on Krapps Last Tape. Jodi McGraw on Sandhills, Bruce Daniels on area water problems. Mike Pappas on the Olive Connection, Sandy Lydon on County History. Paul Johnston on political organizing, Rick Longinotti on De-Sal. Dan Haifley on Monterey Bay Sanctuary, Dan Harder on Santa Cruz City Museum. Sara Wilbourne on Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre. Brian Spencer on SEE Theatre Co. Paula Kenyon and Karen Massaro on MAH and Big Creek Pottery. Carolyn Burke on Edith Piaf. Peggy Dolgenos on Cruzio. Julie James on Jewel Theatre Conpany. Plus Rob Slawinski, Gary Bascou, Judge Paul Burdick, John Brown Childs, Ellen Kimmel, Don Williams, Kinan Valdez, Ellen Murtha, John Leopold, Karen Kefauver, Chip Lord, Judy Bouley, Rob Sean Wilson, Ann Simonton, Lori Rivera, Sayaka Yabuki, Chris Kinney, Celia and Peter Scott, Chris Krohn, David Swanger, Chelsea Juarez…and that’s just since January 2011. Hear them all!!!
QUOTES. “Some people are like a Slinky… not much good for anything, but, still, you can’t help but smile when you push them down the stairs”, Nivedita Phoenix.
“Ah me! love can not be cured by herbs“, Ovid. “We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness – and call it love – true love”, Robert Fulghum.
Vic Marani was elected to the county Board of Education in 2008, after serving earlier on the Pajaro Valley School Board. He has been working as an aide to state Sen. Sam Blakeslee until leaving to run for supervisor.
Bruce McPherson jumped into politics in 1993, pulling off what seemed like a miracle win for a Republican in a heavily Democratic Santa Cruz state Assembly district. He was well known as the editor of the local newspaper, the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
