Experimental folk band, Other Lives, takes listeners to Mars and back

Imagine yourself immersed in the soothing tenor of some indie-folk crooner wistfully cooing over acoustic guitar and player piano punctuation marks. What do you see? An endless sea of golden grass, waving in the wind? Or do you see rugged, snow-capped peaks, speckled with evergreen stubble?

What about the barren surface of Mars?

Down the street from a pumpkin patch in the Harvey West area of Santa Cruz is the rehearsal space for The Wild Ones, Santa Cruz’s all-girl lo-fi rockers. Young, tattooed and awesome, the girls are huddled outside smoking, cracking a tall libation, and excited about their upcoming Halloween show at The Crepe Place, where they will be dressed as and play songs by The Ramones. “The Wild Ones love old garage rock like The Sonics, old surf rock and old all-girl groups,” says Rachael, the band’s drummer-turned-guitarist, who will be channeling Johnny Ramone on Oct. 31.

Tiger Army’s Nick 13 has earned his stripes

Back when I was a teenager in the small town of Ukiah, Calif., a friend of mine was always telling me I reminded him of a guy he knew—some guitar player named Nick. “I’ll bet you guys would have a lot to talk about,” he said more than once.

One night I found myself at a party, locked in a friendly argument with someone I’d never met before. Skipping the formality of introducing ourselves to each other, we had launched into a fun, lively talk about pop culture. In the middle of it all, my friend walked past us, interjecting, “By the way, this is Nick.”

For 37-year-old multi-instrumentalist/composer/looper John Whoolilurie—aka one-man funk/Latin/jazz band, Whoolilicious—music holds a hefty weight in his life. More than a metaphor for his passion, that weight manifests itself in the form of his “looptility belt-pack”—“I took some looping pedals and put them on a belt, [for] easier, portable performance,” explains Whoolilurie—and his 9-month-old son, whom he carries while rehearsing.

Local band sets its sights on Guam, then the world

On the eve of Wooster’s CD release show, GT spoke with rhythm guitarist/vocalist Brian Gallagher about the local band’s new album, If All The Dew Were Diamonds, their popularity overseas, and the inspirations behind their rock/soul/reggae amalgam.

GOOD TIMES: I hear Wooster’s going to Guam…

Since its inception three years ago, Ancestree has not only become a favorite in the local reggae scene, but also a Santa Cruz icon. Stickers bearing the band’s name can be found throughout town—from telephone poles, to cars, to bar stools, to bathroom stalls—and their signature yellow school bus makes them hard to miss. The brainchild of vocalist/lead guitarist Tom Maimon and vocalist/guitarist Tomas Gomez—“We are like two wings of the same bird,” says Maimon—Ancestree has been on three tours in support of three albums in its short history.

Santa Cruz’s own Chris Rene unveils debut album          

Speaking over the phone from Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 20, Chris Rene was proud to announce that he had been sober for “17 months and one day.” It’s a huge accomplishment for the garbage collector-turned-musician, who was battling a drug and alcohol addiction less than two years ago. “It feels good to be clear-minded and to be there for my son and my family,” he says. “It feels good to be present.”

But that’s not the only thing Rene’s celebrating these days.

Though born in San Jose and raised in Ben Lomond, Jon Cattivera is now a mountain man of Boulder Creek and the steering force behind Time Spent Driving. Originally one of the rotating cast of guitar players for seminal Santa Cruz punk outfit Fury 66, Cattivera started playing in bands when he was 15 years old. “My first band was called Illiterate—a pop-punk type band—which is how I got recruited into Fury,” he says. Time Spent Driving, which spearheaded the indie/emo/rock sound in the Santa Cruz area, was Cattivera’s baby from the beginning.

Manager, roadie, singer, booker and promoter Nora Cruz enters the room like a woman in pursuit of a noble mission. With high heels and a short skirt, Cruz is a head turner—and, full of passion about her new CD, Six is Enough, recorded with her band, the Nora Cruz Sextet. “It’s my first CD in 26 years,” Cruz says with a laugh. After studying opera in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wis. for several years, the big-voiced vixen visited Santa Cruz in 1985 when she was 22 years old.

Voices of the ’80s carry through Aimee Mann’s latest solo release

There’s a reason Aimee Mann came in at No. 1 on Cracked.com’s list of “5 One-Hit Wonders Who Deserve Your Respect.” In the almost three decades since she and her New Wave/pop band ’Til Tuesday made a permanent mark on pop culture with the hit song “Voices Carry,” the renowned rock singer/songwriter/guitarist/bassist has put out eight solo albums, played for President Barack Obama at the White House, earned Oscar and Grammy nominations for her song “Save Me,” and been named “one of the top 10 living songwriters along with Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen” (NPR) as well as “one of the finest songwriters of her generation” (New York Times). But no amount of accolades can trump a potent cultural meme: To many, Mann will always be that lady with the cool hair who stood up and sang in a movie theater at the end of the “Voices Carry” video. 

Clint Eastwood’s son Kyle talks France, film and the Monterey Jazz Festival

Children of celebrities often find it difficult to emerge from the shadows of their parents and create their own unique light in the wilderness of fame. Kyle Eastwood, son of Clint, has bypassed the penumbra by relocating to France and performing at clubs and festivals with a smoking hot jazz band. And by sheer geography, Eastwood avoids hearing daily references to reality television shows and Republican National Convention speeches. Skyping in from Paris, France, where he has lived for the last seven years, the young Grammy-nominated composer and musician says, “That is a definite upside.”

It’s 8 p.m. on a Monday, and Nate Krohn, the charming frontman for rock quintet Little Sister—a six-piece, if you include his Italian-style moustache, named Giuseppe—still hasn’t done his laundry because he’s preoccupied with the band’s van. “It’s functional, but it has a fuel leak,” he says. “It might blow up.” Hardly defeated, Krohn confesses, “I just made an awesome steak though.” And therein lies the beauty of Little Sister, whose music is also characteristic of an awesome steak: flavorful, tough yet tender, and totally rare.