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May 21st
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Arts, Entertainment, Dining, Calendar

A&E

Great Inspirations

Great Inspirations

MAH’s most breathtaking work of the season delves into the art and history of China

Enter. Then clap. Now look around—quickly. Did you catch it? Stand by the eccentric greenhouse sculpture in the main lobby of the Museum of Art & History at the McPherson Center in downtown Santa Cruz. Now clap again. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that a horde of fake flowers in cozy pots will dance when you clap your hands. It’s a rather adorable sight, surrounded by a rather not-so-adorable concept: global warming. The piece, “Green House Tent Dress,” is “a comment on how the U.S. and China need to work on our policies of conservation,” says museum spokesperson Theresa Myers. And the twirling flowers that dance? “I think it has to do with paying attention,” says Susan Hillhouse, curator for the museum. “We’re living things and we want to survive.”

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Literature

A Memoir for Mort

A Memoir for Mort

Inside the prolific local poet and writer’s latest read, and why it’s one of his biggest milestones yet

I have known Morton Marcus, or “Mort” as his friends call him, for many years now, and I’ve interviewed him numerous times. I can recall two specific interviews in which he helped me enormously in providing an overwhelming amount of information needed for my journalistic assignments. This much I can say about “Mort”: He does things in a grandiose way. Whether it’s through his prolific poetry or serving fine cheeses, coffee and baguettes over two hours of conversing about Santa Cruz writers (that’s story No. 1) or inviting me to join “The Breakfast Club” (story No. 2) with himself, Sandy Lydon, Geoffrey Dunn, George Ow, Jr. and the late Tony Hill, for waffles and fruit at the Walnut Avenue Café for a series of interviews on a book that Ow published a few years back.

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A&E

Power of the Alumnus

Power of the Alumnus

Camryn Manheim on show biz, reality checks and the importance of keeping close ties to UC Santa Cruz

She was the woman who shouted, “This is for all the fat girls,” during her unforgettable Emmy acceptance speech in 1998. Camryn Manheim—then and now—leads a very full life: There was the time she auditioned for David Kelley and challenged the television producer to a game of cribbage—it won her a role on The Practice. There’s her work for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); her support of the size acceptance movement; and there’s the blessed job of mother to her 7-year-old son who will go to university, she says, quite emphatically. With her warm and big-hearted personality, it’s no surprise that UC Santa Cruz has invited one of the school’s most famous alumni back for a special event. On Feb. 9, Manheim will be the keynote speaker at the school’s fifth annual Scholarship Benefit Dinner.

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A&E

Santa Cruz Goes Live

Santa Cruz Goes Live

Digital Media Factory launches new television show

Some cities keep their cultural evolution on the pause button, but not Santa Cruz. It continues to move in a fast forward motion, especially when it comes to the arts, as is the case with a new invention taking off at the Digital Media Factory (DMF) on the Westside of town.

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Literature

Spiritual Santa Cruz

Spiritual Santa Cruz

After six years of research, Paul Tutwiler compiles an extensive text on local spirituality

When the rains hit on Jan. 4, in that memorable recent storm that knocked out power lines across the county, I thought I’d try to interview someone up in Bonny Doon. Dumb idea. Fighting the rain and torrential winds on Highway 1, I eventually made my way onto Bonny Doon Road, only to be turned around by a giant tree crossing—the ultimate speed bump. Outside, the weather seemed strangely divine, as if God was maybe speaking to us—loudly. The journey also had that otherworldly feeling to it—the spiritual sense of the weather, joined by the man I was supposed to interview—Paul Tutwiler, a former Catholic priest and the writer of a spiritually dense and fascinating e-book, “Santa Cruz Spirituality.”

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Theater

Sandra Bernhard To The Rescue

Sandra Bernhard To The Rescue

Is it just us, or can this woman actually save the human race?

Sandra Bernhard rocks on stage, brightens up a scene whenever she’s got a co-starring TV gig, and happens to be one of the most outspoken comediennes/performance artists around. Fortunately, for us, Bernhard wants everybody to be ready—if not really conscious—for 2008. I caught up with The B recently and we got down and dirty. Read on …

Q: People love you here in Northern California.

A: And I love them.

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A&E

Gobble This

Gobble This

Time are tough for turkeys, but thanks to one local couple, some feathered friends are flippling the bird for the holidays

Karen Oeh’s girls are spoiled. They’ve got a luxurious room to sleep in and a playground of their own. Ariala and Rhoslyn (‘the girls’) had a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving, and the same goes for Christmas. While much of America chows down on Ariala and Rhoslyn’s feathered friends Dec. 25, A&R will have survived the holiday season and they’ll be safe at a new home in Ben Lomond, living with a vegetarian couple (Oeh and her husband Mike Balistreri) who recently adopted them from an animal activist group called Farm Sanctuary.

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A&E

On the Mend

On the MendBrain injury survivors unleash a mind-bending art show

In 1999 at Aptos Junior High School, Monica Magallanes, a psychotherapist, was working with two severely emotionally disturbed children, when a suicide attempt happened. A child tried to throw himself down a stairwell and Magallanes tried to restrain him. Meanwhile, the other child became upset and smashed Magallanes over the head with an old telephone. A few days later, the damage to her brain began to surface.

“I was in the field working with a child and I lost use of my hands, I couldn’t use them,” Magallanes says.

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A&E

The Dooners

The Dooners

Bonny Doon artists open their studios

Information in this article was relevant to the event in 2007. Sorry for any confusion. CM
Here’s the bad news: You’re gonna burn up some gas money and put a few extra miles on your car. The good news: It’s worth it. For those daring enough to make the trek out of comfy downtown Santa Cruz, and venture into Bonny Doon for Open Studios—the mountain version—the brief inconvenience of driving out of your comfort zone will turn up rewards of the artistic variety.

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A&E

Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek

First time Open Studios artists come out of hiding

Mike Shuler’s studio is concealed behind a forest of bamboo and a nondescript mailbox. It’s an easy place to miss—nearly hidden in the unincorporated Live Oak area.

Until now, the undeniably talented artist (and his studio) has remained, for the most part, out-of-sight from Santa Cruzans. (His woodwork is typically shown in galleries across the country.) That’s all about to change when Shuler and his wife Rainey, (a photographer), invite Santa Cruzans to walk beyond the bamboo and view their work during the next two weekends of Open Studios.

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    The Maya-Ixil Move Forward

    Local nonprofit works to educate and create opportunity for indigenous communities in Guatemala In an isolated region of the Guatemala mountains called Ixil, the indigenous Maya population was devastated by a civil war between the government and leftist guerrilla factions that spanned 1960 to 1996. During that 36-year war, the Guatemalan military eradicated entire Mayan communities. In what amounted to genocide, soldiers burned Mayan farmlands and homes, raped and tortured the people, and scattered families. By the end of the war, 200,000 Mayans had been killed, 7,000 of whom were Maya-Ixil.

     

    Public Thinking

    Watsonville teens host TEDx event Santa Cruz County is no stranger to the TED brand. TED—which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design—talks have come to the area through independently organized events 10 times since 2011. This month, the gathering returns to the county with a new twist, thanks to the Watsonville Youth City Council. TEDxYouth@Watsonville, which will take place Sunday, May 19 at the Henry J. Mello Center for the Performing Arts in Watsonville, will feature only speakers younger than 19 years old and will traverse topics from racial stereotypes and renewable energy to traditional Mexican dance.

     

    Transoceana

    Danny Moriarty’s musical influences have been known to impact his life beyond his local rock band, Transoceana. “I went through two periods,” confesses the singer, guitarist and songwriter. “I borrowed Bono’s mullet look from the ’80s for a while, and then I dressed like I was from the ’70s and had big hair like Jimmy Page.” Bono and Page are also symbolic of Transoceana’s evolution as a band during their three years together.

     

    Cruzin’ for Inspiration

    Former resident pays homage to Santa Cruz with locally shot thesis film When he left Santa Cruz for the University of Southern California’s graduate film program in 2010, Christopher Guerrero had completed the film major at UC Santa Cruz in 2008 and worked on campus in the film and digital media department. It wasn’t until he headed south, that Guerrero began to reminisce about the coastal town. “It was really really hard when I moved to L.A., to acclimate and find friends,” he says, adding that—counter to the philosophical, conversational culture of Santa Cruz—he found nowhere in his new town where he could simply sit and talk about life with someone. “I didn’t really realize why I love [Santa Cruz] so much until it was gone.”

     

    Beck to the Future

    In celebration of Beck’s solo acoustic show at The Rio, GT explores Song Reader, the alternative rock icon’s most ambitious interactive art piece yet. Here’s an odd little paradox of the digital revolution: The more sophisticated our technology gets, the more our musical milieu begins to resemble that of a bygone era, when song ideas were passed around from musician to musician, perpetually taking on new twists. Dozens of different YouTube users might try their hand at setting somebody’s rant about cats or double rainbows to music, or you might hear the Belgian musician Gotye turning the many and varied covers of his song “Somebody That I Used to Know” into a virtual orchestra (see below).

     

    Growing Berries Without Bromide

    Researchers test a new alternative to a controversial chemical The scarecrows perched in Santa Cruz strawberry fields do little to scare away the birds, much less the insects and fungi harbored in the soil. Everything likes to eat strawberries, which makes growing them a risky business. This predicament led UC Santa Cruz professor Carol Shennan to take an unconventional approach to pest management. Nine years ago, the fatal plant disease Verticillium wilt was wiping out strawberry plants at the university farm. Chemicals hardly phase the pathogen, and Shennan saw little improvement with crop rotation, which is typically used to treat infested fields. A visiting plant pathologist from the Netherlands recommended a little-known organic technique called anaerobic soil disinfestation, and, with so few other options, Shennan decided to give it a try. 

     

    Uniting All That Has Been Separated

     

    Legal Battles Drag On

    More than a year after the 75 River St. occupation, four defendants remain embroiled in ongoing case  More than a year and a half since a group occupied the former Wells Fargo building on River Street in an act of protest, felony charges linger on for four of the original defendants and a trial may be imminent. Gabriella Ripley-Phipps, Brent Adams, Cameron Laurendeau and Franklin Alcantara were scheduled to begin trial May 13 in connection with the late 2011 protest. That trial now has been pushed back to September due to scheduling conflicts. The four face a felony charge of vandalism and a misdemeanor for trespassing.

     

    Bringing the Message Home

    Former mayor and UCSC student recap their experiences at the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women While traveling to New York for the 57th United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), seasoned local activist Jane Weed-Pomerantz had a notion of what to expect. But, with the vast scope of worldwide women’s rights violations presented at the commission, she knew she would still be taken aback at times. “I was worried because I had a feeling I would be finding out what I did find out about women and girls in the world,” says Weed-Pomerantz. “I was trying to brace myself for the knowledge of the reality, because we are really very protected in this country.”

     

    The Tilt

    Although Jesse Malley, lead singer of the outlaw country, blues and rock ’n’ roll band The Tilt, no longer lives in Santa Cruz, she was born and raised here and this is where her love of music and performance began. “My dad worked at The Catalyst for 27 years, so I got to see a lot of music acts come through town,” she says. “Music always seemed to me to be such an incredible way to express yourself that I just stumbled upon my voice and jumped into it.” That jump eventually led to Malley heading down to San Diego to pursue a music career, and her band The Tilt has just released their full-length debut, Howlin’.
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    May Day in the Alps

    When my daughter returns to Santa Cruz from her new home in Los Angeles, she comments on how quiet it is here. It was even more so during a trip to Ben Lomond, when we set out for a sample of her second favorite macaroni and cheese. Sitting at the front of the Tyrolean Inn restaurant, the green tarp with plastic windows kept out the chill as well as the noise of an occasional passing car. A new draft beer celebrating the German spring, Maibok ($6) was refreshing, served in a hefty glass stein, but specialty cocktails are unique as well.

     

    The Power of Conversation

    Local author Cecile Andrews emphasizes importance of community engagement in newest book Cecile Andrews, author of the new book “Living Room Revolution: A Handbook for Conversation, Community and the Common Good,” probably wouldn’t get along too well with Larry David’s character from HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, known for hiding his face and avoiding communication with anyone he runs into on the street. Andrews is a longstanding part-time Santa Cruz (part-time Seattle) resident who says something that’s struck her about this town over the years is people's willingness to participate in a practice she’s dubbed the “Stop and Chat”—which is exactly what it sounds like.

     

    What are you a total sucker for?

    A cold beer after a long bike ride, gossip, and fighting over politics. Kyle McKinley Santa Cruz | Lecturer

     

    Best of Santa Cruz County

    The 2013 Santa Cruz County Readers' Poll and Critics’ Picks It’s our biggest issue of the year, and in it, your votes—more than 6,500 of them—determined the winners of The Best of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll. New to the long list of local restaurants, shops and other notables that captured your interest: Best Beer Selection, Best Locally Owned Business, Best Customer Service and Best Marijuana Dispensary. In the meantime, many readers were ever so chatty online about potential new categories. Some of the suggestions that stood out: Best Teen Program and Best Web Design/Designer. But what about: Dog Park, Church, Hotel, Local Farm, Therapist (I second that!) or Sports Bar—not to be confused with Bra. Our favorite suggestion: Best Act of Kindness—one reader noted Café Gratitude and the free meals it offered to the Santa Cruz Police Department in the aftermath of recent crimes. Perhaps some of these can be woven into next year’s ballot, so stay tuned. In the meantime, enjoy the following pages and take note of our Critics’ Picks, too, beginning on page 91. A big thanks for voting—and for reading—and an even bigger congratulations to all of the winners. Enjoy.  -Greg Archer, EditorBest of Santa Cruz County Readers’ Poll INDEX | Shops | Food & Drink | Arts & Entertainment | Health & Fitness | Professionals | The Rest |

     

    Vine & Dine: Pine Ridge Vineyards

    Chenin Blanc + Viognier 2012 On a recent trip to Palm Springs, I came across Pine Ridge Vineyards’ Chenin Blanc + Viognier at a new downtown restaurant called Lulu. Superbly decorated in Hollywood-esque style and with a very hip vibe, this California bistro is one of the hottest new dining spots—and the Chenin Blanc was just the right wine to pair with some of Lulu’s Happy Hour tapas-style food. And eating outdoors in the desert’s warm night air makes a chilled white wine taste even better.

     

    The Gypsy

    French-born jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimée lives for musical freedom and improvisation Cyrille Aimée is a musical gypsy. Her sound incorporates elements of Latin American, American, Brazilian and other styles of jazz, she has recorded albums as a duet with Diego Figueiredo, she currently performs with the Surreal (same pronunciation as her first name) Band, and she is working on a new album with yet another band. As it happens, Aimée can actually blame gypsies for her love of jazz. “I grew up in Samois-sur-Seine, which is a little town in France where Django Reinhardt used to live,” she says. “Every year they have the Django Festival in his honor, and so gypsies from all parts of Europe come and honor him and play guitar. I started hanging out with the gypsies and became obsessed with their music, their way of living, their freedom. What drew me to jazz music was the freedom of it, all the improvisation, and the fact that it’s a style of music that is constantly changing.”

     

    Step on up to the Bar

    Here in Santa Cruz County, we are privileged to have farm-fresh greens year-round. Making a nightly salad at home is a snap since the emergence of pre-washed greens, and vinaigrette dressing is made easily with your favorite vinegar and small spoon of Dijon mustard whisked with a bit of olive oil.

     

    Exposed

    David Cay Johnston’s new book explains how big companies rob us blind In his late teens David Cay Johnston started to ask questions. “Why do we have these guys in uniforms with guns driving around in cars all day?” “Why is the Santa Cruz County Courthouse being built in such an unusual shape?” He wrote an article, while still living in his hometown of Santa Cruz, proving that the off-kilter courthouse building, which officials had promised would save money, actually cost more than a conventional building.

     

    Do you unplug often enough? Or do you need help?

    Santa Cruz | Caregiver