The Gemini Solar Festival of Goodwill & World Invocation Day occurs Wednesday at 1:14 p.m. (PST) at 24 degrees Gemini. The full moon this year is accompanies by a total lunar eclipse, signifying something in form disappears. The Gemini festival is the time in which the Christ, Hierarchy and New Group of World Servers, distribute to humanity the Shamballa force (Wesak blessing from our God, Sanat Kumara)—the Will-to-Good, which becomes Goodwill when humanity receives and absorbs it. The blessing, released by the Buddha, has been held in trust and safe guarded by the Christ for the entire month since the last full moon. Gemini (which gathers and disperses energies) is the 3rd Spring full moon festival. At each of the festivals (Aries, Taurus, Gemini) great forces—that of Restoration (Aries), Enlightenment (Taurus) and Reconstruction (Gemini) – are released to the Earth and humanity for the purpose of accelerating evolution. GT Columns
Astrology
The Gemini Solar Festival of Goodwill & World Invocation Day occurs Wednesday at 1:14 p.m. (PST) at 24 degrees Gemini. The full moon this year is accompanies by a total lunar eclipse, signifying something in form disappears. The Gemini festival is the time in which the Christ, Hierarchy and New Group of World Servers, distribute to humanity the Shamballa force (Wesak blessing from our God, Sanat Kumara)—the Will-to-Good, which becomes Goodwill when humanity receives and absorbs it. The blessing, released by the Buddha, has been held in trust and safe guarded by the Christ for the entire month since the last full moon. Gemini (which gathers and disperses energies) is the 3rd Spring full moon festival. At each of the festivals (Aries, Taurus, Gemini) great forces—that of Restoration (Aries), Enlightenment (Taurus) and Reconstruction (Gemini) – are released to the Earth and humanity for the purpose of accelerating evolution.
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Festival of Humanity & World Invocation Day
The Gemini Solar Festival of Goodwill & World Invocation Day occurs Wednesday at 1:14 p.m. (PST) at 24 degrees Gemini. The full moon this year is accompanies by a total lunar eclipse, signifying something in form disappears. The Gemini festival is the time in which the Christ, Hierarchy and New Group of World Servers, distribute to humanity the Shamballa force (Wesak blessing from our God, Sanat Kumara)—the Will-to-Good, which becomes Goodwill when humanity receives and absorbs it. The blessing, released by the Buddha, has been held in trust and safe guarded by the Christ for the entire month since the last full moon. Gemini (which gathers and disperses energies) is the 3rd Spring full moon festival. At each of the festivals (Aries, Taurus, Gemini) great forces—that of Restoration (Aries), Enlightenment (Taurus) and Reconstruction (Gemini) – are released to the Earth and humanity for the purpose of accelerating evolution.
Editors Note
Plus Letters to the Editor
I spent much of the Memorial Day Weekend writing about my Polish family and a clothing optional retreat I suddenly found myself trapped in recently. Maybe I should clarify that. My Polish family was not with me at the clothing optional retreat. Once you comsume dozens of pierogis together and go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve—and then scream at each other—there really isn’t any need to add nudity into the mix. How unholy—or unruly—would that be. No ... I’ve returned to the important task of writing a memoir. Two actually. One that will document my Polish family’s World War II history; the other about my various escapade searching for ridiculous—well, wildly fascinating—signs from the Universe. (And eating, of course.) All this got me thinking: How often do we allow ourselves to digest what is really happening in our lives—on a monthly basis; on a weekly basis, on a daily basis? Living is great.
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From the Editor
Plus Letters to the EditorI spent much of the Memorial Day Weekend writing about my Polish family and a clothing optional retreat I suddenly found myself trapped in recently. Maybe I should clarify that. My Polish family was not with me at the clothing optional retreat. Once you comsume dozens of pierogis together and go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve—and then scream at each other—there really isn’t any need to add nudity into the mix. How unholy—or unruly—would that be. No ... I’ve returned to the important task of writing a memoir. Two actually. One that will document my Polish family’s World War II history; the other about my various escapade searching for ridiculous—well, wildly fascinating—signs from the Universe. (And eating, of course.) All this got me thinking: How often do we allow ourselves to digest what is really happening in our lives—on a monthly basis; on a weekly basis, on a daily basis? Living is great.
Local Talk
I think Burning Man is really the best festival worth going to. I’ve been eight times. Festivals have become so expensive so if you’re going to spend $500 on a festival, it might as well be Burning Man.
Johnathan Schneiderman
Santa Cruz | Record Store Owner
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What festivals are you most looking foward to this summer?
I think Burning Man is really the best festival worth going to. I’ve been eight times. Festivals have become so expensive so if you’re going to spend $500 on a festival, it might as well be Burning Man.
Johnathan Schneiderman
Santa Cruz | Record Store Owner
Astrology
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Within Disorder, a Divine Order
We have two religious holidays this week – the Ascension (Catholic, Christ doesn’t leave the Earth, He enters Shamballa) and Shavuot (Jewish festival of First Fruits, of Ruth in Boaz’s field, giving of the Torah and Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai, the Jewish people becoming a nation committed to serving God).
In the sky, Neptune retrogrades in Pisces, Jupiter enters Taurus, Chiron retrogrades in Pisces and Mercury enters Gemini. Mercury comes home again. A beautiful complexity of energies falling to Earth.
Neptune in Pisces creates social unrest that breaks down repressive structures, an awareness and response to the disenfranchised ad underprivileged, a polarization of good and bad, haves and have-nots, right and left.
Editors Note
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From the Editor
Plus Letters to the Editor
Memorial Day Weekend is upon us and there’s fun to be had. At the top of the list: The Blues Festival. We spotlighted the big bold fest in last week’s issue, but take note of more fodder.
Beyond that, Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer season, or, at least, an appetizer for it, so with that in mind, we roll out our annual Green Issue. You’ll find a bundle of tips and tidbits and other features to inspire you to be a better eco patriot. Interesting to note is the UC Santa Cruz Carbon Fund, a unique organization on campus whose work deserves mention.
Local Talk
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Sarah Palin? What are your thoughts on her now that another election cycle begins?
It's not worth giving much thought to. She's nuts. That pretty much sums it up.
Russell Coppel
Santa Cruz | Book Man
Opinion
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Gay Santa Cruz: Then and Now
As we prepare to celebrate this year’s Gay Pride, now the largest annual political gathering in Santa Cruz County, it’s hard to believe that the first marches in the mid-1970s required security to protect the gutsy few out Santa Cruzans who walked down Pacific Avenue.
It was a different time locally and nationally. Locally in the late 1970s, the University enrollment was at just over 5,000, Downtown Santa Cruz was dead after six, the Miss California Pageant would still call Santa Cruz home for another few years, and the Board of Supervisors and City Council had conservative majorities.
Astrology
This This Saturday, May 28th, 8 pm. 900 High Street, at the First Congregational Church is a concert of violin, oboe and guitar. It’s the Cadenza Passion Concert with conductor Maya Barsacq, whose previous composers, performers and concerts have been revelatory. Streetlight has tickets. See www.scmusic.org.
Wednesday is a new moon solar eclipse (partial) at 11 degrees Gemini.
The new moon prepares us for the Gemini June full moon Festival of Humanity (15th) where we will invoke the Forces of Reconstruction and distribute Wesak (Will-to-Good) blessings to humanity. The solar eclipse tells us, oh dear, something important and essential soon disappears.
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Who Will Step Forward?
This This Saturday, May 28th, 8 pm. 900 High Street, at the First Congregational Church is a concert of violin, oboe and guitar. It’s the Cadenza Passion Concert with conductor Maya Barsacq, whose previous composers, performers and concerts have been revelatory. Streetlight has tickets. See www.scmusic.org.Wednesday is a new moon solar eclipse (partial) at 11 degrees Gemini.
The new moon prepares us for the Gemini June full moon Festival of Humanity (15th) where we will invoke the Forces of Reconstruction and distribute Wesak (Will-to-Good) blessings to humanity. The solar eclipse tells us, oh dear, something important and essential soon disappears.
Editors Note
Plus Letters to the Editor &
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From the Editor
Plus Letters to the Editor &
American Idol: The Durb Watch
Well ... was it good for you? What a wild day May 14 turned out to be, after all. James Durbin Day turned into something more than that when Mayor Ryan Coonerty presented our American Idol idol with news that 2011 was officially James Durbin year. (Does that mean we all get the day off work every May 14? Thanks Mr. Mayor.) Durbin was also handed a surfboard, instead of a key, to the city—it came emblazoned with an image of his fist raised, rocker style. “There’s one thing I’m gonna need—a teacher,” mused Durbin. “I think I’m about the only person in Santa Cruz who doesn’t surf. I just sing good.” Make that really good.
Local Talk
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What’s so weird about Santa Cruz?
I made up my own bumper sticker, it says "Santa Cruz wasn't weird until you got here." I think what makes Santa Cruz weird is UCSC.
Vince Brown
Corralitos | Antique Dealer
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- Free Angela
- Poetic Cellars
- The Pleasure of Süda
- What do you know about Monsanto?
- Santa Cruz Movie Times
- No Big Surprises
- The Gypsy
- Transoceana
- Cruzin’ for Inspiration
- Growing Berries Without Bromide
- Town Hall with Assemblymember Mark Stone
- Santa Cruz Calendar
Free Angela
Political activist and UC Santa Cruz Professor Emerita Angela Davis commands the spotlight in a riveting new documentary. PLUS: UCSC’s Bettina Aptheker opens up about the political upheavals of the ’60s and ’70s—and today. Angela Davis is not a human being who can be easily summed up in several sentences or paragraphs—books maybe, but, even then, capturing the political activist, scholar and author in the most comprehensive light is downright complex. That’s because Davis is an undeniably unique political creature, one who should be seen and heard to be fully absorbed and downloaded. Which is what makes Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, the new documentary about Davis and the turbulent political upheavals she faced during the late-1960s and ’70s, so inviting. In it, filmmaker Shola Lynch marks the 40th anniversary of Davis’ acquittal on charges of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy with a historical vérité style of filmmaking to illuminate a side of Davis few may have seen (or can recall), and captures the events that thrust the woman into one of the most fascinating orbits of notoriety and political intrigue of the 20th century.
No Big Surprises
The highly anticipated draft Environmental Impact Report for desal is finally out. Will it change anything? When scwd2, the group pursuing the proposed joint desalination plant for the Santa Cruz Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District, set up a booth at the Santa Cruz Earth Day festival in 2012, its reception was less than warm. Signature gathering for Measure P, the “right to vote” on desal ballot measure, was in full swing, as were tensions over the controversial project, which would produce up to 2.5 million gallons per day of desalinated water and cost an estimated $100 million. What were representatives of an energy-intensive desal plant doing among the recycling and conservation booths? That was the attitude Melanie Mow Schumacher, public outreach coordinator for scwd2 (pronounced “squid squared”), remembers sensing.
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.
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The Pleasure of Süda
Süda is a happening place. As my friend Jan and I were enjoying dinner, every table in the restaurant filled up and nearly all the outdoor seating was occupied as well. Located in the Pleasure Point area, Süda is a magnet for just about everybody hanging out in that neck of the woods.
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 do you know about Monsanto?
Santa Cruz | Self Employed
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 |
Poetic Cellars
Poetic Cellars makes the most romantic wines. With a verse or two of beautiful poetry on every label, mostly poems of love and romance, this is the perfect wine to open up over dinner with your sweetheart. I particularly love winemaker Katy Lovell’s Syrah ($28) with its voluptuous velvety textures and dark fruit flavors.
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.”
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.
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.