Hi friends,
Yes, as an American dude-guy over 60, I have a few strongly held views on the greatness of Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid, which I’d be happy to share if you have a couple of hours to share and you’re picking up the bar tab.
Now, on with the show.
This Just In!
The underappreciated singer-songwriter Aimee Mann is coming to town, dropping in at the Rio Theatre on Nov. 2. You remember the ska/punk band Less Than Jake. They’ll be charging into The Catalyst on Oct. 15. Reggae mainstay Prezident Brown is at Moe’s come Aug. 24. The indie band Black Lips, straight outta Atlanta, Georgia, visits Moe’s on Nov. 4. And, come hang out with the famous “Liberal Redneck,” comedian Trae Crowder, who will perform at the Rio on Dec. 5.
Be sure to check out Lookout’s carefully curated and constantly updated planning guide, Down the Line, for the staggering riches and amazing choices awaiting Santa Cruz audiences. It’s our look ahead at the best shows, concerts and events through the rest of the year at clubs, stages and venues all over the county.
Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the solstice B9:
Happy Birthday, Genial Johnny
Those who’ve been around Santa Cruz long enough to have enjoyed the heyday of public radio station KUSP will likely remember the wry and warm on-air host “Genial” Johnny Simmons, who presided over the consistently awesome “Lost Highway” radio show.
Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to attend Genial’s 80th birthday party at the clubhouse at Harvey West Park, hosted by, among others, nationally well-known radio host Sean Rameswaram, the co-host of Vox’s “Today, Explained” who began his career at KUSP.
Johnny himself was a good sport while he endured dozens of stories and tall tales told at his expense from the gathered crowd, which included many names that old-school radio folks locally would remember. Known for his abiding love of midcentury country/folk music and the L.A. Dodgers, Johnny is most famous for his commitment to the U.S. Postal Service, even in this age of email and social media. In fact, there was a kiddie pool at the party available for all of Johnny’s friends to collect all the postcards, newspaper clippings and handwritten notes that Genial had sent out over the years. The little pool could barely handle the flow.
Happy Birthday to one of Santa Cruz’s all-time greats.
One summer day in Santa Cruz
For the past few years, it’s been a habit of mine to experience two great events in town as they happen on the same day. One is the great car show Woodies on the Wharf, which is a beguiling spectacle, especially if you’re into classic cars, as people from all over the country descend on Santa Cruz to showcase their vintage “woodie” surf wagons. The other event is the great Pleasure Point Street Fair, with live music, lots of food and often a skateboarding contest.
Woodies begins at 10 a.m. on the wharf and culminates in the super-fun Woodie Parade down Beach Street at 3:30 p.m. Across town, on Portola Drive, the PPSF goes from around 11 a.m. to about 5 p.m. (The absolute highlight of the latter event, in my view, is the live performance from The Mermen, happening around 3 p.m.)
This is the day when you want to get out your bicycle, which will get you from one event to the next with much less hassle than driving a car.
And this year, there’s a special wrinkle. Downtown Santa Cruz is holding Kids Day, with a mini, family-oriented festival on Pacific Avenue, and jazz great Tammi Brown is being honored at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in a free event that evening at 7 p.m.
Can it be done? Four great local events in one day? Let me know if you hit all four. It helps that it’ll be one of the longest days of the year.
Bright on Slate
Here’s a fun interview published this week on Slate with Santa Cruz writer and resident iconoclast Susie Bright on her role as a consultant for the infamous 1996 sex drama “Bound.”
The occasion was the film’s release as part of the Criterion Collection, the home-video company that lovingly releases classic films and serves as a kind of de facto Hall of Fame of great cinema. It stars Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly in an erotic thriller that pushed defiantly against the sexual assumptions of the day, and Bright was on board to keep it genuine to real-life experience. As Susie herself explains about the movie, “It’s about working-class characters who are divorced from bourgeois aspiration and from the platitudes of capitalist American Dream happiness.”
Forget it, Jake …
Also, a reminder to take a moment to mark the 50th anniversary this week of the release of The. Greatest. Movie. Ever. Made. It’s called “Chinatown.” Funny how a movie set in the 1930s, and released in the 1970s, continues to resonate even today.
Earworm of the Week
I am not indifferent to debates about the finest time of the year. It’s June. Let’s just be clear on that, people. School’s out, the days are long, good food is in season, the gardens look great, vacation beckons for many. Especially this year, with fire season looming ominously and a dreadful election on the far horizon, this June feels like a mellow moment before things get tense. A song I like to play over and over this time of year is called “June Hymn,” and it comes to us from The Decemberists, fronted by the brilliant Colin Meloy. Why a band named for December is rhapsodizing about June is a mystery, at least to me. But it’s just such a wonderful celebration of the arrival of summer, and it makes for a fine morning ritual, particularly if you live near anything natural and beautiful. The Decemberists are from Oregon, and the vibe of the song is particular to that latitude, but it works for me walking the country roads of Santa Cruz County or in the redwood groves at Henry Cowell. Find your magic spot and greet the summer in the place that stirs your soul, wherever, as the song says, “the branches burst abloom.”
That’s all I got, friends. Come at me with comments, ideas, complaints, or thundering insights. Thanks to all Lookout members for your faith and support, and please, spread the word on what we’re doing.