Hi friends,
I’m traveling to the famously fashionable city of New York next week, where I’ll be proudly sporting the fab textile art of Santa Cruz’s one-and-only IB Bayo (with a bunch of Bayo’s business cards in my pocket). He is one of many of the amazing Santa Cruz County artists strutting their stuff at the third-and-final weekend of Open Studios, Saturday and Sunday. Make your plans to visit, and change your life.
Now, on with the show.
THIS JUST IN
The uber-talented Santa Cruz vocalist Lori Rivera is paying tribute to the great Barbra Streisand in a benefit show Dec. 8 at the Kuumbwa for the Chadeish Yameinu: Jewish Renewal of Santa Cruz. The Rev. Horton Heat rumbles into The Catalyst on Feb. 20. Mark Hummel’s annual “Harmonica Blowout” comes to Moe’s Alley on March 2. Ellen Bass is the headliner at the annual Morton Marcus Poetry Reading at UCSC on Nov. 7. The North Mississippi Allstars come to Moe’s on Jan. 24. And veteran singers and songwriters Holly Near and Ferron are part of “A Woman’s Song for Peace” Jan. 18 at the Crocker Theater at Cabrillo College.
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 earthquake-anniversary B9:
The darkness on stage
It’s October, and many of us have an instinct to gaze into the darkness. There are plenty of movies that will do the trick for you, but if you’re looking for some season-appropriate dark theater, consider the new production at Actors’ Theatre, called “Lucky Time.”
“Lucky Time” is the work of Santa Cruz playwright John Chandler, and it opens this weekend at the Actors’ Theatre playhouse in downtown Santa Cruz. The play begins ominously enough, when a man has a flat tire on a remote road in the country and has to approach a farmhouse for help. The man (played by veteran local stage actor Martin Sampad Kachuck) is there to professionally evaluate the estate of a couple who, we soon learn, had been murdered.
What follows is what Chandler describes as a psychological thriller. “It’s terrifying in a progressive way,” he said, “because it’s a situation that’s inescapable. And the person who comes into it has no idea what he’s in until it all gradually illuminates. And that’s what makes it terrifying.”
“Lucky Time” is directed by the playwright’s wife, Wilma Marcus Chandler, and also stars well-known local actors Andrew Davids, Steve Capasso, Helene Simkin Jara, Ann McCormick and Evan Hunt.
Chandler wants to underscore that his play is not a light Halloween romp for laughs: “I was worried that this was going to be looked at, because of the time it was being staged, as some sort of scary, ghosty thing.” The frightening part of the play is not, he said, things that go bump in the night.
“The scariness is inside the people,” he said. “It’s not coming from the outside.”
“Lucky Time” plays for eight performances this weekend and next, through Oct. 27.
What’re you doing Election Night?
Just in case you don’t want to spend Election Night this year under a blanket, in the dark, or under sedation — all attractive options, to be sure — a handful of locals are coming together at The Rio Theatre with an event called, fittingly, “Nail-Biter 2024.” Comic Sven Davis is emceeing a light-hearted show, designed largely to burn off a little anxiety about the Most Important Election of Our Lifetimes.
You’ll find some comedy, some music, a lot of commiseration, and many folks trying to walk the razor’s edge between elation and horror. There will also be mini therapy sessions, worry-bead vendors, chair massages and whatever else you’ll need to face the finish line of this maddening melodrama that has swallowed public life for what feels like eons. The fun starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5. And, yes, it’s free.
Lehrer singers wanted
If you’ve been around Santa Cruz for a while, you likely remember the many times local musicians and comedians came together to celebrate the abbreviated musical career of the legendary satirist Tom Lehrer.
One local producer wants to revive that show and is looking for locals who might be willing to sing a Lehrer song or two on stage at a tribute slated for Nov. 24 at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center.
Lehrer, of course, lived for many years in Santa Cruz, where he retired from performing to become a math professor at UC Santa Cruz. And when Lehrer retired, he meant it. He almost never granted interviews nor acknowledged fans’ devotion to him. He’s still alive at 96 and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
If you’d like to be part of the show, a piano (and piano player) for accompaniment will be provided. Pick out a favorite tune or two, and reach out to snazzyproductions@gmail.com. You might be the one who finally captures the great man’s attention.
The reviews are in
Once again, congratulations to Santa Cruz filmmaker Erik Nelson, who premiered his new documentary, “Daytime Revolution,” last week at the Del Mar. The film is the story of the week in 1972 when daytime TV host Mike Douglas gave over his show to the counterculture dynamic duo John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Now, the reviews are rolling in. The New York Times calls it “charmingly relaxed.” Salon echoes Nelson’s contention that John and Yoko’s week on “The Mike Douglas Show” was more revolutionary and edgy than anything that happened on “Saturday Night Live,” which debuted three years later.
There’s also writeups in the Orange County Register, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The film is currently on tour, to be shown this weekend in San Rafael in Marin County, and in Oxnard, down in Ventura County.
It’s Día de Los Muertos season
One of the most uplifting events of the calendar year is fast coming upon us. It’s the Watsonville observance of Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), the wonderful Mexican tradition in which loved ones who have passed on are honored with all any of us could ever hope for, remembrance.
The Watsonville Film Festival puts together the local observance at the Watsonville Plaza, this year taking place on Friday, Nov. 1. The plaza itself is festooned with ofrendas, altars dedicated to deceased loved ones. The costuming and fashion is amazing, and there’s plenty of live music, and even a screening for the whole family, this year, of the Muertos-themed animated comedy “Book of Life.”
The event will animate downtown Watsonville on Nov. 1 from 4 to 9 p.m. Come visit, and bring a memory of someone you love.
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.