Hi friends,
Well, that was a fun few days of FS, wasn’t it? What’s that? What’s “FS”? You must be new around here. That’s, of course, “False Spring,” the deceptively mellow period that seems to happen every February before the witches of winter again get busy in March. You’re not fooling anyone, FS.
Now, on with the show.
This Just In!
Sci-fi author Ernest Cline of “Ready Player One” fame is on the way to Bookshop Santa Cruz, where he’ll greet readers April 12. The elegant jazz vocalist Jane Monheit will perform at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center on June 7. Also at the Kuumbwa will be the Cameroonian/American jazz singer Ekep Nkwelle on June 15. The veteran shoegaze band DIIV (pronounced “Dive”) plays The Catalyst on June 6. The electronica star known as The Polish Ambassador pays a visit to Felton Music Hall on April 27. And the fine singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet comes to Moe’s Alley on May 16.
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 B9:
’Murica in miniature
First Friday is coming ‘round again this week, and among all the enticing things to see and do, allow me to direct your attention to the Felix Kulpa Gallery, which is hosting the latest work from local sculptor and figurative artist Steve Davis, a collection he’s calling “Coping Mechanisms.”
The California primary election is, of course, just days away, and if that means your mind might be on the precarious political situation in the good ole USA these days, then “Coping Mechanisms” has a lot to chew on. Davis works in several mediums, including bronze, papier mache, cast aluminum and Aqua-Resin, all to create both life-size and smaller figures. His sculptures on display at the Kulpa through the end of April resonate deeply with the bizarre political state of America these days. A collection of small, 2-foot-tall sculptures, each named from a line in the Declaration of Independence, showcase some of the weirdest juxtapositions between the overtly patriotic and the familiarly vulgar.
“I don’t necessarily see them as vulgar,” said Davis of his creations, which include a scantily clad middle-aged couple wielding firearms. “The one thing I like about all these people is that they are who they are, and they don’t care what anyone thinks.”
A showcase piece features a woman in a Mickey Mouse hat standing on a stool with a noose around her neck. “I still maintain she’s taking the noose off from around her neck,” said the artist, who runs a metal arts shop at San Jose State University. “Other people don’t see it that way. But that’s all right.”
Children are also a theme — a boy in a stroller chained to a parking meter, a trio of girls lined up on a diving board wearing laughingly inadequate angel wings, a girl painted like the American flag to fade into her surroundings. The non-figurative work in the show focuses a lot on the rich American-style symbolism of 1950s automobiles, and their ability to evoke a nostalgic “golden age” for many Americans that is at the root of their political ideologies.
Take the chance to see this work up close. You’ll certainly see something of our bizarro political world reflected back at you.
“Coping Mechanisms” opens Friday with a First Friday reception, 5 to 8 p.m. at the Felix Kulpa Gallery, behind Streetlight Records in downtown Santa Cruz.
All things Hitch
The Alfred Hitchcock Festival is set to return to Scotts Valley on March 8 through 10. The festival, you might remember, made its debut last year. And it was successful enough to spawn a new annual tradition.
This year’s event will feature screenings of Hitchcock classics, namely “Rear Window,” “The Birds,” “North by Northwest” and “Blackmail.” Mixed in will be a variety of keynote talks from film professor Bill Park, UC Santa Cruz lecturer Logan Walker and writer and Hitchcock historian John Billheimer. Writer Aaron Leventhal will talk about Hitchcock’s relationship with San Francisco, Scotts Valley historian Jay Topping will speak on Hitch’s years in the area, and the great man’s granddaughter Tere Carrubba will also be on hand.
It’s a pricey ticket, but if you’re deep into Hitchcock, how can you pass it up?
Cali Roots full of Marleys
The California Roots Music & Art Festival — known universally as “Cali Roots” — is again on the far horizon, and it’s of course the biggest thing we have to a Coachella-style festival in our midst. The event takes place this year, as usual, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey the weekend of May 24-26. With Bob Marley immortalized now in a Hollywood biopic, it makes sense that the stage will be full of Marleys.
Bob’s son Ziggy Marley — a producer on “Bob Marley: One Love,” now in theaters — will headline the opening night of Cali Roots. Two of Marley’s other sons, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Stephen Marley, will also perform, along one of Bob Marley’s contemporaries, Burning Spear.
And if Jamaican reggae doesn’t float your boat, Cali Roots is delivering the hip-hop legends as well, including Ice Cube, E-40, Too Short and Lupe Fiasco.
Get the full lineup here, and your tix here.
TEDx speakers
TEDx returns to Santa Cruz County on Saturday, April 13, at the Crocker Theater at Cabrillo College. You probably knew that already. What you might not know is that the event has announced its speaker lineup on the theme of “Rising Together.”
The event will feature 22 local speakers on a variety of subjects, each of keen interest to folks living in the Monterey Bay area. An admittedly incomplete list includes UCSC astronomer Cesar Rojas-Bravo, software engineer Martin Vargas Vega, performance artist and drag queen Jorge Guillen (aka Xinistra), Digital Nest founder Jacob Martinez, my journalist colleague and Santa Cruz Local CEO Kara Meyberg Guzman and several others.
This is an all-day event (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), with lunch available for purchase. Get more ticket info here.
Earworm of the Week
Frankly, I’m a bit amazed we’ve gotten this far with this feature without landing at the feet of Prince. But let’s fix that today. We’ve been living without The Purple One for almost eight years now — astonishing. I’m old enough to have been a music writer back in the day when Prince dropped his proper name in a record-label dispute, leaving behind some absurd symbol that no word-processing system could re-create. So, we would regularly refer to him in print as “Taf Kap” (The Artist Formerly Known as Prince), or simply “Ug” (Unpronounceable Glyph). Whatever you call him, he was truly one of the most gifted musicians to ever grace our species. Today, let’s jump into Prince at his most funky and lascivious with the 1993 song “Peach,” a lusty dance-floor banger that showcases the best of his devilish spirit and head-spinning guitar playing. The touch that really makes this song zing, in my view, is the female yelping on the beat throughout. In case it ever comes up in a trivia question, that sample comes to us from the 1980s movie star Kim Basinger, with whom Ug reportedly had an affair because … of course, he did.
Three Things
In lieu of our weekly trivia question, we will now offer up this highly subjective, weirdly specific new feature, Three Things to Love in Santa Cruz County. And yes, we’re open to your suggestions:
- Looking for a great and largely unknown loop trail in the redwoods? My favorite for years has been Lodato Park, on the other side of Highway 17 from Scotts Valley. Take Green Hills Road until you can’t go anymore and you’ll find a trailhead for a gorgeous and inspiring encounter with the redwoods.
- For those who believe that a grilled-cheese sandwich is the most compelling proof that God exists and She wants us to be happy, I’m not going to let you get through another day without knowing about Cheese Shop 831 in the Brown Ranch Marketplace in Capitola. This place will meet all your cheese needs (and create a few you didn’t know you had), but the grilled-cheese sandwiches? It turns out you can get to heaven without dying first.
- Let us now praise a Santa Cruz original on its 40th anniversary — the Santa Cruz Comic News, and its tireless publisher and creator, Thom Zajac. Long may ye wave.
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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.