Hi friends,
Next time you’re wrestling with maddening transportation woes of getting from Point A to Point B, think of those hearty souls who make their homes in Big Sur. Now, do you really have it so bad?
Now, on with the show.
This Just In!
Who says Californians and Texans can’t get along? Don’t tell it to Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, playing together at Moe’s Alley on July 20. The man who wrote “I Am California,” the great John Craigie, pops in at the Rio on June 14. Peter Asher, of Peter & Gordon fame, comes to the Kuumbwa Jazz Center for a nostalgic show of the 1960s on May 24. Look for Argentine singer and performance artist Juana Molina at Moe’s on June 27. The live version of the famous improv show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” comes to the Santa Cruz Civic on Aug. 24. And provocative stand-up comic Anthony Jeselnik is set to perform at the Rio on June 22.
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 spring-in-my-step B9:
First Friday fun
It’s that time again, First Friday, a forever-evolving evening of adventure and exploration for art lovers from all over the county. A couple of events I plan on attending:
It’s not too late to catch the thrilling solo show from the gifted Santa Cruz painter Abi Mustapha titled “Millennial Garden” at the Santa Cruz Art League. Her portraits are one-of-a-kind, and as the title of the show suggests, she’s really intent on exploring the millennial generational experience. Meet the artist at the First Friday event at the Art League from 6 to 8 p.m.
On the opposite end of that chronological spectrum comes a grander event, marking the 100th birthday of the great Soquel-based master painter Richard Mayhew, at the Museum of Art & History at the third-floor gallery that is hosting his latest show, “Inner Terrain.” It’s a great opportunity to experience the vision of perhaps Santa Cruz County’s most prominent and accomplished artist, and wish him happy birthday on his big one-double-zero.
These are merely two of the events that make First Friday special. It’s getting to the point that someone’s going to have to do a Second Friday to give us all a chance to catch up with what’s going on. Check out your options; you’re sure to find something amazing.
French opulence at Cabrillo
The most famous woman in European history? There are plenty of candidates, but it could very well be Marie Antoinette, the doomed queen of France who has become an enduring symbol for the decadence of the ruling elite.
Some 230 years after her infamous death by guillotine, she is still an object of fascination around the world. Beginning next weekend, locals can indulge their interest with the opening of “Marie Antoinette,” a new theater production at Cabrillo College’s Black Box Theater.
One notable thing about the upcoming production, which opens Friday, April 12, is that it comes mostly from the creative team behind the much-beloved summer musical-theater company Cabrillo Stage, most notably, when you’re re-creating the court of King Louis XVI, set designer Skip Epperson and costume designer Maria Crush.
“This is a small show,” said the production’s director, Andrea Hart, who is also the artistic director of Cabrillo Stage, “but, as Skip said the other day, it’s the biggest small show we’ve ever done.”
Epperson’s job is to make Cabrillo’s Black Box into a simulacrum of Versailles, which Hart likens to a kind of 18th-century version of social media.
“It’s this idea that everyone is being watched at all times,” said Hart. “It’s kinda like equating Versailles with our very own social media platforms, and so we want the audience to feel that way.”
And then, of course, there are the clothes, which also includes — how could it not? — those 3-foot-tall wigs.
“I think Maria [Crush] is really outdoing herself with the costuming,” said Hart. The strategy of Hart and Crush is to re-create the opulent outfits of the period, but to undercut the strict historical accuracy with a few modern touches, just to bring the point home that Marie Antoinette’s story still has resonance in the modern world.
“The interesting thing is that the show is a mashup between the modern and the historical,” said Hart. “You might have the classic Marie Antoinette silhouette with the huge bustle under the skirt and the corset, but underneath she’ll have a T-shirt with a printed graphic on it.”
“Marie Antoinette” runs weekends April 12-28 at Cabrillo’s Black Box.
Why housing matters
The prominent Santa Cruz nonprofit Housing Matters is breaking out into events, as this weekend, it hosts a curated speaker event titled “Picture This: Reimagining Home and Belonging.” The event will take place at the Hotel Paradox on Sunday, with a reception at 5 p.m. followed by the main event at 6 p.m.
It will feature about a dozen speakers, all of whom will bring their perspective on the themes of home, belonging and community. Among those featured are podcaster and artist Thomas Sage Pedersen, painter Abi Mustapha, curator Rachel Nelson, activist Mace Crowbear and several others.
It’s sure to be an enlightening and humanizing event.
Youth Poet Laureate watch
Santa Cruz County’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate will be named next week in a free public celebration at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center.
On Wednesday, April 10, the Santa Cruz Public Libraries and the reigning county poet laureate, Farnaz Fatemi, will welcome the five chosen finalists for the position, who will each read for five minutes. The event will also feature readings from local poets Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour and Valentina Russell. At the end of the evening, the new Youth Poet Laureate will be announced from among the five finalists. Those five finalists are Madeline Aliah, Simon Ellefson, Sylvi Kayser, Dina Lusztig Noyes and Gregory Souza.
The event is free, but if you want to register and reserve a seat, you can do it here.
Summer tix news
The summer theater season is coming soon, and Santa Cruz Shakespeare recently announced that tickets for its 2024 season will go on sale May 1. The new season, the first under the sole leadership of new artistic director Charles Pasternak, opens July 13 at The Grove at DeLaveaga, and includes Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and “As You Like It,” as well as Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Later in the year, “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams will be a fourth production. The full calendar is here.
Meanwhile, tickets are already on sale for the big summer musical at Cabrillo Stage, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights,” to open July 11 at Cabrillo’s Crocker Theater.
Earworm of the Week
Put “California” in your internet search these days and you’re likely to be scared witless: floods, fires, crime, traffic, rising prices, community strife and, always, the absurd cost of housing. Through all that bad news, the California mystique might have a hard time emerging to remind us all that this was, is, and will continue to be a wonderful place to live. Musicians are probably the best to carry that message and one exuberant, unapologetically positive song in that vein is called “California, I Love That Name” by the band known as Stars. Yes, it’s a bit odd that Stars come from about as far away from California on this continent as you can get — Montreal. But somehow they get just right the exhilaration of those peak California moments many of us are familiar with: “California is the place to be/When you’re alone in the world and you want to be free.” Overly romantic? Maybe. But don’t we all need a little romance in our lives?
Three Things
Here it is, our highly subjective, weirdly specific new feature, Three Things to Love in Santa Cruz County. And yes, we’re open to your suggestions:
- If you live in coastal Northern California long enough, you might become a bit blasé about redwood trees. For those hoping to re-ignite their sense of awe of Sequoia sempervirens, there’s an easy fix. Go visit the Pogonip “mother tree,” one of only four ancient old-growth trees remaining in Pogonip. The thing is estimated to be about 1,500 years old, it features all kind of crazy burls, and it’s maybe the biggest living thing in the area. You can find it on the Spring Box Trail. If you know where the famous Pogonip koi pond is, it’s just a few steps away. Give her a hug if you find her.
- Do you know what a “solar dancer” is? It’s those tiny figurine toys that wiggle via a small solar cell, cousins of bobbleheads. The headquarters of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf has a collection of solar dancers in an outside-facing window that has been delighting passersby for years. Keep an eye out, about halfway between the shore and the end of the wharf.
- Breakfast burritos are best when (a) delicious and (b) cheap. Under those guidelines, no one in this county is better at breakfast burritos than the inside taqueria at D’La Colmena Market on W. Lake Ave. in Watsonville.
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.