Hi friends,
Yes, it’s a drive, and not always a particularly pleasant one. But this spring might be a good moment for an outing to Palo Alto. That’s home to one of the Bay Area’s genuine cultural jewels, the grand old Stanford Theatre, devoted to classic cinema. Through early June, the Stanford is featuring the life’s work of the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, from familiar touchstones like “The Birds” (June 8-9) and “Rear Window” (May 11-12) to lesser-known works by the master including “Foreign Correspondent” (May 2-3) to “Rope” (June 6-7). Movies at the Stanford are a wonderful experience, and I often wish something similar could happen in Santa Cruz. If only we had a downtown movie house that was just sitting empty, waiting to be filled with smart programming …
Now, on with the show.
This Just In!
The always elegant jazz band Pink Martini is confirmed to perform live at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, but not for a while. Dec. 2 is the date for that one. The astounding folklorico group Esperanza del Valle is planning two big weekend performances: Aug. 17-18 at the Mello Center in Watsonville, and again Aug. 24-25 at the Crocker Theater at Cabrillo. Buzzy young novelist Olivia Gatwood comes to Bookshop Santa Cruz on July 10. And, also at Bookshop on May 28, TikTok star Madeline Pendleton will read from her new book, “I Survived Capitalism and All I Got was This Lousy T-Shirt.” That should be fun.
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:
Artist of the Year
The latest Santa Cruz County Artist of the Year has been named … and it’s Tammi Brown. The amazing gospel/jazz singer has been a pillar of the performing arts scene in Santa Cruz for more than a couple of decades now, always lending her powerful voice to community gatherings and righteous causes, on top of leading a productive recording and performance career. And, on top of all that talent, she’s one of the kindest and sweetest people you’re likely to meet in Santa Cruz. Congratulations to an old friend.
As part of the Artist of the Year honor, Tammi will perform live in a free show at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center on June 22. Let’s all show up to celebrate a diamond in our midst.
News at ‘The Muse’
A grand old literary tradition continues on Friday evening with another iteration of “In Celebration of The Muse,” a live, in-person poetry reading first held way back in 1981 to highlight and celebrate women’s voices in the local poetry scene.
“The Muse” has been through a lot of leadership changes over the years, and has featured many of the great voices in Santa Cruz poetry including Adrienne Rich, Ellen Bass, Tillie Olsen, Ekua Omosupe and many more.
This year, for the first time, the event will be under the organizational leadership of The Hive Poetry Collective, most known for its weekly radio show on KSQD. As a relatively new entity, it will be intriguing to see where The Hive takes the legacy brand that “The Muse” has become.
One of the first things that The Hive has done to change the event is to limit it to poetry. Though “The Muse” was established as a poetry event, it evolved over the years to include short fiction and essays. This year, poetry is reestablished as the main event. The pool of readers has also expanded from women only to women, women-identified and nonbinary poets.
Friday’s event will feature a diverse roster of local poets including Nazaneen Salimi, Chopsy Gutowski, Maggie Paul, Nikia Chaney and many others, 18 readers in all.
“In Celebration of the Muse” takes place Friday at Cabrillo College’s HORT Building, 5005. Showtime is 6:30 p.m. It’s free.
Franzen on The Squid
The great novelist and Santa Cruzan Jonathan Franzen has an abiding interest in music, and he’s going to be sharing a lot of his most meaningful songs on KSQD-FM on Friday. Franzen will be hanging out and chatting about music with K-Squid host Erik Nelson, beginning at 6 p.m.
You can check it out streaming or, if you have one of those vintage devices called a (checks notes) “radio,” you can tune in on 90.7, 89.7 or 89.5, depending on where you happen to be listening in the Monterey Bay.
The always proud and hard-working volunteers at KSQD are in the midst of their April pledge drive. If you prize diversity in local media, give what you can.
Reel Work returns
Film festivals might come and go, but somehow the Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival has found a way to keep surviving.
The 23rd Reel Work festival kicks off this weekend with both online and in-person offerings, most notably the latest from well-known San Lorenzo Valley filmmaker Bob Gliner. Gliner is an example of a tireless, even heroic workaday documentary filmmaker who has never stopped producing films on serious and trenchant subjects from education and environmentalism to foreign policy and social justice, making almost 50 films dating back 40 years.
Gliner’s latest is called “Being 80,” and it’s about people who’ve reached their 80th birthdays still finding meaning in their lives and still producing strong, vibrant work. (The relevance to the coming presidential election is pretty clear.) The film will be screened this Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Mid-County Senior Center in Capitola, and again Saturday, May 11, at 2 p.m. at the Felton branch of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries. The filmmaker will be on hand at both events.
On a more personal level, also on Saturday comes “Stripped for Parts: Journalism on the Brink,” a new documentary film on the damage that Alden Global Capital has done to Northern California journalism (a phenomenon I have some personal experience with, considering my former employer the Santa Cruz Sentinel is an Alden paper). Investigative reporter Julie Reynolds will be on hand for the film Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Resource Center for Nonviolence.
All events are free.
Cinco dias de Cinco
Watsonville is diving into Cinco de Mayo in a big way, with five days of activities celebrating Chicano culture. The events, sponsored by the Watsonville Film Festival, are centered on a visit from San Diego-based scholar and filmmaker Alberto Lopez Pulido, who will be on hand to screen his documentary “Everything Comes From the Streets,” about the history of lowrider culture in the Chicano community. Pulido will visit local schools with his 38-foot “Barrios Bus” May 1-3, followed by a screening of his film on Saturday, May 4. Then comes a big Sunday celebration in an event called “Cinco de Lowrider.” Fans of cool cars and Chicano culture, you gotta be there.
Lookout trivia returns!
Yep, we’re doing it again, another summer of trivia at Abbott Square. For the third summer, I will be hosting our Lookout trivia contest, once a month, beginning June 5 (not that far away, folks), and continuing on the first Wednesday of every month through September. More about that as we get closer. But circle the date, and make it a fun evening at Abbott Square. I’ll be ready.
Earworm of the Week
Last week, we began a project to shoot through the decades with a great representative song from a talented duo. We started with the 1950s and Les Paul & Mary Ford, and now we move into the ’60s. There are several ways to go here, but we’re going to do it in a quintessentially California way: Jan & Dean. Jan Berry and Dean Torrence were the poster boys for the Los Angeles sound in the early ’60s, and they were also pioneers in recognizing one of the great cultural products of the region. We’re talking about skateboarding. Given that Santa Cruz, thanks mostly to the NHS empire, is a skateboarding hub, let’s give a spin to the nostalgic “Sidewalk Surfin’,” which opens with a sound effect of clay wheels on pavement before launching into “Don’t be afraid to try the newest sport around.” The song was released in 1964 (happy 60th!), skateboarding’s Paleozoic era. And if it sounds too much like the Beach Boys, that’s because Brian Wilson wrote it. It’s a fun reminder that “sidewalk surfin’” has come a long, long way.
All the Earworms in one place
For those who’ve been following my Earworm of the Week, I’ve assembled a playlist that contains them all.
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.