Hi friends,
This week marks the 60th anniversary of the most seismic cultural event in America of the 20th century — at least if you ask a baby boomer. It was 60 years ago that the Beatles stunned the country with a performance on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” introducing to the world the concept of screaming, manic 11-year-old girls exercising irresistible demographic power in the entertainment industry. If only there were a prominent example of that happening today …
On a related note, Niners 38, KC 30.
Now, on with the show.
This Just In!
You might remember him as Dwight Schrute from NBC’s “The Office,” and now Rainn Wilson is an author taking on the state of the world with his new book, “Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution.” He’s coming to the Rio Theatre on April 25 in an event presented by Bookshop Santa Cruz. The fine jazz saxman Donny McCaslin, who grew up in Santa Cruz, visits his hometown club, the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, on April 15. Singer/songwriter Neko Case drops into the Rio on March 27. The great jazz guitarist John Scofield hits Kuumbwa on April 8. Look for veteran stand-up comic and former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Colin Quinn at the Rio on May 8, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is gearing up for a big celebration marking the Giant Dipper’s 100th birthday, at the Boardwalk on May 18.
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 Valentine’s Day?-Already? B9:
WFF celebrates the lowrider
The Watsonville Film Festival is ready to drop in March, and this time, the festival is going to celebrate the car-culture phenomenon so central to many Latinos known as the lowrider. The festival will screen the 2009 drama “La Mission,” set in the lowrider culture of San Francisco’s Mission District, and also open an art exhibit tied to lowrider culture at the Porter Building in downtown Watsonville. Also, for the first time, the WFF will be happening at the Cinelux Green Valley Cinema, just off Highway 1 in Watsonville. The festival opens March 7, and we’ll have more on this big event as we get closer.
DM3 gets second show
The Catalyst recently booked the popular neo-folk trio The Devil Makes Three, and the show sold out quickly — not a shock, considering DM3’s deep Santa Cruz roots. Now, the Catalyst has added a second show on April 4, the day before the original now-sold-out show.
DM3 formed more than 20 years ago when they were regulars on the scene at the much-missed Caffe Pergolesi. They’ve all moved away since then, but the trio’s rootsy, almost noir-ish country sound struck a chord with audiences, and only a few years after coming together in Santa Cruz, the band scored a No. 1 hit on Billboard’s bluegrass charts.
Remembering Reb
Santa Cruz County is still mourning the death of the great philanthropist and creative community force Rowland “Reb” Rebele, who died in November at the age of 93. Next week, the community gets to honor Reb for his long years of service, financial support and volunteer energy in a number of areas from the arts to homeless services.
On Saturday, Feb. 17, the Crocker Theater on the campus of Cabrillo College will be the site of a memorial and celebration of this man’s uniquely meaningful life. Seating begins at 12:30 p.m. Let’s pack the place.
‘Muse’ deadline
The Hive Poetry Collective is presenting the traditional “In Celebration of the Muse” event this year, to be held April 26 at Cabrillo College. For decades now, the event has celebrated the voices of women poets in the Monterey Bay area, with a live reading and gathering. And “Muse” is open for readers. If you’d like to be part of the event this year, the deadline for submissions is coming up quickly (Feb. 16). You can submit three to five poems that demonstrate a range of your work. All women, women-identified and nonbinary poets are welcome to apply.
New in bookstores
UC Santa Cruz’s dean of the Arts Division, Celine Parreñas Shimizu, has recently published her new book, titled “The Movies of Racial Childhoods: Screening Self-Sovereignty in Asian/America.” In it, Shimizu, a scholar in film studies, examines portrayals of Asian children in cinema, bringing both an academic focus to her analysis, and a personal one. Her youngest son died a decade ago and she uses her perspective as a grieving mother to inform her work.
Even more coffee and Eggers
For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been keeping an eye on the various activities of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries’ “Our Community Reads” program. This year, the featured book is Dave Eggers’ nonfiction tale “The Monk of Mokha,” the story of a young man from San Francisco named Mokhtar Alkhanshali who decides to go back to his family’s native land of Yemen to revive the Yemeni coffee industry.
Among the upcoming related events on the horizon is a writing workshop at the Scotts Valley Library called “Writing Under the Influence of Coffee” (aka, in my house, as “Every Single Day of My Life”), as facilitators will wrangle up a few coffee-related prompts to get you writing. That’s this Saturday, Feb. 10, at 11 a.m.
Also, Cabrillo College poli sci professor Nick Rowell will lead a discussion of coffee’s role in political revolutions for both good and ill. That’s happening at the Rio Sands Hotel in Aptos on Thursday, Feb. 15.
Earworm of the Week
Wow, what an unexpected joy it was to see the elegant and charismatic Tracy Chapman deliver her 1988 hit “Fast Car” at the Grammys, alongside country star Luke Combs, whose cover of the song was a huge hit last year. Chapman has always been something of an enigma, a woman with an amazing career in music who at one point pretty much walked away from it in an effort to regain some semblance of a private life. That reticence and dignity in the face of all-consuming celebrity culture has always been a big part of her appeal, at least to me. Credit to Combs, who wasn’t even born when “Fast Car” first hit the charts, for bringing Chapman to the attention of a new generation — and a new demographic. The contemporary country charts is not a place where we’re accustomed to seeing a Black lesbian woman with a reputation for progressive political activism. But Chapman and Combs singing together in such a high-profile setting has sparked at least some talk that music might be the thing to bridge America’s profound political divide. For our EWW, let’s dip into the Tracy Chapman catalog for “You’re the One,” a wonderfully sweet and soulful love song that feels just right for the week before Valentine’s Day. And if that inspires you to take a deep dive into the work of this American original, that’s all for the better.
Santa Cruz County Trivia
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the closing of one of Santa Cruz County’s most beloved commercial businesses, a place where locals could see and interact with such luminaries as Jane Fonda, Jerry Rice, Michael Moore, Salman Rushdie and countless others. Can you name this once-thriving local business?
Last week: Yep, the writer who was for years known as “Susie Sexpert” for her wide-ranging work in the realm of sexuality (transgressive and otherwise) is none other than Susie Bright, well-known Santa Cruz literary figure and all-around fun person.
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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.