Weekender: Outside Lands announced; big summer solstice for local music fans; Hunter Thompson at MAH
In case you’re coming late to the party, Weekender is my way to keep you plugged in on what’s happening in Santa Cruz County in the coming days … or weeks, or months.
Our “best bets”-style picks of the week are now reimagined as Baine’s Nine, my curated list of the most promising or intriguing events or shows in the near future. Instead of bogging you down with big chucks of verbiage on each choice, I’ve created a quick and scannable list of teasers that will allow you to follow your nose through links to our BOLO calendar on anything that strikes your fancy. Hope it works for you.
Now, on with the show:
This just in!
Each week, we’ll keep you up to date on the hottest of newly booked dates and events in and around Santa Cruz County:
The Dance In the Streets event to kick off Santa Cruz Dance Week has been postponed. The event was supposed to happen Thursday, but it was raining, so it’s been pushed back to April 28. Details on that and all the other stuff happening for Dance Week here.
The massive Outside Lands music festival, Northern California’s answer to Coachella, is all set for Aug. 5-7 in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Sitting at the top of a lineup of musical acts that numbers more than 90 are the punk-pop titans Green Day, superstar rapper Post Malone and R&B luminary SZA. Who else? How about everybody’s favorite dork-rock band Weezer, the fine singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, young rapper Jack Harlow, indie queen Mitski, and too much pleasure to even contemplate. Santa Cruz’s own brilliantly eccentric Oliver Tree is also on the sked. Tickets now on sale.
Closer to home, June 21, the first day of summer, is a day of tough decisions for KPIG-style fans of the Americana sound. Two new shows announced for that date include a couple of legends, one from California (Dave Alvin) and one from Texas (Jimmie Dale Gilmore), coming together for one great show at Moe’s Alley. Just a bit down the freeway at Michael’s at Main in Soquel, the late John Prine’s son Tommy Prine performs live. They’ll both be competing with the elegant performer and songwriter Mary Gauthier at Felton Music Hall. And that’s if you haven’t already drained your concert-going budget for the week with the Robert Earl Keen show in Felton the night before.
Also, the great Beatles tribute act the White Album Ensemble has announced two new shows at the Rio, June 17 and 18 (Father’s Day weekend, if that’s applicable). A living, breathing legend in folk music, the one-and-only Ramblin’ Jack Elliott plays at Moe’s on May 22. And a superstar in the world of swimming, Lynne Cox, comes to Bookshop Santa Cruz on June 6 to talk about her new book.
Finally, the Museum of Art & History has announced a new exhibition on the great Hunter S. Thompson and his political activism. It’s called “Freak Power” and it opens at the MAH on May 27. We’ll certainly be on the story.
Map out your summer and beyond with our ever-expanding Down the Line list of upcoming events.
B9
Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. Welcome to the B9:
- He carries on the fighting spirit of Woody Guthrie and was born a Zimmerman, but he’s not named Bob Dylan (though he’s got a better sense of humor).
- Playwright Kate Hawley’s delicious wit and sense of irony is on display at Jewel Theatre for one more weekend.
- Climate science meets mellow farmers-market vibe in Climate Action Market at Seymour, and yes, there’s food.
- You won’t find it in the dictionary, but the word “Oganookie” carried a bit of magic in Santa Cruz in the 1970s. For one night, that magic is back.
- Imagine a world with no record stores. Thankfully, that’s not our world. Time to pay a little gratitude on Record Store Day.
- A bright, on-the-rise Nashville songwriting voice comes to Felton. Are you ready for Hailey Whitters?
- Step out of the strange weather outside, and into the “Strange Weather” at the MAH.
- Not that anyone needs an excuse to enjoy Pleasure Point in the spring, but the upcoming Pleasure Point Sip and Stroll is a pretty good one.
- “Fire & Grace & Ash” would be a nice title for a memoir of surviving 2020 in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It’s actually a hugely talented trio of performers coming together at the Kuumbwa.
➤ Want more B9 Picks? Find recommendations from Team BOLO — Wallace, Max Chun and Lucille Tepperman — here
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The Three-Dot Gazette
The Quarry Amphitheater on the campus of UC Santa Cruz looked gorgeous for the big event “Universe in Verse” last Saturday evening. It promises to be a memorable venue for many shows and concerts to come. The “Universe” event, hosted by New York writer Maria Popova, brought together a collection of top-shelf writers and prominent scientists to meditate on the wonder and majesty of the universe through spoken-word poetry. And it was inspiring — for a while. The problem here was simply too much of a good thing. The show went on for close to three hours, with no intermission. Asking a largely over-50 audience to endure chilly nighttime temperatures sitting in (mostly) backless, bleacher-style seating for that long is just too much. Instead of marveling in awe at the grandeur of Creation, many people left muttering about the cold and their achy backs. Not what the presenters had in mind, I’m sure …
There were a couple of deaths reported in the Santa Cruz creative community last week. Billie Harris, an absolute rock in the local radio community, has passed away at the age of 90. Billie was known mostly for her show “Saturday’s Child,” in which she read children’s literature aloud on the air going back three decades or more. She was also a talented actress and ran UCSC’s History of Consciousness office for many years. She was such a warm and lovely presence around both KUSP and KSQD.
We’re also mourning the passing of the great luthier and guitarist Rick Turner, a pioneer in the engineering of electric guitar technology in the 1960s. Locally, he was most known for his breathtaking guitars and ukuleles under his brand Rick Turner Guitars. A cornerstone of the thriving and historic guitar-making community in Santa Cruz, a beloved figure in both the ukulele and Grateful Dead communities, Rick died April 17 of heart failure. He was a wonderful man, and leaves a big hole in our hearts …
Here’s the most baby-boomer thing you’ll read today: The immortal Cheech & Chong visited Santa Cruz last week, making an appearance for KindPeoples cannabis dispensary. Within the realm of post-’60s stoner comedy, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong are like Bob Dylan, Mozart and Bob Marley wrapped up into one weed-infused comedy act. Former Santa Cruz mayor and county supervisor Neal Coonerty visited the duo when they were in town, reuniting with his old school friend Cheech (“known as Rich Marin in high school,” Neal cracked in a Facebook post). No word on whether Snoop Dogg swung by to say hi (or “high”) …
The Pride Parade is a go. Santa Cruz Pride is planning a parade for June 5 at 11 a.m. right down Pacific Avenue. The parade will take place right before the Pride festival later that day, at Abbott Square, from noon to 4 p.m. The parade is open to all who want to participate, and volunteers are needed as well as organizers and monitors. Registration and details here …
To all those who keep tabs on such things, Pizza My Heart has released its summer design T-shirts, now available in its many area locations (downtown Santa Cruz, 41st Avenue, and Capitola Village). I’ll continue my ongoing “Icons of Santa Cruz” series, this time focusing on those PMH T shirts, both the classic and the limited-edition designs. Check it out Sunday on Lookout.
Earworm of the Week
If you’re like me, you get dizzy and your hands get clammy every time the fuel gauge gets close to E these days. Buying gasoline is a supreme drag nowadays, but as the Kinks remind us, it’s kinda always been thus. Back in the late ’70s, it wasn’t so much high prices as availability that was the issue. Still the great track “A Gallon of Gas,” from 1979’s “Low Budget” album, captures the anxieties of living in a world still ruled by oil companies.
Trivia: State of our statues
The United States Capitol features two statues representing each state of the union in its National Statuary Hall Collection. Representing California are statues of former President Ronald Reagan and famed Spanish missionary Junipero Serra. The Serra statue was set to be replaced in 2015 until Pope Francis announced that Serra would be canonized by the church, and the effort to replace the statue failed. What person was proposed as the replacement statue for Serra?
If you know this one, shoot me a text with your answer. Then, text me the word TRIVIA to see if you’re right. We’ll choose a random reader with the correct answer to receive a free T-shirt.
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.
