Ben Lomond native turned Texan transplant Jesse Daniel plays a homecoming show Friday in support of his new live album, “My Kind of Country Live At the Catalyst,” recorded at the downtown Santa Cruz music venue last year. The album has drawn praise from Rolling Stone and Billboard. It’s an amazing trajectory for Daniel, whose career almost never happened because of an opioid addiction.
City Life
Posted inCoast Life, Events
The last wave: Ambitious and locally rooted publication Santa Cruz Waves closes up shop
Santa Cruz Waves, the glossy periodical devoted to covering surfing and its influence on Monterey Bay culture and environmental issues, has ceased publication. “To put it quite bluntly,” CEO and founder Tyler Fox told Lookout, “I was just not getting enough financial return to make it worthwhile for me, personally.”
Posted inCity Life
Chronicling a ‘miracle’: The quest to remember fading 1960s counterculture and its influence in Santa Cruz
The Hip Santa Cruz History Project is the brainchild of longtime UCSC professor Ralph Abraham and Cabrillo College teacher T. Mike Walker. They recently released Volume 6 in their “Hip Santa Cruz” series — essays, poems and more about the hippie era and its long aftermath in Santa Cruz, largely written by people who lived through it, to be released April 8 with a gathering at the Santa Cruz Art League.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
City’s vision for expanded unhoused hub on Coral Street sparks concern among local businesses
A draft of the Coral Street Visioning Report, to be presented Thursday at a meeting of the City of Santa Cruz Planning Commission, aims to transform several Coral Street buildings into additional services for the unhoused, temporary shelters and permanent supportive housing. But the report is already generating controversy from area residents and businesses because its current map also includes three privately owned buildings.
Posted inCity Life
The story of Mak Nova: How a small-town girl transformed into a fearless free-spirit performer
Mak Nova, the stage persona of 31-year-old Makana Curtiss, will be honored as Santa Cruz’s Musician of the Year on Friday at the NEXTies. “I don’t want to leave any rock unturned,” she says of her path forward. “So that’s gonna get weird sometimes, for sure.”
Posted inCoast Life
New life for the NEXTies: Santa Cruz awards show gets new partner, new post-shutdown lease on life
Co-presented by Event Santa Cruz and Lookout Santa Cruz, the NEXTies return Friday at Woodhouse Brewing to honor Santa Cruz County difference-makers in community building, business, art, music and more.
Posted inCity Life
With Jewel prepared to take final bow, what’s the future of theater, other performing arts in Santa Cruz?
Where Jewel Theatre Company struggled to revive its audience numbers after the COVID shutdown, Santa Cruz Shakespeare had a banner season in 2022. Indoors vs. outdoors is certainly a factor, but what of shifting demographics, economics, attention spans in the smartphone age? And is there a secret sauce in local audiences’ tolerance for new or unfamiliar styles? Wallace Baine explores.
Posted inCity Life
Get hip with the latest volume of Santa Cruz counterculture history
“Hip Santa Cruz, Vol. 6” is out now, and you can commune with the OG hipsters and immerse yourself in the local 1960s vibes with the writers at the Santa Cruz Art League on April 8.
Posted inCoast Life
Brew Cruz rides again with Coffis Brothers collab
Annie Pautsch and the Brew Cruz brewery tour haven’t been as frequent a sight as pre-pandemic, but she’s bringing the bus back this weekend as part of “Coffis Space,” hitting Woodhouse and Humble Sea on the way to Saturday night’s happening at Moe’s Alley.
Posted inCity Life
Citing post-lockdown challenges, Jewel Theatre says it’s shutting down in 2024
With even some loyal subscribers not returning after the COVID pandemic shutdown and costs higher than ever, Santa Cruz’s Jewel Theatre Company announced that the 2023-24 season will be its last.