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| JANUARY 15-21, 2014

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POWER PLAYER How SC legend Ashwin Batish made the sitar cool again

Litt meets dance dancce as Ishmaell Beah comess to Santa Cruz Crruz P14

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

Contents

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factual inaccuracies kno own to us. known EDITORIAL EDITO ORIAL EDITOR EDITOR STEVE STEVE PALOPOLI PAL A OPOLI spalopoli@santacruzweekly.com spalopoli@santacruzw weekly.com

STAFF S TAFF WRITERS W GEORGIA A PERRY PERRY gperry@santacruzweekly.com gperry@santacruzw weekly.com

JACOB J ACOB B PIERCE jpierce@santacruzweekly.com jpier rcce@santacruzw weekly.com

RICHARD VON VON BUSACK BUSACK richard@santacruzweekly.com richar rd@santacruzw d weekly.com

CONTRIBUTING C ONTRIBUTING G EDITOR EDITOR CHRISTINA CHRIS TINA WATERS WAT TERS PHOTOGRAPHER PHO TOGRAPHER CHIP SCHEUER S CONTRIBUTORS C ONTRIBUTORS BREZSNY, ROB BREZ B SNY Y, PAUL PAUL M. M DAVIS, DAV VIS, MICHAEL S. GANT, GANT T, JOE E GARZA, ANDREW GILBERT, GILBERT T, GRUSAUSKAS, MARIA GRUS SAUSKAS, JORY JOR RY JOHN, CAT JOHNSON, CA AT JO OHNSON, KELLY KELL LY LUKER, LUKER, SCOTT MACCLELLAND, SCOTT MA CCL LELLAND, AVERY A VERY MONSEN, V M PAUL WAGNER P AUL W AGNER

ART & A PRODUCTION PRODUC CTION DESIGN DIRECTOR DIRECTOR KARA KARA A BROWN BROWN PRODUCTION PROD DUCTION OPERATIONS OPER RATIONS COORDINATOR COORD DINATOR MERCY MERC CY PEREZ GRAPHIC DESIGNER DE ESIGNER TABI TA ABI ZARRINNAAL ZARR RINNAAL EDITORIAL ED DITORIAL PRODUCTION PROD DUCTION SEAN GEORGE AD DESIGNER DE ESIGNER DIANNA VANEYCKE VA ANEY YCKE C

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PRESIDE PRESIDENT ENT & EXECU UTIVE EXECUTIVE ED DITOR EDITOR DAN D AN PU PULCRANO LCRANO

Cycling g S l ti n Solution R e: “Never “Never Forget Forget Josh Jos o h Alper” Alper” (Cover, (Coverr, Re: JJan. an. 8): T Thank hank yyou ou ffor or o the the ar article ticle an and d rremembrance emembrance o o h Al os perr. off JJosh Alper. As a lif lifetime feetime cy cyclist, yclis l t, I llearned earned ear early ly on th at cars ar ea at on th oad. I h ave that aree a thr threat thee rroad. have been hi hitt on Ba Bay ay Str Street e b eet byy a d delivery elivveery tr truck, uck, an d I have have been hit hit by by a vehicle vehicle traveling traveling and ov er 50 m ph on H wy 1 (both w hile rriding iding over mph Hwy while in th thee bik bikee llane ane wi with th hn no o oth other er tr traffic affffic on th oad). Both tim mes, I w as mir aculously thee rroad). times, was miraculously o okay. kay. I h have ave llost ost thr three ree fr friends iends on H Hwy wy 1 tto o cars: Ca thy Or etskyy (1995), JJoshua oshua Le ven Cathy Oretsky Leven (2011) an and d JJosh osh Al Alper per (2013). Ih ave com o on nly on luti t on: In have comee tto only onee so solution: rrecognition ecognition o off th thee d dangers angers o off dr driving, iving, I cchoose hoose tto o rride ide m cycle as saf fely as myy bi bicycle safely possib possible. le. T hat d oesn't mean mea an I never neveer drive, drivve, but bu ut it it That doesn't m means eans th that at w when hen I d do, o, I rrecognize ecognize th that at I

have th have thee pot potential ential tto o kill. I o often ften thin think nk th that at this thi is is th thee rroot oot o off th thee anim animosity osity bet between tween cyclists cy clists an and dm motorists: otorists: Cy Cyclists yclists d don't on n't lik likee cars car rs because th they ey ar aree llethal ethal an and dn no o cy cyclist clist wants w a ts tto an o di die, e, an and dm motorists otorists d don't on't lik like ke cyclists cy clists because th they ey ar aree vvulnerable ulnerable an and dn no o driver dr iver iv e w wants ants tto o en end du up p a kill killer. err. It is a vvery eery understandable un derstandable conflict. conflict. Ih have ave m made ade m myy cchoice hoice an and dw work ork ffor or o safer saf feer cy cycling ycling an and d ad advocate vo oca ate ffor o or bett better err infrastructure inf frastructure th that at p provides, rovides, as Cor Coryy Call Calleti eti putt iit, pu t, "m "mobility obility ffor or peo o people," ple," n not ot cars cars. s. By rriding id ding my my bicycle, bicycle, I am m making aking our roads roads safer, saf feerr, if n not ot ffor or o m myself, yself, th then en ffor or o yyou. ou. Josh Jo osh Muir Santa Sa anta Cruz

Keep K Ke ee ep It What? ? In re rresponse sponse to to your your December 25 co overr, how how cover, about abo ou ut “K “Keep eep San Santa ta Cr Cruz uz Uniqu Unique,” e,” orr “K “Keep eep San nta Cr uz Special” or eeven ven “Keep “Keep San S ta Santa Cruz Santa Cruz Cr uz Wonderful?” Wonderful?”

I agr agree ee th that at “K “Keep e San eep Santa ta Cr Cruz uz W Weird” eird” h has as had h ad iits ts d day. ay. LeAnn Meyer Santa Cruz

Crying g Wolf Wo olf Re: R e: e ““The The Wolf Wolf of of Wall Wa all Street” Street” (Film, (Film, Dec. 25): Normally N ormallly I w would oul o d see an anything ytthing m made ade b byy Martin M artin Scorsese Scorsese,, bu but b ut h have ave n never ever e understood understood his m man-crush an-crush on n Leon Leonardo ardo Di Ca Caprio, aprio, on onee o off Hollywood’s H ollywood’ o sm most ost ov overrated veerrated pretty pretty boys. boys.Ih I have ave been fforced cringe through five off th thee beenf o orcedtto ocr in ngethr oughfiv ve weeks weeekso over-the-top ov veer-the-top trailer trailerf e for for o this film, vvowing owin w g never never e waste myy m money, and Richard Von tto ow aste m oney ey, an drreading eading Ri chardV V on o Busac Busack's k's vvery eery wi witty ttyy rreview evview (a cclassic) lassic) confirms myy firs firstt instincts. Richard. m instincts. t Thank Thank yyou, o ou, Ri charrd. Judy Slattum Capitola

Dark Skies S Re: R e:“ e “Our OurGr Great ea attW Wet WeettH Hope” ope” (Currents, (Currents, Dec. 8): I think th that at the the “drought” “drought” that that we we are are eexperiencing xperiencing h here ere in San Santa ta Cr Cruz uz is bein being g created cr ea ated ar artificially rttificiallly by by the the planes planes flying fllyin y g overhead ov veerrhead sp spraying rayying us wi with th chemicals. chemicals. Geoengineering en gineering cclouds loudsfillours fill our sky ky d day ay aft after erd day. ay. What Wh attar aree we we breathing? brea atthing? Aluminum, Aluminum, b barium, arium, thorium. th orrium. NASA N A ASAal also solis lists tslli lithium thiuman and dm metal etalo oxide– xide– which metals? w hich me tals? “The Cloud “T he Metal Metal Oxide Oxid de Space Space Cl oud (MOSC) (MOSC) demonstrate increases eexperiment xperiment is to to d emonstrate in creases in future application iionospheric onospheric density densiity ffor or o fu utture a pplica attion in technology mitigate and/or control int echnology tto om mi tigate an d/or con trol scintillation effects scin ntill t attionef ffeecctsonC t on COM/NAV OM/N NAVo V operational perattional systems. The secondary sy stems.T hesecon ndary objective objecctiv t ve is istto o provide provide a technical basis DSC use off on on-demand at echnicalb asisfffor o orDS Cuseo -demand space plasma (e.g., [high sp ace p lasma generation gener e ati t on (e .g., HF [hig h frequency] fr equency] propagation).” propaggattion).” What thee hell Wh at th hell are arre they they doing doing to to our ssky? ky? No informed consent permission N o inf form o ed co onsen nt or permissi on from from thee public, hearings, nothing th public, no no public publich earings, n othing but bu ut silence. sil ence. Geo-engineering and Geo-en gineerin ng companies, companies, eexperts xpertsan d advocates met at Asilomar in 2010. The ad dvoca o atesm eta attA Asilomarin2010.T he public public was not w as a n ot allowed. alloweed. The not not T he ssky ky is n ot for for o sale. sale. It is n ot an our precious and air. eexperiment. xperiment. It is ou ur vvery eery p recious an d rrare are air r. Stop now. St op ggeo-engineering eo-engineerring n ow. Drew Lewis Santa Cruz

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

Currents Chip Scheuer

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EMPIRE OF DIRT Ken Dickerson is executive director of EcoFarm, whose 38th annual conference on sustainable farming opens Jan. 22 at Asilomar.

Beyond Organic? EcoFarm conference explores biodynamic farming BY JACOB PIERCE

en Dickerson is sitting in his Soquel office wearing a pink scarf and a blue shirt with an apple on it that says “Dirt First.” “‘Dirt First’ is about positivity in the approach to the soil—to appreciate the biological mysteries that are there and delve deeper into it,” says Dickerson, executive director of EcoFarm. “If you start with the dirt first, you can build a culture, a society, health, find solutions to the problems of the world on a solid foundation.” With that in mind, nonprofit EcoFarm is putting together a four-day event to support sustainable farming. The 38th annual conference will kick off on Wednesday, Jan. 22 in Pacific Grove with a pre-conference on biodynamic agriculture—an approach to farming that emphasizes compost, minerals, herbs and manure to create a farm that

supports itself. Someday people might think of it as a step beyond organic. “The farm is a living organism,” Dickerson says. “The ideal is to create a system that’s in balance and in harmony. Animals have a role to play in that farm. And the manure from those animals make a fertility loop to create an integral functioning system.” The discussion over biodynamics fits with conference themes of creating sustainable food and making it economically feasible to produce, says EcoFarm program coordinator Liz Birnbaum. “There’s this expanding interest in holistic farming from the seed to the table,” Birnbaum says. “The idea of marketing is a very important concern for producers.” The EcoFarm conference will bring to the table experts and speakers like

Maria Rodale, who argues organic foods are better for the planet and as capable of feeding the world’s populations as conventional foods are. Also speaking will be Temple Grandin—the autistic woman who created a more humane way to slaughter cattle that is now used for half the nation’s beef production. All the while, the event aims to engage young farmers. With 60 percent of the country’s farmers over 55 years old and nearing retirement, policy makers are starting to worry about the future of America’s food supply. In addition to the biodynamic pre-conference, EcoFarm will host a workshop on biodynamic certification, which is done by German group Demeter. Jim Fullmer and Elizabeth Candelario, co-directors of Demeter, will speak at the workshop. Representatives of companies like Amy’s Kitchen

that are thinking about launching biodynamic product lines will give presentations, too. “Part of what they want to do is present farmers a new opportunity that’s emerging,” Dickerson says. “A number of companies, led by Whole Foods, are interested in presenting a biodynamic line. And so there’s this potential opportunity for people who are interested in biodynamics.” Based on the work of Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner, biodynamics isn’t entirely grounded in science, and some interpretations fuse spirituality and astrology with agriculture. “Biodynamics is not a formula. It does not come with a nice, neat little recipe,” says Robert Karp, executive director of Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association. “It’s a set of creative ideas to stimulate farmers. Some of them pick and choose different things. “Definitely there’s this idea that the plants and soil are impacted by the sun and the moon and planets and the stars the way the tides are impacted by them. Many biodynamic farmers plant in harmony in lunar cycles, or they place different crops at different times based on the positions of the sun and moon and constellations. That’s a part of biodynamics—the idea that earth and the cosmos are much more intimately connected than most people think.” Dickerson says the connections are important, and all begin with the food. The idealist and self-described “news junkie” says when it comes to fixing the world’s problems, he and the organic community have decided to start on the ground. “We gather and we work further to provide this base fundamental building block of any healthy consciousness, of any healthy person, of any healthy society,” Dickerson says. “Food is medicine. It’s integral to health. That’s physical health. It’s also mental health. It’s also societal health.” For more information about the EcoFarm conference, visit eco-farm.org.

Briefs How Low Can You Go?

Go Wharf, It’s Your Birthday When it served as a hub for Santa Cruz’s Italian fishing community in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Municipal Wharf “was alive with fishermen drying and mending their nets, cleaning their catch, and displaying the large or unusual sea creatures brought up from the deep,” wrote the San Jose Mercury News in a 1994 retrospective. At that time, there was even a small aquarium on the wharf that local fisherman regularly contributed to. This year marks the Wharf’s centennial, and above sea level the rotating cast of fishermanfound specimens has been largely replaced by an also intriguing, but wholly different opportunity for scientific observation: the anthropological study of tourists in different types of Santa Cruzbrand apparel. However, for those looking to reconnect with the area’s abundant native life forms, the Seymour Center is offering guided eco-tours of the Wharf. Depending on the time of year, sea lions, seals, otters, dolphins and whales are all visible from the wharf, says Wharf Supervisor Jon Bombaci. “It takes you a half-mile off shore. It offers this really unique wildlife viewing experience that you won’t get anywhere else,” he says. The tours start Jan. 18 and will take place every Sat. and Sun., at 1pm and 3pm, throughout 2014. 0

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“Back in the late 1990s, how were the water supply options chosen?” Soquel Creek Water District Board president Thomas LaHue asked a crowded house at the Capitola City Hall. One person said “a public advisory committee,” and— congratulations!— engineering assistant Vaidehi Campbell awarded her a water meter to keep track of their water use in the garden. (A later contestant won a shower timer.) Periodic trivia questions like this one added moments of levity to a tense meeting rife with accusations. Now that Santa Cruz city leaders have announced they’ll abandon a desalination plant they would have shared with Soquel Creek Water District, mid-county residents are growing even more worried about their already drying wells. The board re-examined mandatory water rationing at its Jan. 7 meeting. The board first approved a preliminary plan to study increased conservation last year as a back up to the desal plant. “If you’re a high water-user, you’re going to have to go lower,” board vice president Bruce Daniels said. “It’s not going to be fun and games.” Conservation is once again at the center of discussion, and we might call this Santa Cruz Desal Alternatives’ wet dream—if the situation weren’t so dry. Some people in the audience called for a moratorium to new development and studies into recycled water. A few suggested the possibility of suing neighboring water districts—like the City of Santa Cruz’s—or one of the county’s golf courses for using up shared well water. Others yelled at the board and water staff for not taking action in the 1990s. Between 1995 and 2010, Soquel Creek Water District reduced its water use from 95 daily gallons per person to 68. That has since climbed up to around 80 gallons per person daily—an increase the board attributes to the economic recovery. It’s still well under the state average.

But in order to restore its wells, the board estimates users need to cut their daily usage 35 percent down to a daily 53 gallons each. The district hasn’t had the best track record for cutting use recently. This past year, the board asked ratepayers to cut water use 15 percent, and they cut back only .5 percent. The previous year, the board asked for a 5 percent decrease and got a 5 percent increase instead. An upcoming meeting, which will address the possibility of water rationing, falls on April 1. We can’t wait to see how LaHue lightens up that one.

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Chip Scheuer

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

SITAR SHREDDER Ashwin Batish will perform with his band on Jan. 30 at the Kuumbwa in Santa Cruz.

Power Generations

In the 1980s, Santa Cruz’s Ashwin Batish changed how the world listened to the sitar. Now collaborating with his teenage son, Keshav, he’s still finding new directions for his music BY STEVE PALOPOLI

hen Ravi Shankar died just over a year ago, at the age of 92, he was the most famous sitar player in history. Shankar was the worldwide ambassador of the instrument, and a symbol of its ability to blend with and transform music across genres and around the world. He was also a huge fan of Santa Cruz’s Ashwin Batish. And the respect was mutual.

“Absolutely, he was one my big influences,” says Batish, a cup of black tea with milk sitting in front of him in the cozy front room of Batish’s, the all-thingsIndian shop that has been a fixture on Mission Street for decades. “Not just that, he was a great friend of the family, and a big supporter of what we were doing. I really appreciated all his spirit.” At this moment, like many others, almost all of said family can be found somewhere in Batish’s. Sitting next to Ashwin is his son, Keshav, a 16-year-old

drummer who like his father was a child prodigy. Keshav plays in his father’s band, and both of them will be on stage at the Kuumbwa on January 30 for a show billed as Ashwin Batish’s Sitar Power. They will be joined by Ashwin’s sister, Meena, a vocalist whose solo CD Ashwin also produced. Meena is at this moment working at the front desk at Batish’s, while his other sister Surendra flits between rooms. Only the two of Ashwin’s three daughters out doing after-school activities are conspicuously absent.

P OW ER G EN ER AT ION S

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BAND IS BOND Ashwin with his band, left to right: his son, Keshav, who plays drums; his sister, Meena, who has been singing with him since they played Beatles songs together as kids; and bassist Myron Dove. This whole family affair was begun by Ashwin’s father, famed Bollywood composer Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish, and his mother, Shrimati Shanta Devi Batish, a musician who started Ashwin on the dholak drum as a child, and on the sitar at age 12. After moving from Mumbai (then Bombay) to London in the early ’60s, at the height of the elder Batish’s fame, they relocated to Santa Cruz in 1968, after UCSC math genius and chaos theory pioneer Ralph Abraham discovered Shiv’s writings on Indian music, and convinced him to take a teaching position at the university in Santa Cruz. “When he came here to Santa Cruz, it was like going back home,” Surendra says of her father, “because in Bombay we lived in a suburb called

Santacruz, on the west coast.” Shankar was a contemporary of Shiv—they played many of the same concerts—and had seen Ashwin’s career catch fire with the release of Sitar Power, the 1987 CD that proved to be Ashwin’s breakthrough. In many ways, Ashwin and Shankar share a very similar legacy: they both turned new audiences of young people on to the sitar at times when its true potential had been all but forgotten. Shankar did it in the ’60s, through his association with the Beatles. Ashwin did it two decades later, by fusing the sitar’s unique sound with contemporary rock—and a full spectrum of other genres—and backing it with insane variations on Indian rhythms that had DJs of the time spinning his “Raga Rock” and

“India Beat” records on the dance floor. But by the time the two actually met, at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in 2007, Ashwin’s father had passed away a year earlier, leaving him at a creative low point. Shankar would have none of it. “He said to me, ‘I hope you’re still playing sitar,’ and I go ‘no, not too much,’” Ashwin remembers. “He turned around, and goes ‘You must not stop playing.’” “When Ravi Shankar demands you don’t stop playing,” says Keshav, “you don’t stop playing.”

Plugging In Shankar—and the rest of the world—first got a taste of Ashwin’s transformative skills on Sitar Power,

a groundbreaking work in every way. With the far-ahead-of-their-time breakneck rhythms on songs like “Bombay Boogie,” many assumed Ashwin was not just a sitar virtuoso, but also a technological wizard. Now, however, the truth can finally be told. It starts in the mid-’80s at Union Grove Music on Pacific Avenue, where Ashwin bought an amp for $50, so he could play at the same volume as the jazz groups that were asking him to sit in. “That was not on my mind at all,” he says of the cool that he would quickly bring back to the sitar. “I was just wanting to put this instrument in people’s faces. The thing is, everybody sitting down [during shows] was always working on my mind. I thought ‘This is a grooving instrument. I really

‘When Ravi Shankar demands you don’t stop playing,’ says Keshav, ‘you don’t stop playing.’ So he abandoned all of it for an entire year, until an impending gig opening for Santa Cruz indie breakouts Camper Van Beethoven— and the unavailability of his band for the date—forced him to crack open the machines’ operating manuals, and discover a way to put his backing tracks onto cassette. In the process, he discovered a whole new sound, but technological wizardry played absolutely no part. “I made a loop, which sounded good, and then I just kept pressing the buttons until it sounded halfway decent. I said ‘okay, I’m never going to learn this,’ so I just pressed that loop thing—I had like eight loops going— thak, chicka chicka chicka, thak— and I just started playing with it. That was ‘Bombay Boogie.’” That song would lead off the Sitar Power album, and be a defining opening statement. “If you actually listen to that drum loop, it’s just chaos,” says Keshav. “But man, that chaos sounds good.

It’s something that a drummer with four limbs working at warp speed can’t even do. If you look at the MIDI track, it’s ridiculous. It’s congas, it’s drums being channeled at the same time, and then bongos and triangles coming in at these weird times. “What he had that people hadn’t really delved into—specifically with orchestrating and doing fusion stuff— is the rhythmic side of Indian music, Northern Indian music especially. The Bhangra beats, the traditional rhythmic knowledge. He had already studied tabla before sitar.”

Dinner Music If it sounds like Keshav is a leading expert on his father’s work, well, he got an early start. “Every beat, every melody line— when I’m driving him in the car, two years old, he’s just singing it out,” remembers Ashwin. “Five or six of my albums, he had them all down, note for note. He was the Sitar Power Kid.” “They’re stuck in my head. I can’t get them out. Every single one of his albums,” says Keshav. “You play the first two notes and I can dictate the whole song to you.” There are some interesting parallels in the way Ashwin and Keshav developed as musicians. Ashwin came into his own as a sitar player in his early 20s, when he came to Santa Cruz with his family. Back in the ’70s and ’80s, before it was established as the Batish Institute of Indian Music and Fine Arts, Batish’s was an Indian restaurant run by the family, and it had a small stage onto which he and his dad would jump many nights to practice while diners ate. Now, “serious” is not a word necessarily associated with Ashwin. He is a habitual joke-cracker, even in the studio. “Sometimes he has me laughing so hard my voice tires out,” says his sister Meena. “And then he says ‘OK, tea break! Calm down, calm down.’ He just has us laughing so much, and that tells you something: he’s really enjoying what he’s doing.” But those nights jamming with his father taught Ashwin something about taking his playing seriously. “Since I’m playing in front of 30, 40 people every night, I have to be serious,” he says of his nightly sets in the restaurant back then. “I see

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want to get the people up, and have them jumping.’ That was my dream. The first time they danced to it, it was electrifying for me. It was like, mission accomplished.” He soon took his vision to a new level of technological capability— with disastrous results. “I saw this drum machine—the Drumulator,” he says. “I picked one up, and I think I spent like $6000 bucks on a recording machine. I brought it home, and I had no idea how to run any of this stuff. None of it. It was a ridiculous learning curve. I was like, ‘why in the world did I spend all this money?’”

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P O W E R GEN ERA T ION S

if I am really slacking, people are eating, making clankety-clanketyclankety noises. But if I’m playing seriously, everybody’s stopping and looking. So there’s that intense 15-year period of me and dad on stage, just jamming away. That was like university, and it was where I felt like I had gained some power playing the sitar.” Now his son has a drum set in Batish’s, and the same way that Ashwin absorbed his father’s influence, so has Keshav absorbed his. Like Ashwin did in the mid-’80s, Keshav is now out gigging with jazz groups, hearing new sounds and bringing them back to incorporate into their work. “Growing up in this house was an ear training experience for me. Going and playing jazz now, I’ll just hear something and I’ll play it back out. It’s Indian music that developed my ear. It’s an oral tradition,” says Keshav. Their music, meanwhile, is as eclectic as ever. “The problem we’re having now is: what do we classify ourselves as?” says Keshav. “The thing with our music is it crosses so many boundaries, but the beauty of it is it’s ambiguous. You can make it whatever you want. And [Ashwin] makes it whatever he wants. He’ll do a song in R&B, he’ll do a funk song, he’ll do a soul song, he’ll do a country song, and he’s jumping back and forth all the time. Even in the classical stuff, it comes out.” This is a problem that Ashwin has been dealing with since his exposure on mainstream rock radio first got him into big record stores. “I would say ‘Where are they putting our stuff?’ And I’m looking around, and it’s ‘Other,’” he says with a laugh. “I would pick it up and put it with Eric Clapton, or the Beatles. I’d take my own albums and move them around.” Keshav even had his own Camper Van Beethoven experience. First trained (like Ashwin) on the tabla, he played with his father at the Independent in San Francisco, opening for the reunited Santa Cruz band. He was still very young, but it energized him in the same way that Ashwin had been when he first saw people dancing to his sitar playing instead of studying it. “We went to open for them—I

was like 9 or 10—at the Independent club,” says Keshav, “David [Lowery, Camper’s lead singer] was in the audience, and he shot a cell phone video that’s on YouTube. I played tabla then. That was my first experience with an audience jumping up and getting really excited about us playing on stage. That was the turning point for me in my head that ‘oh, this music actually really moves people.’”

‘I thought ‘This is a grooving instrument. I really want to get the people up, and have them jumping.’ That was my dream. The first time they danced to it, it was electrifying for me. It was like, mission accomplished.’ The rest of the family sees the resemblance. “He’s just like Ashwin, and my dad,” says Surendra of Keshav. “They would play just about everything, and he’s also getting that way.” “Keshav will be the first to tell you,” says Ashwin. “Now we are like one in the heart.” Ashwin Batish’s Sitar Power Thu, Jan 30, 7pm, $15-$20 Kuumbwa, Santa Cruz

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JANUARY 15-21, 2014

AE E!!

McCloskey says. “Harry and what hee M cCloskeyy sa ays. “H arry an dw hat h does d oes for fo or hiss dance dance company, compan ny, his whole whole w ay o h nkin k g of of d ance as a sociall way off thin thinking dance con sciousn ness, ggoing oing into in nto inn er-city consciousness, inner-city sc hools, ggoing oing in to ju uveenile h alls, givin g schools, into juvenile halls, giving kid ay tto o ttell ell th eir sstories tories th at isn kidss a w way their that isn’t’t thr ough vi olence. T he im pulse o through violence. The impulse off d ance, n ot jus jjustt as d ance, bu ut d ance as a dance, not dance, but dance w ay fforward.” or orwa arrd.” way

Lessons Lesso ons of ‘‘Fear’ Fear e ’

THIS MUST T BEAH THE PLACE Bookshop Sa Santa anta Cruz pr presents reesents author Ishmae Ishmael el Beah at Santa Cruz High on Frid Friday, day, Jan. 17.

New Ne ew Mo Movements ovemen nts

Dancee an Dance and d li lit it m merge erge w when hen au author utthor Is Ishmael h ael Beah hm comes com ess tto o San Santa nta Cr Cruz uz BY B AARON CARNES S

here ar here a aree dif different ffeeren nt sc schools chools o off thought th ougght about abou ut how how dancers dancers sshould hould best best ffocus o ocus th their eir en energy. ergyy. onee end off th thee spec spectrum, there On on end o cttrum, th ere is ttechnique, echniqu ue, which which the the performer perrfo ormer can spend several hours day meticulously spen d se eveeral h ours a d ay m eticulously other rrefining. efining. On the th he oth er end end is eexpression, xpression, llearning earning how how to to use their their movements movvem e en nts t tto o bestt commun communicate emotion. bes nica ate em otion. Santa native Harry Weston San nta Cruz Cruz n attivve H arry W eeston sidee o off th thee ffalls alls on the a the more mor o e eexpressive xpressivve sid spectrum. Now spec trum. N ow living living in Los Angeles, Angeles, he he Friday performing will ill b be iin ttown own wn this hi F riday per formin o i g piece his pi ece “Without “W With hou ut Fear” Fear” at at the the Santa San nta Cruz High And Cr uz Hig h School School Theater. Thea aterr. An d it it will work, be an unusual unusuall sshowcase howccase ffor o or his w o ork, since he’ll opening sin ce h e’ll be o pening not not for fo or another another dancer musician, d ancer or mus sician, but bu ut an author. au utthorr. And not And n ot just just any an ny author. au uth t orr. The The event even ent conversation ffeatures eea attures a con nveersa ati t on with with Ishmael Ishmael

Beeah, w Beah, whose hose boo book k A Long Way Wa ay Gone: Gonee: M Memoirs of a Boy Soldierr ttold old his o w wn own sstory tory o ow h dured lif fe as a cchild hiild off h how hee en endured life so oldier in th erra Leon a ar in soldier thee Si Sierra Leonee civil w war W es e tern Afr rica. H earrtb t reaking an d Western Africa. Heartbreaking and rriveting, ivveeting, iitt becam tsellerr, an d becamee a bes bestseller, and h as jus lished his firs ovvel,l hee h has justt pub published firstt n novel, Ra adiance of T o omorrro ow, about abou ut two two war war Radiance Tomorrow, su urvivvo ors that that rreturn eturn tto o th eir h ome survivors their home vi illage. village. Susan McCloskey, McCloskeyy, event eveen nt coor dinator coordinator a Bookshop San nta Cr uz, pu ut iitt all att Bookshop Santa Cruz, put ttogether. o eth og therr. Wh en W eeston sshowed howeed dh err th When Weston her thee se eveen-minute “W Withou ut F ear” pi ece, sshe he seven-minute “Without Fear” piece, th hought it it w as th a perrfec ect o pener ffor or or thought was thee perfect opener Bo ookshop’s eevent veent with with Beah. Bookshop’s “It’ ut th ovvem e ent o ief in nto “It’ss abou about thee m movement off gr grief into ac cceptance, w hich is so mu h ch w hat acceptance, which much what Is shmael is d oing both in his wr iting Ishmael doing writing an nd also also wi th his w o ork in th w th and with work thee U.N. wi with

bo ldiers. I think th e e’s th er ea boyy so soldiers. there’s thee id idea o oving thr ough th arrk sstories, torries, es off m moving through thee d dark an d ultimately ultimately what what comes com mes is th light.t and thee light. An d tto om e, th att’s al so wh w hat d ance is,” And me, that’s also what dance M cCloskey sa ays. McCloskey says. T hough Beah d oesn’t kn ow W eeston, Though doesn’t know Weston, M cCloskey kn ew h an a o McCloskey knew hee is a big ffan off hi p-hop an dd ance, an d th ey com p hip-hop and dance, and they comee u up fr equently in his boo ks. s In ffact, a acctt, th ere’s frequently books. there’s a scen rly in A Long W a ay Gone scenee ear early Way w here som lder so ldiiers ttell ell Beah tto o where somee o older soldiers giv ve th em a reason reason to to let let e him live, livve, an d give them and d ancin i g li terall lly sa aves e his h lif hi fe. dancing literally saves life. Beah is al so a UNI CEF F amb assadorr, also UNICEF ambassador, h elping oth er cchildren hildren so ldiers wi th helping other soldiers with sstories tories simil ar tto o his. Si milarly, W eeston similar Similarly, Weston tteaches eaches d ance tto o un derrprivileged dance underprivileged cchildren. hildren. “It’ cept o a ce as lig an ht “It’ss this con concept off d dance light in th midst of of all this d arkness,” thee midst darkness,”

Weston We ston firs ffirst st per performed rfo ormed “W “Without Withou ut F ear” in 201 12 as p art o or Fear” 2012 part off his seni senior u nde d rggradu duate t cho h reography show h wcase undergraduate choreography showcase a UCLA. att UCLA. Pr rimarilly a hi p-hop d ancerr, Primarily hip-hop dancer, W eeston cchoreographed hor o eographed th ece, an d Weston thee pi piece, and per rfo ormed iitt wi th a cou uple b ack-u up performed with couple back-up d ancers. H ote iit,t, h owever er, thr ough dancers. Hee wr wrote however, through im prov o an d fr eestyylling. It h as a improv and freestyling. has p articularrly vib rant, sstreet-dance trreeet-dance ffeel eeel particularly vibrant, tto o iit,t, w h hile a voking while att th thee sam samee tim timee eevoking po oweerrfful em motion. powerful emotion. T he pi ecce is divid ed in nto thr ree e The piece divided into three sec cti tions, an nd is i in iintended teended d tto o eexpress xpress th he sections, and the dif ffeeren nt sstages ta ages o ieff: an gerr, sadn ess different off gr grief: anger, sadness an d accep tan a ce. W eeston pull ed fr ro om his and acceptance. Weston pulled from o wn eexperience w xperrience llosing osing his ffather atther w hen own when h a as two, two, and and then then a ffamily a amilly fr riend hee w was friend th at was wa as very veerry cclose lose tto o him —and w hom that him—and whom h effeers tto o as his ““surrogate surroggate mother”— mother”— hee rrefers w hen h a 19. as when hee w was “R Reeallly w hat I w an anted tto od o wi th th “Really what wanted do with thee pi ece is I w anted tto an o ttake ake th dience on piece wanted thee au audience kin do otional rroller oller coas ster th at kind off th thee em emotional coaster that is the the grieving grrievviing p rocess. In or rder tto od o process. order do th att, I had had tto o create crea ate a piece piece w herre w o that, where wee ggo thr rough o h th at rroller oller coas terr,” , W es e ton sa ays. through that coaster,” Weston says. T he an geer por rttion o ece is set tto o The anger portion off th thee pi piece hi p-hop, tto ow hi h ch W eeston d oes a llot ot o hip-hop, which Weston does off aggr essivve m ovves. e In th ess por tion aggressive moves. thee sadn sadness portion o ance c ,W es e ton d ances tto o a somber off th thee d dance, Weston dances pi ece b l tY llis o-Y o Yo M a. W es e ton says sa ays piece byy ce cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Weston th at during durring this sec cttion, m ore than than any an ny that section, more oth err, w h hile per rfo orming, h elivvees th other, while performing, hee rrelives thee ffeelings eeelings h xperrienced w hen h ost his hee eexperienced when hee llost ffather atther an d surr ssurrogate ro ogate m otherr. In th al and mother. thee fin final por tion o tthee pi ece, accep tance, W eeston portion off th piece, acceptance, Weston d ances tto oh ouse musi c, an dd oes a so lo dances house music, and does solo u pbea at sstyle tyyle o ouse d ance sstyle tyyle call ed upbeat off h house dance called “j acckin k g.” “jacking.” By th nd o ece, iitt h as af ffec ected thee en end off th thee pi piece, has affected th perrfo orm mers as mu uch as th dience, thee performers much thee au audience, h ays. hee sa says.

List your local event in the calendar!

Email it to calendar@santacruzweekly.com, fax it to 831.457.5828, or drop it by our office. Events need to be received a week prior to publication and placement cannot be guaranteed.

Stage

Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St, Santa Cruz, 831.427.2227.

Lunch: A Modern Musical Myth

DANCE Bare Outlines The Faraway Nearby: Work by guest choreographers Molly Katzman and Sierrah Dietz exploring the experience of desiring something but not obtaining it. Fri, Jan 17, 8pm, Sat, Jan 18, 8pm and Sun, Jan 19, 8pm. $15-$17. Motion Pacific, 408 Front St, Santa Cruz, 831.457.1616.

CONCERTS

Bellydance Showcase

MOVING HOME Santa Cruz native Harry Weston, now part of the L.A. dance troupe Versa-Style, will perform his piece ‘Without Fear’ to open the Beah event. “All the dancers on stage, we look up and we smile and we get chills and it feels like this weight has been lifted, like that feeling of you’ve made it, you’ve made it through. You endured the pain and you got to the end, and you get to experience the acceptance and the happiness. It evokes tears in all the performers each time,” Weston says.

Substance Over Style A big part of the reason Weston made the decision in 2008 to study dance at UCLA was because he liked the focus on conveying a message with dance rather than simply the techniques of dancing. He had been involved with dance at a very young age. When he was a little boy, his mother started the first West African dance class in Santa Cruz. He discovered hip-hop when he was a little older, and got dance lessons from Gary “Gee” Kendall, who would go on to become one of the founding members of the Jabbawockeez dance crew, now famous for their Las Vegas show. Once in LA, he met and later joined the Versa-Style dance company. When he left Santa Cruz, he was really only strong with breaking and popping. But founder Jackie Lopez liked him, and thought he had potential. “Jackie really saw that I had a passion for dance. She was able to look past some of my limitations at that point. I wasn’t quite at the level I needed to be. She saw my heart. She said this regularly, that I was willing to work hard

and I really loved to dance,” Weston says. They have traveled to Philadelphia, Santa Cruz, India, and Israel, amongst other places. Late last year, filmmaker Calvin Leung released the documentary Furious Beauty, which is about VersaStyle. It was originally intended to document the street-dance scene in L.A., but Leung became fascinated with Versa-Style and shifted his attention to them. These days, Weston is not just a performer with Versa-Style, he’s also the company manager. He handles all the bookings and corresponds with the different theaters and promoters. He’s been on this side of production since his senior year in high school when he put on a dance performance/hip-hop concert at a local juvenile hall. He has done several events in LA, including helping out some non-profits. But what Weston really feels passionate about is teaching, particularly his work with underprivileged youth. “Eventually I would like to engineer a hip-hop dance program for the juvenile hall system here in Los Angeles. I think there’s a big need for some kind of movement to be done. There’s nobody really doing any dance in the halls,” Weston says. Ishmael Beah with Harry Weston Friday, Jan. 17, 7pm, $27.50 (book included) Santa Cruz High School Theater, Santa Cruz

Different belly dancers each week on the garden stage. Presented by Helene. www. thecrepeplace.com. Sat, 1:30pm. Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, 831.429.6994.

DJ Qbert

THEATER

Santa Cruz Chamber Players

An in-store performance by the "scratcher extraordinaire." Sun, Jan 19, 5pm. Streetlight Records Santa Cruz, 939 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, 831.421.9200.

8 Tens @ Eight The 19th annual festival of short plays written by Bay Area playwrights. www.sccat. org. Thu, Jan 16, 8pm, Fri, Jan 17, 8pm, Sat, Jan 18, 3 and 8pm and Sun, Jan 19, 3pm. $15-$30. Center Stage, 1001 Center St, Santa Cruz, 831.425.7529.

Are We There Yet? A one-man live comedy show by Richard Stockton aimed at rekindling the Baby Boomers' revolutionary spirit. Tickets at www.arewethereyetshow. com. Fri, Jan 17, 8pm. $15. Broadway Playhouse, 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz.

Handsome Comedy A mix of stand-up and sketch comedy from Tim Lee, Andrew Norelli, and Monty Franklin. Sat, Jan 18, 8pm. $25. Kuumbwa

Featuring Santa Cruz’s celebrated pianist Chetan Tierra with his father Michael Tierra. scchamberplayers.org Sat, Jan 18, 8pm and Sun, Jan 19, 3pm. $25 general, $20 senior, $10 youth. Christ Lutheran Church, 10707 Soquel Dr, Aptos, 831.425.3149.

Art MUSEUMS CONTINUING Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History Spotlight Tours. Bringing the artists' voices directly to visitors. Go behind the scenes and museum-wide exhibitions.

Capitola Book Cafe, 1475 41st Ave, Capitola, 831.462.4415.

GALLERIES

Awareness Through Movement

CONTINUING

Courses promoting increased vitality, flexibility, and overall well-being. Beginning this week and ongoing for several weeks. www.suzielundgren. com. Tue, Jan 21, 9:30am. Pacific Cultural Center, 1307 Seabright Ave, Santa Cruz, 831.423.6787.

Felix Kulpa Gallery Neon art by Brian Coleman featuring glass tubes filled with multicolored glowing gases. Gallery hours: ThursSun, noon-6pm. Thru Jan. 26. 107 Elm St, Santa Cruz, 408.373.2854.

Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History Rydell Visual Arts Fellows. An exhibition showcasing the diverse work of four local artists who received grants to pursue their projects. Gallery hours: Tues-Sun, 11am-5pm. Thru Feb. 23. $5 general; $3 students/seniors. Museum hours Tue-Sun, 11am-5pm; closed Mon. 705 Front St, Santa Cruz, 831.429.1964.

LITERARY EVENTS Book Discussion Group

Gusttavo Lima You’ve probably never heard of a country music star from Brazil. Now you have! Jan 15 at the Regency Ballroom.

Mary Stallings Impeccable style emanates from this jazz vocalist, with Kenny Barron and Eric Reed. Jan 16-17 at SFJAZZ Center.

Colin Meloy Oft-bearded frontman of the Decemberists sings beardy anthems for these beardy times. Jan 17 at the Fillmore.

‘Stand’: A Tribute A three-night, all-star celebration of the famous Sly & the Family Stone album. Jan 17-19 at the Independent.

Pinback From the streets of San Diego, Rob Crow and Zach Smith peddle perfect thinkingperson’s pop. Jan 19 at Bimbo’s. More San Francisco events at www.sfstation.com.

Miracle Working Spiritual teacher Dominique Free leads a weekly class on cultivating the consciousness to heal, overcome, succeed and create miracles. Thu, 7-8pm. Conscious Lounge, 1651A El Dorado Av @ Capitola Rd, Santa Cruz, 831.359.0423.

AROUND TOWN Comedy Open Mic A rotation of the best up-andcoming stand-up comedy acts from the Bay Area. Thu, 8:30pm. Free. Blue Lagoon, 923 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, 831.423.7717.

A discussion of a new book each month, with copies available at the branch circulation desk. Email harbisons@santacruzpl.org for more information. Third Thu of every month, 1pm. Free. Santa Cruz Central Branch Library, 224 Church St, Santa Cruz, 831.427.7700x7616.

Magic at MAH

Drop-In Poetry Workshop

Martin Luther King Day Events

An ongoing group welcoming newcomers and drop-ins, led by Magdalena Montagne. Fri, Jan 17, 7-9pm. $10. Capitola Book Cafe, 1475 41st Ave, Capitola, 831.252.5776.

Ishmael Beah

San Francisco’s City Guide

NOTICES

The bestselling author of A Long Way Gone will read from his new novel, Radiance of Tomorrow, about post-war life in Sierra Leone. Price of admittance includes two tickets and one copy of the book. Fri, Jan 17, 7pm. $27. Santa Cruz High School, 415 Walnut Ave, Santa Cruz, 831.423.0900.

Poet/Speak Reading Featured reader Joyce Keller. www.poetrysantacruz.org. Sun, Jan 19, 2pm. Free. Santa Cruz Central Branch Library, 224 Church St, Santa Cruz, 831.464.8983.

Storytime Former Shakespeare Santa Cruz actress Billie Harris and Book Cafe manager Jill Rose perform animated readings of children's stories. Mon, 11am. Capitola Book Cafe, 1475 41st Ave, Capitola, 831.462.4415.

World Affairs Book Club A discussion of Two Nations Indivisible, by Shannon K. O'Neil. Thu, Jan 16, 7pm.

Activities themed around magic, mystery and witchcraft—from spell casting to sleight-of-hand to information about black holes. Fri, Jan 17, 4-8pm. $5 general; $3 kids, seniors & students. Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St, Santa Cruz, 831.429.1964.

Gospel night concert Friday night, followed by a youth day on Saturday with performances by UCSC's Rainbow Theater. Sat, Jan 18 and Sun, Jan 19. Resource Center for Nonviolence, 612 Ocean St., Santa Cruz, 831.429.2266.

Metal Arts The Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild: A talk, sale and workshop featuring an artwork sale and a bracelet making workshop to compliment the guild's exhibit in the museum's 3rd floor gallery. Sat, Jan 18, 11am-5pm. $5 general: $3 seniors & students. Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St, Santa Cruz, 831.429.1964.

Santa Cruz Chocolate Festival Annual event for chocolate tasting, silent auction, wine tasting, and cupcake decorating. Proceeds support re-entry student scholarships at UCSC. www. santacruzchocolatefestival.org. Sun, Jan 19, 1-4pm. Cocoanut Grove, 400 Beach St, Santa Cruz, 831.423.2053.

Wharf Wildlife Tours Free eco-tours of the wharf by the Seymour Discovery Center. Sat-Sun, 1 and 3pm. Thru Dec 31. Free. Santa Cruz Wharf, Beach Street, Santa Cruz.

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

An original musical about a deceased Wall Street specialist who must answer three Manhattanites’ prayers before being allowed into heaven. Thu, Jan 16, 7:30pm, Fri, Jan 17, 7:30pm, Sat, Jan 18, 7:30pm and Sun, Jan 19, 2pm. $22-$42. Cabrillo College Crocker Theater, 6500 Soquel Dr, Aptos, 831.479.6154.

Third Sat of every month, 11:30am-12:30pm. Museum hours Tue-Sun, 11am-5pm; closed Mon. 705 Front St, Santa Cruz, 831.429.1964.

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

THURSDAY

1/16

THURSDAY

1/16

FRIDAY

1/17

FRIDAY

1/17

Albert Lee

AUSTIN JENCKES

FRONT BOTTOMS

PATO BANTON

In his 54-year career Albert Lee has collaborated with Eric Clapton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley and Emmylou Harris. Oh sure, we’d love to call Albert Lee the ultimate “Guitar Hero,” if that weren’t already a registered trademark. Sigh. Lee’s mastery of Fender electric guitars earned him the nickname “Mr. Telecaster.” Guitar Player magazine named him best country guitarist five years in a row. He taught Jimi Hendrix how to play “Hey Joe” with his left ear! Well, that last part might not be true, but the country and blues virtuoso has certainly built a reputation that’s larger than life. Kuumbwa; $25 adv/$30 door; 7pm. (Jake Pierce)

Soulful folk-rocker Austin Jenckes was pretty philosophical about his elimination from The Voice back in November, saying it was just his time to go, and maybe he could have done this and that, but it’s all good, etc. etc. I suspect it’s a lot easier to be Zen about the whole thing when you’ve got people already lining up tours for you. Pretty soon it’ll be like trying to keep kids in college when they know they’re going to be NBA superstars— “sorry, but we insist you stay on The Voice at least two weeks before declaring yourself eliminated and getting a better record deal than the one we were going to offer you.” “But…but…Carson Daly!” Catalyst; $10/$12; 9pm. (Steve Palopoli)

The Front Bottoms have a reputation for being an acoustic, pop-punk band. But they’re also capable of playing eardrum pounding electric guitar-driven music that leaves the acoustic descriptor far behind. Regardless of the instruments being used, however, this duo that calls New Jersey home brings forth angst-y frustration, the bleary-eyed observations of youth and catchy commentaries on their own lives that have a sing-along, relatable quality to them. As vocalist Brian Sella sings on “Swimming Pool,” “There’s no doubt in my mind that if you could then you would try / to crack my ribcage open and pull my heart right through.” Crepe Place; $12; 9pm. (Cat Johnson)

Okay, you’ll never guess what Pato Banton’s popular song “Legalize It!” is about. No, not unpasteurized goats’ milk! It’s some relaxing herb called… marijuana! (His song “Don’t Sniff Coke” also was a hit, so this guy’s clearly a purist.) Born Patrick Murphy, the British reggae singer’s name is Jamaican Patois for “wise owl.” Banto’s most recent album, 2008’s Destination Paradise, features relaxing and spiritual tunes. In 2009, the singer put together a new back-up band, Now Generation, and started spreading the teachings of the The Urantia Book—a spiritual Chicago book of unknown origins that weaves science and philosophy with the teachings of St. Paul. Whether performing or preaching, Banton hasn’t left his positive vibes behind. Moe’s Alley; $15 adv/$20 door; 9pm. (JP)

17 Celebrating Creativity Since 1975

Thursday, January 16 U 7 pm | No Comps

ALBERT LEE

Friday, January 17

8 pm

Bay Area Flamenco Presents: SUEÑO FLAMENCO STARING LAKSHMI “LA CHIMI” Tickets: chimi.eventbrite.com

RED MOLL MOLLY LY

Concerts Con ncerts YELLOWCARD YELL OWCARD

8 pm

INCREDIBLY HANDSOME COMEDIANS Tickets: brownpapertickets.com Sunday, January 19

RED MOLLY

7:30 pm

Tickets: snazzyproductions.com Monday, January 20 U 7 & 9 pm | No Comps

Jan. 16 at at Catalyst Catalyst

BOOKER T. JONES

“...he remains so soulful.” – NPR

RED MOLL M MOLLY LY

Jan. 19 at at K Kuumbwa uumbwa

Thursday, January 23 U 7 pm

WEEDEATER WEED DEA AT TER

Jan. 19 at at Catalyst Catalyst

RICK WALKER: Celebration of a Lifetime in Music

JIM MA MALCOLM ALCOLM

Friday, January 24 U 9 pm

Jan. 22 at at Don Quix Quixote’s ote’s

J-BOOG J-BOO OG

Jan. 23 at at Moe’ Moe’s s Alle Alley y

Live & Local!

CLUB KUUMBWA: STEEP RAVINE

$5 at the door!

Monday, January 27 U 7 pm

HOWARD LEVY & CHRIS SIEBOLD Virtuoso harmonica player and superb guitarist team up! Wednesday, January 29 U 7:30 pm

THERE’S STARTING AT THE BOTTOM, AND THEN THERE’S STARTING AT THE FRONT BOTTOMS There’s nowhere to go but up for the New Jersey duo that plays the Crepe Place Friday.

Hawaiian Slack Key Masters GEORGE KAHUMOKU JR. & LEDWARD KAAPANA

Tix: ticketﬂy.com & Streetlight Records Thursday, January 30 U 7 pm

ASWIN BATISH’S SITAR POWER

Friday, January 31 U 7:30 pm Win Prizes! Retro Soul Dance Party with Dress Retro

THE INCITERS

Tickets: brownpapertickets.com

SATURDAY S ATURDAY

1/18 1/ / 18

WEDNESDAY WEDNE ESDAY

1/22 1/ 22

CHATHAM COUNTY LIN LINE NE

CRYS CRYSTAL STAL BOWERSOX BOWE ERSOX

Back in the day day, y, bluegrass bluegrass gr ggroups oups would around gather ar ound one microphone microphone to sing and play their hearts out. These days recording recording keyboard key, is as easy as pushing a keyb board key y, and performances theree mics at live perf ormances abound, a but ther aree still acts that appr appreciate ar eciatee the old school, leave-the-gadgets-at-the-door leave leave-the-gadgets-at-thethe gadgets at the door style of Bluegrass outfit music making. Bluegr ass ou utfit Chatham act. from County Line is one such act t. Hailing fr om these Raleigh, North CCarolina, arolina, the se pickers play pretty. it tight, ffast, ast, lonesome and pr etty. And they embrace fully embr ace the one-mic technique t with oot-stompinggly delightful down-home, ffoot-stompingly rresults. esults. Crepe Crepe Place; $10; 9pm. 9ppm. (CJ)

The ffact act that I’ve known about Crystal Bowersox andd her music ffor or months, and had no idea that she s was on American Idol (no, I don’t it) don’t watch it t) says a lot about this talented musician. Shee got her catapul catapultt into pop culture culture from from a TV TV show, show, but this gal has skills that extend beyond the one-hit b one hit (or oneone season) wonder wondder zone. She has a big voice that she wields wieldds with ease, a catchy guitar style and a natural naatural flair for for songwriting. Her latest song is a headline-grabbing headline-grabbing revelation revelation of sorts, titledd “Coming Out ffor or Christmas.” Kuumbwa; Kuumbwa; $26.50; $226.50; 9pm. (CJ)

Monday, February 3 U 7 & 9 pm | No Comps

HABIB KOITE

9pm: 1/2 Price Night for Students

2/6

Pamela Rose & Wayne De La Cruz “Hammond Organ Party” 2/14 Tuck & Patti: Valentine’s Day Concert Special Jazz & Dinner Package 2/17 Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio GOLD CIRCLE Jazz at Lincoln CenterSOLD Orchestra OUT!

featuring Wynton Marsalis

Saturday, March 8, 7:30 PM @ Santa Cruz Civic Tickets: SantaCruzTickets.com or Civic Box Ofﬁce, 831-420-5260 No Comps or Gift Certiﬁcates Unless noted advance tickets at kuumbwajazz.org and Logos Books & Records. Dinner served 1-hr before Kuumbwa presented concerts. Premium wines & beer. All ages welcome.

320-2 Cedar St [ Santa Cruz 831.427.2227

kuumbwajazz.org

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

Saturday, January 18

1011 PACIFIC AVE. SANTA CRUZ 831-423-1336 Wednesday, January 15 Â&#x2039; In the Atrium s AGES 16+

WHITE FENCE

also Light

plus Fine Points Fantastic !DV $RS s $RS 3HOW P M

Thursday, 1HU\HY` Â&#x2039; AGES 16+

YELLOWCARD / OCEAN AVE. Acoustic plus Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Eating Gilbert

!DV $RS 6)0 s P M P M Thursday, Jan. 16 Â&#x2039; In the Atrium s AGES 21+

AUSTIN JENCKES

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

plus Cody

(Finalist on The Voice) Beebe & The Crooks s P M

Friday, 1HU\HY` Â&#x2039; AGES 21+

S SANTA CRUZ BLUE B BL UE LA LAGOON GOON BLUE B BL UE L LOUNGE OUNGE

Friday, January 17 Â&#x2039; In the Atrium s AGES 16+ plus Boy also DJ

Pumba !DV $RS s $RS OPEN 3HOW P M

Saturday, Jan. 18 AGES 16+

HOPSIN

plus Dizzy Wright also DJ Hoppa & guests from Funk Volume !DV $RS s P M P M

3ATURDAY *ANUARY Â&#x2039; In the Atrium s AGES 21+

THE MURDER JUNKIES

plus The Highway

Murderers !DV $RS s P M

3UNDAY *ANUARY Â&#x2039; In the Atrium s AGES 21+

WEEDEATER

plus Black

Cobra !DV $RS s $RS P M 3HOW P M

Tuesday, Jan. 21 Â&#x2039; In the Atrium s AGES 18+

KICKS N LICKS plus Tasty Treat !DV $RS s $RS P M 3HOW P M

Jan 24 Infected Mushroom (Ages 18+) Jan 25 Hieroglyphics (Ages 16+) *AN Berner/ Reign Eterno (Ages 16+) Feb 1 Y & T/ T Clemente Band (Ages 21+) Feb 21 The California Honeydrops The Brothers Comatose (Ages 16+) Unless otherwise noted, all shows are dance shows with limited seating. Tickets subject to city tax & service charge by phone 877-987-6487 & online

www.catalystclub.com

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Film ON-SCREEN ROMANCE Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls for Samantha, a new OS with brains, soul and the voice of Scarlett Johansson.

Incarnation

A lonely writer makes a real connection with the new operating system in his life in ‘Her’ BY RICHARD VON BUSACK

OPES OF THE 1970S STYLE are rallying: the fool’s parade in American Hustle, Oscar Lewis’ acting in Inside Llewyn Davis reflects vintage Elliott Gould. In the serenely romantic Her, Joaquin Phoenix has the brush mustache and spectacles of Gould’s frequent buddy in ’70s films, George Segal. It’s a lovely angle with which to face a near future of an undated year. Los Angeles (director Spike Jonze digitally merged it with today’s Shanghai) has spread up and out. It’s crowded but prosperous. Phoenix’s Theodore has an unusually nice divorce apartment in the skies at Wilshire Beverly Tower 5. The subways are clean, derelict free; they take you to the beach or to the Palisades. The bullet train is finally pulling out of Union Station to

snowy destinations far away. Theodore bounced back from an LA Weekly job to become a love-letter writer at BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com, his heart aching as he sits in an office lined with glowing glass panels in shocking pink and citrusy Jell-O colors. Theodore composes little notes for happy couples, and tries to avoid signing the final papers on his divorce. During a walk, he learns of a new OS that’s available—a system that is like the super-powered granddaughter of Siri. The bubbling, flirtatious voice on his pocket sized computer calls itself Samantha, it’s omniscient yet sensual. Theodore has found a new friend, and more. There’s a 1,000 ways this slip of an idea could have gone wrong. Essential to the success of the romance is Scarlett Johansson’s voice acting. I’ve heard

arguments that the chemical side of Johansson is responsible for the critical love Her is getting: that even if you can’t see her drastic curves, her plush, breathy voice implies that body’s offscreen presence. The old male gaze of the mind’s eye, I guess. Could it be that the allure of the actress goes so deep that even her voice is rich with it? The other women in the film can’t live up to this invisible imago: Theodore’s college pal is played by Amy Adams, with untidy, dandruffy looking hair and no makeup. She’s introduced to us foreshortened (in real life Adams is 4 inches shorter than Phoenix, but Jonez poses her so she looks like she’s a foot smaller). Olivia Wilde, as Theodore’s highly demanding first date, is a classic example of how a woman can be so beautiful that she’s almost ugly. Just as Samantha is all

voice, Rooney Mara, seen in flashback, is the voiceless, moody ex-wife Theodore can hardly bear to think about. Her is not a bitter film: Samantha isn’t a perfect alternative to other women. Samantha pushes back and withdraws, has flares of temper. At one point she swears at Theodore. The evolution of love rising in this humanlike computer program puts an edge in her voice. And this unlikely love story stays believable into a third act as Samantha grows in strength and consciousness. There’s a smooth religious side to Her, smooth enough to be beguiling to an atheist. We get soothed when the film condemns a fanatic, a supporting character takes a religious vow of silence. There’s a cameo by Brian Cox as a real life explicator of Northern Californian Buddhism; by accidental coincidence, I’d just been listening to the long dead philosopher on KPFA during my commute. This made me mull over Her’s insistence on voices that live on their own. Or, for that matter, how we can fall in love with shadows on screens as if they were alive—and why such phantoms are ultimately not enough. One of Theodore’s paid-for love letters has the phrase, “You were a bright light that woke me up.” The film is a gentle if sometimes sexually ardent date film. But there’s a subtle metaphor here about love as enlightenment. Jonze’s experience in music videos provides for sometimes slick flashbacks, loaded with on-the-button emotion. Still, Her is irresistible with its living, compassionate computers, and its fields of skyscrapers glowing with Pacific light. You sort of ache for wanting it to come true, in the way you ache when you watch Star Trek.

HER

119 Min.; R Plays at Del Mar

Film Capsules New

SH O WTI M E S

the character is back in the form of Chris Pine (best known for re-booting Captain Kirk), with an over-the-top action approach that basically makes Ryan into a superhero. Couldn’t you just hear millions of Clancy fans groan when Kevin Costner tells him in the trailer “You’re not just an analyst now”? Uh, wasn’t the whole point of the character that he was an analyst? (Opens Fri at Aptos, Scotts Valley, Cinema 9) THE NUT JOB (PG; 86 min) I can’t even imagine what

Movie reviews by Steve Palopoli

the pitch sessions are like for these animated quirky-animal movies. Is there a lightning round? “OK, there’s a bear…” “No.” “OK, there’s a duck…” “No.” “OK, there’s a platypus…” “Hell no.” Somehow, somebody sold the idea of a squirrel, and so in this movie little Surly the Squirrel (voiced by Will Arnett) gets kicked out of his home in a park and has to survive in the city. (Opens Fri at Scotts Valley) REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2000) Black Swan won Darren Aronofsky

mainstream success, but this is by far the better film. If there’s a braver or scarier depiction of addiction on film, I certainly haven’t seen it, and probably wouldn’t want to. Following the stories of four addicts as they lose control of their lives, Requiem for a Dream makes Trainspotting look like Nanny McPhee. (Plays Fri and Sat at midnight) RIDE ALONG (PG-13; 100 min) We know Ice Cube can act, but for the last decade his career has been pretty much

Showtimes are for Wednesday, Jan. 15, through Wednesday, Jan. 22, unless otherwise indicated. Programs and showtimes are subject to change without notice.

APTOS CINEMAS

122 Rancho Del Mar Center, Aptos 831-426-7500 www.thenick.com

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire — Wed 1/15 11:30; 2:45; 6:05; 9:20; Thu 11:30; 2:45; 10; Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

The Legend of Hercules — Wed-Thu 2:40; 7:35; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. The Legend of Hercules 3D—Wed-Thu 12:15; 5:15; 10:15; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. Lone Survivor — Wed 1/15 12; 3:40; 7:15; 10:25; Thu 12; 3:40; 7:15; 10:25; Fri-

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit — (Opens Fri) 2; 4:30; 7; 9:15 plus Sat-Mon 11:30pm. Saving Mr. Banks — Daily 1:30; 4:10; 6:45; 9:15 plus Sat-Mon 11am. The Wolf of Wall Street — Wed-Thu 12:30; 4; 7:30.

Wed call for showtimes.

41ST AVENUE CINEMA

8:45; Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

1475 41st Ave., Capitola 831.479.3504 www.cineluxtheatres.com

August: Osage County — Wed-Thu 1:15; 4:15; 7:15; 10; Fri-Wed 1:15; 4:15; 7:10; 10. American Hustle — Daily 12:45; 3:45; 7; 10. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug — Wed-Thu 12:30; 4; 7:45. Lone Survivor — Fri-Wed 1; 4; 7:20; 10:15.

DEL MAR

1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz 831.426.7500 www.thenick.com

Her — Daily 1:50; 4:30; 7:10; 9:45 plus Sat-Mon 11:10am. Saving Mr. Banks — Daily 1:40; 4:15; 6:50; 9:20 plus Sat-Mon 11am. The Wolf of Wall Street — Daily 12:20; 3:50; 7:30. Requiem for a Dream — Fri-Sat midnight.

NICKELODEON

Lincoln and Cedar streets, Santa Cruz 831.426.7500 www.thenick.com

12 Years a Slave — Wed-Thu 8:50pm; Fri-Wed 4; 8:50. August: Osage County — Daily 1:40; 4:20; 7; 9:30 plus Sat-Mon 11am. Dallas Buyer’s Club — Wed-Thu 4; 9; Fri-Wed 3:50; 9; plus Sat-Mon 11:05. (no Wed 1/15 9pm)

Inside Llewyn Davis — Daily 2:30; 4:50; 7:10; 9:20 plus Sat-Mon 12:10pm. Nebraska — Daily 1:30; 6:30. (no Wed 1/15 6:30pm) Philomena — Wed-Thu 2:10; 4:30; 6:45; Fri-Wed 1:50; 6:45 plus Sat-Mon 11:40am.

RIVERFRONT STADIUM TWIN

155 S. River St, Santa Cruz 800.326.3264 x1701 www.regmovies.com

Devil’s Due — (Opens Thu 10pm) call for showtimes. American Hustle—Wed 1/15 3:15; 7; 9; Thu 3:15; 6:30; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty —Wed-Thu 3:45; 7; 9:45; Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

SANTA CRUZ CINEMA 9

1405 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz 800.326.3264 x1700 www.regmovies.com

Ride Along — (Opens Thu 8pm) call for showtimes. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit — (Opens Thu 9pm) call for shotimes. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues — Wed-Thu 11:40; 2:30; 5:10; 7:50; 10:35; Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

47 Ronin — Wed-Thu 6:10pm; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. 47 Ronin 3D — Wed-Thu 11:50; 3:05; 9:25; 10:50; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. Frozen — Wed-Thu 11:35; 2:15; 5; 7:30; 10; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. (no Thu call for showtimes)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug — Wed-Thu 12:05; 7; 10:30; Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

The Hobbit:The Desolation of Smaug 3D —Wed-Thu 3:30pm;Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom — Wed 1/15 9:45; 2:50; 8:45; Thu 2:50; Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones — Wed 1/15 12:30; 3; 6:45; Thu 1; 3; 5:20; 7:40; 9:50; Fri Wed call for showtimes.

CINELUX SCOTTS VALLEY CINEMA 226 Mt. Hermon Rd., Scotts Valley 831.438.3260 www.cineluxtheatres.com

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit — (Opens Fri) 11:55; 2; 4:45; 7:30; 10:15. The Nut Job — (Opens Fri) 11; 11:45; 2:30; 4:55; 7:20. The Nut Job 3D — (Opens Fri) 9:30pm. Ride Along — (Opens Fri) 11:30; 2:15; 4:55; 7:40; 10:10. American Hustle — Wed-Thu 12:30; 3:45; 7; 10:15; Fri-Wed 12:30; 3:45; 7; 9:15. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues — Wed-Thu 11:15; 2; 4:45; 7:30; 10:15. August: Osage County — Fri-Wed 1; 4; 7; 9:55. Frozen — Wed-Thu 11; 1:45; 4:30; 7:10; Fri-Wed 11; 2; 4:40. Her — Wed-Thu 1; 4:15; 7:10; 10; Fri-Wed 1:15; 4:15; 7:10; 10. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug — Wed-Thu 11:15; 3; 6:45; 9:45; Fri-Wed 11:45; 3:30.

The Legend of Hercules — Wed-Thu 7:30; 10; Fri-Wed 1:45; 4:15; 6:45; 10:15. The Legend of Hercules 3D — Wed-Thu 11:55; 2:30; 4:55; Fri-Wed 11:30am. Lone Survivor — Daily 11; 1:45; 4:30; 7:20; 10:10. Saving Mr. Banks — Wed-Thu 12:45; 4; 7; 10; Fri-Wed 7:45pm. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty — Wed-Thu 11; 1:40; 4:20; 7; 9:45. The Wolf of Wall Street — Wed-Thu 11:45; 3:45; 7:45. Breakfast at Tiffany’s — Thu 7pm; Sat 11am.

GREEN VALLEY CINEMA 8

1125 S. Green Valley Rd, Watsonville 831.761.8200 www.greenvalleycinema.com

American Hustle — Wed-Thu 1; 4; 7; 10:15; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues —Wed-Thu 1:40; 4:15; 7:15; 9:45; FriWed call for showtimes.

Frozen — Wed-Thu 1:30; 4; 6:45; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug — Wed-Thu 3:30; 6:45; 10; Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

The Legend of Hercules —Wed-Thu 12:55; 5:15; 9:40; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. The Legend of Hercules 3D — Wed-Thu 3:05; 7:25; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. Lone Survivor — Wed-Thu 1:25; 4:15; 7; 9:45; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones — Wed-Thu 1:05; 3:10; 5:15; 7:30; 10; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. Saving Mr. Banks — Wed-Thu 1:30; 4:15; 7:15; 10; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty—Wed-Thu 7:20; 9:50; Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

Walking With Dinosaurs—Wed-Thu 1:05; 3:10; 5:15; Fri-Wed call for showtimes. The Wolf of Wall Street — Wed-Thu 9:15pm; Fri-Wed call for showtimes.

reduced to finding different ways to contort his face for a wide spectrum of annoyed looks. Make no mistake about it: if there were Oscars for facial tics, Ice Cube would add to his collection with this latest comedy in which he plays a cop who keeps getting annoyed by Kevin Hart. How is that a movie? We’re all annoyed by Kevin Hart. (Opens Thu at 8pm)

Reviews

12 YEARS A SLAVE (R; 133 min) Based on an 1853 memoir, this story of a free African American kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South is easily the bestreviewed film of the year. AMERICAN HUSTLE (R; 138 min) When it comes to cool, movies either got it or they don’t. And there’s something about the promise of director David O. Russell and an all-star cast led by Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner taking on a con man story (with mafia tie-in!) that is going to make American Hustle irresistible to a lot of movie lovers. Throw in the great trailer that suggests everyone involved has lived up to that promise, and it doesn’t seem like hyperbole to say that in terms of movie cool, American Hustle could be the Pulp Fiction of its time. AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (R; 121 min) It’s this year’s Acting Olympics, as Meryl Streep, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julia Roberts, Chris Cooper…oh come on! You saw the preview! You know you’re gonna go! They got the people everybody loves to be in an adaptation of a play everybody loves, with a plot about family dysfunction, which everybody loves! (The plot, not the dysfunction). Face it, you’re going! I’m already there! In my mind! DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (R; 117 min.) Matthew McConaughey continues his bizarre transformation into one of the best actors of our generation in this true story about a Texas electrician named Ron Woodroof, who took on the medical establishment after being diagnosed with HIV in the ’80s—in his attempt to get alternative treatments for himself and others, he became a drug smuggler. What has gotten into McConaughey, anyway? Remember when he was the acting equivalent of lumber back in the Contact days? Jared Leto is making a different kind of comeback,

after not making films for a while—here he plays a transvestite who forms an unlikely partnership with Woodroof. HER (R; 126 min) Guys have been falling in love with robots in science fiction for probably as long as there’s been science fiction. Hell, on Twilight Zone it happened like every other week! This take on it from director Spike Jonze has Joaquin Phoenix as a writer who falls in love with his operating system. Hey, we’ve all done it. THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (PG-13; 161 min) We’re now up to five hours of Hobbit adaptation, so it’s understandable if, like Ice Cube, you’re asking “Are we there yet?” But c’mon, the dragon part of The Hobbit is the best part, by far! So even if you’re on Middle Earth overload, just hold out for a hero, like Bonnie Tyler. INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS (R; 105 min) A likely contender not only for most misspelled title of the year, but also for several Oscars, this latest film from the Coen Brothers has Oscar Isaac as an aspiring folk singer in Greenwich Village in 1961. LONE SURVIVOR (R; 121 min) Well gee, thanks for giving away the ending, war movie title! Apparently we shouldn’t get too attached to the cast that includes Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Eric Bana in a story based on a real-life Navy SEAL mission that got FUBAR. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (R; 84 min) How much do you think the makers of the Blair Witch Project wish they could go back in time and re-do their sad attempt to turn their movie into a franchise, using everything we’ve learned from Paranormal Activity? The producers behind PA have done absolutely everything right, and now they practically have a Marvel Universe type of thing happening with this spin-off from Paranormal Activity 4, which creates a completely different storyline about a young man “marked” by supernatural forces, but will no doubt tie in to the main KatieDemon-and-her-stolen-babyHunter storyline somehow. Even more intriguing, this film is specifically targeted at a Latino audience, setting the franchise up for success across demographic lines. Maybe GOP leaders will show up opening night to pick up some pointers?

JANUARY 15-21, 2013

DEVIL’S DUE (R; 89 min) Eli Roth says this is the scariest found-footage movie to come along since Paranormal Activity. That won’t impress horror fans who consider the PA franchise overhyped, but it does suggest there might be more to this movie than its Rosemary’sBaby-clone plot suggests. UCSC grad (and former vocalistguitarist for Link 80!) Matt Bettinelli co-directed this, along

with Tyler Gillet—they’re an up-and-coming team who directed the last segment of the first V/H/S anthology, and judging from what they’ve said about it, the movie seems more like a very conscious Polanski tribute than a rip-off. (Opens Thu at Riverfront Twin) JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT (PG-13; 105 min) A bunch of people have played Tom Clancy’s CIA-analyst hero at this point, but for some reason it seems like Harrison Ford just is Jack Ryan. Now

Epicure

Send tips about food, wine and dining discoveries to Christina Waters at xtina@cruzio.com. Read her blog at christinawaters.com. Chip Scheuer

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

DIALING FOR DISTINCTION Booka’s Chef Eli Epstein with a schnitzel-style catering creation from the menu of his new 831 Sandwiches.

Booka Delivers Something New BY CHRISTINA WATERS

oused in the historic and rustically charming old Bayview Hotel in Aptos, Booka has been busy winning fans with its smartly made fusion cooking. Lots of fans. Chef Eli Epstein, a native of Tel Aviv, enjoys mixing up Mediterranean and Israeli influences with California contemporary cuisine. And now his kitchen is getting even busier. Enter 831 Sandwiches—a smart idea in custom-catered lunch foods that goes way beyond the standard wraps, tacos and pizza fare. The new signature sandwich and salad delivery service, 831 Sandwiches, will

bring your order to your business (or other gathering spot) during the lunchtime hours of 10am to 2pm. Lisa Porath, Booka’s office manager, told me the delicious new service is targeting Aptos, Soquel and Capitola clients, who can expect roughly a 50-minute turnaround time from when they place their order—by calling (831) 685-9100—to delivery. “We're looking to provide unique sandwiches, made by a chef,” she says, and that includes items you'd expect to find if you went out to lunch at a good restaurant. Sandwiches such as crispy schnitzel-style chicken,

with aioli, tomato, onion and brine pickles. Or smoked salmon with cream cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onion and kalamata olives. All sandwiches come with the chef's special potato chips or coleslaw. And there are designer salads as well, such as a rustic Caesar salad with romaine hearts, soft-boiled egg, aged parmesan and homemade croutons. Greek salad. Niçoise salad. Pampering lunch foods averaging around $10. And you can add juice, soda and chocolate truffles to your order, too. If you live west of Dominican Hospital, add $5 to delivery charge—and for now, the

831 Sandwich service requires a minimum order of $30 (or three sandwiches/salads. Porath sees the audience for the unique new service as “those looking for alternatives to pizza.” Nothing wrong with pizza, but it's always good to have options. Now you have a lot more thanks to the smart, sophisticated kitchen at Booka. Booka Restaurant & Bar is located at 8041 Soquel Drive, Aptos. ASSEMBLING ASSEMBLY: The latest gastronomic love child of the crafty Penny Ice Creamery folks is about to emerge on Pacific Avenue. And Assembly, the latest restaurant venture of Kendra Baker and Zach Davis, is moving full speed ahead toward an early 2014 opening. Yes, I know it's already 2014, but restaurant openings usually take a bit longer, and a bit more tweaking than any ambitious restaurateur wants. The latest intel about the 100seat new dining room is that a chef is now onboard, Carlo Espinas, who brings a terrific resumé to his new gig. Espinas has worked at the very trendy Camino, as well as Comstock Saloon in North Beach. And now he's forging local links with growers and purveyors who will help keep his recipes deliciously packed with fresh and seasonal goodies. The opening of a spacious new eatery in downtown Santa Cruz might just help inspire more of us to dine out, early (or late) and often. Hope so! WINTER WINE: Meanwhile, here's my wine tip of the week. From the eccentric winegrowing region of Puglia (southernmost spot in Italy) comes a serious bargain: Tormaresca Puglia 2010 blend of negroamaro, primitivo and cabernet sauvignon. For $6.99 you don't need to even think. Just grab some at Shoppers Corner. It offers tart, spicy hints of cassis and red berries, plus a hint of mineral rusticity. It’s an appealing table wine that loves big red sauces. 0

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

F O O D I E F I LE

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

Chip Scheuer

SHELLING POINT Gottfried Raymond loves the freedom he enjoys as the taco trucker behind Raymond’s Catering.

Raymond’s Catering Gottfried Raymond, owner

‘I

’m out here to entertain!” Gottfried Raymond says with a chuckle. Wearing a gray beanie, a shirt with a grizzly bear and a coindispensing belt, he’s standing in front of a white truck that says Raymond’s Catering. He bought the truck in 1988, and has been selling tacos, burritos, burgers and breakfast food ever since. Raymond parks on Science Hill at UCSC every afternoon, and makes stops all over town earlier in the morning. We caught up with him on Ingalls Street around 9:30am.

SANTA CRUZ WEEKLY: How do you make a good taco? RAYMOND:

I’m not the one making the tacos. That’s her [pointing to chef Alicia Gonzalez]. Just double tortillas, and she puts a lot of good veggies in there, beans on all the tacos. And she does veggie tacos. I don’t eat them, because I’m driving and I’m always busy. You don’t eat tacos? I eat burritos all the time, just because it’s more convenient. She cuts them in half for me. She’s been with me 19 years now. If you could park your taco truck anywhere, where would you put it? Just what I’m doing. I move around all the time. I like dealing with

different people all the time. We have 15 stops before we get to UC at 12. And at 12, we’re up there for a couple hours. I have customers I’ve had for 10, 15 years down here. And there might be four or five people that go there everyday. I know there’s a steady income, and I enjoy the people. What’s the best thing about owning your own food truck? Doing your own thing. You’re your own boss. The bad things about it are you’re your own boss. You can’t call yourself up and go, “Ahhh, I don’t wanna make it today!” Have you visited food truck scenes in other cities? I’ve eaten off a

couple trucks and enjoyed it, but I’ve never gone to the big events. It’s worldwide now. It’s crazy. I’ve been in Cambria, and they had a truck. I went over there, not to compare anything—just more from convenience. The other ones—I’m sure the food’s really good, but a little bit gourmet for me. I’m not really used to that. What inspires you? Money—no. This keeps me alive. I’m almost 60.

Waking up at 4:30 in the morning’s the hardest part, but once we get going, it’s one of the better jobs you could have. People are smiling when they leave the truck. I probably laugh more than anybody at any job. —Jacob Pierce

Astrology As A sttrro rology g Free F Fr rree e Will Will

Rob Brezsny Breezsny

For F or th thee week week o off JJanuary anuary 15

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You You o TTauruses aauruses are are more grounded grounded than th he rest rest of us. But this customarily more the t week, I’m wondering if you will be tempted to escape the gravity and rebel rebel against the thhe call of duty. dutyy. I suspect laws of gravity dreams, at least, will ffeature forays eatuure uninhibited forays that your dreams, yonder. While you u’re sleeping you may into the wild blue yonder. you’re interplanetary spaceship, become float weightlessly in an interplanetary forests, wea ar a futuristic jet pack an eagle and soar over forests, wear through the sky, s y, sail acr sk oss the on your back and zip through across Serengeti Plains in a hot-air balloon, balloon, or have a picnic on a Serengeti feast of cotton candy and a sponge cake and cloud with a feast bringging this kind of fun ould you consider bringing mint tea. W Would life? into your waking life? GEMINI (May 21-June 21-June 20): Wh What hat part of your lif lifee is too small small, and you want to ma ake it bigger? Is ther make theree a situation that ’s overly intense and dramatic, dramatic, and that’s you wish you could ffeel eel mor ht-hearted about it, moree lig light-hearted less oppr essed? Ar est that has become oppressed? Aree you on a qu quest claustr ophobic, and you’d love too find a way to make claustrophobic, it mor elaxed? If you answer ed yes to moree spacious and rrelaxed? answered any of those questions, Gemini, there’s t e’s good news. ther V ery soon now lose encounter with Very now,, you will have a cclose the magic you need to open wha at has been closed what and expand what has been nar row o . Be alert ffor or it. Be narrow. cr afty as you gather it in and har rness it ffor or your use. crafty harness CANCER (June 21-July 21-July 22): In her h poem “Catch “Catch a Body y,” ,” Ilse Bendorf says she dislikes dislikees the advice “Don’t “Don’t Body,” ever tell anybody anything.”” On the the other hand, “Tell “TTell e everyone everything”” isn’t isn’t the righ ht approach, approach, either, eitherr, she right says. Judging from from your astrological astrologiccal omens, Cancerian, Cancerian, I surmise that you’re you’re wavering between bettween those two extr emes. You’re Yoou’re tempted to think you’ve got to do one extremes. or the other tivate the t power that comes other.. Should you cul cultivate fr om being silent, and keep peoplee guessing about your from true ffeelings? eelings? Or should you seek gr eater intimacy but greater risk giving away your power by co nfessing all your inner confessing iddle path. TTell ell e the vivid thoughts? I suggest you take a mi middle truth, but car efully and incr ementaally. carefully incrementally. LEO (July 23-Aug. 23-Aug. 22): If a substance substaance has been burned, it can’t can’t be burned again. Ther e’s nnoo flammable stuff There’s left to ffeed eed a fir e. That ’s simple physics. ph hysics. Now as for for fire. That’s the question of whether a person can be burned mor moree than once—we ’re speaking meta aphorically her e—the once—we’re metaphorically here—the answer is, unfortunately, unfortunatelyy, yes. Some Some folks folks don’t don’t learn fr om their mistakes and don’t don’t hav ve enough emotional from have intelligence to avoid the bullies and annd manipulators who burn them again in the future. future. Butt I’m confident that you aren’t aren’t one of these types, Leo Leo,, or that at least you won ’t be in the coming days. YYou ou o may m have been burned won’t bef ore, but you won’t won’t be burned th his time. before, this VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 23-Sept. 22):: “P “People eopple who don’t don’t take risks generally generally make about two bigg mistakes a year,” yearr,,”” said risks Peter Drucker “People who do take risks risks gener ally author Peter Drucker.r. “People generally yeaar.”” In general general I agree agree make about two big mistakes a year.” altered for for with that assessment. But I think itt needs to be altered hs.. Her e’s the adjusted your situation in the coming month months. Here’s ormula: Vir gos who don ’t take risk version of the fformula: Virgos don’t riskss in 2014 age of 3. takes. Vir gos who do will make an aver average 3.11 big mis mistakes. Virgos st, a half a big mistake. take risk riskss in 2014 will make, at mos most, LIBRA (Sept. (S t 23-Oct. 23-Oct. O t 22): 22) “Y “You ouu know k what h t the th greatest tragedy tragedy is in the whole world?”” ask greatest askss novelist Teerry Pr atchett. “It ’s all the people people who never find Terry Pratchett. “It’s really want too do or what it is out what it is they really they’re rreally eally good at. It ’s all the people who never they’re It’s really be.”” If that get to know what it is that they can really Libra—if description applies to you even a little, Libra—if you’re still not completely sure sure what w you’re good at you’re you’re do—the coming months it and what you want to do—the problem. o Start now! will be prime time to fix that problem. Start posssibility that you How? Open your mind to the possibility don’t know yourself as well as yo ou someday will. TTake ake a don’t you

testss. Ask Ask smart people you trust to tell vocational tests. hink about your special aptitudes you what they tthink qualities. And one mor and unique qualities. moree thing: Be wildly youurself about what excites you. honest with yourself

SCORPIO (O (Oct. ct. 23-Nov. 23-Nov. 21):: In his book Schottenfreude: Schottenfr reude: e : German W Words or ordds ffor oor the Human Condition, Ben SSchott chott dreams dreams up new compound words Here’s German wor ds ffor o use in English. Her or e’s one that would serve ser ve yyou well inn the comingg week: Fingerspit Fingerspitzentanz g p tzzentanzz, meaning “fingertips-dance.” “fingertips-dance.”” Schott says it refers refers to “tiny triumphss of nimble-fingered nimble-fingered dexterity.” dexterity.”” His examples: fastening fastenning a bracelet, bracelet, tightening a miniscule screw, screw, unknotting, unknotting, removing removing a recalcitrant recalcitrant sticker in one unbroken a joint, identifying an object by unbroken peel, rolling rolling o touch alone, slipping slipping something off a high shelf. shelf. Both literally literally and metaphorically metaaphorically speaking, Scorpio, you now have an abundance abundannce of this capacity. capacity. Everything about you is more more agilee and deft and limber than usual. You’ll Yoou’ll be a master of Fingerspit FFingerspitzentanz tzzentanz.

JANUARY 15-21, 2014

ARIES (Mar (March ch 21-April 19): Who Whose ose enemy ar aree you? Ar Aree you anyone ’s adversary or obstruct tionist or least ffavorite avorite anyone’s obstructionist person? Answer honestly y, please. Don D ’t be in denial. Next honestly, Don’t question:: Do you derive anything uuseful seful fr om playing this from oppositional rrole? ’s ﬁne. I won’t won’t ole? If your answer iss yes, that that’s try to talk you out of it. Continue too rreap eap the beneﬁts of being someone’s someone’s obstacle. But if, iff, on the other hand, you get little value out of this negative negative relationship, relationship, now would be a good time to change it. You Yoou have more more power than usual to free free yourself y from being beingg an antagonist. g from

SAGITTARIUS SAGITTAR RIUS (Nov (Nov.. 22 22-Dec. -Dec. 21): The ffour our elements that compose coompose cocaine are are the same as those that makee up TNT, caffeine, hydrogen, TNTT, caff eine, and nylon: hydr ogen, carbon, nitrogen, nitrogenn, and oxygen. The combinations and proportions different proportions of elements are are diff erent in each substance, off course. bt coourse. But B t the th point, i t for for our purposes, is i that the same raw raw a materials lead to different different results. results. I foresee similar unfolding life, foresee a simila ar drama drama unf olding in your own lif e, Sagittarius. How w you assemble the ingredients ingredients you currently currently have at at your disposal could produce produce either a rough rough and ragged ragged high, a volatile risk, a pleasant stimulation, or a useful resource. resource. Which will it be? CAPRICORN N (Dec. 22 22-Jan. -Jan. 19): Metaphorically have speaking, you ha ave rrecently ecently come into possession of seeds. aree rrobust. aree har hardy. some new seeds s. They ar obust. They ar dy. They potential grow strong have the potent ial to gr ow into big, str ong blooms. So when should you plant them, metaphorically going speaking? I’m go oing to suggest that you wait a while longer.. It wouldn wouldn’t or them if you sowed them longer n’t be bad ffor now,, but I think right now t their long-term vitality will be greater even gr eater if you y postpone the planting ffor or at least a weekss might be better better.. TTrust week. TTwo wo week w rrust your intuition. AQUARIUS S (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The Flemish artist Jan van Eyck (1385-1441) (13385-14441) 1 was rrenowned enowned ffor or his innovative mastery mastery of oil painting. He signed many of his works works not just with his name but also with his motto: Als ick kan kaan. Its idiomatic translation translation is “The best I can do.” What W he meant was that he had pushed his talent and craft crraft to the limit, and then stopped and relaxed, relaxed, content conntent that he had given all he could. I invite you to have havve a similar attitude as you wrap wrap up the projects currently projects you’re youu’re cur rently involved in, Aquarius. Summon all your youur passion and intelligence as you create create the most excellent outcome possible, but also know when to quit. quit. Don’t Don’t try tooo har hard; d; just try hard. hard. PISCES (Feb (Feb.. 19-Mar 19-March ch 20): It It’s ’s an excellent time to rise up and rrevolt evolt against conventional wisdom. I urge urge trendy groupthink you to immunizee yourself against tr endy gr oupthink and as you outwit an nd outmaneuver the status quo. Have fun and activatee your playful spirit to the max as you create workarounds cr eate workar ou unds to the way things have always Att th the been done. A he same time, Pisces, stay acutely attuned to your compassion and common sense. Don’t Don’t be a quarrelsome quarrelsom me intransigent. intransigent. Don’t Don’t be rrebellious ebellious just to please your ego. ego. If you follow follow these guidelines, you will be able to pull pull off a graceful graceful insurrection insurrection that both soothes and stimulates stim mulates your soul.

yourself,” Homework: When W they say “Be yourself f,” , Testify which self do o they mean? T eestify at FreeWillAstrology.com. Fr eeWillAstrology o .com. Visit RE Visit REALASTROLOGY.COM A L ASTROLOGY.COM ffor or R Rob’s ob’s Expanded E Weekly Weekly Audio Audio Hor oscope es and Daily Text Text Message Message Horoscopes Hor oscope es. The The audio horoscopes horoscopes Horoscopes. ar e also available available by by phone at at are 1.877.873.4888 1.877.873 3.4888 or 1.900.950.7700 1.900.950.7700

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