From Santa Cruz County’s first poet laureate, prose poems from Even So: New and Selected Poems, forthcoming from White Pine Press.
PLATED: Mission Accomplished
Serious about espresso and fresh-dripped coffees, and yet invitingly playful in terms of its neighborhood ambiance, Coffeetopia is the go-to caffeine emporium for thoughtful bohemians, students, surfers, cyclists, software designers and commuters. I often meet my literary friend for kvetch sessions at the cozy Coffeetopia on Capitola Road. And I find myself even more often at the Mission Street branch of this java junkies’ joint. In addition to fresh-baked tea breads and superior dark roast, Coffeetopia now boasts another secret weapon: Mission Hill Creamery artisanal ice creams. OMG is an appropriate response to that information. If you can’t get to the Saturday farmers market for some of David Kumec‘s outrageous, organic, all-Straus Family Creamery specialty, then you need only hit your local Coffeetopia.
Ukin’ Do It!
The press release warned there would be a bouncer at the door. “If you’re not on that list, you’re not getting in!” it said. For an open mic night—a ukulele-only open mic night with a $10 cover—it sounded like wishful thinking.
The Uke Store
It’s hard to say when Pat Baron “got bit” by the ukulele. He picked up a $12 dollar “object” ukulele, meant only for looks, about 10 years ago and has been playing ever since.
The Jumping Flea Blues
It’s been the brunt of countless jokes and chuckled at as an oddity. Tiny and portable, it’s been played by top musicians as well as buskers and novices. Yet with its measly four strings and miniature body, this diminutive instrument packs a powerful wallop, begging any listener not to smile and sing along. Of course, we’re talking about the mighty ukulele, the 150-year old member of the lute family that has had a startling comeback in recent years, plucking at the heartstrings of young and old.
The King of The Uke
The simplest way to prove to the world that an instrument rocks is to play an actual rock song on it. This is not rocket science. It worked for the banjo a decade ago when the Gourds famously covered Snoop’s “Gin and Juice” (hip-hop, sure, but boasting just as much street cred). It would work for the cowbell if somebody cool would put out Clangin’ to the Hits.
Beach Pollution Prevention Efforts Paying Off
Save Our Shores volunteers prevented 1,657 pounds of cigarette butts, firework remains and assorted beach party leftovers from becoming a stinky supper stew in the stomachs of seabirds and marine wildlife on July 5. More than 250 volunteers swarmed 10 beaches in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties at 8am on the “morning after” cleanup in the aftermath of righteous, if environmentally damaging, Independence Day celebrations.
Sweet-Natured Cartoonists Take Out New York
Aptos dweller Jory John and his literary collaborator Avery Monson, who draw the cartoon “Open Letters” (which appears in Santa Cruz Weekly ), have published their third book, I Feel Relatively Neutral About New York, the followup to their hit All My Friends Are Dead.
Alan Cheuse at Capitola Book Cafe
In Song of Slaves in the Desert, the new novel by Alan Cheuse, NPR’s “voice of books,” one narrative immerses us in the story of a slave family in 16th-century Timbuktu; the other unfolds in the American South before the Civil War.
Ten Questions: Monica Martinez
The director of the Homeless Services Center has the endurance to train for an Ironman, but no patience for auto-correct.
