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Kirby Scudder: Abra Allan keeps Santa Cruz moving at Motion Pacific
Back Flap, Chug, Dig Ball, Flea Hop, Pickup Change, Railroad, Shim Sham, Vamp. These are just some of the many terms used in teaching the art of tap dancing. Count Basie once said “If you play a tune and a person don’t tap their feet, don’t play the tune.” Tap is also just one of … Continue reading
Art project places playable pianos throughout Monterey County
By DENNIS TAYLOR Herald Staff Writer Eleven ornately decorated pianos have been set up for the public — from plinkers to prodigies — to play at 11 locations in Monterey County as part of an interactive art exhibit called “Play Me, I’m Yours.” The project was brought to the Central Coast by the Monterey Symphony for … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Robert Blitzer has turned a West Side industrial warehouse into one of Santa Cruz’s most intriguing art spaces
By KIRBY SCUDDER In 1954, the Wrigley Company began construction on a 385,000-square-foot property on the West Side of Santa Cruz. This would become the only West Coast production facility for the Chicago-based chewing gum company. Until closing in 1997, the facility produced 20 million sticks of gum a day. Today, under the management of … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: The comedian they call ‘DNA’
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. DNA is also one hell of a funny guy. Comedian DNA like many aspiring talents has had to work some odd jobs to support his comedy. Composer Philip Glass drove a New York … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Vince Broglio turns surfboard scraps into ‘resin’-ating art
It’s 2 PM on a September afternoon, the waters are getting choppy 500 yards off Pillar Point, North of Half Moon Bay. A Rescue Yamaha Jet Ski heads to the beach to move back paddlers trying to make their way out to the surf break. This is Mavericks and the Jet Ski operator is former … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: How the San Francisco Film Commission attracts Hollywood
It’s 7:45 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 10, 2012. Woody Allen, Cate Blanchett, and Alec Baldwin walk out of Shreve and Co. jewelers on the corner of Post Street and Grant Avenue in San Francisco. They discuss a scene between the two characters that needs to be completed by noon so that they can move to … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: The crows that follow artist Scott Rasmann
John Steinbeck once said, “A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.” Such a journey has been the trip that artist Scott Rasmann has been … Continue reading
BILLY COBHAM’S ‘SPECTRUM 40’
It’s been 40 years since the great jazz drummer Billy Cobham released his now classic album ‘Spectrum.’ Cobham marks the anniversary by bringing his band featuring Jerry Goodman, Dean Brown, Gary Husband and Ric Fierabracci to the Kuumbwa to re-create those forever groovy 1970s. Cobham plays next Thursday, Jan. 31. Details: http://www.kuumbwajazz.org.
Santa Cruz Chamber Players: ‘Transcriptions and Transgressions’ turns chamber music on its head
By Bonnie Horgos While rewriting a piece of music for different instruments than originally intended might not seem earth-shattering, to certain people this practice — transcription — can seem downright blasphemous. “I was introduced to transcription when it was sort of a dirty word among classical music snobs,” said Ivan Rosenblum, pianist and director. “People … Continue reading
Setting sail from San Francisco, ‘Anything Goes’ a rollicking journey
By J.M. Brown Only three weeks remain before the raucous Broadway revival of Cole Porter’s nearly 80-year-old musical “Anything Goes” sets sail from San Francisco, taking with it the masterful lyricist’s magical melodies and a revamped, Tony Award-winning choreography. Anchored in the commanding talent of Broadway vet Rachel York, “Anything Goes” takes audiences on a … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: PVAC shows ‘Sleight of Hand’ in new exhibit
It’s 1:30 on Monday and members of the Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery Committee grab coffee at Peet’s in downtown Santa Cruz. I meet them at Java Junction where I grab a coffee to go. Traffic on Highway 1 southbound is moving briskly. It’s now 1:48 and we exit on Main Street in Watsonville. This … Continue reading
coolpicks: GAIL RICH AWARDS
NEXT WEEK GAIL RICH AWARDS Call it Santa Cruz’s version of the Lincoln Center Awards. From the among the vast numbers of artists, performers and writers making their home in Santa Cruz, six individuals are chosen for their contributions to the local cultural scene, and the whole community comes out to appreciate their artistic … Continue reading
CoolPix: MURIEL ANDERSON & TIERRA NEGRA
MONDAY MURIEL ANDERSON & TIERRA NEGRA Those who’ve heard her play don’t be need to be convinced that Muriel Anderson is one of the finest acoustic guitarists on two feet. But even Anderson’s most devoted fans have to be intrigued with this new direction in her career as she teams up with the celebrated … Continue reading
CoolPix: DAVINA & THE VAGABONDS
FRIDAY DAVINA & THE VAGABONDS Twin Cities-based R&B band Davina & the Vagabonds comes into town with a reputation for sparkling and muscular rockin’ blues with a charismatic front woman named Davina Sowers who occupies that territory somewhere between Bonnie Raitt and Amy Winehouse, complete with a horn section and plenty of room at the … Continue reading
Past Gail Rich Award Winner
1997 Rick Walker, musician Peter, Diana, Marina and Lyle Troxell, family of artists Holt Murray, sculptor Bob Lowery, blues musician Laura Ellen Hopper, radio pioneer Sara Wilbourne, dancer Eric Schoeck, talk-show host Joe Ferrara, comic-book merchant Philip Collins, composer Guillermo Aranda, muralist Tracye Lea Lawson, music programmer Bud Kretschmer, benefactor 1998 Bruce Lee, performance artist … Continue reading
Christa Martin: Amanda Martinez dives into the Atlantic
In the mid 2000s I was working as the Features Editor at Good Times when along came a new cubicle mate, Amanda Martinez. Not only was she a remarkable writer and journalist, but she also became a close friend. One could tell right away that Martinez was destined to do big things and tell big … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Camille Krilanovich and the skin as canvas
Camille Krilanovich pulls up to 1010 Fair Avenue on the Westside of Santa Cruz. Camille walks to the far corner of the shop and checks her irons then takes a seat next to Jason who has sketched an image of a girl on a swing that he wants tattooed on his lower back. This is … Continue reading
Keyboardist Erik Deutsch combines refreshing melodies, rhythms for innovative jazz sound
By Bonnie Horgos – Santa Cruz Sentinel Forget pretending to enjoy atonality as dissonant chord after dissonant chord knocks you upside the head. Erik Deutsch wants to make jazz accessible, even a little funky. “I’ve definitely been a part of the avant garde scene and I love playing that music, but I was taught that if … Continue reading
Some jewels to be found in ‘8 Tens’
By Joanne Engelhardt It’s always smart to offer up a smorgasbord of 10-minute plays because if one or two of them aren’t interesting, well, they’ll be over in 10 minutes. Of course that also means if there are some really good ones, they, too, will be gone in the twinkling of an eye. That’s the … Continue reading
2013 Gail Rich Award Winners
Santa Cruz County is that place where the guy behind the café counter is a singer/songwriter, the woman showing you a house for sale is a landscape painter and your next-door neighbor is writing her third novel. Creativity isn’t some indulgence for the idle elite; it’s a common language among neighbors. It’s why many of … Continue reading
PechaKucha Night
2nd Santa Cruz PechaKucha Night, Friday at MAH 6:00pm until 7:30pm The art of concise presentation. 20 slides, 20 seconds per slide. PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. PechaKucha Nights are now taking place in over 500 … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Writer Noria Jablonski explores ‘Human Oddities’
Joan Baez once said “It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I had nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words just crawled down my sleeve and appeared on the page.” Writer Noria Jablonski grew up in Petaluma, being read to by her father nightly, which began … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Brian Rucker’s musical journey
A large crowd is gathered on the dance floor. On stage the violent snapping of two red Vic Firth drum sticks breaking on the rim of a snare drum can’t be heard. The sound levels in front of the speakers are at 120 decibels. It’s Friday, Nov. 30 at the Catalyst, 11:45 p.m. and the … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Scott Cervine’s ‘Movies from the Heart’
In 1985, a young man dressed in a signature grey suit and red bow tie walked onto a stage in Madrid, Spain and grabbed two steel linking rings off of a black stand. He passed them over each other and then miraculously pressed them together with enough force to merge the two together. That was … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Art, food and life the Casa Nostra way
The aroma of freshly pressed olive oil and garlic mist over the table. A plate of Costolette Di Vitello alla Capricciosa is served while two friends discuss their trip to Salerno. They are seated outside Ristorante Caffe’ Tarsia two blocks away from the San Lorenzo Maggiore, a Franciscan church just outside of Naples, Italy, in … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Andrew Purchin leads a thousand artists to Washington via train
It’s a bone chilling 22 degrees, winds gusting above 28 miles per hour. It’s 11 o’clock in the morning and the Capitol building casts a faint shadow over more than a million people gathered on the Washington Mall. It’s January 20, 2009 and it’s the morning of the inauguration of Illinois U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Jody Alexander and a disappearing life
There are faint patterns of Victorian wallpaper stained in tea, white markings of pictures recently removed from their lifelong wall hanging, chairs with upholstery ripped and then mended with thread, an embroidered gown hanging from a lone clothes rack, books enshrined in soft woolen cloth. I move from room to room and witness evidence of … Continue reading
Jake Thomas and his artistic alter egos
In the arts, there is a long tradition of artists creating bodies of works using alter egos. The rapper Eminem produced “The Slim Shady LP” through his alter ego Slim Shady. Comedian Andy Kaufman created the Tony Clifton character to counter-balance his own innocent persona. One of the most well-known examples is writer Robert Louis … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder, Art Studio: Flying through the air with Monet Sexauer
Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher and cultural critic, once said, “Those who would learn to fly, one day must first learn to stand, walk, run, climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.” Today the best modern dancers seem to defy gravity, creating the impression of flying. Modern aerial dancers as seen in performances such … Continue reading
Rob Larson echoes Warhol by turning trash into art
On a hot July morning in 1988 a young painter who had recently relocated to Oakland from Santa Cruz went for a walk along the railroad tracks to orient himself to his new backyard, the same tracks that once moved the Sacramento Northern Railway between San Francisco and Chico. During his six-mile exploratory hike, he … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Shmuel Thaler brings an artistic eye to photojournalism
On a February morning, sharpshooters from the Sheriff’s Office and first responders were called to a house in Watsonville where a heavily armed man suspected of a local burglary refused to surrender. Negotiators were brought in. Moments later, Sentinel staff photographer Shmuel Thaler arrived on scene. Shmuel secured a safe position behind police perimeters, attached … Continue reading
Margaret Niven
Artist and arts-educator Margaret Niven lives and paints in her loft at the Tannery Arts Center. She teaches at Monterey Peninsula College and (along with a small group of fellow volunteers) produces the Tannery Arts Lecture Series, a monthly program of lectures, panel discussions and performances. You can see her paintings, prints and sculptures at http://www.margaretniven.com “Are … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Nada Miljkovic’s exploration of the melancholy of broken love in song
“Sevdah” or “Sevdalinka” is a traditional folk music from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Historically, Sevdalinkas are women’s songs, exploring the issues of love and longing, mostly unfulfilled and unfortunate loves. The act of singing or bearing witness to these songs has, through the years been considered a healing practice, revealing and exorcising the darkness that lives … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: New Orleans through the eyes of Lewis Watts
La Nouvelle-Orléans, New Orleans had been inhabited by the Chitimacha people until its discovery in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company’s Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. The Region was named after Philippe d’Orléans, Duke of Orléans. Over the years New Orleans has emerged as an amalgam of diverse cultures, French, Creole, Irish, German, African, Spanish … Continue reading
Kirby Scudder: Angelo Grova, carved in stone
In Florence during the Renaissance, painters belonged to the guild of doctors and apothecaries called “Arte dei Medici e Speziali” as they bought their pigments from apothecaries, while sculptors were members of the “Masters of Stone and Wood” or “Maestri di Pietri e Legname.” These guilds provided a strict environment for learning and working for … Continue reading
The Romantic-Pop Art style of Jennifer Pond
The smell of Cherry, Orange, and Lemon radiate from a box of Mr. Sketch’s scented color markers. These fragrances form the beginning of Jennifer Pond’s journey into art. As a child, Jennifer would plead with her mother to buy these markers so she could draw her favorite subjects while enjoying the sweet scents. The bold … Continue reading
This is not Rock And Roll High School The Movie
Art studied music in a California junior college and obtained a Bachelors degree in Vocal Music from the University of California. While in school I sang in choirs for 18 years and had the opportunity to travel through the western United States and most of western Europe. In addition I played violin and string bass in my high school orchestra, … Continue reading
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First Friday Art Tour
First Friday Art Tour happens every month, rain or shine throughout Santa Cruz. Founded by the Santa Cruz Institute of Contemporary Arts, First Friday is an independent event designed to support a strong cultural environment through the promotion of Artists. and managed in conjunction with the participating Art venues, First Friday is a free event for enthusiastic Art Goers and an opportunity for our many talented Artists to exhibit and promote their work.
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