KZSC Santa Cruz

Don relocated to Santa Cruz in January; as an artist, made some hand-sized art in grad school with pipe cleaners, and his professor urged him to try something larger; that was 2006, & now this is his signature medium; Don's art is in a gallery in downtown Santa Cruz, as well as other galleries around the country (e.g.: Tuscon); moved to New York City after grad school because, "if you want to be i...

Kristin Paley is the Executive Director of Horse Sense Education & Advocacy, a relatively new (3 years) local non-profit that runs a range of programs that heal horses & help humans; they are having a Wine & Whinnies weekend to support the adoption of MyDunn, a horse that has been in the Hearts & Hooves program; they also have a Children's Reading Program (Horse Tales) the 1st Saturday of every mo...

Pre-recorded interview with Singer/Songwriter Ian George. This interview covers their currenrt tour, making a living as a muscian, and creative processes.

Elected in March, 2024, installed in December, 2024 - City Council Member for District 5, which includes most of U.C. Santa Cruz; background is Civil Engineering - Water Resources - on Water Supply Advisory Committee, and Public Safety Task Force; if you divide the salary ($20k) by the # of hours per week put in to the job, do you make at least the Santa Cruz County Minimum Wage ($16.50/hour)? "No...

Golden Voice Gene started out with solo shows...later, Alia joined in harmonies, then bass & sax, and Wade showed up with electric guitar and also vocals; "The Fintztones" formed in 2010; Golden Voice Gene put out a CD, and later the "Fintztones" put one out, "Make It Right"; The Money Question? Golden Voice Gene: "day job" with the DMV (which meant all of his friends could end up wtih a drivers l...

Live in the Studio interview with members of Karen with a K. The interview covered thier beginnings as band, how they write their music, and some live performances! Laura February Strange, who lives in Corralitos (South Santa Cruz County), wrote the "Musical Temper Tantrum" exploring, & poking fun at, the "Karen"-meme. As they describe themselves, it's a "A garage-rock musical, social satire. Titu...

Jimmy's been a pro since he was 12, grew up in LA, then Chicago, the Sausalito since 1970; Jimmy saw Jimi Hendrix & B.B. King in the same week! Impacted him! Jimmy was Clarence Clemmons' musical director for 10 years; writes songs, but more instrumentals these days; the "Money Question" - Jimmy has managed to support himself with music through a diverse set of revenue streams: teaching, recording,...

Gail Pellerin is California's 28th District Assemblymember. AB 679 re: Sempervirens finally passed, & signed by the Governor! Assemblymember Pellerin introduced this bill in 2023 as one of her first bills as a Freshman Assemblymember, which, given the fires & VIP visits, meant it got a lot of visibility; at its first stop in the Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee they wanted to know why wasn't it s...

California Senator Laird's district extends from San Luis Obispo county to Santa Cruz to southern Silicon Valley; last week staff retreat (n = 26!) - Laird has 3 offices: SLO, Monterey (with a satellite office in Salinas) & Santa Cruz - one of Senator Laird's staff is the longest serving staff member in the legislature: Tim Shelly; there's little going on in Sacramento now other than the Governor...

Call in interview with California State Assembly District 28 Assemblymember Gail Pellerin reguarding the legislative session formally ended on September 12, but it ended up going over onto Saturday, September 13th. Assemblymember Pellerin provided a report on the session's final days, including what passed, what didn't, the reasons for the extension, and what we are now waiting for the governor to...

arrived in Santa Cruz in 1976 for undergrad, after growing up as a foreign kid (Scotland) in New York...who didn't wear jeans; psychology & art therapy major; later, used art to help found and run the Gorilla Drive-In, with free outdoor movies...screened 178 movies over 12 years; how to maintain activism / optimisim without getting exhausted: use creative approach, allowing vision, and find other...

Overturned gasoline tanker truck yesterday on Highway 17, & discussion of things we'll have to explain to our grandchildren; One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) & Watsonville Community Hospital - do we need to worry? Yes! OBBBA guts federal support for rural health care; 70-80% of Watsonville's patients have their care paid for: if you cut federal support, cuts the federal $$ that would've supporte...

Dmitri (accorion) & Matthew (fiddle) are part of a 5-piece Klezmer band, Baymele, that also includes 2 more fiddle powerhouses, Zoe & Rebecca, and Misha on cello - they met & started playing together 10 years ago; all live in the Bay Area, so the band name is both Yiddish (for sapling) and a play on the Bay Area; all have backgrounds in classical music, + a passion for Eastern European music, espe...

This podcast includes 2 Bushwhacker's interviews with Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley in August, 2025 - On August 1st, with "Dangerous Dan", and on August 29th with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug". August 1, 2025 description: Fred is the first directly elected Santa Cruz mayor - before him, the top vote-getter in a City Council election would be in line to be mayor, with the 2nd-most votes in line...

This year celebrates 100 years of Clifton Chenier, "The King of Zydeco"! Clifton Chenier's start in the 1950s as part of Rhythm & Blues Road Shows, with early albums on Elko, Celebrity & Chess Records; in the 1960s, with no recording congract, Clifton was playing dive bars; Chris Stracgwutz (of Arhoolie Records) was in Houston with LIghtning Hopkins when Lightning said, "Let's go see my cousin", a...

Djangatos is a Gypsy jazz trio honoring the style of Django Reinhart; Djangatos is a combination of Django and Los Gatos, where all three work in music store; Robert had an earlier band, Martini Max & the Swing Cats, and the trio came together during Covid, when they played for neighbors & friends on the driveway; new CD = Roulette will be released digitally after the album release party a week fr...

Moved to Santa Cruz to escape the Santa Clara Valley; met Brad Hecht with the band "Cool Jerks", who were an R&B corporate band = members of the Chamber of Commerce, and band members got insurance (!); Burnin Vernon played with them for 9 years as lead vocalist, and was able to make a living; went to school with Chris Cain, but decided he would venture beyond the blues; turned down a chance to aud...

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin Represents the 28th California Assembly District. Overview of district highlights from state budget: 5 Branches, with acupuncture still covered under MediCal, library infrastructure, the 415 project, healthy school pathway program, 2nd harvest food bank and continued support for the food & diaper bank, IHSS (ImHome Support Services), MediCal asset cap remains as previo...

John Laird is California State Senator - 17th District Senator Laird's Q for "Sassy Cassy": "What's the biggest challenge ou're facing that Policy might be able to address?" A: Literacy & (mis)information; Senator Laird: "Your father & I grew up with fact checkers and trusted sources. Now it's so crazy" ...with everything available everywhere all the time with few (if any) fact checkers or trusted...

The "Dangerous Neighbors" theater troupe have been performing in Santa Cruz & the Bay Area since the early 1990s; this show was put on in June as a fundraiser for Santa Cruz Indivisible; political satire, and did it die (as Tom Lehrer famously said) when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? The "Deflating Fascism" show is 1/2 political satire, and 1/2 random sketch comedy; the cast i...

Anna & Joel joined Steve Poltz onstage at the recent Redwood Ramble for his song "Can of Pop", and then, on his urging, joined him in the mosh pit for his encore, "Ripple", with Joel on Tuba and Anna on vocals (& holding Steve's mic); Anna & Joel met at a band party in college (in Arkansas)...people had told Anna about Joel, and he walked in, guitar in hand - Anna introduced herself but Joel said,...

oe Weed is a musician, composer, fiddler, and documentary filmmaker; playing music since 7 years old; as a fiddler, remembers and passes along who you learned a song from, and who it's by..."Mystery of the Ookpit" is a film about a fiddle tune that was mistakenly assumed to be derived from Native American music, but instead was written in 1965 by a Canadian; it gained prominence when someone playe...

UCSC undergrad in the early 90's majoring in psychology with a minor in journalism (there was not an option to major in journalism), where she was a reporter, and then the editor, of the campus City On A Hill newspaper; she wanted a career in journalism, but first worked in finance, and accounts receivable at a law firm; her break, and her first paying journalism gig, was writing for a monthly mot...

Megan, and the other members of "The Musers", hails from Sonoma County; "The Musers" was an acoustic band project started by Megan and Anita Sandwina about 8 years ago...Anita is on vocal rest for another month, so the trio will play The Ugly Mug tomorrow night, with Tom Kuhn on upright bass, and Leslie Jackson on mandolin (plus fiddle, banjo, reso guitar, and harmonica) - all 3 sing; Anita & Mega...

1 week from today is the deadline for bills to pass out of the policy committee in the other house (not the house of origin); this last Monday broke the record for the # of emails Senator Laird received in a day, which blew up over a bill on anti-semitism - an interesting & emotional twisting & turning, with an elevated # of instances across the state, especially in schools; the original bill, SB7...