Twenty years have passed since Pacific Avenue was a two-way street. That may change if some city councilmembers and businesses have their way.
News
Santa Cruz Fright Seeing
World-renowned psychic Sylvia Browne told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1997 that Santa Cruz has a “gaggle” of ghosts. “A ghost can come in on moisture easier,” she said. That would help explain these hot spots for paranormal activity around the Monterey Bay.
Five Days of Freaky at Moe’s
Halloween in Santa Cruz conjures up many haunting images of a frightfully crowded downtown filled with strangely (and skimpily) costumed revelers enjoying sinful fun. But for those who want to participate in the wicked festivities without the hustle, bustle and drunk-in-public citations, Moe’s Alley has plenty of treats, without any tricks, at the inaugural Halloweekend Haunt festival.
Occupy Santa Cruz Media Watch
It’s now obvious that the Occupy Wall Street movement has captured the public eye. According to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, the nationwide movement filled 10 percent of the overall big media newshole Oct. 10-16, up from 7 percent the previous week and from just 2 percent the week before that. With coverage during that time in outlets from the Santa Cruz Sentinel to the Huffington Post, Occupy Santa Cruz proves no exception to the national trend.
But is the media getting it right?
Anamanaguchi Brings Chiptune to Santa Cruz
Chiptune bands are primarily the domain of the geeky and nostalgic, but a band with Anamanaguchi’s pop smarts and songwriting skill potentially has mainstream appeal. Merging a traditional rock band setup — vocals, bass, guitars and drums — with digital tones conjured from a hacked Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Anamanaguchi draw inspiration as much from Super Mario Brothers as the Beach Boys, The Legend of Zelda as Weezer. As a result, the band has achieved what amounts to popular success for a chiptune band, appearing on the soundtrack to the film version of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, contemporary games like Bit.Trip Runner and Rock Band, and the intros for shows on comedian Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist podcast network.
Murdersville, U.S.A.
In The Lost Boys, a young boy recently transplanted from Arizona asks if his family’s new hometown really is, as advertised, the murder capital of the world. His grandfather replies, “Well, now, let me put it this way: if all the corpses buried around here were to stand up all at once, we’d have one hell of a population problem.” Gramps is speaking, of course, of a fictionalized Santa Cruz called “Santa Carla,” and like the movie city, the real town’s grisly reputation is based on some unsettling facts.
PLATED: Fall Feast
Poached lobster tail in consommé with gewürztraminer, cabernet franc with house-made duck sausage and black trumpet mushrooms, grilled lamb chops and currant cous cous—these are only some of the intriguing dishes that will be showcased by the advanced culinary arts students at Cabrillo College at the Oct. 27 Jazz-N-Juice dinner.
Deadly Fish Farm Virus Found in Wild Pacific Salmon
Margot Stiles, a marine scientist with the conservation group Oceana, calls the breaking news of a salmon-killing virus loose in the Pacific Northwest “horrifying.” Tobias Aguirre, director of the Santa Cruz-based FishWise, agrees that the virus—infectious salmon anemia (ISA)—could have a “devastating” impact on fisheries in the region and beyond.
Lompico Water Board Takes Action Against Member
The Lompico Water Board acknowledged that nagging sarcasm and passive aggressive comments plague its meetings when the majority of the board members pointed their fingers and said they’d found the culprit.
County’s Plastic Bag Law Challenged
It has only been a month since the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to ban plastic bags from stores and restaurants in all unincorporated areas of the county. That is all it took for the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition to challenge the law in court. Stephen Joseph, the San Francisco lawyer behind the suit, says that there is no scientifically backed evidence to support the notion that plastic bags are harmful to the environment. “You at least have to have some valid findings,” he says. “But they don’t. They have invalid finding.”
