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Give Them Praise By Karen Reardanz THERE IS SOME mighty fine local representation on the ballot of this year's Bay Area Music Awards (BAMMIES). Blues axman Chris Cain is up for, appropriately enough, best blues artist; former Santa Cruz High students Slow Gherkin received a best ska artist nod and Watsonville's Caradura is up for best rock en español band. You can check out two out of three of the local nominees this week: Slow Gherkin will be at the Catalyst on Saturday and Caradura opens for Puya at Palookaville on Wednesday, Feb. 24. The awards themselves will be handed out on March 13 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in SF. Also on the move is Dragon's Breath Poetry's Julia Ann Delbridge, who will make an appearance at the upcoming South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Texas, on March 20, when she'll join up with other spoken-word artists for a special show. Sad Note Santa Cruz lost a musical institution last week when jazz saxophonist Frank Leal died at his home at the age of 71. The sax player lived in the county for almost 50 years, played the Cocoanut Grove and backed such renowned performers as Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Leal also was once the owner of the Bayview Hotel, now the White Magnolia. Odds at the End Local literary luminaries Page and Lynn Stegner read from their works, both published and unpublished. Lynn is in the midst of shopping her newest novel around the publishing circuit. They'll read at the Santa Cruz Central Library on Feb. 25 at 7pm. ... Sista Monica takes the stage at the African-American Theater Arts Troupe production of God's Trombone this weekend at Louden Nelson Center. ... KRS 1 and Mix Master Mike will be at Palookaville on March 23. Got arts-world gossip? Email me at [email protected]. [ Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]