Win tickets to see the Santa Cruz County Symphony - Pacific Perspectives at the Santa Cruz Civic on SantaCruz.com Featuring works by two Bay Area composers, Santa Cruz County Symphony’s aptly named Pacific Perspectives presents compositions by the late Lou Harrison, and the symphony’s own maestro, Daniel Stewart. Stewart’s Sinfonia includes nods to various pop cultural...

No. It was a complete and total misguided attempt by people that probably have rich parents to disrupt thousands of peoples lives, and it just makes no sense. It was pointless. Kevin Roberts, Santa Cruz, Mortgage Banker             No, not this one. This one went overboard and has people very angry...

Local rockers Rayburn Brothers are all about brotherly love and harmony, but the whole thing actually started out as a Craig Rayburn solo project. Craig has played music his whole life, but hadn’t until recently attempted a professionally recorded solo album—and it came out great, a nice blend of Americana, rock, and that ’70s California sound...

Spare parts don’t quite work together in ‘Chappie’ Movies, like any other art form, are interactive in one crucial way. What a viewer gets out of them depends on what she brings to the experience. One hundred people in the same auditorium at the same time will see one hundred different movies; it’s all about perspective....

Michael Eckerman’s free-form rock work mimics the sea Michael Eckerman tinkers, experiments, and fabricates his undulating stonework in an Eastside compound that looks as if J.R.R. Tolkien had settled down in suburban bohemia. Eckerman calls what he does “free-form rock work.” That pretty much describes him, too. You’ve seen his work—in sudden spherical monoliths that pop...

Handmade snapper tacos at El Palomar, plus Route 1 Farms gears up for dinner series The women of El Palomar’s bustling taco bar do it all. They work the grill, haul the dishes, shape the masa—and they kick it with precision and plenty of well-deserved attitude. Many regulars swear by the Happy Hour specials on tacos...

Ethan Miller steps up really, really close to the mic on his surprisingly intimate new Howlin’ Rain record To fully grasp the uniqueness of Howlin’ Rain’s latest album, Mansion Songs, it helps to give their prior record a spin. Live Rain—which was released last year, but recorded live on their 2012 tour—is one of the band’s...

After a nasty campaign over the proposed merger with San Lorenzo Valley Water District, Lompico’s water crisis gets desparate When Lois Henry got a recent water bill charging her for only 600 gallons over two months, she knew something was wrong. Yes, she was getting a good deal, because she uses more than that, despite doing...

When it comes to sugar, our brains are wired to want more Americans consume an average of 150-170 pounds of sugar a year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. That equates to about three pounds of the white stuff a week, and a ¼-½ pound of sugar a day. And the problem is only...

Adam Armstrong on opening Santa Cruz’s first-ever chocolate house There was once a time, hundreds of years ago, before coffee houses, when people went to chocolate houses and enjoyed a nice hot cup of chocolate. Local hot chocolate manufacturer Mutari has recently opened Santa Cruz’s first ever chocolate house, offering a variety of artisan chocolate drinks—and...