For four years I was one of the partners in producing the Santa Cruz Blues Festival, a great local festival that ran for a quarter of a century, which I joined after being a grateful attendee. And, man, did I learn about the music business.

I was always reminded of something the blues singer Candye Kane told me. She was a porn actress and writer before she became a songstress. “Nothing in the porn industry prepared me for how dirty the music business is,” she said.

I think about that every time I see a local festival. I know how much promoters risk and how much they stand to lose and how much flak they get from performers, agents, managers, friends asking for freebies and competition from other promoters.

The old joke is: “How do you walk away with a million dollars in the concert biz? Start with $2 million.”

So when our writer DNA, who is a comedy promoter and music lover, came up with an article looking behind the scenes at our Roaring Camp music festivals, I was thrilled. I love to hear how others are making the decisions about which talent to hire and how they handle the risk.

I love the tale in his article about how String Cheese Incident is coming to play a much smaller venue than they could. Basically, the now internationally famous band—who headline Red Rocks and are doing a Halloween Festival in Florida with Bob Weir—played a local festival that got rained out and moved inside.

The band was so impressed with how the Santa Cruz promoter handled the situation that it now asks him if they can play again…and they are!

(One of the toughest decisions promoters have to face is whether they pay a fortune—$20K or more—for rain insurance or risk losing everything in the event of a storm. I still get nervous thinking about that one. What would you do?)

Other cool reads: Check Amy Smith’s column on Tantric Speed Dating. No, it’s not what you imagine, but the story is enlightening. Dating is rough in this town, right?

Former Good Times writer Matt Scott shares his experience after a near-fatal motorcycle crash and his blessed recovery. It’s a must-read.

Food writer Mark C. Anderson has an unexpected column, focusing not on restaurants but on fresh ingredients for your home cooking…and keeping you prepared for the apocalypse. Thanks, Mark.

Andrew Steingrube leads you to a new Capitola restaurant, keeping it fresh and novel.

Want poetry that sticks to your ribs? Christina Waters reviews Dion O’Reilly’s new book, saying “O’Reilly’s new poems persist long after the pages have been turned.”

And in an important Street Talk column, John Koenig hears from locals about their thoughts on the latest presidential candidate.

Thanks for reading.

Brad Kava | Editor

PHOTO CONTEST

SEE THAT GULL Seagull in Santa Cruz, Chillin’ Photograph by Sheri Levitre

GOOD IDEA

For the 15th year, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and United Way of Santa Cruz County are teaming up to send local students back to school with the supplies they need to succeed as part of the Stuff the Bus supply drive 10am-1pm Saturday at Kaiser Permanente Arena.

 Backpacks filled with essential supplies will be distributed to Santa Cruz County students experiencing homelessness and other significant hardships. After raising funds and supplies from generous donors, it’s time for a team of more than 100 volunteers to fill up the backpacks—and Stuff the Bus. For more information, visit https://www.unitedwaysc.org/stb.

GOOD WORK

For the first time, nearly all Santa Cruz County school districts are participating in a culinary training week to help them expand home-cooked meals in schools.

Since most schools are stuck mostly providing meals they purchase from large vendors, Santa Cruz County schools are training cooks on new large-scale recipes for fresher food from local farms.

Even cooks with a lot of culinary experience need training to manage large-scale recipes.

This week, cooks from Pajaro, Live Oak, San Lorenzo Valley, Soquel and Santa Cruz school districts will be training at the Live Oak central kitchen to boost the proportion of scratch-cooked meals across the county next school year.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The independence of science is being attacked across the board in this document.”

–Rachel Cleetus
Union of Concerned Scientists, on Project 2025