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We interviewed Bruce "B-Movie" Bratton last Friday on his last regular segment of movie reviews on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" after 19 years; Bruce passed away at home, in his sleep, 5 days later on December 11, 2024; in Santa Cruz Bruce worked for every newspaper in town, the Good Times, the Santa Cruz Metro, the Santa Cruz Sentinel; Sleepy knew Bruce for 35 years; Bruce always had a beef with something, and would let you know about it; Dangerous Dan was not always a fan, as Bruce would go on and on, including lengthy reviews of movies he hated and did not want you to watch; Bruce improved, though, and listened to constructive criticism; Bruce had an earlier incarnation as part of The Goodimte Washboard Three, and they appeared on Bing Crosby's TV show on April Fools Day, 1967; lots of listeners texted in their remembrances and condolences.   (Bruce passed away at home, in his sleep, 2 days before this interview, on December 11, 2024. RIP, "B-Movie" - you are missed!)

Peppino has been professional since he was 18, and the music industry has changed in the last 40 years, but the power of music has not, and never will; now, it's all about performing live, and no longer making royalties from records; how Peppino mixes performing live with soundtracks, music for video games, and guitar workshops, master classes, and seminars; as a solo performer, it's easier, because he doesn't have to share the revenue, and teaching makes things a bit easier because he can stay in one place; deep dive into how EA (Electronic Arts) asked Peppno to play guitar badly for the Sims video game: "play the blues the worst way you can!"   Interviewed on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" on KZSC Santa Cruz 88.1FM by "Dangerous Dan" Orange and DJ Char-Zard (Charissa Zeigler)

Moss Landing's Vistra facility is the largest battery storage facility in California, which had a horrific fire last month that burned for days; Morro Bay has a planned battery storage facility, but which will use a newer technology that is less prone to failure and more powerful; battery storage in California is growing, and saved the grid during a recent heat spike, supplying more power to the grid than nuclear enery; battery technology has evolved; using Morro Bay as an example, the Energy Commission reviews and approves battery storage facilities, which have an option to go through local channels...if it's in the coastal zone, it has to go through the Coastal Commission (who take their role seriously); NIMBY? Cannot allow wealthy communities on the coast to push to lower socioeconomic communities; need to assure public that it's safe and transparent; Laird is vetting a bill on Lithium Battery Standards that would cover EVs, batteries in cars, home battery walls; bill introduction deadline is Feb. 21st - w

Aid package for Southern California passed by legislature, addressing historic (and horrific) fires...$$ for recovery, debris removal passed by the special session after the governor expanded the scope, with rules waived and bill passage expedited; deep dive into CZU fires 4 years 5 months ago and of the 967 homes destroyed, 18% have been re-built, with another 19% under construction - leaving almost 2/3 that have not! Homeowners using CalFAIR, the insurer of last resort, increased by 435% since 2020 in the Santa Cruz Mountains!!! AB226 submitted ot ensure financial stability of plan; homeowners insurance in California is broken; digression to January as Traficking Awareness Month - an Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR); Moss Landing battery fire - can't put it out, and have to wait.  

New legislative session started last Monday...it's usually low key, but the fires in LA got in the middle of it, resulting in some political showboating vs. governing; climate change is the real culprit, not a lack of water (which is disinformation); learnings from our CZU fire applied to the rest of the state, and the LA fires - clean up may involve toxic materials; Santa Cruz measures for future fires; defensible space plus fire resistant building materials; homeowner's insurance and insurance companies dropping people as soon as they can after a fire - which happened in Santa Cruz County, with no choice by California FARE, which is half the coverage at twice the price; insurers cannot write climate change into policies...how to protect customers when there's no way that rates won't go up; California's broken homeowner's insurance.

Been in Ashville, North Carolina, 30 years....North Carolina gets hurricanes, but they always affect the coast - Ashville is a 6 hour drive from the coast! Hurrican Helene hit last September 27 / 28, and Chuck flew home from Scotland the day before it hit; the local online newspaper warned of "Catastrophic winds & flooding!"; the 3-4 days before the hurricane Ashville got 15" of rain, which saturated the soil...Chuck lives on a mountain, having bought a house back in the day before the real estate boom; homeowner's insurance does not cover floods or landslides, for that you need flood insurance, which was prohibitively expensive, and why would you need it if you lived on the side of a mountain?!?! Chuck has 2 landslides on his property which will be very expensive to clean up; FEMA covers the roof over your head, but not if you can't get to your roof, or if you have landslides; Chuck has posted a new song on YouTube about the hurricane and the aftermath: "Sound of the Wind and the Rain" - posted 4 days ag

Harry & the Hitmen is a 6-piece band that's been playing together for almost 20 years, starting in Santa Cruz near KZSC on Gulf Club Drive at the edge of the Pogonip - Button joined a few years ago; New Year's Eve co-bill with Wolf Jett at Felton Music Hall...at their New Year's Eve shows, after the countdown and the celebration, Harry & the Hitmen debut a new set, which could be an iconic album in its entirety; 5 of the 6 sing, with a shout out to Nicholas, Scott and Ryan for the arrangements; discussion of covers of R+B and Soul (Stax records, Motown) and originals.

Today is Maureen McCartney's last day in Gail's office before retiring! Maureen is District Manager; Assemblymember Pellerin's district includes Santa Cruz to the Yacht Harbor / Nisene Marks, the northern half of Santa Cruz County, and quite a bit of Santa Clara County from Santa Clara to Almaden and Morgan Hill; although Maureen is retiring from her state job, she's not going far, as she'll have a "side hustle" on Kim deSerpa's staff (newly elected County Supervisor); Maureen started as an intern "working for pennies", then became a staff member for a congressman in Washington DC, later moving to Santa Cruz and becoming a staff member for a Palo Alto state senator; Special Session, where California legislature "Hopes for the best but prepares for the worst"; deep dive into staff, and how they maintain institutional knowledge.

Thom came to Santa Cruz in the 1970s to attend U.C. Santa Cruz, where he majored in (but did not graduate in) Aesthetic Studies (he was one of the last majors); John moved to Santa Cruz in the 1980s, and he now teaches at Cabrillo College (our local community college), digital design, web design; there are 3 iterations of the Comic News: the Santa Cruz Comic News, delivered locally with partial ad support, the Comic News, mailed to subscribers and subscription supported, and TheComicNews.com, subscription supported; Thom was interested in editorial cartoons and tried to sell his own one at a time; he learned about synidcates which, to an editorial cartoonist, are like a record label to a musician; after being inspired by a book of editorial cartoons at Kepler's bookstore in Menlo Park, on April Fool's Day 1984 he put out his first bi-weekly paper including stringing together editorial cartoons; helped introduce Nina Paley, who John says was first published in Santa Cruz in the Monthly Planet, a monthly newspa

With 19 years of movie reviews, have not set up an archive (yet); B-Movie sees ~200 movies per year; 19 years ago, started Bratton Online at about the same time Bruce started duing movie reviews on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club"; B-Movie studied film at UC Berkeley for 5 years, then UC Santa Cruz for 4 years, receiving a degree in film studies; was Bruce able to do film as his "day job"? No. But he did run the Silent Film Festival at the Castro Theater; why quit now? Burned out? In part, yes...also, the average quality of films has declined, theaters are closing left & right, and there have been great leaps in technology such that people are watching movies on smaller & smaller screens, plus the streaming services have entered the fray; a local author is writing a book about "B-Movie" (stay tuned), and "Bushwhacker's" produced a podcast of this interview (you're listening to it!); favorite movies of all time? "The Wizard of Oz" - 1939 - new, wild crazy; also, "Thief of Baghdad"; hope to return for

"Duo Quartet" started as a 'Happy Accident'; The Pam & Jeri Show (Jeri Jones) booked a gig at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, and they wanted a double bill, so they asked Chris Webster & Nina Gerber to join them, and they ended up playing together & really enjoying it (10-12 years ago); everybody in the quartet writes songs; Nina & Jeri Jones play guitar, Chris Webster on washboard, and Pam Delgado plays cajon - everyone but Nina sings; the Money Question? for Pam, not anymore...she's an account manager at a landscape company, but her boss is both a musician and a fan. 

First performing gig was in 2007....her career took off in 2017 after she won an award at the 2017 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition at the Kennedy Center; as a songwriter, sometimes the songs just come to her; she writes and sings about social justice (e.g.: "Cancel Culture"); she plays banjo, having majored in music at college in North Carolina; started tour with Julian Taylor from Toronto...they're playing separate gigs, but will be back together for show next Thursday at The Ugly Mug in Soquel.  

What can we do to prepare for Trump's clear mandate? It's a marathon, not a sprint...change starts local, and in ourselves; discussion of the changing face of local journalism, with Lookout Santa Cruz's birthday last night, and how they are rolling out in local schools; Gail studied journalism in college (Cal Poly, SLO), where she was editor of the Mustang, & later a reporter at the SLO Bulletin, Elk Grove Citizen, where she realized she had opinions; worked for Rusty Arias' district office, then the Bill Tracking Unit in Sacramento, and later, Santa Cruz County Clerk; the Governor *has* called another Special Session, which will be sworn in on Dec. 2nd - the goal is to insure that the Attorney General has the funding needed for the anticipated wave of litigation that will follow Trump's inauguration (California filed 120 lawsuits in the last Trump administsration); recent Trump cabinet announcements: the Senate has to do their job, with transparency; next legislative session starts January 6th...February

Martine Watkins, City Councilmember in Santa Cruz, California, discusses history of sugar-sweetened beverage tax in Santa Cruz, and how earlier efforts were cut off by passage of the California Keep Groceries Affordable Act, which penalized charter cities who would raise taxes on sugar sweetened beverages. Martine and Cultiva La Salud sued the state, and won in the Third District Court of Appeal, which struck down the Act's penalty provision. On June 25, 2024, the City Council adopted resolution (No. NS-30,360) requesting that the Nov. 5, 2024 General Election ballot include a general tax of 2 cents per fluid ounce on distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages (the 1st 3 "WHEREAS"s were read on the podcast), which the City Council passed unanimously. The "No on Z" campaign has raised approximately $1.7 million, with the "Yes on Z" raising $23,000 - "David vs. Goliath"; follow the money!! Additional Santa Cruz issues discussed. 

Zoë Aqua, Dmitri Gaskin, and Raffi Boden play Klezmer music, in the tradition of Ashkenazi Jewish people from Eastern Europe villages. Dmitri plays accordion and lives on a Watsonville apple farm, Zoë plays violin & recently completed a Fulbright in the Transylvania area of Romania(!), & Raffi lives in Brooklyn and is a full time freelance musician playing in 3-4 Klezmer bands. Zoë also teaches, and Dmitri is an apple farmer. How did they stumble into Klezmer? Good question! Dmitri's parents had Klezmer music CDs when he grew up in Berkeley, California, and legendary Klezmer musician Josh Horowitz moved to the area and became his teacher. Zoë grew up in Denver with a dad interested in Klezmer / Klezmatics / Brave Old World. Raffi's family at Passover pulled out the Klezmer Plus songbook. Raffi joined Zoë & Dmitri 2 days ago! 

Scott Newsome, City Councilmember in Santa Cruz, California, discusses how city ordinances are introduced and passed. Tennant protection ordinance, and an ordinance to prevent outside police departments from depositing unhoused individuals in Santa Cruz. The role of a city council member is to listen, and make progress; downtown construction and lowering barriers to approving housing. Hosted by "Dangerous Dan" Orange

Owen Ragland and Kat Baker performing as Honey Run. They went to high school together, and reconnected after college - they knew they wanted a band, and were searching for a nature-inspired name...a friend told them about a name rejected by their band, and lo-and-behold!! they became "Honey Run". Owen is doing a bunch of music projects, & Kat is a civil engineer and works for the Forest Service by day, with music after hours. Owen is a multi-instrumentalist, whose parents were bluegrass musicians, with Owen wanting to play fiddle since he was a kid and, when he was a teenager, guitar; Kat took a different path, learning mandolin during the pandemic lockdown. Hosted by "Dangerous Dan" Orange and DJ "Charizard" (Charissa Zeigler) 

Risa Hosking, Singer Songwriter, on her life path and career, including where she grew up (Hatchett Mountain), 15 miles from the nearest school, and her early influences (the Mountaineer Jug Band) and a teacher who convinced her to join an all-girl band. It wasn't 'till she got to a California Bluegrass Association camp and heard people jamming at night that she learned she was playing "Old Time Busic"; now "country/folk with a little twang". Rita got a grant from Arts Council from the state, to write music / songs about climate change; making a living with music performing, running a songwriting festival, teaching, writing. Hosted by "Dangerous Dan" Orange and DJ "Charizard" (Charissa Zeigler) 

Joe Robinson, Australian finger-style guitar virtuoso and singer/songwriter, started playing guitar at age 10, and, at 16, won Australia Got Talent! Moved to Nashville to break into the music business, and spent 12 years as a studio musician, and touring 250 shows a year. He moved to Montana, where less distraction allows him to focus on music. Includes 3 live songs played in the KZSC studio. 

Gail Pellerin, CA's 28th District Assemblymember, on the recent May Revise horrorshow, the death of AB1999, and California's new state slug. Hosted by "Dangerous Dan" Orange, "Kalamity Kyle" Keller, and Kaos.