House concert tonight features 2 sisters from Ukraine, the Bezhenar sisters, who have been collaborating with Nina on her new CD; Nina was playing with her brother Scott when she heard Kate Wolf through her records - she learned the songs, and became Kate's accompanying guitarist; Chris hales from Davis, California; song: "Candybars and Freedom", written by Chris, and a discussion of songwriting; the "money question": "Do you make a living playing music?" Answer = yes, thanks to various incarnations / groups and performing: it's no longer possible to make a living selling music CDs, but you can make a living through live performances.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "Kaos", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Walnut Ave Family & Women's Center is celebrating 90 years in Santa Cruz!!! Started in 1933 as the local chapter of the YWCA; focus is on children, youth, women, family support, advocacy & prevention - children & youth = focus on the next generation, particularly life skills, including how to be in a relationship; added more focus on domestic violence in the 1990s, adding certified training to be an advocate for survivors of domestic violence (they have 2 hotlines, plus walk-in hours in downtown Santa Cruz); new program = "A Place for Change" - an alternative to the legal system for domestic violence; child care is a necessity...most parents in Santa Cruz work 2 jobs to get by...Santa Cruz subsidized child care is meeting only 14% of the need!! ...haven't been able to open infant / toddler child care because they can't pay enough for someone to live in Santa Cruz; Q: can we generate money to keep professionals? 75% funding from state and federal level, 10% local...local foundations are generous and more flexible (thanks!); shifted from YWCA to WAFWC when they saw the need for domestic violence services, and could not access federal funding as a religious organization; end on a note of hope & positivity: Julie enjoys working with people doing the hard work!

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange, "Kalamity Kyle" Weller, & "Kaos" (Katrina Clugston), airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Today's luncheon will honor the 14 Women of the Year in Assemblymember Pellerin's District; this is the 3rd annual, & will be held in Santa Cruz at the Seymour Center (the 1st was in San Jose, and the 2nd was in Morgan Hill); discuss each of the 14 women in alphabetical order; one successfully worked on Measure A, a temporary tax in San Jose to fill the gap in health care due to cuts; AAUW is the American Association of University Women; Monte Sereno, population 3500, is the smallest city in the Assemblymember's district - & has no businesses!; the Briggs Initiative was a California proposition to ban LGBTQ+ people from teaching in schools - one of this year's winners helped defeat this in 1978 58.4% to 41.6%; a "candy striper" was a young woman who wore outfits like striped candy who would go to facilities (elder care, hospitals) to brighten people's days; "Africcianado" is a combination of Africa & afficianado; Damian's Ladder is a non-profit that supports senior citizens with odds & ends and projects.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Brenda is a UCSC professor, filmmaker, and board member of the Watsonville Film Festival (WFF); the WFF is in its 14th year, having been founded by Consuela Alva when she found there wasn't an outlet for her films in the area; the WFF grew organically over time, & focuses on Latino & Indigenous Stories, with screenings now in Watsonville, Salinas, and Santa Cruz; one of the WFF's short films won an award at DocNYC in New York City!; Brenda's film got an extended standing ovation, and will screen next at the Philadelphia Film Festival; Brenda teaches social documentation & storytelling at UCSC.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Senator Laird is the chair of the budget committee, with a lot going on, but first a look at his legislative package for this year's session; a lot more resolutions, but bills include helping out local wineries (who are sufferring) by letting them sell at Farmer's Markets...Pajaro Valley...Restore PG&E tax regarding Diablo Canyon...allow swimming in the lake that's at the headwaters of the Salinas River...and a new law prohibiting watering of artificial lawns (!!!! Yes, requires a law to give water districts the authority to prohibit this - a violation would be a misdemeanor with a fine!!!); discussion of arcane US Senate rules vs. California Senate; Watsonville Hospital in trouble AGAIN ??!?!? the root problem is that MediCal reimbursements are less than the cost of health care - they were on track to bin the black this year (or close), but the Federal government eliminated one reimbursement and delayed another, so now, with 8 to 10 days of cash on hand, they are trying to figure out how to save the hospital, starting with a bridge to next July; discussing "Private-Public Partnerships" with Sutter (Kaiser until recently) where the private entity would take on management and debt (1!1)...that works if the Watsonville Hospital fits with their regional perspective; deep dive into the Housing Element, where Senator Laird's constituents are all over this - Santa Cruz City is on track, but the County is not...specific projects & the "builder's remedy"...huge housing bond to the voters that would help out first time home buyers; as Budget Chair, Senator Laird is hellaciously busy after a day and a half budget retreat, followed by a 2 day policy retreat; the budget committee & 5 sub-committees have to go through every line item in the Governor's budget; there's a projection that California's revenue will be $6 Billion more than anticipated in December!!; Senator Laird authored a bill to help offset the Fed's $330 million cut to Planned Parenthood.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Ronnie has been in area for 45 years, coming here out of high school because she loved the mountains...and buying a house for $122k (!!!); she is giving a series of 3 presentations on Ben Lomond history - next Thursday is talk #2, "Mountain Outpost to Thriving Town", which will cover ~1910 or 1915 to 1950; the 1st talk covered 1820 to 1887, the "Formation of Ben Lomond" - logging was part of it, but it was the railroad which allowed wealthy tourists to come to big hotels that were instrumental in the development of the town; Part 2 is all about resorts & vacation homes, with the big hotels declining as vehicles supplanted the railroad (after the railroad was removed in 1934), and mom & pop resorts of 10-15 cottages each taking their place; after the mill closed, leaving manhy workers cottages along the river, the town decided to re-develop, with the owners of the land with the workers cottages all agreeing to move the cottages to the other side of the river - on lots half their original size - to create a park!!! The talk series is a benefit for the Ben Lomond Alliance, who are raising money for sprinklers for Park Hall; the 3rd talk in the series will include the Korean & Vietnam wars & the Peace Movements, the Hippy Movement, and lots & lots of music; Ronnie's passion for history grew out of her love of maps, and Santa Cruz not haveing many older than the 1920s & 1930s road maps - Ronnie discovered post cards, which had their golden age before WWI, as the most beautiful cards were made in Germany - before 1907, post cards did not have a divided back with space for the address on half of it; reprise the "Great Migration" in 1911 when everyone agree to give up their lots for a half-sized lot on the other side...all for a community park, where the firemen built a dam to make a pool for everyone to enjoy!

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Bill Raney, Zach's dad, passed away exactly 1 month ago; Zach was adopted in 1968 from the Monterey Bay Children's Home Society, and lived with Bill & Joanne Walker Raney in the house attached to the Nickelodeon Theater ("Nick 1"); that house was later jacked up & moved down the street so that the Nick could expand ("Nick 2, 3, & 4"; "Great Question #1"); What possessed Bill & Joanne Walker Raney to start an arthouse cinema in Santa Cruz? ("Great Question #2): they had met in North Beach, where Bill was a self-described beatnik (and the subject of his first book) & Joanne owned an arthouse theater - when they saw a movie theater for sale in Santa Cruz she sold that one, & they bought it & moved down (when was the Nick founded ["Great Question #3]: A - in 1967); Joanned died soon after, leaving Zach at age 1, and his adopted brother Zerky (short for Zirxses) 3; Zirky passed away the next year; Bill traveled the world with Zeirky (back when this was not easy to do), & wrote about it in his book "Letters to Zerky: A Father's Legacy to a Lost Son...and a Road Trip Around the World" (with JoAnne Walker Raney as co-author); Bill remarried (Nancy), giving him a 2nd chance - Zach gained 2 step siblings; Nancy passed away in 2016; Zach went to Happy Valley School, where he was friends with "Sleepy John's" son, Ernie; Branciforte Junior High, then Harbor High & Santa Cruz High; SF State, where he played baseball (Division 2, or "D-2"), later playing baseball in Niceragua, and for the Atlanta Braves farm team; How'd he land at Gateway School? ("Great Question #4); Zach was teaching in San Diego, where he had met & married Athena, and had kids...when Kathy Sandidge, Ernie's wife, told him about a job at Gateway, the family, around the dinner table, was unanimous that he apply - and he got the job (his students were listening to the interview); how did Bill & first Joanne, then Nancy, find movies? Bill spent a lot of time traveling, and would bring back movies in giant metal boxes of reels; the Sash Mill, which Bill also started, was showing a Beatles movie on the day John Lennon died; Bill screened the Rocky Horror Picture Show for years; when did the Sash Mill close ("Great Question #5) - not sure, but there was a restaurant out front; "The Money Question?" the Nick was an Institution! With the Sash Mill, very successful - Bill hosted the Ramones, who Zach got to meet backstage when he was in High School; Jim Swinderlee, Bill's business partner, bought the Nick & the Del Mar - he sold both to Landmark Pictures, who closed them during Covid (Grrrrr...); about Bill Raney: he contracted dementia, which was debilitating...he was a great father...kind...loving...always an open door...welcome everybody with open arms;; Where was Zerky adopted from? "Great Question #6!" - Zach didn't know, & wished he'd asked his dad.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Chris & Jon started playing music together when they wree 11; Jon went to UCSC, & Chris would visit, as they were best friends; the Jett part of their name came from Chris honoring a grandfather, Rawlin Jett, that he never knew - Curtis Jett gained infamy by murdering a lawyer on the courthouse steps - the Wolf part of their name came from Chris' mom, who told him to stop wolfing down his food; Chris grew up in Georgia, and wrote the song "Straight Back Home to You" as a Road Trip song; album / CD release party a week from tomorrow in Felton; Jon's house, with their studio, burned down in the CZU fire - recently re-built; songwriting - it takes work!; the "Money Question" - got to hustle! Also lumberjacking. and a past in Big Pharma; song "Don't Give Up On Me Now" came to him, and includes a ripping guitar solo by Benjamin Andrews that already has 350,000 views on Instagram - with no revenue for him or the band! People buying merchandise is the only way they make money to keep going.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.