Category: Arts & Music
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The Day the Music Paused
I am part of a community that most people don’t even know exists. Jazz, voted the least popular genre of music in a poll done in Santa Cruz (really, we came in after polka!), is alive and well in our little edge of the universe. I am on the board of our local Jazz Society,…
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On the radio: The state of jazz in cities with a high cost of living
Will Jazz Survive in Santa Cruz? Click here to listen to the interview Brad Kava did with percussionist and looper Rick Walker.
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The benefits of being small
I moved to Santa Cruz from San Francisco. I had always wanted to live in San Francisco, and I loved it, but my future husband was a Santa Cruzan to the core. So I packed up my piano, guitars, and the wool sweaters I’d never use again and moved down to a foggy beach town…
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Risk-taking and lifelong learning
If we adults make an effort to keep striving for new and challenging experiences in our lives, it makes us better teachers and parents. My students, I try to keep in mind, do the equivalent of getting up in front of a jazz band nearly every day of their lives. They are always facing something…
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In praise of adult ed
Every Wednesday evening last spring, I presented myself with a challenge. AÂ friend encouraged me to take a jazz singing class with her at our local community college. I’d been looking for a new musical outlet, so I agreed. I nearly walked out the first night. The teacher was a venerable local swing band leader who…