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In Santa Cruz a bit unexpectedly, because the California Senate started the week with 300-400 bills that had to be voted on to be passed over to the Assembly ahead of today's deadline for bills to move out of their "House of Origin" - and the Senate finished a day early! Bills will now be assigned to committee(s) in the other house - if they include fiscal implications (more than $50,000) they also go to the Appropriations Committee and placed on the "suspense calendar"; Senator Laird had 17 bills on the floor, and the hardest (SB 29) extends the sunset date on the ability to get pain & sufferring - managed it by "shear force of will"; procedurally, need a floor manager in the other house, either in name only, or one who will do the effort; Is high speed rail in California dead? No, but it is mired down due to increasing costs and delays; deep dive into California Public Utilities Commission and solar metering (thanks to Eric in Santa Cruz): deep dive into Lompico egress thanks to Tim in PG: there's one

G-Ma's Place is a young Santa Cruz jazz band comprised of Otis Ragen-Andrews, bass; Ryu Cirillo, Keyboards & Trombone; Rowan Thompson, Guitar; Xander Shulman, Drums. Got together 2nd semester, 8th grade, in 2022 to form a band to compete in a talent show - now all high school juniors; inspired by local Kuumbwa Jazz Center; Ryu has perfect pitch, which he discovered in 8th grade - it's more of a blessing than a curse; they practice at one of their grandma's garages, thus "G-ma's Place", where they occasionally butt heads, with Otis usually the last to arrive; perform covers as well as originals, with everyone contributing to the charts. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Char-Zard", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Britain to New York & Colorado via Paris, where French encouragement helped him make the leap to being a professional musician; "Guitar-based story telling", and has been called a virtuoso; "California 1" song is a love song to our iconic highway; if he sings, it's an original, but he will play some classical guitar covers; as a songwriter, antennae always up...looking for patterns; he makes a living playing music, with almost all income from plyaing live (120 shows / year - 50,000 miles / year)...CD sales cover their cost...; uses jazz form for songs; deep dive into New York City living, then most impactful folk festivals. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

  Born in Montana, raised in Oregon, high school in Ohio, then Connecticut; New York since 1983, starting with Manhattan School of Music; busking (playing on street)...made enough to (almost) cover rent, busing with bands, duos, trios, no one place - but musicians competed for street corners, and even sent one member early to claim space; own arrangements of other's music, with few originals; subbed on "The Lion King" on broadway, and has now been playing Broadway for decades, including own chair in the pit...55 shows in total! Union? Absolutely! "Broadway is always there"...the regular (DC) pay, vs. the feast & famine (AC) of gigs - sandwich freelance between Broadway gigs. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

Celebrating 10 years of "Painted Mandolin"...and Monday is the 36th Anniversary of "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club"...and this year marks 40 years for "The Banana Slug String Band"; "Painted Mandolin" begins when Larry had an idea to put together an acoustic band celebrating Jerry Garcia for a show at Don Quixote's in Felton (now the Felton Music Hall)...practices for a gig that would be a "one-off"; Larry knew Matt Hartle from playing around town, and Joe Craven from the Strawberry Music Festival, where Joe had sat in with 'The Banana Slug String Band"; 10 years ago they added Dan Robbins, a "monster" on stand-up bass; Larry wrote some originals that Matt loved, and Joe produced their CD; the money question: these days, live music is how musicians make money...as for Larry, yes! He's been fortunate enough becuase of 'The Banana Slug String Band" to make a living in Santa Cruz as a musician! An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, C

All 4 founding members of the band are still together: Sun (Solar Steve), Soil (Doug Dirt), Water (Marine Mark) and Air (Airy Larry); all educators, who formed around the Pescadero Valley outdoor education program 40 years ago, and decided to take it further; now, 40 years, and 12 albums later, they have managed to make music a part of their living / life, with environmental education music for all ages; Steve is the primary songwriter; 1st song? "I'm a Tree"; "Dirt Made my Lunch" was the first album (on vinyl & casette); they now have 4 generations of fans!; songwriter process? For Steve, the lyrics & music come at the same time (every genre)...plus, they are multi-modal, writing songs with participation / dancing in mind; Banana Slug String Band book has been translated into Chinese; 40th anniverary show coming up. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.

During Covid Gerard banged his head, and got the idea for "Poi Rogers", a mash-up of old fashioned country western meets Hawai'ian; public radio stations are crucial to up-and-coming artists, providing a way for them to reach audiences without being curated by an algorithm; the money question? Survive through a diversity of money sources, including their guitar repair shop in Soquel; been in Santa Cruz 15 years, and found the perfect place to live that allows dogs; new CD release a week from Saturday, "Twilight Blues", which will also be released on 10" vinyl; 8 week tour this summer...when they tour, it's either Poi Rogers or Carolyn Sills Combo - they don't take both out on the road at the same time. (interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange, "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) & "DJ Wrangle" (Chris Jong) on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on the air! Thanks for listening!)

Attending Grand Opening of Beach Ranch today, a 247 acre parcel along the Pajaro River that the Land Trust is preserving, including wetlands; Land Trust is a local non-profit; Assembly currently in Spring Recess; Assembly working on the budget, and going through it line by line; next week is Holocaust Remembrance Day, and on April 28th, Asssemblymember Pellerin will host a floor ceremony honoring a constituent, Ruth Liberman, that is one of 5000 babies born in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp; Assemblymember Pellerin hosted a webinar with California Insurance Commissioner Lara to discuss the aftermath of the CZU fire over 4 years ago in the Santa Cruz Mountain; Lara has submitted a 10 bill legislative pacakge that includes consumer protection for insurance, maintaining the strength of the insurance market, and resiliency; United Policyholders is a non-profit that participated in the webinar; UCSC library closing community borrowing? Assemblymember Pellerin continues to fight for funding, but will brin

Arcata, California (Humboldt) based; start in music? Kray quit grad school (was at the Graduate Theological School at U.C. Berkeley) and started touring, playing quite a bit in Alaska; when he became a single parent he realized he needed something more dependable, and so got a Ph.D. in Fisheries Modeling before working for the government in Arcata; when his daughter left the nest he quit and went back on the road (2017); who would've thought 3 months ago that in the face of Federal Funding Chaos and Science Funding Uncertainty that being a singer / songwriter would look more stable financially than being a fisheries modeler?!?!!?!; Kray lives by Woody Guthrie's saying, that a folk singer should "Comfort the Disturbed, & Disturb the Comfortable!"; kicking off tour in Santa Cruz before heading to Ojai, L.A., and....Iowa! (interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on the air! Thanks for listening!)

Deep dive into California's Cap & Trade system (Senator Laird is on the Senate's Working Group on Cap & Trade, which met last week to disuss how far we want to extend it, and whether to move up the current sunset ); How Cap & Trade works: measure emissions, and if over a cap, company has to pay a fee for the amount of emissions over the cap - alert listener Eric in Santa Cruz texts in that they can buy emissions from other companies, which is how Tesla was able to survive before they had cars to sell - Senator Laird adds that Tesla also takes advantage of emission-free car subsidies; funds paid to the state to to a fund that is ostensibly used to pay for actions to reduce emissions, but in the past the Governor has raided that fund to pay for other things; over time, the cap remains the same, but the price of credits over the cap goes up; there's pressure to renew the current system, which came out of 2006 law AB32 under Governor Schwarzenegger to encode the Kyoto Protocol agreement; Cap &Trad

Jackson relocated to Santa Cruz a year ago, from Carbondale, Colorado, because he's addicted to surfing!; "You're never a prophet in your hometown!"; Songwriter Round format...Jackson experienced this at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, where the performers were in the middle, the audience surrounding them, and each takes a turn; it was intimate, and Jackson wanted to try it in Santa Cruz; Abigayle Kempst is a young prolific singer/songwriter who lives in Nashville, and Jackson is flying her out to produce his next album - they thought, hey! Let's put together a show!; Jackson alwasy brings a handful of songs (in case you're clueless), but usually the singer / songwriters react to each other's songs, follow themes, and so the overall show can be unpredictable, but fun for both the performers and the audience. (interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club". In 2025, celebrating 36+ years on the air! Thanks for listening!!!)  

March is Women's History Month; recently announced the winners of the Assembly Distict 28 Women of the Year, with a deeep dive into each of them and why they were nominated / awarded; Assemblymember Pellerin's staff who helped pull this off; every woman in the California legislature is given a number - Gail is #187 - and they are now up to 206...almost 50% of the California legislature (Assembly and Senate) are women (59 of 120)!!! ; chaos in Washington, uncertain times, and how California is coping / girding itself, and how the agriculture industry in the district is girding itself. (Interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club". In 2025 celebrating 36 years on the air! Thanks for listening!!)  

...heading to San Jose today; the deadline for submitting bills for this year's regular legislative session is today; lawmakers can submit up to 35 bills per 2 year session; staff member Lisette suggested a bill on renters getting their deposits back via Venmo if they paid their deposit via Venmo; re-introducing bill for transferring Semper Virens parcels to State Park system (=AB679); also a bill that would prohibit one jurisdiction from transporting a person experiencing homelessness from their jurisdiction to another jurisdiction; a bill on how to correct a ballot if you've made a mistake; discussion of the recent trial of the under-aged boy who murdered an 8 year old where the trial was whether he could be released into society now that he's 25, and whether the family will have to go through this every 2 years (the judge ruled that he should be held); CZU fires (4 1/2 years ago) and the 63% that have not been re-built or in process of re-building: "whatever LA gets, we should get, too!"; CA insurance co

Named after James Taylor (middle name), so destined for a life in music. Started on classical flute, and got into Berklee School of Music in Boston, where she came across Bluegrass (Molly Tuttle was in her class). Put together a bluegrass band (Twisted Pine). Put out a CD of songs ("Heartless Things", and later formed "Traveling Light" with Cat Wallace on fiddle and Mike Segal on bass. They put out a CD of the same songs as Heartless Things, but this time with traditional bluegrass arrangements, and 3 part harmonies sharing a microphone. The song "Radium Girls" is about the women who were tasked to paint Radium on watch dials, even though their bosses knew it would make them sick. Boston's "Sumner Tunnel"? Named after Charles Sumner, a pre-Civil War abolitionist (and possible distant relative). The Money Question? None of the members of the band make a living playing music - all have day jobs (Rachel runs sound and runs a school of music) - but their day jobs are sympathetic to their music and touring (but wh

Been a musician all of his adult life - 20 years; the Money Question? Yes! Able to make a living as a musician mostly through shows, also teaching, production, some private events; not putting out CDs any more - it's "a thing of the past", because many people (including Dave) no longer have CD players; Dave Holodiloff Bluegrass covers of the Grateful Dead? Been a fan since high school, learned to play Dead songs; have performed a Grateful Dead / Jerry Garcia show every year on Jerry's birthday - this year will be the 17th annual, at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur; other Rock n' Roll covers? Listened to Led Zeppelin as a teenager and learned to plan on guitar, later mandolin, but in high school his primary instrument was drums; path from Rock n' Roll to Balkan music? Balkan music uses exotic rhythms (which appeals to a drummer), harmonies, and minor keys; theme shows, and Balkan trio shows.   (Interviewed on KZSC' "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on

Legislative deadline for bill submittal passed (2/21); Laird submitted 19 bills - the legislature previously had limits of 40 bills per 2 year session in the Senate, 50 in the Assembly - now, both houses have a limit of 35 for each Assemblymember and Senator; Senator Laird has a few bills in "spot form", which has the focus of the bill, but it needs to be fleshed out - cannot amend within 30 days of being introduced, and spot bills must be finalized by March 26; one spot bill on battery storage (applying lessons learned from Moss Landing battery storage fire); spot bills removing sunset expiration from previously passed bills; Dylan's Q: any actions / bills to replace Moss Landing type battery storage? Senator Laird considering: what do we do with the 25% of batteries in California that are that generation? Phase out? What's the criteria? Timing? Spot bills are different from "gut and amend", which can be done any time; "moveable spot" bills are different, and include something substantive (not just intent),

When we spoke in November (on Santa Cruz Voice) Bill said that the Country was in bad shape? Now? "It's gotten worse!"; in Compton, the school buses are all electric, helping combate greenhouse gas and climate change - incremental gains are happenning...but this administration, with "Drill, baby! Drill!"; what question would a retired state senator have for a current college student? "What a great opportunity! What are students doing today to help make the world better?" Dylan's answer: protests and demonstrations, passion; U.C. Santa Cruz was built during the administration of Governor Ronald Reagan, and was designed to *not* have a central plaza that could be the focus of protests like U.C. Berkeley...but they didn't realize that by building the campus inside the city limits, lowering the voting age to 18, and allowing students to vote where they went to school, they would create "The People's Republic of Santa Cruz"!; deep dive into meaningful change ahead of the mid-term elections: resistance taking sha

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