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While walking along the San Lorenzo River levee earlier this year, Ann Altstatt received a spontaneous visit from her muse. “It was just one of those moments where things line up, and you get a flash of inspiration—sort of like a snapshot of an idea,” the local painter/printmaker/science illustrator recalls. Lorenzo River during the month […]
Local musician Etienne David Franc is determined to capture his song ideas… even if it kills him. “Almost all of my writing happens—very dangerously—while I’m driving,” the bassist/guitarist/vocalist/rapper confesses. Franc does a huge amount of his composing on iMaschine, the phone app version of a drum machine/sequencer/controller that is changing the way producers make beats […]
With its redwoods, sloughs, wetlands and wild plants, Santa Cruz County holds a lifetime’s supply of artistic subject matter for local photographer/printer Linda Cover. A SPECTRA artist who has been teaching in the area for more than a decade, Cover specializes in nature photos enhanced with materials like orange oil, pastels and charcoal. Originally from […]
Just as some visual artists use music for inspiration while they draw, paint or sculpt, Jesse Autumn uses visual art as inspiration for her music. When she enters the recording studio, the local harpist/pianist/vocalist adorns her piano with images that fuel her imagination. “I bring little tiny postcards of paintings that I’m really into, or […]
Charanpal is a Santa Cruz-based devotional singer whose music is rooted in the practice of Kundalini yoga. Her new album, Aeons, reached #4 on the iTunes World Music Charts within five hours of its release on September 8th. Local Santa Cruz: What’s going on in your world right now, Charanpal? Charanpal: Well, I just wrapped […]
In 2013, the Americana/bluegrass band The Brothers Comatose found itself at a crossroads. When bassist Gio Benedetti parted ways with the group to meet the demands of having a newly born second child, the four remaining members were left with a major void to fill. “We messed around with some substitutes, and we just never […]
It’s rare that a band make as dramatic a transformation from one album to the next as Fainting Goats have made between their debut album, Native Sounds of the Golden West, and their sophomore release, Cambria Pines. While the former album consisted of hook-filled indie rock influenced by the likes of Camper Van Beethoven, Guided […]
Taylor Reinhold seems to leave a trail of art behind him wherever goes. His graffiti-inspired work can be seen not only on the walls of local establishments like the Aqua Breeze Inn and Live Oak Elementary School, but also in the industrial section of Honolulu’s Chinatown, on business logos and energy bar labels and at […]
Emerson Murray’s figurative abstract paintings are great conversation starters. Ask five people to create a story based on one of his works, and you’re likely to end up with five completely different narratives—all of them equally valid. “I approach [each painting] as a story or a legend, and I sort of boil that down to […]
Artistic ability: nature or nurture? For local painter F.J. Anderson, it’s a combination of both. “I was lucky to have some art genes in me,” offers Anderson, who grew up watching his older brother and grandmother create art. However, he’s quick to acknowledge the early influence of some strong art teachers, as well as a […]
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