John Laird_California State_Senator_2025-04-04_KZSC_Bushwhacker's
Release Date: 04/14/2025
Kray Van Kirk_Singer, Songwriter_2025-03-28_KZSC_Bushwhacker's
KZSC Santa Cruz
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...
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John Laird_California State_Senator_2025-04-04_KZSC_Bushwhacker's
KZSC Santa Cruz
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...
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Jackson Emmer_Musician & singer-songwriter_2025-01-31_KZSC_Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club
KZSC Santa Cruz
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...
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Gail Pellerin_California State Assemblymember_2025-03-21 on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club"
KZSC Santa Cruz
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. ...
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Gail Pellerin, California 28th District Assemblymember, Feb. 21, 2025, on KZSC's "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club"
KZSC Santa Cruz
...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...
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singer-songwriter_Rachel Sumner_2025-02-28_KZSC_Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club
KZSC Santa Cruz
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...
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Dave Holodiloff_ singer, songwriter, mandolin player_2025-03-07_KZSC_Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club
KZSC Santa Cruz
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...
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CA_State_Senator_John Laird_2025-03-07_KZSC_Bushwhacker's
KZSC Santa Cruz
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...
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California State Senator (ret) Bill Monning_2/28/2025_KZSC Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club
KZSC Santa Cruz
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...
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Bruce 'B-Movie' Bratton_a life of movie reviews remembered by Sleepy John_kzsc_Bushwhacker's_20241213
KZSC Santa Cruz
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...
info_outlineDeep 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 &Trade has 2 arms: Regulatory (where oil companies got some allowanes in what some view as a "sweetheart deal", and Where Does the Money Go?; discussion of bill sunsets; Tamara texts re: Highway 1, and Senator Laird discusses his monthly call with the head of CalTrans, and will add this tohis list (his most recent call was yesterday); tariffs and Federal chaos? California is not remaining quiet! California Ag exports will get hit hard - trying to negotiate directly with Canada; Senator Laird is nervous because of the impact of tariffs, economic downturn on California state budget; Senate Study Group on the aging of LGBTQ Californians - new report out from state office, and will address with hearings soon (June? July?).
(interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on the air! Thanks for listening!)