John Laird_California State Senator_2025-10-10_interviewed on KZSC's Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club
Release Date: 10/30/2025
Kim De Serpa_Santa Cruz County Supervisor_interviewed 2026-02-27 on KZSC's 'Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club' KZSC
KZSC Santa Cruz
Kim has now been a supervisor for just over a year, having previously learned governance being on the Pajara Valley Unified School Board; a previous interview on Bushwhacker's in late 2024 / early 2025 got derailed when she attended "Supervisor Boot Camp" in Palm Springs - they had booked it for both Kim & her opponent, Kristin Brown, before the election; District 2 includes 30% of all the roads in the county, some 526 miles of roads - & roads are one of the top 3 issues she & her staff deal with, the other 2 being connectivity & PG&E, and the Planning Department; Prop. 1,...
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Zoë Aqua - Transylvanian String Music_interviewed 2026-02-27 on KZSC's 'Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club'by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Wrangle" (Chris Jong)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Zoë is coming to town tonight with 3 people in her Transylvania String Band - they played San Francisco last night; Zoë discovered Klezmer music in high school, and when she moved to New York, she started hanging out with her Klezmer Peeps; a Klezmer pal exposed her to Transylvanian string music, & her reaction was "Huh?!?! What's THAT??!!?", so in 2018, after having won a Fulbright, she traveled to Transylvania, where she met her bandmates; the Fulbright was very, very helpful; discussion of bandmates and the instruments they play, which probably are unfamiliar to everyone; discussion...
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John Leopold - Executive Producer Grammy Winner 'A Tribute to the King of Zydeco', Clifton Chenier_interviewed 2026-02-27 on KZSC's 'Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club
KZSC Santa Cruz
John is a former Santa Cruz County Supervisor who, after losing re-election went on to be Managing Director of the Arhoolie Foundation, which was founded by Chris Strachwitz; Chris founded Arhoolie Records, a roots label founded in 1960 in the Bay Area; 40 years ago, John found Chris through his radio show in KPFA; Chris founded the Arhoolie Foundation in the 1990s; John cold called Chris, & asked if he could write grants for them - Chris was skeptical, saying, "We don't have any money."; John started writing grants anyway, & ultimately brought in $1M; Chris asked John to join the...
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Patti, Lilly & Melia Spooner_Alta Organic Coffee - interviewed 2026-02-20 on KZSC's 'Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club'
KZSC Santa Cruz
Patti was building masts for racing boats, and looked into getting into coffee, because "that's the last thing people would give up" - during Covid, they learned that this was indeed true, as they were declared an "essential business"; Patti started Alta in Newport Beach in 1984, & moved to Santa Cruz in 1998; Patti, when she was "Sleepy John's" girlfriend, went to Costa Rica where they went to a finca (farm) which had the best coffee they had ever tasted; Patti looked into different kids of roasters, & decided on an air roaster, when there were hardly any small roasting companies,...
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Gail Pellerin_CA_Assemblymember_interviewed 2026-02-20 on KZSC's 'Bushwhackers Breakfast Club'
KZSC Santa Cruz
"2-year bills" had a January deadline to pass out of their House of Origin - Assemblymember Pellerin's bill on Janus Services passed out of the Assembly, & is now in the Senate (it would allow a campus like Janus to have an umbrella license, simplifying inspections & administration); Assemblymember Pellerin reviewed the bills she has submitted or will submit today as this year's bill package - it includes AB1548, the Monterey Bay Area Stewardship Authority, or MBASA, for creative funding solutions that support conservation & stewardship; AB1668, on Open Space Property Tax...
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Sonia Shell_bluegrass banjo and vocals_interviewed 2026-02-06 on KZSC Santa Cruz's 'Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club' by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Sonia didn't decide to play banjo originally...she was a cello player, but one of her oldest friends played the banjo, and Sonia wanted to find out if she could play as well (or better); was accepted to grad school when she decided to join a band instead - Sidesaddle (which had formed in 1979, but Sonia was asked to join in 1984)...Sonia played & toured with Sidesaddle for 9 years, until she quit to have kids, but later returned to the band; 90% of bluegrass is written from a man's point of view, and Sonia enjoys modifying the pronouns so that a song would be from a woman's point of view -...
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Ashwin & Keshav Batish-Sitar Power, also Jase Earl - Afrobeats_ interviewed on KZSC's ‘Bushwhacker’s Breakfast Club’ 2026-02-13 by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Ashwin lived in India until he was 12, where he played drums with his mother, before moving to England; dad was a vocalist by profession, but played sitar - he plays sitar in the Beatles movie, "Help!"; Ashwin lived in England until he was 21, & he learned sitar from his dad; at 21, he started at Cabrillo, and his family had a restaurant where Ashwin played sitar every night; the tablas are 2 separate drums, pitched, tuned to a "tonic" (middle C) - the doluk is a 2 headed drum made out of a hollowed log; Bollywood is completely different - more like Indian pop music; but his dad was from...
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Jim Lewin_Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter on Todd Snider tribute_interviewed 2026-01-30 on KZSCs 'Bushwhackers Brakfast Club' KZSC Santa Cruz - Jim Lewin, Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter on Todd Snider tribute_interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange
KZSC Santa Cruz
starting in 1980 the "Continental Drifters", followed later in the 1980s with "Harmony Grits" - "Continental Drifters" started as bluegrass, but evolved into country rock - "Harmony Grits" was bluegrass; first heard Todd Snider at The Fat Fry,a KPIG / KUSP music festival at Aptos Village Park; Jim later joined a Leftover Salmon (Vince Hermon) spin off band "Great American Taxi", touring with them for 5 years - Todd Snider was in a similar orbit, and Great American Taxi occassionally opened for Todd, & then would play wiht Todd; Todd helped produce GAT CDs, as well as Jim Lewin's CDs; Jim...
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Mali LaGoe-Scotts Vally City Manager re-Citizens Academy 2026 interviewed 2026-02-13 on KZSC's 'Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club' KZSC Santa Cruz - Mali LaGoe, Scotts Vally City Manager - interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
City manager for 4 years, having moved to the area for the job; previously, Nevada County government (Grass Valley, Nevada City & Truckeet): from the forest & snow to Scotts Valley; bachelor's degree in political science, with a masters in public administration; there are various paths into city government, hers was analyst, but there's also finance & police; the Scotts Valley Citizens Academy does not have a hard requirement to be a Scotts Valley resident, but they'll prioritiae that, as well as people who want to get involved in local government; they have a mix of ages - and...
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Pacific Voices Quartet + 1 - Santa Cruz Community Choir - interviewed on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" on 2026-01-23
KZSC Santa Cruz
Why did you join Pacific Voices? Krista - it was the dead middle of the pandemic, & her other singing group was not able to meet; upcoming concert theme, "Wisdom of the Ages"; Q: where is the best place to listen to a choir, outside, or in a building? A: a capella means "in the style of the chapel," referring to music performed in a church without musical accompaniment, so a church is the best place to hear a choir - but this weekend's concert is in a hall built for spoken word; Mitch joined Pacific Voices because he was raising 4 kids, & needed to re-connect with *his* passion; how do...
info_outlineCalifornia Senator Laird's district extends from San Luis Obispo county to Santa Cruz to southern Silicon Valley; last week staff retreat (n = 26!) - Laird has 3 offices: SLO, Monterey (with a satellite office in Salinas) & Santa Cruz - one of Senator Laird's staff is the longest serving staff member in the legislature: Tim Shelly; there's little going on in Sacramento now other than the Governor signing or vetoing bills - the legislative session ended a month ago....it was supposed to end at midnight, but went until 3am, at which point they put it on hold and came back Saturday - that day was Senator Laird's anniversary, & as the speeches went on & on, Senator Laird put his head down on his desk, which went completely viral; Measures B & C are Santa Cruz City, and are competing measures to provide money for affordable housing; we need this because affordable housing "does not pencil out"; the governor has until Sunday or Monday to sign or veto bills - for a bill to go into effect without a signature paperwork has to be filed by that deadline; anti-semitism in schools bill; Governor historically vetoes ~11% of the bills - the legislature has not overridden a veto since Jerry Brown was governor!...there are 700-800 bills on the Governor's desk..the governor issues a "legislative update" with 80-100 bills signed, and 20 vetoes; many bills are waiting until the last day, including a whole host on AI; Senator Laird has 1 that hasn't been acted upon, and it's a bill to override the state's limit on Sales Tax % for a city (or cities) in SLO county for a transportation tax - the governor has signaled opposition, not by smoke signals, but via his legislative staff - deep dive into working with staff, pre-submitting bills to avoid "veto bait".
An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC 88.1FM Santa Cruz, California.