Gail Pellerin_CA_Assemblymember_2025-11-21_on KZSC's Bushwhackers Breakfast Club "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
Release Date: 11/22/2025
Gail Pellerin, California 28th District Assemblymember - KZSC interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & DJ "Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Today's luncheon will honor the 14 Women of the Year in Assemblymember Pellerin's District; this is the 3rd annual, & will be held in Santa Cruz at the Seymour Center (the 1st was in San Jose, and the 2nd was in Morgan Hill); discuss each of the 14 women in alphabetical order; one successfully worked on Measure A, a temporary tax in San Jose to fill the gap in health care due to cuts; AAUW is the American Association of University Women; Monte Sereno, population 3500, is the smallest city in the Assemblymember's district - & has no businesses!; the Briggs Initiative was a California...
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Brenda Avila-Handa - Watsonville Film Festival (WFF)_2026-03-20_interview on KZSC's Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club
KZSC Santa Cruz
Brenda is a UCSC professor, filmmaker, and board member of the Watsonville Film Festival (WFF); the WFF is in its 14th year, having been founded by Consuela Alva when she found there wasn't an outlet for her films in the area; the WFF grew organically over time, & focuses on Latino & Indigenous Stories, with screenings now in Watsonville, Salinas, and Santa Cruz; one of the WFF's short films won an award at DocNYC in New York City!; Brenda's film got an extended standing ovation, and will screen next at the Philadelphia Film Festival; Brenda teaches social documentation &...
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John Laird_California State Senator_2026-03-06_interview on KZSC's Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club
KZSC Santa Cruz
Senator Laird is the chair of the budget committee, with a lot going on, but first a look at his legislative package for this year's session; a lot more resolutions, but bills include helping out local wineries (who are sufferring) by letting them sell at Farmer's Markets...Pajaro Valley...Restore PG&E tax regarding Diablo Canyon...allow swimming in the lake that's at the headwaters of the Salinas River...and a new law prohibiting watering of artificial lawns (!!!! Yes, requires a law to give water districts the authority to prohibit this - a violation would be a misdemeanor with a...
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Ronnie Trubeck - San Lorenzo Valley Historian, Realtor, & Collector of Ephemera_interviewed on KZSC by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Ronnie has been in area for 45 years, coming here out of high school because she loved the mountains...and buying a house for $122k (!!!); she is giving a series of 3 presentations on Ben Lomond history - next Thursday is talk , "Mountain Outpost to Thriving Town", which will cover ~1910 or 1915 to 1950; the 1st talk covered 1820 to 1887, the "Formation of Ben Lomond" - logging was part of it, but it was the railroad which allowed wealthy tourists to come to big hotels that were instrumental in the development of the town; Part 2 is all about resorts & vacation homes, with the big...
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Zach Raney_son of recently deceased Bill Raney, of Santa Cruz Arthouse Theaters_2026-03-27_interview on KZSC's 'Bushwhackers Breakfast Club'
KZSC Santa Cruz
Bill Raney, Zach's dad, passed away exactly 1 month ago; Zach was adopted in 1968 from the Monterey Bay Children's Home Society, and lived with Bill & Joanne Walker Raney in the house attached to the Nickelodeon Theater ("Nick 1"); that house was later jacked up & moved down the street so that the Nick could expand ("Nick 2, 3, & 4"; "Great Question "); What possessed Bill & Joanne Walker Raney to start an arthouse cinema in Santa Cruz? ("Great Question ): they had met in North Beach, where Bill was a self-described beatnik (and the subject of his first book) &...
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Chris Jett_Wolf Jett_Cosmic Mountain Music - Rockin' Americana_Live! in the studio_interviewed by 'Dangerous Dan' Orange
KZSC Santa Cruz
Chris & Jon started playing music together when they wree 11; Jon went to UCSC, & Chris would visit, as they were best friends; the Jett part of their name came from Chris honoring a grandfather, Rawlin Jett, that he never knew - Curtis Jett gained infamy by murdering a lawyer on the courthouse steps - the Wolf part of their name came from Chris' mom, who told him to stop wolfing down his food; Chris grew up in Georgia, and wrote the song "Straight Back Home to You" as a Road Trip song; album / CD release party a week from tomorrow in Felton; Jon's house, with their studio, burned down...
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'The Messiahs' = Ken Kraft, Bobby O'Neill &Craig Owens_2026-03-27_interview on KZSC's 'Bushwhackers Breakfast Club'
KZSC Santa Cruz
Bobby came to Santa Cruz in 1964, when he was still in high school, following a musician he played with in a band; he started the iconic Santa Cruz band, "Snail", in 1968, & Ken Kraft Joined later that year; Snail toured all over...Southern California, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield; Snail landed a record deal in 1978 with Cream Records (David Crook), who had moved down to Hollywood; Snail got air play, & got big in places like Idaho's college towns; they recorded their 2nd album in Bayshore, Florida, where they recorded by day, and the Eagles would record evenings / nights their album,...
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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...
info_outlineThe day is off to a busy start, with Darwin (her dog) off to Doggy Day Camp, & a pot of pea soup on the stove! Deep dive into Prop. 50 re-districting initiative passed, and Texas' re-districting struck down for "racial gerrymandering" by the District Court - language in Prop. 50 that it would kick in only if Texas re-districted was removed from the initiative...3 or 4 days before the legislature voted on it! Prop. 50 includes a sunset (2032) - Assemblymember Pellerin says that what we need is a nationwide system of independent re-districting committees; 2025 election hindsight? It's "affordability"!, + what's happening on the streets & withholding food from seniors & children; California fighting back against Washington's swipes ($80MM for food banks, health care affordability, keeping hospitals open, fighting back against assault on the planet); preview of 2026 bill themes and discussion of "2-year bills" submitted in 2025 but not passed or vetoed; the last day to move bills that involve $$ is 1/16, the bill deadline for house-of-origin in 1/23; touring new La Bahia today, tomorrow is the unveiling of the sign designating part of Highway 9 after Sgt. Guswailer - it's also "International Survivors of Suicide Loss Dan", soon after (11/19) the anniversary of Assemblymember Pellerin's husband's suicide; eBike bills needed! The Harbor Bridge closure & how to get some functionality before the 3 year completion timeframe.
An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.