John Laird - California State Senator - 17th District - interviewed on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & DJ "Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
Release Date: 04/07/2026
Lacy J. Dalton_Americana Singer-Songwriter_interview 2026-07-31 on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club"\by Dan Orange aka "Dangerous Dan", "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Lacy J. lives up in the mountains above Reno; after she turned 21, she (then Jill) ran off with a rock n' roll guitar player to a commune in Capitola; she me, & lived wiht, her 1st & 2nd husbands in the Santa Cruz Mountains; she changed her name when she was 33 years old when she got a record deal, but they said, "You gotta change your name!"...her producer, Billy Sherill (a producer to many stars), said she had to...she tried "Lacy Walker, taking "Lacy B." from her first partner's ex-wife...Billy said there were "too many Walkers", so Lacy took the last name of a half-Cherokee...
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'The Pillars' aka Sleepy John Sandidge & Richard Stockton, hiking the Coast from Santa Cruz to San Francisco _interview 2026-07-31 on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club"
KZSC Santa Cruz
Sleepy John & Richard were 2 of 4 (the others being Ben Rice & Laurence Bedford) hiking the northern California coast when they came upon a big building with part of the underlying earth washed out, allowing them to stand underneath it, and pose as pillars holding it up - the the name "The Pillars"; they are hiking the northern California coast from Santa Cruz to San Francisco for the 4th time, hiking 4-5 mile increments weekly...more "lollygagging" than hiking, with easy walks you could do in flip flops, along the bluffs; John came to Santa Cruz in 1977, running from the law, and yes,...
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Bill Monning_California State Senator (ret.)_2026-07-24_interviewed on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
n 2019 Bill sponsored SB347, the Sugar-Seetened Beverage (aka SSB) Warning label act - it made it out of the health committee & appropriations (the latter because it was "de minimis"), but died on the Senate Floor due to machinations of "Big Soda"; "Big Soda" & "Big Food" got an initiative on the ballot in 2018 to raise the approval level for city & county taxes on food & beferages to 2/3 - the legislature negotiated with them to remove the initiative in exchange for passing a low (the "Keep Groceriees Affordable Act of 2018") to ban local taxes on food & beverages...
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Michael Gaither_Singer, Songwriter, Music Journalist, Trivia night host_interview 2026-07-24_ on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Michael was born & raised, & still lives in, Watsonville (mom from there, too); new venue in mid-county at SeaScape Golf Course on Club House Drive; monthly trivia nights there, plus Trivia Nights at El Vaquero Winery & Bargetto; Michael playing SeaScape tonight for happyp hour as a duo; opening a week from tomorrow for Lacy J. Dalton as a quartet - sans drums - at El Vaquero; Michael views himself as a catalyst for other artists, not a promoter; but he writes press releases as well as articles about musicians coming to town for Look Out Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, &...
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Rosemary Menard_SC City Water Dept head_interviewed 2022-11-18 on KZSC'S 'Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club'
KZSC Santa Cruz
The water district owns 4000 acres, including the Loch Lomond reservoir; the water department is asking the City of Santa Cruz to vote on a new direction on 11/29 that will "climate-proof" the water system; demand-based pricing incentivizes rationing; "Wetter wets and Drier Drys", and planning for back-to-back dry years; Santa Cruz has done so well with reducing consumption through conservation that we can't ask people to tighten their belts further; resolution will codify reliability and supply options (4); discussion of aquifer storage and recovery, recycled water, de-salinization (no new...
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Scott Cooper_Singer, Songwriter, Journeyman in Grateful Dead cover bands_on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Scott's band "Rosebud" started just before Covid as a project with piano player Laclan Kane (where "Rosebud" is featured prominently at the end of "Citizen Kane"); Scott played an original, which he classififed as a "Jerry Garcia yacht rock song", "You Never Need to Say"; songs take a while, sometimes years, & Scott has a "napkin stash" of lyric lines he's accumulated over the years. Scott came to Santa Cruz in 1986, studying art & psychology, graduating in psych. He was a drummer in the blues world, the house drummer for a weekly blues jam, and Johnny Shines hired his band to back him...
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Tricia Webber_SC County Clerk & Registrar of Voters_2026-06-26 interview on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Tricia is both County Clerk & Registrar of Voters; she came to Santa Cruz in 1997, having followed a boy from college - she's from Santa Ynez, near Solvang (the Danish capital of the USA), & was at Fresno State, working for the Curry Company in Yosemite Valley, but when the park closed due to flooding, her boyfriend at the time suggested she move with him to Santa Cruz - he's now her husband. How did she get into County clerk job? Her mother-in-law had been helping with the elections department for a long time, and said, "Why don't you help with elections?" It was 1997, & she hired...
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Richard Hoover (co-founder) & Brenda Martinez (sales director) - Santa Cruz Guitar Company_2026-06-19_interview on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
Richard is star struck, having listened to Bushwhacker's since way back when he used to get up really early to come in to work before musicians would wake up; he grew up in the San Joaquin Vally & moved to Santa Cruz when he was 14-15-16 taking a page out of Jack Kerouac; he needed to be close enough to an urban area, but didn't want to live in one, so he & his art director wife settled in Santa Cruz, starting Santa Cruz Guitar Company (SCGC) in 1976; Brenda came here in 2010 to attend U.C. Santa Cruz; the name Santa Cruz evokes unconditional love & spirit - the logo used a floral...
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Gail Pellerin_28th District Assemblymember_2026-06-19_interview on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
The constitutional deadline to pass a budget out of the legislature was last Monday at midnight, & required a 3-part agreement to avoid delays (Assembly, Senate, Governor); 4 budget sub-committees but 64 hearings; health subcommittee dealing with crisis in California, which rejects cuts - HR1 impacts many, many people in District 28; SB125 passed with a MCO (Managed Care Organization) tax with revenue to offset MediCare / MediCal cuts; negotiations are ongoing over ballot measures & whether they can be voluntarily withdrawn via a letter to the Secretary of State - the deadline is June...
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Mary Gauthier - Singer - Songwriter_2026-06-12_interview on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)
KZSC Santa Cruz
calling in from Seattle, where "we" played last night; "we" = she & Jaymee Harris, who opens & performs with her - Nashville is home; Mary had her on label, "On the Black", & people are buying vinyl now - sitting & listening to the record intentionally; streaming is useful when she's out walking, but there's no revenue: "the Tech Bros won!" when you Barbara Higbie (interviewed earlier) gets $23 for a million streams...but in those million, some of them are going to buy tickets & come to a Barbara Higbie show; pressing records? "Got to get on the schedule!", she wrote the...
info_outlineCurrently on Spring Break and in the district; as one of the first openly gay elected officials to city & state office, what's his take on Governor Newsom's homophobic slurs of conservative influencers & politicos? Quoting Barney Frank, Senator Laird said, "You have a right to privacy, but no right to hypocrasy!" Is this to help tailor his image ahead of a run for national office, or to raise attention to his own issues? Yes to both. Watsonville hospital - there's interest by Sutter to take it over in a public-private partnership, but not until later in the year - still need a bridge...the governor's office is focusing on hospitals that have 2 days of cash on hand, not 7 or 8 days; Senator Laird saved the hospital ove4 4 years ago via a "Gut and Amend" bill that created a hospital district; unfortunately cuts & delays in federal funding (DSH; QAF) have reduced revenue so that it's no longer sustainable; Watsonville is one of 2 1/2 hospitals in County (Dominican, also Sutter Maternity); Cesar Chavez day name changed for this year only to Farmworkers Day in record time by unanamous vote via Gut and Amend legislative action, including the "72 hour rule"; re-read Miriam Pawel's biography of Cesar Chavez, specifically the "Monday Night Massacre" when Chavez fired many aides...include a young Bill Monning, future California State Senator & John Laird's immediate predecessor; what happens next week? "All hell breaks loose!" - there's 6 weeks to get bills out of the House of Origin, with committee meetings every day, plus 7 - 8 bills of his that are in other committees...PLUS budget hearing; working on a resolution against offshore Oil & Gas drilling, with Dan Haifley, ex Executive Director of Save Our Shores, and Santa Cruz City staff, spoke...."Dangerous Dan", as a geologist / geophysicist working both sides of the military - industrial complex, including offshore oil & gas and offshore wind, assures Senator Laird that he can sleep well at night knowing that the oil industry will never drill offshore California north of Santa Barbara, because the many faults (including the San Gregorio - Hosgri Fault that cuts across Monterey Bay) butcher the potential reservoirs so that an "elephant" (1 billion barrels recoverable) cannot exist; Senator Laird: "You're remarkably rational. This administration is not. Plus, we need to send a signal."
An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.