During Covid Gerard banged his head, and got the idea for "Poi Rogers", a mash-up of old fashioned country western meets Hawai'ian; public radio stations are crucial to up-and-coming artists, providing a way for them to reach audiences without being curated by an algorithm; the money question? Survive through a diversity of money sources, including their guitar repair shop in Soquel; been in Santa Cruz 15 years, and found the perfect place to live that allows dogs; new CD release a week from Saturday, "Twilight Blues", which will also be released on 10" vinyl; 8 week tour this summer...when they tour, it's either Poi Rogers or Carolyn Sills Combo - they don't take both out on the road at the same time.

(interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange, "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) & "DJ Wrangle" (Chris Jong) on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on the air! Thanks for listening!)

Attending Grand Opening of Beach Ranch today, a 247 acre parcel along the Pajaro River that the Land Trust is preserving, including wetlands; Land Trust is a local non-profit; Assembly currently in Spring Recess; Assembly working on the budget, and going through it line by line; next week is Holocaust Remembrance Day, and on April 28th, Asssemblymember Pellerin will host a floor ceremony honoring a constituent, Ruth Liberman, that is one of 5000 babies born in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp; Assemblymember Pellerin hosted a webinar with California Insurance Commissioner Lara to discuss the aftermath of the CZU fire over 4 years ago in the Santa Cruz Mountain; Lara has submitted a 10 bill legislative pacakge that includes consumer protection for insurance, maintaining the strength of the insurance market, and resiliency; United Policyholders is a non-profit that participated in the webinar; UCSC library closing community borrowing? Assemblymember Pellerin continues to fight for funding, but will bring this up as well; "Hands Off" mass mobilization, and seeing it on way back from Girls Inc. lunch; April is Child Abuse Prevention month; working on AB679, Semper Virens, and how to transfer parcels to state parks.

(interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange, "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) & "DJ Wrangle" (Chris Jong) on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on the air! Thanks for listening!)

     

 

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 than being a fisheries modeler?!?!!?!; Kray lives by Woody Guthrie's saying, that a folk singer should "Comfort the Disturbed, & Disturb the Comfortable!"; kicking off tour in Santa Cruz before heading to Ojai, L.A., and....Iowa!

(interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on the air! Thanks for listening!)

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 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!)

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 handful of songs (in case you're clueless), but usually the singer / songwriters react to each other's songs, follow themes, and so the overall show can be unpredictable, but fun for both the performers and the audience.

(interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club". In 2025, celebrating 36+ years on the air! Thanks for listening!!!)

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.

(Interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club". In 2025 celebrating 36 years on the air! Thanks for listening!!)

...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 mistake; discussion of the recent trial of the under-aged boy who murdered an 8 year old where the trial was whether he could be released into society now that he's 25, and whether the family will have to go through this every 2 years (the judge ruled that he should be held); CZU fires (4 1/2 years ago) and the 63% that have not been re-built or in process of re-building: "whatever LA gets, we should get, too!"; CA insurance commissioner Robert Lara on Sustainable Insurance Strategy - LA fires will not stop progress...10 bill package submitted; deep dive into what happens now that bills submitted (Rules Committee directs to 1 or more policy committees, that hold hearings to vet, testify, amend - with next committee taking it up after previous committee completes - then suspense file if $$ > threshold, then to the floor where, after passed, bill goes to other house; Governor submitted 1st budget in January, and already obsolete...now being reviewed in budget sub-committees (60 hearings in total!)...headed for a "May revise", but LA residents have been told they can postpone their tax submittals.   (interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange and "Dylan-the-Mentee" Estevez on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Blub". 2025 marks our 36th year on the air! Thanks for listening!!)

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 tasked to paint Radium on watch dials, even though their bosses knew it would make them sick. Boston's "Sumner Tunnel"? Named after Charles Sumner, a pre-Civil War abolitionist (and possible distant relative). The Money Question? None of the members of the band make a living playing music - all have day jobs (Rachel runs sound and runs a school of music) - but their day jobs are sympathetic to their music and touring (but when people buy merch, it helps!). Does she always write happy songs? Rachel leans toward female empowerment, and is a big believer in hope. "3000 miles" is autobiographic, opposite to Bob Dylan's myth making. 

(interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange and "Golden Voice Gene" Fintz on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on the air! Thanks for listening!)

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 covers? Listened to Led Zeppelin as a teenager and learned to plan on guitar, later mandolin, but in high school his primary instrument was drums; path from Rock n' Roll to Balkan music? Balkan music uses exotic rhythms (which appeals to a drummer), harmonies, and minor keys; theme shows, and Balkan trio shows.

 

(Interviewed on KZSC' "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange. 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th year on the air! Thanks for listeniing!!)

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 expiration from previously passed bills; Dylan's Q: any actions / bills to replace Moss Landing type battery storage? Senator Laird considering: what do we do with the 25% of batteries in California that are that generation? Phase out? What's the criteria? Timing? Spot bills are different from "gut and amend", which can be done any time; "moveable spot" bills are different, and include something substantive (not just intent), and have the same deadline as regular bills (2/21); discussion of Cap and Trade; Standing Committees vs. Select Committees: Select Committees have a clean slate at the start of every legislative session - Laird is on 1, aging in the LGBTQ community; Laird is on 2 working groups: cap and trade; and fire insurance.

 

(Senator Laird interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange and "Dylan-the-Mentee" Estevez on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club". 2025 is Bushwhacker's 36th Year! Thanks for listening!)