Ojai: Talk of the Town

Bernie Larsen, owner, producer and engineer and session musician for Spinout Records and the impresario behind the Underground Exchange, joins the podcast to catch up on what he's been up to since the pandemic hit Ojai like Keith Moon on a drum kit. Larsen's shift to a virtual space for performers created a community around the weekly webcasts with audiences thirsty for live music. He's fully open at his new location at 616 Pearl Street where the venue has become integral to Ojai's music scene, hosting some of the best musicians in the region.

We talked about his life in music, beginning at age 10 under the influence of his music-loving mother and forming his first band, playing surf music, and through to his years touring and in the studio with Melissa Etheridge and David Lindley, the slide-guitar virtuoso. And how he came under Ojai's spell during a brief visit years, sitting in Libbey Park and absorbing the sights and sounds. We also talked about the Ojai Sessions, his project to bring together and produce a record with the many talented local musicians and singer-songwriters.

Bernie talked about the challenges and benefits of a life in the arts, and how he's always focused on bringing artists together to express themselves with authenticity and loving support. For example, he cobbled together an arts community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with a performing space and an annual festival. While the pay ain't always great, the joys and rewards compensate. We did not talk about John McPhee's book on shad migrations, John Dee's alchemical experiments or raccoon dogs.

Check out The Underground Exchange for information on coming shows and events.

https://www.ojaiundergroundexchange.com/

The Ojai Music Festival's Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian was well situated to lead the festival through the tumult of the past three years. He's certainly looking forward to the June 8-11 festival this year and a return to something more closely resembling normal and worrying more about the music and less about the logistics of managing this premier festival of modern contemporary music through a global pandemic.

He will be helped this year by returning guest Rhiannon Giddens (ep. 70), as Music Director. Giddens, a generational talent whose broad interests are well-suited to Ojai's spirit of musical adventure and exploration, was so charmed by Ojai in 2020 (the festival was held in September that covid-19 year) that she was eager to return. Ara didn't have to ask her twice to partner with him on programming. Among the audience offerings this year will be a chamber and voice ensemble performing Giddens' "Omar's Journey," from her opera about the Islamic scholar who was sold into bondage in the 19th century and continued his scholarly pursuits despite the horrors of slavery.

Of course, there will also be the wide range of pieces performed which characterize the festival, from Bach to John Adams to ancient Chinese music to folk ballads to rapper DJ Flying Lotus.

Guzelimian was formerly the artistic director in the 1990s, and recently retired as Dean of The Julliard School, perhaps the most prestigious music school in the country. He has conducted the popular "chalk talks" before the performances for decades. We talked about his journey to Ojai, his brilliant career and Ojai's mystical nature. We also talked about John Luther Adams, Harry Partsch and why Ojai remains so important to global culture. We did not talk about FDR's campaign against Alf Landon, Neopolitan pizza culture or sportfishing for Nile perch on Lake Tanganyika.

Check out this year's schedule at ...

https://www.ojaifestival.org/2023-festival-schedule/

Laurel Braitman grew up in nearby Santa Paula and attended Thacher School before embarking on a circuitous and peripatetic career that led her to the faculty at Stanford School of Medicine where she is the Director of Writing and Storytelling. She just published her memoir, "What Looks Like Bravery," about her family and journey through grief, loss, growth and love. She previously wrote the New York Times best-seller "Animal Madness."

Braitman's father, a prominent cardiac surgeon in Ventura County, was diagnosed with cancer when Laurel was three, and he endured brutal treatments one after another with the purpose of teaching her and her brother everything they needed to know about life. When he died, Braitman blamed herself for not being able to heal him herself, and lived in denial for years, leading to one misadventure after another, especially in the partner department. 

"Bravery" takes us along on her road to redemption, with stops along the Umpqua River in Oregon, the Aleutian Islands, Lake Como in Italy, the high desert of New Mexico and the Bay Area. With lots of familiar Ojai references. She faced one tragic loss after another, trying to find meaning amid the devastation. 

The book will inevitably be compared to Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" and Cheryl Strayed's "Wild," but it holds a more poignant and hopeful tone and ends with a twist that sums up the hard-earned wisdom found along the way.

We talked about Ojai in the good old days, steelhead fishing, growing up country and how death haunts us all. We did not talk about Jimmy Piersall's battle with depression, the collected sketches of Monty Python's Flying Circus or Darwin's finch collection at the British Museum & Library.

Look for her book tour - she will be giving a reading on Saturday, March 18th at the Deer Lodge from 3 to 6 p.m.

As the Assemblymember from the newly redrawn 38th State Assembly District, Steve Bennett works hard on local issues in Sacramento — including preserving farms and open lands, water issues, campaign finance reform, managing the economic shifts to a greener economy.

He knows the district from the inside out, having served five terms as Ventura County Supervisor, and before that on the Ventura City Council. He began his career as an activist in the 1980s and 1990s, organizing grassroots efforts to preserve open space and for environmental causes, including the Save Our Agricultural Resources, which has protected the county's farmland against encroachment from neighboring Los Angeles County. At first, he would help recruit candidates to represent his group's positions, then realized it would be more efficient to do it himself. And so began his political career.

Born in Indiana, Bennett graduated from Brown University, then became a high school history teacher, including at Nordhoff High School here in Ojai. He's been serving in Sacramento since 2020, on the Budget, Elections, and Water, Parks & Wildlife, in addition to subcommittee work on climate crisis, fisheries and aquaculture.

We talked about pressing issues in governance, declining trust in institutions, political heros, what it takes to wrangle votes, a day in the life of a state assemblymember, the future of California and the nation, and much else. We did not talk about RuPaul's Drag Race, Canadian monster lore or the War of the Triple Alliance in South America.

Stu Crowner's fascination with show business began with seeing a wooden rendering of a cameraman sitting backstage during the opening credits of Kraft Mystery Theater. He's since worked with all major commercial networks, PBS and cable channels. He's still at it, producing four shows this coming season for Ojai Performing Arts Theater. 

His career has given him the chance to work closely with icons of show business like Mike Douglas and Audrey Hepburn, for which he won an Emmy for "Gardens of the World." Among the shows he's produced are "The People's Choice Awards," "Entertainment Tonight," "Jenny Jones," "The Mike Douglas Shows" as well as Larry King specials.

When he retired to Ojai 18 years ago, he was shanghaied back into the work by local impresaria Joan Kemper for OPAT, including "Yes, Virginia," "I Do! I Do!" and "Black Comedy" as well as Shakespeare for the Michael Addison-staged (episode 6 of OTTT) "Twelfth Night" and "MacBeth." Among many more.

Crowner has worked around the world, including Ukraine in 2017, helping them produce talk shows.

We talked about Ojai's arts scene (his wife Kyle and daughter are artists), history, nostalgia cycles, the Golden Age of Television among other topics. We did not talk about Edward Norton's acting choices, Asian birds of prey or Nigerian jollof recipes.

OPAT's Season: 

"Lordy Mercy” a hilarious onstage autobiography by Richard Camp.

“The Fantastiks”, the classic intimate musical which ran for 42 years in New York - for 7,162 performances.

A very relevant “The Minutes," Tracy Letts’ dramedy about a small town’s city council.

Al West retired as the Deputy Director of the U.S. Forest Service, the second highest post in this vital government agency, overseeing millions of acres and billions of dollars in Washington, D.C. He retired to Ojai, where his career had taken him earlier as District Ranger of the Los Padres National Forest and then Los Padres Forest Supervisor.

His peripatetic career in forestry began humbly enough as a laboratory scientist before he was posted to Donner Summit, in a year when more than 900 inches of snow fell. His study of watershed and wildfire behavior still informs state and federal agencies to this day. His expertise and insight has taken him all over the world, managing wildfire and drought crisis, including catastrophic fires in Yellowstone and Australia.

Al and his wife Joyce are better known locally for their decades of active, caring and conscientious community service. Both have been named Living Treasures of Ojai. He was born in London, grew up in York, moved to Toronto, where he met Joyce at a square dance with the memorable pickup line, delivered in his York accent: "I guess you're stook with me."

We talked about snowfall, fire patterns, coaching soccer, the Rotary Club and many of the things that make Ojai special. We did not talk about the Roman's Lost Legion, Nate Bargatze's new standup special or barramundi fishing on the Murray River.

Jerry Dunn has a dream job - maybe THE dream job - traveling and writing about it. He worked with the National Geographic Society for 35 years and has written hundreds of articles for magazines and newspapers, large and small, from the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune to our own Ojai Quarterly. Jerry is also the author of eleven books, including "Tricks of the Trade,” “My Favorite Place on Earth,” and travel guidebooks for Nat Geo and the Smithsonian.

Dan Parziale and co-founder Kyle Thompson came together early in the pandemic around the idea that young adults aging out of the foster care system are basically thrown out on their own with few resources or information. No wonder so many end up homeless, perpetuating the cycles of poverty and trauma.

Dan, a veteran nonprofit leader, and Kyle, a veteran entrepreneur (co-founder Topa Topa Brewing Co.) bring their special skills and talents to this transitional housing enterprise. They purchased a 10-acre regenerative farm on the East End, brought in tiny homes, and are ready for their first clients. The idea is to take a holistic approach to the differing needs of each of the youth they host, help them build strong relationships with each and within the community, and to use the hard work of regenerative farming as therapy, binding them closer with nature and teaching them useful life skills.

The youth come from referrals from social service agencies around Ventura County, and is open to those in need between the ages of 18 and 24. Each client will have their own room, and an individualized plan that includes work training, wellness, therapy and education.

The needs are stark. Between 2020 and 2022 homelessness in Ventura County rose more than 25 percent, many of those kids from the foster care system who are ill prepared for the outside world. We also talked about social service agencies, Dan's experiences growing up in Ojai, his education and raising his own children. We did not talk about the pitchers using spitballs, lost technologies in shipbuilding or the Real Housewives of Atlanta.

For more information check out www.mesafarm.org