Ojai: Talk of the Town

For 22 years the Ojai Storytelling Festival (October 28-31 this year) has been bringing in the country's best practitioners of this ancient art form. We are joined by OSF founder Brian Bemel, next year's director Kara Lakes and Jamaican storytelling phenomenon Debra Ehrhardt for a lively romp through the festival's past and future.

Debra will be the featured performer at the adult-rated Naughty Tales on the night of Saturday, Oct. 31st. She joins the all-star lineup including Kim Weitkamp, Bill Harley, Donald Davis, Bil Lepp and many more for four days of hilarity, humanity and creative expression.

Tickets are available at ojaistoryfest.org and you can check out Debra's one-woman show, Jamaica Farewell, soon to be a major motion picture, at https://jamaicafarewelltheplay.com

In September 1971, Lenny Klaif was a third-year law student at the University of Iowa, when he took up the cause of prisoner rights in the tragic aftermath of the Attica Prison Riots. Klaif had graduated from the University of Buffalo, mere miles from the prison. Four days into the riots, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller sent in the state troopers, and in a hail of bullets, killed 43 people, including 10 prison guards. 

It took 30 years before the lawsuits and legal actions were concluded, and Klaif was in the middle of it, getting to know such seminal characters like Frank "Big Black" Smith, who was appointed security chief by his fellow prisoners, Howard Kunstler, the tenacious civil rights lawyer, and Liz Fink, the indefatigable attorney for the Attica Brothers. Klaif, hired by the ACLU, is proud to note that "I was the lowest paid lawyer in my graduating class."

The riots sparked a flash point in American history, between civil rights activists and the "law and order" forces that twice elected Richard Nixon. In Klaif's experience, the legal defense proved an organizing purpose for the prisoners, most of whom never returned to a life of crime. Klaif discusses the heady historical moment with a panoply of colorful characters and his role in it. We did not discuss the Armenian genocide, Venus flytraps or Albert Spalding's baseball innovations.

Declaration to the People of America, Read by Elliott James "L.D." Barkley, September 9, 1971: We are men! We are not beasts and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such. The entire prison populace, that means each and every one of us here, have set forth to change forever the ruthless brutalization and disregard for the lives of the prisoners here and throughout the United States. What has happened here is but the sound before the fury of those who are oppressed. We will not compromise on any terms except those terms that are agreeable to us. We've called upon all the conscientious citizens of America to assist us in putting an end to this situation that threatens the lives of not only us, but of each and every one of you, as well.

Danny and Tiarzha were recently named Living Treasures by a joint committee of the Rotary Club of Ojai and the Ojai Rotary-West. After this episode, you'll understand why.

They met at UCLA where Danny was a standout sprinter and Tiarzha a student leader and athlete herself. It was an interesting journey for both of them to get to that place — Danny grew up in central Texas before moving to south central Los Angeles, while Tiarzha hails from Anchorage, Alaska. Danny participated in two Olympics and won several medals in the 400 meter race, including a gold medal as part of a relay. Tiarzha went on to a distinguished career in education. They have raised three children in Ojai with those values of community service, social justice and involvement that they themselves were taught by their parents. 

Tiarzha is past president of the Ojai Education Foundation and a key member of the Ojai Women's Fund. Danny is a well-regarded chef, owner of Soul Feté - which fuses his extensive travels with the love of cooking he learned from his soul-food-cooking mother. Danny also coaches track and field.

We go deep into sensitive issues around race, justice, history and the wounds that Americans continue to inflict on each other during this strange time in which we live. Ojai, for all its inclusiveness and natural beauty, is not immune to these challenges, despite our self-regard as a progressive, tolerant community. Danny and Tiarzha also have a few laughs about Ojai's quirkiness, fishing and lots of food talk. 

Producer of this episode is Dylan Petrucci of Old School Beats. If you enjoy this podcast, we ask you to leave a review on iTunes. If you don't, don't.

Writer Kit Stolz set out on the 2,560-mile Pacific Crest Trail seven years ago; through a changing world he kept to a promise to walk at least 500 miles per year. He completed it this summer, touching the fence that separates the U.S. from its northern neighbor in Washington State's foggy pine forests.

We talk about this epic journey, the lessons learned along the way, and the enduring friendships formed in the crucible of personal challenge and hardship. We also talk about Ojai's increasing aridification, the new wave of migrants to our "smiling vale" and the high-quality education and conservation that defines our community. Plus lots of other things.

Kit and I did not talk about the William Barents' explorations, intermittent fasting or the rise of Generation Z. You can check out more of Kit's writings at https://achangeinthewind.com/

In the early 1980s, three women — Bert Collins, Gayel Childress & Marta Nelson — founded the Ojai Studio Artists as a way for artists to connect, mentor and learn from each other. They also started hosting open studios on the second week in October, a tradition which flourished up until the global pandemic. It has helped establish more firmly Ojai's identity as an arts destination.

This year, the tour returns Oct. 8-10 and features 63 artists. In a departure from the past, the tour this year is free.

We talk with OSA president Pam Grau, who has revitalized the organization in recent years with Second Saturday mini-tours throughout the year, in which OSA members have the chance to tour each other's studios and create connections and unexpected inspiration. The fellowship that has resulted has become important to the members and the community, especially during such an isolating time as we've endured this past 19 months.

Since 1993, proceeds from the OSA Tour have gone to support scholarships for students looking to pursue a career in art.

www.ojaistudioartists.org

With Ojai Valley Brewery about to open its taproom and beer garden on Bryant Street this October, the time was right to catch up with Jeremy Haffner. He's been perfecting his hopless, local botanical beers for years, and selling them at the family restaurant Azu, which he operated with his wife Liz and mother-in-law Laurel Moore until the beloved institution was sold this month. 

Haffner has been using Ojai-specific herbs like sages, mugwort, yerba santa and sumac to give it the characteristic bitterness and flavor notes that beer enthusiasts crave. He also uses local water and runs his facility on 100 percent renewable energy, making only small batches to keep to an Ojai ethos of a sustainable, environmentally conscious, artisanal economy.

We also talked about his travels as the frontman for Oedipus, a hard-rock band with a devoted following in Europe as well as America, Ojai's future, growing up in Los Angeles, our musical interests, drugs and creativity, witches and a design college for the old school district headquarters. We did not talk about the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sir John Franklin's Arctic expeditions or non-fungible tokens.

https://ojaivalleybrewery.com/

It's been more than 20 years since Steve Sprinkel and wife Olivia Chase opened The Farmer & The Cook in Meiners Oak. The restaurant/grocery/music venue and gathering place has created a vibrant community around it. The fresh, organic produce that Steve grows on his nearby farm forms the basis for the delicious good that Olivia and her crew cooks.

Steve grew up in the Pasadena area in a construction-business family, but found himself drawn to farming while staying on an innovative commune near Santa Cruz in his college years. His deep love of soil and the things you can grow it from it began to sprout and flourish there. Some years later, after supplying Whole Foods with fresh produce in Austin, Texas, he returned to Ventura County. He then re-connected with Olivia when she owned an innovative bakery in Ventura, and their partnership took root.

We talked about the many challenges of farming in Ojai, the climate crisis as seen through the extended drought, the strong-arm tactics of Big Ag, the experimentation and data-gathering which all farmers are engaged in, Ojai's eccentric characters (present company excluded) and whether our society can rise to this existential challenge. We shared a few stories about the legendary Jonathan Gold and the meaning of food culture to Los Angeles' identity.

We did not talk about 19th century baseball players, Yukio Mishima or taimen fishing in Mongolia.

We are joined for a special episode of Ojai: Talk of the Town with Josh Gohlke, the former deputy opinion page editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. Gohlke has been writing about and covering Gov. Gavin Newson since his 2018 election. He shares his opinion about the recall process, the opera bouffe of the 46 mostly eccentric candidates, the perils of campaigning with bears, and the terrible urgency of this election. Not only can a sitting governor be replaced with someone who is the choice of fewer than 15 percent of the electorate, but control of the U.S. Senate may well be at stake. (Dianne Feinstein, please don't Ruth Bader Ginsburg us. And while we're at it, Justice Stephen Breyer, don't you either).

Josh and I catch up about our years in Kernville, California, his strange, nigh mystical relationship with former Department of Water Resources chief Frank Gehrke and why journalism still matters. We also talk about the French Laundry's consciousness-altering menu, the forces behind the recall, the dual nihilism on display in the state and country and the deadline for getting ballots into the mail.

We did not talk about Newsom's relationship with either his famous harp-maestro cousin Joanne or his ordeal at the hands of Kimberly Guilfoyle.

Author, filmmaker and eco-warrior Jim Becket has completed his latest project," "Seeds of Vandana Shiva," about the fascinating Dr. Shiva, who grew up in the Himalayan hinterlands and is now using restorative and innovative agriculture as a way to feed the planet's hungry billions, while being a constant target of Big Ag for her fight against GMOs and their post-colonial power grabs in developing countries.

It is merely the latest for this prolific creator, who, well into his 70s, climbed 19,341-foot-tall Mount Kilimanjaro with the sons of Julius Nyere and Idi Amin for "Sons of Africa," which he co-produced with another Ojai man, Jim Whitney. The film put together the son of the man who invaded Kenya to oust the tyrant Amin, with the son of the tyrant himself, for an introspective, enthralling look at the burdens of history as well as the promises of peace and reconciliation.

Becket attended the prestigious Williams College before earning his law degree at Harvard. In his storied career, he put that human rights law degree to work with the United Nation's Commissioner on Refugees, helping hundreds of thousands of people dislocated from wars in Southeast Asia and Africa.

He has written several books, including "Barbarism in Greece," which got him declared "persona non grata" by the ruling junta, as well as "Inca Gold" and "Murder on the Tour de France." He has written and directed seven feature films, in addition to his many documentaries focusing on social justice and environmental issues.

https://vandanashivamovie.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Becket

Rhiannon Giddens, virtuoso banjo player, singer-songwriter, Grammy winner, MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient and keeper of the flame of African-American roots music, will be among the featured performers at this year's Ojai Music Festival, coming Sept. 16-19, under the musical direction of John Adams.

We talked with Giddens from her home in Dublin, where she and her partner, Francesco Turrissi, now live. It will be her first trip to Ojai, though she's inadvertently hit  on an Ojai theme with her popular "Aria Code" podcast, in which she contrasts an aria from Stravinsky's "Rake's Progress" with Vivian Liberto Cash's imagined lament at the absence of her husband, Johnny Cash, while she holds down the fort in Casitas Springs. Giddens will perform a mix of her own music, as well as modernist masterpieces by Adams and Mozart.

Giddens, who will be featured on the cover of the Fall 2021 issue of Ojai Quarterly, first came to prominence with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, reviving the once-ubiquitous and now nearly forgotten Black string band, as well as for her acting chops on "Nashville." She holds an important place in the folk music scene as a chronicler and interpreter of the vital tradition of roots music. For more information, check out the 2021 Ojai Music Festival program or read the fascinating article by John Jeremiah Sullivan in the May 13, 2019 issue of the New Yorker.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/20/rhiannon-giddens-and-what-folk-music-means

https://www.ojaifestival.org/2021-festival-schedule/