Q; Can Richard "hear a song & know whether the guitar is a Santa Cruz Guitar?" A: "You can pick your own kid out of a choir!" Succession planning? Richard is fiercly loyal to the team, with Brenda, and David Osdoll calling shots...working on some kind of employee ownership (Taylor Guitars did this) and "focusing on transitioning to a low resolution form of management" ;) Ahead of the upcoming 50th Anniversary Concert - "A Night of Legacy & Music", there will be a free block party. Q: "When & how do you take a guitar that you've made for an artist, & turn it into a signature model?" "Great question!" Santa Cruz Guitars does not pay to have them played - it's a mutual benefit arrangement, & it's usually pretty obvious if there's a signature there, with the artist and Santa Cruz Guitars sharing & amplifying values; guitar making is a vehicle; Q: "What's the strangest request you've had?" A: double neck guitar or questionable inlay motif (ref: Brenda's inlay gallery); "The Money Question" (e.g.: "Have you been able to make a living with your art, &, if so, how?" A: yes, through "A Rubic's Cube of Overlapping Miracles", using a low ball bid for a Lockheed dehumidifier as big as a Volkswagen bus for $700 after the market crashed in 1983; Brenda's primary hat is Sales Director, but she also wears Office Manager, Exotic Wood Procurement, and Richard's right-hand person; all of their wood is sustainably harvested or reclaimed.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

California's Prop. 54, passed in 2016, requires any legislative bill to be published online for 72 hours before it can be voted upon - this resulted in the last bill in the legislature being voted on a 3:46 AM last Tuesday morning, Sept. 1st, even though the constitution requires all bills to be out of the legislature by midnight, Aug. 31st - bills that pass a 2/3 vote for urgency can also go past midnight; one of those last bills was the Dolly Parton bill; normally, the governor has 12 days to sign or veto a bill, but with the sprint to the finish line, those bills have 30 days - if it's not signed or vetoed, at that pointi it becomes law anyway; Senator Laird submitted 36 bills over the last 2 years, with 26 passed into law so far - in baseball, that would be a 0.722 batting average!! Hall of fame material!! Senator Laird has 5 more bills on the Governor's desk, 6 including the Dolly Parton bill; deep dive into the budget, with lots of items for Senator Laird's district; did he get an average amount for his district, or more, because he's Chairman of the Budget Committee? "I got a little more." Deep dive into "Gut-and-Amend", starting with the California bill that would ban electric shock gloves, a "last minute bill"...yes, this was a "Gut-and-Amend", then pivot to SB931, a bill establishing Sept. 25 (9-2-5) as Dolly Parton Day in California; SB931 was an unused bill of Senator Laird sitting on the Assemblly floor, so Senator Laird & his office wrote a bill for Dolly Parton Day, renamed it, and gave it to Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) as a "Gut-and-Amend" - she loved it, & Senator Laird was able to use it to rub in to a colleague who had complained about "Gut-and-Amend" that "(a foolish) Consistency is the hobgoblin (of little minds)" [Ralph Waldo Emerson]; run down of bills that have been signed, or are on the Governor's desk, including expanding opportunities for California wineries to sell wine and offer tastings at Farmer's Markets; that gifts willed to beneficiaries, including non-profits, reach who they're intended for; and one that addresses the growing financial impact of childhood sexual abuse claims on public institutions ("2 years of rip roaring pain!").

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

Kim grew up in Monterey County, Salinas Valley, & went to Humboldt State, then on to St. Louis for grad school; she went to Washington DC to work in Health & Human Services' Dept. of Aging; after she got married, she wanted to be closer to her mom, & moved to Aptos in Santa Cruz County, where she's lived for 30 years; worked as a Clinical Social Worker in many areas hospitals (Dominican, Sutter, Salinas Valley); "What lead her to be interested in being a County Supervisor?" Her mom worked for Barbara Shipnuck, the 1st woman elected to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, & later Sam Farr in Congress - Kim grew up in campaigns, stuffing envelopes...' when her kids were in school, Kim spent her nights writing grants - when one of the trustees stepped down, Kim was tapped be a Trustee of the Pajaro Vally Unified School District (PVUSD), which extends from Aptos to Watsonville; HR1 ("The Big Beautiful Bill") will be a castrophe, eroding the safety net for the most vulnerable, who will still show up at the ER, with the county required to cover their expenses; to offset the loss of revenue, there's a half-cent sales tax on the ballot - the tax would be "temporary"; Kim's colleague Manu Koenig has an excellent regular email newsletter update & Monica Martinez holds town halls...how does Kim communicate with her constituents? "That's a great question!" "Manu & Monica's newsletters are great!"; Kim's district does not have a city (unlike the other 4), so Kim is "Mayor of District 2", with monthly newsletters & a few town halls; the County gets 13.4% of property taxes; of the 4634 units in unincorporated Santa Cruz County that are in the current housing element, still 300 built (same as 6 months ago), with 690 permitted - the remainder require re-zoning, with the majority of this done; there's one proposed project in District 2 on the old par 3 golf course; how is the County preparing for El Niño? there's a website on winter preparations, & road crews are out clearing culverts & ditches - if the public sees something, call in or email...sand bags will be availabe at local fire stations in October...equipment is pre-staged in low-lying areas, with sewers cleared.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

Bill hitchiked from Ann Arbor, Michigan to the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, where Bob Dylan debuted "Mr. Tambourine Man" (he was lured their by Bob Dylan & Mississippi John Hurt playing); he returned in 1965 when Dylan played electric; Bill was playing in his high school talent show, & wanted to play "Subterranean Homesick Blues", but the organizer insisted on a Jug Band "The Who Knows Pickers" - one of the other bands at that talent show was Jim Osterberg's - who became Iggy Pop - band; came to California in 1966, then hopped freight trains back to Ann Arbor to form a folk-rock band named "The Seventh Seal", playing covers; through that he met John Tichy & George Frayne (who became the Commander) & they formed the core of what would become "Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen" in 1967 - 1968; Bill co-wrote some Commander Cody songs; Bill came out to California, & talked the band into coming out to California in late 1968, touring & playing ballrooms, the Fillmore...by 1969 (Bill turned 21) Commander Cody was up-and-running, touring, playing with the Grateful Dead...the 1974 live album, "Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas" is one of the 100 greatest albums of all time, according to Rolling Stone; Commander Cody was much more skilled playing live then they were playing studio albums, where their rambunctousness ran counter to the discipline that you need in the studio; Bill is "Titan of the Telecaster", according to Guitar Player magazine; Nina Gerber, who has spent a career as a side-person to folk icons, is part of the Bill Kirchen quartet, and when she plugs in brings tremendous depth...fiery!; Austin music scene & the Armadillo World Headquarters; musings on 60 years in the music industry; so much change, but still optimistic, "Music is going to win!"; the "Money Question", "Have you been able to make a living playing music, & if so, how?" "Yes. You have to be light on your feet. You can count on me. Workin' hard. I love my job. I'm not hiding."; "they singing voice in your brain comes from a different place than the talking voice." Bills' advice to the next generation, "Do what you love!"; the other 2 in the quartet are Rick Richards on drums, & Jack Saunders on bass; the Hot Rock Lincoln guitar riff? "Born out of incompetence! Take it where you find it!"; "You've got some hearfelt questions, Dan. You made me sit back...& dig deep! So thank you for pumping the show!"

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

calling in from The Madonna Inn, where he's staying in The Misty Room (it's the only union hotel in San Luis Obispo) - he's delaying his keynote presentation at an organized labor meeting to call in; Progressive Democrats have been elected in New York City Congressional races, and now the Michigan Senate primary..."what the hell is going on in the country in general?" = people are thinking that government is not responsive, not listening; the polls are way off in terms of what actually happens; now the Michigan Senate seat election will be nationalized, with all Dems supportive, with the exception of AIPAC (American Israel Political Action Committee), which is a lightning rod; the national Democratic party is in a shambles, and need something better than "we're not Republicans" (which is not a good enough reason to vote for them) - food & gas prices are soaring, & tariffs are hitting; AB1720 - when Senator Laird's spouse gets a mailer to call his Senator, something's up! It's confusing. It would prohibit resale markets from selling tickets for more than 10% more than than their sale price - this would push many resellers out of the market, with only Ticketmaser remaining? Matt Haney is the author - his dad, Craig, is a UCSC professor who participated in the Stanford Prison Experiment - & the bill is headed for the Senate Appropriations Committee, with an August 31 deadline for all bills; there will be 16 working days between now & then; "Perils of Pauline" deep dive (with Dangerous Dan not lacking in education, just younger than Senator Laird); Watsonville Hospital Deep Dive on funding status, with guarded optimism that they'll have enough once federal funds come through (this month? after QAF, Quality Assurance Funding comes through); Watsonville hospital and proposed battery storage containerized system; legislative recess was over last Monday; there's a governor briefing today; Diablo Canyon extension...cap n' trade...800+ bills to be acted upon by Aug. 31.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

The Downtown Association of Santa Cruz is owned by the Downtown Business Owners, made up of 300 public-facing business, mostly ground floor (retail, restaurant, services) but also upper floor business; with all of the development going on in downtown Santa Cruz, does the Downtown Association have a seat at the table? No, but they're invited to public input sessions - there is an open solicitation by the city for input on design guidelines that anyone can chime in upon; Jorian came to Santa Cruz as a kid, first to surf, but later lured by her mom....her husband grew up in New Hampshire, & they settled in Colorado to split the difference...but when they visited her mom in Santa Cruz when they were expecting their 3rd child, & her husband found out that his best friend lived downstairs from her mom, they made the move to Santa Cruz & have now been here 17 years; with all the development downtown, they are welcoming a lot of new families; during COVID, 33+ business closed, but a year and a half later, with the re-opening, there was a strong come back; "Downtown" extends from Laurel St. to the Clock Tower, & from Front St. to Cedar St.; discussion about the Farmer's Market & where they could move to; the Downtown Association is a "Business Improvement District", so businesses in the district arr required to contribute (at $600/year); development moving along, with many affordable & market-rate apartments already built & occupied; the Downtown Association *can* advocate for businesses (e.g.: Abbott Square); they have a Downtown Ambassador Team of 6 people who keep downtown clean, safe & welcoming; our downtown stores provide a 3rd space for people, with tons of new businesses, including Switch Bakery & Bistro & Alley Oop.

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

Greg has been in Santa Cruz based jug bands for 10 years, playing the 1st Thursday of every month at Pono, and monthly wiht the Trolly Brass band at Abbott Square; there are Jug Bands, & Jug Band-adjacent bands; this weekend is the 2nd Annual Santa Cruz Jug Band Festival. What's a jug band? A: around the turn of the 1900s, musicians would use a jug for the bass line (it was portable), & the style got picked up by well-known musicians (Jimmy Rogers, Sarah Martin)...in the 20s & 30s musicians in Louisville, KY & Memphis, TN, laid the foundation, later picked up in the 1960s by Dan Hicks during the Folk Scare / Jug Band Revival, where David Grisman, Jim Kweskin, & Jerry Garcia's first band played Jug Band music; Greg is curating a slide show tonight about the "Wild & Wacky History of Jug Band Music", showcasing an unheralded history where a lot of very talented professional musicans have left their mark on a uniquely American music style in origin, but now with a worldwide following (the biggest jug band festival in the world is in Yokohama, Japan, over 4 days with 60 bands!); Jug Band songs can be Hoakum style, with single entendre (no disguise), popularized by the Hoosier Hotshots in the 1940s; Greg came to Santa Cruzin the early 80s to attend UCSC, spending the last 40 years in and out of town - at UCSC he played bluegrass, Appalachian mountain music, playing guitar & mandolin - he got into the history of the music early on; Jug Band music is an American Amalgam, bringing together New Orleans, riverboat, & early rag time; the "Money Question"? "We're all gigging invarious eays!" Greg was a Cal State Monterey Bay Environmental Studies & Outdoor Education teacher, & now retired - most of the people in the band are retired; Deep Dive into instruments played in Jug Bands, including kazoo, canzoo, and canjoe (which is a blend of Europe & Africa, starting with a gourd instead of a can).

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

with a long & celebrated career as a folk guitarist Nina is "going over to the dark side" to play dueling telecasters wtih Bill Kirchen, the "Titan of the Telecaster" as part of his quartet; what she we refer to Nina as? Accompanist? Is "sideman" gender neutral? Let's change that to "Side Person"; Nina never wanted to be in the spotlight! She barely wanted to be noticed at all! She fell in love with Kate Wolf & her music, & wanted to be Kate's side person...wanted to be in Kate's band; she took mandolin lessons with Kate's husband, Don Coffin, learning his parts - when they got divorced it was the happiest day in Nina's life! Nina was 16 or 17, & Kate saw her potential, & took NIna under her wing; Nina played with Kate for 8 years, was fired a couple of times, & re-hired - their relationship was complicated, with Kate as Mentor, Hero & Boss; "The Money Question" "Were you able to make a living playing music after Kate died?" A: "Keep your overhead low!!" She got a job at a music store in Sebastapol where she was basically an indentured servent - she picked out an electric guitar & an amp, realized "I can't afford that! So can I have a job?" She also teaches a bit. Freelancing started in the Kate era, with local folks. People started calling. Greg Brown, at the Strawberry Music Festival, asked her to join him for a few songs, & she played the entire set; she's been super lucky; Kate wrote "Just Another Picker in the Band", but never recorded it - Nina wanted to include songs for her heroes on her CD; when Nina is plugged in with an electric guitar, she's still "a folky at heart." Nina got an electric guitar to play wiht Kate, later was in a country band in Sonoma County, & got her first Telecaster in the early 80's; she met Bill Kirchen at Sarah Elizabeth Campbell's memorial, then again a few years ago at one of his gigs - a friend suggested they play a gig as a duo, & it was a blast; Nina's style is Nina's style, playing to the singer & the song; on a tour, the songs are the same every night, but she plays differently every night because she "doesn't know what I'm doing"; with Bill, she fits into his style, "& still be me" - maybe as her alter ego, a little louder playing "dieselbilly".

An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening!

To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!