Ojai: Talk of the Town: Recent Episodes
Bret Bradigan
A look at the community of Ojai - an astonishingly beautiful village of 7,500 people perched on the eastern edge of the Pacific Rim. From the people who bring you Ojai Quarterly, Ojai Monthly and Ojai Hub.
Artist & illustrator Daren Thomas Magee has seen his career explode since moving to Ojai, and it all started with a simple postcard that he created and started passing around. He has since amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram where he delves into life's big question while moving merchandise.
The conversation ranged around many topics, beginning with his making a move into the world of fine art, the changing nature of social media as it moves into a "pay to play" model, war and other disasters and the effects on social cohesion and much more. We also go into recent changes in Ojai and what it might mean for the future.
We did not talk about Fernando Valenzuela's auspicious major league baseball debut, the comedic stylings of Paul Mooney or the recent Starlink launches from Space X.
You can check out Daren's work at realfunwow.com. He also co-hosts with Jaymee Carpenter the "Mystical/Cynical" podcast.
Nigel Chisholm, with his gregarious nature and forward-facing businesses (The Village Jester and now Feros Ferio Winery), has been a local fixture for decades. He also has a deep humanitarian focus, inspired by his father and uncles who braved Hitler's bombs during World War II.
So when in February 2022, Putin's Russia launched a massive invasion of Ukraine, Chisholm felt compelled to help. He made his way to Poland and across the border into refugee camps, where he rolled up his sleeves and got busy. Then a CNN report on Bulldozer, a nonprofit group that transports fallen soldiers from the front lines back to their families, caught his attention and so he returned, this time as a driver. He's made four trips so far, with more planned.
We talk about the stoic nature of Ukrainians, their cautious optimism, the need for the U.S. and Europe to continue to help them fight this proxy war against an aggressive dictator, as well as how people can help in this epic struggle. We also talked about Nigel's roundabout journey to Ojai, his love of this country and his other adventures, including fronting the local band, Damaged Goods and much more.
We did not talk about Dutch Elm Disease, Wuhan lab leaks or dry fly fishing for Atlantic salmon.
Check out Ilona Saari's expansive profile on him in the June issue of Ojai Monthly. https://issuu.com/home/docs/h08965i9scv
(And also this Youtube documentary Nigel produced about his trips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ylzD0_40B0
Adam Gallegos' roundabout journey from Washington, D.C. to Ojai was filled with serendipitous encounters and unexpected detours, but he's happily ensconced in our smiling vale, 9 years and counting as founder and proprietor of Revel Kombucha, famous for its clean taste and healthful deliciousness.
Gallegos' Jun-style Kombucha is brewed from organic honey and green tea, imparting a milder, more sophisticated flavor preferred by connoisseurs as well as people new to kombucha in the first place. Revel's frozen acai bowls have also developed a devoted fan base, especially among Ojai's kids, who gather up by the chattering dozens after school and after sports practices and games.
We talked about the process to develop their distinctive products, what Ojai means to him and his family, kombucha's long history, how it became so popular in recent years, the explosion of alcoholic kombuchas, Lindsay Lohan and much more.
We did not talk about the film "Hundreds of Beavers," Ken Burns' commencement address or Maryland blue crabs eating etiquette.
Check out Revel Kombucha at https://revelkombuchabar.com/
Tobi Jo Greene's own experiences as a girl growing up in Ojai inspired her to start the Girls Empowerment Workshop nearly 20 years ago. Now expanded to the Empowerment Workshop, teaching girls, and now all youth, skills to help them navigate adolescence and other crisis moments in their lives in a social-media saturated era of identity crisis and confusion.
The goal is to help children learn a deep sense of self-worth, of respecting differences, and communicating effectively.
Since Greene began the program, thousands of youth have been enabled and now the program has been adopted across Ventura County and beyond. She's been honored with the Dr. Robert Skankey Humanitarian Award for her work.
We talked about the lessons she's learned along the way, first as a young girl growing up in Ojai, as a mother and now grandmother, plus exciting new projects on the horizon. We talked about the evolving pressures on young people today. We did not talk about Shintoism, hobo symbology or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Learn more about Tobi Jo Greene's work online at ...
https://thegirlsempowermentworkshop.org/
Ojai Music Festival Artistic Director Ara Guzelimian brings his customary wisdom, wit and insight into a preview for this year's festival (June 6-9) with renowned pianist and conductor Mitsuko Uchida returning for her third time.
Ojai, known for its daring programming, promises to stretch boundaries this year with a mix of familiar music (Haydn, Mozart) and modernists Webern, John Adams and John Zorn.
Guzelimian talks about the massive amount of behind-the-scenes work that goes into the festival; finding housing for the artists, coordinating the volunteers and interns, the years-long lead time to pull together the talent and the programming, and the audiences who have come to adore the Ojai Music Festival for being the best at what it does in the world.
We did not talk about "Baby Reindeer," this year's NFL schedule or Fermat's Last Theorem.
Check out the Ojai Music Festival at OjaiFestival.org.
Franz Lidz returns to the podcast to talk about his recent bylines in the New York Times, where he covers the science and archaeology beat. He takes complex topics and distills them down to highly informative, entertaining and useful narratives.The NYT published his story, headlined "They Shoot Owls in California" about the invasive Barred Owls, which are displacing the endangered Spotted Owl throughout much of its range. A new Fish & Wildlife initiative will pay hunters to shoot these aggressive raptors, and it is pitting scientists against animal lovers. He also recently wrote a story about daily life in Britain 3,000 years ago, thanks to a recent excavation in which a well-preserved village has been exhumed, as well as how the Stone Age was actually the Wood Age.We also talked about his "beat" of covering stories that pique his interest, of Ojai life and politics, food culture and much more. We did not talk about graphic design, wool-carding technology of the Middle Ages or Ainu culture.You can read more about Franz and his brilliant career through your New York Times subscription.
Mesa Farm is an innovative program designed to help kids aging out of the foster system, run by Ojai-born-and-raised Dan Parziale. They recently brought in ten tiny homes and are within days of welcoming their first residents.
The Farm gives these youth, ages 18-24, the skills to succeed in life, from job training partnerships with local businesses, farming opportunities on the farm itself, to learning how to prepare resumés, for job interviews and life skills. Half of the kids aging out of foster care end up homeless, and Mesa Farm is one of the few programs designed to prevent that bad outcome.
Dan talks about growing up in Ojai, being educated at Notre Dame, teaching inner-city students and managing nonprofit organizations. We did not talk about flat-lining for yellowtail, precision measurements and instruments or Steve Zaillian's "Ripley."
For more about Mesa Farm, check out https://www.mesafarm.org/
The Ojai that renowned architect Marc Whitman grew up in is very different than it is now. And in the ways that it is better, Marc can take some of the credit, through his prolific career with residential and commercial buildings, such as Saddle Mountain and the Iguana Hotels.
Recently, Marc proposed a plan to convert the 7.5 acres in downtown Ojai to an arts academy and live-work space, literally building on Ojai's reputation as an arts destination. We talk about that project and other concepts, before bridging into a wide range of topics, including his love for Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, being mentored by Zelma Wilson, his artist mother fostering her children's creativity, as well as future projects and plans.
We did not talk about sniper rifles, Soviet-era social organizations or the muskie fishing in southern Ontario.
You can learn more about Marc at www.whitman-architect.com.
This episode we're joined by Besant Hill's Head of School Portia Johnson, and senior Eden Munster to talk about this weekend's Spring Arts Festival (April 19-20).
This event showcases the students' projects but also the legendary school's focus on creativity. With its motto, "Aun Auprendo" - Always Learning - Besant Hill School stays true to its conception as a place where arts and creativity are tightly woven into the fabric of the school's curriculum and life.
We talked about the forces that are shaping education today - from social media's culture of narcissism to the ever-evolving economy. We also talked about alumni and their brilliant post-Besant careers.
Eden and Portia also shared reminiscences about the early days of the pandemic and the challenges of learning remotely, when so much of the student body at the 100-student school lived overseas, and how they managed to create and sustain a sense of community. The memorable Thanksgiving dinner on campus in 2020, when the teachers prepared the dinner for the students, will be a cherished memory, for example.
Johnson, who grew up in Ojai and attended Besant Hill, talked about her experiences at the school, and how it inspired her to pursue a career in education, which, after a college sojourn in West Virginia, led back to where it all started.
We did not talk about modern uses of the abacus, glacial melt or the solstice.
https://www.besanthill.org/upcoming-events/
Cary Odes has been a standup comic for 45 years, coming up through the ranks at the legendary Comedy Store in Los Angeles, sharing the stage with David Letterman, Richard Pryor and Robin Williams, under the tutelage of Mitzi Shore, where he was the very first paid regular.
More importantly to Ojai, he's been teaching standup comedy here in Ojai for more than 20 years, turning a bunch of boring schlubs into comic dynamos, presenting their "tight fives" to adoring crowds. On Sunday, April 14th, his latest batch of comics will perform to a sold-out audience at Kim Maxwell Studios, with another show planned for Friday, April 18th.
We talked about how Cary got into comedy as an extension of him and a friend entertaining themselves, then realizing in college that he had a special talent for making people laugh. After studying in Chicago with the improvisational great Del Close, Cary nearly got his big break on the show "Bosom Buddies," and had his role snatched by a then-unknown Tom Hanks, and has steadily worked every since, touring the country, and now teaching his eight-week master classes in which students learn the components and craft of a joke (the premise, the setup, the act out, the turn) and perform the alchemy in which they take their pain and vulnerabilities and turn into the healing balm of laughter.
We talked about how his style has evolved over the years, the joys of teaching, anecdotes from the trenches of the standup circuit, how to bomb on stage gracefully, and how comedy might be the Next Big Thing in the healing arts.
We did not talk about kitchen knife-sharpening techniques, wolverine-trimmed parkas or the voyages of the HMS Beagle.
Check out more about Cary at his website, thestandupworkshop.com where you can sign up for a class, or private lessons, or enter a joke contest.
And here for some of his vintage work and fashion stylings ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41jjW4KPUWc
When not raising children, horses and rabbits at her home in our city, Ojai Police Chief Trina Newman runs the Ojai substation with its 25 Ventura County Sheriff's Deputies, patrolling the Ojai and Lockwood Valleys.
Capt. Newman is a 26-year veteran of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and has held several positions in her tenure with the Sheriff’s Office including as a school resource officer, backgrounds investigator, mounted unit supervisor, and as a critical incident review supervisor.
With her characteristic understated affability, Capt. Newman talked about the community she loves, raising her daughter here, and her decades behind the badge. She explained the value of social media such as Facebook, Next Door and Instagram in keeping track of crime and residents' complaints as an extension of community policing.
We also talked about changes in policing over the years, "Broken Windows Theory," the challenges unique to Ojai, property crimes, homelessness and drug abuse.
We did not talk about Shoshei Ohtani's healing process, her favorite "food 'tubers" or "Shogun."
Check out more about Ojai's police at:
https://www.instagram.com/explore/locations/392229252/ojai-police-department/
And Broken Windows at ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory
Explorer, conservationist, mountaineer and author Rick Ridgeway has lived a life that is best summed up in the subhead of his seventh book, "Life Lived Wild:" Adventures at the Edge of the Map." Each chapter of this book covers a different adventure, all of them told in Rick's compelling style.
These adventures included climbing uncharted peaks in the Himalayas, searching the rivers of eastern Siberia for tigers, crossing the remote fastnesses of the Chang Tang Plateau in Tibet in search of the calving grounds of the enigmatic and endangered chiru - an antelope-like goat prized for its fur and now protected, and returning to the site of a tragic avalanche to bring closure and comfort to a grieving daughter. He also talks about his efforts helping two CEOs tackle the formidable Seven Summits, climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents. Rick served the expedition leader for perhaps the most grueling climb - summitting Antarctica's Mount Vinson. Rick also talks about the death of his close friend Doug Tompkins, founder of North Face and a visionary conservationist, on a kayak trip which nearly claimed Rick's life as well.
Part of a legendary group of adventurers, "the Do Boys," which includes Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Tompkins, Ridgeway's love of the outdoors and testing himself in the most extreme situations came to him at an early age and has never let up.
Besides his incredible life of extreme adventure, we talk about his beautiful Ojai home which he shared with his recently deceased wife Jennifer, which was built by famed black architect Paul Revere Williams. We also talk about Ojai's backcountry, what he would say were he to run into Elon Musk, and how man is not the only species with an exploratory urge.
A long-time Ojai resident, he serves on the board of the Ojai Turtle Conservancy as well as the Tompkins Conservancy, carrying on the work of Tompkins with Doug's widow Kris. We did not talk about Boethius' imprisonment, worm holes or Japanese wood block prints.
(This is a repost of our conversation from 2021)
Few people, perhaps no one, has been more involved in pushing for the removal of Matilija Dam than Paul Jenkin, campaign coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation and founder of Matilija Watch. Paul was there in 2000 when U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt climbed on top of a giant crane and removed a 16,000 pound chunk of the dam.
He's still there now, guiding and directing the process through innumerable delays and complications, including rebuilding bridges and levees, all designed to handle the release of 9 million cubic feet of sediments behind the dam. The dam was built in 1947 and quickly filled because of bad design.
The dam prevents the once flourishing runs of southern steelhead trout from migrating upstream to their ancestral spawning grounds and the sands for replenishing Ventura County's beaches from migrating downstream.
We talked about why it's taking so long and costing so much (est. $200 million) to remove this chunk of aging infrastructure, why it's so important to the region and the entire country to let this river return to its natural state, and the amount of effort it takes to do big things. We also talked about Paul's background, his careers and perspective.
We did not talk about Shohei Ohtani's interpreter's gambling problems, the Reddit IPO or the Benin Bronzes.
You can keep up to date with the status of the dam, and other local environmental issues at VenturaRiver.org where Paul posts frequently.
The prolific writer Catherine Ann Jones recently published her seventh book, "East & West: Stories of India." She has also written 12 plays and numerous television scripts. She came on the podcast to talk about the most recent book, a collection of stories about the subcontinent, where she explores the lingering effects of colonialism, people enduring and thriving, and the magic and mystique of India.
Jones grew up in New York City, but her Texas roots has informed her life as well. Her play, "The Women of Cedar Creek" won the New York Drama League award. And "On the Edge: The Final Years of Virginia Woolf" won a National Endowment of the Arts award. "The Way of Story" won the Nautilus Award in 2014.
We talked about how she got into writing after finding the challenging roles she craved as an actor so hard to find. As well as her influences, including her years living in India, her marriage to Raja Rao, how she came to Ojai and why she's stayed.
We did not talk about Adelié penguins, continental drift or the coming NFL draft.
You can learn more about Catherine at her website, WayofStory.com where you can check out her books as well.
Ojai's own Casey Roddick is coming out in the NFL draft (end of April) this year. The 6'5" 304-pound offensive lineman just came off a 13-0 regular season as an anchor of the No. 6 Florida Seminoles. He also played at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is expected to be much-sought after in the NFL draft.
Casey grew up in Ojai, starting out with Eagles Football, and advancing to St. Bonaventure before becoming a starter at the highest level of college football. But he hasn't forgotten the lessons of Ojai; everyone is looking out for each other, information travels fast, and community service is the glue that holds everything together.
Baseball was his first love, though. He was feared and respected for his long-ball exploits, and also for his defensive versatility, playing virtually every position, especially pitcher.
We talk about the process of being recruited, how an agent puts together a team to help draftees with finances, negotiations, housing, and how to build wealth to serve them beyond their playing years. They want Casey to put his focus on the field. We also spent a fair bit of time talking about the bonds between teammates, the lifelong friendships and locker room camaraderie.
We did not talk about clipper ships, Sweden's entry into NATO or South African delicacies.
Check out Casey's Instagram at @casedogg1.
The cover story of the Spring OQ celebrates the Krotona Institute for Theosophy Center's 100th anniversary with a fascinating interview with Dr. Pablo Sender, Maria Parisen and Elena Dovalsantos. The story was written by Kate Fernandez based on this podcast .
The event will be celebrated April 15th through April 26 at the august institution that stands on the hillside in the center of the Ojai Valley, often called "the navel of Ojai." The Krotona Center was founded by the Theosophical Society as it outgrew its facilities in Hollywood. Annie Besant raised the money for the Theosophists to purchase the 175 acres on which Krotona stands, as well as another 465 acres in Upper Ojai, which she called "Happy Valley," and which houses both Besant Hill School and the Ojai Foundation.
Theosophical Society luminaries will be gathering from all over the world to teach, learn and celebrate. "We focus more on living the teachings, rather than just teaching and trying to spread it," said Dovalsantos.
Annie Besant herself visited Ojai for several months in 1927 to check on the facility. She called Ojai "this smiling vale" and foresaw Ojai as an important place in the evolution of humanity.
We talked about why Theosophy speaks clearly to a troubled world, its role in Ojai's culture, the beauty of its grounds, how the public can get involved or at least satisfy their curiosity and more. We did not talk about blue whale migrations, the tragic death of the Central Park owl or ancient aliens.
Check out KrotonaInstitute.org for more information on this important local landmark and their long and colorful history and future plans.
The cover of the Spring OQ features an original artwork by our creative director, Uta Ritke.
Heather Stobo and Lisa Casoni, owner and operators of Beato Chocolates, moved to Ojai in 2010. They opened Porch Gallery in 2013 with the goal of pairing up artists of different genres and mediums to "see what happens."
They came to Ojai with open minds and hearts and quickly became integral to the community. The Sunday morning impromptu gatherings on the famous porch became an accelerator for the unexpected and incidental encounters that lead to interesting relationships and creative partnerships.
Their often odd and always interesting juxtapositions brought an exciting new energy and inspiration to Ojai's arts scene. Some of these artists were regional and even national favorites, like Shana Mubari and Ojai's own Dennis Mukai, others brought a more local sensibility but all of them created something new, vital and bigger than the sum of their parts.
Beato Chocolates grew out their shared affinity and admiration for the pioneering ceramicist and "Mama of Dada," whose relationship with Marcel Duchamp and Henri Pierre-Roché was integral to a revolution in the art world.
Lisa and Heather discussed the arts scene in Ojai and where and how it's likely to change and evolve in the future, their experiences adapting themselves to Ojai and their journeys here. We did not talk about giant squid, Helen Frankenthaler or Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Learn more at BeatoChocolates.com.
Ojai CARES (Cancer Awareness, Resources, Education & Support) was founded in 2013 by Susan Kapadia after her own bout with breast cancer. After volunteering with cancer support groups in Santa Barbara she realized that Ojai residents needed/deserved their own.
In the decade-plus since, Ojai CARES has built a sense of community of the people afflicted by this dread disease, while also advocating for patient care, and working with oncologists and other doctors. Since its inception, Ojai CARES has served 900 people.
Susan talked about her years running the popular World Flavor Cafe, using recipes adapted from her years in the food business, the stresses of receiving her diagnosis while running the restaurant, and her quest to find support for herself, and to support others in turn. She also talked movingly about some of the memorable people whose lives touched hers.
We did not talk about Don Larsen's perfect World Series no-hitter, Jane Smiley's upbringing, or Prince Harry's memoir.
You can learn more about OjaiCARES at https://ojaicares.org/
California Treasurer Fiona Ma's husband Jason Hodge is a Ventura County resident and firefighter. Consequently she has a long history with Ojai and so stopped by the studio for a chat on a recent visit.
Surprisingly, Ma is only the second CPA to hold the position of the state's chief accountant, managing California's $310 billion budget in the state's $3.8 trillion economy, which, depending on how Germany is doing at the moment, is the world's fifth or sixth largest. Fiona Ma graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and received her master's from Pepperdine.
Fiona was first elected to the state Assembly in 2006 and was the first female to hold the Speaker Pro Tempore position, the second-highest ranking office in the body. She was also elected to the state Board of Equalization before being elected to the Treasurer post in 2018.
We talked about the daily challenges of running the finances of such a giant state with her staff of 500, the current deficit estimated at $38 billion or more, tackling the problems of homelessness and climate change, her run for Lieutenant Governor this fall, and much more. We did not talk about Arthur Bentley's 1908 classic, "The Process of Government," Hiram Johnson, or the Mayan writing system.
You can learn more about her at FionaMa.com.
Matt Henriksen grew up in Ojai and witnessed many changes throughout the years, but one constant remained for the committed bibliophile, Bart's Books, founded in 1964.
Working at the time for an insurance agency, Matt found the work a little drab for his taste, and to supplement his income began doing odd jobs around the bookstore he - and hundreds of thousands of other people - love. When manager Dave Ray pulled up stakes to move to Pueblo, Colorado, Matt was offered his dream job. His extensive knowledge of books comes in handy as Ojai's resident recommender of literature. He also collects and sells vintage and valuable books, including some incredible finds.
Among many assorted topics, we talked about growing up Ojai, how his tastes in literature have, and have not, changed and what he thinks the future of this "smiling vale" will bring. We did not talk about geo-fencing, the Great Australian Emu War of 1932 (spoiler: the emus won) or tips and tactics for topwater bass.
Check out more at BartsBooksOjai.com
Hall of Fame Skater Chris Miller is still winning championships in his 50s with his iconically smooth, fluid style and precision against other legends like Tony "Birdman" Hawk. Growing up near the famous Pipeline Skate Park in Upland, California, Chris turned pro while still a high-schooler. He's since gone on to win about every competition on the circuit.
Miller found an outlet for his prodigious and prolific artistic talents designing his own decks at an early age. He moved into the clothing side of the business through several iterations with partners and on his own, including the coveted Planet Earth brand. While living in north San Diego County, he partnered up with fellow entrepreneur Joe Kudla to create Vuori in 2014. The company made yoga and comfort wear for men, and was successful early. Nothing prepared them for the pandemic, which Miller describes as a scary time of uncertainty, but it didn't take long before home-bound people found Vuori's versatile and comfortable clothes irresistible. It is now valued at $4 billion.
Chris Miller talks over the rise and fall and rise again of skating culture, how important it has become to youth all over, his early heroes Stacy Peralta and Tony Alva, how he came to Ojai and much, much more. He is married to Lauren Dollie Duke, another friend of the pod, whose book "Shithouse" has become a surprise hit.
We did not talk about the Copper River sockeye salmon runs, the NFL playoffs or parcheesi.
Check out one of the many magazine profiles of Chris Miller ...
https://welcomeskateboards.com/blogs/news/chris-miller-the-chromeball-interview
Chef Robin Goldstein has written "A Taste of Ojai," "A Taste of Santa Barbara," and "Wine Country," as well as catering many high-profile events in and around the area. She also travels to Europe each year to sample local cuisines and returns freshly inspired to expand her culinary repertoire.
A long-time Ojai resident, Chef Robin grew up in the restaurant business in Washington, D.C. and was fascinated from the jump, delighting in the sensations of smell, taste and touch, the hurly-burly and hustle bustle of her grandparents' busy, three-story landmark restaurant. She attended the other CIA - Culinary Institute of America, and moved to Los Angeles in 1984. After earning her stripes with several famous restaurateurs she branched out on her own, living in Spain and developing a love for Mediterranean cuisine. She has carved a niche for herself for focusing on fresh, local flavors and unusual combinations, which we talk about. We also talk about why restaurant culture is so important, how even the most modest kitchen experimenters can have success, and the future of food.
We did not talk about extinct primates, post-fire chaparral regrowth or hand-lining for tuna.
You can learn more about her, or book her for your event (or buy one of her four books) at PrivateChefRobin.com.
In this reprise edition, writer and frequent OQ contributor Kit Stolz talks about his epic walkabout, covering every one of the 2,560-miles of Pacific Crest Trail, from the deserts along the border with Mexico, to 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/
Welcome to this episode with guest George S. Stuart. This 95-year-old marvel has created more than 400 meticulously detailed figures at 1/4 scale of many of history's most important figures - including Louis XIV, Catherine the Great, Abraham Lincoln and many more. Around 200 of these historical figures are exhibited in a special gallery at the Ventura County Museum. It is widely regarded as the most historically accurate of its kind, with figures exhibited in the Clinton Presidential Library and Smithsonian.
Through his miniature masterpieces, Stuart not only captured the physical details but also the essence of each historical figure, offering a unique perspective on the past.
Stuart talks about his challenging upbringing in Altadena, battling with a then-undiagnosed dyslexia, his years in Washington D.C. preparing to be a foreign service officer, his extensive travels, his career at the Smithsonian Institution, where he sculpted models of inventors to accompany their patent applications, and mastered the craft of creating figures. He spent years as a public speaker, lecturing and giving talks about his creations, weaving narratives that brought history to life. His commitment to educating and entertaining through art is a testament to his love for the stories embedded in our collective past.
Join us as we uncover the fascinating journey of George S. Stuart, following his relocation to Ojai in 1959, where he established the renowned Gallery of Historical Figures. Learn about the impact of this artistic haven on the community and how Stuart's legacy continues to resonate, reminding us of the power of art to bridge the gap between the present and the rich tapestry of our shared history.
We did not talk about tenkara fly fishing, Ojai's earthquake fault lines or the voyages of the Kon-Tiki.
For more on Stuart's incredible legacy, visit the Ventura Museum at venturamuseum.org.
From the vault: Malcolm McDowell joins the podcast to talk about "A Clockwork Orange" on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. He goes deep on his complicated relationship with director Stanley Kubrick, the strange sequence of events that led to him being picked for the role, his close working relationship with other great directors, including Lindsay Anderson, Kubrick's passion project, "Napoleon," and the wan simulacrum which Ridley Scott just released, as well as tales of life in front of the camera, raising kids Ojai and much more.
We did not talk about the Ankithera, rugby or Brazilian emeralds.
Here's an insightful interview with McDowell from Slash Films. https://www.slashfilm.com/760908/how-a-clockwork-orange-changed-malcolm-mcdowell-forever/#:~:text=Much%20like%20Burgess'%20evolving%20emotions,saw%20onscreen%20was%20very%20real.
Sophie Ward Koren has been writing since she was old enough to hold a pen, and has published two books with a third on the way. She also has a busy blog and Instagram account chronicling her essays, poetry and stories about raising children in Ojai. Her work has been published in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, V Magazine and others.
Born and raised in Perth in Western Australia, the oldest of four children, she went on to a successful career in modeling (her sister Gemma Ward is a well-known model as well) before meeting fellow Aussie Isaac Koren (the accomplished vocalist with The Kin and the Koren Brothers), having a son and moving to Ojai. Now they have a newborn and Sophie uses her writing to share her struggles, triumphs and helpful life lessons along the way.
We talked about Perth's exotic wildlife (quokka anyone?), creative community, cooking, international fashion modeling, finding a purpose through dark clouds of doubt and fear, Ojai's exceptionalism and much more. We did not talk about Shark Week, Australian Rules Football or Genghis Khan.
For more on this fascinating Ojai neighbor, check out SophieWardKoren.com, where you can find further links to her books, blogs, recipes and more.
Jim Bailey, founder and director of Rock, Tree, Sky - an immersive school located in upper Ojai, has been a key participant in an exciting new approach to education, called Education Reimagined. Jim was among the invitees of distinguished educators who attended a seminal conference in Rhode Island earlier this year, called "Exploring Ecosystems in Community: Insights, Questions, and Collaborative Learning."
Bailey, who came to Ojai several decades ago as a science teacher and who has also taught at Oak Grove School, is known as an influential, transformative teacher, so he was exactly the kind of educator we need reimagining education for the modern era. He said the approach is to "work for the many, for all learners, not just some; we need to bring in more student agency and self-determination."
We talked about the many lessons he's learned as a caring, thoughtful teacher, and how it's possible to ignite a love of lifelong learning in unexpected ways. The wide-ranging discussion touched on key issues that confront Ojai and a society at large. We did not talk about pickerel mating habits, Japanese salt cures or the shifts in ocean currents.
Learn more about Bailey and his innovative school at https://www.rocktreesky.org/
Janelle Kandziora of Janelle's Interiors is featured on the cover of this Winter issue of Ojai Quarterly with her lead designer Erin Bernthal. She talks about how she brought her varied experiences to the range of residential and commercial properties on which they ply their trade.
As Ojai has long been a laboratory in the art of living, this timely and relevant conversation hits home. She shares insights in what brings happiness to your environment, the mix of materials, textures, surfaces and colors that form the palette of design. Kandziora talks about her journey from an art student, dreaming of a career in teaching, to a chance encounter with her husband's hotel designer that led the flourishing career in, first Minnesota, then Palm Springs, then Ojai.
We also talked about feng shui, Marie Kondo's Magic Art of Tidying, architectural styles, being "house therapists" and raising kids in Ojai. We did not talk about candlemaking, the Balfour Declaration or the Holodomor.
Check out Janelle's and Erin's work at ...
https://www.janelleinteriors.com/
A well-known artist and illustrator, Darren brings his distinctive pen to many recognizable places around Ojai for his hundreds of thousands of followers. Darren talks about growing up on the frozen tundra of Buffalo, New York and how he lucked into a graphic design course in high school that gave him the idea he could create a career for himself doing what he'd be doing anyway — drawing.
We re-release this wide-ranging and fascinating talk with this enigmatic artist who has left his Ojai-inflected distinctive stamp all around the world. We talk about plant medicine, public schools, Buffalo's surprisingly vibrant arts scene and much, much more. We did not talk about Plains Indians and their kinship with the millions of bison that once roamed through our country, flint-knapping or counting coup.
This is a re-release of an episode from 2021. Check out Darren's prolific and talented art on IG @RealFunWow or the cover of the OQ he drew in Spring 2021 on Issuu.com.
T.C. Boyle has written 19 novels and hundreds of short stories, and is a winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award. In the Fall issue of Ojai Quarterly, Kit Stolz reviewed his latest, "Blue Skies," the comically dystopian misadventures of a family on the brink of catastrophes, both environmental and personal.
Boyle covers a wide range of topics on the podcast, including growing up in impoverished circumstances, his musical career, the way his characters live on and off the page, doing the deep research that goes into his work, especially "Blue Skies," and how he came to the Ojai-Santa Barbara area. He also talked about living in Frank Lloyd Wright's final "Prairie Style" house, insect cuisine, and a Filipino billionaire's (fictional) scheme to cool down the planet with sulphur dioxide. And a ghost.
We did not talk about Mars travel, tire tread wear or the Battle of Marathon.
Check out more on T.C. Boyle on his website at tcboyle.com or his comically inspired twitter (X?) account at @tcboyle.
Author and screenwriter Mark Frost grew up in a show business family, worked at famous Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, before heading to Hollywood to work for Steven Bochco, who revolutionized television with "Hill Street Blues," where Mark as on the writing crew with David Milch and also worked with another Ojai resident, Mimi Leder.
Not long after he joined David Lynch to co-create "Twin Peaks," the show that attained cult status as soon it was aired. Frost has also written and/or directed "Storyville," "The Fantastic Four," and "Greatest Game Every Played." Among his popular books on golf and baseball are "Game 6," about the Reds-Red Sox World Series that captivated the world and marked a moment when baseball became a big business. He also wrote the golf classic, "The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever."
We talk about the WGA strike, since settled, and Mark's history with previous strikes, as well as Ojai environmental issues (Mark is a key leader with the Ojai Defense Fund, founded by our mutual friend John Broesamle, who just passed," and his new projects, including a book on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from whom an uncle worked as his press agent.
We did not talk about "Seven Samurai," Harvard admission policies or the James Webb Space Telescope.
The Ojai Storytellers Festival takes place October 26-29 with a full lineup of events from the nation's top practitioners of this ancient art form. We are joined by Kara, the festival's executive director and Antonio, one of the key storytellers.
Kara gives us the rundown on how the festival works, its place in our community and how it is integrated with local schools, and also, new this year, a Story Slam in which six local spoken word poets will compete.
Antonio talks about his upbringing in Miami and Boston as the son of a Cuban father and an Irish mother, and how those cultures, both renowned for their storytelling prowess, influences his own career. He talks about starting in public schools as an unpaid full-time puppeteer and theater director, then gradually building up his repertoire of fascinating stories from his colorful childhood, and becoming an actor, writer, and working the storytelling festival with the legends of the form. Among the stories he shared are how his dad considered him the "9th best storyteller in the family."
We did not talk about trout fishing with tenkara rods, heli-skiing or the textile industry in Nímes, France.
For more about the Storytelling Festival, and this year's schedule, check out OjaiStoryFest.org
Rick Ridgeway is a well-known adventurer, explorer, climber, naturalist, one of the original "Do Boys" with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and North Face founder Doug Tompkins.
In this reprise from several years ago, he joins the podcast to talk about his latest book of 25 adventure, "Life Lived Wild: Adventures at the Edge of the Map" as well as the climate crisis, extinction events and the many issues facing Ojai.
We did not talk about Papua New Guinea, deep-sea creatures from the Barents Sea or millennial uptalk and vocal fry.
Ojai's foremost serial entrepreneur and angel investor Bill Moses drops in for a spirited discussion about a range of issues facing Ojai, including the local economy, dealing with national companies when you own a local company, the Thomas Fire, his background growing up in rural Pennsylvania, moving and shaking on Wall Street, making the move to Ojai and the future of the world.
Bill is the co-founder, chairman/CEO for KeVita Probiotic Drinks, which was acquired by PepsiCo. He is also a leading strategist and innovator for companies in the food and beverage and skin-care industries.
We talked about his harrowing experience with Covid-19, founding Casa Barranca winery, the first certified organic vineyard in California, building an entrepreneurs' incubator in Ojai and much, much more. We did not talk about Emiliano Zapata, salmon farming or the value of Siberian sable pelts.
Check out more about Bill at FlyingEmbers.com.
Rebecca Simon, PhD, teaches at Oak Grove School and is the author of two popular books on the public's fascination with pirates. The first is "Why We Love Pirates: The Hunt for Captain Kidd and How it Changed Piracy Forever," and the second, just released this summer, is "The Pirate's Code: Life and Laws Aboard Ship."
She writes both for general audiences and as an academic, specializing in maritime law and how it has evolved and adapted, especially through the tumultuous period in the late 1600s and early 1700s, when popular conceptions of pirates, as seen in "Pirates of the Caribbean" were created.
We talk about the often-surprisingly egalitarian codes and laws under which pirates governed themselves, the differences between the reality and fantasy, the spark that pirates provided to oppressed people everywhere, including the American colonies, and much more. So strap on your flintlock pistol and cutlass and come onboard.
We did not talk about Shohei Ohtani's dream team, crayon color schemes, or competitive chess.
You can learn more about Dr. Simon on her website, rebecca-simon.com.
Welcome to another exciting episode of Ojai's podcast. Just in time for October's Adopt-A-Dog Month, we have a very special guest with us, Eric Knight, the executive director of the Humane Society of Ventura County. Eric is a passionate advocate for animal welfare, and he joins us to shed light on the incredible work being done at the shelter in Ojai.
Eric takes us on a journey through the Humane Society of Ventura County, sharing heartwarming stories of rescue, rehabilitation, and the commitment of his dedicated team. We explore the challenges and triumphs of running a shelter, discuss the importance of adoption, and discover the many ways in which this organization has made a profound impact on the lives of animals and the community it serves.
We also talk about the serendipitous twists and turns of his varied career, including his many years in the entertainment industry, and what brought him to Ojai. We did not talk about Arctic Tern migrations, the German concept of Fingerspitzengefühl, or the pigments of Renaissance-era paints.
Scott Johnson is one of California's leading architects and designers. He joins the podcast to talk about his first commission in California, the Fox Plaza in Los Angeles, which, before it opened, served as a major character itself in "Die Hard," one of the most successful action films of all time.
We also talk about his background, getting his undergraduate degree from Stanford and his Master's from Harvard, the place of architecture and design in defining our world, the Ojai Music Festival and his work as an abstract painter, and his recent publication of the book, "Uncommon Ground," about the conjunction of visual arts and architecture.
We did not talk about the explosion of Krakatoa, Thom Browne's latest collection or New York vs. Los Angeles as the food capital of the world. The episode is a re-release from 2021.
Here's a reboot of a fan favorite: Noel Paul Stookey, the Paul of Peter, Paul & Mary.
He not only rode the folk wave of the early 1960s with such indelible songs like "Puff the Magic Dragon," "If I Had a Hammer" and helping popularize a young Minnesotan bard who went by the stage name of Bob Dylan, but helped created it. He shares the iconic trio's origin story as well as his own, and the many memories of a life, well lived, in music.Peter, Paul & Mary's long, legendary career was cut short with Mary Travers' tragic death in 2009, but their place in the cultural zeitgeist is eternal. Noel, a part-time Ojai resident, joins us to talk about his new album, "Fazz: Now & Then" and to reflect on the experience of collaborating with fellow musicians during the pandemic to create this nuanced, wide-ranging collection of 20 original songs with talented musicians such as Kent Palmer, Paul Winter, Paul Sullivan, David LaPlante and Edward Mottau.Fazz, as Noel explains, was christened by Paul Desmond of the Dave Brubeck Quartet to explain Peter, Paul & Mary's distinct fusion of jazz and folk. Noel picks up the resident Ojai podcast guitar (be still, my heart) to explain the shadings of alternate chord structures that inform much of the color of the album, as illustrated by the A Major, and the A Major 7th, its "smoky, mysterious cousin."Noel talks about writing "The Wedding Song: There is Love" - for Peter Yarrow's wedding, and his reluctance to perform it again until urged by Peter, and how it has made many, if not most, of the lists of most beautiful songs of all time, right up there with fellow Ojai resident Amanda McBroom's "The Rose." He also discusses his Christian faith and the epiphany he had at age 30 after a decade of fame, and the toll it took on his well-being. There’s relevant folk music news: Noel’s good friend John McCutcheon just released “Ukraine Now.”We did not talk about Ron DeSantis' fading aspirations, the Buffalo Bills abysmal overtime record or the enduring mystery of who ordered the hit on Tupac Shakur.
"The Morning Show," starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, is Apple TV's flagship show this fall with its lightning-quick writing, superb acting and tense, plot-driven examinations of the cultural landscape. It is the brainchild of director and executive producer Leder, the latest project in her brilliant career.
Season Three debuts September 13th, and brings in a new featured actor (Jon Hamm) and several gripping storylines.
We talk about her growing up in New York and Los Angeles, her big breaks that got her and her talented pen into the industry, some of her mentors and the many obstacles she had to overcome, as a woman, to reach the success she has today.
The wide-ranging conversation also includes our favorite films and television shows, best directors, actors, the studio system and, with the writers/actors strike, missing the camaraderie of the promotional tours for the show. We also talk about the many twists and turns of the Morning Show plot, how "legacy media" is a great prism for looking at the schisms in American politics, the threat of Big Tech and the interpersonal dramas that afflict everyone from the lowest to the highest pinnacles of society.
Mimi's film "On the Basis of Sex" about the early career of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg also came in for discussion, as well as the connection to Ojai through "friend of the pod" Judith Hale Norris, the supervising attorney for the 10th District Court of Appeals, and the momentous shift of the Dobbs decision and its likely implications for years to come.
We did not talk about bottlenose dolphin migrations, the Chinese Warring States period or the latest fashion-forward shoe designs.
Check out "The Morning Show" below (the first episode is free).
https://tv.apple.com/us/show/the-morning-show/umc.cmc.25tn3v8ku4b39tr6ccgb8nl6m?mttn3pid=Google%20AdWords&mttnagencyid=a5e&mttncc=US&mttnsiteid=143238&mttnsubad=OUS2019800_1-670311437945-c&mttnsubkw=122311402254__Hvgufltl_&mttnsubplmnt=_adext_
Dr. J.B. Dyas joins the podcast with his partner Cynthia Allen to talk about his approach to management — a process to train leaders in this American art form's give-and-take, improvisation and collaborative insights. They tell us that jazz is all about listening, and how jazz can train you to be a better listener, "and a better listener is a better leader."
He and Cynthia has been to Ojai many times, and now is teaching workshops using the approach he's developed over the past few decades to enhance productivity and morale, foster better communications and happiness in the workplace.
Dr. Dyas is currently the VP for Education and Curriculum Development at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, where he oversees the Institute's celebrated education and outreach programs including Jazz in America (www.jazzinamerica.org), "one of the most significant and wide-reaching jazz education programs in the world." He has presented numerous jazz workshops, teacher-training seminars, and jazz "informances" worldwide with such renowned artists, including Dave Brubeck and Hancock.
His Youtube videos about jazz improvisation as a metaphor and method for corporations and organizations have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. He has taught hundreds of classes and clinics as a teacher and performed more than a 1,000 gigs as a bassist and bandleader. He and Cynthia talk about Ojai's role in the jazz world, as home to Gene Lees, the jazz journalist and biographer who wrote the lyrics for the "Corcovado," the classic Jobim and Astrud song, "Quiet Nights & Quiet Stars," as well as legendary pianist Roger Kellaway, Dizzy Gillespie's band leader.
We talk about jazz' importance to American history as a confluence of influences from Africa and Europe, and its role as a cultural export, its wide applicability to teaching and leading, and much more about he and Cynthia's fascinating life stories. We did not talk about Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the future of wind power or the Mayan wars.
Check out Dr. Dyas' website, https://www.jbdyas.com/, and his Youtube videos at https://www.jbdyas.com/jazz-pedagogy-videos, "and What is Jazz and Why It's Important to the World."
As of posting time, SAG/AFTRA (actors) and WGA (writers) were still on strike. Our guest Hawk Koch has been through a few strikes in his six decades in the entertainment industry, on both sides of the table. The studios have their offer on the table, so do the writers and actors, and talks continue. Hawk has been heartened by the Barbenheimer phenomenon with people returning to the theaters after the isolation of the pandemic.
A key issue is the strange new world of streaming services, where no one knows how many people are seeing the shows, or how much revenue they are generating, thanks to the opaque nature of big tech companies like Netflix, Max, Amazon and Apple.
Hawk has produced more than 60 films (from Wayne's World to Chinatown) and was head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science. He is the one half of the only father-son duo to head the Academy (Howard Koch Sr.) When he was head of the Producers Guild of America, he worked with partner Mark Gordon to professionalize the craft and instituted the Producers Mark.
Koch serves on the board of directors for AMC Entertainment, the Motion Picture and Television Fund, the Producers Guild of America, and the National Film Preservation Foundation. He lives with wife Molly in Ojai but still keeps himself busy with new projects.
We talked about the accelerating rate of change in the business, and whether the studios and creative talents are worried about each other, when the looming threat of Big Tech threatens their entire way of life, through Artificial Generated Intelligence and their general disregard and lack of love for the magic of films. Hawk is a return guest from 2020 when he published "Magic Time," his memoir about growing up on movie sets and his distinguished career.
We did not talk about Mack Sennett, the Lumiére Brothers or magic lantern shows.
Dave Spanbock has been both an artist and gallerist in his extensive career, mostly as an abstract artist, drawing geometrical shapes, mostly squares, freehand and experimenting with colors and the moods and emotion they evoke.
On a walk along Ojai Avenue, going past the derelict hulk of what was once the flourishing community that was the bowling alley, he had an inspiration that Ojai, for all its incredible natural beauty, lacks an inside perspective equal to its exterior. We talk about how it might look to have a museum and arts center in Ojai, one more aligned with modern art movements and artists, residency programs, internships, master classes, visiting scholars and much more. Spending decades in Los Angeles, he's seen how a museum or exhibit space can transform a neighborhood. In Ojai, such a place could potentially transform the region.
Spanbock has lived in and amid art most of his life, growing up in New Jersey, moving to Santa Barbara for college, where he moved from fine arts photography and writing into abstract painting. He was mentored by several prominent artists and teachers in college, influenced by the Black Mountain College model, in which all disciplines of art are integrated into a fluid whole (listen to Episode 103 with the American Modern Opera Company for more insight on Black Mountain College's outsize influence on modern culture).
Spanbock is known for his "365 Day Project" in which he painted a self portrait every day for a year. At first it was a discipline, but it revealed greater connections between the brain, identity and how they flow through the brush.
We talked about various arts movements, personalities like Warhol and gallerist Larry Gagosian and Ojai's potential as a modern-day Athens. Dave's fascinating development of an artist, his influences and the history of paints and pigments. We did not talk about the Såmi people of Finland, the McCloud River strain of rainbow trout or the provenance of the mud which umpires use to treat baseballs.
Mark Lewis talks about his research and epic OQ story about the House Un-American Affairs Committee and the defiant screenwriters who put their livelihoods at risk. Many of the Hollywood 19 lived in Ojai, including Michael Wilson, Paul Jarrico and Dalton Trumbo. From the vault of our podcast conversation in 2021.
With recent testimony from a whistleblowing intelligence officer and bipartisan calls for disclosure of the government's extensive reporting of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (the government's new phrase of art for UFOs), and information revealed about the possession of alien technology, few people are better place to comment on these startling developments than Ojai resident Bob Salas.
In 1967, Salas, then an Air Force missile officer, witnessed a bizarre incident, in which a hovering UFO over the gates near a missile launch facility on Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana coincided with the disabling of the 10 nuclear missiles under Salas' watch. He learned much later that two other UFO-associated shutdowns of nuclear missile facilities occurred within the past six months of 1966 and 1967, including one a mere eight days prior, also at Malmstrom. A quarter-century later, he realized that the Air Force did not hold up their end of the non-disclosure bargain, and so Salas felt free to talk about his experiences, writing "Faded Giants" and "Unidentified," revealing details of his encounters, those of many other people, as well as behind-the-scenes coverups and secrecy.
We talked about his books, the implications of these startling recent developments as well as their profound implications. We did not talk about Shohei Ohtani trade rumors, pixie tangerines or the Nazca Lines.
You can read more about Salas' account and his research in "Faded Giants" and "Unidentified: The UFO Phenomenon."
Jeremy B. Cohen took over the reins as Artistic Director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference from the legendary Robert Egan, who led the conference through the past 23 years into its status as one of the leading new play development forums in the world.
Cohen will call upon his multitude of contacts in the field to help this year's eight chosen playwrights realize their vision through the intensive workshop process. It all leads up to the final weekend of staged readings (July 24th through August 6th). This year, The Thacher School will be hosting the workshops and stagings.
The playwrights work with dedicated teams of the dramaturges, actors, directors, producers and peers to bring out the best of their work in this highly coveted program. Cohen said hundreds of plays are read for every one selected.
Cohen is seeing striking artistic ideas coming out of the pandemic isolation, and is thrilled to help bring those visions come to life. Expecting to find a "lot of two-handers, figuring those are easier to get produced," instead he's noticing that "some of the best plays I'm reading right now are speaking to the idea of a quiet grief that many people haven't been able to articulate yet ... I'm sensing joy and freedom as well."
According to the OPC announcement, Cohen comes with decades of experiences as a nationally renowned director, playwright and leader in the field of theatre. He continues to serve as artistic director at Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis, where he's led for 13 years. He will continue in that role until 2024. Previously he served as associate artistic director/director of new work at Hartford Stage (2003-2010), where he also directed several premieres. As founding artistic director of Naked Eye Theatre Company in Chicago, Cohen developed/directed more than 15 plays, including several premieres.
We talked about the writing life, the balance of isolation and collaboration that is key to art, and his plans for integrating the conference into a year-round institution, as well as integrating it into the Ojai community. We did not talk about hired clappers (clappeurs), the Battle of Marathon or recent UFO revelations.
Check out the OPC's website at OjaiPlays.org for current information and schedules of the stagings for this year's plays.
With recent testimony from a whistleblowing intelligence officer and bipartisan calls for disclosure of the government's extensive reporting of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (the government's new phrase of art for UFOs), and information revealed about the possession of alien technology, few people are better place to comment on these startling developments than Ojai resident Bob Salas.
In 1967, Salas, then an Air Force missile officer, witnessed a bizarre incident, in which a hovering UFO over the gates near a missile launch facility on Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana coincided with the disabling of the 10 nuclear missiles under Salas' watch. He learned much later that two other UFO-associated shutdowns of nuclear missile facilities occurred within the past six months of 1966 and 1967, including one a mere eight days prior, also at Malmstrom. A quarter-century later, he realized that the Air Force did not hold their end of the non-disclosure bargain, Salas felt free to talk about his experiences, writing "Faded Giants" and "Unidentified," revealing details of his encounters, those of many other people, as well as behind-the-scenes coverups and secrecy.
We talked about his books, the implications of these startling recent developments as well as their profound implications. We did not talk about Shohei Ohtani trade rumors, pixie tangerines or the Nazca Lines.
You can read more about Salas' account and his research in "Faded Giants" and "Unidentified: The UFO Phenomenon."
The Ojai Film Society opens their free summer series in Libbey Bowl on July 28th with "Going Varsity in Mariachi" about the world of competitive high school mariachi in south Texas. The film is fresh off its warm reception at the Sundance Film Festival.
Filmmakers Alejandro Vasquez and Sam Osborn bring this vibrant world to life through the highs and lows of the Edinburgh North High School's mariachi team as they vie for the state championship. Coach Abel Acuña molds his musicians not just in the repertoire but through life's challenges as these students prepare for the next stages of their lives.
"Going Varsity in Mariachi is a testament to their ability to explore identity, cultural roots, and pressing social issues with a nuance that foregrounds frankness, boldness, and joy," reads one review.
Vasquez and Osborn will be on hand at the screening. Joining us is the OFS's Nick Weissman, who shares his own stories about the challenges of documentary filmmaking, and teases his next project. We talked about how they got interested in this project, working with these poised and authentic teenagers, Covid protocols, the kids' personal challenges and much more.
We did not talk about piranha feeding frenzies, hyperbaric chambers or Canada's wildfires.
With the Emmy nominees released this week, it's a good time to post up our interview with Mike Milano, whose film "137 Shots" about a tragic police killing of two motorists in Cleveland was one of last year's nominees.
We talk about a wide range of topics, focusing on the racial environment of his hometown in Cleveland, the hurdles to getting this hard-hitting project done, and the fallout after the verdicts.
Matt LaVere is Ventura County's First District Supervisor, representing much of Ojai and Ventura with more than 160,000 constituents. He is also former mayor of Ventura and replaced Steve Bennett, now California State Assemblyman.
Elected to office just as the pandemic swept through the world, LaVere was on the front lines of the local response, working closely with Ojai city and hospital officials to disburse resources for hospitals, testing stations, health information, vaccines and more. He was elected in March 2020 and took office in December.
Not to mention the water litigation issues that took the valley by storm when he was Ventura' mayor.
Locally Matt has been working diligently on housing issues, including with Brad Parziale of Mesa Farms, the transition housing in Ojai for children aging out of the foster system with no other assistance to rely on. He is also focusing on the drug issues, specifically with the shocking number of local overdoses from fentanyl, the new killer opiate that's replaced oxycontin as public enemy no. 1.
We talked about his early years being raised in Ojai and attending Villanova Preparatory Academy, of the joys and not-so-joys of raising young children, what it was like to be a kid himself in Ojai, the changes in our population, what the future holds for Ojai and Ventura County, plus much more. We did not talk about Ken Jennings replacing Alex Trebek, the New York Jets with Aaron Rodgers as QB or the Barbenheimer phenomenon.
With his height, flowing blond hair and most often being barefoot, Dennis Shives is among the most singular, and representative, of Ojai's citizens.
Ojai born and raised, Dennis has made his living as an artist - both musician and visual artist - ever since. He claims inspiration from his grandmother, who taught art until age 91. His career was honored with a very memorable retrospective of his seven decades in art at the Ojai Valley Museum in 2017. (See Mark Lewis article, OQ Fall 2017). His life may be his greatest work of art.
He's worked with sculpture, silver and gold smithing, painting and "whatever else intrigued him," according to the feature, including memorable 4th of July parade floats. His most recent project was to recreate the solar system for Earth Day celebrations, with schoolchildren acting out the part of the planets, asteroids, comets and sun.
We talked about Ojai's essential identity as a haven for experimentation and discovery, making a living as an artist, his lifelong fascination with bears and the changes that have overtaken Ojai in the past few years. We did not talk about Major League Baseball's new rules, the expeditions of Fridtjof Nansen or the famous yellow ceramic glaze of Otto Heino.
Check out Dennis' work at DennisShivesArt.wordpress.com.
John Broesamle, professor, author, historian, ardent conservationist and Ojai Living Treasure, has passed away, leaving behind an enduring legacy of open space and environmental awareness. His awakening happened early in his life when he watched the farm fields of Long Beach give way to the cookie-cutter developments of post-War II southern California. He did not want that to happen to Ojai.
Born in 1941, John received his BA from the University of the Pacific and his Master's and Ph.D. from Columbia University. John was a professor of history at California State University, Northridge from 1968 to 2000, where he received the university's Distinguished Teaching Award. He is the author of "Reform and Reaction in 20th Century American Politics" as well as other works. John was President of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy from 1997 to 2000. He was also founder of the Ojai Valley Defense Fund.
John joined the podcast in October 2020 to discuss a wide range of issues, including his current book project on the WPA and Yosemite National Park. We talked about his abiding love for Ojai, history, his family and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Peter Strauss burst on to the scene in the wildly popular 1976 miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man" as successful entrepreneur Rudy Jordache, alongside Nick Nolte as the hard luck brother, Tom. He went to a prolific career on film, television and stage. His most recent role was headlining "Love Amid the Ruins" with JoBeth Williams at the Laguna Playhouse, and he also recently starred in "The Outgoing Tide" here for the Ojai Performing Arts Theater nonprofit group.
He won an Emmy in 1979 for "The Jericho Mile" about a prison lifer who trains for the Olympics. It was Michael Mann's first directing credit. In a sign of his range, Strauss also played the President of the United States opposite Ice Cube in "XXX: State of the Union." We talk about his wide-ranging career with hundreds of acting credits.
He has called Ojai home for more than 35 years and is deeply involved with horticulture, and was the spokesperson for Miracle-Gro for years. He travels widely collecting plants, specializing in succulents.
We talk about Ojai and climate change, how the town has changed over the decades and what we need to do to secure the future. We did not talk about the transmigration of souls, Ernie Kovacs or summer homes in Nantucket.
The American Association of Retired Persons is the largest nonprofit group in the world with 38 million members. And it all began right here in Ojai in 1957 over dinner for six people at the Ojai Valley Inn. One of the persons was Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, a formidably tall redhead who changed the way the nation thought about aging.
Craig Walker joins the podcast to talk about his recently published book, "The Dignity They Deserve" which he co-authored with Mark Lewis. As the title explains, Dr. Andrus, perhaps the first female high school principal in California, grew up in Chicago during the height of the Progressive Era, where she volunteered at Jane Addams' Hull House, before embarking on a career in education. She retired to Ojai and bought the Grey Gables and converted it into a residential facility for retired teachers. Her mission was to show that retired people had much to contribute to their world and communities.
The lore is that she found a retired teacher living in abject poverty in a chicken coop. In her anger, she got organized. The AARP was founded to provide health insurance to retired teachers through the American Retired Teachers Association, which Dr. Andrus also established. It proved so wildly successful that the insurance broker, Leonard Davis, who helped set up the underwriting, soon became one of the 400 richest men in America. Dr. Andrus never personally profited off her organization.
We talked about the Dr. Andrus' background, and her illustrious career at Lincoln High School, where she revolutionized the way high school was taught. Walker, a retired teacher himself, also talked about his father, the famous architect Rodney Walker, builder of several of the Case Study homes that helped house millions of people.
We did not talk about Sumerian cuneiform, great Moghul empire warriors or the sketch comedy of Tim Robinson.
Dr. Nomi Prins, the author, former Goldman Sachs executive and Ojai resident joins the podcast to talk about her work explaining the world of high finance and how bankers continue to rig the system for their benefit. Her latest work, "Permanent Distortion," came out last year and dives deep into the trillions of dollars of fiat currency pumped into the global financial system during the pandemic, and how it is being use to further divide Wall Street from Main Street, and how little of the money the governments printed was actually put to productive use.
"Quantitative Easing" is the term of art used to describe the emergency response during the 2008 banking crisis which has since became an addiction for the Federal Reserve. Most of the trillions of dollars since the pandemic continues to sit on banks' asset sheets without being loaned out, as was the intent.
Dr. Prins' is famous for her deep research, lively writing, and ability to break down complex and abstract topics into easily understood concepts.
We also talk about her other books, including "All the Presidents' Bankers" and how a very small group of elite financiers and politicians, who came from the same families and attended the same schools, have been pulling the strings for the world since JP Morgan organized a 1907 meeting at his resort in Jekyll Island, Georgia that led to the founding of the Federal Reserve system in 1913. We also talked about the 2008 financial crash and how much of it was blamed on reckless homeowners rather than the vast amounts of money leveraged by bankers for stock buybacks and other contrivances to boost their own wealth at the cost of productive use of capital for infrastructure and employment projects.
Dr. Prins and I did not talk about Japanese ceramic glazes, left-handed cricketers or Aston Villa's greatest moments. Check out her works - "Collusion," "All the Presidents's Bankers," "Black Tuesday," "It Takes a Pillage," "Jacked," and "Other People's Money."
In a reprise of Episode 64, we bring back Chumash elder and lifelong Ojai native Julie Tumamait-Stenslie to talk about her diverse tribe, their tragic history and hopeful future. Julie grew up in Ojai with an idyllic childhood as the youngest of seven children, playing in the Ventura river bottom. Her father, Vincent, was a revered Chumash elder and keeper of the traditional folkways. Julie apprenticed herself to him, learning the old songs, stories and folkways of this ancient and fascinating people.
She now has taken his place, performing ceremonies along from Malibu to San Luis Obispo, teaching children the songs and stories by which Chumash peoples passed on information through the generations and making sure that her people are represented. Besides archeological surveys on construction projects to make sure that cultural treasures are not destroyed, she founded the Barbareño/Ventureño band of Mission Indians, on which she serves as tribal chair.
She paints a vivid picture of pre-contact life in the Ojai Valley, where the bands of Chumash traveled from village site to village site to take advantage of the changing seasons for food crops like acorns, piñon nuts and the bounty of the nearby sea. Before the Spanish arrived, the state's native population was estimated at 310,000, which dwindled to a few tens of thousands by the 1870s after the massive disruption of the gold rush - with pestilence and genocide nearly wiping out a diverse and fascinating peoples.
Julie's keen insight and humor give her a peerless view of the area's history and the near-extinction which happened twice - when the Spanish friars arrived in the 1770s and again when the American flag first flew over California in 1846. We talk a lot about Benjamin Hadley's book, "American Genocide" about the nearly successful effort to wipe out California thriving native people between 1846 and 1873 (the Modoc War). We also talk about Ojai and how it's changed over the years, and how she and others are striving to find a balance through a more integrated approach to the environment and respect of Ojai's first residents. Julie also tells us about her husband Bruce, who runs the county's Economic Development Collaborative and it's shepherding of the county's pandemic-stricken businesses.
We did not talk about Chief Cornplanter's legacy, the first or third Punic Wars or the Dutch tulip craze of the early 1600s.
Quail Springs farm is a 450-acre permaculture project in the Lockwood Valley north of Ojai, where they farm, herd, build and teach in as sustainable manner as possible. Ashwin and Alexx, the co-directors, join the podcast to talk about sustainability, the growth of their on-line courses, and the successes of their buildings in withstanding severe heat and receiving top certifications.
The ranch was a bleak and barren over-grazed rangeland when it was founded in 2004 and now the namesake springs flow again and the gardens produce abundant food without irrigation. The techniques developed for building and farming have been taught to thousands of people and Quail Springs has partnered with Patagonia and other businesses and nonprofit organizations.
We talked about WWOOFs (Willing Workers on Organic Farms), cob buildings standing strong against raging infernos, the camaraderie of communal life, the resonance of Quail Springs in the tech-stressed digital age and much more. We also talked about Ashwin and Alexx's journey to Quail Springs, German high literature, film recommendations and important books. We did not talk about Spey casting for Atlantic salmon, life cycle of locusts or gang tattoos.
Learn more about Ojai's northern neighbor at QuailSprings.org.
Beth Pratt, head of the National Wildlife Federation for California, attracted national attention recently when the beloved mountain lion, P-22, died in Los Angeles and she arranged for an inspiring funeral ceremony. P-22 became a media sensation when he crossed the 101 and 405 freeways more than 10 years ago to carve out a territory for himself in Griffith Park. She came to Ojai recently to give a lecture about co-existing with wildlife, after several mountain lions encounters and a lion being euthanized, and her friendship with Ojai resident Molly Jordan Koch.
Her conservation work has been featured by the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, BBC World Service, CBS This Morning, the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and NPR. She is the author of the novel The Idea of Forever and the official Junior Ranger Handbook for Yosemite, and her new book, When Mountain Lions are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working It Out In California, was published by Heyday Books in 2016. She has given a TEDx talk about coexisting with wildlife called, “How a Lonely Cougar in Los Angeles Inspired the World,” and is featured in the new documentary, “The Cat that Changed America.”
We talked about her experiences growing up in Massachusetts that set her on present path, wildlife reintroductions in the West, the wandering wolf who made it from Oregon down the coast to Ventura County, and her major project of having a wildlife corridor built over US 101 in Liberty Canyon. We did not talk about barramundi recipes, ancient mariners or comedic stylings of Abbot & Costello.
You can learn more about Beth Pratt and her important work at her website, bethpratt.com, or through the National Wildlife Federation, nwf.org
Ingrid Boulting was raised primarily by her grandparents in South Africa as her parents went to pursue careers in England and France. Her mother was a model and actress, and her father was a writer and director. She herself moved to London when she was 7, and she herself went to "a show-biz school" before being selected for the Royal Ballet School. It was a rough adjustment, as Afrikaans was her first language. She landed her first of many magazine covers ("Queen Magazine") when she was 12 years and the rest is history.
Through it all, her first love was and remains painting. She has (had) an exhibit at the Ojai Art Center through the end of April, and has focused mostly on still life. Another lifelong love has been yoga, she is the owner of Sacred Space studio, where she integrates her spirituality and love of nature into her practice.
Ingrid was a favorite muse of French photographer Sarah Moon and was known for her delicate features and ethereal air. Ford Models founder Eileen Ford herself recruited Ingrid, though she resisted modeling as a full-time career, giving priority to acting on the stage and screen, as well as painting. She flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, co-starring with Robert DeNiro in Elia Kazan-directed "The Last Tycoon," and was the "Biba Girl" with the English cosmetics company.
She has family all over the world, but has lived in Ojai since the mid-1980s, introduced by Guy and Leone Webster. "It either won't let you leave, or it kicks you out," she said. Ingrid's various moves between theater, film and modeling continued, but Ojai has always been home base. Among her many careers, Ingrid also learned from White Lotus owner Frank White, the renowned yoga teacher, who started when he was 68 and trained several generations of teachers. He mentored Ingrid into teaching yoga, which she continues at Sacred Space Studio. We also talked about our shared love of Ojai, its distinct aroma, its resemblance to the south of France, her pets, the perils of poor city planning and the constant threats Ojai faces.
We did not talk about IRS forms, baseball's new rules or allergy season.
You can check out more about Ingrid and her art at her website, IngridBoulting.com. Her yoga class schedule is posted at SacredSpaceStudio.com (the only studio in Ojai with Earth Mats.)
Kimberly Cluff, as the legal director of the California Tribal Families Coalition, sat in as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the Brackeen v. Haaland case last November. The case is about an adoption and directly threatens the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, which sought to put an end to centuries of Native American children being taken from their families and put up for adoption by white families.
More than that, Brackeen proponents are trying to undermine hard-earned sovereignty by tribes, arguing that their status is unconstitutional under the 10th Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." If successful, the dismantling of ICWA would also threaten the tribes' ability to protect their land and resources from outside forces. The case is expected to be decided any day now.
Before ICWA it was common practice to remove native children from their parents, in fact, as many as 25-30 percent were put up for adoption. As Cluff discusses, it was merely one part of centuries-long abuses against America's first residents. In California, some of the needs are even more grave, with poverty and health issues outpacing any other group.
Cluff is the daughter of Ojai icons Don and Sheila Cluff, attended Cal Berkeley and Hastings Law before becoming involved with native American issues. We also talked about the Vatican on March 30th renouncing its "Doctrine of Discovery" by which it sought to "Christianize the world," which has been in effect since 1455 and was used in legal arguments in the U.S. as recently as 2005. We also talked about growing up in Ojai and being eager to escape, then having your own children and being just as eager to return. We did not talk about ChatGPT4, Louis C.K. standup routines or the Romans' Lost Legion.
The Ojai Women's Fund was started seven years ago by Karen Evenden, Peggy Russell and Kyle Crowner with $50,000 to donate and a big vision for reshaping and democratizing philanthropy in Ojai. It is patterned after a fund Karen was familiar with in Seattle. The idea is that it is affordable to anyone with a desire to make Ojai a better place to live. So far, they've disbursed more than $600,000.
With now more than 4,000 members, it has become an inspiring success, having granted hundreds of thousands of dollars to many dozens of worthy nonprofit groups in Ojai. It has spawned many affiliated groups of givers, such as the Real Housewives of Ojai, The Valley Girls and Women of a Certain Page. Polly Nelson and Catherine Meek join the podcast to talk about the fund and its goals. They are requesting proposals from local groups at this time. Those proposals are brought before the members for a vote on which to fund. As chairs of the grants committee, it will be Catherine and Polly's job to work with the grantors and put those plans into action.
Polly moved to Ojai five years ago full-time after commuting back and forth from the Los Angeles area to care for an ailing parent, and she sees the Women's Fund as a way to put her years of experience as a retail executive and trainer to work. Catherine Meek was herself a recipient of a grant for her "School on Wheels" which brings mobile classroom education to the streets for homeless and sex-trafficked women in Ventura County.
We talked about Ojai's shifting charitable needs, education, homelessness, affordable housing, growth, urban sprawl and how a little bit of involvement at the right time can pay huge dividends. We did not talk about Atlantic salmon fishing in the Kola Peninsula, new rule changes in baseball or the cloning of polo horses.
Check out the Ojai Women's Fund at ojaiwomensfund.org or email info@ojaiwomensfund.org for more information or to apply for a grant.
The country's oldest amateur tennis tournament, The Ojai Tennis Tournament, affectionately known as "The Ojai" returns April 26-30 with 1,400 players and 500 volunteers. Steve Pratt and Brian Teacher join us to talk about the tournament's astonishing history and importance to the world of tennis. Teacher, multiple Ojai champion, winner of the Pac-8 single and doubles title in 1974 and a member of the UCLA squad that won the NCAA title in 1974 and 1975, was recently entered on the Wall of Fame in Libbey Park. Pratt, communications director of the tournament, was on hand to talk about Teacher's incredible career as well as The Ojai's return to full vigor after three years of pandemic-related interruptions and curtailments. There was also pickleball talk.
Teacher, once ranked no. 7 in the world, went pro after UCLA and won the Australian Open in 1980. Along the way, he beat legends like fellow UCLA Bruins Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors. He now runs his eponymous Tennis Academy in South Pasadena. He has also developed an application called Full Court Teaching App that keeps comprehensive records of a player's games and form and allows coaches from all over the world to analyze and advise. It also makes it easier to hire coaches and get real-time help from anywhere with an internet connection.
We talked about the changes in the game since Teacher's pro days, the physical demands of the sport and of all high-level athletics, the rigors of the road and where tennis goes next. The behind-the-scenes glimpses into the massive logistical challenge of The Ojai was also discussed. We did not talk about Robert Peary's North Pole expedition, why hot water freezes faster than cold, or the development of the Wankel engine.
Richard Hajas, chairman of the Casitas Municipal Water District, and a lifelong water industry veteran, has been through many drought-flood cycles in his life. Born in Ventura, he's lived in Ojai for 40 years, and is a former operations manager of two major water districts: Casitas Municipal Water District and Camrosa Water District in eastern Camarillo. He's built important projects, including the innovative Camrosa Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Conejo Creek Project, the largest water recycling project in the county. He's managed every aspect of watershed planning for both residential, prime farm land and rare wetlands.
In 2007 he helped organize Ojai Flow, which brought to the ballot an initiative to wrest the sale of publicly traded Golden State Mutual Water Company to Casitas, a public entity answerable to voters. He's earned a B.A. and Master's in public administration from CSU-Northridge.
He joins the podcast with good news and not-so-good news for listeners; the well-above average rains may bring Lake Casitas storage to nearly 75 percent capacity from below 30 percent after five long years of drought. Casitas has enough supply for many years with proper management and the looming threat of moving to onerous Stage IV drought restrictions was avoided. Richard leads a lively session with the history of water projects in America, the future of the state, and the trends and changes in Ojai's water use from farming to residential, and what that might mean for wildland fires and the next drought.
We also talk about climate change, steelhead trout and eventually hooking up Ojai's closed system to the state water projects through either Santa Barbara or Ventura. We did not talk about Bill Mazeroski's heroic deeds for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series, the Blue Lagoon in Iceland or Khazak eagle hunters.
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.
It's a long ways from the Big Apple to the Little Orange, but the issues and the personalities that shape them are remarkably similar. One key advantage New York had that Ojai didn't was an epic chronicler and columnist with the street smarts and monumental charisma of Jimmy Breslin. He was the perfect fit for his beat — with its charlatans, wiseguys, politicians and police — and the connections that brought them all together to create the vivid world of New York City from the early 1960s onward.
Breslin's son Kevin joins the podcast to talk about his singular father, his connections to Ojai and his own brilliant career.
The winner of every distinction and honor the world of journalism has to offer, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1986, Breslin got his start as a humble beat reporter for the New York Herald who was thrust into the melee surrounding the assassination of JFK. Without having the sources, campaign and government insiders or connections, Breslin found a way into the story that made his mark: Interviewing Clifton Pollard, an unassuming man with the painful task of burying the president. Breslin's gravedigger story announced the arrival of a singular talent who, as much or more than anyone else, created New York City's image as a blue-collar, take-no-bullshit town with a cast of colorful characters including the famous and infamous, the charming rogues and hard-working Everymen for whom he wrote his three-times-a-week column for decades.
Breslin has himself made news, as when Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz wrote him letters about his coverage, and when he was savagely beaten by organized crime figures at a restaurant owned by Henry Hill of "Wiseguys" fame.
Breslin was also a celebrity — besides his column (which included plenty of investigative and breaking news reporting — he also wrote popular novels, was a regular on the talk-show circuit, had his own talk show, ran for public office and starred in TV commercials. Along with his compatriot and competitor Pete Hamill, his beat was the sprawling, noisy and good-hearted metropolis.
Kevin Breslin has had his own brilliant career as an actor and filmmaker. His documentary "Living for 32" about the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings was shortlisted for an Academy Award, and he has also written feature films, including "Blowtorch."
Jerry Dunn has a dream job - maybe THE dream job - traveling and writing about it. The former editor of National Geographic Travel has also written for many dozens of other publications, large and small, from the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and ourown Ojai Quarterly. He's also a prolific author; "Favorite Places," "Tricks of the Trade," and many well-regarded guidebooks among them.
He joins the podcast to talk about his peripatetic career as a journalist and author, living in India where he acted as an extra in many Bollywood extravaganzas, interviewing Muhammad Ali (teaching him how to take a punch), Kareem Abdul Jabbar, (how to shoot a skyhook) and Richard Nixon (how to remember names). He also learned how to train championship jumping frogs from Bill Steed. "Play inspirational tapes."
Dunn, who grew up in Los Angeles then attended Stanford, where he learned that following his father into a legal career was not the best bet. He bought a round-the-world airline ticket and set forth into the world to experience it and to share those experiences with millions of readers. He's also an accomplished magician and mentalist and has lived in Ojai since 1987.
We talk about the craft and art of writing, the importance of reading, of immersing yourself in local culture, as well as his incredible family — wife Merry, and sons Locke and Graham. We did not talk about the Seven Year's War, the electoral college or coral bleaching.
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
Nicholas Gray joins the podcast to talk about the Ojai-based startup he's been building the past two years with Vu Dang, that uses their own AI-aided app, FlowAI, to help people maintain the perfect flow state in their meditation. FlowAI uses the cameras on your phone or desktop to watch you as you meditate, monitoring vital signs such as breathing rate, heart rate, facial muscles and more to give you your SaneScore that you can track over months and years to improve the quality of your meditation.Users can also earn tokens through time and meditation quality, which can be redeemed on the platform for extra classes and merchandise. Sanehood's AI is also free, and hopes to remain so. They hope to earn money through donations, grants, upgraded services and products.
The project began when Vu Dang, who knew Gray from the Ojai Valley Athletic Club, asked for his help developing the app. Vu Dang is a software engineer who received his master's degree just three years out of high school, and has extensive experience with data analytics. Vu Dang has been meditating since age 9 and also leads vipanassa meditations. Gray works for a defense contractor as an electrical engineer, and is also a committed meditator.
The two began working after hours to develop the app, and are just about ready to launch. Their ambitious goal is to sign up one billion people for this meditation tool, and their urgency is driven by the amount of depression and mental health issues that exploded during and after the pandemic. They also expect people to build supportive communities about meditation through the app.
Gray talked about how uncannily accurate the AI has been against baseline scores and control groups, and how it is constantly learning and improving as it learns more about the user, and more about the entire community of users.
We did not talk about Uighur detention camps, ancient Arabian irrigation technologies or howler monkeys.
https://sanehood.com/
Few if any Ojai residents were thrust further into maelstrom of the Covid-19 breakout than Haady Lashkari, Ojai Valley Community Hospital's chief administrator. Lashkari is responsible for the hospital's 300 employees and, by proxy, for the health care for the entire Ojai Valley. Those earliest days in the late winter and early spring of 2020 were met with a determined response: Assessing capacity, briefing key staff repeatedly, supply chain issues, mobilizing ventilators, sending covid cases to Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, the lack of available testing, finding masks, and the stresses of being a front-line responder to this once-in-a-century epidemic. To name a few.
Daily updates meant that some information would change from morning to night. "You make the best decisions you can with the best information you have in that moment. As you get more information, you adjust," he said. CMH was handling as many as 100 cases a day during the pandemic, allowing Ojai's local hospital to handle its critical care patients and maintain some semblance of normality for the crew. There were changes, for example "proning." It would take six or seven people to "prone" a patient - as medical professionals learned that patients got better oxygen saturation lying on their stomachs.
As if that wasn't enough, Lashkari was heading up the hospital's major expansion, making the move into the new facility in June 2020 into the new critical care facility — bringing the total to 100 beds in Ojai, including 25 in the acute care facility. All that while staff, exposed to the virus, were getting sick in waves.
A key part of his job was maintaining staff morale through the dreadful and endless days. "I serve patients by serving my staff," he said.
We also talked about Lashkari's experiences working in his family's restaurant, finding his career through a chance encounter with a hospital administrator who recognized his abundant capacity and professionalism. So Haady gave up his plans for commercial real estate and began his journey into the health care system. We also talked about his young family, his lovely wife, two sons and daughter, their love of Ojai and the challenges of homeschooling. We did not talk about lost Japanese steelmaking techniques, mirror neurons or David Milch.
Zhena Muzyka is an acclaimed author "Life by the Cup," a social entrepreneur, teacher, executive coach, public speaker, and former publisher of Enliven Books, a new Mind-Body-Spirit imprint from Atria/Simon and Schuster.
Most recently, she is the creator & chief formulator of Magic Hour Tea & Transformation (www.ClubMagicHour.com), based her in Ojai. Magic Hour was founded in Ojai, where, Zhena describes, "the sunset and sunrise create an electric pink Magic Hour, where the light illuminates the landscape and reminds us that through nature everything is possible."
Zhena began hosting tea events on the back porch at Nutmeg's Ojai House more than 25 years ago. She founded Zhena's Gypsy Teas, which she sold after it became a national sensation. Her latest venture brings all of her expertise together as an entrepreneur, author, speaker and transformational leader.
When she started her business, she was a single mother with $6 to her name and grew it into a multimillion-dollar company revolving around the idea of "fair trade," sourcing her teas from small, committed tea growers in Sri Lanka.
Life by the Cup chronicled her experiences and is in development for a TV series by Mark Wahlberg’s production company, creators of HBO shows Boardwalk Empire, Entourage, Ballers, and In Treatment.
Besides the fascinating role of tea in purposeful living, we talk about living in Ojai, the changes we've seen in our decades here, the challenges of self-employment, her innovative and healthful herbal tea blends, and how life gets better when we slow down and share our time with our friends and family. We did not talk about the second Opium War, Australian rabbit-proof fences or the electoral college.
You can learn more at ...
zhena.tv
clubmagichour.com
Colonel (Ret.) Keith Nightingale has been helping ferry supplies to Ukraine through Poland, including boxes of Ojai citrus, which is much welcomed on the front lines in the eastern portion of the country. Nightingale brings us through the current state of the conflict, the fierce resistance being mounted by Ukraine, the structural advantages with their armed forces that help neutralize Russia's massive numerical advantage and possibly outcomes for this conflict.
Nightingale said that Ukraine was able to tilt the playing field thanks to NATO's support with long-range artillery, including the HIMARS, with which the Ukraine can target, with great precision, Russia's supply depots, leaving them unable to field an effective force. He described the Ukrainians as fighting with three components; the front-line, battle hardened troops which are devastating Russia, the "couch potato brigade" which is operating drones with deadly effect, as well as hacking Russian systems, and the third component - the volunteers, who at the war's outbreak, would head down to the police station to pick up an AK-47. Thanks to their local knowledge and support, they have been proven to be decisive in urban combat.
We discuss Putin's dwindling options, China's next moves, the top-down command structure and lack of non-commissioned officers that slow down battlefield decisions and leave Russian forces vulnerable to a fleet, flexible fighting force.
Nightingale grew up in Ojai during a different age, and we also spend time talking about the changes, good and bad, and his journey into a career in the military during the early days of Vietnam. We also talk about bears and their cunning when it comes to garbage cans, Anselmo "Chummo" Quijada, Ojai's one-man gang task force who kept many local boys on the straight and narrow, and much else. We did not talk about ash baseball bats, Viktor Frankl or hang gliding.
The Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization ended 50 years of the Roe v. Wade era, in which abortion was settled law. In doing so, the Supreme Court unleashed a wave of outrage, anger and despair, and blunted what the expected "red wave" in the midterm elections. Susan Kelejian, director of the Ojai Valley Artists Theater Ensemble (OVATE), went to her board with a plan to create an applied theater project, which took as its inspiration Greek mythology, particularly Aeschylus' "Orestes" and its themes of matricide of Clytemnestra, and his judgment for his crime by the Furies.
The project, which fits into the experiential or devised theater model, will involve several dozen women in a multi-media production, focusing around themes of misogyny and betrayal. While the schedule has not yet been set, Kelejian and Harrington expect to begin public performances in March. The cast of several dozen, predominately female, many between ages 18 and 25.
The two have been working together for years and were astounded by how much they had in common in their "parallel lives." They have a goal of exporting the FuryUs model to other local theaters to build their own adaptations.
We also talked about Antonin Artaud and the Living Theater, the history of oppression, how Kelejian's day job as a therapist, and Harrington's interest in ancient Greece, fits into the project, audience attention spans, global warming, and healing through the arts.
For more information, check out the profile in the Winter issue of Ojai Quarterly.
The OVATE website is Ovate.org. The original casting call read, "Are you angry, frustrated, tapped out, or numb about what’s going on in the world? Are you feeling like you want to scream, cry, rage, and wail against the thousands of years of gender-specific oppression and need an outlet that is creative and mindful Are you FURIOUS? We are ...
October 27-30 is the annual Ojai Storytellers Festival, one of the premier events on the storytelling circuit. This year they've added what Kara called "a mini-Shakespeare Festival" with Deb Newbold's acclaimed "King Lear, Retold," the music group Merry Wives of Windsor, the Sheriffs of Schroedingham and the return of Ojai's own Madrigali Singers. Sheila Arnold will be the master of ceremonies, and Kevin Kling, Izzy Tooinsky, Josh Goforth, Mara Menzies and Adam Booth.
Katz, who has been a storyteller for decades, talks about the ancient art and craft, the camaraderie on the circuit and how important stories are as the connective tissue of our culture. We also talked about the National Storytellers Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee which both Michael and Kara said was/is a life-changing event, the process of creating stories, the back-and-forth with the audience, different approaches to reaching the audience and the importance of connection.
We did not talk about the lattice theory of quarks, the bronzes of Benin or the great lost libraries of Alexandria and Constantinopole.
Shane and Aaron Harris, along with trainer Bruce Siben, operate the American Legend Mustang, a nonprofit group based at the 22-acre River Rock Ranch. The crew picks up mustangs from the Bureau of Land Management at their corral in Ridgecrest, bring them back to Ojai, and train them to the saddle. In the four years they've been operating, they've adopted out about two dozen horses.
The BLM rounds up the wild horses from their range in the West, typically Utah and Nevada's Great Basin, often at the behest of local ranchers who find their cattle competing for forage in the rough and wild country. Shane said "I went to pick up one horse and ended up with three," falling in love with the creatures. Aaron said the horses, despite the trauma of being herded into catchment corrals with helicopters, can be gentled into being petted in one day. With Bruce's natural horse training, horses can be ridden within one to two months months under ideal conditions. Many of the adopters keep their mustangs corralled at the ranch.
ALM has several internship and volunteer programs ready to resume after the two-year pandemic hiatus, and are making major renovations at the ranch for public events and new facilities. The nonprofit will be featured in the coming issue of Ojai Quarterly.
We also talk about the fascinating history of mustangs, many descended from escapees from conquistadors, and how quickly Native American tribes in the West adapted to a nomadic horse culture, becoming expert riders within just a few generations. The ALM's plans for expanded programs and adoptions also came in for discussion. Shane Harris' prior career as a CHP officer and hairdresser, Aaron's web savvy and Bruce's horse trainer role models were part of the wide-ranging discussion as well.
We did not talk about Comanche chief Quanah Parker, Viking burial sites or Irish stew recipes.
Ojai's own Rain Perry, singer-songwriter known for her lyrical prowess and crystal-clear voice, has been working on a one-woman show, which opens Thursday, October 13 and runs through October 22nd (Thursday, Friday and Saturday both weekends) at Kim Maxwell Studio, 226 West Ojai Avenue, #102. All shows are at 8 p.m.
The show is named after David Foster Wallace's viral commencement address, "This Is Water," which emphasizes the true purpose of education and empathy. Perry was wrestling with questions of race and identity during the pandemic and George Floyd protests and found it the perfect metaphor. The show includes eight songs from her 9-song album "A White Album" which was just released and available on Itunes and Spotify or through her website. It debuted on the Folk Music Chart at no. 11 and has received rave reviews, including Glide Magazine's "it distill(s) complicated issues fraught with politics and passion through a prism of compassion and understanding."
Bill Bentley of Americana Highways magazine wrote, "There are times on "A White Album" where the whole thing feels like it is making the world tilt in a new direction. These are songs which are perfectly capable of giving life a whole new meaning. People like Rain Perry don’t come around that often. They just don’t."
Perry said one message is for white people to acknowledge their privilege and to question each other, or, as she said, "Calling people in," rather than calling them out. She also used the folk expression, "Collect your cousins," for a reckoning on race and culture.
This play is being directed by Kim Maxwell, who also directed Rain's much-acclaimed 2008 show, "Cinderblock Bookshelves," with accompaniment from Austin, Texas-based Mark Hallman. Perry said that a grant from the Ojai Arts Commission helped produce the play as well. It "was a sequel of sorts to 'Cinderblock Bookshelves'," she said.“I want to look back at my same childhood, but this time through the lens of race.”
Hallman, owner of the iconic Congress House studio, has produced music by Carole King, Tom Russell (who recorded one of Rain's songs) and Eliza Gylkison and Ani Di Franco. He was the subject of a well-received 2016 documentary film, "The Shopkeeper," that Perry wrote and directed about the post-Napster travails of the music business, through Hallman's and other musicians' struggles to stay afloat in the streaming era.
Perry talked about growing up in Ojai, her eccentric family, early mentors and raising her children, as well as sharing insights into the creative side of her life, the success of selling a song, "Beautiful Tree," that became the theme of a popular CW Network show, "Life Unexpected," and her song "Yosemite" has been recorded by Tom Russell and Nanci Griffith.
We did not talk about Lake Casitas storage capacity, how grasshoppers turn into locusts or how Auguste Escoffier's military service informed his "brigade de cuisine" system.
For more information:
www.rainperry.com/this_is_water
Rain Perry's "White Album" which includes all nine songs on her show.
David Foster Wallace's 2005 commencement address at Kenyon College: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhhC_N6Bm_s
Franz Lidz is one of very few return guests on the Ojai podcast. If you check out his earlier appearance (Episode 24, Aug. 27th, 2020) you can see why we were eager to have him back.
His recent feature in the Los Angeles Times about Ojai's new restaurant scene was widely read and discussed, but that was only the tip of the spear for our wide-ranging discussion. Lidz' career has included decades at Sports Illustrated, and now he is a frequent contributor to Smithsonian Magazine, with insightful, witty and irreverent features that bring to life often dusty and overlooked fields like archaeology and science. He is also an author, his popular book "Unstrung Heroes" about his eccentric uncles was made into the 1991 film of the same name. Besides journalism, Lidz also spent time as an executive with the Detroit Pistons.
We talk about how his circuitous career led him to Ojai, what he thinks about the local restaurant scene and food culture in general, why journalism is more important than ever, and what a vibrant, inclusive Ojai would look like (rent control, anyone?).
We did not talk about Viking burial customs, the use of slippery elm powder in baseball or the great labor strikes of the 1930s.
Jonathan Fraser Light is a renowned trial attorney in Ventura County, who has spent decades writing the acclaimed 1,112 page "Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball," a compendium this incredible lens through which to view American history. For example, the Civil Right Era properly began when Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey offered a contract to a standout UCLA football running back and returning World War II veteran named Jackie Robinson.
Rising to popularity during the Civil War, Light makes an air-tight case that baseball has etched itself on to the national psyche like nothing else. He sorts through thousands of entries about baseball's iconic status through advertising, agents, illegal substances, alcohol, superstitions, youngest and oldest players and brief bios of players, team owners, inventors, odd coincidences and fascinating facts about the American past-time.
Ojai's baseball connections include prominent resident Fred Snodgrass, who after a distinguished career in baseball for the New York Giants and as a local bankers, was remembered most for a key dropped ball in the 1912 World Series. We also talked about Light's journey into the dark recesses of baseball arcana with his discovery of Lou Gehrig's will.
Gaylord Perry's home run, Tom Seaver's arrogance, Tony Gwynn's weight issues, Ted Williams' splendid splintering, Moneyball and the best and worst baseball movies of all time also come in for this rollicking conversation. Also, Pete Rose's wife saying, "I wish I was second base, I'd see my husband more." Light also makes the case that the Angels' Shohei Ohtani might be the greatest baseball player of all time.
We did not talk about the failed invasion of Canada during the War of 1812, the Chicago fire of 1877 or Ojai's Great Whipped Cream Shortage of 2022.
A long-time visitor, author and illustrator Christopher Noxon moved to Ojai full-time three years and got busy right away with volunteering and sharing his talents. He joined the Ojai Studio Artist as one of the 17 new artists this year. The Tour is free this year and takes place October 8-10. We discuss the great expansion of the tour from 50 to 67 artists, how the group has made a major resurgence in recent years and why it is so important to the community.
The author of four books and many feature articles for the New York Times, The New Yorker magazine and Los Angeles Times, he worked in journalism for many years, and was also "domestic first responder," raising his two sons, when his ex-wife's career as a writer, show creator and showrunner, "Weeds" and "Orange is the New Black," took off. As a long-form feature journalist he has broken important stories, such as being the first to report on Mel Gibson's ties to an ultraconservative Catholic sect.
Noxon's book, "Good Trouble: Lessons from the Civil Rights Playbook," caused controversy recently, having been banned by conservative school board members in Virginia Beach.
We talk about Ojai's changing cultural landscape since the pandemic and the surge of youthful energy, the importance of art to Ojai's identity, and much more. We also talk candidly and with great sincerity about loss, grief and finding your way forward. We did not talk about gesso recipes, the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows or David Milch's posthumous memoir.
For more check out Christopher's content-rich website, christophernoxon.com or the Ojai Studio Artists' at ojaistudioartists.org
You can also find him on Instagram @ noxonpics
Isaac Koren and Mikael Jorgensen met through the routines of being dads with young children at school. Knowing that they were each talented musicians, it made sense they'd collaborate and see what comes of it. Mikael approached Isaac with this idea; "What if we took jazz standards and slowed them down? Way down?" After some modifying and improvising, they formed The Expandards and have played several live shows to great appreciation from their audiences.
Listeners who stay tuned to the end will find a special surprise. As they both say, they are "trying to find that place where they become transmitters for some bigger energy and this song does it for us."
Koren, the singer, with his brother Thorald, formed The Kin in 2001 and have played before millions of people, opening for Coldplay and Pink. Mikael joined Wilco just after their massive success with "Yankee, Hotel Foxtrot" and has been their keyboardist ever since. The duo were featured by Abigail Napp in the Fall issue of Ojai Quarterly.
We talked about the importance of supportive and available venues to the artistic ecology of a community (shoutout to Bernie and Cassidy Larsen of Underground Exchange), the usefulness of occasional mistakes to enhance the experience of live music, of finding that creative zone where time stands still, of bringing in the audience to write a song on the spot and much, much more in this fascinating talk with two creative standouts. Isaac and Thorald also work with organizations and individuals "to help nurture and foster their own voice to the forefront of their lives." Check them out at brotherskoren.com.
We also talked about why Wilco has been such a protean project, with the current record, "Cruel County" a throwback to their alt-country roots, with another album in the pipeline that leans psychedelic. The duo also shares their plans for an October 21st show in Ojai - check OjaiHub.com for details, and the joy that goes back and forth from the performers to an audience. We did not talk about Nazi Germany's use of amphetamines, the best rigs for ice fishing or the lost technologies of Japanese sword makers of the 2nd century B.C.
Maggie Wellman has been collecting short stories for several years now, and has just published her second collection, "Falling I to the Silence." The fictional stories are often told from the perspective a young girl just learning the shape of the world, an observer who says little and misses nothing. As actor Bruce Davison wrote, "These short stories are compelling little gems that sparkle like the pastiche of a master water colorist."
Wellman has lived in Ojai for three decades, growing up in Los Angeles as the seventh child (hence her middle name) of legendary director William A. Wellman (winner of the very first Oscar in 1927) and Dorothy Coonan, a former dancer, his fourth wife. She talks about her writing process, the insights she seeks to convey through the written word, enduring through the pandemic in Ojai, her pet pig, dogs and children. She also talks about growing up in Hollywood as the youngest in a large, well-connected family, of her own turn in show business and leaving that world behind.
We did not talk about the Battle of Midway, Mexican jumping beans or ranked choice voting.
Ojai author Ron Phillips starts his new book with a macabre true incident; Argentinian dictator Juan Peron's gravesite was disinterred and his hands were severed and stolen by unknown burglars in 1987, 13 years after his death. Why? It remains a mystery.
Phillips joins the podcast to talk about "The Hands of Juan Peron" and the journey to getting his suspense-filled novel out into the world. It was during a visit to Buenos Aires that the idea was hatched, and it took decades to get it told. It is Phillip's second novel, his first, "Donnyboy," about German POWs in South Dakota, was released in 2011.
Phillips' distinguished pedigree includes winning every major advertising award, including Gold and Silver Lions at Cannes, having helmed international advertising agencies, N.W. Ayer and Campbell-Ewald for clients such as AT&T and United Airlines. He has also written for print media in Reader's Digest, TV Guide and the Detroit Free Press, and directing a feature film and several award-winning children's films. He is also involved in many local causes, including the Ojai Music Festival and Ojai Film Society.
He attributes his success in commercials to storytelling, and he applies that talent to this story, which posits a terrifying, yet plausible, story about an investigative reporter with a dark legacy and a tenacious thirst for the truth that takes him into page-turning drama and astonishing twists and turns.
We also talk about growing up in small towns, fathers and sons, travel and men's fashion. We did not talk about Baz Luhrman's "Elvis," the Hulu series, "The Bear," or the Chinese treasure fleet.
The Ojai Film Society is back! The nonprofit group was once an integral landmark in Ojai's cultural landscape, with their Sunday screenings packing the Ojai Playhouse Theater with 200+ filmgoers, seeking that communal experience through the flickering celluloid. In June 2014 that all changed when a water main burst in front of the theater and it has been closed ever since. (Here's hoping for an opening early next year).
Some new blood with new energy has come onboard (we what we did there) and has been hosting free outdoor screenings at Libbey Bowl. The first film was "Dirty Dancing." On August 12th it was Questlove's Oscar-winning documentary "Summer of Soul." Then on Friday, August 26th, it will be Danny Boyle's sweet yet provocative "Yesterday." Imagine if the Beatles had never existed, except in your memories. For a struggling singer-songwriter, Himesh Patel's Jack Malik, the sudden switch into an alternative reality brings with it fame and dread. This film, expertly directed, is a tribute to the incandescent glory of the Beatles, and how important they have been to our shared experience.
The new OFS executive director Kathleen Schafer and board member and documentarian Nick Weissman (a returning guest, Ep 97) joins the podcast to talk about their Summer Series (next up: "ET" on Sept. 9th), the communal experience of films, future plans for the organization and Ojai getting back to a better than normal.
We talked about favorite films, running nonprofits in Ojai, the changing demographics of Ojai and how important it is to show up. We did not talk about the Lumîere brothers, Greek hoplite strategies or the origins of Szechuan cuisine.
Check out OjaiFilmSociety.org for the latest event information. And please check out Joni Mitchell's recent version of "Both Sides" with Brandi Carlile on youtube.
Ojai resident Douglas Parker, a writer and attorney, was deep in the thick of it when Watergate reached its apogee in 1972-1973 as Nixon's White House counsel, working for the formidable Leonard Garment. Parker, Garment and Nixon all worked for the same Wall Street firm in the 1960s, and came onboard to helped Nixon navigate the subsequent scandal after members of Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President (the aptly named C.R.E.E.P.) broke into the headquarters of the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Hotel.
Parker draws many parallels, but just as many differences in this tumultuous time as the hearings recess until September. Trump's brazenness stands in contrast to Nixon's paranoid guile. But both men believed themselves above the law. Parker writes about these issues and many more at Rinocracy.com -- his blog about how Trump has caused him to lose faith with the Republican Party to which he was devoted for much of his life.
Parker's career has taken many twists and turns. Besides his brilliant career on Wall Street, he also wrote an authorized biography of legendary humorist Ogden Nash. We talk about his upbringing, his being one of a very select group of Chicago Cubs fans who attended World Series games in 1946 and 2016, and his representing the Toronto Blue Jays as they tried to secure their contract with a promising young player named Danny Ainge against the rapacious Boston Celtics.
We did not talk about za-zen, Australian rabbit-proof fences or the seminal Alan Flusser book, "Style & The Man."
In the eight years since Danny McGaw moved to Ojai, he's developed a devoted following, especially among other local musicians. Born in Manchester, he was only member of his working-class family to have musical ambitions. He also had athletic ambitions; he was a talented footballer selected for the professional track. But at age 18, he came to the proverbial crossroads after an injury, and made the fateful choice to pursue his singer-songwriter ambitions.
He's on road for the resumption of a pandemic-interrupted tour of Three Dog Night, hitmakers of such familiar songs as "Joy to the World," "Old-Fashioned Love Song" and "If I Ever Get to Spain," which brings him back to Ojai for a show at Libbey Bowl on August 19th. McGaw was selected for the prestigious slot through the admiration of Three Dog Night's founder Danny Hutton. His Ojai-based son Tim V. Hutton heard Danny playing his regular Sunday night slot at The Vine and asked to join Danny and his band, and so the connection was made. When Tim joined his father on tour, Danny was invited to open.
We talk about Danny's introduction to songwriting at age 10, and his prolific process and discipline, which begins at 5 a.m. and has led to him writing thousands of songs. His latest album, "Set Me Free," dropped earlier this year. His work is available on his website, dannymcgaw.com. Danny also talks about his years perfecting his craft as a busker in Los Angeles, as a regular performer in Kansas City and making the most of the opportunities to get up in front of an audience.
We did not talk about Jacquard looms, the fiction of Chinua Achebe or guitar picks.
Chip Fraser is a local author, screenwriter, producer and teacher, who just came out with his second book, "Looking for Emerald City." Full of insightful observations, commentary and advice, the book covers a wide spectrum of issues with chapters titled "Let the World Go By and Take the Next Bus," and "Happiness.com." He joins the podcast to talk about this book, his recently released film "Timecrafters: The Treasure of Pirate's Cove," starring Denise Richards and Ojai's own Malcolm McDowell," and much more.
We talked about his teaching pedagogy for high school students, called "It's Your Life," meant to teach basic life skills and expectations, like managing a bank account, putting together a persuasive resumé and being a decent person. While much curriculum prepares students for the college path, Fraser is instead looking out for those who chose otherwise. He was also a union representative for Ventura County teachers and is still actively involved. The discussion veered off into pop culture references such as "Better Call Saul," "Pulp Fiction," "Godfather."
Growing up in Virginia Beach, Fraser was consumed with football as a standout defensive end, before going to Dominion College. Fraser's twin careers included teaching and film-making, having made a film about wrestling starring wrestlers. Fraser has also had a burst of creativity during the pandemic, writing this current book and the soon-to-be-published "It's My Life."
We did not talk about cobalt mining, immanetizing the eschaton or jai alai scandals in the 1960s.
For further information, check out Chip's website: itsmylife.com and "Looking for Emerald City" on Amazon:
Anson Williams grew up in a modest home in Burbank which his WWII-veteran father bought with a VA loan. His idyllic childhood unfolded against the sunshine and particular American optimism of the 1950s and 1960s. So when he and his friend Ron Howard were cast in "Happy Days," Garry Marshall's nostalgic look back at the 1950s, he fit neatly within the 1970s zeitgeist. The show, which ran from 1974 to 1984, made Williams' Potsie Weber, along with Howard's Richie Cunningham, Don Most's Ralph Malph and Henry Winkler's Fonzie, among the best-known characters of the era, viewed each week by nearly 70 million people.
Williams soaked up lessons on set from Marshall and Howard and has now amassed 43 credits to date as a director, in addition to his 100+ acting credits. He now lives in Ojai, a place he's been visiting for decades and regards as a haven and sanctuary from the manic pace of the outside world. He's announced his bid for Mayor and is committed to bringing a collaborative, cooperative style to Ojai's pressing issues such as affordable housing, fire and drought threats and a spirit of civic goodwill and trust.
We also talked about glider piloting, fishing with Henry Winkler, setting up innovative school programs, Annie Besant and much more. We did not talk about the Shoeless Joe Jackson and Black Sox scandal of 1919, the Haber-Bosch method nor lost metallurgic technologies of the Bronze Age.
Artist Leslie Clark’s deep knowledge and love for the people of Niger is reflected in her recently closed Ojai-based Nomad Gallery, selling their sophisticated and elegant jewelry and craftwares. But that is only a small part of her mission, she uses her contacts and connections among the Woodaybe and Tuareg to establish medical training, clinics and entrepreneurial programs for these proud and ancient people. In her memoir, "Desert Tracks," Clark describes her times among these people, whose lifeways have hardly changed in thousands of years, their fierce independence and artistic talents, their livestock-centric lifestyles following the rains from pastures to pastures in ancient rhythms. She also describes their struggles against governments seeking to restrain their nomadic lifestyles, their particular customs and traditions and the threats facing them from global warming and modernity. We also meet a cast of colorful characters, including Emmy-nominated Taureg guitarists, rebel leaders and polygamist herders. Clark also talks about her family's five generations in Ojai, starting from an Irish immigrant in the 1850s, through her grandfather, a legendary cowboy and Sheriff of Ventura County and how much the cowboy and nomadic cultures overlap in their appeal. We did not talk about the Sahara's once-flourishing wetlands, pig eradication on the Channel Islands or Boris Johnson's fall from grace.
Simon Phillips is one of the music world's top rhythm makers, having played drums 20 years with Toto, and also toured with The Who and Carlos Santana, and recorded with artists as varied as Jeff Becker, Brian Eno and Frank Zappa. He now leads the trio Protocol, which was nominated for an Emmy for its Protocol IV album and has just released its prestigious pandemic project, Protocol V. He also plays drums for Hiromi, the jazz sensation known for her electric performances and innovative compositions.
Simon was born into the business. His father, Sid, was a Dixieland band leader and Simon began to fill in for the band when he was 12. He's kept busy ever since. It wasn't long after that the boy wonder found a job on London's West End with Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar." More than just a masterful, talented and learned drummer, he is also an experienced engineer, having worked on countless albums, including Toto's, where he filled in after the tragic death of founding member Jeff Porcaro, his own works with his own studio.
He moved to Ojai just in time to lose his lifetime collection of recording gear in the Thomas Fire, and with Sysyphus-ian zeal, rebuilt bigger and better. We talk about life on the road, the rise of supergroups, the history of jazz and what's next for this legendary drummer. We did not talk about the Ainu bear fetishes, the dwindling runs of cherry salmon or the success of China's "Belt and Road" infrastructure projects.
Jeff Mann grew up in the Los Angeles area during the heyday of car culture and Saturday night cruising. His mechanical talents came in handy as he found himself deeply immersed in the nautical world, rebuilding a 90-foot freighter into a craft capable of circumnavigating the globe. A job offer with a fledgling company called Industrial Light & Magic, started by director George Lucas, fresh off his "Stars Wars" success, led him into another career as a visual effects supervisor for some of the most important films of the recent era, "Minority Report," "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," "Starship Troopers" among them.
He eventually left Lucas' branched out into his own company, pairing his artistry with his love of gadgetry and mechanics. Meanwhile, he kept pursuing his art - pencil and pen-and-ink drawings of fantastical creatures.
We dive deep into Mann's career, but we also talk about his love of Ojai. "About 10 years ago after 25 years at LucasFilms' Industrial Light & Magic creating spaceships and creatures, working on visual effects for dozens of films and helping to run that Studio I decided to step away from that work," he said. "In my opinion I had seen the best of it. It was time to pursue my own artwork."
"Lis and I had been coming to Ojai together as she had grown up in Ojai and had family here. We decided Ojai was a unique small town with a creative streak and history that suited us well. A good place to begin the next phase of our journey. We bought an old house in the East End and spent the next year making it livable.
"We rebuilt that place and created a couple of art studios on the property. In the process we learned some new things, made some art, got to know the town and found our community," he said.
Mann also talked about his friendship with Guy Webster, the incredible auction prices for Star Wars X-fighters and much more. We did not talk about George Perry's 90-year-old record for largemouth bass, the Boston Celtics or the lost wax method.
Tamara Miller Davis is a long-time Ojai Valley resident and teacher, who published a gripping novel last year about the uses and abuses of social media, told through the lens of a Reflective Writing Class with a group of bright, engaged and very online high school juniors. The teacher, Gabriela Oliver, takes us through her first year at a new school, getting to know the kids through their essays and encouraging them to step back from their devices and think about the larger purposes of their lives. Described as a "cautionary tale about tech's toll" the book also takes us inside the demands placed on teachers' times, the frailty of struggling families, and an immersion in online culture. There is also a spicy romance with a fellow teacher, and a past trauma and loss that Gabby Oliver deals with daily. The shocking twist toward the end of the book brings all the lessons and dangers home in a vivid, compelling way.
Besides the book, Davis also talks about being a firefighter's wife during the Thomas Fire and Montecito Mudslides, raising young children on the cusp of their teen years, and the work that awaits a published writer after their book comes out.
"Despite the Buzz" uses a lot of research about online use and its effects on society. Here's a few links to provide background information and further resources.
https://despitethebuzz.com
https://venturacounty.momcollective.com/author/tamaramillerdavis/
Wait Until 8th: https://www.waituntil8th.org/
Screenagers: www.screenagersmovie.com
Center for Humane Technology: humanetech.com
Common Sense Media: https://www.commonsense.org
Firefighting - Mental Health Resources:
Iverson Foundation for Active Awareness: https://iversonfaa.org/
Fully Involved Life: https://www.fullyinvolvedlife.com
In 2012, a car heading past the county courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio backfired in front a police car. The police, thinking it was gunfire, engaged in a high-speed pursuit with as many as 60 vehicles. Twenty-three miles and 23 minutes later, the police unleashed a barrage of 137 shots, killing Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. The police stood trial,
Ojai documentary filmmaker Mike Milano, who along with his wife Noemie, produced the seminal Thomas Fire document, HBO's "Burning Ojai," has spent 10 years putting this project together. It was just released and available for streaming on Netflix. The ensuing trial gripped the city and nation, leading to widespread calls for police reform. In the aftermath of George Floyd's killing, the issue remains as timely as ever. Five officers were fired, included Mike Brelo, who jumped up on the car's hood and fired 40-plus rounds at close range. All were eventually reinstated. The trial and uproar were in high heat when 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot in a local park.
Mere days after Milano and his wife and child moved to Ojai in late 2017, and while he was deep into the edits on this film, a glow on the horizon presaged what was at the time the largest wildlife in California. It is now 9th. "Burning Ojai" was one of HBO's most popular films when it came out in 2021. Milano, a journalism major from UC Berkeley, was featured in the current issue of Ojai Quarterly magazine. We talk about how his local connections gave him unprecedented access into the justice system and police force, as well as the families of the victims. The film dives deep into the complexities of the justice system, policing and communities, and has spurred calls for reforms.
We did not talk about the designated hitter rule, Fauvrism or Bonnie Lu's Rueben sandwich.
Chloé Zhao's career has rocketed in recent years with the success of "Nomadland," as she's become only the second woman to win an Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director, and the first woman of color to do so. Fresh off the blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe's "Eternals" she joins the podcast to talk about the role of her adopted hometown in shaping her success, as well as a few teasers about her coming projects.
We learn that Frances McDormand lived in "Vanguard," the famous white van in the film, in Zhao's Ojai driveway, and was costumed by Ojai thrift stores. It helped her transform into the character of Fern, the widowed woman who lives on the periphery of the American Dream in the aftermath of the Great Recession, traveling from one low-wage job to another. It earned McDormand her third Oscar.
Zhao grew up in China as a devotee of manga - the action-oriented graphic novels - that prepared her for the MCU role, but it was her love of western landscapes, so vividly on display in her first three films, "Songs from my Brother," "The Rider" and "Nomadland," that has characterized her work. We talk about coming projects, her artistic process and influences, and how she moved to Ojai just days before the Thomas Fire devastated the town. In fact, it was Ojai's resilience and strength in aftermath that confirmed for her choice to move here. Our wide-ranging talk included Bass Reeves, Dracula and Mongolia. We did not talk about Lincoln logs, Ukrainian air defense systems or taimen fishing.
Ojai singer-songwriter Beckett McDowell is a hometown prodigy on the cusp of his career. He has been opening for Dave Mason, of Traffic fame, as his first two singles, "Weirdo," and "Pale Blue Eyes" rack up views and downloads by the thousands.
Though only 18, McDowell has put in the hours, playing 300 shows at The Vine on Mondays, for the "Young Ones" open mic night, as well as coming out on stage to sing with Eric Burdon of the Animals. He also sang "Jailhouse Rock" at age 5 in front of a thousand fans at Libbey Bowl. His homegrown talents have been helped by Mason and Burdon, as well as Pierre Bouvier of Simple Plan fame, who wrote "Weirdo" with Simple Plan bandmates. The video of his original song, "Pale Blue Eyes," features his famous father Malcolm, in "Pale Blue Eyes," a tearjerker of a song with Malcolm overflowing with emotion up as Beckett sings poignant lyrics. Something told me it was over / when you didn't even call me / Now I'm out and alone forever / And I'm tired.
McDowell comes on the Ojai podcast, Talk of the Town, to talk about his new eight-song EP, hanging with his famous father, Malcolm, and growing up in Ojai. Once described as Ed Sheeran's "handsomer little brother," Beckett has been on the road for a slate of shows in May and June. We also talked about Bob Dylan, rare guitars, Ojai pizza and his having not ever seen "A Clockwork Orange."
We did not talk about dolphin mimicry, NLP or Rumi's poetry. You can check out Beckett on Youtube, where he has a series of performances filmed at Norman's Rare Guitars in Los Angeles, and his Instagram @beckettrex.
Should Ojai be unfortunate to suffer through another evacuation, baker Kate Pepper, partner at The Dutchess, knows her priorities. After her pets and loved ones, next on her list of must-rescue items is her crock of mother starter yeast. With it, she has carved out a brilliant career for herself. The only thing that rises faster than her sourdough starter is her Instagram likes @katesbread where she entertains and informs more than 40,000 fans.
She developed her devoted followers through her Sunday bake sales, which brought lines around the block to her Meiners Oaks home for her delicious array of fresh-baked goods. Now she's been running with Kelsey Brito the bakery at The Dutchess, the newest outpost in the Rustic Canyon family's eight restaurants. We talk about Los Angeles food culture, the fusion of Burmese street food orchestrated by chef Saw Naing and how Ojai is now squarely on the map when it comes to food enthusiasts.
We talk about what it means to cook for people, growing up in Ojai and raising your children here. We did not talk about the NFL overtime rule changes, Ukrainian bridge-bombers or the Song Dynasty.
The American Modern Opera Company is a multi-disciplinary collective of some of America's keenest talents in the fields of music, dance, theater, writing, producing and composing. They are also the first interdisciplinary group to lead the Ojai Music Festival as Music Director. They are led by artistic directors Matthew Aucoin and Zack Winokur. Winokur and Davone Tines, baritone-bass singer, join the podcast to talk about their ambitious plans for this year's festival.
Some members of the collective are already familiar with Ojai, such as violinist Miranda Cuckson, soprano Julia Bullock, who, with Tines, will stage a full production of Olivier Messaien's song cycle "Harawi." AMOC will also introduce new artists to the Festival, including Julius Eastman, whose gifts for composing, vocals, piano and dance had often been neglected. Eastman was proudly gay at a time in the conservative classical world culture, and his gifts we talk about at length. The festival is also producing works by another neglected artist, Connie Converse, who is credited for pioneering the singer-songwriter tradition.
We talk about how and why truly outstanding artists are often neglected and forgotten in their own time, and the festival's role in bringing them back into the spotlight. Another line of conversation is AMOC's similarities in spirit to Black Mountain College, which included Ojai-favorite composer John Cage, modern dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham and visual artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
AMOC has just won a $750,000 grant from the Andrew K. Mellon Foundation, and we talk about what they plan to do with the money, as well as what an affirming moment is was for the collective, founded in 2017.
Cindy Convery's road to wellness led her to collagen — a protein responsible for healthy joints and skin elasticity. It’s in your bones, muscles, and blood, comprising three quarters of your skin and a third of the protein in your body. As you age, your existing collagen breaks down, and it gets harder for your body to produce more. One way is to reduce aging and support our joints is to use supplements.
But it's not that simple. As Cindy describes, a major issue is that you don't know where the collagen comes from, or how pure it is. The search for pure, planet-friendly ingredients led her to a Nova Scotia company which used sustainable harvests of wild marine collagen from North Atlantic cod. After much experimenting for taste and efficacy in her home kitchen, she created PureWild.
Her proprietary blend that allows "the wild marine collagen to essentially disappear into the pure juices and herbs in each bottle of PureWild Co." And it's not as if she doesn't have the training to create a delicious drink; Cindy attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. We talk about the road to success; paved with false starts and anxiety, but also the incredible support of fellow Ojai residents like the Trudeaus of Rainbow Bridge, Bill Moses of KeVita and Flying Embers as well as her Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, of which she is an enrolled member.
Cindy also talks about her wide-ranging careers in the entertainment industry, working with George Lucas at Industrial Light & Magic, where she became acquainted with another Ojai resident, the artist Jeff Mann, and her move to Ojai to get out of the rat race and put down roots and give back to the community.
We did not talk about trebuchets, MK Ultra or Vaclav Smil's "Energy & Civilization."
Noel Paul Stookey, the Paul of Peter, Paul & Mary, not only rode the folk wave of the early 1960s with such indelible songs like "Puff the Magic Dragon," "If I Had a Hammer" and helping popularize a young Minnesotan bard who went by the stage name of Bob Dylan, but helped created it. He shares the iconic trio's origin story as well as his own, and the many memories of a life, well lived, in music. Peter, Paul & Mary's long, legendary career was cut short with Mary Travers' tragic death in 2009, but their place in the cultural zeitgeist is eternal. Noel, a part-time Ojai resident, joins us to talk about his new album, "Fazz: Now & Then" and to reflect on the experience of collaborating with fellow musicians during the pandemic to create this nuanced, wide-ranging collection of 20 original songs with talented musicians such as Kent Palmer, Paul Winter, Paul Sullivan, David LaPlante and Edward Mottau. Fazz, as Noel explains, was christened by Paul Desmond of the Dave Brubeck Quartet to explain Peter, Paul & Mary's distinct fusion of jazz and folk. Noel picks up the resident Ojai podcast guitar (be still, my heart) to explain the shadings of alternate chord structures that inform much of the color of the album, as illustrated by the A Major, and the A Major 7th, its "smoky, mysterious cousin." Noel talks about writing "The Wedding Song: There is Love" - for Peter Yarrow's wedding, and his reluctance to perform it again until urged by Peter, and how it has made many, if not most, of the lists of most beautiful songs of all time, right up there with fellow Ojai resident Amanda McBroom's "The Rose." He also discusses his Christian faith and the epiphany he had at age 30 after a decade of fame, and the toll it took on his well-being. There’s relevant folk music news: Noel’s good friend John McCutcheon just released “Ukraine Now.” We did not talk about whirling dervishes, James Beard or "The Slap Heard 'Round the World."
If you one of the lucky people, you get a weekly text from Eric Hodge with a list of his freshest sea-to-table catch. Hodge is known by Southern California's finest chefs for his meticulous and precise expertise in the Japanese technique of Ikejime, which quickly and humanely kills the fish, but also enhances its flavor and freshness and shelf life. It took him more than a year to perfect this process.
We talk with Eric about the great abundance of life in and around the Channel Islands, and how fragile and vulnerable that ecosystem is as the planet heats up. Eric talks us through his life path and passions, and how proud he is that his daughters are now crewing on his boat. We talk about the Thursday Farmers Market, where he is one of the mainstays, and where he constantly seeks customer insights and feedback. He is also known for bringing local chefs out on the boat to see firsthand how he catches and processes the fish. Eric's story of growing up locally and being drawn to the ocean through surfing, and how he navigates the fluctuations of currents, fishing seasons and regulations, and how he made a success as a hook-and-line fisherman is fascinating.
We did not talk about the Tasman Sea, making baseball bats from ash or London's theater scene.
To mark the occasion, I (Bret Bradigan) talk about the podcast, why I started it and why I continue it. At first, the idea back in April 2020 was to create a cultural artifact to mark the moment of Ojai's experience with the podcast during the early days of the pandemic. The first guests - Mayor Johnny Johnston and OUSD Superintendent Dr. Tiffany Morse - gave us key insights into this epochal moment. I urge you to go back and listen to those early episodes and be transported back to that time.
Then I realized it made a great "content funnel" for our Ojai magazines, the Quarterly & Monthly. And also, it's a great excuse to reach out to people to have meaningful conversations. The atmosphere is meant to convey a couple of people getting to know each other, an overheard conversation. With some high-profile guests coming on, it's a testament to our wonderfulness that so many incredibly interesting people call Ojai home. Not all the guests are famous but all the conversations are interesting. Stay tuned, plenty to come.
I did not talk about the designated hitter rule, Beryl Markham or my overuse of the word "amazing." I do not recommend using that as a drinking game. It would lead to death by alcohol poisoning.
J.B. White may best be known to Ojai residents as the leader of the Ojai's house band, The Household Gods, but he's a successful screenwriter with a long list of credits, including the Hallmark Film, "Get Me To The Wedding On Time," which will be released later this summer. As a multi-genre writer, he's also adapted a Peter Benchley book, "The Beast," and written the horror film, "House of Frankenstein."
Among his recent credits for Hallmark Channel are "A Christmas Miracle For Daisy," "The Christmas Ornament," and "The National Tree." He didn't start out to be a screenwriter, dropping out of Stanford (where he was friends with theater major Sigourney Weaver) to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter. We go deep into the sausage-making of the movie business, where J.B. jokes that if you "strip away the tinsel, you'll find more tinsel." He's having a second wind with Hallmark Channel as it moves away from its strict diet of romantic comedies. J.B.'s mother-daughter story, "The Goodbye Quilt," for example, which he first pitched eight years ago, has been purchased by them. "Big Sky River," a modern romance novel set in Montana, which he also wrote eight years and which the channel tossed him off the project, is also now back in development.
After working on the East Coast in the legal trade, he decided to make the leap into screenwriting by writing piles of spec scripts, before a serendipitous turn landed him an agent. He moved to the West Coast in 1993 and soon after moved to Ojai to raise his children with his artist-wife Elizabeth. After writing a script that Andy Griffith liked, he turned that into a flourishing career as a go-to writer with NBC.
We also talked about the music business, "The Matrix," "The Walking Dead," and Ojai's post-pandemic hangover. We did not talk about Babe Ruth's final game, Stanley Kubrick's innovations in camera lens or birthplace of the Indo-European languages.
AIR Pizza recently opened in Mira Monte with a big splash and is making a mark on Ojai with its traditional "pizza by the slice" vibe. For all the fun and excitement of opening a popular new restaurant, AIR's owner Tere Karabatos has larger purposes in mind, of which the pizzeria is only part. AIR stands for Athletes in Recovery, and Karabatos, in recovery himself, is the founder and executive director. He is using the business to build a sense of community and ladder to success for others like himself. Karabatos, a standout athlete in his youth in baseball and soccer, was also part of the flourishing skateboarding and surf culture in southern California, working with skater legend Tony "Mad Dog" Alva, one of the original "Lords of Dogtown." Now 16 years sober, he vividly describes his battles with drug and alcohol addiction, his road to recovery, and desire to bring others into sobriety and to their full possibility. He considers Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson "as important as the Wright Brothers" with his discoveries and understandings about the psyche, and development of the 12 Step Program. We also talk about the pandemic's effect on Ojai and his sober living facility in Los Angeles, his wife and kids, running a restaurant, and growing up as friends/rivals with baseball All-Star Shea Hillebrand. We did not talk about the Black Plague, 5G or Ukraine.
Nicholas Weissman, executive producer of "Havana Libre," joins the podcast to talk about this documentary which follows the trials and travails of a dedicated group of Cuban surfers who try to get their sport officially recognized by their government. Surfing in Cuba exists in this liminal space, neither legal nor quite illegal, haunted by the legacy of "balseros," tens of thousands of whom traversed the 90-mile channel between Cuba and Florida on makeshift rafts.
Francisco ("Frank") and Yaya are the two stars of the documentary, and their charisma carries through the film, as they deal with bureaucrats, regulations and risking everything to compete and participate in surfing events in different countries. When surfing was recognized as an Olympic sport for the Tokyo Games, they see their chance to bring their beloved sport into their homeland, but at great risk to themselves and their families.
The project began with an article in the New York Times about an intrepid group of surfboard shapers making do with ingenuity and craft, including tearing open refrigerator doors to get at the buoyant styrofoam. Corey McLean and Seth Brown, two surfers from Maine, recognized kindred spirits and sought to bring their story to the world.
The film has been accepted into the Santa Barbara Film Festival and will be hitting the festival circuit after a two-year pandemic hiatus. Weissman is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker based in Ojai. He has worked for the New Yorker magazine, the New York Times, PBS, HBO and National Geographic. He won his Emmy for "A Boy Helps a Town Heal," a film he made for Sports Illustration. His most recent feature, "For Ahkeem," about the juvenile justice system in St. Louis, also won much acclaim. His first independent film, "The Minutemen" about border vigilantes, won the Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago International Film Festival.
We did not talk about Duke Kahanamoku, taimen fishing in the headwaters of the Amur River or the Y2K panic.
Tomatomania! is back and Scott Daigre joins us to discuss this fascinating fruit and its many uses and importance in the culinary world. After a pandemic hiatus, Daigre is producing 13 events this year, which are more than just a chance to find rare breeds and learn growing techniques and advice, they take on a festival-like atmosphere.
Daigre's interest in gardening began when he was very little on his grandfather's farm in southern Louisiana, and continued even through his corporate career in marketing, until he followed his passion to a job as a nurseryman, then taking over the helm of Tomatomania! nearly 15 years ago. He is a regular on Evan Kleiman's popular KCRW radio show, "Good Food," and the author of "Tomatomania!," a lavishly illustrated book full of his insights and advice on this versatile fruit.
We also talk about how he came to find and love Ojai, our climate and its impact on growing tomatoes, as well as the history of tomatoes from the Incans and Aztecs to the present day. He talks about preserving tomatoes, both by canning but also freezing and the uses of tomato water. We did not talk about Baffin Island, the lost wax method of jewelry making or Summit restaurants burgers.
As former chief staff counsel for both the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the First District, just two stops on her distinguished legal career, Judith Hale Norris has gotten know many of the current Supreme Court Justices very well. With Justice Stephen Breyer about to retire, it seemed a great time to reach out to her to get her informed take on this, and many other legal questions confronting our country.
More than that, though both Norris and her husband Bill have woven themselves into the fabric of Ojai life, volunteering and donating to many local causes. Judith is just finishing her term as head of the Ojai Women's Fund, and has held leadership positions with the Ojai Education Foundation, the Ojai Music Festival, as well as co-chair of the Council of Distinguished Advisers, Straus Institute of Resolution and Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.
Judith grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, and those values of civic engagement, service and community have served her, and Ojai, very well. Her husband Bill is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, who retired as a Captain and was the fourth branch of service's chief justice.
We talked about the Robert Bork's confirmation hearing that went awry and how he was unfairly labeled for his role in Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, the loss of civility in our political processes, the wonders of Ojai life and much much more. We did not talk about the Mongol Horde's archery skills, Roman metallurgy or the Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Lanny Kaufer's new book, "Medicinal Herbs of California" was just published by Falcon Guides and he joined the podcast to talk about this thorough look at the 70 plants in this field guide to common plants and their medicinal uses. Kaufer took over the popular Ojai Herb Walks back in 1976 and has been roaming the backcountry, introducing people to the wonders of the botanical world ever since.
This handy field guide includes not just information about the herbs themselves, but where to find them, their medicinal uses, how to harvest them sustainably, and various recipes and potions. Kaufer used five criteria in the book: is the plant common enough to sustain small-scale harvesting; is most of the plant's range within the state; is it already covered in many other books; is there evidence of Native American use; and is there sufficient scientific validation of those uses.
We talked about the how the perverse incentives of pharmaceutical companies because they can't patent an entire plant, the gradual switch from the 1820s to 1910's Flexner Report which systemized medical training and left medicinal herbs to native healers and folklore, and the gradual restoration of their proper place in the treatment of ailments. For example, Covid-19 researchers have discovered that yerba santa, a common California herb, can help block spike proteins from our respiratory systems. Yerba Santa has long been a mainstay of the indigenous medicine chest.
We also talked about Lanny's own introduction to plant medicine through a native American healer in the Jemez Pueblo in the 1960s, and some of his other mentors, including Juanita Centeno, Amanda McQuade Crawford and ethnobotanist Michael Moore. We did not talk about the science fiction novels of Octavia Butler, 1960s muscle cars or the freestylings of Gil Scott Heron.
https://www.amazon.com/Herbs-California-Lanny-Kaufer/dp/1493058029
https://www.herbwalks.com
Kevin Davis, co-author of "Community Powered Journalism," has studied deeply the ways in which newspapers and local media can stay relevant, profitable and enable communities to make informed decisions about their future. He's also studied the ways in which many newspapers have lost their way. He explains how, in a perverse twist, the largest and most profitable companies in the world - Google and Facebook - do no original reporting themselves, and yet are getting richer and richer off the few reliable and trustworthy news sources that remain.
This has resulted in historic low levels of trust and a breakdown in civility and productive dialogue. The solutions are complex but begin with listening.
The process is to drop the pretense of ivory-tower arrogance and actually engage with the public where they are at, determine their needs and provide the information that is meaningful and useful. We talk about the great heroes of journalism's modern era, such as Nobel Prize winners Maria Ressa and Dmitri Muratov, who sounded the clarion call for social media companies to acknowledge the harm they've done to our communities and culture and to hold accountable the demagogues and bad actors who are profiting from that division. We also talked about his project to start the First Amendment Foundation of Ventura County, and how he thinks it can help underserved communities within the county and provide resources for local journalists.
We also talked about John Milton, Oliver Cromwell and Walter Winchell. We did not talk about Catherine the Great, coin-operated newsracks or Ariana Grande.
Explorer, conservationist, mountaineer and author Rick Ridgeway has lived a life that is best summed up in the subhead of his seventh book, "Life Lived Wild:" Adventures at the Edge of the Map." Each chapter of this book covers a different adventure, all of them told in Rick's compelling style. These adventures included climbing uncharted peaks in the Himalayas, searching the rivers of eastern Siberia for tigers, crossing the remote fastnesses of the Chang Tang Plateau in Tibet in search of the calving grounds of the enigmatic and endangered chiru - an antelope-like goat prized for its fur and now protected, and returning to the site of a tragic avalanche to bring closure and comfort to a grieving daughter. He also talks about his efforts helping two CEOs tackle the formidable Seven Summits, climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents. Rick served the expedition leader for perhaps the most grueling climb - summitting Antarctica's Mount Vinson. Rick also talks about the death of his close friend Doug Tompkins, founder of North Face and a visionary conservationist, on a kayak trip which nearly claimed Rick's life as well. Part of a legendary group of adventurers, "the Do Boys," which includes Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Tompkins, Ridgeway's love of the outdoors and testing himself in the most extreme situations came to him at an early age and has never let up. Besides his incredible life of extreme adventure, we talk about his beautiful Ojai home which he shared with his recently deceased wife Jennifer, which was built by famed black architect Paul Revere Williams. We also talk about Ojai's backcountry, what he would say were he to run into Elon Musk, and how man is not the only species with an exploratory urge. A long-time Ojai resident, he serves on the board of the Ojai Turtle Conservancy as well as the Tompkins Conservancy, carrying on the work of Tompkins with Doug's widow Kris. We did not talk about Boethius' imprisonment, worm holes or Japanese wood block prints.
Julie Gerard's interest in a healthy, plant-based lifestyle began with her surviving a cancer scare, which she attributed to her food choices. So along with a dedicated cohort of like-minded people including Heath Perry, Steve Sprinkel, Michelle Lopez-Dohrn and Grace Malloy, she's been trying for years to open Ojai's second farmers market. After a few abortive attempts she found success this past spring with Thursday's Certified Farmers Market in Chaparral High School's courtyard. The festive field of 60 vendors selling of farm-fresh produce, local products and hugely popular sandwiches and wood-fired pizza has quickly proven to be an established part of Ojai's cultural scene, despite the pandemic and other obstacles. More than just a place to buy healthy, fresh foods and products, it has become a community gathering place, where people come together to play, participate and learn about important issues.
Gerard, a local attorney, credited the Ojai Unified School District's superintendent Dr. Tiffany Morse and her staff, along with Jim Bailey of Rock Tree Sky School with positive attitude and perseverance with their success of getting the effort off the ground and its momentum. A long-time visitor to Ojai, Gerard knew early that she was going to move to Ojai to raise her children. After making her own dream come true, she is now dedicated to creating a sustainable "foodshed" in Ojai and for our future generations. If you have visited the market, you know it's bursting with the sights of sounds of children laughing and playing and learning.
We did not talk about FDR's Supreme Court-packing scheme, Victorian amateur scientists or Roman siege weapons.
http://www.ojaicertifiedfarmersmarket.com/
An hour north of Ojai takes you into a different world, the largest remaining grassland in California, a quarter-million acres of the Carrizo Plain National Monument. It is often called "the American Serengeti" and is the remnant of the great San Joaquin Valley grasslands that once covered most of the middle of the state.
Our guest has spent 15 years studying, learning, observing and taking photographs in this stunning setting. He published his beautiful collection of essays and photographs called aptly enough "Carrizo Plain." It's available around town at Poppies Art & Gift, Meg's Ojai House, Bart's Book and online. The introduction to the book is written by Neil Havlak, president of the Carrizo Plain Conservancy and contains many photos of the Tule elk, pronghorn antelope and varied raptors, including golden eagles.
Carrizo Plain is also home to the periodic eruption of wildflowers - when conditions are perfect, it is among the most magnificent on the planet. The previous "bloom boom" was in 2019, another prior to that in 2017. "It was as if someone arrived on the Carrizo Plain armed with a massive paintbrush and splashed multi-colored hues across the open book-shaped mountains and arid grasslands," he writes.
Chuck has fashioned a career for himself as an outdoorsman - lifeguarding for Santa Barbara County in the summers, guiding kayakers around the Channel Islands and as a freelance writer and photographer. His work often appears in the Ojai Quarterly.
https://chuckgrahamphoto.com/
Joel Fox and Jennifer Day of Smile Mountain are busy creating content for many artistic projects all at a time. Their latest project is the most far-out of them all — a nine-minute promotional film for the James Webb Space Telescope, which launched December 24th into an orbit one million away from earth, where the $10 billion project will listen and watch into the deepest recesses of space and time. Joel grew up in Ojai, which he remembered as an idyllic place, far from the complaint refrains of too boring and nothing to do. It was here that he learned to exercise his imagination. After graduating from CalArts, he met Jennifer in Santa Monica and they've been living and working together ever since. Jennifer attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana where she fell in with the theater kids, which included Nick Offerman ("Parks & Rec") and Betsy Brandt ("Breaking Bad"). She knew she had an eye for design when working at a haunted house as a youth and through her college years as a set designer and prop master for the theater. An early web developer, Joel was also a film editor and creative director for kid's cult classic "Yo Gabba Gabba," and he and Jennifer have worked with clients as diverse as Chipotle, Vans, Aquabats, Sonos & Disney. One of their big current clients is Giphy. They specialize in dream sequences and instititial videos for commercials and TV shows from their home studio in Ojai. They also host an annual craft party that is among the hottest tickets in Ojai's busy social calendar. As Joel says, "I like interesting, beautiful things in the world. That's my service." You can check out their work at ... https://smilemtn.com/
https://youtu.be/lrY04VPDg8I
Abigail Napp grew up in the food business as her mother was a leading caterer in the Pacific Northwest, and she never strayed too far from the culinary world. After college she began a career of traveling and writing about food, including at Condé Nast's La Cucina Italia. Her circuitous path led to Ojai, where she's been experimenting with various local products, including an Ojai adaption of a Northern Italian-French traditional liqueur made with walnuts and neutral grain spirits.
Abigail's varied interests in the culinary arts led to a wide discussion about eating and writing about eating, and how shortest path to understanding a culture is through its food. We talked about MFK Fisher and Julia Child, and wondered how they would have adapted to the quarantine.
Her pandemic-era journalism drew a focus on those various innovations and substitutions chefs and kitchen artists have been making during this strange time (including pizza pullers) and her interviews with leading figures such as Meryl Streep ("Julia & Julia,") Stanley Tucci ("Big Night") and Rhiannon Giddens and her Italian partner, Francesco Turrissi's grandmother's favorites. We also talked about Abigail's plans to write about the Biden family as the first red-sauce family to inhabit the White House.
We did not talk about ancient Roman recipes, Australian meat pies or New England clam bakes.
Check out Abigail's stories at https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/contributor/abigail-napp
Jack Dyer was present for the craft beer boom in the San Diego area in the 1990s and it left him with an unquenchable thirst to join the ranks of the top brewers. He now has five taprooms and hundreds of outlets and thousands of devoted customers of his distinct IPAs and lagers. He is also a big believer in building community and puts skin in the game with the 1 Percent For the Planet, supporting the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy among other programs and projects.
Dyer, inspired by Yvon Chouinard's approach to business as chronicled in "Let My People Surf," ended up opening his first taproom next to Patagonia's headquarters in Ventura. He has since opened a bustling space in Santa Barbara's Funk Zone and the crown jewel of his empire, Topa Topa's Taproom in downtown Ojai at the intersection of South Montgomery and Ojai Avenue, which faces the eponymous Chief Peak as well as the Topa Topa bluff's Pink Moment.
We structure the conversation as an orientation talk for a new staffer, and it works. Lots of great information and inspiration.
We talked about the history of beer, its centrality to civilization, role models, shared acquaintances and why the idea of Ojai is important to everyone who cares about their community and planet. We did not talk about the Battle of Jena-Auerstadt, Roman coins or orangutans.
https://topatopa.beer/
https://topatopa.beer/pages/ojai
Lauren Duke's just-published memoir, "Shithouse," is a rueful yet antic recounting of her traumatic childhood, with a junkie prisoner father and a volatile mother and an alcoholic stepfather. It ends with her building both successful businesses and a loving family, seeking and occasionally finding peace through yoga, writing and therapy.
Duke's distinctive voice shines through the messy dysfunction, as she learns that good people can do bad things, and vice versa. And how to take control of your narrative and rebuild your memories from a place of healing and understanding. The book, laced with humor and insight, includes episodes such as when Lauren played hookie to help her stepfather boost liquor bottles before crashing his car. Or her abortive attempts to live with Mormon youth until her drunk, rehab-escaping father shows up literally on her doorstep.
We talked about this harrowing yet educational journey through trauma to resilience, and similar memoirs like Augusten Burroughs' "Running with Scissors," and Tara Westover's "Educated." We did not talk about Josh Allen's athleticism, Will Rogers and Wiley Post's plane crash or the Q-Anon conspiracy.
The book, published by The Unapologetic Voice House, (who also published Lila Francesce's book about her sister, "The Situation: A Radical Journey Thru Sisterhood," is available on Amazon or through the publisher at theunapologeticvoice.com. She will also be hosting events here in Ojai and in Encinitas, where she runs a community center dedicated to yoga. You can find Lauren on IG @dollieduke83
Scott Johnson, founding partner of Johnson-Fain in Los Angeles, has lived with feet in both the world of art and of architecture. During the pandemic, holed up in his Ojai home, he wrote "Uncommon Ground: Notes on the Visual Arts + Architecture." Johnson is both a builder and visual artist and seeks common understandings between the two disciplines.
He and wife Dr. Meg Bates, a prominent ob-gyn doctor, built their Ojai home as a retreat from the city's hurly-burly and found themselves spending a lot of time during the lockdown with friends and family. Scott took the opportunity to write the book, and build the Art Barn. His projecets will be featured in the Winter issue of Ojai Quarterly, coming out Thanksgiving.
We talk about Fox Plaza, the towering structure in downtown LA that Johnson built in the 1980s, that was practically a character in itself for the blockbuster "Diehard" movie. We also talk about Le Corbusier, city planning, Ojai neighbors and the Ojai Music Festival.
We did not talk about scream therapy, Sandy Koufax or the voyages of Thor Heyerdahl.
It's been 22 years since the Ojai Film Festival's launch and since then they've screened more than 1,000 films and hosted hundreds of filmmakers, directors, writers, cinematographers and more. This year, the festival has added the competition category "Outstanding YouTube Filmmaker," and will also host a screening with Oscar-winner Chloe Zhao of her 2017 film, "The Rider."
Festival co-founder and artistic director Steve Grumette, OFF president Jon Lambert and board member and veteran film crewman Sven Shelgren joins Bret Bradigan for a spirited discussion of the festival, its past and future, the world of cinema and we share a few of our favorite films.
The Festival takes place Nov. 4-9 with live streaming of all films available Nov. 9 to Nov. 14.
We did not talk about Albert Spalding, Critical Race Theory or Alec Baldwin (at least not on the recording).
Check out the festival's lineup and more at ojaifilmfestival.org.
Karen Banfield started out making a calendar for Naked Gardening Day but the response among her prospective models was, well, discouraging. She was undaunted, and started right in with her 12 Good Men project, identifying a year's worth of local men who exhibit traits of compassion, selflessness and service. The calendar is meant to identity and honor these men who live up to the highest ideals of a respectable, responsive and healing masculinity, and will hopefully serve as role models for Ojai's young men.
Her journey to Ojai took many detours. About 12 years ago, she began a long road trip throughout California's small towns, looking for the perfect place to begin life anew. When she stumbled across Ojai, she knew this was the place. Banfield, an intuitive healer and performer, spent 32 years in the theater world, working with an alternative theater project in Portland, Oregon. She started out in the music world, though, as an opera-trained singer, who found the rigor and formality of her training too stultifying and restrictive. But she still possesses a pure, clear voice, which she graciously shares with listeners.
The calendars are available at the Ojai Valley Museum, Poppies Art & Gift and also via email at banfield11@gmail.com.
We did not talk about Build Back Better, Korean naval battles agains Japan in the late 16th century, or trout fishing on Alberta's Bow River.
This episode we talk with the hosts of the popular Topa Talk podcast, which is in its third season and closing in on 100 episodes. Stephanie St. James and Cody Creighton have been delighting and informing their listeners with topics like Ojai's boutique wars, racial protests, coffee shops and hot takes on pop culture. Lots of hot takes. Plus they are Ojai's top Halloween enthusiasts.
Besides the engaging and often hilarious subject matter of this podcast, we also wade into the thicket of issues around what Ojai lacks, what makes it great, and dive deep into issues that divide us such as age, gender, politics and identity. We discover that we have a lot more in common than you might think.
Plus lots of hot takes on the crucial substantive matter of Erika Gerardi's aggressive bullying of fellow castmembers of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. What about the defrauded widows and orphans, Erika? Did you think that the money to pay the Glam Squad was earned honestly?
We did not talk about Lou "Iron Man" Gehrig, Sen. Mitch McConnell or Ice Road Truckers.
You can check out the Topa Talk podcast wherever you catch your pods or on Instagram at @topatalk. Also, Stephanie's company is called Hand Up Studios, they help edit, produce, and launch podcasts. They can be reached at handupstudios@gmail.com
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/
Doug Halter lost his partner to AIDS during the worst days of the epidemic, so he dedicated himself to civic activism as a way to repay the debt and keep himself sane. Finding his purpose in life not only helped Halter survive what was once a sure death sentence, but gave him the motivation and direction to thrive. The fruit of this labor is his recent book, "Give Me Time," a memoir chronicling his darkest days during the early days of AIDS and his lifelong love of the area.
The book takes us through Doug's growing up in a large, bustling family, his early love of gardening he shared with his grandfather, early talents for city planning, successful careers in IT sales and his move to Ventura 34 years ago.
The book is also funny, perceptive and inspiring.
Elected last year to the Ventura City Council, Doug is the owner of a bustling landscape company with 50 employees, and was married to Doug Encinas by Ojai's own Judge Fred Bysshe. Doug has been among the leaders of downtown Ventura's restoration, a past president of the Ventura downtown Rotary, one of the founders of the Ventura Botanical Gardens and a caring steward of his hometown. He's also a regular with an Ojai poker group which is more charm and chat than cards.
You can learn more about Doug (and maybe purchase a copy of "Give Me Time" at doughalter.com.
December 8, 1941 came like a storm as the Japanese aircraft began bombing and strafing Manila and other American outposts in the Phillippines Island, at that time an American colony. For Karen Lewis, the daughter of an American accountant for a gold mining company, it started out as an adventure - leaving the mining camp at Baguio to head for safety in Manila. It quickly became much more harrowing - three years of confinement in Santo Tomas, a Catholic University just across the Pasig River from the city proper, along with 3,000 other mostly American and English detainees.
Karen was 9 years old at the time, and witnessed the resilience and determination of the adults to organize a highly functioning and organized community, with school, dining halls, sanitation and entertainment under the watchful eye of their Japanese civilian commandant. But when he left after a year and was replaced with a military commander, things took a darker turn, and discipline often proved brutal and rations dwindled down to starvation portions. News was hard to come by, but filtered through hidden transistor radios as the Allied offensive pushed the Japanese back through the South Pacific to the gates of Santo Tomas, shortly after MacArthur's prophesied return.
We talk about her daily life in the camp, how it was organized and how it functioned, as well as the odd coincidences and humanity from detainees and guards alike. Lewis gathered up her story along with three other women for "Interrupted Lives: Four Women's Stories of Internment During WWII." The well-known painter and stalwart of the Ojai Studio Artists has lived in Ojai for 30+ years and stays active with gatherings of Santo Tomas survivors.
We did not talk about Joe DiMaggio, Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon or William Howard Taft.
Beatrice Wood's finest work of art could well have been her life. The famous ceramicist was in the middle of key 20th century moments - Igor Stravinsky's tumultuous Rites of Spring debut in Paris in 1912, Marcel Duchamp's controversial "Nude Descending a Staircase" and his "Fountain" in 1917. "The Mama of Dada" more than any single person, shaped Ojai's identity as an arts haven and inspirational, creative place.
Kevin Wallace, director of the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts, talks about her life, loves, influences, those she influenced, and much much more. We also talk about Kevin's journey to Ojai and his new venture as a folk musician at age 60, inspired by Beatrice Wood, who flourished well in into her 80s and 90s and even 100s.
The center is open for visitors after the pandemic, and eager to share the story and fabulous art of this remarkable woman. Check out their website at https://www.beatricewood.com/
Lauren Nichols has shifted from her career in urban planning to putting together local personal care products such as soaps, bath bombs, beauty products and others, all curated for value to the community and environment - safe, sustainable and of superior quality. Local Bath Boxes are available by subscription and include fan favorites such as Bogue Milksoaps, Friend's Ranch citrus, Seeb & Solace and Frog Creek Farms, with more added frequently.
The journey to her launch brought us into deeper discussion about how societies are organized, our mutual fanship of Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander and other icons, and her prior career at a non-profit group building affordable housing projects. Local Bath Box's launch earlier this year took place the same day her son was born, giving Lauren the opportunity to inform both her business and family through the lessons learned in each, and a reminder of when to celebrate anniversaries. She's been cultivating relationships with Ojai makers and artisans for years, and hopes this venture benefits everyone, including her growing family.
Check out her website, LocalBathBox.com, where you can sign up for the curated subscription boxes, check out news and information about the field, support local nonprofits and keep your self care sustainable and local.
Sergio Aragonés might well be the world's most distinguished, prolific and beloved cartoonist. Even as Mad Magazine, where his distinctive and hilarious drawings graced their pages for 60 incredible years, ceased publication during the pandemic, Sergio has been busier than ever. He's cranking out multiple editions of his picaresque masterpiece, "Groo the Wanderer," creating multiple covers for other magazines, working on bespoke projects and entertaining his adoring fans with his instantly recognizable, hilarious and insightful cartoons.
Sergio talks about his family's flight from Franco-era fascism in Spain to France, then to Mexico City, where his father found work as a producer for Mexico's vibrant film industry. Sergio entertained himself on film sets with his sketchpad and pens, and by an early age was entertaining his friends with his talents. He also played extras in many films before heading off to architecture school before trying his hand at a professional career in cartooning. After arriving in New York City by bus, his first employment was declaiming Federico Garcia Lorca poems. It wasn't long before his obvious genius was recognized by Mad Magazine and he was off and running.
He talked about Mad's famous annual trips, one in which publisher Bill Gaines took his entire crew to Surinam to convince their one reader in that country to renew his subscription (though Sergio missed that trip because he was getting married), the easy and enduring camaraderie of that talented crew, the technological changes that have disrupted his business, the opportunities it presents, and how he kept himself sane during the pandemic. He also talked about how history is taught in Mexico versus how it's taught in the U.S., and many other things.
We did not talk about pirates, Krishnamurti or the perils of horse ownership.
America was riven in the late 1940s and early 1950s when the House Un-American Affairs Committee turned its gimlet eye on Hollywood and 10 writers and producers with suspiciously leftist sympathies. The Hollywood Ten were among the most successful and well-known writers of their time, including Oscar-winners Michael Wilson and Dalton Trumbo. After being forced out of their careers and country, they encamped for the more tolerant climates of Mexico and Europe, writing under assumed names for much lower wages and no credit.
In the mid-1950s, they began to trickle back into America, where Trumbo and Wilson set up camp in Ojai, led by Wilson's wife, Zelma, the noted architect. Zelma and Michael formed a salon where other blacklisted writers and actors gathered to commiserate, party and make history. We take up this story with Mark Lewis, former chair of the Ojai Valley Museum and a long-form narrative feature journalist who is also an associate editor of the Ojai Quarterly. After Kirk Douglas and others helped bust the blacklist, these talented writers got back to work on such classics as "Planet of the Apes" and "Johnny Got His Gun."
Among other topics we talked about Stalin, Ojai architecture, Ronald Reagan and Nordhoff homecoming queens. We did not talk about Zen archery, Great Lakes boat craft or the Peloponnesian War.
Julie Tumamait-Stenslie grew up in Ojai with an idyllic childhood as the youngest of seven children, playing in the Ventura river bottom. Her father, Vincent, was a revered Chumash elder and keeper of the traditional folkways. Julie apprenticed herself to him, learning the old songs, stories and folkways of this ancient and fascinating people.
She now has taken his place, performing ceremonies along from Malibu to San Luis Obispo, teaching children the songs and stories by which Chumash peoples passed on information through the generations and making sure that her people are represented. Besides archeological surveys on construction projects to make sure that cultural treasures are not destroyed, she founded the Barbareño/Ventureño band of Mission Indians, on which she serves as tribal chair.
She paints a vivid picture of pre-contact life in the Ojai Valley, where the bands of Chumash traveled from village site to village site to take advantage of the changing seasons for food crops like acorns, pinon nuts and the bounty of the nearby sea. Before the Spanish arrived, the state's native population was estimated at 310,000, which dwindled to a few tens of thousands by the 1870s after the massive disruption of the gold rush.
Julie's keen insight and humor give her a peerless view of the area's history and the cultural genocide which happened twice - when the Spanish friars arrived in the 1770s and again when the American flag first flew over California in 1846. We talk a lot about Benjamin Hadley's book, "American Genocide" about the nearly successful effort to wipe out California thriving native people between 1846 and 1873 (the Modoc War). We also talk about Ojai and how it's changed over the years, and how she and others are striving to find a balance through a more integrated approach to the environment and respect of Ojai's first residents. Julie also tells us about her husband Bruce, who runs the county's Economic Development Collaborative and it's shepherding of the county's pandemic-stricken businesses.
We did not talk about Cynthia Ann and Quanah Parker, the first and second Opium Wars or the collapse of British railways stocks in the late 1840s.
Chris Kandziora, the Ojai Valley Inn's Sales and Marketing Manager, could very well have been the busiest man in Ojai during the pandemic. In March 2020 as the first lockdown went into effect, Chris had to manage the ramping down of the huge facility, calling the wedding parties, the conferences and conventions, thousands of booked guests, as well as furloughing most of its 800 employees - then he had to manage its ramping up as restrictions loosened later in the summer, then another lockdown in the fall. He was also the Inn's point person for the coordinated pandemic response effort involving the City of Ojai and the Ojai Unified School District. Now, with the pandemic hopefully in the rear-view mirror, the Ojai Valley Inn is steaming ahead with the hotel rooms near capacity and the group business surging back as a restless country gets moving again. The quarantine was not an idle time, however. Chris talks about how the Inn took advantage of the downtime to upgrade many of its 300+ rooms and transformed its iconic Spa with a $3 million makeover, how the Inn hosted the fabled Meadowood Resort's restaurant staff at the Inn's Farmhouse after the property was devastated during the Napa fires of last year, and famed chef Nancy Silverton's food events at the Farmhouse. Not to mention hosting an entire season of the wildly popular American Idol in a COVID bubble. We also talked about his friendship with Buffalo Bills' general manager Brandon Beane, growing up in Waukesha, Wisconsin in a restaurant family, going into the hospitality business after college and his talented interior designer wife Janelle, his two soccer-playing sons and walleye ("they taste like candy"). We did not talk about how the popularity of golf exploded during the pandemic, Hudson Bay Company's trade goods or the Real Madrid FC.
When author and executive coach Jim Selman published his 11th book, "Living in the Real-Time World," in November 2019, he didn't know he would get a "proof of concept" unlike any in more than a century. The pandemic brought home the basic truth that it's a fool's game to predict the future, instead we need to focus on the key capabilities (Jim lists six) that allows the flexibility and resilience to deal with the unimaginable pace of change. The book is aptly subtitled "Six Capabilities to Prepare Us For An Unimaginable Future."
The book's title was taken from Jim's prior career in computer engineering, when microprocessors became so fast that they were said to "operate in a real-time world."
Selman, CEO of ParaComm International, has coached some of the world's most dynamic business leaders, focusing especially on transformational leadership and instituting change in organizations. He's worked with Werner Erhard, among others, in his distinguished career, and travels (or did travel pre-pandemic) more than 200,000 miles a year, delivering seminars and keynote speeches, as well as individual coaching with organizational leaders. When he's not on the road, he's at home in Ojai with wife Darlene, enjoying small-town life and sharpening his golf game.
We talked about the nature of creating lasting change, of leadership tenets, of old Arab proverbs and fire threats and the climate emergency. We did not talk about Victorian medical devices, our favorite "Fast & Furious" films or the Battle of Marathon.
It's been a long journey for Zander "Z-Man" Gabriel from his earliest days at Ojai's rickety wooden skate park to his astonishing professional success, about to launch his own brand with skateboards, gear, merchandise and more. He's one of the top pros in this exciting sport, though he still spends most days on urban adventures, looking for fun new places to skate. It was one of these urban adventures that gave him his street cred, when after 10 brutal attempts, he stuck the landing on the notorious El Toro 20-step staircase in Lake Forest, with a "never been done" backsmith trick. As with many skaters, he is more proud of scars than medals. Skating culture has come a long way since the first pairing of a surfboard with skates in the 1950s. It came into its own during the late 1970s when Stacy Peralta and friends, "Lords of Dogtown," practically invented a culture. By the time Tony "Birdman" Hawk came along in the 1980s and 1990s and built a video-game empire, and Spike Jonze went from taking photo for skater 'zines to directing box-office blockbusters, skating was well on its way to being an established part of culture. Now, Gabriel represents the next generation, making his move into the entrepreneurial side of the skate world. He has filmed advertisements and sponsorships, including the famous VW Jetta commercial, in which Gabriel skates his way through a busy Los Angeles wearing a blue suit. The once-renegade sport has come a long way, all the way to the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. While Gabriel won’t be competing, he will be on hand to cheer on many of closest friends who are. In this episode, Gabriel gives credit to Ojai for his success; especially his mother, Judy, "the quintessential skate mom," he said. She helped lobby and raise funds for the permanent skate park. He plans on an event at this summer, to perform some stunts, give away some board, have a barbecue and celebrate his success in the place where it started. Zander will be featured on the cover of the Summer issue of Ojai's magazine, the OQ, which will come out Memorial Day weekend. We did not talk about the Inuit communities of northern Canada, spearfishing or James Clerk Maxwell.
Kelley D'Angelo, founder of Lark Ellen Farms, has seen her business increase dramatically during the pandemic. Her line of sprouted, low-carb, high-protein granolas, trail mixes and vegan patés have found a growing list of devoted customers over the past few years and it all began, and remains, here in Ojai.
She got her start as "Granola Girl" at local farmers markets and, with encouragement from Ernest Niglio, manager of Rainbow Bridge an enthusiastic proponent of local products, decided to go big into grocery chains. Then she took her show on the road, taking orders from other retail grocers, starting with Lazy Acres, then adding Whole Foods and branching out regionally then nationally. It's a family affair for Kelley, working with sister, mother and father, selling products at the Ojai Farmers Market, manufacturing at their facility on Bryant Street and ramping up online sales.
It was a steep learning process, figuring out the stores' internal "category review," getting meetings with buyers, giving out big amounts of free product to jump start the process. We also talk about the "shelf wars" that go on at grocery stores, "it's a product of who has the most money to get their product on the shelf." That Lark Ellen Farms has succeeded in this ruthless space says a lot about Ojai as a laboratory for product launches, its openness to new flavors and food experiences, and the inspiration a supportive community can provide a young entrepreneur.
We did not talk about Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, the hardiness of Mongolian ponies or the coming new season of "The Things We Do in the Shadows."
Few performances on the big screen are as memorable as Malcolm McDowell's portrayal of ultraviolent Alex, who terrorizes the night with his Droogs. The film catapulted McDowell to international stardom and firmly entrenched Stanley Kubrick in the pantheon of world's most interesting and innovative directors.
An endless repository of fascinating stories, we learn from Malcolm about the serendipitous collaborations that made the film come alive, the futuristic design and eccentric costumes that brought sharp relief to the movie's dystopian message. Malcolm also says that what made Alex such a compelling villain was "his joie de vivre. He really enjoyed life." McDowell also talks about how the fascist subtext and corrupt authorities make the film seem so timeless, and how after a half century it speaks so directly to our present moment.
Besides gem-like observations about working so closely with Kubrick, a director known to be difficult with actors, we also spend a fair bit of time talking about director Lindsay Anderson, "If," and "O Lucky Man." Anderson was a director known to be fond of his actors, so the contrast gave the young actor the resiliency and durability for which he is justly famous. We also talk about current projects of McDowell's, his case of Covid, living in Ojai and Kubrick's "Napoleon," known as the "Greatest Movie Never Made."
We did not talk about McDowell's passion for golf, blood diamonds or Rupert Murdoch.
When the Ojai's 2,300 public school students were sent home last March, we had no idea how long until those students would be back in their classrooms. Turned out it would take more than a year before the schools could safely reopen.
One of our earliest guests on the Ojai: Talk of the Town podcast was Tiffany Morse, superintendent of the Ojai Unified School District, to talk about the extraordinary measures the district was taking to make sure that the students (and parents) could meet the terrific challenge of remote learning. Not to mention the hundreds of meals each day being served by the district as many families struggled to get enough to eat. We talked about the entire cohort of student athletes, dramatists and musicians who lost these important rituals of passage, including their graduation ceremonies.
This time, the news was a little better. The schools reopened, with safety measures including outdoor classrooms, earlier this month. Among the good news was that Dr. Morse had been recently selected as the Superintendent of the Year for the tri-county region, in large part because of public-private initiatives during the pandemic, as seen in the overwhelming support for a $45 million bond measure, which is already being put to use building public spaces like a community pool and a massive solar project.
Morse talked about the measured responses to the tremendous pressures exerted on one side by parents who worried about how far their kids would get behind in their education, and teachers, who worried about losing their lives. It has been a time of great challenge and uncertainty, and now it's time for reflection and taking what lessons we can from this lost year. This deep and wide conversation explores the role of teachers, students and key insights into what makes a community work.
We did not talk about taimen fishing on the headwaters of the Amur River, the 16-inning pitching duel in 1963 between Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal, or the novels of Sybille Bedford.
Meredy Benson Rice, a long-time Ojai educator, has a side passion as an author. We talk about her most recent release, "The Wisdom Palace," about 12-year-old Isabelle, whose parents are about to get divorced. She is sent off to her grandfather's farm in rural Ontario, where she dreads the disruption and chaos that ensues. As Rice writes, "Instead she is propelled into the chaotic world of her Aunt Beth, a wild menagerie of cousins, and a crazy plan to run a summer camp for the elderly." Among the happy elderly campers are Ida, an exotic 90-year-old who resembles an Ojai icon with her flamboyance and genuine spark, her uncle's crazy solar-powered bicycle invention, a mysterious teenager with a murky past, her lonely widower grandfather and a hay loft where Isabelle faces her fears. Over the course of the summer, the shy tweener begins to take hold of her destiny. Besides "The Wisdom Palace," Rice has also written "A Blue True Dream of Sky," and "Skycatcher," which was shortlisted for the prestigious Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch Award. We also talked about Meredy's love of teaching, her young life in Canada, taking off from Montreal on a trans-Atlantic ship, moving to London for years, and coming to Ojai without a job, raising her children, her intra-school rivalry with the man who would become husband, and flyfishing road trips. Your host did not sing the Christmas jingle for Eaton's, the giant erstwhile department store in downtown Toronto. You can check out her latest book on Amazon.com or wherever you get your books. Also check out Kit Stolz' profile of Meredy in the Spring issue of Ojai Quarterly.
Ojai is celebrating this month, in however an abbreviated fashion, Ojai Pixie Tangerine Month. So Emily Thacher Ayala, whose family has been farming in the Ojai Valley for a century and a half, is the perfect guide to this sweet, petite fruit, which has become a key characteristic of Ojai.
Emily talks about her family's rich history in the valley - her father's side included Sherman Day and Edward Thacher, founders of Thacher School and the Ojai Tennis Tournament, on her mother's side the Friend family, the pioneers who began farming here in the 1870s and still operate Friends Packing House. Her depth of knowledge about the land - its peculiarities, vulnerabilities and beauty - is peerless. We talk about Emily's circular journey out into the world and back, including a stint in Central America, her stewardship of the family legacy, the farmers market circuit, the challenges of citrus ranching during a pandemic and the future of farming in the Ojai Valley.
Emily's entertaining anecdotes include bear encounters, the pixie motto contest (a non-winning entry went, "too delicious to throw at cars") and her son's surprise visit from famed cartoonist Sergio Aragones.
We did not talk about the Ming Dynasty, Hudson's Bay Company or the comic stylings of Nate Barzgate.
http://www.ojaipixies.com/
This episode we get personal, as I reach out to my brothers to talk about our father, Floyd John Bradigan, who died just over 40 years ago at age 60. We mark the moment that all three of his sons have outlived him. It seems like an opportunity to have a discussion about our memories of this singular man, who would have been 101 years old this year.
My brothers, Bruce and Bob, at ages 75 and 73, are 15 and 13 years old than me respectively. It felt as if they were a whole different generation, and in some ways they were. But interestingly, our memories of village life with our hard-working father are remarkably consistent. We spent many hard, sweaty hours in the garden plowing, cultivating, pulling weeds and harvesting the abundant crops of asparagus, strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, corn, beans, peas and the most delicious tomatoes in the tri-state region.
If that wasn’t enough, our father also ran a mail route, drove school bus, and spent decades as the town’s gravedigger. His three sons spent many hours of hard labor in those cemeteries, with wheelbarrows, shovels, spades, lawnmowers, sickles and scythes with little to no pay. It gave all three of us a deeper sense of perspective than our peers.
It wasn’t all hard work. We had an enormous tribe of cousins to play with, and we all shared our dad’s love of fishing, hunting and sports - baseball especially. Our Bradigan tribe loved the routines and rhythms of small-town life, the parades, picnics, the great hunting and sport fishing in western New York and the rich history. It has served me well, living in Ojai, one of the country’s quintessential small towns.
Our father, a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator in the South Pacific, who served from 1941 (he signed up on Dec. 8th, 1941, putting on hold his professional baseball career, as he was playing Double A ball on a Brooklyn Dodgers’ farm team in Visalia) to just prior to the Korean War. He left the service as a Major in the newly formed U.S. Air Force. We talked about our own military service — and the fact that our father was very proud of the fact that four of his six children served in the military: three of them in the Army and yours truly in the Air Force. Brother Bruce - who jumped out of the first airplane he ever flew in - served in the Army’s Special Forces, and his career was cut short when he was wounded on a patrol in Vietnam. This is the first time I've ever heard him talk about his combat experiences.
It was a deep, meaningful and also fun conversation. We did not talk about the Chinese treasure fleet, the Dulles brothers or lost metallurgy technologies.
Fred Fisher, the internationally renowned architect and his wife, Jennie Prebor, could have chosen anywhere in the world to live. In fact, he recently spent two years in Rome as a Fellow with the American University, where he wrote a book, "Robert Venturi's Rome," with colleague Stephen Harby. They studied the Eternal City through the eyes of Venturi, the groundbreaking (literally) architect whose "Complexity & Contradiction in Architecture" has deeply influenced generations of architects.
As featured in the Spring 2021 issue of Ojai Quarterly by Jerry Dunn, Fisher and Prebor moved to Ojai for its excellent views, tight-knit community, world-class arts organizations like the Ojai Music Festival, and its congenial downtown, where Prebor's shop, Blanche Silvia, has brought a new and deeper layer of chic and sophistication to town. They also built their dream home "The Box on the Hill" on 9 acres of land an easy walk from downtown amid old olive groves, with sweeping sunset views of the Topa Topa Bluffs and Chief's Peak.
We cover a lot of ground in the talk. Growing up in the Rust Belt on Lake Erie, John D. Rockefeller and Frederick Law Olmstead, Michelangelo and Christopher Wren, having an architect father and instead studying art history before coming back to architecture and how those two disciplines inform each other, early clients for the prestigious firm, working with Frank Gehry, discovering Ojai and the meanings, both literal and metaphorical, of "palimpsest" and how ancient Romans left a blueprint for civilization upon which the Renaissance was built.
We did not talk about the Laurentian Shield, the Orinoco River or the Tunguska blast of 1908.
Daren Thomas Magee is one of the country's best-known illustrators with more than 370,000 followers on Instagram, and his Real Fun Wow company has become the platform for his singular, instantly recognizable style of simple bold lines and muted hues. He is also the artist whose work graces the Spring issue of our local magazine, Ojai Quarterly, which is flying off the shelves. The discussion covers a lot (A LOT) of ground. We talk about growing up in western New York's frozen wastelands, the Underground Railroad, his journey to Ojai, Imposter Syndrome, psychedelics, his own podcast with Jaymee Carpenter, "Mystical/Cynical," how his work has evolved over the years, and the Russian Constructivists. You can check out his work on instagram at @realfunwow. We did not talk about sourdough starters, American imperialism or Pope John Paul II.
Kristen McGuiness is the author of the bestselling memoir, "51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life" in which she recounts her adventures (and misadventures) of entering single life as she neared age 30 after a workaholic decade. In this book, she went on 51 dates in 50 weeks and found more than romance, she found herself. After the manic world of publishing, her next career in the nonprofit world seemed tame by comparison, but the experience of actually making a difference in children's lives, of raising money and spirits, has helped her enormously in her coaching practice.
She has more than 20 years experience in the writing game, including a stint working for the legendary Judith Regan at Harper Collins, helping usher into print enormous bestsellers such as Howard Stern's "Private Parts." She worked with many cultural figures such as Chris Matthews, Motley Crue and Neal Strauss of "The Game" fame. She has also had a lot of experience working for NGOs in Paris.
Now she's forged her own path, heading up her own editing, publishing, ghostwriting, coaching and teaching business here in Ojai, where she's lived for the past four years with her husband and children.
Krista talks candidly about her addiction and recovery, and her close relationship with a therapist/healer which led her to Ojai. For more information, check out her website at https://www.kristenmcguiness.com/
We did not talk about the birth of progressive rock, Standard Oil's early business model or the Great British Baking Show.
Dr. Tom Krause started Behavioral Sciences Technology in the 1980s with a partner, and from its modest beginnings in Ojai, it has become a global leader in the workplace safety field. Even beyond global, as one of their biggest contracts was from NASA, when they were hired on after the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.
We talk about Tom's entry into psychology during the heated debates between devotees of two very differing philosophies - Carl Rogers' humanism and B.S. Skinner's behaviorism. Moving to Ojai to set up a private practice, Krause became interested in applying a scientific rigor to the psychology of workplaces, of its culture and its practices, and how the two interacted. He was able to measure safety improvements in a way that made dollars and sense for overburdened executives. The company thrived until Krause sold it in the 2000s, but he continues to work in the field.
Tom entered into St. John's College's Great Books program when he was in his 50s and had already achieved career success, and wanted to wrestle with the big questions of humanity - the role of religion and philosophy and the big "whys" of humanity. He spent time on campus in Santa Fé while continuing his busy travel schedule.
Tom served on the Krishnamurti Foundation of America's board and has a lifelong interest in community service, helping found the Agora Foundation, which brings the Great Books program to Ojai and beyond. One of the efforts of the Agora Foundation is the Ojai Chautauqua events, which bring together expert panelists to discuss and debate issues of national and local importance. He mentioned that the next Chautauqua will be a virtual event about the use of pesticides.
Sources: agorafoundation.org, sjc.edu and for more information about the Skinner v. Rogers debate https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Carl-Rogers-Vs-F-Skinner-Which-Perspective-P35G4TZAEPP
Cassandra Jones is an Ojai artist with a list of exhibits and permanent collections that would go on for days. Most proximately, she is the first artist-in-residence at Taft Gardens, the acclaimed westside Mediterranean flora showcase. She is also the wife of Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jurgensen and a mother, a task made harder by quarantine confinement. We cover a lot of ground in our talk - the dawn of modern design, including the Bauhaus movement, that emerged from the pandemic of 1918 and its lessons for today, working and creating during the current pandemic, the Renaissance, Greece and Los Angeles. Mostly we discuss our growing anticipation for what comes next - the feeling that Ojai is about to burst into bloom after this hard year. Among our references: Derek DelGuadio's amazing show on Hulu, "In & Of Itself," with its incredible illusions, sleight-of-hand and storytelling that transcends description; Boccacio's "Decameron," Vasari's "Lives of the Saints," and Andrew Bird. You can check out Cassandra's work at cassandracjones.com.
It's been a rough year for performing artists, for whom audiences are like oxygen, and vice versa. Few people are better positioned to explore the strange quandary in which we find ourselves than Justin Little, a founder of Bailey Blues, a boutique agency representing K. Flay, The Midnight and Jake Etheridge among others. It is a fascinating conversation with a key insider in the music industry that could have gone on for hours.
Now living in Ojai, Little has lived and breathed music since his teens living in West Texas and the Bay Area. When fresh out of college, he had to choose between a low-paying backstage job and a highly paid position producing this new-fangled media called podcasts, he chose music. Among the first shows he produced, and artists he represented, were Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, and The Postal Service, so he saw the indie music world explode in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He worked in a milieu surrounded by such superstars like Feith, Grizzly Bear, Glen Hansard and The Frames.
Justin tells a few anecdotes, among his inexhaustible trove, about the burgeoning indie scene, escorting Paul Simon backstage to meet Grizzly Bear musicians just before a show, touring with Death Cab and the Postal Service. We talk about the disruption of the digital shift, bit-torrent, how the musical economy works and doesn't, of innovations going on behind the scenes, and the hunger and thirst audiences have for connection. And, of course, as listeners have come to expect, we talk about the Roarin' Twenties, and how much we look forward to the coming creative flourishing we are sure is right around the bend.
A partial list of references: Djesse (Jacob Collier), "Love & Mercy," Daniel Johnston, "Super Mensch," Kate Tempest, Dea Matrona & Band Maid.
We did not talk about Dinosaur Junior, Neil Diamond or the cast of "Lost."
Jim Bailey took a roundabout path to teaching, earning his bachelor's degree and teaching certificate when he was 31, after a peripatetic career as a cowboy and surfer. He feels these real-world experiences have given him a richer, deeper context for his teaching. He's now been teaching 20 years in Ojai, including both private and public schools, and is the founder and director of Rock Tree Sky, which provides enriching experiences for students age 5 to 18.
This Ojai Living Treasure and science educator has partnered with the Ojai Unified School District for an innovative program during the pandemic, which might become a model of expanding education and experiential learning. Though teaching during a pandemic has "made an awesome job more difficult" Bailey feels confident that this current cohort of students will make their adjustments and snap back to typical classroom collaborations and experiences. His self-directed, student-led approach has won many admirers and given his students the skills needed to lead a rich, fulfilled life.
We also talk about Bailey's circuitous journey to Rock Tree Sky, his inspirations and how he is still in contact with the young lady surfer who he saved from a sure drowning nearly 20 years ago. We did not get around to talking about Game of Thrones, the invention of algebra or Korean horror films.
A few resources:
• Carol Black's "A Thousand Rivers" essay at http://carolblack.org/a-thousand-rivers
• One self-directed education ... https://www.self-directed.org/sde/
• On the perils of "helicopter parenting" ... https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/
Despite his down-to-earth demeanor and genial wit, Tony Thacher, the farmer and erstwhile geologist, has a distinguished lineage. His grandfather helped start The Thacher School in the 1880s, and his wife, Anne Friend Thacher, is the daughter of legendary citrus rancher Elmer Friend and part of the historic family that were among the first to stake out claims in the Ojai Valley.
We talk about the current state of agriculture, Berkeley's Free Speech Movement, water issues, community service, the future of Ojai and steelhead trout. Tony also tells a few tall tales (some which might true-ish),
We did not talk about the Buffalo Bills' heart-breaking loss to the Chiefs in the AFC title game, Israeli irrigation technology or UFOs.
Actor/writer Peter Fox has written a companion piece to Eve Ensler's much-loved "Vagina Monologues." His is called the "Testicle Monologues: If These Balls Could Talk" and has been recorded with professional actors and is being live-streamed at Santa Barbara's Center Stage Theater as a fund-raising event. Much like Ensler's feminine tour de force, Peter's play is a set of loosely woven, hilarious, touching and poignant reflections on man's distinctive pair of characteristics.
We talk about Fox's pandemic-induced creativity, the role of the arts in culture, the tremendous hardship, and also opportunity, faced by arts organizations - as imperiled as they are, the human hunger for the nourishment of the creative arts has reached a fever pitch. We talk about how this pent-up enthusiasm, following a fallow period for artists, could lead to a cultural flourishing not seen since the Roaring '20s.
Fox grew up in the Chicago area as second of eight children, and was introduced to show business at an early age, doing modeling for department stores as well as television commercials. He went to Harvard University on a scholarship, where he participating in the famous Hasty Pudding shows. Despite his fancy degree he did not have a post-college plan, drifting into acting through bartending, where he was discovered through a very Lana Turner-at-Schwab's Deli-esque moment.
He first came to acting fame through a lead role as Otter on the "Delta House" television show, then made the move into writing with a script for the show "Simon & Simon" and has written for stage and screen, including "Acts of God," which played for months in Los Angeles and was picked up by script publisher Samuel French, one of Peter's most glorious moments.
Peter grew up in a cultural milieu that included his high school "frenemy" Bill Murray, as well as John Hughes, Charlton Heston, Gilda Radner and Ann Margret. In fact, a couple years ago he attended a fundraiser at Fordham University with John Prine playing, then hopped in a limo to go to Bill Murray's Christmas party further up the Hudson River.
We had a surprise visitor show up during our call, who challenged the veracity of many of Peter's family stories. We did not talk about the Inuit diet, anarchist hero Nestor Mahkno or the Mississippi flyways.
Further links: www.centerstagetheater.org. The show will be up til January 31 and all proceeds go to the Center Stage Theater.
Candid Camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mGlQeSbou0
It's been 80 years since a German naval cruiser took out a convoy of 38 merchant ships mid-Atlantic, carrying much-needed gasoline and provisions for the Blitz-besieged defense of England. The motor tanker San Demetrio was one of those ships, spawning an incredible saga. Abandoned by her crew by a captain who feared the volatile cargo would explode, she was left to burn. Two of the three lifeboats were rescued, but the third, with 16 merchant marines, drifted for several days, risking death from exposure or being discovered by the German raiders. When they spotted a fire on the horizon, it turned out to be the still-burning San Demetrio. The crew faced a dilemma, re-board the ship or risk death from exposure. The outcome boosted morale in war-torn England and led to a precedent-setting maritime law case. The writer-actor and Ojai resident John Mawson wrote the screenplay that is being turned into an 11-episode "audio movie" coming this spring with state-of-the-art sounds technology to create an immersive experience that puts the listener into the heart of the action. Acting greats Brian Cox and John Malkovich, along with "Game of Thrones" star Thomas Brodie-Sangster star. Mawson, who has been fascinated by the sea since his earliest memories, spent 13 years as an officer in the Merchant Marine, navigating tankers and other ships with simple instruments such as sextants and astrolabes. He retired from the sea just as Global Positioned Satellites revolutionized a lot of things, including his job. He's been a busy actor ever since. We talk about how this project came to life in the depths of the pandemic, and the talented team he's assembled around it. We also talk about pirates, Sir Ernest Shackleton and the acting life. We didn't get around to talking about Yankee clipper ships, the Chinese treasure fleets or sea shanty songs.
The first episode of Season Two of "Ojai: Talk of the Town" is our first on-location podcast. So how fitting that's it's at Thacher School's Observatory with Jon Swift, Ph.D., who has helped the school build its astrophysics study and rebuilt its historic 28-inch telescope.
In the five ensuing years, he's taught these fortunate students to shoot for the stars. Thacher School is now a respected partner with leading researchers around the globe, especially in the study of exoplanets, of which more are being discovered and studied all the time. His students have had their names published on many scientific studies.
Another fascinating area of study at the observatory are Type 1a Supernovae, led by Dr. Ryan Foley at UC Santa Cruz. These explosive stars all blow up at the same luminosity, then collapse into this weird effect, "electron degeneracy pressure." This quantum effect of these white dwarves allows electrons to share the same space. It was a random meeting at UC Santa Cruz after a surfing trip that led to this innovative partnerships. It's another interesting intersection of Dr. Swift's pursuits, which besides surfing include music, camping and asking questions. his lifelong love of the cosmos was fostered during camping trips with his parents to Anza Borrego desert where the absence of light pollution brings the vastness of space into sharp relief. We talked about the ocean's rhythms, building boats and William Finnegan's "Barbarian Days."
We did not talk about the Maillard process, northern pike or the Southern Cross.
Check out Dr. Swift's original music on Spotify below ... along with links to research and articles about him and his program.
https://www.thacherobservatory.org/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3LxE8S2NahkijyF6mbronT
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jonathan_Swift
http://blogs.thacher.org/deepdives/2015/11/12/music-of-the-spheres/
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/fq=%7B!type=aqp%20v=$fq_database%7D&fq_database=database:%20astronomy&q=pubdate:%5B1998-01%20TO%202020-12%5D%20author:(%22%5ESwift,%20J.%20J.%22)&sort=date%20desc,%20bibcode%20desc&p_=0
Betsy Stix decided to run for Mayor after reading Gay Hendrick's bestselling book, "The Big Leap." The book talks about the finding and living with your purpose. Imagine her surprise when she met Hendricks and his wife Katie while doing door-to-door campaigning. She won the election handily and was sworn into office Dec. 15th, ready to tackle Ojai's toughest issues - high risk of catastrophic wildlife, tricky water management issues, the lack of affordable housing and many others.
Stix attended Williams College, usually ranked the No. 1 school in the country, then to Stanford, from whence she entered teaching as a career. She's taught French, English and yoga in Japan, Santa Fe, Rancho Mirage and has lived in Ojai since 2001. Growing up in Cincinnati, where her parents were actively involved in the community, she is a lifelong fan of the Cincinnati Reds, having been around such greats as Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Joe Morgan.
We talked about our favorite part of Ojai life - the creative and entrepreneurial energies, the astounding natural beauty - as well as the difficult challenges of managing a pandemic, the traffic and demographic changes, the threats to the ecology, and economy. Stix says "People really, really love our town. How do we preserve that? We also have an economy that needs to stay afloat and a world that's shifting. There's an opportunity, at this moment, to really move forward in a positive way." Betsy also said she expects a cultural flourishing in Ojai and the world coming out of the pandemic. "After the Black Plague came the Renaissance," she said.
We did not get around to talking about Samuel Johnson's encyclopedia project, the iron-forging innovations of the Hittites or the Mayan Calendar.
You can read more about her at — https://www.facebook.com/betsy.stix
Permaculture expert and advocate Connor Jones has been immersed in the Ojai Valley land for decades, building a consulting and education business on permaculture as a way to preserve, protect and flourish in this often dry, harsh environment. A serendipitous encounter with a textbook while still in high school led him into his life's passion, where he is sought out by landowners, students, farmers and others to help them bring their land into a state of flourishing health and diversity.
He trained at the one of the world's leading permaculture centers in Australia before returning home to Ojai to implement those ideas as a farmer, researcher and entrepreneur at his East End Eden farm. Some of Connor's more intriguing ideas include "food forests," where the vertical nature of crop allows people to use much less land and water for the amount and quality of the harvest.
He believes that we have been for generations looking at humans as apart from their environment and not a part of it. This has led us away from natural solutions that tend to the whole system - sinking rainwater into the aquifer, using herbivores to help in that process and to fertilize the land naturally, building year-round crops into the rotation and having "an abundance mentality." We talked at length about "holistic range management," which was developed decades ago by Rhodesian gamekeeper Allan Savory, who noticed that predators - lions in his case - kept the herds of wildebeests and other herbivores tightly compacted and moving around in high-intensity, short duration grazing, which kept the land vibrant and fruitful. That process has been duplicated at East End Eden farm with goats and herding.
The problem with people and sustainability often is, "that we have this disassociation with the cycles of nature," Connor says. "We need mutually beneficial relationships with surrounding ecology so it doesn't destroy us and we don't destroy it." You can learn more about Connor and his work at ojaipermaculture.com or on Instagram @eastendeden.
We did not talk about Vittoria Sica's film cycles, Blackbeard or favorite life hacks.
This episode Chelsea Sutula with Sespe Creek Collective brings us up-to-date on the recent developments with marijuana retailing in Ojai, the onerous new 3 percent tax, pandemic adjustments, the existential dread and how cannabis might just be the medicine we need to get us through this dreadful year.
Chelsea grew up in Maryland and Athens, Georgia, daughter of researchers and academics, before going out on her own in Chicago and Pittsburgh, then finding her way to Ventura County, where she got involved in the medical marijuana side of things. It was a natural move to Ojai to open Sespe Creek, where she’s been for going on a decade, and three years with the legal shops.
We talk about the benefits of marijuana and the exciting new medical research into the canninaboid receptors, as well as overblown fears surrounding legalization. Chelsea also talks about the entrepreneurial flourishing unleashed by legalization, both in the retail and processing and growing side of things.
We also spend a good deal of time talking about what we’d like to see in Ojai’s future, a blank slate of possibilities and Ojai as a destination for wellness and local farmers as well as the kind of shops and light manufacturing, about which Chelsea is busy with her “unmet needs” survey. Chelsea's business savvy and compassion have combined to make her one of Ojai's leaders.
We did not talk about the Buffalo Bills-Pittsburgh Steelers game, tenkara fly rods, nor British motorcycles.
Howard "Hawk" Koch is a true son of Hollywood, the son of legendary producer Howard Koch Sr. In fact, they are the only father-son team to chair the Academy of Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences, hosts of the Oscars. But he went his own route to make his own mark, leaving for England while still in his teens to join the music business as an assistant to the legendary Harold Davison, where he helped manage acts such as the Dave Clark Five.
When he returned to Hollywood, he began his steady ascent up the success ladder, eventually producing such classics as "Chinatown," "The Way We Were," "Rosemary's Baby," and even "Wayne's World." Known by colleagues as the "iron fist in the velvet glove," Koch was famous for bringing in his films on time and under budget, all the while creating a fun and creative work environment.
Koch talks candidly about his bouts of depression, anxiety and the struggle to find purpose. In fact, he took his Bar Mitzvah at age 50, choosing "Hawk" as his name on his rabbi's recommendation for its ability to see from horizon to horizon, and yet in the most minute detail. He moved to Ojai six years, yet continues to juggle many different projects. Besides the Academy, he was a key member of the Producers Guild of America, credited with professionalizing the craft, and increasing membership exponentially. (Look for the little p.g.a. "bug" on screen credits - that's Koch's innovation).
He's confident that the communal experience of going out to watch movies and other forms of entertainment will return as soon as the Covid vaccines are widely distributed, and said that producers have figured out how to create safe workspace through social distances, mask and frequent disinfection. While more difficult for smaller productions, the pace of projects is beginning to pick up again.
Married to Molly Jordan, who has her own show business backstory as the granddaughter of the iconic radio show creators "Fibber McGee & Molly," they co-wrote Hawk's memoir, "Magic Time: My Life in Hollywood." Hawk recommended a few shows, "Queen's Gambit," "Hillbilly Elegy," and
"On the Record," about the "Me, Too" movement, among them.
We did not get around to talking about Warren Beatty, Mike Myers or on-set nightmare scenarios. Next time ...
James Morrison is a familiar presence on the stage and screen, having had key roles in the hyper-kinetic "24" where he played the head of the counter-terrorism unit, and the prison warden in David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" (co-written by his friend and fellow Ojai resident Mark Frost.
Having looked forward to this conversation for ages, he did not disappoint. Besides sharing that we were both the fifth of six children, he talked about hitchhiking the length of the Alcan Highway (look it up), being a problem child at Anchorage, Alaska's West High School, where he found salvation in the footlights, and his struggles with addiction and his finding strength through his yoga practice, which he learned from the renowned Ganga White.
We talked about his pandemic routine, the ways in which the entertainment industry is adapting and to all those struggling through this covid-era. He talked candidly about his issues as an up-and-coming actor who would often show up at rehearsals hung over until a mentor noticed and said, "'It's going to kill you and just your luck it's going to take you 50 years to die.'" His wise words to those who are feeling the strain of loneliness and pressure in this covid-era? "There’s any easier, softer way. Just please keep in mind ... You are not alone."
He has produced and directed films, including the well-received documentary “Showing Up,” about the audition process with 50 well-known actors. He and his wife Riad Galayini co-directed and produced the doc which featured luminaries like Kristin Chenoweth, Nathan Lane and Sam Rockwell. As a singer-songwriter, he has also written and performed two albums.
He talked about his pride in his son Seamus, now a student at UC-Santa Barbara and a published writer (in Ojai's own OQ magazine), who survived brain cancer at age 10. Morrison developed the experience into a one-person play that was selected for the workshop process through the prestigious Ojai Playwrights Conference with (former podcast guest) Robert Egan.
And yet, Morrison wants us to know that's just he's another Ojai friend and neighbor. He quoted Oscar Wilde: “We are not a noun, we’re human beings."
Check out his profile on IMDB.com — you’ll get finger fatigue from all the scrolling. You are also encouraged to check out his website, jpmorrison.com.
We talk with Dr. Pops about the promising vaccines in human trial, one from Pfizer and the other from Moderna. Both companies said they will file for an emergency use authorization with the Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks. One or the other vaccine could be ready as early as January, and would likely go to front-line workers in the medical field. The Pfizer vaccine will be a two-stage process and requires extremely cold temperatures - minus 70 celcius, making the rollout a challenge since few facilities are equipped with the cold technology. The Moderna vaccine also requires cold storage, but can handle 20 degrees warmer, putting in the reach of traditional freezers.
Dr. Pops explains that the vaccines use an entirely new approach to unlocking the body's immune system, using messenger RNA (mRNA) that trigger the creation of a coronavirus protein which then kicks off an immune response. The Pfizer vaccine appeared to be 90 percent effective, the Moderna at 94.5 percent. It appears likely that this will be by far the fastest rollout of a vaccine - with the next closest being the mumps vaccine that took four-and-half years.
At the center of effort is the CDC's director Dr. Anthony Fauci, with whom Dr. Pops worked closely with back in the 1980s tracking a strange outbreak of immune-deficiency cases in the Los Angeles area. That outbreak turned out to be AIDS. Dr. Fauci has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.
We also talk with Dr. Pops about the importance of proper exercise and nutrition to fighting off infections, the stellar yet strange championship seasons of the Lakers and the Dodgers, and what a boost it has been for a beleaguered city. He shared a few of his covid haikus, which he writes every day, including coronavirus / be sure to stay away / from people you like.
We did not talk about Chumash basket weavers, the uneven results of Beyoncé and Jay-Z collaborations or the maple syrup industry.
Alexander "Sandy" Treadwell had an illustrious career in New York State as a Republican County activist and close associate and friend of three-term Gov. George Pataki. He also spent six years as the Secretary of State of New York, one of Pataki's key cabinet members. He is also a "Never Trumper" who fears America's authoritarian turn during the past four years.
He was born in England, where his father was a general officer in the British Army and where his parents met during World War II. Treadwell is the grandson of a founding executive of General Electric, and a graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He split his time between Manhattan and upstate New York's rural Essex County where his family farmed. After college he went into journalism, figuring if he couldn't become a sports hero like Mickey Mantle, he could write about them. He met his wife while working at Sports Illustrated, covering college football among other sports. Although a Republican, Treadwell was inspired to get into politics by the example of John F. Kennedy and the idealism of civic service.
Treadwell is also steady contributor to the New Yorker magazine's cartoon caption contest, which he won several years from amid more than 6,000 selections; he has also been one of three finalists another time, a nearly unprecedented feat. Treadwell, known as an inclusive moderate, made friends across the political aisle as he worked his way through the state party jobs such as county chairman and joined Pataki on the GOP's platform committee. After moving to Ojai 10 years ago, his wife prompted him to find something to do, so at age 70, he took a charcoal drawing class with well-regarded local artist Dan Shultz, where he discovered a previously unknown talent as a portraitist. He has exhibited widely and is available for private commissions at https://www.sandytreadwell.com/
A few other links to learn more about this fascinating Ojai resident ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Treadwell
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/10/nyregion/nice-guy-tough-gop-job-new-state-chairman-takes-challenge-uniting-party-stride.html
We did not get around to talking about Chester A. Arthur's correspondence with Julia Sand, the UNC v. Duke rivalry or Lake Champlain's Champy monster.
For 25 years now, Kim Maxwell, a performer herself, has taught Ojai people on how to tell their stories and how to perform them, and how to grow in the process. For the past three years, she and her crew, which includes her daughter Lily, have produced "The Townies" podcast, which includes only-in-Ojai conversations, music, performances, our own "Prairie Home Companion."
Kim, a native of Canada's Prairie Provinces, escaped the bitter cold for the bright lights of Los Angeles in her teens and has only looked back occasionally, just to be sure nothing was gaining on her. We learn about how she crafted her identify, from a lonely, misfit teen to one of the most distinguished acting coaches in Southern California. Along the way, she started Theater 150, was among the founders of the Ojai Playwrights Conference and now owns Kim Maxwell Studio. She is a Living Treasure of Ojai, a winner of the Ojai Chamber of Commerce's Spirit Award and as kind and empathetic a soul as you are likely to meet.
If you want to hear a brilliant and talented person talk about a life well-lived, you have come to the right place.
We did not talk about Wayne Gretzky, rainforests or cargo containers.
Check out kimmaxwellstudio.com
It's a real treat to check in with the vivacious and witty Krista Kim & Katherine McClelland of the popular Holy F*ck Podcast. The two Ojai women — coaches, counselors (Katherine is also a minister) and authors began their podcast, now in its third season, after a serendipitous encounter at a local watering hole. Their overlapping yet distinct practices give them the insights into themselves, each other and their clients. Krista describes her practice as focusing on people going through "big, sexy, spiritual changes," and Katherine's as for "people in partnership opening to each other in a really powerful way."
Krista and Katherine both have Masters Degrees in Spiritual Psychology, which, as they say, "gives them the fancy credentials to talk health, healing, and the mind/body/spirit connection, and their wildly varied personal histories give them the unofficial street smarts to talk about sex, love, and well, anything they want!"
Given the specific conversations about the people in their lives, the two often run into people who know them and their relationships and their journeys. "As you know, Ojai is a small town," but the people they are in relationship with are in on the game. They describe their podcast talks as a back-and-forth that enhances their value to their clients, and also helps them grow personally with insight and compassion.
The conversation ranges widely from the dynamics of feminine and masculine, the changing gender roles of this modern world, and the idea of bringing presence and spirit to the everyday life. We also talk about how men are stupid and women are crazy; we talk about men coming out of their caves and opening themselves the vulnerabilities of growth, as well as women finding their way to loving their selves and their partnerships. How do we love each other without compromising the essence of who we are? Come on in and find out.
As the ladies say, "if you are a regular, open-minded person stumbling through dating, relationships, parenting, and everyday life, then this podcast will tickle your taint."
Check it out at twogalsoulschool.com.
We didn't get around the talking about the transcontinental railroad, glassmaking or the Lakers' return to Lebron-inspired glory.
Through a demoralizing Spring, Summer and now Fall of cancellations - from the Tennis Tournament to Ojai Day - one prestigious event is still happening. With its inventive and innovative lineup of virtual, and even a few select few in-person activities Taste of Ojai is coming this Sunday, October 25th at 5 p.m.
This issue of the podcast we speak with event organizer Tara Saylor, who is uniquely qualified to make this happen, so that sponsoring organization, the Rotary Club of Ojai, can continue to make possible college scholarships for worthy high school seniors as well as dozens of community grants to worthy local projects.
Saylor, raised in Ojai and now teaching and organizing back in her hometown, has found an interesting way of making a living, one that has given her a wide range of tools to meet the present moment. The "human multi-purpose tool," Saylor was raised in Ojai and has traveled widely to festivals around the country, building incredible exhibits and art installations, including at Burning Man, South By Southwest as well as the Lightning in a Bottle Festival.
Taste of Ojai is organized a little differently this year - with half of the $80 price going to support participating restaurants, with a busy lineup including cooking demonstration with Suzanne Tracht of Los Angeles destination restaurant JAR, plus short films featuring Ojai's chefs and brewers, plus a silent and live auction, all to support worthy community projects. See below for a list of associated links.
TasteofOjai.org
thejar.com/suzanne-tracht
Interior Design: studiounltd.com/
Montana Project(video): taft-nicholson.utah.edu/about/index.php
Lighting in a Bottle: thedolab.com
EDC Caterpillar(Video): vimeo.com/116514951
Special Bonus Episode: Ojai's first directly elected Mayor, Johnny Johnston, is nearing the end of his second and final term. It seemed a good time to catch up with what's going in the city with the pandemic, the coming election and what he hopes for Ojai's future. The lawsuit that forced the city and school district to divide into proportionally populated districts - designed to increase minority participation but likely to have the opposite effect - comes in for a critical analysis of its effects.
We talk about the what works with the city, what doesn't, and how to nurture and encouragement young people and people of color to get involved with civic affairs. We also talk about threats to Ojai, past, present and future, and the way forward toward a sustainable, prosperous community.
We did not get around to talking about the Lakers' title, Tom Brady's durability or the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Lucy Bellwood, adventure cartoonist and artist extraordinaire, has accomplished significant feats for someone still so young, including developing a loyal and devoted fan base. She is currently working on a book project with Kate Milford about a seafaring adventure graphic novel series with kind and cuddly capybaras.
We talk about the eternal artistic hustle, about Kant's admonition "to not number voices, but instead weigh them." Lucy talks about the famous blog post from Kevin Kelley's "1,000 True Fans," and how to develop and sustain enough people who will stick with an artist through thick and thin and allow them to achieve artistic freedom. We talk about earlier pre-Patreon and Kickstarter artists, Robert Musil and Harry Partch, who were free to create as they chose through the patronage of a small but dedicated group of fans.
Featured in a prior issue of the Ojai Quarterly by Kit Stolz for her "100 Demon Dialogues" book, Bellwood has just signed a contract for 750 pages of drawings over the next six years.
An Ojai native, Lucy talks about connectedness and being known through several generations, an experience rarely duplicated outside your hometown, even as she's been in Portland, Oregon for the past decade. Always innovative and forward-thinking, one of Lucy's news projects is the "Right Number," an anonymous confessional phone line where callers can leave messages and know that only one person will hear them. Her experience at Reed College was formative and unusual, prompted by an influential teacher in Ojai, and which has led to her prolific and unusual career path.
We conclude with Lucy's perceptive insights into the social unrest in Portland, and how it does not line up with right-wing narratives, because the protests are limited to a small, six-block downtown zone and whatever rare acts of violence happens can be laid at the feet of police overreach.
We did not get around to talking about the 1908 Tunguska explosion, Sumerian cuneiform or the Antarctic expeditions of Ernest Shackleton.
A partial list of references is herein ...
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100 Demon Dialogues (100demondialogues.com)
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XOXO (xoxofest.com)
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C. Spike Trotman of Iron Circus Comics (https://ironcircus.com, and her XOXO talk: https://xoxofest.com/2015/videos/c-spike-trotman)
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Dialup (https://dialup.com) - Danielle Baskin's service that pairs random people.
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My Patreon page (patreon.com/lucybellwood)
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My general website (lucybellwood.com)
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The Right Number (therightnumber.tel) — Lucy's project
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PostSecret (https://postsecret.com)
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Reed College (reed.edu)
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Bookends (http://www.bookendsbookstore.com)
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Rebecca Solnit's River of Shadows (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780142004104)
John Broesamle and his wife Kathy moved to Ojai more than 40 years ago, where they both rolled up their sleeves and got involved, especially on environmental issues. They have been at the forefront of fights against uranium and gypsum mines, freeways criss-crossing the valley, landfills, double-trailer trucks laden with gravel rumbling past our public schools, and, more recently, fracking permits in upper Ojai.
A retired history professor, John's deep context for current challenges gives him insight and understanding that makes him a formidable activist. When he noticed that Ojai faced an existential threat about every decade, John and a few others banded together to form the Ojai Valley Defense Fund, which just published a hard-bound art book of photographs and essays about Ojai's startling natural beauty. With the help of professionals like Heather Stobo and Lisa Casoni, Misty and Logan Hall and dozens of Ojai's finest photos from its finest photographers, the book is a celebration as well as a persuasive argument for preservation. It's available at Porch Gallery or online at ovdf.org.
We also talked about the birth, growth and future of the environment, of FDR's visits to Yosemite, and how the forming of the Civilian Conservation Corps, with its ethos of teamwork and camaraderie, prepared a generation of young people for the twin challenges of the Great Depression and World War II. The tragic election of 1876 and the end of Reconstruction was also discussed, and how it led us to this fraught present era.
We did not talk about the Westminster dog show, the lethal Zulu assegai swords or octopuses.
It took a great deal of courage for Tim Arlon (aka TD Lind) to muster up the courage to ask family friend, Glyn Johns, the legendary producer of such renowned bands as the Rolling Stones and The Who, to produce his most recent record, "Little Mr. Big Man," with former bandmate Screamin' John. Johns' reply was a dream come true for any musician, "What took you so long?"
The record was released in October 2019 and was nominated for awards on the Blues charts and was a great record to tour behind, til a pandemic happened. The album is available on iTunes and Spotify and also on Tim and John's website, sjtdl.com (Screamin' John, TD Lind dot com). You can read more with Seamus Morrison's fascinating story in the Spring issue of Ojai Quarterly on OjaiHub.com.
Tim talks about the epochal changes in the music industry, from the disambiguation of albums into singles which spread through the early days of iTunes, and the way Spotify's paltry artist reimbursements are forcing working musicians to earn their daily bread through touring. It's been a rough road for artists especially since the cancellation of live performances.
Tim also teased us with a secret collaboration with Danny McGaw that he couldn't tell us about but said we should keep our eyes (and ears) open.
When he's not working the circuit as a bluesman, Tim looks after Ojai Olive Oil's trees as grove manager, a job he learned after being stranded in the south of France decades ago. A chance encounter at the Ojai Farmers Market happened because Tim heard Alice Asquith speaking French, and from that, he was hired to prune more than 2,000 trees. He now conducts tours, helps Philip Asquith press the olives into the fresh, fruity olive oil for which the place is famed. Olive trees will produce for thousands of years is properly pruned; trees that fed ancient Greeks and Romans are still in production. "I love it, I'm out in the nature the whole time," he said. Even when bears crash into his house.
Growing up in an artistic family — his father was a rock-and-roll singer and music publisher and manager (Aretha Franklin and Sheena Easton among them, and is still managing The Kinks) of renown in England, his mother was a working actor — paved the way for Tim to start his first band at age 16. His early influences included Eddie Cochrane and jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt before moving on to Humble Pie and Led Zeppelin. We also talk about finding your own way in music as in life.
We didn't get around to talking about English dance hall music, the expeditions of Sir Richard Francis Burton or Robert the Bruce.
The Agora Foundation has been a key part of the intellectual landscape of Ojai for a decade now, bringing in top teachers for bracing and wide-ranging discussions of the Great Books Seminars. Executive director Andy Gilman was a co-founder of Agora as well as of the well-received Ojai Chautauqua panels, which bring together top panelists for even-handed dialogue about knotty issue.
While the pandemic shut down the in-person seminars, it opened other opportunities, which Gilman was able to pivot toward. Now weekly, the Agora seminars take place every weekly, and bring in people around the country and beyond. The bracing range of topics include Thucydides, Marcel Proust, Dostoyevsky, as well as founding documents like the Federalist Papers and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The talks also include Eastern classics like the Bhagavad Gita.
The Ojai Chautauqua began in 2014 as an offshoot of the Libbey Bowl Foundation based on the intellectual tent revivals of the 1870s in western New York. Gilman called it the "seminar write large." Gilman has hosted 17 of these public events since then, along with Dan Schnur of USC fame as the moderator, with topics such as "Media in Politics" and "GMOs."
Gilman has lived in Ojai for most of his life and has deep roots in the community. We talked about a lot of topics, as you might expect from two people who love Ojai and have known each other for more than a decade. We did not talk about the conquests of Genghis Khan, brook trout fishing in the Adirondacks or Joe DiMaggio. You can learn more about the Agora Foundation and Ojai Chautauqua at www.agorafoundation.com.
Michelaina Johnson, a Ph.D candidate in the Environmental Studies program at UC Santa Cruz, spent a year researching the lack of affordable housing in Ojai and possible solutions. The results of that research were published in a highly readable account in the Fall issue of Ojai Quarterly.
Johnson has deep roots in the community, going back generations, and she was hearing from her many local friends about their struggles to find housing in Ojai, a struggle made more difficult by the pandemic. In her thorough story, she asks local leaders and citizens about the problem and what to do about it. More affordable housing can solve several problems at once - traffic, air quality and equality of opportunity.
We talk about the "trick or treat test" for neighborhoods - are they safe, well-lit, compact, neighbors knowing each other, an abundance of young children. Michelaina said the key question in her story was "what kind of community do we want to have?" The question takes on even greater importance because of the influx of city-dwellers moving to Ojai to get away from the urban stresses.
Her Ph.D program has brought her into close study of land and water use, and the role of government in those key issues. She has also studied the issues of climate change — which is evidenced by the proliferation of wildfires in California and the increasing scarcity of water. Despite it all, she intends to maintain "a very intimate connection to Ojai."
We did not talk about Hannibal's use of war elephants, the novels of Michael Ondaatje or the final episode of "Bojack Horseman."
The Ojai Playwrights Conference, which takes over two weeks in August, is one the foremost cultural occasions in the country. Typically, the OPC selects eight plays for intensive workshops with experienced dramaturges, theater directors and producers, culminating in stage reads for the public in highly anticipated shows. Sadly, this year the in-person OPC was another victim of the pandemic.
But Robert Egan, for 20 years the OPC's artistic director - along with the rest of the staff and board - was not deterred. Instead of moving past this fraught era, they went straight at it, with a lineup of 15 plays from a mix of first-time selections and established playwrights like Luis Alfaro, Jon Robin Baitz and Aziza Barnes. The new OPC Foundry Project will collaborate with eight playwrights developing seven new works, which will form the core of next year's conference.
We talk with Egan about the central role the OPC has developed in the creation of new works for the theater, including a number of works that went straight from Ojai to Broadway, including "The Motherf**cker with the Hat," by Stephen Aidly Guirgus and "Other Desert Cities," by Robby Baitz, which was the longest running non-musical in Broadway history.
Egan also talks about growing up tough in the Washington, D.C. area, where he made the school's Hall of Fame for two areas - football and theater - and where a brutal beatdown led to a memorable encounter with a police officer that changed the trajectory of his life.
We did not talk about the infield fly rule, whether Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was an overrated general, or Boccacio's "Decameron." You can, however, learn more about the OPC's bold new initiatives at ojaiplays.org.
In a preview of a hugely entertaining feature in the Fall issue of Ojai Quarterly by Kit Stolz, (which will hit the streets August 28th), we talk about Franz Lidz has had a dream career in journalism, covering such characters as future president Donald Trump trying build a golf course in Scotland, and his conflicts with the colorful locals, reminiscent of the film "Local Hero." He spent 27 years as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated during their glory years. He now writes for the Smithsonian Magazine, going deep with long-form narrative features on Neanderthals, the skull of Pliny the Elder and chronicling the swift pace of cultural and agricultural changes in the Lake District of England, where Beatrice Potter, Wordsworth and de Quincy created masterpieces. He broke important stories such as George Steinbrenner's slide into dementia, which was hugely controversial at the time.
Lidz' memoir, "Unstrung Heroes," was made into a major film directed by Diane Keaton. But Lidz said that the real story of his four eccentric uncles before it was "Terms of Endearment"-ized, was even more fascinating. One believed himself to be the world's greatest boxer, another believed himself to be the poet-laureate of Brooklyn Heights, another fought with the Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War and several of them were institutionalized. Lidz' father, the youngest of the brood, was a successful scientist and inventor; among them the first transistorized portable radio.
Besides journalism, Lidz spent a few years as a front-office executive with the Detroit Pistons, and with his wife Maggie, ran a farm in Pennsylvania for decades.
We talk about the state of journalism, the importance of storytelling, and the tricky and unreliable nature of memory. We also talk about Lidz' and his wife's move to Ojai to be closer to his family and the joys of grandparenting. We do not talk about the Pelopponesian War, Argentinian street food or rowing crew at Harvard with the Winklevoss twins.
Laura Walter, the coordinator for the Ojai Music Festival's Bravo program, provides music education for Ojai's kindergarten through 3rd grade students. Since the pandemic, Walter has pivoted deftly to providing that music curriculum online. It's not been without its challenges, as anyone who tried to sing "Happy Birthday" over a Zoom call can attest.
Still, this partnership between the Music Festival and the Ojai Unified School District is one of the most important public-private partnerships in the Ojai Valley. Walter, an accomplished flautist and recording artist, has been with the Bravo program for 12 years now. Her approach integrates vocal music with critical thinking games to teach the fundamentals of pitch and rhythm. She also introduces a lot of movement into the curriculum so that children learn that music isn't just sound, but feeling - the tactile sensation of vibrations.
We talk about the new studies with functional MRI machines that map out the way music lights up different areas of our brain, its importance for memory and intelligence, as well as life satisfaction and enjoyment. Walter discussed folk songs and their importance to a culture, and her own introduction to music through piano lessons in her rural Michigan home, and her education and experience that made her the perfect fit for this program.
You can check out her work and the work of the Ojai Music Festival at ojaifestivals.org.
We did not get around to talking about kombucha brewing, the deliciousness of walleyed pike or Terrence Malick's new document on Lil Peep.
Lila Glasoe Francese idolized her older sister, Carolyn Glasoe Bailey when they were growing up in Minneapolis for good reason. At age 19, Carolyn opened an art gallery just as the Minneapolis art scene was burgeoning, and introduced many artists to the wider world as a gallerist and curator for private collectors. Carolyn introduced Lila to the world of art, fine dining and travel. She also introduced Lila to her husband, Dines Francesce, and inspired their move to Ojai. Carolyn lived here for 25 years before her tragic death from the brain cancer, glioblastoma.
Carolyn's brilliant career advanced many artists to greater success, and she also helped patrons increase the value of their collections. Stylish, free-spirited and insightful, Carolyn traveled widely, using Ojai as a home base where she cooked amazing meals, raised her son, Matson (who developed a mobile app to track sea turtles) and connected many people with each other.
That tragedy, along with a little sister's appreciation for a life, well-lived, inspired Lila's book, "The Situation, a Radical Journey Through Sisterhood." Lila and her widowed brother-in-law, Chris Bailey, also started the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, which includes an artist residency, exhibits, talks and grants. The foundation, begun in 2015, is located in Ojai and directed by Frederick Janka; it also includes the Ojai Institute, which promotes arts program in schools.
Lila talks about how the process of writing the book gave her a deeper sense of gratitude and the fact "that every moment matters." We talk about Brené Brown's work as well as a quote from Spike Lee that helped Lila work through the writing of this book, "The one commonality about humanity that we all share, is the sharing of our stories."
We also talk about the current frenzied pace of real estate in Ojai, where Lila and her husband's business, Ohi Home, stages homes for sale and "makes sure seller don't leave money on the table."
"The Situation" is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and online at thesituationbook.com. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey, where Carolyn's motto was "Buy art, save lives."
Reed Fish and his wife Liz took off a year to travel the world, collecting memories like FDR collected stamps. After his return to California, he set up shop in Ojai as a photographer and videographer, raising his family and working hard.
Before those adventures, he made a well-received film called "I am Reed Fish," which came out in 2007 and starred Jay Baruchel, Alexis Bledel, Schuyler Fisk and Katey Sagal. The whole experience was great fun, including the premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Very loosely based on Reed's life story, it involves a story of a young man who is torn between duty and imagining a different future for himself. We talk about the trials and travails of the film industry.
Fish is also a podcaster, with his "Workin' It" podcast available wherever you get them. We talk about a few of his guests, retired pro tennis player Lester Cook, professional poker player Jeremy Kottler, and Mikael Jurgensen, keyboardist of Wilco - exploring the ways and means by which people make a living. We talk about how difficult it is to get the signal heard through the noise, especially with Spotify dropping hundreds of millions on podcasts. "We're still at a stage with podcasts where it's the one thing that's growing," Reed says, "30-40 percent of people haven't even listened to a podcast."
We did not talk about Errol Flynn's steelhead fishing adventures in Ojai, the writings of George Orwell or the docuseries "The Last Dance."
Mark Frost is one of the foremost authors, screenwriters and producers in Hollywood (and Ojai). From his early days on the stage at the famous Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, to his years in the legendary writer's room with Stephen Bochco, David Milch and others with "Hill Street Blues," Mark Frost has been creating and working with some of the best minds in the business.
So in the late 1980s when he got a call from David Lynch, with whom he collaborated on another project that didn't get launched, he was all in. The quirky, moody show, which ran for two seasons in 1990 and 1991, was an instant sensation. Who killed Laura Palmer? That question consumed the attention of a curious nation. It was a family affair for Frost, as the show he co-created also starred his father as the kindly Dr. Hayward. The remake, 25 years later, brought back many of the original actors for a limited series on Showtime that took the series to even deeper and darker places, to the delight of millions of fans.
We talk about many subjects, including Frost's engrossing sports books, "The Greatest Game Ever Played," and "Game Six," about the incredibly exciting game between the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox in the 1975 World Series. Frost is also involved with the conservation efforts in Ojai, having been roped in through his friend, John Broesamle, who helped found both the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy and the Ojai Valley Defense Fund, on which board Frost sits.
We did not get around to talking about spitball pitchers, how his golf game has been going or the Japanese conquest of Manchuria.
Given the news of the day, we reached out to Bill Gilbreth, the prominent attorney who served both as a prosecutor during the Watergate hearings, and as a defense attorney for several organized crime figures. Talk about "intersectionality." We also talk about sending federal Border Patrol troops into Portland and other cities, the showdown between protestors, mayors and President Trump.
Bill grew up in the Fresno area where he was an often-truant student who dropped out of high school to ride the rails and also attempted to join Castro's revolution in Cuba. When presented an opportunity to complete his education, he made the most of it, eventually graduating from Harvard Law School after a stint as a physicist at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories. He remembers most fondly his years working in the office of the 2nd District of New York federal court under the aegis of the legendary Bob Morgenthau. He also still maintains a close friendship with former fellow colleague, Lawrence Tribe, who still teaches at Harvard and who is among America's foremost public intellectuals.
We also talk about the lessons of the past, particularly the pivotal post-pandemic election of 1920, Abraham Lincoln's evolving attitudes toward slavery and equality, and whether Lincoln or FDR was our best president. Bill has also been studying the key astronomers in the Copernican Revolution such as Tycho Brahe and Galileo. Einstein comes up, as well, who was a poor student but used connections to get a job at the Swiss patent office, where he spent his off-time creating the field of physics as we know it today. In 1905, he published four papers that changed the world forever, including the general theory of relativity and photoelectric effects that won him the Nobel Prize.
That's not to mention many other jobs Bill Gilbreth has had, including being past president of the Rotary Club of Ojai. Bill is also such a dedicated yoga practitioner that he can go directly from a crow pose into a headstand.
We did not talk about the 3rd Punic War, the advent of 5G or the KKK.
Natalie Krim is an established artist with a large following who recently moved to Ojai, just before the world went into lockdown. Her drawings are vivid and expressive, usually showing women in sensuous, flowing lines often in acts of self care. Slightly naughty, always fun - her drawings are a tonic for these strange times. We talk about how she found Ojai and made the decision to relocate here last November.
Vogue magazine, in a recent article, called her quarantine diary of her Ojai days "an ethereal study," and "a master class in calm, self care."
We talk about the isolation artists feel during the best of times, working alone in their studios, and yet how, as social creatures, they crave connection. She is finding it by checking in daily with friends, and interacting on her popular instagram account, @nataliehjane, with more than 42,000 followers, and her website, nataliekrim.com. She is finding that sometimes artists need to step back from the demands of constantly creating, and to find moments to connect - with other art and artists, nature, and each other.
She shouted out another artist as an inspiration, Cassi Namoda, one she stumbled across on her coronavirus journey. We also talk about Brian Wilson, Jane Fonda, Professor Auguste Theremin, the Chumash petroglyphs, and how she has makes large scale pieces. She talks about doing a huge piece for a gallery show at Aaron Rose's La Rosa Social Club and the importance of street art on a culture.
Speaking about social justice issues, Natalie said, "Our job is to reflect culture, it's not just about ourselves." That shows up in her pen-and-ink drawings of victims of police brutality.
We do not talk about Alexander the Great's siege of Tyre, John Lennon or 17th century theater critics.
Eric Goode knew that he had an amazing show on his hands with "Tiger King," the seven-episode documentary series about Joe Exotic, the gay polygamist zookeeper in Oklahoma who is now serving a 22-year sentence in federal prison for a murder-for-hire plot against his chief critic, animal activist Carole Baskin. The Netflix show's colorful cast of eccentrics helped the show capture the cultural moment. "We had a captive audience for a show about captive tigers," he said.
Goode has his own colorful past, which we explore in our wide-ranging talk. But it's his deep love for Ojai which informs much of his work.
The founder of the Ojai Turtle Conservancy, Goode is a globe-trotting conservationist with a keen interest in preserving and protecting endangered species, especially the turtles and tortoises. He spent a portion of his childhood roaming the Sespe backcountry, when his father Frederick taught at Thacher School. We talk about how turtles, which have been around more than 200 million years - before dinosaurs entered the scene even - surviving apocalyptic events like meteor strikes and ice ages, are now up against their most formidable foe, a strange primate which evolved out of the Great Rift Valley less than 200,000 years ago, which now number 7.7 billion. Of the 350 or so turtle and tortoise species, half are endangered. We also talk about the southwestern pond turtle, native to Ojai's beautiful backcountry, was identified as a separate species in 2014, and how the Turtle Conservancy is working the Thacher School students for their science program.
Goode emphasizes the Ojai's incredible natural beauty is intact only because of generations of environmentalists and activists who have staved off existential threats like uranium mines and landfills. But the coast is far from clear as the Trump Administration opened the Carrizo Plain, the last intact San Joaquin Valley eco-system, to oil drilling.
Goode says that this pandemic is a stark warning to mankind. When we intrude and disrupt wild places, zoonotic pathogens, like Covid-19, make the jump to humans and kill millions.
We also talk about Goode's other artistic enterprises, including the club Area, a New York City hotspot that combined art with nightlife in an innovative way that created its own community of important artists like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquait, Julian Schnabel and was mentored by the ever-evolving Andy Warhol. It was a time of amazing brilliance and creativity, and Goode was in the middle of it all.
Goode and two partners have bought the Oaks at Ojai from the Cluff family, which has owned the 60-room hotel since the 1970s. Closed since the Thomas Fire in late 2017, the downtown community is eager to see the hotel restored to its former glory by these experienced hoteliers. Goode owns several hotels in New York City, including the well-known Bowery Hotel and the Waverly Inn.
Porch Gallery hosted the first gallery show opening over two days at the end of June with Shana Mabari's "Constellatio: Planeta: Stella" featuring the work of an artist who went into the stratosphere on a NASA mission with an enormous telescope to observe black holes, quasars and other astronomical phenomenon. The opening was spaced over two days and insured careful social distancing by limiting the number of people in the gallery at any one time. While waiting to enter, patrons could check out the six tables designed by seven local artists as a meditation on the age of social distancing, and what keeping a six-foot distance means for humans being together.
This exhibit will be up until July 18th.
Heather Stobo and Lisa Casoni opened their gallery nearly 10 years ago, and have shook up the arts scene with their inventive pairings and unexpected and inventive pairings. They have attracted acclaimed conceptual artists to Ojai, including big names like Gary Lang, Ruth Pastine, Andy Moses (son of Ed), Russell Crotty and many others. The two have been together for 20 years and as a couple each bring strengths that reinforce their various enterprises.
We talk about how this exciting exhibit came together, how it felt to sit with it for the months that the gallery was shut and how gratifying it was to host the opening for an audience of people starved for art's meditative presence as well as basic human contact. The one-hour talk went all over the place, but mostly centered on the relationship of Ojai to art and its artists; how the art world may look coming out of the pandemic, and how Los Angeles is an amazing place for creativity and culture.
We did not talk about taimen fishing in Mongolia, the works of Isaiah Berlin or this year's attenuated baseball season.
Correction: The painting "Nightwatch" was mentioned by the host. The painter was Rembrandt, not Van Gogh. Doh!
Bob Wick is much more than a media magnate and co-owner of Wick Communications, a chain of newspapers and radio stations across the country. He is also a renowned artist, the creator of monumental bronzes that bring together man and nature in compelling and insightful ways. He also taught art at Kent State University in the 1960s and knew well many of the leading figures from that tumultuous era. He was close friends with Carl Oglesby, anti-war activist, author and president of the Students for a Democratic Society, and John de Groot, famed journalist who won the first of his two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of the tragic events of May 4, 1970 in which the National Guard unleashed a hail of bullets at peaceful protestors, killing four bystanders. We talk about the tragic folly of Ohio's governor and Kent State's president, and how that event nearly tore about a country already deeply divided by war and injustice. We also talk about Nixon's efforts to establish a guaranteed basic income, the advent of free agency in baseball and sports in general, and how art can unify a culture. Bob talks about his own art, in which he seeks to show the oneness of all things through huge bronzes which bring together man and nature. As Bob quotes Buddha: "What's inside is outside, what's outside is inside." We don't talk about how we've know each other for nearly 50 years, and how his compassion and kindness opened the golden doors for opportunity for me to achieve a career in journalism. You can check out Bob's amazing and insightful sculptures at http://robertwick.com/
Andrew Bradigan, former Ojai resident (and the podcast host's son) lives and works in Nashville, TN as a sales manager for Postmates, the food delivery service. In early March, there were several confirmed cases of Covid19. Postmates' 600 employees were moved out of the office and into quarantine, setting up their schedules and living situations to work from home.
However, it was too late for young Bradigan, who began suffering night sweats, muscle weakness and shortness of breath. This was especially hard for Andy, who is a fitness and nutrition enthusiast, and, at 6'5" and 215 pounds, is in peak physical condition. "I couldn't get a breath for the life of me," he said. The worst part, he said, was the relapses, where he would feel completely well, only to suffer a recurrence of the fever and night sweats. It took six to eight weeks before he completely recovered.
His job mainly consists of talking with restaurant owners around the country to sign them up for the Postmates' service, learning about the varied responses to the pandemic, shifting to primarily takeout. He's also learned that the way restaurateurs have treated their employees has a direct impact on their ability to survive the crisis; as the ill-treated employees have taken advantage of the crisis to move on to better situations.
Andy also has a "side hustle," developing an on-demand cleaning service app, called Dapper. Described as the Uber or Lyft for cleaning services, the app matches up people who need cleaning service - maybe to turn over a short-term rental, or to help with the aftermath of a raging party - with people who appreciate the flexibility and good pay of the gig economy.
We talk about Luke Bryan, trout fishing on the Caney Fork river in central Tennessee, the steelhead fishery on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in western New York, as well as the Buffalo Bills' off-season draft moves. We do not talk about Simon Bolivar or either Ernest Shackleton or Hemingway.
Stacy Margolin Potter reached into the top ranks of pro tennis players during a golden age of women's tennis, along with Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chrissie Evert, reaching #18 in ranking. She shares with "Ojai: Talk of the Town" her deep love of, and long history with, Ojai where she won seven titles at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament, the world's oldest amateur tennis tournament. She tells a fun story about getting food poisoning during the tournament and still drawing upon inner reserves of strength and determination to triumph.
Growing up in Beverly Hills as a member of a tennis-loving family, Stacy joined the boy's team in high school to sharpen her preternatural skill at the game, bruising many men's egos. From there, she went to USC, leading their squad to a national championship, and on to the pro tour. During her five-year relationship with John McEnroe, Stacy inadvertently was an participant in an international incident at Wimbledon, in which McEnroe, enraged at the impertinence of the English press asking about her whereabouts, started a punch-up between the American press and English press. Retiring at age 26 from the tour, she moved to Ojai after a romantic vacation with future husband Ian Potter, the adventure guide, with rock climbing and bicycling and honky-tonking at The Wheel. Next visit they went to Landucci's restaurant at Wheeler Hot Springs, building a store of memories. She began working at the Oaks at Ojai with fitness pioneer Sheila Cluff and tennis coach Helen Allen, teaching their famous immersive "tennis week," which drew people from all over the country. The Potters now own Trails by Potter, leading people on bike rides, rock climbs and tennis lessons around Ojai, guiding people into our gorgeous country.
Stacy returned to college after retiring from the tour, first getting her master's degree at Pepperdine, then taking up a paid internship at a recovery center, learning about addiction. That in turn led her into a career dealing with eating disorders, teaching a program called "Eating and Exercise Counseling." That led her to Institute of Integrated Nutrition, an online platform to "look at the whole person," which became the basis of her new enterprise, balanced eating & lifestyle coaching, which puts all the elements of her life together. She learned about 101 diet plans, trying many herself as a guinea pig. We conclude with a talk about finding, and staying, on your healthy path, and how Ojai makes it much easier than many places. For Stacy, it's not about shaming yourself for bad choices, it's about making good choices and letting the healthy feelings crowd out the unhealthy ones.
The film "Walk the Line" won Oscars for both its leads, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, as it chronicled a dark period in the Man in Black's life. The film doesn't mention Ojai by name, but he lived five years in the Ojai Valley, high above Casitas Springs. I spend an hour talking with the superb writer Mark Lewis about Cash's many Ojai stories, starting fires in the Sespe, drinking at the Inn, getting drunk with Sheb Woolley of "Purple People Eater" fame.
Meanwhile, we unravel another strange strand of Ojai lore; about how Cash left the Ojai Valley to make the famous "Live at Folsom Prison" album in one of his comebacks that led to another wave of fame for the singer-songwriter. Unlike Cash, Earl Green was an authentic outlaw and murderer, who killed a man with a baseball bat in Ojai. Earl Green narrowly escaped death row and ended up becoming the Folsom prison DJ, where he reached out through prison minister Rev. Floyd Gressett, who, in another small-world turn, knew Johnny Cash as one of his parishioners at his Ventura church. And so Cash's comeback monster success took place, selling 3 million records and returning him to the spotlight.
Earl Green's granddaughter knew nothing about her grandfather until she stumbled upon Mark's story about Cash in the Ojai Valley Museum, and was able to learn about his colorful past, rounding out the story.
Mark also talks about his taking over from Ilona Saari as the chair of the Ojai Art Center's Literary Branch. We bemoan the social distancing era, and how critical Ojai's sense of community is in our gathering. We also talk about how Eve Babitz makes the case that Los Angeles gives away nothing to New York in the sense of cultural achievement, in which she puts forth the Ojai Music Festival as "Exhibit A."
We do not talk about Jackie Robinson, Ed Ruscha or Russian slap fighting.
The 74th Ojai Music Festival will still take place June 11 to June 14, but due to the pandemic, it will occur virtually as we learn from Ara Guzelimian, who takes over from Chad Smith as artistic director after this year's festival. Guzelimian is busy planning for the 75th anniversary festival for June 2021, with minimalist legend John Adams as music director, putting modern American composers in the spotlight.
As for 2020's festival, he urges everyone to go OjaiFestival.Org to keep in the loop as there will be streaming events each day. Although the 74th Ojai Music Festival will have an asterisk next to it because of its virtual nature, a t-shirt, program book and other swag will be available, and could very well become collector's items.
Guzelimian has been coming to the festival for more than 50 years, attending with his parents (second-generation refugees from the Armenian Genocide) from Los Angeles. He was the festival's artistic director for six years from 1992 to 1997. His day job is as dean of the Julliard School in Manhattan. at the Lincoln Center, with his nearest neighbors the Metropolitan Opera House and the New York Philharmonic. "But I live just outside the city, I need a few more trees and leaves than is available in mid-town Manhattan. He said between the pandemic and the protests, downtown is a city of "ghost canyons." Despite the protests and "heart-wrenching anger and acts of violence," he says the way forward is get involved in service. "Are you feeling sorry for yourself? Go out and help someone," he said.
He's excited about 2021's festival. John Adams, next year's music director, "has occupied place in American life like Aaron Copland, the spirit of American music." Fittingly, Adams himself will turn 75 next year. We talk about favorite festival moments, such as a performance of John Luther Adams music staged by previous artistic director Tom Morris at Meditation Mount, in which strategically placed piccolos blended in seamlessly with the bird song. Or how Michio Uchida's performance of Schubert's Sonata in B flat on a hot afternoon transformed the audience with a mesmerising performance "that willed the heat away, and intensely inward collective experience." Another example was a Boulez-conducted performance of Schoenberg about moon madness in which, right on cue, a full moon rose up to hang heavy in the sky above "Libbey Bowl, a place where the wall between the audience and nature melts away ... there's something incredibly hospitable about the Ojai Valley that welcomes exploration, adventure and creativity."
To sum up the Ojai Music Festival, Guzelimian offers this: "Experience and discovery. If you could bottle that, that's the essence of the Ojai Music Festival." We also talk about Rains and Bart's Books, about Chumash sacred art, the Thomas Fire and the influence of Ghanaian drummers on Steve Reich. We indulge in the age-old East Coast v. West Coast cultural supremacy argument, coming down firmly on the West Coast/Best Coast side because of the "openness to the unexpected that comes from living on the edge" of the Pacific Rim.
We don't talk about Sandy Koufax, drop D guitar tuning or Barney's Beanery.
This episode, Nomi Morris, who teaches writing and journalism at University of California at Santa Barbara, talks about her experiences closing out the semester at UCSB, the challenges of teaching in a pandemic and how this cohort of 2020 students is being shortchanged of the personal interactions that are critical to a well-rounded education. To that point, she says the young people of today don't think about the future in the same optimistic terms as in the past. No one talks about making something for the 22nd century the way people once talked about the 21st century, "and that says something," Morris says.
We also talk about this tough economy and how many internships and summer jobs have been canceled, but she remains optimistic that having the ability to synthesize complex ideas into a readable format — the basic tenets of journalism training — is a skill that will always have value, even if traditional journalism jobs have nearly vanished. Critical thinking and evidence-based reasoning are important attributes for any job. She talks about how studies show that people with humanities degrees often outearn STEM grads, because of their entrepreneurial instincts and ability to express themselves with clarity and craftsmanship.
Nomi's fabulous career including covering Berlin for five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall for Time Magazine, CBC radio and the San Francisco Chronicle. It was an exciting time in a vibrant city. Nomi also worked for Knight Ridder (the largest in America at the time) in Jerusalem.
We talk about the European model in which government invests in the arts, and the Canadian entertainment industry, of which the hit show, Schitt's Creek is just one recent example. We talk about growing up in the north, and hiding from our parents in the vast expanses of Toronto's much-missed department store Eaton's.
We talk about how important it is to teach students the basics of media literacy, and being able to evaluate sources. We also discuss how much smarter young people are then they used to be, giving us a hopeful note on which to end our wide-ranging discussion.
We don't talk about the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The 1975's new album or kitesurfing.
We check in with Tom Maloney, executive director of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, just as the preserve have seen a surge in use (and abuse) from the pandemic. The swimming hole on the Ventura River preserve has particularly seen huge crowds, with trash and graffiti marring that beautiful place such that the OVLC board (full disclosure, of which the podcast host is a member) has made the agonizing decision to hire a security firm close the park to crowds, while leaving it open for recreational uses such as hiking, horseback rides and biking. Maloney talks about his previous job, as director of Revive & Restore, which seeks to use modern technologies to save endangered species like black-footed ferrets, as well as restock populations of extinct heath hens, passenger pigeons, even wooly mammoths, as a way to save threatened habitats and fight global warming. Some of that technology is helping the fight to develop medical treatments without having to harvest blood from the threatened horseshoe crabs, an enormous operation that takes place annually at Cape May, New Jersey, in which a third of the blue blood from these migratory crabs is taken directly from their hearts. "An alien abduction of the highest order," Maloney calls it. Horseshoe crabs only exist on the east side of the continents, which some speculate might be an effect of Pangea, the supercontinent that existed before continental drift. Born in Connecticut to a father who worked for IBM, (I've Been Moved), Maloney moved around a lot as a kid between the East Coast and California. Among his significant achievements, he created the massive Tejon Ranch Conservancy, of some 270,000 acres which makes it the largest private property in the state. He moved here this past Fall and has hit the ground running with his talented crew, before being interrupted by the pandemic. He's hiked around a lot to "get a sense of the land and the light." Friends with famed birder Jesse Grantham, who tipped him off that this job was available, Maloney has fallen in love with the Ojai Valley's distinct habitats and tremendous natural beauty. We talk about the role of the conservancy, not only in preserving that beauty, but partnering with state agencies for various projects in what is meant to be an interlocking web of mutual benefit. Another exciting project is being parented by the CREW and partnered with other local groups, including the OVLC. It's called the Dicotyledon Fund, worth $100,000 a year for as long as 20 years, and is meant to get young people working on improving the habitat and ecology of Ojai. He also says the OVLC is looking to accelerate its land acquisitions. We don't talk about tenkara fishing, Bruce Chatwin travelogues or Dick Gregory's comedy.
Jesse Phelps, media coordinator for the Lakota Peoples Law Project, part of the Romero Institute, has found his work more important than ever during the Covid19 outbreak. The Lakota and Oglala peoples in South Dakota have formed mutual aid efforts to screen people coming into and their reservations for the virus. Given their poverty and lack of access to quality medical care, it is imperative for them to prevent the virus from getting to them in the first place. However SD Governor Kristi Noem disagrees and is trying to shut down their health-screening checkpoints.
This media strategy — petitions, phone calls, social media posts — are being crafted and implemented right here in Ojai. Phelps, a veteran writer and journalist, has been busier than ever at his home in Ojai. Working with Native American leaders Madonna Thunderhawk (one of the greatest names ever) and Chase Iron Eyes, he is helping these beleaguered peoples stand their ground as threats — pipelines across their sacred sites, diseases of poverty, and now, a pandemic — become existential. Phelps has been working for half a decade with the LPLP and Romero Institute. The effort started when Lakota grandmothers sought out famous Iran-Contra scandal investigative attorney Daniel Sheehan to help with the cultural genocide that was taking place when native American youth were being taken from their families to be raised by Christian white families until very recently.
We talk about growing up in Ojai with hippie parents and friends, with a freedom unimaginable to many of today's helicopter-parented children, the hangouts and the mischief that was the daily routine. Jesse also talks about Michael Jackson's visit to the Ojai library during the height of his fame, and Jesse's efforts to get Jacko to do a public service announcement for the National Library Association, based in his "Read It" libretto, written to the beat of "Beat It." Didn't happen, but Phelps did get a sweet and thoughtful letter in reply. And a wonderful story for the Ojai Quarterly.
Phelps talks about the incredible opportunity presented by the current crisis to make a societal shift toward sustainable energy, as well as the energy of today's youth and their ability to transcend the "politics as usual" that plagues the present day.
We do not talk about "The Last Dance," about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, Jesse's love of film and of John Paul Jones' naval victories for both the American Revolution and the Russian empire.
Robin Gerber, a well-known author, attorney and president of the Committee for Replacing Oil & Gas, talks about how her group received a $50,000 grant (the first yet) from the Ojai Valley Defense Fund to represent Ojai's interests as Ventura County moves forward with its General Plan.
Robin says that fracking, the imminent threat that caused CFROG to form, isn't on the horizon yet, but the situation bears watching. We talk about Upton Sinclair's book, "Oil," from which the Paul Thomas Anderson film "There Will Be Blood," is based and which was set in southern California including Santa Paula. Gerber told us that the rest of the county is working to overturn Ojai's Five-Pound Rule for emissions in favor of their 25-pound rule. She is arguing the other way around, that our stricter standard should be adapted for the rest of county.
We talk about the historic opportunity for the country to shift toward sustainable energy during this pandemic as we go through a society-wide "Hard Reset." And how cultures can have big shifts — such as that which happened with gay marriage and marijuana legalization — in a very short period of time.
Gerber wrote a book about Ruth Handler, the inventor and president of Mattel Corp, who invented the Barbie Doll more than 60 years ago, after seeing sex fetish dolls in Europe based on a cartoon character. Handler was a pioneer in "demand marketing," going over parents' heads to appeal directly to children through ads on "The Mickey Mouse Club."
Gerber talked about her fascination with Eleanor Roosevelt, which has led her to write two books and a series of lessons in leadership. She had been writing for newspapers and magazines (including a legal affairs column for Readers Digest) and had "helped found the Leadership Academy for woman and underrepresented people." Gerber talked about Allenwood boarding school for girls headmistress Madame Souvestre, who had a profound influence on Eleanor's development, teaching her confidence and the skills necessary to make the world a better place. Gerber said that it only takes one person to make a difference in someone's life. Eleanor's tragic upbringing, no love from her mother, orphaned at age 10, never feeling like she was loved,
"The Princess Diaries," starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews, was what gave Robin the idea to write about Eleanor, because Anne's character has in her room a pillow cross-stitched with Eleanor's famous quote: "No one has the power to make you feel inferior without your consent." Robin has also written a counter-factual history called "Eleanor V. Ike," a "what if" chronicle of Eleanor's bid to become president in 1952 after Adlai Stevenson dies of a heart attack. She is now working on an Eleanor-inspired set of courses, "Leadership for Turbulent Times."
We also talked about Robin's one-woman play about Kitty Graham, "The Shot," which was accepted into the prestigious Ojai Playwrights Conference, a two-week intensive workshop experience. Sharon Lawrence was set to star in a performance of the play in Los Angeles in early March, but the pandemic arrived. We talk about the amazing Kim Maxwell, who leads the youth portion of the conference, "teaching them to be unafraid."
We don’t talk about Megan Thee Stallion’s latest romantic misadventure or Russian slap fighting.
Chamber CEO Jamie Fleming joins us to talk about the chamber's role in managing SBA loans and disaster relief during the pandemic. From his extensive surveys of local businesses, he's optimistic that Ojai will gradually reopen this summer, and that the majority of member businesses will weather this storm in one form or another. He's part of a group dealing with responses through the city council and the Ojai Valley Inn, as well.
Fleming also talks about the influx of Los Angeles people coming to Ojai for our hiking trails and beautiful backcountry, and how that might play out as stay-at-home orders are lifted for the 20+million people within a two-hour drive. Those interactions will be carefully managed, with social distancing and face masks, as Ojai, with only 7 cases reported, has been a model for the rest of the state. "It's a Catch 22," Fleming said, about managing the city's reopening in a safe way that allows commerce and allows the city's tax base to recover.
With decades of marketing and technology experience in the entertainment industry, Fleming spent most of his career at Disney Corporation and Universal Studios. One of his jobs was managing Mickey Mouse appearances, including one aboard a Navy Destroyer. He was also behind-the-scenes of Universal Studios Florida theme park, when inclement weather close ride after ride in what he called "a rolling disaster." He worked with a lot of film stars, such as Orson Welles and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (former Ojai resident). He also talks about how he ended up responsible for all 5,000 computers at Universal, during the Y2K debacle, "holding our breaths" as the clock ticked over into the new millennium. Another disaster he witnessed was the 2008 fire that destroyed the backlots at Universal.
He and his wife Asunta came to Ojai for their daughter's education. A dance prodigy, she was badly injured and shifted her career to fashion modeling, becoming a famous influencer on social media, as well as establishing a career as a singer-songwriter, now living in Nashville. Asunta has graced local stages, most recently at the Art Center's production of "Mamma Mia!" Before becoming the Chamber CEO, Fleming was the executive director of the Ojai Film Festival. He's also involved with a firm called "3rd Brain Technologies," a multi-directional streaming tool for artists.
We don't talk about the fiasco that were the Peninsular Wars, the sci-fi works of Philip K. Dick or the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."
In this episode of "Ojai: Talk of the Town," we check in with Ojai's Rotie's co-owner and chef, Claud Mann. A wonderful storyteller, Claud talks about being on the front lines feeding Ojai residents during this pandemic, trying to keep as many of his talented staff employed as possible. Claud talks about the business of restaurants, the low-profit margins, the hard work, and that moment when a chef realizes who he's cooking for, and why. We talk about what Ojai might look like after the stay-at-home order is lifted and millions of Los Angelenos, cooped up for months, are looking for an escape.
We talk about how so many people are baking during this quarantine, and the chef makes a generous offer — contact him at Ojai Rotie and he will teach you about sourdough, with some training and a simple recipe.
After growing up in the Bay Area — training as an actor as well as learning his way around a kitchen — Mann fed AIDs victims, before moving to Los Angeles, meeting the love of his wife, the renowned singer Perla Batalla, then getting out of the restaurant business to raise his family.
When a new opportunity came knocking, he was ready, developing with Turner Broadcasting Systems and their vast film archives, a show called "Dinner & A Movie," pairing Chef Claud's creations with comedian-hosts. The show ran 900 episodes from 1995 to 2011. But when it became clear that the network wanted to him to pitch unhealthy food products, it was time to move on to the next stage of his life, developing healthy nutrition programs for Santa Barbara County students, funded by the Orfalea Foundation.
We also talk about Mann's obsession with the Memphis Barbecue Festival, where after being introduced to it as a correspondent for Southern Living, he was inspired to put together a crew to take on the world's best pitmasters. Listen for the surprise ending to that story. Next year, second week of May, there may be well an Ojai barbecue crew in Memphis.
Reading and watching recommendations from our conversation include Harold McGee's classic, "On Food & Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen." And the Mandarin language show on Netflix, "Flavorful Origins."
We agree that small-town life is the best. That his wife's career has really taken off since we moved here, and how wonderful it was to see his wife and daughter singing their hearts out on stage at Libbey Bowl. What connects his kitchen skills and his wife's singing skills is that they are both gifted people, and they are sharing their gifts with Ojai.
In the ending monologue, I talk about my encounter with Pulitzer-prize winner Jonathan Gold, and how he taught me that food is at the heart of a culture.
We do not talk about the Sumerian cuneiform, the CA-25 district congressional race or the creation of the Oxford English dictionary.
We check in with Michael Addison, distinguished Shakespeare actor, director and producer, former artistic director of the California Shakespeare Festival and founder of the Bell Arts Factory.
In 1603 and 1613, the Globe Theater (and other theaters) in London were closed an astonishing 60 percent of the time due to plaque-related quarantines. It is believed that some of Shakespeare's finest works, King Lear among them, were written during these extended periods of isolation. Addison reminiscences about Angus Bowmer, founder of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, which began as an interlude for a boxing match. We talk about John Reed's conflict journalism, and his insights into the miracle and mystery plays of rural Mexico and how you could spot the seeds of what Shakespeare and his contemporaries Philip Marlowe and Ben Jonson turned into great works of art. We talk about the Groundlings and the ladies of the night plying their trade in the audience, of how Shakespeare and his players were the great celebrities of their age. Far from being dusty classics on the shelf, those plays were the pop culture of their day.
Harold Bloom's masterwork, "The Invention of the Human," gets a shout out, as does Bloom as a modern age Falstaff. Addison also talks about the epiphany he had while watching a production of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesmen," as the yarmulke-wearing mourners toss dirt on the grave.
We talk about how astounding it is that so many talented people live in our small town, and the critical mass of creativity it represents - not unlike - albeit on a smaller scale - than the burgeoning artistic culture of Elizabethan England. Addison and Bradigan talk about Kim Maxwell's famous maxim, "The more specific something is, the more it applies to everyone." Michael Chekhov and Marilyn Monroe also get a mention, through the Ojai game, "two degrees of Iris Tree."
In Bradigan's monologue he talks about the six years he spent as a gravedigger and how that relates to Shakespeare's deep humanism.
We do not talk about Trent Reznor, medicinal herbs or Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak.
In this episode, we talk with Ojai's Mayor about the local response to the pandemic, the shock to the economy and the subsequent strain on the city's "rainy day" fund. We also talk about the dilemma of promoting social distancing and healthy activities such as hiking in our beautiful backyard, as well as pockets of resistance, herd thinning and his "embers" metaphor linking the pandemic to the Thomas Fire. We talk about our new favorite oxymoron, "disciplined freedom," and the concept of social insurance. We talk about the probable impacts of the pandemic on the elections this coming November.
We also talk about the lessons of Henrik Ibsen's play, "Enemy of the People," Plato's parable of the cave, the invasion of Los Angeles hikers, my son's bout with the novel coronavirus, Johnston's stage management of the OJ Simpson "trial of the century," as a courts administrator in Los Angeles, as well as his pension battles as the chief executive officer of Ventura County. Then the discussion takes several discursions into Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, General Grant's differing opinions on Robert E. Lee (overrated) and Joe Johnston (underrated, who could have achieved the Confederacy's goals had he not been fired by Jefferson Davis), and the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020.
In the monologue, Bret Bradigan talks Johnston's stint as city manager in the early 1970s, and the existential threats to Ojai that cropped up every month or so during that time, which leads into Stephen Pinker's "Enlightenment Now's" counter-intuitive premise that things are better now than they ever have been.
We do not talk about Ventura River's once-abundant steelhead runs, the Decembrist Revolution of 1825 or the Strokes' new album, "The New Abnormal."
In this episode of "Ojai: Talk of the Town" we check in with Dr. Morse about the Ojai Unified School District's mobilization in light of the school closure in March. We talk with her about the enormous social needs of the 2,400 students, including basic food and shelter, the district staff's heroic efforts to meet those needs, including providing 650 meals a day. The district is also struggling with technology gaps, getting thousands of students online, the challenges of learning while older students are caring for their younger siblings, the cancellation of such important events in the lives of students - and the community - such as sports games and graduation ceremonies.
She talks about the cooperation and collaboration between schools in the county as administrators and teachers share best practices and learn from each other during this crisis, and how to incorporate those lessons going forward.
We also talk about her PhD thesis on different approaches to teaching math to middle schoolers - managing that crucial transition between concrete and abstract thinking. She talks about her experiences as a young teacher, realizing that middle schoolers "are my people - I could really identify with them." We also talk about why school is for girls, not boys, and what she plans to do about it, which includes smashing up television sets and building hoverboards.
We also talk about Sebastian Junger Witts' "Tribes," and the documentary, "Identical Strangers," about a bizarre social experiment in the late 1950s in which a set of triplets was each placed with a family from three different socio-economic backgrounds, only to reunite accidentally as young adults.
We do not talk about Yankee clipper ships, ancient Egyptian monetary policy or Taylor Swift v. Kanye.
We talk with Dr. Pops about the state of readiness of Ojai for the Covid-19 crisis. We talk about Ojai Valley Community Hospital's imminent opening of their continuing care center, acute care center and the community's tremendous support of health care initiatives. Dr. Gus Iwasiuk's incredible surgery to save the life of a man who was skewered by a length of rebar was also remembered fondly. The hospital is also excited to resume the "perfect knee replacements" that are done in Ojai at the new surgery center.
Our wide-ranging talk includes the development of a wide-spectrum, universal vaccine; John Wayne's final days, John Wooden asking if his mother knew what he did for a living, Alexander Fleming and moldy petri dishes, Ignaz Semmelweis' genius that led to saving millions of lives through the simple, yet controversial-in-its-time act of hand-washing.
In the "Thinking Out Loud" segment, Bret Bradigan talks about his mother's incredible kitchen skills and his father's green thumb, a perfect pairing for a food fanatic.
We do not talk about 19th century baseball players, the Glass-Steagal Act, Roman shipbuilding practices or the Apache Wars.