KZSC Santa Cruz

KZSC 88.1 FM Santa Cruz: Noncommercial, educational radio for the Monterey
  • 4.2 (5)
  • News
  • Updated Daily

On-demand news, interviews, and live performances from KZSC 88.1 FM Santa Cruz - Non-commercial, educational, community radio for the Monterey Bay, California

  1. Jul 31

    Lacy J. Dalton_Americana Singer-Songwriter_interview 2026-07-31 on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club"\by Dan Orange aka "Dangerous Dan", "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto)

    Lacy J. lives up in the mountains above Reno; after she turned 21, she (then Jill) ran off with a rock n' roll guitar player to a commune in Capitola; she me, & lived wiht, her 1st & 2nd husbands in the Santa Cruz Mountains; she changed her name when she was 33 years old when she got a record deal, but they said, "You gotta change your name!"...her producer, Billy Sherill (a producer to many stars), said she had to...she tried "Lacy Walker, taking "Lacy B." from her first partner's ex-wife...Billy said there were "too many Walkers", so Lacy took the last name of a half-Cherokee teacher she'd had, who had taught Bob Dylan how to play guitar; her manager said, "you have to have an initial", so she used her given name, Jill, to become "Lacy J. Dalton" - now it's official; her song, "Girls from Santa Cruz" is a (sort of) true story, about stealing a horse; the "Money Question" (are you able to make a living with your art and, if so, how?): A- "it was easier with a record label", with albums, movie parts (playing David Alan Coe's wife), but she's been independent for 25 years & it's much more difficult, especially when she's not computer savvy (she's barely able to use her phone); she lost her long-time manager last December, & is now like a molting baby owl; on her own (without a record label) nobody censors her, everything is on her, & she's the happiest she's been; she co-founded a non-profit, LetEmRun.org, that supports mom n' pops who provide sanctuary to & support for recovering wild horses; a hand-painted vest made for her, & presented to her by the wife of a Doobie Brother last year had "to remain in Santa Cruz", & so it was auctioned off to support Friends of Watsonville Animals (FoWAs), a local non-profit that provides low cost spay & neuter services. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange, "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening! To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

  2. Jul 31

    'The Pillars' aka Sleepy John Sandidge & Richard Stockton, hiking the Coast from Santa Cruz to San Francisco _interview 2026-07-31 on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club"

    Sleepy John & Richard were 2 of 4 (the others being Ben Rice & Laurence Bedford) hiking the northern California coast when they came upon a big building with part of the underlying earth washed out, allowing them to stand underneath it, and pose as pillars holding it up - the the name "The Pillars"; they are hiking the northern California coast from Santa Cruz to San Francisco for the 4th time, hiking 4-5 mile increments weekly...more "lollygagging" than hiking, with easy walks you could do in flip flops, along the bluffs; John came to Santa Cruz in 1977, running from the law, and yes, he did sell those ubiquitous yellow smiley face buttons that may have said, "Have a Nice Day!"; Richard came in 1968 to attend UCSC in its 3rd year (1st year for Merrill College) - he remembers Dr. Timothy Leary sitting on the college steps, saying that "If you don't make your life an experiment, it'll be a life wasted!" - the one thing he learned at college; Richard became a full time comedian in 1986, touring as a headliner; his answer to "The Money Question": "Great question! Yes! It was "the" time in Comedy, where every venue hosted comedy nights, and the "A-Clubs paid big bucks!"; more recently writing for the Good Times (which does not pay Big Bucks); Sleepy John's answer: "Sort of. 33 years at KPIG, starting at $6/hr in the 1980s increasing to $15/hr in 2023"; Sleepy John has been fired by KPIG (twice), KZSC (3 times), & quit KSCO (he's also DJ on KAZU & KKUP) - he was also voted Best DJ in the Good Times Santa Cruz Best Of poll...14 times!!! What it's like to hike with Sleepy John, where everyone recognizes...his voice! On the current hike they are at Waddell Creek, hiking generally 3-5 miles each week, but not always a straight line (they hike every Tuesday, meeting at 8:30 at Alta Coffee); on their hike they have one rule: walk as close to the beach as you can! An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange, "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening! To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

  3. Jul 31

    Bill Monning_California State Senator (ret.)_2026-07-24_interviewed on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)

    n 2019 Bill sponsored SB347, the Sugar-Seetened Beverage (aka SSB) Warning label act - it made it out of the health committee & appropriations (the latter because it was "de minimis"), but died on the Senate Floor due to machinations of "Big Soda"; "Big Soda" & "Big Food" got an initiative on the ballot in 2018 to raise the approval level for city & county taxes on food & beferages to 2/3 - the legislature negotiated with them to remove the initiative in exchange for passing a low (the "Keep Groceriees Affordable Act of 2018") to ban local taxes on food & beverages (digression into SEIU & the "Billionaire Tax" initiative on this year's ballot - a one-time tax in California only to fund health care); deep dive into "Big Food" vs. The People in Santa Cruz Local; in 2024 Santa Cruz City passed a 2 cent tax on SSB, and "Big Soda" sued (public health vs. maximizing profit); was Senator Monning's SB347 inspired by Mexico? Yes! Mexico has a national tax that funds public health; in Santa Cruz, City Councimember (& former mayor) Martine Watkins joined with a non-profit, & won in courts, & won on the ballot, & recently won in Superior Court in Sacramento, which held that a Charter City could tax SSB & not run afould of the "Keep Groceries Affordable Act" (there are 121 Charter Cities in California); "Big Soda" is expected to appeal the Santa Cruz ruling to the State Court of Appeals for the 3rd District; Federal Medicare cuts impacting Medical recipients, SNAP (food stamps) as wel, by putting up roadblocks to disqualify recipients; there's a full court press against children, especially poor kids, in counties. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening! To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

  4. Jul 30

    Michael Gaither_Singer, Songwriter, Music Journalist, Trivia night host_interview 2026-07-24_ on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)

    Michael was born & raised, & still lives in, Watsonville (mom from there, too); new venue in mid-county at SeaScape Golf Course on Club House Drive; monthly trivia nights there, plus Trivia Nights at El Vaquero Winery & Bargetto; Michael playing SeaScape tonight for happyp hour as a duo; opening a week from tomorrow for Lacy J. Dalton as a quartet - sans drums - at El Vaquero; Michael views himself as a catalyst for other artists, not a promoter; but he writes press releases as well as articles about musicians coming to town for Look Out Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, & Good Times; "The Money Question": he's semi-retired, with 4 part time jobs (music, 2 articles a month for the Sentinel; DJing in KPIG [at the other end of the dial & the other end of the County from KZSC], & hosting Trivia Nights); but in his previous life he was corporate, commuting on Highway 17; one of his new tunes "Tens of Dollars", was inspired by a comment by Sleepy John Sandidge, & Michael will write John a check when the streaming royalities exceed a penny; "Siri and Alexa" is about those digital assistants that evesdrop on everything; he gets ideas for Trivia Night Themes & Qs from friends, some web searches, but some spontaneous (e.g.: a recent them night on "Calvin & Hobbes; & Philosophers"). An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening! To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

  5. Jul 29

    Rosemary Menard_SC City Water Dept head_interviewed 2022-11-18 on KZSC'S 'Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club'

    The water district owns 4000 acres, including the Loch Lomond reservoir; the water department is asking the City of Santa Cruz to vote on a new direction on 11/29 that will "climate-proof" the water system; demand-based pricing incentivizes rationing; "Wetter wets and Drier Drys", and planning for back-to-back dry years; Santa Cruz has done so well with reducing consumption through conservation that we can't ask people to tighten their belts further; resolution will codify reliability and supply options (4); discussion of aquifer storage and recovery, recycled water, de-salinization (no new dam / reservoir on the table); implementation in progress: up-front and transparent; "Pure Water Soquel" project - Santa Cruz supports (treated water re-injected to keep salt water intrusion at bay [n.b.: pun intended]. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange, "Golden Voice Gene" Fintz, and DJ "Tamarindo" Tamara Caselin Avila airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2022 is Bushwhacker's 3rd year on the air! Thanks for listening!  To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

  6. Jun 27

    Scott Cooper_Singer, Songwriter, Journeyman in Grateful Dead cover bands_on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" interviewed by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto)

    Scott's band "Rosebud" started just before Covid as a project with piano player Laclan Kane (where "Rosebud" is featured prominently at the end of "Citizen Kane"); Scott played an original, which he classififed as a "Jerry Garcia yacht rock song", "You Never Need to Say"; songs take a while, sometimes years, & Scott has a "napkin stash" of lyric lines he's accumulated over the years. Scott came to Santa Cruz in 1986, studying art & psychology, graduating in psych. He was a drummer in the blues world, the house drummer for a weekly blues jam, and Johnny Shines hired his band to back him up on his West Coast Tour. Music has always been his main source of revenue (?), but it's been a varied career: working in a record store, he was at KSCO when the 1989 Earthquake hit, then 10 years at KUSP, a music writer at the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper, edtor for online content, a freelance journalist; worked at a luthier shop as a guitar builder; & books musical acts at Sam's Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. How'd he get to be a Grateful Dead cover band journeyman? He was the bass player for Gary Gates, and after a friend bought Henfling's Tavern in the San Lorenzo Valley he asked her if Gary Gates could play there. She said yes, but Gary said no. Scott threw together some musician friends and played Grateful Dead covers, and has been a Grateful Dead cover band journeyman ever since - for the last 19 years!! "Rosebud" was the name of Jerry's last guitar. For Grateful Dead tribute bands, as Matt Hardle says, "There's only one band, and everyone's in it - but the line-up changes every night!" Scott's local Grateful Dead Cover Band, the China Cats, plays monthly at the Vet's Hall. What's the ratio of annual revenue of Grateful Dead Journeyman playing to all of his other gigs? "3:1". The "Money Question", "Are you able to make a living playing music, & if so, how?" "Yes. It's complicated. But it's playing a lot of gigs!" An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening! To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

  7. Jun 27

    Tricia Webber_SC County Clerk & Registrar of Voters_2026-06-26 interview on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto)

    Tricia is both County Clerk & Registrar of Voters; she came to Santa Cruz in 1997, having followed a boy from college - she's from Santa Ynez, near Solvang (the Danish capital of the USA), & was at Fresno State, working for the Curry Company in Yosemite Valley, but when the park closed due to flooding, her boyfriend at the time suggested she move with him to Santa Cruz - he's now her husband. How did she get into County clerk job? Her mother-in-law had been helping with the elections department for a long time, and said, "Why don't you help with elections?" It was 1997, & she hired on to help with the 1998 election; she went to full timein 2006, first in Clerk Services, later with elections, and, in 2020, became Assistant County Clerk to now Assemblymember Gail Pellerin; Tricia's mom moved to Santa Cruz in the 1960s and was one of the first employees at Cabrillo College. The Registrar of Voters is the chief elections person in the county for local, state & federal elections - yesterday was the deadline for state ballot initiatives (& the "billionaire tax" initiative is still on the ballot). The County Clerk is the chief commissioner of marraiges, with the authority to conduct marriage ceremonies, deputize others to conduct them; plus handles notaries, passports, and fictitious business names. There are 14 employees in the office, including her, with 50 hired as extra help at election time, plus 300-350 volunteers (what we used to call poll workers). Mail-in ballots are required by law to be sent to everyone, and 90% vote this way, although people can vote in person 29 days before election day at 3 places, and progressively more places as the election gets closer. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "Momento Maury" (Maury Burnett-Cavoto) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening! To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

  8. Jun 20

    Richard Hoover (co-founder) & Brenda Martinez (sales director) - Santa Cruz Guitar Company_2026-06-19_interview on KZSC's "Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)

    Richard is star struck, having listened to Bushwhacker's since way back when he used to get up really early to come in to work before musicians would wake up; he grew up in the San Joaquin Vally & moved to Santa Cruz when he was 14-15-16 taking a page out of Jack Kerouac; he needed to be close enough to an urban area, but didn't want to live in one, so he & his art director wife settled in Santa Cruz, starting Santa Cruz Guitar Company (SCGC) in 1976; Brenda came here in 2010 to attend U.C. Santa Cruz; the name Santa Cruz evokes unconditional love & spirit - the logo used a floral design, with the initials sylisticly (Richard cut 4,000 out by hand!); they've sold 20,000 guitars; the first guitar had a lot of innovations, as Richard came from a violin tradition, and was a response to the Dreadnought guitar everyone was playing at that time; wood? Richard was part of a 3 person partnership, & they operated by consensus; Richard loved mahogany, but they landed on Koa; they made the Tony Rice signature model thanks to an introduction by Darrel Anger; SCGC is known for innovation, but they are also sustainable & responsible; as a teen, Richard played guitar to impress girls (it worked), &, while waiting for a girl, he realized, "Somebody makes these!"; he took a guitar apart; his mom, a "rock star reference librarian" looked for books on how to build a guitar & couldn't find any on 6-string guitars, but there were lots of boooks on violins; violins are built for serious sound, & Richard brought this sensibility to guitars; what truly makes Richard happy is making others happy; all SCGC guitars are custom built - it takes 4-6 months to build a guitar, with teamwork amont the 17 builders; they build 400+ guitars a year; co-founders & partners are Will Davis & Bruce Ross; big names play a Santa Cruz Guitar (Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, David Crosby) but Richard shouts out to Jose Rojas, who has 400,000 followers, and inspires in the clean water & nutrition space, and prominently features his Santa Cruz Guitar. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez) airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California. 2026 is Bushwhacker's 37th year on the air! Thanks for listening! To support KZSC (& these podcasts), please go to KZSC.FM and click on the "Donate to KZSC" button in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

See All (346)

Ratings & Reviews

4.2
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

On-demand news, interviews, and live performances from KZSC 88.1 FM Santa Cruz - Non-commercial, educational, community radio for the Monterey Bay, California

Information

  • Creator
    KZSC 88.1 FM Santa Cruz: Noncommercial, educational radio for the Monterey
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    346
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    ยฉ KZSC 88.1 FM Santa Cruz
  • Show Website
    KZSC Santa Cruz