Any Santa Cruz musician will tell you, there’s no higher mountain to climb than the one that leads to success, preferably out of town and across the world.
And in many ways, that kind of success is harder here, where there is so much competition. We’ve got so many players, so many songwriters, so many cover bands. On any night of the week, you can hear something great, or more than one thing.
On one hand, that’s a plus: there are places to play, compared to, say, San Jose, where people prefer DJ music. ( I speak from experience. When I lived over the hill, I spent all my free time commuting here or to San Francisco to hear live performances.)
But Santa Cruz is a musical heaven, almost on a level with Austin, TX, for original musicians. (Austin is so amazing that when you fly in, there are great bands welcoming you with sets at the airport.)
So reading our cover story about the mountain-bred Coffis Brothers and their slow rise up the ranks, is a pleasure. They are touring; they are making a national name for themselves And now they are playing a mini-festival of two nights at Moe’s Alley, which has become a tradition.
It’s taken a lot of discipline and a lot of shows (some 1,000, according to the article by writer DNA).
He says they: “have honed a high-flying, tempered confidence and musical assuredness over the years, sharpening their edge.”
What listeners hear are delightful harmonies, assured playing and songs that stick in your head. What more can you want?
You’ll thank us if you check out their two Moe’s gigs.
Speaking of Moe’s…one of my favorite new bands is playing there also this week, The Third Mind. They blew my mind the first time I saw them there, with a mix of psychedelic jam folk music, akin to the way bands like the Dead and Quicksilver started out with in the 1960s. I didn’t think anyone made music like this anymore, with long soaring jams that make the singer take long breaks, but they are a real treat, always up for a surprise. In my interview, guitarist Dave Alvin says they are so spontaneous that they don’t know what they are going to do 85% of the time.
That keeps the music fresh for the band and, of course, for their fans.
And, like I said…we have too much music. Also, this week there’s also a tribute to one of our best singers ever, Tammi Brown. We cover that inside.
Thanks for reading and have a great week.
Brad Kava | Editor
AIR BIKE Spectacular view: flyin’ high on Capitola dirt jumps. Photograph by Ali Eppy
Opportunity Grant Scholarships are awarded annually to students whose families cannot afford private music lessons. Applications for the 2026-2027 school year are due April 21, 2026. Applications are available on the Santa Cruz County Music Teachers’ Association website: sccmtac.org.
Students can study piano, voice, string (violin, viola), and wind instruments (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, and trumpet) with distinguished teachers. Lessons for other string and wind instruments are subject to the availability of qualified teachers, so students should apply if interested.
Students must be enrolled in a Santa Cruz County school or be home-schooled residents in grades 2 through 12 during the coming school year. Students should have access to a practice instrument and transportation to weekly lessons.
Since 1995, over $160,000 in scholarships have been awarded to students, with participating teachers donating approximately the same amount as reduced tuition.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, condemned President Trump and Republicans’ un-American efforts to end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship. As the son of Mexican immigrants himself, Padilla underscored that the 14th Amendment clearly grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.”
In his remarks, Padilla also slammed the Administration’s treatment of Narciso Barranco — a father of three U.S. citizen Marine veterans — who was violently detained by masked Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in Orange County last summer. His case was finally dismissed by an immigration judge last month after the Administration tried to deport him.
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”
—George Bernard Shaw