and I somehow thought, after moving to what (I eventually learned) young people wisely called, 'Slownoma" after living in Santa Cruz for 35 years (1971 to 2005) that I would find this new home town not unlike the one I had left after those 35 years, the earlier Santa Cruz I'd moved to in the beginning of the seventies. However, these two years I've lived here have shown me that I was mistaken: it is not in any significant way like my previous home town, no matter how many years have passed, here or there.

The town of Sonoma in 2007 is in some superficial ways (small population size, core hip community, cool places to dine and drink) like Santa Cruz in 1971, and not a few of the people who largely inhabit it are the same folks that had also lived in that other town I hazily remember from 35 years earlier. I found that, in fact, some of the UC Santa Cruz students I had mingled with 35 years ago had also migrated to my little future home town, Sonoma, years before I did. They had settled into what had developed into a non-psychedelic, non-dance culture, and largely non-contemporary cultural life style that I personally found in my later migration to this place, after my initial honeymoon with Slownoma, vaguely unfulfilling.

On the other hand, some of the adult members of my family have kept the cultural lights burning for me--like my nephew James (JM Berry) who hosts the weekly Sonoma Valley Music Scene show on KSVY and my niece Mary and her boyfriend Lane who started their Black Point String Band and Wildflower Weed groups. Also, I have a berth as several characters I play in the weekly "Radio Theatre of the Wild West" show on KSVY: Nebrasky, the Rev, Clem, and Kansas City Slim. Finally, meeting and making new friends has also helped me get into my 70th year with great alacrity, as this shot of me at the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival up in Laytonville clearly shows.

Unca Will