2010-12-16 Music and Culture

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"Night Catches Us... Though We Don't Quite Catch Back" by Alicia Kraig
[http://www.trulyobscure.com/article/820/night-catches-us-though-we-dont-quite-catch-back]
Night Catches Us is an independent film set in Philadelphia in 1976, and is written and directed by first-time director Tanya Hamilton. It focuses on the lives of two ex-Black Panther members – Patty (Kerry Washington – “Ray,” “Mother and Child”) and Marcus (Anthony Mackie – “The Hurt Locker,” “Half Nelson”), and their efforts to escape their past and address unresolved issues (including possible romantic feelings) between them.
The film examines the aftermath of the end of the Black Panthers movement. Interspersed with footage of civil unrest, senseless police brutality, and Black Panther demonstrations, these images and the movie’s soundtrack were perhaps my favorite aspects, with funky, high-energy grooves playing throughout the movie. The viewers discover early in the movie that Marcus, just returning to his neighborhood after some time to attend his father’s funeral, is a snitch and has been ostracized from his community. We witness the consequences of being labeled a snitch in the community, such as his deceased father’s beloved black Cadillac being emblazoned with the word “Snitch,” a bar fight with Dwaye “DoRight” Miller (Jamie Hector), the leader of what remains of the Black Panthers, and coldness from his own family members. It becomes clear that Marcus is an honorable man with a kind soul who is trying as best he can to deal with his situation.
In spite of Marcus’s ostracism, Patty remains a loyal friend and invites the drifter to stay with her when he has nowhere to go. Patty has turned into the neighborhood’s caretaker, feeding the neighborhood children and opening her house to others as needed. Despite her virtuous tendencies, Patty is stuck in the past, living in the same house where her husband, a Black Panther, was murdered by the police years ago. Her 9-year-old daughter Iris (Jamara Griffin) seeks to find the answers to her father’s passing and the tumultuous events that happened when she was just a newborn. I found the most interesting character to be Jimmy (Amari Cheatom), an 18-year-old orphan who supports himself by collecting aluminum cans. In one of the first scenes of the movie, he is given a hard time by a cop and after talking back, is arrested. This event begins his hatred of the police. Young and misguided, he becomes enthralled with the Black Panther movement that he was too young to participate in. His interest evolves from closely reading civil rights comic books to brazen violence, shooting out a police car’s back window with a gun. Spiraling into madness, Jimmy becomes his own worst enemy.
There is a twist to the plot, although frankly I didn’t think it was that big of a revelation to make for an interesting plot. I can’t help but wonder if the old footage and soundtrack carried the movie more than it should have. Being from Philadelphia myself, I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t apparent that the movie took place in Philadelphia; it could have been in any East coast city. I enjoyed the 70s fashions, which were cool and tasteful, not the gaudy 70s fashions that films sometimes employ. Somewhat amusing, even the beautiful Kerry Washington couldn’t overcome some of the unflattering fashions and hairstyles of that decade. While “Night Watches Us” had its moments, including strong acting, the movie failed to take off due to a weak plot and less than compelling plot twist, and it ends with a whimper.

2010-12-01 "La Plebe plays punk with horns and heart" by John Nuño from "El Tecolote" newspaper of San Francisco
[http://eltecolote.org/content/2010/12/la-plebe-plays-punk-with-horns-and-heart]
It’s almost 11 p.m. on Friday night at Slim’s in San Francisco, where over 400 fans have gathered to experience the band they’ve been waiting for. And when the band finally starts their set, the electric guitar, bass, drums and horns release a tidal wave of sound that washes back toward the stage with the surge of a young and energetic crowd that’s now jumping up and down uncontrollably.
There’s a synergy between the audience and the band, and it’s creating an ever-rising energy level. The audience is overjoyed and so is La Plebe – one of the Bay Area’s most exciting independent bands – known for it’s own bilingual brand of thrash-worthy punk rock with horns. For the San Francisco-based band, La Plebe, which means “the people” in Spanish, this night on Nov. 3 was a special occasion – their fifth and most ambitious album “Brazo en Brazo” was being released the following week on CD and for the first time on vinyl.
The quintet consists of founding member bassist/singer Lupe Bravo, drummer Mark T. Harris, guitarist Adam “Pags” Paganini, and the brass section made up of Alberto Cuéllar on trumpet and Antonio “Tron” Cuéllar on trombone. The band members grew up listening to traditional Latino music in their households where the horn instruments play a key role. La Plebe puts this influence to use by having the horn section take on the role that the lead guitarist plays in other punk rock bands. While guitarist Pags lays down the rhythm, it’s the Cuéllar brothers’ horns that carry the melodies. It’s this distinctive sound that defines La Plebe but it also, sometimes, gets their music mislabeled as punk-ska, which has a similar instrument arrangement but a different sound and rhythm. They admit there is an influence and they might use ska rhythm, or “skank”, but they don’t think it’s significant enough to warrant the ska label.
“Don’t get us wrong, we want to make it very clear. We love ska music – a lot – but that’s just not what we play,” Alberto says. “Because we play with horns, people can get confused. We don’t want people to come thinking we are going to play ska and then we don’t – and they are disappointed. It happened, and we don’t want that.” No one, however, appeared disappointed at the album release at Slim’s. La Plebe has a strong community relationship with their fans. It’s practically a La Plebe trademark for fans to get on stage and start singing with the band at every show. While the group wants to continue that connection with the fans, sometimes an over-excited fan can be challenging, and they have stories of close calls. “Yeah, I had a fan start singing a song with me but he forgot the words and said, ‘You sing it!’ and shoved the mic in my teeth,” recalls Lupe, smiling with all his teeth still noticeably intact.
But if the sense of community at a La Plebe show is strong, it’s only because the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. “We are an extremely tight band,” Pags says. “For us, if one of us is sick or can’t make it, we just don’t play. We can’t imagine playing without one another.” Since La Plebe formed in 2001, Pags joined in 2004 after one of the band’s founding members had left, but that has been the only change in the band’s line-up. To La Plebe, it’s the individuals that make and complete the group, which can be a rarity in many of today’s independent bands where personnel changes are often casual and frequent. “It can be kind of strange when we get to know another band that we like and hang out with, and then we will see them later down the road and you notice right away that someone is missing,” Alberto says. “It’s like, ‘What happened?’ It changes the chemistry and sometimes it’s a little sad.”
The solidarity and synergy doesn’t just end there but extends into their songwriting as well – all the songs are written collectively and credited to La Plebe. “I or someone else will bring in an idea,” Lupe says, “but a song doesn’t get written until we all get together, and then those individual ideas will change into something else.” The audience’s reaction at Slim’s to new tracks appears to be a success, however, La Plebe knows it’s always a balancing act when introducing new material, so they divide their set equally between fan favorites and songs from their new CD. Though the members originally come from areas like Salinas, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles, their roots as a band run deep in the Mission District. “We’ve all lived here at one time or another and we all spend a lot of time here,” said Alberto, who now lives in the Mission District.
Indeed, they have made their mark in the Mission District from playing guerilla-style concerts in Clarion Alley and the BART station at 24th and Mission – until the police would show up – to playing countless gigs at Balazo and El Rio. But this is the 21st Century, after all; the world has gone global and so has the tour-heavy La Plebe. La Plebe has gone on multiple tours to countries in Latin America and Europe. On their first trip to the UK in 2008, the group was playing with none other than Mick Jones from the Clash, who joined them on stage for their version of “The Guns of Brixton.” Their tours have also included four trips to the Balkans, where they have fostered a fan base despite the fact that little English, and practically no Spanish, is spoken there. Their experiences in the Balkans, where wounds from civil wars and ethnic cleansing are still very raw, have had a profound effect on the band and in how they view the world. “Intense! That’s the best word to sum it up. Intense,” Pags says. “Hanging out with people who have just been through a war is very humbling.”
Despite the fans not understanding Spanish, many of them, Lupe says, translate the lyrics themselves, and they identify with the problems that immigrants face in U.S. and other places in Latin America. The political situation there, the band admits, is complicated. In the tradition of bands like The Clash from the UK and Tijuana No! from Mexico, La Plebe is a band that stands by their principles. They don’t shy away from a social justice point of view in their lyrics. At the same time, they don’t want to tell people what to do or think. “We try not to preach. We just try to tell facts,” says Pags, whose own parents fled from Argentina during its “Dirty War.” “We want to get rid of ignorance to have people be more unified. We want to get people pumped and have a great f-cking time.” Indeed, that sentiment might best describe their newest album in three years. “Brazo en Brazo” was produced by Billy Gould of Faith No More and released on his imprint, Koolarrow Records. It’s a definitive and cohesive representation of everything the band stands for.
Many of the songs are unapologetically political and carry cries for social justice whether for families separated by immigration polices (“Soledad”), the plight of farm workers (“Campesino”) or the history of Latin America (“Venas Abiertas”). But again, nothing stops La Plebe from promoting hope and celebrating life just like in their opening track, “Siempre Unidos”, a mariachi-infused punk rock anthem. The music is as hard as it should be but also heavily melodic and memorable. In these days of downloadable music, one of the forgotten pleasures of owning a physical album is the enjoyment of the artwork, which La Plebe also delivers. Artist Josué Rojas, from the Mission District, provides beautiful mural-style cover art, while the inside flap contains period photographs collected by the band. There is no doubt that this new recording will more than satisfy La Plebe’s long time fans and bring new ones as well. Their live shows are events not to be missed but listening to “Brazo en Brazo” is as great a time as one can have without being there.

La Plebe (Left to right: On trumpet Alberto Cuellar, on trombone Antonio “Tron” Cuellar, drummer Mark T. Harris, Bassist-singer Lupe Bravo and John, a good friend of the band. Adam “Pags” Paganinis is not in the photo this time).

2010-12-09 "Beat doctor Producer Styles 1001 fixes what’s wrong with Sacramento hip-hop" by Josh Fernandez from "Sacramento News and Review" newspaper
[http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1887096]
There’s not enough room here to properly discuss Styles 1001 and his debut album. So here’s all you need to know about the man:
1) He was born Dewitt Marcel Nunery.
2) On December 5 this year, he came out with The Solution, an album so imaginative that it will be marked as one of Sacramento’s finest hip-hop releases in the last decade.
There you go.
As a producer, Styles 1001 has done something miraculous: He’s taken a handful of Sacramento’s most skilled emcees, harnessed their energy and created a new, cohesive Sacramento sound, which turns out to be a healthy blend of heavy drums mixed with mostly unmodified soul samples and emcees who are at ease with battle raps, but don’t shy away from hardcore lyrics. While The Solution is cohesive, it’s also full of peaks and valleys.
For instance, the song “Rap Profiles,” featuring J. Good and Keno, pairs an ominous sample with the dexterous emcees, who reach artistic compromise between braggadocio rap and storytelling. From the album’s start, it’s evident that Styles 1001 understands not just hip-hop, but also the foundation and structure of the music from which it’s derived.
“I’m a big fan of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker,” he says. “So that jazz has always been in me.” But it’s not a one-note show. Without warning, Styles can switch from soothing jazz to a Tupac sample so hard that you want to grab a sharp object and then call 911. After Tupac raps, “I need loot, so I’m doing what I do / And don’t say shit until you’ve walked in my shoes,” the intuitive producer drops a beat that manages to match the intensity of the sample. What’s even more amazing is that Styles found two emcees, Mahtie Bush and Chase Moore, who actually keep up with the unabashedly scary arrangement.
And what comes naturally for Styles is what many local producers can’t do at all, which is to stand back—to be a servant to the music. Styles knows exactly when to let the vibe of the beat and the pattern of the emcee do the work. He forces nothing and ends up with tracks like Chuuwee’s “Day & Night,” a symphony of organic soul that makes complete sense. It’s within this meticulous process—wide-eyed discovery and gentle placement of sounds—that Styles has unwittingly defined a new Sacramento style. And not every song has to adhere to a set of rules. The track “Her Beauty,” for instance, pairs a haunting Nina Simone sample (“She does not know her beauty”) with a set of horns that breaks your heart in two. When emcees Chara Charis, Random Abiladeze and DJ Rated R enter the track, the listener is instantly transported to sublimity. The result? Pure frustration: The listener doesn’t want the track to end, which is the sign of a perfect hip-hop song. From beginning to end, the album is fascinating, from the frenzy of Tribe of Levi matched perfectly, beat for beat, with Styles’ wild production (and a killer Temptations sample) to the producer’s ability to shed light on emcees that I’ve previously slept on, such as the incredibly talented Reflective Intelligence (R.I.), as if Grand Puba possessed Eminem’s storytelling capabilities.
And just when you think it’s over, the producer—who I’m convinced has some undiscovered bionic power—finally finds a beat big enough to hold the oversized rapper Task1ne. The party track that sounds like an explosion to end all explosions. It makes your man boobs jiggle and leaves The Solution to go out only one way: with a deafening bang. So, there’s a lot to say about Styles 1001, the fan of Madlib, Billie Holiday, A Tribe Called Quest and grimy 1930s sounds. But to be honest, Styles says everything much better himself, without words and within the confines of his nearly flawless debut album.


Styles 1001’s beats stop the rain. Photograph by Jerome Love from "Sacramento News and Review" newspaper













2010-12-14 "Northwestern Gothic: Horse Feathers’ Justin Ringle on how unemployment, gloomy weather and Gothic lit minimized his sound" by Zach Stoloff from "Good Times" of Santa Cruz
[http://www.goodtimessantacruz.com/santa-cruz-arts-entertainment-lifestyles/santa-cruz-arts-entertainment-/1982-northwestern-gothic.html]
We all know Portland is overrun with them. You know the crowd I’m talking about: the over-educated, rarely employed, too-cool youth on the cusp of computer culture and an artistic aesthetic. There’s no doubt about it, there are just too many graphic designers in Oregon.
“I came to find out when you move to Portland, Ore., it’s kind of a shocking realization that if there’s any creative field then there is a surplus of unemployed people,” explains Horse Feathers’ frontman Justin Ringle. “There are more graphic designers in Portland than there are musicians, almost, so it was kind of a rough transition. I couldn’t find a job in that field, so, low and behold, I end up touring around in a van most of the year.” For Idaho-raised Ringle, moving to Portland is what started it all. It’s a theme of geography that comes up throughout the story of Horse Feathers—the slow-boiled folksy foursome returning to The Crepe Place on Thursday, Dec. 16. Though nowadays the songs of the string-heavy, pensive multi-instrumental group seem to flow from Ringle with a soothing effortlessness, it’s a fascinating process by which he came to this point.
After graduating from the University of Idaho with a bachelor of fine arts in studio arts and an emphasis on graphic design, Ringle initially stayed close to home with steady work. However, not only did Portland’s dearth of employment force him to examine alternative life avenues, but it really was the impetus to move away from traditional indie rock to the acoustic-based organic balladry of Horse Feathers. “I think I just got bored, and I was just kind of frustrated with the dynamics of a rock band,” Ringle says. “I just got tired of the loudness, and playing with a drummer all the time, and just the overall feel of it. It just felt like as I played in rock bands I stripped it down more and more over time, and then I kind of had a break from it when I moved to Portland—and financially I didn’t have the capacity to play in a rock band.”
It’s a chain-reaction which links the Idaho graphic designer with the Horse Feathers frontman. Between being unemployed, having more free time and a chance to reexamine his musical proclivities, Ringle began composing songs in his bedroom on an acoustic guitar, dealing with music in its base form rather than with all the complications of a band dynamic. Then came the open mic nights at local clubs, which brought a far more positive reaction than the songwriter ever expected. “It was kind of a proving ground in that I was kind of shocked that people were interested in the music at all,” remembers Ringle. “It kind of was the genesis of everything, because briefly after that I started to record my first demos and actually gave playing music more serious thought.” And not only did the move to Portland present opportunities to take music more seriously and have songs heard by a wider audience, but images of the city started to creep in to the music itself. Horse Feathers’ two albums, 2008’s House With No Home and this year’s Thistled Spring can be thought of in terms of seasons—House With No Home regarded as the winter album, while Thistled Spring, well, you get the idea.
“Portland definitely has its own character and mood, and I think a lot of that is maybe prescribed by weather,” Ringle surmises. “From the months November through June it’s pretty easy to become kind of a hermit and be a little more reflective, and I think that kind of mentality has definitely found its way into the music.” Admittedly, Thistled Spring was a more concerted, conscious attempt at creating a record which reflected a specific season with geography in mind, but that’s not to say it was a contrived process. Rather, like the rest of Ringle’s output, he was simply writing what he knew and drawing upon Portland for inspiration. Even moving to a new neighborhood in the same city provided a chance for reprieve. “I think the lifestyle change opened my eyes to a lot of different things, and it also coincidentally happened to me in spring,” Ringle says. “I didn’t write House With No Home in mind with it being a very wintery record, it [just] came out that way. And part of the reason why on the new record I even affixed the ‘spring’ part to it, is it was only in retrospect I realized how much of a wintery record House With No Home was.”
Another big influence on Ringle are the works of Southern Gothic writers—Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy, for instance. Much like Southern Gothic literature, critics have noticed the presence of the grotesque in Ringle’s work, a charge which he doesn’t deny but likewise he isn’t trying to plagiarize. In fact, Ringle believes that even his predilection for grotesque literature is related to the same geographical influence which seems to guide just about every other part of his musical career. “I’ve always been fond of all their writing, there’s a certain type of seriousness to the tone of that whole thing,” he explains. “I do like the kind of mood and the kind of seriousness that those authors evoke. In a weird way I find that the Pacific Northwest has its own mysteriousness and spookiness, and I just try to channel that a little bit.” It remains to be seen where the future of Horse Feathers and Justin Ringle will lead. Who knows, maybe it’s time for him to find a new locale or hipster hub. Music’s a fickle business, so maybe that bachelor of fine arts will come in handy, after all. But whatever happens with the future of Ringle’s music, here’s betting it follows the seasons.


Photo Credit: Tarina Westlund from "Good Times" of Santa Cruz












2010-12-07 "Is your food fair? A new and necessary restaurant guide has the goods on local worker treatment" by Caitlin Donohue from "San Francisco Bay Guardian" newspaper
[http://www.sfbayguardian.com/2010/12/07/serving-justice]
We've all worked in a restaurant, haven't we? I know I have — many — and gosh if they aren't tricky little employment situations. Overtime, what? Breaks, really? And health care — well who the hell gets health care at a restaurant? But this being San Francisco, restaurant workers are entitled to all these things courtesy of our hard-won labor laws. Which of course doesn't mean that workers get them all the time, but that they should. And the bars and eateries that provide these benies — along with job safety, respect, and other luxuries — should be the ones that get the business of the conscientious diner.
Until recently the identity of these decent restaurants was only obtainable by sneaking back into the kitchen to chat. But the advocacy group Young Workers United (www.youngworkersunited.org) is changing that. Its guide to SF restaurants, Dining With Justice, is now in its second year of publication, teaching those who want to know where they can get a nice meal served by someone who is happy and secure in their job. "It's kind of a counter to Zagat and Yelp," YWU organizer Edwin Escobar tells me. Escobar just got done talking about his group's campaign to a room full of City College of San Francisco students at the school's "Turn the Tables" teach-in last week. The event was sponsored by CCSF's labor and community studies program and featured presentations from community groups and SF's Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. To research the guide, YWU members interviewed 250 employees at 32 restaurants. The 58-question survey ranked businesses in five fields: compliance with wage and working hours laws, job mobility, job satisfaction, health and safety, and job security. Only nine businesses received stars in three or more the categories; none received five out of five.
"People think, oh, it's San Francisco, all the workers get treated well. But that's not the case. Restaurants and retail businesses get away with murder," Escobar says. His organization provides labor law education and advocacy for low-wage workers around the city in an attempt to stem workplace violations. Recently, YWU shed some light on some of the troubles faced by workers in a struggle with one of the city's most beloved type of snack stop: the taqueria. The group helped the Latino staff of the Taqueria Azteca chain (which has locations in the Castro and Noe Valley) recoup more than $2 million in back pay from owners who had cheated them of overtime compensation and even minimal control over their schedules. Escobar says one mother involved in the legal proceedings had been given a choice by management: return to work one week after giving birth or lose her job. "The workers who get cheated the most in San Francisco are Asian immigrants," says Shaw San Liu, another speaker at "Turn the Tables." Liu is a lead organizer with the Chinese Progressive Association (www.cpasf.org), which since 1970 has worked to empower the Chinatown community to deal head on with social inequities. Earlier this year, the association released a report on the state of employment in Chinatown restaurants based on one-on-one interviews with 435 workers. The results were disheartening: 50 percent had worked under-minimum wage jobs; 80 percent had been cheated out of overtime; 64 percent had received no on-the-job training; a majority had been injured on the job; and more than half were paying all medical costs out of pocket.
That's just not cool in a town that nominally protects workers against all these things by law. Liu says CPA would like to publish a guide similar to Dining With Justice to reward responsible restaurants but has run into cultural stumbling blocks. Law-abiding businesses didn't want to be singled out as such because, owners said, it would make their neighbors look bad. "Everyone knows minimum wage in Chinatown is $1,000 a month," says Liu. "They didn't want to be known as the goody two-shoes." There are clear challenges to improving the lot of the person serving you your brunch, burritos, and dim sum. But everyone has a part to play in making it happen. "At this point, we're just asking consumers to be aware," Liu says.
Efforts like Dining With Justice are a real step in the right direction. YWU plans to expand its scope next year into other city neighborhoods. "Surely there are more than just nine restaurants treating their workers right in this city. We want to know about them," YWU organizer Tiffany Crain tells the room of students assembled before her. Crain added that if anyone in attendance works for a good employer, they should call her — just as they should call her if they are getting cheated out of wages or a healthy working environment. "You want to make money?" Liu asked SF restaurant owners. "You're going to make money if people think you're a good employer." In San Francisco, diners like to think they're eating sustainably: organic, local, and fair to workers. Also, a chef who is happy in his or her job makes for a better dining experience.
Here are restaurants that scored four stars in Dining With Justice.
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Arizmendi Bakery 1331 Ninth Ave.; (415) 566-3117, www.arizmendibakery.com
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Arlequin 384 Hayes; (415) 626-1211
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The Corner 2199 Mission; (415) 875-9258, www.thecornersf.com
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Frjtz 590 Valencia; (415) 863-8272 and 581 Hayes; (415) 864-7654, www.frjtzfries.com
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Mission Pie 2901 Mission; (415) 282-1500, www.missionpie.com
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Poesia 4072 18th St.; (415) 252-9325, www.poesiasf.com
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Zazie 941 Cole; (415) 564-5332, www.zaziesf.com


2010-12-13 "Group to gather at Mare Island for lunar eclipse" by Tony Burchyns from "Vallejo Times-Herald" newspaper
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_16845600]
Astronomic oddities come and go, but rarely do they coincide. That's the case next Monday when North Americans will be able to view a total lunar eclipse (assuming it's a clear night) in the wee hours of the winter solstice.
Also rare are late night parties at the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve, but there'll be one from 7 p.m. Dec. 20 to 1 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 21, for star-gazers who want to experience the sight.
"Lunar eclipses are pretty amazing anyway," said Mare Island Heritage Trust co-founder and preserve volunteer Brian Collett. "But to have it on a full moon (and the solstice) ... just makes it an amazing convergence."
All phases of the eclipse will be visible on the West Coast if there are clear skies.
The partial eclipse begins at 10:33 p.m. with the full eclipse beginning at 11:41 p.m.
The full mid-eclipse takes place at 12:17 a.m. on Dec. 21, which is the winter solstice. The last total lunar eclipse occurred Feb. 20, 2008.
There will not be another one visible to North Americans until Oct. 8, 2014. It's not the only dramatic astronomical event this month.
The weeklong Germinid meteor shower will peak just before dawn Tuesday.
The "Moon Over Mare Island" party will start at 7 p.m. Dec. 20 and last until 1 a.m.
The celebration will be held at the visitors center with lights and music. Guests are invited to bring their own meals or a potluck item to share. Hot soup and drinks will be sold by preserve volunteers.
Admission is free.
Preserve director Myrna Hayes said about 75 people gathered there to watch the last full lunar eclipse two years ago.
"It's just the way the moon takes over our lives ... it rises right over our river and our town with hillside right behind it ... it goes back to our primordial times," Hayes said. "There is a certain (lure) about it." No vehicles will allowed beyond the visitor's center. For anyone who's interested, there will be a guided moonlit hike to the top of a hill for viewing. Organizers also will set up telescopes at the visitors center. "Fortunately, the full moon is hard to miss," Hayes said. "You can easily see it with the naked eye." For eclipse viewing, visitors are encouraged to bring a comfortable chair, binoculars, camera and flashlight. Warm clothes and blankets also are recommended. Hayes said the event will have a light, holiday feel. "We are not going to have some sort of a ceremony where witches are in operation or something like that," Hayes said. "We are just going to have a potluck, good hot drinks, lots of greenery and good times.


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