Report: Majority of Sonoma County students unprepared for kindergarten

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Report: Majority of Sonoma County students unprepared for kindergarten

Communities all over the state are reporting impacts on enrollment and test scores for school-age children in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Sonoma County has released a sobering, detailed report focusing on kindergarteners there and how they are faring post-pandemic.

Only one in five children in Sonoma County were ready for kindergarten when they entered school last fall, according to a report released Wednesday, April 26, from the county Department of Human Services (DHS). Many of the educational disparities fall along ethnic, racial and economic lines, the report said.

Kindergarten readiness declined in the county for the sixth consecutive year, according to the report entitled “Road to Early Achievement and Development for Youth,” or READY, which was initiated by the county DHS and the First 5 Sonoma County Commission, a body that allocates county funds for early education.

Overall, only 22% of Sonoma County children were ready for kindergarten last fall, down from 31% the previous year and 41% in 2016.

The county said the decline can be attributed to repeated wildfires, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which the county describes as “emergencies that have disrupted early-learning programs and taken a toll on many families’ health and finances.”

During the first nine months of the pandemic, more than 200 of the 608 childcare and preschool facilities in the county closed, the county said.

“Today, about 7,800 children are enrolled in local day care and preschool programs, down from nearly 12,800 before the pandemic,” the county said in a news release about the report.

“We are seeing the decline in kindergarten readiness play out in our schools,” Amie Carter, Sonoma County superintendent of schools, said in a statement. “Students who enter kindergarten unprepared are more likely to struggle academically, and we know how vital the first years of school are in ensuring our children can read well enough to support learning.”

Carter said that lack of preparedness can mean that students struggle with social-emotional skills as well.

Angie Dillon-Shore, executive director of First 5 Sonoma County, an organization that advocates for and funds early childhood development initiatives, said disparities along ethnic, racial and economic lines have been consistent across the six-year period of study and “reflect the impacts of segregation and discrimination that compound over time.”

According to the county, children from families with incomes of $100,000 or more were more than twice as likely to be ready for kindergarten than children in families with incomes of $34,999 or less. Living in poverty also affects a child’s social-emotional and cognitive development, the county said.

The demographics of Sonoma County’s incoming kindergarteners in the READY report are 49% Latino and Hispanic, 1.32% Black, 2.7% Asian American, .5% Indigenous American, .83% Pacific Islander, 39% white and 7% mixed race.

The report cites aggregate data showing that since 2016, on average, only 26% of Latinx children, 33% of Black children and 33% of Indigenous/Native American children were ready for kindergarten. In comparison, 42% of white children were ready for kindergarten, along with 50% of Asian children and 58% of Pacific Islander children.

The county says there are several efforts underway to tackle the problem, such as a state program that will provide universal pre-kindergarten to every four year old by the start of the 2025-26 school year. The county also said that more state funding has been allocated to support the needs of dual-language learners.

To view the entire READY report, go to bit.ly/3LEsRbl.

From Streaming to Strike: What the Writers Strike Portends

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From Streaming to Strike: What the Writers Strike Portends

By the time these words are published, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) will be on strike.

Who cares? You care because within its ranks are the kind scribes who write all the shows you stream and movies you watch when dropping in to see what condition the human condition is in.

Though I’m not presently in the guild, as you might expect, I’m personally both pro-worker and pro-word (disclaimer: the views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the corporation that owns them). 

My guildlessness isn’t due to a refusal to join any club that would have someone like me as a member (thanks, Groucho); I’m just one of the lucky ones who hasn’t made it in the screentrade yet. As Michael Schulman reported in The New Yorker, when Hulu’s hit show, The Bear, won the WGA Award for Comedy Series, one of its writers, Alex O’Keefe, “went to the ceremony with a negative bank account and a bow tie that he’d bought on credit.”

O’Keefe is apparently applying for jobs at movie theaters in anticipation of the strike. I’m forgoing The Bear and name dropping him here in solidarity. It’s the least I can do for a comrade while enjoying the relative comfort of this Starbucks and security as an alt-weekly hack.

Speaking of Starbucks—their workers are organizing. Ditto Amazon’s. And locally, Copperfield’s Books Petaluma employees have voted to unionize (see “By the Book,” page 8). Even I was briefly a local “chapel chair” of the Communication Workers of America (a newspaper writers union, among other vocations). I’ve occasionally asked myself, “Should we organize our newsroom?” The fact is we’d have to have a newsroom first. 

Since the pandemic, we all work remotely (which vindicates a career-long predilection of mine), and by we, I mean me and Carruthers. Both of us are editors, which is technically management, and thus the enemy. 

Like Harvey Dent said in The Dark Knight, “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” One of the great movie quotes of the early 21st century—and, of course, written by a guild member. 

Now that they’re striking, may they strike gold.

Daedalus Howell is the writer-director of the feature films ‘Pill Head’ and the upcoming ‘Wolf Story.’

Your Letters, May 3

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Your Letters, May 3

Unions Unite

Now that teachers are expected to risk their lives every day in school, they need to be represented by the same unions as other socialist occupations like police and firefighters. Caring professions need the same rights and protections as para-military professions have achieved. The bully unions need to step up to help the caring professions as well.

Al Simon

San Anselmo

Call Your Rep

As an environmental author and activist, I was gratified—and edified—by Mark Dowie’s Open Mic (4/26/23), “Park Concessions.” I’m ashamed to say, I didn’t know it was that bad!

This well written article prompted me to immediately call my congressperson, Mike Thompson (4th district). I left a message urging him to investigate the National Park Service’s mandate for both business in national parks and responsibility for environmental protection. I also urged him to get as many other members of that esteemed body to both push for an impartial investigation of the Nord Stream Pipeline bombing and a vociferous demand for Julian Assange’s release.

Barry Barnett

Sonoma

Disney-fied

What is one brief way to describe Gov. Ron De Santis?

Hates Mickey.

Looks Goofy.

Craig J. Corsini

San Rafael

Chapbooks, Star Wars, Fashion, and the Mongol Derby

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Chapbooks, Star Wars, Fashion, and the Mongol Derby

Novato

Chapbook Publishing

Budding pamphleteers, indie publishing moguls and fans of the artisanal small press can turn a new page at the Novato Library’s chapbook-themed open studio event at 11am, Saturday, May 6, at its 1720 Novato Blvd., Novato, location. The workshop will focus on making chapbooks, which are traditionally used to compile ballads, screeds and short works like poetry collections (this is how our editor got his start). During the workshop, participants will learn how to make a single section book with a cover and a sewn spine. Registration is required—call 415-473-205 to reserve a spot.

San Rafael

Force Majeure

The Smith Rafael Film Center takes audiences to a galaxy far, far away with its screening of the iconic space opera, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, at 7:30pm, Thursday, May 4, at the 1118 4th St., San Rafael, location. Directed by local George Lucas, the 1977 film was a game-changer for space flicks, scifi/fantasy, special effects, genre films and mythologist Joseph Campbell. It has since become a cultural phenomenon to rival The Beatles and Jesus. The story follows Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo as they band together to fight the evil Empire and its dark lord, Darth Vader, and set forth a five decade intellectual property franchise that serves as a reminder that if one’s gonna dream, dream big.

Petaluma

Film-inspired Fashion

The Santa Rosa Junior College fashion studies program’s annual Spring Fashion Show comes to the runway at 6pm, Thursday, May 11, at the Carole Ellis Auditorium on the SRJC Petaluma Campus, 680 Sonoma Mountain Parkway. This is a student-produced event, featuring garments and accessories designed and made by fashion studies program students and alumni. The theme of this year’s show is “Cinema Paradiso.” The title is adapted from the award-winning Italian movie about an aging director’s memories of falling in love for the first time: with a young woman, and with the cinema. The show is inspired by themes and characters of a variety of movie genres. Tickets are $5 in advance and $10 after May 7, available for purchase at give.santarosa.edu/fashion23. More information, including a video of last year’s show, is available at linktr.ee/srjcfashionstudies.

Sonoma

Mongol Derby

Considered the longest and toughest horse race in the world, the Mongol Derby severely tests the equestrian and survival skills of all who attempt it. In July 2022, Sebastopol native Lena Haug competed in the Mongol Derby, lasting 10 days and through more than 600 miles of Mongolian wilderness. Marking this milestone is The Mongol Derby: A Wild Evening with Lena Haug at 6pm, Thursday, May 4, at the Sebastiani Theatre, on the Plaza in Sonoma at 476 First Street East. The event is a benefit for the wild horses of Montgomery Creek Ranch. Tickets are $30 and are available at sebastianitheatre.com or at lenahaug.splashthat.com.

Powerful ‘Pass Over’: Activism meets Acting

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Powerful ‘Pass Over’: Activism meets Acting

There is a rare event in theater called catharsis.

Not to be confused with the literary term, it is when a play reaches an audience so deeply that collectively they sit in silence until curtain call frees them. The recent opening of Left Edge Theatre’s production of Antionette Nwandu’s Pass Over marks only the third time this reviewer has witnessed it. The show runs at The California in Santa Rosa through May 13.

Based on Waiting for Godot, this modern surrealist masterpiece takes place on a street corner where Moses (Samuel Ademola) and Kitch (Mark Anthony) are trying to find a way to “get up off this block.” A strange man enters (Skylar Evans), who, though seemingly benign, has the unsettling presence of a pristine porcelain doll sitting on a trash can. Complicating matters further is the sinister Ossifer (Mike Pavone). To say more about the plot would be a disservice. Suffice it to say that things go awry.

At first, the language may seem unnecessarily coarse. It is, however, not gratuitous. As with an August Wilson play, Nwandu’s impressive writing has given us language as a character in its own right.

Complementing the excellent writing is the casting by director Serena Elize Flores. Ademola and Anthony, in addition to having immaculate comedic timing, can also seamlessly pivot on their characters’ emotions. Both men’s performances are a reminder that acting is an art form. Evans’ mysterious Mister may be the best work he has done on stage to date, and Pavone’s Ossifer casts a solid shadow of fear on the world.

This isn’t a perfect show. The squeakiness of the stage during important scenes is annoying, and the choice to make the sound effects so quiet is baffling. However, the acting, directing and script combine to create a night of theater that makes those imperfections seem superficial.

Some audience members last night found their emotional responses confusing or troubling. Happily, by basing the work on the Beckett masterpiece, Nwandu has given us a template with which to examine those feelings. In the words of Beckett, “To all mankind they were addressed, those cries for help still ringing in our ears! But at this place, at this moment of time, all mankind is us, whether we like it or not.”

Left Edge has thrown down the gauntlet for meaningful social activism in local theater. One hopes that the community picks it up and runs with it.

Left Edge Theatre’s ‘Pass Over’ runs through May 13 at The California Theatre, 528 7th St., Santa Rosa. Thu-Sat, 7:30pm; Sun., 2pm. $22–$36. 707.664.PLAY. leftedgetheatre.com.

I’m With the Brand: Music, marketing, and making it

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I’m With the Brand: Music, marketing, and making it

Indie music is about the freedom to make music in one’s own way, and create the image one chooses for oneself.

To make it at this level, truly independent, takes a whole lot of hustle and a real sense of self. Two independent artists I talked to use very different approaches toward similar goals.

What’s It Like?

Nick Petty is a songwriter and guitarist of the North Bay punk outfit The Happys.

I asked him what it looks like, in reality, for a songwriter to follow their passion.

“For years, it was just hard for me,” Petty said, “because I’d be doing these like 14-hour union shifts and then, you know, a show till like 1 am that night and have to get up at 6 am to get to the [job site].”

Giotis: Playing what, 100 gigs a year?

Petty: “Like 110 to 120 shows a year.”

When I mentioned to my son that I am interviewing The Happys, he said, “Oh, I know them. There was a sign on an overpass.” Indeed, The Happys’ signature cardboard sign advertising perfectly captures both the ethos and the power of the indie way. Self-promotion, no rules, easy, cheap, memorable.

“I’m just trying to be conscientious and basically, as the saying goes, like, not to be a dick,” quipped Petty. “I’m repurposing something. The cardboard was already there.” The ethos in a simple image.

Another indie artist of a very different stripe is synth producer and singer Nic at Night, whose 2023 EP Mirrors is a wonderfully sultry ride. She’s a Bay Area transplant with feet in multiple worlds, mixing the southern culture of her Virginia upbringing with the influence of her Chinese family and the daily realities of a real-world job in tech. But this female won’t be constrained by someone else’s ideas.

“The trajectory [of] what I do day-to-day does not fill me with any good feelings,” she laughed. “It makes me think a little bit of like drinking the Kool-Aid, or drinking the free beverages that the company …”

“The kombucha,” I suggest.

“Yeah, the La Croix,” she added.

“Nice. Topo Chico now,” I said.

“Yeah, very true,” said she, in her southern vocal fry.

How does a woman in tech find herself moonlighting as a bedroom-eyed electro-diva?

“People have asked me, like, ‘Would you ever want to be famous?’ I feel like it’s not about that for me,” she said. “My goal is to have some sort of cultural impact or like to shape the cultural landscape, even, just in my own small way. My current day job does not have room for that. Like it’s not granting me that, and that makes me deeply unsatisfied.”

Giotis: And so you are driven to take charge through your music career?

Night: “It feels kind of as if I don’t have another choice, right? Because if I want to propagate my vision or like my vision to have some impact, connect with others emotionally, it doesn’t feel like I have any other alternatives.”

What Makes a Star?

Trey Hicks is the founder and president of Painting Pictures, a national PR firm that handles several local events, including the upcoming Mill Valley Music Festival.

“You really have to be true to yourself. Authenticity, and having a vision of where you want to go and what you want to build with [your career],” said Hicks. “That’s probably the hardest question that these artists get asked, ‘Who do you want to be?’ You know, ‘Who do you want to play for?’”

Defining an image, adopting an ethos, or communicating authentically with one’s audience helps to create a narrative about “who you want to be as an artist.”

No doubt that labels are part of the monetization solution. There is after all a whole indie music industry that includes indie labels.

“Labels are ultimately looking to leverage your audience for their own, to build their base,” said Hicks. Being able to show an engaged following helps an artist make their case for a partnership. Unlike the major labels, where access to resources can seem remote, indie labels are built on partnerships where artists, producers, and executives all contribute to the common goal of passionate music.

The Power of Image

I asked Nic at Night about social media and the impact of comparing one’s body and beauty to others on Instagram and the like.

“I craft my persona around the person that I am,” said Nic at Night, “the one thing that I can be the best at. Allowing people to take whatever they need to from my lyrics is something I’m more interested in, rather than sexually explicit [lyrics]. Some things are better left unsaid and left murky, I think.”

“When you look at social media,” said Hicks, “you have to separate the entertainer a bit from your personal life and separate the business side from the professional act. The personal/professional [separation] makes it a little bit easier from a mental standpoint.”

When talking about how punk influenced his image and approach to work, Petty said of his childhood, “I didn’t fit in because I had like bad ADHD, always getting in trouble. So I just related a little bit more to the outcast side of things because that was just kind of how life presented itself to me.”

Discovering ’90s punk bands Pennywise and Rancid in those formative years helped cement his punk identity.

Petty understands how to let his passion lead him. He recalls being awed by his father’s work as a firefighter.

“The best side of him, the side that he lived for, was chasing fires. A lot of people don’t like their job, but he genuinely liked that,” Petty reminisced. “He loved to chase. He said it was like the funnest thing for him. Like how I love being on stage. I hate the feeling right before, but I looove once I’m in the groove of it.”

Follow The Happys on Spotify and YouTube. Follow Nic at Night on TikTok, Twitter and IG: @niicatniight. New music is coming from both soon.

Generation Climate: ‘Youth’ Speaks

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Generation Climate: ‘Youth’ Speaks

Earth Day—the time for politely asking for help, signing a petition to save the bees, turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth and reminding your kids to reduce, reuse, recycle once a year on Earth Day is over.

We just don’t have the luxury of time anymore, so in writing this, I have to ruffle some feathers. I see articles here and there that focus on sharing the viewpoint of “young people” on our environment and climate change, written by someone who is definitely not young but an expert in writing with sprinklings of five- to seven-word contextless quotes from actual young people.

It is insulting to the nth degree that the sentiment of an entire generation is represented by the cherry picked words of any reporter. So, here is how I really feel as a young person who, if given more than two minutes to really think about it, is terrified at what is already happening and of what I have the honor of watching implode in the years to come.

I do not speak for my generation, only for myself, in saying that among those who understand climate impacts, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone under 25 who isn’t scared to death.

Reader, the world as you know and love it is gone. There may be the odd year of colder climes and wetter winters that “remind you of how things used to be around here,” but those are the odd ones out. And not only are people dying because of it, but I have a message to both those who actively and naively fight against climate adaptation and mitigation progress with unfounded arguments and those not malicious in their compliance with the political and social norm: Do something about it. Not for our sake, but for yours.

We all have to live on this rock, and it’s not just the next generation’s problem. It’s yours too. Get up, vote, work and act like your life depends on it.

Sincerely,

A member of the often misquoted and rarely represented “youth”

Free Will Astrology, Week of May 3

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Free Will Astrology, Week of May 3

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Before forming the band called The Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney performed under various other names: the Quarrymen, Japage 3 and Johnny and the Moondogs. I suspect you are currently at your own equivalent of the Johnny and the Moondogs phase. You’re building momentum. You’re gathering the tools and resources you need. But you have not yet found the exact title, descriptor or definition for your enterprise. I suggest you be extra alert for its arrival in the coming weeks.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I’ve selected a passage to serve as one of your prime themes during the rest of 2023. It comes from poet Jane Shore. She writes, “Now I feel I am learning how to grow into the space I was always meant to occupy, into a self I can know.” Dear Taurus, you will have the opportunity to grow ever-more assured and self-possessed as you embody Shore’s description in the coming months. Congratulations in advance on the progress you will make to more fully activate your soul’s code.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Georges Rouault (1871-1958) was a Gemini painter who bequeathed the world over 3,000 works of art. There might have been even more. But years before he died, he burned 315 of his unfinished paintings. He felt they were imperfect, and he would never have time or be motivated to finish them. I think the coming weeks would be a good time for you to enjoy a comparable purge, Gemini. Are there things in your world that don’t mean much to you anymore and are simply taking up space? Consider the possibility of freeing yourself from their stale energy.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Britain occupied India for almost 200 years. It was a ruthless and undemocratic exploitation that steadily drained India’s wealth and resources. Mahatma Gandhi wasn’t the only leader who fought British oppression, but he was among the most effective. In 1930, he led a 24-day, 240-mile march to protest the empire’s tyrannical salt tax. This action was instrumental in energizing the Indian independence movement that ultimately culminated in India’s freedom. I vote to make Gandhi one of your inspirational role models in the coming months. Are you ready to launch a liberation project? Stage a constructive rebellion? Martial the collaborative energies of your people in a holy cause?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): As crucial as it is to take responsibility, it is also essential to recognize where our responsibilities end and what should be left for others to do. For example, we usually shouldn’t do work for other people that they can just as easily do for themselves. We shouldn’t sacrifice doing the work that only we can do and get sidetracked doing work that many people can do. To be effective and to find fulfillment in life, it’s vital for us to discover what truly needs to be within our care and what should be outside of our care. I see the coming weeks as a favorable time for you to clarify the boundary between these two.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo-born Marie Laveau (1801–1881) was a powerful Voodoo priestess, herbalist, activist and midwife in New Orleans. According to legend, she could walk on water, summon clairvoyant visions, safely suck the poison out of a snake’s jowls and cast spells to help her clients achieve their heart’s desires. There is also a wealth of more tangible evidence that she was a community activist who healed the sick, volunteered as an advocate for prisoners, provided free teachings and did rituals for needy people who couldn’t pay her. I hereby assign her to be your inspirational role model for the coming weeks. I suspect you will have extra power to help people in both mysterious and practical ways.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): What are the best methods to exorcize our personal demons, ghosts and goblins? Or at least subdue them and neutralize their ill effects? We all have such phantoms at work in our psyches, corroding our confidence and undermining our intentions. One approach I don’t recommend is to get mad at yourself for having these interlopers. Never do that. The demons’ strategy, you see, is to manipulate you into being mean and cruel to yourself. To drive them away, I suggest you shower yourself with love and kindness. That seriously reduces their ability to trick you and hurt you—and may even put them into a deep sleep. Now is an excellent time to try this approach.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): As she matured, Scorpio poet Sylvia Plath wrote, “I am learning how to compromise the wild dream ideals and the necessary realities without such screaming pain.” I believe you’re ready to go even further than Plath was able to, dear Scorpio. In the coming weeks, you could not merely “compromise” the wild dream ideals and the necessary realities. You could synergize them and get them to collaborate in satisfying ways. Bonus: I bet you will accomplish this feat without screaming pain. In fact, you may generate surprising pleasures that delight you with their revelations.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Some primates use herbal and clay medicines to self-medicate. Great apes, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas ingest a variety of ingredients that fight against parasitic infection and help relieve various gastrointestinal disturbances. (More info: tinyurl.com/PrimatesSelfMedicate.) Our ancestors learned the same healing arts, though far more extensively. And many Indigenous people today still practice this kind of self-care. With these thoughts in mind, Sagittarius, I urge you to spend quality time in the coming weeks deepening your understanding of how to heal and nurture yourself. The kinds of “medicines” you might draw on could be herbs, and may also be music, stories, colors, scents, books, relationships and adventures.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The mythic traditions of all cultures are replete with tales of clashes and combats. If we draw on these tales to deduce what activity humans enjoy more than any other, we might conclude that it’s fighting with each other. But I hope you will avoid this normal habit as much as possible during the next three weeks, Capricorn. I am encouraging you to actively repress all inclinations to tangle. Just for now, I believe you will cast a wildly benevolent magic spell on your mental and physical health if you avoid arguments and skirmishes. Here’s a helpful tip: In each situation you’re involved in, focus on sustaining a vision of the most graceful, positive outcome.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Is there a person who could serve as your Über Mother for a while? This would be a wise and tender maternal ally who gives you the extra nurturing you need, along with steady doses of warm, crisp advice on how to weave your way through your labyrinthine decisions. Your temporary Über Mother could be any gender, really. They would love and accept you for exactly who you are, even as they stoke your confidence to pursue your sweet dreams about the future. Supportive and inspirational. Reassuring and invigorating. Championing you and consecrating you.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Congratulations on acquiring the Big New Riddle! I trust it will inspire you to grow wiser and kinder and wilder over the coming months. I’ve compiled some clues to help you unravel and ultimately solve this challenging and fascinating mystery. 1. Refrain from calling on any strength that’s stingy or pinched. Ally yourself solely with generous power. 2. Avoid putting your faith in trivial and irrelevant “benefits.” Hold out for the most soulful assistance. 3. The answer to key questions may often be, “Make new connections and enhance existing connections.”

Mr. Bungle, Redux Edition

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Mr. Bungle, Redux Edition

​​Trevor Dunn of the seminal NorCal metal band on then and now

The Eureka-bred, avante-metal band Mr. Bungle cut its vicious, vampire teeth on the stages of the North Bay. The wacky funk-ska-metal beast that is Mr. Bungle is no longer creating layered and intensely original sounds as they did on their three albums of the ’90s. Nah, these fuckers came to thrash.

Mr. Bungle was started in high school by a trio of friends. When lead singer Mike Patton helped lead Faith No More to commercial success, Bungle was signed to Warner Bros. Not a subsidiary, no; the young freaks were suddenly labelmates of Van Halen and other giants.

The band’s experimental noisecore is my happy place, so I was thrilled, honored and all but moved to tears to interview Mr. Bungle and Fantomas bassist Trevor Dunn in advance of their upcoming show.

Giotis: The set on this tour is drawn from your very first demo, which is much different than the sound that defined Mr. Bungle in the ’90s. It’s an 4-track, almost death metal demo that you are now playing with the finest metal instrumentalists around. What’s it like to return to your origins like that? How did it come about?

Trevor Dunn: “We always thought it would be cool to revisit this with, like, the people it was written for essentially, like Scott Ian of Anthrax and Dave Lombardo of Slayer (also in Fantomas with Dunn and Patton). We were 100% listening to ’80s metal back then, so we thought, hey man, why not go back to the motherland for this?”

Giotis: That demo (the recently re-recorded ‘The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny’) was recorded in high school. How did that turn into a career?

Dunn: “[In the] late ’80s, we [got] more serious about the band, and we started making road trips down to San Francisco, opening for Primus. We’d go down to the Phoenix [in Petaluma] and Guerneville to play the River Theater there and small clubs in San Francisco.”

Giotis: When you were playing places like the Phoenix and The River Theater, you were building a sound on the backs of giants like Slayer and Anthrax. Now the most lauded members of those bands play with you. What’s it like playing with your idols?

Dunn: “I remember…that Patton and I were like, man, we haven’t played metal in a while; let’s start a metal band. [He] went home and wrote all these pieces that became Fantomas. Then one day, he was just kind of like staring at his record collection [and was] like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to call Dave Lombardo and Buzz Osborne.’ We didn’t know either of them at the time, and I was like, you know, ‘Good luck with that man.’

“I remember the first rehearsal in the room with Dave Lombardo blasting a double bass drum, just thinking this is insane, what the hell am I doing here, man? Like, that’s the sound of those records that I’ve been listening to, you know?

“By this time, I’ve spent a lot of time with Dave over the years; we’ve become friends. I got over being starstruck; this guy’s a human being like everyone else. No, well, it’s questionable because he’s part animal somewhere.”

Giotis: Like Animal, Muppets Animal.

Dunn: “Yeah, exactly, that kind of animal.”

Giotis: So my wife says that the way she’ll know I’m an imposter is if she comes home and I’m blasting Red Hot Chili Peppers. Then something is terribly wrong.

Dunn: “[Laughing] Hopefully, she’ll put you out of your misery.”

Giotis: Bungle and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers have a long standing beef that is legendary in the alternative funk thrash world. It was kind of one-sided, wasn’t it?

Dunn: “They’re such bullies; they really bullied us bad. They’re this multi-million dollar band that is still annoyed by us. Is Bungle really hurting their sales? I don’t think so. It affected us, personally, financially. They should be happy for spreading their hatred.”

RABBIT Mr. Bungle performing ‘The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny.’ Photo by Eric Larsen
Dunn then mentioned the uncompromising Nick Cave, quoted in the ’00s saying, “I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”
Giotis: Bungle is known for some pretty shocking shenanigans onstage. Can you just verify for me that I saw Mike Patton drink piss on stage at the New Year’s Eve show opening for Primus in ’92?

Dunn: “Yeah, some kid threw a shoe up on stage and Patton peed into it. And then basically poured it over his head and drank it; it was disgusting.

Giotis: No, [laughing] it was beautiful, man; that meant the world to us. Pretty sure that was my first Bungle show. Somehow at that point, you were already on Warner Bros?

Dunn: “The only reason Warner Bros kept us around was because they had hopes that we were going to write a Faith No More type of hit, which was obviously never going to happen. But the thing is they never paid any attention to us. They weren’t breathing down our necks to put out records; they weren’t checking to see what our music was like; we had total freedom. They’d give us like a hundred grand to make a record, and we’d spend it all, and if we had any left over we’d buy some gear, you know?”

Giotis: The indie-metal label Ipecac out of Oakland is the organizer of this label showcase tour, the “Geek Show.” How is it working with Ipecac, which also releases music for your bands Fantomas and Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant?

Dunn: “It’s very grassroots. I think there’s three people now, maybe four involved with the label. In the less than 10 years [we were at Warner Bros], so many hands changed. Every time we put out a record, no one at the label knew who we were. Like, ‘What band is this?’ [So in] terms of Ipecac as a label, it’s like if you have questions, you want to know what’s going on, you want to know how many records are selling, you want to know what the figures are, you just call them up. It’s great; it’s a relationship, you know?”

Giotis: A bit like coming home.

Dunn: “Exactly.”

Mr. Bungle plays with Melvins and Spotlights on May 23 (sold out) and 24 in Oakland at the Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave. Tickets available through Ticketmaster or at thefoxoakland.com/listing.

Petaluma Copperfield’s Books workers win union election

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Petaluma Copperfield’s Books workers win union election

Just in time for Independent Bookstore Day (April 29) and May Day (May 1), workers at Copperfield’s Books Petaluma voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing last week.

In a social media post following the Friday, April 28 vote, the Copperfield’s Books Petaluma Union stated, “Needless to say, we are ecstatic about the outcome of this election. We’re all so proud of the effort and hard work we’ve put in, but there’s still much to be done.”

The election came a month and a half after workers first announced their intention to join the Bay Area chapter of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). In early March, several workers from the Petaluma store hand delivered a letter to the company’s headquarters in Sebastopol requesting immediate, voluntary recognition of the union. Management denied the request, opting for an official election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) instead.

As previously reported by the Bohemian, pro-union workers referenced low pay, inadequate healthcare benefits and a lack of clarity on how to respond to discrimination by customers as issues they hope to address.

A statement released by Copperfield’s days before the election reads in part, “While we respect our Petaluma employees’ right to unionize, we strongly believe that the company will be just as good a place to work without the need for a union. We believe that management has continuously demonstrated care for our employees, and we think creating a division between Management and Booksellers may be detrimental to our team.”

When the ballots were counted, workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the union by a margin of 13-2. As of the Bohemian’s Monday print deadline, the NLRB had not officially signed off on the vote but, Paul Jaffe, Copperfield’s Books president, said in a statement that the company would not contest the result.

“We are satisfied with the election results, and the NLRB seems to have done a very good job handling the mechanics of the election. We have always said we would honor the decisions of the employees, and we have no known reason to challenge the results,” Jaffe wrote on Sunday.

Copperfield's Books Petaluma Union - March 11, 2023
LAUNCH PARTY Copperfield’s workers and supporters pose with Coppycat, the union’s mascot, at a Saturday, March 11 event. Photo courtesy of Copperfield’s Books Petaluma Union

With the election done, the two sides will head into bargaining to figure out the details and ultimately agree on a contract.

First up is determining who is eligible to join the union. Copperfield’s management has contested whether three workers can be part of the union. They contend that those employees, two assistant managers and a senior bookseller, are ineligible for union membership due to their work duties. The union argues they should be eligible. The three contested employees all voted in favor of the union on Friday, but their votes would only be counted if the vote had been close enough to require a tie-breaker.

There is also some healing to be done. Both sides acknowledged that some hard feelings developed during the short election campaign.

The election makes Copperfield’s Petaluma store the latest independent bookstore to unionize over the past few years as part of a nationwide upsurge of labor organizing.

Copperfield’s currently has nine stores spread across Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties. The union vote only applies to the Petaluma location.

In the past week, Copperfield’s has posted two statements about the union campaign on its website. The union’s updates are available on their social media pages.

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Petaluma Copperfield’s Books workers win union election

Photo by qmikolaj/Unsplash
Just in time for Independent Bookstore Day (April 29) and May Day (May 1), workers at Copperfield’s Books Petaluma voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing last week. In a social media post following the Friday, April 28 vote, the Copperfield’s Books Petaluma Union stated, “Needless to say, we are ecstatic about the outcome of this election. We’re all so proud...
Read more
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