A bunch of folks turned out Friday night at the Felton Community Hall to learn about independent media, support Felton Free Radio, and watch good movies. Plus, there was old-timey music to dance along with!

The event with Ralph Nader was a smashing success

It’s a counterculture classic, Dr. Bronner’s liquid peppermint soap. I remember first using it at the Love Israel “Family’s� Welcome Inn, in Seattle, Wa., in the late 1970’s. While I was being introduced to all kinds of new ideas and lifestyles at the time, it seemed only fitting that our cosmetics were becoming more natural in ingredients as well. Bronner’s peppermint soap stood out because never before had I used a soap with a peppermint smell (and feel, in its case). I remember Tom’s anise flavored toothpaste was another one of those flavors we had not previously associated with that product up until the late 1970’s. Up until then, toothpastes had been about mint, and soap had not. Dr. Bronner’s also had an alluring little bottle that was absolutely crammed with words from Dr. Bronner, who at times waxed poetic, and at others, waxed lunatic. (Once I called the phone number on the bottle in the 1980’s and Dr. Bronner himself answered and we had a long talk that was quite crazy. Thereafter he mailed me a sampler of things I never knew he made. His product range was bizarre and wide.) In the Source Family, one of the big jokes was getting caught reading the Bronner’s bottle for the umpteenth time! The claimed uses for Bronner’s soaps have been tested by me and my friends over the decades and I am here to testify to which uses really work. For instance, have you tried brushing your teeth with peppermint Bronner’s soap as the label suggests? Don’t!

Anyone dabbling in the small press will hear chimes ring to the name of William Taylor, Jr. who will be reading at the Wired Wash Café Open Mic in Santa Cruz from his latest chapbook, The Bones of Things and other selections beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, January 28th. All are welcome and admission is free.

A mysterious mystic from the East, and esteemed Wise man visits the City Council meeting, but can't find a quorum to hear him.