Davisville

“Guitar Mac” MacKnally has played dozens of times in Davis since the 1980s—if you go often to the Farmers Market, you've probably seen him there. On today's show we talk about different kinds of blues, playing in Davis, the sounds he gets from his 1930s steel guitar, and more. "The blues is truth, you know," he says after talking about his sad love song I'm Guilty. "From everyday in life."

Today we present the second half of our interview with Bernard Marks, who survived internment in the Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps when he was a child (here’s part 1). Now in his 80s, he often talks to students in Davis and elsewhere about his experiences. Today we pick up the conversation with his months at Dachau, where his existence was much worse; followed by his life after he came to America, the information he wants students to know, and the questions they ask.

Paul Boylan, a Davis attorney, was going to run for Davis City Council this June, then needed to withdraw from the race. This created a chance for me to talk with someone who had done the homework to run for office, and has shown a preference for plain talk in his comments on the Davis Vanguard, but now wouldn’t need to couch his opinions in the usually careful language of a political campaign. We talk about political donations, transparency, putting sin taxes on the ballot, increasing the visibility of police officers on weekend nights downtown, and what he means when he says Davis’ problems derive from its success.

Today’s guest is Lindsay Rubin, who founded the social group Vegans of Davis when she moved here after college about three years ago. We talk about the group, three main reasons people adopt a vegan or vegetarian diet, why many who do drift away from it, and why she believes it’s wrong to eat eggs even when they’re from a chicken you take good care of in your own backyard.