By Julie Horner
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Santa IS Real! Vince Tuzzi on Being Santa in the Cruz
“People have asked me…What does it look like inside Roaring Camp’s Holiday Lights Train? I tell them, “Magical!” For those of you who are around my age, you’d remember the TV series Wild Wild West. That’s how this train looks inside.”Vince Tuzzi has been Santa Claus for over 40 years. He was the first Clause for the City of Santa Cruz Parks and Rec back in the day, and if you contacted the city, he would go to your house for $25 to spend half an hour with your kids. The city eventually dropped the program, but Vince ran with it. Little known fact: “When I go to Hawaii, I wear red shorts,” he says. “Once you get the bite, you have to live with the sting. That’s what guitar players always say.”A Santa with several hats, Vince is a familiar sight throughout Santa Cruz County and aboard Roaring Camp’s Holiday Lights Train, which runs every year late November until the weekend before Christmas. Vince also heads up the local band, Cruz Control, which plays regularly at Casa Nostra, the Felton Farmers Market, and first Wednesdays of the month at the Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup. Digging a little further back, for 10 years Vince and his wife of 45 years, Margie, ran hot dog stand, Paradise Dogs, a Santa Cruz institution still in business at the entrance to the wharf. He’s even worked the craft of embalmer at a funeral home. “After completing basic training in the Army, I had a realization: I was a young guy but couldn’t go back home – I had to do something. I saw a sign at this funeral home that they were hiring. I worked there for four years and handled 300 cases. I always wanted to be a doctor. I thought it would be cool – I did autopsies and everything. I learned a lot, it was a very special time.Cruz Control, he says, started as friends at the Ukulele club of Santa Cruz (Vince is a founding member). We were playing gigs together and people said why don’t you start a band? The band is Stan Parola on acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, ukulele, banjolele, mandolin, and vocals; Gary “Sweet Pea” Cunningham on standup and electric bass, vocals, and ukulele; and Vince takes the lead vocal and rhythm guitar. Stan’s wife, Debi Parola, contributed to the idea for the band name.“We’re pretty lucky. We’re all retired. Our sound…I can’t tell you…we just click. We have the salad, and we like to add the ingredients.” They frequently have people sit in – Patti Maxine (lap steel, bamboo lap guitar), Matt Bohn (standup bass), Dan Frechette (guitar), Jerry Whitney (electric bass), Wendy Treat (guitar, uke), and Tom Leitzki (percussion) among others. They play weddings, reunions, private parties and do songs from John Prine, Guy Clark, Neil Young, the Traveling Wilburys, to name a few. “It’s a lot of fun.”“Our big break came one night when Sheri Austin was supposed to play at Don Quixote’s in Felton. Turned out they had to cancel but they said, ‘you gotta try this band, Cruz Control.’ Tom Miller called and said how about a gig up at Don Q’s and we wound up playing there five times. To this day we have Sherry to thank for that.” Vince started out as a drummer. “I noticed that all the guitar players after the gig would put their guitars in the case, grab the chick, and leave. I’d be stuck taking down my kit. So, I got a tennis racket and made marks on the handle and taught myself how to play guitar.” “We just enjoy playing – there’s no delusions of grandeur, we’re past all of that. I’ve been playing for at least 50 years.” Vince has recorded three CDs, available by contacting him directly or by finding him playing with the band around the Santa Cruz area.I helped get the Uke Club started in 2002. We got to be so many people, I thought, what if we start a branch-off group and go down to the yacht harbor and call our-selves Sons of the Beach. So, on Saturday mornings from 10:00 to 11:30 we sit on the beach and play – the beach by the Crow’s Nest. Third Thursdays is the regular Uke Club at 7:00 at Bocci’s Cellar. Sunday mornings, there’s the Capitola Ukulele Players from 10:00 to 11:30 at the Capitola Esplanade.”What does Santa do on Sunday mornings? He plays his ukulele on the beach in Capitola with the Capitola Ukulele Players! And you should hear him sing!!!! What a voice! Mele Kalikimaka, Vince Tuzzi! Mahalo for your kindness.More about Vince Tuzzi: www.vincetuzzi.com | Cruz Control: www.facebook.com/Cruz-Con-trol | Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz: www.facebook.com/UkuleleClubOfSantaCruz | Holiday Lights Train: www.roaringcamp.com/events/holiday_Lights | New Tech Meetup: www.face-book.com/santacruznewtech-meetup
