Evan Blix – weaned on Harry Nilsson and the Beatles and formerly of the songcentric band Glenn Annie – is singing his own lovely tune, P.14
Chris Walden’s Full Circle
He’s worked with McCartney and Rihanna (et al!), has scored more than 40 films, and is orchestrator for the Oscars and the Kennedy Center Honors. Now It’s Walden Time, P.30
Kevin Costner to appear with his band Modern West, P. 31
5 In Business – Ramon Velázquez brings his Michelinflavored magic to the Montecito Country Mart
6
Montecito Miscellany – NetJets Pacific Coast Open; model Behati Prinsloo; golf fundraiser; Priscilla’s birthday; Prince Harry’s travels; Rancho del Cielo diets; Yellowstone melodrama; Gwyneth Paltrow on screen; and Mary Garton, RIP.
8 Beings and Doings – Daily Life can seem ordinary, with its yapping dogs, root canals, and airport sandwiches. Don’t be lulled by this fabulous lie
10 Letters to the Editor – Hattie is justly praised, Miramar basks in the lovefest, Lester Young plays “Stardust,” and Trump rolls over the Elites Tide Chart
11 News Bytes – SB Sea Glass and Ocean Arts Festival; 9/11 remembrance ceremony; Back to School Supplies Drive; and CAL FIRE wildfire prevention measures
In Passing – Following a life of energizing travel and deep family love, longtime Santa Barbara resident Gray Bauer passed away Aug. 23 at the age of 84 14
Montecito’s Own – Local musician Evan Blix goes from Grateful Dead cover band to Glenn Annie before going solo with a single and tour
16 Your Westmont – Alum offers wildlife art in new museum exhibition; students eat up new Dining Commons’ renovations; and book awardee to offer a talk
18 Montecito Health Coach – As the mother of teens, Deann Zampelli delves into the dynamic of bullying “Mean Girl Behavior,” which is still happening at all ages with lingering impact
20 Robert’s Big Questions – A look at the climate crisis - and those who believe in protecting the environment but don’t act accordingly while ignoring scientific evidence
22 Society Invites – It’s never too early to speculate and plan for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, as Montecito and L.A. executives sound off about the fabled Games people play
24 Elizabeth’s Appraisals – In the bag: Elizabeth’s typically fascinating look at the evolution of Chinese needlework and Petit Point stitch, dating back centuries
25 Stories Matter – Reviewer Leslie Zemeckis thumbs through seven gripping page-turners, including a teen tragedy, an Icelandic mystery, an action thriller and must-read memoir
26 Brilliant Thoughts – Ashleigh’s free-range essay on Togetherness interweaves the emotional, anthropological, and penitential aspects of solitude – and its opposite
28 Foraging Thyme – Enjoy the bounty of the season with this blackberry-chili-glazed tofu recipe, rich in vitamin C and additional benefits
30 On Entertainment – Chris Walden gets his strings, Costner rocks his own backyard, Shakespeare by moonlight … Libowitz has you covered!
32 The Optimist Daily – When it comes to solar power and sustainability, the Lone Star State and Enel North America stand at the forefront with agrivoltaics and thousands of grazing sheep
36 Calendar of Events – Tango Bardo at the Lobero; ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara!; John Seigel-Boettner’s sons make a documentary; and a “Pooch” tribute at UCSB.
38 Classifieds – Our own “Craigslist” of classified ads
39 Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles
Local Business Directory – Smart business owners place business cards
In Business
Executive Chef Ramon Velázquez Opens
Alma Fonda Fina Restaurant in Montecito
story and photos by Joanne A Calitri
Executive Chef and a 2024 California Michelin Bib Gourmand winner, Ramon Velázquez has opened his restaurant Alma Fonda Fina in the Montecito Country Mart.
To celebrate, Velázquez held a Labor Day weekend soft opening from Saturday, August 31 through Monday, September 2. Taking Tuesday and Wednesday off, Alma is officially open on Thursday, September 5.
I arrived at the restaurant for its Saturday opening and was greeted by Alma Supervisor Brandon Velázquez and Operations Manager Andres Velasco at their outside reception desk. The buzz on the sidewalk had many locals – along with happily surprised tourists – taking a seat for the fine dining offerings.
I spoke with Velasco, who explained that the menu will be changed weekly, featuring locally sourced food and ingredients. All food is prepared fresh at the restaurant and served family style. The onsite Head Chef is Alan Alva, assisted by a full staff of prep and sous-chefs.
Velázquez has positioned Alma Fonda Fina as the sister restaurant to his Michelin Bib Award Winning restaurant Corazon Cocina, located in Santa Barbara’s Public Market downtown.
He and I talked about this new jewel he has added to his restaurateur business:
MJ: Tell us about the special touches of Alma Fonda Fina you have created. Ramon Velazquez : “The menu is designed for Alma, and Fonda Fina means small restaurant with fine food. It is very familiar and approachable, serving local ingredients, seasonal sustainable fish, and the flavors of Mexico. The idea is for you to be on vacation, to be transported to a place in Mexico with the food and the beaches.
We take a lot of pride in sourcing organic non-GMO blue corn from Oaxaca, Mexico for our tortillas. The restaurant space formerly was Little Alex’s. We wanted to make our restaurant more refined, the way people like to eat in Montecito; organic, lighter, healthier, and at the same time feel like they are eating a great meal in Mexico.”
Is your mom, Imelda Saldivar-Hernandez, going to help out here as she is doing at Corazon Cocina?
“Yes and no. Originally, she was, but she is dedicated to our downtown restaurant which is inspired by her recipes, her cooking, and the markets in downtown Mexico. Alma is not
In Business Page 304
[from left] Alma’s Chef Alan Alva and Owner/ Executive Chef Ramon Velázquez.
Alma Fonda Fina Operations Manager Andres Velasco with the team on opening day.
Montecito Miscellany Open Season at SB Polo Club, Where the Antelope Play
by Richard Mineards
Social gridlock reigned supreme when more than 4,000 equestrian fans descended on the Santa Barbara Polo Club for the biggest match of the season –the NetJets Pacific Coast Open. Grant Palmer, son of Los Angeles real estate tycoon Geoff Palmer, and his team
Antelope led right from the opening chukker against real estate investor Ben Soleimani’s Carbenella players with the hotly contested game 7-3 at halftime, then 8-3, 8-4, 8-5 in the fourth and fifth chukkers with Antelope – Felipe Vercellino, Leon Schwencke and Lucas Escobar – drawing away even further in the final chukker 12-7, 13-7, and finally garnering their first PCO victory 14-8.
“It was absolutely amazing with the score changing every few minutes,” exclaimed club manager David Sigman “The excitement was palpable!”
The team then picked up one of the biggest trophies in sport, the gold and
Miscellany Page 124
Riding to make a goal is Lucas Escobar but with interference and the final strike by Felipe Vercellino adding to the winning score (photo by Priscilla)
Celebrating The NetJets Pacific Coast Open Final Polo Champions are: Antelope Polo Team Lucas Escobar, Leon Schwencke, Felipe Vercellino, and Grant Palmer (photo by Priscilla)
Andria Kahmann with fiancé John Raymont and Tanya Thicke (photo by Priscilla)
Jennifer Cheyne with Jane Lynch and Allison Paolino and Megyn Price celebrating Kimi’s Birthday (photo by Priscilla)
Linda Rosso, Farmers and Merchants’ Host Dan Walker, and Steven Rosso (photo by Priscilla)
VIRTUAL MEET THE DOCTOR
Understanding Epilepsy Causes, Diagnosis and Treatments
Michael Gibbs, MD, MPH Epileptologist Medical Director, Cottage Epilepsy Center
There are many aspects of epilepsy to understand – from identifying causes to recognizing types and implementing treatment with medication or surgery.
Please join this virtual discussion with Dr. Michael Gibbs to learn how new techniques are improving patient outcomes.
Causes and Symptoms | Diagnosis and Treatment Options | Q & A
Tuesday, September 24 | 4 - 5 p.m.
REGISTER AT: cottagehealth.org/neuromtd
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History will host an Open House for volunteer Museum educators on Tuesday, September 10, 10:00–11:30 AM for anyone interested in leading school groups on field trips at the Museum. Come learn about new and continuing volunteer opportunities at the Museum and Sea Center and get a chance to meet and mingle with our stellar group of Museum Educators.
New Museum educators commit to attending training classes on Tuesdays 10:00–11:30 AM, plus one additional weekday morning to shadow experienced educators or lead tours when ready.
For more information, visit www.sbnature.org/volunteer or contact School Programs Manager Jessica Prichard at jprichard@sbnature2.org.
Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Beings & Doings
What is the Past, and Why?
by Jeff Wing
Our friends were out of town and had graciously loaned us their home while ours was being bombed for termites—a species we’ve completely conquered in the Darwinian Race To the Top ® , except for the poison-filled circus tents we’re occasionally obliged to flee with our belongings. On the third day the tent was removed and that night we returned home with our stuff, victorious. We win this round, you dumb bugs! We were couch-sprawled and glad to be home. A few vanquished termites lay here and there about the place in chitinous repose—little Xs for eyes and tiny legs aimed skyward, like in a Warner Bros cartoon. I pondered the penetrating mystery of living things and got the broom.
I realized with horror we’d left our fish, a mirror-hating Betta, on our friend’s porch up there in the darkling foothills. I pictured the poor creature adrift in his bowl, terrified and helpless in a strange neighborhood, pressed in-upon by the dome of densely packed stars, besieged by an advancing circle of jackals, lemurs, fish-desiring impala, and other ravenous creatures of the Santa Barbara bestiary. I drove like Vin Diesel or someone up into the hilly suburbs and nabbed the little guy, placing the partially drained bowl on the dark passenger-side floor. Coming home, I made a centrifugally ill-advised
u-turn in front of our condo and in my darkened car the fishbowl slid and overturned, the contents loudly fanning out under the passenger seat with a sound like a course slushy being hurled along a sidewalk. “Hhhaaaauugghhh!!” I cried. Soon enough I was gingerly pawing through fishbowl gravel on the soaked floorboard of my car with one hand, holding aloft my glaring cell phone light with the other. My daughter had heard me screech to a stop and ran out to see what was happening. “Where the hell is the fish?!” I screamed at her over my shoulder. She took a half-step back. “Dad…it’s okay.” I imagined our Betta suffocating and confused and frightened. I madly searched for him as a tipsy divorcé might search for a desiccated boutonniére.
I found him in a remote corner of the underseat—out of his element and surreal as a Duchamp in the blare of my cell phone light. Outside the watery, magnifying environment of his bowl he looked like a matte-finished purple apostrophe. Standing on his tail like Flipper, he was covered with car-filth and leaning against a greasy black spring of some kind. He was alive and his fishfrown had deepened. I felt a flood of relief I can neither explain nor describe, and broke into an idiotic, teary smile. His little silver eye moved minutely in its socket and fixed me with a stare as if to say “Oh, hello jackass”. This life is piercing.
Beings & Doings Page 334
Picture this beautiful creature covered with filth and grousing under a car seat (photo by Peak Hora for Wiki Commons)
Goodwin & Thyne Proudly Supports
Locally supporting our local heroes. One805, co-founded by John J Thyne III, is a 501(c)(3) public charity supporting fire, police, and sheriff first responders in Santa Barbara County. Since the 2018 Thomas Fire and ensuing mudslides, the organization has raised millions for equipment, safety enhancements, and counseling services for first responders.
One805 also hosts Santa Barbara’s largest annual nonprofit event. This year’s One805Live! on September 20, 2024, will be hosted by Kevin Costner and feature performances by Pink, Kenny Loggins, Alan Parsons, The Santa Barbara Symphony, and more.
To Learn More Visit One805.org Corporate Sponsorship Opportunities still available at info@one805.org
Letters to the Editor
The Way it Was
Historian Hattie Beresford’s most recent The Way It Was column, about Andrew Carnegie’s 1910 visit to Santa Barbara and the civic good works of his associates, Charles Lewis Taylor and Henry Smith Pritchett, was a winner. Ms. Beresford’s work is consistently educational and enjoyable — a reliable, welcome gem among the din of real estate hyperbole and frothy, pro-monarchist social chatter about our “rarified enclave” and its proximity (a “tiara’s toss”) to the doings of the great and near-great often sighted in Montecito.
I congratulate executive editor Gwyn Lurie and her predecessor, Jim Buckley, for their long, consistent support of Ms. Beresford’s work. She and her historian-colleagues (the Graffy siblings, Betsy Green, John Woodward, Mary Louise Days , Michael Redmond , Willard Thompson and the miracle workers at Montecito’s public library and historical institutions) perform well the colorful but sometimes gritty task of telling us from where we came so that we might have a better focus on where we should be heading.
Bill MacKinnon Independent Historian
Welcome Retail Elegance
I am excited by the Miramar proposal to add some shops and green spaces to the already elegant buildings. I think it will be a great addition for locals to enjoy some high-end shopping as well as for the hotel residents. I am sure the project will be very elegant as Caruso always achieves.
Sheila Herman and Dr Richard Sibthorpe
Miramarvelous
The Miramar Hotel has made a positive impact on Montecito. As with his other properties, Caruso has consistently shown a commitment to quality and community, and their latest plans are no exception. We recently attended a community meeting where Caruso presented the plans for the upcoming additions. They have taken great care to present these plans, get feedback, and include the neighbors in the planning. This commitment to community involvement is much appreciated. Adding 26 affordable housing units for employees, alongside 8 market-rate units, is a thoughtful response to our housing needs, especially given the state’s requirements. This housing means three-quarters of the total apartments proposed will be affordable. That’s pretty unheard-of from a private developer. The inclusion of green spaces and boutique shops will make The Miramar even more vibrant. With the Caruso team’s track record and reputation for quality, we believe this will be a welcome addition to this wonderful property.
Andrea and Ron Hein
Lester
Relax, relax with the girl of your dreams When you kiss her cheek, it’s more than it seems
How slow and perfect that setting sun Does anyone play “Stardust” like Lester Young?
Two people together walk the world as one The way it had always been planned Those double-helix living strands Bind us together, the fated sticky web ready spun Some days you’re the hammer
And other days the nail
What difference could it possibly make When it is your voice that greets meLittle Ice Cream Cake Reminding me that love is so strong And trouble so frail
Henry J Ohrtman
Trumping the Elites
My reasons for choosing our next president hinge on the candidate’s policies regarding these issues:
1) preserving free speech, 2) ending limitless wars, and
3) securing our borders.
For me, the choice is clear: Donald Trump Harris was selected by her party’s elites.
Trump won his party’s selection. The difference is stark: one party’s philosophy is authoritarian, the other’s is democratic. Trump managed a very healthy economy before COVID-19. Harris / Biden have sponsored inflation, border chaos and an unbridled fentanyl crossing. Trump secured the landmark Abraham Accords while Harris/Biden have emboldened Iran by removing the financial straightjacket imposed by Trump.
The RFK, Jr. choice to leave the Democrat Party speaks volumes; it was his home and his family’s legacy. Trump and Kennedy have melded two important issues that Harris refused to discuss and engage. All other issues matter little to me. We have an ineffectual Congress. A blind Justice Department.
We now have had more abortions subsequent to the SC reversal of Roe v. Wade. (Why does the Democrat Party continue to choose to abort more Black babies in the name of a woman’s choice? Seems like the ghost of Sanger’s eugenics to me.)
Our Constitution needs to be defended: Trump again!
Account Managers | Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Elizabeth Scott, Natasha Kucherenko
Contributing Editor | Kelly Mahan Herrick
Copy Editor | Lily Buckley Harbin
Proofreading | Helen Buckley
Arts and Entertainment | Steven Libowitz
Contributors | Scott Craig, Ashleigh Brilliant, Kim Crail, Tom Farr, Chuck Graham, Stella Haffner, Mark Ashton Hunt, Dalina Michaels, Robert Bernstein, Christina Atchison, Leslie Zemeckis, Sigrid Toye, Elizabeth Stewart, Amélie Dieux, Houghton Hyatt, Jeff Wing
Gossip | Richard Mineards
History | Hattie Beresford
Humor | Ernie Witham
Our Town/Society | Joanne A Calitri
Travel | Jerry Dunn, Leslie Westbrook
Food & Wine | Melissa Petitto, Gabe Saglie, Jamie Knee
Published by:
Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC
Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108.
How to reach us: (805) 565-1860; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108; EMAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net
News Bytes A Towering Commemoration
by MJ Staff
The Montecito Fire Department invites the community to join them for a 9/11 remembrance ceremony from 6:55 to 7:05 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11. The Fire Department will host a gathering at Station 91 at 595 San Ysidro Road, as well as Station 92 at 2300 Sycamore Canyon Road. The event will include a bell ringing, a moment of silence, and a lowering of the flag to honor the 2,977 lives lost 23 years ago in Manhattan’s financial district. The Montecito firefighters will ring the station bells at 6:59 a.m. to mark the moment of the South Tower’s collapse on Sept. 11, 2001.
For more information, please visit montecitofire.com.
It Takes a Village to Purchase School Supplies
The non-profit Teacher’s Fund has launched its annual Back to School Supplies Drive, which will run from Aug. 20 to Sept. 20. This year’s goal is to raise $75,000 to purchase educational supplies such as STEM supplies, learning toys, art supplies, electronics, classroom furniture, plus more for teachers and students in the Santa Barbara area. So far, each year’s drive has surpassed its goal, with the 2023 drive bringing in more than $76,000 for kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers in Santa Barbaraarea schools. The Teacher’s Fund is “optimistic that this year our wonderful community will once again step up and help us reach our fundraising goal,” says Brianna Johnson, a realtor for Village Properties and supplies drive committee co-chair. Renee Grubb, the owner of Village Properties, created the fund in 2002, and since then has donated more than $2.1 million to schools in the Santa Barbara area. As schools have faced increasing budget constraints over the years, the Teacher’s Fund allows teachers to request much-needed classroom supplies for the upcoming school years. “I think the Teacher’s Fund is a fantastic nonprofit, because 100% of all donations that are received go directly to our local teachers to purchase items for their classrooms that they would normally have to purchase themselves,” says Teacher’s Fund board member Leanne Wood
In Passing Gray Bauer: Feb. 1, 1940 – Aug. 23, 2024
Gray Bauer, born on Feb. 1, 1940, in Boston, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. Gray spent her final days doing what she loved, laughing, joking and celebrating with her family. Gray was the oldest daughter of Tom and Mary Hartigan. After years of moving around the country, the Hartigan family finally settled in Santa Barbara, where Gray graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1958. She remained a proud resident of Santa Barbara and Summerland for over 70 years.
Gray is survived by her devoted husband of 35 years, Marvin Bauer, her sister, Sharon Winkel, her three children, Tad, Eric, and Dana Dahlke and two step-children, Laura and Andrew Bauer. She is also lovingly remembered by her seven grandchildren – Alex, Tyler, Madison, Isabella, Kyra, Mikaela, and TK – and her great-granddaughter, Harper.
Gray’s passion for life and her deep love for her family are the legacies she leaves behind, evident in all who knew her. Together with Marv, she traveled the world, visiting more than 128 countries, mostly by motorcycle. Her travels influenced her impeccable design taste and remarkable palate for food and cooking. Gray’s children and grand-children are carrying on this passion, traveling to many of these places around the world in her footsteps. Gray brought people together with food, drink, and the most thoughtful personal gifts. She had a unique ability to see you when you couldn’t see yourself, providing unconditional love to the lives of all who crossed her path. Her family encourages everyone to carry forward her spirit of generosity and love.
She will be dearly missed and forever loved by all who knew her.
Arrangements are under the direction of the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, Ventura.
To donate to the Teacher’s Fund, please visit www.tfsuppliesdrive.com between now and Sept. 20. Donors can direct contributions to specific items requested by teachers or submit general donations. Alternatively, individuals and organizations can sponsor the supplies drive, with sponsorship levels starting at $250, which includes social-media mentions, entries for the chance to win prizes, and other recognitions.
For more information or to donate directly to the Teacher’s Fund, visit teachersfund.org.
Sea Glass Half-full
Welcoming lovers of sea glass and ocean-inspired art, the annual Santa Barbara Sea Glass and Ocean Arts Festival will take place on Sept. 14-15 at the Santa Barbara Elks Lodge and events venue. The festival gathers collectors and artists from up and down the coast to display their handcrafted creations with showcases, marketplaces, and education skills workshops for all to enjoy.
silver open trophy, which stands more than 5-feet tall, with the players being awarded replicas of the trophy top.
Dream Team
Behati Prinsloo, wife of Montecito rocker Adam Levine, has gone back in history for her latest modeling assignment for the new Victoria’s Secret collection.
Behati and fellow model Candice Swanepoel posed up a storm at Longleat House in Wiltshire as they promoted the lingerie brand’s Dream collection.
Behati, 36, looked stunning in a white mini dress with jeweled straps.
Longleat is owned by Ceawlin Thynn,
the Marquess of Bath, and dates to the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1.
Absence of Mallets
Mallets were changed for golf clubs when the Santa Barbara Polo Club’s Polo Training Center held its fifth annual tournament at the Sandpiper Golf Club with 76 players raising around $50,000 for the Carpinteria-based facility.
A total of 19 foursomes played in the Farmers & Merchants Bank sponsored event, organized by Mindy Denson, though a BMW for achieving a hole-inone went unclaimed.
“It couldn’t have been a more beautiful
day,” observed Rhys Williams, president.
Patrick Uretz won for nearest shot to the pin, a mere three feet, while Julia Maxwell won for longest drive at 325 yards.
Others hitting the fairways included Henry and Dan Walker, Nolan Nicholson,
Competitors and Sponsors Farmers & Merchants Bank
Nolan Nicholson, Danny Walker, Sep Wolf and Todd Shea (photo by Priscilla)
Santi Wulff, Geronimo Obregon, Chuck and Margarita Lande, Morten Wengler, Piers and Bayne Bossom, Will and Andy Busch, Cory Williams, Santino Magrini, and Jeff and Naima Scheraga.
In Praise of Priscilla
My trusty shutterbug, Priscilla, who just celebrated a major birthday, was lauded at the historic Santa Barbara Club when Maria McCall, founder of Montecito Bank and Trust’s MClub, recounted Priscilla’s most impressive career – including being chosen as Saint Barbara during Fiesta celebrations and, as a licensed pilot, ferrying vital medical aid between the U.S. and Mexico.
The occasion was a lecture by historian Neal Graffy, who is currently working on a book about the club. Graffy was speaking on the establishment of the two-mile prime oceanside estate known as East Beach, which runs from the Andree Clark Bird Refuge – donated in 1928 by her sister Huguette Clark, former resident of nearby historic estate Bellosguardo – to the Cabrillo Pavilion, and ending at Stearns Wharf. The Pavilion cost $200,000 when it was built by philanthropist David Gray in 1926, whose family were early investors in the Ford Motor Company.
Miscellany Page 294
Adam Levine’s wife, Behati Prinsloo, goes historical
Geronimo Obregon, Chuck and Margarita Lande, and Gonzalo Ferri (photo by Priscilla)
Montecito’s Own
Blix Fix: Musician Branches from Glenn Annie to Solo Act
by Ella Catalfimo
Residents of Montecito’s Hedgerow neighbourhood may be closely familiar with the tunes of the Grateful Dead, as, between the years of 2019 and 2021, my garage became the headquarters for my brother Cosmo’s Grateful Dead cover band, Curly & Co., made up of a rowdy posse of high school and college-age boys who, when not on a skate or surfboard, craved to play the sweet melodies of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir. They practiced every day religiously, from 3 pm after school to whenever my mother finished making dinner. Worry not; noise complaints were rare, if non-existent – our street housed a plethora of musicians, directors, and artists in their own right, all excited to hear young people making music from a generation before them.
Eventually, as any band does, Curly & Co. broke apart, leaving young and talented musicians begging for something new. Two of the band members, lead guitarist Luke
Holroyd and drummer turned keyboardist Evan Blix, created a new band called Glenn Annie with Justin Huntsman, Luke Mensink, and later Nate Ward, who went on to release their own album, A Place Called Melody, and graced many stages in the Santa Barbara area and beyond. However, Glenn Annie faced the same fate as Curly & Co. upon deciding to go their separate ways in January of this year. In the same announcement made on the Glenn Annie Instagram page regarding their split, 24-year-old Blix announced that he would continue his musical career as a solo artist. Blix explains that while the band was a great experience for him to work on his songwriting skills, he is excited “to try out different players and have a new sound.”
Blix started his musical journey at the tender age of 10 years old, when he began playing the piano; he then transitioned to drumming when he joined Curly & Co. in high school. Blix wrote songs “just for fun,” but it wasn’t until the young musician graduated from Santa Barbara High School that he took his songwriting seriously. “Music
in general has always been a love of mine,” Blix says. Growing up, his father introduced him to 1960s and ‘70s rock and pop music; artists such as Harry Nilsson and the Beatles influenced the sound he produces now. Blix also draws inspiration from the beauty of Santa Barbara’s natural landscape. Blix explains that Santa Barbara’s music scene is “so small” and that it is easy for people who live in a beachside town to pigeonhole local artists into the Surf Rock category. Blix is dedicated to escaping that impression.
On Aug. 16, Blix released his first solo single, “Poor Annie,” performing it for the first time at Ojai Deer Lodge on release night, along with a few other songs he had written with his former band, Glenn Annie. Blix’s new single, which was produced by Chris Darley at Voyager Studios in Orange County, is melody-driven and takes on a unique sound from the music Glenn Annie released prior; he describes this new sound as “silly” and “tonguein-cheek.” Blix says that “Poor Annie” has been well received by listeners thus far, explaining that his music attracts an age-diverse audience and hopes to make music that is digestible to both an older generation of listeners who grew up with the music Blix was inspired by, as well as a younger generation who can appreciate the music of the past. “It is cool to be able to bridge that gap.”
Blix hopes to release new music soon, with a new single in the next month and an album in the future. For his next adventure, Blix is visiting Europe for the first time to perform at the surf, arts, and music festival Gliding Barnacles in Figueira da Foz, Portugal. Santa Barbara band Queentide will join Blix, and they hope to book more shows around Europe after the festival.
Blix leaves us with a word of advice for young musicians eager to start their musical career: “Stay true to the type of music that you want to make, even if it’s not the most popular. The music that means the most to you will be the most genuine. Unless you actually want to make money, then sell your soul to pop!”
“Poor Annie” is now streaming on all listening platforms. For updates on new music and shows, follow @EvanBlix on Instagram.
Evan Blix released his first solo single, “Poor Annie,” on August 16th.
Your Westmont
Alum Shares Wildlife Art in ‘Fins, Feathers’
by Scott Craig (photos by Brad Elliott)
Alumnus Casey Underwood ’14 has returned to his alma mater to exhibit his diverse talents as an outdoor wildlife artist in “Fins and Feathers: The Art of Casey Underwood” from Aug. 29-Dec. 21 in the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art’s downstairs gallery. Underwood, an illustrator and outdoorsman living in southern Montana, has become one of the more recognizable artists in the outdoor space since he found his niche and began working full time. At Westmont, Underwood’s work was primarily abstract and conceptual, but after graduating, he submitted his intricate illustrations of fish to a gallery in Fort Collins, Colo. Then he spent a year traveling through the American West with the lone goal of fly fishing. As he honed his craft while angling wild steelhead in the Olympic Peninsula, his artwork began to sell and other galleries grew increasingly interested. Today, he frequently collaborates with outdoor recreation industries to create
fishing reels, hunting knives and apparel embellished with his wilderness-inspired designs. He has a growing print collection of more than 100 fish and wildlife species, which convey respect and appreciation for nature.
Underwood grew up in Goleta and was featured in Fly Fisherman magazine in 2021 for designing artwork that corresponds with fresh and saltwater Abel Reels. “A proprietary engraving process has created beautiful, first-of-their-kind reels that will last a lifetime,” wrote Dennis Pastucha in the magazine. “Defining your art and creating a brand of your own is a trait of a talented and savvy artist. Flyfishing culture accepts, encourages and fosters a supportive and appreciative envi-
ronment for those brave souls willing to put their work out to the masses. Casey Underwood is not only a rare talent, he’s an artist and designer who draws you into his interpretation of the natural world with vibrant color and line.”
Warm Reception for Refreshed DC
Returning students created a buzz of excitement when they ventured into the newly renovated Westmont Dining Commons (DC). They were most excited about the adjoining outdoor patio, where workers installed an automatic sliding door from the dining room.
“We have also added two fire pits, multiple heaters, a shade structure and all-new furniture to make the patio more inviting throughout the year,” says Doug Jones, vice president for finance. “Additionally, the work done in El Tejado will increase flexibility in the menu, especially during the late-night hours.”
A dining area within the DC that’s open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., El Tejado bears the name of the original Dwight Murphy estate that Westmont purchased in 1945.
tion of the kitchen represents a remarkable transformation featuring all-new infrastructure.
Honoring Willard Book Awardees
The modernization project – funded mostly by Bon Appetit, the college’s food service provider since 2022 – cost $2.3 million. Bon Appetit contributed $1.8 million, and the Ahmanson Foundation added $500,000.
With new flooring, paint colors and lighting, and additional aesthetic touches in the dining room, the DC appears totally refreshed. “I was excited to see the new color scheme and the outdoor patio,” said David Shiang, president of the student government. “Can’t wait to spend more time with my friends here.”
While less visible, the complete renova-
Michael Stewart Robb, who won the Martin Institute and Dallas Willard Research Center’s Book Award in 2023, will receive the honor and speak in the chapel at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 6, in Murchison Gym. He will discuss key themes from his award-winning book in a Provost’s Lecture, “Dallas Willard and Rational Spirituality: Claiming the Depth and Power of Protestant Spiritual Life,” at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at Hieronymus Lounge in Kerrwood Hall. Robb will sell and sign copies of his book, The Kingdom Among Us: The Gospel According to Dallas Willard, following the lecture. Both events are free and open to the public.
A Christian educator, theologian and founding director of Sanctus: a European Institute for Theology and Spiritual Formation, Robb had to cancel his talk in early February because a large storm triggered evacuation alerts and school closures in Santa Barbara County.
Brandon Rickabaugh and J.P. Moreland have won the 2024 Willard book award for The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism. They are expected to visit campus for the award and will speak about the book on Jan. 15, 2025.
Underwood’s “Gaucho Trout” (courtesy photo)
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place: El Tejado
An automatic sliding door leads to the expanded outdoor patio
Michael Stewart Robb (courtesy photo)
Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College
Montecito Health Coach
Meangirlism: Why This Ancient-Old Practice is Still a Thing
by Deann Zampelli
Over the summer, I read a review on the Mean Girls musical, and the critic was “shocked and saddened” to learn how relevant the themes remained 20 years after the release of the original film. Her words stayed with me for days, maybe even weeks, and returned full circle at the start of this school year.
Having two high schoolers, I am often around quite a few of these odd, wonderful, inspiring, alien-like creatures known as teenagers and have friends with kids the same age, so it only took a few days of school for the stories to be shared. “She was so mean to me in 8th grade.” Or “I don’t think she likes me.” Or “So-and-so asked me to have lunch with them and then blew me off and ignored me.” And the old favorite, “I PROMISE I won’t tell anyone…” For clarification, and to hopefully pre-
vent any gender-specific moral outrage, I do realize that all genders can both experience and perpetrate this kind of bullying, but for the purpose of this piece I am focusing on the old-fashioned sneering, look someone up and down, what are you wearing, “Classic Mean Girl” phenomenon.
I did a video on my Instagram account about this and was overwhelmed by how many people emailed, called, and texted to thank me for bringing it up. While pleased I was speaking to something that resonated with many, I couldn’t help wondering, How is this still a thing in 2024? My own dogs practically cancelled me the other day for calling them “golden” instead of “cream.” Retrievers can be woke.
But Mean Girls? They are somehow still impervious to the cancel culture? And remember, Mean Girls can be any age.
It is probably best to start at the beginning. What is a Mean Girl, anyway?
According to Psychology Today , “Mean Girl Behavior” is a type of bullying and can take many forms: excluding others, taunting, spreading rumors, online harassment, shaming and much more. There are numerous theories behind the persistence of this almost clichéd dynamic, but many believe that as girls are taught from an early age “to be nice,” they adopt a more indirect aggression to navigate their complicated social dynamic. Whereas boys historically “duked it out,” girls weren’t given that option, so they internalized the conflict where it developed into what it is today.
Could this be the social survival of the fittest?
Not everyone who exhibits these behaviors has experienced “pain” or trauma, but there is a rising number of teens with anxiety, depression and eating disorders, so perhaps this is another way these young women are managing their stressors. Regardless, the common themes of most of these behaviors are acceptance and rejection. The girls wield their popularity as their most powerful weapon. Who will (socially) live and who will not. In the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman , she offers guidance in navigating these experiences with our daughters and has found that most of the time, this form of acting out is fleeting.
When I first started dating my husband, we would often go hiking together. Always having been somewhat neurotic, he found my mountain lion phobia quite entertaining. Although I had never seen one or even spotted one in the distance, ever, it was a real fear for me. I asked him why he wasn’t concerned about these beautiful but deadly cats who could be lurking just around the corner, to which he replied, “I don’t have to be faster than the mountain lion, I just have to be faster than you.”
And I still married him.
Could this be the evolutionary origins of The Mean Girl Movement? Is this their way of deflecting and distracting?
“Don’t look at me, little kitty, look at her She is the one wearing that ugly sweater and sitting with the class dork. OMG, your paws are so fetch ” Could this be the social survival of the fittest?
I asked Roxana Petty about it; she is executive director of AHA! Santa Barbara, a local group that “helps equip teenagers, educators, and parents with social and emotional intelligence to dismantle apathy, prevent despair and interrupt hate-based behavior.” This is what she had to say: “In the context of ‘mean girl’ behavior, we encounter young women who have experienced pain at some point in their lives and are unsure how to process their emotions other than by lashing out and harming others. This brings us back to the idea that hurt people often end up hurting others. This behavior is truly a call for help.” We also lamented at not only how long this has been going on, but that it is starting at an earlier age with a spike occurring in middle school/ junior high.
But there are ways we can open the door to discussion with our kids to see if this is something they are experiencing or even initiating. Many parents aren’t aware that their own daughter is inflicting this pain on others. And sadly, these girls have come to view some of the bullying tactics as “normal.” Wiseman offers a wonderful example of this, which is a powerful reminder to us all. The difference between venting and gossip. Venting is just getting something off your chest, sharing with your BFF, your sister, your partner. Gossip is intentionally shared to make someone else look bad. This is big in the world of Mean Girls. The trading of information. Secrets are currency.
Also, not to be overlooked, what won’t we do to avoid pain? According to the International Honor Society of Psychology, “Social rejection activates some of the same brain pathways as pain.”
One of the things we can do to help, is to talk with our own daughters. What does it mean to them to be a Mean Girl? What is a behavior they have seen or experienced that might fall under this category? It just seems that we should be able to do better. To teach them better, to model kindness better – and above all, to be better.
Let’s open the conversation and see if we can use Wiseman’s words of wisdom to help the girls of today and to keep our own compasses of kindness firmly pointing north.
Trained at Duke Integrative Medicine, Deann Zampelli owns Montecito Coaching & Nutrition and has a broad range of clients working on everything from nutrition to improving their marathon pace. She also has a Masters in Clinical Psychology and has been a resident of Montecito since 2006.
County of Santa Barbara Montecito Planning Commission
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
SB 35 Coastal Zone Ordinance Amendment
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 Planning Commission Hearing Room 123 E. Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Hearing begins at 9:00 A.M.
On Wednesday, September 18, 2024, the Montecito Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing and consider making a recommendation to the County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors regarding a proposed ordinance amendment to the County Coastal Zoning Ordinance (CZO). The amendment will revise existing and create new development standards and permit procedures to implement recent changes in State legislation regarding streamlined permit processing for qualifying housing projects in certain areas of the Coastal Zone. The Montecito Planning Commission will consider the following in order to recommend that the Board of Supervisors adopt the proposed amendments:
Adopt an ordinance (Case No. 24ORD‐00010) amending the Coastal Zoning Ordinance (CZO), of Chapter 35, Zoning, of the Santa Barbara County Code.
Determine that ordinance (Case No. 24ORD‐00010) is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) and 15265 of the State Guidelines for the Implementation of CEQA.
The Montecito Planning Commission hearing begins at 9:00 A.M. The order of items listed on the agenda is subject to change by the Montecito Planning Commission. The staff analysis of the proposal may be viewed at the Planning and Development Department website, located at https://www.countyofsb.org/1647/Montecito‐Planning‐Commission prior to the hearing. For further information about the project, please contact the planner, Lila Spring, at springl@countyofsb.org.
IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The following methods of participation are available to the public.
1. You may observe the live stream of the Montecito Planning Commission meetings on (1) Local Cable Channel 20, (2) online at: https://www.countyofsb.org/1333/CSBTV ‐Livestream; or (3) YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/user/CSBTV20
2. If you wish to provide public comment, the following methods are available:
Distribution to the Montecito Planning Commission ‐ Submit your comment via email prior to 12:00 p.m. on the Friday prior to the Commission hearing. Please submit your comment to the Recording Secretary at dvillalo@countyofsb.org. Your comment will be placed into the record and distributed appropriately.
Attend the Meeting In‐Person: Individuals are allowed to attend and provide comments at the Montecito Planning Commission meeting in‐person.
Attend the Meeting by Zoom Webinar ‐ Individuals wishing to provide public comment during the Montecito Planning Commission meeting can do so via Zoom webinar by clicking the below link to register in advance. Register in advance for this meeting: After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing important information about joining the webinar.
When: September 18, 2024 at 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Topic: Montecito Planning Commission 9/18/2024
Register in advance for this webinar: https://countyofsb.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xx4k_M6CS5WFiIW0dhZ‐hQ
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
OR PARTICIPATE VIA TELEPHONE:
Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 213 338 8477 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 720 928 9299 or +1 971 247 1195 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 602 753 0140 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 470 250 9358 or +1 646 518 9805 or +1 651 372 8299 or +1 786 635 1003 or +1 929 205 6099 or +1 267 831 0333 or +1 301 715 8 592 or 877 853 5257 (Toll Free) or 888 475 4499 (Toll Free) or 833 548 0276 (Toll Free) or 833 548 0282 (Toll Free) Webinar ID: 861 1881 9981
The Montecito Planning Commission’s rules on hearings and public comment, unless otherwise directed by the Ch air, remain applicable to each of the participation methods listed above.
Attendance and participation by the public is invited and encouraged. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need special assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the Hearing Support Staff (805) 568‐2000. Notification at least 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the Hearing Support Staff to make reasonable arrangements.
If you challenge the project in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this notice, or in written correspondence to the Planning Commission prior to the public hearing.
Robert’s Big Questions Living Like There Really is a Climate Crisis?
by Robert Bernstein
How can we use behavior science to persuade people to solve the Climate Crisis? I recently attended a UCSB Psychology talk on this subject. To me, facts and evidence should be enough. It takes a lot more than that for most people.
It turns out that people who are most environmentally aware are often worse than average in their environmental impacts. One reason: They tend to be more educated than average, hence have higher incomes, which often leads to more consumption.
There is also the question of “elasticity.” Some behaviors are hard to change. People drive based on perceived options available. Raising the price or shaming has little effect. The speaker lives in the Netherlands and his family is car-free. But if they lived in the U.S., he said they would probably own two cars. Civilized countries provide good public transit and life is designed around it.
It is not just about individual behavior. It is about voting for massive public investment in urgently needed energy and transportation infrastructure.
The speaker quoted Neil deGrasse Tyson: “Every disaster movie begins with a scientist being ignored.” Scientists have been warning about the Climate Crisis for decades.
Just as environmentally aware individuals don’t do much better than average, the same is true for countries. Europeans already have half of the environmental footprint as Americans. But there has been surprisingly little new action in Europe.
There is a fundamental disconnect between what people “believe” and how they actually live and act.
Skeptic podcaster Michael Shermer recently interviewed The New York Times best-selling author David Lipsky about his book The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial. Roger Revelle was director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and warned of the Climate Crisis in Time Magazine in 1956. This was a common topic in the mainstream media in the 1950s-’70s.
The JASON advisory group on science and technology grew out of Sputnik. They published a 1979 report warning that action was needed to head off serious climate problems due to burning fossil fuel.
President Jimmy Carter promoted sustainable energy but actually did little. In 1988, NASA scientist James Hansen delivered an address to the Senate warn-
ing that action was needed to halt global warming. President Ronald Reagan acted by cutting Hansen’s funding. That same year, the UN set up the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The fossil fuel industry did not oppose it. Why? Lipsky said they loved the fact that it meant a delay of 20 years while the IPCC “studied the problem!”
George Bush Sr. actually did want to take action. His secretary of state and secretary of energy agreed. But his Chief of Staff John Sununu killed it on political grounds. Neither party took meaningful action. With the notable exception of Joe Biden, who got major climate/sustainable energy funding into the Inflation Recovery Act. But it is still far from what is needed.
Lipsky drew a contrast with COVID: In a matter of weeks, our entire way of life changed. The Climate Crisis threatens far more devastation than COVID. Yet our lives continue unchanged. It becomes self-fulfilling. People think that if it were really serious, we would make COVID-level changes. Since that is not happening, it must not be that serious. Hence, no major action occurs.
Lipsky talked about a dialogue where a Walmart representative said that we are making things worse for our grandchildren. A Nature Conservancy representative replied that watching our behavior for decades, he can see that we don’t really care about our grandchildren.
When the U.S. entered World War II, no one asked how we were going to pay for it or why we had to give up normal life for the war effort. We need that level of mobilization to develop and deploy sustainable energy, sustainable transportation, direct carbon capture, and heroic measures to keep glaciers from sliding into the ocean. This is an emergency. It is as if the Titanic is heading for the iceberg and we are not even rearranging the deck chairs.
We can’t act after the ship is sinking. Do people understand that we urgently have to act now?
Robert Bernstein holds degrees from Physics departments of MIT and UCSB. His passion to understand the Big Questions of life, the universe and to be a good citizen of the planet. Visit facebook. com/questionbig
Society Invites LA28 Games with an eye on Montecito
by Joanne A Calitri
It is full on for the Los Angeles Olympics 2028 [LA28], as peeps are vying to reserve tickets for this epic event coming to our most loved metro-neighbor for all things culture, arts, and sports. Imagine, being only 90 normal traffic minutes away from this global masterpiece of athletics!
With all the LA28 Hollywood drama happening from former Montecito resident Tom Cruise’s Paris24 handoff moto megastunt to free soloing the Hollywood sign while placing the Olympic rings on it, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the LA28 attendees will visit and stay in our beloved Montecito to spot his former estate near Oprah’s, the Royals, and other notables who call our town home? Cruise is the first person ever to “touch” the Hollywood sign, leading the way for LALA stunts people to request a moment in sports at LA28. I reached out to our iconic five-star resorts to inquire about early bookings, partnerships, and sponsorships.
The first to reply was Ian Williams, general manager of the San Ysidro Ranch who explained, “The property has received inquiries into potential family bookings for the LA28 Olympics. These families are looking to secure large cot-
tages and use Santa Barbara as a base to avoid the crowds in Los Angeles. Those who have inquired so far are from the East Coast and Europe. They want to make their Olympic trip into a West Coast tour of the best hotels and resorts. San Ysidro Ranch does not have any plans at this time to collaborate with the Olympics but does expect to host a higher percentage of foreign travelers before and after the Olympics.”
Next, I had a telephone meeting with Bradley Cance, GM for the Ritz-Carlton Bacara Santa Barbara. He stated, “We’re thrilled to welcome guests to the RitzCarlton Bacara, Santa Barbara during the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, and believe that the close proximity to L.A., beautiful scenery, charming atmosphere and luxury accommodations that our 358room Resort provides is the perfect home base to enjoy all that the Olympics has to offer. Related to LA28 is the World Cup 2026 Games hosted by L.A., and we are seeing interest from corporations, international and national travelers, and sports teams, booking with us to make Santa Barbara their home during the World Cup games played on the West Coast.”
As we conversed further about LA28’s challenges with traffic, Cance presented an interesting intersection of LA28, Paris24, and Atlanta96 by explaining, “Paris did a wonderful job hosting the Olympics, and L.A. has its work cut out for itself. We (the Ritz-Carlton Bacara) do expect interest from the Los Angeles residents and corporations to stay with us, as an enclave to escape to during the 2028 Olympics. This phenomenon happened when Atlanta hosted the Olympics, and their infrastructure challenges were diminished as roads were very quiet and peaceful.”
The El Encanto Santa Barbara emailed they have not yet received bookings and will keep the MJ posted. The marketing team for Rick Fidel, managing director of Rosewood Miramar Beach, via phone stated they have no comment at this time.
For partners seeking to add the LA28 emblem to their products, there are more than 42 official LA28 emblems from which to select. The emblems feature a black “L” and a “28” paired with the letter “A” in varying any colors, shapes and configurations to represent the diversity of the Los Angeles community in sports, arts, entertainment, and economy.
The official sports venues for LA28 are the Convention Center DTLA, LA Memorial Coliseum, and the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the San Fernando Valley, which is the second largest urban park in L.A. They have committed on paper to focus on fiscal responsibility and sustainability.
LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman and LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover have
estimated a budget of $6.9 billion overall; however, it will likely be city and state taxes paying for traffic direction, dedicated buses and rail, parking lots, the homeless issue, and security.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has promised “to create opportunities for all Angelenos to be able to celebrate the Games throughout the city, to address the homeless, and to support small businesses in a partnership via city contracts.” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn assumed the Chair of the Metro Board of Directors in July 2024. She plans to import 4,000 buses as the main source of transportation. Sorry not sorry options on the desk: 17 days of a Car-Free L.A.; dedicated freeway lanes for buses; reopen city bike lanes (under environmental impact review); and connect L.A. International Airport to the rail system. LA28 is recruiting people for a few coveted paid positions. A call for volunteers is in the works. Tickets are being officially handled by AXS and CTS EVENTIM, available approximately in February 2027 or sooner. The Olympic Games Opening Ceremony: July 14, 2028, and the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony: Aug. 15, 2028.
411: https://la28.org Instagram: @la28games
Joanne A Calitri is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: artraks@ yahoo.com
“A barnstorming, groove-centric instrumental act with a rabid fan base and a blithely unplaceable style.” The New York Times
Arrive early for a Jazz & Gelato Season Kickoff Party
Olivier Messiaen’s HARAWI
An American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) Production
Fri, Oct 4 / 8 PM UCSB Campbell Hall
Special Double Bill Mavis Staples
The War and Treaty
Tue, Oct 8 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre
Includes Live Cooking Demo
Chef and Bestselling Cookbook Author
An Evening with Yotam Ottolenghi
Mon, Oct 14 / 7:30 PM Granada Theatre
Founder of Khan Academy Salman Khan
Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing)
Sat, Oct 5 / 4 PM
Arlington Theatre
London
Philharmonic
Orchestra
Edward Gardner, Principal Conductor
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin
Sat, Oct 12 / 7 PM
Granada Theatre
Theater Hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Fight Night by Ontroerend Goed
Tue, Oct 15 / 8 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall
This fun and thought-provoking analysis of how democracy works puts digital voting devices – and the fate of five fictional candidates – in the hands of the audience.
Elizabeth’s Appraisals
by Elizabeth Stewart
TKdoesn’t know it, but she has a 1930s ladies evening bag in the tradition of 17th-century Viennese petit point, a style of needlework that originated with the early French Court as a pastime for Royal women. As the Chinese style of needlework was slowly being discovered during the 17th century, the Petit Point stitch became finer, the threads thinner and the colors more sophisticated.
During the 1700s, needlewomen discovered the delicacies of Dutch landscape and still life works of art, and these compositions were embroidered on bags. Petit Point was used on handbags, compacts, purses and bijouterie (jewelry pouches). The bags featured scenes in vibrant wool thread of court scenes, pastorals, garden scenes, floral sprays, mythological figures and courting couples. In the late 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, needlework was stretched over metal purse frames with clasps, with accents of jet, or marcasite, or semi-precious stones. The 19th and 20th century bags had silk linings, sometimes signed with the place of manufacture: in KT’s case, the interior says “Made in China,”
which means it is made post-1915, and might be handsewn; machine looms were taking over the role of a trained needlewoman in the 20th century.
A fine European or Chinese handmade purse by an accomplished needlewoman would contain 900 stitches to the square inch in a style called a tent stitch. Bags were fashioned out of other styles of needlework as far back as the 12th century in Europe, such as tapestry, turkey, crewel, Berlin, cross stitch, and tambour work. Needlework was the favorite decoration, as a bag held something precious, was considered a status symbol, and was meant to be displayed and admired.
Why it was a status symbol is an interesting story. High-born men were expected to give to the poor on their estates, and they would wear a special leather pouch that contained coins, worn outside of their garments to show they could give money freely. This bag was appropriately called an “Almoner” as in “Alms for the Poor.” High-born ladies adopted the style and added elements of textile art, beadwork, and metals.
Men also carried bags used to contain state documents designed with royal portraits or state seals worked on the front during the late Medieval period. When a courtier wanted a royal favor, he
might present one of these custom-made bags to royalty with a small bribe inside. This style developed through the 14th century in England.
Ladies’ bags in the late Medieval period in Europe were worn long, reaching to knees or ankles, and contained necessary small objects.
All the following are names of bags, and have all been used through the ages: reticule, gipser, minaudiere, portemonnaie, purse, and necessaire, but my favorite style is called a chatelaine, not really a bag at all. The earliest chatelaine is seen in France in the 15th century. The chatelaine hung from a belt with a decorative clasp, which suspended at least 8 chains with hooks to hold necessary objects: perhaps sewing implements if the lady were a needlewoman, perhaps writing implements, perhaps a small coin purse, perhaps a match safe to keep matches dry. These were usually silver and decorative. The chatelaine had a special hook for keys of the house cupboards, because many goods were locked up by the lady of the house against thieving servants.
By the 17 th century, the style of the huge hoop skirt or Farthingale allowed for interior pockets inside of those voluminous skirts for necessary objects, and for 100 years the purse went out of style. As the female silhouette had decreased, bags as status symbols were used to carry small necessities, such as smelling salts and perfume; the reticule was back in vogue.
A favorite purse back then was the wedding bag, worn by the bride with a portrait of the bride and groom painted on porcelain and applied to fabric.
Chinese needlework is important to the development of the textile handbag: there was a kind of stitch in China that was so fine for bags and clothing of the court that it was known for causing blindness. The “forbidden stitch” was made illegal. The French in the 17th century became skilled with this stitch and called it Tambour work, embroidery done with a tiny hook to create a chain link of threads, imported through Europe.
KT’s little Chinese bag, if handstitched, is worth $250; if machine embroidered, it’s worth $100.
Elizabeth Stewart, PhD is a veteran appraiser of fine art, furniture, glass, and other collectibles, and a cert. member of the AAA and an accr. member of the ASA. Please send any objects to be appraised to Elizabethappraisals@ gmail.com
Fine Petit Point would contain 900 stitches to the square inch.
Brisbane is the setting in Trent Dalton’s Lola in the Mirror. Our hero is a 17-year-old “houseless” girl living in a broken car with her mother, who has never told the teen her real name. She promises to reveal the name when she turns 18. When tragedy strikes before her birthday, the girl is on her own. She takes over her mother’s drug routes, dodging some seedy characters, all while trying to discover who she is and asking herself, “What if I chose wonder? What if I chose daring? Wouldn’t it make for a better story, would it not be more artful, if I cartwheeled all the way instead?” There is love and hope, and hopelessness and tragedy and the question of who we are threaded throughout this magical, magnificent story, one of my favorite reads this year so far.
‘Death at the Sanatorium’
Ragnar Jonasson is back with another Agatha Christie-style mystery. Death at the Sanatorium takes place over dueling timelines, the 1980s and 2012 in Iceland. When the death of an old nurse takes place at a former sanatorium, there quickly evolves a cast of suspicious characters with plenty of motive and means. Helga, a young police officer, is writing a dissertation on two deaths that occurred decades earlier. When he questions those involved at the time, he stirs up someone’s fear and another murder occurs. Coincidence? Helga doesn’t think so. There is a juicy plot twist, even though everyone is a suspect in this excellent mystery.
Stories Matter
Australia-based Lola is One for the Books
by Leslie Zemeckis
‘A Very Bad Thing’
F or an action-packed thriller you won’t go wrong with A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison. When a bestselling author is found murdered, hints of her past – a past where she might have done some very bad things – is uncovered shedding a whole new light on a beloved author’s reputation. It turns out, there are many who might want her dead. Again, this has plenty of plot twists and will keep you turning the pages.
‘Katharine, the Wright Sister’
Tracey Enerson Wood brings us the untold tale of a woman left out of the history books in Katharine, the Wright Sister. It seems the Wright Brothers owe much of their success to Katharine, the “mastermind behind the scenes of their inventions.” Katharine sacrifices much so the boys can concentrate on building a flying machine. Fascinating history here.
‘We Need No Wings’
Tere Sánchez questions her own sanity when she suddenly begins levitating. She is a well-respected professor, on leave after the death of her beloved husband, and a woman of a certain age. At a
crossroads in life, Tere travels to Spain to solve the mystery of her levitating. Ann Davila Cardinal has crafted a mystical, profound story in We Need No Wings, which might have you questioning what matters in the latter part of your life.
‘One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman’
One Day I’ll Grow up and be a Beautiful Woman is a must-read memoir by Abi Maxwell. When Abi discovers her daughter is autistic, she finds herself
swimming through rampant small-town prejudices just to obtain the help and support her daughter desperately needs. This is a big, heartfelt, emotional story for absolutely everyone who has ever felt themselves an outsider or the caretaker of someone “different.”
‘I’m Still Here’
What is a dog’s purpose? Pet lovers will be inspired by Cathryn Michon’s I’m Still Here: A Dog’s Purpose Forever. It is an illustrated love story about the power of pets – dogs in this case. The story is told from the point of view of a dog who has crossed the rainbow bridge. The story originated when the author and her husband, Bruce, stopped in Santa Barbara and Cathryn said, “I will never have another dog.” Bruce convinces her otherwise, and I admit that I found myself tearing up over this one.
Leslie Zemeckis is an awardwinning documentarian, best-selling author, and actor. The creator of “Stories Matter,” professional female authors mentoring the next generation of female storytellers, co-sponsored by SBIFF.
have over 30 years of experience in
Brilliant Thoughts Togetherness
by Ashleigh Brilliant
What is it that makes us not want to be alone – at least, not all the time?
The poet William Cowper put the question this way some 300 years ago:
How sweet, how passing sweet, is solitude! But grant me still a friend in my retreat, Whom I may whisper—solitude is sweet.
Not that there is any biological necessity. Even among mammals, there are species whose members seek each other out only for the sake of reproduction. And there is the well-known difference between dogs and cats which has prompted the expression, for any prolonged difficulty in getting things to stay together in a group, that “it’s like herding cats.”
But our own species is notorious for pairing males and females. Some call it “sex.”
Some even call it – at least in the early stages, “love.” Anthropologists will tell you how much it differs from region to region. Songwriters celebrate its universal nature, with ditties like “The more we are together, the happier we shall be.” But the most basic and widespread form of togetherness is known as the “family” -- a matter of genealogical relationship. However, very few such human units are known to be historically traceable for more generations than can be counted on your fingers.
One out-of-school lesson I remember learning on some childhood playground said that “Two’s Company – Three’s a Crowd –Four is too many – and Five’s not allowed.”
(I went to schools in three different EnglishSpeaking countries, so I’m not sure of the national origin of this piquant expression.)
But of course the rules of many games specify a certain number of players. In Britain, and a number of former members of the British Empire, including India and the West Indies, the magic number is eleven, the traditional size of a Cricket team. In the card game of Bridge, it is four, with the four sides of a card table being designated as North, South, East and West. Many social situations and relationships can be said to have begun with someone seeking “a fourth for Bridge.” With Tennis, many variations have developed from the original one-on-one, which gave us the classic theatrical line, “Anyone for Tennis?” This line – or something like it – was alleged to have been Humphrey Bogart’s first line on the stage but, as with many celebrity legends, he always denied it.
People can be brought together in many strange circumstances, such as sur-
vivors of a shipwreck being marooned on an island. I must warn you about the next story, that it depends on a pun:
The tale is being told to a stolid matron by a young woman who was for some time the only female among those rescued with several crew members from a small island. The matron is aghast “Good Heavens!” She interjects, “I trust you could remain chaste!” “Chased?” comes the reply – “You bet I was! -- all over the bloody island!”
But other kinds of disasters, including earthquakes and typhoons, not to mention those brought on in the wake of war, have put people together who would never otherwise have encountered each other.
The Scottish writer J.M. Barrie, best known for his creation of “Peter Pan,” wrote a more than amusing play called “The Admirable Crichton” (pronounced “Cry-ton) which satirized the British Class System, a social order which was then (1902) still in full flower. In the play, an aristocratic family is shipwrecked on an island, together with their butler, Crichton. Previously the social order was rigidly defined by birth, rank, and occupation –but on this island it becomes evident that Crichton is a natural leader, which definitely wasn’t true of his hitherto boss.
But the human need or desire for contact with others is embodied everywhere in clubs and associations of numerous kinds in every society, occupation, and profession. Even writers, despite (or maybe because of) the solitary nature of our craft, get together in various ways. Sometimes we even marry each other – as was the case, to the great benefit of Literature -- of Percy Shelley with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, and of Robert Browning with Elizabeth Barret. At the other extreme, it is well-known in Criminology that one of the most severe forms of punishment is “solitary confinement.” There used to be whole prisons in which each inmate had to endure that penalty for the entire length of his sentence. But our more “humane” society has abandoned that system. It seems that a certain amount of togetherness is now considered a fundamental human right.
Ashleigh Brilliant was born in England in 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, then to the Montecito Journal in 2016. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000. email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.
Just Added Tickets on Sale Now
New York Times Bestselling Author and Relationship Therapist
An Evening with Esther Perel
The Future of Relationships, Love & Desire
Tue, Jan 14 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre
Tickets start at $47 / $24.50 UCSB students
An Arlington facility fee is included in each ticket price
“The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives.” – Esther Perel
With her signature wit and captivating charm, relationship therapist and bestselling author Esther Perel helps us rethink how we connect, how we desire and even how we love.
Lead Sponsor: Heather & Tom Sturgess
Social Psychologist and Author
Jonathan Haidt
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
Thu, Feb 20 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre
Tickets start at $18 / FREE for UCSB students
An Arlington facility fee is included in each ticket price
“The shift in kids’ energy and attention from the physical world to the virtual one, Haidt shows, has been catastrophic.” The New York Times
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt examines the collapse of youth mental health in the era of smartphones and social media and describes steps that parents, schools, tech companies and governments can take to restore a more humane childhood.
Event Sponsors:
Jillian & Pete Muller and Natalie Orfalea Foundation & Lou Buglioli
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Fabulous Desserts!
Scratch made Cakes & Pastries. Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner. Exquisite Wines, Champagne, European Beer. High Tea daily from 2pm. Happy Hour daily 2:30-6pm.
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Foraging Thyme Blackberries
by Melissa Petitto
Chuy Berry Farms has some delectable blackberries right now, and the superfood is loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. We talk a lot about Vitamin C, so you know the importance of it in our diets, and blackberries are exceptionally high in it. Just 1 cup of raw blackberries has half the recommended daily allowance and is essential for the formation of collagen, bones, tissue and blood vessels. Vitamin C helps with inflammation, immune boosting, reduces free radicals, heals wounds, shortens the common cold and aids in skin health.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the olive oil, coconut aminos, then season with salt and pepper. Add the tofu and toss to coat until evenly coated.
3. Add the arrowroot or cornstarch and toss until there is no white left.
These dark berries are also high in fiber, which has been shown to help reduce bad cholesterol, help with healthy digestion, provide prebiotics to our gut flora, and help regulate blood sugar. Blackberries are also being studied in their link to brain health. The antioxidants in berries have been shown to prevent memory loss caused by aging, as well as help fight the free radicals that can alter the communication in our brain neurons and reduce the inflammation that leads to aging issues like the decline in cognitive and motor issues. Berries are one of the best ways to satisfy our sweet tooth while also adding incredible benefits to our health. Most times we use berries in a sweet application; let’s change it up and add them to a savory dish today.
Blackberry – Chili – Black Pepper Glazed Tofu
Yield: 4 Servings
1 block (14 ounce) firm tofu
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons coconut aminos
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch
4. Transfer the coated pieces to an air fryer and arrange so they are in a single layer. Set your fryer to 375 degrees and timer for 15 minutes. Give the basket a shake every 5 minutes. The tofu is done when each piece is browned and crispy.
5. If you don’t have an air fryer, you can pan fry. To do so, exclude the olive oil from the marinade. Toss the cubes with the coconut aminos, salt and pepper, then toss with arrowroot.
6. Add the olive oil to a sauté pan over medium heat. Once hot, add coated tofu (do not add extra liquid) to the pan and pan fry for 4 to 5 minutes or until browned and crispy. Repeat with remaining tofu until all is browned.
7. To make the glaze, put a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the blackberries, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, black pepper, chili flakes, and season with salt. Once the liquid starts to simmer and the blackberries are starting to break down, about 3 to 4 minutes, start smashing the berries down with a spatula.
8. Keep smashing and stirring until the mixture has a jam-like consistency. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Add water if the mixture is too thick, or if you wish for it to be a little saucier.
SUNDAY THRU THURSDAY AM - PM 7:0010:00 FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AM7:0012:00AM
SUNDAY THRU THURSDAY 7:30 AM - 10:00 PM FRIDAY AND SATURDAY 7:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Glaze
1 cup fresh blackberries
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ to 1 teaspoon chili flakes
Sea salt
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon chives, minced
Directions:
1. Press the tofu in a kitchen towel with a weight on top for 10 to 15 minutes to get rid of the excess water. Cut into 1-inch cubes.
9. Add the tofu into the mixture and toss to glaze.
10. Garnish with chives.
Melissa Petitto, R.D., is an executive chef and co-founder at Thymeless My Chef SB, was a celebrity personal chef for 16 years, just finished her 10th cookbook, and is an expert on nutrition and wellness.
Bursting with flavor and vitamins, blackberries offer a taste of summer (photo by Petar Milošević via Wikimedia Commons)
Among supporters turning out were Peter and Gerd Jordano, Sue Adams, Anne Luther, Gary Simpson, Suzi Schomer , Brenda Blalock , Hiroko Benko, and Erin Graffy
Wary Harry
Prince Harry, who celebrates his 40th birthday later this month, contrary to expectations flew to the funeral of his late uncle, Lord Robert Fellowes, in Snettisham, Norfolk, last week.
It put the Riven Rock-based Duke of Sussex in the same room as his older brother, William, Prince of Wales, for the first time this year.
Despite hopes for a thawing in relations given their ongoing rift, other guests at the service said the twosome appeared to be “keeping their distance” and did not speak to one another, sitting at the back of St. Mary’s Church “very discreetly.”
Lord Fellowes, the late Queen Elizabeth’s private secretary, was married to Lady Jane Spencer, sister of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.
The duo could meet again in New York later this month with Harry set to embark on a packed solo trip to advance a number of his patronages and philanthropic institutions, a spokesman has confirmed.
The trip is set to take place during the UN General Assembly High-Level Week and Climate Weekend, the latter of which runs from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29. William, 42, is also expected in the Big Apple for the third annual Earshot Prize Innovation Summit, which will be held at the Plaza Hotel on Sept. 24. It’s
undisclosed if he will attend for sure, but he did so last year.
Harry is also finally set to bring out a paperback edition of his bestselling memoir, Spare, but I’m told he will not be promoting it as he did the original hardcopy version, nor will he be updating it.
However, its October release will clash with King Charles’s high-profile appearance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Samoa, the first time he has attended since acceding to the throne and becoming head of the global organization.
The meeting will be held from Oct. 21-25, with Harry’s paperback being published in the U.S. on Oct. 22 and in the U.K. two days later.
Publishers Penguin Random House are publishing the book in 16 languages worldwide. The original sold six million
Attending this special event are Gary Simpson, Pete Jordano, Speaker Neal Graffy, and Joe Danley - who have traveled together on one tour or another. (photo by Priscilla)
copies in both print and audio version. It holds the Guinness Book of Records record for the fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time.
Rationing at the Ranch
Workers at Rancho del Cielo, the late President Ronald Reagan’s 688-acre spread overlooking our Eden by the Beach, were assured of keeping their trim physiques, whether they liked it or not.
Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, according to a new biography Ronald Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot, never cooked; and limited the amount of food the housekeeper, Ann Allman, could serve to the ranch hands – portions the ranch hands themselves described as “stingy.”
Nancy kept a careful eye on her figure – a size 2 – and also Ronnie’s, with there being only a plate of food per person.
“The workers were almost as hungry at the end of the meal as they were when they sat down!” writes Boot.
After Reagan moved to the White House in January 1981, the former California governor described his living quarters as “being too sheltered.” “It was like being a bird in a gilded-cage sense of isolation.”
When he could, the president left Washington for his 1600 sq ft California residence, where he would ride horses and engage in hours of manual labor.
Talk about politics was off limits. One of Reagan’s aides, Dennis LeBlanc, said conversations were limited to “ranch stuff and family stuff.”
Etched in Yellowstone
Despite Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner quitting Yellowstone with its final fifth series, producers are now working on a sixth season of the Taylor Sheridan hit show.
According to Deadline, the new episodes will concentrate on Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, following Costner’s dramatic exit from the neo-Western drama.
This comes after the on-screen couple were reportedly in talks about joining a Yellowstone spinoff, The Madison, with Michelle Pfeiffer playing a rich New York matriarch who moves to Montana.
Stay tuned...
Table Tennis, Anyone?
Five years after her last big-screen role in Marvel’s 2019 superhero adventure Avengers: Endgame, Gwyneth Paltrow is returning to acting.
The 51-year-old Oscar winner and Goop founder has signed on for a role in A24’s Marty Supreme, a film about Marty Reisman, one of the most accomplished table tennis players of all time, winning 22 major titles between 1967 and 2002, who died in 2012 aged 82.
No word yet on who the Montecito resident will be playing in the movie, and plot details are currently under wraps, according to Deadline.
In Memoriam
On a personal note, I mark the passing of Mary Garton at the all-too-early age of 76. Mary, a Stanford University graduate, lived in London and New York, before moving to Santa Barbara, where she volunteered her services to the Cecilia Fund, the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, the Community Arts Music Association Women’s Board, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Women’s Board.
A charming and gracious lady gone all too soon…
Sightings
Actor Orlando Bloom at the Kings of Leon concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl...
The Twist singer Chubby Checker noshing at Montesano’s Market and Deli on CVR...Actor Josh Brolin, son of Barbra Streisand’s husband James Brolin, at Pierre Lafond
Pip! Pip!
From musings on the Royals to celebrity real estate deals, Richard Mineards is our man on the society scene and has been for more than 15 years
MBT’s MClub Hostess Maria McCall and Speaker/Historian Neal Graffy with historical surprises. (photo by Priscilla)
Judy Dean, Lynn Scarlett, MBT’s Suzi Schomer, Paula Bruice, and Amanda McIntyre. (photo by Priscilla)
Kathyrn Washburn, Katherine MurrayMorse, Sandy Schoolfield, Dana Mancini, Laurie and Thad MacMillian. (photo by Priscilla)
inspired by that – each dish here is elevated and dedicated for Alma. This does not have my mom’s cooking, [laughs] but for sure she gave us her words of wisdom and some pointers after trying the food.”
Are you planning your next restaurant, and where would it be?
“I got into a restaurant business of food because I wanted to make the food I love to eat, and share it with this little world of Santa Barbara. I never thought I would be a businessman, and last year I received an award. At the end of the day, it’s a numbers game and it’s a business. I have a goal; I have kids and hopefully they will continue my restaurants. Jim Rosenfield and I talk about this, he is a visionary, a dreamer like me, we have this in common. He puts a tenant in a space he sees fit, and a tenant that his kids will be able to work with. We talked about another restaurant at his shops in Brentwood and Malibu. For now, Alma is our baby to take care of and nurture it.”
The Collaboration of Velázquez with Montecito Country Mart Owner
Jim Rosenfield is also well noted in the dining chairs, which are one hundredyear-old chairs from the Cate School Summerland Booth Commons dining hall. Rosenfield refurbished them for Alma Fonda Fina. They are painted white with a gold plaque on the back recognizing Cate School. Additional décor details include a long back wall with a lush velvet magenta bench seat, a partial view of the kitchen through glass window panes, and the cream-colored fringed sun umbrellas for outdoor dining. Rosenfield shared his personal thoughts on Alma Fonda Fina, “I personally love the Ceviche Cuixmala, tuna tostada and wagyu beef taco. The rice pudding is out of this world. As my son says, ‘This is not your mother’s taqueria’. Our family has been enjoying Ramon’s cooking for many years; I am sure Montecito residents and visitors will be delighted by what he has created.”
Hours of Operation: Starting September 5, Thursday - 11:00am - 9:00pm from there on!
Location: 1024 Coast Village Road Suite A Santa Barbara, CA 93108
411: www.instagram.com/almafondafina/
The original Cate School chairs – now refurbished for Alma Fonda Fina Restaurant. (photo courtesy K. Tuefel)
On Entertainment Pacific Jazz Orchestra: Wading in Walden’s Musical Pond
by Steven Libowitz
It was around 15 years ago that jazz composer/arranger/bandleader Chris Walden brought his big band to SOhO for a third concert, cramming a full ensemble onto the club’s then still-tiny stage -with a couple of the musicians spilling over. That was not long after Walden had left his native Germany – where he’d started out as a staff arranger for the Hamburg Radio big band at 19 – to take on America, and more specifically Hollywood. The SOhO shows took place before he’d fully established himself in Tinseltown as a multi-hyphenate arranger and producer.
“German audiences think in boxes, so there’s very little crossover in music styles and genres, which is partly why I admired the American music industry,” Walden recalled about his move to L.A. “Any time I was doing a project that wasn’t a big band, I couldn’t use my jazz skills or my affinity for jazz.”
By the time Walden returned to town last April as part of the official Granada Centennial Festival Weekend, he’d racked up a number of impressive credits. Over the years, he’s worked behind the scenes with some of music’s biggest names, including John Legend, Michael Bublé, Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Rihanna and Barbra Streisand. He has scored more than 40 feature and TV films and collaborated as an arranger and bandleader with jazz artists Diana Krall, Herb Alpert, Michael Brecker and Arturo Sandoval, to name just a few. Perhaps most prominently, Walden has served as the lead arranger for the Academy Awards six years running, as well as for the Kennedy Center Honors and American Idol. He has also guest conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
The full circle moment came two years ago when Walden founded the Pacific Jazz Orchestra, a 40-piece hybrid big band and string orchestra, composed of powerhouse studio musicians, that lets him blend straight ahead jazz and swing with soul, pop, hip hop, film music and more.
“Now that I have spent 35 years writing and arranging music for other people, I wanted to fulfill my own musical passion, which is basically adding a 20-piece string section to my old big band,” explained Walden, who has notched seven Grammy nominations. “We get to create a kind of crossover appeal.”
The PCO’s April show featured early American Idol finalist Katharine McPhee, veteran blues/R&B singer Billy Valentine and two more guest artists. The ensemble’s sophomore show on September 6 is an early gig in the 2024-25 season and features guests John Pizzarelli, a guitarist-singer whose own tastes run from the Great American Songbook to interpretations of songs by Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Tom Waits, among others. The show also featured Sy Smith, aka the “Queen of Underground Soul”, for an edgy, progressive mix of funk, neo-soul and R&B. Future shows will include Brazilian superstar Ivan Lins and a Congolese singer-songwriter.
“It’s such a passion for me to be able to sink my teeth in as an arranger for all these performers,” Walden said.
“And even when we do jazz standards, I arrange them in a way where I put my own stamp on them, something with a new twist such as unexpected harmonizing, new chords for well-known melodies, or a different rhythmic context. I just love the texture of strings combined with a big band’s full horn section. There’s nothing like it.”
Literally. The PCO is the only such ensemble in the country, Walden said.
“I’m so excited with how quickly this has taken off, and grateful to be coming back to the Granada, where the audience loved us.”
Thies Time for Jazz Society
Veteran Central Coast songstress Shawn Thies, who has been singing a variety of genres in public since her midteen years, makes her debut with the Santa Barbara Jazz Society at the monthly showcase at SOhO Sunday afternoon. Thies will lend her warm and playful voice
Chef Alan Alva puts the finishing touches on the Mole Carna Asada au jus with potato puree, charred eggplant, and chiles toreados.
Jazz Composer/Arranger/Bandleader Chris Walden (Courtesy of Pacifc Jazz Orchestra)
to selections of jazz standards from the Great American Songbook, with a splash of original and other tunes, backed by a stalwart band featuring frequent associates George Friedenthal on piano, Randy Tico on bass, David Hunt on drums and Tom Buckner on saxophone. Tickets are $10$25. Visit www.sohosb.com.
SBAcoustic@CAW
The Santa Barbara Acoustic Instrument Celebration launched as an annual guitar convention back in 2016, branched into presenting a series of concerts that included workshops, and arguably peaked with bringing fingerstyle wizard Tommy Emmanuel back to town. But when the pandemic struck in 2020, it was hard to get audiences to return, and after trying a number of approaches, founder Kevin Gillies eventually pulled up stakes entirely two years ago. But it wasn’t long before he returned to town to try again, bringing a series of shows to SOhO encompassing touring artists in a variety of genres under the aegis of SBAcoustic.
Now, Gillies is going in a different direction that involves artistic collaborations and a different venue: the Community Arts Workshop on Garden and Ortega streets. Dubbed 4xSB to indicate that the concerts are for and by local musicians, the new series launches September 7 with The Idiomatiques, the gypsy swing band who feature rock, Latin, bossa nova and more within the genre. The band will be celebrating the release of a new album, Indigo Nocturne, with an opening set from The Nightbirds, a new trio that adds R&B vocalist Jade Hendrix to the Sam n’ Ash duo featuring accordionist Samantha Harvey and mandolinist Ashley Hoyer
“I really wanted to showcase local talent, because there are so many good musicians around town that don’t necessarily get the spotlight,” Gillies explained. “CAW wanted to start doing music shows and become a little local venue, so this is a great way to put that together.”
Gillies said the series is a “baby step” toward enacting a long-standing vision to create a music and visual arts festival wherein each event in the series is programmed to also feature an artist. A new exhibition featuring pottery will be opening that same night.
The second event, on October 12, features longtime local acoustic blues duo Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan, the Cold Springs Tavern regulars who haven’t played a formal concert in town since their 40th anniversary celebration at the Lobero in 2019. Opening is Elderberry, a folk and old-time quartet led by Sean Hutchinson. The plan is for a couple of luthiers to show off their wares on the show’s periphery.
The initial series wraps up on November 2 with Hawaiian slack key
masters Leokane Pryor and Kimo West, featuring local hula dancers, with Santa Barbara stalwart John Lyle opening.
“It’s all music that I relate to, not one particular genre,” Gillies said. “I care about the cultural history behind music, how music originated in other parts of the world over centuries and migrated to America, and how the sounds come together.”
We might add …and play at a volume that requires attentive listening, rather than the floor shaking intensity of a club scene.
To that end, Gillies has arranged for acoustically helpful drapery to be hung on the three solid walls at the space at CAW, with the audience spilling out into the open air.
Visit https://sbacoustic.com for more.
One Up at One805 LIVE!:
Kevin Costner Confirms He’s Playing
Kevin Costner, whose seaside Summerland estate will serve as host of the One805LIVE! benefit concert for the third straight year, will now also be singing for the first time at the star-studded fundraiser.
Costner, who missed 2022’s show while away filming, spoke to the crowd at last year’s show but did not perform. The famed actor will be fronting his Americana-country band Modern West, with whom he has toured and recorded on and off for 17 years. The band has recorded five studio albums over the years, the latest of which, 2020’s Tales from Yellowstone, was inspired by his wildly successful streaming series. Costner & Modern West will kick off the third annual concert benefiting the nonprofit’s support of first responders on September 20.
Harmony Brings Healing for Heroes
This weekend offers an additional opportunity to aid area first responders in their mental/emotional health challenges
-- which is also a big part of One805’s oeuvre -- via a world premiere event of the documentary short film 9-1-1 Project Harmony at the Lobero on September 8. The film covers the program of the same name, which offers local first responders –through the process of songwriting – emotional healing from the layered trauma they are exposed to while serving their community. The police personnel are paired with professional musicians who co-create songs from the testimonies of the first responders about their experiences on the front lines over the course of a 12-hour period.
The project is focused on employing a twist on music therapy to help shift the perspective that first responders aren’t allowed to have feelings or reach out for support. The premiere of the film, which is directed and co-produced by longtime Montecito music supervisor and producer Budd Carr (Platoon, Wall Street, Californication), will be followed by live performances by some of the songwriters and guest singers. Sheriff Bill Brown hosts the evening. Visit www.lobero. org or https://911aei.org/project-harmony.
Much Ado: Shakespeare Unplugged and Outdoors
Elings Park’s two-production experiment in bringing Shakespeare to its charming Godric Grove amphitheater this summer winds up with a pair of performances of Much Ado About Nothing from UCSB’s Naked Shakes, the Irwin Appel-founded-and-directed company that employs minimal props and costumes to keep the focus on the acting and the Bard’s prose. Ado, which boasts budding romances persevering against villains and potential catastrophes, is considered an early rom-com masterpiece full of witty banter and sticky situations. Ado examines the silliness of human nature and of our mating rituals – and handily fulfills our collective desire for happy endings.
The 20-something-strong cast tell the story complete with choreography and live music from a jazz quintet, taking full advantage of the great outdoors at the top of Elings for the September 6-8 shows. Visit www.elingspark.org.
Alcazar’s One-Acts
The Alcazar Ensemble is staging a second weekend September 6-8 of the Hanne Pedersen Playwright Competition. That competition features four one-act plays from tri-county authors in honor of its late namesake, one of the co-founders of the Carpinteria Community Theatre. Sophie Goldstein’s This House is Legacy traces a neighborhood that no longer exists but has never been destroyed when children go through their late mother’s things and share memories, while Leslie Vitanza AnnRenee’s Extended Family is a comedic exploration of
modern-day relationships and what being part of a family means. Happy Merry, by Michael P. Adams, follows a married couple who are asked to pick up the husband’s sister while on their way to a Christmas celebration, and Robert Weibezahl’s October Surprise, directed by Asa Olsson, follows two former sorority sisters – one now running for Congress and the other following a more traditional mommy path – who confront each other after more than 20 years apart. Visit www.thealcazar.org.
SBMA’s Sunday: Sounds, Sheep and Stories
Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Free Community Day features a flurry of family activities both participatory and observational in celebration of its continuing exhibit “A Legacy of Giving: The Lady Leslie and Lord Paul Ridley-Tree Collection.” Music on the front terrace comes from the local ensembles Slideways Trombone Quartet, Bottom Line Brass Tuba Quartet, and Mariachi Las Olas de Santa Barbara. Also on the terrace are the Counting Sheep Interactive Installation where guests can sculpt a black and white sheep to take home or to leave behind with the flock, and don a shepherd costume for a photo à la “The Shepherd” by Henry Herbert La Thangue. Terrace fun will also include a Double-sided Mixed Media Mural where budding artists can practice pointillist painting or layering a variety of unexpected materials onto a treelined landscape. At the Family Resource Center, kids and families can add color and texture to a black and white reproduction of Claude Monet’s “Afternoon on the Seine” with oil pastels, and blend the colors with baby oil to finish. Tours will take place inside the galleries, which also host Bilingual Storytime. Details at www.sbma. net/events/free-community-day.
Bowled Over: Ample Amphitheater Artists
The next week of Santa Barbara Bowl’s September surge showcases with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with Big Boi on September 5, the final date of Isla Vista-born Iration & Pepper’s Daytrippin in Paradise Summer 2024 Tour on September 8, alternative rock trio Wallows on September 9, and Palo Alto singer-songwriter Remi Wolf on September 10. Details at www. sbbowl.com. Over in Ojai, the Libbey Bowl last licks of summer lineup runs the gamut of oldies offerings in reverse chronological order with 1990-2000s electro-pop duo Thievery Corporation on September 5, 1980-90s “Wicked Game” singer-songwriter Chris Isaak on September 6, and 1960s Motown sensations the Temptations on September 12. More at https://wheremusicmeetsthesoul. com/events.
Kevin Costner will perform at One805 on September 20th at his seaside residence.
“Picturesque Santa Barbara is the perfect site for our artisan-driven sea glass festival. All of our participants, followers and attendees share a passion for the sea’s treasures, and for creating incredible art that uniquely connects nature and creativity,” says Louise Sciutto, festival organizer.
This year’s festival will include a treasure contest, hand-crafted jewelry and visual art for sale, hands-on workshops, and a discussion led by expert and educator Mary T. McCarthy, who will discuss how to identify the historical origins of sea glass.
The festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $7 for adults and free for those under 12 years old. Two-day passes are $12 and parking is free.
For more information and for presale tickets, visit www.santabarbaraseaglassandoceanartsfestival.com.
Oat Bakery Montecito Country Mart Run Club
Time to lace up those running shoes and follow the Oat Bakery on Instagram for the next installment of their Run Club. The club was established in honor of owner Louise’s mom Else, who was a professional athlete and marathon runner. Post-run treats by the bakery are on hand. Run #2 in Montecito took place on Aug. 25; check their insta stories at www.instagram.com/oat_bakery
Carpinteria Garden Park Accepting Applications for Food Garden Plots
There are one hundred raised garden beds at 4855 5th St. in Carpinteria that are now available to grow your own food. The Garden Beds are also available at 27-inch heights for people with limited mobility. The plot rental is for Carpinteria residents aged 18 and older, one per family. The rental includes access to a bed, water, watering supplies, and a green waste compost system. The Garden Park also provides continuing education on issues related to organic gardening, healthy eating, natural history, and sustainability to the general public.
The Garden Park is managed by Wendy Robins, garden coordinator for the City of Carpinteria, who assigns the plots. Robins is a longtime Santa Barbara resident who most recently worked fostering a love of gardening in young people with Explore Ecology.
Application forms and payment of fees are required.
Team Hope Walk for Huntington’s Disease September 8 Shoreline Park
The Pacific West Chapter of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) will host the Team Hope Walk, on Sunday, September 8 at Shoreline Park. Registration starts 9:00am, walk starts 9:30am. This grassroots effort across 100 U.S. cities raises funds for those with HD and their families. Going on since 2007, it has raised $28 million. HDSA was founded in 1967 by Marjorie Guthrie, the wife of legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie. Woody died from HD at age 55.
CAL FIRE Invests $90 Million in Wildfire Prevention Projects
This just in - CAL FIRE is investing more than $90 million in 94 local wildfire prevention projects across California as part of the state’s wildfire preparedness strategy. Projects focus on protecting people, structures, and communities through hazardous fuels reduction, planning and education. Over the last five years, CAL FIRE has awarded more than $450 million in wildfire prevention funding to more than 450 projects, emphasizing public safety, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and building resilience against wildfires. CAL FIRE grant programs provide funding for fire prevention activities, to improve forest health, and to enhance community resilience, workforce development in rural and tribal communities, business innovation, and new recreation opportunities.
Texas Blends Clean Energy, Sustainable Farming with Help of Sheep
As the United States accelerates its shift to renewable energy, Texas is pioneering an unusual approach that combines solar power generation and sustainable agriculture. This method, known as agrivoltaics, combines solar panels with agricultural practices to increase land use efficiency.
However, in this historic endeavor, 6,000 sheep will be put to work, grazing on 10,000 acres of solar fields in Texas. This collaboration between Texas Solar Sheep and Enel North America marks the country’s largest solar grazing project, ushering in a new age of clean energy production.
Agrivoltaics, or the practice of combining solar power generation with farming, is gaining popularity as a sustainable land-use solution. JR Howard, the owner of Texas Solar Sheep, is the driving force behind this effort. Howard developed a successful business by delivering sheep to solar farms, where they graze on the greenery beneath the panels.
The alliance with Enel North America is a crucial step forward in this quest, with 6,000 sheep scheduled to maintain vegetation across eight solar fields. These installations, which cover an area roughly the size of Manhattan, currently generate 2.6 gigawatts of power, with several still under development.
This reciprocal relationship benefits both the energy producers and the ecosystem. Sheep are particularly successful in managing grass under solar panels because they can readily negotiate tight spaces that conventional lawnmowers cannot reach. This natural grazing not only lowers maintenance costs but also improves the effectiveness of solar activities.
The economic benefits of solar grazing are enormous. For corporations like Enel, incorporating sheep into their solar farms is a cost-effective method to manage property.
Solar grazing also has substantial environmental benefits. Traditional mowing methods rely on fossil fuels, which add to greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, using sheep for vegetation control lowers the carbon footprint of solar farms. Furthermore, sheep excrement functions as a natural fertilizer, which improves soil quality.
On top of improving soil health, solar grazing also promotes biodiversity. By allowing native plants to thrive, these programs provide habitat for pollinators such as bees while also preventing soil erosion. The sheep benefit from the solar panels’ shade, which keeps them cool and reduces their water consumption while grazing.
Enel’s approach to agrivoltaics extends beyond sheep grazing. Several of their sites will also include beekeeping, native plant habitats and hay production to increase the sustainability of their solar installations.
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS
NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Arturo Rios Kickboxing, 120 W Canon Perdido St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Arturo Rios, 60 Sycamore Ter Apt 202, Goleta, CA 93117. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 23, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0001936. Published September 4, 11, 18, 25, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS
NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Pro Balance, 1054 Palmetto Way, A, Carpinteria, CA 93013. Hortencia Torres, 1054 Pal-
Herbert Spencer
metto Way, A, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 23, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20240002036. Published August 28, September 4, 11, 18, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS
NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Perch Home and Lifestyle, 3558 Sagunto Street, B-1, Santa Ynez, CA 93460. Maureen A Hemming, PO Box 1749, Santa Ynez, CA 93460. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 13, 2024. This statement expires five years from the
date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0001927. Published August 28, September 4, 11, 18, 2024
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS
NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Ocean Love Found, 892 Linden Ave, Carpinteria, CA 93013. Andreas K Gutow, 3600 Harbor BLVD 348, Oxnard, CA 93035; Paul M Garcia , 6375 Lagunitas Ct, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 7, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0001838. Published August 14, 21, 28, September 4, 2024
NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Start My Way, 1445 Harbor View Dr. Apt 115, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. Ma Lourdes Cordero, 1445 Harbor View Dr. Apt 115, Santa Barbara, CA 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on August 12, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0001898. Published August 21, 28, September 4, 11, 2024
ON THE SIDE
Haunted Tilt-a-Whirl
This wrecked world is haunted by questions. None of the good ones are rhetorical: if we’re native to this solar system, why is our star such a potent carcinogen? Would Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé now and again lean back in sumptuous, vermouth-informed reverie and actually discuss their triumphs, regard their trophies and show-business honorifics by late-afternoon desert light, or would they merely reconnoiter in a somber, common silence? How do bustlingly crowded churches and pediatric cancers share the same possibility space? Whence the friendly hand-holding Ghost?
It’s a fact that Life is fluorescing around us in a cyclonic rage of unapprehended sound and fury (as has been noted), the grasses bursting upward, the birds yelling, airplanes spitting fire and heat, snails crunching noisily along littered forest floors, their ridiculous eyestalks waving around to no Darwinian avail. Cars collide and carom all over the world, even as quantum whatnots (…wave! No, wait! particle!...) do much the same thing, but with less visibly dramatic effect. You wouldn’t ordinarily guess at the presence of the roiling craziness we inhabit. In this doozy of an astral plane you can be holding hands to the accompaniment of birdsong one hour, and in the next be fleeing a pack of hungry hyenas across the savannah. This all falls under the category “Glory,” and rightly so.
But (oh my Word) also this. Some time ago at the red Naugahyde-booth restaurant – so reminiscent of the Officer’s Clubs of my AFB youth – the restaurant’s nattily costumed proprietor was making the rounds. In his superfluous and ceremonial red vest, he stopped along a highball-and-plate-littered table to speak to a man dining gingerly, and somewhat awkwardly, with his elderly mother, several tables distant from my own rust-freckled Naugahyde vestibule.
In the sepia bath of the beveled faux chandeliers, the scene was without sound but not without effect.
The proprietor engaged the man’s mother in conversation, placing his hand on her shoulder as would a congenial confidant. She tilted her beautiful face to receive him and I saw that her expression was suddenly alight. Her lovely eyes blazed at this sincere businessman, blazed with utter, unguarded delight. Not with a simple explicable smile, but with a clear, radiant and eternal expression of bliss, an absolute incandescence, a contagion.
Then her grown son’s own face, as he watched the proprietor lean into his brittle and ecstatic old mom, became beatific. It was a circuit. He saw our god, such as He is. In the restaurants and driveways and parlors and living rooms, and on the graying daylit street corners of this sometimes-bewildering burst of color and feeling, He roams in His approximate loving beauty, in this instance wearing a red vest, striding purposefully along (and probably a millimeter or so above) a covertly beer-stained carpet.
Blockhead Universe
The Block Universe theory (also called Eternalism) posits that space-time is an unchanging four-dimensional “block,” that the past and future are as extant as the present – reality as an enormous lucite cube, past, present and future locked inside like the cartoon characters in a truck stop curio. The past we recall is behind us, has not been obliterated, and can be revisited – if we could just come up with the means. My dad passed in 1993, my mom in 2014. Sometimes in a moment of quietude I see all the receding moments back there, and I walk into the TV room and my old bedroom, and my little brother’s corner bedroom where I’d painted a really cool Starship Enterprise on his wall, shuttlecraft in the foreground. I walk through all the
UFO Scouts Lovely Wooded Village
According to community gossip aggregator Patch, on March 5 two Montecitans reported seeing a “bright object in the sky” with flashing white lights. The villagers hustled to their front yard to continue to watch it. The thing was utterly silent, and either cubic or rectangular when viewed through binoculars.
“After about 5 minutes, it slowly moved away from us and over the ocean” one anonymized stargazer said. “A friend and her husband who live several miles from us had witnessed the same thing in the sky about a week earlier.”
Godmothers Grand Opening Weekend
Areminder that Godmothers, “A Bookstore & Gathering Space”, hosts its grand opening this coming weekend; Saturday and Sunday Sept. 7 and 8. The place is at 2280 Lillie Ave. in Summerland, its founders are notable Renaissance Women and lit enthusiasts, and the spacious, beautifully-appointed barn Godmothers occupies is fated to become a book and conversation supernova on the Central Coast, and in the broader world of literature. Stop in and join the event-seasoned opener, and you’ll be able to say “I was there when they launched!”
rooms, hours and days in the sunlit house on Mulberry Street. I stare at all the moments and quantum forks and so on.
The past is immutable, but we desperately yearn. We can see those moments in the mind’s eye, the imagery and sense memory clear as a bell; but getting back there (we’re assured by scientists with straight faces) involves unimaginable energies and faster-than-light velocities – and a bunch of other wholly unreasonable cosmological barriers to closure. May the indescribable power of the vast universe be marshalled on my behalf for this one little thing.
I lie awake. I dare not pray but I ask: Zeus or Vishnu or Yahweh, or whatever
robed Titan runs this place – if I could maybe go back to the family room on Mulberry? For two or three minutes? I’d really appreciate it. I won’t ask again.
Jeff Wing is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast. He has been writing about Montecito and environs since before some people were born. He can be reached at jeff@ montecitojournal.net
50th and Mulberry – Ground Zero of the Block Universe
Tango Bardo Turns it Up at Lobero – Tango Bardo , one of the most sought-after Argentinian tango bands, features musicians playing double bass, violin, bandoneón and piano, plus soulful vocalist Roberto Minondi The group that has headlined at theaters, tango parties, (milongas) and exhibitions will provide the musical support for a quartet of couples performing live on stage, including Miriam Larici and Leonardo Barrionuevo , who have appeared on So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars ; Giovanna Dan and Guillermo De Fazio , who as GD Tango have performed at such prestigious venues as the Hollywood Bowl; Geraldine Freitag and Claudio Otero , pairing a USA National Tango Champion with a renowned Argentine dancer; and Katia Diamond and Martín Almirón, who have claimed multiple tango championship titles and whose stage experience includes Broadway’s Evita . Put together the cast plans to promote the passionate and rhythmic culture of Argentina through the art of Argentine Tango and traditional folklore (gaucho).
WHEN: 7:30 pm
WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.
COST: $49 to $111; $35 students
INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com
EDC’s tgif! – In addition to all of its fabulous work fighting for keeping Santa Barbara and environs as safe as possible against threats to the environment for decades, the Environmental Defense Center has been hosting meetups of community organizers, government officials, green companies and other like-minded folks for many years during the warm-weather months. Known
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
1st Thursday: Left, Right and Vertical – “Left Brain / Right Brain,” Sullivan Goss’ (11 E. Anapamu St.) new exhibit, dives into the divide and connection in highlighting works by artists who use science and engineering to bring their creative vision to life. The marriage of art and technology draws on the concept that the part of the mind that is intuitive, subjective, instinctual and focused on pleasure in the present moment can’t exist peacefully with the part that is rational, objective, linear and oriented toward perfection and the future. In presenting these 21 pieces dating from 1949 to last month, the gallery aims to examine the role of technology and rational problem solving in the creation of works of art…. Also contemplating the intersection of art and science is NCEAS Art+Science Gallery (1021 Anacapa St., 3rd floor) with the exhibit of the final work of computer animator and media artist Martina R. Fröschl, UCSB’s National Center of Ecological Analysis and Synthesis’ 2024 Artist in Residence…. Clearly coming down on the right brain side of the imagined equation is KAAREM (1221 State St., #14), which hosts Loan Chabanol’s “Cotton Candy” collection inspired by her inner child and the gentle nature of transformation. Visitors can also enjoy estate wines from St. Avalo, locally made ice cream from Eat Creaminal, and flower arrangements by Aivy Florals…. Elsewhere, the adjacent domecíl (1223 State St.) celebrates its third anniversary with an exhibit by artists Ray Gabaldón and Tona Wakefield, who will be displaying their totemic sculptures made using both manmade and natural found objects. The sculptures have been created as deeply meaningful works that tell both personal and universal stories.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
1st Thursday Entertainment – With September representing the return of the arts season to Santa Barbara, choices are myriad in the monthly downtown self-guided tour, including the first pop-up opera of the season with Opera Santa Barbara singers sharing songs and arias on the front terrace of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (1130 State St.) in a short set at 5 p.m. Hands-on folks will want to head to SBMA’s Family 1st Thursday in the Family Resource Center to create an impressionist oil pastel…. Half a block North, one-time Platters singer and Montecito resident Ron Paris puts forth his own brand of soul music, followed by sounds from Crispin Barrymore with Jimmi Wz as the entertainment for Legacy Arts Listening Room (1230 State St.) There’s also free food and drinks at the reception for the exhibition of works by artist Irma Cavat…. Another block North, SBIFF Education Center (1330 State St.) is featuring Dream Foundation’s short film Kim’s Dream, about Kim Schwich, who was one of the thousands who went to help after the 9/11 attacks, was exposed to toxins in the air, and passed away from cancer…. Things are more celebratory at Ensemble Theatre Company (33 W. Victoria St.), where a reception kicks off a presentation of the homegrown professional company’s 46th season, dubbed “Legends & Legacies,” with insights from the executive director and surprise artistic guests…. Stay on State but cross Carrillo St. to the 800 block to hear Jared Nels, a Santa Barbara-based musician originally from Des Moines who blends soft, sweet vocals with yodeling(!) and plays a versatile guitar influenced by both Jimi Hendrix and Tony Rice. Nels made a name for himself yodeling on Season 18 of American Idol…. Finally, Santa Barbara Historical Museum (136 E. De La Guerra St.) is still celebrating the 100th anniversary of Old Spanish Days with Project Fiesta!, tonight adding a performance from Latin jazz band Mezcal Martini in the courtyard.
as tgif!, the gatherings are one of Santa Barbara’s best-loved summer happy hour events, save for a three-year shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Things have changed a bit over time, but guests still can enjoy a couple of glasses of local wine or frosty beer (Night Lizard Brewing Company and Zaca Mesa Winery are this month’s providers) while mingling and learning about some of the environmental work being done in our region. Central Coast Green Business Council, League of Women Voters Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper are September’s partner sponsors, live music comes from That Girl and The Laid Backs with longtime Santa Barbara singer-songwriter Tina Sicre and guitarist David Cowan , raffle prizes are donated by Hammies, McConnell’s Ice Cream, and Patagonia, and it all takes place in the gorgeous sunken courtyard at EDC’s downtown headquarters.
WHEN: 5:30-7:30 pm
WHERE: 906 Garden St.
COST: $20, which includes two drink tickets (Sliding-scale tickets available) INFO: (805) 963-1622 or www.environmentaldefensecenter.org/tgif
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
Pooch Put on Display – Keith Puccinelli was a longtime Santa Barbara resident who began his artistic career as an award-winning graphic designer before turning full-time to work in fine art. Puccinelli, a charismatic man who went by Pooch, became an active and recognized contributor to the Southern California art scene and something of a local hero. Pooch passed away in 2017, one year after his wife Frances, and the following year, his estate donated more than 350 works by the artist and graphic designer, including drawings, sculptures, ceramics, sketchbooks, designs and archives –plus 150 additional art objects from the couple’s personal collection of work by acclaimed contemporary, folk and regional artists – to the Art, Design &
Viva ¡Viva! – ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! brings people together to share the rich cultural heritage of Latin America with programs and concerts that serve more than 15,000 students and community members each year throughout Santa Barbara County. The live performances, which take place roughly once a month in Santa Barbara, Isla Vista and Guadalupe, all feature high-quality touring artists, including Grammy winners and recognized cultural ambassadors who not only perform but share their knowledge, passion and commitment. The 2024-25 season gets underway this weekend with Las Cafeteras, the Chicanx band from East Los Angeles known for blending son jarocho and spoken word in a sonic explosion of Afro Mexican rhythms, electronic beats and powerful rhymes. Their songs encompass themes and references range from the Civil Rights Movement and the United Farm Workers to DREAM Act immigration reform and female homicides in Ciudad Juárez. The band constructs its music as a tool for creating positive change and inspiring others. WHEN: 7 tonight-Sunday
WHERE: Isla Vista School, 6875 El Colegio Road (Friday); Guadalupe City Hall, 918 Obispo St., Guadalupe (Saturday); Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High, 721 East Cota St. (Sunday)
COST: Free
INFO: artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/learn/viva-el-arte-de-santa-barbara or www.facebook.com/VivaelArteSB
Architecture Museum at UCSB. Now the museum is set to open its major fall exhibition “POOCH: The Art Full Life of Keith Julius Puccinelli” showcasing more than 250 works from the collection, in the process investigating how humor, tragedy and wit animated Puccinelli’s art and design. The exhibition also situates Puccinelli’s career within the constellation of his local and regional contemporaries.
WHERE: UCSB campus, across from the lagoon COST: Free
INFO: (805) 893-2951 or www.museum.ucsb.edu
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7
Pedal Pusher People – It was five years ago that Santa Barbara native and lifelong bike enthusiast
John Seigel-Boettner founded the local chapter of Cycling Without Age (CWA), the international nonprofit movement aiming to help the elderly get back on their bicycles given their limited mobility. CWA employs electric-pedal-assist “trishaw” bikes – essentially three-wheeled rickshaws – to take residents of retirement communities to free rides to enjoy the sensation once again. Now, filmmakers Isaac Seigel-Boettner and Jacob Seigel Brielle, John’s sons who together run Pedal Born Pictures, have made a documentary that follows the story of their retired middle-school teacher dad and his team of pedal-powered rickshaw pilots, in the process also presenting a portrait of aging. The film’s West Coast premiere will be followed by a panel discussion about the program with John Seigel-Boettner and the filmmakers, along with local leaders in the aging community. All proceeds from the event benefit the Santa Barbara chapter of the Cycling Without Age movement.
WHEN: 6 pm
WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.
COST: $28 general, $81 VIP
(includes post-screening reception with refreshments and a tri-shaw demo)
INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com
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ESTATE/SENIOR SERVICES
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REVERSE MORTGAGES
DID YOU KNOW?
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AUTOMOBILES WANTED
We buy Classic Cars Running or not. Foreign/Domestic Chevy/Ford/Porsche/Mercedes/Etc.
We come to you.
Call Steven - 805-699-0684 Website - Avantiauto.group
PHYSICAL TRAINING & THERAPY
Stillwell Fitness of Santa Barbara
In Home Personal Training Sessions for 65+ Help with: Strength, Flexibility, Balance Motivation, and Consistency
John Stillwell, CPT, Specialist in Senior Fitness 805-705-2014 StillwellFitness.com
GOT OSTEOPOROSIS? WE CAN HELP
At OsteoStrong our proven non-drug protocol takes just ten minutes once a week to improve your bone density and aid in more energy, strength, balance and agility. Please call for a complimentary session! Call Now (805) 453-6086
AVAILABLE CAREGIVER
Trusted, Experienced Caregiver, CA State registered and background checked. Vaccinated. Loving and caring provides transportation, medications, etc. Lina 805-940-6888
Montecito Electric Repairs and Inspections
Licensed C10485353 805-969-1575
Bouchard Electric Full Service Electrical Generac - Automatic Generators
Lic #794284 C-10 415-499-2203
PET/ HOUSE SITTING
Do you need to get away for a weekend, week or more? I will housesit and take care of your pets, plants & mail. I have refs if needed. Call me or text me. Christine (805) 452-2385
TILE SETTING
Local tile setter of 35 years is now doing small jobs only. Services include grout cleaning and repair, caulking, sealing, replacing damaged tiles and basic plumbing needs. Call Doug Watts at 805-729-3211 for a free estimate.
AVAILABLE FOR RENT
Gorgeous remodeled 2BR guesthouse/cottage in Montecito’s Golden Quadrangle. Private tropical setting, part of a gated estate. Separate parking and entrance, furnished, lush private patio.
Full kitchen, A/C, W/D. All utilities, Wi-Fi and cable included.
$7,200/mo.
Minimum 4 mos. Lease. (215) 260-0207
LANDSCAPE
Casa L. M.
Landscape hedges installed. Ficus to flowering. Disease resistant. Great privacy. Licensed & insured. Call (805) 963-6909
CARPET CLEANING
Carpet Cleaning Since 1978 (805) 963-5304
Rafael Mendez Cell: 689-8397 or 963-3117
Ocean view plot off of Bluff Ave. Island Edition-C #83
$10 MINIMUM TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD
It’s simple. Charge is $3 per line, each line with 31 characters. Minimum is $10 per issue. Photo/logo/visual is an additional $20 per issue. Email Classified Ad to frontdesk@montecitojournal.net
EDC Mobile Sharpening is locally owned and operated in Santa Barbara. We specialize in (No-Entry) House Calls, Businesses, and Special Events. Call (805) 696-0525 to schedule an appointment.
GARDENING
Care and maintenance of all your gardening needs. Pruning fruit trees, roses, hedges, and more! Reliable.
CELEBRATE YOUR LOVE WITH A GIFT THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME AND GIVE LIFE TO FINAL DREAMS
The Dream Plaza is a beautiful oasis in front of downtown Santa Barbara’s historic Hotel Californian.
It’s a place to linger and dream, and every contribution to this beautiful plaza will support Dream Foundation programs and bring thousands of Dreams to life.
Learn how you can be a part of Condé Nast Traveler’s 2024 Best Hotels in California, all while supporting end-of-life Dreams. Please contact Dream Foundation by phone 805-539-2208 or email plaza@dreamfoundation.org.
This stone says, “We did.”
While nothing might say, “I do,” like a diamond, nothing says, “We did,” like your own engraved stone in the Dream Plaza in downtown Santa Barbara.
Choose from four sizes of stone to be elegantly engraved to commemorate your wedding or anniversary, or as a wedding gift to someone else, and you’ll be helping us make final Dreams for terminally-ill adults come true, like Jill, who wanted to marry her sweetheart in her own Dream wedding.
Every stone purchased is eligible for a tax-deductible contribution.
Dream Foundation is the only national dream-granting organization for terminally-ill adults.
