Brilliant Thoughts

Born London, 1933. Mother Canadian. Father a British civil servant. World War II childhood spent mostly in Toronto and Washington, D.C. Berkeley PhD. in American History, 1964. Living in Santa Barbara since 1973. No children. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots”, now a series of 10,000. Email ashleigh@west.net or visit www.ashleighbrilliant.com Keep in Touch

bought this for you,” I said. “It came in green and yellow, so you get first choice.”

Pat opened the package and took out the hooded see-through Hefty-baglike poncho with the Waimea Valley logo on it that I had paid six bucks for. “Yellow,” she said… excitedly.

She had suggested we spend her celebration day hiking to Waimea Falls, even though it was raining, and even though I had thoughtfully suggested instead looking for the “parrot guy” in Honolulu so we could get a cute portrait with large live birds standing on our heads.

“How far to the falls?” I asked the ticket guy.

“About thirty minutes,” he said. “Each way?” “Yup. Longer, if you take the side excursions to the Ku’ula fishing shrine, the agricultural terraces, and Kauhale site. Waimea is a wahi pana. Many generations of kahuna nui once lived here, including Hewahewa, high priest under Kamehameha.”

“Ah, right…” He handed me a map and a bird identification guide. “Any cockatoos or large green parrots for photo ops?”

“Nooo, but I have some good news.” He smiled. “You won’t be needing to slather yourselves in sunscreen today.”

It was a nice walk, albeit uphill. Pat, the historian, loved it. And I took photos of monkeypod trees, hibiscus, and grass-roofed huts between the raindrops. The 30-foot-tall falls themselves were roaring. Sometimes you can swim in the pool below the falls, but today it was muddy brown and moving really fast. It would have been fun to see someone getting tossed about like a slipper sock in the dryer, but no luck. Halfway back down the trail, a shuttle bus passed us. “They have a shuttle!”

“Let’s go back to Waikiki,” Pat said, “and go to Duke’s on the beach for mai-tais.”

“You got it! My treat.” “Perfect. Jon and Patrick are meeting us there.” I felt my wallet thinning, but hey it was better than going to the Honolulu Hallmark.

After copious drinks and appetizers, and one of those Hawaiian sunsets with the large clouds, I paid the tab and we walked back through the International Marketplace toward our hotel.

“So, was this one of the best B-Day/ V-Days ever?” I asked.

“Depends,” Pat said. “Did you buy me any neon undergarments?” “Nope.” “Then yes,” she said. “It was perfect.” •MJ

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One of my earliest memories was of somebody saying to me, in a kindly tone, “MUSTN’T TOUCH!” I don’t recall anything else about the incident – but those words – and even that tone of voice – have lingered with me as a mild rebuke whenever I’ve been tempted to put a finger someplace where I knew it shouldn’t be.

All of our many “sense” words are connected with the idea of feeling. And you need not be a neurologist to know that of all our senses, the sense of touch is the most crucial to our survival as a species. After all, what would sex be without it?

And those widely-distributed touch-sensitive nerves are, of course, our bodies’ primary means of contact with the external world. Nobody knows more about that than blind people. But what, after all, does this sense of touch tell us? The most important question it answers is: “Is anything there?” If there is, it can provide us with much information about size, shape, texture, temperature, moistness, sharpness, hardness, density, and pliability.

But let’s not go too far here. Most of us have probably come upon the parable about the Blind Men and the Elephant. A group of blind men explore an elephant, having no advance idea what it is. One, feeling the trunk, thought it must be a thick snake. One, whose hand reached its ear, said it seemed like some kind of fan. A third, grasping its leg, thought the elephant was a pillar, like a treetrunk. Yet another, feeling its side said that the elephant must be a wall, and finally the blind man at the tail was sure that the elephant was a rope.

This story, of course, is about much more than the limitations of our sense of touch. The elephant is cosmic reality, which we puny mortals can scarcely comprehend, except within the bounds of our own experience – which is bound to result in distortions and misapprehensions of the truth.

“Keeping in touch” is our metaphor for maintaining contact, which is itself only another metaphor for the same concept. In fact our very word “tact,” with all its implications of sensitivity to persons, places, and situations, has its origins in the concept of touch.

When Michelangelo, about five

• The Voice of the Village • MONTECITO JOURNAL 27 centuries ago, depicted God giving life to Adam (in his famous fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel) it was the sense of touch which was the dominant symbol, with two hands reaching out towards each other, two fingers not yet quite touching. One of my own early illustrated epigrams was only four words long. It said “I HOPE YOU’RE FEELING” – and as an illustration, I could think of nothing more appropriate than a close-up rendering of those same two hands. (It may interest you to know that when my very literal-minded father first saw this message, he couldn’t understand it. His comment was “feeling what?” In a way, I could sympathize with this reaction, because, conventionally, those four words were always followed by at least one more word, such as “better,” to complete the thought. But my contribution, by leaving “feeling” dangling, was to give it a whole new meaning of its own.)

Which brings us back to the sense of Touch. Modern medicine and dentistry have developed means of de-sensitizing certain “local” areas of our body in order temporarily to deaden the sensation of pain. But it is not only pain which we cease to feel in those areas. They become totally numb, and the numbness can sometimes annoyingly take some time to wear off.

Our word “anesthesia” does not mean, as you might think “without pain.” It means “without feeling.” “Esthetics” relates to the whole concept of personal feelings, particularly with regard to pleasurable responses to art and beauty. One of the first modern anesthetics – nitrous oxide – does indeed not only suppress pain, but can also create a sense of hilarity – hence its sobriquet of “Laughing Gas.” When properly used in a medical or dental setting, it can allow the patient to remain conscious, while still suffering no painful feelings.

And then there is the handshake – an ancient form of greeting, with much symbolic value, beyond merely revealing the absence of a weapon. Today, however, with sanitation so potent an issue, we are unhappily conflicted between appreciating the warmth of a friendly grasp, and fearing possible contagion. Yes, it’s a touching dilemma. (Or, as the sport of fencing has taught us to say, “touché!”) •MJ

together.

The much more intimate WestEastern Divan Ensemble was formed last year to honor its parent orchestra’s two-decade milestone, handpicked from the larger group by Barenboim to draw upon the orchestra’s highly-praised artistry in an intimate chamber formation. Led by violinist and concertmaster Michael Barenboim (Daniel’s son), the ensemble extends the orchestra’s youthful energy and message of “Equal in Music” to smaller chamber works. In their Santa Barbara debut they will play well-known works by Schubert and Mendelssohn sandwiched around a commissioned composition by contemporary French composer Benjamin Attahir who himself draws inspiration from both the West and East.

Michael Barenboim talked about the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble and program over the phone from New York ahead of the afternoon concert on Saturday, March 7, at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall. Q. What is the purpose and goal of the smaller ensemble intimate chamber formation? A. We wanted to give the opportunity to the musicians to perform in a more exposed role playing important pieces of chamber music. It also gives the audience the experience of the musicianship in a more intimate environment, more direct and up close. And from the perspective of spreading ideas, the smaller size lets us travel to many more places, such as the U.S., where we can play 14 concerts, which would not be possible for the full orchestra.

How does sharing musical connections help to bridge cultural and political divides?

From the very beginning, the point wasn’t about creating a gan orchestra but rather a forum, a place where people from the countries in the Middle East could cooperate and make music and have a project together where the idea was that musicians from countries that are otherwise at conflict could be together on the basis of equality. Mendelssohn doesn’t care where you come from, but there’s value to making music and finding a common way of working. Bringing peace to the Middle East is unrealistic. But it’s an alternative way of thinking for the region, one that’s not based on conflict, arms and blood shed, but cooperation and understanding.

What has been the impact over the 20 years?

For the musicians, not one who ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 20) has gone into the Divan has come out thinking the same way as before. Frankly, it’s impossible. When you have actual direct human contact with what at home would be the enemy – who you would never even entertain any thoughts of meeting – it changes you. So every musician that has been with us even for a short period of time has been impacted. Also, musically, the work we do is very intense with a lot of rehearsing and preparation. It makes people grow as musicians, too. It also has an effect on the people who see us. If you go in thinking a very specific and limited way, the change will probably be very small, but nevertheless it’s something. But of course it’s not realistic to expect a group of musicians to have any effect on the political and cultural situation of the countries.

How does the new work, Benjamin Attahir’s Jawb, serve the mission?

It’s a very strong piece and it has had a big effect on the audience everywhere we’ve played it. It has a lot of character that speaks for itself. Attahir wrote it from a desire to extend musical friendship, things that are close to his heart. It has a fascinating structure, very unusual for a string octet. He usually composes with a clear structure that has a point of recapitulation, like a classical sonata or rondo, something that comes back and you recognize. But he doesn’t do that here. The thematic material is developed and varies as it goes along – always forward, never looking back. The difficulty is to have a new piece with no moments of recognition, but he creates a sense of understanding through other means. He wrote it for us and he knew what he was doing.

It only goes forward. That seems like a metaphor for a solution for the problems in the Middle East – moving forward, because looking at the past is about conflict and hatred.

I don’t think he made that connection. But the piece itself is a special moment for him, because he really doesn’t write this way. Then again, the title means something like “path” or “crossing,” so the bridge-building metaphor is within.

How does it fit with the rest of the program?

I told him we would be playing the other two pieces and he wrote it with that in mind. The Mendelssohn String Octet in E-flat Major is the most important piece in the repertoire, nothing else comes remotely close. Attahir’s way of writing for the same instrumentation is a fascinating

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5 – 12 March 2020 MONTECITO JOURNAL30 “Bach tells you what it’s like to be the universe.” – Douglas Adams approach. And with the Schubert I wanted to find something to start the concert that had a solo part and single strings, a beautiful piece that gives the concert a good start and prepares the ear for the Attahir piece.

At this point is it a blessing or curse to be thought of first as the orchestra that has both Israeli and Palestinian members rather than simply a great ensemble?

We have no control of that, but we can change how we perform, what quality we bring to the stage, what message we transmit with the music. People come to the concert for different reasons. But once it starts, what they hear is Mendelssohn. In the end it’s about the music. We must play at the highest possible level to be taken seriously. And that’s why we get invited back to big festivals – they don’t invite us because of who we are, at least not after the first time. But of course where we come from is definitely relevant. Classical Corner

Opera Santa Barbara presents Il Postino (The Postman), created by Mexican-American composer Daniel Catán, who is known for his sweeping, impressionistic music and bringing Spanish-language opera into the international repertory. Based on the Oscar-winning film of the same name, the story follows a poor and uneducated mail carrier who meets Chilean exile and poet, Pablo Neruda, on a small island off the coast of Italy, and set against a backdrop of political and spiritual conflict. The work weaves together the rush of romance, the endurance of friendship, and the danger that arises at the intersection of art and politics. OSB artistic director Kostis Protopapas conducts, while Crystal Manich, who last with OSB for The Cunning Little Vixen, directs a cast featuring Arnold Rawls in his OSB debut as the poet and Daniel Montenegro, last seen in 2011’s Trouble in Tahiti, as the titular postman. Shows are March 7 and 8 at the Lobero Theatre... Also on March 7, pianist Paolo Tatafiore plays the “Dante Sonata” by Franz Liszt and selections of Rachmaninoff’s preludes in a free Santa Barbara Music Club concert at the Faulkner Gallery of the central library at 3 pm.

Also, CAMA celebrates its longstanding relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic – nearly 300 concerts strong – with a gala concert at the Granada Theatre on Friday, March 6, which is 100 years to the day from the LA Phil’s first performance in Santa Barbara. Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel conducts Ives’ Symphony No. 2 and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World.” Montecito Journal contributor Hattie Beresford, author of the book Celebrating CAMA’s Centennial: Bringing the World’s Finest Classical Music to Santa Barbara, gives a free illustrated lecture at the New Vic Theatre in Santa Barbara at 5:15 pm before the 7 pm concert, which will be preceded by a red carpet reception in the Granada lobby.

The six-year-old Paris-based Arod Quartet, whose members are all still in their twenties, has already dazzled chamber-music lovers in concerts at such prestigious venues as the Auditorium of the Louvre in Paris and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland after winning First Prize of the 2016 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Now, less than a year since its inaugural Carnegie Hall performance, the Arod Quartet’s program for its Santa Barbara debut at the Mary Craig Auditorium on Thursday, March 12, includes Haydn’s Quartet in D Major, Op. 76, No. 5, Bartók’s Quartet No. 4, and Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1, “Razumovsky,” by Beethoven. Film Festival Fever

With SBIFF barely six weeks gone, the time seems ripe for more film fests to find local favor, as three different offerings arrive in town this week. The fifth annual Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival since the event was resurrected by the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara takes place March 11-15 at the New Vic Theatre downtown and features 13 programs with feature films, documentaries, and shorts from seven countries over its five-day span. Jewish or not, the fest is geared to appeal to everyone, said co-chair Dr. Mashey Bernstein, who co-created the festival.

“It’s a chance to see a variety of different aspects of Jewish life,” he said. “It’s not just Israel, or the Holocaust, or even political. There’s also lighthearted comedies and a film based on a young adult novel – a wide range of experiences so you can enjoy while you learn.”

Bernstein, who also programs the Kolnoa section of SBIFF each winter, explained that because SBJFF isn’t restricted to premiering exclusively Israeli films, there’s a larger palate to draw from, while some of the screenings even have special guests to talk about the work.

The festival opens March 11 with the West Coast premiere of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Oscar winner Caroline Link’s adaptation of Judith Kerr’s semi-autobiographical bestseller of the same title, a story about parting, family cohesion and optimism. “She won her Oscar for Nowhere in Africa and it’s a great story about how the girl handles adversity, and is very strong and feisty.” The indomitable power of women is also delineated in An Irrepressible Woman, which was inspired by Janot Reichenbach’s (played by the acclaimed French actress, Elsa Zylberstein) love for French socialist politician and threetime Prime Minister Léon Blum (Hippolyte Girardot) who was imprisoned by the Nazis. “She goes to the concentration camp, where she wants to marry him. It’s quite a story,” Bernstein said. Similarly, Those Who Remained, which Hungary submitted for the Oscars last year, is the lyrical story of the healing process of Holocaust survivors through the eyes of a young girl in post-World War II Hungary.

Among several comedies is Tel Aviv on Fire, which pairs an Israeli border guard with a yearn for Hummus with an inept Palestinian screenwriter. “It’s a Palestinian soap opera that serves as a funny poke at Israeli-Palestinian relations,” said Bernstein, who also recommended The Rabbi from Hezbolah, about a farmer from Lebanon who ends up helping the Israeli army in a biography with more twists and turns than a Matthew Bourne mystery. “It’s a fascinating story about a spy who becomes a Hassidic rabbi,” he said. “If it was fiction you wouldn’t believe it.” Also on this year’s slate is Forgiveness, Israel’s most popular movie in 2019, which finds two hapless criminals trying to go straight during the holy days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur but they keep stumbling into one crisis after another. It features the actors from the hit comedy Maktubb, which played at SBJFF 2018.

At the opposite end of the seriousness spectrum is Incitement, acclaimed writer-director Yaron Zilberman chronicling of the disturbing descent of promising law student Yigal Amir who was influenced by a particular interpretation of Rabbinic teaching, political points of view and maternal love, resulting in him becoming the intransigent ultranationalist who assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The film took home nine Ophir awards – Israel’s Oscars – including Best Picture. “It’s a very controversial movie about a subject that shows that it’s not just Muslims or white supremacists who can get radicalized,” Bernstein noted. “It happens among jews, too. Everyone is vulnerable to that mindset.”

SBJFF 2020’s free community program on Sunday, March 15, features two entertaining comics exploring the food delights of Montreal in Chewdaism, which Bernstein called “a funny memory piece that’s a feast for the eyes.”

For details, tickets, festival passes and more, visit www.sbjewishfilmfes tival.org. Pop Notes

The Beach Boys make what seems like an annual local appearance – and why not, since Bruce Johnston and Christian Love live in town? – at the Chumash Casino Resort’s Samala Showroom on Friday, March 6. One night later on March 7, scions of the classic rock band Cream – Kofi Bake (son of drummer Ginger) and Malcolm Bruce (son of bassist Jack) – along with Will Johns (nephew of guitarist Eric Clapton) come together to perform the iconic 1967 album Disraeli Gears, the super-group’s second studio album, in sequence at SOhO.

Also of note: the acoustic guitar maestro/singer-songwriter Cyrus Clarke (Cache Valley Drifters; the Acousticats), who recently returned to the country after 12 years in Hawaii, officially debuts the Blue Sky Flyers, featuring longtime collaborators Barney and Rosie Towers, at Carr Winery on Friday, March 6; Sweet Talk Radio revisits the Cambridge Drive Concert Series on March 7; and the great under-recognized guitarist Nina Gerber returns to SOhO on March 8. Mountain Madness

Every year, approximately 375 films vie for just 80 slots in The Banff Mountain Film Festival, the most prestigious international presentation of short films and documentaries about mountain culture, sports, and ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 28)

The Jewish Film Festival takes place March 11-15 at the New Vic Theatre downtown

environment that takes place every October in Banff, Canada. During the festival, a jury chooses the best films in such categories as Mountain Sports, Mountain Environment, Mountain Culture, Exploration and Adventure and many others, and then those are whittled down to evening programs with subject matters ranging from remote landscapes and cultures to adrenaline-packed action sports to create the annual World Tour, now in its celebrating the 44th annual festival. This week’s shows, at the Arlington on March 11 and 12, each featuring a different program, mark 29 years in town. Santa Barbara is also just one of a dozen stops for the inaugural YETI Film Tour, sponsored by the premium outdoor brand, which boasts that every product they make is “Built for the Wild.” The one-day fest arrives at the Lobero on Tuesday, March 10, and debuts a collection of unreleased and never-before-seen films from the wild that “capture the unbreakable human spirit”, and features exclusive YETI gear, raffles, and ambassador visits. All proceeds from ticket sales benefit conservation groups dedicated to preserving the outdoors and the environment. •MJ Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour stops at the Arlington Theatre on March 11 and 12

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