"Lutah Who?"

The best things in life are

CELEBRATING OUR FIREFIGHTERS

2 - 9 January 2020 Vol 26 Issue 1

The Voice of the Village

MFD’s Garet Blake played a vital role to local residents during the 1/9 debris flow, especially those residing in Montecito Shores. Support him and fellow firefighters at upcoming Firefighters Ball, p. 24

S SINCE 1995 S

“LUTAH WHO?”

GRETCHEN LIEFF FELL IN LOVE WITH HER DREAM HOME AFTER LEARNING ABOUT ITS UNCREDITED ARCHITECT, LUTAH MARIA RIGGS. NOW AFTER A FIVE-YEAR WORLD TOUR, LIEFF’S CELEBRATED DOCUMENTARY ABOUT RIGGS RETURNS TO SANTA BARBARA’S LOBERO THEATRE (BEGINS ON P. 5) SAVE THE DATE

MONDAY, JANUARY 27 | HAHN HALL

WITH

LAURA CAPPS

DAS WILLIAMS

1ST DISTRICT SUPERVISOR PRIMARY DEBATE 2020

Village Beat

Roundabout planned for San Ysidro Road and North Jameson Lane intersection to be heard at Montecito Board of Architectural Review meeting next week, p. 12

‘Tis the Season

MUS and other local schools put on annual holiday concerts, sporting festive attire and singing such classics as “Feliz Navidad,” “Dreidel Song,” and much more, p. 10

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE 5

On the Record

6

Montecito Miscellany

8

This Week

Gretchen Lieff fell in love with enigmatic architect Lutah Maria Riggs after discovering her hidden life. Now Lieff’s award-winning documentary returns to Lutah’s own Lobero Theatre.

Christmas with Pat Nesbitt, the Rock Amazons and more

Highlights include tech-help self-sessions, knit over matter, fruit tree-pruning, and Spanish conversation

Tide Chart 9 Letters

Eat. Sip. Shop. Connect.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our readers happily notice a new byline, thank Das Williams, worry about a new state law’s impact on freelancers, and say no to salty water, or is it desalination?

10 Our Town

A roundup of Montecito schools’ Holiday Concerts

12 Village Beat

The San Ysidro Roundabout comes up for public discussion on January 9 so be there or be square

13 Calla’s Corner

If you are the goddaughter of Tallulah Bankhead, a child actress and gifted writer, you have quite a tale to tell, as evidenced by Brook Ashley’s Dare Wright and the Lonely Doll

14 Seen Around Town

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara hosts a community leaders’ lunch, plus Journaling to Heal 410 E. Haley St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101 805.965.9555 | info@themill.com | www.themillsb.com

19 Brilliant Thoughts

Ashleigh Brilliant explores the merits of being chased rather than chaste

The Santa Barbara School of Squash plays hard to give back to the community

23 The 501c3 Weekly

Santa Barbara in a Glass

Five wine resolutions for 2020. Hint: drink more doesn’t necessarily mean what you think.

24 Aging in High Heels

A tribute to firefighter Garet Blake

25 On Entertainment

Cheri Steinkellner’s new play Prima Materia; Benjamin Beilman’s violin plays Bach, Busoni, and Grieg at the Lobero, where Scotland’s KT Tunstall makes her debut

33 Spirituality Matters

Big Doings at Bodhi Path, coming constellations, and other points of relativity

36 Calendar of Events

INTRODUCING

MONTECITO R ANC H ESTATES

10 West Gallery’s January exhibit; more First Thursday happenings; the Cambridge Drive Concert series kicks off; Trevor Levstak’s “Losing Ground”; Disney legend’s Ub Iwerk; crime author Matt Coyle; a special screening of the award-winning LUTAH at the Lobero; The Voice’s Will Breman is back; Montecito’s own Hana Aluna will see you at SOhO

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2 – 9 January 2020

ON THE RECORD

Nicholas Schou

Nicholas Schou is an award-winning investigative journalist as well as former editor of OC Weekly in Orange County, California. The author of several books, including Orange Sunshine and Kill the Messenger, the latter of which was made into a Hollywood film, his writing has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, The Atlantic, and other fine publications. In his free time, he lives with his wife, son, and an overly-gregarious poodle in a cabin located in the wilds of Montecito’s hedgerows.

An Unexpected Discovery

T

he life and accomplishments of one of the most influential but least known Santa Barbara architects will be celebrated at the Lobero Theatre on January 5. LUTAH A Passion for Architecture: A Life of Design tells the story of Lutah Maria Riggs (1896-1984), a protégée of famed architect George Washington Smith, who, among other landmark local buildings such as the Vedanta Temple, designed the Lobero itself. The film premiered at the theater in 2014 before screening at film festivals around the world and is now returning home for a special screening followed by a panel discussion.

The documentary is the brainchild of Gretchen Lieff, a former Bay Area radio journalist turned winemaker.

After getting her start in Napa Valley, Lieff and her husband moved south 15 years ago to open Lieff Wines at Lieff Alamo Creek Ranch in southern San Luis Obispo County. (Lieff continues to run the company with help from her appropriately named dogs, Alamo, Creek, and Ranch.) She got the idea for the film after purchasing Los Suenos, a Montecito mansion designed and built by Smith in 1929. At first, Lieff wasn’t wild about the five-bedroom, eight-bath, 10,000 square foot house located on more than three acres of land. “I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about moving in,” she

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Lutah Maria Riggs (1896-1984) (photo courtesy of Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara, © UC Regents)

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admits. “But slowly over time, I began to appreciate the house more and more, and ultimately very much.”

As the house gradually grew on her, Lieff began to invite neighbors and friends to soirées at Los Suenos, where guests would drink wine and stroll through the garden. One time,

ON THE RECORD Page 164

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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Monte ito Miscellany

by Richard Mineards

Richard covered the Royal Family for Britain’s Daily Mirror and Daily Mail, and was an editor on New York Magazine. He was also a national anchor on CBS, a commentator on ABC Network News, gossip on The Joan Rivers Show and Geraldo Rivera, host on E! TV, a correspondent on the syndicated show Extra, a commentator on the KTLA Morning News and Entertainment Tonight. He moved to Montecito 12 years ago.

Noël at the Nesbitts’ Ballerinas Andie Bartol and Kelly Vittetoe greet Keith and Mary Hudson (photo by Priscilla)

Gail Kvistad, Griffin Dellaverson, Bilo Zarif, John Dellaverson, Leigh Brecheen, Cemile Gazel, and Jim Buckley at the Nesbitt estate (photo by Priscilla)

S

Tom and Carla Parker with two stately drummer boys (photo by Priscilla)

ummerland was turned into a winter wonderland with real snow when polo playing hotel magnate Pat Nesbitt and his wife, Ursula, threw a spectacular holiday bash for 200 guests at Bella Vista, their sprawling polo ranch.

The bustling beano, catered once again by the Biltmore, featured ballerinas from Los Angeles dancing to the Nutcracker, eight drummers drumming and tall male models dressed as toy soldiers from the popular Tschaikovsky ballet.

After dinner Ursula performed a sizzling musical arrangement with a troupe of male dancers, including Jayme Tealeeva and Jonathon Plarero

MISCELLANY Page 304

Entering from the snow laden Bella Vista entrance are Carla and Shaun Tomson (photo by Priscilla)

Ballerinas Andie Bartol and Kelly Vittetoe gracefully welcome guests Shari and George Isaac, and Grace and Carlos Lopes with hostess Ursula Nesbitt (photo by Priscilla)

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Drummer boys entertaining the Nesbitts’ guests (photo by Priscilla)

2 – 9 January 2020

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This Week in and around Montecito

SATURDAY, JANUARY 11

(If you have a Montecito event, or an event that concerns Montecito, please e-mail kelly@montecitojournal.net or call (805) 565-1860) THURSDAY, JANUARY 2 Tech Help Sessions Reserve a 30-minute session with library staff for help with basic computer skills (email or internet), downloadable library materials, and the Black Gold App When: 10 am to 12 pm Where: Montecito Library, 1469 East Valley Road Appointments: (805) 969-5063 Knit ‘N Needle Fiber art crafts (knitting, crochet, embroidery, and more) drop-in and meetup for all ages at Montecito Library When: 2 pm to 3:30 pm Where: 1469 East Valley Road Info: 969-5063 Poetry Club Each month, discuss the life and work of a different poet; poets selected by group consensus and interest. New members welcome. January’s poet is Charles Simic, a Serbian-American poet and former editor of the Paris Review. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 and was US Poet Laureate in 2007.

A displaced person due to WW2, he emigrated to the USA at the age of 16. He earned his BA from NYU and is a professor of American Literature and creative writing at the University of New Hampshire. Please bring a favorite poem of Charles Simic to discuss.

When: 3:30 to 5 pm Where: Montecito Library, 1469 East Valley Road Info: 969-5063 FRIDAY, JANUARY 3 Spanish Conversation Group at the Montecito Library The Montecito Library hosts a Spanish Conversation Group. The group is for anyone interested in practicing

and improving conversational skills in Spanish. Participants should be familiar with the basics.

When: 1 pm to 2:30 pm Where: Montecito Library, 1469 East Valley Road Info: 969-5063 Tech Help Sessions Reserve a 30-minute session with library staff for help with basic computer skills (email or internet), downloadable library materials, and the Black Gold App When: 3 pm to 5 pm Where: Montecito Library, 1469 East Valley Road Appointments: (805) 969-5063 SATURDAY, JANUARY 4 Winter Fruit-tree Pruning Clinic UCCE Master Gardeners of Santa Barbara County present a free workshop, guided by master gardeners and experienced pruners. Learn how to prepare the deciduous fruit trees at Mesa Harmony Garden for a fruitful spring and summer season; learn pruning techniques for different species of fruit tree; learn about winter pruning vs. summer pruning. Bring pruning tools, drinking water, and sun (or rain) protection.

When: 10 am to 12 pm Where: Mesa Harmony Garden, 500 Dolores Drive Info: (805) 893-3485 or cesantabarbara.ucanr.edu TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 Montecito Association Land Use Committee The Montecito Association is committed to preserving, protecting, and enhancing the semi-rural residential character of Montecito; today the Land Use Committee meets to discuss up-

Laguna Blanca Open House Laguna Blanca School welcomes local families to experience the robust and vibrant academic life that draws its energy from the close and collaborative dynamic between faculty and students – the hallmarks of a Laguna Blanca education for over 85 years. Students and their families are invited to check out the school’s Grades 5-12 curriculum in action: meet and ask questions of teachers, administrators, students and current parents; learn about Laguna’s co-curricular offerings and robust college counseling offerings, leadership opportunities, and athletics; and enjoy a Q&A with a student panel. An open house for the Lower School Campus is scheduled for mid-January.

When: 9:30 am to noon Where: Hope Ranch campus, 4125 Paloma Drive Registration: www.lagunablanca.org/open coming projects. On today’s agenda: review of draft amendments associated with natural gas facilities; new renderings and details about the San Ysidro Road roundabout.

When: 4 pm Where: Montecito Hall, 1469 East Valley Road THURSDAY, JANUARY 9 Tech Help Sessions Reserve a 30-minute session with library staff for help with basic computer skills (email or internet), downloadable library materials, and the Black Gold App When: 10 am to 12 pm Where: Montecito Library, 1469 East Valley Road Appointments: (805) 969-5063 Knit ‘N Needle Fiber art crafts (knitting, crochet, embroidery, and more) drop-in and meetup for all ages at Montecito Library When: 2 pm to 3:30 pm Where: 1469 East Valley Road Info: 969-5063 Raising Our Light A community-wide remembrance ceremony on the second anniversary of the 1/9 Debris Flow will be held at Murchison Gym at Westmont College.

The program will be shown live at www.CSBTV20/youtube.

When: Program at 6:30 pm and

M on t e c i to Tid e G u id e Day Low Hgt High Thurs, Jan 2 3:37 AM Fri, Jan 3 4:21 AM Sat, Jan 4 4:58 AM Sun, Jan 5 5:32 AM Mon, Jan 6 6:06 AM Tues, Jan 7 12:10 AM 2.2 6:40 AM Wed, Jan 8 12:52 AM 2.3 7:16 AM Thurs, Jan 9 1:32 AM 2.3 7:53 AM Fri, Jan 10 2:13 AM 2.2 8:32 AM

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

Hgt Low 4 9:36 AM 4.2 11:05 AM 4.5 12:04 PM 4.9 12:47 PM 5.3 1:24 PM 5.6 1:59 PM 6 2:35 PM 6.3 3:12 PM 6.5 3:50 PM

Hgt 2.7 2.2 1.6 0.9 0.3 -0.3 -0.8 -1.2 -1.5

High 2:22 PM 4:08 PM 5:43 PM 6:54 PM 7:46 PM 8:29 PM 9:09 PM 9:47 PM 10:26 PM

Hgt Low 3.2 9:03 PM 2.9 9:52 PM 2.9 10:41 PM 3 11:27 PM 3.2 3.4 3.5 3.7 3.8

Hgt 1.4 1.7 2 2.1

“Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go.” – Brooks Atkinson

reception at 7 pm Where: 955 La Paz Road Info: text ROL2020 to 555888 FRIDAY, JANUARY 10 Spanish Conversation Group at the Montecito Library The Montecito Library hosts a Spanish Conversation Group. The group is for anyone interested in practicing and improving conversational skills in Spanish. Participants should be familiar with the basics.

When: 1 pm to 2:30 pm Where: Montecito Library, 1469 East Valley Road Info: 969-5063 Tech Help Sessions Reserve a 30-minute session with library staff for help with basic computer skills (email or internet), downloadable library materials, and the Black Gold App When: 3 pm to 5 pm Where: Montecito Library, 1469 East Valley Road Appointments: (805) 969-5063 SATURDAY, JANUARY 11 Montecito Library Book Club Join for a lively discussion of this month’s title; new members always welcome. The January selection is The River: A Novel by Peter Heller.

When: 11 am to 12 pm Where: Montecito Library, 1469 East Valley Road Info: 969-5063 Free Music The Santa Barbara Music Club will present another program in its popular series of concerts of beautiful music. A valued cultural resource in town since 1969, these concerts feature performances by instrumental and vocal soloists and chamber music ensembles, and are free to the public.

When: 3 pm Where: First United Methodist Church, Garden and Anapamu Streets Cost: free •MJ 2 – 9 January 2020

LETTERS

TO THE EDITOR

If you have something you think Montecito should know about, or wish to respond to something you read in the Journal, we want to hear from you. Please send all such correspondence to: Montecito Journal, Letters to the Editor, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA. 93108. You can also FAX such mail to: (805) 969-6654, or E-mail to letters@montecitojournal.net

Strengthening the Fourth Estate

W

e fortunate Montecitans have received a New Year’s gift from the MJ in the form of new Associate Editor Nick Schou.

Thank you, Gwyn, for vision and leadership in hiring the former editor of the just-shuttered Orange County Weekly and author of four nonfiction books, including Kill the Messenger.

This cautionary bio about how misinformation affected public opinion and helped destroy a career and a life is a classic widely read by journalists and an excellent tool for teaching ethics.

Speaking as a retired Wall Street Journal reporter and a 25-year second-home resident of Santa Barbara County (since 2010 owning at the beach in Montecito), I read with great interest Nick’s recent piece, Fact Checking the Forecast, bringing appropriate skepticism and a search for expert sources outside the usual. I appreciated reading the various perspectives regarding vegetation regrowth in the mountains above our community and the winter weather forecast. I also

enjoyed reading his story about my favorite jeweler, Daniel Gibbings, in the magazine.

Our environmentally fragile community is thirsty for more analysis and reporting from Nick and perhaps other new professional hires.

We face numerous under-covered issues and dichotomies related to water. As Melinda Burns noted in an October 24 piece in the Santa Barbara Independent, Montecitans’ water-use rate is 200 gallons per capita per day, among the highest in the state, yet we are offered none of the water conservation rebate and incentive programs of many California municipalities.

We witnessed contentious and perfidy-plagued campaigns for our sanitary and water boards; now, “water security” is described as a plan to lock us into a 50-year desalinated water contract that reportedly would double our water bills in the short term... and who knows what in the long term?

Lots for your new staff to illuminate.

Gwyn, I applaud you for, as the

Roman expression goes, “making haste slowly.” I pinned your recent editorial on my bulletin board, highlighting this quote: “Countless studies have shown that government is better and is far less corrupt when our leaders know that people are watching.” I’m grateful to you for strengthening our community’s Fourth Estate, which is an essential but woefully under appreciated pillar of American democracy.

Eileen White Read Columbia University Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism, 1983-84 University of California Certified Master Gardener, 2018 Montecito

Here’s to Das

As the second anniversary of the Montecito Debris Flow approaches, I’m reminded of how lucky we were to have Das Williams as First District Supervisor when the nightmare hit on January 9, 2017.

I moved to the First District in 1984 and have been its Parks Commissioner since 1992. I’m a real estate agent and own property next to the Santa Monica Creek debris basin at Rancho Monte Alegre. I regularly hike the area.

Shortly before the 1/9 debris flow, I visited the basin – it looked alarmingly full! I reached out to Das, and within the next two days, bulldozers and

crews arrived there in force. When the deluge hit, that basin performed beautifully, sparing Carpinteria from serious damage.

In Summerland, we were cut off from power and water: Das had bottled water delivered, and came himself as soon as he could. I’ve worked with many First District Supervisors; I don’t think any of them would have done a better job than Das in dealing with two back-to-back devastating natural disasters.

From shepherding through a likefor-like ordinance to facilitate safe rebuilding, to working with local groups on ring nets and expanded debris basins, to providing ongoing post-disaster services, Das and his staff have been endlessly helpful.

I’m a conservative Republican, but I back local officials who get the job done, and put community welfare before partisan politics. That’s what we saw on January 9, and have continued to see with Das Williams as First District Supervisor.

Sincerely, Suzanne Perkins Montecito

Columnist Conundrum

It’s no small thing that freelance writers have a limit of 35 “content

LETTERS Page 184

The best little paper in America (Covering the best little community anywhere!)

Editor/CEO Gwyn Lurie • Publisher/COO Timothy Lennon Buckley Editor At Large Kelly Mahan Herrick • Associate Editor Nicholas Schou Managing Editor Lily Buckley Harbin • Design/Production Trent Watanabe

Account Managers Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson • Bookkeeping Diane Davidson Proofreading Helen Buckley • Arts/Entertainment/Calendar/Music Steven Libowitz • Columns Bob Hazard Scott Craig, Julia Rodgers, Ashleigh Brilliant, Karen Robiscoe, Sigrid Toye, Zach Rosen, Kim Crail Gossip Richard Mineards • History Hattie Beresford • Humor Ernie Witham Our Town Joanne A. Calitri • Society Lynda Millner • Travel Jerry Dunn Sportsman Dr. John Burk • Trail Talk Lynn P. Kirst

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How to reach us: Editorial: (805) 565-1860; Sue Brooks: ext. 4; Christine Merrick: ext. 3; Classified: ext. 3; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Letters to Editor: Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite H, Montecito, CA 93108; E-MAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

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Our Town

Our Lady of Mount Carmel School Christmas Program student Wind Band with the Guitar and Ukulele Band (photo courtesy of OLMC)

by Joanne A. Calitri

Joanne is a professional international photographer and journalist.

Contact her at: artraks@yahoo.com

Montecito Schools’ Holiday Concerts

T

he Montecito schools held their holiday concerts throughout December celebrating both religious and secular seasonal greetings. Here is the round up from me and Santa.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel School Christmas Program on December 5 at St. Joseph’s Church in Carpinteria showed full on spirit with chorus, band, and reading performances with music teachers Mr. Aswad and Miss Tipple, accompanist Miss Kim, and Fr. Martini of St Joseph’s presiding. The preschool and K through 5 sang classics “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and the Middle School and full choir sang the more complex harmony songs “On This Night

Our Lady of Mount Carmel School middle school students at the Christmas Program (photo courtesy of OLMC)

is Born a Child” and “Oh How Joyfully.” The Wind Band songs included the “Dreidel Song” and the Guitar Ensemble & Middle School Ukulele Band’s highlight was “Ode to Joy.”

El Montecito Early School

ELMO preschool students getting ready for the Advent show and Las Posadas parade (photo by Meika McCrindle)

ELMO preschool students reenact the Christmas story, here with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus (photo Meika McCrindle)

MAKE 2020 YOUR YEAR JOIN THE Y JANUARY 2 - 20 and your first month dues are only $20.20!

El Montecito Early School presented an “Advent Morning” on Friday, December 6 at the El Montecito Church and courtyard. Pastor Tom Haugen opened the program with a prayer, followed by the children’s processional to “Angels We Have Heard On High.” Songs performed included “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and “Silent Night.” Miss Suzy Dobreski, school director, led the children with her staff, Ms Jenna, Lisa, Monica, Melanie, Casey, Haley, Meika, and Mr. Brandon. Musicians were Maria Sweeney, Matt Newman, Brandon Kinalele, and Miss Suzy. After the program, the children led the guests to the Parish Hall for lunch.

For more information: visit ciymca.org/jan2020

OPEN HOUSE JANUARY 4 Join during our open house and your join fee will be waived!

MONTECITO FAMILY YMCA 591 Santa Rosa Lane 805.969.3288 ciymca.org/montecito

10 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Cold Spring School

Cold Spring School Winter Sing held four performances over December 10 and 12 in their auditorium with parents and students attending. I attended the December 10 evening performance, where Superintendent Dr. Amy Alzina announced that “the performance is being recorded to submit to Disney Performing Arts as an audition tape. If selected, the Chorus students will perform at Disneyland in the Spring. Cold Spring School is one of 12 schools in the state to be selected as an Exemplary Arts School.” CSS Music Teacher Sara DiSalvo began the concert with the school chorus with her band: Jay Real (keys), Adrian Dentzel (bass), Miguelito Leon (drums), and Gavin Roy (sound engineer). Songs performed included “Hanukkah O Hanukkah,” “Carol of the Bells,” new rhythmic versions by DiSalvo to “Feliz Navidad,” “Hot Chocolate,”

“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” – Bill Vaughan

OUR TOWN Page 344 2 – 9 January 2020

We wish you

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11

Village Beat

by Kelly Mahan Herrick

Kelly has been editor at large for the Journal since 2007, reporting on news in Montecito and beyond. She is also a licensed realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, and is a member of Montecito and Santa Barbara’s top real estate team, Calcagno & Hamilton.

San Ysidro Roundabout at MBAR

N

ext Thursday, January 9, the roundabout slated for the intersection of San Ysidro Road and North Jameson Lane will be in front of the Montecito Board of Architectural Review for conceptual review. This is the first public hearing on the project design at the County level, after Santa Barbara County’s Deputy Director of Transportation Chris Sneddon and consultant Kirsten Ayars presented a broad overview of the project to the Coast Village Association and Montecito Association in October and November, respectively. The Montecito Association’s Land Use Committee will preview the newest renderings and design at 4 pm next Tuesday, January 7.

The project, which we have reported on for the last several years, is coming to fruition as part of a trio of parallel projects to improve local traffic issues in conjunction with the widening of Highway 101. These parallel projects

also include a roundabout at Olive Mill and Coast Village Road, and the replacement of the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge on Cabrillo Blvd, which also features a new roundabout at the intersection of Los Patos Way, Channel Drive, and East Cabrillo Blvd (we’ll have more on that roundabout in a future edition).

The parallel projects were given the green light by Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) in 2014, and County staff quickly found that the intersection at San Ysidro Road and North Jameson operated at a service level of “F” during the peak rush hours in the morning and afternoon. A 2017 analysis performed by Kittelson & Associates outlined a number of alternatives for both sides of the San Ysidro Road bridge, including roundabouts at both intersections on San Ysidro (one near the Miramar and one at North Jameson), as well as alternatives showing var-

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12 MONTECITO JOURNAL

The San Ysidro Road roundabout will be heard by the Montecito Board of Architectural Review next Thursday, January 9. Members of the public are invited to speak on the design of the project.

ious combinations of all-way stops, traffic lights, and roundabouts. The recommendation was a combination of a roundabout at the north intersection and all-way-stop control at the south intersection, as that combination is the least impactful and most cost effective, according to Sneddon.

This configuration will also address potential backups on the freeway offramps and improve safety for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, which has increased since the opening of the Rosewood Miramar Resort in 2018.

The County is seeking public input on the design of the project, which seeks to improve pedestrian safety in part by lowering the speed of traffic through the intersection. Back in October, Sneddon pointed out that the intersection is extremely unsafe for pedestrians, as it clumsily includes traffic from North Jameson, San Ysidro, the northbound entrance and exit of Highway 101. With the expanse of asphalt, drivers and pedestrians are often confused as to whose turn it is to traverse the intersection.

The new roundabout, which is located in the public right-of-way, ties each flow of traffic into a single-lane roundabout, similar to the roundabout at Cliff Drive and Las Positas, and breaks up the asphalt with discreet decorative elements appropriate for the semi-rural nature of Montecito, according to project reps. The project includes pedestrian access on every leg of the intersection, including crosswalks that connect with paved walkways through the medians or refuge areas, breaking up the expanse of asphalt into smaller sections for pedestrians to safely cross. The shape of the roundabout is oblong, creating a visual cue to slow cars down to 25 MPH from the currently posted speed of 35 MPH. County reps say that the roundabout will decrease fuel emissions and sound affecting the neighboring homes, as cars will not be idling while waiting at the existing stop signs, and then revving when

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” – Oprah Winfrey

it’s their turn. The roundabout design will also improve storm water runoff, according to Sneddon.

The project, once approved, is slated to be built concurrently with the widening of Highway 101, which is estimated to begin 2023-2027.

Lumping the project into the freeway widening allows for successful funding of the improvements. The funding is secured through the environmental and permitting phases of the project through Senate Bill 1; the County will apply for continued funding in the spring of 2020, hence the MBAR meeting the first full week of the new year. Ongoing maintenance of the roundabout once it’s completed is to-be-determined, as it will be in both the County and Caltrans’ right-ofway. Maintenance of the roundabout has been an issue brought up by nearby residents, as the roundabout on Coast Village Road and Hot Springs has historically had maintenance – or the lack thereof – issues. The preliminary engineering design of the roundabout is complete, with the preliminary landscaping plan currently in the works.

The hope, according to County reps, is that the improved traffic flow on both the freeway and local surface streets will greatly benefit drivers and residents; major traffic back-ups during the holidays throughout Santa Barbara County are fresh on the minds of community members. The County also promises to work with the surrounding neighborhood to mitigate concerns over sound, speed, safety, landscaping, and more. It’s expected some of the neighbor concerns will be addressed at the MA Land Use meeting on Tuesday.

The MBAR meeting is on Thursday, January 9, 2020, at 1 pm at the Planning Commission Hearing Room, 123 East Anapamu Street.

Documentation for the meeting is expected to be posted online later this week at www.countyofsb.org/ plndev/hearings/mbar.sbc.

•MJ 2 – 9 January 2020

Calla’s Corner

by Calla Jones

Dare Wright and the Lonely Doll

I

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If that goddaughter is the heiress to 25,000 photos, letters, newspaper clips and other ephemera, and now a grandmother who feels she is finally able to tell this star-studded and tantalizing tale, you are Brook Ashley, the author of Dare Wright and the Lonely Doll.

Published on November 19, the book was meant to be a biography of Dare Wright, who stood the children’s book publishing world of the ‘50s and ‘60s on its head with her unique and unorthodox style, featuring anthropomorphic animals posed in ordinary settings and an extraordinary world

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EMANUEL AX, piano

BEETHOVEN Für Elise Variations on “Rule, Britannia!”

Variations Op.34 Three Op.2 Piano Sonatas Brook with godmother, Tallulah Bankhead. Photo was taken by Brook’s other godmother, Dare Wright.

of make-believe. What the reader gets, however, is also a charming, entertaining, disarming, and dramatic memoir from Ashley. Dare Wright and the Lonely Doll is a tantalizing twofer with

CALLA Page 194

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2 – 9 January 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

13

Seen Around Town

Chief Programs Officer Len Smolburd, student speaker Jessica Zamora, and board member Matt Rowe

by Lynda Millner

Community Leaders Lunch

Scholarship Foundation Board Chair Christie Glanville with keynote speaker Ed Birch

T

he Board of Directors of the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara (SFSB) invited community leaders to its 2019 luncheon at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort. Board chair Christie Glanville welcomed the room full of movers and shakers. She told us, “Thirty-five years ago I was a recipient of a scholarship. SFSB began 57 years ago and has touched 50,000 students and given away $123 million. We also have four counselors who assisted 25,000 kids last year in how to apply to colleges

Scholarship Foundation President/CEO Victoria Juarez and Lizzie Peus

and for loans and scholarships.”

Our first speaker was student Jessica Zamora. She told us how she and her parents left Mexico when she was six years old. She knew they didn’t have money for toys much less college.

She went to a college fair and set up an appointment. “In ten minutes, the counselor had solved my problems.”

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Next, president & CEO of the Mosher Foundation Ed Birch told us about his life. It began in middle America where mom said, “Eat everything on your plate. Remember the starving ones in China.” We always said, “Name one.”

Ed told us he had held many jobs and was master of none. Not true. He did say, “My favorite job was when I was Vice President of the Olympics in Los Angeles.”

Ed confessed to meeting his wife when they were ten years old, she playing a violin and he drums. That was 72 years ago. He loves his job at the Mosher Foundation and says, “Nothing is more rewarding than turning a dream into reality.”

SFSB President & CEO Victoria Juarez is into her second year. She gave kudos to her four counselors.

Last year student aid ran $44 million but they still had to turn away 900 students. Natalie R. said this, “Your organization has greatly aided my family in their efforts to create a new generation of educated, functioning members of society. I am eternally grateful for being chosen to accept this award.”

If you’d like to help call 805.687.6065 or check out www.sbscholarship. org. SFSB’s mission statement is “We inspire, encourage and support Santa Barbara County students to and through college, graduate, and vocational school by providing information, advising and scholarships.”

American Institute of Architects

The president of the American Institute of Architects (AIASB), “An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” – Bill Vaughan

Outgoing president of the American Institute of Architects Robert Ooley, FAIA with incoming Matthew Beausoleil

President of the Courthouse Legacy Foundation Bill Mahan and Nyna

Robert Ooley, FAIA, called to see if I could attend their annual gala dinner, this year at the University Club.

The Club had on its festive attire and so did the guests. The Santa Barbara Chapter is celebrating its 90th anniversary of service and excellence in design. Robert told us, “We are the second oldest chapter in California after Los Angeles. You, our members,

SEEN Page 264 2 – 9 January 2020

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2 – 9 January 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

15

ON THE RECORD (Continued from page 5)

Gretchen Lieff and Melinda Gandara examining Lutah’s floorplans at Los Suenos, circa 2014 Lutah at her desk, circa 1950s, looking up at her rendering of Nelson Medical Center, which has just become a historical landmark (photo courtesy of Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara, © UC Regents)

Lieff offered a tour of the house to Bob Easton, a local architect who was working with the George Washington Smith Society, a group of Montecito residents who owned Smith homes. “I had been in the house before but had never been in the master bath,” Easton recalls. “There was a really flamboyant mosaic and it was unlike anything Smith ever did, but Riggs could really draw, and I said, ‘This is a floor by

Lutah.’”

Lieff didn’t recognize the name. “I said, Lutah who?” she recalls, laughing. “And then I started doing research on Lutah and realized how fascinating she was.” For help, Lieff turned to Melinda Gandara, the research archivist at the Architectural and Design Collection at the University of California Santa Barbara, who had access to an entire room full of materi-

Sophisticated Music.

Sublime Hall.

al belonging to Riggs.

“I was the archivist who organized Lutah’s papers,” Gandara affirms. “I was in a room with one hundred boxes and it took me over nine months. I knew of her but never got to see her work until I saw her papers; they are extraordinary. She was a collector and kept everything, including records of her parents’ letters and locks of hair, ephemera, drawings, postcard slides... I would meticulously go through them, create a finding aid and work through the drawings to find the materials attached to the buildings.”

Gandara quickly realized how talented Riggs was as an artist and how closely she collaborated with George Washington Smith; chiefly by doing the preliminary drawings or addon renderings for many of his most famous projects. “You will see her hand in everything,” Gandara says.

“At Casa Del Herrero they wanted a library, so she designed it.” The library in question is a cozy tower almost hidden from the rest of the house at the end of a hallway, a bookworm’s dream cave.

As she built her business, Riggs often took over Smith’s remodel jobs.

“While she owed her career to Smith,

in my opinion he needed her in ways that changed his practice, because he didn’t have her draftsman skill,” Gandara reasons. “Had she not been an architect she could have easily been an artist.”

Gandara delved deeper into the files, becoming increasingly fascinated with Riggs, who was clearly not someone who yearned for the spotlight. Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1896, Riggs grew up in circumstances that could charitably be described as modest; her physician father left the family and then died when she was a young child. Following high school in Indiana, Riggs moved with her mother to join her wayward stepfather in Santa Barbara, where she attended community college before winning a scholarship to UC Berkeley.

After obtaining her undergraduate degree in 1919, she began her graduate studies in design. In 1921, when her mother fell ill, Riggs abandoned the program and returned to Santa Barbara. The timing proved fortuitous; Riggs managed to win a week-long trial period working as a conceptual draft artist for Smith. From Monday through Saturday, Riggs drew up her

ON THE RECORD Page 224

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2 – 9 January 2020

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2 – 9 January 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

17

LETTERS (Continued from page 9)

submissions” per client, per year starting January, 2020. We might see a real tempering of local columnists due to the desire of various billionaire publishing houses to avoid liabilities. It’ll be tough to sell a disclaimer if the columnist is an employee, previously a private contractor wingnut with pockets not near as deep.

Matt McLaughlin Santa Barbara

Defending Das

Happy Reader

I want to thank you for the excellent journal you publish every week. I especially enjoy Ashleigh Brilliant’s witty column. Reading it is one of the highlights of my week. What a delightful mixture of humor and erudition!

An appreciative reader, Nan Cisney Santa Barbara County

Another Vote for Das

I’m not surprised by the news that the Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee, like the Sierra Club, County Firefighters, and the Deputy Sheriff’s Association, has just endorsed Das Williams for re-election to the County Board of Supervisors.

Having known Das Williams since his tenure in the State Legislature, I was motivated by his request for candidates to apply for a First District Arts Commission position. In his usual conscientious fashion, he and stellar Chief of Staff Darcel Elliott interviewed me and granted me this honor. Working closely with arts commissioners throughout the county, we are able to see how powerfully joint projects can impact county citizens.

Das cares deeply about the day to day lives of his First District constituents, as witnessed constantly through joyful times, and occasionally tragic ones. His record of environmental stewardship throughout California is second to none, and he is mindful of being fiscally responsible while looking out for the most vulnerable cit-

J ARROTT &

izens. He collaborates well with his supervisor colleagues, tackling difficult issues with care and creativity.

In short, Das is precisely the right person for our county, and for the First District. I was glad to see that the Women’s Political Committee recognizes this as well.

Mary vanBibber Harris Santa Barbara

CO.

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS

SPECIALIZING IN 1031 TAX-DEFERRED EXCHANGES

In response to Alixe Mattingly on the subject of receiving email updates from Supervisor Das Williams (MJ Letters Issue: #25-50): I’ve received the same steady stream of emails from his office since he started on the job in January 2017. I haven’t noticed any increase in the number of such emails.

Perhaps Ms Mattingly perceives there to have been an increase because, now that she is supporting his opponent in the campaign, she is more aware of the ones that are arriving?

Das did send out a campaign ‘neighborhood’ letter to the different neighborhoods in the District. We got one in Summerland, and friends in other parts of the District report getting ones as well. It was clearly marked as being paid for by the campaign, as is required by state law. If you got one of these and aren’t signed up for official emails, it’s because candidates purchase voter databases for their outreach and those include all registered voters in the district.

Das also has an official Supervisorial page, and he uses it to update the district on the range of things he is involved in his professional capacity as a member of the Board of Supervisors. This was true before the reelection campaign started, and little has changed. I’m grateful for those posts, and to receive email updates from Supervisor Williams’ offices, as otherwise I might not hear about events and issues that affect me and my community.

Lee Heller Summerland

Replacement Needed

I took this picture a few days ago of the wooden street sign posted at the intersection of San Ysidro Road and Santa Rosa Lane that appears to be in

A Village Voice No, To Desal

T

he Board of the Montecito Water District appears ready to enter into a 50-year, $1/4 billion contract with the City to acquire 1,409 acre feet of desal water a year. They are waiting for the new rate consultants they just hired in December for $82,221 to finish a new rate study.

The Board terminated its prior rate consultants.

I personally don’t think desal is necessary. It is incredibly expensive, and the District can buy all the water it needs at much cheaper prices. The Board’s intentions are admirable, but not appropriate. Most importantly, it is a huge waste of customers’ money.

The initial yearly cost for the 1,409 acre feet of water (AFW) is approximately $3,000 per AFW. That will cost the District an additional $4,000,000 a year. With about 4,600 customers, everyone’s water bills will greatly increase.

In early 2019, the Board hired for $40,000 another consultant to give it recommendations on how to dispose of all the excess water it will have once it acquires desal. During nor-

A street sign at the intersection of San Ysidro Road and Santa Rosa Lane that has seen better days

need of some loving attention. I hope the good elves of The Cito will attend to its somewhat dilapidated condition. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all!

Michael Edwards Montecito •MJ

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mal weather, the District rarely has to buy extra water; but during droughts, extra water purchases are needed.

The District is in droughts about 25% of the time. That means for 75% of the time, the District rarely needs to purchase any water, much less very expensive desal water. So, by buying desal during normal weather, the District will have far too much water, and will have to dispose of much of it.

So why, in 75% of the years, should all the District’s customers’ bills go up $4,000,000 to pay for unneeded desal?

The State makes it difficult for the District to sell excess water. Maybe, in 2020, it might become easier. If so, the District may have about 950 AF of excess water to sell in 75% of the years.

The District might receive somewhere between $225 to $1,070 per AFW. During the 12 times the District purchased extra water between 2014 to 2018, this is what it paid.

So, in every three of four years, the District will purchase 1,409 AF of unneeded desal for $4,000,000, while possibly, if the State permits, being able to sell 950 AF of excess water for somewhere between $213,750 and $1,016,500. This makes absolutely no economic sense.

During normal weather, the Board is usually left alone. But during droughts, occasionally good intentioned people believe they can solve the District’s water problem. That’s how I see the current Board. At its December meeting, two of its members said that a number of customers have talked to them about the proposed desal and rate increases. Only a very few customers were opposed, and the vast majority were in favor of what they were proposing.

Having desal is certainly more convenient than having to go on the open market to purchase extra water when needed, as the District has easily done during about 25 of the last 100 years.

But I don’t believe it’s $16,000,000 more convenient.

If you do nothing, you can expect desal beginning in the next few years, and your water bills to drastically increase.

There are several things you can do to help inform the Board if you believe desal and a large rate increase are bad for the District. They are to communicate your views by either: (1) Writing a letter to the District at 583 San Ysidro Road, 93108. (2) Telephoning the District office at 805-969-2271 and asking to speak to General Manager Nick Turner. If he’s not in, leave a recorded message. (3) If you meet or know any of the directors, talk to them.

Dick Shaikewitz Montecito •MJ 2 – 9 January 2020

CALLA (Continued from page 13)

Brilliant Thoughts

by Ashleigh Brilliant 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

Hot Pursuit

A Dare designed and sewed elaborate costumes for the self-portraits which she took

an unexpected trajectory.

Sitting before a fire in her elegant and cozy Montecito home, Brook talks warmly, often emotionally, about why she has written the book. It’s a book whose story has been on her mind for seven decades, since she was a baby and dropped off in a basket on the doorstep of her godmother’s small New York apartment in a downtown hotel, by her debonair, charming father, the famous Broadway producer Donald Seawell, and her mother Eugenia Rawls, a glamorous and equally famous actress, a narcissist, who was oblivious to the role of motherhood.

The author recounts how, when she was a young child, she would walk to Dare’s apartment on the Upper East Side with her nanny and then by herself when at Brearley, an exclusive girls’ school. “There was a star inlaid in the foyer’s parquet floor. The minute I opened the apartment’s door and stepped on the star I knew I was entering into a fairytale.”

“But fairytales have ogres and monsters lurking behind trees,” writes Brook. In 1988, Brook, who was married and living in Washington, D.C., got a telephone call, telling her that Dare had been beaten and raped at age 76 by a homeless man she had befriended in Central Park.

“I wrote the book because I was the last person to know Dare and the one who knew her best. I wanted to be her advocate,” says the 73-yearold author. “I’d been working on the book for many years and actually had finished it. Two years ago, I showed it to Grace Rachow, a wonderful editor, who is president of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.” “It’s frontloaded with very interesting information and wonderful photographs, but you need the book to start when you appear in Dare’s life,” Rachow told her. “Your book is really Dare Wright’s story as seen from a child, who grew up with her.” That’s when Brook knew that there was no one else but her to tell the story.

Brook goes on to say that a big part of her finding the force to rewrite 2 – 9 January 2020

Brook Ashley with a portrait of her painted

by Dare’s mother Edith Stevenson Wright, a renowned portrait painter

what was such a personal and emotionally draining task is the technology now available to small publishers.

The book is published by Dare Write Media, LLC, a company Brook formed with her husband, John Ogilvie, to protect Dare Wright’s legacy.

With Brook’s natural gift for storytelling and her photographer husband’s keen eye and ability to restore the vast collection of Dare’s photographs to a publishable state, the couple went ahead with the rewrite.

A longtime resident of Montecito, Brook is one of the town’s most prominent realtors and has occasionally dipped into her remarkable legacy to write about her complicated and extraordinarily precocious and sophisticated childhood. The 250-page book could not have been written without the trove of photos, meticulously selected by the couple. Nor could the photos selected be just a charming record of extraordinary lives in a coffee table book to be opened and shut at whim.

Once begun, Dare Wright and the Lonely Doll must be devoured as the reader is led from a possible fairytale world into a world of secrets, betrayal and eventual violence that never take away from, but only add to, Ashley’s rich story. Imagine: Gloria Vanderbilt, the “poor little rich girl,” abandoned by her mother, coupled with Kay Thompson’s Eloise, who finds comfort living in the world’s most famous hotel, and Sister Parish, the society decorator, whose talent for recognizing style and knowing how to create it from nothing. Throw in Diana Vreeland, the infamously picky editor of Vogue, who might have used Dare on a cover of the magazine had she been granted an exclusive or spotted Dare’s beauty and unique talent, as other editors had. •MJ

mong the jokes which clog my mind is the one about the young English woman who, after a shipwreck, had recently been rescued, from an island on which she and fifteen crewmen were marooned for several weeks. She is telling her story to a very strait-laced older woman, who can’t help exclaiming: “Oh, my dear! You and all those men! Tell me, confidentially, were you chaste?” To which comes the reply: “Chased? – You bet I was! – all over the bloody island.”

This invariably makes me think of the much shorter “Tale of the Limping Nun: Hopalong Chastity.”

For younger readers, I suppose I have to explain that, in the 1950s and ‘60s, there was a very popular hero on TV westerns named Hopalong Cassidy. In case you are wondering where the name Hopalong came from – the character was created as far back as 1904 by the author, Clarence E. Mulford. Cassidy, as originally depicted, was rude and rough-talking, and Mulford gave him, among other attributes, a wooden leg, which caused him to “hop along.” Subsequently the character was totally cleaned up, and, in the process, lost the wooden leg (but not the name).

Getting back to the chase, the literature of many cultures gives prominence to the theme of a pursuit or quest. There is, of course, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851), a novel whose very name identifies the object of the hunt, a murderous white whale to which (speaking of lost legs) Captain Ahab had lost one of his own. In a much earlier era, we had the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail. More recently, there has been Dorothy’s search for the Wizard of Oz, and Peter Benchley’s maritime horror, Jaws. In fact, in his book, The Seven Basic Plots, Christopher Booker has listed “The Quest” as number 3.

But the Chase, or the Hunt, is much more than a theme for books or movies. In fact, throughout human history and pre-history, the quest for edible prey has been an epic struggle for survival. And vestiges of it endure to this day – not only in what remains of wilderness among still-gun-loving Americans and other relatively untamed peoples, but even in such supposedly civilized societies as England, where

• The Voice of the Village •

a long colorful tradition of organized fox-hunting, with horses and hounds, lasted until 2005, when the whole “sport” was, after many years of controversy, finally banned by an Act of Parliament.

The foxes were of course not “edible,” except by the hounds, who, when they caught one, tore it to pieces. But many still argue that something valuable was lost when the ban took effect. There was indeed a thrilling element to the early-morning assembly of crimson-coated riders, and howling hounds, all responding to the call of a hunting-horn – followed then by the dash across open country. The song “D’you ken John Peel,” is probably one of our best reminders of that hunting spirit.

Another kind of reminder are certain place-names such as Chevy Chase, derived from Cheviot Chase, a parcel of hunting-land in the Cheviot Hills which straddle the border between England and Scotland – and made famous by a song called “The Ballad of Chevy Chase,” about a violent confrontation which supposedly took place there in the Fourteenth Century.

But great hunters have been legendary since ancient times. Orion was celebrated in Greek Mythology, and has his own celestial constellation. Diana, the huntress, was a goddess to the Romans, and the name of Nimrod, described in the Book of Genesis as “a mighty hunter,” has become a synonym for “hunter.”

There was also, of course, the pursuit into the Underworld by Orpheus, in quest of his departed wife, Euridice. Which brings us back to where we started, with men chasing women. But Al Capp, the creator of Li’l Abner, inverted that idea by concocting Sadie Hawkins Day, an annual event, in which unmarried women are allowed to pursue bachelors, and (at least in the comic strip) any man who was caught, was legally obliged to marry his captor.

In the world of hunting, of course, it is usually the wild animals which are chased by people. But, to conclude this catalog of pursuits, let my exit line be a quotation in which the roles are reversed. It appears in the Third Act of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, and is not a line of dialog, but has become his most famous stage direction: “Exit, pursued by a bear.”

•MJ MONTECITO JOURNAL

19

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

21

ON THE RECORD (Continued from page 16)

plans while standing over a desk. She was still standing on her feet at the end of the sixth day, when Smith slyly informed her that she now had a job.

“You will have a stool on Monday,” he promised.

An Architectural Pioneer

Talent and creative vision created a bond between Riggs and Smith, who treated her like a daughter, and who brought her along with his wife, Mary Catherine Greenough, for a twoyear-long artistic tour of Mexico in the early 1920s. “They were going to look at producing a book on Mexican architecture,” Gandara explains, “but the book was never produced because his commissions were taking off.”

Fortunately, this meant that, for the better part of a decade, Riggs was hard at work collaborating with Smith on some of Santa Barbara’s most iconic homes and architectural projects.

“I met with her and knew who she was, because she was a friend of my parents,” recalls Kellam de Forest, the famed Hollywood visionary and research consultant of Star Trek fame whose father, Lockwood de Forest,

was a landscape architect who occasionally worked with Riggs. “My father designed the gardens for a number of the houses she worked on. People who draw up plans and have Lutah design the thing and would she would recommend my father or vice versa.”

When his father died rather suddenly in 1949, de Forest says, his mother arranged for Riggs to take over some of his outstanding projects, including the completion of the landscape design work for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. “She wasn’t terribly social and certainly was not in my parents’ circle of friends, but she was highly regarded by my parents,” he recalls. “I have no idea why she kept a low profile but certainly people knew who she was, and she was a person to turn to. If you wanted an architect to design something in Santa Barbara or had a project, you would get Lutah to do it.”

De Forest credits Lieff with finally giving Riggs the attention she deserves as an artist. “I’ve seen the film,” he says. “It’s excellent. I think her contribution to the architecture of Santa Barbara is underestimated, but I am glad more people are getting another chance to see it. I’m glad it’s

coming back.”

Famed Santa Barbara architect and George Washington Smith expert Marc Appleton believes that the close partnership between Riggs and Smith brought out the best of both architects.

“I’ve always felt, when you look at her career, that she was never as good on her own as she was when she worked with George Washington Smith,” Appleton argues. However, Appleton quickly adds, “I would say the same about Smith – that he was never as good as when he worked with Lutah Riggs. I think the best work either of them ever did, they did together.”

Appleton admires Riggs for being a pioneer in what continues to remain a male-dominated profession. “She was a woman architect of record in an era when female architects were few and far between and were up against a lot on this misogynistic business that we work in,” he says.

That aside, Riggs stands out among her peers for her natural born talents as an artist. “In my view it was her drawings that were so important,” Appleton argues. “George Washington Smith used her drawings all of the time.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t an accomplished architect, but for me, her most lasting contribution was her drawings.

Even today, in my office, we often reference Lutah’s drawings in our own work on Spanish Colonial projects.”

When Smith died suddenly in 1930 of a major heart attack, Riggs quietly took over his practice. “She was never a self-promoter,” Gandara argues.

Unlike Julia Morgan, who designed Hearst Castle, Lutah never became famous as a female architect during her lifetime. “Lutah just wanted her work to stand alone and she never looked at herself as a female architect,” Gandara continues. “She knew Julia Morgan and wrote her, but they never connected.”

Even at the peak of her career, according to Gandara, Riggs worked out of a one-person office with no employees or assistants to handle the rote work of ordering, invoicing, and billing. “She did everything, wrote the letters to the client, did all the drawings, was on site, and she did this with no self-aggrandizement; she wasn’t looking to be noticed,” Gandara says.

“In many ways she didn’t want to be seen. She wanted her work to shine.

She wasn’t afraid of drawing over and over again. She drew a fireplace twenty times for a single person home in Isla Vista – the Francis Coleville house.”

Perhaps Riggs’ crowning achievement is the Vedanta Temple, which she built in the mid-1950s. “She did an amazing passive ventilation system, drawing air out of the bottom going out the top so it was able to work acoustically,” Gandara explains. “She understood how sound moved on this beautiful arched ceiling. You can hear people whispering.” De Forest agrees.

“I think the Vedanta Temple is her best work,” he says. “It works so well. It is designed such that it fits with the area and it’s such a unique building.”

According to Gandara, Riggs insisted on personalizing each home for the people who would be living in it, often by repeatedly interviewing her clients, especially the future woman of the house. “She would ask people, ‘Where do you eat breakfast? Where does the sun set on the property?’ and incorporate that [information] into the design, Gandara explains. “Most architects when they do a project and the project is done, the file is completed. But her files are accordion files because after the project was completed, if there was a wedding or death of an owner, or the house was sold, that went in the file. She was connected to every house she made.”

Lutah Hits the Big Screen

Not long after being approached by Lieff for help with researching Riggs, Gandara began participating in Lieff’s weekend soirée group, which soon (photos courtesy of Architecture and Design Collection, Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UC Santa Barbara, © UC Regents)

22 MONTECITO JOURNAL

“Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.” – Oscar Wilde

ON THE RECORD Page 324 2 – 9 January 2020

The 501c3 Weekly

by Zach Rosen

Santa Barbara School of Squash

W

SANTA BARBARA IN A GLASS

by Gabe Saglie

hile the word squash may conjure images of gourds and tableside cornucopia, especially during the colder parts of the year, this is also the name given to the exhilarating sport. Squash, named for how the ball would squash on impact with the wall, is a racket and ball game played in a four-walled court. Despite not being as well known as the more common sports like football and baseball, or even tennis, squash is ranked as one of the most difficult sports to play because of its incredible pace and intense physical demands. While this racket and ball game remains more popular on the East Coast, the Santa Barbara School of Squash (SBSOS) is helping introduce this fast-paced sport to a new generation of students. Since its founding in 2006, SBSOS has offered a unique after school program that combines squash practice with tutoring, mentoring, and life experiences for each of their students.

The SBSOS program hosts about 30 students between 5th and 12th grade.

The only requirement to apply to the program is that the student must be eligible for the Federal Free & Reduced Lunch Program. Practices, competitions, and programming operate six days a week and provide over 7,000 hours of programming each year to their students, as well as 500+ hours of community service and an eight-week mandatory summer program that helps engage their students year round. While squash may be the sport the program is centered around, academics are given equal importance. After their hour squash practice, each student has an hour of academics where they work on homework and school projects with volunteer tutors. Since the students have such a range of academic levels, they even have several tutors that can help with more specific subjects like chemistry or calculus. Overall their students are required to complete a minimum of 100 hours each of academics and squash with an additional 15 hours of community service. By giving back to the community, they hope that the students realize it is just as important to be a good community member as it is to be a good student or athlete. One of their goals is “for each student to graduate from high school prepared for their next step: college or to launch a career.” And they’ve stayed true to this aim with a 100% high school graduation rate since being founded.

Of course, squash is great for instilling values like teamwork and discipline, but the actual competitions and tournaments offer new opportunities for many of the students. The squash tournaments also give the students a chance to travel to different parts of the state, and even the country. For some of them this may be the first time they are leaving their family or the area. In addition, SBSOS will include field trips and other special classes and opportunities in their programming. Some are educational, like a class on etiquette and manners, others are more fun and explorative. They were recently donated a batch of tickets to The Nutcracker at the Granada and were able to bring some of the students and their families to the show, exposing them to art and experiences they may not always seek out on their own. These programs and extra offerings help SBSOS give skills and experiences to their students that help prepare them not just for the squash court, but for life.

At about 30 students and over 10 more students on a waiting list, the current SBSOS program is maxed out. There are only so many squash courts in the area and their program is currently spread between the squash courts at the Santa Barbara Athletic Club, YMCA and Westside Neighborhood Center with a downtown office that helps host their small full and part time staff. Recently they have been working with the SB City Parks & Rec Department to try and establish an outdoor squash court in the upcoming months. In the future, they would like to have their own permanent SBSOS facility with squash courts, tutoring rooms, and offices.

With their own facility and an increased annual operating budget, they would eventually be able to grow to about 100-120 students, however Robert Graham, executive director of SBSOS, feels that they would never want to grow too quickly, or even too large. He recognizes that the depth of their programming is what differentiates them from other after school programs and he would never want to lose that personal touch. The current ratio between students and staff allows them to not only monitor grades and missing assignments on a weekly basis, but also get to know each individual student, gaining an understanding of them and their home and family life. These extra efforts and attention to the students is what has made SBSOS such a successful program over the years.

Over the years, several of their students have even been recognized on the national level, including three players ranked in the top 100 in the country for their age groups. In addition, their students have received over $3.5 million in private school and college grants. Because ultimately, the goal of SBSOS is to make sure that each student is equipped with the skills they need to succeed both on and off the court.

•MJ 2 – 9 January 2020

Gabe Saglie has been covering the Santa Barbara wine scene for more than 15 years through columns, TV and radio. He’s a senior editor with Travelzoo and is a leading expert on travel deals, tips and trends. Gabe and wife Renee have 3 children and one Golden Retriever named Milo

Five Wine Resolutions for 2020

A

new year is underway! And my birthday’s this weekend! So, for me, the first few days in January always tend to be equal parts reflective and forward-looking.

This is actually a great time for wine consumers of all levels to set new goals, to refine their approach and to come up with new ways to maximize their enjoyment of what is – let’s be honest – the world’s greatest beverage. Another batch of new year’s resolutions? Yeah, but getting these done will be more fun than anything else on your yearly to-do list.

Here are five easy ways to stretch your wings the next time you sip: • Drink More This doesn’t necessarily mean doubling your daily wine consumption, but rather expanding your options – like an artist adding a few more colors to her palette (which always makes for a more vibrant picture). Rather than ordering a bottle at a restaurant, order a few wines by the glass, and compare.

Instead of buying a bottle at your favorite store, buy two half-bottles, and contrast. Next time you’re about to order your favorite beer at your favorite Italian restaurant, get a glass of vino instead. Instead of heading to the movies on a Saturday afternoon, visit a local tasting room. And squeeze a few more happy hours into 2020 – it can expose you to wines you haven’t sipped before, all while saving you a little cash.

• Drink Fluently Make 2020 the year you learn to pronounce “gruner veltliner.” I’ve met many people who have given up on certain grape varieties simply because they have a hard time pronouncing them; this is very limiting, because the fear of saying it wrong will naturally make you not order it. And that means you’ll miss out on the yummy joys of savoring a zingy gewürztraminer, or a perfumy arneis, or a luscious mourvedre, or an inky lagrein. My wife avoided ordering viognier until the day she learned to have it roll off her tongue, and now it’s her favorite white wine. Expanding your wine vocabulary will taste delicious!

• Drink Differently When I finally got my father-in-law to sip and actually enjoy sparkling wine a few years ago, it was a major coup: a longtime drinker of nothing but big reds, he’d sworn off bubbles for years. But the sparkler I poured was cold and fizzy and tasty, and he asked for seconds, meaning we’d turned a corner and expanded his wine horizons. In 2020, force yourself to try wines you’re used to shunning. Maybe it’s a bad memory about chardonnay from younger drinking days, or a turned bottle of syrah or merlot that you drank too much of. Or maybe it’s just this notion you’ve been clinging to for years that bubbly is something you just don’t drink.

Winemaking styles continue to evolve and no two wines are ever alike, so just think about all the wonderful sipping experienced you’ve missed!

This is the year to catch up.

• Drink Somewhere Else Travel is good for you, and so is wine! So make 2020 the year you take a wine-inspired vacation. One thing is to enjoy an earthy Chilean merlot at home, but it’s a totally different experience to sip while you walk a lush field of vines surrounded by the snow-capped Andes. Or a sangiovese while dancing the hilltops of Tuscany. Or a pinotage while on an open-vehicle safari drive in South Africa. You can keep it domestic, too: there’s an established wine industry in each of the 50 states. And you don’t have to go far: when was the last time you took a road trip to the Santa Ynez Valley?

• Drink Together I’m lucky that when I drink wine at home, it’s with my wife. But every time we increase our sipping sphere to include friends and family, it adds an extra element to our wine drinking. Sharing wine encourages comradery, opens up new lines of communication and simply brings people together. And when you throw in wine savvy people in the mix, your own understanding and appreciation of wine grows. So drink with others more in 2020. Host a monthly blind wine tasting, attend an in-store tasting, invite a winemaker to lunch or encourage your restaurant server to taste and discuss the wine you’ve brought in for dinner. There’s strength in numbers, as they say, as well as a whole bunch of wine know-how to be discovered.

Happy 2020!

• The Voice of the Village •

•MJ

MONTECITO JOURNAL

23

AGING IN HIGH HEELS

by Beverlye Hyman Fead

Ms Fead moved from Beverly Hills to Malibu and then Montecito in 1985. She is married to retired music exec Bob Fead; between them they have four children, five grandchildren, and a dog named Sophia Loren. Beverlye is the author of I Can Do this; Living with Cancer, Nana, What’s Cancer and the blog www.aginginhighheels.com, and book Aging In High Heels. She has also produced a documentary: Stage Four, Living with Cancer.

Garet Blake, Firefighter and Paramedic, Montecito Fire Department

A

s much as my husband, Bob, and I love all our local firefighters, we have a special feeling for this particular member of the team, the reason for which will be revealed as you read down to the finish of the article.

Blake was born and raised in Moorpark, California. His single mother, an emergency room nurse, had a major influence in his life. From her, he gained not only a life-long passion to help others, but also a dedication to emergency medicine.

Following high school and while attending Oxnard College, Blake began to pursue his dream of becoming a firefighter. He obtained his Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification and started his emergency career in Torrance, California working for Gerber Ambulance.

After graduating from Oxnard

College’s fire academy in 2005, Blake worked for Boeing Industries as an industrial firefighter. But his education wasn’t over. He continued his emergency training, graduating from Ventura College’s paramedic school in 2007, where as a volunteer, he mentored with a local Big Brother organization. He finally found his dream job when he joined the Montecito Fire Department in 2010 at the age of 25. “It’s a pleasure to come to work every day,” Blake says. “I love these guys!”

When the January 9, 2018 debris flow devastated Montecito, Blake was working on a Type 6 fire engine with Captain Jeff Villarreal; the team worked to rescue residents in the Sycamore Canyon and Olive Mill areas that were among the most affected by the disaster. Blake also spent a great deal of time in the Bonnymede Garet Blake, one of Montecito Fire Department’s finest

24 MONTECITO JOURNAL

and Montecito Shores areas assisting residents, which is how Bob and I come into this story.

In the wake of the terrifying debris flow, Blake came to our condominium complex and in a comforting, John Wayne kind of way, told all the residents what was going on. At the time, the mud, which was packed high all around us, had a terrible odor. But Blake reassured us, promising that even though we were not able to get out of our complex at the moment, that we were not alone; we would be all right. He was calm, collected, and just what we all needed.

We all gathered in the middle of our compounds and hung on his every word. Four scary days later, Blake told us he thought we could get out through the back gates, so we packed up our dog, some minimal belongings, and got in our car. Blake helped steer us out of the mud. We slid from side to side, but finally managed to hit pavement and get out. We were only able to go north and so that’s what we did. We didn’t see our home again for seven weeks.

We will never forget Blake and the professionalism and kindness he showed all of us in those difficult days. As many of you know the fire and mudslides caused devastation all over the Montecito area. The Montecito Fire Foundation has been able to assist their own firefighters,

but with the money donated to them they have also been able to help those still in need throughout Montecito.

Recently, they were able to cover a firefighter’s wife during her cancer treatment, and even cover all her out-of-pocket costs not covered by insurance. They are happy to report that she is now cancer-free. Recently a generous Montecito resident has provided a matching donation up to $100,000 for the fund.

This once quiet foundation has turned into an organization that can make large positive changes. Their mission is to take care of their firefighters, families, and their communities. On February 1, 2020 the Montecito Fire Foundation will be hosting a fantastic event (see below) to raise money at the equally fantastic Rosewood Miramar in Montecito.

There will be great food, good music, and of course each table – and to me, this is a prerequisite – will be seated with one of the handsome firefighters!

The 2nd Annual Firefighters Ball will be held Saturday, February 1 in the Rosewood Miramar Resort Ballroom at 6 pm. It will feature gourmet “grazing” from delicious buffet stations, dancing to a live band, firefighter backdrops for photographs with local crew, and more. For more information about the event, please visit monteci tofirefightersfoundation.com.

•MJ 2 – 9 January 2020

On Entertainment

Elaine Pagels

by Steven Libowitz

in Conversation with Pico Iyer

One Last Conversation in Prima Materia

C

heri Steinkellner had no idea when she showed up for a oneday introduction to Pacifica Graduate Institute that the visit would eventually have a big impact on her writing.

“I just wanted to see what was going on over there, figuring maybe I’d take a weekend program or perhaps get a certificate, because I’d already got my M. Ed. just a couple of years before,” said Steinkellner, a longtime Montecito resident, who with husband Bill served as a writer and co-showrunner on Cheers for more than seven years, and wrote the book of the musical Sister Act, for which they received a Tony Award nomination, among other entertainment projects.

But a program called “Engaged Humanity and the Creative Life” caught her eye, and the courses turned out to be a “fascinating retroactive look at all the things I’ve done throughout my career in TV, theater, musicals, film – a study of how we as creative beings and why we make things that covers the creative impulse, imagination, depth psychology, and more,” Steinkellner said.

“Bells were dinging for me constantly,” she recalled. “There were ‘aha’s all over the place.”

The program also served as a catalyst for Steinkellner to write a new play, Prima Materia, described as “a three-character mother-daughter comedy about death, love, memory, and letting go.” The work will have its public premiere via a free staged reading through the UCSB Launch Pad program at 4 pm on Sunday, January MontJournal_January1st'20:Layout 1 5, in the Studio Theater at UCSB, with

Cheri Steinkellner’s latest project Prima Materia premieres as a staged reading on Sunday, January 5 at UCSB

Thu, Jan 9 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall Tickets start at $20 / $10 $UCSB students

Renowned religion scholar Elaine Pagels is the National Book Award-winning author of The Gnostic Gospels and best-selling books including Beyond Belief, Adam, Eve and the Serpent and Revelations. Her newest book Why Religion?, explores questions that took on profound urgency when Pagels was dealing with unimaginable personal loss. A professor at Princeton and a MacArthur Fellow, Pagels and Pico Iyer will explore learning, writing, loving, suffering and seeking truth.

Books will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of Chaucer’s

Steven Libowitz has reported on the arts and entertainment for more than 30 years; he has contributed to the Montecito Journal for more than 10 years.

her friends on the theater faculty at the university serving as director and actors.

“The project just sort of bubbled up as part of my studies that had to do with dreams,” Steinkellner said.

But actually it was about 17 years in the making, as the piece began as a way to connect with her mother, who passed away back in 2002.

“We never got to have a last con12/30/19

3:43 PM

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2 – 9 January 2020

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25

SEEN (Continued from page 14) Speaker Diana Raab, Ph.D. and Jean West, community engagement manager for Hospice

Rodney Baker with Julie and David Lawrence at the architects’ do

have been impressively active, engaging, advancing and leading the organization across so many fronts.”

The annual event honors the achievements of local architects recognizing excellence in architecture, residential, restoration/renovation and urban design. They awarded 24 in design (90 submissions), three student designs and the Lutah Maria Riggs Presidents Award which honored the speechless Ellen Bildsten. She is past

president, has served on the state board of AIA and is an active mentor to women and emerging professionals while managing a thriving architectural practice. Dan Weber, AIA, who owns Anacapa architects, picked up the most awards for one firm.

Matthew Beausoleil, AIA, is the incoming president for 2020 and Executive Director Tara Rizzi retains her post.

The AIA was founded in 1857 and

consistently works to create more valuable, healthy, secure and sustainable buildings, neighborhoods, and communities. Through nearly 300 state and local chapters the AIA advocates for public policies that promote economic vitality and public well-being. For more information visit www. aia.org.

Write On: Journaling to Heal

Hospice of Santa Barbara has a monthly event called Learn @ Lunch.

This month the topic was Journaling to Heal led by local author Diana Raab, Ph.D. She has been called the “Queen of Journaling” and has authored nine books including Writing for Bliss and Healing with Words.

Diana has first-hand experience about healing with words because her favorite grandmother was involved in the Jewish debacle in World War II and eventually committed suicide.

As she said, “Journaling is a way to communicate with ourselves. It is carthartic, because you let all your feelings out.”

According to Diana every great loss demands that we choose life again.

We need to grieve in order to do this.

It allows us to heal. There are many things you can write about including a comforting memory of your loved one. Write about what makes your heart sing.

For more information about Hospice of Santa Barbara call 805.563.8820.

Their services are free.

•MJ

Learning Happens Everywhere We Go

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26 MONTECITO JOURNAL

“I’m a little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little bit rounder, but still none the wiser.” – Robert Paul

2 – 9 January 2020

MONTECITOJOURNAL & PRESENT

WITH DAS WILLIAM S

LAURA CAPP

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Montecito Journ al

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27

ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 25)

versation, which I always yearned for, and regretted that we didn’t,” she said. “But in studying depth psychology, it was suggested to me that it was possible through using active imagination.”

The action takes place over a single night in a crappy motel room in Long Beach (a stand in for the Sandyland Motel) where the daughter, a self-described mess, brings her dying mother, a self-described goddess, to awaken her from a drug-induced coma to share one last conversation and clear up a lifetime of miscommunication.

The work is based on Steinkellner’s own experiences with her mother, who had been in a medically-induced coma called terminal sedation before her death. A hospice rabbi told her that it would be possible for her mom to come out of sedation to have a conversation, but the writer was unable to get permission for the procedure.

“I had this thought that I should have just gone to get her and bring her to a hotel and have her woken her up,” Steinkellner recalled. “[Through Pacifica] I realized I could still do that with writing. So the play is about a daughter who acts on what I thought about, abducts her comatose mother, checks into a motel, gives her the meds and has the conversation.

Hilarity ensues.”

The process of creating the piece has been one that Steinkellner found “extraordinarily healing,” she said. “I regained the conversation I thought I could never have. That was exciting and surprising and really made me feel very close to my mother after all these years. There are all kinds of ways people seek comfort from a loss, but somehow it never occurred to me that writing to the heart of it would accomplish that for me.”

Steinkellner isn’t sure where Prima Materia is headed next, although she let on that her theatrical agent in New York is very excited about the work.

“It strikes me as the kind of thing that would be great for actresses of age to perform as a mother-daughter duo,

because it’s a relational comedy that great actresses can sink their teeth into.”

Steinkellner noted that a couple of local well-known thespians might be right for the roles, perhaps even Gwyneth Paltrow and her mother, Blythe Danner. “I’m just dreaming out loud,” she said.

Meanwhile, the writer is excited to see what comes out of her word processor next after her Pacifica experience.

“The program was both a rearview mirror but also one out the windshield and what’s ahead in a new way,” she said. “I’m writing differently after decades as a result. I’ve got a lot more information to pull from.”

Bach, Busoni, Grieg

Violinist Benjamin Beilman was slated to make his debut with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra in the 2017-18 season, but then the venerable ensemble closed operations after nearly 40 years. Now, barely more than two years later, Beilman has been booked for an even bigger role in the Lobero Theatre Chamber Music Project, a new collaboration with former SBCO Maestro Heiichiro Ohyama that will premiere on January 4 with a concert that serves as a warmup to a two-day festival in February.

The festival is designed to be an annual event that will attract top musicians largely from the emerging generation of classical soloists and chamber music performers, Beilman said. The 30-year-old violinist – who first met Ohyama at a Japanese music festival several years ago – has been tapped to serve as the project’s Musical Advisor and was invited not only for his prowess as a performer but also because of his connections to young artists around the world.

“I have my eye on who the great players are of my generation, and what great music is coming up that may not have been heard in town yet,” Beilman explained over the

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28 MONTECITO JOURNAL

phone from his home in New York earlier this week.

In the meantime, Saturday’s concert at the Lobero serves as a fitting introduction to the violinist The New York Times once described as “muscular with a glint of violence,” an assessment Beilman loved because “The primal emotional quality of music is what I really enjoy.” Beilman and pianist Alessio Bax, a former SBCO veteran visitor, will be performing Busoni’s fiery but little known Sonata for violin and piano No. 2 in E minor sandwiched between Bach’s E major sonata, BWV 1016, and Grieg’s No. 3 sonata, Op. 45.

“The Busoni is a powerful, long narrative work in a typical high romantic style where he goes from an incredibly fantasy thing to a quick tarantella type dance and then quotes Bach for the final movement, which is a huge grand almost procession,” said Beilman, who now plays the “lively” 1709 “Engleman” Stradivarius. “And the Grieg is similarly robust in its emotional content, but it’s much more tangible. When I play the sonata, you really feel like you can smell the moss in Norway that he must have loved, feel the dirt, and hear the percussive elements from nature.”

Buckle up. The ride is just beginning.

Tuning In on Tunstall Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall scored with her first album back in 2004, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and spawned a worldwide hit with “Suddenly I See.” But the last half decade has seen a sea change for the already critically acclaimed artist who relocated in 2014 to Venice Beach and followed a period of soul-searching with the first two entries in a trilogy of themed albums.

Tunstall, who makes her Santa Barbara debut at the Lobero on January 8 (with special guest Charlie Mars opening), talked about the records and more via email earlier this week.

Q. Can we start by going back to your first album, Eye to the Telescope? Does that music, which has been a big seller over the years, recently registering five million in sales, still resonate with you today?

A. Once an album is finished, I tend to really start focusing on the next set of songs that I’m going to write and record, and I have to say I don’t think about the material that much after it’s recorded. I definitely find that sometimes when I’m playing those older songs, I realize that their themes and content sometimes relate to my life now in totally different ways, which is interesting. The resonation they have with audiences is still enormously enjoyable.

What was the inspiration behind “Suddenly I See,”, and did you ever imagine that it would become such a hit for you, including being featured in the opening scene of Devil Wears Prada, and having Hillary Clinton use it in her 2008 campaign?

The song is entirely about the photograph of Patti Smith on the cover of her album Horses, which was taken by her very good friend and brilliant photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.

I’d seen the album cover many times before, but that one time I was looking at it, at about 2 am in my basement flat in London, trying to make it (in music), I was so taken by her gaze.

She wasn’t trying, she was just being.

There’s almost a challenge in how self-assured she seems. I really aspired to that state of “being” rather than “trying.”

I think the first record I made in California, KIN in 2016, definitely embodies that West Coast feel-good rock ‘n’ roll vibe.

After you moved to L.A., you began work on a trilogy of albums around the themes of soul, body, and mind. What was the impetus for the project, especially in these days when people rarely buy albums, let alone three themed ones? I’m also curious about the order, starting with soul and ending with mind.

I think it partly is a middle finger to the idea that people don’t want to buy and experience albums anymore.

I certainly don’t feel that way, I don’t know anyone who feels that way, and my fans don’t seem to feel that way.

I also wanted to challenge myself creatively to create something bigger than one album. It can get repetitive going through this cycle of album, promotion, tour, repeat. So it’s great to make something with a longer arc.

My album KIN was all about the spirit

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2 – 9 January 2020

overcoming existential obstacles, and I knew that next I wanted to make a more old school rock ‘n’ roll record about physicality. I thought that was a really interesting juxtaposition against the previous more soul-based themes on KIN, and the natural conclusion to those two ideas would be to also make a record about the mind, to complete the trinity of human existence! They are all endlessly fascinating subjects.

The order was just dictated by what I was wanting to write about at the time.

I’ve read where you’ve endeavored to have not only the lyrics but the music itself stick to the parameters of the theme.

Seems like a challenge. How do you accomplish that?

It’s more about creating a “landscape” for the emotion of the song before the lyrics begin. The idea of music presenting the themes of the album will be most present on the next one, the “mind” album.

What can we expect from that album?

I’m really interested in mirroring the way the brain learns with the music.

Patterns, repetition, slow and sometimes nearly imperceptible changes over time that lead to your thinking ending up somewhere new.

I have most of the material written for it already, and I’m really excited to get my teeth into recording it. I’d like to get more experimental with rhythm on this album.

Why did you tour last year with an all-female band? I’m also curious because I read where you played the HearHer Festival back in October, to combat that women are still underrepresented at fests.

I remember going to all three Lilith Fair fests back in the 1990s. I guess things haven’t changed.

I hadn’t toured with an all-female band before and it seemed like high time to do so. I want to see more female musicians on stage as it’s definitely not an equal gender split right now, so as an employer I want to be part of the solution to that. The gender bias is still very unhealthy with only 20% of artists in the UK festival circuit being female… so it’s going to take putting on pressure to see any real change.

This time you’ll be playing solo, which is something you do frequently. How does that compare to having a band?

It’s definitely different, I end up talking to the crowd more than I would with a band which can be really fun. I’m not able to replicate the complexity that I’ve crafted on my records, but people seem to really enjoy a more stripped back performance. Also, my loop pedal and gadgets create the same kind of vibe as a full band, so I can still whip up a good party vibe even when it’s a solo show!

•MJ 2 – 9 January 2020

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• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

29

MISCELLANY (Continued from page 6)

Awaiting Santa are Wayne and Sharol Siemens with Nicole and David Catalfimo (photo by Priscilla)

Mary Hudson, John Thyne, Jennifer Smith, George and Shari Issac, Bill and Donna Brown, Chris Lancashire and Catherine Gee, Anne Towbes, Richard and Annette Caleel, Wayne and Sharoll Siemens, Shaun and Carla Tomson, Arlene Montesano, and Diana Starr Langley.

A hot evening in a cold clime...

Mary Anne Contreras, John Stegall, Roxanna “Roxy” Solakian, Diana Starr Langley, Kelley Donahue, Richard Sibthorpe, Daryl Stegall, Nick Solakian, Randy Solakian, and Sheila Herman at the Nesbitts’ bash (photo by Priscilla)

George Hamilton, Kelly Day, and host Pat Nesbitt (photo by Priscilla)

John and Olessya Thyne celebrating with a joyous Santa (photo

by Priscilla)

from the TV show Dancing with the Stars, and Neils van den Heuvel from Cirque du Soleil much to the delight of guests, including actor George Hamilton, Tanya Thicke, Randy and Roxy Solakian, Bilo Zarif, Allen and Anne Sides, Carlos and Grace Lopes, Barry and Jelinda DeVorzon, Leigh

30 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Fierce Femmes Rock Amazons ruled when the Santa Barbara Symphony, under energized maestro Bob Bernhardt, staged its annual New Year’s Eve Pops concert, Women Rock.

The wonderfully entertaining show featured the impressive vocals of Cassidy Catanzaro – who toured with the Rolling Stones –, New Yorker Brie Cassil, and Grammy winner Tamiko Lawrence, celebrating the music of Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, and Carole King, among other female dynamos.

The two-hour concert, which started off with flutes of champagne in the Granada lobby, with the sold-out concert’s attendees being provided with party hats and whistles for the celebrations, included the Martha Reeves’ hit “Dancing in the Streets,” Irene Cara’s “Flashdance, What a Feeling,”

the late Franklin’s “Freeway of Love” and Turner’s sultry “Private Dancer.”

A glorious way to welcome in 2020.

In Hot Water Montecito art and car collector Michael Hammer’s actor son Armie has found himself in a major controversy involving Saudi Arabia.

Armie joined other celebrities, including Ryan Phillipe, Sofia Richie, Olivia Culpo, and Irina Shayk, attending the MDL Beat Music Festival in Riyadh.

They are being accused of being “shameless” and accepting six figure sums to help rehabilitate the country’s image with its controversial human rights record, including the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

Fashion industry watchdog Diet Prada named and shamed some of the celebrities present, accusing them of allegedly accepting hefty sums for attending and geo-tagging posts to improve the Arab country’s image.

Oh What Fun Montecito animal activist Gretchen Lieff and her fiancé Miles Hartfeld opened the doors of their charming home for a hopping holiday bash.

Enjoying the holiday party are Bettina Bley, Norbert Furee, Edie Caldwell, host Miles Hartfeld, Tom Cruz, Brenden Twigden, and Deanna Dongieux (photo by Priscilla)

Brecheen, Sandro and Christine Raniolo, John and Daryl Stegall, Peter and Denis Sadowski, Floyd and Diana Wicks, Doni Nahmias, Dwight Coates, Eric Phillips, Greg and Gina Hons, Tommy and Shelby Chong, Tom Parker, Jeff and Hollye Jacobs, singer Katy Perry’s parents Keith and “Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.” – Brad Paisley

2 – 9 January 2020

,

Anda Ashkar, Tammy Leitner, Hal Conklin, Haley McGuire Conklin, hosts Miles Hartfeld and Gretchen Lieff, Chris Saldo, Tammy Leitner, Ann Smith, Ariana Katovich, Jonathan Beirn, Christopher Beirn, Melinda Gandara, Kathleen Katovich, and Madeline Sten (photo by Priscilla)

Social gridlock reigned as the festive guests quaffed wine and champagne and noshed on a cornucopia of comestibles, including Brenden Twigden, Melinda Gandara, Hal and Haley Conklin, Lisa Osborne, Edie Caldwell, Laurie Ashton, Nancy Capone, Robert Adams, Anne Sutherland Fuchs, Chris Saldo, Ann Smith, and Lynn Sarko.

Party animals to be sure...

Start Local Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry wants to streamline her life and “create continual balance.”

“There’s a lot of wonderful, personal things coming up in the future which are exciting,” the former Dos Pueblos High student tells People. “Like creating an ideal family.

“I think sometimes we feel overwhelmed about how to contribute and give back because there are so many choices. It’s all about simplifying by starting in your local community. It’s about starting with your family first, your friends, and your community, and keeping it local because that’s where you can create the most change and cause the most ripple effect.”

Worth a Shot Montecito actress Gwyneth Paltrow knows how to start a series on the right foot – and with the right drink.

The 47-year-old Oscar winner invited fellow actress and longtime friend Kate Hudson to appear on the first episode of her new web series Goop Your Bar Cart, which airs on her lifestyle site Goop.com The beautiful blondes bond as they work together to conjure up artichoke hearts and cocoa espresso martinis – featuring Hudson’s new drinks line, King St. Vodka, made from GMO-free corn and alkaline water.

Making Scents Santa Barbara Polo Club player and Ralph Lauren Polo model Nacho Figueras has praised his good friend Prince Harry for his “realness” and 2 – 9 January 2020

says Queen Elizabeth’s 35-year-old grandson is “serious about improving life for kids” who’ve not had the same advantages in life.

Argentinian Nacho, 42, tells Town & Country magazine: “What I like most about him is how real he is and how serious he is about improving life for kids that haven’t had the same blessings we’ve had.”

He recently launched a new perfume named after the Duke of Sussex’s home “Windsor,” with a portion of proceeds donated to Harry’s African charity Sentebale.

It is one of six fragrances he launched in November.

Remembering Jerry On a personal note, I remember Tony Award winning composer Jerry Herman, who has died at the age of 88 in Miami, Florida.

Herman, who wrote the cheerful, good natured music and lyrics for such classic shows as La Cage aux Folles, Mame, and Hello Dolly, created ten shows for the Great White Way and contributed to several more.

He also won two Grammys for the Mame cast album and “Hello Dolly” as song of the year.

I was lucky to see him perform a number of times when I lived in New York. A helluva composer. A helluva nice guy.

beethoven’s “eroica” january 18 + 19, 2020 Nir Kabaretti, C O N D U C T O R Sivan Silver & Gil Garburg, P I A N O Michael Torke: Ash Brahms arr. Richard Dünser: Concerto for Piano, Four Hands and Strings (after Brahms Op. 25) California Premiere!

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, “Eroica”

Israeli pianists Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg have thrilled audiences and critics alike with their unique and contemporary arrangements. The duo will perform a special arrangement for piano four-hands and strings based on Johannes Brahms’ G minor Piano Quartet, Op. 2, and close the evening with Beethoven’s intensely emotional Symphony No. 3 “Eroica.”

Selection Sponsors: JoAnne Ando | Hans Koellner & Karin Jacobson | Dr. Robert W. Weinman

upcoming concerts...

reif conducts tchaikovsky & mozart february 15 + 16, 2020 Christian Reif, C O N D U C T O R Thomas Mesa, C E L L O

Sightings: Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman at the Rosewood Miramar... Montecito actress Gwyneth Paltrow and ex-husband rocker Chris Martin skiing in Aspen... Actor Billy Baldwin noshing at Merci Montecito

an american in paris march 21 + 22, 2020 Constantine Kitsopoulos, CONDUCTOR

carpenter conducts poulenc & saint-saëns

Pip! Pip! Readers with tips, sightings and amusing items for Richard’s column should email him at richardmineards@ verizon.net or send invitations and other correspondence to the Journal.

To reach Priscilla, email her at pris cilla@santabarbaraseen.com or call 805-969-3301.

•MJ

april 18 + 19, 2020 Nir Kabaretti, C O N D U C T O R Cameron Carpenter, O R G A N

805-899-2222 | thesymphony.org

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

31

ON THE RECORD (Continued from page 22)

RESOLUTION NO. 19-096 A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA BARBARA DECLARING ITS INTENTION TO MODIFY THE 2015-2020 MANAGEMENT DISTRICT PLAN OF THE SANTA BARBARA SOUTH COAST TOURISM BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT TO END ON JANUARY 31, 2020 WHEREAS, on October 28, 2014, the City Council of the City of Santa Barbara (“City Council”) adopted Resolution Number #14-072 adopting the Management District Plan and renewing the Santa Barbara South Coast Tourism Improvement District (SBSCTBID); and WHEREAS, the Property and Business Improvement District Law of 1994, Streets and Highways Code §36600 et seq., allows the City to modify the Management District Plan (“MDP”) at the request of the owners’ association; and WHEREAS, the SBSCTBID Owners’ Association, Visit Santa Barbara (VSB), has requested that the City Council modify the SBSCTBID MDP. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL THAT: 1. The recitals set forth herein are true and correct.

Lieff and her dogs, Alamo, Creek, and Ranch at the Lieff Alamo Creek Ranch Vineyard

morphed into a planning committee for a documentary about the beloved architect – and the parties began to grow from there. “Ten people went to twenty; twenty went to thirty; thirty went to forty and in four to five months people were asking what can we do to share her story,” Gandara recalls. “I said probably a documentary, so we pulled all this material together and we raised over $100,000 in less than six months and it allowed us to move from a thirty-minute documentary to a sixty-minute documentary.”

After contacting the various current owners of all the local homes built

by Riggs, Gandara says the crew was able to win permission in every home except the architect’s residence and one other house. “I have never worked on a project where we got that access,” Gandara marvels. Meanwhile, Lieff created a non-profit called the Lutah Maria Riggs Society to help fund the

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production of the film, which was completed in less than nine months before being submitted and accepted for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in January 2015.

From there, the documentary travelled around the country, hitting 13 film festivals in California alone; it also screened at another 12 festivals in the United States for a grand total of 53 events and nine awards worldwide. “It was wonderful,” says Robert Adams, a member of the Lutah Board of Directors who worked as the documentary’s film festival marketing coordinator. “It made us feel we had a story to share outside of Santa Barbara. People were able to relate to a female figure breaking through a bunch of barriers in the architectural profession, having started in humble beginnings and rising to the top of her field.”

For Lieff, seeing the film’s success beyond the confines of Santa Barbara and knowing that Riggs has finally received the recognition she deserves is a dream come true. “I often think of Lutah, of her courage and quiet fortitude,” Lieff says. “Lutah had enormous challenges in her life, particularly as a young girl. But her grit and determination broke through. I fell in love with Lutah and ended up falling in love with my house, the subtle lighting and attention to detail. I liken the film to a love story between two women that extends through decades of time.

LUTAH A Passion for Architecture: A Life of Design screens January 5, 2020 at 8 pm at the Lobero Theatre (33 East Canon Perdido Street) followed by a panel featuring Marc Appleton and other local architectural luminaries.

Tickets available at lobero.org. For more information, call (805) 963-0761.

Presented by the Lutah Maria Riggs Society (lutah.org).

•MJ

2. The City Council declares its intention to modify the SBSCTBID MDP. 3. The proposed modification of the SBSCTBID MDP will modify the term of the SBSCTBID. The current term of the SBSCTBID is six (6) years, effective through December 31, 2020. The modified SBSCTBID shall have a term of five (5) years and one (1) month, ending January 31, 2020.

4. The time and place for a public hearing on the modification of the SBSCTBID MDP are set for 2:00 PM or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard on January 14, 2020 at 735 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

5. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the City Council.

RESOLUTION NO. 19-096 STATE OF CALIFORNIA

) ) COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA ) ss. ) CITY OF SANTA BARBARA ) I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Council of the City of Santa Barbara at a meeting held on December 10, 2019, by the following roll call vote: AYES:

Councilmembers Jason Dominguez, Eric Friedman, Oscar Gutierrez, Meagan Harmon, Randy Rowse, Kristen W. Sneddon; Mayor Cathy Murillo

NOES:

None

ABSENT:

None

ABSTENTIONS:

None

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the City of Santa Barbara on December 11, 2019. /s/ Sarah P. Gorman, CMC City Clerk Services Manager I HEREBY APPROVE the foregoing resolution on December 11, 2019. /s/ Cathy Murillo Mayor Published January 1, 2020 Montecito Journal

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.” — G.K. Chesterton

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: The Style Junction, 2948 Nojoqui Ave Suite 4, Los Olivos, CA 93441.

Sue Turner-Cray, 2075 Still Meadow Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93463.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on November 22, 2019.

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. 2019-0002903.

Published December 18, 25, 2019, January 1, 8, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Islay Events, 318 Rosario Drive #B, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. Jeremy Cable, 318 Rosario Drive #B, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on November 22, 2019. 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) by Maria F. Sanchez. FBN No. 2019-0002910. Published December 11, 18, 25, 2019, January 1, 2020.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BOHO CHIC DREAMS, 4344 Modoc Road Apt. 16, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. BOHO CHIC DREAMS, LLC, 4344 Modoc Road Apt. 16, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on November 19, 2019. 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) by Maria F. Sanchez. FBN No. 2019-0002866. Published December 11, 18, 25, 2019, January 1, 2020.

2 – 9 January 2020

Spirituality Matters

by Steven Libowitz “Spirituality Matters” highlights two or three Santa Barbara area spiritual gatherings. Unusual themes and events with that something extra, especially newer ones looking for a boost in attendance, receive special attention. For consideration for inclusion in this column, email slibowitz@yahoo.com.

The 3Ms of Intention Manifestation

R

oll out your New Year’s intentions with meditation, movement, mudras, and even a dash of merriment as Terra Gold and Dr. Valerie Girard lead a three-hour workshop on this first weekend of the year. “Ignite Your Intention: Manifesting your Dream in the New Year” will employ specific exercises, meditations, and movements to program participants’ heartfelt intention into reality in a field of intention manifestation. Support others and be supported in personal and planetary healing intentions, and learn specific secrets for manifesting your dreams. If you enroll before the workshop, which runs 2-5 pm on Saturday, January 4, you will receive an email with suggestions to create a list of one to three strong intentions for the New Year written in a journal that you’ll use on site. You may also bring something to place on the altar that will register your intentions such as a special rock, crystal, gemstone or piece of jewelry – and perhaps even a partner or colleague to serve as your “Intention Friend.”

Dr. Girard has been hosting Intention Manifestation Ceremonies and Workshops for more than 30 years, while Gold is a yoga therapist and licensed acupuncturist who co-authored one of the leading textbooks on Yoga Therapy and Integrative Medicine and has spent the last 25 years teaching yoga and the healing sciences events and programs. Admission is $28 in advance, or $33 day-of.

Commencing ‘Committed Action’

Whether you have health, personal, relationship, spiritual, or work goals that you want to achieve in 2020, commitment is key, posits Diana Hill, Ph.D., who leads a New Year’s workshop at Yoga Soup this weekend. Committed action involves taking steps toward what you value, even in the face of difficult emotions, thoughts and contexts. The workshop aims to empower and strengthen that skill via integrating behavioral science and values-based psychology to get you moving in a direction that matters in the New Year. Participants will have the opportunity to identify personal barriers to change, clarify the values behind personal goals, develop “tiny habits” to support your long-term goals, and utilize mindfulness and acceptance skills while committing to values. Dr. Hill is a specialist in Acceptance and Commitment Training, an evidence-based approach that increases meaning, psychological flexibility, mindfulness, and vitality in individuals and teams. The 2:30-5 pm workshop on Sunday, January 5, costs $55. Visit www.drdianahill.com or call 805-669-8182.

Soup’s on for 2020

Also at Yoga Soup this week: The first First Fridays Ecstatic Dance of the year, January’s monthly barefoot, substance-free, live DJ get-down dance party features a Contact Improv warm up into open dance space that loosely follows an ecstatic dance “wave” with slow and mellow music building to chaotic intensity and then returning to stillness at the end (7-9:30 pm Friday, January 3; $15)... January’s Creative Play workshop with Lora Amber & Skyler Levenson of Wild Yes is 2020’s first monthly gathering focused on imperfect art making, featuring explorative play with your creative genius via prompts, sharing, tools and support (3-5 pm Saturday, January 4; $15)... Mitsuko Conner Newlan, who teaches yoga regularly at Divinitree, offers a special Gong Yoga Nidra class at Yoga Soup where all are invited to “sleep” your troubles away during the session by simply relaxing as you lie on your back while being verbally led through your physical body, senses, and a visualization. Interwoven throughout the Yoga Nidra experience, Mitsuko will play her gongs to reflect and support the senses that are being explored. Yoga Nidra expands the state between being consciously awake and being asleep in a dream-like state where the analytical mind is taken out of the equation to increase access to the subconscious creative mind (7:30-9 pm Sunday, January 5; $25 in advance, $30 day-of [$40/ $50 for couples])... Song carriers Benjamin Gould and Britta Gudmunson kick off 2020 by offering a mini-version of their three-month community singing workshop.

“Song: The Oldest Language – an inCourage Chorus Winter Drop-In Series” is a chance to learn songs taught in the oral tradition, create soundscapes, play group improvisation games, share stories, broaden perspectives, and bask in both sound and silence. The four-week class can be taken as a whole, or on a drop-in basis (7-8:30 pm Mondays, January 6-27; $18 drop in, or $60 for all four).

Yoga Soup is located at 28 Parker Way. Call (805) 965-8811 or visit www.yoga soup.com/category/events.

2 – 9 January 2020

Amplify Your Dreams for 2020

Minette Riordan’s Art Journaling & Collage Playshop this Saturday is a special event where participants will have the chance to create vision boards to anchor and inspire New Year’s intentions, dreams, and goals for your life and career. People will employ her playful yet sacred approach to designing a creative collage that will ground your intentions in real time and amplify your goals beyond your wildest dreams. The special round boards allow for the overflow of energy and ideas to expand beyond the usual square space of traditional vision boards. In order to be crystal clear about what you want and why, Minette will first walk participants step-by-step through a powerful visioning process to call in the New Year, set the right goals and intentions and design a sacred creative container to hold your dreams for 2020. The $35 free for the 10 am to 3 pm workshop on January 4 at Workzones in Paseo Nuevo includes one 16” round vision board, a “2020 Vision Planner” playbook, and magazines and crafts supplies to use. Snacks, coffee, tea and water will also be provided. Preregister at www.meetup.com/Healing-through-Creativity.

Big Doings at Bodhi Path

Bodhi Path Santa Barbara is making some changes for 2020 in inaugurating a new series of monthly curriculum courses that take place on a single weekend beginning in the middle of the month. But first resident teacher Dawa Tarchin Phillips – who will lead the weekend classes both in person and online – offers two introductory sessions over two Thursdays, the regular night for gatherings at the Mission Street center. “Meditate with Intention,” on January 2, focuses on intention setting as an ancient spiritual practice, with “right intention” included by the Buddha as part of the eight-fold path for spiritual development. The premise is that intention affects our karma as much as our actions and their outcomes. Develop your intention for 2020 through meditation and discussion in the donation-based class. “How to Prepare Your Mind for What Truly Matters in Life,” on January 16, dives into the basics of a mindfulness and meditation practice that allows one to increasingly know and cherish the true nature of mind.

In between, visiting teacher Karma Trinlay Rinpoche offers “The Accumulation of Merit and Wisdom” from 7-9 pm on Wednesday, January 8, a discussion of how we accumulate merit by cultivating altruism and kindness toward others, and performing virtuous deeds among other activities, along with the accumulation of wisdom, or development of our understanding of the nature of reality. Without wisdom, even a well-intended practice of bodhicitta can bring about suffering. Like two wings of a bird, both accumulations are needed on the bodhisattva path and for the ultimate attainment of buddhahood. Karma Trinlay Rinpoche is a Buddhist master and scholar who is one of the first Westerners to be recognized as a Tulku by H.H. the late 16th Karmapa. Karma Trinlay Rinpoche has received all the important transmissions of Buddhism, as well as completed both traditional Buddhist and Western academic studies in the fields of philosophy and history.

Coming Constellations

JoAnne Chartrand and Dyrian Benz, PsyD, the founders of the Relational Constellation Institute of California, are hosting their first of six monthly weekend workshops this Saturday and Sunday, January 4-5. “Skills To Liberate Our Heart: Flourishing, Connecting, Growing,” which takes place 9 am to 5 pm each day at Family Therapy Institute, 111 East Arrellaga Street, is an experiential workshop to uncover the disruptions and entanglements in the heart, so that we can find strength, dignity, love, creativity, and a sense of belonging, and experience the full range of our potentiality of who we are. Love and appreciation are the guiding principles used for finding good resolutions. Profound healing of heart, body, and soul are often the result.

Visit https://relationalconstellations.com/upcoming-events/2019/3/05/ surviving-to-thriving-apr19-workshop for details and registration.

•MJ

Santa Barbara Life Beachball Contest Find the beachball

and tell us what page it's on

in this edition of the Montecito Journal - Visit SBLIFE.COM with the correct beachball page number and enter to win Dinner for 2 and a romantic cruise on the Condor Express!

Congratulations to our December winner - Rebecca Calhoun Brought to you by:

• The Voice of the Village •

and MONTECITO JOURNAL

33

OUR TOWN (Continued from page 10)

Laguna Blanca Lower School

The grand finale of the Cold Spring School Winter Sing 2019 (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Laguna Blanca Lower School Winter Sing stage left (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Cold Spring School students sing “The Bakers Song” (photo

by Joanne A Calitri)

Laguna Blanca Lower School Winter Sing stage center (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

and other traditional songs. Students sang great harmonies, played recorders, violins, bells, ukes, and danced.

Crane Country Day School Crane Country Day School Winter Sing rehearsal (photo courtesy of Crane Country Day School)

Crane Country Day School Winter Sing (photo courtesy of Crane Country Day School)

Laguna Blanca Lower School Holiday Concert was held at the Hope Ranch Upper School on December 17 at 6:30 pm. The 80 students performed together and by grade. Andy Surber, Head of Lower School, introduced the concert, “It is such a treat to see our program in action, especially witnessing how our students progress from Early Kindergarten through fourth grade.” From instrumental performances and dances to the sweet singing songs and exuberant jingle bell number, the show was a great kick-off to the holidays! Songs included: “Ale A,” “Ram Sam Sam,” “Be Kind to Others,” “Ode to Joy,” “Shalom Chaverim,” and “We Wish You a Happy Holiday.” They were led by music instructor Mrs. Molly Markstrum with Ms Leana Movillion on piano.

Montecito YMCA Preschool

Montecito YMCA Preschool Christmas pageant was performed at the Y on December 20 at 11:30 am. Ms Gabriela Macias led the program with her kids in the songs “10 Little Angels” and “Christmas Star.” Next, the angels and candles kids were directed by teacher Mrs. Ruth Ambriz singing “This Little

Crane Country Day School’s Winter Sing featured their Lower School students, Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. The performance was held on Thursday, December 12 at 6 pm in Crane’s amphitheater in the Oak Tree Quad.

Bundled up parents and guests were seated on chairs and on blankets around the ellipse. The students performed a variety of pop and seasonal songs. The Kindergarten started the show with a poem recitation. Songs included: “At The Beginning,” “Jingle Bells,” “Stray Cat Strut,” “Summer of ‘69,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Light the Lights Hanukkah,” and “Good Time.” Music teacher Konrad Kono led the performance.

34 MONTECITO JOURNAL

Laguna Blanca Lower School Winter Sing stage right (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

YMCA Preschool kids with teacher Annie Fischer (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

“Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day.” – Michael Josephson

2 – 9 January 2020

YMCA Preschool students with teacher Ruth Ambriz (photo

by Joanne A Calitri)

Light of Mine” and “Walking in the Light.” Preschool Director Annie Fischer directed her class Room 3 in the reenactment of the Christmas story and traditional songs, closing the program with all school classes singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Her teacher helpers are Mrs. Jayne Valdez, Ms. Jordan Trujillo and Mrs. Mindy Andrade.

Music teacher Pam Herzog conducting the Montecito Union School Winter Sing 2019 (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Montecito Union School

Montecito Union School Winter Sing 2019 (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Music teacher Ron Zecher conducting the MUS orchestra (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

MUS students in their festive attire (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Montecito Union School’s famous Winter Sing was held on December 20 with three showings to accommodate all the students and their families. Music teachers Pam Herzog and Ron Zecher conducted the entire school in song, string orchestra, drums and percussion instruments, and they each took turns playing piano. The students’ dances included being reindeers for the chorus singing “The Reindeer Twist,” and as Santa’s elves making the toys. The MUS Orchestra played “Believe” and “Carol of the Bells.” Chorus songs included “Let Those Sleigh Bells Ring,” “Deck the Halls,” “Merry Christmas to You All,” “Make A Little Music for Hanukkah,” “Light the Candles,” “We Three Kings.” and “Jingle Bells.”

•MJ

Montecito Union School students at the Winter Sing (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Principal Dr. Nick Bruski and Student Principal of the Day Max Bunnin at the MUS Winter Sing (photo Joanne by A Calitri)

Singing students in the MUS auditorium (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

2 – 9 January 2020

• The Voice of the Village •

MONTECITO JOURNAL

35

C ALENDAR OF Note to readers: This entertainment calendar is a subjective sampling of arts and other events taking place in the Santa Barbara area for the next week. It is by no means comprehensive. Be sure to read feature stories in each issue that complement the calendar. In order to be considered for inclusion in this calendar, information must be submitted no later than noon on the Wednesday eight days prior to publication date. Please send all news releases and digital artwork to slibowitz@yahoo.com)

THURSDAY, JANUARY 2 1st Thursday – January’s exhibit at 10 West Gallery (10 West Anapamu Street; 805-770-7711), which opens on the second day of the year, mirrors the entire 1st Thursday situation, which slows down more than a notch from the frenetic pace of the holiday season to allow contemplative breathing room to be felt in the gallery, where the small but inviting space hosts a mixed media exhibition of paintings, photography and sculpture from nine artists, including Peggy Ferris and Karen Zazon… Sullivan Goss - An American Gallery (11 East Anapamu Street; 805-730-1460) is also one of the rare exhibition spaces to be celebrating the opening of a new show, this one called “The Anchors: Historic Masterpieces from the Gallery’s Estates.” Meanwhile, the gallery’s popular annual “100 Grand,” which features 100 paintings by 100 different artists on sale for no more than $1,000 each, and its “Winter Salon” show remain on display… The Wine Shepherd (30 East Ortega Street; 805-323-6386) joins the 1st Thursday throng, offering an inaugural exhibit showcasing the painted works of Beau Brown, who explores the line and shape of the American Southwest, along with the figurative studies of Jenna Grotelueschen, whose pieces integrate the body in its surroundings across media. Check out the economy of line with a glass of wine… Meanwhile, Armada Wine & Beer Merchant (1129 State Street, Suite A; 805-770-5912) invites visitors to enter through its courtyard to enjoy a festive specialty drink, The Fantasia Frizzante, a Prosecco and Jardesca

Aperitiva curated by its sommelier, Carlos Mascherin. The drink is aimed to pair with the chill house music for the evening mixed by DJ Stauss, adding a groovy twist to the wine bar vibe… Performance art is also on tap at De La Guerra Place in Paseo Nuevo, where patrons can enjoy the acoustic jazz sounds of the band Souriez, who draw inspiration from the jazz of Le Hot Club of Paris and the pre-war jazz of the U.S… Finally, SBIFF’S Santa Barbara Filmmaker Screening Series (SBIFF Education Center, 1330 State Street) gets audiences excited for the opening of SBIFF 2020 just two weeks later by showing Trevor Lestak’s “Losing Ground,” which follows ranch owners on the Gaviota Coast fighting to protect their land and way of life.

The 15-minute short will play every half hour. WHEN: 5-8 pm WHERE: Lower State Street and environs COST: free INFO: (805) 962-2098 or www.down townsb.org/events/1st-thursday FRIDAY, JANUARY 3 Dirty Cello – The Cambridge Drive Concert Series kicks off 2020 with a twist on an instrument normally associated with classical music. Dirty Cello replaces lead guitar with the cello to create a high energy and unique spin on blues and bluegrass. Led by vivacious cross-over cellist Rebecca Roudman, Dirty Cello delivers everything from down home blues with a wailing cello to virtuosic stompin’ bluegrass. Everything but classical music, that is. It’s hot licks-style swing on a cello, ranging from sounds that are funky, carnival, romantic, sexy, tangled, electric, fiercely rhythmic

THURSDAY, JANUARY 2 ‘Rome’-ing back from NYC – Longtime Santa Barbara resident and now New York City-based jazz trumpeter-vocalist-composer Nate Birkey returns home for the first time in almost two years for a much-awaited set at SOhO with his West Coast quintet.

The show follows up on the release of his 10th album as a leader, Rome, which was recorded in the Italian city nearly live at the conclusion of Birkey’s Italian tour in 2017 when he collaborated with the outstanding Italian musicians Roberto Tarenzi, Luca Bulgarelli, Alessandro Marzi, and Manuel Magrini. The poet Bill Evans quite accurately called the album “a beautiful thing: sweet, smart, sophisticated, artful, and very cool.” The group at SOhO – saxophonist Tom Buckner, pianist Josh Nelson, bassist Jim Connolly, and drummer Peter Buck – will be presenting works from the album as well as new material and old favorites. WHEN: 7:30 pm WHERE: SOhO, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $10 INFO: (805) 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com

36 MONTECITO JOURNAL

EVENTS

by Steven Libowitz

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5 Hana at Home – Montecito-born singer-songwriter Hana Aluna, whose parents are the still-Santa Barbarabased rock star Kenny Loggins and colon therapist/ healer Julia Loggins, spent all of autumn in the U.K. studying songwriting at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London. As part of the year-long program, she endeavored to write a new song every week – which would seem like a heady task save for the fact that the indie-folk Aluna used to, periodically, pen songs even more frequently while still in high school. So there will be plenty of unfamiliar material to go along with choices from her catalog and cover tunes when Hana returns to SOhO Music Club tonight. We’re told the new originals include one about her famous father entitled “Firewood,” while songs by fellow Santa Barbara singer-songwriters will comprise the bulk of the cover songs.

One of them, of course, is her close friend Jackson Gillies, the former winner of Teen Star Santa Barbara who last year competed on American Idol; Gillies moved to London with her and will be sharing the stage for several songs during her set.

Opening is another local luminary on the rise in Ben Catch, who is just 18. Gillies, by the way, also has his own official opening set at SOhO three days later when he’ll support yet another Santa Barbara singer-songwriter made good: Will Breman, who had a long run recently on NBC’s The Voice. WHEN: 7 pm WHERE: SOhO, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $10 INFO: (805) 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com

and textured…” raved Oakland Magazine, while Good Times Santa Cruz praised not only its rendition “Purple Haze” but also the depth of soul in Roudman’s playing. We’re just not sure how they’re going to keep people from dancing in the aisles at the church-bound show. WHEN: 7:30 pm WHERE: Cambridge Drive Community Church, 550 Cambridge Drive, Goleta COST: $15 with advance reservation and $18 at the door INFO: (805) 964-0436 or www. cambridgedrivechurch.org TUESDAY, JANUARY 7 Dimensions at Disney – Disney Legend Ub Iwerks was an exceptional draftsman, prolific innovator, and allaround technical genius who directly collaborated with Walt Disney to create some of the most loved moments throughout film and theme parks. He was a self-taught animator who became the first to animate Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Ub Iwerk’s illustrious career consisted of dozens of innovative contributions to both animated and live-action motion pictures as well as the fields of optics, film processes and special effects. He was also the major force behind the design of special cameras, projectors, electronics and audio for theme park projects. Disney frequently relied on the counsel, expertise, ingenuity and creativity of Iwerks, who he considered a kindred spirit, lifelong friend and fellow virtuoso. But Ub and his many technical inventions

“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep is this – To rise above the little things.” – John Burroughs

and techniques have been largely unknown by the general public. Now, his son Don has authored a book, Walt Disney’s Ultimate Inventor – The Genius of Ub Iwerks, filled with gorgeous never-before-published photographs and fascinating personal memories to celebrate his father’s accomplishments. Don Iwerks is himself something of a Disney and film dynamo, having followed his father to The Walt Disney Studios in 1950 where he helped develop cameras, projectors and other technical systems, many of which are still used in Disney parks around the world, among them Circle Vision 360, wide gauge 3D film systems, and the projection system for the wildly popular Star Tours attraction. In 1986, after 35 years at Disney, Don joined fellow Disney executive Stan Kinsey to co-found their own company, Iwerks Entertainment, a maker of giant screen theaters, simulation theaters, and 3D projection based theme park attractions. Iwerks talks about the book, his dad, Disney and more in a special event at Chaucer’s tonight. WHEN: 7 pm WHERE: 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza Shopping Center COST: free INFO: (805) 682-6787 or www.chaucersbooks.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8 C is for Coyle (and Crime) – Matt Coyle, the author of the best-selling Rick Cahill series of crime novels, fell in love with the genre when his father gave him a copy of the Simple Art of Murder by Raymond 2 – 9 January 2020

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5 Riggs, Redux – The 66-minute documentary film Lutah explores the life of the little-known architect Lutah Maria Riggs, who left a much bigger legacy than she could have imagined. Riggs designed a number of iconic buildings in town, including the Lobero Theatre, the Vedanta Temple and the Botanic Garden, and was integral to rebuilding a damaged Santa Barbara after the 1925 earthquake. Riggs also designed exquisite homes in many styles – including several in Montecito – for some of Santa Barbara’s greatest philanthropists and spent hundreds of volunteer hours laying the foundation for the Santa Barbara Landmarks Commission. What makes her heretofore untold story more remarkable is that she accomplished all that as an independent woman at the turn of the 20th century – long before women began experiencing equality. Riggs navigated her way through the male-centric world of architecture and brought a fresh take to the established styles of Southern California as she mastered the art of experimentation. Her attention to detail, use of new materials, environmental concerns, and love of the natural landscape brought a unique and specific quality to her work. The 2014 documentary Lutah offers never before seen photos and journal entries from Riggs’ personal collection, stunning footage of some of Santa Barbara’s most iconic structures and a rare glimpse of private homes, plus candid interviews that reveal the woman behind the drafting table. Today’s special repeat screening, which benefits the nonprofit Lutah Maria Riggs Society, will be followed by a Q&A session with Marc Appleton and other local architects. WHEN: 6 pm WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St. COST: $31 & $41, students $14 ($106 VIP tickets includes premier seating and a pre-show reception at 5 pm with drinks and hors d’oeuvres) INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com

Chandler at age 14. After graduating with a degree in English from UCSB, Coyle wrote at night for over a decade to create his debut novel, Yesterday’s Echo, which was finally published in 2013. The work garnered the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, the San Diego Book Award for Best Mystery, the Ben Franklin Award for Best New Voice in Fiction. Coyle’s just-published sixth novel in the series, Lost Tomorrows, takes place in Santa Barbara, and even features a cover shot of Stearns Wharf at night. The plot finds a phone call that thrusts Rick Cahill’s past and all its tragic consequences into his present when he learned that Krista Landingham, his former partner

GranadaSB.org

Santa Barbara Symphony presents

“EROICA” SYMPHONY Sat JAN 18 8pm Sun JAN 19 3 pm

UCSB Arts & Lectures presents

AN EVENING WITH

ITZHAK PERLMAN Tue JAN 21 6:30pm (Note Special Time)

on the Santa Barbara Police Department, is dead. When Rick goes to the funeral in the city where his wife was murdered and where he is seen as guilty for her death in the eyes of the police, he discovers that Krista’s death may not have been a tragic accident, but murder. Hired by Krista’s sister, Leah, to investigate, Rick follows clues that lead him to the truth, not only about Krista’s death, but about the tragedy that ruined his life. Coyle chats about the book, the series and his time in town at Chaucer’s tonight.

WHEN: 7 pm WHERE: 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza Shopping Center COST: free INFO: (805) 682-6787 or www.chaucersbooks.com •MJ

The Granada Theatre presents

THE PEKING ACROBATS Wed JAN 22 7:30pm

UCSB Arts & Lectures presents

MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY THE EVE PROJECT Fri JAN 24 8pm

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8

CAMA presents

Breman is Back – Santa Barbara-based singersongwriter Will Breman enjoyed a stellar run on NBC’s The Voice singing competition last month, where he made it all the way to the semi-finals sporting a talent and style that is as eclectic as his background. His musical upbringing began with voice lessons from his mother at three to combat a diagnosis of Asperger’s, and since then, Breman has tried everything from screaming in metal bands to serenading at coffee shops, and most recently playing banjo in bluegrass groups and touring across the nation. Nowadays, his live performance employs a technique called “live looping” – a process where he records and plays back multiple instrument parts in real time, creating a one-man band effect. Breman is meticulous at arranging his songs, and believes the setup lets him remain both economical and true to what he wants to express to his audiences. Most likely we’ll hear a combination of Breman’s eclectic compositions and cover tunes he played on the competition, such as Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” and “My Body” by Young the Giant as the former contestant blends back into his hometown haunt. Santa Barbara singer-songwriters Mendeleyev and Jackson Gillies perform opening sets. WHEN: 7 pm WHERE: SOhO, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $10 INFO: (805) 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com

2 – 9 January 2020

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1482 East Valley Road, STE 10, Montecito, CA

1482 East Valley Road, STE 10, Montecito, CA

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MONTECITO JOURNAL

39

$16,250,000 | 1188 E Mountain Dr, Montecito Upper | 3BD/5BA Cristal Clarke | 805.886.9378 | Lic # 00968247

$8,290,000 | 1237 E Mountain Dr, Montecito | 5BD/4+(2)½BA Daniel Encell | 805.565.4896 | Lic # 00976141

$5,650,000 | 2303 Bella Vista Dr, Montecito Upper | 5BD/5½BA Nancy Kogevinas | 805.450.6233 Lic # 01209514

$5,350,000 | 2255 Featherhill Rd, Montecito Upper | 4BD/3BA Cristal Clarke | 805.886.9378 Lic # 00968247

$4,300,000 | 560 Meadow Wood Ln, Montecito | 4BD/4½BA Daniel Encell | 805.565.4896 Lic # 00976141

$3,975,000 | 700 Riven Rock Rd, Montecito | 2.49 ± acs Jody Neal | 805.252.9267 Lic # 01995725

$3,495,000 | 685 Stonehouse Ln, Montecito | 2 ± acs Team Scarborough | 805.331.1465 Lic # 01182792 / 01050902

$2,995,000 | 1385 Oak Creek Canyon Rd, Montecito | 6± acs MK Group / Joe Stubbins | 805.565.4014 / 805.729.0778 Lic # 01426886 / 01002182

$2,695,000 | 2942 Torito Rd, Montecito Upper | 3BD/3BA Joyce Enright | 805.570.1360 Lic # 00557356

$2,695,000 | 1382 Plaza Pacifica, Montecito Beach Area | 2BD/2½BA Sue Irwin | 805.705.6973 Lic # 01413354

$2,250,000 | 1348 Plaza Pacifica, Montecito Lower | 3BD/2½BA Kathleen Winter | 805.451.4663 Lic # 01022891

$2,150,000 | 750 El Bosque Rd, Montecito | 4BD/2BA + GH

$2,150,000 | 1375 Plaza de Sonadores, Montecito Lower | 2BD/2½BA Nancy Kogevinas | 805.450.6233 Lic # 01209514

$926,000 | 1034 Fairway Rd, Montecito Lower | 1BD/1BA Wilson Quarre | 805.680.9747 Lic # 01415465

Anderson / Hurst / Joyce Enright | 805.618.8747 / 680.8216 / 805.570.1360

Lic # 01903215 / 00826530 / 00557356

MONTECITO | SANTA BARBARA | LOS OLIVOS

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©2019 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties (BHHSCP) is a member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates LLC. BHH Affiliates LLC and BHHSCP do not guarantee accuracy of all data including measurements, conditions, and features of property. Info. is obtained from various sources and will not be verified by broker or MLS. Sellers will entertain and respond to all offers within this range. Buyer is advised to independently verify the accuracy of that information.