License, Camera, Action!

MBAR Hearing – The Coral Casino meets with the MBAR in the latest of their renovation hearings, see what was said inside, P.6 Director’s Dialogue – Michael G. Wilson of James Bond renown sits down for a talk at the SB Museum of Art, P.14

Harvey Houses – These forgotten sophisticated establishments shaped the West and are now restored to their former hospitality glory, P.34 The Aperitivo Touch – How Andrea Girardello and Brian Dodero are bringing the style, flavor, and feel of Italian fare to town, P.36

SERVING MONTECITO AND SOUTHERN SANTA BARBARA

www.montecitojournal.net

LICENSE, CAMERA, ACTION!

The SB Symphony's 70th ends with a bang – or rather a consonant collection of communal events, page 24

Conversation with Capps

Gwyn Lurie meets with Laura Capps to discuss her first 120 days as 2nd District County Supervisor and the issues she's been working to solve, page 5

Four Automated License Plate Readers are coming to Montecito. The installation sites have been selected and permits are in the works (See where they’re looking on page 11)

A Story of Support

The Storyteller Children’s Center shares tales of their achievements and the ongoing support needed at their 9th Annual Lunch with Love event, page 16

Ty Warner Welcomes David Conforti as

NEW CORAL CASINO GENERAL MANAGER

Ty Warner Hotels & Resorts is pleased to announce the onboarding of General Manager, David Conforti, CCM, PGA, who will oversee operations at the historic landmarked Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club.

As one of a few dozen club professionals in the world who has both a Certified Club Manager (CCM) designation from the Club Management Association of America (CMAA) and a Class A certification from the PGA of America, Conforti has 15 years of experience managing high-end clubs both domestically and abroad. A lifelong golfer, Conforti worked as a PGA Head Professional with Troon Golf, and quickly moved through the ranks as General Manager, operating clubs in the Bahamas, Mexico, Ohio and Virginia. In 2015, Conforti served as the GM/COO at Four Streams, an exclusive club near Washington, D.C. More recently, Conforti spent the last five years on the West Coast managing the Palos Verdes Golf Club.

“We are thrilled to be able to tap into David’s deep level of experience managing exclusive and private clubs,” noted Warner. “He understands the high standard of experience and service a club like the Coral Casino demands, befitting from its unparalleled coastal location and legacy. We are thrilled to have him on our team.”

Like its sister club, the Montecito Club, and the San Ysidro Ranch, the Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club came under owner management in May of 2022. Last week Ty Warner’s team received approvals from the Montecito Planning Commission on conditional use permit (CUP) revisions that would make club facilities

private to members only (i.e., no access by Biltmore hotel guests), while Tydes restaurant would become accessible to the public on a limited basis.

Ty Warner is currently looking at world-renowned restaurant teams while he completes renovations and upgrades to club facilities, including a new members’ rooftop lounge, expanded whirlpool, renovated kids’ pool, new cold plunge pool, upgraded Fins dining area and improvements to the private dining room and adjacent second level sundeck.

“The club is a merging of one of the most beautiful locations in the world with one of the most beautiful properties in the world. I look forward to getting to know the members of the Coral Casino - and my wife and I look forward to making this community our home.” says Conforti.

For membership inquiries contact: Kelly Campbell at (805) 455-2587 | kcampbell@tymail.com or Johanna Dearinger at (805) 276-7669 | jdearinger@tymail.com.

Dream. Design. Build. Live.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

P.5

P.6

Editorial – Gwyn Lurie meets with Supervisor Laura Capps to discuss solutions for cannabis taxes, the housing crisis, and the other challenges facing her constituents

Village Beat – The Coral Casino continues to seek plan approvals, this time with the MBAR, and SBC’s Search & Rescue team answer the call

P.8

P.10

P.11

Montecito Miscellany – Rallying to raise funds, a Ritz-y wedding, splendor and delight at the Music Academy, and more

Tide Guide

Message from the MA – Four automated license plate reader cameras are being installed in Montecito and these are their locations

P.12

P.14

P.16

Storyteller Children’s Center – The organization hosts its 9th Annual Lunch with Love event and announces its upcoming plans

P.18

Your Westmont – A group trains students for emergencies, servant leadership awards handed out, and a talk explores spiritual formation

P.20

P.22

Our Town – The latest in gear and AIdriven music at the NAMM Show in part two of Joanne’s annual event coverage

Society Invites – James Bond producer and screenwriter, Michael G. Wilson, has a Director’s Dialogue at SBMA, and a Fiesta fashion show at the Woman’s Club

P.23

P.24

Dear Montecito – Isa Johanson describes how growing up in Montecito and experiencing the 2018 debris flow influences her eco-focused studies

Brilliant Thoughts – Only a joker would ignore these statements on wisdom, experience, and the fools that do Robert’s Big Questions – Robert writes in on what Artificial Intelligence can and cannot do – or was it ChatGBT?

‘Where Yellow Flowers Bloom’ – Kim Cantin shares her story and new memoir at Tecolote Book Shop on April 29

The Giving List – The SB Symphony is still celebrating its 70th and just getting started with its communal concerts

P.27

The Optimist Daily – Do you hear that? It’s a development in the rebuilding of hair follicles in the inner ear which could lead to a solution for partial hearing loss

P.28

P.34

On Entertainment – An adventure through sea and Hollywood, the Beethoven documentary set in Chile, and some festival fun

Harvey Houses – How Fred Harvey elevated the hotel and culinary world of the west and where to go to experience one of his historic “houses”

P.36

P.44

P.46

P.47

Food Files – The real flavor of Italy is served up at Aperitivo alongside fresh ingredients and a family atmosphere

Calendar of Events – Isabella Rossellini at the New Vic, improv in the Alcazar, and Luis Muñoz returns to town, plus more

Classifieds – Our own “Craigslist” of classified ads

Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles

Photography: Spenser Bruce

Supervisor Capps’

First 120 Days in the Game

by Gwyn Lurie

In November 2020 2nd District County Supervisor Laura Capps, then School Board Member Capps, took a run for the 1st District County Supervisor seat challenging Supervisor Das Williams. Despite this paper’s strong endorsement of Capps for her refreshing perspective on campaign reform, the need for more transparency in the government (on issues like cannabis and beyond), and her longtime commitment to working on issues like education, poverty, and the housing crisis, Capps narrowly lost her race. However, less than two years later, Supervisor Greg Hart’s move to the State Assembly opened the door for Capps to win another seat on the Board of Supervisors, this time unopposed and in the 2nd District.

While Supervisor Capps does not directly represent those of us who live in the 93108, her perspective on important issues could have an impact on all of Santa Barbara County. That is if her courageous truth-saying approach to campaigning can survive the experience of being an actual real-live County Supervisor, one of five on a Board that depends on good relationships and non-boat-rocking behavior to build any sort of consensus on most anything.

It’s a tough line to walk. Much easier to rake some muck as an outside challenger than an inside player. So, I wanted to check in on Capps to see how she’s adjusting to life as a County Supervisor, and how much of her vision for bringing about some much-needed change in county politics and policy is surviving the log-rolling reality of Board work.

Gwyn Lurie (GL): I’m thinking back to your 2020 campaign for the 1st district Supervisor seat, and a big part of your message was about the need for more trans parency in government. Now that you’re on the inside, so to speak, does that remain your focus?

Laura Capps (LC): I want government to work well so that people get the ser vices that they deserve. It’s that basic for me; and I have an urgency, an impatience around when I see things that I don’t think are working as well as they could. So, if you’re talking about cannabis or mental health or the way in which low-income peo ple get services here, I feel a real urgency around not letting programs that could be so much more efficient not be. My School Board experience prepared me for this, to kick the tires and to look under the hood and, in a respectful way, to ask the tough questions that hopefully change things for the better; and not slowly. We don’t have time and I feel like my new energy as the only new supervisor needs to be put to good use in sparking some energy, sparking the right questions, hopefully setting things in motion. So that a year from now, we’re not still talking about cannabis

3,500 PROJECTS • 700 CLIENTS • 35 YEARS • ONE BUILDER

Gwyn Lurie is CEO and Executive Editor of the Montecito Journal Media Group

Capps has been working hard to connect with her constituents and be as accessible as possible.

Lobero Theatre Chamber Music Project

Eight classical music luminaries from around the world perform best-regarded chamber works for strings and piano –masterpieces by Dvořák, Bruckner, Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, Mozart and Mendelssohn. The ensemble includes Heiichiro Ohyama (violin), Benjamin Beilman (violin), Lucille Chung (piano), Erin Keefe (violin), Masumi Per Rostad (viola), Robert deMaine (cello), Mayuko Ishigami (violin) and Christine J. Lee (cello).

Village Beat

Biltmore Alterations at MBAR

by Kelly Mahan Herrick

On the heels of receiving approval of changes to operations at the Coral Casino by the Montecito Planning Commission – and subsequent appeals to those changes from five Coral Casino club members – Biltmore and Coral Casino owner Ty Warner’s team was in front of the Montecito Board of Architectural Review last week, asking for preliminary and final approval of exterior alterations to the historic hotel, which has been closed since March 2020.

The alterations include reconfiguration of the existing stepped terrace outside the La Marina dining room, with an increase in size of the middle and lower terrace. The existing terraced patio on the south elevation is three levels, with the upper terrace deck being the access deck to and from Bella Vista Restaurant, the middle terrace deck being a relatively small landing deck, and the lower terrace deck being the main outdoor guest seating area for the Bella Vista Restaurant and the Ty Lounge. While the existing upper deck configuration and area will remain unchanged, the middle and lower terrace deck areas are proposed to increase approximately 150 square feet in size and be reconfigured into a classic rectilinear design that will improve guest circulation, privacy, and views. The proposed dining patio is to be staggered, with pockets of plantings to provide privacy between the tables.

Reconfigurations of the windows are also proposed, including new double doors –which are planned to be incorporated into the existing arched window on the south elevation. The new double doors will match the existing window and doors at the Ty Lounge. Other proposed alterations include the addition of stairs, a new raised landing, and construction of pedestrian gates and existing easterly and westerly pedestrian entrances.

The Biltmore opened as a resort hotel in 1927 and the complex is comprised of 26 separate buildings housing a total of 236 guest rooms, multiple dining rooms, reception areas, commercial retail shops, a beauty salon, meeting rooms, offices, a spa, swimming pools, and maintenance operations. Approximately 60 percent of the property is landscaped grounds, pathways, and open space areas.

MBAR members were generally positive about the alterations to the hotel back in February, asking the team to restudy the pathway layout, restudy and refine the details of the patio, provide photos of existing gates and doors, and continue to work with an architectural historian to retain historic elements of the hotel. Last week the Board granted preliminary approval for the project, asking designers to come back with details of design elements including brick patterns, and lighting and railing details.

No details yet on when the hotel, which is located at 1260 Channel Drive, is expected to reopen.

Search & Rescue Incidents

Santa Barbara County’s Search & Rescue team’s highly-trained volunteers have responded to several incidents this month.

On Sunday, April 16, at around 6 pm, the Search & Rescue team responded along with AMR and County Fire to the Lizard’s Mouth area following report of a

Artistic and Music Director, Heiichiro Ohyama

Musical Advisor, Benjamin Beilman

Lucille Chung

Erin Keefe

Masumi Per Rostad

Heiichiro Ohyama

Christine J. Lee

Robert deMaine

Mayuko Ishigami

Benjamin Beilman

A rendering by Appleton Architects shows a proposal for exterior alterations to the Biltmore Hotel, which were preliminarily approved at Montecito Board of Architectural Review last week

CELEBRATE

Mother’s Day

AT MIRAMAR

SUNDAY, MAY 14

11AM–2:30PM

$195 per person | $85 per child

Excluding tax & gratuity

Enjoy an elegant affair along the pacific coastline at Caruso’s with our Mother’s Day Brunch. Indulge in a prix fixe brunch experience crafted for the occasion.

SUNDAY, MAY 14

11AM–3PM

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Celebrate mom with a festive brunch buffet at The Revere Room. Enjoy brunch classics such as eggs benedict, waffles, omelets and so much more.

Montecito Miscellany Ready to Rally

by Richard Mineards

Millions of dollars worth of mechanical horsepower scattered across the lush lawns of the Hilton when the 8th annual Rally4Kids culminated at the oceanside hostelry – raising more than $382,000 for the United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County.

Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Jaguars, McLarens, Porsches and Aston Martins were just some of the pricey marques on show as more than 60 cars finished the 150-mile one day Central Coast rally, culminating with a gala Riviera Nights-themed dinner in the hotel’s rotunda, co-chaired by Monte and Maria Wilson

“It has been a record-breaking day in many ways with record sponsorship, entries, and the monies raised,” enthused Monte. “We couldn’t have hoped for a better day.”

Misty Hammer , widow of the Montecito car collector and philanthropist Michael Hammer , accepted a special award in recognition of the millions Michael, who died in

November of a brain tumor at the all-too-early age of 67, donated to the organization over the years, while Number One – his car number in the rally – was officially retired.

The first recipient of the Spirit of Rally4Kids Award was Jim Crook.

The ubiquitous Andrew Firestone was gala emcee and auctioneer, with his son Master Brooks Firestone acting as a spotter for bidders. Lots included tickets to Lionel Richie’s “Sing a Song

All Night Long Tour” with Earth, Wind & Fire; an Azure Seas yacht cruise for 36 guests; a Rosewood Miramar escape and dinner at Olio e Limone; and an ultimate getaway package to Hawaii, Alaska, Costa Rica, or Belize with round-trip flights on Alaska Airlines.

Among the 315 guests were Michael Baker, CEO of United Boys and Girls Club of SB County, rally master John

Demboski, Pat Nesbitt, Tom and Karla Parker, Roger and Debby Aceves, KEYTTV co-anchors C.J. Ward and Beth Farnsworth, polo player Jake Klentner, Travis Twining, Helene Schneider, Kimi Matar, Maria McCall, Adam McKaig, Peter Hilf, George and Laurie Leis, Dana and Andrea Newquist, Terry

Miscellany Page 304

April

Tiffany Story and Michael Baker (photo by Priscilla)

Terry and Kelly Pillow, Brenda Blalock, Alan Porter, Jack and Marguerite Bianchi

(photo by Priscilla)

Monte and Maria Wilson with Debby and Roger Aceves (photo by Priscilla)

operators and the fact that 40 percent of them aren’t paying any taxes, because we’ve been talking about that for years.

GL: So let’s talk about cannabis. Would you agree that the justification for the system as it exists right now was that there was going to be this windfall in tax revenue that has never come?

LC: Right. And I do believe the intentions were good, that this would be a way in which the county could bring in an untapped revenue source that would pay for things that people really care about and people really need. And I feel like first and foremost, as somebody who took the oath, it’s fiscal responsibility. And that weighed heavily on me as a school board member, that I’m not spending my money or donors’ money. I’m spending the taxpayers’ money. And if it’s not being spent wisely or as wisely as it could be, we better do something about it. So, it’s not really about cannabis as much as it’s about efficacy and fiscal responsibility. And that’s the first place to start, I believe. And I believe there’d be support on the board. Just in the last year, Supervisor Williams was advocating for a change in the tax system to an acreage system, which would have been much more straightforward in my view, much fairer.

GL : Can you explain how it works right now?

LC : The way that taxes are paid by cannabis operators is self-reporting on their gross receipts. It’s a cash business. So, there’s inherent challenges to that. It’s really almost an honor system to pay, unlike other businesses where there are hard and fast receipts and hard and fast financial institutions, banking systems, where you could easily audit. And this was voted on by the voters, so it would have to go back to the voters to change it; but right now, it’s a taxation system based on gross receipts. And as reported by the staff, roughly 40 percent aren’t paying anything.

GL: So last year, gross tax receipts were around 5.7 million?

LC : Yes. And for the first time since this program started, it’s barely paying for itself. When you look at just 2022, the program costs about $5 million to enforce and administer. And for the first time, the revenue barely broke even. $5.8 million. To me, that’s a huge wake-up call. If the whole reason for this program is to bring in revenue and it’s not [doing that], then I would hope that’s a time when you ask a lot of tough questions and for us to come up with solutions, or at least a plan for a solution and I didn’t hear that. I have yet to hear that, but I’m motivated to figure it out.

GL: What are the obstacles to creating enforcement for the existing taxation system, or consequences for not paying taxes?

LC : ... The wheels of government move slowly… but it seems to me that creating a clear contract with the permit recipients that if in fact they don’t follow X, Y, and Z rules, they would have their permit revoked, that seems like a simple thing to me. So, what is the pushback on that? Where does the resistance to that come from? Why does something like that take so long? I don’t know, and that’s why I’m determined to change it because there isn’t, to me, a justifiable answer.

GL: But obviously, when you get pushback on pointing out things like the fact that zero permits have been revoked, even though several growers have not reported earnings, should that lead the public to believe that there’s something nefarious at play? Because it seems to me that that’s the perception. I’m just talking about the optics.

LC : To me, we’re running a billion-dollar business. The county’s budget is a billion dollars, and it is a business, but it’s even more than a business because the taxpayers are footing the bill. And if part of your business is 100% under projection, so if part of your business is entirely off base of all

projections and not doing what it was intended to do, any CEO or head of a corporation would be asking tough questions.

GL: By raising some very sensitive subjects, and asking some hard questions about a subject like cannabis, how does that impact your ability to work with other members of the Board who’ve received push back on issues like those involving cannabis?

LC: It’s important to understand that the only time, because of the Brown Act, that we can talk about these things is in that forum [agendized Board meetings]. It’s the only opportunity to have a constructive conversation and make decisions and improve a system.

The reality is, for the last three months, since I was sworn in December, I’ve worked hard to build trust with all five members. And there’s been a lot of alignment on other less headline-grabbing topics. But knowing that this was on the agenda, that the CEO’s office gave this quarterly report, it wasn’t a surprise to anybody that there would be a conversation about the fact that the revenues had plummeted and were 10 million off our projection. And my hope in asking very straightforward questions was that it would then lead to a constructive conversation amongst the five of us about what to do about it.

GL: And do you see that happening?

LC: It will happen. Yeah, I’m optimistic that it will. It didn’t this last week.

GL: So, revenues have plummeted. This makes the problem from a dollar and cents perspective obvious. But there are other problems with cannabis, as you know, including a large contingent of residents in Carpinteria who are feeling unheard and unconsidered in a lot of the decision making, including the dispensary that’s now on Santa Claus Lane. Not to mention the smell they endure, it doesn’t matter how many times a Supervisor tells them, “Don’t believe you’re lying noses. You’re not actually feeling sick by this odor that permeates your living environment or your education environment.” Can you list for me the areas that

MONTECITO TIDE GUIDE

you think need to be given real thought and consideration from the board?

LC : Sure. It’s apparent because it’s already happening, and that is the requirement of what they refer to as scrubbers. My first cannabis discussion on the Board was December 13th, my second meeting. And I voted with the rest of my colleagues for a cannabis operation permit because the operators had come to the table and said, “We’re going to install scrubbers.” New data from a study that was paid for by the industry, shows that “scrubbers” are something like 84% effective in reducing the smell. And the people of Carpentaria, they need that relief. They’ve been demanding that relief. But I feel as though things have really shifted, thankfully now that I’m on the Board, this doesn’t feel like as much of Editorial Page 264

Executive Editor/CEO | Gwyn Lurie gwyn@montecitojournal.net

President/COO | Timothy Lennon Buckley tim@montecitojournal.net

VP, Sales & Marketing | Leanne Wood leanne@montecitojournal.net

Managing Editor | Zach Rosen zach@montecitojournal.net

Art/Production Director | Trent Watanabe

Graphic Design/Layout | Stevie Acuña

Administration | Jessikah Fechner

Administrative Assistant | Valerie Alva

Account Managers | Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Elizabeth Nadel, Bryce Eller, Bob Levitt

Contributing Editor | Kelly Mahan Herrick

Copy Editor | Lily Buckley Harbin, Jeff Wing

Proofreading | Helen Buckley

Arts and Entertainment | Steven Libowitz

Contributors | Scott Craig, Ashleigh Brilliant, Kim Crail, Tom Farr, Chuck Graham, Stella Haffner, Mark Ashton Hunt, Dalina Michaels, Sharon Byrne, Robert Bernstein, Christina Favuzzi, Leslie Zemeckis, Sigrid Toye

Gossip | Richard Mineards

History | Hattie Beresford

Humor | Ernie Witham

Our Town/Society | Joanne A Calitri

Travel | Jerry Dunn, Leslie Westbrook

Food & Wine | Claudia Schou, Melissa Petitto, Gabe Saglie

Published by:

Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC

Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108.

How to reach us: (805) 565-1860; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108; EMAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net

Message from the MA

Four Automated License Plate Readers Are Coming to Montecito

by Sharon Byrne

The permits have been filed, and installation is on the way. Montecito will host four new Flock Automated License Plate Readers. We first covered this in September of 2022, when the sheriffs came to our Montecito Association Board meeting to show us the new readers, and request help from our community with placing them. These cameras are not being installed to catch speeders, but rather to help sheriffs get valuable leads for major crime investigations. The cameras will help the sheriffs identify who was driving in the area at the time a crime was committed. A total of 26 cameras will be installed across the county. A map of the cameras going into the South County area, from the permit application:

Message from the MA Page 434

“Santa Barbara Design and Build was fabulous. Don and his crew were the BEST from day one. He was honest, timely, flexible, artistic, patient and skilled. They understood my vision and built my dream home”.

-Santa Barbara Resident

UCSB Reads Author Event

Charles Montgomery

Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design

Wed, May 10 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall / FREE (registration recommended)

How do we design happy cities? Urban design consultant, award-winning journalist and author of Happy City, Charles Montgomery looks for answers in psychology, neuroscience and behavioral economics, and in cityscapes from Disneyland to Dubai. Books will be available for purchase and signing, courtesy of Chaucer’s Co-presented with UCSB Library as part of UCSB Reads 2023, with support from the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor

(805) 893-3535

www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu

Our Town

12th Annual NAMM Report Part 2: AI tech & traditional music gear

by Joanne A Calitri

First stop, the Innovation Lounge for AI with an immersive speaker system by Genelec and hosted by GPU Audio. I went to the Neural Synthesis machine learning (ML) music-making demo by CJ Carr, head of audio research at Harmonai and band member of DADABOTS. He did live ML sampling, and to make it real he shared a Beatles songbook AI synth creation, like “Don’t Let Me Down.” Harmonai releases open-source generative audio tools for music production. www.harmonai.org

The RealTime Portal by RealTime

Audio delivers live stream Internet jamming for multiple musicians without signal delay, via an ultra-low latency app coupled with the portal box and other tools. RealTime Portal uses AI power-routing to locate the fastest routes between players who may be geographically separated by up to several thousand miles. https://realtimeaudio.com/ realtime-portal

At one month old is Shure’s GLX-D+ Dual Band Digital Wireless Mic System, and a Wireless Guitar Pedal system that operates in 2.4 and 5.8 frequency bands – a licensefree spectrum that eliminates dropouts anywhere in the world and supports seamless switching. Shure also pitched two updated headphones SRH840A, SRH440A, and the sound isolating earphones SE846 Gen 2 in jade, sapphire blue, and silver.

Pioneer DJ Opus-QUAD, a four channel all in one DJ system – already sold out – has a 44.1 kHz Sampling Rate and 20-20000 Hz Frequency Range, wireless, USB, Bluetooth and LAN, plugs for mics, phones, phonos and six play digital formats, with touch monitor in a boutique design. www.pioneerdj.com

Seymour Duncan’s game-changing HyperSwitch is a one-of-a-kind Bluetoothenabled five-way switch that gives the user a suite of options like coil-splitting, coil-tapping, polarity reversal, and position manipulation. Duncan was not at the show, but his trusted Custom Shop right hand Maricela “MJ” Juarez represented the brand, celebrating her 40th year with the company.

The guitar booths with the largest real estate were Ibanez and Martin & Co. [Did I hear you exhale?!] Ibanez led the pack with new limited-edition models for 35-year brand partners Steve Vai [PAI77BON 70s paisley] and Joe Satriani (JS1BKP and JS3CR Jet Black with white paisley), a Paul Stanley, and a Martin Miller model. The Ichika’s ICHI00 in cream dream at $699, was the most affordable signature six-string of the show. Martin released new D18s, ukes, and bass guitars, along with a gold coin

reTune CBC Wellness debuts at NAMM with CEO RJ Sarzo, President Jimmy La Brie, and musicians Rudy Sarzo, Robert Sarzo, and Simon Wright (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

UK top guitarist Jon Gomm concert at Ibanez booth NAMM (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Society Invites

Larry J. Feinberg x Michael G. Wilson Director’s Dialogue SBMA

by Joanne A Calitri

The SB Museum (SBMA) of Art’s Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Director Larry J. Feinberg hosted his Director’s Dialogue with Michael G. Wilson, renowned and accoladed screenwriter and producer of the James Bond film series since 1979 with his sister Barbara Broccoli. Both were recently promoted from OBE to Commander of the Order of the British Empire “For services to Film, to Drama, to Philanthropy and to Skills”.

He is currently president of EON Productions Ltd. and Chairman and President of Danjaq, LLC and divides his time between London and Los Angeles, developing and producing film, television, and theatre productions. The SBMA event – open to upper-level museum members and perhaps the last for this recently retired director – was held at the museum’s Mary Craig Auditorium Friday, April 21, with a formal reception.

Attendees were given a close-up view of Wilson and his wife Jane’s contributions to the SBMA. Both are avid collectors of prints and photographs and established their collection formally at their Wilson Centre for Photography in London. Wilson said their collection is focused on 19th century and modern century works.

Wilson shared that he began collecting first edition books upon graduating

from college and moved quickly to books printed before the 1500’s. After meeting Lucien Goldschmidt, a NYC collector of rare books, prints and photography, Wilson became keen on photography. Other curiosities of his collection include 3,500 lithographs done by Honoré Daumier which he donated in full to the SBMA. He mentioned that collecting photographs was popular during WWI and again in the 1970s. Both Feinberg and Wilson agreed that today there is a deficit of the “dealer-scholar” – art dealers

Society Page 324

wishing to go a-fishing; For this the month of May was made.” – Henry Van Dyke

Larry Feinberg and Starr Siegele with Jane and Michael G. Wilson (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Eik Kahng PhD and film producer Sparky Greene (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Kandy LuriaBudgor, James Glisson, Beno Budgor, and Dr. Fima Lifshitz

(photo by Joanne A Calitri)

3140 Eucalyptus Hill Rd

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368 LAMBERT ROAD • CARPTINERIA

Immerse yourself in the beauty of this magnificent 6 bed/ 5.5 bath (+plus guest house) equestrian estate in the heart of elite Carpinteria/ Summerland/Montecito horse country. Situated on 9.75 acres, this multifaceted compound features both horse facilities and elegant entertaining venues. The main house enjoys towering ceilings, spacious rooms as well as an inviting outdoor terrace with a fountain and magnificent stone fireplace that overlooks the five-star pool and spa area. A separate gated entrance surrounded by high hedges and breathtaking flowers leads to a charming 3 bed/2 bath guest cottage, providing the option for family compound living. Explore acres of impressive grounds as you meander through multiple rose gardens, majestic oak trees and sprawling lawns. Gated and private, this exquisite property is ideally located near local hiking and horse trails and is perfect for those who love to spend time outdoors! With numerous horse stalls, pastures, barns and separate living quarters for on-site workers, this property lends itself to the optimal equestrian lifestyle. 368 Lambert Road is just moments from the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club and is centrally located in between the fine shopping and dining that Carpinteria, Summerland and Montecito have to offer.

Children’s Center

200 Community Members Attend

9th Annual Lunch with Love Event

Storyteller Children’s Center provides high quality, no-cost early childhood education to children facing adverse circumstances so early in life that it often leads to lasting trauma. The organization serves to break the cycle of poverty and trauma by maximizing the social-emotional and academic development of our community’s most vulnerable children so that they are on par with their peers when they enter the school system. Storyteller also fosters growing brains and bodies by providing two nutritious meals and a snack daily, medical, dental, and vision screenings, and comprehensive support services for the program’s families.

“One hundred percent of our students are living below the poverty line, 90 percent are people of color, and 62 percent are experiencing housing insecurity” said Executive Director Dr. Gabriella Garcia. “By providing these services, we ensure that our community’s most vulnerable children receive access to critical care that they might otherwise go without.”

Santa Barbara, CA – On April 13, 2023, the Santa Barbara Woman’s ClubRockwood was abuzz with excitement as 200 community members came together to celebrate the 9th annual Lunch with Love event, hosted by Storyteller Children’s Center. Among the distinguished guests were Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps, Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse, Santa Barbara City Police Chief Kelly Ann Gordon, and Santa Barbara Fire Chief Chris Mailes, who all joined in commemorating Storyteller’s 35 years of dedicated service to educating the most vulnerable children in our community.

In a heart-stirring video, the father of a former Storyteller student said, “Knowing some of the families and their situations, [being at Storyteller] is the safest eight hours some kids get in their day. Words fall short for things like this. Seeing the difference in my kids and other kids that did find a place to belong here, and felt like their community wanted them, and did feel like they were supported – it’s night and day. I’ve made it my mission to pay it forward.”

“Trauma often accompanies poverty, and so it’s through a trauma-informed lens that we interact with our students, strengthen families, and foster growing brains,” said Dr. Garcia. “We want to elevate the entire family by partnering with them, because it’s by giving both children and parents the proper tools that we can help

Where possibilities become possible

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by Randi Miller

Storyteller Board members, Rachael Stein, Dr. Patricia Madrigal, Anna Kokotovic, Executive Director Dr. Gabriella Garcia, and Dr. Peggy Dodds (photo by V. Haro Photography)

Executive Director Dr. Gabriella Garcia (left) and keynote speaker Dr. Samira Kayumi-Rashti (photo by V. Haro Photography)

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SANTA BARBARA

Your Westmont Training Students in Case of Medical Emergency

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

SATURDAY 7PM

SUNDAY 3PM

A centuries-wide sweep of choral excellence from Mozart’s Requiem to the Santa Barbara premiere of Waloyo Yamoni, a rainmaking litany in Lango by Grammy award winning American composer Christopher Tin

Conducted by Jo Anne Wasserman

Thirty Westmont students have been certified in CPR/first aid thanks to a new group that seeks to create a safer environment on campus. Junior Paige Freeburg has brought her passion for helping others to the student-led group, Westmont Student Emergency Medical Services (SEMS).

Even though campus safety officers patrol the college 24/7, Freeburg says having trained students on campus could make a difference in an emergency situation before paramedics arrive.

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$10 student/child

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“I hope that Westmont SEMS will become a functional unit providing an overnight, on-call system of EMTs for students to get immediate help as well as providing certification classes,” she says. “We strive to help create a culture of safety and equip as many community members as possible with the knowledge of how to save a life.”

Director of Institutional Resilience

Jason Tavarez provides administrative support for the group. “They’re creating a space for currently certified students to keep their skills sharp, and they hope to expand those skills with others on the team,” he says.

“Paige’s tenacity and dogged determination to get this team off the ground has impressed me. She has recruited current, certified EMS students, created an administrative group to help promote the team, and added validity to this project. The group includes amazing students. I’m so impressed with their ability to be this organized.”

Tavarez says as SEMS expands, a large group of students will be available to help in a variety of emergency situations, creating a safer environment for everyone on campus.

“I hope we can find a doctor to serve as the medical director of the team, allowing them to provide first aid and EMS services to students and sports teams on campus,” Tavarez says. “I envision them overseeing club sports and providing EMS services for competitions and practices and possibly joining with Campus Safety for first aid and triage services. I’d love to integrate them into our emergency response team for disasters that affect the entire campus community.”

Freeburg, who obtained her EMT license in summer 2021, majors in biology on the pre-med track. She hopes to attend medical school. “I’ve assisted with incidents such as seizures, COPD, asthma, heat stroke, broken bones (even a femur fracture), and more,” she says. “I’m also trained in

opioid overdose, diabetic emergencies, and EpiPen administration. The skills I obtained from my EMT license have proven crucial. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made.”

Students Win Servant Leadership Awards

Two Westmont students won David K. Winter Servant Leadership Awards for showing vision, courage, humility, integrity, and competence as leaders. Angela D’Amour , Dean of Student Engagement, introduced the 23rd annual awardees, junior Joy Sturges from Redding and sophomore David Shiang from West Hills, on April 14 in Westmont chapel.

The award recognizes the late David K. Winter, who served as Westmont’s president from 1976-2001 and returned as interim president and chancellor in 2006-2007. Both students earn $1,000 toward their academic scholarship.

“Each year when I read through the DKW nominations that you submit on behalf of your peers I am inspired, sometimes to tears, because I read about students who tirelessly make the lives of those around them better – who go out of their way daily to love and lead well following the model of Jesus,” D’Amour said.

Sturges serves as a spiritual formation coordinator, a college choir chaplain and section leader, an Orientation team leader and a ministry intern.

A faculty member who nominated her said, “Joy’s presence radiates to all around her. Perhaps this is because she’s almost always singing something. But more than that, I believe it’s because she embodies a

Westmont Junior Paige Freeburg

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Dear Montecito

Society and Environment with Isa Johanson

by Stella Haffner

Twenty-year-old Isa Johanson is a current sophomore at UC Berkeley and an alumna of MUS, Santa Barbara Junior High, and Santa Barbara High School. From her first Earth Day and subsequent internship with Kathi King of Community Environmental Council to the 2018 mudslides, Isa describes the influence growing up in Montecito had on her current eco-focused studies.

Q. What did you like doing as a kid growing up in Montecito?

A. Going to Butterfly Beach definitely was one of my favorite things to do. Volunteering for beach clean ups. Also walking to Coast Village and going to Scoops after school or biking around with my brother.

What stands out to you in your memories of growing up here?

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I think the overall sense of community has always been prominent. That was something that stuck with me when I went to college. There was always a sense of neighbors wanting to uplift each other, peers wanting to support other, familiar faces wherever you go. I really try to replicate that with my college experience and find community in such a huge school like UC Berkeley.

Does Berkeley feel big to you, coming from Montecito?

Honestly, at first I was overwhelmed by how large it was. I tried to really immerse myself in clubs and Greek life. The Rausser College of Natural Resources, within the campus, is quite small, which has helped me get to know my peers. I’ve tried to get to know people, and now it feels like I have recreated a bit of my hometown vibe at Cal.

Tell me about your major.

My major is Society and Environment and has one of the smallest study bodies of all majors at Berkeley. There are three concentrations within the major, mine being U.S. Policy and Management where the premise is to use social theory to understand bigger environmental concepts. I also intend to pursue a minor in Environmental Economics and Policy. My curriculum exposes me to economic and social theory which is a cool way to be able to problem solve and break down the overarching environmental problems facing our society.

What made you want to study this?

If I’m going to be honest, I feel like the exigence of my interest in this field was the mudslide. It kind of opened my eyes to how real these problems are, and it was inspiring to see how our community banded together afterwards to find solutions. To be rescued by first responders from my home was harrowing. I had a kind of “aha” moment in one of my classes this year. We were listening to a podcast called “California Adapts – The Journey,” which was all about the Thomas Fire and mudslide that followed. It was kind of crazy sitting in that classroom thinking: “This is what brought me here.” It was a full circle moment.

You were being taught about the mudslide in class?

Yes, I was! It was such a difficult thing that we went through in 93108. Historically – for California and natural sciences in general – it was an anomaly, but still it was crazy for me to be hearing about it from renowned professors and climate scientists.

How would you say your perspective changed after hearing about it in class?

We’ve been educated on fires and mudslides and coastal waters rising, and yes, these are naturally occurring things, but to be able to know we are in the middle of a climate crisis, when people are moving closer to these areas and these environmental disasters are getting more extreme as we push the limits – it kind of allowed it to make more sense to me in a way. It also instilled a feeling of community pride. We lived through a history-making natural disaster and experienced the tragedy and loss that came with it.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Isa Johanson’s experiences in Montecito and with the 2018 debris flow led to her interest in eco-focused studies

Brilliant Thoughts Been There Done That

by Ashleigh Brilliant

One of the many wise old sayings which my father was fond of quoting was itself about age and wisdom, and indeed reeks of both of them. It says:

Experience keeps a dear school – but fools will learn in no other.

And what exactly does keeping a dear school mean? Here, “dear” means the opposite of cheap, and goes back to a time when there was no such thing as free public education, even in what eventually became the United States of America. That time was in fact the Eighteenth Century – because the earliest known appearance of that saying was as a kind of “filler” in a periodical called Poor Richard’s Almanack, published in Philadelphia by a man named Benjamin Franklin whose life (from 1706 to 1790) practically spanned the Century, and who is known – among many other things – as one of the Founding Fathers of America.

The Almanack was published annually from 1732 to 1758, and many of the “sayings” were borrowed from other sources, but some, attributed to a variety of “Richards,” were Franklin’s own.

But whoever coined the expression about experience, they had hit on something that stayed around for centuries, and appealed to a variety of people, including an English schoolboy who became my father.

And what about the “fools” who need the school of experience in which to learn what wiser people learn from the mistakes of others? Our culture has fostered two kinds of fools. First there were the intentional kind, otherwise known as jesters. It may seem strange to us now, when professionally funny people of various persuasions are available at a rate which used to be quoted at a dime a dozen – but there was a time, some eras ago, when only very rich and powerful people could afford the luxury of in-home entertainment, provided by those for whom jests were their stock in trade. Such creatures were so commonly associated with royalty that they somehow found their way into our ordinary decks of playing cards, where they reside beside the Kings and Queens, and are known as Jokers.

What particular role jokers play in a given card game is determined by a variety of factors, including the game and the rules, which of course come in great variety. But one more or less standard characteristic is the type of garb depicted in the usual image, a close-fitting costume of mixed and mingled stripes and colors, with a multi-pointed headpiece, each point usually tipped with a little bell. The face and head also tend to have exaggerated features. But, as is evident in the expression

about learning in a dear school, the word “fool” has come to have an entirely different connotation, in which being a fool and being fooled are not so much about merry jesting as about demonstrating stupidity and being deceived. This usage is actually the more common, and is clearly seen in such “wise” sayings as this one, supposedly passed on to white settlers from American Indians (or Native Americans, as is now considered the more culturally correct designation):

Fool me once – shame on you; Fool me twice – shame on me.

Possibly an even more famous expression comes from Alexander Pope’s long poem (it is actually line 625) which he called “An Essay on Criticism”:

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

What exactly does it mean? The contrasting of Fools with Angels seems to me to imply that there is something unholy about stupidity.

Holy or not, another proverbial expression apparently justifies deceiving the unwise by telling us that, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” And even the not-so-unwise can sometimes fail to distinguish the genuine from the deceptively false – which is why the mineral iron pyrite, which glitters enough to be mistaken for the real thing, is commonly known as “Fool’s Gold.”

All of which brings us back to that highly paid teacher, Experience – otherwise known as time, trouble, aging, reality, hard knocks, and just plain old Life.

In case you are wondering, I myself must admit to having had, in the last nine decades, my own share of those hardy and foolhardy haps and mishaps, adventures and misadventures. And all they seem to have produced of note is a bunch of epigrams (never more than seventeen words) of which you may find the following relevant to our current discussion:

Life is a wonderful learning experience – but that doesn’t mean you always like what you learn.

Robert’s Big Questions

AI Alignment Problem?

by Robert Bernstein

Artificial Intelligence (AI) may be the greatest innovation since the invention of fire or the wheel, according to recent talk. It may also be our last invention.

I first became aware of the amazing potential of Artificial Intelligence as a teen, ironically, when I read a book by Berkeley philosophy professor Hubert Dreyfus called What Computers Can’t Do: The Limits of Artificial Intelligence He did not believe that humans had some supernatural soul. And he was quite aware of how creative computers could be. But he believed that there were aspects of being human that computers lack.

Not long after reading that book, I had the privilege of learning from MIT Computer Science professor Joseph Weizenbaum. I had read his book Computer Power and Human Reason: From Judgment to Calculation, and he talked to us about his message. He had written a program called “Eliza,” named after Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion. Eliza could emulate a Rogerian psychotherapist. She would ask questions and respond in a way that could draw a subject toward insights about themselves.

He wrote it as an exercise in creating what we might call the first chatbot. He was horrified when he discovered that people really wanted to use it as a therapist. He explained to us that Eliza did not actually understand anything you are saying and she had no human experiences that could make her empathize with an actual human. That horror led him to write the book. He warned of the danger of “instrumental reason” replacing human interactions.

The current generation of chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Bard are orders of magnitude more sophisticated than Eliza. They are capable of writing essays on almost any subject, from technical to literary and poetic. They currently have flaws – like “hallucinating” references that they totally make up, and making basic arithmetic mistakes. But it is naive to think those problems will persist.

it is very possible that a chatbot could offer even more interesting insights than I can very soon.

Programs already have proved mathematical theorems in creative new ways. Other programs can create works of art in the style of any known artist, or in a totally original style. It is not clear that we can just shut all of this down because these are things computers “shouldn’t do.”

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy , super intelligent “Deep Thought” is asked to provide the answer to “life, the universe and everything.” After millennia of processing, it comes up with “42.” Which left the question: What question is this the answer to?

Philosopher Nick Bostrom illustrated the AI Alignment Problem with a thought experiment. A person might ask a super intelligent machine to create a paperclip factory. The machine might take this to mean that humans want to make as many paperclips as possible. It might take the directive to such an extreme that it starts taking over all of the Earth’s resources to make paperclips. It might kill all humans in order to extract paperclip bits from their bodies – and to keep the humans from interfering with this central goal of maximizing the number of paperclips.

His example highlights the idea that machines are tools with no actual feelings or goals of their own. The machine may be very intelligent and effective at achieving what it thinks is our goal. But it may become very badly out of alignment with our actual goals.

Current AI has no actual point of view. It can be creative, yet it has nothing to express. Chatbots use large language models that predict “what word is likely to come next.” They have zero understanding of what the words mean.

Transhumanists believe that we should not be limited in our future vision to what humans want and need. They imagine a future of intelligences that far exceed our imagination. I am sympathetic to this view. But what if there is “nobody home” in these super intelligences?

Ashleigh Brilliant born England 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, to the Montecito Journal in 2016. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000. email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.

We need to imagine what society will look like in a world where machines can write an essay like this one, but in a fraction of a second. Drawing on a universe of information far beyond what one person can experience in a lifetime.

Tentatively, people in the field are suggesting this technology can be used by a writer as a starting point for creating an essay that expresses the writer’s true meaning. I am skeptical it will end there. I love the opportunity to express my insights and observations here. But

Robert Bernstein holds degrees from Physics departments of MIT and UCSB. Passion to understand the Big Questions of life, the universe and to be a good citizen of the planet. Visit facebook.com/ questionbig

‘Where Yellow Flowers Bloom’ Kim Cantin’s Successful Search for Meaning

by Jeff Wing

In the wee-hours and pitch darkness of a howling January morning, a mountainside loosed itself and descended like a wave of stone on the sleeping, forested village of Montecito. Moments before, awakened by the roar of rain jackhammering the roof of the Cantin home, Kim and husband Dave had thrown back the sheets and hurriedly pulled on some clothes. The Cantin kids, Jack and Lauren, huddled together in the living room, murmuring to each other and watching their parents with concern. The cyclonic night sky outside intermittently flashed a macabre sulfurous yellow as gas lines were torn like paper straws by an onrushing wall of destruction. When the maddening noise and violence outside were joined by what sounded like ricocheting bullets, Kim and Dave realized this was the sound of large rocks – boulders – borne down the mountain by the annihilating landslide and striking each other as they tumbled. In a nightmare coup de grâce then, the Cantins’ power went out. Dave opened the front door to get a glimpse of what they were facing. We’ll never know what it was Dave Cantin saw. He slammed the door and yelled for his family to run for the back door.

“There’s a book by a man named Viktor Frankl,” Kim Cantin says today. “It’s called Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl says that if you go through something terrible, you need to find a purpose in the tragedy.” Cantin pauses. “If this book I’ve written can help someone who’s going through grief – maybe it helps just one person – that’s putting purpose to this unimaginable stuff that Lauren and I went through. That’s good, right?” Helping people surmount their grief is self-evidently good. Cantin’s rhetorical question hints at the terrible enormity of her family’s experience.

Kim Cantin has written a book, Where Yellow Flowers Bloom, that will no doubt slot neatly into the PR category of “Inspirational Reading,” but in fact details a degree of horrific, indescribable loss that beggars description, and arguably tests one’s faith in a benign universe. Kim and Lauren Cantin’s victory is that they came through absolute smothering darkness and havoc to show – not just tell – that Love is not a “feeling” or a giddy emotional state, but a nearly material force of nature.

“I was living a busy life. I had two wonderful kids, a great husband, and we were involved in the community we loved. I hadn’t really faced significant grief before this.” Cantin’s husband Dave and her son, Jack, would lose their lives in the

incomprehensibly violent calamity. Her daughter Lauren would be buried alive — and six hours later disinterred by a team of first responders who’d heard her faint cries and would spend hours delicately digging their way to her. In the aftermath, Dave was later found. Jack was not.

The wisecracking, vibrant young Eagle Scout was hidden in the Earth somewhere under 30 square miles of debris field, his absence manifesting as a variably heartbreaking and energizing omnipresence. Cantin’s search for Jack galvanized her, even as dump trucks and heavy machinery began frustratingly hauling tons of debris away. Raised as a person of faith, trained as an engineer and scientist, Kim accepted the proffered help of “intuitives” whose inexplicable insights might help her find Jack. Their efforts and collaborations yielded uncanny episodes of discovery.

“We’re more than our physical bodies,” Kim says. “I’m very clear on that. We borrow a physical body while we’re here on Earth, but I believe my loved ones and others are in pure joy.” The more tactile metaphysics of ordinary human life were aglow in the smashed ruins of the disaster – Lauren’s mud-covered, madly grinning first responders; the community’s volunteer Bucket Brigade who threw themselves at forensically searching the debris field; the one-time strangers who made Kim’s mission their own. Cantin’s advice for anyone crushed by grief and torment? “When passing through hell, just keep going. The antidote is people. Stay with the people that lean in. Guess what? I didn’t know those people before, and they spent three years with me, looking for my son’s remains. They entered my life; angels entered my life. They leaned in, and they are now treasured friends. There are no such thing as coincidences.”

Kim Cantin will be signing her book at Tecolote Book Shop in Montecito’s Upper Village (1470 E Valley Rd.) on Saturday, April 29 at 3 p.m. For more information call (805) 969-4977, or email books@tecolotebookshop.com.

fallen rock climber with two ankle fractures. A member of SAR and off-duty ER nurse happened to be nearby and were able to respond quickly to the scene, making contact with the injured subject within minutes and providing an initial assessment of injuries. Once team members and other responders arrived on scene, a plan was developed to extract the subject a short distance to the road for transport to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for further treatment of their injuries.

The location of the incident happened to coincide with that of a SAR team training the previous day, where team members trained to work in tight spaces between rocks and familiarize themselves with the area and determine best access to popular spots for the adventuring public.

“Our team trains over 7,400 hours collectively each year. Each training is a simulation of what we may encounter on a rescue call. It was very unique that just the day before we had trained on the exact scenario as the day’s rescue. I am proud of our team on their successful execution of the rescue and that the patient received excellent care,” said SAR member and Montecito resident Jason Copus

The team was dispatched again earlier this week – along with Montecito Fire, AMR and Santa Barbara County Air Support – to the site of a reportedly dehydrated subject in the Hot Spring pools area. SAR teams were just returning from a Hwy 166 vehicle crash and recovery at the time and diverted to the trail rescue. On arrival, SAR teams included a foot patrol to hike the trail, a 4x4 team to make access as far as possible up the fire road, and a bike team to make quickest access to the rescue’s subject. Fire included foot teams to access the subject via the trail. Teams assessed and packaged the patient for carry out to a SAR vehicle for transport to the AMR ambulance at the trailhead. It was determined that the helicopter would not be needed for transport or hoist due to the injuries found during the assessment.

Santa Barbara County Search & Rescue is a professional, all-volunteer, and unpaid 501(c)3 organization that is community supported by generous giving to provide services to the County of Santa Barbara under the direction of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. To learn about supporting SBCSAR, please visit www.sbcsar.net.

Jeff Wing is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast who sees the Village as a dazzling kaleidoscope of stories—some of them a little nutty. Jeff can be reached at Jeff@ montecitojournal.net

The Santa Barbara County Search & Rescue team assisted in the rescue of an injured rock climber earlier this month, in the Lizard’s Mouth area.

Kelly Mahan Herrick, also a licensed realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, has been editor at large for the Journal since 2007, reporting on news in Montecito and beyond.

The Giving List Santa Barbara Symphony

laborations with the Ensemble Theatre Company, and more.

And the season isn’t even over yet.

by Steven Libowitz

The programming for the Santa Barbara Symphony’s milestone 70th anniversary has resulted in a sensational and supremely successful season, a nine-month musical journey that has weaved together a variety of collaborative explored genres and cultural traditions. Concerts have cut a wide swath across and beyond what is traditionally considered classical music, including such uniquely Santa Barbara highlights as the return of Carmina Burana in partnership with both the State Street Ballet

and the Choral Society; the premiere of an Elmer Bernstein score arranged by his son; the world premiere of a multimedia piece by Santa Barbara-raised composer Cody Westheimer that pays homage to the region’s centuries of Chumash heritage and the newly-expanded San Marcos Foothill Preserve; another premiere – jazz trumpeter Ted Nash’s arrangement for a jazz trio and orchestra in connection with his annual residency at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; an all-John Williams program complete with stories shared from the stage by the nine symphony musicians who have recorded with the legendary film composer; artistic col-

Platinum Sounds: The Symphony Turns 70, with a pair of performances on May 13-14, spotlights the ensemble’s own principal players in Concerto Grosso by American composer Jonathan Leshnoff, which was commissioned for the Symphony’s 60th anniversary a decade ago, along with Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto” featuring multi-Grammy nominee Philippe Quint as soloist, and Brahms’ monumental “Symphony No. 1” to close out the subscription series. Then on June 15, singer and pianist Tony DeSare and the symphony star in a onenight-only performance – “An Evening with Sinatra.” The audience and musicians will get to relive magical moments of the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s when swing was king and Sinatra was the “Chairman of the Board,” ruling the crooner crowd unconditionally. It’s the kind of thing that might have Ol’ Blue Eyes himself stirring in his eternal slumber at Palm Springs’ Desert Memorial Park.

Understandably, the folks at the Symphony’s administrative office are proud.

“Just an hour ago we were looking back at the season and all that has happened –the premieres, the collaborations, the guest artists, and shining the spotlight on our local artistic and creative community – and feeling a lot of exhilaration,” Kathryn R. Martin, President and CEO, said Monday afternoon. “It’s been quite a milestone, but I feel like we are only scratching the surface about what can be created here in Santa Barbara. Collaboration is becoming a big part of our DNA.”

Martin noted that the community is still coming back out of COVID, so the symphony can’t take things for granted as in the so-called before days, when organizations could accurately predict and forecast how audiences would respond.

“Every month is different,” she said. “We don’t have trends. We don’t have data because what was true in the past doesn’t really matter anymore.”

So it’s even more heartening, Martin said, that not only have subscriptions risen significantly over the previous year, but the symphony has attracted more first time paid attendees during the 202223 season than in its history.

“That’s really exciting, and something to build upon, because we’re here to provide a service to the community. So the more people that are benefiting from it, the more people that attend and are moved by this experience, the more we are living our mission, and the closer the connection will be to our nonprofit organization.”

Beyond all the hoopla surrounding premieres, that community connection is paramount to the Symphony’s success and its survival, as attracting newcomers and creating longtime fans are part of sustainability. The increasing numbers of individual donations, including many first-time donors, also attest to that success.

“I love it when a classical music aficio-

nado comes up after a concert and shares that they had no idea the symphony was so good,” Martin said. “But even better is when someone at their concert tells me they had a lot of fun, and that the symphony isn’t scary after all. They usually turn into future subscribers.”

Part of what is making the symphony more accessible is the Symphony’s extensive and far-reaching educational program, which includes the Music Van Music Education Program for 3rd grade students, which is winding up its academic year, and three performing ensembles – all growing programs that trade glamor and glitz for the nitty-gritty of music making.

New last season was the opportunity for all participants to attend the symphony concerts with their families for free.

“I just love looking out at the audience and seeing those young faces,” Martin said. “They have invested in learning how to play a musical instrument and to work together. And they are our audiences and our donors of the future.”

The ensembles close out their curriculum with concerts over the first weekend of May, with the Camerata Ensemble & Philharmonia Orchestra playing Saturday, May 6, at La Colina Junior High in a program featuring music inspired by motion pictures, jazz, classical favorites, and dances from around the world. Plus, on May 7 the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, conducted by Westmont’s Daniel Gee, in a collaboration that features the Westmont College Choir, will perform works by Saint-Saens, Wieniawski, and Handel, plus music from The Lord of the Rings Auditions for the Youth Ensembles for the 2023-24 academic year are just around the corner, taking place on June 10-11. But first everyone is invited to the free concerts, which Martin said can be even more moving than the professional symphony’s concerts.

“It’s a very inspiring weekend for the community. There will be a lot of happy tears.”

Santa

Symphony

The Santa Barbara Symphony celebrated its 70th anniversary with a series of concerted collaborations and performances

The Santa Barbara Youth Symphony will be playing this upcoming May 7

Celebrating Mother’s Day

Laura Dern & Diane Ladd

Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life and Love

Wed, May 3 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

$65 ticket includes a signed copy of Honey, Baby, Mine Join Academy Award-winner Laura Dern (Big Little Lies, Twin Peaks, Jurassic Park) and her mother, acclaimed actor Diane Ladd (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Chinatown), for a deeply personal conversation on love, art, ambition and legacy inspired by their own heart-to-hearts.

Event Sponsor: Susan & Bruce Worster

Public Art Projection Woman. Life. Freedom.

ArtRise Collective, in Collaboration with Mozaik Philanthropy

Tue, May 9 / Projection will run from 8 PM-11 PM UCSB Art, Design & Architecture Museum / FREE

“The solace, the strength, and the sense of solidarity we all need right now.”

– Jay Xu, Asian Art Museum Director, San Francisco

Featuring 30 artworks by anonymous international artists, this large-scale public art projection responds to systemic gender inequity and discrimination in Iran.

Maria Ressa

How to Stand Up to a Dictator

Thu, May 18 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

Celebrated for her commitment to free expression and democratic government, journalist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Maria Ressa tells the story of how democracy dies and offers an urgent cry for us to recognize the danger before it is too late.

Major Sponsor: Dorothy Largay & Wayne Rosing

Additional support provided by the Beth Chamberlin Endowment for Cultural Understanding

Justice for All Lead Sponsors: Marcy Carsey, Connie Frank & Evan Thompson, Eva & Yoel Haller, Dick Wolf, and

an uphill climb, especially if more operators come to the table with mitigating technology like scrubbers. Apparently, most counties already require scrubbers because the technology is that effective.

So, I feel as though there is more consensus around that solution than there was even six months ago. And I hand it to my colleagues, I believe that Supervisor Williams forged that compromise with that operator… I hope that we’ll see more of that coming down the pipe because this topic takes up a lot of time. There are permits, then there’s appeals and the planning commission. It’s on us to get it right so that we free up space and energy for other vexing issues like housing, like homelessness, like poverty.

GL: One of the other topics that you’ve brought up since you’ve been on the board is the state law that demands transparency on the part of anyone who has business before the board.

LC : Yes. It’s a transparency law that the state passed trying to reduce the amount of money that is donated related to those who have requests for permits or licenses before either the board of supervisors, city council, or the school board. It’s all local government.

GL: So, trying to reduce conflicts of interest?

LC : Exactly. The state is passing laws that apply to counties like ours that have had no campaign finance regulations. Not just weak ones, but literally none. And so the state, two years ago, passed a donation limit that applied to any county that didn’t have their own regulations. And we were amongst a small number of counties that had zero. Which means someone from another county could give $5 million to a local school board candidate. The state limit, which at the time was $4,900. I believe now, it’s going to be increase to $5,200 per individual to an elected official.

These things are happening in part because, in my view, local governments just haven’t been keeping up with the way in which money flows. And it used to be so frowned upon that it just culturally wouldn’t have happened that a developer would give a politician money when they had a permit application before that politician. It was too brazen. But now, it’s become par for the course.

So, this law will help reduce that conflict of interest by requiring elected leaders to either give the money back or recuse themselves on the vote. And if they don’t, it’s a misdemeanor, not just a fine.

GL: What grade would you give the County on transparency?

LC: Well, we should be doing more. We live in a tight-knit community. Thankfully, we have not had major scandals, just for example, looking at L.A. City Council or places that have been overtaken by investigations and real malfeasance. But I believe that we shouldn’t wait for something earth-shattering to happen when it comes to a conflict of interest or campaign finance, that we should be setting an example. I feel that way about Santa Barbara County in general, that we should not be trailing in any area. The fact that we’re close to the top in rate of poverty in the State... just shouldn’t be.

GL: Let’s talk about housing, because it’s such an important piece of the work that needs to be done.

LC : Housing is the most vexing issue facing us. We need more affordable housing. It’s hard to do it. Nobody necessarily wants it near them. One answer I’ve been pursuing with Supervisor Hartman is that the county has a lot of land and I feel as though we should lead by example and be examining our own properties first. And so now, that’s part of the mix and we’re adding county properties to this draft plan.

GL: What about Goleta, which has had an unfair burden?

LC: Yes. We’re trying to minimize the disproportionate impact on Goleta, and we’re making progress. We’re basically adding more sites, 15 more sites are now in the mix so that we can reduce or eliminate some that were on the first iteration of the draft.

For example, UCSB is planning a 500-unit complex for their staff. That wasn’t counted originally, but it should be. And so it now is, which then reduces 500 from the pressure on Goleta.

(I caught up with Laura again a couple weeks later, just after 1000 people in Isla Vista had been evicted from their homes by their new landlord.)

LC: So this is perhaps the biggest mass eviction in California. And it’s affecting probably 1000 people and just hit them over the head. And it’s painful. We’re in daily contact with different tenants. We’ve been connecting them to the right resources. And the good news is there are a lot of resources. They’re underfunded, of course. But we have Legal Aid. We have Santa Barbara Tenants Union, who helped these residents

form their own union, so they have more legal rights.

The county really defied government bureaucracy and we passed an emergency ordinance within a matter of days. And that was personally gratifying just to see all the wheels moving together quickly and having four votes thanks to Steve Lavagnino and Das Williams and Supervisor Hartmann. Das and I worked closely together on it, and that was also a good development. He grew up in Isla Vista. He really cared. And then we flew into fast action. And it’ll help. But it won’t make it go away. But what we’re seeing in Isla Vista is what’s happening across the country with where real estate is right now. It’s the people at the bottom rung of the ladder, that are getting squeezed.

GL: Anything that’s surprised you since you started on the Board? That you go, oh, there needs to be work done on this, but I wasn’t even aware that was an issue?

LC: Yes. I would say it’s surprising to me that the county doesn’t have an economic development division. The City of Santa Barbara has an economic development director. Most cities I believe do. To me that’s an area of focus. If we’re trying to generate revenue, and we’re trying to – why is there not an economic development division? So that’s been a surprise and I think a goal, which would impact a lot of things. So, for example, whose job is it to be thinking creative solutions to this housing crunch? It’s supervisors, but there’s a lot of... Let’s put it positively. There’s a lot of room for fresh ideas.

GL: There are so many pressing issues, and so many of them are interconnected, aren’t they? Housing, mental health, education, substance abuse… and yet it seems like most governmental departments are set up as silos that aren’t necessarily set up to address the interconnectedness of these huge issues.

LC: ... Yes… with Fentanyl, for example, we had 122 overdoses just last year. We had one just this past weekend at Deltopia. So I’m going to ask each department that touches on that, what are they doing about Fentanyl? And then try to de-silo the work. Because I know the Sheriff has his opioid task force. But public health, I don’t know. Again, I take the responsibility that if there are silos, the supervisors should be trying to break them down. I believe the Supervisors should provide that 30,000-foot view.

These problems are super daunting and complex, but I always try, especially with the more complex and daunting problems, to find examples of where at least somebody, another city or another county, is making a dent.

GL: When a crisis happens, like with the tenants’ evictions in Isla Vista, you show up and you’re present and you’re listening. But on a day-to-day basis, how do you connect to your constituents? Do you have office hours?

LC : Yes. We do Coffee with Capps in Isla Vista once a month, and I love the interaction from constituents. I respond to them myself. I’ve done a bunch. Like on the housing element. People are upset. My style is just pick up the phone. One woman I just spoke to the other day while I was walking my dogs, says, “Well, my women’s group, we have a bunch of questions.” And I said, “Let me join them.”

We’re trying to be as creative as possible and reach people where they are, and not have this attitude that they need to watch a board hearing. I’ve been doing a lot of video and social media. I’m very proud that our district has – we represent City College and we represent UCSB – a lot of young people, so trying to connect with them in new ways. And having somebody like Jordan Killebrew on staff for that is great.

GL : So, you came in with your wish list of issues to work on. From where you sit now, what is your hope for the next couple of years of your first term as the second district supervisor?

LC : I hope to help be part of the solution that creates a more efficient government so that the good, well-meaning programs that exist, reach the people they’re intended for, and that there’s a responsiveness that makes people’s lives better. It sounds very basic, but I think you must keep that North Star basic idealism front and center, because otherwise, it’s easy to get distracted by all of the many conditions and the ‘ yes, but... ’ I want to just continue to have this fire in the belly that I have now three months in, I want to have it three years in, hopefully six years in, eight years in, and I think I will. Because for me, it’s a characteristic of working well with people, but maintaining a level of urgency about the things that I know can be improved.

Just before going to press, Supervisor Capps sent me the following note:

LC: “In a significant development, on April 21, during a budget workshop all five of the board of supervisors expressed the need to change course on how cannabis is taxed in favor for a more fair and transparent system. They officially gave direction to the county CEO’s office to come back with options on an acreage tax, as well as when it could be placed on the ballot for voters to consider.”

It looks to me like a little pushback went a long way.

Can you hear me now? Experts are working out how to regenerate lost hearing

Researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) developed what they believe to be a game-changing cure for hearing loss: a new combination of drug-like molecules that can rebuild the hair cells in the inner ear that permit hearing.

Reprogramming genetic pathways in the inner ear allowed the hair cells to regrow in mice, as explained in a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Now, researchers are hoping that this study may pave the way for human clinical trials that will one day result in a treatment for hearing loss. It’s a huge “if,” to be sure, but for those who have had trouble hearing, it’s also a fascinating possibility.

“These findings are extremely exciting because throughout the history of the hearing loss field, the ability to regenerate hair cells in an inner ear has been the holy grail,” said Zheng-Yi Chen , the HMS associate professor who led the study. As the authors put it, “we now have a drug-like cocktail that shows the feasibility of an approach that we can explore for future clinical applications.”

Hair cells are like biological microphones and transmit sound information from the inner ear to the brain, but unlike some fish, birds, and reptiles, humans do not have the ability to replace lost or damaged hair cells.

Chen’s team was able to induce the division and differentiation into hair cells of other cell types in an earlier work, also in mice.

This new study expands upon those findings by using newly discovered chemical compounds to activate the same pathways.

The team was able to eliminate genes that inhibited the activation of a genetic pathway necessary for hair cell proliferation in the inner ear by employing molecules called “small interfering RNAs” (siRNAs).

To illustrate his point, Chen used the analogy of a car’s brake, saying that “if the brake is always engaged, you can’t drive.” According to Chen, he and the team identified a siRNA that can ease the brake off of this genetic route.

They observed that adult mice could grow new hair cells that appear to be fully functional by injecting their newly created drug cocktail directly into the inner ear.

The researchers intend to test the treatment on larger animals prior to using it on humans.

If the research proves successful, it could have a significant effect on people who have experienced partial hearing loss.

On Entertainment

A Commanding Adventure

by Steven Libowitz

The 2003 epic period war-drama Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World concerns a British captain pushing his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a French war vessel off the South American coast. Based on Patrick O’Brian’s beloved series of novels set in the Napoleonic Wars, the film received 10 Academy Award nominations, and is considered perhaps the greatest sailing movie ever produced. But the film never would have been made if not for the efforts of the 30-member crew that sailed the American tall ship Rose from Newport, Rhode Island to Los Angeles – the lengthy voyage director Peter Weir’s opportunity to shoot the film’s many ocean-bound scenes.

Will Sofrin – former builder of wooden ships, and America’s Cup competitor – has published a new book called All Hands on Deck: A Modern-Day High Seas Adventure to the Far Side of the World This white-knuckle true adventure story traces a 6,000-mile journey made fraught by both Hollywood deadline pressure and the challenges of the untamed sea itself. The author’s memories of his experience intermingle with his current day perspective, offering a tale as harrowing and exciting as anything in the film or O’Brian’s books, including facing furious oceangoing storms and near calamity.

“I was too young and naive to realize that we were really facing life-threatening situations, but there were a lot of people on board who were making their peace with God because they thought we were going to die,” Sofrin recalled on Sunday afternoon, hours before entering escrow on a house that will officially make him a Santa Barbara resident this spring. “It’s pretty incredible to look back on all of it now. It’s as much a story

about how all of us grew through the trip as it is about the adventure itself.”

To write the book, Sofrin interviewed more than two-thirds of his fellow crew members, reviewed the logbook of the journey from Rose’s captain as well as eight hours of camcorder footage, and interviewed both Weir and studio head Tom Rothman

“Authenticity was very important,” he said. “I want readers to really believe it and understand that this is true and that I wasn’t embellishing my character or the experience. I found my family on this ship, people I relate to because of what we went through and are still some of the most important people in my life today… I wrote the book to inspire people to feel confident about making their own adventure.”

On Saturday April 29, Sofrin will bring his tale, some camcorder footage, and a host of hair-raising anecdotes to the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. He likens the presentation to “a crazy and fun mini-documentary”; part of a larger special event that begins with a reception and book signing on the museum’s patio – replete with complimentary 18th century-themed cocktail from Black Bart Navy Rum. The evening will also include a screening of Master and Commander and an optional themed dinner (courtesy Anchor Rose restaurant) based on shipboard meals served to officers and crew in the British Navy of that period. Proceeds from the $35 admission ($75 including dinner) go to SBMM’s tall ship and other education and school-based programs. Visit www.sbmm.org or call (805) 962-8404 for details.

For the Love of Beethoven

Love & Justice: In the Footsteps of Beethoven’s Rebel Opera – is the second film in Lompoc

Will Sofrin wrote his new book about transporting a tall ship from Rhode Island to Hollywood for Master and Commander (Courtesy photo)

Rose on the water (Courtesy photo)

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and Kelly Pillow, Brendon Twigden, Teresa Kuskey Nowak and Rick Oshay, David Edelman, Brenda Blalock, Mike Stoker, and the ubiquitous TV reporter John Palminteri

Foundational Persons

Eight decades of history were celebrated when the Santa Barbara Foundation held its 80th Persons of the Year awards at the socially gridlocked Hilton rotunda for 280 guests.

“We are fortunate to be able to celebrate two truly inspirational role mod-

els in our community at Person of the Year,” noted Jackie Carrera, foundation president and CEO.

The first Persons of the Year were Harold Chase in 1942 and Pearl Chase in 1956. The award at that time was known as the Man and Woman of the Year; the name officially changed in 2020. There were 33 nominations before the selection committee – all candidates distinguished by their having made meaningful contributions to our community. Winners announced were Elisabeth Fowler (winner of the Santa Barbara County Philanthropist of the Year award two years ago), and Joe Howell, co-founder of Howell Moore & Gough – where he has helped establish and develop innumerable local companies during a half century of active service in the business, education, and athletic communities.

Fowler is also involved in service to the community through Laguna Blanca School (alma mater of her four children), CALM, Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Direct Relief, and Freedom for Youth.

Steve Hicks, foundation chair, welcomed the tented throng along with the ubiquitous Janet Garufis, president of Montecito Bank & Trust, Chelsea Duffy, executive director of Partners in Education, Luke Swetland, president of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and Tammy Sims-Johnson, vice president of the foundation’s philanthropic services.

The tsunami of guests included Anne Towbes, John Daly, David Edelman, Nina Dunbar, Kim Busch, Rebecca

Anderson, John Bishop, Marybeth Carty, Palmer Jackson, Gerd Jordano, Fred Kass, Larry Koppelman, George and Laurie Leis, Dean Noble, mayor Randy Rowse, Catherine Remak, former mayor Helene Schneider, Geoff Green, Joe Campanelli, and Bob Bryant

Weddin’ on the Ritz

TV anchor Beth Farnsworth, Hiroko Benko, Palmer Jackson, Luke Swetland, Tom Kranz, and Jack Harwood, the first male Spirit of Fiesta. “We also had inventive jewelry made entirely out of seeds and pods, and gorgeous prize-winning photographs,” enthused Anne Rhett Merrill, show co-chair with Betsy Coates. “Over the past 20 years we’ve donated more than half a million dollars to horticultural projects throughout Santa Barbara County, reflecting our active involvement in the community.”

These have included Lotusland, the Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez Botanic Gardens, Casa del Herrero, Elings Park, Santa Barbara Zoo, Santa Barbara High School, and Girls Inc. of Santa Barbara.

Montecito realtor Timothy Di Prizito is tying the knot in style next month at the Ritz Hotel in Paris with two days of nuptial activities.

De Prizito, who has been in real estate for 18 years, is plighting his troth with Mary Becker Velardo, who also works with him at Coldwell Banker, and formerly worked as a stylist and store director at the luxury Brentwood boutique Capitol.

The 159-room luxury hostelry on the impossibly chic Place Vendôme was built in 1898 and was a firm favorite as a home away from home for the likes of fashion icon Coco Chanel, author Ernest Hemingway, and British playwright Noel Coward.

A Delightful Day(s) in the Garden

China was very much in the spotlight when the 106-year-old Garden Club of Santa Barbara presented In the Gardens of Splendor and Delight at the Music Academy, the club’s first two-day show in half a decade.

The first night reception featured a host of colorful floral arrangements and individual specimens. More than 250 guests attended, including Jamie and Marcia Constance, Sharon Bradford, Victoria Hines, KEYT-

Montecito

“And after winter folweth grene May.” – Geoffrey Chaucer

Monte Wilson and Misty Hammer (photo by Priscilla)

Awardee Joe Howell with Chelsea Duffy (photo by Dean Zatkowsky)

Wells Fowler (left) accepting the award on behalf of his mom, Elisabeth Fowler, with Luke Swetland (photo by Dean Zatkowsky) Assembled former and current Person of the Year honorees (photo by Dean Zatkowsky)

Mary Becker Velardo and Timothy Di Prizito putting on the ritz (Courtesy photo)

Susan Jackson (left) and Vicki Hough (photo by Priscilla)

Kim Curtis, Jack Harwood, and Mary Hampson (photo by Priscilla)

Karen Hinds and Cédric Charneau (photo by Priscilla)

The entertaining show’s Chinoiserie theme was inspired by the paintings of special guest interior designer Harrison Howard, whose images have been licensed for fabrics, wallpaper, paper goods, packaging, lacquered wood serving trays, placemats, and myriad home items.

Louis Sherry chocolate company, established in New York in 1881, features Howard’s work on its packaging and gift boxes. His clients have included the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, the Royal Saudi Embassy Residence in McLean, Virginia, Wendy Vanderbilt of New York, Mrs. Roger Firestone, Mrs. John Dorrance and Frank Goodyear of Philadelphia, and the late actress Kirstie Alley

Awards were given across 26 categories in four divisions, according to criteria from the Garden Club of America.

A blooming good show...

Wining and Dining at Blackbird

To Blackbird at uber-vintner Bill Foley’s Hotel Californian for a fourcourse winemaker dinner delightfully prepared by longtime executive chef Travis Watson with senior winemaker Michael Beaulac explaining the intricacies of the process with each course

Miscellany Page 424

Executive Chef Travis Watson introducing the next round (photo by Mercedes Smith)

who were so well versed on art and photography they were considered scholars of the same.

Highlights of Wilson’s exhibitions he led at the SMBA included 101 Years of California Photography (1992), Photographs of Egypt (1994), Photographs of the Hold Land (1997), and Portraits of the World’s Peoples (2004).

Wilson previewed his exhibition of his own photography which opened the next day at Rose Gallery in the Bergamot Station Art Center in Santa Monica. He showed slides of works titled, The Last Supper – a modern take on Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew – and another image of the Rose Gallery with people fluidly moving through it.

Wilson concluded with a Q&A, and stated, “The camera changed our whole perception of the world, like the printing press years prior.”

Wilson is currently serving as a Trustee on – and was previously a member of –the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees from 1993 to 1999. He has a B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA, and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Noted attendees were Jane Wilson, Starr Siegele, Kandy Luria-Budgor and Beno Budgor, Dr. Fima Lifshitz, Susan and Bruce Worster, Sparky Greene, SBMA Deputy Director and Chief Curator Eik Kahng PhD, and SBMA Curator of Contemporary Art James Glisson.

Profant Foundation

Fashion Show at SB Woman’s Club Luncheon

The SB Woman’s Club at Rockwood hosted a Fiesta fashion show-luncheon on April 19th. The Profant Foundation

for the Arts donated their Vintage Fiesta Costume Collection and the models were members of the SB Woman’s Club.

During the luncheon and reception, a slide show depicting the history of the Profant family and their involvement in Fiesta over the years was shown. It featured the story of John Profant, their father, a José Moneró dancer, who met their mother during Fiesta at the El Paseo restaurant circa 1950. In John’s honor, his four daughters – Michèle, Marie, Musette, and Mignonne, and his wife, Lyn – established their foundation, which helps artists of all ages in the community through scholarships. To date they have awarded over $250,000 in scholarships to preserve the culture of Santa Barbara. John’s father and mother, Dr. Henry and Mabel Profant, helped found the Community Arts Music Association

(CAMA), and supported the Music Academy of the West, SB Woman’s Club, and Old Spanish Days.

After lunch, Musette narrated the fashion show. The models first showed the vintage shawls, and then returned wearing full fiesta dress costumes. The dresses were made from organza, silk, linen, lace, and embroidery from Seville (Andalusia), Spain. The fashion show finale featured all the models on stage for photo ops.

Noted at the luncheon along with Marie, Musette, and Michèle Profant were SB Woman’s Club President Cevin Cathell, Julie Morrow, Sue Ziliotto, Cindy Gracey, Mary Gates, event chair Dana Hansen, Brenda Blalock, Jill Nida, and SBTV Channel 17’s Erik Davis, a former Fiesta El Presidente.

Susan and Bruce Worster with Jane Wilson (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Marie, Musette, and Michèle Profant (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Jill Nida modeling a vintage shawl (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Brenda Blalock, Mary Gates, and Dana Hansen (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Cevin Cathell, Julie Morrow, Sue Ziliotto, and Cindy Gracey (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Fashion show finale (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

embedded in the headstock of their bitcoin guitar and the Martin D-18 StreetLegend an aged-top six-string based on its museum Kurt Cobain guitar.

Don’t find a guitar that meets all your needs? Build your own custom with Shark Guitars’ 3D online tool. With six patents pending, they offer an interchangeable design with two necks and two bodies providing four distinct guitars, expanding to 16 guitars with four necks and four bodies. https://sharkguitars.com/home

Made in the U.S. by hand is vintage analog hardware by Audio Scape Engineering. They have a two-year warranty and endorsements from Grammy-awarded sound engineers and musicians. Built in an antique cabinet if you want, are compressors, amps, and limiters. www.audio-scape.com

Cycle the Tour de France with the Strandberg guitar, model Boden Meloria, a collab with high end U.K. bike maker Mason Cycles. It is a bodiless guitar with titanium frame, extendable wings and neck joint designed to self-center and create added contact area secured by one bolt.

Holding court on the 3rd floor was Yamaha Corporation. Here they showcased the new P-S500 portable digital smart piano with app for learning and playing. Yamaha’s CK series of portable synths sounded like a full-on stage piano with instrument effects and synth sounds – such amazing sound you would swear it’s a Steinway! For other new releases – check here: https://usa.yamaha.com/namm

They held booth concerts and had their Yamaha Grand Plaza Stage set up in the main outdoor courtyard with the Rivage digital console line for mixing and music amplified via NEXO speaker systems for the live music performances at NAMM. New CBD wellness line by Westlake Village’s reTune – designed by musicians, scientists, and board-certified doctors – has products for vocal chords, sore muscles, and inflammation to keep you singing and playing. Brand Ambassadors include Rudy Sarzo of Quiet Riot, Robert “The VuDu Man” Sarzo of Hurricane and Sean McNabb of Dokken. https://re-tune.com/home

Bang a drum without the skin. Piroth Drums are made from stainless steel coated ceramic. The radial and axial run-out deviations are below 0.001 inches, for precise tone, endorsed by drummer Max Sonntag. https://piroth-drums.com

Fancy an electric violin or cello? Try a 3DVarius bowed string instrument made in France. www.3d-varius.com

Spatial Audiophiles note Lucid Motors’s electric cars have a 21-speaker Surreal Sound system by Dolby Atmos x, and a projected EPA range of over 500 miles. With so much innovation and gear at NAMM, it was another rocking year!

411: https://www.nammfoundation.org

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The techies from AudioScape

Engineering at NAMM (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

New Ibanez Guitars at NAMM (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Mixing with the Masters at NAMM Univ. with Sylvia Massy (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Martin Guitars with Zach Comtois and Angela Petrilli at NAMM (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Joanne A. Calitri is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: artraks@yahoo.com

Harvey Houses

The Southwest Legacy of Fred Harvey (Who?)

by

Every year my wife, Merry, and I drive Interstate 40 from Southern California to New Mexico. The route is scenic, but the Arizona part has long stretches of nothing but miles and miles of miles and miles.

I always think of a favorite cartoon: An automobile is starting a trip across a dull, featureless desert, and a road sign says:

Your Own Tedious Thoughts

Next 200 Miles

PEARL CHASE SOCIETY CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO DISCOVER NEW PERSPECTIVES OF

On the drive there’s one bright spot, though, to relieve the drone of your own tires on blacktop. It lies hidden off the interstate on historic Route 66 in Winslow, Arizona, the dusty desert town where the Eagles famously sang about standing on a corner and being eyeballed by a girl in a flatbed Ford.

This highlight is a historic hotel, La Posada, that opened in 1930. It was designed by pioneering architect Mary Jane Colter to resemble a sprawling Spanish hacienda surrounded by courtyards and gardens. The interior she created was all graceful arches, hand-painted ceiling beams, and authentic Southwestern and Native American décor. Guests arrived on the Santa Fe Railway, whose tracks were right behind the hotel.

Merry and I always stop at La Posada for an excellent lunch in the Turquoise Room. Our usual: Half-and-half soup, made with black beans and cream of corn, topped with the restaurant’s initials spelled out in chile cream.

We also savor the hotel’s unique place in western history as a rare survivor among the great trackside hotels built by Fred Harvey. In the mid-1800s this English immigrant allied himself with one of the nation’s largest railroads, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, to offer both gracious lodging and fine cuisine in the middle of nowhere.

After humble beginnings as a New York City dishwasher, Harvey worked on trains and personally experienced the culinary affronts that beset travelers at stations along the way. Meals were questionable at best and often deliberately served late, so by the time passengers sat down to eat, it was time to get back on board. The staff would then scrape the food off the plates and serve it to the next

More Fred Harvey Stops

La Fonda, Santa Fe, NM: This classic 1922 hotel, which looks like an Indian pueblo, was run by Fred Harvey for 46 years. It has its original hand-carved beams, stained-glass skylights, and a notable art collection. Colorful patrons have included Manhattan Project scientists working on the atomic bomb at nearby Los Alamos, and Stevie Wonder recording an album in Suite 500. The excellent La Plazuela restaurant occupies the original 1920s patio. www.lafondasantafe.com

The Castaneda, Las Vegas, NM: Opened in 1898 as Fred Harvey’s first trackside hotel, the Mission Revival hostelry closed fifty years later and slowly crumbled until Allan Affeldt of La Posada restored it in 2019. The hotel, like economically troubled Las Vegas itself, is a work in progress but both are worth a stop for fans of Fred Harvey and western history. (Teddy Roosevelt held a reunion of his Spanish-American War Rough Riders at the hotel in 1899.) www.castanedahotel.org

Fred Harvey Exhibit, New Mexico History Museum, Santa Fe, NM: Artifacts include Harvey Girl uniforms and hotel furniture designed by Mary Colter. www.nmhistorymuseum.org

“When the sun is out and the wind is still, You’re one month on in the middle of May.” – Robert Frost

The Kellam de Forest Speaker Series welcomes local historian Cheri Rae to discuss the historical importance of the Carrillo Recreation Center, and the social work done there by

From left to right: Margaret Baylor, Carrillo Recreation Center, Pearl Chase

Jerry Camarillo Dunn, Jr.

The exterior of La Posada today (photo by Graham Dunn)

One of La Posada’s modern rooms in the historic Harvey House (photo by Graham Dunn)

Belen Harvey House Museum, Belen, NM: A 1910 Harvey eating house now displays company memorabilia. For train buffs, the adjacent railyard sees up to 100 trains a day. www.harveyhousemuseum.org

Harvey Houses Page 404

Barbara Police Chief Kelly Ann Gordon, Executive Director Gabriella Garcia, and Montecito Bank & Trust Chairman and CEO Janet Garufis

Price, Postel & Parma welcomes its newest associate, Jeff Tchakarov.

change the trajectory of their lives.”

Dr. Samira Kayumi-Rashti, a board-certified pediatrician at the Children’s Medical Clinic of Santa Barbara and an active member of the board of directors for the Central Coast Medical Association, was the event’s keynote speaker. She explained how experiences in the early years of childhood directly affect brain formation in a way that later experiences do not, reiterating why the work done by Storyteller Children’s Center is so critical in shaping the physical structure of a child’s developing brain.

“It’s the interaction between biology and environment that builds the capacities to cope with adversity and overcome threats to healthy development. No matter the source of hardship, the single most common factor for children who end up doing well is having the support of at least one stable and committed relationship with a parent, caregiver, or another adult,” she said. When reflecting on the impact of Storyteller’s work on the entire community, Dr. KayumiRashti noted, “The well-being of all of us depends on the well-being of those with the least.”

With two residential-style campuses providing students with a sense of home, Storyteller is proud to deliver year-round education and behavioral and emotional support through their strong partnerships with influential local nonprofits, including Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara County, Family Support Services, and CALM.

Storyteller, which informally began its mission over 35 years ago as a roped-off section in the Transition House parking lot, announced that it would be implementing a new addition to its existing two campuses by bringing its expertise to Transition House’s infant/toddler program. “It’s fitting that we can bring our services back to where our mission was rooted – and where we are needed most,” said Dr. Garcia. Storyteller at Transition House Care Center will be a new addition to Storyteller’s existing two campuses on State and De La Vina streets, where they currently serve more than 85 vulnerable children and their families each year.

The Lunch with Love event not only celebrated Storyteller’s achievements, but also highlighted the ongoing need to support vulnerable children in the community. Although Storyteller receives government grants, “60 percent of our budget comes from community donations,” noted Dr. Garcia. She broke it down for the audience: a $55 donation helps fund one full day for one child; $1,650 helps fund one entire month for a child; $2,500 helps feed one child in the program for an entire year; $5,000 helps fund one month of family support services for all our families; $10,000 helps fund six months of education and services for one child; and $25,000 helps fund four months of mental health services for teachers, children and families.

The 9th annual Lunch With Love event, complete with hot pink tablecloths, a light lunch, and individually wrapped chocolate chip cookies for each guest, was made possible by generous community sponsors and local businesses including the Patricia and Paul Bragg Foundation, Kenny and Elizabeth Slaught, Bartlett, Pringle & Wolf LLP, Anna and Petar Kokotovic, Carrie Towbes and John Lewis, Michael and Liat Wasserman, UBS Financial Services, Inc., Dr. Patricia Madrigal, Craig and Amy Zimmerman, and American Riviera bank. The event was generously supported by local vendors Duo Marketplace, Ella’s Cocktails, Felici Events, Just 4 Fun Party Rentals, Merci Montecito, and Valeria Haro Photography.

Storyteller will host its annual gala in the fall of 2023.

If you wish to donate to Storyteller Children’s Center, please visit www. storytellercenter.org

Mr. Tchakarov is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group. He brings a wide range of experience in both finance and real estate, as well as general litigation experience in courts at both the State and Federal levels. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Tchakarov represented clients with regard to bankruptcy and insolvency rights. In his spare time, Mr. Tchakarov enjoys the company of his family and the great Santa Barbara outdoors.

Santa

(photo by V. Haro Photography)

Randi Miller is the founder of The Balanced Nut, a health and wellness resource dedicated to empowering individuals to self-advocate with their medical providers

PP&P has a wide array of practice areas and is at the forefront of legal services in both traditional and contemporary practice areas. Every client matters.

Angie Huff, Architect

Food Files

The Feel of an Aperitivo Meal

by Brooke Bidwell

You do not have to travel to Italy to experience the delicious food that comes from its rolling hills and cobbled streets. Andrea Girardello and Brian Dodero opened Aperitivo at 7 W. Haley St. in October of 2020, inspired by the Italian emphasis on choosing fresh, quality ingredients rather than intricate preparations.

The namesake? “Aperitivo” is not just a “pre-meal drink,” but a concept in Italy. Picture a neighborhood bar where people go after work to share a drink and a bite. They know the bartender, they know the owner, they know the other regulars. It’s a warm place with a homey feeling, where familiarity is spread by word of mouth. Depending on the region, the meals served will be inspired by the area’s unique food culture, and the generational ‘ Nonnas’ of the neighborhood’s influence.

Andrea could be pretentious. He used to be the beverage manager for the Four Seasons Coral Casino and knows more about wine than most experienced sommeliers. “I don’t select by score or big names. I buy what I like and would drink myself. I don’t make fancy cocktails. I only make what I’d drink, in Italy.” This simple idea of a shared drink and a delicious bite is in his blood. As a native Milanese, Andrea travels to his roots frequently, bringing back inspirations.

Your first step into Aperitivo feels like you could be setting foot into Andrea or Brian’s private kitchen. There’s a je ne sais quoi about the space. Kaitlyn, the hostess, is there to greet you with a laid back yet highly professional welcome. As she guides you to your seats, the restaurant’s co-owner, Brian, can be found in the back corner, steam rising from his pans. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Brian’s passion for the rustic, simple elegance of Italian cuisine was inspired by his Italian grandmother. Since completing culinary school in Florence, he’s remained dedicated to bringing classic and otherwise overlooked ingredients from Italy to downtown SB. Last April, for example, he served ceci neri – an old-world bean originating from Puglia with a deep, rich flavor – paired

with pine nuts, and fresh olive oil. They prefer to struggle through the challenge of patroning small Italian importers for ingredients, as opposed to larger distributors like Sysco or Jordano’s. For what can be found locally, they buy from the Farmers Market.

At Aperitivo, there are no more than five items on the menu every night. On a warm night in SB, you might find Insalata di Cesare – baby gem, radicchio, spicy breadcrumbs, and Parmigiano Reggiano. On a wintery night, local citrus, beets, herbs and house-cured salmon. “Menu planning is weekly, one to two weeks in advance at most. We don’t change all the antipasti every week, but pasta changes every time. This week we made agnolotti.” The pasta is fresh, handmade, and irresistible. Each time I’ve visited, I have yet to notice a plate return to the kitchen that is not polished clean.

Fancy joining a pasta club? Their weekly fresh “Pasta e Vino To Go” is the takeout lover’s dream: You can explore the wines and fresh pasta throughout Italy’s 20 regions from your own kitchen table. When I looked this week, the featured region was

Aperitivo brings fresh, quality ingredients from Farmers Market or even imported from Italy (Courtesy photo)

Take a seat at the inviting bar in Aperitivo (Courtesy photo)

What if your doctor could prescribe healthy food?

Let’s build medically tailored meal programs for low income patients that are paid for by insurance and that use local procurement policies. Programs such as Food Pharmacies, Medically Tailored Grocery Boxes, and Food/Produce Prescription Programs can happen

(above) Healthy, locally sourced produce assembled for low income families in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara County. Learn more about at sbcfan.org.

PHOTO J ANDREW HILL / PHAROS CREATIVE

01-NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS CALLING FOR BIDS

1. OWNER: Montecito Union School District

2. PROJECT IDENTIFICATION NAME: 2223-2 Terraces Secure Perimeter Fence Replacement

3. PROJECT LOCATION: 385 San Ysidro Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108

4. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Replace existing fence with vinyl coated chain link, per the specifications. The bid shall include but not limited to:

975+/- linear feet of fencing.

One 4 foot man gate.

Two 10 foot leaf swinging drive gates. Alternate pricing for 8 foot high fencing.

This project is anticipated to start approximately June 13, 2023 and is anticipated to be completed by July 28, 2023

Summary: Section includes chain-link fences and swing gates, Polymer Coated. Supply all materials, labor etc. to remove existing fence and reinstall new fence, posts, gates, fabric, hardware for complete system.

5. BID DEADLINE: Bids are due on May 24, 2023, no later than 1:00 p.m. (School Office Clock)

6. PLACE AND METHOD OF BID RECEIPT: All Bids must be sealed. Personal delivery, courier, or mailed via United States Postal Service and addressed to Montecito Union School District, 385 San Ysidro Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. ATTN: Virginia Alvarez

7. PLACE PLANS ARE ON FILE: Montecito Union School District, Business Department, 385 San Ysidro Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108, and www.tricoblue.com

8. ALTERNATES: If alternate bids are called for, the contract will be awarded to the lowest bid price on the base contract without consideration of the prices on the additive or deductive items.

9. MANDATORY JOB WALK: Meet at Montecito Union School Office on Wednesday, May 10 at 10:30 a.m. sharp. Attendance at the entire job walk is mandatory and failure to attend the entire job walk may result in your bid being rejected as non-responsive. Contact OWNER for details on required job walks and related documentation.

10. This is a prevailing wage project. OWNER has ascertained the general prevailing rate of per diem wages in the locality in which this work is to be performed for each craft or type of worker needed to execute this contract. These rates are on file at OWNER’s office, and a copy may be obtained upon request, or at www.dir.ca.gov. Contractor shall post a copy of these rates at the job site. ALL PROJECTS OVER $1,000 ARE SUBJECT TO PREVAILING WAGE MONITORING AND ENFORCEMENT BY THE LABOR COMMISSIONER.

It shall be mandatory upon the contractor to whom the contract is awarded (CONTRACTOR), and upon any SUBCONTRACTOR, to pay not less than the specified rates to all workers employed by them in the execution of the contract.

11. A Payment Bond for contracts over $25,000 and a Performance Bond for all contracts will be required prior to commencement of work. These bonds shall be in the amounts and form called for in the Contract Documents.

12. Pursuant to the provisions of Public Contract Code Section 22300, CONTRACTOR may substitute certain securities for any funds withheld by OWNER to ensure CONTRACTOR’s performance under the contract. At the request and expense of CONTRACTOR, securities equivalent to any amount withheld shall be deposited, at the discretion of OWNER, with either OWNER or a state or federally chartered bank as the escrow agent, who shall then pay any funds otherwise subject to retention to CONTRACTOR. Upon satisfactory completion of the contract, the securities shall be returned to CONTRACTOR.

Securities eligible for investment shall include those listed in Government Code Section 16430, bank and savings and loan certificates of deposit, interest bearing demand deposit accounts, standby letters of credit, or any other security mutually agreed to by CONTRACTOR and OWNER. CONTRACTOR shall be the beneficial owner of any securities substituted for funds withheld and shall receive any interest on them. The escrow agreement shall be in the form indicated in the Contract Documents.

13. To bid on or perform the work stated in this Notice, CONTRACTOR must possess a valid and active contractor's license of the following classification(s) C-13, or A or B No CONTRACTOR or subcontractor shall be qualified to bid on, be listed in a bid proposal, subject to the requirements of § 4104 of the Public Contract Code, for a public works project (submitted on or after March 1, 2015) unless currently registered with the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and qualified to perform public work pursuant to Labor Code § 1725.5. No CONTRACTOR or subcontractor may be awarded a contract for public work on a public works project (awarded after April 1, 2015) unless registered with the DIR. DIR’s web registration portal is: www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/Contractors.html

14. CONTRACTOR and all subcontractors must furnish electronic certified payroll records (eCPR) to the Labor Commissioner monthly in PDF format. Registration at www.dir.ca.gov/Public-Works/Certified-Payroll-Reporting.html is required to use the eCPR system.

The following notice is given as required by Labor Code Section 1771.5(b)(1): CONTRACTOR and any subcontractors are required to review and comply with the provisions of the California Labor Code, Part 7, Chapter 1, beginning with Section 1720, as more fully discussed in the Contract Documents. These sections contain specific requirements concerning, for example, determination and payment of prevailing wages, retention, inspection, and auditing payroll records, use of apprentices, payment of overtime compensation, securing workers’ compensation insurance, and various criminal penalties or fines which may be imposed for violations of the requir ements of the chapter. Submission of a bid constitutes CONTRACTOR’s representation that CONTRACTOR has thoroughly reviewed these requirements.

15. OWNER will retain 5% of the amount of any progress payments.

16. This Project does not require prequalification pursuant to AB 1565 of all general contractors and all mechanical, electrical and plumbing subcontractors

17. BID PACKET is available at www.tricoblue.com and will be provided at the job walk.

Advertisement Dates: Montecito Journal Print Dates – April 20, 27 and May 4, 2023.

MONTECITO UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

A vacancy on the Governing Board of the Montecito Union School District was created on April 21, 2023.

The Governing Board will be filling the vacancy by making a provisional appointment until the next election in November 2024. Any person is eligible to be a Governing Board member providing he/she is 18 years of age or older, reside within the district boundaries, and a registered voter.

Interested community members are invited to complete a Board Candidate Information Sheet, a cover letter, and a resume to the Superintendent, Anthony Ranii (385 San Ysidro Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108), indicating their interest and willingness to serve in this significant public capacity. The application can be found on the Montecito Union School District website at www.montecitou.org or applications are available at the Montecito Union School Office at 385 San Ysidro Road between 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. During construction, our office is located off the South Parking Lot up the wheelchair ramp in classroom 28.

The final date for submitting applications is 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 30th 2023. Qualified candidates will be interviewed individually at a special public meeting of the Board on June 5th 2023, beginning at 3:30 p.m. The person selected will join the Board at their regular meeting on Monday, June 12, 2023. The person appointed shall hold office until the next regularly scheduled election for district Board Members in November 2024.

Questions should be directed to Mr. Ranii at (805) 698-3083 or aranii@montecitou.org.

Published April 26 and May 10, 2023

Montecito Journal

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Atacama Optics & Electronics; Atacama Light, 2520 Emerson St, Summerland, CA 93067. Atacama, LLC, 2520 Emerson St, Summerland, CA 93067. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 22, 2023. 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. 2023-0000477. Published April 5, 12, 19, 26, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Vox Geekus, 606 Alamo Pintado Rd STE 3-107, Solvang, CA 93463. Michael A White, 3681 Sagunto St #204, Santa Ynez, CA 93460. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 20, 2023. 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. 2023-0000751. Published April 5, 12, 19, 26, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SCSB Protective Services Corp, 5455 8 th Street

#31, Carpinteria, CA 93013. SCSB Protective Services, 5455 8 th Street #31, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 22, 2023. 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. 2023-0000775. Published April 5, 12, 19, 26, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 23CV01246. To all interested parties: Petitioner Valentina Lash filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to Tina Valentina Lash The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Filed April 11, 2023 by Terri Chavez. Hearing date: June 5, 2023 at 10 am in Dept. 5, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published April 19, 26, May 3, 10, 2023.

And still, we found strength in our community and were able to band together and implement textbook-worthy disaster responses.

Does Berkeley feel as “green” as Santa Barbara in terms of environmental initiatives? Overall, yes. But I think on an individual basis maybe not. I think that most people in Santa Barbara may be more environmentally conscious than the Berkeley community at large. Santa Barbara is cutting-edge in terms of environmental initiatives. One thing that stuck out to me when I first moved to Berkeley was the fact that the city of Berkeley recycling didn’t accept any plastics. I instantly thought of the CEC and Talbots film recycling program which is such an incredible way our community maximizes recycling. I’m a member of an organization on campus called Cal Greening the Greeks, and our primary focus is to go around chapter meetings for each fraternity and sorority at UC Berkeley and give our little spiel: “This is how we can be more environmentally conscious when we’re carrying out our activities.” Living together in these big houses with so many members, using disposable things, there’s a great opportunity to promote sustainable practices and lessen the environmental impact of the Panhellenic community.

It feels like a lot has changed since we were first introduced to the idea of being environmentally conscious at MUS. How would you say being green has changed in the last ten years?

I think it’s always progressing towards a place that can be more accessible for people. It’s also a two-sided issue because there is a lot of greenwashing by companies. I think in general being green is becoming more realistic for the individual to implement in their daily routine, and it’s the accumulation of all that action that is going to make a big difference. I feel that at first it was more ambitious but not as realistic for everyone. At the same time, we’re becoming a lot more aware of the intricacies of environmental problems and the way that they’re all intertwined, so some solutions remedy one thing but have an adverse effect on another – we’re eliminating that as we move forward. I’ve noticed a general move towards seeking to understand nature, natural systems, and the overall connections between people and nature in order to create sustainable landscapes and livable cities. I think there is a much wider acceptance of the interconnectedness between society and environment. I am a part of an organization on campus called The Sycamore Institute, which is the first undergraduate-run national security think tank with an intercollegiate network of Yale, American University, Berkeley, Howard, George Mason, London School of Economics, and NYU students. I am in the “Energy Security and the Environment” division of the organization, which has made me think of the environmental crisis from more of a humanitarian standpoint. I think as we move into the future, energy security and climate change in general will become an issue of human security.

Interested in sharing your perspective? Want to be interviewed for Dear Montecito? Email me at stellajanepierce@gmail.com

Piemonte, featuring a fresh tagliatelle with beef and pork ragú paired with a wine from the Barbera d’Asti region.

“Is there a signature dish?” I asked Andrea on the phone when I called to let him know I was writing an article for the Montecito Journal. “No,” he told me, but there are signature people. “Kaitlyn, Benjamin, and Brian are family, not employees” he says. “What we do here is not transactional. We are here to make money, but we care about what we do. That’s the secret, and instrumental to what we’ve done here.”

Aperitivo is as unpretentious as it is mind-bendingly delicious. You never know what a new night will bring, other than ingredients sourced at their peak of freshness. Simple is best (when done right) is a philosophy here that requires incredibly discerning taste to bring a dish to life. That is why they roll the pasta by hand, the bread is baked next door, and the gelato is flown in from Italy.

Something special is brewing at lower State on Haley St. It’s the ever-evolving spirit that’s signature to the Aperitivo dining experience. When asked about the recipe for the bread, Andrea smiles. “We met the owners of Oat Bakery when we signed the lease, back in March of 2020. An unplanned, happy accident. We created an Italian neighbor, and immediately we collaborated with the owner and we designed the bread we use together. We came out with the simplest bread.” Like the old Italian saying goes, “Nella botto piccolo, c’el vino buono.” Translation: “In the small cask there is good wine.” Or, as is true to Aperitivo: “Good things come in small packages.”

I hesitate to publish this article as honestly as I am, because if everyone in town tried a bite out of their kitchen, then there would be a line stretching from Mussel Shoals to Loon Point. But, you’re reading this – so do yourself a favor and make your way to their inviting doors.

We are currently seeking to employ individuals anywhere in the United States.

How would you like to make money by simply driving your car, wrapped in a banner for Hype Energy Drinks?

Hype Energy Drinks plastered on your car. The ads are typically vinyl decals, also known as auto wraps, that appear to be painted on the vehicle and will cover any portion on your vehicles exterior surface.

If you don’t have a vehicle, you can still participate if you have a bike.

Payment: $450.00 per week

Contact: arttorneymorros@gmail.com for more details

From the shores of Scotland, Stella Haffner keeps her connection to her home in Montecito by bringing grads of local schools to the pages of the Montecito Journal

When not writing, cooking, or learning about food, Brooke Bidwell is out in the field tending to a garden and an equine friend

group of unsuspecting passengers (!).

People joked that when a train pulled out of the station, the flies would wire ahead and alert their cousins at the next stop.

Fred Harvey set out to change all that. He was determined to serve meals that rivaled the finest restaurants in London and New York, and to introduce silver and fine china, European linens, crystal stemware, and impeccable service to rail travel.

His first restaurant was in a renovated fleabag hotel in Florence, Kansas, a town so small it’s said the population doubled when the Santa Fe train pulled in. To run the kitchen, in 1878 Harvey hired away the English chef from Chicago’s renowned Palmer House. Historian Lucius Beebe observed that Harvey “made the desert bloom with vintage claret and quail in aspic.”

His elevated standards of quality became known as the Fred Harvey Way. As his enterprises expanded, Harvey revolutionized hospitality in the West and became the founding father of the American service industry. His company eventually ran 100 eating houses and 25 hotels between Chicago and Los Angeles, creating the first national restaurant and hotel chains. He was Ray Kroc before McDonald’s and Conrad Hilton before Hilton Hotels, observes his biographer Stephen Fried . On top of that, Harvey’s take-out coffee stands predated Starbucks by nearly a century.

To achieve all this, he learned to innovate from the get-go. In the truly wild West of those days, violence was common, and after a midnight brawl between roughneck cowboys and the waiters at the Harvey House in Raton, New Mexico, in 1883, Harvey took steps. On the advice of his local manager, he replaced all the male waiters with young women. The idea worked so well that he decided to adopt it at all Harvey Houses.

He ran newspaper advertisements across the Midwest and East Coast seeking single young women with “good moral character, attractive and intelligent” to waitress in his eating houses along the railway route. And so was born a historic innovation – the Harvey Girls.

In that era there were no real career options for young women outside of teaching, so thousands of them jumped at the chance for adventure out West in a supervised situation that protected their reputations. The young women lived next to a Harvey House, chaperoned by a dorm mother and under a 10 p.m. curfew so as not to be mistaken for the local prostitutes. Harvey had noticed that some waitresses quickly married locals, so he required new hires to sign a contract

agreeing not to wed for six months.

The well-trained Harvey Girls learned to work long shifts with a genuine smile, no matter what they faced. Each was issued a clean starched dress and apron each day, and if it got even a small spot on it, she was required to change.

Harvey was so devoted to efficiency that he invented a coffee-cup code to speed up service. One girl would ask for a patron’s beverage preference, then turn his cup handle to a certain position to cue the server, who could now pour coffee or tea at top speed.

Numbering 100,000 employees over the years, Harvey Girls made up the nation’s first national corps of independent women who were able to travel and earn their own living.

In the end, many of the young women never returned home. As humorist Will Rogers quipped, Fred Harvey “kept the West in food and wives.” Some 20,000 Harvey Girls found mates, settled in remote towns, and created families. They were true pioneers, and Harvey felt they civilized the West.

“The Crown Jewel” of Harvey’s empire was La Posada. Its construction cost $2 million (about $40 million in today’s dollars), giving Mary Jane Colter the means to realize her vision of red clay tile roofs above massive stucco walls, with shady courtyards and acres of gardens, and custom furniture and decorative wrought ironwork throughout. Guests ranged from Albert Einstein and President Truman to Hollywood stars and the crown prince of Japan.

In the end, sadly, declining rail travel and the rise of the automobile put the trackside hotel out of business. By the time entrepreneur Allan Affeldt bought the 80,000-square-foot building and 20 acres of land from the Santa Fe railway in 1993, it had been abandoned for decades. He and his wife, artist Tina Mion, slowly restored La Posada to reflect its former glory.

In Fred Harvey tradition, the owners partnered with an English chef, John Sharpe, to offer gourmet Southwestern fare in the Turquoise Room. Sharpe received two James Beard nominations, and although he retired in 2020, the whole team stayed on to keep serving unexpectedly fine meals in a little railroad town in the “middle of nowhere.”

Passenger trains still stop behind the hotel twice a day, heading east and west. Fred Harvey’s legacy – splendid food and comfortable lodging along the rail routes of the West – lives on.

Fun Facts for “Fredheads”

The company operated newsstands and bookshops in 80 cities, and their orders often influenced national bestseller lists, thus making Fred Harvey Jeff Bezos before Amazon.

Annual supplies for Harvey eateries in 1908 included 17,560 cases of eggs, 298,000 pounds of butter, 17 train cars of oranges, and 155,541 chickens. The Santa Fe railway shipped and stored everything, free. Harvey Houses served larger portions than the standard; a slice of pie would be 1/4 pie instead of 1/6 or 1/8.

A Harvey Girl’s wages were $17.50 a month, plus tips. Her uniform consisted of a long black dress that fell no more than eight inches from the floor, with a full white apron; her hair had to be pulled back with a regulation white ribbon, and she was forbidden to wear makeup. Harvey Girls became the darlings of the West and the company’s most recognizable icons.

Harvey Houses sold Native American crafts as souvenirs and essentially created the market for them. Vintage examples are displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

fell many great showers of rain.” – Robin Robbins

A look at the La Posada dining room vintage (Courtesy photo)

And the Turquoise Room today (photo by Graham Dunn)

The Harvey Girls made up the nation’s first national corps of independent women who were able to travel and earn their own living (Courtesy photo)

native and former Santa Barbara resident Kerry Candaele’s Beethoven trilogy, and an effort we may safely describe as a case of art imitating life imitating art. Candaele, who taught for years at Cate School, spent the last decade in Chile making the stylized documentary – a process that found him with a young Chilean cast in an abandoned horse barn, restaging scenes from Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. When Candaele happened upon Butoh dancer María Belén Espinosa Peña’s one-woman show Las últimas horas del Maestro on YouTube, he knew he’d found a parallel narrative he had no choice but to integrate with his Beethoven outing. The Beethoven opera concerns a political prisoner, a dungeon, and the prisoner’s rescue at the hands of his wife – who has infiltrated the prison disguised as a man. Las últimas horas del Maestro finds dancer María Belén Espinosa Peña likewise dressing as a man – namely her Chilean grandfather, Jorge Peña Hen – in order to effect a rescue. Jorge Peña Hen – composer and conductor of a renowned children’s orchestra – had been imprisoned and executed following the coup that deposed Chilean president Salvador Allende some 50 years before. Peña’s dance – in the slow and deliberative Butoh manner – is effectively a resurrection of the doomed composer; the rescue of her grandfather from the prison of forgetting.

“I stumbled upon the parallel accidentally, but I seem to be unable to make a film that isn’t complicated and maybe even challenging in some way,” said Candaele. He co-produced two well-known documentaries – Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price –before launching his directorial career with the much-decorated Following the Ninth: In the Footsteps of Beethoven’s Final Symphony, which took five years to complete and was filmed in 12 countries on five continents. “There are a lot of human dimensions in these stories – they’re complicated, they’re sensitive and filled with ambivalence. I wanted to tell them with tenderness and sensitivity, to make them compelling as well as mysterious and moving.”

Add in snippets of Beethoven’s life and staged readings of his letters, and the nuanced effort required to coherently interweave these two works of art becomes apparent.

“Art that’s challenging doesn’t give

you solutions,” Candaele said. “It creates interesting questions and I hope that people walk away thinking about it all. But at the end there’s a restrained sense of possibility, hope, and the power of love.”

Love & Justice will have its world premiere at The New Vic downtown at 2:30 pm on April 30. The afternoon will also feature Belén performing portions of her show, and a Q&A wine reception with Candaele and other filmmakers, including Santa Barbara-based producer Pam Gunther. Local Beethoven novelist Howard Jay Smith, author of Beethoven in Love; Opus 139: Concerto Quasi Una Fantasia, serves as emcee. Tickets cost $15. Visit bit.ly/3kNFQN for tickets or www.beethovenhero.com/love---justice. html for more on the film.

Focus on Festivals: Earth Day Expands Again

It’s been four years since Earth Day in Santa Barbara – where the annual celebration originated nearly 50 years ago – occupied Alameda Park for a weekend festival. But, hey, in the relative timeline of the planet, that is barely more than a nanosecond in a human life. Or maybe not, given some of the dire declarations of the effects of climate change.

But Earth Day’s energy springs from its capacity for raising awareness. It isn’t about doom and gloom, said Kathi King, Director for the Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival and Director of Climate Education and Leadership for (festival producer) Community Environmental Council.

“Earth Day has always been a decidedly happy, upbeat event,” she said. “The emphasis is on solutions and being positive.”

Which is not hard to do, given all the events that take place over the April 29-30 weekend. The festival is broken into zones, each created around a specific theme, with booths, activities, and attractions that align. Also back are the two days of live music performances, featuring all local bands – including such faves as Spencer the Gardener, Cornerstone, One2Tree and The Brambles.

Earth Day 2023 also brings back one of the largest and oldest Green Car Shows on the West Coast – CEC’s event dates back to the early 2000s. “When it first started, I think they had a single Prius,” King said with a laugh. “Now, there’s so many models and options we’ve really focused on all electric cars as well as electric bikes. People will be able to test-drive both, including cars from Audi and Pollstar, who are new to the festival.”

The family programming includes author readings of recently published children’s books in the kids’ area, while

Jane Fonda has just been announced as presenter of this year’s Environmental Hero Awards on Sunday – sandwiched between a climate summit with local environmental groups and a panel discus-

sion on climate justice.

Don’t forget the food court, which won’t be quite as large as the pre-pandemic days, but has heightened the healthy quotient, for both humans and the planet.

“It’s really strong in terms of our mission, everyone’s got a plant-forward menu and all the participants are sourcing locally and organically whenever possible, even the animal protein which comes from regenerative farms,” King said. “We’re excited to be able to provide the kind of food that we have always wanted to have.”

What a difference four years makes.

Find details about CEC’s Earth Day Festival at www.sbearthday.org.

Furry Critters, Fat-Filled Food, and Fabulous Fun at the Fair & Expo

If Earth Day is all about the environment and ecology – you know, healthy organic food? – another of Santa Barbara’s long-running family-oriented festivals takes an altogether different tack: we’re talking corn dogs and cotton candy. We’re also talking farming, enthralling exhibits, and a full focus on fun. Yes, it’s the Santa Barbara Fair & Expo, also back in full force for the five-day festival, April 26-30. There will be two stages of non-stop music and performances, including perennially popular magician Frank Thurston and hypnotist James Kellogg, Jr. each of whom will roll out their act a dozen times over the span of the fair. This year’s main attraction may well be motocross superstar Adam Jones, the 2007 X Games Los Angeles Freestyle Gold Medalist.

Of course, most kids and teens will tend to veer toward the carnival midway, which this year boasts more than 30 rides and attractions, including such “scream yourself hoarse” diversions as Super Shot Drop Tower, Mega Flip, and something called Turbo Speed (which requires 10 tickets, twice as many as any other ride), along with old chestnuts like the Tilt-a-Whirl –which subject graced Bruce Springsteen’s second album about half a century ago on his. Visit https://earlwarren.com/fair-andexpo for info and tickets.

Imagine Your Float: Setting the Stage for a Successful Solstice

The official workshop for this year’s Summer Solstice Parade on June 24 won’t open until mid-May, but festival veterans and newcomers can get a jump on participating in a big way, thanks to a new workshop taking place this weekend. Artist and former high school art teacher Judith Raimondi is facilitating the “Imagine Your Float” workshop at The Crafter’s Library (9 E. Figueroa St.) from 1-4 pm on Sunday, April 30, when participants can make a 3D model of their imagined Solstice Float. Start with your sketch – or use one you’ve already created – to see what can be enhanced and perfected through experimentation with form and color. With a 2023 Solstice theme of “Roots,” the possibilities are endless. The workshop is especially geared for those who have never designed a float before; a helpful and fun way to experience creating a miniature model of the concept, which can then be referenced during construction of the final float. The $40 cost includes materials and supplies.

PLEASE NOTE: applications for performance slots at the June 23-25 celebration –on both the Solstice Main Stage Showcase and Roots of Culture Community Stage – are being processed on a rolling basis through May 9, while vendors can take advantage of early bird rates through May 2. Meanwhile, folks can get first crack at the 2023 adult t-shirts featuring Karen Folsom’s artwork “Sunchoke Succotash” at Solstice’s booth at the Earth Day festival in Alameda Park this weekend. Details at www.solsticeparade.com.

Kerry Candaele directing María Belén Espinosa Peña, who will be traveling from Chile to attend and perform at the screening (Courtesy photo)

The Earth Day Festival is back in Alameda Park for the first time in four years

Steven Libowitz has covered a plethora of topics for the Journal since 1997, and now leads our extensive arts and entertainment coverage

served to the 33 guests, including gourmands and oenophiles from far and wide.

Having covered the eatery’s opening six years ago I was interested to see what was on offer – and was delighted with the menu of coconut shrimp, pork roulade, and lamb chops wrapping a dark chocolate medley dessert accompanied by 2021 Foley Johnson Sauvignon Blanc, 2018 Foley Johnson Pat’s Blend, 2015 Merus Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2019 Kuleto Malbec.

An exquisite culinary night that had us all raven....

A Quartet Concert

Camerata Pacifica’s latest concert at the Music Academy’s Hahn Hall was an absolute gem featuring pianist Irina Zahharenkova, cellist Jonathan Swensen, flautist Sooyun Kim, and Ben Goldscheider on horn.

The eclectic program featured Yun’s “Etude No. 5” for solo flute, Ravel’s “Kaddish” for cello and piano, Pärt’s “Partita, Op. 2”, Rachmaninoff’s “Andante” from the G minor cello sonata, and Larsen’s horn trio; a commission premiere. A delightful evening.

‘Yellowstone’ Show Closes, Park Still Open

Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner’s hit show Yellowstone is reportedly coming to an end after the second half of the fifth season amid reported disputes between the Oscar winner, 68, and the show’s creator Taylor Sheridan

The issue appears to be a clash between Costner, who reportedly expressed desire to cut down his workload to focus on other projects, and Sheridan, according to the New York Post.

Adding to the uncertainty around the Paramount series is the absence of a firm date to resume filming for the latter half of the newest season – which could be disrupted by an impending

shutdown after the Writers Guild of America voted to authorize a strike over pay issues.

The first half of the season ended in January. Stay tuned...

Dad Takes Selfie for Kids’ Sake

King Charles III asked Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry – who is singing at the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle on May 7 – to take a selfie with a member of his staff. The staff member had confessed to the monarch that his children “loved her,” the king's former private secretary has revealed.

Scott Furssedonn-Wood began working as deputy private secretary to the then Prince of Wales and Camilla in 2017 before leaving Clarence House in 2021.

He recalled an incident with Charles on Twitter when the pair met Katy in Mumbai, India, in 2019.

“I was with the king when he first met her. I told him how much my kids loved her. Those of us on the team never asked for selfies. So HRH kindly asked for me. He and his family are such fans!”

Charles went on to meet the former Dos Pueblos High student, 38, for a second time in February 2020, when it was announced Perry would be ambassador for the British Asian Trust.

Spirit and Junior Spirit Named

In a spirited competition at the Lobero with more than 600 eager attendees, Jack Harwood,19, was donned as this year’s Spirit of Fiesta, marking the first time ever a male Spirit of Fiesta was selected.

Jack is the son of Riley and Dacia Harwood, the Executive Director of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

My Montecito Journal colleague, Tanis Nelson, a longtime advertising represen-

tative, is particularly pleased this week after her 10-year-old granddaughter Olivia Nelson was chosen as Junior Spirit of Fiesta.

A student at Roosevelt Elementary School, Olivia enjoys math and art with hobbies including skating, gaming and flamenco.

She also dances at retirement homes and is involved with beach cleanups.

“We couldn’t be prouder!” gushes Tanis.

It’s Good to Be the King

King Charles III has eclipsed his late mother Queen Elizabeth II’s wealth with a $745,000,000 fortune, according to new estimates.

Last year the late monarch was calculated to be in possession of $459 million.

But when he was Prince of Wales, Charles, 74, carefully saved profits from his Duchy of Cornwall land holdings, some 130,000 acres of land in the southwest of the U.K. and central London.

Analysis of the monarch’s finances was carried out for the London Sunday Times rich list, which comes out next month.

Before acceding to the British throne Charles previously earned $18.5 million to $28.5 million in personal income through his ownership of the historic Duchy of Cornwall, which has now passed down to oldest son Prince William

New analysis suggests the duchy’s profits have risen to $31.5 million a year with a net worth of $1,292,992,000.

Income has also come from renting commercial properties in London, Milton Keynes, and Cornwall to $21,864,000.

After the Queen’s death in September the king inherited nearly $28 billion in assets belonging to the Crown Estate plus Buckingham Palace, the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and Kensington Palace.

The estate holds some $18,634,000 of assets which cannot be sold, including the Royal Collection made up of more than a million paintings, sculptures, books, and pieces of jewelry.

Tracey Solomon on Board

Tracey Solomon , a partner in the audit department at local accounting firm Bartlett, Pringle & Wolf, has joined the board of directors of the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara.

A native of our Eden by the Beach, Solomon earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics at UCSB before joining her firm in 2003.

Her specialties include employee benefit plan audits, special district audits, equity-based transactions, and corporate reorganizations.

Solomon serves on the UCSB Economic Forecast Project’s board of directors and is a member of the Santa Barbara Foundation’s audits and cyber security committees.

She was named Accountant of the

Year by California’s Special District Association and has been included in the Pacific Coast Business Times’ Top 50 Women in Business and Who’s Who in Professional Services lists.

Barry Humphries Remembered

On a personal note, I remember Australian comic genius Barry Humphries, who has died in Sydney aged 89. Humphries, known for his alter ego – the lilac haired Dame Edna Everage and his cheery greeting “Hello possums” – was a great wit and connoisseur of art, and much loved by Britain’s Royal Family, including the late Queen Mother and King Charles.

I last saw him and his actress wife Lizzie Spender – daughter of poet and essayist Sir Stephen Spender – at the opening of the late Hong Kong tycoon David Tang’s Manhattan store, Shanghai Tang in 1999, when the Duchess of York was also a guest.

An enormous character...

Sightings

Singer Mary J. Blige rehearsing at the Music Academy...Singer John Legend at the Rosewood Miramar...Singer Kenny Loggins noshing at Ca’Dario on CVR. Pip! Pip!

From musings on the Royals to celebrity real estate deals, Richard Mineards is our man on the society scene and has been for more than 15 years

A little coconut shrimp for the first course (photo by Mercedes Smith)

Junior Spirit of Fiesta, Olivia Nelson, granddaughter of MJ’s Tanis Nelson with Spirit of Fiesta, Jack Harwood (photo by Fritz Olenberger)

Tracey Solomon joins Scholarship Foundation board (Courtesy photo)

The four locations for camera installations in Montecito:

129 Sheffield Dr

104 San Ysidro Rd

385 San Ysidro Rd

191 La Vereda Ln

Specific site plan installations from the permit application are shown below for each location, and the direction the cameras will film:

Sheriffs Commander Craig Bonner said the permitting process has been quite difficult. Once they’ve obtained their permits, installation could be in a matter of weeks. He also appreciated the support for this project from Montecitans. The mere presence of the cameras could deter future property crime, helping keep Montecito safe.

deep love for others and a life devoted to following Jesus. She sings and laughs in a way that invites others to join in. She smiles and offers hugs wherever she goes. She is a listening ear to many of her peers, even when she herself is swamped with work.”

Shiang serves as a residence assistant, a senator for the Westmont College Student Association, an Orientation team member, and a ministry intern at Montecito Covenant Church.

A staff member said, “David is joyful, intelligent, mature, and winsome. He is a faithful follower of Jesus. He is interning at his church, where he has helped them develop a league for local children. He goes out of his way to encourage me.”

Talk Examines Christian Spiritual Formation

World,” is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

Amos Yong , dean of the School of Mission and Theology and professor of theology and mission at Fuller School of Theology; Gregg TenElshof , professor of philosophy at Biola University; and Andrea Gurney , professor of psychology at Westmont, will respond to the lecture.

“My inaugural lecture will help set the stage for the ongoing work of the Martin Institute and its centers in light of the significant work of Dallas Willard,” Porter says. “I’m increasingly convinced that the Martin Institute — and efforts like it — are exactly what we need today. Cultural, ecclesial, and psychological factors keep Christians from consistently living out the kind of life Jesus came to offer, and the church and world are in crisis because of it.”

Inspired by the work of the late Dallas Willard, the Martin Institute seeks to support a new generation of leaders in Christian spiritual formation and to help establish this field as a domain of publicly available knowledge open to research and pedagogy of the highest order.

Porter graduated from Biola University, earned a master’s degree from Talbot School of Theology, and a Master of Philosophy in philosophical theology from Oriel College at the University of Oxford before receiving a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Southern California.

Steve L. Porter, the new senior research fellow and Executive Director of Westmont’s Martin Institute for Christianity and Culture, offers his inaugural lecture Friday, April 28, at 3:30 pm in the Global Leadership Center. The talk, “Knowing Christ Today: The Shape of Christian Spiritual Formation in the Academy and Church for the Sake of the

Angela D’Amour with winners David Shiang and Joy Sturges

Steve L. Porter

Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

Sharon Byrne is the Executive Director of the Montecito Association

Message from the MA (Continued from 11)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

FRIDAY, APRIL 28

Comedy Improv in Carp – Santa Barbara Improv has been presenting monthly short-form improvisational comedy shows downtown on the third Saturday of every month for decades, while also adding a long form version on third Saturdays. A few years ago, Kymberlee Weil – a high-level performance and speaking coach and one of the faculty members of an increasingly-revitalized SB Improv community – began teaching weekly drop-in workshops 15 miles south at the historic Alcazar Theatre in the beachside community of Carpinteria. Tonight, one of the Carpinteria Improv Players’ periodic performances provides an opportunity for folks to see Weil’s spin on directing an improv show, this one in a true theater setting. The unscripted, unrehearsed show highlights the tools of improv with the players making it up as they go along. In other words, just like in real life. Except here, laughs and surprises are all but guaranteed.

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: Alcazar Theater, 4916 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria

COST: $12

INFO: (805) 684-6380 or www.thealcazar.org/calendar

SATURDAY,

APRIL 29

Back to the Jungle – Rudyard Kipling’s famous tale of the laws of the jungle ignites a sense of adventure onstage at the Lobero Theatre as State Street Ballet brings its renewed production of The Jungle Book – one of the company’s signature and most cherished works – back home. Boasting colorful, upbeat, and wildly entertaining choreography from company founder, artistic director, and former ABT dancer Rodney Gustafson, plus an original score by Czech composer Milan Svoboda, SSB’s original production has successfully toured throughout California and the Southwestern United States since its premiere in 2009. The updated production is augmented with additional choreography from audience-favorite Kassandra Taylor Newberry, Marina Fliagina, Megan Philipp, and co-artistic director William Soleau, and mesmerizing digital projections by Jean-Francois

THURSDAY, APRIL 27

Iyer Investigates Isabella – Isabella Rossellini was born into European film royalty as the daughter of Roberto Rossellini, who was one of the most prominent directors of Italian neorealist cinema, and actress Ingrid Bergman, the Swedish film star who was one of the most influential screen figures in cinematic history – most famous for playing Ilsa in Casablanca. Isabella was a popular Lancôme model and starred in such films as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her Yet Rossellini also represents a startling example of self-reinvention, as in the mid-2000s she became an animal activist, earning a master’s degree in animal behavior and getting involved in several nonprofits, including serving as a board member of the Wildlife Conservation Network. Combining her interests, Rossellini now creates unique and humorous works of performance art based on her research. Rossellini also runs an organic farm in Bellport, New York. As part of UCSB A&L’s in Conversation with Pico Iyer series, the journalist and author will sit down with the former muse and partner to such artists as David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, and Gary Oldman, to share stories and conversation about her career, passions, and the trials and tribulations of a life lived almost entirely in the public eye.

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria St.

COST: $35

INFO: (805) 893-3535 or https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu

SUNDAY, APRIL 30

Jawing on Joints – Santa Barbara octogenarian artist Joan Tanner, whose solo exhibition Out of Joint: Joan Tanner occupies the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s McCormick Gallery through May 14, is filling the SBMA’s central space with some of her room-sized sculptures. These are fashioned from such media as plastic corrugated roofing sheets, re-bar, cast concrete, zip ties, drywall, c-clamps, safety netting, electrical conduit, joint compound, and plywood. In Tanner’s hands, the factory-made construction materials become gravity-defying sculptural agglomerations with flamboyant curves, brilliant colors, and an informality that flirts with chaos. Today, Tanner joins John Yau – Professor of Critical Studies at Rutgers University, acclaimed poet and author with more than 50 books to his credit, and for nearly half a century one of the most well-known practitioners of contemporary art writing and criticism. The two will be discussing Tanner’s bold exhibit (which also includes recent abstract drawings) and reflecting on how to stay out of joint; avoiding cliché and stilted ways in both writing and artmaking.

WHEN: 3:30 pm

WHERE: SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State Street

COST: $5 general, free for students and museum members

INFO: (805) 963-4364 or www.sbma.net

Revon. The current crop of State Street Ballet’s dancers delight in portraying wolves, snakes, monkeys, panthers, and more in the iconic coming of age story that follows young Mowgli’s adventures in a mystical land of wild animals. The intricate movements are set to jazzy rhythms, as the ballet is designed to take audiences on an unforgettable journey through the jungles and forests of India. The show closes out the company’s 2022-23 season before SSB heads across the Pacific to tour Japan for the first time in its history. (Hot Tip: For a potential preview of some possible future company dancers, check out The Space In-between, State Street Ballet’s Professional Track Program’s final presentation for the year. The company trainees will be performing excerpts from Joseph Hassreiter’s Fairy Doll and new choreography by Tanner Blee and Oscar Bravo – as well as a piece created by the trainees themselves. Show time is 6 pm on Thursday, April 27, at Center Stage Theatre. Info at https://centerstagetheater.org/show-details/the-space-in-between) WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

COST: $22-$58

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com

TUESDAY, MAY 2

The Nature of Muller’s Music – Pete Muller, the Montecito-based multi-billionaire whose burgeoning music career continues to climb in importance and relevance for the hedge fund head, teams up with his hand-selected band for his first show at SOhO in many months. As with his other endeavors – which include his creating crossword puzzles (many of which run in the Journal) – Muller’s music seeks to unlock some deeper level of understanding and drill down to the core of things to figure out how to make them better. On Spaces – the latest record by Muller and his band The Kindred Souls – the muse turns inward in a touchingly transparent collection of songs on the nature of relationship to self and others. All proceeds from tonight’s show at SOhO benefit the Wilderness Youth Project (WYP), the nonprofit that works in schools and throughout the Santa Barbara community to ensure that nature is accessible to all children, regardless of location and income. The Bear’s Horchata, featuring WYP’s very own Mario Mendez and Alex Campos, serve as special guests to open the show.

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: SOhO Restaurant & Music Club, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court

COST: $31.20 general, $15.76 discounted community tickets ($87.25 VIP tickets include dinner and priority seating)

INFO: (805) 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com

Montecito

“Welcome, O May! O joyous month and stainless!” – Alfonso X El Sabio

Mother’s Day with Dern & Ladd –Famed actress Diane Ladd (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Chinatown) and her equally accomplished daughter Laura Dern (Big Little Lies, Twin Peaks, Jurassic Park) put their pandemic downtime to good use by taking long walks together on a regular basis, together-time also sparked by Ladd’s having been diagnosed with a serious respiratory challenge. The two had appeared alongside one another in the films Rambling Rose and Wild at Heart, and now their relationship deepened on the walks as they were able to break down the traditional barriers between parent and child, conversing honestly about moments that profoundly impacted them. Their new book Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding) is a compilation of transcripts of those intimate reflections, colorfully interwoven with photographs, family recipes, memorabilia, and short segments written by each woman. Published in advance of Mother’s Day, this celebration of the power of leaving nothing unsaid may even influence the reader to get in touch with their loved ones to talk over personal and intimate subjects.

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Campbell Hall

COST: $25 general ($65 tickets include priority seating and a copy of the book)

INFO: (805) 893-3535 or https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu

THURSDAY, MAY 4

Men in Pink – No, it’s not the cover photo of a 30-year-old Izod catalog, but rather the title of an Art Matters lecture from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art about pink becoming the color par excellence of the French Rococo style of painting. Melissa Hyde, Ph.D. Professor and Distinguished Teaching Scholar at the University of Florida, will discuss how pink became intimately associated with the so-called “Godmother of the Rococo” – Louis XV’s famous mistress Madame de Pompadour. Madame’s wardrobe sumptuously capped a period when pink was much favored among the French elite in the fashions worn by women, children, and men. Professor Hyde’s talk explores why, in the 18th century, to wear pink was a statement; one made emphatic and enduring when memorialized in portraiture. Hyde will address such questions as: What colors were comprehended by “pink”? Who did or didn’t embrace this color and why? And what might it have meant for a racially “white” Frenchman to wear this notionally feminine color?

WHEN: 5:30 pm

WHERE: SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State Street

COST: $15 general, $10 museum members, free for students

INFO: (805) 963-4364 or www.sbma.net

THURSDAY,

MAY 4

Lovin’ on Luis – It’s been just nine months since longtime Santa Barbara-based Costa Rican composer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Luis Muñoz completely moved out of California, but following that pregnant pause he’s already headed our way again. His California visit encompasses just two shows, where Muñoz will be joined by local legend Randy Tico (bass), Dan Zimmerman (guitar), and Lois Mahalia (vocals). We’ll likely hear generous samples of half of Muñoz’s forthcoming double album Songs of Transfiguration and Hope, the part where Mahalia serves as the main singer on the positive vibes recording, before the band heads to Colorado, Costa Rica, and Arizona, where Muñoz now lives.

WHEN: 8 pm

WHERE: SOhO Restaurant & Music Club, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court

COST: $20

INFO: (805) 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com

Revenge of the Sixth

Saturday, May 6 4-7 PM

MOXI’s Annual Family Party

Experience your favorite exhibits with out-of-thisworld modifications, cosmic food + drinks, and special visitors from a galaxy far, far away.

Members: Adults $15 / Children $10

General Public: Adults $20 / Children $15

Children 2 and under free

All tickets include food + non-alcoholic beverages. Cocktails, beer + wine available for purchase (21+).

Costumes encouraged!

Tickets on sale now!

Block out time for play with a MOXI Membership.

From the earliest explorers, budding builders, to talented tinkerers, there’s something for everyone to build on at MOXI.

Join and receive:

• Free admission for one year

• Exclusive time to explore during Members-only hours + events

• Endless fun at MOXI + beyond through ASTC reciprocity (at the Family level and above)

Plus, join by May 15 and receive 4 free guest passes to share with loved ones during your visit (a $72 value).

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PHYSICAL TRAINING & THERAPY

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RENTAL WANTED

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AVAILABLE FOR RENT

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KNIFE SHARPENING SERVICES

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TRESOR

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TUTORING SERVICE

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Amazing Furnished condo across from East Beach 2 + 2 Pvt garage, pool, gym, tennis, pickle ball $6500/mo. Short/long lease considered. Submit pref. Text owner 805-358-0052

AVAILABLE SOON

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$10 MINIMUM TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD

It’s Simple. Charge is $3 per line, each line with 31 characters. Minimum is $10 per week/issue. Photo/logo/visual is an additional $20 per issue. Email text to frontdesk@montecitojournal.net or call (805) 565-1860 and we will respond with a cost.

Deadline for inclusion is Friday before 2 pm.

We accept Visa/MasterCard/Amex (3% surcharge)

EDC Mobile Sharpening is a locally owned and operated in Santa Barbara. We specialize in (No-Entry) House Calls, Businesses and Special Events. Call 805-696-0525 to schedule an appointment.

TILE RESTORATION

Local tile setter of 35 years is now doing small jobs only. Services include grout cleaning and repair, caulking, sealing, replacing damaged tiles and basic plumbing needs. Call Doug Watts at 805-729-3211 for a free estimate.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

K-9 PALS need volunteers to be foster parents for our dogs while they are waiting for their forever homes. For more information info@k-9pals.org or 805-570-0415

MiniMeta

ByPeteMuller&FrankLongo

Foreachofthefirstfiveminicrosswords,oneoftheentriesalsoservesaspartofa five-wordmetaclue.Theanswertothemetaisawordorphrase(fivelettersor longer)hiddenwithinthesixthminicrossword.Thehiddenmetaanswerstartsin oneofthesquaresandsnakesthroughthegridverticallyandhorizontallyfrom there(nodiagonals!)withoutrevisitinganysquares.

YOUR FRIENDS AT TRE   LUNE

“So

“We love you”

glad we had this time together”