ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

THURSDAY, MAY 18

Curtis, CAMA, Community – Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music is one of the top music conservatories in the world, boasting such illustrious alumni such as Leonard Bernstein, Peter Serkin, Yefim Bronfman, Hilary Hahn, Lang Lang, and Yuja Wang, not to mention Montecito native baritone Evan Hughes. Each year, the 100-plus aspiring young musicians of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra work closely with internationally renowned conductors and the institute’s celebrated faculty, much as Music Academy fellows do here each summer. The difference is, Curtis’ students then go out and play concerts in the U.S. and around the globe. Tonight, Community Arts Music Association (CAMA), in partnership with MA, is bringing the current version of the ensemble, led by conductor Osmo Vänskä, the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, for a special Community Access concert. Two of classical music’s most popular and time-honored masterpieces – Rimsky-Korsakov’s colorful Scheherazade and the virtuosic Schumann Piano Concerto, featuring Bronfman as soloist – form the heart of the program. Dai Wei’s Awakening Lion, a new work commissioned for this tour, opens the concert.

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Granada Theatre, 1214 State St.

COST: $86 regular; $10 community access, free for ages 7–17

INFO: (805) 899-2222 or www.granadasb.org

FRIDAY, MAY 19

Folk Music of the Future – ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! closes out its 2022-23 season with one of the most popular and well-traveled bands on the Chicanx scene. Las Cafeteras’ infectious live performance that blends son jarocho and spoken word in a sonic explosion of Afro-Mexican rhythms, electronic beats, and powerful rhymes has taken them around the world. In remixing roots music as modern-day troubadours, the band has played shows from Bonnaroo to the Hollywood Bowl, and WOMAD New Zealand to Montreal Jazz. Born and raised east of the Los Angeles River, the members of Las Cafeteras take folk music to the future by documenting stories of a community seeking to “build a world

FRIDAY, MAY 19

Doo-Wop Downtown – Re-live the golden age of street singing turned vocal sensations when two legendary groups of the era team up for five shows over two days at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura. Both the Drifters and the Coasters are certified American treasures, with both having been among the first vocal groups to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1988 and ’87, respectively). The Drifters, whose “Under the Boardwalk” is the most played R&B hit of all time and count the classics “Up on the Roof,” “Save the Last Dance for Me,” and “On Broadway” among their other hits, apparently has a roster of all new singers for 2023. Cornell Gunter’s Coasters, as the group is now known, boasts members who date back more than two decades in delivering such hits as “Love Potion No. 9,” “Charlie Brown,” “Yakety Yak,” and others that made them among the few artists in rock history to successfully straddle the line between music and comedy. Fans will get to sing along to many of the classic tunes in what promises to be a nostalgic journey down memory lane for many, or an introduction to a bygone era for others.

WHEN: 2 & 7 pm today; 2, 5:30 & 8 pm tomorrow

WHERE: Rubicon Theatre Company, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura

COST: $69.50, discounts for students, seniors, military, and Equity members

INFO: (805) 667-2900 or www.rubicontheatre.org

SATURDAY, MAY 20

Book It! Mormon Arrives – The Book of Mormon, the record-smashing Broadway musical collaboration between the creators of TV’s South Park (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and the composer of Avenue Q (Robert Lopez) about two missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints attempting to preach the faith in a remote Ugandan village, has finally made it to Santa Barbara. Winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, as well as a Grammy for its soundtrack, Mormon makes the most of its story of the earnest young men’s lackadaisical reception from the locals, who are facing such serious issues such as HIV/ AIDS, famine, female genital mutilation, and child molestation, not to mention oppression by the local warlord. What sounds like something that could have gone off the rails instead turned into one of the best-reviewed and most successful musicals of all time. The New York Times called it “heaven on Broadway” and “the best musical this century,” noting that the Mormon is “blasphemous, scurrilous and more foul-mouthed than David Mamet on a blue streak… But its heart is as pure as that of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show.” Book your tickets now as Mormon plays just thrice in closing out The American Theatre Guild’s current Broadway in Santa Barbara series.

WHEN: 8 pm today, 1 & 6:30 pm tomorrow

WHERE: Granada Theatre, 1214 State St.

COST: $64 to $149

INFO: (805) 899-2222 or www.granadasb.org where many worlds fit.” Las Cafeteras electrify traditional instrumentation like the 8-string Jarana, 4-string Requinto, Quijada (donkey jawbone), and Tarima (a wooden platform) while adding in rock and hip-hop, as well as singing in different languages, honor the past while taking folk music to the future.

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High, 721 East Cota St. COST: free

INFO: (805) 884-4087 ext. 7 or www.facebook.com/VivaelArteSB/

SATURDAY, MAY 20

Voyces Carry – We don’t have a lot of information about the program for this weekend’s pair of concert from Quire of Voyces, the 30-year-old a cappella choral group founded and still led by artistic director Nathan Kreitzer, other than a promised highlight is the singing of an Icelandic hymn in the native language. What we do know is that the ensemble that elegantly pairs top-notch performances of rarely heard a cappella works from the Renaissance with modern hymns, songs, and spirituals, and even a commissioned work never fails to be anything short of stirring in their twice-a-year shows at the acoustically stunning and historic St. Anthony’s Chapel.

WHEN: 3 pm today & tomorrow

WHERE: St. Anthony’s Chapel at Garden Street Academy, 2300 Garden St. COST: $20 general, $15 students & seniors

INFO: (805) 965-5935 or https://quireofvoyces.org

SUNDAY, MAY 21

Bowled over by Brad – Country music superstar Brad Paisley bucks up Unity Shoppe’s coffers with his biggest benefit event for the nonprofit yet. One of country music’s most decorated male solo artists, Paisley’s awards include three Grammys, two American Music Awards, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 14 Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year recognizing him as the most successful CMA Awards co-host in history, alongside Carrie Underwood, for 11 consecutive years. Paisley wrote 21 of his 25 No. 1 hits, and in 2008 became the first artist to achieve 10 consecutive Billboard Country Airplay No. 1 singles. Paisley’s past works have amassed nearly 5 billion career streams. Tonight, he brings all of that appeal to the Santa Barbara Bowl for a benefit concert, with all proceeds directly supporting Unity Shoppe. Paisley

Streaming the Open Seas – The HBO Max mini-series Our Flag Means Death is a loose adaptation of the true adventures of aristocrat turned would-be pirate Stede Bonnet. The series follows the captain and his eccentric crew as they sail the high seas in search of adventure and treasure in the early 18th century, along the way hooking up with the notorious Captain Blackbeard, who becomes his mentor, confidant, and more. Blessed with sharp writing and a terrific ensemble cast, the fictitious take on these historical figures created an endearing and compelling story filled with goofy humor and delightful character dynamics that was praised for its refreshing and playful take on the pirate era of history, as well as its positive representation of LGBTQ+ characters and relationships. Writer Eliza Jiménez Cossio does a Q&A session following a screening of the pilot episode and episode 4, “Discomfort in a Married State.”

WHEN: 2 pm

WHERE: Pollock Theater, UCSB campus

COST: free (reservations recommended)

INFO: (805) 893-5903 or www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/pollock and his family, who are part-time Montecito residents, have been volunteering with Unity Shoppe – which provides free food, clothing, and personal care items to residents in need – for more than 10 years, including annual appearances at Unity’s holiday celebration, a.k.a. Christmas telethon. In 2020, Paisley and his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, replicated Unity’s choice-based service model in their hometown of Nashville, Tenn., but the entertainer still has a special place in his heart for the Santa Barbara organization. Opening is Dawes, the Los Angeles-based folk-rock band led by Taylor Goldsmith, with whom Paisley co-wrote “Same Here,” the country star’s new single that also features a special appearance by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: 1122 N. Milpas St.

COST: $54.50 to $135.50

INFO: (805) 962-7411 or www.sbbowl.com

TUESDAY, MAY 23

Turtle Talk – Celebrate World Turtle Day at the Santa Barbara Zoo with naturalist and author Sy Montgomery and illustrator Matt Patterson. The pair’s latest collaboration is The Book of Turtles, a picture book that’s suitable for both children and adults, as it features Patterson’s lifelike art alongside astounding facts about turtle evolution, turtle talents, celebrity turtles, and information on how to help protect turtles.

Montgomery and Patterson’s visit to Santa Barbara isn’t just a random stop on their promotional tour, as our zoo is part of a national effort to help save the Western Pond Turtle, California’s only native freshwater turtle species, from a possible threat of extinction. The zoo’s five Western pond turtles were all rescued from their native habitats after being found with injuries. While many rehabilitated turtles are returned to the wild, medical exams revealed that these individuals likely could not survive. They are now ambassadors for their species in the zoo’s hilltop locale. The Turtle Talk event is free, but reservations are required. Non-alcoholic beverages will be served and copies of The Book of Turtles will be available for purchase.

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: 500 Ninos Drive

COST: free

INFO: (805) 962-5339 or www.sbzoo.org way. And we have enough existing laws to do that. If lawmakers had the political will, they would revoke the 1996 Communications Decency Act Section 230. Because Section 230 pretends these companies do not have editorial control.

GL : But the minute they can take anything they want off their site, they have editorial control.

MR: Yes. That’s right.

GL: What has come out of your Real Facebook Oversight Board?

MR: We’re still together. The first thing is we had three demands and within 24 hours Facebook met them. We did this largely because I’m worried about the 2024 elections. Because as I said, the doomsday clock is ticking, and there’s the cascading impact. People are being manipulated on three basic levels.

The first is personal. So now after January 6th, you’re running after the people who were there who committed violence on January 6th.

The second layer is sociological. Groups. We know this from studying terrorists that groups behave differently. Individuals alone wouldn’t do some of the things groups would do. This is why a mob forms. And these are studies from all the way back. There are the conformity studies, like the Milgram study on authority. The Milgram experiments show that if you actually give someone the authority to give electric shocks to another person – even if that person is hurt or you hear them screaming for you to stop – because you have been given authority, you can potentially kill a person. And these are good people who were tested.

So, you have these studies, but now we have social media. Sociologically, we behave differently in groups, and that last part, is communal violence. We’ve seen it in India. In Pakistan, you’ve seen genocide in Myanmar, and I knew this from when we started Rappler, anything in the virtual world spreads at least four times faster. This was at the beginning in 2012. So, the last part, we haven’t done enough studies about emergent human behavior.

Astroturfing is like fake grass. It is fake. It’s trying to create a groundswell that is manufactured and controlled.

If you’re doing genetic research, you use vesicular fruit flies. You see emergent behavior from a whole, and you cannot predict what will happen to the species from the individual parts. That is what emergent behavior is. Essentially, it’s evolutionary because we are changing the plasticity of our brains. We are pumping toxic sludge through our information ecosystem. We’re changing our attention spans. It’s changing emotions and that changes the way we look at the world and the way we act, the way we vote.

So those are the three layers. But then the other part is, we are democratically electing these illiberal leaders; Rodrigo Duterte was elected democratically. He was the first of the political dominoes. Brexit happened about a month later. And then you had all the elections. Trump in November…

This is not in the book, but V Dem – from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden – uses a much more sophisticated way of looking at how democracy has regressed. In 2022, the V Dem said that 60% of the world was under autocratic rules. The next year in 2023, that number went up to 72%. So in 2022, I didn’t pay that much attention because I thought, well that includes India and that’s a big country, and China. By 2023, when it goes to 72%, you got to know that the world is tilting. So, the tipping point for democracy is 2024 and between January this year and then – there will be 90 elections. Turkey is having its elections May 14th. So that’s critical and Europe is right next door, and if nothing significant has changed... three key elections will be Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim population; India, the world’s largest democracy, the path is already kind of clear where India’s headed; and then the United States. If those three show regression, then that’s the tipping point.

GL: Do you have hope?

MR: Always. How can you not have hope? I just gave a commencement speech, and the hard part is: How do you tell kids to live by values that are being thrown out? Because at the very base level, information is corrupted from the beginning. I always use Stranger Things as an analogy – everyone watches it in the Philippines – we’re in the Upside Down. I still have hope. We will turn it right side up, but the time is now, the window is closing.

Published May 18, 2023