The Giving List The Community Hot Rod Project

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

Kevin Haeberle, the Santa Barbara native who heads a nonprofit called The Community Hot Rod Project and the self-described “gearhead,” wants people to know that the organization isn’t only about hanging out with hot rods.

Sure, Haeberle has an impressive resumé that includes being selected fresh out of high school to be one of eight people in the annual BMW STEP program, where he built prototypes and movie cars, and later, after training at the prestigious Wyoming Technical Institute, went on to build specialty cars for Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin.

Yes, the Community Hot Rod Project (CHRP) took over hosting the Cars & Coffee events every Sunday at Lower Manning Park in Montecito during the pandemic, plus added similar events on the second and fourth Saturday at South Coast Church in Goleta. Indeed, CHRP also does some community outreach events that shows people how to fix their cars, and not only participates in larger car shows but also created a big one of its own in town – the 2022 Auto Rally at the Glen Annie Golf Club last May.

But, like a finely tuned engine or gearbox, the project’s image still needs a bit of tweaking.

“A lot of people think we’re just about car shows and don’t quite understand the full concept of what it is we want to do,” says Haeberle, the organization’s founder and president.

So, let’s clarify.

“The Community Hot Rod Project’s

Coastal Hideaways

main goal is opening a vocational training center here in Santa Barbara,” Haeberle says plainly, pointing out that Santa Barbara hasn’t had any such educational training available since Santa Barbara high schools cut auto shop and many vocational training programs from curriculums in the late 2000s.

The center, Haeberle says, will focus on “the dying art” of old school customization and all of the techniques involved, plus incorporate new modern technology in crossover training.

“Our nonprofit is looking to fill the void where students used to be able to learn the basic tools, skills, and trades, who can then fill the vacant spots in the workforce,” he says. “Dealerships and mechanic shops are hurting for technicians. There are tons of jobs, but not enough people.”

That’s because for two decades-plus, “kids have been pushed to go to college and get a degree, and are being steered away from working in the trades, getting their hands dirty, and actually making or fixing things.”

To that end, Community Hot Rod Project has launched a $1.5 million campaign to develop and build the vocational training center as a state-of-the-art facility for both education and car culture, housing workshop space, classrooms, offices, and a conference center in a vintage speed shop design that will also feature an out- door event center.

The new center will be a way to exponentially expand upon the events the organization is currently hosting, which are largely about outreach and awareness, Haeberle says.

“We’re using Cars & Coffee as a place for gearheads to gather and invite the community out to view the private collectible cars within the community,” he says. “It’s essentially just getting community awareness for our nonprofit and what we’re trying to do.”

Having the center will be the realization of Haeberle’s vision to pass on to the next generation the knowledge and passion first kindled when his dad taught him how to work on cars back in grade school.

“When we teach metalwork and fabrication, with some of the top builders and fabricators from all over California who want to be a part of this project, it brings in the properties of physics and geometry,” Haeberle explains. “In developing custom parts, it crosses over with other vocational trades. It’s not just hot rods.”

The CHRP’s efforts are largely geared toward people of all ages and backgrounds, but, Haeberle says, the bigger focus is on kids who are in elementary school up through high school.

“If you get ‘em interested when they’re young, it can become a lifelong thing. It’s like going out for sports or learning a musical instrument. Not everybody likes football or baseball, the piano or violin, but at least they understand it. They’ve had a chance to try it out. That’s what we want to create here –the opportunity to get into something that’s fun and educational early on in life. There’s really nothing like getting your hands dirty and working next to others in getting a job done. It’s not just how to work on cars – we’re teaching life-building skills.” play of abiding family love centers on an Afghani former interpreter for the U.S. military in hiding from the Taliban at his sister’s home in Kabul. Tension mounts as he plans his escape with his wife and newly born first child.

Meanwhile, the auto rally and a fundraising gala are coming, with details still to be firmed up. Haeberle, like everyone at the nonprofit, donates time and energy so that 100 percent of incoming funds can go toward creating the training center. “I’ve just been so busy with everything else,” he says.

Now, if there’s a desire to be a part of where the project is headed, financially or otherwise – Haeberle will find the time to talk. Feel free to reach out to him on his mobile phone, (805) 2808745, the one that appears in the Giving List book and online.

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The four-member cast of the poignant show – Rishan Dhamija as the interpreter, Nitya Vidyasagar as his sister who hides him, Christine Mirzayan as the friend and neighbor, and Beejan Land as the brother-in-law – are all making their ETC debuts.

A play not to be missed. It runs through Sunday, Feb. 19, at the New Vic.

A Chorale Creation

fellow Harvard classmate China Forbes led the group singing songs in Armenian, Croatian, Persian, French, Italian, and Japanese, just part of their 25-language songbook since making their European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.

Since then, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the San Francisco Symphony, and the BBC Concert Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Forbes, who has written many of the tony troupe’s iconic songs and has sung with Rufus Wainwright, Michael Feinstein, and the late Carol Channing among others, was in fine form with such hits as “Hey Eugene,” “Sympathique,” and “Clementine.”

Last year, she received the Ella Fitzgerald Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival where past winners have included legends such as Etta James, Liza Minnelli, Aretha Franklin, Harry Connick Jr., and Tony Bennett

The concert was the perfect musical libation. As usual, Pink Martini left us shaken and stirred!

FestForums Fun

The sixth annual FestForums, which serves the festival industry from ticketing, sponsorship, programming, sustainability, and marketing, hosted a boffo bash at MOXI for 300 guests to mark the launch of the two-day event in Santa Barbara.

“It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” said Laurie Kirby, co-founder and president. “It is a magical event and the first one in three years, given the pandemic restrictions.”

After cocktails on the main floor with Brazilian guitarist Benise entertaining with flamenco and ballet dancers, the action moved to the roof with a night on the tiles with Skip Martin, lead singer of the rock group Kool & the Gang. In the past, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, and Jon Anderson have graced the fest’s stages.

The festival attracted more than 1,000 visitors over 48 hours with venues including the Lobero, the Music Academy, and La Lieff Tasting Room in the Funk Zone.

The Get Together concert at the historic Lobero Theatre featured Jesse Colin Young and his daughter Jazzie, as well as Chris Stills, son of rocker Stephen Stills

Kabul at the

Vic

Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC) kicked off its first performance of the New Year with the suspenseful Californian premiere of the thriller Selling Kabul, written by Sylvia Khoury and directed by Nike Doukas

An off-Broadway hit and 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, the suspenseful

After three years of enforced layoff because of the pandemic, Santa Barbara’s Master Chorale, under new director David Lozano Torres, was in fine voice when it performed Haydn’s great masterpiece The Creation, an oratorio written in 1797 based on the book of Genesis, at First Presbyterian Church.

Now in its 39th season, the group stages the finest choral music from the 16th through 21st centuries.

The concert starred soprano Christine Hollinger, a regular member of the Opera SB chorus, tenor Lorenzo Johnson, who is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at UCSB, and baritone Matthew Peterson, a graduate of Yale School of Music who Miscellany Page 434