Changing of the Guard

Cox Not Communicating – Locals Chris and Dori Carter write in about their woes with Cox Communications, P.8 Black History Month – SB Black Culture House founders talk about their inspiration and what is in store for February and beyond, P.12

Flower Power – Lauris Rose and Heidi Kirkpatrick discuss the wonderful world of orchids and the upcoming show, P.14 Gaviota Lookout – The newest addition to the Arroyo Hondo Preserve is the perfect spot for a picnic, P.27

SERVING MONTECITO AND SOUTHERN SANTA BARBARA

www.montecitojournal.net

Leading From Within is bringing together nonprofit directors and other execs. to learn how to lead, page 24

CHANGING OF THE GUARD CHANGING OF THE GUARD

After a 35-year career, Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor announces his retirement with David Neels, Division Chief of Operations, named as his successor. Read about Taylor’s career on page 5, and a message from him about the 2022 Annual Report and all Montecito Fire did this year on page 26.

Sadie Brickman Reynolds

Eleven-year-old Montecitan with strong performance roots lands her first theater role in The Secret Garden at the Ahmanson, page 16

Lowe

Rob Lowe’s son speaks about his first feature film, Grace Point, now screening at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), page 23

John Owen

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

P.5

Village Beat – Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor retires, Golf Max in Loreto Plaza gets a new owner, and a correction for the Astrid de Wild article last week

P.8

Letters to the Editor – Filtering through the county’s cannabis ordinance, Cox owes someone some money, debris flow thoughts, fresh uni, and more praise for Montecito Tide Guide

P.10

P.12

P.14

P.16

Montecito Miscellany – Some Super Bowl fun, Hearts Aligned luncheon, two exhibits open at the art museum, and more

Our Town – A look inside Santa Barbara Black Culture House, founded to shed light on the African diaspora

Society Invites – Lauris Rose, board president of SB International Orchid Show, Inc., digs into the yearly showcase at the showgrounds slated to bloom March 10-12

Dear Montecito – Sadie Brickman Reynolds, all of 11 years old, digs into family roots while stepping into the spotlight for The Secret Garden

Your Westmont – The observatory opened for stargazers, the orchestra tours, and women’s swimming makes a big splash

P.22

Living Well with Parkinson’s Disease 2023 Symposium

P.23

ELKS LODGE, 150 N. Kellogg Ave., Santa Barbara

Saturday, April 1, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

$30 fee includes coffee, pastries, lunch

Register at mypasb.org or scan the QR code or send $30 check to: PASB, P.O. Box 6254, SB 93160

Sponsored by:

P.24

Brilliant Thoughts – From childhood to math, the words of Ashleigh Brilliant will teach you about how we learn Ernie’s World – Ernie faces his phobias and heads deep into the ancient burial site of Newgrange in Ireland

Community Voices – Dr. Cortney Warren offers advice to ease the challenging burden of letting go of one’s ex-spouse after a painful divorce

On Entertainment – Locals screen at SBIFF, Ted Nash continues to transform his work, and Nina Yoshida Nelsen in An American Dream

The Giving List – Leading From Within is elevating the area’s nonprofit leadership and connecting these organizations so they can work together

P.26

P.27

Hot Topics – Lots of progress to relay in this year’s Annual Report from Montecito Fire Protection District

Celebrating History – Hattie Beresford is on the lookout for Gaviota Lookout’s 50 new acres during a tour via MULE with Arroyo Hondo Preserve’s John Warner

P.31

Far Flung Travel – Missing the annual Christmas Bird Count, Chuck heads out on his own to see what winged wonders are out there

P.33 In Passing – Remembering Hope

Sterling Kelly: active community member, competitive ballroom dancer, trusted confidante, and loved by all who knew her

P.35

The Optimist Daily – Rats to the rescue with these small tech-savvy backpacks that can help locate survivors during natural disasters

P.36

Calendar of Events – Now and Then at the Alcazar, Air Supply at Chumash, the Choral Society gets romantic, and more

P.38

Classifieds – Our own “Craigslist” of classified ads, in which sellers offer everything from summer rentals to estate sales

P.39

Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles

Local Business Directory – Smart business owners place business cards here so readers know where to look when they need what those businesses offer

Photography: Spenser Bruce

Dr. Michele Tagliati Cedars Sinai Medical Center

Dr. Adrienne Keener UCLA

Village Beat

Montecito Fire Chief to Retire

by Kelly Mahan Herrick

Earlier this week, Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor announced his upcoming retirement from the Montecito Fire Department after 35 years of service. Chief Taylor has served as fire chief since 2019; his last day at the helm will be March 31. “This career has been the honor of my life,” Chief Taylor told us during a recent interview.

Chief Taylor began his career in the fire service in 1987 as a seasonal firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Over the course of his career, he has served in every rank of the fire department. After two summers working as a seasonal firefighter, he became a firefighter/paramedic for a municipal fire department. He then became an emergency medical technician and began working for San Luis Ambulance. He went on to attend paramedic school at Stanford University and completed the basic fire academy at Allan Hancock College.

In 1991, he was hired in his hometown of Paso Robles as a firefighter/paramedic. During his 24 years there, he was promoted to fire captain/paramedic and served his final 12 years there as a battalion chief. He was instrumental in professionalizing the department to meet the needs of the city’s growing suburban community and served as incident commander for major incidents in Paso Robles, including the 2003 San Simeon earthquake. While with Paso Robles, Chief Taylor was a member of California Incident Management Team 9, deploying to complex incidents across the state. Locally, he was a founding member of the San Luis Obispo County Type 3 Incident Management Team. Chief Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree in Fire Administration and a master’s degree in Emergency Management.

In February 2015, Chief Taylor joined Montecito Fire Department as Division Chief of Operations. During his time in that role, he played an integral part in launching the Santa Barbara County Type 3 Incident Management Team and worked diligently to build relationships with local partner agencies. He led Montecito Fire and the community through the worst disaster in Santa Barbara County history – the 1/9 Debris Flow in 2018 – when 23 community members were lost, along with hundreds of homes. As incident commander for the 1/9 event, he dedicated himself to a holistic and multi-faceted response and recovery of the landscape, the community, and our first responders.

On June 24, 2019, the board of directors promoted him to fire chief. From the outset of his tenure as fire chief, he has championed a culture of empowerment within the fire department by encouraging and supporting personal and professional development for every member of the organization to prepare confident and capable leaders for the future of Montecito Fire. Chief Taylor tells us that successfully developing the next leaders within the district is one of his proudest achievements. “We work very hard to ensure that the future leaders of MFPD (Montecito Fire Protection District) come from within MFPD. We have such exceptional employees, it’s silly to look elsewhere when they are right here,” he said.

Additional achievements include building collaborative relationships between all of the South Coast fire departments, which was not a priority when he first began with Montecito Fire in 2015. He also said the support of the community at large is astounding. “The level of connection that the organization has with the community is out-of-this-world positive,” he said.

“When the board hired me to be the fire chief, our goals were to enhance the culture of empowerment and ensure executive development by passing along every lesson I have learned throughout the course of my career. My hope is that this has laid a strong foundation of resilience, progress, and preparedness. In my 35 years, serving the community remains at the heart of why I chose this profession. Your support and gratitude have sustained me through the most difficult moments. None of my professional accomplishments would have been possible without the outstanding people who

Montecito Fire Chief Kevin Taylor announced his retirement earlier this week

comprise the Montecito Fire Department, the incredible community we serve, and most of all, my supportive wife and son,” Chief Taylor said in an official statement. He says that he and his wife will begin his retirement by traveling.

“Chief Taylor has dedicated his entire career to serving others,” said Montecito Fire Protection District Board President Peter Van Duinwyk. “We are so fortunate to have had his exemplary leadership over the last eight years here in Montecito. On behalf of the board, I wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.”

Chief Taylor informed the Montecito Fire Protection District’s Board of Directors in October 2022 of his intention to retire from the fire service in the spring. Following his announcement to the board last October, members selected current Division Chief of Operations, David Neels, as Chief Taylor’s successor. Chief Taylor and Chief Neels are working closely together to ensure a smooth transition. Chief Neels’s promotion to fire chief will take effect April 1. We’ll have more about Chief Neels in a future edition.

In Business: Golf Max

The largest golf store in Santa Barbara and Montecito is under new ownership, featuring 25-year-old local resident Alex Bollag at the helm. Golf Max is located next to Harry’s Plaza Café in Loreto Plaza and opened for business last fall.

The location was formerly a golf store called The Golf Klub; owner Tom Noyes announced his desire to retire last summer, and the idea of owning a retail golf store appealed to Bollag, who had recently graduated from Chapman University at the beginning of the pandemic and was working remotely for a governmental contract-

ing agency. “It was hard to find a job I was passionate about in a world where most businesses were closed because they weren’t considered essential,” Bollag told us earlier this week during a visit to the store. “I’ve always loved golf and have been a sort of ‘gear-head’ when it comes to golfing. The timing lined up really well.”

After making a deal with Noyes to buy out his inventory and signing a new lease with the owners of Loreto Plaza, the young entrepreneur went to work modernizing the shop and bringing in new brands to appeal to a wider range of golfers, many of whom took up the sport during the pandemic. “Golf has become cooler in the last few years, and now it seems everybody wants to play or is playing,” said Bollag, who has been playing locally since the age of 12. According to Bollag, the industry has broadened from a more traditional, formal game, to become more casual and appealing to a younger generation.

Bollag updated the store with new fixtures, flooring, new point-of-sale systems, and brought in a state-of-the-art simulator for testing and fitting. New brands including Cobra Puma, Bad Birdie Clothing, Lab Putters, Srixon, and Asics have been brought in to join the classics including Titleist, TaylorMade, Ping, Callaway, and others. “I’m working on finding the perfect balance to appeal to all demographics,” he said, adding that the shop is

Village Beat Page 94

Division Chief of Operations, David Neels, has been selected as Chief Taylor’s successor

Alex Bollag has opened Golf Max on upper State Street, the area’s only full-service golf store

Letters to the Editor

Dear Mr. Cox and Cox Communications

We feel so lucky to live in Montecito, a beautiful community with great neighbors and friendly dogs. And you owe me $30,000. This is what I was forced to spend on legal and engineering fees trying to stop your company from ripping out our landscaping and killing our trees in order to put a large, noisy, and noxious gas generator by our front gate.

But wait! If you act now, I’m also going to throw in, for free, a clue as to why your company has a consumer rating of 1.14 stars from 90 reviews.

This all started last January, when we received a letter addressed to “Neighbor,” telling us a gas generator was going “somewhere in your neighborhood.” This was Cox’s first mistake. They did not inform us, as required, that the gas generator was going on our property.

Second mistake: Before work commenced, your people did not perform a survey. Surveys are really useful to show property lines.

Third mistake: Hey fellas, the Right of Way is not 73 feet, as you indicated, but only 40 feet. So my property was not yours for the taking.

Fourth mistake: Cox neglected to mention to the county the row of old-growth trees that would have been impacted by the 21-foot trench. Cox obtained a permit by giving the county wrong information.

Fifth mistake: The local Cox person would not let us know who we might talk to because “it was against company policy.”

This is why we had to hire a lawyer, then an engineer to prove the obvious – that Cox was entirely in the wrong. Even after our attorney tried to get your attention, your lawyer, Mr. Strong out of Atlanta, stonewalled us. The billable hours mounted. We even tried to have an onsite meeting to show Cox the property line. But the powers that be canceled.

We have written to all our representatives, including Gavin Newsom and the head of the Public Utilities Commission. The only person who responded was Salud Carbajal, whose representative said this was a legal matter – not their thing. We even went to Chubb, who has insured us for decades. They replied that the legal fees we paid to prevent Cox from encroaching, didn’t qualify as an insurable loss because we stopped them from encroaching. Really?

Since you are worth $32 billion, according to Forbes, and we’re not, we are appealing directly to you. Let’s show people you have a heart. Give us back the money we spent trying to right a wrong. Let’s see if together we can get Cox up to two stars.

Sincerely,

Chris and Dori Carter

Setting the Record Right… A Difference of Opinion

Last week, former long-term and highly respected member of the Santa Barbara Planning Commission Addison Thompson

took issue with my contention that Mayor Helene Schneider bore primary responsibility for the continued 14-year closure of the 101 on-ramp at Cabrillo Boulevard, which has resulted in the addition of at least one million vehicles each year to clog Coast Village Road (CVR). Thompson named Caltrans as the primary culprit; I still maintain it was Mayor Schneider.

Thompson is correct that all decisions on the 101 ultimately rest with Caltrans, particularly those related to the highway widening. However, the so-called parallel projects, intended to improve local traffic flows, involve numerous entities and are the results of tradeoffs negotiated and voted upon by such disparate players as the mayor of Santa Barbara, the SBCAG (Santa Barbara County Association of Government) board, the S.B. City Planning Commission, the city transportation chief, the S.B. City Council and, in this case, permit approvals from the City of Santa Barbara and the California Coastal Commission.

Following the completion of the 20072012 five-year Phase One widening of the 101 between the Milpas interchange and the Hot Springs/Cabrillo interchange, in March 2012, Caltrans released its Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) recommending a reopened on-ramp at Cabrillo at the earliest possible date. The preferred Caltrans Cabrillo solution, labeled F-modified, recommended a righthand lane on-ramp reopening solution.

A group of influential Montecito dissidents calling themselves “Common Sense 101” began lobbying the California governor, Caltrans, SBCAG, and County Supervisor Salud Carbajal for their own Cabrillo configuration to retain left-lane ramps and reject the Caltrans F-modified solution. Their plan did not include restoration of a right lane on-ramp at Cabrillo.

Horrified by the Montecito opposition to the Caltrans plan and fearing continued gridlock on CVR, Montecito resident and philanthropist Vicki Riskin and I met with Helene Schneider on Jan. 13, 2014, to ask the mayor to reject the unsafe Montecito left-lane proposal and support approval of the Caltrans EIR with its plan to reopen a new southbound right lane on-ramp at the Cabrillo interchange.

Schneider explained that her goal in sup-

MONTECITO TIDE GUIDE

porting the Montecito left-lane advocates was only to pressure Caltrans into agreement to fund her pet $28-million negotiation with the Union Pacific Railroad to widen the Cabrillo railroad overpass. The bottom line was that she planned to withhold City permit approval of the Caltrans EIR, including the new on-ramp at Cabrillo, unless Caltrans funded her railroad bridge.

In 2014, the Mayor published highly controversial editorials supporting the Montecito left-lane retention group. Left lane advocates threatened to sue Caltrans, or anyone else favoring Caltrans’ recommended F-modified solution. The mayor decided to play a dangerous game of chicken with Caltrans, hoping to secure funding for her favorite railroad bridge in return for Santa Barbara’s approval of the Caltrans EIR. Meanwhile, support for the Caltrans F-modified solution grew among SBCAG staff and board members, to support an early Phase Two widening from Cabrillo/ Hot Springs to the Sheffield interchange.

In December 2014, the SBCAG Board refused to name Schneider, who was its sitting VP, to assume the chair of SBCAG, citing her rejection of the Caltrans EIR and her support of the Montecito left-lane advocates. Carbajal and all but one SBCAG voting member agreed that the Union Pacific bridge should be replaced, but they did not agree with Mayor Schneider’s position that the railroad bridge replacement should be weaponized to delay the entire

newspaper

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

Contributing Editor | Kelly Mahan Herrick

Copy Editor | Lily Buckley Harbin

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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, Gabe Saglie

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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

now offering a wider array of apparel and clubs for women as well. “Appealing to women is one of the biggest ways we can hit our full potential as a golf retail store.”

In addition to an extensive array of retail items including clothing, clubs, shoes, bags, balls, and more, Golf Max offers full-service fitting and repair including grip change, re-shafting, and more. Bollag said the shop is the largest golf offering in the area. Bollag is on-site every day, managing inventory, helping customers, and repairing golf clubs. “Custom fitting is also a big part of the business. It’s our job to figure out exactly what someone needs in a club, from the weight, length, kick point, grip point, head shape, et cetera,” Bollag said.

The store has done well with the local community thus far, Bollag said, adding that he and his three employees – including a Dos Pueblos High School student working toward career hours – place an emphasis on stellar customer service. “We’ve had a good reception so far, and we’re grateful for that,” Bollag said.

Golf Max is located at 3313A State St. next to Harry’s. Call (805) 687-6300 for more information. The shop is open every day except Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm (11 am to 5 pm on Saturdays).

Correction Issued for Body Wise Column

In the Feb. 9 issue of the Montecito Journal, the Body Wise column was titled “Astrid de Wild of Simpatico Pilates.” That was an error on our part. Astrid de Wild of the former De Wild Pilates Studio now works solo out of her beautiful home in the foothills of Montecito. She is not associated with Simpatico Pilates. Astrid can be reached at (805) 451-7837.

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.

We Invite You to Auction!

Montecito Miscellany

Super Bowl Bash

Our Specialists will be traveling throughout Santa Barbara and Montecito collecting Jewelry, Watches, Art and more for auction consignment or outright purchase. Please contact us to schedule a private in-person or virtual appointment.

INFORMATION & APPOINTMENTS

310-276-6616

by Richard Mineards

Social gridlock reigned when retired technology executive Howard Cannon opened the doors of his George Washington Smith home, just a tiara’s toss from the estate of singer Katy Perry and her British actor fiancé Orlando Bloom, for more than 90 guests for his sixth annual Super Bowl party.

With commercial time during the Fox broadcast of the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles at the 63,400-seat State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., going for $7M for 30 seconds and last-minute tickets selling for more than $10,000 a piece, the tension was palpable with the Kansas City team claiming their third Vince Lombardi Trophy in a last minute thriller 38-35, overcoming a 10 point halftime deficit with quarterback Patrick Mahomes throwing two touchdown passes in the second half and leading two other of his team’s scoring drives.

With a 27-yard field goal with just eight seconds left the Chiefs hoisted the iconic trophy, the second time in four years.

“It was really worth all the hype and buildup,” said Howard, who splits his time between his Montecito estate and a home in Memphis, Tenn. “We were all on tenterhooks. Those last minutes were quite something!”

Among the frenzied football fans attending the bustling bash were Paul Orfalea , Maitland Ward, Gretchen Lieff, Adam McKaig, Victoria Frost, Bill Dalziel, Nigel Gallimore, Brenda

Aligning Hearts and Minds

Hearts Aligned, the two-year-old Santa Barbara charity which supports critically ill children, threw its first Hearts to Hearts Valentine’s lunch with 156 guests at the Cabrillo Pavilion, raising around $100,000 for low-income youngsters.

The ubiquitous Janet Garufis, chairman and CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust, emceed the fun oceanside fête, as well as acting as auctioneer, while the tony triumvirate of David Edelman, Brigitte Welty, and founder Vivian Solodkin co-chaired the bustling bash.

Last year 35 low-income children were helped, and it is hoped that number will increase to more than 50 this year as the charity gains traction.

Solodkin recounted how her son Carlos was born in 2007 with congenital heart and pulmonary and gastrointestinal issues, as well as DiGeorge syndrome, a chromosome disorder, meaning he was fighting to stay alive.

“We did everything we could to keep him with us,” said Solodkin. “We didn’t know what we were doing. He was missing a pulmonary artery and spent two months on a ventilator in a hospital pediatric department.

“Recovery just wasn’t happening. He didn’t survive surgery. His lungs were so damaged. He died at just nine months

Miscellany Page 294

recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” —Thurgood Marshall

David Webb, Carved Coral, Diamond and Cabochon Emerald Dolphin Brooch. $10,000-15,000. Chopard Diamond Wristwatch. $6,000-8,000 Harry Winston, Diamond Ring, 8.24 cts. $120,000-180,000. Auction April 27

Blalock, Thomas Grayling, Rebecca Brand, Rick Oshay, Rochelle Mirabello, and Teresa Kuskey

2023 Super Bowl halftime break for some of attending guests with host Howard Cannon (photo by Priscilla)

Howard Cannon, Ashley Blevins, Adam McKaig, John Bridgewater, and Elana Cantrelle with first scoring game boards (photo by Priscilla)

Our Town Black History Month Part 1: Darrell M.

McNeill and Sally

A. Foxen-McNeill

SB Black Culture House

by Joanne A Calitri

Black History Month (BHM) is an annual national celebration during February that commenced with Negro History Week (February 1926) initiated by Carter G. Woodson, founder of Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). Later in the 1940s, Blacks in West Virginia began to celebrate February as Negro History Month, and by 1960 in Chicago, cultural activist, Frederick H. Hammurabi, started celebrating Negro History Month.

In 1976, the ASNLH used its influence to shift from a week to a month and from Negro History to Black History. In addition, February’s Black History Month is endorsed annually by Presidential Proclamation, which started with President Ford. The ASNLH renamed itself ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History) and continues to promote the study of Black history all year.

This feature story for BHM shines a light on Santa Barbara Black Culture

uate of Santa Barbara High School, sits on the board of directors of the SBHS Alumni Association, and is a member of the city’s Neighborhood Advisory Council representing the Lower West Side community. The majority of her career was spent at UCSB as a student advisor, working with primarily students of color and their journey toward graduating with bachelor’s and graduate degrees at UCSB.

Foxen-McNeill

House founded in 2020 by Darrell M. McNeill and Sally A.

Their mission is to present and illuminate the Black experience through events that showcase the art, culture, and history of the African diaspora in the city of Santa Barbara: “It serves not just as a spotlight on the vibrancy of Black life, but as a reminder of a once thriving Black community in America’s Riviera.”

Brooklyn-born McNeill is the CEO of PoetWarrior Productions and Backlit Media and director of Operations for the Black Rock Coalition, a 501(c)(3) advocacy group for BIPOC artists whose work defies and challenges reductive narrowcast genre and cultural classifications and stereotypes by the music industry. He also serves as vice-chair of the Santa Barbara Arts Advisory Council, in addition to being a musician, producer, composer, journalist, critic, broadcaster, and historian. He holds a BFA in print journalism from the School of Visual Arts NYC.

Foxen-McNeill, a native of Santa Barbara, is dedicated to her city. She is a proud grad-

SB Black Culture House, currently in its fourth year, operates annually as a onemonth cultural pop-up, located this year at Soul Bites Restaurant on State Street. I met Darrell and Sally there to talk about their organization and their work for our Black and Brown communities.

Q. What was the defining impetus for you to create the SB Black Culture House?

A. For Sally, she’d grown up in a Santa Barbara community that was far more diverse and cross-cultural than it is presently with every Black History Month having only a few programs here and there scattered around town. She wanted to create a single space that would host multiple events throughout the month and bring larger groups of people together. Darrell moved to Santa Barbara in 2017 after 10 years of maintaining a long-distance relationship with Sally. He was seeking opportunities to continue producing live events. His last job in New York was associate producer of Music Programming at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music). There didn’t appear

Where possibilities become possible

to be much bandwidth in Santa Barbara for the diverse programming he was accustomed to producing. Knowing the limited available space, Darrell suggested seeking out unused or underutilized public space, or “pop-up” models, which have been wildly successful in New York and other major cities, and the concept for Black History Culture House was born.

What is the mission for Black Culture House, and how is that coming together for you?

Lori Murray, SVP Thirty three years of banking on the Central Coast

SB Black Culture House co-founders Darrell M. McNeill and Sally A. Foxen-McNeill at their 2023 pop-up location, Soul Bites Restaurant (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

THE FILM WITHIN A PLAY

A Flying A Fantasy

Society Invites

Orchids: The Adventure Returns via SB International Orchid Show Inc.

Thursday, February 16 | 5:30 p.m. | FREE

For more information, please call (805) 565-6051

by Joanne A Calitri

Lauris Rose, board president of the SB International Orchid Show, Inc. (SBIOS), is unstoppable in her quest to keep orchids healthy, thriving, and in the public’s view. Their annual showcase event on March 10-12 at the Earl Warren Showgrounds is once again in bloom.

Known as the all-things-orchids global expert, she and her husband have more than 50 years in the commercial orchid business as co-owners Cal-Orchid, Inc. in Goleta. This year, the SBIOS is said to be a definitive platform of international award-winning growers through young grasshoppers learning the basics.

The Royal Botanical Kew Gardens in England, using orchid DNA to create a family tree and protect species at risk, writes:

“Orchids are an incredible evolutionary success story in the plant world. They are found on every continent on the planet, in almost every habitat, and even found north of the Arctic Circle. In fact, there are nearly three times as many orchid species as there are species of birds alive in the world today.”

I couldn’t help but wonder, what exactly is the lure this ancient plant has? Is it that the name “orchis,” given by Theophrastus in 300 B.C., means “testicles” in Greek, and their medicinal use was an aphrodisiac and the promoter of virility? Is it that researchers have dated orchids from the Jurassic period to the Mesozoic era (195 to 136 million years ago) and the Cenozoic period (64 million years ago)? Or the Chinese poems written about orchids during the reign of Confucius and their use in medicinal teas for cancer, immunity, and eyesight?

Yes, all of it and more!

Meeting and interviewing Rose was like experiencing a time machine on the subject. I arrived as she was germinating a new species with DNA samplings from seeds she cultivated. For plants needing care, she has an Orchid Health Spa greenhouse, and she houses plants for select owners such as movie directors and

Thai Buddhist monks.

Our two-hour interview includes three on-site teaching videos of Rose in action recorded by yours truly to accompany the story on the MJ website and YouTube Channel. Twenty-year orchid grower and SBIOS historian Heidi Kirkpatrick was also on hand with data points.

Joanne A Calitri (JC): What makes this year’s show different, and what is the ‘adventure’ theme?

Lauris Rose (LR): More than 200 years ago, collectors in Europe sent explorers around the world to hunt for rare orchids. There was a sort of orchid fever going on, and plants that came back from these adventures were coddled in conservatories by the very wealthy. When these plants took hold and flowered, artists were hired to paint them life-size, and then books were produced that were available by subscription by other avid growers who wanted to see what was newly discovered.

The theme for 2020 was meant to spark displays depicting plants in the wild staged for discovery. Of course, COVID (restrictions) shut us down, without anyone getting to come and see the displays and celebrate the adventure of orchid discovery and cultivation, so we decided to re-launch, an adventure for those of us involved with the show! And it is a fun theme.

JC: How many varieties of orchids (Orchidaceae) will be on display, and are any on the endangered list?

Heidi Kirkpatrick (HK): Part of the adventure of the SBIOS is that we never know what our exhibitors and vendors will bring each year. We do know that there will be thousands of blooming plants and plants for sale. There are over 28,000 recognized species in some 850plus genera, and that’s not even addressing the 100,000 plus hybrids. Even the most comprehensive show or orchid collection can only represent a fraction of the orchid family. But we have vendors and exhibitors from all over the world,

Community Arts Workshop (CAW), 631 Garden Street

SPONSORED BY THE WESTMONT FOUNDATION

John Blondell (professor of theatre arts, Westmont) discusses “Diamond to Dust,” the world premiere play that brings Santa Barbara’s silent film history to the stage. Select cast members will perform a scene from the play.

SB International Orchid Show, Inc. Board President Lauris Rose (right) with historian Heidi Kirkpatrick at CalOrchid Nursery

Dear Montecito

‘The Secret Garden’

by Stella Haffner

Ask me what our greatest Montecito exports are and I’ll say: Spanishstyle tile, Pierre Lafond wine cake, and talent!

Although born and raised in Los Angeles, today’s Dear Montecito feature has strong roots in Montecito that have inspired her to take up theater. Elevenyear-old Sadie Brickman Reynolds grew up hearing about her mother’s career in dance, her aunt’s screenwriting, her grandmother’s work in canvas and sculpture, and thought it was time to throw her hat in the ring. Having recently been cast as Mary Lennox in her first professional theatrical production, The Secret Garden playing at the Ahmanson Theatre, Sadie is paying homage to her Montecito roots.

Sadie’s grandparents, Paul and Jennifer Brickman, moved to Montecito in 1983. Their two daughters, Nora (Sadie’s mother) and Mattie, attended MUS and Santa Barbara Middle School together before parting ways to attend Santa Barbara High and Cate, respectively. During their childhoods in Montecito, Nora and Mattie got their start in the creative arts. With encouragement from their mother Jennifer, a former dancer herself, the girls attended their first ballet class at age 5. While Mattie would eventually branch off into writing – starting with a weekly column in Montecito Journal – Nora continued on the dance path, earning her BFA at the Boston Conservatory and entering a successful career as a performer and choreographer.

Clearly, there was a strong aptitude for the arts in this family, something director Warren Carlyle could sense when Sadie walked into the room for her Secret Garden audition. One week later, Sadie received exciting news: She was in the small pool of girls who had been offered a callback.

Your Westmont

Stargazing Features Great Nebula

Although Sadie is a veteran performer, with experience in cartoon voice-over work and having starred in many non-professional stage musicals, the demands of callbacks for a professional production such as The Secret Garden were something of a gauntlet. After performing her prepared material, Sadie was asked to read additional scenes and learn new songs on the spot, which she explains was a way for the casting team to see whether she knew how to take direction. Before callbacks were over, they had one last challenge for Sadie: “We’d like to hear that again. But how about this time, you try a British accent?”

As it turns out, this was no curveball for Sadie Brickman Reynolds.

“Because I’ve been watching The Great British Bake Off since I was little, I have heard the accent and just sort of spoke it,” says Sadie. “Of course, they asked me to sing with a British accent, which I’d never done before.” But this didn’t pose

4.55 4.70

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Financial Advisor

by

This month’s Stargazing at the Westmont Observatory features a diverse celestial menu of planets, Messier objects, open clusters, and double stars on Friday, Feb. 17, beginning about 6 pm and lasting for several hours. The observatory, home of the powerful Keck Telescope, is open to the public every third Friday of the month and held in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit (SBAU), whose members bring their own telescopes to share with the public.

Free parking is available near the Westmont Observatory, which is between the baseball field and the track and field/ soccer complex. To enter Westmont’s campus, please use the Main Entrance off of La Paz Road. The lower entrance off of Cold Spring Road is closed to visitors after 7 pm. In case of inclement weather, call the Telescope Viewing Hotline at (805) 565-6272 to see if the viewing has been canceled.

The evening will begin with Venus and Jupiter close together in the western sky. Although they may be too low for Westmont’s telescopes, a member of the SBAU may be able to show them in his or her telescope.

Orion, the hunter, will be high in the sky and perfect for viewing. “Westmont’s 8-inch refractor telescope should be able to show all the splendor in M42, the Great Nebula in Orion’s sword,” says Thomas Whittemore, emeritus instructor of physics and SBAU member. “Turning the refractor to Orion’s head and the star Meissa will reveal a beautiful open cluster in the Collinder catalog, named for Swedish astronomer Per Collinder, who cataloged more than 400 of these wonderful open clusters in the 1930s.”

The stunning open cluster M41 is in Canis Major, one of Orion’s hunting dogs, below Sirius, the dog star. “Sometimes called the Little Beehive, M41 hosts a collection of twinklers which lie about 2,300 light-years away from us,” Whittemore says. “Keep in

mind, the light from these stars has been on its way before the birth of Christ. In a good, dark sky, this cluster is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.” Another favorite is the star Tau Canis Majoris, which lies in the lower quarters of Canis Major. “Tau Canis Majoris is a double star with a beautiful collection of stars that comprise a stunning background field,” Whittemore says. Whittemore says he also enjoys asterisms, patterns of stars that may or may not belong to one constellation. “One of my favorites for the public is one that has no name,” he says. “It’s a triangle of stars: Procyon (in Canis Minor), Sirius (in Canis Major) and the bright star in Orion, Rigel. The public should ask an SBAU member with a green laser to point to this triplet.”

Looking to the south, Procyon will appear to be yellow. Sirius is scorching white and Rigel is blue-white. “The colors reflect the stars’ surface temperatures, yellow being the coolest of the three, and white and blue-white the hottest.

Orchestra Tour Features French Romantics

The Westmont Orchestra performs at several locations as part of a Presidents’ Day weekend tour, Feb. 16-18. These concerts are open to the public and free. The orchestra will perform “Amazing Grace,” Bizet’s “Carmen Suite” and Franck’s “Symphony in D minor” at 7 pm Thursday in San Marcos High School (4750 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara); 7 pm Friday in Santa Ynez Valley Presbyterian Church (1825 Alamo Pintado Road, Solvang); and at 7 pm Saturday in Calvary Baptist Church (3355 Constellation Road, Lompoc). The orchestra concludes its tour Sunday, Feb. 26, at 1:30 pm in Westmont’s Page Multi-Purpose Room. Orchestra conductor Ruth Lin says she is looking forward to seeing her students grow and deepen their understanding of the music and what it sounds

Your

Sadie Brickman Reynolds will portray Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden, playing at the Ahmanson.

Dear Montecito Page 284

Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

Stargazing at the Westmont Observatory began Feb. 15

northern freeway widening proposal.

When left-lane advocates retained Santa Barbara attorney Marc Chytilo to sue Caltrans, Judge Thomas Anderle ruled that the Caltrans EIR was deficient on some of the charges made by Mayor Schneider. He ordered that portions of the EIR be recirculated, causing an indefinite delay in the Cabrillo entrance reopening. Caltrans, facing lawsuits, rationally decided to switch all widening and intersection funding and construction away from Montecito and to move the 101 construction efforts to Mussel Shoals and Carpinteria.

That’s why I fault Mayor Schneider, and not Caltrans, as the principal culprit in this sorry saga. The southbound 101 on-ramp at Cabrillo still remains closed, 14 years later and counting. There is plenty of blame to go around in this 20-year political gamesmanship, but I still believe Mayor Schneider, and not Caltrans, was the primary contributor to the continued Cabrillo on-ramp closure that has unnecessarily punished Montecito’s CVR since 2009.

Bob Hazard

Santa Barbara: Where Transactional Politics Trumps Science

When it comes to intellectual curiosity or developing problem-specific solutions, our county lags far behind other $1.4B entities. Our money goes many places (take a look at our budget!) but rarely is it, as Montecito painfully knows, solution-driven or scientifically thoughtful. Allow me to explain:

Most every legal Cannabis jurisdiction in this state and others requires residential-close cannabis to be grown in greenhouses that use carbon filtration to neutralize the odor. This minimizes emissions, ground level ozone, and keeps the smell property-line contained. In other words, it does not create the textbook definition of a public nuisance, something – I might add – that is the county’s obligation to abate.

Now, had our supervisors done even a bit of homework before passing the most sweeping countywide ordinance in 50 years or, better yet, invited an open symposium exploring how other

states handled the issue, this is something they would have understood. Instead, our 4,600-employee county simply rubber-stamped what the Cannabis lobby drafted, an ordinance that is now universally categorized as the worst in the state — a veritable poster child for influence peddling and intellectual laziness.

Last week, even the state’s Coastal Commission weighed-in, calling our ordinance “the underlying problem” with the coastal chair, Dayna Bochco, taking the unprecedented step of chastising the county, saying that it was “time for Santa Barbara to revisit the ordinance.” I agree, but without supervisor term limits or political competition, our five monarchs (some of whom I actually like) have little political impetus to act, especially when campaign-contributing special interests are involved!

While there are a variety of ordinance changes that should be made, I’ll focus on just one – an easy fix based on some recent science that would merely require greenhouse growers to practice their “good neighbor” mantra.

In 2021, a group of growers contracted with the Coalition for Responsible Cannabis, agreeing to move toward and test carbon filtration against less expensive experimental technologies now being used in the area. While some of these same growers have shamefully reneged on their promise, more responsible growers facilitated the study which, in November, produced an in-depth third-party report showing what the entire world already knows: Carbon is superior and could reduce the smell “to a level that would result in no perceivable cannabis odor.” This hugely expensive endeavor was funded (like Resilient Communities) by private (always private!) coalition donors and was sent to the board of supes on Nov. 29, 2022, and as is Santa Barbara-typical, nothing happened!

Instead, certain supervisors (most notably “ours” in the First District) are using this truth to do what our county does best, practice transactional politics. So, on some Cannabis-appeals the more expensive carbon filtration is being required, and on others it’s not, leaving us with a patchwork of regulation and a grower-by-grower “let’s

make a deal” approach that doesn’t begin to solve the problem.

We need three supervisors honest enough to admit the ordinance has failed and courageous enough to make science-based changes as it relates to “Best Available Control Technology.” Board unanimity is a followers game, and it’s time that someone on the board begins to lead in the area of ethics (where S.B. is uniquely twisted) and ends the type of transactional politics that continues to plague our county — being “open for business” should mean something other than paying tribute!

Jeff Giordano, SB County Resident

Input on Debris Flow Strategies

I don’t know enough yet to come to more than provisional conclusions about the Montecito debris flow tragedies, but I do know that if I had been on the subdivision advisory committee when proposals came in to build on what appears to have been active alluvial fans, I would have objected to building within any present or potential flood/ debris flow zone. I once served on such a committee in one of California’s large cities for several years.

I would hesitate to jump to some of the popular conclusions that seem to have been reached, apparently largely based on media reports and interviews. When I operated a land restoration consulting business in the last century, I followed the Robin Hood/Peter Drucker/Admiral Hyman Rickover strategy; I made sure to build a team that could knock me off the log in terms of knowledge strength and would make sure to pay close attention to minority reports and publish them as appendices to the main report.

Here’s some of what little I “know” or suspect about the situation:

The biggest watersheds are large (knowing how large would help), so I would find the top hydrologist(s) and geologist(s) in the field.

The climate of the future may be different, so I would find the top climatologist(s) in the field (not necessarily just the noisiest).

Conventional flood-control engineering might be more costly and less effective than unconventional alternatives. I would find the most creative young engineers I could who would objectively, rather than traditionally, engineer any needed facilities on the real-world numbers and adequate knowledge (other team members?) of the entire context. No linear thinking.

Here is just one of the questions I would want as much clarity about as possible and necessary to permit future flows to pass by as harmlessly as possible: Should runoff velocities/volumes be increased or decreased – why, how, and where?

Unless clearly necessary for public health and safety (not development) purposes, I would tend to favor reducing the runoff volume and velocity to the minimum necessary to meet project goals,

including provision for capacities well above the “worst case” design scenarios. I probably would not settle for a single debris basin near the “mouth” of the canyon(s). I would probably suggest to the reconnaissance/design-study team the effective methods for reducing the volume(s) and velocities at several strategic points within the stream courses.

This would, in effect, flatten the runoff peak flows and retain a significant fraction of the event discharge to the maximum feasible, allowing the volume to drain more slowly over a longer period of time. While also simultaneously restoring/increasing riparian woodland, increasing the period of active streamflow (year-round?), and eliminating standing-water basins in favor of subsurface water storage and flow metering to prevent mosquito and other disease vectors from finding habitat for reproduction.

From recent aerial photography, the drainages appear to contain sufficient debris for yet another disaster. Because alluvial fans are built by deposition and alteration of runoff routes across their surfaces, the best researcher/team should study the present deposits to confirm this.

I welcome editing, corrections, and additions. These observations are necessarily limited in scope and detail.

Wayne Tyson

For the Love of Uni (and Local Fishermen)

My first-time visiting Santa Barbara, years ago, I vividly remember hearing people rave about the fresh uni — more commonly known as sea urchin — that was caught locally in the area and served onto your plate the same day. My first bite, I remember being blown away by the silky texture and fresh yet delicate taste of the salty animal. Caught locally using sustainable practices, fresh from sea-to-table; this is how seafood is supposed to be consumed.

However, it wasn’t until earlier this year, when I first heard about the federal government’s order allowing industrial finfish farms off of the Santa Barbara Coast, that I realized the importance of supporting our local fishermen. With plans to set up multiple fish farms along the Southern California Coast, the federal government, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, has made it clear that the health of our oceans and support for local fishermen is far less important than the profits associated with industrial fish farming. A series of fish farms along the coast would result in untreated fish waste, excess feed, chemicals, and antibiotics leaking out of the designated pens, into the open ocean, harming the entire Santa Barbara Channel and its ecosystems.

Every Saturday morning from 6 to 11 am, you can find a handful of local fishermen selling their local catches down at the harbor. Come support Santa Barbara’s fishing community next time you’re craving a seafood snack. And while you’re at it, make sure to call your local congressman to let them know that you do not

support the federal government’s attempt to industrialize our oceans. Santa Barbara is known for its local fishing community; let’s make sure to keep it that way.

Christopher Hyder

More Letters to ‘Montecito’ by Michael Cox

Hi, Michael.

Just finished your delightful, original, captivating novel Montecito. Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing it and to the MJ for serializing it in print. What a brilliant and innovative retro idea!

I read MJ most weeks in hardcopy. However, when I missed a week or two of your book, I was quite upset and emailed MJ, and Zach Rosen responded that I could read the missed weeks online, so I did. I was VERY HAPPY that MJ was savvy and intrepid enough to “print” it online, as well as hardcopy, and to keep the back few weeks and the beginning, for those who missed some, to reread and catch up with your fascinating story. I didn’t want to miss any. And I liked your surprise ending!

Your story is SO quintessentially Montecito. I know women whose husbands pulled similar scams on a smaller scale in Montecito. One husband, like your Genevieve, fled the country for parts unknown. The other was in lengthy litigation. And I heard of many women who were misled to make bad investments with high interest rates and defrauded. I do not live in Montecito but have spent much time over the years lunching, dining, and shopping in Montecito and have been reading the MJ print copy for several decades. Best wishes with finding an agent and publisher!

Sasha Leiterman

After reading the first couple of chapters of your book, I was HOOKED! Every time my daughter would come home with “The Journal,” I would grab it to see what Cyrus was planning to do to Hollis.

I pretty much knew that Cyrus found himself a patsy. I waited to see whether I was correct.

Your ending surprised me. Now that Hollis had the recipe for Key Lime pie, Cricket should open a pie shop and you should have book number two on the way and me as a happy reader.

You have given me at 97 years young much to look forward to with your excellent readings. I spend many hours a day reading and so looked forward to your chapters. Pure entertainment! Thank you so very much!

Best regards,

Pearl Bloom of Buellton

It was nice to see all the letters in last week’s Montecito Journal from readers who enjoyed Michael Cox’s contributions with chapters of his novel. I may be late to the game, but I just wanted to add one more voice in support. For the past few months, I eagerly awaited the arrival of Thursday’s MJ to read Michael’s latest chapters. I hope we can see more from him in the future.

Tal Avitzur

This serial story was outstanding! Perhaps the best new offering for the Journal. Each week promised a captivating read of a very well-written mystery with the added enjoyment of local interest. Best to Michael on his writing career! Will there be a new serialized novel soon? Hope so!

Kristen Salontay

I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed Michael’s book. Thanks for giving it a platform. He is quite the storyteller! I awaited with anticipation his new chapters each week.

Betsy Friedl

I am desperately sad that Michael Cox’s novel Montecito, which you serialized, has concluded. I could hardly wait for each new installment and am so grateful to you for making it possible for this wonderful work to be shared with the world!

Cathy Randall

We love your paper and particularly appreciate your running Montecito by our friend Michael Cox. Just thought you should know.

Best, Ryan

Hi Michael,

I wanted to thank you for an enjoyable and, at times, exciting, read in the Montecito Journal, that is, your book Montecito

As each week went by, I found myself looking forward to the next chapter, and I think by accident, I was hooked on reading MJ as well. Hollis was certainly my favorite character, and I commiserate with him through the unfolding horror show he and we endured.

There are a few unanswered questions. Was there anything sinister involved in the horseback riding accident Tripp had? What was Genevieve’s role in all this? I know she was in on it, but there were never any flashback chapters taking us to how this all began and what Cyrus did to bring the thugs on the scene.

You want to be a novelist rather than a Wall Streeter. Good for you. I encourage you to continue your writing. It can only get better.

Thank you and best wishes in your endeavors,

Jeanette Nadeau

Hi Michael,

Thank you so much for sharing your novel with Montecito Journal readers. I looked forward to reading it every week, making it my “reward” for reading the paper cover to cover! Such fun reading about places I’ve discovered during my nine years here in Santa Barbara – and learning about some yet to be experienced. Hope this success will inspire you to continue. (I noticed the door might be open for Hollis to return to find Genevieve?) In the meantime, I am now off to Mony’s to discover the burritos and pistachio salsa for myself!

Best wishes,

Kim Holmquist

Award-winning Materials Scientist and Science Evangelist

Ainissa Ramirez

The Alchemy of Us: Uncovering Hidden Figures in Science Whose Inventions Changed Our Way of Life

Thu, Feb 23 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE (registration recommended)

“Timely, informative and fascinating.”

– Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Sixth Extinction

Dr. Ainissa Ramirez promotes a love of exploration, making complex scientific processes both clear and mesmerizing to just about everyone.

President of the American Psychological Association

Dr. Thema Bryant

Homecoming: Overcome Fear and Trauma to Reclaim Your Whole, Authentic Self

Fri, Mar 3 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE (Registration recommended)

“Dr. Thema Bryant is teaching people how to come back to themselves and handle challenges along the way of self-discovery.”

– Nedra Glover Tawwab, New York Times bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace

Co-presented with Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara

Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Song of the Cell : An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human

Wed, Mar 8 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

“Mukherjee has a storyteller’s flair and a gift for translating complex medical concepts into simple language.” The Wall Street Journal

“If you are not already in awe of biology, The Song of the Cell might get you there. It is a masterclass.” The Guardian

Swan Lake

Ballet Preljocaj

Angelin Preljocaj, Artistic Director

Two Performances!

Sat, Feb 25 / 8 PM / Granada Theatre

Sun, Feb 26 / 3 PM / Granada Theatre (matinee)

Combining Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with new arrangements, choreographer Angelin Preljocaj reinvents the timeless tale of love, betrayal, seduction and remorse into a modern ecological tragedy.

Dance Series Sponsors:

Margo Cohen-Feinberg & Bob Feinberg, Ellen & Peter O. Johnson, Barbara Stupay, and Sheila Wald

2023 Grammy Award-winners

Attacca Quartet

Amy Schroeder, Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram, Andrew Yee

Sun, Mar 5 / 4 PM

Hahn Hall, Music Academy

“Classical music observers say we’re living in a golden age of string quartets. It’s hard to disagree when you hear the vibrant young players in New York’s Attacca Quartet.” NPR

Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte, Evergreen , and additional compositions for string quartet

Santa Barbara Debut

Special Thanks

Scan to watch trailer

Brilliant Thoughts Concerning Learning

by Ashleigh Brilliant

Most of us are familiar with the proverbs telling us that we live and learn, and that we’re never too old to learn. Nevertheless, that particular activity is primarily associated with the young, and indeed it begins with the very young, perhaps going back to the moment of birth, if not before. In those early stages, the principal teachers, models, and observers are the parents, especially the mother.

Among other things, the infant learns to speak some language by hearing others speak it. And one remarkable thing is that, no matter how difficult that particular language may be considered by other people who try to learn it, the child seems to pick it up with surprising ease.

One language I should have learned from my mother was Yiddish, which she spoke fluently. But she spoke it only to her friends and relatives (who were nearly all Jewish), and they actually used it as a sort of secret code, so that other people – in this case my sister and I –would not understand.

On the other hand, my father, whose hobby was playing the stock market (professionally he was a government worker – a British “Civil Servant”), apparently never had any interest in sharing any of that knowledge with me. So, I grew up knowing as little about stocks and bonds as I did about Yiddish.

How well we learn depends in part on having good teachers. The best one I ever had was at the equivalent of high school, which I attended in England. His name was Mr. Morris, and his subject was math, which had always been my worst subject. The people in my year were put in three groups, each with a different teacher, depending on how good we already were in math.

I was at first in the middle group, which had Mr. Morris. Although I still wasn’t fond of the subject, I found I could learn from him. He had the patience to explain things, in a way that I rarely encountered before or since.

Arithmetic seemed fairly straightforward and had obvious uses in everyday life. Algebra, on the other hand, was highly mysterious. You went in with a question, and somehow came out with the answer, without ever really knowing how it was done. But my favorite branch of math was geometry, just because it was so logical, and built, in a very orderly sequence, from what you knew to what you needed to establish – and at that point, you could write “Q.E.D.,” which stood for the Latin phrase “Quod Erat Demonstrandum,” meaning, “Which was to be shown.” (Mr. Morris gave us the alternative

translation of “Quite Easily Done.”) Unfortunately, I have had very little use for algebra or geometry in the rest of my life, except for being able to appreciate Gilbert and Sullivan’s song in which the Major General boasts that:

“About binomial theorems I am teeming with a lot o’ news, With many cheerful facts about the square on the hypotenuse.”

But it did inspire one of my own thought-full epigrams, in which I admit that:

“I studied geometry, but never found out whether life is a straight line or a circle.”

But I learned so much from Mr. Morris and started doing so well in math that, without my wishes being consulted, I was advanced from his middle-level class to an upper-level, with a different teacher, from whom I found it impossible to learn anything at all. After suffering through several of his class sessions, I had to put in a special request to be transferred back to Mr. Morris. Happily, this was granted – but it was the only time in my checkered career that I was voluntarily demoted.

One of the most common methods of teaching and learning is what may seem to be the tedious technique of repetition. Haven’t you often heard someone say something like “I heard it so often, I can’t get it out of my head.” This psychological phenomenon is often called “learning by rote” or “parroting” – from the fact that some parrots and other birds have a “gift” of vocalizing human speech patterns they have heard repeatedly. It tends to be the way we learn songs and poems, even if we never see them in written or printed form. But sheer mechanical repetition can also be exasperating to listen to. If I may again quote myself on this subject:

“I understood most of your message, but would you mind repeating the last scream?”

Ernie’s World Getting Into History

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.

by Ernie Witham

There are several things I dread hearing when I’m on a docent-led excursion. “If anyone here is acrophobic, you may want to reconsider today’s steep hike up Mountain Goat Trail.”

Or... “If anyone here is aquaphobic, you may want to skip the kayak experience down ‘Devil’s Muse Rapids.’”

But I wasn’t worried today. We were on a dry hillock, surrounded by sane-looking people. We’d had a jaunty bus ride with a historian telling us all about the Boyne Valley, which lulled me right into a nap. Then we had a nice lunch at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre followed by a short hike where we saw some Irish sheep drinking from the Guinness River. “It’s the Boyne River,” said Pat.

Now we were admiring one of the oldest known burial sites in the world. Older even than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza. Fortunately, our group was going to get the chance to enter the 5,200-year-old chamber of Newgrange.

“Cool, huh?” I said to Pat. She pointed at the docent who was holding up her hand, about to give us a bit more valuable information. I figured I’d wander off and grab a few photos. Pat always pays attention, so I don’t really have to.

“If anyone is claustrophobic,” the docent began, “be sure to stay in back of the line.” Wait what?! “The chamber entrance is way too narrow to even think about turning around and squeezing by in case you panic.”

I suddenly regretted having the double-burger deluxe with cheesy fries and thick shake for lunch. I quickly headed for the back of the line. Six people lined up behind me. I thought about letting them all pass until they said: “Don’t even think about it.” So I settled into place behind a tall, thick guy. If he made it, I could make it. If he got stuck, we could all back out and look for some grease or something.

Newgrange, which is west of Dublin, was built during the Stone Age by farmers who only had tools made of stone, wood, antlers, and bones, according to the docent. “So, if you made the mistake of complaining about leg pain in the Neolithic era,” I whispered, “they probably chopped it off and used your femur for digging.”

“Shh,” Pat said. “You’re frightening the others.”

Newgrange is almost 300 feet in diameter and about 45 feet high and the domed mound is covered in grass. The front of the mound is covered with white quartz stones. Archaeologists discovered the stones on the ground, thought it looked like a fallen wall, so they put the stones up as they found them, and voila! They fit. Surrounding the entire structure are 97 large kerbstones, which are carved with circles, spirals, chevrons, and other art. Some archaeologists think they are decorative, others think they have a symbolic meaning. Alien messages, some of us think.

The passage into the chamber is almost 65 feet long and they only allow 12 people at a time to enter. I just hoped the first person didn’t trip and domino us all. Somehow, we made it! Once inside the circular chamber with three alcoves and a layered rock roof with no mortar, the docent showed us where they think the cremated remains had been laid, then she told us how the passageway was aligned, so that upon sunrise during the winter solstice the sun would shine in and light up the chamber. I would have liked to see that, but the solstice was months away and I doubt the bus would wait. She told us on the solstice hundreds of people show up, many dressed as druids, dance about, and pray to the sun god.

“Everyone stand perfectly still and don’t move,” the docent said. Then she shut off all the lights.

“She didn’t ask if we were nyctophobic,” I gasped. “Shh,” a ghost, or one of the other tour members said. Then the docent clicked on a flashlight near the floor. “This is kind of what it looks like when the sun lights the chamber.” Wow! Cool! A Stone Age thrill indeed.

Back at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre, we had a few minutes to shop for souvenirs. I bought a headlamp in case we ever come back.

The decorated stonework at the ancient burial site Brú na Bóinne is filled with possible symbolic meaning or alien graffiti

Ernie Witham has been writing humor for more than 25 years. He is the author of three humor books and is the humor workshop leader at the prestigious Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

Community Voices

The Love-Addicted Divorce: Letting Go of Your Ex, Honestly

by Dr. Cortney S. Warren, Ph.D., ABPP

“Sometimes your heart needs more time to accept something that your mind already knows.”

– Paulo Coelho

Getting divorced is a downright awful experience. As if slogging through legal documents that remind you of contentious fights about money, kids, or pets with your now-ex isn’t unpleasant enough, you’re also losing a lifestyle, a family system, and even a dream relationship with someone that started with great promise and ended in flames.

The truth is that romantic breakups leave many struggling to let go of their ex. This is, in part, because falling in love can actually be viewed as an addictive process. When we fall in love, we become hyper-focused on one special person who makes us feel euphoric. Over time, we develop an internal narrative about who they are and build the foundation for a relationship around it. When a marriage is going well, feeling addicted to a partner feels amazing – living in Santa Barbara with romantic beach walks at sunset, drinking a glass of Santa Ynez pinot with your mate by your side is pretty enchanting. However, if the relationship ends in divorce, we can enter a state of withdrawal that keeps us fixated on our ex, even when we rationally want to let them go and move on.

What does a love-addicted divorce often look like?

First, it’s common to find yourself thinking obsessively about your ex – what they’re doing, who they’re sleeping with, or how they’re spending your collective money before a judge separates your assets. You might re-live old conversations, rehearsing what you’d desperately like to tell them in your own mind. Second, you may feel strong urges to reach out and contact them – fighting off cravings to send them nasty text messages, express your ambivalence about the divorce, or even beg them to get back together. Third, you may feel a range of intense emotions that are easily triggered by situations that remind you of your ex –anything from a moment of intense anger as you walk by your favorite restaurant on Coast Village Road to profound sadness as you see their latest social media with a new significant other by their side.

Finally, you may also find yourself acting in harmful ways to distract yourself from your pain – anything from heading to your favorite bar to impulsively dating your neighbor. Together, these unpleasant symptoms leave you emotionally taxed, physically exhausted, and generally struggling to function in a productive way.

If you’re living through a love-addicted breakup, how do you let go of your ex? How can you transform this divorce

On Entertainment

Montecito at the Movies: The Lowe-down on ‘Grace Point’

into a source of growth, strength, and empowerment? Although love addiction isn’t a clinical diagnosis, the experience of feeling addicted to an ex can be incredibly harmful to your well-being and quality of life. Healing requires an honest look in the mirror – a fundamental shift in your focus away from your ex and onto you.

There are a host of basic psychological skills that you can learn and use to help yourself move on. A few recommendations include the following:

1. Take some space: Set healthy boundaries about when and how you’re willing to communicate with your ex – and limit the amount of time you spend with them.

2. Stop having sex with them: Being sexual with your ex generally makes it harder to let go.

3. Pause Try not to act impulsively: Think before you act – drinking a lot, using drugs to distract yourself, or acting in spiteful/angry ways toward your ex aren’t likely to help in the long run.

4. Increase your self-care and social support: It may seem simple, but getting enough sleep, eating healthy food, exercising, and meeting with trusted friends is key.

5. Challenge unhelpful thoughts: When the content of your thinking is inaccurate or unhelpful, it’s time to practice challenging it.

Using your divorce to understand yourself more deeply and making choices consistent with the life you want to live is what propels you into your next life adventure. For anyone interested in learning more, I just wrote a book on this topic called Letting Go of Your Ex: CBT Skills to Overcome the Pain of a Breakup and Overcome Love Addiction (2023). Come join me for a short talk and book signing at Chaucer’s Santa Barbara on Tuesday, February 21st at 6 pm. Hope to see you there!

by Steven Libowitz

It’s no wonder that the young actor, producer, and TV writer, John Owen Lowe, called watching the world premiere of Grace Point – a thriller that marks his debut as a lead actor in a feature film – at the Metro 4 cinemas at SBIFF last weekend a “surreal experience.”

“I grew up going to that theater,” recalled Lowe, 27, the Montecito-raised son of famed actor Rob Lowe and Sheryl Berkoff Lowe. I have so many formative childhood memories from going there. It’s the first place I ever saw an R-rated movie, which was Wedding Crashers, and it was a huge deal.”

Grace Point was directed by Rory Karpf, a documentary and sports filmmaker whom Lowe met while working on Madness in the Hills, the 2020 documentary directed by his dad about the deadly Montecito debris flows that devastated the neighborhood. The fiction film follows a young man faced with addiction who gets lost in the woods on his way to a remote drug rehab center and wrestles with the locals as well as his own personal demons. John Lowe not only starred in but also produced the picture and helped to shape the character based on his own experiences, which he has been open about for years.

“I struggled with substance abuse issues growing up, and getting sober, which is coming up on five years, is probably the most important journey I’ve walked in my life,” he said. “Playing a character that was going through something similar and telling a story about it was really important to me.”

Lowe said that taking in the premiere of Grace Point while sitting with his parents and other family and friends in a packed hometown theater was an emotional rollercoaster.

“It is so rewarding and validating

and exciting, and I was just elated to get into SBIFF,” he said. “But I’m very self-critical and hyper aware of wanting to present the best version of myself, to a fault, which made it difficult for me to just sit back and enjoy it. But to be in my hometown and be surrounded by a large gathering of people I grew up with and love, to be there to support me was incredible.”

That gratitude extends to growing up in Santa Barbara, which he said has a unique appreciation for the arts given the city’s size.

“Even early on, there were the local artists at Fiesta or the chalk drawings outside of the Mission (at I Madonnari) and lots of local plays,” he recalled, naming a role as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz at Marymount as a favorite because he got to tap dance. “Montecito is a tightly knit community, and there’s a certain level of support and appreciation for artists when they’re doing their thing. Now that I’m in L.A., which earns its reputation as a tough talent in many ways, I carry that encouraging energy I grew up with in Montecito and it helps a lot.”

Grace Point has its second screening at 4:20 pm on Saturday, Feb. 18, followed by a Q&A with Lowe and other filmmakers.

Other Local and Large Films to Wrap SBIFF

While SBIFF ’23 is heading for its last lap, two other features from Santa Barbara filmmakers are still to make their debuts, including Vishniac. The latest from San Marcos High School grad Laura Bialis (Rock in the Red Zone, Refusenik), Vishniac is about Roman Vishniac’s daughter’s efforts to preserve the photographer’s legacy. The second high-profile feature is from SB-native

Dr. Cortney S. Warren is a board-certified Clinical Psychologist and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV. For more information on her work, visit https://DrCortney.com.

Grace Point is John Owen Lowe’s debut as a lead actor in a feature film

The Giving List

Leading From Within

Leading From Within runs four different programs aimed at improving leadership in nonprofits and other social sector organizations

by Steven Libowitz

Ken Saxon had a clear vision when he founded Leading From Within (LFW), the Santa Barbara nonprofit that supports leaders and staff of other local nonprofits.

“I came to Santa Barbara from the business world, where our most important investments were the ones we made in our people,” Saxon said. “But when I started serving on nonprofit boards here, I saw some amazing people doing really critical work. But in general, they were operating in silos, and not being invested in, supported or connected to others. Leading From Within was created to take the cadre of civic leadership, professional and volunteer, and invest in them in a deep way so that they can be more impactful in addressing these really difficult problems in the community and revitalize them, so they can keep doing it.”

Fifteen years later, Leading From Within has four fully thriving programs: Courage to Lead, a reflective retreat-based program to reinvigorate executive directors and experienced nonprofit and other social sector leaders; Emerging Leaders, designed to empower, elevate, and connect mid-level and new execs. that form the next generation of nonprofit leaders; the Katherine Harvey Fellows, which invests in community-driven leaders hailing from outside the nonprofit world; and the Leading for Community Impact program that engages northern Santa Barbara County nonprofit professionals to develop their leadership skills and explore management strategies to make a greater impact.

“We’re proud to have had an impact on all of these people who are choosing to

make their career in the nonprofit sector who typically had not benefited from high-quality investment before,” Saxon said. “We really go deep with them and help them get connected to each other.”

Among the nearly 600 past participants in the programs are a passel of powerful figures in the Santa Barbara nonprofit world, from Bucket Brigade’s Abe Powell and Pacific Pride Foundation’s Development Director Tyson Halseth to Carpinteria Children’s Project’s Teresa Alvarez and Good Samaritan Director Sylvia Barnard Even COVID couldn’t put the kibosh on LFW’s impact.

“When the pandemic hit, we weren’t sure if people were going to have the time or the money, or even still have a job to be part of our programs,” Saxon said. “But the reality was that the demand for all of our programs grew, and now they are as full as they’ve ever been.”

But resting on its laurels isn’t an option for Leading From Within.

In fact, the nonprofit has emerged from the pandemic with an even more ambitious agenda for amping up area nonprofits’ effectiveness.

“After 15 years as the only local organization that is laser-focused on building and supporting civic leadership in the region, we’re ready to step up to the next stage,” explained Saxon, who is Leading From Within’s board chair. “We have a full-time executive director who is top-notch, and we have a new strategic plan developed after engaging with the community for a year and a half to find out what’s needed. We’re ready to engage at that level to support the sector that works on our

In the 15 years since its founding, Leading From Within has had nearly 600 participants in its leadership programs

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.” — Langston Hughes

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Hot Topics A Message from the Montecito Fire Chief Reflecting on 2022

unique evacuation challenges. The evacuation study by Fehr & Peers took hundreds of hours over 10 months and proves what we have known to be anecdotally true. Our task now is to carefully consider the study’s findings, as we evaluate our evacuation procedures and implement changes to evacuate our community most efficiently and safely in the event of a wind-driven wildfire. Look for substantial updates to our evacuation processes in 2023 and beyond.

by Kevin Taylor

On behalf of the Montecito Fire Protection District, it is a pleasure to share our 2022 Annual Report with our community. Over the past year, our organization experienced meaningful growth, identified opportunities for improvement, and realized significant accomplishments.

A noteworthy change in 2022 was the full return to engaging with our community in-person after the pandemic. In 2022, we prioritized revitalizing our public education and outreach programs by visiting every school in Montecito to teach children about fire safety, hosting an in-person Wildfire Preparedness Community meeting, and resuming one of our favorite traditions – our Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast. The past year provided us with countless opportunities to be together with you again, from serving lunch to Montecito Beautification Day volunteers to decorating the Hathaway Tree during the holiday season. We were reminded daily of how fortunate we are to have the responsibility and privilege of being your fire department.

Behind the scenes, your fire department has been busy developing plans to best serve you. In March, we convened a strategic planning committee representing all

areas and levels of Montecito Fire to review community input and develop goals to carry the department through the next five years. The committee’s dedication to having reflective, difficult, and nuanced conversations about our organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to improve resulted in refined mission, vision, and values statements. Our community is the driving motivation for all of our five-year goals for the department. We look forward to achieving those goals for you and have already made significant progress.

In July, our forward-looking board of directors approved the results of a comprehensive, scientific analysis of Montecito’s

Your Fire Prevention Bureau built upon our holistic approach to fire preparedness and prevention in 2022. The bureau expanded our popular Neighborhood Chipping Program to additional neighborhoods and retrofitted more homes in Montecito with ember-resistant vents through our Vent Retrofit Program. Our Wildland Fire Specialists worked with partnering fire agencies to add new wildfire detection cameras across the South Coast that are capable of alerting firefighters of new fire starts by using artificial intelligence. This multi-faceted approach to wildland fire prevention bolsters Montecito as a wildfire-resilient community.

Montecito firefighters responded to dozens of incidents across the West during the 2022 fire season. Each assignment provided didactic challenges and valuable experience that our personnel now bring back to Montecito to better respond to emergencies at home and ensure your safety.

The faces of Montecito Fire are changing as we grow and evolve to best serve you. In May, three experienced firefighters joined the organization, bringing our daily staffing to optimal levels for emergency service. We also celebrated the outstanding careers of three senior members who retired in December.

In Montecito, the winter months bring a perennial concern for debris flow. Five years have now passed since the catastrophic 1/9 Debris Flow. Early winter storms thus far in 2023 have already caused significant impacts across the community, due to extreme saturation and our unique topography. The most recent storm, which eerily coincided with the 1/9 anniversary, did not cause nearly the same level of devastation that occurred in 2018, but the storm’s potential and our risk for debris flow impacts

warranted a full evacuation of the community. Thanks to the watershed’s recovery, outstanding improvements to our flood control system, and our community’s attentiveness to disaster preparedness, we did not suffer another tragedy.

Through the pages of this report, we hope you will learn more about your fire department, our strong financial picture as a community-established independent fire district, and the many ways we carry out our mission of providing you with exceptional service. We are thankful for our independent, elected board of directors’ guidance and prioritization of funds to empower your fire department to offer excellent emergency response and fire prevention services.

It is our greatest honor, duty, and privilege to serve this community. We promise to be steadfast in our commitment to you in 2023 and deeply appreciate your enduring support.

Kevin Taylor, fire chief

In 2022, Montecito Fire visited every school in Montecito to teach children about fire safety

The Neighborhood Chipping Program was expanded this past year to additional neighborhoods

Through natural emergencies and unexpected occurrences, Montecito Fire is here to help

Scan this QR code to read the 2022 Annual Report at www.montecitofire.com

Celebrating History

Gaviota Overlook: A Valentine’s Gift to Santa Barbara

of my first picnic at that yet-to-be-built table. Forget the gorp, this view deserves an elegant spread!

The newly acquired property has three drainages, the main one being a creek beloved by black Angus cattle. Each draw leads to sandstone escarpments and offers sanctuary to a host of plants and animals. We see a curious kestrel that rides the air above us, and we flush a large flock of kingbirds, who fly ahead and settle into the tall grasses until our continued approach causes them to rise again. The males have brilliant yellow breasts and make quite the fashion statement.

Once a piece of the aptly named Nuestra Señora del Refugio land grant, Arroyo Hondo Preserve offers refuge to wildlife and humans alike. During the pandemic, the Preserve stayed open and offered the public a respite from “cabin fever” and the stress of continuing frightful news and restrictions. The additional acres will meet the increasing needs of the community for the benefits of connecting with nature. John Muir, who extolled the ability of nature to refresh one’s inner being, once said, “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than one seeks.”

by Hattie Beresford

The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County has given us an amazing Valentine’s Day gift. A thousand red roses could not compete with the nearly 50 verdant acres the Trust has just added to its Arroyo Hondo Preserve. Since the Preserve’s founding in 2001, more than 1,600 visitors have walked its trails and 26,000 students have been instructed by Preserve docents on school group visits.

Now, the Trust plans to build additional trails and picnic tables along the grassy slopes next door, which proffer amazing views of the coastline, ocean, and Channel Islands.

I was lucky enough to be given a tour of the newly acquired “Gaviota Overlook” by John Warner, Arroyo Hondo Preserve Manager, who had driven the Preserve’s MULE over a newly mowed trail on the hills to meet me. Accompanying us were Katie Szabo, marketing and communications coordinator, and Leslie Chan, Land Programs manager, who had the full lowdown on the newly acquired land. They met me at the gate, and, at first, I had no eyes for anything except a piece of concrete road just inside the borders of the property. It was a strip of the original 16-foot-wide coast highway built between 1913 and 1919. (Pieces of it remain in many spots along the current route of Highway 101, and I have a passion for finding them.) Nevertheless, the luxurious green grasses and rolling hills backed by magnificent sandstone escarpments soon claimed my attention, and John quickly drove us up to the first knoll from where Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel islands were glimpsed on the horizon under an illuminated slate grey sky.

I was duly impressed but John said, “Just wait,” and off we went along the path pocked with the hoofprints of cattle to a higher knoll. “Here,” he said, “will be a picnic table.” It was an even more glorious outlook, and I’m already planning the contents

Since 1794, the lands of the Gaviota Coast have been ranch lands and are a vestige of California’s rural past that needs preservation to continue to function as a refuge and to protect its scenic beauty. The State of California recently recognized this stretch of Highway 101 as a State Scenic Highway for being a magnificent example of one of the few remaining areas of rural coastal California. The alternative to this uplifting scenic beauty can be seen in the consequences of dense housing on both sides of the highway at Shell Beach and elsewhere to the north.

The Trust believes that purchasing the Gaviota Overlook property could kick off a new wave of Gaviota Coast conservation by the Trust and several other groups

View of Arroyo Hondo Preserve and the adjacent “Gaviota Lookout.” Photographer Bill Dewey captured the riparian woodland of Arroyo Hondo, its historic Ortega Adobe, the current highway, the 1919 arched bridge that carried the original HWY 101, the 1900 train trestle, and the first avenue for transportation, the sea. The rolling hills to the left, up to the creek just past the dirt drive, comprise the length of Gaviota Lookout. The ranch complex at the end of the road are private lands of new neighbors and roughly indicate the width of the Gaviota Lookout Lands.

San Miguel Island can be glimpsed at the horizon under an illuminated slate sky

John Warner, Leslie Chan, and Katie Szabo hosted the tour via MULE through the rolling hills of Gaviota Lookout

much of an obstacle for Sadie, either. Although completely composed in the audition room, Sadie says that the casting decision caught her off-guard.

“When my mom told me, I was crying, I was so excited,” says Sadie. “The whole thing is really hard to describe. I was just so happy to be able to audition because whether or not I got the part, I knew that would be an experience to remember. So before I found out, I was really at peace with whatever had happened. I was just so happy I got to audition. But getting the part has really added to my excitement.”

In the following months, Sadie channeled this excitement into getting to know her new character, Mary Lennox. She has read three different versions of The Secret Garden and has attended afternoon tea with co-star, new friend, and bona fide Brit Susan Denaker. All this research has allowed Sadie to get to grips with the production. Even on her days off, Sadie says: “I think I’ll just keep on doing the British accent. It’ll feel natural like that!”

With opening night less two weeks away, Sadie’s dream of becoming a professional stage actress is quickly being realized.

“Since the first time I saw someone on stage, I knew I wanted to be on stage,” Sadie recalls.

With a dancer for a mother, a musician for a father, and a lot of show tunes to listen to in the car, Sadie has grown up surrounded

by the performing arts. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Sadie was gestated in the performing arts. Officially, her on-stage debut was in-utero, while her mother Nora was dancing the lead in the John Adams opera Nixon in China.

To be sure, this upbringing has prepared Sadie well to be a thoughtful and confident performer. She aspires to one day portray Elphaba in Wicked and Eliza Hamilton in Hamilton, but today, she is hard at work preparing for a five-week run on the Ahmanson stage.

Tickets for the upcoming production can be found at the Center Theatre Group website (www.centertheatregroup.org).

Sadie is confirmed to perform as Mary Lennox on February 25th at 2 pm, March 5th at 6:30 pm, March 12th at 6:30 pm, March 19th at 6:30 pm, and March 23rd at 2 pm. The Secret Garden with Sadie Brickman Reynolds runs from February 19 to March 26.

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

like in different spaces. “This will no doubt be edifying for them because they will all of a sudden hear things they hadn’t heard before,” she says.

The pieces by French romantic composers Bizet and Franck both received cool responses at their premieres. “Bizet’s Carmen is now one of the most beloved operas in the canon,” Lin says. “Franck’s ‘Symphony in D minor’ was criticized by Ravel as ‘colorless with heavy instrumentation often spoiling the beauty of its ideas.’ Yet, its sincerity, humanism, and Franck’s particular use of harmonic modulations as musical colors has withstood the test of time and is now appreciated as a work that spoke its own truth.”

Lin says she looks forward to sharing the talents of these students with the wider community. “These students are blessed with the gift of music, and sharing this gift with the community is a wonderful way to honor the gifts that God has given them,” she says.

Also this month, the Westmont Orchestra performs beloved hymns at a fundraising concert Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 7 pm in the sanctuary of Santa Barbara Community Church, 1002 Cieneguitas Road. Admission to the concert is free, but donations are warmly welcomed and always appreciated.

Free Film Screening Guatemala: On the Edge of Discovery

Come and explore the beating heart of the Maya World. This sensitive work creates an authentic sense of place that helps lead to greater understanding of this beautiful land and resilient people who are so often in the news. The film has been accepted for future broadcast on PBS.

Join local filmmaker Brent Winebrenner and Guatemalan Field Producer Jose Antonio Gonzalez for a lively Q&A session after the screening.

Thursday February 23rd - 6:00 to 8:00 pm

guatemaladocumentary.com

The Westmont music department hosts its annual Guild Competition on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7 pm in Deane Chapel. The event, which includes a concert, features talented prospective students who compete for substantial music scholarships. The concert is free and open to the public. The Vocal Guild Competition is Saturday, March 4, at 7 pm in Deane Chapel.

Swimmers Leave Their Mark

Westmont women’s swimming finished ahead of all other NAIA teams in the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Championships Feb. 8-11 at East Los Angeles College. In their fourth year, the Warriors were able to beat Fresno Pacific and Alaska-Fairbanks, which have been their biggest rivals.

The meet also provided an opportunity to honor Westmont’s graduating seniors, the first four-year class in program history: Morgan Bienias, Emma Leathers, Bailey Lemmon, Rian Lewandowski, and Gaby Rego. “They have all given so much to this program,” says head coach Jill Jones Lin. “It’s amazing what they’ve done, and they’ve really set the tone for who we want to be as a program. I could not be prouder.”

The Warriors are waiting to see how many swimmers have officially qualified for the NAIA National Championships on March 1-4 in Columbus, Ga.

“Have a vision. Be demanding.” — Colin Powell

The Westmont College Orchestra

Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

The graduating swimmers: Emma Leathers, Gaby Rego, Rian Lewandowski, Bailey Lemmon, and Kassy Gregory (not pictured Morgan Bienias)

Santa Barbara Main Library - Faulkner Gallery

due to his compromised lungs. At the same time, we were looking after a twoyear-old daughter!”

She compared her situation then to like the families now served by her charity. “Of the families we serve 35 percent have premature babies. They are not ready and have heart and kidney issues. We want to serve them as a caring community.”

The Santa Barbara Foundation, which has been the charity’s fiscal sponsor for two years, was presented with a special award received by Jessica Sanchez, Director of Donor Relations.

Among the supporters turning out were Derek Swafford, Robin Himowitz, Missy Sheldon, Renee Grubb, Ron Werft, Ernesto Paredes, Ed Wroblewski, Brianna Aguilar, and Sheela Hunt

Scenes From a Museum

It’s two exhibitions for the price of one at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art!

Scenes from a Marriage: Ed & Nancy Kienholz centers on a recently acquired 1982 masterpiece Bout Round Eleven by Nancy Reddin Kienholz and Edward Kienholz and their collaborative way of working and living.

Thanks to generous loans to supplement works already in the museum’s collection, the focused exhibition features five artworks dating from 1960 to 2007, representing the couple’s work together and also solo.

This is the first museum show featuring their work in Southern California in over a decade. It runs through May 21 in the new Contemporary Art Gallery.

The museum is also presenting Out of Joint, an exhibition of sculptures and large drawings by Joan Tanner, which runs through May 14.

Presenting a total of 20 artworks, including two new installations and a new sculpture, it is the most extensive show of Tanner’s work in California to date and represents a homecoming for an

artist whose first solo exhibition was held at the State Street museum in 1967.

All of the artworks are from the past ten years with the earliest, Flying Buttresses, dating from 2013.

Tanner is an artist whose practice over six decades has encompassed many mediums, including paintings, photography, video, sculpture, and assemblage.

Among the gaggle of guests were Betsy Atwater, Lynn Kirst, Ginny Brush, Luke Swetland and Stacey Byers , Nancy Escher, Tom and Lisa Dowling, Larry Feinberg and Starr Siegele, Mary Garton, Gregg Hackethal and Penny Jenkins, Michael and Kimberly Hayes, Hiroko Benko, George Konstantinow and Helene Segal, Joan Tanner, Anne Towbes, Charles and Betsy Newman, and Barry Winick and Linda Saccoccio

A Flipping Good Time

Cirque FLIP Fabrique staged Muse at the Granada, part of the popular UCSB Arts & lectures series.

Playing with gender roles, the pro-

duction offered up a refreshing view of contemporary circus with the eclectic performers, whether wearing high heels or shoulder pads, football uniforms or ballet attire, using the cavernous stage to its fullest for the trampolining and acrobatic 75-minute show accompanied by chanteuse Flavia Nascimento singing a selection of French songs.

Just five days later it was a wonderful reverberating performance of a different sort as Japanese troupe Kodō staged its Tsuzumi: One Earth Tour with oriental drums of differing sizes from gigantic to petite.

From their base on Japan’s Sado Island, the 42-year-old group of drummers cultivate a unique aesthetic and sensitivity, reaching out toward a new world culture

Miscellany Page 304

Amy Parrish, Renee Grubb, Janet Garufis, and Brigitte Welty (photo by Priscilla)

David Edelman, Ed Wroblewski, Renee Grubb, Ron Werft, and Katy Bazylewicz (photo by Priscilla)

Ron Werft, Vivian Solodkin, Alain and Brigitte Welty, and Ernesto Paredes (photo by Priscilla)

Lynn Cunningham Brown, Larry Feinberg, and Christian and Angie McGrath (photo by Priscilla)

Joan Tanner art fans (photo by Priscilla)

James Glisson, Joan Tanner, Larry Feinberg, and Joan Davidson (photo by Priscilla)

FLIP Fabrique entertains (photo by Emmanuel Burriel)

Japanese drummers Kodō amaze (photo by Takashi Okamoto)

rooted in the rich possibilities of a peaceful coexistence between humanity and nature.

Diamonds Full of Penny

Nearly half a century ago the society glossy Town & Country featured Montecito interior decorator Penny Bianchi in a cover article with the late comedy legend Bob Hope on the backlot of Universal Studies in L.A. in an iconic pose à la America Gothic, the 1930 painting by Grant Wood now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Bubbly Penny was draped in more than $1 million-worth of diamonds from Laykin et Cie, whose salons graced the elegant I. Magnin stores nationwide, which shuttered its doors in 1994. The Santa Barbara store on State Street is now the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Erik Laykin, the visionary grandson of the founder of the bling emporium, decided to celebrate the occasion, as well as the company’s 90th anniversary, with a socially gridlocked bash at the jeweler’s latest location at the Rosewood Miramar.

For the event, Erik had a larger-thanlife reproduction of the original photo re-mastered by Washington D.C.-based restorer, Seth Kaplan, which is being framed and will hang permanently in the store.

“I remember well auditioning for the photo shoot,” says Penny. “I was already an interior decorator, but friends pushed to me to do the audition. When I got off the elevator I was confronted by 200 beautiful women, mostly actresses and models.

“I almost got back on the elevator, but somehow, I got chosen for the part. I wore a Halston gown and was absolutely dripping in diamonds. A security guard was just three feet away at all times!”

Almost, Live from New York

Prince Harry, 38, was thisclose to hosting the iconic NBC show Saturday Night Live as part of the promotional tour for his bestselling memoir, Spare

But talks reportedly stalled at the final hurdle and he went on to appear on other high-profile shows, including 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

An industry insider tells the New York Post’s Page Six: “I know that Harry was all in. He was really serious about doing it. And it would have been great fun as promo for his book.”

Lorne Michaels, the longtime creator and producer of the iconic show at 30 Rock in Manhattan, would still reportedly like to have King Charles’s youngest son on the show even if it’s not to discuss the revelatory memoir. Stay tuned...

‘Fawlty Towers’ Returns

Former Montecito funnyman John Cleese, 83, is set to return to TV screens as Basil Fawlty with a reboot of his famous comedy Fawlty Towers.

The second and final series ended more than 40 years ago, but the former Monty Python actor is writing new episodes of the former BBC program with his comedian daughter Camilla Cleese, 39.

Developed by the actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner ’s Castle Rock Entertainment, the new season, possibly located in the Caribbean, will look back at how cynical and misanthropic Basil Fawlty fares in the modern world.

The original series ran from 1975 to 1979 for 12 episodes. Basil and his daughter decide to reenter the tourism industry and open up a boutique hotel property.

All Saints-by-the-Sea Donates to Transition House

All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church has announced a $65,000 donation along with a volunteer commitment towards supporting Transition Miscellany Page 354

working toward this goal.

Besides providing more public access along the Gaviota Coast, the property of Gaviota Overlook also offers some important ecological benefits. Meredith Hendricks, executive director of the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, says that under Land Trust management, climate benefits will be enhanced. “Conserving Gaviota Overlook and adding it to Arroyo Hondo Preserve is an act of love and promise for the future – for the land, for the community, and for the life it sustains,” says Hendricks.

Since 1985, the Trust has worked with community groups, willing landowners, and other partners to conserve, restore, and manage open space, wildlife habitat, and family farms and ranches throughout the county. Among those projects are Rincon Bluffs Preserve, Sedgwick Reserve, and Hot Springs Trail in Montecito.

This year, the Land Trust has given the people of Santa Barbara County an amazing valentine. Those who wish to return the sentiment can send a valentine of their own by helping the Trust achieve the final $750,000 to protect, conserve, and make publicly available the “Gaviota Overlook.” For more information or to donate, go to www.sblandtrust.org.

“Freedom is never given; it is won.” — A. Philip Randolph

A view from the shared drive toward the neighbor’s ranch backed by a magnificent sandstone escarpment

Cattle graze near the creek at Gaviota Lookout

An ephemeral creek at Gaviota Overlook (photo by Brent Winebrenner)

Hattie Beresford has been writing a local history column for the Montecito Journal for more than a decade and is the author of several books on Santa Barbara’s historic past

Penny Bianchi and friends at the Laykin et Cie opening at their new store in Rosewood Miramar

Erik Laykin and Penny Bianchi stand in front of her glamorous shot

Far Flung Travel Down for the Count

by Chuck Graham

Iwas on an early morning beach run in Carpinteria, pink and orange hues melding across the eastern horizon. While weaving my way in soft sand past wintering killdeer and western snowy plovers, those hardy shorebirds thoroughly enjoyed the wrack lines of tattered giant bladder kelp left behind by the previous high tide.

Later that early December morning, I was asked if I wanted to partake in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. I’ve been asked before several times in the past, but I’ve only participated in one. It was several years ago in Ventura. Aaron Kreisberg, a kayak guide I used to work with at the Channel Islands National Park, is an excellent birder, so I skated on his coattails as we counted birds from kayaks inside the shallows of the Santa Clara Rivermouth.

I’m always honored when asked, but I had to decline this past December, because I was already scheduled to guide kayak trips on Santa Cruz Island. Although I thoroughly enjoy photographing birds in their natural habitat, I wouldn’t consider myself much of a birder. I’m limited when the identification of a species isn’t obvious. Sometimes I get lost with all the bands, molts, breeding plumages and similarities amongst species. I just don’t possess the keen eye of a seasoned birder.

When I’m out in the field, and I have birds on the brain, I’m looking to photograph them with great light, proper composition, while incorporating their habitat in a majority of the frame as much as possible. I will say when traveling, birds are a priority for me. I want to see what’s

out there. After 15 trips to Africa, one of the first items I grab before a trip to that incredible continent is any number of bird books I’ve collected over the years. Other incredible birding venues have taken me to Iceland, the Falkland Islands, Galápagos Islands, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Alaska, and the Arctic.

However, here at home in Carpinteria, I get just as much joy photographing and watching avian species as I do anywhere I’ve traveled. So, because I couldn’t participate this year for the Christmas Bird Count in Carpinteria, I decided to do my own personal count for one day in the Carpinteria Marsh, a 230-acre coastal wetland that I’ve spent ample amounts of time on since 1975.

The Carpinteria Marsh is one of the last remaining and one of the healthiest coastal wetlands in Southern California. At least 200 different species have been documented in the pickleweed, maze of muddy channels, vernal pools, and upland regions of the salt marsh.

Armed with my binoculars and camera, I spent December 16 in the marsh counting bird species. I did a three-hour block early in the morning, and then returned at 2 pm and finished the day in the dark. The actual count in the marsh took place the next day on December 17.

Annually, Santa Barbara County finishes strong in the Christmas Bird Count, usually within the top five in America. This year, the bird count In Carpinteria produced 162 different species on December 17. The day before I counted 53 species in the Carpinteria Marsh alone, and that might have been a high mark for me in my limited birding ability.

Some of the species I encountered included: Yellow-crowned Night Heron, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Northern Pintail, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Bufflehead, California Thrasher, Lesser Yellow Legs, Long-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Curlew, Whimbrel, Marsh Wren, Orange-crowned Warbler, Belted Kingfisher, Spotted Sandpiper, Common Yellowthroat, Common Merganser, Cinnamon and Greenwinged Teal, Marbled Godwit, American Avocet, White-fronted Goose, Allen’s and Anna’s Hummingbird, Elegant Tern, and Western Sandpiper.

My day counting birds on the Carpinteria Marsh was and always has been much more than how many species I saw that day or what I’ve seen in previous years. Even after 45 years spent on the marsh, I still get amped up every time

I set foot on its muddy trails, because I never know what I might catch a glimpse of with my binoculars or through the viewfinder on my camera. It’s the living marsh, a patchwork of pickleweed and serpentine-like channels offering a refuge for birds and birders alike.

Chuck Graham is a freelance writer and photographer based in Carpinteria, where he also leads kayak tours and backpacking trips in Channel Islands National Park

Elegant Tern

California Thrasher

Dowitcher

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Pintail

Lesser Yellow Legs

community’s most intractable problems –things like homelessness, climate change, healthcare, and education.

“They’re dealing with really complex issues,” Saxon said. “These are problems that aren’t going to be solved by any one organization or one program or one leader. So, we need to augment the leadership development piece to tackle them and support our leaders to be better collaborators, to be able to operate in loose networks rather than just hierarchical corporate structures, and be able to deal at a systems level with these complex problems.”

Some of those structures already exist in such areas as the food systems network, the fire preparedness group, and the Thrive Education Initiatives, but support is critical to their emerging networks’ success, Saxon said.

“What we were hearing over the conversations we had in the 18 months was that leaders need to learn these things you don’t get from school or even in your job. You need to learn how to successfully engage and collaborate with people who don’t work for you and to partner in really profound ways to come up with a collective aim that you all agree upon. That’s something we have some experience with. Collaboration is hard, and most people don’t really know how to do it.”

Leading From Within is putting new focus on creating the spaces and places for leaders to gain the mindsets and skill sets that help people operate in collaboration over time, Saxon said. The new three-year strategic plan calls for the

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Villa De Montecito, 1934 N. Jameson LN, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. The Montecito Villa Association, 7 W. Figueroa St., STE 300. Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 8, 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. 2023-0000348.

Published February, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Santa Barbara Piano School, 1070 Fairwar Rd, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. Seungah Seo, 743 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 7, 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. 2023-0000330.

Published February, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: T.D Services, 21 Betty Drive, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105. Tim A. Deran, 21 Betty Drive, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 27, 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. 2023-0000213.

organization to address its own existing programs to cover more collaborative material and likely develop a new one to help people in leading networks and complex collaboratives.

“It’s not top down, it’s not linear, and it’s not simple,” Saxon explained.

“A single-focus solution doesn’t really exist when you’re dealing with complex problems. We’re inviting people to come together under our auspices to see what they need and how we can support them in doing what works better in the area of facilitative leadership. It’s about asking: What kind of resources do you have? What do you think? What are you seeing today? How can we partner together?”

That additional focus takes additional financial resources, of course, and Leading From Within will be actively seeking people and organizations and funders to partner with, Saxon said.

It will take a bit of implementing its own best skills for an organization that, he said, hasn’t previously spent much energy communicating externally.

“We’ve just been doing our work, maybe a little bit under a bushel. But we’re coming out of it here. Our ability to make progress with this new strategic plan will depend on our ability to work with funders and partners who share this vision for how we need to evolve as a community.”

Leading From Within

Edward France, executive director (805) 203-6940 www.leading-from-within.org

Published February, 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Plateful, 205 Oceano Ave, Apt 7, Santa Barbara, CA, 93109. Miriam C Burroughs, 205 Oceano Ave, Apt 7, Santa Barbara, CA, 93109. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 12, 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. 2023-0000082.

Published February, 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Ivonne’s Mexican Art Boutique, 420 Old Coast Hwy Unit A, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. Maria Ivonne Zarate, 420 Old Coast Hwy Unit A, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 23, 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. 2023-0000161.

Published February, 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: La Peche Events, 841 San Roque Road, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105. Kimberly S. Stone, 841 San Roque Road, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 19, 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

The mission remains the same: In the spirit of love for community, to create a safe space for Black culture, art, history, current events and general life to be shared with the greater Santa Barbara community.

We have come completely out-of-pocket to produce these events and make them free and available to all of Santa Barbara. Getting money and resources together is always the main challenge. We have been very fortunate to receive two city/county grants, and we come out of pocket for the balance of the expenses. We have developed many invaluable relationships that have allowed us to continue this work. The strategies necessary to do the work –fundraising, networking, marketing, and community outreach – always change, but the focus never does. Love for the work and love for the community.

Is Black Culture House a blueprint that can be replicated in other communities?

Other communities do similar conceptual work all the time. Nobody “owns” the concept. We certainly hope as many people replicate the creation of cultural space wherever it’s felt to be needed, especially in communities where cultures are underserved.

door and talking about or posting about the work we do here, and bringing more people. Long term, a brick-and-mortar would be nice, but brick-and-mortars in Santa Barbara are extremely hard to develop here, even for commercial ventures, never mind art spaces and nonprofits.

Other cultural organizations like ours are trying to get buildings and are really going through the wringer right now. And this is still relatively new for us. It’s only our third year of in-person programming. We still have a lot of infrastructure work to do. We still need to formulate a 501(c)(3) for Culture House.

We’re still getting a handle on what our bandwidth could be programmatically. There’s a lot of programs we’d like to do that we haven’t done, because we are still developing relationships across a number of different counties for artists, resources, and community.

And your February events?

We have two more weekends of events at Soul Bites Restaurant, 423 State St. Doors open at noon. All events are for all ages and free to the general public.

Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000146. Published January 25, February, 1, 8, 15, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ServiceMaster Restoration & Cleaning by Integrity; ServiceMaster by Integrity Construction; Furniture Medic by Cabinet Restorers; ServiceMaster Restoration Services; ServiceMaster Recovery Management, 4893 McGrath St, Ventura, CA, 93003. Sharjo, LLC, 5451 Industrial Way, Benicia, CA 94510. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 12, 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. 2023-0000081. Published January 25, February, 1, 8, 15, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF

NAME: CASE No. 22CV04680. To all interested parties: Petitioner Neal Stuart Mazer filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to Neal Stuart Hiken 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 January 18, 2023 by Terri Chavez. Hearing date: March 15, 2023 at 10 am in Dept. 3, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published February 8, 15, 22, and March 1, 2023.

As to a blueprint, we don’t really have one. There was no roadmap, other than our experience producing events. The blueprint is constantly changing and there’s a huge learning curve. Every year we’ve done this, we’ve had to pivot for one reason or another. We started in 2020 at the former Youth Interactive space across the street from the Granada Theatre and paid for everything ourselves. We were very fortunate to have friends and allies support our efforts. Then, during the pandemic of 2021, we had to do all our events online. At that point, the Youth Interactive program and that space was shut down. Fortunately, we got our first arts grant from the Santa Barbara Office of Arts and Culture and the City of Santa Barbara in 2022, and we rented the Alhecama Theatre. However, because of a COVID spike, we had to move events from February to April programming. And, again, what the grant didn’t pay for, we paid for.

This year, there weren’t enough available dates for February at the Alhecama, but because we met with the owners of Soul Bites – and they are such staunch advocates for underserved communities – they offered their space to us.

So, there’s no real blueprint. You have a concept, and you position it in the place that makes the most sense at that given time. And if something goes sideways, you have to be ready with Plan B.

Ultimately, would you prefer to be a brickand-mortar organization versus a pop-up?

It’s more important for Culture House to build as large and as loyal a community as possible, to secure sponsorship and funding to expand our programming and our marketing reach.

We would like to present cultural events in spaces year-round, not just February. Mainly, we just need people coming through the

Saturday, Feb. 18, 1 pm – Panel discussion: “Black Women Rock.” A pre-taped video conference of five dynamic Black women who’ve carved out careers in the rock music genre. Featuring Maureen Mahon, author/professor at NYU, and artists Sophia Ramos, Shelley Nicole, Leah King, and LaFrae Sci

Sunday, Feb. 19, 1 pm – Live blues/ rock with Jellyroll. Popular Santa Barbara blues rock band led by vocalist/harpist Morganfield Burnett

Saturday, Feb. 25, 1 pm – Live jazz/funk with L.A. trio, The Funky Neighbors. Contemporary instrumental group featuring L.A. musicians: bassist Stevie Martin, keyboardist Damon Wilson , and drummer Terrence Huggins.

Sunday, Feb. 26, 1 pm – Live music with L.A. Supergroup, The Cookies, back by popular demand. Featuring legends: vocalist Maxayn Lewis, bassist Bobby Watson, and guitarist Allen Hinds.

411: Mailing list: SBBlackCultureHouse@gmail.com Facebook and Instagram: @SBBlackCultureHouse Black History Month: https://asalh.org

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

have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” — Rosa Parks

and each one brings a unique selection of orchids to the SBIOS.

I’ve been involved with the show for over 20 years, and I still find something new and interesting, a new hybrid, a species I haven’t seen before, a specimen grown better than I’ve ever seen it grown, a plant I’ve read about but never seen in person.

As for orchids on the endangered list – that is a whole article in and of itself! Many orchid species are endangered in their native habitats due to habitat loss or over-collecting, and importation of orchid species is highly regulated. Some of the SBIOS’s past and current vendors and exhibitors are involved with orchid conservation, whether as a public collector keeping rare species alive or as a participant in nature reserves in areas rich in orchid species.

LR: We will have a giant Wardian case on display that is coming down from San Francisco with many species displayed in a natural setting, with tree branches, moss, and mist. It is a first for the show to have this magnificent case! There are some orchids that are rated as “Appendix 1,” and no trade in those species is allowed by law. Otherwise, all orchids are lumped together as “endangered.” Even hybrids. It is a frustration for those of us who make hybrids, grow the seed here in the U.S. in labs, and then plant them out at our nurseries for sale. We still are required to obtain documents to track them being sold outside of the U.S.!

JC: How many growers are displaying and from where?

HK: Our vendor and exhibitor lists have not been finalized, but we do have vendors and exhibitors from all over California, plus Florida, Hawaii, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand.

LR: So far, we have 30 growers, whereas most shows only have 10. Santa Barbara always provides tremendous diversity with little overlap. To bring in plants from outside of the U.S. requires a tremendous amount of work – documents just for the transport of orchids are required, several inspections by agriculture inspectors abroad, and in the U.S. each plant must be packed for travel via air freight. Still, we attract growers from around the world as the show attracts serious growers, and sales are good.

JC: How is the show set up at Earl Warren?

HK: The show fills two buildings at Earl Warren. The gold-domed Exhibit Pavilion holds the show’s displays. Plant vendors, local nurseries, local and regional orchid societies composed of hobby growers, and local individuals install displays of blooming orchids. Los Floralias Floral Design Club produces fabulous cut flower arrangements. The

Santa Barbara Art Association manages a juried art show of orchid-themed art and photography. In the vendor hall, visitors may purchase plants from one of our local, regional, or international vendors. For me, the Exhibit Pavilion sparkles with wonder and excitement, but the Vendor Hall is pure temptation – blooming orchids of fabulous colors or exciting scents, seedlings that haven’t bloomed yet and are like an exciting lottery ticket... it’s hard not to go a little crazy buying plants to bring home! Each booth sells and collects their own money. Foreign vendors appreciate cash, as they don’t have U.S. bank accounts.

JC: What is the criteria list for judging winners?

LR: Teams of judges are on hand, and although they have varying criteria to recognize, the basics are points for size, shape, color, flower count, and overall display balance/beauty.

HK: Judging revolves around flowers that are exceptional. There are SBIOS trophies and American Orchid Society trophies awarded.

Judges look for the following:

- a shapely, symmetrical flower form

- clear colors, patterns (spots, stripes) that are pleasing

- uniform flowers that are larger than others of similar type

- a plant that is robust and healthy

- a plant that is floriferous

- overall aesthetic appeal of plant and flowers

JC: Can anyone join the SBIOS, Inc?

LR: We are the longest running show in the United States. As of now, people can sign up for the email list and get updates and interesting facts about orchids. The show board members are nominated by other members as needed, and emphasis is on having a good representation of local commercial growers and noted local business people who have orchid collections and want to ensure the future of the show as a noteworthy tradition.

HK: Orchid enthusiasts who would like to join a club of like-minded orchid hobbyists can join one of the societies and clubs in Southern California, most of which meet monthly and charge a small annual membership fee to support their monthly lecture program. Santa Barbara is home to the Orchid Society of Santa Barbara, which has an exhibit and a vendor booth at the show. Some of the other societies exhibiting at the SBIOS this year include Five Cities Orchid Society, Ventura County Orchid Society, Conejo Orchid Society, and San Fernando Valley Orchid Society. Orchid enthusiasts may also join the American Orchid Society or the Orchid Digest, both of which publish magazines featuring orchids.

In Passing

Hope Sterling Kelly

February 2, 1929 – January 8, 2023

Hope Sterling Kelly passed away peacefully in Santa Barbara on January 8, 2023. She was a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend to anyone she had ever met.

Hope was born on Groundhog’s Day, February 2, 1929. She grew up in West Los Angeles and attended University Elementary School, University High School, UCLA for two years, and then transferred to Stanford University, where she graduated in 1950.

Hope married Richard Sawyer in 1951 (Div. in 1965), and they soon had their son Richard (1952) and daughter Rebecca Sawyer (1954). They lived in Brentwood, where they raised their kids around close family and friends and lived just down the road from her loving parents, Ted and Eve Sterling.

Hope grew up loving ballet, tennis, Campfire Girls, the theater, going to the beach, and playing any competitive sport she came across.

She was a lifelong member of the Assistance League and was active in the Nine O’Clock players group, where she took many leading roles such as Cinderella. Her love for travel and adventure led her to working as a travel agent at Bel-Air Travel.

In August of 1970, Hope married Laurence (Larry) B. Kelly, and they moved to Santa Barbara, where they fell in love with the picturesque scenery and community. Hope and Larry were members of the Valley Club and L.A. Country Club, as Larry was an avid amateur golfer. They also belonged to the Santa Barbara Yacht Club, where they celebrated many holidays with family and friends.

Hope and Larry were a fun, loving, and adventure-seeking couple who traveled the world to exotic places and always came home with fascinating stories. Their home was always open for entertaining and hosting friends and family at their cottage a.k.a. “Hotel Hope.”

Hope’s positive attitude and radiant spirit were contagious and the second you met her, you felt like a lifelong friend. She was a guiding light, a pillar of support, and someone who you could always count on. Hope was a very involved grandmother and great-grandmother until the end, attending school events, cheering on her grandkids in their various sports, and always available as a trusted confidante. She remembered numerous family and friends’ birthdays with cards, flowers from her garden, and gifts which had her signature left-handed script.

Hope was very active with the Lobero Associates, raising funds for theater projects and bringing in new members. Because of her involvement, the Lobero Theatre stage curtain was named in her honor in 2022, which was a highlight. In the last 20 years of her life, Hope became a competitive

ballroom dancer with the Santa Barbara Dance Studio, traveling to events throughout California, Nevada, and Hawaii. She loved getting dressed up, learning new routines, and competing in the ballroom.

Hope loved attending church and gained a deeper spiritual understanding of her purpose-driven life while attending the quaint Summerland Presbyterian Church. Hope Kelly was preceded in death by her husband, Larry Kelly (1916-2006), and her sister Jacqueline Sterling Williams (1926-2021). Hope is survived by her son, Richard Sawyer (Kathleen Barron), her daughter, Rebecca Conway, her three stepdaughters Pauline Kelly, Pamela Bento, and Patricia Morehart, along with her grandkids Barron Sawyer (Kerry Sawyer), Holly Misic, Steven Conway (Chelsea Conway), Carolyn Doyle (Christopher Doyle), and Lauren Kerstner (Nick Kerstner), along with 12 great grandchildren whom she absolutely adored.

In lieu of flowers, you can honor Hope by donating to The Lobero Theatre Associates – 33 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101.

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Hope Kelly was a guiding light, a pillar of support, and someone you could always count on

Maureen Bharoocha, whose dark comedy The Prank is about two failing physics students falsely accusing their high school teacher of murder and stars Rita Moreno, who was the first-ever Latina winner of an Oscar for West Side Story 61 years ago. Two other local flicks have finished their scheduled screenings: Anxious Nation, Vanessa Roth and Laura Morton’s deep look into the crisis of anxiety and mental health in America, especially its crippling impact on kids and families. The other being a doc about the community restoring a wetland that had been converted into a golf course in the ’60s called Bringing Back Our Wetland, from veteran local movie man Michael Love, whose last SBIFF entry, Dist-Dance, chronicled the local ecstatic dance community he co-leads moving to outdoor locations during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Santa Barbara short film Locals Only – The BIG Little Pub, about the tiny but beloved British cocktail pub/soccer sanctuary The Press Room, has wound up its SBIFF screenings. But diehard fans will delight in another screening – and afterparty – at the downtown pub at 7:30 pm on Saturday, Feb. 18.

Among other films of interest premiering in SBIFF’s final three days: American Outlaws, an action- and vulgarity-packed indie based on a true story of three siblings on an epic cross-country crime spree; Alam, a Palestinian picture set in a high school in an Israeli-occupied town; and The Legend of MexMan, about a director’s effort to make a fantastical sci-fi epic in the face of myriad challenges, part of the Films on Film section. That same category also boasts a second screening of Jane Campion: The Cinema Woman, an unapologetically subjective and offbeat take on the trailblazing director who claimed her second Oscar for helming last year’s The Power of the Dog.

Still to come on the SBIFF marquee events slate at the Arlington: Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson , who re-teamed with In Bruges writer-director Martin McDonagh for this year’s multi-Oscar nominee, The Banshees of Inisherin, dish before receiving the Cinema Vanguard Award on Thursday, Feb. 16, and McDonagh joins Todd Field (Tár) and “The Daniels” ( Everything Everywhere All at Once) the following night on the all-nominee Outstanding Directors of the Year Award, before the fest officially closes with the aptly

titled I Like Movies, a story of a socially-challenged teenage cinephile set in 2003, on Saturday, Feb. 18.

The ‘Transformation’ of Nash

In a season that has seen premieres of two locally generated works in Cody Westheimer ’s San Marcos Preserveinspired Wisdom of the Water, Earth, and Sky and Peter Bernstein’s arrangement of his father Elmer’s Toccata for Toy Trains, the Santa Barbara Symphony’s third successive concert centered on a new work might produce the most profound piece yet. Jazz saxophonist-composer Ted Nash – no stranger to town, as he’s appeared frequently with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and running jazz workshops with the Museum of Art – has created an orchestral adaptation of Transformation: Personal Stories of Change, Acceptance, and Evolution, reconfiguring the most personal section for the symphony, representing continuing transformation.

Nash is reshaping the “Dear Dad” portion, which consists of a musical setting for his son Eli reading aloud the emotional letter he sent to his father in which he comes out as transgender, as well as Ted’s “response” via saxophone solos.

“I’m super excited about being able to expand that section that’s so personal

“I’m the longtime MJ arts editor and Giving List columnist. After 17 years in my rental cottage downtown I now need to relocate. Ugh! I’m looking for a solo space (cottage, apartment, guest quarters, etc.), locally, with rent in the low $2Ks, available by the end of February-ish. Nonsmoker, no pets, great references. Might you know of something?” Call Steven at (805) 837-7262 or email sml.givinglist@gmail.com

to me for a full orchestra with all the range of beautiful colors, some of which I had no idea how to write for,” Nash said. “There were a lot of things I had to learn. I think I’ve made some intelligent decisions about how to use the orchestra, and I’m excited and so curious.”

Nash called the original Transformation project “the culmination of decades of working, and among the most important things I’ve ever done because I understand now that I can use music to express things that are personal, and not only allow myself to feel something, but allow myself to go through change through the process of creation. I used to hide behind the music. But now I am aware of my personal mythology and to embrace all of that is powerful.”

Nash is also writing other pieces inspired by classical themes from Mozart and Scriabin transformed with a jazz background, which he will perform with the trio led by L.A.-based pianist Josh Nelson along with the adapted “Dear Dad” sections, all in the middle of a thematic program set for the Granada on Feb. 18-19 that includes Dohnányi’s “Variations on a Nursery Song, Op. 25,” Strauss’s “Death and Transfiguration,” and Ravel’s “Boléro,” which will also feature Nash on the sax solos.

It’s the culmination of a concert that goes straight to Nash’s ever-evolving heart.

“As I’m getting older, I’m realizing I have less time to do some of these bigger concept things, so I’m grateful to be able to pursue this idea of finding inspiration to compose music,” he said. “It’s incredibly exciting.”

Nina’s Family Aria

An American Dream represents mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen’s 10th production with Opera Santa Barbara over two decades, but there’s no doubt that the California debut of the 2015 opera represents a milestone for the Montecito native.

Nelsen, who has sung in the world premieres of seven new operas, had a hand in shaping the role of Hiroko Kobayashi in An American Dream, as the character was inspired by her grandparents’ story of being incarcerated during World War II, her aria was written specifically for her after her grandmother was interviewed.

The opera – which evolved from a Seattle community storytelling project that was originally intended to result in a song cycle – is set in the Pacific Northwest during the war and explores the lives of two women, one a Japanese American who was forcibly removed from her home and the other a German Jewish immigrant left behind in Europe.

Nelsen said working on the project opened doors to her own family history of which she wasn’t previously aware.

“The Japanese American way of life was that you just move on and don’t dwell on the negative things,” she explained. “I always knew my family was incarcerated, but none of the details. I found out that my grandmother burned a lot of things before being sent to the camps, and that

my great grandfather had been arrested as a threat to the government and jailed for six months. A lot of stories started coming out and several are in the opera.”

Nelsen has performed the role in nearly every subsequent production and revealed that the pair of shows at the Lobero on Saturday, Feb. 19, will feature the premiere of a new scene, proving that the opera is a living, breathing entity.

“After performing it so many times, I was able to get together with another Japanese American and talk about the things that didn’t quite make sense. And we sent it to just the composer and librettist, and they created a new scene.”

The addition makes it even clearer that the piece is about the concept of home, the singer said.

“Is home where you are, or is it what you make of it? What does home mean to you?”

For Nelsen, it’s clear that home is a combination of where she grew up – she’s staying in her childhood bedroom in the Montecito hills during the run-up to the performances – her life in L.A. with children and husband, Canadian Brass’ Jeff Nelsen, who she met at the summer festival at the Music Academy, and her experiences in life and with her family.

“My grandma came to the world premiere in Seattle and sat in the front row center,” she recalled. “She passed away a couple years later, but I still have this piece of her that comes with me whenever I sing in An American Dream.”

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

Ted Nash presents an orchestral adaptation of his “Dear Dad” section of his original Transformation project

Mezzo-soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen performs in An American Dream, her 10th production with Opera Santa Barbara

House of Santa Barbara.

The monies will go to the organization’s three stage housing program which provides assistance to local homeless families by offering shelter for those in immediate need and teaching life skills necessary to step of out poverty and become self-sufficient in permanent housing.

“The donation aligns well with our outreach mission here at All Saints of helping underserved communities of greater Santa Barbara, including low-to-moderate income families, children and the unhoused,” says Susan Evans, chair of the Montecito church’s outreach committee.

Artists Assemble for Ensemble

Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre Company is holding its first design competition, which will recognize one artist, 18 or older, submitting an original image that represents one of its three upcoming productions at the New Vic – Selling Kabul, The Children, or Seared

The winner, who can use any medium as long as the image can be submitted in a digital form, will receive a $500 cash prize and the opportunity to copartner with ETC’s artistic and managing directors to design the artwork for the entire 45th season.

If the winning artist’s images are used to promote the season, he or she will receive an additional $2,500.

The deadline for submissions is Feb. 28, with the winner being announced March 15.

Heartfelt Goop

Montecito actress Gwyneth Paltrow has unveiled her latest bizarre guide for Valentine’s Day, offering a range of highend pieces for every type of date, with a hefty price tag to match.

The 49-piece guide, published on her lifestyle website Goop, features a range of date night ideas, ranging from a solo night in to a lavish dinner reservation.

Along with pricey suggestions, including $900 slippers and a $700 blanket, the guide also includes the perfect outfit for a solo night alone, if you’re willing to splash out $2,400.

Never one to miss out on the minor details, the Oscar winner suggests a vast array of looks for every kind of date night, with the perfect concert look setting buyers back a hefty $11,000.

Trimming Down

Carpinteria actor Ashton Kutcher had to “mow down” his chest hair and start doing sit-ups for a throwback sequence in his latest film.

Starring alongside Reese Witherspoon in a new Netflix rom-com Your Place or Mine, Kutcher, 45, at one point has to try to revert back to his 20-year-old self as the twosome swap lifestyles in New York and Los Angeles respectively.

“God, I used to have abs when I was

20!” he told a U.K.TV talk show. “Like, what happened!”

Women of Achievement Awards to Hauser and Stokes

Backpack-Wearing Rats Being Trained to Find Earthquake Survivors

After the terrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria last week — with thousands and thousands of casualties — rescuers have been scrambling to discover survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings. Search and rescue dogs are assisting at some locations. However, future disasters may receive assistance from an unexpected source: rats that are currently being trained to work in earthquake aftermath.

“They can go deep into the rubble and penetrate where dogs may not be able to go,” says Sander Verdiesen, an electrical engineer working with APOPO, the nonprofit training the rats. For more than a decade, the organization has used rats to identify landmines in Africa, relying on the rats’ amazing sense of smell.

The rodents wear a backpack with a tiny camera that can broadcast a video feed to a rescuer’s phone outside as they practice for future crises. It also contains a two-way microphone, allowing a rescue team to communicate with a victim. The rats also wear a vest with a microswitch, which they are taught to pull when they find someone. Rescuers can transmit a beeping signal to the rats, instructing them to return to the surface and get a reward such as peanuts or a blend of bananas and avocados.

The backpack technology was tough to develop, since GPS typically does not work under piles of debris. The team employed a variety of technologies with the idea that the video stream might not always be available.

The device also transmits the position of a victim using a lower-frequency signal that should be able to travel through the rubble. Verdiesen is aiming to make the equipment as tiny and light as possible, but for now the rats were able to adapt to a hefty first iteration of the concept.

APOPO’s facility in Tanzania is home to a group of rats who spend 15 minutes each day roaming through a site designed to resemble collapsing construction. The training sessions are brief to keep the rats healthy and happy.

Climate champions Hillary Hauser and Leah Stokes are being honored at the 15th annual AWC-SB Women of Achievement Awards presented by Women Connect4Good.

KEYT-TV anchor and 2019 Women of Achievement award recipient Beth Farnsworth will emcee the event at the Cabrillo Pavilion on April 27.

“This is an honor that takes every one of my words away!” says Hillary, head honcho of Heal the Ocean. “As a longtime writer-journalist, this feels like I’ve just been awarded the “Oscar of writing.’”

Stokes is an associate professor at UCSB whose work focuses on energy, climate, and environmental policies.

New Chair for Dream Foundation

Investec Real Estate Companies’ founding principal and president Kenny

So far, they’ve mastered the ability to locate “victims,” activate a switch to communicate the position, and navigate out of wreckage on command. The location is becoming more complex with time, incorporating additional obstacles and loud noises. The crew had intended to travel to Turkey to continue training with GEA, but it is not yet prepared to work on the present tragedy.

Slaught is stepping down as Dream Foundation’s board chair after a decade at the helm.

He will continue to serve as vice chair under the organization’s newly appointed chair, Mario Muredda.

Muredda is currently a member of the foundation’s board and was formerly co-chair of the New York Advisory Council.

His entire career has been focused on healthcare communications. He is currently president of marketing at Fishawack Health, a purposefully-built commercialization partner in the biopharmaceutical, medical technology, and wellness industries.

Brown on Board

Retired attorney Jen Brown, whose legal work over two decades included

high profile litigation spanning multiple continents has joined the board of directors of the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara.

She received a bachelor’s degrees in political science and communications at the University of Washington before earning a law degree at Gonzaga University School of Law.

Sightings

Ellen DeGeneres checking out Homer Montecito on CVR...Actor Christopher Lloyd picking up his New York Times at Pierre Lafond...Oscar winner Kevin Costner noshing at Local.

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 a decade

Hillary Hauser

Leah Stokes

Mario Muredda takes the chair at the Dream Foundation

Jen Brown joins Scholarship Foundation’s board

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16

Alchemy at the Alcazar – Carpinteria’s Alcazar Players opens its 2023 season with Now and Then, a romantic comedy/drama by Sean Grennan that one critic said goes into the souls of its four characters and looks at what time and desire did, does, and continues to do. Set in 1981, the play finds a young bartender Jamie (played by Andrew Miller) closing up when there is a flash of red light outside. Thinking it’s an ambulance going by, he ignores it, but moments later an older man named Jimmy (Raymond Wallenthin) comes in for a quick one. The subject shifts to Jamie’s aspiring career as a pianist and his impending choice to quit working to just study and gig. Then his girlfriend Abby (Jadzia Winter) shows up and talks turn to issues of life, careers, and destiny before Jimmy tells them an outlandish story about himself that they don’t believe. But as Jimmy is about to leave, another flash of red light portends the entrance of an older woman (Shannon Saleh), who is not pleased at the turn of events. Past, present, and future collide in the night that serves as a catalyst, unveiling the importance of the choices we make through a lifetime.

WHEN: 7 tonight through Saturday, plus 2 pm Saturday & Sunday

WHERE: Alcazar Theatre, 4916 Carpinteria Ave., Carpinteria

COST: $20 general, $15 students & seniors

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

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17

Camerata Conquers – Apparently, even chamber music cherishers aren’t immune to the powers of Valentine’s Day, as Camerata Pacifica succumbs to both intensely impassioned virtuosity with violinist Paul Huang and pianist Gilles Vonsattel performing Prokofiev’s “Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op 80,” and the heart-touchingly beautiful via Jose Franch-Ballester relishing the reed with violinists Huang and Jason Uyeyama, violist Scott Lee and cellist Ani Aznavoorian, for Brahms’ sublime Clarinet Quintet, perhaps the most romantic piece from the pen of a composer at the height of German Romanticism. In between the extremes, enjoy Schnittke’s “Prelude in Memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich.”

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Hahn Hall, Music Academy campus, 1070 Fairway Road

COST: $68

INFO: (805) 884-8410 or www.cameratapacifica.org

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17

Putting on Air – Is it really an appropriate Valentine’s week show when the band in question called its first album Love and Other Bruises and scored an immediate hit with “All Out of Love”? Sure, if said band is the Australian soft-rock duo Air Supply, the alter ego of Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, who fell into brotherly musical love when they both starred in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar way back in 1975 and have been singing together ever since. Air Supply enjoyed a succession of hits worldwide that rivaled The Beatles’ run, including eight top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100, ranging from “Lost in Love,” “All Out of Love,” and “Every Woman in the World” to “The One That You Love,” “Here I Am,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Even the Nights Are Better,” and “Making Love Out of Nothing at All,” the latter a composition by Jim Steinman (of Meat Loaf fame). That’s a lot of records sold in a short period of time, but apparently the two Russells didn’t have any trouble coming up for air, and they’re still breezing along on those successes in 2023.

WHEN: 8 pm

WHERE: Chumash Casino Resort, 3400 East Highway 246, Santa Ynez COST: $49 to $79

INFO: (800) CHUMASH (248-6274) or www.chumashcasino.com

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18

Romance in a Sacred Setting – The Santa Barbara Choral Society, at 75, is Santa Barbara’s oldest choir and isn’t shy about slipping in several Valentine’s Day references for its February concerts. Titled “For the Love of Music,” the program features the 80-strong semi-professional community chorus of approximately 80 singers conducted by JoAnne Wasserman offering a rich assortment of familiar works and hidden delights tucked into a program curated to appeal to a wide range of tastes. A bit like a box of chocolates, which they’re also using to promote the concert – pieces you know you like, and then there are those that simply pique your curiosity. Soothing, ethereal, and light as nougat is Morten Lauridsen’s “Sure on This Shining Night.” An arrangement by Rollo Dilworth of “The Gift to Be Free” might feel as familiar as a creamy caramel The flavor of Scottish toffees comes via an assortment that includes Mack Wilberg’s “O Whistle and I’ll Come to Ye.” So, The Choral Society wonders, who will you treat to its musical valentine?

WHEN: 7 tonight, 3 pm tomorrow

WHERE: Trinity Episcopal Church, 1500 State St. COST: $20 general, $10 students & children ($50 VIP tickets include reserved priority seating and a post-concert reception)

Wandering with Westmont – The Westmont Orchestra’s mid-month mini-tour over Presidents’ Day weekend takes the ensemble through three south county locales before winding up back on campus next Sunday. Led by Westmont’s new orchestra conductor Ruth Lin , the ensemble will perform “Amazing Grace,” Bizet’s Carmen Suite , and Franck’s “Symphony in D minor,” the latter two featuring French composers whose work have proven popular over time after cool responses at their premieres. The Westmont Orchestra also alights at a fourth local venue on Tuesday, Feb. 21, performing beloved hymns at a fundraising concert in the sanctuary of Santa Barbara Community Church, 1002 Cieneguitas Road. Admission to all of the concerts is free, but donations are warmly welcomed and always appreciated.

WHEN: All events at 7 pm

WHERE: San Marcos High School, 4750 Hollister Ave. tonight; Santa Ynez Valley Presbyterian Church, 1825 Alamo Pintado Road, Solvang, tomorrow; Calvary Baptist Church, 3355 Constellation Road, Lompoc, Sunday

COST: free

INFO: (805) 565-6051 or www.westmont.edu

INFO: (805) 965-6577 or www.sbchoral.org

February’s Fundraising Friends – Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre has wrangled a bunch of its famous friends to perform concerts on its intimate stage in support of its programs, and the mini-music series provides a swath of styles to sample at a price that isn’t really all that steep. Five-time Grammy Award-winner Noel Paul Stookey (a.k.a. Paul of Peter, Paul & Mary) brings his intimate musicality and whimsical persona back to the Rubicon stage, boasting hits from the PP&M song list, Stookey standards such as “The Wedding Song,” “In These Times,” and “Jean Claude” plus selections from his most recent release Fazz: Now and Then. Next up, it’s Linda Purl, the actress-singer who played Richie Cunningham’s girlfriend and Fonzie’s fiancée on Happy Days, Matlock’s daughter Charlene Matlock, and Pam’s Mom/Steve Carell’s girlfriend on The Office – not to mention Rubicon’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Copenhagen, among others – in a trip through the Great American Songbook for a set called “My Romance.” The series comes to a close with The Folk Legacy Trio (Rick Dougherty, George Grove, and Jerry Siggins), who have been dubbed the “living library” of music of the great folk era as their collective credits include music by The Kingston Trio, The Limeliters, The Weavers, Peter, Paul & Mary, The New Christy Minstrels, Tom Paxton, Joan Baez, Gordon Lightfoot, Simon & Garfunkel, John Denver, and others –the first two of which they were members.

WHEN: Stookey Feb. 18-19, Purl Feb. 22, Legacy Feb. 24 (all concerts 7 pm)

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

COST: $69.50

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

Montecito

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” — Muhammad Ali

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16

Quartets in Concert – Two highly reputable but divergent string quartets quite familiar to local audiences head back our way today as the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet alight at the Art Museum for a seventh time while the Takács Quartet lands in Los Olivos.

Founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization with a commitment to diversity in 2010, the Catalyst ( Karla Donehew Perez , violin; Abi Fayette , violin; Paul Laraia , viola; and Karlos Rodriguez , cello) imagine their programs and projects toward achieving unity through music. The ensemble, which tours widely throughout the U.S. and abroad, is presenting a program of all female composers including Jessie Montgomery ’s Strum , Teresa Careño’s String Quartet , Germaine Tailleferre’s String Quartet , and Fanny Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E-flat major … The Takács is the Hungary-founded Grammy-winning foursome that has been a residence at the Music Academy over the summer for years and recently usurped new faculty violist Richard O’Neil as its newest member to join Edward Dusinberre , first violin; Harumi Rhodes , second violin and András Fejér , cello. The quartet performs an all-Beethoven concert at St. Mark’s in-the-Valley as part of the Santa Ynez Valley Concert Series in its first visit to the valley in its near half-century of existence, playing two of the late great quartets: “String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op. 127,” and “String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132.” Got a fast car and a fervor for fiddles? Catch ’em both.

Takács:

WHEN: 4 pm

WHERE: 2901 Nojoqui Ave., Los Olivos COST: $20 general, students free INFO: (805) 705-0938 or www.smitv.org/syv-concert-series

Catalyst:

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Mary Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St. COST: $25 general, $20 museum members INFO: (805) 963-4364 or www.sbma.net

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

Launching the Queen – Despite Margaret of Anjou’s reign as Queen of England having come to a close more than 500 years ago, SHE WOLF playwright Katie Bender finds a lot of parallels between 1400s England and 21st-century America. “Civil unrest, extreme inequality, xenophobia, misogyny, and the plague are all part of our current national conversation,” explains Bender, whose work is getting a full-scale preview production through Launch Pad, the UCSB Department of Theater/Dance’s new play development program. Launch Pad founder/artistic director Risa Brainin will helm the production of SHE WOLF Margaret of Anjou that brings an innovative, remarkably contemporary perspective to the historical figure who posthumously was largely written off as a power-hungry “she-wolf” whose reign brought the country to war, the playwright says. Bender, whose previous plays include Still Now, The Fault, One Night Only, and an immersive adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, has been in residence all quarter with a team of professional designers, UCSB faculty, and student actors to develop the fully staged preview production that will also benefit from audience feedback.

WHEN: Feb. 22 to March 5

WHERE: UCSB Performing Arts Theater COST: $17 general, $13 children & seniors ($2 extra on day of) INFO: (805) 893-2064 or www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu

WORLD

Held at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, the seaside celebration of Pinot Noir will feature more than 150 wineries, tastings, seminars, and delicious pairing dinners.

Use code: MONTECITO23 for discounts on Grand Tasting tickets.

worldofpinotnoir.com

“As deeply moving as it is harrowing. An edge-of-your seat thrill ride!”

F. Kathleen Foley, STAGE RAW

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EDUCATION

BARN OWL box class coming soon! Learn BO biology then build your own barn owl box! Learn how and where to install it. 4-hour class to be held at the La Lieff winery in cooperation with Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network. Register today for late Feb. early March class. Call Tom 760-445-2023

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SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE

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RENTAL WANTED

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DONATIONS NEEDED

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Donate to the Parrot Pantry!

At SB Bird Sanctuary, backyard farmer’s bounty is our birds best bowl of food! The flock goes bananas for your apples, oranges & other homegrown fruits & veggies.

Volunteers

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arugula, radicchio, belgian endive and sauteéd onion

Sliced Steak Salad, 6 oz ,

arugula, radicchio, shrimp, prosciutto, cannellini beans, onions

Chopped Salad

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two shrimp, 2 �oz crab, avocado, egg,

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reggiano parmesan, balsamic vinaigrette

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roquefort or thousand island dressing

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Reuben Sandwich

mushroom sauce, french fries

Sliced Filet Mignon Open Faced

bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado

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