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SEEKING SPIRITUALITY

LUCIDITY IS MORE THAN A MUSIC FESTIVAL. WELCOME TO A COMMUNITY CREATED BY SANTA BARBARIANS THAT WILL EXPAND YOUR MIND AND DELVE DEEP INTO YOUR INNER BEING. YOU CAN LEARN HOW TO CREATE SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS OR BECOME CERTIFIED IN REIKI HEALING. THE BEST PART? YOU DON’T NEED TO TRAVEL FAR – THIS IS IN OUR BACKYARD. (YOUR JOURNEY STARTS ON PAGE 21)

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You’re invited to Inspiration Thursday!

Kick off the night with us at a "Beauty ~ Spirit ~ Imagination ~ Inspiration" art showcase by talented local artist Adam Peot, as well as the live talents of local musical act 'Aesthetic Ambience.’ A community canvas will be on hand for when inspiration strikes you, and we’ll even be raffling off two free months at CorePower Yoga. Enjoy appetizers, wine, cocktails and of course good company!

We are locally owned and operated and proud to support our community by hosting monthly 1st Thursday events as well as being the exclusive brokerage to the 31st Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

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Content

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L anny’s Take – Lanny Ebenstein stresses the importance of reconsidering the San Lagun proposed changes on the historical area ofFrancisco Puesta del Sol and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

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eer Guy – Hop geeks rejoice! Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope puts B on its first event; brewLAB launches Indiegogo campaign to expand brewhouse State Street Scribe – Jeff Wing discovers a whole new, possibly extraterrestrial world at the Gem Faire at Earl Warren Showgrounds

The Fortnight – This week’s local events include Dr. Jahnke discussing immortality, a performance by Insects vs. Robots at SOhO, the annual Santa Barbara International Orchid Show at Earl Warren Showgrounds, an appearance

by Serial co-creators at UCSB, among others

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Man About Town – SBIFF always hosts many of the year’s Oscars nominees, and this year was no different

The Local – Makes 3 products are good for the body and mind; Dani Boy has a killer selection of clothing and shoes for the little ones; a recipe for a crispy, lemony version of fried cauliflower; Juice Ranch’s Greens N’ Ginger is a delicious way to drink a salad; XO Coffee & Tea in Goleta is an extension of neighboring Sage & Onion Cafe

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The Berry Man – Bees are a vital part of agriculture, and they are rapidly disappearing; what to do with those hearts of palm Cause & Effect… – Crescend Health provides residential and outpatient mental health recovery-oriented services

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ArtBeat – The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara Satellite space hosts Maria Rendón’s exhibition Shift, Stretch, Expand: Everyday Transformations

Seeking Spirituality – Lucidity Festival returns this year in the fifth installment of its six-year story arc with the theme Crossroads

Behind the Vine – Graham Tatomer’s forte is Riesling, influenced by his time spent in Austria

I Heart SB – The words of advice in Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up can be applied not only to the clutter accumulated in your house, but also to relationships and friendships in life

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E’s Note – A look at inside Maya’s wonderful world of chocolate and how it’s made, right here in town

SY Valley Snapshot – Andrew Howie brings golf lessons, a golf simulator, and mini golf to any location with his company Go Fore Golf; upcoming events in and around the Valley

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Lannys take

by Lanny Ebenstein

Lanny Ebenstein is president of the California Center for Public Policy

HLC Should Take Necessary Time

T

he Santa Barbara City Historic Landmarks Commission should take the necessary time for review of changes proposed to Puesta del Sol and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The Mission Canyon area is the most historic part of Santa Barbara, from the Santa Barbara Mission through Mission Historical Park and beyond. The stone walls here (including the stegosaurus wall) are intrinsic to our area and must be preserved. The current multimodal plan makes no sense at all and must be abandoned – the sooner, the better. There is currently a historic landmark application pending to provide additional protection to stone walls along East Los Olivos, Mission Canyon Road, and Puesta del Sol. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History President and CEO Luke Swetland and Suzanne Elledge Planning Services (the Museum’s consultant) deserve high marks for their efforts to involve the community in the planning process to this time. As far as I know, they have turned down no requests from members of the community to meet with them and provide input on the project. They should expect much more involvement by the community, in particular the city Historic Landmarks Commission, in the planning process.

The HLC is in many respects the community’s guardian of its historic resources.

It will take time – at least months – to get these issues right. The current plan, for a very linear walking area down Puesta del Sol, should be rejected by the HLC, and a number of commissioners expressed concerns about it at a recent meeting.

Now plans are also being considered for changes within the walls of the Museum of Natural History, and these plans merit close attention by the HLC and community.

The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is already a city Structure of Merit; many in the community believe it would also benefit from designation as a Historic Landmark. In the 1981 designation of portions of the main buildings of the Museum of Natural History as a Structure of Merit, city staff originally

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recommended that the Museum be designated a Historic Landmark, which creates more protection than merely Structure of Merit status. The time may be ripe to reconsider Historic Landmark status for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History to ensure the preservation of historic aspects of this important site for future generations.

The current proposal before the HLC to designate the stegosaurus wall in front of the Museum of Natural History, together with other walls adjacent to the Santa Barbara Mission and the historic (and already historically designated) stone bridge across Mission Creek, merits the strong support of the Commission. As stated in the nomination application for the walls, quoting the minutes of the August 27, 2014, meeting of the HLC: “These stone walls are extremely important and sensitive resources. As recorded in the minutes of the Historic Landmarks Commission: ‘The Commission considers the two walls extremely important and they are sensitive historic resources.’” As stated in the June 24, 1981, staff report recommending the Museum of Natural History for historic landmark status, among the reasons for supporting this designation for the Museum itself was the “character, interest and value” of the Museum as a “significant part of the heritage of the City.”

Additional landmark protections at the state and federal levels may be required to preserve these vital historic resources in the Mission Canyon area. It is already the case that the Mission is a National and California Historic Landmark; these designations and the protections they confer should be considered for extension to other landmarks in the Mission Canyon area. It should be noted that the stegosaurus wall was included as part of the 1981 historic landmark designation recommended by city staff – these resources have become even more valuable and historic in the past 35 years.

This writer grew up in Mission Canyon, and I have lived there most of my life. I have walked and ridden my bike through this area many thousands of times. I know it well. Based on this personal experience, I am completely opposed to the Mission Canyon Multimodal Plan and aspects of the current proposal on Puesta del Sol that could be the first step in implementation of it. It is vital for the Santa Barbara City Historic Landmarks Commission to stand firm and take the necessary time to review the plans before it. The HLC should not – and must not – be stampeded into precipitous and inadequate consideration of changes to this precious and vital part of Santa Barbara’s history and heritage.

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Bi-Weekly Capitalist

by Jeff Harding

Jeff Harding is a real estate investor and a writer on economics and finance. He is the former publisher of the Daily Capitalist, a popular economics blog. He is also an adjunct professor at SBCC.

Would You Vote For A Candidate Who …

H

ere are some issues you should think about when you are choosing a candidate for political office. It could be for any office: city council, county office, Congress, Assembly, president.

Would you vote for a candidate who advocated fewer job opportunities for lowskilled workers?

You would be shocked to discover that many politicians favor policies that destroy job opportunities for workers who haven’t yet developed skills needed by employers. These entry-level workers need jobs where they can learn how to work in a business environment and develop skills necessary to deal with fellow workers, bosses, and customers, where they can learn responsibility for an assigned task, where they can learn the need for punctuality and diligence in the workplace, and discover the dignity of a paycheck and pride in accomplishment.

Not everyone has these skills, yet employers are willing to employ these workers and give them that opportunity to better their lives. It’s a start.

The sad truth is that many politicians favor controls that arbitrarily set wages at levels higher than what many employers can afford to pay these workers. The restaurant industry is typical of these employers. It’s not that these business owners wish to charge low wages, but rather they cannot afford to do that because they know their customers are only willing to pay a certain amount for their meals and that their competitors will try to attract customers away if they can’t compete on costs. In fact, it is we consumers that set those wages by making choices of which restaurants to patronize.

Recently when Seattle imposed a $15 an hour minimum wage increase, some restaurants went out of business, and

an estimated 1,000 restaurant workers were immediately let go. This minimum wage law not only reduced employment, but it discouraged the growth of new restaurant businesses that would hire low-skilled workers who would be willing to work for less.

And it’s not just restaurants.

Would you vote for a candidate who favored policies that would cause the price of consumer goods to dramatically increase and trigger a depression?

No one wants to pay $30 for a $15 t-shirt, for example. We consumers want the best products for the cheapest price.

If we think we are getting a mediocre shirt for too much, then we won’t buy it, or, if we do, we want it cheap. That drives manufacturers nuts because it forces them to compete for our dollars. The result: you can pay whatever you want for a t-shirt and decide yourself about quality and price. You can pay $15 at Costco or $200 for a designer label at Nordstrom.

You choose. The bottom line is that your choices drive competition and the price you pay, not the manufacturer.

So retailers go to manufacturers to find the cheapest cost of production to meet the standards you want in a t-shirt.

The mills in New England went out of business because labor costs were too high there and manufacturers took their jobs down South where land and wages were lower. All because you wanted lower cost goods.

Well, you know the rest of the story. They went to China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Mexico, and India looking for the best prices because that is what you want.

And a marvelous thing happened. First of all, countries like China and Vietnam ditched their socialist orthodoxy and they climbed out of poverty. Capitalists (mostly foreign investors) provided capital, entrepreneurs created businesses,

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and millions of workers found good paying jobs.

The other thing was that instead of U.S. employment or economic growth going down, it went up. Because goods were cheaper, we all had more money to spend on other things. As well, entrepreneurs created new industries and new businesses that offered jobs paying good wages and our standard of living increased.

Some politicians want to choke these economic benefits by shutting down foreign trade. Mr. Trump is the candidate most loudly advocating that disastrous policy. He claims that China and Mexico are “killing” us economically and that we are fools for letting it happen. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If we take his advice, we will trigger a worldwide depression. (See: Great Depression; Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act).

Don’t let these guys fool you. Foreign trade is good for you and America.

Would you vote for a candidate who would stifle economic growth and innovation?

We have the most vibrant and innovative economy in the world. We have a system that incentivizes clever people to invent new products that, they hope, we will want. These inventors and entrepreneurs know that if you like their products, that they will prosper, and, they hope, grow rich.

My favorite example of this is my iPhone. I love my iPhone. Who would have imagined a few years back that we would have a device in our pockets that connected us to everyone and everything in the world? Steve Jobs of Apple revolutionized the industry by

perfecting the smart phone, a device so attractive and well-functioning that it has attracted hundreds of millions of users around the world and has elevated Apple to almost cult-like status.

Mr. Jobs became a billionaire as a result. Did he have billions of dollars stashed in a bank or in his vault? No. It was mostly in shares of Apple and Disney stock (Disney bought Pixar, which he helped start).

Some candidates for president want to destroy the incentives that have propelled Steve Jobs and thousands of other entrepreneurs to create products that make our lives better.

Bernie Sanders would vastly increase taxes on these successful people. He would take more than half of their annual income. He would take more than half of their wealth when they die. He would increase taxes on their corporations, already the highest rate among the top 34 countries (35%). He would increase the capital gains rate for the rich to more than 50% versus the current 20%. Some say the capital gains rate is the main incentive for entrepreneurs to gain and keep their wealth. By the way, these one-percenters already pay 45% of all income taxes.

After Bernie is finished we would be more like France taxwise, resulting in high unemployment and a stagnant economy.

Hillary’s tax plan isn’t much better.

Both Bernie and she obfuscate the fact that everyone’s taxes must go up in order to pay for their programs.

It’s your choice in the voting booth.

Make sure you know what you’re doing. These unintended consequences will kill us.

Publisher/Editor • Tim Buckley | Production/Design • Trent Watanabe Editor/Creative Director • Megan Waldrep E’s Note • Elliana Westmacott | Man About Town • Mark Léisuré Plan B • Briana Westmacott | Food File • Christina Enoch Commercial Corner • Austin Herlihy | The Weekly Capitalist • Jeff Harding The Beer Guy • Zach Rosen | The Local • Megan Waldrep Girl About Town • Julie Bifano | In The Zone • Tommie Vaughn I Heart SB • Elizabeth Rose | Fortnight • Steven Libowitz State Street Scribe • Jeff Wing | Holistic Deliberation • Allison Antoinette Up Close • Jacquelyn De Longe | Behind The Vine • Hana-Lee Sedgwick Lanny’s Take • Lanny Ebenstein Advertising/Sales Tanis Nelson • 805.689.0304 • tanis@santabarbarasentinel.com Sue Brooks • 805.455.9116 • sue@santabarbarasentinel.com Judson Bardwell • 619.379.1506 • judson@santabarbarasentinel.com Published by SB Sentinel, LLC PRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA Santa Barbara Sentinel is compiled every other Friday 133 EAST DE LA GUERRA STREET, #182, Santa Barbara 93101 How to reach us: 805.845.1673 • E-MAIL: tim@santabarbarasentinel.com

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Letters

Although you might not believe it, we actually want to hear from you. So if you have something you think we should know about or you see something we’ve said that you think is cretinous (or perspicacious, to be fair), let us know.

Email us at tim@santabarbarasentinel.com.

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Das Kapital

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n response to Jeff Harding’s article entitled “The Politics of Ignorance” (Sentinel Issue #5/2). Capitalists don’t create jobs. On the contrary, they are job destroyers. Capitalists helped create jobs in the early years of capitalism, which continued until the last third of the twentieth century. Capitalists created the need for wage labor and set out to invest in industrial production; however, their role was limited. They set out to invest the initial capital needed to start businesses, but it was labor that generated profits for the capitalist and it was the mechanism that absorbed the finished product through purchase that kept the economy growing. The capitalist only provided the initial capital in order to extract rentier profit from labor’s output. They created profit without themselves being productive.

Labor was productive but the capitalist sat back and “let his money work” for him. The capitalist was and is basically unessential parasite (note: In capitalist economic parlance, it is assumed that the capitalist has rightfully “earned” his profit because he has been anointed as the innovator of industry, with the perceived understanding that this was something only very few of the brightest people can do. So, as laborers and consumers, we assume the entrepreneur capitalist has the unquestioned divine right to profit – it is the default position, and we must genuflect to that paradigm).

Capitalists are like that of a Mafioso who bankrolls someone into a business venture and then sits back and lets the extortion/protection money roll in – letting his money work for him, if you will. In the eyes of this bandit, the poor sap who was forced in to this situation should be grateful that he has a job because without thief/exploiter he would have nothing.

Be that as it may, capitalism has gotten so big and powerful that it no longer wants to create brick and mortar industries. This way of making money is small potatoes. Debt deflation, financial speculation through derivatives, and government bailouts, etc., profit without production is the wave of the future for these “entrepreneurs.” In such a situation, labor is an unnecessary cost that can be done away with.

Capitalists are not only an unnecessary contributor to production, job creation, and social well-being, but in fact, capitalists are really a hindrance to the productive process because they strip the workers of part of their wage by turning

it into profit for themselves. Due to competition and shareholder pressure, the ever need for the accumulation of super profits sets into motion a dynamic process that moves in the long run towards the impoverishment of the working class and towards the detriment of society as a whole.

Through the lowering of the corporate tax base, deregulation, union busting, outsourcing, automation, downsizing, lax immigration policies, bloated military budgets, permanent wars, and environmental degradation all push to facilitate the loss of the middle class as well as the well-being of the working class and the citizenry in general. This is the real agenda of capitalism.

Their MO is to speculate, create bubbles and debt. Through campaign contributions, lobbying, intimidation, and PACs, capitalists have reduced their top tax margins from 90 percent to 35 percent and in many cases have been able, with the help of loopholes in the tax code, to pay zero or near zero taxes.

They have created trillions of dollars in super profits, yet where are the good paying jobs?

Capitalists have gotten everything they want from rock bottom taxes breaks to deregulation, but where are the jobs that offer a middle class living?

The jobs that have been generated are minuscule low paying tier 3 jobs. If you compare the ratio between the number and quality of job to productive output, the gap is breathtaking, but capitalists feel no need to share the wealth with the rest of society that provides such great production gains.

Capitalist’s greatest expenditure is in labor and its costs are the stifler of greater profits. Capitalists always want to reduce labor so they invest in labor saving devises like automation (computers and robotics come to mind as the most obvious generator of secondary and tertiary automation innovation). Other means of reducing labor costs is outsourcing of jobs to low wage countries. The immigrant policy of the developed countries also helped reduce labor costs by increasing the reserve army of labor, which intensifies the competition for jobs by lowering wages and benefits.

Here is a fact: The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Commerce found that from 2006-2009 US transnational corporations, which employ approximately 20 percent of ...continued p.13

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by Zach Rosen

The small interior of brewLAB was built by the brewers using driftwood and reclaimed materials

Geek Out at brewLAB

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eekiness seems to foster further geekiness. Chances are if you are a beer geek, you nerd out over other topics like electronics and astrophysics as well. One time I was hanging out in Telegraph Brewing when the UCSB astrophysics club was returning some empty kegs (there was definitely more than one). Beer involves a lot of scientific concepts and beer and science just seem to be a natural fit. Well you no longer have to sit on your couch Netflixing episodes of The Universe and swooning at Neil deGrasse Tyson’s awesomeness while swigging craft brews (believe me – I’ve been there).

The Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) is introducing a new monthly Astronomy on Tap series at The Blind Tiger. LCOGT is a 501(c)3 non-profit based in Goleta and founded in 2005. This organization uses a worldwide network of eighteen telescopes to explore the sky and study its changes over time.

Science and beer nerds will come together on Wednesday, March 2, at 7:30 – 9:30 pm, for two science talks, food, prizes, and plenty of beer. The first topic will be “Dark Energy and the Expansion of the Universe” by LCOGT staff scientist, Andy Howell, and the second presentation will be by UCSB’s Dr. Matteo Cantiello and is titled, “Stellar Surfing: Using Waves to See Inside Stars.” Embrace your inner nerd and make sure to check out these talks either this month or on an upcoming one. This seems like a great series and a much needed combining of nerd forces.

The beer OGs (Original Geeks) If you are talking about beer geeks, no one in this area geeks out more than brewLAB in Carpinteria. Since opening a few years back, they have become easily the most experimental brewery in our area. From building their bar, tap handles, and tasting room, to harvesting their own botanics and yeasts, calling these brewers hands-on is a major understatement. They embody their beers and brewery, pouring their personalities, and more than just their sweat and blood, into their brews (although they are very experimental, to the best of my knowledge, they have never used blood or sweat as an actual ingredient in their beers). brewLAB’s wild style has made them incredibly popular and the brewers can’t keep up with demand. It doesn’t

Zach Rosen is a Certified Cicerone® and beer educator living in Santa Barbara. He uses his background in chemical engineering and the arts to seek out abstract expressions of beer and discover how beer pairs with life.

help that they are brewing on a nanosized brewing system.

Expansion is the word on everyone’s lips these days in the beer industry. Many of our local brewers have gone through a recent expansion or are in planning for one and brewLAB is long overdue for an expansion. The wacky brewLAB venture was started by three friends, Peter Gustav, Steve Jarmie, and Rob Peed, back in 2012 and with some personal investment they were able to open up their brewery. They accomplished their shared dream of opening and owning a brewery with help from their family and friends, not by seeking VCs or investors.

Many of us in the local beer scene have witnessed their tireless effort to build and run this innovative brewery and are thrilled with their success. But now their brewery is maxed out and they need additional help if they are going to take it to the next level.

Starting this past Thursday, February 25, brewLAB launched a 45-day crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo with a goal of $40,000 (see www.brewlabcraft.com for more details).

The funds raised through their Indiegogo campaign won’t cover everything they need, but it will help them through most of it. The brewery is currently a tiny 1.5-barrel (bbl) system and they plan on expanding it to a 7-bbl brewhouse. The mash tun and boil kettle will be made by the three brewers from salvaged dairy equipment. Many of the pioneering craft brewers adapted dairy equipment back when affordable, small-sized brewing equipment did not exist. As craft beer grew, the demand for craft brewing equipment rose exponentially. Now the equipment suppliers can’t keep up with brewers’ requests and many have to wait for months before receiving their new brewhouses. Dairy equipment is

an economical option for those brewers who have the technical skills to weld and adapt the fittings required to convert these tanks into brewing equipment.

They will also purchase eight new 7-bbl fermenters and two bright tanks to meet the higher output of the new brewhouse. When scaling a system up, you are required to adapt all sections of that process to meet the new demands of the system. This means that brewLAB will also need to purchase new pumps, fittings, additional hoses, etc. to match their new equipment. Since they will be producing more beer, they will also need to purchase a new grain mill, water boiler, glycol system (refrigerant), and walk-in cooler. With this new brewing system they will be able to produce a solid inventory of beer and not have to be struggling (as much) to keep up with demand. This will allow them to start selling their beers and putting it on tap around town.

A Taste of the Lab

Normally you would have to travel to Carpinteria to taste their beers, but fortunately they will be hosting a series of events in Santa Barbara to promote the crowdfunding campaign and serve their beers to the public. This past week brewLAB held a kickoff event at SOhO Restaurant and Music Venue alongside the band, Afishnsea the Moon, where they played their promotional video, drank brews, and enjoyed the music. Next Saturday, March 5, from 6 -10 pm at Armada Wine and Beer Merchant, brewLAB will be hosting a tap takeover with five of their incredible beers. They will be bringing a Saison, which is one of the styles they specialize in, as well as Citrus SMaSH. In the beer world, SMaSH stands for Single Malt and Single Hop, and defines one grain and one hop in the most elemental way possible. In this case, they used only malted wheat and the fruity and tropical El Dorado hops. If you are into hops, then they will also be bringing a Triple IPA. Harmonie is a bright and

fiery Belgian Golden Strong with citrus.

The last beer there will be Roggensauer, one of the most incredible brews they produce. This unique beer uses 100% malted rye and is then fermented using only Lactobacillus cultures (sometimes it is fermented 100% with yogurt) before being aged on fruit. The fruit changes with each batch. This time it will be blood oranges however I’ve had a lovely raspberry version and they have even used pomegranates in the past.

If you missed the event at SOhO, don’t worry, brewLAB will be there again for the First Annual Wild Brews Fest on Sunday, March 6, from 3 – 6 pm. This festival is the brainchild of Katie Hershfelt of Cultivate Events, the main mind behind the Santa Barbara Fermentation Festival (SBFF). She hopes to bring the same educational focus and hands-on experience that the SBFF has become famous for. While SBFF covers all forms of fermentation like pickling, cheese, and bone broth, the Wild Brews Fest will highlight only alcohol fermentation. Guests will get to listen to educational talks and DIY areas while engaging with master fermenters.

The fest will explore more than just beer and wine, offering a range of fermented libations like cider, mead, sake, jun, and others. There will be eighteen vendors total and dozens of different tastings available. brewLAB will be showcasing one of their gruits. This antique ale style existed before hops were a prevalent ingredient in beer. Instead, herbs and spices were used to act as a preservative and balance the sweetness of the malts.

Pure Order Brewing Co. and Pacific Pickleworks have collaborated to create a DIY Pickle Station where you can pickle your own jar of estate-grown hops from Pure Order. Pickled hops is actually a delicacy in Belgium.

Visit wildbrewfest.nightout.com for more information and ticketing info.

This is a great opportunity to geek out on more than just beer and learn in-depth about the whole world of fermented beverages.

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STATE STREET SCRIBE

by Jeff Wing

Jeff is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast. A long-time resident of SB, he takes great delight in chronicling the lesser known facets of this gaudy jewel by the sea. Jeff can be reached at jeffwingg@gmail.com.

Rocks “R” Us

T

he known universe, for all the cosmological head-scratching it engenders, is essentially a very large, mostly empty void in which rocks of various sizes are suspended. I mean, rocks are the theme. Yes, there are science-fictional doodads out there: quasars, gamma-bursts, binary systems, a gaping, galaxy-starved maw called the Boötes Void (if you can imagine).

But as our homely and expensive deep space probes make their lumbering way through our solar system, looking eagerly (if stiffly) around at the remote scenery, it’s basically rocks as far as the eye can see. Further, even. Of course our Earth is a rock, which is belittling if you’re in the wrong mood. All our human prehistory and history, all our important and heartbreaking wars and cataclysms and revolutions in thinking and Alexanders the Great, the eonslong morphing of the Trilobite into the Tax Attorney; everything that has ever Happened, effectively, has happened on this rock. And it’s not a very large rock, as these things go. Our Everything is twenty-five-thousand miles around the middle. You call that a planet? It sounds more like an interminable road trip.

But our rock is special –­ an anomaly, as near as we can tell. It’s hot and roiling on the inside, wet and cool on the outside, and wrapped delicately in a shawl of atmosphere that makes her look positively coquettish from, say, the annoyed and painfully chapped perspective of Mars. And thanks to all the subsurface thermal confusion our Earth is a world-sized piñata stuffed with the most dazzling candy.

By arrangement, my pal Eddie swung by last Sunday. My daughter and I hopped in the car and followed him out to the Gem Faire at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. He was eager to walk us through the wonderland he’d adopted.

We pulled into the parking lot and joined a thin line of stragglers making their way to the giant flying saucer that is Earl Warren’s grandly titled Exhibition Building. I’d more or less gone along for the ride, as is often the case on the road to Damascus, expecting a quaint oddball experience to match the implacably strange Earl Warren environs themselves. I’d seen gems and stuff before, turquoise and coral and the dust-covered geode in the benighted corner of a roadside curio shop. Outside the flying saucer a small sun canopy

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sheltered several long tables piled with ropes of rough-hewn minerals in all the peaceably mad hues of the inner earth, beads and stones and chunks of matter like pieces of a rainbow dusted with powdered sugar, all erupting copiously out of shallow plastic tubs, draped like seaweed over the edges. Hands in pockets I glanced with bemused judgment at the charming Gem Faire Folk gathered round and pawing the stuff, and in an instant had joined them.

A Murmuring, Mineral-Maddened Mob

Entering the cool cavern of the Earl Warren Flying Saucer, one is already swept off ones pins by the vaulted, curvaceous ceiling, and sense of having walked willingly into an edifice normally associated with jittery abduction scenarios. We entered from the comparative quietude of the showgrounds outside into a hubbub of bustling stone-age commerce. The immense discoidal cavern divided longitudinally into five or six long rows of dealer/collectors in their booths, the various species of Gem Faire Vendor as jarringly displayed as the piles of rock fronting their traveling shopfronts.

There were the inevitable bald tatfolk with their chiseled painted arms like muscly shirt-sleeves, and their mineralized occipital ridges; graying soft-spoken southwestern sorts in bola ties and safari-skirts, quietly and passionately explaining the chatoyancy of their polished kyanite; hyper-kinetic rock preachers with topiary beards and earnest eyebrows, holding forth with missionary fervor on the metaphysics of vibratory healing. Some of the ...continued p.12

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theFortnight

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FEB 26 - MAR 11

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by Steven Libowitz

Tell us all about your art opening, performance, dance party, book signing, sale of something we can’t live without, or event of any other kind by emailing fortnight@santabarbarasentinel.com. If our readers can go to it, look at it, eat it, or buy it, we want to know about it and will consider it for inclusion here.

Special consideration will be given to interesting, exploratory, unfamiliar, and unusual items. We give calendar preference to those who take the time to submit a picture along with their listing.

Heal Thyself

D

r. Roger Jahnke, OMD, has a question for you: are you now or have you ever been immortal? Or would you like to be? Considering folks have been chasing after the Fountain of Youth for a pretty long time, I’m thinking this latest edition of Mind & Supermind might be of interest. Dr. Jahnke will discuss the Golden Elixir, which ancient physicians and philosophers in Asia call medicine produced by the human body, and explore contemporary research including neuroplasticity, genomics and physics along with ancient Chinese medicine and philosophy, Qi Gong, and more in fashioning our own methods to produce longevity, health and well-being.

The program takes place 7 pm on Monday, February 29, at the Thornton Auditorium on the Wake Campus of SBCC, part of what was once called Adult Ed, but is now known as Center for Lifelong Learning. (If this stuff actually works, that center is going to be busy!)

Insects vs Robots

I

’m not going to lie to you. I know next to nothing about this band. But don’t you just love that name? I mean, back in my youth we had Beatles and Stones (Rolling or Family version), but nothing that sounded like a futuristic science fiction thriller coming soon to the multiplex. And nobody every thought to describe any of those groups as “psychotropicturesque quasi-nomadic music tribe roaming the jungles of Los Angeles,” which is how IVR’s bio begins.

Now maybe I shouldn’t be so smug about

never having heard IVR, considering that the band includes Willie Nelson’s son J. Micah Nelson on charango, guitar, vocals, percussion, vocals, noises, whispers, and drums (yep, that’s from the bio, too) and has put out several albums since their 2008 debut featuring what they call “psychedelic freak-folkrock space-punk” – a “fever dream of acoustic and electric guitars, sundry vocalizations, bass, violin, percussion and far-out effects.” Anyway, they’ll be at SOhO on Wednesday, March 2,

Evidential Apologetics (Or Why Believing the Bible Isn't Stupid) Dr. Dan Deen Assistant Professor of Theology Concordia University, Irvine Friday, February 26th 6:00 PM Room A160 SBCC Admin Building

www.facebook.com/CampusApologetics paul@campusapologetics.org 805.687.3734

so maybe you should quasi-nomadic yourself down there for a spell.

Flower Power

Making the old exhibit hall at the Earl Warren Showgrounds smell like heaven is quite a feat, and the Santa Barbara International Orchid Show does that so well, you won’t believe your nose! Thousands of blooms in every imaginable shape, color, pattern, and texture are on exhibit at the event, which is one of the country’s largest and oldest celebrations of orchids. The 71st annual show, slated for March 4-6, carries the theme “Wild World of Orchids,” which might sound a bit extravagant if all you know about orchids are the ones they sell at Trader Joe’s right when you walk in the door. But the plants are so much more than that – the Santa Barbara show pays homage to a family of flowering plants that boasts 25,000 species, nearly all of them stunningly beautiful and fascinating in nature’s ability to innovate over evolution of the plants. More than 50 orchid exhibitors and vendors from around the world take part in the big show at Warren, exhibiting creative uses through a variety of exquisitely designed showcases that are truly stunning. And

the 2016 version has a special focus on the vanilla orchid, the source of the most popular flavor in the world, so the show has tapped award-winning local chocolatiers Chocolats Du CaliBressan to create a special Tahitian Vanilla chocolate to commemorate.

The Santa Barbara International Orchid Show isn’t just for ooh-ing and ahh-ing, though. The 41st Annual Cymbidium Society of America Congress takes place on Saturday, where ordinary folks can listen to worldclass experts and speakers such as Dr. Randall Robinson, Scott Barrie, Dave Sorokowsky, Dr. Robert-Jan Quene PHD, Dr. Yu Zhang and Mohan Pradhan discuss the latest in the field.

You can take home plants of your own as domestic growers as well as vendors from Tokyo, Ecuador, Brazil, Thailand, Columbia, and Hawaii will be selling their plants, offering everything from beginner windowsill orchids to rare, unusual, and awarded species and hybrids. Visitors will also find all the supplies they need for their orchid repotting and care needs. And all local nurseries in the Santa Barbara area arrange to have open houses throughout the weekend so visitors can check out their greenhouses and purchase orchids directly from the growers.

The weekend begins with a special preview gala on Thursday night when the flowers are at their freshest. Get all the details for all the events online at www.SBOrchidShow.com.

Write On

Journalists have gotta support other journalists, especially when they’re helping actual journalism (as opposed to the sound bite kind) to not only survive but also thrive in the modern tech era. So we’re giving a shout out to Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder, the Peabody Award-winning journalists for their work on This American Life, and who are the co-creators of Serial, a 12part series centering on one legal case.

The podcast, which is proving that slow-

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motion journalism can captivate and sustain an audience even in our ADHDaddled times, was the fastest in iTunes history to reach five million downloads, and now has more than 80 million downloads since its launch in October, 2014, making Serial the most listened-to podcast in the history of the form. The current season two focuses on the story of Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured and held by the Taliban for nearly five years before a prisoner exchange in late 2014.

In their live presentation, called “Binge-Worthy Journalism: Backstage with the Creators of Serial,” which takes place on Thursday, March 3, at UCSB Campbell Hall, Koenig and Snyder will take the audience behind the scenes of the podcast, sharing personal stories and providing insight into the ups and downs of creating a new form of modern journalism. Tickets are either $45 general, or $125 for VIPs, which include an artist meet-and-greet reception. (Hey good journalism isn’t cheap!) Details at (805) 893-3535 or www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu.

New Orleans in Ojai

Just like Santa Barbara’s got the Summer Solstice Celebration in June,

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st

Ojai is pretty partial to its own annual blow-it-out party – the Ojai Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball. And just like with the Solstice Parade, the annual event grew from small beginnings to a big community-wide celebration.

The Mardi Gras Masquerade began as a private party hosted by the late Lyle Mathews, a New Orleans native who moved here for the last four years of her life as a massage therapist with a love for the arts. For Lyle, throwing a great party was an expression of healing voodoo, getting your mojo workin,’ so to speak, and though the magic wasn’t enough to heal Mathews from breast cancer, the Mardi Gras parties became an annual tribute to her spirit after her death.

This year the madness takes place on Saturday, March 5, starting with a traditional New Orleans Second Line Band Parade beginning at 7:30 pm, followed by the bash with a theme of “Psychedelic Neon Nights,” the idea being to “embrace the ‘60s & ‘70s insanity of psychedelic and neon.” Dig out those bell bottoms, wild colors, tie dye shirts and neon lights – the whiter the better since black lights will be provided throughout the venue.

The Ojai all-star band (Jim Calire on Hammond B-3 Organ, accordion, and sax; Patricia Cardinali on guitar, vocals,

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percussion; Connie Early on vocals; Ron Seba on slide guitar, rhythm guitar, and gravelly vocals; Stan Taylor on bass; Robert Rachelli on drums; and Burton Lang on congas and percussion) plays a mix of New Orleans, funk, soul, rock, and Cajun dance music.

The Masquerade Ball also features installations from Art Fools, a loose, dedicated and playful collective of artists, sculptors, painters and hangers on, who have spent the past couple of months creating imaginative sets and delightful decorations to transform the venue of the Ojai Art Center into a “magical, nostalgic, funky, progressiveand-regressive mask and costume menagerie”. Even the food has the N’awlins flavor, a scrumptious Cajun cuisine that’s included in admission, although the cocktails are provided at the no-host bar. Don’t miss the costume contest, the traditional throwing of beads, coronation of this year’s king and queen, Burton Lang and Debbie Armond, and a special tribute planned for the late founding Queen Lara.

Tickets for the Mardi Gras are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.

The weekend celebration continues 12-3 pm on Sunday with a Fais-Do-Do Cajun Dance Party, a family oriented musical event featuring Mark Parsons

11

& Crowfoot, and includes Cajun dance lessons and a face painter, is cost just $5, with kids under 12 free. Tickets, details and more online at www.ojaimardigras. com/.

No Soup for You!

Yes, Jerry Seinfeld laughed a little too often at his own jokes, and George started off as a poor man’s Woody Allen.

But you’ll never be able to convince me that their sitcom Seinfeld was anything but the greatest TV show of all time. I mean a show about nothing that covered absolutely everything? C’mon! Cool that it’s streaming now on Hulu, too, so you can revisit fave episodes whenever you want – man hands, breathtaking baby, shrinkage, Art Vandelay – the list is almost endless. Pretty cool, also, that Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine and now stars in the Emmy-adored Veep, has lived in Santa Barbara for decades, so we’ve got that local connection. Jerry of course has moved on to his own streaming thing called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which is pretty funny too.

All of this is just leading up to the fact that Seinfeld is once again bringing his standup act to the Arlington on Thursday, March 10, and even if the schtick itself is getting a bit stale, we still love him. He’s Jerry Freaking Seinfeld!

Santa Barbara International Orchid Show Friday March 4 - Sunday March 6, 2016

WILD WORLD of ORCHIDS Earl Warren Showgrounds | Santa Barbara, California www.SBOrchidShow.com | @SBOrchidShow | #SBOrchidShow

3-day pass - $22 | General admission - $14 | Seniors, students with ID & advance group sales - $12 | Kids 12 & younger with paid adult - FREE

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booths looked like full-blown mineral mini-marts, with pricey-looking tiered displays and show-offy signage, others were charmingly low-key, shallow cardboard trays filled lovingly with unvarnished azurite pebbles so heartmeltingly, affectingly blue they test one’s hard-won faith in an accidental universe.

Hundreds of exhibitors, dealers and selftaught gemologists paced with calm or canny expressions behind displays of crazy merchandise that in a previous epoch had been buried deep in the world’s feverish gut.

Aziz, a gentle giant with a squinty kid’s grin of contentment, strode happily about his lair (Elegant Healing), a jaw-dropping display of large format natural wonder, beautifully displayed on several large tables like objects fallen from space; tetrahedral quartz obelisks large enough to stare through, gorgeous polished crystal spheres one would hoist and gaze into if one could only get past the amiable but wall-sized Aziz, rosy clustered amethyst points, lightthrowing crystal skulls, grimacing and fiery even by the wan light of the distant overhead fluorescents.

There were dealers who worked mostly with jewelry, but jewelry that Zales wouldn’t know how to market; rings and pendantsSSBMMeasideSoireeAdSentinel.pdf and bracelets featuring inset 1

chunks of lushly colored rock from an underworld most of us don’t ever think about. I stopped in front of one booth (Liliana International) that displayed finely featured Russian Matryoshka Dolls, ornate lacquered boxes, and most freakily (to me, anyway), jewelry made from lustrous, irregularly-shaped gobs of amber – fossilized tree resin. It turned out that this was all Baltic Amber, prized in all the world. The Baltic Sea region is crowded with the stuff, the leavings of an enormous ancient pine forest that poured out its lifeblood in the Jurassic and lies in repose under the Baltic sea floor, the ossified honey-colored globules bobbing to the surface and clacking ashore in the hours following a storm. A forest under the sea floor is just a wondrous thing. A pleasant but slightly dour Ukrainian couple, Engineers by training, moved slowly about behind the display, answering questions with furrowed brows and reflexively saying “May I help you” whenever anyone slowed. The little blobs of amber were everywhere, like honey droplets, many of them encasing tiny embarrassed Jurassic bugs in eternally splayed attitudes of accidental amber entrapment. I stared for a long time.

“May I help you?” Finally I remarked to the gentleman behind the counter that 2/22/16 9:20 AM

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he had a lot of amber. He looked at me with a worried expression, saying finally.

“I am an amber dealer.”

Pyrite and the Power of Limits While browsing one booth clustered with an interesting and nicely displayed mixed bag of crystals, gems, and minerals (The Original Way), a young couple approached, she in what looked to be a deerskin mini-skirt. She was admiring a large, layered piece of mica, and asked the young man running the booth what healing properties mica possessed, a question he answered with a striking genuineness. When they left I spoke to the owner, Jeremy Massel, a young earnest guy with a tasteful rock hanging from his neck, a thatch of black hair and a slightly wonderstruck expression. “As a kid I would pick up rocks from the ground. ‘Ooh, a shiny rock!’, you know? I once picked up a rock and could feel it vibing in my hand. Later I got interested in the healing properties and the metaphysics.”

When Jeremy was later casting about for what he might want to do to actually earn a living, he remembered his love of rocks and crystals. The rest is history.

Or geology. His display and selection is one of the most colorful and varied in the Gem Faire, and he is psyched to be talking about it, to be sharing about the whole thing, his dealings with mines and miners, his growing knowledge of gemology and geology, his work bringing beautiful and resonant stuff to light from under the Earth’s crust. He travels up and down the state spreading the mineral love, and has wandered as far afield as Quartzsite, Arizona, a veritable Mecca for the gem-obsessed.

So how’s it going? “It’s been a process,” he says. “And it’s the most worthwhile thing I’ve ever done.”

Eddie wants to show us the final few displays in the other building, the adjacent Warren Hall. I’ve known Ed for a very long time, since we were teens, and he has never been mistaken for a flinty-eyed rationalist. But he is his own brand of rationalist, an elliptical rationalist, say, and can hold forth on the ineffable with a grounded eloquence that will turn on the lights. I can’t count the times over the years he and I and his brother David have yammered excitedly on about this or that phenomenon or implausibility, always circling back to ground our questions and suppositions in the actual. Because plain vanilla Actual has, so far, outstripped our attempts to even begin to get our arms all the way around it, it is so freaking immense and filigreed. For all that, I was a little caught off guard when Eddie began showing up at group gatherings increasingly festooned in amethyst and

dangling crystals, more often than not producing a prize spear of quartz from his jeans pocket and frankly describing its effects. “When I moved to my new house, I unpacked some crystals that had been given to me as gifts years earlier. I’d always appreciated their natural beauty, but I didn’t really believe any of the mumbo jumbo. I went to the Gem Faire out of mild curiosity. I bought a larger quartz crystal there. I discovered that when I held onto it for a while, I very much had a feeling of it amplifying my thoughts and personal power, bringing clarity, focusing my intention.”

In Warren Hall we’re wrapping the afternoon. Stella found a demure little amethyst bracelet she adores, and Eddie has surprised her with the crystalline geode she’d earlier been mooning over.

Ed introduces us to an exhibitor named Dave, a friendly and grounded and uber-knowledgeable guy, surrounded in his space by some of the most intriguing and startlingly wondrous rocks and things I’d seen that day; piles of fossilized trilobites, Moqui stones (natural accretions of iron around singular grains of riverbed sand – iron pearls, basically), orange calcite as temptingly citrus as mandarin wedges on a summer day. And at the far end of the display a couple of geometrically perfect cubes of found crystal pyrite that look like they might’ve been machined. But they weren’t. They just grew that way. All of nature is, of course, an exercise in golden ratios, Fibonacci sequences and radial symmetry; a purely accidental Big Bang Bonanza underwritten by a seeming superstructure of realitypreceding math. Too much woo-woo?

Take a long look at a head of Romanesco broccoli and think hard. I point out the “wtf ” pyrite cubes to Eddie. “I’m trying to allow the analytical and scientific aspect of myself to be open to the idea that consciousness came first, before forms and systems. I’m open to the idea that intelligence of some sort exists all the way down at the molecular, atomic, and sub-atomic level.”

Okay, then! We know the score.

Ghosts? Nope. The useful vibrations of a silicon-oxygen tetrahedral atomic latticework you can keep in your pocket? Naw. The exploding singularity from which all reality sprang in a millionth of a second? HELL yeah!

Now that’s science! Look, whatever may be troubling you, daub it with a light coat of empiricism and watch the clouds part. Show the people a graduated cylinder and they will believe what they are asked to believe. It’s a fact. You want a real flight of fancy? Never mind the Boötes Void. Aim your peepers a little lower. You won’t believe what’s down there.

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all American workers, cut domestic employment by 2.9 million and boosted their overseas workforce by 2.4 million.

How about those job creation capitalists!

Interestingly, capitalists call for the reduction of taxes as a way of giving themselves the incentive to create jobs and fire up the economy, but strangely enough, if you follow the trend in jobs and prosperity through the years you will see that every time taxes were increased, not only were no jobs lost but the economy boomed. President Bill Clinton raised taxes and yet the economy went through the one of the biggest booms ever.

Bruce Bartlett, a Reagan administration economist, in 1979 compared tax rates in various industrialized countries to their growth rates and found then and now no correlation to show that tax cuts grow the economy.

But can society do without the capitalist investment and management of business and the economy. Looking closely, initial capital can be gotten from labor itself through worker coops, government loans, deficit spending (get rid of the FED and let the treasury print the money and use it for the public welfare, i.e. infrastructure repair and maintenance and a new WPA program), public banks, nonprofits, etc. Labor knows the whole of the production system to qualify as managers, financiers, and innovators.

Labor can do better and to create an efficiently sound economy? Economies can indeed do without capitalists. The proof is in the pudding. Government run organizations have done exceedingly well. Witness: public power, public works, public banks, public libraries, public universities, airports, national parks management, roads and highways, public school (the success of which is for another discussion), U.S. Post Office (again, the success of which is for another discussion), TVA projects, space program, NASA, CDC, etc. – just to name a few. Also, remember under FDR, the WPA employed over 8 million people with remarkable success.

In sum, capitalists are not job creators but jobs destroyers with the ultimate aim of pauperizing the world community.

They cheapen wages, generate wars for profit, support brutal dictators in order to steal resources from the indigenous, destroy economies through IMF loans and wars of devastation, invest in vulture capitalist tactics, currency manipulation, derivative speculation and “liars” loans, etc., which creates debt deflation at home and abroad. All of this works to the detriment of working people the world over.

Paul Kontos Santa Barbara (Jeff Harding responds: Paul, thank you for writing in to the Sentinel.

The ideas you offer have been tried many times over in history and have failed miserably, resulting in oppression and misery. The Marxism and socialism that you advocate has always resulted in starvation, poverty, and dictatorship. All communist countries have gone that way.

Venezuela’s recent move to socialism has impoverished the country and resulted in a de facto dictatorship. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed that.

In your criticism of capitalism, you don’t address the obvious issue: where does capital come from? In any economy “capital” has to come from somewhere or else there is no economy. Capital is the stuff that makes the economy go: factories, raw materials, machinery, buildings, and even computers. Money is just a form of capital that has been saved from the profits of production and ready to be used for investment or consumption (i.e., savings).

So, Paul, where does it come from? The government? No, they don’t produce anything. Labor? No, they rely on capital to have jobs. Entrepreneurs? Yes and no: they need capital to start their businesses that employ workers, but if they save enough profits from their businesses those savings can eventually become capital that will allow other businesses to grow. Capitalists are the only ones who provide capital.

Technically, Paul, if you have savings and investments, you too are a capitalist. By the way, you conflate the roles of capitalists and entrepreneurs: they are not the same.

If you look at the history of the rise of capitalism (i.e., a market-based free economy), the lives of workers have not been impoverished as you assert, rather they have been vastly improved. Ever since the rise of capitalism during the Industrial Revolution, the life expectancy of the population has skyrocketed from 30 years to more than 75 years now. And, the chart on workers’ wealth has risen dramatically as well. The capital to achieve those gains had to come from somewhere, Paul, it just doesn’t grow on trees.

Paul, look at the non-capitalist countries in the world today and compare them to capitalist countries. Peoples’ lives are so much better off in capitalist countries that we see the world stampeding to get into them. Why? The policies you advocate have driven them into poverty back home because of a lack of opportunity. They realize that the opportunities they dream of are provided in abundance only in capitalist countries.

I could refute you in more detail but there isn’t sufficient space to do it here, but as a reader of the Sentinel, you might be aware that I have dealt with these issues many times.

Paul, open your eyes and look around.

You and everyone else have benefited from capitalism. Your view of the world simply doesn’t line up with the facts. ~ JH)

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W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M

with Mark Léisuré

Mark spends much of his time wandering Santa Barbara and environs, enjoying the simple things that come his way.

A show here, a benefit there, he is generally out and about and typically has a good time. He says that he writes “when he feels the urge” and doesn’t want his identity known for fear of an experience that is “less than authentic.” So he remains at large, roaming the town, having fun. Be warned.

Your SBIFF-Oscar Primer

T

here’s something rather wonderful about having all those Oscar nominees traipsing through town just weeks before the Academy Awards are handed out. It gives us the notion that we actually know the actors, directors, and producers as more than just images on the big screen or names we read in the credits. We’ve at least heard them talking about their films, careers, and lives from the stages at the Arlington or elsewhere, or perhaps, if we were lucky enough, snapping a selfie or other picture on the red carpet, or forging a chance encounter as they departed the Hennessy Lounge post party.

We’re almost certain to have had that pleasure with several acting winners come Sunday night, as Brie Larson (best actress, Room) and Alicia Vikander (best supporting actress, The Danish Girl) are considered locks in their respective categories, while Sylvester

Stallone (supporting actor, Creed) is also likely walking away with an Oscar.

(The Revenant’s Leonardo DiCaprio, also considered a sure thing to finally nab a best actor award, visited SBIFF twice in the last three years himself, although he wasn’t here in 2016). Ditto with behind-the-scenes personnel, as the director’s tribute once again featured all five nominees, guaranteeing the winner is an SBIFF veteran. Both writer’s awards are virtually certain to be drawn from the ranks of the nine scribes who appeared in the It Starts with the Script panel, and the same goes for the biggie, best picture, with most of the nominated producers attending SBIFF. I especially enjoyed hearing Stallone’s often self-deprecating remarks and his sincere appreciation for having a chance to play Rocky Balboa once again, 40 years on, from a different perspective.

Also, I felt some kinship with George

Miller, the director of Mad Max: Fury Road, when he talked about how he felt very gratified coming back to the film franchise after so many years in an interview on the red carpet. “I had no expectations we’d still be talking about it by now. People have really responded to the film, picked up the themes.” Indeed, he said, a young woman had come up to him a few days earlier to inform him that she’d named her daughter Furiosa after the heroine of the film because “she wanted her to grow up as a strong woman.”

Asked how he handled all the megainputs on set and in the editing room with the huge production and cast and crews, Miller told me, “You have to be very focused moment-to-moment as to what the right thing is to do. You spent a lot of time in preparation, then rely on an intuitive response. You have to make the decision quickly but if you prepare properly you can. It’s analogous to a conductor – they’re like the coach of a team. Your job is to help optimize everyone else’s work and make it a coherent whole.”

Having had a lot of time over award season to ponder the question about the thematic connection between his three franchise movies, Babe, Happy Feet and Mad Max, Miller had what sounded like a reasoned response: “They’re all fables or allegories that in some way have something to do with the hero myth.

By heroes I mean the agent of change, who gets swept up into conflicts and in resolving them the world is shifted a little bit.”

Isn’t that what we go to the movies – the world’s greatest storytelling device – for in the first place?

But I’m saving my best wishes for The Big Short for so many reasons, not in the least of which is that the filmmakers managed to turn the neat trick of making a book about complicated financial devices into something entertaining.

“Any book that’s easy to adapt into a movie, be wary. Because it’s probably

boring,” director Adam McKay told me on the red carpet. “It’s the ones that are challenging that are really good – with the exception of Jaws. This was dense and esoteric – which is why I was excited, because the reason we study to be filmmakers is to get that kind of information across.”

Indeed, McKay and company did the spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down thing in bringing a still underreported issue to the general public in a way it could be digested, and not distorting the facts in the process.

“People lost homes, people lost savings, real people went through this, so I tried to make the movie as aggressively true and honest as I could. We live in such a culture of spin and PR and marketing and advertising, so every chance we had, we tried to be as straight as we could with the audience.”

The film is already having an impact not only on general audiences, but also in the halls of Congress, where it screened the day before SBIFF’s directors awards event. “There’s been some arguments among economists about the movie, which is exactly what I wanted,” McKay said. “So we’ll see (what happens). So far so good.”

As far as I’m concerned, the movie should win best picture for Steve Carell’s portrayal of a tortured hero barely enjoying his success because of its societal cost, and a final scene that eschews the typical happy ending of a Hollywood movie.

“I was really proud of the fact that in America in 2015 we can end a movie with a guy making two hundred million dollars and we feel bummed out about it,” McKay said. “We need more of that… to realize it’s not all about profits.

There’s a bigger picture going on.”

So he’s got my vote. And it has nothing to do with the fact that the very first thing he said to me on the red carpet was a compliment on my attire: “Best. Scarf. Ever. But it looks like it might attack me.”

EXOTIC BEAUTIES

Good Friday Breakfast March 25, 7:00 am Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort Tables and tickets now available

Join us for a morning of inspiration with Jeff Schloss, keynote speaker

“W

ild World Of Orchids” is this year’s theme for the 71st annual Santa Barbara International Orchid Show taking place at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. Thousands of diverse blooms will be in attendance with over 50 orchid exhibitors and vendors from across the globe. Ticket pricing this year is $14 for general admission, $12 for seniors, and students and children 12 and under are free!

71st Annual Santa Barbara International Orchid Show Earl Warren Showgrounds, 3400 Calle Real, Santa Barbara March 4, 5, and 6 from 9 am to 5 pm Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations, at the box office during show hours and on the Ticketmaster website.

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F E B R UA RY 2 6 – M A R C H 1 1 | 2 0 1 6 |

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Come see us and enjoy banking again. American Riviera Bank. Bank on better.

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W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M

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Obsessed With:

Local

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YOU AND ME AND BABY MAKES THREE

...i

s the phrase from which local family business Makes 3 gets their name. It began when owners Kristine and Dan Sperling needed a solution for their little one’s severe allergies and now their USDA Organic line consists of top quality, smell good ingredients for your skin and health. Check the Photo by: Bettina Norton website for local retailers or purchase directly on their website – shipping is free! Once you’ve tried Makes 3, give them an email as they love to hear what you think.

Makes 3 P.O. Box 40733, Santa Barbara • (805) 618-6163 kristine.sperling@makes3.com Instagram: @makes3organics • www.makes3.com

So Fresh and So Clean T

his issue makes us feel great from the inside out. The feel-good and smell-good products of Makes 3 are certified non-toxic and USDA Organic, Dani Boy has the kiddies lookin’ fly, Juice Ranch gives us a green fix, the Pacific Bridge School keeps our brain fit, Rosanne Cash (yes that Cash) gives us a Q&A, Jessica Foster Confections explodes our tastebuds, and more more more! Y’all are so cool, we want to shout it from the rooftops – megan@ santabarbarasentinel.com or Instagram @santabarbarasentinel. Holla if you hear me!

ONTHESPOT: CLOTHING BOUTIQUE FOR COOL KIDS

D

ani Boy is stacked with goods for infants to pre-teen. They’ve got pieces by local design label Noble Decay (exclusive to the shop) and high-end fashions by Cupcake & Pastries alongside classics like Billabong, Junk Food Clothing, and Herschel Supply Co. backpacks. The shoe selection is killer, too. If only we could fit!

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BerryMan

by Cory Clark

The Berry Man, Inc. is a wholesale produce distributor supplying produce and artisanal products to restaurants, resorts, institutions, caterers, and markets from Big Sur to Santa Barbara to Santa Monica. While sourcing worldwide, special emphasis is on the locally grown. Cory Clark is sales and marketing director of The Berry Man, Inc. and the voice of this sponsored column, The Berry Man.

F E B R UA RY 2 6 – M A R C H 1 1 | 2 0 1 6 |

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CAUSE & EFFECT...

HELPING THOSE WHO HELP US CRESCEND HEALTH

BUZZ KILL

T

he other day, while I was rescuing a bee from a swimming pool, I got to thinking about bees and their relationship to agriculture; more importantly, why the world’s bee population is in rapid decline.

The honey production process is astounding. A collection of bees – an entire hive attending to approximately 250 million flowers – flies 50,000 miles to produce a pound of honey. An average worker bee makes only about one to two teaspoons of honey in its lifetime. That is a bee’s life.

Secondary to honey production, and even more important, is pollination.

Almost 100 crops, including apples, citrus, tomatoes, sunflowers, almonds, soy, strawberries, celery and cantaloupe, rely on pollination by bees. The simple truth is that seventy out of the top 100 human food crops are pollinated by bees! In nature, bees and plants have a symbiotic relationship. The flower needs the bee to pollinate it, and the bee needs the pollen from the flower to provide protein and energy for itself and its offspring. Without these processes, ecosystems fall apart. Saving bees should be a top priority!

The startling loss of bees on the planet is a cold hard fact – they’re disappearing.

Entire populations of bees have vanished from mid-air – they simply, just disappear.

There is now growing scientific evidence that the use of neonicotinoids is the cause.

Neonicotinoids are a relatively new class of neuro-active insecticides and the most widely used in the world. They are systemic pesticides, taken up by the plant and transported to the leaves, flowers, roots, and stems, as well as the pollen and nectar. Neonics are causing bees to have lower activity levels and fewer offspring.

In laboratory experiments, researchers have discovered that the effect, depending on the amount of exposure, can be either lethal or sub-lethal to the bees. The sublethal effects include impaired learning behavior, short and long-term memory loss, reduced fertility and reproduction, and altered foraging behavior and motor activity. How ironic that seeds that are supposed to give life, and in turn, support species that play an incredibly significant role in our survival on this planet are treated with chemicals that are killing those very species. This is short-term gain for crop production. For the long term, it is devastation of our natural resources.

Biologists have found hundreds of dangerous pesticides in bee pollen, yet alarmingly, the large chemical companies take zero responsibility and deny their role in the unfolding of this catastrophe. To make matters worse, there appears to be no interest in the regulation of this chemical use. It appears that the only concern is that the sale of these toxic chemicals to farmers is highly lucrative, not that they are safe! Furthermore, as agribusiness continues to convert crops into monocultures (i.e., corn into ethanol and sorghum into feed crops) this kind of atrocious business policy will continue. Our agriculture industry can’t afford to lose bees!

When will we be called to act? Before it’s too late? A hard question is: If bees were wiped out and their pollination stops, could we lose these crops from our markets and our diets forever? How would we sustain our food supply if we lost these vitally important pollinators? What are the solutions? Unfortunately, much damage has already been done, but what we can do at this point, is choose to be stewards rather than consumers of nature. Hopefully, growing awareness, taking a stand on pesticide use, lobbying against mono-crops, and instilling these values into future generations, will awaken a deep respect for nature and a reverence for all it does to support life. If this does not happen, sadly, there does not appear to be any other solution “waiting in the wings.”

WTFORK

... DO I DO WITH HEARTS OF PALM

H

earts of palm come from the center of certain species of palm trees. These palm trees are grown specifically for the purpose of obtaining the unique delicious core. The slender, cream-colored stalks closely resemble white asparagus – minus the tips –

S

ince 1972, the non-profit mental health agency Crescend Health (formerly known as Phoenix of Santa Barbara) has provided residential and outpatient mental health recovery-oriented services with the goal of helping individuals and families cope and thrive in the face of psychiatric and substance abuse conditions.

Celebrating the legacy of humorist and artist Jonathan Winters, who turned his own significant psychiatric challenges into a triumphant life, the Jonathan Awards will honor three major contributors to the vitality of mental health services in the community: Lillian Lovelace, philanthropist; Suzanne Riordan, advocate; and psychiatrist, Zev Nathan, MD. Named “Hope & Laughter,” this gala event, held at the El Encanto on May 11th, will include an auction of pieces of Jonathan Winters’ artwork (as seen here).

Crescend Health

107 E. Micheltorena, Santa Barbara (805) 965-3434 www.crescendhealth.org and taste similar to an artichoke.

Extremely delicate, hearts of palm are a very common dish in South America served in main dishes, green salads, and as cold hors d’oeuvres.

When steamed it takes on the taste of lobster.

Eaten raw it has a crunchy taste and makes a perfect addition to any freshly cut salad. Try it with crab, mango, and B avocado. Its center can be taken out and stuffed as well.

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F E B R UA RY 2 6 – M A R C H 1 1 | 2 0 1 6

ARTBEAT

by jacquelyn De Longe

Artist Maria Rendón in her Santa Barbara studio

Jacquelyn’s creative interests earned her a degree in fine art from Art Center College of Design, followed by years in the Los Angeles art world working for major galleries and prominent artists. She is regularly published in West Coast newspapers and magazines, in addition to working as a producer and director in the performing arts. She is an advocate for children’s art programs and, she is not afraid to dance down the aisle at the grocery store with her kids when Talking Heads plays overhead. Contact Jacquelyn at www.delongewrites.com.

CAPTURING WHAT IS AND WHAT ISN’T

A

t the end of State Street in the boutique Hotel Indigo is the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara Satellite space, which is showcasing a group of Santa Barbara artists through 2016. The newly opened exhibition Shift, Stretch, Expand: Everyday Transformations focuses on the existence of the ordinary, common occurrences, subtle shifts, and conditions of change.

One of the artists included in the exhibit is local painter Maria Rendón, who was inspired by the contrast of abundance and scarcity. One of her pieces in this show, Snowman (nothing that is not there and the nothing that is), is a dominating installation using paper strips and copper piping that is both light and fluid yet fixed and weighted. She explains, “[I] was initially inspired… by water, how when there is too little of it, things that have been

De Horizontal A Vertical I, 2015, acrylic on panel

forgotten can reveal themselves and, when there is too much, things can get lost. I am intrigued about how this dichotomy of too much or too little

De Horizontal A Vertical V, 2015, acrylic on paper on panel

affects our relationship to how we use water, how we save it, how we stretch it, how we honor it. The title of this piece is inspired by a poem by Wallace Stevens: “The Snow Man,” in which he describes a landscape, in this case winter; how when somebody experiences the intensity of winter, they become part of the landscape – this is my interpretation.

Snowman (nothing that is not there and the nothing that is) really resonated with ideas I’ve explored in the past, what is not there is more important than what is there – the disappearing act of a shape on the asphalt, a snow man in the landscape, and an inorganic or organic object or that emerges or submerges in water.”

Rendón works mostly on paper, drawn to the manipulatable surface, which can warp and shape shift with wet mediums.

Attracted to the illusion of presence she developed representational abstract

paintings with soft lines and bold colors utilizing all aspects of a studio and never wasting a resource; the stained water from rinsing off brushes, the paint residue that builds up around a paper piece, all are reused and repurposed back into the paintings. In previous exhibitions she created sculptural and installation work using materials such as needles, rainwater, and post-it notes, which ultimately cycle back and inform the paintings she makes.

The idea for the current series she is working on came from her daily walks. Rendón describes her process; “I photograph the forms [stains] on the ground, which in turn become the inspiration for the figures of my paintings. I don’t trace them verbatim, rather, they are in my mind when I make my initial marks. What intrigues me about these forms is their fleeting existence; since my route is the same every day I notice some disappearing in days, while others take months to dissipate. Just a couple days ago I saw one come back (that had disappeared completely) on the same spot. Some series are idea based and others are very experimental. I like both approaches.”

With 2 BFA’s and a recently completed MFA from UCSB, Rendón never feels like she is done learning. She recently picked up a book on Latin American Contemporary Art as well as the Filipino artist David Medalla whose has been exhibiting his kinetic art since the 60s. Always pushing her work forward, Rendón continues to grow and develop her practice. Her works in the MCASB Satellite show are something to see and she is definitely an artist to keep your eye on.

Spring has sprung and rosé season has returned!

Rosé flights are back at Corks n’ Crowns Don’t forget to drink pink.

Corks n’ Crowns Tasting Room and Wine Shop

32 Anacapa Street in the heart of Santa Barbara's Funk Zone Hours: Monday-Sunday 11am-7pm

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F E B R UA RY 2 6 – M A R C H 1 1 | 2 0 1 6 |

21

SEEKING SPIRITUALITY

by Zach Rosen THE LUCIDITY QUEST

Festivalgoers at last year’s event (photo by Edward Clynes)

Last year’s theme for Lucidity Festival was Kindred Quest (photo by Lerina Winter)

A

s so many epic journeys have begun, the vision came in a dream. The idea was to create a cultural festival that followed a six-year story arc resembling a hero’s quest. Now in its fifth year, the Lucidity Festival, held at Live Oak Campground this year on April 8-10, has become an annual destination for local and distant free thinkers. Each year, this three-day festival features a wide range of art, music, and workshops, revolving around that year’s theme in the overall tale. The first three years of the story arc focus on personal transformation and the last three are centered around collective

transformation. This year the theme is Crossroads and the festival will explore the choices our society has to make regarding social and environmental issues with plenty of dancing and unforgettable experiences in between.

ORIGIN STORY The first year was called Awake in Your Dreams and focused on the heroes’ awakening and call to adventure. For Lucidity that first year was a tumultuous start. With hail, rain, and lightning, one would think that the Festival Gods were challenging them. All they were missing was fire and brimstone. That first year

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took a Herculean effort however they weathered through and grew out of the process. As they continued on their quest they have crossed paths with fellow travelers and the original group of six organizers has grown to a party of over twenty.

But as with any quest, there is a backstory. For Lucidity, our story begins as it does with most inspired festivals, at Burning Man. In 2011, a group of Santa Barbara locals came together to build an installation called The Walkabout Woods. The installation brought

together a group of forward thinkers who began to ponder the idea of hosting their own festival, one that would bring together artists, musicians, and creatives of all kinds, to co-create an environment that embraced open thinking and immersive experiences. The nearby Live Oak Campground seemed like a perfect fit, having been home to the popular Lightning in a Bottle festival several years before.

The first step was to get a website and

...continued p.24

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F E B R UA RY 2 6 – M A R C H 1 1 | 2 0 1 6

Local LIBATIONS MORE GREENS, PLEASE!

Ranch – with their (16 oz.)

Juice glass bottles – brings a green

sweetness that ups the drinkyour-salad game. This one called Greens N’ Ginger cold presses kale, celery, romaine, cucumbers, spinach, parsley, apple, lemon, and ginger into a thirst quenching melody of nutrients. Their factory in Carpinteria just opened a retail front, so we’ve got (two) locations to get our drink on.

Juice Ranch 33 Parker Way, Santa Barbara Mon – Sat: 7:30 am to 6 pm • Sun: 9 am to 6 pm Juice Ranch 4185 Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria Mon – Sat: 7:30 am - 2 pm • Sunday: 8am - 2pm (805) 845-4657 Instagram: @juiceranch • www.juiceranch.com

SPECIAL RECIPES FROM TALENTED CHEFS IN SB

QUICK BITES F

ried cauliflower is an indulgence, but this crispy, lemony version is worth making.

This not-too-heavy gluten free chickpea batter makes these mouth-watering morsels a very special snack. Makes 4 servings.

CAULIFLOWER FRITTI Ingredients: 2 cups garbanzo bean flour 2 tablespoons cornstarch 2 cups cold water (or less for texture) 1 tablespoon of A Taste of Ojai Wild Fennel salt or your favorite sea salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1 tablespoon lemon zest from 1 lemon, and

the rest cut into wedges for garnish 1 teaspoon Spanish pimentón (smoked paprika) 1 head cauliflower, cut into medium-size florets Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions: Mix garbanzo bean flour and cornstarch then slowly mix in cold water, so it has the same consistency as pancake batter. Add salt, pepper, lemon zest, and pimentón to batter. In a skillet over medium heat, add about two inches of vegetable oil (temperature between 345°F and 350°F). Dunk 8-10 cauliflower florets in batter. Shake off any runny batter, then place carefully into hot oil. Fry until golden brown on all sides. Use a mesh strainer to scoop out and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with another pinch of A Taste of Ojai Wild Fennel Sea Salt. Serve on a tray with fresh lemon wedges.

Tip:

These are great eaten plain but even better when served with a flavorful creamy dip of equal parts homemade mayo and Dijon mustard seasoned with salt and pepper and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Raising the Bar

SIP, SAVOR, ENJOY

Pick your tea and choose one of the hand-craftedfresh-every-morning pastries by Sage & Onion Cafe to go along with it. Feel good about your decisions because XO donates money to various fundraisers and local charities around town.

T

his family-owned nook in Old Town Goleta called XO Coffee & Tea is the cherry on top extension to neighboring Sage & Onion Cafe. Their artisanal coffee is delish but their international teas are a highlight. Choose from a variety of loose leaf tea flavors to enjoy hot or cold. The Hibiscus or Serendipitea (cute name) are a few herbal favorites but if you can’t decide, the nice college coed behind the counter is happy to help.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT

P

ut your phone down and put you cards up​– t​his isn’t just your grandmother’s game anymore. With 635,013,559,600 possible hands to be played, Bridge is a card game that is a workout for your brain and fun for your spirit. ​And n​o need to be intimidated! The Pacific Bridge School is y​ ​our guide to winning, offering classes for beginners and intermediate level future card sharks.

Pacific Bridge School 2600 De La Vina Street, Suite E, Santa Barbara (805) 453-9701 carole@pacificbridgeschool.com www.pacificbridgeschool.com

Private Chef Robin Robin Goldstein, known as “Private Chef Robin” to her clientele, cooks for special events and private parties.

To book: (805) 284-4264 www.privatechefrobin.com Find her salt infusions at The Santa Barbara Company, C’est Cheese, Isabella Gourmet Foods, the Santa Barbara Winery Tasting Room, Porch on Santa Claus Lane, and Viva Oliva in Montecito.

XO Coffee & Tea 5599 Hollister Avenue, Goleta • (805) 845-4134 Hours: Daily from 6 am to 4 pm Instagram: @xosageandonion www.sageandonion.com/xo-coffee

SweetSpot:

THE

TRUFFLE INFUSIONS LIKE, WHOA

W

e fell in love with Jessica Foster Confections at first bite – her infusions are so distinct, it’s surprising how the flavors taste so crisp and freshly picked! The White Chocolate Meyer Lemon, White Chocolate Lavender, Dark Chocolate Rosemary, and Dark Chocolate Pomegranate are Photo by: Silas Fallstich still dancing in our heads, but you can cover the all bases by customizing a selection from her twenty-eight savory treats.

Jessica Foster Confections (805) 637-6985 Instagram: @jessicafosterconfections info@jessicafosterconfections.com www.jessica-foster-confections.myshopify.com

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Behind the Vine

by Hana-Lee Sedgwick

Hana-Lee Sedgwick is a writer, wine consultant and lover of all things wine and food. As a Certified Specialist of Wine and Sommelier, she loves to explore the world of wine in and around her hometown of Santa Barbara. When not trying new wines or traveling, she can be found practicing yoga, cooking, entertaining and enjoying the outdoors. Visit her popular blog, Wander & Wine, for wine tips, tasting notes and adventures in wine and travel: wanderandwine.com

PAVING THE WAY FOR CALIFORNIA RIESLING

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Animal House

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PUPPY LOVE

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he owner’s description is so good, we’re posting it straight-up: Midnight De Bebes is a Papillon-Poodle mix who was rescued from the streets. She is in a committed relationship with Rusty, a small, fox-like dog who loves his mommy more than anything else in the world. They are both happy and healthy, but lack the wisdom needed to move on. Midnight simply needs a younger dude to keep her happy.

To see your pet in ANIMAL HOUSE/Pet of the Week, email a photo, name of pet and owners, and some fun facts to megan@santabarbarasentinel.com

Graham Tatomer got his start at Santa Barbara Winery as a teenager before spending time in Austria learning about growing and making Riesling

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runer Veltliner and Riesling, the two prominent white grapes of Austria, aren’t necessarily the first varietals that come to mind when thinking of Santa Barbara County wine. In an area where Chardonnay dominates, Graham Tatomer is proving that it’s possible to make high acid, mineral-driven, Austrian-inspired whites that are unique to California.

Graham, a Santa Barbara native, first got involved in the wine industry while still in high school, working the bottling line at Santa Barbara Winery. What started as just a means to earn some cash grew into a fascination to learn more about the world of wine. Even while pursuing his English degree at UCSB, he continued to work harvests and help out at Santa Barbara Winery.

It was during this time that Graham was introduced to wine varietals of Alsace, like Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, and started making such wines under his own label, Katabasis. Although his wines were well received, he began to take more of an interest in Austrian Riesling and decided to spend time in Europe to hone in on his craft. So, after college, he landed the opportunity to apprentice with one of Austria’s top winemakers, Emmerich Knoll. After extending his six-month apprenticeship to one year, Graham continued to make trips back to work harvests for the next few years.

In 2008, armed with a wealth of knowledge from his time in the Wachau, as well as experience working with Santa Barbara-area producers like BrewerClifton and The Ojai Vineyard, Graham

PlantingRoots

by Frederique Lavoipierre Director of Education at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

STAYING POWER OF NATIVE PLANTS

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Tatomer’s first Pinot Noir

started his namesake label. For Tatomer, he sources grapes from vineyards throughout Santa Barbara and SLO to produce several white wines influenced by his time in Austria. However, Graham isn’t trying to replicate Austrian wine using California grapes, but rather, he’s crafting great examples of Californian wine while paying homage to Austrian grape practices.

By taking a very hands-on approach from vineyard to bottle, Graham produces wines that aim to complement the nuances of each site. His whites are vibrant, unique in expression, and enjoyable to drink. The 2015 Meeresboden Gruner Veltliner ($28), ‘Meeresboden’ meaning ‘ocean soil,’ is a blend of grapes from two different vineyards that share similar sandy, marine sedimentary soil. The wine has orange blossom and stone fruit characteristics with a bright, saline-like finish.

Tatomer’s Rieslings, which Graham

s we await the promised El Niño rains, and rejoice in the blanket of green slowly unfolding to cover the neighboring hills, we are ready to celebrate the end of the long drought. This is a good time for a reminder that even given an abundance of winter rain, we live in a perpetually summer-dry climate. The predictions all point to the probability of increasing aridity on the Central Coast, as climate change continues to make its presence felt. Choosing drought-tolerant plants for our home landscapes is simply good sense. Native plants such as Ceanothus, Manzanita, Salvia, and California Fuchsia are appreciated the world over as choice garden plants. How lucky we are that we can grow these wonderful plants right here – where they are right at home, from the wild hills of the Santa Ynez mountains to the formal clipped hedges of our residential neighborhoods!

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara (805) 682-4726, ext. 111 • flavoipierre@sbbg.org

is most known for, are all very dry with bright acidity. The 2013 Lafond Riesling ($30) is produced from the vineyard that happens to be the first Riesling site Graham ever worked with while at Santa Barbara Winery. Located in the Santa Rita Hills, the vines are among some of the oldest in the area, and the resulting wine has powerful notes of apricot with floral aromas. The 2014 Vandenberg Riesling ($28) is a more fruit-driven wine with stone fruit and hints of

honey, a common expression from some of the botrytis-affected grapes used for this blend. Delicious.

Not to be missed by all the Pinot lovers out there, Tatomer’s first red vintage, the 2013 Duvarita Pinot Noir ($50), has silky dark red fruit flavors that will leave you reaching for another sip. Overall, these wines are great to drink now, but are also created with ageability in mind.

If you can manage to hold on to them for a while… Cheers!

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This year’s festival takes place at Live Oak Campground April 8-10 (photo by David Pricco)

I.AM.LIFE Tea Lounge (photo by David Pricco)

begin planning. Before they knew it, a few tickets had sold and then they kept selling. People seemed to embrace the overall vision more than just wanting to see a bunch of headlining bands. No musicians had been named. Which is important to note considering Lucidity occurs during the same weekend as Coachella. Just as with Burning Man, Lucidity is not a music festival. It is not an art festival. It is a cultural festival where like-minds explore community by immersing themselves in art, music, and thought. If you are more concerned SITE DRAINAGE SYSTEMS 50 + YEARS EXPERIENCE - LOCAL 35+ YEARS

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about posting to your Instagram feed than the musician playing on the stage, this is probably not the ideal festival for you.

When preparing for this story, I asked whether this scheduling conflict was by the accident. It is not. Well, the first year it was the only weekend available at Live Oak for them. The next year they were faced with a crossroad: change direction or stay the course. Our heroes decided to keep on their current path, and face the beast head on. They are glad they did too. Going up against the gargantuan Coachella Music Festival serves as a filter. The attendees of Lucidity are more focused on pursuing a way of life than seeing some popular band play from a football field away. At Lucidity you will see a lot of similar concepts to those at Burning Man, such as radical selfreliance and embracing the “Pack in.

Pack out.” philosophy of environmental responsibility. A goal of Lucidity is to leave Live Oak Campground cleaner than before the festival. The decision to fight the creature known as Coachella seems to have paid off. Our heroes have earned their place in legend, being named as a top festival and receiving accolades from such places as Eventbrite and Fest 300.

It was after the first year that the dream occurred and gave the Lucidity family focus and direction. As the festival has progressed, the organizers of Lucidity have made a conscious choice to keep the festival small enough to remain at Live Oak throughout its six-year story arc.

FIND YOUR TOTEM The second year theme, The Totems’ Return, looked at personal exploration.

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There are seven themed camping areas, each one represented by a different totem. These themed villages are more than just a place to camp. From the style of music being played, to the kinds of workshops and featured art, each one has a different pace and feel to it. Attendees can explore the different areas and find which one speaks to them personally.

When discussing the festival culture with people, many still have this Woodstock-esque image of drugged out people rolling around in the mud. If that is what you are picturing at Lucidity, know that it is inaccurate. I’m not saying everyone there is sober (or even freshly showered), however the Lucidity family likes to emphasize that this is a family event. Lucidity believes that instilling the ideas of social and environmental consciousness at a young age is critical, and encourages families to attend the festival, even allowing children 12 and under to attend for free. If you do bring the young ones then you will likely want to stay at Family Camp, represented by the courageous Dragon, known as the great protector of the family. This village is a multi-generational space and welcomes children with body painting, play spaces, and other interactive creative areas.

The Healers’ Sanctuary is a peaceful space featuring the healing arts. The wise Owl symbolizes the wisdom and insight found in this area. Visit temporary temples to receive massages, energy work, or sound healing. Practice yoga or meditation in one of their workshops.

All of the services in this area are free as they believe that no one should face barriers to receiving help and being healed.

For a more intimate place, visit the Lovers’ Nest, naturally represented by the loving doves. This village promotes interaction and community; you may even come across a pop-up cuddle puddle. This area features the Lovers’ Nest Stage as well as the I.AM.LIFE Tea Lounge, an immersive installation that blends music, art, and interconnectivity in a tea lounge setting. Embrace your wild feminine side at Goddess’ Grove, portrayed by the vivacious jaguar. This

area focuses on inner passion and grace of the feminine divine. Listen to poetry, share creativity, or receive the occasional tarot reading.

For those seeking something more upbeat, the last three villages will probably be more your pace. The Nomads’ Nook channels the wild monkey and has a continual stream of electronic music on their featured stage.

The Trixsters’ Playground embraces the playful coyote and can be rambunctious and silly. If you have trouble finding your way back to camp by following the street signs then there is a good possibility that you are witnessing one of the trixters’ many pranks. They even have a Stolen Art Gallery. Warriors’ Way is the final village and is represented by the humble tiger. Visit this camp to practice tai chi or take a workshop on martial arts or capoeira.

ENTER THE UNIVERSITY The theme for the third year was Universe and explored personal realization. There is no better place to achieve this than the Lucid University, a tented area that features immersive classes. Lucid University offers a threeday intensive course work during the Lucidity build week (April 4-6) in different subjects. Enrollment includes classes from accomplished instructors, three meals per day from the Mindful Feeding Commissary (provided by SOL food), and early arrival. Tuition does not include a festival pass however they offer bundle deals if you buy the two together.

The Lucid University coursework features five different areas of study.

“Intro to Permaculture Design Certification” will walk students through the basics of permaculture and teach them about the artistry in creating and maintaining sustainable food systems. During this coursework attendees will take such classes as Designs with Art and Science and Social Permaculture Principles. For those seeking empowerment and personal growth, attend the Embodiment and Leadership course. Students will explore leadership principles and practical tools in such classes as “The Art of Listening” or “Your Unique Soul Purpose.” Unleash your imaginative side in the Art and Creativity course. Guests will practice techniques for creative thinking, art visualization, and prototyping while attending classes like “Making the Imagined Real” or “The Innovators’ Map.” In Reiki Healing 1 and 2, students will practice energy work and healing first hand. Classes will include such topics as “Harness your Life Direction”

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IHeart SB

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BY Elizabeth Rose

I Heart SB is a social experiment in dating and relationships through stories shared with and experienced by a thirty-something living in the Greater Santa Barbara area. All stories herein are based on actual events. Some names, places, and timelines have been altered to preserve anonymity and, most of all, for your reading enjoyment. Submit stories (maximum 700 words) to letters@santabarbarasentinel.com.

TRIMMING THE FAT

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taring down at the contents of my closet and drawers made me realize that most of the stuff I’ve been holding on to served little purpose in my life. The catalyst was my mom.

She had mentioned the best-seller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. It was a game changer. “I just bought the book and it’s great!” she said. “What’s so great about it?” I asked, skeptical. She briefly explained the concept the book but when she described the method (proper name, the “KonMari Method” as coined by the author) it struck a chord. “For example, start with your clothes. Put every item of clothing you have from every room in your house in the middle of the floor and start sorting what you will keep, donate, and throw away.” That was all I needed to hear. It was 9 pm at night so a run to a local bookstore was out of the question and not having the patience to wait until morning, I thanked my mom, hung up the phone, rolled up my sleeves, and started the process.

As I sorted through the roughage, I began asking myself, How does this serve me? Why do I keep this? And the KonMari Method’s holy grail of questions, Does this spark joy? After a few hours of separating, bagging, hanging, and folding, I began to think what would happen if I brought this idea into other aspects of my life. My food choices, my extracurricular habits, the people I associated with. I was freeing myself from the clutter in my home, so clutter in the mind and heart were next.

I took inventory of the people I’ve spent time with asking myself the same sort of questions: How does this friendship serve me? Why do I maintain

this friendship? Does this friendship spark joy? You’ve got to look at it in a compassionate way, as it does not arise out of cruel nature but out of support to your overall being. Take away the felling of obligation and F.O.M.O. (Fear Of Missing Out) and what do you have left? It could be age that brings this enlightenment but understanding that you don’t have to if it doesn’t serve you in a positive sense is a simple concept that can change your life.

Friendships have phases. Some are lifelong and some are passing through.

Because a person may have been significant in your life at one time does not mean they are particularly supportive to your life now. The following excerpt is paraphrased from Kondo’s book regarding the KonMari Method. The words in parenthesis have been added for this dialogue: (After practicing the KonMari Method) You will have clearly identified your values and what you want to do. You will be able to take good care of your possessions (or friends) and will experience, every day, a feeling of contentment... Once you have experienced what your house (or life) feels like when it is completely tidy (free from obligatory friendships) in the true sense of the term, you will never want to return to clutter, and the strength of that feeling will empower you to keep it tidy.

Some say the goal is to discover the best equation for a good quality of life.

If so, then to obtain it, we must allow for the opportunity to do so. We’ve got to be brave, block out the noise, and be true to our natural selves with no strings attached. The best part is, you can’t lose.

In a way, it’s a karmic cleanse – letting go of the darkness to make room for the light.

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5 ThingsYouDidn’tKnowAbout:

Q&A

MATTI BOURGAULT

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any people know Matti Bourgault as one of the founders and former owners of Matti & Me, Compassionate Luxury Consignment on Montecito’s Coast Village Road. Yet her story goes beyond being the creator of the beautiful boutique. As she humbly puts it, she’s more than a “shopgirl.” As it turns out, she’s a successful fashion-industry player taking a much needed break from the corporate pace. Get to know more about Matti and her colorful fashion background below.

2. Originally from the beautiful state of Maine, I worked my way across the country from Boston, New York, Aspen, and San Francisco to ultimately end up here in sunny Santa Barbara – where I proclaim I am now a “California girl.”

3. I sold Matti & Me in 2014. Since then, to keep my hand in fashion, I joined WORTH New York (a oneof-a-kind personal stylist shopping experience) as an independent sales associate and have partnered with Victoria Hines as part of her local WORTH New York agency.

4. My passion and expertise in fashion, footwear, and business management led me to form my own retail consulting business, MJB Consulting. I offer small, independent businesses broad experience in managing all aspects of their business, including strategic planning, merchandise planning, operations/process improvement, inventory management, human resource development, and marketing services.

5. By nature I am a “workaholic,” but when not working I travel with my husband, stay physically fit (I’m an ex-gymnastic State champion), ski, or simply enjoy time with my friends.

Matti Bourgault MJB Consulting mjbposi@msn.com mbourgault@worthnewyork.com www.worthnewyork.com/matti-bourgault

Sublime Spaces GETTIN’ CHILI OUTSIDE

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he 2016 Buellton Wine & Chili Fest has been certified as an event for the International Chili Society Festival, which means they’re officially legit. With over twenty-eight wineries and an array of chili and salsa samples on hand, you’ll be so satisfied you won’t feel like driving.

Which is not a prob because Jump on the Bus will shuttle to and from the shindig via Figueroa Mountain Brewery on Anacapa starting at 10:15 am.

Buellton Wine & Chili Festival When: Saturday, March 12, 2016 Hours: 12 pm - 4 pm Tickets: $45 plus handling fee, available online www.buelltonwineandchilifestival.com

T

ROSANNE CASH

hough she shares a last name with arguably one of the greatest musicians of all time, Rosanne Cash has paved her own successful road in the music industry for over 35 years and has made waves in the literary world as well.

We’ll get a little taste of the magic when she performs selections from her acclaimed album The River and the Thread with guitarist John Leventhal (also her husband and collaborator) at Campbell Hall.

Photo by: Clay Patrick McBride

1. I have been in the fashion industry for 30+ years and have held executive roles with many luxury brands, such as: VP of Sales at Cole Haan Footwear, Sr. VP of Sales Promotion and Marketing at Bergdorf Goodman, Sr. VP of Sales, Marketing & Design at Ralph Lauren Footwear and President of an independent retail corporation with five boutiques in Aspen, Colorado.

WITH

Where was your first live solo performance, how old were you at the time, and what song did you play that sticks out the most?

I don’t really remember, but it was somewhere in the late 70s. One song I played solo that was meaningful, and I loved playing, was Rodney Crowell’s ‘I Don’t Have To Crawl.’

Sadly, I don’t even remember how to play it anymore.

You are also a celebrated published writer. What sparked your interest to pursue this field?

It was always there. I was writing when I was a pre-teen.

Language and what is behind language fascinate me. The exploration and discovery, the melody in prose, the narrative arcs you can draw, how things don’t really become clear until you are well into the writing— all are food for the soul.

Writing a song or writing stories, how is your creative process different and how is it the same?

It’s not really different. The forms are different, but the tools and the process are exactly the same.

What musician or musicians have been the most fun to work with?

Elvis Costello is really fun and inspiring and a master. I just worked with Jeff Tweedy and I adore him. He is a deep soul.

Lucinda and Emmylou – we did a show together and it was one of the peak experiences of my life.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Keep the polka dot bell-bottoms and your Beatles memorabilia. You’ll want them again. Also: there’s a certain kind of suffering that is optional.

Rosanne Cash With John Leventhal Wednesday, March 9, 8 pm Tickets: $25-$45 for General Public, $15 for UCSB Students Arts & Lectures: (805) 893-3535 www.artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu

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Healing

by Asarius (photos by Tedshot)

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and “Express your Divine Nature.” The final course is Lucid Dreaming and offers group dreaming sessions and practical exercises in classes like Lucid Dream Techniques and Dream Interpretation Theory and Practice. Who knows? You may just come up with your own festival idea during one of your dreams.

Do not worry if you are unable to attend Lucid University; there are countless workshops from several dozen instructors spread throughout the festival weekend. These workshops and presentations range from functional topics such as acroyoga and meditation, to the creative like art therapy and songwriting, and even covering the obscure, like a Sexual Constellational session. The workshops are located in

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the different theme camps. Make sure to check the website for a full listing and to find out where each one will be held. The Lucid University tents remain active throughout the festival.

It is always fun to quickly stop in and see who is presenting there. I’ve watched some great presentations on topics like animation and the creative process to the basics of permaculture.

FIND YOUR KINDRED SPIRITS The fourth year was called Kindred Quest and focused on the past of our collective transformation. Last year’s festival was about coming together and looking at our collective cultures, ideas, and beliefs. While Lucidity does focus more on culture, there will still be plenty of music there as well and nothing brings people together like music. In years past two of the main stages were the Lucid and Alive stages.

To fit with the theme this year they have combined these two into the Crossroads Stage. The Lucid Stage featured many of the headlining bands and DJs while the Alive Stage focused solely on live music. The Alive Stage was one of my favorite places to camp where I’d spend the evening listening to acoustic jam sessions or waking up to Chumash rituals and chants. This year the Crossroads Stage will blend the two vibes of these stages into one and will feature the headlining artists as well as crowd favorites like the local Rainbow Girls. The headlining artist this year is Keller Williams and there could not be a more fitting artist for the Crossroads theme. His music crosses genres and melds bluegrass with funk,

rock, and a whole litany of other styles.

The main stages are a constant source of sound and fun however some of the most lively shows and exciting DJ sets can be found in the periphery.

The Lovers’ Nest Stage was designed

by Sound is Medicine and features a range of musicians whose tunes focus on healing and love. Travel over to the Trixters’ Stage to get into more of the blues and jazz swing of things with live and livetronica jam bands. The Nomads’ Stage offers deep house and techno and is going to best for those looking to bounce to the bass. One of the highlights each year is the Branches Mobile Gallery.

Take a break from the festivities to roam through this collection of over two dozen visual artists. The works featured in this gallery have been curated to fit this year’s Crossroads theme, addressing the juncture of environmental and social issues our society faces.

A BRIGHT FUTURE Next year, the final chapter in the Lucidity story will be Eudaimonia, the presence of a good indwelling spirit, and will gaze towards our collective future.

At the moment our party is unsure where they will be after this story arc comes to a close. They may begin it all over again, or move the festival’s story to another location, they might even start a new story arc at Live Oak. One thing is clear: they are not finished.

Next year will mark the ending of one story and the beginning of the next, and whichever direction they choose, it promises to be even greater than before, or as C.S. Lewis eloquently completed his Narnia chronicles, “All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Right now, Lucidity stands at the crossroads but light brightens the path ahead for our fellowship of heroes. Their story has already been the stuff that epics are made of. Make sure to join them this year for the journey as we enter the epoch of Lucidity.

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E’S NOTE by Elliana Westmacott

Here I am between Maria [who works for Maya] on the left and Maya on the right.

We are standing in front of the pretty chocolate bar display.

Elliana Westmacott was born and raised in Santa Barbara. She is 10. She loves to play the piano and soccer. Skiing, swimming in the ocean, reading, and visiting her Nana’s house are some of her favorite things to do. Her family and her dog George make her happy. So does writing.

CHOCOLATE WHO?

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ho is totally in love with chocolate? I will always raise my hand to that question. Chocolate is a sweet that I love to have for dessert, or I even put it on other foods. One of my favorite places to go get chocolate is Chocolate Maya. When I walked into the store the first time, it was like I had walked into a chocolate wonderland.

Did you know that chocolate actually comes from trees? Well, it’s true!

Chocolate comes from a cacao tree.

The cacao beans have a pod inside of them and that’s where the chocolate making starts. There can be 20 to 70 seeds inside the cacao beans.

Chocolate Maya’s shop has so many kinds of chocolate flavors: mint, milk, caramel, chipotle, thyme, dark, orange, peanuts and beer… you name it. Yes, Maya does have tastings. You can go online to her website (www. chocolatemaya.com) and reserve your own private tasting!

I first learned about Chocolate Maya a long time ago when I was in third grade and I was assigned a food project. I had to pick a kind of food and write up facts about it. I chose chocolate, of course, and this is how I found Chocolate Maya. While I didn’t go interview her in third grade, I got the chance to do it for this column. In my interview, Maya told me she doesn’t have a favorite flavor of chocolate; she said she likes them all. She also said that her favorite flavor depends on the day or the mood that she is in. Most of all, she likes eating the bars of pure chocolate from countries all over the world.

It was a great experience to learn about so many cool things I didn’t know before; for instance, I did not know anything about how chocolate was made. When we were taking pictures of all the different kinds of patterns on the chocolates, Maya told us a story about

Chocolate fruit that looks like real fruit!

a trip she took to Bolivia.

Maya said that she was looking for chocolate beans in Bolivia when a family that grew the beans invited her to stay, and even pick some of the chocolate beans. The family had a three-month old baby girl. They had been waiting for a sign to name her and when Maya came, they asked Maya to be the godmother of the young child and give her a name. Maya gave the family a few name suggestions, including her own daughter’s name.

Surprisingly the family picked her daughter’s name without knowing that it came from her daughter. The family added an “h” to Ila (Maya’s daughter’s name) and called the child Hila. Now Maya collects twenty-five cents from customers if they ask for a plastic bag for Hila’s education. So far Chocolate Maya has raised around five hundred dollars and she is planning to use it for her goddaughter Hila’s education.

I thought that this was a great story because it is something that usually happens in movies or fairytales, but this story is real.

When we visited the chocolate shop, we got to see Maya make the chocolate and watch the process of shaping, coating, topping, and drying. To tell you the truth, this experience was

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great, but it also made me very hungry for peanut butter and chocolate sweets.

Maya makes her chocolate in all kinds of shapes. Some of the chocolate had special shapes and others had paintings on top like: hippos, Buddhas, checkers, utensils, mints, and even fruit-shaped chocolate that looked so much like actual fruit!

You’re probably wondering how Maya makes the shapes and paintings. She does it all by hand. She gets a mold and pours the Ganache into the shapes. The Ganache is a mixture of cream, butter,

chocolate, and the one we saw Maya make had a little bit of Santa Barbara’s local Telegraph Beer! She coated it with chocolate and then dried it. Quickly, after she coated it, she put a peanut on top. This was her peanuts and beer chocolate treat. The chocolate looked so decorative and tasty.

Chocolate comes in all kinds of flavors at Chocolate Maya, and I can’t wait to try them all! After the interview I thought of a question for all of you: who do you think is the best chocolate maker now? Chocolate Maya, that’s who!

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SYVSNAPSHOT

by Eva Van Prooyen

Keeping a finger on the pulse of the Santa Ynez Valley: what to eat, where to go, who to meet, and what to drink. Pretty much everything and anything situated between the Santa Ynez and San Rafael Mountains that could tickle one’s interest.

GO ‘FORE’ GOLF

P

GA certified golf pro Andrew Howie has been teaching golf for 15 years. Ten of which have been in the Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Barbara. His company Go Fore Golf launched four years ago and Andrew says he can bring golf lessons, a golf simulator, and mini golf to “your living room, backyard, or office.”

Andrew grew up playing junior golf in Montreal, Canada and says, “It was obviously a short season. By the time I hit age twenty-four, I decided to make a career of it and got my degree in golf management at the Golf Academy in Temecula.”

After school, he worked for two years in Dallas with RE/MAX World Long Drive Championships, travelling the country as an event coordinator, setting up the qualifying events and process where golfers and golf enthusiasts ultimately compete in an annual world competition of basically “hitting the driver as far as you can.” He then came to California, where the golf season is longer and he explains, “I set up the tournaments and taught at Alisal River Course for eight years, followed by two years at Glen Annie golf Club, teaching and running tournaments.”

“Go Fore Golf is ‘edutainment’ – a little bit of fun and education,” says Andrew explaining his simulator has, indoor and outdoor capability, an integrated swing analyzer, 56 world renown golf courses, and 36 modes-of-play. “There are two categories of what I offer – lessons and competitions,” says Andrew. “There are classic golf lessons where I can come to you. I teach all ages and all skill levels,” says Andrew adding he takes a complicated sport and, “puts it in ‘English’ so students can apply it to their golf swing.”

“I also have a golf launch monitor called FlightScope,” says Andrew, explaining this diagnostic tool uses 3D Doppler tracking radar to measure the launch and flight of balls and clubs. “With ninety-nine percent accuracy, it will tell you what the ball did, your club head launch and angle, ball speed, and smash factor.

You need to know what the ball flight is doing in order to fix someone’s swing.

Without it, it is hard to diagnose the faults in the swing,” says Andrew, adding his clients simply hit the ball into a screen or net and he is able to accurately dissect the swing and fix it for them.

As for competitions, his simulator can be set up for corporate events, fundraisers,

parties, and sales meetings for people to have fun competing in events like “closest to the pin” and “longest drive.” “The competitions are also really good for team building. It’s always fun watching the interactions. The energy and camaraderie picks up, people start to talk and laugh and have fun, and want to participate in friendly competition with their coworkers,” says Andrew, adding, “I also have the ‘50 foot putting challenge,’ mostly used for ‘hole in one’ prizes.”

New for 2016, Andrew says he added a nine-hole portable ‘mini putt’ golf course to the long list of golf fun his company offers. “All I need is fifteen hundred square feet, preferably twenty-five hundred, to set up the entire nine holes,” says Andrew, adding he can rent out any number of holes to fit an event and budget, “It’s twenty-four seven golf, anytime, any place.”

Andrew was selected to teach at the PGA Free Lesson Area at the LA Golf Show this month, and was chosen to showcase his nine-hole portable mini putt golf course at the LA county Fair this September. For more information visit www.goforegolf.com or email him at Andrew@goforegolf.com.

EVA’S TOP FAVES:

My personal picks, best bets, hot tips, save the dates, and things not to miss!

HONK! BEEP! VROOOOOOM! In the first ever SYV Touch-A-Truck event, construction, emergency, specialty, and military vehicles will be on dis“play” in a family-friendly event for all ages of kids and ‘kids at heart’ to climb in, climb on, honk horns, and turn on sirens and explore and learn about trucks of all sizes and kinds. Live music by the Dylan Ortega Band, a bounce house, and face painting too.

When: Saturday, March 5 from 10 am to 2 pm Where: Bethania Lutheran Church grounds, 611 Atterdag Road in Solvang Cost: $5 per person, $20 per family of five Info: (805) 245-1561 syvtouchatruck@gmail.com SOLVANG CENTURY, METRIC, AND 1/2 CENTURY 2016 The 34th annual Solvang amateur cycling charity bike ride will spin into a fun frenzy early morning on Saturday, March 12. There is still time to train and definitely time to sign up for this event. Choose from three scenic rides – 100, 63, or 50 miles! Registration is limited to the first 3,000 riders. Registration includes ride support from dedicated bicycle mechanics, snack and water stations, a swag bag filled with things like bike lights and power bars, and a post-ride barbecue lunch with beer, wine, and music. This year’s beneficiaries are children’s congenital heart disease summer camps.

When: Registration on Friday, March 11 and the ride is on Saturday, March 12 Where: Hotel Corque, 400 Alisal Road in Solvang Cost: $125 single rider $205 for tandem Info: Sign up online at www.bikescor.com CHEERS AND CHILI! Buellton Wine and Chili Festival welcomes wine and chili loving enthusiasts to sample wines from over 25 wineries, and chili from over 20 different chili cooks at this spicy event. Tickets include a souvenir wine glass; unlimited wine and chili tasting; entertainment, bocce ball, horseshoes, table tennis, mega sized beer pong, and corn-hole. There will be beer too.

Tickets available for guests under 21 who want to sample some chili (minors must be accompanied by an adult). Children under 12 are free. SB Sentinel readers coming from Santa Barbara can ride on JUMP ON THE BUS for round trip bus fare of $25. Pickup will be at Figueroa Mountain Brewery in Santa Barbara (137 Anacapa St.) at 10:15 am.

When: Saturday, March 12 from 12 to 4 pm Where: Flying Flags RV Resort, 180 Avenue of Flags in Buellton Cost: $45 per person, $10 under 21 years ‘chili only’ ticket Info: (805) 688-7829 www.buelltonwineandchilifestival.com DESTINATION DINING Bell Street Farm Eatery and Market family-style dinner is back every third Saturday of the month. A four-course meal featuring their signature rotisserie chicken with rosemary and white bean hummus is yours to enjoy with the ones you love at this cozy eatery tucked in the Historic town of Los Alamos surrounded by vineyards and farmland.

When: Saturday, March 19 Where: Bell Street Farm, 406 Bell Street in Los Alamos Cost: $44 per diner excludes tax, tip or beverage Info: www.bellstreetfarm.com (805) 344-4609

Local

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F E B R UA RY 2 6 – M A R C H 1 1 | 2 0 1 6 |

SANTA YNEZ VALLEY...Come For The Wine…Stay For The Shopping

Atmosphere Atelier

Comfortable Luxury for the home

wendy foster LOS OLIVOS FINE WOMEN’S APPAREL wendyfoster.com

www.insidesyv.com

2928 SAN MARCOS AVENUE InsIde

the

santa Ynez ValleY MagazIne

LOS OLIVOS

805.686.0110

WInter 2014/15

3

Treats women's boutique

1603 COPENHAGEN DRIVE SOLVANG CA 805.686.4358 TREATSCLOTHING.COM

WWW.ATMOSPHEREATELIER.COM

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