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STATE STREET SCRIBE P.5 • MAN ABOUT TOWN P.20 • SYV SNAPSHOT P.22

SHAKESBEER FIVE YEARS AFTER FIRST BRINGING SHAKESPEARE AND BEER TOGETHER AT THE SANTA BARBARA HISTORICAL MUSEUM, SHAKESBEER RETURNS TO SBCAST WITH A NEW LINEUP OF THE BARD’S BEST SCENES AND MONOLOGUES PAIRED WITH PERIOD MUSIC AND, YES, LOTS OF GREAT BEER. (STORY BEGINS ON PAGE 7)

(photo by Winter Creative Co.)

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Content

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State Street Scribe – Jeff Wing remembers the day his mom stopped remembering. The world kept turning.

The Capitalist – Jeffrey Harding dares to you to save this column until this time next year to see how his 2020 predictions on politics and the economy pan out

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Beer Guy – A very Shakesbeerian experience comes to Santa Barbara

The Fortnight – Bobcat Goldthwait and Dan Gould pop up at Brasil Arts Café; comedians Kathleen Madigan and Russell Brand headline at the Lobero; Emmy-nominated comedy powerhouse Neal Brennan at Chumash; the Granada hosts a Carole King musical; Jane Austen’s Emma onstage at the New Vic Theatre, and more

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Creative Characters – Burning Man veteran and film director Justin Gunn brings his third documentary, Fishbon: The Art of Interactive Theater, to SBIFF

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Bud Guy – A handy beginner’s guide to the many forms and methods of smoking cannabis

What’s Hanging? – Art happenings this week range from a Santa Barbara Printmakers exhibit to a new ceramic studio opening in Goleta

Plan B – Escaping a New Year’s Day mountaintop blizzard demands a re-thinking of one’s 2020 resolutions

Man About Town – With press pass in hand, Mark Léisuré maps out his must-not-misses for the 35th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival

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I Heart SB – A holiday with the family turns out to be the perfect occasion to learn the subtle difference between self-love and selfishness S anta Ynez Valley Snapshot – Don’t miss Restaurant Week with its $20.20 prix fixe menus; where to find hard-to-find Pinots and Chardonnays in Santa Rita Hills; say cheese to new storefronts in Solvang

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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.

The Day My Mom Forgot

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n a given day my mom forgot who I was. It happened about a year before she passed. I remember the moment now as a slowmotion GIF I can summon and loop at will; Aloha turning slowly to answer my greeting. Yes – Aloha. She was as memorably attention-getting as the name gifted to her by an Army Colonel whose adoration for Hawaii had finally borne fruit. Julian Gist landed his dream assignment at Schofield Barracks Army Post way back when, on Oahu, and Aloha was born in 1923. Some 17 years later the Japanese would overfly Schofield on their way to sleepy Pearl Harbor 18 miles away – another story.

The cosmos giveth and the cosmos taketh away. So it’s said. The sheer variety of giveth and taketh can spin you round.

ONE TRILLION SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY TWO BILLION This morning on the work shuttle we rounded a corner and there was the bright orange ball of fire peeking over the mountains, its dumb heraldic banner of gold stretching across the undulating sea for the one-trillionseven-hundred-fifty-two billionth time. Or thereabouts. There were crepuscular rays and clouds lit like fire – all the glory to which we’ve grown accustomed. The old dear seemed to be saying “Good morning, morons.

You again?” Though maybe that’s an unkind interpretation.

Thing is, the world turns and turns and turns and there is naught to do but strap in. Actually, that’s not completely right. You can strap in and put on a happy face. As Tony Bennett (among many others) memorably counseled: “Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy, it’s not your style. You’ll look so good that you’ll be glad you decided to smile!” Apart from the champagne miracle rhyme of “tragedy” and “glad you de,” the song can be considered roundly instructive. We needn’t accept the conventional wisdom that tells us where sorrow begins. “Oh, I’m so sorry.

Oh, that’s just awful!” Take a step back, exultant sorrow-chaser. Sorrow begins where we say it begins. And by the way – old Uncle Carl’s downcast expression when you visit him in “The Home”? It’s not an indication of his senescence, but of our constantly yelling at him about pudding.

TECHNICOLOR HIGHBALL My mother was a highball-hoisting, technicolor mischief maker and fulltime scenarist who made of life one of those runaway comedy cars whose emergency brake is torn loose by the wide-eyed driver and proffered to the audience. I got my sense of humor from Aloha – Harvey Korman meets Lenny Bruce, if you know what I mean. My sense of Life as a kaleidoscopic swirl of

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shin as an angry pink bruise. I remember my mom breaking in on this sonorous talk with an irritated air – “Well, what happened to my leg?” – and the doctor looking wearily up at her though a forelock of doctor hair. “You tell us, Mrs. Wing.” Then came the patronizing chit chat with Aloha and the hurried man-to-man with me. The appointment was over.

A SUPPER We were home in time for dinner at Villa Santa Barbara, where gifted chefs prepare delicious eats for the Greatest Generation. “What’s so great about them?” Ella Fitzgerald, D-Day, and astronaut Alan Shepherd chipping a golf ball two miles across the surface

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eating, the weight she’d put on, my thinning hair and lazy eye, our dining companions. We were riffing. I would look around the dining commons on these dinner nights and see other grown children with fraught or dour expressions leaning in to whisper something to mom or dad, or worse – yelling in slow motion, as to a grizzled two-year-old. Note to well-meaning lovebirds with aging parents: Talking to your folks the way you talk to your neighbor’s cat isn’t doing anyone any good. “Old” is a misapprehension made flesh by the young, and it is a wrecking ball to seniors dying to be SEEN. They aren’t what they appear to be. Are you?!

That night, Aloha went back for seconds on dessert (“You sure you

“Hey! ….mom?” She was puzzled but alert. I saw immediately that something was up. “Do I know you?” she then said, a line from a movie – surreal and solid and unbelievable as the punch I took to the face in 8th grade. occasionally gorgeous happenstance, viewed at will from about 1,000 feet up – that’s also pure Aloha. I’ll never forget her. Neurology, biophysics, and Time’s Arrow being what they are, though – I’ll knock on wood saying that. She spent every minute seeing the over lit side of the moon. It wasn’t that she found levity in the everyday. What she found was perspective. It never left her. I don’t remember much else about the day my mom forgot who I was. But I remember the day before.

I’d taken her to the doctor.

She’d abraded her right shin under circumstances so far from recall there was no point in asking such exotic questions as “How did this happen, mom?” I remember the day with a clarity that the intervening years have likely enhanced.

Townscape scrolled by the car windows in such a warmly predictable motif of colors and shapes, it made a barked shin seem like a trifle – or a charming dropped stitch in an embraceable tapestry truly beyond corruption or ruin or saddening office visits. The sky was cloudless; a dumb, depthless, loudmouthed blue.

I remember that as we drove slowly past Alameda Park, a teeming crowd of children in the company of two beleaguered adults, probably teachers, wheeled through the crosswalk up ahead like a flock of earthbound birds, laughing with uncontained energy.

At the doctor’s office the shin had been probed and prodded. I remember the doctor gestured with a tongue depressor at the abraded area, describing the wound as “embarrassed.” “That’s a medical term,” he’d offered unhelpfully, pointing out that subcutaneous activity was manifesting on the surface of the

of the moon with a modified Wilson 6-iron designed in cahoots with Jack Harden, the golf pro at River Oaks Country Club in Houston. Okay? At dinner, mom and I engaged in the usual repartee, cracking wise about ... everything – my mom’s sloppy

have room for that, mom?” Then my vaudevillian look at her gut. “Never mind. Live it up, baby.” 90 year-old laughter unto wheezing). We said our goodnights at the elevator. ...continued p.11

Price, Postel & Parma congratulates Tara Christian on her recent admission to the State Bar and welcomes her as a new associate attorney. Prior to relocating to Santa Barbara, Ms. Christian was a law clerk in the firm’s Cameron Park Office. Ms. Christian’s practice focuses primarily on public agency representation in education, employment, contract negotiation, policy formation, land use, environmental and water issues. She has worked on a wide variety of public and private matters, including property disputes, landlord-tenant issues and tort claims. While in law school, Ms. Christian earned a concentration in Environmental and Water Law. She served as President of the Real Property Club and Secretary of the Water Law Society and was a research assistant to Professor Jennifer Harder and later as legal intern for the Clean Water Action non-profit group. Ms. Christian received her J.D. (with Distinction) in 2019 from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.

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The 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. He blogs at anIndependentMind.com

2020 Hindsight

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o one can predict the future. At best, predictions are just a guess.

If anyone could truly predict the future, they wouldn’t be talking to us about it. Yet we see predictions all the time (usually described as “forecasts”).

If the forecasts are right, the forecasters are considered wise geniuses and will be followed until their next predictions, which usually will be wrong. Anyone who gets it right is just lucky.

I’m going to make predictions about 2020 – a fool’s errand for sure. But this fool’s guess is probably just as valid as anyone else’s. Being diligent readers, you will all save this article and pull it out on January 1, 2021 to see if I was right. It will be fun.

Here goes…

THE ECONOMY A lot of folks on Wall Street are “forecasting” that a recession will commence sometime this year. I am not.

This fool’s “forecast” is that the economy will continue to bump along at a sluggish pace this year (GDP below 2% by year end). My reasoning is that the Fed is furiously pumping up the money supply (call it QE5). In the past three months, they have injected an additional half trillion dollars into the economy. New money has to go somewhere (stocks, real estate, debt, buybacks, mergers and acquisitions). Banks have plenty of reserves to make loans. The yield curve, that supposed harbinger of recession, is well into positive territory. And, it looks like Trump’s idiotic trade war is coming to an end, thus helping business and consumers with lower-cost goods and less uncertainty. Employment levels are at an all-time high and the labor participation rate is climbing. People have jobs and personal income is rising.

What could go wrong?

There is a lot of sand in the economy’s gears though. Corporate profits are actually declining. So are the requirements for future growth: population growth, capital investment, and industrial production.

Debt is rising around the world (now totaling $244 trillion worldwide per the IMF). I shudder to think of the impact should interest rates rise.

One may ask: Why is the economy rather sluggish? Ignore the stock market for the moment. We are now and have been heading Japanese.

By this I mean that massive deficit

spending by the government, high government debt relative to GDP, money printing, artificially low interest rates, and declining population growth are roadblocks to future growth. This is something sluggish Japan has been facing for several decades now and they have serious structural economic and social issues as a result. Et tu America?

THE STOCK MARKET Here is something that I got from Grant’s Interest Rate Observer: Two of the biggest investment powerhouses in the world give their take on 2020:

Commercial real estate grew by 2.5% in 2019. That trend will continue in 2020 for much the same reasons as will stocks: Fed interest rate policy and money supply pumping. As I said, money has to go somewhere. With a disastrous interest rate policy keeping rates artificially low, investors and savers are searching for better yields and they are willing to take on more risk to achieve better returns (i.e. “yield chasing”). I think the real estate market will get through 2020 just fine.

THE PRESIDENT As many readers know, I am not a big fan of President Trump (go to my blog, anindependentmind.com to catch up).

He has done three things that I liked: lower corporate taxes; made excellent Supreme Court appointments; and chip away at a Leviathan’s morass of obstructive regulations. What I don’t like about him won’t fit into this article,

Senate won’t convict a Republican president. No, it isn’t fair, but it’s politics. I do think trying to coerce the Ukraine president to harass a political opponent should be enough to convict him, but it’s fuzzy territory and so far, nothing seems bad enough to turn the stomachs of Senate Republicans.

Trump has a high disapproval rating.

The elites, especially liberal Democrats, hate him. But they fail to understand his appeal to “ordinary” Americans. His zany and often unhinged behavior tells us that he’s not just another politician: he’s genuine, unpackaged, raw, and off the cuff. He’s also a lot of bad things, mainly his megalomania and apparent ignorance. But he still draws huge crowds at his rallies.

Incumbency is a powerful force. With unemployment low, rising wages, and a booming stock market, he will be hard to beat. No extremist Democrat is capable of beating him and that’s all they have

I’m going to make predictions about 2020 – a fool’s errand for sure. But this fool’s guess is probably just as valid as anyone else’s.

Being diligent readers, you will all save this article and pull it out on January 1, 2021 to see if I was right. It will be fun.

Bank of America: “We enter the next decade with interest rates at 5,000year lows, the largest asset bubble in history, a planet that is heating up, and a deflationary profile of debt, disruption, and demographics.”

Goldman Sachs: “Overall, the changes underlying the Great Moderation appear intact, and we see the economy as structurally less recession-prone today… While new risks could emerge, none of the main sources of recent recessions – oil shocks, inflationary overheating, and financial imbalances – seem too concerning for now. As a result, the prospects for a soft landing look better than widely thought.”

If this advice from these experts fails to give you any comfort, understand that they are just as clueless as the rest of us. My guess is that the Fed’s money pump and their promise to keep interest rates low will continue to push stock prices up. Nothing seems to faze this market, even with declining corporate profits. It will end, just not soon.

REAL ESTATE/HOUSING Housing prices will continue to rise.

On a national basis housing supply is low relative to demand. New home sales were up about 17% in 2019, a trend that should continue. Housing starts are up too, about 14% over 2019. Home prices were up 3.7% last year and are predicted (by CoreLogic/Case-Shiller) to increase another 5% this year. Mortgage rates are low, about 3.8% for a 30 year loan. I’ll stick with that.

but I’ll start with this: his disastrous trade policy; his economically harmful and immoral immigration policy; his profligate deficit spending burdening many future generations with our debt; and the general chaos of his administration.

That said, Trump won’t be convicted by the Senate and he will win re-election.

It is pretty clear that a Republican

in this year’s crop of candidates. Maybe Bernie’s socialism would have gotten more traction in a recession year, but that isn’t the case today.

Things will change in 2020 and perhaps make my forecasts entirely wrong. Eventually the economy will stumble. I just don’t think it will be in 2020. But at least I am humble enough to tell you that I’m guessing.

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Columnists Man About Town • Mark Léisuré Plan B • Briana Westmacott | Food File • Christina Enoch On Art • Margaret Landreau | The Weekly Capitalist • Jeff Harding The Beer Guy • Zach Rosen | E's Note • Elliana Westmacott SYV Snapshot • Eva Van Prooyen | What’s Hanging • Ted Mills I Heart SB • Elizabeth Rose | Fortnight • Steven Libowitz State Street Scribe • Jeff Wing | Behind The Vine • Hana-Lee Sedgwick

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by Zach Rosen

Something ShakeSBeer This Way Comes

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n 2015, myself along with local theater legend David Holmes, the Santa Barbara Hustlers, and Fishbon hosted ShakeSBeer at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. This experimental evening blended Shakespearean scenes, monologues, and lines with unique beers that reflected the themes and personalities of different characters.

The audience was led throughout the museum as they pursued this celebration of Shakespeare and beer. This intricate event took about one year of planning on our end to arrange but was incredibly well received by the audience.

With a cast of nearly thirty performers, dancers, and musicians, this was the most difficult, yet most rewarding, project I’ve ever had the opportunity to work on. Now, almost five years later, myself, Fishbon and some of the original cast members could not be more excited to announce that we are bringing ShakeSBeer back to the main stage.

On Saturday, February 15, from

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.

5:30-9 pm, come to the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, & Technology (SBCAST) and join our cast for a new interpretation of ShakeSBeer as we celebrate Shakespearean love on Valentine’s Day weekend. ShakeSBeer alumni Pacomio Sun and Marisol Miller Wave will be leading the theater direction as the audience is treated to different scenes and monologues from

ShakeSBeer is an unforgettable evening of performances that take the audience on a journey through the works of Shakespeare (photos by Winter Creative Co.)

classic Shakespearean couples.

Just like the original ShakeSBeer, there will be live music and dance featured throughout the evening. The music component will be performed by Adam Philips (best known for his Folk Orchestra project), Laurie Rasmussen, and Ian Martyn. This trio will be playing everything from the harp and mandolin to whistles and blowpipes, to deliver an exotic array of music and instruments. Interpretive aerial dance

by Elevated Dreams (choreographed by Katelyn Carano) will keep the audience looking in all directions as they take in the performances and taste the range of brews.

A DYNAMIC EVENING The setting of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum in the original event lent itself to a more classic interpretation ...continued p.8

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...continued from p.7

of Shakespeare. This time, the Bauhaus design and modernist style of SBCAST demanded a more progressive approach to the subject matter. Certain characters’ gender roles will be switched, giving a different perspective on how these characters interact. The costumes will feature some traditional garb for a few characters but will mostly consist of modern interpretations of what the characters would wear. If you really think about it, weren’t Romeo and Juliet just the hipsters of their time? With onstage costume changes and an emcee leading the conversation, the audience will be guided through this modern interpretation that is both approachable and fun.

ShakeSBeer seeks to not just bring beer into the theater but to also push the boundaries of how the audience interacts with the performers, blurring the lines between the stage and the audience. The doors open at 5:30 pm where guests will enter to aerial dance and ambient music. People can try some of the brews and fill their glass because at 6 pm the performances start with everyone sitting in the main courtyard.

Guests will be treated to a half hour of classic monologues and scenes from a range of Shakespeare’s works. After these initial performances, the performers will leave the main stage and move to different areas of SBCAST. For the next hour, guests will get to explore the dynamic architecture of

SBCAST as they watch five-minute vignettes performed around the property. In each space, you can watch a small performance while tasting the characters’ respective beers before moving on to see the next environment.

From Titania, queen of the fairies, and her donkey-headed lover, Bottom, in a fairy den, to the wailing of Ophelia locked alone in a room as she loses her mind from Hamlet’s disregard of her, these different performances will explore the many themes around Shakespearean love. Rest in a garden pillow lounge as you watch Rosencrantz & Guildenstern sit in a hot tub drinking as they contemplate their fortune. The weathered statues of Venus and Adonis (body painted by artist Zami Marx) will be standing nearby, waiting to break into their passionate discourse.

This interactive time also allows the guests to explore the merchandise table that will feature items like t-shirts, coasters, and bottle openers. Each one of these collectibles have been made in the SBCAST workshop (designed and crafted by yours truly). This time also offers a chance to visit Nimita’s Cuisine, who will be offering a special menu that features Elizabethan flavors and modern twists on traditional theater treats.

Make sure to get your fill during this time for at the end of the hour, everyone will reconvene at the main stage where a final 30-minute performance will wrap up the evening’s main event. After the

ShakeSBeer is an unforgettable evening of performances that take the audience on a journey through the works of Shakespeare (photos by Winter Creative Co.)

show has ended and the performers have taken a bow, the cast will break character, and everyone will have a chance to come together and enjoy the rest of the evening. During this last hour, people can speak with the cast or taste one of the special brews a final time before the night comes to a close.

CAN’T SPELL SHAKESBEER WITHOUT BEER With breweries like Night Lizard and The Brewhouse participating, there will be the range of all your favorite

local brewers featured but with unique variations of their offerings and style.

The sweet seductive flavor of mead from The Apiary will embody Venus with the aromatic additions of rose petals and plumeria capturing the allure of this goddess. An oaked pale ale from Island Brewing Co accented by candied ginger and coffee will deliver the bold, confidence of Benedict with the unexpected vanilla and bourbon barrel notes of this pale ale lacing a deceptive element true to the theme of “Much Ado About Nothing.” brewLAB is delivering the passion of Juliet in a sour golden ale made with passionfruit and hummingbird sage to bring her youthful flightiness, with the additions of orange peel and vanilla to offer a hopeful warmth of the morning sun and a hint of salt to capture her tears. Each of the featured brews at the event will offer new flavors while exploring classic themes of these iconic characters.

The first ShakeSBeer was a magical evening of theater and beer and this one is shaping up to be even better. Tickets are $60 each and with live theater, music, and dance, plus limitless tastings of ten unique beers, this event offers entertainment and fun in one affordable package. This will be one evening you do not want to miss. And being Valentine’s Day weekend, this is also one that both you and your significant other will not want to miss. So if you are wondering what to get them this upcoming Valentine’s, there couldn’t be a better gift to give your partner than to bring them to a thrilling evening of Shakespearean love and unique brews.

For more information and tickets visit ShakeSBeer2020.com During ShakeSBeer, guests will get to see a range of Shakespeare’s monologues, scenes, and lines (photos by Winter Creative Co.)

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Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01991628. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to accuracy of any description. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed.

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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.

Comedy That’s Good as Gould

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our guess is as good as anybody’s as to why comedian-actor-director (not to mention NPR Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me panelist) Bobcat Goldthwait and the Emmy-winning comic and actor Dana Gould chose the Brasil Arts Café to do an out-of-town tryout of their new “The Show With Two Heads!” before a taping of the stand-up special slated soon for Atlanta. Because they dined-and-dashed on a tab at the still-trendy restaurant-club and figured a free show was a better choice than jail?

Because No Indoor Voices promoter Kimmie Dee has such a cool sounding name?

Who knows? Whatever the reason, two of the most brilliant (or twisted, depending on who you ask) minds in comedy are coming to the tiny State Street storefront to showcase their special for the select few who manage to find out about it early enough to secure seats to the February 3 show (yes, the day after Groundhog Day, which means absolutely nothing unless you are a fan of the Bill Murray comedy, which neither Bobcat or Dana appeared in). Will that be you?

Visit https://nightout.com/events/theshow-with-two-heads-starring-danagould-bobcat-goldthwait/tickets.

Comedy, Continued

Elsewhere in the yuk-it-up department, Kathleen Madigan has been touring 250 nights on the road every year for three decades in a career that has included a bunch of hour-long filmed specials and performances on just about every latenight show that’s ever been on TV during that span. Fortunately for us, she heads to the Lobero Theatre on February 13.

Recent gigs on her c.v. are the Netflix series with Jerry Seinfeld, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and her own recent special Bothering Jesus. Is that something you can actually do? Wouldn’t he just turn the other cheek?

The Lobero also hosts Russell Brand’s Recovery Live show, the actorauthor-comedian’s funny and profane exploration into personal development and wellness from a guy who not all that tongue in cheek has dedicated himself to spirituality to avoid self-destruction. The 90-minute “experience” that Brand says saved his life, continues to save his sanity “and will work for anyone who is willing to commit to it,” arrives on February 12.

Getting Silly in Santa Ynez

Comedian Neal Brennan, an Emmynominated writer, director and producer who boasts his own original comedy specials on Comedy Central and Netflix, heads up to the Samala Showroom at the Chumash Casino Resort for a stand-up show on January 25. Brennan co-created and co-wrote the Comedy Central series Chappelle’s Show with Dave Chappelle, helmed such sketches as “Charlie Murphy/Rick James,” “The Racial Draft,” “Charlie Murphy/Prince,” and the “John Mayer Sketch,” receiving three Emmy nominations for his work there. He’s currently a writer, creative consultant and on-air correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Musicals Make Debuts

The Santa Barbara’s New Year’s Eve pops concert honored Carole King as one of the Women in Rock by, strangely, giving her songs the classicallite treatment a few hours before 2020 arrived. The lifelong singer-songwriter gets a much more in-depth treatment via BEAUTIFUL – The Carole King Musical, which traces her life from her days as Carol Klein, “a Brooklyn girl with passion and chutzpah” who fought her way into the record business as a teenager and, by the time she reached her twenties, had the husband of her dreams and a flourishing career writing hits out of New York City’s the Brill Building for the biggest acts in rock ‘n’ roll. But, as the billing says, it wasn’t until her personal life began to crack that she finally managed to find her true voice. BEAUTIFUL traces King’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, and then the quantum leap to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in pop music history, whose solo debut was, at one point, one of the biggest selling albums of all time. Loaded with a bunch of beloved songs from the ‘60s – including “I Feel The Earth Move,” “One Fine Day,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “You’ve Got A Friend” and the title song – the musical won two 2014 Tony Awards and the 2015 Grammy Award® for Best Musical Theater Album. The show makes its

Santa Barbara debut over two fine nights at the Granada, February 5-6.

Just down the street, and just a couple of days later, Ensemble Theatre Company opens the first local production of the musical adaptation of the romantic comedy Jane Austen’s Emma. The book, music and lyrics are by Paul Gordon, whose credits include two previous Austen adaptations in Jane Eyre, which earned him a nomination for a 2001 Tony Award for composing the music and lyrics, and Sense and Sensibility), plus Daddy Long Legs, which was developed

by Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre Company and earned Gordon two Drama Desk Awards nominations when it played Off-Broadway. “Clever, sharp and witty, Emma is as charismatic as its title character!” exclaimed Broadway World of the new musical, while ETC’s production will star Broadway veteran Samantha Eggers as the beautiful, witty and determined young woman of the title, who plays matchmaker in disastrous ways, leading to a whirlwind of complications and, eventually, her own self-discovery. The musical plays at The New Vic Theatre February 8-23.

Classical Music: All Corners Cometh

It would be hard to imagine a more diverse slate of performances under the classical musical banner over the next month outside of New York City, and perhaps not even there, as the crowded calendar boasts one of the world’s greatest living violinists gracing the Granada stage holding down one end of the spectrum, the classically-trained string duo Black Violin dishing up a unique mash-up of classical, hip hop, rock and R&B with a message on the other, and the Santa Barbara debut of accordionist Hanzhi Wang somewhere in the middle.

Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman shares personal tales and musical triumphs in an evening titled “Stories of His Life and Career” at the Granada on Tuesday, January 21, in a multimedia event where he will deliver intimate anecdotes, show personal photos and archival video and play live his longtime pianist, Rohan De Silva… The more fiery Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja follows up her standout West Coast recital debut and serving as musical director of the Ojai Music Festival

last season with a duo performance with her frequent collaborator, cellist Jay Campbell, of a diverse program that spans a millennium, from 11th century traditional music to the world premiere of a new piece commissioned by UCSB A&L. The new work, “Én-kör III” (I-circle), composed by Márton Illés and created for the daring duo for its world premiere at Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall on January 25, consists of short, intense, nervous gestures of very expressive, almost vocal qualities over a score that accumulates a great amount of energy and the interpretation requires power, precision and virtuosity by the musicians.

Also at Hahn is Hanzhi Wang, the award-winning classical accordionist, whose mastery of her instrument is matched by her creative programming, which spans her transcriptions of Baroque music, plus tangos and contemporary works written for the instrument and for Wang herself. Following her debuts last season at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, Wang brings her impeccable technique and captivating stage presence Santa Barbara for the first time on February 1.

UCSB Arts & Lectures is also responsible for the return of another former whiz kid on an unusual instrument in Grammy Award and MacArthur Genius Grant-winning mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, who easily traverses thae classical, rock, jazz and bluegrass genres, not to mention serving as the host of the acclaimed radio program Live From Here, previously known as A Prairie Home Companion. Thile does his thing – they haven’t announced a program, but for once it’s the truth that it truly doesn’t matter – at UCSB Campbell Hall on February 4. The university’s arts organization also presents Black Violin – Kev Marcus (violin) and Wil B (viola) – who somehow fuse the sounds of today with classical virtuosity, a formula that has found their new album, Take the Stairs, landing at or near the top of the Classical, Crossover and Hip Hop and R&B charts. Accompanied by DJ SPS and drummer Nat Stokes, Black Violin bring their Impossible Tour on January 28, at the Granada Theatre.

Classical Cuts

If we had more space, we’d dive deeper into such concerts as CAMA’s International Series season opener with the Royal Philharmonic on January 27 at the Granada, the January 30 Museum of Art date with the Thalea String Quartet, pianist Daniil Trifonov’s UCSB gig on February 7, the debut of the Lobero Theatre Chamber Music Project on February 8-9 and the Assad Brothers return to the Lobero on February 14.

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CREATIVE CHARACTERS JUSTIN GUNN

N

ot everyone is born to do film, but some certainly seem to be and media executive, producer, and host Justin Gunn is one of those people.

Growing up in Beverly Hills, his high school naturally had a TV production class where he went from goofing around with friends making videos to learning the internal operations of film production. The class even had access to a TV station and public access station.

With only six people in the class, they had the run of the place and he quickly fell in love with the process. His passion soon went professional as he was hired at 17 by MTV to host a show called “Like We Care” where he pursued his dream of being the Phil Donahue for young people. From there he went to news channels on a private satellite network called “Channel One” where he worked alongside a young Anderson Cooper and Lisa Yang. This satellite fed channel was broadcasted to eight million Canadian high school and middle school students.

Beginning with film production at such a young age, he had to do all of the shooting and editing himself, since there often wasn’t a crew to work with, and he fell in love with all aspects of video production. As he continued to explore video production, he worked everywhere from news magazines and reality television to places like Inside Edition before becoming a founding executive launching a network called Current TV. It was here he got to build a network from scratch and take on fun projects like having the network send him out to Burning Man for four years to film a documentary on the culture.

He actually received a national news Emmy Award Nomination in 2008 for his Burning Man documentary. From there he moved back to L.A. to continue to work in the industry including designing and building a video network for Ron Paul, which proved to be a technical challenge but fun.

But over time he found himself tired of working in the industry. He used to think it was a delight and a privilege to work in film but was no longer finding the work as fun and passionate as it once was. He wanted to be closer to his family and mother, who lives in town, and three years ago he moved to Santa Barbara. At the time he didn’t know anybody and wanted to immediately “find his tribe.” His passion for art and Burning Man culture naturally led him to the Solstice Parade workshop, which was the loudest thing he could find. As he hung out around the workshop, he noticed that many of the groups may

by Zach Rosen

Join Justin Gunn at SPLIFF for a not too far from reality character of himself

not have needed much of his artistic help, but he had something else to offer them.

Along the way, he began to notice that this unique culture was filled with characters and an interesting history.

This community represented an untold story that was unfolding in front of his very eyes. He started bringing his equipment to the workshop and began shooting. He used the footage to make a short doc that was accepted at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). The documentary premiered on the closing night at the Arlington Theatre to Solstice performers in full regalia.

He found it such a wonderful experience that he wanted to find an interesting culture in the community of Santa Barbara each year to tell their story. Last year he made a documentary on the cruiser bike community, one that is cross cultural and multigenerational.

This piece covered the story of this community’s origins in the 1970s, where the kids growing up in the hills of the westside would build BMX bike tracks before the area was developed.

The piece also covered the current art bike scene but really Justin’s interest in bikes began before he came out to Santa Barbara.

Justin went to Burning Man for 20 years. His first years doing TV production out in the desert spoiled him since he often had gas-powered carts to get around. When he returned just for fun, he found himself peddling around on a bike in the hot sun. Not wanting to have to deal with that again, he wanted to create something that had ...continued p.12

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...continued from p.5

LAST SHALL BE FIRST Next evening I headed over to “The Villa” looking for mom. I found her standing with her back to me in the little hall between the common area and the adjacent magazine-strewn library room there. From behind her I announced myself with the “ta-daaaaaa!” comic aplomb to which she and her fellow residents had grown accustomed; some more than others. On hearing my singsong greeting, she’d turned, wearing an amused and expectant expression, but when she saw me her face fell. “...Yes?” she said, taking a step backwards and gathering herself.

“Hey! ….mom?” She was puzzled but alert. I saw immediately that something was up. “Do I know you?” she then said, a line from a movie – surreal and solid and unbelievable as the punch I took to the face in 8th grade. “Yeah,” I heard myself saying, and continued cinematically. ”Mom. It’s me. Jeff. Your son.” The world tilted. “You’re – my son,” Aloha intoned through a disbelieving chuckle. The most outlandish thing she’d ever heard. This was bracing and – I don’t know what else. What was so stupefying about my being her son? This sudden new territory was already too colorfully complex to be merely terrifying. “Yeah. I’m... your son!”

But mom was gone. Just like that.

JUST LIKE THAT. All the nights sitting next to me in the john cuz kids hate throwing up by themselves, the den mother period when I was a Cub Scout and she lorded over our meetings with a Benson & Hedges in hand, all the hollered comic greetings as my high school friends and I trooped into the house on Mulberry street. “Uh, oh! Here come the bad guys!” And all the back patio ping-pong by porchlight on balmy Phoenix evenings. Poof. It was...dizzying.

She’d left the cognitive party sometime after last night’s second dish of ice cream.

In her place was this amused stranger.

What would happen now? What would happen? Mom was throwing me this utterly foreign facial expression, like “You wanna play games, smartass?”

Maybe Aloha had been using it on pals and amiable jerks her whole life. I’d sure as hell never seen it. But I warmed to it, weirdly. Immediately. I remember my face warming, as from an uprush of blood. We exchanged a few more stammering lines I can’t exactly recall.

Then she said “Okay,” and chucked my forearm with her bony fist. I looked down at my arm where she’d tapped me, like it was the damndest thing I’d ever seen. And it was. “You seem like a nice guy,” she said with something like sympathy. “Let’s go for a walk.”

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...continued from p.11

all of the advantages of a private art car but fell under the “regulatory radar.”

This led to him create his first art bike that had an electric motor, lights, umbrella, and passenger seat. When he returned, he started using the bike to ride around L.A. and soon found that it wasn’t just great at Burning Man, it was great everywhere. From there he began learning metalcraft, creating his iconic rocket ship bike (complete with lighted flames and sound effects) before designing a horseless carriage. Most recently he crafted a vibrant macaw midflight.

He found that these different electric art bikes just painted smiles on faces wherever he went and after meeting Kent Epperson and Kimi Vandyk, they formed Bike Delights.

This self-described “irregular bike ride” often sees 40 to 60 people riding on bikes decked out with lights and silliness. Although he now considers himself a Burning Man retiree (20 years in the sun and dust is enough for any Burner), he loves the year-round festival atmosphere that can be found in the area. Whether it is the eccentric costumes and floats of Solstice or just goofy people riding around on art bikes, he enjoys the fact that Santa Barbara offers at least a little slice of Burning Man and quirky art culture he so appreciates.

It was this love for eccentric arts that naturally led him to Fishbon, where he first got involved with an interactive theatrical event called “Blisstopia” that satirized new age culture. He was blown away by the “level of artistry and magic of this collective” and just how “seriously ridiculous” Fishbon was about the event. Upon seeing the first night, he returned the second night with his camera to shoot the event.

After putting together a quick video of the content, he told Bryan Snyder, “I think I know what the doc will be for next year.”

Justin Gunn riding the streets with his giant macaw

Over the following year, Bryan and Justin worked on other projects.

As Justin began to gain a deeper understanding of Fishbon, he saw the importance that interactive theater has played in the entire 18 year history of the organization. Bryan was working on a new interactive theater event called the San Pesci Legends International Film Festival (SPLIFF) that lovingly satirized film festivals, nonprofit cultures, celebrity egos and fandom. The event was held last October and naturally Justin was there with his camera (along with Dr. Mike North who has his own history with the camera) to record the

experience. Using the video from these events, along with old footage from Fishbon’s past theatrical performances provided by local documentarian, Larry Nimmer, Justin crafted his third documentary on Santa Barbara culture, Fishbon: The Art of Interactive Theater, to be premiered on Sunday, January 19 at 5 pm at the SBIFF. The piece covers the nearly twenty-year history of Fishbon’s theatrical performances with a focus on SPLIFF. When SBIFF accepted the film, both Bryan and Justin thought it would be fun(ny) to do an encore performance of SPLIFF. As Justin put it, “This is my

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kind of meta. We’re going to be doing a satire of a film festival during a film festival where there is a film about the satire of a film festival.” Join them and the cast at SBCAST on Friday, January 24th, from 6:30-10:00 pm for another chance to experience this silly take on film festivals. At SPLIFF, throughout the night attendees will be immersed in a mini film festival with a red carpet entrance, over the top “indie films,” and celebrity gossip. Guests become part of the storyline as they are given tasks by the characters at the event and help create the story that unfolds (which is best described as a Christopher Guest movie come to life).

And it is these kinds of events that make Justin feel like Santa Barbara is the best thing that has ever happened to him. Since becoming a part of the community, he feels like there is nothing quite like the character of the people here. He has found everyone genuine and totally devoid of ego, except maybe the characters of SPLIFF. He views each documentary as a love letter to the community and whether it is the Fishbon documentary or SPLIFF event, come see why he has fallen in love with Santa Barbara.

Visit JustinGunnProductions.com for more information on his video services or spliff.eventbrite.com to purchase tickets to SPLIFF.

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THEBUDGUY THE MANY FORMS OF CANNABIS

by Zach Rosen

A

s the cannabis industry continues to grow, the wide range of names and different strains and hybrids can be intimidating for those who are unfamiliar with it. Fortunately with a little know-how it can be easy to navigate the terminology.

Whole flower is the form of cannabis people are most familiar with and where you’ll see the biggest range of strains in dispensaries. It can come as whole buds in a jar (usually 3.5 grams, also known as an eighth-ounce) or as pre-rolled smokes or larger blunts. Whole flower can be ground and rolled into a smoke or just smoked in a dry or water pipe (a bong or bubbler as most people call them). In general, whole Visit a local dispensary for guidance on the best strains and forms of flower in a pipe is what comes cannabis to suit you to mind first when one thinks of the colloquial “smoking pot.”

But first it is important to look at the major types of cannabis. There are two major families of the cannabis plant used, Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica, and then through breeding programs, hybrid strains can be formed that exhibit characteristics of both types. Indica is known to relax the mind and muscles, with a decrease in nausea and acute pain, and increase in appetite and dopamine (the brain’s pleasure neurotransmitter). Sativa is better for relieving depression and anxiety, treating chronic pain and encouraging creativity while also increasing serotonin (the brain’s neurotransmitter that helps regulate learning, mood, and sleep among other body cycles). With hybrids you get a blend of the different characteristics of the two, depending on which type is dominant in the genetics (there is debate just how genetically separate these families are). These of course are generalities and each strain has its own specific traits.

ALL IN THE EXTRACT Cannabis extract comes in many different forms. Butane honey oil (BHO), shatter, wax, and hash among others are all forms of extract and each one has its own production characteristics, strengths and effects (a future column will explore these processes further). Some of these extracts can be smoked, but more often than not, they are meant to be vaporized. By using a heating element, rather than a flame, the heat applied to the extract can be controlled and used to vaporize the THC, terpenes, and other compounds, maintaining their structural integrity during the process and generally having a softer effect on the lungs and body. Of course there have been a few recent scares with black market extracts and additiverelated health concerns. However anything that you find in a dispensary will have undergone testing as mandated by state law.

Vaporizers that use whole flower, like volcanoes and box vapes, are still around but have fallen out of fashion with the ease and affordability of vape cartridges.

Some of these machines can still process liquid or solid extracts, but these days the small extract cartridges that fit onto a vape pen battery have become the most common method of vaping. In vape pens, the extract cartridge is connected to a heating element (aka a battery) that vaporizes the cannabis. Higher-end batteries will often have a temperature or voltage setting that controls the amount of power to the vape cartridge. This gives the user better control over the vaporization process and minimizes burning of the extract. There are even more tech-savvy products like the AIRGRAFT vaporizer that uses a digital chip on the extract cartridge to carefully control the temperature curves of the vaporizer to match the ideal temperatures of the specific makeup of terpenes for that particular strain of cannabis.

JUST EAT IT From baked goods to canned beverages, “edibles,” or cannabisinfused foods, come in a wide range of exciting and delicious prepackaged forms.

Now with cannabis-infused cooking oils and butters available, there is effectively an endless variety of ways to incorporate cannabis into your food or cooking.

Edibles are well suited for those who have sensitive lungs or do not want the harsher effects that can sometimes come From whole flower to extract, cannabis now comes in many forms with smoking. It is just important to remember that edibles have a different and much more potent effect than traditional smoking. It may take longer for you to feel the effects of edibles than when smoking cannabis, which means you can over-consume cannabis much easier with edibles than traditional smoking. Anyone who has taken too many edibles knows how unpleasant the experience can be. And no, just eating whole flower cannabis will not have an effect (it still needs to be decarboxylated, a process which will be covered in another column). Edibles are produced by heating cannabis in an oil like butter, or extracting it into an alcohol solution, such as in tinctures.

When smoking, the lungs’ delicate nature makes them a physical barrier for how much one can consume. Basically, coughing and the rough effect on the lungs that smoking can have makes one more slowly consume cannabis. Lungs are made to absorb components (think oxygen) very quickly into the bloodstream which also means you feel the effects almost immediately. On the other hand, the digestive tract operates much slower as compounds often need to be broken down into smaller pieces before they can be absorbed into the bloodstream through the stomach, intestines, and other parts of the digestive tract. Due to this slower absorption time, edibles will often take 30-60 minutes to start taking effect and can last for hours at a time, considerably longer than smoking. (The actual difference in the body between consuming and smoking cannabis is more complicated than this but for now that explanation will suffice.) This also means you can consume way too much THC through edibles before even feeling the effects.

Fortunately the serving sizes of edibles are now calculated with much more precision and clearer labeling than the old days of bud brownies being shared at concerts where you may not have any idea how much cannabis you just ate. If new to edibles, I recommend spending some time experimenting with your own tolerances.

In general, 10 mg of THC is considered a medium level dose, yet that value can range drastically between individuals. For me, 15 mg is a lighter experience however I have many friends for whome that would be a heavy trip, and other friends where that simply would not be enough. It all just depends on the individual.

When experimenting to find your tolerance range, it is important to take all of the edible at once and not spread it out over time for an accurate idea of how that quantity affects you. Basically, consuming 5 mg and then adding another 5 mg an hour later is not the same as taking 10 mg all at once. Always start light and very slowly experiment with increased amounts. For example, start with 5 mg THC on one day and see how that affects you. If it is not enough, add a little more on the next day you experiment with edibles. Many of the edibles are broken up into 5 mg THC increments however these can be cut into smaller parts so that you can slowly increase in increments of 1 mg or 2.5 mg THC at a time if you are more sensitive. Given a little time, you can find the upper and lower thresholds of your tolerance so that you can consume edibles and get the effect you’re looking for.

Just make sure to keep a regular candy bar nearby when consuming edibles. Many of the cannabis chocolates and candies are so tasty that you may be tempted to keep eating them.

With so many individual strains and forms of cannabis on the market these days, it can be overwhelming for those unfamiliar. Leafly and other websites can provide a wealth of information on individual strains and their effects. Of course the best way to find exactly what you’re looking for is to just go into a dispensary like The Farmacy or Coastal Dispensary where the budtenders are well informed and trained in guiding guests towards the strain and form best suited to your needs.

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WHAT’SHANGING? with Ted Mills Ted Mills is a local writer, filmmaker, artist, and podcaster on the arts. You can listen to him at www.funkzonepodcast.com. He currently has a seismically dubious stack of books by his bed. Have an upcoming show you’d like us to know about? Please email: tedmills@gmail.com

reason we know the work of Lockwood de Forest, or Ray Strong, or any number of Santa Barbarans. The show is a greatest hits mix tape of their biggest names, and a statement of purpose for 2020. Through March 2.

SQUARE PEGS

WAKE UP

A

new decade dawns and Santa Barbara’s art scene rubs its eyes and asks itself if it’s awake. Are you? What does it mean for all of us that Amazon is now sponsoring 1st Thursdays? Should we ask Alexa? Will art be delivered by drone? I have no crystal ball, but below we have a few events that I guarantee you are happening. I should know, I read the press release! See you, as usual, out on the art walks….

when they bought the estate of Anya Fisher, Sullivan Goss has been collecting and preserving artists estates, adding them to the collection, and bringing out monographs on them. They’re the

The Santa Barbara Printmakers guild has been going since 1989, a constantly evolving roster of artists that if you’ve spent any time out and about on 1st Thursdays, you’ve probably seen. (You might even be a member! Thank you

BREAD N’ BUTTAH

Sullivan Goss gets a lot of shout-outs in this column, and why not? They have a major show nearly every other month, and one of our top for-profit galleries in Santa Barbara, which is an achievement in itself, just existing for so long, promoting the best of our living artists and representing our past as well.

Their current show “The Anchors,” is a thank you to the collections that keep the engine buzzing. Starting in 1992,

Reaso ason n to H Re aso ason nop e to

for reading this column.) Their current show “Haven” is a juried exhibit of 10” x 10” prints along the theme of the title. But you know artists and their “themes” don’t you? Just come for the cool works: there’ll be intaglio, relief, screen printing, monoprints, and the like. All priced to sell and hang (did I mention they’re small?).

Artists Claudia Borfiga and Meagan Stirling curated and have been joined by architect Jeremy White in the jurying phase. Through March 4 at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara, 229 East Victoria Street.

IN PRAISE OF CERAMICS

If you’ve been on the SB Studio Artists Tour in recent years, you might have stopped by the studio of clay

Hop e

We proclaim that there is a reason for the hope within us.

Join us for worship on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am and fellowship afterwards.

We offer many different days and times for Bible study during the week: Sunday morning following worship, Wednesday evening, Thursday afternoon, Friday morning.

We also have a prayer group which meets on Tuesday evenings.

Check our website for our weekly schedule: www.EmanuelLutheranSB.org or call the church office 805-687-3734

3721 Modoc Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 EmanuelLutheranSB.org info@EmanuelLutheranSB.org 3721 Modoc Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 EmanuelLutheranSB.org info@EmanuelLutheranSB.org 805.687.3734 805.687.3734

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artist Lisa Crane. If you ever caught the bug and wish you too could get your hands into some sculpture, then Crane’s got just the thing: the opening of Clay Studio, a new community art center, which will be teaching and promoting the ceramic arts. The Open House is Saturday, January 18, 1 to 7 pm at 1351 Holiday Hill Road, Goleta. You’ll be able to tour the studio, meet the staff, and learn about upcoming courses, memberships, workshops, and more. There’s even a website: claystudiosb.com.

IMAGINARY LINES

UCSB’s AD&A Museum has several shows to open 2020: “Hostile Terrain ‘94’” is a participatory work that features a large map of the Mexico/ USA border, toe-tags of those who have died trying to cross, and a selection of personal belongings found in the area. The work is an iteration of a traveling art piece going to 150 locations, ending up in Washington, D.C. (This version is up through December.) Also “Irresistible Delights” is an exhibit of recent gifts to the museum’s collection, with a focus on contemporary and African art.

Thru April 26. And finally, “Common Bonds” (opening today, and thru December 6) is a group show exploring community and immigration thru art and architecture, featuring Gregory Ain, Roberto Benavidez, Guillermo Bert, Karon Davis, Fritz Eichenberg, Asad Faulwell, Ja’Tovia Gary, Pablo Helguera, James Hill, Peter Hujar, Joseph S. Melchione, Ruben Ochoa, Julius Shulman, Jean Swiggett, Pipo Ngyugen-Duy, Richard B. Taylor, and Kara Walker.

NINE ALIVE

There’s a new show up at the Santa Barbara Tennis Club (2375 Foothill Road). Abstract Nine is self-explanatory, nine abstract artists curated by Susan Tibbles: Steven Buchsbaum, Cody Cammbell, Lee Anne Dollison, Scott Miller, Pam Kaganoff, Maria Miller, Karen Frishman, Judy Neunuebel, and Dee Faia Parkins. The show is up thru March 6.

AND THE BACK NINE

If you liked those nine, here’s nine more! Over at 10 West Gallery (10 West Anapamu), “Thoughtfully” shows a nonet of artists, from realism to abstract to sculpture: Sophie MJ Cooper, Patricia Post, Marlene Struss, Karen Zazon, Tom Peck, Peggy Ferris, Stuart Ochiltree, Marilyn Helsenrott Hochhauser, and Maria Miller. This gaggle hangs through January 27.

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PLANB by Briana Westmacott When Briana isn’t lecturing for her writing courses at UCSB and SBCC, she contributes to The Santa Barbara Skinny, Wake & Wander and Flutter Magazine. Along with her passion for writing and all things Santa Barbara, much of her time is spent multitasking through her days as a mother, wife, sister, want-to-be chef and travel junky.

Writing is an outlet that ensures mental stability... usually.

WHITEOUT

Here are my kids – happily skiing the day before the whiteout fiasco

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t happens every 365 days – December culminates with the launch of a new year. Commonplace are lists to declare lifestyle improvements: diet, exercise, organize, read, create. Goals are set to whiteout unwanted behavior and rewrite the story with fresh text. Sixty percent of people admit to making New Year’s resolutions; however, only eight percent succeed.

January 1, 2020 found my family in a precarious position. We were 8,637 feet above sea level on top of a ski resort mountain in a complete whiteout. My husband and I had made a big mistake; after skiing all morning, we decided to take our kids up the Summit Express to the top of the mountain… without checking weather conditions.

I knew when we were halfway up the lift and I could not see the chair in front of us that things were not good. As a blast of wind gave our chair a ferocious swing, my fear began to sink in. Once off the lift, it only got worse. There was no warming hut or restaurant, only signs pointing for ways to get down, all of them proudly displaying little black diamonds next to their names.

ALPINE BOWL A group of skiers huddled up close to the large mounted map. Our vision extended no more than an arm’s length ahead of us, and the conditions continued to worsen.

My kids are intermediate skiers and we were cresting the Alpine Bowl decorated with more diamonds than the red carpet in Hollywood. “Stay close to Mom and Dad,” I commanded as we edged our way towards what was supposed to be the “easiest” route down. Somehow in the chaos of it all, we ended up out of bounds.

Lack of any sort of sight can certainly be to blame; as we subsequently discovered, we weren’t the only ones lost on the top of those peaks. A mother and her teenage son ended up with us along with a single boy who had become

separated from his family. We were now seven lost souls. My husband took the lead and I was bringing up our caboose. We weren’t going anywhere quickly.

“Keep your skis sideways to the mountain,” I yelled to the kids. Lord only knows what was downhill from us. We were perched on a ledge. All we could see through the blur of the storm were a few jagged knife-like rocks ripping through the snow and many tall trees, beyond that, sheet white (with possible chutes!). I fought off my panic.

The stray boy we had acquired was in trouble. “I lost my family,” he told us, his voice trembling. He couldn’t have been much more than 12 years old, so I told him to follow us and that we would lead him down the mountain safely (which stung since I had no idea where we were). Like my own children, he believed me.

We knew that we would have to head down rather than continue traversing along the tip of the ridge. But where could we safely do this? If only we could see!

“Turn around,” my husband yelled to the crew. He decided we had better try to make our way back towards the ski lift. As my girls were waiting for Lost Boy to turn around, a gust of wind blasted us and literally blew them over. Straight to the ground. Tears ran from their goggles as they remained seated in the snow; Mother Nature had administered a time out.

SENDING OUT AN SOS “It’s ok. Stay there. Breathe,” I told my girls before fetching Lost Boy. I made my way back and found him seated with one ski off.

“Are you ok?” I hollered through the storm. He looked at me, his face covered by ski goggles and balaclava, and I knew there were tears there, too.

My husband had turned around and made his way to the caboose. We had switched positions. I edged past my kids and the mother/son duo who were entrusting us to help them out of this unfortunate situation.

“Don’t worry. We will find our way down,” I promised, trying to convince the crew. The weather was worsening. I knew time was not on our side. I couldn’t see what my husband was doing back there with Lost Boy, so I made an executive decision to ski ahead to search for our “easy” way down. It was either this or put out an emergency call to ski patrol, the latter not being something I wanted on my mountain resume.

After scouting and hiking my way back up the hill, I believed I had found a safe way back to the groomed run. Just as I was beginning to think my husband and Lost Boy were in big trouble, they appeared through the white curtain of snow with skis in hand, hiking towards us. Lost Boy did not look good, but he put those skis back on and continued to trust us.

We slowly caravanned through the backcountry, past both “experts only” and “out of bounds” signs that had been hidden by the storm, back to the regular run. Lost Boy’s family was overly happy to see us when we emerged from the rugged exterior and the mother/son duo was grateful to have made it out in one piece.

Back in the lodge, my kids were far from happy or grateful as they stripped off their soaking wet layers. We were worked: Legs shaky, hearts pounding, faces wind-burned red. “But we did it!” the eternal optimist in me declared. The kids glared. Not surprisingly, when we made it down to the base, we discovered the resort had closed the Summit Express. Nobody should have been up there in those conditions.

Day one of 2020 will forever be engraved in our book; you don’t forget things like that. I hadn’t made my New Year’s resolutions before we got stuck on top of that mountain, and luckily so because the whiteout shifted my priorities. This year I am going to lower my expectations, look to each moment for what it is rather than what it is supposed to be (read: a $1,000 ski day might not turn out to be perfect). Technology allows us to plan and track every single part of our lives. Not a lot is left up to chance. However, it is in those few chance scenarios when, if we listen, life gives us a lesson. The whiteout took away photo ops and peaceful mountain moments; however, it gave us grit. And grit goes a long way.

BRIANA’S BEST BET Losing weight is the most popular resolution in America. If you have this and/ or fitness on your list, I have a great recommendation for you. Orangetheory Fitness in Goleta is bound to give you positive results. I’ve been going for six months and I feel stronger than I have in years. You work with coaches and your own pulse (via a heart monitor) to improve your endurance, strength, and power. Coaches Jen and Ben are my favorites. Locals can pop in for a free trial class; your body will be grateful. www.orangetheoryfitness.com.

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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.

Getting all SBIFF-ed up for Film Festival Frenzy

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oes SBIFF need any more publicity than it already gets? I mean, seriously, does anybody with even a scintilla of interest in seeing scenes on celluloid not already know nearly every detail about the festival, which notches its 35th anniversary with the 11-day extravaganza that runs through January 25? And if not, can’t they just go to www.sbiff.org and peruse the packed website – or the iPhone or Android apps – and read all about it themselves?

I would imagine so.

On the other hand, I don’t want to give up my press pass, that magical laminated lease-on-a-lanyard that grants access to every screening, panel, and tribute – enough events to keep an already bleary-eyed reporter turning wan from lack of sunshine. (But don’t go trying to find me on the red carpet craning my neck for a glimpse at Brad Pitt. My pass doesn’t actually say “Mark Léisuré – Man About Town,” because that would be ridiculously

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presumptuous.)

So, yeah, I’m going to write about SBIFF, now and after the fest has come and gone. But don’t expect a whole lot of recommendations on which films to see beyond what is readily available for anyone to read.

Because if I watched just the ones whose publicists, unbidden, sent me password-protected screener links alone, I’d have had to be up for two days straight to see them all. A man’s gotta get some sleep, doesn’t he?

On the other hand, I can clue you in on a few you probably shouldn’t miss if our tastes coincide – meaning if you are reasonably smart, like to be entertained but get bored easily.

(No three-hour Eastern European epics for me, thank you very much).

Those would include the tear-jerking documentary Amazing Grace (not to be confused with last year’s long lost Aretha Franklin concert footage that ran at SBIFF), which evokes watery eyes not because of local 22-year-old’s Grace Fisher’s absurdly unfair instant paralysis five years ago, but because of her remarkable resilience and positive approach to a condition that might have most of us simply giving up.

On the music film spectrum, there’s the upbeat new documentary Sérgio Mendes: In The Key of Joy, a bouncy biopic about the Brazilian bossa nova legend from director John Scheinfeld, who previously helmed The U.S. vs.

John Lennon, Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) and Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary. Sources say Mendes himself will perform with a small band during the Q&A at the January 18 world premiere.

Eric Andersen, however, will just participate in the Q&A session when his biopic, The Songcatcher, which evinces a very different, deliberate pacing more appropriate for its hero, gets its American debut on January 23. The project was nearly a decade in the making, and that care and depth is evident is both the contemplative tone and detailed dive into the man who could have been nearly as famous as Bob Dylan if circumstances and personality had allowed.

Meanwhile, one of Santa Barbara’s most accomplished filmmakers, Andrew Davis, still known for his Hollywood action-adventure successes with The Fugitive, Holes, Under Siege and Above the Law, returns to the documentary world with Mentors: Tony & Santi, an intimate portrait of the rapport between two photographers, 87-year-old Santa Barbara resident Santi Visalli and Tony Vaccaro, who is 10 years his

senior. The pair produced an almost infinite array of iconic images for such magazines as Look and Life – the film features rapid-fire photos of everyone from President John F. Kennedy to Frank Lloyd Wright, the Beatles and Marcel Marceau – but it’s their ongoing friendship that gives the film its heart.

While we’re name-dropping, let’s also name-check That Click, another feature documentary about a photographer, in this case Douglas Kirkland, which features Hollywood stars Sharon Stone, Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning, Baz Luhrmann, Michelle Williams and many more, all of whom, we’re told, have been invited to the movie’s North American premiere. (I wouldn’t hold my breath.)

Also of note is The Grand Unified Theory of Howard Bloom, a biopic about “the greatest press agent that rock and roll has ever known” who helped build or sustain the careers of Michael Jackson, Prince, Bob Marley, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, Billy Idol, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Queen, Kiss, and scores more. Bloom’s autobiography, Einstein, Michael Jackson & Me is due in April, and parallels the film in telling the story of his metamorphosis into a science visionary championing a more creative future.

OSCAR COUNT AT SBIFF KEEPS CLIMBING SBIFF 2020 tribute stars Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, and Laura Dern (Marriage Story) are in, as are Modern Master Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Renée Zellweger (Judy) and Florence Pugh (Little Women), while Awkwafina (The Farewell), fellow Virtuoso Awardee Taron Egerton (Rocketman), and the just-added Lupita Nyong’o (Us), surprisingly, landed among the “snubbed” as the Academy Awards announced in nominees on Monday morning, barely 60 hours before the curtain rises for the festival.

But the glitter factor will still be gleaming as many more Oscar nods will be strolling the red carpet at the Arlington and the Lobero before the fest wraps up on January 26, including writers, directors and producers (not confirmed as of press time) and a bevy of below-the-lines filmmakers at the Variety Artisans Award (all nine honorees save for Jojo Rabbit composer Michael Giacchino have been nominated).

Want more? Check the schedule.

Just click on www.sbiff.org. I think I’ve written enough to secure my press pass for another year.

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I Heart SB

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18+ only

By Elizabeth Rose

Since 2015, I Heart SB has followed Elizabeth Rose through dating in Santa Barbara and falling in love, a long-distance relationship, living on a 34’ sailboat then sailing from Washington to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The couple is now engaged, back on dry land, living in an Airstream in Carpinteria. Comments welcome at ihearterose@ gmail.com. For more stories, visit www.ihearterose.com.

SELF-LOVE VS. SELFISH LOVE

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hile visiting my sister Carolyn during the holidays, she mentioned our aunt Rebecca was coming over and, would I mind staying to greet her?

For a quick background, Rebecca is very overbearing. When she speaks, the air is sucked from the room leaving no opportunity to answer a question she asked just seconds ago. Your energy is zapped from hogtying your emotions during passive aggressive comments; you tire from withholding eye-rolls and generally losing it.

Unfortunately, we share the same blood which means I’ll see her from time to time at the odd family reunion. (And as families go, there’s more to the story but I’ll spare you the baggage because I like you too much.) To sum it up: I keep a distance.

So much so, I’ve even blocked her on my phone.

The weird thing? She actually likes me. A lot. And I’m still trying to figure out why. Especially since her subtle jabs seem to have been rehearsed just for me. What’s worse? Since my nephew’s birth two years ago, my aunt visits him quite regularly because he loves being with her. And since Rebecca is so good to the little one, my big-hearted sister tolerates her like a saint. For me, my immediate reaction is to hide or become busy with tasks that take me far away from where she might be.

But this time, I was staying at my sister’s house, without a car, and nowhere to run.

As I concocted fake errands to run, my sister became more anxious and stressed out.

I told myself it wasn’t my problem. My sister needed to chill. She shouldn’t worry about making everyone happy and instead, should respect my feelings.

Before Rebecca arrived, Carolyn came to the guest room where I was working on a piece. I clapped down the laptop monitor to the keyboard and began conceiving ways to avoid our aunt. Maybe I’d catch up with them later or have mom and dad pick me up? I noticed my sister became fidgety as I continued with plans for escape. Regardless, I pressed on. I kept thinking in order to honor myself, I needed to be where Rebecca wasn’t at all costs. As I concocted fake errands to run, my sister became more anxious and stressed out. I told myself it wasn’t my problem. My sister needed to chill. She shouldn’t worry about making everyone happy and instead, should respect my feelings. Carolyn left the guest room and about five minutes later came back to sway me to stay. She mentioned her husband was hoping I would tough it out for my nephew’s sake. It would only take a few minutes, she assured me. When I realized my plans to flee were becoming more complicated than needed, I rolled my eyes and huffed, “Fine.”

Turns out, Rebecca came to babysit for a few hours so my sister, brother-in-law, and I could grab lunch. The meet-and-greet with our aunt wasn’t that bad actually, which seems to be the case with family encounters I dread. I make a big deal for days leading up but when we’re face-to-face, it’s usually fine. The three of us left the house after the few minutes promised, and when the front door closed behind us, I immediately felt like an ass. I sunk down in the backseat the whole way to the restaurant, ashamed for reacting the way I did, causing stress to my family that were so generous to have me in their home. I wondered when my fight for “selflove” had quickly soured into plain ol’ selfishness. While protecting myself from someone I can’t stand, I bled joy from someone I love more than anything in the world: my sister.

According to a mid-2012 MacBook dictionary, self-love is a “regard for one’s own well-being and happiness (chiefly considered as a desirable rather than narcissistic characteristic)” while the term selfish means, “(of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.” When it came to my aunt, I believed avoiding her was a healthy means of “self-love.” But as I resisted and spewed why-do-I-haveto protestations, I was tossing my sister’s feelings aside and causing her pain. It made me wonder how to walk the fine line between self-love and selfishness – How do we honor ourselves in those sticky situations and familial obligations while still considering the ones we love?

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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.

WINE COUNTRY MEETS DINE COUNTRY

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estaurant Weeks are upon us. Joining in on California’s annual statewide Restaurant Month in January, when destinations and restaurants across the state showcase the best of local cuisine, Santa Ynez Valley fires up its annual event with two full Restaurant Week(s) running January 19-31. Restaurants throughout Santa Ynez, Solvang, Buellton, Ballard, Los Olivos, and Los Alamos are offering three course prix fixe tasting menus for $20.20 (excluding tax, tip and beverages).

The statewide event showcases California’s agricultural variety while highlighting and drawing in tourism. The Valley’s two week-long version aims to do the same, as well as be a food lover’s utopia, with over 24 participating restaurants flaunting their cuisine, wine-pairing specials, and exclusive seasonal offerings.

Restaurant Week brings people into eateries during a traditionally slow season, thus giving chefs and restaurateurs an opportunity to showcase their tastes and talents to a wider audience. It also draws hospitality staff into restaurants so they can share what they know with tourists, and locals can enjoy what’s around them.

Historically, this has been a highly attended week, and reservations book out quickly as foodies flock to revisit and discover what’s new on the menu. There is a lot of creativity happening in the Valley, and Restaurant Week debuts some of the direction the Valley is going, which is showing more variety and innovation.

In addition to Santa Ynez Valley restaurants, many tasting rooms and wineries are also offering special wine and small bite pairings, and hotels are also offering special pricing for your overnight accommodations throughout the two weeks.

Reservations are highly recommended. For more current information visit www.dinesyv.com.

Jeni and Antonio Moretti toast to their new tasting room in Los Olivos

TASTE OF SANTA RITA HILLS aste of Santa Rita Hills is the latest addition to the bountiful and bustling wine tasting room scene nesting within a few small blocks in Los Olivos. The tasting room was formerly located in Lompoc’s “wine ghetto” for 10 years. The new site has an open view of Grand Avenue, and the space is flooded with natural light and features a small fireplace, vaulted wood beam ceilings, a large community table (made from thick wood reclaimed from a bridge) with sheepskin rug bench seat covers, and a curated selection of high end wines exclusively from Santa Rita Hills – representing many labels that don’t have tasting rooms.

Santa Rita Hills is part of the larger Santa Ynez Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area), located between the towns of Lompoc and Buellton with the Purisima Hills

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Taste of Santa Rita Hills showcases wines from this acclaimed AVA

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on the north and the Santa Rosa Hills on the South. This wine region is exposed to fog and coastal breezes from the nearby Pacific Ocean. The hills run east to west, which allows cool ocean breezes from the nearby Pacific Ocean to enter the valley, creating a cool micro-climate. “Our cool micro-climate, marine influence, and soils rich in minerals (diatomaceous earth) make not only the Pinot Noir noteworthy but produce Chardonnay that is complex and age-worthy,” says Antonio.

Antonio and Jeni Moretti moved to the Santa Rita Hills in 2008, and between them report having over 60 years of experience in the wine business. “We are the go-to store for unique Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir and Central Coast wines, featuring hard-to-find wines by Sea Smoke, Paul Lato, Bonaccorsi and many others,” says Jeni. “We offer some of the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the Central Coast.”

The Morettis explain that after meeting and working with some of the winemakers and winery owners in Santa Rita Hills and throughout the valley, they realized many wineries were open by appointment only or didn’t have a tasting room at all. Those wineries, “deserved more active representation,” says Antonio. “Taste of Santa Rita Hills was born as a way to expose these special wines, including hard-to-find Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, to a wider audience.”

Antonio and Jeni say they love sharing their wine knowledge and passion with others, and often find that their “inside-track to the hard-to-find producers makes them the go-to experts for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the region.”

Antonio says his passion for wine and food goes back to his early age when one side of his family was involved in the restaurant business. When he moved to the United States from Italy his passion became his career. The 25 years prior to starting Taste of Santa Rita Hills was devoted between managing restaurants and working as a wine specialist in wine distribution.

Jeni says she began her wine career in earnest with an impassioned study of Italian wines in 1991. Then in 1993, she decided it was time for hands-on experience and got her full education in wine working for two California wineries where she learned everything about the grape from the ground to the glass. Prior to working at Taste of Santa Rita Hills, she spent 18 years working with Italian wine importers and she led wine and food tours in Italy.

Taste of Santa Rita Hills is located in the heart of Los Olivos at 2923 Grand Avenue. They are open Thursday through Sunday 11 am to 5 pm offering wine tasting flights and customized tastings. For more information call (805) 688-1900 or visit www.tasteofsantaritahills.com.

SAY CHEESE AND CHEERS TO NEW STOREFRONTS IN SOLVANG wo new and notable storefronts opened in Solvang over the last few months and are sharing a location at 1661 Mission Drive – which also happens to be the first house built in Solvang in the late 1890s. In what can be touted as a perfect pairing – wine and cheese – Crawford Family Wines and Cailloux Cheese Shop have found their stylish way to Solvang’s Mission Drive. The two split the location, sharing a south facing outdoor patio and indoor seating between them.

Cailloux Cheese Shop is a new small business located at 1661 Mission Drive in Solvang. “We are a family run upscale European-style specialty food retail store selling fresh cut artisanal cheese, charcuterie, fresh bread, and accoutrements,” says Janelle Norman, owner and cheese monger. “We offer a variety of services from prepared cheese boards to packaged gift and picnic boxes.” Cailloux also offers a cheese of the month club for those looking for new adventures in cheese.

“Cailloux is the French word for pebble (pronounced ‘Kai-you’) and is the name of our black lab-boxer dog,” Janelle continues. “His love of life, fetch, brioche (unapproved), and his family along with his ambitious can-do-anything attitude, are an inspiration for our cheese shop (and our lives).” For more information visit www.caillouxcheeseshop.com.

Crawford Family Wines has moved to a new location right across the street from where the Solvang Farmers’ Market sets up on Wednesday afternoons also at 1661 Mission Drive for flights of wine tastings or to enjoy by the bottle alongside cheese and charcuterie.

Mark and Wendy Horvath, longtime Santa Barbara County wine industry people, report they have set out to create a very small, highly focused, family run winery where they could take the best fruit the county has to offer and, gently coax it into bottle. Grapes from the esteemed local vineyards including Babcock, Bentrock, Radian, Rita’s Crown and Zotovich currently grace the wines. Crawford Family Wines report they embrace the “garagiste” style of winemaking by, “producing tiny lots of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that provide a glimpse into the unique Sta. Rita Hills vineyards they come from.”

“We strive for authenticity in varietal character and a sense of place,” says Mark.

“We employ a minimalist approach to winemaking and let the fruit do the talking.”

For more information visit www.crawfordfamilywines.com.

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2920 JUNIPER AVE

SANTA BARBARA Perfect condo alternative or starter home. Quaint 1,000+ sq. ft, 2BD/1BA on end of cul-de-sac.

William Stonecipher (805) 450-4821 GTprop.com/4694Tajo $702,000

SANTA BARBARA Great community for this 2BD/1.5BA home conveniently located near all conveniences.

Kevin Goodwin (805) 448-2200 GTprop.com/1035Miramonte3 $635,000

OJAI Great potential for this single story 5BD/ 2BA home with over 1,773 sq ft of living space.

Outside deck off living room, with private yard.

Anthony Bordin (805) 729-0527 GTprop.com/301SCarrillo $560,000

SANTA BARBARA Clean & updated end-unit, 2BD/1.5BA townhome privately located in the rear of the complex.

Kevin Goodwin (805) 448-2200 GTprop.com/175NKelloggA $563,000

MORRO BAY Build your dream home on the Central Coast. Entitled land use permit for 3600+ sq ft home 4BD/4.5BA + 3 car garage.

Kevin Goodwin (805) 448-2200 GTprop.com/2920JuniperAvenue $299,000

FEATURED PROPERTY 532 STATE ST

SANTA BARBARA Downtown State Street commercial building w/ commercial kitchen, office, courtyard, ext deck and balcony. 2 Stories, ADA bathrooms, upstairs service bar and dumb waiter.

John Thyne (805)895-7309 GTprop.com/532State $2,495,000

FEATURED PROPERTY

Happy New Year!

“We have worked with Goodwin & Thyne on three separate occasions. They are extremely knowledgeable and professional in their dealings with clients and other real estate people. The office staff were always available to answer questions and handle any issues that came up. They are very proactive and we always knew that they had our best interests in mind. We wholeheartedly recommend Goodwin & Thyne for any real estate transaction in the Santa Barbara area. Thanks to Goodwin & Thyne for your great service on each one of our property transactions.”

– Deb M.

385 MATHILDA DR

GOLETA Investment property, 4-plex or conversion to single family home, Main house 4bd/2ba, upstairs units 2 units w/ 2bd/1ba and 1 studio unit. Plenty of off street parking and large backyard.

Olesya Thyne (805) 708-1917 GTprop.com/385Mathilda $1,625,000

www.GTprop.com • 2000 State Street, Santa Barbara • (805) 899-1100 DRE# 01477382