Life theArts In the mood and on the move

Tour brings Glenn Miller Orchestra to Santa Barbara

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The calendar appears Mondays through Saturdays in the “Life & the Arts” section. Items are welcome. Please email them a full week before the event to Managing Editor Dave Mason at dmason@newspress.com.

TODAY

Lifeline screening for cholesterol, diabetes risks, kidney and thyroid function, plaque buildup in arteries and more is taking place today at the Santa Barbara Seventh-day Adventist Church, 425 Arroyo Road, Santa Barbara. Registration is required at www.lifelinescreening.com.

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Entangled: Responding to Environmental Crisis,” runs through March 25 at the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. The museum is open from 10 a.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. It’s closed on Sundays and college holidays. For more information, call 805-565-6162 or visit westmont.edu/museum.

COURTESY PHOTO Boogie Knights, above, will perform 1970s hits during the New Year’s Eve Disco Boogie Ball at 9 p.m. Dec. 31 at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez. And the Spazmatics will play hits from the ’80s. Tickets cost $50.

The calendar appears Mondays through Saturdays in the “Life & the Arts” section. Items are welcome. Please email them a full week before the event to Managing Editor Dave Mason at dmason@newspress.com.

By DAVE MASON NEWS-PRESS MANAGING EDITOR

It’s not exactly easy to sit still at a Glenn Miller Orchestra concert.

“A lot of times, we’ll see people dancing in the aisles or swaying in their seats,” Erik Stabnau, the legendary band’s music director, told the News-Press.

The audience will likely be in the mood to tap its feet and maybe even dance when the Glenn Miller Orchestra swings into action at 7 p.m. March 20 at The Marjorie Luke Theatre in Santa Barbara.

Started in 1938 by director and trombonist Glenn Miller, the orchestra will play its famous hits, including, of course, “In the Mood” and “Moonlight Serenade.” The ensemble also performs hits such as “Little Brown Jug,” “Tuxedo Junction,” “A String of Pearls” and “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.”

The touring band consists of more than a dozen instrumentalists and two vocalists — Jenny Swoish and Mr. Stabnau, who also plays tenor saxophone.

When the band plays “Pennsylvania 65000,” the instrumentalists all stop at the same time and exclaim “Pennsylvania 65000!” That’s just like they did back in the days of Mr. Miller, who led the orchestra until 1942 when he dissolved the band at the height of its popularity. He did that so he could volunteer for the U.S. Army, where he formed the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. The ensemble entertained members of the armed forces in Europe during World War II.

On Dec. 15, 1944, Major Miller took off in a single-engine plane, flying ahead of his band, to France when he disappeared over the English Channel. Major Miller was never seen again, and the Army declared him officially dead in 1945.

Jimmy Stewart starred in the title role of “The Glenn Miller Story” (1954), and that led to popular demand for a revival of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The Miller Estate authorized the re-formation of the band, which has continued to this day.

The ages of the musicians vary from their mid-20s to mid-60s, and some have been with the band for more than 20 years, Mr. Stabnau, the director, told the News-Press.

Mr. Miller’s swing hits remain popular, Mr. Stabnau said.

“One (factor) is the level of the popularity of the original group in the ‘30s and ‘40s. Glenn, at times, was the most famous musician in the whole country. He had so many top hits such as ‘Moonlight Serenade,’ ‘In The Moon,’ ‘Chattanooga Choo-Choo.’”

In fact, Mr. Stabnau noted, the Glenn Miller Orchestra had 59 singles in the top 10 and appeared in two movies — “Orchestra Wives” and “Sun Valley Serenade.” Mr. Stabnau added that Mr. Miller started the trend of movies making particular songs popular.

Today, there are fewer people still around who grew up with the music in the 1930s and ’40s, Mr. Stabnau said. “But a lot of the children of the Greatest Generation make up a big chunk of our audience. They may have heard the music from around the household.”

While today’s audience tends to be an older demographic, “we get folks of all different ages, which is amazing,” Mr.

Stabnau said.

He said the revival of swing music in recent years has led to younger people attending concerts.

“The younger folks don’t always know Glenn Miller by name, but they still recognize the music, such as ‘In the Mood,’ ‘Chattanooga Choo-Choo,’” he said.

This band is always in the mood and on the move.

“We play over 200 shows a calendar year in the U.S. and Japan, one night per city,” Mr. Stabnau said.

“We begin and end every show with our theme song, ‘Moonlight Serenade,’” said Mr. Stabnau, who earned his bachelor’s in music jazz and contemporary media in 2014 at the Eastman School of Music in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y.

He went on to earn his master’s in audio arts in 2017 at Syracuse University.

After that, he joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra, playing tenor saxophone and the solos the legendary Tex Beneke made famous in the 1930s and ’40s.

“I hope we do this music justice and play it in an authentic style and recreate the sound of the original band,” Mr. Stabnau said.

Like the audience moving to the beat, the musicians don’t sit still for the entire concert.

“There’s a fair amount of choreography,” Mr. Stabnau said. “We’re standing up; we’re sitting down. The trombonists are waving their trombones. The saxophonists are going left and right.” email: dmason@newspress.com

“I hope we do this music justice and play it in an authentic style and recreate the sound of the original band,” said Erik Stabnau, a tenor saxophonist who directs the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

Fyi

plays everything from “Chattanooga Choo Choo” to, of course, “In the Mood.”

The Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High School, 721 E. Cota St., Santa Barbara. The concert is presented by Viva el Arte de Santa Barbara.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Storytelling: Native People Through the Lens of Edward S. Curtis” is on display through April 30 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Mondays. For more information, visit sbnature.org.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Interlopings: Colors in the Warp and Weft of Ecological Entanglements” is an exhibit that runs through March 12 at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, 1212 Mission Canyon Road, Santa Barbara. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The exhibit features weavings dyed with pigments from non-native plants on Santa Cruz Island. The weavings were created by artists Helen Svensson and Lisa Jevbratt. For more information, see sbbotanicgarden.org.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Coast artist and London native Annie Hoffman’s exhibit “Seeing Ourselves in Colour” will be displayed through Feb. 28 at Gallery Los Olivos, 2920 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. For more information, visit anniehoffmann.com.

10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. “SURREAL

WOMEN: Surrealist Art by American Women” is on display through April 24 at Sullivan Goss: An American Gallery, 11 E. Anapamu St. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. For more information, www.sullivangoss. com.

Noon to 5 p.m. “Clarence Mattei: Portrait of a Community” is on view now through May at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, which is located in downtown Santa Barbara at 136 E. De la Guerra St. Admission is free. Hours are currently from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and from noon to 7 p.m. Thursdays. For more information, visit www.sbhistorical.org.

MARCH 16

5:30 p.m. Dr. Fabrizio Michelassi — Lewis Atterbury Stimson professor and chairman in the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center and surgeon-in-chief at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center — will present a public lecture titled “In the Eye of the Storm: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The free talk will take place at the Wolf Education and Training Center, 529 W. Junipero St., adjacent to Ridley-Tree Cancer Center in Santa Barbara. Reservations are required by March 10. To attend, contact J.V. Vallejos at 805-681-7528 or jvallejo@sansumclinic.org. Masks will be required.

MARCH 18

7:30 p.m. The Santa Barbara Symphony will perform “John Williams: A Cinematic Celebration” at The Granada, 1214 State St., Santa Barbara. To purchase tickets, go to granadasb.org. For more information, visit www.thesymphony.org or call 805898-9386.

MARCH 19

3 p.m. The Santa Barbara Symphony will perform John Williams: A Cinematic Celebration” at The Granada, 1214 State St., Santa Barbara. To purchase tickets, go to granadasb. org. For more information, visit www. thesymphony.org or call 805-898-9386.

MARCH 20

7 p.m. The Glenn Miller Orchestra will perform at The Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High School. 720 E. Cota St., Santa Barbara. Tickets cost $30 to $54. To purchase, go to luketheatre.org/event/glenn-millerorchestra-concert.

— Dave Mason