Art lovers were out en masse when SBCAST – the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science and Technology – hosted LUM Art Zine Show POV featuring disparate works by Tosh Clements, Arturo Heredia, Madeleine Eve Ignon, and Tom Pazderka. The colorful exhibition was curated by the online art magazine’s editor Debra Herrick who waxed lyrical […]
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Music lovers packed the Granada for the Santa Barbara Symphony’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” concert featuring works by Johannes Brahms and Modest Mussorgsky. The first half of the performance, conducted by veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti, was an all-Brahms affair with his Tragic Overture and Concerto in A minor, featuring the symphony’s principal cellist Trevor Handy […]
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Legendary New York-based violinist Itzhak Perlman mesmerized the sold-out audience at the Granada when he appeared in CAMA’s – Community Arts Music Association – first concert of the New Year. It was his sixth appearance for the century-old organization going back more than 50 years, having first appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1967 […]
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Screenwriter/Builder/Designer Les Firestein and former city fire chief Pat McElroy, founders of Partnership for Resilient Communities in Santa Barbara County, established after the Thomas Fire and the catastrophic mudslides a year ago, got priceless publicity, not to mention a $20,000 check, when they appeared on Montecito TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres‘s eponymous Los Angeles […]
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As the Santa Barbara International Film Festival celebrated its 35th anniversary, the Anti-Defamation League marked the occasion with a reception in the courtyard of the Lobero Theatre as a rainstorm raged outside. The 120-guest fifth anniversary bash, chaired by Marina Stephens, raised nearly $50,000 towards funds and, as is tradition, honored the film Liberté: A […]
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The CALM – Child Abuse Listening Mediation – Auxiliary’s first-ever Crab Fest at the Carriage and Western Art Museum was all it was cracked up to be with a sellout crowd of 200 guests raising more than $20,000 for general funds. The fun Harbor Restaurant-sponsored bash, co-chaired by Sharon Curry and Jane Metiu, was emceed […]
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The venerable 2,000-seat Arlington Theatre was chock a block when actress Renée Zellweger, who gave quite the performance as movie and music icon in the Judy Garland biopic Judy, sat down for an hour-long interview on stage, complete with film clips from her illustrious career, as part of the 35th Santa Barbara International Film Festival. […]
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It was all two grand for words when Montecito philanthropic dynamic duo Roger and Sarah Chrisman opened the door of their charming Ennisbrook home for a Santa Barbara Symphony prelude party with husband and wife Israeli pianists Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg performing a four-hand keyboard work on the back to back Baldwin and Steinway […]
Lea másFor the last five years, deep sea diver and marine photographer Bob Evans and his wife, Susanne Chess, have been working on a paradigm busting project – a more sustainable means of converting saltwater into fresh water. The project, C+E=DOW desalination, is a new way of looking at the process and is predicted to have […]
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After over two years of extensive renovations, Lotusland has announced the opening of its Japanese Garden, which was originally created in the 1960s and is the only remaining post-World War II Japanese Garden that is open to the public on the central coast between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Construction began in February 2017, […]
Lea másOn a personal note, I mark the move to more heavenly pastures of philanthropist Chad Dreier at the age of 70. The longtime Santa Barbara Zoo supporter, who had a Masai baby giraffe named Chad in his honor, was formerly in the Air Force, eventually becoming president of the Ryland Group, one of America’s largest […]
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Montecito TV titan Oprah Winfrey, Kenny Loggins, and actor Rob Lowe paid tribute to the 23 people who lost their lives and many who lost everything a year ago, as our tony enclave was ravaged by catastrophic mudslides. Oprah, 64, was among hundreds of local residents taking part in the first anniversary vigil, walking from […]
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SOS California, the acronym for Stop Oil Seeps, celebrated the 11th year of its founding with a socially gridlocked bash at the University Club. Co-founder Lad Handelman, describing himself as an “environmentalist,” said he had spent 15 years of his life supporting marine mammal and other resource protection. “I see myself as being a reality-based […]
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On the first anniversary of its formation, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade hosted a Montecito Rising bash at the Procore warehouse in Carpinteria for 500 guests. As darkening rain clouds loomed, the VIP reception, scheduled to be outside, was rapidly moved inside prior to the dinner prepared by a host of local eateries, including the […]
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The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art explores the increasingly fraught relationship between humankind and the environment with a number of events to coincide with the exhibition “Watershed: Contemporary Landscape Photography” through March 23 in the museum. “Throughout North America, we share these sustainability issues, and although each need is specific to its region, ‘Watershed’ is […]
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Later this week, Montecito Fire Protection District will release a draft amendment to its Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), following lessons learned from the Thomas Fire in 2017 as well as findings from the recently released “A Defensible Community: A Retrospective Study of Montecito Fire Protection District’s Wildland Fire Program During the 2017 Thomas Fire” […]
Lea másLast Wednesday, January 9, on the one-year anniversary of the 1/9 debris flow that devastated our community in 2018, nearly 1,500 residents turned out to mark the occasion with a gathering in Lower Manning Park followed by a candlelit walk down San Ysidro Road, culminating at All Saints-by-the-Sea Church. As community members began gathering in […]
Lea másAfter 32 years in business, Giovanni’s on Coast Village Road closed its doors earlier this week. Owner Alex Noormand, who has spent six days a week at the pizzeria for the last 32 years, tells us the closure is “heartbreaking,” and he will miss seeing his loyal customers day in and day out. The space […]
Lea másEntheoMedicine Santa Barbara, which has yet to celebrate its first birthday as a vast local information center and host for experts and prominent speakers in the area of plant medicine and the spiritual benefits of psychedelics, kicks off 2019 in a big way. The organization has not only booked two speakers for a regular event […]
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The non-profit SOS (Stop Oil Seeps) held their annual holiday soirée in January at the University Club. Co-founder Lad Handelman was holding court with all his friends and the Club was full with members and guests sipping wine and scoffing down sliders and pizza. As Alice Green said in her blog, “Natural processes can wreak […]
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