The Ensemble Theatre Company’s presentation of a vastly entertaining new version of the Bard’s Hamlet, one of his best-known tragedies at the New Vic directed by Margaret Shigeko Starbuck, is not to be missed. The production is set in modern Denmark with Will Block playing the troubled titular character – with the Shakespearean text of […]
It was definitely a 90-minute production with a difference when Cirque Kalabanté performed at the Lobero, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures series. The show, Afrique en Cirque, was created by Yamoussa Bangoura, a multidisciplinary artist of Guinean origin, who eventually joined his country’s Circus Baobab touring Africa and Europe. In early 2000 […]
Former ballerina and photographer Jenna Reichental hosted a Palm Royale-themed belated birthday bash thrown by her husband Avi at their Toro Canyon Jenavi Vineyards for 80 guests. Oozing chic and elegance befitting a Palm Beach, Florida crowd, the boffo bash drew on the Apple+ TV series, starring Montecito comedienne Carol Burnett and high society in […]
Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, which celebrates its 25th anniversary next month, opened its first exhibition of the year – Above Your Dreams by local artist Kevin A. Short, which runs through May 11. The colorful exhibit of more than 40 oil paintings showcases Short’s deftness at capturing fleeting beauty and the power of sunlight through […]
On a personal note, I remember Karim Aga Khan, who just died at his estate in Portugal at the age of 88. The vastly rich religious head of the Ismaili sect of Islam, which has as many as 15 million members, he inherited his title from his grandfather in 1957, aged just 20, and was […]
What excellent timing! The Belmond El Encanto just launched a cinematic speaker series which happily coincided with the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The series featured Ojai-based scriptwriter and producer Stephen Cornwell, son of prolific spy novelist David Cornwell, who used the pseudonym John le Carré when he wrote such bestsellers as The Spy Who […]
President Trump’s revelation to the New York Post that he would not deport Prince Harry if he was found to have fudged his visa application re: his drug use. Having admitted in his bestselling autobiography Spare that he partook in cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms could not have come at a better time for the Duke […]
It was an evening of many facets at the Music Academy of the West when it hosted a Denk, Denim and Diamonds gala which attracted more than 100 guests and raised around $50,000 for the Miraflores oceanside campus. Drinks on the terrace outside Lehmann Hall kicked off the sunset soirée before supporters filed into the […]
It was all too heavenly for words when Dean Wilson, head honcho of the Turner Foundation, celebrated his half century at Valinor, the former St. Mary’s Seminary which sold for $7.618 million in December 2022, and is now a 35.69-acre retreat center, a tiara’s toss from the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens. More than 140 guests […]
After a decade of producing Super Bowl touchdowns and fumbles, David Bolton, Executive Director and CEO of the California Mission Foundation will be watching the big game in New Orleans between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles in the comfort of his Santa Barbara home. David tells me Fox Latin America Mexico, sold […]
It was the perfect combination when the 30-year-old Boston Brass and three-time Grammy-nominated Imani Winds performed at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lecture series. Adventurous programming and dynamic playing is the wind quintet’s trademark; playing Paquito D’Rivera’s “Selections from Aires Tropicales” and even Stevie Wonder […]
The Golden Age of Baroque was on full display at the Lobero when Britain’s Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and soprano Julia Bullock performed as part of UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures program. With works by Handel, Vivaldi, Bach, Purcell, Pachelbel, Strozzi, Telemann, Lully, and Rameau, there was something for everybody with the musicians, […]
At Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West was brimming for another UCSB Arts & Lectures concert when international Russian pianist Alexander Malofeev showed off his tremendous keyboard talent with works by Schubert, Kabalevsky, Janáček, Liszt, and Scriabin. Now Berlin-based, Malofeev came to international prominence in 2014 when he won the International Tchaikovsky […]
Faherty Montecito, the eclectic clothing store on Coast Village Road that opened in December, is accentuating the negative. It has launched its first photographic exhibition displaying works by local lensman Paul Greene, with 15 of his shots dotted around the shop’s two floors showing keen surfer Greene’s love of the ocean with impressive black and […]
The Cabrillo Pavilion was socially gridlocked for the second annual Shine on Santa Barbara breakfast supporting Our Lady of Grace Senior High School in Mamponteng, Ghana. Hosted by Rise & Shine in collaboration with local philanthropists Mary Lynn and Warren Staley, the bash highlighted the transformative power of education and OLAG’s impact on Ghanaian youth. […]
U.S. Marine Corps veteran and principal consultant with Zensights, Michael Flowers, has joined the advisory council of the Dream Foundation’s Dreams for Veterans Program. Flowers served in the Marine Corps for 24 years retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He has since held various leadership and management positions within the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. […]
Charles Hopper is the new president and CEO of the beloved Santa Barbara Zoo. Hopper served as COO at the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and as senior business operations manager at the Seattle Aquarium. He also served in the U.S. Air Force and holds an MBA and BA from Seattle Pacific […]
On a poignant personal note, I mark the move to more heavenly pastures of the delightful journalist, author and lecturer Erin Graffy, who succumbed to cancer after a valiant battle at the age of 69. Historian Erin, who became a good friend after I moved to our rarefied enclave from Hancock Park 17 years ago, […]
It has been a tale of two cities for Riven Rock resident Prince Harry. His New Year started with Condé Nast, the giant publishing company in New York and owner of the celebrity glossy Vanity Fair, publishing an excoriating 8,000-word cover story about King Charles III’s youngest son and his former actress wife Meghan Markle. […]
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, owner of the Rosewood Miramar, hired private firefighters and arranged for water tankers to save his Palisades Village Mall from the Pacific Palisades Fire that burned through 23,713 acres of prime California real estate, destroying 5,000 properties and (at the time of writing) killing at least 10 people. Jarring video showed […]
Camerata Pacifica was going for baroque at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall in its first concert of the New Year, curated by acclaimed flutist Emi Ferguson with celebrated French American jazz and classical keyboardist Dan Tepfer on the clavichord, an instrument that would have been used by J.S. Bach in his heyday. […]
Wolfgang Amadeus reigned supreme when the Santa Barbara Symphony staged its first concert of the New Year at the Granada under veteran maestro Nir Kabaretti. It was one weekend, two different concerts and eight masterworks, including the glorious “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” during the Mozart Marathon. The highly entertaining two-part show, spanning Saturday and Sunday, included […]
Meghan Markle, who visited fire victims in Pasadena with husband Prince Harry, flew solo while supporting teenage girls struggling in the aftermath of the catastrophic Los Angeles blaze which devastated 23,700 acres. Last week the Duchess of Sussex, 43, dropped off donations and volunteered at a relief center in Altadena run by Altadena Girls, a […]
Carpinteria’s former TV host Conan O’Brien is the newest recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in comedy. O’Brien, 61, has carved an improbable career arc, moving from goofy television interloper to comedic elder statesman. Along the way, he survived one of the most public failures on the history of TV on The […]
Cadillac margaritas topped with Grand Marnier and burritos added to the decided Mexican theme when award-winning food writer and author Betty Fussell, 97, recipient of three James Beard Awards, welcomed her Mazatlán-based daughter Rosalind “Tucky” to Casa Dorinda for a joint exhibition of their artwork. Betty, who moved to our Eden by the Beach from […]
Mean Girls The Musical certainly hit the right note when presented by the American Theatre Guild at the Granada. The hilarious hit musical from 30 Rock actress Tina Fey and her husband, three-time Emmy winner Jeff Richmond, Legally Blonde lyricist Nell Benjamin, and Book of Mormon choreographer Casey Nicholaw, is the story of a naive […]
The life of Donald McInnes, Camerata Pacifica’s first principal violist, was celebrated at the Music Academy of the West’s Lehmann Hall. McInnes, who studied at the academy from 1954 to 1956 and was a member of the faculty from 1982 to 2012, died in October at his home in Rancho Mirage aged 85. The UCSB […]
Fest Forums, the signature three-day event for festival producers in the U.S., takes place at the Mar Monte Hotel next month from Feb. 12 to the 14th. The popular event, celebrating its 9th year, will host an impressive lineup of industry leaders, innovators, and creatives from across the festival landscape, with industry topics including sustainability, […]
Guy, Meghan Markle’s rescue beagle, has died. The Duchess of Sussex shared the sad news of her “sweet” pooch, who is appearing in her new Netflix homemaking show With Love, Meghan which was due to debut this week, but has now been postponed to March 4 given the conflagration in Los Angeles which has now […]
Philadelphia-based South African conductor Andrew Lipke was in fine form when he led the annual Santa Barbara Symphony New Year Pops concert at the Granada featuring a mix of film scores, pop, rock and other hits, with Lipke even swapping his baton for an electric guitar. Symphony board member Robert Weinman returned as honorary maestro […]
As usual, tout le monde was at the New Year’s Day lunch thrown by affable gardening guru George Schoellkopf and international artist Gérald Incandela at their magnificent Summerland aerie. The tony twosome – who fly between their sprawling homes here and in the town of Washington, Connecticut – kicked off 2025 in splendiferous style with […]
With Love, Meghan – the Duchess of Sussex’s long-awaited cookery and homemaking series on Netflix – launches on Wednesday (Jan. 15). The series with her lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard was first teased last March and shows Markle cooking in the Montecito kitchen of two good friends, Tom and Sherrie Cipolla, who split their time […]
Esbee, the Montecito-based clothing brand founded by partners Andrew Schmoller and Eli Gill, is expanding its overall brand image with a foray into sports partnerships. With the mantra of “Perfect Fits, Best Fabrics, and Made in the USA,” the dynamic duo has announced its partnership with the Santa Barbara-based Grunion Rugby Football Club. “It’s a […]
Santa Barbara Revels Winter Solstice Celebration The Ghosts of Haddon Hall at the Lobero was last produced 11 years ago and this year’s production was undoubtedly one of the best and sleekest productions staged by founder Susan Keller’s talented company. The colorful, energized show directed by Matt Tavianini with Dauri Kennedy as the new music […]
Adam’s Angels celebrated their fifth annual Holiday Community event at the Veterans Building when more than 100 volunteers prepared 650 meals of both meat and vegetarian lasagna, salad and dessert to make sure no one was left hungry during Yuletide. A ‘pop up shop’ had racks of new jackets, warm gear and shoes provided by […]
Prince Harry was one of the British Royal Family’s most popular members, but his decision to move to Montecito and publicly criticize the historic institution has seen his popularity plunge. On October, 2019, the Duke of Sussex was liked by 71 percent and disliked by 22 percent of the British public. But data from last […]
Montecito’s Terry Pillow had more cause than most to quaff Champagne over the New Year when a photo of actress Portia de Rossi appeared in the London Daily Mail carrying one of his popular Homer leather bags at her new Cotswolds estate with wifeEllen DeGeneres. “The phones were ringing off the hook on Coast Village […]
It was certainly a Nutcracker with a difference when State Street Ballet – alongside the Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra conducted by Brian Asher Alhadeff, and a chorus of youngsters from the Music Academy of the West’s Sing! Project and the State Street Ballet Academy – joined in the spectacular production at the Granada. […]
Now celebrating its 30th anniversary Pink Martini brought its signature multi-lingual blend of jazz, classic and pop music to a festive, sold-out Arlington Holiday Show staged by UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures program. With a dozen musicians, founder Thomas Lauderdale on piano, and the undoubted vocal talents of leader singer China Forbes (a fellow student […]
Quire of Voyces under founder and musical director Nathan Kreitzer was in fine form at St. Anthony’s Chapel for its annual Yuletide concert. Traditional favorites like “Away in a Manger” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” were on the menu with the 11-part concert wrapping with “Silent Night.” A joyous afternoon full of Christmas spirit.