Author spotlight: Richard Mineards

Grammy-winning violinist Joshua Bell, music director of London’s Academy of St, Martin-in-the-Fields, joined iconic pianist Jeremy Denk in a dazzling duo performance at the Granada. The tony twosome’s concert, part of the Music Academy of the West’s Summer Festival, featured works by Franck, Beethoven, and Mozart. The sold-out 90-minute performance featured Mozart’s “Sonata No. 18 […]

The Environmental Defense Center, one of the nation’s longest running nonprofit environmental law firms working to protect the California coast and natural resources, has added a tony triumvirate of highly qualified new staff members to the team. Jeremy Frankel, a Goleta native, is a new staff attorney, with Matt Campa, who serving as a legal […]

Mother Nature was decidedly uncooperative as 250 guests gathered on the Serena Rooftop of mega winemaker Bill Foley’s Hotel Californian for the third year to watch the much-anticipated July 4 pyrotechnics over the harbor. But the evening soon resembled a scene from Wuthering Heights as a heavy marine layer rolled in totally obscuring the colorful […]

Terry Pillow, former head honcho of Ralph Lauren, Coach and Tommy Bahama, hosted a bijou bash at Homer, his popular leather store on Coast Village Road, to launch Baja Montecito, founded by Blake Siemens, grandson of entrepreneur Wayne Siemens. The first product in the new line is a cap emblazoned with the mountains of our […]

Writer and comedian Steve Martin turned up at Tecolote, the bijou bibliophile bastion in the upper village, when prolific Montecito author Steven Gilbar launched his latest tome Montecito Noir: True Tales of Murder & Mayhem in Paradise. Gilbar has lived in our rarefied enclave for 40 years and has written myriad works over four decades.

The Music Academy of the West hosted the second of its five-part orchestra series when the Academy Festival Orchestra under conductor Anthony Parnther, the Yale-educated music director of the San Bernardino Symphony since 2019, performed at the Granada Theatre. Joan Huang’s “Tujia Dance,” and Florence Price’s “Symphony No. 3” kicked off the entertaining concert, wrapping […]

Victoria Rightmire is the new executive director of CADA, the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. Since 2013 Rightmire has served as Program Director of CADA’s SAVE program, which provides free counseling, assessment, referral, financial consultation, and legal guidance to employees of contracted companies. Rightmire also provided exemplary leadership, guidance and clinical supervision at CADA […]

Santa Barbara Symphony president Kathryn Martin has been honored with the 2024 Executive Leadership Award by the Association of California Symphony Orchestras.  The prestigious accolade will be presented at the organization’s annual conference in San Francisco at the end of this month. Kathryn’s dynamic leadership has been instrumental in bucking national trends through improved community […]

Corin Lee is the 2024 Alumni Enterprise Award winner at the Music Academy of the West for his innovative endeavor VR Practice. Lee attended the Miraflores campus as violin fellow in 2009 and today is a member of the Ethel string quartet and founder of the Liberated Performer, a program that trains and empowers performers […]

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry has teased the lyrics of her new fantasy song “Woman’s World” in a most environmental way, wearing them on the back of her Balenciaga dress during Paris Fashion Week. While her one-shoulder red velvet look featured a super-short hemline, it also included an extraordinary train that trailed an unbelievable 200 […]

Drama fans were out in force when the Ensemble Theatre Company hosted its annual Curtain Up! gala, kicking off with a Legends of Santa Barbara concert at the New Vic featuring iconic songs from a number of our Eden by the Beach’s legendary artists including Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Katy Perry, Brian Wilson, and Mike […]

MOXI: The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, which opened its doors in 2017, welcomed its one millionth guest last week in colorful and explosive style. As Vincent Regina, manager of Chili’s in Goleta, brought his youngsters Dante, 3, and Vivian, 5, through the door, a cannon of colorful confetti unloaded, much to the delight […]

Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, 71, former musical director of the Seoul Philharmonic, was in fine form at the Granada when he led the Academy Festival Orchestra in its first performance of the summer festival season. The highly entertaining concert opened with Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. and Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, concluding […]

As Fiesta prepares to celebrate its century, Fiesta Ranchera was marking its 16th anniversary with more than 500 glamorously garbed guests gathering at the 152-year-old Rancho La Patera Gardens in Goleta raising more than $25,000 – split equally between Old Spanish Days and the Goleta Valley Historical Society. New El Presidente Brian Schwabecher, blazingly attired […]

Having settled his four-year battle with the Toronto-based Four Seasons hotel group, Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner is planning to turn 50 of the 368 rooms at his iconic I. M. Pei-designed Manhattan hostelry into up to 50 apartments, according to the New York Post. “The units would cater to full-time residents who will be […]

After an epic four-year battle between Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner and the Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotel group, his 926-foot tall I. M. Pei-designed Manhattan hostelry is reopening in September. The iconic East 57th 383-room property, once known as the most expensive hotel in New York City, has been shuttered since the start of the […]

LifeChronicles 8th annual Remarkable Life Awards at Graholm, the Montecito estate of Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin honoring dynamic duo Harry and Judi Weisbart was a smashing success – literally! As last year’s honorees Rinaldo and Lalla Brutoco prepared to present the crystal award to Harry, 88, and Judi, 73, it fell and smashed to […]

Ubiquitous KEYT-TV reporter John Palminteri, who has worked for the TV Hill ABC affiliate since 1988, celebrated this 67th birthday with a socially gridlocked bash with 70 friends at the events locale The Bungalow, owned by John Savage on De La Vina Street. Hosted by Tara Zanecki, Crystal Iverson, Adam McKaig, Rick Oshay and Teresa […]

For the second consecutive year, the South Coast Business & Technology Awards ceremony at the Hilton grossed record proceeds on behalf of the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara. Eight standout organizations and individuals were honored during the 500-guest event, which grossed $313,450 with net proceeds benefitting the foundation and recognized innovation, leadership, and success in […]

The ever-entertaining Takács Quartet was in superb form at the sold out Lobero as they performed in the first week of the Music Academy of the West’s 77th Summer Festival. The Fab Four – violinists Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes, cellist András Fejér, and Grammy-winning violist Richard O’Neill, formerly with Camerata Pacifica – are currently […]

Supporters of the Santa Barbara Symphony have been making a splash with a Cruise for a Cause on the River Danube from Vienna to Budapest. Montecito Bank & Trust, which has sponsored the trip, is donating a portion of the proceeds to the symphony. More than 64 MClub and symphony Crescendo members were onboard the […]

UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures program is celebrating its 65th anniversary in grand style with more than 47 events in the entertaining lineup for 2024-2025 featuring world-renowned artists, forward thinking speakers, and impressive ensembles. Performance highlights include legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Wynton Marsalis Ensemble, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, violinist Itzhak Perlman, the Alvin Ailey […]

TV Santa Barbara celebrated its 49th birthday with a socially gridlocked reception and awards gala, featuring a performance by Sir Elton John’s lyricist Bernie Taupin’s daughter, Georgey, last year’s junior Spirit of Fiesta, and guitarist and lyricist Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket and The New Vibe. The boffo bash, chaired by the ubiquitous […]

Montecito designer, developer, and author Xorin Balbes used his latest project in our rarefied enclave to raise monies for the local charity, United Way. 80 guests descended on Monte Arroyo, a most impressive Hot Springs Road estate, built in 1910. Xorin and his floral curator husband Truman Davies live a tiara’s toss or two down […]

Former TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has generously been playing mortgage lender to family members to get them on the property ladder. The 66-year-old serial real estate flipper, with her former actress wife Portia de Rossi, has been dishing out home loans to relatives wanting to get a property, according to the London Daily […]

Just days before the kickoff of its 77th summer festival, the Miraflores campus of the Music Academy of the West was packed with 225 supporters for the “Magic of the Music Academy: A New Era” gala with a special solo performance by top cellist Joshua Roman in Hahn Hall. Roman, 40, attended the academy in […]

Social gridlock reigned when PATH Santa Barbara, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, hosted its third annual Toast to Home fundraiser at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum with 150 guests raising around $60,000. The ubiquitous Geoff Green – former head of the City College Foundation – hosted the affair, with PATH CEO Jennifer Hark Dietz […]

Ensemble Theatre Company’s final show of its 45th season at the New Vic, the world premiere of Alice, Formerly of Wonderland, based on a true story of the romance between the girl featured in the Lewis Carrol books and Prince Leopold, the youngest son of Queen Victoria, is a real corker! Switching scenes from Oxford […]

Petal power was palpable when the Dream Foundation hosted its 13th annual Flower Empower lunch for 200 guests at the Rosewood Miramar, raising around $160,000 for the Santa Barbara-based program that delivers colorful bouquets and handmade cards to hospitals, cancer centers and homes every week. Since it started in 1994, the program had made more […]

There have been moves afoot at the Santa Barbara Symphony with a new head of development and marketing and three new board members. Paul Bradford brings 30 years of sales and marketing experience to his new role, as he aims to boost sales and donations through patron growth and engagement Previously he served in key […]

Four new members have joined the board of directors of Santa Barbara Zoo. Mitch Avila, Sarah Berkus Gower, Bob Looney, and Robyn Parker are the Fab Four who work together to serve and support the 30-acre menagerie’s mission and dedication – to preservation, conservation and enhancement of the natural world and its myriad treasures through […]

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow and rocker ex-husband Chris Martin reunited for their son Moses’ high school graduation in Los Angeles at the weekend. The Coldplay musician and the Montecito-based Goop founder got hitched in 2003 and famously “consciously uncoupledi” efein 2014. Gwyneth is now married to TV producer Brad Falchuk and Martin is married to […]

The Miramar Swim Raft, an iconic symbol of leisure and fun, is back for the summer. For decades, the Rosewood Miramar’s raft has been more than just a floating platform. It has been a centerpiece for families, friends, and communities to come together and create unforgettable moments. Launched in 1917, the five-star resort has long […]

It was certainly theater in the round when top bassist Nik West, 35, featured in the Granada’s Centennial on Stage with a 90-minute energized show of funk, soul, and rock. The singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona, who was recognized as “the bass icon of this generation” by Rolling Stone, West has performed with Quincy Jones Productions, […]

The sun finally shone after days of May Grey on the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, which hosted its annual dinner for 200 guests at the historical museum. More than $7.1 million was given to 1,780 students in Santa Barbara County, with 1,700 turned down because of limited funds. The foundation has now awarded more […]

Multi-Grammy winner Pink and Dallas Green (City and Color) will perform as the duo You + Me, joining retired Montecito rocker Kenny Loggins in headlining the One805Live! gala at the oceanside estate of Oscar winning actor Kevin Costner in September.  Co-founder, chairman, and CEO Kirsten Cavendish Weston-Smith revealed the latest addition to the stellar lineup […]

The racketeers were out in force when the Santa Barbara School of Squash celebrated its annual gala with the theme the Magic of SBSOS 2024 in the charming La Arcada complex. More than 100 guests descended on La Arcada’s Courthouse Distillery for the fun fête, emceed by ubiquitous magician Mark Collier, raising around $40,000 in […]

Santa Barbara Symphony concluded its latest season commemorating the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue @ 100: Jazz Comes to the Symphony” concert at the Granada. The show also featured fan favorite The Marcus Roberts Trio, part of a residing artist collaboration with the nearby Lobero Theatre. Marcus Robert also performed his Gershwin-inspired composition […]