Author spotlight: Steven Libowitz

Steven has reported on the arts and entertainment for more than 30 years. He has published his work in daily and weekly newspapers in New Jersey and California, as well as in Santa Barbara Magazine and a nationally syndicated news service. When not at his computer or out on the town, you’ll often find him playing volleyball at East Beach, just a short jog from Montecito’s famous Butterfly Beach.

Kings and Strings Meditate on Morrison
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 14, 2023

When the home-grown classic rock band Doublewide Kings plays the Granada Theatre on November 11, it will mark a lot of firsts for the group. It will be the debut at Santa Barbara’s grandest venue for the band founded by Montecito’s Palmer Jackson, Jr., who also happens to be the Executive Chairman and Chairman of […]

Illuminate Festival Moving to Town 
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 14, 2023

Illuminate Film Festival (IFF) is celebrating its 10th anniversary by moving from Sedona, Arizona, to another somewhat spiritually-elevated community much closer to the sea. A leading festival for evolutionary/conscious cinema – focusing on films that uplift, elevate, and inspire lasting personal and social transformation – the IFF is hosting a benefit reception at the Music […]

White Buffalo Land Trust Five Years of Regenerative Farming for Today… and the Future
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2023

White Buffalo Land Trust (WBLT) is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, a journey that began in 2018 with a small, 12-acre flagship farm in Summerland that was among the pioneers of bringing regenerative agriculture to the South Coast. The system of farming principles and practices that rehabilitates the land by focusing on biodiversity, soil […]

Proctor-ing Recent History
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2023

Both the #MeToo movement and The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s allegory about the Salem Witch Trials to examine the McCarthy-Era Red Scare of his time,inspired playwright Kimberly Belflower to come up with John Proctor Is the Villain.  “What would it be like to be a teenager in rural America at that moment, feeling the world shift […]

This Is It!: Kenny Loggins Winds up His Final Tour at the Bowl
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2023

The longtime Santa Barbara-based singer-songwriter/rockstar Kenny Loggins retiring from the road is like the pop music equivalent of final go-rounds of baseball stars like Miguel Cabrera or Albert Pujols, except by a factor of more than two as Loggins’ touring career is more than twice as long as any baseball player. Plus, rather than receiving […]

Outing to Ojai 
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2023

Film festivals are coming fast and furious in the middle of fall, with the Jewish Film Festival continuing for four more days through November 5, and the Ojai Film Festival set to hit the theater November 2-6. The latter fest found in the mountain community will screen more than four score films from around the […]

One-Shots on Screen 
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2023

All Time, the 2023 ski film from Warren Miller Productions screening at the Lobero on November 7, results from 74 years of filmmaking reimagined, full of good turns and good snow on good hills with good people. Narrated by Olympic and World Cup Freestyle skiing analyst Jonny Moseley, the movie dives deep into elements that […]

VNA Health
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 31, 2023

November is special for many in the home healthcare field as the month is recognized as National Home Care Month, National Hospice & Palliative Care Month, and National Family Caregiver Month. But there’s an extra emphasis for Santa Barbara’s Visiting Nurse Association (VNA), which celebrates its 115th anniversary of caring for the community.  Founded as […]

Defining ‘War Words’
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 31, 2023

The nonprofit New Beginnings has turned its focus toward ending veteran homelessness in the county by the close of 2025 through its Supportive Services for Veteran Families program that works to transition currently unhoused veterans back into stable housing and assist those whose housing situation is threatened. But in addition to putting its money where […]

Half a Century Later: Memoir of War’s Woes and Wooing 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 31, 2023

The veteran experience is also a jumping off point for The Hardest Year: A Love Story in Letters During the Vietnam War, a just-published memoir by author-poet Carole Wagener and her husband, William Wagener, that has been called a personal snapshot of the turbulent ‘60s as framed through the hearts of two souls divided by […]

Film Fests from Around the World
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 31, 2023

The Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival returns to the New Vic Theatre November 1-5 at a tense time in Israel and around the world, but aside from beefing up security at the theater, the festival is focusing on what it does best, which is to present some of the finest international cinema about the Jewish […]

Happy Halloween Happenings 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 31, 2023

Pumpkins, costumes, and candy, oh my. Yes, it’s almost All Hallows’ Eve and as always, Santa Barbara steps up this weekend ahead of the actual trick-or-treating time on Tuesday. We’ve chosen to highlight a few events with an eye toward something for everyone.  The Library, SBPAL, Santa Barbara Parks and Rec, and the Santa Barbara […]

Sansum Diabetes Research Institute
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 24, 2023

As recently as the early 20th century, a diagnosis of diabetes meant the certainty of a shortened life plagued with complications that would ultimately prove fatal. But thanks in large part to Santa Barbara’s Sansum Diabetes Research Institute (SDRI), the outlook has brightened considerably over the decades.  SDRI’s founder was Dr. William Sansum, a pioneer […]

Camerata Goes Back to Baroque
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 24, 2023

Chamber music is alive and well in Santa Barbara, if having three qualifying, locally-generated concerts in a single week is any indication. Camerata Pacifica, the ensemble series founded originally as Bach Camerata by flutist Adrian Spence in 1990 that has become widely respected and revered for the virtuosity exhibited by its world-class musicians and the […]

Roe and Anderson Row On
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 24, 2023

You can’t fault Elizabeth Roe for expressing unbridled enthusiasm for returning to the Music Academy for her first purely public performance in town since spending the summer of 2001 as a fellow at the institute. Jerry Lowenthal was her mentor and Michael Towbes her compeer during the idyllic eight weeks, and now she’s heading back […]

State Street Ballet Dances into a New Era with ‘Giselle’ 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 24, 2023

State Street Ballet (SSB) launches its 2023-24 season, its first under new leadership following the transition from founder Rodney Gustafson to new Artistic Director Megan Philipp and Cecily MacDougall as Executive Director. Philipp, who has been with SSB for a decade, is staging this weekend’s performances of Giselle, one of the most beloved ballets of […]

Dance Dimensions 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 24, 2023

The project-based Moving Dance Company, whose recent works include View/Chew for the Versatility Dance Festival in Boulder, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., made its Santa Barbara debut with HOLOGRAM at last year’s Nebula Dance Festival. MDC returns to Center Stage on October 21 with This is Not Content, a multimedia show that explores the human experience […]

Roads, Dreams, Musk, and More 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 24, 2023

Environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb shares his research on the road less traveled – that is, one that examines how our road ecology is shaping the planet’s future for the worse – in a talk at the Community Environmental Council’s downtown Hub on October 24. In “Crossings,” Goldfarb, the award-winning author of Eager (about beavers), shares […]

AHA!
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

AHA!’s (Attitude. Harmony. Achievement.) multi-faceted programs have been rapidly expanding nearly a quarter-century after the organization’s founding in response to the shooting at Columbine High School back in 1999. The proof is in the post-pandemic pudding, which emerged late last month when some of AHA!’s after-school programs got underway.  “The demand for what we’re doing […]

Symphony’s Joy-filled Journey to Modern Times
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

If anybody isn’t clear about the direction the Santa Barbara Symphony has undertaken, let’s dispel any doubts: This is not your grandfather’s symphony. Not anymore. As in recent years, programs have become progressive, as a wide variety of musical genres, unusual instrumentation, and frequent collaborations are pushing up hard against the old-school focus on classical […]

Classical Corner: More Seasons Commencing 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

CAMA Masterseries’ 40th anniversary season opens with a recital by a somewhat left-of-center duo, at least by instruments, as mandolinist Avi Avital and accordionist Hanzhi Wang team up to perform at the Lobero Theatre. The two are veritable virtuosos – Avital’s skill has been compared to Jascha Heifetz while Wang is the only accordionist ever […]

SBDTCrosses Borders… and Boundaries 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

José Limón – or at least the dance company founded by the famed dancer and choreographer from Mexico who developed a technique that employs visceral gestures to communicate emotions – runs deeply through the new season from Santa Barbara Dance Theater (SBDT), the professional dance company in residence at UCSB. Which is not surprising, given […]

Return to Sender: Postal Service Performs 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

Neither Santa Barbara-raised electronic-pop-music pioneer Jimmy Tamborello nor Ben Gibbard, singer-songwriter-guitarist of the pop band Death Cab for Cutie, imagined that their collaboration 20 years ago would be anything more than an enjoyable one-off. But suddenly The Postal Service – so named because the pair put the project together by the U.S. mail, with Tamborello […]

Book ‘em 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

Palliative care physician Michael Kearney, who is also a student of Native American traditions and Mahayana Buddhism, wove together his professions in three nonfiction books that merge mythology, psychology, spirituality, and poetry. The Santa Barbara resident’s just-published book, Becoming Forest – A Story of Deep Belonging, isa fable of a young Irish woman who finds […]

Focus on Film: Swimming to the Riv
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 17, 2023

SBIFF Cinema Society screens a preview of Nyad at the Riviera, the dramatic biopic of famed distance swimmer Diana Nyad who, at the age of 60 and with the help of her best friend and coach, finally achieved her lifelong dream of completing the 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida. The film, which […]

SBC Food Action Network
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 10, 2023

It was back in 2011 that UCSB environmental studies professor Dr. David Cleveland published his white paper indicating that 99 percent of the produce grown in Santa Barbara County was being exported elsewhere. That statistic alone wouldn’t be so startling given that agriculture and food is the number one industry in Santa Barbara County. The […]

Getting Playful on Stage
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 10, 2023

Given the small and rather insular nature of the local theater scene, Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre Company and Ventura’s Rubicon Theatre Company don’t often open productions the same week, let alone ones that kick off their respective seasons. What’s rarer still is that both of the plays are tackling exceedingly current topics that resonate in […]

Full Friday in Folk 
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 10, 2023

Charley Crockett, a Texas original who draws from traditional hillbilly music, vintage soul, and R&B to give his old-school country twang an extra earthy feel, opened UCSB A&L’s season at the Arlington almost exactly a year ago. The Americana Music Awards’ Emerging Artist of the Year for 2021 heads back to the venue on Friday, […]

Sounds at SOhO
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 10, 2023

Club jazz gets its due at SOhO this week, with a series of local shows. M.O.B. Quintet reconvenes for an eclectic blend of Euro-Brazil progressive jazz and music from the 1970s ECM/Fusion era on October 8. Italian pianist Antonio Artese, who oscillates between our local foothills and the hills of Tuscany, hooks up again with […]

The Ongoing Innovation of Martha Graham Dance
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 3, 2023

It’s appropriate that Santa Barbara gets the third stop on the Martha Graham Dance Company’s (MGDC) new tour, the beginning of a three-year celebration of the legendary dancer-choreographer’s work and legacy in anticipation of MGDC’s centennial in 2026. After all, Graham graduated from Santa Barbara High after her family moved here from Pittsburgh when she […]

CASA
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 3, 2023

When a child is removed from their home due to abuse or neglect, they are faced with something no youngster should ever have to go through: navigating a confusing world of court proceedings amid competing interests with their future hanging in the balance.  The children are provided a lawyer, but their attorney likely has hundreds […]

Here Comes ‘Carmen’
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 3, 2023

A lot of the buzz surrounding Carmen is, naturally, centered around Sarah Saturnino, the young mezzo-soprano who makes her Opera Santa Barbara (OSB) and role debut as the fiery heroine of the title. Deservedly so, as Saturnino, who in April was chosen as one of the winners of Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious nationwide Laffont Competition, has […]

NatureTrack in Goleta
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 3, 2023

The NatureTrack Film Festival is back in a big way for South Coast folks as the nonprofit’s re-mounting of its nascent festival moves to Goleta’s Fairview Cinemas for a weekend packed with nature-centric movies spanning adventures and stories via feature film and documentaries October 6-8. With new curators in place, the fest promises to be […]

Notes Around Town
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 3, 2023

Santa Barbara musician Chris Shiflett, who gracious gives his hometown a Christmas gift each December via performance parties at the 300-max SOhO, shows up at the slightly bigger venue of the Santa Barbara Bowl (capacity 4,600) with his somewhat more famous band Foo Fighters on September 28, a late add to the venue’s schedule but […]

Santa Barbara Education Foundation
Love of Literacy Luncheon
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 26, 2023

Having books in the home has been proven to positively benefit children in many different ways. One 20-year study found that the mere presence of a home library, no matter how small, not only increases children’s vocabulary development and literacy, but also leads to increases in attention, academic success, and, eventually, job attainment.  The Santa […]

Taupin’s Timely Tome ‘Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me’
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 26, 2023

Bernie Taupin, Sir Elton John’s lifelong lyrical collaborator, steps out from the 22nd row to share his account of the 55-years-and-counting creative relationship between the duo, and just about everything else in his adventurous life. Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me is much more than a companion piece to 2019’s biopic Rocketman,or John’s autobiography Me, […]

Coming Together to Rock One805
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 26, 2023

One805 was formed in the aftermath of the Thomas Fire and subsequent Montecito debris flows, when the planned thank you to first responders gathering called The Kick Ash Bash turned into the largest nonprofit event in Santa Barbara history back in 2018. The grassroots organizers quickly realized that supporting first responders could be much more […]

Hanging On: Art Around Town
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 26, 2023

Nearly 30 artists from near and far are saddling up for the 13th annual SLOPOKE Art of the West Show on September 22-24 at Flag Is Up Farms in Solvang. Former longtime president of the California Art Club Peter Adams serves as the featured guest artist and juror for the fine art show – appropriately […]

Focus on Film
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 26, 2023

Santa Barbara filmmaker Lee Abbott’s documentary Disaster at Devil’s Jaw explores the 100-year-old disaster when seven speeding U.S. Navy destroyers crashed into the ragged coastline at Honda Point. Abbott does the discussion/Q&A thing about the largest peacetime disaster in naval history after the film screens at Santa Barbara Maritime Museum on September 21….  Citizen McCaw, […]

Art Attacks: Sonnenberg on Site
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 19, 2023

Artist Anthony Sonnenberg’s current Santa Barbara Museum of Art exhibition WARES! Extraordinary Ceramics and the Ordinary Home explores expressions of power through decoration within various cultures. In the lecture, The Power to Be, Sonnenberg discusses how personal, social, and political power dynamics are expressed through decorative decadence and excess, including an over-embellished palace, an ornate […]