Tag archives: Lobero

Christmas Concerts Comes to Town
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 10, 2024

The Lobero Theatre has two holiday concerts in the lineup for this week, including Johnnyswim, the American folk-pop duo of married singer-songwriters Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez, presenting their Johnnyswim Christmas show on December 10. Two days later, it’s the return of “Christmas with The Petersens,” the concert full of Christmas classics delivered the way […]

Mr. Livingston, I presume 
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 3, 2024

Livingston Taylor is just two years younger than his famous rock star brother James, and two years behind him in launching his solo singer-songwriter career. Both have written truly memorable songs, including early efforts about growing up in North Carolina, although both returned to their native Boston area early in adulthood and still maintain homes […]

Northern Exposure at the Lobero
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 19, 2024

Although retail shops on State Street may not agree, it’s no exaggeration to say the pandemic is squarely behind us, at least in terms of the Lobero Theatre, where a big percentage of pop concerts have drawn capacity audiences this year. Now, as we head into the holiday season, the trend is continuing, with three […]

Invigorating Music from Italy
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 12, 2024

Opera Santa Barbara launches its 2024-25 season with a classic in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci at the Lobero Theatre on November 8 and 10. The tale of lust, jealousy, and murder inside a traveling troop of comedians features the famous aria “Vesti la giubba”, which closes the first act. OSB’s new production of the dramatic thriller, set […]

Tina and Her Jazz Side: Montecito Rocker Embraces Great American Songbook
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 22, 2024

Anybody who caught Tina Schlieske’s mini-set closing out the series of six vocalists fronting the “Granada All Star House Band” at the theater earlier this month – where the powerhouse singer belted out her take on The Beatles “I’ve Got a Feeling,” Aretha Franklin’s version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and her own composition “Everyday” […]

Denis Villeneuve Retrospective & Positive-ly Go to Hale
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 22, 2024

Academy Award-nominated French-Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve gets SBIFF’s superstar treatment via a curated career retrospective of seven of the director’s important movies, including Incendies, Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune Parts One & Two. The films – which have garnered a collective 28 Oscar nominations (with Dune 2 still pending) will screen in […]

Bubbles and Bass
By Richard Mineards   |   October 8, 2024

Santa Barbara Symphony, under maestro Nir Kabaretti, previewed its latest season with a champagne reception at the Lobero Theatre. One of the highlights is a two-day Mozart Marathon with eight masterworks, a two-concert performance by the legendary violinist Gil Shaham with Pink Martini singer Storm Large, and Brahms’ “Requiem.” “It’s a rich and culturally empowering […]

Harmony Brings Healing for Heroes
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 10, 2024

This weekend offers an additional opportunity to aid area first responders in their mental/emotional health challenges — which is also a big part of One805’s oeuvre — via a world premiere event of the documentary short film 9-1-1 Project Harmony at the Lobero on September 8. The film covers the program of the same name, […]

The Lobero Piano
By Elizabeth Stewart   |   August 27, 2024

Silently listening, a 150-year-old piano has been hidden in the bowels of the Lobero Theatre in a coffin-shaped box standing vertically in wedge of a corner, without legs, a lid, or a keyboard cover. The once beautiful rosewood case and once fine ivory keys identify this ghost as a piano, secreted behind racks of heavy […]

Big Bad Swinging in the Sunshine
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 13, 2024

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the swing music and jump blues band whose members hail from Ventura and Santa Barbara, got its start in the early 1990s with club gigs that include twice playing the Santa Barbara Independent’s Christmas party at El Paseo Restaurant. As the swing revival hit SoCal, BBVD scored a pivotal on-screen appearance […]

Flying High at the Lobero
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 2, 2024

Jazz at the Ballroom’s latest show, “Flying High: Big Band Canaries Who Soared,” is committed to keeping the Great American Songbook and swinging, classic jazz thriving. The producing organization is a California-based nonprofit that is as much about education as entertainment, and “Flying High,” which celebrates female jazz vocalists Billie Holiday, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald […]

Voices on Pointe
By Richard Mineards   |   May 21, 2024

State Street Ballet ended its latest season on a high note with Other Voices at the Lobero. It was a captivating blend showcasing the talents of choreographers who pushed boundaries, redefining the art of dance. A sweeping panorama of innovation. The productions were as thought provoking as they were entertaining. The show featured four short […]

The Lobero Polearms
By Elizabeth Stewart   |   May 14, 2024

The audience waiting on the steps of the Lobero Theatre on the Sunday night of December 9, 1957, were hip jazz lovers, some from the College Jazz Club, sponsors of the concert, all eager for the night’s concert. The legendary master of the vibes and the bongos, Cal Tjader, would be performing “hot numbers” (as […]

Zpectacular Performance
By Richard Mineards   |   April 30, 2024

Opera Santa Barbara sold out both performances at the Lobero of its highly entertaining show Zorro by Hector Armienta, who wrote both the music and the libretto. The action character, a sort of Spanish Robin Hood, made his debut in a 1919 novel The Curse of Capistrano by author Johnston McCulley. The action – with […]

Cole’s Career Concept: The Tortoise, not the Hare
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 23, 2024

Singer-songwriter Paula Cole was a household name back in the mid to late 1990s, when her commentary on gender stereotypes “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” and “I Don’t Want to Wait,” picked up as the theme song of TV’s Dawson’s Creek, were all over the airwaves. She was nominated for seven Grammys, including Record, […]

Cinderella on Pointe
By Richard Mineards   |   April 2, 2024

There was a great deal of sole searching going on at the Lobero when State Street Ballet performed a highly entertaining version of Cinderella, choreographed by the company’s founder Rodney Gustafson. State Street Ballet’s Cinderella at the Lobero was celebrating its 20th anniversary. The production, with its stirring music by Sergei Prokofiev, was written in […]

Grimaud on Key
By Richard Schultz   |   March 5, 2024

French pianist Hélène Grimaud made her third CAMA Masterseries appearance at the Lobero and, true to form, was at the top of her game. In the penultimate show of her U.S. tour, Grimaud, 54, played the “B” list with works including Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major,” Brahms’ 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117 and […]

Gaviota Gathering 
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 30, 2024

An interdisciplinary event on a much smaller and more local scale takes place at the Lobero on January 30 when Scojo and The Keel hosts a record release concert for their new album, Gaviota. The evening is planned as a celebration of the Gaviota Coast with poets, painters, wildlife experts, geologists, and surfers who, along […]

‘Texican’ Rock & Rollers: Lonely in Name Only
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 30, 2024

It wasn’t pre-ordained that Los Lonely Boys member Ringo Garza, Jr. – who was named after a John Wayne movie, not the ex-Beatle – was going to end up being the sibling band’s drummer. It had a lot more to do with the fact that, not only was he the youngest sibling of the three […]

The Long and Short of It: Brad Williams Is Very Funny
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 9, 2024

Comedian Brad Williams has fond memories of his first appearance at the Lobero Theatre almost a decade ago, when he recorded Fun Size, his first one-hour special, at the venue. Things were a bit different then: Williams wasn’t yet all that well-known and the show wasn’t even close to sold out. “When you see the […]