Tag archives: Lobero

To interview Charles Lloyd, you’ve got to be willing to abandon your list of questions and simply surrender to wherever it is that the master musician wants to go. The saxophonist’s career dates back to the 1960s when the Memphis-born musician was part of the San Francisco scene, sharing bills at the Fillmore with the […]

Susan Keller’s 13-year-old Santa Barbara Revels, after what seems an eternity of pandemic doldrums, is revving up for action and hosted an Equinox concert at the University Club for 80 guests. Susan also announced the group’s Yuletide concert, with a California 1830s theme, at the Lobero on December 18-19, its first live performance in three […]

WED & FRI, SEPT 8 & 10: L.A. rock, then and now, at Lobero  The Wallflowers’ leader Jakob Dylan has spent time in recent years either making or promoting Echo in the Canyon, the documentary that looks back longingly at the mid-1960s when Hollywood’s Laurel Canyon served as creative and residential stomping grounds for such […]

As a smooth jazz star, saxophonist Dave Koz has always been acutely aware of audience response, as the genre can often be about providing the sort of soundtrack that people are seeking in their lives. But nearly two years away from performing in front of the public largely due to the COVID pandemic really crystallized […]

The Lobero Theatre is by far the oldest performing arts venue in Santa Barbara. In fact, it’s actually the longest operating theater in all of California, dating back just a couple of decades after California became the 31st state admitted to the union. The Lobero also ranks fourth in seniority among all performing arts buildings […]

Longtime Santa Barbara-based multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Zach Gill has led a multi-dimensional musical life even before meeting soon-to-be surf singer-songwriter superstar Jack Johnson in Isla Vista and then forming the Animal Liberation Orchestra (now ALO) with childhood friends. Over 20-plus years of moving between ALO’s annual “Tour D’Amours,” band recordings, sitting in and going on the […]

“Welcome home!” exclaimed Lobero Associates President Mindy Denson as the group gathered for the first time since the pandemic. We were sitting under the new sail ceiling in the courtyard — a gift from the Associates to the Lobero Theatre. The sun and shade danced above us while a nice breeze flowed throughout. It’s a […]

David Asbell has had it up to here with the pandemic.  The longtime general manager of the Lobero Theatre piloted the venue through a pandemic pivot along with everybody else to stay relevant during the last 14 months. For the Lobero, this meant partnering up with an indie producer to host live streaming shows from […]

“Nay, why reproach each other, be unkind,For there’s no plane on which we two may meet?” The words might be a little too poetic and eloquent for modern times, but the sentiment is surely something that might have been spoken aloud on the floor of the U.S. Senate this week, say, perhaps by a centrist […]

Back in the first week of summer, as the pandemic shutdown rounded its third month, pop star and longtime Montecito resident Kenny Loggins kicked off a series of low-priced live, pay-per-view concerts streamed on the Lobero Theatre’s website, with proceeds supporting both the venue and the National Independent Venue Association, which has similar one-off theaters […]

R. Michael Gros’s direction of Santa Barbara City College’s student production of Antigone represents both his debut of putting together a show via Zoom and his swan song at SBCC Theatre. That’s because, as he announced on his Facebook page early in the morning of November 4, Gros has submitted his formal retirement papers as […]

Don’t tune in to Lobero Theatre’s latest Live from the Lobero pay-per-view performance by Steppenwolf’s John Kay to hear “Born to Be Wild” or “Magic Carpet Ride.” In fact, don’t expect to hear any Steppenwolf songs at all.  That’s because Kay, who has lived in Montecito for the last eight years, has recently not only […]

Last Sunday afternoon, Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan played at the Cold Springs Tavern. November 3 will find the acoustic blues duo at the roadside bar in the woods below the San Marcos Pass again. So will three of the four Sundays after that. No surprise there – Santa Barbara’s “Good-Time Ambassadors of the Blues” […]

Interviewing Charles Lloyd can be almost as enjoyable an experience as attending one of the legendary saxophonist’s concerts, which are always journeys into the ever-in-the-moment confluence of man, musician, and his muse that can veer from riveting to soul-stirring to spiritual near-bliss. That’s because Lloyd, who has lived in the hills of Montecito with his […]

Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall was all set to make her Santa Barbara debut at the Lobero Theatre on January 8, back when COVID-19 barely had a name, just the novel coronavirus that seemed to be contained in China. Then illness forced the show to be postponed and rescheduled for October. But the coronavirus crisis has […]

Opera Santa Barbara was on a high note when it performed Mexican composer Daniel Catan‘s Il Postino at the Lobero. The Spanish language production, based on the charming 1994 film, was conducted by maestro Kostis Protopapas and directed by Crystal Manich, who made her debut with the company three years ago with The Cunning Little […]

Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall scored with her first album back in 2004, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and spawned a worldwide hit with “Suddenly I See.” But the last half decade has seen a sea change for the already critically acclaimed artist who relocated in 2014 to Venice Beach and […]

The Lobero Theatre is a much used venue, being booked 250 or more days a year. Among artists it’s beloved for the acoustics and is also a California Historic Landmark. Its humble beginning was as an opera house converted from an adobe school building by Jose Lobero in 1873. By the 1920s, being a bit […]