Tag archives: Prince Harry

Farewell to Zach Mendez
By Richard Mineards   |   July 5, 2022

Zach Mendez, Opera Santa Barbara’s Director of Operations and member of the organization’s team since 2018, and a member of the chorus before that, is leaving to dedicate his talents full time to his photography business. “Zach has been my closest partner, deputy, confidant, and friend for over four years, and every area of our […]

A&L Leads Into Its Future
By Richard Mineards   |   June 21, 2022

Cultural gridlock reigned at the Santa Barbara Club when UCSB Arts & Lectures held its new 63rd season reveal party with 150 guests. “It has all been very challenging,” said Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta Billeci. “There have been many unknown hurdles during the pandemic. But we are now standing on the other side. We […]

Helping Raise a Racquet
By Richard Mineards   |   June 14, 2022

Racketeers were out in force at La Arcada on State Street when the Santa Barbara School of Squash threw a colorful Viva Las Vegas! bash at the Eleven14 Sports Bar with 100 guests raising more than $50,000. But, laments executive director Robert Graham, it is a squash club without any courts given its regular facility, […]

For the Win
By Richard Mineards   |   June 7, 2022

Prince Harry and his Los Padres team were in fighting form at the Santa Barbara Polo Club before winging to London with his wife, Meghan Markle, and family, Archie, 3, and Lilibet Diana, who turns one on Saturday, for his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth’s four-day Platinum Jubilee Pageant. The Duke of Sussex’s team hoisted the Lisle […]

Hike Through History
By Richard Mineards   |   June 7, 2022

A new exhibit at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum celebrates the region’s hiking trails and public lands through historic photographs, paintings, and historic items from the museum’s collections. Take a Hike, Save the World is a visual journey through our Eden by the Beach’s most scenic areas, as seen by artists and photographers beginning in […]

New Book by Bower
By Richard Mineards   |   May 31, 2022

Former actress Meghan Markle “came from nothing” and “trampled on others to get to the top” like a politician or a tycoon, her acid-penned biographer has revealed. “Victims” of the Duchess of Sussex, 40, are telling all in a new book by British investigative journalist Tom Bower, 75, he claims. Bower, speaking to GB News, […]

Latest Match at the Field
By Richard Mineards   |   May 24, 2022

Prince Harry may not be appearing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with his actress wife Meghan Markle after the Trooping of the Color ceremony next month, but he was definitely front and center at the Santa Barbara Polo Club playing in the final of the Folded Hills Pope Challenge final on Sunday. The closely […]

More at the Club
By Richard Mineards   |   May 17, 2022

Call it the Prince Harry effect! Since it was announced that Queen Elizabeth’s 37-year-old grandson would be playing regularly in the 12-goal matches at the Santa Barbara Polo Club with his old friend Argentinian Ralph Lauren Polo model Nacho Figueras, the club’s telephone has been ringing off the hook and the website deluged with viewers. […]

Success at the Polo Club
By Richard Mineards   |   May 10, 2022

Santa Barbara Polo Club is now by royal appointment! Prince Harry is going to be playing regularly on the Los Padres team with his good friend, Argentinian Ralph Lauren Polo model Nacho Figueras, in the 12-goal tournament at the lush Carpinteria equestrian facility.  “Prince Harry is an avid polo enthusiast and player, and has played […]

Honoring Hope
By Richard Mineards   |   May 10, 2022

Munificence reigned supreme when the Santa Barbara Education Foundation held its annual Hope Awards at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum honoring Montecito uber philanthropist Sara Miller McCune and Frank Stevens, who has been involved with the organization for its entire 37-year history. Tributes were paid to the dynamic duo by Barbara Keyani, former executive director […]

Clapping to the Sound of Four Hands
By Richard Mineards   |   May 3, 2022

It was certainly a hands-on performance when Berlin-based piano twosome Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg sharing the keyboard performed the world premiere of 62-year-old Austrian Richard Dunser’s composition derived from the work of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms with the Santa Barbara Symphony for Romance in a New Key at the Granada. Dunser dedicated his […]

Symphonic Support
By Richard Mineards   |   April 26, 2022

After tough times during the pandemic, which saw the Santa Barbara Symphony lose $250,000 in concert ticket sales last year, the outlook is considerably brighter given many restrictions being lifted, according to president and CEO Kathryn Martin. With a $3 million annual budget, Martin told major supporters of the Crescendo Society at a bash at […]

Joe Faces the Music
By Richard Mineards   |   April 26, 2022

An old friend, Joe Woodard, who used to be a regular entertainment contributor to the Santa Barbara News-Press and now writes for The Independent, is facing the music rather than writing about it. He has just released a faux folk album Goleta Electric of his “own humble mixes.” Last year, master engineer-musician-vibe king Jesse Rhodes […]

A Winn-ing Needlepoint Gallery
By Richard Mineards   |   April 12, 2022

Montecito entrepreneur Ann Winn, who with her husband, Alastair, recently bought Santa Barbara’s Public Market with partners for $7.65 million, has opened Village Needlepoint in the former premises of bling king Bob Bryant, just a tiara’s toss from Tecolote. Her love for the art started in her early 20s and she started building her influential […]

Arod Around Again
By Richard Mineards   |   April 5, 2022

After two years of pandemic restrictions, the Mary Craig Auditorium at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art echoed to the strains of music again when the Paris-based Arod Quartet, a Fab Four of players in their 20s, entertained. They shot to global fame – winning the coveted first prize at the ARD International Music Competition […]

Little Book Brings Big Crowd
By Richard Mineards   |   March 29, 2022

A boffo bunch of bibliophiles descended on Tecolote in the Upper Village to mark the publication of Steven Gilbar’s Little Book of Montecito Writers, a 160-page paperback including more than 60 authors, which derived from a talk he gave at the village library last summer. The book signing, which benefitted the Montecito Library, also featured […]

The Lone Ranger
By Richard Mineards   |   March 22, 2022

The flagship Ranger, which is familiar to many for leading the annual Parade of Lights at Yuletide, has rejoined the Classic Yacht Association’s Southern California fleet. Originally the vessel was readmitted to the association in 2020, in time for the 20th anniversary of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, but the pandemic delayed her rededication ceremony. […]

A CAMA Quintet
By Richard Mineards   |   March 15, 2022

CAMA – Community Arts Music Association of Santa Barbara – hosted the first concert of its Masterseries at the Lobero with international Grammy winning string player Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations. For Spaniard Savall it was his fourth appearance in our Eden by the Beach having performed in 2008, 2010, and 2016. Playing […]

Dotard Tamale Duet
By Richard Mineards   |   March 8, 2022

Tunisian artist Gerald Incandela celebrated the 20th anniversary of his half century in exotic style at the Summerland aerie he shares with his longtime companion George Schoellkopf. More than 50 guests attended the sunset soiree on the new terrace of their estate with Montino Bourbon playing a dotard (an Indian stringed instrument) with Joss Jaffe […]

Mineard’s Montecito Menagerie
By Richard Mineards   |   March 1, 2022

Maison Mineards Montecito has been particularly busy of late with a German TV crew interviewing me in the garden, phone calls from the London Evening Standard and Daily Mail, and last week hosting a TV crew from France’s TF1 for its 16-year-old show, 50 Minutes Inside. After being interviewed outside Pierre Lafond by producer Sarah […]