Opera Santa Barbara Turns 25
By Richard Mineards   |   January 31, 2019

It was an evening of high note, not to mention many others in between, when Opera Santa Barbara pulled out all the stops to celebrate its 25th anniversary at the Lobero Theatre. The company, founded by soprano Marilyn Gilbert and the late Nathan Rundlett, presented a sold-out non-stop “hit parade” of opera favorites, conducted by […]

Seeking Light
By Richard Mineards   |   January 16, 2019

The late Santa Barbara artist and poet Margaret Singer, who died at the age of 98 last year, is the focus of a new documentary by local director and documentary maker Louise Palanker. The 20-minute short “Margaret Singer: Seeking Light” tells how the Frankfurt-born citizen fled Nazism and lost her family in the Holocaust, moving […]

 

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Behind the Lens
By Richard Mineards   |   January 16, 2019

Santa Barbara director Andrew Davis, better known for his Hollywood action films, including The Fugitive, has returned to the world of documentaries with an intimate portrait of two renowned local photographers, Tony Vaccaro and an old friend Santi Visalli. In Mentors – Tony & Santi, Davis focuses on the warm supportive relationship between the twosome […]

Lauding Lutah
By Richard Mineards   |   January 16, 2019

Six years after its world premiere at the Lobero, the theater she designed, animal activist Gretchen Lieff‘s award-winning documentary on Santa Barbara architect Lutah Maria Riggs, had a sold-out reprise showing as gale-force winds blew. Having attended the first event – I am even mentioned in the credits – it was nice to see such […]

Tab & Tony
By Richard Mineards   |   January 16, 2019

The film about the late Montecito actor Tab Hunter’s tumultuous relationship with Psycho star Anthony Perkins in 1950s Hollywood is nearly ready for blastoff! Allan Glaser, Tab’s companion for 35 years, who is producing the Paramount project Tab & Tony with J.J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto, tells me exclusively Brit Wash Westmoreland, 53, who directed […]

Oh, Brothers
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 10, 2019

“They are excellent, they sing really well,” David Crosby tweeted last October, hours after seeing The Brother Brothers open for I’m With Her at the Lobero Theatre. The folk-rock icon surely wasn’t the only music lover who was pleasantly surprised, as the sustained applause and cheers proved that many were basically blown away by the […]

Love Letter to Montecito
By Richard Mineards   |   December 13, 2018

Santa Barbara photographer-videographer Isaac Hernandez, a Spanish immigrant who has lived in our Eden by the Beach for three decades, has compiled a film documentary he describes as “a love letter to the history, people, environment, and organizations” that make our tony town so special. The 53-minute project, Better Together: Through Oil, Mud and Fire […]

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  • BenShea Bakes Another Level in Staircase for the Soul
    By Steven Libowitz   |   November 15, 2018

    Noah benShea created Jacob the Baker, a simple but wise character whose plainspoken wisdom and common-sense approach to life are delivered as parables with both compassion and humor. Until recently, there were just three books in the series that have provided solace and support for millions of people (and been translated into 18 languages) dating […]

    Jewish Film Fest’s New Math: 11 = 3
    By Steven Libowitz   |   March 15, 2018

    The Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival (JFF) got its start back at the turn of century, when Barbara Greenleaf and her husband, Jon, decided Santa Barbara needed its own fest devoted to Jewish films to add to the cultural community after attending a similar one in San Francisco. The fest ran for more eight years […]

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    Happy-ness is a Well-Worn Song
    By Steven Libowitz   |   February 15, 2018

    Happy Traum is merely the opening act for the next Sings Like Hell show starring Jack Sh*t, the super group comprising sidemen for singer-songwriter legends making at least its third visit to the Lobero. But before guitarist Val McCallum (Jackson Browne), drummer Pete Thomas, and bassist Davey Faragher (both Elvis Costello) hit the stage with […]

    Look Who’s Talking
    By Steven Libowitz   |   February 8, 2018

    Anthony Giardina‘s 2010 play The City of Conversation has proven to be even more prophetic than even he might have imagined. Set in Washington, D.C., during three important periods in recent American politics, the play spans nearly 30 years, from Fall of 1979 to January 2009, and traces the evolution of 1960s-raised Hester Ferris from […]