Intro to Overture: UCSB’s Future Film Legends Seek Resources and Dangle Carrots
By Jeff Wing   |   December 19, 2023

I spoke with Writer/Director Iris Ortega Quevedo and Producer Isabella Leonard about their UCSB Film Studies project; a short, wordless feature called Overture that is already creating buzz. “Student film” suggests the fledgling efforts of young academic cinephiles feeling their way forward. On the other hand we have George Lucas’ THX 1138 [Star Wars], Greta […]

Final 1st Thursday of 2023
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2023

The holiday shopping season is as good a time as any to open your doors, and the monthly art and culture walk on lower State Street and environs known as 1st Thursday has a few new folks participating for the December 7 event. Broc Ellinger Gallery (931 State) features artwork by the surfer and photographer… […]

 

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Parades in Paradise
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2023

The pandemic-propelled State Street parklets are still preventing the return of the Santa Barbara Downtown Holiday Parade, but neighbors just a bit east and south are both staging their marching extravaganzas on Saturday, December 9. Carpinteria’s Holiday Spirit Parade begins at 3 pm on Linden Avenue, the seaside city’s main drag, with floats, marching bands, […]

Bidding Underway for Five-Inch Artworks
By Scott Craig   |   December 12, 2023

A lively and enthusiastic crowd packed into the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art for the opening reception of “5×5: Westmont College Celebrating 85 Years” on November 30. There is certainly a lot to see with more than 675 small pieces of art hung in the gallery – all of which are being auctioned off to […]

Two Birds with One Signing
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2023

Chaucer’s Books closes out its impressive year of in-store events on December 12 with husband-and-wife authors Neal Allen and Anne Lamott surrounding Allen’s latest, Better Days: Tame Your Inner Critic. The new book finds the former journalist and corporate executive turned writer and spiritual coach diving into how our own internal critical voice gets in […]

‘Dream Scenario’
By Christopher Matteo Connor   |   December 12, 2023

“Have you been dreaming about me?” It’s a question asked by Paul Matthews, played to perfection by Nicolas Cage, in Kristoffer Borgli’s newest surreal dark comedy, Dream Scenario. And the answer to that question? Yes. In fact, millions of people around the world have! In a bizarre, Luis Buñuel-esque turn of events, Paul Matthews – […]

A Well-Rounded Musical
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2023

In a strange coincidence, three Broadway music revues have arrived on our shores in sequence, and, as it turns out, you have your choice to see any of them for one night on Thursday, December 7. The Cher Show winds up its two-day run at the Granada, Ensemble’s Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny […]

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  • A Grace-ful Evening 
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2023

    Most folks in town are familiar with Grace Fisher, the Santa Barbara native who contracted a virus that spread to her spine and left her paralyzed from the neck down in her senior year in high school in 2014. The story bears repeating, especially at this time of year, as Fisher quickly turned her tragedy […]

    Tonia at Tecolote, Authors Assemble at Library 
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

    Artist Symeon Shimin’s name may not be a household word, but his most famous work might be one of the better-known images in American history: the original poster for Gone with the Wind. But Shimin, who died in 1984, not only painted such promotional images for Hollywood films but was also an award-winning illustrator of […]

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    Holiday Stories for Everyone
    By Leslie Zemeckis   |   December 5, 2023

    Meet the Benedettos by Katie Cotugno is exactly as the cover promotes – The Kardashians meets Pride and Prejudice. Five famous sisters, famous for being famous, are living in a crumbling mansion when the man (or men) of their dreams moves in next door. It’s light, it’s funny. Lost Hours is Paige Shelton’s latest mystery. […]

    Santa Barbara Museum of Art
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

    It might seem disingenuous to employ the expression “a blessing in disguise” when it comes to Covid. But the truth is, were it not for the pandemic, Amada Cruz would probably not be gracing our little burg as Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s brand-new Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Director and CEO.  After all, who suddenly […]

    Lobero Nose Ballet 
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

    The annual invasion of local productions of The Nutcracker doesn’t begin until mid-December, as Festival Ballet and then the State Street Ballet roll out their full-fledged renditions of Tchaikovsky’s Christmas classic. But this weekend brings a tasty holiday appetizer, especially for the tots and teens, as State Street Ballet Academy presents Rudolph, the charming holiday […]

    Cinema Society Soaring 
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

    SBIFF’s private preview series with post-screening talent Q&A sessions – which is not exclusively private these days – heats up mightily in the waning weeks before winter as the Oscar hopefuls queue up for attention. Screenings at the Riviera Theatre this week start (Friday, December 1, at 7 pm) with Armenia’s Oscar Submission Amerikatsi – […]

    The Beat Goes On: It Takes Three Actresses to Play Cher
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

    Morgan Scott was understandably excited Monday morning over the phone from the Coachella Valley, where The Cher Show had just wound up five performances over the weekend in Palm Desert. The area is home not only to one of Cher’s famed exes, Sonny Bono, who was both mayor of Palm Springs and a U.S. representative […]

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