Holiday Music Highlights of the Week
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

Christmas with The Petersens stars the pure-bred American roots music family band who have turned music of the Ozarks into a veritable family business. The bluegrass-based septet consists of four siblings (Katie, Ellen, Matt, and Julianne), their mom Karen and honorary Petersen and dear friend, Emmett Franz, who collectively play guitar, dobro, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, […]

The Flamenco Flair
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 28, 2023

Maria Bermudez has a metaphor she likes to employ to describe flamenco – what for her has been a lifelong passion and something hard to describe. “The beauty of flamenco is that it’s like a very big fan,” she said. “When you open a fan, it’s got all those ridges that are all equal. And […]

 

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More from Montecito

Cashing In
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 28, 2023

Back in 1961, Johnny Cash and his then-wife Vivian hired contractors to build them a home in the hills of Casitas Springs, the small town near Ojai in Ventura County. Custom designed to fit the singer’s specifications, the home even featured a wall-mounted turntable and a writing room for Cash. The country singer was going […]

Poster Artist Rick Sharp: Ambassador of ‘70s-era Santa Barbara
By Jeff Wing   |   November 21, 2023

There are people who so inhabit and illuminate their respective epochs, their lives can seem almost foreordained. Add to that list a starry-eyed surfer from Houston named Rick Sharp, whose canon of poster art so deeply captures the ‘70s ambiance it can truly be said to have helped define it. Sharp will be discussing and […]

Hanging Around Town 
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 21, 2023

Year four of Ready to Hang, a one-day pop-up show open to all local artists to display and sell their one-foot-square creations, takes place 6-9 pm this Saturday, November 18, at the Community Arts Workshop downtown. The free exhibition, which serves as an opportunity to see new works by a wide swath of the artistic […]

The Divine Sounds of Bruce Cockburn
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 21, 2023

Singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn has released some 35 albums over his half-century career, enjoying enough success stateside to sustain making music, but also falling far short of the household name recognition of fellow Canadians like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, or even Gordon Lightfoot.  Now at 78, Cockburn – whose catalog includes such transcendent love songs as […]

Moving Mariposa Tunes
By Tim Buckley   |   November 21, 2023

Violinist Frank Huang is deep into his ninth year as concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, but the joys of performing as part of much smaller ensembles has never strayed far from his heart. “Before I got into the orchestra world, I was pursuing life as a quartet player,” shared Huang, who was the first […]

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  • A Dynamic Duo
    By Richard Mineards   |   November 21, 2023

    New York Philharmonic principal clarinet Anthony McGill and Taiwanese pianist Gloria Chien were quite the dynamic duo when they performed in the second concert of the Mariposa series at the Music Academy’s Hahn Hall. The tony twosome performed works by Telemann, Jessie Montgomery, Brahms, Teng Yu-hsien, Lee, and Von Weber for the sold-out audience. McGill […]

    Montecito’s McIntyre Returns to Celebrate Maria Callas’ Centennial
    By Steven Libowitz   |   November 14, 2023

    The entire opera world and other cultural institutions are all taking note of Maria Callas again as the 100th birthday of the soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century approaches on December 2. That includes both Angelina Jolie, who will star in an upcoming biopic, and […]

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    Kings and Strings Meditate on Morrison
    By Steven Libowitz   |   November 14, 2023

    When the home-grown classic rock band Doublewide Kings plays the Granada Theatre on November 11, it will mark a lot of firsts for the group. It will be the debut at Santa Barbara’s grandest venue for the band founded by Montecito’s Palmer Jackson, Jr., who also happens to be the Executive Chairman and Chairman of […]

    Out of the Box and Down the Rabbit Hole
    By Steven Libowitz   |   November 14, 2023

    Out of the Box Theatre (OOB) has specialized in selecting off-beat, often off-Broadway contemporary musicals to mount in town in the intimate space of Center Stage Theater ever since its founding by Samantha Eve. The latest example in the universe of alternative conversation-inspiring shows is OOB’s first production of the new season, Alice by Heart, […]

    Warriors Host Hoops Tourney
    By Scott Craig   |   November 14, 2023

    The Westmont men’s basketball team hosts the Conference Challenge Event, a tournament that includes Saint Martin’s (Wash.), Hawaii Hilo, and Montana Billings, on Nov. 10-11. The Warriors play Montana Billings on Friday, Nov. 10, at 5:30 pm and Saint Martin’s on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 3 pm. Last year, Westmont competed in the 64-team NAIA […]

    The Leaves of Fall and Books
    By Leslie Zemeckis   |   November 7, 2023

    As a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, author Vanessa Lillie’s compelling Blood Sisters is based on a real crime involving multiple missing indigenous girls and women. Syd, an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, finds herself back in her small-town home in Oklahoma to solve the mystery of a recently discovered skull. […]

    Outing to Ojai 
    By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2023

    Film festivals are coming fast and furious in the middle of fall, with the Jewish Film Festival continuing for four more days through November 5, and the Ojai Film Festival set to hit the theater November 2-6. The latter fest found in the mountain community will screen more than four score films from around the […]

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