Gnarled Limbs
GNARLED LIMBS: Jeffrey Sipress won first place for B&W Digital Adult
Year: 2006
Kirk Douglas at 89
The Ageless Actor Gets His Own Award
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will give its inaugural Kirk Douglas Award for Career Achievement to the man himself on July 30 at the Bacara. Douglas, who is 89, will be doubly honored by being both the first recipient and the namesake of the award. I spoke with Douglas-who is not only a distinguished actor but also the author of several best-selling books-recently at his home in Montecito.
Debating Gaviota
Third District County Supervisor Brooks Firestone (pictured right) and the director of UCSB’s Ocean and Coastal Policy Center, Dr. Mike McGinnis (left), went head-to-head before an audience of nearly 70 in a debate regarding the future of the Gaviota Coast. With the proposed development of Naples and dozens of other plans for luxury homes in the area in various stages of the county approval process, the Saturday night event offered a unique forum for two major players in the drama to clear the air. Hosted and moderated by members of the Reagan Ranch Leadership Academy-a new local young Republican think tank-the debate was sometimes fiery, though it concluded with both parties expressing hopes of working together in the future.
Tribute “of the Week”
When Lian Lunson’s new documentary Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man recently premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the tributes to Cohen’s music weren’t confined to the screen. Sure, the film features Nick Cave, Beth Orton, and U2 doing the Cohen songs, but prior to the screening, there were a handful of live tributes performed as the songwriter watched from the audience.
NEW HEAD OF PUEBLO
With Harley Augustino stepping down as executive director of PUEBLO (People United for Economic Justice Building Leadership Through Organizing), Ana Rizo will take the organization’s reigns beginning August 7.
HOT HOT HEAT
Fans and air conditioners were working overtime last weekend as record-breaking heat invaded Santa Barbara County. Several small wildfires broke out, and energy alerts were issued throughout the South Coast as humidity levels soared Saturday and Sunday.
Bayard Stockton Dies at 75
Bayard Stockton, the international journalist and onetime CIA employee who served as one of Santa Barbara’s better known civic activists and personalities for the last 20 years, died in his home last Friday. At 75, he was felled by the persistent emphysema that dogged him in recent years.
S.B.’s Chinatown Quiz
S.B.’s Chinatown Quiz
Last Calls
The news descended slow but strong, like the dark rum slipping through the pineapple slice in one of Willy Gilbert’s renowned mai tais: Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens-the nearly 60-year-old bar and restaurant on East Canon Perdido Street whose pagoda fa§ade is the last reminder of Santa Barbara’s once-bustling Chinatown-would be closing for good on Saturday, July 29. The reason? Owner and chef Tommy Chung, Jimmy’s son, wants to retire and sell the whole property-which includes the restaurant, bar, and home in the back-for a comfortable chunk of change, with which he’ll enjoy his golden years.
Invited Aussies
The Church
At SOhO, Tuesday, July 18.
Best known for their Top 40 single “Under the Milky Way,” Australian art-rock band the Church launched its acoustic U.S. tour at SOhO last Tuesday night in support of their critically acclaimed new release, Uninvited, Like the Clouds. After 26 years and near as many albums, the astonishingly prolific band continues to weave breathtaking, innovative music. Long ago abandoning concerns of commercial success, the Church creates lush, elegiac soundscapes on its own terms.
