Quote of the Week
‘I cannot imagine anybody building a house in this day and age over 8,000 square feet. If you want to do that, you’re crazy.’
–Brooks Firestone, during a debate regarding development on the Gaviota Coast.
Year: 2006
Wild Ride
Eating My Way: Right, once again I’ll be eating my way through Fiesta. Starting next Wednesday, I’ll be posting daily comments on independent.com. They’ll be on Barney’s Fiesta Blog, together with photos by my wife Sue. I can’t be everywhere, so please feel free to pass on your eating tips to me at barney@independent.com.
Canadian Singer, American Songbook
Michael Buble, with Jann Arden
At the Santa Barbara Bowl, Friday, July 21.
To open his set, Michael Buble came out swinging from behind a corny but effective silhouette screen with “Feeling Good,” a Nina Simone song that has a jazzier, more spiritual feeling than one would expect from someone who clearly venerates Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Dean Martin.
Pick It Up
Tom Petty’s Highway Companion: This third solo album from the prolific rockstar was produced by fellow Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne, aided by Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell, and released on Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label.
BOWL’S UPS AND DOWNS:
As part of their Afoostic tour, the Foo Fighters will take the stage September 2 at the Santa Barbara Bowl with special guest Timmy Curran. Tickets, which range from $28 to $48, went on sale last Saturday, so hurry to the Bowl or call Ticketmaster before they sell out. In other Bowl news, the Earth, Wind & Fire concert on August 23 has been canceled. Refunds can be received from the point of ticket purchase.
Otherworldly
SHUT UP AND PLAY: While Isla Vista’s BIKO house has long been home to some of the area’s more avant-garde musical performances, this Saturday’s show promises to bring bands the likes of which we rarely see in these parts. Three bands, no words, and full sets of epic, atmospheric, experimental rock along the lines of Godspeed You! Black Emperor or Explosions in the Sky. But the fact that these kids aren’t opening their mouths doesn’t mean they’re not worth listening to. Hailing from Massachusetts, Sparrows Swarm and Sing is a five-man band that pairs the standard drum and guitar with a cello, xylophone, glockenspiel, and pianorgan in their dreamy, quasi-melodic compositions. The band is currently touring the nation in promotion of its sophomore release, O’Shenandoah, Mighty Death Will Find Me, which features four sprawling movements instead of the typical set of a dozen or so poppy tracks.
TEAMSTERS START SPREADIN’ THE NEWS
The clash between News-Press owner-and co-publisher-Wendy McCaw and her newsroom got a lot more intense last Friday afternoon, as Teamsters union organizer Marty Keegan (pictured) announced the beginning of a public campaign to pressure McCaw to bargain with her workers and to restore the so-called wall separating news reporting from interference by the owner and publishers of the South Coast’s oldest daily. Keegan and News-Press employees, along with community supporters, have begun distributing brightly colored cancellation pledges to be activated if McCaw refuses to meet their demands by September 5.
Nomadic Black Beauty
Living in Santa Barbara, sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that black is beautiful. Right now, Charlene Pigeon’s Ways of the Nomads, photographs from the Sahel, is that welcome reminder. Showing at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara, Pigeon’s photography of Wodaabe and Tuareg nomads places the inaccessible within arm’s reach and the brings the remote into the viewer’s realm of consciousness. No longer are the nomads exclusively a feature of National Geographic. Pigeon’s photos not only display her flair for capturing an elusive savanna-dwelling people; they also exhibit her photographic skill and technique, presenting color and texture as it’s seen and used in the traditional nomadic culture.
HEAL THE PIPES
A matter of days after a preliminary report from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) suggested that high concentrations of fecal bacteria in and around East Beach and Mission Creek may be partly attributed to leaks in a nearby sewer main, the City of Santa Barbara announced plans to pull up the pipe in question and line it with plastic.
Richard Anson Dye 1935-2006
Richard Dye was born in Pasadena, California, in 1935 to second-generation Californians. He was taught to embrace heritage with deep respect. His father, born on Catalina Island in 1902, imbued in his son extreme deference for our beautiful coastal environment, civic pride, and knowledge of unique Santa Barbara early city history, including the essential long-term value of historic preservation.
