A documentary written by Patrick Creadon and Christine O’Malley, and directed by Creadon.
As Hollywood features get more and more formulaic – special-effects extravaganzas, narcissistic fantasies flattering the yuppie audiences, animated tales with famous stars giving voice to cynical sitcom dialogue – the only movies worth waiting for seem to be documentaries. Recently we’ve gotten Why We Fight and An Inconvenient Truth; now, there is Wordplay.
At the Lobero Theatre, Tuesday, June 27.
Notwithstanding the admonition of the Labor Prime Minister (Ray McAnally) in A Very British Coup that “A man who’s tired of Mozart is tired of life,” I must confess to entering this Tuesdays at 8 concert feeling as if I might just have heard enough of Wolfgang Amadeus in this year of the 250th anniversary of his birth. This has been especially true since, as Jimmy Durante used to say, “Everybody wants to get into the act!”
Santa Barbara’s Steve Shelton and the Jack Ball Trio release A Fool’s Hearty Wisdom this Saturday, July 8, 8 p.m., at Center Stage Theater. The album is impressive both lyrically (Shelton was first a renowned poet) and instrumentally, with the likes of Wayne Peet on keys and Tom Lackner on drums, plus the occasional appearance of Roberto Miranda on bass and Josh Shelton (Steve’s son) on trumpet.
Six months after it opened for business, Santa Barbara’s $25-million five-story parking garage is still only one-third to one-half full during most workdays. According to public works officials, the 575-space Granada Garage typically has between 150 and 250 cars parked in it, despite a chronic downtown parking deficit – frequently cited by garage advocates – of about 1,500 spaces.
– MacGregor Eddy, on the collection of political information by the state’s Office of Homeland Security.
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves as men; it’s easy to get caught up in society’s lofty expectations and lose sight of who we really are. We tend to isolate ourselves and process emotions alone, or not at all. But some things in life can’t be explained, they must be experienced. In the case of the Mankind Project (MKP), that means taking one weekend out of our busy lives to try a fresh approach to dealing with the issues we – as men – face. MKP is an international organization dedicated to male empowerment that offers a unique opportunity to reconnect with our core masculinity. Blending practical knowledge and sacred spirituality, the group gives men the tools to shape their lives based on an ideal vision.
Johnny Cash’s America V: A Hundred Highways:
TRADITION PATROL: Tonight’s Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB) soiree at the Lobero Theatre promises to be a venue-related symbiotic love fest. The Lobero is the most beloved and historic of Santa Barbara’s theaters (its roots extend back to the late 19th century). The PHJB’s home venue is historic on multiple fronts. The Hall itself is a rustic fixer-upper in New Orleans’s fabled French Quarter, a structure dating back to the early 19th century.
An Ensemble Theatre Co. production; at Alhecama Theatre, Friday, June 30. Shows through July 23.
Summer brings out a populist impulse in all the arts, and theater is no exception. Judging from the audience’s enthusiastic response opening night, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks, intended as a crowd-pleaser, ought to be a hit. Director Robert Grande Weiss and Dance‘s two stars, Mary Jo Catlett and Joseph Fuqua, have transformed a potentially maudlin story about people who need people into two different but equally powerful acts of very satisfying theater. The first half is nearly all comedy, and, although there are some moments of anger and a few not-so-dark shadows indicating what is to come, the laughs are steady, consistent, and well-earned. Act two plumbs the depths of these feisty combatants, revealing backstories full of trauma, regret, and unresolved love. The ending is bittersweet, but the overall impression is of laughing out loud, again and again, at clever things said by people you actually like.
Tenet Healthcare formerly headquartered in Santa Barbara agreed to pay $900 million to settle federal allegations of widespread fraud.
