Although there are no municipal candidates or measures on the June 6 ballot, city officials are already plotting to reform the city’s electoral process in time for the November elections. To start, city council liaisons to the municipal election reform subcommittee invited the public to a briefing on several different options for reform.
Here are five quick toppers to add some variety to your
summer salad days. Just whisk ingredients together in a
small bowl, and season with salt and pepper.
The award for most innovative campaign financing this year goes to the organization backing the county split, Citizens for County Organization (CCO). According to CCO leader Jim Diani, a Santa Maria developer, everything the Measure H machine printed or broadcast about the split was purely informational.
Americana, performed by the Santa Barbara Master Chorale, conducted by Phillip McLendon, with Paula Hartley, piano. At the Unitarian Society Sanctuary, Saturday, May 27.
It sometimes seems to me as if the last thing American music lovers want to hear is American music. Here we had a remarkable program-as fine and interesting as any performed in Santa Barbara this year-extremely well sung, and yet even though they had moved to a much smaller venue, the Unitarian Sanctuary was only half filled, if that. Maybe it was better on Sunday. I hope so.
GIVING AN “A” TO Z: In the Z zone of the new and experimental music cosmos, the big name may still be Zappa, Frank, but Z, Pamela is steadily gaining attention-and love. Since the ’80s, Z has been honing and inventing her artistic voice (voice, in literal and lateral ways). Her aesthetic involves electronics, spoken and sung word, an amazing self-reliance-thanks to such technology as the body-triggering “BodySynth”-and a hip accessibility, implicitly posing the question: “Who’s afraid of contemporary music?”
BIKO BASH: Isla Vista’s Biko House bids goodbye to the school year and welcomes back a hometown celebrity with a technically -free-but-make-a-donation show at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 2. In honor of the return of KCSB regular Maggie Muldoon from Ghana, the musically inclined co-op will be featuring local indie acts like With the Strength of 10,000 Monsters, Jaguar Dear, and DJ Crabhat.
At UCSB’s Hatlen Theatre, Saturday, May 27. Runs through June 3.
The Dinosaur Within, Theatre UCSB’s spring mainstage play, is a beautifully acted, creatively staged, don’t-miss-it hit. The action shifts between the Australian outback and Los Angeles, darts between different time periods, and even sets certain scenes in an alternate-universe “dream” state. It’s thus a difficult piece to stage, but director Risa Brainin ingeniously employs light, sound effects, and music to convey the abrupt switches. It doesn’t hurt that she’s aided by a group of talented student actors. There’s not a weak link in the bunch.
William Welles Hollister was born into an Ohio farm family in 1818. After his father’s death, he and his brothers ran the family farm, iron foundry, and mercantile store until 1852, when W.W. joined a wagon train headed for California.
This Tuesday, June 6, voters go to the polls to voice their preferences on a plethora of state- and county-wide races and measures. The Independent does not provide an endorsement on all potential ballot choices in a primary election. What follows are endorsements on what we deem the most critical votes-most importantly the County Split (Measure H) and 2nd District Supervisor. Don’t forget to vote on June 6.
-Gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly on President George W. Bush’s recent denial of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s request to have a White House state dinner.
