Charlie Haden radiates a rare kind of strength, and from the warm reception he and his Quartet West received at the Lobero last Wednesday, Santa Barbara knows it. Whatever the connections that make Haden such a favorite in our town, this special affection was in ample evidence from the opening notes of his packed show.
Those who guessed that this might be the musical equivalent of a proverbial That ’70s Show had no idea how oddly right they would be. Of course illustrious headliner and homeboy Jackson Browne was the obvious part, as his many didactic anthems-“The Pretender,” “Running on Empty,” and “Take It Easy,” to name a few-are the apotheosis of detachment as virtue.
Michael Bennett, Eric Onnen, and Roger Aceves took the oath of office as members of the young City of Goleta’s second City Council, replacing Cynthia Brock, Jack Hawxhurst, and Margaret Connell. Goleta’s administrative staff welcomed the new councilmembers with sparkling cider and a prettily decorated sheet cake from Costco.
UCSB dance majors don’t just clock a lot of hours in the studio; by the time graduation draws near, they’ve been trained in costume, lighting and scenic design, choreography, and musical composition. They have collaborated with professional designers and with one another in crafting an aesthetic and realizing a vision.
Once in a while, a show comes along that somehow circumvents the whole set of assumptions and standards I use to evaluate art. It’s almost impossible to predict beforehand whether a show will have that kind of effect, and even after the fact it can be hard to say why. In this case, though, I can answer the question of why.
For this year’s Made In issue, we’ve decided to do something a bit different than previous years. Since it’s our 20th anniversary, we thought we’d find out what-if anything-our little hamlet had created that has broken through the county boundary and become nationally recognized. It was surprisingly easy to come up with 20 fabulous things. For example, did you know that Motel 6 was started in S.B.? And Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, Earth Day, and the Egg McMuffin, for that matter? Read on to learn of the other now commonly known national products that germinated here.
This week, Martha Sadler quizzed UCSB’s Professor Charles Kolstad on the topic of corporate responsibility. “This is a big area of discussion,” he told her, “particularly within environmental circles.” He proved concise but insightful.
The singer for Stars releases a gorgeous, breezy album of emotive, alt-pop. Read about it here, and see a music video too.
With little in the way of advance advertising and no discernible media hype, Joe Woodard’s Headless Household consistently fills Center Stage Theater for an annual Christmas concert that doesn’t include any Christmas music.
This week, a march is scheduled on Wednesday, December 6, to protest the current state of affairs at the News-Press, support the newsroom staffers still sticking it out, ask for Melinda Burns to get her job back, and call for union demands to be honored.
