There’s a slow wave of poor taste crashing over Europe and the East Coast as we speak, and it comes in the form of women’s pants tucked into gaudy boots. I first spotted the breaking trend in London in February-though its origin is probably more southeasterly, in such fashion hubs as Milan and Paris, where stylish hipstresses sported the tightest jeans whose lower reaches were hidden behind the ugliest, most obnoxious boots ever.
Has a fireplace chimney ever been so passionately detested as the one that Scott and Katrina McCosker built at 1464 La Cima Road? A years-long dispute culminated at Tuesday afternoon’s Santa Barbara City Council meeting in a bruising final round-unless the neighbors decide to continue the fight in court. While Mayor Marty Blum called the disputed chimney an “abomination,” she and her fellow councilmembers felt they had no choice but to allow it to stand, a perpetual thorn in the sides of John and Kathy Cook, who can see it from practically every room in their house. To the Cooks, the 11-foot-tall chimney is a monument to arrogance and spite. To the McCoskers, it’s a fireplace on a deck overlooking a fabulous panoramic view of the coast.
At the Lobero Theatre, Tuesday, May 16.
Andre Watts, piano, in recital at Campbell Hall, Thursday, May 18.
It doesn’t reflect much credit upon me that I didn’t grasp the brilliance of Sheryl Staples’s violin-playing when she was concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra. The fire and grace with which she imbued the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Major, K. 218, pulled me right out of the coma into which the rest of the program sank me. The first movement’s cadenza was a tour de force. I was quite swept away.
What do silent short films, live musical acts, and art galas have in common? “Cinematic Fusion,” according to UCSB’s 15th Annual Reel Loud Film Festival. Challenging filmmakers to step outside the traditional boundaries of sight and sound, this year’s celebration draws 14 student films together with musicians, artists, and awards.
Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, and Paul Bettany star in a film based on the novel by Dan Brown, written by Akiva Goldsman, and directed by Ron Howard.
Turning bestsellers into blockbusters is always risky, and usually pays off only when a filmmaker digests the written word and reinterprets it cinematically. But that makes book purists cringe, which is perhaps why, when tasked with making a movie out of one of the world’s most popular books ever, director Ron Howard didn’t reinterpret. To do so, presumably, would have made enemies out of the nearly 100 million people who read the book. But by keeping the film as fixed as possible to the book’s lofty, historically rich plot, Howard instead made enemies out of the film-watching public, millions of whom last weekend watched the film trip into the typical boring pitfalls of a book-cum-movie.
Thu., May 25
Wilderness Youth Project: Presents Sharks, Seals, and Seabirds, a slideshow by Dan Fontaine. 7pm. Unitarian Society, Blake Lounge. Call 964-8096.
S.B. Ecological Education Coalition: Presents Randy Hayes on New Frontiers in Community Design, about Oakland’s incorporation of sustainable cities. 7:30pm. Thornton Auditorium, Wake Center, 300 N. Turnpike Rd. Call 884-0459.
A free screening of short films made by teenagers incarcerated at Probation Camp David Gonzalez will be shown at UCSB’s MultiCultural Center on May 31, at 6 p.m. The short films were produced through a basic filmmaking workshop run by filmmaker Alex Mu±oz, who will be at the screening with the filmmakers to answer questions. : At the MCC earlier that day is UCSB English professor Shirley Geok-Lin Lim, who at 4 p.m. will be reading excerpts from her new book Sister Swing, about three Asian women who migrated to America.
At the Lobero Theatre, Saturday, May 20.
There was a refreshing dorkiness to the gaiety that filled the Lobero last Saturday night. When Kris Delmhorst coyly introduced her last song as having “bad words in it,” and several rowdy whistles rose from the audience when she actually sang the word “fuck,” the show’s good-clean-fun vibe was abundantly clear.
At the Rockwood Woman’s Club, Sunday, May 21.
Mark O’Connor clearly leads a charmed life. His early musical education in Seattle brought him into contact with some of the greatest and most unorthodox fiddlers of all time, including Texas master Benny Thomasson and French swing giant Stephane Grappelli. Lately, he has taken to hanging out with other string virtuosos such as Edgar Meyer, Joshua Bell, and Yo-Yo Ma. For the latest incarnation of his classical music crossover tendency, O’Connor enlisted two wonderful musicians: violist Carol Cook from Edinburgh and cellist Natalie Haas from California. Both have extensive experience as classical soloists and traditional fiddle music performers.
I ¤ NEW YORK: “For fuck’s sake, this is New York, isn’t it?!” She taunted the crowd, then repeated the potty-mouthed mantra, both for emphasis and to remind us that the tongue was semi-cheeked. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ inimitably charismatic singer Karen O was introducing a special encore “They Don’t Love You Like I Love You,” at the Roseland Ballroom in Midtown. Reportedly, the band had just played Coachella, failing to connect in any intense way in the desert. But their raucous arty ploy worked wonders in this room. For fuck’s sake, this was New York City, wasn’t it?
