LARS WANBERG
a&e | POP, ROCK & JAZZ PREVIEW
FREE CHAPLIN - KEATON - LLOYD SUMMER CINEMA
Comedy Classics of the Silent Era
The Freshman Harold Lloyd’s biggest box-office hit was this silent comedy gem, featuring the bespectacled everyman at his eager best as a naive new college student.
STORM THE BARN, ER, STAGE: Erland headlines an evening of Santa Barbara– born country and Americana this Sunday at the Lobero Theatre.
COMING HOME
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here’s a reason we call it the Historic Lobero Theatre. The 140-year-old venue, which spent the better part of last year getting a $6.25 million facelift, is considered one of the best concert spaces on the West Coast. With a modest 600 seats, it’s housed its fair share of big-name rock acts, from Jackson Browne and David Crosby to The Avett Brothers and the Smashing Pumpkins. Like our beloved Santa Barbara Bowl, it’s a venue that means more than its capacity numbers — it’s a place to which musicians want to return. In that regard, it makes sense that the Lobero rarely hosts nights devoted to Santa Barbara bands. Between its seasonal series obligations and the high demand from touring artists, the Lobero’s stage remains a sort of Holy Grail for players, a stage that young musicians aspire to conquer. And this weekend, six Santa Barbara acts are going to make that grand ascent. The occasion: Americana Alive, a night-long, by Aly Comingore festival-style concert meant to highlight and celebrate the richness of the S.B. folk rock scene. Spearheaded by area acts Erland and Doublewide Kings, Americana Alive’s bill is boasting sets from Omar Velasco, The Kinds, Bear Erickson, and Haddon Cord, as well as music video screenings and nonprofit partnerships with both Santa Barbara Channelkeeper and Blue Ocean Sciences. And, according to Erland frontman Erland Wanberg, it’s all about uniting around the music. “It’s definitely something that’s programmed by the artists to bring the scene together,” he said of Americana Alive’s creation. “We’re all friends with each other, and we figured to get together for one big night, it was worth it to try and do something new and big, to go for the Lobero.” Thanks in large part to the long-running Sings Like Hell series, the Lobero has become a mecca of sorts for folk and alt-country music, and Sunday’s lineup is a great testament to the genre’s growing muscle here at home. Since forming in 2011, Erland has nicely straddled the line between pastoral folk rock and toetapping pop, mixing dusty ballads with the kind of upbeat, open-road anthems that California’s folk rock scene was built on. In recent years, the guys (named Wanberg, bassist Mike Mooneyham, guitarist Marko Srdanov, and drummer Nate Keezer) have embarked on multiple U.S. tours, as well as self-funded and self-released a debut album, 2013’s shimmering On Our Side. As for Velasco, the onetime S.B. staple now calls L.A. home but still holds a dear place in our hearts. In recent months, the singer, songwriter, and touring guitarist for Jonathan Wilson’s band has been hard at work on his long-awaited debut, which is now in the final stages. Produced by Wilson and loosely inspired by the music and people Velasco has encountered over the past three years, the forthcoming record is both infectious and introspective, calling to mind AM radio staples, as well as the countrified rock of Jackson Browne’s early catalog. Elsewhere in the night, The Kinds and Cord will hold it down for the ladies, thanks to two wonderfully divergent and equally mighty guitar-toting female voices. Meanwhile, Doublewide Kings play a strand of Americana that lies close to the canon; the band cites The Allman Brothers and Van Morrison as kindred spirits. But it’s Erickson who’s acting as the evening’s glue. A multiinstrumentalist and Santa Ynez–bound production wizard, he’s worked with almost all the acts on the bill, and the chance to see him on a stage as illustrious as the Lobero’s seems both extraordinary and long overdue. But, then again, maybe that’s the point.
AMERICANA ALIVE PUTS S.B. BANDS FRONT AND CENTER
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Americana Alive kicks off at the Lobero Theatre (33 E. Canon Perdido St.) on Sunday, July 13, at 6 p.m. For tickets and info, call 963-0761 or visit lobero.com.
Fri / jul 11* / 8:30 PM SB County CourtHouSe Sunken Garden *Featuring live piano accompaniment by Michael Mortilla
The Gold Rush
In Charlie Chaplin’s captivating slapstick masterpiece, a down-on-his-luck prospector seeks fortune in Alaska and discovers romance.
Wed / jul 16 / 7:30 PM / uCSB CaMPBell Hall Fri / jul 18 / 8:30 PM / SB County CourtHouSe Sunken Garden
Silent Film Costume Contest
Come dressed as your favorite silent film star or wear your spiffiest, 1920s-inspired outfit for a chance to win prizes. Fri, July 25 at 8:15 PM at the Courthouse (before Sherlock Jr. screening)
Friday nights under the stars! Bring blankets, a picnic, and your friends!
(805) 893-3535 / www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu Media Sponsors:
A&L Corporate Season Sponsor:
With support from the UCSB Summer Cultural Enrichment Program and the Freshman Summer Start Program
DIJO Productions presents
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GHETTO
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Directed by Ed Giron
Music Director Bill Waxman Joshua Sobol’s powerful play based on true events about residents of a wartime Jewish ghetto who entertain the Nazis in exchange for their lives. Adult themes, gunfire, loud noises.
@sbindpndnt
Center Stage Theater (upstairs at Paseo Nuevo) Preview Night 8pm - July 18 8 pm - July 19, 25, 26, August 1, 2, 3, 8 & 9 2 pm - July 20, 27 and August 10
For information call 963-0408 • www.centerstagetheater.org July 10, 2014
THE INDEPENDENt
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