"Steven Gilbar" - Sound Familiar?

a festive 4th of july bbq

san ys i dro ra nch a a

summer cockt il speci ls lawn games for the family gourmet barbeque fresh oyster shucking

call to reserve your spot

ARSHA KOTLYA R

ESTATE GROUP

M

The Burford Group at Morgan Stanley Jerrad Burford

Senior Vice President Financial Advisor

Jeanine J. Burford Senior Vice President Financial Advisor

805-695-7108 jerrad.burford@ morganstanley.com

805-695-7109 jeanine.burford@ morganstanley.com 1111 Coast Village Road | Montecito, CA 93108

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

5 Beings & Doings – Attorney drops acid, becomes staring mystic, anthologizes unsung magic, speaks of stories. Clue: Rhymes with “Gilbar.”

6 This Week at MAW – What do 12 iconic opera scenes have in common? Let MAW’s third ever Directing Fellow, Paige Cameron, tell you.

8 Montecito Miscellany – John Palminteri has a birthday bash, LifeChronicles remarkable lives, cruising the Danube, and more miscellany

10 Letters to the Editor – More input on Miramar expansion, a Title IX celebration, Stewards of the Hot Springs, and Montecito cell reception Tide Guide

11 In Passing – Jerry Oshinsky was an irrepressible source of wit, wisdom, enthusiasm, generosity, curiosity, and ukulele strumming

12 Our Town – The Crane Country Day School and Montecito Union School host their graduations in the last of this year’s ceremonies 14 Society Invites – Hillside hosts its Emerald Soirée plus Vikings and more at the annual CommUnify Champion Awards

16 The Giving List – A rare genetic blood disorder inspired one couple to form a nonprofit and begin to find a cure for both it and forms of cancer

18 Dear Montecito – From a roll of the dice to becoming the founder of a AI-driven investing company, Mason Lender is playing the odds

20 Your Westmont – A Montecito leadership conference emphasizes the importance of storytelling

22 Brilliant Thoughts – Next up to bat –Ashleigh’s musings on a certain baseball-centric poem and the individual who wrote it

26 Elizabeth’s Appraisals – The altar candelabra at St. Anthony Chapel in Santa Barbara tells of a father-son’s legacy of works

28 RE Update – Village Properties, the largest independent real estate company in the Santa Barbara area, launches their new commercial properties department

30 On Entertainment – The rise of the Tearaways and how they found themselves in a park surrounded by palms

35 Far Flung Travel – It’s an early morning off to the Carrizo Plain National Monument and Chuck is looking for some unsuspecting wildlife

36 Community Voices – The future might not be all doom, but rather what we make of it, according to Robert B. Tucker

37 School News Roundup – The MUS 2018 Class reunites, the National Charity League honors its senior students, and the All Santa Barbara Schools Track and Field Meet at Westmont

44 Calendar of Events – Solstice celebrations are underway, Spamalot in Ojai, Todd Rundgren at the Libbey Bowl, and more

46 Classifieds – Our own “Craigslist” of classified ads, in which sellers offer everything from summer rentals to estate sales

47 Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles

Local Business Directory – Smart business owners place business cards here so readers know where to look when they need what those businesses offer

Beings & Doings

Attorney to Hippie to Beloved Literary Gadfly. Steven Gilbar? Yep.

by Jeff Wing

Yes, there are people in the area you are more likely to have heard of than to have actually met. Jeff Bridges. Carol Burnett. Beloved local mononyms Ellen, Oprah, and Harry. Steven Gilbar is in this category, but with a caveat. The name rings a deafening bell, but where the hell have you heard it? Steven Gilbar. Steven Gilbar. You know these words. They haunt and pursue like the sourceless accusatory utterance in a Hitchcock movie. Then you meet the guy – “You’re Steven Gilbar?” – and realize you really don’t know him from Adam.

The name drifts liltingly through the Central Coast zeitgeist due not to the familiarity of Gilbar’s mug, but because for decades the man has lavished heartfelt forensic attention on our adored ShangriLa. You’ve seen his innumerable trade paperbacks in colorful stacks at the bookstore, or staring up like beseeching velveteen puppies from the “impulse buy” section at checkout. Gilbar’s decades-long gift to the region has been literary. He adores writers and writing and venerates both musical Mother English and the local lore she hoards. For some 30 years Gilbar has been hell bent on disinterring the alarming artists, mischief makers, and reactionaries lurking below the Santa Barbara/Montecito surface of olallieberry meringue. Thanks to Gilbar, we now know the Central Coast as a complex literary hotbed, yes – but also as a drain-circling gyre of delicious scandal, and a place murderers once frequented with some regularity, likely due to the weather.

Steven Gilbar is our Herodotus, our Plutarch, and our Studs Terkel – all rolled into one and attenuated to a stork-like height of around 7’. It’s time we got the guy sorted.

Archaeologist

Having recently published a new book – Montecito Noir: True Tales of Murder and Mayhem in Paradise (with a signing at Tecolote on Saturday June 29 at 3 pm ) – Gilbar had intimated in an email exchange that he might be prepared to finally rest on his laurels (my words). In a mild panic I called a summit and we jammed at Renaud’s on Coast Village. Whenever I meet with Gilbar, his initial expression suggests he’s just heard something amusingly extortionate about me. This time was no different, but I’ve learned not to have my first word be “What.”

Gilbar is tall, quietly emphatic, and bitterly funny. He combs his distinguished-looking gray hair straight back in the manner of NYC film actors and retired astronauts. Originally from Detroit, he’s been here for a while –living first in SF and later in what he calls Baja Montecito – and has made a mark. Gilbar founded Santa Barbara’s

Steven Gilbar, Central Coast Herodotus (courtesy photo)

This Week at MAW

MAW’s Directing Fellow:

Turning the Paige on Opera

by Steven Libowitz

When Paige Cameron enrolled at Northwestern in her home state of Illinois to study vocal performance, the plan was to sing her way to stardom.

“I really thought I was going to be an opera singer,” said Cameron, who goes by either she or they and has recently decided to lop off her hyphenated last name of Dirkes-Jacks in her professional life, “That’s what I was studying, the degree I earned, and the path I was on.”

But somewhere shy of graduation, Cameron veered just a bit, shoving aside singing for stage directing. Not because their love of opera had lessened, but due to a desire to have a greater impact on the art form than a performer can provide.

“I have a really clear sense of the ways in which I wanted to be a part of opera growing and changing, and that starts with the stories we tell, with casting,

and with the environment that the people leading the rehearsal room build for the performers.”

So they also earned a certificate in musical theater at Northwestern, one of the great thespian institutes in the land, where Cameron initially directed a student theater production on campus that stood in sharp contrast to the opera program.

“I’d be taking classes with these incredible coaches and pianists in the big fancy building with views of Lake Michigan, making this art form with an aura of prestige that felt very elite,” they recalled. “Then I’d jog over to a tiny little black box theater that was quite literally a shack and put on a student play. We had maybe a hundred dollars to our names, but also a whole lot of passion and excitement and grit and caring about making something meaningful. That’s where I found my people.”

Cameron said their desire to see more of that kind of spirit in the world of opera is a big motivator.

“We tend to think of opera as this kind of unreachable thing, up on a pedestal where it’s holy and untouchable. But I really care about bringing opera down to an accessible level. It started as something that was for everybody and really should be again.”

After a couple of years that included serving as Teaching Artist with the Lyric Opera and helming a couple of shows as Associate Director with the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, Cameron is spending this summer as MAW’s third ever Directing Fellow. The position provides rare formal training in stage directing for young artists who crave a career that – as happened for Cameron – is often only carved out through apprenticing and trial and error, plus connections and good timing.

Their duties this summer include assistant directing the Music Academy’s productions of Bizet’s Carmen with Ken Cazan and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges with Mary Birnbaum. But first, they’re serving as the stage director for the Academy’s revival of Opera Scenes, which returns to Hahn Hall on Friday, June 21, for the first time since before the pandemic and the two-year trial when James Darrah changed course to create Cabaret presentations.

Now the traditional Scenes is back, with a full dozen opera excerpts that run the gamut from Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Le Nozze di Figaro to Donizett’s L’elisir d’amore , to Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress –all of which, save for La clemenza ,

Paige Cameron is bringing an operatic buffet for the revival of MAW’s Opera Scenes event (courtesy photo)

We have square, octagon and rectangular umbrellas in stock. Our selection includes aluminum and teak umbrellas as well as center pole and cantilever styles.

Montecito Miscellany

Ty Warner’s Manhattan Hotel to Open

by Richard Mineards

After an epic four-year battle between Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner and the Toronto-based Four Seasons Hotel group, his 926-foot tall I. M. Pei-designed Manhattan hostelry is reopening in September.

The iconic East 57th 383-room property, once known as the most expensive hotel in New York City, has been shuttered since the start of the pandemic in March of 2020.

According to its website, the hotel has been undergoing renovations for the past four years.

An agreement was reached last year, but fell apart.

The powerful hotel union – the New York Hotel and Gaming Trades Council – was part of the complicated series of talks, according to the New York Post Warner and the Four Seasons “completed agreements” with plans to reopen the property in September this year, the Four Seasons has announced without fanfare.

Warner’s oceanside Santa Barbara property, the Four Seasons Biltmore, is scheduled to reopen next spring.

A Remarkable Evening

LifeChronicles 8th annual Remarkable Life Awards at Graholm, the Montecito estate of Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin honoring dynamic duo Harry and Judi Weisbart was a smashing success – literally!

As last year’s honorees Rinaldo and Lalla Brutoco prepared to present the crystal award to Harry, 88, and Judi, 73, it fell and smashed to smithereens on the stone floor with Santa Barbara Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez, a former assistant to the nonprofit in his younger days, picking and sweeping up the pieces.

But Kate Carter, who founded the organization in 1998 which has helped more than 1,400 clients preserve memories and expressions of love on video, was not too fazed by the accident.

“It had the wrong date on it, so now we

have time to make amends and change it to the correct date,” she calmly explained, as 84 guests helped raise $70,000 from the Dancing with Our Stars bash with award-winning DJ Darla Bea providing the disco sound.

“We both believe Kate’s work is powerful,” says Judi, whose two stepsons Alan

“The level of stroke care Cottage provided saved my life.”

and Jon also attended. “We want to honor her work and help LifeChronicles remain healthy by raising funds and awareness.”

Kate made a video to celebrate the couple’s 40th wedding anniversary and tells me a late friend, British jewelry and

Miscellany Page 324

Ric has always been active — an avid polo player, surfer and cyclist. One night, he suffered a stroke and was admitted to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. Upon his arrival, Ric could not move one side of his body — the stroke activation team began immediate treatment.

Ric made a full recovery and is back to his active life

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Ric, Stroke Survivor

Cathy Green, Tom and Julianna Dain, with hostess Lynda Weinman (photo by Priscilla)

Master of Ceremony Rod

Lathim with the Weisbarts: Judi, Jon, Alan, and Harry (photo by Priscilla)

Letters to the Editor

What’s Rosewood’s Plan?

Iam a lifetime, 8th generation South Coast resident. I have resided in Montecito most of my life. I have also lived in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and today, Summerland. After attending SBHS, UCSB, and practicing Water & Land Use law locally for over 20 years I am now retired. In my retirement I served for about 10 years on the SB Water Commission, half of those years as Chair. I raised our daughter in Carpinteria and was very involved in the School District for the 12 years we lived there. I am writing to draw attention to and support the Letter to the Editor entitled “THE ROSEWOOD PLAN” found in the June 6, 2024, edition submitted by Mr. Cliff Ghersen. Rather than repeat his well-stated Commentary, I want to draw interested residents to his Letter. It is unusually well informed and, in my opinion, very directly on point. I grew up on Miramar Beach and Hammond’s. I was personal friends with members of the Gawzner family who previously owned the property and I spent much of my youth there. I do not want nor need to repeat Mr. Ghersen’s Commentary. He did a fine job of it. Along with the rest of the Montecito Community I was heavily lobbied to support the Caruso Miramar Project and I did. But after the “Grand Opening,” COVID hit and the attitude at the place changed. I and many other locals are no longer welcome there. They cater to the ultra-wealthy hotel guests from out of town and make us locals feel less than welcome. I was there on Opening Day. I have pictures with Mr. Caruso shaking my hand thanking me for my support, when they were still being friendly and welcom-

ing. Well now it is Caruso’s business trying to maximize profit and that is what the “new” Project is all about.

Having practiced Water & Land Use Law here for over 20 years, I know the game and Mr. Caruso is a master of it. I represented several local public agencies. I understand it is difficult for the County to resist a property owner who pays the kind of taxes, property, sales and TOT that the Miramar pays. I was a party to the charm offensive put on by the Caruso staff when they were getting the Resort approved. Our County is desperate for revenue. Caruso is a master salesman. Of course, there is an affordable housing project for the workers (sic) included in this new Project. In fact, this is a major commercial expansion of the existing hotel and Mr. Caruso has a long history of developing major retail malls in Southern California and here comes ours. Again rather than repeat Mr. Ghersen’s Commentary I just want to draw your attention to it. I can tell you from a lifetime of local experience it is very well informed and on point, and I support it completely.

Russell Ruiz

Yes to Rosewood’s Plan

Pretty sure I know a good thing when I see it, and the Rosewood Miramar expansion proposal fits the bill. I’m hoping that my neighbors will join me in saying a hearty YES to this plan.

A quick review: the Rosewood is proposing to build 26 units of affordable housing for their employees, including those whose needs are the greatest, without any cost to taxpayers. That’s more affordable housing creation than

Montecito has probably ever seen, and it’s exactly what we need to start to ease our paralyzing housing crisis and meet our government housing targets.

The plan also includes a smaller number of market-rate apartments (8), as well as new shops and green space. I personally know quite a few people who are looking forward to more boutique options on the property, and it doesn’t surprise me that some people would jump at the chance to live at that scenic seaside property. We won’t lose parking or beach access, and the whole thing will match the look and feel of the Miramar as it stands today.

This plan isn’t coming from some do it “half-ass” kind of developer. It’s Caruso, one of the most respected and admired real estate firms in the country. They’ve thought through every detail, and they’re known for delivering projects the right way. The sooner they can get this plan started, the better from my perspective!

Thanks so much for listening!

Todd Putman Montecito

The Great Legacy of Title IX: Sports for Girls

Please join me at the Santa Barbara Courthouse on Sunday, June 23, 12:001:30 pm for a celebration of the 52st anniversary of Title IX. Title IX, a great civil rights breakthrough for girls and women and a great breakthrough in the promotion of athletics for girls!!

Competition, physical fitness, teamwork, learning to lose, sportsmanship: all the life skills which competitive sport teaches our children. Athletics is just as important as academics and the arts to a complete education, because it demands great physical and mental discipline and builds character in so many ways.

I was already in high school when Title IX was signed into law. Sadly, like most girls of my generation, I did not partic-

MONTECITO TIDE GUIDE

June 27

June 28

ipate in competitive high school athletics. However, girls’ participation in high school sports has increased 10-fold since Title IX’s passage 52 years ago. Happily, for our family, as part of that sea change both of our daughters were tennis athletes at Dos Pueblos High School. What great times we had! I can remember it all so vividly: the hard points they won, the tough games they played, the girls they competed against, the times they tried their very hardest. How I cherish these memories! What greater gift can you give your daughters than a high level of skill in a sport they can play for the rest of their lives?

At the June 23 Title IX event, you will hear four amazing speakers tell the stories of some remarkable local Santa Barbara County female athletes. Come hear the stories of a current high school student who is lettering in five sports, a Dos Pueblos alum and 2020 water polo Olympian whose team won the Gold, and veteran SBUSD PE teacher and coach, Christy Lozano. Come and hear beloved local journalist John Zant, who covered local sports for decades for the Santa Barbara News Press. An incredible line-up to celebrate girls and women in sports.

JOURNAL newspaper Letters Page 284

Executive Editor/CEO | Gwyn Lurie gwyn@montecitojournal.net

President/COO | Timothy Lennon Buckley tim@montecitojournal.net

Managing Editor | Zach Rosen, zach@montecitojournal.net

MoJo Contributing Editor | Christopher Matteo Connor Art/Production Director | Trent Watanabe

Graphic Design/Layout | Stevie Acuña

Administration | Jessikah Fechner

Administrative Assistant | Kassidy Craner VP, Sales & Marketing | Leanne Wood leanne@montecitojournal.net

Account Managers | Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Elizabeth Scott, Natasha Kucherenko

Contributing Editor | Kelly Mahan Herrick

Copy Editor | Lily Buckley Harbin

Proofreading | Helen Buckley

Arts and Entertainment | Steven Libowitz

Contributors | Scott Craig, Ashleigh Brilliant Kim Crail, Tom Farr, Chuck Graham, Stella Haffner, Mark Ashton Hunt, Dalina Michaels, Robert Bernstein, Christina Atchison, Leslie Zemeckis, Sigrid Toye, Elizabeth Stewart, Amélie Dieux, Houghton Hyatt, Jeff Wing Gossip | Richard Mineards

History | Hattie Beresford

Humor | Ernie Witham

Our Town/Society | Joanne A Calitri

Travel | Jerry Dunn, Leslie Westbrook

Food & Wine | Melissa Petitto, Gabe Saglie, Jamie Knee,

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Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108.

How to reach us: (805) 565-1860; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108; EMAIL: tim@montecitojournal.net

In Passing

Jerry

Oshinsky:

July 12, 1942 – April 9, 2024

by David Oshinsky

Jerry Oshinsky, known professionally as one of the true titans of insurance coverage law, passed away on April 9, 2024, from complications related to Parkinson’s disease. I was privileged to work with Jerry at the very end of his life – because I am also a lawyer, sure, but mostly because I have the good fortune of being his son – and so when he needed help winding down his practice, the effects of Parkinson’s having started to take their toll, I was both saddened and honored to be able to step in and try to help. This, then, is my attempt to remember and honor Jerry Oshinsky as I knew him – as father to me and my sister, Ali, as father-in-law to Kim and Geoff, as grandfather to five grandsons, as husband of 59 years to his wife, Sandy, as brother-in-law to Sandy’s sister Chelle and her husband Andy, and as an irrepressible source of wit, wisdom, enthusiasm, generosity and curiosity to pretty much anyone lucky enough to cross his path at any point during his magnificent 81 years.

The Jerry Oshinsky I knew, after all, was so much more than the sum of all his legal wins and accolades (of which, rest assured, there were very many). As you might expect, a lot has been written about my dad’s storied legal career and far-reaching influence; I will not try to improve upon or even repeat it here. If you want to know more about his legal career, I would point you to the bio on his website, this 2023 Lawdragon feature piece and lengthy interview, and this Chambers Associate interview from 2013, given when my dad was honored with a Chambers USA Lifetime Achievement Award.

To his colleagues in the law game, Jerry Oshinsky was known as the “dean of the policyholders’ bar,” as respected and adored by his clients as he was feared (and, to be fair, also respected) by his adversaries. But to his five grandsons, Sam, Joey, Charlie, Jack and Mo, he was simply “Babu,” and wow did they ever adore him and love spending time with him – though I can’t imagine anything that could possibly match how much he loved and adored them, and what a pleasure it was to witness the joy that they brought him, something that only increased as they grew and began to find interests that were also interests of his.

In me and my sister, my dad fostered a deep and life-long love of sports – both as participants (as you might imagine, family doubles matches could get pretty intense) and as spectators. Thanks to him, we got to see a Super Bowl (though please let’s not talk about the result), tennis at the U.S. Open, Stanley Cup hockey games (let’s go Caps!), NBA playoffs...and the list goes on and on. And his excitement to share this love of sports (and so many other things – music, wine, theater, travel) wasn’t limited to me and Ali – our Aunt Chelle will tell you that Jerry was like the brother she never had, and so many of our childhood friends have reached out to tell us the ways that he was like a second father to them, always happy to grab an extra seat or two at games or shows so we could bring them along for the fun.

Once grandkids entered the picture, there was no length to which Babu would not go, no expense that Babu would not spare, to get to see his grandsons in their element, whether that was playing soccer or tennis or basketball or baseball or acting in a play or singing in a school concert or – really, if they were doing it, whatever it was, he wanted to see it. And because there was so much more he loved to enjoy – LA Clippers and Dodgers games, Messi on the soccer pitch, Hamilton on Broadway (four times!) – nothing made him happier than to get to share that love with his grandkids as well, taking them with him far and wide to watch games and see shows as often as he could. Indeed, Jerry was something of a “professional spectator,” though certainly not content to simply sit and watch a superb athlete in his youth, he was also quite the performer and entertainer himself, having studied acting and then acted in and produced dozens of plays and readings, especially over the past 20 years as he moved his practice

“Santa Barbara Design and Build was fabulous. Don and his crew were the BEST from day one. He was honest, timely, flexible, artistic, patient and skilled. They understood my vision and built my dream home”.

-Santa Barbara Resident

Jerry Oshinsky was an irrepressible source of wit, wisdom, enthusiasm, generosity and curiosity

Our Town Crane Country Day School Graduation

by Joanne A Calitri

The Crane Country Day School 2024 Eight Grade Graduation

– “Go Coyotes!” – was held on Wednesday, June 12, at 10:30 am. The walkway to the graduation setting on the sports lawn showcased pencil drawing portraits of the graduates on easels. Parents and families sat at round tables with formal centerpieces.

Headmaster Joel Weiss welcomed everyone and heralded the start of the ceremony. Graduates entered to the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” theme, taking their places on the stairs behind Weiss.

Weiss began his opening remarks saying, “The school sits on 12 acres of land that we acknowledge belonged to the Chumash Indians who were here before us. We never take that for granted at Crane. The Class of 2024 is a particularly strong collection of students, and they did very well in terms of high school acceptances. We just celebrated them with an annual Crane tradition, a ‘Memories Video’ documenting their adventures at our school over the years. After showing the video, we were treated to a song per-

formed by the “lifers,” students who have been at Crane since kindergarten, who recreated a moment from their first time onstage at Crane nine years ago – it was so moving. This is a powerful class, and we will miss them terribly!”

He further lauded and thanked the parents for their partnership with Crane for their children’s education. With that, Weiss directed the students to sit with their parents, which is Crane’s recently established graduation tradition. He then presented the following awards:

Headmaster’s Prize: Poppy Kono Tower Achievement Award: Ella Murphy Rose Bowl Award: Vida Wolstencroft

The Talia S. Klein Award: Lilly-Bee Butler and Chelsea Newlove

Each graduate was called up to the podium where vignettes about them were read by their teachers – Tamar Adegbile, Jennifer Bochsler, Louis Caron (’97), Matt DeGroot (’04), Alexis Fischer, Alexa Hughes, Kate Tannous, and Bea Trac

After each vignette was read, Weiss presented the student with their diploma.

Our Town Page 384

The Crane Country Day School 8th Grade Graduates (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Crane Country Day School Headmaster Joel Weiss with the 2024 graduates (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Society Invites

Hillside’s 20th Annual Emerald Soirée

by Joanne A Calitri

Hillside Santa Barbara held its 20th Annual Emerald Soirée on Friday, June 7, at the Santa Barbara Club’s outside garden area. The organization has been helping those community members with special needs for 80 years. The funds raised at the event support the quality of life for the 59 residents at Hillside.

The event started with an open reception featuring silent auction items, and libations. During the reception, a duet by Hillside resident Brad P. and Jusing Mack playing guitars and singing brought everyone onto the patio. Music was also provided by guitarist Sam Adams Congressman Salud Carbajal stopped by for a brief moment to present his Congressional Certificate to President & CEO of Hillside Michael S. Rassler, MBA, MSW, MA, and for a few photo ops with his constituents.

Master of Ceremonies David Moorman kept the flow of the event going with announcements during the reception and a call to convene for dinner. He introduced and brought on stage Nancy Read who, with Norris Goss, started the event as a small luncheon in 2004. Moorman then said a secular prayer before dinner was served.

Rassler spoke about Hillside’s work and its importance in the community. He invited everyone to visit Hillside and explore what they are doing and plan to do. He recognized the partnership of the Assistance League who make Hillside their number one beneficiary. Rassler acknowledged his team, the board of directors and volunteers.

The Presentation of the 2024 Person of Purpose Award was by Brad Frohling Board Chair to honoree Pam Flynt Tambo, current Board Secretary. Tambo has served as the Executive Director of Hillside from 2001 to 2012. She is the Vice President of the Board of the League of Women’s Voters of Santa Barbara. Tambo spoke about her work for Hillside and her determination to get their new housing project funded and approved.

The Advancing Abilities Award was presented to Hillside nursing assistant Maria Luisa Bracamontes by Rosemary Rice, Hillside Administrator. Rice talked about the dedicated care that Bracamontes has given for 34 years at Hillside. She started

Tim Sweeney, Michael S. Rassler, Maria Luisa Bracamontes, and Cheryl Sweeney (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Honoree Pam Flynt Tambo and Board Chair Brad Frohling (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

John and Adrienne Demboski with Mike and Tami Schlappi (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

DANIEL

ENCELL

Director, Estates Division (805) 565-4896

DanEncell@aol.com DRE #00976141

HOW TO SELL YOUR HOME IN TODAY’S MARKET

INTRODUCING OUR EXCLUSIVE REAL ESTATE SELLER’S FORUM!

TUESDAY JULY 9 - 4:00 PM

Join us for a valuable Real Estate Question & Answer Forum designed especially for potential Sellers. This is your opportunity to gain insights, expert advice, and answers to your real estate-related questions in a comfortable setting. Whether you’re curious about current market trends, pricing your property, staging tips, or navigating the selling process, Dan Encell is here to provide clarity and guidance.

DAN ENCELL

• Graduate of UCLA School of Law and former attorney (with training in Real Estate law, contracts, estate planning, and tax law)

• Over $2 Billion in local sales.

The Giving List

by Stevent Libowitz

The RUNX1 gene provides instructions for making RUNX1 protein, which plays a vital role in the production of blood stem cells and the maintenance of a healthy blood system throughout life. RUNX1-FPD patients have a hereditary mutation that causes symptoms such as bleeding and easy bruising, which can require limiting daily activities and cause allergic conditions and autoimmune diseases. But far more significantly, RUNX1-FPD greatly increases the risk of developing blood cancers, predisposes patients to leukemia and lymphoma at a rate of up to 50 percent over their lifetime.

RUNX1 Familial Platelet Disorder is a very rare disease. It’s estimated that just 20,000 people across the entire nation have the condition. But for Montecito couple and Crane School parents Tim and Monica Babich, the numbers don’t matter, as both Tim and their eldest son, now 13, both have the disorder. In fact, it was the discovery that the boy also had the inherited disease that spurred the high-powered couple – who moved to Montecito from London to slow down from stressful careers in finance, consulting, and management – to found a nonprofit to confront the situation.

The RUNX1 Research Program (RRP) was created to increase awareness of the blood disorder, support patients and physicians in diagnosing the disease, and, perhaps most importantly, to coordinate research into finding solutions in an area – cancer prevention – that is severely underfunded.

“Our main goal is to prevent cancer, and that’s what our research focuses on,” said Alex Gonzalez, the organization’s Director of Development. “We’re trying to stop it before it even starts, because once an individual has a cancer such as leukemia, there are only a few therapies available, and they’ve already transformed. So we’re trying to get ahead of it for folks who have this mutation to stop it before it starts.”

In its goal to blaze a path to transform scientific discoveries from the lab into tangible treatments for patients and their doctors as quickly as possible, RUNX1 Research Program

34 Seaview is a penthouse that boasts amazing views from all directions. The owner has moved out, has listened to the market and adjusted the price on this beauty to sell so you can enjoy the summer in Montecito. 34 Seaview has ocean, coastline, mountain and tree top views depending on which window or balcony you are experiencing them from. The penthouse location (top floor) has greater privacy and serenity than the other floors as well as soaring ceilings. 34 Seaview has a remodeled kitchen sporting new appliances, floors and cabinets that include a view through the formal dining room to the tree house setting of the magnificent Moreton Bay fig. A few more upgrades to 34 Seaview include air conditioning, new sliding glass doors leading to private patio, laundry room with new Miele washer and dryer, remodeled baths (one with shower and one with tub). 34 Seaview has just the right amount of living and storage space to sit back and enjoy the good life on the beach in Montecito.

has already launched two clinical trials with two more on the way, just seven years after the nonprofit was founded. The key has been to focus its cancer prevention discovery model on drug repurposing strategy, knowing that developing novel therapies costs billions and takes close to 15 years, with a failure rate of more than 90 percent. For a rare disease like RUNX1-FPD – with both an active patient community and an extreme sense of urgency – RRP needed to implement alternative paths to discovering treatments. The nonprofit’s current trials are testing existing medicines, often those that are cheaper generic versions, that can help make treatments more accessible to people everywhere.

RRP funded 24 research projects that either tested existing medicines or found specific cell problems due to RUNX1 mutations that could be treated with an existing medicine. As a result of these efforts, two drugs – Imatinib and Sirolimus – have moved from the bench to bedside within the last 12 months, while two additional drugs – Etanercept and Ruxolitinib – have emerged as potential treatment candidates.

Price adjusted to $3,780,000

Monica and Tim Babich with the RRP Team outside of their offices in Santa Barbara (courtesy photo)

Dear Montecito Mason Lender: Who Finds the Unicorns?

by Stella Haffner

This week I spoke to Mason Lender, the 23-year-old founder of an alternative investing company powered by artificial intelligence. Mason grew up here in Santa Barbara, attending Crane Country Day School and Santa Barbara High School before packing his bags to start as an undergraduate in Statistics & Data Science and Global Affairs at Yale University. In our conversation Mason explains how he found his way into the world of financial tech, how his mind works as a young entrepreneur, and what his company Vantager means for private market investing.

Q. How did you choose to study data science?

A. I was always obsessed with probability and prediction. Growing up, I was fascinated with different probability games. My family played this one called Liar’s Dice, and I was just fixated with it. I would try to find a way to have an edge on my family members, so I could win and choose what we ate for dessert or whatever the reward was. That’s when I remember starting to think about probability. I would look at the dice and think: “Okay, there are six sides to this die, and all of us have five dice under that table, that means if everything is truly random, I might expect these many of a certain die to be under the cups.” With more practice, I started thinking about other factors, like the fact that my brother doesn’t lie, and he was therefore likely to give certain answers. I kind of created some methodology to the madness.

It sounds like you were putting together a type of statistical model.

My mind kind of works like that. For every decision I make, I attribute an expected value. When I think of the stakeholders in my company, my family members, my friends, my girlfriend – I try to create the best outcome. What decision will lead to the highest expected value for me and everyone else around me? It’s an optimization game. Every aspect of my life is like that. In high school, I loved sports and played tennis. There are a lot of probabilities and statistics that exist within tennis. Thinking about it this way consumes me. It’s how I live.

So you have been developing this style of thinking and reasoning since you were a kid –did anything change when you started college?

I looked for areas where I could flex my mind and train it as much as I could. I know I wanted to work in a field or in a job where I could use statistics, probability, and data science as much as I could. I took four internships during high school and college to be able to learn more about this area. My first big step into the finance world was my internship with McKinsey where I really got to start developing my skills for the first time. There I learned about how large organizations worked while working with a large client. They had revenues of a billion dollars, and here I was as a college student helping them target strategic mergers and acquisitions. I realized I could bring my data background both for prediction but also for data visualization to make more informed decisions. You can tell so many stories with the same data.

It sounds like you were given a lot of responsibility in these internships! You must have felt well prepared to be independent by the time you were graduating.

Mason (right) presenting with his business partner, Nicolas Neven (courtesy photo)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2024 WHO WILL GO ON TO ATTEND SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST DISTINGUISHED COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF THEIR COLLEGE ACCEPTANCES.

LAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL

Agnes Scott College / American University / Arizona State University / Auburn University / Azusa Pacific University / Bates College / Baylor University / Bennington College / Boston College / Boston University / Bucknell University / Cal Poly Humboldt / California Lutheran University / California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo) / California State Polytechnic University (Pomona) / California State University (Long Beach) / California State University (Monterey Bay) / Carnegie Mellon University / Case Western Reserve University / Catholic University of America / Chapman University / Claremont McKenna College (3) / Clark University / College of Charleston / Colorado School of Mines / Connecticut College / Denison University / DePaul University / Drexel University / Duke University / Emerson College / Florida International University / Fordham University / George Washington University / Georgia Institute of Technology / Goldsmiths, University of London / Gonzaga University / Harvard University / Hawai’i Pacific University / Indiana University (Bloomington) / Iowa State University / Ithaca College / Kenyon College / Lawrence University / Lehigh University / Lewis & Clark College / Louisiana State University / Loyola Marymount University / Loyola University Chicago / Loyola University New Orleans / Luther College / Massachusetts College of Art and Design / McGill University / Miami University (Oxford) / Michigan State University / Montana State University / New York University / Northeastern University (3) / Oberlin College / Occidental College / Otis College of Art and Design / Oxford College of Emory University / Pace University / Penn State University (University Park) / Pepperdine University / Pratt Institute / Purdue University / Reed College / Regent’s University London / Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute / Richmond American University London / Rochester Institute of Technology / Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology / San Diego State University / San Jose State University / Santa Barbara City College / Santa Clara University / Santa Monica College / Sarah Lawrence College / Savannah College of Art and Design / Scripps College / Seton Hall University / Southern Methodist University (4) / St. John’s University / Stanford University / Suffolk University / Syracuse University / Texas Christian University / The Ohio State University / The University of Alabama / The University of Tampa / Trinity College / Tufts University / Tulane University of Louisiana / University College Dublin / University College Roosevelt / University of Arizona / University of California (Berkeley) (6) / University of California (Davis) / University of California (Irvine) / University of California (Los Angeles) / University of California (Merced) / University of California (Riverside) / University of California (San Diego) / University of California (Santa Barbara) / University of California (Santa Cruz) / University of Colorado Boulder (2) / University of Connecticut / University of Dayton / University of Delaware / University of Denver / University of Florida / University of Hawai’i at Mānoa / University of Idaho / University of Iowa / University of La Verne / University of Miami (3) / University of Mississippi / University of Oregon / University of Pennsylvania / University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh) / University of Portland / University of Puget Sound / University of Richmond / University of Rochester / University of San Diego / University of San Francisco / University of Southern California / University of St Andrews / University of Utah / University of Vermont / University of Washington (Seattle Campus) / University of Westminster / University of Wisconsin (Madison) / Vassar College / Washington University in St. Louis / Wesleyan University / Westmont College / Willamette University / Yale University / York University

RESPONSIBLE FINANCES ENSURE

CONTINUED WATER RELIABILITY

The District remains committed to prudent financial planning and keeping pace with water system improvements in the face of inflation.

WATER RATE UPDATE: WHAT’S NEXT?

JUNE 25

JULY 2024

Public hearing, 9:30 a.m., to consider adopting proposed rates

New rates go into effect if approved by District Board

Scan or visit www.montecitowater.com/Rates24 for a short video, an online bill calculator, and more information.

583 San Ysidro Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108

805.969.2271

Your Westmont Storytellers Shine at LEAD Conference

Kristin King Joins the Law Firm of Price, Postel & Parma LLP

Price, Postel & Parma LLP has welcomed Kristin King to the firm’s litigation practice group. King will provide counsel and representation in the wide range of civil and business litigation matters handled by the firm. Before joining Price Postel & Parma, Ms. King served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Brian Hill at the Santa Barbara Superior Court. As a judicial law clerk, Ms. King honed her skills in legal research and writing which assisted Judge Hill in making decisions regarding various issues.

Ms. King is a new admittee to the State Bar of California. She received her B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2012 and her J.D. from the Santa Barbara Colleges of Law in 2024.

PP&P has a wide array of practice areas and is at the forefront of legal services in both traditional and contemporary practice areas. Every client matters.

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

Westmont’s Lead Where You Stand Conference delivered inspirational stories, helpful advice, and insightful conversation for the 173 attendees with the goal of “Pursuing the Greater Good in Challenging Times” from June 5-6 at the Montecito college. It featured keynote speakers Marcus ‘Goodie’ Goodloe, Dr. Charity Dean, Matthew Luhn, Gayle D. Beebe, David Brooks, Jeff Schloss, and Kim Denu “Storytelling has the power to transform leadership by building trust, driving meaningful change, and altering the DNA of an organization,” said Reed Sheard, vice president for college advancement and chief information officer advancement and IT, who kicked off the conference, which is sponsored by the Montecito Institute for Executive Leadership. “Through storytelling, leaders can shape the understanding and trajectory of their organization, creating a lasting impact on its success.”

Goodloe, author, mentor and Westmont trustee, examined Martin Luther King Jr.’s

“I Have a Dream” speech and extracted the lessons of that day in 1963 in Washington, D.C. “At its core, leadership is the ability to move people from here to there,” Goodloe said. “Leadership advances people beyond their physical, emotional, and spiritual capacities in order to create something beautiful.”

MLK stuck with “I have a Dream,” though his followers had heard versions of it before and some considered it trite or cliché. Goodloe quoted Stephen Covey, the late author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, who said: “Repetition is the mother of learning and the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”

“By repeating key points, you increase the chances of your audience retaining the information and acting upon it,” Goodloe says. “People are naturally reticent to change. We often need to be exposed to a new idea or concept multiple times before we are willing to accept it.”

The success of MLK’s speech was also dependent on those he had invited to join the cause, including the Coalition of

Your Westmont Page 364

Marcus “Goodie” Goodloe extracted leadership lessons from MLK’s “I Have a Dream”

Dr. Charity Dean’s company is preparing for the next biological threat

HOME IS OUR FAVORITE DESTINATION

Brilliant Thoughts

Batter Up

by Ashleigh Brilliant

There is a certain piece of literature which is dear to the hearts of many people who don’t generally love poetry, and who also possibly have no interest in organized sports, such as baseball. It is a poem which celebrates both hero-worship and disappointment.

The work in question is, “CASEY AT THE BAT.” It describes a baseball game from a certain moment (in sports lingo, it is “the bottom of the Ninth, with the bases loaded”) critical to the climax of the game. We see everything from the viewpoint of the 5,000 spectators, who are naturally rooting for their Home team – “Home,” in this case, being a place called Mudville.

As the narrative opens, the situation looks so desperate that some of the crowd are already leaving. But those who remain have their hopes pinned on Casey. The tension builds as Casey, with superb confidence, has one strike called against him – then two. We know, just as all his supporters know, “that Casey wouldn’t let that ball go by again.”

There is a sense of authenticity in the narrative, as it describes certain team members’ well-known mannerisms, such as a pitcher’s tendency, as part of his wind-up, to grind the ball into his hip, and some batter’s habit of rubbing his hands with dirt, and then wiping them on his shirt.

So, what happens? I will have to let the last stanza speak for itself:

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,

The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light; And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout, But there is no joy in Mudville –mighty Casey has struck out.

Whenever any words are quoted from this poem, they are most likely to be “there is no joy in Mudville.” It was the failure of a Hero.

Who wrote this – and what else do we know about him? Some of the answers may surprise you. The author was Ernest Thayer. He wrote it when he was a young man of 25. He lived to be 77, and did much other writing, mostly journalistic – but “Casey” is the only thing for which he is known or remembered. He was a graduate of Harvard and was active in student publications. One of his classmates was William Randolph Hearst, who became a media magnate, with a whole chain of newspapers. One of the first was the San Francisco Examiner, for which Hearst asked Thayer to write an occasional piece. The very last piece he submitted, in 1888, before retiring to follow other interests, was “Casey at the Bat.” Somehow this bit of verse (for which Thayer was paid $5) captured the public’s imagination and attained immense popularity. There was even one stage performer who made a career of reciting it, which he did thousands of times.

But Thayer himself, instead of relishing this chance of great fame, tried to shrug it off. For many years, if anybody wanted to interview him, he refused to discuss Casey. He travelled extensively, and, at home in Lawrence, Massachusetts, involved himself in his family’s wool business.

But in later years he came to accept his glorious reputation, even though it was based on just one poem. In 1912, after he met his future wife, the widow Rosalind Buell of Montecito, they settled here. They were quite prominent socially, and during World War I Thayer led campaigns for “Liberty Loans.” They both lived to the year 1940, and are buried in Santa Barbara Cemetery. I haven’t seen the marker, but doubt very much if it mentions “Casey.”

Of other interesting examples of creators now known for only one creation, two are among my own favorite pieces of music. The name of Enrico Toselli, a prolific Italian pianist and composer, is today preserved only in “Toselli’s Serenade.” And Franz von Suppé of Austria, who produced over 100 operettas, is today justly world famous, but only for his Overture to an operetta called “The Light Cavalry.”

The same fate, I’m afraid, may be awaiting my own works. After writing and publishing ten thousand original epigrams (with none ever longer than 17 words), the only one (if any) that I’m likely to be remembered for is the one I made the title of my first book: “I MAY NOT BE TOTALLY PERFECT, BUT PARTS OF ME ARE EXCELLENT.”

If I’d been hoping for a broader reputation, I can only feel a sort of kinship with “Casey,” and to have produced no joy in Mudville.

Ashleigh Brilliant born England 1933, came to California in 1955, to Santa Barbara in 1973, to the Montecito Journal in 2016. Best-known for his illustrated epigrams, called “Pot-Shots,” now a series of 10,000. email: ashleigh@west. net. web: www.ash leighbrilliant.com.

Getting better never stops.

Dance series

- Save 20%Cloud Gate

Dance Theatre of Taiwan 13 Tongues

Sat, Nov 2 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

Dorrance Dance

The Nutcracker Suite

Music Arranged by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn Thu, Dec 5 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre

Twyla Tharp Dance

Diamond Jubilee

Featuring Third Coast Percussion

Tue, Feb 11 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

Batsheva Dance Company MOMO

Tue, Feb 25 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

Akram Khan Company

GIGENIS, the generation of the Earth Thu, Apr 10 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

Alvin Ailey

American Dance Theater Tue, Apr 15 & Wed, Apr 16 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

(Single

- Save 20% -

Snarky Puppy Tue, Oct 1 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre

Lakecia Benjamin and Phoenix Fri, Feb 7 / 8 PM / Campbell Hall

Hiromi’s Sonicwonder Fri, Apr 25 / 8 PM / Campbell Hall

Wynton Marsalis Ensemble

LOUIS: A Silent Film with Live Musical Performance Sat, May 17 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre

Elizabeth’s Appraisals

St. Anthony’s Altar Candelabra

by Elizabeth Stewart

In the late 1920s, throughout California, towns and cities saw a boom in a certain symbolic style of architectural decoration; we will recognize the style when we visit San Diego’s Balboa Park, or San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts. Santa Barbara contributed to his style in perhaps the most distinctive sculptural work, located in the rarely seen St. Anthony Chapel on Garden Street. I had a private moment in that 1927 Chapel, as my client SM from the St. Anthony’s Community asked me to appraise their altar candelabra. They turned out to be reproductions of 18th c. style sticks, not worth more than $400-500 the pair. But they were not my focal point!

Formerly a Seminary, when sold by the Franciscans the property became the Garden Street Academy. Now the property is being sold again. Though the St. Anthony’s Community has celebrated mass in that chapel since 1968 – when the Franciscan fathers opened the previously private chapel and invited the public to join them – the present group of worshippers, an inclusive Catholic community, must leave.

The Chapel’s centerpiece is the Reredos, the highly ornamental and symbolic structure behind the altar. The style is a combination of Spanish Renaissance style 16th c. plateresque (in the style of ornate silversmithing) and the mystery, mannerism, and exoticism of the late 1920s. There’s also an element of “set design” prevalent in this era of silent film. This reredos, huge at 22 feet x 38 feet, is a gem. It has close cousins in San Diego, but nothing as impressive as

the back wall of the St. Anthony Chapel in Santa Barbara.

The work was designed by architect Ross Montgomery, who was charged with rebuilding the Chapel and other buildings after the 1925 earthquake; he requested the well-known cast stone sculptor Christian Mueller, who had just completed his beautiful façade for the 1926 San Diego Museum of Art, then called the Fine Arts Gallery. Montgomery re-designed the St. Antony Chapel for the Franciscan Friars in the Romanesque style with an Italian Renaissance campanile at 160 feet high, visible for miles. Work on Mueller’s show-stopping sculptural façade for the San Diego Museum of Art – produced in concert with the great San Diego architect William Templeton Johnson (1877-1950) –began in 1922, the museum opening February 28, 1926.

To that façade, Mueller added life size figures of Spanish Old Master painters Velazquez, Murillo, and Zurbaran, and included a small Michelangelo’s David. He also added such heraldic devices as the coats of arms of Spain, the USA, California, and San Diego. Christian Mueller lived in Burbank and had an apprentice – his 20-yearold son Chris Mueller. Father and son worked together on the massive “clam shell” fan over the San Diego Museum’s entryway. (Note the underwater themes Chris Mueller developed later in his career). Mueller, senior and

junior, then had the rest of 1926 to devote to Santa Barbara’s St. Anthony’s Chapel reredos. Completed on May 27, 1927, the chapel was consecrated – by Friar and Seminary Rector Theophilus Richardt – as “Christ the King Chapel.”

Elder Mueller’s career in cast stone, which is actually a type of poured and molded concrete, extended to Federal and State buildings in Sacramento, St. Paul’s Cathedral in Chicago, Sacred Heart and St. Ignatius Churches in San Francisco, and the architect Betram Goodhue’s 1918 Park Avenue Church, St. Bartholomew. As Mueller’s son Chris developed as an artist, he was recruited for Hollywood films in the 1950s, sculpting the giant squid for the 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea , and sculpting the title character for The Creature from the Black Lagoon . In the 1960s he designed Disney’s Haunted Mansion, Florida’s Disney Palace, and Disney’s Jungle Boat ride. In the 1970s he returned to San Diego’s Balboa Park, where he would restore and repair 1920sera architectural elements his father had been obliged to produce with that day’s meager support of hay and wood. Chris Mueller Jr.’s masterpiece is the restoration of the decorative architecture of Carleton Winslow’s (1876-1946) Panama California International Exposition Food and Beverage Building (1915-16). For that effort, Mueller Jr. created a permanent installation of the old plaster palace, which was renamed the Casa del Prado in 1970.

You’ll remember the pair of 80-foottall towers that once flanked the entrances to the Chris Mueller Jr.’s redesigned Casa del Prado. Mueller Jr. began his career under the eyes of his dad at St. Anthony’s Chapel in Santa Barbara. The great architectural tradition visible behind the altar, uniquely Californian, continues to fascinate in its symbolism. For example, note the large white unadorned disc in the middle of the reredos: that is the wafer, which after Consecration, is the body of Christ. The tree is a reference to Adam and Eve.

Elizabeth Stewart, PhD is a veteran appraiser of fine art, furniture, glass, and other collectibles, and a cert. member of the AAA and an accr. member of the ASA. Please send any objects to be appraised to Elizabethappraisals@ gmail.com

The altar at St. Anthony Chapel in Santa Barbara

RE Update Village Properties Expands with New Commercial Real Estate Division

by MJ Staff

Village Properties, the largest independent real estate company in the Santa Barbara area, has launched a new division focused on commercial properties, the company recently announced.

The Village Properties Commercial Group will provide specialized representation to clients looking to buy or sell multi-family dwellings, retail spaces, mixed-use buildings, and land for development or agriculture.

“The Commercial Group expands on Village Properties’ bread-and-butter business of personal residences, second homes, and residential investments,” said Renee Grubb, owner of Village Properties.

“Since its founding almost three decades ago, the agency has become the top-producing independently owned real estate company in the Santa Barbara area.”

Grubb said the new division, backed by a team of experienced commercial real estate agents, will allow the firm to provide a more holistic approach to serving clients.

“Commercial division clients will have the opportunity to leverage Village Properties’ extensive network as well as the company’s marketing and creative edge,” Grubb explained. “They will benefit from the firm’s vast experience in marketing properties regionally, domestically and even internationally across a variety of mediums including print, digital and social platforms.”

The company stated the Commercial Group will connect clients with additional in-house services, such as new construction and land development advisory, estate representation, and farm and ranch properties.

“We are very excited to offer this new, dedicated commercial service to our clients,” Grubb said. “While we have worked with commercial property owners for many years, this new division will enable these clients to receive the most tailored and comprehensive support from our specialized agents to achieve their commercial real estate goals.”

Village Properties has over 180 agents and affiliations with distinguished global brokerages including Forbes Global Properties.

Title IX truly changed everything for girls! We must be vigilant and continue to fight for the hard-won civil rights of girls and women. Mothers, bring your daughters to this positive and inspirational community event, which celebrates sports for our daughters – and granddaughters.

Alice Post

Stewards of the Hot Springs

An introduction to this newly formed volunteer group is needed as the Montecito Hot Springs has become the hot spot for many who want to enjoy the beauty of nature while hiking a well-established trail and a healing soak in the cluster of pools constructed using the natural materials at hand.

Our grassroots group has taken on the job of ensuring that diverse groups of people can access the pools in a safe and respectful way. We are dedicated locals who put our skills to use in doing a variety of tasks to help create a positive experience for all. In order to accomplish this, we create helpful signage which informs the public as to personal trash disposal, safety issues and also an historical overview of the region and its importance as a destination for hundreds of years. We are putting up some signage that was put in place by the Santa Barbara Land Trust regarding the local history of the area. This signage was destroyed during the Thomas Fire and ensuing mudslide.

We also work closely with local environmental groups as well as law enforcement and the fire district. Some of our most recent accomplishments include alerting the Montecito Fire District as to a couple of incidents involving persons camping out overnight with open fire pits. The Fire District acted immediately to remove these persons with a harsh warning. Some of our members work tirelessly to clean up the trails as well as the parking areas both at the trailhead and along Mountain Drive and Riven Rock. Our sincere hope is that our working on this together will facilitate a collective ownership of this unique place and that it may be preserved as a place where we connect with nature, each other, and provide a learning experience for our children and generations to come.

Sincerely,

The Stewards of the Hot Springs

Can you hear me now?

Montecito is one of the most exquisite and affluent communities in California, across the United States, and globally. We shoulder these privileges through exorbitant real estate prices, hefty taxes,

and high costs of living.

Why, then, do we endure such abysmal mobile signal quality, riddled with frequent dropouts across our community? Why is this part of the daily Montecito experience?

This is a collective frustration. We all grapple with this exceedingly inadequate and feeble mobile signal that plagues all carriers within our cherished Montecito.

The ramifications are numerous, including the critical issue of potentially being unable to access essential contacts and services during emergencies.

I would bet money that I know how we got here. It went something like this:

Mobile Carrier Companies (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc.): “Hello Montecito, we’ve identified eight sites in 93108 where we’d like to install towers to enhance your community’s mobile experience. Each tower is designed to blend into your surroundings seamlessly, and we can install them at no cost to your residents.”

Some group with “authority”: “Absolutely not. We require an environmental impact study, we’re worried about 5G, and we refuse to have our pristine views altered by you in any way. Goodbye.”

Mobile Carrier Companies: “OK, bye. We have plenty of locations that DO want better signal and aren’t as short-sighted as you. Let us know if you change your mind.”

The euphemisms NIMBY, “cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face,” and “self-sabotage” come to mind.

Thus, here we are, enduring a frustrating mobile signal experience - EVERY - SINGLE - DAY.

Let’s turn this around and make our community experience BETTER.

What are the drawbacks?

- 5G Fears? Unfounded. Mobile signals are non-ionizing. More radiation impacts your body during ONE cross-country flight than a lifetime spent near a mobile tower.

- Tower unsightliness? C’mon. We have power lines and cable towers everywhere already. Is that really going to make your life worse with a few more?

- Construction inconvenience? Once more, really? Construction equals progress, and installing towers constitutes a mere fraction of the daily activities in 93108.

This problem is not going to fix itself –it requires action.

So, what do we do to get started? Let’s bring the mobile companies back in for a visit and help them help us. Let’s do this!

Sincerely,

Brett Morrison

Montecito Resident since 2018

Village Properties has launched a new division focused on commercial properties

On Entertainment Getting Close with the Tearaways

by Steven Libowitz

Concerts in the Park is a long-cherished Santa Barbara institution, a summertime frolic featuring free live music on the Great Meadow in Chase Palm Park along Santa Barbara’s waterfront on Cabrillo Blvd. The gently-sloping hill facing the permanent concrete stage (often the setting for weddings and other private functions) provides sensational sightlines and surroundings with palm trees and ocean views, and there’s even a designated dancing area in front of the stage.

No wonder thousands show up for each show in the annual series that began back in 2000.

But despite its longevity and popularity, the concert series isn’t nearly as established as the first act appearing this summer. That would be the Tearaways, the power popsters who have been making music together in town since the early 1980s, and still play many of their gigs locally despite an international reputation. The truth is, their sound – a high-energy, harmony-filled dou-

ble dose of vocals with twin guitars, bass, and drums, described as British Invasion meets the California Sound with a touch of the Ramones, Clash, and Blondie –hasn’t changed a whole lot over the years, although perhaps the subject matter has matured along with the band.

“We play with this youthful vibe, the angst of a young person,” said John Finseth, aka Fin, who has spearheaded the band with fellow locals Greg Brallier and David Hekhouse since 1989.

“We still sing hard, and hit the strings hard. But I think our songwriting has improved, we’re not still singing about our first girlfriends in high school.”

What has also changed is the drummer, when, after a hand injury sidelined the band’s original drummer, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Clem Burke, the longtime stick-man of Blondie, signed on in 1997 after hearing the Tearaways when they were both on a bill at a club in Malibu.

“He told us, ‘You guys (Fin and Greg) sing unbelievably! How do you do that? I’ve never been in a band where guys can sing like that. If you want me, I’m in,”

Finseth recalled, adding “It’s always been that way ever since we first sang together. It just comes out of our mouths.”

Burke’s first gig was in Liverpool at the annual Beatles Week celebration, where the Tearaways were inducted into the event’s Hall of Fame in the mid-2000s. His first stateside show with the Tearaways came when the band last played Chase Palm for Concerts in the Park in 2018.

The band has long counted other luminaries from the entertainment field as fans, including Tom Hanks, who Finseth said has hired the Tearaways for about 20 private gigs, and media personalities Arsenio Hall and Piers Morgan. They’ve performed and received radio airplay all over the world. But there’s something special about playing at home in front of a big hometown crowd, who likely haven’t heard a lot of tracks from their new album, And for our Next Trick Produced by Ed Stasium (Ramones, Talking Heads, Smithereens, etc.), the album features Burke, and Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench on keyboards.

“We’re over the moon to play for all our friends in our hometown,” Finseth said. “We’ll play stuff from the new album, and songs that are going to be on a new retrospective record. There’s something from the Beatles catalog, some Hollies, and other songs that are very pop oriented. We’re just going to have a lot of fun and party.”

Concerts in the Park used to be a full evening affair, with the bands playing two sets

between 6-8:30 pm every Thursday for a full two months. For a few years, things scaled back to just a single 90-minute set over just four weeks of shows. But a fifth week has been added to the 2024 schedule, as well as a new aspect of as-yet unnamed opening acts taking the stage around 5 pm to warm up the crowd for the headliners’ 6-7:30 pm sets.

In an all-local lineup, the Tearaways June 27 show is followed by Ventura cover band Brittney & The B-Sides (July 11), Santa Barbara’s party band perennials Area 51 (July 18), Latin jazz band Mezcal Martini (July 25) and ‘80s hard rock cover band Echoswitch (August 8). Blankets and chairs reserving space may be set out once staff have completed set up, usually by 11 am. Outside food and drinks are allowed and will also be available for purchase, but alcohol is prohibited. As with all public parks, Chase Palm is smoke- and vape-free. Please also leave pets at home.

Visit www.SantaBarbaraCA.gov/Concerts

Steven Libowitz has covered a plethora of topics for the Journal since 1997, and now leads our extensive arts and entertainment coverage

The Tearaways open the Concerts in the Park series on June 27 (courtesy photo)

have received full MAW productions in the past. Also on the program are less frequently performed works, such as Menotti’s Maria Golovin and the slate’s newest offering, Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera Florencia en el Amazonas

“It’s like a directing playground for me,” Cameron said. “There’s scenes in Russian, Italian, German, French, and English. It was really fun to approach 12 very different moments in 12 very different operas and try to figure out how to weave them together. It’s been great to pull them together with these really incredible young singers who are willing to jump in and play around and figure things out with me.”

Cameron said the connecting thread came from noticing similarities between some of these theatrical elements of the pieces, particularly a card game that takes place in two of them, and two that make references to wearing a costume from commedia dell’arte

“I realized I shouldn’t ignore these coincidences, but find a way to tie them together,” they said.

The answer came in the form of a prop that gets passed off during the transitions between each of the scenes, including the deck of cards and other items.

“It’s like the Marvel cinematic universe where all of the movies are actually connected in one way or another,” they said. “We’ve created our own Music Academy operatic universe, which offers a sense of flow and connection instead of just little chunks that make no sense together.”

And it also makes sense because, with the Academy having axed the traditional first vocal masterclass that consisted of every singer and pianist performing without coaching, Opera Scenes represents the first time that the MAW audience will get to hear most of the singer and pianist fellows in this year’s Lehrer Vocal Institute (LVI).

The tactic should also offer extra excitement to opera buffs familiar with the pieces, Cameron said.

“They can have a fun moment of watching two characters from two completely different operas interact and think about what that would be like.”

But no knowledge of the canon is necessary to enjoy the music, acting and staging, as well as the more subtle theme tying the pieces together – the various aspects of love, Cameron said.

“We’re exploring the question of what would you do for love? And we get to see a lot of different versions of love play out – new love, blossoming love, passion and sacrifice, and eventually finding your way back to each other.”

Which comes in the finale from Figaro, which features the entire roster of 20 singers in a joyful, up-tempo number

alum and longtime faculty member who also taught at UCSB for 13 years early on (1:30 pm; Weinman Hall; $10).

that Cameron said is a whole lot of fun.

“I want it to be a joyful evening,” Cameron said. “I want people to laugh. I want them to feel moved. It’s all about making opera welcoming and accessible.”

Thursday, June 20: More instrumental studios make their masterclass debuts this afternoon with performance-coaching sessions in Bassoon led by Chicago Symphony’s Dennis Michel (1:30 pm; Weinman Hall; $10) and Trombone & Tuba with Mark Lawrence, the San Francisco Symphony’s principal trombonist for 34 years (3:30 pm; Weinman Hall; $10). Vibrancy also comes from masterclass in violin with Bing Wang, the Los Angeles Phil’s Associate Concertmaster since 1994 (1:30 pm; Hahn Hall; $10), and Lehrer Vocal Institute’s singers and vocal pianists with Tamar Sanikidze, a former winner of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Award for Excellence in Vocal Accompanying who now heads MAW’s Vocal Piano studio (3:30 pm; Hahn Hall; $10)... Tonight brings the season’s first X2 (Times Two) concert, which pairs professional teaching artists with one or more fellows in chamber music concerts. Head to Hahn Hall for the Takács Quartet’s final event of their 2024 residency when a piano fellow gets the honors for a program featuring Henri Brod’s Duo from Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor, Op. 55”; Schumann’s “Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 63”; and Dvořák’s “Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 81.” The Takács earned standing ovations at the Lobero last week, including one following their delightful encore, so snap up remaining tickets soon (7:30 pm; $45).

Friday, June 21: The final two studios show off in their debut masterclass, with Oboe led by the enviably elegant Eugene Izotov, the principal oboist of the San Francisco Symphony, whose playing has alternatively been called luminous, lyrical, and fiery (1:30 pm; Lehmann Hall; $10), and Double Bass with the internationally decorated Nico Abondolo, a 1980s MAW

Saturday, June 22: The 2024 Academy Fellows Orchestra makes its debut under the baton of the great Osmo Vänskä, the Finnish conductor who is the former music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. Joined by vocal fellows Meg Brilleslyper (mezzo-soprano) and Michael Segura (baritone) in one of MAW’s continued collaborations between LVI and the instrumental studios, the 90-member strong ensemble will perform Wagner’s Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) and “Symphony No. 2, Op. 43,” by Vänskä’s countryman, Jean Sibelius. If this summer’s symphony orchestra follows in its predecessor’s footsteps, we’re in for a treat, even for those accustomed to hearing CAMA’s touring world-class orchestras (7:30 pm; Granada Theatre; $18-$115).

Tuesday, June 24: People are still pulsing pleasurably from the Percussion Fest performance at Hahn Hall last weekend, and today brings the singular masterclass this summer conducted by Joseph Pereira, the Principal Timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2008,

and a composer, conductor and soloist in his own right (3:30 pm; Hahn Hall; $10)... Call in 2X5: Tonight’s first Teaching Artists Showcase of the season offers a sumptuous selection of sonatas including Debussy’s “Sonata for Cello and Piano” ( Alan Stepansky , cello; Natasha Kislenko, piano) Hindemith’s “Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11, No. 4” (Richard O’Neill, viola; Margaret McDonald, piano), George Walker’s “Sonata for Cello and Piano” (Seth Parker Woods, cello; Conor Hanick, piano), Bottesini’s “Elegy No. 1” (Nico Abondolo , double bass; McDonald, piano) and Beethoven’s “No. 10 for Piano and Violin in G Major, Op. 96” (Martin Beaver , violin; Jonathan Feldman , piano). (7:30 pm; Hahn Hall; $40)

Wednesday, June 25: MAW’s Salon Series, subtitled Intimate Soundscapes because it takes place in the one-time Miraflores estate’s banquet hall following a pre-concert wine reception, features the fellows in often esoteric programming they likely wouldn’t be exposed to elsewhere. The season kickoff features Christopher Cerrone’s “New Addresses,” Ned Rorem’s “Ariel: Five Poems of Sylvia Plath,” and Valerie Coleman’s “AfroCuban Concerto.” (7:30 pm; Lehmann Hall; $45)

The

Lifelong memories are the destination.

The festival’s first X2 event is this Thursday, June 20th (photo by Zach Mendez)

interior designer Corinna Gordon, who died from lung cancer two years ago, also filmed a video before she moved to more heavenly pastures.

Corinna, who was at school with the late Sir David Frost’s wife Lady Carina Fitzalan-Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, was also a good friend of Lord Julian Fellowes, Oscar-winning writer of Downton Abbey and the film Gosford Park. LifeChronicles has traveled to 430 cities to film more than 2,000 videos in its lifetime.

Award-winning artist and playwright Rod Lathim, looking gloriously Teutonic in a blonde wig, auctioned off a fourhour sailing tour of the coast for $1,100, a custom life legacy video for $2,400, and a stay at a nine-bedroom villa in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for $16,000.

Supporters turning out included Lynda Weinman, Diana Starr Langley, Christine Emmons, Laura Capps, Heidi Holly, Carol Marsch, Jan Ingram, and Marilyn Gilbert

Tara Zanecki presenting the cake to John while thanking La Boheme ladies for their song and dance (photo by Priscilla)

A Fully ‘Stached Bash

Ubiquitous KEYT-TV reporter John Palminteri, who has worked for the TV Hill ABC affiliate since 1988, celebrated this 67th birthday with a socially grid-

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Ask about our group reservations for private day

locked bash with 70 friends at the events locale The Bungalow, owned by John Savage on De La Vina Street.

Hosted by Tara Zanecki , Crystal Iverson, Adam McKaig, Rick Oshay and Teresa Kuskey libations were provided by Gretchen Lieff, Fred Brander, Cutler Artisanal Spirits and Island Brewing of Carpinteria, with food by Creative Services Catering.

Teresa’s La Boheme Dancers provided the gloriously camp entertainment while award-winning DJ Darla Bea spun the discs, with guitarist Maitland Ward and actress Tiffany Story doing a parody of past hits focusing on John’s trademark moustache.

Among those feting the birthday boy were Fritz and Gretchen Olenberger, Oscar Gutierrez, Joey Souza, Drew Wakefield , Erik Davis , Mark Whitehurst and Kerry Methner.

Down to Business

For the second consecutive year, the South Coast Business & Technology Awards ceremony at the Hilton grossed record proceeds on behalf of the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara.

Eight standout organizations and indi-

viduals were honored during the 500guest event, which grossed $313,450 with net proceeds benefitting the foundation and recognized innovation, leadership, and success in the area’s business and technology sectors.

This year’s honorees included Zohar Ziv with the Pioneer Award, the news website Noozhawk for Excellence in Service, Jackie Carrera of the Santa Barbara Foundation as Executive of the Miscellany Page 424

Honorees Harry and Judi Weisbart with Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps (photo by Priscilla)

Maitland Ward, Drew Wakefield, Diane Howard, hosts Rick Oshay and Teresa Kuskey, and Angelique and Erik Davis with birthday boy John Palminteri and Tara Zanecki (photo by Priscilla)

The group getting ready to serenade birthday boy John with his celebratory song (photo by Priscilla)

Jess Parker, Donna Weidl, Matt Rowe, and Andrew Firestone (photo by Jay Farbman)

After that summer at McKinsey, I thought: “Okay, I have learned all these different things, I am going to use my last year here at Yale to explore and find out what makes me tick.” So I started doing lots of reading and research on startups and venture capital investing. This was partially inspired by my time at McKinsey, but also just as a kid I had always been fascinated learning about the world of startups. You hear different stories about people dropping out of university and building these massive companies from their garage. So I started doing my own research and decided I wanted to write my thesis at Yale leveraging statistical predictive analyses. I read a great book by Ali Tamaseb called Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups. It focuses on analyzing Unicorn Founders. A Unicorn Founder is someone who has built a company that is worth over a billion dollars. Tamaseb’s analysis looks at how they are different from other founders.

You mean an analysis of their personality?

More of a holistic analysis of the individual. There are these notions for instance that successful startup founders drop out of college. People might think, “Oh I have to drop out of college to build a company.” I found it fascinating. I reached out and spoke to Tamaseb about some of my own ideas, then I came back and I started to write my own piece, which looked at the other side of the table. I looked at venture capitalists themselves and asked: Which venture capital partners are actually outliers in identifying incredible startups? Who finds the Unicorns?

In my research, I learned a lot about myself and my capabilities. Producing a research paper like this isn’t an easy feat, and at times you’re banging your head against a wall, and you want to stop. But you’re driven to continue. I set out, and I wrote this piece, and it was eventually published on Crunchbase.

That’s amazing! So other people can go read about your work?

Yes, and I have actually gotten a lot of interest in my research. After publishing the article, I spoke to many venture capitalists who were interested in the research. And my professor, with whom I was doing the research, introduced me to a partner at a venture capital firm called Entrepreneur First. We got coffee together while I was still in school, she told me about what they do, and I was enthralled.

Entrepreneur First is a Europe-based firm that prides themselves on being the first investor in exceptional talent to build startups from scratch. They bring talent together to develop their most ambitious ideas and provide them with support to foster that. I had some chats with them and some interviews and eventually I decided to join their program.

So what happened next?

I moved to New York to be a part of their first inaugural U.S. cohort, where my co-founder, Nicolas Neven, and I began building Vantager.

How did you two actually come up with the idea for Vantager?

I was always still working with the models and the data I had scraped from my thesis. When Nico and I talked and I learned about his background in artificial intelligence, we realized there was a big overlap in our interests and a potential whitespace, and we decided to run with our idea.

Our mission for Vantager was to make safer private markets for investors. We leverage artificial intelligence to augment investment teams through bespoke risk assessment, due diligence, and reporting, so that they can work with greater confidence and efficiency.

What does that mean – augmenting investment teams?

We are augmenting but not replacing. Investors don’t want somebody to do the job for them because ultimately, they need to make the decision. Vantager’s AI supports them in their unique processes by leveraging the data they have to operate optimally.

What has been your biggest challenge in being a founder?

Every day is so different and brings its unique challenges. You have to work very hard to create the future you dream of. But as difficult as it is, it’s exciting. Vantager has gotten a lot of interest and has changed greatly since its inception. We’ve been working with some of the largest asset allocators on building out Vantager. The work is never finished, and we are using these feedback loops to make a better product. It’s been an incredibly rewarding process.

D’ANGELO BREAD

From the shores of Scotland, Stella Haffner keeps her connection to her home in Montecito by bringing grads of local schools to the pages of the Montecito Journal

from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles and then Santa Barbara, California, a move that allowed him more time to hone his acting chops and even learn to play a little ukulele. I’ve lost count of the total number of ukes he ultimately acquired (definitely more than 10), but if you were to stop by to visit him at home in Santa Barbara in recent years, you would most likely find him in a living room chair, ukulele in hand, noodling away on some new tune he was trying to work out. Not even the steady, debilitating creep of Parkinson’s was going to completely deprive him of that pleasure. And no tribute to my dad would be complete without a proper mention of his adoration of and life-long commitment to his trophy wife (as he would always lovingly describe her), Sandy (also mom, as Ali and I know her, and Grammy, which is what the grandkids all call her). With their six-decade commitment to each another, my mom and dad provided a model for love, friendship, and interdependence that all of us in the family witnessed, learned from, and were better for. Without my mom supporting and managing so much of my dad’s life, my dad would have had a very different and far less successful legal career – something that was certainly not lost on my dad, and for which his gratitude was evident and frequently expressed.

So now there is this gaping, Babu-sized hole in all of our lives. We will all have to come to terms with the loss in our own ways, something I know won’t be easy for any of us, given all of the changes that will take some getting used to – the empty seat at the kitchen table, the TVs not constantly tuned to English Premier League football or NBA games, Alexa not being asked to play show tunes, no ukuleles being plucked (ok, so maybe people aren’t so broken up about that one). We will be constantly reminded of his absence as we learn to get by with less laughter, less love, and a little more quiet in our day-to-day lives. For what it’s worth – and I do believe this helps – his was a peaceful and comfortable end, and it found him surrounded by his family in a room that was full of love, gratitude, laughter and music. In his final moments, he was serenaded by Neil Diamond, Jake Shimabukuro, the cast of Hamilton, and of course Don McLean’s “American Pie,” and I have little doubt that all the possible interpretations of that last one kept him busy right up until the end – and I sure hope that, wherever he is now, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper are there to entertain him, happy to have him singing along, and maybe even answering some of his lingering questions.

GOING SOMEWHERE?

Get ahold of our new arrivals!

“Because the drugs have already been approved by the FDA, we have immediate availability,” Gonzalez explained. “That also greatly lowers the risk of unexpected side effects. And repurposing can provide new treatment options for diseases and also enhance understanding of disease mechanisms and drug actions in general.”

Meanwhile, RUNX1-FPD still remains widely unknown, which is why the organization’s work also includes educating both the public and physicians, Gonzalez said.

“The disease is often underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed for many years. Unfortunately, oftentimes it’s only when someone has already developed blood cancer that they get the genetic testing and find out that they have RUNX1-FPD. Some catch it earlier because, since it’s a generational disease, if there’s blood cancer in their family history, they will get tested and diagnosed that way. But many physicians don’t even consider this disorder.”

The nonprofit is committed to providing medical education to clinicians, including information on what tests to administer so that individuals walking around with inherited blood disorders that increase their risk of blood cancer can get the appropriate diagnosis.

“We have a whole medical education series to explain why it’s important to analyze inherited genetic information in patients with blood cancers, to emphasize how common harmful and inherited genetic changes are in patients with blood cancers, and showing the risks of missing or incorrect diagnoses and how they affect patient health,” Gonzalez explained.

RRP also works directly with patients, providing multiple avenues for them to become involved as advocates and experts, such as the Research Guided by Patient Committee (RGPC).

“We place a priority on understanding their diagnostic journey, offer opportunities for peer-to-peer support, continuously develop useful educational tools and encourage engagement in co-designing research,” Gonzalez said.

While RRP has been remarkably efficient and moving forward, expanding its programs requires additional funding. What’s important to remember, he said, is that supporting RRP’s efforts is an investment in cancer prevention research – the discovery of a blood cancer prevention therapy would not only impact RUNX1FPD patients but could also pave the way for blood cancer prevention in other high-risk populations in the general public.

“Historically, there haven’t been a lot of funds going towards cancer prevention, catching cancer and stopping it before it starts,” Gonzalez said. “Investing in our organization would not only have an impact on this patient population and other familiar blood disorders, but also enhance discovery of a prevention cancer therapy for a lot of other diseases.”

Susan Polis Schutz

RRP Funded Researcher Dr. Alexander Bick, Vanderbilt University, in his lab (courtesy photo)

Far Flung Travel

American Dirt Baller

by Chuck Graham

It was another 2:30 am wake up call to drive from slumbering Carpinteria out to the Carrizo Plain National Monument. I was chasing another breathtaking sunrise in partly cloudy weather, another hopeful moment with whatever grassland fauna revealed itself. Although it would’ve been real easy to sleep in, wildlife waits for nobody. It would’ve gnawed at me if I hadn’t risen at zero dark thirty.

After arriving, from 6 am until 10 am I searched for dens, mostly hoping for kit fox burrows. There were a pair of loping coyotes, a small band of pronghorn antelope, and about 200 tule elk browsing between Soda Lake Road and the seemingly barren Temblor Range. I saw five types of raptors, and three species of owls. After five miles of poking around on the Carrizo Plain, I tried some locations that

mile, but I was afraid I might miss an opportunity, so I decided to deal with any discomfort. Temps were in the 40s, but when clouds blocked the sun, it got a little frigid.

thing was askew, and dove into his den – reemerging within seconds. He was looking right at me, but he wasn’t seeing me. He actually dozed off a few times, no doubt enjoying the warm, sunbaked earth. Then he would come to, raise his head, and gaze my way, never appearing alarmed.

Twenty minutes passed, and then he was down for the rest of the day. I waited another three hours, but I got too cold and had to move.

The entire time, I scanned. There were lots of ground squirrels standing at attention like fuzzy centurions on the plain. I even walked into an unsuspecting burrowing owl. They better watch it, the ultimate dirt baller smells all and hears everything.

in past years bore fruit.

I tried an old dirt road that for the last four years had been reliable for burrowing owls, occasionally sharing their den space with frenetic California ground squirrels.

Recently the road was closed to vehicle access, but foot traffic was permitted. It’s now an addition to the Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve. As I walked the muddy route, there was plenty of longtailed weasel spoor etched in the mud. As I moved along, I inspected any visible mounds for kit fox possibilities. Mostly, I was scouting around for sites to return to at a later date.

I didn’t see any burrowing owls, but it didn’t mean they weren’t around. There were plenty of ground squirrels though, and they let me know about it.

I scanned with my binoculars, maybe the most important tool I have for successful wildlife spotting on the Carrizo Plain. I hiked all the slopes off the road and studied every mound, every burrow. Nothing of significance stopped me in my tracks.

Hiking southwest, where in the past I’d seen at least a dozen burrowing owls sunning the afternoon away, I followed a rolling ridge overlooking Soda Lake to the northeast. There was water in the alkali lake, but it wasn’t brimming following the winter of 2022/23.

As patchy clouds swept over the Carrizo Plain and the Temblor Range, I spotted a mound of dirt that appeared like no other. The dirt was pushed up and out, and it was freshly dug, the soft loam a tad darker than the surrounding earth.

I decided to give it a try, but I wasn’t totally prepared. Sure, I had my binoculars and camera, but I didn’t have a warm jacket or gloves, no water. I wasn’t far from my other gear, maybe a half

It was well worth it. A male American badger emerged maybe 10 minutes after I concealed myself in low-growing grassland flora. Except – he exited the other end of its den, 40 feet west of me. He didn’t see me as he enjoyed summersaulting in freshly excavated dirt, his fur a rusty color from rolling repeatedly in the reddish earth. Then, he rambled through the low growth toward the other entry closest to me.

When he arrived, he sensed some -

Chuck Graham is a freelance writer and photographer based in Carpinteria, where he also leads kayak tours and backpacking trips in Channel Islands National Park

THE PLUMERY PARROT CLUB

is going to the JUNGLE!

July 13, 2024 11AM-1PM

MONTECITO ASSOCIATION COMMUNITY HALL 1469 E. Valley Road Santa Barbara, CA 93108

Join us for a truly unique experience with Mike Keens – owner and master toy maker of JUNGLE TOYS –the highest quality toys for parrots, made in the US since 1990.

Spend a wild afternoon with Mike and his toy workshop. Make and take home a DIY toy for your parrot pal. Learn all about the history of parrot toys and the ever-changing world of companion birds.

$20 per ticket - space is limited - get yours today! For tickets scan the QR code or email: office@theplumery.org

Why The Plumery supports Jungle Toys? It’s a two-generation family business. It partners with a workshop for the disabled who assemble many JT toys.

Looking for wildlife… crickets… oh wait, a spider!

Do you see any wildlife buddy?

Community Voices

The Future is What We Make It

by Robert B. Tucker

Last week I attended Westmont’s annual Lead Where You Stand conference with New York Times columnist David Brooks. As always, Brooks was insightful across a range of topics including providing us with recipes for lifelong growth, speculating where human consciousness may be headed, and revealing how he knew he wanted to be a writer at an early age.

The tone of the conference was hopeful, friendly, and upbeat. One of the speakers got our attention with a remark in response to a question about the rise of Christian nationalism. Dr. Gayle Beebe, Westmont College president and author of The Crucibles That Shape Us: Navigating the Defining Challenges of Leadership, observed that, “We are entering a new dark age.”

Beebe’s observation became the talk of the conference. He articulated what many of us are feeling. Everywhere you go these days, you hear words like “doom,” “existential threat,” “dark days ahead,” and “dystopia.” They seem to spring from people’s intuitive processing that we are at an inflection point moment, and not all bodes well for the future.

In our personal and professional lives, in our politics, and especially in the organizations we lead, overarching and influential forces – pandemics, geopolitical ruptures, climate-fueled disasters, artificial intelligence, and political polarization – are driving disruption. They are bringing out the best and the worst in people. They are creating massive amounts of uncertainty as the rate of technological, social, political, workplace,

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

climatological, and other types of change rush toward us.

The latest edition of The New Yorker carries an article by Rivka Galchen reporting on a new course at the University of Chicago titled: “Are We Doomed?” The class features guest lectures by computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton who told the students that, because of generative artificial intelligence, “things are going to go terribly wrong real soon.” Eighty-sixyear-old Jerry Brown, former California governor, warned, “We’re in a real pickle… you’re young, the odds of a nuclear encounter in your lifetime are high. I don’t want to sugarcoat it.”

As a 70-year-old author and public speaker based here, I’ve been writing and speaking about business disruption for quite a few years. But lately, I’ve become convinced that helping today’s generation of leaders navigate revolutionary change is where my attention should be.

When you’re driving at 90 miles an hour, it’s important to look farther up the road. As a futurist, I conclude there will be more change over the next ten years than over the past 100. Human consciousness will be altered more over the next decade than over the past 300 years as humans and machines begin to merge.

Are we entering a new dark age as Gayle Beebe suggests? Quite possibly. The 21st Century is rocky, and November’s election could throw us into chaos.

Or might we be on the cusp of a new age of shared prosperity and problem resolution brought about by a change in human consciousness? Could emerging technologies lead 4.5 billion people out of poverty and begin to mitigate the climate crisis in our lifetime? “Seeing is believing,” as the expression has it.

But what about the reverse: Believing is seeing. In other words, if leaders rise and adopt a “we can fix this” mindset versus a “we are doomed” fatalism, we can create a world that is still inhabitable.

can be artificially rearranged and modified into something novel that can’t be detected, that won’t be recognized, and that we don’t have the tools for.”

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I am personally optimistic, not because our problems are less serious than we thought, but because of humankind’s proven ability over the centuries to surmount challenges and innovate our way out of situations.

The mindsets and belief systems we adopt today will determine the future. The choices we make today will decide if this is the start of a new Dark Age or the beginning of the Age of Abundance. Nothing about the future is written in stone; the future is what we make it.

Robert B. Tucker, President of the Innovation Resource Consulting Group

Conscience, more than 800 human rights organizations committed to speak and act on behalf of African American suffering and justice. “Your idea should require the assistance of others wherever you’re trying to advance,” Goodloe says. “It should demand you having others to be a part of your cause. If you can achieve your dream on your own, you’re dreaming too small.”

He also stressed the importance of a strategic vision and long-term planning, saying King’s greatness was the strategy that was on full display after his speech, including a telegram to Harry Belafonte a month prior.

Goodloe concluded with the advice of saving the best for last, since King spoke last that day. “But make sure whatever is indeed last is worth the wait,” he says. “On the day of the march, King’s words and power and potency of that moment are what people remember about that day, and what a day, and what a finish.”

Dean, Santa Barbara County’s former public health director and current CEO and cofounder of the Public Health Company, shared how she uses her medical knowledge and spiritual practices to uncover hidden insights and solve complex problems in epidemiology and public health. “As we mature in our field of expertise and in our spiritual fitness – our pursuit of God’s one true calling for our lives – those two become an intertwined duality that cannot be separated from one another – and the answers come from there,” said Dean, one of the central characters in Michael Lewis’ book, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story. She emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach combining medical development, public health and artificial intelligence to address emerging biological threats. “The kind of damage that COVID caused, and as devastating as it was, will be minor compared to the potential of the kinds of biological threats that are out there today,” she said. “Because of advances in biotechnology and machine intelligence, components

Brooks, New York Times columnist and weekly guest on PBS NewsHour, began the second day of the conference examining the key traits of our life. “It’s not the intelligence you gain at school, it’s the hunger for wisdom, the ability to keep learning up until the moment you die,” he said. “When you apply for jobs, the really good workplaces will be less interested in what you do now, rather what you can learn tomorrow. And if you get to such places like Westmont, you’ll discover the most valuable thing you learn is not what was in your major, but the ability to learn how to learn.”

He challenged the traditional definition of ability and success, which prioritizes standardized tests and academic achievements, and argued that essential qualities like character, creativity, and emotional intelligence are often overlooked.

“We need a different definition of merit,” Brooks said. “We need to see ourselves and see each other, not by how we did on a standardized test at 18? But do we have the hunger to keep on growing through life?”

Luhn, an animator, writer and story consultant formerly at Pixar and The Simpsons, shared his personal journey of discovering his passion, emphasizing the importance of family, creativity, and inspiring others to pursue their passions.

He suggested applying storytelling principles, such as using a beginning, middle, and end structure like a hero’s journey, when sharing information or inspiring new ideas.

“Whether you’re selling something or you’re inspiring a new way of thinking, you want to think like a storyteller,” he said. “You know a story is working when it genuinely makes you feel something. It’s not the facts and figures or the data and the statistics people are going to remember. In the end whoever told the best story is the one who wins.”

The conference returns to Westmont on June 4-5, 2025.

Matthew Luhn stressed the importance of telling stories from the heart

Scott Craig is manager of media relations at Westmont College

School News Roundup

MUS Class of 2018 Reunites, Now as High School Graduates

by Cierra Nervo

Bustling laughter and a sense of nostalgia filled Lower Manning Park on May 30th, as Montecito Union School alumni and their families reunited after six years, amidst an array of parent-provided sweet treats. The class of 2018 MUS graduates, now the class of 2024 high school graduates, woke up bright and early on a school morning to gather just below their old school for the first time since their sixth-grade graduation.

“I haven’t seen some of these people in six years, yet we caught up as if no time had passed at all,” Laguna Blanca School senior Sasha Drucker said.

The potluck, organized and set up by several MUS parents, including Amanda Twinning and Device Pires, included cupcakes, monkey bread, watermelon slices, and a variety of other refreshments, which were enjoyed amidst lively conversations as the graduating seniors caught up with their childhood friends. The parents’ generosity and dedication exemplify the everlasting sense of community that continues to flourish, even after all these years.

“A highlight was getting to see how much everyone grew and changed over the years,” said Santa Barbara High School senior Solace Corey. “It’s an odd but exciting feeling to see and reconnect with the people I grew up with.”

Some of the schools that the MUS class of 2018 currently attend include San Marcos High School, Dos Pueblos High School, Laguna Blanca School, and Santa Barbara High School, among others. The list of colleges the seniors will be attending in the fall is even more diverse, ranging from local colleges to universities across the country. An ironic sight was displayed as these graduating seniors, adorned mostly in their college sweatshirts, migrated from the picnic tables to the playground they once enjoyed as children.

Photos were taken and old memories were exchanged. As the families dispersed to their cars, bringing the bittersweet reunion to an end, the faint sounds of current MUS students could be heard from the school’s campus up above.

“It was wholesome seeing my old MUS community hanging out together,” said Santa Barbara High School senior London Moro. “Watching old friend groups collaborating and friendships laughing together again was very sweet. I hope to keep doing reunions as we get older in life.”

National Charity League Honors 22 Graduating High School Seniors

Hundreds of friends and families gathered to witness a spectacle of camaraderie and Hollywood-themed gowns this spring, honoring the graduating seniors who celebrated their annual Senior Recognition Event for the Santa Barbara National Charity League (NCL).

Over the past six years, the girls dedicated themselves to fostering the mother-daughter relationship through NCL’s ongoing commitment to philanthropy, culture, and leadership.

The 2024 NCL Senior Class has accumulated a total of 5,899 hours of service and leadership, supporting over 20 local nonprofit organizations. San Marcos High School senior Summer Dolotta was honored as Senior Speaker, having accumulated the

highest number of community service hours for the class of 2024, creating a philanthropy partnership with the Garden Court retirement community.

NCL Chapter President, Kristine Sperling, opened the evening with a moving recollection of the challenges these seniors have faced, including the devastating debris flow of 2018 and the COVID pandemic, followed by a fashion show featuring the seniors and juniors modeling styles from various local boutiques, individual Senior Presentations, a philanthropy slideshow, and a special VIP dance.

NCL would like to thank all of those who came together to honor these seniors for their exceptional accomplishments, including 2023-24 Chapter President Kristine Sperling, Senior Recognition Co-Chairs Melinda Werner and Lynne Early, Choreographer Julie Walsmith, SBCC Beauty College, and local boutiques Angel, Montecito; Wendy Foster, State Street; Wendy Foster Sportswear; Miss Behavin’; Whiskey & Leather; Dylan Star; Loveworn; Lovebird Boutique; Maison K; Evangelina Boutique; The Lotus Boutique; and Sands Boutique.

We wish the NCL Class of 2024 continued success as they prepare for their college journeys at some of the most prestigious institutions in the nation.

All Santa Barbara Schools Track and Field Meet at Westmont College

Nearly 400 students on Friday, May 24th, competed in the eleventh annual All Santa Barbara and Montecito Schools Track and Field Meet at Westmont College. In grades four through six, students competed in 11 events, ranging from the high jump to the 800-meter run. Peabody Charter School emerged as the overall meet champion, followed by Roosevelt, Washington, Adams, Harding, Cold Spring, Monroe, Franklin, Cleveland, and McKinley. Cleveland Elementary School took home the new addition to this year’s meet, the School Spirit Award, voted on by the PE teachers.

Westmont College Track and Field Coach Russell Smelley and Cold Spring School District Superintendent Dr. Amy Alzina founded the meet 11 years ago to expose students to the sport and a college environment, fostering connections among students from various neighborhood schools. “I’m deeply grateful to all the schools that participated in the Track and Field Meet. This meet is truly about closing the opportunity gap! The meet is made possible with the partnership from Westmont College, Coach Russell Smelley, Coach Derek Masterson, the Cold Spring School parent volunteers who served as timers and field event recorders, and the dedicated Physical Education teachers from each of the school sites. The students enjoyed the friendly competition, but I think they enjoyed eating lunch in the Westmont Dining Commons just as much! At the end of the day, everyone left with lots of smiles!” said Dr. Alzina.

The 2024 National Charity League Senior Class (courtesy photo)

The 2018 MUS graduates taking another lap on the playground (photo by Luis Moro)

Nearly 400 students competed in the 11th annual All Santa Barbara and Montecito Schools Track and Field Meet at Westmont (courtesy photo)

Cierra Nervo is a graduating senior from Laguna Blanca School

The teachers presented the Crane School pin to the grads, while Music Teacher Konrad Kono played “The Crane Song” by Norman Gimbel. Weiss officially declared the class as graduated. The Crane Country Day School 2024 Eight grade graduates are:

Shaia Bijan, Arden Ricks Blagden, Ryan Alynn Briggs, Emmanuel Richard

Brine, Eliott Brun, Lilly-Bee Butler, Jude Paxton Wyatt Cooper, Lillie Louise Copus, Jasmin Dominguez Soriano, Luke Robert Donahue , Julien M. Drost, Cecilia Luciana Duarte, Bradley Duran , Elizabeth Sophie Edwards , Casey Hudson Engel , Alexander

James Eustice, Stella McCarthy Frank, Caroline Emma Marie Gifford, Paulina

Jo Hakan, Austin Hansen, Emerson

Lee Hill, James Irving Kono, Poppy

Grace Kono, Daniel David Kotler, Luke Evander Mackey , Maxwell

Marino, Agatha Ivy McTigue, Mitra

Beatrice Mehrabi, Alaia Grace Muller, Ella Aurora Murphy , Chelsea Ava

Newlove, Amelia Lalya Salcedo Power, Coco Rautiola , Eve Lily Sheldon , James Tosh , Rex Anthony Wolf , Vida Lev Wolstencroft, and Alastair

James Ylvisaker.

Montecito Union School Graduation

The Montecito Union School (MUS) Sixth Grade 2024 Graduation – “Go Mustangs!” – was held on Friday, June 14. The ceremony marked the return of graduation to the school auditorium following the renovations.

As per MUS tradition, the graduation started with the grads waiting to enter while a slide show with music showcasing their time at MUS was presented to the guests. The grads then entered to the song, “Simple Gifts” by Joseph Brackett Jr. taking their places up front on risers and standing for the entire ceremony.

The welcome and Pledge of Allegiance were led by students David Coates and Jake Smith, and attendees were invited to sing with the graduates, “America the Beautiful.”

Student addresses were by Gianna Leggio and Perry Rogers. They shared about what they learned most at MUS, such as being empowered, being hopeful, never forget to enjoy the journey, be kind, respectful and have integrity. They thanked MUS for “giving us an experience like no other school,” their teachers,

staff, and parents. A microphone was passed around the students for their individual brief sentiments.

The students sang, “Children Will Listen” by Stephen Sondheim, led by Music Teacher Pam Herzog. The Strings Ensemble of students Gianna Leggio, Caia Posch, and Mags Ranii led by Music Teacher Ron Zecher on piano, performed “Pax.”

The Commencement Message was given individually and in unison by Superintendent Anthony Ranii and Assistant Principal Rusty Ito. Both are parents with a child graduating in this year’s class. They talked about how they saw the graduates in their many academic and school activities. In unison they said with emphasis the words, “gratitude and responsible risk,” with examples of advice. They concluded by saying, “Once a Mustang, always a Mustang. You are part of the MUS family. We are proud of you; you are prepared to positively impact the world.”

Ranii’s additional remarks for the graduates, “I want to sincerely congratulate the class of 2024! Not only has this class consistently shown the highest academic achievement, they are leaders who support each other and are already working to make the world a better place. The class of 2024 excelled in their student activism projects, were terrific in their 6th Grade Musical “Into the Woods,” made us all so proud during their Colonial Trip and went out of their way to connect with younger students

here on campus. Their positive spirits, curious natures, and solid characters will serve them well in junior high and beyond. On behalf of the entire MUS staff, we wish them joy and continued success!”

The presentation of diplomas was by MUS Board President Susannah Osley, MUS Board VP Kim Crail, MUS Board members Jacqueline Duran and Jessica Smith; Ranii, Ito, and Principal Nick Bruski. After they received their diploma, they went cross stage to their teachers Kim Berman and Danielle Weill for a congratulatory hug. The ceremony concluded with the students singing the “MUS Graduation Song” by Kenny and Eva Loggins. A reception followed at the school.

The2024 Sixth Grade MUS graduates are:

Hunter Altansukh, Nolan Edward Ausanka-Crues , Camila Luna Belmonte , Charlie Blank , Arianna Jealissa Bow, Rylan Robert Boyle, Thatcher Owen Maguire Burkart , David D Coates , Abrah Claire Crooks, Liam Gerfen, Madsen Drake Hammond , Piper Herlihy , Brooke Yukiko Ito, Chase Jackson, Alessandra Brooke Jay, Maxi Keech, Gianna Grace Leggio, Elle Morgan McCrindle, Dylan McLean , Scofield McLean , Kellen James Merkey, Leah Mary Oakley, Sebastian Perez, Havana Pond, Caia Mary Posch, Montgomery Stiles Prince, Mags Ranii, Sophia Tatiana Roberts, Perry Caldwell Rogers, Charlotte Mary Rottman, Carter Robert Saunders, Jake Smith, Milla Estelle Smith, Brennan Shea Tenold, Gabrielle Waldinger, and Caylee Elizabeth Wilson

A Calitri is a professional international photographer and journalist. Contact her at: artraks@ yahoo.com

MUS Staff and Board taking in the ceremony (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

MUS 2024 graduates photo 1 of 2 (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

MUS 2024 graduates photo 2 of 2 (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Joanne

her employment there working in housekeeping. They asked Bracamontes if she was interested in being a nursing assistant, and put her through the education program to do so. Rice said she is an important caregiver and one whose visits the residents look forward to every day. Bracamontes accepted the award with tears of gratitude and humbleness, sharing her love for the work she does.

Guest speaker Mike Schlappi, a Hall of Fame athlete, Gold Medalist, MBA, author, and Certified Speaking Professional shared his life story and his choice to stand out. His inspirational work and his attitude towards life moved all the attendees. His talk was focused on overcoming whatever limitations a person has and moving on to stand out by his example. The live auction and ask directed by Moorman raised approximately $32,500.

Lead Sponsors were the SYV Band of Chumash Indians Foundation, Demboski & Chapman Financial & Insurance Services, Montecito Bank & Trust, IOA Insurance Solutions Inc., Alpha Resource Center, Russ and Nancy Werner, Mullen & Henzell LLP, and Erik and Cynthia Krueger Attendees included the Hillside Event Committee Members Norris Goss, Jan Kopf, Erin Kelley, Pamela Gilbert, Alma Janabajab, Lisa Wilcox, and Lee Troesch Working with them on the event were Chief Development Officer Cheryl Sweeney, Director of Marketing and Events Angela De Bruyn, Development Assistant Elizabeth Arendt, and Nancy Read. Also attending were Treasurer Peter Troesch, members Hady Izadpanah, John Valois, Nancy Werner, Erik Wipf, Gavin Chanin, Jan Kopf, John Campanella, Lucrezia DeLeon, John Demboski, and Kirk S. Gilbert.

411: https://hillsidesb.org

18th Annual CommUnify

Champion Awards

Fundraiser

The 18th Annual CommUnify Champion Awards fundraiser was held on Friday, June 7, at the Craft House at Corque in Solvang. The CommUnify 2024 honorees are Geoff Green, The Vikings of Solvang, and Hardy Diagnostics for their dedicated work on behalf of the people of Santa Barbara County. Program commenced with welcome remarks by Chief Executive Officer Patricia Keelean and Master of Ceremonies Andrew Firestone. Keelean thanked all the guests for their support, lauding Double Diamond sponsor CenCal Health who provided a matching grant to donations up to $100,000. She said, “CommUnify provides a sense of well-being to all who are in need. The focus for this event is the Family Services program we have, especially for those children aged three months through adults at 24 years old. There are seven Family Service programs that help children who are abused, a victim of human trafficking, and mothers as young as nine years old.”

Firestone highlighted the honorees and gave a nod to the local politicians attending for their support of the organization, namely, Senator Monique Limón, Goleta Councilmember James Kyriaco, and CommUnify Board members: Santa

Vikings of Solvang

Chief Larry Humburger, Mike Peterson, and Vice

Chief James Tyson (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Jay Hardy and his Hardy Diagnostics team (photo by Joanne A

Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido, former Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Susan Rose, former Santa Maria City Councilmember Mike Cordero, SB City Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez, and SBC 4th District Supervisor Bob Nelson

Green is the CEO of CalNonprofits and served on SB County and Ventura County nonprofit boards – the Foundation Roundtable of Santa Barbara County, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara, the Chamber of Commerce of the Santa Barbara Region, and the Network of California Community College Foundations. A UCSB grad, he started out as a Yosemite National Park Ranger. His noted work includes launching the Youth Making Change program at the Fund for SB and, as CEO of the SBCC Foundation, the rollout of the SBCC Promise program.

The Vikings of Solvang are a 50-year-old social-philanthropic organization, comprised of 200 plus members that help people with medical costs. They are an all-volunteer organization so that 100 percent of the funds raised goes towards those in need.

Hardy Diagnostics, founded in 1980 by Rob Shibata and Jay Hardy, is a multi-office facility in global microbiology. The company is 100% employee owned since 2015, with 1% profits donated to SBC charities and employees volunteer as well.

During the buffet dinner, Firestone led the Ask and the Live Auction, with donations estimated at $50,000 thanks to his enthusiasm and athletic high-kick (if you know you know). CommUnify’s organizational video backed by U2’s song “Invisible” was shown. It covered the work they do, with interviews and statements from some of the children, teens and adults who use their programs. The organization thanked U2 for allowing the use of their song.

The event continued with a disco after-party in the bar.

Attendees included The Vikings of Solvang Chief Larry Humburger with wife Kenna Gose Humburger, Vice Chief Joe Tyson with wife Shirley, Dr. Roger Lane, Mike Peterson, and Art Kaslow; the Hardy Diagnostics team; Green’s wife Sue; CommUnify’s Board Chair Marina Owen, Vice Chair Alexander Saunders, Secretary/Treasurer Karin Dominguez, and board members Sanford Riggs, Josephine Torres, Dr. Sharon Lutz, Phylene Wiggins, Jeremy Ball, James Kyriaco, and its staff, CFO Grant Carmichael, COO Monica Logan, CDO Julie Weiner, Family & Youth Services Director Natalia Alarcon, Clinical Services Director Nuvia Almanza, Community Services Director Kemba Lawrence, and Children’s Services Director Lorraine Neenan.

Funding raised goes towards CommUnify programs and its clients’ needs, like youth enrichment activities and school supplies, computers, bus passes, groceries and therapy services.

411: www.communifysb.org

Geoff Green awarded by CEO Pat Keelean (photo by Joanne A Calitri)

Calitri)

(Condensed Notice for Publication)

NOTICE INVITING SEALED BIDS

PROTECTIVE MEASURES OF DISTRICT FACILTIES

(JANUARY 2023 STORM) BID NO. 2024-01

MONTECITO SANITARY DISTRICT

PUBLIC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Montecito Sanitary District (“District”) will receive sealed bids, electronically, for its BID NO. 2024-01, Protective Measures of District Facilities (January 2023 Storm) (“Project”), by or before Wednesday, July 10, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. through its PlanetBids portal. All associated documents, including bonding information, shall be submitted with the bid. Bidders must be registered on the District’s PlanetBids™ portal in order to submit a Bid Proposal and to receive addendum notifications. Each bidder is responsible for making certain that their Bid Proposal is actually submitted/uploaded with sufficient time to be received by PlanetBids prior to the bid opening date and time. Large files may take more time to be submitted/uploaded to PlanetBids so plan accordingly. The receiving time on PlanetBids’ server will be the governing time for acceptability of bids. Telegraphic, telephonic, electronic, and facsimile bids will not be accepted. Bidders are responsible for obtaining all addenda from the District’s PlanetBids portal. If any Addendum issued by the District is not acknowledged online by the Bidder, the PlanetBids system may prevent the Bidder from submitting a Bid Proposal.

Project Description: The Project entails protecting district facilities at multiple locations and varying extents with angular boulders. The Project has been subdivided into four different projects, each with their own location and bid schedules. All project locations are within the Montecito Sanitary District Boundary and the County of Santa Barbara, California. The projects numbers, associated primary asset, and locations are as follows:

Project 1 – Manhole 616-4D: 2845 Sycamore Canyon Rd along Montecito Creek and just northwest of 1250 Pepper Lane

Project 2 – Manhole 638-4C: 204 Olive Mill Road along Montecito Creek, north of 188 Santa Elena Lane

Project 3 – Pipe L333-7: Along San Ysidro Creek within the Ennisbrook Owners’ Association, north of Ennisbrook Drive

Project 4 – Pipe L380-5: Near a private bridge over Hot Springs Creek, a tributary to Montecito Creek, along Meadow Lane, within the Riven Rock community

Engineer’s Estimate: $1,100,000

Project documents for the work are available to prospective bidders through the District’s PlanetBids Portal website at www.montsan.org/bids.

In accordance with the provisions of California Public Contract Code § 3300, and Business and Professions Code § 7028.15(e), the contractor and any subcontractors shall be licensed by the contractors’ state licensing board and registered with the California Department of Industrial Relations at the time the contract is awarded. Failure to possess the specified license shall render a bidder’s bid as non-responsive and shall bar award of the contract to any bidder not possessing the specified license at the time of the award.

Pursuant to California Civil Code § 9550, a payment bond is required to be submitted for all projects estimated in excess of $25,000.00.

The proposed project is a public works project subject to the provisions of Labor Code § 1720 thereby requiring the Contractor to pay the prevailing wage rates for all work performed under the Contract. In addition, the Contractor shall be responsible for compliance with the requirements of Section 1777.5 of the California Labor Code relating to apprentice public works contracts.

The District reserves the right to reject any and all bids.

There will be a mandatory pre-bid conference on Friday June 21 2024, at 10:00 a.m. at the Montecito Sanitary District Board Room, 1042 Monte Cristo Lane, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Bidders must attend this pre-bid conference as a requirement for submittal of a bid proposal.

If you have any questions, please contact the District’s Engineer for this project, Carrie Poytress at carrie.poytress@stantec.com and CC the District’s Engineering Manager, Bryce Swetek, P.E., at bswetek@montsan.org

MONTECITO SANITARY DISTRICT

PUBLISHED: Wednesdays, June 12, 2024, and June 19, 2024 Montecito Journal

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: The Light Zone, 19 E Mission Street, Suite C, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Light Zone LLC, 360 El Sueno Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on May 30, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20240001313. Published June 12, 19, 26, July 3, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Safina Design, 1187 Coast Village Rd, STE 1494, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Gwynne M Thomas, 1187 Coast Village Rd, STE 1494, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on June 5, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2024-0001356.

Published June 12, 19, 26, July 3, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Santa Barbara Glow, 2729 Puesta Del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. Santa Barbara Glow LLC, 2729 Puesta Del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on May 10, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20240001161. Published May 29, June 5, 12, 19, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Smart Ride Vehicles, 2917 De La Vina Street STE D, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. Edgar Blas, 2917 De La Vina Street STE D, Santa Barbara, CA 93105. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on April 2, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20240000836. Published May 29, June 5, 12, 19, 2024

John Weigold General Manager

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Supreme Landscape & Maintenance, 1512 North B Ct, Lompoc, CA 93436. Alexis G Garcia, 1512 North B Ct, Lompoc, CA 93436. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on May 15, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20240001205. Published May 29, June 5, 12, 19, 2024

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/ are doing business as: The Liquor & Wine Grotto, 1271 Coast Village Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2739. Jason E Herrick, 1271 Coast Village Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Brian Brunello, 1271 Coast Village Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on May 13, 2024. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20240001187. Published May 29, June 5, 12, 19, 2024

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS SUMMARY

Proposals due at 2:00 PM on Friday, July 5, 2024 for:

INDEFINITE DELIVERY-INDEFINITE QUANTITY “AS NEEDED” CONSTRUCTION SERVICES – 3 YEAR CONTRACT TERM WITH COUNTY OPTION TO EXTEND ADDITIONAL 2 YEARS

Project Number(s): VARIOUS

General work description: CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING SERVICES (CIVIL ENGINEERING)

Funding Source(s): Federal, State, Local

The RFP is available at https://pbsystem.planetbids.com/portal/43874/portal-home

The DBE Contract Goal is 13%.

All RFP questions are due Friday, 6/28/2024 by 2:00 PM and must be submitted via PlanetBids Confirmation of receipt will be provided. RFP questions and answers will be posted on the County PlanetBids website.

The cumulative total pages for the proposal must not exceed 30 pages (minimum 12 font size, single-spaced). Page count limit is exclusive of cover letter, blank pages or tabs, and required forms (i.e. Attachment A Agreement Cover Sheet, Attachment B Contractor Information Sheet, Resumes, etc.).

Proposals must be submitted electronically through PlanetBids by the deadline above.

The County hereby notifies all proposers that it will affirmatively insure that in any agreement entered into pursuant to this advertisement, Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) will be afforded full opportunity to submit proposals in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, or disability in consideration for an award. You are encouraged to employ craftsmen and other workers from the local labor market whenever possible to do so. Local labor market is defined as the labor market within the geographical confines of the County of Santa Barbara, State of California.

This project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the California DIR. Prevailing wages are required on this Proposal. The State DIR Director determines the general prevailing wage rates which can be obtained at the DIR website at https://www.dir.ca.gov/

Federal minimum wage rates for federally funded task orders under this Contract are determined by the United States Secretary of Labor and are available at https://www.wdol.gov/. Copies are also available at the office of the Department of Public Works – Engineering Division, 123 E Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

If minimum wage rates as determined by the United States Secretary of Labor differs from the general prevailing wage rates determined by the Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations for similar classifications of labor, the Contractor and subcontractors must not pay less than the higher wage rate.

All times are 2:00 PM unless otherwise noted. Proposals must be received prior to or on the date due. Proposals received after the due date and time or received at the wrong location are considered nonresponsive and shall be rejected.

Published June 12 and June 19, 2024 Montecito Journal

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

Bids open at 2:00 PM on Thursday, July 11, 2024 for: VIA REAL COASTAL TRAIL ENHANCEMENTS IN THE 1ST SUPERVISORIAL DISTRICT

COUNTY PROJECT No. 862417

General project work description: Widen Roadway, install curb, gutter and sidewalks

The Plans, Specifications, and Bid Book are available at https://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=43874

The Contractor must have either a Class A license or any combination of the following Class C licenses which constitutes a majority of the work: C-8, C-12, C-13, & C-31

Submit sealed bids to the web address below. Bids will be opened and available at the web address below immediately following the submittal deadline.

PlanetBids

https://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=43874

Complete the project work within 90 Workings Days

The estimated cost of the project is $ 3,440,000

This project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR).

A contractor or subcontractor shall not be qualified to bid on, be listed in a bid proposal, subject to the requirements of PCC Section 4104, or engage in the performance of any contract for public work, as defined in this chapter, unless currently registered and qualified to perform public work pursuant to Labor Code (LAB) Section 1725.5. It is not a violation of this section for an unregistered contractor to submit a bid that is authorized by Business and Professions Code (BPC) Section 7029.1 or by PCC Section 10164 or 20103.5 provided the contractor is registered to perform public work pursuant to LAB Section 1725.5 at the time the contract is awarded.

Prevailing wages are required on this Contract. The Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations determines the general prevailing wage rates. Obtain the wage rates at the DIR website https://www.dir.ca.gov/

Inquiries or questions based on alleged patent ambiguity of the plans, specifications, or estimate must be submitted as a bidder inquiry by 2:00 PM on 07/05/2024. Submittals after this date will not be addressed. Questions pertaining to this Project prior to Award of the Contract must be submitted via PlanetBids Q&A tab.

Bidders (Plan Holders of Record) will be notified by electronic mail if addendums are issued. The addendums, if issued, will only be available on the County’s PlanetBids website, https://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=43874 Christopher

Sneddon Director of Public Works

beloved Speaking of Stories, has his work and literary ephemera cached in UCSB’s Special Collections, and through the years has been reviewed by The Atlantic , The New York Times’ Book Review, Publisher’s Weekly , and the Wall Street Journal (a sampling). His forwards have been written by the likes of Clifton Fadiman and David Brower. Just don’t call him a writer.

“That’s what I like about research,” Gilbar says. “It’s like panning for gold, and all of a sudden you get the nugget. Eureka!” Dating to the early ‘80s, Gilbar has spilled enough ink to have produced a canon. He calls himself a literary archaeologist. His M.O.? He drags the unexplored depths of the public domain in search of the sort of stirring and macabre and unexpected stuff that slithers around under pressure down there. These things swell spectacularly as you haul them up and yank them out of the water. That is, if you have a sweet tooth for colorful, digestible, eye-widening reads and are just learning of Steven Gilbar’s oeuvre, you have hit the freaking jackpot. But, like, who is he?

Atticus Finch to Rasputin

Born in Detroit, Steven Gilbar got his B.A. from the University of Michigan in ’63; his J.D. from Wayne State University in ‘67. “I took the Michigan bar and I passed. I had a job but no passion. When I was still in school I’d already sort of had a breakdown. ‘I want to be an artist, Lord. Show me the way!’ The idea of being a writer was, you know, very appealing, very bohemian. You wear a black turtleneck and you hang out in coffee shops.”

Gilbar’s mind was not on the Law. Around that time a couple of Harvard professors, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert – Dr. Alpert would later go by the name ‘Ram Dass’ – started counseling youth to “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out.” This LSD-inspired advice ran somewhat counter to Harvard’s established pedagogy and all heck broke loose. But a bored young attorney got the memo.

“I tuned in, turned on, grew my hair and moved from Michigan to Sausalito in 1970.” Gilbar was in good company as he disposed of his necktie, the established order blowing apart in a mushroom cloud of patchouli. “A lot of people were coming to the bay area from all over, wearing flowers in their hair,” he says – referencing Scott McKenzie’s poignant siren song of that day – “… but I was too old to be a hippie. I was 28 and I was on a spiritual quest. I

met a woman who did yoga, and I sort of saw the seven cities of gold. ‘You can get there!’ said Papa Ram Dass. So I became a seeker. But I didn’t want to become an acid head.”

In the throes of the New Thinking, though, Gilbar couldn’t help notice the Olde Thinking waggling a remonstrative finger. “The first thing I did, I took the California bar as a backup,” he says. Curiously, the times they were a’ changing, and the sleeping attorney in Gilbar briefly awakened to the business end of the burgeoning revolution. “While I was waiting for the bar exam, Cesar Chavez had launched his United Farm Workers strike in Salinas, and that was going really big. He was on a hunger strike and it was all over the papers, and he needed lawyers.” But Gilbar checked himself, passed the bar, and moved to Marin. “I joined an ashram. I was there for two years.”

Photos of Gilbar during this period show a haunted-looking Rasputin type in apparent burlap. “Basically, I took the bar, then went guru shopping. And then I was broke.” The Matthew Bender Company of San Francisco – one of the largest publishers of law books – was hiring. Like Al Pacino (sort of), Gilbar kept being pulled back in. “Matthew Bender was owned by Times Mirror, a big office building in the financial district.” Mr. Quicksilver did his thing. Again. “My hair had been long and I had a beard. So I shaved it all off for a really cleancut look. I went for the interview and the guy that interviews me looks like Jerry Garcia.”

Home to St. Babs and Literary Destiny.

The Long Way.

Steven had married in ’74. “Deborah was a real hippie and had dropped out of college. But she went back to school, and we moved to Berkeley.” Gilbar commuted into the SF for a time, and Deborah graduated with an MSW. He had savings of about $30K and had a ‘70s brainstorm. “We had this money. We decided to take a trip around the world. At that time you could buy a one-way ticket on Pan Am, and you could take as long as you wanted. We did that for almost two years.” As the Gilbars were gallivanting, Steven’s dad retired and the family moved to Montecito. Steven and Deborah came back to the states and a new plan. Well, plan may be an overstatement. “I was sick of San Francisco, and we wanted to have a child. This seemed like a great place to do that. We moved here to Montecito and found this little rental. My wife got a job at Planned Parenthood as a sex educator.”

Writing legal briefs and doing whatever else he could to pay the Man (more commonly known today as The Landlord) while watching their child at home, Gilbar hit upon an idea.

“When you go to college and you want to read up on something, you ask a professor ‘could you give me a reading list about this subject matter?’

So I said, what about a book that covers disparate subjects? And so I had this idea and I leavened it with some humor and some quizzes and some trivia. It was something I could do at home, and I loved the process. I finished it and sent it out, and I just

Ever More Studio44

East Valley Design Strategies [1482 East Valley Road, #811] has a new location, a new office showroom, and –placed like a gently glowing gem amid a setting of dark and yummy woods – a wondrous new gallery called Studio44. Stephanie Kaster and fine woodwork artist Ken Frye , EVDS’ creative partners, have brought their 23-year experience in architectural interiors to bear on the cozy gallery, which they will use to spotlight a roster of visiting master craftspeople. The inaugural guest artist is Master silversmith Randy Stromsoe, who has worked with the White House, the Smithsonian, and Pope John Paul II. Do drop in for a visit; you may never want to leave. Watch this space for the complete lowdown on EVDS and their mission in the July 4 issue. kept getting rejected. All of a sudden, St. Martin’s press gets back to me”. St. Martins gave Gilbar an $8K advance, he finished the book, and they published it. “I was published,” he says, still sounding mildly astonished. And from there the serial astonishments proliferated. Gilbar’s technicolor reinvention of the anthology would prove a startling X-ray of our sedate home environs, and a serial feast for those who seek it.

Steven Gilbar will be signing his latest book (not to say his final work) Montecito Noir at Tecolote on Saturday, June 29 at 3 pm.

Jeff Wing is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast. He has been writing about Montecito and environs since before some people were born. He can be reached at jeff@ montecitojournal.net

The latest (and possibly final) offering (courtesy photo)

Mr. Gilbar – anthologizing alchemist (courtesy photo)

Year, Tecolote Research as Company of the Year, Andrew Firestone and Jess Parker of StonePark Capital as Entrepreneurs of the Year, and the companies Pearly and Rabbit as Rising Stars.

“This annual showcase reminds us that our region is home to an extraordinary abundance of world-class business talent and technological innovation,” said foundation president Melinda Cabrera “It also affirms the importance of our continuing efforts to help educate the workforce of tomorrow.”

Co-chairs for the fun fête were CEO of Montecito Bank & Trust Janet Garufis and Matt Rowe, branch manager of Raymond James in Santa Barbara. Donna Weidl, a senior vice president at Merrill Lynch, was co-emcee.

Among supporters turning out were Brooks and Kate Firestone , Tom and Karla Parker , Bill and Missy Macfayden, Chuck and Merryl Zegar, Renee Grubb , Nancy Ransohoff , David and Louise Borgatello, George and Laurie Leis, and former mayor Helene Schneider

Takács Mosh

The ever-entertaining Takács Quartet was in superb form at the sold out Lobero as they performed in the first week of the Music Academy of the West’s 77th Summer Festival.

The Fab Four – violinists Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes , cellist András Fejér , and Grammywinning violist Richard O’Neill , formerly with Camerata Pacifica – are currently the quartet in residence at the Miraflores campus.

Haydn’s “String Quartet in D Minor” kicked off the concert with Ravel’s

“String Quartet in F Major” concluding the hugely entertaining show, sandwiching “Flow” by Nokuthula Ngwenyama – a Harvard graduate violist who has played at the White House, the Louvre, and Kennedy Center – expressing the dawn of the universe ending with the Big Bang.

An extraordinary piece....

Cruising Tunes

Supporters of the Santa Barbara Symphony have been making a splash with a Cruise for a Cause on the River Danube from Vienna to Budapest.

Montecito Bank & Trust, which has sponsored the trip, is donating a portion of the proceeds to the symphony.

David Pacheco addressing the audience (photo by Jay Farbman)

Pioneer Award recipient Zohar Ziv (photo by Jay Farbman)

The Summer Festival is off to a roaring start with the iconic Takács Quartet taking to the stage (photo by Zach Mendez)

“Cruise for a Cause” Adventurers from Santa Barbara (courtesy photo)

Nir Kabaretti, Kathryn Martin, and Janet Garufis with clearly their favorite publication in Bratislava (photo by Maria McCall)

MClub and Santa Barbara Symphony Crescendo members attended the opera Aida at the Budapest State Opera House (courtesy photo)

More than 64 MClub and symphony Crescendo members were onboard the AmaWaterways AmaViola river ship enjoying classical-themed concerts along the way.

The group was accompanied by Janet Garufis, chairman and CEO of the bank, and symphony board chair and MClub director Maria McCall, maestro Nir Kabaretti, president and CEO Kathryn Martin, and Juli Askew, symphony development manager.

Nir, who graduated from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, known as the City of Music, also organized a private concert of Bösendorfer pianos, known as the Rolls-Royce of the keyboard, a tiara’s toss from the famed Musikverein, home to Vienna’s Philharmonic orchestra and a classical evening concert at the Hofburgkapelle.

In Hungary the group attended the opera Aida at the Budapest State Opera House, conducted by Nir’s good friend Carlo Montanaro

Clearly a trip of high note...

Ranch Available

Singer Olivia Newton-John’s widower John Easterling is selling the Santa Ynez Valley ranch where the late Grease star spent her final days.

The Aussie warbler died at the age of 73 in August 2022, following a 20-year battle with breast cancer.

The property, Indian Way Ranch, with four bedrooms and five bathrooms, was purchased by Olivia in 2015 for $4.69 million.

Built in 1975, the house sits on 12 acres and includes a two-bedroom guests house, pool, and a barn and stables for horses.

Easterling is asking $8.465 million, according to People

Don’t Trust Everything You See Online

Meghan Markle’s American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand has been used by an online seller using the same name to flog tongue-in-cheek adult items.

The online store, assuming the same name as the Duchess of Sussex’s American Riviera Orchard, offers adult coloring books, including one labelled Working Class Royalty for sale.

The site, known for selling anti-monarchy products, launched after the Riven Rock resident announced her own lifestyle brand.

The book, which sells for $9.99 on the website, says it will “unveil the hidden royalty in everyday life.”

“Explore five enchanting scenes that honor the majesty found in everyday moments.”

No word yet on if they are starting to sell jam and dog biscuits...

Casa Dorinda’s Scholarships

Casa Dorinda hosted its annual scholarship awards ceremony with more than 30 scholarship recipients and a record-breaking $185,000 in scholarship awards.

Since its establishment in 1997 the fund, in partnership with the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara has been a beacon of hope for staff members and their families.

Together, nearly 800 scholarships have been awarded, totaling an impressive $1,900,000 to students, enabling them to pursue their educational dreams.

Dream-ing of White Sox

The Santa Barbara-based Dream Foundation received a hefty check from Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox when CEO Kisa Heyer and staffers flew to the Windy City to pick up the gift.

The team also presented checks to Stand Up to Cancer, the University of Chicago Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University at Northwestern Medicine.

The donations were made possible through the generous bequest of Nina Nicolai, who in her passing left a lasting legacy of support for CWSC and compassion for other individuals battling late-stage cancer diagnoses.

Through the endowment, a new Nina Nicolai Dream Fund program will focus on providing much-needed respite and

Ireland worldwide licensing brand and Ireland Pay, a credit card processing company.

She tells People she is happy being a sexagenarian.

“I just learned to enjoy aging more and there’s no fear, and that I’m grateful for.”

Kathy says her fame was “an accident.”

“It was more my photos. It came as a big surprise. The look of the moment was changing in the ‘80s when I started.”

These days new models ask her for advice. “I’m hesitant about encouraging anyone to get into the profession for many reasons. It is a business that can attract of lot of people of questionable character.”

House on the Market

Beauty mogul Jamie Kern Lima and husband Paulo Lima have listed their Carpinteria beach house for $41.95 million.

lasting memories to individuals and families specifically faced with terminal pancreatic diagnoses and those requesting travel dreams.

The Beauty of Age

Montecito-based former supermodel Kathy Ireland, 61, says she is grateful for getting older as it “brings maturity.”

Kathy, a former Sports Illustrated cover girl in the 1980s, has turned into a billionaire product mogul.

She has a Fashion 360 line for the Home Shopping Network, a Kathy

The tony twosome bought the property from Ellen DeGeneres and actress wife Portia de Rossi for $23 million in 2019.

They had paid $18.6 million for the mansion in 2017.

A former TV news anchor, Kern Lima founded IT Cosmetics with husband Paulo in 2008, selling the company in 2016 to French beauty colossus L’Oreal for $1.2 billion in an all-cash deal.

The four-bedroom, four-bathroom house is 5,979 square feet and comes with one bedroom, two-bath guest house measuring 883 square feet. The property sits on 1.1 acres with 77 feet of ocean frontage.

Sightings

Montecito actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Carpinteria TV talk show host Conan O’Brien meeting Pope Francis in Rome... Rosewood Miramar owner Rick Caruso noshing at the Montesano Market & Deli... Gwyneth Paltrow in Capri for the Jacquemus fashion show.

Pip! Pip!

From musings on the Royals to celebrity real estate deals, Richard Mineards is our man on the society scene and has been for more than 15 years

Dream Foundation CEO Kisa Heyer in Chicago picking up a hefty check from the White Sox Charities (courtesy photo)

Beauty tycoon Jamie Kern Lima selling Carpinteria oceanfront property (self-portrait photo via Wikimedia Commons)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

THURSDAY, JUNE 20

Solstice Art Crawl – Santa Barbara’s Summer Solstice Celebration is half a century old this year, so why not try something new to bring the festivities back to State Street? Visit a dozen local participating businesses and get an early taste of this year’s 50th anniversary celebration in tonight’s Solstice Flights of Fancy Art Crawl. Entertainers will perform outside each of the participating businesses downtown, offering a sneak preview of what’s to come over the weekend both at Alameda Park and the parade itself, while the local restaurants and retailers will have special offers for the Solstice volunteers and staff who make the whole thing such a brilliant display of creative energy in motion in this special Santa Barbara event. The Blue Owl, Jill’s Place, Three Pickles, Cookie Plug, Pascucci’s, Soul Bites, Wylde Works, and Night Lizard Brewing Co. are among the joints joining in for the first iteration of the pre-party Art Crawl. The Flights of Fancy post-party continues at Restaurant Roy, where DJ Darla Bea spins the tunes for a Summer of SOULstice celebration of the impending first day of summer.

WHEN: Art Craw 5-8 pm, party 7-10 pm

WHERE: Lower State Street and environs, and Roy, 7 W. Carrillo St.

COST: free

INFO: (805) 965-3396 or www.solsticeparade.com

Don’t Slough Off the Slough – Despite various incarnations and development proposals over the years, the Goleta Slough has maintained its status as a unique and invaluable natural environment. The expansive area of estuary, tidal creeks, tidal marsh, and wetlands contains the remnants of the historic inner Goleta Bay and empties into the Pacific Ocean through an intermittently closed mouth at Goleta Beach County Park just east of the UCSB campus. Since 1987, the 440 acres have been an ecological reserve, home to a variety of habitats and species including ducks, shorebirds, herons and

FRIDAY, JUNE 21

Hare-raising Musical – It’s kinda cool just how many decades of fun the folks in Monty Python have been able to wring out of their British sketch comedy troupe, far beyond the original four seasons of the British TV show. Now occupying the Ojai Arts Center is Spamalot, the Tony Award-winning comedy musical crafted by Python Eric Idle and John Du Prez, adapted from the beloved 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the troupe’s most successful endeavor. In Spamalot, King Arthur and his outrageously incompetent knights set off on a quest for the Holy Grail, navigating a whirlwind of absurd obstacles and hysterical encounters from the Knights Who Say “Ni!” to the taunting Frenchmen, the resilient Black Knight and, of course, the rabbit antagonist of a major set piece battle. The spot-on parody of the Arthurian legend, re-adapted as a musical for the stage, is a rollicking journey boasting frequently belly-busting laughs and surprisingly supple musical numbers, including “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.” Ojai ACT’s production is directed by Andrew Eiden and stars a huge cast of local actors in perhaps the company’s biggest production in years.

WHEN: 7:30 Fridays & Saturdays, 2 pm Sundays, today-July 21

WHERE: Ojai Arts Center Theater, 113 S. Montgomery St., Ojai

COST: $20-$25

INFO: (805) 640-8797 or www.ojaiact.org

FRIDAY, JUNE 21-SUNDAY, JUNE 23

Summer Solstice Celebration – Santa Barbara’s annual artful welcoming of the summer solstice kicks off with a pre-parade party this evening in Alameda Park with sunny and danceable sets from some of our most cherished bands including the David Segall Band, Down Mountain Lights, Art of Funk, and Area 51, as the celebration gets started in the downtown green space. Saturday is the main event, with the spectacular Summer Solstice Parade, a people-powered pagan party full of creative community art in motion, boasting festively-decorated floats, giant puppets, musical and dance ensembles, and myriad other costumed and masked reveler – about 1,000 strong – all marching up Santa Barbara Street to celebrate the first day of summer. No motors, no signs, and no animals are just three of the features that make the parade particularly people-powered, as is the fact that participants have been putting together their entries at the downtown workshop for as long as two months prior. The parade route ends at Alameda Park for a massive festival featuring more live music on three different stages, with Rey Fresco, Soul Majestic and Something This Way Magic mainstage highlights. It’s more music and summer fun on Sunday afternoon back at Alameda as the action winds down for the weekend.

WHEN: 4-9 pm tonight, 12 noon-8 pm tomorrow, 1:30-6 pm Sunday WHERE: State Street and Alameda Park COST: free

INFO: (805) 965-3396 or www.solsticeparade.com

mice, all managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. In the Maritime Museum’s Distinguished Speaker Series event tonight, local Goleta historian Tom Modugno will use a collection of captivating photographs to guide guests through the slough’s rich history, from Chumash origins to its current state that includes Santa Barbara Airport. Come early to check out the Museum’s Coastal Moments exhibit featuring the work of painters who have captured a moment or impression of the landscape, immersing themselves in their surroundings to paint what they see before them. The show features pieces by 10 well-known local plein air artists, including Ann Shelton Beth , Nancy Davidson , Camille Dellar , Rick Garcia , Derek Harrison , Wyllis Heaton , Ray Hunter , Ann Sanders , Thomas Van Stein , and Ralph Waterhouse . WHEN: 7 pm (exhibit continues through August 18)

WHERE: Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, 113 Harbor Way, Ste 190 COST: $20 general INFO: (805) 962-8404 or https://sbmm.org

SATURDAY, JUNE 22

Dr. Wu Do It Again – For a time, there were those who said Steely Dan’s signature sound was a studio creation only, something that could never really be faithfully recreated on the concert stage, particularly since founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen favored writing and recording far more than road work. Then, 13 years after the band broke up, Becker and Fagen – along with their chosen singers and instrumentalists – took up touring again in 1993 and kept it going even after Becker passed away in 2017. And of course, now there’s also tribute bands, despite the challenge of having a large and talented enough ensemble to make it work. Doctor Wu, however, has stood the test of time over its 24 years. The 11-piece band features lead singer Tony Egan , a four-piece horn section, backup singers, jazz-rock rhythm section, guitars and keyboards playing the Dan’s groove-laden and textured blockbuster hits and deep album tracks alike. They’re headed back to SOhO tonight – are you with me doctor?

A Wizard, A True Star – The title of Todd Rundgren’s 1973 solo album aptly describes the long and multi-faceted career of the songwriter, video pioneer, producer, recording artist and software designer. Well, except for the true star part. The pop genius has never been thought about with the adoration he deserves, although he’s certainly found a lot of success along the way. Rundgren was just a teenager when he founded and fronted The Nazz, the ‘60s psychedelic group, then spent time working at a studio before embarking on a solo career that in 1972 produced the still astonishing double album Something/Anything?, on which he played all the instruments, sang all the vocal parts, and acted as his own producer. The record featured “Hello, It’s Me,” ”I Saw the Light,” and “Couldn’t I Just Tell You,” still staples of classic rock radio. Just two years later, Rundgren veered yet again, forming his band Utopia, an early entry in the progressive rock/power pop genre. Rundgren continued to veer between the acts – scoring with such hits as “Can We Still Be Friends’’ and “Bang the Drum All Day” – but also split his time producing lots of other artists, spinning the dials for such seminal albums as Badfinger’s Straight Up, Grand Funk Railroad’s We’re an American Band, The New York Dolls self-titled album, Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell and XTC’s Skylarking Rundgren’s collaboration with Daryl Hall on Live from Daryl’s House is one of the top episodes in that series. Rundgren was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. We’re told that Rundgren, now 75, might be retiring from the road after his current tour, which features a few of his longtime band mates.

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: Libbey Bowl, 210 S. Signal St., Ojai COST: $48-$98

INFO: (805) 272-3881/https://libbeybowl.org OR 888-645-5006/https://wheremusicmeetsthesoul.com/events

WHEN: 6:30 pm

WHERE: SOhO Restaurant & Music Club, 1221 State Street COST: $28

INFO: (805) 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com

MONDAY, JUNE 24 & WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26

Chaucer’s Choices – Two local authors of some renown are heading to our marvelous midtown bookstore for readings and signings this week.

Shelly Lowenkopf has held editorial positions with general trade, mass-market, literary and scholarly book publishers; taught at both USC’s The Masters in Professional Writing Program for 34 years and at UCSB’s College of Creative Studies before settling in at SBCC’s Adult Ed program. He’s also published lots of longform fiction and short stories under his own name and pseudonyms, including a new short story collection called Struts and Frets: Matt Bender Stories ... Veteran journalist Ivor Davis – who way back when was embedded with the Beatles on their debut North American tour – wrote The Devil in My Friend straight out of his own life, spurred when two Malibu neighbors died in what appeared to be a terrible boating accident near the Channel Islands. Then her husband was arrested and convicted for their murder. Davis dove into the case hoping to discover his friend was innocent but found a tangled web of deceit and violence.

WHEN: 6 pm tonight (Lowenkopf) & Wednesday (Davis)

WHERE: Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza Shopping Center COST: free

INFO: (805) 682-6787 or www.chaucersbooks.com

IS OU SUE OW

Photo by Kim Reierson

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING (805) 565-1860

ESTATE/SENIOR SERVICES

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The Clearing House, LLC

Recognized as the area’s Premier Estate Liquidators - Experts in the Santa Barbara Market! We are Skilled Professionals with Years of Experience in Downsizing and Estate Sales. Personalized service. Insured. Call for a complimentary consultation. Elaine (805) 708-6113 Christa (805) 450-8382 Email: theclearinghouseSB@cox.net Website: www.theclearinghouseSB.com

We Buy, Sell and Broker Important Estate Jewelry. Located in the upper village of Montecito. Graduate Gemologists with 30 years of experience. We do free evaluations and private consultation. 1470 East Valley Rd Suite V. 805-969-0888

PHYSICAL TRAINING & THERAPY

Stillwell Fitness of Santa Barbara In Home Personal Training Sessions for 65+ Help with: Strength, Flexibility, Balance, Motivation, and Consistency

John Stillwell, CPT, Specialist in Senior Fitness 805-705-2014 StillwellFitness.com

GOT OSTEOPOROSIS? WE CAN HELP

At OsteoStrong our proven non-drug protocol takes just ten minutes once a week to improve your bone density and aid in more energy, strength, balance and agility. Please call for a complimentary session! Call Now (805) 453-6086

AUTOMOBILES WANTED

We buy Classic Cars Running or not. Foreign/Domestic Chevy/Ford/Porsche/Mercedes/Etc. We come to you. Call Steven - 805-699-0684 Website - Avantiauto.group AVAILABLE

Trusted, Experienced Caregiver, CA State registered and background checked. Vaccinated. Loving and caring provides transportation, medications, etc. Lina 805-940-6888

Montecito Electric Repairs and Inspections Licensed C10485353 805-969-1575

Timeless, eleganceNightwear, robes, loungewear www.shopglamourhouse.com (805) 969 5285 Ann@shopglamourhouse.com

TILE SETTING

Local tile setter of 35 years is now doing small jobs only. Services include grout cleaning and repair, caulking, sealing, replacing damaged tiles and basic plumbing needs. Call Doug Watts at 805-729-3211 for a free estimate.

PERSONAL SERVICES

Tell Your Story

How did you get to be where you are today? What were your challenges? What is your Love Story? I can help you tell your story in an unforgettable way – with a book that will live on for many generations. The books I write are as thorough and entertaining as acclaimed biographies you’ve read. I also assist with books you write – planning, editing and publishing. David Wilk. Great references. (805) 455-5980 www.BiographyDavidWilk.com

AVAILABLE FOR RENT

Montecito Home. $30,000 per month. 4 BD 4 BTH – attached Nanny’s Quarters + Guest House. Minimum of 2 years lease. (310) 498-0315.

Charming cottage in the heart of Montecito. 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, spacious living room and large garden. Available now and for the summer. $8500 per month. Email: RebeccaAtwater@gmail.com or call/text (805) 886-9825

PRIVATE CHEF AVAILABLE

In Home. Chef Bradley Mark 50 yrs. local experience Lv. msg. (805) 403-1769 Serve Safe Cert. #6168504

$10 MINIMUM TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Organize receipts for taxes, pay bills, write checks, reservations, scheduling. Confidential. Semi-retired professional. Excellent references. Sandra (805) 636-3089.

It’s simple. Charge is $3 per line, each line with 31 characters. Minimum is $10 per issue. Photo/logo/visual is an additional $20 per issue. Email Classified Ad to frontdesk@montecitojournal.net or call (805) 565-1860. All ads must be finalized by Friday at 2pm the week prior to printing.

ByPeteMuller&FrankLongo

Foreachofthefirstfiveminicrosswords,oneoftheentriesalsoservesaspartofa five-wordmetaclue.Theanswertothemetaisawordorphrase(sixlettersor longer)hiddenwithinthesixthminicrossword.Thehiddenmetaanswerstartsin oneofthesquaresandsnakesthroughthegridverticallyandhorizontallyfrom there(nodiagonals!)withoutrevisitinganysquares.

Across 1 HomeoftheStallionsinthe 2023film"Champions"

5 With2-Down,ripe,dark saladbit

7 TheBeatles' "HeyJude" vis-à-vis"Revolution,"e.g.

8 Eachpartner

9 "BetterOff___"(2020 episodeof"TheSimpsons")

1 "Ghosts"playwright

2 See5-Across

3 Didn'tgetintoodeep, perhaps 4 MakerofAspirecomputers 6 SportscasterAdamswho hosts"Up&Adams"

Across 1 StartofmanyCalifornia placenames 4 Whatahighwaymarker maymark

5 With7-Across,trackstarat the1936SummerOlympics

6 Reactedtoagoodmeme, maybe

7 See5-Across

1 Cottonthreadusedfor gloves

2 "WandaVision"co-star Elizabeth

3 Players"planted"in brackets 4 BitofPersianlanguage?

5 Starofthe '24film"ThisIs Me...Now:ALoveStory"

"AGentlemaninMoscow" airer,forshort

Bodythathigh-tailsit?

"Cosmicomics"author Calvino

Jalapeñotopper?

DKNYcompetitor

Nebraskacountynamed afteratribe

Pioneerinelevatorsafety

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8 Inspirationforatroubadour

9 Syntheticalternativetosilk Down

1 Whatmayprecedeyour instructions?

2 Policechiefoftenseen alongsideCommissioner Gordon

3 Squarethings,maybe

4 Linkwith

5 WheretheSoapBoxDerby championshiptakesplace

LOCAL BUSINESS DIRECTORY

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