10 minute read
Calendar of Events
Next Article
THURSDAY, MARCH 5
1st Thursday: On the Beat, and Offbeat – City Hall Gallery (735 Anacapa Street, 805-568-3990) hosts an opening reception celebrating “Student Voices,” featuring works from budding creatives at the Santa Barbara City College Art Department, featuring remarks from participating SBCC students… The financial firm Raymond James (1216 State Street, 5th Floor in the Granada Building, 805-730-3350) continues its hosting of receptions high above State Street with a show featuring local artists Randy VanderMey, Jasmine Clark, and Lori Call, who will mingle among the patrons enjoying free wine and appetizers… March also features a new debut for the monthly art-and-culture self-guided tour: Onus Donuts (413 State Street, 805-770-8066), an old-fashioned donut shop with a slightly modern twist that just opened its doors three months ago. Local artist J.J. Sanchez will have work on display while vinyl DJs from Val-Mar Records provide the grooves. Special savory and sweet donuts prepared for the night will be served, along with craft beer and champagne… In the performing arts portion of March’s 1st Thursday, SBIFF’S Santa Barbara Filmmaker Screening Series (1330 State Street) offers up Preston Maag’s “10 Miles Out,” a 12-minute short doc depicting backpackers of various skill and experience levels navigating the Los Padres National Forest in uplifting and inspiring journeys. Finally, indie rock band David à la Mode alternates between warm, harmony-laden folk tunes and rowdy, overdriven headbanging music at De La Guerra Place in Paseo Nuevo. WHEN: 5-8 pm WHERE: Lower State Street and environs COST: free INFO: (805) 962-2098 or www. downtownsb.org/events/1st-thursday
Gagaku & Kimonos? Sho Thing! – Art, Design & Architecture Museum hosts a trio of events about Gagaku, the music and dance of the Imperial Court of Japan also performed at important Buddhist and Shinto temples – the oldest continuously performed musical tradition in the world. Its repertory includes vocal music, instrumental pieces and dance programs from ancient Japan, China, India, Korea, and other parts of Asia, as well as a growing body of contemporary music. This afternoon, maestro Naoyuki Manabe, performer and composer, will present an outline of the music while Professor Fabio Rambelli, organizer of the event, will provide a Japanese-English translation. Tomorrow afternoon, Manabe will be joined by Takao Matsuhisa, another leading performer of Gagaku music and Bugaku dance, who will offer a unique glimpse of the unique kimono costumes used in the ancient genres, explaining the elaborate structure of the costumes and their symbolism, and demonstrat
ONGOING THURSDAY, MARCH 5
1st Thursday: Galleries and Goodies – Sure the calendar – if not the thermometer – says spring is still a couple of weeks off, but it’s not too early to start planning for summer. As in the Summer Solstice Parade poster. The annual exhibit of the contenders hoping their art will be chosen to appear on T-shirts, posters and other merchandise for the perennially popular pagan parade and celebration takes place tonight at Café Ana (1201 Anacapa Street, 805-888-0262) where you can also meet the artists and cast your vote for the work you think best promotes this year’s theme of “Beautiful Earth” while enjoying wine and delicious bites for purchase… Also in the artists-at-alcohol-serving spots is Armada Wine & Beer Merchant (1129 State Street, Suite A, 805- 770-5912), which hosts local graphic designer/ artist Anna Dulaney. Enjoy happy hour prices while checking out Dulaney’s use of watercolor and gold leaf featuring natural textures, shapes and silhouettes that some say set forth peaceful feelings… Among the full-time art galleries, Sullivan Goss (11 East Anapamu Street, 805-730-1460) opens a new exhibition celebrating the life and work of influential and beloved Santa Barbara painter Michael Dvortcsak, who passed away last December. A major force in the area’s artistic community for half a century, Dvortcsak’s career began in the ‘60s as an MFA student at UCSB, where he eventually taught before achieving enough critical success in the artworld to give up teaching and focus full time on his painting, although he never stopped being a mentor to young, ambitious artists and was an important influence on many of the area’s most well-known contemporary artists. The retrospective will include work from all periods of his career, while the gallery also continues exhibits by local favorites Phoebe Brunner and Meredith Brooks Abbott… “Outside Looking In” is the title of the new exhibit of Genevieve Gaignard’s provocative explorations addressing stereotypes of race, class, and gender in photographs of her “selfie culture” self-performances and installations, opening today at the Museum of Contemporary Art (653 Paseo Nuevo Terrace, 805-966-5373). Gaignard’s mixed media work combines humor, persona and lowbrow pop sensibilities to craft dynamic visual narratives, while the aural offerings during the monthly Curated Cocktails event will come from DJ DESKTOP… Erin Ziegler is featured artist at “Spring Arts Collective,” an exhibit of original landscapes, watercolors, and printmaking design from the 24 resident artists at Santa Barbara Art Works (28 East Victoria Street). WHEN: 5-8 pm WHERE: Lower State Street and environs COST: free INFO: (805) 962-2098 or www.downtownsb.org/events/1st-thursday
MONTECITO JOURNAL52 “Music is the great uniter. An incredible force.” – Sarah Dessen Ewes with a View – Elings Park has recruited more than 200 merino sheep to remove fire-prone plants and weeds in an organic effort at clearing unnecessary and dangerous vegetation, employing a safe alternative to herbicides to protect the Mesa neighborhood. The fuzzy, eco-friendly specialists that are adept at removing the unwanted plants and devouring invasive weeds will be contained in corrals that will move every few days to target specific areas at the location, one of the largest private parks in California (nearly three times the size of Disneyland), which normally hosts sporting events, nature hikes and cultural events. In addition to removing highly flammable vegetation, the flock of sheep’s hoof impact will condition the soil by breaking up the hard clay layer allowing better water absorption and enabling roots to spread. Trampling dead plant matter into soil creates natural conditions that favor native and perennial plant communities over non-native invasives. Sheep safety expert Cuyama Lamb has extensive experience with targeted grazing and will have many safety precautions in place including fencing, netting and regular observations. At night, the flock will be protected by Great Pyrenees sheep dogs. The public is welcome to hike onto the south bluffs of Elings Park for daily sheep-gazing sessions, viewing the flock during daylight hours; directional signs will be posted at trail heads off Jerry Harwin Parkway, with the details on the latest locations posted on Elings Park social media. WHEN: Daily through March 21 WHERE: 1298 Las Positas Road COST: free, $5 parking on weekends INFO: www.elingspark.org ing the ritual practices associated with folding and wearing them. At the same time, Hideaki Bunno, a former director of the Gagaku orchestra at the Imperial Palace of Japan and the current director of a Gagaku ensemble performing at UCSB over the two days, leads a workshop in the sho an ancient mouth organ made with bamboo, lacquered wood and metal that is used only in Gagaku and Bugaku, where it plays complex harmonic clusters as an accompaniment to the melodies. Bunno is a member of a 36-generation family of musicians that has continuously played the sho at the imperial court of Japan for over 1,000 years. WHEN: Lecture 1-2:30 pm today; Kimono demo 1-3 pm tomorrow, sho workshop 2-3:30 pm WHERE: UCSB campus, across from the lagoon COST: free INFO: (805) 893-2951 or www.museum. ucsb.edu
SATURDAY, MARCH 7
New ‘Configuration’ at Center Stage – Santa Barbara’s premier youth dance company annual showcase, presented by Santa Barbara Dance Arts and The Arts Mentorship Program, regularly sells out a series of shows by appealing to the whole family. The performances feature high-energy hip hop, evocative contemporary dance pieces and entertaining jazz numbers highlighting award-winning choreography from Los Angeles-based Phil Wright and Richard Elszy, plus work from local favorites Brittany Sandoval, Chloe Roberts, Lauren Serrano, and company founder Alana Tillim. The production has the added factor of having student work share the stage with professional choreographers’ creations, with the amateurs being nurtured by professional mentors while they compete
Skaggs’ Neverending Americana Journey – Fifteen Grammy Awards. Twelve No. 1 hit country singles. Eight each of Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music awards. Membership in the Country Music Hall of Fame, IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, the National Fiddler Hall of Fame, the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and, to top it off, the Grand Ole Opry. Yes, it’s Ricky Skaggs, who before he turned 21 was already considered a “recognized master” of bluegrass and then decided to head in other directions, catapulting him to popularity and success in the mainstream of country music and, more recently, roots revival, always dedicated to playing music that is both fed by the soul and felt by the heart. Skaggs’ current cross-cultural, genre-bending musical ideas and inspirations are taking shape with Kentucky Thunder, whose all-star lineup features Paul Brewster (tenor vocals, rhythm guitar), Russ Carson (banjo), Jake Workman (lead guitar), Mike Barnett (fiddle), Dennis Parker (baritone vocals, guitar) and Jeff Picker (bass, bass vocals). The outfit heads our way again for a show at the Lobero, a hall as reverent about American music as tonight’s star. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St. COST: $50-$60 INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www. lobero.com
for a $250 cash prize. WHEN: 7 pm tonight and March 13-14, plus 2 pm tomorrow and March 14 WHERE: Upstairs in the Paseo Nuevo Shopping Center, at the intersection of Chapala and De la Guerra Streets COST: $17- $50 INFO: (805) 963-0408 or www. centerstagetheater.org
SUNDAY, MARCH 8
Laureate Lectures – With today’s “Writing Love in the Face of Disaster” event, Parallel Stories flings open the door to the exuberant experimental poetry of former California and U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera – whose creations confound all bor
MONDAY, MARCH 9
ders including that between the written and the spoken – in a conversation with Andrew Winer, his longtime friend, fellow author and colleague in the Creative Writing program at UC Riverside. The son of migrant farmers, which he says strongly shaped his work, Herrera finds his stories in the landscape and language of California, but he reminds us that we are the poetry makers and invites us to join him. WHEN: 2:30 pm WHERE: Mary Craig Auditorium at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State Street (entrance in the rear) COST: $10 general, $6 seniors, $5 museum members INFO: (805) 963-4364 or www.sbma.net •MJ
CAMA presents LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC Fri MAR 6 7 pm (Early Start Time)
UCSB Arts & Lectures presents BRIAN GREENE UNTIL THE END OF TIME Mon MAR 9 7:30 pm
State Street Ballet presents SLEEPING BEAUTY Sat MAR 14 7:30 pm
Network Medical presents SEALED FEAT. CHAD WILLIAMS Thu MAR 19 7 pm
Thank you to our Season Title Sponsor
1214 State Street, Santa Barbara Donor parking provided by
Brain Boggling with Brian – Brian Greene, the world-renowned theoretical physicist and bestselling author of The Elegant Universe, The Fabric of the Cosmos, and The Hidden Reality – the latter two adapted into Peabody and Emmy Award-winning NOVA miniseries – presents a captivating exploration of deep time and humanity’s search for purpose in a public lecture titled after his new book, “Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe.” Greene’s breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to understand it takes us on a journey across time, from our most refined understanding of the universe’s beginning to the closest science can take us to the very end – meaning the death of the universe. Greene will explore how life and mind emerged from the initial chaos and how our minds, in coming to understand their own impermanence, seek in different ways to give meaning to experience, via story, myth, religion, creative expression, science and the quest for truth and our longing for the timeless, or the eternal. WHEN: 7:30 pm WHERE: Granada Theatre, 1214 State Street COST: $25-$40 INFO: (805) 899-2222/www.granadasb.org or (805) 893- 3535/www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu
Thank you to the Santa Barbara community and our Resident Companies for supporting The Granada Theatre’s production of Peter and the Wolf.
