SUNDAY, JULY 24 Cray Cruisin’ – Five-time Grammy-winning guitaristsongwriter-singer Robert Cray, who is also the youngest living member of the Blues Hall of Fame, is on tour celebrating 40 years of making music as chronicled in his latest release, 4 Nights of 40 Years Live. Considered one of the greatest guitarists of our time regardless of genre (his style is a signature blend of R&B, pop, rock, soul, and traditional blues), Cray has sold more than 12 million records, enjoys his own line of Fender guitars, and has written or performed with such greats as Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bonnie Raitt, and John Lee Hooker. He’s also a terrific musical storytellers able to cross cultural boundaries with a sound and style that is steeped in the down-home sound and rich, emotion soul of the blues. No stranger to Santa Barbara, Cray and his band return to town for another show at the grand old opera house known as the Lobero Theatre. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: 33 East Canon Perdido St. COST: $50 & $60 ($105 patron tickets include priority seating and pre-concert private reception) INFO: 963-0761 or www.lobero.comg
$175 general, $150 museum members INFO: 966-1601 or www. santabarbaramuseum.com HAPA Happiness – The veteran band’s Pan-Polynesian music is an amalgam of influences ranging from ancient genealogical chants to the strummed ballads of Portuguese fisherman, Spanish cowboys, and the inspired melodies and harmonies of the traditional church choirs of the early missionaries. Toss in a dose of American acoustic folk-rock to come up with a formula that has worked for decades and found critics raving about HAPA’s “beautiful, fragile, spiritual, powerful” music (Los Angeles Times) and exalting “the most exciting and beautiful contemporary Hawaiian music the world knows” (Maui Times). Fueled by a blend of majestic tones of the oli (chant), mele (song), the elegant movements of the sacred dance known as hula, and the exhilarating innovative sounds of virtuoso slack key guitar, HAPA’s self-titled debut CD swept the 1994 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards (Hawaii’s equivalent of the Grammys),
becoming the biggest-selling CD by a group or duo in the history of recorded Hawaiian music. WHEN: 7:30 pm WHERE: SOhO, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $25 INFO: 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com Secret Show – The CD release party for Divine Secrets, the first new album in more than a decade from former Montecito resident Kate Bennett – who once served as assistant to Kenny Loggins – takes place up in the Santa Ynez Valley in a serene setting. Bennett’s guitarist-singersongwriter husband Jeff Bisch and album producer/multi-instrumentalist David West (ex of the Cache Valley Drifters) join her at Trattoria Grappolo, the intimate Italian restaurant near the Maverick Saloon. After a 45-minute session for CD sales and autographs, Bennett and company will perform and discuss the new album and her music over a midday mini-concert over lunch. WHEN: 12:15-2:30 pm WHERE: 3687 Sagunto St., Santa Ynez COST: $25 INFO: RSVP to alchavezups@ yahoo.com •MJ
MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST
SMETANA’S THE BARTERED BRIDE FRI JUL 29 7:30PM SUN JUL 31 2:30PM GRANADA THEATRE CONCERT SERIES
BOZ SCAGGS TUE AUG 2 8PM MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM SUSAN AND PALMER JACKSON & NINA AND ERIC PHILLIPS MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV'S SCHEHERAZADE SAT AUG 6 7:30PM SUMMER CLASSIC MOVIE SERIES
CADDYSHACK MON AUG 8 7PM COMEDY TONIGHT: THE FILMS OF MEL BROOKS
ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS TUE AUG 9 7PM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27 Nate the Great – Longtime Santa Barbara resident, UCSB graduate, and, for the last decade, New York City-based jazz trumpeter-vocalist-composer Nate Birkey is back in town for one of his much-anticipated periodic visits reuniting him with his “West Coast” quintet. Over the past two years, Birkey and his NYC-based group have enjoyed successful tours of Cuba, Russia, and Italy, as well as the release of the gospel themed album Just a Closer Walk, recorded live at St. Michaels Church in Isla Vista and released by Santa Barbara-based Household Ink Records. The new record from the introspective, deeply self-expressive Birkey has been something of a turning point for the musician, as the prestigious Downbeat Magazine opined “Albums like this suggest Birkey is on his way out from under the shadow of all those early Chet Baker comparisons; his musical ideas deserve to stand on their own.” Now, Birkey returns to SOhO with the album’s personnel pianist Jamieson Trotter, tenor saxophonist Tom Buckner, bassist Jim Connolly, and drummer Peter Buck to play selections from Birkey’s nine-album catalog, and a smattering of new works. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: SOhO, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $10 INFO: 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com
21 – 28 July 2016
REEL COOL SUMMER SERIES
MONSTERS VS ALIENS WED AUG 10 6PM AND THE BAND PLAYED ON
THE LAST WALTZ THU AUG 11 7PM
MONTECITO JOURNAL
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