Sundays on Cabrillo

Taverns&Taprooms FITNESS MECCA SB

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY'S PREMIER BREWERIES & TASTING ROOMS (PAGE 9)

SANTA BARBARA’S PREMIER BOUTIQUE FITNESS STUDIOS (PAGE 13)

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SUNDAYS ON CABRILLO

(photo by Meadow Rose)

SB artists, crafts makers, artisans, and entrepreneurs, calling themselves the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show, have enlivened Sundays on Cabrillo Blvd for the past (wait for it...) fifty years! (story begins on page 5)

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Content P.5

Biweekly Capitalist – Jeff Harding foresees improvement in Cuba and doesn’t mince words about Fidel Castro’s demise State Street Scribe – Jeff Wing, a.k.a. Mother Ginger, joins the cast of Nutcracker at the Arlington and won’t shut up about it Beer Guy – Presents of mind: Zach Rosen knows the liquid gift that keeps on giving and thus serves up plenty of holiday cheer Fortnight – Popovich Pet Theatre at Lobero; ETC and Chapter Two; Lobero hosts John Waters; Startup SB and Green Drinks; Rubicon’s version of A Christmas Carol; annual Parade of Lights; The Nutcracker; and Santa Barbara Revels

Gettin’ Fit – They say your body is a temple, so Chantal Peterson advises taking your body to Temple, a new fitness studio that’s shaping up with Natalie Diane and Terence Carfrae

P.14 P.15

ade in SB – With the holidays looming, Chantal Peterson gets her M shopping groove back, thanks to the SB Arts and Crafts Show; she also spotlights a handful of noteworthy artists

P.6 P.7 P.8 P.10 P.12

Behind The Vine – Hana-Lee Sedgwick gets to know Riverbench Winery, founded in 1973 in Santa Maria Valley, and experience their taste of sparkling wines (keyword Champagne)

Man About Town – Mark Léisuré proves too busy to be a man of leisure as he catches up with artist Brad Nack; and an encapsulation of Charles Lloyd and Lucinda Williams at the Lobero

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Plan B – Briana Westmacott has a letter of requests for Santa and she’s checking it twice; she also spies Kris Kringle at La Cumbre Plaza

Merry Christmas and happy holidays From the Andersens To you and your friends

P.23 P.25

Art Beat – Jacquelyn De Longe has a 100 Grand – namely the Sullivan Goss show by the same name – with an array of artists’ works on display SB Digs – Cozy, somewhat secluded, and within proximity to the beach? Welcome to the Mesa – specifically a cottage on Palisades Drive.

What’s Hanging – Ted Mills pinpoints the true meaning of the holidays: buying art and decking the halls with various works worth hanging

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Creative Characters - Wooden you know it? Jeff Hampton strings up guitars, by design, using sturdy wood that rocks the house. As Metallica would say, it’s electric.

P.29 P.30

I Heart SB – Elizabeth Rose can see the future, which is why she and her beau progressed from pillow talk to real talk SYV Snapshot – Eva Van Prooyen previews the Santa Ynez Valley Christmas Basket Program; her Top Faves include Olsen’s gingerbread house, Goat Bubbles dinner at Full of Life Flatbread; wine passport trail, wreath-making workshop, KidKraft at Wildling Museum

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MADEINSB

by Chantal Peterson

THE SANTA BARBARA ARTS AND CRAFTS SHOW: A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR HANDMADE ARTISANAL HOLIDAY GIFTS

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here are a lot of ways to create the world you want to live in. Most of it can be done with small, everyday decisions that collectively add up over time. With the holidays approaching, it’s a really good time to remember that, especially as the consumer craze ramps up. We truly do have the ability to vote with our dollar, and to support the things we believe in by helping them thrive.

With the country in a bit of upheaval right now, it’s a strong comfort to remember that we all have a choice every day, and the reality is that consumer behavior dictates a lot of policy in our country. All this is a heady way of saying: supporting local artisans and entrepreneurs matters, and Santa Barbara is full of super-talented ones.

In Santa Barbara, there are many ways (photo by Meadow Rose) to buy local, and one of the organizations that has been at it for more than 50 years, which has actually helped usher in the localism trend, is the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show (SBAACS) which takes place along East Cabrillo Boulevard every Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. With local and hand-made goods trending so

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strongly now, the Arts and Crafts Show not only makes sense, but it is a testament to the fact that hand-crafted artisanal goods have been valued by our community for a long time. The good news is that now everyone else is catching up! So, while on one hand the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show is the old-school organization that got the ball rolling, they are also very much the new-school torch holders who have been evolving with the market over time.

Chatting with Marilyn Dannehower, an artist on the SBAACS Advisory Board, I was reminded that the artisans at the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show are different from those who show solely in the gallery world, in that they interact with their customers every single week. They hear the feedback from customers themselves, and their art can thus evolve as a result of those conversations and insights. It is a requirement of the SBAACS that the artists who make the work are the ones at the booths selling their work themselves. It is also a requirement that their work be entirely hand-made. So, it is really a pretty unique situation in today’s world of eBay, Amazon, and cheap knock-offs galore.

HOLIDAY SHOPPING CHOICES h the holidays! Love them, loathe them, either way, you are probably shopping for them. In my experience, as someone who doesn’t necessarily love to shop for holiday gifts, it is made much more enjoyable by finding ways to integrate human connection and real stories into the products you give as gifts. The truth is, with the exception of perhaps technology-based gifts, handmade always wins. If you can’t or don’t want to make it yourself, then having it made by someone else’s hand is really the next best (probably much better) thing. This is really where the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show shines for the holidays.

It also makes a strong case for the local market pull. The Arts and Crafts Show is now on the official Funk Zone map and considered a strong addition to it as an art-based attraction that draws in locals and tourists alike. Just as the Funk Zone is meant to serve that dual purpose of being a hip place for tourists to flock to, as well as a regular gathering place for locals, The SBAACS is a place for local artisans to benefit from local patronage just as much as tourist dollars. It’s the local residents

O

...continued p.18

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The Capitalist

by Jeff Harding

Jeff Harding is a real estate investor and a writer on economics and finance. He is the former publisher of the Daily Capitalist, a popular economics blog. He is also an adjunct professor at SBCC. He blogs at anIndependentMind.com

Fidel Castro, R.I.H.

F

idel Castro died.

Praise was heaped on him from every thuggish leader around the world. China’s Xi said he was a “dear comrade and true friend” of the Chinese people who made “immortal contributions to the development of socialism around the world.” Putin said Castro was “a wise and strong person” who was “an inspiring example for all countries and peoples” and a “sincere and reliable friend of Russia.” Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro offered solidarity and love to the Cuban people. Pope Francis prayed for his eternal rest.

Even President Obama offered tactful condolences to the Castro family and said “our thoughts and prayers are with the Cuban people.”

They were partying in Miami, home to those who fled Castro’s terror.

Fidel Castro was a brutal dictator who imprisoned Cubans in a hermetically sealed coffin. This belies the popular view of him as the antiimperialist freedom fighter. He was not a benign socialist or Progressive, but rather a communist, a blind follower of Marxism-Leninism who replicated the Russian Soviet model of ruthless state control into every detail of Cuban lives.

A centrally planned Soviet-style economy and a feared security apparatus modeled on Lenin’s Cheka (ultimately Stalin’s NKVD and KGB), enforced Castro’s ideal of a Marxist utopian communist state.

The fact is that nothing ever worked well in Cuba under Castro, including their lauded medical and education systems. Their “reforms” plunged Cuba into equal opportunity poverty. So much for his “immortal contributions” to socialism.

Like all utopian fantasies, especially communist ones, it failed because it ignored human nature and human rights. Instead of the freedoms promised

by Castro the young guerilla and revolutionary victor, he brought a reign of terror and poverty.

Castro and his regime set up a brutal security apparatus that smothered the entire island. After the revolution, they rounded up and executed many members of the former corrupt Batista regime. They extinguished freedom on a nationwide scale to make sure that there was no opposition to their police state. No one knows how many have been killed by the regime, but it is in the thousands, which was a very effective way to cow a small nation of 7 million people into submission.

This is the way of all socialist systems. As Castro’s policies and “reforms” inevitably failed, they scapegoated “counterrevolutionaries” – anyone who is suspected of harboring anti-regime thoughts – who were imprisoned, executed, or put into concentration work camps.

Based on the Soviet model, each neighborhood or apartment building had paid watchers to report those suspected of deviating from revolutionary dogma. No one speaks their mind, even today, for fear of arrest and punishment.

Che Guevara’s ubiquitous image on T-shirts and posters is seen everywhere in the world as a romantic symbol of struggle for the underprivileged.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Che was a member of Castro’s inner circle and a valued adviser and enforcer.

Che was a brutal enforcer, executioner, and rabid Marxist-Leninist who oversaw the establishment of Cuba’s police state and participated in the executions that followed the revolution. He was put in charge of the economy and instituted a centrally planned economy enforced by brutality. Most businesses and foreign properties were nationalized. Much agriculture, especially sugar production, was collectivized. Cuba’s economy collapsed resulting in food shortages, rationing of basic goods, and poverty.

Rationing still exists today (they get 1 pound of beef and 2 pounds of chicken every month) and food is hard to get without foreign currency.

After Che collectivized sugar production, harvests failed and output halved. By necessity, they became puppets of the Soviet Union and supplied sugar to the Soviet empire in exchange for massive subsidies. Soviet largesse

and power was the only thing that kept Castro’s regime afloat. In return, the Soviets used Castro to promote revolutionary terror worldwide.

Fidel exported armed chaos (communist revolution) to Argentina, Venezuela, Guatemala, Paraguay, Colombia, Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, and South Africa.

All those efforts failed and, if those regimes are still in power, they are dictatorships of impoverished countries. The failed socialist state of Venezuela is just the latest example of Castro’s work.

After the collapse of the Soviet empire, the welfare payments stopped and Cuba fell into economic collapse. This “Special Period” (1989-1996) was marked by famine, malnutrition, starvation, and disease. That is, unless you were a member of the Communist Party or the army: they ate well (see George Orwell’s Animal Farm).

As a Cuban, if you weren’t part of the elite, you lived at the whim of the State. No jobs, no hope, no future. They did what all oppressed people do: they fled. There have been five waves of emigration from Cuba since the

The fact is that nothing ever worked well in Cuba under Castro revolution, and it still goes on as Cubans risk their lives on flimsy rafts to reach our shores. The United States is home to 1,172,899 Cuban exiles, and as a group, they have thrived here.

The lesson of Cuba and Castro is twofold.

First is the obvious one that all such communist-socialist regimes are corrupt, brutal, disruptive failures. And they are hard to dislodge – the Castros have ruled Cuba for almost 60 years.

The second lesson is about capitalism.

The CNBC TV show The Profit powerfully demonstrates this in the latest segment, “The Profit in Cuba.” The show, starring serial entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis, takes us inside Cuba’s tiny “almost” private sector.

Because of a stagnant economy caused by the failures of inefficient staterun enterprises, Raul Castro, taking over from his brother in 2010, allowed the expansion of private, profit-oriented businesses. There is still a complex maze of regulations to hurdle to open a business, but by opening that door just a crack, 500,000 entrepreneurs have opened small businesses, transforming Cuba’s economy.

I urge you to watch “The Profit in Cuba”. You will be inspired by the drive and ingenuity of Cubans given a chance to better themselves and their world. Once more, economic freedom (capitalism) triumphs over socialism. Fidel would have hated it. May he rot in Hell.

Publisher/Editor • Tim Buckley Design/Production • Trent Watanabe Columnists Man About Town • Mark Léisuré Plan B • Briana Westmacott | Food File • Christina Enoch Commercial Corner • Austin Herlihy | The Weekly Capitalist • Jeff Harding The Beer Guy • Zach Rosen | E's Note • Elliana Westmacott Business Beat • Chantal Peterson | What’s Hanging • Ted Mills I Heart SB • Elizabeth Rose | Fortnight • Steven Libowitz State Street Scribe • Jeff Wing | Holistic Deliberation • Allison Antoinette Art Beat • Jacquelyn De Longe | Behind The Vine • Hana-Lee Sedgwick Advertising / Sales Tanis Nelson • 805.689.0304 • tanis@santabarbarasentinel.com Sue Brooks • 805.455.9116 • sue@santabarbarasentinel.com Judson Bardwell • 619.379.1506 • judson@santabarbarasentinel.com Published by SB Sentinel, LLC PRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA Santa Barbara Sentinel is compiled every other Friday 133 EAST DE LA GUERRA STREET, #182, Santa Barbara 93101 How to reach us: 805.845.1673 • E-MAIL: tim@santabarbarasentinel.com

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STATE STREET SCRIBE

by Jeff Wing

Jeff is a journalist, raconteur, autodidact, and polysyllable enthusiast. A long-time resident of SB, he takes great delight in chronicling the lesser known facets of this gaudy jewel by the sea. Jeff can be reached at jeffwingg@gmail.com.

Hoop Dreams

Flustered middle-aged man in wigged distress as flour-covered bakers surround and taunt him

A

bout a year and a month ago, I was driving my 13-year-old daughter and her longtime ballerina pal to their Nutcracker rehearsal at the venerable Santa Barbara Festival Ballet conservatory downtown, which

they’ve both been attending since they were toddlers. ”Dad, guess what?” my daughter said with mild kid-excitement. Oh, the little ones. They tickle us so with their vibrant love of life’s trivia, the joy they take in

making their little announcements.

I tilted my head and arched my dad eyebrows in a Father Knows Best show of syrupy endearment. “What is it, sweetie?” To which she replied brightly, “Mr. O’Neill isn’t going to play Mother Ginger anymore and – “ “I’ll do it!!” I rasped with such sudden force my spotted paws lifted momentarily from the steering wheel.

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it! I’LL DO IT!” My startled daughter and her friend grew silent at the outburst, which I immediately understood to have sounded like that sudden hissing bark that erupts from zoo lizards and makes babies hysterical. My Tourette’s volunteerism had likewise frightened the girls. But Mother Ginger! What a role! Over the following minutes, the silence was profound in the car, let’s say. When I glanced over, I saw that the color had quite fled my dear daughter’s little face. She spoke through a frozen grin of terror. “You’ll do it?”

“It” hadn’t actually been offered. But still. How could I not? It would be my duty and my honor. And if my duty and honor were rebuffed by cooler heads back at the dance school, I would smash down the conservatory door in my bloomers and wig and demonstrate to the program directors my deep respect

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for the late-romantic era of classical composition. “Dad,” my daughter stammered anew. “Really?”

Mother and Fathers Yes, really, I thought-beam back to her with all the love in my heart, once again arching my emotionally overwrought eyebrows and staring dreamily through a filthy windshield. I simply couldn’t believe the largesse being handed to me on a silver platter, as it were.

Mother Ginger! I’d attended the lavish Nutcracker production for years, glowed with pride and teared up in the dark of the Arlington house as I’d watched my beautiful baby girl blossom on that stage over the years, moving from role to role, growing taller, more graceful, her turns and pirouettes becoming more fluid, more sure, until she’d reached her current apogee – completing her transformation from adorable duckling to scarcely believable swan, a statuesque ballerina in the classic mold.

And now, I too could partake of this magic, share the footlights with my daughter. One is given such a chance but once in several lifetimes, and even less frequently if my daughter had her way. Her face that day in ...continued p.24

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he gift giving season is upon us and for those of us who have beerdoes in our lives, here are a few ideas of what to give them.

First off, no one wants to come emptyhanded to a holiday party and entering the soirée with a bottle of something special is always welcome. One of the most anticipated brews each year is Anchor Brewing Co. Our Special Ale. Now in its 42nd annual release, this winter warmer has been brewed since 1975 and has been shrouded in mystery since its early days. The recipe is kept secret, and the spices and specialty ingredients used have never been released, keeping beer drinkers guessing which unique additions contribute to its intricate flavors. The moderate alcohol content of 6.5% ABV does not lend itself well to extensive aging, though some people like to hold onto bottles and see how the spices progress over time. Although it is sold in 6-packs, they also offer a magnum of this brew for $18.99, which makes it a great beer to bring to holiday parties.

Membership to The Rare Beer Club is a unique gift that offers exotic beers such as Boon Mariage Parfait

Join the Club One of the best gifts you can give a beerdoe is a membership to The Rare Beer Club. This association was first started by legendary beer and whiskey writer Michael Jackson (no, not that Michael Jackson) who began commissioning rare brews and special bottlings from the world’s best breweries. While the Rare Beer Club features the most exclusive offerings, there are several other options available on beermonthclub.com as well. The company also features the U.S. Micro Beer Club, Variety Beer Club, HopHeads Beer Club, and the International Beer Club. Each club has its own perks, and the cost ranges from $27.95 per month (plus $15 S&H) to $70.95 (plus $19 S&H) for a full suite of rare beers.

The Rare Beer Club features some

Zach Rosen is a Certified Cicerone® and beer educator living in Santa Barbara. He uses his background in chemical engineering and the arts to seek out abstract expressions of beer and discover how beer pairs with life.

exclusive beers, such as Boon Oude Geuze Mariage Parfait. I had spent years trying to hunt down this beer and could not believe it when two of them landed on my doorstep. Mariage Parfait is typically only put into 375 ml bottles and the large 750 ml format (think wine bottle) that came with the club is unheard of. This beer was worth the wait and contained a symphony of flavors, melding together aromas of white grapes, lemon, and white pepper.

If you are looking to gift someone ...continued p.26

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Taverns&Taprooms

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY'S PREMIER BREWERIES & TASTING ROOMS Island Brewing Company

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njoy quality craft beer, cask ale, and beer cocktails, plus live music and special events or grab beer to go.

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Hrs: Daily 11:30am - Close www.mspecialbrewco.com

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e turned 21 years old this year! Come celebrate with us by eating great food and drinking awesome beer.

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2 – 16 DECEMBER

by Steven Libowitz

Tell us all about your art opening, performance, dance party, book signing, sale of something we can’t live without, or event of any other kind by emailing fortnight@santabarbarasentinel.com. If our readers can go to it, look at it, eat it, or buy it, we want to know about it and will consider it for inclusion here.

Special consideration will be given to interesting, exploratory, unfamiliar, and unusual items. We give calendar preference to those who take the time to submit a picture along with their listing.

Communing with Nature

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ats running up ladders, jumping between chairs and through hoops, playing nice with mice, and riding bareback on dogs. Yes, it can only be Popovich Pet Theatre, the spectacle of tricks and treats that even David Letterman might marvel at. Fourth-generation Russian circus arts performer Gregory Popovich was making do as just your average juggler at Circus Circus in Las Vegas in the early 1990s before he added an animal – originally just a single cat who served as his foil – and then took on the pet project full time. Now he runs a 90-minute spectacle of silly skits starring cats, dogs, parrots, mice, and other creatures decked in colorful costumes. The show this time around is his special holiday edition, which, we’re told, features a mini-horse towing Santa Claus around the stage. No word on whether his nose shines so bright.

Get down and dirty with Popovich’s furry friends on Sunday afternoon, December 4, at the Lobero. Call 9630761 or visit www.lobero.com.

that has been described as a “sleigh full of smut” and “putting the X in Xmas” is headed to Santa Barbara where Waters’s rapid-fire monologue are set to explore and explode traditional archetypes. Over the course of the evening, the so-called “Pope of Trash” and “Prince of Puke” shares his compulsive desire to give and receive perverted gifts, a religious fanaticism for Santa Claus, his unhealthy love of true-crime holiday horror stories, and the urge to remake all his own trashy films into seasonal children’s classics.

Things may never be the same at the Lobero Theatre after Tuesday night, December 6. Call 963-0761 or visit www.lobero.com.

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Barnicle’s Bills

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wo theater seasons ago, Andrew Barnicle made his Ensemble Theater Company (ETC) directing debut just a few years after retiring from The Laguna Playhouse after 20 years as artistic director with a production of David Ives’s Venus in Fur, the twocharacter study in sex, seduction, and psychology that proved a stunning sensation. Last season, he returned to Santa Barbara to helm ETC’s take on Noël Coward’s sophisticated period piece, Fallen Angels, which was also wildly successful. Now, less than a year later, he’s back again for the comedy hat trick with a built-in crowd-pleaser in Neil Simon’s Chapter Two. The poignant romantic-comedy about the budding relationship between a New York writer whose beloved wife recently died and an actress whose own marriage has just ended is one of the most autobiographical works in Simon’s canon, drawn largely from his experience when he met actress/muse and later-wife Marsha Mason soon after he became a widower. Barnicle mounted the work just three years ago in So Cal, and he’s brought along the same actress, Caroline Kinsolving,

for the new production, which also marks the ETC debut for Todd Weeks, who recently starred opposite Bryan Cranston as President Johnson’s chief of staff Walter Jenkins in the HBO biopic All the Way. Chapter Two plays at the New Vic Theater downtown December 3-18. Call 965-5400 or visit www.ensembletheatre.com.

Un-holy Waters

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ohn Waters, the filmmaker who turned bad taste into a true art form via such films as Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, and A Dirty Shame, has been doing one-man holiday shows for nearly 15 years. Now the performance

tartup Santa Barbara and Green Drinks are coming together for an event meant to bring together environmentalists, startup personnel, technologists, and other changemakers. As Santa Barbara continues to grow as a center for tech-focused ideas tackling energy issues, the evening is an opportunity to get to know the Santa Barbara environmental and entrepreneurial communities, and connect with local companies that are changing the way we think about how business and the environment interact. Featured are EV Match (a crowd-sourced online platform for EV charging that allows individuals to rent out their private charging stations to other EV drivers) and Next Energy Technology (which makes windows that generate energy from the sun), both of which are focusing their efforts at developing technology that will change the way energy is created and consumed, as well as the Community Environmental Council’s partnership with LACI (the Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator), which are part of new initiatives and roles driving clean tech innovation in the area. The evening’s proceeds will go toward the Blue Sky Center, a nonprofit rural impact center located in the high-desert region of the Cuyama Valley in between California’s Central Valley and coast. It all takes place December 7, 6 to 9 pm at The Sandbox, located in the Santa Barbara Design Center in the Lagoon District at 414 Olive Street (between Haley and

Salsipuedes streets). Admission is $10, which includes wine and beer from Draughtsman Aleworks. Get details and register online at www.startupsb. com/startupgreendrinks.

Let’s Go a-Carol-ing Again

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ubicon Theatre Company’s production of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol returns to the Ventura venue December 7-24, once again starring Broadway, TV, and film veterans Peter Van Norden and Joe Spano reprising their roles as Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley.

The innovative retelling of the timeless tale of redemption was adapted by producing artistic director Karyl Lynn Burns and once again is being directed

by Brian McDonald. The 25-member cast also features many of the same actors from the original production that earned a “Critic’s Choice” in the Los Angeles Times and rave reviews from many critics last December for its highly theatrical approach in which actors play multiple characters and even narrate and sing in the style of Royal Shakespeare Company’s landmark production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

One if by Land, 25 if by Sea

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here are a whole lot of reasons to traipse on down to Stearns Wharf on Sunday, December 11, for the 31st annual Santa Barbara Parade of Lights, not in the least of which is seeing freakin’ Christmas lights on boats of all sizes, from two-person putt-putts to gargantuan fishing and commercial ships, which usually come decked-out with all sorts of stuff including real and plastic Santas, reindeer, and clever themes. Even if you’ve seen it before – or checked out Ventura or Channel Island Harbor’s much more extensive versions – there’s really nothing quite like huddling up on edge of the pier and peering out to sea to watch the reflections in the water, or joining in as the revelers regale the audience with Christmas carols. But even if the boats themselves don’t hold much appeal, the day begins at 3 pm on the City Pier in Santa Barbara Harbor (where the boats actually moor) with fun for the entire family at Santa’s Village, where the young’ns can play in tons of snow and take photos with Santa – the first 200 children to step up even receive free goody bags from Santa’s helpers.

And after the ships have sailed – the route takes some 25 of them in a giant ellipse from the harbor out to the far end of East Beach, then back along the coast and the west side of the pier – scurry over to Stearns Wharf ’s East end for the concluding five-to-sevenminute fireworks display (around 7 pm), which is a lot shorter than the

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ones on July 4, but spectacular to see over the water. Get more details at 564-5531 or www.santabarbaraca. gov/gov/depts/waterfront/events/ light_parade.asp.

Nutcracker for Christmas

T

here’s no escaping The Nutcracker in December in Santa Barbara.

The Tchaikovsky classic takes over various city venues for a couple of weekends, beginning with the big one: Santa Barbara Festival Ballet massive community-centric production at the Arlington Theatre December 10-11. A Santa Barbara holiday tradition for more than four decades, the show features a cast of more than 100, including a full symphony orchestra performing the famed score, visiting professionals joining the huge student group, and notable community members in speaking roles or cameos. Thursday, December 15 brings The Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker back to the Chumash Casino Resort, where more than 40 dancers attired in spectacular costumes and trained at the famed company’s school deliver the whimsical fantasy, once more performing a production first created in Russia in 1892 that has toured the U.S. only since 1993.

Finally, State Street Ballet’s annual take

on Tchaikovsky boasts choreography by Rodney Gustafson, Gary McKenzie, and Marina Fliagina and features music performed by Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra to score the dancing by the company’s professional dancers, students of Gustafson Dance.

Complete with opulent sets, a gigantic Christmas tree, and the Granada’s own period-perfect architecture, State Street’s Nutcracker has become a family favorite.

Performances are Saturday-Sunday, December 17-18.

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anta Barbara Revels offers its ninth community-based Christmas production, this time dubbed The Christmas Revels: A Scottish Celebration of the Winter Solstice, at the Lobero Theatre on December 16-18. The new show transports the audience to the Highlands of Scotland in the mid-1700s as the clans gather for their annual New Year’s celebration of Hogmanay, when old rivalries surface, enduring mysteries emerge, and music and merrymaking abound. Enjoy the haunting strains of the pipes, the lively highland dances, the competition between clans, the stories and seasonal rituals of that time and place. Call 963-0761 or visit www. lobero.com.

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GETTIN’FIT

W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M

by Chantal Peterson

Terence heads a small group class at Temple

Temple: New fitness studio teaching clients how to care for body, mind, and spirit Temple co-founders Terence Carfrae and Natalie Diane

F

itness entrepreneurs Natalie Diane and Terence Carfrae come to the industry from an eclectic and wholly unique background. The newly formed business duo has been friends for many years, but it wasn’t until more recently that they discovered they shared similar methods in their approach to healing and fitness.

The realization guided them down the path that has led to the creation of Temple, a new health and fitness studio

in downtown Santa Barbara that offers a unique style of health coaching and training for the body and the mind.

Open now for about a year, Temple offers small group training classes that emphasize balance and self-care as the foundation for all fitness and weight loss. Located behind DiviniTree Yoga Studio, just across from De la Guerra Plaza, Temple’s intimate and chic space is welcoming, well lit, and minimalistic.

Their aesthetic choices fall right in The 7 Pillars of Heath – basic principles that Temple is founded upon

line with their approach to fitness training: They advocate utilizing basic equipment and using body weight and natural movements as much as possible.

This is one of the perspectives that set them apart from other boutique fitness programs in town.

As Terrance and Natalie put it: “a focus on form, dynamic natural movements, full presence, and deep connection with the body, allows you to build strength and increase mobility without risk of injury.” They say that the movements and equipment used in a fitness class should be simple but effective. For example, exercises involving bending, squatting, and lifting are common movements in their classes, using objects such as kettle bells, gymnastic rings, and a squat bar.

I find this approach empowering because it reminds me that being fit and healthy is our natural state; there are no pills or silver bullets – that being healthy is not an act of magic, it’s simply a choice we make every day.

Given that their approach to wellness is holistic, it’s not surprising that a large part of the business also focuses on coaching, specifically, nutrition-based coaching that helps their clients better understand their relationship to food and body image. Temple co-founder Natalie takes the lead on this component

of the business, using “dynamic eating psychology and a mind-body nutrition approach, to help clients discover which foods work for their unique body and lifestyle.” Natalie is also passionate about helping women to end cycles of disordered eating patterns such as binge eating, overeating, chronic dieting, and emotional eating. Her goal is to help women create a peaceful and pleasurable relationship with food and their bodies.

On the more physically focused side of things, co-founder Terence focuses on helping clients heal from imbalances such as injury, chronic pain, and disease.

He uses orthopedic rehabilitation, natural hormone balancing, and emotional coaching to help clients heal from the inside out.

Like any practitioner, both Terrance and Natalie have their teachers that they’ve studied under and look to for inspiration. Terence has learned the teachings of Paul Chek, an internationally renowned expert in the fields of corrective and high-performance exercise kinesiology. Natalie has studied the principles developed by Diane Schwarzbein, a well-known endocrinologist in private practice who is based here in Santa Barbara. From these and other integrated methods, the business partners have developed quite a unique offering at Temple.

The philosophy at Temple is summed up well in this statement from its founders: “At Temple we believe the body is meant to be respected and enjoyed.

We’re committed to truth, presence, quality, and service to empower our clients to look and feel their best in this life.”

Check out their website listed below for more info. They also have a six-week circuit training class called Training Tribe that begins in January 2017, which could be a cool way to try out the program!

Temple 25 E. De la Guerra Street (805) 669-8770 www.templesb.com Admin@templesb.com

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W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M

Behind the Vine

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Hana-Lee Sedgwick is a writer, wine consultant and lover of all things wine and food. As a Certified Specialist of Wine and Sommelier, she loves to explore the world of wine in and around her hometown of Santa Barbara. When not trying new wines or traveling, she can be found practicing yoga, cooking, entertaining and enjoying the outdoors. Visit her popular blog, Wander & Wine, for wine tips, tasting notes and adventures in wine and travel: wanderandwine.com

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Clarissa Nagy’s winemaking thrives on experimentation and variety

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t’s that time of year when sparkling wine seems to be part of every occasion. After all, celebrating the holidays calls for a celebratory drink that is both fun and food-friendly, and bubbles fit the bill.

In Santa Barbara County, we happen to have perfect growing conditions for two of the main grapes used in Champagne – Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. And, lucky for us, it’s easy to find great examples of Santa Barbara sparkling wine, both from producers well-known for their bubbly and those just starting out. One producer particularly known for their bubbles is Riverbench Winery, located in the Santa Maria Valley AVA, also known as Santa Barbara’s northernmost growing region.

Established in 1973, Riverbench started out selling their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes to other wineries before producing wine under their own label in 2004. Four years later, after finding success with still wine, they added sparkling wine to their portfolio and haven’t looked back since.

Using traditional production methods from France such as extended aging on the lees and zero to low dosage, Riverbench produces several sparkling wines that take inspiration from Champagne. In fact, Riverbench has recently taken their commitment to producing sparkling wine inspired by the Champagne region to the next level by adding one acre of Pinot Meunier – the third main grape used in Champagne – making them the first to plant this rare grape in Santa Barbara County!

Riverbench produces several styles of sparkling wine from brut to demi-sec, otherwise known as dry to off dry. The

Riverbench Bubbly

2013 Blanc de Blancs, which has been a staple since 2008, has hints of apple and citrus that lead to brioche notes on the finish. The 2013 Cork Jumper Blanc de Noirs, made of 100% Pinot Noir, is loaded with bright citrus aromas and flavors of pear and orange zest. Both are clean, refreshing, and certainly crowd pleasing... perfect for the holidays.

Riverbench may be well-known for their sparkling wine, but the majority of their wine production is dedicated to still wine. Working with their estate fruit, they produce several Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, such as the 2015 Estate Chardonnay. With generous fruit and acidity up front, this wine finishes with a soft, buttery note thanks to 100% malolactic fermentation. The 2013 Mesa Pinot Noir, made with grapes from the oldest block in the vineyard, is lush with juicy red fruit and lingering savory notes.

Winemaker Clarissa Nagy says that the best thing about winemaking is having the ability to experiment with different varietals, oak aging, and winemaking techniques, which is something she has free rein to do at Riverbench. It’s this freedom to try new things and to challenge themselves to be better each vintage that led the team to add Pinot Meunier, and they’re excited to see how things develop.

Riverbench Vineyard & Winery, which has a tasting room on the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail, opened a second tasting room in the Funk Zone in 2013.

Here, you can taste both sparkling and still wines by the glass, bottle, or tasting flight. The Santa Barbara tasting lounge is open daily from 11 to 6 pm but will be closed on Christmas Eve/Day and New Year’s Day.

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with Mark Léisuré

Mark spends much of his time wandering Santa Barbara and environs, enjoying the simple things that come his way.

A show here, a benefit there, he is generally out and about and typically has a good time. He says that he writes “when he feels the urge” and doesn’t want his identity known for fear of an experience that is “less than authentic.” So he remains at large, roaming the town, having fun. Be warned.

Horn-y Christmas

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eteran Santa Barbara artist Brad Nack 19th Annual 100% Reindeer exhibit returns to Roy restaurant to kick off the Christmas season in beastly fashion from 6 to 8 pm on Thursday, December 8. The show features dozens of super-small yet elegantly framed oil paintings of reindeer set in any manner of whimsical poses, from giddy to contemptuous and everything in between.

A part of the history of art in Santa Barbara for nearly two decades, the exhibitions have traveled around locally to a variety of galleries and art spaces over the years, including Frame, Center Stage Theater, SOhO, and The Arts Fund – but Roy, where it all began, has become its home in recent times. The paintings are exhibited in a small room normally reserved for private parties for just those two hours, and the gathering is as much of a social event as it is an art show, though folks do cram close together to take a gander at the reindeer.

“There are slightly fewer paintings (about 60) than in other years, but I worked longer on this year’s batch, so they came out really well,” Nack told me recently, adding that he has a lot of favorites among the five dozen examples. And, as always, he said, the paintings not only reveal their personalities to the artist as he paints them, but “they tend to reflect the current events of the year in which they are painted.”

“What can you say about 2016?” Nack mused. “It has been a strange and angry year, especially if you watch the news. The reindeer often reflect the opposite of how I am internalizing the world that I move through. The paintings seem to go toward happy if I am feeling down – but if I am having a good year, the paintings turn out more sad or morose.”

It turns out that the current batch, Nack said, represent what the “strange” year.

2 – 16 DECEMBER | 2016 |

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“They’re all over the place – happy, sad, confused, discombobulated. There are a number that were finished, or even reworked, after the election. I think they are easy to spot.”

Of bigger concern is what next year’s herd will look like, as they will reflect Nack’s take on the first year of the Trump administration. “It could be the happiest batch ever,” he said. “Which of course would be sad for me, for America and for the world.”

Whatever your take on politics – or the antlered critters – you’d be remiss to miss seeing all of the darling ‘deers while they’re still in the herd. The pieces are up only for the show’s two hours, so you’ll want to arrive early if you hope to take one of the colorful creatures home, as the works often sell out minutes after opening. Get a sneak preview online at www.bradnack.com or contact Nack at 331-3351.

Been There, Done That – with Enthusiasm You always hear about those “you had to be there,” once-in-a-lifetime concerts, but usually it’s just another stop along the tour where the artist pretty much repeats the same show he does in every other city. Then there was Charles Lloyd and the Marvels at the Lobero in late November. It was the second time through the venue with the veteran sax-man and longtime Montecito resident’s latest combo, which features guitarist Bill Frisell and pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz, along with Lloyd’s longtime quartet members Reuben Rogers on bass and Eric Harland on drums.

That was a year ago, and took place, we’re told, the same day the Marvels recorded their debut CD together, I Long To See You, which came out this past January and features guest vocal appearances by Willie Nelson and Norah Jones. Neither the redheaded stranger nor Norah were on hand at the Lobero for this last show, but Lucinda Williams, the great and quirky country-folk-rock singer sat in for the entire second half of the two-hour show, only the second time that’s happened.

After a fine set from the instrumentalists during which they offered some nonalbum cuts such as the Beach Boys’s “In My Room”, Williams, sounding her best in years, stepped up to the mic for a smattering of her own songs – “Ventura”, “Dust”, “Faith and Love”, and “Joy” – topped off by the main-set closing Dylan’s “Masters of War”. It doesn’t seem like an idea that should work – but wow, did it ever. Sensuous sax line and Williams’s sinewy singing stitching together with nary a seam line showing. You, uh, really had to be there.

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...continued from p.5

who keep them afloat in the off-season and throughout the holidays.

Besides, who doesn’t love shopping seaside, strolling along Cabrillo with a fresh coffee in hand under the sun – I mean, it sounds pretty dreamy, no?

ARTIST SPOTLIGHTS EVERY ARTIST IN THE SHOW HAS SOMETHING SPECIAL TO OFFER CUSTOMERS AND ART LOVERS, AND IN THAT SPIRIT WE CHOSE A FEW ARTISTS WHO HIGHLIGHT THAT DIVERSITY AND TALENT. BARBARA LARSON: METALWORK ARTIST, PRINTMAKER, AND PAINTER eeting Barbara, one gets the feeling that she’s the kind of artist who could be knees deep in liquid metal one day, waxing philosophical in her gallery the next, and then, probably later that night, the last to leave the dance floor at some underground jazz club. Of course, as it turns out, all three of these scenarios are just a regular part of Barbara’s flow.

She is one of those artists in SB who is not only devoted to her artwork but understands the importance of helping out other artists and building strong community. She splits her time mostly between her home and workspace out at the newly regenerated Dos Pueblos Orchid Farm (a rad place to visit/camp if you haven’t yet), and her studio in the Funk Zone, which also doubles as a print-making studio that other printmakers can rent out to use. She has solo and community shows at her space and occasionally hosts workshops in her Funk Zone space as well. studio111sb.com/about

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METTE JULIAN: CERAMICIST ette picked up ceramics in the 1960s while she was living in Japan. She grew up surrounded by handmade objects passed down through generations.

Her work reflects many influences, but is grounded in her appreciation for all folk art and great joy in the creative process.

She came to the U.S. from Norway to study at Wellesley College and ended up in Santa Barbara because her husband got a job in the environmental field. She worked as a librarian while refining her skills a ceramist in her home studio in town. Her work is detailed and refined, with the look of an artist who isn’t trying to please anyone or make a popular statement; her works are just genuinely and classically her own, inspired by her unique life story.

This may be why the SBAACS veteran has returning customers local and foreign alike. As I spoke with her one Sunday morning, she talked to me about the community that exists at the show and that its longevity speaks to the value of it provides. As it happened, within the 15 minutes I spent with

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Mette, chatting under her large sun umbrella waiting for early-bird customers, a couple showed up, having walked directly to her stand, greeting her with a strong accent. Mette smiled widely and got up to greet them, and indeed they were one of these couples who had seen her on a visit to SB last year and had come back to see her again to buy more of her small ceramic bird sculptures as gifts for friends back home! Love that! www.sisters-art.com MEADOW ROSE: PHOTOGRAPHER eadow is one of those renaissance women who is better referred to as a creative “Jacky of all trades.” With multiple creative talents and a knack for excelling at all of them, she’s got a lot to offer in the arts and is a wonderful newer addition to SBAACS. A photographer by trade, she sells a beautiful collection of wood prints made from her photographs, mostly landscape, travel, and nature-inspired.

The print process that she has allows the wood grain to show through the negative space of the image, enhancing composition and style, giving it another dimension, and a natural unique look. Each wooden canvas is selected specifically for the image printed on it, and no two pieces are the same. All the wood work, as well as the cutting, sanding, and prep for the image is done in Santa Barbara in her work shop on Garden Street. Then the pieces are brought up to her dust-free, two-car garage for printing and drying. Each piece is sealed, moisture- and UV-resistant, and comes ready to hang in handmade wooden frames, which are made by her partner, Andy.

“I love offering something different and special in the art world. There’s something for everyone.” The diversity of the images she uses is definitely wide-ranging, and she has a large scope of sizes and prices, making for great gifts, be they for new home owners, collectors, or travelers. meadowrosephotoart.com

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JESSICA CONTI: LEATHER WORKER AND DESIGNER essica Conti of Rusalka Designs is a young self-taught artisan and entrepreneur. Since starting her handcrafted leather goods business, her designs have evolved from modest handsewn pieces, to a full line of artisanal handbags and accessories. She creates leather bags for men and women, wallets, jewelry, as well as made-to-order custom pieces.

Having learned the art of creative sewing from her grandmother as a child, after graduating from UCSB Jessica was “called” to pursue her craft further. While developing

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her line, she also needed to make ends meet, so she took a part-time position working for a tailor. “I had no idea where I wanted to go with my creative drive, but figured at the very least I could hone my

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fine sewing skills and go from there,” Jessica explains. She eventually decided to take the leap and launch Rusalka Designs as a platform to work with different mediums and materials. She started out making fabric bags and at some point decided to pick up leather, which totally captivated her.

Conti says, “The Arts and Crafts Show has been very important to the success of Rusalka Designs. Having the opportunity to meet and interact with customers on a weekly basis and get face-to-face real time feedback is truly invaluable.” www.rusalka-designs.com CHARLOTTE BARNARD: JEWELER, GLASS, AND FINE METAL WORKER harlotte reminds me of a dear friend of mine in college, who, within our a circle of friends, was known as our “secret weapon.” At first soft-spoken and a touch shy, after 10 minutes chatting with her, you realize that Charlotte is chalk full of knowledge and great stories – all of which inform her work. She talks about her fascination with glass blowers as a child, and that “every memory of my grandmother is with crochet needles, quilting, gardening, or cooking from scratch,” she recounts. Cleary craftiness is in her blood.

Her unique perspectives are reflected in her artwork, which might be thought of as “wearable art” than jewelry. She creates 100% handmade jewelry that combines glasswork, handmade beads, and hand-shaped fine metals. Charlotte explains, “I began incorporating silver fabrication with my flame-worked glass to give my work originality. Most pieces are one-of-a-kind, fabricated from sterling and/or

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fine silver.” The result is a line of jewelry that is totally one-of-a-kind, and each piece has a story, painstakingly detailed and nuanced. Brightly colored and buoyant, these are works of art of another world – Charlotte’s world – a highly recommended place to visit.

For local residents looking for highquality, handmade gifts including art, jewelry, handbags and clothing, the Santa Barbara Arts and Crafts Show is where you want to be. SBAACS takes place every Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, and will also be open Saturday, December 24, to accommodate the higher volume of lastminute holiday shoppers. If you haven’t been in a while (for a few years, or ever), it’s high time to give it a gander and spend a Sunday strolling Cabrillo Boulevard before Christmas has come and gone. barnardjewelrydesign.com/ www.sbaacs.com 236 E. Cabrillo Boulevard, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Every Sunday 10 am to 5 pm Twitter: @sbcrafts Facebook: www.facebook.com/sbartsandcrafts

Thanksgiving Morning Worship November 24th at 10:00 AM

celebrating the gift of love.

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Short Advent Services of Music & Meditation November 30th, December 7th, 14th at 7:00 PM

Christmas Eve Candlelight Worship December 24th at 7:00 PM

Christmas Morning Celebration December 25th at 10:00 AM

3721 Modoc Rd, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 EmanuelLutheranSB.org info@emanuelLutheranSB.org 805.687.3734

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Come experience this cool, centrally-situated community of local businesses offering many goods produced in-house.

Visit us on small business Saturday or any day.

ThiS holidAy SeASoN, Shop locAlly

foR gifTS, fAShioN, food, ART, fiTNeSS, Body cARe, deSigN, ANd decoR The one-stop block for your personal, professional and lifestyle needs, bordered by a 75-minute free parking lot.

Beginning where State meetS gutierrez, Behind parking lot #12 santabarbarahub

@santabarbarahub

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@thehubsb

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PLANB by Briana Westmacott When Briana isn’t lecturing for her writing courses at UCSB and SBCC, she contributes to The Santa Barbara Skinny, Wake & Wander and Flutter Magazine. Along with her passion for writing and all things Santa Barbara, much of her time is spent multitasking through her days as a mother, wife, sister, want-to-be chef and travel junky.

Writing is an outlet that ensures mental stability... usually.

SANTA BABY

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ear Santa, I hope you don’t mind, but I think it’s my turn to send a letter. For a decade I’ve been sending you the kids’ letters, but this year I have a few wishes that need to be addressed.

First, can you please stop terrorism, end world hunger, cure cancer, and possibly ease up on the fine lines that keep on appearing on my face? (Okay, definitely prioritize with peace, hunger, and disease. But know that when I say fine lines, they really aren’t so fine.

Crevices would be a better descriptor; the crevices on my face.) All is bright.

Second, can you work your magic to get my kids to do chores and show me some appreciation? I’m not asking for much here – just get them to do a bit of dusting, dishes, vacuuming, and pick up their crap that they dump all over the house. All I need is a small “Thank you” after I spend hours every day

nI o w ho 16 S 0 y da 17, 2 i l o r l H mbe a gic Dece a M

Santa, I’m sorry I look disgusted in this picture. I was just really sad about the way my mom cut my bangs.

Mom-Ubering them around town to their numerous activities. I don’t know if your elves are equipped to handle this, but it would make my day-to-day much merrier. Joy. While I’m on the subject of the small stuff, can I throw in that I would love a laundry fairy? Just once a week, she could come and gather all the clothing and magically make it clean, folded, and put it back in its designated place. It would be a huge bonus if she could dust the kids’ closets with some Feng Shui while she’s at it, since they resemble a war zone. Ho-ho-ho.

Tell me, Santa, why is it that every year when the holidays set in, so does sickness, pain, and death? I wonder if this manifests as a way of balancing the abundance of joy that the season brings. Anyways, we have friends who are suffering and have lost loved ones, and they could use some extra healing hands. I would love it if you could lend support to those in need. Peace.

That sums up my list. I like to think I’ve been nice this year. I mean, not 100 percent of the time; that’s just impossible. It’s tough, Santa.

Sometimes I get tired of being so darn nice and accommodating to my family.

Predominately, I keep the naughty

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under wraps, and it usually only escapes once the kids are in bed. On that note, can you please leave me a good bottle of Pinot Noir? I’d like that. Jolly.

All right, Santa, I know it’s your busy season, so I’ll let you go. When you hurry down our chimney, be sure to take the time to look for your cookies and milk. I’ll also be slipping you some single-malt scotch and a generous VISA card to help cover your travel expenses.

(Do you use PayPal?) Cheers, Briana P.S. If in 2017 you can help our country to proceed peacefully and with honor, I promise to meet you under the mistletoe.

BRIANA’S BEST BET

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anta is now set up in Santa Barbara in his workshop at La Cumbre Plaza. He will be available for photos from now until Saturday, December 24. You can even take your pet in for pics. Reservations can be made online or you can simply show up, but as the holiday approaches, the line to sit on his lap grows. Visit www. shoplacumbre.com/Events for more information.

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ARTBEAT

by jacquelyn De Longe

Dan Levin, Suffragettes

Jacquelyn’s creative interests earned her a degree in fine art from Art Center College of Design, followed by years in the Los Angeles art world working for major galleries and prominent artists. She is regularly published in West Coast newspapers and magazines, in addition to working as a producer and director in the performing arts. She is an advocate for children’s art programs and, she is not afraid to dance down the aisle at the grocery store with her kids when Talking Heads plays overhead. Contact Jacquelyn at www.delongewrites.com.

THE WALLS ARE DECKED WITH 100 GRAND

Meredith Brooks Abbot, The Mesa From Porter Trail

Jim Hodgson, Pacific Wren

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ullivan Goss has had eight consecutively successful exhibitions carefully curated for the holiday season.

And this year in their100 Grand show, the selected artists aim to please with works featured in a variety of mediums.

Each of the works is priced for $1,000 or less, opening the door for collectors new and old interested in adding an original work of art to their collections. These smaller-sized pieces may not take up a lot of space, but they are holding a lot of talent in their tiny packages. Once again, Sullivan Goss’s curator Susan Bush has done a fantastic job putting together a variety of contemporary talent that appeals to the masses.

This annual exhibition, which initiated the holiday swing by opening on December 1, will feature familiar artists from the region, such as Meredith Brooks Abbott, Dorothy Churchill-Johnson, Nancy Gifford, Skye Gwilliams, Dan Levin, Hank Pitcher, and Maria Rendon, among others (some of whom I’ve featured here in the Sentinel).

While the opening is always packed with a crowd of art enthusiasts and many of the artists, the best time to see the show is after the party, when the space is quiet and there is time and

Phoebe Brunner, The Seeding Series

Tom de Walt, Santa Barbara Sunset

Jon Ng, Cloud Over Clouds

room to take a step back and really look at each of the pieces.

You can find many classic landscape paintings on display that are engrained in beach culture, capturing California’s golden hills, iconic palm trees, puffy clouds, and pristine coastline. The figurative work shows a good display of representational and abstract imagery

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that favors toward the female form.

Probably because there are so few of them, the abstract and photographic works seem to catch my eye among the colorful happy paintings that surround them.

There are a few tongue-in-cheek paintings that are sure to make you smile. The 3-D works of Jason Hadley, Alec Sherwin, and Virginia McCracken give art a tangible presence. Scott Anderson’s That Wind-Up Life is a skillfully painted portrait of a kitschy wind-up rooster, a reductive humorous image. The

lifelike silver spoons of Leslie Lewis Sigler seem to glow from within like a Renaissance painting. Skye Gwiliam’s monochromatic paintings bring a modernists point of view to decorative Parisian streets.

100 Grand is a great opportunity to access affordable pieces, so whether you are interested in collecting or just like to look, this exhibition is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon in December. Be sure to catch the exhibition before the pieces are all sold out, because once the new year starts this show is sooo last year!

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SBDIGS

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by Chantal Peterson

COZY MESA COTTAGE A BLOCK FROM THE BEACH

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ife on the Mesa is considered by most to be pretty dreamy. With proximity to the beach and a number of schools, solid community life is very much within reach. This is one of the reasons that renters are hard-pressed to find great places on the Mesa, and homebuyers even more so.

The Mesa really has its own community, a sort of sub-culture of SB that has its unique flavor. Also cool is that even though the Mesa is a short drive to downtown, there is a definitive feeling of being removed from the buzz of SB. All this is to say that our featured property in this edition is a cozy dream come true: a one-bedroom, ¾-bath cottage situated close to the beach, on a spacious lot with room to grow. From the street, you get a view of the islands, and if you were to build a second story, you’d have an ocean view as well. But the vantage point is of less importance when you live, to be exact, seven homes from the beach. Let’s put it this way: you can be walking down the steps at Mesa

Lane beach in about 2.5 minutes.

This home also has its own history, having been built in 1947 for the current owner’s mother, who lived there until her recent passing. The family trust is now looking to sell the property.

On the inside, this cottage is clean and well-kept with wood floors and fresh white paint. On the outside, a sweet white picket fence surrounds the property, and the front door is flanked by an arch of manicured green vines.

This is an ideal spot for an individual or couple who really digs the fabulous location and sees value in living on a larger piece of property; it’s on a 7,405-sq-ft lot. For those who love to garden, there is a plot just waiting for some love and soil amendment, and for those who entertain, the outdoor deck is your jam.

This is a great Mesa find, whether you plan to fix it up or simply relish in the fact that you basically live at the beach.

135 Palisades Drive Price point: $949,000 Listed by: John Thyne | 895-7309 | john@GTprop.com

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...continued from p.7

the car was itself a well of emotion, the predominant vibe something on the order of omigodnosomeonepleasejustwakemeup. I felt almost guilty.

Why me? How did I deserve this? I looked in the rear-view mirror at my daughter’s friend, cowering in the back seat with her brave face on. “Are you sure your dad doesn’t want to do it?”

I asked her. “I didn’t bring it up,” she replied. “I was afraid he’d say yes.”

A Hard Day’s Jeté What was to become Santa Barbara Festival Ballet (SBFB) first opened its doors the year The Beatles stormed The Ed Sullivan Show and turned a studio full of young ladies in sensible skirts into a maddened, hair-tearing throng of banshees. The conservatory has spent the intervening 52 years quietly anchoring the area’s classical dance community.

Well, not exactly quietly. In 1974, the conductor of the Santa Barbara Symphony, Ronald Ondrejka, requested the pleasure of SBFB’s company in the first full-throated local production of Tchaikovksy’s Nutcracker, the show successfully mounted at the Arlington that year. SBFB and a symphony orchestra have been holding Nutcracker court at the lovely old downtown theater every December between then and now,

long since becoming a steadfast holiday tradition in our domed little Xanadu.

It is an immersive holiday experience you must feel to believe. And somewhere near the beginning of the second act, the most wonderful character of all takes the stage, raising her arms in a loving communal embrace, embodying all of the warmth and beauty woven throughout the rapturous ballet.

Victorian Barbie® and sashaying grandly out to the Arlington’s center stage with arms a-waving, Des had thought it was time to pass the petticoats on to another.

This barrister with the patience of a saint (and just incidentally the onetime president of the Santa Barbara County Bar Association) had been performing the Mother Ginger role in The Nutcracker at the Arlington for long enough that to

I could partake of this magic, share the footlights with my daughter Mother Ginger enters slowly, almost cautiously, it seems. Stage Left. She may be shuffling. Her decorous skirt where it meets the floor is as big around as a paratrooper’s ride. Ma Ginger sweeps downstage and greets her subjects.

Objection Overruled Desmond O’Neill is a retired attorney with Gregory Peck carriage, salt and pepper hair, and a fine Irish smile that crinkles his eyes. He does not suffer fools, however, and I am a fool. He has his work cut out for him. After 24 years of donning Mother Ginger’s enormous hooped skirt and scullery maid’s bonnet, painting his face like Slightly Mad

Whether pharaoh ants, carpenter ants, or fire ants, experts have compared these insects to humans because of their purposeful goals. Ants are not to be taken lightly. Their incredible abilities are not science fiction. Their armies are at war with us, perhaps toting biological weapons.

many audience members, Des simply was Mother Ginger – it could be said that Des O’Neill practically originated the role as it is now known at the Arlington, so identified is he with the character.

And now I would have the amazing privilege to carry on that Holiday tradition here in Santa Barbara. I had some serious shoes to fill—fearsome square-toed torture-heels that would not be out of place in the Tower of London.

You know, next to the Iron Maiden and Rack. Just sayin’.

Now, the role of Mother Ginger in Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker is one of those famous roles in classical dance about which it is said “It does not include dancing”. It does feature, however, much calibrated “to and fro” movement in front of a generally bewildered public, some gesturing with poultry-like forearms (in the present case), and a determined avoidance of that hollering, hooped plummet into the orchestra pit that all Mother Gingers fear. The Mother Ginger sequence also involves children. Many children, in truth. Such dancing as there is comes courtesy of the little ones; the Ginger Snaps.

Rehearsals proceeded apace at the downtown Santa Barbara Festival Ballet studio. I saw immediately that Des and I had competing visions of how to wrangle the children with whom I would be appearing onstage. When the time came in rehearsal for the little ones to line up along the imaginary stage apron and take their bows, or form a circle and prance like woodland faeries, there was often a bit of horseplay involved. Oh, you kids!

“C’mon you guys!” I would beseech in my cracking tenor, grasping the rigid sides of my hoop skirt in umbrage. The dear ones would continue their playful gamboling. Then Des would give it a try. “SPREAD OUT EVENLY AND STAND STILL!” he would boom like the guy offstage in Heston’s The Ten Commandments. By the time the studio windows had ceased their rattling, the kids would have hauled-to so suddenly

it was as if a frame of film had been suddenly spliced out.

Safety Pins and Knee Socks Come the fateful night, the angels were surely looking down upon me with that radiant pity only angels know.

Despite weeks of preparation and an over-familiarity with the sequence, I was quaking in my horizontally striped, psychedelic knee socks. When the curtain fell at the end of the first act, I checked my makeup in the mirror and made my way to the stage.

On the other side of the heavy curtain, I could hear the jovial murmuring of audience members rising from their seats to stretch and trade jibber-jabber during the intermission. With the help of many helpful men and women, including dear Des with his mouthful of safety pins, I donned my elaborate Mother Ginger “rig” (as Des calls it), had it fastened into place, and made my elephantine way to my metal stool in the Arlington wings; the only place the 10-foot diameter Ms. Ginger can find repose while awaiting her and the children’s entrance early in the second act. The jittery Ginger Snaps and I later entered on cue at the end of the dance of the Bakers, my feeling during the whole sequence one of gauzy surreality.

I performed my requisite slow spin as the little Ginger Snaps danced around me, the seated Clara and Nutcracker characters arching their eyebrows in amusement as I briefly faced them upstage.

I can tell you the sequence came off without a hitch in both performances of that, my inaugural Mother Ginger weekend, December 2015. As Des watched ruefully (it seemed) from the darkened wings, my accompanying Snaps emoted and stretched their little arms and blew kisses at the enraptured Arlington audience, who oohed and awwwed as if on cue themselves. A little later that evening, back in my street clothes and staring in wonder from the little hallway near the dressing room, I watched with held breath as my daughter and her dear friend, two former toddlers now bathed in theater lighting, took the stage in their sparkling ballet finery, rose up en pointe, and turned the world on its gilded edge. I encourage you, dear reader, to stop in and see this crazybeautiful ballet. This Nutcracker at the Arlington thing; it’s enough to make a grown man cry.

The Nutcracker Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara Saturday, December 10 — 2:30 pm Saturday, December 10 — 7 pm Sunday, December 11 — 2:30 pm

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WHAT’SHANGING? with Ted Mills Ted Mills is a local writer, filmmaker, artist, and podcaster on the arts. You can listen to him at www.funkzonepodcast.com. He currently has a seismically dubious stack of books by his bed. Have an upcoming show you’d like us to know about? Please email: tedmills@gmail.com

ART ATTACK FOR THE HOLIDAYS

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o sooner had the turkey and stuffing settled in my belly last week than I was being inundated by the holiday season. What the huh? One day we went from pretending we live in some autumnal paradise filled with multi-colored oak leaves, seasonal twigs, and decorative gourds, and then the next we fooled ourselves that we could break out the sled or go ice skating because hey, the cups at Starbucks are now red and green. (I’m writing this in a T-shirt and shorts, while drinking a pumpkin spice latte, just to prove a point.)

Such is a Santa Barbara December – I’m not going to get totally Grinchy in this column. Au contraire, now is the time to put all the window dressing aside. It’s time to discover the true meaning of the holiday season: going out and buying some art.

(Close second: peace and good will toward all humans.) These next two weeks are the best time of the year to purchase presents for friends and family, especially if it’s something they can hang in the hall all year long. And some of our artists are accommodating in terms of price and sometimes size, especially if you’re looking for stocking stuffers.

ART IN THE MART

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CA Santa Barbara will also be opening a pop-up boutique for art collectors, along with design works, collectables, furniture, clothing, jewelry, and more.

The Collector’s Loft runs from December 8 to the 11, from 9 am to 5 pm each day, at Montecito Country Mart, 1018 Coast Village Road. Artists with work for sale include Xaviera Simmons, Edgar Orlaineta, Radames Juni Figueroa, Amanda Ross-Ho, Jon Pylypchuk, Melanie Schiff, Aaron Spangler, and others. This is one of MCA’s main fundraisers outside the museum, so head on over there. There’s art in that mart!

WITH BELLS OF HOLLY

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hen there’s the 6th Annual Deck the Halls, absolutely worth the drive out to the Ojai Rancho Inn (615 W. Ojai Ave.), coming up soon on Saturday, December 17, from noon to 7 pm. Artists from both Santa Barbara, Ventura, and L.A. counties present pop-up shops in the numerous rooms of the inn and out in the parking lot as well, with plenty last-minute-gift solutions at hand. Plus, the place looks a bit like the Great Northern Hotel in Twin Peaks, so there’s that too.

MODERN MASTERPIECE

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artist’s colorful and nostalgic linocut prints on display at the City Hall Gallery, 735 Anacapa St. Through July 28, 2017; Martin Diaz’s black-onblack (on black!) canvases disguise the figures hiding in plain sight, and worth exploring at Fuzion, 1115 State St.; Julie B Montgomery helps open Plum Goods’ second location (911 State St.) with her unmistakable abstracts; and Monika Molnar-Metzenthin’s “Love Ransoms” – famous and obscure rock lyrics done in the style of ransom notes – are back for a second round at the Press Room, 15 E. Ortega St. (Second round? Yes please, if you’re buying.)

COLLAGE GRADUATE

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ichael Long has been on a bit of a tear recently after years of silence.

Part of the Knights of the Rondo, a loose collective of artists downtown, he returned to the fore earlier this year with his dream box series and now will be at Dug Uyesaka’s Studio 121 (121 Santa Barbara St.) with a series of giclee prints of his brilliant Max Ernst-inspired surreal collages. Runs through January 2.

CODE RED

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inally, SBCAST (513 Garden St.) has two interesting events coming up. One is happening the day this hits the streets, but I can’t not tell you. It’s Pacific Pride’s annual holiday show, Saturday, December 3, 6 to 10 pm. It’s called “Red” and that’s the dress code, with the aim of celebrating World AIDS Day, with four of its galleries open and a special performance by Amber & X-Tet. Tickets ($60-$100) at nightout.com/ca/santa-barbara.

WORST YEAR EVER™ 2016

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nd then there’s “Burnish” an “interactive installation performance” at SBCAST, December 9-11. This is an audience interactive work that premiered at the 56th Venice Biennale and then moved to Toronto’s Theatre Centre in summer of last year. Inspired by “elements of fire, flooding, and the desire to cleanse the heart,” it might just be the tonic for what ails us at the end of the Worst Year Ever™ 2016.

You can either watch or take part, but the latter will receive a small gift. Hey! I’m going! Who’s with me? www.batdorf.org/burnish

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rchitect Barry Berkus (1935-2012) was a true lover of Santa Barbara art and part of his collection is still a who’s-who of contemporary artists who call our town home. The major items were donated to the Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, which exhibited it a while back, but a few selected works will be on view and on sale for three days, December 8, 10, and 11. A percentage of the sale’s proceeds will go to Hospice of Santa Barbara, Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care. For more info, you must RSVP to Lauren Manzo at lauren@berkusdesign.com

SALON

REDWOODS TO ROCKABILLY

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ou say you missed First Thursday? (I know, I looked for you all over!) Well, there’s plenty I missed last column too, but these exhibits are still up! “Redwoods to Rockabilly: The Prints of Angelina LaPointe” features the young North County

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...continued from p.8

Gear up Surf Brewery has a wide range of homebrew ingredients and equipment

something local, then consider getting them a membership to Smoke Mountain Brewery. Their beers are offered exclusively through a club membership and only 100 bottles are produced and released every three months. Membership is $75 per quarter and includes three 750 ml bottles plus invitations to private events at the picturesque brewery set atop Rincon Mountain and overlooking Ventura. Their beers pull from a variety of different styles and include ingredients sourced from the surrounding areas.

Gift of Brewing Give a person a beer and it won’t last a day; teach them to brew and they will spend their days making way too much beer. Home-brewing is simple to pick up and only requires basic equipment to start churning out 5-gallon batches of beer. Home-brew shop offers starter kits for about $100 (don’t forget to buy them a boiling kettle) and even has pre-measured recipes for beginners or clone recipes that will allow the blossoming brewer to replicate their

There are also many gift items that can help the beer drinking experience. The Spiegelau Craft Beer Glass Set runs around $40 and includes a Hefeweizen, IPA, lager, and stemmed pilsner glass.

Spiegelau uses superior quality glass and makes their glassware with a thin wall that keeps the beer at its optimum temperature. Their sleek design adds a dash of elegance to the dining room table.

One of the newer items on the market is the Bevpod Slim Cooler

Valley Brewers is a great place to pick up home-brewing gifts

favorite beers. Austin Home Brew (austinhomebrew.com) boasts one of the largest selections available online, and MoreBeer (morebeer.com) has a Riverside-based facility that means that your order is typically delivered in a day or two.

If you prefer to shop locally, then visit Valley Brewers in Solvang. They offer a wide range of equipment and ingredients plus an incredible wealth of knowledge at their store. Surf Brewery in Ventura also has a well-equipped home-brew shop attached to it.

(bevpodcooler.com). This sleek beer cooler costs about $40 and has a low profile design that makes it dynamic and easy to transport your favorite brews.

The Bevpod Slim Cooler can store up to 10 cans or six bottles and keeps your beers cool for up to eight hours with a reusable ice pack sheet. The Fizzics Waytap(fizzics.com) is the perfect gift for the ultimate beer geek. There are several beer-dispensing systems on the market, though most of them utilize separate CO2 canisters. The Fizzics Waytap uses electricity to produce sound waves that causes the beer to produce a microfoam, improving the

Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher is valuable for beginners and experienced beer drinkers

mouthfeel and aroma of the beer. It can fit a wide variety of bottles and can sizes and is fairly easy to transport. At $169.99, it is not the cheapest gift idea, but it does guarantee a good geek-out session while sipping on a microfoamed brew.

Books can be the gift that keeps on giving – and a good beer book can continue to teach a drinker for years to come. Tasting Beer by Randy Mosher has become the most recommended text on beer. Mosher writes with an easyto-follow style and shares his incredible wealth of knowledge on its pages. This book is suitable for both the beginner or more experienced beer enthusiast, covering everything from history to beer styles, pairings, and even how to age beer properly. For the know-it-all beer drinker, I recommend the The Oxford Companion to Beer. This encyclopedia on beer is guaranteed to provide insight and new facts for even the most knowledgeable of beer minds.

Whether for a friend or a significant other, beer always makes a great gift to give during the holiday season.

From magnums of beer to books on the subject, there are plenty of options available for the beer drinkers in your life.

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any teenagers aspire to be rock stars but few focus on building guitars that rock. At 16, Jeff Hampton had trouble finding a guitar with all of the properties he was looking for at a price that a teenager could afford.

He looked online and found a host of blogs that detailed the process of building your own guitar. His dad had an extensive workshop in the garage, and what began as a father-son bonding experience turned into a passion for Jeff.

Now at 31, he still enjoys the freedom that comes with designing an electric guitar from the base up, allowing him to control every aspect of the instrument.

Electric guitars do not rely as much on the resonance of the wood as do acoustic guitars, so this allows them to have a wide range of shapes and aesthetic qualities. This is apparent for anybody who has seen a cigar box guitar. When choosing woods for the base, Jeff likes to consider ergonomics first and chooses a wood that is strong, but also lightweight as to not overexert the player. Harder woods need to be used in the neck so they can withstand the pressures being applied by the guitar strings, which typically contain about 100 pounds of tension.

Ergonomics are also incorporated into the shape of the guitar. His guitars are designed with an uncommon asymmetrical neck contour that works with the natural structure of the hand and reduces note muting that can occur in the more typical symmetrical neck design. Jeff crafts his guitars with a shortened heel (where the neck and body meet) to allow the hand more access when playing high frets (the vertical bars running along the neck).

He will also typically shape the body in a way that improves hand access to the upper frets, creating a dynamic design

Strings attached: Jeff Hampton’s custom guitars

that improves playability.

Jeff has a nickel allergy, which means that he is unable to touch normal frets or guitar strings. This results in him using stainless-steel frets that are more durable than normal ones, though he does offer hypoallergenic gold EVO frets.

Today, his guitar sales only support him part-time, but he is seeking to become a full-time designer. His participation at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade show held in Anaheim gained him exposure among the other instrument designers.

Jeff mostly designs guitars for private sellers through his website HamptonHarmony.com but has begun to branch into custom pieces for members of the rock world, including the death-metal comedy-rock band, Nekrogoblikon, which was founded during the members’ time at UCSB. For Nekrogoblikon, the guitar Jeff developed was named “Harbinger” and was an eight-string guitar with a hard maple and purplewood neck and an ash body. This was the first fan fret guitar he had built, and he has since started incorporating fan fret designs into more guitars. Fanning the frets gives the instrument a multi-scale ability and improves note definition.

The piece can be seen on their music video for “No One Survives”, where the goblin is playing his instrument. And for Jeff, getting to see a goblin rip on his guitar – now that rocks.

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IHeart SB

By Elizabeth Rose

I Heart SB is a social experiment in dating and relationships through stories shared with and experienced by a thirty-something living in the Greater Santa Barbara area. All stories herein are based on actual events. Some names, places, and timelines have been altered to preserve anonymity and, most of all, for your reading enjoyment. Submit stories (maximum 700 words) to letters@santabarbarasentinel.com.

REAL TALK

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hroughout my almost 35 years of existence, my intuition has determined major life decisions. It’s ingrained in me that not taking a chance and wondering “what if ” will cause more pain than trying my best and failing miserably. Learning the hard way far outweighs the shoulda, coulda, wouldas.

And now, on the flip-side of a risk falling through, I realized this time it took a drastic change in lifestyle to see beyond my five-year plan. With my calendar suddenly cleared, and the familiar stripped away, I had no choice but to face the question: do my partner and I have a future?

We’ve pillow talked our wants in life, but it was time to be up-front about what we value most. I had to rely on more than a gut feeling to guide me through this one. I had to use my head, too. So I was rational, took my emotions out of the situation, and looked at our relationship like a business decision. I contemplated the nitty-gritty: marriage, home, work, kids – and determined what am I willing to compromise and what am I not.

Then a scary thought set in: I not only had to be ready for the answer, I had to be brave enough to walk away if we didn’t agree. I knew despite the healthy and loving relationship, my manifestations for the future could not be sacrificed. We needed to negotiate a deal or shake hands and be done. It’s about 7:30 at night on a Tuesday, and I’m flipping through the radio as he pilots the car down windy backroads toward his sister’s house. We’re about five minutes away from family dinner and at this inconvenient moment, my nagging conscience said it was time to talk. I sat back in the passenger seat, took a moment to center my thoughts, and let her rip.

My manifestations for the future could not be sacrificed “Babe, I need to ask you something.”

“Of course, love. What is it?”

“Do you see us… getting married?”

He pauses for five seconds too long, then continues.

“I see us building a future together, but not marriage.”

“I see.” And I did. I prepared for this. He continues as I try hard and swallow the giant lump in my throat.

“My parents got divorced, and I was pressured into marriage once. I guess I’m jaded.”

Now it was my turn to be honest with him and myself. It’s not personal, it’s business. And as much as I value our partnership, I can’t give up the possibility of marriage. The traditionalist in me wouldn’t have it.

“Okay, I understand, and I’m sorry you’re jaded,” I said, suddenly fearless. “But I want to experience marriage one day. If I went through life and never married, I would feel I missed out.” Then a funny thing happened. The lump in my throat disappeared and I found peace. In that moment, my life shifted.

Regardless of the outcome, I stood firm in my beliefs. And I knew because of that, everything would be okay. This began a series of conversations, quickly checking off the list of the nitty-grittys. In the end, we both gave a little. Enough to continue building a partnership on solid, middle ground.

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SYVSNAPSHOT

by Eva Van Prooyen Keeping a finger on the pulse of the Santa Ynez Valley: what to eat, where to go, who to meet, and what to drink. Pretty much everything and anything situated between the Santa Ynez and San Rafael Mountains that could tickle one’s interest.

MISSION SANTA INÉS ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BASKETS

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n its 16th year, the annual Santa Ynez Valley Christmas Basket Program will support 156 valley families in need – totaling 638 individuals, 348 of whom are children. Each family will receive a large hamper of food, staples, and toiletries as well as a big decorated box filled with wrapped presents for each family member, a gift card for a local grocery store, fresh chickens donated by El Rancho Market, plus toys donated from the Alexander family’s annual Christmas display at their Buellton home.

The Christmas Basket Program is organized by volunteers from Old Mission Santa Ines, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, St. Mark’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church and Santa Ynez Valley Presbyterian Church, along with support from hundreds of individuals and more than 30 local businesses, churches, and organizations. “We reach out to the community and ask them to help us convey the giving spirit of the season,” says Christmas Basket Program director Genevieve Geyser, adding, “We want all local families to experience the magic of Christmas and this program provides a hand-up to struggling families.”

Christmas Basket recipients must be residents of the Santa Ynez Valley (Ballard, Buellton, Los Olivos, Santa Ynez, and Solvang). The program is open to families with minor children who are struggling financially and are unable to provide for their families at Christmas. Applications to participate in the program become available each October, are then reviewed by the volunteer committee, and then families are notified of acceptance in early November.

For most of these families, the only gifts they will receive this Christmas will be what is provided through the program, which can include specifically listed needs, wants, special requests from Santa or gifts at the givers’ discretion.

“Sign-up and delivery of gifts is simple,” says Genevieve, explaining that there are also hands on volunteer opportunities. Help is needed at the Mission for sorting, wrapping, and organizing on December 13, 14, and 15 from 10 am to 2 pm.

Distribution of gifts will be on Saturday, December 17.

The 2016 Santa Ynez Valley Christmas Basket Program is still in need of cash donations to cover costs of the food in the hampers. All donations are tax-deductible and all funds go directly to help local Santa Ynez Valley families. Checks may be made out to Old Mission Santa Ines, referencing 2016 Christmas Basket Program and mailed to 1760 Mission Drive, Solvang, CA 93463. Contact Genevieve Geyser at (805) 688-2106 or genlg@verizon.net for more information or questions.

EVA’S TOP FAVES: MY PERSONAL PICKS, BEST BETS, HOT TIPS, SAVE THE DATES, AND THINGS NOT TO MISS! GIGANTIC GINGERBREAD HOUSE ince 1984, hands-on baker for 47 years at Olsen’s Danish Village Bakery and Coffee Shop on Mission Drive, Bent Olsen, has been creating an annual giant gingerbread house, revealed in time for Thanksgiving, and always installed in the lobby of what was once the Royal Scandinavian Inn and is now Hotel Corque. Each year offers a unique creation. This year, the roof and walls are classic gingerbread-

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brown, the door and window trim are red — made of cookie dough — and white window frames are accented with green icing.

The 2016 giant whimsical construct of holiday goodness and delight is comprised of 75 pounds of brown sugar, 50 pounds of molasses, 80 pounds of butter, and 10 pounds of spices. Olsen estimates the edible portion of the house weighs 250 pounds. Louis Rojas has been the assistant on these creations for the last 20 years.

Where: the lobby of Hotel Corque, 400 Alisal Road in Solvang Info: www.hotelcorque.com GOAT BUBBLES DINNER AT FULL OF LIFE FLATBREAD n a sparkling wine dinner featuring all five expressions of Goat Bubbles, winemaker Norm Yost and chef Clark Staub partner to pair sparklers with Full of Life Flatbread seasonal culinary delights. Rosé, Pinot Blanc, Brut Cuvée, Blanc de Blanc, and Blanc de Noirs will shake culinary hands with dishes including pumpkin floret, roasted Kombu-cured local fish, and apple sorbet with rhubarb. Goat Bubbles are handmade in the méthode champenoise at their facility in Lompoc.

When: Thursday, December 8, at 6:30 pm Where: Full of Life Flatbread, 225 West Bell Street in Los Alamos Cost: $65 per person Info: www.brownpaperticket.com

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PINOT-HO-HO! CHRISTMAS ON THE WINE TRAIL his holiday wine passport trail event allows wine trekkers to enjoy 20 one-ounce pours from 13 participating wineries on the 30-mile Foxen Canyon Wine Trail.

On Saturday, each winery will provide small bites of chocolate, holiday cookies, cheese, and charcuterie. Your passport also gets you a commemorative GoVino glass and special keepsake. Each winery will offer special deals for Passport holders.

Participating wineries are: Andrew Murray Vineyards, Cambria Winery, Cottonwood Canyon Winery, Fess Parker Winery, Firestone Vineyard, Foxen Vineyard & Winery, foxen 7200, Kenneth Volk Vineyards, Koehler Winery, Martian Ranch & Vineyard, Rancho Sisquoc Winery, Riverbench Vineyard & Winery, Tres Hermanas Winery, and Zaca Mesa Winery.

When: Saturday, December 10, and Sunday, December 11, from 11 am to 4 pm Where: Wineries throughout Santa Ynez Valley Cost: $45 per wine taster Info: visit fcwt2016xmas.eventbrite.com for information or to purchase passports.

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HOLIDAY WREATH-MAKING WORKSHOP oliday craftsman and creators are invited to the annual wreath-making workshop at the Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden. Native and repurposed local cuttings will be used. Everything one will need to learn how to create a live holiday wreath will be provided – except pruners (you must bring your own). Sign up online at buelltonrec.com or call or stop by the Rec Center office at 688-1086.

Let’s grow a new generation of gardeners!

When: Saturday, December 10, from 9 am to noon Where: SYVBC at River View Park, 151 Sycamore Drive in Buellton Cost: $30 for adults and $5 for children Info: www.santaynezvalleybotanicgarden.org or call (805) 245-5603

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KIDKRAFT: CHRISTMAS VILLAGE he Wildling Museum presents a series of monthly Saturday art classes for children age 5 to 13 years old to create nature-inspired crafts. Each KidKraft class features nature-inspired crafts or environmentally friendly “upcycling” projects.

When: Saturday, December 10, from 2 to 3 pm Where: The Wildling Museum of Art and Nature, 1511 Mission Drive in Solvang Cost: $5 per child Info: call (805) 686-8315

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