29 Apr 2025
Pickleball in the Danger Zone
Montecito rocker Kenny Loggins is hosting his eponymous “Pickleball in the Danger Zone” tournament for the eighth year to raise monies for the Unity Shoppe. Formerly known as the American Riviera Classic Pickleball, the tournament has grown into what is considered the largest amateur athletic event in our Eden by the Beach, with more than […]
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Sighting Mix Up
Montecito actor Rob Lowe was not at all amused while strolling in Beverly Hills when the driver of a Hollywood tour bus mistakenly identified him as sitcom legend John Stamos. He said “What the f–k” to the camera filming him before marching up to the orange and pink bus packed with film and TV fans. […]
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Amber Kelleher-Andrews: March 31, 1969 – April 13, 2025
Amber Kelleher-Andrews, a matchmaker whose luxury firm discreetly united some of the world’s wealthiest and most recognizable individuals in love and marriage, and who was known professionally as Amber Kelleher, died Sunday at her home in Montecito, California. She was 56. The cause was cancer, said John Berg, her friend, business partner and chief executive […]
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Oh, Oh, Oh, It’s Magic: Gene Urban Pulls Lifelong Rabbit out of a Hat
“So 90% of magicians are hobbyists. They don’t perform. They might for a little dinner party at home for a family member, but that’s about it.” Gene Urban is a professional magician – a card-carrying performer and habitue at the storied Magic Castle in Hollywood, and a guy who has traveled the world, his skill […]
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Defining Houses
Famed Santa Barbara architect Robin Donaldson has traveled the world with the recent pair of documentary films – The House: 6 Points of Departure and This Is Not a House – that chronicle his immersive work on two important homes in the Montecito foothills; the Crawford House and Hill House. Donaldson, who studied painting and […]
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All’s Fair at the Showgrounds
The Santa Barbara Fair & Expo goes totally tubular for two weekends of wonder. The annual springtime event will be bursting with entertainment, a full carnival of 30-plus rides and games, fun fair food (funnel cakes!), exhibits and other favorite traditions while embracing ‘80s Flashback as its theme for 2025. Accordingly, the stages have been […]
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Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival
The annual community-organized gathering to give thanks to Gaia gets going (as always) the last weekend of the month (April 26-27) at Alameda Park, marking its 55th year as one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations in the country and largest on the West Coast. Presented by the Community Environmental Council and geared toward environmental […]
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Earth-shattering Events
This weekend also marks the launch of the months-long marking of the day when the Earth wasn’t so friendly for locals – a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake, an historic disaster that intrinsically changed the city. EQ25.org gets going with the Roaring ‘20s Speakeasy Soireé on April 25 at […]
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Go Gaucho: Funky Folkie in I.V.
Donavon Frankenreiter headlines the Saturday afternoon new GauchoFest at the annual All Gaucho Reunion at UCSB. Frankenreiter, a longtime associate of UCSB grad Jack (“Bubble Toes”) Johnson and a regular at SOhO over the years, will close out the 2-6 pm concert on April 26 at the UCSB Campus Green that also features DJ Orbs […]
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22 Apr 2025
Savie Health
Fictional detective Harry Bosch, the star of more than a dozen best-selling books by Michael Connelly and two TV series on Amazon Prime, operates with a credo he adopted early in his career: “Everybody counts, or nobody counts.” That’s basically the same philosophy behind Savie Health, the nonprofit free clinic in downtown Lompoc. It’s the […]
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Andrea Blaugrund Nevins: March 15, 1962 – April 12, 2025
Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, 63, passed away from breast cancer at her home, surrounded by her family and her dogs on April 12, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. The daughter of Drs. Stanley and Annette Blaugrund, she was born on March 15, 1962, in New York City. A tried-and-true New Yorker, Andrea grew up as a […]
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Safe as Houses: Nancy McCradie’s 36-Year Homeless Saga
In idle moments we mull unimaginable experiences beyond our own. What’s it like to be launched into space? To be on a sinking ship in mountainous, hurricane-tossed seas? To be homeless? “I was never embarrassed about being homeless. It was just a fact. I wasn’t psychologically traumatized by it all. Yes, it was very stressful […]
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Then and Now
Judging by the unsolicited emails I receive, there seems to be quite an industry based on putting people in contact with others they knew years ago but have completely lost touch with – particularly people they may have known at school. The sentimental interest in one’s own irrecoverable past has a very pretty name: NOSTALGIA. […]
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Deepwater Diving Pioneers Honored in the Harbor
On a sunny Spring Friday afternoon, the Santa Barbara community gathered to celebrate a powerful moment in maritime history – the unveiling of the Deepwater Diving Monument located at the entrance of the harbor. The 10-foot bronze statue of a diver is a tribute to the pioneering commercial divers whose innovations helped shape the modern […]
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Singing, Dancing, Laughing or Journaling Through the Chaos
Meditation is marvelous and yoga is yummy, but a new method of coping and connecting can be welcome during particularly challenging times. “Singing the Bones” features a musical collaboration with the audience that weaves together diasporic traditions through story and song from the three song leaders. Lydia Violet Harutoonian, a Persian American Bay Area violinist […]
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A Chorus of Their Own
After years of periodic collaborations with Santa Barbara choirs alone or in various combinations, the Santa Barbara Symphony Chorus makes its debut with the orchestra’s April 25-26 pair of concerts. The ensemble was assembled as something akin to an all-star choir, comprised of community choral singers from many other organizations, including Adelfos Ensemble, Santa Barbara […]
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It’s Good to Be Kings
In other symphony notes, the Doublewide Kings have just premiered their video presentation of Moondance, its groundbreaking celebration of the music of Van Morrison in collaboration with the Santa Barbara Symphony that was performed at the Granada Theatre in November 2023. The show represented the classical ensemble’s first project with a rock band (they’ve done […]
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Crime, Costumes and Comedy at the Jurkowitz
Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, the playwrights who took a bite out of a famous Transylvanian count in Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors – which opened Ensemble Theatre’s current season – have also set their mandibles on digging into Dostoevsky with Crime and Punishment, a Comedy, which makes its local debut at the Jurkowitz Theatre […]
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State Street’s Supreme Season
When State Street Ballet founding artistic/executive director Rodney Gustafson fully retired at the end of 2023, the destiny of the company – founded by the former American Ballet Theatre dancer some three decades earlier – was something of an unknown. Things seemed to be in good hands with the twin appointments of Megan Philipp as […]
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Our Imperial Presidency
I woke up this morning with the realization that one man ruling largely by fiat is causing global chaos. All everyone seems to talk about these days is Donald Trump and what he’s done or will do. And for good reason. It’s making us nervous. And it’s not just us: the whole world is talking […]
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