Tag archives: Alan Parsons

Tuning into FestForums
By Richard Mineards and Friends   |   March 3, 2026

Written by Melissa Borders FestForums 2026 – “The Premier Gathering for Festival Leaders” – founded by Laurie Kirby of Montecito, convened over 600 of the most forward-thinking leaders across festivals, live events, arts, and culture. More than a conference, FestForums serves as a dynamic hub where artists, producers, creators, technologists, and community builders come together […]

Not Just One-a-Year for One805
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 11, 2025

For the past three years, the nonprofit One805 has staged a big boisterous benefit bash in late summer at Kevin Costner’s surfside Summerland spread to raise a big percentage of its funds. The money is earmarked for all the first responder organizations throughout Santa Barbara County to help with equipment, mental health services and more. […]

The Importance of Mental Health for First Responders: And How One805 Is Coming to the Rescue
By Deann Zampelli   |   March 4, 2025

“911. What is your emergency?” The phrase we so commonly hear in TV shows and movies and yet hope to never hear ourselves.  Until we make the call. Until we need the reassurance of the voice on the other end telling us that help is on the way.  With the recent fires down in Los […]

Going Greene with the Blue
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 24, 2024

If all you want for Christmas is some tasty blues rock with teeth, look no further than SOhO on Friday night, December 20. That’s when the veteran guitarist-singer-songwriter Alastair Greene will be throwing down at his old stomping grounds, taking to the stage in a reunion with his longtime SoCal based band mates Jim Rankin […]

Nonprofit Kick Ash Bash rises Sept. 20
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 3, 2024

Will any public event in town ever come close to matching the Kick Ash Bash in pure megawatt star power? Back in 2018, over the course of a full day and evening, just about everybody in the entertainment industry with a local connection – rock legends, pop princesses and other celebrities – participated in the […]

One805 One Ups Themselves Again 
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 6, 2024

There will probably – perhaps hopefully – never be another benefit concert like the Kick Ash Bash, the 2018 extravaganza staged as a thank you for the first responders who dealt with the late 2017 Thomas Fire and the resultant early 2018 Montecito Debris Flows. Just about every musician, actor and other entertainer who ever […]

Parsons Named One805Live! Musical Director
By Richard Mineards   |   July 23, 2024

One805 has announced that 13-time Grammy Award nominee and Grammy Award-winner, recording artist, songwriter, musician, and record producer Alan Parsons will be the musical director for the One805Live! fall concert at Kevin Costner’s oceanside Carpinteria estate. Headlining the event in September are Pink and Dallas Green performing as the duo Me + You, with additional […]

Punch Bros. Bark up a New Tree 
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 16, 2023

Banjo player Noam Pikelny and guitarist Chris Eldridge of the Punch Brothers have teamed up with bassist and founding former member, Greg Garrison of Leftover Salmon fame, and mandolinist Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse) to form a bluegrass bound band called Mighty Poplar. Born out of impromptu backstage jams at festivals, Mighty Poplar lets the members return […]

Sir Parsons
By Richard Mineards   |   June 21, 2022

Santa Barbara rock legend Alan Parsons, who received an OBE – Order of the British Empire – in last year’s annual Queen Elizabeth Birthday Honors List, has been presented with his gong at long last after 12 months of pandemic delays. Alan, 73, tells me he received the honor from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, […]

Little Book Brings Big Crowd
By Richard Mineards   |   March 29, 2022

A boffo bunch of bibliophiles descended on Tecolote in the Upper Village to mark the publication of Steven Gilbar’s Little Book of Montecito Writers, a 160-page paperback including more than 60 authors, which derived from a talk he gave at the village library last summer. The book signing, which benefitted the Montecito Library, also featured […]

Ringing in the New Year!
By Richard Mineards   |   January 11, 2022

Santa Barbara Symphony returned to its popular New Year’s Eve tradition at the Granada to dazzle the audience with the music of Gershwin, movie classics, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Motown, Broadway, and other celebratory symphonic favorites while donning party hats and quaffing champagne. Regular Pops conductor Bob Bernhardt, celebrating his 40th anniversary with the Louisville Orchestra, […]

Some Birthday Fun-draising
By Joanne A Calitri   |   January 4, 2022

One of our most renowned musical residents, Alan Parsons, held a star-studded fundraiser at the Alcazar Theatre Carpinteria on his birthday on December 20, to raise funds for the nonprofit venue in lieu of gifts.  The event, produced by Mike Lazaro, of Lazaro Event Management and founding board member of the Alcazar Theatre, started with […]

Celebrating a Different Red, White & Blue
By Richard Mineards   |   July 8, 2021

Santa Barbara music man Alan Parsons’ organic avocado ranch in the Goleta foothills turned into a colorful outpost of his native England when 150 guests turned out to celebrate his newly awarded OBE — Order of the British Empire — from Queen Elizabeth in her birthday honors list. The red, white, and blue of the […]

Santa Barbara Music Man Alan Parsons is Being Elevated — and How!
By Richard Mineards   |   June 24, 2021

Alan Parsons, 72, who lives and works from a multi-million dollar recording studio on an organic avocado ranch in the Goleta foothills with his wife, Lisa, has been awarded an OBE — Order of the British Empire — for his work over the decades in Queen Elizabeth’s birthday honors list. “I actually heard from the […]

Family Affair
By Richard Mineards   |   April 23, 2020

My item on the death of the 7th Marquess of Bath from the coronavirus at 87 prompted a response from Santa Barbara record producer Alan Parsons. Alex Thynn‘s father, Henry, was married to Alan’s aunt, Virginia Parsons, his second marriage. “They had a daughter Silvy, so she is a genuine cousin,” says Alan, who has […]

Birthday Boy
By Richard Mineards   |   January 10, 2019

To the historic Union Hotel in Los Alamos when English rocker Alan Parsons, who has been nominated for 11 Grammys, celebrated the 20th anniversary of his half century with a heavenly host of friends and music stars. The songwriter and record producer, who worked on the Beatles’ Abbey Road and Let It Be albums, as […]

Par(sons) for the Course
By Richard Mineards   |   July 26, 2018

Rocker Alan Parsons was making waves, sound waves at a boffo bash at his rustic aerie in the Goleta foothills, when he celebrated the completion of his new multi-million-dollar recording studio, wittily dubbed ParSonics. Alan, 69, who worked with The Beatles and Pink Floyd, to name a few supergroups, and set up the Alan Parsons […]

Cash from the Ash
By Richard Mineards   |   March 1, 2018

More than 300,000 people descended on Bella Vista, the sprawling Summerland estate of polo playing hotel magnate Pat Nesbitt and his wife, Ursula, for One805’s Kick Ash Bash to honor first responders while raising much-needed funds for emergency equipment and relief efforts in the wake of the Thomas Fire and the devastating January mudslides. The […]

Pilobolus Returns to the Granada
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 25, 2018

When your company is named after a fungus that grows on cow poop, clearly you’re involved with an outfit that loves playfulness as well as metaphors. Pilobolus formed at Dartmouth back in 1971 but has grown more explosively than its light-seeking namesake, now numbering more than 120 dance works in its repertoire, including three entities […]