Tag archives: Lobero Theatre

Cole’s Career Concept: The Tortoise, not the Hare
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 23, 2024

Singer-songwriter Paula Cole was a household name back in the mid to late 1990s, when her commentary on gender stereotypes “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” and “I Don’t Want to Wait,” picked up as the theme song of TV’s Dawson’s Creek, were all over the airwaves. She was nominated for seven Grammys, including Record, […]

Cinderella on Pointe
By Richard Mineards   |   April 2, 2024

There was a great deal of sole searching going on at the Lobero when State Street Ballet performed a highly entertaining version of Cinderella, choreographed by the company’s founder Rodney Gustafson. State Street Ballet’s Cinderella at the Lobero was celebrating its 20th anniversary. The production, with its stirring music by Sergei Prokofiev, was written in […]

Gaviota Gathering 
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 30, 2024

An interdisciplinary event on a much smaller and more local scale takes place at the Lobero on January 30 when Scojo and The Keel hosts a record release concert for their new album, Gaviota. The evening is planned as a celebration of the Gaviota Coast with poets, painters, wildlife experts, geologists, and surfers who, along […]

‘Texican’ Rock & Rollers: Lonely in Name Only
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 30, 2024

It wasn’t pre-ordained that Los Lonely Boys member Ringo Garza, Jr. – who was named after a John Wayne movie, not the ex-Beatle – was going to end up being the sibling band’s drummer. It had a lot more to do with the fact that, not only was he the youngest sibling of the three […]

The Long and Short of It: Brad Williams Is Very Funny
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 9, 2024

Comedian Brad Williams has fond memories of his first appearance at the Lobero Theatre almost a decade ago, when he recorded Fun Size, his first one-hour special, at the venue. Things were a bit different then: Williams wasn’t yet all that well-known and the show wasn’t even close to sold out. “When you see the […]

A “Magnificat” Evening with the Choral Society
By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

Santa Barbara Choral Society was in top form under veteran conductor JoAnne Wasserman with its 9th annual Hallelujah Project at the Lobero, which included SING! program choral students from the Music Academy and Dishwalla lead singer Justin Fox in a rocking chair reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Accompanied by an orchestra, the enthusiastic singers […]

A Tea-riffic Time
By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

To the historic Santa Barbara Club when Lobero Theatre Associates hosted its annual Christmas tea for 60 guests. The bounteous bash, co-chaired by Leslie Haight and Emily Johnson, focused on the organization’s youth events, including It’s Magic!, the Nebula Dance Company, and musician Derek Douget, a New Orleans musician who visits schools in the area.  […]

The Sound of Flamenco
By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

Fiesta may be long over, but flamenco enthusiasts thronged to the Lobero for dancer Maria Bermudez’ Sonidos Gitanos, a 90-minute show showcasing the art of flamenco. Santa Barbara-based Bermudez, who was named an official Flamenco Ambassador by her hometown of Jerez de La Frontera in 2022, has promoted the dance art for more than 30 […]

Lobero Nose Ballet 
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 5, 2023

The annual invasion of local productions of The Nutcracker doesn’t begin until mid-December, as Festival Ballet and then the State Street Ballet roll out their full-fledged renditions of Tchaikovsky’s Christmas classic. But this weekend brings a tasty holiday appetizer, especially for the tots and teens, as State Street Ballet Academy presents Rudolph, the charming holiday […]

The Divine Sounds of Bruce Cockburn
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 21, 2023

Singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn has released some 35 albums over his half-century career, enjoying enough success stateside to sustain making music, but also falling far short of the household name recognition of fellow Canadians like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, or even Gordon Lightfoot.  Now at 78, Cockburn – whose catalog includes such transcendent love songs as […]

One-Shots on Screen 
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2023

All Time, the 2023 ski film from Warren Miller Productions screening at the Lobero on November 7, results from 74 years of filmmaking reimagined, full of good turns and good snow on good hills with good people. Narrated by Olympic and World Cup Freestyle skiing analyst Jonny Moseley, the movie dives deep into elements that […]

Film Fests from Around the World
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 31, 2023

The Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival returns to the New Vic Theatre November 1-5 at a tense time in Israel and around the world, but aside from beefing up security at the theater, the festival is focusing on what it does best, which is to present some of the finest international cinema about the Jewish […]

Virtuoso Duo
By Richard Mineards   |   October 31, 2023

The launch of CAMA’s Masterseries at the Lobero with two virtuoso musicians, Avi Avital on mandolin and Hanzhi Wang on accordion, was a heady combination. Israeli Avital, who has performed with the Community Arts Music Association twice – with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 2018 and Les Violins du Roy 2021 – was in […]

Benoit Brings It All… Including Charlie Brown
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 29, 2023

Jazz pianist and composer David Benoit is best known for his big-selling contemporary jazz albums of the 1980-’90s, including three Grammy nominations and a lot of hits. But the 70-year-old Palos Verdes resident whose influences include Leonard Bernstein and Bill Evans has had a much more expansive career. Here are excerpts from our conversation earlier […]

Stand and Be Counted: A Tribute
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 15, 2023

Just before he passed away at his home in Santa Ynez, David Crosby was in the midst of rehearsing with a new band that was slated to make its debut at the Lobero Theatre last February as part of the venue’s milestone 150th anniversary. Next weekend, the members of that band and a handful of […]

What Patti Smith Draws From
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 8, 2023

Patti Smith’s legacy as one of the most provocative, literary, and influential rock singer-songwriters in history is just part of her artistic achievement. Perhaps the only artist whose accolades include induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a National Book Award, and a Legion of Honor from the French government, Smith remains a […]

Fine Design in Theater
By Richard Mineards   |   August 1, 2023

My item last week on the historic Lobero Theatre being chosen as one of the world’s 11 most beautiful by society glossy Town & Country prompted a call from Montecito philanthropist Anne Towbes saying that another of the theaters on the list, Steinmetz Hall in Orlando, Florida, was designed by Montecito architectBarton Myers, 88. The […]

Past Schoolmate Unlikely to Attend Class Reunion
By Richard Mineards   |   July 25, 2023

Montecito actor Billy Baldwin got a considerable shock with a blast from the past this week. He has revealed he went to school with accused New York mass murderer Rex Heuermann, 59, the alleged serial killer of 10 women on a barren stretch of Long Island coastline nearly 13 years ago, who was snared by […]

This Legendary Songwriter Has Your Heart in a Sling. Whether or Not You Recognize the Name.
By Jeff Wing   |   July 11, 2023

Jimmy Webb was a 14-year-old working the family farm when he heard a Glen Campbell song on the radio. It brought him to his knees. “I was driving a tractor in the middle of a wheat field in the Oklahoma Panhandle – which is a pretty remote area – listening to my transistor radio. They […]

A Moving Show
By Richard Mineards   |   June 27, 2023

After nearly a decade, Santa Barbara’s Momentum Dance Company celebrated with an energized, colorful show at the historic Lobero Theatre. The company marked the occasion with a Glow Gala, lighting up the stage with more than 100 dancers, premiering two hours of dance fun. The entertaining ninth anniversary performance combined tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, […]