Tag archives: music
The pop pick of the week in the club scene is surely George Friedenthal’s songwriter show at SOhO on March 5, when the ubiquitously in-demand keyboardist teams up with some of his frequent colleagues in Randy Tico, Maitland Ward, Donzell Davis, and Lorenzo Martínez to serve as the backing band for a list of local […]
Taylor Dayne always wanted to be a pop star, going back to her days growing up on the South Shore of Long Island when she was known as Leslie Wunderman. As soon as she could, the singer began working in rock and roll bands, patterning herself after similarly big-voiced belters as Pat Benatar, The Pretenders’ […]
Music & Meditation – founded by Santa Barbara pianist and composer Antonio Artese in collaboration with Carpinteria-based meditation guide and qigong/tai chi teacher Jessica Kolbe – had a trial launch last November at Weinman Hall on the campus of the Music Academy of the West featuring the two founders. After selling out the initial show, […]
NAMM (The National Association of Music Merchants), the largest global nonprofit music trade organization, celebrated NAMM’s 125th anniversary, and 50 years of the show in the city of Anaheim. Taking place January 20-24, 2026, at the Anaheim Convention Center, the trade show featured immersive education – 75 TEC Tracks (up from 55 last year); continuous […]
If you haven’t heard or at least heard of the Doublewide Kings, you must be living under the proverbial rock, and not the kind that has fueled the Montecito/Santa Barbara-based classic rock ensemble for the last two decades or so. DWK has been DIY-ing it better than ever in the last few years, going from […]
The Takács Quartet has been in residency at the Music Academy of the West for many years, but their appearance on January 22 as part of the Up Close and Unforgettable series of benefits has taken on added poignancy as cellist András Fejér, the foursome’s sole remaining original member, has announced that he is retiring […]
Min Joo Yi earned a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Musical Arts program there. Prior to having embarked on these post-graduate studies, the pianist majored in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton. Not your usual […]
Peter Noone, the lead singer of Herman’s Hermits for more than six decades, has sung “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” and “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” way too many times to count, not to mention some of the British Invasion band’s astounding run of other hits in the mid-’60s that included “I’m […]
The other big show in town this week is also not only a benefit, but one that also supports nonprofits geared toward helping kids. It’s even in the organization’s title: Kids Helping Kids which, as it turns out, is also marking a 20th anniversary. The student-led nonprofit, which was founded in 1982 by then-San Marcos […]
When Michael Holliday, Lawrence Scarpa, and Angela Brooks were juggling their T-squares, balsa wood, and glue guns at the University of Florida in Gainesville (go Gators), they likely didn’t foresee the momentous project on which they would be collaborating in far-flung 2025. Even as these architects-in-training made final preparations to enter the profession, some 2,500 […]
Back in 2017 when Susan Keller founded Santa Barbara Revels to make our city one of several in the nation to present annual Christmas-season traditional cross-cultural shows, she turned to fellow Montecitan Maggie Mixsell to serve as director. The acting coach, teacher, and director – whose credits include running the Speaking of Stories series for […]
Those hankering for a healthy dose of Handel will be happy to hear that a tradition at least four times as old as “Hallelujah Project” continues as Phillip McLendon conducts the 43rd Messiah Sing Along on December 16 at the First Presbyterian Church (21 E. Constance Ave.). As the event’s name suggests, community members are […]
Outside of SoCal, Mike Campbell is largely known as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the lead guitarist who spent decades alongside Petty delivering crunchy guitar lines on a bevy of big hits. Campbell also co-wrote many of the band’s singles, including “Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl,” “You Got Lucky,” and “Runnin’ […]
The Santa Barbara Blues Society hosts the local debut of East Coast-based award-winning blues singer-songwriter Vanessa Collier. The rare female bandleading saxophonist, a native Texan, grew up in Maryland and graduated from Boston’s famed Berklee School of Music. She spent two years in blues legend Joe Louis Walker’s band before branching out on her own. […]
“I’m in Maine, looking at New Hampshire across the Piscataqua River,” Tom Rush said over the phone late last month. “The leaves are turning and it’s gorgeous.” Rush’s voice is unmistakable, and so is the approach; a laid-back sincere tone that sounds like a chat across the porch with an old friend. He’s not just […]
Thousands turned out in Santa Barbara and across the country for last Saturday’s No Kings rally protesting the increasingly autocratic administration in Washington. So it feels important to point out that there are no kings in the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, meaning no music director, no artistic director, not even a conductor. Everyone who is part […]
Hahn Hall is back in action again on October 29 as Camerata Pacifica plays on a rare Wednesday evening for the local launch of “Beethoven 32,” its momentous three-year cycle featuring principal pianist Gilles Vonsattel performing all 32 of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas. Vonsattel dives right in, beginning the cycle with the “‘Hammerklavier,’ Sonata No. 29 […]
For the first time in their long histories, State Street Ballet and Santa Barbara Symphony are opening their season with a collaborative production, one that includes – and closes with – a full-length production of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet. The concert opens with Maestro Nir Kabaretti and the orchestra performing two short works – Shostakovich’s […]
Covid was a weird time. We listened to music, microwaved mail, and made sourdough – among other things. About two weeks before the shutdown, I was scrambling to host an event at SBCAST – the Swiss-Army Bauhaus facility where I was living at the time. Running up and down the stairs from my studio with […]
A coastal breeze, golden gloaming, and the sprawling splendor of Bellosguardo set the stage for an unforgettable evening as Santa Barbara’s own Doublewide Kings brought their signature swagger to one of California’s most storied estates. For this official Bellosguardo event, part of their notable programming, the estate’s historic charm was complemented by an unforgettable musical […]
