Tag archives: Oprah

Ty-High Gala of Gratitude
By Richard Mineards   |   April 19, 2018

Montecito firefighters were out in force at the San Ysidro Ranch, but there were no flames to extinguish or new mudslides to clear up. Just the opportunity for more than 100 blaze busters and other VIP guests to enjoy the bounteous hospitality of Beanie Baby billionaire Ty Warner, who hosted a dinner party in a […]

Bucket Brigade’s New Phase
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   April 19, 2018

Nearly three months after launching the grassroots effort of organizing volunteers to clear mud from residents’ homes following January’s mudslides, the Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is launching a new pilot program to further help mudslide victims.  Bucket Brigade founder Abe Powell and co-founder Josiah Hamilton explained to the Montecito Association board last week and at […]

Score by Four
By Richard Mineards   |   March 15, 2018

Rather than decomposing, the four musicians featured in Camerata Pacifica’s latest concert at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall were very much alive and well. Normally, the classical music troupe’s monthly repertoire includes one or more famous past composers, but Irish founder Adrian Spence decided a more contemporary program was needed with a […]

Mystery Music
By Richard Mineards   |   February 15, 2018

Santa Barbara’s musical youth shone at the First United Methodist Church when the youth opera and youth symphony under Opera SB artistic director Kostis Protpapas performed a creative production of Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood. The 1958 work, based on a 15th-century Chester mystery play, featured bass-baritone Vincent Grana and mezzo soprano Chelsea Melamed as his […]

Youth Served with $500K
By Richard Mineards   |   January 25, 2018

It was child’s play when Kids Helping Kids, the 10-year-old organization launched by students at San Marcos High School, raised a record $501,251 to help local children in need with two sold-out concerts at the Granada. The group, headed by economics teacher James DeVries, has raised more than $2.5 million since it started. Singer-songwriter Andy […]

Generous DeGeneres
By Richard Mineards   |   January 18, 2018

Former Oscars emcee and TV talker Ellen DeGeneres put the generous in her name when she hosted local firefighters to a bash at her Montecito home, Villa di Lemma, to thank them for their help during the Thomas Fire. Ten members of Strike Team 2040A from various departments in Contra Costa County and three fire […]

By the Book, Vonnegut Style
By Richard Mineards   |   December 14, 2017

Montecito author Robert Eringer has been following in the footsteps of award-winning novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who died in 2007 aged 84. The odyssey to the writer of the darkly satirical best seller Slaughterhouse-Five, as well as 13 other novels, began when fellow Montecito writer T.C. Boyle suggested the trip to Robert when they bumped into […]