Tag archives: SOhO

Coming Full Circle with CAMA
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 11, 2022

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, whose history dates back to just one year after CAMA hosted its first concert with the brand-new Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1919, reached international fame under British conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who was recently in town himself to lead the London Symphony Orchestra at the Granada Theatre for the […]

DakhaBrakha, Sunflowers, and  Support for Ukraine Along State
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 4, 2022

UCSB Arts & Lectures caps off the opening week of its new season in a culturally significant and community-oriented way, hosting a Ukraine Fest in front of the Granada before Kyiv-based band DakhaBrakha takes the stage inside for its Santa Barbara debut on Thursday, October 6. The free festival, which takes place during the monthly […]

Alcazar’s Concise Community-centric Comedy
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 9, 2022

Last summer, the community theater company at Carpinteria’s Alcazar Theatre launched Laugh Out Loud, a one-weekend summer series of several short comedic plays, both to keep its actors and the community engaged, and to test the waters of producing live theater during the pandemic.  Audiences responded, filling up more than half of the seats at […]

Aqua: Turning on the Waterworks at UCSB
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 24, 2022

Back in 2019, veteran UCSB dance professor Valerie Huston and Arizona State University’s dance faculty member Carley Conder teamed up to create Avian for UCSB’s dance students. This casual piece was inspired by Huston overhearing two students talking about a class they were taking called The Mathematics of Origami and featured nine-foot origami birds above […]

Cream of the Copy Bands
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 26, 2022

Tribute bands are all the rage in music clubs and even theaters these days, and it’s not hard to understand why. Not only is it easier to imitate than innovate, but it’s also relatively simple to put a band together to perform the best-known songs from a classic rock band or famous singer, because so […]

Locals Only
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 17, 2022

SOhO’s schedule this week showcases a bunch of Santa Barbara-based acts covering a huge swath of genres. Soul Majestic, which seamlessly segues from roots reggae to R&B and folk-rock, headlines on Friday, February 19, followed the next night by M.O.B. Quintet, an all-star ensemble that performs an eclectic blend of Euro-Brazil progressive jazz and fusion […]

Tuttle’s Bluegrass Throwdown
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 29, 2022

SOhO has secured a bit of a booking coup for the end of the month in Molly Tuttle, the singer-songwriter-guitarist who became the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Awards’ Guitar Player of the Year awards in 2017 and repeated in 2018, when she was also named the Americana Music Association’s Instrumentalist of […]

Finding the ‘Good in the Heart of Life’
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 25, 2022

The COVID pandemic has been an ongoing career if not a personal crisis for a lot of musicians around the world. But for Drew McManus, the shutdown actually afforded him a chance to slow down, regroup and, most importantly, reconnect with his roots in the mountains of Montana. Although he was born in the western […]

Vivacious Vocals in Vogue with Baker’s Dozen
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 11, 2022

There’s a plethora of a cappella singing groups at Yale, the Ivy League School known for theater and music as much as the liberal arts. “I think there’s 16, including four all-male,” said Jacob Wu, the current tour manager and a bass singer for Baker’s Dozen (BD), which despite its name actually boasts 16 singers. […]

Quite the Quintet
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 4, 2022

Prior to November, you’d be hard-pressed to recall the last time John Jorgenson played in town. Best known for his inventive guitar work in Desert Rose, the mid-1980s California country-rock band he co-founded with former Byrd/Flying Burrito Brother Chris Hillman and country-bluegrass stalwart Herb Pedersen, Jorgenson also played in the guitar trio Hellecasters, toured for […]

Broussard’s Journey: Bayou to Lullabyes and Back
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 7, 2021

Singer-songwriter Marc Broussard made his stage debut before he reached first grade, belting out “Johnny B. Goode” at age 5 as a guest singer in his father, Louisiana Hall of Fame guitarist Ted Broussard’s, famous band The Boogie Kings. Swamp pop and blue-eyed soul runs through his veins and makes up his bones. But classic […]

Back to Bluegrass: Jorgenson Coming to SOhO
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 23, 2021

John Jorgenson has been playing a multitude of instruments since childhood, dating back to age eight, when he picked up the clarinet to go along with piano, which he’d been studying for four years to keep pace with his older sister in a family of musicians. Then it was guitar after hearing the Beatles, and […]

Trixie Blue
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 23, 2021

Credit Crane Country Day School and music teacher Konrad Kono for honing Trixie Blue’s interest in 1980s pop music. “I’ve been messing around with music forever,” explained Trixie, who drops her last name, Garnett, while making music. “I’ve always been playing instruments and singing, but it was Crane and Mr. Kono who really got me […]

the Fortnight
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 22, 2021

November 21-December 30 Santa Barbara Sounds at SOhO   The popular restaurant nightclub took a little longer than almost all other establishments to reopen after the forced COVID closures expired at the end of spring, but the entertainment-every-night emporium is now fully back in action. Peruse the calendar carefully for the hangout owned for more […]

Watson, Come Here: Ex-OCMS Member Something to Crow About
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 21, 2021

It takes a lot of guts to walk away from a successful band you co-founded, but for Willie Watson, 13 years with the Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS) were enough. “There were some differences about our musical direction,” Watson said, somewhat diplomatically explaining his 2011 departure from the popular alternative country/Americana band that helped jumpstart […]

‘The Last Honky Tonk Hero’
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 21, 2021

We’ll leave it up to the listener to decide if the new CD from Mike Dawson & The Smokin Kills lives up to its title. But we can tell you that the guy fronting the band is the real deal: Dawson is the former longtime DJ, music director, and producer at KTYD, Santa Barbara’s classic […]

A Roarin’ Good Time
By Mark Leisure   |   September 9, 2021

My job here at the Sentinel as a Man About Town encompasses keeping everyone informed about what’s been going on around town in the performing arts in and near State Street and beyond, even if some of it’s on the down low. The thing is, these days in my case the DL refers more to […]

Live Music at SOhO is Baaaaack
By Zach Rosen   |   September 9, 2021

The return of live music has been one of the most anticipated events during these rough times. For many around the area, going to see a live show at SOhO was one of the most sorely missed experiences through the quarantine. While the Santa Barbara Bowl makes for a memorable outing, many locals have countless […]

Steppen’ Out on His Own: John Kay returns to solo show for the Lobero
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 19, 2020

Don’t tune in to Lobero Theatre’s latest Live from the Lobero pay-per-view performance by Steppenwolf’s John Kay to hear “Born to Be Wild” or “Magic Carpet Ride.” In fact, don’t expect to hear any Steppenwolf songs at all.  That’s because Kay, who has lived in Montecito for the last eight years, has recently not only […]

Forty Years in Paradise: Blues Duo Marks a Milestone
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 17, 2020

Last Sunday afternoon, Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan played at the Cold Springs Tavern. November 3 will find the acoustic blues duo at the roadside bar in the woods below the San Marcos Pass again. So will three of the four Sundays after that. No surprise there – Santa Barbara’s “Good-Time Ambassadors of the Blues” […]