Tag archives: UCSB

Feeling Z.E.N.
By Richard Mineards   |   October 31, 2019

Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West was socially gridlocked when the Z.E.N. Trio, made up from the initials of pianist Zhang Duo, violinist Esther Yoo, and cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan, performed as part of UCSB’s popular Arts & Lectures series. The concert, part of the long-running Robert Weinman-sponsored Up Close & Musical Series, […]

Mayor Murillo’s Medals
By Richard Mineards   |   October 31, 2019

Cathy Murillo hosted the 14th annual Mayor’s Awards breakfast honoring businesses for facilitating employment for those with disabilities at the Carrillo Recreation Center. The Non-Profit award went to the Santa Barbara Zoo, the first menagerie on the Left Coast to become a certified autism center, while the outstanding effort accolade was given to the 45-year-old […]

Snapping Species
By Richard Mineards   |   October 24, 2019

Cliff and Crystal Wyatt opened the doors of their charming Montecito home to host a bash for National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore, who spoke at Campbell Hall, part of the UCSB Arts & Lectures program. His talk Building the Photo Ark focused on a multi-year initiative to document every living creature in the world’s zoos […]

Goal Oriented
By Richard Mineards   |   October 24, 2019

It must have been one of the quickest ticket sales in UCSB Arts & Lectures history when 2,000 tickets were snapped up in just 90 minutes when the two co-captains of the U.S. Women’s World Cup winning team, Megan Rapinoe, 34, and Alex Morgan, 30, spoke at the Arlington. The Evening of Achievement, moderated by […]

Chenoweth at the Granada
By Lynda Millner   |   October 24, 2019

I may be prejudice since Broadway is my favorite thing, but I think the best concert I’ve ever seen for UCSB Arts & Lectures was Kristin Chenoweth. She’s a teeny tiny thing (4’ 11”) with a mighty voice that reaches the rafters. And she thinks we Santa Barbarians are so lucky to have Hidden Valley […]

Musical Masters Make SB Debut
By Joanne A Calitri   |   October 17, 2019

Béla Fleck (banjo), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Edgar Meyer (double-bass), and Rakesh Chaurasia (flute) will perform for the first time in Santa Barbara on October 19 at UCSB Campbell Hall, coming in from their tour and work in Nashville on a new LP. With over 20 Grammy Awards collectively, we can expect this collaboration to be […]

Coming Full Circle with ‘Generosity of Eye’
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 10, 2019

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is no stranger to the camera as the actress has starred as Elaine in the iconic sitcom Seinfeld and the title character in the just-concluded HBO hit VEEP, as well as several feature films. She’s collected 11 Emmy Awards, a SAG prize and a Golden Globe. But perhaps her most personal work appears […]

SBIFF Welcomes Benjamin
By Richard Mineards   |   October 10, 2019

Santa Barbara International Film Festival has hired veteran Benjamin Goedert as its new development director. In his new role, Goedert will be responsible for generating funds to support the fest’s dynamic arts and educational programs through sponsorships, grants and donations. He moved to our tony town 11 years ago to attend City College where he […]

A&L Kicks Off
By Richard Mineards   |   October 10, 2019

The venerable Granada Theatre was the place to be when UCSB Arts & Lectures launched its latest season. Author and historian Tara Westover, 33, whose memoir Educated debuted at number one on The New York Times bestseller list, and was a finalist for myriad awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, spoke to a […]

Kristin Chenoweth Makes SB Debut
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 26, 2019

Tony Award-winning actress/singer Kristin Chenoweth has no illusions about who she is and what she can do. Blessed with a brilliant voice, plucky determination, and such a bubbly personality that The Daily Beast called her “the human version of just-popped champagne,” Chenoweth has soared on Broadway as Glinda in Wicked, and earned accolades, Emmy awards […]

She’s a Legend!
By Richard Mineards   |   September 19, 2019

Veteran Montecito comedienne Carol Burnett, 86, was front and center at the fifth annual Legends gala on the stage of the venerable Granada Theatre. Carol, whose eponymous award-winning show ran on CBS from 1967 to 1978, was introduced by her good friend, fellow Montecito author and film writer Fannie Flagg, as video showed some of […]

A Dance Ode to West Side Story
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 5, 2019

Imagine West Side Story without the West Side. Or the story. Any story. That’s the premise taken on by choreographer Doug Varone, a longtime favorite of SUMMERDANCE Santa Barbara/Santa Barbara DANCEworks, long-running annual residency series at the Lobero that comes to a close this week after two decades with this weekend’s debut performances of Somewhere. […]

Authentic Movement: A Truly Moving Experience
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 29, 2019

Until two months ago, your faithful correspondent had never experienced Authentic Movement, a simple form of self-directed movement in the presence of at least one witness, with attention directed inward. As movers follow present-time inner impulses to produce spontaneous gestures and movements as well as moments of stillness, the witness watches and tracks his or […]

Caliente Cocina
By Richard Mineards   |   August 29, 2019

To La Cocina, formerly Somerset, with my snapperazzi Priscilla, to check out the made-over East Anapamu Street eatery, which now features Mexican-Californian cuisine. The charming back courtyard, filled with lavender bushes and gnarled ancient fig trees brought in by flatbed trucks from Northern California and craned in over the rooftops when it first opened after […]

Fun After the Sun: Fifties Flicks al Fresco
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 11, 2019

What could be more fun than spending a Friday evening with your friends watching a free classic film outdoors in a gorgeous garden setting? That’s basically the premise behind UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture’s annual summer film series at the Courthouse Sunken Gardens downtown – a […]

Go Where You Wanna Go
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 4, 2019

Echo In The Canyon, Andrew Slater’s documentary about the 1964-68 era in Laurel Canyon when folk-rock bands formed in the neighborhood that offered both seclusion and proximity to Hollywood studios before giving way to the psychedelic and singer-songwriter movements, may well prove to be the most commercially successful movie to have emerged from this year’s […]

Sizzling Season
By Richard Mineards   |   June 20, 2019

UCSB Arts & Lectures 61st season promises to be a cracker! With 60 world class events, including 11 Santa Barbara debuts, two world premieres of new works commissioned by the popular program, a U.S. premiere, and a West Coast debut, Miller McCune executive director Celesta Billeci described it as events for the “intellectually curious, the […]

Soirée at Sara’s
By Richard Mineards   |   May 23, 2019

Uber philanthropist Sara Miller McCune opened the doors of her Montecito home, just a tiara’s toss or two from the San Ysidro Ranch, to host a dinner, along with her publishing company, SAGE Publications, for a 60th anniversary benefit for UCSB’s Arts & Lectures program featuring CNN host and Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria. The […]

Three’s Company
By Richard Mineards   |   May 16, 2019

At the Granada it was time for the tony triumvirate of violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis, and pianist Jeremy Denk to shine, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures program. The talented threesome were in glorious harmony playing works by Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. A blockbuster show… Like Father, Like Daughter CAMA […]

Arts & Lectures
By Lynda Millner   |   May 9, 2019

UCSB Arts & Lectures brought best-selling Blue Zones author Dan Buettner and photographer David McLain to Campbell Hall on the campus for their presentation on the secrets to living longer and better lives after studying the world’s happiest, healthiest, and longest-living people. Prior to the talk there was a private dinner reception at sponsors Nicole […]