Holiday Show of the Week
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 2, 2024

This past year has seen the revival of Santa Barbara Comedy Hideaway, the erstwhile series that imported comics from major venues and streaming services on a weekly basis at several different locations in town. While weekly shows are at 1203 State Street, the Hideaway steps it up to hang out at the New Vic Theatre […]

Major Milestone for the Marjorie Luke
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 2, 2024

It was shortly after the dawning of the new millennium that Santa Barbara Unified School District and a new nonprofit got together to upgrade the auditorium at Santa Barbara Junior High that had gone dark and fallen into disrepair. What started as a cleanup turned into a full-blown renovation of the historic Spanish colonial revival […]

 

Recently Trending

More from Montecito

Golf Coach Wins Tourney
By Tim Buckley   |   January 2, 2024

Congratulations to Westmont men’s and women’s golf head coach Joshua Ault, who won his first mid-amateur tournament in the AmateurGolf.com Winter Invitational December16-17 at Corica Park Golf Course in Alameda. Ault finished at 2-over with rounds of 72-74. He led by one stroke heading into the challenging final two holes. Facing wind and rain, he […]

Holiday Show of the Week
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 26, 2023

Whether you’re needing a bit of exercise to work off the Christmas feast, seeking some family fun time with lots of other folks, or merely looking for a way out of the house after a weekend with relatives, the Santa Barbara Country Dance Society might have the answer. They’re throwing open their doors to everyone […]

Examining Mendelssohn, Protestant Music
By Scott Craig   |   December 26, 2023

For two decades, Siegwart ‘Zig’ Reichwald, Westmont’s Adams professor of music and worship, engrossed himself in the sacred music of German composer and performer Felix Mendelssohn. But when he came to his works written for the Berlin Cathedral in 1843-44, he was struck by how unusual they were compared to the rest of Mendelssohn’s musical […]

Back in the Saddle: Shiflett Returns to SOhO
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 26, 2023

Guitarist Chris Shiflett grew up on Santa Barbara’s Eastside just a short walk from the Santa Barbara Bowl, the local amphitheater he would eventually play with as the lead guitarist in Foo Fighters. But back in the ‘70s and ‘80s it was the bar scene and house parties for Shiflett, who went to the junior […]

Irish Tenors: Heart, Humor, and Harmonies Go On 
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 26, 2023

Anthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan, and Declan Kelly, better known as the Irish Tenors, are all well on in years and miles on the road, but have piled into one hotel room in Plymouth, Massachusetts, like a band out on its first tour. The Tenors have a history of hits with classics from the Emerald Isle […]

Advertisement
  • Holiday Shows of the Week: Hot and Cold Christmas Shows 
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 19, 2023

    Choral concerts don’t come much more compelling than the Quire of Voyces, which Nathan Kreitzer founded at SBCC back in 1993 and still enthusiastically leads 30 years later. The a cappella sacred music ensemble has a remarkably crystalline sound cultivated by both Kreitzer’s exacting ear and regular rehearsals. There are but two full weekend programs […]

    Revels Tales Told This Winter
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 19, 2023

    With its 2024 annual Christmastime show, Santa Barbara Revels becomes the first of the regional Revels companies to present the organization’s newest endeavor: The Revels: A Winter Solstice Celebration – Tales from Ellis Island. Inaugurated in Cambridge just last year, the story finds a Mexican medical supervisor informing the newly-arrived immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and […]

    Read more...

    Lighting Up ‘The Tempest’
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 19, 2023

    There’s something quite magical and yet weighty in the way in which Lights Up! Theatre Company has taken a firm toehold in the Santa Barbara youth theater scene – one that has never been sorely lacking in the first place. Theater stage and screen veteran Amy Love has parlayed her professional and teaching background into […]

    Final 1st Thursday of 2023
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2023

    The holiday shopping season is as good a time as any to open your doors, and the monthly art and culture walk on lower State Street and environs known as 1st Thursday has a few new folks participating for the December 7 event. Broc Ellinger Gallery (931 State) features artwork by the surfer and photographer… […]

    Parades in Paradise
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2023

    The pandemic-propelled State Street parklets are still preventing the return of the Santa Barbara Downtown Holiday Parade, but neighbors just a bit east and south are both staging their marching extravaganzas on Saturday, December 9. Carpinteria’s Holiday Spirit Parade begins at 3 pm on Linden Avenue, the seaside city’s main drag, with floats, marching bands, […]

    Bidding Underway for Five-Inch Artworks
    By Scott Craig   |   December 12, 2023

    A lively and enthusiastic crowd packed into the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art for the opening reception of “5×5: Westmont College Celebrating 85 Years” on November 30. There is certainly a lot to see with more than 675 small pieces of art hung in the gallery – all of which are being auctioned off to […]

    Two Birds with One Signing
    By Steven Libowitz   |   December 12, 2023

    Chaucer’s Books closes out its impressive year of in-store events on December 12 with husband-and-wife authors Neal Allen and Anne Lamott surrounding Allen’s latest, Better Days: Tame Your Inner Critic. The new book finds the former journalist and corporate executive turned writer and spiritual coach diving into how our own internal critical voice gets in […]

    Advertisement