In many ways last Monday night it seemed like the teenaged Indys ceremony had come home. Maybe it was the fact that the first award of the evening went to Michael Smith, who, in tandem with The Independent’s founding executive editor, Audrey Berman, invented the Independent Theater Awards-affectionately known as the Indys-14 years ago.
COCKEYED CONSPIRATORS: The Sheriff’s Department raided a cockfighting operation on a Lompoc Ranch and found about 150 birds, mostly roosters in fighting trim.
When it comes to sandwiches, Santa Barbara’s never been a bad place. The biggest problem has always been that the best are more money than you want to spend, and the affordable ones far less than remarkable. But now there is immediate relief for the cruel cost/taste dilemma. It’s called Three Pickles, which does not mean an automatic trio of cornichons will adorn your every purchase. The three guys who run the place call themselves such. “These are the pickles,” a friend said by way of introduction to Bob Lovejoy and his crew.
The three-ring circus that is AVP volleyball made its annual stop on the sandy shores of Santa Barbara’s West Beach last weekend, in the 50th local installment of the tournament. The action was hot and heavy, despite the fact that most matches-including the highly anticipated men’s final-were plagued by unseasonably wet and dreary weather.
At the Chumash Casino, Thursday, May 11.
I’ve spent 85 percent of my life waiting for this moment. Bill Cosby-a voice from my childhood (Fat Albert and the Gang), my adolescence (Jello Pudding and The Cosby Show), and my adulthood (discovering the sublime hilarity of his comedy albums)-live and in-person. This is like meeting magic, or Magic, or the person who invented the Ferris Wheel. Something on the scale of meeting God. Am I overstating the situation? I don’t think so. I’m willing to bet that Bill Cosby is one of the most recognized voices and faces in the world. So it was all I could do not to skip from the far end of the Chumash Casino parking lot, through the throngs of sloe-eyed slotters, and into the auditorium to my seat.
In a casino bar near Lake Tahoe, I once ordered a Sidecar from an aged bartender, visibly weary of pouring vodka-Red Bulls and opening Bud Light bottles. His eyes went misty for the briefest of moments, before his hands sprung to life creating a cocktail that, no doubt, they hadn’t made in years.
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Phil Angelides (pictured) stopped in Santa Barbara on Monday as part of his statewide tour leading up to the June 6 primary election. A sun-soaked Goleta Beach Park provided the perfect backdrop as the current state treasurer tooted his own environmental horn.
MAKING HEADWAY: The Santa Barbara City Council approved reducing the wait time for cross-town and uptown buses to 10 minutes during peak hours as part of an effort to attract new riders and boost convenience for those who already depend on buses.
LOOKING UP: The Santa Barbara City Council took an early step toward resolving upper State Street’s identity crisis by appropriating $192,631 to hire consultants.
If you blinked, you missed spring in Santa Barbara. Fortunately, the flavors of the season are bursting out at the Farmers Markets.
