Citizen’s Alert
Thu., Feb. 23
Jazz in the Borderlands: Prof. Gaye Johnson discusses Mexican music and black identity in New Orleans and Texas. 4pm. Women’s Center Library, UCSB. Call 893-3778.
Year: 2006
UCSB Men’s Volleyball
Just as college students seek extra help in the form of study groups or CliffsNotes, Evan Patak has taken a similar approach in his fight to be a healthy contributor to UCSB men’s volleyball. Injuries have been a constant of the 6’7″ junior’s career with the Gauchos. But after a sore right shoulder kept him out of three full matches and a part of another this month, the 2005 All-American sought and found treatment for the ailment with a Montecito massage therapist.
Fish Out Of Water
Two young Latino men clad in thin T-shirts and jeans marched up State Street, hands buried deep in their pockets in search of respite from Monday’s harsh, chilly winds. As they approached Victoria Street, they were startled by the sight of giant fish-six feet long, three feet in diameter, and ornately painted with a fly-fishing fantasy scene straight from the pages of Field & Stream-beached atop a green metal pole jutting seven feet into the air.
Toasty Toasts
On a cold winter’s day sip a Hot Buttered Rum in the bar at 31 West; on a warm winter’s day, enjoy it on the rooftop terrace. 31 W. Carrillo St., 884-0300.
Goaty Tidbits
Rumors are flying around Pascual’s. Word has it that owner Pascual Gamboa has sold to his partner, Lucky Comin, who plans to remodel and change the name and concept. There’s still a glimmer of hope for those who rely upon the margaritas: Signs in the windows read “open until further notice.” 30 E. Victoria St., 965-4461.
Italian Family Life, Long Version
The Best of Youth. Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti, and Sonia Bergamasco in a film written by Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli and directed by Marco Tullio Giordana.
A salient and slightly infamous Italian film, The Best of Youth is a matter of scale: 6.5-hour films rarely dent public consciousness. But that lavish time frame and epic scope is also one of its virtues-the film pulls us into its temporal tapestry of familial intrigue and turns in Italian history we have either forgotten or never known.
Fate and family spread out during four decades and multiple sub-narratives in Best of Youth, which opens in 1966 Rome and finishes in Norway, circa 2003, where a new generation continues on. The high idealism of youth-especially that of the generation coming of age and expressing activist rage in the ’60s-manifests itself in radically different directions among characters.
Survival of the Fittest
Best of the Banff Film Festival, presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures. At Campbell Hall, Wednesday and Thursday, March 1 and 2.
The ever-popular Banff Mountain Film Festival rolls back into town this week with two action-packed nights of movies at UCSB on March 1 and 2. This year marks the 30th annual installment of the high-octane movie menagerie-a color-soaked swirl of extreme sports, ominous mountain peaks, snow covered inspiration, and far-flung survival tales from all parts of the globe.
Destination Stoke
Native Surf Filmmaker Screens Latest Flick
From magazines to movies, surf media has long suffered from time delay. All too often local lineups and beachside parking lots will be abuzz with tales of epic swells on foreign shores, heroic contest results, and horrific wipeouts months before the physical documentation of these events ever becomes available for widespread consumption. Such is not the case this week when UCSB graduate and Santa Barbara resident Josh Pomer unveils his latest surf film, Destination Point, at the Victoria Hall Theater.
Farce with a Political Bite
The Last Liberal, presented by Dramatic Women. At Center Stage Theater, Saturday, February 18. Shows through February 25.
Reviewed by Carlos Morton
Playwright Bob Potter has written a thought-provoking play, what he calls “a fable for our times.” Set in the not-too-distant future (2042), liberals are an endangered species, hunted down like buffalo by testy, trigger fingered neo-cons like Dick Cheney.
Maria, Full of Grace
Brown Baby. At UCSB Performing Arts Theatre. Shows through February 25
What is the right thing to do? This question is at the heart of Brown Baby, a politically charged new play which opened last weekend at UCSB’s Performing Arts Theatre. Written by Gaucho faculty member Carlos Morton, Baby shows ambition in tackling the issues of immigration, baby smuggling, and Third World police corruption. Thought-provoking and engaging, it’s part humanitarian effort, part drama.
