Wedding Gardens
So you’re going to tie the knot. Cupid has done his work and now yours begins. Where to start on the long list of items needed to make the day as special as your dreams?
Year: 2006
Celluloid Peeps
Likeany good sequel, this one picks up with our hero (that would be me) who’s found herself in dire straits. That is to say, I was on the couch, pounding coffee like an 18-year-old pounds Natural Light, while desperately commanding my feet to suck it up and carry me through another several nights of fabulous Film Festival fun.
Hits and Misses of SBIFF
Nonetheless, this year we tried, so what follows is a roundup-in no particular order-of what our own critics felt were the best and worst parts of this year’s SBIFF.
The Canine Chronicles
There’s a lot of talk these days about special interests-how they need to be curbed, reigned in, and otherwise muzzled. It’s the same old story: Greedy fat cats shelling out gazillions in political donations to maintain the status quo, despoil the environment, and keep the boot heel of oppression firmly planted on the necks of the working person.
In the Presence of a Troubadour
It’s great to be at a show where everyone is there to see the performer. Such is the case at the Sings Like Hell series, which isn’t as much about a “scene” as it is about music fans coming out to listen to new voices or longtime favorites. So the atmosphere is always electric, because SLH fans go to the beautiful Lobero Theatre to get involved with great music. As it should be.
The Full Mantilla
Along with the dazzling modern jazz one expects from Chick Corea, his current band, Touchstone, brought the sights and sounds of new flamenco to Santa Barbara on Tuesday, including a marvelous dancer, Auxi Fernandez, who joined them onstage for the second half of the concert. The addition of the dancer invigorated the crowd, elicited cries of “guapa” (“good looking”) from some, and turned the atmosphere of Campbell Hall into that of a sexy Spanish nightclub for the remainder of the night.
Broken Hearted Bum-Rush
Musical legends don’t get any bigger than Engelbert Humperdinck. Born Arnold Dorsey, the Englishman adopted his stage name from the Austrian composer who wrote Hansel and Gretel and the ensuing years have seen the 70-year-old singer play out a personal fairytale.
Do Not Go Gentle
As I listened to the uncanny virtuosity of the Leahy family, I kept remembering the McGarrigle family show that came to the Lobero a few years back. Leahy is eight siblings, from the same mother and father-there aren’t even any in-laws, children, or good family friends.
My Brother the Rabbi
Holy energy was thick in the air as a procession of rabbis cast the seven sacred blessings upon the glowing couple. A sea of black hats nodded back in approval. The bride beamed with the look of a woman who’s waited her whole life for this moment.
Great Expectations
Boy meets girl. Boy and girl date for several years. Boy proposes to girl; girl accepts. And in a ceremony in girl’s hometown, with family and friends in spirited attendance, boy and girl are wed-for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as they both shall live-dance the night away, shove cake into each other’s faces, and leave the next day for their 10day honeymoon.
