I drink black coffee, I take my shots without a chaser, and I like my music brooding. You can imagine my reaction, then, as I listened to the latest release from singer/songwriter Ben Lee. This saccharine-sweet album has been heavily promoted for months, and the record lives up to its marketing budget, peppered with hook-laden choruses, cameos, and arrangements just odd and stylistically allusive enough (Lee channels Phil Spector and Andrew Gold) to give the album some credit.
The point of departure for this varied and stimulating exhibition is the year 1957, a watershed in American history and culture. Gathering paintings and objects from far and wide, exhibition curator Jeremy Tessmer demonstrates a discerning eye; there is more than historical coincidence at work in his selection.
You can’t learn too much about food since there’s always that next meal staring you down. That’s where Claire Stancer and Karyn Millman come in, helping us broaden our food palates at their Cook It School (cookitschool.com). Not only do they provide terrific classes, but they also send out a newsletter that is a wealth of information and tips.
Those who complain that California doesn’t have a discernible autumn haven’t been to the Santa Ynez Valley in late October. There, when the bright harvest moon gives way to a rising, fog-burning sun, the endless rippling lines of red, gold, and orange leaves are as vibrant as any East Coast display-but even better, for beneath the foliage hide clusters of deep purple, the promising color of yet another successful wine grape harvest for Santa Barbara County.
• On Saturday, November 3, the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center presents Chocolate de Vine, a celebration of chocolate and wine at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (113 Harbor Wy., #190) from 7-10 p.m. The center has enlisted the help of “chocolatiers” from the Bacara, Bella Dolce, Elements, Jessica Foster Confections, Wine Cask, and many others, along with vintners from Michael~David Vineyards, Giessinger Winery, Scott Cellars, and more. Tickets are $55-$95. Call 963-6832 for info.
A gardener working at Dos Pueblos High School found the burned, mutilated corpse of a dog on a campus sports field on the morning of 10/25.
A CHP chase ended with a 2003 Nissan Altima somersaulting across the northbound lanes of Highway 101 and exploding in flames at about 7:55 a.m. on 10/24.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department filed overtime claims worth $450,000 with FEMA for its participation in the Zaca Fire effort.
Now that Halloween has come and gone, many Isla Vista dwellers are feeling the need to take some time off from Del Playa’s weekly weekend festivities. Lucky, then, that I.V. Live is still around and producing some of the best events for students in search of an alternative to the I.V. party scene. Case in point: Improvability. Since 2005, this award-winning improv troupe has brought laughs to Embarcadero Hall every Friday night.
The southbound lanes of Highway 101 were closed twice this week.
