Canadian punk rockers The Weakerthans’ fourth studio album, Reunion Tour, is chockfull of studied references ranging from Karl Marx to botched circumcisions, dead hockey goaltenders to women’s curling. The Weakerthans, whose mainstream success amounts to a track listing on Wedding Crashers‘ soundtrack, are surprisingly underappreciated considering the whimsically wry writing of frontman John K. Samson.
Jane’s Addiction/Satellite Party frontman delivers double-secret mid-day stoke.
The Senior File talks about the horror of college admission tests.
Even though suburbs have replaced many farms, Goleta is still rich with locally grown produce.
If money talks, Santa Barbara City Council candidate Das Williams is shouting at a time when the rest of the candidates-and certainly the challengers-are whispering. Since the beginning of the year, Williams, an incumbent, has raised nearly $55,000, including $22,500 in the past three months alone. That’s a lot, especially considering $80,000 was the most any candidate spent in the last race.
There has been no such thing as easy progress at the Santa Barbara School Board in recent months. Last winter, it was a grueling and contentious salary negotiation process with district teachers that dragged on into the spring. That set the stage for an April decree from staff bean-counters that more than $2 million in immediate and heart-wrenching cuts would be the only way to get the district fiscally sound for the coming year.
The voters have spoken, and the baseball that San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds hit over the fence on August 7 to break Major League Baseball’s home run record-considered one of the most sacred records in all of sports-will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the baseball Hall of Fame.
In the ever un-sexy universe of land use policy, the transfer of development rights (TDR) concept is a never-before-seen though long-rumored aberration of beauty. Offering up the ability to “transfer” development out of sensitive, scenic areas into more urban landscapes without shortchanging the landowner or developer, TDRs have the potential to be the ultimate arrow in the Santa Barbara conservationist’s quiver. That is, of course, if an actual TDR protocol existed.
Fast-food giant Carl’s Jr., whose parent company CKE is headquartered in Carpinteria, has agreed to improve the quality of life and death for chickens and pigs. The agreement was announced on September 25 by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which had been in negotiations with CKE since June. The animal welfare organization gained notoriety in the 1980s for its undercover videotaping of abuse in a range of industries, from circuses to furriers to university research.
The Arts Fund of Santa Barbara’s Wish You Were Here: On Route 66 features works from a number of Santa Barbara County artists. The show will run through Saturday, October 6, and culminate in a fundraising art auction featuring food, wine, music, and prizes on Sunday, October 7. Call 965-7321 or email info@artsfundsb.org for tickets.
