FESTIVAL NOTES FROM ALL OVER: Last Tuesday, the weather took a cool turn in the lovely, ancient hilltop city of Perugia, Italy. In this Etruscan-turned-Roman outpost, the Umbria Jazz Festival-clearly one of the world’s finest-had experienced a few blistering summer days.
July 10’s Tuesdays at 8 concert offered four pieces, three of them well-known compositions presented in unusual arrangements, the fourth a short “Hika” (elegy) for violin and piano by the 20th-century Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.
The only thing better than a night of Santa Barbara cuisine is a culinary evening with music to boot. Luckily, our town is chock full of restaurants that serve up weekly live entertainment free of charge. Here are some of our favorites:
Depending on whom you talk to, Chef Patrick Rand is either a jackass, a culinary genius, a loyal friend, an eccentric : in other words, he’s an artist. Though there are many and varied perceptions of Patrick Rand as a Los Olivos personality, there are fewer diverging assessments of his culinary talents. Ask just about anybody in Los Olivos what they think of the food at Patrick’s Side Street Cafe (2375 Alamo Pintado Rd.) and they’ll tell you it’s one of the best, most inventive restaurants in all of Santa Barbara.
Jamming together casually since the early ’90s, this gang of disillusioned Americans regrouped a year ago to record a CD, raising their voices in the chorus of those disenchanted with the political, economic, and moral directions of the United States.
As most observers of the wine world know, Sanford Winery hasn’t been owned by Richard and Thekla Sanford since 2005. The wine pioneers moved on without their name but with the same drive to make terrific, sustainable wines with their new venture, Alma Rosa.
BABY BOOM: In three decades, Latinos will be the majority ethnic group in Santa Barbara County, according to state number-crunchers. People I talk to laugh. “They’ll just be taking back their own land,” one guy cracked. In fact, when California’s population soars to 60 million by mid-century, Latinos will make up 52 percent of the population, according to a new state report.
The 2008 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, set for January 24-February 3, is looking for entries. Starting last week, filmmakers can submit films in the categories of American Independents, Spanish and Latin American films, documentaries, Reel Nature (nature films), East x West (Asian films), To the Maxxx (extreme sports), short films, and Santa Barbara filmmakers (features, documentaries, and shorts).
Those of us grown-ups who love the Harry Potter series are not just nursing a sustained collective escapist adolescence, oh no. It would be more truthful to admit that Harry, Hermione, and Ron’s adventures at Hogwarts offer us a recognizable undercurrent of nostalgia. What Harry Potter stories do best is supply a kind of ritualized, cyclical form for a caricatured dramatization of growing up away from your parents: the world’s most exciting adventure.
If you want to grill outside, put away the preformed briquettes, get out the mesquite, and load up the charcoal chimney starter. It’s the napalm-free way of lighting a fire, and while spectacular lighter fluid flame-ups can be thrilling, that synthetic flavor will permeate your food.
