Around noon on Cinco de Mayo, Mike Irwin and his wife, Denise, are working on a chalkboard-green fiberglass steelhead trout. One of several created by South Coast artists, the six-foot fish is to be unveiled at the upcoming Steelhead Festival on Sunday, May 20, at Stearns Wharf. His wife is writing a sentence about the steelhead’s loss of freshwater tributaries on the tail. After the addition of a few more markings and a coat of matte spray, Irwin declares the fish finished.
Mom in Jail: What’s this? The “mother of the year” spent Mother’s Day behind bars? Sylvia Vasquez, who locked her kids in cages, got sentenced to a cage herself-just for a year in the county jail, which, to many, is nowhere near enough time in the hoosegow. How about until the children are old enough to draw Social Security?
Jerry Harwin has assumed the same role at the Maravilla Senior Living center in Goleta he performed in the community at large during the prime of his life: He is a mover and a shaker. His domain now is the dance floor. He moved in rhythmic circles around younger staff members last week to the upbeat tune of the ’60s Motown hit, “Do You Love Me.”
I visited my dad in March 2006, when I still did not believe he had lung cancer. I thought he was lying. In reality, however, he had just received his first chemotherapy treatment, though he appeared as healthy as ever. Once my family and I realized my dad was telling the truth, we assumed that, as tough a man as he had always seemed, he would beat this latest episode of misfortune. We assumed we could soon return to our separate, busy lives. Such was not the case.
A benefit for The Frameworks / Caruso -Woods Gallery, which burned down last month (pictured), is going down this Friday, May 18, at Casa de la Guerra from 5-10 p.m. Music will be provided by Spencer the Gardener, and you can count on food from Elements and Epiphany, wine from Au Bon Climat, and beer from Telegraph Brewing.
The austere quietness of the library befits the contemplation of Gallipoli, an exhibition by local photographer Brett Leigh Dicks. His black-and-white photographs, marching one by one across the spartan walls of the room, act as individual monuments to the eight-month battle fought on the shores of Turkey’s Gallipoli peninsula during World War I.
8 Tons per Square Inch
For most professional dancers with full-time contracts, finding time to choreograph is close to impossible. Dancers interested in making their own work often have to give up coveted jobs in order to do so, or else wait until their bodies give out on them.
HOME TO US: Po’ Girl‘s unique sound is born from the band’s massive onstage orchestration. The instrumental lineup includes drums, upright and electric bass, acoustic and electric guitar, keyboard, violin, clarinet, piano, accordion, banjo, and yes, even whistling. And when all four members (Allison Russell, Trish Klein, Awna Teixeira, and Diona Davies) spread the vocalizing around, one can count on a Po’ Girl show to be anything but staid.
What would it take to catch lightning in a bottle? While there’s no recorded recipe, if I had to venture a guess, I’d say it’d be something like equal parts genius, madness, and magic. And if that’s the recipe, the Do LaB-creators of the green-minded Lightning in a Bottle (LIB), the seven-year-old three-day festival of all that is explosively, creatively delicious-are the expert chefs in the kitchen.
