RIP-n-READ: One of the more depressing aspects of the self-inflicted mutilation taking place at the News-Press is its withering effect on our ability to laugh. I hate to admit it, but it’s hard to crack wise when you have lawyers threatening to sue you to kingdom come. Greeting me on my computer Tuesday morning as I sat down to write the latest installment of this agonizing tale were not one, but two threatening letters from attorneys.
Performers of all stripes are invited to take the stage at Muddy Waters this Tuesday, May 1, for the Artfolk Open Mike. The Artfolk folks hope to encourage alternative performance styles in an organic, respectful environment through their twice-monthly open mike, which takes place every first and third Tuesday of the month.
The current photography exhibit on view at the Wildling Museum of Art in Los Olivos juxtaposes the beauty of two drastically different landscapes. Fragile Environments: Photographs of Antarctica and the Everglades by Roger Craton and Clyde Butcher contrasts the frozen landscapes of the South Pole with the damp, overgrown tropics of Florida’s famous wetlands.
Funny how with certain genres, especially the world of comedies and thrillers, you can sense when something is right or wrong, but analyzing what makes them tick-or not-can be a slippery process. One either laughs, or tenses up, or not. Our well-trained movie-going instincts are our guide.
Last Wednesday morning at about 3 a.m., a fire broke out at the corner of Santa Barbara and De la Guerra streets in an apparent attempt to snuff out the soul of our downtown art scene. Three cats-including neighborhood celebrity Danny de la Guerra -were killed, an apartment full of one couple’s personal belongings was ruined, and that couple had to escape the building while screaming through thick, black smoke.
Everyone is concerned about their memories, at least everyone over the age of 50 that I can recall. So, to keep our minds sharp, we slog through The New York Times crossword, do our aerobic walks, and pop all kinds of expensively dubious pills. But does any of this really work?
When Nathan stepped onstage last Saturday night to kick off a night of Canadian crooning, the wait for the new Sings Like Hell series was well worth it. The two lead singers, Kerri Latimer and Shelley Marshall, tiny gamines with mind-blowing vocal chops, alternated lead vocals with smart and surprising lyrics set to polkas, waltzs, and alt-country tunes while Damon Mitchell played drums, guitar, and even harmonica.
From Pulitzer to the Outhouse: How tragic that a newspaper that won a Pulitzer Prize under T.M. Storke now resorts to page-one character assassination. Sunday’s Santa Barbara News-Press hit-piece attacking former editor Jerry Roberts was written in outhouse slime, not proud printer’s ink, a sick masterpiece of slick innuendo.
Jamie Thomson, the reputed “father of stem-cell research,” will soon be operating a research lab in Santa Barbara as an adjunct professor at UCSB. Thomson will be in Santa Barbara about one month per year, leading an interdisciplinary team of about four postdoctoral researchers. The bulk of his work will remain centered at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he remains a tenured senior faculty member.
As the audience responses in Campbell Hall made clear, listening to Mary Oliver read her own poems is a lot like going to the church we all wished we had. There was lots of talk of prayer, beauty, and gratitude, and no mention of specific deities or moral prohibitions.
