With a name like Hutch Axilrod, you wouldn’t have to do much to leave an impression. But for Axilrod’s photography show-currently on display at Gallery 1434 in the UCSB art complex-he decided to let his pictures speak for themselves.
Hybrid I Choose Noise Distinct’ive Records; September 2006 Standing out in a genre that seems to be taking more steps
At UCSB’s Campbell Hall, Wednesday, January 24.
Lights up on two men in tight red underpants, each wearing half a suit jacket held to his body by a row of black elastic straps. One man leans heavily on the other’s back, slips off, grasps at a dangling arm and sends his companion into a whipping corkscrew turn. Scythe-like arms slash through the air with lethal efficiency, joints fold and buckle. “Why am I always on a plane or a fast train?” croons Rufus Wainwright, as the two men tussle. With a sudden burst of violence, one man yanks the other past him and then busts a breathtaking arabesque.
-Attorney Shelley Hurwitz, responding to Santa Barbara News-Press owner Wendy McCaw’s lawsuit against her client, writer Susan Paterno.
Those hoping to see a dramatic redesign of De la Guerra Plaza were heartened by the Santa Barbara City Council’s
This all-Beethoven program featured Akira Eguchi, a young pianist trained at Juilliard, for the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 19, and offered the orchestra an opportunity to show what it can do with the more Mozartean side of the world’s best-known classical composer. The opening piece was the Coriolan Overture, a fascinating and idiosyncratic work that juggles keys and tempos with abandon. The orchestra and Maestro Heiichiro Ohyama made the most of its buzzing pizzicatos and startling rests.
At Sullivan Goss, An American Gallery. Shows through March 25.
Dreamland: American Explorations into Surrealism, which had its opening reception on Saturday, January 20, at Sullivan Goss in Santa Barbara, includes enough great art for two excellent shows, and yet still manages to be more than the sum of those two parts. A less ambitious approach might have included just the works from the 1930s and ’40s. This kind of strict historicism would have focused attention more narrowly on art that is certifiably surrealist, in which case, it would have been engaging, but also somehow quaint.
Jack Meyer-my brother, my friend, my mentor-passed away on January 7 in Melbourne Beach, Florida. He suffered a heart attack while jogging. Jack was 53 years old-or young, if you knew him.
Berlin has long held an intimate embrace with art and culture. In fact, at various points throughout the city’s convoluted history, Berlin has been the cultural center of Europe. From the dynamic cabaret scene of the Golden ’20s to modern-day carnivals and parades, the city has fueled countless movements that have embraced both decadence and decay.
Spurred by the enormous price tag for its odd-year elections, the Santa Barbara City Council may end up adjusting its municipal election calendar to align with the even-year balloting held by the county, state, and nation. In a special meeting to discuss the county’s intention to charge the city approximately $600,000-an unprecedented amount-for this year’s city council elections, councilmembers rejected the option put forward by city staff to conduct its own, less expensive mail-in elections on a permanent basis.
