bout 150 MarBorg workers and their families participated in a somber silent candlelight vigil in MarBorg’s yard on the lower Eastside to mark the death of a 26-year-old mechanic who was recently crushed to death between two trash trucks in an industrial accident.
“Sara de la Guerra”the pseudonym of the author of the Weblog BlogaBarbarahas enlisted the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a First Amendment activist group, to respond to a subpoena from Santa Barbara News-Press owner Ampersand Publishing, LLC. The company reportedly subpoenaed Google to reveal the identity of the blog’s author after an anonymous threat directed at the News-Press was posted on the site on September 11, 2006. EFF wrote a letter to Judge William Schmidt, who is presiding over the News-Press hearings with the National Labor Relations Board, defending bloggers’ right to anonymity.
The long road toward final approval of the liquid natural gas (LNG) facility proposed for construction off the Ventura coast became even bumpier last week when Congress began asking tough questions about the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) controversial stance on the project.
It isn’t everyday that you find five teenage boys from California interested in making a documentary on, of all things, African elephants. But that’s what these kids from Santa Barbara did, and the result is making its debut at the fest.
Letters from Iwo Jima may be the season’s prime example of an old adage: Some of the greatest art sneaks in through the side door. Clint Eastwood was going about his business as a bonafide Great American Director, making Flags of Our Fathers, a probing saga of the American GI side of the pivotal Iwo Jima battle.
The Hitcher was the only film to enter into general release last week, as often happens during January, considered the deadliest month for film releases. It’s the time of year when the studios dump everything they have left over and audiences ignore it, choosing instead to catch up on the glut of Oscar-bait flicks released in the last six weeks of the year.
Founding Artistic Director Jerry Pearson reminded the audience Friday night that the Santa Barbara Dance Theatre has been around for 16 years. For the duration of that time, the company’s repertory has been primarily Pearson’s own choreography. Their most recent program, Motional Stories, was exclusively his work.
Even from outside the newly renovated Arts Alive! space on Calle Cesar Ch¡vez, you can see the electric glow of a neon sign spelling out “art gallery” in cursive letters. The sign casts an intoxicating purple haze through the long corridor in which an impressive collection of 10 local artists’ works is currently displayed.
Santa Barbara residents are spoiled for choice when it comes to the arts. Keeping a calendar of such cultural riches can be a serious undertaking, especially for those who want to enjoy the full range of the city’s creative offerings. Starting next month, the challenge of staying on top of it all becomes considerably easier when on Thursday, February 1, the Downtown Organization kicks off its monthly arts night, 1st Thursday, bringing together visual art and film, live music and theater.
UCSB grad Per Anderson is debuting his first feature film, Stanley Cuba, January 27, at 9 p.m. at Victoria Theater as part of the fest. Anderson wrote and directed the feature, which stars emerging comedy star Mike Birbiglia, who has appeared on Letterman, Leno, and Comedy Central, as Stanley, a photographer whose life parallels legendary director Stanley Kubrick.
