2007 - Page 504 of 521 - The Santa Barbara Independent

By Virginia Hayes

La Huerta Project

Restoring S.B. Mission’s Crop Garden

California natives will have studied the history of its Spanish missions in grade school, but for the uninitiated, the missions pose a curious link to a historic time when the state still belonged to Spain. Twenty-one outposts were built in the period from 1769, when the first mission was established in San Diego, to 1834, when the young Mexican government (having achieved independence in 1822) finally took a look at Alta California and decided to secularize the missions.

By Barry Spacks

Welcoming Billy Collins

“The Beats blew out of the water all those ‘school’
poets like William Cullen Bryant and John Greenleaf
Whittier. Before the Beats, I thought I would never be
a poet because I didn’t have a strange middle name.”

–Billy Collins

By Brett Leigh Dicks

Porch Lights and Parables

Randy Weeks’s Acoustic Rock

Los Angeles is a town that thrives on hype, and all the L.A. hipsters know about Randy Weeks’s biweekly shows at Culver City’s Cinema Bar. Like many who have come before, his performances have taken on legendary proportions, but, unlike your typical flash in the pan, Weeks has been going strong for more than five years.

By Charles Donelan

Rule Britannia

Santa Barbara Symphony. At the Arlington Theatre, Saturday, January 20.

The new conductor yielded to the guest conductor for this concert, and deep, sparkling, and thought-provoking music emanated from our beloved orchestra under the baton of visiting English maestro Grant Llewellyn. The opener was by British composer Robin Holloway, who flew in just to catch the performance. His Scenes from Schumann, Seven Paraphrases for Orchestra, Op. 13 puts a stringent, at times stony modernism in the service of seven beautiful Romantic songs, in the process turning 19th century music quite on its head.

By Charles Donelan

Brave Soul

Hilary Hahn, presented by CAMA. At the Arlington Theatre, Wednesday, January 17.

The fact that large-venue, solo violin recitals still exist is a testament to the nearly unbelievable courage of performers like Hilary Hahn. Imagine: virtually every night she enters a concert hall carrying nothing but a violin and bow.

Uncategorized By Sarah Hammill

What the Hell?

Combining traditionally male and female elements, Saturday night’s Sings Like Hell lineup was the perfect equivalent to any good date movie, though mostly for the 29-and-under demographic. The show co-billed longtime Hell favorite Ana Egge-a perfect fit for the ladies in the house with her smoky vocals and pared-down presentation-with Elliott Brood, a self-professed “death country” trio perfectly suited to a woodchip-floored, smoky bar, that rocked the Lobero nonetheless.

Arts & Entertainment By James Hanley Donelan

Nobody Is Cooler Than the Bass Player

Pianists are cool; so are drummers, but nobody is cooler than the bass player. That’s the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from the concert that Christian McBride gave with Benny Green on piano and Greg Hutchinson on drums Thursday night at the Lobero. I have rarely seen a group take the stage with more confidence-and the Juilliard Quartet played here last month-but this trio walked on and took over. Coolness reigned supreme.

By Indy Staff

Reggae Ready

FEELIN’ IRIE: Arguably the best California-grown reggae band touring today, Soul Majestic returns to Santa Barbara this week for what is sure to be a skank-heavy and brick-rockin’ good time at SOhO this Friday, January 26. Headed up by S.B.-native Eric-I (aka Eric Iverson), the Santa Cruz-based band has had more than its fair share of epic shows throughout the years in the 805, including a magical late-summer affair at El Capitan Canyon a few years back.

Uncategorized By Indy Staff

Passings and Memories

A MOMENT OF SILENCE: (:) for the late Alice Coltrane and Michael Brecker-two very different but equally important jazz figures who passed away on the same weekend and who leave behind a void in the immediately perceptible musical cosmos. But we have recorded evidence of their work and the lasting memories of live encounters which hum in the mental recesses.

Uncategorized By Indy Interns

Poets to Read in Los Padres

On Saturday, January 27, at 2 p.m., at the first crossing day use area on Paradise Road in the Los Padres National Forest (see map here), an interactive public poetry reading will be held in honor of former U.S. poet laureate William Stafford.

Year: 2007