Not a Single Regret
Starshine 
chats with Bella DePaulo, Summerland resident and visiting professor at UCSB, about her new book, which explores the social stigma that America’s happily single faces.
Year: 2007
Bass Profundo
In jazz, even for dabblers and armchair fans, Christian McBride is one of those names everyone needs to know. The friendly, commanding bassist belonged to a second generation of “young lions” in the early ’90s. They represented the next wave of virtuosic jazz voices, just as Wynton Marsalis and his ilk had seized jazz a decade earlier.
I’m Really Losing It
Making the decision to lose weight and actually shedding the pounds are two different things, as anyone who’s tried and failed to do so already knows. Dr. Michael Seabaugh shares his tips for making the process easier-and, perhaps even more importantly, making it successful as well.
Letters 1-18-2007
True Repentance
Itook to heart Bunny Bernhardt’s letter exposing my nihilistic incompetence in not listing Borat! among my top films of 2006 [“Movie Mishaps,” Jan. 11]. She was right! How could I have left out this film? I needed to rectify this wrong the only way I knew how: by inviting Sacha Baron Cohen to be part of the 2007 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
My Dog Can Eat Your Honor Student
WILD AND IMPETUOUS: To steal somebody else’s line, fasten your seatbelts-it’s going to be a bumpy ride. That’s because Brooks Firestone has just taken over as chairman of the board for the county Board of Supervisors. Lurking beneath Firestone’s effervescently upper-crust and ebulliently enthusiastic exterior beats the angry heart of a hot-tempered wild man, who’s impetuous, impulsive, and impatient to boot. And did I mention thin-skinned? Whatever epidermis Firestone once had appears to have been scraped off years ago, and it definitely shows.
Tom Cruise, Sacha Baron Cohen Confirmed
Tom Cruise and Sacha Baron Cohen are coming to town, and Roger Durling reveals his top 10 picks for those who only have the time to see 10 films during the festival.
Germ Warfare
The Truth about Antibacterial Soap
Antibacterial soaps are ubiquitous now. They’re dispensed in millions of American homes, office buildings, and health clubs. In a parade of decor-enhancing colors and aromas, it’s hard to resist their promise of protection from real and imagined bugs lurking about.
Barney’s On the Beat
Wendy Ups Ante to $25 Mil: First, News-Press owner Wendy McCaw filed a $500,000 arbitration claim against former editor Jerry Roberts, claiming breach of contract and that he somehow damaged the paper. Then, it was revealed earlier this week, Roberts filed a $10 million counterclaim, presumably alleging that her statements and actions put a multimillion-dollar dent in his reputation. Now, I’ve learned that McCaw has trumped that by upping her demand to (are you ready?) a cool $25 million.
The Many Uses of Enchantment
Leyendas de Duende, presented by Boxtales. At the Marjorie Luke Theatre, Sunday, January 14.
Boxtales conveys the universal appeal of fairytales faithfully and playfully in its latest production, Leyendas de Duende: Magical Tales of Latin America. In both of the stories dramatized, “La Calavera” and “Paco and the Witch,” the main characters are drawn to the power of the unknown.
Nothing Lacking
THE LACK IS BACK: After doing time in Brooklyn, Mountain Drive native and soulful SoCal singer/songwriter Gabe Lackner has returned to S.B. and to the family recording studio, where he’s been hard at work producing six tracks for a new EP. “I’ve been trying to get more cohesive with my sound,” said Lackner, whose debut solo album, Behind These Eyes, came out exactly two years ago. “Living in New York, I was forced to base my songs around solo acoustic guitar, so that determined the direction of my work.”
