The largest swearing-in ceremony in recent local history took place Tuesday morning in a packed county boardroom, where newly elected District Attorney Christie Stanley, Sheriff Bill Brown, 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf, and 11 reelected incumbents raised their right hands and swore to protect the U.S. Constitution amid pomp, ceremony, and high spirits.
The riches in store for classical music fans in Santa Barbara this season surpass even the wildest of expectations, proving the city has become America’s foremost mid-sized destination for classical music of every kind. In addition to the new festival format of Opera Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara Symphony and several other area organizations including the Museum of Art and PCPA are
collaborating on the first annual Santa Barbara Guitar Festival.
If your New Year’s resolution involves starting a new reading list, Arts & Lectures, local bookstores, and the Mind/Supermind series, among others, have you in mind. While the written word can certainly inspire, lectures and readings make the words spring from the page. How’s that for a resolution?
It seems the landscape of dance is always shiftingmovement is in the nature of the art form. Here in Santa Barbara, where the recent announcement that the city’s annual Summerdance festival will not continue has sent a tremor through the performing arts community, all eyes are now on UCSB’s Arts & Lectures calendar for world-class dance programming, and A&L has come through with the goods.
From Sonny Rollins to Madeleine Peyroux, from Summerdance to Off-Axis, and from the Opera Festival to the Lit Moon Shakespeare Festival, in 2006 Santa Barbara was blessed with an abundance of arts legends either well-established or in the making. Saying goodbye to so much greatness should be hard, but then 2007 promises even more.
For the Entire Winter Arts Preview see our detailed listings in the following sections this week:
Pop & Rock, Film, Jazz, Dance, Classical and Books & Lectures
Our neighbors from more snow-laden lands may scoff at Santa Barbara’s version of chilly winter weather, but the dropping temperatures are as good a reason as any to duck into the city’s finer venues for a musical treat. Think of it as a soundtrack to our distinctly Southern California winter.
There’s nothing like stepping into a warm theater on a rainy afternoon. But even in a sunny Santa Barbara winter, the following films are worth the price of admission.
Pardon the pun, but Santa Barbara’s live jazz calendar in the New Year begins on a low high note. The low note in question comes from Christian McBride, one of the finest bassists alive, paying tribute to the late, great Ray Brown. A month later in that same venue, we hear from another great bassist, Dave Holland, in a duet with the subtle jazz guitar legend Jim Hall.
Indy readers pontificate on JFK’s death, off-leash dogs, God’s mercy, the Teamsters, the more.
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, maybe the reverse is also true. Maybe we can get somewhere better-if not actually good-by riding the coattails of overweening egomania and shameless opportunism. I know it sounds unlikely, but no matter what, you gotta have hope. I say this having watched Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday night as he squinted nonstop for 24 minutes into a glorious future, delivering his much-heralded State of the State address to the California Legislature.
