ON Culture | Fashionable Pups, Dancing Waves, Fun-Size Comedy, and Quips & Clips

This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on April 26, 2024. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

ON the Catwalk DOGwalk

The competition between these two could be pretty fierce at Miramar’s Best in Show charity event. | Photo: Miramar

Get ready for a touch of furry glamour at the Miramar, when the “Best in Show” event takes place on their great lawn on Sunday, August 27. It’ll be a paw-some afternoon (sorry, I couldn’t resist!), hosted by actress Camilla Belle, along with Rosewood Miramar Managing Director Rick Fidel, in honor of National Dog Day. Proceeds from this second annual benefit — presented by STAUD, an L.A.-based brand featuring women’s fashions and a custom pet portrait collection — are going to regional shelters, Santa Barbara Humane, and Love Leo Rescue.

Competition categories include: Miramar’s Best in Show, Trick of the Day, Most Spirit, and Best Look, and Paw-garitas featuring cantaloupe, coconut milk, and mint are also on the menu. For more information, click here.

ON the (Comedy) State

Brad Williams is coming to the Lobero on January 6. | Photo: Courtesy

Relative to the size of our city, we have such an incredible full plate of cultural riches in Santa Barbara in so many ways, but comedy is one area that we’re a bit underserved in my opinion. That’s part of why I was so excited to get a note from the Lobero that Brad Williams is coming to the stage on January 6 (tickets are currently on presale here). One of my fondest stand-up memories is his Fun Size show at the LOL Comedy Festival on that very stage back in 2014, which eventually became his first comedy special, now streaming online. Robin Williams (no relation) called Brad Williams “Prozac with a head.” Trust me, if you’re a comedy fan, you don’t want to miss this one! Keep an eye out for more great comedy to be announced at the Lobero pretty soon, although sadly it doesn’t look like that fun LOL Comedy Festival is coming back to S.B. anytime soon — it’s moved to Cancun!

ON the State Street Promenade

Roar & Pour free concert series returns in front of the Granada on Thursday nights this month. | Photo: Courtesy

One of the many cool programming things now possible because of State Street’s closure to cars, the Granada Theatre’s free Roar & Pour concert series — a collaboration with the lovely folks at The Good Lion — is back in action every Thursday this month, from 6-8 p.m. It kicked off with The 192s, and up next we’ve got the Dan Zimmerman Band (Aug. 17), followed by The Doublewide Kings (Aug. 24), and Something This Way Magic (Aug. 31).

ON the Page

Melinda Palacio shares music and poetry at Shoreline Park on August 17. | Photo: Courtesy

Our poetry columnist, Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Melinda Palacio, is also a musician in addition to being a writer. She joins the Library on the Go van for a set of songs and poetry on Thursday, August 17, from noon to 1 p.m. at Shoreline Park.

Artist and poet Linda Saccoccio in front of the sign promoting her event at the Municipal Theater Kefalos | Photo: Courtesy

Artist and poet Linda Saccoccio recently returned home after a month-long residency at the Ionion Center for the Arts & Culture in Greece (not a bad way to start the summer). Working with a dancer/choreographer Nerissa Tunnessen and poet Nicholas Skaldetvind, they produced this lovely poetry and dance collaboration, which you can view here.

ON the Stage

Students show off their Luke Lights at a REACH For Uganda school. | Photo: Courtesy

It was just announced that Reggae artist Mike Love is coming to SOhO on September 18 for a special benefit show for Unite to Light and REACH For Uganda, two nonprofits coming together to make a positive difference in the world. The Santa Barbara–based Unite to Light is dedicated to providing clean, renewable light and energy to people living without electricity. According to the organizers, “the concert aims to provide 2,000 solar-powered Luke Lights to create Light Libraries at REACH for Uganda schools. A Light Library is where schools possess a number of solar-powered Luke Lights for students to check out. By checking out the Luke Lights, students can take them home to study after the sun goes down. When students are finished, they can return the light for another student to check out. Light Library projects have led to a 30 percent increase in graduation rates.” For more information about the show, click here.

Hale Milgrim and Richard Salzberg are back at the Lobero on October 14. | Photo: Courtesy

Two of my favorite musical quipsters are at it again. On October 14, Hale Milgrim (former President/CEO of Capitol Records) and music lover Richard Salzberg (a k a Music Maniac) will be back on the Lobero stage with “Music at the Crossroads,” a musical journey from the 1960s to the present that examines how blues, country, folk, soul, reggae, classical, jazz, electronic, and rock styles converge, told via archival film footage and great stories from their extensive library collections. If you haven’t seen one of these great Go to Hale: Quips and Clips shows before, you’re in for a treat. Click here for more information.

Dance fans won’t want to miss the Colors of Love dance show at Center Stage Theater on August 26. It’s a blend of dancers and singers ranging from latin, samba, belly dance, and Argentine tango, flamenco and more, and it’s all a benefit for the new nonprofit Transform Through Arts. Click here for more information.

ON the Podium

Robin Wall Kimmerer comes to town November 14 | Photo: Courtesy

UCSB Arts & Lectures announced two additions to the upcoming lecture lineup: Mustafa Suleyman, author of The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma on October 5 and Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants on November 14. Tech entrepreneur and AI expert Suleyman will explore a very hot topic: how we can contain the wave of powerful new technologies that will define the coming decade. Plant ecologist, MacArthur fellow, and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Kimmerer will discuss the reciprocal relationship between humans and nature and embracing the indigenous notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. See artsandlectures.ucsb.edu for additional information and tickets.

ON the Calender

Dan Merkel’s photography is on view at Santa Barbara Maritime Museum through August 27 | Photo: Dan Merkel

If you haven’t had the chance to see the surfing photographer Dan Merkel’s stunning collection of large-scale images and panoramic photographs of waves, get yourself to Santa Barbara Maritime Museum’s exhibit The Lure of Lighthouses & Dancing Waves before it closes on August 27. The lighthouse photographs of images of lighthouses from near and far — from Cape Elizabeth and Cape Hatteras on the East Coast and Point Loma and Point Pinos on the West to Portugal and Australia — are accompanied by Merkel’s photos of waves throughout the world.

For more information, click here. For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events.