ON Culture | Postmodern, Post-Vacation, Pre–Postal Service Musings
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 (Music) Stage
While I was away on a dreamy two-week vacation in Italy, there were some incredible shows going on right here in Santa Barbara I was sorry to miss. Luckily our reviewers were here to share their takes on the Foo Fighters at the Santa Barbara Bowl (I was particularly bummed to miss that one), as well as Daniel Cesar, Goose, and Odesza; there was also Queentide at SOhO, with a solo appearance by band member Cam Reed (a k a Cam Crabtree, son of Indy contributor and my longtime friend Cheryl Crabtree); and Foreigner at the Chumash Casino.
We have a fun review of Coldplay at the Rose Bowl (where Selena Gomez stopped by to sing along), as well as one of what sounds like a dynamite Arts & Lectures season opener with Jacob Collier at Campbell Hall, and I’m sure I’m forgetting several others, as I’m still a bit jet-lagged as I write this, not to mention having gelato and Aperol spritz withdrawals.
In addition to incredible museums, gardens, architecture, and wine tours, I did experience an actual Italian production of Vivaldi’s Orlando furioso at the Teatro San Angelo in Venice, the same theater where the opera had its premiere in November 1727 — which was pretty fabulous once we found the right theater. (Long story, but suffice to say there are THREE Venice opera houses within a very small radius.) It was also very cool to see the American band Postmodern Jukebox (who entertained us at the Arlington back in 2017) perform at Tuscany Hall in Florence, with a midweek hometown crowd that reminded me of the Italian version of UCSB’s Arts & Lectures.
Looking ahead, I’m excited to see The Wallflowers at the Lobero on Tuesday (Oct. 17). Always compelling, bandleader Jakob Dylan continues to evolve as a performer and next week’s show focuses on the band’s 2021 album Exit Wounds, about which he said, “I think everybody — no matter what side of the aisle you’re on — wherever we’re going to next, we’re all taking a lot of exit wounds with us. Nobody is the same as they were four years ago. That, to me, is what Exit Wounds signifies.” There are also a few more Bowl shows still on the horizon, including The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie on Saturday, October 14 (read Sean Magruder’s interview with the Goleta native Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service here), Hozier on October 28, Billy & the Kids on November 2, and, closing out the season with his final tour, local legend Kenny Loggins on November 4.
ON the Walls
Artist Tom Pazderka has his first solo exhibition in Santa Barbara in six years, with a collection of imagery that mixes fire ash with oil paint to create a fascinating display of images now on view at Silo118 in the Funk Zone through October 31. The artist reception is tonight (Oct. 13) from 5-7 p.m. at the gallery, 118 Gray Avenue.
Opening this weekend at Santa Barbara Museum of Art is the new exhibition Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower-and-Bird Painting, 1368–1911, Masterworks from Tianjin Museum and Changzhou Museum. Showcasing masterpieces of Chinese painting spanning 500 years, this exhibition marks the first showing of works traveling from China to the U.S. since the onset of the pandemic. It includes the premiere showing of the 42-foot-long monochromatic handscroll painting, “Flowers on a River” (1697), by the eminent monk artist Zhu Da (also known as Bada Shanren). The work will be on view through January 14. For more information, click here.
ON the (Dance) Stage
An intriguing multimedia dance show, This Is Not Content comes to Center Stage Theater on October 21. The show, featuring choreography by Nika Antuanette, is presented by Moving Dance Company, a project-based company making moving works on the move. Their work has been presented on stages, screens, art galleries, and immersive settings. Past work that will be presented live in the show includes: Hologram (ScreenDance Festival, Stockholm, Sweden, 2021) and View/Chew ( Versatility Dance Festival, Boulder, CO, 2022). Moving Dance Co (@movingdanceco) recently premiered This Is Not Content at a Boston Art Gallery in summer 2023.
ON the Great News List
The California Arts Council gave prestigious state fellowship awards, with prizes ranging from $5,000 to $50,000, to 11 Santa Barbara County artists across diverse disciplines at the Legacy, Established, and Emerging artist levels. This year’s program saw enhanced regional collaboration, ensuring greater equity and support. With a competitive selection from a 17-county region, these unrestricted funds will empower our artists’ continued contributions.
Emerging Fellows from Santa Barbara County include Adrienne De Guevara, Spenser Jaimes, Cheri Owen, Tai Rodrig, Tama Takahashi, and Kai Tilley. Jack Forinash, Debra Herrick, Jennifer Reinish, and Emma Trelles were awarded Established Artist Fellowships. And Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, former Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, received one of only four Legacy Fellowships available to the region. Congratulations to you all!
ON the Page
There are loads of great book events this month, including several from Arts & Lectures: Investigative journalist and best-selling author Jeff Goodell, author of The Heat Will Kill You First, is at Campbell Hall on October 17; award-winning historian and acclaimed journalist Jill Lepore gives a lecture titled Amend: Rewriting the Constitution on October 24 at Campbell Hall (look for a preview interview with the Independent’s Nick Welsh as well); Pico Iyer will sign and speak about his latest work, The Half Known Life, on October 25 at a free event at Santa Barbara Wine Collective (all attendees will receive books); and then Iyer will interview Walter Isaacson about his new Elon Musk biography on October 26 at Campbell Hall.
ON (Big) Screen
The Carsey-Wolf Center and UCSB are teaming up with Santa Barbara–based nonprofit humanitarian organization ShelterBox U.S.A. to present a special event with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Kadi. Now a Santa Barbara resident, Kadi — whose documentary, Little Gandhi, garnered Syria its first-ever selection for the Academy Award Foreign Language Film category in 2017 — is coming to UCSB’s Pollock Theater for a screening of his recent animated feature film Lamya’s Poem (shortlisted for the 2023 Oscars) on Tuesday, October 17, at 7 p.m. The film follows a Syrian girl’s harrowing story of fleeing her country’s violence while discovering a magical comfort and influence in poems of the celebrated 13th-century poet Rumi. Following the screening will be a Q&A with Kadi and a reception in the Michael Douglas Lobby, sponsored by ShelterBox. Tickets are free to the public, but RSVPs are required here.
History buffs will want to save the date for this one: On October 27, the Pearl Chase Society screens (for the first time for the general public) Birth of Beauty: The Santa Barbara Renaissance by local filmmaker Jim Cutsinger. The film tells the story of Plaza Rubio and a group of visionary women in 1925, including the inspired work of architect Mary McLaughlin Craig; the determination of Pearl Chase; the support of Caroline Hazard and Margaret Forsyth Andrews, some of our city’s early characters; and, as the film states, “the people who had a hand in creating the identity and spirit of the place. If the vision of those early years are compelling enough to survive, it will guide the city’s growth and success into the future. That’s exactly what happened in Santa Barbara.” The screening is October 27 from 6-8 p.m. at the Alhecama Theatre (215 E. Canon Perdido St.). Call (805) 961-3938 to reserve a seat, with $5 donations to the Pearl Chase Society requested for admission.
ON the Calendar
The Santa Barbara Chamber Players — a new ensemble with the mission to inspire the next generation of musicians and audiences while simultaneously providing unique, professional-level performance opportunities for emerging talents — present their third concert on October 21. Featuring a diverse repertoire that includes Sergei Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes; Siegfried Idyll, a tender and intimate composition written by Richard Wagner as a birthday gift to his wife, Cosima; La création du monde, a jazz composition by Darius Milhaud; and Antonín Dvořák’s “Serenade for Winds,” a charming and melodic piece that showcases the beauty of wind instruments, the show takes place at Trinity Episcopal Church (1500 State St.). Click here for more information.
For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events/.
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