This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on December 19, 2025. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.
ON the (Small) Screen
Of all of the December holiday rituals, the one I’ve been the most consistently faithful to, year after year, is the guilty pleasure of binge watching Christmas movies. There’s something about the meet cute romances, races against the clock to get the perfect gift, finding the answer was there all along, the gift of the Magi mix-ups, and experiencing the true meaning of the holiday spirit stories that speaks to me no matter how far from reality (or high quality) those movies tend to be.
What can I say, they’re like comfort food for the soul, which I can really use these days.
My top picks for this year’s Christmas movies (so far) are: A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (I found it almost shockingly entertaining), Champagne Problems (vineyards, Paris, and holiday love), and Christmas in the Ballroom (there’s a Dancing with the Stars connection, which always gets extra points from me). For my completely biased takes on these three winners and a dozen of the new and newish releases now streaming, check out my story “Streaming Santa Style” here.
ON the Stage
There’s loads of good music coming our way in 2026, but David Byrne’s return to the Santa Barbara Bowl on April 14 is definitely a must-see show for me (see story here). His new album Who is The Sky is on frequent rotation at my house and just the title of the song “She Explains Things to Me” (see video here) makes me laugh out loud every time I think of it.
Suzanne Vega’s Valentine’s Day show at the Lobero is also high on my list of things I’m excited for. The alt-rocker and seminal songwriter will perform a career-spanning show including favorites like “Tom’s Diner,” “Luka,” “Marlene on the Wall,” and many more, plus songs from her latest album, Flying with Angels, released in May 2025 to critical acclaim. She’ll be joined by her longtime guitarist, Gerry Leonard (of David Bowie fame), and cellist Stephanie Winters. Click here for more information.
Grammy-nominated country star Anne Wilson is headlining the Kids Helping Kids benefit concert on January 10 at the Arlington Theatre. That organization is such a worthy one (read my 2024 cover story about them here), raising more than $3.1 million since its founding as part of the Advanced Placement Economics Class at San Marcos High School in 2002. This is their 20th annual benefit concert. For tickets and details about the evening with the Christian country singer whose last album, Rebel, featured her country charting single “Rain In The Rearview” as well as her chart-topping Christian radio ballad “Strong,” click here.
The legendary Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone are doing a benefit concert for Notes for Notes at the Lobero on January 9, where fans can expect to hear 1960s classics like “I’m Into Something Good,” “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter,” “There’s a Kind of Hush,” and “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am.” Founded in Santa Barbara in 2006 to provide contemporary musical equipment and programs in public schools, Notes for Notes has expanded and now provides access to high quality, recording studio environments to more than 8,500 youth in 30 studios across 13 states and 16 cities. For more information and tickets click here.
It’s hard to believe but Nerf Herder is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their breakout album and announced this week that they’re coming to the Lobero on April 18. Back in the day, they did the theme for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, along with high energy fun songs like “Down On Haley,” “Diana,” and “Van Halen.” In honor of the anniversary, a new acoustic version of their original album Nerf Herder has been recorded by band founders Steve Sherlock and Parry Gripp (whose novelty kids songs like “Do You Like Waffles?” were on constant repeat when my son was growing up) with longtime members Ben Pringle and Linus Dotson. It will be available on vinyl and released at the show. Click here for tickets and details.
The Grace Fisher Winter Music Showcase, a benefit for the great work being done by the Grace Fisher Foundation, was a wonderful, truly heartwarming night at the Granada last weekend. Along with some lovely music from Michael McDonald, Lois Mahalia, Jackson Gillies, Santa Barbara Chamber Players, and many others, I was blown away by the Waymarkers, a Celtic band featuring Dave Garske on drums, Zachary Hamilton on fiddle, Todd Hartwig on bass, Brian Mann on accordion, and Adam Phillips — who I know from Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra — on voice and bagpipes of various sorts. This is one of those bands whose name shows up in the Independent’s calendar section not infrequently, but I’ve never actually heard them until now. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for them — they were awesome!
ON the (Big) Screen
The Golden Globe Awards are January 11, and once again the powers that be at SBIFF are right in step with the big names this awards season. While a few of the celebrity tributes for the festival — taking place February 4-14 — have yet to be announced, almost the entire Virtuosos award slate are Golden Globe nominees, including: Amy Madigan, Teyana Taylor, Wagner Moura, Renate Reinsve, Jacob Elordi, Chase Infiniti, and Jeremy Allen White. Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor nominees Stellan Skarsgård and Adam Sandler are also both getting SBIFF awards and tributes, and Best Actor nominee Michael B. Jordan will receive the Outstanding Performer Award. For tickets and info see sbiff.org.
ON the Calendar
You’ve got an extra chance to see State Street Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker with the company’s addition of a fourth performance on Friday, December 19, at 6 p.m. This is the first time in the company’s history that a fourth performance has been added, due to sold out shows last season. Executive Director Cecily MacDougall made the call to add the Friday show just last week. Additional performances are December 20, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and December 21, at 2 p.m. — all at the Granada. Click here for more information.
For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events/.
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