Josef Woodard’s Top 10 (plus) 2025 Films:
Train Dreams (Clint Bentley)
Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)
Weapons (Zach Cregger)
The Shrouds (David Cronenberg)
The Mastermind (Kelly Reichardt)
Sorry, Baby (Eva Victor)
Eddington (Ari Aster)
Souleymane’s Story (Boris Lojkine)
Eephus (Carson Lund)
Blue Moon/Nouvelle Vague (Richard Linklater)
It Was Only an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
Live Music in the 805, an Eclectic’s Choice:
Quire of Voyces, “Mysteries of Christmas,” St. Anthony’s Chapel
Queens of the Stone Age “Catacombs Tour,” Arlington
L.A. Phil, The Granada Theatre (The Rite of Spring, The Firebird Suite, John Adams’ Frenzy)
Samara Joy, Granada
Daniil Trifonov, Campbell Hall
Paul McCartney, S.B. Bowl
My Morning Jacket, S.B. Bowl
Father John Misty, S.B. Bowl
Music Academy of the West, AFO, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, Granada
Jeremy Denk, “Beethoven +” (three nights), Music Academy of the West
Ojai Festival, Claire Chase presiding, featuring Susie Ibarra and Craig Taborn
Camerata Pacifica, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for piano four hands
Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
yMusic, Gabriella Smith, Aquatic Ecology, Hahn Hall
Santa Barbara Symphony, Kurt Weill, Seven Deadly Sins, with Storm Large
Charles Lloyd Delta Trio (featuring guitarist Marvin Sewell), Lobero Theatre
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Granada
Yuja Wang and Vikingur Olafsson, Granada (first half)
S.B. Art exhibitions:
Between Planes: Exploring Sculpture through Print, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art
Impressionist Revolution: Monet to Matisse from the Dallas Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA)
Fertilum, Ricardo Ozier-Lafontaine, Seimandi & Leprieur Gallery
Cloth as Canvas, Elverhoj Museum, Solvang
Proscenium: Elliott Hundley, SBMA
Fare Trade, Brett Leigh Dicks and Patricia Clarke, Architectural Foundation Gallery
Vian Sora, Outer Worlds, SBMA
TL;DR: TEXT / ART (Too Long; Didn’t Read / Too Long; Don’t Read), Sullivan Goss
Tomiyama Taeko: A Tales of Sea Wanders, UCSB AD&A Museum
WILDLAND: Ethan Turpin’s Collaborations on Fire and Water, Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art
Public Texts: A Californian Visual Language, UCSB AA&D Museum
Dario Robleto: The Signal, SBMA
