Actor Robert Lesser, who plays the male lead in the upcoming Genesis West production of Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, laid it all on the line when he spoke with me recently about the production. “Maury [director Maurice Lord] felt like he won the lottery when he got the rights to produce this play,” Lesser said.
On Saturday, November 4, CAMA will bring one of the year’s most highly anticipated classical concerts to the Arlington, as acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Jonathan Nott.
For the most part this was another Camerata Pacifica exploration of the range of the classical/romantic repertoire, with a relatively brief but nevertheless substantial detour through the early 20th century via the Phantasy Quintet of Vaughan Williams.
Sonny Rollins played for two full hours without a break on Sunday night, and he received three standing ovations-one for walking onstage, one at the end of his regular set, and another at the end of the second encore. Rollins seemed happy with the commotion, pounding his fist to his chest and then punching it in the air to get the crowd going.
The announcement for John Nava’s upcoming exhibit of portraits at Sullivan Goss gallery in downtown Santa Barbara arrived at the homes and businesses of the gallery’s mailing list in early October wrapped in clear plastic. No sooner had some of the 1,000 addressees received it than the gallery’s email inbox and voicemail were inundated with messages-more than 50 as of press time-running approximately three-to-one against exhibition of the work. In addition to the “dissenting” messages, as Goss refers to them, there were anonymous threatening phone calls. One caller asked Goss if his insurance was paid up. Another said simply, “This is a bad idea,” and added, “You won’t get away with it.”
The 2007 model of the Santa Barbara Symphony rolled into the Arlington on Saturday with Nir Kabaretti at the wheel, and the new version of this premium luxury sedan of an orchestra sounded gorgeous.
Tenor saxophone legend Sonny Rollins will play Campbell Hall on Sunday, October 22. His latest album, and his first studio recording in five years, Sonny, Please, is available now as a digital download on his Web site, sonnyrollins.com, and is forthcoming with Universal on iTunes and as a traditional CD.
Steve Earle carries on an American tradition that’s at least as old as Woody Guthrie, and he does so with the strength, conviction, and humanity of a true American hero.
At Sullivan Goss, An American Gallery’s Cooper and Vollmer Galleries. Shows through October 18.
Painters are all great in their own ways, but it’s just so easy to like Hank Pitcher best. He genuinely gets it, “it” being the ocean, the sky, sunlight, people, where we live, why we love it here, and plenty more.
At the Santa Barbara Bowl, Saturday, October 7
With a career that spans more than 40 years, dozens of classic songs to his credit, and an enormous and loyal fan base worldwide, Paul Simon could afford to coast. But he’s not. He’s growing, and Surprise, his recent collaboration with “sonic landscaper” Brian Eno and producer Tchad Blake, has resulted not only in a fine album, but also in one of the most enjoyable and moving concerts of this season.
