The Right Direction

Peel Scores Another One for Quality Surf Films

A majority of the surf films coming out these days are shameless acts of self-promotion or glorified navel-gazing sessions cut to the tunes of Jack Johnson or some other guitar-strumming “friend of the industry.” The aforementioned films have less than nothing to do with the average surfer’s genuine experience. Can you imagine watching 50 minutes of Ron Jeremy’s greatest moments in porn with a Top 40 emo-punk soundtrack and then feel inspired to make sweet love to your better half?

Grohl at the Bowl

The Bowl was consumed in perfection last Saturday night, every inch of it dripping with warm and welcoming intimacy. Playing their final show of a summer-long “acoustic” tour, quintessential soft-core MTV rock band the Foo Fighters set up shop in our beloved Bowl and absolutely tore the place up.

Hitting the Books

The New School Year Ushers In Old and New Concerns

Monday marked a return to academia for thousands of students throughout the combined Santa Barbara School Districts. From Santa Barbara High School on Anapamu Street to Monroe Elementary on the Mesa, school buses jockeyed with minivans and SUVs in the early-morning hours as backpacked, binder-toting kids prepared for day one of the 2006-07 school year.

A Line In the Sand

Flanked by a horizon dotted with oil rigs and a parking lot choked with SUVs, an impressive lineup of local, state, and federal politicians made a show of unity against offshore oil drilling last Sunday afternoon. Congresswoman Lois Capps, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Assemblymember Pedro Nava, Mayor Marty Blum, and City Councilmembers Das Williams and Helene Schneider gathered at the Mesa’s Shoreline Park to voice their opposition to the proposed federal Energy Security Act, which would end a 25-year moratorium on oil drilling along the California coast. Invoking a political and “spiritual” mandate, Boxer gestured toward the coastline and remarked, “California’s coast is a gift to mankind : an asset we need to protect.”