Author: Ethan Stewart

UNDERWATER FLIGHT

Arguably the world’s most popular flightless bird had its coming-out party at the Santa Barbara Zoo last week. After about seven weeks in quarantine, nine Humboldt penguins made their first public appearance last Friday to mark the official opening of the new Crawford Family Penguin House.

Lost Keys, Bad Acid, and Spacey Jazz

Coalition of the Willing

At SOhO, Tuesday, May 23.
I lost my car keys last Tuesday night and showed up 30 minutes late to the Coalition of the Willing show at SOhO. It had been a while since I had felt the sweaty panic and jaw-clenching frustration of searching for something that “f*&*ing vanished 10 minutes after I put them on the goddamn kitchen table!” Similarly, it had been quite some time since I had felt the sweet rush of relaxation you get after you find your keys stuffed in some weird corner of your house, sitting under a hanging window curtain as if that was where they belonged all along.

WESTLY WEIGHS IN

One week before the democratic gubernatorial primary, current state controller and governor hopeful Steve Westly pressed the flesh in Santa Barbara as part of a nine-day, 17-city tour. Traveling in a bright orange bus emblazoned with the motto, “Meeting real people where they live and work,” Westly, 49, dropped into Santa Barbara’s favorite affluent liberal hangout, Restaurant Nu, for a happy hour loosely styled as a town meeting.

BRIEF CASE

The horse race for District Attorney had been agreeably bland to this point, with most forecasters picking current Assistant DA Christie Stanley to win in a relative landslide. But bland took a turn for the bizarre last week for DA hopeful Gary Dunlap when former Santa Maria City Council candidate Anthony Romero, an ardent Dunlap supporter seen lately driving a 40-foot RV plastered with “Dunlap for DA” signs, was stabbed in the chest on the evening of May 18 while standing outside his parked RV in Santa Maria.

SAND AND SERVE

The three-ring circus that is AVP volleyball made its annual stop on the sandy shores of Santa Barbara’s West Beach last weekend, in the 50th local installment of the tournament. The action was hot and heavy, despite the fact that most matches-including the highly anticipated men’s final-were plagued by unseasonably wet and dreary weather.

ANGLING ANGELIDES

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Phil Angelides (pictured) stopped in Santa Barbara on Monday as part of his statewide tour leading up to the June 6 primary election. A sun-soaked Goleta Beach Park provided the perfect backdrop as the current state treasurer tooted his own environmental horn.