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Visual Arts By Darian Bleecher | Thu Aug 31, 2006 | 12:00pm

Spins Art

You may have already seen the paper versions of these clever postcards around town. Iconic beach town images get the graffiti, mustache-on-the-“Mona Lisa” treatment. But it’s the virtual versions of these images currently displayed on the Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau Web site that really say it all. Through the miracle of modern digital animation, we see these wholesome images go cutting-edge as the animated overlay appears and spreads before our eyes: a 1940s-era sunbather appears and is then covered in tattoos. A clean-cut Gidget-era surfer sprouts a Mohawk and stylized licks of flame. The images were designed to promote Off-Axis, the big new contemporary art festival coming to town this month, and the caption for all of them reads the same: “Edgy. Progressive. Mind-blowing. Not the adjectives you’d necessarily expect from Santa Barbara.” Exactly.

Visual Arts By Morgan Petrovich | Thu Aug 24, 2006 | 12:00pm

Concentric Circles

After a brief rain in Santa Fe Springs, the black remains of oil previously splattered across asphalt gather to form perfectly concentric circles. Shigemi Uyeda, a Japanese-American photographer, takes notice, but the lighting is not right. He waits, and checks back the next morning, hoping the arrangement has not been destroyed. With a stroke of luck and the help of the sun, the circles are still there, looking up and nearly glowing. The image is so perfect that it seems prearranged. It is abstract enough as a photo that the viewer may even wonder what the subject is. Click.

Cover Story By Martha Sadler | Thu Aug 17, 2006 | 12:00pm

How to: Buy a Home in Santa Barbara

I confess: I am not a homeowner. During my quarter century in Santa Barbara as a student, desk clerk, gardener, cashier, tutor, and journalist, I have rented. Breathtaking lack of foresight, some of you might be thinking. Perfect example of social Darwinism and the wisdom of the marketplace. Time to move on down the road to Ventura along with the rest of the South County’s workforce.

Cover Story By Indy Staff | Thu Aug 10, 2006 | 12:00pm

Creature Features

“If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans,” said James Herriot, author of All Creatures Great and Small. So the people featured on the following pages must be part animal, because they have nothing but love, loyalty, and gratitude for the four-legged creatures they care for. You’ll find stories about a human touch technique that heals dogs, cats, horses, and all their brethren; a sanctuary for racehorses that are past their prime; and a man’s ode to his best furry friend. Enjoy.

Cover Story By Barney Brantingham | Thu Aug 03, 2006 | 12:00pm

Fiesta 2006

Cover image courtesy S.B. Historical Society
Born out of the tradition of history-based civic celebrations, Fiesta became an annual event in 1924 and continues to be a grand tribute to Santa Barbara’s past. In this special issue, you’ll find a complete schedule of events to the weekend’s festivities, everything you can expect to see in the parade, plus the scoop on the spirits and El Presidente Roger Perry. Also in this issue, Barney Brantingham recalls some
of the more memorable Fiesta mishaps; Bob Isaacson dishes on the rodeo; and Walter A. Tompkins separates truth from legend in an excerpt from his posthumously published book, The Yankee Barbare±os. Â¡Viva la Fiesta!

Cover Story By Indy Staff | Thu Jul 27, 2006 | 12:00pm

Last Calls

The news descended slow but strong, like the dark rum slipping through the pineapple slice in one of Willy Gilbert’s renowned mai tais: Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens-the nearly 60-year-old bar and restaurant on East Canon Perdido Street whose pagoda fa§ade is the last reminder of Santa Barbara’s once-bustling Chinatown-would be closing for good on Saturday, July 29. The reason? Owner and chef Tommy Chung, Jimmy’s son, wants to retire and sell the whole property-which includes the restaurant, bar, and home in the back-for a comfortable chunk of change, with which he’ll enjoy his golden years.

Arts & Entertainment By Charles Donelan | Thu Jul 20, 2006 | 12:00pm

An American Adam in the Big Eden

It’s Tuesday morning, and Frank Goss has invited a thousand people to the Saturday night opening of his big new contemporary-art exhibition space on East Anapamu Street. That’s just five days away, and the cavernous former home of the Odd Fellows and the Book Den is still literally roaring with the sounds of multiple power tools and teams of men at work. As we enter, stepping over orange extension cords snaking this way and that, scores of electricians, carpenters, and painters swarm around us, and a fragrant polish shimmers on the expansive, raw stone floors. Goss could be concerned about his impending deadline, but you would never know it from his manner.

Cover Story By Barney Brantingham | Thu Jul 13, 2006 | 12:00pm

Why I Quit the News-Press

During the past week, The Independent offices have been inundated with letters, phone calls, and emails, all concerning recent events unfolding at the Santa Barbara News-Press. In this issue, we have printed a few of these, including a most informative letter to that paper’s acting publisher written by one of America’s preeminent journalists, Lou Cannon. A complete posting of all letters and emails can be found on The Indy‘s Web site (independent.com). Nick Welsh has compiled a timeline which will explain the who, what, when, and where of why six of the daily’s most senior editors, including Executive Editor Jerry Roberts, resigned. But the most powerful report is that by Barney Brantingham, perhaps Santa Barbara’s most beloved writer. He explains in great detail why he decided to leave a newspaper where he has worked for almost half a century; it is a great honor for The Independent to publish this moving article. For us, here at The Independent, it is an even greater honor to announce that Barney Brantingham has agreed to become our newest columnist. And everyone in Santa Barbara will be happy to learn that this year’s Grand Marshal of the Old Spanish Days Parade, Mr. Brantingham himself, will be continuing to report on his adventures as he, once again, eats his way through Fiesta.

Cover Story By Matt Kettmann | Thu Jun 29, 2006 | 12:00pm

The Lord Hath No Mercy

On September 1, 2002, Jasper Akii was trying to sleep in his family’s grass-thatched hut, located on the dusty, war-torn plains of Northern Uganda. For as long as the 11-year-old boy could remember, his small village of cassava farmers and cattle herders had struggled with the daily disruptions of a 20-year civil war between Ugandan government forces and a rag-tag band of dreadlocked, machine gun-toting rebels known as the Lord’s Resistance Army. But only during late summer of that year had the outfit – led by its charismatic, bloodthirsty “prophet” Joseph Kony – begun to terrorize the villages scattered throughout the Lira District, where Jasper lived.

Visual Arts By D.J. Palladino | Thu Jun 22, 2006 | 12:00pm

Stick Figure Masterpiece

Somewhere not far from the heart of Old Town Goleta is a young man working minutely in film, most days mostly alone. He’s a night person and he’s an animator. And for a young man, he is very old school.
He works on a genormous electric machine called an animation stand – one of the last left in the country – built in the 1930s, on which, legend holds, the Peanuts cartoons were made. (It’s also rumored that the feature film FernGully was, too, but the young man is happy to disbelieve that one.) His machine’s about five feet across, with a roller for panning effects; the camera and upright zooming column tops six feet high.

Cover Story

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