Dance Beyond Gravity

–

The Giving List

Jodi House brings neurodiverse care home and beyond, page 16

The Buzz Builds

Coffee Culture Fest meets purposedriven chat as MJ ’s Gwyn Lurie converses with women leaders, page 6

another fine property represented by

•Graduate of UCLA School of Law and former attorney (with training in Real Estate law, contracts, estate planning, and tax law)

•D edicated and highly trained full-time support staff •An expert in the luxury home market

Remember, It Costs No More to Work with The Best (But It Can Cost You Plenty If You Don’t)

49 CEDAR LANE • MONTECITO

Set within an amazing 93108 neighborhood, this inviting 3-bedroom, 2-bath home offers outstanding natural light, a smooth indoor–outdoor flow, and an extra-large, usable yard that expands the way you live. The bright, open feel of the interior makes every room warm and welcoming, while the surrounding outdoor space provides endless possibilities for lounging, entertaining, or creating your own retreat. Located on a quiet street with minimal traffic and a strong sense of community, the home strikes the perfect balance between privacy and convenience.

AT $3,500,000

Jerrad Burford

Jeanine

Notre Dame Centennial Mass & Gala

Senior Vice President Financial Advisor

805-695-7108

jerrad.burford@ morganstanleypwm.com

805-695-7109

jeanine.burford@ morganstanleypwm.com

fun with old friends

Ernie’s World – Ernie gets into the weeds when it’s time to do some seasonal repotting of his bonsais

29 Your Westmont – President’s Breakfast speaker discusses antisemitism and global affairs, teens go to the theater, golfer tees up first win, and track competes

The Sporting Life – Gauchos afire at Caesar Uyesaka and in MLB, Picklr welcomes founding members, and SB Volleyball Club’s digs herald a new day

31 Elizabeth’s Appraisals – An ornamental wedding object tells of old rituals, gifts, and precious metals

Foraging Thyme – The sweet jewels of the desert, dates taste even better in this almond adorned recipe

37 News Bytes – The inaugural SB Literary Fest, a Long COVID forum, upcoming Chabad events and other tidbits

Curator’s Choice – The mesmerizing South American dung beetle

44 Calendar of Events – Artful straitjackets, spring dance, and old Misfits all come to town this week

46 Classifieds – Our own “Craigslist” of classified ads, in which sellers offer everything from summer rentals to estate sales

47 Mini Meta Crossword Puzzles

Local Business Directory

Montecito Reads

Every now and then, a story comes along that refuses to stay put. It lingers on your nightstand. It sneaks into conversation. For us, Last Light in Paradise is one of those stories, and we’re delighted to let it loose, one chapter at a time, in the pages of the Montecito Journal. Well, at least the first six chapters for the time being – then you can purchase the book at one of our local beloved bookstores (Chaucer’s, Tecolote, and Godmothers) or from the QR code below.

This book marks a first for us… Last Light in Paradise is the inaugural book published by MJ Media Group. Yes, we’re dipping a toe – perhaps a barefoot run – into the world of book publishing, guided entirely by our belief in a novel that is as cinematic as it is soulful, as local as it is timeless.

Set against the luminous backdrop of 1930s Santa Barbara, this is a tale of love and loss, mystery and reckoning, populated by unforgettable characters and infused with the kind of atmosphere that feels both dreamlike and deeply true. We invite you to settle in, turn the page, and join us at the edge of paradise… just as the light begins to change.

Last Light in Paradise

by Michael C. Armour

Chapter Nine: Part 2

The next morning, he had Spinnaker saddled and warmed and ready to head down to the cliffs. He wanted to ride up to the bluffs to watch the farm pickers who leased his fields, maybe get himself invited for a taco, maybe let some of the children pet the big stallion.

The phone call had come early, from Billy. They had found the boat, he said, drug it off the rocks on the far side of Padaro and trailered it to the harbor. Billy had seen it and said it looked pretty torn up. Said, too, there was frayed wire off the mast rigging.

So, there it was. A foolhardy Indian with a game leg and a poor sense of sea found a boat and got himself dragged to the same grave his parents found. Creek said he’d come and look at it later. Feeling a little mixed about his own motives, he apologized to Billy for getting him tangled in false thinking and rang off before the boy could protest.

Ought to be thankful, he told himself, instead of angry it wasn’t murder. He was still pissed about the shooter out at the sales lot; about the three hopheaded boys, two of ’em wounded, and the fat goons in the back seat. He hated his own vindictive streak, hated the deep satisfaction of being angry, and resolved to get on horseback and shake it off.

Mounted, and feeling better, he was about to head off but sensed – and then saw – the roadster coming over the hill. It was cream-colored, and the big magnolia trees reflected across its curves. He watched it go by the outbuildings and continue down his road. He knew it was her long before she circled the big palm tree and came to a stop. The door opened slowly, and Creek felt a click in his chest as she stepped out and waved.

He thought Ranny Starbuck looked as newly minted as Eden. And far too pretty to be standing on his windswept cowboy plantation with his dark thoughts and ill-mannered temper. He suspected a scolding of some sort. Still, try as he did, he could not dial back his smile to anything less obvious, so he pulled up his horse and just sat grinning at her.

“Well, I found it. Your place,” she said.

He stared at her, trying to believe it might be a social visit.

“Ranny Starbuck, what’re you doing so far from your home?”

Montecito Reads Page 414

ARE YOU A MEMBER?

KELLY CAMPBELL Director of Membership Sales kcampbell@tymail.com

Beings and Doings

The Coffee Culture Fest Cometh

by Jeff Wing

As organic molecules go, C8H10N4O2 is a winner two thumbs up green light all systems go punch that pedal is it warm in here oh I really like your shoes where’d you get those drapes my uncle carl had a Buick that color –ahem. Chemistry as a subject brought some of us low in high school, had us crawling naked through fire (not as reckless an exaggeration as it seems). But as grownups we pour a quantity of the proper chemistry into a porcelain mug –one with a 6–12 oz capacity and rounded interior for aroma concentration – and voilà, All Is Forgiven! You have all the roasted richness your aching soul desires, a stream of conversational eloquence that pleasantly overruns its banks, and surprisingly warm memories of Mrs. Settlemoir and her once-damnable beakers. It’s just a Cup o’ Joe, but holy Toledo!

Now, imagine a community mob giddily convened around the stuff (which I will here formally identify as “coffee”). G’head. Tastings from local and regional roasters, live music, breakfast tacos,

interactive art… Elly Iverson imagined that once, to our common good fortune. Her imaginings are nearly upon us.

“Anyone who knows me knows I’m incompetent without that small roasted bean powering my systems,” she confesses with little prompting, and enters into a summary soliloquy detailing her formative java epoch. “I grew up here in Santa Barbara, seeing my first concerts at Muddy Waters, working on school projects at Jitters, seeing my friends host art shows and sing open mics at Reds... for me, coffee is a strong enabler and connector for all things creative and community driven.”

Given the centrality of coffee to Elly’s sense of Us, it should come as no surprise she and a gang of accompanying organizers (many of the X chromosome persuasion, as it happens) are mounting Santa Barbara’s first annual Coffee Culture Fest on Saturday, March 28, from 9 am – 3 pm. Where? The address is 721 E. Cota St., but locals will immediately recognize the sprawling Spanish Colonial Revival compound there as Santa Barbara Junior High School, whose copious front lawns and plush Marjorie Luke Theatre will be the Fest’s binary ground zero.

Elly’s event-conjuring outfit – called eji [pronounced exactly as you suppose] is spearheading the inaugural fuel-fest. What exactly is this thing, Elly? {the event Maestra has little trouble painting a picture…}

“The Coffee Culture Fest is our love letter to the cup, the buzz, the ritual, the simple communion that brings us together – or the cafecito where all the chisme comes out. The festival will feature a little of all of that – the roasters, the makers, the connectors – it’s an open invite to the community to get together and find the joy in the small things that surround coffee.” Preach it, Elly! “The fest will also feature coffee-adjacent vendors, a VIP lounge, cafecito conversation tables, interactive art, a poetry writing tent, coffee ground seed bomb tutelage, onsite screen printing, breakfast tacos…”

Whew! It’s a cultural festival alright, minus the papier-mâché Eiffel Tower or guy in baggy pants dancing with a table clenched in his teeth – though once the caffeine gets flowing, we’ll see. While the town is happily motor-mouthing, high-fiving roasters, sampling the sunrise bean, and generally partaking of sunstruck community joy on the lawns, the cozy Marjorie Luke Theater will be hosting featured events around the coffee theme.

“Our featured events will be free in the Luke – a women’s panel moderated

by MJ’s own Gwyn Lurie at 9:30 am, and a regional central coast Latte Art Throwdown with competing baristas at 11 am. Think of it as Top Chef meets Parks and Rec – talented baristas with a ridiculous cast of emcees and judges. Plus we are livestreaming it all to make it that much more dramatic.” Do tell. Any other indoor jams that day? “Actually, yes. We’ll have a couple education workshops featured in the smaller Globe Theatre in the afternoon –because we’re truly hoping the all-in coffee nerds will be there in force. Those

Montecito Miscellany

All Aboard the Love Boat

by Richard Mineards & Friends

Supporters of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum gathered over the weekend for the festive “Love Boat” Gala, an evening devoted to celebrating maritime heritage while raising funds for the museum’s growing education and outreach programs.

The ocean-inspired event highlighted the museum’s role as a vibrant hub for maritime history and ocean education along the Central Coast. For more than two decades, the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum has connected the community to the region’s rich seafaring past while introducing thousands of students each year to the science and stewardship of the sea through school programs, exhibits, and youth initiatives.

Guests embraced the maritime theme in natty nautical style, including supporters Jill Nida and Gary Simpson, along with Matt Wilson, commodore of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club. The evening’s introduction was delivered by Dr. Alex Weinstein, who brought swank seafaring flair in a black sequined blazer.

Board members Robyn Parker, Caroline Fisher, and Randy Franciose joined friends in elegant ocean-chic attire.

The evening’s honoree was renowned ocean explorer and environmental advocate Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of legendary undersea pioneer Jacques Cousteau. Reflecting on a lifetime of exploration, Cousteau shared a message about humanity’s deep connection to the sea.

“The ocean is our sanctuary, our classroom, our greatest teacher,” he said. “I first went diving at age seven with my father,

Jacques Cousteau. In my eight decades of diving, I have learned that the ocean is not separate from us – it is a part of us.”

Cousteau also praised the museum’s commitment to youth education. “Please pass on the message to your friends, your family, and most of all to the children,” he urged. “Children are like sponges. They absorb everything and it never goes away. Never give up on passing on the message to the children – the ocean is a part of us, keep protecting the ocean.”

A heartfelt tribute was also paid to longtime museum leader Greg Gorga, honored for his 19 years as executive director and greeted with a standing ovation. The museum also welcomed its new executive director and his wife, Dean and Holly Noble

Major sponsors included Robert Duncan and Carolyn Duncan, Linda Fairly and Richard Finkley, George Winter, Chuck Wilson and Mary Wilson, Hiroko Benko and Roger Chrisman

Auctioneer Andrew Firestone kept the bidding lively with prizes including a seven-day Holland America Line cruise, a getaway to Sun Valley, Idaho, and private parties on the museum’s ritzy rooftop deck. By evening’s end, the gala had raised significant funds to support the museum’s exhibits and youth programs.

by Lisa Marie Duncan

The Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (CADA) invites you to join us for the 2026 Amethyst Ball: Luminaria: Illuminating the Path Towards Hope and Recovery, on Saturday, April 11 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort

This signature event celebrates hope, healing, and community while raising crucial funds for CADA’s prevention, education, and treatment programs for individuals, youth and families a ected by substance abuse and co-occurring mental health disorders. Guests will enjoy gourmet dining, fine wine pairings, inspiring stories of recovery, exclusive live and silent auctions, and a headline performance by the legendary American Vinyl All Star Band. Limited tickets and sponsorships are available - secure your place and help illuminate the path to recovery: https://cadaamethystball.org/

We’re Goodwin & Thyne Properties

At Goodwin & Thyne Properties we follow a simple, yet powerful principle when representing real estate buyers and sellers- always do what is best for you, our client. We are an integrated team of clientcentered, comprehensive, connected, collaborative, and committed Realtors®, Brokers, and Attorneys servicing Santa Barbara, Ventura, Ojai, the Central Coast, LA and beyond.

We take pride in hearing our clients say we treat them like family, because – we do. It’s at the core of what makes us different.

Operating from that place means there’s nothing we won’t, and can’t, do to get you the property, deal, and overall outcome you’re looking for. No matter how big or small, complex or simple, we’ve seen and done it all. We look forward to working with you.

Goodwin & Thyne Properties

Re altors ® / Broker s / Attorney s

SHERIFF’S BLOTTER

Mailbox Theft / 700 block Park Lane

Sunday, February 22, at 08:32 hours

The victim ordered a package (value of $159.00) to his residence and received an email that it was delivered at 13:08 hours on 02/21/26. At approximately 16:46 hours on 02/21/26, the victim arrived at his residence and discovered his package was not there. The victim noted a similar recent case involving mail theft from his residence. The victim has no footage of the incident and no suspect information. Offense report was authored.

Transient at Residence / 2500 block Whitney Ave.

Monday, February 23, at 10:41 hours

An unknown subject knocked on a door on the 2500 block of Whitney Avenue and asked for a neighbor by name. That named neighbor had not yet moved into their new residence and was concerned that a supposed “transient” was looking for her at a residence she had yet to inhabit. She and her husband are public figures and wanted a report on the incident based on California Civil Code Section 19 (CIV § 19), which states that if there are circumstances that would make a reasonable person suspicious or curious, that person has a duty to investigate, and is charged with knowing the facts that they could have learned by conducting a reasonable investigation. If the person is suspicious and chooses not to investigate, in the eyes of the law that person “understood” the triggering situation and can’t later make claims against the prospective perpetrator.

Multiple Auto Break-ins / 1000 block Ortega Hill

Thursday, February 26, at 08:48 hours

Multiple parked vehicles on the street were broken into by smashing the windows and taking items from the vehicles. Two of the victims reported specific stolen items, remaining victims are still in process of reporting what was taken. A total of five vehicles were broken into. There was no surveillance in the area. There was only one witness who was sleeping in his van when he heard someone break the window of one of the vehicles.

Van with Stolen Items Arrests / 100 block South/Padaro Lane

Thursday, February 26, at 09:15 hours

Granite Construction reported an abandoned vehicle adjacent to the freeway and advised they would wait for a tow. Three of the five subjects associated with this van were contacted, all from Oxnard/Ventura. One of the occupants was found to have a local felony warrant. Inside the van, a bag reported to be owned by the subject contained numerous stolen checks, mail, and other potentially stolen items from the Isla Vista/Goleta area. These included a check with that day‘s date. Subject was arrested and booked at Santa Barbara County Jail for the warrant and 530.5 PC and 182 PC [Identity Theft, to which Conspiracy was later added] and additional charges requested on the other two occupants.

Letters to the Editor

Ode to Wing

Oh, my dear Jeff! I’ll be the first to confess Your acerbic finesse Singes my skin like a spark to a dress.

But your piece on Ms. Flagg–Well, on that I will brag! I laughed out loud–truly cackled, by gag! Every phrase, every turn, Had a bright comic burn; What a picture you painted–what language! What swag!

So bravo, good Wing–Let the newsroom bells ring! For your column was joy from beginning to zing.

-Christina Eliason

Lovely Elizabeth’s Appraisals

Reading her column is like going on a little walk through history. I always marvel at her knowledge, and at the way she brings light to even the most simple objects that others have made (or found) and have held dear to their hearts through the ages.

This “dear-ness” is a more profound human quality than we give it credit for. We get to be sentimental and be glad for it. Her column is like “Antiques Road Show” for people who like to read.

A retroactive (and proactive) thank you.

Sincerely,

LeeAnn Morgan

Harding’s Sleight of Hand

In his column of March 5, Jeffrey Harding writes to justify our initiating a war with Iran. In doing so, he makes a

Montecito Tide Guide

number of inaccurate characterizations. First, he states the goal of the war is to “stop Iran from acquiring nuclear armaments.” The U.S. President himself begs to disagree. Trump has offered a host of shifting reasons for attacking Iran, including stopping the regime’s carnage of its citizens and the claim that Iran was planning to attack the U.S. So Harding is engaging in sleight of hand when he stylizes the motive for the war as preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear arms.

Harding recognizes that Trump tearing up one treaty designed to stop Iran’s advance towards a bomb complicates his contrived narrative. He therefore introduces his second inaccurate assertion. The treaty, he says, would not stop the regime’s “nuclear aspirations.” Harding employs this clever phrasing to hide the fact, documented by the UN’s nuclear regulatory agency, that the treaty put the brakes on the regime’s drive for nuclear arms. The breakout time

Letters Page 344

Executive Editor/CEO | Gwyn Lurie gwyn@montecitojournal.net

President/COO | Timothy Lennon Buckley tim@montecitojournal.net

Managing Editor | Zach Rosen zach@montecitojournal.net

MoJo Contributing Editor | Christopher Matteo Connor

Art/Production Director | Trent Watanabe

Graphic Design/Layout | Stevie Acuña

Administrative Assistant | Jessica Shafran VP, Sales & Marketing | Leanne Wood leanne@montecitojournal.net

Account Managers | Sue Brooks, Tanis Nelson, Elizabeth Scott, Joe DeMello

Features | Jeff Wing

Proofreading | Helen Buckley

Contributors | Scott Craig Chuck Graham, Mark Ashton Hunt, Dalina Michaels, Robert Bernstein, Christina Atchison, Leslie Zemeckis, Sigrid Toye, Elizabeth Stewart, Leana Orsua, Jeffrey Harding, Houghton Hyatt

Arts and Entertainment | Steven Libowitz

Gossip | Richard Mineards

History | Hattie Beresford

Humor | Ernie Witham

Our Town/Society | Joanne A Calitri

Health/Wellness | Ann Brode, Deann Zampelli

Travel | Jerry Dunn, Leslie Westbrook

Food & Wine | Melissa Petitto, Gabe Saglie, Jamie Knee

Published by: Montecito Journal Media Group, LLC

Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito, CA 93108.

How to reach us: (805) 565-1860; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite G, Montecito,

The Society Edit SB Museum of Art’s 2nd Annual Gilded Gala

by Joanne A Calitri

The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) held its second annual Gilded Gala on Saturday, February 28, at Rosewood Miramar Beach. Proceeds from the event support the museum’s commitment to art, education, and community.

Guests arrived in elegantly fashionable black-tie and formal attire. The reception featured a formal step-and-repeat area with a Getty Images photographer, Petrossian caviar from Paris paired with Champagne Telmont from Damery, France, and a circulating selection of hors d’oeuvres.

I met with Lynn Cunningham Brown – Gilded Gala event committee chair and founder & vice president of the SBMA Board of Trustees, along

with gala committee members Christian McGrath, board secretary, and Clay Tedeschi, former SBMA trustee. Also present were Chair Michael C. Linn and his wife Carol, and Amada Cruz, SBMA Eichholz Foundation director, with her husband Rick Harman Everyone was gracious as always and excited for the successful evening.

Once seated for dinner, Cunningham Brown welcomed the guests and relayed that Honorary Chairs Zoë Saldaña Perego and artist Marco Perego Saldaña were unable to attend. She read their message to the guests and throughout the evening personally greeted attendees to thank them for their support.

The program commenced with Linn, who said, “It has been a banner year for

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the SBMA, and the board is so proud of what the museum has accomplished – from dynamic exhibitions and meaningful collaborations to the blockbuster Impressionist show. Under the leadership of Amada Cruz [much applause], the museum has taken on remarkable energy and momentum, welcoming new artists, bringing works out of storage for public viewing, and expanding staff through new positions. Our board shares that energy with long-standing and newly joined members who bring fresh insight to governance. Together we are ensuring that the SBMA continues to grow and serve this community at the highest level. The gala contributes directly to the operating budget and educational opportunities, highlighting the power of art to educate, move hearts and minds, and change lives.”

Linn then introduced Cruz. Her remarks outlined the museum’s goals and accomplishments, acknowledged current exhibitions and Chief Curator James Glisson, and highlighted the museum’s new Art Learning Lab (ALL). Cruz said, “The museum is a place of hope, joy, and agency. It is especially important now to support artists’ free expression. We had a remarkable year, and it is deeply satisfying to reflect on the impact we are having on our community – that is our north star – deepening our impact, expanding access, and creating a feeling of openness, dynamism, and a warm welcome to everyone who walks through the door. We welcomed 30% more visitors this past year – nearly 80,000 guests – and our collection now includes more than 26,000 objects. It is a joy to see young students in the museum through our ALL program, and for them to imagine what they can achieve. Making art accessible to everyone is what your generosity tonight supports. Thank you.”

She was followed by a video showcasing the museum’s programs and exhibitions.

The live auction and paddle raise, led by Viveca Paulin-Ferrell, proceeded smoothly and raised approximately

$500,000. As we went to press, SBMA shared via email that the total raised was close to $900,000.

Notable attendees included artists whose works are collected and exhibited at SBMA, including Awol Erizku with his guest, attorney Danielle Falls; Arturo Sandoval III and Samuel Borkson of FriendsWithYou; Patricia I. Peco; and Yassi Mazandi. Also attending were celebrities Dana Delany and PaulinFerrell’s somewhat recognizable husband, Will. Additional guests included Doug Pearson, Marlene Veloz, Danner Schefler , Gwendolyn and Henry Baker, Joanne and Gregory Payne, Jackie and Patrick McBride, Sierra Muller, Christina Brownlow-Patrick and Blaise Patrick, Iman Djouini, Sara Johnson, Carolyn and Chris Diacos, Ann Cooluris, Tim Nightingale and the Northern Trust Montecito team, Jami Voulgaris , Andrew Farkas , Rachel Douglas , esteemed former Society News Reporter Gail Gelles, Sheraton Kalouria, Jack Ghublikian, Marcy Carsey, and Sandy Barrett

The Honorary Host Committee included Sarah Argyropoulos , Susan Drymalski Bowey, Christine Emmons, Mitchell and Lisa Green, Rachel Kaganoff, Judith Little (Titled Sponsor), Siri and Bob Marshall , Stephen Schaible and Daron Builta, Beth and George Wood, and Geof and Laura Wyatt

Till next week! Xx, JAC

The Giving List Jodi House

by Steven Libowitz

March is National Brain Injury Awareness month, but at Jodi House it’s the everyday focus, as the four-decade old nonprofit is dedicated to enriching the lives of those who have survived brain injuries of any kind, with the goal of empowering its members to thrive to the greatest extent possible. Its services promote independent living skills and social reintegration into our community at the highest potential level of functioning, as well as support for victims and their caregivers.

Jodi House steps in once medical professionals have finished their lifesaving work in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic brain injury or stroke, as the organization offers support to survivors and their families who might otherwise be left to cope with the emotional, behavioral and social effects of the injury on their own. Activities for brain injury survivors of all kinds include day program, case management, vocational assistance and support groups.

Programming has been a priority for Lindsey Black since becoming executive director of Jodi House eight years ago, particularly over the last year when the organization has expanded almost exponentially in the scope of what they offer.

“So much has happened, really good things, with more on the horizon,” Black said. “The calendar has become much more robust. The demand for our support groups has grown significantly. I really see this past year as a testament to the power of partnerships.”

Collaborations have allowed Jodi House to invigorate its daily activities, so that a typical day at the center starts with morning meditation or a brain workout, moves into a speech group or a support

group, and then segues to movement classes in the afternoon.

“This year we added both neuro Pilates and neuro boxing alongside the Tai Chi, yoga and self-defense classes we were already offering, the latter from Coastal Self-Defense Academy, who have provided classes for us for years,” Black said. “That’s obviously a class that’s very empowering for our members as they continue to build their strengths, reacclimate and get more comfortable in the community.”

Therapy Dogs of Santa Barbara provides a valuable service for the brain injury survivors at Jodi House.

New this past year is an association with ArtLabbé, the gallery in the Funk Zone that features neurodivergent art, poetry and special needs programming.

“We were introduced to them back in the fall when they did an art poetry contest for neurodiverse people in town, and at least a dozen groups locally had members or clients who submitted pieces for this contest,” Black said. “That ignited a partnership where they now come on site to do both art and music workshops with our members. They’re also convening some of our peer organizations, working with people with disabilities. It’s a broader consortium, but a really exciting opportunity for us to see our friends from other organizations and just continue to transcend the walls here at Jodi House.”

Black has also looked even further beyond the local community to partner with similar organizations in other areas to collaborate and offer online support.

“We have our own weekly support group, but now we’ve expanded to add a group with St. Jude Brain Injury Network in Orange County, a co-hosted weekly group,” she said. “It’s valuable to

Giving List Page 344

TWO DAYS! JUST ANNOUNCED

On Entertainment

The ‘Other Worlds’ of Dance

by Steven Libowitz

Pilobolus has been reshaping the world of modern dance since its formation more than half a century ago by students at Dartmouth. The continuously evolving cutting-edge company has been exploring the beauty and power of bodies connecting since 1971, performing feats that seem to defy the laws of gravity and physics, deftly intertwining their limbs while evoking images and emotions that defy categorization.

It’s instructive to note that Pilobolus last performed in town eight years ago as part of UCSB Arts & Lectures’ spectacular dance series that brings world-renowned choreographers and companies to perform in our comparatively tiny city. Pilobolus are now returning for a pair of performances at the Granada on March 18-19 under the aegis of Broadway in Santa Barbara. All of which goes to show how the company unfussily bridges seemingly disparate dance worlds.

We caught up with Executive and Co-artistic Director Renée Jaworski, who first joined as a dancer in 2000, to talk about the program called Other Worlds in what turned into an hour-long conversation. Here are a few excerpts:

Q. With the Academy Awards taking place just two days before Pilobolus plays at the Granada, I’ve got to ask you about when the company performed at the Oscars back in 2007. I just rewatched the clip and it’s still astounding to see human bodies get rearranged very quickly into shapes depicting each of the five movies nominated for Best Picture. I think you were among the dancers back then. What was it like?

A. I was. I was the dancer who played (host) Ellen DeGeneres in the shadows, getting eaten by the snake. It was totally fun. It happened because we’d created a car commercial for the Hyundai Santa Fe with the car in silhouette in shadow. Oscar Producer Laura Ziskin saw it and asked us if we could do something similar for the movies. We didn’t know but were willing to try, just like we had with the car. It was quite a challenge, and we had a lot of brains working on it with a much larger cast

than normal because we only had 90 seconds to do all five.

We created a new medium for ourselves, which took off for many more gigs, which then led to us creating an entire show, Shadowland, using all of the material that we had created over those years. It was a huge breakthrough for us that was like the beginning of Pilobolus. The founders did something that nobody had seen before, and we did it again almost 40 years later.

That concept of creating recognizable shapes continues to influence the work at times nowadays, too.

Yeah, it does. The reason is that when people can grab onto something recognizable like that, it gives you license to then take them on another journey. It opens a door to the abstract. It’s a tool that we use quite often.

Which is a good idea, given that your company took its name from a spore-flinging fungus whose Mach-speed outreach adheres to and expands from its landing place. Pilobolus has similarly expanded its reach in so many directions of movement and emotion. As co-artistic director and now executive director, how do you honor the legacy while moving forward and expanding?

Well, the way we slice it is to bring back older works while always making at least one new piece every year, and continuing to collaborate with outside artists and thinkers.

Entertainment Page 244

U.S. Premiere of New David Lang Commission

Danish String Quartet and Danish National Girls’ Choir

Charlotte Rowan, Conductor

Fri, Apr 10 / 7 PM / Granada Theatre

“One of the finest piano players to emerge in decades.”

All About Jazz

Celebrating Two Jazz Giants

Emmet Cohen Quintet

Miles and Coltrane at 100

Sun, Apr 12 / 7 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

“They could be grounded in their tone or mystical. They allowed time to stand still, and they could assume the pose of excitingly aggressive rockers. They did it all.” –Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times on DSQ This rare collaboration features a stirring program that weaves Nordic folk songs with shimmering contemporary works by David Lang, Caroline Shaw, Anna Thorvaldsdottir and more.

“Hull is as good a songwriter as a mandolin player, and could give Bill Monroe a run for his money on the latter.” Isthmus

Seven-time International Bluegrass Music Association Mandolin Player of the Year

Sierra Hull

Thu, Apr 16 / 8 PM UCSB Campbell Hall

janis joplin

Petite Wine Traveler The Women Winemakers of the County

by Jamie Knee

On Saturday, March 7, beneath the Santa Ynez Valley sunshine, an extraordinary group of women gathered at the beautiful 27 Vines boutique vineyard. Glasses clinked, laughter carried across the vines, and tables overflowed with wines and culinary creations that told the story of a region where women are not just participating in the wine industry… in Santa Barbara wine country, they are helping lead it.

The occasion was the Women Winemakers and Culinarians Grand Tasting, held just ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, and during Women’s History Month, celebrating the women shaping the future of wine and food along California’s Central Coast.

Santa Barbara County quietly holds one of the highest percentages of women winemakers anywhere in the world. Yet beyond the statistics, what defines the region is something harder to measure: camaraderie.

Early: $45 per person - $50 after March 20 Saturday, April 11, 2025 9:00 am – 3:00 pm Elks Lodge - 150 N. Kellogg Ave. Santa Barbara, CA 93111

As a wine writer who has spent years telling the stories of women in wine, I rarely see the level of collaboration that exists here in Santa Ynez Valley and Santa Barbara wine country.

From pioneering winemakers to newcomers debuting their first vintages, the event felt less like competition and more like a shared celebration of craft, mentorship, and community.

Why Santa Barbara Wine Country?

For pioneering winemaker Kathy Joseph of Fiddlehead Cellars, Santa Barbara wine country has always been a place of possibility.

“I came to this area specifically because of the climate and the opportunity to break the ice,” she said, “to make fabulous pinot noir and sauvignon blanc in districts that were yet to be discovered.”

Joseph arrived decades ago when the region’s potential was still emerging.

“I was driving the forklift, digging in the dirt, and making all of those decisions,” she recalled. “Perhaps it’s an area where women were fearless. We’ve made incredible inroads here.”

Today, the region continues to attract talented winemakers drawn by both its climate and its open-minded culture.

The Unique Terroir of Santa Ynez Valley

For Megan McGrath Gates, winemaker at Lucas & Lewellen Vineyards,

the landscape of Santa Barbara County plays a defining role in its wines.

“First and foremost, I’m a scientist,” she explained. “I love being able to apply that skill set to something so tangible, romantic, and inspiring.” The region’s geography is unusual in California.

“The transverse mountain ranges run east to west,” Gates said. “They intersect with the Santa Ynez Mountains and create river valleys that channel cool ocean air inland.” That east-west orientation allows Pacific breezes to flow deep into the valley, producing one of the longest and most diverse growing seasons in California wine country. “It’s the climate and soils formed over millennia that make this such an extraordinary place to grow grapes,” she said.

Camaraderie Among Women

For many of the women gathered at the tasting, Santa Barbara wine country stands apart not just for its terroir but for the community within the industry.

Gretchen Voelcker, winemaker at Luna Hart Wines, described the support network she has experienced. “There’s a strong foundation here of women being a big part of the wine community,” she said. “Because of that, we’ve built networks where we can come together, support each other, and support organizations that need help.”

That sense of collaboration is often cited as one reason Santa Barbara County has become such a dynamic wine region.

The New Generation of Women Winemakers

Some of the most exciting energy at the event came from newcomers stepping into winemaking for the first time.

Wine Traveler Page 334

Montecito Health Coach

The Art of Wellness: How Creativity Is Good for

Your Health and Happiness

by Deann Zampelli

Each time my husband and I watch an episode of The Great British Bake Off I am immediately inclined to whip something up. Watching these talented chefs mix, stir and whisk their masterpieces into creation never ceases to inspire me. When I bake, I feel free but challenged and I often play around with recipes to see what would happen if I substituted one thing for another or add a rogue ingredient here and there. It is liberating and rewarding, and the result is almost always satisfying. It is the essence of creativity.

According to the organization Mental Health UK, “Essentially creative expression acts as a bridge to our inner world.” That made so much sense to me. In life, we are constantly editing ourselves. But when you are being creative, your inner self gets to let its hair down and take a road trip.

Recently I have taken up resin craft. No, this isn’t a form of the dark arts, but of making things with epoxy resin. I am still in the coaster/cheese board stage but there are artists who make stunning coffee tables, large scale vases, art frames and more. I have decided to make gifts this year for the people I love, and resin coasters are currently all the rage (at least in my own head and in my own house).

I almost always have a craft going.

Over the years I have dabbled in photography, needlepoint, painting (badly), coloring, and always writing and always baking. I find peace in art. And while I have never considered myself “artistic,” I do love being creative.

Art therapy has been formally recognized for over 75 years, and has been a powerful ally in healing trauma, for those suffering with PTSD and in lowering depression, stress, and anxiety. Creating art can lower your cortisol, increase your feel-good hormones, and even form new neural pathways. Genius, right?

But what is art? Well, the answer is as diverse as the mediums themselves. One thing, though, remains constant; it is a form of expression. It is like speaking another language. We communicate differently through art.

I have a friend who took up watercolor a few years ago and she is now extremely talented at it – but paints completely different subjects than she had ever gravitated to before. Another friend has perfected her sourdough bread to the point that her loaves are coveted by those fortunate enough to even smell them. The lovely man who manages The Riviera Towel Company downtown (Fabian) was showing me some beaded and painted embroidery he is working on. Another will do flowers for friends’ events, like their wedding! And she is very good at it.

I am always so interested and impressed by people’s crafts, so much more so than what they do for a living. A fantastic woman I serve on a board with makes handbags out of old saris. Just for fun. That is the key, isn’t it? Once we start monetizing our craft, it isn’t as much fun anymore, is it? We start looking at it as a revenue stream rather than as a healthy outlet.

Not everyone has the space or the budget for a hobby like oil painting, for example, but there are some low cost and low-maintenance ways to get crafty. Here are a few to get you started:

1. Buy an adult coloring book. They make so many different kinds you are bound to find one that resonates with you. And a good set of gel pens or

colored pencils if you don’t mind sharpening them a lot.

2. Journaling. Or writing a short story. Just let yourself write. Even if you just write “I don’t know what to write!” over and over again, the act of taking pen to paper frees up a different part of your brain. Let it loose!

3. Try an easy baking recipe if you are a beginner, or a more challenging one if you are a seasoned pro or anything in between. Baking is a magical form of alchemy. You mix a bunch of different ingredients and create a completely different form with them. And, it hopefully tastes pretty good, too.

4. Paint some rocks. Seriously. Go find some cool rocks, get an inexpensive set of paints at CVS and go to it.

5. Buy a small cross stitch kit, start small, and watch what you can create. You might be surprised at how soothing it can be.

Good luck and happy crafting! And if you find yourself with a delivery of resin coasters anytime soon, it must mean that I love you.

Health and humor in the MJ National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach trained at Duke Integrative Medicine, Deann Zampelli owns Montecito Coaching & Nutrition. She also has a Masters in Clinical Psychology and has been a resident of Montecito since 2006.

Featuring Alexei Kremnev’s

Jerome Robbins’

Autumn Eckman’s Level Up

With live accompaniment by Opera Santa Barbara

Entertainment (Continued from 18)

Also, our practice incudes education of both younger people and older adults. Our programming circles around collaboration, engaging with people using movement, but also problem solving and critical thinking, skills that you need in the world that AI can’t do. With the aging population, we’re working with them in person on balance and mobility, which are also at the core of what we do.

Let’s talk about the Other Worlds collection that you’re bringing to town. What’s the organizing concept, especially since there are three different programs as part of the tour?

It’s to call attention to the idea that each piece that we make is its own distinct little world. We are inviting you to take an intergalactic trip through the brains and minds and bodies of the Pilobolus choreographers and dancers. We think about the ups and downs of the trip in terms of movement and emotion, wanting to present the most varied program possible.

Let me ask you about the genesis of a couple of the pieces, starting with the opener, “Branches,” and the others, if you would.

It’s based on a dialogue with nature and was commissioned by (dance center, school, and performance space) Jacob’s Pillow as part of the opening of their Inside/Out stage, which is their outdoor venue. The very first thing we did when we made it was to take a walk through the woods where we live in rural Connecticut. We started just listening. What do we hear? What do we feel? Then finally what do we see? Because everybody always sees everything with their eyes and they don’t often let their body experience the place. What we ended up with feels like you’ve been at a lake all day during the summer and by night; you have this wonderful exhaustion but are also refreshed. It’s a little safari about the absurdity and the beauty of the natural world.

“Bloodlines” is a duet for our two women about intergenerational caregiving, what it’s like to take care of somebody who once took care of you. It’s an internal world, almost like you’re in the cave of the mind. Both of us [co-artistic director Matt Kent] and I were in our sandwich years, simultaneously taking care of our kids and our parents, which was part of our daily conversation. The piece is very sculptural, with both balance and strength, covering a run of emotions that came up in the process.

“Flight” was inspired by original Pilobolus dancer Lee Harris who loves flying his plane, and always said that dancing with the company felt like flying. We’d never made a piece about that, so we came up with a dreamscape with a woman who eventually catapults out of the stratosphere. It’s a playful and whimsical piece.

“Pseudopodia” dates back to the company’s early days, growing out of an experiment in movement. There’s a solo dancer moving like a little tumbleweed blowing around the red, dry desert. It’s a longtime favorite that’s different every time it’s performed.

“Lamentation Variations” is Pilobolus’ contribution to the 100th anniversary of the Martha Graham Company, when we were asked to make a new version of her famous piece. It’s like a rave on the stage – super fun and beautiful and very inspired by Martha Graham and her ingenuity.

Lights Up! Brings the Laughter and the Life Lesson

Lights Up! Theatre Company has been around for eight years and twenty-something productions, but the non-school-affiliated organization might have found its perfect musical to mount for its ethos and our times in The Addams Family Musical. The dark, funny, and unexpectedly heartwarming musical comedy is based on the macabre characters famously created by cartoonist Charles Addams, which were turned into a hit TV show in the ‘60s and found many other adaptations over the decades. With a book co-written by Academy Award winner Marshall Brickman (Sleeper, Annie Hall and Manhattan with Woody Allen; Jersey Boys on Broadway) and with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, the musical updates the creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky Addams for the 2010s.

But it’s the central concept that makes the musical mesh seamlessly with Lights Up! The theater company prides itself on providing a place where teenagers of all backgrounds and life experiences can feel seen – and secure enough to explore their

Entertainment Page 364

Tue, Apr 7 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

FREE copies of Kendi’s new book, Chain of Ideas , will be available while supplies last (pick up at event, one per household)

Apr

Tue, Apr 14 / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

Wed, Apr 29 (new date) / 7:30 PM / UCSB Campbell Hall

Travel Buzz

Road Trippin Up North: Part 1

story

and photos

by Leslie Andrea Westbrook

Happy New Year, a bit belated, armchair travelers and road warriors alike! A new year offers a clean slate for travel this year. I’ve made plans for Japan, Hawai’i and Europe, that hopefully won’t get delayed by illness, a lost passport, a death in the family or other unknown factors which wreaked havoc on my 2025 travel plans. As Scottish poet Robert Burns famously wrote in a poem to a mouse: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” (Actually ‘tis this: “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, Gang aft agley.”)

San Francisco, Here I Come…

First stop in the City by the Bay was Glen Park, a residential neighborhood pocket of San Francisco, south of Twin Peaks/near Noe Valley, recently cited as “The coolest neighborhood in San Francisco…” and rated the 35th coolest in the world, by Time Out magazine.

I had lunch with a Montecito/Summerland neighbor of long ago, Ana Victorson (some of you may remember her fancy lingerie store Tiffany, with interior design by noted architect Jack Warner on Coast Village Road), whose youngest son Damon now runs a bustling breakfast/lunch spot called The Glen Park Café. After a tasty salad (me) and even tastier tortilla soup (her), Ana showed me around the neighborhood with a lot of ethnic roots and everything a person needs in just two square blocks: a fancy grocery store, Canyon Market; a great bookstore, Bird + Beckett Books and Records, with live music (even jazz) on the weekends (they livestream Friday nights on www.youtube.com/@ bird_beckett/streams); lots of restaurants including Manzoni or Gialina for pizza; Higher Grounds coffee house where Ana swears by the “fantastic” crepes; a popular new restaurant, La Cigale, with an intriguing prix fixe menu; a sweet gift

A LEGACY OF PROTECTION

store, Brazilian coffee and açai spot, Les Casse-Croutes (a cheese boutique with Lebanese owners) and more. The tiny ‘hood even has an Urgent Care facility, pet shop, and dentist, should those needs arise. There’s no hotel in Glen Park, but there are Airbnb rentals, if you are interested in making this lesser-known pocket of the city your home-away-from-home.

East Bay

In Berkeley that night I dined with friends at a hip Mexican restaurant Comal. We landed on “salsa night” for those wishing to dance in the back patio to cool Latin tunes. Being charged $7 for fresh tortilla chips and tasty salsas was overcome by ordering a huge portion of shared ribs (suggested for 2-3 could have fed 4 people easily) that was a hit with friends, including my former AFAR magazine editor/pal/ Carpinteria native Serena Renner, longtime friend Dennis Carty (from Bezerkly during my college years, who took me on an after-dinner, magical memory tour around town) and Zoe Kalionzes, beloved granddaughter of Carp “grande dame”/ beloved powerhouse Donnie Nair (RIP). Tasty cocktails as well.

I traveled to San Francico specifically to attend an art opening and retrospective – at the Catharine Clark Gallery on Utah Street – of a fantastic exhibition of artworks by Masami Teraoka , plus a celebration in honor of his 90 th birthday! A huge crowd appeared – including former Santa Barbara gallerist Pamela Auchincloss – to admire the works, sing “Happy Birthday,” and toast the Japanese American artist. Born in Onomichi, Japan in 1936, Masami remembers, as a nine-year-old child, seeing the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6, 1945. I met Masami many moons ago in Los Angeles, where he attended Otis Art Institute in the 1970s, before moving and making his home and studio on Oahu in 1980. We have remained steadfast pals ever since. I am one lucky tomodachi (friend).

Ernie’s World Whether We Weed It or Not...

by Ernie Witham

The song goes something like... “Though April showers may come your way, they bring the flowers that bloom in May.” Obviously, that’s an eastern song.

In Santa Barbara it’s more like... “Though February deluges may fill our needs, in March we’re stuck with hella weeds.”

I have bonsai trees. This being repotting season, I’m taking them out of the pots, trimming the roots, taking out the old soil and replacing it with new, and then carefully putting the bonsai back into their pots. Easy-peasy as my buddy Max says. Except, the pots are also full of long-legged weeds winding through and through the roots. And unless I can get the weeds in their entirety, they will come back with a vengeance.

“Wow, dude, thanks for the extra space. I’m thinking of starting an entire weed family now.”

And if doing battle with the little guys wasn’t enough, my wife made a timely observation. “Whoa, look at all the weeds under your bonsai shelves! Let’s spend the entire day cleaning them up. Whattaya say?”

If Pat had heard what I said under my breath, I might be looking up from the weeds’ vantage point. Instead, I diplomatically said: “I would love to weed under my shelves, dear, maybe we can pencil that in for next month or the month after.”

Those of you who know us know that I am a procrastinator extraordinaire, whereas Pat likes to take on a big project and fix all the problems ASAP. I know. I am her largest work-in-progress. Sure enough, she quickly grabbed a large bin, then had another small request: “Can you take all the trees off your shelves so they are not in our way?”

Let me describe my typical bonsai. I’ve owned it for years. Nurtured it with regular watering and fertilization and, as it has grown, I have put it into larger and larger ceramic pots. Bonsai soil does not contain any of that lightweight dirt stuff, instead it consists of several kinds of volcanic rock, emphasis on the word rock. So, many of my trees are what can be fondly referred to as back-breakingingly heavy. I started singing: “Weeding in the summer is less of a bummer. Even in September, it’s a time to remember. Lalala.”

Pat clapped, then handed me a pair of gloves, “before they get any larger,” she said.

People compare kids to weeds as in “they are growing like... what are you feeding them?” My two stepsons are like 6’4” so we got asked that a lot. We also look diminutive in family photos.

Gangbusters “growing with incred-

ible speed, intensity and massive success” is another great descriptor that could apply to my expanding waistline as well to weed growth. “But not to your weed-pulling skills,” Pat said. It’s unnerving when she reads my mind. I finished placing all my pots (did I mention they were heavy?) on the patio stones so the benches were now bare. I grabbed my lower back and grimaced loudly. Pat, who has hearing like one of those radio telescoping arrays they point at space, didn’t appear to hear me. So, I grabbed a bucket and started manually yanking away. The time seemed to fly by. “Five minutes since the last time you asked,” Pat said, anticipating my question.

“How about I get us a couple of beers, like we are DIY construction guys working on a project almost unfathomably huge? I could make popcorn, too. Or go the store and get some chips and salsa...”

“Sounds great, dear,” she said. “Right after we finish this one section.” I peered down the long, endless row of shelves until it faded into the distance. Should I try another grimace?

Amazingly, all the time I was plotting how to get out of the great weed massacre of 2026, my bucket was miraculously getting filled. And I could actually see the difference. I even found a pair of pruners I’d lost in 2023 and a 2005 iPod mini with songs from mostly broken-up bands. What else is buried out here? Money? Lost jewelry?

“Well, I think that’s enough for today,” Pat said. “Beer time?”

“Actually, I think I might just keep going for a few more minutes. You know me. I hate to stop short.”

“Riigghhtt,” Pat said.

Ernie Witham has been writing humor for more than 25 years. He is the author of three humor books and is the humor workshop leader at the prestigious Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

Your Westmont

Pulitzer Prize Winner Examines

Antisemitism, Foreign Policy

by Scott Craig, photos by Brad Elliott

World-renowned journalist and Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Bret Stephens emphasized the importance of global stability for economic prosperity, criticized the decline in civics education, and stressed the irreplaceable value of a liberal arts education at the 21st annual Westmont President’s Breakfast on Feb. 27.

Hours before the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran began, Stephens commented on the imminence of war. With the Iranian regime in a historically weak position, he thought it worth the risk –and he identified it as a risk – to “kick the regime in the legs.”

A descendent of Jewish immigrants on both side of his family, Stephens spoke about his great-grandfather born in what is now Vilna, Lithuania. Moving to Russia, away from his rabbinic roots, he became a successful publisher but was arrested twice: the first time by the Czarist regime and later by the KGB, the former Russian secret police and intelligence agency. Then he vanished. His widow moved to Latvia and later Berlin, where his grandmother and her two sisters grew up.

“In 1933, Adolph Hitler came to power, and my great-grandmother, who had a well-developed instinct for danger, had the very good sense, unlike many other Jews in Germany at the time, to get out as soon as she could,” he said. Eventually, she settled in northern Italy, but the Nazis later took over the region. “Thanks to a family of righteous Gentiles, my great-grandmother and her three daughters acquired fake names and survived the war.”

Stephens wears a signet ring from that benevolent family, which his father gave to him. In 1950, Stephens’ mother and grandmother arrived in the U.S. with $7 between them, courtesy of President Harry Truman’s Displaced Persons Act.

He used his first speaking opportunity at a Christian college event to share his perspective as a Jew, describing a recurring nightmare cycle where Jews face persecution in various communities and manage to prosper before being targeted by a powerful regime. The American Jewish community has flourished, he said, due to the American spirit and the country’s conception of itself as a New Jerusalem.

“Individual and group success was not met with envy as it was elsewhere in the world,” he said. “It was met with admiration. To do well in the United States, to

Westmont Page 354

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Sporting Life

Flora is Flourishing, Gauchos Going Strong

by Steven Libowitz

Ihope I’m just imagining things, but it turns out I might be something of a jinx when it comes to baseball teams I root for. The curse dates back to the Red Sox almost invariably losing whenever I tuned in – which wasn’t exactly a rarity prior to their insane run of World Series titles beginning in 2004. (It’s my fault they lost in such anguish in 1986, but that’s a story I won’t rehash here.)

The thing is, when I headed to Isla Vista to watch Tyler Bremner pitch for UCSB last year, he had one of his worst outings of the year. Things turned out OK, of course, as he was drafted second last June. Then last Friday I showed up just in time for the first pitch of the game from current Gaucho great Jackson Flora, who has been touted as high as No. 2 in this summer’s draft. Unfortunately, that first offering was lashed for a single, and by the time I settled into a seat, Flora had given up two earned runs with only one out, matching the total he’d allowed in the previous 18 innings over three games.

Fortunately, for both me and UCSB, Flora turned things around, proving his mettle even without his best “stuff,” holding Long Beach State scoreless for another five innings. The junior now boasts a perfect 4-0 record, an outstanding 1.5 earned run average, a stellar WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) of 1, and a solid 28 strikeouts over 24 innings pitched. Meaning the blip shouldn’t cause consternation among pro teams that might envision him on their roster.

It was great fun to sit maybe 20 feet away from the catcher and watch his blazing fastballs and knee-buckling curves along with the two dozen mostly way-too-serious scouts on hand sizing him up for the draft. But I don’t want to be anybody’s bad luck charm, so maybe I’ll come a little late next time.

Meanwhile, the two former local high school standout hurlers are also standing out on the mound at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium so far this season. Junior Chase Hoover is sporting an ERA of a stringy 1.8 as a high-leverage reliever, while starter Kellan Montgomery, the former Dos Pueblos High star who transferred back to town from Long Beach for his senior year, beat his former teammates on Sunday afternoon and now has a very reasonable 3.24 ERA and enviable 1.0 WHIP, matching Flora’s.

After tearing off 11 straight victories by last weekend on a then 10-day homestand,

the Gaucho’s record stands at 12-2, one of their best starts in many years. I was only at one of those games. Of course.

You Can See Ex-UCSB Stars in MLB

Former Gauchos currently playing in the majors include pitcher Shane Bieber, winner of the Cy Young in the 2020 pandemic-shortened season for Cleveland, who re-upped with Toronto for a way-below-market $16 million, exercising his option rather than testing free agency after coming back from Tommy John surgery (UCL reconstruction) and experiencing the World Series atmosphere for the first time. Dillon Tate, who until last summer was the highest ever draft choice for a UCSB product when he was taken at No. 4 in 2005, also pitched for Toronto the last two seasons – though quite sparingly, as the reliever only appeared in six games in 2025. He’s currently a free agent.

Bremner, the Gaucho pitcher who eclipsed Tate’s record when he was nabbed as the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft by the Los Angeles Angels, is the Gaucho’s only prospect ranked among MLB’s Top 100. He’s a non-roster invitee to spring training, and while he won’t make the opening day team, odds are we’ll see him in the Big A by mid-summer. Meanwhile, Michael McGreevy, drafted in 2021 and debuting three years later, is part of the St. Louis Cardinals rotation. (Yes,

they’re all pitchers. Gaucho coach Andrew Checketts, who notched his 500th victory at UCSB earlier this month, was a former pitching coach.)

Opening Day of the 2026 Major League Baseball season – and maybe the only opening day for two years if the much-anticipated lock out results in lost games for 2027 – is less than two weeks away. Batter up!

In a Pickle About Where to Play?

It’s a bit of a schlep from Montecito to Fairview Ave. in Goleta, but given that it can often be hard to find an available pickleball court at Muni, or worse yet, have a game go belly up before it begins because of bad weather, The Picklr (yes, that’s the spelling) might be a valuable option, particularly given its upgraded amenities. The seven-court professional-grade indoor pickleball center is set to have its grand opening on May 2, but its Founder Memberships go on sale on March 18. Only 400 spots will be available, with the first 150 going for $179/month, rising to $197 for the remainder. Regular membership will cost $225 and likely begin with a waiting list. Memberships include unlimited playing time, court reservations, leagues and tournaments plus four free clinics and four guest passes per month, and access to all Picklr locations across the United States. The May 2 celebration is an open house with open play opportunities, facility tours, a food truck and giveaways before the regular schedule launches May 3. Your serve.

Visit https://thepicklr.com/location/santa-barbara

AVP Adds Extra Excitement to East Beach

After a decade devoid of an AVP professional beach volleyball tournament in

town, the AVP Next version hunkered down at East Beach last October, finally bringing top-flight volleyball back to the hallowed sands where legends Karch Kiraly and Todd Rogers learned the game. Now comes word that East Beach is stepping up to the top level of competition as the last stop on the 2026 AVP season schedule.

The Santa Barbara Open is slated for October 2-4 as part of the AVP’s new Contender series. That suite of contests features eight tour stops in such major cities as Denver and Austin. The only non-league events of the spring-fall season will sport the new category of Heritage events – encompassing legacy tourneys in Huntington Beach, Laguna, and Manhattan Beach, the latter effectively the Wimbledon of beach volleyball. Part of an expanded 2026 AVP season, the Santa Barbara Open boasts a prize purse of more than $30,000, a solid increase from the AVP Next events.

Visit https://avp.com for details.

In other volleyball news, the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club will be among the beneficiaries of a dedicated youth sports facility and indoor gym to be built at 4550 Hollister Avenue, west of Santa Barbara on county property. SBVC, which has been around for more than 30 years, was revitalized last spring with new leadership and an exciting partnership with the Los Angeles Volleyball Academy (LAVA), marking a return to attracting the best and brightest coaches and athletes in the region. Construction on the new gym is expected to begin this year with a target of completion in 2027, when the facility will serve as a year-round space for training, skill development and league play for the junior and high school age players.

Visit https://santabarbaravolleyballclub.com

Elizabeth’s Appraisals Silver(?) Bride’s Basket

by Elizabeth Stewart

has admired a (now tarnished) silver handled basket with a clear glass lining since she was a kid. She calls it her grandmother’s German Silver Bride’s Basket. It is a filigreed reticulated silver metal object with a fancy pierced basket handle, a flaring dramatic profile, and artistic classical-style silhouettes of plaques of flowers and birds; a few fancy-looking female profiles in repoussé are in the roundels too. JB and I sent numerous emails to each other about researching the KIND of silver involved. I suspected it was sterling because of the depth of the tarnish, and she thought, because she could not find a mark, that it was silver plate. I think she is right, although on an intricate piece like this it is hard to find a hallmark.

I suggest it is NOT German Silver, because despite the name, German Silver has NO silver content: it is 60% copper, 20% zinc, 20% nickel and some lead and tin. It is malleable like sterling (which indeed has a silver content at .925 parts silver) but German Silver is an alloy developed in the early 19th century to resemble pricey sterling. And because there is in fact no silver in German Silver, it does not tarnish. (A note: I found many scammers wanting to sell troy ounces of German Silver online in these unstable economic times, stating that the chunk of this non-silver metal for sale for investment purposes is .999% fine. I found one set advertised for $2,000! If it is worth $30 for an ingot I would be surprised.) Again, sterling silver is .925 parts silver over base metals, and coin silver is .800 parts silver over base metals. As a bargain facsimile, German silver was invented in France and then refined in Germany as a lookalike to silver. It is still used today, especially in costume jewelry. And by the way: some people are allergic to the nickel content in German Silver and should not wear it!

Silver has different names depending on the degree of content of the inert metal in its composition. Silver is one of the Noble Metals along with gold and platinum, because it exhibits no chemical reactivity, is non-rustable, resists oxidation, corrosion, acid, and is valued as a “hard asset.” It is legal tender in many world cultures and has been for roughly 5,000 years.

The Bride’s Basket was given as a gift as early as 1870. First made of fine sterling silver 1870-1880, it was used for the ceremonial procession of the flower girl down the aisle, filled with petals, and treasured later as a centerpiece or cabinet ornament. JB’s piece dates from the later period of this Bride’s Basket tradition, as it has a

Deco (1910-20) influence in its design. It is not handmade, but cast in silver plate, and inset with a glass liner. As mass production led to more and more specialized objects for the home and table at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, brides baskets were no longer expensive sterling, but began to be available to the middle class in department stores, where to maintain the flashiness and heft they were fabricated in silver plate or German Silver filled with custom glass liners. Glass manufacturers made the inserts, and metal manufacturers made the baskets, and some inserts were highly ornate and frilly. The glass could be edged, fluted, curled, flounced, colored, and painted with enameling of cupids, birds and flowers. JB’s basket has a handle which is superfluous, as her basket was used for trinkets and wedding favors.

Now the most interesting part of the basket story: Why was it important that such a ritual object was made of silver for over 50 years? Many cultures use gold and silver metal as currency, and any association with monetary value increases the value of the object made from these metals. Bride’s Baskets are always silver. Markers of cultural importance, such as a silver object, meant the gift is special, related to real value, and likely expensive to purchase and maintain. A gift of a Bride’s Basket in sterling was a sacrifice. Cultures that use gold and silver currency place a high value on these metals for a few other reasons, but it is their “richness” in perception that made them the finest tableware and gifts. Bride’s Baskets did not have a daily

use, making them even more coveted by young brides!

The value of the 1910 bride’s basket, marketed likely to a humbler bride, is $200.

Elizabeth Stewart, PhD is a veteran appraiser of fine art, furniture, glass, and other collectibles, and a cert. member of the AAA and an accr. member of the ASA. Please send any objects to be appraised to Elizabethappraisals@ gmail.com

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Foraging Thyme Dates

by Melissa Petitto

Dried dates are always available at our farmers market, but lately I have been adding them to almost everything from a sweet potato topper with olives and herbs, to a salad addition, to a perfect and healthy vehicle for a dessert, so I thought they deserved an article of their own. Flying Disc Farms has different varieties from Carmel to Deglet Noor to Medjool. All are unique, yet all offer a nutrition powerhouse. This delicious and sweet fruit is a natural energy boost that is dense in minerals potassium, magnesium, copper, and iron. They support heart health with their potassium and fiber content, helping to regulate blood pressure and cholesterol. Dates are antioxidant rich. They contain polyphenols that reduce oxidative stress and help fight inflammation. These little delights also provide bone support with magnesium, phosphorus and calcium. I love to use dates as a replacement in baked good, protein balls, dressings, oatmeal, chia puddings… so many options. You can make dates into a paste by softening them in hot water and pureeing them, or dates come in syrup or sugar form as well. My favorites are medjool, let’s take them into the kitchen and make something incredible.

Almond Date Dots

10 pitted medjool dates

1/3 cup fine almond meal

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons creamy almond butter

3 tablespoons natural crispy rice cereal

1 tablespoon toasted almond slices

Maldon salt

Maple sugar

Directions:

1. Place dates on a parchment lined sheet pan. Top with another piece of parchment. Using a rolling pin or the bottom of a glass, flatten the dates and then remove the top parchment.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the almond meal, maple syrup, creamy almond butter, rice cereal and stir until it forms a paste.

3. Place a spoonful of the almond mixture on each date. Top with toasted almonds, a little bit of Maldon and maple sugar.

4. Refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes and then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.

Melissa Petitto, R.D., is an executive chef and co-founder at Thymeless My Chef SB, was a celebrity personal chef for 16 years, just finished her 10th cookbook, and is an expert on nutrition and wellness.

Jennifer Gray , who launched Jennifer Gray Wines in 2025, described debuting her wines at the tasting. “It’s incredibly exciting,” she said. “There’s such a sense of community here. I felt so much love sharing my wines today.”

Gray began her wine career through education before working harvest and eventually launching her own label.

“I’m turning 50 this year,” she said with a smile. “And I thought, if not now, when?” Her wines, she explained, are driven by curiosity and creativity.

“Winemaking has become this incredible creative outlet.”

A Culinary Component

Wine was only part of the story at the Women Winemakers and Culinarians event. Local chefs and food creators highlighted the agricultural richness of the Central Coast.

Cookbook author Anna Vocino , known for her Eat Happy series, spoke about California’s extraordinary produce. “We have the best produce here in California,” she said. “We’re lucky to have it almost year-round.” That abundance shapes the culinary identity of Santa Barbara wine country.

“There’s a constant influence of seasonal produce,” she explained. “It inspires everything we create.”

A Gathering Built by Women, for the Community

Few people embody the spirit of collaboration in Santa Barbara wine country more than Karen Steinwachs

Steinwachs, founder of Seagrape Wine Company and one of the organizers of the Women Winemakers and Culinarians event, has long championed the power of bringing women together across the wine and culinary industries.

“This event really celebrates the depth of talent we have here,” Steinwachs explained. “Santa Barbara wine country is special because the women here truly support one another. There is a spirit of generosity and collaboration that you don’t always see in other regions.” For Steinwachs, the gathering is about more than wine. “It’s about mentorship and visibility,” she said. “Many of us have been working in this industry for decades, and it’s incredibly meaningful to see new voices emerging and to help create space for them.”

Events like the Women Winemakers and Culinarians Grand Tasting also serve a broader purpose, raising funds for Santa Ynez Valley Community Outreach and supporting vital programs throughout the region.

“Wine brings people together,” Steinwachs added. “When we can gather like this, celebrate the work being done by women, and give back to our community at the same time, that’s incredibly powerful.”

Supporting the Santa Ynez Valley Community

Beyond celebrating wine and food, the event also raised funds for Santa Ynez Valley Community Outreach, a nonprofit that supports seniors, veterans, and families across the region. The

Montecito Natural Health

organization operates Meals on Wheels programs serving hundreds of meals daily and provides housing and support resources for those in need. Events like the Women Winemakers and Culinarians tasting bring together the region’s wine, food, and hospitality communities while supporting vital local services.

Celebrating Women in Wine on the Central Coast

Toward the end of the afternoon, sparkling wine glasses appeared as guests

gathered to toast the women shaping Santa Barbara wine country.

Sunny Doench , founder of Future Perfect Wine summed up the spirit of the day perfectly. “I love traditional method sparkling wine,” she said with a laugh. “Tiny bubbles, tiny troubles.” She paused before raising her glass. “What could be better than women getting together, encouraging one another, and celebrating with bubbles?”

Looking across the vineyard as women winemakers, chefs, and guests raised their glasses, the answer felt clear. In the Santa Ynez Valley, women are not simply making exceptional wines. They are shaping the future of the region itself. For those of us lucky enough to be part of this community, there is something deeply powerful about raising a glass together.

Jamie Knee is a Global Wine Communicator, Wine Media Personality, and International Wine Judge & Educator, named one of the “Top 50 Most Influential Women in Wine.” Follow her @petitewinetraveler.

necessary to gain a weapon was extended from a few months to more than a year. Moreover, the treaty installed nuclear watchdogs to monitor any steps Iran might take to secure a weapon. Until the treaty was abandoned by Trump, it had done a remarkable job of holding the line, no matter what Iran’s supposed ambitions were.

Harding of course fails to note that the U.S. and its ally dropped bombs precisely when negotiations for a new treaty were seemingly making progress. This surely was not the moment to replace diplomacy with a campaign of destruction.

Our president offers shifting justifications for war. But his one clear goal has been to add Iran to a list of countries we have unilaterally attacked. Trump seems intent on copying the much-admired Russian dictator Putin in disregarding the traditional peace-ensuring norms of the international order. Already in this war of choice we are reaping heartbreaking injuries as American soldiers are flown back to be buried. Our commander in chief cavalierly plays war games without any end game, without worrying about deaths or destruction, all despite Harding’s spin.

Yours truly, Rich Kaplan

Salient Points on the Iran War

Jeffrey Harding’s article in the March 5 issue enumerates ample reasons to wish for the demise of the nefarious theocratic Iranian regime. He states that “this war was going to happen at some point.” That is a bland, passive way of dissembling; the U.S. and Israel started the war!

I concur that the Iranian theocracy is evil, and should be gone, but there are many good arguments against the U.S.-Israeli attack. Among just some of the salient points which Harding failed to address:

- In 1953 the U.S., in collusion with Great Britain, fomented a coup in Iran

which deposed the popular and democratically elected government and brought to power the Shah, whose subsequent 26 years of rule were characterized by autocracy and vicious repression, spearheaded by a dreaded police force. Iranians remember that. The U.S. history of deposing (many) regimes has rarely led to a new, peaceful, democratic regime.

- The Reagan administration professed disdain for theocratic Iran, but from 1981 to 1986 was willing to sell it arms secretly, to fund clandestine (because Congress banned it) support for the Contras, a militia trying with U.S. support to overthrow another democratically elected government, this time in Nicaragua. The ayatollah and company were allegedly evil, but we were willing to take their money.

- The Iranian government has consistently denied the intention to obtain nuclear weapons. United Nations agencies and inspectors, and U.S. intelligence agencies, up until the Iran nuclear deal in 2015, agreed that there was no evidence that since 2003 the Iran government had been pursuing nuclear weapons.

- Iran, like all nations, has the legal right to enrich uranium for peaceful uses.

- One of the most aggressive Middle Eastern countries has over decades developed a large stockpile of nuclear weapons. (Guess which country.) Has the U.S. ever objected?

- After the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S., Iran professed support for the U.S. and helped to combat Al Qaeda and other Sunni Islamist terrorist organizations.

- Even when the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 (the JCPOA), its own intelligence agencies agreed that Iran had adhered to the treaty and not moved toward developing nuclear weapons.

- Attacking another country without oneself being attacked, or being under imminent threat of attack, is a violation of international law. International law protects all countries, including the U.S. Steve Daniels, Santa Barbara

broaden our networks outside of Santa Barbara and take advantage of those resources. I see Jodi House increasingly expanding its boundaries in wonderful ways where we’re able to bring our programs to people who can’t maybe access us in person here at Jodi House. We’re still very much rooted in this community and very proud of our brick and mortar in-person classes, but even for our local members it’s very valuable to be able to take so many classes virtually.”

A new executive team on the Jodi House board has also aided in the increased attention on programming, Black said. There’s a neuroscientist with Cottage Research Institute and an educator with a masters in education who’s taught in a variety of settings and worked with children with learning disabilities and developed curriculum, among others.

“This new group could not have skills that are more pertinent to the work we’re doing here,” she said. “We made it a focus to recruit those who could help advise programs. We had some careful discussions and strategic considerations and approached each of these members to assume these roles. It’s become a very exciting time because our board conversations and discussions are really centered around program expansion – what’s on the horizon and where are we going from here as opposed to just keeping up with raising the money we need to maintain our operations. It’s really a new chapter for Jodi House.”

Next up on the agenda is another pillar of support for its members that Jodi House would like to offer: mental health services.

“We’re helping our members recover physically, cognitively and socially, but increasingly what we’re seeing through individualized case management is a true need for expanded mental and behavioral health,” Black said.

“Historically we haven’t worked in that space, and we haven’t had a licensed mental health professional on staff since I’ve been here.”

But the hope shared by the board and staff is to move in that direction through a special grant that would allow the nonprofit to set up in-house professional counseling for members and families.

Also rather new, and rather interesting, is a shift in terminology, with brain injury now falling under the more modern and welcomed umbrella of ‘neurodiverse.’

“People seem to latch onto that concept of neurodiversity,” Black said. “I love that language has evolved and it’s become empowering for people with autism and ADHD. I want to see the same for brain injury survivors. A lot of our members say they don’t think of themselves as survivors. It’s more, ‘This is who I am now. I’m not who I was before my accident or before my injury, but I’m a human. Neurodiverse is a full integration of myself now.’”

But whatever the language or phrasing, Jodi House never loses sight of who it is they’re serving, and why they exist.

“We’re serving more than 200 families now, and we field more than 700 calls on an annual basis from people in the community who are calling on what you have to think of as one of the worst days ever,” Black said. “They just got the news that somebody’s suffered a traumatic brain injury and there’s a lot of uncertainty about what that’s going to mean. They get our phone number from a staff member at Cottage Rehab Hospital and just to have a warm person on the other end of the phone assure them that no matter the outcome or the prognosis for the person who is hospitalized, we’re here. It’s not one size fits all, but our doors are open to anyone who’s been impacted by a brain injury.”

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achieve the American dream, was a reason for people of all faiths to admire you, no matter where you came from, no matter what faith you practiced.”

But something changed in the last 25 years. “The word privilege has increasingly replaced what we used to call success, which was earned and therefore admired,” Stephens said. “With privilege, the presumption is it’s unearned and therefore despised and envied. When we redefine the concept of success in this country and think that what some have, they don’t deserve, we’ve put people who have succeeded in life into jeopardy. And that tends to fall on groups that have economic power or success, but not political power: minorities, including the Jews.”

In a time rife with conspiracy theories in the United States, Stephens said that when people will believe anything about anything, they’ll eventually believe anything about Jews. “Antisemitism isn’t just bigotry, a prejudice; it’s also a conspiracy theory,” he said.

The Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has made it more difficult and challenging to be Jewish, he said. “Something has gone deeply wrong in the fabric of much of American life that is suddenly making the United States less hospitable to its Jewish neighbors and fellow citizens, and it should be worrying to every single person in this room,” he said. “Antisemitism is always the symptom of a deeper rot, a deeper cancer in the rest of society.”

During a question-and-answer session with President Gayle D. Beebe, Stephens noted the United States now spends less on defense as a percentage of GDP than in the past. “Having a more

secure world, ensuring the strength and resilience of our allies, having robust trading partners in Korea, Japan, Israel, Europe and elsewhere around the world is good for us,” he said. “Global disorder tends to lead to economic disorder here.”

He said the nation’s biggest mistake in the last 40 years was dropping civics education. “It’s terrifying for American life that the country is raising a generation of people who have no idea what the United States is all about except the vague notion that it’s imperialistic and bad,” he said. “No sense that this country has been a greater benefactor for the world bar none.”

When asked about U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine, Stephens argued that Ukraine is fighting for the freedom of the entire western world. “Russia will not stop with Ukraine,” he said. “If they’re victorious there, their appetite will then move to Moldova and move to Latvia or Estonia, or the more vulnerable NATO states, and in doing so, it’s going to embolden the Chinese as well.”

Stephens quoted President Bill Clinton’s statement that there’s nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed by what’s right in America, noting that historically, what’s right with us has overcome what’s wrong. “I’m confident that will happen again,” he said.

Noting that while AI is massively disruptive and will replace jobs that require effort and skill, he thinks it won’t replicate human excellence or the unique human experience.

“AI won’t replace human beings trained in the liberal arts, following, creating and inventing a unique human experience,” he said. “AI is made in the image of man, but man is made in the image of God. Good, thoughtful, serious colleges like Westmont, which train 1,200 students to be mature, unique spiritual beings developing capacities for genuine independent thought and ethical action, are irreplaceable. That’s what you guys are doing, and that’s why you should be optimistic.”

On campus at convocation, Stephens answered questions from Professor Alastair Su and four history majors: Lucas De Dora, Kisa Mosley, Liam Walsh, and Emily Lindblad. “This is an incredible privilege to be on what must be the most beautiful campus in America,” Stephens said.

Jimenez Tees Up First NCAA DII Win

Westmont’s Fernando Jimenez, a freshman from New Mexico, won his first tournament, posting a one-over-par 217 over three days at Coyote Creek Golf Club in Morgan Hill. As a team, the Warriors finished third at the RCA Electric Spring Invitational, which featured seven NCAA Division II teams.

“Fernando entered the final round in fourth place before staging an impressive comeback to claim the individual medalist title,” said Westmont head coach Leo Maes. “He fired a four-under-par 68 in the final round, securing his first victory at the NCAA Division II level.

“Fernando has been a leader for this team since September. He continues to grow in his faith and academics and finds truth throughout each day. We’ve had plenty of discussions about how to win. I believe Fernando does that by preparing properly day to day, with the emphasis not on trying to win but being ready when the opportunity appears.”

Warriors Compete at Gaucho Relays

The Westmont men’s and women’s track teams made the short trip to UC Santa Barbara to compete for three days in both the Sam Adams Combined Events competition and the Gaucho Relays.

On March 7, Westmont claimed a quartet of first-place finishes. Senior David Oyebade of Nigeria captured the hammer throw with a mark of 51.11 meters (167-8). Sophomore John Sakaguchi of Tokyo equaled the fifthbest long jump in Westmont history by soaring to a distance of 7.05 meters

(23-1 ¾) to win the event.

On the track, senior Emma Bustamante of Walnut Creek came in first in the 1,000-meter run in 3:17.56, and freshman Lucas Satterlee of Beaverton, Oregon, won the 2,000meter steeplechase in 6:42.27.

The Westmont men ended up second overall in the meet, finishing ahead of Cal Poly and Pepperdine. The Warrior women were third overall.

“Eight weeks into the semester, the Warriors are beginning to benefit from their training, fitness and technique,” said head coach Russell Smelley. “I’m pleased with the progress of the team as shown in their supportive attitudes and their performances.”

Westmont will host UC Santa Barbara in a dual meet on Friday, March 13.

worlds and collaborate with others while training in professional acting, singing, and dance. “We’re a family” is a rallying cry that pervades the company.

In the musical, first daughter Wednesday Addams has grown up and – horrors! –fallen in love with a seemingly normal young man. The chaos ensues when the teen invites her beau and his mainstream family to dinner at the Addams decidedly dark and haunted home. What follows is a tale that resonates deeply with teens who are having their own issues navigating identity, first love and family expectations. The show is full of humor but also real heart in a laughable lesson about living in harmony with others and celebrating differences. In other words, the Lights Up! mission.

“I think the theme of a teenage situation – falling in love and confronting parental and family expectations, only to have love triumph in the end – is universal,” said Amy Love, the company founder and director. “It’s very cleverly written and it’s legitimately funny and witty and there are fantastic characters to embody for everybody, from the principals to the actors who play the ancestors that are responsible for helping move the plot along. The show is extremely entertaining, and the message of tolerance really has something to say.”

Taking on the challenging role of (ultimate princess of darkness) Wednesday in one of the alternating advanced company casts is Brynn Wood. Now in her fifth year at Lights Up!, her roles have included Glinda in The Wizard of Oz, and other major cast members in Hadestown, Little Shop of Horrors, Into the Woods, Drowsy Chaperone, Anything Goes and Matilda. It’s almost a case of casting against type.

“I’m usually a pretty cheery, positive person, so it’s been a lot of fun to get to explore this darker, sarcastic character that I wouldn’t normally get to experience in my normal life,” said Wood, a sophomore at San Marcos High School. “I do have my own dark side, and it’s fun just tapping into that. But Wednesday is also very guarded, with a lot of walls up. She doesn’t know anything else. So when she meets this person who really captivates her, it’s interesting to see how she lets her guard down to adapt to other people around her.”

The message also matters to the actress.

“The show is about celebrating our differences and coming together despite them,” Wood said. “That’s a very important thing in my life,” Lights Up! Theatre Company performs The Addams Family Musical for six shows March 12-15 at The Marjorie Luke Theatre. Visit www.lightsupsb.com

Academy Awards Arrive: SBIFF Scoops Oscar

Certain surprises in the film industry award season have shaken things up among the professional prognosticators known as Oscarologists. Leading up to this weekend’s Oscars, the long-predicted winners of a couple of the major categories seem less etched-in-stone than in previous Oscar bouts, such that a welcome air of unpredictability sweetens the weekend’s anticipation. You know what hasn’t changed?

How about the fact that virtually every one of the film industry folks who stroll up to claim one of the Academy Awards this weekend will have already spoken into a microphone 90 miles north of Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre – right here at our own historic Arlington Theatre. Yes, during last month’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival, we had but to exit our modest homes and head downtown to see many of the honorees, panelists, special interviewees and presenters who will be politely swaggering in their televised finery come Sunday evening.

That includes the absolute guaranteed winner of Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress and Actor, Original and Adapted Screenplay, and the new award category of Casting, since every single nominee for those awards showed up at SBIFF. Also highly likely to receive statuettes on Sunday after speaking at SBIFF is actress Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), while the opportunity for a clean sweep in the acting categories improved immensely as Sinners’ Michael B. Jordan is now favored to snatch the statue from Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet – perhaps not coincidentally the only Best Actor nominee who stiffed SBIFF.

Festival-goers also got to hear from the odds-on favorites to win Best Song (K-Pop Demon Hunters) as well as the likely Oscar-winning achievers in the artisan section, including Costume Design and Makeup & Hairstyling (both Frankenstein), Editing (One Battle), Sound Editing (F1) and Visual Effects (Avatar: Fire & Ash).

My original plan here was to carry on a tradition of providing single quotes from most of the nominees who were part of SBIFF. But the utter inundation of award hopefuls that flooded State Street four weeks ago was so overwhelming that I wouldn’t have had enough space to cover them fairly, even if I started sharing snippets three issues ago. So...sorry everyone, and apologies to Oscar, too.

The Arlington Theatre is once again hosting its Oscar Watch Party featuring free admission to the pre-party in the courtyard and projection of the red carpet arrivals and awards on the big screen. An optional VIP reception adds free snacks, live DJ music, opportunities for photos on the red carpet and prizes for best dressed and more. But I probably won’t be there to watch the screening. After all, I saw the stars on the same stage live in person just a month ago.

SBCC Science Discovery Day

The activities are almost endless on Saturday afternoon, March 14, at Santa Barbara City College’s science-centric annual open house on the East Cliff Campus. Presented by the SBCC STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Transfer Program students and faculty, the event is designed to showcase the wonders of the world with interactive displays and hands-on activities. Visitors can explore the sky and the sun safely through solar telescopes; play in the augmented reality sandbox to shape mountains, carve rivers and watch landscapes come alive with interactive topography; examine microfossils under microscopes and encounter much larger ones including dinosaurs; test our knowledge at mineral and rock identification stations; and get involved in icy space chemistry as experts create “comets” using dry ice. Also available are chemistry stations to conduct fun experiments, pattern recognition instruction from math students to aid in making predictions, and hands-on demonstrations from local high-tech companies working in cutting-edge science. Parking is free, maps are available on site.

Visit www.sbcc.edu/stem/science-discovery-day.php

VADA Draw

Santa Barbara High School’s Visual Arts & Design Academy’s largest fundraiser of the year not only provides 30-40% of the school-within-a-school’s annual operating budget, it’s also the rare benefit where patrons all get to actually take something home with them. Every paying guest leaves the event with a one-of-a-kind piece of art, an original piece created and donated by a local artist, that are raffled off for no additional cost. It’s also a fabulous party featuring local food and beverages, music, a room full of creative energy, and the joy that comes from supporting future artists. This year’s VADA Draw takes place at 7 pm on March 14 at the Community Arts Workshop (SBCAW).

Visit www.vadasbhs.org/the-vada-draw

Green for a Day

Kerry Irish Productions has canceled its 2026 tour of St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, the dance and music extravaganza that was slated to appear at the Lobero in Santa Barbara on March 17 – spot on the holiday itself. On the other hand, not to tout a competitor, but the Independent’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Stroll is still on. All are invited to don something green and meet up in the parking lot of the Indy’s offices 223 E. De la Guerra St. at 5 pm for the stroll down State Street that starts at 5:30 pm. The destination is Institution Ale, at 516 State Street, just a couple of blocks away, so you’ll still have plenty of strength to lift a pint or two. A jig or a sea shanty is also welcome.

Department of Discounts

UCSB Arts & Lectures has always offered generous discounts for any of its series, even build-your-own packages of its generous slate of events. But now a solid 20% is available for single events that start up again with the spring quarter in April, as long as you buy them by the lucky cutoff date of this Friday the 13th. Use promo code SPRING26 to secure your savings in A&L’s Spring Forward sale.

News Bytes

Inaugural Santa Barbara Literary Festival

by MJ Staff

Anew cultural event celebrating storytelling and the written word will debut in Santa Barbara with the inaugural Santa Barbara Literary Festival (SBLF) set for May 2-3, 2026. The citywide festival will feature keynote talks, panels, workshops, and pop-up events across downtown venues including the Lobero Theatre, La Arcada, the Canary Hotel, and the Santa Barbara Public Library Plaza.

Headlining the event are acclaimed authors Walter Mosley, Kim Michele Richardson, Chris Whitaker, and Steven Rowley, joined by a diverse lineup of novelists, journalists, screenwriters, and cultural commentators. Programming will span genres from fiction and memoir to journalism and “romantasy,” while hands-on workshops and community discussions aim to bring writers and readers together in meaningful ways.

Founded by local authors (and MJ Contributor) Leslie Zemeckis and Lorissa Rinehart , the festival seeks to transform the city into an immersive literary hub where stories come alive through conversation, collaboration, and public engagement.

Long COVID Clinical Forum

Leading physicians, researchers, and public health officials will gather in Santa Barbara for the California Long COVID + Infection-Associated Chronic Conditions & Illnesses (IACCI) Clinical Implementation Forum on Saturday, March 21, at the Mar Monte Hotel. The afternoon program will focus on improving diagnosis, treatment, and clinical care for patients experiencing long COVID and related chronic conditions.

Keynote speaker Dr. David Putrino, director of the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness at Mount Sinai, will present emerging clinical frameworks and new diagnostic guidelines developed to help physicians better assess and treat long COVID and similar conditions.

The forum will also feature panels of medical experts from institutions including Stanford, UCLA Health, and USC, alongside a patient panel sharing firsthand experiences navigating post-viral illness. Organized by The Chesley Initiative and offering continuing medical education credit for physicians, the event aims to foster collaboration between clinicians, researchers, and the broader community while advancing practical approaches to care. Free to attend in-person or virtually. Visit www.chesleyinitiative.org

Chabad of Montecito Events Register Early

- March 18: An Evening Together of Jewish comfort food, conversation, and connection, hosted by Doug and Abby Brown. - April 1: Passover Seder, 7 pm; Registration and Info: www.jewishmontecito.org

New Board for SCA

The Summerland Citizens Association (SCA) has introduced its new Board of Directors for 2026, outlining a renewed focus on strengthening communication, transparency, and community engagement throughout the coastal town. In a message to residents, the board emphasized its commitment to keeping neighbors informed about local initiatives and projects affecting the community while encouraging meaningful participation from residents and local businesses.

Jack Azar, a third-generation Summerland native and founder of GlideView Collective, will serve as Board President, bringing a background in community-focused work and nonprofit grant administration. Peter Stockmann, a retired Ford Motor Company executive with extensive experience in strategic planning and education, joins as Vice President.

Jed Hirsch, founder of Jed Hirsch General Building Contractor, Inc., will serve as Secretary, contributing decades of experience navigating local building, zoning, and permitting processes while advocating for thoughtful development. Eric Panofsky, founder and CEO of SLTWTR and a longtime community volunteer, steps into the role of Treasurer, with a focus on ensuring Summerland maintains a strong voice in county decisions that affect the town.

Curator’s Choice

This beetle flew around the South American rainforest hoping to smell a dead mouse. He used his horny protuberances to fight off other males and control the carrion. Following this adventurism he might mate with a female, because who can resist a guy with a dead mouse? Together, they’d bury the body and she’d lay their eggs on it, ensuring a food supply for their offspring. Does this sound familiar? In the exhibits at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, you may have seen a video of a local burying beetle species doing the same romantic deed. Like other carrion eaters, such beetles provide a valuable cleanup service. This specimen was donated to the Museum from a private collection and is now among the hundreds of thousands of prepared specimens overseen by Schlinger Chair of Entomology Alex Harman, PhD. The historic label reflects an old name and a misidentification – the scientific name is Coprophanaeus lancifer.

Completing the board is Director-at-Large Doretta Bonner, whose background in media production and nonprofit fundraising includes work supporting clean water initiatives in Kenya.

Together, the new board members represent a diverse range of professional expertise and shared dedication to preserving Summerland’s character, natural beauty, and strong sense of community as the town continues to navigate growth and development.

Carp and Rincon Bluffs Preserve to Receive $800K

First district Supervisor Roy Lee ’s recommendation for the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors to fund necessary maintenance and improvements to the Carpinteria Bluffs and the Rincon Nature Preserve areas was approved unanimously. The funding amount is $800,000 to be given in four installments of $200,000. The City of Carpinteria needs to request each installment and provide a progress report of the expenditures for the project’s goals. Speaking for Lee, Wade Cowper his Chief of Staff said, “…the funding will assist with restoration of degraded trails, removal of invasive species, expansion of ADA-accessible pathways, improvements to parking and public amenities, development of interpretive educational features, and planning, News Bytes Page 404

workshops will be announced soon.” Yes, yes. I see, I see. And this business about the Montecito Journal…?

Gwyn Lurie is CEO and executive editor of the Montecito Journal Media Group. On this day she’ll be representing Giving List Women, a national publication and thought leadership collective elevating the practices of trailblazing leaders across diverse sectors, featured nonprofits, and impact companies – those dedicated and enviably organized souls moving the needle for women and girls locally, nationally, and globally.

Likely clutching a cuppa, Gwyn will moderate a conversation with other local female entrepreneurs and leaders, including Carpinteria Councilmember Julia

Mayer, philanthropic strategist Rebecca Benozer, Santa Barbara Independent Publisher Brandi Rivera , Santa Barbara City Councilmember Wendy Santamaria, and Culinary leader at Acme Hospitality Emilie Sandven. Elly Iverson thusly summarizes the theme of the conversation, titled “Women Setting the Table for Local Action, Global Impact.”

“The conversation will bring together women who are influencing business and community through purpose-driven leadership and collaboration. Of course it will all play out over a shared cup of coffee.”

The fest itself will have a tiered access that maps to one’s degree of desired immersion in the delirious bean feast. “We’re able to offer a coffee tasting pass for $15 for students, which includes a limited-edition reusable clay cup that’s going to be provided by the festival as well as tastings.

A General Coffee Pass is $30. And then bumping up from there is our VIP Lounge Pass, which is going to be pretty fabulous. Solera & Co is actually going to do a really amazing spread that’ll be complimentary snacks for anyone with that VIP Lounge pass.” Um…what else, Elly? Surely you –

“– and there are so many folks in this town doing cool things with coffee, and the fact of the matter is – a lot of these are small businesses working their butts off that don’t have the bandwidth to dial

in to a full-day fest right now. So this gives them an opportunity to catch a little spotlight and show their stuff, so later folks can visit them where they really work their magic.” Elly pauses. The sudden silence is disorienting. Not to worry.

“The thing we always keep coming back to is the opportunity to sit down with neighbors over a shared cup of coffee,” she says with what we’ll simply call enthusiasm. “THAT’s the magic!”

Elly: “I want to shine a light on the powerhouse ladies that are making this happen”

- Karen Baltzley, Kathy Kelley, and Gerrie Fausett at the Marjorie Luke

- Brandi Rivera and Richelle Boyd with the Independent – our title media sponsor

- Gwyn Lurie and team – panel moderator and collaborator

- Sarah York Rubin and Hannah Rubalcava at SB County Office of Arts and Culture (awarded us our first festival grant)

- Rebecca Benozer and the team behind Leni Fe Bland Performing Arts Fund and State of Mind Cafe

- Julia Mayer, Mal Preheim and their team at Dune - our title coffee sponsor and coffee science collaborator

- June Haupts – Welcome Coffee Cart – Throwdown sponsor

- Hillary Allen and the team at City of SB

- Sharon Rich and Friends of State Street – our cafecito conversation sponsor - encouraging folks to have a seat and talk together

- Danyel Dean and the ladies of Santa Barbara Empty Bowls (25+ year history of ceramics for good) are donating a wide selection of handmade coffee mugs that will be sold onsite as a fundraiser for Children’s Creative Project

- The women-led coffee businesses and roasters that signed up and committed early to do this with us - Are & Be Coffee, Carp Moon Cafe, Considered Coffee, Del Pueblo Cafe, Dune Coffee, Foxy Mama’s Morning Brew, GLORIFICATE, Muna Coffee, Red Kettle Coffee, Verso L’alto Coffee, Welcome Coffee Co., Zaca Coffee. These all have ladies at the lead - HOW COOL IS THAT?!

- And of course – the women on the festival team – Olivia Sorgman – associate producer

- Liliana Melero – EJI team coordinator

- Andi Garcia – Neighborhood and Nonprofit coordinator. Andi is a dedicated community organizer, arts advocate, and champion for Ortega Park.

- Jenna Tico – music coordinator. Jenna is a musician, author, and storytelling facilitator rooted in community connection.

- Heather Deutsch – Coffee ambassador and Community Outreach Support. A self-proclaimed and worldtraveled coffee aficionado with lots of community organizing under her belt.

Many of our festival nonprofits and artisan market booths will also be led by brilliant women, which wasn’t planned for but… makes a lot of sense!

“Last Light in Paradise is drop-dead perfect. In all my years of investigating for the United States and the President–this is the kind of novel you go to for truth, heart, and the deep pleasure of a master storyteller.”

– Richard C. LaMagna

Former Director of Counternarcotics White House National Security Council and former Deputy Chief of Intelligence DEA HQ

– Fannie Flagg

Now available at Chaucer’s Books, Tecolote Book Shop and Godmothers

permitting and stewardship strategies. The money was originally a starter fund to acquire an adjacent parcel, but escalating property costs and lack of availability made acquisition impractical. Instead, Supervisor Lee’s office determined the funds would be better used to enhance and protect land that has already been preserved.”

Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ 6th Annual Give Kids A Smile Event

The Santa Ynez Tribal Health Clinic recently served 35 children, ages 12 and under, with $7,567 in complimentary dental services at its sixth annual Give Kids A Smile event on Wednesday, February 25, at the clinic, located at 90 Via Juana Lane on the Santa Ynez Reservation. The free dental work also provided children with exams, cleanings and more. The clinic’s Dental Department provided dental care for any local child regardless of income or insurance status. Children received a comprehensive oral examination (including X-rays when appropriate), teeth cleaning, oral health education and dietary recommendations. Any treatment that was diagnosed during the exams will be completed at follow-up visits throughout 2026. The event was staffed by SYTHC dentists, registered dental assistants and dental hygienists. During last year’s event, over $7,300 in dental services were provided to 28 children at no cost to their families.

PUBLIC NOTICE COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the County of Santa Barbara (County) intends to accept an easement for bike path operation and maintenance purposes located near the intersection of N. Jameson Lane and Ortega Hill Road, Montecito, CA (APN 005-110-036) at a cost of $0 (donation). The County of Santa Barbara Public Works Director is authorized to approve and accept the property interest on behalf of the County pursuant to Santa Barbara County Code Section 12A-11.1.

Published March 12, 2026 Montecito Journal

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME: CASE No. 25CV07616. To all interested parties: Petitioner BENJAMIN PARKER filed a petition with Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara, for a decree changing name to BENJAMIN VALENTIN PARKER. The Court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. Filed February 24, 2026 by Terri Chavez. Hearing date: April 17, 2026 at 10 am in Dept. 4, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Published March 12, 19, 26, and April 2, 2026

AMENDED PLANTIFF’S CLAIM AND ORDER TO GO TO SMALL CLAIMS: CASE No. 25CV06178. Notice to Defendant:  John Coons : You are being sued by Plaintiff:  Danielle Loveall in the amount of $12,500.00 You and the plaintiff must go to

NOTICE TO CREDITORS OF BULK SALE (UCC Sec. 6105) Escrow No. 10797-AK

court on April 6, 2026 at 9 am in Department 3 of the Superior Court of California,  Santa Barbara, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 . If you do not go to court, you may lose the case. If you lose, the court can order that your wages, money, or property be taken to pay this claim. Bring witnesses, receipts, and any evidence you need to prove your case. Name and address of the court: Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara,  1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93121-1107. Filed March 6, 2026 by Sarah Sisto, Deputy Clerk. Published March 12, 19, 26, and April 2, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ANCORA OSTERIA, 1483 EAST VALLEY ROAD, SUITE 20, SANTA BARBARA, CA 93108. EAST VALLEY FOUR INC, PO BOX 5841, MONTECITO, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 26, 2026. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 20260000501. Published March 12, 19, 26, and April 2, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PARTERRE; PARTERRE COFFEE, 220 W GUTIERREZ ST, SANTA BARBARA, CA 93101. TERRACOTTA COFFEE LLC, 2108 N ST #14035, SACRAMENTO, CA 95816. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on March 3, 2026. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2026-0000518. Published March 5, 12, 19, 26, 2026

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SEA VIEW LANDSCAPING, 1028 CRAMER RD APT A, Carpinteria, CA 93013. RODRIGO CRUZ CORTEZ, 1028 CRAMER RD APT A, Carpinteria, CA 93013. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on January 23, 2026. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2026-0000180. Published February 26, March 5, 12, 19, 2026

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a bulk sale is about to be made. The name(s), business address(es) to the Seller(s) are: BANKE BI HARI LLC, A CALIFORNIA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, 1048 CASITAS PASS RD., CARPINTERIA, CA 93013 Doing Business as: LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA RESTAURANT#3400-0001

All other business name(s) and address(es) used by the Seller(s) within three years, as stated by the Seller(s), is/are: LITTLE CAESARS PIZZA RESTAURANT#3400-0002-109 S. FAIRVIEW AVE., SUITE E, GOLETA, CA 93117

The name(s) and business address of the Buyer(s) is/are: AFP FOODS INC, A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION, 1048 CASITAS PASS RD., CARP INTERIA, CA 93013

The assets to be sold are described in general as: FURNITURE, FIXTURES AND EQUIPMENT, GOODWILL, COVENANT NOT TO COMPETE, LEAS E, AND LEASEHOLD IMPROVEMENT and are located at: 1048 CASITAS PASS RD., CARPINTERIA, CA 93013

The bulk sale is intended to be consummated at the office of: DETAIL ESCROW, INC, 13737 ARTESIA BLVD. #206 CERRITOS, CA 90703 , and the anticipated sale date is APRIL 1, 2026

The bulk sale is subject to California Uniform Commercial Code Section 6106.2.

[If the sale is subject to Sec. 6106.2, the following information must be provided.] The name and address of the person with whom claims may be filed is: DETAIL ESCROW, INC, 13737 ARTESIA BLVD #206, CERRITOS, CA 90703, and the last date for filing claims shall be MARCH 30, 2026, which is the business day before the sale date specified above.

Dated: MARCH 3, 2026

BUYER: AFP FOODS INC, A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION ORD-5089979 MONTECITO JOURNAL 3/12/26

The opening was preceded by a lovely lunch at Green’s, the longtime Fort Mason vegetarian restaurant that has a new cookbook. After a stroll along the marina waterfront, Fort Mason was not “overcrowded or touristy”… mostly runners and families with baby strollers. My artist friend Stephanie and I planned to hit a few art galleries that Saturday before Masami’s opening and party, however they were all oddly closed for private events or other reasons. Luckily, we discovered the small but interesting (at least to this half-blooded Sicilian) Italian American museum, Museo Italo Americano. A sweet show of noteworthy works by Italian artists (ranging from Lawrence Ferlinghetti to Beniamino Bufano to Tina Modotti and others) runs through the end of September. If you find yourself in the area, it’s worth a stop IMHO.

Marin, Sonoma, Lake County and Back Home Again

I spent the weekend in Petaluma at my longtime friend’s house, the talented artist and long ago Santa Barbarian Stephanie Sanchez (see her website www.stephaniesanchezart.net). We stopped after the opening to meet friends in Marin County’s San Rafael for dinner at Sol Food, a Puerto Rican hot spot, but once I saw a line halfway down the block, we re-calibrated and our group of five had a very tasty, family-style Thai dinner – where we could hear one another conversing – at Royal Thai in San Rafael.

Another lovely dinner out on Sunday at Petaluma’s Central Market was delish and heartwarming, accompanied as we were by dear friends Alber and Dean, who make award-winning Jubaea Estate olive oil in Sonoma. We shared two great salads, super fresh, tasty Washington state oysters, house made bread and warm olives to start. Dean had a potato truffle oil pizza (“The best” he’d ever had… despite a memorable pizza in Naples, Italy); Alber and I shared homemade pasta with green beans and mushrooms that, while tasty, needed a bit of olive oil to smooth it out. I was kindly treated to our post-holiday dinner; I popped for ice cream cones for dessert, just a block away at fave organic ice cream store, Angel.

There’s great thrift shopping in Petaluma, but my favorite discovery was an emporium called Maude, with cool clothing for children and adults, nifty gift items from Japan, kitchen goodies and more.

Although hosted overnight by friends on this trip (thank you Dennis, Stephanie, Bill, Carl and Thea)–for those not as lucky, as far as hotel recommendations go, the Inn at The Presidio, which I stayed at pre-covid, is a favorite. I love the spacious rooms in the former military housing and quietude. I hope to stay at their sister property, The Lodge at The Presidio, next time. It was understandably super busy and booked as ever, this time due to a JP Morgan conference in town.

Another reason to stay in The Presidio national park on my next trip: many have raved about the exhibitions at the Disney Museum within the peaceful grounds. This area is my fave place to slumber in the city to recover from energetic city life (and dodging WAYMOs), due to its verdant setting. The incredible Andy Goldsworthy redwood tree art installations – towering and cathedral-like – are the icing on the cake.

Montecito Reads (Continued from 5)

“I just drove up the coast. A long time since I came this way.” She was not grinning back.

“Figured we left off at the cold end of things. With my bad manners. And, well, your somewhat polite dismissal.”

“I have been sitting with it. Our conversation. It did feel like a browbeating. A little. But I do see the gravity of your job.”

They just stared at each other, until the silence turned awkward. He stood in the stirrups and swung down from the saddle. “Did you come to scold me?” he asked.

“Have you been expecting that?”

“Well, kind of. I mean, the one thing did become another thing. A simple lift home became a suspect. It is my job, Ranny, and I’m not always as well-mannered as I’d like to be.”

“Am I not wanted here? I know how to drive back now.”

He immediately felt stupid and unconsciously palmed the soft nose of his horse, gentling them both.

“Ranny Starbuck. I been waiting my whole life for you to set foot on this ranch.”

She swung the door shut and came to him. She wore a white dress, a blue sweater, and soft blue-and-white high heels, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“You are an earnest man. I understand. But you don’t need to charm me.”

“No. I meant it. About that poster of you. Had a doughboy take it down and put it up every time we moved barracks. Didn’t even do that with the flag. Hiding my surprise the night before – that took effort.”

She smiled, did a mock curtsy, and said, “And that was, what – sixteen, seventeen years back? After that browbeating yesterday, this sounds like a boy with a very outdated crush.”

“Oh man, you got me right. We found the boat a few miles south. Charlie Russell’s. Kind of looks like an accident. So, I do apologize. I get a little feisty when the hounds take the scent.”

“I am sorry for him.”

She grinned finally and studied his horse. “He’s beautiful,” she said. “He looks familiar.”

“Called Spinnaker. Trying to give him some manners after being a ruffian out on the flat track.”

“Ah. Yes. A racer. You were going someplace.”

“Well, I was going to ride out to the fields and say hello to the people leasing ten acres. Snag a taco or two, if the kids are with them. We could drive out, if you wanted to join me. Unless, you came for some other reason.”

“No. I came to see you. To see all this.” She looked over at the corrals. “Got another Spinnaker?”

“Can you stay aboard?”

She looked at him and smiled. “That track was my daddy’s racetrack. Put there when I was four. Not to pull rank.”

“I feel schooled.”

“It’s a small town,” she said.

He looked at her dress and shoes and said, “How’s this going to go, clothes-wise?”

“Why, you got an etiquette board out here?”

“You want to sit up there dressed like that, you be my guest.”

“He likes the hoity-toity.” She held his smile.

“Queen’s linen might scare some of the livestock. But they’ll get used to it.”

Leslie A. Westbrook is a Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel writer and journalist who loves exploring the globe. A 3rd generation Californian., Leslie also assists clients sell fine art, antiques, and collectibles via auction. www.auctionliaison.com

“In that case, I have a spare in the boot.” She was grinning widely, and he saw the animation in her step as she continued, saying, “I kind of thought a shitkicker like you might keep a spare pair of britches for all the girls who come calling.”

She held his eyes.

“Actually, you are my very first. Since I bought it.” He could tell by the way she caught her hair up into a ponytail that she liked this answer. She turned and walked to her trunk and dug out an outfit.

He hooked the stirrup, swung back on his horse, and pointed to the house.

“Go on in and change. I’ll get your pony saddled.”

Montecito Reads Page 424

But he could see her behind the coupe, putting on the denim underneath the dress.

“I’m good here. Turn around, knight,” she said, laughing.

Creek had not been a pedestrian soldier or a Parisian sophisticate. He had most of his life been flirted with but felt comfortable leaving things be until the compass dial flew toward some true north. That had happened only a few times. Sandrine, some years back. Now Ranny Starbuck. She’d pinned the needle on the first try. As he saddled her horse, Creek felt the great paradox many men feel in the presence of unusual beauty – engorged with bravado and dumbfounded by clumsiness.

After he had saddled the mare, he watched how Ranny slid the bridle over the head, sunk the bit, and fastened it off, both gentle and expert in every move.

“What’s her name?” she asked.

“Psycho.” He laughed a little. “For no other reason than she loves to sit down every once in a while. She’s quarter-horse roper to the bone until she’s bored. Just parks that big derrière on the ground. Very odd.”

“She sits?”

“Not often. But enough. Don’t let her stand around too long.”

“Dear Psycho. Now he’s got two of us.” Ranny whispered to the horse.

Stirrups adjusted, she stepped into the saddle. They rode out of the yard and down the long, sloping fields toward the big eucalyptus grove by sea.

At the cliff’s edge they took a farm road east along the banks and into the big magnolias. They rode in easy silence until he asked if she would like to ride down to the beach and she nodded yes.

They took the small trail down through the cliffs, came out on the beach, and headed across the soft sand toward the surf’s harder edge. Spinnaker danced against the bit, wanting to run, and Psycho did the same. Creek looked at Ranny, and she smiled.

“This horse has thoroughbred in her,” she said. “You mind wet tack?”

“Hell no.” Creek was dancing sideways, and when Ranny whooped and put a bubble in her reins, Spinnaker planted his hind legs, and both horses bolted.

She rode her horse along the shiny, hard sand, nearly floating in the saddle. Creek tried to keep Spinnaker back but relented and let him fly. In seconds the thoroughbred pounded the gap to nothing. Just as Creek drew close, as if she could feel them and still at a gallop, Ranny veered away. She rode toward the sea and into the shallows. Creek followed and then caught her, and they both rode in the big spray. Creek saw the smile on her face, and intuitively they both came off the speed and rode side by side at an easy canter. He looked over at her and smiled. And then he saw the sparkle of mischief, something passed between them, and he rode his hands up the horse’s neck and flicked air in the reins. Again, he felt the great stroke of hooves and the burst of acceleration, and they veered off for the flats. A moment later, Ranny was running beside him. He let her partner, and then he told Spinnaker to do what he was bred to do. Creek felt the stretching and the leg muscles and knew the tears in his eyes were all speed.

When he finally reined his horse, reversed, and rode to her, they rode side by side at a good lope. They looked at each other and added speed. When he looked over at her again, she grinned. He grinned, and the two horses raised it to a true gallop, the ride transmitting every muscle and bone to a wildness within their own bodies. Then, in a wordless compact, horse and rider simmered and slowed and began walking beside each other, as if they had always ridden like this.

“Nobody ever rode Psycho like that,” he said. “Had no idea she had that in her.”

“She’s been ponied with racers. She asked to catch up.”

“You should be riding this guy. You know your horse.”

She laughed easily as they moved back into the water to cool down. Then, Creek pointed to the high cliffs, across the sand. She could see a pickup, a shed, and some farmers silhouetted above the bluffs, and she and Creek rode toward them.

They heard it together, the deep growl of an engine. They turned and saw the yellow plane coming up the coast, not fifty feet off the ground, barely a mile distant. It seemed to be coming right at them.

“They might not be playing,” Creek said.

“Do they see us?” The plane dropped to a dozen feet from above the sand.

“They see us.” It continued toward them, and Creek said, “Ride for the cliffs!” He strapped the mare, and she bolted like a true quarter horse. They both raced for the cliffs, but the plane came on fast, the engine loud and menacing. Fifty yards into the soft sand, Creek knew they wouldn’t make it. As the chrome nose swept toward them, Creek dug down on the saddle, and Spinnaker ploughed into the deep sand. Creek pulled his rifle and released into the sand.

The aircraft was closing in, and Creek saw the pilot and somebody who might have been Diamond, grinning. Creek pulled the trigger. He felt the crack of the gun at his shoulder then saw the puncture of wing and the pilot yank backward as the plane soared upward, banked, and flashed past overhead. It was gone in seconds. Creek tracked with it, gun still shouldered, and merely watched it as it faded out over the ocean. A mile out, the pilot waved his wings in taunt, banked, and continued down coast.

Ranny stood beside her horse in the sand. Spinnaker stood a half mile down the shore, looking back at his new girlfriend as if he had no clue how he’d gotten there.

Men arrived on the bluffs above them. They cupped their hands and shouted down, but Creek couldn’t hear them. Creek pointed up at them in salute, and they waved their hats. They pointed to Ranny and signaled for them to come up.

He walked to her. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“I gotta hike to get Spinnaker,” he said.

She looked at Psycho. “We have the goods. Just walk with me.”

They did, and Spinnaker flailed his head and raced toward them.

“You do know your horses,” Creek said.

She smiled a slight smile, but he could see she was shaken.

“I’m really sorry about that,” he said.

“What exactly was ‘that’?”

“I’d only be guessing.”

“That looked deliberate.”

“It was.”

He turned as Spinnaker overshot them, wheeled, and pulled up with a big show of nonchalance. Ranny held Psycho with one hand and held out her other to the stallion, who came to her. Creek shook his head in admiration and walked over. They both mounted, riding toward the trail that climbed the cliffs.

“Never been so shown up by a girl before,” he said.

She smiled a little. “Was that boys being assholes? Or was that someone wanting to hurt you?”

“That was showboating. People giving me heads up.”

“I hope they weren’t trying to land.”

“They weren’t.”

“You shot at somebody.”

He looked at her and felt ashamed.

“Maybe with a woman present, maybe I overreacted. I’ll ride you back.”

She continued to stare at him. Not harshly, but close to it.

“Were you aiming for him?”

“No. Put them on notice.”

“You have a temper problem.”

“I thought he was trying to hurt us. Situations like that, I’m doing things before I know I’m doing them. Let me take you back.”

“You thought he was trying to kill you.”

“If it’s who I think it was, he might have been.”

She studied him and then softened, and they mounted and rode in silence for a long time. They went across the sand and up into the narrow ravine. He didn’t know how to make it right or how to apologize. What he felt was his anger, compounding, thinking maybe the badge made it easier to indulge or justify it. Their taunting and their arrogance enraged him.

“Was it about … your Indian friend, somehow?” she asked.

“Well, that has poked up a hornet’s nest. Nobody wants bad press over this movie thing, not with so much riding on investors. A lot of money coming into the county. And no one wants an Indian without a head on a beach in Santa Barbara anywhere in their newspapers.”

They came onto the bluffs and took the trail through the eucalyptus and palms. The fields had not been leveled but were under cultivation as the land lay – green things grew between hills and swales, up banks, and deep along the sides of sinkholes and gullies, even beneath groves of oak and sycamore.

“Nobody likes to remember how they got here. Or where they came from,” Creek said. “We all come off a boat. One way or another. All running from something or to something. Not one of us is purebred anything. Apologies, if that is offensive. I don’t know your people.”

“My daddy stole and cheated his way into a famous iron fortune in Chicago, then he bought a seat in the senate from Montana. I’m as mutt as the next American.”

He smiled at her and said “mutt” just loud and disbelieving enough to make her laugh, and then they rode on in silence.

“Smell that freesia?” He said it suddenly.

She looked over at him and nodded, her eyes smiling. “Freesia.” She said it as if to herself. “He knows flowers. You rent this land to those farmers?”

“They’re lucky to make a living. The man that wanted my land wanted them gone. Wanted it for some movie mogul to add to his theme park, land that feeds twenty-six families and two groceries in town.”

“Johnny Diamond?”

“Tell me you don’t know him.”

“He wants to buy The Kells.”

“The Kells?”

“My house. He sends a dozen flowers every day and calls twice daily. Robert has said “no” for six weeks. No to movie people is like red meat to a lion.”

“He ever seen it?”

“Nope. But he will shortly. I’ve agreed to meet him to get rid of him.” Creek looked at her, trying to hide what he was thinking.

She saw it and said, “I learned how to stand up to the old ones, the rich ones, in Europe. You can’t believe what they offer young dancers.”

They came out onto open fields in the slanting light of five o’clock. They rode at a lope for a mile, then rounded to the barn. He watched her carry her own tack to the stalls, brush her horse, hose off the saltwater, and return the mare to pasture. When he came up beside Ranny, she smiled.

“You could come tomorrow,” she said. “To meet the mogul. I’m sure he wishes to buy my villa. And I’m sure he’s going to bring Tom Horn.”

When Creek failed to respond, she added, “The movie star.”

“Bring me? You looking for more fireworks?”

She saw what he meant. “No. Of course not. Violence, men barking at each other, I abhor that. What happened on the beach today, that was a little past my limit. Though, your presence would make my refusal to sell more final. I would simply love the company was all I meant. I think that is all I meant.”

“I go out to the island tomorrow, to bury Pony. The Indian. But thank you,” he said.

“The island?”

“Santa Rosa”

“Ah. Where he lived. I’ve never been.”

He thought about all the shut-in comments.

“To Santa Rosa, or any of them?”

“No. No islands.” Her expression saddened.

“Why is that?” he asked.

“Well, my father was very old. He was seventy when I was born. Then, after the bone spurs, about the time Mother died, I kind of …” She looked at him, and he could tell she was curious what he might know or want to know. “Things started unraveling. And kind of haven’t stopped.”

“That’s a big shake-up, all at once.”

“I don’t know where it all came from. It just came. This,” she indicated the ranch then him, “you, me driving up here by myself – all extremely out of character. So was the other night.”

“We’re on a roll,” he said, feeling lucky.

Nobody said anything for a while.

“Come with me to the island. Penbrook’s ferry leaves at noon, from the dock down there.” He pointed to the sea. “It’s eighty-four square miles of stunning.”

“The night you gave me a lift, that’s the first time I stepped off my property, alone, in a year. And the fucking battery died.”

Creek laughed. “Did you just say fucking?”

“Yes. Sorry. It made me so angry.”

“Just a battery.”

“No. It was so much more than a battery. But I see it as fate, now.”

“I never heard a woman say that word. It’s refreshing.”

She looked at him, then laughed.

“God. Words. For so long my life was nothing but dance and music.” She stopped and looked out at the horses, grazing freely, then continued.

“ Nutcracker by ten. Auditions by thirteen. A company by sixteen. The good ones can turn professional at seventeen. I hit Europe at sixteen. It was both harsh and beautiful but not the real world. The bad words were part of our armor. We don’t know how to order ham and eggs, pay a bill, open a bank account, or get a job. Nothing, really, beyond dance. But words made it seem like we did. The rougher the words, the better. Sorry to offend your delicate ears. Didn’t take you for such a choir boy.”

“I like it when you’re frank. I trust it.”

“What’s there to trust?”

He thought a long time about this, watching the horses.

“It’s just …”

“Yes, I know. The loony heiress held prisoner in the layer cake. Flirting with the cowboy gumshoe. But there it is. A Grimms’ fairy tale. With a nice twist, thanks to the handsome cowboy.”

She moved away from the fence. When she spoke again, she looked right at him.

“Can I say this? It’s you. You’ve pulled me from out of a deep… hole.”

“Lucky me.”

“Oh God, you’re right. It’s not much of a bargain.”

“No. I meant it. Look, I drove an ambulance in that war. I looked into the eyes of a lot of wounded souls, heard some hard stories. Failed to fix as many as I lost. We all got our tangles. I want to know you. I want you to come with me to the island. We’ll take the ferry. You can swear ’n’ cuss the whole crossing.”

“Will anyone shoot at us?”

He hung his head. “I won’t let that happen again.”

“An island …” She said it wistfully.

“I’ll pick you up – ”

“No. If I come, I’ll drive myself to you. I’ll have to cancel the big moviemaker.”

“Good.”

“It’s only an ‘if.’”

Their eyes met then and held and then both turned shy and looked away. Later, he watched her drive out of his yard. It was a long driveway, and he could see the white roadster for a long while, but when it vanished into the big magnolias, he knew she wouldn’t come. Whatever made her hide from life would make her turn against this bright new possibility.

She would not show tomorrow. That’s not how you get to be with the pretty eccentric with her apple blossom smile and smart lines that made him remember what it meant to really want something from this world. He liked how nothing she did fit a pattern, and none of it seemed false.

Too bad, he thought. She’d have been a good way to get Psycho some exercise. A nice girl to sit next to at the picture show. A perfect woman to propose to, have children with, get fat and old with.

Tune in next week for Chapter Nine: Part 3 of Last Light in Paradise

Michael C. Armour is author and original artist of bestselling Smithsonian children’s books Orca Song and Puma Range, and has been an award-winning writer/director for CBS documentaries, and many print and TV commercials for Honda and other companies. He comes from three generations of ranching, has been a horseman and motorcyclist most of his life, and has worked for years with released inmates under the direction of the Santa Barbara Superior Court and the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office.

Scan the QR code to purchase the full book online, or pick one up at your local bookstore: Tecolote in Montecito, Godmothers in Summerland, or Chaucer’s in Santa Barbara.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Calendar of Events

by Steven Libowitz

ENDING THIS WEEK

Configuration 2026 – Santa Barbara Dance Arts’ annual showcase spans two weekends of performances by the youth dance company and studio celebrating 28 years in town. The show is geared toward the entire family as it features high-energy hip hop, evocative contemporary, and entertaining jazz numbers to make you wish you could get up and dance, too. Los Angeles choreographers Sierra Kazil and Azuki Umeda and NYC’s Chloe Roberts are the special guest creators for this year’s program, which also includes work by local favorites Hannah Hayward, Jacky Rabago, and company co-founder Alana Tillim. The presentation also features the debut of the MOVEment in Focus Short Film project, the centerpiece of SBDA’s youth Inclusion Coalition of Move with Purpose. This year SBDA explores stigmas and stereotypes of depression told through dance. In a rare dance version of golf’s pro-am, professional choreographers share the stage with student dance creators who are selected and nurtured by mentors while also competing for a $250 cash prize. Patron VIP seating available at all shows gets you close to the action in the first two rows.

WHEN: Final show at 7 pm March 13, and 2 & 7 pm March 14

SATURDAY, MARCH 14

‘It’s Complicated’ – Montecito artist Gerrie Shapiro is showing her work publicly for the first time in 20 years, which was back in the days when Facebook hadn’t yet co-opted the exhibition’s title line for its once-popular relationship status profile update.

Two decades ago, before she relocated to our area, Shapiro lived in Pittsburgh, where she maintained a vibrant artistic life, exhibiting at institutions such as the Warhol Museum and Carnegie Museum, and in galleries across the country. At one point, she created custom-made couture straitjackets that were worn by a pair of fashion models for a performance art show in Pittsburgh. Since moving to Montecito, art temporarily took a backseat while she spent most of her time in caregiving for her parents. But she has continued to create three-dimensional wearable pieces, including turning her father’s sport jackets into unique art projects, and designing custom contemporary clothing repurposed from her clients’ garments. Now she’ll be exhibiting in a special solo show at the new Rubenstein Chan Contemporary Art, a gallery in Carpinteria. Shapiro’s pieces include acrylics on canvas in vibrant, message-driven paintings, the inventive straitjackets, and interactive sculptural objects including music boxes, jewelry boxes, and puzzle blocks that invite touch and movement, revealing new narratives from every angle.

WHEN: Opening reception featuring a performance 5-8 pm on March 14; exhibit runs March 7-April 5

WHERE: Rubenstein Chan Contemporary Art, 410 Palm Ave., B3, Carpinteria COST: free INFO: (805) 576-6152 or www.Rubensteinchan.com

SATURDAY, MARCH 14-SUNDAY, MARCH 15

Red, White & Blues, Part II – Santa Barbara Choral Society revisits the successful concept of its 2022 event that so roundly celebrated America’s rich and diverse musical heritage – now with an entirely new program to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary and emphasize the enduring influence of music in shaping American identity. The concert features works by justly beloved American composers Aaron Copland and Rogers & Hammerstein, those archetypically American melodies joined by a vibrant selection of blues, gospel, folk, and spirituals, and a slew of contemporary American composers’ works – all to celebrate America’s stunningly rich and diverse musical heritage. Choral Society Artistic Director JoAnne Wasserman conducts the 70-voice chorus accompanied by pianist Kevin Su Fukagawa in taking on compositions by Morten Lauridsen, Shawn Kirchner, William Dawson, Undine S. Moore, and George Gershwin, among other contemporary composers. The program – which also includes spirituals from “Deep River” to “Zion’s Walls” and a work by William Billings, recognized as the first American choral composer – aims to both highlight the power of music as a unifying and inspiring force, and to serve as a highly accessible concert with music to appeal to all ages. A free reception follows the Sunday performance. WHEN: 7 pm Saturday, 3 pm Sunday WHERE: Trinity Lutheran Church, 909 N. La Cumbre Rd. COST: $30 general, $20 seniors and students, $10 children under 12 INFO: (805) 965-6577 or www.sbchoral.org

WHERE: Center Stage Theatre, 751 Paseo Nuevo, second floor

COST: $35 general; $25 students (VIP patron $60)

INFO: (805) 963-0408 or https://centerstagetheater.org

THURSDAY, MARCH 12

CWC Classic with Carman of Chapman – The Carsey-Wolf Center’s CWC Classics series screens The Misfits, the 1961 movie that represented an extraordinary convergence of Hollywood legends, both behind and in front of the camera. Directed by John Huston and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller, the film follows recently divorced Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe) as she drifts into the orbit of three aging cowboys (played by Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, and Eli Wallach). The cowboys’ uneasy attempts at capturing wild mustangs mirror their larger struggles finding purpose in a rapidly changing American West. Filmed on location in the Nevada desert, The Misfits boasted luminous performances but suffered from a troubled production history. The final completed film for both Monroe and Gable served to demystify the Western genre, and today stands as one of the most compelling and unconventional Westerns of its era, released at a moment when Hollywood itself was in a period of great transition. Catch the classic on the big screen with terrific sound at the Pollock Theatre on campus, followed by a conversation between Film and Media Studies professor Emily Carman of Chapman University and UCSB’s Ross Melnick who is also interim director of the CWC.

WHEN: 7 pm

WHERE: Pollock Theater, UCSB campus

COST: free (reservations recommended)

INFO: (805) 893-5903 or www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/pollock

SATURDAY, MARCH 14-SUNDAY, MARCH 15

Rangers Expand Theirs – It’s been just shy of 14 years since the Steep Canyon Rangers brought their then-new collaboration with actor, comedian and accomplished banjoist Steve Martin – at the time a Montecito resident – to a sold-out show at the Granada Theatre. The intervening years have brought a whole lot more from the bluegrass band whose members hail from both the Appalachian and Piedmont regions of North Carolina. The Rangers have since incorporated myriad musical genres from the region into their former traditional-only approach, neatly sidling into the broader category of Americana songwriters. The band now boasts a catalog 14 albums strong, a Grammy award (along with two nominations), and two more collaborative recordings with Martin, who has periodically joined them on tour. He’s not scheduled to appear at tonight’s show at the Lobero, but since Martin still calls Santa Barbara his summer home, who knows?

WHEN: 7:30 pm

WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

COST: $45 & $55 ($107 VIP tickets includes premier seating and a pre-show reception with drinks and hors d’oeuvres)

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.org

SATURDAY, MARCH 14-SUNDAY, MARCH 15

Youth Will Be Served – The educational wing of two local institutions will perform on successive days, and at one of the city’s most glorious venues. I’m talking of course about the State Street Ballet Young Dancers’ “Spring Celebration” on Saturday evening, followed by the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony settling in for a Sunday afternoon show. As it turns out, Saturday’s concert is something of a joint effort. State Street Ballet Young Dancers’ showcase of terrific terpsichore will include excerpts from universally treasured Swan Lake, as well as new choreography by Royce Zackery, Cecily MacDougall, Saori Yamashita, Amber Hirschfield, Audrey Messer, and Gustafson School owner Allison Gustafson – and will actually feature live accompaniment by members of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, conducted by Dr. Daniel Gee. Then on Sunday, the full Youth Symphony, the advanced ensemble that represents the culminating step in the Santa Barbara Symphony’s multi-level Youth Ensembles program, returns to the venue for a program boasting Sibelius’ “Finlandia,” Scriabin’s “Piano Concerto in F-sharp Minor, Op. 20, Mvt. 1: Allegro,” and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. (The combined Camerata Ensemble/Philharmonia Orchestra winter concert featuring classically aspirational youth is on Saturday afternoon in Hahn Hall.)

WHEN: 6 pm Saturday, 4 pm Sunday

WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St.

COST: $19-$60 Saturday, free Sunday

INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.org

THURSDAY, MARCH 19

Montecito, Money, and Mayhem – Santa Barbara native Elizabeth Gilchrist didn’t pen books about her hometown until she departed for the even artier confines of cozy Santa Fe, New Mexico. Given that the two novellas come together in one volume titled Rich People in Santa Barbara, perhaps it’s easy to see why. Gilchrist’s two previous novels, Your Cheatin’ Heart and Second Chances, carried intriguing titles, but neither set in Santa Barbara. The two novellas comprising Rich People in Santa Barbara – published by Simon & Schuster imprint Rare Bird Books – have in common a rarefied and genteel world of privilege boiling with ragged emotional turbulence beneath the gilded surface. In “Montecito Peak,” the very wealthy Barbara Palmer is a good mother to her 14-year-old daughter, guiding light of Bird of Paradise Books, and an involved member of the Concours d’Elegance committee. She does quietly suffer, though, from marriage to a needling sauce hound of a husband. When a new heartlight enters her life, she knows even then she’ll never be wholly rid of her marital millstone. Unless... In “The Polo Club,” Lydia Graham is a garden designer who grew up in Montecito and revels in her wonderful marriage to a longboard surfer who’s good at making money and a wonderful father. When a rake from her teenaged past shows up and rents a condo at the Polo Club, she sees her marvelous life about to unravel. Can she allow that? Amazon says, “The collection reviews the cloistered, opulent, and often tense lives of the coastal elite in Montecito, offering a candid, and sometimes eerie look at the area’s high-stakes social scene, including themes of privilege, romance and scandal.” It’s said that for Gilchrist – the former head room mother at Marymount School, an editor of Destination Wine Country magazine, and writing instructor at UCSB’s College of Creative Studies – Rich People in Santa Barbara is “the book she always wanted to write.” She’ll share thoughts and sign copies this afternoon at Chaucer’s. Sparks may fly. WHEN: 6 pm

WHERE: 3321 State St. in Loreto Plaza Shopping Center

COST: free INFO: (805) 682-6787 or www.chaucersbooks.com

NOTE TO READERS

This entertainment calendar is a subjective sampling of arts and entertainment events taking place in the Santa Barbara area for the next seven days or so. It is by no means comprehensive. Please also see my feature stories elsewhere in this issue for more events. In order to be considered for inclusion in this calendar, please submit information – including hi-res photos –by 12 noon Wednesday eight days prior to publication date. Email: slibowitz@yahoo.com.

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ELECTRICIAN

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TILE SETTING

Local tile setter of 35 years is now doing small jobs only. Services include grout cleaning and repair, caulking, sealing, replacing damaged tiles and basic plumbing needs. Call Doug Watts at 805-729-3211 for a free estimate.

OFFICE SUITES FOR RENT

Newly Priced! Office Suites for RentDowntown Santa Barbara TWO second-floor office suites available in a prime downtown location with PRIVATE RESTROOM.

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SB CEMETERY LOCATION

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INTUITIVE CONSULTANT

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SINGLE CAR GARAGES & STORAGE

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PET/ HOUSE SITTING

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CARPET CLEANING

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PIANO LESSONS

Openings now available for Children and Adults.

Piano Lessons in our Studio or your Home. Call or Text Kary Kramer (805) 453-3481

CONSTRUCTION

General Building Design & Construction Contractor William J. Dalziel Lic. B311003 – 1 (805) 698-4318 billjdalziel@gmail.com

RENTAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

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CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

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Donate to the Parrot Pantry! At SB Bird Sanctuary, backyard farmer’s bounty is our birds’ best bowl of food! The flock goes bananas for your apples, oranges & other homegrown fruits & veggies.

Volunteers

Do you have a special talent or skill? Do you need community service hours? The flock at SB Bird Sanctuary could always use some extra love and socialization. Call us and let’s talk about how you can help. (805) 969-1944

K-9 PALS need volunteers to be foster parents for our dogs while they are waiting for their forever homes. For more information info@k-9pals.org or 805-570-0415

ByPeteMuller&FrankLongo

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