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2 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
The late, lamented Lucidity Festival is long gone from its residency at Live Oak Camp. Launched in 2012, the successful festival was swamped by the inordinate rainy season in 2023, and then forced to cancel by fire concerns after moving to June for the 2024 fest. The 2025 Lucidity Festival, which was supposed to relocate to Monterey County, was canceled in September with no refunds being offered.
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2 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
Over in Ojai: Chase-ing the New Innovative flutist Claire Chase leads this year’s Ojai Music Festival (photo by Annelies van der Vegt) Claire Chase, the innovative virtuosic flutist who has “world premiered” hundreds of compositions by a new generation of artists, was the first flutist to be awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship (2012) as well as the nearly-as prestigious Avery Fisher Prize (2017). Two years later, she was a Mosher Guest Artist at Music Academy of the West, where her...
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2 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
An invasion of musical machers is coming to Center Stage (courtesy photo)If a musical about Supreme Court justices seems far afield, how about a zombie apocalypse comedy horror musical spoof?
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2 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
Valerie Perri, Heather Ayers and Julie Garnyé star in ETC’s Justice (courtesy photo)What theatrical subject could be more suited to serious investigation than the first three female justices of the U.S. Supreme Court; the ladies who broke through a more than 200 year-old glass ceiling to reach the highest court in the land?
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2 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
Opera Opportunity Outside the Box Opera Santa Barbara has neatly transformed itself into an efficient juggernaut that seems to have made the company more sustainable, at least for the moment, by staging all of their opera productions twice at the Lobero, rather than ranging from the grand stage of the Granada to the Lobero and the intimate Center Stage theatre.
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3 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
Singer and harmonica player Mitch Kashmar is going to put on an unforgettable night of blues with friends (courtesy photo)Santa Barbara blues from native sons covering both electric and acoustic approaches are on the menu from the Santa Barbara Blues Society, the nonprofit still-thriving nearly half a century since its founding. Headlining is a band fronted by Mitch Kashmar, the singer and harmonica player who co-founded the legendary Pontiax back in the early 1980s when he was in his early 20s.
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3 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
“Undermatching” might sound like a snafu on a dating app, but what the concept actually refers to is the unnecessary tragedy of high-achieving high school students from low-income backgrounds not even trying to attend a top college or university appropriate to their level of learning and ability.
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3 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
Godmothers’ lineup of fascinating authors in conversation exceeds even what might have been expected before the September 2024 opening of the high-profile Montecito-adjacent bookstore. Recent guests have included Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle, Amanda Knox, and Maria Shriver, to name just a few. Those events almost invariably sell out well in advance.
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3 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
Hale Milgrim is arguably better equipped than the average fan to wax quixotic about music back in the day when LPs were actually referred to as “wax.” The former President and CEO of Capitol Records – who got his start as a clerk in an Isla Vista record store – created Quips & Clips to share archival film and still footage from his personal library, and to broker the audience’s connection to the artists and music they love.
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3 weeks ago | 
montecitojournal.net | Steven Libowitz
Loop Shuttle Launches State Street is in the loop again!On May 29 the Loop Shuttle begins cruising the city’s (pre-pandemic) main drag now known as the State Street Promenade.
