Monthly Archive for April, 2012

Macduff Everton on Photography

Published on April 30, 2012 in Feature Stories.

By D.J. Palladino

MASTER OF HAUNTED PANORAMAS, icy light and tropical ease, photographer Macduff Everton spent most of his creative life waiting for sunrise angles while perched on canyon walls far away from the town that helped make him. Although born in Oregon, the Evertons moved here in the early 1960s, when Macduff’s father Clyde became pastor at Trinity Episcopal.

Macduff Everton, photographed photographing the Guadalupe Dunes by Erin Feinblatt

The son, schooled at La Cumbre and Santa Barbara High, loved surfing foremost, but lit out for Europe and around the world before he turned 18. During his sojourns, an accidental tourist gift of a camera helped propel him from the Orient to his much-beloved Yucatan peninsula, where Everton got a visual education—later, he was formally schooled at UCSB’s College of Creative Studies.

He’s seemingly shot everything by now and always memorably, from waterside palapas in Belize to Hong Kong dusk, published in magazines from Audubon to Westways.With his artist side activated, he has shown in galleries from Santa Barbara Museum of Art to MoMA New York, among many others.

But it was in the water that Everton learned to see. “I would sometimes go way back in the wave just to see what the world looked like from there,” he explains, “Surfing was way better than therapy. No matter how agitated I got, it was always such a cleansing primal experience.”

Yet it took Everton years to get around to the changing light of our fair town. “When you’re living here,” he says, “there are so many demands on you. You might think, oh look at that great light, but you’re late for an appointment. What do you do?”

Something fairly magnificent, it turned out; The Book of Santa Barbara, which Everton and his spouse, artist Mary Heebner, created with text by Pico Iyer, is the best yet to capture both the romantic spirit as well as the aching solemnity of elements that hem us in and set us off.

“The funny thing about this city is that it’s 50 percent water,” says bushy-browed Everton, tracing the blue outlines on a city map from Leadbetter Beach to the airport. Which mostly means our world is always changing. “Winter storms will strip the sands away, and we’re left with the vertebrae of the earth exposed. Then comes spring, when there are always waves and the sands come back. From El Capitan to Rincon, these places are fabulous in spring.”

Celesta Billeci on Music & Dance

Published on April 30, 2012 in Feature Stories.

By D.J. Palladino

Celesta Billeci and Edouard Lock at the Granada Theatre, photographed by Fran Collin

IT TOOK 50 YEARS for UCSB’s Arts & Lectures series to come out of classroom annexes and into the heart of our community. Today, after 11 years with Celesta Billeci at the helm, it’s safe to say that the campus organization has become the most thorough purveyor of cultural offerings in town—from highbrow theater (The Old Globe) to lowdown blues like the popular Roots series. Dance troupes, comedy extravaganzas, films, renowned lecturers and world-class performances from every arena of entertainment followed where the music led.

Billeci, a former dancer turned events publicist at UCLA, came to town in 2000 determined to make a splash and kicked off her tenure with a live revue generated by Ry Cooder’s sociolo-rhythmical documentary Buena Vista Social Club, moving the big show from the confining quarters of Campbell Hall into the iconic center of Santa Barbara’s entertainment zone, Arlington Theater.

More quickly followed, with amazing vocal range, from David Byrne and Elvis Costello to perhaps her grandest coup, the Vienna Philharmonic at the Granada last spring.

And in a traumatized economy, too. Billeci has found Santa Barbara audiences willing to follow her anywhere. “What amazes me now is how much easier it is to get people to come out and see something they don’t know, rather than buy big tickets for people they do.” Take the Big Easy series for instance. “Who ever heard of Trombone Shorty? People showed up. How about Carolina Chocolate Drops? We did well with them too.”

She’s perhaps proudest of nurturing audiences and even stars over time. “ We brought Lang Lang when he was an unknown and then back as an international star,” she explains. Although her hardest sell has been the great jazz events, Billeci is very proud of how people turn out to see a bewildering variety of artists. For instance, Yo Yo Ma in four different configurations, including the Silk Road tour.

Billeci is nothing if not wildly eclectic. Her wish list for the future includes downright fantasies, but also intriguing possibilities— she would like to see Ry Cooder, Tom Waits and Bonnie

Raitt someday, all unplugged. In the meantime, she’s aiming for the rich and deep schedule. “I think we try to have something for everybody,” she says. “But what I want is for people to be totally unable to say, ‘I can’t go.’”

Molly Barker on Gardens

Published on April 30, 2012 in Feature Stories.

By Nancy Ransohoff

Molly Barker, photographed at the historic Casa del Hererro by Kelsey Skiver

MOLLY BARKER, executive director of Casa del Herrero in Montecito, offers the following seeds for thought for the home gardener. Whether your thumb’s green or purple, these ten spring tips will help reinvigorate the garden at your own casa.

Ornamental Orchards We have amazing orchards here—citrus, figs, sapote, cherimoya and loquat…All historic houses of this era [1925] had orchards…but ours is part of the ornamental landscape, which is considered a modern idea. Use fruit trees as a practical and decorative element.

Self-Starters With 11 acres and two gardeners, we try to include low-maintenance self-sowing plants in our borders. Try cerinthe, forget-me-not and impatiens balfourii.

Teepees & Trellises Can be made from bamboo or long whips from fruit trees. Use them as climbing structures for plants like sweet peas, beans and morning glories.

Fast-Growing Greens Plant smaller crops more frequently—every five to six weeks. Lettuces, arugula and cilantro work well.

Cutting Garden Start in the spring with dahlias, cosmos, pincushion flowers and scabiosas. For flowering in the spring, plant sweet peas in the fall.

Good Bugs Start plants that host beneficial insects, such as Queen Anne’s Lace, fennel and dill.

Great Gift Pinch a sprig of purple opal basil, put it in a jar with white vinegar and let it turn the vinegar purple. Strain, add a fresh sprig of basil and put a pretty bow on the jar—voila!

Feed the Soil Grow fava beans, crimson clover or vetch. They aerate soil, add organic material and make nitrogen available for plants. And mulch, mulch, mulch!

Deadhead Remove spent flowers, especially sweet peas, to encourage them to keep flowering.

Take a Cut Take cuttings of your favorite plants. I like to use geraniums and dahlias. Root the non-flowering tips in cactus mix or sand and vermiculite and mist daily.

John Downey on His Favorite Spring Foods

Published on April 30, 2012 in Feature Stories.

By Nancy Ransohoff

CHEF JOHN DOWNEY AND HIS WIFE LIZ have run their cozy, elegant and award-winning restaurant, Downey’s, for going on 30 years, and the State-Street gem is still going strong.

John and Liz Downey, photographed by Fran Collin

An acclaimed chef, Downey spotlights local organic fruits and veggies, sustainable locally-caught seafood and naturally raised meats and poultry. Here he shares ten faves that he looks forward to every spring, although he admits, “Some are actually available throughout much of the year; we’re in Santa Barbara after all!”

First wild-caught king salmon. Particularly if we have one of those very rare seasons when they come into Santa Barbara waters. I usually feature this in our Celebration of Spring dinner in May.

Early California peaches. I love peaches!

Fava beans. The very first beans are the very best—sweet and tender. I grew up with favas that my father grew back in England (they’re known as broad beans there), and we never removed the little “jacket” that surrounds the actual bean. The jacket is part of the broad bean experience for me; I serve them just so, tossed with butter, shallots and parsley.

New potatoes. As a kid, I used to look forward so much to those first potatoes. We never peeled them, just rubbed off most of the skin with our fingers under running water.

Spring lamb. I sometimes serve lamb with two other seasonal favorites…fresh morels and English peas. A classic combination.

Young cauliflowers from Fairview Gardens are a wonderful spring vegetable. For a change of pace, use them in a velvety creamy cauliflower soup finished off with a little freshly grated Meyer lemon zest.

Tarragon sits quietly all winter and sprouts forth in the spring. Try mixing chopped tarragon with butter, salt and pepper and slide it between the skin and breast meat of a lovely small roasting chicken.

Rhubarb! My father would harvest it from his garden and bring it straight into the kitchen where my mother would make a not-too-sweet pie. At Downey’s, we make a rhubarb tart with almond crust and serve it with our own ice cream, usually made with Tom Shepherd’s strawberries.

Heather Hudson on Surf and Sea

Published on April 30, 2012 in Uncategorized.

by Cheryl Crabtree

Heather Hudson paddles out at Hammonds Beach. January 2012. Photographed by Lori Rafferty

When 16-year-old Heather Hudson first paddled out and stood up on a wave in Malibu in the 1970s, she was hooked. “I thought, ‘I’m going to do this the rest of my life,’” recalls Hudson, who has plied the waves ever since that pivotal moment. Her passion runs so deep that filmmaker Peck Euwer chose Hudson as one of five subjects in his 2006 documentary about surf addiction, The Craving.

A Southern California native, Hudson traveled often to Santa Barbara and fell in love with the area. In 1995 she, her husband Keith and two young sons, Jack and Wil, moved here permanently. “It was the best choice we ever made,” she states. “I felt like I was finally home. This place is so beautiful. The mountains come right down and meet the ocean, and I always look forward to looking at them when I’m out in the water. It’s a gift just to be here. I feel so complete.”

Heather Hudson photographed by Lori Rafferty

While winter swells bring the best waves to Santa Barbara, Hudson says spring surf sessions are still fun and often uncrowded. Her advice for spring surfers? “Keep looking every day and you might find waves somewhere! It’s great just to get in the ocean.”

This year also marks the re-release of The Women and the Waves, a film Hudson coproduced with Euwer and showed at the 2009 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. “I wanted to talk about what it was like to be in the water as a woman. Socially, it’s a really interesting experience—there are lots of dynamics,” explains Hudson. After doing the festival circuit, Filmworks Entertainment picked up the film. The new DVD version, which includes extended footage, is available at www.thewomenandthewaves.com, as well as Amazon.com and iTunes Store.

Rod Lathim on Theater

Published on April 30, 2012 in Feature Stories.

by D.J. Palladino

Rod Lathim photographed at Marjorie Luke Theatre, January 2012, by Fran Collin

Rod Lathim’s resume is miraculously full of weird swerves. He turned his first job in a haunted Summerland restaurant into a successful book. He graduated from Santa Barbara Junior High’s celebrated theater program fledged under the wings of the late great Marjorie Luke, with a gaggle of movie stars-to-be such as Sam Bottoms, Eric Stoltz and Anthony Edwards—many his friends. Instead Lathim became a famous advocate for disability culture. But his best about-face, most of us think, took place when this fifth-generation Santa Barbaran stumbled upon his life’s work in a University of Kansas dormitory listening to Billy Joel sing “Just the Way You Are.”

“I suddenly knew what I had to do,” Lathim says. “I had to go. I realized I didn’t want a degree in music therapy.” What he wanted turned out to be Access Theater, an idea that he brought back home to Santa Barbara and, with help from the Parks and Recreation department, Devereux, Alpha School and St. Vincent’s, put on an impressive array of shows with talented disabled, able-bodied and deaf actors collaborating.

“Access Theater became my all-consuming focus for the next 18 years,” he explains. It brought the world swerving into new dimensions of theatrical experience, culminating in the internationally-acclaimed Storm Reading by Lathim and Neil Marcus, who starred.

But there is much more, and with characteristic swerviness, Lathim moved on from Access at its height, coordinating the restoration of the 75-year-old Santa Barbara Junior High Theater beginning in 1998, against all odds and within a budget that made the Granada’s concurrent reconstruction look like a Pentagon project. “I’m really proud of what we did (at what is now known as Marjorie Luke Theatre) and I know that we were lucky,” says Lathim, who managed to complete construction before the economy made such work prohibitive. “People thought that no one would want a theater on a junior high campus on the east side of town, and today it’s utilized by 140 arts and education users over 300 days a year.”

Lathim recently became a collage artist (naturally) and has returned to the written word with two projects about ghosts, one about The Spirit of the Big Yellow House and the other based on the last days of his mother’s life. He also co-produced Citizen McCaw, a documentary about the News-Press meltdown, wrote a one-act play, Unfinished Business, with Ellen Anderson that will debut at Center Stage Theater May 24-27, as part of a trio entitled Three, and someday soon may step out on a stage again, although that swerve is still in the future unknown where his swerves will no doubt serve the course of our lives just as nicely.

Sue Grafton on Writing

Published on April 30, 2012 in Feature Stories.

by Cheryl Crabtree

Sue Grafton (left) and a fan at a book signing for V is for Vengeance at Chaucer’s Bookstore, November 2011, photographed by Lauren de Bell

Santa Teresa—the geographic pseudonym for Santa Barbara—plays a pivotal role as the main setting in the world-renowned alphabet series of the Kinsey Millhone detective mysteries (A is for Alibi, B is for Burglar, etc.), written by part-time Montecito resident Sue Grafton, whose latest tome, V is for Vengeance, began flying off bookstore shelves in November.

Several Santa Teresa roads and landmarks bear the exact same names as their Santa Barbara counterparts (State Street, Highway 101, Cold Spring Bridge), while others reflect Grafton’s witty play with words and letters.

In honor of SEASONS’ tenth anniversary, here are ten Santa Teresa place names and their Santa Barbara equivalents that appear in V is for Vengeance.* Looking for a fun activity? Read the book, then follow Kinsey’s routes throughout town as she walks, drives, jogs and investigates her way to a stunning mystery wrap.

1. Passages Shopping Plaza = Paseo Nuevo Kinsey shops at Nordstrom and witnesses a shoplifter in action—an incident that launches the story.

2. Montebello = Montecito Pivotal characters Nora and Dante have homes in this wealthy enclave. They wine and dine with friends at Nine Palms Country Club (Birnam Wood).

3. Paloma Lane = Padaro Lane Site of Dante’s beach house.

4. Horton Ravine = Hope Ranch Kinsey seeks information on a black Mercedes parked in Climping Academy’s parking lot (Laguna Blanca School).

5. Harley’s Beach = Arroyo Burro Beach Locals call this beloved stretch of sand below the bluffs by its earlier moniker, Hendry’s Beach.

6. Cabaña Boulevard = Cabrillo Boulevard Kinsey lives just a block away and jogs along the waterfront most weekdays.

7. Ludlow Beach = Leadbetter Beach Kinsey and a police investigator share information over lunch at The Shack at Ludlow Beach (Shoreline Cafe).

8. La Cuesta Shopping Plaza = La Cumbre Plaza Kinsey watches a deposit of goods in a drop-off bin and their subsequent transfer in the mall parking lot.

9. Juniper Lane = Junipero Street Kinsey hangs out in a car at a private residence, observing a home across the street.

10. St. Terry’s Hospital = Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Detective work and criminal acts often result in injured characters, who typically wind up in St. Terry’s emergency room.

*Deductions based on clues in the book, plus G is for Grafton: The World of Kinsey Millhone by Natalie Hevener Kaufman and Carol McGinnis Kay (New York: Henry Holt, 1997).

Richard Sanford on Wine

Published on April 30, 2012 in Feature Stories.

Thekla and Richard Sanford photographed by Fran Collin

By Nancy Ransohoff

Richard Sanford might be called an elder statesman of Santa Barbara County winemaking if he weren’t so darned youthful. The boyish-faced affable Sanford notes with a smile, “this is my 40th year as a winegrower.”

It all started in 1970 after Sanford’s college years at UC Berkeley and UCSB and tours of duty as a naval officer in Vietnam. “I had studied geography in college and was interested in the geography of wine. Obviously, Burgundy grapes have been growing in Burgundy quite well for a long time. I was looking for a similar place in California. I felt that Pinot Noir was being grown in California climates that were too warm…the beautiful raspberry fruit was being burned out of the Pinot.”

It struck Sanford that Santa Barbara County’s unique transverse mountain range, with the Santa Ynez Mountains running east-west, was “a remarkable geographical anomaly that opens the valleys to the ocean’s cooling effects. I began driving up and down the valleys with a thermometer, checking temperatures and looking at soil.” After doing his homework, Sanford gathered some investors and established Sanford & Benedict Vineyard in what is now the Sta. Rita Hills appellation, renowned for its world-class Pinot Noir.

These days Sanford and his wife Thekla make highly acclaimed wines at their Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards, also in the Sta. Rita Hills appellation, just outside Buellton. They started farming organically ahead of the trend, about 30 years ago. Says Sanford, “Thekla and I were eating organic fruits and vegetables from our garden and Thekla asked, ‘Why don’t you just grow the grapes organically?’ I knew it would be a challenge, but we are totally committed to sustainable agriculture, environmental responsibility, ecologically responsible packaging and green building.” And it doesn’t get much greener than the charming Alma Rosa tasting room, located in a rustic converted dairy barn.

For more information and tasting room directions, go to www.almarosawinery.com.

The Oak Group on Art and Preservation

Published on April 30, 2012 in Feature Stories.

by Rebekah Altman

The awe that Santa Barbara County’s natural beauty inspires is nowhere as palpable as in the work of The Oak Group—a shifting consortium of artists who have captured the wild preciousness of this region in oils, acrylic, watercolor and (in one case) photography for 25 years.

Members of The Oak Group photographed by Van Stein

Capped at 25 members, the group comes together throughout the year for special exhibits benefiting environmental organizations or targeted preservation causes. Two of the group’s earliest accomplishments were helping to save Carpinteria Bluffs and Douglas Family Preserve (then called the Wilcox property) from development.

“The formation of the group was about painting the land,” says co-founder Arturo Tello, “but we wanted to use our art as a tool.” For each exhibit, the region in question is the artists’ subject, making a pointed connection and an irreplaceable portrait of places in peril. Tello continues, “Once we lose these places, that’s it. These are the open spaces that Santa Barbara enjoys.”

Tello, who founded the group with the late Ray Strong, believes that The Oak Group was the first environmentally focused painting group, eventually becoming the “grandfather” of other similar groups.

Marcia Burtt, another long-time member, recounts: “It wasn’t just that we were starting out 25 years ago, it’s that the whole movement was starting out [following the rise of Modernism and decline of representational painting in the mid-20th century]. I’ve been all over, and there aren’t any better plein air painters…in terms of critical mass.”

Marcia Burtt, photo by Tracy Smith

Although the artists usually work independently, they get together for a paint-out once a year to celebrate the legendary Strong’s birthday. He is considered the “spiritual father” of the group. Says Burtt, “when I go out on location, I feel like I’m just living what I’m looking at, and it’s coming through my eyes, and I respond, and it comes out the brush… It’s not an intellectual process.”

Burtt sums up the longevity of the group and loyalty of its members: “The Oak Group has persisted partly through personality and partly through the devotion to the environment that we all have. And if you’re not a very political person, in the sense of not wanting to go out and make phone calls or hold rallies, this is something you can do where you feel like you’re constantly working for what you believe in.”

Current Oak Group members are Meredith Brooks Abbott, Whitney Brooks Abbott, Marcia Burtt, Chris Chapman, John Comer, William B. Dewey, Michael Drury, Erika Edwards, Michael Enriquez, Karen Gruszka, Whitney Brooks Hansen, Jeremy Harper, Ray Hunter, John Iwerks, Larry Iwerks, Manny Lopez, William Mitchell, Hank Pitcher, Ann Sanders, Richard Schloss, Skip Smith, Arturo Tello, Thomas Van Stein and Sarah Vedder. To see a video about the Oak Group click here. For information about upcoming exhibits, visit www.theoakgroup.info.

Sides Hardware and Shoes, A Brothers Restaurant, Opens in Los Olivos

Published on April 30, 2012 in Uncategorized.

Longtime Santa Barbara restaurateurs, brothers Matt and Jeff Nichols, opened Sides Hardware and Shoes, a Brothers Restaurant in Los Olivos. A number of dishes sound mouth-watering, like The Work Boot with a thick cut of house-made applewood smoked maple bacon and the Huevos Rancheros and Cinnamon and Golden Raisin Beignets for breakfast; the Hammered Pig Sandwich of Fried Pork Tenderloin with Apple and Mustard Seed Slaw, a classic Brothers Burger and fresh Albacore Fish Tacos for lunch; as well as the Marinated Santa Barbara Olive Appetizer, Lamb Sirloin with Herbed Gnocchi, and Salmon with Fingerlings, Pesto and Asparagus for dinner.

Diners will also enjoy the array of options of comforting sweet treats on the dessert menu, including Macaroon Sandwiches and Mud Sundae with Hot Fudge.

The name and concept for the new location is based on the history of the building of the restaurant, which was founded in 1901 by Milburn Sides, who arrived in Los Olivos in 1888 shortly after the town was established. “Matt and I want to honor our community and local history by preserving this building and creating menus that bring American craftsmanship to the table,” says Jeff.

Upon entering the restaurant, guests can option table seating or a seat at the bar flanking the kitchen for full service. Matt, who also directs the wine program, has an installed an system of eight local wines, stored in kegs and served on tap by the glass, or available from quarter to full liter. “Not only are we able to maintain the temperature and high quality of each individual winemaker envisions,” says Matt, “we are effectively reducing the impact on the environment by eliminating unnecessary packaging such as bottles, corks, labels and boxes.”

The brothers have cooked for over a half million people since the beginning of Brothers Restaurant in 1996. For more information visit www.brothersrestaurant.com.

–Colleen Lai

Monthly Archive for April, 2012

Macduff Everton on Photography

Celesta Billeci on Music & Dance

Molly Barker on Gardens

John Downey on His Favorite Spring Foods

Heather Hudson on Surf and Sea

Rod Lathim on Theater

Sue Grafton on Writing

Richard Sanford on Wine

The Oak Group on Art and Preservation

Sides Hardware and Shoes, A Brothers Restaurant, Opens in Los Olivos

Looking for something ?

Video of the Week

Subscribe to receive new blogposts

SEASONS Videos

Web Exclusives

Datebook

Cultural Calendar

Explore SB

Restaurants

Wineries

Galleries

Archives

Monthly Archive for April, 2012

Looking for something ?

Video of the Week

Subscribe to receive new blogposts

Connect with us on social media

AddThis

Archives

Tags