ON Culture | Experiences Make the BEST Last Minute Gifts

This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on December 20, 2024. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

ON the Stage

The atmosphere at Coachella 2024 | Photo: Coachella / Ashley Osborn @ashleyosborn

Tickets to concerts, music festivals, theater, and other events make great gifts, and as a person who needs a deadline to get things done, they’re even more ideal. If you want to splurge, how about tickets to the Cruel World Festival. Taking place in Pasadena on May 17, this new wave, post punk extravaganza is headlined by New Order and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, with performances by the Go-Go’s, DEVO, Garbage, ‘Til Tuesday, and a whole slew of others. Check out my story here and purchase your tickets here.

If country music is more their jam, the 2025 Stagecoach Festival looks like a blast. Taking place in Indio April 25-27, superstar headliners Zach Bryan, Jelly Roll, and Luke Combs will be joined by performances from Brothers Osborne, Sturgill Simpson, Lana Del Rey, Nelly, Shaboozey, Goo Goo Dolls, and many more. Check out Shannon Brooks’ story on “How to Stagecoach” here and purchase your tickets here.

The eclectic variety of music at Coachella — also coming to Indio for two weekends, April 11-13 and April 18-20 — is sure to please many on your list, with a lineup that features Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone performing a career retrospective set, and Travis Scott and many more. See Tiana Moloney’s report here on what the vibe was like last year and click here for tickets and more information.

Coming to Redondo Beach May 3-5, Beachlife Festival looks like one that many would enjoy finding under the tree, with headliners including Sting, Seal, Incubus, My Morning Jacket, and more. Click here for tickets and information.

James Taylor, shown here at the Santa Barbara Bowl in the summer of 2023, returns May 13-14, 2025 | Photo: Matt Perko (file)

James Taylor is coming to the Bowl for two shows, May 13-14, another great gift idea. Also recently announced and available to stuff your stockings or light up a smile along with the menorah: trumpet virtuoso Chris Botti at The Granada Theatre on March 29, The Wallflowers at the Lobero on May 22, and the Indigo Girls & Melissa Etheridge at Vina Robles on August 7.

Former professional surfer Donavon Frankenreiter, who did a great set at the Lobero this summer alongside ALO, returns to town on December 30 to play SOhO. This time he’ll be with Tim Hayn. Click here for tickets and more information.

ON the Page

Looking for book recommendations? Santa Barbara Public Library’s librarians have a great list of what they’re reading, including small synopsis here. Also don’t miss out on our list of our reviewers’ picks for the top ten books of 2024 (click here).

ON the (Big) Screen

Will Ferrell with Kristen Wigg, left, and Octavia Spencer on the red carpet at the SBIFF Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Will Ferrell’s on a roll this month. He was funny as all get out, but also warm, sweet, and sincerely appreciative in accepting the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival last week (see Joe Woodard’s report here). Between laughing at the hilarious hijinks and highlights of Ferrell’s career, which ran in onscreen montages throughout the night, sitting next to Scott Feinberg (IYKYK) at dinner, and Kristen Wiig presenting the award, I was fangirling all night long. Funds for the swanky awards dinner go to support SBIFF’s impressive slate of education programs, the carrot which attracts top notch talent like Ferrell to come to our humble burg and bring their famous friends. Read more about those offerings here.

Ferrell’s current Netflix film Will & Harper — a road trip movie made with his longtime friend and former SNL colleague Harper Steele, who recently came out as a trans woman and went on the cross country journey with Will to re-experience some of her favorite places as her true self — made the shortlist as one of 15 films in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 97th Academy Awards. The other films selected, out of 168 eligible titles, were: The Bibi Files, Black Box Diaries, Dahomey, Daughters, Eno, Frida, Hollywoodgate, No Other Land, Porcelain War, Queendom, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, Sugarcane, and Union.

ON the Walls

“Models in the Windows, New York City, 1960,” Copyright: Ormond Gigli / Gigli Estate. | Image: Courtesy of Peter Fetterman Gallery

Art photography takes the spotlight at Sullivan Goss Gallery next month, with the gallery’s first photography exhibition in nearly 20 years. The show includes a diverse group of images from the collection of Peter Fetterman, one of L.A.’s most respected photography dealers. Fetterman’s 2022 book The Power of Photography served as an inspiration for the show. The backstory is that during the COVID lockdown, with no way to bring collectors into his gallery, Peter “exhibited” one photograph per day via his email list, usually accompanied by quotes from the artist and his personal anecdotes or explanations about why he found this particular image so compelling. The Power of Photography presents 120 outstanding images from the series (which now numbers more than 1500 entries and counting), along with Peter’s insightful words.

Artists in the exhibition are: Kristoffer Albrecht, Paul Caponigro, Georges Dambier, Martin Elkort, Elliott Erwitt, Ormond Gigli, Burt Glinn, Don Hunstein, Yale Jole, Michael Kenna, Andrew Kent, Herman Leonard, Grace Robertson, Willy Ronis, Pentti Sammallahti, George Tice, Todd Webb, and Sabine Weiss.

In addition, Fetterman will be in town to do a lecture and book signing at Sullivan Goss on Saturday, January 11 from 4-6 p.m. The lecture is free to attend but an RSVP is required here.

ON the Air

Mariah Carey “All I Want For Christmas Is You” | Photo: Courtesy

If you have any doubt that Christmas songs are big business, a new report by Playlist Name AI listed the top 10 highest earning holiday songs on Spotify. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” topped the list, with more than 1.8 million streams estimated to bring in more than $7 million. “Last Christmas” by Wham! was in second place, followed by Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me,” Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and Michael Bublé’s “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.”

ON the Calendar

CAW Art Holiday Pop poster | Photo: Courtesy

A unique and eclectic holiday shopping experience featuring 50+ local artists, makers, creatives and collectors comes together at the CAW Art Holiday Pop taking place this Saturday, December 21, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Community Arts Workshop. Presented by Vanae Rivera and Rebecca Zendejas, in addition to a wide range of one-of-a-kind gift options, there will be music by DJ Bennett, food from Rascal’s, warm beverages by Welcome Coffee Cart, a Happy Mush workshop, onsite screen printing by MindGarden, Interactive Typewritten Poetry with Simon Kiefer, a Cher This Moment Photo Booth, and a Gift Wrapping Station. Click here for more info.

For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events/.