ON Culture | Pride & Joy, Comedy & Tragedy
This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on August 13, 2024. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.
ON The Stage
Five-time Grammy-winning artist Jacob Collier makes his Santa Barbara debut next week as the UCSB Arts & Lectures season opener on Sunday, October 1, at Campbell Hall. A performer who moves fluidly between jazz, pop, and R&B, Collier is also known for conducting his audiences in multi-part harmonies and beats, bringing what is sure to be an entertaining evening to campus. The show starts at 7 p.m., and pre-concert festivities on the plaza in front of Campbell Hall begin at 6 p.m. Enjoy food trucks and a live deejay set by KCRW Program Director Anne Litt.
Tickets are now on sale for Lewis Black, the Grammy Award–winning stand-up comedian who performs to sold-out audiences around the world, and lucky for us, he’s coming to the Lobero on January 19, 2024. Mark your calendars and get ready to laugh. For tickets and information, click here.
ON The Page
The always-entertaining Paul Rudnick (screenwriter for In & Out and Sister Act) comes to El Encanto on October 3 for an intimate lunch and what’s sure to be a lively conversation on his essays, plays, films, and novels. His latest book is Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style. Click here for details.
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee of Santa Barbara is offering $2,000 in prizes for local youth and teens in the essay and poetry awards program. According to the organization: “This year‘s theme is based on Dr. King’s comments about what is right. Dr. King was a social activist for civil rights, but he was also a pioneer for environmental justice. We welcome original essays or poems that research this aspect of his life and explore the following question: How are you contributing to environmental justice,and/or social justice?” For more information, visit mlksb.org. Entries must be received by October 27.
ON the (Big) Screen
Don’t miss the free screening of the documentary Citizen McCaw on September 27. This is the 2008 film about the dismantling of the Santa Barbara News-Press, which came to be known as “the News-Press Mess,” among other monikers. Jerry Roberts’s and Hap Freund’s Newsmakers TV hosts the 7 p.m. screening at the Marjorie Luke Theatre, followed by a discussion about the “Future of Local News” featuring my Independent colleagues Sarah Sinclair and Ryan P. Cruz, as well as Lily Dallow (KEYT) and Gwyn Lurie (Montecito Journal). RSVPs are requested here.
Some incredible talent comes together for the new film Flora and Son, which was written and directed by John Carney (who brought us Once) and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) and Eve Hewson (who was so fabulous in Bad Sisters, and by the way, is the daughter of Bono) in a musically themed movie about a single mom with a rebellious teenage son who discovers the joy of music with the help of a washed-up musician. The first single is so good, I can’t wait to see and hear the rest. Flora and Son opens in theaters September 22 and premieres on Apple TV+ on September 29.
For those who haven’t yet had the chance to see More Than Just a Party Band, the documentary about S.B. favorite troubadour Spencer Barnitz, the film was accepted in the Ojai Film Festival, which takes place November 3-6. Stay tuned for details and screening times.
ON the Walls
The Pride & Joy Art Show graces the walls of the Santa Barbara Public Library’s Faulkner Gallery during the month of October. It’s part of a pop-up event creating a gayborhood and queer destination on the West Coast October 5-8. Learn more about this event series here.
ON The Calender
Max Talley, whom many of us know from his appearances at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, will sign his new book, When The Night Breathes Electric, at Chaucer’s Books on October 5 at 6 p.m. Always an entertaining speaker, Talley’s latest book features 18 stories that range from the fantastical to crime fiction to haunted fables to science fiction — from noir crime where the evildoers are not aware they are the criminals to humorous takes on a has-been musician trying to strike it rich by selling a rock star’s million-dollar guitar, as well as a woman dating someone to gain access to their water filter. Talley also provides psychological horror in a European village that gives visitors everything they desire, but at a steep price.
For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events/.
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