C ALENDAR OF Note to readers: This entertainment calendar is a subjective sampling of arts and other events taking place in the Santa Barbara area for the next week. It is by no means comprehensive. Be sure to read feature stories in each issue that complement the calendar. In order to be considered for inclusion in this calendar, information must be submitted no later than noon on the Wednesday eight days prior to publication date. Please send all news releases and digital artwork to slibowitz@yahoo.com)
THURSDAY, JULY 14 SOhO Sounds – Slanted Land, the power trio founded by singersongwriter-guitarist Tova Morrison in 2011 to explore psychedelic sonics, blues rock, jazz, rap and Middle Eastern modes paired with eccentrically sardonic and reflective lyrics, is back at SOhO, which now boasts a renovated patio that, ironically, no longer slants at all! The self-described “alternative indie-feminist hippie rock band” is celebrating the release of a new EP with fellow Santa Barbara rockers Chichis Christ and Sarah Vierheller Band. Admission includes a copy of the new disc. WHEN: 8:30 pm WHERE: SOhO, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $8 INFO: 962-7776 or www.sohosb.com SATURDAY, JULY 16 SLH Season 39 – Sings Like Hell, music promoter Peggie Jones’s brainchild back in the mid-1990s to
create a singer-songwriter subscription series at the Lobero Theatre, nears the 20-year mark with the launch of its 39th series. The six-concert set kicks off with the series debut of Possessed By Paul James, the alterego of Konrad Wert, an American folk singer, songwriter, and musician who spends his non-touring days teaching disabled children. Under the Possessed moniker, Wert is a tour-deforce one-man band, playing banjo, fiddle and guitar and stomping his foot for percussion as he delivers songs that change shape nightly. The Austin acoustic wizard is another find for Jones, who left Santa Ynez for Texas about halfway through the SLH tenure. Opening is sombrevoiced Richard Buckner, the veteran singer-songwriter who has been exploring the dark underbelly of America – and his own soul – for more than 20 years. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: 33 East Canon Perdido St. COST: $39 (series tickets available for $180) INFO: 963-0761 or www. lobero.com
ONGOING Concerts in the Park – There’s really nothing quite like the weekly events held on Thursday evenings at Chase Palm Park, just across Cabrillo Boulevard from the strip of sand between East Beach and Stearns Wharf. Thousands gather ostensibly for the music – scores of folks were up and dancing from the first notes when perennial favorite Captain Cardiac & the Coronaries kicked off the 2016 schedule last week – but it’s also the relaxed party atmosphere where picnicking and socializing on the gently sloping field is encouraged, and the always tepid climate as the sun begins to set brings out some of the most beautiful views of our already admittedly gaudily gorgeous environs. Sadly, only three more concerts remain on the schedule, as the slate of shows, once boasting as many as eight concerts, has been trimmed to just four this year. The good news is that the final three acts are all well worth hearing, beginning Thursday, July 14, with Deanna Bogart, the blues and boogie-woogie singer and pianist/ saxophonist (not your usual combination) who has put out a solid 10 albums in a 25-year solo career that began after stints with Maryland’s Cowboy Jazz and Root Boy Slim. Finding rhythms to dance to won’t be a problem here, though you may also want to take a breather to just listen to the licks. Next week, July 21, brings the series debut of Queen Nation, the ensemble that has been paying tribute to the rock band Queen for more than a dozen years, and is led by Gregory Finsley on vocals and keyboards as the apparently not-so-inimitable Freddie Mercury. Expect to hear such iconic Queen songs as “We Will Rock You”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Are The Champions”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “You’re My Best Friend”, “Another One Bites The Dust”, “Under Pressure”, and many more. The series closes July 28 with Santa Barbara’s own British Invasion/classic rock-inspired Tearaways. WHEN: 6-8:30 pm WHERE: Chase Palm Park, 300 E. Cabrillo Blvd. COST: free INFO: 897-1946 or www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/parksrec/recreation/ events/parkrec/concerts.asp
42 MONTECITO JOURNAL
EVENTS by Steven Libowitz
THURSDAY, JULY 14 Flatts in the Valley – Grammy Award-winning country trio Rascal Flatts leads a trio of big stars heading up the San Marcos Pass to the Santa Ynez Valley over the next 10 days as the Chumash Casino Resort celebrates the completion of its $165-million casino-hotel expansion. In a 17-year career, Rascal Flatts has sold more than 22 million albums plus 28 million digital downloads and also counts 16 No. 1 singles on Billboard Hot Country Songs chart to their credit. Their cover of Marcus Hummon’s “Bless the Broken Road” spent five weeks atop the chart back in 2005, while “What Hurts the Most” hit No. 1 on both the country and Adult Contemporary charts, and even reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Also expect to hear “Life is a Highway” and other crowd favorites as the country crooners kick off the newly renovated Samala Showroom. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld checks in for two shows on Thursday, July 21, before the legendary Stevie Wonder winds up the week on Sunday, July 24, at the relatively intimate 1,400-seat venue. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Chumash Casino Resort, 3400 East Hwy. 246, Santa Ynez COST: $95-$175 INFO: (800) CHUMASH (248-6274) or www.chumashcasino.com
Dolls & Soul at Bowl – The Santa Barbara Bowl just hosted a big ‘90s hip-hop and more show at the beginning of the month. Tonight, a couple of alternative rock bands from the same era get their due, as The Goo Goo Dolls, who have sold more than 10 million albums since emerging in the early 1990s, headline at the amphitheater. Among their more than a dozen Top 10 radio hits are “Name”, “Slide”, and “Iris”; the last-named spent almost a full year on the Billboard charts and held the No. 1 position for 17 consecutive weeks. But the Dolls are still doing new stuff: their 11th studio album, Boxes, came out just two months ago, and one reviewer gave it a nice notice, saying the record “unapologetically embraces their middle age, excising any remaining hints of the raucous rock band of yore and splitting their time between power ballads and insistent anthems.” Opening is Collective Soul, Ed Roland’s Atlanta-based rock band that has scored seven hits of its own, most notably “Shine”. Their latest album, See What You Started by Continuing, came out last fall. WHEN: 6:30 pm WHERE: 1122 North Milpas St. COST: $34.50-$74.50 INFO: 962-7411 or www.sbbowl.com SUNDAY, JULY 17 Going with the Flow – Jazz vocalist Cathy Segal-Garcia, a Berklee College of Music grad who has been a jazz educator herself for more than three decades, has also been a performer for even longer, and has more than half a dozen
• The Voice of the Village •
albums to her credit. Once praised by Los Angeles Times jazz critic Don Heckman as “a model of warmed, exquisitely focused jazz vocalizing… (with a) sensuous voice, and cool harmonies,” Segal-Garcia has been lauded for her vocal technique and the versatility of her singing. For today’s Santa Barbara Jazz Society Sunday afternoon show, she’ll be accompanied by veteran players Ian Bernard on piano, Jonathan Richards on bass, and Paul Kreibich on drums. WHEN: 1-4 pm WHERE: SOhO, 1221 State Street, upstairs in Victoria Court COST: $25 general, $15 SBJS members, $7 members who are local professional jazz musicians or full-time students INFO: 962-7776/www.sohosb.com or 687-7123/www.sbjazz.org WEDNESDAY, JULY 20 Special Knight – Emeritus UCSB professor John Ridland, who taught literature and writing at the campus for more than 40 years, is also a poet who has a special interest in translating classic epics. His latest project is a verse translation of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, by the anonymous Gawain-Poet (or PearlPoet), considered one of the greatest classics of English literature. Hailed as the finest Arthurian romance, the tale of enchantment, faith, temptation, and chivalry has been given a new Modern English translation, which, unlike most presentations, is complete, covering every passage and word of the Middle English, Northwest Midland dialect original with the 14 – 21 July 2016