MISCELLANY (Continued from page 45)
“Charlie and his angels” Claudia Nevarez, Wanda Kelley, Angela Gonzales, Laura Bode, executive director, SBRPA sponsor; Alicia St. John, contributor; Debbie Saucedo, widow of Alex Saucedo; and event sponsor Charlie Alva; and Jamie Graybill surrounding Alicia’s 1958 MGA Competitional Racer (photo by Priscilla) UCSB Arts & Lectures staff with Lil Buck (photo by Grace Kathryn Photography)
Maxine Prisyon and Johnny Gandelsman (photo by Grace Kathryn Photography)
In a Jam Just 24 hours earlier, it was a performance of a different kind at the Granada when the venerable theater, in affiliation with UCSB Arts & Lectures, staged A Jookin’ Jam Session, featuring the extremely fluid choreography of Memphis, Tennessee, hip-hop dancers Lil Buck and Ron Myles, and former New York City Ballet principal dancer Damian Woetzel, who I used to see on occasion at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center. The entertaining show, which also featured a host of talented musicians, including pianist Cristina Pato on Galician bagpipes and Grammy nominee Sandeep Das, a tabla player, who has performed with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. Of particular note was a sequence featuring a video projection of the graffiti art of late New Yorker Keith Haring and The Swan featuring the music of Camille Saint-Saëns. Certainly an evening with a difference. Georgia on Their Mind Earlier in the week, UCSB Arts & Lectures held its first concert at The Old Mission, featuring the 16-yearold Ensemble Basiani of Georgia, which was the perfect venue given the acoustics and the soaring height of the ceiling.
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The singers, Russia’s answer to our own Quire of Voyces, dressed in Cossack uniforms to the 75-minute concert, which featured folk songs and religious hymns, accompanied by the balalaika and volybnka, Russian bagpipes complementing the polyphonic harmonies perfectly. Under directors Zurab Tskrialashvili and George Donadza, the tony troupe, who I last saw at the First United Methodist Church in October 2012, in their debut, excelled. Just an hour later, the ensemble reprised their concert for another sellout audience, all clearly Russian to hear them. Girl Power The Amazons were out in force when Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara welcomed 400 guests for the 15th annual celebration lunch, with the theme Women in Leadership: Making a Difference!, at the Bacara, which raised more than $100,000 for the nonprofit. CEO Barbara Ben-Horin, who introduced speaker senator HannahBeth Jackson, says: “Santa Barbara has an impressive number of female leaders holding elected and appointed positions, serving as non-profit executives, and owning businesses of 50-plus employees. “These women are in positions to serve as role models for our girls, helping them to become independent, educated, and self-sufficient young women.” The Strong, Smart, and Bold awards were presented to the Raintree Foundation, founded by the late Harold and Diana Frank, which was accepted by their son, Jim, and to local philanthropist Stina Hans. The auctioneer, the ubiquitous Geoff Green, sold off a unique trip for a parent and daughter to travel to Sacramento for a two-day, all-inclusive VIP experience with leaders at the state capitol, which went for $6,000. Gwen Stauffer, Jean Schuyler,
Ginni Dreier, Paige Beard, Kristi Newton, mayor Helene Schneider, Margo Barbakow, Mindy Denson, Perri Harcourt, Layla Khashoggi, Sunny Margerum, Pamela PerkinsDwyer, Bill and Lois Rosen, Stephanie Sokolove, Anne Towbes, Mary Ellen Tiffany, Caroline Thompson, and David Selberg were among the guests. Fore! of a Kind It was tee time when the Parkinson Association of Santa Barbara benefitted to the tune of $100,000 from a charity golf tournament and dinner at
the Glen Annie club organized by the SB Rental Property Association, which honored the late Alex Saucedo, who suffered from the debilitating disease for 32 years. One hundred and twenty players participated in the round, with another 40 joining them for the dinner emceed by wine writer and former KEYTTV weatherman, Gabe Saglie, with the ABC affiliate’s ubiquitous John Palminteri auctioning off a Idaho wilderness lodge, a private tent for 20 at the Santa Barbara Polo Club with
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Yardi sponsor team members holding the famous “Yardi” clubs are Jillian Hall, Michael O’Boyle, Jenn Wider, Dustin Dalee, Helena Race, Garrett Godfrey, Briselda Orozco, and Martin Heusser (photo by Priscilla)
Participating Santa Barbara High School golf team members with coach James Ballantine, and Elijah Sada, Preston Gomersall, Luka Swane Lund, Issac Stone, and Malta Olhiser (photo by Priscilla)
• The Voice of the Village •
3 – 10 November 2016