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The BEST things in life are

FREE22 – 29 December 2011Vol 17 Issue 51

The Way It WasAlbert Herter’s monumental murals

grace museums and art galleries around the world, p. 37

Ray’s RamblingsRay Winn was just a young soldier toying with nuclear bombs when he spotted the coyote and its pup, p. 28

Village BeatEighteen-year search ends as

Katie Teall finally brings Montecito Confections to Montecito, p. 11

COMMUNITY CALENDAR, P. 10 • CALENDAR OF EVENTS, P. 40 • GUIDE TO MONTECITO EATERIES, P. 42

The Voice of the Village SSINCE 1995S

Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee Harry Stradling, Jr. decamps L.A. for Montecito; Sue Reinhart

launches Edible and Medicinal Plants at Tecolote, p. 6

MINEARDS’ MISCELLANY

SURGERY SIDELINES SUMMERLAND SANTALoMonacos’ formerly swiveling Surfing Santa wipes out during high winds, landing

face down and debilitated in garden, but help is on the way (story on page 45)

22 – 29 December 2011MONTECITO JOURNAL2 • T!" V#$%" #& '!" V$(()*" •

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22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 3

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5 Editorial With men such as Jon Corzine and Joe Biden at his beck and call, J.B. wonders what could

possibly go wrong for President Obama6 Montecito Miscellany Oscars run in Harry Stradling Jr.’s family; Sue Reinhart’s book bash; SB Sports Drive; Ellen

DeGeneres’ new home; guests learn art of sabrage at Coast 2 Coast; Hutton Wilkinson launches book; Ty Warner’s celebrity Beanie Baby; Kardashian wedding named “worst”; Nutcracker at Granada; Alessio Bax’s performance at Lobero; royal movie premiere comes at high price; Christopher Hitchens passes

8 Letters to the Editor Dr. McGowan describes government processes as Byzantine; John Kelley disputes contention

that healthcare legislation will be fi nal nail in developer’s co+ n; Journal reprimanded for grammatically incorrect headline; Dana’s fi re truck hums along, thanks to SB City Council sweat; Jay Hitchner thanks Journal for coverage of daughter Hannah; “, e Rooster” crows his fi nal show

10 Community Calendar Beer & Brats in Summerland; wine tasting on Coast Village; First United Methodist

Church presents annual Nativity scene; Christmas and Christmas Eve services in Montecito; champagne tasting at Ty Lounge; Jazz and High Tea at Montecito Country Club; New Year’s Eve in Montecito; ongoing events

Tide Guide Handy guide to assist readers in determining when to take that walk or run on the beach11 Village Beat Community tree planted; Montecito Confections takes over Whodidily space; Silverhorn

donates to Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network; Crane School students spend morning volunteering for holidays; A Modern Day High Tea at Montecito Country Club

14 Seen Around Town BCRC fourth annual luncheon tea and fashion show at Biltmore; Community Leaders

Luncheon at the Doubletree; Casa del Herrero Christmas party26 Book Talk Jim Harrison’s latest novel , e Great Leader sends its protagonist in pursuit of hedonistic cult leader 28 Ray’s Ramblings It was autumn, 1957, and Ray Winn recalls his days of toying with nuclear explosions29 Coup de Grace Grace looks back with fondness on a simpler time, when things were, well, simpler 30 Our Town Round-up of annual school holiday concerts around town 33 Seniority Patti honors elders and answers a reader’s question 34 Montecito Living Lilly Tam discovers Yummy Mummy Kitchen via search on local blogs for holiday entertaining

ideas 35 Simple Tech Harold Adams advises: seniors can be tech savvy, too!36 Your Westmont Student dancer performance takes new direction; entrepreneurs pick top student business

plans; lighting of the Pickle Tree37 Way it Was , e artistic Herter family is profi led in part one of this two-part story40 Calendar of Events Ongoing holiday events; theater happenings; Johnny Polanco returns to SOhO; Bayou Seco

play contra dance; Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, comes to SOhO; New Year’s Eve Pops Concert at Granada; Lois Mahalia and Kenny Loggins perform on New Year’s Eve

41 On Entertainment Tommy Cantillon and his band present “A Tommy & , e High Pilots Christmas” at the

Lobero; Mike Shobe passes42 Guide to Montecito Eateries , e most complete, up-to-date, comprehensive listing of all individually owned Montecito

restaurants, co- ee houses, bakeries, gelaterias, and hangouts; some in Santa Barbara, Summerland, and Carpinteria too

43 Movie Showtimes Latest fi lms, times, theaters, and addresses: they’re all here, as they are every week45 Summerland By The Sea Summerland Santa su- ers technical di+ culties; December 22 is Men's Shopping Night at Bonita46 Classifi ed Advertising Our very own “Craigslist” of classifi ed ads, in which sellers o- er everything from summer

rentals to estate sales47 Local Business Directory Smart business owners place business cards here so readers know where to look when they need

what those businesses o- er

INSIDE THIS ISSUEINSIDE THIS ISSUEp.10 p.30

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22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 5Drive someone crazy: send a telegram and on the top put “page 2” – Henny Youngman

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Jon was Right… Oh, Never Mind“When Barack Obama and I were beginning to plan,” said the newly

elected Vice-President Joe Biden on May 7 2009, “how we would try to get this economy out of the ditch, literally the fi rst guy I

called was Jon Corzine… He’s the smartest guy that I know in terms of the economy and on fi nance. I really mean this.” On October 19, ’09, Biden piled it on: “We were on the phone calling Jon Corzine, literally. I literally picked up the phone and called Jon Corzine and said, ‘Jon, what do you think we should do?’ And Jon suggested and laid out and we talked a long time about what the elements of the recovery package nationally should be… What we heard from Jon is what we needed to do, and we trust his judgment.” Barack Obama didn’t let his second-in-command do all the talking. On July 16, ’09, President Obama said that “Jon Corzine wasn’t just the fi rst governor to pass an economic recovery plan for his state.” Corzine’s big plan, of course, was to raises taxes on the most heavily taxed state residents in the country… again. “He was an ally,” the president continued, “with the Obama administration in helping us develop a national recovery plan.” So, in case you were wondering why the $800-billion-plus “stimulus” plan didn’t stimulate anything but Goldman Sachs executives, bankers, Wall Street fi nanciers, UAW members and legions of state government employees, you can blame it all, apparently, on former Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine (who headed up Goldman Sachs as it reported its fi rst losing year in its 129-year history). Mr. Corzine is also famously the former CEO of the now-bankrupt MF Global who, when grilled by Congress about a missing $1.2-billion in customer money, replied, “I simply do not know where the money is.” Which makes sense to us, as no one knows where the heck that $800-billion-plus “stimulus” money is either. Corzine was, according to the president and vice-president, the “brains” behind that scheme too. It is all so reassuring…

Miles For DreamsOkay, all you “millionaires and billionaires” out there tired of being

harangued and ridiculed by your Commander in Chief and his second-in-command, here’s a Christmas challenge that may help soothe your battered egos: The Dream Foundation, founded by Thom Rollerson in 1993 here in Santa Barbara and now a nationally known non-profit organization dedi-cated to fulfilling the wishes (and dreams) of terminally ill adults, is always in search of ways to expand its offerings. United Airlines is dedicating 10 million air miles to charities this Christmas and the Dream Foundation hopes to receive at least some of those miles. The only way it can, however, is if enough people around the nation vote for the Dream Foundation to receive some of those miles. They’re competing with some of the largest and best-known charities and non-profits in the land, but you can help: log on to: 10millioncharitymiles.com, click on the Dream Foundation logo (it’s really small, but it is shaped like a ribbon; please search carefully). You are allowed to vote once every day from now until the end of December, so contrary to what you should do in a real election, we urge you to vote both early and often.

And, Finally…A great big Thank You to all our readers, who’ve made Montecito Journal

the most read and widely circulated publication in Montecito, by far, and to our loyal advertisers, without whom we, of course, could not exist. We wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a pleasant any other holiday celebration you care to adhere to, including but not limited to Festivus for the Restofus. We wish you too an extremely Happy (and safe) New Year! •MJ

Editorial by James Buckley


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Just Wild About Harry

Monte ito Miscellany

by Richard Mineards

Richard covered the Royal Family for Britain’s Daily Mirror and Daily Mail before moving to New York to write for Rupert Murdoch’s newly launched Star magazine in 1978; Richard later wrote for New York magazine’s “Intelligencer”. He continues to make regular appearances on CBS, ABC, and CNN, and moved to Montecito four years ago.

MISCELLANY MISCELLANY Page 16�

For Harry Stradling Jr., the latest resident of Montecito, Oscars run in the family.

Harry, 86, who left Los Angeles for our rarefied enclave just a month ago, retired from the film biz after 50 years as a top cinematographer in 1987, garner-ing two Academy Award nominations for his work on The Way We Were, with Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, and 1776 with William Daniels and Blythe Danner, in consecutive years.

But it was Harry’s eponymous father who really gave the famed gold trophy a run for its money, gaining 14 Oscar nominations, including winning twice for My Fair Lady and, nearly 20 years earlier, for the film version of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

“He had quite a run and, of course, it was he who got me into the film biz,” Harry told me over coffee at Pierre

Lafond, just 24 hours after hearing me talk about an old friend, the late Old Etonian actor Jeremy Brett, who played Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the George Cukor-directed musical and memora-bly sang “On The Street Where You Live” - although the song was dubbed.

Jeremy, an heir to the Cadbury choc-olate dynasty, later went on to play the quintessential Sherlock Holmes in the long running Granada TV series until his untimely death at the age of 62 in 1995.

“I first started working at a gas sta-tion getting paid $30, but my dad got me a job at MGM as an assistant cam-eraman which earned $50,” laughs the affable Harry. “I loved the money more than the movies!”

Harry, who is now living with his


IMAGINE THE PLACES THEY WILL GO.


LEGACY1137 Coast Village Road Montecito, CAwww.legacy-montecito.com 805.845.3300

SEASON OF CELEBRATIONS!

If you have something you think Montecito should know about, or wish to respond to something you read in the Journal, we want to hear from you. Please send all such correspondence to: Montecito Journal, Letters to the Editor, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite D, Montecito, CA. 93108. You can also FAX such mail to: (805) 969-6654, or E-mail to [email protected]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Welcome to Byzantium

Bob Hazard gives us an example of what should not happen (“How the Rich Become the

Poor” Editorial MJ # 17/49). It is true the course of development sees many potholes in the road, many by senseless bureaucratic requirements. But neighbors also create serious stumbling blocks, as seen in the tortuous route traveled by the Miramar and earlier by the Coral Casino, issues brought up by neighbors that have stopped projects dead in the water, costing needlessly in time and money. At times investigations into presumed ordinance or regulatory infractions have been driven by agencies that operate from fee for services and thus will come up with some weird interpretation of a regulation that creates an infraction condition, then they can investigate it, while charging for their time to investigate. The processes are so Byzantine that these situations are commonplace. It takes time and coordination to turn these issues around.

Dr. Edo McGowanMontecito(Editor’s note: Resistance to Ty

Warner’s plans at Coral Casino, the beach wall, and the Miramar have led Mr. Warner to all but abandon Montecito. Which is a shame, because at one point he was our biggest booster. What he and his crew did with the lamentable remnant of Channel Drive and its County-authorized (and quite creepy) six-foot-high chain-link fence and crumbling asphalt by landscaping and design is an example of what he could have done elsewhere had he been encouraged and rewarded rather than lambasted and lampooned for his efforts. It’s our loss. Sadly, it often takes just one person to object to something and process be damned. The stalled Miramar project is a fitting metaphor for the situ-ation the entire state of California finds itself in: tangled in regulation, stifled by resistance, and mired in debilitating debate. – J.B.)

More Coffin Nails To Come?

I read Bob Hazard’s editorial with great interest. He tells a dramatic story of his friend’s six-year struggle to develop an affordable snowboarding resort in Colorado. The villains in the story are EPA bureaucrats, govern-ment inspectors, and ADA inspec-tors. While leaving many questions unanswered, his point of view is well supported by the one-sided examples presented.

As a member of the design and development community, I under-stand the uncertainty that comes with any development project and I have some sympathy for this developer’s difficulties. However, the credibil-ity of the editorial is undermined by the claim that “with the passage of ObamaCare ... the resort must now provide mandatory health insurance to all employees or pay a $3,000 per-person fine.”

It is debatable how many of the developer’s financial problems are due to regulations and how many are due to a poor business plan. What is not debatable is that the Affordable Healthcare Act will not be “the final nail in (the developer’s) coffin,” because, contrary to the assertion in Mr. Hazard’s editorial, it does not require employers to provide health insurance for their employees.

John D. KelleySanta Barbara (Editor’s note: The Patient Protection

and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), signed into law by the President on March 23, 2010, includes a business mandate, beginning in 2014, that requires employ-ers with 50 or more employees to enroll its workers in healthcare coverage, or pay a stiff fine of $3,000 per low-paid employee.

Because small business employer health care plans must be finalized in 2013 to meet the 2014 business mandate, my friend who owns the snowboarding resort in Colorado, brought in a knowledgeable healthcare consultant, recommended by

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Publisher Timothy Lennon Buckley Editor Kelly Mahan • Design/Production Trent Watanabe

Associate Editor Bob Hazard • Lily Buckley • Associate Publisher Robert Shafer

Advertising Manager/Sales Susan Brooks • Advertising Specialist Tanis Nelson • Office Manager / Ad Sales Christine Merrick • Moral Support & Proofreading Helen Buckley • Arts/Entertainment/Calendar/Music

Steven Libowitz • Books Shelly Lowenkopf • Business Flora Kontilis • Columns Ward Connerly, Erin Graffy, Scott Craig • Food/Wine Judy Willis, Lilly Tam Cronin • Gossip Thedim Fiste, Richard Mineards • History Hattie Beresford • Humor Jim Alexander, Ernie Witham, Grace Rachow • Photography/Our Town Joanne A. Calitri • Society Lynda Millner • Travel Jerry Dunn • Sportsman Dr. John Burk • Trail Talk Lynn P. Kirst

Medical Advice Dr. Gary Bradley, Dr. Anthony Allina • Legal Advice Robert Ornstein

Published by Montecito Journal Inc., James Buckley, PresidentPRINTED BY NPCP INC., SANTA BARBARA, CA

Montecito Journal is compiled, compounded, calibrated, cogitated over, and coughed up every Wednesday by an exacting agglomeration of excitable (and often exemplary) expert edifiers at 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite D, Montecito, CA 93108. How to reach us: Editorial: (805) 565-1860; Sue Brooks: ext. 4; Christine Merrick: ext. 3; Classifi ed: ext. 3; FAX: (805) 969-6654; Letters to Editor: Montecito Journal, 1206 Coast Village Circle, Suite D, Montecito, CA 93108; E-MAIL: [email protected]

The best little paper in America(Covering the best little community anywhere!)

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 9I must follow the people; am I not their leader? – Benjamin Disraeli

References Available(lots of them!)

Dan EncellDirector, Estates Division

Prudential Fine HomesCall: (805) [email protected]

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the Colorado Ski Association, to exam-ine the business mandate and explore options. Currently, only 6 of the resort’s 100 young, “indestructible” employees are enrolled in the resort’s healthcare plan, in which the employer pays 70% and the employee pays 30%. “The kids” want no payroll deductions for healthcare coverage they don’t believe they need.

The consultant’s opinion was that the least expensive option for the owner in 2014 is to pay the $3,000 healthcare fine per employee rather than absorb the $6,000 annual cost of providing health-care coverage for each employee. With gross revenues of just over a million dol-lars a year, it would be difficult to add an expense of $300,000 a year for healthcare coverage. This would be “the final nail in the coffin” for this start-up small busi-ness. – Bob Hazard)

Editing Boo BooYour Journal is usually well edit-

ed, but this is a howler of a mis-take. The front-page caption of your #17/49 issue: “Nearly 18 months after being destroyed by fire, owner Sepi Mashhoon…” implies that owner Sepi Mashhoon was destroyed by fire!

It should read, “Nearly 18 months after Xanadu was destroyed by fire, owner Sepi Mashhoon…”

Anonymous(Editor’s note: Although we believe no

one misconstrued the intent of the cover caption, you are absolutely correct. The often illogical English language is fre-quently mangled by headline writers, but we try (and most often succeed) to main-tain a high grammatical standard. Thanks for keeping watch! – TLB)

Get Out And Push!The citizens of Santa Barbara final-

ly got some work out of their City Council.

Probably in September, Council member and family friend Michael Self dropped me an email. She requested that I drive my ‘37 Ford fire engine in the Santa Barbara Christmas Parade (Holiday Parade) with the entire City Council and Mayor aboard. I replied that I would be honored. So, on December 1, I spent the morn-ing decorating the truck appropri-ately. Later, I drove the engine to Roy Miller’s East-West Garage for a ser-

vice. The service was performed and the engine was “ready.”

The Friday evening was cool, but pleasant. As instructed, I arrived at 5 pm for “line-up” and instructions. As the time neared for the start of the parade, masses of participants began to assemble all around the engine. We were assigned position #8. By 6 pm all the members of the Council and Mayor had arrived. After posing for numerous photographs, it was time to go.

To set the stage, to the left of the truck on Sola Street was a high school band. There were parade goers every-where you looked, a staggering num-ber of red-beanied onlookers was amassed.

The truck – being 74 years old – does not have a tachometer, nor does it have any other common amenities. To operate the engine, I rely on my hearing to determine how much to rev the engine to manage the load. Total count of dignitaries, family and friends was 16. With all the pandemo-nium, I could not hear a thing.

Finally, the monitor points to me; it’s my turn.

I hit the starter; the engine came alive!

Pulling away from the curb, how-ever, the motor died.

I hit the starter again: nothing but the winding of the starter. In des-peration, I reached for the battery pack to jump start the engine, noth-ing again. Frustrated, I pointed at the

LETTERS LETTERS Page 21�

Dana Newquist and his wife, Andrea, celebrate Christmas in their spiffy (and sometimes sputter-ing) 1937 Ford Fire Engine


TUESDAY DECEMBER 27

Jazz and High TeaFormer Montecito Students Andrew Adams and Matt Raphallian are coming to town to play w ith SBHS A lumni A ll-Star Ja z z Band a t Montecito Country C lub . Guest artist Peter Clark w ill be joining them for a “Modern Day H igh Tea – A Perfect A fternoon of Ja z z .”Both M a tt and Andrew have played together since 2002 back when Cold Spring School had an active band program; M a tt on drums and Andrew on sax. They went on to play a t both S.B. Junior and Senior H igh together. They’re a lso bring ing from Berklee Victor Murillo (bass) and Jared Yee (tenor sax) who gradua ted SBC C prior to transferring to Berklee . They’ll be joined by three time soloist award w inner Robert Harrel on trumpet, and other SBHS A lum.W hen: 3 pm to 6 pmW here: 920 Summit RoadCost: $20 in advance , $25 a t the doorReserva tions: SBPerfectM ix@gma il.com

SATURDAY DECEMBER 31

New Year’s Eve EateriesRestaurants in Montecito are preparing specia ls for the big night, but make sure you have reserva tions!Bella Vista a t the Biltmore , 1260 Channel Drive , 969-2261 , appetizers, fi ve-course prix-fi xe menu w ith champagne toast and live band , $250Stonehouse and Plow and Angel, 900 San Ysidro Lane , 565-1724 , four-course menu, two sea tings, $165 , $220 w ith w ine pa iringsCava, 1212 Coast Village Road , 969-8500 , prix-fi xe dinner w ith champagne and live music, prices varyStella Mare’s, 50 Los Pa tos Way, four-course prix-fi xe menu; ca ll for price a t 969-6705Lucky’s, 1270 Coast Village Road , 565-7540 , reserva tions required Montecito Wine Bistro, 516 San Ysidro Road , 969-7520 , Sparkling W ine Flights fea turing Crista l are $15 per person; norma l menu w ill be served •MJ

1455 East Va lley Road: 4 pm, Family Worship Service; 9 pm, C andlelight ServiceAll Saints by-the-Sea Episcopal Church , 8 3 Euc a l y p tus L a ne : 4 pm , C h i l dren ’s C hr i s tm a s Serv i c e ; 6 : 3 0 pm a nd 9 : 3 0 pm , The C a ro ls o f C hr i s tm a s ; 7 pm F es t iv a l Euch a r i s t ; 1 0 pm C hr i s tm a s Eve Serv i c e w i th Inc enseMontecito Covenant Church, 671 Cold Spring Road , 7 pm; Christmas Eve Service

MONDAY DECEMBER 26

World of Bubbly Ty Lounge is add ing serious spark le to the season w ith a “ World of Bubb ly” menu of spark ling w ines by the g l ass. The se lection showc ases more than 2 0 d ifferent l abe ls from around the g lobe tha t are typ ic a lly so ld by the bottle only. Furthermore , a resident mixo log ist w i ll be ge tting guests in the ho liday sp irit w ith lessons in champa gne cockta i ls. A fter d iscovering how to whip up four fi z zy ho liday drinks, guests w i ll ta ke home a co llection of recipes to crea te a t the ir next p arty. W hen: 3:30 to 4:30 pm, today, December 28 and December 30W here: Ty Lounge , 1260 Channel DriveCost: freeInfo: 969-2261

THURSDAY DECEMBER 22

Beer & BratsBonita in Summerland hosts a Men’s Shopping N ight; g ifts bought w ill be g ift-wrapped while men sit back, relax, and enjoy beer and bra ts W hen: 4 pm to 8 pmW here: 2330 Lillie AvenueInfo: 565-3848

21st Annual Living NativityFor 21 years the congrega tion of the First United Methodist Church has staged a re-crea tion of the Holy N ight for three nights just before Christmas. Under a redwood tree and adjacent to the church, a grassy area is transformed into a humble wooden stable , complete w ith M ary, Joseph and tiny baby Jesus asleep in the manger. Three ma jestic kings stand by w ith their g ifts to the Holy Child , a ttentive angels appear nearby, and low ly shepherds tend to their fl ocks. C amels, sheep , a donkey and occasiona l chickens surround the manger taking the wonder of it a ll. The Living N a tivity w ill be held for 3 nights:

(If you have a Montecito event, or an event that concerns Montecito, please e-mail [email protected] or call (805) 565-1860)

Community Calendarby Kelly Mahan

Montecito Tide ChartDay Low Hgt High Hgt Low Hgt High Hgt Low HgtThurs, Dec 22 12:26 AM 2 6:56 AM 6.7 02:13 PM -1.4 08:41 PM 3.8 Fri, Dec 23 1:17 AM 2 7:42 AM 6.9 02:57 PM -1.7 09:28 PM 4 Sat, Dec 24 2:06 AM 2 8:27 AM 6.9 03:40 PM -1.7 010:11 PM 4.1 Sun, Dec 25 2:54 AM 2 9:11 AM 6.8 04:21 PM -1.6 010:54 PM 4.1 Mon, Dec 26 3:42 AM 2 9:54 AM 6.4 05:02 PM -1.2 011:37 PM 4.1 Tues, Dec 27 4:30 AM 2.1 10:37 AM 5.9 05:42 PM -0.7 Wed, Dec 28 12:21 AM 4.2 5:23 AM 2.3 11:20 AM 5.2 06:21 PM -0.2Thurs, Dec 29 1:07 AM 4.2 6:24 AM 2.4 12:07 PM 4.4 07:00 PM 0.4Fri, Dec 30 1:55 AM 4.2 7:40 AM 2.4 01:02 PM 3.7 07:40 PM 1

THURSDAY DECEMBER 22 & 29

Bobbles & BubblesThrough December, M a tti & Me owners Matti Bourgault and Wendy Nanon Smith w ill take part in the popular weekly w ine tastings a t the Liquor & W ine Grotto. Each week w ine reps from across the sta te

pour tastings a t the Grotto, while loca l rea l esta te agents provide appetizers. W hen: 4:30 pm to 7 pmW here: 1271 Coast Village RoadCost: $1

SUNDAY DECEMBER 25

Christmas Services Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 1300 San Ysidro Road: 8 am mass w ith carols, 10 am, and 12 noon mass w ith Adult ChoirEl Montecito Presbyterian Church, 1455 East Va lley Road: 10:30 am Worship ServiceAll Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 83 Euca lyptus Lane: 8 am and 10 am, Christmas Day Service

December 21 , 22 and 23rd from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Warm cider and goodies w ill be served and free tours of the historic Sanctuary w ill a lso be ava ilable . The two-story Sanctuary, built in 1927 , is open and decora ted in seasona l fi nery w ith a 10-foot Christmas tree , bright red poinsettias and Christmas music softly playing .W hen: 5:30 pm to 7:30 pmW here: First United Methodist Church is loca ted a t the corner of G arden and Anapamu Streets, one block from the S.B. Courthouse . Parking is ava ilable behind the church w ith the parking entrance off G arden Street. Info: 963-3579 or visit the website www.fumcsb .org

SATURDAY DECEMBER 24

Christmas Eve ServicesOur Lady of Mount Carmel, 1300 East Va lley Road: 4:30 pm, Family M ass w ith Children’s Choir; 9 pm, Evening M ass w ith Adult ChoirEl Montecito Presbyterian Church,

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 11A belligerent state permits itself every such misdeed, every such act of violence, as would disgrace the individual – Sigmund Freud

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A New Community Tree

Village Beat by Kelly Mahan

Just three months ago, former Montecito Association board member and current Montecito

Fire Protection District board member Dana Newquist made it his mission to raise funds for a new community tree to replace the rotten Monterey Pine removed from the corner of San Ysidro Road and North Jameson Lane in September. Through pleas in the Journal and at Montecito Association board meetings, a dozen donors helped pay for a new tree, which was planted on Thursday, December 15.

Because of right-of-way issues, Newquist also made it his mission to find a new place for the tree, which is located in Manning Park, between the tennis courts and the sidewalk along San Ysidro Road. The tree is dedicated to former Montecito Fire Protection District Chief Don Hathaway and his wife, Helen; Don passed away in July.

Newquist, who has helped trim the community tree with holiday deco-rations for the last ten or so years, says he wanted to keep the tradition alive. For the past 60 years, the tree has been decorated with ornaments and garland each Christmas. The tra-

dition was begun by the Hathaway family; Don, Helen, Ronda and Dean would adorn the tree during a secret nighttime mission. In the late seven-ties, Doug Coale, owner of Mesa Tree,

Ronda Hathaway, Dana Newquist and Park Ranger Doug Norton with the newly planted Donald and Helen Hathaway Memorial Tree in Manning Park

The new tree sits between the tennis courts and San Ysidro Road and stands 18 feet high

A 400-pound stone dedicates the tree to the Hathaway family, who for over six decades decorated the old community tree for the holidays

VILLAGE BEAT VILLAGE BEAT Page 12�


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began helping when the tree became too large to manage; he would bring out his cherry picker and hoist vol-unteers high enough to put garland on the top half of the tree.

Newquist began helping the family carry on the tradition about ten years ago, when Don admitted he was too old to continue. Since then, mem-bers of the Montecito Association Beautification Committee, along with Coale, have decorated the tree every December. The tree expired this summer, shortly after Don, who retired in 1992, passed away. “It was ironic that they both passed togeth-er,” Dana said.

On Thursday, Montecito Park Ranger Doug Norton, Newquist, and Ronda Hathaway gathered to watch Doug Coale and his crew dig a hole and plant the new 18-ft Blue Aptos Redwood. A 400-pound slate stone was placed in front of the tree, digi-tally sandblasted with words com-memorating Don and the Hathaway family.

The tree, which cost about $2,000, was paid for by various donations ranging from $10 to $1,000. The stone and sandblasting was sponsored by Equine Evac, founded by Don

Hathaway; his daughter Ronda sits on the board. Equine Evac is a non-profit volunteer group that provides large animal evacuation, temporary shelter and emergency assistance. Coale donated his time and crew for the transport and installment of the tree and stone. “A lot of people came together for this project,” Newquist said.

A formal commemoration, featur-ing the words of new El Montecito Presbyterian Pastor Jeff Bridgeman, took place Wednesday December 21. At that time the Beautification Committee was out in force, decorat-ing the new community tree with ornaments and garland.

Montecito Confections Coming to Montecito

After 18 years doing business in Santa Barbara’s “funk zone” on Yananoli Street, Montecito Confections’ will officially be able to call Montecito home come February. The popular bakery is taking over the space formerly occupied by Whodidily Cupcakes on Coast Village Road.

“It’s a dream come true,” says

Montecito Confections owner Katie Teall, who says she had always want-ed to open the business, which she started in 1993, in Montecito. “I could never find the right space, so I had to open in Santa Barbara. I’ve been here ever since, but I’ve always wanted to be in Montecito,” said Teall, who recently signed a five-year lease on the space.

The new location has a move-in ready kitchen, and Katie and her hus-band, Paul, are busy renovating the store space. “We are painting it our-selves, making it more our style,” she said. She hopes to be ready to open

VILLAGE BEAT VILLAGE BEAT (Continued from page 11)

Owner Katie Teall will relocate Montecito Confections to the former home of Whodidily Cupcakes on Coast Village Road in February

VILLAGE BEAT VILLAGE BEAT Page 20�


May your holidays be

merry & bright!

Holiday Tea Tastings

Tea flights from across the globe,

paired with indulgent food tastings.

Offered daily through the holidays,

December 15-29.

Christmas at BacaraDine in style this Christmas Eve

and Christmas Day and enjoy a

holiday dinner at Miró or the Bistro.

New Year’s DayOn New Year’s Day enjoy custom

Bloody Marys and football in the

Bacara Bar, with happy hour

pricing from 12 – 6pm.

New Year’s Eve Bacara Bash

Bring on 2012 with dinner at Miró or

The Bistro. Later, join us in the

Rotunda for a festive Bacara Bash

from 8pm – 1am. Balloon drop

and bubbly at midnight!

Reservations805-968-0100 [email protected]

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The Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) held its fourth annual luncheon tea and

fashion show to a sold out crowd at the Biltmore. Guests donned festive fashions and shopped for the fi rst hour. Other attractions included a boutique fi lled with pick-and-choose raffl e items, jewelry and a silent auction. There was also a Giving Tree where you could buy a star to hang, helping BCRC to continue to offer free breast cancer support and breast health education services.

Board president Angela Torin told the group, “I was diagnosed eleven years ago. I have never seen such cour-age and bravery as I saw at BCRC. The models today are all cancer survivors, struttin’ their stuff on the catwalk.”

Executive director Silvana Kelly was happy with the results of their first sponsorships such as gold level Dr. Tom Weisenburger, Dr. Lindsay Blount and Dr. W. Warren Suh. She introduced the store manager of Coldwater Creek, Dianne Gillilan, who shared, “This is my favorite show of the year. The models survive and thrive.” Dianne’s favorite quote is by Maya Angelou: “They may forget what you said or forget what you did, but they never forget how you made them feel.” “BCRC models the heal-

ing power of the community to all of us,” she added. Dianne narrated the fashion show full of colorful clothes and accessories.

Co-chairs of this lovely event were board vice president Rose Hodge and Rae Ann Bird, who is also director of programming. Laura Cordero and Taryn Bazzelle from Mira Bella Salon and Spa styled the models’ hair and makeup was by Ana Paula Zwirn from the Chanel counter in Saks and make-up artist Page Mahan.

Models were Andrea Fox, Andrea Gallo, Audrey Nolan, Beatriz Valenzuela, Dianne Travis Teague, Katrina Kujan, Kelly Rosenheim, Mona Nicoll and Rachael Tobler. These ladies were a variety of ages, many young moms when diag-nosed with breast cancer. All of them expressed how much the support of

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SEEN SEEN Page 22�

President of the Breast Cancer Resource Center board Angela Torin, vice president and co-chair Rose Hodge, execu-tive director Silvana Kelly and co-chair and director of programs Rae Ann Bird at the tea and fashion show

BCRC model Dianne Travis-Teague, hair stylist Laura Cordero, model Audrey Nolan, Coldwater Creek manager Dianne Gillilan and Saks Chanel makeup artist Ana Paula Zwirn enjoying themselves at the Biltmore


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happy h

olidays

Ruby’s Friends.Annually provides support for

domestic and wild animals in need of assistance.

The 2011 beneficiary is the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.

Since 1988 they have given tens of thousands of animals a second chance at life.

To find out how you too can help

Please visit www.sbwcn.org or call 805.681.1019

All of us at Silverhorn wish you, your family and your pets a very happy holiday.


stepdaughter, Marcy Oswald, worked on 57 movies during his career and has met most of the great bold-faced Hollywood names.

But it would be hard to beat his father’s resumé, which includes Hello Dolly, Funny Girl, Auntie Mame, Guys and Dolls, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Barkleys of Broadway, to name just a few.

“Dad was a great character,” says Harry, who also won an Emmy in 1984 for the CBS series “George Washington.”

He keeps his father’s Oscar for My Fair Lady in his bedroom, while his sister, Marilyn, who lives in San Diego, has possession of the award for The Picture of Dorian Gray.

“We like to share these things equal-ly,” he chuckles...

Botanical Book BashWhen it comes to greenery, Santa

Barbara author Sue Reinhart certainly knows her stuff.

Sue, who teaches at City College, has spent seven years working on her unique book, Edible and Medicinal Plants, which includes a boxed set of 75 cards of what she considers the most important flora, with photos on one side and the medicinal uses of local plants on the other.

“I spent three years photographing the flora for the book and a couple more years writing up six hundred and fifty plants, then choosing the seventy-five plants I thought the most potent,” says Sue, who threw a small launch bash at Tecolote, the tony tome temple in the Upper Village.

“The book is unique from other medicinal plant publications because it is completely local to Santa Barbara and the cards can be sorted according to the organ system of action, the gen-eral medicinal properties of the plant and by the habitat where the plant is found.

“The cards also clearly indicate which plants are native and there-fore should not be picked, but rather grown at home or purchased.”

Also included in the 100-page tome, Sue’s second book, is the history and

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MISCELLANY MISCELLANY (Continued from page 6)


Harry Stradling Jr. with his father’s Oscar for My Fair Lady (Photo: Bill Davis)


Community PartnershipIt’s about coming together on behalf of neighbors in need. Doing the right thing, day a"er day. Making our

community strong, keeping it special. From our team to yours, great job in 2011! We’re proud to be your partner.

Member FDIC

Adams Elementary SchoolAdelante Charter SchoolAll Saints-by-the-Sea ChurchAlpha Resource Center of Santa BarbaraAlta Vista High SchoolAlzheimer’s AssociationAmerican Cancer SocietyAmerican GI Forum Education Foundation of Santa MariaAmerican Heart AssociationAmerican Society of Women AccountantsAmerican-Scandinavian FoundationAnti-Defamation LeagueArchitectural Foundation of SB Art from ScrapArthritis FoundationAssistance League of SBAvon FoundationBallard Elementary SchoolBishop Garcia Diego High SchoolBoy Scouts of AmericaBoys & Girls Club of SBBraille InstituteBrandon Elementary SchoolBreast Cancer Resource CenterBuellton Chamber of CommerceCabrillo High SchoolCalifornia Avocado FestivalCalifornia Coastal ConservancyCanalino Elementary SchoolCancer Center of Santa BarbaraCarpinteria Education Foundation Carpinteria Lions Park Building Assoc.Carpinteria Movies in the ParkCarpinteria Rotary Charitable FoundationCarpinteria Valley Chamber of CommerceCasa SerenaCentral Coast Chapter of the California Society of CPAsCentral Coast Soccer LeagueCentral Coast TennisChannel City ClubChannel Islands YMCAChild Abuse Listening & MediationChild Evangelism FellowshipChildhelpChuck’s Fun RunChurch of the CrossroadsCitizens Planning Association of SB City of LompocCity of Lompoc Parks & RecreationCity of Santa BarbaraCity of SolvangClub West Run for LifeCoalition for Issues on AgingCoalition for Sustainable TransportationCommunity Action Commission of SB Community Environmental Council Congregation B’Nai B’rith Santa BarbaraCottage Rehabilitation HospitalCouncil on Alcoholism & Drug AbuseCourage to LeadCourt Appointed Special Advocates Dog Adoption and Welfare Group

Monte Vista Elementary SchoolMontecito AssociationMountain View Elementary School Muscular Dystrophy AssociationMusic Academy of the WestNaples CoalitonNational Association of Letter CarriersNational Charity League, Inc.National Kidney Foundation, Inc.New Beginnings Counseling Center New Hope for Troubled LivesNew Life Church of Santa Barbara North County Rape Crisis CenterNuclear Age Peace FoundationOaks Parent-Child WorkshopOpen Alternative Educational FoundationOrfalea FoundationOrganic Soup KitchenOur Lady of Mt. CarmelPaci#c Pride FoundationPage Youth CenterPalabraPathPoint Patricia Henley FoundationPaws Parks of Santa Ynez Valley, Inc.Peabody Charter SchoolPEO International People Helping PeoplePeople’s Self-Help HousingPerceptioneering, Inc.Philipino American ClubPierre Claeyssens Veterans’ Museum & LibraryPlanned ParenthoodReturn to FreedomRhythmic Arts ProjectRods & RosesRoosevelt Elementary SchoolRotary Club of Carpinteria Rotary Club of Goleta NoontimeRotary Club of LompocRotary Club of MontecitoRotary Club of Santa Barbara North Charitable FoundationRun Santa Barbara - Night Moves St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Trees for TroopsTrue Nature SocietyUCSB Alumni Association UCSB - AthleticsUCSB Economic Forecast ProjectUnited Boys & Girls Club of SB Cty. United Way of Santa Barbara County Unity ShoppeValley Haven, Inc.Vieja Valley Elementary SchoolVilla Majella of Santa BarbaraVillage Properties Teacher’s FundVisiting Nurses Association & Hospice CareVistas Lifelong Learning, Inc.Washington Elementary SchoolWestmont CollegeWomens Christian Business NetworkWomen’s Economic VenturesWomen’s Fund of Santa BarbaraWomen’s Literary FestivalYoung Adult OutreachYoung Leaders Society Young Life

Domestic Violence Solutions for SB Cty.Dos Pueblos Challenger BaseballDos Pueblos High School Engineering Academy Foundation Dos Pueblos High School Athletic BoostersDown Syndrome Association of SB Dyslexia Awareness and Resource CenterEasy Li" Transportation Economic Alliance of Northern SB Cty. El Camino Elementary SchoolE Clampus VitusEl Concilio de LompocElephants Umbrella FundEmpower Congo WomenEnsemble !eatre CompanyEnvironmental Defense CenterEverybody Dance Now!Families ACT!Family Service Agency of Santa BarbaraFire Services Training InstituteFood from the HeartFoodbank of Santa Barbara CountyFoothill Elementary SchoolFoundation for Girsh ParkFriendship Adult Day Care CenterFriendship PaddleFuture FoodGarden Court, Inc.Girls Incorporated of CarpinteriaGirls Incorporated of Greater SB Cty. Global e-BooksGoleta Beach TriathlonGoleta Education FoundationGoleta Lemon FestivalGoleta Valley BeautifulGoleta Valley Chamber of CommerceGoleta Valley Cottage Hospital Greater SB Ice Skating AssociationGuide Dogs for the Blind Habitat for Humanity of Southern SB Cty. Hearts !erapeutic Hillside HouseHollister Elementary SchoolHope Education FoundationHope Elementary SchoolHospice of Santa BarbaraHousing Trust Fund of Santa Barbara Cty.Jewish Federation of Greater SB Cty. Jewish Film FoundationJunior League of Santa Barbara, Inc.Just CommunitiesJuvenile Diabetes Research Foundation K-9 Placement and Assistance League, Inc. Kellogg Elementary School La Colina Junior High SchoolLa Cuesta High SchoolLa Cumbre Junior High School Foundation La Patera Elementary SchoolLas AletasLeadership Santa Barbara CountyLearning AllyLegal Aid Foundation of Santa BarbaraLeukemia & Lymphoma SocietyLifeChroniclesLions Club of GoletaLobero !eatreLompoc Tsunami AquaticsLompoc Valley Chamber of CommerceLompoc Valley Distance ClubLompoc Valley Hospital FoundationLompoc Valley Master ChoraleLompoc Valley Women in Chamber of CommerceLompoc Veterans Memorial Building FoundationMarine Corps LeagueMarymount of Santa BarbaraMiniature American Shepherd Club of the USAMIT Enterprise Forum Central CoastMonroe Elementary School PTA

“SBB&T has always been a generous partner in helping us enrich the lives of families in Santa Barbara County.”

“!e Santa Barbara Zoo has partnered with SBB&T for over 40 years and they provide us with the same high quality care and personal attention that we provide our animals and guests.”

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics Santa Barbara Newcomers Club Santa Barbara Partners in EducationSanta Barbara Police FoundationSanta Barbara Rape Crisis CenterSanta Barbara Reef & Run Santa Barbara Rescue Mission Santa Barbara Scholarship FoundationSanta Barbara SymphonySanta Barbara Teachers Associaton

C!"#$ B%&'#"&Chief Financial O!cer Santa Barbara Zoo

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(From le":) Denise Williams, Lourdes Rodriguez, Family Services Coordinator Brenda Herrera and Clemencia Navarro Family Service Agency – Dorothy Jackson Family Resource Center, Lompoc

“!e generous donation of used o"ce furniture allowed us to complete our new Center and provide our families with a welcoming and professional environment.” B"%*&! H%""%"!

St. Magdalene SchoolSt. Raphael SchoolSt. Vincent’sSan Marcos High School - Athletic BoostersSan Marcos Parent-Child WorkshopSansum ClinicSansum Diabetes Research InstituteSanta Barbara African Heritage Film SeriesSanta Barbara Animal Care FoundationSanta Barbara Association of REALTORSSanta Barbara Athletic RoundtableSanta Barbara Audubon SocietySanta Barbara BeautifulSanta Barbara Bicycle CoalitionSanta Barbara Botanic GardenSanta Barbara Boys & Girls ClubSanta Barbara Chamber of CommerceSanta Barbara Chamber OrchestraSanta Barbara Charter School Santa Barbara Choral Society Santa Barbara Christian SchoolSanta Barbara City College - AthleticsSanta Barbara City College FoundationSanta Barbara Conference & Visitors BureauSanta Barbara Contemporary Arts ForumSanta Barbara Cottage HospitalSanta Barbara Cottage Hospital FoundationSanta Barbara County Action NetworkSanta Barbara County Animal Care FoundationSanta Barbara County Fire DepartmentSanta Barbara County Flower & Nursery Growers AssociationSanta Barbara County Sheri$ ’s Benevolent PosseSanta Barbara Courthouse Docent CouncilSanta Barbara Courthouse Legacy FoundationSanta Barbara Downtown OrganizationSanta Barbara Education FoundationSanta Barbara Fire#ghters AllianceSanta Barbara Foresters & Hugs for Cubs Santa Barbara FoundationSanta Barbara High SchoolSanta Barbara Jewish FederationSanta Barbara Museum of Art

Santa Barbara Trust for Historic PreservationSanta Barbara Uni#ed School DistrictSanta Barbara Village Santa Barbara Vocal Jazz FoundationSanta Barbara Wildlife Care NetworkSanta Barbara Young ProfessionalsSanta Barbara Zoo Santa Maria FairparkSanta Maria Valley Discovery MuseumSanta Rita Hills Winegrowers AllianceSanta Ynez Band of Mission IndiansSanta Ynez !erapeutic Riding ProgramSanta Ynez Valley Charter SchoolSanta Ynez Valley Girls So"ball AssociationSarah HouseSBChannels.tvSenior Expo Share Our Strength, Inc.Sierra ClubSolvang Chamber of CommerceSolvang OktoberfestSolvang RotarySouth Coast Railroad MuseumSpecial OlympicsState Street BalletStoryteller Children’s CenterSummer SolsticeSunrise Montessori Pre-School Surf Happens FoundationSurfrider FoundationSusan G. Komen for the CureTeddy Bear Cancer Foundation !e Arts Fund!e Community Planet Foundation!e First Tea!e Graduates of Santa Barbara Newcomers Club!e Lindsay Foundation !e Samarkand !e Valley FoundationToys for TotsTradart FoundationTransition House

60


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ORCHESTRA

MISCELLANY MISCELLANY (Continued from page 16)

philosophy of herbal use through the ages, the use of plants to restore balance and move energy, and the ways plants have been used ritually and magically to increase the already potent effects.

Details on her nine-year-old City College continuing education class, which begins its winter term next month, can be accessed at sbcc.augusoft.net.

Forget reindeer!When Santa Claus arrives at actor

Kevin Costner’s Montecito beach estate, he flies in on a million dollar Bell JetRanger helicopter.

The Oscar winner threw a pre-Christ-mas bash at his oceanside home for his three children, Cayden, 4, Hayes, 2, and Grace,1, by his handbag design-er wife, Christine Baumgartner, and their friends.

“It was quite a sight as Santa arrived by luxury chopper,” says my mole with the egg nog. “There was quite a draft from the rotors, but all the kids were in heaven with all the presents they got.”

Could chimneys be a thing of the past, I ask...

Drive to the HoopThirty local students are taking recy-

cling to new heights as they officially begin collecting sports equipment to support youngsters in the third annu-al Sports Drive.

Teenagers, mostly from Montecito, are gathering new and gently-used sports gear, clothing and bikes with the goal of giving them to more than 1,500 kids from low-income families in the area at the Santa Barbara Boys & Girls Club on February 25.

The team behind the successful event

– including Matt Wagonhurst, Eddie Conk, Nicky von Wiesenberger and Elijah Bittleston – have gone from strength to strength, with more than 4,000 items given to 1,000 youngsters last year.

“Our mission is to get kids off the streets and into sports, while sup-porting the club and recycling sports equipment,” says Matt. “The concept is simple, but we need a team to make this event happen. We want to reach out to new families and businesses to help boost donations, plus grow membership.”

Steve Yapp, Tri-Counties PODS owner, is supporting the drive again this year by donating several PODS for the cause, stationing them at the Crane Country Day School, Laguna Blanca and the downtown club through February 20.

Other local community support-ers include Make It Work, Choose to Reuse and MarBorg.

For more information, check out www.sbsportsdrive.com.

Buying Brad’s AbodeAfter eyeing up Brad Pitt’s Malibu

mansion last month, former Montecito resident Ellen DeGeneres and her companion, Portia de Rossi, have reportedly snapped up the $14 mil-lion spread for a bargain $12 million.

The new purchase comes as the 53-year-old TV talk show host just put her $49 million Beverly Hills com-pound up for sale and is now looking for something smaller.

Ellen, who sold her four-bedroom Spanish-style four acre estate here for $20 million to Google honcho Eric Schmidt three years ago, couldn’t resist the actor’s property, which con-sists of two separate houses, a pool, tennis court and expansive lush gar-dens.

The sprawling 4,100-sq-ft home also has private beach access and is set back off the Pacific Coast Highway by a long private driveway.

The main house has four bedrooms and four baths, a large chef’s kitchen, bamboo floors and a top of the range security system.

Sue Reinhart launches blooming good book

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 19A cause may be inconvenient, but it’s magnificent. It’s like champagne or high heels, and one must be prepared to suffer for it – Arnold Bennett

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Sabrage SoiréeThe sabers were rattling, but, for-

tunately, no blood was spilled when Santa Barbara’s new Coast 2 Coast Collection in La Arcada hosted a demonstration of the ancient art of sabrage with Nicolas Krafft, the New York-based chairman of Christofle, the 181-year-old French silverware manufacturer.

The origins of sabrage, lopping the cork off a champagne bottle with a sword, can be traced back to Napoleon Bonaparte’s colorfully uniformed Hussars who, unable to dismount their horses and in urgent need of refreshment, used their sabers to behead bottles of bubbly.

A number of guests had the chance to try their hand at the delicate art, receiving a grand certificate prov-ing their expertise at unlodging corks from bottles of vintage Veuve Clicquot, including orthopaedic sur-

geon Richard Kahmann and financial whiz Jon Bull, whose wife, KEYT-TV journo, Martha, thought the saber he used would make an ideal Christmas present.

Another to try his luck was James Buckley, owner of this illustrious organ, who, after a couple of dummy runs, sliced off the cork like an old hand.

If you care to try the art yourself, the 2,000-sq-ft store, owned by Boband Holly Murphy, is selling the sil-ver sabers, along with crystal, vintage jewelry, ceramics and linens.

Bring your own bottle...

High Society AffairIt seemed like tout le monde was

crammed into society doyenne Beverley Jackson’s Montecito home when renowned Beverly Hills inte-


James Buckley, complete with $16,000 silver saber successfully decapitates a bottle of bubbly at Coast 2 Coast opening celebration


the doors the week before Valentine’s Day. She will eventually leave her current location in Santa Barbara.

“It has all come together beautiful-ly,” Teall says. Over the weekend her husband traveled to Bakersfield with former Whodidily owners Dave and Wendy Jones in order to purchase the cupcakery’s equipment. “That way we can keep the same ovens and same equipment, keeping it up to code,” she explained. She says the Jones, who closed Whodidily earlier this month, have been very accom-modating. “They’ve been so sweet,” Teall says in her British accent.

Katie, who hails from Cheshire, England, says she fell in love with Montecito after vacationing here; she attended the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and then came to work at San Ysidro Ranch under French chef Marc Ehrler as well as Gerard Thompson.

Since opening Montecito Confections, Katie has become known for her elaborate cakes and desserts, including custom wedding and birthday cakes, pastries, choco-

lates, and all sorts of other treats. She works with local hotels including San Ysidro Ranch, the Biltmore, Fess Parker’s Doubletree, and the Canary Hotel, providing wedding cakes. The new store in Montecito will serve not only as her kitchen, but also as a bakery where customers can stop in for baked goods, candy, and cakes. “It will be more convenient for my cus-tomers,” she says. Her current store is more industrial; she currently focuses on special orders. “Now people will be able to come in and buy a birthday cake without special ordering it. Or just come in for a treat!” she says.

For more information about Montecito Confections, visit www.montecitoconfections.com or call 965-8150.

Ruby’s Friends If you’ve recently been to Silverhorn,

Montecito’s world-renowned jew-eler, you may be familiar with the store’s mascot, Ruby, a Shiba Inu dog belonging to Silverhorn owners Carole and Michael Ridding. The

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SBWCN co-president Sue Burrows and Silverhorn co-owner Carole Ridding

adopted pup was rescued by the couple, and her adoption prompted the Riddings to start a fund in Ruby’s name.

Ruby’s Friends Donation Fund was founded in 2010; each year the fund provides a donation to an organiza-tion assisting domestic or wild ani-mals in need. This year the Riddings, who founded Silverhorn 29 years ago, have chosen the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network (SBWCN) as recipient of the annual donation. “There are so many worthy causes in our community and we support a good deal of them, but I always feel a special and painful tug at my heart for helpless animals that are not able to express their own needs,” Carole said. SBWCN’s co-president is Montecito Planning Commissioner Sue Burrows.

Incorporated as a non-profit in 1988, SBWCN is licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rescue and rehabilitate both birds and mammals. Their new 1.8-acre facility in Goleta was opened last year; there, animal experts and volunteer vet-erinarians treat over 4,000 birds and small mammals per year.

Animals and birds, including but not limited to song birds, sea birds, raptors, skunks, possums, raccoons, rabbits and owls, come to the cen-ter with all sorts of ailments, many injured or orphaned due to human-related causes. These include dis-turbed nests, fishing line injuries, impacts with cars, shootings, cat attacks or ingestion of toxic sub-stances. Animals and birds rehabbed at the center are released back into the wild, usually from Dos Pueblos Ranch, after they are healed. SBWCN has a 24-hour hotline as well as a drop-off facility in the Fairview shop-ping center in Goleta. The non-profit also offers community education and outreach.

“Silverhorn’s generous donation will provide critically needed food and appropriate treatment and care to injured, orphaned or otherwise distressed wild birds and animals in our community,” Burrows said. “We are thrilled to have been chosen.”

As their annual Christmas card, the Riddings sent out a card announc-ing the donation in Ruby’s honor. The card features a sketch of Ruby, by artist Stacey Geldin. Last year the Ruby’s Friends donation went to the Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Center.

Silverhorn is located at 1155 Coast Village Road and at the Biltmore. For more information visit www.Silverhorn.com.

For more information about the Santa Barbara Wildlife Network, call 681-1019 or visit www.sbwcn.org.

Crane Day of GivingChristmas was celebrated early at

select local charities in our communi-ty, thanks to Crane School’s Annual Day of Giving, which took place last Friday. Now in its 12th year, the Annual Day of Giving involves Upper School classes at Crane vol-unteering or donating to nonprofits throughout Santa Barbara.

“In a season of the year when many children are focused on receiv-ing, the students in Crane School’s grades six through eight spent the morning giving to others,” said Janey Cohen, the school’s service learning coordinator and science teacher.

The sixth graders delivered and sorted food collected over the past few weeks to the Foodbank of Santa Barbara. Their goal is to exceed last year’s delivery of 639 pounds of donations. Seventh grad-ers distributed homemade holiday cards to seniors at Garden Court and Samarkand, while serenading them with Christmas carols. The eighth grade prepped and served lunch to the homeless at Casa Esperanza while another group escorted Friendship Center members to a hol-iday show. And thanks to the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, a small group of teens acted as Santa, deliv-ering toys, gifts, food and even a Christmas tree voucher to a can-cer-stricken 10-year-old boy and his family.

A Perfect Afternoon of Jazz

Along with Santa Claus, the Santa Barbara High School Alumni All-Star Jazz Band is coming to town. Just two days after Santa departs, the band is scheduled to play from 3 pm to 6 pm December 27 at the Montecito Country Club. Former Cold Spring School students Andrew Adams and Matt Raphallian, along with other SBHS alumni such as bass player Victor Murillo, Jared Yee on tenor sax, Grammy Spotlight winner and Berklee Presidential Scholar, saxo-phonist Raul “Lito” Hernandez, and trumpeter Robert Harrel and others, will entertain: Matt (who attends the Berklee College of Music in Boston) on drums and Andrew (now study-ing at M.I.T.) on the saxophone. The two have been playing together since teaming up in 2002 when seated together in Joel Orr’s Cold Spring School classroom. Guest artist and longtime Montecito resident Peter Clark will join the effort, dubbed a “Modern Day High Tea – A Perfect Afternoon of Jazz.” The cost is $25 at the door; $20 in advance. For more information and/or tickets, please call Andrew Adams at 805-637-4303, or Denice Adams at 805-680-3939. •MJ

VILLAGE BEAT VILLAGE BEAT (Continued from page 12)

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 21I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up; they have no holidays – Henny Youngman

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Mayor, then the Council Members. My command was, Get off and push! Amazingly, they complied. The length of the push was approximately 50 feet. We were positioned directly forward of the KEYT-TV cameras. With the fire engine pointed downward, I shouted, Get back on! Once again they obeyed.

I felt great.I tried the starter; the engine roared.Never (almost) has the fire engine

failed me. Perhaps the truck wanted to get some work out of our City Council!

Dana NewquistMontecito

Friend of the FoxI’m a high school teacher and parent

of a little girl at MUS, Hannah, whom your correspondent Joanne Calitri featured in a story last week. Hannah, eight years old and a huge animal lover, initiated a small campaign to raise money to preserve the popula-tion of the Channel Island Fox. She raised two hundred dollars and pre-sented it to a non-profit organiza-tion, Friends of the Island Fox, who visited her 3rd-grade class. She was so proud of herself and I was very happy with the exposure the Montecito Journal gave to the Friends of the Island Fox and to my daughter’s class at Montecito Union School. Thank you Joanne for responding so quickly to our small yet significant story.

Sincerely,Jay HitchnerMontecito

The Last Crow“The Rooster Crows,” my radio

show being aired on 1290 AM will close up shop on December 27. That Tuesday will be the last show.

This is a decision I make with heavy heart because I have really enjoyed helping remind some and educate others on how World and National events affect our liberty, equality and fidelity.

Time is the problem. I am needed in our family businesses more and more. Had the show become a money maker we would look at it differently, but in balance those endeavors that produce

a living become most important. I can not remain silent on such

important political matters and will begin doing a column using the same title, “The Rooster Crows.” Hopefully Montecito Journal will see fit to use some and others may be so inclined. This will free up many hours for me.

With the column my listeners will have a chance to share my thoughts and warnings about the state of our economy and government.

Thank you for your past kindness. Rooster BradfordVentura(Editor’s note: Mr. Bradford’s clear

voice will leave a radio gap at 1290 AM, but we do indeed hope we’ll be able to run “The Rooster Crows” as a column in the paper – TLB)

Not Afraid of AnythingJust thought I’d brighten your and

your readers’ day with the following report someone sent me:

A Kansas Highway Patrol Officer made a traffic stop on an elderly lady recently for speeding on U.S. 166 Eastbound at Mile Marker 73 just East of Sedan, KS.

The officer asked for the woman’s driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance. The lady took out the required information and handed it to him. In with the cards, the officer was somewhat surprised (due to her advanced age) to discover that she had a conceal carry permit.

He looked at her and asked if she had a weapon in her possession at this time.

She responded that she indeed had a .45 automatic in her glove box.

Something, body language, or the way she said it prompted the officer to ask if she had any other firearms.

She did admit to also having a 9mm Glock in her center console.

Now, the officer had to ask one more time if that was all, and she responded once again: she did have just one more weapon, a .38 special in her purse.

The Highway Patrol Officer then asked her what was she so afraid of.

She looked him right in the eye and said: “Not a damn thing!”

An Avid MJ ReaderGoleta •MJ

LETTERS LETTERS (Continued from page 9)

Santa Barbara City Mayor Helene Schneider and the rest of the City Council got out to push soon after this photo was taken


BCRC, after their medical treatments, meant to them.

BCRC is located at 525 West Junipero Street. Stop by or call 569-9693.

Community Leaders Luncheon

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara (SFSB) said thank you to its many supporters by throw-ing its annual Community Leaders Luncheon at Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort for more than 400 guests. The donors may be individuals, families, foundations, businesses and commu-nity groups whose gifts fund scholar-ships for deserving students.

Sadly, even with all the support, there are never enough funds for the applications. In 2011 alone there were 3,339 applications. Awards were made to 2,323 students while 699 were deemed qualified, but denied due to

lack of funds. President of the Board, Alan Griffin,

thanked the luncheon sponsors, Michael Towbes, Montecito Bank & Trust and Venoco, Inc. As Alan said, “We keep the young out of trouble and look around the room. You are how we do it.”

The student speaker was LorenzoGomez, who is a senior at UC Riverside. Though his mother was one of ten kids, he is the first in his family to attend college. He credits his mother and particularly his stepfather for his success. “My stepdad always kept telling me of the importance of education. He sold computers at swap meets.” Now Lorenzo loves computer science and he’ll be getting his mas-ters in that field. Lorenzo also over-came a debilitating health problem along the way. After seven years since

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SEEN SEEN (Continued from page 14)

SEEN SEEN Page 24�

Models Beatriz Valenzuela, Rachel Tobler and Andrea Gallo with client Kate Ocean and models Andria Fox and Mona Nicoll at the Biltmore

Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara board pres-ident Alan Griffin and executive direc-tor Colette Hadley at the Community Leaders luncheon

Co-chairs Patty MacFarlane and Joanne

Rapp with speaker Hugh Vos at the

Doubletree

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 23Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen – Benjamin Disraeli

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MISCELLANY MISCELLANY (Continued from page 19)rior and jewelry designer Hutton Wilkinson launched his latest cof-fee table tome Tony Duquette/Hutton Wilkinson Jewelry.

Hutton, who I have known for many years through the Save Venice organiza-tion, launched a one-of-a-kind jewelry collection with the late Tony Duquette at New York’s Bergdorf Goodman in 1998, which was used by a virtual heavenly host of fashion design roy-alty, including Tom Ford, Gucci, Oscar de la Renta, Balmain and Badgley Mischka, as well as being worn by the likes of Faye Dunaway, Sharon Stone, Liza Minnelli, Reese Witherspoon, Raquel Welch and Montecito’s Drew Barrymore.

He continues to design for the rich and famous, living at Duquette’s fantastical former estate, Dawnridge, which makes Disneyland look posi-tively mundane.

Among those snaffling the tea sand-wiches and quaffing the champers were J.J. Mitchell, Victoria Hines, Ginny Vanocur, Gina Tolleson, Jennifer Smith Hale, Patsy Tisch, Kendall Conrad, Mara Abboud, Marta Turpin, Trish Reynales, Robbie Woodward, Myonne Ehler, Bonnie Hendricks, Kim Seefeld, Missy and Patrick DeYoung, Gerald Incandela, George Schoellkopf, Luis Estevez and Bob Light...

Celebrity TeddyAn exclusive, one-of-a-kind, celeb-

rity autographed Beanie Baby, created specially by hotel magnate Ty Warner for Santa Barbara’s popular Teddy Bear

Cancer Foundation, is being auctioned on eBay.

Created during the International Film Festival earlier this year and cur-rently on display at the Biltmore, the Ty teddy is over three feet tall and is signed by more than 30 actors, writers and directors who attended the popu-lar annual event.

The celebrities include Leonardo DiCaprio, Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, Annette Bening, Warren Beatty, James Franco, Ed Harris, Aaron Sorkin, Kevin Costner, David Crosby and Christopher Lloyd.

If you care to bid on this unique item and help out the charity, which supports families of chil-dren with cancer, check out www.TeddyBearCancerFoundation.org

Parade of LightsWhat better place to watch the glitter-

ing Parade of Lights than the Channel Cat, one of the world’s largest cata-marans, owned by Montecito-based Charlie Munger, 87, vice chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway Corporation.

A hundred guests boarded the 85-ft-long vessel for a fundraiser for the Unity Shoppe, just 24 hours after the 25th anniversary TV telethon, broad-cast by KEYT, collecting around $10,000 for the popular non-profit.

“It’s been a very busy time,” said Unity Shoppe director, Tom Reed. “But this is a very pleasant way of wrapping up the weekend.”

Adding to the fun, the Channel Cat won one of the top prizes for its hand-some yuletide lighting display...

Brilliant BalletTchaikovsky’s Nutcracker never

fails to enchant, but with choreogra-phy from artistic director Rodney Gustafson along with ballet master Gary McKenzie, the State Street Ballet’s version of the Christmas classic at the Granada was a most charming hit.

The enduring ballet debuted at St. Petersburg’s legendary Mariinsky Theatre in 1892 and, 120 years on, with colorful costumes by Christina Giannini and Anaya Cullen, and mag-nificent sets designed and produced in Russia, the show really is a cracker, uti-lizing every available performer in the company’s creative arsenal, from the tiniest of tots to the seasoned principal dancers.

Russian-born Sergei Domrachev camped it up wonderfully as Mother Ginger, while Jack Stewart as the Nutcracker Prince, Rachel Bergseteren-Strange as Clara, Ryan Camou as the Cavalier and new acquisition Season Winquest as the Sugar Plum Fairy, all shone brilliantly...

Bax is BackIt might have been all “Bs” when the

Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra per-formed “Bizet, Beethoven and Bax” at the Lobero, but the rating was certainly an A.

For its second concert of the new season, featuring the return of Italian pianist Alessio Bax, who performed an impressive Mozart solo in the spring, the orchestra, under the capable baton of Heiichiro Ohyama, featured Bizet’s “Symphony No. 1 in C major,” with its effervescent finale, and Beethoven’s popular “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5 in E flat major,” known as the Emperor concerto.

New York-based Bax played the part with great finesse and flair, returning to the stage for a short, but impressive encore...

Pretty Penny for a PictureThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

don’t come cheap.

When the tony twosome visited the Santa Barbara Polo Club last July, part of the centennial celebrations, guests at the royal lunch forked out $4,000 a head, helping raise an astounding $5 million in just five hours, when sponsorship, including Tiffany, was figured in.

But that has been truly eclipsed by a hefty $15,000 a head dinner-reception when TRHs and Prince Harry attend the London premiere of Steven Spielberg’s much anticipated movie War Horse next month, with proceeds going to Friends of the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry.

Holders of the “golden tickets” will not only mingle with the royals, but also Spielberg and cast members, includ-ing Benedict Cumberbatch and Emily Watson.

The prices have been set by the foun-dation’s new chief executive, Nick Booth, who played a similar role at the Santa Barbara event.

Passing of a FriendOn a personal note, I mourn the pass-

ing of a longtime friend, Christopher Hitchens.

The controversial Vanity Fair colum-nist, who has died at the age of 62 after a long battle with oesophagal cancer, frequently appeared with me on vari-ous talk shows, including CNN’s Larry King, discussing the future of the British Royal Family.

Christopher, an avowed republican, was the most delightful and erudite of

adversaries, as I tried to stand up for Queen and country during his verbal volleys.

When we weren’t in the studio, Christopher, the author or co-author of 17 books, just oozed charm and bril-liance in equal doses, whether we were hanging out together at the former Manhattan Eurotrash eatery, La Goulue, or meeting when he was speechifying at the Los Angeles Times annual book fair on the UCLA campus in Westwood.

One commentator described Christopher as journalism’s Lord Byron.

After such a rich and accomplished life, I couldn’t agree more...

Sightings: Iron Chef’s Cat Cora nosh-ing at Olio Pizzeria... Actor Dennis Franz stocking up at the Montecito Post Office... Rapper Jay-Z checking out the crowd at Lucky’s

Pip! Pip! for now - and Happy Holidays!

Readers with tips, sightings and amusing items for Richard’s column should e-mail him at [email protected] or send invitations or other correspondence to the Journal •MJ

Oscar win-ner Nicole Kidman puts her John Hancock to Ty’s teddy bear

Christopher Hitchens, RIP (Photo: Vanityfair.com)


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SEEN SEEN (Continued from page 22)high school graduation, he’ll finally be receiving his diploma in the spring.

Past president and co-chair of the 50th anniversary celebration in 2012 Joanne Rapp told us, “We are the largest community-based scholarship foundation in the United States if not the world.” She promised a gala with no auction September 15, 2012.

Past president and anniversary co-chair Patricia MacFarlane introduced the keynote speaker Hugh Vos, who is also a past president of the board and former senior finance executive with several U. S. companies. “When my wife and I finally moved to Santa Barbara, we wanted to give back.” Vos himself had been the recipient of scholarships, even to Princeton. As he stated, “There has never been a greater need.”

Executive director Colette Hadley shared, “The tuition in the UC schools went up twenty-one percent in 2011 – the biggest jump in the nation.” She boasted that SFSB has given finan-cial aid counseling to 25,000 County students and their parents. A worthy cause indeed!

A Merry Mediterranean Mélange

Every year, the docents and volun-teers at Casa del Herrero give them-

selves a Christmas party in honor of all the good work they’ve done throughout the year. They had just finished decorating the house in holiday splendor in preparation for the Christmas tours, which ended December 17. About 75 workers and friends gathered for sips, bites and a potluck dinner from the docents’ kitchens.

Some of the people creating this festive magic were the co-chairs Cheryl Gregory and Jo Thompson, along with Wendy Warren, Harriet Pitman, Susanne McEwen, Vicky Strickland, Gina Jannotta, Diane Sassen and more. Small pots of tiny succulents were the party favors

and thank you gifts, put togeth-er by Mike Delgado, Gretchen Ingmanson, Barbie Henzell, Marion Kauffman and Cricket Wingfield.

Susannah Gordon is the staff person in charge of volunteers and docents while Molly Barker is the executive director. It’s always fun to have rela-tives of the Steedmans attend, such as grandson Albert Hinckley and great granddaughter Pharibe Wise, who also serve on the board even though they live back east.

This estate, which was built by George Steedman and his wife Carrie in the ‘20s, is now a National Historic Landmark – the same designation as

our Courthouse and the Mission. Even though it is really a museum, it seems like a living home with all the activi-ties and visitors. And, it is filled with all the original furnishings from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, which were bought in Spain.

I’ve been a docent there for almost 12 years and never get tired of show-ing people through the house and gardens – 11 acres in all. One of my favorite rooms at Christmas time is the children’s bedroom. It’s filled with antique toys loaned by various docents. Regular tours begin again in mid-February on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10 am and 2 pm. Call 565-5653 for reservations. •MJ

Casa del Herrero docent party co-chairs and Cal Poly college friends Cheryl Gregory and Jo Thompson getting in the spirit

Among the Casa party committee are Harriet Pitman, Wendy Warren, Susanne McEwen and Vicky Strickland at the Christmas party


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His reviews have appeared in the metro-politan press since 1973. His latest book is The Fiction Lover’s Companion

BOOK TALK by Shelly Lowenkopf

The Mystery Guest“Everybody’s gotta get in the

act.” -Jimmy DuranteSooner or later, every writer

you admire will either flat-out do it or wish aloud that they had.

Edgar Allen Poe did it. Charles Dickens did it; so did his good pal, Wilkie Collins. William Faulkner did it. Joyce Carol Oates did it. Gore Vidal certainly did it. English profes-sor Carolyn Heilbruner did it. An accomplished translator of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, Dorothy L. Sayers, did it. Recently, Booker Prize winner John Banville did it. Now, joining their ranks, Jim Harrison, the liter-ary equivalent of a Leadbelly or John Lee Hooker, has done it with such a remarkable panache that we want to ask him, “Why not sooner, Jim? You clearly have the feel for it.”

The “it” is a mystery, a novel of detection, pursuit, and a shot at ren-dering some kind of moral justice to a sense of personal entitlement run amok. The Great Leader, a different novel from all the other “different” novels Harrison has written, puts his lead character in pursuit “of a bad guy. He’s the cult leader with many names. He’s got freak hots for young girls.”

Harrison’s protagonists are never handed easy roles, either in what he has set out for them as challenges or what has already happened to them in their process of growing up. Like so many of Harrison’s characters, Detective Sunderson is often pick-led. On the verge of retirement as a cop, first in the Detroit inner city, then in the U.P. or Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Sunderson needs some inner fuel against the chill of a broken marriage and what he has seen as law enforcement professional.

When you are a writer in the early stages of your professional career, it

isn’t a good idea to do what Jim Harrison has done, early in The Great Leader. Sunderson is in wintry Upper Peninsula, adjacent to Lake Superior, we discover, “he was on the track of a cult leader with various aliases, a pur-ported child sex offender, impossible to prosecute as neither the mother nor the twelve-year-old girl would talk to him. He didn’t need a lot of aim-less paper work miring up his retire-ment… A cult leader seemed beyond Sunderson’s experience.”

A half-mile further on, Sunderson

spots a Phoenix Suns ball cap stuck in a log jam, then retrieves it. “He man-aged to get wet to his crotch recover-ing the cap, which brought on a fit of shuddering shivers that pinched his temples. There was a smear of blood on the inside brim about which he felt noncommittal. Indeed, on the morn-ing of the day of his retirement party five days later, the state lab would determine that the blood was from a raccoon. [Sunderson’s] quarry, whom he called Dwight, one of seven dis-covered aliases, was so devious that

Sunderson wouldn’t have been sur-prised if it had been elephant blood. The Phoenix Suns ball cap made sense, as Dwight possessed two diplo-mas from the tawdry degree mills of Phoenix, probably phony. The com-plainant in the sexual abuse charge, the father, had abandoned the cult and moved south to the spawned-out factory city of Flint and could not be found. It seemed obvious that the cult leader was faking his death to deter pursuit.”

Harrison can and does get away with such seeming outlining the story. Most of the readers of The Great Leaderwill have already been “in” by this point, caught by the hints Harrison has dropped among the clues, entranced by his ability to create the sense of a place we’d not ordinarily want to visit with such a sense of immediacy that we’re impelled to visit against our bet-ter judgment.

Although our better judgment might stand tall in many a civilized argu-ment, it stands little chance against

Jim Harrison. This is his landscape, a place to investigate quietly, reflective-ly; a place where the spring fumaroles burble upward, toward the shadows of a small patch of lily pads with yel-low knob flowers. “Everywhere on the water’s bottom where it was shallow enough, there were the footprints of heron and sandhill cranes.” This is also a place where a meal of roast chicken and potato salad, washed down with some plonk red wine, will provide a moment or two of grace from the unthinkable that has gone before.

There are no perfect answers in any of Harrison’s work, even his books of poetry, so why expect them in a mys-tery, one of the primal literary forms, where we are always a stiff drink or two away from solution and where closure remains a fuzzy abstract?

Distant and remote from himself as Sunderson may seem at the outset, his decision to pursue Dwight after he is officially retired from the State police is another Jim Harrison trademark: the lead characters engage through their own vulnerability to the loss, doubt, and darkness tangibly darker than those of his quarry. In The Great Leader, Sunderson sets forth the chase at hand, accompanied by a 16-year-old equivalent of Dr. Watson. The journey will take us from Michigan to Arizona, then, after an inventive Harrison twist, to Nebraska, where a number of “Dwight’s” followers have gathered for a chilling ritual.

Dress warm. Wear sensible shoes. Hang on to the edges of the book or reading device. •MJ

Recently divorced and close to retirement, Detective Sunderson, protagonist of Jim Harrison’s latest novel The Great Leader, investigates the leader of a hedonistic cult

This is [Harrison’s] landscape, a place to investigate quietly, reflectively; a place where the spring fumaroles burble upward, toward the shadows of a small patch of

lily pads with yellow knob flowers

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Autumn of 1957 was coming to a fast-paced close. The high Nevada desert was turning

cold and windy. Summer’s dust devils were shifting to windstorms of gigantic rolling sagebrush marching across the valley fl oors of a nuclear wasteland at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site 120 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The detonations of ‘test devic-es,’ as nuclear weapons were lov-ingly referred to at Area 7, were being increased at an alarming rate. Normally the test frequency was every four or five months. Now that it had been decided by treaty with Russia that atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons within the conti-nental United States would end by such-and-such a date, we started test-ing almost every two weeks … racing with political policy to ensure that the world would not be deprived of a few more bombs being exploded in the atmosphere. Area 7 looked like the surface of an ancient wind-swept moon.

It is difficult to describe just how arduous the job was. No longer hav-ing time to build the fifteen-hundred-foot steel towers for the weapon platforms, we resorted to suspending the shot cabs from large helium-filled balloons. Working hours were typically eighty or ninety per week with little time for sleep, or anything else. Accommodations at the Control

Point twelve miles away were mini-mal, so many of us grabbed a few winks of sleep half-standing in a corner of the instrumentation bun-ker located in a concrete and steel fortress mounted on shock absorbers and springs fifty or so feet under-ground directly beneath ground zero. The area around ground zero was so ‘hot’ from a nuclear standpoint that

leaving the bunker subjected one to extremely high levels of radiation, so we were better off making as few exit trips as possible. We took turns going out for food and rotated food ‘getters’ each day to exit and

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Ray’s Ramblings Hailing originally from Price, Utah, and growing up in Las Vegas, Ray, has been managing his own companies for many years. His extensive résumé includes pro-gram manager for Rover-Nerva nuclear rocket program, nuclear weapons testing,

co-designing photo sensor imaging systems for Mars Viking Lander-Orbiter cameras, co-inventing bi-polar accelerator for cancer treatment, and semiconductor related patents. He lives in Montecito.

by Ray Winn

Nuclear Coyotes

drive the three or four miles to the ground zero three-mile perimeter and the food trucks. I tried to stay in the bunker for a minimum of forty-eight hours before going back to the Control Point for sleep in a real bed. Usually that was no treat as the beds were frequently slept in by several people between linen changes, and consequently nearly all of us had a constant case of crabs. The only true reward was the long hot showers.

Senses were dulled by the long hours of thankless work, and the darkness and dampness in the bun-ker contributed to an already lousy environment. All the equipment operated at very high voltages so there was a constant smell of ozone and the occasional unnerving loud cracks of mini-lightening when a power supply or transformer would let loose. Very little fresh air was available in our bunker for fear of inviting in too much radioactive con-tamination. Add to this the pervasive smell of the photographic chemicals used in large quantities, and one can begin to get a sense of living condi-tions.

About noon – I remember it was a Tuesday –, time came to take some supplies and test data back to the Control Point... and get some real sleep. Donning a complete bunny suit and full Scott air pack, I made my way up the steep steel grate stairs and out through the double blast doors, being careful not to slip on the greenish vitrified desert-sand-turned-into-glass by the high temper-ature of too many nuclear fireballs. I was stopped dead in my tracks by the sight of a single coyote stand-ing at the edge of a nuclear pothole. Although it was important to get the hell out of there because of the radia-tion levels, I was transfixed. It took some time for my eyes to adapt to the blazing sunlight. When I could see clearly, I was immediately choked to tears. The mother coyote was sitting slumped sideways on her haunches with a front paw limply hooked over her dead cub. Both eyes were burned out and white puss dribbled down from her face.

Down deep inside, I guess I knew what nuclear weapon testing might be doing to the world, and had vowed to get out of it ... someday. It’s hard to describe why we ... no, I

... kept on. Somehow it was wrapped up with getting the Russians, the flag, apple pie, saving us from com-munism, and in general all the things most people were thinking about in the ‘fifties. Then maybe it was just a technological addiction. Perhaps a lot of us just happened to be riding on the wave of a popular movement that when looked at from a dis-tant and future perspective certainly had many less than positive features. I’m not apologizing, just saying I’m sorry. There’s a difference. It was, after all, a different time.

I can’t be certain how long I stood there, but looking at that nearly dead animal imbued a radically differ-ent perspective about what we were doing out there in the Nevada desert. Strange how the predicament of this suffering animal had a more imme-diate impact on me than an obvi-ously sublimated concern for people around the world that were pos-sibly being irreparably damaged by our acts. Newborn babies potentially having their future lives ruined by disfigurement and diseases and even early death. It is indeed sometimes strange what events will lead one to a better and higher truth.

A nearby piece of steel re-bar became the merciful executioner’s weapon. Navigating across the ridge of the small nuclear canyon brought me face to face with the tortured animal. Her breathing came in short uneven pulses. A discomforting deep gurgling death rattle could be heard from within her nearly motionless body. Several times I swung the steel bar back to deliver the fatal blow, but each time my courage failed me. By now, in 100-degree-plus tem-peratures, my face mask was full of tears, snot, and sweat. Finally, with one mighty announcement, I brought the weapon down on the side of her skull, closing my eyes just before contact. The feeling of her crackling bones telegraphed up the steel bar, up my arm and forever riveted that experience in my brain. Only some merciful mental power kept me from seeing her body or that of her cub as I stuck the bar in the ground as a marker.

Although my entire family had been hunters, it was only at that moment that the realization came to me. Before that day, other than fishing with my favorite uncle, I had never killed another creature. I haven’t since, either.

Walking to the twenty RAD line, the hovering Marine chopper dropped down in a flurry of dust to pick me up and we headed back to the Control Point.

I never looked back … and I never went back to Bunker 7. Except on those occasional visits with my worst nightmares. •MJ

Down deep inside, I guess I knew what nuclear weapon testing might be doing to the world, and had vowed to

get out of it ... someday

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 29I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back – Henny Youngman

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Coup De Grace by Grace Rachow

Ms. Rachow still knows the words to all the Christmas carols, and in the shower she can hit the high notes in “O Holy Night”

Wanda Tegmeier’s Christmas Pageant

People who now know me as a kind-hearted heathen might be surprised to hear I had extensive

religious training in a rural clapboard church with peeling paint… at least until my best friend Carol Fujan talked me into playing hooky from Sunday services.

However, even Carol and I knew that as the season neared, Santa was watching, and it behooved us to keep our butts stuck to the pews through-out the sermon and, of course, to volunteer to be in the Christmas Eve church program.

When the annual insanity of the holiday season peaks, I like to travel back to that kinder, gentler time, to the Christmas pageant put on by our Methodist church in O Little Town of Carleton, Nebraska, where I grew up.

Wanda Tegmeier, a lovely rotund woman who magically produced one baby boy every year, spearheaded the event.

Her oldest, Dick, was eight, and she cast him as Joseph. I was desperate to be the Virgin Mary, but one look at me, and anyone could see I was much naughtier than nice. However, my friend Carol, despite her sneaking-out-of-church ways, had the perfect holy face, and she got the part. So I ended up as one of the kids who recited a piece of the Christmas story.

Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men were off stage in the

Sunday school room when the pro-gram began. The rest of us kids lined up in the back of the church with the choir. Wanda gave each of us a lit can-dle to carry. Thinking back, it doesn’t make sense that little kids would be allowed to transport open flames in an old wooden building, but those were more innocent times.

We marched to the front, singing “Come All Ye Faithful.” The choir members took their seats. We placed our lit candles in the holders, dripping wax and narrowly avoiding setting the altar afire. A row of child-sized chairs waited for us to nervously sit until it was time to say our lines.

Rodney Smith took the lead and announced the census by Caesar Augustus. I had a crush on Rod. He looked like a six-year-old George Clooney with a flat top.

Then Rosalee Penner, 14, beautiful and with a voice like an angel, sang “Silent Night.” The girl knew how to

set a mood.Next came Ricky Widler. He had

red hair, freckles, and dripped with mischief. He’d threatened to moon the congregation, and I hoped he would drop his trousers, but he played it straight, introducing Mary and Joseph, who waltzed on stage, looking pure and holy. And so cued, the choir rose to sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” I thought it was the most beautiful carol in the whole world.

He’d threatened to moon the congregation, and I hoped he would drop his trousers, but he played it straight

Bobbie, another one of the Tegmeier boys, stood to announce the arrival of the Baby Jesus. He took his infant brother from his mother Wanda and handed him to Mary who placed him in a cradle, and we little ones gathered around to sing a grotesque-ly off-tune version of “Away in the Manger.”

And on the pageant went. Doug Smith introduced the shepherds, and they trooped in wearing sheets belted with rope. You could see the cuffs of their dress pants and dark shoes, but they were still able to watch their flocks with stunning authenticity.

The choir sang “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.” Janet Penner deliv-ered the line about “glad tidings of great joy,” and the congregation rose to sing “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” which made me think of anoth-er Harold, the nerdy son of our school bus driver.

Then it was my turn to say my piece and cue the wise men, my brother John, Bob Stofer and LeRoy Disney, all wearing striped bathrobes. They sang “We Three Kings.”

We all marched off stage singing “Joy to the World.”

Once we kids were seated in the pews, the choir sang “Up on the Rooftop.”

Good old Santa Claus appeared from the Sunday school room. It was my grandpa, and I knew because my grandma had mentioned about a hun-dred times how the only way she could get the old coot to church was to put him in a Santa suit.

Grandpa gave candy canes to all the little kiddies, and we went home to pick one present to open on Christmas Eve. Even if it was underwear, it didn’t matter, because the real Santa had not yet arrived, and our hearts were still full of hope and wonder. •MJ


Santa and I had our annual date night to cover our town’s school holiday concerts. It’s our favorite

time of year to visit all the school kids who have rehearsed for weeks to entertain parents and guests with songs of holiday wishes and cheer. My ride with Santa is featured this week and next.

Starting out the annual holiday cheer was Laguna Blanca Lower School’s “Carol of the Birds” Winter Concert on December 8, in the Spaulding Auditorium at the Upper School Campus in Hope Ranch. As per school custom, each grade from kindergarten to fourth grade per-formed a solo. Songs included “Carol of the Birds,” “Eagle Squadron,” “Rhythms of Zimbabwe” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Students danced to “Zemer Atik,” played gui-tars to “Amazing Grace,” bird fifes to “Carol of the Birds” and congas for “Rhythms of Zimbabwe.”

The Laguna concert is a joint effort supported strongly by the teachers acting as stagehands and caring hands to direct the kids for their parts in the show. Kasia Roca directed the concert.

Cold Spring SchoolOn December 14, Cold Spring

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Holiday Concert Round-UpLaguna School Music Director Kasia Roca at the Laguna Blanca Lower School’s Winter Concert

The talented multitasking music director, Pam Herzog

Laguna Blanca Lower School Ensemble opening the show with “Carol of the Birds”


school chorus for their annual Winter Sing. The students gave four per-formances over two days. Held in the school’s auditorium, grades kin-dergarten through sixth performed on a stage decorated with snowmen and snowflakes. The students played various toned bells, recorders, xylo-phones and percussion instruments to add flavor to the songs. Morgan Bailey assisted Pam on the piano and art teacher Pam Kaganoff and her students decorated the stage and auditorium.

Songs included “Sleigh Ride,” “Hanukkah Tonight,” “White Christmas” and “Hot Chocolate.” Guests were invited to sing along in the finale, “Winter Fantasy.” Everyone’s favorite was the kinder-

garten kids who dressed as various cookies and yelled (aka sang), “ I like cookies, how about you!?”

The Cold Spring Band, directed by Jocelyn Tipple, showcased both beginning and intermediate musi-cians with the “Dreidel Song” and “Up on the Housetop.” Pam shared that the holiday concert is her favorite to produce, as all the grades get to sing together. She was presented with a bouquet of flowers by the students and a standing ovation from their parents.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel School

Our Lady of Mount Carmel invited Santa and me to a rehearsal so that

we could meet our printing deadline, as its annual Christmas concert is scheduled for December 20 this year. It was a great behind-the-scenes look at the hard work these kids put into performing. OLMCS Music Director, Robert Aswad, along with accom-panist Eun Kim, rehearsed with the kids from 1-3:30pm. The Faculty Choir also got in a few songs. Next was Jocelyn Tipple (who is also at Cold Spring School), who has devel-oped the Ukulele Band for sixth to eighth grades. Colter Frazier directs the OLMCS Band.

The OLMC concert song list has all

Sixth grade Winter fantasy dance finale at Cold Spring School Kindergarten students singing an audience favorite, the “Cookie Baking Song”

Cold Spring School Chorus opening their annual Winter Sing with “Sleigh Ride”Cold Spring School Accompanist Morgan Bailey performing at the Cold Spring School Winter Sing

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School 6th grade Ukulele Band with Band Director Jocelyn Tipple

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel PreKindergarten kids rehearse for their Christmas Concert

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School Faculty Choir

(l-r)Director Robert Aswad,

Mary Ann Bognar, Liz

Hanson, Kathie Madlem, Erica Miller and Evn

Kim

OUR TOWN OUR TOWN Page 32�


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OUR TOWN OUR TOWN (Continued from page 31)

the favorites, including “We Three Kings,” “Pat-a-Pan,” “Noel Nouvelet,” and “Silent Night.”

Crane Country Day SchoolSliding into Crane Country Day

School’s auditorium on December 15, the kids performed songs and excerpts from The Polar Express. The kindergarten to fifth-grade students sang the songs as a cho-rus “on the train” and the fourth graders acted out the story. Fourth grader Bella Sanford played the role of a girl who makes the jour-ney of a lifetime and the stage was

set up with Santa on one side and a scene from the The Polar Express on the other. Under the direction of Eric Haessler were Crane’s music director Toni Mackie, pianist Konrad Kono and drummer Joel Jameson, Crane’s rockin’ mainte-nance man. Songs included “When Christmas Comes to Town,” “The Polar Express Hot Chocolate,” “Rockin’ on Top of the World,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Feliz Navidad” and “Hannukah Celebration.”

Next week: Montecito Union School, ELMO Early School, and the YMCA holiday concerts. •MJ

Crane Country Day School’s Polar Express-themed holiday concert

Students singing songs and excerpts from The Polar Express at Crane

s a n t a b a r b a r as t i c k e r s . c o m

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 33When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old, I know that it is – Oscar Wilde

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Honoring the Wise Men and WomenSENIORITY by Patti Teel

Patti Teel is the com-munity representative for Senior Helpers, providers of care and comfort at a moment’s notice. She is also host of the Senior Helpers online video show. www.santabarbaraseniors.com. E-mail: [email protected].

This holiday article is dedicated to the wise elders of Santa Barbara who, despite the

inevitable challenges they face, are aging with grace. Recently, I’ve encountered the kind of events that often accompany aging. In some ways, I feel as if my counter on the game board of life took a huge leap forward. A little over a year and a half ago, my husband had a close encounter with death, an extensive hospital stay and continued rehabilitation. (Thankfully, he is continuing to improve and rehabilitate.) My experiences increased my respect and admiration for seniors who continue to have an appreciation for life, despite its inescapable diffi culties and heartaches.

I regularly meet seniors who are dealing with their own health prob-lems or those of their spouse – or are dealing with the heartbreak of losing a spouse. Their resilience is inspira-tional. I am not only honored to have the chance to know them, I am try-ing to be a keen observer in order to learn from them. Their wisdom is a gift. However, in a technology driven culture such as ours, it is frequently disregarded. Too often, we mistakenly value information over wisdom. But there is a difference between the two. In his book, Still Here, Ram Dass said, “Information involves the acquisition, organization, and dissemination of facts; a storing-up of physical data… In the wisdom mode, we’re standing back and viewing the whole, discern-ing what matters and what does not, weighing the measure and depth of things.”

In traditional societies, elders have long been a valued source of wis-dom. But today, the media often por-trays aging as a problem – a great social ill, a drain on society, and an affront to aesthetics. We, the aging, are viewed as a problem rather than a great resource. Hopefully, this will change as the silver tsunami – i.e., the

baby boomers – grow older and infuse our society with wisdom.

I’ve noticed that my elderly friends and clients who seem the most con-tent share the following: empathy and concern for others, a sense of humor, thankfulness, and interests. Of course these interests vary widely, from writ-ing professionally to simply collecting pinecones or watching a familiar bird in the back yard.

Of course, I would not be so pre-sumptuous as to give advice on grow-ing older. However, this holiday sea-son, I would like to preserve the long held tradition of honoring our elders. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for lighting the way for baby boomers like me.

Question from a Reader Regarding Long Term Care Insurance:

Hi Patti,Informative column. I am 60 and in

good health… How do you keep long-term health premiums from escalating out of reach after you sign up for a policy?

Thanks for your answers.Mark

Hi Mark,Generally, health insurance cost is

variable and long-term care insurance is fixed.

PattiP.S. Locally, Brad Tisdale, of Mission

Wealth Management, LLC has a pas-sion and field of expertise in long-term care insurance. •MJ


medium for expression. Marina’s hus-band, Philip Delio, a neurologist at Cottage Hospital and director of the stroke center, was a happy sampler to all of Marina’s experiments and recipes. His volunteering to wash the dishes and help clean up afterwards was encouragement enough for her to continue and cultivate her craft. Their daughters Isabella (4) and Leila (1.5) have inherited Marina’s love of cooking and consequently, she gets two extra sets of helpful hands in the kitchen.

Pizza NightsMarina and her family’s favorite

nights at home are when they carry on her family tradition of making pizza dough from scratch. Their kitchen is transformed into “Isabella’s Pizzeria” and everyone gets creative with their toppings. According to Marina, pizza can be more healthful if fresh qual-ity ingredients are used. “It’s the low-quality greasy cheese and meats that turn pizza into something bad for you,” she says. “Living in Santa Barbara,” she adds, “offers so much opportunity for fresh fruits and veg-etables that the possibilities of pizza toppings are endless.” Toppings she favors include butternut squash with sage pesto, chicken with peach slices, fresh figs with Gorgonzola cheese; she even grills pizza on the BBQ.

What does the future hold for Marina? A literary agent in New York has contacted her about writing a cookbook. For the near future: teach-ing cooking classes in private homes and continuing with yummymummykitchen.com. As a popular blog-ger, Marina also supports other blogs and her top picks are: slimpaley.com for design and creative ideas and Gwendolyn Strong foundation (gsf.org), a blog started by a local fam-ily with a young daughter diagnosed

with Spinal Muscular Atrophy.For this year’s holiday celebration,

Marina recommends her Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites. With over 100 comments and 22,000 hits, this appe-tizer seems definitely worth a try.

Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites (makes 16)Sugared Cranberries 16 crackers 8 oz Brie cheeseCranberry chutney or cranberry relishFresh mint for garnish

For the cranberries, rinse two cups fresh cranberries and place in a medi-um bowl. Heat one cup high qual-ity maple syrup in a small saucepan just until warm. Pour over cranberries when syrup is warm – not hot, or cranberries may pop. Cool, cover, and let soak in the refrigerator overnight.

Drain cranberries in a colander. Place one cup granulated sugar in a large bowl or baking dish. Add cran-berries in two batches and roll around until lightly coated in sugar. Place on a baking sheet until dry, about 1 hour.

Assemble crackers with one slice of Brie, a light layer of cranberry chut-ney, and 4 or 5 sugared cranberries. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs. •MJ

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I usually rely on my Joy of Cookingcookbook for favorite holiday recipes, but this year, I did

something different: I perused foodie blogs, asked my favorite local chefs for recipes, and took my chances in the kitchen.

Marina Delio of yummymummykitchen.com is no stranger around the kitchen. Her recipes have been featured on The Martha Stewart Show, in Cooking Light magazine, and a variety of food media, and she has won several cooking and baking contests. This fall, Martha Stewartfavored Marina’s recipe of pumpkin French macaroons, and requested that Marina, a Westmont alum, prepare them on her show. Marina’s recipe for black bean burgers with mango salsa made her a finalist for Cooking Lightmagazine’s family dinners recipe con-test. Browsing through her blog, yummymummkitchen.com, I found many simple and easy to make dishes with fancy names (my favorite combina-tion). Being that Marina is a Santa Barbara native, I know that every

ingredient will be easy to find and readily available.

Marina was born and raised in Santa Barbara, attended Vieja Valley Elementary, San Marcos High School and graduated from Westmont College. She became a teacher shortly thereafter. Her niche has always been sensory art, and cooking became her

Montecito Living

Montecito’s Yummy Mummy KitchenLilly resides in Montecito with her husband, Read, daughter Teddy,

and furry, four-legged companion, Moxie

by Lilly Tam Cronin

Marina Delio of yummymummykitchen.com

Marina’s Sparkling Cranberry Brie Bites, a holiday favorite

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 35When I told my doctor I couldn’t afford an operation, he offered to touch-up my x-rays – Henny Youngman

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Simple Tech by Harold Adams

Harold Adams is a local Mac Consultant and founder of Santa Barbara Life. He can be reached at 805-692-2005 or www.sblife.com

Need to fi nd the perfect gift for the octogenarian in your life? Seniors can be tech

people, too! Forget about the slipper socks and terrycloth robes. Many of today’s seniors are beginning to have more interest in Facebook than face creams.

Computers are getting easier to use every day. As a local consultant, I’ve helped many people get organized and make some great things hap-pen on their computers and other hi-tech gadgets. Never has this been more true than recently with seniors. User-friendly computers, iPads and iPhones have made it a great time for older folks to revisit the simple ways a computer can help them get things done. Over the years, I’ve worked with many beginners to gain a clear and simple understanding of how a computer can be used each day. Recently, with a little guidance, a 90-year-old man learned to use his new iMac. After just a few lessons, he’s now written and published an entire book complete with photo-graphs.

It used to be that there were many from the previous generation who thought computers and technology had passed them by – I’ve heard it all – and in many cases it had. But the times are changing and a new generation of elegant, simple-to-use devices is bringing computers and the Internet to anyone from pre-schoolers to people 100 years old or older. No manuals required! Another recent client easily learned to search the web on her new iPod Touch. She’s 105 years old, browsing and discovering new things all the time.

The touch-screen interfaces on the iPad and iPhone are great examples of the big leaps forward we are seeing in the tech world. Although there can be a few mild challenges at the very beginning, these types of devices offer great new options and opportunities for everyone. One touch takes you to your music. Another touch and you can open up that book you’ve been reading. Another touch takes you to your photos. Touch again and your phone becomes a camera and with a few more touches you can send the imag-es to the entire family. Some people like to pop open The Wall Street Journal app and take a peek at their stock portfolio (up we go, down we go!). Seniors can especially ben-efit from voice assistants (like ‘Siri’ found on the new iPhone) where

Shopping for Seniorstiny, tedious typing can be replaced with an easily spoken web search like “Find me a recipe for peach cob-bler.” It’s a piece of cake. (Well, pie actually…)

We’re all different. Some people want music and playlists from the good old days of Frank Sinatra and Glenn Miller, while others are inter-ested in just who this Lady Gaga is and why everyone is so gaga about her. Still others are interested in finding old friends on Facebook. Or maybe, they just want to finally get started emailing family and the grandkids or organizing photos. A perfect example is a 50-year wed-ding anniversary gift from the kids to mom and dad – an iPad. They love it and are using it almost every day. When you throw an Apple TV into the mix, anyone can wirelessly present photos, video or music from their iPad to their big screen TV. It gets everyone in on the fun and any-one can do it, even good old mom and dad. Whether your older special someone is a coin collector or a bird watcher, anyone of any age can grab an iPad and jump online.

So, if you are looking for just the right holiday gift for that special person you’ve known and loved all your life (that they may even let you use once in awhile) consider the gift of technology and save the face cream for your secret Santa gift back at the office. And if that new piece of tech is for you? Don’t be afraid… jump right in. •MJ

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Westmont’s dancers offered an eclectic yet balanced performance before large

crowds December 9-10. “Directions,” featuring choreography by both faculty and students, celebrated a new era of dance at Westmont under the direction of fi rst-year Westmont instructors Susan Alexander and Christina Sanchez. Sanchez performed a solo choreographed by Alexander. The fall dance recital included nine pieces, showcasing a variety of choreography, style and music.

Alexander was professor of modern dance at the Paris Conservatory of Music and Dance from 1989-2008, and for the Paris Opera Ballet Company from 1985-2008. Alexander, a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, earned a mas-ter’s degree in dance at Mills College.

Sanchez has performed and toured throughout Europe, South America and the U.S. with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She has also performed with Ballet Hispanico of New York, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Buglisi Foreman Dance.

Competition Awards Top Entrepreneurs

A multi-person discount service for small businesses and an online, used sporting goods exchange were the big winners at the 22nd annual Westmont Collegiate Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition December 8. About 60 people packed into Kerrwood Hall to hear students make formal presen-tations about their business plans as part of Entrepreneurship and New Venture Development, a class taught by David Newton, Westmont profes-sor of entrepreneurial finance.

Students Matt Shiney and Cole Timm of Crux, the discount service, shared first-place honors with stu-dents Dave Wolford, Bryce Randolph and Matt Kauk of Outdoor Exchange. Pacific Coast Skateboards, providing

longboard skateboards for Hong Kong commuters, finished in third place.

“These winners will work closely with me in early January to submit their business plans to national busi-ness plan competitions and forums around the country during the spring,” Newton says.

One of the judges of the competition, Jason Spievak, CEO at RingRevenue and former CFO of Callwave, praised Westmont’s entrepreneurship pro-gram and the students, saying he and his company have hired Westmont alumni and utilize the college’s stu-dent-interns.

Pickle Tree Lights up Kerrwood Lawn

The Westmont College Student Association (WCSA) selected Jeremy Fletcher, coordinator of student min-istries and missions, to throw the switch December 1, lighting the 150-foot redwood tree, dubbed the Pickle Tree. Fletcher, who oversees Potter’s Clay, Emmaus Road, Urban Initiative and other student-led service projects, donned a top hat, tail-back tuxedo and white gloves for the festive occasion. Mark Nelson, the Kenneth and Peggy Monroe professor of philosophy, delivered the annual Pickle Address, describing a childhood Christmas when his brother received nothing but socks. The Alumni and Parent Relations Office collected more than 150 items for The Unity Shoppe at the tree-lighting ceremony. •MJ

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Mary Miles Herter was the widow of Christian Augustus Ludwig Herter, who

together with his adopted half-brother Gustav, formed Herter Brothers, the leading New York furniture making and interior decorating company in New York in the second half of the 1800s. The business ceased operation in 1906.

In 1904, Mary Miles Herter pur-chased an entire city block bounded by Micheltorena, Garden, Santa Barbara and Arrellaga streets and commis-sioned designs for an Italianate villa. Mary, the daughter of a prominent East Coast physician, had devoted her life to advancing the cause of Aestheticism, an artistic movement that promoted beauty as the basic object of life and which celebrated sensuality while utilizing symbolism and allegory. Three of its more nota-ble proponents were Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Mary’s own son, Albert Herter.

Mary settled into her villa across from Alameda Park and became involved in the artistic life of the com-munity by supporting the municipal band. She opened her home for fun-draisers and assisted in organizing Italian fetes at Oak Park for band benefits. She also helped bring the fiery Italian composer and conduc-tor, Caesar La Monaca, to town to organize outdoor concerts. On con-cert days at Alameda Park, there was always space left for Madame Herter’s carriage from which she could listen to the concert in comfort.

In 1909, Mary’s artist son, Albert Marsh Herter, and his wife Adele McGinnis Herter came to Santa Barbara to help Mary decorate her home. Soon after, Albert and Adele’s daughter Lydia came to live with her grand-mother. In March 1913, Mary Herter, while attending a soirée aboard the private rail car belonging to President Ripley of the Santa Fe Railroad, died

suddenly. Albert became sole heir to her one-million-dollar estate, which included her home in Santa Barbara.

Albert and Adele Herter

Albert Herter was born in 1871 in New York City. His life was infused with art and beauty, so it is no wonder that by age 14 he exhibited for the first time at the Academy of Fine Arts in New York. He painted his first mural at age 15, and his widowed mother took

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The Way It Was

by Hattie Beresford

The Herter Touch: Part 1

Ms Beresford is a retired English and American his-tory teacher of 30 years in the Santa Barbara School District. She is author of two Noticias, “El Mirasol: From Swan to Albatross” and “Santa Barbara Grocers,” for the Santa Barbara Historical Society.

WAY IT WAS WAY IT WAS Page 38�

Since their beginnings, Montecito and Santa Barbara have been blessed with a pantheon of cultural patrons and civic leaders who have enriched the community on behalf of all its citizens. The artistic Herter family, who established roots here in 1904, stand tall among this elite group.

Mary Miles Herter (circa 1910), devoted her life to Aestheticism and built an Italianate Villa across from Alameda Park in 1906 (Photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)


him on a world tour the following year.In Paris it was decided that he

should study independently under the personal supervision of the best artists rather than attend the École des Beaux Arts. In the early days, he was a protégé of Jean Paul Laurens, a French painter in the Academic tradition who painted numerous large public works, and Fernand Corman, known mostly for history paintings and large decora-tive works. Their influence is clearly visible in Albert’s subsequent artistic endeavors.

When he was 18, Albert’s The Wife of Buddha was accepted for the Paris Salon. Winning third place, it also won a buyer. When he was 22, he married fellow art student Adele L. McGinnis.

The two returned to New York for the ceremony at St. Thomas’s Church at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street. Adele was whisked down the aisle in an empire-style gown of white benga-line silk with a wreath of orange blos-soms securing a flowing tuile veil. A bouquet of Easter lilies completed the Burnes-Jones effect. Immediately after-wards, the newlyweds caught a train for Chicago where Albert’s work was on display at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. From there it was a race to San Francisco to board a steamer for Japan for their honeymoon voyage.

Albert had first visited Japan dur-ing his world tour at age 16. In a 1904 interview he said, “I found Japan a Garden of Eden. It impressed me as being the most beautiful country in the whole world.”

After their honeymoon, Albert and Adele returned to the Land of the Rising Sun to live for several years. “I wore the Japanese costume entirely while in country,” he said, “and still find time to don their dress very often

in my Paris studio.”Though they spent much of their

early artistic life in Paris, they returned to the United States to open Herter Looms in Mary Herter’s for-mer Madison Avenue home in 1908. Utilizing weavers from France and a talented crew of artists, the looms were the first to make use of synthetic silk, a precursor to nylon.

As an artist, Adele became known for her portraits, still lifes and deco-rative arts. Her life-size painting of Albert in Japanese dress was selected for the Salon in Paris. At her 1907 exhibit at Kraushaar’s Gallery in New York, Adele’s portraits were described as being of singular refine-ment and elegance. The influence of Japan showed clearly in her work for the reviewer wrote, “The painter uses Oriental objects very cleverly for backgrounds, obtaining low but rich color effects.”

Albert was renowned for monu-mental murals of historic and alle-gorical scenes, romantic portraits, decorative arts, and book illustration. His murals hang in public buildings throughout the nation, his paintings adorn the galleries of the world’s art museums, and the list of medals and honors he won is extensive.

WAY IT WAS WAY IT WAS (Continued from page 37)

El MirasolAfter Albert inherited his mother’s

villa on Micheltorena Street, he decid-ed to transform it into a hotel. He added wings to the main house and several multi-roomed cottages, which catered to the elite of the Gilded Age. He named it El Mirasol (the sun-flower) and a local reporter sang its praises at the opening on August 18, 1914 by writing, “Everywhere is color, harmonious tones that are felt as well as seen; rich rugs, hangings, pictures, pottery, and light shades of excep-tional loveliness, so finely wrought that each is a masterpiece of its kind.”

Among the many artistic elements the Herters created for the hotel, Albert painted two panels depicting peacocks, the colorful bird associated with the Aesthetic movement. They hung above bold orange and blue flooring in the smaller dining room, which became known as the Peacock Room. Adele patiently ironed the sil-ver foil wrapping from Chinese tea packages and affixed them to the wall of the room that was later to become the bar. Upon this reflective canvas she painted desert scenes depicting all manner of cacti. When Frank Lloyd Wright visited, he exclaimed that it

was the most beautiful wall covering he had ever seen.

The Herters sold El Mirasol to hote-lier Frederick Clift in 1920 but by then they were well ensconced in Santa Barbara’s artistic life and had adopted the community as their own. Circa 1913 they had opened a studio at 114 Chapala Street as well as a showroom for Herter Looms in San Francisco.

Gare de L’EstAlbert and Adele had three chil-

dren. Christian Archibald Herter, their second son, was named for several generations of Christian Herters start-ing with a Swiss/German cabinet-maker born in 1807 in Stuttgart, whose sons emigrated and formed Herter Brothers. This Christian, however, became Governor of Massachusetts and Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower. Their other son, Everit, followed in his parents’ footsteps and became an artist, and their daughter Lydia, born in 1898, lived most of her life in Santa Barbara.

During World War I, Albert volun-teered for the war effort by creating several war posters recruiting vol-unteers and soliciting donations for

Albert and Adele spent the early years of their artistic careers abroad where Albert painted romantic scenes and portraits like “The Round Mirror”

Albert Herter poses in the courtyard of the El Mirasol Hotel, his mother’s former home in Santa Barbara (Photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

Adele Herter patiently ironed the silver wrapping from Chinese tea packages to create the canvas for her famous cactus mural at El Mirasol (Photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)

Albert Herter painted his sons, Christian (left) and Everit (Image courtesy of Santa Barbara Historical Museum)


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organizations like the YMCA and the Red Cross. His son Everit, a budding decorative artist, joined the camou-flage section of the Engineer Corps along with other notable artists. Everit was among the troops who departed from Gare de L’Est in June of 1918 for Chateau Thierry and Belleau Wood. By the end of that month, U.S. forces suffered 9,777 casualties, of which 1,811 were fatal. Among them was Everit Herter.

In 1926, Albert painted a twenty-seven-foot-high, forty-foot-wide memorial for the Paris train station entitled The Departure of Troops from Gare de L’Est in 1914. The French gov-ernment gave him a room in Versailles in which to paint the monumental tribute for which he was awarded the Chevalier Legion of Honor. At the

unveiling, applauding soldiers sat on top of trains that were backed into the station for the ceremony.

Albert painted the image of his son Everit looking through a foggy train window and included his son Christian A. Herter, Lydia, her friend Ingeborg Praetorius, Adele, several grandchildren, and himself in the

painting.Next time: the Herters Santa Barbara

legacy.Sources: Files of the Santa Barbara

Historical Museum; contemporary news articles, ancestry.com, Herter Brothers: Furniture for a Gilded Age by Katherine Howe, et al. “El Mirasol: From Swan to Albatross” by Hattie Beresford. •MJ

During WWI, Albert joined other artists in pro-moting the efforts of such organizations as the Red Cross and the YMCA (Courtesy of Library of Congress)

Section of Albert Herter’s monumental mural, “The Departure of Troops from Gare de L’Est in 1914,” which commemorates the life of his son who died at Chateau Thierry in 1918. Herter painted himself as the man holding flowers on the far right. (Photo courtesy of Hattie Beresford)


ONGOING

Holiday happenings – The South Coast Ra ilroad Museum’s festive minia ture ra ilroad turns into the C andy C ane Tra in in December, a tradition tha t da tes back nearly 20 years. Follow ing the tra in ride , be sure to visit the Toy Tra ins and Teddy Bears exhibit inside the museum. W HE N : 1-3:45pm weekends, 2-3:45pm weekdays, through Sa turday, Dec. 24 W HERE: 300 N . Los C arneros Rd ., G oleta C O ST: $4 I N F O : 964-3540 ... The extremely popular Trolley of Lights – in which the Santa Barbara Trolley norma lly driven by tourist destina tions in the daytime instead offers a nighttime trek through myriad Santa Barbara neighborhoods which offer the most luminous and pervasive holiday displays – continues its 12 th annua l nightly run of 90-minute tours. W HE N : 6:30pm nightly through Dec. 23 W HERE: Departs from W heel Fun Renta ls, 22 Sta te St. C O ST: $14-$23 I N F O : 965-0353 or sbtrolley.com... If four-wheelin’ it is more your thing , DeeTours Jeep Limo’s Holiday Lights Tour offers a similar nightly trek around town seeking the best Christmas displays for the second consecutive year. W HE N : 5:45 & 7:15 nightly, through Dec. 23 W HERE: Departs from foot of Stearns W harf, C abrillo Blvd . and Sta te St. C O ST: $10-$20 I N F O : 448-8425

Theatrical treats ending this week – The three loca l thea ter productions still being staged right up until Christmas weekend couldn’t be more different in approach or substance , offering thea ter-lovers a wonderful g ift of variety and ta lent in this season of g iving . PCPA Thea terfest’s A Christmas C arol is the most traditiona l, of course , a lthough even here the Santa M aria company isn’t merely traveling the stra ight and narrow. Charles Dickens’ classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge’s journey from a wea lthy but miserable miser to a warm and philanthropic man of the community gets the musica l trea tment here , w ith an adaption from Richard Hellesen, music by David DeBerry and orchestra tions by Gregg Coffi n. Two of PCPA’s longtime artistic managers, Mark Booher and Michael Jenkinson, handle direction and choreography, respectively, while veteran actor Andrew Philpot and a cast of another two dozen thespians take on a variety of roles, w ith only Peter S. Hadres as Scrooge and Evans Eden Jarnefeldt as Bob Cra tchit portraying a single character. Visit your own past, present and future a t PCPA this week. W HE N : 1:30 & 7:30pm Wed ., Dec. 21; 7pm Thurs., Dec. 22; and 1:30pm Fri., Dec. 23 W HERE: M arian Thea tre , 800 S. College Dr., Santa M aria

C ALENDAR OF EVENTSNote to readers: This entertainment calendar is a subjective sampling of arts and other events taking place in the Santa Barbara area this 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 prior to publication. Please send all news releases and digital artwork to [email protected] and/or [email protected]

by Steven Libowitz

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23

Salsa at SOhO – Here in Southern C a lifornia , most of our sa lsa artists come by way of Mexico and South American countries. Johnny Polanco, on the other hand , was born in the South Bronx section of N ew York C ity to Dominican and Puerto Rican parents who loved the music of the C aribbean. He grew up listening to Tito Puente , Tito Rodriguez , M achito, Cortijo y su Combo and traditiona l trio music from Los Panchos and Johnny A lbino. Polanco himself started playing guitar a t age fi ve , and embraced La tin music as soon as he hit double dig its, teaching himself how to play the six-stringer as well as the tres guitar, violin, percussion instruments, electric bass, trombone and vibraphone . As a teen, he played w ith his uncles Julio and Arturo Urrutia in a trio forma t, performing in a ll family ga therings and some loca l socia l club events, and by age 14 he was a member of the Steve Colón Band in the Bronx

and then moved on to a group ca lled Charanga Sensua l. But as La tin music evolved into sa lsa , Polanco joined the M arines to escape the city; a fter discharge he moved to C a lifornia in the 1980s, resuming his career in the burgeoning scene . N ow considered a dean of sa lsa , Polanco returns to S O h O tonight, where the dancing is as important as the music, as indica ted by the fact tha t Diana and Jorge offer sa lsa lessons prior to the show. W HE N : Dance lessons a t 8:30pm; music beg ins a t 10pm W HERE: S O h O , 1221 Sta te Street C O ST: $10 before 10pm, $13 a fter 10pm; $15 w ith dance lessons I N F O : 962-7776 or www.sohosb .com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25

Bayou Seco Christmas – Santa Barbara ’s annua l free Christmas contra dance manages to have the dance society’s regular Sunday night slot coincide w ith the actua l holiday – as happens Sunday – only once every fi ve or six years. But the band rema ins the same no ma tter wha t the da te: Bayou Seco. The group is led by the husand-and-w ife duo of Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie , who have collected music from older

traditiona l American musicians for most of their lives, and learned to play many of their tunes and songs. Keppeler and McLerie orig ina lly focused mostly on C a jun music in southwest Louisiana . But since they moved to the American southwest back in 1980 , they’ve a lso adopted traditiona l H ispanic, Cowboy, and Tohono O ’ O dham music indigenous to N ew Mexico and Arizona . The duo both play fi ddle and guitar and sing . Keppeler a lso plays one and three row dia tonic accordions, 5-string banjo (fretless and fretted), harmonica , and mandolin. And since he can’t do a ll those a t the same time , the duo a lways a ttracts a large contingent of friends, both loca l and visiting artists. This year we’re expecting bassist Tom Lee (who a lso runs the Song Tree Concert Series) and fi ddler Jim Wimmer (a violin-maker who recently crea ted the quartet of instruments permanently housed a t Westmont), plus Larry Unger, the accomplished M assachusetts-based guitarist who has written more than 600 tunes and is well-known to loca l contra enthusiasts as a member of severa l popular bands in the biz , including Reckless Abandon, Uncle G izmo, Big Table , the Reckless Ramblers and , most recently, N otorious. Erik Hoffman w ill ca ll a t tonight’s free dance , which offers newcomers and families a grea t opportunity to get acqua inted w ith the contra cra ze . W HE N : 6:30-9:30pm W HERE: C arrillo Recrea tion Center ba llroom, 100 E. C arrillo Blvd . C O ST: free I N F O : www.sbcds.org / contradance

s a n t a b a r b a r a s t i c k e r s . c o m

WHAT'S THE BIG DECAL?

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 41I played a lot of tough clubs in my time; once, a guy in one of those clubs wanted to bet me ten bucks that I was dead; I was afraid to bet – Henny Youngman

High-Flyin’ TommyOn Entertainment

by Steven Libowitz

Steven Libowitz has reported on the arts and entertainment for more than 30 years; he has contributed to Montecito Journal for over ten years.

In the rough-and-tumble world of rock ‘n’ roll, Tommy Cantillonis so polite and respectful, it’s

almost unnerving. “It’s a damn shame we never

talked before,” said Cantillon, a Santa Barbara native who initially grew up on the Montecito border and began his education at Mount Carmel School. “And I’m glad to finally meet you, if only over the phone.”

Later, when he accidentally tosses in a slightly more off-color word, he immediately apologizes and prom-ises to “keep it clean.”

One has to wonder if his charm-ing personality, even more than the band’s winning combination of clas-sic rock and sprightly pop, has some-thing to do with his band Tommy & the High Pilots’ burgeoning success, a path that has seen the five-year-old group enjoy continuous growth. That spurt is surely in evidence here at home, where Cantillon & Co. will play their fourth annual Christmas concert, this year stepping up from SOhO to the 680-seat Lobero on Friday night.

Cantillon filled us in on the band’s roots, its approach and the music in a leisurely half-hour conversation last week.

Q. Take us through how the band got together, please. It came from the ashes of Holden, when you were just a teen-ager, right, and then you moved to New York for a while?

A. When Holden disbanded, it was against my wishes. We had recently fired our manager and decided to

take the reins and keep pressing on. We’d become pretty savvy at being a DIY rock band. But within a month, the other guys were done. They didn’t want to tour anymore. We had different versions of what we should be doing. I thought we should keep going on the path we were on, because it was working. We’d had five albums, and parts of the country were really catching on. But I had the rug pulled out from under me... So I decided to shoot out to New York, gather my thoughts, and see if I could write some music out there. I filled up a songbook. But after a year, I had the itch to perform again, and every musician I wanted to play with was in Santa Barbara. So I came back.

I did the reverse commute. I moved out here from New Jersey.

Really? You know, Bruce Springsteen is one of my gods.

Yeah, I got to see him a whole lot back in the day, starting in 1974, even before Born to Run. I saw him maybe ten times in all sorts of places, includ-ing clubs when he’d jam with Southside

ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINMENT Page 44�

Santa Barbara band Tommy & The High Pilots play their annual Christmas show at the Lobero this year, a first after selling out SOhO last Christmas

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30 Kinda fonda Wanda – She briefl y da ted and sang w ith Elvis Presley. She basica lly popularized rockabilly as a genre for women. She hit the Top 40 as a country singer, and gave pianist Big A l Downing and guitarist Roy Clark their early exposure as members of her band . She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Ha ll of Fame in 2009

as an early infl uence , full of vim and vigor and take-no-prisoner sing ing . Wanda Jackson, the “Fujiyama M ama ,” returns to S O h O for a rollicking N ew Year's Eve eve roll through a treasure trove of her hits on the Billboard Top 200 , making her the oldest fema le artist ever to accomplish the fea t. Rockabilly boog ie , indeed! W HE N : 9pm W HERE: S O h O , 1221 Sta te Street C O ST: $22 I N F O : 962-7776 or www.sohosb .com

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31

Pops before the bubbly – Veteran Boston Pops O rchestra visiting conductor Robert Bernhardt takes the reins of the Santa Barbara Symphony for the fi rst time in 22 years to lead a light and lofty program bidding farewell to 2011 and welcoming 2012 . Bernhardt is in his 29 th season as the Principa l Pops Director of the Louisville O rchestra , and a lso serves as Music Director Emeritus of the Cha ttanooga Symphony. The program boasts works by fi lm /pops composers John Williams, Leroy Anderson and Alan Silvestri, plus a suite from the popular Frank C apra Christmas chestnut It’s A Wonderful Life . Award-w inning soprano Mela Dailey lends her voice to operetta selections and Broadway and other standards, and , of course , there w ill be party ha ts and noisemakers for a ll.

Plus, you’ll be out in time to hit another party or make it home for the ba ll to drop in Times Square (or a t least the rebroadcast for the Pacifi c Time zone). W HE N : 8:30pm W HERE: Granada , 1214 Sta te St. C O ST: $35-$100 I N F O : 899-2222 or www.granadasb .org

C O ST: $20-$32 .50 I N F O : 922-8313 or www.pcpa .org ... Things get a little sillier over a t Thea ter 150 in O ja i, where Richard Kuhlman is directing The Emperor’s N ew C lothes w ith a tw isted take on Hans Christian Andersen’s ta le via a traditiona l British Christmas Pantomime . The story of deceit and hubris is turned into an uproarious, slapstick, musica l extravaganz a where the men play the women and the women play the men, and the show is full of topica l songs and jabs a t contemporary events, w ith every joke a “groaner.” A las, while the side-splitting farcica l fa iryta le is sure to be fun for the whole family, it closes w ith a sad note , as “ C lothes” is the fi na l production from Thea ter 150 , which is transitioning from a professiona l Equity thea ter to a new business model as a non-Equity, nonprofi t thea ter for young adults and children. W HE N : 7pm Thur., Dec. 22 and 8pm Fri., Dec. 23 W HERE: 316 E. M a tilija Street, O ja i C O ST: $29 genera l, $18 students / seniors, $5 kids under 12 I N F O : 646-4300 or www.thea ter150 .org ... Fina lly, right here in downtown Santa Barbara , Ensemble Thea ter Company’s A Lion in W inter has been extended for another week, g iving audiences a fi na l few opportunities to check out Stephanie Zimbalist’s rapacious, scenery-chew ing (in a good way) turn as Eleanor of Aquita ine , the imprisoned w ife of King

Henry II who engages in a knock-down, drag-out ba ttle of w its and gamesmanship w ith her spouse and children. A heartwarming holiday homily it’s not, but for those who prefer a little mea t a longside the mince pie w ill apprecia te the substantia l production. W HE N : 8pm Wed-Fri, Dec. 21-23 , plus 2pm Sa t., Dec. 24 W HERE: 914 Santa Barbara Street C O ST: $20-$60 I N F O : 965-5400 or www.ensemblethea tre .com

Loggins & Lois – There’s plenty of reasons to ring in 2012 a t S O h O besides the fact tha t the musica l enterta inment comes from the aptly-named M idnight Band . Like , for example , lead voca list Lois Mahalia, the supremely g ifted C aribbean-born singer named a fter gospel grea t Mahalia Jackson who does R&B and ja z z like nobody’s business. O r maybe specia l guest Kenny Loggins, the ‘70s and ‘80s rock icon who ca lled Montecito home for a long time before moving to Hope Ranch. The two – a long w ith band-ma tes George Friedenthal, Randy Tico, Maitlin Ward, and Donzell Davis – have made N ew Year’s Eve a t S O h O an a lmost annua l tradition, and pretty much a must-see event. Celebra te ‘em home as we celebra te the new year. W HE N : 9pm W HERE: S O h O , 1221 Sta te Street C O ST: $110 w ith dinner I N F O : 962-7776 or www.sohosb .com •MJ


Bella Vista $$$1260 Channel Drive (565-8237)Featuring a glass retractable roof, Bella Vis-ta’s ambiance is that of an elegant outdoor Mediterranean courtyard. Executive Chef Alessandro Cartumini has created an inno-vative menu, featuring farm fresh, Italian-inspired California cuisine. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7 am to 9 pm.

Cafe Del Sol $$30 Los Patos Way (969-0448)

CAVA $$1212 Coast Village Road (969-8500)Regional Mexican and Spanish cooking combine to create Latin cuisine from tapas and margaritas, mojitos, seafood paella and sangria to lobster tamales, Churrasco ribeye steak and seared Ahi tuna. Sunfl ower-colored interior is accented by live Span-ish guitarist playing next to cozy beehive fi replace nightly. Lively year-round outdoor people-wat ching front patio. Open Monday-Friday 11 am to 10 pm. Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 10 pm.

China Palace $$1070 Coast Village Road (565-9380)Montecito’s only Chinese restaurant, here you’ll fi nd large portions and modern décor. Take out available. (Montecito Journal staff is especially fond of the Cashew Chicken!) China Palace also has an outdoor patio. Open seven days 11:30 am to 9:30 pm.

Giovanni’s $1187 Coast Village Road (969-1277)

Los Arroyos $1280 Coast Village Road (969-9059)

Little Alex’s $1024 A-Coast Village Road (969-2297)

Lucky’s (brunch) $$ (dinner) $$$ 1279 Coast Village Road (565-7540)Comfortable, old-fashioned urban steak-house in the heart of America’s biggest little village. Steaks, chops, seafood, cocktails, and an enormous wine list are featured, with white tablecloths, fine crystal and vintage photos from the 20th century. The bar (separate from dining room) features large flat-screen TV and opens at 4 pm during the week. Open nightly from 5 pm to 10 pm; Saturday & Sunday brunch from 9 am to 3 pm. Valet Parking.

Montecito Café $$1295 Coast Village Road (969-3392)

Montecito Coffee Shop $1498 East Valley Road (969-6250)

Montecito Wine Bistro $$$516 San Ysidro Road 969-7520Head to Montecito’s upper village to indulge in some California bistro cuisine. Chef Nathan Heil creates seasonal menus that

$ (average per person under $15)$$ (average per person $15 to $30)$$$ (average per person $30 to $45)$$$$ (average per person $45-p lus)

M O N T E C I T O E AT E R I E S . . . A G u i d e include fi sh and vegetarian dishes, and fresh fl atbreads straight out of the wood-burning oven. The Bistro offers local wines, classic and specialty cocktails, single malt scotches and aged cognacs.

Pane é Vino $$$1482 East Valley Road (969-9274)

Peabody’s $1198 Coast Village Road (969-0834)

Plow & Angel $$$San Ysidro Ranch 900 San Ysidro Lane (565-1700) Enjoy a comfortable atmosphere as you dine on traditional dishes such as mac ‘n cheese and ribs. The ambiance is enhanced with original artwork, including stained glass windows and an homage to its namesake, Saint Isadore, hanging above the fi replace. Dinner is served from 5 to 10 pm daily with bar service extend-ing until 11 pm weekdays and until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

Sakana Japanese Restaurant $$1046 Coast Village Road (565-2014)

Stella Mare’s $$/$$$50 Los Patos Way (969-6705)

Stonehouse $$$$San Ysidro Ranch900 San Ysidro Lane (565-1700)Located in what is a 19th-century citrus pack-inghouse, Stonehouse restaurant features a lounge with full bar service and separate dining room with crackling fi replace and creekside views. Chef Jamie West’s regional cuisine is prepared with a palate of herbs and vegetables harvested from the on-site chef’s garden. Recently voted 1 of the best 50 restaurants in America by OpenTable Diner’s Choice. 2010 Diners’ Choice Awards: 1 of 50 Most Romantic Restaurants in America, 1 of 50 Restaurants With Best Service in America. Open for dinner from 6 to 10 pm daily. Sunday Brunch 10 am to 2 pm.

Trattoria Mollie $$$1250 Coast Village Road (565-9381)

Tre Lune $$/$$$1151 Coast Village Road (969-2646)A real Italian boite, complete with small but fully licensed bar, big list of Italian wines, large comfortable tables and chairs, lots of mahogany and large b&w vintage photos of mostly fa-mous Italians. Menu features both comfort food like mama used to make and more adventurous Italian fare. Now open continuously from lunch to dinner. Also open from 7:30 am to 11:30 am daily for breakfast.

Via Vai Trattoria Pizzeria $$1483 East Valley Road (565-9393)

Delis, bakeries, juice bars

Blenders in the Grass1046 Coast Village Road (969-0611)

Here’s The Scoop1187 Coast Village Road (lower level) (969-7020)Gelato and Sorbet are made on the premises. Open Monday through Thursday 1 pm to 9 pm, 12 pm to 10 pm Friday and Saturday, and 12

pm to 9 pm on Sundays. Scoopie also offers a full coffee menu featuring Santa Barbara Roast-ing Company coffee. Offerings are made from fresh, seasonal ingredients found at Farmers’ Market, and waffl e cones are made on site everyday.

Jeannine’s1253 Coast Village Road (969-7878)

Montecito Deli1150 Coast Village Road (969-3717)Open six days a week from 7 am to 3 pm. (Closed Sunday) This eatery serves home-made soups, fresh salads, sandwiches, and its specialty, The Piadina, a homemade flat bread made daily. Owner Jeff Rypysc and staff deliver locally and cater office parties, luncheons or movie shoots. Also serving breakfast (7am to 11 am), and brewing Peet’s coffee & tea.

Panino 1014 #C Coast Village Road (565-0137)

Pierre Lafond516 San Ysidro Road (565-1502)This market and deli is a center of activity in Montecito’s Upper Village, serving fresh baked pastries, regular and espresso coffee drinks, smoothies, burritos, homemade soups, deli salads, made-to-order sandwiches and wraps available, and boasting a fully stocked salad bar. Its sunny patio draws crowds of regulars daily. The shop also carries specialty drinks, gift items, grocery staples, and produce. Open everyday 5:30 am to 8 pm.

Village Cheese & Wine 1485 East Valley Road (969-3815)

In Summerland / Carpinteria

The Barbecue Company $$3807 Santa Claus Lane (684-2209)

Cantwell’s Summerland Market $2580 Lillie Avenue (969-5894)

Corktree Cellars $$910 Linden Avenue (684-1400)Corktree offers a casual bistro setting for lunch and dinner, in addition to wine tasting and tapas. The restaurant, open everyday except Monday, features art from locals, mellow music and a relaxed atmo-sphere. An extensive wine list features over 110 bottles of local and international wines, which are also available in the eatery's retail section.

Garden Market $3811 Santa Claus Lane (745-5505)

Jack’s Bistro $5050 Carpinteria Avenue (566-1558)Serving light California Cuisine, Jack’s offers freshly baked bagels with whipped cream cheeses, omelettes, scrambles, breakfast bur-ritos, specialty sandwiches, wraps, burgers, salads, pastas and more. Jacks offers an ex-tensive espresso and coffee bar menu, along with wine and beer. They also offer full ser-vice catering, and can accommodate wedding receptions to corporate events. Open Monday through Friday 6:30 am to 3 pm, Saturday and Sunday 7 am to 3 pm.

Nugget $$2318 Lillie Avenue (969-6135)

Padaro Beach Grill $3765 Santa Claus Lane (566-9800)A beach house feel gives this seaside eatery its charm and makes it a perfect place to bring the whole family. Its new owners added a pond, waterfall, an elevated patio with fi replace and couches to boot. Enjoy grill op-tions, along with salads and seafood plates. The Grill is open Monday through Sunday 11 am to 9 pm

Sly’s $$$686 Linden Avenue (684-6666)Sly’s features fresh fi sh, farmers’ market veg-gies, traditional pastas, prime steaks, Blue Plate Specials and vintage desserts. You’ll fi nd a full bar, serving special martinis and an extensive wine list featuring California and French wines. Cocktails from 4 pm to close, dinner from 5 to 9 pm Sunday-Thursday and 5 to 10 pm Friday and Saturday. Lunch is M-F 11:30 to 2:30, and brunch is served on the weekends from 9 am to 3 pm.

Stacky’s Seaside $2315 Lillie Avenue (969-9908)

Summerland Beach Café $2294 Lillie Avenue (969-1019)

Tinkers $2275 C Ortega Hill Road (969-1970)

Santa Barbara / Restaurant Row

Andersen’s Danish Bakery &Gourmet Restaurant $1106 State State Street (962-5085)Established in 1976, Andersen’s serves Danish and European cuisine including breakfast, lunch & dinner. Authentic Danishes, Apple Strudels, Marzipans, desserts & much more. Dine inside surrounded by European interior or outside on the sidewalk patio. Open 8 am to 9 pm Monday through Friday, 8 am to 10 pm Saturday and Sunday.

Bistro Eleven Eleven $$1111 East Cabrillo Boulevard (730-1111)Located adjacent to Hotel Mar Monte, the bistro serves breakfast and lunch featur-ing all-American favorites. Dinner is a mix of traditional favorites and coastal cuisine. The lounge advancement to the restaurant features a big screen TV for daily sporting events and happy hour. Open Monday-Friday 6:30 am to 9 pm, Saturday and Sunday 6:30 am to 10 pm.

Chuck’s Waterfront Grill $$113 Harbor Way (564-1200)Located next to the Maritime Museum, enjoy some of the best views of both the mountains and the Santa Barbara pier sitting on the newly renovated, award-winning patio, while enjoy-ing fresh seafood straight off the boat. Dinner is served nightly from 5 pm, and brunch is offered on Sunday from 10 am until 1 pm. Reservations are recommended.

El Paseo $$813 Anacapa Street (962-6050)Located in the heart of downtown Santa Bar-bara in a Mexican plaza setting, El Paseo is the place for authentic Mexican specialties, home-

22 – 29 December 2011 MONTECITO JOURNAL 43A majority is always better than the best repartee – Benjamin Disraeli

. . . E AT E R I E Smade chips and salsa, and a cold margarita while mariachis stroll through the historic restaurant. The décor refl ects its rich Spanish heritage, with bougainvillea-draped balconies, fountain courtyard dining and a festive bar. Dinner specials are offered during the week, with a brunch on Sundays. Open Tuesday through Thursday 4 pm to 10 pm, Friday and Saturday 11:30 am to 10:30 pm, and Sunday 10:30 am to 9 pm.

Enterprise Fish Co. $$225 State Street (962-3313)Every Monday and Tuesday the Enterprise Fish Company offers two-pound Maine Lob-sters served with clam chowder or salad, and rice or potatoes for only $29.95. Happy hour is every weekday from 4 pm to 7 pm. Open Sunday thru Thursday 11:30 am to 10 pm and Friday thru Saturday 11:30 am to 11 pm.

The Harbor Restaurant $$210 Stearns Wharf (963-3311)Enjoy ocean views at the historic Harbor Restaurant on Stearns Wharf. Featuring prime steaks and seafood, a wine list that has earned Wine Spectator Magazine’s Award of Excel-lence for the past six years and a full cocktail bar. Lunch is served 11:30 am to 2:30 pm Monday-Friday, 11 am to 3 pm Saturday and Sunday. Dinner is served 5:30 pm to 10 pm, early dinner available Saturday and Sunday starting at 3 pm.

Los Agaves $600 N. Milpas Street (564-2626)Los Agaves offers eclectic Mexican cuisine, us-ing only the freshest ingredients, in a casual and friendly atmosphere. Serving lunch and dinner, with breakfast on the weekends, Los Agaves fea-tures traditional dishes from central and south-ern Mexico such as shrimp & fi sh enchiladas, shrimp chile rellenos, and famous homemade mole poblano. Open Monday- Friday 11 am to 9 pm, Saturday & Sunday 9 am to 9 pm.

Miró $$$$8301 Hollister Avenue at Bacara Resort & Spa (968-0100)Miró is a refi ned refuge with stunning views, featuring two genuine Miro sculptures, a top-rated chef offering a sophisticated menu that accents fresh, organic, and native-grown in-gredients, and a world-class wine cellar. Open Tuesday through Saturday from 6 pm to 10 pm.

Olio e Limone Ristorante $$$Olio Pizzeria $ 17 West Victoria Street (899-2699)Elaine and Alberto Morello oversee this friendly, casually elegant, linen-tabletop eatery featuring Italian food of the highest order. Of-ferings include eggplant souffl é, pappardelle with quail, sausage and mushroom ragù, and fresh-imported Dover sole. Wine Spectator Award of Excellence-winning wine list. Private dining (up to 40 guests) and catering are also available.Next door at Olio Pizzeria, the Morellos have added a simple pizza-salumi-wine-bar inspired by neighborhood “pizzerie” and “enoteche” in Italy. Here the focus is on artisanal pizzas and antipasti, with classic toppings like fresh moz-zarella, seafood, black truffl es, and sausage. Salads, innovative appetizers and an assort-ment of salumi and formaggi round out the menu at this casual, fast-paced eatery. Private

dining for up to 32 guests. Both the ristorante and the pizzeria are open for lunch Monday thru Saturday (11:30 am to 2 pm) and dinner seven nights a week (from 5 pm).

Pierre Lafond Wine Bistro $516 State Street (962-1455)The Wine Bistro menu is seasonal California cuisine specializing in local products. Pair your meal with wine from the Santa Barbara Winery, Lafond Winery or one from the list of wines from around the world. Happy Hour Monday - Friday 4:30 to 6:30 pm. The 1st Wednesday of each month is Passport to the World of Wine. Grilled cheese night every Thursday. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner; catering available. www.pierrelafond.com

Renaud’s $ 3315 State Street (569-2400) Located in Loreto Plaza, Renaud’s is a bakery specializing in a wide selection of French pastries. The breakfast and lunch menu is composed of egg dishes, sandwiches and salads and represents Renaud’s personal favorites. Brewed coffees and teas are organic. Open Monday-Saturday 7 am to 5 pm, Sunday 7 am to 3 pm.

Rodney’s Steakhouse $$$633 East Cabrillo Boulevard (884-8554)Deep in the heart of well, deep in the heart of Fess Parker’s Doubletree Inn on East Beach in Santa Barbara. This handsome eatery sells and serves only Prime Grade beef, lamb, veal, halibut, salmon, lobster and other high-end victuals. Full bar, plenty of California wines, elegant surroundings, across from the ocean. Open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday at 5:30 pm. Reservations suggested on weekends.

Ojai

Maravilla $$$905 Country Club Road in Ojai (646-1111)Located at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, this upscale eatery features prime steaks, chops and fresh seafood. Local farmers provide fresh produce right off the vine, while herbs are har-vested from the Inn’s herb garden. The menu includes savory favorites like pan seared diver scallops and braised beef short ribs; dishes are accented with seasonal vegetables. Open Sun-day through Thursday for dinner from 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm, Friday and Saturday from 5:30 pm to 10 pm. •MJ

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLEGHOST PROTOCOL (PG-13)

4K Digital ProjectionFri & Sun-Thu -

12:20 3:30 6:45 9:55Sat - 12:20 3:30 6:45

1317 State Street - 963-4408ARLINGTON

2044 Alameda Padre Serra - S.B.RIVIERA

PASEO NUEVO8 W. De La Guerra Pl. - S.B.

FIESTA 5916 State Street - S.B.

WE BOUGHT A ZOO (PG)Fri & Sun-Thu -

12:30 3:30 6:30 9:20Sat - 12:30 3:30 6:30

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (PG)

in 3D - 12:00 2:40 8:00 in 2D - 5:20

ARTHUR CHRISTMAS (PG)Ends Sat - 12:10 2:30 in 2D

NEW YEAR’S EVE (PG-13)Ends Sat - 5:00 7:45

Starts Sunday, December 25THE DARKEST HOUR 2D

Sun-Thu - (PG-13)12:15 2:30 4:50 7:10 9:30

(*) THE GIRL WITH THEDRAGON TATTOO (R)

Fri & Sun-Thu -12:00 3:20 6:50 10:20Sat - 12:00 3:20 6:50

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLEGHOST PROTOCOL (PG-13)

Fri & Sun-Thu -12:45 3:50 7:00 10:05Sat - 12:45 3:50 7:00

SHERLOCK HOLMES:A GAME OF SHADOWS

Fri - (PG-13)11:40 am 1:00 2:40 4:10

5:40 7:10 8:40 10:15Sat - 11:40 am 1:00 2:40

4:10 5:40 7:10 Sun-Thu -

11:40 am 2:40 4:10 5:40 7:10 8:40 10:15

Playing on 2 Screens

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED (G)

Fri - 12:10 1:20 2:303:40 4:50 6:207:20 8:30 9:30

Sat - 12:10 1:20 2:30 3:404:50 6:20 7:20

Sun-Thu -11:30 am 12:30 1:50 2:50

5:10 7:30 9:40Playing on 2 Screens

Starts Sunday, December 25WAR HORSE (PG-13)

Sun-Thu -11:50 am 3:10 6:30 9:45

Golden Globe NomineeA DANGEROUS METHOD

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Sat-Mon -12:15 2:45 5:15 7:45

WE BOUGHT A ZOO (PG)Fri & Sun-Thu -

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SHERLOCK HOLMES:A GAME OF SHADOWS

Fri & Sun-Thu - (PG-13)12:10 1:20 3:10 4:30 6:30 7:40 9:45 10:30

Sat -12:10 1:20 3:10 4:30 6:30


THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN (PG)

in 2D: Daily - 4:10in 3D:

Fri & Sun-Thu -11:00 am 1:30 6:50 9:30Sat - 11:00 am 1:30 6:50

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED (G)

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Sat -11:30 am 12:40 1:50 3:00

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HUGO (PG) in 2DFri - 12:30 3:30 6:40 9:35Sat - 12:30 3:30 6:40Sun-Thu - 7:45

NEW YEAR’S EVE (PG-13)Fri & Sun-Thu -

4:20 7:00 9:40Sat - 4:20 7:00

THE MUPPETS (PG)Daily - 11:10 am 1:40

Starts Sunday, December 25THE DARKEST HOUR 2D

Sun-Thu - (PG-13)12:20 2:45 5:10 7:40 9:55

6 Golden Globe NominationsTHE ARTIST (PG-13)

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6:45 9:10Sat - 11:20 am 1:40 4:10 6:45


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Sat - 11:10 am 1:50 4:25 7:10

Starts Sunday, December 25WAR HORSE (PG-13)

Sun-Thu -11:30 am 2:45 6:20 9:30

618 State Street - S.B.

METRO 4Features Stadium Seating

CAMINO REAL MARKETPLACEHollister & Storke - GOLETA

CAMINO REALFeatures Stadium Seating

Features Stadium Seating

SHAME (NC-17)Fri & Tue-Thu - 5:00 7:45

Sat-Mon - 2:15 5:00 7:45

THE DESCENDANTS (R)Fri & Tue-Thu - 4:40 7:30

Sat-Mon - 1:45 4:40 7:30

FAIRVIEW225 N. Fairview - Goleta

Features Stadium Seating

PLAZA DE ORO371 Hitchcock Way - S.B.

1101 State StSanta Barbara, CA 93101

(at the corner of State and Figueroa)805.963.2721

a fine coffee and tea establishment


Johnny or Gary U.S. Bonds. Stop it, you’re killing me!

All right. So why are you called the High Pilots? That’s not a drug refer-ence, is it?

No, but if you want to see the dou-ble entendre, that’s okay. What hap-pened was I was walking through an aviation art exhibit, and there was this one painting that stuck with me. It was a plane on a crash land-ing, with firetrucks and ambulances waiting, painted from a real life pho-tograph. It was called, “From High Pilots to Low Pilots,” and the name just struck a chord for me.

What did growing up in Santa Barbara mean to you?

I think when I really grew up was when I started touring. I was fifteen when I hit the road with Holden, and we explored the country, from suburbs to the ghettos, the East coast to the South. The first time I got back home from a tour is when I was real-ly able to grasp what a special place Santa Barbara is, and how fortunate I was to grow up here, spending days going to the beach and hiking. And when I was younger, there was a big music scene too. I’m proud to be from Santa Barbara. It made me an appreciative person, and an open person.

Is this a Santa Barbara band? Oh absolutely. We take a lot of

pride. Every band loves their home-town. That’s where you see if people like you. You have to make it there before you can go anywhere else. We named our second release American Riviera because I wanted to represent the city, from different perspectives and life experiences, all boiled down to being here.

Is there a Santa Barbara sound? What’s your take on the scene nowa-days?

I think it fell apart a long time ago. Maybe not necessarily crumbled to pieces, but with the closing of the Living Room, which was an all-ages venue, it became a lot tougher for bands to grow in town. There’s a break in venue capacity. You have SOhO, which holds three hundred-fifty people. But there aren’t the kind of rooms like in LA, where you go from one hundred to two hundred, three hundred, four hundred and on up. The next step is the Lobero. It takes a lot of groundwork being an indie band anywhere, but Santa Barbara is even trickier. It’s still a big reggae town because of Isla Vista, and we’re anything but. So it took a lot of elbow grease. But recently, I’ve seen a lot of hungry kids work-ing it in the last year and a half, kids who want to get something going to

bring the scene back. So I do think it’s coming back to life. That lull is the huge reason why we toured so much. Which turned out to be good, because you can’t play every week-end in your hometown

How did you manage to be one of the few to go bigger?

Touring. It’s all about growing your fan base. The smart way to do that is to promote the heck out of yourself and tour wherever you can, playing for anybody who will listen. You might start with five people at the first gig but if you’re doing something right, it grows every time you come back. The most important thing is to not give up when it’s dif-ficult. Everyone’s going to tell you that you can’t be a writer, or an ath-lete or a musician. But you just keep your head down and plug away. In the last couple of years there’s been a lot of little rays of light. It’s a little funny to be only twenty-five and consider myself a veteran, but I’ve been at it for a decade. You just push off the negativity and keep going. That’s the trick of any artistic dream.

With all that touring you must have some great road stories. What was your strangest gig?

Ooh, that’s a good one. There are always a whole lot of county fairs. Sometimes there’s a great sound sys-tem and a built-in crowd of five hun-dred people. But other times there’d be ten or twenty people, a random crowd, a couple of rednecks, some potheads, and seven-year-old kids, and you’re across from a puppet show or a petting zoo. It’s just like Spinal Tap. That stuff is real.

Let’s get back to the music. How do you define the High Pilots’ sound?

It’s an Americana sound, a bridge between Talking Heads, throw some Springsteen in the mix and other classics. We love U2 and the Beatles, of course. Nothing too crazy. It’s a pretty simple, stripped-down song-writing approach, and we layer it with piano and organ and acous-tic guitar and there you have it: Americana pop rock.

Can you talk about your songwriting technique?

I wake up every morning that we’re not on the road and just write... I do write the songs, but I’m not one of those songwriters who brings it in fully formed. The guys I picked to be in the band are great play-ers, and I want their input. I love it when they add their own parts after I bring in the basic structure; that’s what makes the High Pilots sound. On American Riviera, we recorded six songs in two and a half weeks.

But the five songs on the last one were done in only two days. So it’s very on the fly and a real live sound. Our next one will be a hybrid of live acoustic pop stuff and rock songs. We want to be able to write any style of music and not have it be out of character. Not to compare us, but think of the Beatles, or Wilco – it always worked for them.

Let’s talk about the concert. What’s so special about coming home?

It’s the one time we’re all in town, and so is everyone we went to high school with, and all the college kids are back in town. We only play here twice a year now. So it’s great to have an annual thing. We want to be one of those big deals every holi-day season. We may be a couple of years away from that, but we’re try-ing. Last year, SOhO actually turned away fifty people at the door, so that’s four hundred people right there who wanted to see us. So, we’re stepping up our game and moving up to the Lobero. It’s going to be big: John Palminteri is host-ing, J.R. Richards from Dishwalla and Tim Lopez of Plain White T’s are playing. We’ve got an extra percussionist, a horn section, two girls doing back-up vocals. Plus it’s an open bar, which is cool for the Lobero. We’ve come to grips with not making money on the show. Some day we’ll be at the Arlington and have it be a big, big event. It means a lot to us.

Tickets to “A Tommy & The High Pilots Christmas” cost $25 and include the open bar plus a free CD. The pre-reception begins at 6:30 with the music starting at 7:30pm. Call 963-0761 or visit www.lobero.com.

Farewell to a FriendShobefest began as a wedding

reception – right here in a Montecito backyard – and reportedly contin-ued the next year as a commemo-rative party for the same couple’s amicable divorce.

Then it resumed every year as a full-fledged festival, first remaining in the sloped home in the Montecito foothills, and then moving to Earthtrine Farms in Carpinteria when it grew too big.

Like most wonderfully organic developments (the “occupy” move-ment?), it eventually spiraled out of control of its founders. When the degrees of separation from those who had actually been invited by Mike Shobe grew to Kevin Bacon proportions, too many strangers trampling too many things (gardens, homes, blankets, the peaceful sprit itself) eventually spelled the end.

But in the meantime, it had a phe-nomenal run.

Shobe, who died last month, was the booker, promoter, raison d’etre and heart-and-soul of the word-of-mouth festival that usually cost him a bundle every year even though most folks bought a tee shirt or sweat shirt (which you can still see on the best backs all over town, especially at the farmers’ market) to help support it. Those who were lucky to attend often found it more fun and more friendly than Live Oak or the Strawberry Music Festival, which wasn’t all that surprising because somehow Shobe managed to attract similar quality acts – if not the same exact ones – as those much larger events. Over the years, acoustic alchemists Darol Anger & Mike Marshall, Greg Brown, Martin Sexton and Iris DeMent were among the big touring acts to play Shobefest, not to mention local lumi-naries like Marley’s Ghost, Gilles Apap, Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan, and Montecito’s own Glen Phillips and Karla Bonoff & Kenny Edwards, many of whom appeared several years on the makeshift stage.

Shobe also took chances on lots of unknown artists in more com-mercial spaces long before current promoters Club Mercy and New Noise began booking smaller acts in tiny venues in town to expose them and the local residents to each other. Indeed, Sexton played to a crowd of only twelve before coming back time and again to sell out SOhO, and many other Red House and Rounder Records artists got their first exposure in Santa Barbara via a Shobe-promoted gig. It’s not an exaggeration to say he helped estab-lish a beachhead for folk and singer-songwriters during a tough time in town. We would have been much poorer without him.

So long, Mike, and here’s to that marvelous music bash the maestro must be mustering somewhere up there in the sky. •MJ

ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINMENT (Continued from page 41)

Mike Shobe, responsible for the popular music festival Shobefest, passed away last month


Some of you may be well aware that, in addition to it always being summer in Summerland,

it’s also always Christmas – at least at The Nugget, which some time ago decided to leave its colorful interior Christmas lights up year-round. This year, they have hung garlands and lights from the rafters to add to the merriment and festive atmosphere, making it feel as though one has walked inside a Christmas tree or landed in the middle of a festive snow-globe.

And, the folks at The Nugget are not the only ones in the holiday spirit in our seaside community.

For the past nine years, for example, soon after Thanksgiving, Santa has made his annual holiday appearance on the rooftop of the LoMonaco house on Colville Street, situated directly behind Café Luna. Summerland Santa is not just any Santa, no siree; he dances atop a surfboard, floating high above those walking or driving past, gazing out at the Pacific and watching for the next perfect wave to roll in.

Last year, Santa, in his fading Hawaiian shirt, went missing in action, so to speak. Which is to say he was at his post, but not shaking his hips in his usual manner. Seems Santa needed some hip-hop repairs (and perhaps a new Hawaiian shirt), so parts were ordered and Santa came down for “surgery.” Unfortunately, Santa’s hips – he also functions as

a karaoke machine in the event you hear him speaking to you – are unfix-able.

“We looked online to replace him, but stores are sold out everywhere. I even went so far as to post an ad on Craigslist in the ‘Items Wanted’ cat-egory and begged people to help save Christmas by selling me their used Santa,” said Crescent LoMonaco, over a Mayan Mocha at Café Luna.

Crescent’s husband, Mike, who happens to be an electrician, is respon-sible for the best decorated house in town each year, as well as Santa’s well-being. Despite his stationary position, Santa did “wipe out” one night recently during the winds.

“We found him face down in the garden, but Mike got him back up on his board,” Santa spokeswoman Crescent told me, adding that it’s a good thing her husband is a volun-teer for search and rescue.

The LoMonacos – who welcomed a new baby this year, Elijah (he turned one year old December 8) – are not ones to give up lightly.

“We have a pink flamingo wear-ing a Santa hat that will be making an appearance soon, along with our snowman that blows snow from his hat,” smiles Crescent, a writer who has a story coming out this year in the new Chicken Soup for the Soul: Magic of Mothers and Daughters col-lection.

And that, folks, is the way we roll in Summerland by the Sea.

A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them – Sigmund Freud

Mike LoMonaco joins Santa on his board on the rooftop of their house on Colville Street, behind Café Luna

News Flash! Just as we went to press, Crescent LoMonaco (shown with hus-band, Mike, and baby Eli) had good news, “Someone saw the ad on Craigslist and wants to save Christmas! He’s going to give us his Santa, so Santa should (fin-gers crossed) have his groove back just in time for Christmas Eve!”Don’t you just love a happy ending?

Lessons Start Now (805) 637-3150Successful teaching in Santa Barbara

& Montecito for over 10 years!

LEARN PIANO Excel in Life

– All Ages Welcome –

Will Santa Gets His Groove Back?

Summerland by the SeaLeslie A. Westbrook, a longtime resident of Summerland, is the author of a recently published book on the 100-year history of Santa Barbara City College and is currently working with NEA Jazz Master and Academy and Grammy Award winning composer/arranger Johnny Mandel on his memoir. She can be reached at [email protected].

by Leslie A. Westbrook

Men’s Shopping NightDiamonds may be a girl’s best

friend, but Bonita, the clothing, jew-elry and accessories boutique in Summerland, may be a gentleman’s best friend this time of year. I don’t know too many men who don’t need help in the “What shall I get her for Christmas?” department. In fact, my father often tries to hoist his shopping lists on me (for his sister and my sis-ter), until I suggested gift cards. Some women in town are making their list, checking it twice and handing it to the shopping elves at Bonita. Armed with (or without) a list, brewskis and bratwurst will be provided for the fel-

las to soften the blow to their wallets at this upcoming annual event. Gift wrapping included.

“Men’s Shopping Night” – for the wife, girlfriend, mom, daughter, sister, aunt or godmother in your life – takes place Thursday, December 22 from 4 pm to 8 pm. For info, call 805-565-3848. Should you miss the soirée, you can still stop in through the holidays at Bonita as well as at Summerland’s other cozy shops and boutiques, where there are many elves to help you out.

Ho, ho, ho and happy holidays from the Summerland Santa and yours truly. May your new year be merry and bright! •MJ


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