Did you know that Samuel Beckett wrote a 30 second play? Here’s my article on Open Culture about it all.
Month: March 2015
Twin Peaks…the school play?
Another article for OpenCulture, all about a Milwaukee elementary school and their infinitely-better-than-yours school play based on the worlds of David Lynch.
Here’s an interesting freelance gig I got…
I got hired by Autograph Magazine to cover a court case (i.e. didn’t go to trial) between RR Auction House and a guy who accused them of fraud. But then things got weird, and it all played out in Santa Barbara.
Dengue Fever returns to SOhO with a new album, their first since 2011, in tow
During the course of their long career — 15 years, almost — Dengue Fever has always included Santa Barbara in its touring itinerary. Not all bands deign to stop by on their way up to San Francisco from LA, but as bassist Senon Williams says, “I feel honored that we can . . . It’s nice that we get embraced by the town.”
They come to town — tonight, at SOhO — soon after dropping their seventh album, their first since 2011’s “Cannibal Courtship” — a 10-song, 47-minute journey back down the Mekong, with the exotic vocals of Chhom Nimol leading the way. There are elements of lounge, exotica, jazz, surf guitar and funk. And there’s no attempt to make a more alt-rock sound, a diversion that marred “Cannibal Courtship.” Dengue Fever has gone back to what made “Venus on Earth” (2008) such a breakthrough record, but added plenty new influences on top.
Charles Burns, animated
My latest article for Open Culture is on the animated short that comic artist Charles Burns did for a horror anthology.
Battling inactive memory on Macs pre 10.9
If you have a Mac running Lion, Mountain Lion…pretty much anything before Yosemite, memory issues are rampant. (Firefox you suck! Handbrake you are made by the devil!!)
But it’s all good, you know. By watching Activity Monitor and Console, I’ve got to learn a little more about the inner workings of my Mac and diagnose some problems.
When my computer slowed to a crawl I noticed that “Inactive memory” was a huge chunk of my memory pie. There’s four kinds: Free, Wired, Active, and Inactive. (Here’s a good tutorial on what it all means.)
Trouble is, Macs before Yosemite have sucky memory management and that Inactive Memory can take over and never become free, which is what should happen, but doesn’t.
That sent me on a Google search and I came across this wonderful post on 55 Minutes, which recommends downloading a Python script (no, not this kind of Python script), putting it in a hidden folder and dropping a launchd script into Library/LaunchAgents that runs the memory purging script whenever Inactive memory gets too big.
Works like a charm, and all I really did was Google search and use a bit of logic to figure out the directions. No l33t haxx0r me!!
Dos Pueblos High School’s jazz competition adds a festival evening
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS
With an evening temperature warm enough to fool everybody into thinking it was summer, Dos Pueblos High’s evening of big bands, “Jazz in Paradise,” lived up to its name.
Although this annual competition of high school bands has been going on for 46 years, 2015 marked a first, with its full evening concert and with college division bands playing in a festival-style atmosphere.
Off the charts: Dos Pueblos High School’s jazz competition adds a festival evening
KENNETH SONG/NEWS-PRESS
With an evening temperature warm enough to fool everybody into thinking it was summer, Dos Pueblos High’s evening of big bands, “Jazz in Paradise,” lived up to its name.
Although this annual competition of high school bands has been going on for 46 years, 2015 marked a first, with its full evening concert and with college division bands playing in a festival-style atmosphere.
The Jazz Festival was the long time wish of Dos Pueblos teacher Les Rose, who said he saw the lack of a jazz festival in Santa Barbara — the Santa Barbara Festival of Arts & Jazz stopped in 2008 — and thought an evening of the state’s best bands would bring some of that vibe back.
To do so he invited Bob Mintzer, sax player for the Yellowjackets and himself a teacher at USC, to come up and not only conduct master classes all day with the various bands, but play with Dos Pueblos’ band in the jazz concert.
“Bob was my vision for a jazz luminary to bring to our festival,” Mr. Rose said. “I thought of him because USC is accessible, and being a Grammy-award winner and educator, I thought he was the perfect person to be at our festival.”
“There were a lot of compelling reasons to come,” said Mr. Mintzer, “Plus I’m interested in education, and this is all an adventure to me.”
Mr. Mintzer hosts master classes around 20 times a year, and on Saturday had been working since 10 a.m.
“I try to inspire students to go ‘Wow, it would be worthwhile to put energy into doing the research (about the history of jazz),’ but also to point them in the right direction. It’s knowledge and experience and vocabulary. You need some level of connection to the inner workings of what you’re trying to do.”
Dos Pueblos’ Advanced Band played four songs to kick off the evening, with touring saxophonist Jacob Scesney sitting in on lead alto.
That was followed by the UCLA Latin Jazz Big Band, directed by Grammy-nominated artist Dr. Buddy Rodriguez, and the evening closed with Cal State Northridge Jazz Big Band with Gary Pratt conducting.
Earlier in the evening the awards were announced. Goleta Valley Junior High won the Junior High division, Santa Maria High School won the Intermediate High School division, and San Marcos High School won the Advanced Division.
Moorpark College Jazz A Group won the college level.
Jeremy Jacobs, 15, an Agoura Hills High School sophomore, plays baritone sax at an advanced enough level to join the Moorpark College band.
Jeremy said watching some of the other bands was “impressive. It’s the technique. … I’ve played charts that are easy, but then you have to solo. … Jazz is a great experience and I love playing with this band.”
For Mr. Mintzer, learning jazz is not just about the music.
“Hopefully, working with guests like myself will steer them not just into being better musicians but better people,” he said. “Your musicianship is a reflection of you as a person. Are you well-read, cordial, or gregarious? Do you have social sensibility?
“It goes beyond what you know about music, it’s what you know about life.
Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin speaks at Westmont’s College’s annual breakfast
NIK BLASKOVICH/NEWS-PRESS
A packed crowd of Westmont College faculty, donors and supporters received a powerful lesson in history Friday morning from Doris Kearns Goodwin, author and historian.
Known for her series of presidential biographies, most notably “Team of Rivals,” which Steven Spielberg used as the basis for the film “Lincoln,” she gave a rousing and humorous lecture on four presidents for the 10th annual Westmont President’s Breakfast.
‘Light Up the Sky’ at SBCC is a love letter to the stage
Ben Crop
Moss Hart, when he was sharing writing duties with George S. Kaufman, created a classic of theater with “You Can’t Take It with You,” a comedy that is still a repertory staple to this day. But he also wrote solo, and his last play, “Light Up the Sky,” has undergone a revival since 2009. This screwball comedy is a satire of theater itself, with a young playwright being put through the emotional wringer as his play is heralded, then bombs, then earns respect. Along the way, Mr. Hart writes delicious roles for every member of the cast. And that’s one of the reasons that SBCC Theatre Group’s R. Michael Gros has chosen it for this current season. “Light Up the Sky” runs through March 21.
“Hart shows his characters in the most loving moments but also when they’re at each others’ throats due to anxiety and ego,” Mr. Gros says. In the end, this is an affectionate play, and contemporary audiences would have spotted satirical jabs at Broadway starts Gertrude Lawrence, Billy Rose and Guthrie McClintic, but for today’s audience it won’t matter. Mr. Hart trades in archetypes, hilarious ones.