News-Press – Page 54

Phoenix has stepped into the arena category without the songs

September 21, 2010June 18, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Phoenix vocalist Thomas Mars sings at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Sunday night. MICHAEL MORIATIS/NEWS-PRESS — Phoenix vocalist Thomas Mars sings at the Santa Barbara Bowl on Sunday night.
MICHAEL MORIATIS/NEWS-PRESS

From one Bowl to another: French band Phoenix stopped by our fair concert venue on Sunday after a sold-out, well-received concert at the Hollywood Bowl the day before, riding high on a career that has gone from cult attention to mass appeal. This is all the more amazing considering Phoenix’s pop-rock music — which settles into push-pull, loud-soft dynamics several times during each song, buoying melody lines that turn back in on themselves instead of stretching out into sing-along choruses — has an arrangement template that varied little each song. That is to say, Phoenix has risen with songs that don’t exactly knock one over with hooks.

So put it down to their style, their musicianship and being at the right place at the right time. And hey, think about it, these guys are French! And when was the last time a French rock band ever made it big in America?

Maverick Saloon’s Bloody Mary

September 10, 2010June 22, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Over the years, happy bar patrons have affixed signed dollar bills to the ceiling of the Maverick Saloon with thumbtacks. And that’s not all: Look around and you’ll see hats, bras, panties and other unmentionables. Now that’s our kind of bar.

This Santa Ynez landmark has been slinging beers, whiskey and cocktails since 1963, and no doubt a trip over the hill was long overdue for the Drink of the Week crew.

Root 246’s Laughing Buddha

September 3, 2010June 22, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

One can’t talk about Root 246 without mentioning celebrity chef Bradley Ogden. He’s the artist behind all the food and drinks here, this little bit of Los Angeles on Alisal Road in Solvang, looking totally out of place (in a good way) between the strudel shop and the sharp knives shop and the usual windmillscape of this Dutch enclave up north. Ogden’s restaurant features one of the largest open kitchens we’ve seen in the county, and those who love to glimpse behind the scenes can even reserve a table in the corner of said kitchen and watch plates go from stove to dining room.

Somewhere in the middle of our second cocktail, there’s the man himself, behind the bar, shaking our hands and asking about our drinks, letting us know the attention that goes into the food also goes into the cocktail menu. We were just thinking that ourselves, as the menu at Root 246 contains an enticing blend of herbs (and spices!), fruits and special liquors. Our two bartenders, Andre Boler and Nick Collins, have been here for about the length of the entire run of Root, which opened in April of 2009. They’re quick to whip up some cocktails for us.

Studio Sessions – Artist tour allows a look behind the curtain

August 27, 2010June 11, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

From landscapes to abstracts, artwork has been at many times inspired by Santa Barbara and its environs, either as a subject or simply as a place to work. Painters, sculptors and multimedia artists live and work invisibly in plain sight. The woman at the farmer’s market buying a basket of vegetables for the week may be going home to finish a huge canvas. The windows looking out from the Riviera may be artist studios. For those who join the Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour this weekend, all will be revealed. Secret locations will be open for exploring, and one may just catch the art bug.

Now in its ninth year, the weekend-long open house features over 40 artists who live and work in Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria. Some work downtown. Others work off in the wilds, or as wild as we get here.

Full Exposure – Artist James Gilbert knows our intimate details, whether he likes it or not

August 27, 2010June 11, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

'DELICATE STANDARD' — ‘DELICATE STANDARD’

Whether you have a Facebook account or a Twitter feed or nothing at all, the changing ideas of privacy affect us all. We let people know where we work, where we live, our beliefs and opinions, what we eat and drink and where we are this very minute. And the thing is, younger generations see no problem with it. Full transparency, they vote.

You could say that “transparency” is also the operative word in James Gilbert’s work, which comes to Contemporary Arts Forum this Thursday as part of First Thursdays. Instead of paintings or video or dance, viewers will encounter Gilbert himself right when they walk in, high above the desk, sewing underwear out of plastic, a material that leaves little to the imagination. Don’t worry, you don’t have to wear it. But visitors will have an opportunity to hang their ‘wear all around the gallery. That’s a lot of tighty whiteys. The work is “accumulative sculpture,” he says.

GUITAR WORK : Earning His Stripes – Local artist’s giant guitar graces the Sunset Strip

August 27, 2010June 11, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Local artist R. Nelson Parrish puts the finishing touches on his Sunset Strip-bound concept guitar. Parrish pulled 18-hour days to get it done. Instead of being in a gallery, the guitar will be out in the elements for a year, so one of Parrish's final coats was automobile clear-coat. — Local artist R. Nelson Parrish puts the finishing touches on his Sunset Strip-bound concept guitar. Parrish pulled 18-hour days to get it done. Instead of being in a gallery, the guitar will be out in the elements for a year, so one of Parrish’s final coats was automobile clear-coat.

Above the Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip, a giant Gibson guitar stands, beckoning the crowd below to enter and hear rock music as loud as the guitar is tall, which is very tall indeed, at 10 feet. It’s a new, crazy sight on a road that is famous for its odd architecture and famous billboards, and its creator lives here in Santa Barbara.

R. Nelson Parrish doesn’t usually go for things guitar-shaped in his artwork, despite coming from a family with a background in Gibson guitars (his grandfather and uncle both played and owned them). His art since his 2005 MFA at UCSB has been about “totems,” long, multicolored boards of resin, paint and wood that combine the minimal aesthetic of John McCracken’s planks with a SoCal lifestyle of surfboards and skis. (It was the vision of them pitched upright in sand or snow that revealed their totem-like potential.) The work looks both familiar — the colors come straight out of sporting gear — and strange.

Our Town, Our Theater : To be sure, celebrating 20 Years at Center Stage was a fun, not solemn, occasion

August 23, 2010June 11, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

From left to right: Kelly Ary, Dan Gunther and Peter McCorkle sing about the origin of Center Stage at the theater Saturday night. NIK BLASKOVICH/NEWS-PRESS

Do we take the Center Stage Theater for granted? Board member Laurel Lyle put forth this question on Saturday night at the end of a short but very much appreciated celebration of 20 years of community theater. The black box at the top of the tiled stairs above the California Pizza Kitchen has been this reviewer’s destination several times a year, and to imagine Santa Barbara without it…well, it would be a pretty bleak existence for community arts. The evening — a reception, a comedic performance and a post-show champagne toast — was an affectionate tribute to a space that has been an essential part of the city’s downtown arts scene.

It could have been a formal affair, an evening that celebrated longevity and took it as a sign of cultural importance with a capital C.I. But this is Center Stage, and that means creativity comes first, stuffiness dead last. It says something when the actor in the closest thing approaching a business suit spends his moment in the performance doing a voice over.

Bill Garlington to discuss the changing face of atheism

August 21, 2010June 16, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

In the last decade, atheism has returned as a best-selling and controversial book subject, spearheaded by three authors writer Robert Weitzel dubbed “The Unholy Trinity.” Sam Harris’ “The End of Faith” (2004) and “Letter to a Christian Nation” (2006) were the opening volleys, and Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” (2006) and Christopher Hitchens’ “God Is Not Great” (2007) stormed the gates, with both authors receiving much face time and angry arguments on mainstream media.

Not only should religion be passively tolerated, they say, but it should be critiqued and exposed by rational argument. They see religion’s effects on society as superstitious and harmful, and that fundamentalism has gone mainstream.

The Whole World – Director Jason Lehelís ‘Gaia’ is a cinematic high-wire act

August 20, 2010June 16, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Jason Lehel, right, discusses a scene with actor Michael C. Pierce, left, on set filming Gaia.

How does one prepare to shoot a film with one trusting lead actress, a crew working for free, nothing but improvisation, a budget of $28,000 and no script to speak of, except a general idea of plot and location?

For Jason Lehel, director of “Gaia,” you work for 30 years.

“It took me all my experience and all my career to get to a place where I could create a film in such an extraordinary way,” he says.

Sweat Box – Hot Hot Heat returns with a blistering fourth album and a Velvet Jones show

August 20, 2010June 16, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

When Hot Hot Heat’s first album dropped in 2002, they were the Vancouver band who had made good. With “Make Up the Breakdown,” the band combined XTC-esque New Wave with punk smarts and pop hooks and looked all set to go big. But after signing to Warner Bros., the general consensus, even within the band, is that the members set off in the wrong direction, rounding too many corners.

Dropping their major label and signing to an indie (Dangerbird in the States, Dine Alone in Canada) they’ve shaken off the dust and come firing back with “Future Breeds,” a return to form and the sound of their first album. The band hits Velvet Jones tonight for a gig that promises to be as raucous as ever.