Cover Story
Peace. Love. Dirt.
The light filters through oak leaves, dancing along the dusty path to Live Oak’s main stage. There’s just a whisper of a breeze as campers queue up for the early morning Acorn Roll, beach chairs in tow. This is how the mornings start at the Live Oak Music Festival, with people lining up to place…
What summer movie are you most looking forward to seeing?
Joseph de la Cruz student “Transformers 3. I heard it comes out this summer, and it looks pretty cool.” Lauren Cameron lifeguard “The last Harry Potter movie; it’s the end of the series.” Ike Ochoa retired “Well, I just saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4.” Randy Wilkinson facility maintenance for the city “X-Men: First Class…
Reflect in Los Olivos
“Southern Reflections” will be the latest exhibit by Vicki Andersen at Gallery Los Olivos, 2920 Grand Ave., in Los Olivos. Andersen will present scenes of New Orleans, Savannah, and Georgia’s coastal islands. Andersen will be the featured artist at the gallery June 1 through 30. An artist reception will be held from 3 to 4…
On the roster
• Santa Maria Summer Basketball: For boys and girls currently enrolled in first through eighth grades. Registrations are accepted at the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department until June 9. Cost is $32.50 for residents, and $40 for non-residents. For more information, call 925-0951, Ext. 260. • Summer Day Camp: The City of Santa Maria…
Senior All-Stars to meet at Elks Field
For the eighth time, the best of the Pac-7 senior baseball players will go head to head against the cream of the crop in the Los Padres League at the Senior All-Star Game on June 3. The game is sponsored by the Santa Maria Packers and was conceived by Packers general manager Scott Nickason as…
Yeehaw! It’s rodeo time!
The historic Santa Maria Elks Rodeo is back for its 68th go-round, promising an old-fashioned “Western Weekend” for the whole family June 2 to 5. This year’s four-day extravaganza kicks off with Dave Osburn Memorial Pro Bull Riding on “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” night, June 2 at 7 p.m. The first two Professional Rodeo…
A Kustom Kommunity
On a warm Memorial Day weekend, Santa Maria’s streets filled with the smell of exhaust and the sound of roaring engines. Hundreds of customized roadsters and vintage cars and trucks rolled in from all over the world for the West Coast Kustoms’ Cruisin’ Nationals car show. For event co-founder Penny Pichette, emotions ran high. “It’s…
Ruben Perez
Not many 17-year-old high school students can say they have three boxing title belts to their name. Amateur boxer Ruben Perez, a student at Santa Maria High School, can. Recently, Perez took home the championship belt for the 141-pound division at the ADIDAS National Tournament held May 13 to 15 in Oxnard. Perez fought all…
Vinyl lasts
Did you ever groove to the Haydn Quartet singing “The Owl and the Pussycat” from 1901? Or how about the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s 1917 recording of “Livery Stable Blues,” considered the first jazz recording ever released? Most likely you haven’t, but thanks to collaboration between UC Santa Barbara and its Encyclopedic Discography of Victor…
Irresistible cupcakes
Pretty, petite, and wildly popular, they satisfy a sweet tooth in just two or three bites. Edible works of art, cupcakes are showing up everywhere—from fancy soirees, complete with stemware and linen tablecloths, to raucous pre-teen birthday parties. By choosing to serve cupcakes, hosts can offer something to suit everyone’s taste. Rather than committing to…
Sharing a sound
Singer/songwriter Amy Obenski has enjoyed recognition and success from her personal style of folk-jazz fusion with a contemporary twist. Though Obenski is currently working on her fourth album, she’s made the time to stop by to perform an intimate show at Lompoc’s own D’Vine Wine Bar on June 3. Obenski is no stranger to Lompoc.…
Keep abreast of brassieres
When I was a kid, I loved to jump rope. Double Dutch was one of my favorite games. All the girls would gather at recess, two of us turning two ropes in a configuration that resembled a giant egg-beater. One or two at a time we’d jump in, chant a rhyme, and jump out without…
She’s back!
After a six-month hiatus, Diane Zink, artistic director for both the Santa Maria Civic Ballet and Everybody Can DANCE for the past 26 years, has returned to the area to mount an ambitious production of works by Marius Petipa, out of the Kirov Ballet tradition: “Kingdom of the Shades” from La Bayadere (1877) and “The…
See the art studios
Tour books are on sale now for the Los Padres Artist Guild’s Studio and Garden Tour and Sale, which will be held June 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The book allows two people to visit eight working studios and beautiful gardens in Orcutt and Santa Maria, where 50 artists will exhibit their work.…
Mixing it up
It’s hard to pin down the sound of Eclectic5. That’s because the group lives up to its name. “It’s a wide variety of jazz, American, Broadway, opera, spirituals, and originals—it’s eclectic,” said tenor and trumpeter Chris A. Bowman. The group is relatively new to the Central Coast, though its individual members aren’t. Besides Bowman, Eclectic5…
Showtime!
In theater, when a production is good, it tends to enjoy a long run. Think Cats, or Les Miserables. The same can be said for PCPA’s Young People’s Project (YPP). The project, which began in the 1980s, is still going strong, and staff at the conservatory are getting ready for the latest crop of thespians…
Older children need care, too
Although 40 percent of all foster children are between the ages of 13 and 21, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it can be more difficult for older children to find foster homes. The Central Coast office of Aspiranet, a social services agency headquartered in San Francisco, will hold a Community…
Spotlight on: Susie Q’s Brand Specialty Foods
If there’s any one thing considered synonymous with Santa Maria, it’s got to be barbecue—and few people have helped expose the rest of the world to the local culinary tradition the way Susan Righetti has. For the past 30 years, through her Susie Q’s Brand line of retail products, Righetti has supplied folks far and…
Hobnobbing with Helen
High tea may sound high falutin’, but high brow or low brow, it’s really a lot of fun—particularly if a gal gets gussied up and pulls a hat out of some dusty box hidden in a corner of her closet. Dr. Carol Karamitsos did it the easy way: She borrowed a vintage straw number from…
You have the right to compete …
On May 20, Lompoc Police Department Explorer Post 700 attended the Kern County Memorial Explorer Competition in Tehachapi. The team included four high school students and two college students. During the competition, the Lompoc team battled it out against 16 other posts—a total of 160 others partaking in real-life encounters. The Lompoc Explorer group placed…
Like a good neighbor
Grab that family and some cleaning equipment. On June 4, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., a neighborhood clean up at the future site of self-help homes is slated to take place at the corner of North Thompson and Chestnut streets in Nipomo. The clean-up day will be held in celebration of NeighborWorks Week and…
Stop the abuse
Robert Galletta is an expert when it comes to investigating crimes of financial elder abuse. The Beaumont Police Department officer recently spoke at an elder abuse prevention conference in Santa Barbara, presented by the Central Coast Commission for Senior Citizens and Area Agency on Aging. Galletta said one of the classic scams he sees committed…
Map quest
As Santa Barbara County gets set to tackle the Herculean task of supervisorial redistricting, a series of poorly attended workshops has county officials and others bemoaning a lack of public interest in the issue. Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said supervisors had hoped to see more citizen input in the process, but thought the subject…
Lockheed Martin gets hacked
On May 28, officials at defense contractor giant Lockheed Martin Corporation, which has a facility in Santa Maria, admitted the company was the victim of a recent cyber attack. “On Saturday, May 21, Lockheed Martin detected a significant and tenacious attack on its information systems network,” a statement to the media read. “The company’s information…
Clarification
The Sun would like to clarify a statement made in an article from the May 26 issue titled “Frack that!” Doug Anthony, Santa Barbara County’s deputy director of energy, confirmed rumors with the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) regarding Venoco Inc. engaging in fracking locally. The state agency had no involvement with…
Elks Rodeo takes preventative measures in light of out-of-area equine herpes outbreak
In response to a recent outbreak of equine herpes, a deadly virus affecting horses, Santa Mara Elks Rodeo officials will enforce strict rules and regulations at its annual event beginning June 2. According to a contingency plan provided to the Sun by event coordinator Seth Doulton, rodeo officials will: • put together an animal welfare…
Capps joins call for Afghanistan withdrawal
Following the assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, the U.S. congressional call for a political settlement and an accelerated exit strategy from Afghanistan has increased in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, a recent vote in the capitol to mandate such a strategy failed by only a handful of votes. On May 26, U.S.…
Orcutt memorial legislation clears hurdle
A bill that could clear the way for the construction of a veterans’ monument on Clark Avenue, at the gateway to Old Town Orcutt, is heading to the state Senate floor. On May 26, the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the bill, authored by 19th District Sen. Tony Strickland (R-Simi Valley), by an 8-0 vote.…
New Guadalupe Union School District superintendent appointed
Ed Cora, principal of Tommie Kunst Junior High School in Santa Maria, was appointed superintendent of Guadalupe Union School District at a special board meeting at Mary Buren Elementary School on May 25. The school board unanimously approved his appointment, as a packed room of spectators looked on. People from the Guadalupe district and the…
