The classical music world has been dominated for decades, if not centuries, by the image of a lone, baton-wielding figure. And that figure is almost always white and almost always a man. As so many sectors of American cultural society have diversified, the classical music world has been a little slow on the uptake. But […]
Quire of Voyces features sacred music composed by women at St. Mark’s in Los Olivos
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Spotlight on: Lompoc Valley Cannabis Association
A new association of business owners and activists in the the cannabis community say they want to help improve relations with skeptics and opponents of the plant in general. According to its founders, the Lompoc Valley Cannabis Association aims to be both a voice for a nascent industry and an intermediary between business owners, governments, […]
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Two Republican candidates hope to challenge incumbent Salud Carbajal for 24th Congressional District
Local Republicans are hopeful that they can unseat incumbent Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) at the ballot box come November, but first they need to choose the candidate they want to do it in the June 5 primary. Two candidates are duking it out for the Republican nomination—returning candidate for the 24th District and Santa […]
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NASA and Iridium, with help from SpaceX, complete launch
The first phase of a joint mission run by NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences—or GFZ—successfully detached from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on May 22, releasing a pair of satellites that will now orbit the Earth for at least a half decade. The spacecraft launched just before 1 p.m. that day from […]
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Santa Barbara County District Attorney declares officer-involved shooting of armed robber justifiable homicide
An officer-involved shooting that led to the death of an armed bank robber in August 2017, was deemed a justifiable homicide by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office. Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley announced her conclusion in a statement released on May 21, which also stated that the determination followed an extensive […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Solvang’s Will Rodgers teams up with dad’s brewery to launch NASCAR career
Will Rodgers triumphantly stood atop his black race car—the No. 7 Solvang Brewing Company Ford—with both arms and index fingers raised to the sky and confetti raining down over him. The 22-year-old from Solvang basked in the sweet taste of victory on Sept. 16, having claimed his second-ever NASCAR win at New Jersey Motorsports Park. […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Drag racer
There is a new phenomenon at my house. A new craze has taken over. All the women in my house—my wife, my daughter, and even our dog—began religiously watching a television show every Thursday night at 8 o’clock. It’s not a show like Game of Thrones with dragons, violence, and half-naked women, a show I […]
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Making room: Santa Maria allows accessory dwelling units for the first time
A few curious neighbors watched as carpenters pieced together the wooden skeleton of a 2,138-square-foot house on the corner of South Bradley Road in Santa Maria’s Sunrise Hills neighborhood on May 8. The finished product would one day include a spacious kitchen, lower and upper level living rooms, three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Youth Arts Alive presents free summer arts classes
Youth Arts Alive, a free arts education program for Santa Maria youth, returns this summer to the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center and Grogan Park from June 11 through July 12. For five weeks, Youth Arts Alive Alive will present 90-minute classes in theater, dance, music, and visual arts taught by local professionals. Classes include […]
Posted inMusic, Arts & Culture
Wildling Museum hosts workshop for children
Artists Jill Littlewood and Pamela Zwehl-Burke will lead a workshop for children ages 6 and older on June 3 at the Wildling Museum of Art and Nature in Solvang. The class starts with a guided tour of the River’s Journey art exhibition now showing at the Wildling as well as a group conversation about the […]
Posted inOpinion
Get a whiff
It’s barely election season, and you can already smell the piles of platitudes pouring out of the mouths of hopeful politicians, much like the manure scent that wafts off North County’s crops. Ah, breathe in the BS! It doesn’t matter whether they’re Republican or Democrat—why do we hear the same tired words and phrases regurgitated […]
Posted inOpinion
Oil is OK
As three area oil companies prepare to submit their plans to upgrade oil production in the East Cat Canyon oilfield, a growing chorus of familiar voices has appeared in local media with dire predictions of future disasters should those projects gain approval. One writer, a principal architect of the failed Measure P anti-oil campaign, wrote […]