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Experimental visions: MCA premieres On Edge Festival, four days of performance art

September 12, 2014September 6, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

"Spinning Four," Surabhi Saraf Varun Sharma photo — “Spinning Four,” Surabhi Saraf
Varun Sharma photo

As a frequent attendee at the Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Forum Lounge” over the years, it would be fair to say the events — every First Thursday at 7 p.m. — were unpredictable and just as often brilliant as they were half-baked. Sometimes there were short bursts of stunning performance, clocking in at a friendly 20 minutes; sometimes audiences found they had signed up for two hours. It was an experiment that had run its course in a way, but it was also pointing to something bigger, more consistent, and better defined. The On Edge Festival opens this Thursday, and promises the best of the performance art scene.

In its four days, the Festival, curated by Forum Lounge’s Heather Jeno Silva, will put on productions at MCA, as well as at Center Stage Theater, Municipal Winemakers, the Courthouse Sunken Gardens, and a gallery/event space on Canon Perdido.

Bouncing back: After some setbacks, George Lopez returns to make Santa Barbara laugh

September 12, 2014October 5, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Comedian, actor and talk show host George Lopez performed his stand-up comedy June 27 at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Ga. — Comedian, actor and talk show host George Lopez performed his stand-up comedy June 27 at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta,
Ga.

This has been a rollercoaster year for comedian George Lopez. He’s already been humbled and made much late-night fun over his drunken fall at a Canadian Casino. And then his latest sitcom “Saint George” on FX got the axe after only 10 episodes (more on that later). All that has turned him back to the one thing that he can do with absolute confidence, with no interference, and that’s stand-up. This Saturday he returns to the Santa Barbara Bowl for an evening of hilarity and soul-baring. While his stand-up has often been about family and culture and the effects of an abusive upbringing — told with devastating humor and honesty of course — Mr. Lopez says that he’s going to get even more personal for this new tour.

“We’re going to deal with the private George, not the public George,” he says. “Which I think is more compelling . . . The thing with the next special is to get more personal and dig deeper.”

Experimental visions: MCA premieres On Edge Festival, four days of performance art

September 12, 2014October 5, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

DRINK OF THE WEEK: The Al Capone

September 11, 2014September 6, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

We thought our bartender looked familiar when we stepped inside the Chase the other night. That’s because Tony Rincon used to bartend over at Uptown Lounge and we met him last time we checked that place out. It’s a small town, for sure. The Chase offers twists on classic cocktails, and we settled on the Al Capone because we’re fascinated with that time in history. (Although we wouldn’t necessarily want to live during that time.) The Feds finally caught Capone for tax evasion, but Rincon says this drink is a way to avoid the overly sweet taste of vermouth. Clever, isn’t it? The Campari gives a bitterness to what started as a simple Manhattan, and the orange peel twist gives every sip a citrusy aroma. (The cocktail started out as a creation of Brooklyn mixologist John Bush, and has spread across the country in the years since.)

Capone and his gang reportedly preferred gin and lime, but this cocktail is more an embodiment of the attitude of the man: strong, with an underlying bitterness.

THE AL CAPONE
1 1/2 ounces whiskey (preferably Bulleit Rye)
1 ounce sweet vermouth (preferably Cinzano)
1/2 ounce Campari

Add all ingredients over ice, shake and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with orange peel twist.

Yield: 1 drink

CHASE BAR & GRILL
1012 State St.
965-4351 or www.chasebarandgrill.com

Eating and drinking the best of SB: Taste of the Town benefits Arthritis Foundation

September 8, 2014September 12, 2020 tedmills Leave a comment

Armando Salazar, Opal Restaurant and Bar general manager, right, serves up a shrimp dish to Trevor Green during the 33rd annual Taste of the Town on Sunday.

Hundreds of Santa Barbarans gathered yesterday to sample food, wine and beer from the county’s finest restaurants and wineries and it was all for a good cause other than a full stomach. Taste of the Town, now in its 33rd year, returned to the Riviera campus for a fun afternoon and to raise money and awareness for the Arthritis Foundation of Santa Barbara. Have you heard of Booze Up the company that delivers 24/7 to your house? Visit their site to check their catalog.

Along the halls of the Riviera Park Garden, and out in a separate grassy area to the east, some of Santa Barbara’s best-known eateries set up booths where guests could sample food. They included Opal’s famous phyllo-wrapped tiger prawns, the Palace Cafe’s well loved jambalaya, Enterprise Fish Co.’s lobster bisque, Arlington Tavern’s indulgent mac’n’cheese, and more, numbering about 40 in total.

Rock against injustice: The Last Internationale marks a return to political rock

September 5, 2014September 6, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The Last Internationale, from left, guitarist Edgey Pires, lead vocalist Delila Paz and drumer Brad Wilk (also of Rage Against the Machine) BB Gun Press — The Last Internationale, from left, guitarist Edgey Pires, lead vocalist Delila Paz and drumer Brad Wilk (also of Rage Against the Machine)
BB Gun Press

Race riots in the summer. Natural disasters. An endless war that keeps sucking us in. Political turmoil. While the state of the world has a late ’60s/early ’70s vibe to it, what’s missing in this comparison is the music. Where’s the rock and pop to match the times? Where’s our Sly Stone or our Marvin Gaye? Is it just about being “Happy” like Pharrell Williams says?

That is what makes The Last Internationale stand out in a field of abstract or commodity-based lyrics, and they are set to rock Velvet Jones this Tuesday. That title — the name of the French left-wing anthem — should give away their political stance and when they took the stage last month at “Late Night with David Letterman” they brought tasty licks from guitarist Edgey Pires, solid beats from Brad Wilk (Rage Against the Machine), and the growling, authoritative vocals of Delila Paz. The song was “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Indian Blood” the lead song of their debut album “We Will Reign.”

One-man show: Host, stand-up, personality…Ben Gleib does it all

September 5, 2014October 5, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Mr. Gleib, left, and producer Barry Katz at the premiere of "Dumbells". — Mr. Gleib at the premiere of “Dumbells”.

Stand-up comedian, game-show host, and actor Ben Gleib has just returned from Burning Man and is holed up for an extra night in his Reno hotel room, nursing something that sounds like a cold.

“It was amazing, very, very cool,” he says of his week on the playa. “Very introspective, very survivalist, and I’m so, so tired. Hopefully I can sleep, get this dust off of me, and wake up a new man, because I’ve got a special to record.”

DRINK OF THE WEEK: BO HENRY’S ERIN’S LIL’ BIT OF SWEET ‘N’ SPICY

September 4, 2014October 6, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

The only bar on the Westside, Bo Henry’s is packing them in every night with pool tables, a healthy and genre-stuffed jukebox, art all over the walls, and cocktails. On a sweaty Sunday night, creeping toward 11 p.m., we found the bar lively, one of the few things on this party side of town showing signs of life. Behind the bar was Erin Ingalls, working here since April and a veteran of the Crocodile on upper State. Asked if she had a drink that she had invented, she immediately pointed to the board above her head. “Do I? Yes.”

“Erin’s Lil’ Bit of Sweet ‘n’ Spicy” is currently the special and, no, Erin doesn’t have to be working the night you order it — but it helps. Her inspiration comes from a regular who lives nearby and is often bringing food from her garden to see if Erin can use it. She’s made gin martinis with lemon verbena, for example. But for this particular drink, she’s used fresh serrano chiles and then paired them with pear vodka. Triple sec and orange juice take the spicy edge off, but that combo of pear and chili really works. It’s smooth and spicy and, yes, sweet. It’s our Drink of the Week.

ERIN’S LIL’ BIT OF SWEET ‘N’ SPICY
1 3/4 oz. Absolut Pear vodka
1/2 oz. triple sec
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. sweet and sour
1/3 serrano chili, chopped

Muddle chili in shaker, add ice, liquids and shake. Pour into lowball glass and garnish with lime wedge.

Bo Henry’s
1431 San Andres St.
966-7898 or www.bohenry.com

Off the grid: Paul Gillis and Maura Bendett display at Cabana Home

August 29, 2014September 15, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

Paul Gillis - Night III — Paul Gillis – Night III

Two very different approaches to painting can be found at the current and very modest show at Cabana Home. Artists Maura Bendett and Paul Gillis approach canvas as a puzzle to be solved, but as these dozen or so pieces show, there’s more than one solution.

Mr. Gillis works in infinitesimally small grids, creating problems for himself, then working himself out. Although his online portfolio shows familiar objects and silhouettes in his work, the selections at Cabana Home tend toward the abstract and geometric. His method consists — it appears — of working on top of stretched hessian fabric adhered to a canvas. Hessian is the underlying coarsely woven material used in rugs and tapestry, but here it becomes a grid for a further grid placed on top, drawn with graphic, ruler, and, one would assume, steady nerves.

This chef keeps the lid on: Predictable French comedy has only food going for it

August 29, 2014September 15, 2014 tedmills Leave a comment

‘You are not creating these dishes,” says a critic to the up-and-coming chef in this flaccid French comedy. “You are just following a recipe. You are like someone singing karaoke.”

That sums up the majority of “Le Chef,” from director Daniel Cohen, which is thoroughly predictable and mildly amusing in molecular amounts. Not to be confused with the also formulaic “Chef” (this summer’s sleeper hit), this French film boasts Jean Reno as Alexandre Lagarde, a famous chef who is under the gun from his restaurant’s new CEO and the possibility that a couple of food critics will appear and dock him a star from his Michelin rating.