Bonnie Carroll's Life Bites - Tinsletown Tidbits

KEYT3 News Anchor Paula Lopez, and Perie Longo, a former teacher at SBCC and the Laureate Emerita of Santa Barbara 2007-09, were given a standing ovation by members of Women in Communication at their annual luncheon in the Hyatt Hotel, where each honoree was presented a proclamation from State and County representatives, as well as an AWC-SB award honoring their outstanding contribution to the community. Mayor Helene Schneider also presented an award on behalf of the City of Santa Barbara.

Introductions were made by Dr. Kathy Gruver Mistress-of-Ceremonies, Starshine Roshell and Lois Phillips. The networking luncheon was attended by sponsors COX, Fielding Graduate Institute, Lynda.com, KEYT TV3, and a bevy of generous gift sponsors who donated fabulous gift baskets for the luncheon drawing.

2012 Association Officers include Lynn K. Jones, MSw, DSW, Kathleen A. Barry, PhD, LMFT, Rebecca Christenson, Karen O’Hara, Monique Bunstone, Lisa Angle, Nancy Marriott, Sylvia Williams, LeeAnne French, and Dr. Kathy Gruver.

AWC-SB is the premiere organization for communications professionals in the Santa Barbara region. Its mission is to provide access to role models and leaders in the communications fields, as well as exposure to current trends and related research and technologies for members. Their mission is to inspire members to assume leadership roles and to work collaboratively with others in shaping a better future for themselves and their communities. For more information on AWC-SB visit www.awcsb.org.

DALLAS WAS BORN AGAIN ON TNT WITH SOMETHING OLD AND SOMETHING NEW! WELCOME BACK TO SOUTHFORK J.R., BOBBY & SUE ELLEN!

Saturday July 14th, 2012
VIP Reception 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Main Event 6:00pm – 10:00pm
QAD Inc – 100 Innovation Place

THE EVENT:
Silver Screen Bash is Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s largest fundraiser for our free children’s education and community outreach programs: Field Trip to the Movies, AppleBox Family Films, 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting and Filmmaking Competition, SBIFF College Intern Program, and 3rd Weekend. During the 2012 film festival, over 12,250 children, students, and families participated in one of SBIFF’s free programs.

Join us for fun-filled evening like no other – all in an effort to raise money to ensure the children, students and families in Santa Barbara have access to quality arts programs.

On Saturday, 28 July at 1:00 PM there will be a concert presented on the grand Wurlitzer organ of the Fox Theatre in St. Louis. The featured organist will be Scott Foppiano, ATOS' 2007 Organist of the Year and a member of our own KCTPO. Both Mr. Foppiano and his student Stephen Kucera, also of KCTPO, will also be featured artists in the ATOS National Convention in Los Angeles in July. This is a very special and rare event in the theatre organ world since the last two remaining Fox Wurlitzers are seldom presented in a full-length, solo concert performance. Mr. Foppiano was senior house organist at the other "twin" Fox Theatre in Detroit for nine years, whose 5000-seat Siamese Byzantine architecture and organ are identical to those at the St. Louis Fox. Both of these grand movie palaces were built in 1928 by studio mogul William Fox as well as his other largest theatres in San Francisco and Brooklyn, NY. All of these and the Paramount Theatre at Times Square had identical 4-manual, 36-rank Mighty Wurlitzer organs - the largest built by the North Tonawanda, NY firm until the grand organ of Radio City Music Hall was inaugurated in 1932. In conjunction with the event, a special "behind the scenes" tour of the Fabulous Fox Theatre will be at 10:30 AM preceding the concert. The Fox is located at 527 N. Grand Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63103. Tickets will be available at the doors. Please plan to "meet me in St. Louis" and be there for this very special and exciting event! Visit:www.fabulousfox.com.

What started in 1974 as a birthday party for local artist Michael Gonzales has become one of the country’s major festivals, attracting over 100,000 spectators and photographers representing major publications from around the world. The 2012 Solstice Festival had the theme "Fantasy" and it certainly was a dream inspired multicultural three day celebration.

Alameda Park was alive with eclectic music and dancing at the kick-off of the three day Solstice weekend. Attendees were on their feet and moving to the sounds of live world music including famous local groups. A variety of vendors of food, arts and crafts provided sustenance and fun, fun being the operative word.

The morning of the parade started slowly and reached a frantic pace as start time closed in. Face painters, costumers, float managers and musicians were putting the final moves on their long walk down State where thousands of people lined the main street of Santa Barbara. City of Santa Barbara Councilmember’s Grant House and Cathy Murillo, along with Mayor Helene Schneider posed for photos in their theme costumes and appeared to be having a wonderful time. Solstice Festival Executive Director Claudia Bratton said she was thrilled to have her grandchildren riding with her on their beautiful ocean inspired fantasy float.

The musicians and dance teams were simply outstanding and included Brazilian,

Bollywood, and South African beats. The costuming and make-up were the best seen yet, and the diversity of people being represented made it clear Santa Barbara is truly an international destination. The "Book" for this year’s festival is again being prepared by talented photographer Kevin Steel, who was very busy taking photos of parade participants in an off street open garage. The photos will be included in the 2012 Festival Book to be published following the event.

From toddlers to senior citizens they were happily marching, along with floats and giant puppets. Many were wearing the Solstice T-shirt that raises funds for the event each year. The winning poster design of a pre-event competition provides the art for these T-shirts annually. The roller derby stars, an entertaining group of street monitors on roller skates, kept the crowd on the sidewalks as the parade passed by.

My favorite float this year was the Indian inspired creation, which featured an altar, a crew of extremely creative team members in very authentic costumes, including a few painted in Krishna blue. Their body painting and attention to costume detail was simply fascinating, while the music and dancing was outstanding, and the final result was a bhakti blast from the past.

The end zone for the parade floats and participants was Alameda Park where a free children’s festival was in progress, and live music and the Summer Solstice celebration of life through art continued into Sunday. For information on Solstice 2013 visit www.solsticeparade.com/

I am not really a big fan of Woody Allen, however, I just adored the funny and sometime familiar and often totally absurd adventures of the characters in Woody Allen’s latest work “From Rome with Love” that travels through the lives of some visitors and residents of Rome and the romances, adventures and predicaments they get into.

Set in the beautiful and historic city of Rome, the intertwining stories of a worker who wakes up to find himself a celebrity, an architect who takes a trip back to the street he lived on as a student, a young couple on their honeymoon, and frustrated opera director who has a talent for singing come to life. The Rome photography of so many special destinations in the city was outstanding and meaningful to those of us who at some point in our life fell in love with this great Italian city, as well as the people who live there, and the romance a visit always offers to visitors.

Woody Allen, Judy Davis, and Penelope Cruz were absolutely hilarious in their roles, the liberties taken on the sacredness of Italian opera and marriage were easily absorbed in the spirit of fun they were offered and were so funny.

Alec Baldwin was charming as the wise old architect guy who offers sound advice to his young counterpart Jesse Eisenberg, and all of the young actors in this film were fresh and believable in their performances. Roberto Benigni was delightful as an average guy who is suddenly thrown into celebrity much to his own amazement.

If you are looking for some fantastic views of Roma, along with a few hours of laughter and fun you should not miss this film. bc