Artsweek

Batsheva Dance Co. Comes to SB

The Batsheva Dance Company is based in Tel Aviv and was founded in 1964. Its members consider themselves ambassadors of the Israeli artistic community. Some people believe that Batsheva is a ploy to g...
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Not Exactly Child’s Play *****

There is something to be said for taking risks. Without great risk, there can be no great reward. Sometimes that risk leads you to something average like "Keeping Up with the Steins"; other times, it ...
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Watching the Oscars: A Bore of a Chore

Sure, The clothes were pretty, and "Slumdog Millionaire" won a well-deserved seven awards, including Best Picture, but last Sunday's 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony was an incredibly stupid event....
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“Friday the 13th” to the Nth Degree **

You already know if you want to see "Friday the 13th" or not. If you can hum or pant the iconic score, you might very well enjoy the movie. But if it takes more than blood, tits and hockey masks to ge...
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Charming, But Slight ***

Morrissey has been freakishly successful in his attempt to separate himself from the legendary Smiths. It is an understandably difficult task for an artist to surgically remove him or herself from the...
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Within the Fray ***

It's hard to believe that it has already been four years since the debut album of the Fray. The titular track for that album, "How To Save a Life," became a huge television-fueled phenomenon of a sing...
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Legends Perform Ginsberg Tribute

Most college students might assume that "hipster" is a recently coined term, but the late poet Allen Ginsberg wrote about "angelheaded hipsters" in "Howl," his famous 1955 poem that celebrates the reb...
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A Haunting Presence

Friday, Feb. 13, at downtown Santa Barbara's Lobero Theatre was a fittingly haunting night, thanks to the entrancing power and surrealist beauty of Chan Marshall's truly unique voice. The mystique an...
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Student-Starring

Performing Chekhov is notoriously difficult. The theatrical premiere of "The Seagull" in 1896 was a famous disaster, and Chekhov reportedly hated the first production of "The Cherry Orchard" in 1904....
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Actually Lily, It IS You ***

When Lily Allen burst onto the scene in 2006 with her iconic, ska-fueled hit, "Smile," she became the first person to transcend Internet stardom and become an honest-to-god pop idol. Her debut record,...
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Case of the Missing Keys ***

The Black Keys will always suffer from comparisons to the White Stripes. Like the band's Midwestern garage-rock duo counterparts also named after a color and a noun, the Black Keys has spent its time ...
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Cleese Cheered at Campbell Hall

John Cleese, living comedic legend of "Monty Python" fame - who also happens to be a Santa Barbara resident - graced the stage at Campbell Hall Monday night for his annual film screening and Q&A. The ...
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CD: International Dischord **

Based on his undeniable talent and innovation as a producer for acts like Spank Rock and M.I.A., Diplo probably deserves to have his work released as part of a compilation.
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FILM: A Stop-Motion Scarytale *****

As a child, everything is magical. The wind can whisper messages. There is no question but that you are special and magical, and very likely, a lost prince or princess from some far-off land. And that...
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FILM: A Killer of a Thriller ****

January is typically the month when studios release their leftovers, the films that are not deemed worthy of the main film seasons (summer and winter).
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