Year in Review | My Top Stories of 2024 (Editor)

An Arts, Culture & Community Editor Reflects on Her Favorite Stories of the Year

From left: Leslie Dinaberg; SOhO Restaurant & Music Club; Keith Puccinelli exhibit; Cheese tasting event

I wear a few different hats at the Santa Barbara Independent, as both a writer and as the editor of the Arts & Entertainment, Living, and Food & Drink sections of the paper.

Putting on my editor’s hat, here are a few of my favorite stories from this year:

Arts & Entertainment

It’s hard to stay in business in this town, and I loved the way Joe Woodard told the tale of SOhO’s 30 years in business: SOhO Goes the Big 3-0

Few wordsmiths can string together 26 letters with as much originality and punch as Nick Welsh can, and though he doesn’t write arts stories often, when he does, he’s pretty much guaranteed to knock them out of the park. Case(s) in point: The Brasscals Bring Honk to Santa Barbara and SBIFF Gives Fiesta 5 a New Lease on Life.

The late artist Keith Puccinelli was such a talented individual and Joe Woodard captures his quirky personality exceptionally well in this cover story: Art About Life, Death, and Clowning.

Speaking of capturing personalities, Roger Durling’s cover profile of Baret Boisson — The Accidental Artist-Activist — was one of my favorite features of the year, with vibrant, insightful writing (I’ve known Baret for years and learned a lot from the story), and particularly beautiful shots captured by Ingrid Bostrom.

Food & Drink

Matt Kettmann’s recent cover story — Santa Barbara’s Hospitality Game-Changers — was exceptionally well-researched and although it had a zillion moving parts, he managed to put it together elegantly and informatively, as well as entertainingly. He also, of course, writes quite eloquently and knowledgably about wine on a regular basis, but I was particularly intrigued by this story of How a Documentary About an Armenian Winemaker Created Iran’s First Wine in Decades.

I love a good literary pun as much as anybody who plays with words for a living, and George Yatchisin did himself proud with this take on Poe-tent Potables | The Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy. I also really enjoyed his take on how The Black Sheep Santa Barbara Brasserie Raises the Baa — including the headline, for which George deserves all the credit. No surprise, he’s also a poet!

When Michael Delgado first pitched me the concept for Cheese the Day — an ambitious cover story bringing wine, cheese and culinary experts together to sip, savor, and share their expertise —  I had some doubt that he could pull it off. But he did an incredible job on this one, and we got to enjoy the fruits, and the pairings, of his labor. We’ll be working with him again soon and I can’t wait. Keep an eye out for more information on an open-to-the-public Cheese the Day event you won’t want to miss out on.

Living

I’ve been reading John Zant’s sports reporting for as long as I can remember, and his story on Remembering OJ Simpson and the Dangers of “Godding Up Those Ball Players” was one of the standouts of the year.

I’m always happy to have Starshine Roshell in our pages, but her post-election column,  And So It Begins … Misogynists Are Already Crawling Outta Their Hovels, struck a particular chord with me. When something needs saying OUT LOUD in a crowded space, I’m so grateful to have her as the one who is willing, and oh-so-very able, to say it!

Victor Bryant’s story The Urzua Family Athletic Legacy Shines On at Bishop Diego hit the perfect sweet spot between sports and community. I loved learning more about this family.

While I’m on the subject of sports and family, Jim Buckley’s cover story Going for Gold … Times Three: Isla Vista’s Neushul Family Rides a Chlorine-Scented Wave All the Way to the Olympics was another favorite of the year.

And finally, in what was probably my favorite story of the year in an “only in the Santa Barbara Independent would you read this way,” was Callie Fausey’s Down the Rabbit Hole first-person trip into the world of ketamine therapy. Gutsy, specific, original, and compelling from start to finish.

Click here to read my own writing picks for 2024 as well.

Year in Review | My Top Stories of 2024 (Writer)

From left: Leslie Dinaberg; RuPaul; Ty Warner tequila; Sofi Tukker

Here Are My Favorites Stories I Wrote This Year

I wear a few different hats at the Santa Barbara Independent, as both a writer and an editor. As for my own prose, I wrote more than 200 stories of various types over the last 12 months, which is similar to my 2023 tally. That sounds like a lot — and it is — but a good chunk of what I do is short and snappy, and a lot less time-consuming than the longer features my colleagues are able to devote themselves to.

That being said, some of my favorite stores are the ones I get to dig in more deeply on. Arts education is close to my heart and is something I’ve spent a lot of my volunteer time working on for many years. For a very long time, I have wanted to embed with a visiting artist and write about what it’s like not just to perform for UCSB Arts & Lectures, but to go all over town and teach and connect with people as part of their educational outreach. Hanging out for a few days with Lil Buck and Jon Boogz, and our fab photographer Ingrid Bostrom, was a dream come true. I couldn’t have asked for a nicer, more talented, and thoughtful group of artists to work with on this cover story.

Going behind the scenes to write about the AHA’s remarkable teen participants and their Sing It Out program was another cover story highlight for me, as was working with our team to organize the event and bring back the Annual Indy Awards for local theater in May (see story here). Working with Joe Woodard to put together our first full-blown Fall Arts Preview since the pre-COVID years was greatly satisfying as well.

Covering the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is always one of my favorite, immersive experiences, and one of my 2024 highlights was being just a few feet away from Brad Pitt as he sat in the audience waiting to present his pal Bradley Cooper with the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award. I also really enjoyed a Ken-tastic night with Ryan Gosling when he received the Kirk Douglas Award in January. Apparently I’m a bit of a sucker for a pretty face.

Arts Reviews 

Delving into reviews remains both challenging and fun for me. I do a little bit of theater and a little bit of dance and a little bit of comedy, but mostly I write about music. Other than Sting and Pearl Jam at the Ohana Festival — both of which were bucket list level incredible but outside of the 805 — my favorite show of the year was probably Cage the Elephant and Young the Giant at the Bowl: Two Ginormous Bands Unleash a Great Evening of Rock and Roll, and a Rocket! Other favorite Santa Barbara Bowl shows for me this year were Sofi Tukker and John Fogerty.

A few of my other highlights include:

Toad the Wet Sprocket at the Lobero: Too Good to Take for Granted.

The Lobero Block Party with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Ozomatli Taking it to the Streets.

An evening at the Arlington where RuPaul Shows He Was Born to Entertain.

Meow Meow’s unique brand of postmodern cabaret was definitely Wow Wow at the Lobero.

Lyle Lovett was fabulous and I also got to interview him before his Lobero show and meet him afterward. He’s every bit as nice as he is talented.

Finally, the toughest reviews to write are when you have mixed feelings about a show. I struggled with this one a bit, but was happy with the final results and got some good feedback from fellow fans: Indigo Girls Still Have Much to Teach Us.

Experiences

It’s not every day you tour a greenhouse and then sit in someone’s backyard smoking pot and getting a private poolside concert with Iration, but that’s what happened here at the Iration x Autumn Brands Launch Party.

I don’t usually breathe the same air as Kanye West, and there are very few go-go dancers in my orbit, but this Lavish Santa Barbara Soirée Toasts Ty Warner’s New Reserve Tequila was quite the shindig.

Escaping reality with a night at the Rosewood Miramar Beach was definitely a lovely way to snuff out the post-election stress.

Click here to read my editor’s picks for 2024 as well.