Opera Santa Barbara is back for a live drive-in opera of Don Pasquale

Opera Santa Barbara is excited to return to live productions with Don Pasquale, A Live Drive-In Opera, as the season opener for Concerts In Your Car at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. The only performance will be Saturday, April 10, at 7:30PM. This production marks the company’s second live stage performance after the successful live drive-in opera for Carmen in December. Come prepared to laugh, sing along, and keep that toe-tapping foot away from the gas pedal!

When it comes to combining beautiful melodies and vocal pyrotechnics with laugh-out-loud comedy, no one is a match for bel canto master Gaetano Donizetti, the composer of The Elixir of Love, Lucia di Lammermoor, and many other blockbuster opera house hits. In this hilarious new version directed by the irrepressible Josh Shaw, Founder of Pacific Opera Project, the titular Don Pasquale becomes “Donald Pasquale”, a film mogul in the Santa Barbara silent film business of the early 1920s.

“I’m thrilled to return to OSB with this light-hearted comedy set during the heyday of Santa Barbara’s motion picture business. Drawing from early comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, you can expect more bits, gags, goofs, and laughs than you’ve ever seen at the opera–just what we all need after a year in the pandemic,” said Shaw.

Rising stars soprano and Santa Barbara native Jana McIntyre, bass Andrew Potter, and tenor Matthew Grills will make their OSB debuts, effortlessly tossing Donizetti’s sentimental tunes and vocal acrobatics. Former OSB Studio Artist baritone Efraín Solís returns as the cunning Dr. Malatesta. Opera SB Artistic and General Director Kostis Protopapas conducts members of the Opera SB Orchestra.

“I’m very excited to work with this spectacular cast on this beautiful score. I have been looking forward to Jana and Andrew’s debuts, and I’m happy that we can still make them happen. I’m also looking forward to working with Matthew and Efraín, my good friend Josh Shaw, and to be reunited with our fearless production team and Opera SB orchestra,” said Protopapas.

The event will follow all CDC and State of California guidelines. Attendees can enjoy the live stage performance from the safe and socially-distanced comfort of their vehicles. Attendees can stay inside or by their vehicle as they are allowed to sit in folding chairs by their vehicle but must wear a face mask and maintain social distancing. The show will include a visual light show and multimedia entertainment across video jumbo screens. Sound will come through your car stereo, like a traditional drive-in theater on your FM radio. The opera will be sung in Italian with English translations projected on screen.

Tickets are on sale now at the Concerts In Your Car website. Each ticket is valid for one car. The number of passengers must not exceed the number of safety belts /seats in your vehicle, up to eight people. Car tickets start at $99.

The shipwreck that destroyed the Pier

The SS Coos Bay cut the pier in half.

by Richard Senate

One hundred and seven years ago, on December 19th, 1914, the small steamship SS Coos Bay was forced by surging tides into the Ventura Pier, cutting the structure in half. In these early years the wharf was a working pier where coastal steamers and schooners landed to take on cargo and passengers. The discovery of oil made the pier more economically attractive with tankers coming to fill their bunkers with oil from Santa Paula.

The rail roads had taken much of the business from the pier but it was still the cheapest way to bring in goods. Still, it was never a good place to land and without a breakwater several ships were pushed onto the beach and wrecked. The SS Kalorama and SS Crimea in 1876 were wrecked lending their names to Ventura Streets.

In the winter months the tides became unpredictable and treacherous to coastal shipping. The SS Coos Bay was coming in to deliver a cargo of toys for the Christmas season that year. Three years before the same vessel was ran aground in Ventura but was refloated. Perhaps memories of that disaster caused the captain to steer the craft toward the wooden pier, but he overcompensated and the inrushing tide pushed the bow of the Coos Bay with such force that the ship cut the pier in half! In so doing it also cut the oil pipeline from Santa Paula causing a massive oil spill. The shut off valve was miles away. The small steamer went right though the pier and beached itself of the sand where the vessel was pounded to pieces by the surging tides. In time the hull was buried by the sands only to expose the rotting ribs of the streamer in storms (the last one in 1941).

The pier was out of commission until reconstructed by the People’s Lumber Company in 1917. They used it to off load lumber from Oregon and Washington State. With silt packing the coast it was no longer able to have ships land there with the last barge leaving the pier in the 1930s. Perhaps an archaeological dig should be undertaken to see if anything of the ill fated SS Coos Bay still rests near the Ventura Pier?

New board leadership at Ventura Land Trust

Mark Watkins will serve as Board President.

The Board of Trustees of Ventura Land Trust elected a new leadership slate to start 2021. Retired Ventura city manager Mark Watkins will serve as Board President, backed by Vice President Jill Shaffer. Sylvia Schnopp steps into the role of treasurer and John Hankins continues as secretary.

Mark Watkins, a registered California Civil Engineer, has enjoyed a long career of public service working for the County of Kern as the Public Works Director, for the City of Thousand Oaks, and most recently as City Manager for the City of Ventura. Mark retired from the City of Ventura in 2017.

Watkins takes the helm months after Ventura Land Trust opened Harmon Canyon Preserve, a project 10 years in the making. The preserve, open daily to the public for free, offers over 2,100 acres of land to the public. More than eight miles of trails for hiking and biking wind through meadows and oak groves. The land is permanently designated for conservation. “We’re here for the long run. A land trust is forever and is a steward to the land,” says Watkins.

Executive Director Derek Poultney is grateful for Watkins’s expertise and guidance. “Now that Harmon Canyon Preserve is open and thousands of people are able to enjoy Ventura’s hillsides for the first time in generations, we have the opportunity to collaborate with the community in new ways. Mark’s leadership has been instrumental in connecting us with new partners and navigating our growth and development as an organization,” says Poultney.

Jill Shaffer has served as a nonprofit leader and development professional for the past 30 years. She currently is the Fund Development Director at the Ventura County Community Development Corporation. Sylvia Schnopp joined Ventura Land Trust’s board in 2019. She currently serves as REI’s Central Coast Corporate Market Coordinator, where she advocates for stewarding of the land using collaborative solutions.

Continuing board trustees are immediate past-president Don Wood, Steve Doll, Jermaine Jackson, Dennis Kulzer, Jane Montague, Ozzie Rios, and Scott Weiss.

Ventura Land Trust is a non-profit conservation organization founded in 2003 to permanently protect the land, water, wildlife, and scenic beauty of the Ventura region for current and future generations. Its nature preserves are open free to the public from dawn to dusk daily. Go to www.venturalandtrust.org for more information about the organization and visiting its nature preserves. Ventura Land Trust is accredited by the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission.

Ventura County Animal Shelter in Camarillo during the Pandemic

y Carol Leish

‘Sometimes all it takes is a look.’

“The Ventura County Animal Shbelter in Camarillo currently has dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, birds, snakes, turtles, chickens and roosters available for adoption,” according to, Randy Friedman, the Marketing Manager. “We also occasionally have horses, chameleons, bearded dragons, and other exotic-type animals.”

The adoption process has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have continued to provide services while conducting all business in a safe and healthy manner,” Friedman said. “Those who are interested in adopting a dog are asked to schedule a virtual adoption counseling appointment at www.vcas.us/Scheduling. After the initial phone consultation, if all feel a good match is likely to be made, we will schedule a time for them to come in, meeting the animal in person, and adopting them if they choose to.”

Cat adoptions have also changed due to the pandemic. “Even though cat adoptions occur on-site at the Camarillo Animal Shelter from 2:00pm-4:00pm daily, those who are interested in adopting a cat need to come to the Camarillo Animal Shelter (600 Aviation Dr. Camarillo, CA 93010) at 9:00am to put their name and phone number on a clipboard, which is made available in the parking lot area.”

“For adopting rabbits,” according to Friedman, “we are asking the public to contact our Ventura County Animal Services Bunny Brigade, which is an all-volunteer run group who takes care of our rabbit population. Their email is: [email protected]. Those who are interested in adopting other pets can follow the same procedure that is outlined for dog adoptions. The full adoption process is at: www.vcas.us/adoptionprocess.

“A safe environment for all shelter guests has been made due to the pandemic,” according to Friedman. “Our appointment-based pet adoption system has resulted in thousands of pet adoptions since the pandemic began. Now we have an adoption counseling process that is virtual, which starts out with a phone consultation. A telemedicine process has been implemented in order to allow our foster care-givers access to our veterinarian for medical consultations. We’ve also promoted the use of an online licensing system, and established a drop-box at the Camarillo Shelter.”

The Ventura County Animal Shelter provides a wide variety of services. These include: medical care; animal behavioral evaluations/modifications; and, animal enrichment. Friedman also emphasized that, “Our teams respond to calls for assistance in the community, from the capture of aggressive animals, to the rescue of injured wildlife.” Our published annual report highlights many of our services (www.vcas.us/2020AnnualReport.)”

“As a municipal/government run agency with a 501c3 non-profit fundraising arm (Animal Services Foundation of Ventura County),” Friedman said, “there are many ways the public can help us, which includes: becoming a foster parent; making a monetary donation; donating items listed on our Amazon Wish List (www.vcas.us/Donate); and/or pledging to adopt pets. In Memory of, or in Honor of donations can be made at: www.vcasFoundation.org/donate). Those who want to volunteer, please go to: www.vcas.us/volunteer; those who want to foster, go to: www.vcas.us/foster. Our Amazon Wish list is at: www.vcas.us/AmazonWishList. Amazon Smile is at: www.vcas.us/AmazonSmile. For a complete list of ways to help, please go to: www.vcas.us/ways-to-help. Also, we would like to highlight our Lost and Found page (www.vcas.us/LostandFound). The animals we have in our care are listed at: (www.vcas.us/pets.)

Vol. 14, No. 13 – Mar 24 – April 6, 2021 – Mailbox

Breeze:

In regards to former Mayor Sandy Smith’s March 10th comments about the shortage of water from ground water wells and Lake Casitas, he forgot to mention the many new housing units currently being built in our city. I’m in support of higher rates because of the great service the water company does with limited resources. Also,thanks to the past and present city council members for getting us closer to being like our neighbor city of LA.

Thanks
Breeze Supporter
Chris Reinhart

Breeze:

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Responsibility to vaccinate is individual. Revolving questions to vaccinate or not keeps us stuck in perpetual indecision mode. Such as, will I get sick, will it be effective and for how long, why the need to wear a mask and stay six feet away after vaccinating are on the minds of most. The array of theories highjack’s common sense, creates confusion and fear, leaving us wondering what’s right for us individually and collectively.

Yes, our world has been turned on its ear, for one year! We’ve been living on the edges of survival for longer than anticipated, weathering the fallout from the great pause and pandemic storms of 2020. Even the freedom to hug, gather in crowds, eat indoors, come and go mask less may seem light years away.

The tipping point is in tow and a reality for 2021. History has shown the herd mentality can tip the scales and level out our normal. Learning, changing, growing starts with suiting up, showing up and opening up to new thinking and doing. This allows our perspective to reshape and fill the holes of ignorance with knowledge, understanding and ultimately compassion.

We can no longer afford to ignore the decline even extinction of plant and animal life on earth! Our personal and world views are seen from the vistas and peaks of our minds. We trek our way by way of braving the elementals, environmentally and emotionally then with new eyes watch them transfer change into and onto our everyday life. We are moving towards a new dawning of humanitarianism and by shaking hands with regenerative action, renewal shall surely follow.

Karen Leslie

Opinion:

We appear to be in a rush to vaccinate school employees and teachers to facilitate reopening in the very near future. But I recently learned that schools will close for the summer (late May or June), putting students further behind and directing vaccines to school employees who might not have needed the vax right away given impending summer closures. Given all the other adjustments made during the pandemic how about adopting a year round school schedule for the next year so students can catch up. 

Theresa Stevens Ojai

ARE YOU AN AMATEUR CARTOONIST? SEND YOUR CARTOON TO [email protected]

The only way to combat criminals is by not voting for them.
~ Dayton Allen

 

Submissions now open for 22nd Ojai Film Festival

The Ojai Film Festival (OFF), ranked one of the top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals on FilmFreeway, continues to grow in prestige. The festival, which begins November 4, 2021, showcases the finest new films by emerging and established filmmakers from around the world. Both the film and screenplay competitions opened to submissions March 1.

Out of the 77 films in the 2020 OFF three made it to the short list for Oscar consideration. In the previous 20 years 15 alumni received Academy Award nominations, two won an Oscar, and numerous others went on to gain distribution and win prestigious awards.

“Our festival provides a valuable service to filmmakers,” Artistic Director Steve Grumette said. “We give them access to a highly appreciative audience, including film industry professionals who can help guide their careers.”

Films screened in the festival become eligible to win OFF trophies and awards. The Limelight Award for Best Student Film comes with a Panavision camera rental package worth $60,000 USD. Other honors include the Sergio Aragones Award for Best Animated Film, and the Bill Paxton Award given to a filmmaker from Ojai or Southern California.

The event provides audiences with a diverse lineup, many groundbreaking works otherwise inaccessible to the public, which embody the OFF theme: “Enriching the Human Spirit through Film.” Past submissions of short and long narratives, short and long documentaries, and animations. represent over 46 countries. Now in its sixth year the Screenplay Competition last year brought in entries from as far away as Edinbridge, Kent, UK, as well as from all over the US.

At this time plans for the 2021 OFF foresee a mix of physical in-theater experiences and online accessibility. “Presenting an online festival in 2020 became a major learning experience,” OFF President Jonathan Lambert said. “Fortunately, we did it well and received a lot of positive feedback from filmmakers and patrons.” Viewers of last year’s virtual OFF screenings live in many US states and several overseas countries.

Legendary Hollywood producer Peter Guber told the audience at a Toronto International Film Festival that “Ojai is the next Telluride.” This speaks volumes about Ojai’s growing importance on the festival circuit.

FILM DEADLINES AND FEES

Early deadline (April 1): Features $35, Shorts $30

Regular deadline (May 1): Features $45, Shorts $40

Late deadline (June 1): Features $55, Shorts $50

Extended Deadline (July 1) entry fees: Features $65, Shorts $60

SCREENPLAY DEADLINES AND FEES

Early deadline (March 31): $25/$20 Students

Regular deadline (April 30): $35/$25 Students

Late deadline (May 31): $45/$35 Students

Extended deadline (June 30): $55/$45 Students

To enter go to ojaifilmfestival.com/entries

Accepted entries will be notified in mid-August.

Vol. 14, No. 13 – Mar 24 – April 6, 2021 – A View from House Seats

by Shirley Lorraine

Still Streaming and Dreaming!

The lifting of restrictions may finally be on the horizon. Anticipation is palpable in the theater community as news of potential reopening of Ventura County stages appears to be able to become a reality this season, albeit at reduced capacity to start. Keep checking the websites of your local theater companies for individual progress. They are all struggling and need our support to reopen.

In the meantime, caution is still being used as some theaters continue to present distanced events.

Get in your car and go there –

Conejo Players offers What’s Love Got to Do With It? a musical exploration of relationships, as a drive-in theater event this coming weekend, March 26-28. Performances will be held in the Conejo Players’ parking lot at 351 South Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks and will sell out quickly, no doubt, as distanced car-park spaces are limited. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets vary in price depending on car spots available. Hurry to www.conejoplayers.org to see the “seating” map and secure your tickets.

Stay at home and enjoy –

This year, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center celebrates 25 years of bringing high quality arts of all types to Simi Valley.

It was a smash hit a few years ago and will hit the funny bone hard now as the SVCAC’s 2018 production of the lively musical Sister Act comes into your home as On Demand Streaming March 26 through April 25. This feel-good, high-energy musical is chock full of dancing, Motown, soul and disco music, and top-notch performances. Tickets for a single streaming or a household viewing are available at www.svvac.org.

A note from behind the wings – Do you have, or know someone who has, at least two years of Technical Theater experience seeking a job? The City of Simi Valley is recruiting for a Technical Theater Coordinator for the Cultural Arts Center. Apply now through the arts center website or at www.simivalley.org. It’s a great opportunity for a qualified individual, but hurry – the application window closes very soon.

Wait – there’s more.

A YouTube search of county theaters yields offerings of many types, from full performances, to auditions, discussions, teaser snippets and much more. Camarillo Skyway Playhouse, Rubicon Theater, Ojai Art Center, Moorpark’s High Street Theater, Santa Paula Theater Center and Elite Theater all have fun videos to enjoy. Check them out.

And Finally –

Actors are eager to get back on stage, writers want to see their works come alive, and devoted theatergoers are pining to attend live theater. Count me among them. Effusive applause all around for the efforts made by all the theater companies, directors, actors, and technicians who have met the challenges posed by video performing in pieces (i.e. everyone streaming from their homes) over this past year. Keep up the good work – we look forward to attending in person soon.

Vol. 14, No. 13 – Mar 24 – April 6, 2021 – Movie Review

Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
My Octopus Teacher
Netflix Films – 2021 Oscar Nominee

4 out of 4 palm trees

“My Octopus Teacher” is the incredible true story of diver Craig Foster’s unique experience with an octopus in a kelp forest off the coast of South Africa that opens viewers’ eyes to secluded and mysterious sea world, while also revealing how connected things truly are and that our worlds are more similar than most would imagine.

About 20 years ago, Foster was on a project making a film with his brother in the central Kalahari, where he witnessed the incredible skills of some of the best trackers in world that were able to follow incredibly subtle signs in nature and find hidden animals in the landscape. Foster could see the trackers were inside the world around them while he was outside, and had a deep longing to be inside that world.

After that Foster went through two years of pressure, family issues and fatigue from long shoots and put down his camera not wanting anything to do with film making or editing anymore. He returned to his childhood home on the coast on the tip of South Africa with his family to try to put the pieces of his life back together again. Taking inspiration from his childhood and from the master trackers, Foster knew he needed a radical change and returned to the ocean.

Foster was a free diver and after a year began to crave the cold waters and three dimensional forests that lie below the surface, where he found peace swimming freely through the kelp. Foster knew having a scuba tank would impede his movement through a kelp forest and did not wear a wet suit to be more like an amphibious animal and closer to his environment.

After about a year of immersion in his sea life, Foster picked up his camera again and began filming the exotic and strange underwater world he had come to know, which helped him to get back to the filmmaking life he loved. He described this underwater world as being much more extreme than the maddest science fiction, and again found joy in capturing it on camera.

While diving in a special secluded area in the kelp forest, a pile of nearly 100 shells and stones lying in the sand caught his eye, which shortly thereafter fell apart to reveal an octopus that quickly swam away. Foster followed her back to her den and got a unique feeling that there was some connection between him and the octopus.

Foster decided to visit the octopus daily and after about a week had his first physical contact with her that grew into a beautiful connection they shared daily for nearly an entire year, which is the approximate lifespan of an octopus. Believing in letting nature take its course, Foster helplessly witnessed some challenging things in the natural life cycle of this octopus he had come to care for and know intimately.

“My Octopus Teacher” is an incredible documentary that has as many edge of your seat moments as an action thriller and through his experiences with the octopus over the course of a year, Foster unveils the physical and emotional connections shared by all living things.

Runtime: 1h 25m

Ventura College Foundation’s Weekend Marketplace returns to East Parking Lot

The community has relied on the Marketplace for wonderful things to purchase.

Ventura College Foundation’s Weekend Marketplace, which temporarily moved to the West Parking Lot on the Ventura College campus while solar panels were installed at its home on the East Parking Lot, has returned to its permanent location. 

The East Parking Lot is able to accommodate more vendors and guests than the smaller West Parking Lot location. Prior to the COVID pandemic, the Marketplace drew about 2,000 shoppers each weekend with 300 to 400 vendors. However, because of current COVID pandemic restrictions, the attendance is capped at 25% of capacity, and the number of Marketplace vendors has been limited. 

“We want to thank all our vendors, patrons and neighbors to the Marketplace who have been supportive as we first closed, reopened, then moved and are now moving back,” says Anne Paul King, the foundation’s executive director. “It’s been a rollercoaster.” 

For more than three decades, the community has relied on the Marketplace for affordable fresh produce and other items.  Vendors’ families have been supported by weekend sales. Our foundation has relied on the vendor rental revenue to support Ventura College students. “When the Marketplace temporarily closed because of COVID, many people in Ventura County lost an important resource,” says King. “That’s why, despite all the ups and downs, it was important that we did all we could to keep the Marketplace open.”

COVID Marketplace hours are 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. COVID safety and spacing protocol remains in place for both vendors and visitors. All vendors and visitors must wear face coverings and practice proper social distancing.

Admission is free. For vendor information, contact Esmeralda Juarez, marketplace supervisor at 805-289-6062 or email, [email protected]. For general Marketplace information, go to www.venturacollegefoundation.org/weekend-marketplace.