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Embark on a musical journey with Kray Van Kirk, where folk Americana intertwines with Celtic roots, celebrating the universal Hero’s Quest that connects us all! “Every time I play cuts off "The Midnight Commander," listeners ask ‘Who’s that?’ It’s Kray Van Kirk and there’s none like him.” A fine finger-style guitarist with a precise baritone, Van Kirk has a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska. After five years of living in his van and playing music across the US and Canada, he thought that a career in the sciences might be a bit more secure than playing music for a living, especially as a single parent. Eventually, however, he realized that he liked writing songs more than statistical models, and he put aside his computer, picked up his guitar, and set out again. He released a new live concert CD, Kray Van Kirk - Live at the Acorn recorded in Three Oaks, MI, and it was selected as “Album of the Month” by Transatlantic Conversations on CelticMusicRadio.net.

What do you do when you can play straight blues or Hendrix style hard rock with equal ease and finesse? A Virginia native, Eli was raised on a strict diet of blues, rock and with a slice of grunge. His guitar work and powerful vocals are moody but very dynamic in delivery that will cause a musical whiplash. “With his fittingly pockmarked voice and virility on guitars, Eli Cook sizes up the old blues music he so clearly values.” – Downbeat Magazine. Tickets are $20 and can be bought on www.NambaArts.com.

Perla Batalla has recorded seven albums, been featured in film and television, and performed and recorded with artists such as Lou Reed, Sonny Rollins, k.d. lang, Jackson Browne and others. Singer/songwriter Perla Batalla was raised in Los Angeles by a family deeply immersed in music: her father, a Mexican singer and DJ; her uncle, a member of the renowned Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán; and her Argentine mother, who ran a bustling Venice record store called Discoteca Batalla. At the age of 15, Perla left home to pursue her music career. She studied opera and performed across a variety of genres including jazz, country, soul, swing, and rock. However, it wasn't until she began working with the legendary Leonard Cohen that Perla's career truly took off. After recording and touring with Cohen for more than a decade, Perla embarked on a solo career, bolstered by Cohen's encouragement.

Hiroya Tsukamoto is a Japanese-born fingerstyle guitarist who moved to the United States in 2000 to attend the Berklee College of Music. Needless to say, he’s not only a dizzyingly agile fingerpicker, but a soulful and transcendent performer, with compositions that combine instrumental guitar work with lyrical performance and spoken stories from his life.

Tsukamoto has been recognized for his talents on stages such as at Blue Note in New York City, Japanese National Television and United Nations, and by scoring second place at the International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship both in 2018 and 2022.

Join the Santa Barbara Chamber Players on Saturday, April 6th at 7:30 pm at the First United Methodist Church at 305 E. Anapamu Street. They will play Fauré Pelléas et Melisande Suite, Piazzolla (arr. Marturet) Adiós Nonino, and Brahms Serenade No. 1, Op. 11 with Emmanuel Fratianni, conductor. Purchase tickets ($20, K-12 free) at sbchamberplayers.org.

Join us for the 16th Annual Premier Santa Barbara Women's Event to Honor Four Leaders in Education — AWC-SB presents the 2024 Women of Achievement Awards.

The Association for Women in Communications - Santa Barbara (AWC-SB) will honor four outstanding leaders in education at the 2024 Women of Achievement Awards luncheon: Katya Armistead, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Student Life at UCSB; Yolanda Medina-Garcia, retired Director of Starr King Parent-Child Workshop and SBCC educator; Susan Salcido, Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools; and Wendy Sims-Moten, Executive Director of First 5 Santa Barbara County.

The honorees embody this year's theme, "Lessons in Leadership: Connecting & Communicating as Education Evolves."

The luncheon will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 1 at Cabrillo Pavilion. Catherine Remak will emcee the event, bringing her thirty years of broadcast experience that includes recording thousands of commercials and hosting radio shows at KLITE 101.7 and KDB 93.7. Catherine was also an honoree at the Women of Achievement event in 2009, which makes having her talents at the mic this year even more special.

This year's honorees are powerful women who demonstrate that effective leadership and change in education comes from dedication, dynamic engagement, and nonstop communication. As individuals and collectively, they capture the essence of leadership recognized by the Women of Achievement event. For more information about the event and the honorees, visit AWC-SB Women of Achievement. ( https://awcsb.org/women-of-achievement-awards/ )

$90 for members, $100 for non-members (After 3/29, $100 for members / $115 for non-members.)

Nearly seven decades since they emerged from San Francisco's North Beach club scene to introduce the sounds of folk music into the mainstream and take the world by storm, The Kingston Trio return to their native California for their 2024 "Keep The Music Playing" national tour.

Credited for sparking the "American Folk Revival" or folk movement of the late 50s and early 60s with their commercial success (which at one point accounted for approximately 15% of Capitol records sales), and known for hits such as "Tom Dooley," "M.T.A. (The Man Who Never Returned)," and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone," The Kingston Trio will appear for ONE NIGHT ONLY on Tuesday, April 9 at The Lobero Theatre (33 E. Canon Perdido St.) in Santa Barbara. Tickets start at $26 for students and range from $51 - $76 for the general public (plus fees) and are available via loberotheatre.com, by calling (805) 963-0761 or 1-888-4LOBERO (1-888-456-2376), or at the box office. Showtime is 7 P.M.

Formed in 1956 by Bob Shane, Nick Reynolds, and Dave Guard (replaced by John Stewart at the height of the group's popularity in 1961), The Kingston Trio is one of the longest-operating bands touring today. Though the group has undergone multiple personnel changes and its founding members have since passed away, the music of The Kingston Trio lives on with the passing of the torch to three new members with intrinsic ties to the original: Mike Marvin (adopted son of founding member Reynolds), Tim Gorelangton (friend of Reynolds since boyhood and one of the few to record with him), and Buddy Woodward (who toured with the Trio). All three personally remember the iconic trio's performances as folk music made its extraordinary ascent to the pinnacle of popular culture at the top of the music charts--perhaps part of the reason its newest members sound so much like the original Trio.

Cited as an influence by recording artists as musically and generationally diverse as Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and The Eagles, to comedian and banjo player Steve Martin, to contemporary artists such as the multi-Grammy® nominated Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers, The Kingston Trio occupies a unique, preeminent position in American musical history.

“I am proud to continue The Kingston Trio tradition and to share the music Nick, Dave, Bob, and John performed and getting audiences everywhere up and singing with us,” noted Mike Marvin, adding, “It’s all the more gratifying to perform this music for all the fans and to 'Keep the Music Playing."

For more information on The Kingston Trio ‘Keep The Music Playing’ Tour and tickets, please visit www.kingstontrio.

Join us for an artist’s talk with For The Time Being artist Adam Parker Smith. The talk in SLOMA’s Nybak Gallery will be followed by a Q & A with the audience.

Admission is free and open to the public. Max 40 participants; please RSVP via SLOMA’s Eventbrite page by March 20.

THE MIDNIGHT COMMANDER WAS HERE
Master singer-songwriter brings new myths to Ventura to tilt at 21st century windmills.

Kray Van Kirk, who will be performing at the NAMBA Arts Center on April 18th, left a career in the sciences to write songs in which everyone, of any identity or history or creed, can know that they are on the Hero’s Journey. A fine finger-style guitarist with a precise baritone and roots in the Celtic tradition, Van Kirk obtained his doctorate in quantitative modeling from the University of Alaska. Coming off five years of living in his van and playing music across the US and Canada, he thought that a career in the sciences might be a bit more secure than playing music for a living, especially as a single parent. Eventually, however, he realized that healing the world was primarily a matter of the heart, not the head, and he put aside his computer, picked up his guitar, and set out again.

“The evening’s act was Kray Van Kirk, whose 12-string guitar and soaring vocals were spellbinding. The Alaskan singer-songwriter, in his Edinburgh debut, was not the reason I arrived early, but was certainly why I stayed late.”
Daily Fringe Review, Edinburgh, Scotland

Van Kirk, however, is not your average crying-in-your-coffee singer songwriter. "We need delight and hope," he says, “and we need new myths and new stories for the 21st century to make it clear that humanity and heroes are all of us. Every single person, of any history or identity, is on the Hero’s Journey.”

“An enviable body of songs.. an intelligent and gifted writer.”
Bob Leslie, Transatlantic Conversations
CelticMusicRadio.net

Thus his songs: Thunderbird resurrects the Phoenix in an empty desert diner in the American Southwest (yes, the Phoenix drives a Thunderbird), The Queen of Elfland plucks Thomas the Rhymer from the English-Scottish border in 1250 and drops him and the Queen into a subway car, The Library Song has Superman moonlighting among the stacks, and The Midnight Commander celebrates an insane old man leading the city of New York to take up arms (and underwear) against hatred.

Of this charming, Quixotic, and decidedly eclectic performer, the Borderline Folk Club in New York wrote “it is what every singer-songwriter should aspire to.”

Embark on a timeless musical journey with local favorite Shawn Jones on Saturday, March 23, 7PM at NAMBA Performing Arts Space’s quaint, comfortable Listening Room, 47 S. Oak Street, Ventura, CA. Tickets are $25 and can be bought on www.NambaArts.com.

Shawn delivers soulful melodies and authentic lyrics that blend seamlessly in a captivating fusion of blues, folk, and rock — touching hearts worldwide. He will perform his first single “Too Hot To Hold,” written by legendary Steve Jordan and produced by Niko Bolas, in addition to “In My Blood” and other favorites.
Our Listening Room invites music lovers to connect with artists in a setting that transcends the ordinary. Here, the focus is solely on the performance, free from the distractions of clinking glasses and casual chatter, allowing for an immersive experience so the audience can truly listen, reflect, and be transformed.