Ventura Baroque presents THE BAROQUE CHAMBER PLAYERS in concert in The Dudley House Museum, corner of No.Ashwood and Loma Vista in Ventura, Sunday

February 19, 2012 at 4:30PM with a program of the Chamber Concerto Series "La Pastorella" Opus12 by Antonio Vivaldi.

The concert is free with a $20 donation suggested at the door. There will be an ample free parking. Refreshments will be served at the end.

For more information, please call:805-827-8722 - email: southdesigns@yahoo.com

on the web: cavitmuzik.com/baroque.'

Nina Revoyr

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - An award-winning author who writes about discrimination and racial tension based on her personal experiences will speak at California Lutheran University at 7 p.m., Monday, Feb. 27.

“An Evening with Nina Revoyr” will be held in Lundring Events Center on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Revoyr was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and white American father and grew up in Tokyo, Wisconsin and Los Angeles. She spent much of her childhood with her paternal grandparents in Wisconsin. Her latest novel, “Wingshooters,” is a fictionalized account of her experiences as a child. Set in a small town in Wisconsin in the 1940s, the story revolves around the inability of the townspeople to accept anyone who is different.

Published last March, “Wingshooters” was one of Booklist’s Books of the Year, an O: Oprah Magazine’s “Books to Watch For” and winner of an Indie Booksellers’ Choice Award and Midwest Booksellers Choice Award.

Her previous novels, “The Necessary Hunger,” “Southland” and “The Age of Dreaming,” focus on racial tensions in Los Angeles, interracial couples, the Watts riots and racial discrimination in silent films. “Southland” was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and “Best Book of 2003,” a Book Sense 76 pick, an Edgar Award finalist, and winner of the Ferro Grumley Award and the Lambda Literary Award. “The Age of Dreaming” was a finalist for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Revoyr is the executive vice president of Children’s Institute Inc., a child and family service agency in Los Angeles. She has also been an associate faculty member at Antioch University and a visiting professor at Cornell University, Occidental College and Pitzer College. She is co-editor of the college textbook “Literature for Life: A Thematic Introduction to Reading and Writing.

CLU’s Center for Equality and Justice, Pearson Library and Multicultural Programs and International Student Services are sponsoring the free event.

Lundring Events Center is in the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center, which is on the north side of Olsen Road near Mountclef Boulevard. For more information, contact Yen Tran at nttran@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3092.

David Lang

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang will be the guest of honor at the 10th Annual New Music Concert on Sunday, Feb. 19, at California Lutheran University.

Lang, one of America’s most per­formed composers, will participate in a question-and-answer session at 2 p.m. in Samuelson Chapel. CLU faculty, students and guest performers will then present Lang’s choral and instrumental music. For the first time, the concert will also feature Areté Vocal Ensemble, the innovative professional ensemble of vocal artists in residence at the university.

The composer received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for music for “the little match girl passion,” which was commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Pulitzer juror and Washington Post columnist Tim Page said, "I don't think I've ever been so moved by a new, and largely unheralded, composition.”

Lang is deeply versed in the classical tradition but committed to music informed by modernism, minimalism and rock. “There is no name yet for this kind of music,” wrote Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed.

The New York Philharmonic, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet and a range of other groups have performed his music in venues including Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and the Barbican Centre. His compositions have been featured in theater productions and as accompaniment to the choreography of Twyla Tharp, The Netherlands Dance Theater and the Paris Opera Ballet.

Lang is also the co-founder and co-artistic director of New York's legendary music collective Bang on a Can.

The concert will include “lend/lease,” “the anvil chorus” and “memory pieces.” The CLU Choir will sing “again,” Areté will perform “oh graveyard,” and the women of Areté will perform “I lie,” “i live in pain” and “this condition.” Wyant Morton will conduct.

Donations given in memory of Suzanne Freeman, a longtime CLU staff member who died in August, helped fund the concert. Donations will be accepted at the door.

The chapel is located off of Campus Drive south of Olsen Road on the Thousand Oaks campus. For more information, call the Music Depart­ment at 805-493-3306 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu. For more information about Lang, visit http://davidlangmusic.com.

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - California Lutheran University has been invited to stage one of its productions at the prestigious Region VIII Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for the second year in a row.

The Theatre Arts Department will present Tennessee Williams’ “Suddenly Last Summer” twice on Feb. 8 at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Only the 10 finest productions from Southern California, Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah were chosen for the honor. This is the third time a CLU production has been selected. Last year, CLU presented “The Cherry Orchard” at the festival.

National judges will select four to six of the best and most diverse productions from the eight regional conferences to be showcased at the national festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The 43-year-old program is designed to encourage, recognize and celebrate works produced in university and college theater programs.

CLU’s Theatre Department staged “Suddenly Last Summer” in November under the direction of Nate Sinnott, an assistant professor who also designed the set and lighting. It was the second of two Williams plays presented in fall to honor the centennial of the playwright’s birth.

The unconventional production incorporated live video, interpretive movement and a chorus in the tradition of Greek drama. It was dominated by dream imagery, highlighting the powerful themes and language of the play. CLU’s Multimedia Department assisted with the production.

The cast features Martha Sadie Griffin, a senior theatre arts major from Alexandria, Minn., as Mrs. Venable; Brent Ramirez, a senior theatre arts major from Simi Valley, as Dr. Cukrowicz; Shannon Dempsey, a senior communication major from Stratford, Conn., as Catharine Holly; Taylor Lampela, a senior theatre arts major from Bakersfield, as Mrs. Holly; Jordan Parrott, a junior theatre arts major from Antioch, as George Holly; Sarah McKee, a freshman math major from Sunnyvale, as Sister Felicity; and Kelsey Goeres, a junior communication major from Santa Maria, as Miss Foxhill.

The chorus members are Ally Crocker, a junior theatre arts major from San Diego; Erik Groth, a junior music major from Newbury Park; Jeremy Hanna, a junior theatre arts major from Thousand Oaks; Ben Michaels, a freshman theatre arts major from Redlands; and Alison Waxman, a freshman theatre arts major from Simi Valley.

Senior theatre arts major Seth Kamenow of Simi Valley is the assistant director, senior theatre arts major Alyssa Soto of Moorpark is the stage manager, sophomore theatre arts major Sara de la Garrique of Agoura Hills is assistant stage manager and senior multimedia major Stephen Shirk of Denver is the video designer.

Chris Hoag composed the original music, Val Miller designed the costumes and Barbara Wegher-Thompson is the movement consultant.

California State Old Time Fiddlers District 8 will meet Sunday, February 12, 2012 from 1:30-4:30pm at the Oak View Community Center, 18 Valley Road, Oak View. Join fiddlers for an afternoon of listening and dancing to Country Western and Bluegrass music. No admission or parking charge. Refreshments available. For more information go to calfiddlers.com or call 797-6563.

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - Hollywood’s original illumination engineer will be inducted into the Scandinavian American Hall of Fame in California on Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Nordic Spirit Symposium.

Otto K. Olesen, who died in 1964, will be honored at an 11:30 a.m. ceremony in Preus-Brandt Forum at California Lutheran University as part of the two-day symposium. The Hall of Fame is a project of the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation, which is associated with the Scandinavian Center at the Thousand Oaks university. Past honorees include baseball coach Sparky Anderson, pianist and humorist Victor Borge, and explorer Leif Erikson.

Olesen emigrated from Denmark to California in 1911 as a 20-year-old college graduate. Starting with two abandoned military searchlights, he developed his lighting technique and within a few years launched the use of lighting for premieres. He was the first to provide lights for shooting motion pictures inside a studio.

He went on to become the first lighting engineer for the Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Coliseum. He provided the lighting for the 1927 grand opening of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood and the 1937 opening ceremony of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, which utilized 500 searchlights fed by 30 miles of cable. He also lit expositions, parades, sporting events and parades.

It wasn’t all premieres and festivities. His mobile equipment was the first on the scene in the disastrous 1933 Long Beach earthquake. He earned several medals of honor for supplying power for hospitals and lights in the stricken city.

Olesen was an important part of the growth of Hollywood, where he created the annual Santa Claus Lane spectacle, and was active in several community organizations.

After selling his company in the 1950s, Olesen became the postmaster of Los Angeles. Olesen Lighting is now part of Hollywood Rentals, a leading feature film equipment supplier based in Sylmar.

For information on symposium tickets, schedules and registration, call 805-778-0162.

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Music before Columbus: The Collection of Luis Perez opens at the Museum of Ventura County on February 25, exhibiting Ventura-based musician and archaeomusicologist Luis Perez’s collection of Pre-Columbian musical instruments and ritual objects from Mesoamerica. A related exhibit entitled The White Instruments: Recent Creations by Luis Perez, features modern wind and percussion instruments sculpted in clay by Perez. He uses these Pre-Columbian inspired pieces to compose and record contemporary music. Both exhibits run through May 27, 2012.

The opening reception for these exhibits and for Hilos de la Vida/Threads of Life: The Weavers of Teotitlán del Valle is Friday, February 24, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., with musical entertainment by Grupo Amor y Paz. Admission to the reception is $5 for the general public, free for museum members. To RSVP call 805.653.0323 x7.

Music before Columbus provides an introductory glimpse into the pre-Columbian world of music, dance and ritual with detailed information on selected artifacts. In a gallery video, visitors can hear the sounds made by several of the pieces. Perez, who grew up in Mexico City, has devoted himself to extensive research into Pre-Columbian music and mythology, the collection of archaeological artifacts, and the study of living musical traditions in Mexico.

On Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 p.m. Perez will share his knowledge about music and ritual in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and demonstrate the unique sounds of a selection of artifacts from the exhibit. Admission to the lecture is $5 for the general public, free for museum members. To RSVP call 805.653.0323 x 7.

The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 East Main Street in downtown Ventura. Hours are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission to the exhibitions is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children 6-17, members and children under 6 are free. For more museum information go to www.venturamuseum.org or call 805-653-0323.

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For more than 200 years, agriculture has been an enduring magnet attracting newcomers. In the new exhibit Putting Down Roots: Ventura County’s Immigrant Farmers, 1800-1910, visitors to the Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum in Santa Paula can learn about the farmers and laborers who settled here after traveling from across the country and around the world. The exhibit opens February 11 and runs through May 20 in the Finch Family Gallery.

Historic photographs put faces to the laborers and farmers who came here long ago and often stayed, as have many of their descendants. Visitors are invited to consider what caused migrants to leave their original homes and what factors brought them specifically to this county. The great distances and varied places from which they traveled are illustrated on a large wall map, and replica maps show how rancho lands were divided into small family farms. Also on display are tools settlers used to clear land and grow crops, as well as home goods they used to care for their families.

Because of the wealth of material about agricultural immigration, the museum is planning a second exhibition to explore influx through the 20th and into the 21st centuries. Part I of Putting Down Roots is funded in part by a grant from the Heritage Fund at the Ventura County Community Foundation.

An exhibition of 1930s photographs by Horace Bristol opens March 3. A free reception for both exhibits will be held at the Agriculture Museum on Sunday, March 4, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., and will include screenings of the 1936 Dust Bowl documentary “The Plow That Broke the Plains.”

The Museum of Ventura County’s Agriculture Museum is located at 926 Railroad Avenue, Santa Paula, California, in their historic downtown, near the Depot and next to the railroad tracks. Hours are 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $4 adults, $3 seniors, $1 children 6-17, free for Museum of Ventura County members & children ages 5 and younger. First Sundays of each month are free admission for all ages. For more information, go to www.venturamuseum.org or call (805) 525-3100.

Camarillo, CA - CSU Channel Islands (CI) invites the community to celebrate Black History Month with “Portraits of Courage: African Americans You Wish You Had Known.” The theatrical piece examines six notable but often overlooked African Americans and their contributions to American history. The free performance will take place Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. in Malibu Hall 100 on the CI campus.

“Portraits of Courage” is an original two-person play presented by Will & Company, a Los Angeles-based theatre ensemble that tours the nation. Founded in 1988 as a troupe dedicated to making Shakespeare accessible to underrepresented communities, the group has expanded its work to new educational and historical plays.

Artistic Director Colin Cox created “Portraits of Courage” to help bring recognition to a few notable African Americans who are often absent from the history books. One woman and one man portray characters such as Col. Charles Young, the first African American to attain the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, and Madam C.J. Walker, the nation’s first self-made African American female millionaire.

Limited parking on campus is available with the purchase of a $6 daily permit. Please follow signs to the parking permit dispenser. Free parking is available at the Camarillo Metrolink Station/Lewis Road parking lot in Camarillo, with bus service to and from the campus. Riders should board the CI VISTA bus to the campus; the fare is $1.25 each way. Buses arrive and depart from the Camarillo Metrolink Station every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday. For exact times, check the schedule at www.goventura.org.

For additional information contact Jennifer Chapman, Coordinator of Multicultural Programs, at 805-437-3243 or jennifer.chapman@csuci.edu.

About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands (CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research.

Ventura College Theatre Arts Department is proud to present its spring 2012 Student One Act Play Festival featuring four short one-act plays, The Wedding Story, The Fourth Wall, Smokes Scenes, and Drugs are Bad. In The Wedding Story, a brave narrator attempts to tell the “perfect” wedding story while being interrupted repeatedly by the bride and groom revealing the “real” story. The Fourth Wall explores what a play might look like if the actors’ mistakes were actually part of the script. Smoke Scenes brings together two clever actors who decide to conceptualize smoke 50 different ways in 10 minutes, and Drugs Are Bad shows how two parents deftly influence their son’s behavior. All four plays will be presented at each performance. The Festival showcases the writing, performance, and production skills of numerous Ventura College Theatre students.

A free preview performance will be presented on Thursday evening, February 2, at 8 p.m., followed by performances on February 3-4 at 8 p.m., February 9, 10, 11 at 8 p.m., and a Sunday matinee on February 12 at 3 p.m. All performances will be held in the Wright Library, 57 Day Road, Ventura. Tickets: $7 General Admission, $5 Students/Staff/Seniors. Tickets available at the door only. For more information, contact Judy Garey, Ventura College Theatre Arts Department, email jgarey@vcccd.edu or telephone (805) 654-6400 (ext. 3236).

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - California Lutheran University will take its popular Reel Justice Film Series off campus for the first time, screening a documentary at Oxnard College about children attempting to immigrate to the United States.

The award-winning “Which Way Home” will be shown at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in the college’s Performing Arts Center. A reception will begin at 6 p.m.

At 8 p.m., experts will discuss the experiences and needs of undocumented immigrants, particularly children. The panelists are Alicia Flores, executive director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Family Center in Oxnard, immigration attorney Vanessa Frank-Garcia, CLU political science professor José Marichal, and Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios, director for California State Assembly District 35.

The presentation will be in Spanish. English translation headsets will be available.

The free event is designed to bring attention to the challenges faced by young immigrants and to provide an opportunity for community members, local leaders and experts to share their experiences with immigration issues.

Presented by CLU’s Center for Equality and Justice, the film series examines the themes of equality and social justice. “Which Way Home” was featured on the CLU campus in November. The Oxnard screening is co-sponsored by the McCune Foundation and the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy.

“Which Way Home” shows the personal side of immigration through the eyes of children who face harrowing dangers with enormous courage and resourcefulness as they endeavor to cross the border.

The film follows several unaccompanied child migrants as they journey through Mexico en route to the U.S. on a freight train they call “The Beast.” Director Rebecca Cammisa tracks the stories of children like Olga and Freddy, 9-year-old Hondurans desperately trying to reach their families in Minnesota; Jose, a 10-year-old Salvadoran who has been abandoned by smugglers and ends up alone in a Mexican detention center; and Kevin, a canny, streetwise 14-year-old Honduran whose mother hopes that he will reach New York City and send money back to his family.

“Which Way Home” received the 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Programming, the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award Grand Prize and a nomination for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

Oxnard College is located at 4000 S. Rose Ave.

For more information, contact Sam Thomas at sthomas@callutheran.edu or 805-493-3693.

A newly created historical figure by artist and historian George Stuart will join Renaissance and Reformation: George Stuart Historical Figures®, on exhibit at the Museum of Ventura County from February 7 through May 20. The figure of Machiavelli will be added after its March 6 unveiling at the first of three accompanying George Stuart monologues held at 3:00 p.m. The other monologues are April 3 and May 1.

The ¼ life-size sculptural figures are renowned for their expressiveness and intricately detailed costumes. Among the 28 on exhibit are Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, Lorenzo de Medici, Popes Alexander VI and Leo X, Martin Luther, John Calvin, St. Ignatius de Loyola, Teresa of Avila, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Mary Stuart. A life-size costume of Juan Borgia, created by Robert Lamarche of Ojai, will be included as well. The exhibition covers the 15 and 16th centuries, which brought remarkable change to Europe, including the Renaissance flowering of the arts and sciences, the religious Reformation, and competition among its rulers to control not only their continent, but the New World.

The three Tuesday monologues by artist and historian George Stuart are at the new time of 3:00 p.m. The High Renaissance is March 6, Christendom Divided on April 3, and The Wars of Religion on May 1. At the March 6 monologue, the figure of Machiavelli will be unveiled to join the exhibition. Admission to each monologue is $15 for general public, $10 for museum members. Pre-paid reservations for all three monologues are discounted by $5 (general public $40 for all three monologues, museum members $25). For reservations call (805) 653.0323 x 7.

The Museum of Ventura County is located at 100 East Main Street in downtown Ventura. Hours are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For more museum information go to www.venturamuseum.org or call 805-653-0323.

Camarillo, CA - CSU Channel Islands (CI) is pleased to announce “Paintings – The Basic Object,” an exhibition of work by Art program chair Jack Reilly, sponsored by The J. Paul Getty Trust’s Pacific Standard Time, an exploration of the Los Angeles art scene and the people who helped shape it.

The exhibition runs Jan. 26 through Feb. 17 at the Bleicher Gallery, La Brea in Los Angeles. An opening reception will be held Saturday, Jan. 28, from 7 - 9 p.m.

The exhibition highlights Reilly’s role as one of the key players in the controversial movement called “Abstract Illusionism,” which brought him to prominence and critical acclaim in the 1970s. The movement challenged the notion of abstract art as exclusive from illusory representations of space and volume.

Reilly’s latest exhibition showcases geometric-shaped canvases with thousands of abstract brushstrokes of metallic paint that appear to have been sliced, cobbled together and reconstructed into three-dimensional structures. The works call to mind Reilly’s past experiments shaping canvas and blurring the line between sculpture and painting, modernism, pre-modernism and post-modernism. They will be presented along with historical works from his collection.

Reilly's work is exhibited in internationally in galleries and museums and is included in numerous public and private collections. He has executed major public-art commissions for the County of San Diego and American Airlines at Los Angeles International Airport, and his paintings were included in the collections of such notables as Fred and Marcia Weisman, Steve Martin, and Daniel Melnick. His contributions to art have also been noted in books including “American Art Now,” “Inside the L.A. Artist,” and “Introduction to Design.”

The Bleicher Gallery is located at 355 N. La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles. For more information on the exhibition and the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative, visit http://www.labrea.bgartdealings.com/artists-3/pacific-standard-time-art-... and http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/galleries.

To view Reilly’s work, visit http://jackreilly.com. For additional information on CI’s Art Program, visit http://art.csuci.edu.

About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands (CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research.

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For those who are not familiar, the art show started in 1936 with a display in the small Chamber of Commerce office on the Mill St. side of the Citizens State Bank building. It was so well received that in 1937 it became a full fledged judged show with the Chamber buying the winning oil painting as a gift to the City of Santa Paula, starting an art collection that over the years has grown to over 300 pieces - in 5 different venues.

The entries will be accepted from 12 to 8 p.m. on March 8 and March 10 from 10 to 2 p.m. The official opening of the show will be 12 p.m. Tuesday March 13th.

As in most recent years it will be held in the Blanchard Community Library at 119 No. 8th. St., Santa Paula.

Membership in the society is not necessary and the public is invited to participate. The entry forms are available at Blanchard Community Library, 119 N. 8th. St., the Chamber of Commerce office, corner of 10th and Santa Barbara Sts. in the old SP R/R Depot, the SP Times office, Main st., Buenaventura Art Assn. both locations, Studio Gallery, 2741 S. Victoria Ave. (near the old Maritime Museum) or from a Society member at our gallery from noon to 3:00 in the depot.. For copies of the prospectus (which also contains 2 entry forms) and more information about the Art Society - it is suggested that you go to WWW.thespsa.com. Another option is to call 525-1104

The public will be invited to the Awards Reception at the library on March 24th from 3 to 7 p.m. with light refreshments, music and further discussion of the show from 5 p.m.

The Koles in Concert at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Theater with special guest, John Batdorf. Simi Valley, California - Saturday, February 18th, 7:00pm

The Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center is proud to present “The Koles.” The Koles are a Simi Valley based folk pop group whose original songs, stunning vocal arrangements and, wonderfully engaging personas captivate audiences. Influenced by the progressive bluegrass sounds of Nickel Creek and the harmony of the Manhattan Transfer, the Koles challenge modern day pop with their musically stimulating offerings. The songwriting is deep and heartfelt and the nationally syndicated public radio show “Art of the Song” dedicated an hour long program to the critically acclaimed album “ONE DAY”, calling it “Brilliant”. The Koles are also pleased to announce that 21 year old wunderkind, Wyatt Stone, has joined the band. Wyatt toured the world for 4 years with Rickie Lee Jones and is an amazing multi- instrumentalist.

Though the Koles are relaxed and positive, they rock, they roll, and move audiences to tears while injecting hilarious moments throughout their show. Their performances warranted them recognition in Music Connection Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Live Indies in the USA. Steve Brogden, President FAR West / Folk Alliance says: “Two thing stand out. First is the songwriting. Then there are those voices...”

The Koles are excited to be releasing & debuting songs from their new CD, “Odds & Ends” at the Cultural Arts Center.

For music and video, visit www.thekolesmusic.com

Also appearing, special guest, John Batdorf. John began his career during the 1970’s as a member of Atlantic recording artists, Batdorf & Rodney. When you hear John sing live for the first time, you’ll understand why his music has meant so much to his fans that have spanned nearly four decades. John was recently inducted into the Las Vegas “Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.” He has just released his CD “One Last Wish’” to rave reviews. John’s music can be explored at www.johnbatdorfmusic.com.

Catch a performance of The Koles in an intimate concert setting at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center on February 18th. Tickets can be purchased at the SVCAC box office by calling (805) 583-7900. Visit the theater on the web at www.simi-arts.org.

Adults $22.00, Students’seniors$18.00, Children $16.00
3050 Los Angeles Avenue.
Simi Valley, California
93065
Contact: Bill Kole
For interviews with the Koles
info@arlenekole.com
Ph: 805 520-9336

Vocalist Nancy Osborne

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - The annual concert of big band music and love songs celebrating Valentine’s Day will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at California Lutheran University.

“A Valentine Concert: Elmer Ramsey, His Trumpet and Orchestra” will be presented in Samuelson Chapel. Ramsey and the Conejo Pops Orchestra will perform music from great artists of the big band era, including Artie Shaw, Harry James, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie. The program also includes endearing love songs from World War II.

Dynamic vocalist Nancy Osborne will perform. The Westlake Village resident has performed with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Tex Beneke and Johnny Vana’s Big Band Alumni, with whom she made two CDs and a DVD, and as a television and film actor. Osborne also produced her own 17-piece big band CD, “Hot Swing, Cool Jazz.”

Also featured will be Camarillo vocalist Damian Gravino, a veteran of local musical theater productions who played Daddy Warbucks in last year’s Camarillo Community Theatre production of “Annie.”

Daniel Geeting, a member of the CLU music faculty since 1984, will be featured on clarinet. He has performed extensively as a recitalist, played on movie and television soundtracks, and recorded two CDs featuring the clarinet works of major English composers.

Ramsey, a CLU professor emeritus of music, began playing trumpet professionally at the age of 14, and three years later had his own ’40s-style big band on a Washington radio station. Many members of his orchestra are CLU alumni and have also performed with Harry James, Glenn Miller and Tex Beneke orchestras.

Admission is $10 for students and $20 for others.

The chapel is located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive on the Thousand Oaks campus. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu/music.

Artist Douglas Shively

SANTA PAULA, CA – A retrospective exhibit of works by beloved Santa Paula artist Douglas Shively will open at the Santa Paula Art Museum, 117 N. 10th Street, Santa Paula, on Saturday, February 4, 2012 with an opening reception from 4 – 6 p.m. For more information please call the Museum at 805-525-5554 or email info@santapaulaartmuseum.org.

A Santa Paula resident for nearly a century, Douglas Shively contributed to the community as a banker and a rancher, but was best known as a California Impressionist with a talent for graceful and vivid landscapes. As an artist, Douglas was largely self-taught. Although he took formal studio courses, he felt he learned most by working with George Otis, Paul Sample, Ralph Holmes, Robert Clunie, Jessie Arms and Cornelis Botke and other significant landscape painters of the 1930s,‘40s and ‘50s.

As a skillful colorist, Shively’s landscapes appear natural and dramatically vivid. While he took many painting trips abroad, the vast majority of his paintings were done locally. His favorite haunts: Morro Bay, Point Lobos, Rincon, and other sites along the California coast, the Ventura County foothills, backcountry and valleys, local landmarks and many scenes of beautiful sycamores. His work was so esteemed that between 1932 and 1985 he sold nearly a thousand paintings, many of which presently exist in local private and public collections.

“Douglas Shively was a very important asset to our Community, as a citizen, an artist and a banker”, said Jennifer Heighton, Executive Director of the Museum. “It has been an honor to work with his family and other collectors on the exhibit”. When notice of the exhibit went out to the public, Heighton received many phone calls and saw many, many beautiful paintings that are held in private collections all over Ventura County. “While it was difficult to narrow down the selection of paintings to be on exhibit, I decided to focus on the more unusual Shively paintings, that have rarely, if ever, been seen”. Heighton said there will be around 65 paintings on exhibit.

The exhibit will run until June 17th, 2012, and may be viewed during regular Museum hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 10 AM – 4 PM, and Sundays, 12 PM – 4 PM. The Museum is located at 117 North 10th Street, Santa Paula, CA 93060.

Nan Kane (CSUCI), Shabnam Farahani (Ventura College) and Hanna McMaster (Moorpark College) have a few things in common: they are artists, they are pursuing art degrees, and they are winners from Buenaventura Art Association’s “Collegiate Competition Exhibit” from 2011. One of their prizes, in addition to scholarship money and free membership to Buenaventura Art Association is a show, paid for by Buenaventura Art Association at the Harbor Village Gallery. Their exhibit, “Kane Farahani McMaster” will be at the Harbor Village Gallery from February 8 through March 5, 2012 with their artist reception on Friday, February 10 from 5 – 8pm.

The Harbor Village Gallery is located at 1591 Spinnaker Dr. in the Ventura Harbor Village next to the Main Lawn. Open everyday except Tuesday from 12 to 5 pm. For more information, call the gallery at 805-644-2750 or visit their either website at www.harborvillagegallery.com or www.buenaventuragallery.org.

Buenaventura Art Association’s 26th Annual Open Competition brought entries from all over Ventura County. Juror Gary Lang, Ojai artist and adjunct professor at Claremont Graduate University said he could have curated ten exhibits from all the wonderful entries he received.

Jack Halbert of Ventura won “Best of Show” for his “On the Midway” oil painting. The prizes in two-dimensional works are as follows: 1st Place, Horatio Martinez, for his drawing “Rosario Girl”;” 2nd Place, Kathy Ikerd (Santa Paula) for her acrylic painting “Evening Glow;” 3rd Place, Michael Rohde (Newbury Park) for his tapestry “House & Blue Ikat;” Honorable Mention, Steve Cook (Ventura) for his oil painting, “Lord Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz.” The prizes in three-dimensional works are as follows: 1st Place, Bob Privitt (Thousand Oaks) for his “Bullet Blasted Traingle” sculpture; 2nd Place, Todd Collart (Ventura) for his metal assemblage piece “Land Rover;” 3rd Place, David Blackburn for “True Love” his sculptural marble and exotic wood jewelry box; and Honorable Mention, John Parker (Camarillo) for his “Sustained by the Wind” Maple Wood piece.

Buenaventura Gallery is located at 700 E Santa Clara St. in downtown Ventura. Hours are Tues – Friday from noon – 5 pm and Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm. For more information, visit their website at www.BuenaventuraGallery.org.

THOUSAND OAKS, CA - A Kansas City organist and teacher is presenting a free concert and master class at California Lutheran University.

John Ditto, music director and organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City for almost 30 years, will lead the organ master class at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.

Ditto will perform at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12, in the third and final concert in the Orvil and Gloria Franzen 2011-2012 Organ Program Series celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Borg Petersen Memorial Organ in CLU’s Samuelson Chapel.

The organist is an associate professor emeritus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, where he spent 29 years. Previously, he was an associate professor of music at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Mo.

Ditto earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Drake University, a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate in musical arts from the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate. He has served as organist and choirmaster for churches in Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri and New York.

The Ventura County Chapter of the American Guild of Organists is sponsoring the master class. Organists interested in playing for Ditto may contact CLU’s University Organist Kyle Johnson, who studied with Ditto at the conservatory, at 805-493-3332 or kejohns@callutheran.edu.

Both events will be held in Samuelson Chapel, located south of Olsen Road near Campus Drive on the Thousand Oaks campus.

Donations will be accepted. For more information, call the Music Department at 805-493-3306 or visit http://www.callutheran.edu.