THIS & THAT: Viva La Siesta

BY LESLIE WESTBROOK

I survived Fiesta’s 83rd year, though one life was lost during a Friday night altercation on lower State Street during Old Spanish Days. The whole story should come out soon, suffice it to say my heart goes out to all who are affected by yet another terrible mar on downtown Santa Barbara.
For decades I’ve watched the parade from the heart of downtown, but this year decided to avoid the crowds and went to the root of the matter, viewing the parade of horses, ruffles and caballeros from the starting point on Cabrillo Blvd. near Los Banos pool.

There was 96-year old Hattie Feazelle, who rode in the parade since it’s inception in 1924, the darling flower girls, the amazing white fairytale-like, rare Cabrillo horses (descendents of those originally bred by Don Aldolfo Camarillo); dancing, prancing Andalusians, a 2,300 pound Belgium Draft Horse (that I wouldn’t want to be stepped on by), and even an appearance by Zorro!
Kudos to the many volunteers, including Marshall Billy Bowles who told me his job was to “keep kids and drunks away from the rear of the horses.” Yes, it was another day in paradise and a great parade of ruffles, rifles, pretty senoritas, not to mention plenty of horse pucky!
Meanwhile, downtown the burning question was this: where do all the mariachi bands come from? On Thursday, there seemed to be a group on every corner. This is one of my favorite aspects of Fiesta, the upbeat as well as lilting laments of these concha-clad musicians. Viva La Musica!

Way to Go, Rodeo!
“You’re going to the rodeo?” a girlfriend asked me incredulously.
“Yep, to look at all the good-looking guys in jeans,” I replied.
“Gee, I never thought of it that way…”she lamented.
So on Friday night I attended the Fiesta Stock Horse Show & Rodeo and I had a blast. Where else can you see Bernie Taupin (English lyricist/Elton John collaborator) bomb out in Team Penning? Or watch Luke Branquino wrestle a steer like nobody’s business?
I mean how can a person not get excited about all kinds of bust-ass riding? Who you going to root for in the tie-down cattle ropin’ — man or the sweet-faced beast? The animal rights people will want to throttle me, but personally I think these whiplash, back snappin’ men who jump off a running horse to tie up a fake docile cow are hot…(yet, I did cheer for the one wee steer that got away…). However, that being said, the event that gave me a heart attack was a sport called Mutton Bustin. This is where adorable four to six-year-old kids don a helmet, climb atop a curly-haired wooly lamb and hang on for dear life. I’d be more concerned about cruelty to children than animals if I were to take on a cause.
The crowd went wild for this sport, all I could think was this: what are these parents thinking?

Journalist Needs Room
There’s a new reporter coming to the News-Suppress, his name is Tom Risen and he is looking for a place to live.
“Yes, I know about all the drama at the newspaper there, but the trouble is clearing up and my new job as a business reporter will be free of such drama,” Risen wrote on Craigslist.com. “I have just got my Master's in Journalism from Northwestern and I am moving from Washington DC to Santa Barbara on Thursday. I like rock climbing, surfing in North Carolina, basketball, and good books. I've had a wide array of roomates (sic) over the years and as a journalist I'm easy to get along with if I do say so myself.”
Welcome to the drama, Tom. By the way, we have good surf breaks and it’s a helluva lot closer than driving to North Carolina to catch a wave.

One Buck Truck
You can’t buy a gallon of gas for a buck anymore, but you might be able to hitch a ride to Vegas, San Francisco or Tempe, Arizona from L.A. for just one George Washington.
Megabus.com, an intercity, express bus service, which offers travelers $1 fares, will begin service from its new West Coast hub in Los Angeles to six cities including Las Vegas, Oakland, Phoenix/Tempe, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose on Wednesday, August 8. One dollar tickets are available for a limited number of seats on every megabus.com route, so passengers are encouraged to book early.
You can only book on the Internet (via your computer or handheld device) and the closest buses depart from downtown L.A.’s Union Station. After all $1 tickets have sold, customers will pay competitive fares, but when I checked, there were seats available for just one buck in mid-August to both L.A. and San Diego from the city of the fallen angels.

Talk Talk
Congratulations to illustrious Santa Barbara-based author T.C. “Tom” Boyle, who will be the recipient of the Ross McDonald Award at the 9th Annual Santa Barbara Book & Author Festival next month. Mr. Boyle will receive his award at a special presentation at the Victoria Theater the night before the festival and will read from his current bestseller TALK TALK (which has been optioned for a film) on the day of the free fest, Saturday, the 29th of September.

Order in the Court
I’d like to add my two cents regarding this paper turning over the photographs of the crime scene to the court last week so that publisher Jeramy Gordon not be found in contempt of court and face either jail time, punitive damages or possibly both.
How many times do we have to make decisions in life based on whether we have the money to fight a legal battle, see a doctor, have a medical procedure, or other important matters?
How many people are driven to crime because of lack of money? How many people have died in wars of greed? Money may be the root of all evil, but lack of money certainly handicaps people in terrible ways. I don’t have a solution, but maybe some other readers do.

E-mail Leslie Westbrook at ThisAndThat@SantaBarbaraFree.com