Aug. 31 — Chubby Checker and the Wildcats are Twisting for Good at the Lobero Theatre

Courtesy photo.

All seats are $25.  Guests can also make a donation directly to the Daniel Bryant Youth & Family Centers, a critical youth program at CADA

SANTA BARBARA — Don’t miss out on this extraordinary opportunity to see the legendary Chubby Checker live at the Lobero Theater on August 31, 2024, at 7:30 PM at a price that won’t break the bank, while supporting the critical work of the Daniel Bryant Youth & Family Centers at CADA, the Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse.

All seats are $25. An additional donation can be made. Donations of $500 and over will receive two backstage passes for a private “meet and Greet” with Chubby starting at 6 PM. The aim of a lower price is to provide wider access to the arts while attracting donations from those inspired to support this critical program that has served over 9,000 Santa Barbara County residents since its inception in 2001. Tickets can be purchased at www.lobero.org

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see this Grammy Award-winning American icon at a price everyone can afford,” said Earl Minnis of Earl Minnis Presents who is producing the event. “We decided to take a different approach with this event and allow ticket purchasers the opportunity to purchase an affordable ticket with the option of making a larger contribution.” Donations are tax-deductible.

Come twist the night away at a benefit for the Daniel Bryant Youth & Family Center featuring Chubby Checker & The Wildcats. The legendary icon is the only artist to have 5 albums in the Top 12 all at once and a song to be #1 twice, “The Twist.” The groundbreaking song also introduced the unique concept of “dancing apart to the beat.”

His success continued for years with the release of one dance record after another, with “The Fly” and “Let’s Twist Again,” for which he won a GRAMMY® for the “Best Rock Performance.” Over the next few years, endless songs incorporating “The Twist” into its name sprang up, such as “Peppermint Twist,” “Twist and Shout,” and “Twistin’ the Night Away.” In addition, each new song inspired a new dance involving dancing apart, such as “The Jerk,” “The Hully Gully,” “The Boogaloo,” and “The Shake.” At the forefront was Chubby with “The Fly,” “The Pony,” and “The Hucklebuck.” Thereafter, even more hit records followed.

How the Daniel Bryant Youth & Family Centers began:

Daniel Bryant grew up in Santa Barbara and, as a youth, played baseball and had dreams of one day playing for his favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals.  He loved his dog Domino (a Boxer) and going to Lake Nacimiento to water ski.  Unfortunately, somewhere between 5th and 7th grades, he began using drugs. This led to a cycle of arrests and rehabilitation centers for heroin use. In 1995, just as he seemed to be feeling more positive and hopeful, Daniel overdosed and died.

The Santa Barbara Daniel Bryant Youth & Family Center at CADA was founded in 2001 by Daniel’s father, Bob Bryant, to provide safe and effective outpatient treatment and other services for Santa Barbara County youth struggling with substance abuse and co-occurring mental health disorders. Since that time, two additional Centers have been opened to serve clients in the North County. Today, Centers in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and Lompoc provide a wide range of services to youth (ages 10-21) and their families.

The goal of the Daniel Bryant Youth and Family Centers is to reach those between the ages of 10-21, as studies have shown that youth drug and alcohol interventions have more successful outcomes than those for adults.

“We want to get to them before their brains are hardwired and it becomes almost impossible to treat them,” said Bryant. “I wished that we had known then what we know about brain development as it relates to addiction. We can only look forward and rescue as many of these youths as possible in the name of Daniel,” said Bryant.

Treatment can include group and individual counseling, psychotherapy, family therapy, drug testing, collateral sessions with parents and other support persons, case management with the school and community, and individual crisis counseling.

All treatment is available for both English and Spanish speaking clients and families and can include gender-specific group therapy that provides teens with a safe environment to talk about their gender-specific issues. No client is ever turned away for inability to pay, and scholarships are available.

The Centers have also inspired the popular Summit for Danny Climbs in Santa Barbara County:https://summitfordanny.org/ and the international Summit for Danny Climb, which was held earlier this year in Chile, from Pucón to Puerto Varas, next year will be New Zealand South Island:  https://sfdinternational.org/

Just One of Many Examples of Success:

Recent Santa Barbara High School graduate “Julie” is one of 9,000 Santa Barbara County youth and family members who have come through the Daniel Bryant Youth and Family Centers.  At 15 years of age, she became addicted to methamphetamine. Over the next year and a half, her addiction grew worse and at 17 she ended up at the Daniel Bryant Center. She wanted help but felt powerless in the face of her addiction. Her weight dropped to 100 pounds, and she was losing her hair, her teeth and her fingernails were becoming brittle. It felt impossible for her to get sober and commit to sobriety.  She credits the incredible support she received from the Center for overcoming her addiction. “I don’t think I will ever have the right words to express my gratitude for the Center and everyone who supported me there in every possible way. I feel like the person I was before all this happened, “said Julie.

To learn more about the Daniel Bryant Youth & Family Centers and CADA, visit www.Cadasb.org.