This is the Oakland blog for people living out loud. True to the Oakbook philosophy, we’ll tell you where to go, what to do, and what’s really going down in the town and around the Bay. From parties to films, peace protests to flag football, if there's a there there, we'll blog it.
Invite us to things. We're great at parties.
If you've got events, photos, videos, announcements or general news on all the happenings in the Bay, send 'em over to Kwan Booth at kwan (at) theoakbook.com. And don't be afraid to leave a comment. Don't be shy...come over and talk to us. You just might get lucky!
I got a call a few weeks back from the moms. She’d found a box of my old clothes and wanted to know if should she keep them or sacrifice them to the gods of Goodwill. When she started describing the threads it instantly took me back the early ’90’s, what’s referred to in hip hop as the Golden Age, when the usic was pure and the clothes were super huge and super bright-I’m talking purple jeans, orange and purple Nikes, multicolored Cross Colours button ups with the fitted baseball caps and jackets that matched the rest of the outfit way, way too much. And these were the stepping out clothes. We must have looked like a gang of hood peacocks. Needless to say the box got the donation treatment real quick.
If you’re in possession of such a box of unmentionables, or just have a closet full of last year’s designs you’re itching to get rid of, the homeys from Homeygrown have to solution: bring everything down to Soundwave Studios this Saturday for the Soulstice Swap, a knock down drag out free for all clothing and stuff swapathon. Just show up with your own bag of clothes, movies, books, music or nonperishables and dive right into the mountains of free schwag.
Homeygrown is a local arts and design collective with the mission to “provide a support system for striving artists by offering outlets for exposure.” In the past they’ve sponsored fashion shows, screen printed T-shirts, pushed artist created merch at local street fairs and thrown kick ass parties on both sides of the bay.
Saturday’s event should be another good time. And with the promise all you can drink beer and Sangria for 5 bucks, you just might find yourself coming home with a few questionable items, but hell, just toss them in the closet till next Summer. Unless you find a pair of Orange and Purple Nikes. I might want to get those from you.-kwan
For all you art lovers out there, the galleries are staying busy…
What: Lirielle, an art and jewelry gallery, is hosting a wine & cheese reception for Brenda Reinertson’s abstract painting.
When: June 27th, 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm
Where: 3980 Piedmont Avenue
Susan Tuttle’s Sea-Spray at Float
What: See the art at FLOAT. You’ll find paintings, sculpture, photography and mixed media by Keiko Nelson, Bill Stoneham, Elizabeth Tennant and Susan Tuttle. You can always jump into the floatation tank if the art watching tires you out.
When: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 10 pm. The show isn’t on for much longer – It closes with a party on July 12th, 6 pm to 9 pm.
Where: FLOAT, 1091 Calcot Place #116 in the Cotton Mill Studios. (510) 535-1702
For more information: thefloatcenter.com
And there’s more. Esteban Sabar gallery, usually the hub of the art walk, is hosting artists from his native land, the Philippines.
WHAT: In their honor, there’s an artists reception, where you can meet
Raul Roco Jr., Norlito Meimban, Jose Evangeslista, Grandier Gil Bella and Cesar Montano.
Tonight is a celebration of the good times and a chance to look forward to some new dopeness as DJ Ooh Child, resident beat conductor for the Oakland Zoo Crew, bids the Bay adieu as he kicks rocks to the Philipines for a while. Child has been holding down the tables since the monthly skate, hip hop and street art party first kicked off almost a year ago and the folks plan on sending him off in style.
Tonight features artwork and music by J2 and special guests Destruments. Come show love for one of the bay’s finest.-kwan
Silence the Violence 2007. Photo courtesy of Ella Baker Center.
The Silence The Violence Campaign, working together with members of Leadership Excellence and United Playaz as well the administrators from Oakland, Richmond and San Francisco have declared June 18 as the official Bay Area Silence the Violence Day. Throughout the area candlelight vigils are being held to memorialize those lost to violence in the first 6 months of 2008 while issuing an areawide call for peace.
In a press statement from the Ella Baker Center, Silence the Violence campaign director Nicole Lee said that “curbing violence is a community effort and our community is putting out a united call for peace.” The flagship event tonight at Defremery Park in West Oakland will include the vigil as well as speakers from the community and families who have been effected by violence.
There’s been a lot of talk of public safety, halting violence and Oakland’s transformation into a model city. In addition to memorializing those we’ve lost already, tonight offers a great opportunity to get out, meet people who are doing grassroots work around the issues and create a plan for action, so we don’t have to memorialize any more.-kwanRead the rest of this entry »
While national poetry month is tucked into 2008 history, poems have been heavy in the Bay Area air for the last few weeks as poets and spoken word artists have been opening their notebooks and spitting verses on stages across the area. Oakland, Berzerkeley and San Fran all recently held their qualifiers for this year’s national slam. The API set repped the page hard at this past weekend’s feature showcase at Eastside Arts Alliance, and tonight Poetry Diversified Oakland features the Wordslanger-Ayodele Nzinga.
Ayodele is like the Muhammad Ali of poetry-the people champ. For the last 7 years she’s been using poetry, especially Shakespeare, to teach urban youth over at the Prescott Joseph Center in West Oakland the ways of the world, from adapting Romeo and Juliet into a coming of age hood tale to remixing the Merchant of Venice with hip hop lyrics.
Tonight the poet “most likely to shatter your illusions of what poetry is, can be, will do, has done” will be holding down the stage with original verses and her own very original performance style. And I know it’s poetry and lyrics we’re talking about here, but sometimes some words just can’t do other words justice, so check the video of a set recorded in West Oakland recently. Word up. -kwanRead the rest of this entry »
It’s time again for Mix It Up, the monthly meet ‘n drink get together for young and young at heart activists, artists and organizers in the East Bay. Often firmly entrenched in some social justice campaign or another, Mix It Up offers a much needed chance for organizers to step away from the policy debates and funding crises and kick back with some fellow do gooders (and is it me, or is the activist set just full of hotties?). The night usually starts off with a short presentation and discussion-tonight the topic is “Public Art: Essential for a Vibrant City”- followed by all out networking, imbibing and revelry. Green, eco friendly, sustainable revelry, of course. Take a brake from saving the world for a few hours and have a beer. The world will thank you for it later.-kwanRead the rest of this entry »
We all know that housing prices in the Bay reached comethefuckon levels quite a while back, and that if you’re an artist looking for a place to hang your hat as well as your canvas/drum kit/photo equipment, chances are you’re going to have to open a vein, promise your 1st and 2nd born child, then get a 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) gig in order to afford your own piece of the California real estate pie. And that’s if you’re one of the lucky ones.
Well, 11 working artists are going to get really lucky, as the Noodle Factory has extended it’s call for applicants for it’s new live work arts complex in West Oakland. Once a staple in the West O underground warehouse scene, Noodle is in the process of being converted into 11 live work units, specially priced for working artists and artisans. (You can read the Novometro article about the conversion here.)
In addition to prices ranging from $175,000 to $275,000, the totally green, LEED certified project includes a new rehearsal area, theater and performance space and a cafe. And a deal with the Northern California Land Trust ensures that the units will remain low cost well into the foreseeable future.
The Noodle Factory is hosting an open house today from 6:30 to 8:30 for artists interested in applying for the units and organizations interested in renting the performance space. Be warned: the project is still in the construction phases so expect a little grunge and grit.-kwanRead the rest of this entry »
Featured Event: Oakland Art
Y’know that often repeated “fact” that Oakland has the most artists per capita of any city in the country? While I like the idea, I’ve always met the statement with just a slightly snarky hint of “Oh, really? Is that a fact?”
It’s not that I don’t love the Town’s art scene-I really, really do-it’s just that I’ve always found the statement a little hard to swallow. Well this weekend I’m eating crow, big brightly colored bowls of artistically arranged crow. As the sunshine from the first weekend of June beams down on the timely convergence of Art Murmur and East Bay Open Studios, there’s truly a ridiculous amount of art happenings happening-from photography to fresco, installations to open studios. It’s enough to turn even a skeptic like me into an ardent Oakland Art Cheerleader.
Tonight kick things off on 14th and Broadway at Joyce Gordon Gallery’s annual “Insight” emerging photographers exhibit. The six Bay Area and two London based photographers, including Traci Bartlow, Rameen Gasey and Judy Seidel vary in styles from black and white photojournalism to abstract imagery but all eight have proven that they have bright futures behind the lens.
Afterwards head next door to Awaken Cafe for “Superimpositions,” Julie Oppermann’s exhibit of small watercolors and large mounted canvases centered around the idea of layering, collaging, and juxtaposing patterns, shapes, lines and colors.
Next there’s “Myths and Dreams,” showing at the Front Gallery on Grand Ave., featuring frescos, video and prints by Calixto Robles, Alexandra Blum and Ana Hurk respectively. Each artist uses the various mediums to explore ideas “inspired from memories, images, fables and myths that bridges concerns of the modern world and that of the traditions of ancient Meso-America.”
After a bit of Meso art head over to 21 Grand for their 8th annual Benefit Art Sale, featuring the work of over 70 local artists, all priced to make sure you leave the spot with your own personal masterpiece tucked neatly under your arm…
As you make your way up to Well Boutique, one of the newer Murmur additions, located on Telegraph and 43rd. Shop owner Riquelle Small is on a mission to create a little spiritual oasis in the Temescal with her combination of healing products, local art designs and jewelry in addition to the art openings she hosts in the back room. Illustrator Johnny Siu’s work fits right into the aesthetic, with colored pencil sketches of wide eyed little girls and fantasy figures.
Then if you’re still thirsty for art but want something a bit less “artsy,” make the trek over to Compound Gallery on San Pablo for “Water, Oxygen, Light” a collaboration between Emery Secondary School Biology Instructor Cassandra Neaves and Kala Arts Instructor Eric Sanchez that explores the process of seed germination and vegetative rooting. Science and art all in one place? Hmm, (slow, thoughtful chin stroking) very fascinating…
And this is all just tonight! We haven’t even begun to talk about the weekend’s East Bay Open Studios or Oakbook’s resident art critic Theo Konrad Auer’s handpicked faves. I mean, not to get all zealot on you dudes but I’m just saying: Oakland is where all the real artists kick it. And that’s a stone cold fact.
Break out your beach chair, grab some noshables and make your way over to the Bank of the West Building on Telegraph for some free outdoor cinema courtesy of the Temescal Street Collective, a new organization promoting community and merchant involvement around the 50th and T-graph area.
Tonight’s inaugural show includes the Oscar nominated “La Corona,” a character-driven documentary that follows four inmates competing for the crown in the annual beauty pageant of the Bogota Women’s Prison. I’m willing to bet they’ll be no worldwide press tour and national acclaim for these beauties behind bars, but it should be interesting viewing. Also on the bill is One’s Duty, a dark comedy set in Chile, and a performance by Afro Reggae cover band Faux Mojo. And if you’re rolling up on two wheels, you might want to get there early for a little pre-cinema bike ride courtesy of Tip Top Bike Shop.-kwan (Hat tip to Momma for the heads up) Read the rest of this entry »
The company that launched a million blogs turns 5 today.
It was just 5 short years ago that Matt and the WP team unveiled the publishing platform that essentially changed the way people viewed media and content creation (sorry Blogger) and made it so much easier for people (including our grateful OB staff) to share their inner most feelings, political commentary and pictures of their cats in amazingly compromising positions with the rest of the world.
So if you’re like a bazillion other people and currently run a WordPress blog or three, get your hind parts over to 111 Minna tonight and toast the company that made it all possible. Or if you’re the antisocial type (as are a lot of bloggers) just come through, get toasted, hear some tunes, stare at the crowd then come home and blog about it. It’s all in the spirit of the party.-kwan
Break out your beach chair, grab some noshables and make your way over to the Bank of the West Building on Telegraph for some free outdoor cinema courtesy of the 
