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!
Alright, I was all set to suggest a quiet night of classical tunes ‘n flutes when I remembered this show, and I could not, in good conscious, not blog about it. The house head and former raver boy in me just would not let it pass. I’m already flashing back to the shiny pants and glowsticks days…
Italian production duo Crookers (named for the way they remix songs all sideways and crooked) have been crafting a kind of jittery, spastic club music for the last 5 years. They’ve got a fresh approach to remixing that still borrows a lot of the PLURry feeling from the old school large scale warehouse parties. A crisp mix of electro, hip hop, Baltimore Club and house, their remixes are a party DJ’s fall back bangers armed with the ability to get any dancefloor jumping-unless of course, you’re no friend of the bleepy, the bloopy or the techy. If that’s the case then you should really stay far away from Vessel in San Francisco tonight. I’m sure you’ll be able to feel the electro love for blocks.
But for the initiated, Crookers remixes of songs like We Are All Prostitutes and Kid Cudi’s Day ‘n Night unleash a bit of bass filled fever in our heads that just wont’ be cured by more cowbell. Unless it’s looped under a vocal track, synthesized and tracked to a 4/4 rhythm. It’s hump day people, the perfect night to get a little Crooked. -kwanRead the rest of this entry »
The ability to manipulate form and color in order to blend into your surroundings is one of nature’s true wonders and a time honored tool for hunting and basic survival. Whether it’s a frog turning itself all types of rust colors to snag that tasty fly, or a fish that blends into the background whenever the big bad eel comes along, or the short skinny kid from middle school who strikes a ninja pose and vanishes into the crowd to avoid that weekly ass kicking, in certain situations, the ability to fade and mimic have proven to be crucial skills.
Along these same lines, certain industries have been known to use visual deceptions to their advantage in several, sometime shiesty ways. From passing counterfeit twenties to packaging a generic product to look just like the New! Improved! Tide! sitting right next to it, media and marketing especially have been using mimicry,camouflage and decoys to get over for years.
Tonight a group of artists are giving the technique a try. Decoy, the new show at Lobot Gallery is a group exhibition of sculpture, painting, video, and works on paper featuring recent work by Patrick Blaeser, Robert Burden, Ross Campbell, Diane Derr, Robert Jackson Harrington, Claire Jackel, Whitney Lynn, Jana Rumberger and Brian Stinemetz. The show attempts to engage the political and psychological aspects of deception, perception, cognition and abstraction.
There’ll be music by The Tea Set, MNDR and Family Tree, and Lobot Resident Artist Patrick Blaeser will open his studio for viewing.
Decoy
Friday May 23
Free
8:30
Lobot Gallery
1800 Campbell St. Oakland www.lobotgallery.com
While I admit I’m not the most R&B friendly music listener, the last couple of years have been good ones for the both the Rhythm and the Blues. The genre’s recovered from a nasty case of Neo Soul that while sometimes inspirational, was the kind of sweet more in line with saccharine than molasses and tended to leave a bad aftertaste.
But in the 41510, hometown darlings Ledisi, Goapele, Keyshia Cole and Jennifer Johns have been making big moves, while the national scene has seen inspiring work from the likes of Erykah Badu, Dwele, Sa-Ra and Martin Luther among others. All have the smoothness required for those late night cuddle sessions, but enough substance that you don’t feel guilty the morning after.
The latest young lion to toss his hat into the ring for nu soul ruler is Brooklyn’s Jesse Boykins III, whose debut EP “Dopamine: My life on My Back” is a purging collection of 8 tracks spawned from a lost love. Read the rest of this entry »
This weekend there are events all over the map from “American Soul” to boogie, lindy hops to art talk. We’re starting the weekend on a somber night with a candlelight Vigil tonight for those we’ve lost this year. It’s necessary to remember those we’ve lost to help remember how much we’ve got to live for. Go show some love tonight then show some life by checking out some of these other events.-kwan
The Crucible is like that one little cousin you had when you were young that was always setting shit on fire. Every time you turned around-lighter in hand, I didn’t do it expression on face, flames everywhere. I guess one man’s trash is another man’s kindling. But it helps that the shit they set on fire is pretty damned cool and that you probably won’t get in trouble if you’re mom walks in and finds the place ablaze.
Continuing there mission to bring industrial art hotness to the masses, the Crucible’s latest heaping helping of smoldering performance art celebrates the nonprofit’s 9 year anniversary. The Hot Couture fashion show runs from tonight through Sunday and features over 20 of the Bay’s hottest (you knew that was coming) up and coming designers. including KAYO, miss velvet cream, Fluidance, Alexandria Von Bromssen,Super Sugar Ray Rayand Miranda Caroligne.
The show begins with Community Night and discounted admissions tonight and continues through Saturday with a VIP gala featuring cellist Zoe Keating and contortionist Serchmaa Byamba.
Hot Couture - A Fusion of Fashion and Fire
1/17 - Preview & community night:$15
1/18 : $35 General Admission, $30 Crucible Members, $40 at the door
1/19 - VIP gala $125 in advance, $100 Crucible Members, $150 at the door
7pm
The Crucible
1260 Seventh Street, Oakland www.thecrucible.org
Take heed all ye faithful revelers, your night has arrived! The streets will be filled with merriment, the music will play, the drink will flow and the world will move just a little closer to universal peace, love and understanding-or at the very least we’ll see some fireworks, blow some noisemakers and bond with tons of people you won’t remember in the morning.
From the traditional to the eccentric, the formal to the WTF! there’s a little something in the Novoscene New Year’s Eve guide for however you like get your respective groove on. See you in the New Year!
Slam poetry had its official start at the Get Me High Lounge in Chicago in 1984 with bar room poet Marc Smith.Looking for a way to bring poetry to the masses, Smith came up with the idea of combining poetry with an Olympic style tournament complete with rounds and judges and all the heckling and loud talking you’d find in any respectable drinking establishment.
Over the years the slam has grown into an international literary sport with competitions all over the world.As a whole though, spoken word poetry dates back years before Smith to the Jazz and Beat poets of the 50’s through writers like Gil Scot Heron and Lydia Lunch up to today’s crop of to wordsmiths, hitting the mic from every angle: the political, the personal, the academic and the dirty and the just damned funny.Today you never know what’ll come gushing out in furious free verse.
One thing’s for sure -the words spreading through Oakland over the next few days from the 1st Annual Spoken Word Soul Fest will be pretty damned impressive.Bay Area spoken word production company Hot Water Cornbread has brought together some of today’s best performers for a 4 day spokenganza. Some of the featured artists include Bahamadia, Ursula Rucker, Queen Sheba, Medusa, Martin Luther, Shihan the Poet, and Jaguar Wright along with local heroes Scorpio Blues, Prentice Powell, Amir Sulaiman, Ise Lyfe.
Now in its 6th year, the Oakland International Film Festival rolls into town this Thursday through Oct. 24th.Festival Director David Roach has been bustin’ ass over the last year to pull in quality programming and the 2007 fest includes work by Bay Area stars Danny Glover, Barry Shabaka Henley, Carl Lumbly and Terri J. Vaughn plus over 50 films from international and local filmmakers.Read the rest of this entry »
Eulipia Performance Salon 1st Anniversary Finale Gala
October 2nd, 8PM (sharp)
Walter Kitundu
Please join us for this night of celebration and reflection.
Since October 2006, Eulipa/Knot Frum Hear has featured some of the Bay’s innovators in the worlds of word and music and continues to explore alternative spaces through performance, sound, and vision.Read the rest of this entry »
Brian Jack & Zydeco Gamblers 
Cake W/ the Lovemakers 
