7/16-19 On Your Mark, Get Set, Compete!!!

If you’re just bursting at the seams to see some top notch athleticism and can’t wait ’til this Summer’s Olympics, or if you’ve just got a gaggle of kids running around with nothing to do over the next 4 days, then the 42nd Annual US Youth Games have the cure for what ails ya.

From now through Saturday, hundreds of the country’s best young athletes will be descending on the city for a full palate of muscle stretching, brain bending competition. Teens ranging from 13-15 will be participating, Olympic style, in tons of competitions including Basketball, Volleyball, Soccer, Swimming, Track and Field, Bowling, Golf, Double Dutch Jump Rope, Chess and Academics. The games also feature alternative Boating and Table Tennis exhibitions for the kiddies.

Things kick off tonight with the Opening Ceremonies over at Woodminster Amphitheater and continue at various locals around the city starting tomorrow.  Get the full schedule over at the event website, then get out and support the next generation of US Olympians.-kwan

6/12 Mix it Up East Bay

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.-kwan

Photos: We Love the Town

All photos courtesy of DJ Zita

Town love? You know we’ve got it. And so do Zita and DMadness. The two Oaktown DJ’s threw down this past Friday at the latest installment of their “We Love the Town” parties- a celebration of all things soulfully musical-from the Toni’s to the Too $hort to Mistah FAB and everything in between. Kick yourself if you missed it and check back here for updates on the next party. Until then check the picks, throw on some Pointer Sisters and vibe out.-kwan

5/23 O Scene Weekend

Featured Event: Decoy

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

5/21: Kaladrios

Kaladrios is a Berkeley based group focusing on Greek, Armenian, Turkish, and Albanian traditional folk and dance music from the Eastern Mediterranean. The lineup includes violinist, oud player, and singer Aya Davidson; clarinetist Greg Jenkins; Dennis Demakos on laouto and vocals; percussionist-singer Sandy Hollister; and singer Lily Storm.

Don’t know much about the band, but the tracks on their myspace are a cool departure from the usual art galleries, hip hop, spoken word, random parties etc. Not that there’s anything wrong with those, but when’s the last time you heard a Bay Area 5 piece w/o at least one MC and not even a whiff of guitar. And they’ve got an oud and a laouto in the same band.  The night promises to be a musical education for those used to hearing their music chopped, screwed and remixed. I’m going and I’m taking notes people. I just might learn somethin’-kwan

5/9 Novoscene Weekend

Friday May, 9

Oakbook Magazine Release Party

Call me biased, but hands down the best party going on anywhere tonight is ours! It’s time for the release of the 3rd edition ofOakbook , the Town’s new most favorite magazine, (as proven by our recent win at the Oakland Indie awards-applause are appreciated). We’re partying tonight over at the Uptown Body and Fender shop and you’re welcome to stop on by. There’ll be a photography exhibit from the finalists of the Novometro.com/Oakbook photo contest, lots of food, lots of music and lots of cool, cool people. Come out, meet the staff,schmooze with the locals, drink a little too much and stumble home just a little more in love with the town we call home.

Oakbook #3 Release Party
Free
7pm
Uptown Auto and Fender Shop
401 26th St, Oakland

Love Oakland Friday Night at Luka’s

You love Oakland. And so do we. And if you want to celebrate this love, head over to Luka’s this Friday night. With a club night called We love the town, DJs Zita and Dmadness will unleash their version of Oakland love by playing hip hop, funk, dancehall and “lotsa Town bizness.”

Expect to hear Toni Tony Tone, En Vogue, Club Nouveau, The Coup, Too $hort, Digital Underground, Hieroglyphics, Goapele, Zion I, and Mistah FAB. Also expect to see the latest issue of the OakBook. Get it while you can this Friday night at Luka’s.

2221 Broadway (at West Grand)
10pm to 2am,
$10
21+

2/7 Pandora Music Meetup

You all know Pandora right? For the last eight years the Bay Area streaming music site has been providing customized radio through it’s Genome Music Project-just type in the names of bands or songs you like and sit back as your player streams tunes tailored to your liking. The system uses hundreds of musical attributes, or “genes” to cross classify msic by tens of thousands of artists. While the doesn’t always get it right, the breadth of music they’re able to cover is pretty astonishing-from radio hits to lesser known indie to some of the more low key grime and dubstep.

Since the RIAA turned on internet broadcasters last year the and began demanding insanely high royalty rates, Pandora and similar sites like SomaFM and LastFM have been fighting to stay afloat. In early January Pandora was forced to block all listeners outside the US when talks around liscensing and royalties ended.

Now that’s the sucky part. The good news is that, at least for the moment Pandora is alive and thriving in the states and tonight, all you luck music heads get the chance to come out and celebrate for the hell of it. The event is a chance to meet other users and music lovers and get away from your screen for a while and into the realm of real people. Pandora founder Tim Westergen will be on hand to talk about the company, the ups and downs of being a new media entrepreneur and I’m sure, to tell you about all the cool new music he’s discovered through the site. The event is free but reservations are required. RSVP with Angie at tour@pandora.com

Pandora Oakland Meetup
Free (RSVP Required)
7pm
Historic Sweet’s Ballroom
1933 Broadway in Oakland
www.pandora.com

2/2 First Tango…in Oakland

Do you Tango? No? Do you want to? Has the lure of the Buenos Aires dance, made popular through film, music and countless international dance competitions, always held an air of sultry mystery? Well with the opening of the new Tango Magdelina Studio, Oaklanders can finally appease those happy feet. Think you’ve got the shimmy in your soul? Then come out tonight and let instructors Jean Pierre Sighes and Bianca Blesching get you on the good foot.

Sighes and Blesching are both longtime teachers with a deep love of the Brazilian dance. The two have been hosting classes throughout the Bay Area and are hoping that with the opening of their new space, the gates of Tango will open for the masses. Tonight’s Milonga (Tango celebration) is open to anyone who’s every sat on the couch watching Last Tango in Paris, Adios Buenos Aires and Strictly Ballroom thinking “I wish I could do that.” Regardless of skill levels and ages, come out tonight. All you need is a little rhythm and an open mind, and the dancefloor will be your canvas.

Tango Magdelina Opening Milonga
$10
9pm until
Tango Magdelina
580 Grand Ave Suite 305
Oakland
510.836.0812
www.tangomagdelina.com

12/31 New Year’s Eve Events

 

 

-Brass Menazeri

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!

-kwan

2008 New Year’s Bash w/ DJ Jay-R

$10

8 p.m

White Horse Inn

6551 Telegraph Ave., Oakland

510-652-3820

WhiteHorseBar.com

 

 

Brian Jack & Zydeco Gamblers

$45

9 p.m.

Eagles Hall, 2305 Alameda Ave., Alameda

415-285-6285

SFZydeco.com

 

 

Black Comedy Explosion W/ Earthquake, Lavelle Crawford, Sheryl Underwood, & Rueben Paul.

$39.75-$67.75

10 p.m.

Paramount Theatre,

2025 Broadway, Oakland,

510-465-6400

ParamountTheatre.com

 

Bootie Pirate New Year’s Eve Party w/ Adrian & the Mysterious D, Party Ben, Dada, Smash-Up Derby, DJs Earworm Freddy & King of Pants, & the Indra

$20-$30

9 p.m

DNA Lounge

375 11th St., San Francisco

415-626-1409

DNALounge.com

 

 

Cake W/ the Lovemakers

$69.50-$79.50

9 p.m.

The Warfield

982 Market St., San Francisco

415-775-7722