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!
As the folks over at 21 Grand continue their battle with the gods of permits and city bureaucracy, here’s another reason why this spot really needs to stay open. Tonight’s show features experimental drummer William Hooker performing a live score for “Symbol of the Unconquered,” a rarely seen 1920 silent film from filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, arguably one the greatest and most underrated directors in the first half of the last century.
Hooker, who moved to New York in 1974, remained fundamentally faithful to the aesthetic of free-jazz… starting with the double-LP Is Eternal Life (1975), a set of collaborations with other improvisers, including tenor saxophonists David Murray and David Ware. Rediscovered by Sonic Youth’s guitarist Thurston Moore for the rock audience, Hooker returned to a more abstract and free-form kind of creative improvisation. His recent work has included projects with Zeena Parkins, DJ Olive, Lee Renaldo, and Christian Marclay. Opening set by the Weasel Walter Quintet (Liz Allbee - trumpet, Aurora Josephson - voice, Jacob Lindsay - clarinets, Weasel Walter - drums, William Winant - percussion).This quintet featuring five idiosyncratic, skilled improvisers from the bay area scene creates a music that tempers microscopic detail and nuance with bloodyminded humor and chaos.
Here’s a video of Hooker scoring the film at last years’ Rhythm in the Kitchen Jazz Festival
Tonight’s the second to last installment of the Temescal Street Cinema, so get over to the Bank of the West Building on Telegraph before all the fun’s gone. The featured film tonight is Runner’s High, a 2006 doc about a team of East Oakland runners who overcome some pretty daunting obstacles on the way to competing in the LA Marathon. Head over to Rowan Morrison Gallery before hand for a free drawing party then join the bike caravan over to the film.-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 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 »
When it comes to housing rights, the debate over community ownership and tradition versus the changing face of the city has been going on for years nationwide. And with the ever increasing developments, redevelopments and condo-fications going down in neighborhoods throughout Oakland and San Francisco, the whispers of gentrification in the Bay have turned into loud choruses, singing out on both sides of this sensitive issue.
Today the Block Report Radio Show is giving those voices a chance to be heard through a community film screening and discussion. At 6pm La Pena Cultural center will be hosting a screening of the 2007 film Banished, followed by a discussion with journalist JR Valrey, Marcel Diallo-CCO of the Black Dot Artists, Inc., and Willie Radcliffe, Publisher of the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper.
Banished, a part of the PBS Independent Lens Series, tells the story of the forced expulsion of thousands of black families from communities around the country over 100 years ago. The film zeros in on three of these towns and their descendants, who return to learn the real histories of what happened to their ancestors over a century ago.-kwanRead the rest of this entry »
Heard of Oz? No - not the place where the wizard lived! This Oz is is the Oakland Zoo Krew — and it has more to do with skates and art than with a zoo. It’s an events and art company created by Clean Skateshop’s Pauly Dioguardi and Paperplane Promotion’s Anthony Cole. And on the fourth Tuesday of every month, they host a party at the Uptown. Tonight, Grand Logic performs and DJ Ooh Child spins. The party starts at 9. Free admission.
As the 5th anniversary of the war passes and the death toll for U.S. soldiers tops 4,000, tonight the humanist hall is offering just one more reason to question the intelligence of the “War on Terror”:
“This film by Greg Palast explores the connections between the Bush family, the Saudi Royal family and the Bin Laden family of Saudi Arabia. It covers much of the same Saudi ground as “Fahrenheit 9/11″ but it makes a bolder assertion: that the real reason for the war in Iraq is to wrest incredibly rich oil fields from Iraqi control and give them to international oil corporations. There is a lot of background on George Bush’s early career in the oil business and in Texas politics, and how Bush and Saudi money and influence smoothed over the bumps in his spotted career…What emerges is a story about a spoiled rich kid who never really had to suffer the consequences of his life choices. More than any other documentary, this one shows how Bush’s life of regal privilege has convinced him that he can get away with anything. He benefitted from powerful connections which smoothed over his problems. Way back behind him, pulling the strings and providing ample money, is the vast wealth of the Saudi Royal family, the Bin Laden family and Enron money, before Enron went belly up. It explains the energy policy and the current military strategy of the U.S. If you want to know where that policy came from, just follow the money.”
Bush Family Fortunes
$5 donations
7:30-9pm
Humanist Hall
390 27th Street, Oakland www.humanisthall.org
Showcasing Visuals & Video from Oakland’s own Hood Games Skateboard and performing arts events. The Hood Games is a celebration of youth culture that takes place in the streets of Oakland,Los Angeles & San Francisco. Also there will be the premier of the new skate video “29.97 Sps Vol.2” by Mike Reyes.
Before he did Malcolm X, Four Little Girls, or When the Levees Broke, his compelling documentary about Katrina, Spike made his debut in 1986 with this funny look at modern mating and romance in the Black community. The film’s heroine, Nola Darling, was a heroine before her time. juggling three boyfriends from 3 different worlds the young free spirit refuses to give herself completeley to anyone, asserting an independence rarely seen in African American women on screen. Along with Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise, Have It is credited with ushering the American Indie film movement of the 80’s.
The famed Whatchusay Cinema returns with a replay of Spike Lee’s first film and examination of how it holds up some 22 years later. The feature is preceded by films from the 2007 Black Film Festival.
Whatchusay Cinema: She’s Gotta Have It
Free w/1 drink minimum
7:00PM
The Black New World
836 Pine Street, Oakland, CA ,
510-823-8150
Saturday, March 1
Poetry Flash w/Roxane Beth Johnson, Rick Campbell and Chad Sweeney
It’s a poetry triple play at Cody’s as three poets from Anhinga Press present new verse. Rick Campbell, director of Anhinga Press, will be reading from his third book Dixmont, featuring poems “scooped raw from the dirt we’re all made of…full of courage and grace, and, yes, wonderful humor, too.” Roxane Beth Johnson, winner of the Philip Levine Poetry Prize, will be reading from her latest book Jubilee along with Chad Sweeney, whose 1st book, BlazeVOX was just published.
No matter if you’re a rapper or an heiress, a bona fide star or a wannabe mogul, you might want to check out tonight’s free movie screening for the behind the scenes dope on the diamond industry. In her 1st film, Hip Hop journalist and editor Raquel Capeda takes an investigative look inside the world of Bling with a cast of unsuspecting, but jewel encrusted hip hop impresarios.
Rappers Raekwon of Wu-Tang Clan, Paul Wall and Tego Calderon travel to war-torn Sierra Leone, West Africa, and get a crash course in “blood diamonds” The dirty not to little secret of the multi million dollar industry so deeply entwined in hip-hop. The film explores the cultural significance of diamond jewelry in hip-hop and traces its evolution from early ’80s old-school ghetto culture to the bling-encrusted billion-dollar industry it is today. Featuring Ishmael Beah, best-selling author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier and interviews with Kanye West, Big Daddy Kane, Jadakiss and Mr. T. There will be a community discussion following the screening.
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 
When it comes to housing rights, the debate over community ownership and tradition versus the changing face of the city has been going on for years nationwide. And with the ever increasing developments, redevelopments and condo-fications going down in neighborhoods throughout Oakland and San Francisco, the whispers of gentrification in the Bay have turned into loud choruses, singing out on both sides of this sensitive issue.
Showcasing Visuals & Video from Oakland’s own Hood Games Skateboard and performing arts events. The Hood Games is a celebration of youth culture that takes place in the streets of Oakland,Los Angeles & San Francisco. Also there will be the premier of the new skate video “
No matter if you’re a rapper or an heiress, a bona fide star or a wannabe mogul, you might want to check out tonight’s free movie screening for the behind the scenes dope on the diamond industry. In her 1st film, Hip Hop journalist and editor Raquel Capeda takes an investigative look inside the world of Bling with a cast of unsuspecting, but jewel encrusted hip hop impresarios.