12/28 Novoscene Weekend
Posted by PS on December 28, 2007
While the weather outside is getting rather frightful, the events in the Bay this weekend are oh so delightful! And while there’s no snow in the forecast, this weekend’s events, combined with Monday’s New Year’s Eve extravaganza’s (Look for the full list here tomorrow) promise to be enough to ward off the winter chills. -kwan
Friday, Dec. 28
Una Noche de Resistencia Musical: La Plebe, Aztlan Underground, The Brass Liberation Orchestra, Bolivar Vive!, and Rupert Estanislao
Ska, hardcore, metal and brass meet poetry tonight as 4 bands and a poet come together for a fundraiser for California Prison Focus, an organization working to reform the California Penal system.
Hailing from around the Bay Area and down as far as Los Angeles, La Plebe, Aztlan Underground,The Brass Liberation Orchestra, Bolivar Vive!, and poet/hardcore singer Rupert Estanislao all combine striking social commentary with loud sounds. From The Brass Liberation Orchestra’s guerilla brass band street performances to legendary punk duo Le Plebe’s Spanish flavored punk rock, expect a lot of horn’s a little bit of skankin’, a smattering of verse and a whole lot of musical revolution.
Una Noche de Resistencia Musical: A Night of Musical Resistance
$10
9pm
La Pena Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94705
(510) 849-2568
Friday Night Live Music Sessions: Dynamic feat. Kimiko Joy
Dynamic fits perfectly into the Bay Area’s genre flipping music scene with their eclectic blend of soul music combining hip hop to rock and R&B. Named “One of the Best Hip-Hop Bands of the Bay” by the San Francisco Chronicle, the group’s new self titled CD and live shows have been known to incite frenzied dance floor jamming and rhythmic flailing.
Dynamic f. Kimiko Joy
$10.00
11pm
The Black New World Social Aid & Pleasure Club
836 Pine Street
Oakland, California
blacknewworld.com
Saturday, Dec. 29
Kwanzaa Celebration and Young Entrepreneurs Award Ceremony
Founded in March 2001, Pivotal Point Youth Services, Inc. was created to provide intensive training, education, case management, parental support, health service referrals, and other support services to underserved youth between 16-24 years of age.
Today they host their 3rd Annual Kwanzaa celebration and awards ceremony, celebrating unity and the power youth ingenuity featuring spoken word, performances and praise dancing by the Children of Ile Omode School.
Kwanzaa Celebration and Young Entrepreneurs Award Ceremony
Free
3-6pm
The Jack London Aquatic Center
115 Embarcadero, Oakland
510.536.6604 ext. 201
The Mermen
If the rain and cold are getting to be too much for you, come check out a toasty old school favorite in a newly remodeled venue. The Mermen’s moody surf rock has had audiences grooving for the last 10 years and front man Jim Thomas has been hailed as one of the gods of modern Surf Rock. Expect a psychedelic good time to stave off the winter chills.
The Mermen
$10
Two sets, call for show times
The Stork Club
2330 Telegraph Ave.
Oakland, CA 94612
510-444-6174
www.storkcluboakland.com
Sunday, Dec. 30
Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Since their arrival in 2000, Grammy winners the Spanish Harlem Orchestra has established itself as a standard bearer of contemporary Latin music. Directed by world-renowned pianist, arranger, and producer Oscar Hernández, the thirteen-member ensemble has reintroduced the classic sounds of New York City Salsa to worldwide audiences.
Basing their sound on the “salsa dura” or heavy salsa that permeated New York City’s Eastside El Barrio in the 1960s and the 1970s, Oscar Hernández and his 13-member ensemble not only continue a tradition that proved important to the El Barrio community, but they also invest older roots with new meaning by shifting the classical into the contemporary. The group also plays a special New Year’s Eve set the following night.
The Spanish Harlem Orchestra
$30
7 and 9pm
Yoshi’s Oakland
510 Embarcadero West
Oakland, CA 94607
510.238.9200
O-Scene 
Leave a comment