Tonight: Khalil Shaheed benefit

Don’t forget the Khalil Shaheed benefit at Yoshi’s tonight. The well known Oakland trumpeter is suffering from cancer, and his friends and fellow musicians have put together a great show to honor him. The money raised will go towards his treatment.

If you’d like to read some more about him and his work, read the OakBook story here.

A Tribute To Khalil Shaheed with an All-Star Line-up with Bobby Hutcherson, John Handy, Dayna Stephens, George Cables, Najee, Eddie Gale, John Santos, Winard Harper and others.

Tuesday, April 27, 8 p.m.
$20
To buy tickets, click here
Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West
khalilshaheed.com

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Tuesday: Party like it’s Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras – Fat Tuesday Celebration

Miss Pearl’s Jam House is celebrating Mardi Gras with a Fat Tuesday Party tomorrow. You’ll get food, music, and possibly a trip to New Orleans….

The Craig Caffall Band will be playing and Brazilian samba dancers will be performing. And if you drop off a business card or complete a comment card, you’ll be entered to win a trip to New Orleans (The winner must be present at the time of drawing.)

Tuesday, February 16 7 p.m. to Midnight.
Miss Pearl’s Jam House, Waterfront Hotel, 1 Broadway (inside Jack London Square)
For additional information on the Mardi Gras Festival at Miss Pearl’s Jam House, call 510-444-7171.

Got an Opinion on BRT? Share it

If you haven’t read about Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) at a Better Oakland or the Chron’s In Oakland, here’s something straight from the City of Oakland’s Transportation Services Division regarding the planning for the BRT project:

Oakland is preparing its recommendation for an AC Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system running through the heart of the East Bay from San Leandro through Oakland to Berkeley.  The City is seeking the input of Oakland residents and merchants on the proposed design of the Bus Rapid Transit system.  The City has planned seven public meetings throughout Oakland – click here for all dates and locations.

Remaining dates include:

January 12  Eastlake Meeting – TONIGHT!
Eastside Arts Alliance
6-8 PM, 2277 International Blvd.

January 21  East Oakland Meeting
East Oakland Youth Development Center
6-8 PM, 8200 International Blvd.

January 26  Telegraph Ave. Meeting
Faith Presbyterian Church
6-8 PM, 430 49th Street

January 27   Downtown and All Oakland Lunchtime Open House
Oakland City Hall, Hearing Room 2
11 am – 1 pm, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza

January 27  Downtown and All Oakland Meeting
Oakland City Hall, Hearing Room 4
5 pm – 7 pm, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza

January 28  East Oakland Meeting (#2)
St. Louis Bertrand Church
6-8 PM, 1410 100th Avenue
This process will culminate in the submittal of Oakland’s Locally Preferred Alternative to AC Transit to be included in the range of options they consider when they build the BRT system.

What is a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)?

Bus Rapid Transit is set of improvements to Bus service which will make the Bus run like a light rail or street car without rails. This means:

· Level Boarding: No more climbing stairs into the Bus.
· Pre-paid Tickets: Buy your ticket while you wait instead of at the front of the Bus.
· All-Doors Boarding: Board the bus at any door and leave the bus at any door.
· Dedicated Lane in most locations: The bus gets its own lane so no more waiting in traffic on the bus.
· Permanent Stations: The bus stops at a station with a shelter instead of at a pole on the sidewalk. Bus stops won’t move and waiting for the bus is comfortable.
The City has also prepared postcards with the updated meeting information. You can find the English/Chinese language sheet here and the English/Spanish language sheethere.

For more info go to the City’s BRT site here, or call 510-238-3792, or email here.
Bruce Williams
Transportation Services Division
Community and Economic Development Agency
250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA  94612
(510) 238-7229
bwilliams@oaklandnet.com

Tonight: FRESH screening by/for People’s Grocery

If you care about what you eat and where it comes from.. or if you’d just like to show some love for those who do, head over to Saul’s Restaurant in Berkeley to watch Fresh.

“FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.” Film Trailer on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwR44T69_Is

People’s Grocery founder Brahm Ahmadi will talk at the event

When: Starts at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Saul’s Restaurant, 1475 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
Donation $10.

Tonight: Fred Hampton Jr. in West Oakland

Tonight, there will be a showing of the documentary film, “The Assassination of Chairman Fred,” which follows the life of Black Panther  leader Fred Hampton. It will be followed with a Q & A with Prisoners of Conscience Committee Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., the son of Fred Hampton, and updates from the family of Oscar Grant at the Black Dot Cafe, 1195 Pine St. in West Oakland.

7 p.m.
1195 Pine Street

6/2 The New News-Journalism, Documentary and New Media

The new grassroots journalism

Not so breaking news! The news industry is getting turned on it’s ear. Not so secret tip: No one really knows what to do about it! Over the last couple of years, as longtime newspaper folk have been shown the door en masse, and everyone’s Tweeted and Friended themselves into a public frenzy, a lot of new questions, new challenges and new opportunities have risen from the ashes of all those burned newspapers.

But what does this multimedia real time approach to life mean for the way we report and consume the news? What are the new tools and how are they being used? Find out the insider info from the new news biz at this panel discussion with members of the new and old guard media. Panelest include: Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon.com,Joe Rubin, FRONTLINE/World, Robert Rosenthal, CIR, Kevin Weston, New America Media and Marcus Chan, SF Chronicle and will be moderated by Magnet Media’s Megan Cunningham.

5/5 Cinco De Mayo-where we drinkin’?

It’s the 5th of May, do you know where your party is?

Here are a few selections of party options to get you started.  Get out, grab some friends, grab some drinks at party like it’s…well, party like it’s Cinco De Mayo!

 
Soul Fyah Cinco De Mayo

Latin meets Jamaican with choice Reggae, Dancehall, Lover’s Rock Reggaeton cuts from DJ’s Serg, Kool Kyle, Stepwise and Santero. Special Cinco De Mayo drink specials all night.

Soul Fyah Cinco De Mayo
Free
Lukas Lounge
2221 Broadway, Oakland
510.451.4677
www.lukasoakland.com

3/31 Walter Mosley Reading

Walter Mosley is one of the only authors with two books on my best ever list. Blue Light, Mosley’s 1998 sci fi investigation of metaphysics, spirituality and hippie era San Francisco and Killing Johnny Fry, Mosley’s nearly impossible to find erotic novel of midlife crisis and sexual exploration. Of course, Mosley is most well known for his series of Easy Rawlins mystery series and their accompanying films starring big name stars like Denzel Washington, Lawrence Fishburne and Don Cheadle.

Tonight Mosley he’ll be reading from his new novel, The Long Fall and discussing his life in letters, the pressures of being best selling author and the joys and drawbacks of genre fiction.

3/16-3/17 RIP SF Chronicle?

When Hearst Corp announced at the end of February that it may be force to close the San Francisco Chronicle, journalists and media workers around the Bay Area exhaled a huge collective “What.The.Fuck?!” While everyone has an opinion on the paper and while may love to trash it just as much as we love to read it, the possible demise of San Francisco’s oldest and largest newspaper is really no laughing matter. A world without Violet Blue and Mark Morford? Totally unacceptable.

The response from the media workers and supporters is no joke. In addition to several closed door meetings between union workers, execs and supporters, over the next two days some of the area’s top media professionals will gather to weigh in on the situation and try to come up with some answers.

Tonight the UC Berkeley J-School hosts a round table discussion with several concerned journalists and public figures. Invited speakers include: Historian Gray Brechin, Investigative Reporter Lowell Bergman, Multimedia journalist Kevin Weston, Public radio producer Holly Kernan, San Francisco civic leader Clint Reilly and UC Berkeley Senior Lecturer Susan Rasky.

2/24 Hey! It’s Fat Tuesday! Where we drinkin’?!

In the midst of all the running around it somehow slipped my mind that today was Fat Tuesday, WTF was I thinking? Who knows.  The important question, good people, is-where are we drinking?

Here’s a quick roundup of promising  options. Now who’s got the 1st round?

 

East Meets West Mardi Gras at Ozumo

Live drummers, samba dancers, special Brazillian drinks and a New Orleans shakedown sounds courtesy of DJ Gray.
Free
5pm
Ozumo
2251 Broadway Ave, Oakland
510.286.9866
http://ozumo.com