Photos: Eat Real was Real Fun

The crowds were large – tens of thousands of people crowded into Jack London Square for the Eat Real Festival this past weekend.

…and the longest lines were for…. the paella.

People drank a LOT of beer..

..and ate trucks-full of dessert: This one sold out!

The festival was colorful..

..and restaurants that aren’t officially in business (as yet) opened their doors for the weekend.

The weather was warm and beautiful…

There was music..

…and more music.

Cheap food AND good food.

There were demonstrations and contests…

…with a bit of shopping.
Fashionable people in beautiful clothes enjoyed the day..

…and others waited for their coffee.

The festival drew some big stores – outside and inside the food hall..

….and lots of people to shop at the little ones.

08/28: The Food Weekend

FRIDAY, AUGUST 28

ACCESS: Sixteenth Birthday Party

This party has all the ingredients for a good time: DJs, dancing, cake, giveaways, and a good venue. Tomorrow night, join the ACCESS people as they celebrate their sixteenth birthday. The California women’s health rights group is promising everyone a good time.

9 p.m. to 1:15 a.m.
The Den
19th and Telegraph (near 19th Street BART)
donate $16 and get in free, donate $35+ for VIP access
http://www.whrc-access.org/donate or http://www.causes.com/access

Questions: Samara at sweet16@access-whrc.org

OAKLAND COOKS: A photo exhibit

Swing by the OakBook’s gallery to meet, mingle, drink wine and get a glimpse into some Oakland kitchens.  Winners of the OakBook’s first photo contest present images from Oakland kitchens – from taco trucks to an immigrant’s home-cooking to a themed kitchen and more.

4.30 p.m. onwards
art@theOAKBOOK
423 Water Street (Jack London Square, across from Barnes and Noble, next to the bike store)

EAT REAL FESTIVAL: A street fair with healthy food

If you haven’t heard about this festival by now, you haven’t been living in Oakland. It may or may not be on TV, but it’s on the radio, it’s on the web, it’s been in the papers, people are tweeting about it. It’s everywhere. But for those of you who’ve been out of it, it’s the mother of all food festivals: street food, fresh fruits and vegetables, local beers, ice cream, live music, butchery contests, cooking demonstrations and more. For the full schedule, click head over to eatrealfest.com/

Aug 28, 29, 30
Jack London Square
Friday: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29

WALKATHON around Lake Merritt: benefit to fight cervical cancer in Africa

Want to do something good this Saturday morning? You have a lot of choices, but consider a walkathon around the lake. And consider asking friends and family to sponsor you. A non-profit group called Prevention International: No Cervical Cancer or PINCC is behind this walk that hopes to raise money to screen women in Africa for the virus that causes cervical cancer and to provide treatment when needed. Apparently, a $15 donation can cover the cost of 1 woman’s screening in Africa. That’s less than what a lot of people spend on coffee in a week. To learn more about this Oakland non-profit, visit pincc.org

Starting at the Pergola at 10 a.m., Ends at 1 p.m.

Lake Merritt, starting at the pergola (with the Greek columns)

WE ARE NOT RESPONSE FOR ANY BELONGING: Theo Konrad Auer’s photo show

If you’re a regular OakBook reader, you know that name. He is the OakBook art writer and is also an artist and curator. As many of you know, he’s one of the people involved in the founding of the Art Murmur. He’s having his first solo photography show at Zza’s Wine Bar & Gallery. Like all of Zza’s shows, this one is also curated by Obi Kaufmann. If the Oakland landscape interests you at all, make sure you stop by his show.

The exhibit will be up through October 2nd, but the opening reception is on Saturday night.

6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Zza’s wine bar and gallery
550 Grand Avenue
Questions: Call 925-951-7501

KID-FRIENDLY: Fairyland

Kids have something to be excited about this weekend: Renovated story book boxes and a grand puppet fair. Read the entire article about the celebration here.

Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
$7
699 Bellevue Ave.
(510) 452-2259, fairyland.org

SATURDAY NIGHT MUSIC

Death Angel is playing at the Uptown, 1928 Telegraph, 9 p.m. $15 For more info, go to Uptown’s website

Annie Sampson is at Cafe Van Kleef,  1621 Telegraph. Questions? Call (510) 763-7711 or go to Cafe Van Kleef’s website here.

Grammy-winner Terence Blanchard is performing at Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero W. in Jack London Square.
Saturday: $22, 8 p.m. & 10 p.m.
Sunday: 2 p.m., Kids Matinee $5 kids, $18 adult (with kid), $22 adult(general); 7 p.m., $22

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30

SOUND HEALING WORKSHOP: Calling All Bohemians

Think you’re a Bohemian? If yes, the folks at the Sauce are inviting you over for an Acutonics workshop on Sunday. Never heard of Acutonics? Here’s a crash course in it:acutonics.com

If you do know about acutonics – Sunanda Harrell-Stokes, MSW, LAc Certified Acutonics Practitioner and Senior Instructor will be conducting the workshop.

10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
$60 – $85 sliding Scale (includes a meal).
thaSAUCE 950 30th Street

Photos: Fuck Canvas art show

If you didn’t stop by the Triple2Seven Gallery this past Saturday you missed some great art for some low ass prices. Black Friday’s for amateurs, Cheap Art Saturday’s where it’s at. Check out the pics and email triple2seven@yahoo.com if you see something you like. It still might be up for grabs.-kwan

Such Messy Messy Photos

So the Messy Monkey Arts live painting event was a blast, whip yourself with a banana if you missed it. But check out a few photos from the event to console yourself. Apparently Messy Monkeys, a little wine and a good cause make for great, or at least really fun, artwork. Thanks to Kelly Vaagsland Wainwright for the photos.-kwan

Photos: We Love The Town Halloween

So Halloween’s over and it’s back to the grind.  No more ghouls and goblins for another 365, but to comfort the inner spook in all of us here’s some photos from this past Friday’s We Love The Town Halloween courtesy of or pals DJ Zita and DMadness.

Photos: The Roots ft. Estelle

There are some bands that no matter their latest album sounds like, no matter what you have going on that particular night, you drop it and get tickets.  The Roots is one of those bands.  For damned near 20 years they’ve been killing the live shows and through all the lineup shifts and sonic changes-from the jazzy, philly soul of Illadelph Halflife to the head scratching abstractions of Phrenology, they’re always kept been on point with the in persons.

Last weekend the Hardest Working Band in Hip Hop brought the show to San Jose State with openers Estelle and Gym Class Heroes.   The Hardest Working Photographer in the Bay Area, Oakbook contributor Seher Sikandar, was on the scene for the shots.

Photos: Dwele @ Joaquin Miller Park

Funky soul singer Dwele closed out this year’s Sundays in the Redwoods series at Joaquin Miller Park with help from Khalil Shaheed & the Mo’ Rockin Project, Blayze and the Oakland School for the Arts Jazz Combo.  O-Scene contributing photographer Seher Sikandar captured some great shots of the event.  Check them out inside the post.

Photos: The Park presents Vol. 2

If you’re a fan of live shows and know the Bay Area hip hop, funk and soul scene then you no doubt know The Park, even if it isn’t by name.  Known as the go to backing band for the area soul crowd, their sets have laid the ground work for some of the livest live music performances in the last few years-from longtime soul man Darondo’s return performance at the Independent to Jessie Boykins III killing the newschool sounds at the Black New World earlier this year.

This past Saturday the band brought together a mixtape’s worth of notable local MC’s, singers and spoken word performance for a throwdown jam session at La Pena Center as part of the Hecho en Califas Festival.  O-Scene contributing photographer Seher Sikandar was in the spot and took some amazing shots of the night.  Click inside to check ’em out.-Kwan

Photos: San Francisco LoveFest

Yes there was love, yes there was dancing, and to answer the question posed to me by a curious bystander yes, they most certainly do allow people to walk around naked during LoveFest.

Anymore questions?  Good.  Now check out the photos.-kwan

Photos: Folsom Street Fair

Folsom Street Fair, the world’s largest leather and BDSM fair-a crazy festival of whips, chains and skin-went down this weekend and we were there for all the action.  Check out the photos below and inside.  Careful, these aren’t for the office or the kiddies.-kwan