You’ve got three days to salsa, spit the truth, start a business, and discover the legend of the Junk Pirate. Go!
Friday, May 28
The 8th Annual Small Business Symposium
Councilmember Larry Reid and Oakland’s Community and Economic Development Agency have put together the a free symposium for small businesses, where entrepreneurs are invited to attend workshops and discussions on a range of subjects like growing a business, opening a restaurant, getting a green certification and urban farming.
During the luncheon, remarks will be made by Linda Marmolejo, Regional Director of the San Francisco National Enterprise Center. Since beginning her tenure with the Minority Business Development Agency in 1978, she has been a leading advocate for minority-owned small businesses.
Friday, May 28, 8am – 5pm
Oakland Marriott City Center
FREE (advance registration required)
www.oaklandsmallbusiness.com
510-986-2855
Drop Your Knowledge
Come “Spit your Truth” Friday at the Oakland School of the Arts’ open-mic poetry night. Enter on 18th Street between Telegraph and San Pablo.
Friday, May 28, 6 pm-8pm
Student Center Fox, 18th Street between San Pablo and Telegraph Avenues
Adults $5, Students $3, Under 8 Free
Salsa Social
Salsa with Juan Friday night at the Lake Merritt Dance Center. Don’t have a partner, don’t know how to bachata? Don’t fret. Every fourth Friday it’s a fun, no-pressure scene at the Veteran’s Memorial Building on Grand Avenue. Admission is only $10, and that includes lessons and refreshments.
Friday, May 28, Lessons start at 7 pm, the dancing goes until Midnight
Veteran’s Memorial Building, 200 Grand Avenue
$10
The Original Sin
These are real women with real lives and real figures to show ladies everywhere that the sexiest thing a woman can wear is a smile. This burlesque troupe is affiliated with a lingerie store in the east bay and is very popular with women. There will be live music by Fromagigue.
Original Sin Burlesque
Friday May 28, Doors open @9 p.m.,
Uptown, 1928 Telegraph Avenue www.uptownnightclub.com, 510-451-8100
Cover $10
Saturday, May 29
Durufle’s Requiem
Jonathan Dimmock will fire up the 5,298-pipe organ at the Cathedral of Christ the Light Saturday night to accompany the Cal State East Bay Singers and Oratorio Society as they perform Maurice Durufle’s “Requiem.”
“The program will include the Oratorio Society singing Benjamin Britten’s “Rejoice in the Lamb,” and the Baker University Chamber Choir from Kansas singing William Byrd’s a cappella, “Mass for Five Voices.” The concert will conclude with all singers and the organ performing, “I was Glad,” by Sir Hubert Parry.
Buddy James, associate professor of music, and Matthew Potterton, of Baker University, will jointly conduct the concert.”
Saturday, May 29 8 pm (Cathedral tours start at 7 pm)
Cathedral of Christ the Light, 2121 Harrison Street
$7, $5 for seniors, Free for students
Indian Jazz
Vidya and Rina Mehta, the new artists in residence at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center mix Indian classical music with jazz. It makes more sense than you might think.
Saturday, May 29, 8 pm – 10 pm
OACC 388 9th Street, Suite 290
$12 Adults, $9 Seniors and Students
Opening Night: Junk Pirate Found Art Exhibition
“The Compound Gallery in Oakland will exhibit Pete Glover’s Junk Pirate Found Art Exhibition, a collection of collections. In this solo show, assortments of commonplace items such as board game money, antiquated video game controllers, classroom pencil sharpeners, honey-bear bottles, or even found personal ephemera are exploited for their aesthetic, as well as nostalgic, properties.”
Saturday, May 29 6 pm – 9 pm
Compound Art Gallery, 1167 65th Street
Free
Sunday,
Sunday, May 30
Benny Green Trio with Peter Washington and Kenny Washington
Jazz Pianist Benny Green, who has a recorded more than a 100 sessions with a range of people that reads like a who’s who of jazz, is playing at Yoshi’s this weekend.
In 1993, Oscar Peterson chose Benny as the first recipient of the City of Toronto’s Glen Gould International Protégé Prize in Music. That year, Green replaced Gene Harris in Ray Brown’s Trio, working with the veteran bass player until 1997. From 1997 on, Benny resumed his freelance career, led his own trios, and concentrated on his solo piano performances.
Here’s his approach to his music: “… for myself and a lot of musicians I admire, the main focus is to just swing and have fun, and share those feelings with the audience … and, if I’m able to convey that, then I feel like I’m doing something positive.”
Benny Green Trio
Friday, May 28-Sunday, May 30
Friday and Saturday, 8pm & 10pm shows $16
Sunday, 7pm & 9pm shows $16
Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West (Jack London Square), 510-238-9200
yoshis.com/oakland
O-Scene 