Long Oakland Weekend

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

04/02: The Oakland Weekend

Friday, April 2

Oakland School for the Arts Spring Exhibition

Once, former Oaklander and current emerging art star Josh Keyes taught art here to many deserving students. Now you can lend your support by checking out and possibly buying the work of the current slate of student artists at the Oakland School for the Arts’ annual spring exhibition. This is a time when funding sources for schools like this 8-year-old charter high school are at risk and your support is key. There will be hundreds of student-generated prints, paintings, drawings, digital artworks, sculptures, jewelry pieces, and more for sale, with prices starting at a very kind ten dollars. I wonder if someone will find the next Josh Keyes here?

Marion E. Greene Black Box Theatre, 531 19th Street
Friday, April 2, 6 PM – 8 PM, Saturday, April 3, 12 PM to 5 PM, Sunday, April 4, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

It’s the First Friday of the month, which means it’s time for the art walk. For the first time, art@the OakBook will be open tonight. 6.30 p.m. onwards, 423 Water Street (inside Jack London Square). Get down there to see a fantastic show — The Golden Dawn.

Saturday, April 3

Nano Days

Take the little ones to learn more about the science of the super small at the Chabot Space and Science Center this weekend. There will be hands on demos of nanoscience guaranteed to pique the interest of kids in this cutting-edge realm of technology.

Saturday April 3, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Boulevard
$14.95 for Adults, $10.95 for kids 3-12

Taste for Artisans

What with all the chickens, urban farms, and crafty DIYers in Oakland these days, it can start to look like “Little House on the Prarie” around here. The East Bay Express’ Taste for Artisans event, which includes a Handmade Ho Down, promises a tasty mash-up of food, crafts, and fun. Look for creamed corn wrestling, a mechanical bull, in addition to rows upon rows of local eats and drinks.

Saturday April 3, 5 p.m. – 11 p.m.
98 Broadway, Jack London Square
Free Admission

Adachi Tomomi

Pacific Exchange Concert Series

Back in 1997, two composers at Mills College wanted a place for people who created sound in unique and novel ways to get together. Thingamajigs was born. Among the many programs run by this singular outfit is the Pacific Exchange Concert Series, which “brings composers and performers from diverse areas of the Pacific Rim together in order to exchange ideas and create music on a single concert stage. Thingamajigs.org created this event to emphasize the commonalities of artists living on the Pacific Rim, as well as to showcase their diversity.”

The Pacific Exchange concerts have exhibited the music of composers from Japan, Korea, and the United States. The performance group tov, Megumi Matsuhashi, Jean Ann, Kiyoshi Suzuki, Edward Schocker, Shizuka Takeuchi, Tomoko Sogabe, Akiko Hasegawa, and Niji Ito are just a few of the artists that have been featured by this series.

This year, the Pacific Exchange comes to the United States for the first time. Go to 21 Grand Saturday night to hear Adachi Tomomi, Laetitia Sonami, Judy Halebsky, Dylan Bolles, Suki O’Kane, and Edward Schocker.

Saturday, April 3, 8 p.m.
21 Grand, 416 25th Street
$10- $15

Tin Can Cabaret

Ever heard of the Paper Doll Militia? It’s a performance group that tells stories through theatre, acrobatic feats, aerial arts, live music, and other performance forms. This Saturday, they present their newest aerial theatre pieces and other circus acts in the Tin Can Cabaret. In the timeless and forgotten spaces, deep in the cracks of the city streets faeries and floozies, mimes and minstrels have gathered to enchant and delight you. Join us and be transported into a dark and magical Underworld. Prepare to be dazzled by elusive illusionists, astonishing aerialists, profane pantomimes, pirate burlesque acrobats and crazed contortionists.

Saturday, 3 April, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Kinetic Arts Canter, 785 7th Street
Pay what you can

Guitar Hero is Dead: Guitarists Play Video Games Using Real Guitars as Controllers

Two classically trained New York City guitarists calling themselves Modal Kombat have hacked into classic video games Pong, Tetris, Mortal Kombat and Mario Kart. This Saturday night, they’re going to make their characters move — and battle against each other — with a flurry of guitar-plucking.

The event, part of Modal Kombat’s ‘Guitar Hero is Dead’ tour, is a video-game battle/performance-art hybrid that’s open to the public. The goal is to demonstrate that real guitars — or other musical instruments — can be viable video game controllers.

Saturday, 3 April, 8 p.m. to midnight
Flux 53 Theater, 5306 Foothill Boulevard (Foothill & Fairfax)
$5-$10 sliding scale

Monique at the Paramount

Even if you hadn’t heard of Monique six months ago, you probably know who she is by now. With an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award under her belt for her work in Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire, the comedian/actor/talk show host is enjoying her moment in the spotlight. Catch her at the Paramount this weekend.

Saturday, April 3, 8 p.m. (doors open 60 minutes before show time)
The Paramount Theater, 2025 Broadway
$59.50, $39.50

Changing the Dream

Awakening the Dreamer stands at the intersection of sustainability and spirituality. A program of the well-respected Pachamama Alliance, the Changing the Dream symposium promises participants a chance to “connect with people who care about sustainability, spirituality and social justice, the biggest challenges and opportunities of our time.” The four-hour, free symposium will be held Saturday afternoon. Registration is required.

Saturday, April 3, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
United Lutheran Church, 8800 Fontaine Street
Free

Sunday, April 4

Strictly Same-Sex Ballroom

Dancing with the Queers offers three afternoons of same-sex ballroom dancing beginning this Sunday. The classes in Fox Trot, Waltz, and Cha Cha are taught by same-sex ballroom champs Zoe Balfour and Citabria Phillips. The hour-long lessons are incredibly well-priced at $15 a class. No partner or experience necessary.

Sunday, April 4, 11:30 a.m. (Int. Fox Trot), 12:30 p.m. (Beg. Waltz), 1:30 p.m. (Beg. Cha Cha)
200 Grand Avenue
$15 for one lesson, $39 for the series

03/11: Your Oakland Weekend

FRIDAY, March 12

Scofield and Friends Come to Oakland

The John Scofield New Jazz Quartet is in town this weekend. Jazz lovers know that name well. Guitarist John Scofield has been around a long time, and has many stories to tell. Scofield began influencing the jazz scene in the late 70s and continues to do so today. His music falls somewhere between post-bop, funk edged jazz, and R & B. He’ll be accompanied by Mulgrew Miller on piano, Ben Street on bass, and Kendrick Scott on drums.

Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero W.
Thu 10 p.m. $14; Fri 8 p.m. $24 & 10 p.m. $18; Sat 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $24; Sun 2 p.m. (Kids Matinee) $5 (ages 15 and under), Adults (with children) $18, Adults $24;
Sun 7 p.m. $24
Yohis.com

Bitter Harvest at the Royal NoneSuch Gallery

Bitter Harvest explores Lauren Adams’ research into Afghani poppy fields and the relationship between American military operations, the Taliban, and civilian farmers in Afghanistan’s ‘Golden Crescent’. For the past few years, the artist has documented images published about issues surrounding these topics in popular media and will re-inscribe the found narratives in a site specific painting on the gallery’s interior walls in Bitter Harvest, resulting in a claustrophobic interior overwhelmed by poppy flowers and human figures. The visual pattern evident in the installation, inspired by contemporary war reporting and traditional wallpaper and ornament design, visually seduces the viewer while simultaneously assaulting them with hallucinatory images of poppy cultivation and its relationship to the international drug trade, the American military incursion in Afghanistan, and the cycle of economic underdevelopment in rural farm areas of the Golden Crescent.

Royal NoneSuch Gallery, 4231 Telegraph Ave.,
Fri, March 12
6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Free

Happy Hour for The Crucible

If you love the Crucible or just think it’s cool, head over to Farley’s on Friday for free appetizers and hang with folks from your favorite industrial arts educational group. Farley’s owners have “adopted” The Crucible as their non-profit of the month, and a portion of the evening’s sales will be donated to The Crucible to help support its programs.

Fri  5 p.m.- 8 p.m.
Farley’s East 33 Grand Avenue (at Broadway), thecrucible.org, farleyseast.blogspot.com/

Alternative Theater with an Alternative Cast

If you’d like to support the Oakland School of the Arts, you have a lot of chances to do so this weekend. The OSA Actor’s Guild’s has put together their version of Dale Wasserman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Black Box Theatre, 19th and Telegraph
Fri 7 p.m., Sat 2 p.m. & 7 p.m., Sun 2 pm
Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and students. www.oakarts.org/www.tix.com

For more, visit OakArt here.

SATURDAY, March 13

Martin Lawrence at the Paramount

Martin Lawrence, actor and producer, who’s starred in dozens of Hollywood hits (Remember Big Momma’s House?), is returning to stand-up comedy on stage. Catch him at the Paramount on Saturday or Sunday. He’s made enough people laugh all his life to know how to do it well.

The Paramount, 2025 Broadway
Sat, 8 p.m., Sun, 8 p.m.
Doors open 60 minutes before show times.
Tickets: $77.50, $57.75, $42.75

SUNDAY, March 14

Closing Tea Reception at Blankspace

A fantastic Oakland gallery closes and throws a tea party to say goodbye. The last show at Blankspace was Steuart Pittman’s exhibit Nowhere/Anywhere.  It all ends this Sunday.

3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
6608 San Pablo Ave
For more, see Theo Konrad Auer’s art picks for the month.

KID-FRIENDLY: The Princess and the Unicorn

Wondering how to entertain your kids this weekend? Try the puppet show at Children’s Fairyland. This weekend, it’s the Princess and the Unicorn, complete with evil counts and handsome princes that get turned into unicorns, and of course – a princess. Puppets and script by Lewis Mahlmann.

Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue (at Grand Ave.),  fairyland.org
Sat & Sun,11 a.m., 2 p.m. & 4 p.m.