Arts & Events
Arts: Bluegrass and Old Time Festival Comes to the East Bay By Mark Schneider Special to the Planet
The seventh annual San Francisco Bluegrass and Old-Time Festival runs Feb. 2-12 with workshops and intimate East Bay concerts featuring living legends like Ralph Stanley and rising local talent such as the Crooked Jades. -more-
Arts: Bluegrass and Old Time Festival Comes to the East Bay By Mark Schneider Special to the Planet
The seventh annual San Francisco Bluegrass and Old-Time Festival runs Feb. 2-12 with workshops and intimate East Bay concerts featuring living legends like Ralph Stanley and rising local talent such as the Crooked Jades. -more-
Arts: Berkeley Opera’s ‘Falstaff’ Never Quite Takes Off By OLIVIA STAPP Special to the Planet
The Berkeley Opera opened its 27th season Saturday with Verdi’s final opera, Falstaff. Written when the composer was eighty, this opera breaks out of the mold of his earlier works: first, because it is a comedy (of his previous 27 operas, 26 are tragedies) and second, because he abandons his trademark style of grandiloquent vocalism, and uses the singing voices almost as orchestral accents. In Falstaff, the dynamic rhythmic pulse is punctuated by only a few lyrical moments. The singers, with the exception of the central character, sing mainly in intricate ensembles. It is partly because of Verdi’s focus on mathematical precision and brilliance, rather than on passionate melodic line, that this opera has remained out of the mainstream repertoire, and is considered by many to be overly eclectic and lacking in spontaneity. -more-
Arts: Positive Knowledge At The Ashby Stage By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet
In a sort of homecoming, the Jazz House (formerly at 3192 Adeline St.) will host a CD release party for East Bay jazz artists Positive Knowledge on Sunday Feb. 5 at the Ashby Stage. -more-
Arts: Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Makes His Broadway Debut By KEN BULLOCKSpecial to the Planet
Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone just presided over his Broadway debut with one show he directed at The Rep—Sarah Jones’ solo act Bridge & Tunnel—only to move on to prepare for the New Haven opening of another, the Maurice Sendak-Tony Kushner a daptations of Brundibar and Comedy on the Bridge. The double bill, which played Berkeley during the holidays, also opens uptown in New York this spring. -more-
Books: William Everson: The Poet as Mystic By PHIL McARDLESpecial to the Planet
When the poet William Everson (1912-1994) came to Berkeley shortly after World War II, he earned his living as a fine art printer and, at one time, as a janitor at the UC Press. He became part of the group known collectively as the Berkeley Renaissance—Ro bert Duncan, Mary Fabilli, Josephine Miles, and others. Despite local objections, critics fold the Berkeley Renaissance into the San Francisco Renaissance, which in turn is subsumed by the Beat Generation. In little more than a decade, however, he created a new identity for himself and stepped clear of such categories. -more-
Books: Garden Inspiration From California Native Plants By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet
At long last, there’s a worthy companionc—or successor—to Marjorie Schmidt’s indispensable Growing California Native Plants. -more-
Finding Food Can Be Tough Work for a Falcon By JOE EATON Special to the Planet
I know: it’s another birds-of-prey column. But when the gods drop a subject into your lap, it would be an act of rank ingratitude not to use it. -more-
Arts: A Graceful and EvocativeOne-Woman Performance By KEN BULLOCKSpecial to the Planet
“Early in the morning, always early, I come to throw dead shoes in the river ... today the river must eat.” -more-
Arts: A Cappella Contest A Treat for the Ears By STEVEN FINACOM Special to the Planet
Ah, a cappella. -more-
About the House: Detailed Inspections Can Benefit Sellers By MATT CANTOR
Eighteen years ago, when I started in the inspection business, my clients were always buyers and never sellers. In fact, sellers and, all too often, their agents, viewed the inspection as an assault on their homes. This was often miserable and I was sometimes foolish enough to take the bait and join in the adversarial tone of the conflict. When sellers insisted on being home, pitch-fork in hand to defend their turf from my unfair assertions, I would debate and even argue on occasion. -more-
Garden Variety: Garden Preparation Means Getting to Know the Dirt By RON SULLIVAN
Last week I counseled patience with a newly acquired garden. Honest to Ceres, it really does pay off, or at least cost less in terms of lost plants and ego-damage, to wait a full year before doing anything major and permanent to your land. You don’t have to sit on your thumbs: put in some encouraging annuals, watch when sprouts from whatever was left behind, and get your hands in the dirt in the meantime. You know you want to. -more-