Arts & Events
Oakland Museum Holds Annual White Elephant Sale Next Weekend By STEVEN FINACOMSpecial to the Planet
Start your spring cleaning and decluttering early. There’s less than a week left to get rid of your extra and unwanted, but useable, belongings by giving them to the White Elephant Sale (WES) at the Oakland Museum of California -more-
Arts: Monologist Recounts the Travels of Fools By KEN BULLOCK Special to the Planet
Travel writer Jeff Greenwald, primed to be the raconteur of stories from his books, improvised on the spot in answer to Strange Travel Suggestions, climbs the stage at The Marsh-Berkeley, and begins to explain his props: a gameshow-like wheel, the rim covered with odd symbols—and a huge Tarot card, featuring the romanticized image of The Fool from the Rider Pack, carrying a bindle on a stick and proceeding trippingly over a cliff while dandling a rose, as a little dog prances by his side ... -more-
Moving Pictures: Film Documents Rising Tensions In 2004 Falluja By JUSTIN DeFREITAS
Early on in the documentary Occupation: Dreamland, soldiers of the 82nd Airborne are seen patrolling the streets of Falluja, talking with the city’s residents along the way. At one point an Iraqi man stands before a soldier and tells him that the Iraqi people simply cannot accept colonialism, that resistance is an innate part of the Iraqi identity. “Bear with me,” he says to the soldier. “This is something that is pent up inside our hearts … know it, record it, transmit it.” -more-
Moving Pictures: Love and Loneliness Along the Border By JUSTIN DeFREITAS
At 20 paces Ivan Thompson is a dead ringer for the late Hunter S. Thompson—a lean figure in jeans and 10-gallon hat, mysterious and rugged with eyes concealed by large dark sunglasses. However, Ivan—the self-styled “Cowboy Cupid” of director Michèle Ohayon’s documentary Cowboy del Amor, opening today at Shattuck Cinemas in downtown Berkeley—has none of the gonzo journalist’s mumbled, eccentric rapid-fire cadences. Instead he is a plain-spoken, down-to-earth southwesterner with the twangy, no-nonsense voice of a man who has spent his life on ranches, working hard and scraping by amid the tumbleweeds and dust. -more-
Exploring Berkeley’s Southside By MARTA YAMAMOTO Special to the Planet
Symbiotically, the University of California and the city of Berkeley are partners, not always in harmony. Since 1873 when students, professors and their educational accouterments moved from downtown Oakland to the new site above Oceanview, both have prospered. -more-
Gorman Building Rehab a Genuine Success Story By JOHN ENGLISH Special to the Planet
For an object lesson in preservation go to the corner of Telegraph Avenue and Parker Street where the old Gorman building has emerged from an exemplary rehab project. This historic structure with roots deep in the 19th century can now ably serve the 21st. -more-
About the House: What to Look For When Replacing a Roof By Matt Cantor
Dear Matt Cantor, -more-
Garden Variety: Tips For Finding the Right Tree for Your Garden By RON SULLIVAN
We’re nearing the end of bare-root tree season, but we can buy and plant a tree any time of the year here, lucky us. But picking out the right tree in a nursery can be confusing, and a tree is (one hopes) an investment that we’ll be living with for years. -more-
Arts: Local Soloists Featured with Oakland Symphony
Two local singers who are starting to make their mark in the national and international opera world will come back to Oakland as featured soloists in Friday’s Oakland East Bay Symphony concert, conducted by Michael Morgan at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. -more-
Canary Island Pine Trees Find a Home in East Bay By RON SULLIVAN Special to the Planet
You’ve probably seen Canary Island pines around Berkeley, though I don’t know of any that are official street trees. They’re spotted in groups around the UC campus—there’s one near the Campanile—and they show up in various civic plantings, on big lawns and open spaces. They’re big trees—the largest pine native to the “Old World”—with a soft look when they’re mature. -more-