Arts & Events

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 -more-

If you thought America’s victory over Germany in World War II was only a political/militaristic one, check out Before The Fall, opening today (Friday) at Landmark’s Act 1&2 theater in downtown Berkeley. Apparenty we won the culture war, too. The film may be German, made with German actors speaking the German language, but it is a purely American film, from the opening shots down to the score’s final notes. -more-

The 21st annual Berkeley Jewish Music Festival got off to a sizzling start last Saturday with a soul-stirring concert by the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars at Oakland’s First Congregational Church. -more-

End the senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs! Yes, they mean it and no, they don’t lack a sense of humor. They’re serious, not solemn. Their website features a gallery of pruning atrocities, and some are hilarious. -more-

If you missed the Jazzschool’s 2004 benefit concert featuring the Heath Brothers, you missed a major jazz event. The music went from great to unforgettable when 81-year-old bassist Percy Heath, who died last April 28, sat down to pluck out unaccompanied piccolo bass solos on Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird Suite,” Fats Navarro’s “Nostalgia” and the Johnny Green/Edward Heyman standard “Out of Nowhere.” It was like hearing cello virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich performing with the lyricism, grace and inspiration of an improvising jazz musician. -more-

Although the closest I’ve been to Nepal is the Himalayan Fair in Live Oak Park, I’ve come to like Nepalese food—at least as represented by Kathmandu on Solano Avenue and Little Nepal on Cortland Street in San Francisco. -more-

FRIDAY, MARCH 10 -more-

Once again, cheapness costs lives. This time it has to do with the skyrocketing cost of copper in the 1960s. If you’re my age, which I’m not going to reveal, you may remember when copper shot way up around 1965. Metal futures were all the rage and wire makers were freaking big time. Nobody wanted to pay twice the price for wire, but buildings had to be built, added onto or rewired. -more-

TUESDAY, MARCH 7 -more-

The following is an excerpt from Richard Schwartz’s Earthquake Exodus, 1906: Berkeley Responds to the San Francisco Refugees. The Daily Planet will run three more excerpts in the coming weeks. -more-

We get just enough sun in between the rains to keep us hoping, this time of year; just enough life showing in the trees and plants, wild and tame, to make us believe that there’s more to the world than cold and mud. The plums have blossomed and are starting to get down to summer’s business, unfurling their leaves to catch the sun of longer days. The buckeyes—just look at the bunch in the center strip on Sacramento south of University!—are spreading translucent green hands out to the plenty flowing from the sky. The sun itself, as the world turns our side to face it straight-on, begins to touch us with palpable energy. -more-

TUESDAY, MARCH 7 -more-