Arts & Events
250 Years Old and Still Full of Surprises
Now that Mozart has turned 250, you would think that not much more could be discovered about the world’s most popular and most scrutinized composer. Then, along comes Austrian musicologist Michael Lorenz to dismiss a few old and new Mozartean myths. -more-
‘Girl of the Golden West’
To a Californian, there has to be something charming about an opera in which the mysterious stranger who wins the heroine’s heart is a man named Johnson from Sacramento. The Berkeley Opera makes full use of this charm in its production of Puccini’s The Girl of the Golden West, which opened Saturday, with a new English adaptation by David Scott Marley. -more-
Red Alert Issued for The Yellow Dodder
One more scary invasive exotic plant has shown up in the East Bay. Susan Schwartz of Friends of Five Creeks issued a bulletin: -more-
‘As You Like It’ in Neo-Classical Garb
Summer is the time for Shakespeare in America, and, whether outdoors or in, The Bard’s elusive sense combines best with the fragrance of the season in the comedies. -more-
Staging the Life of Billie Holiday
“Them that’s got will get/Them that’s not will lose ...” Billie Holiday in all her lyric glory, and all her degradation, has been subject for more than a few portrayals over the years. -more-
Moving Pictures: Lost Treasures Recovered and Restored
To be a silent movie fan is to live with a mixture of excitement and despair. It is estimated that more than 80 percent of all films from the silent era are lost, either destroyed by Hollywood studios during the transition to talkies or simply lost to the ravages of time. Original negatives and nitrate prints eventually succumb to chemical decomposition, disintegrating into piles of dust. And what has been lost is not limited to Hollywood movies; documentaries, social films, political films, home movies—a vast trove of footage documenting our social history has simply vanished. -more-
First Tibs: Exploring Ethiopian Food at Finfine
With all the Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurants in Berkeley and Oakland, it took me a while to get around to Finfine. My loss. -more-
About the House: How Trees Do and Do Not Impact Structures
Your Honor, does this lovely Liquid Amber appear capable of doing harm to anything, let alone Mr. Filbert’s 1926 Craftsman bungalow? No, I tell you, it’s a lie, a myth, a hit and a myth! -more-
Getting the Real Dirt on Smuggled Plants and Seeds
So you don’t wear sweatshop clothes or eat veal or plant invasive exotics. Now that the bulb and seed catalogues are starting to come in the email, there’s one more ethical matter to consider. -more-
Correction
An article in the June 30 Berkeley Daily Planet incorrectly stated the name of the president of the Berkeley Property Owners Association as Michael Wilson. The correct name is David Wilson. -more-