Arts & Events

FRIDAY, FEB. 2 -more-

CONVERSATIONS ON ART -more-

Typing by candlelight (“Like the old guys ... the forefathers”), a nervous, diffident screenwriter fends off the attentions of his feral older brother, a rawboned galoot just in from the desert, spilling potato chips over the writer and ruffling his hair, darkly exclaiming, “Don’t worry about me; I’m not the one to worry about!”—as crickets chirp and there’s talk of coyotes killing cocker spaniels in suburbia by the San Gabriels, in Actors Ensemble’s production of Sam Shepard’s True West at Live Oak Theatre. -more-

Skylights are great. Nearly everyone agrees. They lighten up dark spaces and do so without any energy expense but like so many things, what seems like a good thing at first glance is a bit more complex and not right for every situation. Moreover, as most people know, they come with the possibility of leaks. So let’s take a look at some of the issues associated with putting in a skylight, living with one that you have now and just for fun, some of the newer things happening in this corner of construction. -more-

I’d heard a rumor (Thanks, Chris!) that Ken’s Nursery in San Pablo was up for sale, so I moseyed on up San Pablo Avenue to that weird intersection like a broken asterisk, the corner of Where Value Village Used to Be and Where Bertola’s Used to Be. It’s just before the Mall Under Construction, mere blocks north of Casino San Pablo and the Alvarado adobe. -more-

In case you hadn’t heard, the Association of Bay Area Governments estimates that up to 80 percent of retrofits around here will be ineffective in even a moderate earthquake. -more-

FRIDAY, FEB. 2 -more-

A Jan. 30 story on landmarking the Bevatron wrongly identified the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s affiliations: the University of California manages and operates LBNL for the Department of Energy. -more-

TUESDAY, JAN. 30 -more-

NEW TAPESTRY TO BE UNVEILED -more-

A rather involved tale of the appearance (and disappearance) of a boarder in a Parisian flat, a young woman from Marseille, studying acting ... but is she from Marseille? Or studying acting? Certainly she proves to be “enceinte”—and the effect of the ephemeral tenant on the family, narrated wistfully by Madame, especially after seeing her again, years later, for an instant in a commercial on TV, while the background of the 13ieme Arrondisement constantly changes as Asian immigrants move in ... -more-

TV news clips of a contrite James Frey being castigated by Oprah for adding fictional sins to his (until then) best-selling memoir “A Million Little Pieces,” reminded me of G. B. Shaw’s hilarious character “Rummy” in Major Barbara. (1905) Rummy is a regular at Salvation Army rallies, where he confesses long lists of imaginary sins, making good money in contributions for himself and for the charity. Probably our appetite for vicarious sin and redemption goes back even further than a century. -more-

First, my apologies for the last column’s headline, which I suspect was a spell check-inflicted error. “Scooter” is one of the surf scoter’s many vernacular names, along with “skunkhead coot,” “blossom bill,” “tar-bucket,” and several that involve distasteful ethnic references. But officially, it’s “scoter.” -more-

TUESDAY, JAN. 30 -more-