Arts & Events
Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay
MAGICIAN CHIN-CHIN IN EMERYVILLE -more-
Jazz Legend Randy Weston at Yoshi’s
Randy Weston—jazz pianist, composer, bandleader—turned 80 last year. Along with a few other generation be-boppers, such as Sonny Rollins, Hank Jones, Jimmy Heath and Benny Golson, he is one of the last survivors from the halcyon days of what was then being called modern jazz. -more-
Berkeley Opera Reinvents ‘Seraglio’ at Morgan Center
Mozart purists should not expect Berkeley Opera’s new production, Seraglio, to have much resemblance to the renowned opera The Abduction From The Seraglio. Nothing in this rendition follows the original except the music. -more-
The Theater; Virago Theatre Brings Kessler’s ‘Orphans’ to Alameda
Phillip and Treat are orphans, abandoned by their father when little, bereaved by their mother’s more recent death. But they still constitute a kind of nuclear family, however abbreviated and dysfunctional: Treat’s the breadwinner, a petty criminal who watches out for his little brother by keeping the allergic couchpotato Phillip indoors in their North Philadelphia tenement row house, with windows shut, subsisting mostly on tuna sandwiches (Phillip’s a gourmand of mayonnaise). -more-
East Bay Then and Now: Guy Hyde Chick, the Man Behind the House
Guy Hyde Chick is the kind of name one doesn’t forget easily. In addition to its catchy concatenation of consonants, the name stands for one of Bernard Maybeck’s most famous houses. But what of the man who built the house? This shadowy figure, now all but forgotten, once played a visible role in Berkeley’s public life. -more-
About the House: Ask Matt: How to Find Ways to Lift Your Spirits
Mr. Cantor, What do you think about lifting the shell of a house and building a new first floor under it? -more-
Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay
THE GREAT UNCLOTHED OAK GROVE -more-
SF Symphony Series Brings Music to the Masses
There is no sound quite like that of an orchestra warming up before a performance. Even for the classical music novice, the scattered sounds of violins, tympani, cellos and brass running through a chaotic mesh of notes and rhythms is enough to build anticipation for what awaits, for the drama and emotive power of supreme musicianship. -more-
Green Neighbors: Michelia: A Touch of the Himalayas in Berkeley
Most of Ron’s columns have featured street trees. I’m making an exception for Michelia doltsopa; the few specimens we know about are in private gardens and storefront planters. I would have passed off the one on our street as some odd magnolia, but she recognized it for what it was. One clue: the flowers are borne among the leaves rather than at the ends of the branches. -more-