TUESDAY, APRIL 3 

“Housing the Homeless and Low Income in Berkeley” with Stephen Barton, City of Berkeley Housing Director, brown bag lunch from noon to 2 p.m. at the Albany Library. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 843-8824. 

“Health and Stress” with Dr. Jay Sordean, Oriental Medical Doctor at 7 p.m. at the El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave., El Cerrito. 526-7512. 

Free Legal Assistance the first Tues. of the month at 6 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. Advance registration required. 526-3720, ext. 5. 

Discussion Salon on Incarceration vs Education at 7 p.m. at JCC, 1414 Walnut.  

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. 848-1704. 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 

Teach-In and Vigil Against American Torture every Wed. at noon at Boalt Hall, Bancroft Way at College Ave.  

Walk, Talk, Buck the Fence What’s at stake in the Ecology of Berkeley’s Strawberry Canyon A walk at 5 p.m. every Wed. with Ignacio Chapela and expert guests to discuss what is at stake in the proposed steps for the filling of the Canyon by the UC-LBL Rad-Labs, and now British Petroleum. http://canyonwalks.blogspot.com  

Volunteer at the Native Nursery in Oakland in plant propagation and transplanting, watering, and other maintenance associated with growing native wetland plants. From 1 to 3 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. RSVP to 452-9261. 

Oakland Public Library Book Sale at The Bookmark, 721 Washington St., Oakland, through April 7. Benefits Friends of the Oakland Public Library. 444-0473. 

ReelVenezuela, Venezuelan films at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$9. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Arctic Warming” with author and filmmaker Jonathan Waterman at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Forum on the Solutions to Math and Science Education Lag at 5 p.m. at Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, 17 Gauss Way. Sponsored by the East Bay Community Foundation. 836-3223. 

New to DVD: “Volver” at 7 p.m. at JCCEB, 1414 Walnut St. Discussion follows. 848-0237. 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 10 a.m. to noon at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland Advanced sign-up is required; phone Anne at 594-5165.  

“Avalokitesvara is Everybody: Disguise As Skillful Means in Sanskrit Mahayana” with Dr. Will Tuladhar-Douglas at 6:30 p.m. at Jodo Shinshu Center, 2140 Durant Ave. Sponsored by the The Institute of Buddhist Studies. RSVP Requested 809-1444. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center.www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 

ReelVenezuela, Venezuelan films at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$9. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Finding Inspiration from Wild Places for Your Native Garden” A presentation by Pete Veilleux, of the native landscape firm “East Bay Wilds” at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. 548-2220 ext. 233. 

“Darfur Diaries: A Message from Home” at 7 p.m. at 2050 Valley Life Sciences Bldg, UC Campus. http://stopgenocidenoeworg 

Free Diabetes Screening from 8:15 to 11 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Do not eat or drink anything for 8 hours beforehand. 981-5332. 

Alcohol Screening from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Options Recovery Services, 1919 Addison St. #204. No appointment necessary. 666-9900. 

“The Eight-Circuit Brain in Theory and Practice” with Antero Alli at 8 p.m. at the Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St., near University. Cos tis $8. 464-4640. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud's Pizza, 3290 Adeline. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 

Impeachment Banner Fridays at 6:45 to 8 a.m. on the Berkeley Pedestrian bridge between Seabreeze Market and the Berkeley Aquatic Park, ongoing on Fridays until impeachment is realized. www. Impeachbush-cheney.com 

“Dismantling Empire: Creating a Culture of Peace” St. Joseph the Worker Good Friday Service with Rev. Michael Yoshii at 7 a.m. at Livermore Labs, intersection of Vasco and Patterson Pass Rd. 482-1062. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Claudine Torfs on “The Epidemiology of Birth Defects” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. For information and reservations call 526-2925.  

Berkeley Public Library 5th Birthday Party for its new Renovated Central Library from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. with music and a cake. 981-6107. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org  

“Return of the Condor: The Race to Sve Our Largest Bird from Extinction” with John Moir at 7 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

“Mardi Gras: Made in China” a documentary on the women workers making beads at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., midtown Oakland. Donation $5. www.HumanistHall.net 

Movies That Matter “The Motorcycle Diaries” at 6:30 p.m. at the Neumayer Residence, 565 Bellevue St. at Perkins, Oakland. 451-3009. 

Circle Dancing, simple folk dancing with instruction at 7:30 p.m. at Finnish Brotherhood Hall, 1970 Chestnut St at University. Donation of $5 requested. 528-4253. www.circledancing.com 

SATURDAY, APRIL 7 

City Of Berkeley City-Wide Easter Egg Hunt from 9:15 to 11:30 a.m. at Willard Park, 2730 Hillegass Ave. Activities include carnival games, face painting, picture with bunnies, goodie bags, egg hunt and treasure hunts. Check in at 9:15 a.m. to register for the hunt. Cost is $5. 981-6678. 

Eggster Egghunt and Learning Festival with educational activities for children and their families from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the Valey Life Sciences Bldg., UC Campus. 204-4613. www.eggster.org 

Berkeley History Center Walking Tour “UC Memorial Stadium, Sports Hall of Fame and Live Oak Trees” led by Bruce Goodell at 10 a.m. Cost is $8-$10. For information on meeting place and to register call 848-0181. 

Mt. Wanda Wildflower Walk Join a Park Ranger for a walk in the hills where John Muir took his daughters. Terrain is steep, wear walking shoes and bring water. Rain cancels. Meet at 9 a.m. at the Cal-Trans Park and Ride lot at the corner of Alhambra Ave. and Franklin Canyon Rd., Martinez. 925-228-8860. 

“Count Down Your Age” Tips on reversing the aging process with Dave Brunell of the Longlife Club, at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Sponsored by Friends of the Berkeley Public Library. 981-6107. 

38th Annual UC Open Taekwondo Championship, beginning at 8:30 a.m. and running though out the day, at the Haas Pavilion 2301 Bancroft Way. Cost is $3-$8. 642-3268. www.ucmap.org 

Extra Dimensions and String Theory: Physics of the Future or Pure Mathematics? with Professor Lawrence M. Krauss and Professor John Terning from 1 to 4 p.m. at Lawrence Hall of Science www.multiversaljourneys.org 

“Lead-Safe Painting and Remodeling” Learn how to detect and remedy lead hazards and conduct lead-safe renovations for your older home. Sponsored by the Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Cesar E. Chavez Branch Library, 3301 E. 12th Street, Suite 271, Oakland. Free. 567-8280. www.aclppp.org 

Help Tutor Teens Training session for new volunteers in the Homework Assistance Program from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, Rockridge Branch, 5366 College Ave., Oakland. 238-7233. 

Common Agenda Regional Network General Meeting to discuss Iraq War responses, Pelosi Lobby project, and other progressive concerns at 2 p.m. at the Peace Action office, 2800 Adeline.  

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your new best dog friend from noon to 3 p.m. at Pet Food Express Rockridge, 5144 Broadway, Oakland. 267-1915, ext. 500. www.hopalong.org  

Hopalong Animal Rescue Come meet your furry new best cat friend from noon to 3 p.m. at 2940 College Ave. 267-1915, ext. 500. www.hopalong.org  

Petite Pooches Playgroup for small dogs from 10:30 11:30 a.m., one block north of Solano on Ensenada at Talbot. 524-2459. 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden Sat. and Sun. at 2 pm. Regional Parks Botanic Garden, Tilden Park. Call to confirm. 841-8732.  

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 8 

Architecture Tour of the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., designed by Kevin Roche. Meet at 1 p.m. at the koi pond, first level. Free. 238-2200. 

Easter Egg Hunt from 1 to 2 p.m. at Elephant Pharmacy, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Meet the Bunnies: Adopt, Don’t Breed from 2 to 4 p.m. at RabbitEars, 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington, behind Ace Hardware. 525-6155. 

Easter at the Kensington Farmer’s Market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 303 Arlington Ave., Kensington, behind Ace Hardware. 525-7232. 

Free Sailboat Rides from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Cal Sailing Club, Berkeley Marina. Wear warm, waterproof clothing and bring a change of clothes in case you get wet. www.cal-sailing.org 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Tibetan Buddhism with Bob Russo in “Peace through Understanding: Meditation in Action” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 843-6812. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

MONDAY, APRIL 9 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class at 6:30 p.m. at Keller Williams, 4341 Piedmont Ave., 2nd Flr., Oakland. To register call Lori at 531-2665. 

“Different Approaches to Healing Stress” with Dr. Jay Sordean, LAc, OMD, ND, at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. 524-3043. 

Teen Wild Guide Training at the Oakland Zoo Teen volunteers are needed to assist in the new Valley Children’s Zoo. Training from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Oakland Zoo. For information call 632-9525. www.oaklandzoo.org 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at East Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or go to www.BeADonor.com Code: UCB. 

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

ONGOING 

Tax Help at the Berkeley Public Library Sat. from 11:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the South Branch. Call for appointment. 981-6260. Also every Tues. and Thurs. at the West Branch from 12:15 to 3:15 p.m. Call for appointment. 981-6270. 

Berkeley Youth Alternatives Girls Basketball Age 15 and under league begins April 11 and 18 and under begins April 13. From 5:30 to 8:30 at Emery High School, 1100 47th St. Emeryville. Cost is $175 per team. 845-9066.  

CITY MEETINGS 

Commission on the Status of Women meets Wed., April 4, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Tasha Tervelon, 981-5190.  

Downtown Area Plan Advisory Commission meets Wed., April 4, at 7 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7487. 

Housing Advisory Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5400. 

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Gisele Sorensen, 981-7419.  

Public Works Commission meets Thurs., April 5, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. Jeff Egeberg, 981-6406.

TUESDAY, APRIL 3 

FILM 

Anthology FIlm Archives: Recent Preservations with archivist Andrew Lampert at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Arlene Blum on “Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Saxophone Quartet at 8 p.m. ath Berkeley City Club. 2315 Durant Ave. Cost is $20. 525-5211. 

Ellen Hoffman and Singers’ Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Rebecca Griffin at 7:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Thomas Mapfumo at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdays, a weekly showcase of up-and-coming ensembles from Berkeley Jazzschool at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Along the Five” Works by Tyrell Collins and others opens at Cecile Moochnek Gallery, 1809-D Fourth St., and runs through May 13. 549-1018. 

THEATER 

Opera Piccola’s ArtGate Program “365 Days/365 Plays” at 7 p.m. at Oakland Metro Theater, 201 Broadway. Pay what you can. 658-0967. www.opera-piccola.org 

FILM 

Film 50: History of Cinema “Cléofrom 5 to 7” at 3 p.m. with a lecture by Marilyn Fabe at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808.  

“The Private Archives of Pablo Escobar” Documentary film screening followed by discussion with Columbian Journalist Daniel Coronell at 7 p.m. at 160 Kroeber Hall, UC Campus. 642-2088. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Ken Kuhlken, mystery writer, introduces his new novel “The Do-Re-Mi” at 6:30 p.m. at Oakland Public Library, Main Library, 125 14th St., Oakland. 238-3134. 

Erika Mailman reads from her historical novel “Woman of Ill Fame” about a Gold Rush prostitute, at 7 p.m. at Black Oak Books. 486-0698. www.blackoakbooks.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Brad Buethe Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Bandworks Concert at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5, children under 12 free. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Julio Bravo at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Salsa lessons at 8 p.m. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159.  

Kurt Ribak Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Uday Bhawalker with Manik Munde at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Noah Grant at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200.  

THURSDAY, APRIL 5 

EXHIBITIONS 

“ultra deepfield” Bay Area artists look at urban locations in transition. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhitition runs to May 12. 549-2977. www.kala.org 

“A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s” Guided tour at 12:15 and 5:30 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. 

FILM 

“Antonini: The Vision That Changed the Cinema” at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Free First Thursday. 642-0808.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Lunch Poems with Joanne Kyger at 12:10 p.m. in the Morrison Library, in the Doe Library, UC Campus. http://lunchpoems.berkeley.edu 

Seth Lerer on “Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Jane Ganahl reads from her new book on mid-life dating, “Naked on the Page” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Tourettes without Regrets at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $8. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Richard Shindell at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Betty Fu & Ben Stolorow Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Plum Crazy, Trevor Garrod at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

La Vendi, The New Up at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $5. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

Martin Locke, singer/songwriter, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Mike Lee and Amber at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 

THEATER 

“Clown Bible” acrobatic theater based on man’s relationship with God, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at Willard Middle School Metal Shop Theater, 2425 Stuart St., through April 14. Tickets are $15-$20. www.brownpapertickets.com 

Masquers Playhouse “She Loves Me” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $12. 232-4031. www.masquers.org  

Shotgun Players “Blood Wedding” Thurs.-Sun. at 8 p.m. at the Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through April 29. Tickets are $17-$25. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Marga Gomez “Laugh Baby Laugh” at 8 p.m. at La Lesbian @ La Peña, Tickets are $20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

EXHIBITIONS 

“City of Walls, City of People” The urban experience in Oakland, CA, and Venice, Italy, a collaboration with California College of the Arts, and Istituto Universitario di Architettura, Design e Arti, in Venice. Reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

“New Works by Judith Hoersting and Judi Miller” Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Mercury 20 Gallery, 25 Grand Ave. at Broadway. Exibition runs to April 28. mercurytwenty@gmail.com 

“Collaboration of Poetry and Painting” Works by Louis Delsarte and Ntozake Shange opens with a reception at 6 p.m. at Joyce Gordon Gallery, 406 14th St., Oakland. Exhibition runs through April 30. 465-8928. www.joycegordongallery.com 

“Jarring Realities” Paintings and sculptures by Scott Hove, Donna Mendes and Marty McCorkle opens at the Esteban Sabar Gallery, 480 23rd St., and runs through April 30. 444-7411. www.estebansabar.com 

David Gentry: Conserved Constructs featuring mixed-media sculptures. Reception at 6 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland. 763-9425. 

FILM 

“Tropical Malady: Shot-by-Shot” with Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Sadiya Hartman introduces “Lose Your Mother: A Journey Across the Atlantic Slave Route” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. www.codysbooks.com  

John Moir describes “Return of the Condor: The Race to Save Our Largest Bird from Extinction” at 7 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak St., Oakland. 238-2200. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Free Jazz Fridays with Woman's Worth, Sword & Sandals, Vholtz at 8 p.m. at 1510 Eighth St. Performance Space, Oakland. Cost is $5-$15 sliding scale. 415-846-9432. 

Resmiranda Vocal Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. at Northbrae Community Church, 941 the Alameda. Tickets are $20-$25 at the door. 

Michael Zilber Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Caribbean Allstars, Kalbass at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054.  

Jack Gates Ensemble, Latin jazz, at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

Marley’s Ghost at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Ravines and Tamra Engle at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Pat Johnson & The New Sheiks, Penelope Houston, Julia Dawn at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Cabrillo Beach Boys, Dirty Looks, Neverending Party at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Dave Stein Hub-Bub at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790.  

Les Nubians at 9:30 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low. Cost is $25. 548-1159.  

The Sonando Project “Musica de su Mente” The Latin Side of Stevie Wonder at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Tommy Gun and the Bullets, Lincolms at 8:30 p.m. at the Uptown Nightclub, 1928 Telegraph, Oakland. Cost is $6. 451-8100. www.uptownnightclub.com 

Gonzalo Rubalcaba Group at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $10-$20. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SATURDAY, APRIL 7 

CHILDREN  

“The Story of Norooz” A children’s theatre production in celebration of the Persian New Year at 2 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marina Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with The Crosspulse Rhythm Duo at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $4 for adults, $3 for children. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

THEATER 

Marga Gomez “Laugh Baby Laugh” at 8 p.m. at La Lesbian @ La Peña, Tickets are $20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

FILM 

“Blissfuly Yours” with Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul at 5:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Bay Area Poets Coalition holds an open reading, from 3 to 5 p.m., at Strawberry Creek Lodge, 1320 Addison St. Park on the street, not in Lodge parking lot. 527-9905. poetalk@aol.com 

Dave Bunnell, founder of the Long Life Club reads from his new book “Count Down Your Age” at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Public Central Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6142.  

Rafaela Castro reads from “Provocaciones: Letters from the Prettiest Girl in Arvin” stories about growing up Latina in California, at 6 p.m. at the Oakland Public Library, César Chávez Branch, 3301 East 12th St., Oakland. 535-5620. 

Ana-Maurine Lara, AfroDominican American lesbian writer and organizer reads from her new novel “Erzulie’s Skirt” at 2 p.m. at Women’s Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. RSVP to margo@wcrc.org 601-4040. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Sarah Chang, violin, Ashley Wass, piano, at 8 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $36-$68. 642-9988. 

Mark Growden, Knees and Elbows at 8 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $10. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

Gary Wade, blues guitar and vocals at noon at Cafe Zeste, 1250 Addison St. at Bonar, in the Strawberry Creek Park complex. 704-9378. 

Yancie Taylor Jazztet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Tito y su Son de Cuba at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cuban dance lesson at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Sotaque Baino, Brazilian music at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $5-$10. 548-1159. www.shattuckdownlow.com 

Heather Frederick and Jamie Jenkins at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Lost Weekend at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jarrett Cherner Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Nicole McRory at 9:30 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

The Ravines at 8 p.m. at Spuds Pizza, 3290 Adeline St. Cost is $7. 558-0881. 

Woven Hand, Pelusa, Scott Simon at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Terrence Brewer Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 848-8277. 

Dekapitator, Menacer, Hatchet, Fog of War at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $7. 525-9926. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 8 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

“Just April” concert with April Wright at 6 p.m. at St. Paul AME Church, 2024 Ashby Ave. 697-8302. 

Jeremy Taylor at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$18.50. 548-1761.  

Robert Stewart Quartet at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ.  

Taurus Reggae Bash at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. 525-5054.  

Second Opinion, S.B.V., Punch at 5 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $6. 525-9926. 

Asunder, Laudanum, Malefica at 6 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway. Cost is $6. 763-1146. www.oaklandmetro.org 

MONDAY, APRIL 9 

EXHIBITIONS 

“2 of a Kind” Prints by artists from the California Society of Printmakers and the NIAD Center for Art and Disabilities opens at 551 23rd St., Richmond, and runs through June 15. 620-0290. 

FILM 

“Jazz on a Monday Afternoon” Films and discussion on The Swing Era at 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St., 3rd flr. 981-6100. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Art in the “Athens of the West” with Gray Brechin at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 981-6150.  

A.C.T.’s “After the War” Panel Discussion with Philip Kan Gotanda, playwright at 5 p.m. in the Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall, UC Campus. 643-9670. 

“Actors Reading Writers “Teachers & Students” at 7:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214. 

Anastasia Goodstein describes “Totally Wired: What Teens and Tweens are Really Doing Online” at 7 p.m. at Cody’s Books on Fourth St. 559-9500. 

Page to Stage Delroy Lindo interviewed by Belva Davis at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949. 

Poetry Express with Selene Steese and Michael C. Ford at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. berkeleypoetryexpress@yahoo.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tangria Jazz Group at 12:15 p.m. in the Elkus Room, 125 Morrison Hall, UC Campus. 

Fishtank Ensemble & Luminescent Orchestrii at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $5. 548-1761.  

Parlor Tango at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

I.C.P. Orchestra 40th Anniversary Tour at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$16. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com  

YOUTH PERFORM ‘365 DAYS / 365 PLAYS’ 

Opera Piccola’s ArtGate program presents students from EOSA and Oakland Tech High schools in a performance of Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays, Wednesday, April 4, at 7 p.m. at the Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway in Jack London Square. Admission is pay-what-you-can, no one turned away for lack of funds. 658-0967. www.opera-piccola.org. 

‘ULTRA DEEPFIELD’ AT KALA ART INSTITUTE 

Michael Damm, Mayumi Hamanaka and Apollonia Morrill explore often forgettable urban places, empty spaces, and space in transition in new works in photography and video in Kala Art Insititute’s “ultra deepfield” exhibition. Opening reception at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 5 at 1060 Heinz Ave. Exhibition runs to May 12. Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. 549-2977. www.kala.org. 

‘JAZZ ON A MONDAY AFTERNOON’ 

Dr. Dee Spencer continues her her presentations on the history of jazz with film and discussion of the Swing Era at 2 p.m. Monday, April 9 the Berkeley Pubbc Library. Spencer combines archival footage of great performances with lectures and discussion of the music and its creators. The series has been popular, so expect to arrive early to get a seat. 2090 Kittredge St., Third Floor. 981-6100. 

AVANT-GARDE FILMS FROM THE ‘60s AND ’70S 

Andrew Lampert, an archivist and programmer at New York’s Anthology Film Archives, will screen and discuss a series recently preserved classic avant-garde films from the 1960s and ’70s at 7:30 p.m. today (Tuesday) at Pacific Film Archive. $4-$8. 2575 Bancroft Way. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu.

On a blood-red tile floor stained with the sepia of age, rust or dried blood, before a great stucco arch which later becomes the outline of a full moon, The Mother (Scarlett Hepworth) puts a knife which her son The Groom (Ryan O’Donnell) has handed to her on an empty chair in front of the one in which she sits. She stares at it mournfully: “How can it be that something as small as a pistol or a knife can kill a man?”  

So one passion, the unrelenting memory of a blood feud, becomes the dark undertow in the seeming happiness of The Groom’s announcement of his engagement. And there is another passion, another unforgotten memory: the secret and thwarted love between The Bride (Erin Gilley) from a remote farm, and hard-riding, ne’er-do-well, brooding Leonardo (John-Paul Goorjian): “To keep still when you’re on fire is the worst punishment we can inflict on ourselves.” Leonardo, the only one in the play with a proper name, is doubly fated, as scion to the family mortally locked in feuding with The Groom’s. 

Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding, staged by Shotgun on Kate Boyd’s great set in a new translation (Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata), begins with discordant notes sounded in The Mother’s complaints, in the gossip of neighbors (“What would he [Leonardo] be doing in that desert? ... they say the horse was drowned in sweat!”), in rumor and in the voiceless attitudes of oppression and hysteria that foreshadow the crisis, though not the manner of its unfolding onstage. 

Director Evrin Odcikin has added the guitar (and, for one number, the singing, the heart of the form) of David McLean and the choreography of Yaelisa (daughter to the late singer Isa Mura), who together are credited with the music. Especially since Carlos Saura’s film of a dress run-through of Antonio Gades’ textless dance drama of the story, it’s become something of a cliche to make Blood Wedding into a full-blown flamenco show (an exception being Theatre of Yugen’s Kabuki-Flamenco fusion adaptation a few years back). But here, the music underscores certain moods and moments nicely, coming into its own at the wedding party, with the charming dances of the two Girls (Anna Ishida and Jessica Kitchens), who otherwise tease and attend The Bride and later sing and wind yarn in the wake of tragedy. 

The bare plot would seem merely melodramatic, but Garcia Lorca’s poetic text concentrates on the sacramental, liturgical quality of his stylization of the folk speech of his native Andalusia, qualities often ascribed to cante flamenco as well. And the plot breaks, the story opens up to the fantastic, in a nocturnal world of fugitives in the shadow, branches in moonlight. The director credits Kate Boyd with the fine idea of having the cast face away from the audience. They stand on the chairs they sat in upstage, where they reacted to the action earlier like a flamenco chorus, and now they become trees with upraised, gesturing hands as branches which Woodcutters (John Mercer and Baruch Porras-Hernandez) talk of cutting down, so The Moon (a fabulous Dawn Scott, also Leonardo’s Wife) can “shine on the buttons that open the vest” to knife-thrusts as The Beggar (Patricia Miller, also The Bride’s Nurse) demands. “I am the false dawn in the treetops,” says The Moon, entering, “They will not get away!” 

In the program and in interviews, the director—who speaks charmingly of seeing Blood Wedding performed as a boy in his native Istanbul, and of the first time he saw Yaelisa dance—talks about the importance of Duende, that relative of Socrates’ Daemon and the Islamic Baraka as well as of Poe’s Imp of the Perverse, which brings a vertigo of mortal anguish to life and art. He also mentions the reservations audiences seem to have about Lorca’s “old-fashioned dialogue.” 

But the dialogue is the heart of this poet’s play, a timeless sense of repetition, underpinned by an echoless yet pregnant silence, delivered with a stark, insinuating finality. Just as the contrast between the blinding light of the south, plunged into the darkness of the night, with the seductive flicker of moonlight, defines the play’s setting, so the rhetoric of the dialogue is the very life of its characters, all folk types. 

Mistaking decorative stylizations, like stamping, or choral reactions to certain lines, for the real, poetic thing, here the delivery of the text ends up lacking gravity, and is self-consciously thrown away. And the Duende that’s been extolled is passed over at its real, crucial moment by having The Groom and Leonardo fight onstage (choreographed well enough, but in imitation of Gades’ dancers shot in slow motion by Saura), later returning as spectres to present their bloody sashes. The playwright explicitly sets the fight offstage, punctuated by screams, then silence—and irremediable absence. 

Most stagings in English of Lorca’s plays (and translations of his poetry, though Samuel Beckett’s friend Thomas McGreevy and Berkeley’s own Jaime De Angulo came up with rare exceptions) dwell on his supposed imagistic and surrealistic qualities. That’s something Bay Area poet Jack Spicer saw through, saying in his book After Lorca, addressing the dead Andalusian: “We have both tried to be independent of images ... to make things visible rather than to make pictures of them ... Things do not connect; they correspond.” That points to the Symbolist aesthetic—“Not the thing itself, but its effect”—from which Lorca innovated a complex, delicate style. Besides the elaborations of folk speech by poet Rosalia Castro and playwright Ramon del Valle-Inclan (both Galicians) another Celtic folk element comes into the origins of Blood Wedding: its inspiration from Riders to the Sea, by John Synge, Irish author of The Playboy of the Western World, close to W. B. Yeats and Dublin’s Abbey Theatre and to Maurice Maeterlinck and the Symbolist stage of Paris. It’s no mistake that James Graham-Lujan, Lorca’s friend and the first (and still finest) translator of his plays into English, used Synge’s tragedy as model for his version of Blood Wedding. 

Shotgun’s production reaches out for some interesting effects that prove merely ornamental, making Blood Wedding into a vaguely Expressionistic potboiler. To paraphrase a critic of Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer’s epics, “Very pretty; not Lorca.” 

Photograph by Howard Gerstein 

Ryan O’Donnell, Erin Gilley and John-Paul Goorjian in Shotgun’s Blood Wedding.

I first met Tiny when she came to my law office to talk about working off her parking tickets. She had pink hair spiking off in various directions and was dressed in a biker punk combination of clashing prints and colors. I remember thinking she looked awfully young, but then again, something about her contradicted that youthful impression. Now reading her extraordinary memoir I understand the reason for the double image. 

When she was 11 years old, Tiny became her disabled mother’s sole support and caregiver. She was for all practical purposes her mother’s mother. Their joint struggle for survival is at the core of this book. 

In the opening chapters of her book, Criminal Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America, Tiny sketches her mother-line of abused and poverty-stricken women stretching back generations to the Irish slums of Liverpool. Tiny’s grandmother, Helen Jo, sailed to New York alone and practically penniless when she was 15. Her hopes of becoming an actress expired in an abusive marriage which lasted long enough for her to give birth to three children. When her husband smacked her one too many times she knocked him unconscious with a frying pan and walked out, leaving the children behind. Boarding a bus to Philadelphia, she met the man who would become Tiny’s grandfather. He was “tall and thin, with kinky black-brown hair, dark skin, and eyes like smooth pieces of brown suede.” He told her she was pretty, said he was a singer, and promised to take care of her. They lived together in the dark corner room of a downtown hotel. She became pregnant. When Dee, Tiny’s mother, was born, the man with the brown suede eyes offered to marry Helen Jo. When she refused he left. Abandoned, unable to work and care for her baby, she made the fateful decision to give Dee away to a foster home, the first of a series in which Dee was repeatedly sexually, physically and emotionally abused.  

Dee emerged from foster care emotionally scarred but with a fierce will to survive. She met Tiny’s father while she was still in high school. He was white, wealthy and privileged and found her exotic. They married and moved to Camarillo, where Tiny was born. After finishing medical school, he began to fall apart. He didn’t really want to be a doctor. The marriage unraveled. Violently. When he broke her arm, Dee took Tiny and left. Thrown back into poverty, she struggled to stay afloat. She managed to get a masters degree in social work from Fresno State and for two and a half years held a job as a case worker in a Catholic group home. She was laid off when the funding got cut. It was to be her last job. She had a complete psychological and physical breakdown.  

From then on it was up to Tiny to keep herself and her mother alive. She learned to forage and scheme and pretend to be older than she was. She dressed up in her “rent-starter” outfit to beg landlords to rent them a place with no credit and the promise that a check was in the mail. Eviction followed eviction. They moved from Los Angeles, to Mexico, to Santa Monica, to Venice Beach. 

In Venice Beach they screened Teddy bears on T-shirts and hawked them on the boardwalk. A month of rain killed their profits. Evicted one more time, they packed all their possessions in an old clunker and drove north to Berkeley. In Berkeley they sold their Teddy bear shirts on Telegraph Avenue and lived for a time in their car. It was cold. “Blankets on top of Goodwill-purchased blankets were piled on our already overdressed bodies, crunched behind protruding steering wheel, gear stick and dashboard and still, minute corners of inexplicably exposed skin would catch the icy drifts of air from the black California nights.” It’s illegal to “inhabit a house car” in Berkeley, and in no time Tiny and Dee had amassed a huge number of tickets for what Tiny calls “DWP”—driving while poor. Warrants were issued. Tiny was picked up, put in jail and got sentenced to do gazillion hours of community service. More evictions followed.  

In adversity the bond between mother and daughter grew fierce and unbreakable. Love does not adequately describe their relationship. There was too much need and dependency. It was almost as if the umbilical cord that once united mother and daughter had never been cut. Tiny fiercely rejects the assumption that the child’s passage to adulthood must involve her differentiating herself from her mother and she would fiercely reject the suggestion that life flowed in only one direction through the cord that bound them together. She would not, could not abandon her mother, “without whom,” as she writes, “there would be no me.” She credits her indomitable will to her mother:  

My mother . . .taught me that nothing was ever too hard to do when it came to people, community and advocacy; as a matter of fact nothing was ever too hard to do in life. Period. If it had to be done then it must be done, unless you are deathly ill and even then it was somehow accomplished. This unrelenting work ethic and refusal to accept defeat or failure was one of the crazy wonderful things that my mother infused into me. Survival was just something you always did, no matter what. 

I have a homeless friend, Jimbow the Hobow, who’s lived out on the Albany landfill. He’ll relate to me a litany of his latest woes, but invariably conclude “I'm not trying to sell you a snivel sheet.” Tiny’s memoir is not a snivel sheet. At times she imagined suicide. At other times, the childish demanding, complaining, indomitable mother and her adultish, resourceful daughter would collapse in laughter, reimagining their lives as a living theater of the absurd, finding common ground in fantasy.  

On the Venice Boardwalk they sat on folding chairs next to a cardboard “Depressed Box.” “Give us a dollar,” they announced to passersby, “and we’ll tell you how depressed we are.” In Berkeley they transformed the windows of a squatted storefront into a series of art installations. “The Phobia Support Group” was a collection of cut-out cartoon characters who all suffered from severe phobias and met on a 24-7 basis around a table in the window. “Fear of the Marketplace” was a collection of haphazard items for sale with a sign “Throw in your money and we will throw out the product.”  

Dee was born Mary Jo and Tiny had been Lisa, but on their drive north from Venice Beach they abandoned their given names “and the myth of Dee and Tiny was born in what seemed to be a journey of life-imitating-art-imitating-life, tragedy-be-coming-reality-becoming some kind of strange performance art piece. . . . or maybe it was just a really long and miserable drive.” The myth of their lives, punctured and battered by reality, sustained them. Art had far more to do with their survival than charity and social services. 

Tiny did more than survive. She proudly and rightly proclaims: “Mine is not only a story of survival, but of triumph.” Having taken up residence in the Bay Area, Dee and Tiny began auditing classes at San Francisco State. They had the good fortune to meet extraordinary teachers. In Mina Caulfield’s anthropology class they learned about the resistance of colonized people to their oppression. Tiny came to see the impossible life she and her mother were living in the context of the issues facing poor people around the world. Theirs was not just a struggle for survival. It was a battle for justice.  

Newly energized, Tiny turned all the skills she learned keeping herself and her mother alive to founding a series of extraordinary community enterprises. A powerful organizer was born. She began with Poor, a glossy full color magazine, intended to be the voice of the poor as Fortune is the voice of the rich. With Dee at her side, she started Poor News Network, and the Po’ Poets Project, and a job training program for media activists, and a radio program, all devoted to the proposition that poor people are the experts on their own lives. Tiny believes they should be respected as “poverty scholars” and she aims to let their voices be heard.  

Criminal of Poverty is by turns funny and heart-rending. It should be required reading for anyone even thinking about passing new laws criminalizing the homeless. Ross MacDonald famously described Raymond Chandler as writing about the “sun-blinded streets” of Los Angeles “like a slumming angel.” Tiny, whose formal education ended with the sixth grade, writes like an angel. But she’s not slumming.  

Full disclosure: Tiny mentions Osha Neumann in her acknowledgements, and devotes a chapter to their meeting. Neumann is on the Board of Poor Magazine.  

CRIMINAL OF POVERTY: GROWING UP HOMELESS IN AMERICA 

By Tiny,  

aka Lisa Gray-Garcia.  

City Lights  

Foundation.  

$15.95.