Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Friday May 11, 2007

FRIDAY, MAY 11 -more-


Arts and Entertainment Around the East Bay

Friday May 11, 2007

OOGOG AT THE -more-


‘The Hip Hop Project: Rap Goes New Age

By Gar Smith, Special to the Planet
Friday May 11, 2007

You may not be a fan of the rap industry, but if you’re looking for a movie with more heart and soul than a dozen Dream Girls, check out The Hip Hop Project, which opens today (Friday). And there’s something else that sets this film apart: all the profits from ticket sales are being donated to youth art programs. -more-


Young, Salas and Lockett: Poetry at City College

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Friday May 11, 2007

“He can sing you jazz, the songs,” said Richard Silberg of Poetry Flash, introducing Al Young, California’s Poet Laureate, a Berkeley resident, as one of three readers, with Floyd Salas, also of Berkeley, and Reginald Lockett of Oakland, Tuesday night, in a round robin: “They’ll riff back and forth ... in sweet conclave!” -more-


Garden Variety: A Place with Natives and Edibles for a Good Cause

By Ron Sullivan
Friday May 11, 2007

Ploughshares Nursery is a unique operation. Located off Main Street on the former Alameda Naval Air Station, across from the Rosenblum Winery and the ferry terminal, it’s owned by the Alameda Point Collaborative. The Collaborative describes itself as a “supportive housing community,” with 500 formerly homeless people—veterans, domestic violence survivors, children and adults with disabilities—living in converted Navy housing. It offers counseling, life skills coaching, and job training, through the nursery and otherwise. Proceeds from the plants you buy at Ploughshares go to the Collaborative. -more-


About the House: What To Do About Mold Spores in the House

By Matt Cantor
Friday May 11, 2007

There are few things in life as embarrassing as having to ask your hostess what’s in the casserole. I know. I’ve been doing this for the last 15 years or so since having finally figured out after many distressing years that I’m not good friends with bovine products. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Friday May 11, 2007

FRIDAY, MAY 11 -more-


Arts Calendar

Tuesday May 08, 2007

TUESDAY, MAY 8 -more-


Berkeley Opera Presents ‘Romeo and Juliet’

By Jaime Robles, Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 08, 2007

The opera opens with all the characters placing themselves, one by one, facing out toward the audience on an open stage set with stylized arches, stairs and doorways portraying Renaissance Verona. The music swells tempestuously as the cast recites the prologue of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: “Two households, both alike in dignity …” At verse’s end, the cast sweeps from the stage and the action starts. -more-


Jazz House Hosts Zipper Festival

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 08, 2007

The Jazz House, under the aegis of the Berkeley Arts Festival, will produce the Zipper Festival, its first festival of jazz this weekend, from Friday night, with acts 6-9 p.m., Saturday 2-8:30 p.m., and Sunday 2-8:30 p.m., featuring acclaimed local players like saxophonists Howard Wiley and Dayna Stephens, Sacramento guitarist Ross Hammond, drummer Weasel Walter, saxophonist John Gruntfest, and Damon Smith on bass, at the old Fidelity Bank Building, 2323 Shattuck Ave. -more-


At the Theater: TheatreFIRST Presents Bold ‘Serjeant Musgrave’

By Ken Bullock, Special to the Planet
Tuesday May 08, 2007

“You brought in a different war.” -more-


Green Neighbors: Silk Oaks Are Itchy, But Oh Those Blooms!

By Ron Sullivan
Tuesday May 08, 2007

There aren’t lots of them around, but many are in bloom now so it’s a bit easier to spot them: silk oak, Grevillea robusta. Their leaves have a distinctive profile, a bit like an exaggerated oak-leaf shape, verging on the fernish; I suppose that might account for the name, but the Aussies have a habit of calling any old thing some kind of “oak”—casaurina is “she-oak” for example, and that genus has foliage that looks like pine needles. -more-


Berkeley This Week

Tuesday May 08, 2007

TUESDAY, MAY 8 -more-