Arts And Entertainment
‘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.
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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!”
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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