FRIDAY, DEC. 7 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Walk at Jewel Lake in Tilden Park. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the parking lot at the north end of Central Park Drive. be prepared for muddy paths. Heavy rains cancels. 848-9156. 

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Jim Wilson on “Education Finance in California” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $14.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.  

“Fair Trade Fair” Learn about fair trade porducts with Laurie Lyser of TransFair at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph the Worker School, 2125 Jefferson St., 2nd flr (not wheelchair accessible). Fair trade items will be available for purchase. 482-1062. 

“China’s Environment: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?” A forum on the scientific as well as social, political, economic, public health and cultural aspects, Fri. and Sat. Free and open to the public. http://ieas.berkeley.edu/events/2007.12.07w.html 

Teen Playreaders meets to read “Hamlet” and other plays based on the classic, at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6121. 

SATURDAY, DEC. 8 

PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles 17th Annual National Literary Awards & 11th Annual PEN Oakland Censorship Award from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Rockridge Branch Library, 5366 College Ave. Free and open to the public. 228-6775. 

Golden Gate Audubon Society Bike Trip in Coyote Hills via Alameda Creek and Quarry Lakes. Meet at 9 a.m. on the east side of the Fremont BART for an all-day trip, returning to BART at 3 p.m. Total distance is about 24 miles. Bicycle helmet required. Bring lunch and dress in layers. 547-1233. 

Dramatically Speaking Toastmasters with Victor Bogart on “Explore the Undiscovered You” at 9 a.m. at 1950 Franklin St., Oakland. RSVP required. ID required to get into building. 581-8675. 

The East Bay Chapter of The Great War Society meets to discuss “The Military Career of George Patton” by A. Melomet at 10:30 a.m. at the West Berkeley Library, 1125 University Ave. 527-7118. 

“The Care Crisis: How Women Are Bearing the Burden of a National Emergency” with Ruth Rosen, visiting professor of History and Public Policy at UCB at 7 p.m. at Alameda Free Library, Conference Rooms A, 1550 Oak St. at Lincoln, Alameda www.alamedaforum.org  

Oakland Public Conservatory of Music Annual Open House with food, fun and music for the whole family, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sun. from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at 1616 Franklin Ave Oakland. 836-4649. 

Palestinian Bazaar with embroidery, glassware, wood, ceramics, textiles and more, from noon to 6 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 548-0542. 

Berkeley Farmers’ Market Holiday Crafts Fair from 10 a.m. on with local crafts and live music. 

Berkeley Artisans Open Studios Sat and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Dec. 16. 845-2612. www.berkeleyartisans.com 

Oakland Museum of California Community Celebration for differently-abled community members from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 10th and Oak St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2022. 

Berkeley Rent Board Housing Counselling available at 11 a.m. in the Berkeley History Room, second flr, Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. 644-6128, ext. 116. 

Winter Fest Learn about snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding and more from noon to 4 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Program for Adults on Children’s Financial Literacy with Lu Vazquez, Edward Jones Financial Advisor, and John Abrate, Wells Fargo Bank Business Banking Specialist from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library Community Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge. 548-1240. www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org 

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

Vegetarian Cooking Class “Healthful and Humane Cooking and Baking” featuring savory tofu spread, corn-meal-crusted tempeh, brussel sprouts, chocolate bread pudding, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro. Cost is $55 plus $5 material fee. to register call 531-COOK. www.compassionatecooks.com 

Family Workshop: Candleholder using wood, tin and paints, Sat and Sun. from 1 to 4 p.m. at Mocha, Museum of Children’s Art, 528 9th St., Oakland. Cost is $7. 465-8770.  

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10 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.  

SUNDAY, DEC. 9 

Progressive Democrats of the East Bay Annual Holiday Gathering, from 6 pm on, at Albatross Pub, 1822 San Pablo Ave. 601-6456. 

Make Natural Holiday Wreaths Learn about fir, bay and other flora and how to use them, from noon to 3:30 p.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Please bring a pair of small hand-clippers, a large flat box and a bag lunch. Not appropriate for children under 8. Cost of $25-$34. Registration Required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

Caffe Mediterraneum 50th Anniversary Party with music at 2, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., poetry and anecdotes at 4 p.m. at 2475 Telegraph Ave. 549-1128. 

“Building Commons and Community” A book launch party for the late Karl Linn's book at 3 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarion Universalists Hall, Cedar at Bonita. www.KarlLinn.org 

Grow Edible Mushrooms at Home A worksop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at EcoHouse, 1305 Hopkins St. Enter via garden entrance on Peralta. Bring extra newspaper, cardboard, sawdust, wax, cordless drills, drill bits, and leave with some mushrooms of your own. Cost is $15, sliding scale. 548-2220 ext. 242. 

Berkeley Artisans Open Studios from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Dec. 16. 845-2612. www.berkeleyartisans.com 

Oakland Museum of California Community Celebration for differently-abled community members from noon to 5 p.m. at 10th and Oak St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2022.  

Archecture Tour of the Oakland Museum of California at 1 p.m. at 10th and Oak St., Oakland. Cost is $5-$8. 238-2022. www.museumca.org 

“The Cross-Walk Walk” for war resistance, every Sun. at noon at the corner of Solano and San Pablo. Bring signs, ideas, young people. 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Sylvia Gretchen on “The Path of Liberation” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 809-1000.  

MONDAY, DEC. 10  

Public Hearing for the Computational Research & Theory Facility, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at 6:30 p.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. 486-5183. 

Berkeley Green Mondays with a presentation on “What Progressives Can Learn from the Disability Movement” with Paul Longmore and Anne Finger, at 7:30 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. 848-4681. 

Human Rights Day 2007 “Update on Burma” with Nyunt Than, head of the Burmese American Democratic Alliance, and Ruth Mauricio, educator at 7:30 p.m. at Home Room in International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave. www.unausaeastbay.org 

TUESDAY, DEC. 11 

Tuesdays for the Birds Tranquil bird walks in local parklands, led by Bethany Facendini, from 7 to 9:30 a.m. Today we will visit Redwood, Canyon Meadow. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

End the Occupation Vigil every Tues. at noon at Oakland Federal Bldg., 1301 Clay St. www.epicalc.org 

Tai Chi for Peace at 1:30 p.m. in front of the Marine Recruiting Station, Shattuck Square. Open Sidewalk Studios at 3 p.m. 524-2776. 

Snowcamping 101 with Karen Hoffman of the Sierra Club’s Snowcamping Section at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140. 

Family Storytime at 7 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation in Oakland, from 6 to 8 p.m. Various East Bay opportunities available. Advanced sign-up is required; please call 594-5165.  

Tuesday Tilden Walkers Join a few slowpoke seniors at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot near the Little Farm for an hour or two walk. 215-7672, 524-9992. 

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org 

Street Level Cycles Community Bike Program Come use our tools as well as receive help with performing repairs free of charge. Youth classes available. Tues., Thurs., and Sat. from 2 to 6 p.m. at at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991.  

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. 845-6830. 

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12 

Richmond Main Street Initiative Community Holiday Celebration from 10 a.m. to noon for preschool and kindergartners and 5 to 7 p.m. for the entire community at the corner of Marina Way and Macdonald Ave. www.richmondmainstreet.org 

Civilian War Victim Series “The Pathology of Survivors” with Dr. Brian Gluss with the film “Survivor Guilt” by psychoanalyst William Niederland, at 1 p.m. at Emeryville Senior Center, 4321 Salem, Emeryville. 596-3730. 

“Field Guide to Owls of California and the West” with author Hans Peeters in conversation with Doris Kretschmer at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585.  

Poetry Writing Workshop with Alison Seevak at 7 p.m. at the Albany Library, Edith Stone Room, 1247 Marin Ave., Albany. 526-3720. 

Cancer Prevention and Survival Cooking Class on Antioxidants and Phytochemicals at 8:30 a.m. at Manzanita, 2409 E. 27th St., Oakland. To register call 595-6445. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840. 

Berkeley Copwatch: Know Your Rights Training and Copwatching Workshop at 7 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

THURSDAY, DEC. 13 

“The Living New Deal Project: Excavating a Lost Civilization Around Us” with Gray Brechin on a statewide collaborative effort to document and map the physical legacy of the New Deal in California and to honor the surviving veterans, at 7:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Aven., Oakland. Tickets are $8-$10. Sponsored by Oakland Heritage Alliance. 763-9218. 

“Pete Seeger: Power of Song” a documentary at 2 and 7:15 p.m. at the California Theater, 2119 Kittredge St. Cost is $10. Benefits Berkeley Gray Panthers. 486-8010. 

“And Let There Be Light” A Holiday Procession for Immigrant Justice at 4:15 p.m. at Frank Ogawa Plaza, 14th St. and Broadway in downtown Oakland. Sponsored by East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy. 893-7106, ext. 27. 

Evening of Remembrance Ceremony Remember Victims of Violence In Oakland at 5:30 p.m. at 1st Christian Church, 111 Fairmount Ave., OaklandSponsored by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Silence the Violence Campaign and others. 428-3939. 

Oakland Workers Center’s Annual Holiday Party with Cruz Reynoso, guest speaker, and dinner, music and dancing from 6 to 10 p.m. at 2501 International Blvd., Oakland. Cosat is $50-$125. RSVP to 437-1554, ext. 112. 

Juggling for Peace Learn juggling and plate spinning at 11:30 a.m. in front of the Marine Recruiting Station, Shattuck Square. 524-2776. 

Teen Book Club meets to discuss light reading at 4 p.m. at Claremont Branch Library, 2940 Benvenue at Ashby. 981-6121. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Youth Commission meets Mon., Dec. 10, at 6:30 p.m., at City Council Chambers, Old City Hall. 981-6670.  

City Council meets Tues., Dec. 11, at 7 p.m in City Council Chambers. 981-6900. www.ci. 

berkeley.ca.us/citycouncil 

Citizens Humane Commission meets Wed., Dec. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6601.  

Commission on Disability meets Wed., Dec. 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-6346. TDD: 981-6345.  

Energy Commission meets Wed., Dec. 12, at 6:30 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5434.  

Homeless Commission meets Wed., Dec. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5426.  

Library Board of Trustees meets Wed., Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. at the South Branch Library. 981-6195.  

Planning Commission meets Wed., Dec. 12, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7484.  

Police Review Commission meets Wed., Dec. 12, at 7 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center. 981-4950.  

Community Health Commission meets Thurs., Dec. 13, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-5356.  

Mental Health Commission meets Thurs., Dec. 13, at 6:30 p.m. at 2640 MLK Jr. Way, at Derby. 981-5213.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Dec. 13, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. 981-7410.

FRIDAY, DEC. 7 

THEATER 

Altarena Playhouse “The Man Who Saved Christmas” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, 1409 High St., Alameda, through Dec. 16. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553.  

Aurora Theatre Company “Sex” Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 and 7 p.m. at 2081 Addison St., through Dec. 23. Tickets are $28-$50. 843-4822.  

BHS Drama and Shift Theatre “Noises Off” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Florence Schwimley Little Theater, Berkeley High Campus. Tickets are $6-$12. 332-1931.  

Berkeley Rep “After the Quake” at the Trust Stage, 2025 Addison St., through Dec. 21. Tickets are $33-$69. 647-2949. 

Black Repertory Group “A Rasin in the Sun” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 3201 Adeline St., through Dec. 14. Tickets are $10-$20. 652-2120. 

Contra Costa Civic Theatre “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sun. at 2 p.m. at Contra Costa Civic Theatre, 951 Pomona Ave., (at Moeser), El Cerrito, through Dec. 9. Tickets are $11-$18. 524-9132.  

Impact Theatre “A Very Special Money & Run Winter Season Holiday Special” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid Ave., through Dec. 22. Tickets are $10-$15. 464-4468.  

Masquers Playhouse “Little Mary Sunshine” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., selected Sun. at 2:30 p.m. at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond, through Dec. 15. Tickets are $18. 232-4031.  

EXHIBITIONS 

“Tree of Life” Works by Berkeley High School students opens at Addison Street Windows Gallery, 2018 Addison St. 981-7533. 

“Duopolis” contemporary art from New York and San Francisco. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, 25 Grand Ave., upper level, Oakland. www.chandracerrito.com 

“Made In Equilibrium” works by Michele Elizabeth Lee, Brady Nadell and Ross Drago. Reception at 6 p.m. at ABCo Artspace, 3135 Oakland, Oakland. www.abcoartspace.com 

“12X12X12” Thirty-six works by three artists for the holidays. Reception at 7 pm. at Front Gallery, 35 Grand Ave, Oakland. 444-1900. 

Radical Graphics of Taller Tupac Amaru Reception at 6 p.m. at 550 Second St., Jack London Square. www.proartsgallery.org  

Touchable Stories “Richmond: The Story Continues” Fri. at 8 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 6 p.m. at Old Kaiser Cafeteria, Shipyard #3, 1303 Canal Blvd., Richmond. Cost is $6-$12. Reservations required. 619-3675.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Best of Actors Reading Writers “The Tender Trap” at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214.  

MUSIC AND DANCE  

Berkeley Ballet Theater “Nutcracker” Fri. at 7 p.m., Sat. at 2 and 7 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., through Dec. 16. Tickets are $16-$22. 843-4689. 

“Amahl and the Night Visitors” at 8 p.m. at St Augustine’s Catholic Church, 400 Alcatraz, between Telegraph and College, Oakland. Free. 653-8631. 

Sacred & Profane Annual Holiday Concert with traditional and contemporary music for Swedish Lucia, Channukah and Christmas at 8 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Tickets are $12-$15. www.sacredprofane.org  

Piedmont Choirs “Silver Bells” at 7:30 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd. Kensington, Cost is $10-$15. http://piedmontchoirs.org 

Bay Area Classical Harmonies “Messiah” at 7:30 p.m. at the Arlington Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Tickets at the door are $12-$15.  

University Symphony Orchestra, 19th century masterpieces and and new works at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $4-$12. 642-4864.  

The Christmas Revels at 7:30 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 1 and 5 p.m. at Scottish Rite Theater, 1547 Lakeside Dr., Oakland. Tickets are $15-$50. 452-8800. www.calrevels.org 

Bobi Cespedes’ Grupo Bayano at 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$15.. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

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

Sambada, Omo Aiya, Afro-Brazilian-funk at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Oaktown Jazz Workshops at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

The Cowlicks at 8 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

An Irish Christmas at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $24.50-$25.50. 548-1761.  

Star Ledbetter and Theresa Perez at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

The Go Girls Animal Rights Benefit Concert with Phonofly, Vanessa Van Spall, Aoede and Jenn Grinels at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082.  

Jennifer Johns & Doria Roberts perform for lesbian and bi-sexual women and their allies at 9 p.m. at Shattuck Down Low, 2284 Shattuck Ave. Cost is $7-$15. 548-1159.  

The Brothers Goldman at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SATURDAY, DEC. 8 

CHILDREN  

Young People’s Chamber Orchestra Concert for school age children and up at 3 p.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043. 

Los Amiguitos de La Peña with Gary Lapow at 10:30 a.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5 for adults, $4 for children. 849-2568.  

“Children’s Theater Holiday Program” Sat. and Sun. at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., off Grand Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. 

“Peter Pan” the movie at 10 a.m. and noon, Sun. at noon at Elmwood Theater, 2966 College Ave. at Ashby. Benefit for local PTAs. 433-9730. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Plein-air Landscape Paintings of Bodega Bay” by Adam Wolpert. Reception for the artist at 2 p.m. at the Environmental Education Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

NIAD’s “Art from the Heart” Annual Holiday Festival from 2 to 5 p.m. at the National Institute of Art and Disibilities, 551 23rd St., Richmond. 620-0290. 

“The Great Outdoors” Group show of landscapes. Opening reception at 3 p.m. at A Different Day Gallery, 1233 Solano Ave., Albany. 868-4904. www.ADifferentDaygallery.com  

Albany Community Art Show from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave., Albany. 524-9283. 

ActivSpace Open House Sat. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 2703 7th St. 508-8943. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

PEN Oakland, Josephine Miles 17th Annual National Literary Awards from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Rockridge Branch Library, 5366 College Ave., Oakland. Winners read from their works. www.penoakland.org 

Chad Sweeney and Kaya Oakes read their poetry at 7:30 p.m. at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Ave. 649-1320. 

The Best of Actors Reading Writers “The Tender Trap” at 8 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave. 932-0214. ricaisabella@yahoo.com 

Michelle Bautista, author of “Kali’s Blade,” Eileen Tabios, author of “The Light Sang As It Left Your Eyes,” Jean Vengua, author of “Prau” at 3 p.m. at Eastwind Books of Berkeley, 2066 University Ave. 548-2350.  

Prosody Castle 4: Dont Rhine in Conversation at 7 p.m. at The Gallery of Urban Art, 1746 13th St., West Oakland. Cost is $5. 706-1697. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Berkeley Ballet Theater “Nutcracker” Sat. at 2 and 7 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., through Dec. 16. Tickets are $16-$22. 843-4689. 

Bella Musica Chorus at 7:30 p.m. at Chapel of the Great Commission, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. Donation $12-$15.525-5393. www.bellamusica.org 

Voci “Voices in Peace: VII: Winter Stillness” at 8 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Parish, 2005 Berryman St. Tickets are $15-$20, free for children under 12. www.vocisings.com 

University Symphony Orchestra, 19th century masterpieces and and new works at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $4-$12. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Oakland Youth Chorus “In the Arms of Winter” at 7 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Oakland 2501 Harrison St. Tickets are $5-$20. 287-9700. www.oaklandyouthchorus.org  

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra “The Majesty of Christmas” at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $30-$72. 415-252-1288. 

“Chimes Winter Starscape” with John Muir Holiday Choir at 3 p.m. at Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Other events from noon on. 228-3207. 

Musica Viva, violin, cello and harpsichord at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave. Tickets are $10-$15. www.stpauloakland.org 

Mahealani Uchiyama “A Walk By the Sea” at 8 p.m. at Regents Theater, Holy Names University, Oakland. Tickets are $30-$55. For reservations call 925-798-1300. 

North Country at 1 p.m. at Down Home Music on Fourth St. 525-2129. 

Bomberas de la Bahia at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $8-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Eric Swinderman’s “In Pursuit of the Sound” at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $12. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Motordude Zydeco at 7 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Zoyres with Sandor Elix Katz at 7:30 p.m. at 1236 23rd Ave. at International Blvd., Oakland, Admission by donation; no one turned away for lack of funds. Bring jars to fill, some veggies to chop, a cutting board, knife, and grater. RVSP to Zoyres@gmail.com 

Mike Eckstein and Marc DiGiacomo Trio at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

Chris Williamson, Teresa Trull & Barbara Higbie at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

The Snake Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Matt Lucas and Cotillion at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

CV Dub at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

SUNDAY, DEC. 9 

EXHIBITIONS 

“One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now” Guided tour at 2 p.m. at Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft. Cost is $5.50-$9.50. 642-0808. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bella Musica Chorus at 4 p.m. at St. Mary Magdalen Church, 2005 Berryman St. at Milvia. Donation $12-$15. 525-5393.  

Berkeley Ballet Theater “Nutcracker” at 2 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., through Dec. 16. Tickets are $16-$22. 843-4689. 

“Sounds of the Season” at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 201 Martina St., Point Richmond. Donation $10. 236-0527. 

“Amahl and the Night Visitors” at 3 p.m. at St Augustine’s Catholic Church, 400 Alcatraz, between Telegraph and College, Oakland. Free. 653-8631. 

Organ Recital by Christopher Putnam at 6 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way. Donations accepted. 845-0888. 

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra “The Majesty of Christmas” at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $30-$72. 415-252-1288. 

Lucy Kinchen Choir Holiday Concert at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave. www.stpauloakland.org 

Michael Jones, violin and John Burke, piano, perform sonatas by Bach and Mozart at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Cost is $10. 644-6893.  

Soli Deo Gloria “Time Enough for Joy” at 3:30 p.m. at St. Philip Neri, 3108 Van Buren St., Alameda. Tickets are $20-$25, childen K-8 free. www.sdgloria.org 

Caffe Mediterraneum 50th Anniversary Party with music at 2, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m., poetry and anecdotes at 4 p.m. at 2475 Telegraph Ave. 549-1128. 

Chris Williamson, Teresa Trull & Barbara Higbie at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761.  

Mariusz Kwiecien, baritone, at 3 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Tickets are $42. 642-9988.  

Jonathan Kreisberg Trio, CD release party, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $15. 841-JAZZ.  

Tito y Su Son de Cuba at 4:30 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $15. 845-5373.  

MONDAY, DEC. 10 

CHILDREN 

“Snow Scene from the Nutcracker” by Kathryn Roszak’s Childrens’ Dance at 4:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Free, but RSVP requested 233-5550. 

EXHIBITIONS 

Civic Center Art Exhibition 2007-2008 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Building, 6th flr., 2180 Milvia St. 981-7533. 

“Visions of Berkeley’s Past” Acrylic mural on canvas by Nilda Ovalles Bello. Reception at 4 p.m. at 2991 College Ave. 883-7004. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Debbie Stoller on “Son of Stitch ‘N Bitch: 45 Projects to Knit and Crochet for Men” at 7:30 p.m. at Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. 849-2087. 

Poetry Express with Donna M. Lane for United Nations Human Rights Day at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Chanticleer at 8 p.m. at Firdst Congregational Churhc, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $22-$44. 415-392-4400.  

Jazz Mime at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. 849-1100.  

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

Refugees: Cindy Bullens, Deborah Holland & Wendy Waldman at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage Coffee House. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. 

TUESDAY, DEC. 11 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Finding Women of Valor: The Daily Lives of Women in Ancient Israel” An archeology exhibit at the Badé Museum, Holbrook Building, Pacific School of Religion, 1798 Scenic Ave. Open Tues. and Thurs. from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to Jan. 31. 849-8272. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Dave Weinstein, author of “Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area,” will give a slide talk about notable architects and homes in El Cerrito and Kensington at 7 p.m. at El Cerrito Library, 6510 Stockton Ave. 526-7512.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Piedmont Choirs at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave. www.stpauloakland.org 

CZ & the Bon Vivants at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cajun dance lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Singers’ Open Mic with Keyy Park at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ.  

Take the Stage Band workshop performances at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761.  

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

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 12 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Hans Peeters in conversation with Doris Kretschmer on “Field Guide to Owls of California and the West” at 5:30 p.m. at University Press Books, 2430 Bancroft Way. 548-0585. www.universitypressbooks.com 

“Ferruccio Busoni, Italian Piano Prodigy” A lecture by pianist Daniell Revenaugh, with latest Busoni Recording, at 5 p.m. at The Musical Offering Café, 2430 Bancroft Way. 849-0211. www.themusicaloffering.com 

Daniel Marlin and Janell Moon at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. 644-3977. 

Berkeley City College Digital Arts Club and Milvia Street Art and Literary Journal host a benefit poetry reading and printmaking exhibition at 6 p.m. at Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St. Cost is $5.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Oakland City Center Holiday Concert with Mariachi Tradicion Mexicana at noon at 12th and Broadway, Oakland.  

SFSU Jazz Choir & Afro Cuban Ensemble at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

La Peña’s Latin Jazz Orchestra Recital at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $8. 849-2568.  

Za’atar at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054.  

Rachel Efron at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Peace Nick with Roy Zimmerman at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

THURSDAY, DEC. 13 

EXHIBITIONS 

Kala Artist Annual Exhibition New works in a variety of media. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Kala Art Institute, 1060 Heinz Ave. 549-2977.  

READINGS AND LECTURES 

“The Living New Deal Project: Excavating a Lost Civilization Around Us” with Gray Brechin on a statewide collaborative effort to document and map the physical legacy of the New Deal in California, at 7:30 p.m. at the Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. Tickets are $8-$10. Sponsored by Oakland Heritage Alliance. 763-9218. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Darol Anger & Mike Marshall at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761.  

Josh Nelson Quartet, with guest Natasha Miller, at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ.  

Jenny Ferris and Laura Klein, jazz, at 7 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave. 548-5198.  

Willow Willow, Mushroom, Emily Jane White at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. 

AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS 

A modern Christmas tradition will be observed this weekend when Giancarlo Menotti’s opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, a charming retelling of the story of the Three Wise Men and Epiphany, will be performed at 8 p.m. tonight (Friday) and 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon at St. Augustine’s Church, 400 Alcatraz. Menotti was Italian-born, but his very successful career was mostly in America. He has been too easily dismissed as “facile,” as other worthy successes have often been, musical tastes having changed since his heyday. But the founder of the Spoleto Festival and composer of The Consul, that unsentimental opera about the wife of a resistance figure seeking asylum from a police state, deserves a sympathetic ear and eye. His productions, including the much-loved Amahl, were that modern rarity: both popular and intelligent, never talking or playing down to an audience, or oversentimentalizing themes that often get kitschy treatment. 

GEORGE CABLES  

BENEFIT AT YOSHI’S  

Eminent jazz pianist George Cables, long-time Bay Area favorite and collaborator with many great players here and in New York, recently received liver and kidney transplants. This Saturday afternoon, 1-3:30 p.m., there’ll be a benefit at Yoshi’s, to help defray medical and recuperation costs, featuring such notables as Bobby Hutcher-son, Gary Bartz, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Mel Martin, Ray Drummond, Eddie Marshall, Mary Stallings, Denise Perrier, Babatunde Lea, Calvin Keys and over a dozen other well-known players and singers, plus special surprise guests. $30 donation. Tickets available through www.yoshis.com or 238-9200.

In Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, directed by Berkeley favorite Joy Carlin at the San Francisco Playhouse off Union Square, what at first flush seems to be a loopy burlesque of that seasonal chestnut, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, proves postmodern. 

As an unrepentant Ebenezer Scrooge (Victor Talmadge) is led up a few blind alleys by a genial but confused all-purpose ghost guide in UPS browns (Cathleen Riddley), the familiar tale jumps the storyline tracks, muddling vignettes from other Dickens morality tales with a morphed slab of O. Henry thrown in, eventually fusing with a handoff riff from cinema—to wit, It’s a Wonderful Life, as fumbled by an even more mixed-up downy winged angel (Brian Degan Scott)—and finally crash lands in the NYC tabloids of the Reagan Era, “when Being Filthy Rich became acceptable, and a ‘virtue.’”  

What playwright Christopher Durang came up with in this ’80s take (now in its San Francisco premiere) is less an antidote to the heartwarming tale of redemption through memory awakening compassion that’s cranked up every year than a kind of dramatic version of Jeb Stuart’s Ride around the hymn-singing Army of the Potomac (or maybe it’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride), skirting the edges of a whole slew of the kind of holiday routines and antics that either warm the cockles of kind hearts—or drive the rest of us up the wall. 

At the dark heart of the matter is that accomplished comic performer Joan Mankin playing the title role, a no-nonsense realist trapped in a cheerfully downtrodden family—with a crippled and grinning Tiny Tim (Lizzie Calogero), sweatshop toiling L’il Nell (Jean Forsman), dozens more squalling kids in the root cellar, and a happily masochistic Mr. Cratchit (Keith Burkland) bringing home yet another foundling to swell the squalid menagerie.  

All poor Mrs. Cratchit wants to do is adjourn to a pub for a tequila and then jump off London Bridge. In the meantime, she’s tormented by the treacliest of holiday cheer, including an agonizingly slow rendition of “Silent Night,” constant one-upmanship in gleeful poor-mouthing, and a painful table-side sawing of a Christmas swan, captured at a pond with burlap bag by Child #2, Berkeley’s Gideon Lazarus. 

Mrs. C. also hears voices—those of the UPS-uniformed ghost and an admiring Scrooge, who senses a kindred spirit, as the manic festivities of the Victorian gutter swirl around her. 

Clearly, its anachronism runneth over. Even at the start, the Ghost (who really just wants to croon a Billie Holiday standard) exclaims she’s glad to be a childless phantom, shouting at young Ebenezer (Gideon Lazarus again) that she’d like to take a strap to him—then turning to the audience with, “but you politically correct types wouldn’t like that.”  

It’s a good escape for those who blanch at canned carols in shopping malls and the digital jingle of all those bells. There’s enough crutch-kicking to please any Grinch, though the hilarious audience of concierges yelped when a present in giftwrap got stomped. 

Terry Rucker’s musical direction moves the show along with a goofy repertoire at a good clip. Carlin, who teamed up well with Mankin in the Aurora’s recent production of a more “serious” NYC dark comedy of the ’70s, BOSOMS AND NEGLECT, has put her quick-change cast of a dozen through the hoops perfectly, skimming the schmaltz off the milk of human error in this silly burlesque turn that cries out, Ho Ho Ho Humbug!

The California Revels opens tonight (Friday) at the Oakland Scottish Rite Auditorium on Lake Merritt, celebrating its 22nd season in two weekends of music, dance and pageantry. 

It’s a festive visit to the 19th-century English countryside, where a Songcatcher, collecting traditional folktunes and the tales around them, encounters various rustic characters, each with a story, and more than one of them played by popular Bay Area clown and comic actor Geoff Hoyle, himself hailing from Yorkshire. 

The figure of the Songcatcher “is central to the show,” said Revels director David Parr. “Perhaps the best known was Cecil Sharpe, who, along with others, also combed the Appalachians in search of material preserved by immigrant communities. His transcription of the Ritchie Family singing ‘Nottamun Town’ provided Bob Dylan with the tune for ‘Masters of War’ so many years later. The Songcatchers took an interest in the folk customs they saw vanishing and tried to preserve them in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and the homogenization of culture—like standardized children’s stories, where over 100 known versions of Cinderella went through a kind of Disney-fication.  

“The Revels this year is a kind of salute to the Songcatchers,” Parr went on, “but also shows how sometimes those academic teams missed the forest for the trees, with expectations of finding druids in everything. It shows the power of folklore isn’t in its historicity, but in what it does for people, to move and delight them, and bring them together for celebration.” 

Parr touched on the panoply of Revels entertainments: “There’s a lot of dancing—two English country dances, one a parlor dance and a women’s clog dance; the RapperSword dance by Swords of Gridlock, a border short-stick dance, and of course Morris dancing. An unusual version of ‘John Barleycorn’ will be sung with a melody different than what people are used to hearing. Our music director, Shira Kammen, has arranged ‘Nottingham Town’ and ‘The Wexford Lullaby,’ and there’s the Yorkshire ‘Ilka Moor Baht Tat’—‘on the moor without a hat,’ a phonetic transcription of dialect. Storyteller Jan Herlington will tell ‘The Buried Moon,’ from Lincolnshire, one of the rare English children’s tales with elemental features, which will be acted out by the children’s chorus. And we’ll have a town band of our choristers playing West Gallery music. That was another type of cooptation of folk culture: the Church of England installing pump organs and insisting on standard arrangements, banishing the old vernacular bands, where a clarinetist would sit next to someone playing serpent!” 

On Geoff Hoyle’s shape-shifting appearances, playing five different characters during the course of the show, Parr would only say that “Geoff channels his Yorkshire aunt” and something about being a pig story and performing in drag—”Geoff, of course, not the pig. And you know he plays fiddle, sings and dances.” 

This Revels, partly inspired by Thomas Hardy’s UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE, will feature its traditional close, when the audience is invited to join hands and line-dance through the hall, singing “Lord of the Dance,” the old Shaker tune “Simple Gifts” with modern lyrics by Sydney Carter. On Oct. 28 this year, Discovery astronauts were awakened with the Revels Records version of John Langstaff singing “Lord of the Dance”—which fittingly declares, “I danced in the morning, when the world was begun; I danced in the moon, and the stars, and the sun.” 

When art dabbles in politics it runs the risk of its politics subsuming its art. No matter how great the artistic achievement, there is always the danger that critical and popular reception may be held hostage to considerations that go far beyond artistic merit.  

Such was the case with I Am Cuba, an extraordinary 1964 Cuban-Soviet production that deserves a place alongside Triumph of the Will (1935) and Battleship Potemkin (1925) as a landmark of political filmmaking. The movie’s vast ambitions, which it largely fulfills, ultimately fell victim to the very politics it espoused. After just a few screenings it languished in a vault for 30 years before finally receiving its due recognition in the 1990s. And now it finally gets a DVD release worthy of its grandeur in the form of a three-disc set from Milestone Films. 

The project began just after the Cuban Revolution, as Castro’s government was settling in after the overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista. The Soviet Union, eager to show support for the budding socialist nation, sent writers and artists and intellectuals to help foster Cuba’s burgeoning cultural movement.  

Included among these cultural ambassadors were film director Mikhail Kalatozov and his cinematographer Serguey Urusevsky, who had collaborated on several films already, and poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko. They set out to make a sort of cinematic epic poem about contemporary Cuba and about the revolution itself. Yevtushenko and Cuban writer Enrique Pineda Barnet were put to work on a script, but with strict instructions from Urusevsky to keep the words to a minimum—this would be a visual film, not a verbal one. 

The result is one of the most stunning and inventive visual feasts ever put on film. It relates four separate stories of the suffering and rising political consciousness of the Cuban people, the episodes united by a narrator, “the Voice of Cuba,” who reiterates the themes and provides the transitions between the tales.  

Kalatozov and Urusevsky took a bold visual approach that expanded on their previous work. The film consists of stirring, swirling camera movements that flow effortlessly from one indelible image to another. Long, unbroken shots lure us further into this highly stylized world, into the reality of its unreality. The camera moves relentlessly, following characters around corners, up staircases, through open fields and crowded nightclubs; it views them from extreme angles, high and low; it floats up the sides of buildings, through windows, over streets and even into swimming pools.  

When asked why his sentences were so long and at times convoluted, novelist William Faulkner replied that he was trying to fit everything into one sentence, to fit the entire sweep of history on the head of a pin. I Am Cuba’s sustained shots and graceful, engrossing camera movements serve a similar purpose, taking us on a journey through a political and social landscape where history itself is unfolding, where a revolution is igniting, where a certain political consciousness is enveloping the land and its people.  

Some of the shots seem to defy logic. Even an experienced filmmaker like Martin Scorsese was dumbfounded after his first viewing of the film, unable to figure out how several shots were achieved. An accompanying documentary reveals a few secrets, but not all. But although the film’s style is bold and intoxicating, it is never gratuitous, for its distinctive form is wedded perfectly to its content.  

One facet that goes unexplained on the DVD’s extra features is Kalatozov and Urusevsky’s use of the wide-angle lens throughout the film. Its distortions call to mind the expressive shots from Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, in which the wide-angle lens seems to represent the distorted visions of grandiosity of the film’s title character—reality seen through a fragmented snow globe. Perhaps Kalatozov and Urusevsky saw it as another method by which to establish the film’s heightened poetic tone. Or perhaps they simply liked the aesthetics of it, for it allowed them to take in as much of the landscape as possible. But in retrospect, four decades after the revolution, the imagery takes on an entirely different quality, that of the distorted lens through which participants and idealists saw the revolution at the time, before the utopian dream settled into disillusionment, before the hopes and dreams of a nation faded into day-to-day subsistence and struggle. Cuba, vast and glorious in black and white, bends at the edges of the frame, curling inward like facts bending to fit the beholder’s vision. 

There were great hopes for the project—as a symbol of the revolution, as a plea for international support, and as a sign of collaboration between the Soviet Union and the nascent socialist island state. But when the film opened, after two years in production, Cubans and Russians alike were disappointed. The Russians saw it as naive and tepid; the Cubans felt the filmmakers had misunderstood and stereotyped their people, infusing characters with a distinctly Russian brand of slow deliberation. As actor Sergio Corrieri put it, the film was “Cuban reality seen through a slavic prism.”  

The film showed for a week, then disappeared for three decades, never screening outside the nations that produced it. 

I Am Cuba finally got its first screenings in the West in the early 1990s. It was soon brought to the attention of New York’s Milestone Films, who secured the rights, and, with the help of Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, gave the film a theatrical release in 1995, whereupon the film was hailed as a masterpiece. Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman said the film’s rediscovery was “like finding a preserved Siberian mammoth in the sands of a tropical island.” 

Now Milestone has released the film in a lavish DVD set (packaged in a cigar box) that includes a beautiful new transfer of the film and extra features which delve into the production and its legacy, including a documentary about the film itself (called I Am Cuba: Siberian Mammoth), another about the distinguished career of director Mikhail Kalatozov, and interviews with Scorsese and poet Yevtushenko. 

This is one long-forgotten classic that is more than deserving of the praise heaped upon it—a truly revolutionary film that might have radically altered the cinematic landscape had it been distributed in its time. As Scorsese says in his introduction to the film, if I Am Cuba had been widely seen when it was originally released, “movies would have looked a lot different a lot sooner.”