Arts & Events
Classical Music Shop Celebrates Busoni
The premiere recording of Ferruccio Busoni’s Complete Two Piano Works (EMI/Angel) will be celebrated by the Musical Offering (Bancroft Avenue below Telegraph), this Wednesday 5-7 p.m., with a reception for and signing by pianists Daniell Revenaugh of Berkeley and Lawrence Leighton Smith, currently musical director of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. -more-
Shift Theatre, BHS Present ‘Noises Off’
“I’m going to do something wrong here ...” Those ominous words, emblazoned on the cover of the program to the Shift Theatre/Berkeley High School Drama production of Michael Frayn’s backstage bungler, Noises Off, telegraph the message of this non-message play clearly. And a great deal is going to be done wrong. Repeatedly. That’s the whole show. -more-
The Life and Music of a Legendary Singer-Songwriter
One of the most enjoyable and inspiring films I’ve seen in a long time comes to Berkeley for one day only, this Thursday, Dec. 13 at the California Theater, a benefit for the local Gray Panther chapter. Screenings are at 2 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. Tickets are $10. -more-
Nuclear Power in the Wake of Chernobyl
Living With Chernobyl: The Future of Nuclear Power, a new documentary by Berkeley filmmakers and journalists Cliff Orloff and Olga Shalygin, will air at 11 p.m. Thursday on KQED Channel 9. -more-
Arboreal Estate and a Yule Tradition: Mistletoe
One of the several “pagan” plants that appear all over in the midwinter holiday season is one that lives in trees: mistletoe. It’s Frazer’s eponymous Golden Bough. -more-
‘Wild Christmas Binge’ at SF Playhouse
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. -more-
Revels Open at Oakland Scottish Rite Auditorium
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. -more-
Moving Pictures: 'I Am Cuba' — A Long-Neglected Masterpiece of Political Filmmaking
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. -more-
Historic Holiday Houses On View Around East Bay
Stately older houses can be at their best when festively decorated for the winter holidays. -more-
More Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Gardener
You don’t need an official occasion, you know. If you know a gardener, go ahead and give her a gift just ‘cuz. Call it an Unbirthday Present; I do a certain amount of that with my rellies because after 58 years of living in it I still don’t track time very well. -more-
Our Mushy Landscape, Part Two
I was out with a young contractor at the home of a client he wanted me to talk with the other day. The homeowner had a wet basement and garage that never seemed to dry out. We walked around and I looked up the hill to find a line of extraordinarily healthy and prolific trees and shrubs marching to the crest of the hill. They ran in a line from north to south, roughly. “Creek”, I cried, “Well, maybe an aquifer.” -more-