Arts & Events

FRIDAY, DEC. 28 -more-

This New Year’s Eve, for the 23rd year in a row, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra kicks off its new season with a free concert in Berkeley. In fact, remarkably, all of their concerts are free. The concerts are subsidized by grants and membership, which guarantees you the best seats. The theme of this year’s New Year’s Eve concert is Prodigies with music by Mozart and Mendelssohn as the examples. -more-

Following a year that unfolded with more than a few surprises on East Bay stages, 2007 opened up with a bang and never really settled back. Big and small companies alike put on memor-able shows, and the overall level of theatricality appeared a couple notches higher than in the past. -more-

I first read Oscar Wilde in 1954 at age 10. This was in an exceptionally cheap and poorly printed edition of his collected works published by Walter J. Black & Co. My parents, knowing I was an insatiable reader (the first full-length book I recall having read was David Copperfield when I was eight) dutifully subscribed at my request to Black’s series of classics, which included the works of practically everybody of note in English literature, including those bête noirs of highbrow snobs Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, and Rudyard Kipling. -more-

ALL IN MY HEAD -more-

Whenever I pass the site now, I instinctively glance at that little sentry booth, and it’s never occupied. I wonder whether it’s been that way ever since that day in 1984, when the lawyer deposited two big cartons of documents on the floor of our office. Selina, chemist, toxicologist, and my wife and professional partner, offered him one of the chairs surrounding her cluttered desk, and he wasted no time coming to the point. -more-

For Jesse -more-

It’s still the same, Tom Joad, -more-

For thirty miles a black car had followed her closely at the posted maximum speed—by dark night on a lonely two-lane road. -more-

For her sixth birthday this year, first-grader Casey Lane decided that she didn’t want a “typical” party. She wanted to have fun with her friends AND help homeless kids while she was at it—even if it meant not receiving presents from her friends (pictured with all the gift bags). -more-

In the late 1970s, when we were about 19 years old, my friend Russ and I got jobs as teachers at a before-and-after-school program that was housed in a separate bungalow from the school. Largely left to our own devices, we made up the day’s activities as we went. After several months we had our routine down with circle-time, drawing-time and outside playtime being everyone’s favorites. -more-

[after Basho’s longing for Kyoto] -more-

In the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the East Bay population ballooned practically overnight, absorbing 200,000 refugees of which three-quarters remained permanently. To accommodate their burgeoning communities, Berkeley and Oakland acquired new housing developments, factories, and transportation routes, as well as a good number of churches. -more-

Hi, My name’s Matt and I’m a recovering general contractor. It’s not easy to talk about, but I know it makes it better to get it out in the open and discuss it. -more-

FRIDAY, DEC. 28 -more-