THURSDAY, AUGUST 7 

Tilden Tots Join a nature adventure program for 3 and 4 year olds, each accompanied by an adult (grandparents welcome)! We’ll study reptiles, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. Cost is $6-$8. Registration required. 1-888-EBPARKS. 

“A Climate of Change: African Americans, Global Warming, and a Just Climate Policy for the U.S.” Discussion with Nia Robinson, Director, Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative; J. Andrew Hoerner, Director, Sustainable Economics, Redefining Progress at noon at Trans Pacific Center, 1000 Broadway, Suite 109, Room 4, Oakland. 444-3041 ext. 316. communications@rprogress.org  

People’s Park Celebration Planning Meeting at 7 p.m. at Café Med. peoplesparkcommunity@yahoogroups.com 

“Obama: New Day for Black People or New Face on Same Setup?” A presentation by Sunsara Taylor at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196.  

An Afternoon of Board Games for children of all ages at 3 p.m. at the West Side Branch Library, 135 Washington Ave., Richmond. 620-6567. 

Three Beats for Nothing South Mostly ancient part music for fun and practice meets every Thurs. at 10 a.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, Ellis at Ashby. 655-8863.  

Emergency Preparedness For Older Adults & Caregivers at 1:30 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 745-1499. 

Portrait Drawing Classes every Thurs. at 12:30 p.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, 2939 Ellis St. at Ashby Ave. 981-5170. 

Baby & Toddler Storytime at 10:15 and 11:15 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Avatar Metaphysical Toastmasters Club meets at 6:45 p.m. at Spud’s Pizza, 3290 Adeline. namaste@avatar.freetoasthost.info  

Healing Yoga for High Blood Pressure at 7:30 p.m. at Elephant Pharm, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Fitness Class for 55+ at 9:15 a.m. at Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755.  

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 

Berkeley Burma Day with Burmese Flag Raising Ceremony at 7:45 a.m., flag raising at 8:08 a.m. at Berkeley City Hall, 2180 Milvia St.  

“The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Became a War on American Ideals” with New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way. Tickets are $10. 848-3696. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/38919  

“Nagasaki, Hiroshima & Uranium-238” A discussion with “R” Addison at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. 841-4824. www.bfuu.org 

Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve Faire, Fri. from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. , and Sat. from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with tours of the Preserve’s historic, natural and scenic features. www.mareislandpreserve.org 

Introduction to Pilates at 10:30 a.m. at Elephant Pharm, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Summer Outdoor Movie Series “Mostly Martha” at 8:30 p.m. at Charles Chocolates, 6529 Hollis St, Emeryville. Free. Bring a chair or blanket. 652-4412, ext. 311. 

“What is Jewish Mysticism?” at 6:15 p.m. at JGate near El Cerrito Plaza and BART station. RSVP to get directions and food assignment for pot-luck. 559-8140. rabbibridget@jewishgateways.org 

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

Three Beats for Nothing Mostly ancient part music for fun and practice at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst at MLK. 655-8863.  

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 

Peace Lantern Festival from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Berkeley’s Aquatic Park, near the pedestrian footbridge over I-580. Please RSVP to Lanterns2008@progressiveportal.org, 595-4626. www. 

progressiveportal.org/lanterns 

Native Medicinal Plants of California We will explore many of the plants used in Western American herbalism, with a focus on historical as well as modern use, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Regional Parks Botanic Garden. Cost is $30-$35. Bring lunch. To enroll call 841-8732.  

Annual Tomato Tasting and the Bay Area Homegrown Tomato Show-Off from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center St. at MLK, Jr. Way. Seed from the tomatoes will be processed and saved for the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library and made available to other local gardeners. 548-3333.  

Bugs in the Sun Hunt for bugs with nets, pooters and shaking shrubs, for all ages, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, at Tilden Nature Center, Tilden Park. 525-2233. 

Nature Hike around Jewel Lake Learn about the nature through jokes and stories, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Meet at Tilden Nature Area. 525-2233. 

Enlivening Soil Using Organic Fertilizers with Carl Rosato of Woodleaf Farms from 10 a.m. to 1 pm. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $10-$15, no one turned away. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Restoration Project on Oakland’s Shoreline Help remove non-native vegetation and promote the health of recently planted native plants from 9 a.m. to noon at Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland. Part of Save The Bay’s ongoing wetland restoration projects with the East Bay Regional Park District. 452-9261 ext. 119, bayevents@saveSFbay.org, www.savesfbay.org/bayevents  

East Bay Cohousing An all-day bus tour will visit six cohousing communities in the Bay area: Temescal Commons, Temescal Creek Cohousing and Swan’s Market Cohousing in Oakland, Berkeley Cohousing and Doyle Street Cohousing in Emeryville. Cost is $95. Register online. 834-7399, tours@cohousing.orgwww.cohousing.org/tours 

Where Glen Echo Creek Meets Lake Merritt A walking tour sponsored by Oakland Heritage Alliance. Meet at 10 a.m. at Lakeside Dr. and Madison St., near Barbary Lane at the Lake Merritt Hotel. Cost is $10-$15. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

“Sisters of ‘77” Archival film of the struggles and triumphs of the equal rights movement at 2 p.m. at the Rockridge Library, 5366 College Ave. Sponsored by Oakland Eastbay NOW, AAUW-Oakland-Piedmont Branch and Alameda County Commission on Status of Women. 251-0559. 

The East Bay Chapter of The Great War Society meets at 10:30 a.m. at the South Branch of the Berkeley Public Library, 1901 Russell St. at MLK. Stephen McClaughlin will speak on Revolution in the Baltic Fleet. For information, call 527-7118. 

Walk the Line & Connect to the Home Front Walk the line of history and the keel of a victory ship, and learn about the men and women who contributed to victory on the home front during World War II, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. followed by optional 45 min. Bay Trail stroll. Meet park ranger at memorial by main parking lot at Rosie the Riveter Memorial, Marina Bay Park, Melville and Regatta, Richmond. 232-5050. www.nps.gov/rori/ 

All Hands on Deck: Building the Ships that Kept Democracy Afloat Learn about the 747 ships built at the Kaiser shipyards and the people that built them, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Historic Shipyard No. 3, 1337 Canal Blvd., Berth 6A, Richmond. Park outside SS Red Oak Victory gate. 232-5050. Directions to shipyard 237-2933. www.ssredoakvictory.com/contact.htm 

Teacher Appreciation Day with raffle prizes and a 512MB Flash Drive giveaway for the first 200 teachers from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Staples, 2352 Shattuck Ave. www.staples.com/teacherday 

“Scene on the Strait” Art and Environmental Festival Sat. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Marinez Regional Shoreline. Proceeds support the Carquinez Regional Environmental Education Center. 787-9772. www.CREECyouth.org 

Lead-Safety for Remodeling, Repair & Painting of Older Homes A HUD and EPA approved one-day course, recommended for remodelers, renovators, painters and maintenance workers doing painting and minor repairs, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program Main Office, 2000 Embarcadero, #300, Oakland. Free to owners, and their employed maintenance crews, of residential properties built before 1978 in Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville or Oakland. Class fee for all others is $130. 567-8280. www.aclppp.org 

Got a problem in the garden? Want expert advice on watering, plant selection, lawn care, or pest management? Visit the master gardener booth from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center Street between ML King and Milvia. 639-1275. 

Reuse Workshop: Prayer Flags based on the traditional Tibetan prayer flag. Bring your own favorite article of clothing, blanket or other fabric to make your prayer flag. From 2 to 5 p.m. at Oakopolis, 447 25th St., Oakland. 663-6920. 

Free Meditation Workshop at noon at 7th Heaven Yoga Studio, 2820 7th St. 665-4300. 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at East Bay Bible Church, 11200 Golf Links Rd., Oakland. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

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. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755.  

Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Oakland Artisans Marketplace Sat. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Jack London Square. 238-4948. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 

Community Celebration of the Extraordinary Life of Dona Spring at 2 p.m. at Civic Center Park. 981-7140. 

Circle of Concern Hiroshima and Nagasaki Memorial at 1 p.m. on the West Lawn, UC Campus, Oxford St., near University.  

Soil Food Web II: Compost Tea Learn how to make high quality compost tea at home, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Eco-House, 1305 Hopkins St. Cost is $15, no one turned away. Please call to pre-register. 548-2220, ext. 233. 

Trails Challenge: Tilden Wildcat Loop An even-paced 7-mile hike, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. through the watershed. Bring lunch and lots of water. Hiking poles are advised. Call for meeting place. 525-2233. 

Woodminster & the Abbey A tour of Jaoquin Miller’s homeand hilly walk of the Woodminster Cascade sponsored by Oakland Heritage Alliance. Meet at 10 a.m. at The Abby, corner of Sanborn and Joaquin Miller Roads. Cost is $10-$15. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

“Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Nuclear Age” Sunday Service on effects of living in the age of nuclear weapons at 10:30 at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St at Bonita. 841-4824. www.bfuu.org  

Social Action Forum with Alan Solomonow of the American Friends Service committee on Israeli-Palestinian relations at 10 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, 1 Lawson Rd., Kensigton. 525-0302, ext. 306. 

“Keep Green with Untapped Water” A workshop on how to limit water use, use grey water and rain water to lower your water bill and keep your plants alive in the coming era of water shortages from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Building Education Center, 812 Page St. Cost is $40. 525-7610. www.bldgeductr.org/shortclasses 

Weeding at Huckleberry Regional Preserve Keep periwinkle and cape ivy out of Huckleberry Regional Preserve. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the parking lot on Skyline Blvd. short distance north of Snake Rd. Bring water, gloves, and tools for light weeding. janetg24@excite.com, www.ebparks.org/files/EBRPD_files/brochure/huck_map.pdf 

Samplings 2008: A Festival of Textiles with demonstrations of quilting, lace-making, needlepoint, knitting, spinning and more, from noon to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak, Oakland. Free. 238-2022. www.museumca.org 

Architecture Tour of the Oakland Museum of California Meet by the Admissions Desk on the second level at 1 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak, Oakland. Free. 238-2022. www.museumca.org 

Yoga and Meditation at 9:15 a.m. at Elephant Pharm, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Bob Byrne on “Finding the Courage to Love” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 809-1000. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

MONDAY, AUGUST 11 

Butterfly Basics Learn how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly at 10:30 a.m. at the Bayview Branch of the Richmond Public Library, 5100 Harnett Ave. 620-6566. 

“Lead-Safe Painting & Remodeling” Learn to detect and remedy lead hazards in the home to prevent lead poisoning from 6 to 8 p.m. at Lakeview Library, 550 El Embarcadero, Oakland. Register by phone or download registration form from website. Free. 567-8280. www.aclppp.org/homeown.htm 

Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at West Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, UC Campus. To schedule an appointment call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE. 

World Affairs/Politics Discussion Group, for people 60 years and over, meets at 9:45 a.m. at Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave, Albany. Cost is $3.  

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425. 

Dragonboating Year round classes at the Berkeley Marina, Dock M. Meets Mon, Wed., Thurs. at 6 p.m. Sat. at 10:30 a.m. For details see www.dragonmax.org 

Free Boatbuilding Classes for Youth Mon.-Wed. from 3 to 7 p.m. at Berkeley Boathouse, 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. Classes cover woodworking, boatbuilding, and boat repair. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12 

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 Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. Call for meeting place and if you need to borrow binoculars. 525-2233. 

Poles for Hiking Trekking & Walking at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Bring your bike and tools. 527-4140. 

“The Judge and The General” A documentary co-directed by Berkeley filmmaker Elizabeth Farnsworth and Chilean producer/director Patricio Lanfranco, about justice in Chile, at 6:45 and 9 p.m. at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, 2966 College Ave. at Ashby. Tickets are $7-$9.50. 433-9730. www.rialtocinemas.com 

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 6 to 8 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advanced sign-up is required; please call 594-5165.  

Discussion on Revolution: China and Mao Tse Tung at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. 

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

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. 

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

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 

Yarn Wranglers Come knit and crochet at 6:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. Share your digital images, slides and prints and learn what other photographers are doing. Monthly field trips. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org 

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. We offer ongoing classes in exercise and creative arts, and always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830. 

Sing-A-Long Group from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave., Albany. 524-9122. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13 

Conscientious Projector Film Series “Amazing Grace” A film on William Wilberforce, a repentent slavetrader, at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall, 1924 Cedar at Bonita, a block east of MLK Jr. Way. 841-4824. www.bfuu.org 

“The Power of Nightmares” Part II A BBC documentary on the Islamists and the Neo-cons, at 7:30 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland. Donation $5. www.Humanist Hall.org 

Grief Workshop “Yoga: Moving Through Grief” at 6:30 p.m. at Pathways, 333 Hegenberger Rd., Suite 700, Oakland. Free. 613-2092. 

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. 548-9840. 

Theraputic Recreation at the Berkeley Warm Pool, Wed. at 3:30 p.m. and Sat. at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Warm Pool, 2245 Milvia St. Cost is $4-$5. Bring a towel. 632-9369. 

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at the Berkeley BART Station, corner of Shattuck and Center. Sing for Peace at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil 

Teen Chess Club from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the North Branch Library, 1170 The Alameda at Hopkins. 981-6133. 

Spanish Conversation Classes every Wed. and Thurs. at 9:30 a.m. at North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst St. All levels welcome. Ongoing enrollment. 981-5190. 

Morning Meditation Every Mon., Wed., and Fri. at 7:45 a.m. at Rudramandir, 830 Bancroft Way at 6th. 486-8700. 

Berkeley CopWatch Drop-in office hours from 6 to 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. 548-0425. 

Stitch ‘n Bitch at 6:30 p.m. at Caffe Trieste, 2500 San Pablo Ave., at Dwight. 548-5198.  

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14 

Introduction to Urban Permaculture A talk by local permaculture designers from the Ecological Division of Merritt College’s Landscape Horticulture Department on what is possible in a city, at 7 p.m. at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., near Dwight Way. 548-2220, ext. 233. www.ecologycenter.org 

Photography Night with Harold Davis, author of Photoblog 2.0, at 7 p.m. at Expression College for Digital Arts, 6601 Shellmound Street, Emeryville. http://ebmug.org 

An Afternoon of Board Games for children of all ages at 3 p.m. at the Bayview Branch of the Richmond Public Library, 5100 Harnett Ave. 620-6566. 

Oakland International Black LGBT Film Festival through Sun. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. FOr details of films see www.clubrimshot.com/filmfestival.html 

Toastmasters Berkeley Communicators meets at 7:30 a.m. at Au Coquelet, 2000 University Ave. Rob.Flammia@gmail.com 

“Obama: Best Hope or Deadly Trap?” A presentation by Sunsara Taylor at 7 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196.  

American Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Orientation from 3 to 5 p.m. at 6230 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Advanced sign-up is required; please call 594-5165.  

Three Beats for Nothing South Mostly ancient part music for fun and practice meets every Thurs. at 10 a.m. at the South Berkeley Senior Center, Ellis at Ashby. 655-8863. asiecker@sbcglobal 

Baby & Toddler Storytime at 10:15 and 11:15 a.m. at Kensington Library, 61 Arlington Ave. 524-3043.  

Fitness Class for 55+ at 9:15 a.m. at Jewish Community Center, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. 

World of Plants Tours Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at 1:30 p.m. at the UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. Cost is $5. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 

Iraq Moratorium Day and Vigil to Protest the War from 2 to 4 p.m. at the corners of University & Acton. Sponsored by Strawberry Creek Lodge Tenant’s Assoc & Berkeley-East Bay Gray Panthers. 548-9696. 

“SB 840: The Promise and Politics of Single-Payer Health Care” A discussion with current and future Assemblymembers on how we can help win real health care reform, at 7 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th St., Oakland, between Telegraph and Broadway. 415-695-7891. 

Conscientious Projector Film Series “Swing Kids” A film about young people in Nazi Germany who resisted Hitler and danced the swing at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Hall, 1924 Cedar at Bonita. 841-4824. www.bfuu.org 

Berkeley City College Welcome Back to College Day from 10 a.m . to 2 p.m. Aone-stop center for registration, financial aid, and counseling for new and returning Berkeley City College students. 981-2858. 

Introduction to Pilates at 10:30 a.m. at Elephant Pharm, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Berkeley Women in Black weekly vigil from noon to 1 p.m. at Bancroft and Telegraph. Our focus is human rights in Palestine. 548-6310. 

Three Beats for Nothing Mostly ancient part music for fun and practice meets every Fri. at 10 a.m. at the North Berkeley Senior Center, Hearst at MLK. 655-8863. asiecker@sbcglobal 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16 

Berkeley Path Wanderers Path-a-thon Meet at Live Oak Park, Shattuck Ave. between Rose and Eunice to explore three different routes, returning to the park for a BYO picnic lunch. The difficult walk departs at 9:45 a.m., the moderate walk departs at 10:15 a.m., and the eassier walk departs at 11:15 a.m.. 528-3246. www.berkeleypaths.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. 

Introduction to Permaculture Design Workshop on ecological landscape design basics, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cost is $10-$15. Registration required. Call 548-2220, ext. 233. erc@ecologycenter.org 

Vegetarian Cooking Class on Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Cuisine Learn to make braised figs, muhummara, polenta with mushrooms, falafel burgers and more from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Unitarian Church of Oakland, 685 14th St. at Castro. Cost is $50, plus $5 food and material fee. Advance registration required. 531-COOK. www.compassionatecooks.com 

Rail Meets Water: Then and Now A walking tour of Middle Harbor Shoreline Park sponsored by Oakland Heritage Alliance. Meet at 10 a.m. in the parking lot of the park, off of 7th St. Cost is $10-$15. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

CopWatch Know Your Rights Training from 2 to 5 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com 

Got a problem in the garden? Want expert advice on watering, plant selection, lawn care, or pest management? Visit the master gardener booth from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, Center Street between ML King and Milvia. 639-1275. 

Marsh-kateers! An adventure hike for 6-8 year olds and their caregivers to investigate the native and non-native plants that call the salt marsh their home, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center, 4901 Breakwater Ave., Hayward. Cost is $6, registration required. 670-7270.  

Family Art Workshop: Fantasy Cityscape Build a model city from a variety of materials from 1 to 4 p.m. at The Museum of Children’s Art, 538 9th St., Oakland. Cost is $7 per child, adults free. 465-8770. www.mocha.org 

Walk the Line & Connect to the Home Front Walk the line of history and the keel of a victory ship, and learn about the men and women who contributed to victory on the home front during World War II, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. followed by optional 45 min. Bay Trail stroll. Meet park ranger at memorial by main parking lot at Rosie the Riveter Memorial, Marina Bay Park, Melville and Regatta, Richmond. 232-5050. www.nps.gov/rori/ 

All Hands on Deck: Building the Ships that Kept Democracy Afloat Learn about the 747 ships built at the Kaiser shipyards and the people that built them, from 2 to 3 p.m. at Historic Shipyard No. 3, 1337 Canal Blvd., Berth 6A, Richmond. Park outside SS Red Oak Victory gate. 232-5050. Directions to shipyard 237-2933. www.ssredoakvictory.com/contact.htm 

Prevent Back to School Colds and Flu at 10:30 a.m. at Elephant Pharm, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Summer Board Game Days from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720, ext. 17. 

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. www.nativeplants.org 

Around the World Tour of Plants at 1:30 p.m., Thurs., Sat. and Sun. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Drive. 643-2755. http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu 

The Berkeley Lawn Bowling Club provides free instruction every Wed. and Sat. at 10:30 a.m. at 2270 Acton St. 841-2174.  

Oakland Artisans Marketplace Sat. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sun. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Jack London Square. 238-4948. 

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17 

Community Labyrinth Peace Walk at 3 p.m. at Willard Middle School, Telegraph Ave. between Derby and Stuart. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. 526-7377. info@eastbaylabyrinthproject.org  

Creek Care Workday at Wildcat Creek from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot off Richmond Pkwy. between Gertrude Ave. and Pittsburg Ave. Sponsored by Golden Gate Audubon Society and East Bay Parks. 919-5873, 525-2233. 

Trails Challenge: Landfill Loop Discover life on the urban fringe where Wildcat Canyon meets San Pablo Bay on a 3-mile level hike along the Bay Trail from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Call for meeting place. 525-2233. 

South Prescott & Seventh St. A walking tour of West Oakland’ Bay View Homestead Tract, sponsored by Oakland Heritage Alliance. Meet at 10 a.m. at the Wesst Oakland BART Station, 5th St. at Center. Cost is $10-$15. 763-9218. www.oaklandheritage.org 

Junior Naturalists Discover Amazing Amphibians Explore the mysterious world of salamanders, toads, and frogs from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at Hayward Shoreline Interpretive Center, 4901 Breakwater Ave., Hayward. Cost is $8, registration required. 670-7270.  

Youth Spirit Artwork’s Silent Auction of “Art Chairs” created by homeless and low-income youth involved in an interfaith urban arts jobs training program, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Lake Merritt Boat House, 568 Bellevue Ave., Lakeside Park along Lake Merritt, Oakland. 282-0396. 

How to Plan and Build a Nanofarm Participants will draw up a simple plot plan of their garden, identify zones for perpetual edibles, learn the basics of soil preparation, and more, from 1 to 4 p.m. at UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial Dr. Cost is $50. 643-2755 ext. 03.  

”Information Warrior: Taking a Stand in an ‘Anti-terrorist’ Climate” Sunday Service with Josh Wolf at 10:30 a.m. at Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St at Bonita. 841-4824. www.bfuu.org  

East Bay Atheists meets to discuss how active Atheists should be about their Atheism, at 1:30 p.m. at Berkeley Main Library, 3rd Floor Meeting Room, 2090 Kittredge St. eastbayatheists.org 

Discussion on the New Constitution of the RCP, USA at 6:30 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. 848-1196. www.revolutionbooks.org 

Yoga and Meditation at 9:15 a.m. at Elephant Pharm, 1607 Shattuck Ave. 549-9200. 

Free Hands-on Bicycle Clinic Learn how to repair a flat, from 10 to 11 a.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. Bring your bike and tools. 527-4140. 

Free Garden Tours at Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Call to confirm. 841-8732. www.nativeplants.org 

Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace Peace walk around the lake every Sun. Meet at 3 p.m. at the colonnade at the NE end of the lake. 763-8712. lmno4p.org 

Berkeley Chess Club meets every Sun. at 7 p.m. at the Hillside School, 1581 Le Roy Ave. 843-0150. 

Tibetan Buddhism with Hugh Joswick on “Knowing Mind” at 6 p.m. at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute, 1815 Highland Pl. 809-1000. www.nyingmainstitute.com 

Sew Your Own Open Studio Come learn to use our industrial and domestic machines, or work on your own projects, from 4 to 8 p.m. at 84 Bolivar Dr., Aquatic Park. Also on Fri. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $5 per hour. 644-2577. www.watersideworkshops.org 

ONGOING 

School Backpack Collection Drive Drop off new or gently used backpacks at Spenger’s, 1919 Fourth St.,during August, for a $10 dining certificate. Backpacks will be distributed by the Berkeley Boosters/Police Activities League. 845-7771. 

CITY MEETINGS 

Community Environmental Advisory Commission meets Thurs., Aug. 7, at 7 p.m., at 2118 Milvia St. Nabil Al-Hadithy, 981-7461.  

Landmarks Preservation Commission meets Thurs., Aug. 7, at 7 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7419.  

Commission on Labor meets Wed., Aug. 12, at 6:45 p.m., at the North Berkeley Senior Center. 981-7550.  

Zoning Adjustments Board meets Thurs., Aug. 14, at 7 p.m., in City Council Chambers. 981-7410.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 7 

FILM 

The Dark Cinema of David Goodis “Nightfall” at 6:30 p.m., “The Burglar” at 8:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu 

“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” The film adaptation of the book by Hunter S. Thomson at 9:15 p.m. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. A portion of the ticket price goes towards supporting the California Food and Justice Coalition. 704-0245, jessicabell@cafoodjustice.org, www.foodsecurity.org/california 

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, through Sat. at the Roda Theater, 2015 Addison St. All Festival Pass is $225. Group rates and specials for students and seniors are available. 925-275-9490. www.sfjff.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Meg Waite Clayton reads from her second novel “The Wednesday Sisters” at 7:30 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

Rafaela G. Castro reads from “Provocaciones: Letters from the Prettiest Girl in Arvi” at 7 p.m. at Rebecca’s Books, 3268 Adeline St. 852-4768. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Jazzschool Student Vocal Showcase at noon at the downtown Berkeley BART station, Shattuck at Center St. 

Clinton Fearon at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Ledward Kaapana & Mike Kaawa at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $22.50-$23.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jazzalicious at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $8. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Owen Roberts, The Ben Benkert Trio at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Noche de Maestros with Marcelo Ledesma from Buenos Aires at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Fleeting Trance at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Selector: Zeugmatic at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 8 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “The Matchmaker” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave., through Aug. 16. Tickets are $10-$12. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org  

Altarena Playhouse “Hay Fever” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. at Altarena Playhouse, 1409 High St., Alameda, through Aug. 9. Tickets are $17-$20. 523-1553. www.altarena.org 

Central Works “Midsummer/4” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Aug. 24. Tickets are $20. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Stage Door Conservatory Teens on Stage “Anything Goes” Fri.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2460 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$20 at the door. 521-6250. 

Subterranean Shakespeare “The Merry Wives of Windsor” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. at The Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., through Aug. 9. Tickets are $12-$17. For reservations call 276-3871.  

Woodminster Summer Musicals ”Seussical” a musical based on the works of Dr. Seuss, Fri.-Sun. at 8 p.m., at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland. through Aug. 17. Tickets are $23-$38. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“888 Pieces of We” A photo memoir by Keba Armand Konte Reception at 8:08 p.m. at Oakland Art Gallery, 199 Kahn’s Alley, Oakland. 637-0395. www.oaklandartgallery.org 

“Our Quiet Earthquake” Mixed media works by Aunia Kahn. Opening reception at 7 p.m. at Eclectix, 7523 Fairmount Ave., El Cerrito. Exhibition runs through Aug. 31. www.eclectixgallery.com 

“New City Scenes and Landscapes” Paintings by Jerome Carlin on display at Caffe 817, 817 Washington St., Oakland to Aug. 14. 271-7965. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Adam David Miller and Rita Flores Bogaert will read at 7 p.m. at Nefeli Caffe, 1854 Euclid Ave. 841-6374. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Bobby Young Project, old school rock, at 5 p.m. outdoors at Broadway at Water St., Jack London Square, Oakland.  

Point Richmond Summer Music with Rock Soup Ramblers and Houston Jones, at 5:30 p.m. outdoors at Park Place in downtown Point Richmond. www.pointrichmond.com 

Ben Bolt, guitar, at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. at Arch. Cost is $10-$15. 845-1350. www.hillsideclub.org/concerts 

University Summer Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Sliding scale donation at the door. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Marvin Sanders, flute, Lena Lubotsky, piano perform works by Bach, Mozart, Haydn and Debussy, at 8 p.m. at Giorgi Gallery 2911 Claremont Ave. Cost is $10. 848-1228. www.giorgigallery.com 

Jon Fromer, CD release concert at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

David Hunter Quartet at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Jack Pollard & His Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Marley’s Ghost at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Antioquia, Last Legal Music at 9 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Drumm Workshop at 8:30 p.m. Cost is $8-$20. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Greenmountain with members of Hamsa Lila will play sacred world dance music at 9:30 p.m. at Numi Tea Garden, 2230 Livingston St., Oakland. Donation $5-$10. 

Little Muddy at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Oh Shasta, Amy Meyers at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344.  

The Free Peoples, Burglars Wine at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

The Dave Matthews Blues Band at 8:30 p.m. at Royal Oak Pub (formerly Baltic), 135 Park Place, Point Richmond. 232-5678. 

Say Bok Gwai, La Grita, Colectivo Error at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Red, R&B, at 9 p.m. at Maxwell’s, 341 13th St., Oakland. Cost is $10. 839-6169. 

3rd Date at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9 

CHILDREN  

Puppet Show “The Adventures of Peer Gynt” Sat. and Sun. at 11 a.m., 2 and 4 p.m. and “Harvest at the Lake” Native American Stories at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. www.fairyland.org 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “Ubu for President” An adaptation of the plays of Alfred Jarry, Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkel Park, Southampton Ave., off the Arlington, through Sept. 14. Free, donations accepted. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Prism Stage “The W. Kamu Bell Curve” Sat. and Sun. at 8 p.m. at Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland, through Aug.10. Tickets are $15-$20. 848-0237. 

FILM 

“Sisters of ‘77” Archival film of the struggles and triumphs of the equal rights movement at 2 p.m. at the Rockridge Library, 5366 College Ave. Sponsored by Oakland Eastbay NOW, AAUW-Oakland-Piedmont Branch and Alameda County Commission on Status of Women. 251-0559. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Dreams in Metaphor” Black and white photographs by Moja Ma’at. Opening reception at 6 p.m. at Photolab Gallery, 2235 Fifth St. Exhibition runs through Aug. 30. 644-1400. www.photolaboratory.com 

Auto Erotica “It’s All About The Car” A group show by Phillip Hall, Bill Silveira and Laurell True. Opening party at 6 p.m. at Float Gallery, 1091 Calcot Place, Unit #116, Oakland. Exhibition runs to Sept. 6. 535-1702. info@floatcenter.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Barbara Quick reads from her novel “Vivaldi’s Virgins” with musical accompaniment on the cello by Tessa Seymour, at 4 p.m. at Mrs. Dalloways, 2904 College Ave. 704-8222. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

University Summer Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. at Hertz Hall, UC Campus. Sliding scale donation at the door. 642-4864. http://music.berkeley.edu 

Global Voices of Resistance Benefit for La Guinera Community Center in Cuba, at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Carmen Jones at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $15. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Bongo Love at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Drum workshop at 8:30 p.m., bring your own drum. Cost is $12-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Ari Chersky Trio at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Mike Zawitowski, Laura Zucker at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

High Country at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Kurt Ribak Jazz Group at 9:30 p.m. at Albatross, 1822 San Pablo Ave. Cost is $3. 843-2473. www.albatrosspub.com 

Charlie Wilson’s War at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

The Sleepy Alligators, Seconds on End, in a tribute to Jerry Garcia at 9:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Attitude Adjustment, Part Time Christians, Zombie Holocaust at 7 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $8. 525-9926. 

Yellowjackets with Mike Stern at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square, through Sun. Cost is $26. 238-9200.  

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Fire & Flora” Hand-built ceramic vessels by Will Johnson and landscape paintings by Karen LeGault. Artists reception at 2 p.m. at the Community Art Gallery, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, 2450 Ashby Ave. Exhibition runs through Sept. 4. 204-1667.  

Samplings 2008: A Festival of Textiles with demonstrations of quilting, lace-making, needlepoint, knitting, spinning and more, from noon to 4 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak, Oakland. Free. 238-2022. www.museumca.org 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Architecture Tour of the Oakland Museum of California Meet by the Admissions Desk on the second level at 1 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak, Oakland. Free. 238-2022. www.museumca.org 

Arte Poetica, The Dream Poetry Team at 7 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

“Fat Man, Little Boy, and the Mushroom Cloud” Poets reflect on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at 6:30 p.m. at Revolution Books, 2425 Channing Way. Admission is free, donations encouraged. 

“The Music of the Word” The Petaluma Poetry Walk Anthology celebration and reading at 3:30 p.m. at Rebecca’s Books, 3268 Adeline St. 852-4768. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Americana Unplugged: Homespun Rowdy at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Trio Mopme at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Redwing at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Café Bellie at 7:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Jesse Scheinin Group at 4:30 p.m. Nebula Explosion at 5:30 p.m. and Christine Donaldson at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373.  

Australian Bebop Ragas at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761.  

Peter Blood & Annie Patterson, editors of “Rise Up Singing” at 7 p.m. at Friends Meeting House, Walnut and Vine. Donation $15, no one turned away.  

MONDAY, AUGUST 11 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Poetry Express with Adam David Miller at 7 p.m. at Priya Restaurant, 2072 San Pablo Ave. 644-3977. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Downtown Jam Session with Glen Pearson at 7 p.m. at Ed Kelly Hall, Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, 1616 Franklin St., Oakland. Cost is $5. www.opcmucsic.org 

The Eddie Gale Band featuring Kidd Jordan, Dick Griffin, Marcus Shelby, William Parker and Joe Hodge at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $10-$18. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 12 

FILM 

“The Judge and The General” A documentary co-directed by Berkeley filmmaker Elizabeth Farnsworth and Chilean producer/director Patricio Lanfranco, about justice in Chile, at 6:45 and 9 p.m. at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, 2966 College Ave. at Ashby. Tickets are $7-$9.50. 433-9730. www.rialtocinemas.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Freight and Salvage Open Mic at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $4.50-$5.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Tri Tip Trio 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 Kelly Park at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $5. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Dwele at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

Jazzschool Tuesdaysat 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Berkeley Poetry Slam with host Charles Ellik and Three Blind Mice, at 8:30 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $7. 841-2082 www.starryploughpub.com 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Summer Sounds at Oakland City Center with Le Jazz Hot, Gypsy jazz, at noon at 12th and Broadway, Oakland.  

Rob Schneiderman Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Alexandre Cadarso and Javier Blanco, music from Galicia, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $5. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

Swing Fever at 8:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Swing dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Don Coffin and Paul Ellis, Irish and Italian songs, at 7 p.m. at Le Bateau Ivre, 2629 Telegraph Ave. www.lebateauivre.net 

Pacific Manouche at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

“Vakaranga Venharetare” Women of the Spirits with Jenny Muchumi and Patience Chaitezvi at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Mikie Lee and Amber at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

Dwele at 8 and 10 p.m. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 14 

FILM 

Oakland International Black LGBT Film Festival through Sun. at Parkway Theater, 1834 Park Blvd., Oakland. For details of films see www.clubrimshot.com/filmfestival.html 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Dora Sorell, holocaust survivor and author of “Tell the Children” talks at 6:30 p.m. at Berkeley Public Library, North Branch, 1170 the Alameda. 981-6250. 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Marcus Shelby Trio at noon at the downtown Berkeley BART station, Shattuck at Center St. 

David Rovics, radical and progressive songs at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita. Tickets are $15 at the door. 528-4941. 

JBill at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $5. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

The Loading Zone at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Anna Estrada & Her Trio at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com  

Scott Amendola with the Gyan Riley Trio at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Spanish Harlem Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $24-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 

THEATER 

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley “The Matchmaker” Fri. and Sat. at 8 p.m. at Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Ave., through Aug. 16. Tickets are $10-$12. 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org  

Central Works “Midsummer/4” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Ave., through Aug. 24. Tickets are $20. 558-1381. www.centralworks.org 

Crowded Fire Theater Company “The Listener” Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 5 p.m. at Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave., through Aug. 31. Tickets are $15-$25. 415-433-1235. crowdedfire.org 

Woodminster Summer Musicals ”Seussical” a musical based on the works of Dr. Seuss, Fri.-Sun. at 8 p.m., at Woodminster Amphitheater in Joaquin Miller Park, 3300 Joaquin Miller Rd., Oakland. through Aug. 17. Tickets are $23-$38. 531-9597. www.woodminster.com 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Kwatro-Kantos” Works by the Filipino Collective on display to Sept. 13 at 21 Grand, 416 25th St., at Broadway, Oakland. 444-7263. www.kwatro-kantos.com 

FILM 

“Fellini's 8 1/2” View and discuss the archetypal, mythic, and depth psychological dimensions of this film at 7 p.m. at The Dream Institute, 1672 University. Cost is $10-$12. 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Paces “The Tristan Codas” Poetry and dance at 7:30 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. Donations benefit Berkeley Art Center. 644-6893. www.berkeleysrtcenter.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Amigos, Latin rock, at 5 p.m. outdoors at Broadway at Water St., Jack London Square, Oakland.  

Pacific Coast Jazz on the Green at 6 p.m. in the gardens of the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak, Oakland. 238-2022. www.museumca.org  

Conjunto Los Pochos, Conjunto Romero at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Panel discussion at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $10-$12. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

E. W. Wainwright’s African Roots of Jazz at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. East Coast Swing lesson at 8 p.m. Cost is $10-$13. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Phil Marsh at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Christmas, Members of Thizz, Thizz Latin, hip-hop benefit for CopWatch at 8 p.m. at 3228 Adeline St. Cost is $5-$10. berkeleycopwatch@yahoo.com 

Small Guitarmen, Jessica Rice at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Desario, Whitey on the Moon, Bye Bye Blackbirds, California indie pop, at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $8. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Killing the Dream, Risen, Resist the Right at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Rhythm Doctors at 10 p.m. at Beckett’s Irish Pub, 2271 Shattuck Ave. 647-1790. www.beckettsirishpub.com 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16 

CHILDREN  

Puppet Show “The Adventures of Peer Gynt” Sat. and Sun. at 11 a.m., 2 and 4 p.m. and “The Girl Who Lost Her Smile” at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Children’s Fairyland, 699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. Cost is $6. 452-2259. www.fairyland.org 

THEATER 

Shotgun Players “Ubu for President” An adaptation of the plays of Alfred Jarry, Sat. and Sun. at 4 p.m. at John Hinkel Park, Southampton Ave., off the Arlington, through Sept. 14. Free, donations accepted. 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org 

Prism Stage “The W. Kamu Bell Curve” Sat. and Sun. at 8 p.m. at JCC of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St., through Aug.24. Tickets are $15-$20. 848-0237. 

EXHIBITIONS 

“Communication Gap” Works by Angie Brown, Crystal Morey, Jake Gabel, Nancy Bach, Patrick Renner and Amanda Jayne Kennedy, opens at The Compound Gallery, 6604 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, and runs through Sept. 7. 655-9019. www.thecompoundgallery.com 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

Cool Mash-Up Youth Speaks female spoken word artists from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org 

Rhythm & Muse with spoken word performer Paradise and horn player The Ambassador of Trouts at 7 p.m. at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St., between Eunice and Rose . 644-6893.  

MUSIC AND DANCE 

Los Boleros, Afro-Cuban Latin band, at 9:30 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

V-Note at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $14. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Barry Melton Band, Nick Gravenites Band at 9:30 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com  

Mark Fromm, Erika Wright Band at 7:30 p.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Crooked Jades at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

Jonathan Stein Experiment at 8 p.m. at the Jazzschool. Cost is $10. 845-5373. www.jazzschool.com 

Fred Frith, Matthias Bossi, Shazad Ismally Duo, improv rock, at 9 p.m. at The Starry Plough. Cost is $10. 841-2082. www.starryploughpub.com 

Patrick Wolff Trio at 8 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Rich White Males, Regal Beagle, Idiot Box at 8 p.m. at 924 Gilman St., an all-ages, member-run, no alcohol, no drugs, no violence club. Cost is $5. 525-9926. 

Spanish Harlem Orchestra at 8 and 10 p.m., through Sun. at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square. Cost is $24-$28. 238-9200. www.yoshis.com 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 17 

READINGS AND LECTURES 

The Men’s Story Project, exploring masculinity through spoken word, monlogues, music and dance, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Cost is $12-$20. 849-2568. www.lapena.org 

MUSIC AND DANCE 

San Francisco Renaissance Voices at 4 p.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Tickets are $10-$20 at the door. 684-7563. 

The Edlos at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $18.50-$19.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org 

In Jazz We Trust at 8 p.m. at Anna’s Jazz Island, 2120 Allston Way. Cost is $10. 841-JAZZ. www.AnnasJazzIsland.com 

Ahimsa, Indian fusion, at 8 p.m. at Ashkenaz. Cost is $10-$15. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com 

Pete Madsen at 11 a.m. at Nomad Cafe, 6500 Shattuck Ave. 595-5344. www.nomadcafe.net 

Americana Unplugged: Dark Hollow Band at 5 p.m. at Jupiter. 843-8277. 

Household Items with the Jordan Wardlaw Band at 7 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe. 465-4073. www.mamabuzzcafe.com 

Jyoti Kala Mandir, College of Indian Classical Arts, “Devi: Mystic Goddess” at 5 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Tickets are $12-$18. 486-9851. www.jyotikalamandir.org  

Kamau Bell dances around the stage at Pro Arts, a little bit like a boxer in the ring, but he’s smiling. And exercising the audience and himself: “Call me an Obvious Ethnic. We all are ethnic; some of us are obvious.”  

His solo show, The W. Kamau Bell Curve, billing itself as “Ending Racism in About an Hour,” is running next Saturday and Sunday night at the Oakland gallery off Jack London Square.  

Bell complains about the euphemisms for race: “African-American is inaccurate ... and it took all the rhythm out. Can you hear James Brown sing, ‘Say it loud, I’m African-American and I’m proud’? It’s associated with words like ‘the defendant,’ ‘sickle cell anemia’ ... Black is the coolest color; think of vampires, and Johnny Cash.” 

Bell later quotes Quincy Jones: “Laughter is the soul saying Yes!” A stand-up comic, who teaches a class in San Francisco on performance, Bell hA worked up his solo show over the past year, performed it for 14 weeks in San Francisco, and now brings it to the East Bay. 

(It was originally booked for two weekends each at Pro Arts and the East Bay Jewish Community Center in Berkeley, but the JCC abruptly canceled both runs the day before opening last week, after laying off its programming staff, apparently for budgetary reasons. Bell’s producers, Bruce Pachtman and Lisa Marie Rollins, assisted by Ilya Tovbis, former JCC director of programming, stepped in to restore the Pro Arts booking. Tickets are again available at Brown Paper Tickets, although many who received refunds after the JCC cancelLation are still unaware of the show’s continuance.)  

Bell’s solo show incorporates material from his stand-up act, but it’s “more real than stand-up, with a longer pace between punchlines. It’s an adult conversation with the audience. Not so much scatological as talking about the issues, not selling out the point for a joke. I can take that luxury in a solo act. Otherwise, you usually don’t have that until you’re famous.” 

A case in point—and the perfect example—is a story Bell avers “couldn’t be done in stand-up,” with different moods and twists and turns, about meeting his girlfriend’s Sicilian grandfather, who spurns him, but getting coaxed into coming to Thanksgiving at the grandparents’ home—and bringing a sweet potato pie for dessert, thinking he would be the only black person there.  

“It’s the emotional heart of the show,” Bell commented, “and that’s why you need a director for solo performance. Mine, Martha Rynberg, told me I should use it after I told it to her, just as an anecdote. Audiences respond to it emotionally right off. Stories like that never succeed in stand-up.” 

In this way, Bell marks himself off from most other comedians as a humorist, with “a sense of the opposite, what you find instead of what you expect to find,” as playwright Luigi Pirandello put it. And with his sense of “responding to the crowd as in a conversation,” his routines on race take a different tack than most comedians’ one-liners or diatribes. 

“The best audience is mixed across all lines,” he says. “That way everybody has to listen as individuals. Sometimes I don’t know how to deal with the material, but—whether the audience knows it or not—I’m discovering my angle in front of you. My show changes every night, and I reserve the right to make it up, to talk it out in front of you.” 

The W. Kamau Bell Curve uses visuals, too. A slide show of quotes as varied as “I Come From Shock” (Muhammed Ali), “I’d rather play a maid than be one” (Hattie McDaniel) and “Oops!” (Martin Luther King) play across the screen before the show. Later, Bell shows some demographic charts from a Forbes “Ten Best Places to Live” article about Indiana, and compares them to—Oakland. “Nobody talks about the positives of Oakland.”  

Bell also projects pictures, one a photo of himself as a kid, grimacing, in a torn T-shirt, imitating the Incredible Hulk. “My mother just sent it to me!” He celebrates the actor who played the Hulk as one of “The five white guys who did the most for black people.” 

Bell, whose mother taught at Stanford (where she was initially denied a degree in the then-unrecognized field of African-American Literature), grew up in the Bay Area. Between weekends at Pro Arts, he’s been back East to direct a play (I [Heart] Hamas) by one of his students, Jennifer Jajeh, for the New York Fringe Festival, and will direct another show, Love, Humiliation and Karaoke this fall at San Francisco’s Stagewerx. 

THE W. KAMAU BELL CURVE 

8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Prism Stage, Pro Arts, 550 Second St., Oakland.  

$15-$20. 848-0237.

Cries of “Hornstrumpot!” and “By my green candle!” mingle strangely with the savage shrieks of warring pom-pom girls and feel-good admonitions to “send your energy” in the Shotgun Players’ Ubu for President. The play is Shotgun’s offering for their annual free outdoor theater extraganza at John Hinkel Park, and it coincides nicely with election season as the group confabulates the specter of Alfred Jarry’s seminal avant-garde play, Ubu Roi, with a bunch of ghost images from the media.  

Following the basic plotline of Jarry’s unique blend of human puppet show, Shakespeare parody and Symbolist sublimation, Josh Costello (who has directed for the Magic in San Francisco, as well as the Crucible in Oakland, and was Impact’s first artistic director in Berkeley) has written a broad burlesque of contemporary popular culture.  

Directed by Shotgun founder Patrick Dooley, the episodes from the original Ubu cut with skit-like inserts play like sketch comedy. The songs (lyrics by Dave Garrett, musical direction by Dave Malloy, just off Beowulf and late of Clown Bible) are from any grade school collection of patriotic anthems and American folksongs. The lyrics are warped to convey the silliness of the singers, cartoonish characters who have taken over the animation studio. 

From the entrance of Ma and Pa Ubu (Carla Pantoja with a yard-tall hot pink beehive hairdo and kit-kat dark glasses, Dave Garrett with Ubu’s signature stomach-level spiral and a French revolutionary red cap) as spectators, sitting down in lawnchairs, the Ubus are portrayed as trailer trash churls, versus the rather bourgeois King (Gary Grossman), who steps down to run against Ubu for president, and his monstrously suburbanite Princess (prince in the original) of a daughter (Casi Maggio), who takes up the royalist opposition after Ubu steps on the King’s foot and assassinates him (the original burlesqued Macbeth).  

There’s also a cloyingly feel-good candidate, Ming Jamal Wounded Knee (or Eagle) Goldstein (Sung Min Park), who canvasses the audience before the show begins. There’s a Debraining Machine, but no voting machines. By the concluding song, the action and characters have stretched every which way over the landscape like Silly Putty. 

The show’s not supposed to be more than inspired by Jarry, but it’s a good moment to say something about the man who influenced both Picasso and Miro, whom Antonin Artaud named his own theater company after, and whose creations captivated pop artists like Frank Zappa and of course avant-rock band Pere Ubu.  

Out of a schoolboy puppet show that slagged a pompous teacher, Jarry realized a sublimely rapacious character, whose absurd self-absorption and obliviousness attains metaphysical heights.  

From the opening expletive, “Merde!” to the wholesale slaughter of nobility and peasant alike by the Debraining Machine, the play devours itself as gluttonous Ubu shamelessly aggrandizes himself. W. B. Yeats, who was present at the opening night riot (a century-long tradition at Parisian avant-garde events), called it a harbinger of “the Savage God.” 

Jarry was a Breton, in the line of other dramatists of Celtic extraction (preceded by Victor Hugo and Villiers De L’Isle-Adam with his proto-Ubu, Tribulat Bonhomet; followed by John Synge, Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw and Ramon Del Valle-Inclan from Galicia), all of whom drew what would later be called characters of alienation (or defamiliarization) from a time-honored Celtic routine of pompous self-parody and obliviousness, king and jester at once. 

Through this deadpan, everyone becomes implicated. “A Celt can never laugh at himself,” said Oliver St. John Gogarty (whom Joyce dragooned as “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan” to introduce Ulysses). Or never laugh at himself alone, a self-caricature in a world of grotesques. 

Dave Garrett and Carla Pantoja seem to be up to the meta-Freudian ferocities of the Ubu ménage, but they portray them as genial louts with attitude. Post- 

cracker barrel populism replaces a bloated cultural parody, the Romantics’ overwrought version of Shakespeare as an assault vehicle. The rest isn’t silence, more like MAD TV. 

Jarry turned theater inside out with a humorous reign of terror and banality, cut with delirious flights of imagination: “Clichés are the armature of the Absolute.”  

Andre Gide recorded how he took on Ubu as his public persona in The Coutnerfeiters and his journals. The Mime Troupe, under R. G. Davis, made political hay of Ubu in the ’60s; now, the Shotgun Players, in the spirit of fun, make a joyful noise instead. 

UBU FOR PRESIDENT 

4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 14 at John Hinkle Park, Southampton Avenue, off The Arlington.  

Free (donations accepted).  

841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org.

A centennial retrospective of an artist’s work is not unusual. That the artist is still living at the time is fairly unusual. But it’s truly rare for the celebrated artist to be living, working in full swing and an acknowledged master of his art—as is Manoel de Oliveira, the great Portuguese film director, whose career began in the late silent era, and who will be 100 on Dec. 12. 

Pacific Film Archive will begin an Oliveira retrospective of 19 features and four shorts (including his first film from 1931, the silent short Douro, Working River) of his 50-some films, this Saturday at 6:30 p.m. with Voyage to the Beginning of the World (1997), with Marcello Mastroianni (in his last film appearance) as Oliveira (while Oliveira plays Mastroianni’s driver). 

On Sunday at 5 p.m. his first feature, Aniki-Bobo (1942), will be shown with a short from 1963, The Hunt. Next Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. will see Oliveira’s second feature, Rite of Spring (1963), the documentary-like reenactment of a small town’s passion play and the first of various films Oliveira based on theater and, later, novels. 

Oliveira madeonly a few short documentaries in the 20 years between features, in great part due to his undisguised opposition to the Salazar “Estado Novo” dictatorship (1932–74), based more on humanistic than political concerns.  

His career took off with his third feature, the Buñuelian The Past and the Present (1972), inaugurating a tetralogy of “frustrated love,” with his first great masterpiece (released in his 70th year), Doomed Love (1978) and later the stunning Francisca (1981), the from the former work, the other from the life of 19th century Portuguese novelist Camilo Castel Branco. 

“What other great filmmaker made his masterpiece after his 80th birthday?” asked director Fernando Lopes, referring to Oliveira’s Abraham’s Valley (1993, based in part on Madame Bovary, which will end the retrospective on Sept. 28), when he accompanied Oliveira to the 1994 San Francisco International Film Festival to receive the Kurosawa Award.  

Since that time, Oliveira has made over half his output, at least a film a year, like A Talking Picture (from 2003, perhaps  

a response to 9/11, with Catherine Deneuve, Irene Pappas and John Malkovitch) and Belle Toujours (updating Buñuel’s story, nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar for 2006, with Michel Piccoli and Bulle Ogier). 

An acting student who was inspired at 20 to direct by Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a City, and later by Soviet film montage, Oliveira created his own signature style, “palimpsestic ... a reflective and self-reflexive discourse” (Randal Johnson), unfolds as his career continues to progress.  

This true stylization, which eschews naturalism for a peculiar kind of direct address (“Each film must be finished by the spectators”), is his own interpretation (as Fernando Lopes put it) of Portugal’s national sentiment: that elusive thing, “saudade.” Often translated as nostalgia, saudade may be more a sense of what did happen—or could have happened—as recollected in the present and projected into the future.  

Oliveira recently placed the genesis of his sensibilities as an artist working in film, “the synthesis of all art forms,” in the reflections he made when he was sidelined from film and managing his family’s vineyards, on “the simplicity of old Greek tragedies, the realism of the Renaissance.”