Arts & Events

THURSDAY, MAY 14 -more-

Internationally popular novelist, poet screenwriter—and Berkeley resident—Barry Gifford will be on hand at 9 p.m. tonight at the Cerrito Speakeasy for a celebration of the release of The Imagination of the Heart, the seventh of his Sailor and Lula book series. -more-

Kent Nagano, in his next-to-last outing with the Berkeley Akademie before he steps down as Berkeley Symphony music director, will present Mozart’s Divertimento, K. 136; the premiere of Masques and Divertissements by Alexander Muno; and Johannes Brahms’ Serenade No. 1 in D Major. 7 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way. $20-40. 841-2800. www.berkeleysymphony.org. -more-

The Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble (WAVE) will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a concert and party at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland. The 19 musical selections, all from performances over the past decade, include medieval works from Spain, England and France. The 14-member ensemble will be led by founder and director Cindy Beitman, and will feature special guests Joyce Johnson-Hamilton and Alta Sonora playing cornetto, sackbut, slide trumpet, dulcians and shawms. -more-

The Oakland East Bay Symphony closes its 20th anniversary season Friday night with a concert version of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Showboat (1927), the first Broadway musical with an integrated cast (and the first to depict an interracial marriage). -more-

The 14th Annual Jazz on Fourth Festival, which benefits Berkeley High School performing arts program, takes place this Sunday, May 17. -more-

Flushing toilets account for nearly 30 percent of our water usage and with water bills at an all-time high, I thought it might be time to talk about how to replace a toilet. (It’s also a VERY green thing to do, since the system that supplies water to our homes contributes greatly to CO emissions.) -more-

THURSDAY, MAY 14 -more-