Arts & Events
Lower Bottom Playaz Present ‘Mama at Twilight’
Pappy is shadowboxing by the dining room table with Son, when daughter Tanya says, “You know Mama don’t like no play boxing in her house.” In Mama at Twilight, staged by the Lower Bottom Playaz, everyone refers to Mama—and Mama defers to everyone. -more-
Mime Troupe’s ‘Too Big to Fail’
Fish eat other fish ... and the big fish eat the little fish. It’s the biggest fish who eat last. -more-
Berkeley Symphony Names New Creative Advisor
Berkeley Symphony and its incoming music director, Joana Carneiro, have named a Berkeley native, composer Gabriela Lena Frank, as creative advisor. Frank will help shape the symphony’s programming, assist community outreach programs, and serve as mentor to the emerging composers of the symphony’s Under Construction program for development of new music. The announcement was made last Monday, two weeks after the symphony named the four current Emerging Composers-In-Residence and alternate for the current Under Construction series. -more-
‘Afghan Star’: Afghanistan’s Version of ‘American Idol’
If you think Simon Cowell of “American Idol” is a harsh critic, imagine what it would be like to be judged by a Taliban warlord. That’s the fate for contestants vying for the top slot in the television show “Afghan Star.” They not only put their egos on the line, they sometimes put their lives at risk. -more-
Architectural Excursions: Yosemite’s Wawona Hotel: ‘A Good Place to Stop’
Legend has it that in the 1920s, a small plane crashed outside the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite National Park. Taken to Moore Cottage, on the slope behind the main hotel building, the injured pilot is said to have expired before the doctor’s arrival. Hotel employees and guests have reported seeing a ghost descending the stairs in Moore Cottage, dressed in a leather jacket, pilot’s cap, goggles, and a white silk scarf. -more-
About the House: Why I Hate Norm Abrams
OK, I don’t actually hate Norm Abrams of “New Yankee Workshop,” “This Old House,” etc.; I sort of like the guy. It’s nice to see someone on TV who would never have made it based on his headshot and a screen-test. Those other folks on “Hometime”—so cute and all-American-looking and blond: them, I hate. (Kachunk, Blam, Kachunk, Blam.) Ah, that’s better. There’s nothing like large caliber gunfire to sooth the chakras. -more-