Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Thursday August 20, 2009 - 11:05:00 AM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20 -more-


Lower Bottom Playaz Present ‘Mama at Twilight’

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Thursday August 20, 2009 - 11:03:00 AM

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’

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Thursday August 20, 2009 - 11:03:00 AM

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

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Thursday August 20, 2009 - 11:04:00 AM

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’

By Gar Smith Special to the Planet
Thursday August 20, 2009 - 11:04:00 AM

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’

By Daniella Thompson
Thursday August 20, 2009 - 10:54:00 AM
The main building of the Wawona Hotel opened in April 1879.

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

By Matt Cantor
Thursday August 20, 2009 - 10:53:00 AM

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-


Community Calendar

Thursday August 20, 2009 - 10:59:00 AM

THURSDAY, AUGUST 20 -more-