Arts & Events

BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE -more-

A GREAT GOOD PLACE FOR BOOKS -more-

COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER -more-

"BAY AREA HEART GALLERY," -- Exhibit consists of photographs of children, youth and families, accompanied by their compelling stories. The joint exhibit opens in the Alameda County Administration Building, 1221 Oak Street, Oakland and at the Eden Area Multi-Service Center, 24100 Amador Way, Hayward. -more-

A440 GALLERY -- -more-

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND The Oakland Public Library's museum is designed to discover, preserve, interpret and share the cultural and historical experiences of African Americans in California and the West. In addition, a three-panel mural is on permanent display. -more-

DANCE MISSION THEATER -more-

ALTARENA PLAYHOUSE -more-

ACTORS THEATRE OF SAN FRANCISCO -more-

"SUN SPHERES," -- "Sun Spheres'' is a trio of mosaic sculptures by artist Laurel True at the intersection of Ocean and Granada Avenues in the OMI District of San Francisco. -more-

CARMEN FLORES RECREATION CENTER -more-

"TARGET ARTS AND WONDER FREE FAMILY EVENT," -- July 16 through July 18. The de Young Museum, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, The Museum of the African Diaspora, Zeum and Yerba Beuena Gardens Festival take turns opening their doors to the public for free with free art making activities. See website for more information. -more-

924 GILMAN ST. -- All ages welcome. -more-

The wonderful time of the year has come, the time of the 2010 Midsummer Mozart Festival, the only all-Mozart festival in the country. This year’s celebration of the heartbreakingly beautiful music of the Salzburg-born genius will feature two programs, each presented at four locations around the Bay Area over the next two weekends. The selections include symphonies, concertos, ballet music and vocal arias performed by top local performers and internationally renowned artists, all under the direction of Maestro George Cleve, a Bay Area treasure and one of the world’s greatest interpreters of Mozart’s music. -more-

The silent era of filmmaking was an age of discovery, innovation and supreme achievement in the new medium. In the early years of the 20th century, motion pictures steadily grew from novelties and brief, flickering diversions to full-scale narratives. But it was in the 1920s that cinema truly blossomed into the great art form of the 20th century: techniques were refined; innovation was at full force; actors became international stars; and without the hindrance of nationalities and dialects, the medium established itself as a sort of universal language. -more-

I am a recent M.Mus graduate from the Yale School of Music's Voice Program. I am teaming up with a conductor from the Bay Area, and a graduate from the Choral Conducting program at Yale - Arianne Abela to give a benefit concert for the East Oakland School of the Arts. For this benefit concert we have programed a song cycle for Mezzo Soprano and piano by San Francisco composer, Joseph Gregorio, as well as Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria. Lastly we have commissioned American Composer, Colin Britt, to create a new work for Mezzo Soprano, Mixed Choir and Orchestra. His new piece "House of Clouds" written for this event will be premiered at this concert as well! -more-

I got a handful of interesting responses to a column earlier this year about what I believed to be the last survivor of the wild parrots of Berkeley, a species known to the pet trade as cherry-headed conures and to ornithologists as red-masked parakeets. One writer bridges a gap in the story regarding the fate of the penultimate parrot. Another suggests that there may be another flock out there. -more-

Having returned from Indiana to a typical East Bay summer (i.e. fog, or what a friend refers to as “barbeque in a parka” weather), I’m a little testy. As I’ve grown older I’ve come to actually like heat— not that I’m thinking of moving to the other side of the hill or anything. Nope, still attempting to hold on to my house. So I had another appointment at NACA last week.

[Editor’s note: This is just a sample of Berkeleyan Jane Stillwater’s free-range blog. For the full treatment, complete with photos, click on her link at the right side of this page.]

If you are having trouble trying to keep from being driven completely nutso by all the grim, horrible and terrible national and international news headlines that just keep pouring down on our heads, then perhaps it's time to take a break and focus in on some of the good things in life instead. And there actually are a lot of good things happening here, locally, in my own home town -- which happens to be Berkeley. -more-

I worked as a television and video repairman in the 1980’s, was employed by several small repair shops and was self employed at it. I was pretty good at troubleshooting the circuitry in TV’s and VCR’s, yet some of the jobs were more stressful than I would have liked. -more-

Scores of curious sightseers—and perhaps some serious potential buyers—wandered this past Sunday through the closest thing to a residential palace in Berkeley, the John Hopkins Spring mansion. -more-

ASHKENAZ -more-

"LASTSUNDAYSFEST," -- July 25. Event features two stages, one spotlighting up-and-coming and well known Bay Area bands, and a second outdoor cafi stage presenting smaller groups and individual performers, food, games and more. Event held on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley from Dwight to Bancroft Ave. -more-

"LASTSUNDAYSFEST," -- July 25. Event features two stages, one spotlighting up-and-coming and well known Bay Area bands, and a second outdoor cafi stage presenting smaller groups and individual performers, food, games and more. Event held on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley from Dwight to Bancroft Ave. -more-

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-

“Thank you for visiting the beautiful half of Alameda County.”

Our guide was being somewhat facetious, but it was hard at the moment to disagree standing next to a handsome historic house surrounded by four and a half acres of gardens and grounds, with the golden—and undeveloped—hills of Fremont in the near distance.

Fremont? -more-