Arts & Events

Readings-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:23:00 PM

A GREAT GOOD PLACE FOR BOOKS -more-


Stage-San Francisco Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:23:00 PM

BEACH BLANKET BABYLON This long-running musical follows Snow White as she sings and dances her way around the world in search of her prince. Along the way she encounters many of the personalities in today's headlines, including Nancy Pelosi, Condoleezza Rice, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harry Potter, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey, Britney Spears, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton, George and Laura Bush, Michael Jackson, Martha Stewart, Tom Cruise, Angelina, characters from Brokeback Mountain and Paris Hilton. Persons under 21 are not admitted to evening performances, but are welcome to Sunday matinees. -more-


Classical Music-San Francisco Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:11:00 PM

AUDIUM -more-


Professional Dance Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:22:00 PM

LESHER CENTER FOR THE ARTS -more-


Popmusic-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:21:00 PM

924 GILMAN ST. All ages welcome. -more-


Eye from the Aisle: NEXT TO NORMAL—Manic Ride with a Down Side

By John A. McMullen II
Monday January 31, 2011 - 09:04:00 PM
Alice Ripley and Jeremy Kushnier

The days of Cockney flower girls and Indiana librarians as our heroines are long past. Admittedly,NEXT TO NORMAL pushes limits: it’s a contemporary story could have been written by Ibsen. It takes us behind the façade of normal into domestic despair. -more-


Eye from the Aisle: The AGONY AND ECSTASY AND OUTING OF THE WIZARD—
and that thing in your pocket

by John A. McMullen II
Monday January 31, 2011 - 09:00:00 PM

We all love it when the curtain is pulled and the hubristic man behind it is revealed. We don’t all love it when the I-thing we just turned off and slipped into our pocket is shown to be the product of something near slave-labor. -more-


85 Films, 7 Nights of Live Music, and Parties Galore
SF Indiefest Opens with a Kaboom!

By Gar Smith
Monday January 31, 2011 - 08:56:00 PM

Grab your popcorn and fasten your seatbelts — San Francisco’s 13th annual explosion of independent cinema is set to light up the Bay Area beginning February 3. This year, Indiefest’s intrepid organizers plan to screen more than 80 films from the US, Britain, Canada, France, Israel, Mexico, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan at the Roxie Theater (3117 16th at Valencia) over two event-packed weeks. -more-


Eye from the Aisle: MAD STASH--Hysterical, Not to be Missed, closes Feb 5

By John A. McMullen II
Monday January 31, 2011 - 08:52:00 PM

I’m nearing Medicare age, so when I go to a place where everybody is under 30, I get a little antsy; then, with a little liquor, I start to transform and regress and get back to 25 again--in about 5 minutes.

Many times I have bemoaned that too many gray and bald heads comprise the view of the audience in local theatre. I am pleased to tell you that there is a bonfire of theatrical talent glowing bright in a garage down on 55thSt. near MLK in Oakland mysteriously named the K & S Ranchito.

MAD STASH (or Mad Stache) is a series of bawdy, hysterically funny and insightful “sketches” combined with professionally edited short films combined with a band whose lead singer may well shortly become a star. It follows the Saturday Night Live model with the major difference being that MAD STASH is entertaining and you don’t want to change the channel. It makes me wish I tweeted. -more-


Theater Review: Heartbreak House Takes Shape at Live Oak

By Ken Bullock
Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 12:48:00 PM

Heartbreak House, a comedy Bernard Shaw began writing before the First World War and finished after war's end, is playing now at Live Oak Theater, an Actors Ensemble production directed by Robert Estes. Shaw called it "a fantasia in the Russian manner, on English things"--and fingered Chekhov's plays as an inspiration to write a comedy with a sting in its tail about the leisure classes of Europe in the build-up to the holocaust that lit up from the tinder of their studied obliviousness in 1914. -more-


Tours And Activities-East Bay Through February 28

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:24:00 PM

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM ongoing. 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-


Museums-San Francisco Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:19:00 PM

ASIAN ART MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO The Asian Art Museum-Chon-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture recently unveiled its new building in San Francisco's Civic Center. The building, the former San Francisco Public Library, has been completely retrofitted and rebuilt to house San Francisco's significant collection of Asian treasures. The museum offers complimentary audio tours of the museum's collection galleries. "In a New Light," ongoing. There are some 2,500 works displayed in the museum's new galleries. They cover all the major cultures of Asia and include Indian stone sculptures, intricately carved Chinese jades, Korean paintings, Tibetan thanksgas, Cambodian Buddhas, Islamic manuscripts and Japanese basketry and kimonos. -more-


Outdoors-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:19:00 PM

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-


Museums-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:18:00 PM

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND ongoing. 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-


Highlights-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:16:00 PM

924 GILMAN ST. All ages welcome. -more-


Kids-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:16:00 PM

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-


Exhibits-San Francisco Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:15:00 PM

"SUN SPHERES," -- ongoing. "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-


General-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:15:00 PM

ASHKENAZ -more-


Exhibits-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:13:00 PM

CARMEN FLORES RECREATION CENTER -more-


Dance-East Bay Through February 13

Wednesday February 02, 2011 - 01:12:00 PM

ELKS LODGE, ALAMEDA -more-