Arts & Events

I'm convinced that live music has enormous transformative power, and acting from that belief, my good friend John Schott and I have been preparing for three consecutive days of music at the Berkeley Arts Festival, the latest of many outposts erected by Bonnie Hughes to reclaim and redeem abandoned spaces.

For three consecutive nights – Wednesday, Thursday and Friday ,Saturday, December 11, 12, and 13 14— John and I will present contrasting sets of music at the Berkeley Arts storefront, 2133 University Avenue (by the Ace Hardware, between Shattuck and Walnut). John will perform solo acoustic versions of a wide variety of American music: Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Robert Johnson, Clarence Ashley, Geeshie Wiley, Frank Hutchison, and more. In the second set, I will present selections of the music of El Cerrito: 

Wednesday, Dec 11: "New Monsters" performed by Daniel Popsicle: Cory Wright, Michael Zelner, Chris Silvey, Masha Albrecht, Myra Chachkin, Jules Ryan, Lynn Murdock, John Shiurba, Steve Lew, and Suki O'Kane. 

Thursday, Dec 12: New Hells Quintet: me, John Shiurba, John Schott, Steve Lew and John Hanes. 

Friday , Dec 13: More New Hells: A piece of pieces-within-a-piece, performed by: 

• a string trio of Masha Albrecht, Sarah Willner, and Mary Artmann – these are sounding great in rehearsal!
• clarinets/saxophones and percussion: me, Cory Wright, and Ward Spangler
• guitars: John Shiurba and Myles Boisen, and I think John Schott too, and probably others.