There's a battle underway between angry Berkeley residents and Berkeley's mayor and his followers on the city council and commissions, a battle playing out in many towns and cities these days as the 1% invest aggressively in real estate development. We are alarmed by the relentless pursuit of new developments, since Berkeley is already one of the most densely-populated US cities of its size, and we now have a surfeit of $3,000-$5,000 per-month rentals with long-vacant commercial space on their ground floors. Berkeley's most crucial need in 2015 is for affordable housing, both for low income and middle income residents, in inclusionary residential buildings built to rigorous water-saving and energy efficiency standards. New York City now requires 30% affordable units in all new developments, to ensure that low-income housing is available in all parts of the city. This is a requirement most Berkeleyans would doubtless support, as a way to sustain our culturally, economically, racially diverse population. Many kids who grew up in Berkeley cannot afford to live here as adults, nor can minimum wage workers who service those who can afford the new market-rate and "luxury" housing.  

Berkeley's Mayor and city council majority apparently believe in the discredited trickle down theory: if you build market-rate and luxury housing, somehow that will open up affordable housing. This theory has been disproved most recently by the luxury condo rush in San Francisco, where the consequence of providing many new units of $4,000 to $5,000-a-month rentals has been the increased rental rates of many previously affordable units. We don't want to repeat this failed experiment in Berkeley; we want our mayor and city council to serve the needs and values of Berkeley residents, not the profit drive of developers. Given our city's reputation for forward thinking, one would expect our city government to be working for both affordable housing and cutting edge water and energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction, but no serious efficiency requirements are being placed on developers anxious to get buildings up before California requires zero net energy in residential building in 2020, just four-and a-half years from now.  

We are particularly outraged over the 2211 Harold Way project: a Los Angeles developer proposes to demolish the very popular and successful Shattuck Cinemas in downtown Berkeley to make way for a greatly out-of-scale 18-story high-rise three times the height of our handsome and heavily-used Main Library just across the street. In addition to blocking the natural light into the library's many north windows, this huge building would also tower over the landmarked Shattuck Hotel and the handsome adjacent Walter Ratcliff-designed former Elks Club and Armstrong College buildings, as well as the Post Office and YMCA. It is totally out of scale with its very historic immediate context.  

The sloppy EIR for this huge building fails to address the impact of its construction and 302 units on the 3000-student population of Berkeley High School, its teachers, and staff, as its location within the school zone requires. Its construction over 3 years or more would hinder access to downtown Berkeley, close sidewalks, remove parking spaces, intensify the already-congested traffic in downtown, and create noise and pollution during its construction that would disturb library users across the street and doubtless exceed levels permitted within a school zone. If completed, it would add significant density to the downtown population without providing any units of the inclusionary affordable housing so urgently needed downtown and throughout Berkeley.  

And there are questions about the geological stability of its site—Strawberry Creek once ran through this landmarked block of Shattuck/Kittredge/Harold Way/Allston. The major earthquake we've been promised on the Hayward Fault could cause unconsolidated material in the former streambed to liquify. The current project plan places basement level theater spaces beneath part of the landmarked 1910 Shattuck Hotel. Massive excavation on this block would threaten the Shattuck Hotel foundation and could have disastrous consequences to that treasured building and to the functioning of our downtown area even before the predicted major earthquake. 

This high-rise project would harm the downtown economy during its years of construction, especially if three other major projects—a hotel/condo high-rise on the Bank of America site, the reconstruction of nearby BART Plaza, and a demolition and doubling in size of the Center Street Garage to 8 stories—are approved. Turning downtown into a construction zone for years would do great economic damage to many businesses and would harm the broader community, depriving us of the Shattuck Cinemas and the Habitot Childrens' Museum, both thriving cultural resources. The ten-screen Shattuck Cinemas are a major contributor to the vibrancy of our downtown, drawing film lovers from all over the East Bay and northern California. Due to the programming of films we prize, from popular to obscure, attendance over recent years has steadily increased, up 25% since 2008. The Shattuck Cinemas and their 25 employees play a critical role in the economic health of Berkeley's downtown since their patrons also patronize the downtown restaurants. The economic success of our local businesses contributes to our city's character and serves the needs of the residents and visitors who patronize them. Our heavily-used downtown Ace Hardware, the Missing Link Bicycle Shop, and the Berkeley Vacuum and Sewing Machine Center are also now under threat of demolition to be replaced by new market-rate housing projects. 

We need to assess the costs to our community of the many new construction sites already underway—the increased water use as well as water waste during construction, the greatly increased burden on aging infrastructure and on fire, police, and emergency services, the many additional cars to be expected when the buildings are finished (most provide few garage spaces).  

In addition, we strongly object to the blocking of the historic view of the Golden Gate from Campanile Way on the UC Berkeley campus. The campus is the heart of our city and its cultural and economic engine. It is one of the great public universities in the world. It is unacceptable for the city to permit a private developer to plan a building so large and out of scale with its architectural context as to disrupt the landscape design of our University of California campus, sited to uplift all who view the San Francisco Bay from Campanile Way. 

Berkeley has prided itself on the cultural, racial, and economic diversity of our residents, on the richness of our cultural resources, on respect for and protection of our beautiful natural environment, on respect for the historical fabric of our city, on our great university and the depth and breadth of the learning, research, and innovation it cultivates. To sustain these values, we need to ensure the inclusion of all economic strata—we want our community to continue to support and nourish artists and craftsmen as well as scientists and innovators and we need our elected representatives to commit now to addressing the changes in planning and behavior necessary to slow climate change. To allow for-profit speculative developers to shape the future of our city based not on our needs and values but on profits they hope to realize is not an acceptable form of city planning.

For many Democrats, Hillary's politics are too embedded with Wall Street, while Bernie seems too independent to be electable. I recently discovered the candidate whose progressive politics are coupled with a proven ability to govern. Maryland's former Governor Martin O'Malley, also former Mayor of Baltimore, has the managerial experience and technical vision to apply information technology to make governmental decisions based on knowledge. He applied the same mapping technology we use when finding a route through traffic, to identify where Baltimore's worst crime was, and he allocated increased resources to those neighborhoods to fight the city's crime problems.  

O'Malley initiated a management innovation he called CityStat to monitor progress and hold city staff accountable. I met him at a conference about Geographic Information Systems, and I asked him how he handled the potential rivalry between the City's district managers when the more needy districts received more funding. With a twinkle in his eye, he said, "I moved my best managers into those districts." He made every manager's statistics available for all to see. Those who were accomplishing the City's goals were acknowledged, and those who were just marking time "were encouraged to update their resumes." 

With knowledge-based decision-making and O'Malley's managerial savvy, Baltimore's violent crime reduced by 41%. As governor, he applied similar methods, called StateStat, to reduce Maryland's unemployment and increase jobs faster than its neighboring states that had cut their budgets for necessary services. He promotes a new way of managing to get things done, moving from innovation-limiting hierarchy to collaborative consensus-building. 

The ability to manage well could be dangerous unless applied to worthy objectives. O'Malley's top goals are to reverse the causes of climate change by supporting clean, renewable power sources; to limit the influence of unaccountable big money in our political system; and to reduce the disparity of wealth and opportunity with affordable education, fair taxation, big-bank regulation and resistance to trade deals that threaten our environmental, labor, and health protections.  

Americans are tired of seeing clowns run around the circus car when we need a President who knows how to work effectively for the shared concern of our survival on this planet. Now, we have Martin O'Malley to consider for the job. 

O'Malley is the candidate with Bernie's progressive politics and Hillary's political savvy (minus her baggage), who actually knows how to manage government to repair our most severe problems. Discover him yourself at martinomalley.com.

Young Africans were thrilled by President Obama’s visit but many leaders must have been troubled with the President’s preachy style admonishing them with their many policy shortcomings. They must be wondering how the President could be so critical given the epidemic of police brutality against African Americans and their disproportionate high incarceration rate. Race relations are at an all-time low with African-Americans more than twice as likely to be unarmed and killed as their white counterparts. The incarceration rate for Hispanic and Blacks is at an all-time high. There is no ‘shining city on the hill’ for most minorities – more like ‘mole hills against a fading sky’. 

Obama is also facing fierce criticism after twice describing Ethiopia as having a democratically elected government ignoring human rights groups who have denounced Ethiopia’s democracy as a "complete sham." In a recent election, Ethiopia’s ruling party won 100 percent of the country’s 547 Parliament seats. Human Rights Watch criticized the government in a recent report, stating, "Authorities use arbitrary arrests and politically motivated prosecutions to silence journalists, bloggers, protesters, and supporters of opposition political parties." 

Sadly, President Obama did not address long standing failed US polices which have militarized much of Eastern Africa, especially Kenya and Ethiopia targeting Somalia which has radicalized many of the locals giving rise to the terrorist group, Al Shabab. The people of South Sudan are also suffering from unspeakable horrors precipitated by the huge proliferation of weapons supplied by western powers. 

RECOMMENDATION

Adopt a proclamation that August 13, 2015 is Berkeley Barb Celebration Day in in order to celebrate the revolutionary publication that represented the City’s diverse and progressive community

BACKGROUND

The Berkeley Barb was an exceptional publication at the forefront of progressive politics and culture. It served as an underground voice for the people, and fostered support for a diverse panoply of issues, including the anti-war movement, struggles against racial oppression, sexual freedom, the women's rights movement, gay rights, the farmworkers' struggle, the psychedelic arts and drug culture, and environmental activism, to name a few. 

The writers and artists that contributed to the Barb were prominent figures in the counterculture movement, and drew from the contentious politics of the day to create art and literature that questioned the status quo and challenged the notion of what was “politically correct.” This resulted in a publication that was a bastion of independent thought and an influence for countless subsequent publications. 

Recognizing the impact and legacy of this pioneering publication by designating August 13, 2015 as Berkeley Barb Celebration Day would allow the City to pay tribute to an important part of its cultural history. The City of Berkeley is known worldwide as a haven for free thought and countercultural ideas, and as something that encapsulates this rich character, the Barb deserves to be celebrated. 

The Resolution: 

Berkeley Barb Day in Berkeley  

WHEREAS, the first issue of the Berkeley Barb was published by Max Scherr on August 13, 1965; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb was one of the first three tabloid weeklies that gave birth to the Underground Press; and
WHEREAS, as Morris Dickstein observed in his 1977 book, Gates of Eden: "The history of the sixties was written as much in the Berkeley Barb as in the New York Times"; and 

WHEREAS, The Berkeley Barb became one of the five founding member of the Underground Press Syndicate (later known as the Alternative Press Syndicate), a national community of countercultural newspapers and magazines dedicated to free expression and social change; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb, in the course of 15 memorable years, documented—and advanced—social and political change with reporting that ranged from coverage of anti-war protests, police violence, and the rise of the Black Panther Party to sexual freedom, the women's rights movement, gay rights, the farmworkers' struggle, the psychedelic arts and drug culture, and environmental activism; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb's writers, photographers and graphic artists—including staff and uncounted volunteers—celebrated and amplified the cultural revolutions of the day with first-hand accounts of the Summer of Love, the battle for People's Park, Be-ins, sit-ins, and historic concerts—from Altamont to the Fillmore Auditorium; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb introduced a revolutionary sex-and-drugs advice column by Eugene "Dr. Hip" Schoenfeld and promoted a new generation of comic strip artists including Joel Beck, R. Crumb, Bill Griffith, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodgriquez, Gilbert Shelton, and Art Spiegelman; and 

WHEREAS, in 1979, the Berkeley Barb formally abandoned the profitable but controversial practice of publishing sexually focused advertising and began offering the paper for free (a radical move that soon spread to other alternative publishers in the Bay Area and beyond) *; and 

WHEREAS, the Berkeley Barb, having reached a peak sales of 93,000 copies in 1969 with a readership that spanned the world and became the last survivor of the Underground Press, ceasing publication on July 1, 1980; now 

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that I, the City of Berkeley, in honor of the pioneering accomplishments of the Berkeley Barb, do hereby invite all Berkeleyans to join with us in celebrating this occasion by speaking out and acting up creatively and freely, and I do hereby proclaim August 13, 2015 as: 

August 13, 2015 as Berkeley Barb Day in Berkeley 

Councilmember Laurie Capitelli 

Councilmember Susan Wengraf 

Councilmember Max Anderson 

Councilmember Linda Maio 

Councilmember Kriss Worthington 

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin 

Councilmember Darryl Moore 

Councilmember Lori Droste 

* Note: Councilmember Capitelli requested that the following, somewhat redundant, sentence be added to the resolution: 

"Whereas the Berkeley Barb experienced controversy about ads for sex, pornography and sex escort ads and eventually removed them from its pages,"

On July 20, 2015, the U.S. and Cuba reopened embassies in each other's countries that had been closed since 1961. As the freeze between the two countries thaws, I would expect the the commercial, economic, and financial embargo imposed by the U.S. on Cuba since 1960 will be ended in due time. Normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba will not be complete until the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp is closed and Guantánamo is returned to Cuba.  

On July 22, 2015, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that the Obama Administration is drafting a plan to finally close the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, to fulfill a long-delayed promise by President Obama before his time in office ends. The plan would then be sent to Congress. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a longtime proponent of closing the prison, wants to give the Obama Administration an opportunity to potentially do so through the National Defense Authorization Act. The expected plan — like previous plans — would be to transfer all lower-level detainees, while bringing those deemed too dangerous for release to a military prison on domestic soil. Of the latter group, some would be prosecuted while the rest would be held as wartime prisoners, with periodic parole-like reviews.  

The total number of detainees ever incarcerated at the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp is 780. As of June 26, 2015, there are 116 still held there. Of these 116, 32 are deemed to risky to release but not feasible to prosecute because torture was used. The so-called Senate Torture Report confirms that Guantánamo was a place of torture and indefinite detention, and is a continued international embarrassment. But then again, too many members of Congress are not easily embarrassed 

How did the U.S. come to occupy Guantánamo? The Platt amendment to a U.S. Army Appropriations Bill of 1901 gave the U.S. the right to intervene militarily in Cuban affairs whenever the U.S. decided such intervention was warranted. Cubans were given the choice of accepting the Platt Amendment or remaining under U.S. military occupation indefinitely. The U.S. has intervened militarily in Cuban affairs at least three times. U.S. intervention endowed Cuba with a series of weak, corrupt, dependent governments. In 1903, the U.S. used the Platt Amendment to obtain a perpetual least of Guantánamo Bay, a blatant example of U.S. gunboat diplomacy. 

Opponents of normalization argue that Cuba has a repressive regime with a poor human rights record. This concern comes on the heels of the release of the Senate Torture Report, which found, among other things, that the CIA engaged in torture such as waterboarding, shackling in painful positions, prolonged sleep deprivation, and slamming detainees against walls. The U.S. administration got along fine with Fulgencio Batista, the thug Castro overthrew. Americans were free to frolic at the nightclubs, casinos and beach resorts during Batista’s thuggish regime. But then Batista was in our pocket, Castro is not.  

It is iffy that the expected Obama plan to close the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp will persuade skeptics of Obama’s Guantánamo policy, particularly in the House, especially during a presidential race. However, normalization will not be complete until the U.S. ends its economic embargo and returns Guantánamo Bay to Cuba.

When persons with a psychiatric illness get to a point of basic recovery, we might ask the question, "What now?"  

I believe it is better to decide on a purpose to our lives rather than expecting a purpose to be handed to us, or thinking that we must climb a mountain to see our purpose etched on a stone tablet. It can be a major factor in achieving happiness. Doing this entails an honest assessment of our talents and interests as well as our limitations. Having a good understanding of what is required to achieve something will pave the way to succeeding at something.  

Also, focusing on the work, the tasks, and the enjoyment of what we are doing, instead of focusing on the idea that we must achieve a goal, is a good way to function. You could decide that your goal is that you want to create a profitable company, for example. You should focus on the here and now work of getting there rather than on the idea that you must have it, or that you can't be happy until you have it. Hoping for success but acknowledging that you will not necessarily get it--is realism. The point is that you are doing something constructive with your time.  

Inserting realism into our thoughts is part of the formula. On the other hand, we should not assume we can't do something just because people tell us we can't. We should not assume that because we are mentally ill we can't do anything.  

The simplest form of a company is a sole proprietorship with no employees. I know someone who has her own housecleaning business. Working for oneself rather than regular employment has a number of advantages for a disabled, yet able individual.  

For one thing, you can work at your own pace. If working at a low-level position for someone else's company, they will try to squeeze out the maximum amount of work for the wages they pay. And if you can't keep up with the pace, it's tough luck. On the other hand, if you are your own boss, you can work at a pace that suits you so long as you can satisfy most of your customers.  

Working in supported employment, in which a job has been set up that has reduced expectations because we are mentally ill, ends up being a blow to our self-esteem. When I tried such a job, I was treated as though I was retarded and dangerous.  

Rather than selling ourselves short and accepting situations in which we are presumed to be subnormal, creating our own work situation might be better. 

If starting one's own business, a home-based or outcall situation is usually best. Reading up on it, and learning what licensing is expected, what the basic expenses are, and what the legal liabilities are, could be a good preliminary step.  

Public liability insurance, if your company involves dealing with the public, is needed if you have assets that can be taken if there is a lawsuit. If you have no assets and essentially live on SSI, a lawsuit most likely will never happen. Ordinarily, if someone takes you to court, your SSI cannot be taken away.  

If the idea of self-employment doesn’t appeal to you, there are still other purposes you could choose for your life. You could go to school and become a "professional student." This is where you are becoming educated as an end in itself, without necessarily hoping it will turn into a job. You could do tutoring. I know someone who is self-employed as a tutor, and that person seems to get a lot out of it. Or, if you want to keep things more informal, tutoring could be done on a volunteer basis. I know someone else who, for a while, volunteered through the library system and taught basic literacy.  

There is more to life than taking medication and passively doing things that have been handed to you in the mental health treatment system. Despite the fact that mental health professionals may not be giving us credit as having a brain, we have a brain, and it is a shame to put it to waste. Some type of constructive activity, not necessarily with a goal of making a lot of money, can be done, and this adds purpose to life.  

You don't have to be a business tycoon. When there is reason to get out of bed every morning because there are things to be done, it is very helpful to our state of well-being, and it provides satisfaction. 

As a privileged white man, I’ve always been cautious about writing about race, thinking that it was a topic best left to others. Like many liberals I’ve assumed that whenever race was discussed my best response was to listen to what my black brothers and sisters had to say. Nonetheless, in the face of the growing “Black Lives Matter” movement, I feel compelled to speak.

First, black lives do matter to me. (As do those of all the people-of-color who are part of my community.) My life is made richer and fuller by your presence. When you hurt, physically, psychologically, spiritually, it hurts me, too.

That said, my community – privileged white Americans – is responsible for the current state of race relations. The string of deaths and disgraces – from Trayvon Martin to Sandra Bland – is our fault.

When Barack Obama was elected President, many in my community were hopeful that the event signaled the end of widespread racism. That hasn’t happened. A recent New York times/CBS News poll finds that “nearly 6 in 10 Americans, including heavy majorities of both whites and blacks, think race relations are getting bad.” (After President Obama entered the White House, two-thirds of poll respondents ‘believed race relations were generally good.”)

The responsibility for the decline of US race relations falls on people like me, members of the white male power structure. We should have done more to build upon the positive feelings generated by the election of Barack Obama. 

Instead, my community of liberals went to sleep. Never lacking for issues to attend to, we turned our focus from race relations to pressing concerns such as the economic recovery and breaking up the “too big to fail banks” and providing affordable healthcare for all Americans. Only recently has race relations reappeared on the list of national priorities. 

Even though the White House was integrated, much of the liberal power structure stayed lily-white. This is illustrated in the racial composition of the primary Democratic Presidential candidates. According to a report by Blue Nation Review 90 percent of Bernie Sanders staff is white, while 91 percent of Martin O’Malley’s staff is white. In comparison, 68 percent of Hillary Clinton’s staff is white. No wonder that after being challenged by “Black Lives Matter” protestors at Netroots, only Clinton had a reasonable response. 

Nonetheless, while the white liberal establishment bears some blame for the decline in US race relations, the bulk of it lies with the conservative white power structure. After all, they were the ones, after the election of Barack Obama who chose to let their race flag fly. 

There were three aspects of the post-election conservative racism: the first was direct attacks on Barack Obama and his family; the second was steadfast opposition to any legislative initiative proffered by the Obama White House; and the third was a concentrated effort to reduce the voting rights of African-Americans, and people-of-color in general. 

Even before Barack Obama was elected President, conservatives attacked his eligibility, claiming that he had been born outside the United States, that his birth certificate, showing that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii was a forgery. (One of the leading proponents of this theory was Donald Trump, whom as recently as February suggested that Obama’s birth certificate was a fake, “I don’t know where he was born.”) 

During the 2008 campaign, conservatives also suggested that Obama was actually a Muslim. (This false claim originated in a January 2007 Insight Magazine article.) Conservatives have also insulted Michelle Obama and the Obama daughters, 

The second manifestation of conservative racism was the blanket opposition to Obama’s efforts to move legislation through Congress. On October 23, 2010 then Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” Since that time, there has been an unprecedented Republican campaign of obstruction. 

Finally, conservatives have simultaneously engaged in a campaign to dismantle the Voting Rights Act. As the New York Times reported: 

In 2010, Republicans flipped control of 11 state legislatures and, raising the specter of voter fraud… They rolled back early voting, eliminated same-day registration, disqualified ballots filed outside home precincts and created new demands for photo ID at polling places. In 2013, the Supreme Court, in the case of Shelby County v. Holder, directly countermanded the Section 5 authority of the Justice Department to dispute any of these changes in the states Section 5 covered.

Black lives do matter. Nonetheless, as a result of liberal lethargy and conservative antipathy, in many parts of the United States blacks are second-class citizens: at the mercy of their local police department and unable to gain access to decent jobs, housing, healthcare, and the other aspects of a middle-class life, 

Conservatives aren’t going to change. So it’s up to my community of privileged white liberal Americans to take responsibility for this issue. We have to lead the charge that ensures that all Americans recognize: black lives do matter. 

Cellist Tanya Tomkins, fortepianist Eric Zivian with their ten faculty and performing artist colleagues and five apprentices have brought in greater scale to the new Valley of the Moon Music Festival—going into its final weekend—part of what they've been working at creating for years with their Benvenue House Concerts in Berkeley—a more complete environment for performance and enjoyment of chamber works from the Classical and Romantic repertoire—played on period instruments and copies. 

While some orchestras that specialize in period instruments, like the Philhamonia Baroque, play full orchestral compositions on these original instruments that featured gut strings and wood, rather than metal, frames for piano, usually the repertoire is drawn from the Baroque and some Classical repertoire. (Philharmonia has ventured into Romantic orchestral pieces.) As a chamber festival dedicated to this repertoire on original instruments, Valley of the Moon is unique in America. 

And as last Sunday's late afternoon concert at the Hanna Boys Center auditorium west of Sonoma—acoustically satisfying and filled with summer light—proved, the experience of the house concert, a feeling of music and those who make it in situ—has been translated to a 300-seat venue almost seamlessly. 

The All-Schubert program went from his Sonatina for Violin and Fortepiano in A minor, composed when Schubert was 19, in 1817, to his "late" Quintet for Strings in C major (he died at 31, as Tomkins pointed out, never having heard the piece played), which Zivian called one of his candidates for the finest music ever composed, and mentioned how time seems suspended at points in its playing. 

Ian Swenson, accompanied by Zivian on an 1841 wood-framed Rausch piano, played the movingly "dark, melancholy" violin part of the Sonatina with unusual evenness, which emphasized its emotional probity even more. "There might be more temptation to milk it emotionally on a modern instrument," said music writer Jeff Kaliss in conversation at intermission. The different resonance of the period instrument, under Swenson's sure hand, caught its subtle nuances without any show of drama, Zivian's light but decisive touch at the keyboard a perfect compliment. 

The Quintet, led by Vera Beths from the Netherlands, wife of Tomkins' teacher there, led the group with a fine touch on violin, with Augusta McKay Lodge on second violin, Elizabeth Blumenstock—who has been concertmaster for Philharmonia Baroque and the American Bach Soloists—on viola (with great energy!), Tanya Tomkins essaying the deeper lines, sometimes pizzicato, on cello and Laura Gaynon on second cello. 

And there was the other hallmark of the Festival and Tomkins and Zivian's ongoing project: Lodge and Gaynon were two of the apprentices, which as Tomkins explained, would be integrated into the whole life of making the music and the Festival, something she experienced as a young student, living with her teacher's family in the Netherlands."I learned more by living with, playing with musicians than with the most intense private lessons, taken by themselves." 

The Quintet, a familiar piece, in this ensemble's concentrated playing, made good on the promise of the Festival—an unfamiliar, more original complex richness of sound and dynamics than in most recordings and concert performances of memory—a web woven of interlocking themes and harmonies, moving from mood to mood with a rare perfection—and commanding the deep attention of the audience, which gave it an immediate standing ovation. 

With a charming touch during that ovation, Gannon and Lodge alone were presented with bouquets, a nice public recognition of their achievement as young performers. 

The Festival continues Friday (tonight) at 7:30—free!—with an all-apprentice concert at 7:30, featuring Mozart's Quartet for Fortepiano and Strings in G minor, Robert Schumann's Sonata for Violin and Fortepiano in A Minor and Beethoven's String Quartet in E flat major. Saturday at four the program includes Mozart's String Quartet in C major and Quartet for Fortepiano and Strings by Schumann—and on Sunday, Mozart's Sonata for Fortepiano and Violin and Trio in C minor for Strings and Fortepiano by Mendelssohn. The latter two concerts will feature violinists Cynthia Miller Freivogel (of such orchestras as the Amsterdam Baroque orhestra and Philharmonia Baroque), Monica Huggett (co-founder of the Amsterdam baroque Orchestra and founder of London's Sonnerie ensemble) and Kati Kyme (Baroque Philharmonia, American Bach Soloists and Musica Angelica), as well as Tomkins and Zivian. 

Readers of the Daily Planet will receive 10% off by using promotional code VMMF dailyplanet at check-out, ordering ticket at valleyofthemoonmusicfestival.org 

West Edge Opera last week staged Alban Berg’s Lulu in Oakland’s abandoned Wood Street train station; and this week they’ve staged Claudio Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (Ulysses’ Return to His Homeland) at American Steel Studios on Oakland’s Mandela Parkway. While American Steel turned out to be less magical a site for opera than the abandoned and decaying train station, nonetheless the acoustics at American Steel were excellent. Further, West Edge General Director Mark Streshinsky, who doubled as stage director for Ulysses, utilized the space at American Steel quite imaginatively, placing the 9-piece orchestra amidst a raised and stepped U-shaped platform on which the singers performed, while the audience was seated around three sides of the U-shaped platform. On the wall behind the stage area were hung at one time or another various large photos – of the sea, a pasture with sheep, a painting depicting Ulysses drawing his bow, another painting depicting Queen Penelope, etc. 

Claudio Monteverdi set opera on its feet with his groundbreaking Orfeo of 1607, which was first performed at the court of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga at Mantua. Monteverdi quickly followed the success of Orfeo with another opera the next year, Arianna, of which latter there remains, to our great loss, only the famous and lovely lamento d’Arianna. Later, shortly after Duke Vincenzo’s death in 1612, Monteverdi left Manua in 1613 to take up the post of maestro di cappella at St. Mark’s basilica in Venice, where he served for the rest of his life. When the first commercial opera houses opened in Venice in the late 1630s, Monteverdi’s operas were a staple of their repertory. Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria opened at Venice’s Teatro San Moisè in 1640, and it quickly became the century’s most successful opera. Giacomo Badoaro wrote the libretto, basing it on Books 13-23 of Homer’s Odyssey, which tell of the return of Ulysses (Odysseus) to Ithaca after years of storm-tossed wandering at the mercy of Neptune (Poseidon), who resented Ulysses’ blinding of the sea-god’s son, Polyphemus the Cyclops.  

For West Edge Opera, Mark Streshinsky made many cuts in Alan Curtis’s edition of the score of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. Streshinsky omitted the opera’s Prologue, rearranged many scenes, eliminated several secondary characters, and cut some of the work’s ritornelli, or instrumental connecting passages, thereby creating a slimmed-down version of Monteverdi’s opera. (It runs 1 hour and 40 minutes, not the 2 ½ hours mistakenly cited by Joshua Kosman.) Streshinsky also utilized a reduced orchestra with only plucked and string instruments. Conductor Gilbert Martinez led the orchestra from one of two harpsichords, while Daniel Zuluaga was featured on theorbo and Cheryl Ann Fulton on Italian baroque harp. 

When West Edge Opera’s Ulysses gets under way, Neptune, powerfully sung by bass Aaron Sörensen, hurls Ulysses through a storm at sea. Minerva (Athena), brilliantly sung by mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich, begs Jupiter (Zeus), ably sung by tenor Gary Ruschman, to intercede on behalf of Ulysses and persuade Neptune to allow the forlorn hero to return at long last to his homeland. Ulysses then awakens on a beach, bitter and confused. He is, he sings, stranded on a deserted shore, “misero, abbandonato.” Though the role of Ulysses is written for a tenor with baritonal capabilities, in West Edge Opera’s production Ulysses is sung by baritone Nickolas Nackley, who combines robust power when it is called for and sensitively delicate vocalism in the intimate scenes of recognition, first with his son Telemaco, and, finally, with his wife, Penelope. When Minerva appears to Ulysses, she assures him he has landed in Ithaca, assures him of Penelope’s faithfulness, and she also instructs him to disguise himself as an old beggar and seek out first his old friend Eumete, who has left the court in disgust at the behavior of the suitors and now works tending sheep. Minerva is sung by Kindra Scharich, whose high mezzo-soprano contrasts sharply with the much lower mezzo-soprano of Sara Couden, who sings Penelope. At each of Minerva’s instructions, Ulysses interjects, “O fortunato Ulisse,” a direct anticipation of the aria to come. Minerva also tells Ulysses to stay with his friend Eumete till she returns with Telemaco, the now-grown son of Ulysses, who has gone seeking news of his father in Sparta. Scharich’s bright, well focused singing was a highlight of this opera.  

Following Minerva’s guidance, Ulysses finds Eumete among his sheep, basking in the simple joys of pastoral life after the corruptions of life at court. Eumete is here ably sung by tenor Michael Desnoyers. Only the presence of a gluttonous courtier, Iro, troubles the bucolic life of Eumete. Iro, sung by tenor Ted Zoldan, is a superbly wrought comical character, perhaps the first in opera history. Iro’s stuttering is delightfully penned by Monteverdi, who parodies his own madrigalesque style, replacing beautifully sung words with comical grunts, cackles and groans that reveal Iro’s animal-like character. Eumete angrily shoos Iro away. When Ulysses appears disguised as a beggar, he does not reveal his true identity to Eumete but assures him that Ulysses will soon appear in Ithaca to reclaim his wife and kingdom. 

Soon Minerva returns, bringing Telemaco to Ithaca in a winged chariot. When Telemaco arrives in Eumete’s pasture, he is told that his father will soon return. Overjoyed at this news, Telemaco sends Eumete to inform his mother, Penelope, to await the imminent arrival of Ulisse. Once alone with Telemaco, Ulisse sheds his disguise and greets his son. After a moment’s disbelief, Telemaco, movingly sung by mezzo-soprano Johanna Bronk, rushes to embrace his long-lost father in an emotional reunion. Thus ends Act I. 

After intermission, Act II in this production begins with a scene that usually occurs at the opera’s outset in most productions. Penelope, alone with one of her servants, sings of her suffering and anxiety. She also vows to remain faithful to her husband Ulisse. Eumete arrives and tells Penelope that Telemaco is back and that there is news of Ulisse’s imminent return. Penelope greets this news with wary skepticism. She has heard such rumors many times before. Why should she believe them now? As Penelope, mezzo-soprano Sara Couden has a voice so deep she might pass for a contralto. Nonetheless, she sang with great feeling and conviction. Vocally and dramatically, Sara Couden was very credible as a much-aggrieved Penelope. Her suitors, here reduced to three, feel threatened by Telemaco’s return and redouble their wooing of Penelope, offering her gifts of gold. The suitors – Anfinomo, Antinoo, and Pisandro – are sung, respectively, by tenor Jonathan Smucker, bass Aaron Sörensen, and tenor Gary Ruschman. The music for their wooing is florid and overly ornamental. Penelope is unmoved.  

Iro joins the three suitors, and all are horrified to find an aged beggar in their midst. Penelope offers hospitality to the beggar (Ulysses in disguise), and she proclaims that she will marry anyone who can successfully draw Ulysses’ famous bow. The stuttering, gluttonous fool, Iro, is the first to try, and of course he fails miserably, then goes off to whine in a corner. Next all three suitors try in vain. Now the beggar steps forward, draws the bow, and shoots down all three suitors in turn. Iro mutters that he has just lost his meal ticket. Who will fill his belly now, he wonders? Telemaco and Eumete tell Penelope that this apparently aged beggar is in fact Ulisse, but Penelope is as yet unconvinced. Ulisse sheds his disguise, but Penelope wants further proof. Ulisse sings in recitative of the bedcover woven by Penelope with the image of the goddess Diana; and with this bit of intimate knowledge, he convinces Penelope that he is indeed her husband. Now Penelope sings her first true aria of the opera, “Illustratevi o cieli,” which features an instru-mental ritornello that occurs between Penelope’s vocal lines rather than simultan-eously with them. By this device, Monteverdi suggests that, for Penelope, her husband’s return – symbolized by the ritornello – is still, as it were, ‘between the lines’ until husband and wife finally embrace, which they do at last in the closing duet, thus bringing Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria to a happy end.  

While I regret not hearing all of Monteverdi’s magically emotive music in this abbreviated version of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, I must admit that there is a certain logic – and a succinct narrative flow – to Mark Streshinsky’s production of this opera. It moves along at a goodly pace, maintaining the keen interest of the audience at every step, bringing us close to both the Homeric era of ancient Greece and the musically revolutionary era of 17^th century Venice.