MACABRE SENSE OF HUMOR Death normally isn’t a laughing matter, but these writers have managed to find something to laugh about during the darkest periods of their lives. Victoria Zackheim, Zoe Fitzgerald Carter, and Sherry Glaser-Love will read from the new anthology Exit Laughing: How Humor Takes the Sting Out of Death at 7 pm Friday at Mrs. Dalloway’s, 2904 College Avenue. “Whether we face our death or the death of a loved one with fear, sorrow, joy, or confusion, and whether or not we believe in an afterlife, we cannot deny that death happens. Exit Laughing reminds us that in death there is a place for humor.”
SKATEBOARD MANIA It’s too late to get tickets to see skateboard legend and video-game icon Tony Hawk demonstrate his moves. All the 975 tickets to the Saturday performance at 1 pm at the Lawrence Hall of Science sold out weeks ago. (You can see it recaped here.) But those who love skateboarding should go see Tony Hawk: Rad Science, a new interactive exhibit that shows visitors what it is like to skateboard and explains the physics behind it. Using skateboard-themed simulation booths, visitors can try to balance on a skateboard, go into a replica of a backyard pool and do hands-on experiments with the laws of motion — inertia, acceleration, and action/reaction, or visit the inside of an ambulance – a place where skateboarders often end up. Rad Science runs June 2 through Sept. 3 at the Lawrence Hall of Science.
TURN HONEY INTO WINE Forget making apricot or strawberry-rhubarb jam. That’s so 19th century. How about learning something from the Middle Ages instead? For thousands of years people have been making mead (a type of wine) from honey. Learn how to do it at “Makin’ Mead,” a workshop at the UC Botanical Garden (200 Centennial Dr., Berkeley) on Saturday, June 2, 2 to 4 pm. Robert MacKimmie of City Bees joins garden staff to demonstrate how to turn honey into wine. He will also offer advanced recipes for cyser (apple-and-honey wine), along with other treats. Each participant gets to sample the day’s products and bring home a gallon jug of mead.
AN ARTIST IN EVERY GARRET Kate Phillips is a Scottish artist who works using an ancient technique called encaustic painting where she layers images and old paper between layers of beeswax colored by pigment. She then she fuses the layers together with a torch. Phillips is one of around 400 East Bay artists who will be throwing open the doors to their studios during the annual East Bay Open Studios, which runs June 2 and 3 and June 9 and 10. Many artists exhibit in their own studios, others congregate at venues like the cool Sawtooth Building on Dwight and 8th. Of the 90 or so Berkeley artists exhibiting, watch our for night photographer John Vias (featured on Berkeleyside in May last year), Katie McCann, Toby Kahn, Gillian Eversole Servais, Susan Brooks, Sylvia Sussman, and many, many other. For a complete listing, download the East Bay Open Studios 2012 brochure.
HARMONIOUS VOICES Every two years, Berkeley is home to an early music festival that draws top performers from around the world. The Berkeley Festival & Exhibition features music that spans a thousand-year period from the Middle Ages through the late Classical era of Haydn and Beethoven. Starting Sunday June 3 and going through June 10, early music performers, instrument makers, scholars, music publishers and music fans will hear concerts, lectures, and master classes at two locales, the First Congregational Church and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. The festival leads off at 8 pm June 3 with Philharmonia Baroque’s renowned soprano Dominique Labelle, directed by Nicholas McGegan. Boston’s Renaissance ensemble Blue Heron will perform at 8 pm on Thursday June 7. Other performances include the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Baroque Ensemble, Chanticleer, Music Pacifica, Agave Baroque, and others. For a list of performances, visit the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition website.
Don’t forget these other weekend events featured on Berkeleyside:
The Chocolate and Chalk Festival on June 2
The 9th Annual World Music Festival on June 2
For a complete listing of Berkeley happenings, check out our Events Calendar.
