IF YOU CAN’T AGE GRACEFULLY, LAUGH The comedienne Marga Gomez many not be getting any younger, but she is always getting better. Twenty years after her first solo piece Memory Tricks premiered at The Marsh, Gomez is still at it, stripping down bare, revealing her soul, and making you crack up at the same time. Friday and Saturday are the last times to see Gomez in her solo show Not Getting Any Younger, which San Francisco Chronicle theater critic Robert Hurwitt awarded the little man jumping out of his chair. (highest honor) Gomez’s ninth solo show is about “the coming of middle age,” its indignities (being called Ma’am is not a compliment) and how she copes with her creaky joints and graying hair. Not Getting Any Younger plays at 8 pm Friday and 5 pm Saturday at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way.
ART SHOW TO MARK COLLEGE OPENING The Nyingma Tibetan community has been fixing up the old Armstrong College building at 2222 Harold Way for almost two years, and on Saturday will open the doors to the new Dharma College with the exhibition, Sacred Art of Tibet – The Art of the Buddha’s Teachings. The art show features photos of Tibet, silkscreens lithographs, thanka paintings, and giclées, most mounted in the traditional Tibetan way, framed in luxurious and vivid brocade. Tarthan Tulku, the llama of the Nyingma community, curated the show. There will be an informal lecture at 2pm and a reception to meet Roslayn White, the Executive Director of the Tibetan Aid Project and Art Director of Dharma Publishing. Some of her art work is in the show.
WALK BEHIND THE SCENES IN BERKELEY Richard Schwartz grew up in Philadelphia but the residents of Berkeley should be grateful he moved here in 1973 for Schwartz has become one of this city’s most prominent historians and chroniclers of daily life. With three Berkeley-centric books under his belt (the best known, perhaps is “Berkeley 1900”), Schwartz is a walking encyclopedia of information of days gone past. On Saturday, Schwartz will lead a walking tour of Berkeley’s Ocean View District (West Berkeley) and talking about “the giant Indian mound, the old French Quarter that wowed the Bay Area’s chefs, the famous Bath Beach where the Bay Area came to vacation, the giant Standard Soap Works, Berkeley’s first jail and fir house, the public halls, and business where the community was brought together, and West Berkeley’s long lost lake.” The 90-minute tour starts at 1 pm at Builders Bookstore at 1817 Fourth Street and costs $10.
COOKING DEMOS AT THE MARKET The Berkeley Farmer’s Market is so chock full of amazing fruits and vegetables that is can sometimes be overwhelming. Where to start? What to buy? The Ecology Center, the nonprofit organization that puts on the city’s markets, has set up a series of cooking demonstrations to show shoppers delicious and healthy ways to cook seasonal produce. On Saturday, June 30 at 11 am and noon, Mary Vance, a nutrition consultant, will prepare Beet Salad Surprise. Upcoming chefs include Trudy Schafer, Natural Chef Instructor at Bauman College on July 14th, and Chef Mikaela Dunitz from Three Squares Meals on Oct. 20. Click here for the complete list of cooking demos. The Saturday farmers’ market is on Center St. at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.
SAVE THE PLANET OVER WAFFLES David Brower used to brainstorm on ways to preserve the environment during his legendary waffle breakfasts on Sunday. Veteran environmentalists, fledgling activists, and college students would come to Brower’s Berkeley hills home to eat, talk, and plan. In celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday (Brower was born July 1, 1912), the Brower Center, the Earth Island Institute, Heyday Books, and the Brower family are throwing a Strawberry Waffle Breakfast on Sunday July 1. Come to the Tamalpais Room in the Brower Center from 11 am to 2 pm to hear stories about Brower and the movement that was forged in Berkeley. Registration required.
Don’t forget about these other weekend events, previously featured on Berkeleyside:
Sameer Gupta at the Subterranean Art House on Sunday
Bassist Lisa Mezzacappa at Jupiter on tonight
Kenny Washington and Bobbe Norris at the Hillside Club tonight
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To find out about more events in Berkeley and nearby, visit Berkeleyside’s Events Calendar. We also encourage you to submit your own events.
