
BERKELEY WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL Local artists from diverse musical traditions play at the Berkeley World Music Festival this weekend. The festival will be held in People’s Park and across various Telegraph Avenue locales. The mission of the festival is to “cultivate artistic vibrancy and social value of the world music panorama for the benefit of local communities,” according to organizers. See berkeleyworldmusic.org for a schedule of events, which run from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 13. And check out our feature on Thomas Mapfumo, “the lion,” who kicks off the festival on Friday night at Ashkenaz.
DON REED’S STEREOTYPO: Written, directed and performed by Don Reed, “Stereotypo: Rants and Rumblings at the DMV” comes to Berkeley for a series of performances June 5 through July 11. In a series of monologues set in “America’s melting pot — the DMV,” Reed explores the prejudgments we make based on race, class, physical handicap, gender and more. Performances are at The Marsh, 2120 Allston Way, at 8 p.m. Fridays and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays. For tickets ($20-$35 sliding scale, $55-$100 reserved), visit The Marsh’s website or call 415-282-3055 between 1-4 p.m. weekdays.
COMMUNITY POP-UP EVENT The city of Berkeley invites residents to take part in planning how to improve public spaces along the Adeline Corridor and south Shattuck Avenue at a pop-up event Saturday. “A pop-up event is a temporary transformation to show potential changes and improvements to public spaces, such as streets, sidewalks and community plazas,” reads the website. There will be food, music, walking and biking tours, and interactive activities throughout the day. The event will take place on the east side of the intersection of Fairview and Adeline streets from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m Saturday, June 13. Learn more about about the guided walking and bicycle tours and sign up. Read past Berkeleyside coverage of the city’s plans for the Adeline Corridor.
JOSÉ-LUIS OROZCO Children’s author, performer and songwriter José-Luis Orozco performs Saturday at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse. The UC Berkeley alum has “popularized traditional Latin American and Spanish songs used in schools across the nation,” according to the LA Times. He has recorded 13 volumes of Lírica Infantil, Latin American children’s music, and has written three award-winning books, which come with CDs featuring bilingual entertainment for children gathered from Spanish-speaking countries. The performance will take place at 11 a.m. at 2020 Addison Street. Tickets are $8 online and $10 at the door.
URBAN FARMERS AT LIBRARY On Saturday, the Claremont branch of the Berkeley Public Library hosts farmers from City Slicker Farms in West Oakland to talk about urban farming. City Slicker aims to empower communities and supply healthy organic food through urban farms and backyard gardens. Read more about City Slicker’s plans for a new West Oakland farm in our June 4 Nosh story. The farmers will talk about the history, future and importance of urban farming and how you can start your own backyard farm. The event will take place between 1-2 p.m. Saturday, June 13.
Don’t miss these other events featured on Berkeleyside:
A lion in Berkeley: Thomas Mapfumo kicks off World Music Festival
Review: The Shotgun Players’ ‘Heart Shaped Nebula’
Want to know what else is going on in Berkeley and nearby? Visit Berkeleyside’s new-look Events Calendar. Submit your own events for free if they aren’t there already — and give them featured status for as little as $10 a day.
-By Francesca Paris