BAY AREA BOOK FESTIVAL The fourth annual Bay Area Book Festival runs all day Saturday and Sunday at a wide variety of downtown venues. The full schedule is online, with panels, one-on-one interviews, readings and performances from over 250 authors and speakers. Outdoor programs – at the main stage in Civic Center Park and on the Showtime stage for families on Allston Way – are free, with first-come, first-served seating. The hundreds of other events, at venues throughout downtown, are accessible with a general admission wristband ($15) or with priority admission tickets ($10 for single sessions). The outdoor fair, with numerous exhibitors is free.
VOGUE BALL In conjunction with its Way Bay exhibition (our reviewer said it was “inspired”), BAMPFA is throwing a Vogue Ball on Saturday. The ball will be hosted by Vogue and Tone’s Sir JoQ – a legend on San Francisco’s alternative choreography circuit – and Oakland’s DJ Spiider. The museum is expecting a large crowd from the Bay Area’s drag and ballroom community, who will be strutting their stuff the central Crane Forum. There’s also an interactive competition element, with prizes for the best moves, costumes, and more. Saturday, April 28, 5:30 p.m., BAMPFA, 2155 Center St.
INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY Because you’re the kind of person that can’t possibly get enough literary stimulation, after you go to the Bay Area Book Festival (or maybe before), you’ll take advantage of six Berkeley bookstores that are celebrating the national Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday: Mrs Dalloway’s, Moe’s Books, University Press Books, Pegasus Downtown, Books Inc, Builders Booksource, and Pegasus on Solano. Here’s what the IBD organizers promise: “Every store is unique and independent, and every party is different. But in addition to authors, live music, cupcakes, scavenger hunts, kids events, art tables, readings, barbecues, contests, and other fun stuff, there are exclusive books and literary items that you can only get on that day.”
MAORI PERFORMANCE The Hearst Museum of Anthropology will feature Māori performing arts through live song and dance by Māori Mo Ake Tonu. Māori Mo Ake Tonu, which means Māori Forever in the native Māori language of New Zealand, are a Kapa Haka group, with performances consisting of action songs using hands, legs and bodies to depict different words. They also use a variety of implements from New Zealand such as Poi Balls, Taiaha, Patu, and Titi Torea. Saturday’s performance will include elements of waiata (songs), waiata-a-ringa (story telling dances), poi and haka. The numbers for the performance are inspired by the taonga (treasures) in the collection at the Hearst Museum. Saturday, April 28, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Kroeber Hall.
CAL TRACK & FIELD As the Cal track & field team enters the final stretch of the regular season, the Bears will look to prepare for championship season by hosting the Brutus Hamilton Challenge on Friday and Saturday at Edwards Stadium. The competition opens Friday with the hammer and javelin competitions, beginning at 11 a.m. The running events will begin at 3 p.m. with the 3000m steeplechase followed by the 5000m and 10,000m races. Saturday’s competition will start at 10 a.m. with competitions in four field events. Action on the track starts at 1:30 p.m. with the 4x100m relay. Among the Cal standouts to see are shotputter McKay Johnson (ranked seventh nationally), freshman Camryn Rogers, who already holds the school record in the hammer throw, nationally ranked pole vaulter Lauren Martinez, and three triple jumpers ranked in the nation’s top 25: Tuomas Kaukolahti on the men’s side, and Isabella Marten and Ashley Anderson on the women’s side. Friday from 11 a.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m., April 27-28, Edward Stadium.
Don’t miss these other events covered on Berkeleyside:
World premier of ‘Eureka Day’ shines at the Aurora
Big Screen Berkeley: ‘Ghost Stories’ and ‘Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami’
