BERKELEY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL The Freight & Salvage is hosting its fourth Berkeley Bluegrass Festival over the weekend (events actually started on Thursday night). Programmed by Grammy-award winner Laurie Lewis and the Freight’s program director Peter Williams, the festival brings together leader of the genre, up-and-coming artists, and music fans for concerts, jams, free workshops and plenty of opportunities to dance and sing along. Friday, May 17, 8 p.m., Saturday, May 18, free workshops and activities from noon, and Sunday, May 19 from 1 p.m., Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St.
DOM PIPKIN Here’s a distinction: “The soul of New Orleans in the U.K.” That’s how The Back Room describes Dom Pipkin (left), who is playing the venue on Saturday afternoon. Pipkin is in the forefront of piano players keeping the classic New Orleans sound alive. Pipkin’s shows mix his own songs with classics from the New Orleans genre. You can expect Dr John, Professor Longhair, Fats Domino and James Booker. Saturday, May 18, 3 p.m., The Back Room, 1984 Bonita Ave.
THE SILENCE OF OTHERS The Elmwood Rialto Cinema has a special advance screening of The Silence of Others on Saturday afternoon. Emmy-winning filmmakers Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar’s tracks the struggle of victims of Spain’s 40-year dictatorship under Franco as they organize a groundbreaking international lawsuit and fight a “pact of forgetting” around the crimes they suffered. “The film raises profound questions about how societies grapple with legacies of state violence and what to do with perpetrators of crimes against humanity in their midst.” Bahar will be at Saturday’s showing, together with Adam Hochschild, author of Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War (and a Berkeley resident and UC Berkeley journalism school lecturer). Saturday, May 18, 3 p.m., Rialto Cinemas Elmwood, 2966 College Ave.
BOOKSTORE & CHOCOLATE CRAWL If the idea of pairing books and chocolate strikes your fancy (nutritious and delicious – for mind and body), join the Bookstore & Chocolate Crawl on Sunday, which supports independent bookstores in Berkeley. The free crawl starts at Moe’s Books on Telegraph, wends its way to University Press Books on Bancroft, before heading to Pegasus, Half-Price Books, Fantastic Comics, and ending at Books Inc. Stops along the way are promised to satisfy your chocolate urges. (Even though the crawl is free, the organizers prefer that people register on the Eventbrite page.) Kicks off Saturday, May 18, 1 p.m., Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave.
SATSUKI BAZAAR The 70th annual Satsuki Bazaar and Arts Festival will be held this weekend at the Berkeley Buddhist Temple. Entertainment at the festival features the acclaimed jazz drummer and bandleader Akira Tana performing with Otonowa, Oh-In Taiko and teen hip-hop group Last Minute Entertainment. The bazaar includes Japanese and Hawaiian foods, Japanese arts and crafts, a silent auction and games for children. Saturday, May 18, 2-8 p.m. and Sunday, May 19, 12-6 p.m., Berkeley Buddhist Temple, 2121 Channing Way.
Don’t miss these other events covered on Berkeleyside:
‘Pushing West’ at OMCA celebrates the photography of Andrew J. Russell
Big Screen Berkeley: ‘Aniara’
Qadim Ensemble, Ben Goldberg’s ‘Archimedes Lullaby’ and Akira Tana’s Otonowa
