Around Berkeley
➤ Dedicated scholar and troubadour David Gans and multi-instrumental wizard Joe Craven have been meeting up monthly at the Monkeyhouse, joined at each Grateful session by a new musician (tonight: Coos Bay harpist Anela Lauren). Thursday, July 13, 7:30 p.m. $10-$40
➤ A consistently interesting improviser, veteran saxophonist Dave Tiball presents a new talent-packed quintet at Jupiter. Friday, July 14, 7-10 p.m., FREE
➤ See the works of Berkeley architect Jim Orjala, who died in March, on display at the SHOH Gallery in West Berkeley. Thursday and Friday, July 13 and 14. FREE
➤ The city of Berkeley’s Derby Day, which consists of cardboard boat races, a scavenger hunt and cannonball contest, is being held on Friday, July 14 from 12 to 3 p.m. West Campus Pool.
➤ Puerto Rican vocalist Madeleine Zayas brings her pan-Latin American trio Sudamericanto to the Back Room featuring Rio-born pianist Marcos Silva and bassist David Pinto (who toured and recorded widely with Susana Baca), with Peruvian percussionist Raúl Ramírez joining as one of several special guests. Friday, July 14, 8 p.m. $18-$20
➤ Head to San Pablo Park for a showing of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as part of the city of Berkeley’s movies in the park series. Friday, July 14, 8:40 p.m. FREE
➤ Oakland tenor saxophonist Smith Dobson V, scion of a beloved Bay Area jazz clan, plays on Fourth Street in front of Peet’s with his trio featuring guitarist Luke Westbrook and bassist Matt Montgomery, who’s contributed to many albums released on Berkeley’s Wide Hive Records. Saturday, July 15, 1-3 p.m. FREE
➤ Learn how to make a zine with Bay Area Queer Zine Festival organizers. Saturday, July 15, 2 p.m. Berkeley Central Library. FREE
➤ ACCI’s Things with Wings group exhibition takes flight with an opening reception on Saturday, July 15. 4 p.m. ACCI Gallery. FREE (RSVP)
➤ Pegasus Books is hosting a giant warehouse book sale. Paperbacks are $2, hardbacks are $4, and oversized books are $5. Saturday-Sunday, July 15-16, 1223 8th St.
➤ With a repertoire gathered from Grenada and St. Lucia to Trinidad and Tobago, the Harmonics Steelband has been one of the Bay Area’s leading purveyors of shimmering Caribbean steel drum music for some three decades. Saturday, July 15, 8:30 p.m. Ashkenaz, $15-$20
➤ No one is likely to mistake Freight & Salvage for a Left Bank café but close your eyes listening to SonoMusette and you’d swear you’re in Paris, courtesy of chanson specialist Mimi Pirard accompanied by Jan Martinelli on piano and bass, Robert Lunceford on accordion, Isaac Vandeveer on guitar and bass, and drummer Kendrick Freeman. Sunday, July 16, 7 p.m. $18-$22
➤ Author Cristina Garcia will discuss her new novel, Vanishing Maps, which grapples with belonging and a far-flung Cuban family’s search for home. Tuesday, July 18, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. FREE (registration required)
➤ The Berkeley Art Center is hosting an online conversation with artists Lee Oscar Gomez, Helia Pouyanfar and Amy Yoshitsu. Thursday, July 20, 6:30 p.m. FREE (registration required)
➤ Big Bounce America, which claims to be the world’s “largest touring inflatable event,” is coming to Golden Gate Fields. July 15 to 30. $22-$45
➤ The Berkeley Shakespeare Company’s musical adaptation of Midsummer Night’s Dream runs on weekends, through July.
Beyond Berkeley
➤ Circus Bella has two back-to-back outdoor shows in Oakland before closing this year’s run in San Francisco. The 60-minute show is led by the company’s co-founder and executive director, Abigail Munn, with live music by Rob Reich and The Circus Bella All-Star Band. Space is first-come, first-served, and feel free to bring blankets and small chairs. Thursday, July 13, Lincoln Square Park, 261 11th St, Oakland and Friday, July 14, Elmhurst Park, Avenue B at 97th Avenue, Oakland. Shows start 6 p.m. FREE
➤ Former journalist and co-founder of the Julia Morgan School for Girls Ilana DeBare will discuss her new novel Shaken Loose with Berkeley writer Monica Wesolowska. Published July 5 by Hypathia Press, Shaken Loose is a dystopian fantasy in which the main protagonist, Annie Maple, is on a quest to escape hell, joined by other souls seeking salvation. Thursday, July 13, 7 p.m. Montclair Presbyterian Church, 5701 Thornhill Dr. FREE
➤ Street Spirit, the newspaper that for 28 years helped shine a light on the unhoused East Bay community while providing a source of income to the unhoused vendors who would sell the paper’s print editions, ceased publication on June 30 after the board of Youth Spirit Artworks, the Berkeley nonprofit that provides most of the paper’s annual budget, eliminated its funding. It’s hosting a fundraiser to revive the paper. Alexis Madrigal, host of KQED’s Forum, will moderate a panel about homelessness, and there will be live music by Richmond rapper Shruggs and food by That Hausa Vegan. Saturday, July 15, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Tamarack, 1501 Harrison St., Oakland. Donation-based.
If there’s an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup, email us at the-scene@berkeleyside.org. If there’s an event that you’d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our events page.
The Oaklandside’s Arts and Community reporter Azucena Rasilla contributed reporting to this story.
