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Around Berkeley
🐶 A group of Berkeley residents and UC Berkeley students will be meeting up at Cesar Chavez Park’s off-leash areas for a “Pick up Poops (PUP) and debris party.” All are welcome to volunteer to help clean up the park. Poop trash bags, hand sanitizer, biscotti and coffee will be provided. Email savecc6@gmail.com or text 415-385-5777 for updates. Saturday, April 6, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Cesar Chavez Park. FREE
🎤 On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous novelist Ocean Vuong is visiting Berkeley to read Time is Mother, his latest poetry collection. The free event is a collaboration between the Townsend Center for the Humanities and BAMPFA. Tickets will be available first-come-first-serve at the admissions desk starting at 4 p.m. One ticket per person. Friday, April 5, 5 p.m. BAMPFA, FREE
🍧 It’s never too chilly for kakigori. Local pop-up shop Mt. Kakigori is bringing its Japanese-style, California-inspired shaved ice to Berkeley twice this month. The first will be at the Gilman District’s First Friday block party on Friday night; the second is from 1:30- 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, at Teance Fine Teas in West Berkeley.
🎶 A Gitano flamenco singer, guitarist and composer born and raised in Motril on the Andalusian coast, Carlos de Jacoba is steeped in flamenco tradition and makes a rare Berkeley appearance at La Peña with his trio featuring Natanael Borja Vicente on electric bass and percussionist Paco de Mode as part of a series of Bay Area performances. Friday, April 5, 7:30-9:30 p.m. La Peña Cultural Center. $55
🪴 Help the city of Berkeley plant trees and large shrubs at the northwest end of Aquatic Park. “These new plants will help to add habitat, clean the air, and add a green screen to the interstate,” the city says. Wear close-toed shoes and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. Lunch is provided. Saturday, April 6, 9:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Aquatic Park. FREE (RSVP)
🎨 If you’ve ever wanted to buy used art supplies directly from local artists for cheap, now’s your chance. ACCI members are de-stashing their art studios for a big garage sale. Expect to find items like beads, buttons, woodworking tools, fabric, gems and jewelry supplies. Saturday, April 6, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. ACCI Gallery.
🇨🇴 The Starry Plough’s first Saturday World Music Night presents “Mash Up Fiesta” with Colombian guitarist Pablo Malpica’s vibrant mix of cumbia, merengue, and salsa infused with elements of funk, pop, and reggae. Saturday, April 6, 7 p.m. The Starry Plough. $15
🎼 The acclaimed violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour will perform an all-Bach program of sonatas and partitas in Berkeley. A highlight will almost certainly be the duo’s performance of Bach’s monumental and contemplative “Chaconne.” Tickets to the concert, presented by the San Francisco Early Music Society, are pay-what-you-can to increase the accessibility of the arts. It suggests a ticket price of $30-$40 per seat. Saturday, April 6, 7:30 p.m. First Church Berkeley UCC (First Congregational), 2345 Channing Way.
🎶 This soul-steeped double bill features the Santa Cruz world-groove combo Mokili Wa, which is led by percussionist Elie Mabanza from Congo Brazzaville and Oakland singer/songwriter August Lee Stevens, who’s starting to make a name for herself as a powerful performer with an arresting voice. Saturday, April 6, 8 p.m. The Back Room. $20
🇧🇷 Led by string wizard Brian Moran, Oakland Samba Revue is a horn-driven spinoff of Grupo Falso Baiano, featuring an expanded cast of players playing hard-driving forró (northeastern Brazil’s version of zydeco) and rootsy samba. Saturday, April 6, 8 p.m. Ashkenaz. $20/$25
🦍 A protean force on the Bay Area art rock scene that coalesced at the turn of the century, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum brought glorious, meticulously crafted mayhem to stages around the region. After a long hiatus, violinist/vocalist Carla Kihlstedt and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Nils Frykdahl have returned from the unfathomable depths, summoning a host of collaborators, including Faun Fables, Kitka, and Moe Staiano. Saturday, April 6, 8 p.m. UC Theatre. $27.50
🌹 Look at flowers and make new friends at a Neighborhood Flower Photowalk in South Berkeley. It’s a “sweet excuse to get outside and smell the roses (and then take photos of them),” according to organizers Bella Bond and Angela Marlaud. Bring a camera — any will do, and comfortable walking shoes. We also suggest downloading an app like iNaturalist to help you identify the flowers you encounter. The walk will go on rain or shine. Sunday, April 7, 11:30 a.m., 1730 Oregon Street. FREE
🎤 The Monkey House hosts “What’s Your Story?” a showcase for four dynamic storytellers, including Moth Story Slam winners Yael Schy and Tom Darcy, as well as Marsh Theater veteran Ben Tucker and Craig Byrne, who revels in stereotypes about Irishmen with the gift of gab. Sunday, April 7, 2 p.m. The Monkey House. $10-$40
🌼 Learn to make daisy chains and small brick-stitch triangle earrings at a two-part meditative art workshop hosted by the city of Berkeley. The workshop will be taught by multimedia artist and yogi Malika Rubin Davis. Call (510) 981-5350 or register online in advance — space is limited. Mondays, April 8 and 15, 4 p.m. FREE (RSVP)
🇲🇱 After a nearly two-decade absence from Bay Area stage, Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré has become a regular presence in Berkeley with her third Freight & Salvage engagement in just two years, sounding as regal as ever, delivering her incantatory Wassoulou benedictions and protests (with the help of Berkeley ngoni master Mamadou Sidibé, a key collaborator on her 2022 album Timbuktu). Tuesday-Wednesday, April 9-10, 8 p.m. Freight & Salvage. $60/$65
🎤 Author, translator and critic Cristina Rivera Garza will deliver the 2024 lecture in UC Berkeley’s Bedri Distinguished Writers Series. The lecture is titled “The Affective Archives: Writing, Bodies and Collective Memory.” Rivera Garza was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship and founded the Ph.D. program in Creative Writing in Spanish at the University of Houston’s Department of Hispanic Studies — the first of its kind in the U.S. Thursday, April 11, 5 p.m. Maude Fife Room (315), Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley. FREE
🦋 Plan ahead: Butterfly docent specialist Sally Levinson will lead a guided walk in search of butterflies. Bring a pair of binoculars if you have them. The event fee includes same-day admission to the rest of the UC Botanical Garden. Monday, April 15, 1:30 p.m. UC Botanical Garden. $14-$18
🪴Here’s your periodic reminder that many flowers are in bloom at the 34-acre UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley. Established in 1890, the garden features more than 10,000 types of plants, including many rare and endangered species. (There’s also a garden shop where you can buy plants and other garden-related gifts.) Garden open daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Shop open daily, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays. $18
🔥 See the work of more than 200 student artists from Berkeley, Richmond and Skyline high schools at the David Brower Center’s new exhibit, “Burning Questions,” which explores the connections between fire and the environment. (Read our story.) Through May 16. David Brower Center. FREE (RSVP)
🎭 Berkeley Rep is showing Lloyd Suh’s play The Far Country. The Pulitzer Prize finalist sheds light on the cruelty of Angel Island through the lens of a Chinese American family arriving in San Francisco at the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Read our theater critic’s review. Through April 14. $22.50-$134
🎨 ACCI Gallery celebrates the “power of portraiture” with its latest exhibit, Personages, which includes 45 portraits. Through April 5. ACCI Gallery. FREE
Beyond Berkeley
🎶 After a three-month winter hibernation, the popular longstanding Oakland First Fridays event returns Friday. As with every past event, expect many local vendors, food trucks, live music, turf dancing and other surprises. Since putting on such a massive event is costly, First Fridays is also fundraising to reach its goal of $150,000 to prevent another hiatus. Friday, April 5, 5-9 p.m., Telegraph Avenue between 22nd and 27th streets, FREE
🎇 Oakland’s Cambodian community will celebrate Khmer New Year at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park. The festival includes dance performances, live music, Khmer food, visual arts, a community resource fair and games for the whole family. Saturday, April 6, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., 2465 34th Ave., FREE
🎨 This multimedia Dalit art exhibition and dance party will showcase over 30 international artists of South Asian origin. This event is one of the first queer Dalit-centered art exhibits to take place in California. Dalit is a term for caste-oppressed communities formerly known as Untouchables. Dalit Dreamlands is a multi-venue experience featuring art at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center and ARTogether. The opening reception will then move to a dance party at 7th West featuring performances by London-based trans artist Mya Mehmi of Pxssy Palace, DJ Seema Hari from L.A., and other queer Dalit DJs and performers. The exhibit will be on display through June 8. Saturday, April 6, 5 p.m., 388 9th St. #290 FREE
💃 In May 2023, South African house music DJ and producer Black Coffee played in front of 5,000 people at Frank Ogawa Plaza. The show was so popular that the internationally renowned DJ is returning to The Town to fill the plaza outside City Hall once more. There will be two stages, food trucks and vendors. The event is presented by Hotbox, DJ Dials, Vate Creative, Afrobeats Oakland and Oakhella. Saturday, April 6, 3-10 p.m., 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, $20-$250
👩❤️👨 Singles Nite is a quarterly event aimed to foster “meaningful connections” and give single folks a chance to get off the dating apps and meet other singles in real life while sipping a beer and eating small bites from sushi pop-up It’s Just Fish. Professional matchmaker and author Cassindy Chao Bierhaus, founder of Ancient Wisdom Modern Love, will host dating trivia. Attendees can use name tags to add information upfront, like pronouns, age and relationship preferences, whether it’s friendship, romance, partnership, non-monogamy or other connections. Tuesday, April 9, 6-8:30 p.m., 4115 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland $10
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.
more to do in berkeley
Affordable things to do in Berkeley any day of the week
From farmers markets to trivia nights, we put together a roundup of events and activities held regularly in Berkeley.
