12 new books by Berkeley authors to read in the summer of 2021
Some of the city’s most prominent authors have new books out, including Alice Waters, Michael Lewis and Michael Pollan.
Arts
Top Stories
At the Frameline Festival: One of those horrible everyone-has-to-go family getaways
‘Sweetheart’ is a very satisfying comedy-drama. Also at the festival: ‘North By Current,’ a doc about a religious familyâs struggles to come to terms with sex, sexuality and death.
Cal students build artistic âmonument to extractionâ at Albany Bulb
A new art installation at the former landfill explores the region’s hidden history.
Books
âCalling a thing a thingâ: Anna Sale on the art of hard conversations
The âDeath, Sex & Moneyâ podcast host, Berkeley resident, and now book author, says not every relationship can be healed and not every conflict can be resolved. And thatâs OK.
‘Forever young!’ describes California poet laureate, teacher, blues man Al Young
Writer Andrew Tonkovich describes how he and his family hung out with the former California poet laureate at Saul’s Deli and soaked in his tales and insights.
Music
Denny Abrams, creator of Fourth Street, has a jazzy second life
Abrams has provided financial backing to some of the most creative artists in jazz. “I know how hard it is to play and know how good they are,” he says.
To survive the pandemic, this band performed at the Oakland zoo and at a nudist resort
Dirty Cello performs Saturday as part of the Back Room’s mostly outdoor spring concert series.
Plunging in with Zoe FitzGerald Carterâs ‘Waterlines’
On Friday, the Berkeley musician celebrates the release of her second album, a beguiling set of songs exploring stylistic territory beyond her Americana comfort zone.
Movies
West Berkeley’s cinematic response to an era of drought and disaster
Berkeley filmmaker Rob Nilsson stars in Berkeley filmmaker Josh Petersonâs ‘Thirsty,’ set to a song by Berkeley composer Alexis Harte.
A margarine heir, lesbians in revolt and an alien on stage at San Francisco Docfest
The film festival starts today at the Roxie Theater. It runs through June 17 in person and through June 20 online.
‘Losing Ground,’ a forgotten gem full of temptation, artistic muses and summer distractions
Director Kathleen Collins, an African American poet, civil rights activist and professor, only made one feature-length film, ‘Losing Ground,’ before her untimely death at the age of 46 in 1988.
Film festival all about aging features ‘Code of the Freaks’ and a Bay Area nonagenarian
Salome Chasnoffâs ‘Code of the Freaks’ details how Tinsel Town generally forces disabled characters into one of three categories.
Recent stories
Dance film from Alvin Ailey will ‘give voice’ to those who need to be heard
The video program begins with a new work providing commentary on the devastating effect of police misconduct, health disparities and gun violence on Black communities.
A quartet of one-act vignettes from overlooked Black playwright Kathleen Collins
Playgoers drive into the parking lot of the Flax Art and Design store in downtown Oakland, watch through the windshields of their cars and listen through their FM radios.
Richard Flanagan, who set latest novel amid raging Tasmanian wildfires, sees Bay Area parallels
âYou have lived the same horror,” said Flanagan, who is appearing in a live program with the Bay Area Book Festival this evening.
Berkeley potter Kimi Masui is spinning her last clay creations
She has spent 50 years molding and glazing porcelain collections.
Bearettes dance team’s place in civil rights history gets the spotlight in new film
The film focuses on the Cal Bearettes, the first majorette-style dance team in the University of California system.
Berkeley’s Kay Sekimachi, 94, weaves her way to solo show at BAMPFA
Often referred to as a âweaverâs weaver,â the Berkeley fiber artist first learned her way around the loom while attending California College of the Arts and Crafts in the late 1940s. The show opens May 28.
Art is backdrop for new Berkeley Symphony video performances
The performances are part of a collaboration with the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Reviewed: ‘Tell Them We Were Here’ and ‘Riders of Justice’
‘Tell Them We Were Here’ gives an overview of the Bay Areaâs contemporary art scene. ‘Riders of Justice’ is a violent film, but not an immoral one.
New exhibit showcases vital contribution of African Americans to Berkeley
The installation will feature businesses, churches, and the political and social scene from 1940-2000.
TheatreFirst virtually presents the creative and entertaining âMagic Fruitâ
Two women cook elaborate meals for each other: One fixes the Persian dishes her grandparents savored, while the other finally learns to love the Mexican cuisine of her roots.
Bevy of pianists coming to Crowden Music Center this weekend
The free-but-ticketed “celebration of extraordinary piano performances” runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.
