The Berkeley Poetry Walk, completed in 2003, was motivated by community sentiment in the 1980s to create a vital downtown arts and cultural district to reverse economic decline. Photo: edrdo On a downtown Berkeley city block, poetry is a constant companion. Stretched along both sides of Addison Street between Milvia Street and Shattuck Avenue, cast-iron “stepping stone” plaques […]
Lou Fancher
Posted inCommunity, Nature
Bay Nature: Restitches our connection to natural world
David Loeb, publisher and editor of Bay Nature Magazine which is based in Berkeley. Photo: Diane Poslosky David Loeb, publisher and editor of Bay Nature Magazine which is based in Berkeley. Photo: Diane Poslosky No matter how grand the “internet of things” becomes, all the digital wizardry in the world will never rival the unsurpassable majesty of […]
Posted inArts
Interview: Jonathan Spector on his Aurora winning play
Jonathan Spector, author of the play FTW which was chosen by Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre for its tenth annual Global Age Project (GAP). Photo: Cheshire Isaacs which was chosen by Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre for its tenth annual Global Age Project (GAP). Photo: Cheshire Isaacs Ask playwrights about their interest in theater and you will likely travel […]
Posted inArts
Chiura Obata: A story of resilience, a passion for Yosemite
Death’s Grave, Chiura Obata (1885–1975), Death’s Grave Pass and Tenaya Peak, High Sierra, USA, 1930, Color woodcut, Private collection Death’s Grave, Chiura Obata (1885–1975), Death’s Grave Pass and Tenaya Peak, High Sierra, USA, 1930, Color woodcut, Private collection When Kimi Hill was in her teens, just turning the corner on self-absorption and curious about her […]
Posted inArts
A ‘Swan Lake’ inspired by an English Royal love triangle
Joined by Berkeley Symphony and conductor Nicolette Fraillon, The Australian Ballet makes its Bay Area premiere at Cal Performances with Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake’ (choreography: Graeme Murphy), Oct. 16–19, 2014 in Zellerbach Hall. Photo: Jeff Busby Joined by Berkeley Symphony and conductor Nicolette Fraillon, The Australian Ballet makes its Bay Area premiere at Cal Performances with […]
Posted inArts
Looking intently: The James Cahill legacy at BAM/PFA
Chen Hongshou: Album of Birds, Flowers and Landscapes. The dualities of life and art are never more apparent than they are in “Looking Intently: The James Cahill Legacy,” an intimate exhibit with boundless implications running now through December 21 at Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive. Even the exhibit itself is binary: the Chinese, […]
Posted inArts
Ambitious Ojai North Music Festival returns to Berkeley
Storm Large, performing at Ojai North in Berkeley. Photo: courtesy Cal Performances Storm large and Storm Large: the words serve double duty at this week’s Cal Performances Ojai North Music Festival, running June 19-21 on the Berkeley campus. “Storm large” could be considered emblematic of the fearlessly ambitious annual contemporary music festival that drew the storied […]
Posted inArts
‘Acis and Galatea’ promises to be a grand, sensory delight
Mark Morris’ Cal Performance presentation and world premiere of Handel’s Acis and Galatea runs April 25-27 Musical morsels become masterpieces in the hands of composers like George Frideric Handel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Spring forward 200-plus-odd years and find dance and design have their modern day monument builders as well. When choreographer Mark Morris and […]
Posted inArts
Bay Area Dance Week: A smorgasbord of offerings for all
A dancer from Berkeley’s Upswing Aerial Dance Company, one of the many groups participating in Bay Area Dance Week. Photo: UADC A dancer from Berkeley’s Upswing Aerial Dance Company, one of the many groups participating in Bay Area Dance Week. Photo: UADC From shoulders shimmying at Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center on San Pablo to couples […]
Posted inArts
Michael Ray Wisely: Grand dramas on everyday stages
Michael Ray Wisely. Photo: courtesy AlterTheater Known in local theater circles as a deep-thinking actor’s actor—and by fans of the DIY Network as host of the ever-practical Home Transformations—Michael Ray Wisely has built himself a DIY career. Wisely is inaugurating the Aurora Theatre Company’s new second stage performance space, Harry’s UpStage, as the predatory “Director” […]
Posted inArts
Alvin Ailey’s genre-stretching adventure back in Berkeley
Robert Battle and members of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The company returns to Cal Performances April 1-6. Photo: Andrew Eccles Is the juice worth the squeeze? It’s the unexpected question Robert Battle, now in his third year as Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, asks himself every day. The “squeeze” is […]
Posted inArts
Magical, misfit marriage of Ira Glass and dance
This American Life host Ira Glass with dancers Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass. Photo: David Bazemore Dance is primarily show, don’t tell. Radio is tell, can’t show. Put them together, you get the magical, misfit marriage that is “Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host,” coming to Zellerbach Hall on Saturday, Mar. 29, presented […]
