Berkeley-based Georges Brooks Click on this link to listen to “Better Than Coffee” from the album ‘Elements” while you read our review. Over the past three decades Berkeley tenor saxophonist George Brooks has carved a singular musical niche through his collaborations with the some of classical Indian music’s most celebrated artists. His latest project, Global […]
Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse
2020 Addison St, Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 644-2020 // thefreight.org
Posted inArts
The It List: Oakland Gospel Choir, pianist Michael Wolff
The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir In the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the glorious harmonies on stage flow directly from the harmonious vibe off the bandstand. Maintaining smooth sailing in any creative endeavor involving 55 people is no easy feat. After a quarter century, however, the ensemble has learned a little something about coexistence and how […]
Posted inArts
Nell Robinson: A little bit of Berkeley bluegrass
When Hilary Perkins was trying to think of what she could give to her husband as a 5th wedding anniversary present, she was stumped. Her spouse, Skip Battle, was an extremely successful businessman who had almost anything he could want, so no simple trinket would do. Perkins decided she would sing him a song, even […]
Posted inArts
Junius Courtney Big Band: Spirited in the right ways
The Junius Courtney Big Band When an ensemble keeps performing after the death of its namesake leader, it’s known as a ghost band. Though descriptive rather than pejorative, the term often carries a whiff of the dismissive, as if a musical legacy should be interred with its creator (things work differently in the world of […]
Posted inArts
Out in Berkeley: Phillip Greenlief’s Lost Trio, and more
Phillip Greenlief and the Lost Trio: performing at Berkeley Arts Festival Friday Few bands in jazz find musical pay dirt as consistently as Phillip Greenlief’s Lost Trio. Launched about 17 years ago with bassist Dan Seamans and drummer Tom Hassett, the group brings the same gruff, unfussy eloquence to tunes by Hank Williams and Herbie […]
Posted inBusiness
Old Freight & Salvage building to become a yoga studio
Citizen reporter and self-described “construction spy” Sandy Friedland sends us this photo of the former Freight & Salvage space at 1111 Addison Street, and says a fencing, yoga and dance studio is on its way. “EDA January, 2012.”
Posted inArts
Out in Berkeley: Lavay Smith is crazy about Patsy Cline
Lavay Smith: paying tribute to a country legend By Andrew Gilbert Jazz and country music are often cast as antithetical cultural forces, signifying a blue state/red state divide. The former is black, urban, and sophisticated, while the later is white, rural (or suburban), and populist. The truth is that jazz and country music have been […]
Posted inArts
Out in Berkeley: Jessica Jones and Mark Taylor
Jessica Jones and Mark Taylor play The Freight Saturday By Andrew Gilbert In the mid-1970s, Berkeley High was brimming with so many ambitious and talented jazz musicians that Peter Apfelbaum launched his stylistically expansive 17-piece Hieroglyphics Ensemble by drawing on the ranks of his fellow students. Saxophonist Jessica Fuchs Jones was part of that ferociously creative scene, and […]
Posted inArts
Julian Lage delights listeners at Freight and Salvage
By Robert Mills Julian Lage reacts to a smooth guitar lick the way a father stares at a newborn child. There’s a pleasure and grace about his stage presence that cannot be mistaken. An intimate Friday night jazz show at Berkeley’s Freight and Salvage proved this. Lage, a former child prodigy who first performed publicly at […]
Posted inArts
Berkeley does comedy, goes beyond hipsters and dudes
Ali Mafi and Marga Gomez, opening the first Berkeley Gay Comedy Festival on Saturday night at The Marsh. Photo: Kent Taylor By Diana Arbas It’s LGBT Pride Month, and downtown Berkeley’s coming out with a sense of humor. The first ever Berkeley Gay Comedy Festival kicks off at The Marsh Berkeley on Saturday, June 11, […]
Posted inArts
Out in Berkeley: Violinist Irene Sazer’s far-flung sounds
Berkeley violinist Irene Sazar explores melodies, rhythms and arrangements from all over the world By Andrew Gilbert Berkeley violinist Irene Sazer has worked with a mind-boggling array of artists, from Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles to Ali Akbar Khan, David Grisman and Bjork. In founding her own band, she wanted a vehicle to […]
Posted inArts
John King talks cityscapes, including his Berkeley picks
John King: when it comes to buildings Berkeleyans are even more conservative than San Franciscans, he says. Photo: Laura Morton John King, staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle, is a skilled observer of the urban terrain. His new book, “Cityscapes: San Francisco and Its Buildings” (Heyday; $14.95), is drawn from his “Cityscapes” column in […]
