A Brazilian street party on Sunday at BrasArte on San Pablo Avenue will celebrate the Lavagem No one is likely to mistake Berkeley for Salvador de Bahia, the northeastern Brazilian city famous as the heartland of Afro-Brazilian culture. But on Sunday, at least for a day, San Pablo Avenue will resound to the thundering pulse […]
Music
Posted inNosh
Birdland Jazz finds a new home at Café Yesterday
Birdland Jazz logo. Photos: Eric Arnold Late last year Michael Parayno, the founder of arguably the hippest garage jazz club and barbecue joint in town, was having some serious run-ins with the city — as first reported on Berkeleyside. Parayno was operating a very popular supper club, then called the Multi Culti Grill and Birdland […]
Posted inEvents
World music comes to Telegraph at LastSundaysFest
Telegraph Avenue will be transformed into a stage for world music on Sunday A three block stretch of Telegraph Avenue will be transformed Sunday into an international music festival featuring live indie bands, chamber orchestras, and jazz ensembles. It’s the third annual LastSundaysFest, Telegraph Avenue’s street party, done in a way that only Telegraph can […]
Posted inArts
Out in Berkeley: Mawungira Enharira transports
Mawungira Enharira has sparked interest in traditional Shona culture More recent atrocities may have pushed the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe out of the news, but the devastation wrought by the iron-fisted Robert Mugabe and his kleptocratic ZANU-PF party continues apace. During a decade of incomprehensible hardship, the spirit of Zimbabwe’s people has been […]
Posted inBusiness
More than 30 years of ‘thinking sound’ in Berkeley
Meyer Sound factory off Heinz Avenue. Photos: Meyer Sound By Robert Mills Sound is life at the Meyer Sound facility on San Pablo. The 32-year-old Berkeley business continues to churn out professional sound products for concert halls, churches and traveling bands from around the world. “We’re a family-run company, privately owned still,” said Helen Meyer, executive […]
Posted inArts
Out in Berkeley: The highly talented BHS Jazz Ensemble
The Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble playing Yoshi's earlier this year. Photo: BHS Jazz Living in Berkeley, it’s easy to take the Berkeley High jazz program for granted. Every few years, a new generation of ambitious students emerges from the jazz ensemble and heads off to music programs in New York, Boston and Los Angeles. Since […]
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 inArts
Has the Edible Schoolyard been in a rap song before?
Look what the dueling Whole Foods parking lot videos has spawned. The original, by Berkeley-raised David Wittman, aka DJDave (now in LA), inspired local LaeCharles’ Berkeley remix. (It also prompted Berkeley-born Delia Brown to make “Revenge of the Black Prius“). Now, in fine style, DJDave has come back with DJDave, U Not BERKELEY Enough, featuring LaeCharles. […]
Posted inEvents
Berkeley’s Summer Cinema event kicks off on Center St
Movie-goers at the inaugural Summer Cinema event. Photo (with a Georges Seurat effect): Ira Serkes The night was less than balmy, but that didn’t deter around 250 people making their way to Center Street Saturday evening for the first of four Summer Cinema free outdoor screenings. Some participants brought their own chairs and blankets, others rented fold-up […]
Posted inArts
Out in Berkeley: Disappear Incompletely plays Jupiter
Rob Ewing belongs to a long, honorable and frustrating lineage of Bay Area musicians whose consistently inspired creative output is matched by a seeming indifference to self-promotion. A passionately expressive trombonist, skilled bassist, effective drummer and often brilliant arranger, Ewing has forged enduring ties with a fascinating community of musicians, artists steeped in jazz, but […]
Posted inArts
Dazzling young musicians offer series of free concerts
Melissa Angulo sings "The Girl in 14G" at Hertz Hall. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel On Friday July 29, Melissa Angulo, 17, stepped onto the stage of Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, followed by James Meredith, her piano accompanist. She turned toward the audience, and, without any prelude, launched into a performance of “C” an […]
Posted inArts
Rocking once a day keeps the doctor away
A passerby joins Will Crum and Danny Hodge on harmonica outside Beads & Rocks on Telegraph Photo: Jean McCloskey By Robert Mills Will Crum refuses to stop rocking – at least for a year anyway. The Berkeley guitarist and rock singer pledged to play one guerrilla rock show per day for 365 days. Twenty-five days in, […]
