If listening to folk music in a beautiful natural setting sounds like you’re kind of thing, you might want to check out UC Botanical Garden‘s summer music series which runs every Thursday evening until July 29 in the garden’s Redwood Grove Ampitheater. Tonight’s Garden Grooves event is a singer/songwriter night featuring Ed Masuga, That Blasted Hound and Chloe […]
Music
Posted inArts
Music for summer: Second year for concert series
A local concert series has kicked off its second season in the Westbrae neighborhood and offers the opportunity to enjoy free music, food and socializing on lazy summer weekends. The Westbrae Garden Concert series, which take place on Saturday lunchtimes in the garden next to the Bagel Shop and Toot Sweet on Gilman Street at Santa Fe […]
Posted inArts
Be puzzled by The Residents tonight at BAM
The Residents are performing in the Berkeley Art Museum’s L@TE program tonight at 7:30 p.m. If you know who The Residents are, the rest of this post is superfluous. If you don’t, read on. Here’s how The Resident’s FAQ tries to explain things: 1. Are The Residents a band, or what? A. I guess I […]
Posted inArts
Berkeley Playhouse’s Oliver is delightful
I’ve rhapsodized previously about the stellar plays put on by Berkeley Playhouse, and I am pleased to say that its current production of Oliver is wonderful. The show features 30 kids, mostly from schools around Berkeley and Oakland. Nandi Drayton is wonderful as Oliver, and Katie Corbus is great as the Artful Dodger. “As the […]
Posted inArts
American Idiot rocks Broadway
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt at afterparty “American Idiot” opened last night on Broadway to rave reviews. The New York Times called it “thrillingly raucous and gorgeously wrought.” USA Today declared it the “feel-good musical of the season.” The Washington Post called it “dazzling” and said the musical had “coolly aggressive dance […]
Posted inNosh
The lunchtime music scene at The Cheeseboard
For many people living in Berkeley — or elsewhere in the Bay Area — there’s no better pizza than the one served at The Cheeseboard. For 20 years, the Berkeley cooperative has been spinning out pies. There’s never tomato sauce, but there is always some interesting topping, like roasted cauliflower, pesto, butternut squash, feta cheese, […]
Posted inArts, Schools
Out of the Blue: a cappella performance tonight
If you’re in the mood for some seriously impressive and uplifting entertainment tonight, head on over to Berkeley High School’s Little Theater to hear Out of the Blue, an a cappella group from Oxford University in the UK. (Watch them perform Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” in the video above, to a highly appreciative crowd.) The […]
Posted inArts
Will “American Idiot”, the musical, become a movie?
Just days before American Idiot, the musical based on the Green Day album of the same name, makes its Broadway debut, rumors are swirling that Tom Hanks wants to turn it into a film. Hanks already has plenty of experience turning musicals into mega-hits. Playtone, his production company, turned ABBA’s Mamma Mia into a movie […]
Posted inArts, Events
Music and food fest to benefit Chile
La Peña Cultural Center on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley will hold a benefit concert this Sunday to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Chile. A newly formed organization, Mano a Mano Con Chile (Hand in Hand with Chile) — a group made up of local Chileans and north Americans — will host the benefit, […]
Posted inArts, Community, Events
Something for the weekend
If, unlike me, you have the ability to plan ahead, here are a few events this weekend that might get you out and about in Berkeley: Art, music and wine: The latest in BAM/PFA’s series of “late” night Friday events. The art galleries stay open until 9 p.m., there’s a DJ in the lobby, beer […]
Posted inArts, Events
Benefit for Haiti on Saturday night
The Shattuck Down Low Lounge on Shattuck and Bancroft is donating its space for two nights to benefit earthquake relief in Haiti. On Saturday, January 16 and January 23, from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. an all-star line-up of hip hop, reggae, Latin and Afrocaribbean DJs will be performing at the Down Low. Suggested donation […]
Posted inArts, Events
The Hillside Hop: A chance to dance
Have a dance: no rain required “The kids have Gilman Street, we oldies have the Hillside Club.” So says Sylvia Paull who is helping spread the word about The Hillside Hop, a must for people who like to dance with friends to the kind of rock they couldn’t get enough of in the 50s, 60,s 70s and […]