Meet Rod Dibble, the 77 year-old pianist who’s been entertaining patrons of the Alley for half a century.

Oakland native Stanley Kirk Burrell, a.k.a. MC Hammer, but now preferring simply Hammer, brought his dance and rap show to the recently reopened Fox Theatre in downtown Oakland Friday night. The scene on the street outside was atwitter with Hammer talk. Oakland North posed this question to the Hammer faithful: What makes the rapper so great? We asked the fans attending the show talk about what makes their beloved Oakland icon special.

They wear plaid laceless sneakers and tattered jeans scrawled with indelible pen. They are self-proclaimed “high school rejects.” They are no older than 19, but they can absolutely school you on many aspects of contemporary Japanese popular culture—particularly as expressed in the comic book and video phenomena called manga and anime.

This week’s Game On: The Rockridge Ninjas. by Richard Parks/Oakland North

“I bet you don’t even take the bus,” one West Oakland resident chided AC Transit planner Sean Diest Lorgion. “I take the bus seven days a week.” She was one of scores of Oakland residents crowding a room in the transit building in downtown Oakland Saturday, who had come to hear AC Transit’s presentation on a proposed 15 percent service reduction. Oversize, full-color foldout maps were distributed to all in attendance, detailing the proposed changes. Other handouts included comment forms…

On a recent Saturday afternoon, AC transit’s Number 15 bus carried no more than a half dozen commuters at a time. But for some, this bus line—slated for closure as part of AC Transit’s massive service reduction proposal—is a lifeline. With public comment workshops starting this weekend, Richard Parks explores the proposed cuts in this story and video, and Oakland North invites the community to a live poll.