Art
Warehouses and industrial parks became the backdrop for some 35,000 hip-hop fans in West Oakland on Monday when a section of 3rd Street was blocked off for the 5th annual Hiero Day music and arts festival.
The third-annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, a daylong celebration of African-American history and culture, took place at Oakland’s Mosswood Park on Saturday.
12 recent graduates of San Jose State University’s Master of Fine Arts program participated in the “Minted” exhibit, which opened at Pro Arts Gallery in downtown Oakland on September 2.
Launched on April 11 and to be held on the second Monday in every two months at Era Art Bar, the activity is welcome to all who want to try their hand at sketching.
On May 7, people gathered in Oakland’s Fruitvale district to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, commemorating the Mexican Army’s victory, despite the odds, against the French at the Battle in Puebla in 1862. The event, hosted by Oakland City Councilmember Noel Gallo (District 5) and the City of Oakland, began with a Mother’s Day mural dedication.
In the early 1980s, the Bay Area was at the center of thrash metal music, one of the many subgenres of heavy metal. During that decade, heavy metal became incredibly popular around the world; kids were growing their hair long, flashing the devil horn sign with their hands, and playing air guitar.
“Dogtown Redemption,” a documentary film shot over seven years in West Oakland, follows the lives of three local shopping cart recyclers.
Oakland does not attract big record labels but it “wakes your game up.”
Some 1,600 people filled the Fox Theatre for this year’s Notes & Words concert. The concert, in its seventh year, benefited the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland and featured local talent like the Oakland School for the Arts choir, as well as high-profile authors and musicians, such as actor BJ Novak and Coldplay’s front man Chris Martin.