Community

Bandwidth: Get to know some of the East Bay’s best new bands

Over the last year, Oakland North has profiled nearly a dozen up-and-coming East Bay bands as part of our mini-documentary video series called Bandwidth. Check out a few of the highlights here, and meet some of the faces you’ll see performing around town. • The California Honeydrops, an Oakland-based band, got their start playing at local East Bay haunts like the Cheese Board Collective in Berkeley and BART stations four years ago. They have now gone on to perform across…

SF Mime Troupe brings a play about Occupy to Oakland

It’s Wednesday night, and just over a hundred people had filed into Lakeside Park—just off of Bellevue Avenue—to see The San Francisco Mime Troupe perform “For The Greater Good, or The Last Election” during it’s annual run through the city. The play transformed the Occupy protests into a melodrama. Its narrative, filled with the tensions of Occupy—protests, an encampment, and death—also played on morality and the nature of fate.

Audit finds OPD lost nearly $2 million on failed technology projects

The Oakland Police Department has announced plans to adjust its operations and hire a full-time Information Technology manager after a recent audit of its technology department found that the city spent nearly $2 million on failed policing information technology projects with at least three Bay Area start-ups that have since gone out of business.

Mary Bowser’s secrets come to life at African American Museum and Library

On Saturday, residents gathered at the African American Museum and Library (AAMLO) in downtown Oakland to hear the story of a former slave who spied on the Confederate government during the Civil War. Award-winning author Lois Leveen read from her book The Secrets of Mary Bowser, a novel that combines historical information about Bowser while weaving those facts into a work of historical fiction about the life of a spy in the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the time when “freedom” was new concept for blacks in America.

Expired prescription drugs, controlled substances collected at Oakland drop-off

More than 126 pounds of expired drugs and at least seven pounds of controlled substances were collected from senior Oakland residents during the Healthy Living Festival, an annual festival hosted by the United Seniors of Oakland and Alameda County (USOAC). The coalition of Oakland residents hosted the Healthy Living Festival at the Oakland Zoo on July 19th.