Culture
Oakland kicked off 2011’s Earth Day festivities yesterday with its annual Earth Expo in downtown Frank Ogawa Plaza. For the seventeenth year in a row, exhibitors lined the plaza’s aisles, offering visitors a glimpse of new green technologies and innovative products, and the latest information on local options for sustainable food, energy, and businesses. “Last year it was the 40th anniversary of Earth Day,” said Earth Expo organizer Bryn Samuel, who works for the City of Oakland as an Environmental…
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning a dedicated group of Temescal Aquatic Masters swimmers gather before the sun rises to participate in an organized swim work out that begins at 5:30 a.m. in the six-lane heated outdoor pool. The swimmers meet year round, rain or shine.
If the words “summer camp” conjure up memories of sweating in a gaggle of whiny, Popsicle-covered kids, you’ll be happy to know the children of Oakland have a hipper option. The Crucible, a nonprofit school specializing in industrial arts, is kicking off its sixth season of spring and summer youth programs with classes in subjects like blacksmithing, welding, robotics, and glass blowing.
Burlesque dancers in Oakland now have a new way of showing off their fishnet stockings and sexy lingerie—as models for Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, an international alternative drawing movement. The East Bay branch of Dr. Sketchy’s had its premiere event Saturday afternoon at Layover Lounge, where more than a dozen artists—and even those who were a bit artistically-challenged—gathered to sketch three members of the local dance troupe, the Can-Cannibals.
Judging by the audience’s loud cheers, fifteen-year old Tyler Thompson’s opera rendition of Justice Bao, a Chinese judge who fought government corruption, was spot-on. He hit all the notes, his Mandarin flawless, and the cheers he received from the nearly-packed Rawley Farnsworth Theater at Skyline High School Saturday evening were the loudest of the night at a performance to raise money for the Purple Silk Music Education Foundation.
More than hundred people gathered at Clars Auction Gallery in Oakland’s Temescal District on Thursday to have their valuables appraised and to support arts education in Oakland public schools.
On an otherwise uneventful commute across the bay, passengers riding BART from Rockridge to San Francisco on Thursday afternoon were faced with an unusual sight: two pro basketball stars handing out free passes for the train.
Starting Thursday night at venues across the city, this year’s Oakland International Film Festival is bringing a diverse selection of film making talent to the East Bay. One film in particular will strike a chord with locals. “Oakland B Mine,” by filmmaker Mateen Kemet, is a 28-minute, dialogue-free love story that takes place at dozens of places in and around Oakland. It’s a story of love at first sight, a story of boy meets girl.
In a tent at Art Murmur, pizza chef James Whitehead is hustling. He darts about, frantically tossing dough into the air, saucing pies, and trying to keep up with the steady stream of hungry customers waiting for a slice.