Music
Meet The 21st Century, a a eight-piece indie pop band from Oakland, who released their first album “The City” earlier this month at The Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco. A fan-funded endeavor several years and $11,000 in the making, the album features catchy harmonies relating the challenges of youth, adulthood, dating and everyday hardship.
Oakland singer/songwriter Alexa Weber-Morales sat down with Oakland North to discuss her new album, “I Wanna Work For You.” The album consists of 10 original songs which range from jazz to salsa and across multiple languages.
This year the Gilman, a not for profit punk rock club celebrates its 25 year anniversary. Oakland North talks with Brian Edge, author of “924 Gilman: The Story So Far,” about how this small gem of a venue is much more than just the few bands that played there and went on to become famous.
Musically Minded, Oakland’s non-profit music school, is holding a series of camps and workshops over the winter break for kids of all ages. The Rockridge academy, which opened early this year, triples as an education facility, community center, and concert venue. Music classes that will be offered this December include a hip-hop workshop and vocal ensemble sessions, and for the lovable but tone-deaf tots out there, there are workshops in topics like jewelry making and science.
The Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) Chamber Choir will tour in New Orleans in April 2012.
Oakland North caught up with The California Honeydrops to talk about their unique soulful gospel, second line New Orleans-style second line jazz, blues, swing and R&B sound, how they got their start playing at BART stations, and to confess that they love Oakland.
With a wag of her tail feather, Oakland East Bay Symphony violinist and stand-up comedian Dawn Harms wooed the crowd of elementary school students at Oakland Technical High School on October 20th as part of The Musical Time Machine performance by the Oakland East Bay Symphony’s annual Young People’s Concerts series, which is designed to engage children and teach them about music. The symphony offered six free shows at Oakland Tech and Allen Temple Baptist Church from October 20th – October 22nd.
During a day of national remembrance for the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, on Sunday the Oakland Symphony Chorus and the Oakland Civic Orchestra will perform Mozart’s Requiem at the Cathedral of Christ the Light near Lake Merritt.
Thousands flooded the streets of downtown Oakland this weekend for the 11th annual Art and Soul festival. Musical acts spanning the genres performed on three stages with R&B group Tower of Power headlining Sunday afternoon.