Music
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.
Host, Brad Bailey, explores music ranging from innovative music education programs in Oakland to some of the city’s most passionate Springsteen fans.
On April 17, the Oakland Ballet Company will be hosting the second annual East Bay Dances Showcase. This showcase is meant to highlight the diversity of artistry and dance in the East Bay. The event will feature multiple dance groups from the East Bay including Oakland Ballet, AXIS Dance Company, Diablo Ballet, Jubilee American Dance Theatre, The Milissa Payne Project, Patty Chu’s Chinese Folk Dance, Quicksilver Dance, and Savage Jazz Dance Company. Graham Lustig, the show’s producer and artistic director…
Despite being one of the dance capitals of the world, with 73 public and private colleges and universities offer dance majors, for decades there hasn’t been a single-subject teaching credential in dance for the California public school system.
On March 23, members of the Pandora team held a music day at Roots International Academy, a middle school in East Oakland. This is a continuation of their Little Kids Rock program, which works to bring music education to schools serving a low-income student population.
Jay runs a non-profit in Oakland called Hip Hop for Change. His goal is to create a more positive image of hip hop that does not reinforce the stereotypical images perpetuated by the mainstream music industry. “We’re trying to put our real image out there, so people can see our real culture, instead of making stereotypical tropes of our culture to entertain themselves with,” Jay said. “Those tropes that criminalize our black and brown youth.”
Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra will hold a winter concert on February 21 at the San Leandro High School Performing Arts Center.
Dear Readers/Listeners, The combined staff of Oakland North and Richmond Confidential is excited to announce a new bi-weekly podcast featuring radio stories from Richmond and Oakland, as well as interviews with our reporters, community leaders and other news-worthy characters. Every two weeks until June, we will bring you radio stories focused on a theme or issue affecting these two cities. You will also hear from our reporters to get a behind the scenes look at our news room. Every other Thursday, check our sites for new…
Cal’Vion Evans, an eighth grader at Roots International Academy, begins slowly, tapping the cymbals and toms with two wooden drumsticks. The drum set rests on a mini-stage, a short platform covered by a rug and flanked on either side by guitar stands, each with about 10 guitars leaning in. Cal’Vion speeds up gradually, his head movements changing from a gentle nodding with the music to a swivel as his drumming becomes faster and more furious. Then he slows back down,…