Since March 15, B Restaurant & Bar in Oakland has had a new master: David Seawell, Executive Chef. Seawell, who has worked mostly in the Bay Area — Stars Café, Boulevard, Fog City Diner – since he began his career at the age of 17 at a swanky French restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. I mention all this only because Seawell is responsible for my favorite dish: Marrow Bean Soup with fennel broth and chicken liver crostini. Do you know how hard it is to do chicken liver right?
And in case you’re interested, B was opened in 2005 by Gourmet Provisions (the company behind boxed foods company and the B Restaurant & Bar, both of San Francisco) “with the idea of serving as a catalyst for a neighborhood renaissance that has since come to fruition.” (Note to PR writer who sent me the note: renaissance has only one N in it.) Everything served is supposed to be bought from farms within 100 miles of the Bay Area. Yum.

Two jazz operas are coming to town — SOON.
The first, "The Sisyphus Syndrome"  is by Black power poet-playwright Amiri Baraka and sax-man David Murray. The show begins 8 p.m. Thursday and runs through Saturday at the Eastside Cultural Center. 
In "The Sisyphus Syndrome"  the Baraka-Murray duo combines poetry, live music and mixed media to tell the story of African Americans' struggles in the United States. The Eastside Cultural Center is located at 2277 International Blvd. General admission for the play is $20 and $10 for students up to age 19 with student ID. Discounts are available for student groups by calling 510-533-6629. For more information, visit the Web site www.eastsideartsalliance.org.
Then Friday, an adaptation of jazz great Duke Ellington's last large-scale work and only opera opens. The premier of the restored opera will be the first time Bay Area audiences will be able to hear "Queenie Pie," which was unfinished in 1974, when Ellington died.  Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays.
Advance tickets for the show at The Oakland Opera are $28 (or $35 at the door) and can be purchased online at www.oaklandopera.com, by mail (1734 Campbell St., Oakland, Calif., 94607) or by calling 510-763-1146. For more information, visit the Web site www.oaklandopera.com.

Photographers working in all styles and mediums are invited to submit up to two of their images for the international juried photography exhibit: Glimpses in Time. This year's exhibit pays tribute to the life and art of Harlem Renaissance camera genius James Van Der Zee. Entry forms and submission guidelines are available at www.joycegordongallery.com.  

You remember the story I wrote in January about no nightlife in downtown Oakland? I said that might be changing? Well, Friday night — art murmur night – it was changing. We'll see how it looks this weekend, but on Friday, 14th Street between Broadway and Franklin was livelier than it has been since the lights started getting not "so much brighter there." No disrespect, Petula Clark, but downtown has been more ghost town than O-Town for a long time. If a lack of parking is any indication of the area's future success, downtown is going to see a revival.
Friday the Awaken Cafe on 14th Street stayed open late while droves of Burning Man rave types waited in line for what is supposed to be some of the best java in town. I just wasn't into it. My boyfriend and I were ready to fall asleep standing after three days of moving (how the hell does one woman collect so much stuff???). Besides, I was all excited that finally the cafe/gallery/performance space (used to be the Golden Bull bar) renovation was ready. But when we arrived it turned out they were operating only the daytime coffee-to-go business. Oh well. Still, it was good to see the life bursting out of the cafe storefront like an overflowing candy jar. Next door, Joyce Gordon's gallery was pulsing with art hipness at the reception for artists Chris Trueman, Sam Nejati and, in the photo gallery, Michael Johnson. I've never seen so many white folks in the gallery before. Come to think of it, I have never seen white artists displayed there. Whatever.

A note from Samuel D. Marshall: I want to start off by thanking everyone that I've met these last 2 1/2 years owning the business side of Eli's Mile High Club.  I succeeded my dream of becoming an official owner of a club, I by no means opened it to get rich, I opened it to save live music, and make it a fun place to come to and have a little fun.  These past 2 years have been very difficult times for me trying to work a fulltime job, and then run and host at the club Eli's Mile High, and then try to run my own band, and then try to find that happiness.  Well the landlord decided to raise the rent by an anormous sum to where I could not take it anymore, so, I decided to say enough is enough so I decided to move on.  So once again I want to thank everyone who came out and supported the club, and like the saying goes, I'll see ya all down the road, take care everyone, and be true to yourself everything will be alright. (Picture by Jackson West)

So things didn't turn out Friday night like I expected. Instead of a mellow night hanging out and checking on upcoming Cinco de Mayo events for Friday's upcoming Night Owl, I spent about four hours down on the Embarcadero waiting for a whack job holed up in a 3rd Street condo (the Sierras on Oak and 3rd) to give up his gun and let his girlfriend and children go. Otherwise, he was toast. The genius had fired at police when they knocked on his door, responding to a domestic disturbance call. Scores of officers and SWAT were there to help him decide to surrender and let the woman and two young children go. Of course, my cell phone was dead, my car was stuck inside the perimeter police had set up and I had no laptop. Thanks to all the neighbors and reporters who lent me theirs. I even headed over to Heinold's out of desperation. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a feeling it's going to be a sweet weekend. I'm going to start it out by a drink at the Washington Inn, now that I wrote about it, I can just go and relax there. But after that, I'm conflicted. It's one of the weekends when there's so many things going on it's hard to choose and impossible to be at them all. Saturday is a big day as far as I'm concerned because it the homecoming of the Bay Area Derby Girls to Oakland after a year of wreaking roller havoc all over the Bay Area — except their birthplace — because the fire marshall pulled the plug on their rink. Not safe for the crowds the BAD Girls were drawing. The story has a happy ending, though. Doors open 8 p.m. at the Dry Ice Hockey Arena, 210 Hegenberger Loop, in OAKLAND. They are so O-Town Soul.
Saturday also marks the next installment of the People Party at the Oasis on 12th Street.  "Blossom into the groove," baby, beginning about 10 p.m. (The Oasis folks really need to do something about their myspace page. How about a Web site for goodness sake?) Then there's the UpSurge! Jazz poetry festival from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday as usual at the Berkeley Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. Call 848-3227 or visit the Web site for more info. Admission is $20.
I don't know a thing about the House of Stormz but the ad for their Saturday show called "Trilogy" looks intriguing, although the theme this Saturday is a bit too freaky earth-woman for me:  Drum Warriors, Herstories Project and Amorpheous 1. BUT next time, May 24, includes a fire dancing burlesque show called Pyro-A-Go-Go. Now that's a hard act to beat. There's also Simone De La Ghetto doing the Harlem Shake and drag king extraordinaire AfroDisiac.  No, Simone is not DOING AfroDisiac. Syntax can be tricky sometimes.

At first I said what we want is a superhero Ninja fighter to swoop down and declare an end to crime in Oakland. Then I changed my mind after Wednesday's press conference. I think what people want is for Dellums to swoop down in a crime-fighter superhero Ninja suit and declare Oakland safe. "I will save this city!" he would bellow.  I write this because the one complaint yesterday from the restraunteurs who met with city officials and police to hash out measures for preventing robberies like the ones that happened recently was that  Dellums wasn't at the meeting.  What difference would that have made? (Yeah, I forgot to ask that question. Bad reporter!) Maybe instead of a superhero mayor, we would settle for a mayor who is in town often enough to be on the streets, showing his face. I am no big fan of Jerry Brown (or his crew of hoodlums and crooks), but he made people feel like someone was steering the ship, even if they objected to the direction. Brown was very very visible and ran his mouth a lot. Dellums' policy is the opposite. It ain't working out too well.
Personally, to get back to p.m. issues, I think the reaction could have been a little less hyper reactive. But City Hall was reacting to perceptions of Oakland being a dangerous city and the mayor being a do-nothing leader. Not that the takeovers weren't serious and scary and traumatic (they made me think twice, in a gut reaction, about my nocturnal activities). BUT, Read the rest of this entry »

I should have known it. But I just didn't expect it, although Oakland is no stranger to racist maniacs like the guy who raged at me the othe night because I would not print that Dellums is — in his words — a rotten, dirty n—–.  (I don't even know if one capitalizes the n-word. It's not exactly in the AP Stylebook.)  I was on a mission at B Restaurant to find a patron to bother with one of those necessary but annoying questions: Did the string of recent robberies make you think twice about coming out at night to dine? (BTW, one guy caught Friday and OPD looking for the other two geniuses.) I thought I had hit paydirt because he had great quotes etc until he starts talking about what he really thought. Read the rest of this entry »

It's time for the 2008 Oakland Indie Awards:
Oakland Unwrapped is hosting the second annual Oakland Indie Awards on May 2nd

When: May 2, 2008
5:30 - 8:00pm
Awards Party, Oakland Food & Drink Tasting
(Wine, chocolate, yummy hors d'oeuvres, and so much more — all from Oakland!)

8:00 - 11:00pm
Afterparty - Live Music and Cash Bar

Where:Historic Sweets Ballroom
1933 Broadway Downtown Oakland BART & AC Transit Accessible

for more info click HERE