Uptown district impresario Peter Van Kleef left me a message the other day about a reunion involving his sister and his sister’s closest childhood chum. So I went by Cafe Van Kleef’s last night thinking it would be a good blog and, anyway, I was nearby doing research for a story.
I found there Van Kleef and several of his regulars mystified and saddened by the sudden suicide of the cafe’s first bartender, Vincent, who they described as a tall, lanky 31-year old.
Van Kleef speculated it might be money troubles that drove him to take his own life. Another guy thought it might be money and women worries.  I never met him but thought I would mention him here, since he, a bartender, was nearly by definition a night owl.
On the flip side, Van Kleef told me about the chance reunion after 47 years of his sister Gerda with her childhood friend, named Shirley Tankini or something.  I said it sounds like a alcohol-based Shirley Temple. The friends were separated when the Van Kleef clan moved from the area to the suburbs and met up for the first recently time in nearly five decades at the cafe, which to quote a quote, is like a mix of Friends and Cheers on acid.

Here are some cocktail concoctions I ran across while looking for Oakland’s signature cocktail, a quest that will continue in Sept.  They are kind of outtakes that I couldn’t fit in the column.
Veteran bartender Nichole Watson explained the “Ike & Tina,” a drink she said is popular in West Oakland. Combine 1800 Silver tequila, Triple Sec, Apple Pucker, Sweet ‘n Sour liquor and Blue Curacao. “The Ike and Tina,” she Watson said, ”mean somebody might get in trouble.” In East Oakland, which is where Apt. C and thus we were located – patrons are popularizing the ”Incredible Hulk,” made with Hypnotic and Hennessey.  The Hypnotic turns the drink green when it’s mixed.
The “59 Tangy,” a North Oakland favorite is made with Seagrams and Apple Twisted (I think this is a Smirnoff product) with gin and lime juice. I’m not sure if I wrote the recipe correctly. Sounds mightly strong.

 Part 3 about the weekend of Aug. 1, which I wrote about in the following blog entry because I was covering a Night Owl event that was intensely political and thought provoking. The entry turned out way too long for one post so I am breaking it into sections.
Aug 2: Culture plays a vital role in politics, said Mark Tribe, creator of the Port Huron Project, responsible for staging the Angela Davis speech.  Culture creates conditions for emancipation, autonomy and democracy, was the way he put it.
Tribe said the political climate – or lack thereof — at Brown University in 2005 when he began teaching led to the project. People seemed to feel resistance was futile.
I asked a woman at the Angela Davis speech recreation at DeFremery Park if she thought people were disillusioned and less active than the 1960s and 70s. “There is not as much opposition because you don’t see body bags,” said Annette Santos, a former Black Panther in the New York and Oakland branches. She was talking about the opposition to the Vietnam War, which spurred a generation to intense protest. In contrast, the Bush Administration has blocked images of U.S. soldiers’ caskets being shipped back to the United States from Iraq. No one was dying at the start of the war in Iraq, Santos said. “Wen they did, we didn’t hear about it.”
Media have been banned from covering the arrival of remains at Dover, according to a USA Today article.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here is more about the weekend of Aug. 1, which I wrote about in the following blog entry because I was covering a Night Owl event that was intensely political and thought provoking. Art and resistance together. The entry turned out way too long for one post so I am breaking it into sections.
Aug. 2: “Port Huron Project 5 – The Liberation of our People” was about taking texts out of history, reanimating them to engage people and inserting them into contemporary politics, the creator Mark Tribe said.
He also wants to turn “depoliticized space” like DeFremery Park into a place for participatory democracy.
But not everyone saw it that way. A young woman stood up to ask what Tribe was doing to be more than just a cultural carpetbagger who rides into town to capitalize on its history then rides right back out without leaving so much as a tip. She wanted to know what he was going to do to keep the momentum going after the speech to make it more than a “creative intellectual exercise.”
West Oakland Lower Bottoms impresario Marcel Diallo said it’s up to the community to ride the energy Tribe creates by creating events around the event. “I’m not trippin’,” Diallo said. “Anyone who come in I’m going to find a way to ride it.” He showed up Saturday at the park with T-shirts, paintings and other items for sale. 
Just like when Davis made the speech, the park Saturday was full of people from all walks of life, colors and ages, Black Panther Minister of Culture Emory Douglas recalled. Read the rest of this entry »

From Oaklandish: Sunday, August 17, 2008 from noon to 5pm @ the Lake Merritt Sailboat House we will be chillin’ and drifting lakeside… Take advantage of: 1/2 off boat rentals! Rowboats, sailboats, kayaks, and paddle boats. Free pontoon rides & gondola service! (space limited). Linden Street Brewery will be pouring their famous Common Lager to quench your thirst.
Live FM micro broadcast featuring: DJINTI, BLACKHEART, BOBBY PERU, DJ MarMar and DJBASTA spinning some summer jams. ((BYO radio)) to listen in while boating.
Come out to see old friends and meet new ones! ** FREE FOR ALL AGES**
Map and directions
Pics from last year
Email if you’d like to help out with decorating, signing people up for boats, handing out water, etc.

I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming elections and democracy in the United States. Some of my thoughts were sparked, or more accurately intensified, by the weekend of Aug. 1, which I wrote about in the following blog entry because I was covering a Night Owl event that was intensely political and thought provoking. Art and resistance together. The entry turned out way too long for one post so I am breaking it into sections.
Aug. 1: The recreation Saturday of a 1969 Angela Davis speech in the same West Oakland park she spoke 29 years ago stirred political tensions – exactly what it was supposed to do.
Even the park’s rightful name – Bobby Hutton or DeFremery – appeared to be a long-simmering point of contention that flashed last night, Friday, between artists, “community members” and activists on hand to discuss the Port Huron Project.
They gathered at the Oakland Museum, which got folks warmed up with a screening of “Chicago 10,” a documentary about the mockery of a trial that followed the police riot in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention. In those days, convention delegates chose presidential candidates.
Angela Davis made the 1969 speech two weeks after Bobby Seale was chained and gagged during the Chicago trial.
My blood freezes every time I see footage of herds of police closing in on protesters with clubs and tear gas. “I think that film can ignite and inspire people,” said Black Panther Minister of Culture, Emory Douglas, who was on hand Friday for the screening. Read the rest of this entry »

Adieu to our favorite drag party host, Heklina, who brought you the Tranny Shack. He began with glam punk rock and ended as a drag queen institution. Also performing: Her majestry Justin Bond, Lady Bunny, Ana Matronic, Lady Miss Kier. The Kiss-Off bash begins 9 p.m. Aug. 23 at the Regency Center, 1290 Sutter St., San Francisco. Admission is $35-$45.

A MUSIC & FASHION COMMUNITY BENEFIT
COME OUT AND SUPPORT LOCAL BAY AREA NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS: ELLA BAKER CENTER, YOUTH UPRISING AND VISION OF LA MODA
Grown & Sexy Inc. along with JE Media Group presents GOOD: A Music & Fashion Community Benefit on tonight, Aug. 15, at Historic Sweet’s Ballroom, Oakland. This is a fundraiser event and all proceeds will go to three local Bay Area non-profit organizations including the Ella Baker Center, Youth Uprising and Vision of la Moda.  “The three organizations that we have chosen to benefit from this fundraiser are effecting huge positive change in the community through their programs & services,” said Carlita Franz, CEO of Grown & Sexy Inc. “Not only do we want to support them with the finances necessary to continue to empower our youth & community but we have created an opportunity for everyone involved to build strong bonds with our Bay Area community as everyone is donating their time, services or money.”
The event will be a night of music & fashion featuring talented performances by the sultry songstress Netta Brielle (Def Jam Mega Star Search Winner), the multi-talented musician Kev Choice & the soulful hip hop head Boondox. Featured fashions include Effie’s Heart, J. Richell & Pink Lemonaid.  There will be a silent auction that will feature sponsors, which include 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom, the Oakland A’s, & The Cheesecake Factory. 
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased on going.com. Ticket price of $20 or more will be accepted as a donation to the organizations involved. For more information, please visit myspace.com/GOODcause or phone (707) 479-8514.

The Lower Bottoms’ impresario Marcel Diallo has been masterful about bringing Oakland’s past and present together. Little surprise then that he is behind the show “Black Panther: The Cultural Ministry of Emory Douglas” that opens Aug. 22 and runs until Sept. 26 at the Cannery, 1200 Pine St. “We have to have some white walls, sometimes,” Diallo said after Douglas, who served as the Panthers’ minister of culture from 1967 to the 1980s, spoke at the Oakland Museum a couple weeks ago. No pun intended (I commented the show was fancy) I assume, from Diallo, founder of the Black New World and Cornelia Bell’s Black Bottom Gallery, whose walls are not as boomer-style as the Cannery lofts.  So just to let you know in advance, an opening night reception will be held at the lofts, 1200 Pine St: A conversation with Emory Douglas, a performance by Diallo & Co. Pluse a special cultural presentation. Prints and books will be available. FMI: 510-451-4661.