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

The Night Owl was roosting last week, in a manner of speaking, because of a heavy load of stories and I've been working my tail feathers off on a project about last year's homicides. With the heavy lifting on that project done and the weekly Night Owl in print (Gerald Albright opening the Claremont Hotel's regular jazz series), I stopped by Cocina Poblana ("the art of Mexican cooking"), a restaurant and night spot opened a month ago on Jack London Square that I had been eyeing for a while. Evidently there is one in Emeryville, too.
I like it, at least the lounge. Strictly speaking, it's a tequila bar, but it has what I imagine is a 1950s Havana flair. Hard to put my finger on the right description.
Councilmember Ignacio de la Fuente breezed through the lounge on his way from a fancy people party in the restaurant to launch his reelection bid. A guy in the bar kept saying, "This is a real Oakland celebrity." The guy had been sampling the bar's mind-boggling selection of tequilas, including the finest one bottled in what looks a bit like a blue and white ceramic genie's bottle and sells for $20 a shot. There they serve tequila shots with a tomato juice chaser that I've only seen in a few U.S. Mexican bars, but which Ivan the bartender said is quite common south of the border. It was a novelty to everyone else too, including one woman who said she had traveled often in Mexico.  
I had a tequila mojito to drink and to eat a coctel exotico, which reminded me of seafood tacos (minus the conch) I had on the Yucatan island of Isla Mujeres in Mexico. The spicy cocktail sauce was a bit syrupy without tortillas, but I still liked it.
I had been wanting to drop in since I wandered by after Monday's glorious sunset and noticed a guy working on a laptop in the lounge. The restaurant is airy and open but the lounge is a bit darker with the salsa music just loud enough to tap a foot to but muted enough so that I could read some reports. Laptops and report-reading journalists are not common but don't stick out like freaks. The only thing that interrupted me was two bozos who wanted to start a conversation after their libidos were sufficiently lubricated by beer.
When I returned Friday, a woman from Walnut Creek was raving about Oakland over a glass of chardonay and Cocina Poblano's owner Lito Saldana was at one of the high tables with some glossy looking chicas and slick looking hombres. Another set of dudes at the was under the impression that a woman alone in a bar is just dying to be picked up by them. (I had a cocktail called Oro Azul: tequila with cucumber juice — called "muddled cucumber" — served in a glass rimmed with a unique chili powder concoction that was like nothing I had ever tasted before.)  
I ran into de la Fuente again that night over at the Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation 43rd anniversary celebration. Bay Area percussionist Pete Escovedo was the guest of honor and Paul Rodriguez had la gente rolling. That's the first time I've ever been inside the Scottish Rite Center building across from Lake Merritt (the lake was absolutely sparkling in the glow of the necklace of lights). You know the building is old school when the ladies' lounge is bigger and posher than most drinking lounges nowadays. Some of the Chicano activists who were there go way back but that will all be in the upcoming Night Owl column. In the meantime, I will get back to regular postings so if you have something to share let's hear it! 

This week just has not been going well, which is strange because it should be considering how beautiful the weather is. Friday night Oakland felt like it was about to blossom after the foul rain and wind that battered us for what seemed like forever. I was out at Flora — my first time, but seeing as it is THE hot-spot right now and I'm writing a follow-up story about the Uptown area, I pulled up a stool at the vintage-style bar and ordered a "Dark and Stormy" cocktail, which would describe this week so far. Maybe it was a sign of things to come?
Enough has been said about Flora, good and bad, so I'll only comment that it felt like Bogart and Bacall might show up any minute. That's the kind of vibe the bar and exterior have. The restaurant is different.  So there I was, a little tired, leafing through the Trib when Ira, who's on the Fox team sidled up to the bar. I have to say the New Yorker brightened the mood. So did seeing a young man and his father sitting next to us reading a story about the reopening of the Fox Oakland theater I had just written in the Trib. What a grand sight. Oakland paper, Oakland restaurant, Oakland folks.
I was testing the renaissance hype about how Flora and the Fox, along with the Paramount, are going to ignite the area and draw people to the existing clubs, like Van Kleef's and the Uptown, where I headed next. People were indeed out in numbers and looking good that balmy evening for a Jill Scott/Raheem Devaughn show at the Paramount and the band at the Uptown (sorry, forget the name of the band but people were definitely rocking out). The place was packed with night owls, including a reader — a librarian from the East Coast – who was there for the first time having won tickets for the show. It's interesting to get a perspective from folks that have recently moved here because, seems to me, things are changing fast.  They'll never know the experience of bountiful parking the way it used to be. Okay, I'd rather sacrifice parking (which I did that night) for some nightlife. But that's just me. Anyone else noticing this? Are you ready for the trade-off?

Not only was today Super Tuesday, but it also was Fat Tuesday so I stopped in at Cafe Van Kleef's to test the temperature as the votes were being tallied and the pre-Lent drinks hoisted. I was hoisting a Seven-and-Seven in honor of my much-missed mister. 
Fat Tuesday was on Saturday  at the Telegraph Avenue lounge with the Blue Bone Express. The Express, "a real New Orleans band," as founder Peter Van Kleef put it, played with the Hot Pink Feathers — a "very tasteful" Las Vegas burlesque troop (also Van Kleef's description).
Uptown is becoming the burlesque strip, I remarked.
Van Kleef's, the Uptown and recently the Stork Club have added ladies of the tassle to their weekly lineup. "If this is the strip, Van Kleef's is the MGM," quipped patron Andrew Jimenez, who was immediately introduced by Van Kleef not by name but by distinction of having had his film "I'm with the Band" nominated for an Academy Award two years ago. The story is that he was oblivious to the fact Keira Knightly was sitting next to him making conversation at the Academy luncheon. Not surprisingly, Jimenez said he "wasn't much for political talk," but Van Kleef was wearing the oval "I Voted" red, white and blue sticker on his lapel. So I just had to ask the Who Question. The answer: Obama. 
The Rotterdam, Holland native (he immigrated to the U.S. as a six-year-old boy) also said he had a ballot at the bar so people could read and vote before they drank, then celebrate.
"When you talk to Obama, tell him I said 'Keep going,' remarked a man on his way from the bar. "Okay. I'll tell him you said hello," replied Van Kleef, adding that he met Obama and heard him speak at a campaign event. He said his choice was cemented by the thought that Hillary Clinton's nomination would galvanize the Republicans and send them into overdrive just to beat her. "And the last thing I want to see is more of the same," he said, referring to the possibility of another four years of a Republican-led executive office that, under Bush, led to what he described as an oil-fueled war in Iraq. I'm summarizing here.
Personally I didn't make up my mind until I was standing befuddled by yet another ballot style (how many different ones can we possibly go through in a decade?). "Is this the latest 'hanging chad,'" I asked the poll station worker, my Bic pen raised midair. Cynicism mingled with a real sense that I could easily go either way and be okay with the result. Not Van Kleef, though. He sounded like a believer.
"Obama is not a political campaign," Van Kleef continued. "He's a movement. He brought people together."  Not enough in California, though. At least from what I read a few minutes ago, Clinton took California for the Dems. But, Super Tuesday or not, there's still a chance for Obama. Read for yourself: "Neither Clinton nor Obama proclaimed overall victory on a Super Tuesday that sprawled across 23 states, and with good reason. Obama won 11 states and Clinton eight plus American Samoa. Shortly after 1 a.m. EST, winners were still to be declared in Missouri, New Mexico and Alaska," according to the Associated Press. We'll see.  Meanwhile, there's still Valentine's Day to celebrate and a long way to go until November. We'll need those drinks. Next time I'll have a Manhattan, Van Kleef's specialty ("I'm the king of Manhattans") . Cheers.

I popped into the Stork Club last night on the last stop of my Night Owl-First Friday roundup. The place was packed like I've never seen and things were positively hopping for the Friday Night Follies — a new attraction on the ever-expanding Art Murmur tour. That's what can happen when you put near-naked girls on stage, especially if they can sing and dance and otherwise entertain a la burlesque (va va voom!). I nearly headed out bc it was so packed until I saw an old college friend of mine in the front row appreciating the talent. She looked pretty happy.  Folks said Uni and her Ukelele was a big hit. A school teacher in town from the Central Valley was more partial to Ophelia Coeur de Noir. The Stork Club's owner, Tom Chittock, looked pretty pleased and tired as the crowd surged to the bar in search of refreshments. He was standing in front of a wall of Barbies still in their packaging that belonged to his mother. "I call it my inheritance," said Tom, who also inherited the bar — Micki and Wes' Stork Club — from his folks and has set about turning it into a hot spot. Originally, way back in the day, the club opened as a country and western bar. Instead, as Tom put it, "This place was founded on punk rock."  
And I finally met someone I introduced you all to a while back here on the blog: "Constant Dancer," so named by my daughter who created a comicbook character based on him. His real name is Corey it turns out and he danced the whole time. Everyone was loving Roger That on his electric ukelele, too, especially when he took off his shirt between acts to reveal a canvas of tattoos worthy of a sailor. "Apparently I get to kill some more time so I'm going to ROCK," he told folks after a fiery rendition of "I'm going to walk right out your door" (how many times have you seen the words fiery and ukelele together?).  Then came the highlight, the Belles du Jour. "Make way for tap-dancing titties," the MC announced. It's too cool that the Belles are back after a hiatus of some months, especially (as I found out last night), their leader "Honey Lawless" fought down cancer. She looked great and seemed surprised and delighted at the turnout. She said later that it was the first show where the venue had to hold the line at the door. The mood made up for missing the band of merry pranksters over at the Linden Street Brewery, where I had begun my rounds. The tale is that they set out in a double-decker bus from the brewery on First Fridays to hit the Art Murmur venues, which now also include the Stork and the Uptown and who knows how many others. Roger That said it best: "We need more shows like this," meaning the Stork's Friday Night Follies. "Typically I'd have had to go to San Francisco. Not any more."
(Photo by pbo31)

So I decided to swing by the Uptown since the new owners took it over and reopened in November.  The place is lookin' good. And the vibe is much less dark and doomy than it used to be. Going out was a sort of celebration on my second day without crutches and first day wearing something besides flat shoes in five months (Yes I am healed, people! I can walk!). I ended up staying until late, really late. I just couldn't leave after Los High Tops took the stage, followed by Deke Dickerson and the Ecco-Fonics, who totally rocked the place. The crowd was way too small but made up for it in O-town-style enthusiasm. Things are bubbling over there by the Uptown and the (soon-to-reopen) Fox Theatre. I had just finished a call outside when who should stop by but co-founder of the soon-to-open Awaken Cafe, Cortt Dunlap avec wife. They were just peeking in the door to see the place on their way home from the new IT restaurant, Flora. The One review said the Mexicali restaurant was "not yet blooming" (keyword YET).  Dunlap and his wife said they really liked it.  Tim, who runs the Easy Lounge over on Lakeshore and co-owns Radio and the Ruby Room, showed up at the Uptown a while later with a Radio bartender. They put the dancefloor to use and I think they shut the place down. Last I saw they were standing outside with Dickerson and his band mates Jimmy Sutton and Jason Smay. Night Owl or not, I had to head home, but decided to stop by the Stork Club on the way. It was too late (did I think I was in New York?) and the swarm of kiddy grunge punks on the sidewalk just didn't appeal. But it was good to just walk right up and turn around on my own two legs! Cheers.

Hey — the Uptown is back in business again. Last time I went by in November, the Oaksterdam night club over by the Fox Theatre on Telegraph was still dark and the new owners were about to go to the city for a cabaret license. They got it. Paul Van Kleef over at Cafe Van Kleef told me the other night that the new owners were a different breed than the old ones, who got out of Dodge when the Uptown went south. (BTW, I found this very cool shot of the Fox on Gwen Harlow's Flickr site. So the credit goes to her, whoever she is.)