Oakland Tribune Outtakes

July 9 was the grand opening of the Shattuck Hotel’s restaurant/bar, FIVE in downtown Berkeley. It looks grand.
I once read the hotel had a smoking bar but never got there. Regrets! I also wanted to try the Afghan restaurant that occupied the downstairs, too. I assume they are both gone now.

Cinco de Mayo kick-off and double CD-release party April 30 at the Starry Plough, Berkeley

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Steve Taylor-Ramírez takes his critically acclaimed Latin-infused neo-folk back to Berkeley’s Starry Plough Pub Thursday, April 30.  He brings with him Latin-inspired soul singer Pamela Parker and folk duo Misner & Smith (winners of Best Song of the Year in the 2007 West Coast Songwriters’ Competition).

Pamela Parker and Misner & Smith will each release new, highly praised CDs. Taylor-Ramírez will introduce his new musical genre, Blues Ranchera, in which the sound of the Mississippi Delta meets the mariachi spirit of Jalisco, Mex.

The details:

Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 9:00 PM

Starry Plough Pub     

3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley

Cost: $7

Info: 510.841.2082 Read the rest of this entry »

An Evening of Stand-Up Comedy and Improv with Queer On Their Feet will be at Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley 1 Lawson Road in Kensington at 1:00 PM &  7:00 PM on April 19. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.  College student discount $10 at the door night of the show with valid college id.  Advance tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1-877-278-4842.   Buy in advance to get the discounted price! Remaining tickets will be available at the door, the night of the show. Read the rest of this entry »

2050 University Avenue
Berkeley, California 94704(510) 705-1450   

Open Wednesday - Sunday 11am-11pm

Whatever protests, demonstrations or civil unrest happens in Berkeley these days, it will never compare to Berkeley’s 1960s scene. Photographer Elio De Pisa was there and he took thousands of photographs of happenings in and around  Telegraph Avenue’s Caffe Mediterraneum.

De Pisa, a native of Rome, managed Telegraph Avenue’s Caffe Mediterraneum between 1960 and 1972 and  again from 1978-1990. He was seldom without his Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera. At that time the owners  had a strictly enforced policy of no photography inside the cafe, with De Pisa being the only exception.
De Pisa, died in 2002 at age 68 but his pictures live on. Between 7 and 9 p.m. Wednesday, March 18, his wife Diane De Pisa, will discuss some of the photographs that will be on display through June 18. A book, De Pisa’s “photo diary” of the times, is being compiled by his wife with the help of designer Lucien Delia and photographer Nick Cedar.
For more information contact ddepisa@att.net. Caffe Mediterraneum is at 2475 Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley.

The Oakland-East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus presents their spring concert, “The Best of Ten Years: A Dick Kramer Dedication,” on Saturday, April 4th, 7:30 pm, at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland, and Sunday, April 5th, 5 pm, at First Congregational Church in Berkeley. Visit oebgmc.org or call 800.706.2389 for details

Reserved tickets cost $20; general admission $15; seniors/students (with ID)/children 12 and younger) $12 

Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto is putting on a Beer Dinner February 22, beginning at 6:30 PM. Read the rest of this entry »

A former Obama presidential campaign volunteer and Berkeley man has launched a Web site, www.RealChangeStories.com, where people can post personal stories of connections and friendships forged during the course of the Barack Obama campaign.

Will it become the next Facebook or YouTube? Not likely, but the nonprofit site organizers said the site was built in the spirit of President Barack Obama’s call for serivce and civic engagement so hopefully it will get a little attention.

It is devoted to helping “volunteers share their stories about connecting personally with total strangers during the course of the campaign,” according to a statement released late last week after the Tuesday
inauguration. Organizers say each of the stories is significant for the change it represents and the future it will inspire.
“What I was most moved by, as a volunteer, were my personal one-on-one interactions with absolute strangers,” said Bill Fleig, former Obama campaign volunteer and RealChangeStories.com co-founder.
“Getting outside my comfort zone and connecting with people of all walks of life was a profoundly meaningful and life-changing experience. We felt the need to help people share how beautiful it can be to connect with others in the course of what can be exhausting, difficult, and even scary grassroots
political work.”

RealChangeStories.com is an all volunteer driven site created to enable grassroots activists as well as everyday people to share their stories about their personal connections with strangers during the course of their efforts on behalf of a cause. The site was founded by Bill Fleig, Finn Kisch, and Oliver Crow with help from many additional volunteers and contributors. Yes they did.

There’s a new member of the Berkeley Police Department and this new member comes with a six-year warranty.

On Tuesday night, the Berkeley  City Council authorized the city manager to spend about $214,500 to buy a remote controlled bomb disposal robot. A combination of grant and city money will cover the costs of the robot, a warranty and parts.
 
Police spokesman Officer Andrew Frankel said the department hasn’t settled on a name. But officers are happy to have him (her?) on board.

“It’s a cool because it’s a lot of money to be getting for the robot. It’s certainly a nice resource to have and any time we have a tool to help us and keep the public safe, it’s a good thing,” Frankel said.

In a time when police departments are strapped for cash, short staffed, overworked and under fire (for sure), the federal government is actually requiring that all civilian bomb squads have a remote controlled bomb disposal robot as part of their equipment inventory. Go figure.

Berkeley police have had their own bomb squad for more than 30 years and each year respond to a handful of calls for service involving suspicious packages, suspected explosive devices and recovered explosives, police officials said.

Six people will be trained on the robot, which is operated using a radio, tethered cable or fiber optic cable, police said.

Cheech & Chong have several shows coming up in the bay area… they will be performing at the Berkeley Community Theatre on Saturday, November 22nd…. at Nob Hill Masonic Center on Sunday, November 23rd…. and at the Performing Arts Center in San Jose on Sunday, November 30th.