Oakland Tribune Outtakes

Tonight is opening night for the Oakland School for the Arts’ performance of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” (I can’t believe I misspelled Cookoo on Facebook!)
The show starts 7  p.m. tonight. Sorry for the late notice. Busy day. But you can catch other shows. Friday 7 p.m. Saturday 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. or the Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults; $5 for seniors and students.  Not suited for children under 15 without adult supervision. Strobe lighting and fog will be used. Hmmm. Sounds interesting.

Once you see ERA Friday night you will understand why I have been so persistent about its opening, which is several months late (several is a polite term for it). 19 Grand Ave. Happy Hour starts 4:30 pm. Friday. Two stories, two bars, 5,000 square feet. Beer Revolution is opening tomorrow night too at 464 Third St. It’s not a pub but you can sit and sip and nibble inside or (in better weather) on the patio that has long been wasted on the closed café that the bottle-shop tavern replaces. And not to forget, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the Fox, with festivities (including theater tours) beginning 5 p.m. at the Den.
Speaking of anniversaries, the Pacific Coast Brewing Co. will unveil a Bill Brand Memorial Porter, named in honor of the absolutely intrepid Oakland Tribune reporter, beer aficionado and equestrian who passed away after being hit by a Muni Metro train Feb. 8, 2009. It’s okay though to drink up. Bill would have wanted everyone to have a good time.  And I think he would have loved Beer Revolution.

MOS DEF >>>IN CONCERT 9 pm tonight. The rapper/actor is raising money for  the California Public Education Foundation at the Shattuck Down Low lounge in Berkeley. I think this is like the fourth time he has been in the Bay Area in less than a year, New Parish being the last.

 Feb. 9th At first I thought “Problem with Dragons @ Victory Warehouse” was the subject line for a City Hall v. East Bay Dragons biker club issue. Their HQ is an East Oakland warehouse…
Instead, Problem with Dragons is an East Coast band whose genre can be summed up as “gigantic, heavy-ass rock tunes.” Well, the group from Easthampton, Mass. is bringing their gigantic, heavy-ass rock tunes to Oakland’s Victory Warehouse on Feb. 9.  24th Street and San Pablo Ave. (916) 444-7914. Show begins 8pm. 16 and over only. 

“The sound of their fuzz bass is like uncovering a vintage MC-5 recording from a Michigan basement, dubbed over a Tijuana Brass cassette with the little plastic safety tabs punched out.”  — Tom Sturm, Valley Advocate.

After watching Hollywood stars get gigs on the big stage instead of real actors, I nearly cried last night during the preview of TheatreFIRST’s “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.” Real acting by real actors.  The troupe is still working out the kinks before the Saturday opening but overall the show looks promising, especially actor Andrew Hurteau, “The Player” and head of a traveling Tragedians: Aleph Ayin, Paul Festa, John Hilinski and G. Randall Wright. They and the lead actors managed to convey the wry humor and laughable absurdity Stoppard injected into his script. In other words, they were really really funny. Tonight’s preview performance begins 7:30 p.m.  Saturday is the premier. Speaking of premiers, the Piedmont Piano Co. is hosting a grand opening today beginning at 4 p.m. and lasting all weekend with performances and toasts and pomp and circumstance at the corner of San Pablo and 18th Street. You’ll know the place by the crowds waiting to get into  Hibiscus, part of the entertainment compound filling the old Sweet Jimmie’s spot near City Hall. The adjoining New Parish nightclub started drawing people to the previously forlorn corner when it opened a few months ago. But only late nights. Hibiscus has them showing up in droves from the moment the restaurant opened last week.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” will preview Thursday and Friday. Tickets for those performances are $10. The show opens Jan. 23. Friday is “OSA Day,” when Oakland School for the Arts students will get a firsthand look at the world of professional theater during the performance and an after-show discussion. Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 14. Tickets are $25 on Thursdays and $30 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Go to www.theatrefirst.com for special prices for season tickets, patrons younger than 30 and seniors, or call 510-436-5085.

It is hard to believe in a higher power when you see Haiti. Who would want to send an earthquake to test Haiti after all the island has been through — from slavery to the Duvaliers, from coups to corruption. So I haven’t been in the mood to think about entertainment because it seems self-indulgent to write about bars or whatever. The closest I came to combining the two is a concert 7 p.m. Jan. 28 at Sweet’s Ballroom: the House Party Tour of Relief, with Singer D’Wayne Wiggins of Tony Toni Tone, Lenny Williams, Too Short, Erk Tha Jerk, The Oakland Interfaith Choir and The Pop Lyfe Project — so far.  All proceeds from the tour will go to the relief efforts in Haiti. Read more…Tickets are $20 minimum at the door.

For days I have been running back and forth reporting stories on everything from mortgage loan modification software to a Cambodian Buddhist temple coup, and from TheatreFIRST’s upcoming show to the murder of Dewey Tucker, bassist for among others Lauryn Hill, The Coup, Kev Choice and Goapele. (Story will is on hold until Saturday online. In the Trib Sunday. Not totally sure why.)  Busy week. Then today the news popped up that Lorenzo Hoopes, who is pro-Prop 8, is a candidate for the Paramount Theatre’s board of directors. The way it popped up in my e-mail: “WTF. Dellums wants to appoint leader of local pro-Prop 8 campaign to Paramount Theater Board. Opposition mounting on Facebook.”
The “Paramount — No place for Homophobia” Facebook page (Sean Sullivan) explains the arrangement better. But just so there is no other mistake: Dellums cannot appoint anyone to the Paramount board.

This Friday, the Oakland Ice Rink will acknowledge Willie O’Ree, the first African American to play in the National Hockey League. I think it’s an Oakland School for the Arts event but thought a mention was due to Mr. O’Ree, the “Jackie Robinson” of hockey. Now that must be an interesting story. He would have to be one very tough guy.

You have probably already gotten this update from Will The Thrill Viharo but I wanted to pass it on for everyone who is getting the shakes from Mad Men withdrawal: a Sixties, swanky, suave, sexy, sinister and scandalous party.  
WHERE: Kingman’s Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany
www.kingmanscocktails.com
WHEN: Saturday, January 23, 9PM-2AM, no cover
Episodes of the award-winning AMC television series centering on the lives and times of mid-century Madison Ave.’s  decadent denizens and lascivious lounge lizards will be shown on the bar’s two large television sets. There will be special prizes awarded to the Most Vintage Fashionable guests, as well as era-specific trivia questions, along with swingin’ 60s lounge, soul and rock ‘n’ roll music on the sound system, and best of all, live musical sets by the Bay Area’s theremin lounge band, Space Age specialists PROJECT PIMENTO http://www.projectpimento.com/
Naturally there will be classic cocktail specials to enhance the dreamy retro ambience. The Bay Area’s many hedonistic hipsters are strongly encouraged to attend, mingle, imbibe, and dance.