Oakland Tribune Outtakes

I used to spend about a dozen days out of the month in Liege, Belgium.  This week someone stole the sign belonging to Liege, the lounge on Washington Street in Old Oakland. Thankfully the lounge is much closer than the town. Tonight I traveled all of a block to hear about the taxi promotion about to hit the streets of Oakland tomorrow for First Friday/Art Murmur.
Jonathan Bair, who was there to tell me about it, has become the marketing consultant for Friendly Cab, which is offering $5 vouchers available at The Layover lounge (15th and Franklin); Penelope (11th and Clay); and Era (Grand and Broadway). You can grab the voucher and hail a taxi later from wherever you are. Or you can hail a cab from Era, The Layover or Penelope. In any case, you are supposed to be able to apply the voucher to any cab fare: If you are bar or gallery hopping the coupon will cover most of your costs downtown. If you’re going farther you’ll pay the extra. But you have to find a cab first.  In Oakland, that could complicate the plan considerably. 
And even Jonathan would agree that this won’t improve the reputation for invisibility that taxis have in this town. He and Friendly owner Dahr Mann, as well as Kapsack & Bair (no relation to Jonathan) DUI attorneys who pitched in to sponsor the event, are hoping it’s a step in the right direction by enticing cabbies to cruise for fares, thus increasingly their visibility and retraining people to take taxis.
Speaking of right directions, Liege lounge replace the sign tonight. Now if we just had some signs pointing to the taxis.

Savory crepes and cafe au laits (the American style). They were available for a millisecond in restaurant time at Cafe Noir. Rumor has it that Mua’s Hisuk and Sanju Dong are taking over the space where they will offer a wood-fired oven menu. The previous owners abandoned the oven and the cavernous space just a month or two after opening next door to Mua on Auto Row.  
In the meantime, the Uptown Cafe & Crepes opened today on 21st Street, a block above Broadway (next door to IB’s Hoagies). The cafe caters to the breakfast and lunch crowd but owner ”Chuck” Juha said he will stay open late for Paramount Theatre performance nights.  The same approach is taken by Cafe Madrid, which Uptown Cafe & Crepes resembles somewhat in terms of decor and theme.
Around the corner Bakesale Betty added to the downtown food landscape with a soft opening in late April. The new store is on Broadway and 22nd.  Just Look for the ironing boards.

There were a lot of saggy skinny jeans and black denim last night. Even a pair of roller skates. But relatively few people at the Oakland Underground Film Festival in Jack London Square. That’s too bad. Not because the documentary about Sonic Youth’s stop in Reno on an old tour was a “must see.” (Unless you’re a die-hard Sonic Youth fan.) The high-school made doc was aimless (exploratory) much like Sonic Youth’s riffs. So “Sleeping Nights Awake” matched the subject well. It’s just that it could have been half as long and twice as interesting. But kudos on effort.  It just didn’ t belong in a film festival that began 20 minutes late. I don’t know why that band continued to play until 8:15 p.m. even though the acoustics in the old Barnes & Noble bookstore rendered the band — and all music  and ambient sound at events held there — to a thudding could of loudness that sent most movie-goers out on to the patio until “Sleeping Nights Awake” began. Inside a bar was set up and snacks were available but more movie-goers were outside than in the warm cavernous hall.  The festival doesn’t need to be run like Cannes. But organizers need to tighten some of the bolts.
The next film on May15 is “Remembering Playland,” resurrecting the memory of the long-gone amusement park that stood near Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I would go if only because of the weird side effects manufactured by the set up of the screen in the Barnes & Noble. Images of Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore’ at the guitar from the neck down reflected onto the lower half of the window next to the screen. The American flags waving outside the upper half of the windows merged with the reflection to make it look like Moore was playing the guitar but a U.S. flag was waving in the place where his head should have been.  It was the perfect 80s Reagan-era emblem!

Oakland School for the Arts must be the coolest school ever. What other school is joined at the hip with a lounge and concert venue. And this Friday the art students are joining the  Art Murmur/FF with a gallery show of their work. Since I spent several hours after work Wednesday framing some of that work I can tell you some very good pieces will be for sale in the Black Box Theatre April 2. I have my eye on a few already. Their December show was hot (musically and artistically) and I never even got close to buying my own daughter’s work (for the sake of disclosure I tell you this…). They got snapped up too fast. I think the lines will move much faster this time around with a revamped process so that buyers aren’t standing for hours to make their purchases. Anyway, the show runs from Friday until Sunday.  

April 2 First Friday Art Walk at UrbanSpace

On exhibit at UrbanSpace Gallery are modern and contemporary works by highly acclaimed artists WinstonBbranch, Sue Kahn, Gregory Edwards, Jonathan Howard, Pauletta Chanco, Judy Deim, Otto Heino, Joseph Slusky and more. Stroll through the gallery to view sculptures, ceramics, paintings, and photographs.

This First Friday will feature author and filmmaker, Robert Philipson reading from his new book Very Good-Looking Seeks Same, a funny, yet yearning and appealing, collection of poetry in the form of want-ads. Philipson’s tongue-in-cheek verses are hilarious, tragic, and will tantalize one’s imagination.

Join us for wine and cheese, laughter and fun networking at UrbanSpace, 811 Washington, in Old Oakland. 5:30 – 8:30 pm. Reading will begin at 6:15. Robert Philipson will be available to sign books.

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.

 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.

Elvis wants us to love each other so come feel the King’s embrace (uh-huh) Friday night at Godspeed for a celebration of what would have been his 75th birthday: 6 p.m. til’ ambulance.  Children are also invited for the  Elvis-inspired food (peanut butter and banana sandwiches?), music, pinball,  movies, go-go dancing, prizes, pool and cake. Booze optional for the underage and the designated drivers. Tattoos of the King only $7.50. Brought to you by the Elvis Underground church (“pirate religion and punk spirituality”),  the East Oakland Yacht Klub, Summer of Rust 2010 and the Oakland Pinball Mafia — all keeping Oakland sane and safe from completely turning into a suburban clone. See you all there: 5532 San Pablo Ave.  I might even get another  tattoo. (I find it strange that I already have a category for Elvis on this blog…)