Daily Archives: August 11, 2011
The Berkeley Wire: 08.11.11
UC Berkeley grad spots $2 trillion S&P debt downgrade error [SF Gate]
Berkeley man plans two-month trip along Pacific Coast Trail [SJ Mercury]
Jewish students sue UC Berkeley for allowing “violent anti-Semitic attacks” [SF Weekly]
Berkeley and Oakland come to the table [Mother Jones]
UC Berkeley Extension becomes IIBA endorsed education provider [Business Wire]
Berkeley theater keeps an open mind [The Wall Street Journal]
Photo: Berkeley Puzzle by Tracy McBride/Berkeleyside Flickr pool
Bill Fujimoto reports from the Berkeley Farmers’ Market
Bill Fujimoto, the former manager of Berkeley’s Monterey Market, recently took a stroll through the Derby Street Berkeley Farmers Market with Bob Klein, owner of Oliveto restaurant. Klein had his video camera in hand to shoot some footage for the Oliveto Community Journal.
Fujimoto, a produce expert who left Monterey Market in 2009 and is now at Diablo Foods in Lafayette, chatted to farmers about the fruit and vegetables coming to market. He spoke with farmers from Full Belly Farm, Riverdog and Lucero. The report is one in an ocasional series created by Klein where he talks to the producers and farmers supplying his restaurant, often with his friend Fujimoto in tow. … Continue reading »
Out in Berkeley: Phillip Greenlief’s Lost Trio, and more
Few bands in jazz find musical pay dirt as consistently as Phillip Greenlief’s Lost Trio.
Launched about 17 years ago with bassist Dan Seamans and drummer Tom Hassett, the group brings the same gruff, unfussy eloquence to tunes by Hank Williams and Herbie Nichols, Billy Strayhorn and Nino Rota, Irving Berlin and Joni Mitchell, Beck and Bjork.
While focusing more on original material these days, Greenlief launched the stripped-down ensemble as a vehicle to investigate material outside the standard jazz repertoire, whether the source was Tin Pan Alley, Nashville, or Iceland. It’s a loose-limbed combo marked by an off-the-cuff poetic sensibility, full of earthy humor and soaring lyricism.
“The challenge is how can we arrange these tunes in a way that’s interesting,” Greenlief says. “That’s what we’ve really been trying to work on the last couple of years, to get past convention of head, sax solo, bass solo, out. It seems like because of our repertoire we’ve somehow developed a sound that’s unique, if that’s possible in this music.”
Performing Friday night as part of the Berkeley Arts Festival, the Lost Trio celebrates the release of the group’s fifth album, “Mysterious Toboggan,” on Greenlief’s invaluable label Evander Music. A stellar cast of improvisers will be joining the trio throughout the evening, including Santa Cruz-raised, Brooklyn-based vocalist Sasha Dobson, Nice Guy Trio trumpeter Darren Johnston, Berkeley guitar explorer John Schott, invaluable reed expert Cory Wright, and electronics wizard Tim Perkis. … Continue reading »
What about that vacant lot on Haste and Telegraph?
The lot on the northeast corner of Haste and Telegraph has been vacant for more than 20 years. A few weeds grow fitfully, and, as Berkeleyside has reported, rats come out at night.
A group of UC Berkeley students taking the class “American Cyberculture,” taught by Reggie Royston, were asked to select a question posed on the civic website City Sandbox and use social media to galvanize people to act. Lily Lin, who is double majoring in physics and molecular … Continue reading »
Meet Dorothy Hearst and the wolves who inspire her
Wolves have not run wild in California for more than 75 years, but that hasn’t prevented Berkeley author Dorothy Hearst from imagining a world populated by them. In her first book, Promise of the Wolves, and in her just-released sequel, Secrets of the Wolves, both set 14,000 years ago, Hearst weaves a tale about Kaalaa, a young wolf who tries to end the divide between humans and her kind.
To celebrate the release of the second book … Continue reading »
