Daily Archives: October 13, 2011
The Berkeley Wire: 10.13.11
Students urge Berkeley to ban plastic bags [Berkeley Voice]
Occupy Berkeley movement lacks numbers, leadership [Daily Cal]
Berkeley students protest arrests [Courthouse News Service]
Slow reading (and eating) at University Press Books [East Bay Express]
Berkeley Bionics becomes Ekso Bionics [MarketWatch]
Review: Rep’s “How to Write a New Book for the Bible” [Mercury News]
Berkeley High principal hopes to improve attendance rate [BHS Jacket]
“How to Write a New Book for the Bible” at the Rep: review [Chronicle]
Photo: BAM installation, by Ira Serkes/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
School district honors centennial of women’s suffrage
On Wednesday evening, the school board honored the centennial of women winning the right to vote in California. Berkeley was the only large city in the Bay Area to pass the suffrage amendment in 1911. Across the state, the amendment won by the narrow margin of 125,037 to 121,450, with late returns from rural districts turning defeat into victory.
Superintendent Bill Huyett noted that he had only recently learned that Frances Willard, the namesake of one of Berkeley’s middle … Continue reading »
Crime (mystery that is) flourishes in Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay area, with its picturesque hills and atmospheric fog, has long been a favorite locale for mystery writers.
From the first known Bay Area mystery, The Mysteries and Miseries of San Francisco, published anonymously in 1853, to Dashiell Hammett’s genre-busting 1930 The Maltese Falcon, to Susan Dunlop’s series on Berkeley police officer Jill Smith, the Bay Area has offered fertile ground for stories of murder and mayhem.
There have been at least 1,800 mysteries and detective novels set in the greater nine-county Bay Area region, according to Randal Brandt, the editor of the online bibliography, Golden Gate Mysteries, and co-curator of a new show at UC Berkeley’s Doe Library, “Bullets across the Bay: The San Francisco Bay Area in Crime Fiction.” Writers have not only taken advantage of the weather and signature landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and Campanile in their books, but of historical events like the 1906 earthquake and fire, the region’s various World Fairs, and notorious murder cases, like the Zodiac killer, he said.
To celebrate the San Francisco and the East Bay’s role in numerous mysteries, UC Berkeley will dedicate its Oct. 14 Story Hour series to mystery writers. A panel of authors, including Lucha Corpi, Eddie Muller, and Kelli Stanley, will talk about the region’s influence on the genre. Janet Randolph will moderate the discussion, which will take place from 4 to 6 pm at 190 Doe, right across from the Morrison Reading Room in the Doe Library. There will be a gallery talk with the curators at 3 pm. … Continue reading »
With elegy book, community becomes part of exhibition
Speaking about his new exhibition of photographs which opened simultaneously at the Berkeley Art Museum and the Oakland Museum of California this week, Richard Misrach says it is as much a community event as an art show.
The haunting images, taken 20 years ago in the wake of the 1991 Oakland-Berkeley Firestorm, document the aftermath of a disaster that touched everyone who lived or worked locally. And, now, because the photographs have never been shown before, people who lost homes — or perhaps even family members — are seeing these large scale, beautifully composed images for the first time. The impact is bound to be strong and responses are likely to be emotional.
Misrach knew he wanted to create a way for community members to articulate their reaction to the photographs and contribute to the exhibition directly. So he decided to create two handcrafted elegy books, one for each museum. Exhibition goers are encouraged to write in the books — or include photos or drawings — and the tomes will become part of the museums’ exhibition archives.
The design of the books fell to Brian Scott of San Francisco’s Boon Design, who worked with Misrach 20 years ago on his book, Bravo 20, and Berkeley bookbinder John DeMerritt. Scott and DeMerritt share a love of ledgers — the type that banks or courthouses would use in the past, or that hotels still sometimes have on display as guest books. … Continue reading »
Out in Berkeley: George Brooks and Global Harmony
Click on this link to listen to “Better Than Coffee” from the album ‘Elements” while you read our review.
Over the past three decades Berkeley tenor saxophonist George Brooks has carved a singular musical niche through his collaborations with the some of classical Indian music’s most celebrated artists. His latest project, Global Harmony, expands on his Indo-jazz vision by incorporating rhythms and cadences from North Africa and the Middle East.
Performing Sunday at Freight & Salvage, Global Harmony is an improvisational supergroup that brings together a far-flung collection of masters. From New York there’s Glen Velez, a pioneering frame drum maestro, and vocalist Lori Cotler, who has honed a jazz-laced approach informed by South Indian vocal percussion (konnakol). Hailing from South India are Toronto-based mridangam virtuoso Trichy Sankaran, a superlative accompanist and scholar steeped in the Pudukkottai school of percussion, and Chennai’s Ravikiran on the 21-string fretless lute, or chitravina.
“It’s one of these situations where people are situated in different parts of the planet, and due to wonders of technology we’re able to share music, email MP3s, and think about what each person has been doing,” says Brooks from his West Berkeley studio. “Two weeks ago, Ravikiran was in the South Bay so we had a rehearsal with just the two of us. He’s a composer who also writes for orchestra, and his sense of composition and form are flexible and adventurous, so when I show him one of my compositions, he can think about it as a baseline for improvisation.” … Continue reading »
Final section of press box is installed at Memorial Stadium
On Tuesday, a giant mobile crane lifted the final section of the 300-foot long press-box frame into place at the Cal Memorial Stadium — a significant step in the $321 million renovation project that is scheduled to be completed 11 months from now, in time for the first game of the fall 2012 season.
It took 40 minutes to hoist the 355,000 pound section of steel I-beams into place, according to a report in the Chronicle. David Friedman of Forell-Elsesser, the San Francisco-based structural engineers of the project, said: ”Today’s event is a milestone because this press box is really the crown jewel of the project.”
While the new 80 ft, two-story box removed a slice of Bay view from the east rim of the stadium, on game days the box will accommodate sports reporters, coaches, officials, alumni and donors, providing an outstanding view of the field and a spectacular view of the bay. … Continue reading »
Superintendent Huyett apologizes to BHS football team
Last week’s sudden closure of Berkeley High’s Old Gym puzzled and angered many student athletes and their supporters. Last night, at the Berkeley Unified School District board meeting, Superintendent Bill Huyett apologized for the disruption, but said that his decision was forced by the unsafe condition of the building.
“We do recognize the problems that have been put upon the [football] team,” Huyett said. “I don’t think anybody wanted this to happen, especially in this way. It happened very clearly out of a lack of information on my part.”
Huyett said that he had spoken to the BHS football team and coaches after practice on Wednesday to apologize.
The superintendent was responding at the school board meeting to Richard Boyden, a parent of a current member of the Yellowjackets. … Continue reading »
