Daily Archives: January 24, 2012
The Berkeley Wire: 01.24.12
Applications to UC Berkeley surge 17% [New York Times]
Berkeley’s Mint Leaf Indian restaurant celebrates four years [PRWeb]
Famed Berkeley High musicians eye trip to Cuba [CBS]
Children in west Berkeley to be tested for heavy metals [Oakland Tribune]
Community celebrates Ed Roberts Day at Cal [UCB News]
Original 1969 People’s Park leaflets found [HuffPo]
Photo: Car stalking in the rain, by Incidental Images/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
Shop Talk: The ins and out of Berkeley businesses
BYE BYE BBQ Despite rave reviews on Yelp, Ironwood BBQ at 2130 Oxford Street has closed its doors. If your cravings for one of its pulled-pork Memphis-style sandwiches with coleslaw gets the better of you, rush to Golden Gate Park Golf Course where, according to Ironwood’s website, the restaurant is still serving up its southern treats. [Hat tip: Ryan Christensen-Schwarz.]
FOOD FLIP Another restaurant casualty, and another example of glowing reviews on Yelp not necessarily being enough to sustain a business, Chick o-Peas at 1926 Shattuck is no more. In its place is the newly opened Sol y Luna Taqueria. According to an early reviewer, the Luna Burrito with embedded French fries was “super interesting”. [Hat tip: Elizabeth Hensley.]
UNREELING Tipster Arturo Snuze sends in a photo of the old Reel Video space at 2655 Shattuck Avenue (left), which, according to a planning proposal notice, looks like it’s on the way to being made over into a medical facility. As Snuze points out, Berkeley’s stock of video stores is rapidly being depleted with the Blockbuster at 2390 Shattuck soon to morph into a Chase bank. … Continue reading »
Two arrested for shootings on Sacramento Street
Update, 01.25.12: New information received from Assistant District Attorney Teresa Drenick from the Alameda County District Attorney’s office clarifies that Tyler Frank Jamison is in fact 16 but that he was filed on as an adult.
Two 18-year-old Berkeley men have been arrested in connection with the shooting of two teenagers on Sacramento Street on Dec. 23.
Tyler Frank Jamison, 18 16, who lives on Hearst Avenue, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, and other charges, and is being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail, according to Teresa Drenick, an assistant district attorney in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office.
Tyrone Anthony Terell, 18, was charged with a weapons violation, according to a press release issued by Berkeley police.
The two men were arrested on Jan. 13 when a patrol officer recognized the suspects, whose name and photos had been distributed in an internal wanted photo, according to the BPD press release. … Continue reading »
Made in Berkeley: Along Came a Spider
Made for TV movies have a terrible reputation. Network staples from the mid-‘60s until the late ‘80s, these anodyne films generally featured low production values (including unimaginative scoring, predictable plotting, and lazy cinematography), and were produced with built-in commercial fade-outs that sapped attention spans and (even worse) foreshadowed the imminent arrival of several minutes’ worth of ads.
Regardless of their inherent problems, however, not all TV movies were without value, especially during the genre’s early days. Consider this week’s “Made in Berkeley” feature, Along Came a Spider, an enjoyable if completely far-fetched thriller starring Suzanne Pleshette in a double role as a vengeful widow and a Cal student. … Continue reading »
Book explores impact of Berkeley Art Museum’s Peter Selz
When Peter Selz arrived in Berkeley in 1965, the university only had a small art gallery to display its modest collection of art. Selz had been recruited from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City to oversee the construction of a new, contemporary museum, the Berkeley Art Museum on Bancroft Way.
He did that and more. With Selz at the helm, the Berkeley Art Museum redefined many aspects of modern art and brought overdue attention to California artists.
Selz was already “something of a star,” when he arrived in Berkeley, according to Paul J. Karlstrom, whose new book, Peter Selz: Sketches of a Life, has just been released by UC Press. He had been one of the first curators to trumpet the work of Mark Rothko. His star grew even brighter in Berkeley after he put on groundbreaking shows such as “Directions in Kinetic Sculpture,” an exhibition of the Surrealist René Magritte, and Funk!, which showcased ceramicist Peter Voulkos, Bruce Conner, and other California artists. Selz, who had fled Germany during the Nazi regime, also created the Pacific Film Archive. … Continue reading »
Berkeley High student wows with poetry, spoken word
Noah St. John is the antithesis of the archetypal awkward teenager. A sophomore at Berkeley High, he exudes a quiet confidence and has a magnetic stage presence.
Last year he won the 2011 Bay Area Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam after performing “Strawberry Blonde,” a piece about his crush on a girl in school, and NPR broadcasts him reading his pieces.
In a profile published in the Chronicle yesterday, St. John said: ”For me, it’s about communicating with the audience, not so much getting caught up in the rhythm or sound of your own poem.”
In the video above, he performs a spoken word piece about capoeira in the first round of the poetry slam he went to win. Watch out for the almost nonchalant body flips.
