Daily Archives: February 21, 2012
The Berkeley Wire: 02.21.12
Berkeley’s BeBop gives Korean food a Californian twist [Mercury News]
New Helios building uses innovative lab exhaust ductwork system [Eon]
A fabulous Cal-Japanese dinner party from chef Sylvan Brackett [F&W]
Obstetrician puts fresh food on health care table [Chronicle]
Weekend Occupy Cal activities end peacefully [UCB]
Photo: Lomo leaks, by Angela Marlaud/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
Shop Talk: The ins and outs of Berkeley businesses
NEW CAFE AT BAM After a short tenure by Remedy Coffee (which also has a space on Telegraph in Oakland), Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA)’s café on the first floor has been taken over and is now called Babette. The light-filled, concrete-walled space, which gives onto an open courtyard, opened under its new moniker on January 3rd and is serving rustic food — think pulled pork and spicy coleslaw sandwiches and lentil and red chard soup — along with coffee from Ritual and housemade sodas. Husband and wife team Joan Ellis and Patrick Hooker, who live in Berkeley and have 20-plus years of cooking and catering experience under their belts, are at the helm. Babette is open for breakfast and lunch during the week, and coffee and pastries at the weekend. Follow Babette on its Facebook page for menu updates and other news. Babette is accessible through a gate to the right of the museum’s Bancroft Way entrance, and from 2625 Durant Avenue. (Hat tip: Lisa Sibony) … Continue reading »
Berkeley High freshman meets President Obama
J. Tayo Ogunmayin was still half-asleep when her father rushed into her room and told her to take what would turn out to be the most exciting phone call of her life.
Nadine Skinner, the program manager of Girls Inc. of Oakland, was on the other end of the receiver with totally unexpected news: Ogunmayin had been selected to go to the White House and meet President Obama.
“I really thought it was a prank call,” said Ogunmayin, 15, a freshman at Berkeley High School.
Just a few days later Ogunmayin found herself flying from Berkeley to Washington D.C. to show off a science project on solar buses at the White House Science Fair. Each year, the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy selects 100 students from around the country who have done exemplary experiments in science, technology, engineering and math to come to the capitol and meet top officials, scientists, and corporate leaders. … Continue reading »
Slapstick and schtick, not enough bite in Molière at Rep
For more than 325 years, Molière’s comedies have been entertaining audiences around the world. Although some of his characters were derived from the Italian Punch and Judy shows of the Commedia dell’Arte, Molière’s special talent was his ability to satirize the hypocrisy of the upper classes, from mocking polite society’s norms in Le Misanthrope, to attacking religion in Tartuffe ou L’Imposteur. The witty satire and the kernel of truth beneath it, accompanied by some silliness, make Molière’s work entertaining and timeless.
Molière’s biting wit is unfortunately absent in Berkeley Rep’s The Doctor in Spite of Himself (Le Médecin malgré lui). Instead, the play, as adapted by Steven Epp and Christopher Bayes, is a very broad farce, complete with artfully played Commedia dell’Arte characters lead by Epp, who combine schtick and slapstick with clever and contemporary asides, and a talented two-piece band, Greg C. Powers (trombone, tuba, ukulele) and Robertson Witmer (accordion, clarinet, drums) who sets the upbeat mood with music and sound effects. … Continue reading »
Alleged killer had been in and out of mental institutions
Update: 5:25 pm: The Berkeley Police Department released the following updated and additional information regarding the February 18 homicide at around 5:00pm today. BPD identifies the victim as Peter Cukor, and includes a statement from BPD Chief Michael Meehan:
“Several published and on-line reports relied on a single account of an inaccurate chronology of this incident. Please note below the actual timelines of the initial stages of this case.
At approximately 8:45 PM, BPD received a report of a suspicious person possibly trespassing. The caller reported an encounter with an unknown person “hanging around” his property, and asked that an officer be sent to investigate. This call for service was queued for dispatch.
At that time, available Patrol teams were being reconfigured in order to monitor a protest march which was to come into Berkeley from Oakland in the next hour. Only criminal, in-progress emergency calls were to be dispatched, due to the reduction in officers available to handle calls for service. Concerns about the potential for violence associated with the march resulted in plans to allocate officers to monitor the march.
At approximately 9:00 PM, an officer, seeing several pending calls for service, including two “suspicious circumstances”, offered to respond to either of the calls. The officer’s offer was declined, as only in-progress emergency calls were to be dispatched. … Continue reading »
