Daily Archives: May 31, 2012
The Berkeley Wire: 05.31.12
A week of early music in Berkeley [Mercury News]
Tony Hawk: Rad Science takes flight at Lawrence Hall of Science [UCB News]
Film fans, brace yourself for “Trailer Trash” [CoCo Times]
Joni Haastrup and MonoMono to regroup in Berkeley [SF Chronicle]
City Council to do biannual report on unfunded liabilities [Daily Cal]
Noted painter Jeff Adams dies in Berkeley at 58 [SF Chronicle]
Berkeley alum commits suicide on campus [Daily Cal]
Photo: 4th Street parking lot in bloom, by Sisterfish8/Berkeleyside Flickr pool.
Pop-up art show depicts 36 bird paintings done in 36 days
Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji is a famous series of prints done by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai from 1826 and 1833. The series, which depicted views of Mount Fuji in different seasons, has inspired Berkeley artist Kalen Meyer to try something similar. She spent the first 36 days of 2012 paintings birds and posting the work on a Tumblr page.
She chose birds not because she was a birder, but because they are a timeless image. “Now, of course, I see birds everywhere and each part of them is more vivid, their wings, tails, eyers and claws.”
Meyer is showing the bird paintings in a pop-up gallery show Friday June 1 from 5 to 9 pm and Saturday June 2 from 10 am to 5 pm. The show is in the shop space at the Delaware Apartments, at 1800 B San Pablo Avenue.
Meyer also did a similar series in 2006 when she painted 36 views of Mount Tamalpais. … Continue reading »
Cal students win scholarships for sustainable agriculture
Berkeley-based natural food company Annie’s Homegrown has awarded scholarships to two UC Berkeley students to support innovative new projects in the field of sustainable agriculture.
The scholarship program grew out of Annie’s mission of “providing a healthier, natural, organic alternative to traditional comfort food,” according to Staci Lucash, the company’s marketing coordinator.
Lucash says that the Sustainable Agriculture Scholarship program was started “to help the next generation of leaders and farmers to advance sustainable agriculture.”
This year, Annie’s awarded a total of $100,000 to 16 college students studying sustainable agriculture across the United States. Winners of the scholarship are chosen with the help of Annie’s co-founder Annie Withey, who now runs an organic farm in Connecticut, based on their academic pursuits, extracurricular activities, leadership positions, and future plans to encourage sustainable agriculture. … Continue reading »
Popular restaurants closed by fires face further delays
It looks like a number of Berkeley restaurants won’t be recovering as quickly as hoped from a recent set of fires.
The Daily Californian is reporting that the proposal to erect temporary tents to replace Café Intermezzo and Café Raleigh, which were destroyed Nov. 18 when the Sequoia Building burned down, hasn’t gone forward. Property owner Greg Ent submitted a permit application in January, but has not responded to changes requested in mid-March by the city. Ent has also stopped talking to the project’s architect, Kirk Peterson, according to the Daily Cal.
“The latest I’ve heard is a rumor that the (Ent’s) insurance company’s money couldn’t be used for the temporary structures,” City councilmember Kriss Worthington told the paper. “That may mean the owner of the building has switched gears from the temporary operation into looking at getting into a permanent building operation.” … Continue reading »
City, citizens debate substandard streets, a closed pool
The bulk of this week’s City Council meeting was consumed by public comment and councilmember debate on potential city measures for the November general election ballot.
The three areas considered by the council — streets and watershed, affordable housing, and pools — are facing considerable headwinds to reach the necessary two-thirds vote by the public, according to a community survey commissioned by the city. The survey of 400 likely voters by Lake Research Partners concluded that only the streets and watershed measures has a chance to pass in November (details on the survey at the bottom of this article).
That conclusion, however, was passionately challenged by both pools and affordable housing advocates on Tuesday night. Pools supporters are seeking $6.4 million to renovate and reopen Willard Pool, and $13 million to build a new warm pool (both would also need parcel taxes to fund ongoing operations). The housing measure would impose a 2% gross receipts tax on landlords with five units or more, with the revenues used to support affordable housing. … Continue reading »
It’s a Berkeley world after all as music hits streets, park
Just as Berkeley starts settling into its pleasingly sleepy summer rhythm, the 9th Annual World Music Festival takes over Telegraph on Saturday, infusing the avenue with a jolt of energy. Running from noon to 9 pm, the free musical fest brings an international array of music to cafés and shops south of campus, with the action centering on the Amoeba-sponsored People’s Park stage from 1-6 pm.
While the music is global in scope, the artists are local, highlighting the wealth of talent, homegrown and adopted, that abides among us. Maria Muldaur headlines at People’s Park, kicking off the last set at 4:30 pm. While still best known for her 1974 pop hit “Midnight At the Oasis,” she’s an authoritative blues singer with a good feel for jazz who has honed a rootsy Gulf Coast sound with her Red Hot Bluesiana Band.
Other featured acts include the ferociously grooving Cuban dance music of Fito Reynoso y su Ritmo y Armonia (People’s Park 2:45 pm); the sensuous tangos of Trio Garufa (The Village 7 pm); the joyous Manouche swing of Duo Gadjo (Caffé Mediterraneum noon); the incantatory Shona percussion and thumb piano of Sadza Marimba & Mbira (Haste and Telegraph 1 pm); and the Moroccan trance rhythms of percussionist Bouchaib Abdelhadi with oud master Yassir Chadly (Rasputin Music 4 pm). … Continue reading »
