The It List: Five things to do this weekend, Jan. 25-26
A fungal fair — yes you read that right — a prestigious orchestra, a one-man play, songs of resilience and a movie marathon: all happening in Berkeley this weekend.
Arts
Nora Stanley steps out in Berkeley and the bay
Nora Stanley, Berkeley High class of 2014, is one of the most exciting young saxophonists on the Bay Area jazz scene. Catch her in action in the coming weeks, including Tuesday at the California Jazz Conservancy.
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‘Our Monologues’ show replaces ‘outdated’ ‘Vagina’ tradition at Berkeley High
A new student performance takes an introspective, updated look at issues within the Berkeley High community.
Documentary on a summer camp that inspired disability rights premieres at Sundance
James LeBrecht, who was born with Spina Bifida, intertwines his experience at the camp with its history and the fight for disability rights.
Books
‘Chicken of the Sea’ is a wacky collaboration between two acclaimed Vietnamese-American artists and their kids
The new children’s picture book is written by USC professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen and his son Ellison Nguyen, and illustrated by Berkeley cartoonist Thi Bui and her son, Hien Bui-Stafford.
How a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter can’t let go of a mistake she made 40 years ago
The result is Katherine Ellison’s ninth book, ‘Mothers and Murderers: A True Story of Love, Lies, Obsession…and Second Chances.’
2 Berkeleyside editors choose their best books of 2019
Escape the cumulative exhaustion of national and global politics and indulge in some good reads. What books did you enjoy this year?
No man knows as much about Batman as this Berkeley man
Andrew Farago wrote a 400-page, lavishly illustrated book that looks at all of Batman’s various incarnations in the last 80 years.
Movies
Big Screen Berkeley: A day at the Pacific Film Archive
See two long-unseen films by Fritz Lang, a Frederico Fellini masterpiece, and a Romanian drama set on the eve of the downfall of the government of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Big Screen Berkeley: ‘Clemency’, ‘Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project’
There’s wonderful ensemble acting in a powerful new film about the death penalty. Also opening Friday: the incredible story of a deep thinker and news junkie who was an early adopter of video tech.
Big Screen Berkeley: ‘Three Christs’
Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage, Bradley Whitford, Walter Goggins, Kevin Pollack and Julianna Margulies star in this film that was made a few years ago but failed to find a distributor until recently.
Big Screen Berkeley: Our critic’s 15 favorite films of 2019
An Italian mob movie, a ‘Hitler comedy,’ a bleak science-fiction film and a drama about Colombia’s indigenous Wayuu people — just four of John Seal’s fave films of the year.
Music
In Berkeley: Django Reinhardt unchained and Charles Amirkhanian’s music inspired by nature
Open Minds founder Charles Amirkhanian’s 75th birthday is celebrated Sunday at the Brower Center. While next Friday the Freight will mark Django Reinhardt’s 110th birthday with a three-day festival.
Berkeley’s Marcelo Pérez is home and bringing us jazz in the key of ‘no’
After a number of his friends were assaulted, the drummer/composer’s new show, No Means No, is designed to raise consciousness about sexual assault, as well as funds for San Francisco Women Against Rape.
In Berkeley: Owen Chen’s cognitive jazz and Maqueque’s Cuban women
Guitarist and Cal grad Owen Chen plays Jupiter Friday. And get ready to dance at a Cuban new year’s eve party at the Freight, also in downtown Berkeley.
Three cheers for Rev. Julie’s musical legacy in Albany
The basement of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church is a thriving community resource and a vital cultural hub that presents concerts series, art exhibitions and literary events, no small thanks to the Rev. Julie Wakelee-Lynch.
Theater
Stimulating new version of Michael Frayn’s ‘Copenhagen’ by Indra’s Net Theater
The play focuses on a 1941 meeting between two internationally respected physicists, one Danish, one German, who were once colleagues but ended up on opposing sides in World War II.
Sarah Ruhl’s ‘Becky Nurse of Salem’ is a palpable hit at Berkeley Rep
The MacArthur Fellowship genius award winner’s latest play is a thoroughly captivating, charming and ultimately satisfying quirky comedy that ponders the Salem witch trials and much more.
Provocative ‘Vinegar Tom’ in Berkeley is a must-see
Who but the audacious Shotgun Players would choose to produce Caryl Churchill’s musical play about 17th-century English witches as its end-of-year holiday spectacular? And what an outstanding choice it turned out to be.
Innovative, creative, family-friendly ‘The Tale of Despereaux: a New Musical’ at Berkeley Rep
The production wonderfully captures the whimsical spirit of Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery Medal-winning 2003 book.
Visual Arts
How Quirky was Berkeley: R. Crumb, the underground comix artist, was here
For several years Robert Crumb (better known as R. Crumb) was a central and colorful figure on the Berkeley underground arts scene.
A UC Berkeley professor was sent to an internment camp. Now his art is ‘part of the American story’
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is exhibiting seven decades of Chiura Obata’s work. The show, say experts, reflects how American modernism is finally beginning to recognize the expansiveness of “American art.”
City hits pause on removal of Berkeley Big People sculptures
The artist, Scott Donahue, has asked for a halt so he can search for a third-party buyer. He still believes Berkeley mishandled the process.
Thousands gather at readings, dinners and theaters to discuss life — and death
The Reimagine End of Life Festival, which runs through Nov. 3, confronts the taboo of death. It creates community through plays, talks, books and other art forms.
Recent Stories
Big Screen Berkeley: ‘Mr. Klein,’ ‘The Brink,’ ’63 Up’ and ‘Midnight Family’
Four interesting films open this week, ranging from a documentary on a Mexican family who drives ambulances to a 1961 film about the Beats.
Mahsa Vahdat, finding her place in Berkeley
The Iranian vocalist carries thousands of years of culture in her throat and, whenever she sings, she reconstructs a world from which she’s been exiled. Catch her Saturday at the Freight.
Big Screen Berkeley: ‘The Changin’ Times of Ike White,’ ‘Black Circle’
An appealing documentary focuses on a musical prodigy who spent his life in prison; and a Swedish movie is laden with 70s-style imagery: both part of the Another Hole in the Head film festival.
Grateful Sounds in Berkeley
The sheer abundance of music from around the world in Berkeley this month is extraordinary.
Big Screen Berkeley: ‘The Man with the Silver Case’ and ‘8’
The Another Hole in the Head film festival, which presents an ‘excursion into the realms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror’ is showing two of the best films of the year.
