Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:21:00 PM

THURSDAY, FEB. 5 -more-


Exhibit Pays Tribute to Cody’s Books

By Dorothy Bryant Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:23:00 PM
Vladimir Berberov’s Cody’s is one of the works on display at Giorgi Gallery.

When Harriet Giorgi returned to Berkeley after a two-year stay in Europe, she suffered a shock. “Cody’s Books on Telegraph was closed, gone.” She felt this not as just the closing of a favorite retail outlet, but as a deeply “personal loss.” -more-


Berkeley High Senior Premieres New Composition

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:24:00 PM

Berkeley High senior Dylan Mattingly will be featured both as composer and as cello soloist, when the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of music director David Ramadanoff, presents the world premiere of Mattingly’s Rain, Steam and Speed, for orchestra and solo piano (featuring Mattingly’s friend and fellow composer, Preben Antonsen), this weekend at the Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church. -more-


First Congregational Church Hosts Philharmonia Baroque

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:24:00 PM

Philharmonia Baroque, “America’s Period-Instrument Orchestra,” brings Midwinter Magic, conducted by music director Nicholas McGegan, to the First Congregational Church this weekend for a celebration of Felix Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday. -more-


Ed Reed Celebrates 80th Birthday at Anna’s

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:25:00 PM

Jazz balladeer Ed Reed will celebrate his 80th birthday this Saturday evening, with two shows, 8 and 10 p.m., at Anna’s Jazz Island. -more-


Aurora Presents George Packer’s ‘Betrayed’

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:25:00 PM

"Ever since I was a schoolboy, I loved the English language. Even during the war with Iran, I listened to English songs...” So Adnan, portrayed by Bobak Cyrus Baktiari, recalls the romance with a foreign tongue, and what it meant to a young man growing up in the Iraq of Saddam Hussein—and what it came to mean, as he waits in the half-derelict Palestine Hotel for his comrade and former fellow translator for the American Embassy, Laith, played by Amir Sharafeh. -more-


‘Absent Friends’ at Masquers Playhouse

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:26:00 PM

When Pamela Ciochetti, as Marge in the Masquers’ production of Alan Ayckbourn’s Absent Friends, calls Evelyn (Michelle Pond) and John’s (Philip Sales) baby (played by typecast Daniel Campbell) “Walter,” and is corrected sharply: “Wayne!”—she defensively says, “I thought his name was Walter ...” “Come on!” declares Evelyn, “You can’t have a baby named Walter!” “Well,” replies Marge, “Somebody must’ve done!” -more-


Around the East Bay: Discovering Paul Robeson

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:26:00 PM

Tayo Aluko, Nigerian singer and actor living in Liverpool, who performed his one-man Paul Robeson show—a musical and political life—Call Mr. Robeson in San Francisco last year, will talk about Discovering Robeson this Sunday, 7 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center ($12) with performances of Call Mr. Robeson at Black Repertory Theatre, 3201 Adeline St., on Sun. Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. ($15–20), preceded by shows at the Phoenix Theatre in San Francisco, Fri.–Sun. Feb. 20-22. For information, call Mbali Creazzo (415) 710-5348. -more-


Around the East Bay: Noh Actors and Musicians

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:27:00 PM

Japanese Noh Theater, an ongoing 700-year tradition, spare in movement, like martial arts, but rich in poetry and sumptuous costumes and masks, will be demonstrated in a program, “Noh—Pathos Behind the Mask,” by five performers from Kyoto, led by actor Shizuka Mikata of the Kanze School, including two drummers and a nohkan flute player, this Sun., 2 p.m., 252 McLaren St., University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton St. Free admission. An increasingly rare treat for theater, dance, music and poetry lovers, Noh has been an inspiration to modern arts around the world. -more-


East Bay Then and Now: Berkeleyan Torrey Owned Duchamp’s Most Famous Painting

By Daniella Thompson
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:30:00 PM
The International House and Memorial Stadium figure in the sweeping vista commanded from the Torrey house.

He was only one of three partners, and the last of them to join the San Francisco firm of Vickery, Atkins & Torrey, purveyors of paintings in oil and water color, fine prints, objects of art, and picture frames. -more-


Local House is Precursor to Pre-Fab Age

By Steven Finacom Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:29:00 PM

On Jan. 30 in the Daily Planet, columnist Matt Cantor wrote thoughtfully about the past and potential of prefabricated dwellings. Although most of Berkeley is “custom made,” as Cantor noted, pre-fabricated structures can have a place here. -more-


About the House: The Hidden Chimney

By Matt Cantor
Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:28:00 PM

A lot of us live in wonderful old homes built in the days before modern furnaces, metal flues and self-venting stoves. These are houses built before 1935 that contain—among their many other dated and cherished facets—brick flues which have nothing whatsoever to do with fireplaces. Brick flues that are sure to crumble or crash when that much lauded earthquake finally makes its, somewhat overdue, appearance here in the East Bay. -more-


Community Calendar

Wednesday February 04, 2009 - 06:21:00 PM

THURSDAY, FEB. 5 -more-