Arts & Events

Arts Calendar

Thursday February 19, 2009 - 02:40:00 PM

THURSDAY, FEB. 19 -more-


The Musical Offering: ‘All the Elements of Civilization’

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 18, 2009 - 06:44:00 PM
The Musical Offering remains a gathering place for those interested in good food and fine music.

When I was a student here, in the early ’50s,” said concert pianist Daniell Revenaugh, over a cup of soup in the Musical Offering Cafe, “there were four or five record stores on Telegraph Avenue and around the university that featured classical music—and a couple of them were real meeting places, like the coffee houses of old London. This is the only place like that left.” -more-


‘An Evening with Stew’

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 18, 2009 - 06:42:00 PM

Stew, the contemporary troubadour whose Tony, Obie and New York Drama Critic Circle Award-winning musical, Passing Strange (now a Spike Lee film), debuted at Berkeley Rep in 2006, will return to play an unusual solo concert Friday at the Oakland Metro Operahouse. -more-


Impact Stages ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at La Val’s

By Ken Bullock Special to the Planet
Wednesday February 18, 2009 - 06:46:00 PM

“What fools these mortals be!” When The Bard’s famous fairy trickster—aka Robin Goodfellow—utters this verse in otherworldly weeds, maybe to the strains of Mendelssohn, outdoors in an amphitheater some August night, the audience, well-conditioned, knows just where it is and what he is saying. -more-


On DVD: 'Bottle Rocket,' 'Magnificent Obsession,' 'Europa' and 'The Derek Jarman Collection'

By Justin DeFreitas
Thursday February 19, 2009 - 08:37:00 AM

Bottle Rocket -more-


East Bay: Then and Now—Berkeley’s City Hall Was Inspired by a Mairie on the Loire

By Daniella Thompson
Wednesday February 18, 2009 - 06:21:00 PM
Old City Hall was renamed the Maudelle Shirek Building in March 2007.

On June 27, 1908, at the laying of the cornerstone for Berkeley’s new City Hall, University of California president Benjamin Ide Wheeler delivered the keynote address. His was no florid speech politely suitable to the occasion. On the contrary. Wheeler seized the moment to “flay the politicians,” as the San Francisco Call reported the following day, and “then asked citizens to take a more active part in municipal affairs.” -more-


About the House: The Good Old Days

By Matt Cantor
Wednesday February 18, 2009 - 06:20:00 PM

I’ve long observed (with some glee) that houses and their owners tend to be alike in notable ways and that this only increases over time. -more-


Community Calendar

Wednesday February 18, 2009 - 06:50:00 PM

THURSDAY, FEB. 19 -more-