Arts & Events

ALTARENA PLAYHOUSE -more-

BOOKS INC., BERKELEY -more-

"BAY AREA HEART GALLERY," -- Exhibit consists of photographs of children, youth and families, accompanied by their compelling stories. The joint exhibit opens in the Alameda County Administration Building, 1221 Oak Street, Oakland and at the Eden Area Multi-Service Center, 24100 Amador Way, Hayward. -more-

BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE -more-

ACTORS THEATRE OF SAN FRANCISCO -more-

924 GILMAN ST. -- All ages welcome. -more-

BERKELEY ART MUSEUM AND PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE -more-

A440 GALLERY -- -more-

CARMEN FLORES RECREATION CENTER -more-

"SUN SPHERES," -- "Sun Spheres'' is a trio of mosaic sculptures by artist Laurel True at the intersection of Ocean and Granada Avenues in the OMI District of San Francisco. -more-

CALVARY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH -more-

I flew back home on frequent flyer miles last week to visit my elderly mom in a small town fifty miles southwest of Pittsburgh from which there is no public transportation. It’s a sleepy, idyllic little place to retire if you have a nice big house with a shady porch, a guaranteed income, and don’t mind 10 degree weather and a foot of snow for about a quarter of the year and ninety degree heat for another couple of months. My nonagenarian mama still cleans the entire enormous house every week and forsakes the dryer to hang her laundry out on the line. She doesn’t get out much, so when I go back, we make the most of the entertainment available.

"Lord help the world if everybody took to doing the right thing!" Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Warren, who cuts the figure of a self-made woman in a man's world, delivers that shot at her prudish, utilitarian daughter Vivie near the close of Mrs. Warren's Profession, now onstage at CalShakes, over the hill in Orinda. But the implications of what she says in high dudgeon ricochet ironically around the Bruns Amphitheatre. -more-

I write this having just come from the remarkable first program of the Midsummer Mozart Festival, remarkable not least of all because of fourteen-year-old Audrey Vardanega’s performance of the Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467. I don’t believe I have ever heard a teenager play with both the facility and understanding that Ms. Vardanega displayed. -more-

Well, apparently people outside of Berkeley do read the Planet online. After my last column I got an email and a phone call from someone in NACA’s Online Operations department, offering help. Of course it’s all been phone tag since then, but maybe he’ll be able to help. I did speak with a NACA negotiator last Friday, who reopened my file, but of course now I have to fax two forms I’ve already faxed previously, because apparently they start to stink like dead fish after ninety days, or something. -more-

They say there are four seasons in California: fire, slide, flood, and quake. Fire is the one that most concerns me each year, since the home that my husband and I built in 1948 above the Clarement Hotel was lost in the Firestorm of 1991. -more-

"LASTSUNDAYSFEST," -- July 25. Event features two stages, one spotlighting up-and-coming and well known Bay Area bands, and a second outdoor cafi stage presenting smaller groups and individual performers, food, games and more. Event held on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley from Dwight to Bancroft Ave. -more-

"LASTSUNDAYSFEST," -- July 25. Event features two stages, one spotlighting up-and-coming and well known Bay Area bands, and a second outdoor cafi stage presenting smaller groups and individual performers, food, games and more. Event held on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley from Dwight to Bancroft Ave. -more-

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-

ARDENWOOD HISTORIC FARM Ardenwood farm is a working farm that dates back to the time of the Patterson Ranch, a 19th-century estate with a mansion and Victorian Gardens. Today, the farm still practices farming techniques from the 1870s. Unless otherwise noted, programs are free with regular admission. -more-

ASIAN ART MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO The Asian Art Museum-Chon-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture recently unveiled its new building in San Francisco's Civic Center. The building, the former San Francisco Public Library, has been completely retrofitted and rebuilt to house San Francisco's significant collection of Asian treasures. The museum offers complimentary audio tours of the museum's collection galleries. -more-

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND The Oakland Public Library's museum is designed to discover, preserve, interpret and share the cultural and historical experiences of African Americans in California and the West. In addition, a three-panel mural is on permanent display. -more-

ELKS LODGE, ALAMEDA -more-

With hot, dog day summer heat replacing our usual blessed fog, Planet readers may be seeking outdoor activities and events   to cool off.  Listed below, but in no particular order of important or easy access, are just a few of the attractions to be had in the Bay Area, most of them free.