Arts & Events

TUESDAY, APRIL 10 -more-

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MARVIN GAYE -more-

When Oakland-based jazz trumpeter Ian Carey was about 14 years old, he experienced something of a revelation. While he was growing up in upstate New York, his family attended church regularly, all singing in the choir. But when they moved back to Folsom, Calif., just east of Sacramento, Carey’s father searched the area in vain for a suitable church with a strong choir. Churches were plenty but choirs were not, and when he couldn’t find one he liked the family’s church-going days were over. -more-

A chain of successes transformed a Hungarian play, Parfumerie, into an Ernst Lubitsch film, 1940’s Shop Around the Corner (with James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan), then the 1949 Judy Garland vehicle, In the Good Old Summertime, before becoming a 1963 Harold Prince Broadway hit, She Loves Me, and finally You’ve Got Mail on the screen in 1998. -more-

Why did I spend most of last week sneezing? Why do half the people on the street seem to be sneezing along with me? Is it a peculiarly Berkeley sort of performance art? -more-

TUESDAY, APRIL 10 -more-

The Daily Planet misidentified the date of a march through Emeryville in support of the Woodfin Hotel Suite workers. The march will take place today (Tuesday), gathering at 5:30 p.m. at Emeryville City Hall, 1330 Park St. and marching to the hotel at 5800 Shellmound St. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 -more-

FAIRY TALE PROJECT AT ALBANY LIBRARY -more-

A very important painting belonging to the university’s Berkeley Art Museum is about to be auctioned off at Christie’s April 18 sale. The large oil is by the renowned 19th-century painter Vasily Vereshchagin (1842-1904), whose paintings are honored in their display at Moscow’s Tretiakov Museum of Art. The picture, entitled Solomon’s Wall, depicts the West Wall of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. It is part of the artist’s Palestine series and was shown in the 1880s throughout Europe and also in New York. -more-

Dorothy Vance (called Dotty by her childhood friends in Colorado and Dart by her Berkeley friends), radical, anti-nuclear protester and jailbird, rebel girl and woman for peace, vegetarian, feminist, champion of the poor and foe of the powerful, resident of Berkeley for 50 years, and of the Elmwood for 35, friend extraordinaire, mother of three and grandmother of four, the best sister in the world, sociologist and college teacher, librarian, early receptionist for KPFA back in the days when it was upstairs over Edy’s on Shattuck, former drunk and smoker to the end, assertive yet modest and self-effacing, breadmaker, playwright and short story writer, graphic artist, potter and tile maker, creator of award-winning appliqué quilts of great good humor, some on historical, political or cultural themes, others simply whimsical, fundamentally dubious about labels and categories such as those above, died in her home on Russell Street in late February. She was 76. -more-

By KEN BULLOCK -more-

Ken Loach’s new film The Wind That Shakes the Barley, opening this weekend at Shattuck Cinemas in downtown Berkeley, is the story of the nascent Irish Republican Army and its struggle against British occupation in the early 1920s. -more-

The documentary category is consistently one of the few categories in the Academy Awards in which every nominee genuinely seems to be worthy of the attention. This year’s nominees were all high-caliber films whose selection can hardly be questioned. The winner, however, was An Inconvenient Truth, its high visibility and great cultural impact perhaps earning greater recognition for the film than its inherent quality would merit. Jesus Camp, for example, was more compelling, and Iraq in Fragments was a unique artistic triumph. -more-

It’s one of those discussions that only Arts and Crafts people would have, because we’re weird. The basic question is, “What would Stickley do with a computer?” (Gustav Stickley, for those who don’t know, was a famous furniture designer and proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement during the first two decades of the 20th century.) There seem to be two points of view on the question: the “Oh, he’d just stick it out on a library table” camp and the “No, he would have designed a special piece of furniture for it” camp. -more-

Everybody up and at ‘em! Shop till you drop! It’s time for spring plant sales! -more-

The East Bay is a special place for so many reasons including architectural history. Now, I’m a technical guy (for a sensitive male) and the history that turns me on involves silly things like pipe threading and wire soldering. I love museums of mine shafts and light bulbs. I get no kick from champagne but a museum of science and industry makes my pulse race. In other words, I’m a geek. The one that all the girls moved away from at the junior high school dance and now, years later I can proudly come out of the closet, with my phaser held high and admit my affiliation with those who collect glass doorknobs and vacuum tube radios. -more-

Run to a safe place? -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 6 -more-