Arts & Events

924 GILMAN ST. – -more-

AMADOR THEATER – -more-

BERKELEY CITY CLUB -- -more-

Three openings this week: seasoned local playwright James Keller directs--and performs as a playwright--in his dire domestic comedy, Good Housekeeping, with local actress Martha Luhrmann playing a role based on herself, the show in a wacky family setting based on Martha's household. -more-

Remember when you were 17 and it was a very good year? Remember when school was out for summer, school was out forever? I went to the B-Rep on Wednesday, and—well, just feel lucky you live in Berkeley, ‘cause this is the place it’s all coming from these days. -more-

Featuring some of the finest Jazz players in the Bay Area--and the nation--with names like saxophonist John Handy, trumpeter Eddie Gale, trumpeter Clifford Brown III, Donald "Duck" Bailey, E. W. Wainwright & the Roots of Jazz, saxohonists Michael James and Louis Jordan, David Hardiman, bassist Marcus Shelby, Will Nichols and guitarist Calvin Keys (many from the East Bay), The Second Annual Bay Area Musicians' Self-Help Healthcare Fundraiser will be going on from Friday night, April 23, at 7:30, throughout Saturday, into the evening, at Velma's, 2246 Jerrold Ave.. (near Bayshore, just south of Cesar Chavez) in San Francisco. An exceptional deal: donations $5-$10; (415) 824-7646 or brownpapertickets.com -more-

Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco journalist and author of the American Book Award-winning Al' America: Travels Through America's Arab and Islamic Roots, detailing historic influence of Arab and Muslim culture on many things American, from the influence of Persian poetry on the thought and verse of Ralph Waldo Emerson through Arabic music and The Doors, will talk onstage with Yahsmin Mayaan Binti Bobo and Hamsa Van Boom this Saturday at 6 p. m. at the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, 1433 Madison, near the Main Library on 14th Street in Downtown Oakland. $5-$7. 832-7600; www.iccnc.org -more-

Around the turn of the last century, it was common practice for middle-class or well-to-do families with adolescent children to move their residence to Berkeley in order to secure good education for their young. Among those was the household of Clark and Louise Goddard. -more-

The Berkeley Arts Festival calendar tracks local performances of special interest: -more-

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND -- ongoing. The -more-

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT OAKLAND -- ongoing. The -more-

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

AMADOR THEATER -- OPENING -- "Treasure Island,'' April 23 through May 2, Apr. 23, -more-

BERKELEY CITY CLUB -- -more-

I went with jaundiced eye and requisite skepticism to a musical on the UC campus Friday night. The directors had no previous experience and the cast were largely not even theatre majors. Once into the Lower Level of the Cesar Chavez Student Union cati-corner to Zellerbach, I noticed the lobby was in need of a paint job and the acoustic ceiling tile were stained; short-budgeted community colleges I’ve taught at looked better than this. However, it was sold out. Friday night in April with little to do? Lots of friends and family of the cast attending? -more-

Chickens were not high on the agenda when we went to Kaua’i. We hoped to see some of the endangered native forest birds, and the seabirds that nest on the North Shore. But chickens were inescapable. They greeted us at the airport in Lihue. They wandered around the hotel where we spent the first night. There were chickens on the beaches, chickens along the highway. (But relatively few road-killed chickens—far fewer than the dead armadillos you’d see in a comparable-sized chunk of Texas.) -more-