O-Scene

Oakland’s a hardworking kind of town, a hustling kind of town, a town usually more focused on getting it’s grind on than looking pretty for the cameras. While Oakland’s definitely got style, we tend to leave the flashing lights for our friends over on the other side of the water. As such, The Town’s film industry hasn’t really taken off into the Hollywood heights. We’ve got a ton of working filmmakers and actors but to date Oakland’s biggest claims to film fame have been cameos in The Matrix: Reloaded and The Pursuit of Happyness and that old rumor about how the cranes at the port were inspirations for the Star Wars AT-AT Walkers ( a rumor Spielberg continually denies, btw).

Well, if the Oakland International Film Festival continues to grow, the East Bay could become a destination for both filmmakers and film lovers. Cannes? Sundance? Bleh, who needs ‘em.

Kicking off tonight and wrapping up next Thursday, the festival features nearly 50 films from across the country and several flicks shot in our own backyard, including The Equinox, one of tonight’s two opening films. Directed by Oakland filmmaker Bayaan Bakari, the film follows a young man as he joins a Rites of Passage program as a way to fight the trials and temptations of growing up in the ‘hood. Since it’s premier earlier this year, Bakari’s film has been selling out engagements across the country.

Here are a few of the films that look like they’ll be well worth the price of admission. Things kick off at the Parkway tonight with the inaugural program at 6pm and run through the Oct. 16, closing out with the East Bay premier of the documentary Public Enemy: Welcome To The Terrordome and a closing night bash at The Uptown. All films screen at The Grand Lake Theater. Read the rest of this entry »

Friday, Oct. 3

West Oakland At The Moment

Exploring the mediums of painting, sculpture, fashion dance and literature the first group show at the new Pacific Cannery Loft Gallery in West Oakland brings together several of the artists, musicians, writers and thinkers currently living around what used to be known as “The Harlem of the West.” Over 30 creators including Traci Bartlow, Amanda Williams, Kele Ntoto and Duane Deterville will showcase works across several genres. Marcel Diallo and special musical guests will also be performing with a live band.

West Oakland at the Moment
Free
6-9pm
Pacific Cannery Loft Gallery
1100 Pine St. Oakland
http://www.pacificcannerylofts.com/art

The Art of Democracy

With a total count of over 1000 participants, The Art of Democracy is a national coalition of artists and venues focused on political and social issues showing concurrently at more than forty art galleries across the country. The exhibit brings together artists from all backgrounds and affiliations bonded by their need to make a political statement during this pressing election season. This Oakland show will feature the political prints of Art of Democracy cofounder Art Hazelwood, the satirical sculptures and posters of Sol Aquino and posters from the touring exhibit.

The Art of Democracy
Free
7-10pm
Front Gallery
35 Grand Ave, Oakland

http://www.artofdemocracy.org/ 510.444.1900

Suckered: Writers Confess a Profound Lack of Judgment

Have you ever done something you should have avoided and didn’t? Made a shockingly bad decision born of haste, desperation, greed, or hormones? What about that job you thought you’d never take? The person you should never have met? Oh, the humiliation. Tonight eight authors will relive the moment of delusion that left a permanent scar. Their lifetime of shame, presented in public for your entertainment featuring Jonathan Ames, Cintra Wilson, Neal Pollack, Amber Tamblyn, Will Durst, Robert Mailer Anderson, April Sinclair and Adam Savage. And music by Marc Capelle and Defin Hoff.

Suckered: Writers Confess a Profound Lack of Judgment
$25
8pm
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Ave.
http://litquake.org

Radical Women National Conference

Radical Women’s 41st Annual Conference occurs at a very important time. Around the world, women are part of a bold resistance to reactionary social and political forces. In Latin America, women and indigenous people are providing working class leadership against “crippling neoliberal trade agreements.” In Mexico , “Adelita” brigades shut down congress to oppose privatization of the nationalized oil industry. In the U.S they defend civil liberties and continue the fight for affirmative action, childcare, and an end to sexual violence.
The Radical Women conference is an opportunity for people of all genders to come together and grapple with ideas, examine the limitations of reformism, gain the confidence to challenge the system, and build the ranks of socialist feminists. The conference runs through Sunday and will features an extensive program of lectures, workshops, networking sessions and training sessions.

Radical Women National Conference
10/4-10/6
$15 a day, $7.50 a day for students and low income participants
The Women’s Building
3543 18th Street, San Francisco

http://www.radicalwomen.org/2008_conference.htm 206-722-6057

Illuminated Oakland

Tonight see what happens when art, live music, and film collide with a 100 ft wall. First head over to Kahn’s Alley in Frank Ogawa Plaza and look up. On the wall you’ll see a program of 3 art pieces, curated by Suki O’Kane, a local artist who’s been screening films on Oakland’s walls for years. Then mosey over Grand Ave between Broadway and Telegraph for the Great Wall, a series of short experimental films blasted all over a 100 ft high screen. Word to the wise-BYOBP: Bring your own blankets and popcorn.

Illuminated Oakland
Free
7-10pm
Kahn’s Alley and Grand Ave. btwn Broadway and Telegraph

Read the rest of this entry »

Or, of course, you could always spend your night rocking with Talib Kweli, David Banner and Little Brother. That’s if you’re into that kind of thing.

Hmmm, a night of political jabs, double talk and false promises or a night of beats and bangin’ hip hop. Decisions decisions… Read the rest of this entry »

In case politics isn’t your bag and tonight’s knock down drag out Rumble in the VP Jungle doesn’t get you all hot and bothered, how about heading over to The Lab for an evening of experimental theater and performance as part of Code Switchers, the current exhibition of dealing with issues of cultural complexity, multiple allegiances, and hybrid form.

Pieces of Nine by Mark Edwards and Dylan Latimer
A journey into and back from the spirit world, it is a multi-lingual human/machine-translated performance, making use of the internet as a stage. The piece confronts the network as the new location of human emotion and being. Mark Edwards is a musician, artist, media nerd, and art worker, living in San Francisco. His recent work has been featured at Lobot, The LAB, Headlands Center for the Arts and SFMOMA (in collaboration with Jeff Ray), and numerous performance venues in the Bay Area and abroad. Dylan Latimer is a writer living and working in Brooklyn, New York.

My Egaugnal by Aygul Idiyatullina
This experimental video investigates a longing to find balance between three languages that the artist uses in everyday life: Tatar, Russian, and English. Like three separate worlds, these languages are associated with different people, emotions, and state of mind. My Egaugnal explores the personal and emotional relationships Idiyatullina has to each language, and how the artist’s identity is shaped through those connections.

SL Morse - No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre
Masterminded by drummer/conceptual artist, Sarah Lockhart, SL Morse translates literary works into music via morse code, resulting in a performance focused on both interpreting the literary text and creating aesthetically interesting music. “No Exit” features Lockhart on drums with Aurora Josephson (voice) and Suki O’Kane (pitched percussion), and contends with the play’s premise of three individuals condemned to hell, to be eternally emotionally tortured by the others, as well as the thematic elements of rejection and the unquenchable desire for revenge. Read the rest of this entry »