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Out on the Town

Singin’ in the Rain

Berkeley Playhouse takes to the stage March 6–21 the musical deemed by the American Film Institute as the 10th greatest of all time. Directed by Matthew Graham Smith with choreography by Chris Black, this version of Singin’ in the Rain features all the same music, fun and lots of dancing. 2 p.m., 8 p.m., $19–$28. Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., Berkeley, (510) 845-8542, berkeleyplayhouse.org.

MARCH

3–7  •  Disney On Ice Worlds of Fantasy. The best of the Disney characters come to life skating in a spectacular ice show. Characters from The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Cars and the new fairies from Tinker Bell and The Lost Treasure gather on the ice. 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., $16–$70. Oracle Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, (510) 569-2121, disney.go.com/disneyonice.

5–April 11  •  Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West. Written by Naomi Iizuka and directed by Les Waters, this is the world premiere of a sexy new stage play with photography as its theme. Berkeley Rep is hosting 25 special events during the course of the show. Show times vary. $27–$71. Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley, (510) 647-2949, berkeleyrep.org.

4–6  •  “Black Nature: A Symposium on the First Anthology of 
Nature Writing by African-American Poets.” This event celebrates the publication of the first-ever anthology of nature writing by African-American poets, Black Nature. Hosted and introduced by poet Camille Dungy of San Francisco State University and by UC Berkeley professors Robert Hass and Cecil Giscombe (a contributor to the anthology). Six contributors to Black Nature, including the writers Clarence Major, Harryette Mullen, Ed Roberson, Evie Shockley, Natasha Trethewey
and Al Young, will read from their work and participate in public discussions on the literary and environmental issues raised by the new anthology.
The Lipman Room, Barrows Hall,
UC Berkeley campus. Register to attend at bie.berkeley.edu/blacknature.

4, 11, 18 and 25  •  Introduction to Celestial Navigation. In this four-session series, learn the basics of celestial navigation, the ancient art and science of finding one’s way on land by observing the sky. No flashlight necessary. 7 p.m.–9 p.m., $95 ($85 for members).
Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland (510) 336-7373, chabotspace.org.

5  •  Tegan and Sara. Canadian indie rock/indie pop duo and identical twins Tegan and Sara bring their sound, including music from their sixth studio album, to the Fox. 8 p.m. $35.
Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, (800) 745-3000, thefoxoakland.com.

5–21  •  Girl Scout Cookie Sales. Clear out your freezer — the Girl Scouts of Northern California are selling your favorite cookies this month. We like our Thin Mints cold, but Samoas, Tagalongs and newcomers Thank U Berry Munch (loaded with cranberries and white chocolate chips) and Dulce de Leche (bite-sized and full of caramel chips) are just as tasty straight out of the box.
To find a convenient location to buy your stash, visit the online cookie locator, ilovecookies.org.

6  •  What Women Can Do! The Attitudinal Healing Connection celebrates International Women’s Month with best-selling author and spiritual guide Marianne Williamson and host Dr. Matthew Fox. Theme: The “Can-Do-Ness” of women to save the academic and emotional lives of children. The event features a wide-ranging variety of local women artists and musicians.
5 p.m.–9 p.m., $25–$125. Historic Sweet’s Ballroom, 1933 Broadway, Oakland, (510) 652-5530, ahc-oakland.org.

6  •  New Year Festival. The Harbor Bay Intercultural Committee hosts its 12th Lunar New Year Festival celebrating The Year of the Tiger. The event will feature Sichuan opera “face changing” and include the local favorite Lincoln Middle School music band, Chinese musical instrument orchestra, multi-cultural dances, karate, martial arts and lion dance. There will also be plenty of arts and crafts for the kiddies and grown-ups alike. Bring a lawn chair. 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Harbor Bay Landing Shopping Center (800 block of Island Drive, Alameda, in the courtyard adjoining Safeway).
For more information, please e-mail to Candy Lau at laucandy127@yahoo.com. 

6, 7  •  The Clean Up Woman. Writer/director JD Lawrence plays seven characters in this stage play (including a Hindu cab driver, a 75-year-old white man, a rapper and a stylist). It also stars Emmy award–winner Jackée Harry, Telma Hopkins and singer/actor Christopher Williams. 3 p.m., 8 p.m. $37.50–$49.
Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, (510) 763-7308, paramounttheatre.com.

9  •  Zac Brown Band. 2010 New Artist Grammy winners and country music stars perform. 7 p.m. $39.50.
Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, (800) 745-3000, thefoxoakland.com.

9–14  • Gotta Dance! The University of California, Berkeley, offers the best performances in dance, music and theater each year, and what’s on tap this spring will not disappoint East Bay dance fans. First, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns March 9–14 to celebrate director Judith Jamison’s 20th anniversary with the company. The programs feature three Bay Area premieres: a restaging of Hymn, Jamison’s Emmy Award-winning tribute to Alvin Ailey; Ailey’s Revelations; and other programs set to the music of Duke Ellington, Radiohead and Stevie Wonder, among others. Second, the late Merce Cunningham’s dance company performs Nearly 90², the artist’s final evening-length work, on March 26 and 27. It was created in collaboration with and will be performed to a score by Sonic Youth, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and mixed-media sound composer Takehisa Kosugi. Times, prices vary.
101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, (510) 642-9988, calperfs.berkeley.edu.

11–14  •  Mwangaza – Illumination. The 15th Annual Collage des Cultures Africaines presented by the West African Dance Company Diamano Coura offers four days of workshops and performances with a chance to learn from the best movers and keepers of African culture. Classes begin Thursday at 6:30 p.m., and there will be a special concert Saturday night. Individual classes, $15. Concert reserved seating $30, general $20, at door $25.
Malonga Casquelourd Dance Center, 1428 Alice St., Oakland, (510) 733-1077, diamanocoura.org.

13–28  •  Eemax and Zurno’s Amazing Circus Humans. Circus Spire, Kinetic Arts Center’s Youth Performing Troupe, performs a circus show where theater, puppets, contortionists, acrobatics, circus aerials and clowns come to life in a magical parallel universe.
7 p.m Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, $10 (under 13/over 65), $15 (adult). Kinetic Arts Center, 785 Seventh St., Oakland, (510) 444-4800, kineticartscenter.com.

28  • Run for your Life. Get out your running shoes: Oakland’s first marathon in 25 years hits the streets with the inaugural Oakland Running Festival. Festivities kick off with a party and a twilight 5K around Lake Merritt at 6 p.m. March 27. Targeting runners of all ages and abilities, the weekend includes a half-marathon and a fun run, too. For the marathon on March 28, runners will begin on Broadway, race along Piedmont and College avenues, pass through beautiful Lake Temescal and then tackle the rolling
 hills of Montclair. Registration prices for the races vary.
Call (510) 371-5273 or visit oaklandmarathon.com.

26, 27, 28  •  Natalie Cole. The incomparable and still unforgettable Natalie Cole comes to Yoshi’s Oakland for three nights. 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday, Saturday; 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, $75.
Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West Oakland, (510) 238-9200, yoshis.com.

27  •  Soweto Gospel Choir. The 26-member African Gospel choir draws on the best talent from the many churches in and around Soweto. 8 p.m., $25–$65.
Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, (510) 763-7308, paramounttheatre.com.

28  •  Sing-Along Easter Messiah. Participate in Handel’s masterpiece with the Oakland Symphony Chorus. Time and price to be announced.
360 Grand Ave., Oakland, (510) 207-4093, oaklandsymphonychorus.org.

 

April

1  •  Play Ball! It’s spring, when a young man’s (and woman’s) fancy turns to baseball. The Oakland A’s launch the 2010 season splitting a Bay Bridge series with the San Francisco Giants, first at AT&T Park (7:15 p.m. April 1 and 2) and then in the Oakland Coliseum at 1:05 p.m. April 3. That’s the first of 82 home games of the long road to the World Series in October.
(510) 638-4627, oakland.athletics.mlb.com.

6  •  Crazy Love Tour
Canadian crooner and Sinatra sound-alike Michael Bublé takes the stage at the Oracle Arena April 6 for his Crazy Love Tour. 8 p.m., $49.50–$95.
Oracle Arena (800) 745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

8–25  •  A History of Human Stupidity. See the world premiere of theater company Rough and Tumble’s intellectual vaudeville in three acts. It’s playwright Andy Bayiates’ comical examination of world history and a journey through stupid human behavior. Founding artistic director Cliff Mayotte directs the play featuring Louise Chegwidden, Eowyn Mader, Carolyn Doyle and Charisse Loriaux, with original music composed and performed by Bay Area jazz composer Phillip Greenlief. $20.
LaVals Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid Ave, Berkeley, (510) 499-0356, randt.org.

13  •  Mark Knopfler. Former Dire Straits frontman and prolific guitarist, songwriter and film composer
Sir Mark Knopfler plays music from his more-than-40-year career and his new album, Get Lucky. 8 p.m., $49.50–$99.50.
Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, (510) 763-7308, paramounttheatre.com.

13  •  Spoon. The alternative music band Spoon, formed in the early 1990s, is still going strong.
7:30 p.m., $32.
Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, (800) 745-3000, thefoxoakland.com.

14  •  Muse. As a warm-up to a performance at Southern California’s Coachella music festival, the British alternative rock band hits the stage in Oakland. 8 p.m., $42.75–$56.75.
Oracle Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, (800) 745-3000, ticketmaster.com.

16  •  Musical Visionaries. Oakland East Bay Symphony, with Michael Morgan conducting, displays its extraordinary range, showcasing Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and the world premiere of a new work by composer Benedikt Brydern.
8 p.m., $20–$65.
Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland, (510) 763-7308, oebs.org.

16–18  •  Vintage European Poster Show. The Bay Area’s largest and most extraordinary collection of original vintage European posters has something for everyone, namely hundreds of unique posters. 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Friday, Saturday, 12 p.m.–5 p.m. Sunday.
The Wooden Duck Recycled Furniture Gallery, 1823 Eastshore Highway, Berkeley, (510) 530-3353, vepca.com.

19, 20  •  Vampire Weekend. Indie music’s latest darlings hit the Fox with new wave/Afro-pop stylings. The band’s second album, Contra, debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts earlier this year. 8 p.m., $27.50.
Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland, (800) 745-3000, thefoxoakland.com.

24  •  Music in Berkeley
There’s plenty of music happening in Berkeley. Cal Performances offers a trio of musical nights with the extraordinary vocal talents of Sweet Honey in the Rock (April 22); a legend of folk music, Arlo Guthrie, and his family (April 23); and Grammy award–winning jazz guitarist Pat Metheny (April 24). 8 p.m., $26–$70.
101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, (510) 642-9988, calperfs.berkeley.edu.

23, 24  •  Children’s Support League Heart of the Home Tour. Tour five beautifully remodeled Piedmont and Oakland homes with all proceeds benefitting at-risk children in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. VIP ticket holders gain special access to a stately and glamorous Tudor mansion. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. $45 tour only, $55 tour and luncheon, $85 VIP tickets.
Piedmont Community Center, 711 Highland Ave., Oakland, (510) 338-4521, wehelpkids.org.

30  •  Jewelry House Party. Enjoy this fund-raiser to benefit Adopt A Special Kid’s award-winning Camp ALWAYS (A Life With Adoption Yields Success) at a private home in the Fernside district of Alameda, where you can bid on original jewelry designs by local artists and browse merchant booths. Camp ALWAYS is AASK’s flagship supportive program for families who have adopted from the foster care system. Reservations are required to attend. 5:30 p.m.–8 p.m.
For more detail or to reserve, contact Liz Kocabiyik at info@aask.org or call (510) 553-1748 x11, aask.org.

ONGOING

Art/Galleries/Museums

African American Museum & Library at Oakland. AAMLO explores, protects and shares the historical and cultural experiences of African Americans in California and the West with impressive archives, an extensive reference library and a museum with traveling and original exhibits.
659 14th St., Oakland, (510) 637-0200, oaklandlibrary.org.

Oakland Aviation Museum. Learn about aviation history related to North Field at Oakland International Airport, Oakland and the Bay Area at this nonprofit museum that displays aircraft and aviation artifacts. Includes exhibits, a History Flicks room, a research library and an aircraft restoration work area. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Wed.–Sun., $9 adults, $8 seniors,
$7 military/teens, $5 kids (free 5 and younger).
8252 Earhart Road, Bldg. 621, Oakland, (510) 638-7100, oaklandaviationmuseum.org.

USS Hornet Museum. The aircraft carrier museum traces the ship’s role in two of the greatest events of the 20th century — World War II and the Apollo 11 manned space mission. Many events are listed at uss-hornet.org,
such as the three-hour guided “History Mystery After Hours Tour” while the ship is illuminated in the red lights used for “night ops.” April 3. 7 p.m. $35. 707 W. Hornet Ave., Alameda, (510) 521-8448, uss-hornet.org.

USS Potomac. Nautical nuts can soak in history by touring or cruising on the “Floating White House,” FDR’s presidential yacht and a National Historic Landmark with something of a checkered past. Prices vary. Docent-led dockside tours Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays; frequent special events; chartering available.
Docks at Oakland’s Jack London Square, 540 Water St., (510) 627-1215, usspotomac.org.

Alameda Museum. Permanent displays of Alameda history, along with a gallery showcasing local Alameda artists and students. Also, souvenirs, books and videos. Spring lecture series: Paul Duchsherer: “Beyond the Bungalow” on March 25. Architect and preservationist Richard Rutter, “History of the Alameda Naval Air Station” on April 29.
Alameda Museum, 2324 Alameda Ave., Alameda, (510) 748-0796, alamedamuseum.org.

Alameda Naval Air Museum. Climb into a cockpit, inspect the ammo, hear some stories from the volunteers who staff the place and generally step back in time. Open 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Sat. and Sun.
2151 Ferry Point, No. 77, Alameda, (510) 522-4262, alamedanavalairmuseum.com.

Oakland Art Murmur. The Art Murmur is a group of downtown galleries that have openings every first Friday of each month. There also are performances on 23rd Street, sidewalk display tables and a very hip crowd. 7 p.m.–9 p.m. Check with the individual galleries to make sure your favorite gallery is open.
The list is at oaklandartmurmur.com.

Estuary Art Attack. Explore the “bohemian, multicultural and esoteric arts” of Alameda and Oakland’s Jingletown on the second Friday of every month with galleries and some participating restaurants promising new exhibits each time. 6 p.m.–9 p.m.
estuaryartattack.com or autobodyfineart.com.

Lucky Ju Ju Pinball. Among the more unusual gallery spaces, Lucky Ju Ju is a place where Magic, Karma, Zeitgeist and Skill are infused into a collection of vintage pinball machines. Rotating exhibits, too.
New hours: Tues. – Sun., 2 p.m. – 9 p.m., closed Mon. Open until midnight Fri. and Sat. Admission now includes the Pacific Pinball Museum wing with more than 40-plus machines in one large room. Adult, $15; Kids
under 12, $7.50.
New address: 1510 Webster St., Alameda, (510) 769-1349, ujuju.com.

Rhythmix Cultural Works. A fantastic addition to the Alameda/East Bay art scene, with a fine gallery anchoring a vibrant education program. Spring Break Camp on April 5–9 offers a fun place for students to experience “The Recycled Circus.”
2513 Blanding Ave., Alameda, (510) 865-5060. rhythmix.org.

Frank Bette Center for the Arts. Self-described on its Web site as “a place for meetings, readings, showings and other creative doings.” There are several classes scheduled for 2010; check the site for details.
1601 Paru St., Alameda, (510) 523-6957, frankbettecenter.org.

La Peña. This “gathering place” is a nonprofit community cultural center where people can experience art and culture from Latin America and around the world. Here, community groups involved in both domestic and international issues can organize cultural and educational programs to foster respect and understanding among the diverse peoples of the world. In addition to public events, La Peña offers classes in music and houses Café Valparaiso which offers a Latin American menu and beverages, and provides a “second stage” for more intimate cultural gatherings.
3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, (510) 849-2568, lapena.org.

The Museum of Children’s Art. The museum is a bustling place for artists of all ages. The first Saturday of each month, MOCHA uses art-making to foster literacy, with authors discussing the use of art in their work. MOCHA also offers a multitude of weekend workshops. Drop in at the MOCHA studios for engaging art activities with rotating weekly themes (18 months and up). MOCHA provides all the materials and experienced teaching artists guide children in creative projects.
538 Ninth St., Oakland, (510) 465-8770, mocha.org.

Sports

Golden State Warriors. The Bay Area’s basketball team has 10 home games in the final two months of the regular season. Could they make it to the playoffs? No, but it’s still a fun night out. See if they can prove their mettle against Portland (March 11), L.A. Lakers (March 15), New York (April 2) or Utah (April 13). Most games start at 7:30 p.m. Prices vary. (510) 986-2200, nba.com/warriors/.

Music/Performance

Freight & Salvage Coffee House. In a new location, the venue is filling Berkeley nights with music. Come listen, just about a new show every night of the week from just about every genre. For example, singer/songwriter Michelle Shocked (March 25), Doors co-founder Ray Manzarek and blues guitarist Roy Rogers (March 26), and folk hero Steve Forbert (April 16) Shows start at 8 p.m. Prices vary.
2020 Addison St., Berkeley, (510) 644-2020, thefreight.org.

Yoshi’s Jazz Club. Oakland’s premier sushi restaurant and music venue has some hot jazz on tap. Check the Web site for details.
510 Embarcadero West, (510) 238-9200, yoshis.com.

Julie’s Coffee & Tea Garden. This small, intimate venue routinely invites musicians, artists, speakers and authors, bringing a touch of creativity to Alameda.
1223 Park St., Alameda, (510) 865-2385, juliestea.com

Families

Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire. This vintage antique fair is one the biggest outdoor antique fairs in the Bay Area and happens every first Sunday of the month at Alameda Point at the former Alameda Naval Air station.
$5–$15.
(510) 522-7500, antiquesbythebay.net.