WED 6
Back when he wore the surname of Stench, drummer John Hanes blew up as part of Pearl Harbour and the Explosions, and filled the spaces in Romeo Void. Now the vet Bay Area new wave drummer has a brand-new bag, though the stuff it’s woven from is vintage material. Dream Kitchen — playing tonight at the Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery, 2324 Shattuck Ave. — pushes the songs of 1920s composers through the filter of 21st-century experience. Hanes, tuba and trombone player Marc T. Bolin (United Brassworkers Front), and guitarist and vocalist John Schott (T.J. Kirk, Typical Orchestra) reinterpret the works of Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and more, starting at 8 p.m. Cover costs $10 general admission, $5 for students and seniors. It’s part of a monthlong series of Berkeley Arts Festival events that also includes — just tonight, mind you — Fire into Music (William Parker, Harride Drake, Steve Swell, and Jarneell Moomdoc) at the Jazz House, The Pied Piper at the PFA, and Molly Ivins at Zellerbach, to name a few. Visit BerkeleyArtsFestival.com for a complete schedule; call the gallery at 510-665-9496 for further information on the Dream Kitchen show.
THU 7
This evening’s author event at Altamont Books (formerly Goodenough Books) in Livermore is, on the surface, suited to two kinds of people: Those who have lost young loved ones and those who are undecided about organ donation. But Eleanor Vincent‘s Swimming with Maya: A Mother’s Story is an inspirational tome for anyone who has lost someone dear to her. Author Vincent — whose nineteen-year-old daughter was killed in a horseriding accident in 1992 — has identified three essential keys to recovering from such a loss, namely confronting it head-on with honesty, learning not to take it as a personal punishment, and serving others. Vincent certainly got that last one right, as Maya’s organs and tissues helped fifty other people. Hear all about it 7:30 p.m. at 1601 Railroad Ave. in Livermore. 925-443-4354.
FRI 8
“The world we live in today rarely confronts itself with the gory details of early medical discoveries because of our fanaticism with sterility and packaging,” says Narangkar Khalsa. The CCA grad’s art challenges that intolerance by juxtaposing the contained with the gushy-grisly: For example, her “Skeletons” series sets off lion, crow, and human skeletons against red-screened grocery circulars. Khalsa continues that exploration with De Profundis: From the Depths, a solo exhibit of anatomically inspired paintings and embroidery opening this evening at Mama Buzz Gallery, 2316 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland and running through Oct. 29. There’s a free reception tonight from 7-10 p.m., and guess what? Mama Buzz now sells beer and wine. So go get wasted and learn to love the gory details. 510-465-4073.
SAT 9
This year, you can celebrate Indigenous People’s Day two ways. First, the hardier among you can gather at the Berkeley Shellmound, University Avenue and Fourth Street, at 7:30 a.m. to register for the third annual Shellmound Run. The noncompetitive event starts at 8:30 a.m. and winds along to the waterfront and up Strawberry Creek, ending at the Indigenous People’s Day Powwow and Indian Market at MLK Civic Center Park (Allston Way at MLK, Berkeley). There, you can join your more leisurely neighbors for Native American food; arts and crafts; intertribal, exhibition, and contest dancing; and more from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m., with a grand entry at 1 p.m. and raffles all day long. Find out more by calling 510-595-5520.
SUN 10
It’s almost over. You can feel the gray skies sucking the blue away, can’t you? Even with the bittersweet effects of global warming making our Indian summer longer and more intense, the air has been getting a crisper and crisper edge to it every day and you just know your outdoorsy frolics are numbered. Today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., bid the sunshine a fond adieu at the Richmond Shoreline Festival, a free event full of guided walks, birds, nature activities for kids, barbecue, bands, and community info tables. It’s all brought to you by the North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance and a bevy of other groups, and it happens in Pt. Pinole Regional Park, off Giant Highway in Richmond. For more deets, call 510-848-0800.
MON 11
This month’s meeting of the Oakland Library’s Lesbian Gay Bi Transgender Book Club is going to be a bit looser than usual. No, they’re not instituting a smuggle-your-own-flask-in policy — rather, instead of a single book, the group will be discussing the works of Colette as a whole. So whether your tastes run to Claudine, Chéri, Gigi, or any of the great French writer’s semiautobiographical creations, you’ll be able to participate. Future topics of the club, which meets the second Monday of every month, include Carla Trujillo’s What Night Brings (November); Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith (December); Becoming a Man by Paul Monette (January); Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (February); Memory Mambo by Achy Obejas (March); and Augusten Burroughs’ Running with Scissors (April). The group meets at the Piedmont Avenue branch, 160 41st St., from 6:30-8 p.m. Call 510-597-5011 for info.
TUE 12
Whether you’re a dominatrix or an international jewel thief, rope safety is something every woman should be schooled in. Get up on that and other skills during Berkeley Ironworks’ Indoor/Outdoor Beginning Climbing Series, starting this morning from 9-11 a.m. and continuing on the next three Tuesdays. With two classes at the climbing gym, one outside at Cragmont and another at a location still to be determined, beginners and experienced climbers alike can improve their tone, strength, hand- and footwork, balance, safety, and more in a variety of settings. Ironworks members pay $150 for the four-session course, nonmembers pay $10 more. 800 Potter St. Info: 510-981-9900.
