Friday, November 1, 2013
Weekender: This Weekend's Top Five Events
Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 7:02 AM
Huzzah, it's the weekend! Halloween is over, but it's First Friday, so there is still plenty to celebrate. Here are our expertly selected suggestions for the five best ways to spend your time today through Sunday:
Hallowine
Do salted caramels go best with Merlot or Chardonnay? If you’re still hungry — and thirsty — and your Halloween costume’s still intact the day after, sip and slide at Rock Wall Wine Company’s first annual Hallowine Party. The admission fee includes a souvenir wine class and introductory glass of wine. Party festivities include wine-and-candy pairings, a photo booth, a spooky sensory bar, pumpkin bowling, gourmet chocolate tastings from Cocotutti, and a costume contest with prizes for the most original, the spookiest, the best homemade, and the best couple’s costumes. Wine by the glass and food from Scolari’s Good Eats will be available for an extra charge. Friday, Nov. 1. 7-10 p.m., $10. RockWallWines.com — Anneli Rufus
Laserium 40th Anniversary
The psychedelic musical laser lights show from the Seventies is back this Friday at the Chabot Space and Science Center. Created in 1973 at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, the shows were popular among laser-obsessed science nerds, families, and folks who just wanted to get high and gaze at the trippy light formations. After a long run at the California Academy of Sciences, Laserium had its last concert in the Bay Area in 2000. Celebrate its return during the opening-night festivities, when lasers will shoot across the planetarium set to the music of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, which also celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year. The Laserium will have a three-month run at Chabot, so if prog rock isn’t your scene you can check out other shows featuring songs from bands like U2, The Beatles, and Nine Inch Nails. Friday, Nov. 1. 6:30-10 p.m., $100. ChabotSpace.org — Zaineb Mohammed
- Afro Sam and Xinh
First Friday Shorts
The New Parkway and East Oakland organization Youth UpRising team up this week to showcase youth-made films for First Friday Shorts, a movie series that aims to highlight the work of local media arts organizations. The works that will be screened were all made by filmmakers between the ages of 16 and 24 and tackle serious topics, like racial profiling, in innovative ways. For example, one of the films, Transform: Oakland for BRT, is a hip-hop opera about the public transportation initiative from San Leandro to Berkeley, and explores misconceptions people have about their fellow bus passengers. Twenty films will be shown during the event, including the turf dancing videos Raw Turf and Dancin' in the Rain, which catapulted the turf dancing craze into the spotlight; Violence Is Not Justice — Oscar Grant, which captures reactions of East Oakland community members to Grant's death; and Under the Gun, a docudrama about the increasing rate of infant homicides in East Oakland. Friday, Nov. 1. 6-8 p.m., free. YouthUpRising.org — Z.M.
12th Annual Murder Ballads Bash
Songs about murder are as old as song itself. A gruesome subgenre of the traditional ballad, murder ballads describe the events of a killing, often including the lead-up and aftermath. At The Starry Plough this weekend, eleven local acts will perform dark songs that touch not only on murder, but also on “misery, death, and/or despair,” according to longtime performer and current curator Paul Pot, in celebration of Día de los Muertos, the Mexican holiday that honors the departed. Performers include twangy quintet Loretta Lynch, psychedelic rock band The Unreal, acoustic honky-tonk duo the Heartache Sisters, and Mike Glendinning, a self-described “grunge jazz” player who was voted “Best Local Musician” in the Express’ Best of the East Bay Readers’ Poll this year. The acts aren’t required to stick to the traditional ballad format, but the majority will debut new or never previously performed material. Saturday, Nov. 2. 9 p.m., $6, $8-$12. TheStarryPlough.com — Madeleine Key
- Asger Carlsen
Cut Copy
Cut Copy just keeps getting better: Its trademark sunny sound grows bigger, weirder, groovier, and more infectious with every album. The Aussie dance-rock gods’ latest, Free Your Mind, began streaming last week ahead of its scheduled release, and goddamn, it’s fantastic. The group giddily blends sounds from different genres, including house, gospel, indie rock, new wave, and disco. Drawing from so many different genres could end up sounding frenetic, but Cut Copy manages to keep its sound cohesive. This week, there’ll be no better place to lose yourself in a transcendent dance experience than at The Fox Theater. With Larry Gus and Kauf. Saturday, Nov. 2. 8 p.m., $35. TheFoxOakland.com — M.K.
Plus... Get your cheapskate on: This is how much we love you guys: Here are our searchable listings of every single free event happening in the East Bay this weekend.
Feed Us: Got any East Bay news, events, video, or miscellany we should know about? Holler at us at Zaineb.Mohammed@EastBayExpress.com.
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