Margaret Jenkins Dance Co./Guangdong Modern Dance Co.
The troupes’ collaborative performance at the Byham this past Saturday, titled Other Suns (A Trilogy), was among the best dance performances I’ve ever seen, for at least two of its three movements. The show grew out of collaborations between the San Francisco-based Jenkins company and Guangdong Modern, which is mainland China’s first professional modern-dance troupe…
Look for the union label — just don’t put it in your ads without permission (UPDATED)
As I first reported here yesterday, mayoral candidate Dok Harris announced the endorsement of Ironworkers Local 3 this morning. But Harris has been hearing from another union as well — and not about an endorsement. Over the weekend, the Service Employees International Union sent a letter to the Harris campaign, demanding that Team Harris take…
Harris poised to get union endorsement?
Mayoral candidate Dok Harris is holding a press conference on Monday morning, and while I can’t be there, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess Harris will be picking up the endorsement of Ironworkers Local #3. The presser is slated to be held at the union’s Strip District headquarters … and what’s…
For wonks only: a look at campaign finance reports
Campaign finance reports were due from political candidates yesterday. Over at the P-G, the headline noted that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s “pile of campaign chest [is] much larger than rivals.” Which is true, of course. Partly that’s because Ravenstahl started out with so much more money. When this reporting period began in June, he had $328,000…
Ethical Quandaries
In the past couple days, I’ve come to have newfound respect for John Verbanac — the political insider who has been at the center of ethics charges directed at Mayor Luke Ravenstahl by challenger Kevin Acklin. Because you have to say this for Verbanac: For a guy with such long arms, he leaves very few…
Will another shoe be dropping on Acklin charges?
Kevin Acklin held a press conference this afternoon, following up on the bombshell his campaign dropped yesterday: a series of e-mails suggesting a very cozy relationship between Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and political insider John Verbanac. In his prepared remarks, Acklin said little that was new. He reiterated that “This administration is focused on personal and…
Short List: Week of October 22 – 29
Fall is harvest time. Fortunately, we don’t have to wander far afield in order to pile a table high with wonderful things to eat. This weekend offers two opportunities to celebrate and sample the region’s bounty. Plus, when evangelizing about carbon footprints, eating delicious regional food is more effective than talk. This weekend, it’s dessert…
Street-Wise
Facing an uphill climb on Nov. 3, two mayoral challengers fall back on the last resort — the voters themselves
Victim
When this film was made, men in Great Britain could still be jailed for being gay. So while Basil Dearden’s film uses the existence of this law to propel the melodrama, it also openly rails against it. Melville Farr (Dirk Bogarde) is a rising barrister who finds his secret life as a gay man unraveling…
Law Abiding Citizen
If you feel justice has not been properly served after your family was brutally murdered, you should: (1) buy lots of property in Central America; (2) kill a guy during his state-ordered execution, but harder; (3) go to jail yourself, but make ridiculous demands such as access to a fancy mattress; (4) commit a bunch…
Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone
For the newbie, Hideaki Anno’s apocalyptic mecha anime may be a bit confusing. It’s based on his hugely popular 1990s Japanese TV series (Neon Genesis Evangelion), and this film is part one of four. Thus, it’s a bit open-ended at beginning and end, but most of the plot is straightforward enough to engage fans of…
Astro Boy
After a terrible accident, a child is rebuilt as a lifelike robot, with a host of super-duper new skills. Frustrated in his cushy world of elites, Astro Boy (voiced by Freddie Highmore) leaves home and heads for the more dystopic parts of Earth. There, he joins up with some plucky abandoned kids, and hones his…
Where the Wild Things Are
Most beloved children’s books don’t translate well to the big screen, so I was surprised to find this tiny but evocative work effectively blown out into a 94-minute film by Spike Jonze. Even better, the tale retained its distinctive aura — dark, unsettling, fanciful, exhilarating, wise — as well as its affirmation of what a…
The Baader Meinhof Complex
In the 1960s, a radical leftist group formed in Germany and became known as the Baader Meinhof Group, after its two most disparate members. Director Uli Edel presents a relatively straightforward restaging of history, sprinkled with touches of familiar irony. He covers a decade of action in his film, and he uses a lot of…
Burma-Tokyo Restaurant
A new restaurant brings the flavors of Burma to Oakland.
The mercurially versatile Marc Bamuthi Joseph breaks down hip-hop culture at the Wilson Center.
“That’s like, super-black. It’s a strike.”
City Theatre’s season-opener isn’t your father’s Jekyll and Hyde — but it might be your Goth best friend’s.
“Jekyll becomes less pleasant as Hyde becomes more human.”
Antigone
This conservatory cast is remarkable because they seem to understand what they’re saying — which would be no small feat, even if they were literature professors.
The Revenants
Barsotti has an unerring ability to follow his story just to the point of theatrical diminishment and then suddenly switch gears.
This Just In: October 22 – 29
Highlight from the local TV news: The Buck Stops Here
An American dance company and a Chinese troupe collaborate to explore cultural differences and similarities.
The choreography comes across as Jenkin’s described it: driving and technically demanding.
Local author Alan Petrucelli unleashes his Morbid Curiosity about dead celebrities.
“I love celebrities, I love cemeteries, I love dead celebrities.”
Hard Coal Facts
Objections that the new permitting proposals would cost jobs and hinder economic development likewise don’t hold water.
Jason Stein
It’s not easy to get on Leo Records. The U.K. label, founded 30 years ago by Leo Feigin, is a bastion of the avant-jazz/improv scene, releasing Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Sun Ra and Eugene Chadbourne. So it’s a step up for bass clarinetist Jason Stein, who received a grant from the city of Chicago to…
Nicole Atkins
Nicole Atkins, of Asbury Park, N.J., has stepped out of Bruce’s shadow and constant comparisons to Roy Orbison, Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline by living up to the hype. Atkins is known for strong, sweeping melodies and relatable songwriting. Like the soundtrack to a strange dream, her work evokes longing: a tinge of sadness, but…
Local supergroup Gene the Werewolf has both classic-rockers and MySpace kids howlin’
“There are all these boy bands nowadays with cute lead singers. Gene’s not like that — he hates emo and is tired of the whining.”
Tim Kaulen’s artwork helped transform the city’s landscape.
It’s artwork fueled by a sense of ownership over the city — not just the grid of its streets and buildings, but of its very mythology.
Going to Extremes
Incumbent, challenger painting each other as party extremes in county council race
Legal Quandary
Supreme Court race will help shape the state’s future, so why doesn’t anyone seem to care?
Savage Love
I’m a straight teen-age male, but I can’t climax unless I am stimulating my anus or rectum. I use various objects like cucumbers. The reason I don’t buy a toy is that I live in a very religious household and my parents would disown me if they found a sex toy in my room. I…
Time for Brussels Sprouts
Give those much-maligned veggies another try.
Pianist Bruce Brubaker ranges from minimalism to Chopin.
“Classical music can be taken as material for new art; we don’t have to preserve it in amber.”
