The Culture Circuit, Aug. 14-18
What to do this week in Albany, Berkeley and around the East Bay.
Dear Albanians, I was once one of you.
From 1998-2008 I had the pleasure of living a stone's throw from Solano Avenue, including five years on Washington near Pierce and five years on Kains near Portland. My wife and I would have loved to settle in what felt like an idyllic community but, as we decided we were ready take on a mortgage, we couldn't find a house in our price range.
We decamped for West Berkeley but have maintained our Albany orientation, nostalgically traversing Solano Avenue and frequently shopping at El Cerrito Plaza.
As a longtime freelancer, I've been covering arts and culture in the Bay Area for three decades, focusing on music and dance, and I'm more than excited to join what Emilie is building at Albany Scanner.
We'll be running a curated weekly list of cultural events taking place in Albany and its environs. Please help keep this lively and well informed by sending details about upcoming concerts, readings, performances and workshops to events@albanyscanner.com.
I'll also contribute regular profiles about musicians, artists and writers who call Albany home. Again, tips are welcome and encouraged.
At a time when our lives are increasingly shaped by algorithms and AI, there's nothing more countercultural than gathering together to experience a performance in real time.
We're blessed to be surrounded by an abundance of creativity and I hope to help Scanner readers continue joining in the glorious fray.
Oakland vocalist and songwriter Rhonda Sauce has emerged in the past few years as one of the most exciting new voices on the Bay Area scene. Working with the stellar accompanist Adam Klipple on piano and organ, she's introducing a set of original tunes in the show "New Songs, New Stories, New Sounds." The material is fresh, but Sauce is steeped in old-school musical values, grooving with authority. Friday, Aug. 14, 7:30 p.m. The Back Room (Berkeley). $20-$25
Got an itch to explore your family tree? This beginner class covers the basics for investigating ancestry, including how to find information about family members by searching birth, marriage, death, census and various historical records. The session has space for 25 people, first come, first served, and participants should bring a smartphone, tablet or laptop, and your library card. Saturday, Aug. 15, 1-3 p.m. Albany Library (Albany). Free
The East Bay's roots music mecca Down Home Music introduced a new program in July, Farm to Turntable, a monthly residency that pairs two music lovers with an experienced DJ mentor who assists in teaching the technical aspects of DJing. Each guest curates and performs their own 90-minute set at Down Home Music for the music-buying public, sharing music they love from their personal record collections. The program runs through December. Saturday, Aug. 15, 2 p.m. Down Home Music (El Cerrito). Free
Henry the VIII gets pushed out of the frame in the film of the hit West End production "SIX the Musical Live!" Written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, the soaring pop score transforms Tudor queens into outspoken divas as Catherine of Aragon (Jarnéia Richard-Noel), Anne Boleyn (Millie O'Connell), Jane Seymour (Natalie Paris), Anna of Cleves (Alexia McIntosh), Katherine Howard (Aimie Atkinson) and Catherine Parr (Maiya Quansah-Breed) duke it out with their pipes, backed by a sassy on-stage band, the Ladies in Waiting. Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 15-16 & Tuesday, Aug. 18. Rialto Cinemas Cerrito (El Cerrito). $16.75
As the pioneer of the honky-tonking Bakersfield sound, Buck Owens (1929 -2006) changed the course of country music with his stripped-down sound and unsentimental catalog of emotionally raw songs. Presented by Aaron Burnham & the Brushfires, "Buck Off 2: Electric Buckaroo!" celebrates the twangy legacy of Owens' Buckaroos featuring an intriguing cast of players, including Josiah Flores, Beckylin, Leigh Crow, Eric Shea, Ruby Lee Hill, Glen Earl Brown, Brian Mello, Sunny the Banjo Witch and others. Sunday, August 16, 3 p.m. The Ivy Room (Albany). $18.33 (21+)
A long-running monthly series for fans of tales from the jazz demimonde, "Richard Leiter & Friends' Jazz Stories: Live Tunes and Tales" features anecdotes about the larger-than-life artists who shaped American popular music in the 20th century's middle decades. Miles and Monk, Bird and Dizzy figure prominently in the program, as do the American Songbook tunesmiths who created the pop repertoire that fueled so much jazz improvisation. Monday, Aug. 17, 7 p.m. Pegasus Solano (Berkeley). Free (with registration)
Giants walk and sing amongst us. Just about every Monday, master improviser Bobby McFerrin, who was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023, holds forth at The Freight with his a cappella ensemble Motion. He's joined at these Circlesong sessions by vocalists Bryan Dyer, David Worm and Destani Wolf, and quite possibly you. After an impromptu set, audience members are invited on stage to start an improvisation singing or playing with the group. Surprise guests are part of the fun. Banjo star Béla Fleck joined the vocalists for the entire session on a recent Monday. Monday, Aug. 17, noon. The Freight (Berkeley). $40
Richmond keyboardist and vocalist Eli Knowles has been booking music at El Cerrito's Little Hill Lounge in recent years, including his own monthly slow-jazz residency. He's introducing a new band with Heikki Koskinen on e-trumpet, bassist Noah Zisser, drummer Ryan Higley and Rent Romus on alto saxophone/flute. Come for libations and stay for late-night incantations. Tuesday, Aug. 18, 8 p.m. Little Hill Lounge (El Cerrito). $0-10 requested cover
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Send your event ideas to Albany Scanner at events@albanyscanner.com.