The Culture Circuit, Sept. 3-9
What to do this week in Albany, Berkeley and around the East Bay.
From Brazilian bossa nova to New Orleans brass, the East Bay has plenty on tap this week. Here are a few standout concerts, events and screenings worth checking out in Albany, Berkeley and El Cerrito.
Please help keep this lively and well informed by sending details about upcoming concerts, readings, performances and workshops to events@albanyscanner.com.
Bossa nova comes to Berkeley
Before moving from Rio de Janeiro to Florida at the age of 14 with her mother, Daniela Soledade spent a good deal of her free time in rehearsals and recording studios with her father, guitarist Paulinho Soledade, a songwriter, producer and protégé of Brazilian guitar great Baden Powell. The Soledade family had been at the center of Rio’s creative ferment for decades (her paternal grandmother introduced Antonio Carlos Jobim to lyricist Vinicius de Moraes, and went on to create the choreography for their first epochal collaboration Orfeu da Conceição). She’s been making her own contributions to the bossa-and-beyond repertoire with her musical and life partner, guitarist, arranger and composer Nate Najar, and their Bay Area visits provide a quiet infusion of Brazilian beauty. Thursday, Sept. 3, 8 p.m. The Back Room (Berkeley). $25
The Marinaissance, from Dark Star to the Death Star
Though it’s just a short drive over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Marin County can feel like an otherworldly wonderland with its rugged coastline, redwoods, and rolling hills. All that beauty seems to have served as a muse for artists, musicians, philosophers, filmmakers and spiritual seekers, a far-flung menagerie that Marin County native David Perlis captures in his debut book Morning in Marin: Zen, Drugs, and Ewoks on the California Coast. Published by Berkeley’s Heyday Books, it’s an affectionate, in-depth account of the creative ferment nurtured by the verdant landscape in the decades following World War II, an era he calls the "Marinaissance." Now living in New Mexico, Perlis discusses Morning in Marin at Mrs. Dalloway’s, and how the county came to play a central role in shaping America’s (and the world’s) popular mythos in the late 20th century, from Star Wars to the Grateful Dead. Thursday, Sept. 3, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore (Berkeley). Free, registration recommended
Brass band funk at Jupiter
While Jupiter is a downtown Berkeley institution, its value as a music venue tends to be severely underrated. With music three nights a week, Thursdays-Saturdays, and a Jazzschool-produced open mic jam session on Wednesdays that attracts student musicians and accomplished professionals, Jupiter has been an essential niche in the ecosystem of the Bay Area music scene for decades. The East Bay Brass Band is a regular presence at the extraterrestrial watering hole, bringing New Orleans-style funk and polyphony to the redwood-shaded patio. Launched some 20 years ago by trombonist Andy Strain and several other horn players, the collective specializes in zany mash-ups of popular artists, combining Paula Abdul, Shostakovich and R.E.M with Jelly Roll Morton, AC/DC and Raymond Scott. They’re deeply versed in New Orleans brass band repertoire, while also covering hard bop, funk, rock, country and pop. Friday, Sept. 4, 7-10 p.m. Jupiter (Berkeley). No cover
A Louisiana stomp with the Aux Cajunals
Eric and Suzy Thompson are practically a roots music festival unto themselves. He’s a fingerstyle guitar master who got his start on the Palo Alto folk scene with Jerry Garcia and David Nelson. She’s a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who was mentored by several Louisiana stalwarts, particularly Cajun fiddle great Dewey Balfa. The Berkeley couple has played in dozens of bands separately and together, and one of their signature ensembles is the Aux Cajunals (now anchored by their daughter Allegra Thompson on bass and vocals). With Suzy on fiddle, accordion and lead vocals, the band combines a rich repertoire of Cajun and Creole dancehall music with rollicking strains of early R&B. Featuring Eric’s expert guitar work, fiddler Agi Ban, and drummer David Feldthouse, the group is known for whipping up a terpsichorean storm at Ashkenez. Friday, Sept. 4, 8 p.m. Ashkenaz (Berkeley). $20-$25
Sex, lies and film at the Cerrito
Filmed live on stage at London’s National Theatre, Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of the classic 18th century novel about love, power and deceit amongst France’s cynical Ancien Régime, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, returns to the Cerrito (with a fourth and final screening Sept 17). Director Marianne Elliott won an Olivier Award for her 2017 revival of Angels in America (which was also filmed and broadcast as part of the National Theatre Live series), and she reimagines Les Liaisons as a highly stylized production with minimalist sets integrated with contemporary dance sequences to focus and heighten the emotional stakes. Starring Olivier and Tony-Award winner Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner, the story of the vicious Marquise de Merteuil’s wager with the rapacious but ultimately besotted Vicomte de Valmont is a bonfire of the vanities that leaves everyone scorched. Wednesday, Sept. 8, 6:30 p.m. Rialto Cinemas Cerrito (El Cerrito). $22.95-$30.95
Walking in the air with Scott Amendola
The Ivy Room is one of Scott Amendola’s regular haunts as a player, but there’s nothing routine about the sonic conspiracy the Berkeley drummer, composer and electronics explorer assembles next week. Featuring Tune-Yards bassist Nate Brenner, percussionist Robert Lopez, vibraphonist Mark Clifford-Pascucci, and guitarist Ryan Schaeffer, Scott Amendola’s Floating Parade marches to a mélange of mysterious grooves. Too rambunctious for calming ambience, the group creates lapidary soundscapes with undulating waves of sound. Amendola’s music embraces structure, but he provides these expert improvisers with plenty of open road. Wednesday, Sept. 9, 8 p.m. The Ivy Room. $20-$25 (21+)
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