> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.albanyscanner.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Culture Circuit, Oct. 16-21 - URL: https://www.albanyscanner.com/2026/10/14/arts-culture/culture-circuit-oct-16-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-14T15:28:14.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-14T18:56:16.000Z - Description: This week's picks from East Bay stages and creative spaces. - Author: Andrew Gilbert - Tags: Arts & Culture, The Culture Circuit, #articles From Filipino folk harmonies and rare Beatles footage to a celebration of Berkeley's birds, there's plenty to do in the East Bay this week. Please help keep this list lively and well informed by sending details about upcoming concerts, readings, performances and workshops to [events@albanyscanner.com](mailto:events@albanyscanner.com). ## What they're talking about at Cal Researching musical practices can take some strange and disquieting turns. [Martha Feldman](https://www.amacad.org/person/martha-feldman?ref=albanyscanner.com), a professor of music, theater and performance studies at the University of Chicago, discusses her new book *Castrato Phantoms: Moreschi, Fellini, and the Sacred Vernacular in Rome*. She expands on her concept of the "sacred vernacular" through sound recordings, literary texts, photographs, films and letters, drawing on a trove of Roman historical documentation and a previously unknown family archive. Her research builds on her Ernest Bloch Lectures, which were published in 2015 as *The Castrato: Reflections on Natures and Kinds* by University of California Press. Following Feldman's half-hour lecture, she's joined in conversation by Prof. James Q. Davies, followed by an audience Q&A moderated by [Prof. Ramona Naddaff](https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/ramona-naddaff?ref=albanyscanner.com). **Friday, Oct. 16, 4:30 p.m.** [**Townsend Center's Geballe Room**](https://events.berkeley.edu/music/event/328532-music-studies-colloquium-castrato-phantoms-book-chat-?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(UC Berkeley). Free** ## Bountiful musical blooms from The Sampaguitas ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b5/b0/b5b0b7ec-798c-4cb6-ab42-472b59c05589/content/images/2026/10/3_The-Sampaguitas--1080x1080-.png) The Sampaguitas album cover. **Courtesy* One of my favorite demographic facts about California, because it usually goes overlooked, is that Filipinos make up the state's [largest Asian American population](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian%5FAmericans%5Fin%5FCalifornia?ref=albanyscanner.com) (at just under four percent). With Alta California roots dating to Spain's far-flung empire, Filipinos have quietly shaped the state's evolution, and now a Bay Area group, The Sampaguitas, is offering a lustrous soundtrack to a complex, polyglot identity that continues to evolve with each generation (the name comes from the national flower of the Philippines). Featuring Jenevieve Francisco, Cristina Ibarra, and Aireene Espiritu, [The Sampaguitas](https://thesampaguitas.com/music?ref=albanyscanner.com) celebrate the release of their second [Little Village Foundation](https://littlevillagefoundation.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com) album Sunday at La Peña, *Heels Upon the Ground*. It's a collection of songs representing their disparate "third culture" experiences, with three-part vocal harmony arrangements of classic songs from the Philippines in Tagalog, Kapampangan and English, and their own finely wrought originals. Each of the women has different family histories and relationships to their Filipina identity. Espiritu was born in the Philippines and grew up in San Francisco. Francisco is second generation, and Ibarra is fourth generation. Espiritu performed for years on the folk circuit, but gained a whole new following with her 2016 Little Village tribute to R&B dynamo Sugar Pie DeSanto, *Back Where I Belong*. "None of us are completely fluent in Tagalog," Ibarra told me in an interview following the release of the group's 2023 debut album, *The Sampaguitas: Folk Songs from the Philippines and Beyond*. "We started with songs in Aireene's repertoire and then sought out new material and made it our own, like 'Planting Rice/Magtanim Ay Di Biro,' a popular children's song about farm working. All the versions we heard were really cheesy, sing-songy. We reimagined it partly as a work song, a blues." The Jarocho and Arabic folk duo [Corazón de Cedro](https://www.instagram.com/corazondecedro/?ref=albanyscanner.com) opens the show. **Sunday, Oct. 18, 5:30 p.m.** [**La Peña Cultural Center**](https://lapena.org/event/the-sampaguitas-album-release-la-pena-corazon-de-cedro-opens/?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(Berkeley). $20-$40** ## Three cheers for our fine feathered friends ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b5/b0/b5b0b7ec-798c-4cb6-ab42-472b59c05589/content/images/2026/10/2026-1018-BerkeleyBirdFest-ATributeToSFBayOspreys.jpeg) The festival is organized by [Golden Gate Bird Alliance](https://goldengatebirdalliance.org/field-trips-info/?utm%5Fsource=google&utm%5Fcampaign=18408062591&utm%5Fcontent=152256158103&utm%5Fterm=golden%20gate%20bird%20alliance&utm%5Fmedium=674188732236&gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=18408062591&gbraid=0AAAAAo8fSemdZbChYUx3y1P9FeHchj3hM&gclid=CjwKCAjwirLWBhBBEiwAlItbEnzWd-zE%5FPFTkAd17Z4KqRMpCEYYVchliImWJ2-YnFHAWuOCAxNuFxoCRmkQAvD%5FBwE) and [California ICAN](https://californiaican.org/?ref=albanyscanner.com). **Courtesy* The 5th Annual Berkeley Bird Festival is a free all-day public event that celebrates our local birdlife through avian-themed activities, including birding field trips, family-friendly arts and crafts activities, chalk art and a lecture/performance series, "Winged Wonderment." Organized by [Golden Gate Bird Alliance](https://goldengatebirdalliance.org/field-trips-info/?utm%5Fsource=google&utm%5Fcampaign=18408062591&utm%5Fcontent=152256158103&utm%5Fterm=golden%20gate%20bird%20alliance&utm%5Fmedium=674188732236&gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=18408062591&gbraid=0AAAAAo8fSemdZbChYUx3y1P9FeHchj3hM&gclid=CjwKCAjwirLWBhBBEiwAlItbEnzWd-zE%5FPFTkAd17Z4KqRMpCEYYVchliImWJ2-YnFHAWuOCAxNuFxoCRmkQAvD%5FBwE) and California Institute for Community, Art and Nature ([California ICAN](https://californiaican.org/?ref=albanyscanner.com)), the festival is designed to spotlight the beauty found in our avian neighbors and to invigorate the movement to protect birds, other wildlife and our own human communities. Birding trips around Berkeley start as early as 8 a.m. and require [advance registration](https://berkeleybirdfestival.org/lineup/?ref=albanyscanner.com). In the afternoon the action moves to the Brower Center. This year's offerings include dance, theater, art, science talks, readings, museum tours, story time and much more. **Sunday, Oct. 18, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.** [**Various locations & David Brower Center**](https://berkeleybirdfestival.org/?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(Berkeley). Free** ## The sun never sets on the Beatles empire More than five decades after the Beatles broke up, the band continues to delight, fascinate and beguile new generations of listeners. But you don't need to splurge on one of the new [*Rubber Soul* box sets](https://usastore.thebeatles.com/pages/rubber-soul-collection?utm%5Fsource=PaidSearch&utm%5Fcampaign=20260722&utm%5Fmedium=paid%2Bsearch&utm%5Fcontent=ad%5FUU1026wwhy%5FMMID%5F&utm%5Freferrer=direct&utm%5Fboard=the-beatles-9378&utm%5Fcountry=GB&utm%5Flinkurl=thebeatles.lnk.to%2Frubbersoul&lf=f815da95a907f40ee6d4430420bcc229&gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=24310985213&gbraid=0AAAAApCfHSEMXQlnkpWKRGq4RDSwrWoKm&gclid=CjwKCAjwirLWBhBBEiwAlItbErt9MCdUWiPl99KxiCaEMLEIdg2bbx9N%5FNSUruzjp7uv4khQh7Mq3RoCLssQAvD%5FBwE) to get a fresh glimpse of the Beatles in action. Whether you witnessed the Fab Four's epochal Feb. 9, 1964, debut on the Ed Sullivan Show or came to Beatlemania in the 21st century, Richie Unterberger has something to show you. One of the most prolific and respected chroniclers of the rock 'n' roll era, the El Cerrito-based writer takes a break from talking about his latest book, the 800-page opus [*Do What You Fear Most: The History of The Velvet Underground*](https://omnibuspress.com/products/do-what-you-fear-most?srsltid=AU7gw4Vmfl--FRC76Ul2GufyIMReY3JmsmA8JgBar77xkxGHFPY-y-o8https://omnibuspress.com/products/do-what-you-fear-most?srsltid=AU7gw4Vmfl--FRC76Ul2GufyIMReY3JmsmA8JgBar77xkxGHFPY-y-o8&ref=albanyscanner.com), to present and discuss uncommon Beatles film performances from throughout the 1960s. The clips span one of the first shows with Ringo Starr at the Cavern in 1962 through the January 1969 "Get Back" sessions, when the group recorded the bulk of what would become the album *Let It Be*. **Sunday, Oct. 18, 2 p.m.** [**Down Home Music**](https://www.downhomemusic.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(El Cerrito). Free** ## Drinking about writing at Pitchapalooza Got an idea for the Great East Bay novel? Take your shot at Pitchapalooza, a [Litquake](https://www.litquake.org/?gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=10331593563&gbraid=0AAAAACVJVUdMBTBbEbwtbFjEFAHqZ7kt7&gclid=CjwKCAjwirLWBhBBEiwAlItbEncpiwF67APZKPB8a%5Fxx%5FdV9hTZhUnH4vtxA%5FznIilyZ1E4FF%5FBfoBoC3BYQAvD%5FBwE&ref=albanyscanner.com) event in which 20 writers, selected at random, will deliver a one-minute pitch of their book idea. Billed as "American Idol for books (only kinder and gentler)," the event is designed to help aspiring authors improve their elevator spiel. With [The Book Doctors](https://thebookdoctors.com/?ref=albanyscanner.com), Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, among the judges providing feedback on everything from concept to style to marketplace potential, authors stand to gain concrete advice as well as a greater understanding of the publishing industry. Pitchapalooza offers insight on tap, whether you're one of the writers selected or just taking in the critiques. The evening concludes with the judges selecting a winning pitch, which provides the participant with an introduction to an agent or publisher. **Tuesday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m.** [**Gilman Brewing**](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pitchapalooza-tickets-1998827371475?aff=efbevent&fbclid=IwY2xjawUv7sBleHRuA2FlbQEwAHBkb2YFYWRpZAGrNxxTjx5Lc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHsqcl6%5FeHPE-iCAPMMNu7Jn74h4fW4QNZf1kTRlH4s8g7Z9XqKwVnVyUMzYA%5Faem%5F0%5FQfQJ4hnMGX8edPdlZFvA&ref=albanyscanner.com) **(Berkeley). $15 suggested** ## Latin soul on aisle five… Since the spring of 2022 the Annex Sessions series has presented live music on Wednesday evenings at the Annex Natural Grocery. Produced by [SunJams Productions](https://www.sunjams.org/?ref=albanyscanner.com) in partnership with the Natural Grocery Company and [Javier Navarrette Music Productions](https://www.facebook.com/JavierNavarretteMusic/), the performances are offered on a "pay what you can" donation system and everyone is welcome. This week's performance features the hard-grooving band LoCura playing what they call "Califas Mestizo music." Blending Latin American and Iberian rhythms with strains of punk rock, ska, rap, dub, reggae, and dancehall, LoCura brings together vocalist Kata Miletich, guitarist Bob Sanders, trumpeter Danny Cao, electric bassist Joaquin Zamudio and Melissa Cruz on percussion and flamenco dance. They'll be joined by the brothers Javier Navarrette on percussion and Raul Navarrette on trombone. **Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6 p.m.** [**The Natural Grocery Company Annex**](https://naturalgrocery.com/event/the-annex-sessions-modupue-wednesday-12/?ref=albanyscanner.com) **(El Cerrito). $20 donation suggested** *Have questions for Albany Scanner, or want to share story tips?* [*Here's how to reach us*](https://www.albanyscanner.com/tips/)*.* ## Sign up for Albany Scanner Stories for an informed community Get updates Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.