One of the new pleasures of living in our area of Berkeley is visiting the Art House Gallery
Located near Shattuck and Russell (just a short walk to Ashby BART,) it's a peaceful retreat from the world with a great poetry reading series every month. I actually came across the place on my walks to and from downtown Berkeley during the Spring school session and house hunting.
After spotting a poster taped to a light pole advertising an event hosted by Art House Gallery for the Anniversary of People's Park, I finally went to check them out in late April. The Art House Gallery and Cultural Center is an art and photography gallery owned and operated by noted Berkeley photographer Harold Adler.. The space also functions as a small event venue for local writers and performers. Mostly run on donations, it's become a gathering place of community to share ideas and creativity in the South Berkeley area these past five years.
I wasn't sure what the place was.. As most the events occur on weekends, it's closed during the week and daytime hours.Come the weekend, there's open mic events, live music, and poetry! One of the key event series is Poetry Unbound, a three hour evening event featuring spoken word, poetry and sometimes other performance art if the muse strikes someone. These events feature different noted area poets, as well a brief open mic for locals to read, perform.. whatever.. For about 3 minutes, you can have a live audience to test your latest poem(s).
Last night (Sunday) Poetry Unbound celebrated its one year anniversary of monthly readings.. Featuring readings by Kayla Sussell, who writes poetry with music themes (Jazz especially!) She shared that she's been writing poetry for about the last five years, but they are all quite polished and refined. Featured poet Charles Curtis Blackwell, reading his poem "Cousin Alice" was a super treat to the ears, and my personal favorite of his set.
Afterwards "jazz/world" inspired ensemble band COPUS performed a strong set to close out the event. COPUS is a 5-piece performance group of rap, fusion, jazz and world music.. Formed in 1998, this San Francisco-based band has great flow. Led by Royal Kent,(whose lyrical and well-timed word and song stylings seemed to transcend rap or spoken word poetry at times).. Other current members: Monica Williams on flute, Patrick Mahon on bass and electric guitar, Greg McCray on percussion/drums and composer Wendy Loomis rounding it out on piano.
Last night was a special night, but you can still come to Art House and enjoy the next Poetry Unbound.. They're usually the first Sunday of the month.. hosted by writer/poets Richard Loranger and Clive Matson, the open mic signup starts at 5pm sharp, with readings beginning around quarter after/530 pm... Don't quote me on that but instead check out the Art House Gallery Website where Poetry Unbound and the various live events are posted, as well their facebook page.. There's many other events that go on here.. but I've been having such a great time attending these poetry readings.. so many creative and talented people!
Art House Gallery and Cultural Center
2905 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA
FRI-SUN evenings (check their website or facebook page)
Today I had a mini adventure in North Berkeley trying to locate the Little Free Library on Shattuck & Rose.. oh! Scratch that.. Rose & Henry! Wait.. what?
First you might be asking: "What is a Little Free Library??"
If you are, I can tell you it's a neat little book exchange place! A little library, often a little box or cabinet placed on a street corner or in someone's own yard, or even a park-like place.. but only by the people who maintain that property..
Sometimes decorated rather sweetly, they'll have a shelf or so, that one may place some books for folks to 'take a book' and/or 'leave a book'... These are not commercial ventures really.. They are created by and promoted in the community... Someone, most often a neighbor, or perhaps a community group.. will build and put one up, helping to maintain it, and sometimes register the location with the Little Free Library website.. Doing so makes it easier for people to locate a Little Free library in their area.. Neighbors can see if there's a book they'd like to read.. and perhaps also leave a book for others to enjoy! Sometimes there are many that aren't registered.
One such un-registered location is the Little Free Library at 2095 Rose St..
I thought I'd come across it on a previous walk to Live Oak Park.. So heading up Shattuck, beyond Rose Street I looked and didn't see it.. Maybe it was at the entrance to Live Oak Park? No, no! Definitely not!
I headed back down the street where I knew a cafe that had good wifi.. looked it up again.. I had seen an article on the Little Free Libraries dated January 2014 from the Contra Costa Times that mentions a few in Berkeley and El Cerrito. Then there's "Quirky Berkeley" A fun site that has a page on the Free Speech Movement posted from 2013 that includes pictures and locations of several Little Free Libraries in Berkeley.. Including the one here at the Better Homes & Gardens location on Rose:
It's the folks at Better Homes & Gardens Mason-McDuffie kindly providing the conveyance to your Little Library Euphoria.. Fantastic! Thank you!!
Here is a look-see on the current offerings (as of about 4pm?) at this particular Little Free Library:
..I heard childrens books are popular, so as we're in the process of moving (and my book real estate is at a premium.. Oh please pardon the pun! I really had no idea this was a sponsored location 'til I found it!) I wanted to be sure and leave a couple books that I've enjoyed in the past for potential reader(s)..
Hopefully someone will snap them up for some fun Summer reading..
I can't recommend The Mouse and the Motorcycle enough! (also Beverly Cleary's Runaway Ralph was a favorite of mine when I was very little.. (you can find that one at your local Public Library most likely..) I haven't owned that one or my original personal copy of The Mouse and the Motorcycle, for that matter in ages but they're lovely books!)
I also left a copy of the 1995 Newbery Award-winning Walk Two Moons which is really a YA (young adult) or tween-appropriate book perhaps.. It's a story in a story.. and deals with subjects like divorce, family abandonment, death, struggles of growing up, childhood friendships, family social structures, love, and dealing with your cultural identity.. It sounds rather grey and dreary but it's actually a road trip tale told from the point of view of a young lady to her grandparents. There's funny bits and sad bits.. just like real life. Highly recommend!
fancy fobs in search of keys.. soon! (Today's the day..watch this space)
Looking forward to what's on the other side..
it's actually rather difficult when you see how much has been done..
Looking for that perfect reading spot I came upon last month, I returned to sit and read and do some writing. I never found that log.. but I did "find" these stairs:
walking up University.. (this is in the former Christmas tree lot)
Sitting in a local Berkeley café trying to find another 800 or so words to concisely, yet accurately, answer questions given me and my classmates for a school paper, I find the words are not coming. Perhaps it’s the cold I seem to have acquired standing around in the cold, wet Berkeley night. If I were honest with myself, (and I usually try to be) I would say it’s because the words just won’t come. This paper should be the easiest thing for me. I’ve read the material; I’ve looked it over twice. I’ve even asked a friend who knows about these things, and he seems to think I’m on the right track. So I'm sitting here in this cafe wondering why I'm still here.
Maybe I should go home, but then I think. If I'm a writer I need to write. If I can't write my assignment, I should still write. I'm here, in my perfect little space (if not my favorite table.)
I took a bus up here because I didn’t feel the energy to walk. Now all I want to do is lay down.. But there’s other things I want to do. So I’m left with the decision, do I just give up writing anything all-together or do I just write for the pleasure of writing? Why do I even come to this café or any cafe, several times a week, when I could be writing at home? I could easily be passed out on the couch with my laptop asleep, my cat poking me in the face with his claws, oh yeah! That’s why.
The reasons I leave our airy loft on the edge of Emeryville to trek on foot or by bus (like today) is many-fold:
First and foremost is the furry love of my life, Alexander. He is not as calm and mellow as his namesake. No, his mindfulness only extends to his need to be the center of attention at his whim. I don’t blame him. Who wouldn’t, when the time is ideal, want the undivided attention of someone endearing to them?
Alexander Bunny (alias "Stinky" or "A Bun" as my friend Ed Branley calls him) sitting on me while I try and use my laptop..
Secondly, despite our having a large loft, we are forever in a state of moving in or moving out. The walls start to close in on me. There’s no door to shut and get away from anything. Referring to a book I'm reading for my current class, I find myself wishing for my own quiet place to hide away in and get away from the noise energy. Yes I could go into the bathroom and shut the door but that would only solve so much. There’s still the neighbor’s baby.. The barking dogs that bark at EVERY thing. Also there’s the fact that our bathroom just isn’t ideal for writing anything; definitely not a school paper.
Thirdly, the next thing to decent writing ambience for me is the silence. The right tone of silence depends on the individual. I like the sound of a few particular cafes. Not too loud, not too quiet, music that plays but isn’t overtly noticed. Other people like myself writing but not talking, the occasional cough or sneeze, or sound of the barista. There’s no constant grinding of beans. Occasionally, a glass or plate will rattle and remind others of the fact that real labor is going on in the background, behind the scenes. No one is taking conference calls. The local sports game is not being blasted from every available television screen. If a game is on, it’s muted.
Lastly to a lesser extent, is camaraderie of the pen. I may not know anyone in the café with me but if you come often enough you see the pattern. There’s the older gentleman working on his research. Maybe he’s writing a book, and is making scads of notes. Highlighting and writing into the margins. He orders the same coffee every morning. There’s the returning students sitting in the windows, occasionally one of their tutors will come along and help them with their calculus. There are the writers working on whatever paper that’s due, or perhaps the Great American novel. You’ll see totally unrelated people sharing a table all working in silence, all understanding that their mind is somewhere else, in various realms of academia, of fantasy, or literate passion; there’s no need to feel bad about asking one of your table-mates to use a random outlet, they get it. There’s the handful of older patrons, most likely professors or lecturers, pouring over their readings, journals, or working on their presentations while having their bagel. These are the folks that work alone, are uncomfortable putting their own sugar and cream in their coffee, the ones that puzzle over a table not properly bussed. These are the guys that worry themselves before turning and asking a nearby patron, “do you know computers?”
There’s usually no gushing teens making a fuss or having loud conversation. If a random couple come in and talk too loud, someone invariably looks at them. Not to say it’s a library, but if we all talked in outside voices, the ambience for working and writing would be shattered. We’d have to find another café. Berkeley has tons of cafes. However, once you find the "right" café for what you’re doing, and you’ve come to appreciate the mix of patrons, sound and coffee, it’s hard work to find another place. Best to keep going and support your local and your neighboring regulars of whom you may never know their names, but have come to appreciate in silent companionship.
