KQED: Arts & Culture

Spark: Yoshi's, Hijos del Sol, Diamano Coura

Sun, 11 May 2008 08:00:00 PDT

Meet legendary jazz musicians, young muralists, and West African dancers.

Art Review: MATRIX/REDUX at Berkeley Art Museum

Sat, 10 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Not to be outdone by last year's CCA centennial survey at the Oakland Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum is currently offering a vanity exhibition of its own. Assembled by BAM's Elizabeth Thomas, MATRIX/REDUX is a self-curated look at the Museum's acclaimed program of a similar name.

Cool as Hell Theater: Off Broadway West: The Ladies of the Camellias

Fri, 09 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Michael Rice interviews Joyce Henderson and Richard Harder, co-founders of the theater company Off Broadway West. They are producing the show The Ladies of the Camellias, a look at a fictional meeting between two 19th-century divas.

Film Review: Redbelt

Thu, 08 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

The only good thing that can be said about the ridiculous martial arts morality play Redbelt is that writer-director David Mamet avoids self-parody. An exercise in contrivances, con games and hokey honor that looks and sounds like a late-night basic-cable movie, the film never persuades us that anything of actual importance is going on. But Mamet somehow generates enough suspense to keep us from laughing out loud as his ludicrous story reaches its climax. One presumes he had loftier goals.

Truly CA Shorts: Howdy Partner

Wed, 07 May 2008 04:00:00 PDT

View Christie Herring's short film, Howdy Partner, a spirited visual meditation on how one slippery word means more -- and, consequently, less -- than we may think.

The Writers' Block: Operation Water Dump

Wed, 07 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Dan White reads "Operation Water Dump," a chapter from his book, The Cactus Eaters, which revolves around the extremely bad decision that inspired the book's title.

Music Review: The Dodos: Visiter

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

For the past several years, guitarist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber -- collectively The Dodos -- have been criss-crossing the country, delivering audiences the propulsive folk-rock sound that has made them one of 2008's most acclaimed bands.

Book Review: Erick Lyle: On The Lower Frequencies

Mon, 05 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Most Bay Area residents will only ever encounter the underground world of the traveling punk in one way. When visiting San Francisco's Haight Street or Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue, you will likely step over at least one group of unwashed kids in black hoodies, usually with a dog, usually holding up a snarky cardboard sign requesting change for beer or a bus ticket.

Spark: Salimpour, Syjuco, and Yi

Sun, 04 May 2008 08:00:00 PDT

Meet a comedic belly dancer, a political crafter, and some amazing acrobats.

Art Review: Women in the City

Sat, 03 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

"Alienation produces eccentrics or revolutionaries," announced Jenny Holzer on an old marquis in Hollywood. "Please stop texting," begged Barbara Kruger from an LED screen on the side of an art museum.

Art Review: NIAD: Call & Response

Fri, 02 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

You know what call and response is, right?

If you've ever been to church or attended a rally, you do. Or if you've listened to music -- like James Brown's "Soul Power" -- you know what I'm talking about.

Making A Feature Film Is Grown-Up Business

Thu, 01 May 2008 07:00:00 PDT

No one has it easy becoming an adult. And most people believe that taking up a pursuit like filmmaking is a surefire way to put off the inevitable. But for David Munro and Xandra Castleton, after nearly six years making their first feature film (fittingly titled Full Grown Men), digging deep into their psyches, building a business together and, oh, getting married and having a child along the way, growing up is exactly what's happened.

The Writers' Block: Sunday School

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Naomi Williams reads "Sunday School," the story of a woman asked to teach a second-grade Sunday school class and the various scenarios that might follow.

Performance Review: Tourette's Without Regrets

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:00:00 PDT

They don't have a website. They don't have a regular venue. They jerry-rigged this month's show in a dirty, depressing warehouse, and the lights kept going out. I had to wait in line for an hour with a solidly homogeneous collection of twenty-something white hipsters who B-ed YOB.

Art Review: The Color of Palo Alto

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Only in Palo Alto could an inventory of real estate be mistaken for a work of art. But that pretty much sums up The Color of Palo Alto, a seven-years-in-the-making quest on the part of artist Samuel Yates to photograph every last one of Palo Alto's 17,725 property parcels and then to use those photographs to determine the peninsula suburb's signature hue, which, until Yates showed up, was something the city had not realized it lacked.

Music Review: The Blank Tapes: Daydreams

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Sometime new acts blow onto the music scene like an unforecast hurricane, taking the world by storm in a single Force 12 blast of hype and excitement. But not always.

Spark: Think Globally

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:00:00 PDT

Discover some local artists under global influence.

Mix Tape: Bubblegum to Apocalypse -- April 2008

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

It's easy to dismiss high pitched girl voices. Deep, womanly voices, from jazz and R&B virtuosos Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, and Aretha Franklin to 80's sirens Siouxsie Sioux, Annie Lennox, and Alison Moyet, always get all the glory for the fire that seeps through every soulful note.But artists like Kate Bush, the Cocteau Twins, and Belle & Sebastian's Isobel Campbell have proven that to ignore the ethereal voice is a great loss, that high doesn't mean weak or less textured. April's compilation features soaring vocalists at their best in a wide-ranging mix that runs the gamut from bubble gum to apocalypse.

Cool as Hell Theater: Defending The Caveman

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Michael Rice talks with Isaac Lamb, the star of Defending the Caveman, a play that explores the differences in relationships from both the male and female perspective. Listen in as he tells his personal story of how men are hunters and women are gatherers.

Festival Report: S.F. International Film Festival 2008

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

It's only a matter of time before Americans, spooked by a bad economy and ever-scarcer resources, hunker down with their guns and religion and turn isolationist. Led by Lou Dobbs, we'll start hoarding corn and chardonnay, sealing borders, sticking our fingers in our ears and blocking out all news and culture from the outside world.

The Writers' Block: The Pony Problem

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Sloane Crosley reads a selection from her debut collection, I Was Told There'd Be Cake. In "The Pony Problem" she worries about what people might find in her apartment after an imagined freak accident.

Art Review: Spiritualized: Lawrence Rinder at Meridian Gallery

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

Peter Gabriel had world music. Sting had the rainforests.

At mid-career, curator Lawrence Rinder may have spirituality tied up. And like Gabriel's attempt to bring the harmonies of international song to the West, we are better for it.

Gallery Crawl: The Art of Diorama -- April 2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:00:00 PDT

In April 2008, Gallery Crawl takes in The Art of Diorama at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. The exhibition presents twenty-three artists and as many worlds, ranging from no bigger than a bread box to room-sized and features artists Davis + Davis, Jeremy Mora and Misako Inaoka.