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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The new performing arts center comes at a time of expansion for Oakland Theater Project, whose next play \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandtheaterproject.org/she\">\u003cem>She Se Puede (A Chorus of Huertas)\u003c/em>\u003c/a> premieres at their current, smaller Downtown Oakland location on Nov. 20. Mandlin says they regularly sell out performances in their 80-seat space without much advertising, and have had to take productions to larger venues, often outside of Oakland, to accommodate their growing audience. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Though the Oakland Theater Project lost tens of thousands of dollars due to National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities funding cuts, Mandlin says donors and foundations have rallied around the theater company. The organization’s budget has quadrupled since 2021. He’s also hopeful about former arts nonprofit leader Lyz Luke’s appointment as the Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Manager at the start of the year, and says she’s working behind the scenes to secure more funding for the performing arts. \u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Music fans who worried about the New Parish’s closure late last year can rest assured that the Oakland venue won’t be turning into condos. On Oct. 22, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland-theater-project\">Oakland Theater Project\u003c/a> announced that it was taking over the San Pablo Avenue space and converting it into a hub for theater, music and performing arts. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Oakland is just a mecca of resilience — a passionate, incredible, diverse community — and it’s full of creatives and artists,” Oakland Theater Project Managing Director Colin Mandlin tells KQED. “So to be able to have people to share and present their work in their hometown … it’s going to be this kind of common-sense but also really celebratory and wonderful accomplishment.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The theater company signed a 10-year lease on the 13,000-square-foot building, with the option to buy it in the future. Oakland Theater Project’s vision is to create a 200-seat main theater, a second smaller theater, backstage areas and an expanded marquee lobby, bar and outdoor courtyard. Their goal is to have the space ready for audiences in the late spring of 2027.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandtheaterproject.org/\">Oakland Theater Project’s own productions\u003c/a>, the new performing arts center will host concerts, talks, screenings and classes. Given the building’s long history as a music venue — first as Sweet Jimmie’s, then the New Parish — Oakland Theater Project is partnering with a concert presenter that they plan to announce in the coming days. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the years, the New Parish hosted shows by musical greats, including The Jacka and Nipsey Hussle before both of their untimely passings. In its final year of operation, Oakland rap star Mistah F.A.B., R&B legend Teedra Moses, Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux and local, experimental techno outfit Cel Genesis all had events there.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the building’s new incarnation, Mandlin says the musical programming will include an eclectic array of local and touring artists. “We very much value the history of a space, both in terms of its cultural significance, as well as the physical building and attributes itself,” he says. “And the fact that this space has hosted musical events for decades is definitely something that we want to honor and continue.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new performing arts center comes at a time of expansion for Oakland Theater Project, whose next play \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandtheaterproject.org/she\">\u003cem>She Se Puede (A Chorus of Huertas)\u003c/em>\u003c/a> premieres at their current, smaller Downtown Oakland location on Nov. 20. Mandlin says they regularly sell out performances in their 80-seat space without much advertising, and have had to take productions to larger venues, often outside of Oakland, to accommodate their growing audience. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We have a really passionate and powerful community that supports us and that follows us,” Mandlin says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though the Oakland Theater Project lost tens of thousands of dollars due to National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities funding cuts, Mandlin says donors and foundations have rallied around the theater company. The organization’s budget has quadrupled since 2021. He’s also hopeful about former arts nonprofit leader Lyz Luke’s appointment as the Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Manager at the start of the year, and says she’s working behind the scenes to secure more funding for the performing arts. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It’s great timing for us to now take on this new venue and growth opportunity,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003ca href=\"https://bottomofthehill.com/calendar.html\">Bottom of the Hill\u003c/a>, the legendary San Francisco music venue, won’t shut down at the end of the year after all. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this year, owners Kathleen Owen, Ramona Downey and Lynn Schwarz announced that it was time to retire and close the club after 35 years. Then came an outpouring of support. Fans mourned one of the city’s last affordable, independent venues; bands bemoaned the loss of a stage that nurtured generations of up-and-coming acts. A couple of agents even said that if there’s no Bottom of the Hill, they’ll skip San Francisco on their tours altogether.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We realized that we are but stewards of this place, and it got bigger than us,” Schwarz tells KQED. “And that we actually kind of don’t have a right to let it close, especially when so many people are reaching out to buy the business and just telling us how much it means to the ecosystem of music.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After months of negotiations, the owners announced that biotech entrepreneur and longtime Bottom of the Hill concertgoer Michele Bronson would take over the business, \u003ca href=\"https://www.coyotemedia.org/bottom-of-the-hill-sold/\">Coyote first reported\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Schwarz tells KQED she feels “elated” to pass the torch to Bronson after a triumphant final year running the club. “Meeting with her, it just became really clear that we liked her brand of enthusiasm and smarts and business acumen combined with her extraordinary passion for music,” Schwarz says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the New Year’s Eve show with Shannon Shaw, Bronson plans to close Bottom of the Hill for at least a month to make improvements. She also wants to retain the venue’s current staff. Owen and Downey will remain the owners of Bottom of the Hill’s building on 17th Street. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Schwarz says she feels bad about causing panic about the club’s closure. Popular acts like Toro y Moi, Deerhoof and Bratmobile all sold out shows at the 246-capacity room this year to show their support. Some bands even reunited to play there. And fans have shown up in droves to attend concerts and buy merch. “I went from being overworked last year to taking on a year that is four times busier, but it has actually been just absolutely wonderful,” Schwarz says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That leads Schwarz to an important point: She hopes fans will support their favorite cultural institutions \u003cem>before\u003c/em> they’re in danger of shutting down. “Show Michele the same love that you showed us this year,” she says. “Support the independents.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We realized that we are but stewards of this place, and it got bigger than us,” Schwarz tells KQED. “And that we actually kind of don’t have a right to let it close, especially when so many people are reaching out to buy the business and just telling us how much it means to the ecosystem of music.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After months of negotiations, the owners announced that biotech entrepreneur and longtime Bottom of the Hill concertgoer Michele Bronson would take over the business, \u003ca href=\"https://www.coyotemedia.org/bottom-of-the-hill-sold/\">Coyote first reported\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwarz tells KQED she feels “elated” to pass the torch to Bronson after a triumphant final year running the club. “Meeting with her, it just became really clear that we liked her brand of enthusiasm and smarts and business acumen combined with her extraordinary passion for music,” Schwarz says. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After the New Year’s Eve show with Shannon Shaw, Bronson plans to close Bottom of the Hill for at least a month to make improvements. She also wants to retain the venue’s current staff. Owen and Downey will remain the owners of Bottom of the Hill’s building on 17th Street. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Schwarz says she feels bad about causing panic about the club’s closure. Popular acts like Toro y Moi, Deerhoof and Bratmobile all sold out shows at the 246-capacity room this year to show their support. Some bands even reunited to play there. And fans have shown up in droves to attend concerts and buy merch. “I went from being overworked last year to taking on a year that is four times busier, but it has actually been just absolutely wonderful,” Schwarz says. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That leads Schwarz to an important point: She hopes fans will support their favorite cultural institutions \u003cem>before\u003c/em> they’re in danger of shutting down. “Show Michele the same love that you showed us this year,” she says. “Support the independents.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://noisepopfest.com/schedule\">Noise Pop\u003c/a> just announced phase one of the lineup for its 2027 festival, which takes over San Francisco venues Feb. 18–28 with a packed schedule of shows. Politically outspoken indie rock band \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978141/deerhoof-quits-spotify-daniel-ek-700-million-military-ai-investment\">Deerhoof\u003c/a>, which formed in San Francisco in 1994, will take the stage at Great American Music Hall on Feb. 24. The group released a new, sci-fi-themed album, \u003cem>Divine Schism\u003c/em>, earlier this month, full of textured guitars and synths that feel both gritty and whimsical.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Feb. 27, Nashville country, blues and gospel band Lambchop will perform at the majestic Grace Cathedral, where Noise Pop has previously hosted shows by St. Vincent and other musical greats. Lambchop will be joined by the Bay Area’s experimental vocal ensemble, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986878/free-key-choir-whats-in-a-name\">Free Key Choir\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At SFJAZZ on Feb. 20 and 21, saxophonist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975538/ayo-brame-oakland-jazz-prodigy-saxophone-yoshis-review\">Ayo Brame\u003c/a>, a 19-year-old rising star from Oakland, will perform two solo shows. Earlier this year, Brame was featured on Jill Scott’s long-awaited comeback album, \u003cem>To Whom This May Concern\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Other lineup highlights include Jess Williamson, Modeselektor, Devvy Dub, Big Sis, Two Lanes, Powerplant, Lady Radiator, Cut Worms, Radio Free Alice, Here We Go Magic, Labrats, the Stone Foxes, Gibby Haynes, Caroline Rose, Sun Gazer, Sparklmami and Girl Ultra. More acts will be announced in the coming months. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://noisepopfest.com/schedule\">Noise Pop\u003c/a> just announced phase one of the lineup for its 2027 festival, which takes over San Francisco venues Feb. 18–28 with a packed schedule of shows. Politically outspoken indie rock band \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978141/deerhoof-quits-spotify-daniel-ek-700-million-military-ai-investment\">Deerhoof\u003c/a>, which formed in San Francisco in 1994, will take the stage at Great American Music Hall on Feb. 24. The group released a new, sci-fi-themed album, \u003cem>Divine Schism\u003c/em>, earlier this month, full of textured guitars and synths that feel both gritty and whimsical.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At SFJAZZ on Feb. 20 and 21, saxophonist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975538/ayo-brame-oakland-jazz-prodigy-saxophone-yoshis-review\">Ayo Brame\u003c/a>, a 19-year-old rising star from Oakland, will perform two solo shows. Earlier this year, Brame was featured on Jill Scott’s long-awaited comeback album, \u003cem>To Whom This May Concern\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Other lineup highlights include Jess Williamson, Modeselektor, Devvy Dub, Big Sis, Two Lanes, Powerplant, Lady Radiator, Cut Worms, Radio Free Alice, Here We Go Magic, Labrats, the Stone Foxes, Gibby Haynes, Caroline Rose, Sun Gazer, Sparklmami and Girl Ultra. More acts will be announced in the coming months. \u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gibby Haynes, Ayo Brame and Lambchop are among the eclectic San Francisco festival’s lineup highlights. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://noisepopfest.com/schedule\">Noise Pop\u003c/a> just announced phase one of the lineup for its 2027 festival, which takes over San Francisco venues Feb. 18–28 with a packed schedule of shows. Politically outspoken indie rock band \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13978141/deerhoof-quits-spotify-daniel-ek-700-million-military-ai-investment\">Deerhoof\u003c/a>, which formed in San Francisco in 1994, will take the stage at Great American Music Hall on Feb. 24. The group released a new, sci-fi-themed album, \u003cem>Divine Schism\u003c/em>, earlier this month, full of textured guitars and synths that feel both gritty and whimsical.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Feb. 27, Nashville country, blues and gospel band Lambchop will perform at the majestic Grace Cathedral, where Noise Pop has previously hosted shows by St. Vincent and other musical greats. Lambchop will be joined by the Bay Area’s experimental vocal ensemble, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986878/free-key-choir-whats-in-a-name\">Free Key Choir\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At SFJAZZ on Feb. 20 and 21, saxophonist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975538/ayo-brame-oakland-jazz-prodigy-saxophone-yoshis-review\">Ayo Brame\u003c/a>, a 19-year-old rising star from Oakland, will perform two solo shows. Earlier this year, Brame was featured on Jill Scott’s long-awaited comeback album, \u003cem>To Whom This May Concern\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Other lineup highlights include Jess Williamson, Modeselektor, Devvy Dub, Big Sis, Two Lanes, Powerplant, Lady Radiator, Cut Worms, Radio Free Alice, Here We Go Magic, Labrats, the Stone Foxes, Gibby Haynes, Caroline Rose, Sun Gazer, Sparklmami and Girl Ultra. More acts will be announced in the coming months. \u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "every-saturday-night-fillmore-district-sfbatco-review",
"title": "‘Every Saturday Night’ Captures a Fight for the Fillmore’s Soul",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em>, a world-premiere musical that opened Thursday in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, a single mother living in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/fillmore\">Fillmore District\u003c/a> opens her old Victorian home to the Black community each week to keep the party going well after the clubs close. It’s the story of a time when the Fillmore was filled with jazz music, prosperous businesses and community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today, after so-called urban renewal in the 1970s decimated the cultural fabric of the neighborhood, and various attempts to recapture its “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957757/why-san-franciscos-fillmore-district-is-no-longer-the-harlem-of-the-west\">Harlem of the West\u003c/a>” vibrancy, that same area tells a very different story. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Donte (Darryl V. Jones), left, tells Adarè (Trevor Miller) about growing up in the Fillmore in SFBATCO’s ‘Every Saturday Night.’ (Alexa LexMex Treviño)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cowritten by Michael Gene Sullivan and Danny Duncan and produced by SFBATCO, \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em> casts the Fillmore itself as the show’s main character. Donte Coleman (Darryl V. Jones), tells stories of his childhood in the Fillmore to the teenage son of a new family looking to buy his home and move in. Having learned the history of the neighborhood, the family is shocked to see that it’s not what they expected. Samuel (Jon-David Randle), the new homebuyer, puts it plainly: “There aren’t as many Black people as I thought there would be.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Across its 70-year timeline, from the 1950s to present day, the script is constant in its message, if a little hard to follow at times. The production comes alive when it reenacts the different parties hosted by Donte’s mother Ardella (Cathleen Riddley), providing a “nice place where colored folks can rest” at the end of a busy work week. Between these lively parties with loud jazz and busy dance numbers (with music by Othello Jefferson and choreography by the director, AeJay Antonis Marquis), there’s also a fight to save the district from encroaching redevelopment, and to protect Black residents from the removal that its Japanese residents had faced a few years earlier. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Doris (Imri Tate) speaks out against urban renewal and the displacement of the Fillmore’s Black community in SFBATCO’s ‘Every Saturday Night.’ (Alexa LexMex Treviño)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Doris (Imri M. Tate) is crusader for this cause, and convinces Ardella to join her. (“I don’t want to be moved out of my home because somebody wants to bleach the Fillmoe like a damn shirt,” Doris says.) In the original song “For the Greater Good of the Neighborhood,” Doris pleads for Ardella to keep her home, and the audience gets immersed into an anti-redevelopment protest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Back to the present day, as Donte bonds with the new family’s teenage son, Adarè (Trevor Miller), similar efforts are underway. A “Western Addition Heritage Association” knocks on the door trying to purchase and flip the house, under the guise of keeping it in the community. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994801\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Young Donte (Jacob Henrie-Naffaa), center, and others dance the night away at Ardella’s after-hours joint in SFBATCO’s ‘Every Saturday Night.’ (Alexa LexMex Treviño)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco is an ever-changing city, for better or for worse. In \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em>, emotional and comedic performances bring the city’s history into the present day. “There’s still efforts to disappear and erase the Fillmoe,” Marquis said during a pre-show discussion on opening night. “We are trying to keep it alive.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Every Saturday Night’ runs through Nov. 1 at The Strand (1127 Market St., San Francisco). \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.act-sf.org/whats-on/activate/every-saturday-night\">\u003cem>Tickets and more information here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Donte (Darryl V. Jones), left, tells Adarè (Trevor Miller) about growing up in the Fillmore in SFBATCO’s ‘Every Saturday Night.’\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Alexa LexMex Treviño)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Cowritten by Michael Gene Sullivan and Danny Duncan and produced by SFBATCO, \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em> casts the Fillmore itself as the show’s main character. Donte Coleman (Darryl V. Jones), tells stories of his childhood in the Fillmore to the teenage son of a new family looking to buy his home and move in. Having learned the history of the neighborhood, the family is shocked to see that it’s not what they expected. Samuel (Jon-David Randle), the new homebuyer, puts it plainly: “There aren’t as many Black people as I thought there would be.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Cowritten by Michael Gene Sullivan and Danny Duncan and produced by SFBATCO, \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em> casts the Fillmore itself as the show’s main character. Donte Coleman (Darryl V. Jones), tells stories of his childhood in the Fillmore to the teenage son of a new family looking to buy his home and move in. Having learned the history of the neighborhood, the family is shocked to see that it’s not what they expected. Samuel (Jon-David Randle), the new homebuyer, puts it plainly: “There aren’t as many Black people as I thought there would be.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Across its 70-year timeline, from the 1950s to present day, the script is constant in its message, if a little hard to follow at times. The production comes alive when it reenacts the different parties hosted by Donte’s mother Ardella (Cathleen Riddley), providing a “nice place where colored folks can rest” at the end of a busy work week. Between these lively parties with loud jazz and busy dance numbers (with music by Othello Jefferson and choreography by the director, AeJay Antonis Marquis), there’s also a fight to save the district from encroaching redevelopment, and to protect Black residents from the removal that its Japanese residents had faced a few years earlier. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Across its 70-year timeline, from the 1950s to present day, the script is constant in its message, if a little hard to follow at times. The production comes alive when it reenacts the different parties hosted by Donte’s mother Ardella (Cathleen Riddley), providing a “nice place where colored folks can rest” at the end of a busy work week. Between these lively parties with loud jazz and busy dance numbers (with music by Othello Jefferson and choreography by the director, AeJay Antonis Marquis), there’s also a fight to save the district from encroaching redevelopment, and to protect Black residents from the removal that its Japanese residents had faced a few years earlier. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Doris (Imri M. Tate) is crusader for this cause, and convinces Ardella to join her. (“I don’t want to be moved out of my home because somebody wants to bleach the Fillmoe like a damn shirt,” Doris says.) In the original song “For the Greater Good of the Neighborhood,” Doris pleads for Ardella to keep her home, and the audience gets immersed into an anti-redevelopment protest. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Doris (Imri M. Tate) is crusader for this cause, and convinces Ardella to join her. (“I don’t want to be moved out of my home because somebody wants to bleach the Fillmoe like a damn shirt,” Doris says.) In the original song “For the Greater Good of the Neighborhood,” Doris pleads for Ardella to keep her home, and the audience gets immersed into an anti-redevelopment protest. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Back to the present day, as Donte bonds with the new family’s teenage son, Adarè (Trevor Miller), similar efforts are underway. A “Western Addition Heritage Association” knocks on the door trying to purchase and flip the house, under the guise of keeping it in the community. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Back to the present day, as Donte bonds with the new family’s teenage son, Adarè (Trevor Miller), similar efforts are underway. A “Western Addition Heritage Association” knocks on the door trying to purchase and flip the house, under the guise of keeping it in the community. \u003c/p>\n"
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994801\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Young Donte (Jacob Henrie-Naffaa), center, and others dance the night away at Ardella’s after-hours joint in SFBATCO’s ‘Every Saturday Night.’\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Alexa LexMex Treviño)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>San Francisco is an ever-changing city, for better or for worse. In \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em>, emotional and comedic performances bring the city’s history into the present day. “There’s still efforts to disappear and erase the Fillmoe,” Marquis said during a pre-show discussion on opening night. “We are trying to keep it alive.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>San Francisco is an ever-changing city, for better or for worse. In \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em>, emotional and comedic performances bring the city’s history into the present day. “There’s still efforts to disappear and erase the Fillmoe,” Marquis said during a pre-show discussion on opening night. “We are trying to keep it alive.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Every Saturday Night’ runs through Nov. 1 at The Strand (1127 Market St., San Francisco). \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.act-sf.org/whats-on/activate/every-saturday-night\">\u003cem>Tickets and more information here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Every Saturday Night’ runs through Nov. 1 at The Strand (1127 Market St., San Francisco). \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.act-sf.org/whats-on/activate/every-saturday-night\">\u003cem>Tickets and more information here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Full of vibrant jazz and activist camaraderie, this new musical brings the neighborhood’s history to life.",
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"title": "Review: ‘Every Saturday Night’ Captures a Fight for the Fillmore’s Soul | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em>, a world-premiere musical that opened Thursday in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, a single mother living in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/fillmore\">Fillmore District\u003c/a> opens her old Victorian home to the Black community each week to keep the party going well after the clubs close. It’s the story of a time when the Fillmore was filled with jazz music, prosperous businesses and community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today, after so-called urban renewal in the 1970s decimated the cultural fabric of the neighborhood, and various attempts to recapture its “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957757/why-san-franciscos-fillmore-district-is-no-longer-the-harlem-of-the-west\">Harlem of the West\u003c/a>” vibrancy, that same area tells a very different story. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994799\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-29-1e9387ec-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Donte (Darryl V. Jones), left, tells Adarè (Trevor Miller) about growing up in the Fillmore in SFBATCO’s ‘Every Saturday Night.’ (Alexa LexMex Treviño)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cowritten by Michael Gene Sullivan and Danny Duncan and produced by SFBATCO, \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em> casts the Fillmore itself as the show’s main character. Donte Coleman (Darryl V. Jones), tells stories of his childhood in the Fillmore to the teenage son of a new family looking to buy his home and move in. Having learned the history of the neighborhood, the family is shocked to see that it’s not what they expected. Samuel (Jon-David Randle), the new homebuyer, puts it plainly: “There aren’t as many Black people as I thought there would be.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Across its 70-year timeline, from the 1950s to present day, the script is constant in its message, if a little hard to follow at times. The production comes alive when it reenacts the different parties hosted by Donte’s mother Ardella (Cathleen Riddley), providing a “nice place where colored folks can rest” at the end of a busy work week. Between these lively parties with loud jazz and busy dance numbers (with music by Othello Jefferson and choreography by the director, AeJay Antonis Marquis), there’s also a fight to save the district from encroaching redevelopment, and to protect Black residents from the removal that its Japanese residents had faced a few years earlier. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-82-d59f5932-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Doris (Imri Tate) speaks out against urban renewal and the displacement of the Fillmore’s Black community in SFBATCO’s ‘Every Saturday Night.’ (Alexa LexMex Treviño)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Doris (Imri M. Tate) is crusader for this cause, and convinces Ardella to join her. (“I don’t want to be moved out of my home because somebody wants to bleach the Fillmoe like a damn shirt,” Doris says.) In the original song “For the Greater Good of the Neighborhood,” Doris pleads for Ardella to keep her home, and the audience gets immersed into an anti-redevelopment protest. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Back to the present day, as Donte bonds with the new family’s teenage son, Adarè (Trevor Miller), similar efforts are underway. A “Western Addition Heritage Association” knocks on the door trying to purchase and flip the house, under the guise of keeping it in the community. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1667\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994801\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-2000x1334.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/EverySaturdayNightcAlexaLexMexTreviño-51-44c859bd-2048x1366.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Young Donte (Jacob Henrie-Naffaa), center, and others dance the night away at Ardella’s after-hours joint in SFBATCO’s ‘Every Saturday Night.’ (Alexa LexMex Treviño)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco is an ever-changing city, for better or for worse. In \u003cem>Every Saturday Night\u003c/em>, emotional and comedic performances bring the city’s history into the present day. “There’s still efforts to disappear and erase the Fillmoe,” Marquis said during a pre-show discussion on opening night. “We are trying to keep it alive.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Every Saturday Night’ runs through Nov. 1 at The Strand (1127 Market St., San Francisco). \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.act-sf.org/whats-on/activate/every-saturday-night\">\u003cem>Tickets and more information here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>How much does it cost to be an artist in San Francisco? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It isn’t too hard to calculate. First, there’s the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">normal expenses\u003c/a> we all rack up: food, housing, healthcare, transportation. Then there’s renting a practice space or studio, purchasing equipment and materials, hiring collaborators and more.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The stark reality of this math has shaped the relaunch of a much-needed initiative: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-lab\">The Lab\u003c/a>’s Living Wage Residency program, which will provide three artists with $17,530 each to develop new work. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As recipients of the residency, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ammaateria.com/\">Amma Ateria\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.zacharyepcar.com/\">Zachary Epcar\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.alexachristineburrell.com/about/\">Alexa Burrell\u003c/a> will also receive curatorial and technical support, plus three months of regular access to The Lab and two weeks of exclusive use of the space for final presentations of their projects.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re intending it to be something that really allows the artists to dedicate a full three months of time to their artwork,” Andrew Smith, The Lab’s executive director, told KQED. “And then we also have a very flexible $5,000 stipend for materials, or collaborators, or other expenses that we see as augmenting that base living wage amount.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That rather funny amount of $17,530 comes directly from MIT’s \u003ca href=\"https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/06075\">living wage calculator\u003c/a>, which estimates that a single adult without children needs to make $32.44/hour (and work full-time) to meet minimum basic needs in San Francisco. (As a point of reference, the current minimum wage in the city is just $19.61/hour.) \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Keeping those calculations visible is intentional. “Our goal is to actually demonstrate that this is in response to a crisis that’s happening in the Bay Area,” Smith said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Living Wage Residency program first launched in 2014 under former Lab director Dena Beard, providing nontraditional artists with rare institutional support, along with significant funding, time and space. With this “relaunch” of the program, The Lab held an open call for the first time, and received over 400 applications. Funding for the residencies comes from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The three residents represent the range of experimental practices The Lab supports, including some truly ambitious-sounding projects. Ateria, a composer, will premiere an expansion of her \u003cem>Entropic Arias\u003c/em> at The Lab on a newly installed Meyer Sound spatial audio system in January 2027. Epcar, a filmmaker, will present an expanded cinema project for June 2027 about the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/01/25/1151421770/the-curious-case-of-havana-syndrome\">Havana Syndrome\u003c/a>” experienced by U.S. intelligence agents in Cuba. And Burrell, a visual artist, will create an immersive installation scheduled for October 2027 that uses sheets of falling water as screens for projected video work. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1082\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83.jpg\" alt=\"wide empty interior space with wood floors\" class=\"wp-image-13994737\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83-768x415.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83-1536x831.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The recently expanded space of The Lab, which includes the former ballroom of the San Francisco Labor Temple. (Robert Divers Herrick)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Key to each of these projects is an expansion of scale and scope that necessitates bringing others into the mix. In that way, the residency fees are designed to ripple outward. “Each of these artists has an established and very high-level practice in a particular discipline,” Smith said, “and they’ve put forward these projects that expand that through a network of collaborators.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Growth is a new watchword at The Lab. The nonprofit recently extended its lease in the historic Redstone Building, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937804/the-lab-new-lease-redstone-building-sf-labor-temple\">renovating the neighboring ballroom\u003c/a> has added to the footprint of the venue by about 70%.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I felt like we had to,” Smith said. “Once you lose square footage in the Bay Area, you just never get it back.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As recipients of the residency, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ammaateria.com/\">Amma Ateria\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.zacharyepcar.com/\">Zachary Epcar\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.alexachristineburrell.com/about/\">Alexa Burrell\u003c/a> will also receive curatorial and technical support, plus three months of regular access to The Lab and two weeks of exclusive use of the space for final presentations of their projects.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Keeping those calculations visible is intentional. “Our goal is to actually demonstrate that this is in response to a crisis that’s happening in the Bay Area,” Smith said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The three residents represent the range of experimental practices The Lab supports, including some truly ambitious-sounding projects. Ateria, a composer, will premiere an expansion of her \u003cem>Entropic Arias\u003c/em> at The Lab on a newly installed Meyer Sound spatial audio system in January 2027. Epcar, a filmmaker, will present an expanded cinema project for June 2027 about the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/01/25/1151421770/the-curious-case-of-havana-syndrome\">Havana Syndrome\u003c/a>” experienced by U.S. intelligence agents in Cuba. And Burrell, a visual artist, will create an immersive installation scheduled for October 2027 that uses sheets of falling water as screens for projected video work. \u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "The Lab Awards 3 Artists a Living Wage Residency | KQED",
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"headline": "In San Francisco, Artists Get a Little Help With the High Cost of Living",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>How much does it cost to be an artist in San Francisco? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It isn’t too hard to calculate. First, there’s the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">normal expenses\u003c/a> we all rack up: food, housing, healthcare, transportation. Then there’s renting a practice space or studio, purchasing equipment and materials, hiring collaborators and more.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The stark reality of this math has shaped the relaunch of a much-needed initiative: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-lab\">The Lab\u003c/a>’s Living Wage Residency program, which will provide three artists with $17,530 each to develop new work. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As recipients of the residency, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ammaateria.com/\">Amma Ateria\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.zacharyepcar.com/\">Zachary Epcar\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.alexachristineburrell.com/about/\">Alexa Burrell\u003c/a> will also receive curatorial and technical support, plus three months of regular access to The Lab and two weeks of exclusive use of the space for final presentations of their projects.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re intending it to be something that really allows the artists to dedicate a full three months of time to their artwork,” Andrew Smith, The Lab’s executive director, told KQED. “And then we also have a very flexible $5,000 stipend for materials, or collaborators, or other expenses that we see as augmenting that base living wage amount.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That rather funny amount of $17,530 comes directly from MIT’s \u003ca href=\"https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/06075\">living wage calculator\u003c/a>, which estimates that a single adult without children needs to make $32.44/hour (and work full-time) to meet minimum basic needs in San Francisco. (As a point of reference, the current minimum wage in the city is just $19.61/hour.) \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Keeping those calculations visible is intentional. “Our goal is to actually demonstrate that this is in response to a crisis that’s happening in the Bay Area,” Smith said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Living Wage Residency program first launched in 2014 under former Lab director Dena Beard, providing nontraditional artists with rare institutional support, along with significant funding, time and space. With this “relaunch” of the program, The Lab held an open call for the first time, and received over 400 applications. Funding for the residencies comes from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The three residents represent the range of experimental practices The Lab supports, including some truly ambitious-sounding projects. Ateria, a composer, will premiere an expansion of her \u003cem>Entropic Arias\u003c/em> at The Lab on a newly installed Meyer Sound spatial audio system in January 2027. Epcar, a filmmaker, will present an expanded cinema project for June 2027 about the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/01/25/1151421770/the-curious-case-of-havana-syndrome\">Havana Syndrome\u003c/a>” experienced by U.S. intelligence agents in Cuba. And Burrell, a visual artist, will create an immersive installation scheduled for October 2027 that uses sheets of falling water as screens for projected video work. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1082\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83.jpg\" alt=\"wide empty interior space with wood floors\" class=\"wp-image-13994737\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83-160x87.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83-768x415.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/250802_TheLab_Renovation_RDH_031_2000.jpg--cffaed83-1536x831.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The recently expanded space of The Lab, which includes the former ballroom of the San Francisco Labor Temple. (Robert Divers Herrick)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Key to each of these projects is an expansion of scale and scope that necessitates bringing others into the mix. In that way, the residency fees are designed to ripple outward. “Each of these artists has an established and very high-level practice in a particular discipline,” Smith said, “and they’ve put forward these projects that expand that through a network of collaborators.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Growth is a new watchword at The Lab. The nonprofit recently extended its lease in the historic Redstone Building, where \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13937804/the-lab-new-lease-redstone-building-sf-labor-temple\">renovating the neighboring ballroom\u003c/a> has added to the footprint of the venue by about 70%.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I felt like we had to,” Smith said. “Once you lose square footage in the Bay Area, you just never get it back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "mc-abdul-palestinian-rapper-empire-bay-area-gaza-day-by-day-shway-shway",
"title": "How Palestinian Rapper MC Abdul Rose from Gaza’s Refugee Camps to the World Stage",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>“Is it real?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That’s the question MC Abdul kept asking himself when he arrived in San Francisco three years ago. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>His journey began when he was 11 years old, after he uploaded a \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mcabdulofficial/videos/mc-abdul-his-friends-at-school/675927073361010/\">video of himself rapping at his school in Gaza\u003c/a>. His verse, in self-taught English and full of hope that even the most dangerous environment couldn’t extinguish, went viral. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The baby-faced kid with determination in his eyes soon caught the attention of Ghazi, the Palestinian American founder of powerhouse San Francisco record label EMPIRE. MC Abdul signed a record deal in 2020, and EMPIRE began the process of bringing him to the U.S., where the young prodigy could devote himself to his art — and, more importantly, live somewhere safe. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Now 18, MC Abdul has lived one of the wildest tales imaginable of a hip-hop come-up, and he’s ready to share it with the world. Those three words from his first thoughts on U.S. soil — “Is it real?” — open his debut album, \u003cem>Day by Day, Shway Shway\u003c/em>, out Oct. 16.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Abdul spent his childhood in a refugee camp on the Mediterranean coast, where Israeli bombs turned neighborhoods into rubble and military drones hovered constantly overhead. In the three years he’s been in California, he’s performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, and received cosigns from hip-hop royalty. Even as he’s reached goals he once could only dream of, at times he’s felt helpless, separated from his family and watching the destruction of his people from thousands of miles away.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amid the pain, MC Abdul has steeled himself with a strong sense of purpose: to tell his story for the more than two million people still living in Gaza. With \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway,\u003c/em> he continues a Palestinian legacy of using hip-hop to call for peace and build solidarity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Since the moment I left Gaza, I was like, ‘This has to be an album,’” MC Abdul tells KQED. “This is an insane story, and I want people to know what happened.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://youtu.be/yvvMB_2EQ4I?si=GAH9MjG7_fpQ5s7x\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>A journey out of Gaza\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>These days, it’s difficult to come to the States \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/12/g-s1-65451/international-musicians-tours-visa-issues-border-patrol\">as an international artist\u003c/a> no matter where you’re from. But when you’re from Gaza, there’s an enormous amount of additional hurdles. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even before Israel’s increased bombardment of Gaza over the past three years, a land, sea and air blockade made it nearly impossible for Palestinians to leave for any reason, even to seek medical care. Abdul waited for three years to get the proper permits to board a bus for Jerusalem to apply for his U.S. visa. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During those years of waiting, Abdul perfected his English by rapping along to songs by Eminem, Tupac and Nas. He kept filming music videos that showed his life as a regular kid, living among war and destruction. “I’ve always shot these videos [in] neighborhoods around me that were getting bombed. AndI would just take my speaker — sometimes I would risk my life. I would go outside and just film it and post it,” MC Abdul says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://youtu.be/l8qay1Al7Dc?si=t6qFlhlseD_e3onG\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>His clips caught the attention of hip-hop legends like DJ Premier, Fat Joe and Kool G Rap, and eventually he amassed more than a million followers on Instagram. “And a lot of people liked what I posted,” he says. “That’s when it kind of felt more of a responsibility, basically.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When he was 14, he and his father finally secured the paperwork needed to cross the border into Egypt and board a plane to the Bay Area. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>MC Abdul thought he’d be here for a month to work on his album and play his first-ever U.S. show: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934383/palestine-cultural-day-foster-city\">Palestine Day in Foster City\u003c/a>, where he performed in front of tens of thousands of fans from the diaspora. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But on Oct. 7 of that year, Hamas militants broke through the border wall into Israel and killed 1,200 Israelis, prompting Israel to unleash a full-scale war on Gaza that has since left an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/7/three-years-of-israels-genocide-in-gaza-in-numbers\">74,000 Palestinians dead and 175,000 wounded, with 94% of hospitals and clinics destroyed or damaged\u003c/a>. An \u003ca href=\"https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167790\">independent United Nations commission\u003c/a>, the human rights organization \u003ca href=\"https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/\">Amnesty International\u003c/a> and even some \u003ca href=\"https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20250728_our_genocide\">Israeli human rights groups\u003c/a> have characterized Israel’s actions as genocide, a charge its government denies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For five months, MC Abdul was separated from his mother and siblings, not knowing if they were alive. After he located them, it was only because of his talent, and his record deal, that he was able to bring his immediate family to the U.S. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was so many sleepless nights that I had during the process of trying to get [my mom and siblings] out, trying to reach out to them to make sure that they’re still alive,” he says. Dozens of his relatives didn’t survive. “During the process, … I lost 81 people all in one day.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The studios in Gaza where MC Abdul recorded his earliest music, and the friends who filmed his first videos, are also gone. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994693\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul (left) and Suhel Nafar pose for a photo at EMPIRE’s recording studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. Nafar, who heads EMPIRE’s West Asia and North Africa division, served as executive producer of the 18-year-old Palestinian rapper’s debut album, Day By Day, Shway Shway. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Turning pain into purpose\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On a recent afternoon at EMPIRE’s sleek San Francisco studio, it’s all eyes on MC Abdul. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A busload of singers has just arrived from Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) to record choral versions of “Shway Shway,” the optimistic title track from his new album, and the more reflective, melancholy “Missing Home.” Abdul is in a good mood, geeking out about seeing Playboy Carti bring out Ye at ComplexCon — “I was like, ‘I’m fine if I leave this earth now.’ … Nah, not yet, we still gotta drop the album” — and excitedly telling the OSA students about the selection of 2K games in the studio upstairs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then it’s time to lock in. OSA teacher Cava Menzies strikes the opening piano chords of “Missing Home,” and the students’ voices swell, buoying MC Abdul as he rides the beat to deliver melodic bars about the pain of being separated from his family: “Moving with some urgency / Like it’s an emergency / It’s cuttin’ deep like surgery / Hurts like burns to the third degree.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994695\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul prepares to record with the Oakland School for the Arts choir at EMPIRE’s recording studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>When we sit down in the studio’s control room, MC Abdul opens up about the emotional toll of coming to the U.S. with his dad while his mom and four younger siblings stayed behind.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My last memory of being there was saying goodbye to my grandma, who gave me a couple prayer beads that I still have to this day,” he says. “I always keep it on me to keep going, and use it as motivation to never stop.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As he saw report after report of Israeli bombings, he’d sometimes go days without hearing from his family. He’d also lock himself in his hotel room for long periods of time. Survivor’s guilt plagued him. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve to eat, because people back home didn’t have food. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He even wondered if he should go back to Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I had people around me telling me, like, ‘Bro, you came out here a month before [Oct. 7] happened, and it took three years for you to get your visa,’” he remembers. “‘Like, that must be like a sign from God that you’re out here to continue to chase your dreams.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While he couldn’t focus on writing music, he kept journals that later became the basis for his lyrics on the album. “Shway Shway,” an Arabic saying of patience that means “day by day” or “step by step,” became a mantra. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the album’s title track, he addresses kids in violent circumstances around the world — whether in Gaza or America’s inner cities — who’ve been forced to skip childhood and grow up too fast. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I know it’s easier said than done, but I was just trying to give hope to anybody that’s listening to it, to take things day by day,” MC Abdul reflects. “If you’re stressing about something, try to be as calm as possible. Remember that everything happens for a reason.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There’s a sense of optimism in Abdul’s voice and the Afrobeats-inspired production by Illmind, a legendary beatmaker who’s worked with J. Cole, Drake, KRS-One and other musical greats. He calls Abdul a “rapper’s rapper,” but it’s not just his technical skills Illmind finds impressive.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://youtu.be/tP21mhmpQOQ?si=Y7cNfHebgZzGYG0K\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I love that he approaches music from an emotional place,” Illmind says. “There aren’t too many rappers that actually do that, or actually care.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“And it is very important. It’s very heavy, you know? On top of the responsibility that he has, he’s also still a kid,” Illmind adds. “So I think the best is yet to come.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Continuing a legacy in Palestinian hip-hop\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Across \u003cem>Day by Day, Shway Shway\u003c/em>’s nine tracks, MC Abdul undertakes a hero’s journey from the rubble of Gaza to the upper echelons of the music industry, including performing with his heroes at Rolling Loud and taking the stage at the United Nations headquarters in New York. (“Roll in Uncle Fred’s Range / He took me to see Uncle Snoop,” he raps on “Is It Real? (Part 2).”) \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s a story born from some of the most difficult conditions in the world. The track “Zanana” takes its name from the term Gazans use for the buzzing sound of Israeli drones, hovering above at all hours. Over the somber strum of an oud and tension-filled violins, MC Abdul turns that buzz into a metaphor for the flashbacks and nightmares that still haunt him. He turns that pain into defiance. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This for the ones that never made it / Tunnel vision while we dream chasin’,” he raps. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time Palestinian artists have used hip-hop to convey what it’s like to be a young person living under military siege and occupation, and to portray Palestinian people with dignity amid dehumanizing narratives and stereotypes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The executive producer of \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway\u003c/em>, Suhel Nafar, is in many ways Abdul’s hip-hop predecessor. Before being appointed as the head of the West Asia and North Africa division at EMPIRE, Nafar was a member of DAM, an early Palestinian hip-hop group. In the early 2000s, DAM’s song “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/fR1jCY-i5fc?si=cNief72sx4d1a-dD\">Meen Imhabi?\u003c/a>” (“Who’s the Terrorist?”) became a rallying cry against the Israeli government’s treatment of his people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the dawn of the social media era, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2008/04/10/89521675/rapping-about-land-and-identity\">DAM and other Palestinian groups\u003c/a> used Arabic lyrics to unite Palestinian youth from the occupied territories and the diaspora. Rapping in English, MC Abdul now carries the torch and shares what it’s like to grow up in Gaza with an international audience.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul (left) and Suhel Nafar chat before Abdul records at EMPIRE’s studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“Naive me, young me, believed my music and art can change the world, but it hasn’t,” Nafar says. “To keep it realistic, music won’t stand in front of apartheid or in front of a weapon, but it \u003cem>will\u003c/em> create a new generation that will stand against the oppressor.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nafar, who was the music supervisor on the hit Palestinian American Netflix series \u003cem>Mo\u003c/em>, overcame enormous challenges himself to get to his position. “When I started, Palestine was only in the news. It wasn’t in the streets like it is right now,” he says. “And we had a lot of shows getting canceled. In my touring days, we had people attacking us. We had Israeli police coming and stopping the sound.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He’s taken wisdom from those hardships and channeled it into MC Abdul’s flourishment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As Palestinian artists face barriers to the rest of the world, American artists who’ve expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza have also faced censorship. Just recently, Macklemore — who featured MC Abdul on his song “Hind’s Hall” — was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour after saying “Free Palestine” on stage because billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c64gvqg0k27po\">took issue with his message\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Does this scare MC Abdul? He says no. He doesn’t see what he’s doing as political; he’s a talented young man sharing his experience of a childhood in the shadow of a highly polarizing war, siege and occupation. \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway \u003c/em>is his story. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Music to me is all about staying true to yourself,” MC Abdul says. “I’m all about authenticity. If I’m afraid to speak about something, I shouldn’t be doing this in the first place.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MC Abdul’s ‘Day by Day, Shway Shway’ is out on all platforms on Oct. 16. MC Abdul performs at \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/47th-palestine-culture-day-tickets-2002313750328\">Palestine Culture Day\u003c/a> in Redwood City on Oct. 17. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UPDATE:\u003c/em> \u003cem>This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the military restrictions on Gaza during Abdul’s childhood.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>His journey began when he was 11 years old, after he uploaded a \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mcabdulofficial/videos/mc-abdul-his-friends-at-school/675927073361010/\">video of himself rapping at his school in Gaza\u003c/a>. His verse, in self-taught English and full of hope that even the most dangerous environment couldn’t extinguish, went viral. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>His journey began when he was 11 years old, after he uploaded a \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mcabdulofficial/videos/mc-abdul-his-friends-at-school/675927073361010/\">video of himself rapping at his school in Gaza\u003c/a>. His verse, in self-taught English and full of hope that even the most dangerous environment couldn’t extinguish, went viral. \u003c/p>\n"
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"\n\u003cp>The baby-faced kid with determination in his eyes soon caught the attention of Ghazi, the Palestinian American founder of powerhouse San Francisco record label EMPIRE. MC Abdul signed a record deal in 2020, and EMPIRE began the process of bringing him to the U.S., where the young prodigy could devote himself to his art — and, more importantly, live somewhere safe. \u003c/p>\n"
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"\n\u003cp>Now 18, MC Abdul has lived one of the wildest tales imaginable of a hip-hop come-up, and he’s ready to share it with the world. Those three words from his first thoughts on U.S. soil — “Is it real?” — open his debut album, \u003cem>Day by Day, Shway Shway\u003c/em>, out Oct. 16.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Abdul spent his childhood in a refugee camp on the Mediterranean coast, where Israeli bombs turned neighborhoods into rubble and military drones hovered constantly overhead. In the three years he’s been in California, he’s performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, and received cosigns from hip-hop royalty. Even as he’s reached goals he once could only dream of, at times he’s felt helpless, separated from his family and watching the destruction of his people from thousands of miles away.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Abdul spent his childhood in a refugee camp on the Mediterranean coast, where Israeli bombs turned neighborhoods into rubble and military drones hovered constantly overhead. In the three years he’s been in California, he’s performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, and received cosigns from hip-hop royalty. Even as he’s reached goals he once could only dream of, at times he’s felt helpless, separated from his family and watching the destruction of his people from thousands of miles away.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Amid the pain, MC Abdul has steeled himself with a strong sense of purpose: to tell his story for the more than two million people still living in Gaza. With \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway,\u003c/em> he continues a Palestinian legacy of using hip-hop to call for peace and build solidarity.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Since the moment I left Gaza, I was like, ‘This has to be an album,’” MC Abdul tells KQED. “This is an insane story, and I want people to know what happened.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>These days, it’s difficult to come to the States \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/12/g-s1-65451/international-musicians-tours-visa-issues-border-patrol\">as an international artist\u003c/a> no matter where you’re from. But when you’re from Gaza, there’s an enormous amount of additional hurdles. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Even before Israel’s increased bombardment of Gaza over the past three years, a land, sea and air blockade made it nearly impossible for Palestinians to leave for any reason, even to seek medical care. Abdul waited for three years to get the proper permits to board a bus for Jerusalem to apply for his U.S. visa. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During those years of waiting, Abdul perfected his English by rapping along to songs by Eminem, Tupac and Nas. He kept filming music videos that showed his life as a regular kid, living among war and destruction. “I’ve always shot these videos [in] neighborhoods around me that were getting bombed. AndI would just take my speaker — sometimes I would risk my life. I would go outside and just film it and post it,” MC Abdul says.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>During those years of waiting, Abdul perfected his English by rapping along to songs by Eminem, Tupac and Nas. He kept filming music videos that showed his life as a regular kid, living among war and destruction. “I’ve always shot these videos [in] neighborhoods around me that were getting bombed. AndI would just take my speaker — sometimes I would risk my life. I would go outside and just film it and post it,” MC Abdul says.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://youtu.be/l8qay1Al7Dc?si=t6qFlhlseD_e3onG\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>His clips caught the attention of hip-hop legends like DJ Premier, Fat Joe and Kool G Rap, and eventually he amassed more than a million followers on Instagram. “And a lot of people liked what I posted,” he says. “That’s when it kind of felt more of a responsibility, basically.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>His clips caught the attention of hip-hop legends like DJ Premier, Fat Joe and Kool G Rap, and eventually he amassed more than a million followers on Instagram. “And a lot of people liked what I posted,” he says. “That’s when it kind of felt more of a responsibility, basically.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>MC Abdul thought he’d be here for a month to work on his album and play his first-ever U.S. show: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934383/palestine-cultural-day-foster-city\">Palestine Day in Foster City\u003c/a>, where he performed in front of tens of thousands of fans from the diaspora. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But on Oct. 7 of that year, Hamas militants broke through the border wall into Israel and killed 1,200 Israelis, prompting Israel to unleash a full-scale war on Gaza that has since left an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/7/three-years-of-israels-genocide-in-gaza-in-numbers\">74,000 Palestinians dead and 175,000 wounded, with 94% of hospitals and clinics destroyed or damaged\u003c/a>. An \u003ca href=\"https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167790\">independent United Nations commission\u003c/a>, the human rights organization \u003ca href=\"https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/\">Amnesty International\u003c/a> and even some \u003ca href=\"https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20250728_our_genocide\">Israeli human rights groups\u003c/a> have characterized Israel’s actions as genocide, a charge its government denies. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But on Oct. 7 of that year, Hamas militants broke through the border wall into Israel and killed 1,200 Israelis, prompting Israel to unleash a full-scale war on Gaza that has since left an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/7/three-years-of-israels-genocide-in-gaza-in-numbers\">74,000 Palestinians dead and 175,000 wounded, with 94% of hospitals and clinics destroyed or damaged\u003c/a>. An \u003ca href=\"https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167790\">independent United Nations commission\u003c/a>, the human rights organization \u003ca href=\"https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/\">Amnesty International\u003c/a> and even some \u003ca href=\"https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20250728_our_genocide\">Israeli human rights groups\u003c/a> have characterized Israel’s actions as genocide, a charge its government denies. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It was so many sleepless nights that I had during the process of trying to get [my mom and siblings] out, trying to reach out to them to make sure that they’re still alive,” he says. Dozens of his relatives didn’t survive. “During the process, … I lost 81 people all in one day.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It was so many sleepless nights that I had during the process of trying to get [my mom and siblings] out, trying to reach out to them to make sure that they’re still alive,” he says. Dozens of his relatives didn’t survive. “During the process, … I lost 81 people all in one day.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The studios in Gaza where MC Abdul recorded his earliest music, and the friends who filmed his first videos, are also gone. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994693\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul (left) and Suhel Nafar pose for a photo at EMPIRE’s recording studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. Nafar, who heads EMPIRE’s West Asia and North Africa division, served as executive producer of the 18-year-old Palestinian rapper’s debut album, Day By Day, Shway Shway.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Then it’s time to lock in. OSA teacher Cava Menzies strikes the opening piano chords of “Missing Home,” and the students’ voices swell, buoying MC Abdul as he rides the beat to deliver melodic bars about the pain of being separated from his family: “Moving with some urgency / Like it’s an emergency / It’s cuttin’ deep like surgery / Hurts like burns to the third degree.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994695\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul prepares to record with the Oakland School for the Arts choir at EMPIRE’s recording studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“My last memory of being there was saying goodbye to my grandma, who gave me a couple prayer beads that I still have to this day,” he says. “I always keep it on me to keep going, and use it as motivation to never stop.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As he saw report after report of Israeli bombings, he’d sometimes go days without hearing from his family. He’d also lock himself in his hotel room for long periods of time. Survivor’s guilt plagued him. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve to eat, because people back home didn’t have food. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He even wondered if he should go back to Gaza.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I had people around me telling me, like, ‘Bro, you came out here a month before [Oct. 7] happened, and it took three years for you to get your visa,’” he remembers. “‘Like, that must be like a sign from God that you’re out here to continue to chase your dreams.’”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While he couldn’t focus on writing music, he kept journals that later became the basis for his lyrics on the album. “Shway Shway,” an Arabic saying of patience that means “day by day” or “step by step,” became a mantra. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>While he couldn’t focus on writing music, he kept journals that later became the basis for his lyrics on the album. “Shway Shway,” an Arabic saying of patience that means “day by day” or “step by step,” became a mantra. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On the album’s title track, he addresses kids in violent circumstances around the world — whether in Gaza or America’s inner cities — who’ve been forced to skip childhood and grow up too fast. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On the album’s title track, he addresses kids in violent circumstances around the world — whether in Gaza or America’s inner cities — who’ve been forced to skip childhood and grow up too fast. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I know it’s easier said than done, but I was just trying to give hope to anybody that’s listening to it, to take things day by day,” MC Abdul reflects. “If you’re stressing about something, try to be as calm as possible. Remember that everything happens for a reason.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>There’s a sense of optimism in Abdul’s voice and the Afrobeats-inspired production by Illmind, a legendary beatmaker who’s worked with J. Cole, Drake, KRS-One and other musical greats. He calls Abdul a “rapper’s rapper,” but it’s not just his technical skills Illmind finds impressive.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I love that he approaches music from an emotional place,” Illmind says. “There aren’t too many rappers that actually do that, or actually care.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“And it is very important. It’s very heavy, you know? On top of the responsibility that he has, he’s also still a kid,” Illmind adds. “So I think the best is yet to come.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"text": "Continuing a legacy in Palestinian hip-hop",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Continuing a legacy in Palestinian hip-hop\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Across \u003cem>Day by Day, Shway Shway\u003c/em>’s nine tracks, MC Abdul undertakes a hero’s journey from the rubble of Gaza to the upper echelons of the music industry, including performing with his heroes at Rolling Loud and taking the stage at the United Nations headquarters in New York. (“Roll in Uncle Fred’s Range / He took me to see Uncle Snoop,” he raps on “Is It Real? (Part 2).”) \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Across \u003cem>Day by Day, Shway Shway\u003c/em>’s nine tracks, MC Abdul undertakes a hero’s journey from the rubble of Gaza to the upper echelons of the music industry, including performing with his heroes at Rolling Loud and taking the stage at the United Nations headquarters in New York. (“Roll in Uncle Fred’s Range / He took me to see Uncle Snoop,” he raps on “Is It Real? (Part 2).”) \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s a story born from some of the most difficult conditions in the world. The track “Zanana” takes its name from the term Gazans use for the buzzing sound of Israeli drones, hovering above at all hours. Over the somber strum of an oud and tension-filled violins, MC Abdul turns that buzz into a metaphor for the flashbacks and nightmares that still haunt him. He turns that pain into defiance. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>It’s a story born from some of the most difficult conditions in the world. The track “Zanana” takes its name from the term Gazans use for the buzzing sound of Israeli drones, hovering above at all hours. Over the somber strum of an oud and tension-filled violins, MC Abdul turns that buzz into a metaphor for the flashbacks and nightmares that still haunt him. He turns that pain into defiance. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This for the ones that never made it / Tunnel vision while we dream chasin’,” he raps. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time Palestinian artists have used hip-hop to convey what it’s like to be a young person living under military siege and occupation, and to portray Palestinian people with dignity amid dehumanizing narratives and stereotypes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The executive producer of \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway\u003c/em>, Suhel Nafar, is in many ways Abdul’s hip-hop predecessor. Before being appointed as the head of the West Asia and North Africa division at EMPIRE, Nafar was a member of DAM, an early Palestinian hip-hop group. In the early 2000s, DAM’s song “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/fR1jCY-i5fc?si=cNief72sx4d1a-dD\">Meen Imhabi?\u003c/a>” (“Who’s the Terrorist?”) became a rallying cry against the Israeli government’s treatment of his people. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The executive producer of \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway\u003c/em>, Suhel Nafar, is in many ways Abdul’s hip-hop predecessor. Before being appointed as the head of the West Asia and North Africa division at EMPIRE, Nafar was a member of DAM, an early Palestinian hip-hop group. In the early 2000s, DAM’s song “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/fR1jCY-i5fc?si=cNief72sx4d1a-dD\">Meen Imhabi?\u003c/a>” (“Who’s the Terrorist?”) became a rallying cry against the Israeli government’s treatment of his people. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At the dawn of the social media era, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2008/04/10/89521675/rapping-about-land-and-identity\">DAM and other Palestinian groups\u003c/a> used Arabic lyrics to unite Palestinian youth from the occupied territories and the diaspora. Rapping in English, MC Abdul now carries the torch and shares what it’s like to grow up in Gaza with an international audience.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At the dawn of the social media era, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2008/04/10/89521675/rapping-about-land-and-identity\">DAM and other Palestinian groups\u003c/a> used Arabic lyrics to unite Palestinian youth from the occupied territories and the diaspora. Rapping in English, MC Abdul now carries the torch and shares what it’s like to grow up in Gaza with an international audience.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul (left) and Suhel Nafar chat before Abdul records at EMPIRE’s studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994691\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul (left) and Suhel Nafar chat before Abdul records at EMPIRE’s studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Naive me, young me, believed my music and art can change the world, but it hasn’t,” Nafar says. “To keep it realistic, music won’t stand in front of apartheid or in front of a weapon, but it \u003cem>will\u003c/em> create a new generation that will stand against the oppressor.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Naive me, young me, believed my music and art can change the world, but it hasn’t,” Nafar says. “To keep it realistic, music won’t stand in front of apartheid or in front of a weapon, but it \u003cem>will\u003c/em> create a new generation that will stand against the oppressor.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nafar, who was the music supervisor on the hit Palestinian American Netflix series \u003cem>Mo\u003c/em>, overcame enormous challenges himself to get to his position. “When I started, Palestine was only in the news. It wasn’t in the streets like it is right now,” he says. “And we had a lot of shows getting canceled. In my touring days, we had people attacking us. We had Israeli police coming and stopping the sound.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nafar, who was the music supervisor on the hit Palestinian American Netflix series \u003cem>Mo\u003c/em>, overcame enormous challenges himself to get to his position. “When I started, Palestine was only in the news. It wasn’t in the streets like it is right now,” he says. “And we had a lot of shows getting canceled. In my touring days, we had people attacking us. We had Israeli police coming and stopping the sound.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As Palestinian artists face barriers to the rest of the world, American artists who’ve expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza have also faced censorship. Just recently, Macklemore — who featured MC Abdul on his song “Hind’s Hall” — was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour after saying “Free Palestine” on stage because billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c64gvqg0k27po\">took issue with his message\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As Palestinian artists face barriers to the rest of the world, American artists who’ve expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza have also faced censorship. Just recently, Macklemore — who featured MC Abdul on his song “Hind’s Hall” — was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour after saying “Free Palestine” on stage because billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c64gvqg0k27po\">took issue with his message\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Does this scare MC Abdul? He says no. He doesn’t see what he’s doing as political; he’s a talented young man sharing his experience of a childhood in the shadow of a highly polarizing war, siege and occupation. \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway \u003c/em>is his story. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Does this scare MC Abdul? He says no. He doesn’t see what he’s doing as political; he’s a talented young man sharing his experience of a childhood in the shadow of a highly polarizing war, siege and occupation. \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway \u003c/em>is his story. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Music to me is all about staying true to yourself,” MC Abdul says. “I’m all about authenticity. If I’m afraid to speak about something, I shouldn’t be doing this in the first place.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Music to me is all about staying true to yourself,” MC Abdul says. “I’m all about authenticity. If I’m afraid to speak about something, I shouldn’t be doing this in the first place.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MC Abdul’s ‘Day by Day, Shway Shway’ is out on all platforms on Oct. 16. MC Abdul performs at \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/47th-palestine-culture-day-tickets-2002313750328\">Palestine Culture Day\u003c/a> in Redwood City on Oct. 17. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MC Abdul’s ‘Day by Day, Shway Shway’ is out on all platforms on Oct. 16. MC Abdul performs at \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/47th-palestine-culture-day-tickets-2002313750328\">Palestine Culture Day\u003c/a> in Redwood City on Oct. 17. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UPDATE:\u003c/em> \u003cem>This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the military restrictions on Gaza during Abdul’s childhood.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UPDATE:\u003c/em> \u003cem>This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the military restrictions on Gaza during Abdul’s childhood.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "The 18-year-old prodigy, now based in the Bay Area, tells stories of growing up under siege on his new album.",
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"title": "How Palestinian Rapper MC Abdul Rose from Gaza’s Refugee Camps to the World Stage | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>“Is it real?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That’s the question MC Abdul kept asking himself when he arrived in San Francisco three years ago. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>His journey began when he was 11 years old, after he uploaded a \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/mcabdulofficial/videos/mc-abdul-his-friends-at-school/675927073361010/\">video of himself rapping at his school in Gaza\u003c/a>. His verse, in self-taught English and full of hope that even the most dangerous environment couldn’t extinguish, went viral. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The baby-faced kid with determination in his eyes soon caught the attention of Ghazi, the Palestinian American founder of powerhouse San Francisco record label EMPIRE. MC Abdul signed a record deal in 2020, and EMPIRE began the process of bringing him to the U.S., where the young prodigy could devote himself to his art — and, more importantly, live somewhere safe. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Now 18, MC Abdul has lived one of the wildest tales imaginable of a hip-hop come-up, and he’s ready to share it with the world. Those three words from his first thoughts on U.S. soil — “Is it real?” — open his debut album, \u003cem>Day by Day, Shway Shway\u003c/em>, out Oct. 16.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Abdul spent his childhood in a refugee camp on the Mediterranean coast, where Israeli bombs turned neighborhoods into rubble and military drones hovered constantly overhead. In the three years he’s been in California, he’s performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, and received cosigns from hip-hop royalty. Even as he’s reached goals he once could only dream of, at times he’s felt helpless, separated from his family and watching the destruction of his people from thousands of miles away.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amid the pain, MC Abdul has steeled himself with a strong sense of purpose: to tell his story for the more than two million people still living in Gaza. With \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway,\u003c/em> he continues a Palestinian legacy of using hip-hop to call for peace and build solidarity.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Since the moment I left Gaza, I was like, ‘This has to be an album,’” MC Abdul tells KQED. “This is an insane story, and I want people to know what happened.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/yvvMB_2EQ4I'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/yvvMB_2EQ4I'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>A journey out of Gaza\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>These days, it’s difficult to come to the States \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/12/g-s1-65451/international-musicians-tours-visa-issues-border-patrol\">as an international artist\u003c/a> no matter where you’re from. But when you’re from Gaza, there’s an enormous amount of additional hurdles. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Even before Israel’s increased bombardment of Gaza over the past three years, a land, sea and air blockade made it nearly impossible for Palestinians to leave for any reason, even to seek medical care. Abdul waited for three years to get the proper permits to board a bus for Jerusalem to apply for his U.S. visa. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During those years of waiting, Abdul perfected his English by rapping along to songs by Eminem, Tupac and Nas. He kept filming music videos that showed his life as a regular kid, living among war and destruction. “I’ve always shot these videos [in] neighborhoods around me that were getting bombed. AndI would just take my speaker — sometimes I would risk my life. I would go outside and just film it and post it,” MC Abdul says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/l8qay1Al7Dc'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/l8qay1Al7Dc'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>His clips caught the attention of hip-hop legends like DJ Premier, Fat Joe and Kool G Rap, and eventually he amassed more than a million followers on Instagram. “And a lot of people liked what I posted,” he says. “That’s when it kind of felt more of a responsibility, basically.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>When he was 14, he and his father finally secured the paperwork needed to cross the border into Egypt and board a plane to the Bay Area. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>MC Abdul thought he’d be here for a month to work on his album and play his first-ever U.S. show: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13934383/palestine-cultural-day-foster-city\">Palestine Day in Foster City\u003c/a>, where he performed in front of tens of thousands of fans from the diaspora. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But on Oct. 7 of that year, Hamas militants broke through the border wall into Israel and killed 1,200 Israelis, prompting Israel to unleash a full-scale war on Gaza that has since left an estimated \u003ca href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/7/three-years-of-israels-genocide-in-gaza-in-numbers\">74,000 Palestinians dead and 175,000 wounded, with 94% of hospitals and clinics destroyed or damaged\u003c/a>. An \u003ca href=\"https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167790\">independent United Nations commission\u003c/a>, the human rights organization \u003ca href=\"https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/\">Amnesty International\u003c/a> and even some \u003ca href=\"https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20250728_our_genocide\">Israeli human rights groups\u003c/a> have characterized Israel’s actions as genocide, a charge its government denies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For five months, MC Abdul was separated from his mother and siblings, not knowing if they were alive. After he located them, it was only because of his talent, and his record deal, that he was able to bring his immediate family to the U.S. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It was so many sleepless nights that I had during the process of trying to get [my mom and siblings] out, trying to reach out to them to make sure that they’re still alive,” he says. Dozens of his relatives didn’t survive. “During the process, … I lost 81 people all in one day.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The studios in Gaza where MC Abdul recorded his earliest music, and the friends who filmed his first videos, are also gone. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994693\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-12-BL-KQED-500638b4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul (left) and Suhel Nafar pose for a photo at EMPIRE’s recording studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. Nafar, who heads EMPIRE’s West Asia and North Africa division, served as executive producer of the 18-year-old Palestinian rapper’s debut album, Day By Day, Shway Shway. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Turning pain into purpose\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On a recent afternoon at EMPIRE’s sleek San Francisco studio, it’s all eyes on MC Abdul. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A busload of singers has just arrived from Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) to record choral versions of “Shway Shway,” the optimistic title track from his new album, and the more reflective, melancholy “Missing Home.” Abdul is in a good mood, geeking out about seeing Playboy Carti bring out Ye at ComplexCon — “I was like, ‘I’m fine if I leave this earth now.’ … Nah, not yet, we still gotta drop the album” — and excitedly telling the OSA students about the selection of 2K games in the studio upstairs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then it’s time to lock in. OSA teacher Cava Menzies strikes the opening piano chords of “Missing Home,” and the students’ voices swell, buoying MC Abdul as he rides the beat to deliver melodic bars about the pain of being separated from his family: “Moving with some urgency / Like it’s an emergency / It’s cuttin’ deep like surgery / Hurts like burns to the third degree.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994695\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-16-BL-KQED-5ccd2aea-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul prepares to record with the Oakland School for the Arts choir at EMPIRE’s recording studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>When we sit down in the studio’s control room, MC Abdul opens up about the emotional toll of coming to the U.S. with his dad while his mom and four younger siblings stayed behind.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My last memory of being there was saying goodbye to my grandma, who gave me a couple prayer beads that I still have to this day,” he says. “I always keep it on me to keep going, and use it as motivation to never stop.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As he saw report after report of Israeli bombings, he’d sometimes go days without hearing from his family. He’d also lock himself in his hotel room for long periods of time. Survivor’s guilt plagued him. Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve to eat, because people back home didn’t have food. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He even wondered if he should go back to Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I had people around me telling me, like, ‘Bro, you came out here a month before [Oct. 7] happened, and it took three years for you to get your visa,’” he remembers. “‘Like, that must be like a sign from God that you’re out here to continue to chase your dreams.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>While he couldn’t focus on writing music, he kept journals that later became the basis for his lyrics on the album. “Shway Shway,” an Arabic saying of patience that means “day by day” or “step by step,” became a mantra. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the album’s title track, he addresses kids in violent circumstances around the world — whether in Gaza or America’s inner cities — who’ve been forced to skip childhood and grow up too fast. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I know it’s easier said than done, but I was just trying to give hope to anybody that’s listening to it, to take things day by day,” MC Abdul reflects. “If you’re stressing about something, try to be as calm as possible. Remember that everything happens for a reason.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>There’s a sense of optimism in Abdul’s voice and the Afrobeats-inspired production by Illmind, a legendary beatmaker who’s worked with J. Cole, Drake, KRS-One and other musical greats. He calls Abdul a “rapper’s rapper,” but it’s not just his technical skills Illmind finds impressive.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/tP21mhmpQOQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/tP21mhmpQOQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I love that he approaches music from an emotional place,” Illmind says. “There aren’t too many rappers that actually do that, or actually care.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“And it is very important. It’s very heavy, you know? On top of the responsibility that he has, he’s also still a kid,” Illmind adds. “So I think the best is yet to come.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Continuing a legacy in Palestinian hip-hop\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Across \u003cem>Day by Day, Shway Shway\u003c/em>’s nine tracks, MC Abdul undertakes a hero’s journey from the rubble of Gaza to the upper echelons of the music industry, including performing with his heroes at Rolling Loud and taking the stage at the United Nations headquarters in New York. (“Roll in Uncle Fred’s Range / He took me to see Uncle Snoop,” he raps on “Is It Real? (Part 2).”) \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s a story born from some of the most difficult conditions in the world. The track “Zanana” takes its name from the term Gazans use for the buzzing sound of Israeli drones, hovering above at all hours. Over the somber strum of an oud and tension-filled violins, MC Abdul turns that buzz into a metaphor for the flashbacks and nightmares that still haunt him. He turns that pain into defiance. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This for the ones that never made it / Tunnel vision while we dream chasin’,” he raps. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s not the first time Palestinian artists have used hip-hop to convey what it’s like to be a young person living under military siege and occupation, and to portray Palestinian people with dignity amid dehumanizing narratives and stereotypes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The executive producer of \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway\u003c/em>, Suhel Nafar, is in many ways Abdul’s hip-hop predecessor. Before being appointed as the head of the West Asia and North Africa division at EMPIRE, Nafar was a member of DAM, an early Palestinian hip-hop group. In the early 2000s, DAM’s song “\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/fR1jCY-i5fc?si=cNief72sx4d1a-dD\">Meen Imhabi?\u003c/a>” (“Who’s the Terrorist?”) became a rallying cry against the Israeli government’s treatment of his people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the dawn of the social media era, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2008/04/10/89521675/rapping-about-land-and-identity\">DAM and other Palestinian groups\u003c/a> used Arabic lyrics to unite Palestinian youth from the occupied territories and the diaspora. Rapping in English, MC Abdul now carries the torch and shares what it’s like to grow up in Gaza with an international audience.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994691\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261012-MCAbdul-05-BL-KQED-c29f15f6-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">MC Abdul (left) and Suhel Nafar chat before Abdul records at EMPIRE’s studio in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>“Naive me, young me, believed my music and art can change the world, but it hasn’t,” Nafar says. “To keep it realistic, music won’t stand in front of apartheid or in front of a weapon, but it \u003cem>will\u003c/em> create a new generation that will stand against the oppressor.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nafar, who was the music supervisor on the hit Palestinian American Netflix series \u003cem>Mo\u003c/em>, overcame enormous challenges himself to get to his position. “When I started, Palestine was only in the news. It wasn’t in the streets like it is right now,” he says. “And we had a lot of shows getting canceled. In my touring days, we had people attacking us. We had Israeli police coming and stopping the sound.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He’s taken wisdom from those hardships and channeled it into MC Abdul’s flourishment. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As Palestinian artists face barriers to the rest of the world, American artists who’ve expressed solidarity with the people of Gaza have also faced censorship. Just recently, Macklemore — who featured MC Abdul on his song “Hind’s Hall” — was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour after saying “Free Palestine” on stage because billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft \u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c64gvqg0k27po\">took issue with his message\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Does this scare MC Abdul? He says no. He doesn’t see what he’s doing as political; he’s a talented young man sharing his experience of a childhood in the shadow of a highly polarizing war, siege and occupation. \u003cem>Day by Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Shway Shway \u003c/em>is his story. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Music to me is all about staying true to yourself,” MC Abdul says. “I’m all about authenticity. If I’m afraid to speak about something, I shouldn’t be doing this in the first place.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>MC Abdul’s ‘Day by Day, Shway Shway’ is out on all platforms on Oct. 16. MC Abdul performs at \u003ca href=\"https://www.eventbrite.com/e/47th-palestine-culture-day-tickets-2002313750328\">Palestine Culture Day\u003c/a> in Redwood City on Oct. 17. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UPDATE:\u003c/em> \u003cem>This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the military restrictions on Gaza during Abdul’s childhood.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "oakland-public-conservatory-music-20-year-anniversary",
"title": "For 20 Years, Threads of Black American Music Have Converged Here",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>It’s Halloween season, when some people dress up like skeletons, ghosts or witches. But when picking her costume, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930747/liner-notes-dr-angela-wellman-and-music-of-the-highest-order\">Dr. Angela Wellman\u003c/a> isn’t like most people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I could be Angélique Kidjo,” says the founder and CEO of the \u003ca href=\"https://opcclasses.squarespace.com/\">Oakland Public Conservatory of Music\u003c/a> (OPC). “Or I could be Abbey Lincoln.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wellman’s music center in downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> is gearing up for for a 20th anniversary gala on Oct. 24, with awards, multiple floors of entertainment, rooms in full decor and sounds from around the world. Attendees have been asked to dress up as their favorite musicians, and Wellman’s still deciding what to wear. (Tracking down an “\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=abbey+lincoln+hats&sca_esv=074237d04407bddc&udm=2&biw=1405&bih=717&sxsrf=APpeQnsdo3k2M5ubMKQz8MU8iZQaITZwng%3A1791916550740&ei=BnrOatjSLMqNm9cP3OaWyAM&ved=2ahUKEwjY7eSr0beXAxXKxuYEHVyzBTkQ4dUDegQIBhAN&uact=5&oq=abbey+lincoln+hats&gs_lp=Egtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZyISYWJiZXkgbGluY29sbiBoYXRzSLcEUABYAHABeACQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQPIAQCYAgCgAgCYAwCIBgGSBwCgBwCyBwC4BwDCBwDIBwCACAE&sclient=gws-wiz-img\">Abbey Lincoln hat\u003c/a>” could be the deciding factor).\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She knows one thing, though: while fun, the costume invitation is also an extension of OPC’s ethos.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1706\" height=\"2560\" data-id=\"13994406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994406\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-scaled.jpeg 1706w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-160x240.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-1365x2048.jpeg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1706px) 100vw, 1706px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dr. Angela Wellman, founder and CEO of the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music. (Courtesy Angela Wellman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"809\" height=\"794\" data-id=\"13930819\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Angela Wellman looks directly into the camera as she plays her trombone.\" class=\"wp-image-13930819\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down.jpg 809w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down-800x785.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down-160x157.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down-768x754.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 809px) 100vw, 809px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dr. Angela Wellman plays her trombone. (Via Dr. Angela Wellman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s really about lifting up the legacy of our music,” says Wellman, “particularly Black music that was created post-Atlantic slave trade.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Dressing as an artist who influenced you, Wellman tells me, is an opportunity to reflect on how “the people that make the music really matter in our lives.” That includes those in the ancestral realm as well as “somebody who you’re rocking with right now.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Giving proper respect to “the now” is a core tenet for the OPC, which offers workshops and classes for growing musicians. The organization regularly invites established artists passing through the Bay Area to perform at their facility and speak to the students. Those interactions provide the students with an “understanding of whose shoulders they’re standing on,” says Wellman.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Often these visits are interactive. Acclaimed trumpeter \u003ca href=\"https://www.etiennecharles.com/home\">Etienne Charles\u003c/a>’ visit started with a workshop in the main studio, and then spilled out into the street as the students joined Charles in a New Orleans-style parade, with everyone playing. “We did a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13830289/jubilation-fills-the-streets-on-new-orleans-second-line\">second line\u003c/a> down the street,” Wellman says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1632\" height=\"1224\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994717\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee.jpg 1632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1632px) 100vw, 1632px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dr. Angela Wellman and Steve Turre, center, pose with students at the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s 10th’s anniversary gala. (Courtesy OPC)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Past guests include jazz vocalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.melaniecharles.com/\">Melanie Charles\u003c/a>, Afro-Peruvian artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cotitomedrano/?hl=en\">Juan Medrano Cotito\u003c/a>, Golden State Warriors DJ and hip-hop producer \u003ca href=\"https://djdsharp.co/\">DJ D Sharp\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Special guests for the 20th anniversary include trombonist \u003ca href=\"http://steveturre.com\">Steve Turre\u003c/a>, a longtime member of the Saturday Night Live Band, and classical composer \u003ca href=\"https://marydwatkins.com/\">Mary Watkins\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Watkins, 87, is an unsung hero, Wellman attests. Watkins has composed three operas, four solo albums and scores for over 20 films and TV shows (including KQED’s \u003cem>Different Colors\u003c/em>). The former music director for San Francisco’s Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Watkins’ work has been presented locally at the Oakland Opera Theater, and nationally at venues like the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institute.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“She’s a prolific composer and pianist,” Wellman says of Watkins, “so we’re giving her a lifetime achievement award.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Steve Turre will also be honored at OPC’s event.\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7FYSVmrzOY\"> A sacred seashell instrumentalist\u003c/a> in addition to being a renowned trombonist, Turre will perform alongside some star alums of OPC, including trombonist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jasimperales/?hl=en\">Jasim Perales\u003c/a>, bassist \u003ca href=\"https://www.aminascott.com/\">Amina Scott\u003c/a> and drummer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ayindewebb/\">Ayinde Webb\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Now they’re out there in the world,” Wellman says of the graduates, “doing what we supply the space to train young people to do.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The anniversary event will also be a chance to ruminate on the larger context of Black music in this country.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“When I think about the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music,” says Wellman, “I think of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/04/nx-s1-5779591/how-enslaved-traditions-in-new-orleans-congo-square-shaped-american-music-global-sound\">Congo Square\u003c/a>.” The site in New Orleans where the music that most people call “jazz” originated was a place for people of the African diaspora to commune, enjoy music and tap into the spirit, says Wellman. “As each group practiced, there was this cacophony of rich sounds and polyrhythms.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Expect OPC’s 20th anniversary event to tap into that same spirit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s 20th Anniversary and Gala takes place Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Oakland Science Academy (1515 Webster St., Oakland). \u003ca href=\"https://givebutter.com/c/opc20th\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wellman’s music center in downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> is gearing up for for a 20th anniversary gala on Oct. 24, with awards, multiple floors of entertainment, rooms in full decor and sounds from around the world. Attendees have been asked to dress up as their favorite musicians, and Wellman’s still deciding what to wear. (Tracking down an “\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=abbey+lincoln+hats&sca_esv=074237d04407bddc&udm=2&biw=1405&bih=717&sxsrf=APpeQnsdo3k2M5ubMKQz8MU8iZQaITZwng%3A1791916550740&ei=BnrOatjSLMqNm9cP3OaWyAM&ved=2ahUKEwjY7eSr0beXAxXKxuYEHVyzBTkQ4dUDegQIBhAN&uact=5&oq=abbey+lincoln+hats&gs_lp=Egtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZyISYWJiZXkgbGluY29sbiBoYXRzSLcEUABYAHABeACQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQPIAQCYAgCgAgCYAwCIBgGSBwCgBwCyBwC4BwDCBwDIBwCACAE&sclient=gws-wiz-img\">Abbey Lincoln hat\u003c/a>” could be the deciding factor).\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s really about lifting up the legacy of our music,” says Wellman, “particularly Black music that was created post-Atlantic slave trade.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Dressing as an artist who influenced you, Wellman tells me, is an opportunity to reflect on how “the people that make the music really matter in our lives.” That includes those in the ancestral realm as well as “somebody who you’re rocking with right now.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Dressing as an artist who influenced you, Wellman tells me, is an opportunity to reflect on how “the people that make the music really matter in our lives.” That includes those in the ancestral realm as well as “somebody who you’re rocking with right now.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Giving proper respect to “the now” is a core tenet for the OPC, which offers workshops and classes for growing musicians. The organization regularly invites established artists passing through the Bay Area to perform at their facility and speak to the students. Those interactions provide the students with an “understanding of whose shoulders they’re standing on,” says Wellman.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Giving proper respect to “the now” is a core tenet for the OPC, which offers workshops and classes for growing musicians. The organization regularly invites established artists passing through the Bay Area to perform at their facility and speak to the students. Those interactions provide the students with an “understanding of whose shoulders they’re standing on,” says Wellman.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Often these visits are interactive. Acclaimed trumpeter \u003ca href=\"https://www.etiennecharles.com/home\">Etienne Charles\u003c/a>’ visit started with a workshop in the main studio, and then spilled out into the street as the students joined Charles in a New Orleans-style parade, with everyone playing. “We did a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13830289/jubilation-fills-the-streets-on-new-orleans-second-line\">second line\u003c/a> down the street,” Wellman says.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Past guests include jazz vocalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.melaniecharles.com/\">Melanie Charles\u003c/a>, Afro-Peruvian artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cotitomedrano/?hl=en\">Juan Medrano Cotito\u003c/a>, Golden State Warriors DJ and hip-hop producer \u003ca href=\"https://djdsharp.co/\">DJ D Sharp\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Special guests for the 20th anniversary include trombonist \u003ca href=\"http://steveturre.com\">Steve Turre\u003c/a>, a longtime member of the Saturday Night Live Band, and classical composer \u003ca href=\"https://marydwatkins.com/\">Mary Watkins\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Watkins, 87, is an unsung hero, Wellman attests. Watkins has composed three operas, four solo albums and scores for over 20 films and TV shows (including KQED’s \u003cem>Different Colors\u003c/em>). The former music director for San Francisco’s Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Watkins’ work has been presented locally at the Oakland Opera Theater, and nationally at venues like the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institute.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Watkins, 87, is an unsung hero, Wellman attests. Watkins has composed three operas, four solo albums and scores for over 20 films and TV shows (including KQED’s \u003cem>Different Colors\u003c/em>). The former music director for San Francisco’s Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Watkins’ work has been presented locally at the Oakland Opera Theater, and nationally at venues like the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institute.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“She’s a prolific composer and pianist,” Wellman says of Watkins, “so we’re giving her a lifetime achievement award.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Steve Turre will also be honored at OPC’s event.\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7FYSVmrzOY\"> A sacred seashell instrumentalist\u003c/a> in addition to being a renowned trombonist, Turre will perform alongside some star alums of OPC, including trombonist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jasimperales/?hl=en\">Jasim Perales\u003c/a>, bassist \u003ca href=\"https://www.aminascott.com/\">Amina Scott\u003c/a> and drummer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ayindewebb/\">Ayinde Webb\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Now they’re out there in the world,” Wellman says of the graduates, “doing what we supply the space to train young people to do.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The anniversary event will also be a chance to ruminate on the larger context of Black music in this country.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“When I think about the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music,” says Wellman, “I think of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/04/nx-s1-5779591/how-enslaved-traditions-in-new-orleans-congo-square-shaped-american-music-global-sound\">Congo Square\u003c/a>.” The site in New Orleans where the music that most people call “jazz” originated was a place for people of the African diaspora to commune, enjoy music and tap into the spirit, says Wellman. “As each group practiced, there was this cacophony of rich sounds and polyrhythms.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Expect OPC’s 20th anniversary event to tap into that same spirit.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s 20th Anniversary and Gala takes place Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Oakland Science Academy (1515 Webster St., Oakland). \u003ca href=\"https://givebutter.com/c/opc20th\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>It’s Halloween season, when some people dress up like skeletons, ghosts or witches. But when picking her costume, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13930747/liner-notes-dr-angela-wellman-and-music-of-the-highest-order\">Dr. Angela Wellman\u003c/a> isn’t like most people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I could be Angélique Kidjo,” says the founder and CEO of the \u003ca href=\"https://opcclasses.squarespace.com/\">Oakland Public Conservatory of Music\u003c/a> (OPC). “Or I could be Abbey Lincoln.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wellman’s music center in downtown \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> is gearing up for for a 20th anniversary gala on Oct. 24, with awards, multiple floors of entertainment, rooms in full decor and sounds from around the world. Attendees have been asked to dress up as their favorite musicians, and Wellman’s still deciding what to wear. (Tracking down an “\u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/search?q=abbey+lincoln+hats&sca_esv=074237d04407bddc&udm=2&biw=1405&bih=717&sxsrf=APpeQnsdo3k2M5ubMKQz8MU8iZQaITZwng%3A1791916550740&ei=BnrOatjSLMqNm9cP3OaWyAM&ved=2ahUKEwjY7eSr0beXAxXKxuYEHVyzBTkQ4dUDegQIBhAN&uact=5&oq=abbey+lincoln+hats&gs_lp=Egtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZyISYWJiZXkgbGluY29sbiBoYXRzSLcEUABYAHABeACQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQPIAQCYAgCgAgCYAwCIBgGSBwCgBwCyBwC4BwDCBwDIBwCACAE&sclient=gws-wiz-img\">Abbey Lincoln hat\u003c/a>” could be the deciding factor).\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She knows one thing, though: while fun, the costume invitation is also an extension of OPC’s ethos.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1706\" height=\"2560\" data-id=\"13994406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994406\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-scaled.jpeg 1706w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-160x240.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Dr.-Angela-1365x2048.jpeg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1706px) 100vw, 1706px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dr. Angela Wellman, founder and CEO of the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music. (Courtesy Angela Wellman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"809\" height=\"794\" data-id=\"13930819\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Angela Wellman looks directly into the camera as she plays her trombone.\" class=\"wp-image-13930819\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down.jpg 809w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down-800x785.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down-160x157.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/06/AMW-bone-down-768x754.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 809px) 100vw, 809px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dr. Angela Wellman plays her trombone. (Via Dr. Angela Wellman)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s really about lifting up the legacy of our music,” says Wellman, “particularly Black music that was created post-Atlantic slave trade.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Dressing as an artist who influenced you, Wellman tells me, is an opportunity to reflect on how “the people that make the music really matter in our lives.” That includes those in the ancestral realm as well as “somebody who you’re rocking with right now.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Giving proper respect to “the now” is a core tenet for the OPC, which offers workshops and classes for growing musicians. The organization regularly invites established artists passing through the Bay Area to perform at their facility and speak to the students. Those interactions provide the students with an “understanding of whose shoulders they’re standing on,” says Wellman.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Often these visits are interactive. Acclaimed trumpeter \u003ca href=\"https://www.etiennecharles.com/home\">Etienne Charles\u003c/a>’ visit started with a workshop in the main studio, and then spilled out into the street as the students joined Charles in a New Orleans-style parade, with everyone playing. “We did a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13830289/jubilation-fills-the-streets-on-new-orleans-second-line\">second line\u003c/a> down the street,” Wellman says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1632\" height=\"1224\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994717\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee.jpg 1632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/Turre.Wellman-244716ee-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1632px) 100vw, 1632px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dr. Angela Wellman and Steve Turre, center, pose with students at the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s 10th’s anniversary gala. (Courtesy OPC)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Past guests include jazz vocalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.melaniecharles.com/\">Melanie Charles\u003c/a>, Afro-Peruvian artist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/cotitomedrano/?hl=en\">Juan Medrano Cotito\u003c/a>, Golden State Warriors DJ and hip-hop producer \u003ca href=\"https://djdsharp.co/\">DJ D Sharp\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Special guests for the 20th anniversary include trombonist \u003ca href=\"http://steveturre.com\">Steve Turre\u003c/a>, a longtime member of the Saturday Night Live Band, and classical composer \u003ca href=\"https://marydwatkins.com/\">Mary Watkins\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Watkins, 87, is an unsung hero, Wellman attests. Watkins has composed three operas, four solo albums and scores for over 20 films and TV shows (including KQED’s \u003cem>Different Colors\u003c/em>). The former music director for San Francisco’s Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Watkins’ work has been presented locally at the Oakland Opera Theater, and nationally at venues like the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian Institute.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“She’s a prolific composer and pianist,” Wellman says of Watkins, “so we’re giving her a lifetime achievement award.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Steve Turre will also be honored at OPC’s event.\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7FYSVmrzOY\"> A sacred seashell instrumentalist\u003c/a> in addition to being a renowned trombonist, Turre will perform alongside some star alums of OPC, including trombonist \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/jasimperales/?hl=en\">Jasim Perales\u003c/a>, bassist \u003ca href=\"https://www.aminascott.com/\">Amina Scott\u003c/a> and drummer \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/ayindewebb/\">Ayinde Webb\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Now they’re out there in the world,” Wellman says of the graduates, “doing what we supply the space to train young people to do.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The anniversary event will also be a chance to ruminate on the larger context of Black music in this country.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“When I think about the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music,” says Wellman, “I think of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/04/nx-s1-5779591/how-enslaved-traditions-in-new-orleans-congo-square-shaped-american-music-global-sound\">Congo Square\u003c/a>.” The site in New Orleans where the music that most people call “jazz” originated was a place for people of the African diaspora to commune, enjoy music and tap into the spirit, says Wellman. “As each group practiced, there was this cacophony of rich sounds and polyrhythms.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Expect OPC’s 20th anniversary event to tap into that same spirit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s 20th Anniversary and Gala takes place Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Oakland Science Academy (1515 Webster St., Oakland). \u003ca href=\"https://givebutter.com/c/opc20th\">Tickets and more information here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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},
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"slug": "streetlight-gallery-black-art-home-oakland",
"title": "Making Their House Into a Home Full of Black Art",
"publishDate": 1791839681,
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"headTitle": "Making Their House Into a Home Full of Black Art | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Living rooms are often filled with family mementos, shelves full of books, or maybe a TV, turned on as background noise for rowdy conversations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the walls inside the East Oakland home of Nyallah Muntaqim and Musa Bey are filled with art. On a recent visit, as Muntaqim sits on the green couch, a white painted hammer nearby looks as if it were smashed into the wall, with roots growing from it, by Antioch artist Tunmi da Silva.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Muntaqim and Bey, wife and husband, cofounded Streetlight Gallery in 2025, during San Francisco’s second annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13965269/the-bay-areas-first-ever-black-art-week-is-coming\">Black Art Week\u003c/a>. The choice to use their home came from example: as a child in the Bay Area in the early 2000s, Muntaquim would often attend art exhibits inside people’s homes, seeing Black art sold to Black people in a direct, communal way. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would be remiss to not call on that history and inspiration,” she says today. As a young visitor to these spaces, Muntaqim had “one of those bucket-list dreams where it’s like, ‘One day, I want to own a gallery.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994620\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marie-Jose Njoku Obi’s artwork ‘Untitled (The Window)’ on display as a part of ‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Once she and Bey realized it would be possible in their own house, they decided to develop the space as a hub for Black artists. The reasoning was simple: “I’ve seen art change people’s lives, at every point in my life,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Art has certainly changed Muntaqim’s life. She dove into visual art when her therapist suggested it as a way to mitigate the pressures of her job as a housing placement case manager. She started by learning skills from a muralist friend, and devoted her post-work hours to watercolor paintings and charcoal drawings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The combination of Muntaqim’s art practice with her strong organizing background brought Streetlight Gallery to life. She thinks back to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13921254/introducing-tales-of-the-town-by-hella-black-podcast\">\u003cem>Tales of The Town\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the 2022 photobook, film and album from the creators of the Hella Black Podcast, which brought different communities of Oakland together to recall parts of the city that raised them. It reinforced the idea that art makes the biggest impact when it’s coming from a communal lens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994619\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Willie Thomas’s poem over cyanotype on display as a part of ‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I realized how important it is for Black folks here in the United States, but also the diaspora, to create work that is inherently political,” she says. “But what does it mean for us to be intentionally political in our work, and our choices, and what we do?” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This question framed the ethos of Streetlight Gallery. The gallery’s first show was titled \u003cem>A Call Home\u003c/em>, and showcased work by Black artists throughout the Bay who use home as a foundational theme in their work, like Dartaiane Beamon, Asari Aibangbee, Thai Hill, Chidera Nwadike and others. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Thai year, Streetlight has mounted a second edition of \u003cem>A Call Home\u003c/em>, addressing the cyclical relationship between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The six artists whose work is on view are either from the Bay and based in Los Angeles, or from Los Angeles based in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"13994627\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994627\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nyallah Muntaqim, co-founder of Streetlight Gallery in Oakland, on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"13994626\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994626\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Musa Bey, co-founder of Streetlight Gallery in Oakland, on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tunmi da Silva’s work in the exhibition shows her connection to the Bay Area through her Nigerian family, and putting her work in Streetlight Gallery specifically means a call to home. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need spaces that are entrenched in our communities, that are supporting artists who come from our displaced communities. Streetlight supports artists with exhibition space, and gives us an opportunity to come back and speak to and with whoever’s in the area still,” da Silva says. “There has to be some marker, some archive of people who have existed in the city and in specific areas within the city. Showing with Streetlight just felt right.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Da Silva and the other artists in the exhibition show the depth of their experience through woodwork, textile, pottery and other mediums, with familial ties at the center. The work expresses the movement of Black art and life throughout California, and shows how the Bay and L.A. — sometimes \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodgers%E2%80%93Giants_rivalry\">rival regions\u003c/a> — rely on and influence one another. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I want people to see that the Bay Area is not just a place of exodus, high rent, Silicon Valley and tech bros,” Muntaqim says, adding that she hopes people recognize “this place of really rich cultural creative history that still exists today.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994624\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Asaru Aibangbee’s wooden chair on display as a part of ‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Streetlight Gallery follows a tradition of Black-owned art galleries in the Bay Area, like B. Love’s Guest House, Tiffany Conway Studio, Jenkins Johnson and many others. Part of that was borne from necessity, as major spaces formally centering Black art are a relatively recent development. The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), for example, didn’t open until 2005. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the Bay Area continues to change with each tech boom, one thing is constant. “Black creativity has always been foundational to the cultural fabric of the Bay Area,” MoAD’s executive director and CEO Monetta White says.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Black artists have helped shape who we are as a region, and celebrating their work honors that legacy,” White adds. “It also affirms that our community is still here, still creating, and still proving that what’s made in the Bay resonates internationally.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ is on view through Nov. 30 at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland. Viewing is \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.streetlightgallery.org/appointments\">\u003cem>by appointment\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. More information \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc7OO1fM7vF/\">\u003cem>here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the walls inside the East Oakland home of Nyallah Muntaqim and Musa Bey are filled with art. On a recent visit, as Muntaqim sits on the green couch, a white painted hammer nearby looks as if it were smashed into the wall, with roots growing from it, by Antioch artist Tunmi da Silva.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Muntaqim and Bey, wife and husband, cofounded Streetlight Gallery in 2025, during San Francisco’s second annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13965269/the-bay-areas-first-ever-black-art-week-is-coming\">Black Art Week\u003c/a>. The choice to use their home came from example: as a child in the Bay Area in the early 2000s, Muntaquim would often attend art exhibits inside people’s homes, seeing Black art sold to Black people in a direct, communal way. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I would be remiss to not call on that history and inspiration,” she says today. As a young visitor to these spaces, Muntaqim had “one of those bucket-list dreams where it’s like, ‘One day, I want to own a gallery.’”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Art has certainly changed Muntaqim’s life. She dove into visual art when her therapist suggested it as a way to mitigate the pressures of her job as a housing placement case manager. She started by learning skills from a muralist friend, and devoted her post-work hours to watercolor paintings and charcoal drawings.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The combination of Muntaqim’s art practice with her strong organizing background brought Streetlight Gallery to life. She thinks back to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13921254/introducing-tales-of-the-town-by-hella-black-podcast\">\u003cem>Tales of The Town\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the 2022 photobook, film and album from the creators of the Hella Black Podcast, which brought different communities of Oakland together to recall parts of the city that raised them. It reinforced the idea that art makes the biggest impact when it’s coming from a communal lens.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I realized how important it is for Black folks here in the United States, but also the diaspora, to create work that is inherently political,” she says. “But what does it mean for us to be intentionally political in our work, and our choices, and what we do?” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This question framed the ethos of Streetlight Gallery. The gallery’s first show was titled \u003cem>A Call Home\u003c/em>, and showcased work by Black artists throughout the Bay who use home as a foundational theme in their work, like Dartaiane Beamon, Asari Aibangbee, Thai Hill, Chidera Nwadike and others. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>This question framed the ethos of Streetlight Gallery. The gallery’s first show was titled \u003cem>A Call Home\u003c/em>, and showcased work by Black artists throughout the Bay who use home as a foundational theme in their work, like Dartaiane Beamon, Asari Aibangbee, Thai Hill, Chidera Nwadike and others. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thai year, Streetlight has mounted a second edition of \u003cem>A Call Home\u003c/em>, addressing the cyclical relationship between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The six artists whose work is on view are either from the Bay and based in Los Angeles, or from Los Angeles based in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tunmi da Silva’s work in the exhibition shows her connection to the Bay Area through her Nigerian family, and putting her work in Streetlight Gallery specifically means a call to home. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We need spaces that are entrenched in our communities, that are supporting artists who come from our displaced communities. Streetlight supports artists with exhibition space, and gives us an opportunity to come back and speak to and with whoever’s in the area still,” da Silva says. “There has to be some marker, some archive of people who have existed in the city and in specific areas within the city. Showing with Streetlight just felt right.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We need spaces that are entrenched in our communities, that are supporting artists who come from our displaced communities. Streetlight supports artists with exhibition space, and gives us an opportunity to come back and speak to and with whoever’s in the area still,” da Silva says. “There has to be some marker, some archive of people who have existed in the city and in specific areas within the city. Showing with Streetlight just felt right.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Da Silva and the other artists in the exhibition show the depth of their experience through woodwork, textile, pottery and other mediums, with familial ties at the center. The work expresses the movement of Black art and life throughout California, and shows how the Bay and L.A. — sometimes \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodgers%E2%80%93Giants_rivalry\">rival regions\u003c/a> — rely on and influence one another. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Da Silva and the other artists in the exhibition show the depth of their experience through woodwork, textile, pottery and other mediums, with familial ties at the center. The work expresses the movement of Black art and life throughout California, and shows how the Bay and L.A. — sometimes \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodgers%E2%80%93Giants_rivalry\">rival regions\u003c/a> — rely on and influence one another. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I want people to see that the Bay Area is not just a place of exodus, high rent, Silicon Valley and tech bros,” Muntaqim says, adding that she hopes people recognize “this place of really rich cultural creative history that still exists today.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Streetlight Gallery follows a tradition of Black-owned art galleries in the Bay Area, like B. Love’s Guest House, Tiffany Conway Studio, Jenkins Johnson and many others. Part of that was borne from necessity, as major spaces formally centering Black art are a relatively recent development. The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), for example, didn’t open until 2005. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As the Bay Area continues to change with each tech boom, one thing is constant. “Black creativity has always been foundational to the cultural fabric of the Bay Area,” MoAD’s executive director and CEO Monetta White says.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Black artists have helped shape who we are as a region, and celebrating their work honors that legacy,” White adds. “It also affirms that our community is still here, still creating, and still proving that what’s made in the Bay resonates internationally.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As the Bay Area continues to change with each tech boom, one thing is constant. “Black creativity has always been foundational to the cultural fabric of the Bay Area,” MoAD’s executive director and CEO Monetta White says.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Black artists have helped shape who we are as a region, and celebrating their work honors that legacy,” White adds. “It also affirms that our community is still here, still creating, and still proving that what’s made in the Bay resonates internationally.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ is on view through Nov. 30 at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland. Viewing is \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.streetlightgallery.org/appointments\">\u003cem>by appointment\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. More information \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc7OO1fM7vF/\">\u003cem>here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ is on view through Nov. 30 at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland. Viewing is \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.streetlightgallery.org/appointments\">\u003cem>by appointment\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. More information \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc7OO1fM7vF/\">\u003cem>here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Living rooms are often filled with family mementos, shelves full of books, or maybe a TV, turned on as background noise for rowdy conversations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the walls inside the East Oakland home of Nyallah Muntaqim and Musa Bey are filled with art. On a recent visit, as Muntaqim sits on the green couch, a white painted hammer nearby looks as if it were smashed into the wall, with roots growing from it, by Antioch artist Tunmi da Silva.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Muntaqim and Bey, wife and husband, cofounded Streetlight Gallery in 2025, during San Francisco’s second annual \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13965269/the-bay-areas-first-ever-black-art-week-is-coming\">Black Art Week\u003c/a>. The choice to use their home came from example: as a child in the Bay Area in the early 2000s, Muntaquim would often attend art exhibits inside people’s homes, seeing Black art sold to Black people in a direct, communal way. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I would be remiss to not call on that history and inspiration,” she says today. As a young visitor to these spaces, Muntaqim had “one of those bucket-list dreams where it’s like, ‘One day, I want to own a gallery.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994620\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-12-KQED-1381da74-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marie-Jose Njoku Obi’s artwork ‘Untitled (The Window)’ on display as a part of ‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Once she and Bey realized it would be possible in their own house, they decided to develop the space as a hub for Black artists. The reasoning was simple: “I’ve seen art change people’s lives, at every point in my life,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Art has certainly changed Muntaqim’s life. She dove into visual art when her therapist suggested it as a way to mitigate the pressures of her job as a housing placement case manager. She started by learning skills from a muralist friend, and devoted her post-work hours to watercolor paintings and charcoal drawings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The combination of Muntaqim’s art practice with her strong organizing background brought Streetlight Gallery to life. She thinks back to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13921254/introducing-tales-of-the-town-by-hella-black-podcast\">\u003cem>Tales of The Town\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the 2022 photobook, film and album from the creators of the Hella Black Podcast, which brought different communities of Oakland together to recall parts of the city that raised them. It reinforced the idea that art makes the biggest impact when it’s coming from a communal lens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994619\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-11-KQED-6e3caea5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Willie Thomas’s poem over cyanotype on display as a part of ‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I realized how important it is for Black folks here in the United States, but also the diaspora, to create work that is inherently political,” she says. “But what does it mean for us to be intentionally political in our work, and our choices, and what we do?” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This question framed the ethos of Streetlight Gallery. The gallery’s first show was titled \u003cem>A Call Home\u003c/em>, and showcased work by Black artists throughout the Bay who use home as a foundational theme in their work, like Dartaiane Beamon, Asari Aibangbee, Thai Hill, Chidera Nwadike and others. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Thai year, Streetlight has mounted a second edition of \u003cem>A Call Home\u003c/em>, addressing the cyclical relationship between the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The six artists whose work is on view are either from the Bay and based in Los Angeles, or from Los Angeles based in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"13994627\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994627\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-33-KQED-70904865-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nyallah Muntaqim, co-founder of Streetlight Gallery in Oakland, on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" data-id=\"13994626\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994626\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-32-KQED-c67ee63d-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Musa Bey, co-founder of Streetlight Gallery in Oakland, on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tunmi da Silva’s work in the exhibition shows her connection to the Bay Area through her Nigerian family, and putting her work in Streetlight Gallery specifically means a call to home. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need spaces that are entrenched in our communities, that are supporting artists who come from our displaced communities. Streetlight supports artists with exhibition space, and gives us an opportunity to come back and speak to and with whoever’s in the area still,” da Silva says. “There has to be some marker, some archive of people who have existed in the city and in specific areas within the city. Showing with Streetlight just felt right.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Da Silva and the other artists in the exhibition show the depth of their experience through woodwork, textile, pottery and other mediums, with familial ties at the center. The work expresses the movement of Black art and life throughout California, and shows how the Bay and L.A. — sometimes \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodgers%E2%80%93Giants_rivalry\">rival regions\u003c/a> — rely on and influence one another. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I want people to see that the Bay Area is not just a place of exodus, high rent, Silicon Valley and tech bros,” Muntaqim says, adding that she hopes people recognize “this place of really rich cultural creative history that still exists today.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994624\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261008-STREETLIGHTGALLERY-NG-19-KQED-09fb0e07-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Asaru Aibangbee’s wooden chair on display as a part of ‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland on Oct. 8, 2026. (Nina Glick/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Streetlight Gallery follows a tradition of Black-owned art galleries in the Bay Area, like B. Love’s Guest House, Tiffany Conway Studio, Jenkins Johnson and many others. Part of that was borne from necessity, as major spaces formally centering Black art are a relatively recent development. The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), for example, didn’t open until 2005. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the Bay Area continues to change with each tech boom, one thing is constant. “Black creativity has always been foundational to the cultural fabric of the Bay Area,” MoAD’s executive director and CEO Monetta White says.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Black artists have helped shape who we are as a region, and celebrating their work honors that legacy,” White adds. “It also affirms that our community is still here, still creating, and still proving that what’s made in the Bay resonates internationally.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘A Call Home: Bay to LA’ is on view through Nov. 30 at Streetlight Gallery in Oakland. Viewing is \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.streetlightgallery.org/appointments\">\u003cem>by appointment\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. More information \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc7OO1fM7vF/\">\u003cem>here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "redwood-city-late-night-tacos-el-grullense-el-paisa-los-gemelos",
"title": "In Redwood City, a Great Taco Is Always Just a Few Blocks Away — Even at Midnight",
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"headTitle": "In Redwood City, a Great Taco Is Always Just a Few Blocks Away — Even at Midnight | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: a triplicate of images of two men running around while devouring tacos.\" class=\"wp-image-13994640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66-600x600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In Redwood City, each late-night taco spot has its own specialties: lengua and al pastor at El Paisa by Los Alegres, barbacoa on handmade tortillas at Tacos Los Gemelos, and tripitas with red salsa at Tacos El Grullense E&E. (Thien Pham)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003cem>The Midnight Diners\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003cem>Thien Pham\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cruising down 101 at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, we were hit with that most Bay Area of cravings. We needed oil-slicked tortillas and crisp-edged carnitas. Carne asada served hot off the plancha. In other words, we were hungry for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/tacos\">tacos\u003c/a> — a whole clutch of them, shoved down our gullets, posthaste. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At this point in the night, we would typically hit up one of our usual after-hours haunts on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13963832/tacos-el-rulas-richmond-late-night-taqueria-midnight-diners\">Richmond’s\u003c/a> 23rd street taco corridor, or in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954112/orale-taco-truck-san-jose-late-night-pancakes-midnight-diners\">Eastside San José\u003c/a>. But we’d been hearing about a legendary Peninsula taco scene we hadn’t yet properly explored. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And so we headed to Redwood City for a good old-fashioned late-night taco crawl.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2008, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/09/30/redwood-city-center-of-the-taco-universe/\">\u003cem>San Jose Mercury News\u003c/em>\u003c/a> called Redwood City “the center of the taco universe,” citing a density of taquerias — at the time, 49 of them in a city with a population of 74,000 — that seemed higher than just about anywhere else in California, if not the entire United States. Individual shops have come and gone in the 18 years since, but the scene remains incredibly robust. Just last year, no lesser authority than the president of Mexico herself, Claudia Sheinbaum, \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/mexico-president-claudia-sheinbaum-says-best-pork-fried-carnitas-are-made-redwood-city-mexican-immigrants/17828906/\">shouted out Redwood City\u003c/a> for having the best Mexican food in the Bay Area, thanks in part to its unusually high influx of immigrants from the city of \u003ca href=\"https://new.thecity.redwoodcity.org/pub/onbase/siredl.ashx?fileid=235425\">Aguililla, Michoacán\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On one three-block stretch of Middlefield Road, we must have spotted a dozen taquerias, four or five taco trucks and a handful of informal roadside tents that had set up trompos to sell fresh-sliced al pastor. And across the city, a decent chunk of the shops stay open until midnight on weekends, if not later. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For our first stop, we pulled into a big Costco and Outdoor Supply Hardware parking lot on Middlefield Road. Parked right in front of the hardware store, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elpaisabylosalegres/\">El Paisa by Los Alegres\u003c/a> is one of the newer taco trucks that cropped up in Redwood City during the pandemic, specializing in Mexico City–style tacos. At this late hour, the truck still drew a steady stream of customers — mostly groups of middle-aged Latino men who made quick work of their tacos in the tented dining area.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men trace a path as they run from one taco shop to another.\" class=\"wp-image-13994644\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-600x600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Redwood City has one of the Bay Area’s densest concentrations of taco shops, many of them open until midnight or later. (Thien Pham)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If Redwood City’s taquerias share a collective theme, it’s that they tend toward old-school simplicity — honest street tacos unadorned with anything more than a dollop of salsa and a flurry of chopped onions and cilantro. El Paisa is the only spot we visited that offered any of the flashier dishes trendy on social media these days: decadently overloaded baked potatoes, alambres (a kind of sizzling, cheesy meat skillet) and so forth.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As tempting as those sounded, we had a long night of taco eating ahead, and needed to pace ourselves. So we ordered a sampling of the truck’s workmanlike street tacos, served on a double layer of fragrant corn tortillas. Every one of them was a winner. There was juicy, well-caramelized Mexico City–style al pastor dotted with chunks of tangy-sweet pineapple; rich, steaky chunks of suadero; and cabeza (pig’s head) that was a dynamo of soft, slippery, gelatinous textures. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of the most memorable bites was the beef lengua, which had been cut into the thickest, widest slabs I’d ever seen on a taco. The overall effect was like biting into a buttery, impossibly soft piece of steak — extra delicious topped with some spicy pickled onions from the truck’s self-serve salsa bar. Meanwhile, the sope, served open-faced with shredded lettuce, crema and choice of meat, was simply extraordinary. We loved the extra-thick masa base, which had a chewy-crisp texture and a beautifully smoky, charred flavor from the grill. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Our next stop was \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacolosgemelos/\">Tacos Los Gemelos\u003c/a>, a lively sit-down taqueria on El Camino Real, less than five minutes away and still doing brisk business at almost 11 p.m. The vibe was an interesting mish-mash of past and present. There was the old-fashioned picture menu board, the kitschy rooster-themed artwork, the quaint blue-and-white gingham pattern laminated on the tabletops. On the other hand, a more recent layer of AI-generated signage had been plastered everywhere, bleating out the same cartoonish font you see at so many other restaurants. (“We are selling FLAN as a dessert!” one of them read.) \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The food, on the other hand, tasted altogether homey. The plush handmade tortillas were wonderfully soft and aromatic. The Michoacán-style carnitas were moist and tender, rather than crispy. And the shrimp had been diced into cubes before getting a hard sear on the griddle, which imbued them with the texture and subtle smokiness of grilled octopus. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Best of all was the specialty of the house: juicy, impeccably tender slow-cooked barbacoa, which you can order with a side of consomé. I suppose you could dip your barbacoa taco in the hot broth if you aren’t afraid of making a mess. We simply sipped it at the end of our meal, Chinese-style. A perfect final bite. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At this point in our journey, we were pretty well stuffed. But we couldn’t call it a night without visiting an outpost of El Grullense, easily Redwood City’s most well known and beloved taco chain. So we loosened our pants and made a beeline for the 5th Avenue location of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullense_ee/\">Tacos El Grullense E&E\u003c/a>, which is really just a window attached to a Mobil gas station mini mart. It’s a bare-bones, cash-only operation without any seating to speak of. The best play is to simply lay your spread of tacos out on the hood of your car before digging in.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Might this be the most quintessential Redwood City taco experience? The carne asada had crisp, well-charred edges, and the tripitas (beef intestines) were the tastiest I’ve had in a long time — not over-fried, but with a crispy-chewy, slightly squishy texture that was incredibly addicting. They burst with hot, meaty juices as soon as we bit in. We tried another sope, topped with al pastor, and it was wonderful here too — the pork deeply savory, the shredded lettuce particularly fresh and crisp. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tying everything together was El Grullense’s hallmark item: red salsa with a slight smokiness, a sneaky heat and an incredible depth of flavor. We couldn’t get enough of it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As full as we were, we wound up polishing off every bite, barely bothering to wipe the grease stains off the hood of the car before we drove off into the night. All we knew is that there were still at least another dozen taquerias we still wanted to check out the next time we came through this part of the Peninsula. Hours later, when I woke up in the middle of the night, my fingers still smelled faintly of masa and meat juices.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elpaisabylosalegres/\">\u003cem>El Paisa by Los Alegres\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m. and Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m.–10 p.m. at 2110 Middlefield Rd. in Redwood City. The truck is usually parked in front of the Outdoor Supply Hardware. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacolosgemelos/\">\u003cem>Tacos Los Gemelos\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open Wednesday through Monday 9:30 a.m.–midnight at 1630 El Camino Real.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullense_ee/\">\u003cem>Tacos El Grullense E&E\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open 9 a.m.–midnight daily at 795 5th Ave. Cash only. Attached to a Mobil gas station mini-mart, the taqueria is one of four \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tacoselgrullenseee.com/new-page-1\">\u003cem>El Grullense E&E locations\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> in Redwood City — and one of at least eight loosely affiliated restaurants on the Peninsula that bear the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullenseno.1\">\u003cem>El Grullense\u003c/em>\u003c/a> \u003cem>name. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003cem>The Midnight Diners\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003cem>Thien Pham\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003cem>The Midnight Diners\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003cem>Thien Pham\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Cruising down 101 at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, we were hit with that most Bay Area of cravings. We needed oil-slicked tortillas and crisp-edged carnitas. Carne asada served hot off the plancha. In other words, we were hungry for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/tacos\">tacos\u003c/a> — a whole clutch of them, shoved down our gullets, posthaste. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Cruising down 101 at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, we were hit with that most Bay Area of cravings. We needed oil-slicked tortillas and crisp-edged carnitas. Carne asada served hot off the plancha. In other words, we were hungry for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/tacos\">tacos\u003c/a> — a whole clutch of them, shoved down our gullets, posthaste. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At this point in the night, we would typically hit up one of our usual after-hours haunts on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13963832/tacos-el-rulas-richmond-late-night-taqueria-midnight-diners\">Richmond’s\u003c/a> 23rd street taco corridor, or in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954112/orale-taco-truck-san-jose-late-night-pancakes-midnight-diners\">Eastside San José\u003c/a>. But we’d been hearing about a legendary Peninsula taco scene we hadn’t yet properly explored. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At this point in the night, we would typically hit up one of our usual after-hours haunts on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13963832/tacos-el-rulas-richmond-late-night-taqueria-midnight-diners\">Richmond’s\u003c/a> 23rd street taco corridor, or in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954112/orale-taco-truck-san-jose-late-night-pancakes-midnight-diners\">Eastside San José\u003c/a>. But we’d been hearing about a legendary Peninsula taco scene we hadn’t yet properly explored. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And so we headed to Redwood City for a good old-fashioned late-night taco crawl.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And so we headed to Redwood City for a good old-fashioned late-night taco crawl.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2008, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/09/30/redwood-city-center-of-the-taco-universe/\">\u003cem>San Jose Mercury News\u003c/em>\u003c/a> called Redwood City “the center of the taco universe,” citing a density of taquerias — at the time, 49 of them in a city with a population of 74,000 — that seemed higher than just about anywhere else in California, if not the entire United States. Individual shops have come and gone in the 18 years since, but the scene remains incredibly robust. Just last year, no lesser authority than the president of Mexico herself, Claudia Sheinbaum, \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/mexico-president-claudia-sheinbaum-says-best-pork-fried-carnitas-are-made-redwood-city-mexican-immigrants/17828906/\">shouted out Redwood City\u003c/a> for having the best Mexican food in the Bay Area, thanks in part to its unusually high influx of immigrants from the city of \u003ca href=\"https://new.thecity.redwoodcity.org/pub/onbase/siredl.ashx?fileid=235425\">Aguililla, Michoacán\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In 2008, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/09/30/redwood-city-center-of-the-taco-universe/\">\u003cem>San Jose Mercury News\u003c/em>\u003c/a> called Redwood City “the center of the taco universe,” citing a density of taquerias — at the time, 49 of them in a city with a population of 74,000 — that seemed higher than just about anywhere else in California, if not the entire United States. Individual shops have come and gone in the 18 years since, but the scene remains incredibly robust. Just last year, no lesser authority than the president of Mexico herself, Claudia Sheinbaum, \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/mexico-president-claudia-sheinbaum-says-best-pork-fried-carnitas-are-made-redwood-city-mexican-immigrants/17828906/\">shouted out Redwood City\u003c/a> for having the best Mexican food in the Bay Area, thanks in part to its unusually high influx of immigrants from the city of \u003ca href=\"https://new.thecity.redwoodcity.org/pub/onbase/siredl.ashx?fileid=235425\">Aguililla, Michoacán\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On one three-block stretch of Middlefield Road, we must have spotted a dozen taquerias, four or five taco trucks and a handful of informal roadside tents that had set up trompos to sell fresh-sliced al pastor. And across the city, a decent chunk of the shops stay open until midnight on weekends, if not later. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On one three-block stretch of Middlefield Road, we must have spotted a dozen taquerias, four or five taco trucks and a handful of informal roadside tents that had set up trompos to sell fresh-sliced al pastor. And across the city, a decent chunk of the shops stay open until midnight on weekends, if not later. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For our first stop, we pulled into a big Costco and Outdoor Supply Hardware parking lot on Middlefield Road. Parked right in front of the hardware store, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elpaisabylosalegres/\">El Paisa by Los Alegres\u003c/a> is one of the newer taco trucks that cropped up in Redwood City during the pandemic, specializing in Mexico City–style tacos. At this late hour, the truck still drew a steady stream of customers — mostly groups of middle-aged Latino men who made quick work of their tacos in the tented dining area.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For our first stop, we pulled into a big Costco and Outdoor Supply Hardware parking lot on Middlefield Road. Parked right in front of the hardware store, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elpaisabylosalegres/\">El Paisa by Los Alegres\u003c/a> is one of the newer taco trucks that cropped up in Redwood City during the pandemic, specializing in Mexico City–style tacos. At this late hour, the truck still drew a steady stream of customers — mostly groups of middle-aged Latino men who made quick work of their tacos in the tented dining area.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men trace a path as they run from one taco shop to another.\" class=\"wp-image-13994644\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-600x600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Redwood City has one of the Bay Area’s densest concentrations of taco shops, many of them open until midnight or later.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men trace a path as they run from one taco shop to another.\" class=\"wp-image-13994644\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Redwood City has one of the Bay Area’s densest concentrations of taco shops, many of them open until midnight or later.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Thien Pham)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If Redwood City’s taquerias share a collective theme, it’s that they tend toward old-school simplicity — honest street tacos unadorned with anything more than a dollop of salsa and a flurry of chopped onions and cilantro. El Paisa is the only spot we visited that offered any of the flashier dishes trendy on social media these days: decadently overloaded baked potatoes, alambres (a kind of sizzling, cheesy meat skillet) and so forth.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>If Redwood City’s taquerias share a collective theme, it’s that they tend toward old-school simplicity — honest street tacos unadorned with anything more than a dollop of salsa and a flurry of chopped onions and cilantro. El Paisa is the only spot we visited that offered any of the flashier dishes trendy on social media these days: decadently overloaded baked potatoes, alambres (a kind of sizzling, cheesy meat skillet) and so forth.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As tempting as those sounded, we had a long night of taco eating ahead, and needed to pace ourselves. So we ordered a sampling of the truck’s workmanlike street tacos, served on a double layer of fragrant corn tortillas. Every one of them was a winner. There was juicy, well-caramelized Mexico City–style al pastor dotted with chunks of tangy-sweet pineapple; rich, steaky chunks of suadero; and cabeza (pig’s head) that was a dynamo of soft, slippery, gelatinous textures. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>As tempting as those sounded, we had a long night of taco eating ahead, and needed to pace ourselves. So we ordered a sampling of the truck’s workmanlike street tacos, served on a double layer of fragrant corn tortillas. Every one of them was a winner. There was juicy, well-caramelized Mexico City–style al pastor dotted with chunks of tangy-sweet pineapple; rich, steaky chunks of suadero; and cabeza (pig’s head) that was a dynamo of soft, slippery, gelatinous textures. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of the most memorable bites was the beef lengua, which had been cut into the thickest, widest slabs I’d ever seen on a taco. The overall effect was like biting into a buttery, impossibly soft piece of steak — extra delicious topped with some spicy pickled onions from the truck’s self-serve salsa bar. Meanwhile, the sope, served open-faced with shredded lettuce, crema and choice of meat, was simply extraordinary. We loved the extra-thick masa base, which had a chewy-crisp texture and a beautifully smoky, charred flavor from the grill. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>One of the most memorable bites was the beef lengua, which had been cut into the thickest, widest slabs I’d ever seen on a taco. The overall effect was like biting into a buttery, impossibly soft piece of steak — extra delicious topped with some spicy pickled onions from the truck’s self-serve salsa bar. Meanwhile, the sope, served open-faced with shredded lettuce, crema and choice of meat, was simply extraordinary. We loved the extra-thick masa base, which had a chewy-crisp texture and a beautifully smoky, charred flavor from the grill. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Our next stop was \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacolosgemelos/\">Tacos Los Gemelos\u003c/a>, a lively sit-down taqueria on El Camino Real, less than five minutes away and still doing brisk business at almost 11 p.m. The vibe was an interesting mish-mash of past and present. There was the old-fashioned picture menu board, the kitschy rooster-themed artwork, the quaint blue-and-white gingham pattern laminated on the tabletops. On the other hand, a more recent layer of AI-generated signage had been plastered everywhere, bleating out the same cartoonish font you see at so many other restaurants. (“We are selling FLAN as a dessert!” one of them read.) \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Our next stop was \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacolosgemelos/\">Tacos Los Gemelos\u003c/a>, a lively sit-down taqueria on El Camino Real, less than five minutes away and still doing brisk business at almost 11 p.m. The vibe was an interesting mish-mash of past and present. There was the old-fashioned picture menu board, the kitschy rooster-themed artwork, the quaint blue-and-white gingham pattern laminated on the tabletops. On the other hand, a more recent layer of AI-generated signage had been plastered everywhere, bleating out the same cartoonish font you see at so many other restaurants. (“We are selling FLAN as a dessert!” one of them read.) \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The food, on the other hand, tasted altogether homey. The plush handmade tortillas were wonderfully soft and aromatic. The Michoacán-style carnitas were moist and tender, rather than crispy. And the shrimp had been diced into cubes before getting a hard sear on the griddle, which imbued them with the texture and subtle smokiness of grilled octopus. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The food, on the other hand, tasted altogether homey. The plush handmade tortillas were wonderfully soft and aromatic. The Michoacán-style carnitas were moist and tender, rather than crispy. And the shrimp had been diced into cubes before getting a hard sear on the griddle, which imbued them with the texture and subtle smokiness of grilled octopus. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Best of all was the specialty of the house: juicy, impeccably tender slow-cooked barbacoa, which you can order with a side of consomé. I suppose you could dip your barbacoa taco in the hot broth if you aren’t afraid of making a mess. We simply sipped it at the end of our meal, Chinese-style. A perfect final bite. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Best of all was the specialty of the house: juicy, impeccably tender slow-cooked barbacoa, which you can order with a side of consomé. I suppose you could dip your barbacoa taco in the hot broth if you aren’t afraid of making a mess. We simply sipped it at the end of our meal, Chinese-style. A perfect final bite. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At this point in our journey, we were pretty well stuffed. But we couldn’t call it a night without visiting an outpost of El Grullense, easily Redwood City’s most well known and beloved taco chain. So we loosened our pants and made a beeline for the 5th Avenue location of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullense_ee/\">Tacos El Grullense E&E\u003c/a>, which is really just a window attached to a Mobil gas station mini mart. It’s a bare-bones, cash-only operation without any seating to speak of. The best play is to simply lay your spread of tacos out on the hood of your car before digging in.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At this point in our journey, we were pretty well stuffed. But we couldn’t call it a night without visiting an outpost of El Grullense, easily Redwood City’s most well known and beloved taco chain. So we loosened our pants and made a beeline for the 5th Avenue location of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullense_ee/\">Tacos El Grullense E&E\u003c/a>, which is really just a window attached to a Mobil gas station mini mart. It’s a bare-bones, cash-only operation without any seating to speak of. The best play is to simply lay your spread of tacos out on the hood of your car before digging in.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Might this be the most quintessential Redwood City taco experience? The carne asada had crisp, well-charred edges, and the tripitas (beef intestines) were the tastiest I’ve had in a long time — not over-fried, but with a crispy-chewy, slightly squishy texture that was incredibly addicting. They burst with hot, meaty juices as soon as we bit in. We tried another sope, topped with al pastor, and it was wonderful here too — the pork deeply savory, the shredded lettuce particularly fresh and crisp. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Might this be the most quintessential Redwood City taco experience? The carne asada had crisp, well-charred edges, and the tripitas (beef intestines) were the tastiest I’ve had in a long time — not over-fried, but with a crispy-chewy, slightly squishy texture that was incredibly addicting. They burst with hot, meaty juices as soon as we bit in. We tried another sope, topped with al pastor, and it was wonderful here too — the pork deeply savory, the shredded lettuce particularly fresh and crisp. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tying everything together was El Grullense’s hallmark item: red salsa with a slight smokiness, a sneaky heat and an incredible depth of flavor. We couldn’t get enough of it.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Tying everything together was El Grullense’s hallmark item: red salsa with a slight smokiness, a sneaky heat and an incredible depth of flavor. We couldn’t get enough of it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As full as we were, we wound up polishing off every bite, barely bothering to wipe the grease stains off the hood of the car before we drove off into the night. All we knew is that there were still at least another dozen taquerias we still wanted to check out the next time we came through this part of the Peninsula. Hours later, when I woke up in the middle of the night, my fingers still smelled faintly of masa and meat juices.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As full as we were, we wound up polishing off every bite, barely bothering to wipe the grease stains off the hood of the car before we drove off into the night. All we knew is that there were still at least another dozen taquerias we still wanted to check out the next time we came through this part of the Peninsula. Hours later, when I woke up in the middle of the night, my fingers still smelled faintly of masa and meat juices.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elpaisabylosalegres/\">\u003cem>El Paisa by Los Alegres\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m. and Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m.–10 p.m. at 2110 Middlefield Rd. in Redwood City. The truck is usually parked in front of the Outdoor Supply Hardware. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elpaisabylosalegres/\">\u003cem>El Paisa by Los Alegres\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m. and Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m.–10 p.m. at 2110 Middlefield Rd. in Redwood City. The truck is usually parked in front of the Outdoor Supply Hardware. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacolosgemelos/\">\u003cem>Tacos Los Gemelos\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open Wednesday through Monday 9:30 a.m.–midnight at 1630 El Camino Real.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacolosgemelos/\">\u003cem>Tacos Los Gemelos\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open Wednesday through Monday 9:30 a.m.–midnight at 1630 El Camino Real.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullense_ee/\">\u003cem>Tacos El Grullense E&E\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open 9 a.m.–midnight daily at 795 5th Ave. Cash only. Attached to a Mobil gas station mini-mart, the taqueria is one of four \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tacoselgrullenseee.com/new-page-1\">\u003cem>El Grullense E&E locations\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> in Redwood City — and one of at least eight loosely affiliated restaurants on the Peninsula that bear the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullenseno.1\">\u003cem>El Grullense\u003c/em>\u003c/a> \u003cem>name. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullense_ee/\">\u003cem>Tacos El Grullense E&E\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open 9 a.m.–midnight daily at 795 5th Ave. Cash only. Attached to a Mobil gas station mini-mart, the taqueria is one of four \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tacoselgrullenseee.com/new-page-1\">\u003cem>El Grullense E&E locations\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> in Redwood City — and one of at least eight loosely affiliated restaurants on the Peninsula that bear the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullenseno.1\">\u003cem>El Grullense\u003c/em>\u003c/a> \u003cem>name. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "A late-night crawl through one of the Bay Area’s most taco-rich cities.",
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"title": "A Late-Night Taco Crawl in Redwood City | KQED",
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"source": "The Midnight Diners",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: a triplicate of images of two men running around while devouring tacos.\" class=\"wp-image-13994640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos-8d236d66-600x600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In Redwood City, each late-night taco spot has its own specialties: lengua and al pastor at El Paisa by Los Alegres, barbacoa on handmade tortillas at Tacos Los Gemelos, and tripitas with red salsa at Tacos El Grullense E&E. (Thien Pham)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/the-midnight-diners\">\u003cem>The Midnight Diners\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thiendog/?hl=en\">\u003cem>Thien Pham\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cruising down 101 at 10 o’clock on a recent Friday night, we were hit with that most Bay Area of cravings. We needed oil-slicked tortillas and crisp-edged carnitas. Carne asada served hot off the plancha. In other words, we were hungry for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/tacos\">tacos\u003c/a> — a whole clutch of them, shoved down our gullets, posthaste. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At this point in the night, we would typically hit up one of our usual after-hours haunts on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13963832/tacos-el-rulas-richmond-late-night-taqueria-midnight-diners\">Richmond’s\u003c/a> 23rd street taco corridor, or in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954112/orale-taco-truck-san-jose-late-night-pancakes-midnight-diners\">Eastside San José\u003c/a>. But we’d been hearing about a legendary Peninsula taco scene we hadn’t yet properly explored. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And so we headed to Redwood City for a good old-fashioned late-night taco crawl.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In 2008, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/09/30/redwood-city-center-of-the-taco-universe/\">\u003cem>San Jose Mercury News\u003c/em>\u003c/a> called Redwood City “the center of the taco universe,” citing a density of taquerias — at the time, 49 of them in a city with a population of 74,000 — that seemed higher than just about anywhere else in California, if not the entire United States. Individual shops have come and gone in the 18 years since, but the scene remains incredibly robust. Just last year, no lesser authority than the president of Mexico herself, Claudia Sheinbaum, \u003ca href=\"https://abc7news.com/post/mexico-president-claudia-sheinbaum-says-best-pork-fried-carnitas-are-made-redwood-city-mexican-immigrants/17828906/\">shouted out Redwood City\u003c/a> for having the best Mexican food in the Bay Area, thanks in part to its unusually high influx of immigrants from the city of \u003ca href=\"https://new.thecity.redwoodcity.org/pub/onbase/siredl.ashx?fileid=235425\">Aguililla, Michoacán\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On one three-block stretch of Middlefield Road, we must have spotted a dozen taquerias, four or five taco trucks and a handful of informal roadside tents that had set up trompos to sell fresh-sliced al pastor. And across the city, a decent chunk of the shops stay open until midnight on weekends, if not later. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>For our first stop, we pulled into a big Costco and Outdoor Supply Hardware parking lot on Middlefield Road. Parked right in front of the hardware store, \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elpaisabylosalegres/\">El Paisa by Los Alegres\u003c/a> is one of the newer taco trucks that cropped up in Redwood City during the pandemic, specializing in Mexico City–style tacos. At this late hour, the truck still drew a steady stream of customers — mostly groups of middle-aged Latino men who made quick work of their tacos in the tented dining area.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration: two men trace a path as they run from one taco shop to another.\" class=\"wp-image-13994644\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/redwoodcitytacos2-9903f989-600x600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Redwood City has one of the Bay Area’s densest concentrations of taco shops, many of them open until midnight or later. (Thien Pham)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>If Redwood City’s taquerias share a collective theme, it’s that they tend toward old-school simplicity — honest street tacos unadorned with anything more than a dollop of salsa and a flurry of chopped onions and cilantro. El Paisa is the only spot we visited that offered any of the flashier dishes trendy on social media these days: decadently overloaded baked potatoes, alambres (a kind of sizzling, cheesy meat skillet) and so forth.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As tempting as those sounded, we had a long night of taco eating ahead, and needed to pace ourselves. So we ordered a sampling of the truck’s workmanlike street tacos, served on a double layer of fragrant corn tortillas. Every one of them was a winner. There was juicy, well-caramelized Mexico City–style al pastor dotted with chunks of tangy-sweet pineapple; rich, steaky chunks of suadero; and cabeza (pig’s head) that was a dynamo of soft, slippery, gelatinous textures. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of the most memorable bites was the beef lengua, which had been cut into the thickest, widest slabs I’d ever seen on a taco. The overall effect was like biting into a buttery, impossibly soft piece of steak — extra delicious topped with some spicy pickled onions from the truck’s self-serve salsa bar. Meanwhile, the sope, served open-faced with shredded lettuce, crema and choice of meat, was simply extraordinary. We loved the extra-thick masa base, which had a chewy-crisp texture and a beautifully smoky, charred flavor from the grill. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Our next stop was \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacolosgemelos/\">Tacos Los Gemelos\u003c/a>, a lively sit-down taqueria on El Camino Real, less than five minutes away and still doing brisk business at almost 11 p.m. The vibe was an interesting mish-mash of past and present. There was the old-fashioned picture menu board, the kitschy rooster-themed artwork, the quaint blue-and-white gingham pattern laminated on the tabletops. On the other hand, a more recent layer of AI-generated signage had been plastered everywhere, bleating out the same cartoonish font you see at so many other restaurants. (“We are selling FLAN as a dessert!” one of them read.) \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The food, on the other hand, tasted altogether homey. The plush handmade tortillas were wonderfully soft and aromatic. The Michoacán-style carnitas were moist and tender, rather than crispy. And the shrimp had been diced into cubes before getting a hard sear on the griddle, which imbued them with the texture and subtle smokiness of grilled octopus. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Best of all was the specialty of the house: juicy, impeccably tender slow-cooked barbacoa, which you can order with a side of consomé. I suppose you could dip your barbacoa taco in the hot broth if you aren’t afraid of making a mess. We simply sipped it at the end of our meal, Chinese-style. A perfect final bite. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At this point in our journey, we were pretty well stuffed. But we couldn’t call it a night without visiting an outpost of El Grullense, easily Redwood City’s most well known and beloved taco chain. So we loosened our pants and made a beeline for the 5th Avenue location of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullense_ee/\">Tacos El Grullense E&E\u003c/a>, which is really just a window attached to a Mobil gas station mini mart. It’s a bare-bones, cash-only operation without any seating to speak of. The best play is to simply lay your spread of tacos out on the hood of your car before digging in.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Might this be the most quintessential Redwood City taco experience? The carne asada had crisp, well-charred edges, and the tripitas (beef intestines) were the tastiest I’ve had in a long time — not over-fried, but with a crispy-chewy, slightly squishy texture that was incredibly addicting. They burst with hot, meaty juices as soon as we bit in. We tried another sope, topped with al pastor, and it was wonderful here too — the pork deeply savory, the shredded lettuce particularly fresh and crisp. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tying everything together was El Grullense’s hallmark item: red salsa with a slight smokiness, a sneaky heat and an incredible depth of flavor. We couldn’t get enough of it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As full as we were, we wound up polishing off every bite, barely bothering to wipe the grease stains off the hood of the car before we drove off into the night. All we knew is that there were still at least another dozen taquerias we still wanted to check out the next time we came through this part of the Peninsula. Hours later, when I woke up in the middle of the night, my fingers still smelled faintly of masa and meat juices.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/elpaisabylosalegres/\">\u003cem>El Paisa by Los Alegres\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–11 p.m. and Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m.–10 p.m. at 2110 Middlefield Rd. in Redwood City. The truck is usually parked in front of the Outdoor Supply Hardware. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacolosgemelos/\">\u003cem>Tacos Los Gemelos\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open Wednesday through Monday 9:30 a.m.–midnight at 1630 El Camino Real.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullense_ee/\">\u003cem>Tacos El Grullense E&E\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> is open 9 a.m.–midnight daily at 795 5th Ave. Cash only. Attached to a Mobil gas station mini-mart, the taqueria is one of four \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tacoselgrullenseee.com/new-page-1\">\u003cem>El Grullense E&E locations\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> in Redwood City — and one of at least eight loosely affiliated restaurants on the Peninsula that bear the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/tacoselgrullenseno.1\">\u003cem>El Grullense\u003c/em>\u003c/a> \u003cem>name. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "hblack-panther-party-60th-anniversary-events-oakland",
"title": "Honoring the Black Panther Party on Its 60th Anniversary",
"publishDate": 1791316322,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Honoring the Black Panther Party on Its 60th Anniversary | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Six decades ago, a group of young Black activists in Oakland began policing the police. They fed schoolchildren, started medical clinics, created a multilevel grade school and published a newspaper that reached people around the world.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In leather jackets and berets, they reinvented the color black. And, through their collective willpower, they fanned the flame of self-determination that has long burned within the Black community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Black Panther Party, founded in 1966, was one of the most important organizations of the 20th century. This month, as \u003ca href=\"https://hueypnewtonfoundation.org/\">The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/index_PhotoGallery.html\">It’s About Time BPP \u003c/a>commemorate the vanguard organization’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.bpp60.org/\">60th anniversary\u003c/a>, the Black Panthers will be honored with a gala, numerous workshops, a community day in West Oakland and more.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1343\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994540\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888-768x516.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888-1536x1031.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Black Panthers march in protest of the trial of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California. (Bettmann/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re opening it up with an exhibition by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13867337/the-black-panther-partys-free-breakfast-program-a-50-year-old-blueprint\">Billy X Jennings\u003c/a>,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13971589/black-panther-party-survival-programs-exhibit\">Dr. Xavier Buck\u003c/a>, executive director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. On Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Oakland Public Library’s main branch, Jennings, a Black Panther Party historian, leads attendees through an exhibition titled \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/6a8732ffbe1482002988c2a4\">Honoring the Rank & File\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. He’ll also lead a panel discussion and screening of the documentary film \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4JAcG-QHO8\">Lords of the Revolution\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“And then,” says Buck, “we’re partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oaktownthursdays/\">Oaktown Thursdays\u003c/a>, and doing a special 60th anniversary tribute; \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/larussell\">LaRussell\u003c/a> is the headliner for that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the following day, Friday, Oct. 16, brings a variety of workshops, many led by former Panthers or their children, known as Panther cubs. \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/people/ms-melissa-charles\">Mel Charles \u003c/a>from Sacramento’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.malcolmxacademy.org/\">Malcolm X Academy\u003c/a> leads a discussion about applying the Panthers’ concept of a Community School to 2026. A critical look at reproductive health comes courtesy of \u003ca href=\"https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/malic.cfm\">Dr. Mali Collins\u003c/a>, who anchors a session titled “The Black Panther’s Agenda for Black Health: A framework for reproductive freedom in 2026.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A day full of conversations that bring the Party’s ideas into the present will conclude with a set by East Bay hip-hop ensemble \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/macarthurmaze/\">MacArthur Maze\u003c/a> at the Oakland Museum of California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4JAcG-QHO8\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The next day, Oct. 17, offers an even broader variety of sessions. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/breathandthecity/\">Breath and the City\u003c/a>‘s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lissdelarosa/\">Lissette de la Rosa\u003c/a> leads a seminar on breath work, pushing attendees to dive deep within themselves. Former Black Panther \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/offical_mamacharlottesmusic2/?hl=en\">Charlotte Hill O’Neal\u003c/a>, visiting from Tanzania, will lead a discussion about the Party’s international footprint. Saturday’s schedule also includes a discussion about the relationship between Black liberation and ecology, led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.yesmagazine.org/authors/quinton-sankofa\">Quinton Sankofa\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, actor \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Guenveur_Smith\">Roger Guenveur Smith\u003c/a>, who played Huey P. Newton in Spike Lee’s 2001 production \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278490/\">A Huey P. Newton Story\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, will celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary in a screening; Smith will be joined by Steven Adams, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874735/fredrika-newton-huey-p-revolutionary-love\">Fredrika Newton\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://awelemakeba.com/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAae8oIBsrcNdxz-eh4a2xn-9zGpDNagrSqX8gN94avGGmMfZQLQJp5FvgjJhMA_aem_oC-lUDOxG0Cl0u-3VefMWg#top\">Awele Makeba\u003c/a>. Also screening at the event is \u003ca href=\"https://www.d-word.com/documentary/2334-ALIVE-IN-BRONZE-HUEY-P-NEWTON\">\u003cem>Alive in Bronze\u003c/em>,\u003c/a> a short documentary about the efforts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fredrikanewton/\">Fredrika Newton\u003c/a> and sculptor \u003ca href=\"https://danakingart.com/\">Dana King\u003c/a> to create a monument that now stands on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland, honoring the life of Dr. Huey P. Newton.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QstJpRpp6FY\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Saturday evening, Oct. 17, is the main event: the 60th anniversary gala. “It’s going to be a pretty big deal,” says Buck, explaining that Bobby Seale will be present while the cover art for a new edition of his book \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/book-1or1\">Seize the Time\u003c/a>\u003c/em> is unveiled.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Buck, the founding director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackpantherpartymuseum.org/\">Black Panther Party Museum\u003c/a>, says the Bobby Seale Legacy Foundation worked with the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation on the slate of events. “It’s the first time that these legacies have worked together. And it’s important because one of Bobby Seale’s greatest regrets was not making amends with Huey before he was killed in ’89.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That sort of cooperation is at the center of the entire series, and it serves as a metaphor. “It’s all about looking at this current political moment,” Buck says, “and thinking more about unification than division.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1584\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171.jpg\" alt=\"At right, a white middle-aged man in a suit and tie looks into the distance; at left, more than a dozen Black men in leather jackets and berets stand in two single-file lines next to an A-frame building\" class=\"wp-image-13994541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-160x127.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-768x608.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-1536x1217.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Actor Marlon Brando, right, attends the funeral of 17-year-old Black Panther Party treasurer Bobby Hutton at the Ephesian Church of God and Christ in Berkeley, Calif. on April 12, 1968. He is flanked at left by members of the Black Panther Party outside the church where an estimated 1,500 people were in attendance. (Lonnie Wilson/MediaNews Group/Oakland Tribune via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the theme of coming together, Sunday, Oct. 18, offers a free Community Day event at Bobby Hutton Park in West Oakland, bringing the community back to the same grounds where the Panthers held rallies six decades ago. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/moneyb69/\">Money B,\u003c/a> founding member of the legendary Digital Underground hip-hop collective and former student at the Black Panther’s Oakland Community School will guest host. He’ll be joined by performances from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/numskulloftheluniz/\">Numskull of the Luniz\u003c/a>, The Bobby Jackson Project and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wolfhawkjaguar/\">WolfHawkJuguar\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A number of other events in October commemorate the Black Panther’s legacy, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd9NJfUygqv/\">a Panther Jam at the Shakur Center\u003c/a> in Sacramento on Friday, Oct. 9. On Sunday, Oct. 11, there’s the \u003ca href=\"https://posh.vip/e/seize-the-time?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAae9RvTirno6ZWKYCwGiORB1t6eAvahHR5Ye0Ma-KJ6soVprYcltqaPReN1PYQ_aem_eWRKBEBtUM8wn-x9L5jLGw\">Seize The Time: A Fashion Experience\u003c/a>, led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.futurisme.studio/\">Futurisme Studios\u003c/a> and featuring DJ sets by \u003ca href=\"https://www.homeisforhomies.com/\">Home is for Homies\u003c/a>. And on Saturday, Oct. 17, Pittsburg’s \u003ca href=\"https://bookstore.revisionpub.com/\">RP Books\u003c/a> hosts a conversation with \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandvr.org/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAacRTQt7YCt-KS4SjkgIq5j65jdF8JEWHH5kk81AfIX31l23mQNt9EKmG0Jzlw_aem_Vzx8TXxIJDuHJUjY6NXIfA\">Michael Roosevelt\u003c/a>, author of \u003cem>The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Plan: A Liberatory Journal\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>More than a half-century ago, when the late \u003ca href=\"https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/black-panther-party-ten-point-program-1966/\">Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale charted 10 specific needs\u003c/a> of working-class African American people in this country, they couldn’t have fathomed that many of those demands — namely “Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter of Human Beings” and “Education That Teaches Us Our True History And Our Role in the Present-Day Society” — would remain unfulfilled.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nor could they have imagined how deeply the work of the Black Panther Party has inspired generations, pushing young people to create change both locally and internationally.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And clearly, the work continues.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Black Panther Party celebrates its 60th anniversary this month with a series of events. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bpp60.org/\">Details and more information here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In leather jackets and berets, they reinvented the color black. And, through their collective willpower, they fanned the flame of self-determination that has long burned within the Black community.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Black Panther Party, founded in 1966, was one of the most important organizations of the 20th century. This month, as \u003ca href=\"https://hueypnewtonfoundation.org/\">The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/index_PhotoGallery.html\">It’s About Time BPP \u003c/a>commemorate the vanguard organization’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.bpp60.org/\">60th anniversary\u003c/a>, the Black Panthers will be honored with a gala, numerous workshops, a community day in West Oakland and more.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re opening it up with an exhibition by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13867337/the-black-panther-partys-free-breakfast-program-a-50-year-old-blueprint\">Billy X Jennings\u003c/a>,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13971589/black-panther-party-survival-programs-exhibit\">Dr. Xavier Buck\u003c/a>, executive director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. On Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Oakland Public Library’s main branch, Jennings, a Black Panther Party historian, leads attendees through an exhibition titled \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/6a8732ffbe1482002988c2a4\">Honoring the Rank & File\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. He’ll also lead a panel discussion and screening of the documentary film \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4JAcG-QHO8\">Lords of the Revolution\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We’re opening it up with an exhibition by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13867337/the-black-panther-partys-free-breakfast-program-a-50-year-old-blueprint\">Billy X Jennings\u003c/a>,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13971589/black-panther-party-survival-programs-exhibit\">Dr. Xavier Buck\u003c/a>, executive director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. On Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Oakland Public Library’s main branch, Jennings, a Black Panther Party historian, leads attendees through an exhibition titled \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/6a8732ffbe1482002988c2a4\">Honoring the Rank & File\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. He’ll also lead a panel discussion and screening of the documentary film \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4JAcG-QHO8\">Lords of the Revolution\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“And then,” says Buck, “we’re partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oaktownthursdays/\">Oaktown Thursdays\u003c/a>, and doing a special 60th anniversary tribute; \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/larussell\">LaRussell\u003c/a> is the headliner for that.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On the following day, Friday, Oct. 16, brings a variety of workshops, many led by former Panthers or their children, known as Panther cubs. \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/people/ms-melissa-charles\">Mel Charles \u003c/a>from Sacramento’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.malcolmxacademy.org/\">Malcolm X Academy\u003c/a> leads a discussion about applying the Panthers’ concept of a Community School to 2026. A critical look at reproductive health comes courtesy of \u003ca href=\"https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/malic.cfm\">Dr. Mali Collins\u003c/a>, who anchors a session titled “The Black Panther’s Agenda for Black Health: A framework for reproductive freedom in 2026.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On the following day, Friday, Oct. 16, brings a variety of workshops, many led by former Panthers or their children, known as Panther cubs. \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/people/ms-melissa-charles\">Mel Charles \u003c/a>from Sacramento’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.malcolmxacademy.org/\">Malcolm X Academy\u003c/a> leads a discussion about applying the Panthers’ concept of a Community School to 2026. A critical look at reproductive health comes courtesy of \u003ca href=\"https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/malic.cfm\">Dr. Mali Collins\u003c/a>, who anchors a session titled “The Black Panther’s Agenda for Black Health: A framework for reproductive freedom in 2026.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A day full of conversations that bring the Party’s ideas into the present will conclude with a set by East Bay hip-hop ensemble \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/macarthurmaze/\">MacArthur Maze\u003c/a> at the Oakland Museum of California.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The next day, Oct. 17, offers an even broader variety of sessions. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/breathandthecity/\">Breath and the City\u003c/a>‘s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lissdelarosa/\">Lissette de la Rosa\u003c/a> leads a seminar on breath work, pushing attendees to dive deep within themselves. Former Black Panther \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/offical_mamacharlottesmusic2/?hl=en\">Charlotte Hill O’Neal\u003c/a>, visiting from Tanzania, will lead a discussion about the Party’s international footprint. Saturday’s schedule also includes a discussion about the relationship between Black liberation and ecology, led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.yesmagazine.org/authors/quinton-sankofa\">Quinton Sankofa\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The next day, Oct. 17, offers an even broader variety of sessions. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/breathandthecity/\">Breath and the City\u003c/a>‘s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lissdelarosa/\">Lissette de la Rosa\u003c/a> leads a seminar on breath work, pushing attendees to dive deep within themselves. Former Black Panther \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/offical_mamacharlottesmusic2/?hl=en\">Charlotte Hill O’Neal\u003c/a>, visiting from Tanzania, will lead a discussion about the Party’s international footprint. Saturday’s schedule also includes a discussion about the relationship between Black liberation and ecology, led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.yesmagazine.org/authors/quinton-sankofa\">Quinton Sankofa\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, actor \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Guenveur_Smith\">Roger Guenveur Smith\u003c/a>, who played Huey P. Newton in Spike Lee’s 2001 production \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278490/\">A Huey P. Newton Story\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, will celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary in a screening; Smith will be joined by Steven Adams, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874735/fredrika-newton-huey-p-revolutionary-love\">Fredrika Newton\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://awelemakeba.com/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAae8oIBsrcNdxz-eh4a2xn-9zGpDNagrSqX8gN94avGGmMfZQLQJp5FvgjJhMA_aem_oC-lUDOxG0Cl0u-3VefMWg#top\">Awele Makeba\u003c/a>. Also screening at the event is \u003ca href=\"https://www.d-word.com/documentary/2334-ALIVE-IN-BRONZE-HUEY-P-NEWTON\">\u003cem>Alive in Bronze\u003c/em>,\u003c/a> a short documentary about the efforts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fredrikanewton/\">Fredrika Newton\u003c/a> and sculptor \u003ca href=\"https://danakingart.com/\">Dana King\u003c/a> to create a monument that now stands on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland, honoring the life of Dr. Huey P. Newton.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Saturday evening, Oct. 17, is the main event: the 60th anniversary gala. “It’s going to be a pretty big deal,” says Buck, explaining that Bobby Seale will be present while the cover art for a new edition of his book \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/book-1or1\">Seize the Time\u003c/a>\u003c/em> is unveiled.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Saturday evening, Oct. 17, is the main event: the 60th anniversary gala. “It’s going to be a pretty big deal,” says Buck, explaining that Bobby Seale will be present while the cover art for a new edition of his book \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/book-1or1\">Seize the Time\u003c/a>\u003c/em> is unveiled.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Buck, the founding director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackpantherpartymuseum.org/\">Black Panther Party Museum\u003c/a>, says the Bobby Seale Legacy Foundation worked with the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation on the slate of events. “It’s the first time that these legacies have worked together. And it’s important because one of Bobby Seale’s greatest regrets was not making amends with Huey before he was killed in ’89.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Buck, the founding director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackpantherpartymuseum.org/\">Black Panther Party Museum\u003c/a>, says the Bobby Seale Legacy Foundation worked with the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation on the slate of events. “It’s the first time that these legacies have worked together. And it’s important because one of Bobby Seale’s greatest regrets was not making amends with Huey before he was killed in ’89.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That sort of cooperation is at the center of the entire series, and it serves as a metaphor. “It’s all about looking at this current political moment,” Buck says, “and thinking more about unification than division.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>That sort of cooperation is at the center of the entire series, and it serves as a metaphor. “It’s all about looking at this current political moment,” Buck says, “and thinking more about unification than division.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"alt": "At right, a white middle-aged man in a suit and tie looks into the distance; at left, more than a dozen Black men in leather jackets and berets stand in two single-file lines next to an A-frame building",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171.jpg\" alt=\"At right, a white middle-aged man in a suit and tie looks into the distance; at left, more than a dozen Black men in leather jackets and berets stand in two single-file lines next to an A-frame building\" class=\"wp-image-13994541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-160x127.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-768x608.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-1536x1217.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Actor Marlon Brando, right, attends the funeral of 17-year-old Black Panther Party treasurer Bobby Hutton at the Ephesian Church of God and Christ in Berkeley, Calif. on April 12, 1968. He is flanked at left by members of the Black Panther Party outside the church where an estimated 1,500 people were in attendance. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Lonnie Wilson/MediaNews Group/Oakland Tribune via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171.jpg\" alt=\"At right, a white middle-aged man in a suit and tie looks into the distance; at left, more than a dozen Black men in leather jackets and berets stand in two single-file lines next to an A-frame building\" class=\"wp-image-13994541\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Actor Marlon Brando, right, attends the funeral of 17-year-old Black Panther Party treasurer Bobby Hutton at the Ephesian Church of God and Christ in Berkeley, Calif. on April 12, 1968. He is flanked at left by members of the Black Panther Party outside the church where an estimated 1,500 people were in attendance. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Lonnie Wilson/MediaNews Group/Oakland Tribune via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On the theme of coming together, Sunday, Oct. 18, offers a free Community Day event at Bobby Hutton Park in West Oakland, bringing the community back to the same grounds where the Panthers held rallies six decades ago. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/moneyb69/\">Money B,\u003c/a> founding member of the legendary Digital Underground hip-hop collective and former student at the Black Panther’s Oakland Community School will guest host. He’ll be joined by performances from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/numskulloftheluniz/\">Numskull of the Luniz\u003c/a>, The Bobby Jackson Project and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wolfhawkjaguar/\">WolfHawkJuguar\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On the theme of coming together, Sunday, Oct. 18, offers a free Community Day event at Bobby Hutton Park in West Oakland, bringing the community back to the same grounds where the Panthers held rallies six decades ago. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/moneyb69/\">Money B,\u003c/a> founding member of the legendary Digital Underground hip-hop collective and former student at the Black Panther’s Oakland Community School will guest host. He’ll be joined by performances from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/numskulloftheluniz/\">Numskull of the Luniz\u003c/a>, The Bobby Jackson Project and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wolfhawkjaguar/\">WolfHawkJuguar\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A number of other events in October commemorate the Black Panther’s legacy, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd9NJfUygqv/\">a Panther Jam at the Shakur Center\u003c/a> in Sacramento on Friday, Oct. 9. On Sunday, Oct. 11, there’s the \u003ca href=\"https://posh.vip/e/seize-the-time?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAae9RvTirno6ZWKYCwGiORB1t6eAvahHR5Ye0Ma-KJ6soVprYcltqaPReN1PYQ_aem_eWRKBEBtUM8wn-x9L5jLGw\">Seize The Time: A Fashion Experience\u003c/a>, led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.futurisme.studio/\">Futurisme Studios\u003c/a> and featuring DJ sets by \u003ca href=\"https://www.homeisforhomies.com/\">Home is for Homies\u003c/a>. And on Saturday, Oct. 17, Pittsburg’s \u003ca href=\"https://bookstore.revisionpub.com/\">RP Books\u003c/a> hosts a conversation with \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandvr.org/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAacRTQt7YCt-KS4SjkgIq5j65jdF8JEWHH5kk81AfIX31l23mQNt9EKmG0Jzlw_aem_Vzx8TXxIJDuHJUjY6NXIfA\">Michael Roosevelt\u003c/a>, author of \u003cem>The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Plan: A Liberatory Journal\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A number of other events in October commemorate the Black Panther’s legacy, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd9NJfUygqv/\">a Panther Jam at the Shakur Center\u003c/a> in Sacramento on Friday, Oct. 9. On Sunday, Oct. 11, there’s the \u003ca href=\"https://posh.vip/e/seize-the-time?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAae9RvTirno6ZWKYCwGiORB1t6eAvahHR5Ye0Ma-KJ6soVprYcltqaPReN1PYQ_aem_eWRKBEBtUM8wn-x9L5jLGw\">Seize The Time: A Fashion Experience\u003c/a>, led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.futurisme.studio/\">Futurisme Studios\u003c/a> and featuring DJ sets by \u003ca href=\"https://www.homeisforhomies.com/\">Home is for Homies\u003c/a>. And on Saturday, Oct. 17, Pittsburg’s \u003ca href=\"https://bookstore.revisionpub.com/\">RP Books\u003c/a> hosts a conversation with \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandvr.org/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAacRTQt7YCt-KS4SjkgIq5j65jdF8JEWHH5kk81AfIX31l23mQNt9EKmG0Jzlw_aem_Vzx8TXxIJDuHJUjY6NXIfA\">Michael Roosevelt\u003c/a>, author of \u003cem>The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Plan: A Liberatory Journal\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>More than a half-century ago, when the late \u003ca href=\"https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/black-panther-party-ten-point-program-1966/\">Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale charted 10 specific needs\u003c/a> of working-class African American people in this country, they couldn’t have fathomed that many of those demands — namely “Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter of Human Beings” and “Education That Teaches Us Our True History And Our Role in the Present-Day Society” — would remain unfulfilled.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>More than a half-century ago, when the late \u003ca href=\"https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/black-panther-party-ten-point-program-1966/\">Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale charted 10 specific needs\u003c/a> of working-class African American people in this country, they couldn’t have fathomed that many of those demands — namely “Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter of Human Beings” and “Education That Teaches Us Our True History And Our Role in the Present-Day Society” — would remain unfulfilled.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nor could they have imagined how deeply the work of the Black Panther Party has inspired generations, pushing young people to create change both locally and internationally.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nor could they have imagined how deeply the work of the Black Panther Party has inspired generations, pushing young people to create change both locally and internationally.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Black Panther Party celebrates its 60th anniversary this month with a series of events. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bpp60.org/\">Details and more information here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Black Panther Party celebrates its 60th anniversary this month with a series of events. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bpp60.org/\">Details and more information here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Events throughout October commemorate one of the most important organizations of the 20th century.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Six decades ago, a group of young Black activists in Oakland began policing the police. They fed schoolchildren, started medical clinics, created a multilevel grade school and published a newspaper that reached people around the world.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In leather jackets and berets, they reinvented the color black. And, through their collective willpower, they fanned the flame of self-determination that has long burned within the Black community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Black Panther Party, founded in 1966, was one of the most important organizations of the 20th century. This month, as \u003ca href=\"https://hueypnewtonfoundation.org/\">The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/index_PhotoGallery.html\">It’s About Time BPP \u003c/a>commemorate the vanguard organization’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.bpp60.org/\">60th anniversary\u003c/a>, the Black Panthers will be honored with a gala, numerous workshops, a community day in West Oakland and more.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1343\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994540\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888-768x516.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-514079888-1536x1031.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Black Panthers march in protest of the trial of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California. (Bettmann/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re opening it up with an exhibition by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13867337/the-black-panther-partys-free-breakfast-program-a-50-year-old-blueprint\">Billy X Jennings\u003c/a>,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13971589/black-panther-party-survival-programs-exhibit\">Dr. Xavier Buck\u003c/a>, executive director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. On Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Oakland Public Library’s main branch, Jennings, a Black Panther Party historian, leads attendees through an exhibition titled \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/6a8732ffbe1482002988c2a4\">Honoring the Rank & File\u003c/a>\u003c/em>. He’ll also lead a panel discussion and screening of the documentary film \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4JAcG-QHO8\">Lords of the Revolution\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“And then,” says Buck, “we’re partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/oaktownthursdays/\">Oaktown Thursdays\u003c/a>, and doing a special 60th anniversary tribute; \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/larussell\">LaRussell\u003c/a> is the headliner for that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the following day, Friday, Oct. 16, brings a variety of workshops, many led by former Panthers or their children, known as Panther cubs. \u003ca href=\"https://www.csustan.edu/people/ms-melissa-charles\">Mel Charles \u003c/a>from Sacramento’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.malcolmxacademy.org/\">Malcolm X Academy\u003c/a> leads a discussion about applying the Panthers’ concept of a Community School to 2026. A critical look at reproductive health comes courtesy of \u003ca href=\"https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/malic.cfm\">Dr. Mali Collins\u003c/a>, who anchors a session titled “The Black Panther’s Agenda for Black Health: A framework for reproductive freedom in 2026.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A day full of conversations that bring the Party’s ideas into the present will conclude with a set by East Bay hip-hop ensemble \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/macarthurmaze/\">MacArthur Maze\u003c/a> at the Oakland Museum of California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/D4JAcG-QHO8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/D4JAcG-QHO8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The next day, Oct. 17, offers an even broader variety of sessions. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/breathandthecity/\">Breath and the City\u003c/a>‘s \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/lissdelarosa/\">Lissette de la Rosa\u003c/a> leads a seminar on breath work, pushing attendees to dive deep within themselves. Former Black Panther \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/offical_mamacharlottesmusic2/?hl=en\">Charlotte Hill O’Neal\u003c/a>, visiting from Tanzania, will lead a discussion about the Party’s international footprint. Saturday’s schedule also includes a discussion about the relationship between Black liberation and ecology, led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.yesmagazine.org/authors/quinton-sankofa\">Quinton Sankofa\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, actor \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Guenveur_Smith\">Roger Guenveur Smith\u003c/a>, who played Huey P. Newton in Spike Lee’s 2001 production \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278490/\">A Huey P. Newton Story\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, will celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary in a screening; Smith will be joined by Steven Adams, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13874735/fredrika-newton-huey-p-revolutionary-love\">Fredrika Newton\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://awelemakeba.com/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAae8oIBsrcNdxz-eh4a2xn-9zGpDNagrSqX8gN94avGGmMfZQLQJp5FvgjJhMA_aem_oC-lUDOxG0Cl0u-3VefMWg#top\">Awele Makeba\u003c/a>. Also screening at the event is \u003ca href=\"https://www.d-word.com/documentary/2334-ALIVE-IN-BRONZE-HUEY-P-NEWTON\">\u003cem>Alive in Bronze\u003c/em>,\u003c/a> a short documentary about the efforts of \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/fredrikanewton/\">Fredrika Newton\u003c/a> and sculptor \u003ca href=\"https://danakingart.com/\">Dana King\u003c/a> to create a monument that now stands on Mandela Parkway in West Oakland, honoring the life of Dr. Huey P. Newton.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/QstJpRpp6FY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/QstJpRpp6FY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Saturday evening, Oct. 17, is the main event: the 60th anniversary gala. “It’s going to be a pretty big deal,” says Buck, explaining that Bobby Seale will be present while the cover art for a new edition of his book \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/book-1or1\">Seize the Time\u003c/a>\u003c/em> is unveiled.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Buck, the founding director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.blackpantherpartymuseum.org/\">Black Panther Party Museum\u003c/a>, says the Bobby Seale Legacy Foundation worked with the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation on the slate of events. “It’s the first time that these legacies have worked together. And it’s important because one of Bobby Seale’s greatest regrets was not making amends with Huey before he was killed in ’89.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That sort of cooperation is at the center of the entire series, and it serves as a metaphor. “It’s all about looking at this current political moment,” Buck says, “and thinking more about unification than division.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1584\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171.jpg\" alt=\"At right, a white middle-aged man in a suit and tie looks into the distance; at left, more than a dozen Black men in leather jackets and berets stand in two single-file lines next to an A-frame building\" class=\"wp-image-13994541\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-160x127.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-768x608.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/GettyImages-1438231171-1536x1217.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Actor Marlon Brando, right, attends the funeral of 17-year-old Black Panther Party treasurer Bobby Hutton at the Ephesian Church of God and Christ in Berkeley, Calif. on April 12, 1968. He is flanked at left by members of the Black Panther Party outside the church where an estimated 1,500 people were in attendance. (Lonnie Wilson/MediaNews Group/Oakland Tribune via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the theme of coming together, Sunday, Oct. 18, offers a free Community Day event at Bobby Hutton Park in West Oakland, bringing the community back to the same grounds where the Panthers held rallies six decades ago. \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/moneyb69/\">Money B,\u003c/a> founding member of the legendary Digital Underground hip-hop collective and former student at the Black Panther’s Oakland Community School will guest host. He’ll be joined by performances from \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/numskulloftheluniz/\">Numskull of the Luniz\u003c/a>, The Bobby Jackson Project and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/wolfhawkjaguar/\">WolfHawkJuguar\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A number of other events in October commemorate the Black Panther’s legacy, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd9NJfUygqv/\">a Panther Jam at the Shakur Center\u003c/a> in Sacramento on Friday, Oct. 9. On Sunday, Oct. 11, there’s the \u003ca href=\"https://posh.vip/e/seize-the-time?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAae9RvTirno6ZWKYCwGiORB1t6eAvahHR5Ye0Ma-KJ6soVprYcltqaPReN1PYQ_aem_eWRKBEBtUM8wn-x9L5jLGw\">Seize The Time: A Fashion Experience\u003c/a>, led by \u003ca href=\"https://www.futurisme.studio/\">Futurisme Studios\u003c/a> and featuring DJ sets by \u003ca href=\"https://www.homeisforhomies.com/\">Home is for Homies\u003c/a>. And on Saturday, Oct. 17, Pittsburg’s \u003ca href=\"https://bookstore.revisionpub.com/\">RP Books\u003c/a> hosts a conversation with \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandvr.org/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAacRTQt7YCt-KS4SjkgIq5j65jdF8JEWHH5kk81AfIX31l23mQNt9EKmG0Jzlw_aem_Vzx8TXxIJDuHJUjY6NXIfA\">Michael Roosevelt\u003c/a>, author of \u003cem>The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Plan: A Liberatory Journal\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>More than a half-century ago, when the late \u003ca href=\"https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/black-panther-party-ten-point-program-1966/\">Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale charted 10 specific needs\u003c/a> of working-class African American people in this country, they couldn’t have fathomed that many of those demands — namely “Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter of Human Beings” and “Education That Teaches Us Our True History And Our Role in the Present-Day Society” — would remain unfulfilled.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nor could they have imagined how deeply the work of the Black Panther Party has inspired generations, pushing young people to create change both locally and internationally.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And clearly, the work continues.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Black Panther Party celebrates its 60th anniversary this month with a series of events. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bpp60.org/\">Details and more information here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘I Believe We Can Stop What's Happening Now,’ Says Mahmoud Khalil in Oakland",
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"headTitle": "‘I Believe We Can Stop What’s Happening Now,’ Says Mahmoud Khalil in Oakland | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>In his new memoir \u003cem>No Land to Stand On: Notes From Detention\u003c/em>, Mahmoud Khalil explicitly states that he doesn’t identify as an activist. Still, as his sold-out appearance at the First Congregational Church of Oakland made clear, he’s inspired many people to action. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During the book-signing portion of Saturday’s event, Gilda Posada, from Sacramento, presented Khalil with a poster she’d made. Pictured on it was his face surrounded by flowers, with the words “No ICE” and “Hands Off Students.” Posada distributed the posters at protests in the spring of 2025, while Khalil sat in ICE detention for more than three months.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’m Chicana, so there’s a lot of similarities between our struggles and Palestinian struggles,” Posada said. “The Bay Area is standing against ICE and everything that they’ve done to terrorize our communities.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In Oakland, Khalil sounded a note of hope toward that effort. “I believe we can stop what’s happening now,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994463\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nahian Haque gets a book signed by Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In front of an overflow crowd, Khalil was interviewed by Lara Kiswani, the executive director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) at the First Congregational Church. Kiswani pointed out that when Khalil was first abducted, people held signs in the Bay Area saying, “First, they took Mahmoud.” They understood, she said, that first it was him, and “then it was going to be anyone else.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Khalil’s detention made national headlines. In 2025, Khalil’s wife Noor Abdalla, then eight months pregnant, captured \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/7gngB-54-/\">harrowing footage\u003c/a> of federal immigration agents abducting Khalil in the lobby of his apartment building after months of his pro-Palestinian organizing at Columbia University.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was detained for 104 days while the Trump administration sought to deport him. In \u003cem>No Land to Stand On\u003c/em>, Khalil recounts his arrest, incarceration and separation from his family — including missing the birth of his son — as well as his continuing legal challenges. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994473\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil stands for a portrait at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ I wrote this book mostly to raise the alarm,” Khalil told KQED. “I don’t wanna wait for 20 years for this country to look back at what’s happening behind ICE detention, and what’s happening in Palestine, and say, ‘How could we let this happen?’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In detention, Khalil formed the genesis of the book by taking notes, unsure if authorities would confiscate them to use against him in court. During the months he was detained, more than 500 people rotated through his dorm, and Khalil “wanted to keep a memory of the tragic stories of all these incredible fathers and workers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The fact that my book is out — people being able to read the things that this administration tried so hard to silence — is a win,” Khalil said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994469\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sold-out crowd listens to Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil speak about his first book at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Over six months, Khalil worked weekends with his editor alongside answering court orders. Perhaps because the book is not overthought or full of jargon, his language brings the reader into the visceral details of what it feels like to be in ICE detention. “In detention, your desires shrink to fit the available space,” he writes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of his lawyers, read a manuscript before it was published, calling it “astonishing.” Khalil asked him to add comments or corrections, but all Azmy did was highlight various passages saying: “This is incredible,” alongside exuberant curse words. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an interview after Saturday’s event, Azmy described Khalil’s prose as evocative and clean. “The ideas have so much power, even though the words are almost kind of laconic. There’s something about the style that’s really, really powerful.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994464\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gilda Posada holds up a print she made of Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Johnny Sinodis, an attorney and partner at Van Der Hout, part of Mahmoud’s legal team, also read a copy of the manuscript. “Mahmoud has a once-in-a-generation voice,” he said, adding that Khalil speaks for many who’ve been through similar situations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Khalil continues to face deportation proceedings while pursuing multiple legal challenges. In 2026, the \u003ca href=\"https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/khalil-v-heritage-foundation-et-al\">Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit on his behalf\u003c/a> challenging his detention, and alleging a coordinated effort by government officials and pro-Israel groups to punish and intimidate Palestinian rights advocates.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11981941/hopeandlossingaza\">Mohammad Subeh\u003c/a>, an emergency room physician from the South Bay who has served on medical missions to Gaza, also picked up a signed book on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What’s important for all of us as Americans is to remember how important freedom of speech is,” Subeh says. “Hearing from Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained and imprisoned for speaking up against a genocide… is one of the few ways we can support really preserving the right to freedom of speech.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994465\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil waves to the crowd before speaking with Lara Kiswani about his first book at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Once he finished signing copies of his book for organizers and volunteers, Khalil talked briefly about the process of writing \u003cem>No Land to Stand On\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Writing a memoir at the time you are living that story was very difficult,” he told KQED. Memoirs are often written to reflect on things that already happened. But, he said, “everything in the book is still happening … to thousands of others in this country.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994463\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nahian Haque gets a book signed by Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994463\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nahian Haque gets a book signed by Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In front of an overflow crowd, Khalil was interviewed by Lara Kiswani, the executive director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) at the First Congregational Church. Kiswani pointed out that when Khalil was first abducted, people held signs in the Bay Area saying, “First, they took Mahmoud.” They understood, she said, that first it was him, and “then it was going to be anyone else.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Khalil’s detention made national headlines. In 2025, Khalil’s wife Noor Abdalla, then eight months pregnant, captured \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/7gngB-54-/\">harrowing footage\u003c/a> of federal immigration agents abducting Khalil in the lobby of his apartment building after months of his pro-Palestinian organizing at Columbia University.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In front of an overflow crowd, Khalil was interviewed by Lara Kiswani, the executive director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) at the First Congregational Church. Kiswani pointed out that when Khalil was first abducted, people held signs in the Bay Area saying, “First, they took Mahmoud.” They understood, she said, that first it was him, and “then it was going to be anyone else.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Khalil’s detention made national headlines. In 2025, Khalil’s wife Noor Abdalla, then eight months pregnant, captured \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/7gngB-54-/\">harrowing footage\u003c/a> of federal immigration agents abducting Khalil in the lobby of his apartment building after months of his pro-Palestinian organizing at Columbia University.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was detained for 104 days while the Trump administration sought to deport him. In \u003cem>No Land to Stand On\u003c/em>, Khalil recounts his arrest, incarceration and separation from his family — including missing the birth of his son — as well as his continuing legal challenges. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was detained for 104 days while the Trump administration sought to deport him. In \u003cem>No Land to Stand On\u003c/em>, Khalil recounts his arrest, incarceration and separation from his family — including missing the birth of his son — as well as his continuing legal challenges. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994473\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil stands for a portrait at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994473\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil stands for a portrait at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ I wrote this book mostly to raise the alarm,” Khalil told KQED. “I don’t wanna wait for 20 years for this country to look back at what’s happening behind ICE detention, and what’s happening in Palestine, and say, ‘How could we let this happen?’”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“ I wrote this book mostly to raise the alarm,” Khalil told KQED. “I don’t wanna wait for 20 years for this country to look back at what’s happening behind ICE detention, and what’s happening in Palestine, and say, ‘How could we let this happen?’”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In detention, Khalil formed the genesis of the book by taking notes, unsure if authorities would confiscate them to use against him in court. During the months he was detained, more than 500 people rotated through his dorm, and Khalil “wanted to keep a memory of the tragic stories of all these incredible fathers and workers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In detention, Khalil formed the genesis of the book by taking notes, unsure if authorities would confiscate them to use against him in court. During the months he was detained, more than 500 people rotated through his dorm, and Khalil “wanted to keep a memory of the tragic stories of all these incredible fathers and workers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The fact that my book is out — people being able to read the things that this administration tried so hard to silence — is a win,” Khalil said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The fact that my book is out — people being able to read the things that this administration tried so hard to silence — is a win,” Khalil said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994469\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sold-out crowd listens to Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil speak about his first book at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994469\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sold-out crowd listens to Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil speak about his first book at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Over six months, Khalil worked weekends with his editor alongside answering court orders. Perhaps because the book is not overthought or full of jargon, his language brings the reader into the visceral details of what it feels like to be in ICE detention. “In detention, your desires shrink to fit the available space,” he writes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Over six months, Khalil worked weekends with his editor alongside answering court orders. Perhaps because the book is not overthought or full of jargon, his language brings the reader into the visceral details of what it feels like to be in ICE detention. “In detention, your desires shrink to fit the available space,” he writes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of his lawyers, read a manuscript before it was published, calling it “astonishing.” Khalil asked him to add comments or corrections, but all Azmy did was highlight various passages saying: “This is incredible,” alongside exuberant curse words. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of his lawyers, read a manuscript before it was published, calling it “astonishing.” Khalil asked him to add comments or corrections, but all Azmy did was highlight various passages saying: “This is incredible,” alongside exuberant curse words. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an interview after Saturday’s event, Azmy described Khalil’s prose as evocative and clean. “The ideas have so much power, even though the words are almost kind of laconic. There’s something about the style that’s really, really powerful.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In an interview after Saturday’s event, Azmy described Khalil’s prose as evocative and clean. “The ideas have so much power, even though the words are almost kind of laconic. There’s something about the style that’s really, really powerful.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994464\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gilda Posada holds up a print she made of Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994464\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gilda Posada holds up a print she made of Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Johnny Sinodis, an attorney and partner at Van Der Hout, part of Mahmoud’s legal team, also read a copy of the manuscript. “Mahmoud has a once-in-a-generation voice,” he said, adding that Khalil speaks for many who’ve been through similar situations.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Johnny Sinodis, an attorney and partner at Van Der Hout, part of Mahmoud’s legal team, also read a copy of the manuscript. “Mahmoud has a once-in-a-generation voice,” he said, adding that Khalil speaks for many who’ve been through similar situations.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Khalil continues to face deportation proceedings while pursuing multiple legal challenges. In 2026, the \u003ca href=\"https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/khalil-v-heritage-foundation-et-al\">Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit on his behalf\u003c/a> challenging his detention, and alleging a coordinated effort by government officials and pro-Israel groups to punish and intimidate Palestinian rights advocates.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Khalil continues to face deportation proceedings while pursuing multiple legal challenges. In 2026, the \u003ca href=\"https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/khalil-v-heritage-foundation-et-al\">Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit on his behalf\u003c/a> challenging his detention, and alleging a coordinated effort by government officials and pro-Israel groups to punish and intimidate Palestinian rights advocates.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11981941/hopeandlossingaza\">Mohammad Subeh\u003c/a>, an emergency room physician from the South Bay who has served on medical missions to Gaza, also picked up a signed book on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11981941/hopeandlossingaza\">Mohammad Subeh\u003c/a>, an emergency room physician from the South Bay who has served on medical missions to Gaza, also picked up a signed book on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What’s important for all of us as Americans is to remember how important freedom of speech is,” Subeh says. “Hearing from Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained and imprisoned for speaking up against a genocide… is one of the few ways we can support really preserving the right to freedom of speech.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“What’s important for all of us as Americans is to remember how important freedom of speech is,” Subeh says. “Hearing from Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained and imprisoned for speaking up against a genocide… is one of the few ways we can support really preserving the right to freedom of speech.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994465\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil waves to the crowd before speaking with Lara Kiswani about his first book at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994465\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil waves to the crowd before speaking with Lara Kiswani about his first book at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Once he finished signing copies of his book for organizers and volunteers, Khalil talked briefly about the process of writing \u003cem>No Land to Stand On\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Once he finished signing copies of his book for organizers and volunteers, Khalil talked briefly about the process of writing \u003cem>No Land to Stand On\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Writing a memoir at the time you are living that story was very difficult,” he told KQED. Memoirs are often written to reflect on things that already happened. But, he said, “everything in the book is still happening … to thousands of others in this country.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Khalil visited the Bay Area on a book tour for ‘No Land to Stand On,’ a searing call for free speech.",
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"title": "Mahmoud Khalil in Oakland: ‘I Believe We Can Stop What's Happening Now’ | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In his new memoir \u003cem>No Land to Stand On: Notes From Detention\u003c/em>, Mahmoud Khalil explicitly states that he doesn’t identify as an activist. Still, as his sold-out appearance at the First Congregational Church of Oakland made clear, he’s inspired many people to action. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During the book-signing portion of Saturday’s event, Gilda Posada, from Sacramento, presented Khalil with a poster she’d made. Pictured on it was his face surrounded by flowers, with the words “No ICE” and “Hands Off Students.” Posada distributed the posters at protests in the spring of 2025, while Khalil sat in ICE detention for more than three months.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’m Chicana, so there’s a lot of similarities between our struggles and Palestinian struggles,” Posada said. “The Bay Area is standing against ICE and everything that they’ve done to terrorize our communities.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In Oakland, Khalil sounded a note of hope toward that effort. “I believe we can stop what’s happening now,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994463\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nahian Haque gets a book signed by Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In front of an overflow crowd, Khalil was interviewed by Lara Kiswani, the executive director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) at the First Congregational Church. Kiswani pointed out that when Khalil was first abducted, people held signs in the Bay Area saying, “First, they took Mahmoud.” They understood, she said, that first it was him, and “then it was going to be anyone else.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Khalil’s detention made national headlines. In 2025, Khalil’s wife Noor Abdalla, then eight months pregnant, captured \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/7gngB-54-/\">harrowing footage\u003c/a> of federal immigration agents abducting Khalil in the lobby of his apartment building after months of his pro-Palestinian organizing at Columbia University.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was detained for 104 days while the Trump administration sought to deport him. In \u003cem>No Land to Stand On\u003c/em>, Khalil recounts his arrest, incarceration and separation from his family — including missing the birth of his son — as well as his continuing legal challenges. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994473\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-21-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil stands for a portrait at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ I wrote this book mostly to raise the alarm,” Khalil told KQED. “I don’t wanna wait for 20 years for this country to look back at what’s happening behind ICE detention, and what’s happening in Palestine, and say, ‘How could we let this happen?’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In detention, Khalil formed the genesis of the book by taking notes, unsure if authorities would confiscate them to use against him in court. During the months he was detained, more than 500 people rotated through his dorm, and Khalil “wanted to keep a memory of the tragic stories of all these incredible fathers and workers,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The fact that my book is out — people being able to read the things that this administration tried so hard to silence — is a win,” Khalil said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994469\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-14-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A sold-out crowd listens to Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil speak about his first book at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Over six months, Khalil worked weekends with his editor alongside answering court orders. Perhaps because the book is not overthought or full of jargon, his language brings the reader into the visceral details of what it feels like to be in ICE detention. “In detention, your desires shrink to fit the available space,” he writes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of his lawyers, read a manuscript before it was published, calling it “astonishing.” Khalil asked him to add comments or corrections, but all Azmy did was highlight various passages saying: “This is incredible,” alongside exuberant curse words. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In an interview after Saturday’s event, Azmy described Khalil’s prose as evocative and clean. “The ideas have so much power, even though the words are almost kind of laconic. There’s something about the style that’s really, really powerful.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994464\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gilda Posada holds up a print she made of Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Johnny Sinodis, an attorney and partner at Van Der Hout, part of Mahmoud’s legal team, also read a copy of the manuscript. “Mahmoud has a once-in-a-generation voice,” he said, adding that Khalil speaks for many who’ve been through similar situations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Khalil continues to face deportation proceedings while pursuing multiple legal challenges. In 2026, the \u003ca href=\"https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/khalil-v-heritage-foundation-et-al\">Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit on his behalf\u003c/a> challenging his detention, and alleging a coordinated effort by government officials and pro-Israel groups to punish and intimidate Palestinian rights advocates.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11981941/hopeandlossingaza\">Mohammad Subeh\u003c/a>, an emergency room physician from the South Bay who has served on medical missions to Gaza, also picked up a signed book on Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“What’s important for all of us as Americans is to remember how important freedom of speech is,” Subeh says. “Hearing from Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained and imprisoned for speaking up against a genocide… is one of the few ways we can support really preserving the right to freedom of speech.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994465\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/10/261003-MAHMOUDKHALIL-JY-05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Palestinian organizer and author Mahmoud Khalil waves to the crowd before speaking with Lara Kiswani about his first book at the First Congregational Church of Oakland in Oakland on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Once he finished signing copies of his book for organizers and volunteers, Khalil talked briefly about the process of writing \u003cem>No Land to Stand On\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Writing a memoir at the time you are living that story was very difficult,” he told KQED. Memoirs are often written to reflect on things that already happened. But, he said, “everything in the book is still happening … to thousands of others in this country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "other-minds-experimental-music-festival-san-francisco-charles-amirkhanian",
"title": "As Other Minds Festival Turns 30, an Experimental Music Giant Takes a Bow",
"publishDate": 1791228661,
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"headTitle": "As Other Minds Festival Turns 30, an Experimental Music Giant Takes a Bow | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>What’s the state of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/experimental-music\">experimental music\u003c/a> today?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California,” composer Charles Amirkhanian says, laughing. “It’s happening here. Occasionally we’ll let in someone from New York — or Norway. But we don’t have any problems finding material.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amirkhanian has long mastered the art of creating a home for the avant-garde. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the co-founder of Other Minds, a leading nonprofit and record label \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11353950/other-minds-archives-headed-for-uc-santa-cruz\">dedicated to noncommercial music\u003c/a>, and as the former music director of KPFA, he’s spent decades championing composers who push beyond conventional boundaries. He also has cultivated an audience willing to follow them there through \u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/other-minds-festival-30/\">Other Minds’ annual festival\u003c/a>, which brings freewheeling musicians and sound poets from around the world to San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Oct. 8–11 at the Brava Theater in the Mission District, the festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary. It’s also the 81-year-old Amirkhanian’s last year as executive and artistic director before he retires in January. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Musician and fellow composer Joseph Bohigian, currently Other Minds’ associate director, will take over as artistic director next year. A separate search for the organization’s next executive director is underway. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian says he’ll strive to lead the organization into a new chapter while continuing his predecessor’s ambitions. Much like his mentor, the young composer draws from a wellspring of ancient Armenian culture and the contemporary American experimental music to express something new. He’s also made it his mission to support other artists on their voyages, as Amirkhanian has done for decades. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to make sure that there’s a home for out-there music, the stuff that’s not commercially viable, but is exciting and experimental and pushes things forward,” Bohigian says. “We want to serve that small but dedicated audience.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“And the composers who make the music,” Amirkhanian adds. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994061\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian and Associate Director Joseph Bohigian chat at their offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Two kindred spirits, born half a century apart\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On a cloudy Thursday, Amirkhanian and Bohigian sit together in Other Minds’ downtown Berkeley office, surrounded by stacks of CDs and a bust of legendary 20th-century Bay Area new music composer Henry Cowell (“the godfather,” Amirkhanian says). Through the glass windows, cars and passersby screech and blare from below, making their own kind of experimental music. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s a fitting soundtrack for an organization whose mission is, in part, to listen differently. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite a nearly half-century age gap, Amirkhanian and Bohigian are kindred spirits. Both of them are percussionists, steeped in a tradition that includes iconoclastic musicians like Cowell, Lou Harrison and others. And both are Armenians from Fresno, the agricultural city in California’s heartland which is home to one of the oldest and most vibrant Armenian diasporas in the U.S. Both have drawn on their heritage in their work in forward-thinking ways. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The two first met in 2011 when Bohigian was a freshman at Fresno State University. Amirkhanian was doing a guest performance at the Fresno New Music Festival, and guest-lectured in one of Bohigian’s music classes. At the festival, the students performed an octet Amirkhanian had written as part of a career-long fascination with the noisiest percussion instrument: the ratchet. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That kind of thing was really exciting,” Bohigian recalls. “This loud, asynchronous rhythm.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian, who was born in 1993, the same year as the first Other Minds festival, began as a pianist before switching to percussion, a classic path into contemporary music.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If you’re a percussionist, there’s not a lot of old repertoire,” he says. “You’re performing mostly 20th- and 21st-century music.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian started composing in high school, initially writing pieces that imitated composers like Cowell, who devised a method for playing the piano from the inside, on the strings. Bohigian’s first piano piece, written for an AP music theory course, was titled “Song for Spaghetti Armed Steve.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But his work gradually developed a deeper cultural focus. A piece \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10467313/marking-the-armenian-genocide-anniversary-by-featuring-living-armenian-composers?mc_cid=3995258f14&mc_eid=e3b2e66c4b\">he composed during his senior year\u003c/a> of college to observe the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was performed in 2015 by Fresno State’s New Music Ensemble. Bohigian lived in Armenia from 2019–2020, where he conducted research, studied and taught a laptop orchestra class at the state conservatory in Yerevan. His compositions have been performed around the world. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994064\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Associate Director Joseph Bohigian holds a program for the Other Minds Festival at the organization’s offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Reviving the legacy of an Armenian auteur\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian’s latest work will premiere Thursday on the opening night of this year’s Other Minds festival. He will debut \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/scenes-from-i-am-he-whose-life-and-soul-are-torment/\">I Am He Whose Life and Soul Are Torment\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, an evening-length multimedia performance inspired by the life of Soviet-Armenian auteur Sergei Parajanov.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian’s composition draws from Parajanov’s abstract 1969 film, \u003cem>The Color of Pomegranates\u003c/em>, about the 18th-century bard Sayat-Nova, who sang in Armenian, Georgian and Azeri — the languages of the region. The film was released four years before the director was jailed by the USSR for homosexuality and sentenced to hard labor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The piece brings together Sayat-Nova’s folk music — performed by Bay Area wind instrumentalist and vocalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060906/meet-the-duduk-whisperer-a-bay-area-armenian-folk-musician-revives-centuries-of-soul\">Khatchadour Khatchadourian\u003c/a> — with the electronic music tradition that Bohigian is immersed in, to illustrate scenes from Parajanov’s life. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian describes the piece as theatrical, involving staged visual elements and costumes by East Bay artists Tara Baghdassarian and Caro Yaghjian in addition to the electronics and vocals.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We want to really make it immersive,” Bohigian says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Some other festival weekend highlights include a live electronic performance from Philadelphia-born King Britt, delivering a set of sonic liberation compositions rooted in Black sound. And the festival will close Sunday with a performance by 79-year-old Charlemagne Palestine, who “plays only Bösendorfer pianos with extra keys on the bottom … so that the entire instrument resonates like perfume in the entire hall,” Amirkhanian says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I want people to understand that this is a rare opportunity to hear a composer who’s now probably at the end of his career and he’s coming here to do this monster hour-long performance,” he continues. “It’s going to be thrilling.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Amirkhanian will also be performing a song he composed when he was 18: “Sonatina for Four Bass Drums, Op. 4.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I thought it’d be fun to dredge something up from the past,” he muses.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994065\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian at the organization’s offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Finding the ‘other minds\u003c/strong>’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amirkhanian also grew up in Fresno, in a household steeped in classical music.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>His mother and her three sisters were all classical pianists. Because Fresno sits roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, musicians traveling between the two cities would sometimes stop there, giving Amirkhanian opportunities to encounter performers and music that might otherwise have passed him by.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One day his father brought home a 78 rpm record with an Armenian rug pictured on the cover and two Armenian names: Alan Hovhaness and Maro Ajemian. Thinking it was an Armenian folk album, he bought it for the family. It turned out to be one of John Cage’s early commercial releases.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cage’s approach to sound opened another world for Amirkhanian. He remembered a piano altered with screws, erasers and other objects inserted among its strings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My mother told him to take it back to the shop,” Amirkhanian recalls. “But the shop would not take it back.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The record stayed, and set Amirkhanian on a lifelong path toward “all the sounds that you could incorporate into music.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cage, who died in 1992, also inspired the festival’s name, thanks to a dismissive \u003cem>New Yorker\u003c/em> obituary of the artist that says: “His epitaph might read that he composed music in other peoples’ minds.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amirkhanian and co-founder Jim Newman decided then that they \u003cem>were\u003c/em> the “other minds.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The first Other Minds festival, in 1993, was a hit, featuring composers Philip Glass, Meredith Monk and Julia Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The composers … went out and told everybody, ‘Well, they don’t pay much money, but you better accept if you get an invitation to the Other Minds festival,’” Amirkhanian recalls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Forced to choose a highlight of his 30-year tenure, Amirkhanian recalled \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4rfukf_eqI\">\u003cem>Ice Field\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a performance commissioned by Other Minds in 2001 and composed by Henry Brant. For $10,000, Brant put a jazz band on the balcony of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and surrounded the audience with a wall of cacophonous sound. The piece won a Pulitzer Prize.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994062\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian (left) and Associate Director Joseph Bohigian chat at their offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Other Minds’ electronic futures\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today, Other Minds’ Berkeley office houses an archive of roughly 4,000 audio tapes from the earliest days of KPFA. The record label releases music that might struggle to find a home elsewhere, particularly work that is too experimental or noncommercial for larger labels. The organization also has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/show/music-from-other-minds\">two-hour program on KALW\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Other Minds now also has a holiday in San Francisco. Mayor Daniel Lurie last week proclaimed Oct. 2, 2026 as Other Minds Day, in recognition of its 30th anniversary and the festival’s enduring contribution to San Francisco’s cultural life.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both men are surprisingly optimistic about the future, even as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982572/ai-is-coming-for-the-music-industry-how-will-artists-adapt\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> begins to reshape the way music is made and consumed. Amirkhanian notes that we’re already “surrounded by dangers: politically, culturally — and we’re going to get through it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian says AI has long been used by composers and musicians, predating the current discussions of rogue agents and other hazards. In grad school, he experimented with machine learning, training basic models to recognize certain sounds. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We can find ways to use this, like any other new technology, to our advantage to make something new that we couldn’t have made without it,” Bohigian says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Taking over the artistic future of Other Minds will require him to keep grappling with these questions. But the principles will be the same: give unusual music a place to exist, give its composers an audience and listen closely to discover what comes next.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Because of the internet, you’re finding out about new people all the time. Every week I’m hearing about some composer that was not at all on my radar, making really interesting work,” Bohigian continues. “I can sometimes get a little bit in my head about what’s out there. And then I hear something new that’s exciting and I think, ‘Oh, we have a bright future.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/other-minds-festival-30/\">Other Minds Festival\u003c/a> takes place Oct. 8–11 at Brava Theater in San Francisco. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As the co-founder of Other Minds, a leading nonprofit and record label \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11353950/other-minds-archives-headed-for-uc-santa-cruz\">dedicated to noncommercial music\u003c/a>, and as the former music director of KPFA, he’s spent decades championing composers who push beyond conventional boundaries. He also has cultivated an audience willing to follow them there through \u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/other-minds-festival-30/\">Other Minds’ annual festival\u003c/a>, which brings freewheeling musicians and sound poets from around the world to San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As the co-founder of Other Minds, a leading nonprofit and record label \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11353950/other-minds-archives-headed-for-uc-santa-cruz\">dedicated to noncommercial music\u003c/a>, and as the former music director of KPFA, he’s spent decades championing composers who push beyond conventional boundaries. He also has cultivated an audience willing to follow them there through \u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/other-minds-festival-30/\">Other Minds’ annual festival\u003c/a>, which brings freewheeling musicians and sound poets from around the world to San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Oct. 8–11 at the Brava Theater in the Mission District, the festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary. It’s also the 81-year-old Amirkhanian’s last year as executive and artistic director before he retires in January. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Oct. 8–11 at the Brava Theater in the Mission District, the festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary. It’s also the 81-year-old Amirkhanian’s last year as executive and artistic director before he retires in January. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Musician and fellow composer Joseph Bohigian, currently Other Minds’ associate director, will take over as artistic director next year. A separate search for the organization’s next executive director is underway. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Musician and fellow composer Joseph Bohigian, currently Other Minds’ associate director, will take over as artistic director next year. A separate search for the organization’s next executive director is underway. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bohigian says he’ll strive to lead the organization into a new chapter while continuing his predecessor’s ambitions. Much like his mentor, the young composer draws from a wellspring of ancient Armenian culture and the contemporary American experimental music to express something new. He’s also made it his mission to support other artists on their voyages, as Amirkhanian has done for decades. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“And the composers who make the music,” Amirkhanian adds. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On a cloudy Thursday, Amirkhanian and Bohigian sit together in Other Minds’ downtown Berkeley office, surrounded by stacks of CDs and a bust of legendary 20th-century Bay Area new music composer Henry Cowell (“the godfather,” Amirkhanian says). Through the glass windows, cars and passersby screech and blare from below, making their own kind of experimental music. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On a cloudy Thursday, Amirkhanian and Bohigian sit together in Other Minds’ downtown Berkeley office, surrounded by stacks of CDs and a bust of legendary 20th-century Bay Area new music composer Henry Cowell (“the godfather,” Amirkhanian says). Through the glass windows, cars and passersby screech and blare from below, making their own kind of experimental music. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Despite a nearly half-century age gap, Amirkhanian and Bohigian are kindred spirits. Both of them are percussionists, steeped in a tradition that includes iconoclastic musicians like Cowell, Lou Harrison and others. And both are Armenians from Fresno, the agricultural city in California’s heartland which is home to one of the oldest and most vibrant Armenian diasporas in the U.S. Both have drawn on their heritage in their work in forward-thinking ways. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Despite a nearly half-century age gap, Amirkhanian and Bohigian are kindred spirits. Both of them are percussionists, steeped in a tradition that includes iconoclastic musicians like Cowell, Lou Harrison and others. And both are Armenians from Fresno, the agricultural city in California’s heartland which is home to one of the oldest and most vibrant Armenian diasporas in the U.S. Both have drawn on their heritage in their work in forward-thinking ways. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The two first met in 2011 when Bohigian was a freshman at Fresno State University. Amirkhanian was doing a guest performance at the Fresno New Music Festival, and guest-lectured in one of Bohigian’s music classes. At the festival, the students performed an octet Amirkhanian had written as part of a career-long fascination with the noisiest percussion instrument: the ratchet. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The two first met in 2011 when Bohigian was a freshman at Fresno State University. Amirkhanian was doing a guest performance at the Fresno New Music Festival, and guest-lectured in one of Bohigian’s music classes. At the festival, the students performed an octet Amirkhanian had written as part of a career-long fascination with the noisiest percussion instrument: the ratchet. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bohigian, who was born in 1993, the same year as the first Other Minds festival, began as a pianist before switching to percussion, a classic path into contemporary music.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bohigian started composing in high school, initially writing pieces that imitated composers like Cowell, who devised a method for playing the piano from the inside, on the strings. Bohigian’s first piano piece, written for an AP music theory course, was titled “Song for Spaghetti Armed Steve.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But his work gradually developed a deeper cultural focus. A piece \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10467313/marking-the-armenian-genocide-anniversary-by-featuring-living-armenian-composers?mc_cid=3995258f14&mc_eid=e3b2e66c4b\">he composed during his senior year\u003c/a> of college to observe the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was performed in 2015 by Fresno State’s New Music Ensemble. Bohigian lived in Armenia from 2019–2020, where he conducted research, studied and taught a laptop orchestra class at the state conservatory in Yerevan. His compositions have been performed around the world. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994064\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Associate Director Joseph Bohigian holds a program for the Other Minds Festival at the organization’s offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994064\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Associate Director Joseph Bohigian holds a program for the Other Minds Festival at the organization’s offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bohigian’s latest work will premiere Thursday on the opening night of this year’s Other Minds festival. He will debut \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/scenes-from-i-am-he-whose-life-and-soul-are-torment/\">I Am He Whose Life and Soul Are Torment\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, an evening-length multimedia performance inspired by the life of Soviet-Armenian auteur Sergei Parajanov.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bohigian’s composition draws from Parajanov’s abstract 1969 film, \u003cem>The Color of Pomegranates\u003c/em>, about the 18th-century bard Sayat-Nova, who sang in Armenian, Georgian and Azeri — the languages of the region. The film was released four years before the director was jailed by the USSR for homosexuality and sentenced to hard labor. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bohigian’s composition draws from Parajanov’s abstract 1969 film, \u003cem>The Color of Pomegranates\u003c/em>, about the 18th-century bard Sayat-Nova, who sang in Armenian, Georgian and Azeri — the languages of the region. The film was released four years before the director was jailed by the USSR for homosexuality and sentenced to hard labor. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The piece brings together Sayat-Nova’s folk music — performed by Bay Area wind instrumentalist and vocalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060906/meet-the-duduk-whisperer-a-bay-area-armenian-folk-musician-revives-centuries-of-soul\">Khatchadour Khatchadourian\u003c/a> — with the electronic music tradition that Bohigian is immersed in, to illustrate scenes from Parajanov’s life. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bohigian describes the piece as theatrical, involving staged visual elements and costumes by East Bay artists Tara Baghdassarian and Caro Yaghjian in addition to the electronics and vocals.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We want to really make it immersive,” Bohigian says. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Some other festival weekend highlights include a live electronic performance from Philadelphia-born King Britt, delivering a set of sonic liberation compositions rooted in Black sound. And the festival will close Sunday with a performance by 79-year-old Charlemagne Palestine, who “plays only Bösendorfer pianos with extra keys on the bottom … so that the entire instrument resonates like perfume in the entire hall,” Amirkhanian says. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I want people to understand that this is a rare opportunity to hear a composer who’s now probably at the end of his career and he’s coming here to do this monster hour-long performance,” he continues. “It’s going to be thrilling.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I want people to understand that this is a rare opportunity to hear a composer who’s now probably at the end of his career and he’s coming here to do this monster hour-long performance,” he continues. “It’s going to be thrilling.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Amirkhanian will also be performing a song he composed when he was 18: “Sonatina for Four Bass Drums, Op. 4.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994065\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian at the organization’s offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Amirkhanian also grew up in Fresno, in a household steeped in classical music.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>His mother and her three sisters were all classical pianists. Because Fresno sits roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, musicians traveling between the two cities would sometimes stop there, giving Amirkhanian opportunities to encounter performers and music that might otherwise have passed him by.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>His mother and her three sisters were all classical pianists. Because Fresno sits roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, musicians traveling between the two cities would sometimes stop there, giving Amirkhanian opportunities to encounter performers and music that might otherwise have passed him by.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One day his father brought home a 78 rpm record with an Armenian rug pictured on the cover and two Armenian names: Alan Hovhaness and Maro Ajemian. Thinking it was an Armenian folk album, he bought it for the family. It turned out to be one of John Cage’s early commercial releases.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>One day his father brought home a 78 rpm record with an Armenian rug pictured on the cover and two Armenian names: Alan Hovhaness and Maro Ajemian. Thinking it was an Armenian folk album, he bought it for the family. It turned out to be one of John Cage’s early commercial releases.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Cage’s approach to sound opened another world for Amirkhanian. He remembered a piano altered with screws, erasers and other objects inserted among its strings.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“My mother told him to take it back to the shop,” Amirkhanian recalls. “But the shop would not take it back.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Cage, who died in 1992, also inspired the festival’s name, thanks to a dismissive \u003cem>New Yorker\u003c/em> obituary of the artist that says: “His epitaph might read that he composed music in other peoples’ minds.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The first Other Minds festival, in 1993, was a hit, featuring composers Philip Glass, Meredith Monk and Julia Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Forced to choose a highlight of his 30-year tenure, Amirkhanian recalled \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4rfukf_eqI\">\u003cem>Ice Field\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a performance commissioned by Other Minds in 2001 and composed by Henry Brant. For $10,000, Brant put a jazz band on the balcony of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and surrounded the audience with a wall of cacophonous sound. The piece won a Pulitzer Prize.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994062\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian (left) and Associate Director Joseph Bohigian chat at their offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994062\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian (left) and Associate Director Joseph Bohigian chat at their offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Today, Other Minds’ Berkeley office houses an archive of roughly 4,000 audio tapes from the earliest days of KPFA. The record label releases music that might struggle to find a home elsewhere, particularly work that is too experimental or noncommercial for larger labels. The organization also has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/show/music-from-other-minds\">two-hour program on KALW\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Today, Other Minds’ Berkeley office houses an archive of roughly 4,000 audio tapes from the earliest days of KPFA. The record label releases music that might struggle to find a home elsewhere, particularly work that is too experimental or noncommercial for larger labels. The organization also has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/show/music-from-other-minds\">two-hour program on KALW\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Other Minds now also has a holiday in San Francisco. Mayor Daniel Lurie last week proclaimed Oct. 2, 2026 as Other Minds Day, in recognition of its 30th anniversary and the festival’s enduring contribution to San Francisco’s cultural life.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Other Minds now also has a holiday in San Francisco. Mayor Daniel Lurie last week proclaimed Oct. 2, 2026 as Other Minds Day, in recognition of its 30th anniversary and the festival’s enduring contribution to San Francisco’s cultural life.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Both men are surprisingly optimistic about the future, even as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982572/ai-is-coming-for-the-music-industry-how-will-artists-adapt\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> begins to reshape the way music is made and consumed. Amirkhanian notes that we’re already “surrounded by dangers: politically, culturally — and we’re going to get through it.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Both men are surprisingly optimistic about the future, even as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982572/ai-is-coming-for-the-music-industry-how-will-artists-adapt\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> begins to reshape the way music is made and consumed. Amirkhanian notes that we’re already “surrounded by dangers: politically, culturally — and we’re going to get through it.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bohigian says AI has long been used by composers and musicians, predating the current discussions of rogue agents and other hazards. In grad school, he experimented with machine learning, training basic models to recognize certain sounds. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bohigian says AI has long been used by composers and musicians, predating the current discussions of rogue agents and other hazards. In grad school, he experimented with machine learning, training basic models to recognize certain sounds. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We can find ways to use this, like any other new technology, to our advantage to make something new that we couldn’t have made without it,” Bohigian says.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Taking over the artistic future of Other Minds will require him to keep grappling with these questions. But the principles will be the same: give unusual music a place to exist, give its composers an audience and listen closely to discover what comes next.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Taking over the artistic future of Other Minds will require him to keep grappling with these questions. But the principles will be the same: give unusual music a place to exist, give its composers an audience and listen closely to discover what comes next.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Because of the internet, you’re finding out about new people all the time. Every week I’m hearing about some composer that was not at all on my radar, making really interesting work,” Bohigian continues. “I can sometimes get a little bit in my head about what’s out there. And then I hear something new that’s exciting and I think, ‘Oh, we have a bright future.’”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Because of the internet, you’re finding out about new people all the time. Every week I’m hearing about some composer that was not at all on my radar, making really interesting work,” Bohigian continues. “I can sometimes get a little bit in my head about what’s out there. And then I hear something new that’s exciting and I think, ‘Oh, we have a bright future.’”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/other-minds-festival-30/\">Other Minds Festival\u003c/a> takes place Oct. 8–11 at Brava Theater in San Francisco. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Charles Amirkhanian reflects on his legacy in avant-garde music — and his festival and record label’s next era. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>What’s the state of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/experimental-music\">experimental music\u003c/a> today?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California,” composer Charles Amirkhanian says, laughing. “It’s happening here. Occasionally we’ll let in someone from New York — or Norway. But we don’t have any problems finding material.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amirkhanian has long mastered the art of creating a home for the avant-garde. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As the co-founder of Other Minds, a leading nonprofit and record label \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/11353950/other-minds-archives-headed-for-uc-santa-cruz\">dedicated to noncommercial music\u003c/a>, and as the former music director of KPFA, he’s spent decades championing composers who push beyond conventional boundaries. He also has cultivated an audience willing to follow them there through \u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/other-minds-festival-30/\">Other Minds’ annual festival\u003c/a>, which brings freewheeling musicians and sound poets from around the world to San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Oct. 8–11 at the Brava Theater in the Mission District, the festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary. It’s also the 81-year-old Amirkhanian’s last year as executive and artistic director before he retires in January. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Musician and fellow composer Joseph Bohigian, currently Other Minds’ associate director, will take over as artistic director next year. A separate search for the organization’s next executive director is underway. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian says he’ll strive to lead the organization into a new chapter while continuing his predecessor’s ambitions. Much like his mentor, the young composer draws from a wellspring of ancient Armenian culture and the contemporary American experimental music to express something new. He’s also made it his mission to support other artists on their voyages, as Amirkhanian has done for decades. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to make sure that there’s a home for out-there music, the stuff that’s not commercially viable, but is exciting and experimental and pushes things forward,” Bohigian says. “We want to serve that small but dedicated audience.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“And the composers who make the music,” Amirkhanian adds. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994061\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian and Associate Director Joseph Bohigian chat at their offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Two kindred spirits, born half a century apart\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On a cloudy Thursday, Amirkhanian and Bohigian sit together in Other Minds’ downtown Berkeley office, surrounded by stacks of CDs and a bust of legendary 20th-century Bay Area new music composer Henry Cowell (“the godfather,” Amirkhanian says). Through the glass windows, cars and passersby screech and blare from below, making their own kind of experimental music. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s a fitting soundtrack for an organization whose mission is, in part, to listen differently. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Despite a nearly half-century age gap, Amirkhanian and Bohigian are kindred spirits. Both of them are percussionists, steeped in a tradition that includes iconoclastic musicians like Cowell, Lou Harrison and others. And both are Armenians from Fresno, the agricultural city in California’s heartland which is home to one of the oldest and most vibrant Armenian diasporas in the U.S. Both have drawn on their heritage in their work in forward-thinking ways. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The two first met in 2011 when Bohigian was a freshman at Fresno State University. Amirkhanian was doing a guest performance at the Fresno New Music Festival, and guest-lectured in one of Bohigian’s music classes. At the festival, the students performed an octet Amirkhanian had written as part of a career-long fascination with the noisiest percussion instrument: the ratchet. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That kind of thing was really exciting,” Bohigian recalls. “This loud, asynchronous rhythm.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian, who was born in 1993, the same year as the first Other Minds festival, began as a pianist before switching to percussion, a classic path into contemporary music.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If you’re a percussionist, there’s not a lot of old repertoire,” he says. “You’re performing mostly 20th- and 21st-century music.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian started composing in high school, initially writing pieces that imitated composers like Cowell, who devised a method for playing the piano from the inside, on the strings. Bohigian’s first piano piece, written for an AP music theory course, was titled “Song for Spaghetti Armed Steve.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But his work gradually developed a deeper cultural focus. A piece \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10467313/marking-the-armenian-genocide-anniversary-by-featuring-living-armenian-composers?mc_cid=3995258f14&mc_eid=e3b2e66c4b\">he composed during his senior year\u003c/a> of college to observe the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide was performed in 2015 by Fresno State’s New Music Ensemble. Bohigian lived in Armenia from 2019–2020, where he conducted research, studied and taught a laptop orchestra class at the state conservatory in Yerevan. His compositions have been performed around the world. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994064\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Associate Director Joseph Bohigian holds a program for the Other Minds Festival at the organization’s offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Reviving the legacy of an Armenian auteur\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian’s latest work will premiere Thursday on the opening night of this year’s Other Minds festival. He will debut \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/scenes-from-i-am-he-whose-life-and-soul-are-torment/\">I Am He Whose Life and Soul Are Torment\u003c/a>\u003c/em>, an evening-length multimedia performance inspired by the life of Soviet-Armenian auteur Sergei Parajanov.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian’s composition draws from Parajanov’s abstract 1969 film, \u003cem>The Color of Pomegranates\u003c/em>, about the 18th-century bard Sayat-Nova, who sang in Armenian, Georgian and Azeri — the languages of the region. The film was released four years before the director was jailed by the USSR for homosexuality and sentenced to hard labor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The piece brings together Sayat-Nova’s folk music — performed by Bay Area wind instrumentalist and vocalist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12060906/meet-the-duduk-whisperer-a-bay-area-armenian-folk-musician-revives-centuries-of-soul\">Khatchadour Khatchadourian\u003c/a> — with the electronic music tradition that Bohigian is immersed in, to illustrate scenes from Parajanov’s life. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian describes the piece as theatrical, involving staged visual elements and costumes by East Bay artists Tara Baghdassarian and Caro Yaghjian in addition to the electronics and vocals.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We want to really make it immersive,” Bohigian says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Some other festival weekend highlights include a live electronic performance from Philadelphia-born King Britt, delivering a set of sonic liberation compositions rooted in Black sound. And the festival will close Sunday with a performance by 79-year-old Charlemagne Palestine, who “plays only Bösendorfer pianos with extra keys on the bottom … so that the entire instrument resonates like perfume in the entire hall,” Amirkhanian says. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I want people to understand that this is a rare opportunity to hear a composer who’s now probably at the end of his career and he’s coming here to do this monster hour-long performance,” he continues. “It’s going to be thrilling.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Amirkhanian will also be performing a song he composed when he was 18: “Sonatina for Four Bass Drums, Op. 4.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I thought it’d be fun to dredge something up from the past,” he muses.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994065\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-08-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian at the organization’s offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Finding the ‘other minds\u003c/strong>’\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amirkhanian also grew up in Fresno, in a household steeped in classical music.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>His mother and her three sisters were all classical pianists. Because Fresno sits roughly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, musicians traveling between the two cities would sometimes stop there, giving Amirkhanian opportunities to encounter performers and music that might otherwise have passed him by.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One day his father brought home a 78 rpm record with an Armenian rug pictured on the cover and two Armenian names: Alan Hovhaness and Maro Ajemian. Thinking it was an Armenian folk album, he bought it for the family. It turned out to be one of John Cage’s early commercial releases.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cage’s approach to sound opened another world for Amirkhanian. He remembered a piano altered with screws, erasers and other objects inserted among its strings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My mother told him to take it back to the shop,” Amirkhanian recalls. “But the shop would not take it back.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The record stayed, and set Amirkhanian on a lifelong path toward “all the sounds that you could incorporate into music.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cage, who died in 1992, also inspired the festival’s name, thanks to a dismissive \u003cem>New Yorker\u003c/em> obituary of the artist that says: “His epitaph might read that he composed music in other peoples’ minds.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Amirkhanian and co-founder Jim Newman decided then that they \u003cem>were\u003c/em> the “other minds.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The first Other Minds festival, in 1993, was a hit, featuring composers Philip Glass, Meredith Monk and Julia Wolfe.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The composers … went out and told everybody, ‘Well, they don’t pay much money, but you better accept if you get an invitation to the Other Minds festival,’” Amirkhanian recalls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Forced to choose a highlight of his 30-year tenure, Amirkhanian recalled \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4rfukf_eqI\">\u003cem>Ice Field\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a performance commissioned by Other Minds in 2001 and composed by Henry Brant. For $10,000, Brant put a jazz band on the balcony of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco and surrounded the audience with a wall of cacophonous sound. The piece won a Pulitzer Prize.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13994062\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/260917-OtherMinds-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Other Minds Executive and Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian (left) and Associate Director Joseph Bohigian chat at their offices in the David Brower Center in Berkeley on Sept. 17, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Other Minds’ electronic futures\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Today, Other Minds’ Berkeley office houses an archive of roughly 4,000 audio tapes from the earliest days of KPFA. The record label releases music that might struggle to find a home elsewhere, particularly work that is too experimental or noncommercial for larger labels. The organization also has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kalw.org/show/music-from-other-minds\">two-hour program on KALW\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Other Minds now also has a holiday in San Francisco. Mayor Daniel Lurie last week proclaimed Oct. 2, 2026 as Other Minds Day, in recognition of its 30th anniversary and the festival’s enduring contribution to San Francisco’s cultural life.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both men are surprisingly optimistic about the future, even as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13982572/ai-is-coming-for-the-music-industry-how-will-artists-adapt\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> begins to reshape the way music is made and consumed. Amirkhanian notes that we’re already “surrounded by dangers: politically, culturally — and we’re going to get through it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bohigian says AI has long been used by composers and musicians, predating the current discussions of rogue agents and other hazards. In grad school, he experimented with machine learning, training basic models to recognize certain sounds. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We can find ways to use this, like any other new technology, to our advantage to make something new that we couldn’t have made without it,” Bohigian says.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Taking over the artistic future of Other Minds will require him to keep grappling with these questions. But the principles will be the same: give unusual music a place to exist, give its composers an audience and listen closely to discover what comes next.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Because of the internet, you’re finding out about new people all the time. Every week I’m hearing about some composer that was not at all on my radar, making really interesting work,” Bohigian continues. “I can sometimes get a little bit in my head about what’s out there. And then I hear something new that’s exciting and I think, ‘Oh, we have a bright future.’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"/>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.otherminds.org/other-minds-festival-30/\">Other Minds Festival\u003c/a> takes place Oct. 8–11 at Brava Theater in San Francisco. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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