OCTOBER 2008
after 10/5, here
after 10/11, here after 10/19, here after 10/24,
here
Acme Bread, Ken's 1987 Porche
911
10/1/08
a bola en la calle
Sunday during the 45 min
from 12:15 to 1:00, nine bicyclists and one car passed the warehouse.
Ken's 911 was just resprayed
by Potter Creek's Baron
von Frier.
"Timeworks" is
a recommendation of a Potter Creek business by Sally Socolich
of the Chron.
"If you have trouble keeping time, maybe you need a few more
clocks around the house. Timeworks in Berkeley is having its first
warehouse sale in years, and prices will range from $15 to $75
- well below its retail price range of $60 to $200.
The story: Timeworks is known in the trade for its line of historically
authentic clocks, which are both affordable and functional. The
clocks are made individually, by hand, with solid, hand-antiqued
brass for cases and pendulums, die-cut steel hands with time-worn
patinas and beautifully finished frames.
The selection of sale clocks
include first-quality decorative wall and table clocks, from modest
in size to extra large (31 inches and bigger), perfect for large
spaces and high-ceilinged rooms. Check the company's Web site
for the scope of its collections.
Timeworks warehouse sale: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Sat. 2929 Fifth
St., Berkeley (Ashby exit off Interstate 80). (510) 883-0234,
www.timeworksclocks.com."
after speaking with Morgan,
Merryll reported last Saturday
At 3 AM Saturday morning,
after hearing voices and movement around their house, Morgan called
911. The responding officers "caught" prowlers around
Pete and Geralyn's, after being alerted to their presence by Rick.
Morgan confirms that he called
911 at 2:45 AM. Berkeley PD arrived 4-5 minutes later. Rick saw
men run into Pete and Geralyn's drive activating their light.
Berkeley PD officers detained and questioned two men around the
corner of 9th and Grayson.
"California launches broad effort to control
hazardous chemicals. Two new 'green chemistry' laws focus the
state program on the most dangerous substances" reports Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times
Staff Writer.
California today [Monday]launched the most comprehensive program
of any state to evaluate, label and, in some cases, ban industrial
chemicals that are linked to cancer, hormone disruption and other
deadly effects on
human health.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed new legislation to shift the state away from a scattershot
approach in which bills targeting hazardous chemicals in products
such as jewelry, baby bottles, toys, mattresses, computers and
cosmetics have passed or failed depending on the intensity of
the lobbying and media attention."
from my log
9/28/08--12:17 PM--irritant
in front of warehouse with "chlorine/bleach" like odor,
north-east wind, no irritant on other side of street. 9:11 PM--SERIOUS
irritant in warehouse front, nausea, light head, with "chlorine
bleach" like odor.
9/29/08--7:11 PM--light head, "dizzy, spacey," headache,
throat irritation, a guest, after after 4 min in front room has
headache, after 10 min, has headache, dry eyes, light head.
"Beer and normality in DR Congo" is a story from BBC NEWS.
"The Democratic Republic
of Congo has endured more than a decade of conflict, but as Ben
Rawlence finds, a simple bottle of beer can represent a welcome
token of normal life.
Walking through the bombed
out brewery of Manono it is hard to believe that it once supplied
beer to the whole region.
When the world tin price
collapsed Manono's brewing industry went with it. At one point,
this was a city of nearly half a million people, the tin-mining
capital of the world.
Now the tall cathedral -
built by Belgian missionaries - has mortar holes in the roof,
trees grow behind the counter in the post office and a river runs
through the walls of a hydro-electric power station that used
to provide the town and tin factories with electricity.
Being a strategic site, Manono
was hit badly during Congo's decade-long war.
In the shell of the old brewery
are hundreds of rusting tanks of compressed air, once used to
carbonate the beer made here.
The local tipple was called
Nyota, or Star in Swahili. The last bottle, though, was drunk
some time in the 1980s, after the world tin price collapsed, taking
Manono's industries with it."
"Berkeley tells restaurant owners --no
wild parties" reports
Doug Oakley of the Times.
Berkeley is warning restaurant
owners they face hefty fines for hosting parties that exceed their
capacity following an Aug. 30 event held by a promoter whose parties
are linked to at least four deaths in the last 12 years.
Parvata Seelam, owner of
Priya Indian Cuisine on University Avenue, was fined $1,800 by
the city after an out of control event Aug. 30.
A party at his restaurant
organized by 37-year-old Eugene Cockerham ended in numerous fights
and shots being fired, Berkeley police and code enforcement officials
said.
No one was injured, but police
had to call for backup from other cities to control the estimated
400 people at the restaurant whose capacity is 50."
"The
price of risk" by J. Bradford Delong appears at businessworld.com.
"For more than 170 years,
it has been accepted doctrine that markets are not to be trusted
when there is a liquidity squeeze. When the prices of even safe
assets fall and interest rates climb to sky-high levels because
traders and financiers collectively want more liquid assets than
currently exist, it is simply not safe to let the
market sort things out.
At such a time, central banks
must step in and set the price of liquidity at a reasonable level
- make it a centrally planned and administered price - rather
than let it swing free in response to private-sector supply and
demand. This is the doctrine of "lender-of- last-resort."
our Heddy Riss brings Brad
DeLong and others together for
10/2/08
"Armed robbers break into UC dorm" reports Doug Oakley of the Berkeley Voice.
"Two armed men crawled through an open window of a UC Berkeley
dorm room early Tuesday morning, surprising sleeping students
in a robbery that raises the bar in boldness, police said.
UC Berkeley has had the usual
spike in armed robberies this time of year with new students who
are not accustomed to the urban environment, but police have never
seen anything like this, said Mitch Celaya, assistant chief of
campus police.
'I'm going to be getting
a lot of calls from angry parents,' Celaya said.
'I can't think of a time
in a residence hall we had something like this. It's just extraordinarily
brazen and bold. We're very concerned about it.'
Celaya said police received a call at 12:51 a.m. Tuesday from
a two-room suite in Building 17 on the Clark Kerr Campus. Police
were on scene two minutes later but were not able to catch the
suspects, he said."
Jarad emails
Hello everyone,
Today [9/30/08] I heard a report on KQED and read a piece in the
SF Chronicle about how Oakland is taking action in a new and innovative
way to tackle the crime problem. As Oakland is next door to Berkeley
& we share their crime problems, it's shocking to see that
while Oakland is moving forward with out of the box thinking,
Berkeley is frozen like a deer in the headlights of a car and
still hasn't come up with a way to make it safe for residents
to walk the streets without the fear of being victimized
by criminals and gang members with knives and guns.
The SF Gate story can be found at the URL listed here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/29/BA0U1382LT.DTL
Berkeley may claim that this is an unfair characterization of
their efforts, yet neighborhood watch groups have been pushing
the city of Berkeley for months to implement innovative new solutions
to combat crime and all we've gotten are meetings with city officials
where notes are taken and no solutions are implemented. There
is no debating the truth of the situation, which is that our streets
are unsafe and the city government isn't showing the
leadership necessary as crime rates soar, and law abiding
citizens are killed and put into the hospital.
When directly asked why suggestions for combating crime in
the city haven't been acted upon, Ryan Lau, aide to Councilman
Darryl Moore stated:
"a large part of the intent for yesterday's (Monday Sept
22, 2008) meeting was centered around information sharing between
the Police Department and the community and alleviating the anxiety
among the community, there is a great deal of fear, anger and
frustration surrounding these recent incidents that needed to
be aired before having any sort of problem solving discussion."
We've had months of these meetings, but apparently the city feels
we still aren't ready for real problem solving. The city goes
on to state:
"I agree that your suggestions may have been 'shot
down,'...We are doing our best to try and find solutions, but
as of yet we have not had much success..."
In a separate article from the Daily Californian, in response
to the Alameda Grand Jury report on the City of Berkeley not doing
enough to protect its citizens the city responded:
"City Manager Phil Kamlarz and Mayor Tom Bates said they
thought the city could have done more to deal with the property
in 2005-06, when 31 residents sued the owner of the house in a
small claims court"
and in the same statement patted themselves on the back by stating:
"Bates and Kamlarz stated that for the most part they
had already taken steps to combat residential drug-dealing. They
also wrote that they were concerned that by following the jury's
recommendations, they could unintentionally harm other homeowners."
It's shocking to admit, but it appears that Oakland isn't afraid
of thinking out of the box, which begs the question, what is wrong
with Berkeley City Government? Why is it that of all places, Oakland is
thinking out of the box, and Berkeley city leaders that label
themselves as progressive have yet to implement any substantial
zero tolerance strategy to deal with the problem in the short,
medium, and long-term? Am I the only one that sees something horribly
wrong with this picture?
Jarad Carleton
So Oakland tightens up and
the criminals come to a neighboring community like, say a tolerant,
liberal, little city?
another email from Jarad
Ron,
You'd asked me if I knew anything about a major disturbance
with masses of emergency vehicles on San Pablo back on Aug 30th.
I just read in the paper the entire story. I should also point
out that the paper incorrectly said the restaurant is on University,
it is in fact on San Pablo at 2072 San Pablo Ave.
Jarad
http://www.insidebayarea.com/berkeley/ci_10592665
Kaz, a resident in that neighborhood, and a biker, hipped me to
this the next morning.
At the time, Berkeley PD reported that shots were fired but no
arrests were made.
This is the same story as "Berkeley tells restaurant owners
--no wild parties."
from my log
9/30/08--~10:30 AM--irritant
in warehouse, wear mask, also similar behind Pete and Gerlyn's
just next to warehouse. 3:52 PM irritant in front room with odor
of " burning natural gas," leave.
10/1/08--5:35 AM--irritant
in warehouse front, headache, "burning natural gas"
odor, air-out. 6:33 AM--irritant in front room, wear mask, leave.
"East L.A seeks to become a city of its
own" reports Christina
Hoag of the AP.
East L.A. - birthplace of the lowrider, Los Lobos and Oscar de
la Hoya - is to Mexican-Americans what Harlem is to the black
community. Now it wants to become its own city. Commonly mistaken
for a part of Los Angeles, East L.A. is actually an unincorporated
section of Los Angeles County, with more than 130,000 people -
96 percent of them Latino - packed into 7.4 square miles.
Cityhood proponents complain
that East L.A. is treated as an afterthought by the county Board
of Supervisors, and they want the community to take charge of
its own destiny. . . .
Voters probably won't get
their say on cityhood for two years while the issue wends its
way through the bureaucratic and political process.
The residents association
must first submit a petition by December asking a county commission
to conduct a study on whether a city of East L.A. would have an
adequate tax base. So far, organizers have collected about half
the 10,000 signatures needed, said Oscar Gonzales Jr., association
president.
Gonzales said he expects
the study will be favorable - a similar report ordered up by the
residents association found the city would generate $51 million
in revenue, well above an expected budget of $45 million.
If the bid for cityhood passes
muster with the study commission and the county supervisors, the
question will be put to the voters of East L.A. The supervisors
are not taking a position until they see the study."
What a damn niffty idea.
Maybe west-Berkeley could, . . . hmmm, . . . let's see we'd first
have to . . . naw, . . . who'd be mayor? I mean there's, . . .
. . . Isa could be our mayor
aw, . . .
Isa, a reader from Mexico
City, is now working on her Phd in Paris
Still, when she's done, .
. .
Kimar calls Berkeley mayorial
candidate, Shirley Dean "the Crazy Lady."
"Caltrans Installs Sensys Networks Wireless
Vehicle Detection Systems ThroughoutCalifornia" is a marketwatch.com story about a Potter
Creek business.
"Sensys Networks, the world's leading provider of wireless
traffic detection systems for the transportation industry, today
announced a major deployment of the Sensys Wireless Vehicle Detection
Systems by Caltrans covering over 1,000 lane-miles in 3 districts.
Over 5,100 of the wireless sensors will be installed throughout
the state in over 800 detection stations"
Sensys Networks is at 2560
9th.
10/3/08
CEID folks
visit
Bruce Hermann
our Councilman Darryl Moore
emails
Campaign Kick-off
With less than 40 days left before the election, we're kicking
my campaign into high gear. Please join me for food, fun
and entertainment at my campaign kick-off.
Sunday, October 5th, 2008,
3:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Frances Albrier Center in San Pablo Park,
2800 Park Street between Russell and Ward Street.
Councilman Moore's re-election
website is here.
I've received no press release
or email from Councilman Moore's opponent.
Kubik forwards an email he
sent to BPD
My son is visting from Virginia,
my wife and I took him for a stroll around the neighborhood this
evening. We saw three prostitutes on San Pablo between Heinze
and Pardee as well as two young men who seemed to be dealing drugs.
We called the police to report this as we saw each one.
I suspect that as Oakland increases enforcement
these folks are smart enough to move north into our neighborhood.
our BPD return-emails
I've passed your message
along
to our night Watch Commanders and asked that they have their officers
take appropriate action.
"Antiquated Berkeley libraries would get
boost from $26 million bond measure" reports Kristin Bender of the Oakland Tribune.
"At Berkeley's North
Branch library, the 70-year-old flooring is called 'battleship
linoleum,' and it looks like it has been through a war.
The furniture, shabby and
outdated, is the original stuff from 1936.
At the city's Tool Lending
Library, where you can check out a screwdriver, ladder or a lawnmower,
500 square feet of space holds about 5,800 rental tools. Getting
in and out of the place without taking it in the back from a hacksaw
is a feat.
What's more, the seismically
unsafe South Branch floods every winter and six to eight people
share one desk, library officials said. The West Branch, more
than 85 years old and also not earthquake safe or handicap accessible,
is decaying from pests and rot.
Most of the branches have
not been renovated for more than 30 years and findings from this
summer's Branch Libraries Facilities Master Plan study show that
buildings are overcrowded, structurally unsafe, and lack handicap
accessibility and the infrastructure to meet future technology
needs.
To bring the library branches
up to code, restore and refurbish historic features, add space
and make other improvements, library backers are asking voters
to approve a $26 million bond measure on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Measure FF would increase
homeowners property taxes by about $27 annually over 30 years
or roughly two cents per $100 of a home's assessed value. The
measure needs a two-thirds majority to pass. Money can not be
used to improve the main library, which was renovated a few years
ago."
"UC's Bancroft Library celebrating Mark
Twain" is a story
by Patricia Yollin, Chronicle Staff Writer.
"Mark Twain smoked between
20 and 40 cigars a day. He loved billiards, cats and technology.
And he once invented an adjustable garment strap.
These tidbits, and many more,
can be found at a UC Berkeley exhibit about the literary giant
that opens Dec. 1. On Friday, however, there will be a sneak preview
to coincide with homecoming weekend at Cal.
Titled 'Mark Twain at Play,'
it's the first show in the new gallery of the revamped Bancroft
Library, which was closed for seismic refitting in 2005 and will
reopen in a few months."
"Californians Have Toxic Flame Retardants
in Their Blood at Levels Twice the National Average, According
to New Peer-Reviewed Study"
reports marketwatch.com.
"People and homes in
California have been found to have significantly higher levels
of toxic flame retardants called polybrominated diphenyl ethers
(PBDEs), compared to other locations in the country and the world.
A new peer-reviewed study published online in Environmental Science
& Technology provides evidence that California's unique furniture
flammability standard, requiring furniture to be fire resistant
to an open flame for 12 seconds, has led to increased exposure
to penta-BDE, a commercial flame retardant mixture added to polyurethane
furniture foam to meet the standard."
"California's air-quality enforcers miss
an opportunity"
by Tom Tanton is found at capitolweekly.com.
"If someone tells you
that you can get something for nothing, you might ask that person
if that's a subprime mortgage security he or she is selling --
or whether they work for the California Air Resources Board.
The board's new 'economic'
study by two University of California at Berkeley economists makes
claims that reducing carbon emissions will actually make the state
money.
Under these assumptions,
the state will add 100,000 more jobs, increase economic production
by $27 billion more than it could expect and expand personal income
by an additional $14 billion by 2020.
California's economy certainly
could use a boost. It would make homes more affordable, reducing
the likelihood of more mortgage foreclosures and greater financial
havoc.
But does anybody really think
that is going to happen? If it would, then Europe wouldn't have
had the problems implementing its own emissions control plans.
Europeans saw the emission
market collapse in 2006 when governments gave emissions permits
away so as not to harm their domestic economies. Since inauguration
of the emission trading scheme in 2005, emissions have gone up
more than in the United States, without a plan."
"Fast Food His Way" is a story by Jacques Pépin at aarpmagazine.org.
"Cooking is so much
a part of my life, my lifestyle, and my family tradition that
even when I go on vacation I usually think in terms of food. Where
are we going to eat? Where are the markets? What are the local
specialties?"
"1920s Russian, German Architecture on
Show" by Matt Brown
apprears in the St Petersburg Times.
"The Goethe Institute, which promotes German culture around
the world, opens an exhibition on Tuesday that intends to focus
attention on the preservation of constructivist architectural
monuments and the interaction that took place between Russian
and German architects in the 1920s.
'Embodying Utopia - New Architecture
of the 1920s: Russia-Germany' at the Russian Arts Academy takes
place as part of the Petersburg Dialogue International Forum's
Week of Russian Avant Garde in St. Petersburg project.
"Russia's last tsar rehabilitated" reports BBC NEWS.
"Russia's Supreme Court
has ruled that the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were
victims of political repression and should be rehabilitated.
The rehabilitation has long
been demanded by the tsar's descendants."
10/4/08
from my log
1/2/08--12:34 PM--irritant
in warehouse front with "chlorine/bleach" like odor.
10/3/08--10:47 AM--irritant
in front room, dry eyes, head ache. 10/3/08--8:20 PM--SERIOUS
irritant in front room, wear mask, "chlorine/bleach"
odor, leave.
10/4/08--5:58 AM--VERY SERIOUS
irritant in warehouse, burning eyes, mouth, STRONG "chlorine/bleach"
odor, air-out warehouse, leave. 7:37 AM--"Chlorine/bleach"
odor still present, leave.
"Police Blotter" is from the "Bolshevik Daily" with
color by ace reporter, Richard Brenneman.
"Hate crime-or not?
Confronted with the green
spray of graffiti on the Dana Street sidewalk, Berkeley Police
officers had to decide if they were looking at a hate crime.
'They decided to err on the
side of caution,' said the department spokesperson, Officer Andrew
J. Frankel.
The screed, spewed onto the concrete sometime before 9:30 p.m.
Monday, declared: 'Jews for Jew and Finen Jews.'
Officer Frankel said his colleagues, confronted with the penultimate
word, couldn't figure out what 'finen' meant-leaving that mystery,
as well as the sprayer's identity, one of Berkeley's unsolved
mysteries."
"Berkeley launches water
rescue team" reports KGO-TV NEWS.
"A $45,000 grant from the firemen's fund insurance company
will allow Berkeley to train and equip 12 firefighters for water
rescue missions.
"Berkeley profs call for quick economic
action" reports Carolyn
Said, Chronicle Staff Writer.
"Dissecting the global
financial turmoil on Thursday, a group of UC Berkeley economists
said that the situation is critical and the proposed remedies
are inadequate.
'Fixing this program is now
very urgent,' said Barry Eichengreen, professor of economics and
political science. 'It's time for the Congress and the public
to come to their senses and realize there are more important things
to say than 'not one red cent of my tax money to those fat cats.'
What's at stake here is everyone's employment and prosperity,
not simply the bonuses and golden parachutes of bankers.'
Will the rescue plan now
pending in Congress solve the crisis? 'My answer is no,' Eichengreen
said. 'It is best seen as a holding action. We have had a year
of holding actions so far where the Federal Reserve has flooded
the markets with liquidity and that hasn't solved the problem.
The credit markets have shut down. The commercial paper market
has imploded; inner bank markets have disappeared; companies are
meeting their payrolls by charging their credit cards ... Maybe
TARP (troubled asset rescue plan) gives Treasury the wiggle room
to surreptitiously do what is necessary - recapitalize the banking
system by paying too much. It would be better to be up front about
what they're doing. I think there will have to be a Plan B. .
. . . '
Don't call it a bailout or
a TARP,' said DeLong of Treasury's plan. 'I recommend "seizure."
It should be 'the troubled asset seizure and forced bank nationalization
plan.' "
This event, put together
by our Heddy Riss, attracted a standing room only crowd and was
covered by local TV news as well.
see 10/1/08 post
"Hedge fund blues are just beginning. When
even a profitable fund closes, that's a sign there's trouble ahead"
reports Roddy Boyd at
CNN.
The domino nature of the
looming hedge fund crisis is neatly illustrated by the troubles
of a high-flying New York fund with a niche that was supposed
to be recession proof.
Laurus Capital Management,
which manages $1.6 billion and has posted nearly 16% annual returns
since 2001, is shuttering an $800 million portfolio after its
largest investor said it would withdraw $300 million."
"Weatherford BMW, a leading BMW dealership
in California, is pleased to inform that BMW is all set
to showcase the all new 2009 BMW 7- Series at the Los Angeles
International Auto show in November, 2008" reports pr-usa.net.
"The all new 2009 BMW
7- Series is expected to be in U.S. authorized BMW centers by
spring 2009. As the world's most successful purveyor of premium
motor vehicles, BMW now presents the 5th generation of its flagship
sedan, the all new 2009 BMW 7- Series, demonstrating once again
how all-encompassing luxury can be combined and harmonized with
the pleasures of dynamic performance."
"Wells Fargo acquiring Wachovia for $15.1
billion" reports
the AP.
"In an abrupt change of course, Wachovia Corp. said Friday
it will be acquired by Wells Fargo & Co. in a $15.1 billion
all-stock deal, wiping out Wachovia's previous plan to sell its
banking operations to rival suitor Citigroup Inc.
A key difference is that the Wachovia deal will be done without
government assistance, while the Citigroup deal would have been
done with the help of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp."
"The Wall Street makeover during the past
few weeks has put in play millions of square feet of Bay Area
office space, which threatens to flood the real estate market
with vacancies and weigh down an industry already in rapid decline" reports sfgate.com
"UC Berkeley's Haas
School of Business Responds to U.S. Economic Crisis at Its Second
Financial Forum" is a press release from the Haas School.
Here are excerpts
"Haas School of Business
Dean Rich Lyons will host an up-to-date discussion with Haas faculty
on the ever-changing financial market turmoil. Haas is home to
some of the nation's leading experts on the current economic crisis,
who will discuss the causes, consequences, and impact of the current
financial crisis on the U.S. and the global economy, followed
by a Q&A session.
Monday, October 6, 2008 -
7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Welcome and introductions
by Dean Rich Lyons
Panel Discussion
Prof. Hayne Leland, Arno Rayner Professor
of Finance and Management. Bio:
Prof. Nancy Wallace, California Chair
of Real Estate and Urban Economics. Bio:
Prof. Jim Wilcox, Kruttschnitt Family
Professor of Financial Institutions. Bio:
8:00 p.m. Q & A
Wells Fargo Room, Haas School
of Business
University of California, Berkeley."
"Sun
Devils struggle to run the ball" is a story at sportingnews.com.
"Given a chance to do
it again, Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson would try to run
the ball more against Georgia.
'If I had a do-over, if I had a mulligan, I would just go in and
run it more to give us a chance to run,' Erickson said this week.
'I don't know if it has anything to do with anything other than
saying, "Let's make a commitment to running it more,"
and we are going to do that now.'
The new emphasis begins with
Saturday's visit to visit to California, and it can't come soon
enough for one of the nation's worst rushing teams.
With a victory at Berkeley, the Sun Devils (2-2, 1-0 Pac-10) would
remain in contention for their third Rose Bowl berth in 31 years
as a Pac-10 member. ASU visits No. 9 Southern California next
weekend and probably can't afford two conference losses."
"Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival offers stunning lineup
of free music" is a review/story by Jim Harrington in the
Times.
"With all the headlines made recently with the huge Outside
Lands Festival, it might be easy to forget that there are other
music events happening in Golden Gate Park.
Yet it's pretty hard to overlook
the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which boasts a lineup
that in its own way is every bit as impressive as what was seen
at Outside Lands. Plus, admission is free - something the cheeky
newcomer couldn't claim.
This year's bill once again
serves up an absolute smorgasbord of top-flight country, bluegrass,
Americana and folk acts. Fans will turn out to see acclaimed songwriters
like Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen, such
stellar vocalists as Odetta, Iris DeMent, Emmylou Harris and Ralph
Stanley, and more kick-butt entertainers than you shake a banjo
at (including Ricky Skaggs and the John Jorgenson Quintet). Then
there are the wild cards, like Elvis Costello and - get this -
MC Hammer.
The biggest buzz is about
the return Bay Area engagement by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss,
an unlikely partnership that managed to make beautiful music on
last year's 'Raising Sand' CD. The tour by the former (and future?)
Led Zeppelin singer and the bluegrass queen is the most heavily
hyped Americana music trek since the "O Brother, Where Art
Thou?" outing. It managed to sell out Berkeley's UC Greek
Theatre (capacity: 8,500) earlier this year. Plus, the show lived
up to its hype on an artistic
This time around, the Plant
and Krauss set should be even better, since it won't cost fans
a nickel to attend.
Details: 2:30 p.m. Oct. 3,
11 a.m. Oct. 4-5, Speedway, Marx and Lindley meadows, Golden Gate
Park, free."
10/5/08
"Three Robberies in an Hour on Tuesday" reports Richard Brenneman of our Planet.
"Berkeley residents
were targeted in three armed robberies that took place within
57 minutes of each other Tuesday evening, police report.
The first incident was reported
at 8:37 p.m., when two victims had their wallets taken by three
people, at least one armed with a pistol, near the corner of Shattuck
and Indian Rock avenues, Berkeley police reported.
Just a minute later, campus
police report, a car with two men inside pulled up alongside a
UC Berkeley student walking in the 1700 block of La Loma Avenue.
The passenger jumped out of the car, pointed a gun at the student
and demanded her backpack."
(So, Oakland tightens up
on crime, and the criminals come to a neighboring community like,
say, a tolerant, liberal, little city?)
"Bears get defensive: Longshore does well
in start, and Cal's D dominates Sun Devils" reports Rusty Simmons, Chronicle Staff Writer.
"There was an obvious
changing of the guard Saturday afternoon in Strawberry Canyon,
and it had very little to do with Nate Longshore replacing Kevin
Riley as the starting quarterback.
It had everything to do with
Cal, a program known for its offense, relying on its defense to
win a significant game.
"Arizona St QB Carpenter on crutches after
Cal loss" reports
the International Herald Tribune--the global edition of
the New York Times.
"Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter left Memorial Stadium
on crutches after apparently injuring his left leg late in the
Sun Devils' 24-14 loss to California on Saturday."
"Tim Barsky's '7 Beggars': a folk tale
with beatboxing"
is a story by Laura Casey in the Times.
"When Berkeley beatboxer
and Jewish storyteller Tim Barsky puts on a theater show, such
as the "7 Beggars" performance he is staging now at
the intimate Climate Theater in San Francisco's South of Market
District, no one leaves the house saying that he phoned in his
performance.
He's there. He's there sweating
through his shirt and orating on his tippy-toes.
He's there giving a 19th century Jewish tale new life through
impossibly awkward smiles and through his unusual technique of
fluteboxing - beatboxing with a flute.
'This story isn't just a
charming tale,' Barsky says of '7 Beggars.' It's a story of love,
war, refugees and death that resonates with themes of today's
conflict in Iraq. 'People tell stories to put children to sleep.
I tell stories to wake people up.'
Barsky was raised on the
East Coast as what he calls a cultural Jew rather than a religious
Jew. His family 'argues like Jews, obsesses like Jews, talk like
Jews,' he says. He varies between calling himself a 'Jew with
no self-esteem' to an 'annoyingly stubborn Jewish agitator.'
"Autistic son's love of bluegrass spurs
father's involvement"
writes Martin Snapp of the Times.
"When the Freight &
Salvage Coffee House, Berkeley's home for traditional folk music,
moves to the city's downtown arts district next year, no one will
be smiling more broadly than the co-chairman of the capital campaign,
Dr. Steve Sidney of Piedmont, associate director for clinical
research at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland and chairman of the Alameda
County Public Health Commission.'So how did a busy doctor become
a folkie fanatic?
'I'm not,' he said. 'Sure,
I like it, but I don't get to the Freight as often as I'd like.
The main reason I'm involved is my son, Joel. He's the real expert.'
Indeed he is. A bluegrass
buff since he was 9, Joel, 26, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC
Berkeley this past May with a near-perfect grade point average,
writing his senior honors thesis on 'Innovation and Tradition
in Bay Area Bluegrass: Historical Review and Analysis of Distinctive
Regional Features.'
To complement the thesis,
he also produced a CD with 20 songs, including works by Laurie
Lewis, David Grisman and Sandy Rothman.
A former teacher called him
'certainly one of the brightest students I've ever encountered.'
His achievements are even
more remarkable considering that he has struggled with autism
since birth."
Eternally useful
links
Bay Area home prices from sfgate.com
Bay Area foreclosures from sfgate.com
Our City Council update is
here.
Our Planning Commision update
is here
You can find more information
about our current weather conditions than is good for you at www.wunderground.com
Want to see weather coming
in, going out, beautiful sunsets, and much, much more? Check out
http://sv.berkeley.edu/view/
This very hip site was in an email from reader and contributor,
Tony Almeida. Read Tony's Jimi Hendrix story on the only page that routinely gets
more hits than Scrambled Eggs.
Best gas prices in 94710,
as well as all of US and Canada, are here
at gasbuddy.com
Kimar finds Costco routinely
has the lowest price.
Richmond
Ramblers' motorcycle club member, Cliff Miller emails a very
useful link
If you ever need to get a
human being on the phone at a credit card company or bank, etc.,
this site tells you how to defeat their automated system and get
you to a human being within a few seconds.
http://gethuman.com/
Markets
is not just a reference for Berkeley-Hills radicals with 1.5 mil
homes and considerable portfolios.
Our City of Berkeley Boards
and Commissions page is here--redone
and friendly.
Berkeley
Police reports at insidebay area.com are here.
Our Berkeley
PD Site with crime statistics and more is here.
Crime Log for 94710 is
here
This site is NOT affiliated
with Berkeley PD.
Take time to report
crime!
All reports
of crime-in-progress should first go to Berkeley PD dispatch--911
or non-emergency, 981-5900. THEN make sure you notify EACH of
these City people.
The contacts
are below:
Our new Area
Coordinator is Officer Karen Buckheit, Berkeley PD - 981-5774
kbuckheit@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Angela Gallegos-Castillo,
City Mgr Off - 981-2491 agallegos-castillo@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Ryan Lau,
aid to Darryl Moore - 981-7120 rlau@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Darryl Moore,
City Councilman dmoore@ci.berkeley.ca.us
More
Scrambled Eggs & Lox, here
and
Stories about Berkeley and stories about recorded-music
are at
Journal of Recorded Music 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
ronpenndorf@earthlink.net
The original owner
of all scanned material retains copyright. The material is used
only to illustrate