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    • BAY AREA NEWS GROUP: Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News >
      • Ridwell recycles
      • Piedmont author Zapruder’s memior
      • Alameda’s Bay Area Music Program
      • Alameda filmfest features 'Jack has a Plan'
      • United Dumplings in Rockridge
      • Tech pioneer Roy Clay, Sr.
      • Author/poet Tess Taylor
      • Montclair safety ambassador program
      • Montclair’s Italian Colors restaurant
      • Author Orenstein's 'Unraveling'
      • Author Rue Mapp's 'Nature Swagger'
      • Oakland’s Montclair Library
      • Montclair gym CRUfit
      • Chabot space center’s creative director
      • Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library
      • Artist Stephanie Syjuco at BAMPFA
      • Veterans Day at USS Hornet
      • Piedmont Anti-Racism and Diversity Committee
      • Year-round Oktoberfest on Piedmont Ave
      • Author Pete Torrey's memior
      • El Cerrito’s new fire chief
      • Blind sculptor at Valley Art Gallery
      • Montclair's GGPBooks hosts author T J Reid
      • Acre Restaurant to open in Rockridge
      • 1619 Project creator Hannah-Jones at Lesher
      • AXIS Dance's ‘Adelante’
      • Lawton Dance's 'Farallonites'
      • Oakland Firesafe Council
      • Author Sexton's 'On the Rooftop'
      • Alameda musician Paul Kotapish
      • Planterday in Rockridge
      • Author Dabney’s ‘Year of the Plague Journal’
      • Montclair Beer, Wine & Music Fest '22
      • Cal's Alt Meat Lab
      • Rockridge Rock-N-Stroll fest
      • N. Oakland’s ‘Daughters of the Delta’
      • Oakland Fukuoka Sister City marks 60th
      • Head-Royce's robotics team competes
      • Bancroft Garden celebrating 50th
      • ‘Diet for a Small Planet’
      • Montclair train mural
      • Montclair actor in ‘Endlings’
      • USS Hornet: gala and Vietnam Vets
      • Dance: 'Voice Within'
      • Author Stokes' 'Remember Me Gone'
      • Crogan's celebrates St. Patrick's Day
      • Oakland’s Temescal park dispute
      • Maria Shriver at East Bay Women’s Conference
      • Oakland’s White Elephant Sale 2022
      • ​Alameda’s Time Released Sound
      • Oakland developer ‘Buzz’ Gibb
      • Contra Costa MLK ceremony
      • Oakland’s Pacific Boychoir Academy
      • Richmond zydeco accordionist Andre Thierry
      • Alameda’s Alley & Vine
      • Montclair Village Holiday Stroll
      • Ellie Koplan's 100 years
      • Lesher's Denison retires
      • Bringing up butterflies in Richmond
      • Chabot space center reopening
      • Burning Man art in Richmond
      • Architect/glass artist Winterich
      • CCCT's 'Our Town'
      • WC Lib talk "Broadway's Golden Age'
      • Piedmont Beautification Foundation
      • Richmond's Urban Tilth
      • Alameda's Chochenyo Park art installation
      • Alameda Comedy Club curing Covid
      • Arjan Flowers and Herbs
      • Piedmont Avenue’s Timeless Coffee
      • Piedmont’s League of Women Voters
      • Eyes In Sync
      • Oakland's Mountain Music
      • Montclair mural
      • First female Eagle Scout
      • 13 yr old valedictorian
      • Books for the Barrios
      • WC Bronco Baseball Academy
      • Women's Cancer Resource Cntr during Covid
      • Bay Area Book Festival
      • Oakland's '21 White Elephant Sale
      • Walnut Creek Chamber's new Pres.
      • Great Good Place for Books during Covid
      • East Bay Women's Conf. 2021
      • Artist Ezawa at Haines Gallery
      • Artist Lift Off project
      • ‘Deconstruction’ at Perlmutter Gallery
      • El Sobrante food-justice community center
      • Urban Park CleanUp
      • Photographer Collopy at Laf Lib
      • Oakland Symphony's Morgan on 2020
      • Piedmont church interim pastor
      • BAMPFA's new quilt curator
      • Non profit adapts to pandemic
      • Oakland photographer Andrew Paynter
      • Author Virginia Cowart
      • Piedmont Center for the Arts during covid
      • Pacific Edge Voices' new director
      • Alamo’s Luxe Hair during Covid
      • BAMPFA's new Film Archive Director
      • Hercules Cares
      • Bay Area Children's Theater adapts
      • Garden of Memory
      • Oakland's womens choir Kitka
      • USS Hornet will survive shutdown
      • East Bay Golf courses in demand
      • Worship during shutdown
      • Guitarist Stevie Coyle performs online
      • 'Grit' theme at 2020 EBWC
      • Piedmont’s Kehilla Temple
      • Oakland’s House/Full of BlackWomen
      • Wendy Burch Steel & Redwood in Berkeley
      • El Cerrito HS teacher Taylor passes
      • Dr. Christine Carter's 'New Adolescence'
      • "Elemental' at PCA
      • Carrie Lederer leaving Bedford
      • Youth vaping seminar
      • Berkeley Open Studios
      • DeSaulnier town hall
      • 'Elevada' at Shotgun
      • Singer-songwriter Natu Camara at Cal Perf
      • Lafayette Lib celebrates
      • UC BAMPFA’s chief Rinder
      • Poet Matthew Zapruder
      • Live @ the Library
      • ARM of Care
      • East Bay museums get out
      • El Sobrante's Soul Flower farm
      • Author Meredith May's 'Honey Bus'
      • Guns into Sculpture
      • Author Mary Ellen Butler
      • Authenticity at USS Hornet
      • 2019 Heart of the Home Tour
      • Joyce Carol Oates in Lafayette
      • Author Matt Richtel's 'Elegant Defense'
      • Esme Weijun Wang's 'Schiziophrenias"
      • Mimi Fox celebrating life
      • Author Devi Laskar's 'Atlas'
      • Pleasant Hill golfer John Scott Senz
      • Walnut Creek United Methodist anniversary
      • Author Markham on migrant students' needs
      • 'Altered States' at Bedford
      • Filmmaker Jafa's 'White Album'
      • Montclair's restaurant renaissance
      • Author Newhouse's 'Incredible Slip Madigan'
      • Author Adam Plantinga
      • Bedford Craft Fest
      • Author John Jay Osborne
      • Learning via PORTS in Alameda
      • 'Tastes Like Chicken"
      • Owen's 'Other People's Love Affairs'
      • YBCA's 'Bay Area Now' exhibit
      • El Cerrito's surveillance cameras
      • Author Lydia Kiesling's 'The Golden State'
      • Author Gortner's 'The Romanov Empress'
      • Paula West at Summer Jazz Fest
      • State teachers summit in Moraga
      • 'Raised in the Shadow of the Bomb'
      • Author Meredith Jaeger's 'Boardwalk Summer'
      • Photographer Peter Hujar
      • Michael Pollan turned on
      • Teller's "All the Ever Afters"
      • St. Mary's golf team
      • Author Peter Rubin's 'Future Presence'
      • Bay Point mural
      • Chen's 'Bury What We Cannot Take'
      • East Bay Sea Serpents
      • Rakestraw Books' 45 year
      • Salt Craft restaurant
      • Norhtgate HS wins at Monterey Jazz
      • San Ramon utility box art
      • Rita Coolidge at Bankhead
      • Warrior's Unified Basketball Clinic
      • Concord Brewing Network
      • Kerri Shawn in 'Shirley Valentine'
      • East Bay Parkinson's advocate
      • Atmospheric scientist at Bankhead
      • Oates and Johnson at Laf lib
      • Author David Lukas 'Last Watchman'
      • Dr. Jill Biden speaks at EBWC
      • Diablo Foods in Lafayette
      • Kate Braverman's 'A Good Day for Seppuka'
      • Author Anne Raeff
      • EdTech Symposium
      • 'Until, Until, Until,...' at YBCA
      • Tri-Valley ice rinks
      • Kilbanes' 'Weightless" rock opera
      • Jewish Intnl. Film Fest opens
      • Ruth Bancroft Celebration of life
      • Author Eva Schloss
      • Stress reduction through diet
      • Gold Coast Chamber Players school visits
      • BAMPFA's Woodstock tribute
      • 'Long Way Home' at Livermore Reads
      • More women serving
      • '1776' at Bankhead
      • East Bay Regional Parks job fair
      • Charity Bike Institute
      • Danville Village Theatre's 'Wild'
      • 'Seed Vortex' at Bedford Gallery
      • William Noguera's death row memoir
      • Running With Love
      • Warrior's Jordan Bell
      • St. Mary's Jan Term
      • Bankhead's 'Best Face Forward'
      • Winter hiking
      • Latkes
      • 'Irish Christmas' at Bankhead
      • Danville's Santa's Mailbox
      • Model trains at Blackhawk
      • St. Mary's 'Across the Aisle'
      • DeSaulnier on tax bill
      • 'Thank you' to Tri-Valley art scene
      • Moraga sinkhole
      • 'Customer Experience'
      • Joyce Maynard's 'The Best of Us'
      • Teen Battle of the Bands
      • Painter John Tullis
      • Raising Resilient Girls
      • Blackhawk Gallery exhibit
      • Experience Burma Restaurant
      • Sustainable Enterprise Conf.
      • Author Barry Gifford's 'The Cuban Club'
      • Teens and social media workshop
      • Horsepower and Patriotism
      • Author John Green in Pleasanton
      • Lafayette's Reservoir Run
      • Author Daneille Wong
      • Joan Osborne sings Dylan
      • Walk for diabetes research
      • Girl Scout Troop's Bronze Award
      • Poetry duo at St. Mary's
      • 'Classroom Champions'
      • Abstract art by women
      • Pittsburg Entertainment & Arts Hall of Fame
      • Horses soothe dementia patients
      • Author Elizabeth Rosner's 'Survivor Cafe'
      • Artist Pallavi Sharma
      • "Pasquale' at Bankhead
      • American Indian culture at Bankhead
      • 22nd Lafayette Art & Wine Fest
      • 20th California Independent Film Festival
      • Annual Bay Area Pet Fair
      • Training immigrants to become baristas
      • Indigo Girls at Bankhead
      • New comedy series in Danville
      • Oakland Beast Crawl
      • East Bay CERT's emergency food
      • Sketching critters at Bedford
      • Zuppan-Hood at World Transplant Games
      • Non-violent activism
      • 18th Eugene O'Neill Festival
      • Warriors dancer audition
      • BEASTMODE-A-Business
      • Margaret Sexton's 'Kind of Freedom'
      • Retired teacher' still teaching
      • Senior Transportation in East Bay
      • Jill Biden at St. Mary's
      • Electric bikes on East Bay trails
      • Concord Japanese festival
      • San Ramon library jazz concerts
      • Lafayette Senior Symposium
      • Livermore's Casse-Croute
      • Cyclist rides for breast cancer
      • 'Halcyon Days' at Diablo Fine Art
      • Poet August Kleinzahler
      • JD Souther at Bankhead
      • 'Gentleman, Champion...'
      • 'Four Immigrants'
      • Art of Charles Howard
      • Wente's 'Midsummer' and 'Cyrano'
      • Bentley underwater robotics
      • Author Edan Lepucki
      • Faz Restaurant
      • 'Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic'
      • S.F. String Trio doe 'Sgt. Pepper'
      • Founders of Mendocino Music Festival
      • Festival Opera 'Sins' and 'Pagliacci'
      • Concord job fair for vets
      • Wry Crips Disabled Women's Theater
      • Pleasanton's Almare Gelato
      • William Blake collector
      • Walnut Creek Art & Wine Festival
      • Summer Reading
      • Documentary 'California Typewriter'
      • Director discusses 'California Typewriter'
      • Cornelia Nixon's 'The Use of Fame'
      • Las Lomas garden
      • 'Off the Shelf and On Stage'
      • Dublin's Mirchi Cafe
      • The Peace Center
      • Principal Elaine Frank retires
      • Acalanes district green teams
      • MomWarrior conference
      • Miss USA
      • College of Alameda Gospel Ensemble
      • Berkeley Jazz Ensemble
      • Lafayette 'Food Adventures'
      • Contra Costa Fringe festival
      • Pairings Cellars
      • O'Neill Foundation staged readings
      • Bankhead's 'Wine County Tales'
      • Love and Bipolar Disorder
      • Storm Large at Bankhead
      • Lamorinda ShortDocs Film Fest
      • Lamorinda Business Forum
      • 'Spontaneous Shakespeare'
      • Dublin's Pamir restaurant
      • St. Mary's forum on environment and energy
      • Los Medanos College Gospel Choir
      • Lafayette Earth Day Fest
      • DeSaulnier's town hall
      • Northgate H.S. jazz band
      • Corvette show at Blackhawk
      • Anita Hill at St. Mary's College
      • Arlo Guthrie at Bankhead
      • Popular vote change
      • 'Cork Dork'
      • 'Lean In' cofounder Hemmeter
      • Pura Vida Cocina Latina & Sangria Bar
      • Author Rebecca Solnit
      • SF Symphony exec leaving
      • Post Civil Rights and African American Church Music
      • Union and Fifth
      • 'Soul and Spice' at Dublin HS
      • Early aviation on West Coast
      • San Ramon's Brass Door
      • O'Neill drama workshop
      • Lunafest East Bay
      • 'Just Like a Woman'
      • Town Hall Theatre
      • Confronting global terrorism
      • Livermore Valley Opera's 'Figaro'
      • Author Jason Reynolds at libs
      • 'Brilliance' exhibit in Danville
      • Food banks under Trump
      • Author Yiyun Li's 'Dear Friend'
      • Opposition to Habitat for Humanity
      • College Park H.S. ceramics
      • International Guitar Night
      • Drones for public safety
      • T.J. Stiles at Berkeley library
      • De La Torre’s trattoria
      • Warm Winter Nights
      • Village Theatre 'Piano Lesson'
      • Creating a Peaceful School
      • St. Mary's 'Jan Term'
      • Richmond Art Center's "Living Black'
      • 'The Wrong Dog'
      • The Jazz Room
      • Dublin's Falafel Town restaurant
      • Livermore Valley Opera's new Artistic Director
      • Citizen Scientists
      • Pittsburg image up-date
      • On Fire Pizza in San Ramon
      • New Year, Adult Learning
      • 'We Gon' Be Alright'
      • Speakers at Bankhead
      • Olivia Newton-John
      • Orinda Theater 75th Anniversary
      • Danville Brewing Co.
      • Bedford's 'Cut Up/Cut Out'
      • Bicycle nonprofit
      • Holiday fun
      • Basque Boulangerie Cafe
      • Seva Foundation benefit
      • Costuming Center Rep's Christmas Carol
      • Saint Mary's Social Justice conference
      • Filming Peter Pan Foundation show
      • Nonprofit volunteers honored
      • 'Celebrating the Natural World' art show
      • Trout in San Pablo Creek
      • Preserving history digitally
      • Uncle Yu's restaurant
      • Berkeley Open Studios
      • Civil rights attorney Fred Gray
      • Poet Devorah Major
      • Service to God and Country
      • East Bay Holiday Train rides
      • Chef's Turkey Day
      • Role Player's 'Don't Drink the Water'
      • Congresswoman Barbara Boxer
      • Locanda Ravello restaurant
      • Family history searches
      • Author Natalie Baszile's 'Queen Sugar'
      • Cashore Marionettes at Firehouse
      • Jumping for fun and advocacy
      • 'Rebuilding Lives' after abuse
      • Author Divakaruni's 'Oleander Girl'
      • Author Dean Karnazes' 'Road to Sparta'
      • Mixology
      • Bankhead's 'In the Heights'
      • 'Flying Dutchman' at LVO
      • SMC panel: Millennials matter
      • Former policeman inspires teens
      • Author Richard Alameddine
      • Parsons Dance at Bankhead
      • Musician Marc Broussard at Firehouse
      • Berkeley idea fest 'Uncharted'
      • Michael Krasny on Jewish humor
      • Lafayette Art & Wine Festival
      • Elisa Kleven's 'Gingerbread Boy'
      • 17th Annual O'Neill Festival
      • Walnut Creek Library's 'One Book'
      • NorCal Kids Triathlon
      • Sunday Suppers
      • Running and reading in Danville
      • STEAM at libraries
      • Photographer opens gallery
      • Martinez crop swap
      • National Park Service symposium
      • Teacher's summit at St. Mary's
      • Singer Laura Michele
      • Residency program at Bankhead
      • Tony Furtado Trio at Bankhead
      • Las Trampas adults with disabilities
      • Sojourn to France
      • Cal Shakes' 'Fences'
      • Japan tour for jazz ensemble
      • 'Laura's Ride' fundraiser
      • Free summer movies and concerts
      • Travolta Film Camp
      • 'Tempest' at Wente
      • Carlos Reyes at Aegis
      • Tri-Valley Rep 'Mary Poppins'
      • Keltner's 'The Power Paradox'
      • WWII bombardier
      • Diana Ross, Jackson Browne at Wente
      • Host families for Pittsburg Diamonds
      • Cross-country biking for cancer
      • Emergency ham radio
      • Longtime Rheem teacher retires
      • 'Florence Nightingale: Live!
      • Citizen of the Year Kathleen Odne
      • Alameda County Fair
      • Medical Marijuana panel
      • Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center's new season
      • Walnut Creek Art & Wine Festival
      • Moraga schools start time
      • Livermore public art
      • Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble
      • Northgate High at 'Next Generation' jazz fest
      • Blackhawk Museum's Nora Wagner
      • Moraga 'Citizen of the Year' Judy Dinkle
      • Moraga Community Garage Sale
      • Band 'LK Project'
      • Wings of Freedom tour
      • Lafayette ComicFest 2016
      • Volmer's 'Reliance, Illinois'
      • Children's book illustrator Christian Robinson
      • "Common Ground' photo exhibit
      • Futures Films
      • Taste of Lafayette
      • Livermore Valley Film Fest
      • White Pony Express
      • Poet Gregory Pardlo
      • Defending the Caveman
      • Bay Area Storytelling Festival
      • Art Tag
      • Los Medanos College Gospel Choir
      • Cookbook Author My Nguyen
      • Frances Stroh's 'Beer Money'
      • Photographer Lisa Toby
      • Author Gary Soto
      • Challah making
      • The Empowerment Project
      • Bedford Gallery's 'Safe at Home'
      • SF Green Film Festival
      • Tom Steuber
      • ShortDocs Filmfest
      • Aspen Santa Fe Ballet at Bankhead
      • JFKU counselors-in-training
      • Quilter Sherri Lynn Wood
      • Japanese internment exhibit
      • Heart to Heart
      • Lunch and literature
      • Lamorinda Tri-Cities meeting
      • CG artist Adam Schnitzer
      • Bentley students go to Switzerland
      • Veterinarian Jamie Textor
      • Orinda Citizen of the Year
      • East Bay Intnl. Jewish Film Fest
      • Holocaust survivor Dora Apsan Sorell
      • Moraga singer with Autism
      • WW2 Vet receives Legion of Honor
      • Comedian Tim Lee at Bankhead
      • Pianist Larry Vuckovich
      • Author Nayomi Munaweera
      • Crucible's 'Hot Couture'
      • Jewelry designer in Moraga
      • BAM/PFA's 'In Focus'
      • Teen Violinist Jaclyn Thach
      • What's Up Downtown Orinda
      • Southern Cafe in Antioch
      • Robert Rezak
      • Author Roland Merullo at SMC
      • Classical guitarist Jason Vieaux
      • Morgan Fire recovery
      • LMC diverse hiring
      • Creating a Peaceful School
      • Worth Ranch restaurant
      • Blackhawk Museum
      • Berkeley Public Library
      • Coach Campanelli memiors
      • International children's film fest
      • Permculture workshops
      • Festival of Women Authors
      • Bankhead ukulele band
      • Green Ribbon Day
      • Beatles course
      • Bedford 'Superhero'
      • Bankhead's 'Pirates of Penzance'
      • Tattoo Dad
      • Canyon Elementary STEM
      • Crab feed health warnings
      • Author Catherine Armsden
      • Billy Joel tribute
      • Muffin People
      • Bookseller Marian Nielsen
      • Matches reunion
      • TIE
      • Vet receives Legion of Honor
      • Fiber Artist Melinda Tai
      • Pearl Harbor Vets
      • e-comerce
      • Contra Costa soldier in Afghanistan
      • Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang
      • Berkeley Artisans open studios
      • Lafayette traffic roundabout
      • Veterans invitational softball tourney
      • Pacific Chamber Symphony
      • Firehouse Quilts
      • California food system
      • Return of school music program
      • David Talbot's 'The Devil's Chessboard'
      • Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion
      • Contra Costa Open Studios
      • Dublin's new Great Harvest
      • San Ramon Chronicles
      • Discovery Day
      • Firehouse's 'South Pacific'
      • Drones: upside/downside
      • 'Great Immigration Debate'
      • Author Don George's 'Wanderlust'
      • Author Yeonmi Park
      • Bedford's 'BG Craft Fest'
      • Paula Poundstone
      • Lafayette Children's Book Festival
      • 23rd annual STAND!
      • Author Frances Dinkelspiel
      • Comedian Marc Yaffee
      • Artist Nancy Roberts
      • 'Spirit of India' at Bankhead
      • Litquake
      • Shevinsky's 'Lean Out'
      • Lego art at Bedford
      • Storyteller bookstore closing
      • St. Mary's creative writing program
      • Comedy contest at Bankhead
      • Moraga Pear & Wine Festival
      • CVCHS revises board membership
      • Monday Night Playground
      • Author Dan Siegel
      • Photographer Edward Burtynsky
      • The Black Diamond Follies
      • Walnut Creek's Walnut Festival
      • Delta Blues Festival
      • Northgate HS March-A-Thon
      • Jazz vocalist Spencer Day
      • 'Madama Butterfly' at Bankhead
      • Artist Ranjini Venkatachari
      • VetCon fair
      • Author Sue Grafton
      • Author Anil Ananthaswamy
      • 'One City One Book'
      • Ginny Golden, library manager
      • Buy one, give one
      • Scott Hovey, e911
      • Firehouse Arts Center's 2015-16 season
      • Bedford Gallery exhibit celebrates plant life
      • Tri-Valley writers summer camp
      • Ms. Wheelchair America
      • The Gardens at Heather Farm
      • Danae Mattes' art
      • Tanks for the comfy seating
      • Dave Newhouse's 'Founding 49ers'
      • Antioch physician retires
      • Death Cafes
      • Lafayette's MakerFest
      • O'Neill Festival
      • Concord umpire
      • Artist Tom Killion
      • Berkeley Panel for Book Inc. opening
      • Orinda woman is 'Born Survivor'
      • LVPAC's upcoming season
      • The 'Happy' side of Walnut Creek
      • Architect Chris Downey
      • Author Alex Dolan
      • Blind 4-H'er shows pigs
      • Read to the Rhythm
      • Eugene O'Neill expert Eric Hayes
      • Marrisa Moss' 'Amelia' ends
      • Faith in the digital age
      • Livermore Lab scientist's origami art
      • Bedford Gallery's 'Blow Up'
      • Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude
      • Bay Area Book Festival
      • Geppetto's Cafe changes hands
      • Artist Jacob Hankinson
      • Lafayette rent control
      • Tess' Community Farm Kitchen
      • Art and Wine Festival, Walnut Creek
      • Smuin's Weston Krukow
      • Slopes of Diablo exhibit
      • San Ramon Art & Wind Festival
      • WC Library Foundation's Kristin Anderson
      • Bankhead Theater's "Hula Lives On"
      • Bay Area KidFest
      • CVCHS trustees resign
      • Home Brew Fest
      • Supporting injured soldier
      • Notes4Notes
      • Vietnam Vet Hero
      • John Muir's medical mission
      • Science Cafe
      • Independant living
      • Gospel Community Celebration Concert
      • Clayton Valley Charter School seeks board replacement
      • Simply Sinatra, Almost Elton John
      • Walnut Creek Int. Short Film Festival
      • What's In Your Hat
      • Carey Perloff and Jonathon Moscone
      • Bay Area Storytelling Festival
      • Adonal Foyle
      • Nobel Laureate John Mather
      • Musical prodigy Annie Wu
      • Google
      • Village Theatre "Mice and Men"
      • Aquanut
      • Cyber Safety for kids
      • Rev. James Lawson
      • "Mice and Men"
      • Marechal Duncan
      • Science Thought Leaders Night
      • Village Theatre Art Gallery "Lost and Found"
      • WW2 Jewish spy 'Behind Enemy Lines'
      • Margolin and Rinder on CA art
      • Amy Cheney's Write to Read
      • Firehouse Art Center
      • Author Garry Wills
      • Walnut Creek Library Foundation Author's Gala
      • Recycled Percussion
      • Cal Perf's Berkeley Talks
      • Author Michael Gazziniga
      • Growing Theater Audiences
      • Drum circle
      • Poetry Out Loud
      • Cypress String Quartet
      • Clayton Valley Charter HS investigation
      • Science Contest
      • UC's Yudof and Naplolitano
      • Gap Year
      • ClayStation 6
      • Earn & Learn East Bay
      • Sculptor Julee Richardson
      • Science on Saturday
      • Author Munaweera
      • Girls in STEM
      • She's Beautiful When She's Angry
      • Peaceful Schools
      • American Mosque
      • BART
      • STEM at Berkeley Rep
      • Reggae children's musical
      • Marquis Business Person of the Year
      • Museum of Art, St. Mary's
      • Mega Challah bake
      • Ex-con coffee
      • Swan Lake
      • World Series Trophy tour
      • Sip of Soup
      • Author Joseph Di Prisco
      • White Pony
      • Miss America Kira Kazantsev
      • Robert San Souci
      • Olate Dogs
      • Live action role play
      • Photographer Ding Hong Wu
      • Chef Cal Peternell
      • Louis Zamperini
      • Baker Frank Giovanni
      • Richard Pryor: book review
      • Author Jennifer Dodd
      • Robbie Rogers
      • Vanya Without Borders
      • Gianni's Italian Bistro for charities
      • Clayton Valley Charter High School
      • Jealous Curator
      • Livermore Valley Opera Amahl
      • Dancer Edward Stegge
      • Dolores Huerta
      • Google.Org
      • War Comes Home
      • Voices Against Brain Cancer
      • Good Grief Cooking
      • Karl Hedrick
      • Billie Jean King
      • Saving a life
      • Guinness World record?
      • Chip Hale AZ Diamondbacks
      • Preservation Hall Jazz Band
      • Sleeps with Dogs
      • Andrew Denman, Wildlife artist
      • The Elegant Bib
      • 'Hometown Hero' Tom Steuber
      • Bruce Cockburn
      • Bedford Gallery '100'
      • Domestic violence
      • Dr. Cornel West
      • Heyday Books
      • Loma Prieta earthquake: be prepared
      • Uncharted
      • Daniel Levitin: 'The Organized Mind'
      • Loma Prieta earthquake
      • 400 Things Cops Know
      • Author Reese Erlich: Syria
      • Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts
      • Salad Bar Project
      • Author Steven Pinker
      • Comedian Steele
      • Maya Lin
      • Ygnacio Valley High football under lights
      • Concord/Pleasant Hill Recycling Center
      • Berkeley Arts & Letters
      • Artist Geoffrey Meredith
      • CA Independent Film Festival
      • Author Marissa Moss
      • Veterinarian Camp
      • Lafayette Cell Towers
      • Recycling
      • Engineering Camp for Girls
      • Giants Baseball Camp
      • JFKU interns help troubled youth
      • The Iceman Cometh
      • Greywater
      • Olympian Heather Petri
      • Author John Fuller
      • Climber Hans Florine
      • Homeless
      • Lev Grossman
      • Mayor's cook-off
      • Hiroshima
      • Clay and Glass Exhibit
      • BAM/PFA topping out
      • O'Neill Studio Retreat
      • Town Hall looks at juvenile justice
      • A's Great Dave Henderson
      • Hospice nurse invention
      • Professor Brenda Hillman
      • Wildlife 'Encounters' app
      • Orinda Books
      • Bedford's "Skull Show"
      • Trapshooter Blake Fahmie
      • Atlas Lift Tech
      • Wireless Technology dangers
      • Creeks poisoned by runoff
      • Author Dr. Daniel Levitin
      • Last Midway Battle survivor
      • Clayton Valley Charter School Tension
      • Orinda Theatre Concert
      • Futures Explored 50th
      • Lafayette Balanced Budget
      • Christine Deane
      • Party Politics at Commonwealth Club
      • Comic-Con at OMCA
      • Clayton Valley Charter Band
      • Actor Bryce Pinkham
      • Author Nate Silver
      • Lafayette Commonwealth Club
      • Hometown Hero: Gil Gleasons
      • Moraga Citizen of the Year
      • Kristi Yamaguchi
      • Madeline Albright
      • High-altitude training
      • SHELTER Inc.: Generosity
      • Pixar: Catmull
      • Actress Embraces Shakespeare
      • Mt. Diablo Armchair Tour
      • Oscar Grant
      • Amy McClure: Art's Mystery
      • Bedford Gallery 'Sky'
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      • Best Music books of 2017
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    • East Bay Monthly >
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      • Cal Shakes new director, new season
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      • Kronos Quartet, The Cusp of Magic
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      • Local Lit | December
      • Homegrown chef opens Tribune brasserie
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      • Piedmont's Education Speaker Series
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      • Festival Opera
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      • Shop the Block | Valentine’s Day
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      • Nature journaling
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      • Noodles from Shan Dong
      • Orinda Books reading recs
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      • Joffrey Ballet returns to Cal Perf
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      • 'Violins of Hope' at Paramount
      • March Local Lit
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      • 'Gatz' at Berkeley Rep
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      • Violinist Axel Strauss at PCA
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      • Oakland Symph. holiday tribute to Aretha Franklin
      • Piedmont holiday shopping
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      • Oakland Symphony’s 'Notes from Korea'
      • Video Games Live at Cal Perf
      • Singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn at Freight & Salvage
      • Actor Robert Townsend at the Marsh
      • David Sedaris at Cal Perf
      • November lit(erary) picks
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      • Mariinsky Ballet at Cal Perf
      • October's top five lit(erary) events
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      • Berkeley Rep's 'Great Wave'
      • Mark Morris at Cal Perf
      • Local Lit
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      • Peidmont East Bay Children's Choir in a new era/
      • Backstage at Berkeley Rep's 'The Good Book'
    • Bay City News >
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    • Other Publications >
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      • SMC course on lying
      • Yoga expanding
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      • Talking to kids about race
      • NYT's Ben Fountain at LLLC
      • Cal Shakes' 'Quixote Nuevo'
      • Author Gail Honeyman at Orinda
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      • 'Jesus Moonwalks the Missippi'
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      • Bell & Bunna's Books
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      • Vinyl's Vibrant Past
      • Berkeley Rep's 'Anarchist"
      • Google Smart Cars
      • Baryshnikov on Stage
      • Kronos Quartet
      • Turtle Island Quartet
      • Cellist David Requiro
      • Malcolm Gladwell
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Musicians Who (Hip) Hop Career Barriers, Even the Pandemic

By Lou Fancher

Tossing and turning like an insomniac, fitful conversations about the sustainability and accessibility of classical music have — like all else during the pandemic and protests against racial injustice — intensified. With musicians from all over the map scrambling to find footing online, it’s easy to overlook a problem down the road: how will musicians whose careers are starting now or are in the middle stages of building one, attain the notoriety that leads to greater things?

This is especially a problem for Black classical musicians who have traditionally been less than welcome in major classical institutions. As always, though, the musicians themselves are not waiting around for someone else to provide answers. Pianist Barron Ryan, violinist Lee England Jr., and cellist Dara Hankins are all classically trained Black musicians, but in no way occupy a one-size-fits-all approach or monolithic position. The way they’ve carved paths for themselves shows their personal resilience and offers a ground-level lesson on how the arts are going to survive the pandemic.

Tulsa, Oklahoma is home base for Barron Ryan, 33, whose parents are both musicians, His father is noted pianist Donald Ryan and forms half of the father-son duo Ryan and Ryan. In Barron’s childhood home, the sounds of classical music, jazz, pop, funk, and hip-hop were common, and led Ryan to earn a degree in piano performance at the University of Oklahoma. But when he sought further training at elite music conservatories, he was rejected. The experience made him believe “I’m not too good at classical music.”

Shortly thereafter, Ryan won Oklahoma Israel Exchange’s 2011 Young Artists Competition. The subsequent concert tour to perform classical programs in Israel fired the dual engines that have made him, in 2020, a sought-after motivational speaker and producer of his two “Classic-Meets-Cool” albums (Classical with Attitude, featuring jazz- and ragtime-inspired concert music, and The Masters’ Apprentice, a collection of solos from great jazz pianists).

Working on a new album, First of Its Kind, Ryan says the three albums are the “byproduct” of trauma. The debut album was a response to grad school rejection; his second was completed only after battling through tenosynovitis. The painful condition involving inflamed tendons in his left hand, developed while perfecting the left hand’s 18-inch keyboard journey back and forth between keys to play quarter notes at a rate of six times per second in Art Tatum’s Tiger Rag. Misapplied physical tension left him with an injury requiring two years to overcome. The new album includes original music written entirely by Ryan, which means judgement and potential trauma lurks in the response he receives for the classical-meets-funk, jazz, pop compositions.

“So much of my childhood revolves around music,” he says, reflecting on becoming a musician. “We had friends who took a keen interest in exposing me and my sisters to music and performances and art. I remember seeing a Japanese Taiko drumming group. I was absolutely transfixed. I was overwhelmed with how cool that performance was. Not long after, I went to see Stomp [the dance-and-percussion mega-hit that was created at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, moved to the West End, and now has logged more than 10,000 performances over 25 years at the Orpheum Theater in New York, as well as dozens of touring companies]. My first instrument was actually drums and not piano. You could imagine a 3-year-old boy watching Stomp. It changed my perspective. I went home and practiced on my mother’s pots and pans. They have a part where they play using brooms and I tried that out. Although one person with one broom; it’s not quite as effective.”

Even so, Ryan recognized the wonder of creating art and decided his job was to “hit the floor running and remain in awe at the skill and temperament I saw.” He paid no attention to whether or not the musicians he admired were Black, but says he already had a close example in his father, who is Black, and never felt during childhood that he couldn’t also become a performer. During his experiences as a young musician and even today, he says racists’ responses, if they happen, weren’t and aren’t overt. “I tend to see things with ignorance,” he admits. “I never sensed in my performing that I was discriminated against or the audience had a bias against me.” Later, while speaking about the need to increase diversity in classical music, he adds, “It need not be dependent on the race of the person hearing it or creating it. The focus should be on the inspiration of wonder in the audience.”

The pandemic has obviously bumped his usual connection with audiences off course, but it has not derailed his can-do vision. “What I thought I was going to be doing this year and what I am still doing, is bringing the influence of 20th- and 21st-century American music to classical music. I’m not claiming that hasn’t been done before, but not in the way I’m doing it. I hadn’t heard much of classical composers incorporating music I grew up with: blues, soul, calypso from Trinidad, where my father’s from. Why can’t classical composers use this influence and create works that are breaking new ground based on music people are already listening to? I grew up with ’50s and ’60s music and pop and hip-hop on radio. I see no reason why classical music can’t use those traditions, and I am positioning myself to bring those two worlds together.”

While working on the new album, Ryan is making videos featuring technique tips or covers of pop songs approached with classical-music sensibility. “The best music has you paying close attention to it. You keep listening to it and finding new things in it. Classical is wonderful at that,” he says. But he also recognizes personal interests. He admits that from age 2, he has held the minority position of “preferring instruments to hearing people sing.” Balancing audience interest, using vocal music as a base and adding the visuals of video has sparked new creative juice that serves as a link to his all-instrumental music and expands his listening base online.

 “People who might not be interested in hearing a Mozart symphony in a concert hall, or another space, will hear music they already know. Hip-hop, funk. As much as the word is overused, it makes classical music ‘accessible.’ Because hip-hop is not classical music, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t play it. To me, there’s no musical influence that should be disallowed. Everything should be fair game.”

And if everything is fair game? Ryan says people are more likely to form common bonds and hold different viewpoints without hatred. “Different influences are important not because of skin color but just because they’re different from each other. I hope people find me interesting because I have something to say and to listen to. I want that to be primary: more important than whatever physical makeup I happen to have.”

In a TEDx talk, England says his father persuaded him to practice the violin by promising that he could quit if he just did 15 minutes a day. Flash forward to 2020 and the 36-year-old, who was an elementary school music teacher before “dropping out” at age 25, has become a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and activist and is known as the “The Soul Violinist.” Blending R&B, hip-hop, and soul with classical training and compositions, he gained recognition on MTV and went on to tour with R&B singer K’Jon, including a 2010 performance at K’Jon’s All-Star Weekend for Michael Jordan, Spike Lee, Russell Simmons, Dwayne Wade, and Gabrielle Union.

A five-minute solo he performed in the show has led to shoe endorsements, sponsorship from NBA player Michael Jordan, and a commission to compose music for and star in an NFL commercial for Super Bowl XLVI. England was signed by Quincy Jones Productions and calls home base Brooklyn, New York. He also formed and leads The Soul Orchestra and oversees Love Notes, a nonprofit program he launched that provides music instruction and instruments to school-age children. England has bachelor’s degrees in violin performance, in music education, and in audio engineering from Southern Illinois University.

England got hooked on music as a kid by one man at Greater Faith church, in Waukegan, Illinois, his hometown. “There’s definitely a guy, Richard Giggs, an organist I was privileged to sit under. The musicians, that’s what made me want to go to church every Sunday. Although I didn’t become an organist, pianist, drummer, or guitarist, I learned musicianship. The way this guy played, he would do what I learned later is theme and variation. He’d do that for “Amazing Grace.” He’d play it with embellishments, with runs and licks and things that weren’t in the song originally. I remember mimicking him on the violin as soon as I got the opportunity. That sound and style shaped me and my playing for years to come. Giggs went on to tour with Aretha Franklin and he’s on my new project, so that’s a real treat for me.”
Back in his early days, when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, “professional basketball player” was his eager response. “I said if that doesn’t work, I want to fall back on the violin and make the violin cool. I understood the violin wasn’t what my peers and other Black children were doing. It’s not something most people normally choose. I was going to make it cool one day. To not have many role models or influences allowed me to trailblaze without any constraints. There was nothing to live into, so there was never any pressure to be anything.”

Support and “so much love” from his first violin teacher in third grade reinforced his confidence. “I practiced hard, didn’t have private lessons or a big orchestra, but I learned everything she could give me. Years after that, all she did was just pour love into me, pushed me to practice harder than my peers, reinforced how much she appreciated and loved me and wanted me to be successful. By the time I went to teachers without that same mentorship, I had enough love to get through their bad lessons.”

Even so, England experienced overt racism and what he calls “hard lessons” that worked like gasoline on flames. “Those lessons were actually necessary,” he insists. “If I’d been given everything I needed, I wouldn’t have pushed myself. In college I was so rebellious that for my white teacher, a Hungarian violin professor, to tell me I couldn’t do something was exactly what I needed to hear to want to prove him wrong.” Denied solos or other opportunities in college, England wore a tuxedo with tails to orchestra concerts in a direct challenge to the conductor. Dressed in all black, no cummerbund, or tie, and [wearing] boots, jeans, and a baseball cap, the style became his signature garb. He says it’s part of why Jordan hired him as a spokesperson, and his defiance blasted openings in walls.

“I don’t even see those walls. I know they exist in certain structures, but I’ve been able to traverse the wildest terrain. I decided at a certain point that I wanted to put on a show at Carnegie Hall. I crunched the numbers, talked to people, had different ways of doing it. What it boiled down to was a conversation with a friend who said, ‘find out what Carnegie Hall has going on and then create ways where two worlds can collide.’”

He found out that Carnegie Hall is a century-old classical music institution that respects the way music is moving and England’s popularity. Revolutionary change in the classical-music scene that will attract new audiences, he says, “is us believing in diversity and variety. They were saying they were always looking for opportunities and ways to bridge those gaps. I live in that gap.”

When he speaks to young musicians, England emphasizes discipline. Even if they never become professional musicians, he believes passionate pursuit can be translated and transferred. “To have discipline is to have patience with yourself. Perfection is to be sought after but not necessarily obtained. Discipline has afforded me the ability to try something new and be good at it because I’m patient with myself. I say there’s a technique. Don’t reinvent the wheel, but dig deeper, find out what’s been done before, the history, the rules — so you can carve your own path.”
Letting go of preconceived notions — like the conservatory being the only route to a career in classical music — is crucial. He realized Juilliard wasn’t a good fit, despite his talent, and studied independently to discover what placed one violinist above another. Soloist cadenzas and improvisational additions, he decided, were the key spaces for standout performances:

The fact that violin concertos are written out as opposed to improvised on the spot takes away from the musician to own a piece of music. You can play a Mendelssohn concerto and play the same cadenza they’ve been playing for a million years. There’s nothing different vibrant or fresh or alive. Yes, it lives because classical music is an amazing art form, so dense, but it’s not alive. That’s one space where musicians are being cheated. Great musicians of the past were rock stars. I remember a story of when a musician had gotten sick and another musician came up out of the audience in street clothes and finished the concerto, like rock star.”

He asks, “How do you expect a new era of music to create itself and be amazing?” Using the leap from Baroque to Romanticism as an example, he suggests the chord structures and techniques didn’t come from doing what everybody else was doing. “I can add [on] and come up with something new that doesn’t lack integrity, depth, beauty and density. It’s boring to watch everybody to do the same thing. You don’t go to concert to hear certain pieces. [You go because] this person does something so innovative I just have to see it in person. These pianists who can play Chopin and Rachmaninoff to a T? Ask them if they can play how they’re feeling, show some emotion right now. They say no, no, no. Improvisation is an underrated ability some classical musicians scoff at.”

Ultimately, England says he grew up with the iconic soundtracks of Tom and Jerry cartoons that featured Mozart, Beethoven and no words. “My friends listen to classical music and aren’t even aware they’re trained to hear it. I use my imagination and create a world. A world where people are more creative and open. Creating things that don’t already exist, it will make the world larger for everybody else. With music leading the charge in innovation, it would have exponential benefits for society as a whole.”

Compared with Ryan and England, Hankins has followed what looks on the surface like the most traditional path. With a Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory in Boston and a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music in New York City, she has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Bell, Kirk Whalum, and Lalah Hathaway, among others. She is a cellist with Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the IRIS Orchestra, and an alumna of the IRIS Artists Fellow Program. She teaches in Chicago, Illinois, Virginia, and New York.

Of course, the pandemic continues to disrupt her plans. “It’s surreal that eight months later we’re still in this,” she says from her East Coast home. “Being in New York, there are organizations cancelling major seasons that are a kind of litmus test. Fortunately. I’ve been getting request to do some recordings, but it’s not sustainable for my livelihood.”

To use the extra time and further her work as an activist, Hankins has engaged with Groupmuse, consulting and advising the classical-music concert platform that focuses on increasing diversity in the field. “Just to have a seat at the table, to give input as a person who has experience in the realm of classical music, to give input from my lived experience, has been good.”

Part of that experience includes showing up at a first rehearsal with a well-known orchestra in October 2019 and having a security guard ask for her credentials. “I said I’m here for rehearsal and he said, “I’ve never seen you before and I’ve only seen one other one.” Which meant — it was unspoken — but he’d only seen one other Black person. It’s a majority culture I’m operating in. I just bring my whole self. I’m not showing up as Black Dara, but I am Black and I am in the space. It was really upsetting because it was my first day of rehearsal and there I was, being profiled. There was nobody I felt comfortable processing that experience with. I just had to keep calm and carry on.”

Carrying on doesn’t mean Hankins remains silent. Although she says she’s never been denied opportunities because she is Black, the incident speaks to the larger point of preconceived notions about the appearance and sound of classical musicians. “Historically, classical music is predominantly a white institution and you’re going to bump up against people who project things onto you,” she says. She solves that problem by taking classical music out of hallowed, often exclusionary institutions, and, importantly, diversifying the repertoire. “Great classical music is Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, but also contemporary composers who are creating music today. Playing works by living composers, we are so lucky, and we can ask them questions about their work. What did Beethoven mean by this or that? Well, we don’t know,” Hankin says. “But we can ask Caroline Shaw or Jessie Montgomery or other people who are creating art [now] those questions.”

Hankins knows that broader initiatives to increase diversity and equity must bring more people of color into leading roles in arts administration and boardrooms, dean or faculty positions at music conservatories, and music leaders who will integrate as a stable element of the repertoire works by Black or women composers and other under-represented people groups or styles of music. “Jazz being a Black American art form — some want to call it music as opposed to jazz — to have Black music courses but no Black faculty seems like a blind spot,” Hankins insists. “We should value the community and culture where this American music originates.”

Like England, Hankins believes learning to play an instrument and vocal training builds crossover skills. “Practicing, repetitions, this is how we grow. OK, it’s your first time trying and it’s reasonable you might not have done it perfectly. Failure is an opportunity to learn and problem solve. You grow from there and once you learn it, you don’t have to relearn it. Being a musician is having a mindset of an internal student. Integrating new skills into adulthood is stressful and people outside of music don’t want to do it. So even if everybody doesn’t go on to be a professional musician, they will have excellent life skills for functioning in society.”

Calling herself a “word nerd,” she says the root of “amateur” is “amore,” or love. And “profession” once meant people could simply profess an occupation to claim it. “I could say “I’m a surgeon,” and that is all it would take.” Passion for creating the best sound on a cello relates in her mind to curiosity — perhaps about indigenous music that, fused with classical music, can create dynamic programs to expand the musicians’ and audience experience. “If we have a myopic view about what is presentable, it’s not having the openness to universal truths gained from relating Bach to Indian Classical ragas. There are definitely threads of continuity there. All good music is good music, the rest doesn’t matter.”
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As classical-music institutions pivot to embrace musicians who are people of color and other underrepresented communities, Hankins says the attempts to evolve in conscious, conscientious ways are in an early, explorative stage. “I don’t trust it 100 percent, although it’s inspiring to be making an effort to reach diversity, reaching out to underrepresented groups, and actively working to raise awareness of people of color who are artists and composers. But for a culture change to happen on this scale is going to take time. It’s definitely the time for it to take place.”

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