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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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Rediscovered Composer’s Works Get First Airing From One Found Sound

By Lou Fancher

For nearly 70 years, the meticulous handwritten manuscripts of four symphonies and other orchestral works lay silent and undisturbed in a large trunk in Eugene Perry’s Pennsylvania home. The music, composed by the grandfather Perry was vastly influenced by but never knew — composer, professor, and choral director Herbert Franklin Mells — had never been published, copyrighted, or performed. Each 30-by-28-inch page represented both a classical music tragedy and decades of racism in real time. And then one afternoon, Perry, a bass-baritone who, at age 68, recently retired from the stage after 35 years as a professional musician, received a message.

“It was Jim Whipple [R. James Whipple, artist lecturer in music theory at Carnegie Mellon University],” Perry said, recalling the email he received two years ago. “He and I had worked together when I introduced him to three songs of my grandfather’s, and he transcribed them for a quintet/wind ensemble he directs in Pittsburgh. I invited him over to show him the music manuscripts in the trunk given to me by my aunt. We looked through them, and he said he wanted to study one of the symphonies. I said, ‘Go ahead, take it.’ Later, I’m not sure how long, he called and said, ‘You’re going to get a phone call from someone who might be interested in one of your grandfather’s symphonies.’”

Soon, Perry was on a Zoom call with three members of the San Francisco-based chamber orchestra One Found Sound. Co-founded in 2013 by musicians Georgeanne Banker, Sarah Bonomo, Scott Padden, Emily Kriner, and Sasha Launer, OFS is a democratic, collaborative, conductorless ensemble that seeks in all its work to operate at the forefront of equitable and barrier-free music.

“I remember it was [clarinetist] Sarah, [flutist] Sasha, and [filmmaker] Max Savage, and it was great,” Perry said. “I was excited. The music — to be perfectly honest — my aunt gave it to me because she knew she was dying and was thinking I would do something with it. When I got it, I wasn’t sure what to do. A lot of it had never been copyrighted or published. The people he worked for said there was no market for his symphony pieces because he was a Black man. They said there was a market for his choir pieces and spirituals but not for the big overtures and quartets and symphonies. So I put it aside because I was building my career and still performing. Then when there was this interest from One Found Sound, I started to wake up. I thought it was wonderful.”

Thus, the groundwork was laid for a serious undertaking. Over the next five years, OFS’s Herbert Franklin Mells Project will include world premieres and recordings of four of the orchestral works Mells composed between 1938 and 1945, along with the production of first-edition scores and orchestral parts, transcribed and published externally by Whipple.

One of the project’s broader goals is to serve as a model and resource for musicians and organizations seeking to bring equity, inclusion, and diversity to classical music. OFS hopes to launch a deep investigation into the historical intersection of structural racism and classical music in the United States and offer inspiration and encouragement for the music industry to amplify the long-silenced voices of composers from history, as well as support living composers and up-and-coming musicians who are also people of color.

Born in 1908, Mells served as the music department chair at Langston University, the Hampton Institute, and later Tennessee State University, where he taught until his untimely death from spinal meningitis in 1953 at age 44. Although his orchestral works were never published or performed, he wrote a tremendous catalog of instrumental and vocal music. Among the latter, the most remembered, according to notes from OFS, are “Burden’d Chile (A Spiritual Lament),” “I’ve Got Religion,” and “A Christmas Lullaby: In the Style of a Negro Lullaby.”

Asked about the strengths and characteristics of Mells’s Symphony No. 1 in D Minor (1938), Whipple writes that the work is surprisingly post-Romantic and, in his estimation, falls into the lineage of Antonín Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony (1893) and Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 (1932). He said:

"Although 21 years younger than Price, Mells still grew up in an environment where Romanticism rather than modernism would have been the prevailing aesthetic. The symphony alternates between weighty passages in the prevailing minor key and lighter, lyrical major-key ideas that are downright cheerful. The work is cast in the traditional four-movement mold of modified sonata form, slow movement, minuet and trio, and a finale with slow introduction. While the language leans heavily on its 19th-century heritage, Mells has a genuine sense of harmonic drama. The brass chords closing the slow movement are just one fine example of that. His orchestration is quite transparent, and the textures are never thick or muddy. The balances are carefully calculated, and the listener is not likely to lose his train of thought. With such deep roots in Romanticism, the ‘American-ness’ of this symphony is subtle, but it’s there — in the occasional modal tinges and pentatonic melodic patterns that appear.”

Mells sustained a two-fold blow to his career and development as a composer because his larger works were never performed or even given complete readings, according to Whipple. His reputation was limited, and his artistic development restricted. “His choral works, original songs, and spiritual settings were all fairly short, just a few pages as is typical for such works. That could falsely suggest he was only a miniaturist, since all of his large-scale works were ignored,” said Whipple. “The artistic cost is that most composers — even the most famous European composers in the generations before — would typically revise symphonic works after hearing them to fix problems of form or balance. Mells never got this opportunity, to either revise his first works or to incorporate that feedback in future works, since he died so young.”

So Mells’s contributions to symphonic music were lost until now. Whipple said a “long, long essay could be written” on the topic of the impact of segregation and racism on not only this one Black American composer but on all Black, non-white, and women artists’ contributions to classical music and its attending spheres of academia, culture, commerce, repertoire, and audiences. He offered an abbreviated version:

“Racism tended to repress the works of Black composers in the United States. The composer/violinist/conductor Eugène Dédé, long a resident of France despite growing up in New Orleans, made only one trip back to the United States in the 1890s and was disgusted that he wasn’t even allowed to perform in regular concert halls. After just one U.S. tour where he was relegated to churches and community sites, he returned to France where he was well regarded and held a prestigious conducting position.

“By Mells’s lifetime there had not been a lot of improvement to this situation. Despite earning his master’s degree and Ph.D. at two prestigious music schools, Indiana University and the University of Iowa, his primary academic position was at Tennessee State University, founded in 1912 and the only HBCU [historically Black college and university] in the state. He was the first chair of the developing music program there, but that did not seem to produce the networking with other institutions to open performance opportunities for his works. Mells’s spiritual settings, and some of his original vocal works, were published by his friend W.C. Handy because there was sales potential, but that interest did not extend to his instrumental works.” -Sasha Launer

Whipple’s words are like the proverbial fire that ignites OFS flutist Launer. “It goes without saying what a tragedy it is, all the music that was lost,” she said. “This is just one composer whose work was refused publishing because of his race. You think about all of the composers, artists, and all of the people with all of that talent that were denied. It was a tragedy for them, but also for our society as a whole, to have lost all of that work. There’s no way to measure it or know the works not written or published or never written at all. Our step [with this project] is only one step, and society must take so many steps. … We asked ourselves what we can do as musicians and what we can do to course-correct. We can bring his work to life. We’re never going to make it right, but we can make it a change for the future.”

OFS’s “step” leads back to Carnegie Mellon, where Launer once studied with Whipple. A member of OFS’s admin team, she sometimes contacted him when the group was issuing its call for scores for its annual Emerging Composer Award. The initiative is open to composers 30 years of age or younger who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian, or Pacific Islander or as a person of color. The winning compositions are performed by OFS, and the composers receive $1,000 cash prizes. “I reached out and asked him to spread the word,” Launer said. “He said he knew of some promising composers, and in the meantime, he did know of this Black composer who was significant, but his orchestral works had never been recorded or performed.”

Intrigued, Launer took the information about Mells to her colleagues and, through their usual democratic process and a town hall, met with the entire orchestra. Together, the musicians poured over a manuscript, their ears imagining a performance of the work. Immediately, a unanimous vote had everyone backing the project. Early funding came largely from the “Onesies,” an avid group of financial supporters. Continued resources will be necessary to complete the entire five-year plan; for that, in addition to regular patrons and one-time donations, the group is pursuing various grants.

Launer said having the Onesies support is “lucky,” as is the opportunity provided by the Mells family. “We’re so lucky to have these manuscripts. We just have to do this. We just have to have these works become part of the canon. If there are works by other composers we can bring to life, we have to provide that.” She said the obligation is not simply intrinsic to OFS’s commitment to diversity and equity but is one she believes is personal. “Understand that this is not how the world should be, but because I’m white, I have privilege. I have a bigger platform. The onus is on me to do what I can, however I can do it. If I have a platform to increase racial equity and displace historic, systemic white privilege, I’m going to use it.”

The instrumentation for Mells’s Symphony No. 1, which has its world premiere March 4 on a program that also includes Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, Op. 62, and Quinn Mason’s Reflection on a Memorial, is notably large for OFS, according to Launer. It’s scored for double woodwinds, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and a full string section consisting of ten violins, four violas, four cellos, and two basses.

“It feels like he is playing with tone color and timbres,” Launer said. “He has melodies that pass from instrument to instrument. He actually writes arrows in the manuscript. There’s a choral hymn that comes together only at the end, but throughout the whole rest of the movement, it passes from instrument to instrument. When it comes together, there is a climax. Before that, you hear the beauty as he highlights the different instruments and their qualities.”

And on her instrument, the third movement provides Launer the greatest reward. “It’s a scherzo that highlights the flute, with a melody that passes between the violins and solo flute. It’s fun and, for me, joyous to play.”

The greatest challenge is in transferring the lines and musical phrases seamlessly between instruments whose colors and timbres strongly contrast. “If it had been written for instruments that match so you can change seamlessly, that would have been easier,” Launer explained. “But when you do this well, it’s so rewarding. It’s something that in rehearsal we have had to dig into and make sure we do it well. If you don’t, it sounds choppy. The contrasts are a cool effect, but it’s not easy to achieve.”

Because the five-year project includes three other works OFS has not yet plunged into, Launer sent excerpts of quotes from Mells, along with general overviews of the pieces found in the trunk, taken from literature the group has collected.

Symphony No. 2 in B Minor was written in 1944 in partial fulfillment of Mells’s doctoral degree from the University of Iowa. The work’s thematic material draws upon the composer’s vocal composition “Burden’d Chile.” This spiritual, composed by Mells in 1938, contemplates the relationship between lived hardships and the promise of heavenly pleasures.

Symphonic Poem of the Americas was composed in 1945. Through this work, Mells considers the ethos of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy and domestic practices of racial inequity.

News Flashes of Late ’44 was composed in 1944. This symphonic poem, scored for a large orchestra including auxiliary wind instruments, decries the horrors of the Battle of the Bulge and muses on Mells’s complex personal feelings about war and peace.

For Perry, the “awakening” he experienced after being contacted by OFS has caused him to reflect on his relationship with his grandfather.

"Basically, we were raised on the Tennessee State University campus, which at that time was the Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College. My grandfather was head of the music department there when he died, and we went to live there with my grandmother. My mother was a classical pianist and played as an accompanist for the students and the choir. We had classical music around us all the time. We lived in the apartments on the second floor of the music building, above where the classes were held. So we got our music from our home.

There were six of us kids. I remember mainly the albums we had with the recordings of symphonies and my mother playing piano all the time. We had a recording of Eileen Farrell, who did all the Puccini arias. I remember Beethoven, not a lot of Mozart, but a lot of Handel. I was maybe 5 years old when, in second grade, we started picking up instruments from school. I started with cello. Schools were different then, and music was necessary. We joined the orchestra. My older sister played viola. Then my twin brother and I joined. We did that for one year, then my brother and I decided to join the brass band.”

Perry said he had few problems as a Black man entering the classical music field but also learned early on to ignore or rise above the microaggressions and overt demonstrations of racism he encountered. “On tours, people would see you, a Black person, and some sponsors were weird. There was a feeling that you weren’t accepted. For example, one man who donated money had a dinner, and he had me sit next to him. When I would talk, his expression was as if what I said wasn’t important. I ignored it because I was above that. He had the problem, and I didn’t. I was an artist. I sang. It just didn’t bother me. Another time, the people who worked at the company were telling racial jokes. Another time, the hosts invited us to dinner after a show in which I had makeup and a wig and was doing Barber of Seville. Onstage, you couldn’t tell if I was Black or white or Italian. Afterward at the party, someone wanted to know all about me, as if I was unusual. Those things were petty. Professionally, I knew I had a voice, and so it never stopped me from having my career.”

Even so, Perry recognizes that his grandfather had a far different experience and that the significance of Mells’s orchestral work finally entering the canon and the power of his life story receiving public attention cannot be overstated. “My grandfather was a powerful man. He was not your usual person. If you saw the amount of music he wrote, it would blow your mind. Especially because he died at age 44. He had four kids. When did he have time to have so much presence with his family? The piano music underneath the vocal is powerful. The First Symphony is masterful. He conducted the final movement in 1938 in front of Indiana University’s all-white orchestra. He was a Black man, 30 years old. What happened?
​

“I’m thinking about him and his power and dignity. That’s in the music, so maybe something will come out of this. One Found Sound is getting an amazing opportunity. His music — the color, style, and tone — will differentiate him. The project will show the development of his work while he was a chairman of three universities, traveling, touring during the summers. I’m curious myself to see what will be revealed.”
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