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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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Sahba Aminikia Tells Timeless Stories Through Music

By Lou Fancher

​The music of Iranian-American composer Sahba Aminikia is analogous to water. Variably complex or simple, it flows in gentle, naturally syncopated rhythms and structures reminiscent of light rain falling amid sunshine on a rooftop in one work, while another piece’s metronomic regularity is like a steadily dripping faucet. A third piece arrives fully orchestrated with the torrential swoosh of a downpour.

Bearing the imprint of his classical music training and vastly diverse source material — Persian poetry and traditional music, European and Western classical music, jazz, the music of Pink Floyd, Beatles, Queen, and many other contemporary and world music ensembles — overall the San Francisco-based musician’s work serves up a baseline elixir infused with multiple flavors. Lately, his compositional output includes works featuring crowd-sourced human voices obtained through social media. These works transform the sound of young voices reproducing bird calls or the (forbidden) singing of Iranian women or the chanting of the name of a political prisoner into nearly overwhelming tsunamis of pain and wave-like declarations of liberation and beauty.

Aminikia’s music has been widely performed and he has had a long and productive relationship with the Kronos Quartet. During a conversation about composing, the talk turns to the Flying Carpet Children Music Festival of which he is founder/director. In a comment that might surprise his followers, he says, “I can see myself giving up music one day, but I can’t see myself giving up the children I work with. My life energy is inspired by the energy of those children. It keeps me going. It’s such powerful emotion and force that children carry.”

Tell me one thing you believe will always be true about your compositional practices?

We are in the middle of this international crisis which affects all, but to different degrees. Living in the States makes us privileged to be vaccinated — unlike the majority of the countries in the world. My mission that will not change is that I’m going to follow the story of my own life. I’m aware of what’s happening around us. COVID-19 and this lockdown was a golden opportunity for all of us to realize how our surrounding is more powerful than we think. I’m still making music, continuing to work with my organization in Turkey and with children. [My life story] is very much connected to stories of people around me; friends in the Baháʼí community in Iran, friends in the United States, friends on the border of Turkey and Syria.

And is that truth something you embrace, or do you say to yourself “Sahba, make a work that’s not from your life story.”

I go with the fact that I have to make my own life story more true and more genuine and more colorful. That’s why I go to Turkey and started a festival there. In San Francisco, I’m living the comfortable life. The reality is that I would love to be closer to people who are underprivileged. I hold precious in my mind being closer to people who are living in poverty, to children that are underprivileged.

Do you always have a narrative from which to work or do you sometimes begin with an abstract frame?

Artistry in music comes from limitations not from freedoms we have. In the last couple of decades in the West, many structures have been intentionally demolished to create new voices, sounds and colors. But the reality of music for thousands of years has been its purpose as storytelling. Going back to ancient Greece, poetry and music have been intertwined. For music to have a programmatic, emotional process has been questioned. I am connected to a culture that is extremely conservative and tries to preserve itself through thousands of years of political invasions. Music for me is neither about division nor progress; it’s about stories I’m trying to portray in the language I know.

The story is the part that keeps the music connected to the audience. I try to reach out to the public. A narrative has always been there. When you get out of the musical realm of United States, 99 percent of the music that persists is music that speaks to the heart.

Today there is a large divide between the arts and what we call “lower class” music. The history of conservatories that exist today is that for hundreds of years they taught the skill of music, the craft. But for me the conceptual aspect of music is not limited, it is having a wide understanding of cultures in the world [“high” and “low”]. Now [through the internet and social media] there is so much opinion and expression that finding and curating a satisfying experience is incredibly difficult. Today, we have access to billions of songs, but finding the best music is a difficult task.

You’ve said in interviews that all (soulful) music is written from pain. What are the pitfalls and benefits (for both you and listeners) of music written from pain?

Pain is an ongoing process every human is going through. The reality is you cannot get tired of music connected to a yearning heart. But there are things to avoid. I was completely trained in classical music. In the traditional music of concerts produced in academia, the music is 99 percent not digestible for people in general society. Technical and abstract elements have dominated the emotional side of music. I stand on two pillars: you can always bring a new musical idea into a piece, but you must keep the emotional connection.

Writing from pain actually, I now think there are no pitfalls. Good music will come from people experienced in suffering. Any masterwork I know and connect to carries that inner emotion of human suffering.

Ok, so what does pain sound like in your work?

Let’s talk about Sound, Only Sound Remains, a work in 2016 which was a collaboration with Kronos and women singers from Iran. The piece starts with abstract ambiance with thousands of voices, and it ends up becoming a waltz. It’s very joyful, but it’s connected to something extremely painful; that these women have been banished from singing for 40 years. It comes from pain they are going through. It is long-term pain that has been there for hundreds of years. By just creating a small channel to that reality, my piece is connected to the large suffering of people on the other side of the world. The pain is in not being able to sing for 40 years and the joy is in now you are able to sing for a Western audience. You still try to bring hope, express freedom. This contrast is what I call pain in my work. One aspect is powerfully sad, but sadness is not the concept. The contrasting dense and saturated emotions create an irony the audience can connect to.

You’ve also said your intention is always to compose and perform meaningful work. What for you constitutes meaningful work?

It addresses some reality in the world. In America, an industrialized modern country, the issues we are dealing with are not ones the majority of the world are dealing with: hunger, lack of education, lack of equality. As an American, I feel it’s bringing the suffering and actual pain into context. It creates a calibration when you realize what the world is going through. We realize how privileged we are. This adjustment is necessary because we are geographically remote from the rest of the world and it is difficult for us to empathize. In the Middle East there is an ongoing crisis because of the United States meddling with political aspects of the region. Music with meaning is connected to reality and recalibration and to the world as globe, not just as a country.

Writing from joy: Is that possible?

Absolutely. Comedy is a more difficult way of creating drama. Irony has to be shown. Classical comedy and tragedy, there is a way to write from them. I say there is no joy without pain. You can have a perception of “happy, smiling, satisfied.” But being exposed to a larger spectrum of emotion creates catharsis. I think of the movie Life is Beautiful, by Roberto Benigni [who co-wrote the 1997 film with Vincenzo Ceram]. [It] is a comedy but set in the tragedy of the Holocaust. What happens if you are just in a comedy and it’s all about laughing? It’s tiring and limited.
I recently worked on a piece called House of Circus for the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s a collaboration with an orchestra in the United States and six children in Mardin, Turkey. They are extremely good at acrobatics, juggling, and dancing. Each child has a two-minute performance. There is a huge aspect of circus music, New Orleans jazz, a very joyful aspect, but one aspect is connected to the children, Syrian refugees settled in Turkey, who are in very difficult places. The contrast makes the joy more potent. Watching them perform, the duality defines the range of emotions in a work of art.
There are horrible things in it that happen and are calibrated toward a joyful moment.

The fact I’m emphasizing that music comes from pain and tragedy and moves to joy is given in a contemporary context of today that is very disconnected from normal human emotion. I believe a balance of human emotions and intellectual abstract ideas are necessary.

The pain is more about being connected to human emotion. The reality is that in the Western lifestyle, pain is defined as something to avoid, southing to calm down. But pain can cause joy; joy can cause pain. It’s impossible to separate these two. I’m not saying joyful music should sound like this and sadness should sound like that. Music should provoke some sort of emotion, that is what I believe to be true.

Even in extreme, horrific events there is also an aspect of empowerment — in using circus or music or something to hold on. I try to cultivate that moment when a singer in Iran will create something that will impress the audience with the joyfulness of her empowerment. It’s hitting cold reality and then being born again out of that reality, boredom, depression. I let myself feel that, cry for five minutes, then find revival. You come out of that and are reborn like a phoenix.

What is one positive and one negative way that the pandemic has influenced your work?

I’m normally isolated as a composer. What the pandemic has meant is I cannot attend my own performances in San Francisco [so] getting feedback has been difficult. Most of the works I composed last year have been published as YouTube videos. [On] social media it is difficult to impact people because you don’t have dominance. In a concert hall, people sit in the dark. They are “condemned” to listen to your music. They have to go through it, experience it from beginning to end. On social media, you cannot force a performance on people. You have to reach out to them and then you hope they just watch two or three minutes of the beginning of a video. It’s difficult to get meaningful feedback. Emotionally, because I love to be in a concert hall and experience how they react to the music, it’s difficult. On the positive side my music online is reaching out to the whole world.

But even so, the human element of a live performance?

The vibration of sound on your skin, sound coming from an actual instrument, that I miss a lot. We are experiencing something together in a concert hall: that’s extremely important we never take for granted.

Your Nasrin’s Dream composition and video: What was your experience while creating it?

Music functions as a healing mechanism. For example, something horrible happens and a prominent civil activist like (Iranian civil rights lawyer) Nasrin Sotoudeh goes on a hunger strike.[1] The majority of society somehow wants to experience this anguish. They function in this piece as being the medium, the voices of these emotions. I create a structure that people can be a part of and contribute to. That’s how I started.

I’ve been hosting this kind of call on social media for many pieces. For this one, she was going through a 40-day hunger strike, the coronavirus situation in Iran was incredibly dangerous. Even with all of that, I don’t think of it as a sad or depressing piece. It is a releasing piece because people are sending me their voices. None of these people can do anything [to help Sotoudeh] but I was hoping that gathering their voices and saying her name again and again would be a source of inspiration.
I tried many ways of composing that were boring, but it ended up working when it was coming out of the voices and the voices becoming multiplied by thousands. In my process, everything starts from the poetry. Even the musical ideas in the piece have to connect to concepts in the poetry.
​
What is the status of the Flying Carpet Children Music Festival you founded and direct in Mardin, Turkey? [The festival each year serves more than 5,000 children who are Syrian, Iraqi, and Kurdish refugees.]

For 2018 and 2019 I organized the festival. For 2020, we had to cancel it due to the pandemic. Now we are waiting because Turkey is in a critical situation. There is no vaccine for many people for maybe years. The festival depends on the participation of people from outside of that area. I would love to bring people but that depends on the situation becoming normalized. We might do a mini version in October, but we don’t want to risk our participants health by them coming to a country that’s not fully vaccinated yet.

What’s next for you in 2021?
​

I hope I can continue doing what I’m doing. I don’t think of future prospects. I learned that from one day I spent with [composer] Osvaldo Golijov in Boston. He describes seeing your future as not always looking at your future but looking at your past. I look at the last two years and see where I’ve been. If I’m happy with that, I keep doing what I’m doing.

[1] Sotoudeh was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes for defending women's right to choose their own attire. Nasrin’s Dream with music by Aminikia and visuals by Pınar Demiral, was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies at Stanford University. The work features the hundreds of submissions Aminikia received after putting a call on social media for people to say, sing, scream, whisper or vocalize her name.

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