Around Berkeley: Berkeley High’s sustainable fashion show, sailing talk, meet Berkeleyside’s new editor

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Around Berkeley

⛵Captain Damon Guthrie hosts an interactive talk, “The Wonders of Sailing on the San Francisco Bay” covering charts, navigation, knots, the animals of the bay, sailing theory, semi-diurnal tides, harrowing accounts of a near shipwreck and more. Saturday, April 19, 2 p.m. Berkeley Library West Branch. FREE

🎶 Sacred Music Fellowship hosts weekly Sacred Music Sessions every Thursday in Berkeley as a rotating cast of East Bay faith or cultural communities share their sacred music traditions. All acoustic instruments and voices are welcome (unless otherwise noted). This week’s session features songs of freedom at the Jewish Renewal congregation Chochmat HaLev. Thursday, April 16, 8 p.m. Chochmat HaLev. FREE 

🎭 UC Berkeley’s Arts Research Center and the Department of Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies present a public reading of From Above, a work in progress by Drew Woodson, playwright-in-residence in the Indigenous performing arts residency program. Directed by R. Réal Vargas Alanis, the seven-actor reading is followed by Talk Back with Woodson. Thursday, April 17, 6 p.m. Arts Research Center, Hearst Field Annex D23. FREE

🎤 The closing weekend of BAMPFA’s “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection” includes the conclusion of a series of thematically focused discussions. The “Disobedient Bodies” program brings together Suzanne Jackson and Firelei Báez, whose works are featured in the exhibition, in conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, curator and UC Berkeley teaching professor Hilton Als to discuss approaches to artmaking that defy conventional modes of representation. Thursday, April 17, 6:30 p.m. BAMPFA. $18 (talk free with admission)

🎸 Steven Emerson, Berkeley guitarist, songwriter and latter-day member of the post-punk band True West, returns to the Monkey House for his ongoing third-Thursday “Songs, Stories and Stand-up” session, which includes an open-mic set of stories from the audience, often organized around a loose theme. Thursday, April 17, 7:30 p.m. The Monkey House. $20-$40

🎤 Vocalist Suzanne Pittson, a former Bay Area resident, returns to celebrate the release of her new album Emerge Dancing with the Pittson Family Band featuring pianist Jeff Pittson and their son, violist Evan Pittson, bassist Bryan Copeland and drummer Dave Meade. Thursday, April 17, 8 p.m. The Back Room. $20

🗞️Come say hello to Berkeleyside’s new editor-in-chief, Zac Farber, at the library this Friday! Stop by and let him know what news you value, what stories go untold in your community and how Berkeleyside can give you the information you need to make better decisions about navigating your neighborhood, spending your free time and participating in Berkeley’s civic life. Friday, April 18, 2-4 p.m. Tarea Hall Pittman south branch. 1901 Russell St.

💃 The Berkeley High Sustainable Fashion Show presents a community of artists and thinkers looking to inspire others to think consciously and sustainably about their clothing habits. Come by and watch a showcase of students’ fashion designs with live jazz to accompany shopping at student businesses before the runway starts. Friday, April 18, 5:30 p.m. Ciel Creative Space. $8 students/$20 adults

📚 Author and naturalist Brooke Williams’ two-decade fascination with dragonflies resulted in his new book Encountering Dragonfly: Notes on the Practice of Re-Enchantment, which he discusses in conversation by Toby McLeod. Friday, April 18, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. FREE (registration encouraged)

🐣 Join the city of Berkeley to celebrate spring with egg hunts for tots through teens. Fifth through eighth graders are invited to Grove Park to hunt, not just for eggs, but for prizes like the Meta Quest 3 VR headset. Everyone younger is welcome to a Saturday morning egg hunt and to win spring-themed prizes.  Friday, April 18, 7-9 p.m, Grove Park, FREE; Saturday, April 19, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Cesar Chavez Park. $12/child. RSVP for both.

🎻 The Berkeley Hillside Club Concert Series presents Albany jazz violin maestro Mads Tolling with guitar great Bruce Forman and ace bassist Dan Feiszli celebrating the release of his album Masters of Jazz Violin, a tribute to the artists who shaped his musical journey, including Stéphane Grappelli, Jean-Luc Ponty, Svend Asmussen, Stuff Smith and others. Friday, April 18, 7:30 p.m. Hillside Club. $15-$30

🎨 If you’ve ever wanted to buy used art supplies directly from local artists for cheap, now’s your chance. ACCI members are de-stashing their art studios for a big garage sale. Expect to find items like beads, buttons, woodworking tools, fabric, gems and jewelry supplies. Saturday, April 19, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. ACCI. 

🌍 Fourth Street hosts an outdoor Earth Day celebration with live music by the funk/fusion band Three Elements (featuring guitarist Justin Rock, bassist Anthony-Mills Branch and drummer and Andre Mateo) and numerous hands-on family friendly activities, including clay pot decoration, a propagation and plant cuttings workshop, free floral photo station, and the East Bay Vivarium booth — meet snakes, lizards and turtles up close and learn more about these amazing creatures! Saturday, April 19, noon-3 p.m.  Delaware at Fourth Street. FREE

🌎 Help celebrate Earth Day by cleaning up plastic detritus from our shorelines. Supplies will be provided; wear closed-toe shoes. Saturday, April 19, 1-4 p.m. Shorebird Nature Center. Pre-register

🎞️ BAMPFA will show two films by Turkish director Pinar Öğrenci. The first, Turkish Delight, follows the confection through history and nationalism, from Anatolia to the Greek island of Syros. The second, Gurbet Is a Home Now, explores the German Gastarbeiter — guest worker — program through memories and photographs. Saturday, April 19, 2:30 p.m. BAMPFA. $18 (FREE for UC Berkeley students, staff and faculty)

🎨Talavera Ceramics & Tile holds a benefit sale for the Women’s Daytime Drop-In Center hosted by former mayors and state legislators Loni Hancock and Tom Bates and Linda Maio with wine and hors d’oeuvres and 15 percent of all sales supporting the WDDC. Saturday, April 19, 4-6 p.m. Talavera Ceramics & Tile. FREE

📚 Oakland journalist William Gee Wong chats with fellow journalist Bruce Koon about his memoir, Sons of Chinatown: A Memoir Rooted in China and America. The book depicts Wong’s father’s migration to Oakland as a teenager in 1912, during the Chinese Exclusion era. Wong grew up in Oakland’s Chinatown while his father tried to start a business and raise a family in a segregated city. The event will be preceded by a reception and succeeded by a book signing. Thursday, April 24, 6 p.m. North Gate Hall, UC Berkeley. FREE (RSVP).

 💃 Plan ahead: Not Loud Concerts is putting on a Fantasy Waltz Night at Berkeley’s Chapel of the Flowers, a funeral home turned music venue. Dance instructor Colin Williamshe will kick off the evening with a beginner-friendly waltz lesson; then, the Renegade Orchestra members will perform (not-too-loud) waltzes for you to dance along to. Coffee and cookies will be available. Ages 18 and up. Friday, April 25, 7 p.m. 3049 Adeline St. $25 (RSVP) 

🍕Plan ahead: The Theatre Lunatico’s Shoebox Shakespeare series, which takes place in the basement of a Northside pizza shop, presents the classic Romeo and Juliet, a story of love and woe. Specials on beer and happy hour specials are available for reserved ticket holders. Friday-Sunday, April 26 through May 18. La Val’s Subterranean Theater, suggested donations $15-50.

📸 Berkeley Rep’s production of “Here There Are Blueberries,” directed by Moisés Kaufman, runs April 5 through May 11. The play, which grapples with how ordinary people become murderers, is based on a real story about an album of Nazi-era photographs that mysteriously arrived at the desk of a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archivist in 2007. $25–$134

Beyond Berkeley

🎸 Berkeley-reared Alex Carlin, a founding member of proto punk bands Psycotic Pineapple and The Rubinoos, headlines with his band Triad on an Earth Day triple bill with Sleepers Ad and Sonic Highway that also includes a between sets Q&A with Planktos Inc. entrepreneur Russ George.Tuesday, April 22, 7 p.m. The Ivy Room. $15

🎤 Arthur Levy, a longtime member of the Oakland Heritage Alliance, will discuss the benefits of cities with a robust legacy business program, how it benefits the businesses and the neighborhoods, and why Oakland should adopt such a program. Levy will also talk about Oakland businesses he believes should be on the list. Attendees will be able to submit their choices as well. Thursday, April 17, 7 p.m. Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. $13-$18

📚 Are you someone interested in writing and preserving your family’s history? If so, this weekend, award-winning author of the memoir What You Don’t Know Will Make a Whole New World, and former Oakland librarian and historian Dorothy Lazard, will be at the Dimond Branch of the Oakland Public Library to discuss memoir writing and her work, followed by a Q&A. Saturday, April 19, 2 p.m., 3565 Fruitvale Ave. FREE (RSVP)

🎭 Lower Bottom Playaz, Oakland’s oldest Black Theater, just launched its 26th season last weekend with the premiere of the show “Government Housing.” The semi-autobiographical play written by Dr. Ayodele “Wordslanger” Nzinga explores white supremacy and how it manifests inside an apartment in a housing project in Berkeley. The show runs through Monday, May 5. Fridays 8 p.m., Saturdays 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays 2 p.m. BAM House, 1540 Broadway, Oakland. $33-$160

🏊 Oakland Olympic swimmer and Hollywood actor Buster Crabbe rose to fame in the 1920s for his athleticism and later as a Hollywood superstar who appeared in over 100 films and played iconic roles like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Tarzan, which earned him the nickname “king of the serials.” Through April 25, the Oakland History Center has an exhibit on display of Crabbe’s memorabilia by curator Miron Murcury and Oakland History Center librarian Emily Foster. Through April 25. Oakland History Center, Main Library, second floor, 125 14th St., Oakland. FREE

If there’s an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup, email us at [email protected]. If there’s an event that you’d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our events page.

The Oaklandside’s Arts and Community reporter Azucena Rasilla contributed to this list.