Around Berkeley: Sushi and printmaking classes, ‘Here There Are Blueberries’ at Berkeley Rep

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Around Berkeley

🎶 The Downtown Berkeley Association is relaunching its free noon concert series Jazz-ish Lunch, which brings live music to the stage above BART every Thursday through May 16 (weather permitting). Thursdays, March 27-May 16, noon-1 p.m. Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza. FREE

🎤 Poulomi Saha, who teaches UC Berkeley’s over-subscribed “Cults in Popular Culture” course, presents a talk exploring “what explains our unshakeable fascination with cults” as part of a California magazine series exploring our enduring fascination with “communities and philosophies that offer total belief and total enthrallment.” Thursday, March 27, 6:30 p.m.  BAMPFA. $40

📚 Berkeley author Carole Joffee discusses her new book After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe But Not Abortion with Dr. Sara Newmann and will sign copies after the presentation. Thursday, March 27, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. FREE (registration encouraged)

🎶 Returning to Jupiter for their long-running final-Friday residency, the Hogan Brothers (featuring Julian on drums, Steve on bass and Colin on electric piano and accordion) present a program as diverse as their far-flung musical pursuits while remaining grounded in the African American musical continuum running from jazz and blues to soul and funk. Friday, March 28, 7-10 p.m. Jupiter. FREE

🍣 Chef Kaz Matsune of the San Francisco-based sustainable sushi and catering company Breakthrough Sushi will be teaching a sushi-making class as part of Berkeley Restaurant Week. You’ll learn how to slice fresh Steelhead, prepare sushi rice and make both a rainbow and hand roll. The course includes equipment, a meal and a cookbook. Saturday, March 29, 11:30 p.m. 2701 Eighth Street #115. $76 (RSVP required) 

🎨 Try your hand at printmaking and paper folding at one of ACCI Gallery’s Demo Days. The drop-in event features ACCI printmaker Rich Fowler and artist Goran Konjevod, who will demonstrate their artistic process and answer questions about their work. Saturday, March 29, 1–3 p.m. FREE (RSVP)

🎤 Jazz poet, activist and musician Avotcja presents a benefit concert for La Peña’s 50th anniversary campaign featuring a spectacular array of musicians and poets paying tribute to their predecessors, including Lady Bianca (honoring Sugar Pie DeSanto and Big Mama Thornton), Myron Cohen and the Billy Higgins Legacy Band (honoring Billy Higgins, Alice Coltrane and Jimmy Garrison), the La Peña Community Chorus (honoring Rafael Manriquez), and Kaylah Marin (honoring Gwen Avery and Koko Taylor). Saturday, March 29, 7 p.m.  La Peña Cultural Center. Donation requested $10–$500

🎤 Building on the revelatory “Here Lived” map in the Berkeley Historical Society & Museum’s Roots, Removal and Resistance: Japanese Americans in Berkeley exhibition, Ruth Sasaki, editor of the Topaz Stories Project, and several Topaz internees and their descendants share accounts of what happened to their families after World War II in a panel discussion. Sunday, March 30, 2 p.m. Berkeley Historical Society & Museum. FREE (registration encouraged)

🎹 A disparate triple bill of San Francisco singer/songwriters who share a proclivity for revelatory lyrics, “Strange Things to Tell Strangers” features art-pop pianist/composer Jennifer Greer, jazz-steeped guitarist/composer Amy Obenski, and avant-folk-classical guitarist/composer Michael Bang. Sunday, March 30, 7 p.m. The Back Room. $20

📚Journalist Jeanne Carstensen will present her new book A Greek Tragedy, in which she takes readers through the dramatic 24 hours that transpired on Oct. 28, 2015, when a small boat carrying hundreds of refugees capsized off the coast of the Greek island of Lesvos. Carstensen will be joined in conversation by journalist and Berkeleyside co-founder Frances Dinkelspiel. Monday, March 31, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. FREE (RSVP)

📚 Oakland journalist Alexis Madrigal, whose voice you may recognize from KQED’s Forum, will give a talk at the Berkeley City Club on his new book Pacific Circuit, which looks at how various forces including segregation and technological advancement have shaped the Town. Tuesday, April 1, 7 p.m. Berkeley City Club. $10 (RSVP)

🇵🇸 The Oscar-winning 2024 documentary film “No Other Land” traces the story of Palestinian activists protecting their communities from Israel’s military. Rialto Cinemas Elmwood is one of a handful of Bay Area movie houses screening the documentary. Through April 2. $14.50

🕊️ Plan ahead: The conductorless New Century Chamber Orchestra will give the West Coast premiere of San Francisco composer Jungyoon Wie’s “A Prayer for Peace” in Berkeley as part of a peace-themed program. The 2024 concerto grosso for string orchestra is a representation of the composer’s emotional evolution in her journey as a Korean immigrant to the U.S. Also on the program is African American composer Adolphus Hailstork’s “Sonata de Chiesa” and Richard Strauss’ “Metamorphosen.” Friday, April 4, 7:30 p.m. First Congregational Church. $35-80 (RSVP)

📸 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

🎻 Chamber Music Sundaes presents a concert at the Hillside Club featuring violist Amy Hiraga and cellist Peter Wyrick — a married couple that recently retired from the San Francisco Symphony, their daughter Mayumi Wyrick, a violinist, and the pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi. The program features Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major and Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor. Sunday, April 6, 3 p.m. Hillside Club. $15-30 (RSVP)

🎻 The UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra is hosting a gala to raise funds for their summer European Tour. The afternoon reception will include hors d’oeuvres and a performance of the profound “Adagietto” from Gustav Mahler’s  monumental Symphony No. 5 by Celli@Berkeley, UC Berkeley’s student cello ensemble. Sunday, April 13, 3 p.m. Wu Performance Hall, Morrison Hall, UC Berkeley. $200–$300 (RSVP)

🥓 Explore the “future of food” at the Lawrence Hall of Science’s latest Instagrammable exhibit, which features a burping model cow and even live mealworms. (Read our story.) Open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 1 Centennial Drive, Berkeley. $20

Beyond Berkeley

🎨 Local artist Laurie Caird has a new exhibit of 100 watercolor paintings of the moments after the meal. The paintings feature restaurants in Oakland like Shuggie’s, Friends & Family, MAMA, Low Bar and Popoca. The exhibit is on display from Saturday, March 29, through Wednesday, April 30. Opening reception, Saturday, March 29, 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., 1429 Broadway, Oakland. FREE 

🎥 The Masquerade is a film by Oakland-based director Joslyn Rose Lyons, produced alongside former NFL player Vernon Davis. The film revolves around a wealthy businessman who plans to replace an arts district with a futuristic smart city. The film tackles gentrification and blends contemporary modern dance with turf dancing. It stars a cast with deep Bay Area roots, including multi-faceted Oakland artist RyanNicole. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A with the filmmakers. Tuesday, April 1, 7 p.m. 3200 Grand Ave., Oakland. $15-$25

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.