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November 2007

November 2007

 

November 2007 FEATURES

November DEPARTMENTS


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2010.01.08 Amor Fati at the Joyce Gordon Gallery
Amor FatiJanuary 8 – February 8, 2010Opening Reception, January 8, Friday, 6-9pmFeaturing: Malaquias Montoya, Carlos Villa, Kwatro-Kantos...
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Oakland Magazine »  November 2007 »  In the Mix

In the Mix

Oakland Sound Bites

Portable Gold Record Studio Turns Locals into Stars

    When Oakland artists Lisa Mezzacappa and Jon Brumit decided to create a sound portrait of Oakland, they had some ideas on how they’d go about it—but few about how it would turn out. “We knew it was experimental. We wanted it to be inclusive. We wanted to be the instigators and facilitators and not the artists getting in the way,” says Mezzacappa. They didn’t expect that, to do justice to the richness and diversity of what came their way when they set up a mobile recording rig at the Laney College Flea Market, they would need to produce a double-CD set—and that was after 80 hours of editing.
    When they applied for their grant from the City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program, their plan was to set up a recording studio on six successive Sundays, starting April 15, at the Laney market, and bring along keyboards, drums, guitars and all the other instruments they could lay their hands on. They would invite local underground musicians to come “guest” on the project, and anyone and everyone who passed by would be encouraged to “play.”
    The resulting recording captures sounds from such diverse origins as Haiti, Trinidad, Mexico, Serbia, Cameroon and China, as well as snips of pretty much all genres one might hear in the United States. Of the 130 participants, ranging in age from 8 to over 65, some were professionals—others had never before picked up an instrument.
    Mezzacappa plays bass in a variety of contexts, from the jazz-based Duo B with percussionist Jason Levis to tours with folk icon Donovan; Brumit creates avant-garde visual and sound projects, both solo and collaborative. The two say part of their motivation for the project was that they didn’t want to see art “rarified” and took on their project to shake up the notion of who’s really a musician.
    Besides the sunburn, heat and occasional power outages, something they didn’t anticipate was that people would be suspicious when invited—and not asked to pay—to play music, sing or generally make any sounds they liked for a recording. A vintage 1950s record cutter, loaned to Brumit by a friend, proved to be a magnet. “The crazy piece of equipment was a great conversation piece,” he says. “It helped because nobody understood why we were there,” says Mezzacappa. “We were giving pep talks, coaching people, getting kids to translate when their parents couldn’t speak English. We’d convince one guy to play the drums, another to sing, another to play keyboard—and suddenly you had an impromptu band.”
    The record cutter was also one of the things they could have sold many times over. “Everyone presumed it being a flea market, that everything we had was for sale,” Brumit explains.
    And it meant digital tracks could be simultaneously recorded on gold “toy” flexi-discs, which were given to people to take away. Two copies of the double CD—33 tracks on one and 50 on the other—were subsequently given to each participant at a launch party held in July. The CD jacket—a mini-poster collage of 112 Polaroid photos of the participants—provides the visual snapshot of the “huge sonic neighborhood,” to quote Brumit, that makes Oakland hum.
    The final product has Mezzacappa and Brumit thinking they might replicate their idea in cities, towns—maybe even truckstops—around the United States to catch similar sound bites of America’s musicality. “We now have a sense of how it might happen,” Mezzacappa says. Brumit nods in agreement and adds, “Doing it round the whole country with a documentary filmmaker—now that would be fantastic.”

—By Wanda Hennig

OAKLAND MADE

Fwrap It Good

    Using scarves and pieces of silk, the Japanese have been wrapping with fabric for centuries. “They called it furoshiki,” says Jennie Chuang. Often the fabric is tied in intricate ways to resemble flowers, she says. “I always thought it was very cool.”  
    Inspired by the tradition and the green movement, but also cognizant of the less coordinated, Chuang, 43, has developed a simpler way to wrap with fabric. Last year, she launched her Oakland-based business, Fwrap, which is short for fabric wrap.
    Her reusable Fwrap gift envelopes come in small, medium and large sizes and are perfect for books, compact discs and photo frames, among other items. In addition to creating an attractive covering, the soft embossed felt—available in brown, beige, red, purple, pink and green—protects gifts. Chuang also sells a line of book covers; her products range in price from $8 to $12.
    Fwraps can be used again and again, so they are more environmentally friendly than disposable wrapping paper. Chuang orders her fabric from a New England company, but has all of her products cut and sewn in Oakland. In the future, she plans to switch from felt to EcoSpun, a fabric made from recycled plastic bottles. “Then I’ll have a totally green product,” she says.
    In addition to developing her growing business, Chuang works full time in public relations at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in San Francisco. Born in Taiwan, she and her family lived in Brazil before moving to New York when she was 9. After graduating from UC Berkeley, Chuang decided to stay in the Bay Area. “I just sort of fell in love with it,” she says.
    Although she never formally studied design, Chuang started out making wine bags and invitations. Eventually, she began playing with ways to wrap with fabric, and Fwraps were born.
    For more information on where to find Fwraps gift envelopes and book covers in the Bay Area, go to www.fwraps.com.                       

—Ellen Keohane

La Taza de Café

Burning Down the House

   

When Daniel Brajkovich opened La Taza de Café in Montclair in 2004 , I knew we couldn’t keep him. His savory tapas and hot Latin Jazz were too big to contain in a small neighborhood restaurant. He needed a whole house.  
    Today, he’s bringing the house down with a Cuban café and club that’s so popular it’s often packed to the rafters. Of course, there’s the ever-changing weekly menu, from small plates with various combinations of grilled chops, plantains and spicy sauces to such platos grandes as garlic-studded slow-roasted pork and snapper almandine. Then there’s the dancing. Take a Saturday night this past summer, for example, when a room full of patrons paid $8 each to learn how to salsa. The instructors were the sexy dance duo of Garry Johnson (longtime dance teacher at Allegro Ballroom in Emeryville) and his partner, Viola Gonzales. As the lesson progressed, the warm yellow house at 3909 Grand Ave. (formerly the site of Autumn Moon restaurant) started to come alive. Women in sleek, sexy outfits and guys in cool cotton cabana shirts were pouring into the bar, the back room, the outside patio and two rooms upstairs.
    The champagne mojitos started to flow and bodies pressed seductively against one another as the primal beat pumped through the halls. I could sense that something was about to explode—like spontaneous combustion from too much heat. And then it began; couples twirling in tandem to the intoxicating rhythm, as if they were dancing under a star-studded Havana sky.
    It’s human nature to want what you cannot have. Cuba is off limits to most Americans, yet we have an insatiable urge to taste—to experience—if only for one passion-filled night. La Taza de Café answers the call.
    La Taza de Café, 3909 Grand Ave., (510) 658-2373, is open Tue.–Sun. for tapas, dinner and dancing, and serves brunch 10 p.m.–2 p.m. Sun. For a schedule of dance lessons and entertainment see www.latazadecafe.com.       

                                                
—Ginny Prior

ABOUT A MANDOLINIST

Ears to the Ground

Between playing all kinds of music on mandolins, helping shepherd a world-music recording label, and cooking (and co-parenting 8-year-old daughter Lucy) at home in Oakland, Mike Marshall’s world is complete. Tall and gangly, with a mop of curly hair erupting from his head, Marshall wraps his long fingers around the tiny mandolin and makes its eight strings sing. Jazz, Bach, bluegrass, Brazilian choro—if it’s music, it flows through that instrument, often in collaborations with everyone from mentor David Grisman to classical violinist Joshua Bell.
    Marshall was 19 when he moved from Florida in 1978 to join the David Grisman Quintet and revolutionize the world of acoustic string music. “David was in Marin, but I had a friend in Rockridge and moved in,” Marshall says. “I’ve always loved Oakland. It’s the Brooklyn of the Bay Area. It’s got all the people right here.” Grisman’s groups blazed the trail for the “new acoustic music” fusion of bluegrass and jazz. “At that point there was Bill Monroe and Del McCoury,” Marshall says of the two bluegrass mandolin greats, “and then we came along—ears to the ground, taking it all in and doing something that made sense to us. Today there are all these young guys like Nickel Creek.”
    The Grisman Quintet violinist, Darol Anger, has been Marshall’s duo partner on and off for 29 years, and they have a new CD, Woodshop, on Adventure Music, the label Marshall co-founded to promote his passion for Brazilian composers and players.
When not cooking up new tunes in his Montclair home studio, Marshall is in the kitchen following up on his Italian roots and recipes. “I’m trading guitar lessons for cooking lessons with Cal Peternel [the upstairs chef at Chez Panisse],” he says. “I’ve been here to watch this whole food revolution happen in a gentle way. I say Alice Waters for president! I’m amazed at how little was available here before she planted the seeds, and now even Safeway’s following what she started.”            

 —Larry Kelp


Keeping it Positive

    For those who think hip-hop is the culprit for the ills of the inner city; for those who know the culture only for its materialism, misogyny, violence, homophobia and braggadocio—meet Sam Mulberry, a.k.a. Desi, creator of the Weekend Wake-Up.

    Entering its fourth year this fall, the Weekend Wake-Up (www.weekendwakeup.com) is a series of free, themed, monthly events throughout the school year that use the elements of hip-hop—music, dancing, graffiti (rather, “aerosol writing”), fashion and art—to uplift the community. Starting this fall at various locations in Oakland, such as the SMAAC Youth Center (a community center for sexual minorities downtown) and, if all goes well, even the Oakland Museum of California, the Weekend Wake-Up will put on performances that allow hip-hop-influenced youth to showcase their talents alongside professionals; promote a familial setting in the community; and educate people about productive living.
    One event last school year illustrated what the Weekend Wake-Up is all about. The January gathering was held at the Rock, Paper, Scissors art gallery in North Oakland and the theme was a celebration of women. The event included female rappers, local DJs, live painting, break dancing, creative writing and healthy organic food.
    “Keep it positive and healthy,” says Mulberry, an aerosol-writing teacher at Oakland charter school Oasis High, who fuels his Suburban with vegetable oil. “We deal with a wide range of issues in the community, address things [mainstream] hip-hop doesn’t always address.”
    Finding funding is the biggest hurdle. Though steadfast about keeping the Weekend Wake-Up grassroots and conscious, Mulberry has desires to make the program even bigger. He wants to expand to include West Bay and South Bay youth. He wants to compensate the DJs and artists who in the past have volunteered. He wants a live band at every event and to enlist the talents of established artists to broaden the appeal.
    He also wants to keep it free. Nonetheless, Mulberry said he may have to ask for $5 to $15 donations from adults who can afford it, what with his access to city funds exhausted for the time being, his unwillingness to take support from unsavory sponsors, and his own group—Weapons of Mass Expression—needing resources as well.
    But keeping the Weekend Wake-Up low budget and underground wouldn’t be the worst thing, Mulberry says. The richness of hip-hop is more than enough to serve the community. “That’s how we’re going to keep the culture going,” he says. “Building the network among the youth and breaking down the prejudices.”

—Marcus W. Thompson II

Get Fresh

    Buying fresh, local seasonal ingredients is all the rage, and doing so just got easier on a county-by-county basis for Bay Area residents.   
        This summer, the California Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign and the Community Alliance With Family Farmers produced the Buy Fresh Buy Local Food Guide, a handy printed and online guide (www.buylocalca.org or www.caff.org) to growers, artisans, retailers, restaurants, caterers, institutions and organizations doing their best to promote locally produced food and farm products. The directory also charts area farmers markets, produce seasonality and Community Supported Agriculture locations.             “People love the guide—it’s beautiful; it’s laid out by county,” says Temra Costa, CAFF campaign manager for the Bay Area. “It’s really a resource people have been looking for.”
    Some 50,000 copies of the free 45-page guide—which lists CAFF members and other local foods supporters from nine Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma) as identified by CAFF grower partners—are being distributed in retail outlets listed in the guide. The plan is to print the guide annually, but the searchable online PDF version is being updated frequently to reflect new CAFF members and additional information.
    Members must meet CAFF-specific criteria to join CAFF, and membership fees are based on the type of business. The goal of Davis-based CAFF is to increase the viability of family farmers in California; the related Buy Fresh Buy Local marketing campaign, a collaboration with a national campaign and Food Routes Network, emphasizes the importance of sustainable agriculture. “Local” in the Bay Area context means goods were produced with 75 to 100 miles.
    “In the Bay Area we’re really fortunate to have so much production right around us,” Costa says. People often ask Costa what they can do to be more environmentally sound, and she says it’s is as easy as rethinking your grocery shopping, noting, “The biggest impact is your food choices.    

—Judith M. Gallman

MARY CANALES

Ice Cream Maker

MARY CANALES KNOWS THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS. Just a year after leaving a high profile job as a pastry chef at Chez Panisse, her new shop, Ici, is raising the bar for gourmet ice cream, sorbet and sherbet in the Elmwood. It’s no wonder, with eclectic flavors like lemon and gingersnap, handmade cones and ice cream sandwiches and hand-dipped vanilla and chicory bonbons.


Where do you get the ideas for your flavors?
First of all, I definitely follow the seasons, so what’s growing is really what inspires me. I mean, literally, I have to park a little bit away from the shop, and I’m always aware of what’s growing in people’s yards—their gardens. You know, there are apples ripening now and the fennel seeds, the pollen on the ends—you can’t help but notice, it’s all around you. Not that I’m going to go into people’s yards, but you see what’s growing, what’s seasonal.

Apples? Fennel? Those seem like awfully healthy ingredients for ice cream. Don’t tell me you use basil too.
As a matter of fact, we made basil ice cream here not long ago … really just inspired because at the farmers market there were these huge bunches of basil next to the peaches I was buying. I thought it might be interesting, and it does go with the fruit flavors. You can have a scoop of basil and a scoop of plum and it’s really good.

You must have some colorful dreams at night.
I remember as a kid, dreaming about blueberry pancakes and having to have them or wanting to learn how to make them. Before Christmas, I did dream that I wanted to make a frozen bûche de Noël. It’s crazy, but I figured out how to make them in my dream, and I made them all night. I woke up exhausted.

Does your staff have input into your flavors?
As we’re working we’re constantly coming up with things. I believe all the ideas don’t come from one person. I thrive in a collaborative kitchen like I had in Chez Panisse. When I left Chez Panisse I thought I would leave that, but I was so blown away the first week or two here, we already had it again.  We’re all dreaming about ice cream, I guess.

You’re husband, Paul, is the chef at Oliveto. How do you juggle your schedules and raise a family?
It’s a crazy chef’s life or artist’s life, and I do tell people who are coming into the business: This isn’t 9 to 5 Monday though Friday. It never will be. My husband and I have it structured that we spend as much time as we can with the kids, so we have our days off kind of staggered. But I’ve always been a pastry-chef mom, so to them it’s normal. And we’re so happy doing what we’re doing, that’s the real payoff, I guess.

Is there any ingredient you’ve vowed never to put in ice cream?
It’s kind of hard to say, but I don’t really like garlic ice cream. Even though you can imagine garlic in cream in pasta or something like that, it just doesn’t really speak to me. I had wasabi ice cream in New York once. It was interesting, but it doesn’t really work for me. It’s kind of the nouvelle-cuisine, do-it-just-because-you-can sort of thing. But I guess I’m a little more rooted in tradition.  At the end of the day, I just want to make something that’s delicious.

Ici is open daily at 2948 College Ave., Berkeley, (510) 665-6054.

—Ginny Prior
Green Business