Events & Info

SingThing will be singing at this very fun neighborhood festival in the Dimond district of Oakland.
Come sing with us or listen at the Family Stage near the Dimond Library. Bring the kids, dogs, your singing voices. We are scheduled for noon, but may not go on until 12:30. If you own a Sing Thing tee shirt, wear it. October 9th, 2010, 11am-6pm.

Come eat wonderful local food, meet your neighbors, drink root beer at the root beer bar, drink home brewed real beer, great entertainment all day. Join Ashley and Lower Laguna neighbors in painting a mural on the wall at the abandoned Blockbuster on MacArthur. Meet local organizations like Friends of Sausal Creek and The California Revels, etc. For more information: www.Oaktoberfest.org

The 2010-2011 Sing Thing flier is now ready. All the information is the same as last year with the exception of the starting dates which are: Albany, Wednesday, October 6th and Oakland, Thursday, October 7th. I will email it to anyone requesting that and it will be snail- mailed to current & recent Sing Thing members soon.

The 2010 Top Ten will be posted soon with accompanying photos of this year’s groups.

While listening to NPR’s Weekend Edition, I caught a segment on the official anthem of the World Cup 2010 and was overjoyed to hear that it is mostly the song we’ve been singing and enjoying for several years that we got from In Harmony’s Way called Jongo. I ran to the computer and started looking for it by it’s title on NPR, Waka Waka and found many videos, mostly by Shakira (who added the English lyrics) with Freshly Ground, a South African pop group interviewed on NPR this morning. One of the videos is the original song. If you’d like to check it out it is listed by the title Zamina Original Version.
If you scroll down through the comments you’ll find a translation of the words. It’s a song used by soldiers, youth groups and scouts and sung widely all over Africa. It is from Cameroon.

Two of our Sing Thing Wednesday participants have made a fine documentary film that appeared in the San Francisco Film Festival recently. This hard hitting film will be presented on the PBS series POV on July 27, 2010. To find out more about the film and the film makers go to http://www.pbs.org/pov/presumedguilty/

Meet children’s book authors in person at Books Inc., 1760 Fourth Street, Berkeley on May 1st from 1-3pm. Includes Dashka Slater, who comes to Sing Thing’s Thursday group with her son, Milo. Other authors include Elisa Kleven, Jane Wattenberg, Deborah Trotter and Lea Lyon.

For a full list of authors and stores:
http://kidsotterread.wordpress.com/participating-authors-illustrators

This just in–
The Stern Grove Summer schedule will include Oakland’s award winning Academy of Hawaiian Arts led by Kumu Hula Mark Keali’iho’omalu. Their performance will take place on Sunday, June 27, 2010. The Stern Grove website will be updated in May. If you aren’t familiar with this group, Mark did the chanting and he sang the Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride in the Disney film, Lilo and Stitch. His halau (hula school) is known world-wide for it’s innovative choreography, athletic performance style and Mark’s beautiful chanting and singing. The Stern Grove Summer performances are free and open to the public. Come early, bring a picnic and a blanket. Performances begin at 2pm.

Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 3:30pm
Oakland Veteran’s Hall
200 Grand Avenue at Harrison St.
Plenty of free parking

This free concert is dedicated to the Symphonic Works of
African-American composers

James P. Johnson: The charleston, Florence Beatrice Price: The Oak
William Grant Still: Serenade & Danzas de Panama
Quincy Hilliard: Covenant & Variations on an African Hymnsong
Amadeo Roldan: Ritmica No. 5

(Take a look at the bird sanctuary while you are in the area and see the pair of white pelicans. Lots of migrating birds still there.)

Saturday, February 20th 2010. 12:30 to 5pm near 1780 Fourth Street in Berkeley.
12:30 storytelling for the under 12 set
1:30 Martial Arts demonstration
2:30 The Lion Dance (expect lots of excitement and loud noise)
Free!
This is a wonderful event in which local children often take part.

This is a wonderful chance to get up close and personal with wild birds and animals and the people who love them. There are walks, exhibits, artists, films, soundscapes. They have really good organic, vegetarian food as well as the usual non-veggie fare. For walks bring warm clothes, good boots and binoculars/cameras. This festival takes place on the migratory path for many of the wild birds species coming through the Bay Area at this time of year. There is also a chapel with antique Tiffany glass panels which is open during the festival.

February 5 - 7th, 2010
Mare Island, Vallejo, CA
Wildlife Expo, Building 897
Saturday and Sunday 9am to 4pm
www.SFBayFlywayFestival.com
707 649-9464 or 707 557-9816

Monday, December 21st the California Revels Company will be in Muir Woods to celebrate the longest night of the year.  The celebration is from 3 to 8pm, but come early.  Carpool if possible as parking is limited and this is very well attended.  Park and go through the main entrance.  There will be luminaria along the main path.  The Revels will be performing Abbott’s Bromley, an ancient dance from England done with 6 men with reindeer antlers on their heads and 4 dancers dressed as a man/woman, a boy archer, a hobby horse and a fool with a triangle which he strikes during the dance.  The music is mystical:  One recorder player playing this ancient melody without amplification.  Also, the Revels singers will be sequestered in the groves and you will hear them without necessarily seeing them.  Dress warmly and be aware that this event is free and open to the public.  Bring a flashlight.    Check Winter Solstice in Muir Woods for more information.  You might even see salmon spawning if you come before nightfall.  There will be warming goodies.  Probably a charge for these, but no info on that.