Sing Thing Blog

SingThing at Oaktoberfest in the Dimond: Oct. 9th 2010

sandi — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:42:50 +0000

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

Sing Thing Fliers and 2010 Top Ten

sandi — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:09:22 +0000

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.

zamina zangalawa

sandi — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:08:05 +0000

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.

Award Winning Film on PBS series POV

sandi — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:36:31 +0000

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/

Beginning Hula Workshop 6/27/10 Stern Grove Festival

sandi — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:09:24 +0000

A beginning hula workshop geared to kids and kids at heart will take place in connection with the Sigmund Stern Grove festival on Sunday, June 27th at the West Meadow from 12noon till 1pm. This is in conjunction with the hula performance of Oakland’s Academy of Hawaiian Arts and the music of the award winning duo, Hapa. As with all the summer events at Stern Grove, this performance and the workshop are free of charge and open to everyone. Bring a blanket and a picnic. The Hapa with AHA performance begins at 2pm. Get there early as this will be very well attended. (For anyone who saw Lilo and Stitch, the music was performed by Mark Keali’iho’omalu who is the Kumu (leader/teacher) for AHA.) Kainani Hartnett will be leading the hula workshop.

Oliver! at the Berkeley Playhouse

sandi — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:59:45 +0000

Several Sing Thing kids are among the cast of this delightful musical based on Dickens’ Oliver Twist. The preview is April 24th at 2pm, opening night is Saturday April 24 @ 7pm. The show runs through Sunday May 16 and shows most Friday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays with matinees and evening performances.

https://www. ticketturtle.com/index.php?ticketing-bph
http://www.berkeleyplayhouse.org/oliver-april-23-to-may-16-2010

Kids Otter Read Day 5/1/2010

sandi — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:51:35 +0000

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

SF Film Festival Presents “Presumed Guilty”

sandi — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:02:21 +0000

Roberto Hernandez and Layda Negrete, members of Sing Thing’s Wednesday Albany group have a new film, which will be presented in the upcoming SF Film Festival. The film, Presumed Guilty” is a documentary in which the filmmakers bring cameras into the trial of Jose Antonio Zuniga. The film exposes the gross unfairness of the Mexican courts and results in a gripping courtroom drama. The film will be shown on Sunday May 2nd at 3:30 at the Kabuki theatre in SF, on Monday, May 3rd at 6:30 at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and Thursday, May 6th at 3:15 at the Kabuki theatre in SF. Hernandez and Negrete made a short documentary called “The Tunnel” in 2006 and for this new film have joined forces with filmmaker Geoffrey Smith (The English Surgeon which was in the 2008 SFIFF).

For more information about this film go to www.presuntoculpable.org.

Stern Grove presents Academy of Hawaiian Arts

sandi — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:35:09 +0000

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.

Woody Guthrie’s American Song

sandi — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:24:35 +0000

From May 27, 2010 through June 20, 2010 a production of Woody Guthrie’s American song will be running at the Marin Theatre. Woody composed many songs which have become a part of our musical heritage and this is a wonderful chance to see and hear his work on a live stage. For more information go to www.marintheatre.org