SUN 4/17
Black Mountain just can’t get enough of West Oakland, it would seem. After a mid-March stop at LoBot, the coed Vancouver band — mental health workers by day, the most visible member entity of the Black Mountain Army arts collective by night — circles back through the Lower Bottoms to play another set in the shadow of the Oakland dogs, this time at Liminal (2000 Myrtle St.). It’s fitting that the band is playing on a Sunday, since it traffics in Sabbath-weight psychedelia, albeit with a spectacular, Bowie-esque scope. For this stop, Black Mountain is supported by fellow Canucks Frog Eyes, last seen in the Bay Area at Bottom of the Hill as Destroyer’s opener and backing band, when front Frog Carey Mercer’s contorted, earnest yowling stole the show from the stage-shy (and seemingly relieved) Dan Bejar. The Eyes themselves are a manic ball of intensity, bringing equal amounts of carnie-core and punk rock. If that isn’t enough of a spectacle for you, the local opener is none other than Cave Bitch, aka Triangle’s Amanda Warner in a fur bikini, and there will be art to peruse, created especially for the occasion by Kevin Slagle of Ego Park and Matthieu Sery of Liminal. Doors at 9 p.m. $6 donation. – Stefanie Kalem
Black Mountain Hullabaloo with Hairwide & Heidi Bruce Beasley
THU 4/14
Free-Range
One Dave, many baskets
You loved Might, but hate The Believer. Or you find McSweeneys.net to be inconsistent, but always pick up the print quarterly the very first week it’s available. And then there are those of you who couldn’t even get through A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, but you put it on the same shelf with Generation X and On the Road, then eagerly gobbled up This Shape We’re In and The Future Dictionary of America by flashlight underneath your duvet. It sounds as if you’d sure like to get to the bottom of this mixed-bag literary phenom they call Dave Eggers, and in honor of National Library Week, Happy Baby author Stephen Elliott will do his best to help, interviewing Eggers at 7 p.m. at the James Moore Theater (in the Oakland Museum of California), followed by a book signing. This is a free event, and Eggers’ works will be for sale. For more info: OaklandLibrary.org or 510-238-6713. – Stefanie Kalem
SAT 4/16
Bloody Unplugged
The London-born singer-songwriter Hairwide has a gentle way about him — channeling a mix of Ben Folds and Joni Mitchell through acoustic instrumentation and careful turns of phrase — but he suffers for his art. Just last month at Julie’s Coffee & Tea Garden (1223 Park St., Alameda), he played till his fingers bled. Will he do it again this Saturday, when Hullabaloo with Hairwide & Heidi play Julie’s again? Get there at 8 p.m. to find out for yourself. Free. 510-865-2385. — Stefanie Kalem
4/16-7/31
Local Artist Makes Big
Bruce Beasley’s ubiquitous sculpture
Most likely, at some point in your East Bay peregrinations, Bruce Beasley‘s work has made you wonder. His abstract sculptures made from aluminum, acrylic, bronze, stainless steel, iron, granite, and wood dot the East Bay landscape, as well as SFO, the San Francisco and New York MOMAs, and the Oakland Museum, where his cast-acrylic Tragamon hovers over the fishpond like a psychedelic flashback. The Oakland Museum celebrates Beasley’s latest mark on the city, the monumental bronze Vitality in Frank Ogawa Plaza, with a retrospective of his 45 years of living and working in town. The show kicks off with a lecture by the artist on Saturday at 2 p.m. Info: MuseumCA.org or 510-238-2200. — Susan Kuchinskas
