On Saturday mornings the line starts to form at least 15 minutes before The French Spot opens. Happy families eagerly peer into the windows. They watch the bakers carry trays of pastries and bread from the oven to the front counter. There’s speculative talk about ordering the guava cream cheese danish and ube croissants. If Walnut Creek and Concord had the reputation for being “bakery deserts,” Vincent Attali and his wife Maria Zapata have quashed it with a sought-after oasis.
Attali and Zapata started The French Spot as a pop-up out of the pandemic before opening their first brick and mortar in San Francisco’s TenderNob neighborhood. But the couple live in the Martinez-Pleasant Hill area. They were looking to cut back on the commute and, Attali told me, “We wanted to invest in a local space so that we can contribute to the food scene here.” He added, “There are very few actual bakeries once you pass [through] the Caldecott Tunnel.”
It took four years of savings working out of the SF bakery before they were able to launch the second one in Concord. “That was almost a two-year project, from finding the right space and then getting all the people to help us put it together,” Attali said. “Building out a bakery is an expensive endeavor. My wife and I don’t have investors or partners—it’s just us.”
LEFT TO RIGHT Vincent Attali and his wife Maria Zapata stand in front of their second Bay Area bakery. (Photo by Elliott Alexander / IG: @2ls2tspls); The quiche is all about that crust. (Photo by Jeffrey Edalatpour)
On a recent visit to the new shop, I was delighted to find out that great quiche crust isn’t an afterthought at The French Spot. Attali’s egg fillings are light and custardy, but the recipe he uses for the crusts makes them crisp and tasty. “We make large batches of pie shells in-house,” he said. “We use them for all our savory quiches and for our sweet pies.” I enthusiastically agreed with him when he noted, “It is a very nice flaky pie dough.”
Attali had more to add about the bakery’s laminated dough program. “Our mochi croissant is our signature croissant because it’s something that we came up with,” he said. Their homemade marzipan fills up every almond croissant. “There’s no bitter almond extract in it, which you’ll find in commercial almond paste,” he said. The kouign-amann, a caramelized croissant, is another popular item; it contains more butter than a croissant.
Zapata is from the Dominican Republic. In addition to making The French Spot’s murals and paintings, she also has previous experience working in hospitality. She brings some of her Latin influences to the menu with tropical flavors such as the guava cream cheese danish and a mango passionfruit croissant.
Because of The French Spot’s wholesale accounts, the bakery produces an enormous range of treats. Its six dozen types of croissants are all made with the same batch of dough. The dessert selection is more seasonal—pies for Thanksgiving and a bûche de Noël in December. But a customer’s special order can make it to the in-house menu for a trial run. Recently, the crew tried out tiramisu, carrot cake, chocolate mousse and creme brulée. For bread, there’s challah, milk bread, baguettes, sourdough loaves and ciabatta. Attali said they want to provide different options but, “Sometimes you have to know when to say, ‘OK, we have to stop.’”
Attali is a second-generation pastry chef. Born in Lyon, his father worked stints as an executive chef before running a wholesale bakery and cafe. When Attali fils started his career, baking was a side gig. His initial ideas about the industry changed in New York when he worked at Payard Pâtisserie, Restaurant Daniel and for Dominique Ansel, the inventor of the cronut. He began to see pastry-making as a form of artistry. But Attali and Zapata take a different approach to the all-consuming life of a full-time business.
The French Spot is open for breakfast and lunch, but not into the evening. Attali explained this approach—“We do get started in the middle of the night but we want to make it so that everyone has a better quality of life, for us and our employees.” Now that the couple has children they’d like to be home at night to have dinner as a family. “My wife and I have been all about bringing food and putting our time and energy and effort into this,” he said. “We want to share it with other people. This is why we do what we do.”
The French Spot, 785 Oak Grove Rd., Concord. Open Wed-Fri, 8:30am to 2pm; weekends 9am to 2pm. thefrenchspotsf.com
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In 1960, Aries primatologist Jane Goodall arrived in Tanzania to study the social and family lives of chimpanzees. Her intention was to engage in patient, long‑term observation. In subsequent months, she saw the creatures using tools, a skill that scientists had previously believed only humans could do. She also found that “it isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought and emotions like joy and sorrow.” Her discoveries revolutionized our understanding of animal intelligence. I recommend her approach to you in the coming weeks, Aries. Your diligent, tenacious attention can supplant outmoded assumptions. Let the details and rhythms of what you’re studying reveal their deeper truths. Your affectionate watchfulness will change the story.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Ancient Romans had a household deity called Cardea, goddess of hinges and thresholds. She protected the pivot points, like the places where the inside meets the outside and where one state transforms into another. In the coming weeks, you Tauruses will benefit from befriending a similar deity. I hope you will pay eager attention to the metaphorical hinges in your world: the thresholds, portals, transitions and in-between times. They may sometimes feel awkward because they lack the certainty you crave. But I guarantee that they are where the best magic congregates.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You are fluent in the art of fruitful contradiction. While others pursue one-dimensional consistency, you thrive on the fact that the truth is too wild and multifaceted to be captured in a single, simple story. You make spirited use of paradox and enjoy being enchanted by riddles. You can be both serious and playful, committed and curious, strong and receptive. In the coming weeks, Gemini, I hope you will express these superpowers to the max. The world doesn’t need another person who separates everything into neat little categories. Your nimble intelligence and charming multiplicity are the gifts your allies need most.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi celebrates imperfection, impermanence and the soulfulness that comes with age. A weathered wooden gate may be considered more beautiful than a new one. Its surface has a silvery grain from years of exposure to rain and sun. Its hinges creak from long use by countless passersby. Let’s invoke this lovely concept as we ruminate on your life, Cancerian. In my astrological estimation, it’s important that in the coming months you don’t treat your incompleteness as a deficit requiring correction. Consider the possibility that your supposed blemishes may be among your most interesting features. The idiosyncratic aspects of your character are precisely what make you a source of vitality.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In medieval Japan, swordsmiths would undertake spiritual purifications before beginning work on a new blade: abstinence, ritual bathing, prayer and fasting. They believed that the quality of their consciousness influenced the quality of their creation—that the blade would absorb the maker’s mental and spiritual state. I bring this to your attention because you’re in a phase when your inner condition will have extra potent effects on everything you build, develop or initiate. My advice: Prepare yourself with impeccable care before launching new projects. Purify your motivations. Clarify your vision. The creations you will be generating could serve you well for a long time.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Master chess players don’t necessarily calculate more moves ahead than amateurs. Their years of study enable them to perceive the developing trends in a single glance, bypassing complex analysis. What appears to be stellar intuition is actually compressed expertise. You’re in a phase when you can make abundant use of this capacity, Virgo. Again and again, your accumulated experience will crystallize into immediate knowing. So don’t second-guess your first assessments, OK? Trust the pattern recognition that you have cultivated through the years.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The cosmic powers have granted you a triple-strength, extra-long, time-release dose of sweet, fresh certainty. During the grace period that’s beginning, you will be less tempted to indulge in doubt and indecision. A fountain of resolve will rise up in you whenever you need it. Though at first the lucid serenity you feel may seem odd, you could grow accustomed to it—so much so that you could permanently lose up to 20% of your chronic tendency to vacillate.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Crows can hold grudges against individual humans for years. But they also remember acts of kindness and bring gifts like shiny objects and buttons to those who’ve helped them. They’re capable of both revenge and gratitude, and they never forget either. I suspect you’re entering a period when you’ll need to decide which of your crow-like qualities to emphasize, Scorpio. You have legitimate grievances worth remembering. You have also received gifts worth honoring. My counsel: Spend 20% of your emotional energy on remembering wrongs (enough to protect yourself) and 80% on remembering what has helped you thrive. Make gratitude your primary teacher, even as you stay wisely wary.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): More than any other zodiac sign, you Sagittarians can be both a discontented rebel and a sunny celebrant of life. You can see clearly what’s out of alignment and needs adjustment without surrendering your wry, amused tolerance. This double capacity will be especially useful to you in the coming days. You may not find many allies who share this aptitude, though, so you should lean on your own instincts and heed the following suggestions: Be joyfully defiant. Be a generous agitator and an open-hearted critic. Blessings will find their way to you as you subvert the stale status quo with creativity and kindness.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Your persistence and endurance are among your greatest gifts to the world. You’re committed to building useful structures that outlast transitory moods and trends. On behalf of all the other signs, I say THANK YOU!, dear Capricorn. You understand that real power comes from showing up consistently and doing unglamorous work, refraining from the temptation to score quick and superficial victories. May you always recognize that your pragmatism is a form of loving faith. Your cautionary care is rooted in generosity. Now here’s my plea: More than ever before, the rest of us need you to express these talents with full vigor.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): One of your power symbols right now is the place where two tributaries blend into a single river. A second is where your favorite tree enters the earth. Here are other images to excite your imagination and stimulate your creativity: the boundary between cloud and sky, the darkness where your friend’s shadow overlaps yours, and the time between when the sun sets and night falls. To sum up, Aquarius, I hope you will access extra inspiration in liminal areas. Seek the vibrant revelations that arise where one mystery coalesces with another.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Poet Mark Doty wrote, “The sea doesn’t reward those who are too anxious, too greedy or too impatient. We should lie as empty, open and choiceless as a beach—waiting for gifts from the sea.” This quote captures your Piscean genius when it’s working at its best. Others may exhaust themselves trying to force results, but you know that the best gifts often come to those who are patient, open and relaxed. This is true right now more than ever before. I hope you will practice intense receptivity. Protect your permeability like the superpower it is. Be as supple and responsive as you dare.
From chicken pot pies to artichoke dip galettes and passionfruit cream pies, Rachael Strickler makes everything related to pies. She sells her baked goods under the pop-up name Ovinloven.
Scanning her monthly schedule, pastry fiends like me can find her throughout the city and all around the East Bay. In the past few months alone Ovinloven has set up camp at Bad Walter’s, Flowerland, Oakland Yard Wine Shop and Hammerling Wines, to name just a few of her local haunts.
“It definitely is a hustle,” Strickler told me when we spoke on the phone. “I’m excited to be getting to a point where I have a bit more stability and consistency and routine.”
This year Ovinloven will be in residence every Thursday at Dolores Deluxe and then Sundays at Bender’s Bar & Grill in San Francisco, the location of her first-ever pop-up. “Then the hope is that I will fill out that schedule with one to two pop-ups in the East Bay, because I still really want to maintain my presence over here,” she said. She lives in Oakland.
Ovinloven began as a side project when Strickler’s main gig was bartending. With verve and chutzpah, she began showing up at places and introducing herself with a slice of pie. Since last summer, Ovinloven has been a solo project and her full-time job. She now averages three to five pop-ups a week.
Generally, it takes two to three days of preparation for each one. Strickler makes both sweet and savory doughs, rolling them out by hand at her commissary kitchen on Treasure Island. “That is a many-hours-long process, and it’s very physically intense,” she said.
Strickler said that while she’s always loved to cook and bake she didn’t have professional training or experience before she started the pop-up. “When the pandemic happened, it really gave me a chance to focus in and hone my skills,” she said. “And I just love to feed people.” When Bakers Against Racism formed after George Floyd’s tragic death, she had a “light bulb” moment.
Prior to bartending, Strickler worked in the fields of reproductive justice and prison abolition. “It clicked that through baking I could start organizing community bake sales to try to educate people,” she said. Strickler made “political pies,” baking messages on top of them with phrases like “Abolish ICE” or “Community Care, Not Cages.”
Her goal is to have a brick-and-mortar. But she wants to run a bakery that’s also a gathering space for the community. “From having a community fridge to hosting events, and just being a source of physical and spiritual nourishment,” she said.
Ovinloven also provides Strickler with an opportunity to highlight farmers’ market products. For the past couple of years she’s bought all of her stone fruit from Kashiwase Farms. “I love getting their incredible peaches, nectarines and plums,” she said. Strickler also befriended Shared Cultures’ founders Eleana Hsu and Kevin Gondo.
“It’s exciting to incorporate their products and use the different varieties they have to inspire new pies,” Stickler said. The miso from Shared Cultures amps up and lends unique flavors to her pies. One of her bestsellers is a miso, mushroom and leek pie. She uses their black garlic miso, which has an “incredible umami flavor.” Customers never believe it’s vegan.
Later this year Strickler plans to bring back a corn galette, her favorite recipe from last summer. To make it, she cooked fresh corn in Shared Cultures’ corn miso. “On top of that, I put goat cheese and then topped it all with Mama Teav’s Hot Garlic, which is another one of my favorite locally made products,” she said. The miso brought out the corn flavor “in a really beautiful way.”
Strickler enjoys experimenting with flavors. “Part of why I like pie is that I view it as this blank canvas to highlight ingredients and tell stories,” she said.
Strickler collaborated with a friend of hers who makes Pan-Asian Hawaiian food. “We incorporated li hing, which is the powder of dehydrated plums,” she said. “And it lent a really special flavor profile that was different to what I normally do, and it was an ingredient that’s really meaningful to her and her culture.”
Ovinloven’s fruit-forward pies will return this summer. “I think part of why people love my fruit pies is because I add very little sugar, really just enough for structure and to bring out the natural flavors of the fruit,” Strickler said. Before the stone-fruit pie season arrives, the pop-up will celebrate Pi Day at Bad Walters. After that, her beloved red velvet cheesecake pie will leave the menu for the foreseeable future.
Ovinloven will pop up at Bad Walter’s Bootleg Ice Cream, Saturday, March 14, 5800 College Ave., Oakland. Check IG @ovinloven for hours.
PIE PREP Strickler makes both sweet and savory doughs, rolling them out by hand at her commissary kitchen on Treasure Island. Pictured is Red Velvet Cheesecake, which will leave the menu after Pi(e) Day. (Photo courtesy of Ovinloven)
More Pie on Pi Day:
Julie’s Coffee & Tea Garden, 1223 Park St., Alameda; juliestea.com. “Favorite holiday” features include classic and new, sweet-and-savory flavors like smores, pistachio and shepherdess pies plus vegan and gluten-free options. Pre-order deadline March 10.
Sweet Adeline Bakeshop, 3350 Adeline St., Berkeley; sweetadelinebakeshop.com. Featuring chocolate cream, coconut cream and turtle pies, and a special Apple Marionberry Pi(e) Day.
Starter Bakery, Oakland and Albany; starterbakery.com.Pre-order petite and whole pies for Pi(e) Day.
Pie Dreams, 5855D Jarvis Ave., Newark; piedreamsco.com. Opened on Pi Day in 2023, this year’s Pi(e) Day details coming soon.
Gregory’s Gourmet Desserts & Underground Bakery, 285 23rd St., Oakland; gregorysgourmetdesserts.com. Features key lime, sweet potato, chocolate pecan and lemon pies, plus many others.
Fatapples, Berkeley and El Cerrito; fatapplesrestaurant.com. Offering apple, cherry, olallieberry and raspberry rhubarb pies and more, along with various pocket pies.
Three Babes Bakeshop, 2797 16th St., San Francisco; threebabesbakeshop.com. Offering banana cream, pumpkin, peanut butter, blackberry crumble and many other pies, some with Pi(e) Day toppers.
Arizmendi Bakery, 1331 9th Ave., San Francisco; arizmendibakery.com. Serving special key lime and chocolate cream pies for the holiday, with a portion of proceeds going to a science-related charity.
Nomadic Bookshop, a new, community-empowered bookstore in Oakland’s vibrant Uptown area, is making a significant splash. At the three-hour Jan. 17 official opening, store owners/founders J. K. Fowler and Uriel Landa welcomed nearly 400 guests.
“There was a general feeling of love, like a family reunion,” Fowler said. “We had 10 writers and 10 poets. Poets like Tongo Eisen-Martin came out from Detroit to give a reading, DJ Nickie Sol played and we sold a ton of books. It was amazing. Now, we have the good problem of filling the shelves back up.”
The bookshop launched by the husband-and-husband team bears all the vestiges of the couple’s deep immersion in literature and enthusiasm for wide-ranging, community-centered cultural events. The store offers people the rare opportunity to propose events that include but also stretch beyond standard book launches and author talks. Most of the events are free or pay-what-you-can, and already the calendar has included open-mic community conversations, a workshop on expressing grief through creative endeavors, poetry-writing classes and more.
Fowler founded Nomadic Press, an independent book publisher that published more than 100 titles during its 10-plus years of operation. The imprint closed in 2023, but Fowler with this new venture is recharging the engine and plans to publish roughly four new books by local writers and poets each year. Fowler is also in his third term as the executive director of the Bay Area Book Festival.
Which means that while Fowler curates and organizes the book selection—more on that below—Landa heads up the extensive events calendar. Fowler says planning and overseeing events under the traditional store-does-it-all rubric is exhausting work he’s happy to let Landa shepherd. The community-led model is also “a blessing,” according to Fowler.
“People send proposals to our website, then we have back-and-forth conversations, and events like ‘Real Talk’ come out of it,” he said. “And really, the whole district where we’re located is doing good work. There’s Malibu Burgers close to us; around the corner Creative Growth, the YMCA, the Hive; and there’s a nearby park on Broadway and 23rd. It’s a healthy neighborhood with lots of foot traffic and excitement. People like knowing each other and having businesses that are third, safe, accessible spaces where they can gather.”
He insists that establishing a bookstore dedicated to radical expression and providing sidelined voices a platform in the current political climate is not a reactive project. “It’s [our] reimagining what’s possible,” he said. “The fears are real and yes, up until now, Oakland has been spared the brunt of the authoritarian regime and ICE goons. A lot of our books respond to state oppression, over-policing and authoritarianism, but many others dive into imagining a world beyond the current world we’re in.”
Landa is a Mexican national with a green card. Although he and Fowler are aware his legal status is no guarantee of safety—fears remain omnipresent—it doesn’t dominate their lives or the shop. “To state the obvious,” Fowler said, “ICE is not welcome. This is a space to organize, share tactics and plans, and dream into the ‘what’s next?’ The joy in doing that implies hope. Hope is difficult in these times, but absolutely necessary.”
Another necessary element in their work is collaborating with artists and arts organizations in significant partnerships. Nonprofit Creative Growth Arts Center, located just one block away, supports artists with developmental disabilities. Many of their 140-plus artists consider the gallery and art studio a home base; several have created works held in prominent collections and museums worldwide. Nomadic Bookshop displays what will be a rotating presentation of their artwork.
“I think the world of them,” Fowler said. “The art that comes out is phenomenal, and we’ll switch out the art every three months. We have wall space and room to hang things from the ceiling. We also sell books they’ve made, and their merch.”
As for future plans, Fowler mentioned film screenings, meetings held by local nonprofits and more. A three-year lease means Nomadic is not a pop-up. “Hopefully, if things go well, we can get an option to renew,” he said.
One thing people can count on for the next three years is his unique organizational system that dispenses with “fiction,” “non-fiction,” “memoir” and other standard labels. Instead, there’s “Transformative and Imaginative Worlds,” “Radical Life Stories and Testimonies,” “Voices of Power and Reflection” and more.
“The codes used in publishing always rubbed me the wrong way,” Fowler said. “A book and the person who wrote it are always so much more than category.” Customers encountering the labels are intrigued and respond by trying to figure them out. “They’re interested and have appreciation for the words. And words matter. We’re trying to push at all things the current administration is tamping down, like limitations on what the world can be. So why not have fun with that?”
Nomadic Bookshop, 326 23rd St., Oakland. Open Wed-Sun, 11am to 7pm. nomadicbookshop.org
Los Angeles comedian Lara Beitz has performed her unique brand of dry, accessible and smart stand-up comedy since 2011. Beitz has appeared on Showtime, Comedy Central and The Late Late Show with James Corden. And the best part is that Beitz will perform at Spats in Berkeley on Saturday, March 14.
It’s no secret that modern-day stand-up comics struggle to make a living wage—with no healthcare—by subjecting themselves to the toils of being on the road all the time. Compound that with comics also having to become social media wizards and rudimentary filmmakers, just to get gigs.
“I resisted it a lot, for a long time. But now it’s just part of the job description,” Beitz said from somewhere on her never-ending tour.
“Social media is such a huge part, and an important tool, for comics,” she added. “Bookers look at your social media numbers; they want to know if you’ll sell tickets. So comedians need more crowd work clips, because you can come up with that on the spot. Whereas it’s harder to come up with that much polished material. And that way you’re not burning all your material that you would be using on the road.”
Traditional stand-up comedy, by its nature, is incredibly lo-fi. No instruments, extensive backline or sound check. So in 2026, having to navigate the technological abyss to sell seats and to tell jokes is a twist.
Beitz’s clips are growing and producing bigger numbers. And her interactions with audience members display a comic that is well seasoned, road-tested and always thinking a few steps ahead. Also, it really helps that she is hilarious.
Within the marathon run of stand-up comedy, Lara Beitz has found her pace. Having started within the bars and rooms of Wisconsin, Beitz worked her way up to touring with Pete Holmes, and then the worldwide shutdown happened.
“I was such a baby headliner before Covid,” Beitz said. “After Covid was when I really started building up my hour. I think my pre-Covid road work and opening for Pete helped.”
Since then, Beitz has toured with comics as disparate as Joe Rogan and Marc Maron. And now she travels every week to headline clubs around the country. Yet she still has to keep her social media numbers up, and that means making digital content.
“I have someone who cuts my clips for me,” Beitz said. “I give him the footage of my full sets, and then he cuts the clips. And then I post every day and do the captions and reply to the comments. I do three standup clips a week, and then four days a week is something else. It’s usually, like, funny little videos that I make. And that mixed in with promoting shows? It’s a lot. That’s a huge part of the job right now.”
She’s not complaining.
“I’m OK with not being OK with it,” she said. “I used to hate it, and now I just have to accept that. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think that what I see is not what other people see. In my head, it’s all funhouse mirrors. Everyone I talk to who watches themselves hates the way they look for the most part, which is why it’s really nice to have someone else cutting the clip because my vanity doesn’t then get in the way of my content.
“I used to hit my guy up and be like, ‘Hey, I hate the way I look in this outfit. Please don’t cut any more clips from this set.’ And then finally I told him, ‘I need you to not listen to anything I say. Just do your thing, and I’ll post it.’ So that’s my policy now,” she added.
Beitz knows what she’s doing, and she’s rising through the ranks. This is a chance to see her in a small venue before she inevitably starts selling out the bigger theaters around the world.
Lara Beitz will perform at Spats Berkeley, 1974 Shattuck Ave., on Saturday, March 14, at 8pm. Tickets are $23. IG: @spatsbar
San Jose drummer Sylvia Cuenca spent more than two decades in the New York jazz scene performing with a pulse-quickening array of luminaries, including tenor saxophone titan Joe Henderson and trumpet maestro Clark Terry. The pandemic brought her back to the South Bay, where she keeps busy gigging as a sidewoman and leading her own combos. A spate of gigs with a stellar quintet brings her to the Sound Room, and any audience will be hard-pressed to find a more exciting band. Cuenca powers a first-call rhythm section tandem with her husband, bass-great Essiet Essiet, who played in the last edition of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Ace pianist Matt Clark rounds out the rhythm section. – ANDREW GILBERT
Anyone alive in 1975—even babies—could not have missed Stevie Nicks singing, “But time makes you bolder / Even children get older / And I’m gettin’ older, too” in “Landslide,” from Fleetwood Mac’s classic, self-titled album. Amazingly, the Nicks and her scarves are still going strong, and this is a big chance for those who sing along every time this song re-emerges to belt it out publicly, along with several hundred other audience members. Choir! Choir! Choir! will be in town teaching all audience members how to sing like Stevie, sort of, before launching the landslide. Scarves optional, but they can’t hurt. – JANIS HASHE
Everyone can this minute practice standing up, applauding and maybe whistling or shouting out, “¡Bravo!” All these will be terrific preparation for Edna Vazquez’s appearance at The Freight. The singer, songwriter and guitarist has led her own band projects, collaborated and toured with Pink Martini, and participated in seminal events such as Canto en Resistencia (Power to the People!) with the LA Phil—conducted by Gustavo Dudamel—and a performance at The Hollywood Bowl with the renowned pianist, Lang Lang. Arriving in Berkeley as a soloist, her music forms a fusion of her Mexican heritage and folk, rock and R&B. – LOU FANCHER
Jean Cocteau’s 1946 phantasmagoric La Belle et la Bête meets iconoclastic composer Philip Glass’s 1994 soundtrack to the film in this new presentation by San Francisco’s Parallèle. Glass’ composition transformed the original French dialogue into a sung libretto, and in this reimagining the company uses an original version of the film responding, it says, “to the dreamlike, subconscious elements of the story,” and melding the film’s characters with singers onstage. Disney it is not. But the timeless message of looking beyond surface appearances to the soul remains. Also plays March 14. – JH
INFO: Fri, 8pm, Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, #4800, Berkeley. $49-134. 510.642.9988.
FRIDAY, MARCH 13
ART
‘FLIGHT PATTERNS’
Each year, thousands of migratory shorebirds settle into the tidal edges of Alameda, while peregrine falcons, least terns, towhees and hummingbirds stake out rooftops, marshes and backyard gardens. “Flight Patterns” gathers up that abundance into the gallery, following more than 200 documented local species through photography, painting, drawing, ceramics, printmaking and mixed media. Curated by local birder, musician and writer Deborah Crooks, the exhibition features the work of Brice Binder, Laura “Tex” Buss, Jean Chen, Flavia Krasilchik, Rick Lewis, Mary Malec, Christopher Reiger and Dana Zed. – SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT
Sydney-born and now L.A.-based producer SIPPY built her reputation on maximalist bass and zero restraint. An ICON Collective alum, she tore through Australia’s festival circuit before hitting the U.S., moving from support slots for Zeds Dead and Excision to her own sold-out headline tours and major stages at Red Rocks and Tomorrowland. On her 2025 debut album, Scars in Stereo, she threads wistful melodies and her own spoken-word vocals through serrated drops, widening her emotional range without dulling her pulsing, forceful sound design. – SBB
Dive right to the bottom with Donny Benét as he shines the light on the bass. The instruments are the stars in his latest EP, Il Basso. Harking back to the ’70s jazz-fusion records, tapping into Benét’s synth-pop, funk and disco style, he and his band plumb the depths of his past and new work. Reviews of his shows say he’s not only talented and charismatic, but also “well dressed,” “funny” and simply “likable.” Line up for an entertaining evening that digs deep grooves, swings wide across sonic landscapes and rises to great heights born on tidal waves of marvelous music. – LF
The term “old soul” isn’t used much these days. Maybe because our culture idolizes youth and remaining young. However, when it comes to Emma Mann and Wila Frank—collectively known as Paper Wings—“old souls” definitely applies. The two met as teenagers while at camp and quickly became friends through their mutual love of mountain folk tunes. After they studied with greats like Steve Earle, Sarah Jarosz and Tim O’Brien, Paper Wings set off to Nashville where they recorded their first two albums. Two weeks ago they released their newest album, Mountains on the Moon, a haunting, 12-song collection about loss, growth and dreams. – MAT WEIR
INFO: Sat, 8pm, Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany. $23. 510.526.5888.
SUNDAY, MARCH 15
JAZZ
NATALIE CRESSMAN & IAN FAQUINI
No duo is quite as big as Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini. She’s the San Francisco-reared daughter of a Brazilian-jazz-singing mom (Sandy Cressman) and trombonist dad (Jeff Cressman). Rather than choosing between her parents she embraced them, as a trombonist, vocalist and songwriter deeply versed in Brazilian roots and popular music. Born in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia and raised since adolescence in Berkeley, Faquini is a guitarist, vocalist and composer mentored by guitarist and songwriter Guinga. Together, Cressman and Faquini have honed a personal take on Brazilian jazz and MPB—popular Brazilian music—creating music of such dauntingly rich orchestration it sounds like a much larger ensemble. – AG
Based out of Detroit, Tiffadelic is a queer, Black goth woman steeped in the sounds of darkwave, post-punk and dark alternative. They began writing songs as a kid, but fully immersed themselves in music in the eighth grade when they got their first guitar. By drawing influence from Annie Lennox, Grace Jones and Alan Vega (of Suicide), Tiffadelic creates a unique yet familiar sound. For instance the single, “Nazareth (B.O.P.),” has almost a Depeche Mode feel despite its minimalism. For fans of ’80s music and the new wave of goth musicians like Twin Tribes and Urban Heat, Tiffadelic is set to be an underground hit. Now is the perfect time to get into them. – MW
Despite the darkness and a cold January wind, a line formed out the door of Bar Panisse. Inside, every seat was occupied. The Save César Berkeley campaign collected more than 4,000 signatures to protest Bar Panisse from opening in Bar César’s place—to no avail. Those Bay Area residents who didn’t object to the closure are now arriving in their winter wardrobes to fill the seats. Perhaps some of Save César’s signatories also stop by but are disguised by many layers of puffy clothing.
The décor mirrors Chez Panisse’s signature Arts and Crafts flourishes. Dark wood panels cover the walls behind the diners and the refurbished bar. The characters in Hamnet wouldn’t feel out of place ordering a hard apple cider or a pale ale there. Each glazed bathroom tile looks like it was made by someone’s hands and a hot fire. They’re the color of peaches and nectarines baked into a galette. In a nod to its older sister next door, a framed ninth anniversary poster evokes, font-wise, all the covers of Alice Waters’ cookbooks.
Each section of the menu is intentionally spare. Conceptually, Bar Panisse isn’t daring or ambitious. It’s a companionable space for cozy date nights both platonic and romantic. Couples also sat with other pre- or post-prandial couples. No one gets the advantage of a reservation, but the bar seating fills up before the tables. Those customers get a close-up view of the bartender’s cocktail shakers while the sound of daiquiris getting iced echoes across the room.
At the bottom of the cocktail list a note credits the gimlets, sazeracs and martinis to Prizefighter Bar’s Dylan O’Brien. They range in price from $12 to $14. Bar Panisse’s wine list doesn’t stray from California or the major European players, France and Italy. The most expensive bottle is a $76 sparkling chardonnay from Jura; the least expensive a $56 pinot grigio from Alto Adige. Draft and canned beers are from Northern California, except for a nonalcoholic option from Athletic Brewing in San Diego ($5–$8). One hard cider from Oregon completes the list of beverages.
A roast chicken with leeks, fava greens and chanterelles ($35) comprises the most substantial dish on the food menu. But Bar Panisse is a temporary stopping place, gathering attention because of its adjacency to a preeminent culinary destination. The couple in line before us sat at the bar, drank one drink, then left without lingering.
Table turnover is relatively fast, thus the line doesn’t appear to be particularly daunting. We showed up shortly after the 5pm opening hour and waited less than 15 minutes for a seat. The staff seemed unusually serene and coolly capable of dealing with a crowd of eager—and potentially impatient—patrons.
To soothe the guests right after they’ve been seated, someone immediately brings a small bowl of salt and vinegar chips to the table. Our server hastened to describe them as “complimentary.” A crisp delight, they were better than any store-bought version with the same flavor profile. A plate of olives, one of the smallest “small bites,” cost $7.
Winter has dislodged summer to become my favorite season for ordering salad. Bar Panisse serves one with chicories, pumpkin, dates and fried sage ($17). The bitter red leaves were all simply and evenly dressed. Nearly pulverized pieces of pumpkin complemented the chicories with their innate sweetness. They’d been baked or roasted down to a texture very near to a semi-purée, a novel combination that worked as a marriage of flavors and textures.
The simple must-have for the evening embodied the Chez Panisse ethos. Scallions, yogurt, honey and thyme ($14) is part of the “small fry” section of the menu, which also includes anchovy fritters ($14), potatoes ($13) or cauliflower ($14). I use scallions in the kitchen almost daily, but chopped up, sautéed or as a garnish.
Bar Panisse honors them as a vegetable with its own distinct identity. The fry was akin to a tempura batter, all golden, crispy and light. And the frayed edges of the stem that slipped out of the coating turned deliciously soft and chewy. Dipping them in a fresh dollop of yogurt enhanced the bite. I’d eat these over french fries any day of the week.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In theater, “breaking the fourth wall” means acknowledging the audience. An actor steps out of the pretense that what’s happening on stage is real. It’s a disruptive moment of truth that can deepen the experience. I would love you to break the fourth wall in your own life, Aries. It’s a favorable time to slip free of any roles you’ve been performing by rote and just blurt out the more interesting truths. Tell someone, “This isn’t working for me.” Or say, “I need to be my pure self with greater authenticity.” Breaking the fourth wall won’t ruin the show; it will be more fun and real and entertaining.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): English speakers like me use the terms “destiny” and “fate” interchangeably. But a scholar of ancient Sumer claims they had different meanings in that culture. Nam, the word for “destiny,” was fixed and immutable. Namtar, meaning “fate,” could be manipulated, adjusted and even cheated. I bring this to your attention, Taurus, because I believe you now have a golden chance to veer off a path that leads to an uninteresting or unproductive destiny and start gliding along a fateful detour.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The coming months will be a favorable time for you to shed the fairy-tale story of success that once inspired you when you were younger and more idealistic. A riper vision is emerging, calling you toward a more realistic and satisfying version of your life’s purpose. The transformation may at first feel unsettling, but I believe it will ultimately awaken even deeper zeal and greater creativity than your original dream. Bonus: Your revised, more mature goals will lead you to the very rewards your youthful hopes imagined but never quite delivered.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Even if you’re not actually far from home, Cancerian, I bet you’re on a pilgrimage or odyssey of some kind. The astrological omens tell me that you’re being drawn away from familiar ideas and feelings and are en route to an unknown country. You’re transforming, but you’re not sure how yet. During this phase of exploration, I suggest you adopt a nickname that celebrates being on a quest. This will be a playful alias that helps you focus on the pregnant potential of this interlude. A few you might want to consider: Journey Seed, Threshold Traveler, Holy Rambler, Map-Edge Maverick or Wanderlust Wonderer. Others? Choose one that tickles you with the sense that you are being born again while you travel.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Love is more than a gentle glow in your heart or a pleasurable spark in your body. When fully awakened and activated, it becomes a revolutionary way of being in the world that invites you to challenge and rethink all you’ve been taught about reality. It’s a bold magic that alters everything it encounters. You can certainly choose a milder, tamer version of love if you wish. But if you’d like to evolve into a love maestro—as you very well could during the next 12 months—I suggest you give yourself to the deeper, wilder form. Do you dare?
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Octopuses have neuron clusters in their arms that enable them to “think with their limbs.” Let’s make them your spirit creature for now, Virgo. Your body’s intuitions are offering you guidance that might even be as helpful as your fine mind. This enhanced somatic brilliance can serve you in practical ways: a creative breakthrough while doing housework, a challenging transition handled with aplomb, a fresh alignment between your feelings and ideas. I hope you will listen to your body as if it were a beloved mentor. Trust your movements and physical sensations to reveal what you need to know.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I love your diplomatic genius: the capacity to understand all sides, to hold space for contradictions, to find the middle ground. But right now it’s in danger of curdling into a kind of self-erasure where your own desires become the one thing you can’t quite locate. Another way to understand this: You are so skilled at seeing everyone’s perspective that you sometimes lose track of your own. Here’s the antidote I recommend: Practice the revolutionary act of having strong opinions, of preferring one thing over another without immediately undercutting your preference with a counterargument. I guarantee your relationships will survive your decisiveness. In fact, they will deepen as people locate the real you beneath your exquisite balance.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): New love cravings have been welling up inside you, Scorpio. These cries of the heart may confuse you even as they delight you and invigorate you. One of your main tasks is to listen closely to what they’re telling you, but to wait a while before expressing their messages to other people. You need to study them in detail before spilling them out. Another prime task is to feel patient awe and reverence for the immensity and intensity of these deep, wild desires.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): If you are fulfilling your birthright as a Sagittarius, you are a philosopher-adventurer with a yearning for deep meaning. As you seek out interesting truths, your restless curiosity is a spiritual necessity. You understand that wisdom comes from collecting diverse, sometimes contradictory experiences and weaving them into a coherent worldview. You have a fundamental need to keep expanding and reinventing what freedom means to you. All these qualities may make some people nervous, but they really are among your primary assignments now and forever. They are especially important to cultivate these days.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In traditional navigation, “dead reckoning” means finding your position by tracking your previous movements. Where you have been tells you where you are. But it only works if you’ve been honest about your course. If you’ve been misleading yourself about the direction you have been traveling, dead reckoning will get you lost. I bring this to your attention, Capricorn, because I really want you to rededicate yourself to telling yourself the deepest, strongest, clearest truths. Where have you actually been going? Not where you told yourself you were going or where other people imagined you were going, but where your choices have actually been taking you. Look at the pattern of your real movements, not your stated intentions. Once you know your true position, you can chart a true course for the future.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): You’re entering a rambling, zigzag phase. Each plot twist will branch into two more, and every supposed finale will reveal itself as the opening act of another surprise. Fortunately, your gift for quick thinking and innovative adaptation is sharper than ever, which means you will flourish where others might freeze. My suggestion? Forget the script. Approach the unpredictable adventures like an improv exercise: spontaneous, playful and open to the fertile mysteries.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Can you compel acts of grace to intervene in your destiny? Can bursts of divine favor be summoned through the power of your will? Some spiritual scholars say, “Absolutely not.” They claim life’s wild benevolence arrives only through the mysterious tides of fate—impossible to solicit and impossible to predict. But other observers, more open-minded, speculate that your intelligent goodness might indeed attract the vivid generosity of cosmic energies. I bring this up because I suspect you Pisceans are either receiving or will soon receive blessings that feel like divine favor. Did you earn them, or are you just lucky—or some of both? It doesn’t matter. Enjoy the gift.
History has a way of pretending certain people didn’t exist.
In a region that prides itself on progress, women who built institutions, changed laws, fought segregation, defended bodily autonomy and reshaped culture have largely vanished from the public record. Their names are missing from monuments, street signs, statues and textbooks. Their work survives, but their stories do not.
That erasure is what drove journalist Rae Alexandra to rage—and eventually to obsession.
Elizabeth Thorn Scott Flood opened Oakland’s first private school for African American children in 1857, paving the way for desegregated education in California. In 1913, Piedmont nurse Bertha Wright founded Children’s Hospital Oakland and established the state’s first public child daycare center. Frances Albrier became the first Black woman to run for Berkeley City Council in 1939 and the first Black female welder in the Richmond shipyards during World War II.
And that’s just the beginning.
San Francisco lab technician Pat Maginnis helped lead the fight for abortion rights in the 1960s. Del Martin and UC Berkeley graduate Phyllis Lyon co-founded the first lesbian rights organization in the U.S. in 1955—and later became the first same-sex couple legally married in San Francisco. Disability rights activist Judy Heumann co-founded Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living in the early 1970s, laying the groundwork for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
These women, and dozens more, are featured in Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area, Alexandra’s forthcoming book, illustrated by San Francisco artist Adrienne Simms and published by City Lights. The book is adapted from Alexandra’s long-running KQED series, Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, which launched in 2018.
“To be frank, I did not know what I was doing,” Alexandra said. “I was just very angry about women being written out of history.”
That anger was measurable. As Alexandra notes in the book’s introduction, only 13% of San Francisco’s street names, statues, parks and public artworks honor women. So she decided to respond the only way she knew how: by writing them back in.
She committed to producing one profile a month. The research curve was steep. When pandemic closures shut down public libraries, Alexandra began buying every history book she could find online. The collection grew so large she eventually moved to a house in Stockton to make room for it.
But the work also created community. Since 2022, KQED has hosted “Rebel Girls” Bingo Nights, where Alexandra distributes zines featuring the women she’s researched. Extra copies are dropped at bookstores, cafés and record shops across the Bay Area.
One year, she brought zines to City Lights Bookstore and was told to place them on the stairs leading up to the poetry room.
“I was so upset about this,” Alexandra said. “I almost didn’t leave any because I was like, ‘No one’s ever going to find those.’”
What she didn’t realize was that the stairs also led to the publisher’s office. The placement worked. A week or two later, City Lights called.
“There’s a thing we say in my house now when something is happening to us, like a momentary disappointment, and we’re all pissed off about it,” Alexandra said. “We’ll say to each other, ‘Put it on the stairs.’ Just as a reminder that the thing that’s bothering us now might turn into something wonderful later.”
Over seven years, Alexandra’s initially planned five-essay project expanded into 56 installments, with the final piece published on KQED.org in August 2025. Along the way, certain women entirely changed how she understood Bay Area history.
“Those women gave me a complete reframing of local history that I wasn’t expecting,” she said. “We all know about the earthquake and the destruction and the fires. But in telling the story of Mary Kelly, who became homeless and jobless with her family [post-1906], and then had to go to war with the city because the city was not distributing aid to the poorest refugees—reading her story really puts you in the center of the hellish circumstance of being in San Francisco at that time in a way that I haven’t considered before.”
She had a similar reckoning researching Myra Virginia Simmons, a domestic cook and newspaper seller who organized a parade protesting racist exhibits at San Francisco’s 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
“This is supposed to be the beacon that the rest of the nation is looking at, and also a symbol of San Francisco’s great rebuilding,” Alexandra said. “If I hadn’t ever found Myra Virginia Simmons, I wouldn’t have known about the egregious racism on display at that world fair, because that’s not how we like to remember it. When you start telling the stories of individuals, you get a completely different idea of what was happening as it was happening.”
Alexandra deliberately sought women from across the Bay Area and across lines of race, class and nationality. “This became an obsession,” she said. “If you only write about white women, you’re missing the full story.”
One search took years. Alexandra was determined to include a Palestinian woman. “It took me until May of last year,” she said. Even her best friend, whose family is Palestinian, told her, “It’s all men.” And Alexandra thought—that’s the problem. So she kept going.
Another challenge emerged: images. Many of the women—particularly Black women—were never photographed, or their images were lost.
That absence became the book’s second act.
WOMEN’S HISTORY Elizabeth Thorn Scott Flood was 26 in 1854 when she established the first private school for African American children in Sacramento; ‘Unsung Heroines’ will be released March 17. (Illustration by Adrienne Simms, courtesy of City Lights)
City Lights publisher Elaine Katzenberger met illustrator Adrienne Simms by chance at a swimming pool. Simms had recently self-published Portraits of Gaza, a zine depicting people whose lives were shaped by Israeli occupation, inspired by ancient Roman-Egyptian funerary portraits which rendered subjects regal and enduring.
Alexandra immediately knew Simms was right for the project.
“I was working with images that I didn’t feel reflected the women in the way that I wanted to,” she said. “Adrienne elevated all of them.”
Simms, a self-taught artist with an art history degree from Mills College, has exhibited her work for more than 25 years. Her influences include religious iconography, gold-leafed halos, ornate symmetry and mythic femininity.
“I always try to imbue my characters with a sense of independence, defiance even,” Simms said. “I like to create things that are beautiful and also powerful.”
For women with archival photographs, Simms created oval portraits framed with visual cues to their lives. Elena Zelayeta, a Mexican-American cookbook author, is surrounded by ornate patterns, peppers, corn and avocados. Palestinian-American activist Nabila Mango’s portrait includes both the Palestinian and American flags, alongside lilies—a nod to her love of gardening.
For women without photographs, Simms designed rectangular “scrapbook” frames built from artifacts. Charlotte L. Brown, who sued a San Francisco streetcar company for segregation in 1863, is represented through a legal complaint, a ticket stub and a horse-drawn carriage from the era.
The illustrations took a year to complete. “I tried to be very methodical because I didn’t want to rush anything,” Simms said. “As you can imagine, it’s very precise work. All those little lines took a while, took a lot of focus. It’s very soothing work in its own way, even though there’s a thin margin for error. But the work itself was very pleasurable.”
As she worked, Simms found herself awed by what these women accomplished under conditions far harsher than today’s.
She points to Dr. Margaret Chung, the first American-born Chinese woman doctor, who opened a Western clinic in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1916, treated Hollywood stars, supported World War II soldiers, drove sports cars, wore men’s clothing, and dated men and women.
“She lived her life the way that she wanted to,” Simms said. “She succeeded career-wise, and she was also helping other people. Back then, this woman was able to do all that when things were arguably even harder for women and people of color. We don’t have any excuses to hold back, you know?”
Unsung Heroines does more than recover forgotten names. It reframes Bay Area history as something built not just by earthquakes, gold or tech, but by pioneering women who refused to disappear. When we’re bearing witness to rights being rolled back and communities threatened, the book offers something quietly radical: proof that resistance has always lived here—and that the stories we choose to remember shape the futures we’re willing to imagine.
Sometimes all it takes is putting the truth back on the stairs.
‘Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area,’ written by Rae Alexandra and illustrated by Adrienne Simms. Published by City Lights. Release date March 17, 2026. $16.95. Pre-order at citylights.com.
What we now know as Muir Woods became a national monument in 1908. But scientists believe the oldest coast redwood in Muir Woods is at least 1,200 years old. It has stood through the times of the First People, Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hind sailing by in 1579, Mexican settlers establishing Marin footholds in the 1830s and loggers threatening its existence in the late 19th century.
Tiffany Shlain grew up in Marin, feeling a close kinship to the redwoods, bay laurel, bigleaf maple and tanoak that are native to Muir Woods. The artist created her moveable monument, Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring, in 2022. Now, with husband and fellow artist Ken Goldberg, she has expanded that vision in the major show, “Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time, and Technology,” on view at San Francisco’s di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art through April 11.
“It’s so fitting that it’s here now, in Northern California,” Shlain said.
Shlain, a multidisciplinary artist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and founder of the Webby Awards, and Goldberg, an artist, writer, inventor and professor of robotics at UC Berkeley, have collaborated before. But this show, an expanded version of the exhibition that premiered in Los Angeles as the Getty’s “PST ART: Art & Science Collide” art initiative, is their most comprehensive cooperative effort to date, Shlain said.
Not only have the artists been able to reimagine and add to their works, but the use of the connected Minnesota Street Project houses Shlain and Goldberg’s large-scale work, Tree of Knowledge,in its atrium. This piece is made from a 10,000-pound salvaged eucalyptus, and includes nearly 200 historical and contemporary questions that have spurred humanity’s ongoing quest to understand the world, burned into the wood with pyrography.
Said exhibition curator Twyla Ruby, “When we agreed to travel the show from the Skirball, I knew I wanted to extend the story by telling the story of both artists’ independent practices and careers. The show evolved into a dual, mid-career survey with the addition of key early works dating back all the way to 1996 and showing their deep roots in the epistemological context of Northern California.”
Shlain created an entirely new piece for the show, a set of three swings titled Participatory Pendulum, which allows visitors to “swing into the past, present and future,” according to the artist.
She writes in her newsletter: “Like trees, pendulums represent time in a poetic way. Pendulums let scientists understand gravity, study movement and measure time.” The swing representing the past reads “the world before you were here” and “you were here.” The present swing says “you are here.” The future swing goes from “you will be here” to “the world when you are no longer here,” she said.
INSPIRED Artist Tiffany Shlain’s newly created art piece, ‘Participatory Pendulum,’ allows visitors to ‘swing into the past, present and future.’ (Photo by César Rubio)
Goldberg reimagined his work, Bloom, as ReBloom.
“It’s a tribute to Bay Area landscapes,” he said. The AI-powered piece draws on landscape paintings by Northern California artists drawn from the di Rosa collection, such as Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn, to immerse viewers in a colorful representation of real-time seismic data drawn from the Hayward Fault. “It’s a living landscape. A change in motion triggers the ‘bloom,’” Goldberg added.
Another piece, Acknowledge, invites viewers to provide information about any San Francisco tree in a 100-word text, which is uploaded and analyzed using generative AI to produce a unique textual and visual “tree tribute.” The tributes allow people to explain their own experiences with individual trees.
“Public response to the interactive work, Acknowledge, has blown me away,” Ruby said.
“The work encourages viewers to collect and submit data on favorite trees. It has been gratifying to hear hundreds of deeply personal stories and recollections of trees across the Bay Area and the roles they have played in public and private lives.”
Yet another groundbreaking work is Speculation, Like Nature, Abhors a Vacuum, a video piece that contrasts disparity in tree canopies along four San Francisco streets—Jackson, Eddy, Mission and Minnesota—in a style inspired by Ed Ruscha’s urban landscapes. San Francisco conducts a “tree census,” Goldberg said and, as with all cities, some areas of San Francisco have many more trees as part of the urban canopy than others.
By identifying these areas and contrasting their differences, the work also helps advocate for planting new trees as part of combating climate change, Goldberg said.
“The process by which [Shlain and Goldberg] create works—beginning with years of intimate conversation between them, extending to deep research and consultation with area experts, and culminating in a tactile act of historical witnessing by writing with fire—is beautiful to witness,” Ruby said.
Asked about ongoing concerns that A1 could begin to replace the human creative process, both artists pushed back on that idea. After 30 years teaching robotics, Goldberg described his view as “a mixture of optimism and skepticism.” He said, “Nuance and interaction are so important. A1 could help you transcribe this interview,” but it would not replace the interpretation.
Shlain referenced Marshall McLuhan, saying AI can be used to “lift up information to see things in a different way.”
Ruby offered suggestions on how to visit “Ancient Trees.” “The exhibition requires slow looking and close reading, so be prepared to stay for a while,” she said. “When your attention span needs a break, swing it out on the Participatory Pendulum!”
Di Rosa SF, 1150 25th St., San Francisco. Tue–Sat, 11am to 5pm. dirosaart.org
Upcoming exhibition events
• March 7, 2-5pm
‘An Afternoon of Feminist Art + Action’
On the eve of International Women’s Day. Shlain will speak about her moveable monument, Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring, which has traveled from the National Mall in D.C. to Madison Square Park in NYC to St. Louis, and is now back in San Francisco. She will be joined by speakers working in the women’s rights space. The event will also include a screening of the award-winning film, We Are Here, about the ideas and creative process behind Dendrofemonology. RSVP required.
• March 12, 6:30-8:30pm
‘Art, Artifice & AI: A Conversation with Whitney Museum Curator Christiane Paul & Ken Goldberg’
How are visual artists using AI and robots to create new art today? A conversation between Christiane Paul, curator of digital art at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and Ken Goldberg. Ticketed event.
• March 26, 6:30-8:30pm
‘Ecology Now: Krista Tippett in Conversation with Tiffany Shlain & Ken Goldberg’
Krista Tippet, New York Times bestselling author, will interview the artists about their influences and questions raised in their exhibition. Ticketed event.
• April 11, 6-9pm
Closing Event
Last chance to experience “Ancient Wisdom” and to hear artists Tiffany Shlain and Ken Goldberg discuss how the exhibition has built on previous work, what they are working on now and where the artwork is heading next. Live music and dancing with the Hot Einsteins. Ticketed event.
On Saturday mornings the line starts to form at least 15 minutes before The French Spot opens. Happy families eagerly peer into the windows. They watch the bakers carry trays of pastries and bread from the oven to the front counter. There’s speculative talk about ordering the guava cream cheese danish and ube croissants. If Walnut Creek and Concord...
Practice intense receptivity and protect your permeability like the superpower it is, Pisces! Your diligent, tenacious attention can supplant outmoded assumptions, Aries!
From chicken pot pies to artichoke dip galettes and passionfruit cream pies, Rachael Strickler makes everything related to pies. She sells her baked goods under the pop-up name Ovinloven.
Scanning her monthly schedule, pastry fiends like me can find her throughout the city and all around the East Bay. In the past few months alone Ovinloven has set up camp...
Nomadic Bookshop, a new, community-empowered bookstore in Oakland’s vibrant Uptown area, is making a significant splash. At the three-hour Jan. 17 official opening, store owners/founders J. K. Fowler and Uriel Landa welcomed nearly 400 guests.
“There was a general feeling of love, like a family reunion,” Fowler said. “We had 10 writers and 10 poets. Poets like Tongo Eisen-Martin came...
Los Angeles comedian Lara Beitz has performed her unique brand of dry, accessible and smart stand-up comedy since 2011. Beitz has appeared on Showtime, Comedy Central and The Late Late Show with James Corden. And the best part is that Beitz will perform at Spats in Berkeley on Saturday, March 14.
It’s no secret that modern-day stand-up comics struggle to...
This week's calendar picks of local events feature Sylvia Cuenca Quintet, Fleetwood Mac Singalong, Edna Vazquez, Opera Parallèle, 'Flight Patterns,' SIPPY, Donny Benét, Paper Wings, Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini, and Tiffadelic.
Despite the darkness and a cold January wind, a line formed out the door of Bar Panisse. Inside, every seat was occupied. The Save César Berkeley campaign collected more than 4,000 signatures to protest Bar Panisse from opening in Bar César’s place—to no avail. Those Bay Area residents who didn’t object to the closure are now arriving in their...
History has a way of pretending certain people didn’t exist.
In a region that prides itself on progress, women who built institutions, changed laws, fought segregation, defended bodily autonomy and reshaped culture have largely vanished from the public record. Their names are missing from monuments, street signs, statues and textbooks. Their work survives, but their stories do not.
That erasure is...
What we now know as Muir Woods became a national monument in 1908. But scientists believe the oldest coast redwood in Muir Woods is at least 1,200 years old. It has stood through the times of the First People, Sir Francis Drake’s Golden Hind sailing by in 1579, Mexican settlers establishing Marin footholds in the 1830s and loggers threatening...
