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Best of the East Bay 2025 – Goods & Services
Clean, polish, trim, illuminate
It can be something as simple as finding a house cleaning service that will use the products preferred, to remodeling the kitchen or bath, or adding a room to the house. All of these services fall under the category of Home Improvement and all of them, and many more, were voted on by the readers of East Bay Magazine and East Bay Express, helping other readers discover the professionals doing outstanding work.
One improvement falling somewhere on the minor-to-major scale is refinishing hardwood or, in some cases, softwood floors. The restored beauty of these floors uplifts and enhances a home’s environment. Albini Wood Flooring has a meticulous process involving an exploratory home visit to view and evaluate floors, then a test period, usually involving three possible finishes, to allow the householder to see what the final results will be before making a choice.
And even if back and front yards are small, if they contain trees, the guidance of a pro tree trimmer keeps the trees healthier and more beautiful year-round. Calling Dan’s Tree Service, a one-man shop based in El Sobrante, results in a visit from Dan Cooley, who’s cared for trees and plants locally for decades. The benefits of yearly or semi-yearly trimming and pruning, especially of flowering plants such as roses, and fruit trees such as figs and pomegranates, is easily visible in their flourishing production as the seasons change.
If solar panels have been under consideration, now would be the time to turn the key before subsidies disappear. Not only are the panels a way to combat climate change, but it can be shocking how much they reduce monthly bills. Multiple installers in the East Bay provide estimates and prior customer references for this important upgrade.
Albini Wood Flooring, 5327 Jacuzzi St., Suite 4N, Richmond. 510.525.4626. albinihardwoodfloors.com. Dan’s Tree Service. 510.237.1630.
See this year’s readers’ picks for the Best of Home Improvement here.
Enjoy sports and relaxation with island living
The East Bay offers bountiful opportunities for indoor and outdoor recreation, including readers’ favorites such as top-tier hiking and biking trails, accessible parks, design-savvy swimming pools, and accommodations and gear for stylish staycations or travel afar.
One place sometimes overlooked requires island hopping. For a superlative daycation, one may check out Alameda, the city and tiny archipelago of islands floating off Oakland’s shoreline. Exploring the history and terrain of this East Bay gem once inhabited by Ohlone tribes for thousands of years is a magnificent way to expand on mainland recreation.
On Alameda, golf- and nature-lovers might visit Corica Park to re-discover the newly renovated public golf course recently named one of the top 15 municipal courses in the country by Golf Magazine. Reimagined and reopened in March 2025, the challenging 18-hole course is a scenic oasis, with rolling hills and gorgeous views. It’s the perfect setting for the course’s wide fairways, stunning greens and Scottish-style pot bunkers.
For golfers of all ages and abilities it offers exceptional practice facilities; a 9-hole, par-3 course (currently under renovation); year-round youth programs; free walk-up play for juniors after 4pm; discounted or free opportunities for school and nonprofit groups; and women’s clinics.
Restored to highlight the area’s vibrant ecosystem with natural habitats for birds, butterflies, plankton and fish, the design emphasizes operational sustainability via comprehensive water capture and recycle systems, and biochar applications, resulting in a largely drought-tolerant, pesticide-free course.
After a round of golf, one may kick back in the sand at Robert Crown Memorial State Beach, check out the nostalgic vibe at the Pacific Pinball Museum, explore the historic downtown and pop into the Alameda Museum or Alameda Free Library for information about not-to-miss sites.
All of this trekking requires fuel, right? Here again, Alameda serves up plenty, with eating emporiums offering a terrific range of cuisine: Asian, American, Mediterranean, Mexican, African and more. Bakeries, ice cream shops, burger and pizza joints, and coffee shops provide great fare.
To lube up with adult libations before heading home, one may tour distilleries like St. George Spirits, sample craft beers at Faction Brewing Company and support the island’s burgeoning wine movement with a bottle of vino to enjoy in the days to come.
View the readers’ picks for the Best of Recreation here.
Social Eyes: Week of Sept. 4-10
THURSDAY, SEPT. 4
METAL
BONGFATHER
Born out of “the boredom of 2020,” this stoner doom/desert sludge band bloomed, and the local metal community is better for it. While they incorporate sounds from acts that came before them, like Kyuss, High on Fire and Bongzilla, what differentiates Bongfather is the high-octane injection of punk they infuse into their music. Especially when it comes to the vocals of Connor Watson, whose clean singing and growls add a harder edge than if he were to incorporate death vocals. This is some heavy, head-bangin’ hesher music. Clean-cut people need not apply. – MAT WEIR
INFO: Thu, 7pm, 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. $15. 510.525.9926.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 5
POWERVIOLENCE
WEEKEND NACHOS
Some bands need a break, and Weekend Nachos was one of those acts. Formed in 2004, this powerviolence band made waves in the underground scene with five heavy AF albums, four of which were released on Relapse Records. However, their fifth record, Apology, marked their announcement to end, which they did after fulfilling a number of previously scheduled dates leading to their final show in their hometown of Chicago on Jan. 14, 2017. Fast forward six years later and the band decided it was time to dust off the instruments and hit the road once more. – MW
INFO: Fri, 9pm, Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. $20/adv, $25/door. 510.808.7565.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 5
JAZZ
ALAN BROADBENT & HARVIE S
Pianist Alan Broadbent is a jazz treasure best known in some circles as a brilliant, Grammy Award-winning arranger and orchestrator who has created lush settings for the likes of Shirley Horn, Natalie Cole, Paul McCartney and Diana Krall. For others, the New Zealand-born accompanist is inextricably linked to bassist Charlie Haden’s nostalgia-laden Quartet West, which conjured sepia visions of film noir L.A. Broadbent is at his most alluring in intimate duo settings, and for this show he’s joined by bass virtuoso Harvie S. Formerly known as Swartz, S is a celebrated duo partner himself, ever since his landmark vocal/bass albums with legendary, just-departed singer Sheila Jordan, who also recorded with Broadbent. – ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: Fri, 5:30pm, Piedmont Piano Company, 1728 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. $30-$35. 510.547.8188
FRIDAY, SEPT. 5
THEATER
‘THE RESERVOIR’
Preview the first show of Berkeley Rep’s new season with Jake Brasch’s comedy The Reservoir. The 20-something protagonist, Josh, has just dropped out of school. He’s queer, struggling with sobriety and memory loss and is, in fact, a “hot mess.” His long-suffering mother has had it with him. His job at the bookstore is in jeopardy. To the rescue come his four grandparents, who assist him on a journey that includes Jazzercise classes, memory games, handfuls of spinach, unsolicited advice and wildly inappropriate jokes. Who is saving who here? In either case, a little healing goes a long way. Performances until Oct. 12. – JANIS HASHE
INFO: Fri, 8pm, Berkeley Rep, Peet’s Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. $66-81. 510.647.2949.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 5
CIRCUS
‘THE SOILED DOVE’
This year’s Vau de Vire Society megaplex touring show takes place under a massive, 12,000-square-foot circus tent. An evening of indulgence includes the spectacular cast performing high and low magic, masterful musicianship and California Gold Rush storytelling laced with risk, dark history, light humor and tales of debauchery. A three-course meal delivered by the artists and adult beverages from the Soiled Dove Saloon make it all slide like a greased pig surfing on a hot tin roof. According to the website, singer, activist and cultural icon Joan Baez is slated for a guest appearance as she continues a lifetime of work advocating for peace, civil rights and radical imagination. Performances go until Nov. 1. – LOU FANCHER
INFO: Fri, 7:30pm, Radium Runway, 2151 Ferry Point, Alameda. $85.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 6
INDIE
HENRY MORRIS
Henry Morris first earned acclaim as one-half of the duo Playyard, whose beachy, widescreen pop carved out a loyal following. Now Morris has turned inward, crafting songs that feel more intimate and unguarded, but no less cinematic. On Jawbreaker, his first full-length album under his own name, he delivers 16 songs with a desert-noir, slow-burn melancholy, loaded with understated grooves and moody reverb that evoke Lana Del Rey. And, like Lana, his storytelling is strong and dark. Morris spins small-town fantasies into bittersweet, emotionally jagged landscapes. – SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT
INFO: Sat, 6:30pm, Cornerstone, 2367 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. $28. 510.214.8600.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 6
GARAGE ROCK
ORCUTT SHELLEY MILLER
Orcutt Shelley Miller is a true power triad, sparking where the wires of Bill Orcutt, Steve Shelley and Ethan Miller meet. Together, Harry Pussy’s guitarist, Sonic Youth’s percussionist, and Comets on Fire and Howlin Rain’s frontman ignite a lineage that runs from free-jazz abandon to experimental-psych and noise-rock fusion. Their debut album, out Sept. 5 on Silver Current, is three tectonic plates grinding together. The avant-rock legends’ distinct histories converge in real time into sharp-edged and unpredictable riffs and rhythms. – SBB
INFO: Sat, 8pm, Thee Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $30. 510.859.8709.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 7
PSYCH-POP
THE FLAMING LIPS
Oklahoma City-based Flaming Lips has been spinning out alt-rock tunes for 42 years. That could mean a retro show, with 1980s tunes playing out like broken records. Except that a time warp this band is not. Every album, show and new song carves out fresh territory. From late-night television appearances to Super Bowl commercials to their NPR Tiny Desk concert, the trail shows why Flaming Lips has won three Grammy Awards, a Tony nomination and an RIAA Gold-certified Record. The surreal sound is owned, not borrowed, by the musicians, who are committed to crashing through boundaries, erecting monuments that honor the best in songwriting and, throughout, leading audiences, like Pied Pipers, on a marvelous journey. – LF
INFO: Sun, 6pm, Greek Theatre, 2001 Gayley Rd., Berkeley. $84. 510.871.9225.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 9
BLUES-ROCK
MOONLIGHT BENJAMIN
Haitian vocalist Moonlight Benjamin makes her California debut at the Freight, introducing a potent sound from the far-flung Haitian diaspora. Singing mostly in Creole, she possesses a forceful contralto that seems to emerge from deep in her chest. Her incantatory vocals, accompanied by a pummeling rhythm section and dense matrix of electric guitars, tend to maintain the same dynamics, but her stage presence is striking as she moves between portentous anthems and celebratory rave-ups. Now based in Toulouse, France, Benjamin has been described by The Guardian as “the Caribbean Patti Smith” and billed as the priest of Voodoo rock ’n’ roll, but Benjamin is a singer and songwriter with her own sound and vibe. – AG
INFO: Tue, 8pm, The Freight, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley. $38. 510.644.2020.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 10
FUSION
MOHINI DEY
Young, gifted and badass are the words to describe Indian bass guitarist Mohini Dey, whose music combines classic Indian music styles with funk, jazz, rock and metal. At 29 she’s traveled the world, played with both Zakir Hussain and Steve Vai, and was the only female bassist on Music Radar’s “Top 10 Bassists in the 21st Century.” No surprise that she’s also a composer, arranger, producer and vocalist. Listen to “Introverted Soul” from her self-titled 2023 album and be amazed that fingers can move that fast as she shreds with the very best. – JH
INFO: Wed, 7:30pm & 9:30pm, Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. $34-$79. 510.238.9200.
New UC Berkeley dean shapes the future of journalism
Representing a prime catch for UC Berkeley, journalist Michael Bolden assumed his position as the School of Journalism’s eighth permanent dean on Aug. 1. He brings to the Bay Area multifaceted experience and a particular devotion to community-connected, collaborative journalism.
Departing his most recent post as CEO and executive director of the American Press Institute, Bolden’s distinguished career as a reporter and national editor includes years working at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and other newspapers. During the pandemic, he co-developed the John S. Knight Fellowship program at Stanford University. The program built and implemented an innovative framework for remote reporting, allowing fellows from across the country to remain in and best serve their local communities.
Bolden grew up in Mobile, Alabama. His father was a Baptist minister whose formal education ended at sixth grade; his mother had a background in corporate security and a family history that included educators. While he read World Book Encyclopedias for entertainment, she completed crossword puzzles in pen. Local newspapers and national magazines such as Ebony and Jet stacked the reading tables, and news television and radio broadcasts were the home’s constant soundtrack, Bolden recalled in an interview in mid-July.
Asked to reflect on other childhood experiences that influenced the journalist, industry leader and Black man he has become, Bolden said, “What comes to mind was that my dad was a social influencer before social media. I’m thinking of the way he moved in the world and going with him to the barbershop on Saturday mornings. Talking to his friends, hearing about what was going on in the community and politics—that emphasized for me the importance of being out in and learning from the community.”
From those hours in the barbershop, Bolden discovered there are layers in every person’s life. Listening to wisdom delivered, witnessing joyful congregation and recognizing the diversity of people’s stories cranked up his innate curiosity, spawning his earliest investigative desire to know more. “It was also about learning the trials and tribulations my parents faced. What it was like growing up in the Jim Crow South and how you had to swallow your pride in order to get along. But you were resilient, still able to function and emerge in the world as a man,” he noted.
The barbershop was located in an area known as Africa Town. As an adult, Bolden became aware Africa Town was where enslaved Africans transported on the last slave ship, the Clotilda, had settled. “We didn’t live in Africa Town, but Dad made a point of going to that barbershop,” he said. “I didn’t realize it then, but there was an undertow to what I was seeing in this place.”
Bolden said that as soon as he arrives on campus, important facets of his approach will include not insulating himself within the Journalism Department, and practicing deep listening in communities on and beyond the campus. Within the department, the priority will be establishing structures and an environment that supports thinking, questioning and constantly refining and improving ideas and processes.
“There’s a need for cross-collaborations across divisions, and this includes people outside of the educational system,” Bolden said. “What can we learn from the rich history of Berkeley? It’s been a bastion of free speech, protest, assembly and, of course, the free press—all the fundamental essentials of democracy.”
Along with those core elements, Bolden insisted that achieving immediate results that last means not imposing his will. “Collaboration is deep listening to the needs and ideas of other people, and then finding a way to execute them,” he said. The voice of the “smartest person in the room,” according to Bolden, is actually a collective. People and communities historically left out of mainstream media must be sought, heard, and their needs and interests understood and effectively, meticulously portrayed.
One of the greatest risks in journalism is succumbing to systemic weaknesses that result in a lack of public trust in the media. “That’s assuming we know what’s best, all the time,” Bolden said. “We decide to do a story on X. We do, but we might totally miss the boat on the real story behind the issue, the things that are most significant. Journalism for a long time has looked around and thought, ‘We need to write about this, this and this.’ We’ve done that for decades.”
Instead, Bolden said the best formula for strong journalism comes from entering the community to ask questions. What does one want to know? What are one’s problems? Are we meeting one’s needs? And to rise to a heightened level, embedding writers in the community where they live allows them to best serve the diverse voices and rich history unique to each neighborhood, city, town or region.
The conversation with Bolden ends with upbeat optimism. In his professional life, Bolden said, “I see opportunities everywhere. We now have more diverse voices that open our eyes to things we’ve never thought about. The industry is broadening; we’re opening the tent to innovators. We can’t tightly control the flow of information. We have technology to help us experiment, try new things.”
In his personal time, Bolden plans to explore the East Bay’s abundant arts activities—he loves ballet—and acclimate his two Sheepadoodles to the area. Named “Grace” to honor his late mother and “Gabriella,” a niece’s suggestion, Bolden said, “They make quite the pair.” The same might be said of Bolden and the future of journalism at UC Berkeley.
Oakland’s queer nightlife levels up
As Oakland Pride returns this year, the city’s LGBTQIA+ community has one more reason to celebrate. Alongside the annual festival’s Latin Stage, co-produced by longtime nightlife promoter and club owner Valentino Carrillo, a brand-new queer nightclub is opening just two blocks from his first venue, Que Rico. Appropriately named Next Level, the space represents both a personal milestone for Carrillo and a new chapter for Oakland’s LGBTQIA+ nightlife scene.
Oakland Pride has grown into one of the Bay Area’s most dynamic celebrations of queer identity, centering the city’s diversity and community spirit. According to the website, the festival launched in 2010, decades after San Francisco established its own Pride, with a mission to highlight Oakland’s distinct cultural mix and provide a more family friendly, grassroots alternative.
Over the years it has expanded to include multiple performance stages, a children’s area and a parade that showcases the city’s LGBTQIA+ communities of color. Today, Oakland Pride stands as both a party and a political statement, and ultimately as an affirmation that queer culture thrives on the East Bay side of the bridge.
Carrillo’s story is rooted in Oakland. A gay Latino who has lived in the city since 2005, he spent the past two decades building spaces where queer people can gather, dance and feel safe. Before launching Que Rico, Carrillo worked in operations and marketing at two legendary Oakland clubs, Club 21 and Bench and Bar, until both closed in 2019. When the pandemic hit, many thought the city’s queer nightlife might never recover. But in April 2021, Carrillo opened Que Rico in the heart of downtown. The club quickly became Oakland’s most popular LGBTQIA+ spot: a hub for drag shows, Latin dance nights and Pride after-parties.
For Carrillo, Que Rico’s opening also marked a full-circle moment, with former colleagues now part of the spaces he leads.
“A lot of the staff and performers at Que Rico are people I worked with at Club 21 and Bench and Bar,” the club owner said.
That sense of continuity carries into his newest project. Next Level, which soft-opened on Thursday, occupies the former Level 13 nightclub space. The name is a nod to the building’s history and to the “next level” in Carillo’s nightlife ventures. While Que Rico leans into its Latino roots with Friday nights dedicated to reggaetón, cumbia and salsa, Next Level will broaden the offerings with hip-hop, Top 40 and big-room dance parties. Carrillo envisions the two clubs working in tandem, allowing guests to float between distinct but complementary vibes.
For Carrillo, representation is personal. As a gay Latino, it’s his priority to create events where queer Latinos feel at home while also expanding into general-market programming that welcomes all. His background in marketing and graphic design—studied first at Sacramento City College and later honed in San Francisco—made him a self-sufficient operator.
“I do a lot of my own lighting, sound and promotion,” he said. “I learned not to rely on outside employees, but to build skills that keep the business sustainable.”
That independence has been crucial in weathering challenges. Que Rico has been broken into more than a dozen times since opening, but Carrillo is determined not to let setbacks define Oakland’s queer nightlife.
“With the new space, we’ve made sure to fortify it in a way so that it’s more secure,” he said.
Safety, he emphasizes, goes beyond locked doors. For him, true success means uplifting Oakland’s LGBTQIA+ community: Creating spaces where joy, visibility and inclusivity thrive. In the short term, that looks like a packed Pride weekend: a soft opening Thursday night, a Que Rico block party after the festival on Sunday and Pride After Dark in front of Que Rico on 15th Street to close things out.
“I want people to have a great time and feel safe at our parties,” Carrillo said.
[Ed. note 9/3: This article has been corrected to show the updated location of Pride After Dark.]
Mae Powell explores where love goes
San Francisco singer-songwriter Mae Powell wrote the songs on her debut album, Both Ways Brighter, over a period of three years, and recorded them during the pandemic lockdown. As the songs took shape, she sent demos of her ideas to the musicians in her band. They sent her the parts they recorded in their homes. The record was then assembled at Oakland’s Tunnel Vision Studio, with producer Jason Kick.
Making Room for the Light, the album she just released, came together a lot easier.
“I made this record in two weeks, in a magical cabin/recording studio with the band,” Powell said. “It was so different from the way we made my first album. We recorded the whole thing to tape, which gives it a warm, vintage feeling that complements the music. We were all in the same room together while recording. You can hear that in the energy of the record, versus the back and forth emailing that making a record during the pandemic entailed.”
David Perry produced the songs at his Risque Disque Studio in Vancouver, Canada. Powell said she met Perry when she opened for his band, Loving.
“We were aligned, both musically and interpersonally, so I asked him to produce this collection. The process felt like summer camp,” Powell said. “We slept next to each other in the studio, made breakfast and dinner together every day, jumped in the river when we got upset or hit a wall, cried, laughed, watched Wallace and Gromit on VHS, played cards and made music.”
The band—Mayya Feygina (Mayya) on bass and backing vocals, Sam Jones (Mild Universe) on drums, and multi-instrumentalist and guitarist Garrett Barley (the Breathing Room)—added their own musical touches as the sessions progressed.
“I trust their musical stylings,” Powell said. “We cut one song every day, so we were able to dive into what we wanted them to sound like, talking about inspirations and what we wanted the instrumentation to be. This led to them becoming a magical mixture between me, the band and David.”
The album unfolds like a song cycle, painting a narrative of loss and renewal. “I wrote these songs to heal and process heartbreak, confusion and new love,” Powell said. “It’s not a linear story, but since it’s all written from my perspective, you can definitely string together the story of what I was going through at the time.”
“Where Will Love Go” opens with Powell on piano, singing about the end of an affair. The rhythm section comes in to highlight the beating of a broken heart on the chorus, as she realizes she has to love herself before she can love anyone else. The arrangement builds to a finale with the band jamming out on a lilting, Afro-beat groove, as Powell repeatedly croons: “Where will love go? I already know.”
Powell’s vocals on “Contact High” are marked by long, sustained notes and a scat interlude. Barley’s subtle Ace Tone Organ chords, Parry’s acoustic piano, and the subtle backbeat supplied by Jones and Feygina channel the complex rhythmic feel of a ’60s pop hit.
The album lands softly with “Again,” a quiet ballad concentrating on the positive memories of a fading relationship, with a chiming backdrop of vibes, piano and slide guitar.
When she’s not playing her own music, Powell fronts bands with people from the local community. “I’m part of the intertwined Bay Area music scene,” Powell said. “The musicians I get to play with are inspiring. I’m lucky to be part of the rich musical history of the Bay Area and the present day community of musicians.”
‘Making Room for the Light’ was recently released on Colemine/Karma Chief Records; listen to it at maepowell.bandcamp.com. Powell plays Swamp Soirée at 6pm on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr. in Golden Gate Park. 415.379.8000. calacademy.org. She also performs at The Mustache Bash with the Local Honeys at 5:15pm on Friday, Oct. 10, at The Phoenix Hotel, 601 Eddy St., San Francisco. 415.776.1380. mustachebash.com.
‘Downtown Doors’ offers an entrance to compassion
The many doors in Downtown Doors, local author Natasha Tripplett’s new children’s book, are all in Oakland, although the neighborhood through which Wendall and his mother travel on this particular day is a composite.
Wendall sees and interacts with all sorts of doors, among them those in his own home, a bakery, the revolving door at a hotel, the barbershop and a church’s carved doors. He sees signs on some doors welcoming people in, and signs on other doors telling people to stay out.
“With some doors, only certain people have access,” Tripplett said. “I wanted to use doors [as a metaphor] for who is in this community. Behind each door is a person, a life.” Her own journeys through Oakland, seeing tent cities and wondering what kids think about what they see, inspired her to write the story. “Are they scared? We need to take care of each other. What does that mean to a kid?” she asked.
A mother to four children, Tripplett takes advice on her stories from at least two of them. “My oldest is in her 20s, and she’s a writer as well. I read [the narratives] to her to get her thoughts,” she said.
While her youngest son, in fifth grade, doesn’t hesitate to say things like, “I don’t know if that’s working,” when he hears plot and dialogue details. His mom, she said, is getting invaluable feedback.
In Downtown Doors, one of the first people Wendall sees as he and his mama exit their door and start their day is Mr. David, an apparently homeless man sleeping on a bench. Yet Wendall and his mother know this man’s name. “Shhh,” says Mama as they pass him, allowing him to peacefully rest. They are not afraid of him. He is a human being—a neighbor.
They continue their walk, passing a bakery with delicious smells wafting from its open door, a store clerk putting up the shop’s metal security door, the barbershop where the barber greets them cheerfully and a church where Mama prays for a few minutes. They get on a bus with folding doors and are saluted by the driver. At the food pantry, where Wendall gives the well-known worker a thank-you card and gets a hug in return, they find a special treat: apples and blackberries.
Back at their home, Wendall and Mama see that Mr. David is awake. Wendall wants to be a door into people’s hearts, the way others have been to him. He gives the special treats to Mr. David.
Though Downtown Doors is targeted at children ages 4-9, especially as a read-aloud book, Tripplett feels it can spark conversations for all ages about what “community” means. She believes the traditional “some give, some receive” perception discounts the true reciprocity of the action. “We need to participate in community,” she said. “A door that is open allows people to both enter and exit.”
Tripplett called special attention to the engaging, vividly colored illustrations in the book, created by Leah Giles. “I specifically requested an illustrator who works in collage art,” Tripplett said. The collages, she explained, depict not only the scenes in the narrative, but visually suggest that the people, places and situations are not separated by “cut-and-dried” lines. The answers to some of the problems depicted are not cut-and-dried either, she suggested.
But part of the answer may be as simple as what goes through Wendall’s mind as he contemplates giving his treats to Mr. David. “Wendall thinks about all the doors he sees each week and the people behind them. They all open their hearts and make him feel loved and at home,” Tripplett said.
There are several upcoming opportunities to meet Triplett and have books signed:
- Sept. 20, 10am
Fairyland Children’s Book Festival
699 Bellevue Ave., Oakland - Oct. 1, 5:15pm
Mrs. Dalloway’s Garden Arts and Library bookstore
2904 College Ave., Berkeley (primarily for teachers and librarians)
- Watch for an upcoming event at Oakland’s Marcus Books at natashabooks.com
Clean, polish, trim, illuminate
It can be something as simple as finding a house cleaning service that will use the products preferred, to remodeling the kitchen or bath, or adding a room to the house. All of these services fall under the category of Home Improvement and all of them, and many more, were voted on by the readers of East Bay Magazine...
Enjoy sports and relaxation with island living
The East Bay offers bountiful opportunities for indoor and outdoor recreation, including readers’ favorites such as top-tier hiking and biking trails, accessible parks, design-savvy swimming pools, and accommodations and gear for stylish staycations or travel afar.
One place sometimes overlooked requires island hopping. For a superlative daycation, one may check out Alameda, the city and tiny archipelago of islands floating...
Social Eyes: Week of Sept. 4-10
THURSDAY, SEPT. 4
METAL
BONGFATHER
Born out of “the boredom of 2020,” this stoner doom/desert sludge band bloomed, and the local metal community is better for it. While they incorporate sounds from acts that came before them, like Kyuss, High on Fire and Bongzilla, what differentiates Bongfather is the high-octane injection of punk they infuse into their music. Especially when it comes...
New UC Berkeley dean shapes the future of journalism
Representing a prime catch for UC Berkeley, journalist Michael Bolden assumed his position as the School of Journalism’s eighth permanent dean on Aug. 1. He brings to the Bay Area multifaceted experience and a particular devotion to community-connected, collaborative journalism.
Departing his most recent post as CEO and executive director of the American Press Institute, Bolden’s distinguished career as a...
Oakland’s queer nightlife levels up
As Oakland Pride returns this year, the city’s LGBTQIA+ community has one more reason to celebrate. Alongside the annual festival’s Latin Stage, co-produced by longtime nightlife promoter and club owner Valentino Carrillo, a brand-new queer nightclub is opening just two blocks from his first venue, Que Rico. Appropriately named Next Level, the space represents both a personal milestone for...
Mae Powell explores where love goes
San Francisco singer-songwriter Mae Powell wrote the songs on her debut album, Both Ways Brighter, over a period of three years, and recorded them during the pandemic lockdown. As the songs took shape, she sent demos of her ideas to the musicians in her band. They sent her the parts they recorded in their homes. The record was then...
‘Downtown Doors’ offers an entrance to compassion
The many doors in Downtown Doors, local author Natasha Tripplett’s new children’s book, are all in Oakland, although the neighborhood through which Wendall and his mother travel on this particular day is a composite.
Wendall sees and interacts with all sorts of doors, among them those in his own home, a bakery, the revolving door at a hotel, the barbershop...
