A new era for the world’s oldest, largest medical cannabis economy begins today.
Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law this afternoon three bills that regulate medical marijuana in California for the first time.
In a signing statement, Brown wrote that the bills:
“establish a long-overdue comprehensive regulatory framework for the production, transportation, and sale of medical marijuana. … state agencies will begin working immediately with experts and stakeholders on crafting clear guidelines, so local government, law enforcement, businesses, patients and health providers can prepare and adapt to the new regulated system.
This new structure will make sure patients have access to medical marijuana, while ensuring a robust tracking system. This send a clear and certain signal to our federal counterparts that California is implementing robust controls not only on paper, but in practice.”
Read more about the winners and losers of California’s historic new regulations, as well as what’s in the bills.
Keep reading Legalization Nation for more on what’s next.
1. The monster El Niño weather pattern forming in the western Pacific Ocean likely will not deliver an early wet winter for California this year, the Mercury News$ reports. Torrential rainfall associated with large El Niño events in the past have usually arrived in January and February, climate scientists note. In El Niño years, October is typically marked by average rainfall, while Decembers tend to be drier than normal. Climate scientists say this year’s El Niño is strengthening and there’s a 95 percent likelihood it will last until spring.
Jerry Brown.
2. Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation requiring the state’s two largest public-employee union pension funds — CalPERS and CalSTRS — to divest from coal investments by 2017, the Mercury News$ reports. The two funds, which manage retirement savings for state and local public employees and teachers, currently hold a total of $299 million in coal stocks.
3. The governor also signed legislation requiring police agencies to obtain warrants before using so-called Stingray devices — which have the ability to track all cellphones within a certain area, Ars Technica reports. The legislation also requires warrants for obtaining other digital information.
This Saturday, the Life is Living festival will be overwhelming deFremery Park with spoken word showcases, the world’s longest Soul Train line, six hours of outdoor theater, and more — all for free. But if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, we’ve got an extra hefty seven recommendations of other activities to keep you busy in the East Bay this weekend.
Young Thug.Young Thug
Young Thug has elevated mumbling to an art form, and his often indiscernible, melodic flows set him apart as one of today’s most innovative rappers. Controversy follows the young MC, who became embroiled in a beef between his mentors, Birdman and Lil Wayne, earlier this year. Lil Wayne objected when Young Thug originally announced that he would call his April mixtape Carter 6. The title choice seemed particularly trollish considering that Lil Wayne and Birdman were at odds over the release date of Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V on Birdman’s Cash Money Records. (Tha Carter V never actually came out.) Thug acquiesced and renamed his tape Barter 6. When it dropped, the project was an instant hit among fans and music critics, and proved to be a testament to the rapper’s unique gift for weaving melodies from unusual cadences and seemingly discordant vocal flourishes. He further developed Barter’s stripped down aesthetic on his subsequent tape, September’s Slime Season, which balances Thug’s over-the-top flows with London on da Track’s sparse, minor-key production. He performs at Regency Ballroom in San Francisco this Saturday. — Nastia Voynovskaya
Sat., Oct. 10, 9 p.m. $30, $32. TheRegencyBallroom.com
Sour/Bitter
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The greatest gastronomical debate of our times isn’t between Coke and Pepsi or Burger King and Mickey D’s, but rather between sour and bitter beer — at least if you’re a craft beer aficionado. For at least one afternoon, you won’t have to choose: The Trappist (460 8th St., Oakland) is hosting its second annual Sour/Bitter Fest in the bar’s parking lot. Ten breweries (including The Rare Barrel, Craftsman Brewing, and Sante Adairius Rustic Ales) will each pour a sour beer and a bitter beer — a total of twenty different brews that participants can taste as many times as they’d like with the purchase of a $42 ticket. Meanwhile, hungry beerhounds can purchase $2 “bites” meant to pair with sour and bitter beers, courtesy of five local restaurants, plus Highwire Coffee. Participating restaurants include Abura-ya, Chowhaus, Homestead, Ramen Shop, and Tamarindo. Tickets are available via BrownPaperTickets.com. — Luke Tsai
Sat., Oct. 10, 5-7:30 p.m. $42-$72. TheTrappist.com
A past mortified.Mortified
For most people, the idea of reading the contents of their childhood journals is about as appealing as jumping off a cliff without a parachute. But for the intrepid storytellers at Mortified, it’s the main event. At the personal storytelling event, people read actual diaries, letters, song lyrics, and poems from their youth to complete strangers. It’s hilarious. Mortified got its start in the Bay Area in 2005, after founder Scott Lifton borrowed the idea from an event in Los Angeles, which began in the late Nineties. The show now has chapters across the country, and has spawned a documentary film, an offbeat interview series called The Mortified Sessions, two books, and an on-again, off-again web series. October 10, the traveling live show will come to The New Parish (1743 San Pablo Ave., Oakland). Lifton has called the performance “half comedy show, half group therapy,” because some of the tell-all tales offer poetic lessons, while others will just make you cringe. Personal storytelling events have proliferated in the past few years, but Mortified’s tried-and-true formula proves that the fount of material flowing from our collective early years is a wellspring that never runs dry. — Erin Baldassari Sat., Oct. 10, 6:30 p.m. $14-$20. GetMortified.com
Litquake 2015
This weekend, the Bay Area’s poets and novelists will emerge from their resident nooks and cafes once again for the sixteenth annual Litquake, San Francisco’s extended lit crawl. This year, the multi-venue festival will take place from October 9–17, and will include events not only in San Francisco, but in the South, North, and East Bay as well. The program will showcase eight hundred authors from all over the world — with a Bay Area focus. That includes the Bay Area launch of the new book by provocative Oakland activist and emcee Boots Riley, Tell Homeland Security — We Are The Bomb, a collection of his lyrics, commentary, and backstories. On October 15, at Z Space in San Francisco (450 Florida St.), Riley will be joined by comedian W. Kamau Bell and writer Adam Mansbach in conversation about the intersection of art and politics. This year will also include the premier of a multidisciplinary performance by Hawaii’s Poet Laureate Kealoha; a full day of chef-related literary events; and a night of drag queens reading celebrity Tweets. Among the East Bay’s offerings is “Thrillers at the Octopus” on October 14, in which three Bay Area thriller authors will discuss their new releases at Octopus Literary Salon (2102 Webster St., Oakland), 6 p.m. — Sarah Burke
Oct. 9-17. Litquake.org
Empty Spaces Imagery from Empty Spaces.
Empty Spaces | Revisited is choreographer Rogelio Lopez’s attempt to resurface his memories of growing up as a gay man in Mexicali, Mexico — “the faint, painful, lovely, scary, lonely, and sacred reminiscence discarded in darkness,” as his description reads. The dimly lit, intimate evening of dance will take place at the homelike Shawl-Anderson Dance Center (2704 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley) on October 9 and 10, at 8 p.m. The choreography will be sprawled out into four rooms, each with a pre-show installation that audiences can take in before the show. Then, the audience will be broken up into groups of no more than fifteen people and seated in various rooms while the cast of twelve dancers splits up, switching between rooms, performing four slightly different shows simultaneously. Empty Spaces premiered at Shawl-Anderson in March to sold-out audiences. The revisited version involves new scenes and new dancers, offering another chance to experience Lopez’s shadowy recollections. — Sarah Burke
Thu., Oct. 8, 8 p.m. and Fri., Oct. 9, 8 p.m. $20. Shawl-Anderson.org
Bollywood Masala Orchestra and Dancers of India
With his project, Bollywood Masala Orchestra, artistic director Rahis Bharti sought to combine the big sound of a New Orleans-style brass band with traditional, Indian musical instruments and compositions. The eighteen-piece ensemble features musicians from the state of Rajasthan in North India, as well as three dancers whose performances infuse traditional routines with Bollywood choreography and acrobatics. Bollywood Masala Orchestra’s upbeat songs feature traditional instruments such as the sitar, tabla, and harmonium, as well as Western accompaniments that include the bass drum and trombone. The orchestra’s live show, The Spirit of India, brings a colorful medley of modern takes on Indian musical traditions to UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall on Sunday, October 11. — Nastia Voynovskaya
Sun., Oct. 11, 7 p.m. $25+. CalPerformances.org The Bollywood Masala Orchestra.
Cumulous
During her residency at Krowswork Gallery (480 23rd St., Oakland), Mary Hull Webster created a cloud of stuff. Her immersive installation, Cumulous, fills an entire room and consists primarily of plastic boxes stacked atop one another. Some of the boxes light up, and many have other objects — orbs, photographs, upholstery, panes of glass — placed on top of them. In one corner, broken electronics lay forgotten on the floor, emitting a tangle of wires. In another, a square piece of mustard yellow carpet hangs near an ink-jet print of a digital texture that resembles a mustard yellow carpet. Cumulous successfully evokes a mental landscape that discards expected tropes of Freudian whimsicality, instead opting for absurdities of the post-internet age. In doing so, it offers an image of what our personal memories might look like when they are digitally stored in the “cloud.” Webster will speak about her work in conversation with Krowswork director Jasmine Moorhead at the closing reception of the show on October 10, at 3 p.m. — Sarah Burke
Through Oct. 10. Free. Krowswork.com
If your pockets are feelin’ light and you’re still yearning for more suggestions, we’ve got a ton, and these ones are all FREE!We’re Hungry: Got any East Bay news, events, video, or miscellany we should know about? Feed us at Sa*********@************ss.com.
The Mademoiselle parody. “Bored of the Rings.” Michael O’Donoghue’s “Vietnamese Baby Book.” The Hitler travelogue, “Stranger in Paradise.” The Ted Kennedy/Volkswagen ad parody. “Baby in a Blender,” an all-time favorite of the Christian Coalition. The “Kill This Dog” cover. No concept was taboo for the National Lampoon, but it had to be funny. Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, the umpteenth documentary trip down memory lane for self-congratulatory baby boomers, justifies itself in its choice of topics. The magazine and its spinoffs really did change the face of humor in America.
The original Lampoonies came from Harvard, the same place that hatched much ad agency, publishing, and TV network talent in the Fabulous Fifties and Sixties, so it’s no wonder that the things Ivy League undergraduates considered ridiculous became the targets of Henry Beard and Doug Kenney, guiding lights of the mag. As director Douglas Tirola’s merrily assembled doc explains, ads for cigarettes, liquor, cologne, and electronics rescued the publication’s bottom line, and bored middle-class snots eventually lapped up the putdowns.
Garry Goodrow, Peter Elbling, Chevy Chase, Christopher Guest, John Belushi, Mary-Jennifer Mitchell and Alice Peyton in Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon.
Saturday Night Live and Animal House made the mag’s humor available to a much wider audience. At its peak, the Lampoon was second in newsstand sales only to Cosmopolitan. But, natch, Hollywood co-opted the zeitgeist and stole the talent, for Caddyshack, etc. Too much coke was another nail in the coffin, but by that time Kenney had already stepped off the rubber. Only about half a million talking heads were still alive to testify in the film: Matty Simmons, P.J. O’Rourke, Chevy Chase, Christopher Guest, Judd Apatow, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray among them. Anyone who ever read Terry Southern’s Lampoon columns or Shary Flenniken’s “Trots and Bonnie” comic strip instinctively realized the magazine was the leading edge of what was laughingly referred to as American alt culture. And now it’s gone. But the movie, and its accompanying coffee table book, are here to stir the ashes and inspire future skeptics. Get busy.
This December, leaders from around the world will convene in Paris for the historic United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. These pivotal talks could represent the last best hope for the world’s governments to reach a binding agreement that will help humanity avert the coming disasters caused by climate change, from calamitous storms and floods to droughts and rising oceans.
Many scientists and world leaders agree that our window for drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions is quickly closing. And environmentalist and former US Vice President Al Gore has said that “the future of the world” hinges on the outcome of the talks in Paris.
In advance of the talks, the Express, along with dozens of weekly publications across the nation, is participating in the Letters to the Future Project, which asks “writers, scientists, artists, and others to predict the outcome of the Paris talks (the success or failure and what came subsequently) as if writing to their children’s children, six generations hence.” Letter writers are urged to “tell future members of their own family or tribe, living at the turn of the century, what it was like to be alive during and after the historically crucial events” in Paris this year.
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All letters will be posted online and some featured letters will be published in newspapers and other media across the country in November, including in the Express.
Among the featured letters will be those from noted environmentalists Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, and Annie Leonard, and prize-winning authors Jane Smiley, T.C. Boyle, and Geraldine Brooks.
Here is an excerpt from the letter by UC Berkeley professor Michael Pollan:
Dear Future Family, I know you will not read this note until the turn of the century, but I want to explain what things were like back in 2015, before we figured out how to roll back climate change. As a civilization we were still locked into a zero-sum idea of our relationship with the natural world, in which we assumed that for us to get whatever we needed, whether it was food or energy or entertainment, nature had to be diminished. But that was never necessarily the case.
Michael Pollan.
We strongly encourage you to write your own letter to the future. Just click here for instructions. Your letter also may be included with those published in the Express and other publications in mid November. The Letters to the Future Project will also send some of the letters to targeted delegates and citizens attending the Paris talks.
As Marcia McNutt Editor-in-Chief Science magazine wrote this summer, “The time for debate has ended. Action is urgently needed.”
Credits: ELISE EVANS / COURTESY OF SAMBAFUNK!
Last week, Oakland police responded to complaints about a small drum circle by Lake Merritt, prompting significant backlash from local activists who argued that the city has been aggressively policing the social activities of people of color in the park. The criticisms escalated this week after residents started circulating photos on Facebook and Twitter of signs by the lake explicitly prohibiting the use of a “musical instrument without a permit.” In response, activists are coordinating multiple protests at the lake this weekend to speak out against what they say is excessive policing of barbecues and music at the lake.
Now, however, city officials are saying that the signs in question are old and do not reflect current rules — and that people are, in fact, allowed to play music during park hours.
“There is no prohibition against music while the parks are open from dawn to dusk,” Councilmember Abel Guillen told me by phone this morning. Guillen — whose district includes Lake Merritt — said he has fielded numerous complaints from residents about the signs, which he said are five to eleven years old. Drum circles that aren’t amplified are permitted, he said, adding that the city plans to remove the outdated signs today. The sign circulating on Facebook is at Cleveland Cascade, which is on Lakeshore Avenue on the east side of the lake.
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Here’s a photo of the sign in question from Oakland radio journalist Davey D Cook, who has written extensively on Facebook about policing and gentrification around Lake Merritt.
Guillen wrote on Facebook yesterday: “These old signs are still up, causing confusion. We’re finding out that many of the old signs were never removed after City regulations were revised, including outdated signs at Pine Knoll Park. We understand that the City is working to remove the old, confusing signs. Bottom line: There is no prohibition against music while the parks are open ‘dawn until dusk,’ including the unamplified drumming that has been the subject of recent conversations. A permit is required for amplified sound. … These rules and the new signs represent the letter of the law, but I also encourage you to practice the spirit of the law and consideration of others when enjoying the park and the neighborhood, especially where public and private spaces intersect. And don’t forget, BBQ’s are now allowed in designated areas around Lake Merritt.”
Guillen said that Oakland Parks and Recreation officials directly confirmed to him that music is allowed, but also noted that the city’s noise ordinance requires musicians to get a permit for amplified music (the music played by Black drummers who drew a response from OPD after complaints by a white resident was not amplified).
Oakland parks officials and representatives from the City Administrator’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment today. Mayor Libby Schaaf responded to people’s complaints on Twitter yesterday, saying the signs were incorrect and apologizing for the confusion.
“I just think we need to exercise common courtesy for neighbors,” Guillen told me.
Abel Guillen.
It’s unclear if the removal of signs or clarifications from Guillen’s office will quell the criticisms and protests. Even if drum circles and other music are technically allowed under park rules, Black residents and activists say that people of color who have lived near Lake Merritt for a long time are now facing police harassment for these types of activities — and that the rise in patrolling is a result of white residents who are newer to the neighborhood increasingly complaining to police. Noise complaints have escalated on Nextdoor.com, a social networking site for neighbors and the subject of this week’s Express cover story, which chronicles how white residents are using the website to racially profile their Black neighbors. And in the spring, the city did install new electric traffic signs on the eastern side of the lake, warning that people barbecuing or drinking alcohol would get citations.
In response to activists’ concerns about policing around the lake, Guillen told me that the Oakland Police Department has given out very few citations. He noted, however, that OPD has sent out bike patrol officers on the weekend, but said, “It’s more about providing information to the public on how to enjoy Lake Merritt for everyone and making sure people understand the rules around barbecues, open containers, and amplified music.” He added: “We need to be cognizant of where our public and private spaces intersect. We … want to make sure we can all enjoy our public spaces together.”
All eyes are on Jerry Brown as a united chorus — from the cannabis industry to police to cities and state lawmakers — is urging the governor to sign a trio of bills regulating medical marijuana for the first time. Brown has until October 11 to sign AB 266, SB 643, and AB 243. If that deadline lapses, the bills can be chaptered without the governor’s signature and will become law.
Capitol insiders say it would be very strange for the governor to either veto or just plain not sign the bills. The Governor’s Office brokered the final language of the bills. Insiders suspect the wait is a matter of pomp and circumstance.
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A parade of actors — the bill’s authors as well as other sponsors — have taken turns taking credit and urging the governor to sign the bill.
Assemblymember Rob Bonta holds a press conference with regulations co-authors urging Brown’s signature.
Credits: Rob Bonta
“Each endorsement confirms that California can no longer ignore an industry that has operated for nearly 20 years with no testing standards, little enforcement, environmental neglect and no tools to combat drugged driving. Too much is at stake for California to let the medical marijuana industry go on unregulated,” said Assemblymember Rob Bonta, in an editorial.
According to reports, Kim Raney, chief of the Covina Police Department and former president of the California Police Chiefs Association stated:
“we were able to transform a conceptual proposal into an all-encompassing regulatory package that establishes a balance between California’s communities’ ability to preserve influence over medical cannabis distribution within their borders and the right of California’s citizens to access medical cannabis as provided for in Proposition 215. We are proud of the regulatory package on the Governor’s desk.”
“As the original sponsors of AB 266, we are thrilled that a thorough medical marijuana regulatory package (AB 266, AB 243, SB 643) now sits on the Governor’s desk. The regulation of medical marijuana in our state will yield positive results for local law enforcement, cities, counties, patients and members of the public”
On Tuesday, bill coauthor Assemblymember Jim Wood hosted a bill-endorsement rally with Bonta on the steps of the Humboldt County Courthouse.
Board of Equalization member Fiona Ma wrote Tuesday that the continued lack of regulations “is a lose-lose proposition for our state.”
“Gov. Brown, sign the legislation,” concluded the Times-Standard. “We don’t need another 20 years in the Wild West.”
Tim Donnelly.
1. An initiative to overturn California’s new mandatory vaccination law has failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, the Mercury News$ reports. The effort, pushed by anti-vaccination groups and conservative radio talk show host Tim Donnelly, collected only about half of the needed signatures. In addition, anti-vaxxers took a hit from the US Supreme Court, when it ruled that New York state’s mandatory vaccination law is constitutional, KQED reports. The high court’s decision likely means that anti-vaxxers will not be able to overturn California’s law either.
2. Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that abolishes the California high school exam retroactively to 2004, thereby making tens of thousands of state residents eligible to receive their high school diplomas, the Mercury News$ reports. Students who were denied high school diplomas because they did not pass the exam can now get them, as long as they’ve completed all of their high school graduation requirements. Earlier this year, the state stopped administering the exam because it’s woefully outdated.
3. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said he wants the A’s to remain in Oakland, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. “I want the A’s to stay in Oakland,” he said during a news conference Tuesday. “I think it is possible to get a stadium done in Oakland, and that remains my preference.”
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4. Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan said he wants his police officers to be able to carry Tasers, Berkeleyside reports. But it’s unclear whether the Berkeley City Council will change city policy to allow officers to have them. Many activists urged the council this week to not allow cops to have Tasers, because they’re concerned the weapons will be used predominantly on Black and Latino residents.
5. Big tech companies are among the least transparent when it comes to making contributions to political campaigns, the Chron$ reports, citing a new study from the Center for Political Accountability. Large tech companies such as Google, Salesforce, and Netflix have made big donations to so-called “dark money” groups that don’t have to make their contributions public.
King Saturn.
Those who frequent Bay Area queer parties may recognize King Saturn (aka Saturn Jones) from his colorful dance performances, which feature high-energy, vogue-inspired choreography and avant-garde costumes that often include leather harnesses, collars, fishnets, and neon hair extensions. While he got his start as a dancer — and has opened for artists such as Le1f and Big Freedia — Saturn has pop ambitions and has been incorporating original music into his recent stage shows.
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Last week, Saturn dropped his first track, “Young Forever,” on which he collaborated with producer David Sylvester. In a phone interview, Saturn said that he wrote track’s lyrics after getting the news of his uncle’s recent death. “I was thinking about my aunt and how she connected with this person,” he said. “I wrote the song thinking about how when you connect with someone, you want your love and your good times to live on forever.”
“Young Forever” debuted with a minimalist music video that features Saturn performing aggressive choreography that conveys a sense of catharsis. In the tradition of Beyonce’s 2013 self-titled, audiovisual album, he is currently working on an LP that will include a music video for each track.
Watch the “Young Forever” video below and make sure to catch Saturn at the CODAME ART+TECH festival on October 24 at Monument (140 9th St., San Francisco), where he will perform a new piece that incorporates multimedia, several soon-to-be-released tracks, and lots of voguing.
Takeout options galore (via Facebook).
Welcome to the Mid-Week Menu, our roundup of East Bay food news.
1) Grand Fare Market (3265 Grand Ave., Oakland), a hybrid food market and deli-cafe that we first previewed early last year, is now open. Yesterday was the market’s first official day of business. Part of a new influx of takeout-oriented “one-stop shop” markets that are proliferating across Oakland, Grand Fare is anchored by chef Ben Coe’s (Box & Bells, Commis) extensive selection of hot and cold prepared food offerings, which run the gamut from leg of lamb sandwiches to whole roasted chicken. Other highlights include a raw oyster bar, a produce section, an extensive beer and wine selection, and — in the outdoor courtyard — a vintage trailer that sells housemade pastries, Linea coffee, and Humphrey Slocombe ice cream.
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2) Featured in our recent Taste issue’s rundown of new East Bay bakeries, Flour & Co’s new Berkeley location is now open in the former Bread Workshop location at 1398 University Avenue, Berkeleyside Nosh reports. Among other treats, look for the “toasty tarts” — baker Emily Day’s take on a pop tart.
3) Tablehopper reports that The Butcher’s Son, the long-awaited, on-again, off-again “vegan butcher shop” project is in the process of securing a new location: the space currently occupied by the Greek restaurant Athineon (1941 University Ave.), which apparently will only remain open until December.
4) Big coffee news: Eater reports that Peet’s, the Berkeley-based behemoth, has purchased Portland-based Stumptown Coffee Roasters — one of the darlings of the so-called third-wave coffee movement. According to Eater, Stumptown will continue to operate independently.
4) The well-regarded Berkeley winery Donkey & Goat may have been the victim of wine embezzlement, Berkeleyside Nosh reports. Two former employees are alleged to have stolen and sold as much as $70,490 worth of wine.
6) Inside Scoop reports that Croll’s Pizza (705 Central Ave., Alameda) has lost its lease and will have its last day of business on October 24. The bar next door, 1400 Bar & Grill, will take over the space.
7) There’s a new law on the books that will make it easier for breweries, wineries, and distilleries to share information about their products via social media. San Francisco Business Times reports that AB 780, which Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law, will allow producers of alcoholic beverages to identify where their products are sold on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The previous restriction against such posts, which was relatively little-known outside of the industry, had been designed to limit the marketing power of the big alcohol companies.
A Bombzie’s sandwich.
8) The Bites Off Broadway Friday night food pod will host its final event of the season this Friday, October 9, 5:30–8 p.m. at 365 45th Street in Oakland. Four trucks — Go Streatery, Doc’s Classic, Bombzie’s BBQ, and Lexie’s Frozen Custard — will be on hand, and there will be an outdoor screening of the original Star Wars at dusk (around 7:15 p.m.). Sister food pod Bites at the Lake will continue to convene on Sundays.
9) Finally, ICYMI, we sent a reporter to Oakland Nature Friends’ uber-German Oktoberfest celebration this past weekend.
Got tips or suggestions? Email me at Luke (dot) Tsai (at) EastBayExpress (dot) com. Otherwise, keep in touch by following me on Twitter @theluketsai, or simply by posting a comment. I’ll read ‘em all.
A new era for the world's oldest, largest medical cannabis economy begins today.
Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law this afternoon three bills that regulate medical marijuana in California for the first time.
In a signing statement, Brown wrote that the bills:
"establish a long-overdue comprehensive regulatory framework for the production, transportation, and sale of medical marijuana. ... state agencies will...
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The monster El Niño weather pattern forming in the western Pacific Ocean likely will not deliver an early wet winter for California this year, the Mercury News$ reports. Torrential rainfall associated with large El Niño events in the past have usually arrived in January and February, climate scientists note. In El Niño years, October is typically...
This Saturday, the Life is Living festival will be overwhelming deFremery Park with spoken word showcases, the world's longest Soul Train line, six hours of outdoor theater, and more — all for free. But if that doesn't tickle your fancy, we've got an extra hefty seven recommendations of other activities to keep you busy in the East Bay this weekend.
Young...
The Mademoiselle parody. “Bored of the Rings.” Michael O’Donoghue’s “Vietnamese Baby Book.” The Hitler travelogue, “Stranger in Paradise.” The Ted Kennedy/Volkswagen ad parody. “Baby in a Blender,” an all-time favorite of the Christian Coalition. The “Kill This Dog” cover. No concept was taboo for the National Lampoon, but it had to be funny. Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story...
This December, leaders from around the world will convene in Paris for the historic United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. These pivotal talks could represent the last best hope for the world’s governments to reach a binding agreement that will help humanity avert the coming disasters caused by climate change, from calamitous storms and floods to droughts and...
Last week, Oakland police responded to complaints about a small drum circle by Lake Merritt, prompting significant backlash from local activists who argued that the city has been aggressively policing the social activities of people of color in the park. The criticisms escalated this week after residents started circulating photos on Facebook and Twitter of signs by the lake explicitly...
All eyes are on Jerry Brown as a united chorus — from the cannabis industry to police to cities and state lawmakers — is urging the governor to sign a trio of bills regulating medical marijuana for the first time. Brown has until October 11 to sign AB 266, SB 643, and AB 243. If that deadline lapses, the bills...
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. An initiative to overturn California’s new mandatory vaccination law has failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, the Mercury News$ reports. The effort, pushed by anti-vaccination groups and conservative radio talk show host Tim Donnelly, collected only about half of the needed signatures. In addition, anti-vaxxers took a hit from the US Supreme...
Those who frequent Bay Area queer parties may recognize King Saturn (aka Saturn Jones) from his colorful dance performances, which feature high-energy, vogue-inspired choreography and avant-garde costumes that often include leather harnesses, collars, fishnets, and neon hair extensions. While he got his start as a dancer — and has opened for artists such as Le1f and Big Freedia —...
Welcome to the Mid-Week Menu, our roundup of East Bay food news.
1) Grand Fare Market (3265 Grand Ave., Oakland), a hybrid food market and deli-cafe that we first previewed early last year, is now open. Yesterday was the market’s first official day of business. Part of a new influx of takeout-oriented “one-stop shop” markets that are proliferating across Oakland,...
