Happy weekend, cats and kittens. Lotsa good stuff going down this weekend:
Awaken Cafe Grand Opening Party, Artist Reception, and First Friday
Those who lamented the loss of Awaken Cafe‘s brick-and-mortar space can breathe a sigh of relief, followed by a celebratory sip of Fourbarrel coffee: After operating from a modest espresso cart since last June, owner Cortt Dunlap reopened the cafe at 1429 Broadway in late February, and patrons can once again imbibe both caffeinated and alcoholic beverages. Awaken celebrates the new space with a grand opening party on Friday, March 2, where Balkan-Romani brass band Brass Menazeri plays live tunes and artist Janine Brown’s art show, Open Spaces (featuring painted paper collages), debuts in what Dunlap calls the first of many First Friday events. 7 p.m.-midnight, free. 510-863-1440 or AwakenCafe.com. — Cassie Harwood
SAFE’s Chris Edley Doctor in Spite of Himself at Berkeley Rep: camptastic goodness
Last November, in a much-deserved profile in this paper, esteemed music editor Rachel Swan described SAFE as, among other things, “arresting,” “widely admired,” and “incorrigibly handsome” — all true, by the way. In the time since then, the local garage duo, comprised of singer Chris Edley and guitarist Jesse Hadden, has played seemingly every party, bar, and warehouse it could; opened for buzzband extraordinaire and fellow capitalization fan YACHT; had its entire sophomore album get lost in what Edley describes as a “small computer fire”; started all over and made significant headway on the record, set to be released on HimanshuSuri’sGreedhead label; been featured on the front page of the TheFader.com; become an it band among a certain swath of Francophone Belgian music bloggers; and, last but not least, finally joined Twitter. If the pattern holds, the band’s show on Saturday, March 3 at Disco Volante (347 14th St. Oakland) may be your last chance to see Hadden and Edley before they win a Grammy and/or climb Mount Everest. With Metal Mother and Mortar and Pestle; 9 p.m., $5. DiscoVolanteOakland.com. — Ellen Cushing
