Oakland Review of Books calendar of (not just) literary events, July 1 – July 6
Welcome to our disintegrating nation’s birthday; as it explodes, let's follow what remains. If you can’t avoid Kristy Noem’s horrific ad on KCBS (register a complaint), playing on a loop on the Emery Go-Round (register a complaint), then go a step beyond our Supreme Court’s illiteracy and read the actual Constitution this week (I don’t think they accept complaints but let’s test the first amendment). Is that the one about "the Right of the People to alter or abolish it"? Anyway. Try not to get mad at the fireworks that make your dogs cower and your toddlers wail and feel in them rather the sound of the conceptual bombs we’re all throwing; The Approach and Bay Area Current and ORB are live, the San Francisco Review of Whatever is on issue 2 (sustain it!), and Bather’s Library has a call out for their calendar and minimag: pieces due July 7! ORB always accepts vibe reports from all and sundry, no narrative rules apply, but we do have suggestions. Come in out of the cold, bring your friends. We’re making a home in newsprint and pixels.
ORB challenge: forward this email to two East Bay friends, chainletter style, or bad luck, strange dogs, and that funky smell from the one part of Lake Merritt will follow you all your days, which, actually, not a terrible fate. -MS and AB
Tuesday, July 1
[West Bay Bonus Event] Rally against AI, 10:30 am, Lot A & Pier 48 (West Bay). Join drivers as they rally and caravan to Uber and Lyft HQ, demanding transparency, fair pay, and an end to AI-driven exploitation. Drive up and stand up to the MAGA tech oligarchs. [RSVP]
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, 4 pm: at The New Parkway (Downtown). A movie, in French, that gnaws at the core of the problem those of us who read novels instead of interacting with people have encountered: we thought “nineteenth century realism” meant “this is how real life works” but it turns out Jane Austen was also just what-if-my-crush-liked-me-back-ing it. Also Weds and Thurs. Ask about the chickpeas, again. [The New Parkway]
[West Bay Bonus Event Part Deux] *DiAL 5-5-5: A Convening , 5:30pm, N203 (West Bay). Diasporic Loops (DiaL) is a small translocal network which meets to develop individual and collaborative creative and research projects that amplify histories of Chinese migration and diaspora across time and space. Recurring themes circle, conceptualize, counter, and contend with departures, impasses, disappearances and returns. Brief presentations by artist-speakers followed by conversation with the audience. [Wattis Arts]
How to Run a Good Meeting, 6:30 pm, Tamarack (Downtown) led by Bean and T. This is why there were meetings about meetings. If you missed those, catch up. [Tamarack]
[SOLD OUT] Chi Chỉ Tập Sàn / Zine Workshop, 7 pm, Bathers (Telegraph). A workshop for diasporic Vietnamese artists to learn how zines can help people in the diaspora tell the stories of collective Viet cultures and personal experiences. Hosted by Cara Việt Chi Nguyễn, current Bather’s artist in residence. For future events, email Cara.[Bathers]
Also: Endangered Alphabets: Beyond the Borders of Writing with Tim Brookes at Letterform Archive (online)
Wednesday, July 2
RPS Collective Creative Sessions, 4pm, Rock Paper Scissors Collective (Uptown). Dibble, dabble, find people to hold you accountable. Bring whatever project you need to body double your way toward finishing. No one else here will pass judgment, but if you leave with no sentences or stitching done, judge yourself a scootchissimo. [instagram]
They Live by Night, 7pm, BAMPFA (Berkeley). Even though BAMPFA is doing a bunch of Altmans, they’re not doing the Altman film that re-makes this, a 1948 noir often described as “the prototype for the ‘couple on the run’ genre and the forerunner to Bonnie and Clyde” (as when it was described this way on wikipedia, which is where I learned this). David Thomson come over from his West Bay abode to introduce and discuss the film, and he will say things he didn’t learn on wikipedia. [BAMPFA]
Thursday, July 3
Playreaders Circle, 12 pm, Berkeley Central Library (Greater Oakland). Take on the parts of Aristophane's The Frogs. Written around 405 BC, this political satire is probably still very relevant since our fearless leaders went to Wharton and skipped all the “study history, learn from it” classes in favor of learning how to fuck us over, in courteous and legal ways. (editors note: factcheck courteous and legal, that doesn’t feel right) [BPL]
Jason Roberts, 7 PM Tally Ho! Books (Piedmont Ave, already still in Oakland). Local winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Biography discusses his latest book, Every Living Thing, an epic, extraordinary account of scientific rivalry and obsession in the quest to survey all of life on Earth. We love how many big fish swim in our Town. [TallyHo]
Friday, July 4
FIREWORKS. Oakland, all over. Here they’re blurred blasts glowing in the fog, reverberating for hours and whistling through the outer limits of your hearing. If you want to see fireworks, instead of just feeling them, go inland. Or stay here and write a vibe report on the booms of Oakland’s celebrations that are always blurred, they move so fast, so far.
Cymbeline, 4 pm, John Hinkel Park Amphitheater (Berkeley). George Bernard Shaw called this Shakespearean drama “stagey trash of the lowest melodramatic order” and that to me describes America right now and is a great reason to immerse yourself in a Renaissance version of early Britain’s shitty politics instead for free on a Friday. [AEOF Berkeley]
No ICE In the Bay Fundraiser, 4pm, 3354 Grand Ave (The Lake). 100% of proceeds go to OEA's rapid response legal defense funds. Shawarma by the Samawis, Cumbia and Oldies by East Side Xicana, Lonely Girl, and Roshi. [instagram]
[West Bay Bonus Event] First Friday Poetry, 6 pm, Golden Sardine (North Beach). Oakland Poet Laureate Dr. Ayodele Nzinga & the future of language Mimi Tempestt. Because of course on the one summer First Friday that the Alley folks are out of town, Andrew and Caitlyn bring in the all stars. As the benedictor of North Beach poetry once wrote, “The state of the world calls out for poetry to save it..... you can conquer the conquerors with words....” Don’t make Lawrence a liar. [instagram]
Poetry! 6:30pm, Tamarack (Downtown). Maybe it’s happening? No details this week. If there’s no one reading and the doors are open, take over the stage. Anyone who shows up in a cafe/bar on a Friday should expect poetry to rain down upon them. [linkless]
Strange Organs: immersive theatre for connection in troubled times, 7 pm, 2727 California Street (North North Oakland). Artists LindenJL and Puja Tolton invite you into their holobiome. Create theatre/performance/immerse yourself in something gooey and collective before it dissolves. Taking place July 4th, 5th, and 6th. [Linden JL]
Saturday, July 5
Oakland Vintage Market, 10 AM, Bay side of 880 (Jack London Square, kind of). Berkeley Flea just shut down for good, but trash into treasure is a town hustle that will never die. [instagram]
Donald O. Green, 3pm, AAMLO (Oakland). A joint art show at the African American Museum and Library at Oakland aka AAMLO (659 14th Street) and the Main Library (125 14th Street) featuring the art of Donald O. Greene. He's a longtime Oakland artist and art educator who taught at Skyline High School for years. His art is incredible, kinda abstract expressionist vibes with a lot of influence from traditional African masks. He doesn't have the same name recognition of some of his peers, but he’s been making and showing art in the Bay Area for nearly 60 years and this is his first exhibition in some time. [AAMLO and Main]
Strike Debt Bay Area Book Group: Stellar: A world beyond limits, and how to get there, 5 pm, location upon RSVP (Oakland seems like a good guess?). Read some self-pubbed book by a London based think tank exec whose first descriptor is “visionary thought leader” which if nothing else means he didn't write this book himself. Seems like a weird pick for a lefty reading group but who knows these days how far the moles are in. [IndyBay]
Mirror, 7pm, BAMPFA (Berkeley). Maybe the most “Soviet David Lynch” movie Tarkovsky made? An avant garde movie everybody hated at the time, now everyone loves it. You don’t get to see the guy’s face, because who looks at their own face. Sure, why not. Tarkovsky, man. [BAMPFA]
Line to Hope, 7pm, La Peña (Berkeley, but Oakland). One-act play exploring the critical public health issues of mental health, gun violence and political polarization. [La Peña]
Sunday, July 6
Writing Day, 9 AM, Winslow House (Vallejo). Theme: bottle. A space to be alone together, with snack breaks, and write your heart or your guts out. Whatever herniates, it’s sure to be gorgeous. Show up in the morning, drive back slowly in post holiday traffic. [Winslow House]
Mountain View Cemetery Tour, 10am, Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland). Dying to get in there, etc. [humanitix]
The Independent Artists Fair, 10 AM, The Crucible (West Oakland). I have never found more interesting, beautiful things than at the Crucible's Winter Holiday craft fair. Warm yourself at the soldering iron of creativity . [The Crucible]
OMCA free day! All day, OMCA (Oakland.) Never the wrong choice. [OMCA]
