Category Archives: restaurants & bars

Dave Chappelle played Oaktown!

Ok…  I’m backtracking a bit here, so no spoiler alert necessary… I’m sure everyone and their brother knows by now that Dave Chappelle played a great, relatively new (opened in October 2009), little club in Oaktown called The New Parish.  What folks may not know, is that I was lucky enough to see one of these shows.  Woo hoo!!

First, The New Parish at 18th and San Pablo.  It was called “Town Hall” prior to its new debut last fall, and apparently Dave made a super-secret appearance there in April of 2009 (his first appearance in Oakland since 1996)… not a bad notch to have on your belt.  Prior to its short-lived incarnation as Town Hall, the venue was known as Sweet Jimmie’s after its proprietor Jimmie Ward, who opened the club in 1990 (he had a previous location, opened in 1982, but it was damaged during the Loma Prieta earthquake).

“Sweet Jimmie” Ward died just a couple of weeks ago at the age of 74… I’m going to quote extensively from a blogpost I found about his passing (Sweet Jimmie Ward Dies – Aimee Allison | Oakland Seen) because his story fits neatly into the framework I discussed last week, of that first generation of Southern Blacks who came to Oakland in search of better opportunities, to leave their lasting marks on our city:

A former longshoreman, he was one of hundreds of thousands who came from the South to work at the shipyards or on the Army base during World War II and stayed to raise families and start businesses and shape neighborhoods. Ward made Sweet Jimmie’s into the place to go – dressed to the nines – where old soul from Mississippi and Louisiana and Georgia was alive.

Those in Sweet Jimmie’s generation brought small town manners and blues and political organizing and art. They created a legacy and culture in Oakland that defines us today. Now, Oakland’s black population has plummeted under the weight of unemployment and police sweeps and shady mortgages. But you can still see the storefront of the old Sweet Jimmie’s at 577 18th Street in downtown Oakland. Many people don’t know that for many years it was an important meeting place for African-American political and community organizations. It was a center of influence. And while many celebrate the remaking of culture and nightlife in the city, I am taking a moment to mourn what we lost. See, Sweet Jimmie’s wasn’t just another nightclub, Jimmie Ward just another nightclub owner. He represented an era here in Oakland. And that era is over.

While that era may be over, it is no secret that Sweet Jimmie’s nightclub suffered a decline in its later years.  There are some entertaining stories on Yelp.  Even Dave Chappelle did a riff on this during his show, spoofing on the scene from Sixth Sense… “I see dead pimps… and they want me to do things for them!” The crowd roared in hilarity, because before the whole remaking of the Uptown district of Oakland, this little stretch of San Pablo was known to be hella-ghetto, to put it bluntly.

One era ends… another begins… and I am here to loudly celebrate the new era of The New Parish, Uptown, and Oakland at large.

But let’s get back to the show…

For those who don’t know (I didn’t know) Dave is known for his ridiculously long sets… My friend who went to the late show said she left at 4:15 am and Dave was still going strong! We went to the early show… Thank God!

While we lined up outside, we were told that Dave was across the street at the Piedmont Piano Company.  Doing what you might ask?  Well… I assume playing piano.  And if you’re gonna play piano, this is a pretty sweet spot indeed.

piano company, piano company on san pablo, uptown piano company

Housed in the historic California Furniture building, just one of dozens of Art Deco gems in downtown Oakland (stay tuned… I’m hoping to do a whole Art Deco series next month), the new location just opened a few weeks ago. They’re a family owned and operated business, providing not just new and used pianos for sale, but rentals, tuning services, music lessons (including guitar, drums, and more), and recitals. That’s right… they’re utilizing this gorgeous space for live performances too. Next performance is March 13th at 8:00pm – Rebel Tumbao…  “merging Roots Reggae and Roots Afro-Latin vibrations with original compositions and wicked arrangements of Bob Marley’s music, all with a critical progressive social message for our times.”  Sounds pretty cool, eh?

But I digress…
waiting in line, dave chappelle, new parish

As we waited in line, we chatted with all the folks who were equally excited to see Dave in such a small venue. I don’t know for sure but my guess would be that the Parish holds about 300 people. The line ran right past the windows of the new restaurant next door, Hibiscus, where Dave would later eat dinner after he tired of his piano playing. I heard from friends the drinks are good. We’ll have to check them out another day…

The Parish staff were ultra-professional and seriously buttoned-up. Notices were posted along the full length of the line about restrictions on photography, video, and most interestingly, heckling… “NO HECKLING WILL BE TOLERATED.” Who the hell would heckle Dave?! Anyway, despite all the notices, the doorman gave us the full verbal run-down as well… You can’t do this, you can’t do that, you will get thrown out. I asked, “Jeeezzz… Are we allowed to laugh?!” Absolutely. Enjoy the show.

new parish, oakland new parish, oakland music clubs

Above is the one and only picture I took inside, taken well before Dave took the stage… there was no way I was getting thrown out of that gig. It’s a pretty bad shot, but it gives you a feel for the space. I’ve been to one other show at the Parish and there was no seating as there was for this show (to enforce the two drink minimum). Typically there’s a nice dance area directly in front of the stage with wrap around areas on three sides and an upstairs with another bar and prime viewing from on-high.

What else can I tell you? Dave was hilarious. Of course. There was a ton of interplay between him and the crowd and I was surprised how conversational the show was… definitely not a scripted routine. The man is smart. And quick. Of course race played a big theme throughout the show, but not just black vs. white and not your stereotypical race-based humor. The crowd was incredibly diverse, as is our city, and Dave poked fun at all of us equally. The female scientist from Tunisia. The hipster Saudi with his trucker cap askew. And the hippy kids from Nevada who entered the club with backpacks in tow. I could try to replay the jokes, but I know they’d fall flat. I’ll just say we all laughed together, at each other, at ourselves, and for me, it was a truly transcendent experience. Props to The New Parish… Thank you!

Orr-Allen-Guarino Trio at The Stork

So I’m a bit behind with my recap of Art Murmur, which (hopefully) will continue on Thursday and Friday.  But in the meantime, I’m throwing up a video I took at last night’s show at the Stork Club.  I mentioned it in my post yesterday… an experimental improv jazz trio informally known as the Orr – Allen – Guarino Trio, consisting of two drummers and one very loud sax player.  My friend who is one of the drummers said they need two, just to keep up with the sax, if that gives you any idea…

Now I know this isn’t for everyone… but I happen to think it’s quite excellent.  And one of the things I love, and have always loved, about the Stork Club is that they provide a home to all kinds of music.  They like to rock it, but that’s not all they do, and some of the most interesting avant-garde bands I’ve seen, were at the humble Stork.

The video clip below is approximately 12 minutes long, and this isn’t even the full song… I started the video a bit late.   This is no KCSM, no bee bop, no smooth jazz, and certainly nothing your mother would like. But the thing that makes it so cool, is that it’s completely free-form.  There’s very little structure they conform to… no verse, chorus, verse, chorus, refrain, verse chorus playbook.

That playbook’s all well and good… it gives the listener something to hold on to… or resolve as Orr refers to it.  My concept of resolve, and please keep in mind I am not an experimental jazz musician, is that it’s what one expects to come next in the song… what you can predict because you’ve already heard the first two minutes and understand the structure that’s been set up.  Like the blues, for example.  Almost anyone can sing a blues song, can even make up the lyrics as they go, because it’s so damn predictable.  That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with being predictable, but what makes the blues interesting, is not that predictability, but rather the feeling imparted to the song within the confines of that expected chorus-verse structure.

What this trio performs is something else entirely… it’s wide open.  It’s unexpected.  It’s experiential because there’s no possible way of predicting what will come next, so you give up even trying and just experience each combination of notes and beats as they come.  As Orr explains it, “The trio will be improvising non-idiomatic free music. For those not familiar with that term, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_improvisation.”

And what’s more is that they play their instruments in unexpected ways… extracting every possible sound imaginable.  From throwing cymbals into the audience to bowing cymbals to scratching fingernails on the snare head… this is one wild ride!

For those as dorky as me, there’s another performance though slightly different on February 23rd at the Stork.  That show will feature Orr on drums, Allen on saxophone, and Ava Mendosa on guitar.  If you have an open mind, or don’t but want to have yours blown wide open, go check them out.

Here’s part 1 (about 9 minutes long)… part 2 to come later…

Here’s part 2…

First Friday, First Stop: MUA

Friends and I checked out the Art Murmur scene on Friday night… I missed the last one (it fell on New Year’s Day) so I was excited to mingle among the artists and hipsters once again.  My artist friend C came from San Francisco (I love that city folks are the new “bridge and tunnel” crowd… trekking to Oakland on the weekends for edgy art and sublime dining).  Unfortunately, she got hung up in traffic due to an accident on the bridge which gave me an extra hour to kill, so I met friends at MUA for a drink.  Or two…

mua lounge, mua on broadway, auto row restaurants

First of all, a bit of a disclaimer… I have yet to actually eat dinner at MUA, so those looking for a full dining review should just skip to the end and check some other links I’ve provided. But I have been to MUA a handful of times for drinks and/or snacks and I have to say, I just love this place. Everything about it, from the ginormous warehouse space and the way their minimalistic asian-shic decor perfectly meshes with the raw materials and scale of the larger industrial space, to the edgy urban art, the ultra-modern unisex bathrooms, and the artistry they apply to their simple but delicious food & drink preparations (and yes, I just mentioned bathrooms and food in the same sentence, but who really cares?). The whole place exudes a modern, but warm, aesthetic and the crowd inside (both staff and patrons) feels like modern-Oakland in my mind. It’s hard to explain, but it’s really one of the few spaces I’ve been in in Oakland where I really felt, for a moment, like I was in New York (or Brooklyn rather, because this is a huge space.)

mua, mua oakland

And that’s one of the things that’s so impressive about MUA. They’ve been open for 2 years now and I remember thinking when the first opened, ‘Man, that’s a big space. How are they gonna keep that full consistently?” But they do, and I’m so happy to see this enterprise going strong on a mostly abandoned stretch of Broadway’s Auto Row. Granted, there are a few other things going on there… but there are also a lot of large empty car dealerships, and a couple redevelopment plans already in the works for the area. Here’s one specific plan and EIR (Environmental Impact Report) if you’re interested. It’s actually pretty fascinating reading… The redesign of a city, in progress.

BROADWAY / VALDEZ DISTRICT Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report

You can chime in if you have something to say. There are already great discussions going on here…
Building Up Broadway on A Better Oakland
Oakland’s Growing Pains on Living in the O

But I digress. Back to MUA, which is right in the thick of the redevelopment zone on Broadway at 24th Street… I meandered upstairs to see Ross Simonini putting the finishing touches on his portion of a two-man show in the upstairs area of MUA. The next two photos are his pieces, which were collaged creations of crayon, paint, and, if I remember correctly, “sandpapered” photographs. The room was rather dimly lit, but amidst the raw textured surfaces of compressed plywood and more sophisticated asian-influenced furniture, I thought his pieces looked, well, perfect. In fact, his whimsically constructed lanky figures, who seemed to be battling or dancing – I couldn’t quite tell, reminded me of the slender figures of Indonesian shadow puppet batiques. Beautiful. Simonini is also an editor at Believer magazine and has a blog here where you can read about more of his work, and many other artistic things of interest.

mua art show, ross simonini

William Saroyan, the other artist displaying works, is known more for his writing than his painting. His paintings were difficult to see by candlelight, and alas, I had a cold drink waiting for me at the bar downstairs, so I will have to go back to see his pieces by the light of day (the picture below does not do them justice). In the meantime, I’ll provide you an excerpt from Simonini’s recent blog post about the show…

“His vein of abstract expressionism came not from New York but from Fresno, his home, and contained an intensity of ferocious markings and firework colors, often quickly scrawled on butcher paper. As a writer, he received Pulitzer for “The Time of Your Life,” but turned it down, and was given an Oscar for his screenplay, “The Human Comedy,” but sold it to a pawnshop. Like Steinback, he wrote extensively about central California, though Saroyan was widely known for his work about San Francisco.”

Sounds interesting, eh? Go check it out… this place is cool.

mua art show, william saroyan art

More reading and reviews…
MUA on Yelp
MUA on City Homestead
MUA on Oakland Magazine
MUA on East Bay Express

Art’s Crab Shak

My friend and I went to Art’s Crab Shak last night.  Now this is an Oakland experience.  And by that, I mean a real, old-school, home-style Oaktown experience.  Not for the faint of heart.

crab shak on broadway, art's crab shack, auto row restaurants

I’ve wondered about this place for years… I used to live right around the corner on 49th street and would drive past regularly, visit Mama’s across the street frequently, and yet never made my way in… until last night.

The first thing you notice is the sign that says “since 1963” – not an easy feat for a restaurant in the Bay Area. But originally it was Art’s Steakhouse, until 1992 when Milouda Kelley took ownership, switched the menu to seafood, and added “Crab Shak” to the old sign.

The second thing you notice when you enter, is how the interior is almost as much bar as it is restaurant. With the lack of windows, dim interior, and vintage vibe, it definitely feels more dive bar than fine dining. I wanted to take some pictures inside, but felt like dorky tourist, so refrained. You’ll just have to go see for yourself.

The third thing you notice after taking your seat in one of the the vinyl upholstered booths framed by circa-70s corkboard chock full of Christmas cards from years past, is that the menu says you must “pay before food comes.” Now that’s a twist. But it’s likely due to the fact that despite it’s divey aesthetic, this crab don’t come cheap!

But this is what you love about Art’s. It’s an experience.

We shared a “bucket” for two, which – if I had done my research beforehand – I would have known would not truly be a bucket. Instead it was a large platter heaped with gorgeous crab-legs steeped in garlicky mushroomy goodness. It’s not your classic east-coast style crab (what I grew up with), but it’s damn good, nonetheless.

“Buckets” come with a basket of garlic bread, a plastic bib (you will wear it!), a huge stack of napkins, and sani-wipes. Definitely not a first date place, unless you’re a bit wierd.

My only complaint would be the poor beer selection: basic bud, MGD, corona, etc. Can’t a girl get a nice pale ale to go with her crab?!?

bucket of crab, crab at art's

More reading…
Art’s on Yelp
Reason to Wear A Bib (East Bay Express)
Art’s on Eat Drink SF
Art’s on Not For Tourists