Category Archives: uptown

Pinball Throwdown at the Stork Club

I hadn’t been to the Stork Club in about a hundred years. I am too old for bone-crushingly loud music in tiny venues these days… but back in the day, the Stork was one of the only cool clubs with an unbelievably eclectic roster of live music that friends and I used to frequent… I saw my first Idiot Flesh show there… it was mind-blowing! The Stork Club has been around for as long as I can remember  – it’s an Oakland institution.  Though in a different location now, and without all the Christmas creepiness (it used to be Christmas all year long), they’re still rockin’ the East Bay hard!

Stork Club Oakland

Stork Club Bar in Oakland

I stopped in Saturday night to witness the Pinball Throwdown hosted there between rival gangs, Oakland Pinball Mafia and Radio Pinball Union.  My friend Ryan clued me in to this event with a hilarious article from the Oakland Tribune: Night Owl: Oakland Pinball Showdown…

Here’s the flyer for the night…

Oakland Pinball Showdown flyer

The idea was that the two rival pinball gangs would compete on three vintage machines in the Stork Club’s back game room… high score takes the title.

The pinball fanatics were out in full force… and the folks from Lucky Ju Ju didn’t disappoint, bringing their full fledged pinball museum on wheels – Lil Ju Ju. Created by multimedia artist Michael Schiess, the museum houses four vintage pinball machines (though sometimes as many as six) in a 1947 Spartan Manor, rebuilt with hydraulic leveling system, reinforced frame, and upgraded suspension. What’s even cooler is that play on the machines is FREE. That’s right folks. It’s the same premise that operates at Lucky Ju Ju’s prime facilities in Alameda… make a donation – no quarters required.

1947 Spartan Manor Pinball Museum

Lil Ju Ju Mobile Pinball Museum

Lil Ju Ju Mobile Pinball Museum

I had to leave before the end of the evening so I don’t know who won the throwdown. Anyone?

There were three live bands… Cleve-land, Straggler, and VIR. The lead singer from one of the latter two bands (sorry, not sure which one) performed in a full batman get-up. Awesome! He had some serious pipes too.

Music at Stork Club

Batman performs Stork Club

In addition to all the pinball fans, there were some proud members of the The Church!: Elvis Underground, representing and proselytizing. I love these guys!  And how could you not when their philosophy is so simple and pure:

“To continue and further the Work of Elvis Presley, The King, toward uniting all species in universal rhythm and harmony.“

Amen to that brother!

Check out their website… it’s full of fantastic and fun tidbits, not to mention some serious principles.  I’ll post The Eleven Commandments of Elvis here, because they’re just that good:

  1. Follow That Dream
  2. Don’t Be Cruel
  3. Love Me Tender
  4. Shake, Rattle, and Roll
  5. Do the Clam
  6. Treat Me Nice
  7. Don’t
  8. It’s Now or Never
  9. Return to Sender
  10. Viva Las Vegas!
  11. Wear My Ring Around Your Neck

You can read the more detailed scriptures on their site… Elvis Underground.

21 Grand is Right!

So my final stop during last friday’s Art Murmur was  21 Grand, which was hosting their first ever juried exhibition, titled “Wrong!”

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I first experienced 21 Grand as an experimental music venue many years ago, when it was still  located at 21 Grand Avenue.  They’ve moved a couple times since, their last location abandoned to make way for luxury lofts and Starbucks. Ahhh, the ever-present struggle of the artist… But they’ve been around since before Art Murmur was even a conception, so it’s nice to see that they’re still going strong.

They focus on experimental music and arts, and can be found just down 25th street from Oakopolis and The Moon, right next door to Smythe’s Accordion Center, which looks like a pretty cool spot too.  Check out the baby doll with angel wings playing accordion.  Kind of twisted, eh?

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The WRONG! exhibit focused on works examining ethical misdeeds and wrongdoings in the “decade of wrong.” I snapped a couple quick picks… these little stickers are those tiny little dots that galleries often use to indicate a piece of art is sold.  I found this collection fascinating… almost pornographic. But I think the tiny drawings on these store bought stickers also ask us to question our ideas of what constitute “Fine Art”.  Very cool.

I thought I grabbed a flyer with the artists’ info, but can’t find it now. I am lame. Sorry. But the show is up until November 1st, and there’s lots more to see. Go check it out.

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Moon over Oakopolis

My first stop after leaving the Oakland Arts party at Frank Ogawa plaza was Oakopolis Creativity Center (OCC) on 25th Street. I had read that their current exhibit was titled “Why the Bunny?” and I was intrigued.

I also knew that a tiny venue called The Moon shared quarters next door to Oakopolis.  I had been there before and was amazed by the beautiful handmade creations artfully displayed within, not to mention their collection of moustaches on sticks.  Very fun!

Here’s a shot of the outside as I was on my way in…  You can see the gorgeous wrought iron work on the windows, and lovely signage.

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I didn’t take any shots inside The Moon because the space really is tiny, and chock full of stuff, and people too. You’ll just have to go see for yourself. Their specialty seems to be handmade clothing items and many of them are kind of unbelievable. I saw something akin to a wedding gown that had been fashioned together out of individual 2 inch scraps of seemingly hundreds of different white fabrics that the artist had collected over the years. It was stunning! Forgive me for not getting the artist’s name. In addition to clothes, they have funky buttons, hand made cards, and much more. Please check them out.

Next door, Oakopolis had the hallway approaching the gallery in back and the gallery itself filled with Sas Colby’s “Why the Bunny?” exhibit. Her artist statement for the exhibit told that she had started drawing bunnies as a daily routine during a difficult period in her life. She found comfort in the drawings, both getting to know the character through repetition, but also allowing it to develop and change over time. The bunny became an alter ego for Colby that took many different forms. The show included twelve years of drawings and books, and it was fun to see the various representations of the bunny… sometimes the comforting stuffed animal of our childhood memories… sometimes the menacing trickster with wicked smile. Great stuff.

I hit one other gallery before heading home… check back tomorrow!

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U.S.P.S.

I saw this artist’s first sticker just outside my house… the same speedbump signpost as our “remember: shame is a 4 letter word” sticker from Monday.  Recognize it? (Note yellow house in background.)

Since seeing this first one, I’ve seen other works by this artist all around West Oakland and Uptown.  I saw one the night of Art Murmur on the front of a stop sign (people more often slap stickers on the backs of traffic signs).  I saw several the other day on my ride down the Mandela Parkway greenbelt.

What’s cool about this artist’s stuff is that many of them are individual, original pieces of art.  He/she has a whole slew of stickers around that are hand drawn on various United States Postal Service labels (this one’s actually two), and then slapped up.  A unique little work of art with no reproduction involved.  I think this is so cool.

What’s also neat is to recognize an artist’s work as you move about town… I recognized other pieces by this same person after seeing only one because his/her style is very distinctive and he does a lot of faces similar to this one, with a wide square nose, oblong head, and various hats or hair.

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The use of thick lines and USPS labels also seems to be trademark.  Here’s the one I saw the night of Art Murmur…

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And for those of you who’ve made it this far and are twisted enough to notice or care, I’m fairly certain that’s chocolate frosting dripping off the stop sign, and not poo.