Is there anyone out there who still hasn’t been to Art Murmur? If so, I gotta say, you’re really missing out. This is one fun event, and I feel like it just keeps getting better and better. New gallery spaces are popping up like mushrooms in January. Recent changes to Oakland’s cabaret ordinance make live music at restaurants and cafes now legal (who knew it wasn’t??). And the street vending scene, including gourmet dining offerings on the go, continues to gain steam every time I visit.

We tooled around the central district of the Murmur (between Telegraph & Broadway and 23rd & 26th streets) for a couple hours. In addition to the conventional gallery spaces, you’ve got all kinds of action getting thrown into the mix…

We came across this “street” art on an abandoned building…

The red one seems to be signed “NINA” while the yellow one has “NINA” incorporated into the drawing at top (in balloons) but is signed “Cuss ’10”.

We encountered a couple new galleries on 25th street (more on these later in the week), but before entering, we spotted this bike parked outside. How can you not love a bike dressed up as a tiger?! I told you Art Murmur was fun. We would see this bike again, but under entirely different circumstances, before our night was through…

We watched these guys for a bit… It’s always amazing to me how just two people with drums and guitar can build a completely encompassing musical experience.

A street stencil at one of the gallery entrances taunts us…

The entire block of 23rd street (between Telegraph and Broadway) is closed off for street vending and we came across this giant steel snail spewing fire above the crowd… A young boy was ushered into the cockpit and allowed to pull the reins that triggered the fire. It was pretty hilarious because he wanted to go full throttle 100 percent of the time (boys will be boys). His dad had to tell him, “Just pull it for a bit. Then you gotta let go.”

There’s much more to tell, but I’m trying to save some for later in the week… I’ll just say that as we were wrapping up our Murmur tour, we found ourselves on a Broadway corner waiting for the light to change. We heard the distinct sound of a marching band in the distance, but clearly approaching fast. As the band came around the corner, we saw that they were all on bikes (tuba player included!) Some were costumed and our tiger bike friend was in the mix, and though they seemed a bit lost (I heard them say “Where’s the party?” and “I think we overshot it” and “let’s head back and see if we can find it”), they certainly seemed to be having a raucous good time! Hilarious.