Local Events

Huffing And Puffing In Montclair

We can’t wait to see the Oakland Marathoners huffing and puffing their way through Montclair, as they reach the high point of this brand-new race.  At least they won’t head up to Skyline!

This marathon, which takes place on Sunday, March 28th, offers a new way to experience Oakland – as a runner, volunteer or regular old cheerleader.

Over 4,000 participants are expected in the three main races during the Running Festival Weekend, including 1,000 who will run the full marathon through Montclair.  These long-distance goers will leave City Hall at 7:30am, and are supposed to hit the Village between 8-10 am.

“Getting to Montclair was a little bit of a challenge and found Broadway to be the least ‘up’ of the streets,” explained Montclarion Tod Vedock, who’s volunteering and serving as assistant race director.  “Plus we figured running through Temescal Park would be a nice addition.”

You may greet these runners as they sashay south on Mountain Blvd.  Fortunately, there won’t be any Heartbreak Hill stories, since the throng arrives at the Oakland Hills early in the race:  Lake Temescal at mile 6; Duncan/Fernwood at mile 7;  Montclair Elementary at mile 8; and Mountain/Ascot at mile 9.

“Our goal for this race was to bring a positive and revenue generating event to the City of Oakland.  We are an outdoor community with bikers, runners [and] walkers,” said Vedock.  This kind of running event seems long overdue, and it’s nice to shine a light on Oakland.

P.S.  Want to make sure everyone’s headed in the right direction?  Volunteer as a course marshal for the Oakland Marathon by reaching Tod Vedock at tsvedock@yahoo.com.

We’re excited about greeting these runners as they sashay south on Mountain Blvd.  Fortunately, we won’t see any Heartbreak Hill stories, because the throng arrives at the Oakland Hills relatively early in the race:  Lake Temescal at mile 6; Duncan/Fernwood at mile 7;  Montclair Elementary at mile 8; and Mountain/Ascot at mile 9.

Greening Oakland Homes Checks In

Over the weekend, Greening Oakland Homes held a fair at the Montclair Women’s Cultural Arts Club.  After months of consideration and contributions by many volunteers, this Saturday event invited all neighbors to dip their toes into the world of energy audits, green retrofits and alternative energy.

Yes, saving energy is inherently local.  As a homeowner, it’s pretty natural to ask neighbors what they did or who they used when making improvements in their energy and water consumption.  It can be daunting to embark on a project, when you haven’t been swimming here before.

Rather than some overwhelming event, there were selected vendors who served Oakland.  Many of them said things like “well, we did a place that…” and proceeded to share projects that happened nearby.

Of course, going to the Women’s Club is always a treat.  The room on the left, a dark and richly covered place, was used for presentations.  And the main ballroom showcased all the vendors, along with info from local utilities and the City of Oakland.

I don’t really want to play favorites but the cool windows and coverings caught my eye.  One group that trains young adults to do energy audits and improvements seemed pretty terrific, too.

Missed it?  You can check out info about greening initiatives and more at their website.

Cheshire Grins Shared With Our Maestro

We’re still sporting cheshire grins from the Oakland East Bay Symphony concert on Friday evening, after experiencing three performances with sheer attitude.  Maestro Michael Morgan knowingly smiled and made the unusual something that symphony goers could simply embrace.

Let’s start with Charles Ives’ Second Symphony (listen), written over 110 years ago.  Our conductor gave advanced warning about the pastiche of tunes and abrupt ending, yet assured us that Ives behaved himself by sticking to one key.  It was a real trip to hear the musicians making their way around and through this piece.  While the music was beautiful, we were truly teased here.

After intermission, Rebeca Mauleon’s Suite Afro-Cubano was premiered to our audience.  This music took us through Cuban settlement and history.  We needed to toss away our preconceived notions of an orchestra, as instruments were drawn into the stories.  By the time the orchestra members shouted “Mambo,” everyone in the theater seemed ready to celebrate.

That high energy fed right into the last piece, Duke Ellington’s Harlem Suite.  We hadn’t really thought of Duke in this larger venue, complete with familiar crooning brass.  Who needs a big band when you can one-up with a full orchestra instead?  Very nice.

We hope this weekend’s performance reflects the present and future of symphony orchestras.  In that spirit, our East Bay performers are still putting out their hats and asking for donations – and they deserve our support.

North Hills Not Patrolled Much Lately

Did you know that we’re not even patrolled by beat-level police much anymore?  Apparently assignments and shifts have been adjusted, and the North Hills are getting less attention and love.  We learned this exciting news last night, while tuned to KTOP (Channel 10) for the Oakland City Council’s marathon proceedings.

Among the parade of public speakers, our neighbor Jim Dexter came up to the podium to speak his mind.  In his more official volunteer duties, he chairs the North Hills Neighborhood Council (Beat 13Y).  Everyone who lives north of Thornhill, up to the Berkeley border, falls within this group’s purview.

Anyway, Dexter was discussing overall city priorities regarding public safety and was hardly alone.  He also mentioned the current Problem Solving Officer (PSO) assigned to his beat no longer put in full-time hours.  Jim reported recent changes in assignments with, as we understood him, an officer patrolling only one out of four days here.  Yes, that’s 25 percent of the time!

Measure Y is something Oakland voters approved years ago, to increase community police officers.  Compliance seems to be a tricky deal and, without assigned officers full-time, we are effectively violating the terms.  Dexter reminded the Council reps that funds can neither be collected nor used when the force falls below 770 officers.

In the meantime, John Haney serves as the Beat 13Y officer and knows the lay of the land well.  Come meet him at the North Hills steering meeting tonight, from 7-9 pm.  All neighbors are invited to share their safety questions and concerns – at Fire Station 7, 1006 Amito Drive (map).

More info:  We suggest visiting the North Hills Neighborhood Council’s blog here, as well as signing up for their email here.

Feb 26th update:  Correction here, as we learned Officer Haney “had been assigned one day a week (out of his four-day work week) to be on patrol.”  This reassignment translates to a 25 percent loss.  Please read Jim Dexter’s comments below.

Quick Review Of “Armenian” Symphony

Last night we attended a performance by the Armenian Symphony, better known as the Oakland East Bay Symphony.  Their 2.5 hour concert was inspiring because the arc of the programming, as major symphonic works took center stage.

The program started with a traditional Mozart warm-up, which sounded beautiful in the Paramount Theater.  Then the epic Khachaturian took us on a journey, filled with many different themes including a little folk music – and it was clearly the high point of the evening.

After intermission, a modern-sounding Mirzoyan was performed with plenty of tension and sadness.  Then four shorter works followed, including “symphonic panels” appropriately titled Armenia and two full-bore choral and orchestral songs.  We noticed a lot of people applauding those final vocals!

Virtuoso Appearance: The guest violinist, Mikhail Simonyan, has Armenian roots and lives in NYC these days.  Simonyan is only in his twenties, yet seemed at ease while performing Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto in D Major.  Right off the bat, you could hear his joy.  If I had one criticism, then it was when the folk-inspired section arrived with a bunch of lackluster lower notes.  Yet the entire performance was amazingly energized – here, here!

Mirzoyan Piece: This four-movement symphony was a conversation between strings and kettledrums.  Composer Edvard Mirzoyan’s an 88-year-old who hasn’t created many symphonies, and this work should be better known.  There were some themes and sections that captivated us, especially all the repetitive notes among the strings.  While written back in 1962, the music sounded modern and offered an intense, aural landscape.

Overall Review: We’ll give the concert a B+ tonight.  We have to say this was extra-ambitious!  You could feel the excitement in the Paramount, as our hometown orchestra performed these sophisticated and cool masterworks.  They modulated really well and didn’t overplay, and I give props to Michael Morgan’s podium leadership.  The Khachaturian symphony drew the biggest ovations last night, but we think it’s darn difficult to perform.  The last vocal pieces also were lovely, but we wanted more of them.

We have to share one thumbs-down from the evening, though.  We didn’t understand the penchant for applauding at the end of movements.  Clearly the orchestra ignored the mid-symphony applause and stayed focused on their performances.  Could local concert-goers please get it together?