What’s better than reality TV?

A lot of things, but tonight and tomorrow night at 8 p.m., one very important one will be gliding over heart strings and plucking at souls in Berkeley’s very own Hertz Hall. That’s right, the University Symphony Orchestra will be performing and, from the looks of this weekend’s program, they’ll also be completely ignoring Halloween.

No “Night on Bald Mountain,” for these presumably un-costumed folks, led by conductor David Milnes, who probably won’t be wearing a costume either. But maybe they’ve got a few tricks up their sleeves for Saturday. We don’t know. Maybe Milnes will dress up as a “conductor” and wear like a train driver costume or something. Get it? Like another kind of conductor. Because he’s the conductor. That’d be clever. Right?

Anyway, I digress. The orchestra will play Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony No. 2,” Ernest Bloch’s “Suite Hebraique,” and Bloch’s “Concerto Grosso for strings and piano.” It’s only $5 for students, and even if classical music isn’t really your bag, man, it’s still sometimes fun to go relax and hear something you might not ever hear otherwise.

Rachmaninov -- André Previn -- Symphony No.2 Mvt.4 (3/3) [YouTube]
University Symphony Orchestra [Dept. of Music Calendar]

Any film whose premise centers on the cultish appeal of kitschy mediums faces an enormous challenge: How can a film be good when it is quite literally about crap? This is the question that went through my head while watching Jared Hess’ new film “Gentlemen Broncos” at the Landmark Embarcadero Center Cinema last Monday, with Hess and his wife and screenwriter, Jerusha, in the audience.

Once again, Hess has an awkward, “Napoleon Dynamite”-style protagonist—a young, pulp science fiction writer named Benjamin (Michael Angarano). The film suffers from a lackluster screenplay, but Hess exacerbates its weaknesses by bringing to the foreground the sci-fi genre’s crudest elements. There is no cussing in the film (the Hesses are Mormons), but there are an awful lot of breast, penis and fart jokes, and gags involving shit and vomiting. This is the kind of film that would appeal to viewers who find a snake ejecting a stream of shit all over its nonchalant owner funny. (Click here to read more…)

I agonized over a pun headline for this post–”Let’s Twit It On,” “You Only Twit Once,” “Tweet Home Alabama,” “Twit Up, Twit On Up” . . . you get the picture. The point is, the Daily Californian Arts Department has its very own twitter!!!!

Follow us, and you’ll find: (Click here to read more…)

At what point to historical relics become art? For this post, the word “art” as I’m using it means something that is worthy of thought, an appreciation for the time and place in which something is produced, and acknowledging the care with which it was executed. Under this definition, a doodle you scribbled with a Crayola in your fist at age three or the lampshade your grandmother decorated with seashells and glass to sell at a souvenir shop in lobster country have the potential to become a work of art.

I was inspired by this notion when I paid a visit to Sherman co-op this weekend. Amidst a whirl of warm color that otherwise covered the mantle above the fireplace, my eyes zeroed in on two clear-cut figures occupying a black and white photograph, housed by a Lucite frame. “Who’s that?” I asked my hostess. (Click here to read more…)

Little-known fact: best-selling author Jonathan Lethem used to work at Moe’s Books. Now a celebrated novelist and noted Philip K. Dick fanatic, Lethem wrote his first novel while working at the beloved local shop, according to the Moe’s website.

Later this week, he’ll be returning to his old haunt for a reading (and maybe a signing?). Stop by the store on Thursday, October 29, at 7:30 to hear him read from his new novel “Chronic City.” This one’s set in New York, and he’s a New York writer by reputation, though his first couple of novels are set in NorCal. “Gun, With Occasional Music,” which I’ve been meaning to read for some time, takes place in SF and Oakland, according to Wikipedia.

I’ve seen Lethem speak before–on C-SPAN 2, oddly enough, not in person–and he’s engaging and clever, so this event should be fun. Besides, when was the last time you went to a reading?

More info on the Moe’s Readings & Events Page here.

Image source: Onion AV Club, photo by Peter Bellamy.

Every October Neil Young and his wife Pegi put on The Bridge School Benefit Concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre to raise funds for the bay area Bridge School, which since its opening in 1986 has provided specialized education to severely disabled children. Young has invited various A-list entertainers to the mostly acoustic concert over the years, and this past weekend was no different. The bill this year ranged across genres, hosting Young himself, No Doubt, Chris Martin of Cold Play, Sheryl Crow, Adam Sandler, Monsters of Folk, Wolfmother and more.

The all-day show left the earlier acts with a little less support as concert goers drunkenly mingled throughout the large venue’s bars, food tents and recreational areas. But Monsters of Folk didn’t seem to care as they strummed and wailed away. The group played some original tracks and even a song from member Conor Oberst’s other band, Bright Eyes (a nice emo treat). (Click here to read more…)

Entering Oakland’s Fox Theater last Saturday felt like entering a cross between Alice’s rabbit hole and a circus tent. The lights were already dim, the stage framed by two foreboding Hindu/Buddhist statues, the ceilings all carved out and ornate. Not that any of this mattered anyway, because once Mika burst on stage, he took us out of this world.

But first, the opening act: Gary Go. Gary was a highly emotional pop-rock British singer-songwriter who apparently could also play instruments via the iPhone, which was pretty cool, even if he fumbled over it a bit. But although his applause was loud, the applause for the furniture movers assembling the stage for Mika was even louder. “You’re here to see Mika, right?” Gary asked at one point. Yeah, yeah we were. (Click here to read more…)

For anyone who missed Cal Performance’s presentation of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet Company Saturday evening, this afternoon’s performance is the last chance to see the legacy of the “father of American ballet”. Farrell was legendary choreographer George Balanchine’s muse for nearly ten years, and her staging of “The Balanchine Couple” offers a unique opportunity to experience the pas de deux from nine different ballets.

As the artistic director with an intimate knowledge of the man behind the movement, Farrell presented each piece with an elegant analysis of what the audience was about to witness, creating an aura of accessibility to the stereotypically “stiff” spectacle. Both the cheering crowd that anxiously awaited the first three pas de deux–from “Apollo”, “La Sonnambula”, and “The Unanswered Question”–and first-time ballet goers were equally moved by the breathtakingly beautiful scenes unfolding on stage. (Click here to read more…)

On Monday night at Bottom of the Hill, indie-dream pop duo—along with a plus one on drums—Beach House played a sold out show. The opening group, Papercuts, is a band my friend deemed “the kind you’d want to do your homework to.” I can’t say I disagree but I enjoyed them nonetheless. Beach House followed—and delighted. (Click here to read more…)

This episode moves back towards the traditional format of focusing on the medical mystery to a degree that we haven’t seen this season. It’s a bit of an exhale for the season, as “Instant Karma” concentrates on traditional “House” issues: namely, rationality versus superstition.

Spoilers after the jump.

(Click here to read more…)