Arts & Events

Although I appreciate Handel’s extraordinary gift for composing beautiful music, I often find his works, especially his oratorios but also some of his operas, overlong, tedious and downright boring. Take, for example, Handel’s oratorio Solomon, which the highly regarded Baroque music group The English Concert just performed on Sunday, March 5, at Zellerbach Hall. The performance of Solomon was announced as lasting three hours and ten minutes, including two intermissions, though in fact it lasted far longer than that. When one considers Handel’s use of the da capo format, with its endless repeats, I find that my attention wanes and my impatience mounts. -more-

Worth Noting:

City Council Spring Recess is from March 22 – April 10, 2023. The March 21 City Council meeting is posted and available for public comment. The planned special meetings on March 20 for the Berkeley Marina Area Specific Plan and on March 21 on Civic Arts Grantmaking Process & Capital Grant Program at 4 pm, Civic Center Vision Project at 4 pm are not yet posted. For updates keep checking the City website at: https://berkeleyca.gov/



A very full week ahead with another atmospheric river arriving on Tuesday.

City Council, Council Committees and the Police Accountability Board will meet in the hybrid format with the option of attending in person or virtually on zoom. The Civic Arts Commission subcommittee will meet via videoconference only on Monday. All other city meetings are in person only.

• Monday: The Health Life Enrichment, Equity & Community Committee meets in the hybrid format at 10 am. The City Council meets in closed session in the hybrid format at 3 pm. The Civic Arts Policy subcommittee meets virtually at 4:30 pm and the Youth Commission meets in person at 6:30 pm. The Community for a Cultural Civic Center (CCCC) meets online at 12 noon.
• Tuesday: City Council is the go to meeting of the week. If you go in person prepare for a long evening. The City Council meets in a hybrid format starting with a special meeting on the crime report at 4 pm followed with the regular meeting at 6 pm. Item 20 on the agenda is the Droste – Robinson-Wengraf proposal for limiting public comment on all action agenda items to one comment. There are three legally required exceptions: hearings, appeals and quasi-judicial (court-like procedings). The last item of the night Item 25 another Droste proposal limits councilmembers to one major legislative submission per year. (I commented on both of these agenda items in my 2/26/23 Activist’s Diary https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2023-02-26/article/50200?headline=A-BERKELEY-ACTIVIST-S-DIARY-Week-Ending-2-26--Kelly-Hammargren )
• Wednesday: The Commission on Aging meets in person at 1:30 pm. The Civic Arts Commission meets in person at 6 pm. The Police Accountability Board is meeting at 6:30 pm in a hybrid format. The Human Welfare and Community Action Commission meets at 6:30 pm in person only. The Commission on Labor meets in person at 7 pm.
• Thursday: FITES is scheduled to meet at 1 pm in a hybrid format, but no agenda is posted. The Fair Campaign Practices and Open Government Commission meets at 6 pm in person. The Design Review Committee, Mental Health Commission and Transportation and Infrastructure Commission all meet at 7 pm in person.
• Friday: The Climate Emergency Task Force has not posted the agenda for the planned webinar from 9 am – 12 noon. This event will be online.