Berkeley Public Library Art & Culture Newsletter
April 2015

Working on the Library's Strategic Plan really emphasizes all the things the library does and can do. We have various projects and initiatives that we want to bring together in harmony.

That's one thing I love about Jazz. There is harmony in the music, but also flexibility to be separate from the melody and then come back to it. It allows emphasis on individual parts. One can appreciate the parts and the whole at the same time.

This month our theme is Words+Jazz. We have many ongoing programs that focus on Jazz, poetry and performance. Hip Hop for Change @North, Sing a Story: Hansel & Gretel @Claremont and  Poetry & Jazz @Central, a mash-up concert of four sets of notable poets and musicians. We even have a Bicycle Skills Class @West.

We are also celebrating National Library Week, April 12-18th. This year's theme is "Unlimited possibilities @ your library.

Whether taking self-paced computer classes, stretching in  Tiny Tots Story & Play @South, or picking a reference librarian's brain about online research resources--we are here for you. Create something with tools from our Tool Lending Library. Find your opportunities @Berkeley Public Library.

In a way, we create our own music and harmony with the various services we offer. Take time this month and listen in.

Thanks,

Jeff Scott
Director, Library Services

April Art & Culture Events

Cypress String Quartet @Central

Thursday, April 2nd
12:15pm-1:00pm
5th floor Art & Music
Hear some of the Quartet's upcoming Call and Response program, Into the Night. Hear sections of Beethoven's Razumovsky String Quartet, op. 59, no. 2, Bartok's 4th String Quartet, and the world premiere of contemporary composer Philippe Hersant's 5th String Quartet.

Read & Share @Claremont
Wednesday, April 15th
6:30pm-7:30pm
Bring a book you have read, loved, and would like to share. This program meets every other month.

Author Robin Sloan @North
April 16th
6:30pm-8:00pm
Robin talks about his first novel Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, already a modern classic. The book is a comic fantasy about literary obsession and the 21st Century tension between paper and pixels. Come for a conversation you won't want to miss! Copies available to borrow at North Branch.

Poetry & Jazz @Central
Saturday April 18th
2:00pm-4:00pm
3rd floor Community Meeting Room
A mash-up concert: four sets of notable poets and musicians present the words and music of poetry with percussion and spoken word: Al Young, Avotcja, Phavia Kujichagulia, The Word-Music Continuum

Unbroken Web: The Art of Ellen & Lucy Begay @Central
Saturday, April 18th
11:00am
3rd floor Community Meeting Room
Author Gary Beaudoin will visit the library to discuss his book, The Unbroken Web. Beaudoin and the three generations of Begay weavers--Grandmother Mary, mother Lucy and daughter Ellen--celebrate the spirit of the Southwest in a profoundly personal way. Beaudoin will bring authentic Begay weavings to exhibit and discuss.

Poetry Circle @Claremont
Thursday, April 9th
6:30pm-7:30pm
Join us for our poetry-reading circle, held on the second Thursday of each month. Come with a favorite poem, find one here or share one of your own.

Make a Quilted Bookmark @Central
April 20th
5:00pm-7:00pm
4th floor Story Room
In anticipation of the 34th Annual Quilt Show (May 1 - June 7), join the Textile Mavens Catherine Durand and Fern Royce who will guide participants in creating a beautiful quilted bookmark. All participants are invited to submit their work for display in the upcoming Quilt Show. Supplies provided. Space is limited Call 510-981-6236 to reserve one of four half-hour slots. Ages 6 and up.


cello_sunny.jpg Focus on the Cello @Claremont Library
Wednesday, April 29th
 6:00pm-7:30pm
Join us for an evening with Berkeley's own Jewish Music and Poetry Project. Concert highlights will include the world premiere of Berkeley composer William Ludtke's Op.155, Three Songs for Soprano and Cello with poems by Berkeley poet Marcia Falk and the U.S. premiere of Hungarian Lajos Delej's Scherzo. The poet, Marcia Falk, will read her poems.

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In This Issue
Free  Monthly Film Series




Fridays, 3:00pm
Third floor Community Meeting Room

April Screening @ the Atomic Caf�: Films of the Cold War

April 3rd    Pickup on South Street
(1953/89 minutes)
 A crime thriller stars Richard Widmark as a pickpocket that goes after the wrong purse.

April 10th   The Front
(1976/ 95 minutes)
Woody Alley and Zero Mostel start in the semi-comedy about blacklisted writers.

April 17th  Kiss Me Deadly
 (1955/ 106 minutes)
In this film adaption of Micki Spillane's book of the same name, P.I. Mike Hammer picks up a doomed female hitchhiker.

April 24th  One, Two, Three (1961/115 minutes)
Starring James Cagney and directed by Billy Wilder, this comedy about West and East Berlin is a must.
 
Free Jazz Concerts


We'll be bringing plenty of live jazz music into the Library in April.  Come dig one of these free concerts!

Saturday April 11th  
11:30am-1:00pm

Poetry & Jazz @Central
Saturday April 18th
2:00pm-4:00pm

Friday April 24th  
4:30pm-5:30pm

Saturday April 25th  
11:30am-1:00pm

Big CD Sales
 @Friends Bookstore


Like music? The Friends of the Library Channing Way Bookstore located at 2433 Channing Way, in the walkway of the Telegraph/Channing Shops, is having a special sale on CDs throughout the month of April--just $1 each.

Check out the sale and browse the thousands of gently used books selling for extraordinarily low prices. And yes, your purchases help support the Berkeley Public Library.

Read more about the Friends

Berkeley Public Library Foundation
AfterWords is the next stage of the Berkeley Public Library Foundation's successful event series, originally created as part of our annual Authors Dinner.

Honored authors at the Dinner wanted to do more in support of our public libraries, and our guests wanted to spend more time with them! Here are just two of the many upcoming AfterWords events:

An Afternoon with Mark Cohen, Author of Allan Sherman - Overweight Sensation
Sunday, April 12
3:00 pm-5:00 pm
$100

Pelican Dreams, A Film for Families
Sunday, April 19
3:00pm -5:00pm
$35



 For more information...