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01/30/09
There's great entertainment value to be found at the Film Noir Festival and the Concord Solano Drive-In; little movies Wendy and Lucy and Frozen River make a big impression.
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01/30/09
A brief interview with the famous conservative columnist before his keynote speech at the Contra Costa Council's CCUSA event.
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01/29/09
Note from Pete: I was hoping to attend the California Symphony's Grateful Dead Symphony No. 6 on Sunday or Tuesday, but I've been all consumed with the incredible Noir City film noir festival at the Castro Theatre. So I sent a friend, Michael Stamm—who is a fantastic chef, Olympic multi-medalist swimmer, and Deadhead extraordinaire to check out the performance. Here's what he said: Michael Stamm's review: Upon entering the lobby of the Lesher Center for the Arts last night, my eye was drawn to the neon light sculptures and other kinetic art pieces in the Bedford Gallery. As I approached the doorway into the gallery, a roomful of photographs by local legend Herb Greene, documenting three decades of the Grateful Dead, graced the walls on my...
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01/23/09
My favorite film festival of the year starts tonight at San Francisco's spectacular Castro Theatre
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01/21/09
Legendary filmmaker to receive award for his film, "Letters From Iwo Jima"
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01/17/09
Weekend round up of films to see in the East Bay
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01/15/09
Last month, I interviewed Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett about growing up in the East Bay and his career as the lead shredder in the world's greatest metal band. The immensely talented Hammett was super-cool to chat with, so (at his request) I wanted to raise a Miller draft at his favorite watering hole (El Rancho in El Sobrante) in honor of Metallica's latest honor: membership in the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. The band was voted in this week, along wth rap pioneers Run DMC, guitarist Jeff Beck, Little Anthony and the Imperials, and singer Bobby Womack.
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01/14/09
Actor, director, musician and Oscar-winner Billy Bob Thornton chats about his films, music, and baseball
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01/14/09
Movie critic Pete Crooks' thoughts on the best movies of the past year—plus plenty of runner-ups
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01/09/09
Electric hillbilly meets British Invasion meets Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation concert this Saturday night
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01/07/09
A few years back, I wrote a story for Diablo about Lisa Kolarich, a Ygnacio Valley High grad who packed her bags and moved to Nashville to take a shot at the big time, country muysic style. Just heard from her dad that Lisa's latest song, "Parading in the Rain" is currently number three on the independent country charts. Yahoo! You can hear the song by clicking on listen, and scrolling down to "2007 recordings" at www.lisakolarich.com.
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01/05/09
The folks at Berkeley's Another Planet Entertainment have sent out a great Happy New Year gift to East Bay music lovers today: announcing the first show bookings for the fabulous Fox Oakland, which is opening in February. I can not wait to see legendary rockers Social Distortion (Feb. 6) in this historic venue, the night after the Fox's opening gala. Michael Franti and Spearhead, B.B. King, and the Black keys are also booked—click here for more information about upcoming shows. And look for a story about the Fox in the February issue of Diablo—I've taken a couple of hard hat tours and this place is simply incredible—we're...
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01/01/09
In October, I wrote a Speak of the Devil story about Rawson Marshall Thurber's film adaptation of Michael Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. The Berkeley author has two more movies being made from his books. Director Stephen Daldry, whose current film, The Reader, is in theaters now, has been tapped to direct The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the Y2K novel that won Chabon a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Daldry, who also directed The Hours and Billy Elliott, is very good with book-to-film adaptations and seems like a smart choice for this sprawling story. The late Sydney Pollack and Sam Mendes had been...
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