In the Mix

Fire in the Belly

Oakland Dancer Frédérique Transforms Tribal Form Into Performance Art

    Picture the scene. A smoky nightclub. A well-endowed belly dancer, squeezed into a revealing spangled top, shimmying and gyrating around the room. Every so often she dances close to her audience and leans forward to present her cleavage or backwards to present her, um, hips; and to let a hand slip a few bucks into the space where fabric meets skin.
    If this is your idea of belly dancing, you’re stuck in a cliché. And you haven’t seen Oakland teacher and performer Frédérique David’s avant-garde interpretive underground tribal fusion belly dance style with its Gothic flair and and burlesque edge—all presented as an art form. “Shaking my boobs and looking hot on stage is not what I do,” she says. Think instead of “liquid hands, snake arms and amazing belly control,” to quote one fan. “What she does is a kind of creepy circus carnival with a soft, delicate childlike edge,” says another. All this is done to music she mixes herself, which may be a blend of underground techno with Edith Piaf thrown in for good measure. Oh, and no nightclubs or restaurants, thank you very much. David holds a day job to protect her from that fate. “They treat you so badly,” she says. So she dances at festivals in the United States and internationally; will appear onstage if asked; and she teaches.
    Frédérique’s style (professionally she sticks to her first name) is as eclectic as her background and says a lot about the progression of belly dance in the Bay Area. Born in Lebanon to a mom who is a mix of Italian and Armenian and a French/Assyrian dad who was born and raised in Paris, she came with them to the United States at age 2. While “drawn by my ethnicity to belly dance,” she shunned “the cabaret or Egyptian version I saw—flashing body parts, hair flying, a sexual edge and cleavage. It’s fine for whoever wants to do it; but I was a tomboy wearing jeans and sneakers and it wasn’t for me.”
    She did competitive figure skating from age 9 to 13. Then, when she was 23, a friend took her to a show featuring American Tribal Style, or ATS, belly dance, a genre inspired by folklore and techniques from North India, the Middle East and Africa and developed by Carolena Nericcio, founder of FatChanceBellyDance, in San Francisco.
    Captivated, Frédérique signed up and practiced rigorously for a couple of years until, feeling constrained, she began to develop her own style. First she performed with a troupe. Then, craving complete creative control—over her own choreography, costuming, music and marketing—she went it alone.
    There’s no smoke, just bellies and a few spangles at the Temescal Arts Center where Frédérique teaches. “You become more comfortable with your body no matter what your age or shape,” she says of those who come to learn. It might not be overtly sexual—but there’s a fair bit of shimmying when they get down to those gyrating muscle “isolation drills.”
    For class times and details, see www.nouveau-voixdeville.com or www.bellygroove.com.

ABOUT A ROCKER

Ethan Miller Blazes New Paths Into Psychedelic Rock

    Known for its blues, jazz, soul, gospel and funk, Oakland is gaining 21st–century credibility as a hub, if not a capital, of hard rock, thanks to the rising national profile of such bands as Saviours, High on Fire and now Howlin Rain. Led by guitarist, singer and songwriter Ethan Miller, a Humboldt native who moved from Santa Cruz to Oakland in 2004, Howlin Rain recorded its second CD, Magnificent Fiend, for the local Birdman label, but it was picked up by Rick Rubin’s American Recordings, which lifts the band into in the worldwide Sony/Columbia system.
    “Rick’s got that dark-wizard New Age vibe going on,” Miller says of the producer known for his work with Public Enemy, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash. “He deals in essential qualities, and I’ve made sure that Howlin Rain’s essential quality is full of those mixed vibes of darkness and light—some beauty and serenity and some fearsome, dark lyrics.”
    The chance to work with Rubin was hugely attractive, Miller explained over tea in the Adams Point apartment he and his wife share with groaning shelves of books, CDs and vinyl LPs. So was major-label financing. “I’m not looking for a $10 million advance,” he explains. “I’m looking at how I can get a gigantic recording budget and go into a recording studio and try to produce the most accomplished pieces of art I can do.”
    Needing to “forge the image of the sound” of his own band, Miller formed Howlin Rain in 2006 even as his Santa Cruz–bred improvising psychedelic rock band, Comets on Fire, was enjoying growing indie success.
    The quintet boasts a brawny and dreamy sound that echoes Quicksilver Messenger Service, Spirit, Wishbone Ash and Procol Harum. Miller argues that all musicians need to engage with history. In keeping with forebears Robert Plant and Ozzy Osborne, he “unmasks” his own emotions in “expressive, honest singing.” He also writes “elevated structures and complicated progressions” to fit lyrics about veering toward Armageddon, striking deals with the devil and getting caught up in webs of crime and betrayal. By personalizing this inherited musical DNA, Miller and Howlin Rain are doing more than paying homage to the psychedelic ’60s and ’70s, he notes; they are “controlling what we’re trying to add to the historical legacy of music.”

Track: "Calling Lightning Pt. 2."

MEDIA SHELF

New Releases from East Bay Authors and Musicians

Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women
by the Asian American Women Artists Association
(AAWAA, 2007, 128 pp., $24.95)
    This visually rich anthology of art, poetry and prose from the AAWAA explores the female Asian-American perspective and life experience, simultaneously asking its 60 contributing artists and writers to pay homage to their muses through dedications appearing alongside their work. The collection features eight Oakland-based artists and writers—Susan Almazol, Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, Hera Lee, Keiko Nelson, Anh-Hoa Thi Nguyen, Barbara Jane Reyes, Lola Buhain Sevilla and Nellie Wong. Contact the AAWAA (www.aawa.net, info@aawaa.net, 415-252-7966) for information on a coinciding art exhibit of selected works from the anthology and related events through Aug. 25 at San Francisco’s Chinese Cultural Center.

Berkeley, A City in History
by Charles Wollenberg
(University of California Press, 2007, 220 pp., $18.95)
Historian Charles Wollenberg, chairman of social sciences and a history professor at Berkeley City College, and the co-editor and author of three additional history books, draws from a course he has taught at the Berkeley Public Library, producing a feels-good-in-your-hands volume and impressionistic summary of Berkeley from its early days through the turbulent ’60s. Readers can bone up on their Berkeley trivia, thanks to a well-sourced, well-indexed work brimming with compelling photographs.

Memoirs of Smoke & Ashes: A World War II Story
by Andre Pohlman
(XLibris, 2007, 332 pp., $22.99 paperback, $32.99 hardcover)
    Oaklander Andre Pohlman, a Poland native and retired soil scientist from UC Berkeley, debuts as a fiction writer, turning out a first novel about Stena Warner and her son, Andrzej, and their survival in war-torn Warsaw and Budapest as World War II ramps up, forcing the two into difficult hardships aplenty that they somehow manage to survive. Pohlman, who suffered the Nazi occupation of his homeland and was later schooled in England, Argentina and the United States, bases his hopeful story on his and his mother’s wartime memories of their experiences.

Kitka & Tzvetanka Varimezova, Sanctuary: A Cathedral Concert
(Diaphonica, www.kitka.org)
    Now in its 30th year, this thrilling Oakland-based women’s vocal ensemble quickly follows up last year’s The Rusalka Cycle: Between the Worlds with 16 selections recorded in concert with Bulgarian soprano Varimezova. Exquisite acoustics give the tender and soaring vocals—in solos, small groups and full choirs, both a cappella and with minimal instrumental accompaniment—dazzling presence as they explore the musical and emotional nuances of traditional folk songs from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Greece and other Mediterranean and Eastern European regions.

Mia & Jonah, Rooms for Adelaide 
(Mia & Jonah, www.miaandjonah.com)
    Oakland’s first couple of folk-rock fashion a sophomore effort that improves upon their impressive 2005 debut (Shine I) in terms of tight songs, soulful lead vocals, sweet harmonies and a sonically impeccable, atmospheric acoustic-electric blend fleshed out by three East Bay MVPs: guitarist Myles Boisen, bassist Seth Ford-Young and drummer John Hanes.

OAKLAND MADE

Hotcakes Design: In Favor

    When you meet Caramia Visick, you’ll remember her.
    Goldenrod blonde hair camouflages a thick under layer of pomegranate red, and she stands tall in stylish heels and flared blue jeans. She’s also very well accessorized with big, chunky, iconic jewelry.
    This Berkeley-dwelling designer, whose Bakelite-reminiscent line is named Hotcakes Design, will tell you that for her, the bigger the bauble the better. Her bulky, carved-resin and acrylic necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pins, rings and cufflinks (plus more delicate sterling silver creations for petite clients, since “no one is one size fits all”) sell online like hotcakes to hundreds of stores and museums—from coast to coast and around the world. The best seller, Visick says, is a beaded beauty with an oval centerpiece of a vigilant yellow-eyed raven—a piece Sharon Stone favors.
    In 2006, the artist-entrepreneur gave up a drafty Berkeley warehouse studio and opened a tiny Rockridge atelier, Favor. The store is named for the French motorcycle line immortalized in sporty 1930s posters and firmly etched into Visick’s preteen memory, thanks to a motorcycle-riding dad. The store carries Visick’s bold, graphic line of vintage-inspired jewelry that she describes as “streety and funky” as well as accessories from other independent designers that represent a similar aesthetic—quality craftsmanship, plucky design and affordability.
    A journalism major at San Francisco State University who did fine arts on the side, Visick long dabbled in jewelry making. She ultimately gave up a waitress job to design and craft full time, buoyed by having sold so many of her acrylic bracelets literally off her arm directly to admirers.
    “I love it. I feel really lucky to do something I like, but I don’t like the stress,” she says.
    Motherhood (son Sam is 6) means that juggling family and work responsibilities is a given, but her supportive chef-husband (David) now runs the business side of the studio and the store. That allows Visick the energy to fulfill the hefty numbers of orders that keep rolling in.
    The sheer volume of work produced by a successful trade show can be overwhelming, prompting Visick to halfway joke when reality sets in, “What was I thinking? Why was I so happy about that order?”
    Visit Favor, 5337 College Ave., (510) 653-2741, or check out the Hotcakes Design line at www.shopatfavor.com.

GREEN BIN

20-20 Vision

    Do you really need those John Lennon glasses you wore in the 1980s? Sure, they’re cool, but that was six prescriptions ago, so you really can’t wear them anymore anyway. But they can help somebody else see.
    Oaklanders can recycle their unwanted prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses (as well as hearing aids) 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Mon.–Fri. at the Lions Center for the Blind, 3834 Opal St., (510) 450-1580, says Angel Nguyen, an administrative assistant at the center, where the largest donation to date in her memory was 10,000 pairs.
    Once amassed, the eyeglasses make their way to one of 17 Lions recycling centers where they are cleaned and the lenses are sorted by prescription. These “new” glasses eventually make their way around the world to what the World Health Organization says are the 153 million less fortunate who need corrective lenses to mitigate the effects of near-sightedness, far-sightedness and astigmatism.
    Lions Club International is one of the biggest service organizations with the most successful and longest-running eyeglasses reuse program, and the organization’s Web site, www.lionsclub.org, has tons of information about used eyeglasses recycling, from how to organize a collection drive to where to send what you’ve collected.
    “Every donation makes a great difference in someone’s life,” says G. Joyce Truby, a public relations assistant with Lions International.
    At your next eye exam, you can also ask your optician or optometrist where to recycle used but usable eyeglasses. Some stores and eye-care professionals have relationships with other nonprofits, national service organizations or professional optometric associations that recycle used glasses. Libraries and thrift stores also sometimes serve as collection points.
    So the next time you open your drawer and see those old glasses, do the right thing—put them to good reuse.

IN THE SCENE

A Lofty Experience: Great Music Lands at Bird's Nest Jazz

    Hidden away in Oakland’s Jingletown is a little-known spot for live music that is playing host to local and national jazz artists and an eager audience of music lovers. No, it’s not the latest brand of that expanding Oakland jazz institution Yoshi’s; it’s Bird’s Nest Jazz, the brainchild of jazz singer Cathi Walkup—a passionate lover of the arts with three self-produced albums and a new musical—who seems to know everybody.
    Already Walkup has brought singer Bob Dorough, trombonist Wayne Wallace, pianist Bill Bell, guitarist Mimi Fox, Trio Paradiso and recently, Grammy-nominated pianist Mark Levine with bassist John Wiitala to the Waterpark Lofts living space/venue she shares with her husband, Jim Eckford. “The space is so great for this,” Walkup says about the spacious, high-ceilinged living room that is dominated by a brand new Baldwin Ellington grand piano but can seat 54 guests. “There aren’t enough rooms where music is the focus, but this is what everyone craves—a listening space.”
    Brigitte Schoppmann of San Francisco agrees. She brings new friends to the Bird’s Nest as often as she can. “Where else can you sit on the stage and talk to the musicians and share a drink with them after?” she exclaims.
    Indeed, the atmosphere is intimate and informal: Guests sit only a few feet away from the musicians; Walkup and Eckford’s CD racks and bookshelves form a backdrop; wine classes clink along with the music; chef and singer Larry Smith serves up tasty gumbo between sets. Even the neighbors are on board—many of them stop by to see the shows taking place around, or in some cases, underneath, them.
    Part-time Oakland resident Levine (he also keeps a home in Boise, Idaho) sees these types of house concerts as a growing trend and loves to play them. “Clubs are closing and not having jazz anymore,” he says. “These shows are relaxed and fun, and you know the people coming out are real fans.”
    Even with 10 shows a year, Walkup doesn’t see many repeat performances. “There is so much talent in the Bay Area,” she says. “We are so lucky here; there is such a wealth of singers and players.”
    Visit Walkup’s Web site and see what’s on tap at Bird’s Nest Jazz (this month it’s vocalist Ed Reed with Brian Cooke, Rob Fisher and Ron Marabuto, May 18), and be sure to try the gumbo.
    Bird’s Nest Jazz, 5 p.m.–7 p.m. the last Sunday of the month (no shows July and August), $25 includes food and drink, 2875 Glascock St.,
No. 109, (510) 534-6163, www.cwalkup.com.

Miss Goggins Rides Again

Quirky Playhouse Records Children’s Albums Alive and Well in Oakland

    Those baby boomers lucky enough to have had a Playhouse Records album or two in their childhood homes likely bear permanent psychic imprints of such musical tales as “Miss Goggins and the Gorilla,” “The Tin Pan Becomes a Father” and “Martha Matilda O’Toole.” Created in the mind of Jim Copp, a former New York City cabaret comic and Los Angeles Times gossip columnist, these characters and stories came to life on vinyl between 1958 and 1971 through Copp’s chameleon-like vocal magic and recording wizardry, supplemented by the voice work, cover art and marketing acumen of Copp’s long-time partner Ed Brown.
    One indelibly affected young listener was Ted Leyhe, the Oakland videographer responsible for carrying Playhouse Records into the CD age. “When I was growing up in Wisconsin,” Leyhe explains, “my dad used to go to New York City on business and bring back the Jim Copp and Ed Brown records as they came out.”
    When he went to college, Leyhe’s mom gave away his Playhouse albums. In 1991, on the hunt for his favorite, Jim Copp Tales, he called a Los Angeles phone number he found in a catalog; expecting to reach a secretary, he immediately recognized Copp’s voice on the other end. The two struck up a friendship, and Leyhe eventually talked Copp into letting him revive Playhouse. A flurry of early national publicity led to Leyhe and his wife, Laura, filling 4,000 orders out of their garage. Newscaster Tom Brokaw’s wife made purchases, author/illustrator Edward Gorey was on the mailing list and Oakland-born guitarist Henry Kaiser rekindled his childhood passion and wrote a rave reminiscence for the Playhouse Web site and liner notes for the best-of collections.
    Jim Copp died in 1999 (Brown passed away 21 years earlier) and left the operation to Leyhe, and now the albums, which Copp and Brown once personally peddled around the country with signing sessions at high-end departments stores like Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus and
I. Magnin, are available worldwide
on the Internet.
    “Jim knew there would be an evergreen market for these things,” Leyhe says. “Unlike straight comedy albums that have a limited shelf life, these children’s albums go on and on. They’re like Babar the Elephant and Curious George—true American classics.”
    Playhouse Records are sold online at www.playhouserecords.com and Amazon.com, by mail order at Playhouse Records, P.O. Box 20547, Oakland, CA 94620-0547, and locally at Mrs. Dalloway’s Literary & Garden Arts, 2904 College Ave., Berkeley.
TRACK: "The Dog that Went to Yale."

You're an Oaklander If ...

You know who Albert Francis Hegenberger was.

    Anyone who has traveled to Oakland International Airport knows about its main access thoroughfare, Hegenberger Road, and its sister streets, Hegenberger Loop and Hegenberger Place, but only true Oaklanders know for whom the road is actually named. No, he was not the patron saint of hamburgers only found at the nearby Hegenburger (although clues can be found there), nor was he a world-famous baggage handler from the airport. But if you guessed he had something to do with aviation, you would be correct. Albert Francis Hegenberger was a major general in the U.S. Army and a pioneering aviator who set a flight distance record in 1927. Perhaps more importantly, Hegenberger designed the first blind instrument landing system for military and commercial aircraft, which eventually became standard-issue equipment. So the next time your plane safely descends through the Bay Area fog for a safe landing, loosen your grip on the armrest and thank old Albert.