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Amani Hamed on March 9, 2022
Jessica Veikune’s brow knits together in concentration as she uses a needle to scoop small beads and pieces of seashells onto a delicate thread in a repeating pattern. Veikune is one of many Indigenous dancers hard at work in preparation for the first annual Cali Native Night and 24th annual Mexica New…
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Elliott Sky Case on March 9, 2022
For painter Céline Lyaudet, ideas and objects hold a basilisk-like power: gaze too long, and the viewer becomes petrified. The French artist is speaking in particular to the title of her piece Meduse Médusée, which appears in her debut solo exhibition Map to the Path, ending this weekend at Anno Domini. Referring…
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San Jose’s own Bollywood bluesman, Aki Kumar, has long cut a distinct figure in the South Bay. Blending American blues with Hindi lyrics and elements of Indian bhangra, Kumar creates a cocktail like no other before. On 2021 single “Zindagi” (“Life,” in Hindi), Kumar and crew throw Jamaican roots reggae into the…
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Mike Huguenor on March 9, 2022
It’s hard to believe, but it’s been 15 months since San Jose’s premier burlesque troupe, the Circus of Sin, called San Jose’s premier dive, the Caravan Lounge, home. This weekend’s dramatic return reunites the troupe’s belly-dancers, drag artists, burlesque performers and assorted ne’er-do-wells with the beloved downtown watering hole they have so…
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Elliott Sky Case on March 9, 2022
Cellist Abel Selaocoe bends parameters of tradition and style as gracefully as his bow bends the strings of its instrument. The South African musician has performed as a chamber musician and as a soloist across the UK, played as part of a virtual celebration of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 90th birthday alongside classical…
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Mike Huguenor on March 9, 2022
Common wisdom says we each only live one life, but author V.E. Schwab happily lives two. As the dual-initialed V.E., Schwab pens probing works of adult fantasy like 2013’s Vicious, a dark take on the superhero genre. Simultaneously, as Victoria Schwab, Schwab writes for children and young adult readers in books like…
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Jay Edgar on March 9, 2022
Exhibit Z in NorCal’s oft overlooked contributions to the hip hop world: Solesides Records. In the early ‘90s, the label and collective helped to first define and then spread the sound of alternative hip hop, bringing the world such luminaries as DJ Shadow and Blackalicious’ Gift of Gab, both of whom changed…
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Beibei Xu on March 9, 2022
In a society where marriage was closely tied to money and social status, the sensible Elinor and sensitive Marianne Dashwood champion two distinctively different perspectives on love, womanhood and marriage. Under the masterful direction of Robert Kelley, this musical based on Jane Austen’s all-time classic abounds with the author’s signature emotional depths…
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Ethan Gregory Dodge on March 2, 2022
Rays of South Bay winter sunshine illuminated Backesto Park this past weekend as activists and members of the community gathered to celebrate the last weekend of Black History Month. With singing, dancing, food and art, the event was a clear demonstration of what Kiana Simmons calls “Black joy.”
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Mighty Mike McGee on March 2, 2022
Lee Kravetz’s agent begged him not to become a novelist. With his first two books of non-fiction, his career as a reliable psychological journalist was cemented. But after reading the manuscript for Kravetz’s novel The Last Confessions of Sylvia P., his agent said he couldn’t go back to non-fiction.
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