Berkeley Arts Festival Calendar

05/08/2013

Piano Sonatas Noon Concert, UC Berkeley

Pianist Nathan Noh performs Beethoven Sonata No. 26 and Chopin Sonata No. 2

Free and open to the public
510.642.4864

12 noon to 1pm, Hertz Hall UC Campus

Laurie Lewis

CD release show. $22.50 advance / $24.50 at door. 644-2020. www.thefreight.org

8pm, Freight and Salvage Coffee House, 2020 Addison

Robbie Basho Benefit

Berkeley Arts presents A Robbie Basho Tribute Concert and Documentary Film Benefit

Berkeley Arts presents a concert in tribute to the late guitarist and Berkeley resident Robbie Basho. The event is also a benefit to raise funds to complete the first ever documentary film about Basho - titled Voice Of The Eagle: The Enigma Of Robbie Basho - currently in the works by London-based filmmaker Liam Barker.

The lineup includes several Bay Area performers whose work has been inspired in some way by Robbie Basho's music, including two guitarists who personally knew Basho: fingerstyle guitarist Rich Osborn and renown improvisor Henry Kaiser.

The concert will include short sets by:
Henry Kaiser
Rich Osborn
Bill Orcutt
Chuck Johnson
Danny Paul Grody
Aaron Sheppard
Andrew Weathers

We think this will be an historic event, and a fitting tribute to Basho's legacy - in the same spirit as the John Fahey memorial concerts that took place at the Freight And Salvage in 2002.

About Robbie Basho
Robbie Basho (1940 - 1986) was a Berkeley-based composer, guitarist, and vocalist and one of the foremost proponents of steel string acoustic guitar as a solo concert instrument. Along with John Fahey and Leo Kottke, Basho was part of the triumvirate of pioneering guitarists on the Berkeley-based Takoma label in the 1960s. Basho went on to record for Windham Hill, and was an important influence on the label's founder, guitarist William Ackerman. His innovative guitar compositions incorporated American folk, European, and Eastern influences, and he is credited for developing the improvisational "American raga" style.

About the Film
Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho is a journey into the heart of an artist's lifelong struggle - designed to illuminate and satiate existing fans while serving as a perfect starting point for the uninitiated. Self-funded entirely to date by director Liam Barker, Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho features interviews with Basho's former students, contemporaries and few close friends; interspersed with abstract employment of archive footage and photography of the natural phenomena and localities that informed Basho's work. Basho claimed to paint America with music; the film will attempt to transfigure Robbie Basho with sound and images.

Principal photography began on Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho in October 2012, with the filmmakers shooting (and intermittently battling superstorms) in Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, Colorado and California. A Kickstarter campaign is set to launch in spring 2013 to enable the film's continuing production and subsequent post-production costs.

Liam Barker - Writer, Director, Producer, Editor Justinas Vabuolas - Director of Photography http://www.robbiebashofilm.com/

8pm to 10:30pm, 2133 University Ave.

Grateful Dead Night: Stu Allen & Mars Hotel

$12. 525-5054. www.ashkenaz.com

8pm, Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo