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Music
A round-up of the best classical concerts in the valley.
THE CELEBRATED Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) endured a complex and fraught relationship with his homeland. Abroad during the Bolshevik triumph, Prokofiev came back during the 1930s, at the height of the Stalin regime. The government involved itself excessively in the creative output of its prominent artists. Realism was mandated; formalist tendencies condemned. Prokofiev struggled within these confines, tackling nationalist projects, such as his score for Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky and his opera version of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. In one of history’s ironies, Prokofiev died on the same day as Stalin. More
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Movies
L.A. gets what's coming to it in disaster epic.
L.A. wobbling on all sides of a mile-deep fissure in the earth, the skyscrapers dancing around its brink or keeling over in slow faints. A stretch limo scoots around these twisting monoliths trying to get to a comfortable cruising altitude; meanwhile, the unquiet earth rises up on both sides of the escarpment until it’s a crescent-shaped motif. Then, the UNESCO World Heritage Site (What? It isn’t? What the hell is up with that?) concrete advertising sign of Randy’s Donuts wheels through the chaos, as if inviting the car to take the proverbial flying you know what at a rolling donut. More
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Music
The blues great talks about playing with Howlin' Wolf.
HUBERT SUMLIN is a national treasure. Not just because he played with Howlin’ Wolf for almost 25 years, including on what is to my mind the best blues record ever made, 1962’s Howlin’ Wolf (a.k.a. the “Rocking Chair album”). Or because he also played with Muddy Waters, most notably on the 1957 single “Got My Mojo Working.” Or even because his incredible and unmistakable guitar style influenced everyone from Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page to Keith Richards. More
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News
Perez Departs Evergreen; Medi-Pot Arrives in Garlic Capital; Local Biz on the Radio; NASDAQ in Mountain View
Pérez to Retire from San Jose/Evergreen Community College
Rosa Pérez, Chancellor of the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District, announced that she will be retiring because of poor health. Pérez has battled respiratory problems in the past. Her retirement will go into effect on June 30, when her current contract expires. More
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Real Estate
Report shows most Realtors and brokers fear a hard 2010.
The commercial real estate market can expect another hard year in 2010, with recovery delayed to 2011. This is the finding of a new LoopNet poll for Q4 of 2009, surveying investors, brokers, and property owners. More
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Books
Rick Kaffel spins a tale of Silicon Valley intrigue in new novel
IN SILICON VALLEY, it isn’t enough to just win. The competition also has to lose, which is why ruthless billionaire CEOs would realistically take such advice from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War when trying to steal someone else’s company. This is just one of three main threads embroidered in Keith Raffel’s new set-in–Silicon Valley thriller, Smasher. Protagonist Ian Michaels, CEO of Accelnet, is going through the usual rows with his board members because the seventh-richest dude in America is scheming to crush his company. More
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Clubs
A local standup plans to record his first album at Sonoma Chicken Coop
DECIDING on a career in comedy took some soul-searching for standup Mike Betancourt, who headlines “A Special Night of Comedy” this week at Sonoma Chicken Coop. Betancourt, who was born and raised in San Jose, served in the Navy from 1999 until 2004 on the USS Theodore Roosevelt during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. After the Navy, he attended West Valley College for two years before switching to Sacramento City College for a semester. More
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News
Adobe Cuts Jobs; China Goes Solar in SV; Governor Signs Water Bill in San Jose
Look Both Ways Before You Cross
San Jose may be one of the country's top ten walking cities, but that doesn't mean it's safe or getting safer for pedestrians. In fact, city engineers will tell you that slow-moving traffic only adds pollution while fast moving traffic along the city's streets, make for a greener San Jose. Perhaps that's why a new report by the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership named San Jose as California's tenth most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians. More
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Movies
The director talks about his film, 'Sharon," which will be screened tonight in San Jose
Anyone who ever encountered Ariel Sharon is left with an image that betrays conventional wisdom. To many in the Arab world, he was the "Butcher of Beirut," big-headed, belligerent, and brutal. It was this very image that served as the basis of Time Magazine's controversial assertion that he was directly responsible for the Sabra and Shatilla massacre—an assertion ruled false by an American court—or why another court in Belgium was prepared to try him as a war criminal. But even in the Israeli media he was often portrayed as an opportunistic politician, whose ill-considered jaunt on the contested Temple Mount with an escort of over 1,000 Israe More
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Restaurants
Sampling the new and exciting future of Indian cuisine.
I HAVE TASTED the future of Indian food, and it’s really good. Mountain View’s Sakoon restaurant is rooted in classic Indian food that draws on regional styles from across the subcontinent, but executive chef Sachin Chopra uses that as a point of departure to take Indian food in new and exciting directions. More
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