I was rolling with a Group of Friends , That were going to Brunch and we happened upon this Blues…read moreFestival. It happen to be "The 20th Annual Jazz on Fourth Festival " . 20th Annual Jazz on Forth Festival is presented by the Fourth Street Merchants and KCSM/Jazz 91 . 20th Annual Jazz on Fourth Festival took place on Sunday May 17, 2015 from Noon - 5 PM. 20th Annual Jazz on Fourth Festival benefits Berkeley High School Jazz Program a very Worth While Cause. The Performers were : 2 Berkeley High School Jazz Combos Mal Sharpes Big Money In Jazz Band With Special Guest Kellye Gray Terrie Odabi and Edgardo + Candela - A Salsa band . The Jazz on Fourth Festival has raised over $175,000 for Berkeley Highs School Jazz Program since the Festivals Inception. Its a wonderful Festival that doesnt charge an Admission fee . It is Free.

What a great weekend festival in Berkeley! I ran right into this event before going to brunch with…read morea couple of friends and didn't even know it existed! The 20th Annual Jazz on Forth Festival took place on Sunday 5/17/15 from 11AM to 5PM. I was on my way to have breakfast brunch with my dinner crew and seen all the stages and booth set up! It was such a delight. They had two music stages: One near Bette's Diner and the other near the Pasta Shop. Both stages were playing great music and had a lovely band that had me swinging my hips back and forth. They had tons of food booths even Bette's Diner selling many different varieties of foods such as: Corn on the cob, Pizza, BBQ and hotdogs. They even had a free photo booth from Photolabatory.com which is a photo print lab! Although I didn't get a chance to take a free photo I will definitely look for that booth next year! I will definitely be back to this again next year! It was tons of fun and so many venders! WAY TO GO JAZZ ON FOURTH!

Awesome place to see awesome live music. Saw a couple of independent bands. I will be back when I'm…read morein the area

Love the venue! I volunteer frequently, and the other volunteers are wonderful! Show up an hour…read morebefore the first band to volunteer and get into the show free! (U still have to have a membership card to volunteer, but totally worth it!)

Great intimate music venue, with a variety of different styles of music…read more Bring your own drinks and food, nothing is available.

In all my years of growing up in the Bay and hanging out in Berkeley I never knew about this place…read more It's an intimate venue to hear live music. My dearly departed partner's cousin, Tony Saunders, was playing live there. (Bass player, his dad played with Jerry Garcia). you can Google him. Its a located one a small culd-a-sac off University so parking can be and issue, if you are look for free, but there is a lot across the street. There is no food served there and I believe you can BYOB, but there are plenty of place to eat along University, if you make this a date night or night out. There are some tables, and chairs toward the back, otherwise it is couches and other odd and ends furniture to sit on. It was great and the history of the place is great as well. I will check out some other shows there too. If you are a fan of Yoshis, it like that minus food and more intimate.

Just off the corner of Solano and San Pablo, not too far from the 80 freeway exit…read more At the tip of the epicenter of gastronomic delights-Solano Avenue in Albany. I was there the other night with my beer buddy and all around friend with the same first name as I (and that's another story!) for the tribute to the local beloved character that passed recently, Mr. Bailey Pendergrass. A longtime institution in the Berkeley music scene from way back in the day till present. An interesting, kind fellow who still walked around in skinny trousers and a leather jacket- even on very hot days. And a hairdo like no other! He kind of reminded me of a character from Rocky Horror Picture Show or someone who could be played by Johnny Depp in some hip artistic movie. A bit of an eccentric, soft-spoken, amazingly charming man. A joy to sit down and chat with who had strong opinions and a distrust for doctors and their prescribed medication's,etc. I don't go very far back other than six or seven years when I met him at a popular watering hole called the Cornerstone on Shattuck. He would invite me to hang out while he ate his standard hamburger and fries and wash it down with what I remember was cranberry juice. He could never finish the whole burger so he'd take half home but would eat the fries usually, with a little help from me. We would talk about Minneapolis (where I'm from) and Prince of course, and he would share interesting stories. I'd keep him company until the music event would start where he had carte blanche, complementary entry with a plus one at the Cornerstone. I was his plus one and it was fun one night. I'll have to dig up the mixed CDs that he made for me that he presented in a recycled/repurposed "In-n-Out" bag, it was a nice touch. There was a little hand written note as well. The IVY ROOM put on a nice event and many showed up to pay their respect. Some were given a chance to get on the stage and recall memories. However, the crowd never stopped talking, so it was very hard to hear their praises, etc. The bartender was superb, but I'm sorry I didn't catch her name, very kind and approachable and humorous and of course, extremely efficient! It's a nice cozy room with a lot of history and an eclectic group of patrons. I chatted with a couple of extremely friendly kind people. However, I left before the music started as after a long day of work, I started to fade. Thank you Ivy Room for opening up your space to honor Mr. Bailey Pendergrass, and the wonderful people attending this event.

I continue to love the Ivy room. Bartenders make the best drinks and they aren't overpriced…read more Doorman is always really accommodating and friendly, and the bands are fantastic.

Crazy good selection of whiskey, if you can't find your unicorn bottle here, you may not have hope…read more Get to acme and have a drink

Question: Is Acme a bourbon bar or a whiskey bar? I have an unconventional answer because I like…read morethe vibes here and have discovered it's actually an "everything good" bar. I love the outstanding Mezcal list. On Tuesdays (some? all? I dunno) they have a martini and caviar menu. Ten bucks get you an excellent house martinis and a healthy mound of caviar on a potato chip. Happy hour feature $6 well drinks (1 mixer) or $10 cocktails (multi-mixer shaken or stirred). Great bartenders here, especially Anaís!

Went for the Mon Rovia show last night - first time in the venue. Decided to splurge for the…read more"Studio 24" package which gave us a separate entrance (no waiting in line), our own "VIP" lounge with some excellent free food (dumplings, egg rolls, and more), private restrooms (hey, that was cool!) and more. The layout is somewhat similar to Ace of Spades, but much nicer. We spent equal time down in the floor and in the balcony area (complete with a drink rail). All staff was just so gracious, welcoming, and helpful. It helped make the night really special, and we will definitely look for future events here.

"The Midnight" Put On Great Show In This Venue!…read more SITREP First time here! Never been to this venue before, so I was excited to check this place out when we got tickets to see "The Midnight" show this past Sunday evening, Sept. 20. THE SETUP First off, we got tickets for the Band's VIP pre-concert meetup requiring us to be there by 5:15pm (Doors officially opened @ 7pm / Music started @ 8pm). The venue is pretty spacious, and I'm just talking about the entry-way lobby: Large windows, beautiful murals, plenty of people to stand in line, congregate (my own personal gripe: there can't be enough ancillary seating in whatever part of the venue you're in, including the lobby; 64 years old here, not a fan of possibly standing for 7 hours, right?). But moving on, we were ushered in by venue staff into the main auditorium where the band was doing their soundcheck, so we got to watch the band practice for about 15 minutes on some of their songs while we were allowed to hangout and watch. MEET & GREET We were ushered back out into the lobby where we were able to cluster around Tyler - lead singer of "The Midnight" and have a great conversation! There were about 25 of us having an intimate chat with him which was a lot of fun: people asked questions about their music, inspiration for their lyrics, decisions on how many band members to have, etc. I always love pulling the left-turn, throwing a wrench into the flow, and asked Tyler, "How is it travel with the touring logistics with the diesel and other accommodations getting much more expensive? He was nonplussed but did say, "I've never been asked THAT before!" But answer he did. In fact, the band's manager chimed in and they both joked "Hey, if anyone wants to chip in on fuel costs, we're not too proud!" CONCERT The band rocked! Excellent show! The stage was elevated so no matter where you were standing on the main floor you had a decent view of the band. Luckily for us "old folks", there was bench-like seating all along the wall all around the perimeter of the room. Thank GOD. Suzanne and I took turns getting drinks but also managing to not give up our seats. We noticed the large balcony above and hadn't researched whether these were a different category of tickets. We noticed that it appeared (although it coulda been the dim lighting) there were no seats up there but rather three (3) separate rising tiers of bar-like rails for people to put their drinks on and lean against. LIGHTING An excellent feature about this venue - in contrast to it' most obvious competitor ACE OF SPACES - is that Channel 24 allows the venue, if desired, channel control of the auditorium's lighting-system to be controlled by the band's sound engineer: during heavy pulsating bass/drum rhythms, or percussive guitar work, the lights all around the room can pulsate with the songs rhythms. SERIOUSLY cool! DRINKS Ah well. Drinks at concerts, or festivals, or fairs, etc., are going to be expensive. My Jack & Coke, and Suzanne's Appletini were a coool $40 together w/o tip. So FYI. PARKING & MASS TRANSIT OPTIONS The venue is located right off the 23rd Street Light-rail station making it ideal to come to on mass transit with bus stops also conveniently located close. On this occasion, we drove to the venue and chose to avail ourselves of the $30 secured lot just in the next block from the venue (the other side of the lightrail tracks). THE LOWDOWN Channel 24 is a very good venue overall and I look forward to catching my next concert/show there.

It's a down to earth, barn like music venue with a very small bar and amazing music!…read more Hard to find a place like this in a city!

I come for a weekly Bhangra class which I love. It's a get your body moving and the more you put…read morein the better your workout will be. The instructors, especially Andrea, is consistently welcoming. I also find her easier to follow because her pants are not override and it easier to see the leg movement. Viki, the lead instructor, is nice on email but when I try to talk to her in person, I find the interaction awkward. Maybe it's me but I see her interacting with others. Come! Great music, energy, joy and movement. A great way to spend an hour.

Was here for a brief date. Looking to come back soon. Super reasonable pricing and cocktails were…read moresolid with great friendly service on a slow Sunday evening.

Save water, drink tequila…read more We tried finding a nearby cafe to kill time but every one of them was busy with no seating. So here I am, sipping on Fortaleza Blanco ($19).... *Cheers* to the Sunday scaries and Monday hangxiety! O T H E R I N F O * HH Specials: Tuesday - Friday, 4 pm - 6 pm and all day Sunday. * Bring your own food. They also have chips and tamales for purchase. * They have a bottle shop next door where you can find small-batch, hard to find spirits. * Hip, industrial vibes with indoor seating and a covered patio. * Well-behaved, leashed dogs allowed in the patio. * There's a spacious lounge area inside that's perfect for large parties and available to reserve. * Plentiful of street parking.

There is no bad seat at The Freight but this time I got front row , it's always general admission…read moreseating. This show was for Dave Alvin and Jimmy Dale Gilmore... two legends playing without their band for this show. Last time I saw them with their full band much closer to home at Felton Music Hall... also a great venue. Opening artist was guitarist Lenny Kaye from The Smiths and he was great too. Awesome audience as usual for The Freight. Get out and see live music, it's always a great time.

We saw Keola Beamer and Henry Kapono recently. It was our first visit to the Freight since they…read moremoved ever so long ago. This is truly a nice venue to see music. The staff is friendly; parking is convenient next door in the garage; plenty of restaurants nearby. There were also a few snack items and drinks available for sale. I was bummed that perhaps customer service and management aren't completely in synch with their own policies. I had written and asked if photography would be allowed since this was a Hawaiian show. I wanted to bring in one camera with an attached lens, no flash to take photos for personal use only. I was told that the policy was no photography was allowed. On the night of the show, the last announcement before the show started, was that non-flash photography was welcome. Oh well.

Little Hill is what's you get when you cross a dive bar with a community center. People of all…read morestripes gathering for drinks, meeting friends, chatting up someone sitting next to you, people watching, and listening to local musicians or DJs. Bartenders are friendly and drinks are great. The place is plastered with posters of upcoming events. The interior is classic dive bar with red lights, beer signs, circle booths, wooden bar and jukebox. I love being able to slide into a booth and watch everyone else stroll in to the bar. I try to support the occasional pop-up food booth outside to keep them coming back.

Little Hill Lounge, what a gem for our little city of El Cerrito. I love a good neighborhood bar,…read moreand LHL is exactly what you want from a neighborhood spot ~ walking distance, cool peeps, friendly bartenders, great music, stiff drinks, fun foodie pop-ups, and cool events throughout the year. We've celebrated birthdays, holidays, and taken new friends and old here. The perfect meet up, place for one/done or sit and stay a while. Good value, great Little Hill Mai Thai. During the holidays they have one of the best hot buttered rums I've ever had. Most recently, we've enjoyed their live karaoke (you get to perform with a live band) which makes for a pretty epic experience, the addition of local bands performing in the back of the bar, and the pop up Double Barrel BBQ with the amazing Lorenzo cookin' it up (yes to the smash burger, grilled cheese, and chocolate chip dipped cookie). Dimmed lighting, curtained photo booth, booth/bar stool seating..simply the best. Recently popped in and noticed new napkins with their logo and pretty menus with new creative cocktails/fun, localish names. Looking forward to the future of this bar, rock on!