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New Style Motherlode Dance Studio , the creation of Skyline High School graduate Corey Action and Teela Shine-Ross, produces this must-see Hip Hop dance event on August 14th at 6:30 PM at Oakland Metro, 630 3rd Street, Oakland, CA. It's called HEAT, and the show raises money for the kids dance programs at the New Style Motherlode Dance Studio at 5451 College Ave (between Kales Ave & Taft Ave). Amy Larson, a Skyline High classmate of this blogger, talks about the upcoming New Style Motherlode show: New Style Motherlode Dance Studio has received great reviews on Yelp . Here's a sample of them: Stephanie H. - I've known Corey and Teela since way back when they taught at the then Alice Arts Center and they've really created an amazing dance studio and following! Pretty much every single class is taught by a kick ass instructor that really has the chops to teach. There is nothing worse then going to a dance class feeling like you know more then the teacher...

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums brought a sad and historic end to his four years as Mayor of Oakland yesterday. Not just because he elected to avoid running for reelection as Mayor, but the way he did it.  This blogger  predicted he would run and this blogger was way wrong. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums became the first mayor in Oakland's history to not seek a second four-year term. And word of this travelled fast, as this blogger received several text messages and emails on Wednesday (my birthday), including a really nasty one from a person who was told to avoid contact with this blogger. (And if he persists, you will read about him in this space.) But yes, you read that correctly: Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums became the first mayor in Oakland's history to not seek a second four-year term. Since 1953, when Oakland's Mayor began serving a four-year term , every Oakland mayor has held the office longer than four years, except Ron Dellums: John C. Houlihan - 1961-1966 (Resigned...

Jenn Pae District 2 Oakland City Councilperson Pat Kernighan officially has a competitor in the race for her Oakland City Council District 2 seat: Jennifer Pae. The 28-year-old Korean American has amassed over $36,000 in donations from 300 people as of this writing. Jennifer Pae's also launched a new website at JenniferPae.com , but who's Jenn Pae? This blogger personally knows Jenn Pae. She's person who has been heavily involved in various Oakland political and community efforts, and is a member of the Oakland Community Policing Advisory Board. Jennifer is one of those new Oakland young women who, like Frieda Edgette of the East Bay Young Democrats, is very popular and has pockets of friends and associates in disparate groups that she can call on for support and direction. "We need to invest in Oakland by bringing fresh solutions, a bold vision, and new leadership into City Hall," says Pae in her press release. "We need to make fiscally and ...

On Friday, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums will announce his intentions regarding running for a second term as Mayor of Oakland. Will he or won't he? Frankly, the simple fact he's waited until the last possible day says that he's going to run for reelection. That's the solid prediction here. Moreover, the Joe Tuman for Mayor Campaign seems to know this, as they're working to make sure you know Joe's your other choice for Oakland's next mayor. I conducted two interviews with Tuman, but one of them, the long one, was done on a new HD camera I'm having tech issues with, and so there's the delay. Fortunately, I'm camcorder-rich now, but it's the high dollar ones that always give you the headache. A bigger headache is the Oakland Mayor's race. The Tuman campaign wants me to post that interview - a good one - on Friday, and just to let you know Joe's out there.  Problem is the video won't be ready by then.    But Oaklanders know ...

On Friday, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums will announce his intentions regarding running for a second term as Mayor of Oakland. Will he or won't he. Frankly, the simple fact he's waited until the last possible day says that he's going to run for reelection. That's the solid prediction here. Moreover, the Joe Tuman for Mayor Campaign seems to know this, as they're working to make sure you know Joe's your other choice for Oakland's next mayor. I conducted two interviews with Tuman, but one of them, the long one, was done on a new HD camera I'm having tech issues with, and so there's the delay. Fortunately, I'm camcorder-rich now, but it's the high dollar ones that always give you the headache. A bigger headache is the Oakland Mayor's race. The Tuman campaign wants me to post that interview - a good one - on Friday, and just to let you know Joe's out there.  Problem is the video won't be ready by then.    But Oaklanders know J...

According to The Hartford Courant in Hartford, Connecticut, Omar Thornton, who faced disciplinary action at Hartford Distributors, Inc., opened fire and killed what is now said to be nine people in Manchester, Connecticut, then was shot by police. Earlier reports were that Omar Thornton shot himself; he did not. It was called a "cop shooting" because Omar Thornton did not put his gun down, so police opened fire. According to Fox CT News video on the Hartford Courant page , and via the mother of a woman, Kristi Hannah, who dated him for eight months, the shooter, 34-year old Omar Thornton, who's African American, complained of racism to his employers, but they did nothing. John Hollis, a Teamsters Union official said that Omar Thornton, who was a driver with Hartford Distributors, was a "discipline problem" and the union was bringing Thornton in to "remedy" the problem. Thornton shot a number of people, and as of this writing, it's not ...

On Saturday, this space reported that the Oakland Lakeshore / Lake Park campaign office for Meg Whitman, the former eBay Chairman and CEO running for California Governor against Jerry Brown, had a warning sign "surveillance" sign in not one but three places on the front window, and that the word "surveillance" was misspelled. It looked like Meg Whitman was expressing how afraid she was of Oakland. Here's the Meg Whitman Oakland Office video : Well, as of Sunday, the Meg Whitman campaign reps came in and took down the signs. However the action doesn't erase the fact that they did it. The office has to go beyond just taking down the signs, they have to embrace the Oakland neighborhood they're in. That means being more open and not just hiding behind a card table. Stay tuned.