Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

On the first Saturday of each month, Cafe Van Kleef, a great electic hangout at 1621 Telegraph features a dance group called The Hot Pink Feathers. It's a San Francisco-based group of women who described their performance as "Hot Pink Feathers is the world's premiere samba burlesque dance troupe. These San Francisco-based dancing darlings are spreading the glitter gospel across the globe with their exuberant extravangzas. From family friendly to all-out risque revues, the Feathers entertainment themes range from Brazilian Carnaval, New Orleans Mardi Gras, French Can Can, Gypsy Cabaret, Tropical Sambafest, to Bawdy Bollywood and beyond." They dance to the music of a band called "Blue Bone Express" and in the hottest outfits anyone's ever seen. They pack the house. I've only seen them once before this video, and when I did I told Peter Van Kleef, the establishment's owner, than I'd film the event -- that's what it is, really -- the ne

The Uptown Bar is known for hosting music groups of all kinds from rock to rap and hip hop, which pretty much means they're going to see all kinds of personalities. Tuesday, July 3rd was no exception. On that evening, Uptown hoted a hip hop group called Mista Masta, which is repped by ATM Records , at least that's true according to Uptown's calendar as it looked for this week -- that will change. Anyway, the group got a little rowdy and after their performance didn't clear the stage to close. Uptown Manager and Owner Kevin Burns decided to take matters into his own hands, and got up onto the stage to tell the group it was time to clean up. As he did this, he was hit by a woman on one side and then clobbered in the head by a man, both unidentified, but also part of the group. Kevin called the cops, but by the time they arrived, the Mista Masta clan was out of the door and gone. When I conducted an online search, I learned that the only Mista Masta is someone als

We were all very excited when Ron Dellumns became Mayor of Oakland as w wanted a fresh face and a new start. But since he assumed office, Mayor Dellumns has been largely quiet. But what's personally distressing to me is that when I call the Mayor's Office main number -- 510-238-3141 -- I've gotten a voicemail message during business hours on several occasions. It's happened so much that I now call another number I used when I needed to directly contact Jerry Brown. I'm not giving that number out just yet, because once I do, the Mayor's Office may change it. Oaklanders have echoed the same feelings I express here. Take a look at this forum exchange I found on Topix.com: Graham Carter Berkeley, CA Reply » | Flag | #1 Jan 12, 2006 If he moved elsewhere HE would not be missed - as major HE was a total failure. deeba dabba Saint Louis, MO Reply » | Flag | #2 Saturday Jun 16 yep, i don't doubt it, crap always seems to like to stick around Oakland Kevin San

Yep. You read that clear as day. I will repeat the title: "Oakland and The SF Bay Area Slowly Becoming More Racist Than The South" Before I explain, let's recap exactly what the definition of racism is by referring to this Wikipedia definition: In practice, racism takes forms such as racial prejudice, segregation or subordination (subjugation). Racism can more narrowly refer to a legalized system of domination by one ethnic group over another, such as in institutional racism. Racial prejudice refers to a pre-formed notion of individuals based on their perceived racial heritage. It involves hasty generalizations about members of a group based on the perceived characteristics of one or more members of the group. Generalizations include beliefs that every member of a group has the same personality traits, interests, language, culture, ideas, norms and attitudes. Racial prejudices are sometimes promoted by the mainstream media. Racism has started wars and slavery. It is,

I walked into a local restaurant off Piedmont Avenue and got both a great meal and a great conversation with two Oakland School teachers. Unfortunately, I learned that one of them was just mugged at gunpoint on Palm Avenue last week. That's the same street I live on. The pattern's becoming all too familar: white women being the target of someone Black or Latino in their teens or maybe 20 at best. I stopped writing for a while here because I was sick to my stomach of reporting crime. I still am.

I've been heavily involved in supporting Senator Barack Obama's run for President of The United States. One of my most recent decisions was to join East Bay For Obama, a fun organization that has various fundraisers and gatherings around the objective of supporting and promoting the Senator and his candidacy. To gain a small taste of what an East Bay For Obama function is like, I made this video below. You can find out more about the group at the Barack Obama website at www.barackobama.com, just click on My Barack Obama and then "Groups." Here's the video:

Here's the info on the Earthquake you may have felt in Oakland. It's from the US Government's site. Magnitude 3.0 - duration magnitude (Md) Time Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 12:20:19 PM (PDT) Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 19:20:19 (UTC) Distance from Emeryville, CA - 2 km (1 miles) NNW (345 degrees) Berkeley, CA - 3 km (2 miles) SW (218 degrees) Albany, CA - 4 km (3 miles) S (177 degrees) Kensington, CA - 6 km (4 miles) SSW (192 degrees) Oakland, CA - 9 km (5 miles) NW (318 degrees) Coordinates 37 deg. 51.2 min. N (37.853N), 122 deg. 17.6 min. W (122.293W) Depth 8.5 km (5.3 miles) Location Quality Good Location Quality Parameters Nst=136, Nph=136, Dmin=4 km, Rmss=0.18 sec, Erho=0.1 km, Erzz=0.4 km, Gp=28.8 degrees Event ID# nc51181496