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COMMENTARY: A Historical Look Back – – Sounds of the Bay Area – Secular and the Sacred

When Southern migrants came to California during the World War II era, they transported their music with them. Music served as a reminder of home; it was like medicine for the soul. The sounds of gospel music found a popular place in the Bay Area.

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Based on traditional choir and quartet singing in southern churches, a cappella gospel music enjoyed an upsurge in popularity as southern black migrants formed new singing groups that toured local communities.
Based on traditional choir and quartet singing in southern churches, a cappella gospel music enjoyed an upsurge in popularity as southern black migrants formed new singing groups that toured local communities.

By Rev. Dr. Martha C. Taylor

The late T-Bone Walker, blues singer, said, “The first time I ever heard a boogie-woogie piano was when I went to church, even the sermon was preached in a blues tone while the congregation yelled amen.” Charlie Yardbird Parker, famous jazz saxophonist frequented the Bay Area during the 40s. Parker once replied to a question about his religious affiliation that he was a devout musician. Even T-Bone Walker’s friends were convinced that he would become a preacher when he stopped singing because of the way he sang the blues. They said it sounded like a sermon. Blues singer Alberta Hunter testified “The blues are like spirituals, almost sacred.”

When Southern migrants came to California during the World War II era, they transported their music with them. Music served as a reminder of home; it was like medicine for the soul. The sounds of gospel music found a popular place in the Bay Area.

Based on traditional choir and quartet singing in southern churches, a cappella gospel music enjoyed an upsurge in popularity as southern black migrants formed new singing groups that toured local communities. Shipyard workers formed gospel groups like the Singing Shipbuilders Quarter (Richmond), Rising Stars Singers (Oakland), and the Paramount Singers (San Francisco).

These two groups, whose members came primarily from Texas and Louisiana, laid the groundwork for later Bay Area gospel groups like the Golden Stars, the Golden West Singers, the Swanee River Singers, the Spartonaires, the Oakland Silvertones, and many others. Church mass choirs began to cut records under the leadership of pastors like G. W. Killens and Carl Anderson.

Opal Nations said Bishop Louis Narcisse sounded like a saved and sanctified blues singer. Blues and gospel music both expressed the struggles of life. Charles Albert Tindley wrote, “I’ll Overcome Someday,” was popular during the Civil Rights era. Betty Reid and her husband Mel Reid opened the first black gospel and blues record store in West Oakland in 1945, Reid’s Records.

Two years later, Mel acquired time on Berkeley’s KRE radio station and broadcast a weekly thirty-minute gospel program called “Religious Gems.” It takes a seasoned saint to remember Reverend George Killens, pastor, Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Oakland, his two-part sermon, “The Cross,” and his congregation singing “Father I Stretch my Hands to Thee,” Mass Choir singing was birthed in the Bay Area.

Some may recall the J. L. Richards Specials and the Voices of Evergreen Baptist Church, a mass choir that broadcast for fifteen minutes on Sunday nights on radio station KWBR and Antioch Baptist Church (featuring the Reverend R. T. George, a master preacher and musician). Sunday night was the time when all ears were tuned into the radio to hear old-fashioned preaching and singing.

“Jumpin” George Oxford was one of the beloved D. J.’s of the 1950s. His focus was on race records, catering to Blacks as did Bouncin’ Bill Doubleday on KWBR and Don Barksdale, former-basketball-star-turned D. J. in the late 1950s. Barksdale was the owner of the Sportsman on Grove Street and the Showcase on Telegraph Avenue, both in Oakland.

Ray Dobard moved from New Orleans to Berkeley during World War II. Dobard established a music publishing business, providing a chance for locals to get their music on “wax” and to a larger audience. Many of Dobard’s fine gospel sides featured King Narcissee, the Golden West Singers, and others.

Jesse Jaxyson moved to West Oakland in the 1930s. A member of the First Church of Religious Science. There he met Clarissa Mayfield, a choir member at his church, and together they set up a radio repair shop at 1606 7th Street, Oakland. He had a room converted into a makeshift recording studio that he ran along with Bob Geddins. Bob Geddins, called the ‘Father of Oakland Blues,’ began pressing records at his West Oakland plant at 8th and Center Streets.”

As we fast forward, it was Edwin and Walter Hawkins, two brothers that completely changed the genre of religious music with the remake of an eighteenth-century song, “Oh Happy Day” featuring Dorothy Morrison and the Edwin Hawkins singers became the first cross over music creating a new contemporary gospel genre. The song created controversy within the church, because it sounded secular.

The Hawkins launched a new sound of gospel music fused with a secular sound paving the way for future artists such as Kirk Franklin, Byron Cage, Fred Hamond, Yolonda Adams and more.

Bay Area

Alameda County Judge Blasts Defendants Over Delay in West Oakland Fire Trial

Judge Kimberly Lowell excoriated the RadiusRecycling/SchnitzerSteel defendants in court for causing delays in prosecuting this case. Since the defendants first appeared in court on July 23, they have obtained three extensions of the arraignment date.

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Criminal charges announced this week are related to the August 2023 scrap metal fire at Radius Recycling Inc., formerly Schnitzer Steel. Photo courtesy of Oaklandside.
Criminal charges announced this week are related to the August 2023 scrap metal fire at Radius Recycling Inc., formerly Schnitzer Steel. Photo courtesy of Oaklandside.

Special to The Post

District Attorney Pamela Price announced that a hearing was held on October 30 in the criminal prosecution of the Radius Recycling/Schnitzer Steel involving a fire at the West Oakland facility on Aug. 9-10, 2023.

The Alameda County criminal Grand Jury indicted radius Recycling and two of its corporate managers in June 2024.

Judge Kimberly Lowell excoriated the RadiusRecycling/SchnitzerSteel defendants in court for causing delays in prosecuting this case. Since the defendants first appeared in court on July 23, they have obtained three extensions of the arraignment date.

The court clarified that the defendants will not receive more extensions on their arraignment and plea.

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price agreed with the court that defendants should not get preferential treatment. Price and her team appreciated the court for clarifying that future delays by Radius will not be tolerated.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s (BAAQMD) public data shows that during and after the fire, the smoke plume traveled across Alameda County with high levels of PM 2.5 (Particulate Matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter) detected around Laney College in Oakland, Livermore, Pleasanton, and West Oakland.

PM2.5 is particularly harmful to infants and children, the elderly, and people with asthma or heart disease.

“This fire posed a great health hazard to the people of Alameda County,” said Price. “High, short-term exposures to a toxic smoke plume have been shown to cause significant danger to human health.

“Additionally, in this case, Oakland firefighters battled the blaze under extremely dangerous conditions for 15 hours with assistance from a San Francisco Fire Department fireboat and a fireboat from the City of Alameda Fire Department,” Price observed.

The team prosecuting the case from the DA’s Consumer Justice Bureau looks forward to resolving any future motions and having the defendants arraigned in court on Dec. 9.

The media relations office of the Alameda County District Attorney’s office is the source of this report.

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Alameda County

D.A. Price Charges Coliseum Flea Market Vendors in Organized Retail Theft Case

The charges against Octavio Ambriz Valle, 52, Devora Ambriz Valle, 49, and Felipe Del Toro Trejo, 54, include multiple felony counts of possessing stolen property and organized retail theft in concert. It is alleged that the trio of vendors possessed stolen property valued at $348,466 from nine different retailers, including Kohl’s, Macy’s, PetSmart, Sephora, Sunglass Hut, TJX, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart.

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Alameda County courthouse. Courtesy photo.
Alameda County Courthouse File photo.

Special to The Post

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced today that her office charged three people in connection with multiple organized retail theft crimes stemming from a sophisticated criminal enterprise operating at the Oakland Coliseum Flea Market from March 26, 2023, through April 17, 2024.

The charges against Octavio Ambriz Valle, 52, Devora Ambriz Valle, 49, and Felipe Del Toro Trejo, 54, include multiple felony counts of possessing stolen property and organized retail theft in concert.

It is alleged that the trio of vendors possessed stolen property valued at $348,466 from nine different retailers, including Kohl’s, Macy’s, PetSmart, Sephora, Sunglass Hut, TJX, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart.

Last year, the District Attorney’s Office successfully competed and received a $2 million grant from the California Department of Justice to combat organized retail theft. Price added another $2 million to bolster the Organized Retail Crime Alameda (ORCA) unit which is fully operational and collaborating with numerous law enforcement agencies.

“For over a year, this enterprise supported criminal networks by requesting and buying specific products from brazen boosters who repeatedly terrorized retailers,” said Price. “I want to acknowledge our Organized Retail Crime Alameda (ORCA) Vertical Prosecution Unit for its great work and the role they played in this multi-jurisdiction investigation, which included the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division Organized Retail Crime Task Force, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, and San Ramon Police Department.”

If convicted and sentenced on all charges, Octavio Ambriz Valle faces a maximum sentence of nine years in County jail; Devora Ambriz Valle faces a maximum sentence of five years in County jail; and Felipe Del Toro Trejo faces a maximum sentence of three years and eight months in County jail.

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Activism

Fights Narrowly Break Out at Business Strike Press Conference at Oakland City Hall

Recall supporters called for a one-day business strike for the second year in a row to demand that the city do more to ensure public safety is a priority and that business owners are not plagued by the ongoing retail crime. Less than five minutes into the press conference, opponents of the recall began yelling at the recall supporters. This caused many recall volunteers to become upset with the “hecklers.”

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Supporters of the recalls against Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, along with local political candidates and business owners, at a press conference outside Oakland City Hall. Speakers called for a city-wide, one-day business strike to protest against threats to public safety. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.
Supporters of the recalls against Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, along with local political candidates and business owners, at a press conference outside Oakland City Hall. Speakers called for a city-wide, one-day business strike to protest against threats to public safety. Photo by Magaly Muñoz.

By Magaly Muñoz

What was intended to be a press conference for a planned city-wide business strike turned into two separate altercations between supporters and opponents of the recall of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price in front of Oakland City Hall.

Recall supporters called for a one-day business strike for the second year in a row to demand that the city do more to ensure public safety is a priority and that business owners are not plagued by the ongoing retail crime.

Less than five minutes into the press conference, opponents of the recall began yelling at the recall supporters. This caused many recall volunteers to become upset with the “hecklers.”

One recall volunteer confronted the Thao supporters and attempted to physically intimidate them while also screaming obscenities in their faces. After several moments, the volunteer was pulled away from the Thao supporters and returned to the conference.

Soon after that incident, Ray Bobbitt, founder of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) that now owns the Oakland Coliseum, walked up to the rally and attempted to take the microphone from Seneca Scott, leader of the Thao recall efforts. The situation soon escalated as Scott pushed Bobbitt away.

Scott has made several comments at press conferences and on social media that the Coliseum sale deal is a fraud and that AASEG will not provide the city with the promised multi-million dollar funds. Bobbitt told the Post that he is tired of Scott “being a bully” and only wanted to talk through whatever issues Scott had with AASEG.

When Bobbitt asked Scott to talk privately, Scott responded with a threatening remark. Bobbitt soon left the scene after several people talked him down.

“We really need to abandon the toxicity. I’m here to bring our community together, not divide it,” Bobbitt told the Post.

Back with the recall group and business owners, speakers said that businesses are scared to file police reports because Oakland officers “don’t care anymore” and are scared that their insurance rates will increase.

“We’re here today because the last blood of our city is leaking out with no tourniquet. Cities run on commerce. The only reason for a city is commerce. Failure to protect commerce leads to a dying city,” Scott said.

Several businesses in the last year have closed down, such as In-N-Out Burger and Denny’s on the Hegenberger corridor, citing public safety concerns. Local businesses have also left because of break-ins, homelessness, and overall lack of security.

At the time of last year’s business strike, crime was up 26% from the year before, according to Oakland police data. Rumors of a Thao recall were also building around this event.

Crime today is down 37%, according to the same data. This point has been used heavily in Thao’s attempt to rally support against the recall against her.

Speakers at the Tuesday press conference said some owners were sleeping at their businesses for fear of people breaking in to steal from them or vandalize their locations.

“The only things that are not locked up in the stores are criminals,” one speaker said.

Rally organizers claimed that over 200 businesses were participating in the strike. But when the Post asked recall organizers if they could provide a list of all the participants, the request was denied.

“This is an example of the sort of chaos the recall campaign seeks to create in Oakland. This is the last minute last ditch stunt of a coal investor funded campaign that has realized that Oakland residents are going to say NO to the $10 million price tag, the chaos and the division their campaign represents,” a Thao supporter spokesperson said ahead of the business strike.

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