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From Food Desert to Oasis

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Community Foods Market has opened its doors, making it West Oakland’s first full-service grocery store in over 40 years.

A diverse crowd of about 1,500 people showed up last Saturday to celebrate the opening of the Community Foods Market, creating an oasis of fresh and healthy foods in what had been a food desert  in West Oakland.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., people from all walks of life came to the market  at 3105 San Pablo Ave. to taste new foods, watch a Blues band and have fun at what will become a free, annual festival in the city’s McClymonds/Hoover/Foster neighborhood.

The long-awaited grand opening of the area’s first full service grocer in decades featured live music, dance and capoeira; a community resource fair; Oakland A’s interactive zone; children’s activities; community mural painting with Attitudinal Healing Connection and more.

“We are thrilled to bring fresh food options to Oakland’s San Pablo corridor,” said Brahm Ahmadi, Community Foods Market Founder and CEO. “We envision a vibrant community gathering space to unite around healthy living and neighborhood pride.” Ahmadi added that supporting healthy communities is what Community Foods Market is all about, starting with youngsters.

Photo by Amir Saadiq

To that end, the store is launching a “Fruit Club,” wherein kids who present their Fruit Club card will receive a free piece of fruit whenever they visit the store.

In addition, the 14,000- square-foot store’s Meal Station will promote a “recipe of the day,” complete with all of the needed ingredients to ease meal preparation for busy shoppers. The market’s Front Porch Café will offer coffee, smoothies and to-go items and host live music, art exhibitions, movie screenings and poetry readings.

Oakland District 3 School Board Member, Jumoke Hinton-Hodge, speaking in her role as a member of the market’s nonprofit arm, Fresh Life Foundation, touted the opportunities for residents to promote healthy life styles at the market. Included on the shelves were name brands that residents might find in a Safeway or Lucky’s, coupled with alternative brands with less salt and/or sugar added.

The fresh fruits and vegetables are familiar, with some new items. The vision is to hold workshops, taste testing by the resident chef to entice shoppers to try something new.

The market and the Fresh Life Foundation engaged the West Oakland community about a year before the groundbreaking. “Some people who were attending were investors,” Hinton-Hodge said. Beneficial Bank and other donors matched their contributions so they could be shareholders.

One exercise meant to unite the changing neighborhood was a “contest” to find out who had lived in the neighborhood the longest: the winner had been a West Oakland resident for 78 years.

Another part of the Fresh Life vision, Hinton-Hodge said, is to populate the shelves with the wares of local entrepreneurs, from home-made jellies and jams to hair care products.

Hinton-Hodge praised St. Matthew Missionary Baptist Church for leasing its parking lot to the market.

“This beautiful new store—and the team behind it—hits all the right notes,” says longtime resident and community leader David Peters. “The overall vision, store design, including community event space, and attention to local hiring…this project honors the history and integrity of the surrounding neighborhood—a true win-win-win for West Oakland.”

As many as 50-75 percent of the store’s employees come from the neighborhood, Hinton-Hodge said.

“They live around the corner from the store. For some, it’s their first job, and others have experience.” A worker-owner model for the store is projected in the next three years, she said.

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Arts and Culture

Kedrick Armstrong: New Music Director for the Oakland Symphony

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

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Kedrick Armstrong is the new music director for the Oakland Symphony. Photo credit Scott Chernis.
Kedrick Armstrong is the new music director for the Oakland Symphony. Photo credit Scott Chernis.

By Post Staff

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director.
In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Armstrong is the successor to previous music director and Conductor Michael Morgan, who passed away in 2021 after a 30-year tenure at the Symphony.

Armstrong will open the Oakland Symphony 2024-2025 season on October 18.

Armstrong, who is 29 and hails from Georgetown, South Carolina, is currently the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.

The Chicago Tribune has praised Armstrong for his ability to “simply let the score speak for itself.” He enjoys a wide range of repertoire, spanning early music to premiering new works, using his joy and curiosity for all music to cultivate understanding and collaboration within diverse communities.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new music director of the Oakland Symphony,” Armstrong said. “As a Black conductor, I find it humbling to stand on the shoulders of both Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons,” the most recent and the first African American music directors of the Symphony, respectively.

Armstrong led three programs at the Symphony between 2022 and early 2024, which showcased his broad knowledge of the classical repertoire and enthusiasm for spotlighting diverse voices.
On his Oakland Symphony subscription debut on Feb. 16, Armstrong led the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson,” an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.

Armstrong was selected unanimously by the Oakland Symphony’s board of directors and musicians after an extensive two-year search.  “The search committee was overwhelmed by Kedrick’s scholarship and curiosity about all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to gospel and hip-hop,” said. Dr. Mieko Hatano, executive director of the Oakland Symphony. “We are thrilled to have him join us at the Oakland Symphony.”

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Arts and Culture

Faces Around the Bay Dr. Carl Blake, Pianist

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999. One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

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Dr. Carl Blake
Dr. Carl Blake

By Barbara Fluhrer

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999.

One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Blake obtained a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and continued post-baccalaureate studies in Jamaica before earning a Master of Arts in Music at San Jose State University. He was the recipient of two Fulbright residencies in Honduras and completed a third residency at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Cornell University.

At age 19, Blake, then an undergraduate piano major at Boston University, was “discovered” by Impresario Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams, who is the Founder and Director of Today’s Artists/Four Seasons Arts.

Williams honored Blake by awarding him the first Marian Anderson Young Artist Award.  Anderson personally presented the award at the Masonic Auditorium in S.F.  Subsequently, Blake was presented by Dr. Williams in his San Francisco debut at The Herbst Theatre. Williams subsidized a year of study abroad for Blake at the Paris Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Williams sponsored Blake’s New York Weill Hall debut, where he has performed twice since.  Blake performed several times at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon.

Blake continues to perform nationally and abroad. His hobbies are reading, baking and travel. He says, “I’m still pumping ivories, as Belgian pianist Jeanne Stark described the disciplined practice of concert piano.”

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Arts and Culture

Oakland Jazz Great Offers Master Class as City Declares “John Handy Day”

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city. Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

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(L-R) Del Handy, John Handy, Roger Glenn, and Joe Warner celebrate John Handy Day at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Oakland. Photo by Lady Bianca.
(L-R) Del Handy, John Handy, Roger Glenn, and Joe Warner celebrate John Handy Day at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Oakland. Photo by Lady Bianca.

By Conway Jones

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city.

Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

“John Handy is a jazz icon and an inspiration to musicians everywhere,” said Ayo Brame, a 16-year-old Oakland tenor saxophone player who is enrolled at the Oakland School for the Arts.

In celebration of this day, the reception in downtown Oakland at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle was a gathering of artists, young and old, coming together in his honor and celebrating his 91st birthday.

Handy presented a Saxophone Colossus free masterclass for musicians. This class afforded a rare opportunity to learn about the saxophone from an aficionado. The class was free and open to all – saxophonists, vocalists, aficionados, students, and casual listeners.

“As a longtime friend for over 60 years, and fellow musician who has had numerous opportunities to share the stage with John, it has always been a pleasure performing with him and hearing his creative interpretations of the music and his gift of ease inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians,” said Roger Glenn, a multi-instrumentalist.

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