Arts and Culture

Nerd Turned Chef Gives Back to Black Community

Published

5 years ago

August 30, 2019

Chef David Austin Smith at a pop-up in 2017. Photo courtesy of David Smith.

The grandson of two chefs who made their way to West Oakland during the glory days of the railroads. David Austin Smith grew up in the kitchen listening to their stories of life in St. Louis, MO, and St. Francisville, La.

Grandpa Smitty, who prided himself on his smoked chicken and ribs, tended with a signature sauce that is part of the family legacy, headed up Smitty’s Smokehouse. His side dishes were soul food standards: mac and cheese, fries, red beans and rice and dirty rice and potato salad “with no raisins in it,” he says taking a jab at newfangled ideas.

From Eugene Smothers, who was related to “Roots” author Alex Haley, Smith learned Louisiana Creole cuisine. A nerd who cut school because he was bullied, Smith was at home a lot in his pre-teen years at a time when Smothers had suffered a stroke. To keep Smothers engaged, and also because he was never one to wait because he was never one to wait for someone else to cook something he wanted to eat. David hung out in the kitchen despite his mother’s protests.

His Crocker Highlands neighbors also noticed that David exhibited a hustling spirit- washing cars, delivering the newspaper — and he was offered a job washing dishes at a downtown Oakland café.

He fell in love. “I just loved the environment. The hustle and bustle, the smell of the food, playing with the chefs. This was what I wanted to do.’’

He was just going-along- to-get-along, when a 2007 brush with the law put Smith on the road to a visible success. Invited to work in a group home as a chef. Smith proved to have a gift in reaching the young residents, leading to awards, recognition and having his record expunged.

“I decided I wasn’t going to take this lightly.” said the married father of three. “I’m going to work my hardest to become something.”

Smith helped Chef Romney Steele with her start-up ‘’the Cook and the Farmer” in 2014. which inspired him to get busy with his own pop-up. Kid CreoleSoulFood.

He cooks his grandfathers’ foods, tweaking recipes to make them healthier. “I took out the MSG.” he said.

Wanting to give back by working with Black youth. Smith proposed an after-school club teaching culinary skills in the Hayward Unified School District. Eventually, he was able to employ students in his pop-ups.

HUSD stopped the program after three years, but that hasn’t slowed Smith’s roll. He’s teaching at the
Hercules library the next two months and catered a funeral and a baby shower this past weekend.

The garden/chef concept is being tried again at Stem Kitchen and Gardens at the Chase Center in San Francisco, but you can get a sense of his delightful offerings at the Black-Eyed Pea Festival where he will be serving up shrimp and grits, a vegan gumbo (including black-eyed peas) and peach cobbler and banana pudding for dessert.

The Black-Eyed Pea Festival is a celebration of African America food, music, and art. The Post and Omnira Institute are sponsors of the festival on Sat. Sept. 14, 2019, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the front lawn of Oakland Technical High School at 4351 Broadway. For more information, please call or text (510) 332-5851.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

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.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

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.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

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.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

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.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

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).

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

(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.