Bay Area

Special Stage Events, Activities for Children at Oakland’s Black-Eyed Pea Festival

The 8th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, held on the front lawn of Oakland Technical High School, is offering a change to your routine with main stage acts and activities for children. And it’s free.

Published

7 months ago

October 5, 2023

Oakland Post

A cohort of young performers with the Prescott Circus will perform at the Black-Eyed Pea Festival on Sat. Sept. 30. Courtesy photo.

Special to The Post

Got kids?

So, you know they like to do the same thing over and over.

They want you to read them the same story, watch the same movie, eat the same food. They don’t get tired, but you are a little weary of the routine that you know is actually good for them.

But on Saturday, Sept. 30, you don’t have to go to Fairyland again.

The 8^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival, held on the front lawn of Oakland Technical High School, is offering a change to your routine with main stage acts and activities for children. And it’s free.

The festival begins at 11 a.m. with a welcome by the event’s regular M.C., Carla Service of Oakland’s Dance-A-Vision. After a brief drum invocation by Awon Ohun Omnira, renowned Bay Area vocalist Rhonda Benin begins the first of two 25-minute sets called “What Is a Band?” from noon to 1 p.m.

The set is an interactive musical program designed for children to introduce them to a live band. Through the “call and response style,” children become a part of the band while learning about the piano, the bass, the drum, and the voice. And musical terms like melody, a capella, call and response, syncopation, rhythm, polyrhythms, unison, and improvisation.

Informative and fun, Benin, who is also a music teacher, will invite a few children to join her on stage to take a turn at playing a percussive instrument.

After Benin’s set, the festival welcomes the Prescott Circus, an Oakland youth group that will — literally — bring in the clowns.

But not just clowns. They’ll bring tradition in the form of stilt-walking, a form of entertainment in several African and Caribbean countries incorporated in carnivals and pageants. There’ll be jugglers and kids performing balancing acts as well as hip-hop dancing. They’re on stage from 1:20 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Asé Arts, run by Nichole Talbott, is a community art studio in the Mosswood Park neighborhood. She will provide all-day arts and crafts activities for children. She has separate tables for very young children and sets tasks within their age range and ability. Of course, children will be using black-eyed peas to decorate their artwork, small picture frames and more.

A few feet away, Benjamin ‘Benja’ Mertz, will supervise a touch-and-play booth where children will get a chance to experiment with instruments, mostly percussive. It serves as a follow-up to Benin’s set on bands. Mertz will be at the festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A storyteller as well as a musician, he might be persuaded to regale kids with a tale or two.

Adults, of course, are not left out. On the main stage that day, the festival will have the John Santos Quartet, selections by Dimensions Dance Theatre, second-line style music from New Orleans native Michael Jones of MJ’s Brass Boppers and Alvon Johnson will close out the day with a lively blues set.

Nobody will be hungry with soul food classics and creole dishes for sale by Carolyn’s Creole Kitchen, Arnette Cheri catering and Krazy Kettle desserts.

The 8^th Annual Oakland Black-Eyed Pea Festival, a celebration of African American traditional music, food and art will be held:

When: Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023

Time: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where: Oakland Technical High School, 4351 Broadway, Oakland, 94611

Cost: Free

For more information, please call 510-332-5851 or email at oakbepf@gmail.com.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

Published

21 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Alameda County

DA Pamela Price Stands by Mom Who Lost Son to Gun Violence in Oakland

Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018.

Published

5 days ago

April 22, 2024

Oakland Post

District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones

Publisher’s note: Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018. The photo was too small for readers to see where the women were and what they were doing. Here we show Price and Jones as they complete a walk in memory of Scott. For more information and to contribute, please contact Carol Jones at 510-978-5517 at morefoundation.help@gmail.com. Courtesy photo.

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Bay Area

State Controller Malia Cohen Keynote Speaker at S.F. Wealth Conference

California State Controller Malia Cohen delivered the keynote speech to over 50 business women at the Black Wealth Brunch held on March 28 at the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center at 301 Van Ness Ave. in San Francisco. The Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) hosted the Green Room event to launch its platform designed to close the racial wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

Published

6 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

American Business Women’s Association Vice President Velma Landers, left, with California State Controller Malia Cohen (center), and ABWA President LaRonda Smith at the Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the ABWA at the Black Wealth Brunch.

By Carla Thomas

The Enterprising Women Networking SF Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association (ABWA) hosted the Green Room event to launch its platform designed to close the racial wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

“Our goal is to educate Black and Brown families in the masses about financial wellness, wealth building, and how to protect and preserve wealth,” said ABWA San Francisco Chapter President LaRonda Smith.

ABWA’s mission is to bring together businesswomen of diverse occupations and provide opportunities for them to help themselves and others grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support, and national recognition.

“This day is about recognizing influential women, hearing from an accomplished woman as our keynote speaker and allowing women to come together as powerful people,” said ABWA SF Chapter Vice President Velma Landers.

More than 60 attendees dined on the culinary delights of Chef Sharon Lee of The Spot catering, which included a full soul food brunch of skewered shrimp, chicken, blackened salmon, and mac and cheese.

Cohen discussed the many economic disparities women and people of color face. From pay equity to financial literacy, Cohen shared not only statistics, but was excited about a new solution in motion which entailed partnering with Californians for Financial Education.

“I want everyone to reach their full potential,” she said. “Just a few weeks ago in Sacramento, I partnered with an organization, Californians for Financial Education.

“We gathered 990 signatures and submitted it to the [California] Secretary of State to get an initiative on the ballot that guarantees personal finance courses for every public school kid in the state of California.

“Every California student deserves an equal opportunity to learn about filing taxes, interest rates, budgets, and understanding the impact of credit scores. The way we begin to do that is to teach it,” Cohen said.

By equipping students with information, Cohen hopes to close the financial wealth gap, and give everyone an opportunity to reach their full financial potential. “They have to first be equipped with the information and education is the key. Then all we need are opportunities to step into spaces and places of power.”

Cohen went on to share that in her own upbringing, she was not guided on financial principles that could jump start her finances. “Communities of color don’t have the same information and I don’t know about you, but I did not grow up listening to my parents discussing their assets, their investments, and diversifying their portfolio. This is the kind of nomenclature and language we are trying to introduce to our future generations so we can pivot from a life of poverty so we can pivot away and never return to poverty.”

Cohen urged audience members to pass the initiative on the November 2024 ballot.

“When we come together as women, uplift women, and support women, we all win. By networking and learning together, we can continue to build generational wealth,” said Landers. “Passing a powerful initiative will ensure the next generation of California students will be empowered to make more informed financial decisions, decisions that will last them a lifetime.”