Oakland is a town filled with opinions. Is Oakland the best, coolest, hippest place on the West Coast? Or is it a dystopian slum with sky high crime and little opportunity? It depends on who you’re talking to. According to the sign telling me to “love life” Oakland has around

From its inception in 1993, Noise Pop has championed independent musicians of all stripes. The annual Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival, once a single night at The Independent (then The Kennel Club), has since become a Bay Area mainstay, featuring an eclectic variety of established and up-and-coming artists. Previous headliners include well-known names

Written by Nelda Kerr In February 2020, students and teachers won a landmark $53 million settlement against the State of California for not teaching kids how to read. At the time, 56% of students in both San Francisco and Alameda counties were meeting state standards for English, with a quarter of all

Frank Somerville has had a pretty shitty year. Even by pandemic standards, fate hasn’t been kind to Frank Somerville.  So, what exactly is up with Frank Somerville? Let’s start from the beginning.  Back in May of 2021, Frank was temporarily suspended after appearing drunk on air. He had a dazed

Although Shannon and the Clams’ new album was completed shortly before COVID-19 seized the globe, it wasn’t forged free of tumult. In 2019, Shannon Shaw, the Clams’ magnetic front woman, was driven from her Oakland apartment by a persistent peeping tom. Later, on the eve of the Clams’ tour with

You may be familiar with Uber founder Travis Kalanick. In 2017, Kalanick was forced to resign as CEO after complaints of Uber’s toxic workplace culture surfaced, including claims of sexual harassment and discrimination. Nevertheless, this tick has found a new host. Kalanick has since launched another highly exploitative and secretive

Shitty public infrastructure is something that we in the Bay Area have gotten used to. Whether it’s concrete blocks falling from above on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, large gaps in our public transportation network or power lines that regularly create fiery deathstorms; we’ve generally accepted that taxpayer funded projects in

It all began here in Oakland 55 years ago: the rise of what would become a global movement for equal civil rights under the law, for oppressed brothers and sisters of every stripe. With a “radical” idea of what equality looks like and a 10-point platform, the Black Panther Party