Victory Point Cafe hosts a Magic the Gathering meetup every Sunday morning for players of all levels, including absolute beginners. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
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🧙 Experienced players, absolute beginners, and folks in between are all welcome to a casual Magic the Gathering meetup happening every Sunday. An online Discord group is also available for those who want to connect with other Magic the Gathering players. Sunday, May 17 and all Sundays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Victory Point Cafe. $12 reservation fee, or buy at least two items from the cafe
🌹 Join the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association on a walk from the Berkeley Rose Garden to Grizzly Peak Boulevard and back. Bring extra layers and water, and the walk will be cancelled if there’s rain. Thursday, May 14, 8:30 a.m.-10 a.m. Meet at 1200 Euclid Ave. FREE
🍵 Bring out your guitar, ukulele or other string instrument for a casual strumming and tea social with other music lovers at Teance. Thursday, May 14 and every second and fourth Thursday, 5-7 p.m. 1036 Grayson St. Admission is to buy one pot of tea or tea flight.
🇵🇭 The Sampaguitas, featuring Jenevieve Francisco, Cristina Ibarra, and Aireene Espiritu, sing Filipino folk songs and inspired originals in three-part harmony, music inspired by folk sources, blues, doo-wop girl groups, and the Filipinx-American diaspora. Thursday, May 14, 6 p.m. South Branch. FREE
🎭 Blending storytelling, stand-up, original songs, iconic pop covers and lively audience interactions, this fast-moving solo show invites audiences to laugh, sing along and celebrate the vivifying chaos of chasing a show biz dream that refuses to die in Noemi Zeigler’s “The Madeline Minx Cabaret.” Thursday, May 14, 7:30 p.m. The Marsh. $15-$100
☀️ Fourth Street is hosting a Rooted on Fourth outdoor market, where you can explore local vendors and enjoy activities such as a DIY succulent station, yoga classes, live drawing and permanent jewelry. Friday, May 15, 1-5 p.m. 1901 Fourth St. FREE
📚 Acclaimed poet and Brown University professor Eleni Sikelianos celebrates the publication of her new book, “Memory Rehearsal,” about how her great-grandmother Eva Sikelianos became a heroic figure in early 20th century Greece after earning notoriety running a Sapphic salon in Paris while holding backyard performances based on reimagining Sappho’s work and life. She’s joined in conversation by El Cerrito poet, critic and playwright Tess Taylor. Friday, May 15, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. FREE (RSVP)
🎶 Don’t think you have an ear for music? Join an experiential music game for non-musicians — part storytelling, part improv, part party — where a group builds a song together live. Friday, May 15, 7-9:30 p.m. Lumen Labs. FREE (RSVP)
🎩 One of the younger members of the Oakland Magic Circle, Michael Nguyen presents a show of classic feats of prestidigitation, mystifying audiences of all ages. Saturday, May 16, 2 p.m. North Branch. FREE
🏙️ Take part in the art workshop “Make a ‘Re-cycled’ City,” where you will learn to collect recycled materials, techniques for joining different materials (plastic, wood, cardboard, textiles, found objects) and build the parts of a miniature city (buildings, streets, traffic lights, etc.) with others. The final product will be presented in the exhibit “Street Encounters” at Gallery 2727. Saturday, May 16, 2-4 p.m. 2727 California St. FREE
✝️ The Ephesian Church of God in Christ — the site of myriad 1960s Civil Rights gatherings and recording site of Edwin Hawkins’s gospel song “Oh Happy Day” — is celebrating its 100th year anniversary with a weekend-long celebration, including a Pew Rally and celebration service. Attendees and artists include Bishop Donald Ray Murray, National Chairman Church of God in Christ Board of Bishops; recording artist Lawrence Matthews; and psalmist Afreda Lyons-Campbell. Pew Rally is on Saturday, May 16 at 5 p.m., and celebration service is on Sunday, May 17. 1709 Alcatraz Ave. FREE (donations appreciated)
🎸 A chaotic force in East Bay rock ‘n’ roll since he was at Cragmont Elementary School in the mid-1960s, Rubinoosguitarist Alex Carlinreturns to Berkeley for a show featuring music he performed across the length and breadth of Russia over hundreds of shows with a power trio and vocalist Schatzie Frisch. Saturday, May 16, 8 p.m. The Back Room. $20
✡️ Klez California’s Joy of Jewish Music and Dance series continues with a jam session preceded by dance instruction led by Bruce Bierman, who draws on Yemenite, Mizrahi, Chasidic, Sephardic, klezmer and classic Israeli traditions, and music led by Boston-based clarinetist Nat Seelen, the founder and artistic director of the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music. Sunday, May 17, 2 p.m. Congregation Netivot Shalom. $25-$54
🎻 Berkeley composer Erika Oba premieres her new Collective Counterpoint commission “The Kakehashi Project” for taiko soloist Kohtaro Yamakawa and string orchestra, bridging Japanese drumming traditions with the sound world of Western classical strings. Sunday, May 17, 4 p.m. Kensington Community Center. $22
🇨 A stellar constellation of artists come together to celebrate composer Terry Riley’s 90th birthday, including Bang an a Can All-Stars, Berkeley saxophonist George Brooks, and former Kronos Quartet violist Hank Dutt (but Riley won’t be on hand for the party). Sunday, May 17, 7 p.m. The Freight. $44-$69
😋 Berkeley Rep presents “The Lunchbox,” an adaptation of Ritesh Batra’s internationally acclaimed film filled with heart, humor and hope. In bustling Mumbai, a lunchbox delivery meant for one man lands in the hands of another, sparking an unlikely bond between a young wife longing to be seen and a widower nearing retirement. As notes pass back and forth with each meal, their words blossom into a romance that might save them both. Show runs from Sunday, May 17 to Sunday, June 28. $32-$113
🇺🇦 Straight outta Odessa, the Ukrainian band Kommuna Lux performs what they call “Odesa Gangsta Folk,” a turbo-charged blend of klezmer and folk songs hailing the Black Sea port’s vivid gallery of ne’er-do-wells, smugglers, femmes fatales, and thieves, with vocalist Bagrat Tsurkan and his virtuosic crew delivering tunes with brio, irony and caustic humor. Sunday, May 17, 7 p.m. The Back Room. $25-$30
📑 Get feedback on your poetry by award-winning Berkeley poet Ray Hsu. Each session will begin with a reading of your original poetry, followed by detailed commentary and open-ended conversation. Tuesday, May 19, 4-7 p.m. Central Library. FREE (RSVP required to book one 15-minute session)
🌺 Celebrate the life of Clare Cooper Marcus and the release of her posthumous book “Groundbreaking: My Unmapped Path as an Academic, Mother and Gardener” that chronicles her life growing up as an evacuee during WWII, becoming a pioneering woman in academia, raising a family as a single mother, and lyrical “Garden Stories” — meditations rooted in her Berkeley garden that serve as metaphors for growth, loss and renewal. Wednesday, May 20, 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m. FREE
🗓️ See more things to do in Oakland and Richmond. And check out our big list of affordable things to do anytime in Berkeley. Sign up for our weekly arts and culture newsletter, The Scene.
If there’s an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup, email us at the-scene@berkeleyside.org. The deadline to submit events for Around Berkeley is end-of-day Monday. If there’s an event that you’d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our events page.
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