Comedian Alicia Dattner performs “Small Batch, Artisanal Comedy” at The Marsh from Sept. 19 through Oct. 17. Courtesy: The Marsh

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🎭 Comedian Alicia Dattner presents her solo show “Small Batch, Artisanal Comedy.” Performed barefoot and drawn from Dattner’s own life, the piece roams from organic coffee to AI as it asks what gets lost when people stop making things with their hands and get bottled into digital identities. Show runs from Sept. 19 through Oct. 17. The Marsh. $25-$100

🎻 The Berkeley Old Time Music Convention hosts six days of performances, workshops, talks, and jams, with a centerpiece celebration at the Freight featuring multi-instrumentalist Reed Stutz, Alice Gerrard, an old-time music icon since the 1960s via her musical partnership with Hazel Dickens, and Berkeley multi-instrumentalist Suzy Thompson (who relaunched the BOTMC in 2003 and led it for many years). Through Sunday, Sept. 20. Various venues. Free-$39

🏛️ The Royal Underground Theatre Company presents the play “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” showing what happens when the president creates a PR nightmare and leaves it to his trusted staff of seven women to clean up his mess. (Read our review of the play when it aired at the Berkeley Rep.) Play runs now through Sept. 26. Live Oak Theater. $35 

🎹 A savvy trio that brings together three Midwestern transplants to the East Bay, NoCoasters features a tough triumvirate with pianist Lee Bloom, bassist Brandon Essex and drummer Carrie Jahde stretching out on original compositions and reinventing jazz, Latin, New Orleans, pop, and even country standards. Friday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m. Jupiter. No cover

🌊 Want to participate in California Coastal Cleanup Day? Volunteer at the Berkeley Waterfront to help clean up the coastline. Buckets, bags and gloves will be available for volunteers, but feel free to bring your own to reduce plastic waste. (Read our feature about the 2022 cleanup day.) Saturday, Sept. 19, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Meet at Shorebird Park Nature Center or Brickyard Cove. FREE (RSVP required)

🖼️ Watch artists demonstrate their craft in real time at the ACCI Gallery’s monthly Demo Day. This month features Ian Moore (pouring a concrete paver), Terri Scheid (sgrafftio on clay) and Michelle Segre-Bergtraun (mosaics). Saturday, Sept. 19, 1-4 p.m. FREE

🍷 Sip through the world’s wine offerings without leaving Berkeley at the Elmwood Wine Walk. Peruse through local businesses while trying over 25 different wines from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and more. Saturday, Sept. 19, 1-5 p.m. $40

🍼 In need of baby gear or looking to offload some? Berkeley Public Library is hosting a baby and toddler clothing and gear swap where families can donate and/or pick up clean baby clothes, toys, and gear in very good condition. Saturday, Sept. 19, 2-4 p.m. (Drop off items from 1:30-2:30 p.m.) West Branch Library. FREE

🍂 Berkeley native Erik Jekabson returns to the Hillside Club, where he’s recorded several acclaimed live albums, for the final installment of Axes, his season series with composing partner Gregory Howe, who owns Berkeley’s Wide Hive Records. With eight world premieres for 12-piece chamber orchestra and jazz quartet in celebration of the fall equinox, the program features a stellar cast of players, including bassoon master Paul Hanson and trombonist Jeff Cressman, who like Jekabson got their musical start in Berkeley public schools. Saturday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m. The Hillside Club. $18

🎷 🎷 🎷 Next year the intrepid ROVA Saxophone Quartet celebrates its 50th year of musical exploration, a journey that has unfolded with particular intensity in the East Bay, and that continues with a program of recent works recorded for the upcoming CD “those who…”, due this fall on ESP-disk. Saturday, Sept. 19, 8 p.m. The Back Room. $20-$25

🎸🇲🇱 Scion of a guitar dynasty from Mali, Vieux Farka Touré has picked up the mantle of his late father, the great Ali Farka Touré, infusing West African grooves into a wide array of collaborations. He plays Berkeley as part of a West Coast tour, with San Francisco “Transylvanian Afrosoul” vocalist Hugo de la Lune playing an opening set. Saturday, Sept. 19, 9 p.m. Cornerstone. $50

💐 A Fourth Street staple that predates the street’s emergence as a shopping district, Stained Glass Gardens started in 1976 as a small Berkeley home studio for siblings Joan and Bruce McLean, and soon relocated to Oceanview, where the store and workshop celebrates its golden anniversary with live music, artist booths, a community mosaic and more. Sunday, Sept. 20, 2-5 p.m. Stained Glass Garden. FREE

🎨 The Derby Street Diorama Museum (a tiny sidewalk museum) is hosting their second annual Diorama-Rama to unveil their fall 2026 collection of dioramas from local artists. Come to enjoy interactive art installations, live music, light refreshments, and a diorama making station. Sunday, Sept. 20, 3-6 p.m. 2337 Derby St. FREE (RSVP)

📚 Award-winning Bay Area author Lisa Moore Ramée shares her new middle grade novel “More Trouble Than It’s Worth” and is joined in conversation by Oakland children’s author Angela Dalton, whose books include “To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights.” Tuesday, Sept. 22, 6:30 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. FREE (registration recommended)

🎤 A veteran jazz artist who toured with bass great Ray Brown and trumpet star Freddie Hubbard, Berkeley vocalist Azure McCall has been a regular presence on the Bay Area scene for years, and lately she’s been performing weekly at the El Cerrito Plaza with a trio led by pianist Spencer Allen. Wednesday, Sept. 23, 4:30-7:30 p.m. Romano’s Macaroni Grill. No cover

🎥 Directed by David Buckland, “Kõmij Mour Ijin”/ “Our Life is Here,” documents the 2023 journey that brought together Marshallese elders and youth with an international team of artists, writers, scientists, and filmmakers to consider the ongoing impact of atomic testing and changing climate across the Marshall Islands. Professor Jennifer Redfearn, documentary program director at UC Berkeley Journalism, hosts an opening reception and moderates the post-screening talk with Buckland, photographers Mark Klett and Michael Light, and other artists, curators, and faculty. Wednesday, Sept. 23, 5:15 p.m. North Gate Hall Logan Multimedia Center. FREE (registration required)

🧑‍🎨 Connect with other Bay Area artists at a figure drawing session hosted by the Berkeley Art Club — bring your own art supplies and snacks to share for a potluck. Wednesday, Sept. 23, 6 p.m. RSVP for location. $10-$30 sliding scale

🗓️ 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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