[NewMusic] best of

[Michael Zelner]

And FWIW, here's the "Best of" that the Express gave to 21 Grand back in 2004:

>Best Gallery Openings: Great performances at starving artist prices
>21 Grand
>449-B 23rd St., Oakland, 510-444-7263
>21Grand.org
>
>It's not evident from the building's hardscrabble exterior on a 
>gritty block of machine shops north of downtown Oakland, but in four 
>short years the art gallery and performance space known as 21 Grand 
>has become one of the main nerve centers of the new, bohemian city 
>-- the one that sprang up during the dot-com boom, when hipsters and 
>flipsters fled SF in droves. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell 
>exactly where the gallery shows leave off and the ancillary artiness 
>begins. You might stop by for, say, the reception for a painting and 
>sculpture show featuring four-foot-high abstract canvases and little 
>green army men, and end up staying for a performance piece, a little 
>hip-hop, or some ambient sound installations. Where else could an 
>exhibition of photographs from Serbia segue into a celebration of 
>the Paris Commune, with avant-garde music and anarchist speakers? 
>Musically, the gallery excels. Among April's many offerings was a 
>collaborative performance by ROVA Saxophone Quartet's Larry Ochs, 
>extraordinary percussionist William Winant, pianist and computer 
>electronics wonder Chris Brown, and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura; May 
>brings two days of the San Francisco Alternative Music Festival. 21 
>Grand is basically a big, constantly changing gallery show, with new 
>surprises every month. And admission is often on a sliding scale, 
>with a high of $10.

<http://bestof.eastbayexpress.com/bestof/award.php?award=18784&year=2004>


I have a feeling that this write-up did not hurt in bringing 21 Grand 
to more people's attention then.

MZ

--------------michaelz at zoka.com---
             Michael Zelner
---Oakland CA USA------------------