Launch Party

On February 4, 2011, we launched the Oakland Standard with a late-night celebration at OMCA. It was a conversation, dance party, baby shower, and a toast to Oakland.

To kick off the night, we invited Oakland’s arts and letters luminaries to give Tag Team Talks about their work: best-selling science writer Mary Roach; urban farmer Novella Carpenter; inventor of the phonoharp Walter Kitundu; artist, zinester, and riot grrrl Tammy Rae Carland; award-winning playwright Wajahat Ali; and Jerome Waag, Chez Panisse chef and director of the innovative OPENrestaurant project. There were seven seven-minute conversations, with musical interludes by Cory Wright.

The Tag Team Talks were followed by a dance performance by the Turf Feinz, practitioners of turfing, an internationally acclaimed street dancing style born in East Oakland. And last, until the wee hours of the morning, DJ Mia Moretti took the stage. Born and raised in Oakland, and named by PAPER magazine and the New York Times as one of the best DJs in the country, Mia played a California-themed set. Those that could find room on the dance floor danced.

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Projects

Return to the Wunderkammer
symposium about creating interdisciplinary museum content
Bump City
notes on the past, present, and future of Oakland and the East Bay by Alex Abramovich and Lucy Raven
Portraits from the Occupation
video record of Occupy Oakland
see all projects