Sunday, August 15, 1999

Doug & I ate breakfast at a really slow Mexican restaurant with eggs, peppers and onions with corn tortillas. It took us an hour to get coffee!!! (just kidding). We saw some of the jazz festival going on here courtesy of Pac Bel which we hear outside our room at 1:55 pm. We saw some street vendors and Douglas got some reeds. I would've bought a harmonica except they were all in the key of C. Well off to Ashkenaz tonight. I discovered Douglas liked to go out on his own a lot. It turned out he wasn't around and the instruments were packed to go to Berkeley. I waited and waited and was planning to leave without him when he showed up. I scolded him that he can't leave me hanging and he apologized. We left for Berkeley along I-880 to I-80. I instinctively got off at University Avenue, got to San Pablo Avenue and arrived there before the instrument van. They got slightly lost. Rebecca was there but was not happy about waiting for a long period. Her parents were there too.

This was a pretty seedy area but Ashkenaz was a trip. It is actually non-profit. They have mostly world music type acts, not commercial music and it has maintained its status as one of the best known clubs. It's an activist club with KPFA support dances and the like. The Pacifica thing is a big deal here. It is cool listening to Democracy Now! out here too! Otherwise there is a lot of strange music, not much commentary. Ashkenaz was founded by a social activist named David Nadel in the 70's (Jewish obviously - hence the club name). In 1996 he was tragically murdered by a club patron, a Mexican national. He was thrown out of the club for some reason and came back with a gun. The club closed briefly then reopened with a huge benefit and apparently David's spirit lives on within the confines. There are all sorts of posters in the club that evoke the "good old days" of Berkeley: Anti-ROTC, Anti war, that the University should keep its hands of the club, divestiture protest signs. There certainly was a vibe there.