Meanwhile, at the bookshop…

Sunday, March 18th

2:30 pm: Writer Jonah Raskin
Marijuanaland

Jonah Raskin, author of Marijuanaland

Jonah Raskinhas written extensively on American cultural history, particularly its more radical and humanist aspects – with books on Abbie Hoffman, Allen Ginsberg and the wine industry in Sonoma, an anthology of Jack London’s political writings, among others.  He’s also written on the novelist B. Traven and much more.

With personal roots in his parents’ American communist underground of the 1940s, his own involvement in SDS in the 1960s, his participation in the academic world of Sonoma State University throughout the 1970s until quite recently, and his contemporary assessment of that journey and what makes sense to him today in terms of political and social engagement, Jonah’s insightful take on the marijuana industry, subculture, mythos, economics and politics of Northern California, including the war waged on it, will be thought provoking and enlightening.

His advice on engagement for social change is this:  “Be visible. Talk openly. Go out and meet people. Organize. Educate. Avoid violence. Democracy is in the streets, on the Internet, and wherever people meet.”

4:30 pm: The Bernal Hill Players
which way west? Sunday concert series
All ages welcome!

Jennifer Peringer, Martha Rodríguez-Salazar, and Leah di Tullio, the Bernal Hills Players, present a concert of gorgeous chamber music from around the world, right here in Glen Park.  In the cozy environment of your little neighborhood bookstore, you’ll hear a bit of their fascinatingly diverse chamber music repertoire, which includes European classics, Latin American favorites, and locally commissioned works about neighborhoods of San Francisco. The concert will feature pieces by Manuel de Falla, Agustín Lara, Darius Milhaud, C.P.E. Bach, Loren Jones, and Chus Alonso.

The ensemble has played concerts throughout the Bay Area and Mexico City since its inception in 2008, and has commissioned several pieces by Bay Area composers for a project about the neighborhoods of San Francisco, called “San Francisco: In and About the City”. This project has resulted in a CD being released now (with a party Mar. 11 at the Community Music Center).  The next big project involves commissioning pieces about neighborhoods of Mexico City by Mexican composers.