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Inspire Oakland

In News on July 13, 2011 at 10:56 pm

‎Shaun Tai of Oakland Digital ODALC on CNN Newsmakers with Barbara Rodgers. Oakland Digital giving college students the opportunity to have their work published on huge billboards through the city of Oakland as a way to add credibility and value to their portfolios before entering the workforce. I’ve already seen a billboard near Uptown Oakland and another off HWY 80 by Emeryville. Inspire Oakland, inspire your community! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YhbBpKI8ys

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Eddie Vedder Oakland Epic

In News on July 13, 2011 at 11:30 am

Eddie Vedder, the illustrious frontman for world-class Seattle, Washington rock band, Pearl Jam, live solo act at Oakland’s Paramount Theater. Just by chance, two tickets happened to my possession, all but ten rows from the stage. Aisle seats, too, for long legs, bonus. From a recent visit to Oahu, Hawaii, the sounds of a ukulele bring memories of laying on the beach with a sweet breeze, zoned out to the rolling waves and warming of the sun, living it up to Hawaiian time. Eddie Vedder, live, was a highly anticipated epic that did not fail to amaze and brought the island lifestyle and ocean to the theater.

Paramount Theater is a gorgeous, period-specific, spacious, theater, yet beyond it’s scale, the space is intimate. Typical sports coliseum type concerts make the viewer watch the concert on big screens which defeats the purpose of attending such a concert in person. It’s suspect that Lauryn Hill bombed at this venue in 2007, but Prince made headline news by showing successfully to sold out crowds at the Paramount recently.

To the delight of all concert goers, Eddie Vedder pulled off an extended set that highlighted his amazing voice, the use of unplugged instruments such as the banjo, ukulele, and of course, the acoustic and electric guitar. Importantly, Eddie requested all cameras and recording devices NOT to be permitted – thank you and good call – as it was a pleasure to watch from the audience without a sea of distractions such as camera phones taking lackluster photos and blurry videos all night. Another request was broken though, the smoking not permitted rule failed as whiffs of fine California marijuana notes wafted through the audience. The Paramount is in the heart of Oaksterdam, after all!

The crowd was notably mature; it was 1990 when Pearl Jam along with bands such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, created the genre, Alternative – that was 20 years ago! So the crowd, if 20 at the time of these bands making it big, are now in their 30s 40s and 50s, with no shortage of respect when rocking! Eddie Vedder himself is 46 and commented, “What a good looking crowd, the young ones are cool, the old ones have aged gracefully.”

Before even entering the venue, I saw the Mark5 (Brooklyn, NY) poster featuring the Port of Oakland cranes illustrated into Star Wars “snow battle camel” AT’s. So awesome (!), elements of San Francisco Bay Area – Oakland and San Rafael caught by a New York studio! Posters were selling out at $35 a pop, to my disbelief – it’s just paper! How much could these cost to actually make, a few bucks? The morning after the event, I saw a couple on ebaY, bidding war above $78. Approximately 550 posters were printed. Further, a quantity of 100 of the 16×24 event posters with metallic ink go on sale by the designer, Studio Mark5, this Friday at $55. So those buying the poster at the event caught a bargain, after all.

I go to concerts once every 10 years, so if I go to one, it’s going to be good. I’m happy and delighted, unlike so many things in life, that I’m not asking for my time back! The finale was Eddie getting down with an assisted humming of his voice only – it was as if the angels had come down to Earth. After a thunderous standing applause (multiple times throughout the night), Eddie returned to the stage for an encore that extended the set to a total time of 3 hours, 8:30pm-11:30pm. Credit goes to Irishman, Glen Hansard, for opening up the evening and joining Eddie in a totally acoustic unplugged performance. Eddie encouraged the crowd to continue, “I’ve got the time, if you’ve got the time.” Along with echoes of shrieking women, a dude on the upper balcony screamed, “I love you, Eddie!” Oakland loves, Eddie! You’re welcome back any time!