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East Bay Express

News, arts, and dining coverage for Oakland, Berkeley and the greater East Bay.
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27/10/2025

Wild West attire, live music and camaraderie are all trademarks of Oakland’s iconic Black Cowboy parade and festival.

The annual events, hosted by the Oakland Black Cowboy Association (OBCA) on Oct. 4, brought hundreds of Western enthusiasts to DeFremery Park. The festivities almost didn’t leave the stables this year because of financial issues, leading the OBCA to solicit its first-ever GoFundMe call for donations.

Now OBCA staff say they are looking into different ways to raise money and doing everything they can to ensure locals have access to future events celebrating Black cowboy culture...

Read more by Stephanie Lam about at the link in our IG stories, online at eastbayexpress.com, or pick up this week’s print copy today! 🤠🐴📰✨

Photos courtesy of Jessica Smith 📸

24/10/2025

In addition to comforting pozole and the spiciest of sauces, Leticia Chavez makes sopes; enchiladas with mole, verde or rojo sauces; chile rellenos; ceviches and fajitas. I also tried one of the tacos and could immediately taste how fresh the tortillas were. Whether crispy or soft, they’re all handmade.

Obelisco is the third incarnation of Chavez’s restaurant. She started Taco Grill in 2007 across the street from the Fruitvale BART station. Several years later, she changed the name to Obelisco, after the hibiscus flower which grows abundantly in Puerto Vallarta, her hometown. This more evocative name suggested that the restaurant was making many other traditional Mexican dishes beyond the beloved taco. Chavez, who spoke with me on the phone with her helpful son Alain, told me that from the start the dishes have been made from a combination of family recipes and ones she’s adapted with California ingredients…

Read more by about at the link in our IG stories, online at eastbayexpress.com or pick up this week’s print copy! 🌺🍽️😋

Photos by Henry Rubin 📸

23/10/2025

This week’s editorially curated events (akaSocial Eyes: Week of Oct. 23-29) features: the Festival of Music + (Brandee Younger Trio) + “Pretty Good Stories” + + + + Live + “One Song All Night” + The Haunted House Tour and … 🎶🗣️🎤🎼👏

Get all the deets at the link in our IG stories, visit eastbayexpress.com or pick up this week’s print copy!

Photos:
1) by Molly Barker
2) courtesy of “Pretty Good Stories”
3) by Zane Rubi
4) by Shawn Stanley
5) by Brady Olson

22/10/2025

This week’s issue is here! 🤠🎊 Featuring: + ’s “Runway Stories” + East Bay artists awarded Eureka Fellowship grants + + “One Battle After Another” + Social Eyes + + + ✨

Flip through the e-edition at the link in our IG stories, visit eastbayexpress.com or pick up the print copy at EBX boxes and stacks throughout Oakland, Berkeley and surrounding communities. 📰 👀

21/10/2025

The pastries on display at Parachute Bakery sit on individual pedestals. They look like pieces of edible art in an avant-garde gallery. A cube-shaped croissant’s center contains a luscious blast of passionfruit that’s paired with a white chocolate-vanilla crémeux. Chocolate croissants are baked in the shape of cylinders. A taller, muffin-shaped pastry is filled with a roasted-banana-and-pecan-praline cream. We all smiled after taking a bite out of it. The cross-laminated dough of the pain suisse holds not the traditional duo of chocolate and creme patissierre, but goat cheese, garlic and vegetables...

Read more by about .bakery at the link in our IG stories, online at eastbayexpress.com, or pick up this week’s print copy (last day for this issue)! 🥐😋

Photos by Lamarr English 📸

20/10/2025

There’s a sense of urgency in Melanie DeMore’s voice when she speaks about music, like she’s found a cure to all the world’s problems. Music is more than just sounds: It’s power, connection and nourishment, the award-winning Oakland vocalist says in one breath.

It’s this belief that inspired DeMore’s latest 14-track album, How to Hold On: Songs of Comfort and Solace, which debuted last month. Performed a capella by DeMore and the Minnesota choral group VocalEssence, each song aims to instill a sense of peace in the listener. The original melodies are inspired by a mix of spirituals, lullabies and folk songs.

“We need songs of comfort and solace to hold us together when everything seems to be falling apart,” DeMore said.

Read more about and at the link in our IG stories, online at eastbayexpress.com or pick up this week’s print copy! 🎶🎤🤍

Photos:
1) by Kyndell Harkness
2) by Bruce Silcox

17/10/2025

Cyrus VandenBerghe, the artist behind Welcome Strawberry, plays in several bands, including Still Ruins, another long-running project. His bandmates in Still Ruins, guitarists Jose Medina and Frankie Soto, write most of the music for that outfit. In Welcome Strawberry, he’s the main creative force.

“Both bands are influenced by similar genres, but we go in much different directions stylistically,” VandenBerghe said. “Welcome Strawberry is more psychedelic and sinuous, while Still Ruins is more polished and precise.”

“Desperate Flower,” the recently released Welcome Strawberry album, is a slight departure from the band’s self-titled debut…

Read more about at the link in our IG stories, online at eastbayexpress.com or pick up this week’s print copy! 🎶✨

Welcome Strawberry will play at 9pm on Saturday, Oct. 18, at .

Photos:
1, 3) by Kennedy Cottrell
2) by JB Lenar

16/10/2025

This week’s calendar picks (aka Social Eyes: Week of Oct. 16-22) features .cain335, , , , , , and , , , , Judge and , and
🎶

Get all the deets at the link in our IG stories, online at eastbayexpress.com or pick up this week’s print copy!

Photos:
1) .cain335 by Jim Mills
2) by Martina Gonzalez Bertello
3) by Liam MacRae

15/10/2025

This week’s issue is here! 🎞️🎊🎶📰

Pick it up in print at EBX stacks and stands throughout Oakland, Berkeley and surrounding communities. Flip through the e-edition at the link in our IG stories, or visit eastbayexpress.com.

14/10/2025

Kyle Itani has looked all over Japan for handrolls and hasn’t found them. “I would say the handroll is—especially in an open-face style—definitely an American innovation,” he said. The chef did find that during an omakase meal abroad a sushi chef might make a conical handroll. But it wasn’t an exact equivalent to the rolls he and his team make at Yonsei Handrolls, where all the ingredients are laid bare in front of the diner...

Read more by about at the link in our IG stories, online at eastbayexpress.com, or pick up a print copy today (last day for this week’s issue)! 🍽️ 😋

Photos by 📸

09/10/2025

This week’s editorially curated calendar picks (aka Social Eyes: Week of Oct. 9-15) features: + + ’s “The Courtroom: A Reenactment of One Woman’s Deportation Proceedings” + + + the Jaded Lovers Salon + + + + .

Get all the details at the link in our IG stories, visit eastbayexpress.com or pick up this week’s print copy! 🎶🎭👏

Photos 📸:
1) by David Lebow
2) by Andy Ford
3) by Jiyang Chen
4) by Sumner Dilworth

08/10/2025

It's been so busy around here that we neglected to announce our win, and to thank the East Bay Express and its readers! 😍

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