5/3/2012 First Friday is almost here! Now that the Art Murmur has expanded to include both Old Oakland and Jack London Square, there are tons of celebrations to choose from.  A good place to start out in is the street party going on Old Oakland at the corner of 9th and Washington from 5-10pm. Popuphood is celebrating 6 months since they came to Old Oakland, and many of the shops have signed leases…so it’s time to party! There will be art, wall projections and music by DJ Hakobo and also old timey, upright piano music in the street by The John Brother’s Piano Co.  While you are there, check out the art installation by Wonderboom at Marion and Rose’s Workshop and go see the new pop-up within a pop-up at Piper & John’s General Goods called Umamimart. Sticks + Stones Gallery will be hosting an opening and reception for Jack Woodworth, and if you haven’t read this artist’s bio yet, follow this link and check it out. Amazing. Manifesto Bicycles is throwing A Major Taylor event and book singing with author Andrew Ritchie…this evening will include bike trivia for those so inclined! Crown Nine is throwing a party with CALIFORNIAPOLAROID by Phillipp Striebe , music by DJ Urban Umpire and hot dogs by, who else? The hot dog lady. And speaking of food, Caffe 817 is staying open late during First Friday serving up it’s regular menu, and they will have a new art installation by artist Momoko Sudo. And don’t forget about Cosecha! As usual, they will be hosting one of their Friday Night Suppers, this one featuring Senora Marta’s Guadalajara Style Pozole.

Phew! That’s a lot to see and do…and that’s just in Old Oakland! If you have any energy left, you can hop on the Broadway Shuttle, which as always is FREE, and shoot down to Jack London Square to check out their Art Murmur events….like the one at Swarm, which will feature live music, performance art and a multimedia installation by artist Terry Furry.  From there, it’s easy to pop over to The Hive Gallery and see their new art installation by artist Garet Luquet. And as if that wasn’t enough, there’s still Jack’s Night Market to go to! From Crown Nine’s website:

“This is the premier of this summer event— an open air night market that will feature local art, performance, music, beer, food, and other weird stuff like a photobooth on a truck and psychic readers.”

We certainly can’t say it any better than that! For more information on this event, go to the Jack London Square website for all the details, and we hope to see you all out and about celebrating the Art Murmur in our part of Oakland!