Arts and Culture

Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra Turns 50

Published

10 years ago

January 8, 2016

By Sally Douglas Arce

It’s remarkable yet true. For 50 years, the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra (BCCO) has provided free concerts.

Eugene Jones, an African American who was a firefighter and had a passion for classical music, founded the chorus in 1966.

<p>He broke through segregation against African Americans both as a firefighter and as a basso-voiced opera singer.

The 50th Anniversary celebration begins with three concerts performed Friday, Jan. 8 through Sunday, Jan. 10 at Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley – all with free admission, but donations are encouraged.

Led by Music Director Ming Luke, the 220-member chorus will perform Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms; a new work by Kurt Erickson, commissioned for the anniversary; and music to honor BCCO’s former music directors.

Ming Luke, the current director of the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra (BCCO), conducts the BCCO Spring 2015 Concert at Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley.

Jones directed BCCO for 22 years, from1966 – 1988. He crossed the color barrier both as an Oakland firefighter in the late 1940s and as a Bay Area opera singer in the ’50s, singing with the San Francisco Spring Opera, the Oakland Light Opera and the San Francisco Municipal Opera Chorus.

In the 1940s and 1950s, African Americans in classical music were few and far between. “He was not able to make the strides that someone who was European would have been able to make,” says Jeneane Jones, his daughter, and a violinist who performed with BCCO.

“That was a painful reality for him. It did not prevent him from pushing into areas that were not receptive to African American musicians.” Jeneane teaches violin both privately and with a music school in the Gaithersburg, MD area.

Both his daughters, Miriam and Jeneane, testify that their father had an incredible voice and was devoted to music.

“We all have a passion for music,” says Miriam Jones, referring to her mother and three siblings. “I love listening to all types of music. But, no one had as much passion for it as our father.”

For many years, Jones suffered from glaucoma, a progressive disease that reduces a person’s vision field. Despite an inability to view a musical score in its entirety, he never allowed that deficit to prevent him from conducting. For him, it just meant studying the music more and learning how to memorize scores.

With persistence, charisma, talent, and devotion, Jones realized his dream of creating a chorus of non-auditioned singers and an orchestra drawn from the community that together would perform choral masterworks in free concerts for the general public.

The first African American conductor of a large Bay Area chorus and orchestra, Eugene Jones guided the group, bringing great choral works (which often featured his superb bass voice) to BCCO singers and audiences.

When he died at the age of 79 in the fall of 2003, many longtime BCCO members sang at his memorial service.

Eugene Jones, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., came to Oakland in 1945 after serving in World War II as a Navy cook. He became a firefighter at a time when black and white firefighters worked at separate stations.

Jones retired from the Oakland Fire Department in 1969. Jones married Irene Idella Jones, who attended U.C. Berkeley and stopped her studies, before completing a bachelor’s degree, to marry and have a family.

In addition to BCCO, Jones, in the early 1960s, formed “Echos from Jordan,” an African American a cappella chorus that sang Negro spirituals. Performing for about 7 years, they were 40-50 voices and sang at the Kaiser Center in Oakland.

On Oct. 17m Friends of Negro Spirituals, a nonprofit organization, posthumously presented Eugene Jones with an award for his work to keep the heritage of African Americans strong through oral histories and music.

Also, from the late 1960s until 1972, Jones toured the country with his oratorical performance, “Black Man Speaks,” combining classic spirituals and oratory denouncing racism.

For more information about Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra and the Jan. 8, 9 and 10 performance, visit http://bcco.org/

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Advice

BOOK REVIEW: Let Me Be Real With You

At first look, this book might seem like just any other self-help offering. It’s inspirational for casual reader and business reader, both, just like most books in this genre. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll spot what makes “Let Me Be Real With You” stand out.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 29, 2025

Oakland Post

Book cover of Let Me Be Real With You and author Arshay Cooper. Courtesy of HarperOne.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: Arshay Cooper, Copyright: c.2025, Publisher: HarperOne, SRP: $26.00, Page Count: 40 Pages

The hole you’re in is a deep one.

You can see the clouds above, and they look like a storm; you sense the wind, and it’s cold. It’s dark down there, and lonesome, too. You feel like you were born there — but how do you get out of the deep hole you’re in? You read the new book “Let Me Be Real With You” by Arshay Cooper. You find a hand-up and bring someone with you.

In the months after his first book was published, Cooper received a lot of requests to speak to youth about his life growing up on the West Side of Chicago, his struggles, and his many accomplishments. He was poor, bullied, and belittled, but he knew that if he could escape those things, he would succeed. He focused on doing what was best, and right. He looked for mentors and strove to understand when opportunities presented themselves.

Still, his early life left him with trauma. Here, he shows how it’s overcome-able.

We must always have hope, Cooper says, but hope is “merely the catalyst for action. The hope we receive must transform into the hope we give.”

Learn to tell your own story, as honestly as you know it. Be open to suggestions, and don’t dismiss them without great thought. Know that masculinity doesn’t equal stoicism; we are hard-wired to need other people, and sharing “pain and relatability can dissipate shame and foster empathy in powerful ways.”

Remember that trauma is intergenerational, and it can be passed down from parent to child. Let your mentors see your potential. Get therapy, if you need it; there’s no shame in it, and it will help, if you learn to trust it. Enjoy the outdoors when you can. Learn self-control. Give back to your community. Respect your financial wellness. Embrace your intelligence. Pick your friends and relationships wisely. “Do it afraid.”

And finally, remember that “You were born to soar to great heights and rule the sky.”

You just needed someone to tell you that.

With a willingness to discuss the struggles he tackled in the past, Cooper writes with a solidly honest voice that’s exceptionally believable, and not one bit dramatic. You won’t find unnecessarily embellished stories or tall tales here, either; Cooper instead uses his real experiences to help readers understand that there are few things that are truly insurmountable. He then explains how one’s past can shape one’s future, and how today’s actions can change the future of the world.

“Let Me Be Real With You” is full of motivation, and instruction that’s do-able for adults and teens. If you need that, or if you’ve vowed to do better this coming year, it might help make you whole.

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Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.

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Activism

Oakland Mandala: A New Event and Point of Beauty

Led by Oakland resident Mandisa Snodey, a group of artists conceived and painted the mandala on Linden street near McClymonds High School as part of a Black Friday event the day after Thanksgiving to support Black-owned businesses.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 20, 2025

Oakland Post

Painters put on the finishing touches of the Oakland Mandala on Nov. 28. Photo courtesy Mandisa Snodey.

By Post Staff

The first annual Oakland Mandala, sponsored by Miges Odanes Village Center, Credo Studio, and the Mandala Medicine Movement is on view now until the winter rains wash it away.

“This is a lineage-based community art project, using temporary paint, aimed at community building, neighborhood beautification, and celebration of the arts and all people’s creativity,” Snodey said. “The theme of this year’s mandala was ‘Unified Humanity.’

“We gathered at 7 a.m. on Friday for the Black Friday Block Party and finished painting close to sunset. Our youngest painter was 2 years old and our eldest close to 70 years young: we had families, community members, professional artists, and people who have never painted before all working together.”

Snodey urges residents to come visit and take a picture with the mandala. It’s located between 28th and 30th on Linden Street in West Oakland. If you post on social media, please use the hashtags “#oaklandmandala” and “#mandalamedicinemovement.”

Snodey extends special thanks to the Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP), Few and Far Women, “and other Bay Area Artists who participated and made this first annual mandala a beautiful success.”