Bay Area
Headline Concerts Announced for 2022 Marin County Fair – So Happy Together!
The 2022 fair will focus on outdoor entertainment including the headline concerts, performers roaming the grounds such as jugglers, unicyclists, and stilt walkers, and interactive art experiences for fans of all ages. Returning fair favorites will include traditional carnival rides, the Global Marketplace, the Barnyard, food and drinks, and fireworks every night over the Civic Center’s Lagoon Park. The always-popular competitive exhibits program will take place online as it did in 2021.
![Buy Marin County Fair tickets EARLY for the best prices. Online only at MarinFair.org.](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/marin-county-fair-featured-web-1.jpg)
Discounted tickets on sale now for June 30 to July 4
Courtesy of Marin County
Renowned for presenting world-class music, the Marin County Fair will have a stellar lineup of bands every night June 30 through July 4, all free with the price of general admission.
The 2022 fair will focus on outdoor entertainment including the headline concerts, performers roaming the grounds such as jugglers, unicyclists, and stilt walkers, and interactive art experiences for fans of all ages. Returning fair favorites will include traditional carnival rides, the Global Marketplace, the Barnyard, food and drinks, and fireworks every night over the Civic Center’s Lagoon Park. The always-popular competitive exhibits program will take place online as it did in 2021.
Here is the music lineup:
Thursday, June 30, 7:30 p.m.: Pablo Cruise
Pablo Cruise began in San Francisco in 1973 as honest, real, down-to-earth vocals, accompanied by fun yet elegant, infectious grooves. In 1975 Pablo Cruise released its first A&M album simply entitled Pablo Cruise. The album cover was shot in the tropical gardens of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. In 1977, the album A Place in the Sun was the turning point in the band’s career as they finally entered the mainstream music scene. With hit single “Whatcha Gonna Do?” and the title track “A Place in the Sun,” the album peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard charts. Other chart hits followed, including “Love Will Find a Way” and “Don’t Want to Live Without It,” “I Want You Tonight,” and “Cool Love.” Today, Pablo Cruise is bringing more energy and excitement to the stage than ever before.
Opening band:
Thursday, June 30, 5 p.m.: Matt Jaffe
After cutting his teeth on open mics around the Bay Area, San Francisco songwriter Matt Jaffe was discovered by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads. Together, they produced Matt’s first album when he was 16, cementing his dedication to music. Matt has written more songs than he can remember the words to, crisscrossed the country opening for Mavis Staples and Wilco, and co-written with Tom Higgenson of the Plain White T’s. Inspired by the great lineage of rock n’ roll, he marries literary lyrics with the undeniable urge to dance. Having suffered from seizures since 2015, Matt also uses his music to unite local and national epilepsy communities. Matt is currently rolling out his fourth and fifth albums, Undertoad and Kintsugi.
Friday, July 1, 7:30 p.m.: Sheila E
Sheila Escovedo picked up the drumsticks and started making music at the precocious age of 3 and delivered her first solo performance to a live audience two years later. She has since established herself as one of the most talented percussionist/drummers and performers in the world. She became a top session and touring musician before the age of 20, performing and/or recording with George Duke, Herbie Hancock, Con Funk Shun, Marvin Gaye (on his final world tour), Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Gloria Estefan, Patti LaBelle, and Steve Nicks among others. Sheila E.’s producing, arranging, and performance talents have been showcased throughout the music and film industry. In 2014, Sheila released her literary biography titled The Beat of My Own Drum, and her solo album, ICON. Following Prince’s death, she released the single “Girl Meets Boy” in memory of the late, great, Prince. In 2018, Sheila E. released, ICONIC: Message for America, an album that displays her efforts in awareness to social issues and humanitarianism. Her current single, “No Line” with the legendary Snoop Dogg, is Sheila’s continued contribution to the music industry.
Saturday, July 2, 7:30 p.m.: Sons of Champlin
The Sons of Champlin started in Marin County in 1965 by Bill Champlin, Tim Cain, Terry Haggerty, and Geoff Palmer and has been one of Marin’s most beloved homegrown bands for over 50 years. The band has released eight major label albums and a few on indie labels. Bill Champlin has worked on over 300 records and has performed on TV and movie soundtracks, including the lead vocal on “In the Heat of the Night” series starring Carrol O’Connor. He played for 28 years with the band Chicago and managed to fit in a handful of Sons’ gigs during that time. The current lineup is Bill Champlin on keys and guitar and lead vocals; Geoff Palmer on keys and vibes; Alan Hertz on drums; Dick Mithun on bass; Tal Morris on guitar; Tim Cain on sax; Jeff Lewis on trumpet; Doug Rowan on sax; and Tamara Champlin on lead and background vocals. The band has always been a step up musically from the norm. Founding member Terry Haggerty has been known to sit in with the band, which is always an emotional experience for diehard fans. The Sons of Champlin are a Marin County gold mine.
Sunday, July 3, 7:30 p.m.: Digable Planets
Digable Planets burst onto the music scene in 1993 with their Grammy-winning single, “Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat).” Made up of Ishmael Butler (Butterfly), Craig (C Know/ Doodlebug) Irving, and Mary Ann (Ladybug Mecca) Vieira, the trio carved out a unique style of jazz-informed hip hop. Shortly after, Digable Planets followed up with their debut album, Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time And Space), melding Jazz samples, and complex rhymes that touched on everything from the nuances of city life (“Where I’m From”) to abortion rights (“La Femme Fetal”). Reachin’ was a rich and vibrant artistic statement as well as a huge commercial success (RIAA certified gold). They immediately followed up with Blowout Comb, a bold and colorful meditation on Black liberation. In 2015, the group embarked upon a string of wildly successful live shows and has been active as a tight touring unit ever since. In 2017, they released Digable Planets Live, a live album that showcases many gems from the group’s catalog as well as the trio’s skill at rocking the crowd with a live band. A pioneering act that continues to cast a considerable influence, Digable Planets have left an indelible mark on music. Nearly 20 years after their debut, their music still shines, and the group continues to bring their celebrated stage show to excited crowds around the world.
Monday, July 4, 7:30 p.m.: George Porter Jr. and Dumpstaphunk perform The Meters
Dumpstaphunk stands out among New Orleans’ best, cementing themselves as one of the funkiest bands to ever arise from the Crescent City. Born on the Jazz & Heritage Festival stage, and descended from Neville and Meters family bloodlines, these soldiers of funk ignite a deep, gritty groove that dares listeners not to move. Their performances combine ingenious musicianship through complex funk, rock, and jazz arrangements accompanied by soulful melodies and Big Easy traditions. George Porter Jr. is best known as the bassist of The Meters, along with Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli, and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste. The group was formed in the mid ‘60s and came to be recognized as one of the progenitors of funk, then called R&B. The Meters disbanded in 1977 but reformed in 1989. Today, the original group still plays the occasional reunions but the Funky Meters, of which Porter and Neville are still members, most prominently keeps the spirit alive.
Buy Marin County Fair tickets EARLY for the best prices. Online only at MarinFair.org.
Reserved concert seating in a special section is $60 per person and includes fair admission.
Special Admission Days:
Thursday, June 30 — Kids Day and Seniors Day
Kids 12 and under are admitted FREE
Seniors 65-over are admitted FREE
Activism
Comparing Histories: Black and Japanese American Advocates Talk Reparations and Justice
Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist Dr. Cheryl Grills and Bay Area-based attorney Don Tamaki, who were part of the nine-member reparations panel, spoke at the “Justice Through Action: Black Reparations-Reparative Justice” event hosted by local chapters of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in Sacramento on Feb. 8.
![Former reparations task force member and Loyola Marymount Professor of Psychology, Dr. Cheryl Grills, participated remotely in the “Justice Through Action: Black Reparations-Reparative Justice” event at the California State Museum in Sacramento. Attorney Don Tamaki, seated left, appeared at the event presented by Japanese American Citizens League. Donna Komure-Toyama, seated right, was the moderator. Feb. 8, 2025. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/reparations-and-justice-featured-web.jpg)
By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
Two former members of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans shared some of their experiences developing a 1,075-page report that detailed injustices suffered by African Americans during and after chattel slavery.
Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist Dr. Cheryl Grills and Bay Area-based attorney Don Tamaki, who were part of the nine-member reparations panel, spoke at the “Justice Through Action: Black Reparations-Reparative Justice” event hosted by local chapters of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in Sacramento on Feb. 8.
The event was held at the California Museum.
“The first impact that the overall report had on me is that it gave me a panoramic view and it was a panoramic view of the elephant in the room,” Grills, who attended the event virtually, told the audience.
Grills said the report the task force compiled presented an undiluted version of the Black experience in America/
“You could see the totality of the elephant,” she said. “The report gives you the fullness and density of the elephant, which was, at the same time, validating, overwhelming, and painful.”
The JACL is the nation’s oldest and largest Asian American-Pacific Islander Civil Rights Organization.
The JACL presentation was hosted to observe the 83rd anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
That panel was part of the Northern California Time of Remembrance (NCTOR) committee’s Annual Day of Remembrance program organized in partnership with the California Museum.
Tamaki, who is Japanese American and the only non-Black member of the task force, said the Black and Japanese experiences in America have some parallels but there are significant differences as well.
“When you look at reparations, and this was the eye opener to me, it’s actually a unifying concept,” Tamaki said. “There’s no equivalence between four years in a concentration camp that our community experienced and 400 years of oppression.”
Tamaki explained, “We do have some things in common. Japanese know something about mass incarceration and profiling and the consequences. In that respect, there is a reason for all of us, whatever our background, to start looking at (reparations). We have to cure the body and not just put a band-aid on it.”
Grills is a clinical psychologist whose work focuses on community psychology. A Professor of Psychology at Loyola Marymount University, she us also a past president of the Association of Black Psychologists.
Tamaki is a senior counsel at Minami Tamaki LLP. He has spent decades working with AAPI legal services programs. In the 1980s, he participated in the Japanese American reparations movement and served on the pro bono legal team that reopened the landmark 1944 Supreme Court case of Fred Korematsu.
The case resulted in overturning Korematsu’s criminal conviction for violating the incarceration order that led to the imprisonment of 125,000 Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Earnest Uwazie, a Sacramento State University criminal justice professor and director of the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution, was one of more than 100 persons who listened to the two-hour discussion.
“It’s always great to hear from the people involved in the study of reparations and it is good to get a comparative with the Japanese experience,” said Uwazie. “This was extremely informative.”
Activism
OPINION: Politics, Football and Identity in Trump’s America
If you haven’t noticed, all Americans are engaged in an even bigger game that means so much more than the Super Bowl. Our democracy is falling apart.
![](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/trumps-america-featured-web.jpg)
By Emil Guillermo
Two Filipino American stories made headlines recently.
First, Nikko Remigio, the Filipino and African American kick returner for the Kansas City Chiefs, did not win Super Bowl LIX.
The other, Alameda’s Rob Bonta said no to running for governor. I don’t blame him. It’s not like a mass of people wanted him to run.
But I did.
Whenever there is a Filipino American in a place you don’t expect, I’m rooting for that person.
As California’s Attorney General, Bonta is probably the most active defender among Blue States pushing back against Trump’s Extreme-Right agenda.
I’d like to Bonta run for California’s top job, but he’s better off waiting in line. The Democrats need a spot for Kamala Harris, and Bonta not running obliges the hierarchy.
History can wait. Bonta’s just 52.
Harris has held off speculation of her next move, saying she just moved back to the state. But it seems governor is the path for her.
For now, Bonta needs to continue taking the fight to Trump in the courts.
Football and Identity Politics
My dad, whose birthday would have been Super Bowl weekend, came to the US in 1928 as a colonized Filipino, an “American National,” where he couldn’t be a citizen, vote, own property or even marry the person he wanted.
Not if they were White.
Still, he believed in America. He never gave up.
Sort of like Nikko Remigio.
My dad would have loved Nikko.
If you haven’t noticed, all Americans are engaged in an even bigger game that means so much more than the Super Bowl. Our democracy is falling apart.
You want to get passionate about Eagles and Chiefs?
Let’s be passionate about our Founding Fathers, too.
Nikko didn’t change the game. He touched it three times and provided more yards than all of KC’s running backs.
That’s all I needed to see.
He’s our Filipino guy.
Detractors may call it “identity politics.”
People don’t seem to understand the fight for visibility. To be recognized. To be seen. It’s all wrapped up in the big idea of Civil Rights.
I was nowhere near as good as Nikko when I played. But when you are blessed to play football, you play your hardest.
For me, that was when I was 12 and 13 playing Pop Warner football in San Francisco. I was MVP for my team as a running back.
But I was ashamed of my dad. He wasn’t like the other dads. And I remember going to the team banquet to retrieve my trophy alone.
I didn’t realize it probably meant more to him than I thought.
I wish I had shared my MVP moment with him like Nikko shared his joy with his dad, Mark, born in Seattle to two Filipino immigrants, and his mom, whose mixture of Black and White made Nikko the picture of diversity.
Filipino American and Black and White at the Super Bowl.
But don’t forget, there is one game bigger.
The Super Bowl for Democracy. We’re battling for it every day Trump pushes a cockamamie idea that shakes the foundation of our Democracy.
About the Author
Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist and commentator. Watch his micro-talk show “Emil Amok’s Takeout/What Does an Asian American Think?” on www.YouTube.com/emilamok1 Or join him on http://www.patreon.com/emilamok
Activism
Richmond Students Board Bus en Route to College Degrees
The Black College Expo at the Marriott Convention Center on Feb. 8, where San Rafael nonprofit 10,000 Degrees, which organized the field trip, aimed to connect students to numerous colleges and universities and provide them with the essential knowledge and skills to attend college.
![Photos from the field trip by Carlos Calito.](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/richmond-students-featured-web.jpg)
By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard
A bus departed from Richmond’s Greenwood Academy and headed toward Oakland on Saturday, setting a path toward fulfilling student dreams of a bright future. Their destination?
The Black College Expo at the Marriott Convention Center on Feb. 8, where San Rafael nonprofit 10,000 Degrees, which organized the field trip, aimed to connect students to numerous colleges and universities and provide them with the essential knowledge and skills to attend college.
Through the field trip, 10,000 Degrees set its sights on various goals to support low-income students in achieving their college dreams. The nonprofit emphasized education about the college and university admission process and related financials and scholarships. Students networked and were provided the groundwork to get accepted to colleges and be awarded scholarships that same day.
The recent field trip followed the nonprofit’s launch of its Black Student Engagement program aimed at addressing education challenges in Richmond, the Bay Area and beyond.
And as the group’s visit to the Expo reflected, the program aims to support local Black high school and college students with the resources and knowledge to become college graduates. This includes financial aid assistance and scholarships available through 10,000 Degrees.
Relatedly, a Black Student Engagement Internship program and Black Student College Fund offered by the nonprofit further supports the upward educational trajectory of Black students.
In Richmond, 10,000 Degrees works with students at high schools including John F. Kennedy High School, Richmond High School, and Sylvester Greenwood Academy.
For more information about 10,000 Degrees and its work for students, go to https://10000degrees.org/
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