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Dreaming Bruce Lee. Urban Guide Listings to plan your week by Media Speakeasy Liberation Drive-In! Against the campaign to legitimize street art against the walls of galleries and museums, the guys of Nonchalance continue to keep graffiti and hip hop in the streets where they are accessible, vital, and hella fun. The loose Oakland collective of pranksters and art rebels will bring their cache of contraband pop and revolutionary fervor to the parking lot on Harrison Street between 15th and 17th Streets in downtown O-town. These guys know street art is as essential as it is funny, and the 9-minute Socialist Manifesto reading illustrated by cartoons comrades Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop, et al., is surprisingly the least amusing bit. When the renown Paper Tiger TV took their collective camera to underground poster artists it hit upon a controversy among vegan vandalists not wanting to use condensed milk in the wheat-paste. "Our oppressed cow sisters would want us to use it," says one undeterred radical. The Guerilla News Network present dazzling mini-documentaries on the social demise of the hip-hop music industry, the CIA drug trade, media manipulation, etc, each under 5 minutes - the bite-sized tempests pack an information punch with restlessly inventive visual ideas. The Speakeasy will also present an Oakland graffiti slide show by the Bay Area Aerosol Heritage Society and local filmmaker Joel Fuller's world-music electronica doc "Deviant Rhythms" featuring local spinsters DJ Sep, DJ Cheb i Sabbah, Cat Five, and a list of others. It's free, and an on-site microtransmitter will be delivering the audio to anyone able to tune in, so be sure to bring an FM radio along with your revolutionary sense of humor. Fri-Sat/7-8. Fri-Sat/21-22. 9pm-2am. Parking lot on Harrison Street, btw. 15th and 17th, Oakl. Free. 531.6200. www.nonchalance.org. (PC) There goes the sun. It's a Partial Eclipse of the Sun Are we lucky, or what? The annular solar eclipse on June 10 will begin in the Bay Area at 5:05pm, max out at 6:16pm, and end at 7:18pm. The moon will hide seventy-five percent of the sun, and we'll be able to watch the whole dance of orbs since the sun won't set until 8:20pm that night. Now, I'm sure there's an ironic sticker out there that reads, "Eclipses are Dumb," but let's get real. Try to imagine a better time to forge something new with family, friends, and lovers, or reflect alone on fragility, than up in the hills on soft matting during astronomical prime time. If you ever wanted to feel small and sentient in some galactic, gaseous aquarium, spreading a white sheet on the ground during an annular eclipse might do the trick - look out for "shadow bands," refracted light similar to ripples on the bottom of a pool, wrinkling across the ground. Stay put, venture out, or go pro at Chabot Space & Science Center; they'll open at 4pm for the solar event. Watch the eclipse safely from the Observatory Plaza, and catch direct feed close-ups on the big screens. The afternoon program also includes a special presentation of Solar Max, a film on ecliptical history and lore, and access to the Center's exhibit of space exploration artifacts on loan from NASA, "Spaceflight: Journey to the Stars." Might as well catch evening shots of Jupiter and Venus through the space scope while you're there, too. Take advantage: the last eclipse came through here a decade ago, a tiny chunk in space time, but make or break in ours. Mon/10, 5:05pm. Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline, Oakl. $5-$8. 336.7373. (EP) Inspiring artists. 'Inspiration' If diversity in life makes for diverse art, then the 18 artists exhibiting at the West Berkeley Senior Center (WBSC) as part of the 20th annual Pro Arts' East Bay Open Studios probably know a thing or two about, as one artists states: "Passion to make pieces for all types of people to enjoy." Spanning more than five-plus decades and a multitude of ethnic backgrounds, these 18 artists are presenting artwork in a wide-range of media. This year, art lovers and collectors alike can experience the richness and diversity of the East Bay art scene all in one venue with artwork that runs the gamut from photography, painting, and sculpture to jewelry, printmaking, handmade paper, and interior accessories/ furniture and embraces the uplifting, the fun, the funky, and the inspiring. And, with "Inspiration" (the name of this year's exhibit) reflecting the brightness, originality, emotion, beauty, and stirring nature of the works exhibited by such an amazing array of artists, this exhibit is not to be missed. Sat-Sun/ 8-9, 11am-6pm. West Berkeley Senior Center, 1900 Sixth Street (corner of Hearst), Berk. 549.3129. (LF) Picks by Peter Crimmins (PC), Leslie Firestone (LF), and Erica Pedersen (EP). [ East Bay | Metroactive | Archives ]