You are cordially invited to attend Inspiration Awards 2012 on Thursday, December 6th from 6:00pm – 9:00pm at Preservation Park as we honor Mary Grove, Head of Global Entrepreneurship Outreach at Google and Doug Leeds, CEO at Ask.com. World-renown Oakland entrepreneur, MC Hammer is kicking-off the ceremony. Join Oakland Digital, as we highlight their outstanding achievements in a ceremonial manner and thank them for their positive impact upon the Bay Area and beyond. You can learn more and purchase tickets at www.inspiration-awards.com.

Oakland Digital (ODALC) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public benefit organization which aims to educate, inspire, and empower underserved diverse communities to participate in the digital economy.

Head on down to Jack London Square – accessible by West Oakland, Lake Merritt, and 12th St BART stations (a few blocks walk). Attendance is free, all food is around $5 and is ideally regionally-sourced, sustainable ingredients. Saturday September 22 until 9:30 pm and Sunday, September 23, until 5pm. There is a vendor that makes their condiment toppings with a Fender Blender Pro smoothie bike from Rock The Bike. There was even a Lebanese falafel/dolmas/hummus vendor that had a couple shisha hookah’s set up! The size of the festival has spread into the overflow parking lot! I like the vendors but also like the picnic like atmosphere and the many water refill stations for those that brought reusable containers e.g. AVOID USING BUYING SELLING PLASTIC BOTTLES OF WATER. Especially with the excellent quality of Oakland’s EBMUD water, there’s no reason why we need to influence the public into thinking their near-free tap water is anything less than “filtered” or “bottled” water. Because it isn’t. Fantastic event, loads of community, and fun for all. Eat Real Fest is a must visit every year.

More on the local food eateries at: www.eatrealfest.com./event/Oakland/California/2012/eat-vendors

Velo Promo, Golden Chain Cyclists, Major Motion Cycling Team and Team Oakland present the 8th Annual Volkswagen of “Oakland Grand Prix”. Date: Sunday, September 23, 2 012. The GP is a.85 mile hourglass shaped race course in Uptown/Downtown Oakland. Route: Harrison, 19th, Webster, 20th, Franklin, 22nd, Webster, 20th, Harrison. Cat 4/5 is 17 miles at 20 laps, Cat 1/2/Pro is 34 miles which equates to 40 laps. Race registration at Velopromo.

Get there with the nearest public transit train station 19th St. BART – you’ll pop out from the steps in the middle of the race, how convenient. UC Davis Development Race Team will be racing! Wrench Science Race Team will be racing!

Here’s a photo from race turn volunteer, Yao. - Love Oakland.

Hiero Day is today, September 3rd, 2012. The free all-ages family event is 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on San Pablo Avenue between 17th and 18th in Oakland. Hiero Day is free for the community, paid for by independent and local businesses in Oakland – support your local family businesses! The event is an answer to “What’s Good in Oakland?” Lots of Love Oakland today!

Live performances by Hieroglyphics, Blackalicious, Planet Asia, Equipto, Z Man, and Moe Green, and DJ sets from Honor Roll, Kev Choice Ensemble, and DJ D Sharp. These are the modern complements to ’93 ’till Infinity by Souls of Mischief of East Oakland, California.

Take BART there via 19th St station and walk to San Pablo which is parallel to Broadway and Telegraph. Map below:

View Larger Map

How’d I miss this performance by Red Hot Chili Peppers? They played at the Oakland Coliseum on Tuesday, August 14th, 2012.  In this day of social media and millions of distractions, you can certainly miss out! Although not as rad as the artwork from Eddie Vedder’s show at the Paramount Theater, the artwork by the ‘Chili Peppers is bold enough to get a nod from Love Oakland!

Air Force One in the house! Uptown Oakland was rolled through on by the Presidential motorcade. BART riders were aflutter with Obama sighting news as President Obama spoke at the Fox Theater. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s facebook page shared photos like a groupie would post of their favorite band after a Coachella concert. The President is a rock star.

Photos by: Jean Quan, Chronicle

Social Media for Small Business 2012 Presented by Oakland Digital ODALC

8:30am, Wed., July 25th, 2012 at Oakland City Hall, Council Chambers

SMfSB is Oakland Digital’s one day, five-hour event that serves as a neutral educational and learning platform for local small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. SMfSB breaks social media down into easy-to-understand pieces, so attendees can make sense of and utilize digital tools and technology as a platform to grow their business.

MC Hammer, the Oakland rapper / dancer / preacher / entrepreneur, is making a special appearance, speaking about the power of social and Oakland Digital’s work to help transform Oakland into an area that flourishes through technology, innovation and collaboration among diverse community members.

Tech experts from Google, Yelp, Constant Contact, Wix.com, Jimdo, GoPago and Oakland Digital will be there to host educational sessions on digital tools for small businesses!

I was in attendance last year, it inspired and taught a lot about the small business mindset and the roadblocks to social media even though social media is plastered on all sorts of media much like going green and green washing. It’s simply a mindset, learn what that’s about at this event by Oakland Digital! Register before capacity is reached: oaksocialmedia.eventbrite.com/

Get there by bicycle, or take BART 12th St Oakland City Center!

- Wilson, Love Oakland

Today around Lake Merritt! 12 noon to 3pm. Enjoy the farmers market, spectate, pedal power bike blend, ride and/or race your bike! A benefit for the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

Source: dayattheraces.wordpress.com/

Thursday May 10th, 2012 is “Bike To Work Day” in the San Francisco Bay Area: Bring it O-Town! Word is that there is a 500 cyclist convoy rolling from San Francisco to Google HQ tomorrow morning! Oakland is deep with cyclist fueling stations. See the full Bike To Work list and map. Walk Oakland Bike Oakland WOBO informs, Mayor Jean Quan, will be riding at 7am from Eastmont Police Station to pancakes at City Center BART (14th and Broadway). WOBO will be running the Energizer Station at 27th and Broadway, right next to Bay Area Bikes, MUA, Shashamane, and Rosewood House. More details on Bike To Work Day at East Bay Bike Coalition.

Oakland’s Bike Salon podcast: “The Science of Bike Awesomeness” featuring the joy sharing Bubble Girl SF, women’s awareness with the toxic hydroquinone and mercury in the cosmetic industry, skill trade pedal power stage lighting, an interview with the founder of Oakland Digital at Academy of Sciences Nightlife event in which Rock The Bike pedal powered the stage lighting and entertainment. Bike Salon also goes into their future project goals and fund-raising efforts to sustain programming. Love Oakland!

Bike Salon podcast: “<3 Bike Love 4 Eva! That’s How We Roll!” – Bike Salon

East Bay Bike Party: Where’s Waldo! starting at South Hayward BART Station, 7:30pm! Finale and food trucks at Area Cycles, Castro Valley. Bring your bike, lock, lights, helmet – Bike Party!!!

Below are Bike Party highlights from Analisa of the Patch:

Rebecca Kaplan, an Oakland city council member since 2008, writes George Lucas of Marin (George Lucas Valley) and Star Wars fame, an open letter in San Francisco Chronicle.

Dear George – We heard you ran into a little bit of trouble in Marin recently in your efforts to build a new digital production facility.

As Oakland’s citywide elected council member – and a fan of yours since age 7 – I invite you to locate your new facility in our city.

Yoda said, “Always in motion is the future.”

That future is Oakland – home to a growing and diverse creative class – with good transportation and no shortage of “Star Wars” fans.

With a thriving entertainment scene, great food, countless imagineers and possibilities for development-approved locations, I would be happy to work with you to ensure the success of your project in our welcoming community.

We have great locations: waterfront property, industrial land, urban mixed-use, and even in the woods. Options with ferry and BART access. And space already approved for development like Jack London Square and the Coliseum area.

I’d be happy to arrange a tour.

I hope to thank you for your decades of inspiration by helping you find a place to expand- in Oakland, where you can build, grow and thrive in our sunny, scenic city.

If you want, I’ll even wear my Boba Fett mask to the groundbreaking. May the force be with you.

Copenhagen Chic Forever CCF!

Ready To Take On The World!!!

Source: Empowering Women to Bicycle for Transportation

East Bay Bike Party is rolling on East Oakland tonight (Ride Route)! It’s a 90s theme: Fugees x 2 Live Crew x Too Short x Seattle Grunge Alternative! The ride begins at Oakland Coliseum BART 730pm and wraps up before midnight (last train from BART is 12:25am).

“One party stop during the ride and a big, all-ages party after. And no hills. This ride is hella flat.”

Your Ride, Your Community, Your Responsibility – If you threw a party in your backyard and saw people trashing your place or messing with your neighbors’ houses you’d be furious. The truth is, this is your party. The neighborhoods we ride through are our ours. The houses we pass belong to people in our community. So, if you see something, say something. If you notice someone helping out a fellow Partier, cheer them on! If someone says, “Car up,” repeat it and pass it down the line. If someone new doesn’t know the basics of Bike Party, get them up to speed in a positive way. And if you see behavior that’s destructive or is endangering people on the ride, remember that it’s your party, so it’s important for you to say something or find someone who’s comfortable doing so. There are so many people who have your back on this one! We all love Bike Party and want to see it keep on keepin’ on.

Bring a Lock – There will be bike racks aplenty, but it’s self-parking, so you’ll need to bring your own lock.

Get Lights – It’s not just about cars seeing you, it’s about other Bike Partiers seeing you. If someone doesn’t know you’re behind them, they might cut you off and cause a crash. And without a rear light, it’s hard for someone to see you slowing down. When they stop short (or worse, run into you) it causes a big crash. Lights aren’t expensive and they’re an investment in your safety (and that of your fellow riders). Most shops sell a front/rear set for $15 or less. With lights, you’ll shine like the star we know you are!

Inspiration Awards is Thursday evening, December 1st, 2011, at Preservation Park in Oakland, California. Barbara Rodgers, seven-time Emmy award winner, serves as Mistress of Ceremonies. Get your tickets now or contribute to donate@odalc.org.

The following honorees are Bay Area locals who have contributed to their community through innovation and dedication: MC Hammer, Goapele, and Alex Bernstein of NorthSocial.

Business: MC Hammer, on social media at Stanford Graduate School of Business

Artistic Creativity: Goapele, performing her Bay Area hook, “Closer,” live with Drake in SF

Technology: Alex Bernstein’s, NorthSocial tips about editing a Facebook Page

About Oakland Digital: Oakland Digital ODALC encourages local commerce and technological advancements with civic responsibilities by developing the skills of the underserved in the growing Internet & mobile marketplace.

#occupyoakland

The message of Occupy Oakland 10/24/11 www.occupyoakland.org/:

We live in a world where unemployment and staggering levels of debt are the new normal, where poverty and homelessness are met by police violence and incarceration. The entire global economy is broken, and politicians in the US and elsewhere remain powerless to do anything about it. It’s time to take power into our own hands, to occupy the spaces from which we have been excluded and reclaim everything that has been stolen from us.

– Solidarity with the worldwide Occupy movement
– Opposition to an economic system that has never worked for us
– No gang injunctions, no youth curfews
– Keep Oakland schools and libraries open

 Jon Stewart’s Daily Show asks, “What The Fu*k Happened in Oakland?” 10/26/11 video:

Richmond Spokes photo from the streets of reoccupy Oakland the early morning of 10/27:

Tonight 5pm Uptown Oakland: Moneyball (Go A’s!) premiere at the Paramount Theater on Broadway. Brad Pitt with his Hollywood entourage are in the house. Come by to see the red carpet action.

Two big events Friday, September 9th, 2011, are brought together by Rock The Bike!

Friday 3pm: Campus Bike Day at UC Berkeley Sproul Plaza: campusbikeinitiative.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/first-ever-campus-bike-day-rolls-onto-uc-berkeley/

Friday 8pm: East Bay Bike Party at Oakland City Hall/City Center: eastbaybikeparty.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/september-east-bay-bike-party-%c2%a1viva-la-linden-street/

‎Shaun Tai of Oakland Digital ODALC on CNN Newsmakers with Barbara Rodgers.  Oakland Digital giving college students the opportunity to have their work published on huge billboards through the city of Oakland as a way to add credibility and value to their portfolios before entering the workforce. I’ve already seen a billboard near Uptown Oakland and another off HWY 80 by Emeryville. Inspire Oakland, inspire your community! www.youtube.com/watch?v​=_YhbBpKI8ys

Eddie Vedder, the illustrious frontman for world-class Seattle, Washington rock band, Pearl Jam, live solo act at Oakland’s Paramount Theater. Just by chance, two tickets happened to my possession, all but ten rows from the stage. Aisle seats, too, for long legs, bonus. From a recent visit to Oahu, Hawaii, the sounds of a ukulele bring memories of laying on the beach with a sweet breeze, zoned out to the rolling waves and warming of the sun, living it up to Hawaiian time. Eddie Vedder, live, was a highly anticipated epic that did not fail to amaze and brought the island lifestyle and ocean to the theater.

Paramount Theater is a gorgeous, period-specific, spacious, theater, yet beyond it’s scale, the space is intimate. Typical sports coliseum type concerts make the viewer watch the concert on big screens which defeats the purpose of attending such a concert in person. It’s suspect that Lauryn Hill bombed at this venue in 2007, but Prince made headline news by showing successfully to sold out crowds at the Paramount recently.

To the delight of all concert goers, Eddie Vedder pulled off an extended set that highlighted his amazing voice, the use of unplugged instruments such as the banjo, ukulele, and of course, the acoustic and electric guitar. Importantly, Eddie requested all cameras and recording devices NOT to be permitted – thank you and good call – as it was a pleasure to watch from the audience without a sea of distractions such as camera phones taking lackluster photos and blurry videos all night. Another request was broken though, the smoking not permitted rule failed as whiffs of fine California marijuana notes wafted through the audience. The Paramount is in the heart of Oaksterdam, after all!

The crowd was notably mature; it was 1990 when Pearl Jam along with bands such as Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, created the genre, Alternative – that was 20 years ago! So the crowd, if 20 at the time of these bands making it big, are now in their 30s 40s and 50s, with no shortage of respect when rocking! Eddie Vedder himself is 46 and commented, “What a good looking crowd, the young ones are cool, the old ones have aged gracefully.”

Before even entering the venue, I saw the Mark5 (Brooklyn, NY) poster featuring the Port of Oakland cranes illustrated into Star Wars “snow battle camel” AT’s. So awesome (!), elements of San Francisco Bay Area – Oakland and San Rafael caught by a New York studio! Posters were selling out at $35 a pop, to my disbelief – it’s just paper! How much could these cost to actually make, a few bucks? The morning after the event, I saw a couple on ebaY, bidding war above $78. Approximately 550 posters were printed. Further, a quantity of 100 of the 16×24 event posters with metallic ink go on sale by the designer, Studio Mark5, this Friday at $55. So those buying the poster at the event caught a bargain, after all.

I go to concerts once every 10 years, so if I go to one, it’s going to be good. I’m happy and delighted, unlike so many things in life, that I’m not asking for my time back! The finale was Eddie getting down with an assisted humming of his voice only – it was as if the angels had come down to Earth. After a thunderous standing applause (multiple times throughout the night), Eddie returned to the stage for an encore that extended the set to a total time of 3 hours, 8:30pm-11:30pm. Credit goes to Irishman, Glen Hansard, for opening up the evening and joining Eddie in a totally acoustic unplugged performance. Eddie encouraged the crowd to continue, “I’ve got the time, if you’ve got the time.” Along with echoes of shrieking women, a dude on the upper balcony screamed, “I love you, Eddie!” Oakland loves, Eddie! You’re welcome back any time!