Matt Werner's Blog, page 6

Giants Win the 2010 World Series: A Retrospective

One thing that's been fun working with Joe Sciarrillo on a photobook is that he always seems to be on the ground for all the major events in the Bay Area. Looking through the thousands of photos he's taken in the last five years, we found a lot of gems.

Given all the media attention on Giants fans "rioting" in the streets after the October 28, 2012 World Series win, I wondered, what were the celebrations like after the 2010 World Series? And Joe had some very interesting footage and photos of the celebration, which we're including in Bay Area Underground .


And here are photos of the celebrations in the Mission District after the 2010 World Series: Giants fans dancing on top of a Muni bus after the 2010 World Series. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo Giants fans light a fire on Mission Street after the 2010 World Series. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo Mission Street was so packed with people, some started climbing the Muni wires. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo

All the photos in this post are by Joe Sciarrillo and will appear in the photobook Bay Area Underground. Photo editing by Isa Woods.

My blog passes 100,000 page views!

Thanks for reading my blog. This week we've passed 100,000 page views (all time) for Matt's Writing, with readership increasing each month! If you'd like to keep up-to-date with my latest posts, please subscribe to my blog by clicking the RSS feed to the right -->. See the Google Analytics chart below for details:

Oscar Grant Protests: A Retrospective

In anticipation of the January 1, 2013 publication of the photobook  Bay Area Underground , I'll be running excerpts of news coverage to complement the photos in the book. The book covers the major cultural events and social movements in the Bay Area over the past five years, and no single issue was as polarizing in Oakland as the shooting of unarmed Oscar Grant III by a BART police officer on New Year's Day 2009.

Below is a transcript of a news dispatch by Joe Sciarrillo about the January 30 and February 28, 2009 marches in honor of Oscar Grant. This report originally aired on the DJ Matt Werner show on Fresh Air: The Alternative on March 3, 2009 (right click to download the podcast and skip to 44:15 to hear this report).

January 30, 2009 Oscar Grant protest. Photo by Joe SciarrilloOn New Year’s Day 2009, a 22-year-old African American man named Oscar Grant was fatally shot by a police officer of the San Francisco Bay Area train service called the Bay Area Rapid Transit or BART. The BART officer named Johannes Mehserle, is out of jail on $3 million bail and is scheduled to appear in court on March 23. Mehserle has been charged with murder, and was caught on video by train passengers shooting Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland. His defense lawyer contends that Mehserle meant to only shoot his Taser gun, while he had Grant pinned face down on the ground. The videos of this shooting, along with videos showing a fellow officer hitting Oscar Grant, have been widely viewed on YouTube and Bay Area news channels, sparking regular protests in Oakland.

Over 100 people marched on Friday in downtown Hayward, the city just south of Oakland where Oscar Grant lived, to commemorate what would have been Grant's 23rd birthday. Next Thursday, protesters plan to shut down the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, where Grant was killed nearly two months ago. The series of protests are aimed at memorializing Oscar Grant and countless other cases of police brutality along with calling for increased accountability for police officers.
Speaker on top of a bus at 14th and Broadway calling for justice for Oscar Grant. Photo by Joe SciarrilloI was in Oakland on Friday, January 30, when a group of up to fifty protesters gathered to denounce the Alameda County Superior Court's decision to set a $3 million bail for BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle. Nine people were arrested that day, compared to the previous Jan. 7 and Jan. 14 protests, when 105 and 18 were arrested, respectively.

At approximately 3:30pm during the Jan. 30 protest, the group led by activists from CAPE (Coalition Against Police Executions) made its way from the Alameda County Superior Court to downtown Oakland. A member of CAPE hopped onto an idle bus with a megaphone, pleading with protesters to intensify their actions. "The Black Panthers took a stand for something!” he said. “We gotta take a stand!"
Photo by Joe SciarrilloAnother organizer yelled with disgust at police brutality, "They can't get away with this!" One organizer led the march down to the Oakland Police Department, "Your anger is beautiful! Get ANGRY!" The marchers chanted, "No Justice, No Peace! Fuck the Police!", "Who's Streets? Our Streets!", "We Are All Oscar Grant!", "Justice for Oscar Grant!", and "Jail These Killer Cops!"
Photo by Joe SciarrilloProtesters spent roughly 10 minutes at the Police Department before being dispersed, then one activist smashed the back window of an unmarked SUV with police inside, sparking the three officers in the vehicle to get out. Immediately two of the officers threw gas canisters at the crowd, while one shot a gun with presumably rubber bullets. The crowd scattered back to downtown, continuing chants, while pedestrians and onlookers in traffic gasped, stunned at the scene, some covering their ringing ears from the loud blasts.
A protester gets slammed to the ground by Oakland Police. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo Photo by Joe SciarrilloOne African American observer, in business attire and a black trench coat, claimed to be a local and to work for the Oakland city government. He followed the protesters on foot and occasionally commented, "You are insulting the memory of Oscar Grant," "I don't see no locals here," and, "It's all about breaking windows," while claiming that the protesters were just anarchists and disturbed youth. He hoped that protesters could use this moment for education and remembering Oscar Grant.

At 4 pm, the group was blocked by police in riot gear with a riot tank at the McDonald's at 14th and Jackson streets. Police wrestled down several youth who attempted to run around the line of officers, enraging the group as several youth began taunting the police, dancing with their middle-fingers in officers' faces. Officers announced on a megaphone, "This is an unlawful assembly. You have two minutes to leave!"
A dozen journalists and TV cameramen record a protester being arrested. Photo by Joe SciarrilloAt 4:30pm, separate groups of dispersed protesters gathered to face the riot police at several intersections near the McDonald's. A teenage girl cried, after seeing others arrested, and she proceeded to run directly into a row of officers' arms. More youth ran directly into the officers, knowing they would be arrested, yet knowing that the plethora of media would capture the officers' use of force in detaining them. Some observers joined the protesters in taunting police, "Hey! Are you gonna shoot them too?!"

A CAPE organizer reacted to the scene of multiple arrests, "They [the officers] are just making it worse!"

~
Dispatch by Joe Sciarrillo on February 28, 2009. Photos in this report by Joe Sciarrillo will be included in Bay Area Underground: Photos of Protests and Social Movements, 2008-2012. Photo editing was done by Isa Woods.

Oakland in Popular Memory book reading Wed. night at Oakland Main Library

Matt Werner reading at the 25th Street Collective in Oakland. Photo by Joe SciarrilloI'm reading Wednesday, November 28 at the Oakland Main Library from my book Oakland in Popular Memory about what's been happening in the East Bay's art and music scene over the past few years. The book features interviews with 12 artists and musicians from Oakland and artists who've influenced Oakland artists. Here's a piece about the book in the East Bay Express.

The book reading is from 6-7pm tomorrow at the Oakland Main Library in the Bradley C. Walters Community Room. I'll also briefly talk about my next book project, a book of local photography covering Bay Area social movements titled Bay Area Underground.

Matt Werner answering questions at book reading in November, 2012. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo

East Bay Express reviews Oakland in Popular Memory

"It wasn't until college that Matt Werner began to truly understand the meaning of his hometown. He remembers it vividly: He was at UC Berkeley, chatting with someone at a party, when she asked where he was from. He told her Oakland, which was met with an 'Oakland? We don't go into Oakland.'" -Ellen Cushing

Read the full article "Oakland, in Its Own Words" by Ellen Cushing on the East Bay Express website.

Purchase Oakland in Popular Memory on Amazon.com or directly from Thought Publishing.

Bay Area Underground photobook Kickstarter project launches!

I just launched the Bay Area Underground photobook project on Kickstarter. This is to fund my next book, which I'm collaborating on with San Francisco photographer Joe Sciarrillo. Please check out the campaign before it ends on December 8, 2012: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattwerner/bay-area-underground-photobook-project.
 

Oakland in Popular Memory book reading this Saturday

Check out my book reading at the 25th Street Collective happening during Oakland Art Murmur's Saturday Stroll on November 3. I'm reading from 3-4pm, followed by a reception and book signing. For more details, see the Facebook event.

3 book events in Oakland in November!

For those of you who haven't yet been to an Oakland in Popular Memory book reading--you're in luck! I have 3 events in November. Come to hear about the latest innovative artists and musicians in Oakland. You may also get a sneak preview of my next book, featuring photographs of Bay Area social movements by Joe Sciarrillo.

The first edition of Oakland in Popular Memory is sold out! But if you're lucky, I may be able to unearth a few of the remaining highly-collectible first edition copies.

Here are the events:

Saturday, November 3: Book Reading at the 25th Street Collective in Oakland. The event is part of Oakland Art Murmur's Saturday Stroll, in collaboration with Art Beat. The book reading and audience Q&A is followed by a book signing and reception. 477 25th St., Oakland, 3-4pm.

Thursday, November 15: Authors of Oakland, Oakland Heritage Alliance. The event features author meet-and-greet and book sales/signing with Oakland's luminary authors like Ishmael Reed and up-and-coming writers like me. First Christian Church, Fellowship Hall, 111 Fairmount Ave., Oakland, 7:15-8:30pm.

Wednesday, November 28: Matt Werner Book Reading at Oakland Main Library (PDF). Author reading, Q&A, and book signing. Bradley C. Walters Community Room, Main Library, 125 14th St., Oakland. 6-7pm.

And stay tuned for more details on the opening reception in December for the Google Art Exhibit on "The Making of Oakland in Popular Memory."

For more info on these events, email editor[at]thoughtpublising.org.

How to Get Kids Into Classical Music – cdza video

CDZA, the New York-based group that creates musical video experiments, just posted its latest video: How to Get Kids into Classical Music. It features a short essay by me in the video description on the value of musical education.

The Oakland A's win! And the SF Chronicle gets it wrong

"It ain't over till it's over" with the Oakland A's. They just won game 4 with a 9th inning rally against the Detroit Tigers to advance to game 5 in the American League Division Series! However, a half hour after the game, the San Francisco Chronicle still kept published an article by Susan Slusser titled "A’s 2012 season ends, but what a terrific season it was." The article headline still isn't updated as of this posting. Let's hope they at least have it corrected by morning. See below for screenshots.

Update at 10:55pm on 10/10/2012: Looking at the reporter's Twitter page, she is aware of the gaffe, and has taken steps to fix the article title to "A’s force Game 5 with ninth-inning comeback". See this URL for the corrected article: http://blog.sfgate.com/athletics/2012/10/10/as-2012-season-ends-but-what-a-terrific-season-it-was/.