Kev Choice in SF Symphony’s ‘From Scratch,’ Courtesy: Kim Huynh. The San Francisco Symphony, not able to play any concerts since March, has pivoted to alternative programming over the last couple of months, including video and podcast series CURRENTS, illustrating the connection between classical music and the music of…

Brandon Leake performs in season 15 of ‘America’s Got Talent’ in Los Angeles on Sept. 1, 2020. Courtesy: Trae Patton/NBC. By the time Stockton poet Brandon Leake blew the “America’s Got Talent” judges and audience away on Sept. 1 with “Pookie”—about his mother’s fear every time he left their…

Jacob Blake This is supposed to be a humor column about music. This week there will be no music and there will be no humor. This is a call to action for Jacob Blake, and for decency. In response to the murder of George Floyd in May and the…

Damian Lillard walks arm in arm with other Black Lives Matter protestors on the Morrison Bridge in Portland, Oregon on June 4, 2020. Photos courtesy: Bruce Ely/Trail Blazers. A day prior to getting his first on-court action in more than four months in the Portland Trail Blazers’ first scrimmage…

Welcome back to RIFF Rewind’s ongoing Black History Month, scheduled to continue until someone in a position of authority takes meaningful steps to addressing racial inequality in America! Which means eventually we’re just going to have to rename the column because, as I went over last week, that hasn’t…

“The Problem We All Live With” by Norman Rockwell, depicting Ruby Bridges in 1960. Happy belated Juneteenth! As part of my ongoing Black History Month series, which will last until I say it’s done even if it takes more than a month, I had planned to explain to you…

Black Lives Matter protestors begin their march from Civic Park in Walnut Creek on June 5, 2020. Roman Gokhman/STAFF. If you want to understand the relationship between police and those who they arrest, simply get yourself arrested some time. Rendering: Adam Pardee/STAFF. Even a peaceful, white suburban male not…