a.n.a ballet flats

Saratoga’s Got Talent: An opportunity for all Saratogans to share their talent and have a good time. Live musical performances, dance, karaoke, stand-up comedy and more–just about anything goes. Kids perform the first hour, and adults after. Every month has a different theme, anchored by a Saratoga High School team. Third Friday of each month, 7-10:30 p.m. Blue Rock Shoot, 14523 Big Basin Way, Saratoga. Check for event updates at facebook.com/ValleyTalent or subscribe to the email group, groups.google.com/group/ValleyTalent. saratogatalent.com.

Speaking of playing, Cole isn’t exactly retiring, He still works behind the scenes on music projects with his wife, Susan Muscarella, who is president of the California Jazz Conservatory, He’s also enjoyed a long career as a conductor –  local a.n.a ballet flats audiences will remember him on the Zellerbach Hall podium, leading Tchaikovsky’s complete “Nutcracker” score for performances of Mark Morris’ “The Hard Nut.”, These days, though, he’s focusing on playing music rather than presenting it, He’s returned to his first instrument, clarinet, and is also playing viola, “I’m playing string quartets, clarinet quintets,” Cole said, “I didn’t play for many years – during the time I was a conductor and a manager, I didn’t really have time to practice, Now I’m really into it and actually enjoying it more than I did when I was young.”..

Both key actors find shades in the spiral of emotions that sucks the characters into darkness. Daniel Chung nails Dennis’ ability to radiate blankness through eyes that seem almost dead. Jackie Chung pivots through a spectrum of feelings and fears in a dizzying dance macabre. Still it’s hard to hold onto a sense of connection and coherence amid the carnage. If each individual vignette had the power to stand on its own, as in Caryl Churchill’s “Love and Information,” we could find meaning in the dissonance. Or at least a feeling of questions desperate to be asked. But this “Office Hour” leaves us as uncertain as we are unsettled, the jolt of shots echoing in our ears.

Participants should bring leather gloves, a hat, water and heavy duty wire cutters, Extras will be available, Please wear long pants and a long a.n.a ballet flats sleeve shirt as well as sturdy hiking boots for work on the hillside, A pizza lunch will be provided as well as a morning snack, Volunteers from the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation, the East Bay Trail Dogs, the Orinda Hiking Club, the Mt, Diablo Trash Removal Project Team, the Rossmoor Trails Club and the city of Walnut Creek Open Space are participating in this event..

Erricson Himmelberger Gallery. “Which World Will Survive.” Paintings and etchings by Jacek Sroka. May 24-June 24. Reception 6-8 p.m. May 24 (free). Erricson Himmelberger Gallery, 855 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park. 650-566-1006. Palo Alto Art Center. “Clear Story,” site-specific, walk-in installation by Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, through August, King Plaza, in front of Palo Alto City Hall. “LawnBowls: A Site-Specific Environmental Installation,” by Judith Selby Lang, through February 2013, Palo Alto Lawn Bowls Club, 474 Embarcadero, Palo Alto. “Water Lilies,” by Judith Selby Lang, large-scale floating structures made of plastic bottles calling attention to issues of water pollution, recycling, reuse and environmental sustainability, through September, Baylands Nature Preserve, 2775 Embarcadero Road, Palo Alto. www.cityofpaloalto.org/artcenter.