KPFA - East Bay Yesterday

In Oakland on any given weekend in the early 2000s there might’ve been be a punk show in an old Victorian happening down the block from a warehouse rave while, at the same time, a bunch of burners were doing pyrotechnics in an old factory and a few blocks away, experimental noise musicians were making bizarre sounds in an abandoned train station within spitting distance of hardcore kids moshing under a freeway overpass while the nearest intersection was being taken over by a sideshow blasting hyphy. It was raw, unpermitted, cheap, and people weren’t doing it to get rich or famous.

There was cross-pollination, collaboration and confrontation. It could be wild and dangerous, problematic and annoying… it could be whatever you wanted it to be because it wasn’t being sold to us from the outside, we were making it happen ourselves. For some folks, these overlapping DIY scenes were all about art, music, and building community. For others, it looked like gentrification, a wave of hipsters setting the stage for rising rents.

Inspired by Jessalyn Aaland’s article in the Oakland Review of Books, “Please do not hang out in the street: Oakland DIY music spaces of the early 21st century,” the Oakland Underground miniseries will explore why there was such a big explosion of underground activity happening here during this particular era – and how things have changed. This episode features interviews with Aaland, an artist and publisher of Current Editions, as well as Heather Freinkel (aka Heather Blotto), a musician and photographer who organized countless shows and cultural events at DIY spaces like Dead Rat Beach and Unimatrix Zero. Find the podcast via Apple, SoundCloud, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. This episode features music from High Castle, Ettrick, Vholtz, Circuit, Your Pest Band, and Eats Tapes.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post “No one’s trying to get famous” – Oakland Underground, part 1 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post East Bay Yesterday – August 5, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post East Bay Yesterday – July 29, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

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Host Liam O’Donoghue speaks with author Joan Gelfand about her memoir Outside Voices and her experiences in the Bay Area’s women’s and gay liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Together they reflect on the victories, setbacks, and enduring lessons of that era, while examining what today’s political climate can learn from past struggles for equality.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post Lessons from Berkeley’s Liberation Movements appeared first on KPFA.

This episode explores two influential Berkeley organizations born in the 1960s: SLATE, the student group that helped pave the way for the Free Speech Movement, and the Berkeley Free Clinic, which reflects on 50 years of community care, activism, and resilience.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post East Bay Yesterday – Berkeley Movements That Changed History appeared first on KPFA.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post East Bay Yesterday – July 1, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.

Can we ever break out of the political pendulum — that endless left-right swing that seems to prevent lasting change? Walter Riley has been wrestling with that question since growing up in the Jim Crow South. A civil rights attorney, lifelong organizer, and father of rapper-filmmaker Boots Riley, Walter has spent decades trying to bring people together across divides.

He’s joined by Jesse Strauss, Oakland organizer and co-author of their new book Civil Rights and Structural Attacks, in a live conversation recorded at a North Oakland book launch.

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post East Bay Yesterday – Walter Riley & Jesse Strauss: Civil Rights, Structural Change, and Breaking the Pendulum appeared first on KPFA.

On today’s encore presentation of East Bay Yesterday:

This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post East Bay Yesterday – Tribute to Oakland Legend Ruth Beckford / OG East Bay Baseball Teams appeared first on KPFA.

On today’s show:

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This series explores stories of culture, politics and nature from Oakland, Berkeley and other towns throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

The post East Bay Yesterday – June 10, 2026 appeared first on KPFA.