Berkeley Reporter

by Steed Dropout
Nov. 2, 2015

REALLY BERKELEY

So Berkeley. Photo by Ted Friedman.

A recent forum on Berkeley’s values left out Berkeley’s Southside transient bums and its Street Crazies. And oh yes, it left out Karl Marx.

Berkeley is full of Karl Marxes. You see them everywhere, slovenly, slouching. To maintain their status as Marxists, they need not fear accumulation of wealth so long as they do not control a means of production, like a factory.
Continue reading “Berkeley for Real” »

by Steed Dropout
Oct. 27, 2015

CONFESSIONS OF A SOCIOPATHIC PHOTOGRAPHER

'We’re just like you.' Photo by Ted Friedman.

They rolled up to People’s Park in two cars filled with clothing, which was scattered, each day, on the sidewalk alongside People’s Park.

The merry band of young off-the-road, fur-hatted itinerants made a monster mess with sleeping bags, cardboard, and assorted junk off-the-streets— across the street from the park.

Each day, they displayed a poster board, which referred to street theater, Ronald Reagan, and the 1985 Iran-Contras brouhaha.

Perhaps there was a backstory here.Only I never found out because they slipped out of Berkeley like lambs who arrived as Lions. Before I could interview them.
Continue reading “Moving in on the Homeless” »

by Steed Dropout
Oct. 17, 2015

Biggest film shoot at the Med since Mike Nichols,’ the Graduate, 1967.
Photo by Ted Friedman.

Claiming to be filming for Kohl’s department stores, a 15-man film/production crew, two film trucks, two big video cams, and aspiring actors took over the Caffe Med last week.
Continue reading “Berkeley’s Caffe Mediterraneum Held Hostage by Department Store Film Crew” »

by Steed Dropout
Oct. 13, 2015

Gold in them thar hills. Photo by Ted Friedman.

Dave said he metal-detected People’s Park monthly. He long ago recouped the money he spent on his metal detector, roughly $800.

Reporter commented this isn’t the most lucrative patch in Berkeley. “You’d be surprised,” said Dave. Park people panhandle a bonanza in change, but it falls out of their pockets and becomes buried,” he told me.

Dave said he earns $80 a month detecting.

Once Dave found a rare-cut diamond/ring that was worth thousands. He gave it to his girlfriend.
Continue reading “There’s Gold to be Mined in People’s Park Unless a Bomb Blasts” »

Bloody Meat Burger on Telegraph Was to Die For;
Now Is Itself Dead Because Wimp-Ass Diners
Winced at the Oozing Blood

by Steed Dropout
Oct. 8, 2015

What's left of a bloodless meal. Photo by Ted Friedman.

RARE: “HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR MEAT…RARE”!

A Roar From A Telegraph Ave. Character We Call ‘Rare’.

Berkeley Reporter had been sampling Telegraph Avenue burgers
for an article, when wimp-ass diners who winced at its oozing blood—
killed off the sweetest burger this side of Steak ’n Shake.*

The Melt burger was too good to be true, so it had to die.
Continue reading “Kiss the Blood from My Meat!” »

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 26, 2015

OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP HATING BAD WRITING AND LOVE UNNECESSARY WORDS

“Black darkness, burning fire, and malignant cancer.” Perhaps you can spot the unnecessary words. String enough of these redundancies together and, brother, you’ve got a bloated sentence.

Here at Reporter, we live by the sword, whacking unnecessary words, like a Hemingway.

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t lean–a trend in fiction and prose since Hemingway. There’s even software to turn your prose into Hemingway’s.

I had an editor once who asked me to write features like Hemingway, then this editor began adding words to my copy (awkwardly), ruining my rhythm and rime.

I made a supreme sacrifice. I quit.
Continue reading “Pleonasm Spasm” »

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 20, 2015

WILL IT BELONG TO THE AGES?

Photo by Ted Friedman.

Although up for sale, Berkeley’s oldest espresso squeeze is not going quietly into Hamlet’s speculative sleep of death.

The Caffe Mediterranean may prolong its swan song as it drifts between to what it might have been and what it has become—a cheap eats and last stand conversation center.
Continue reading “Last Chance Berkeley Cafe” »

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 14, 2015

Another Berkeley South Side Tale: Berkeley Reporter Sits In Line Outside Hip Telegraph Shoe Gallery To See What It’s Like To Vie For A Rare BBall Shoe, As Light And White As A Slipper

Thursday Shoe Mgr. insisted the tent come down. Photo by Ted Friedman.

As many as three times the crowd for last year’s Air Jordon release, took to the street for three days on Telegraph last week.
Continue reading “First Person: Inside 3 Day Encampment on Telegraph” »

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 8, 2015

FLAG THIS!

Photo by Ted Friedman.

When protesters march from Telegraph in Oakland to Telegraph/Bancroft, the entrance to Cal Berkeley, you never see a pro-government protest, although some protesters like to wear the flag.

Showing the flag (or, waving the flag) is defined online as:

“If someone flies the flag, they represent or support their country. (‘Wave the flag’ and ‘show the flag’ are alternative forms of this idiom”).
Continue reading “Flag Chic, Berkeley’s Telegraph Ave.” »

BERKELEY SOUTH SIDE TALES

by Steed Dropout
Sept. 1, 2015

THE LITTLE FAIR THAT COULD

Photo by Ted Friedman.

Sundays on Telegraph is a struggle in progress.

Past fairs have started small in first weekends, but morphed into major events. Not so this
year.

Facing a funding failure this year, fair planners adopted a coping strategy. As one planner told me, “we just want to show our brand this year.”
Continue reading “BERKELEY SOUTH SIDE TALES: THE LITTLE FAIR THAT COULD” »