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Clarence Avant, nicknamed the ‘Godfather of Black Music,’ dies at 92: Reports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

Recording industry insider Clarence Avant, who garnered the nickname of the "Godfather of Black Music," died at his Los Angeles home Sunday night, according to reports. His death was announced by family members and reported by Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death was given. “It is with a heavy heart that the Avant/Sarandos family announce the passing of Clarence Alexander Avant,” a quote from his family said in the Variety report. “Through his revolutionary business leadership, Clarence became affectionately known as ‘the Black Godfather’ in the worlds of music, entertainment, politics, and sports."Avant's death comes about a year and a half after his wife, philanthropist Jacqueline Avant, was fatally shot by an intruder who entered their Beverly Hills home on Dec. 1, 2021. Jacqueline Avant, wife of music legend Clarence Avant, shot and killed in Beverly Hills Her killer, 30-year-old Aariel Maynor, was arrested and then found guilty of first-degree murder in Apri...

What New Customers Should Know Before Taking Delta-8 THC

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

Depending on your perspective on psychoactivity, delta-8 THC may seem a bit spooky or super exciting. Many people are drawn to delta-8 to take advantage of its “legal high,” while others are cautiously curious about its therapeutic potential. While delta-8 THC is a popular pick in today’s hemp market, new customers should never rush head-first into this hemp cannabinoid.Delta-8 is less forgiving than non-psychoactive cannabinoids like CBD. If you take too much delta-8 too fast, you will likely experience severe side effects. New customers must know when and where it’s most appropriate to use delta-8 THC. Understanding these basic facts about delta-8 will help you ease into this cannabinoid.Questions Everyone Should Ask Before Trying Delta-8 THCWhen Will People Know They’re “Delta-8 Ready?”There’s no date when people “graduate” from CBD to delta-8. Feeling “ready” to test delta-8 products depends on your sensitivity towards ...

Bay Area Weather: Temperatures set to rise again Monday after thunder, lightning hit parts of East Bay on Sunday night

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

A tropical cocktail of weather activity began to engulf the Bay Area on Sunday night, providing the region with a mixture of light rain, sprinkles of lightning and warm temperatures heading into Monday.While chances were slight at-best as of Monday morning, National Weather Service forecasts showed a chance of precipitation to pair with high temperatures throughout the day. Cities such as Concord, Hayward, Livermore, Napa, Oakland, San Francisco, San Mateo, San Rafael and Santa Rosa had 15% chances of rain in the morning hours Monday.Slight chance for light showers through the evening today as upper low continues to draw in midlevel moisture to the Bay Area and Central Coast.It's also going to be another hot day inland, so be sure to practice heat safety! #CAwx pic.twitter.com/TWZyG1vpMM— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) August 14, 2023As the day progresses, chances raise to 15% in southern parts of the Bay Area, like in San Jose and Santa Cruz. While rain chances were relative...

San Jose cat’s perplexing habits: scratching around her food dish and hanging out under the bed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

DEAR JOAN: Our 2-year-old tortie house cat, April, has a couple of odd behaviors.On occasion she will drag her front paw across the floor area next to her food dish. It’s the same maneuver as in her litter box. It’s brief, then she’ll proceed to eat. What do you think is going on in her mind?Secondly, April frequently likes to climb under a bed, where it’s dark and hard to retrieve her. This is a kitty that walks around dragging her tail on all of us. She loves to be close, lying on the floor with her hind paws touching our feet and purring up a storm. She knows she has it good living here. What’s behind this habit of escaping under a bed often?— Rod Lund, San JoseDEAR ROD: Both of these cat behaviors are normal and common, which says a lot about the quirkiness of cats. It’s also a reminder that while cats have been domesticated for centuries, they remain one catnip mouse away from being wild.Cats often appear to dig around or bury their food. If ...

How an East Bay fusion taqueria grew out of a home birria project

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

Combine birria, creativity and family, and you’ll have the key ingredients behind Tacos Don Chaí, a new taqueria in Martinez offering Mexican fare alongside fusion dishes — including birria paired with udon noodles and pizza, plus concha French toast.It all began during the pandemic, when Bryan Gonzalez, an Antioch resident, found himself laid off from his job as a manager at Artesano, a South American restaurant in San Francisco.Looking for a way to stay busy, he started making birria at home. After wowing his friends and family with dishes like brisket birria tacos and pineapple salsa, he decided to start selling it, albeit informally.Bryan Gonzalez started making birria during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now he’s owner of Tacos Don Chaí, a taqueria with birria fusion dishes in Martinez. (Courtesy Najib el Ferrouj.) The informal sales continued for over a year, and eventually his home-cooking business became so popular that it reached the attention of the County He...

TasteFood: When life gives you tomatoes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

Too many tomatoes are never a problem. Perhaps the only challenge is maintaining self-control when passing the colorful piles of peak-season tomatoes at the market. Admittedly, they are hard to resist. Cherries, heirlooms and Early Girls in vibrant shades of the sun and summer challenge restraint. It’s easy to be greedy and fill the basket with an array of these beauties without a plan for how to use them. While I am not here to judge or to advise you on any indulgence issues, I do have a recipe to help you use your exuberant surplus.This recipe is a wonderful summer salad with ingredients that scream “garden-fresh.” You might be tempted to call it a pasta salad, but as you can see, the emphasis is on the vegetables rather than a carb-laden bowl of pasta interspersed with a few green leaves. Dainty orzo steps into the pasta role. Its petite rice shape won’t overwhelm the bowl, allowing the tomatoes and greens to shine as they should. Fresh, creamy mozzarella ...

High school football 2023 preview: MVAL/WACC Shoreline Division

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

MVAL/WACC SHORELINE DIVISION(Predicted order of finish)No. 1 ALAMEDACoach: Robin Morris2022 record: 5-4-1What to expect: Alameda’s league MVP A’Jhuan Parker transferred to El Cerrito, but the majority of the talented core returns for an encore. It starts with senior QB Eli Slez. He will throw to seniors Will Roizen and Gabriel Speed, who as a trio have all made all-Shoreline teams. Morris described senior LB Sinisa Finau as “aggressive and a gifted athlete.” Sophomore Hayden Arndt is a breakout candidate, with Morris saying that Arndt “attended lineman camps and was fine-tuning his game” during a productive offseason.  Season opener: Aug. 26 at Ygnacio Valley, 2 p.m.No. 2 NEWARK MEMORIALCoach: Brad Tubbs2022 record: 5-6What to expect: Longtime coach Brad Tubbs has turned Newark Memorial into a consistently competitive unit, winning exactly five games and making the playoffs in each of the previous three full seasons. Junior WR Matthais Vaka and WR Iven Takkher should be top ta...

Hollywood strikes begin to impact Bay Area, but actors and writers plan to stick it out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

With no end in sight for the historic dual strikes by Hollywood writers and actors, anyone in the Bay Area who relies on movie and TV productions to earn a living or boost local events and city economies could soon feel the impact.Thousands of Bay Area actors, writers and crew members are going without work. San Francisco and other cities may lose out on the hundreds of thousands of dollars a day that location shoots can generate for hotels, restaurants and other businesses. And upcoming film festivals in San Jose and Mill Valley likely won’t feature the usual red-carpet appearances by celebrities, which add luster and help support those events.Oakland actor Michael X Sommers is among the striking artists who says, “I’ve got to wait it out and do my best.” A member of the SAG-AFTRA actors union, Sommers is among the rank-and-file Hollywood workers who help make the blockbuster films and critically lauded streaming series that keep the world entertained.But Sommers and ot...

Wish You Were Here: Adventures on the Aran Islands of Ireland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

Readers have spent the last year hiking, biking and exploring vacation destinations around the world, from Kauai’s Napali Coast to Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and Guatemala’s astonishing ruins. And they’ve been sharing their adventures — and practical travel tips — with us along the way. Here’s the latest:Wish You Were HereIRELAND: In June, Oakland residents Gordon and Joyce Teekell visited Inis Oirr, one of Ireland’s Aran Islands, which sit at the mouth of Galway Bay. “Inis Island has 260 permanent residents. Many residents are born there and stay there!” Joyce says.Related ArticlesTravel | Wish You Were Here: Tokyo adventures Travel | Wish You Were Here: Oklahoma City from museums to Bricktown Travel | Wish You Were Here: Roasting marshmallows atop a Guatemala volcano “A main attraction was the shipwreck of the MV Plassy, a cargo ship which ran onto rocks during a huge sto...

Mold, roaches, security issues at San Jose homeless housing heighten broader concerns

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:12:08 GMT

After five years of living on the streets of San Jose, Cecilia Martin couldn’t believe her luck in landing an apartment at the city’s first long-term homeless housing site. But it didn’t take long for the new facility, which opened in 2019, to fall into disrepair.Flooding, fires and cockroaches have since inundated the property, but her biggest worry is the intruders who stalk the hallway to her studio, said Martin, 53, a San Jose native. “I gotta watch my back all the time because you never know,” she said.A few miles away, Laura Laform, a resident at a former motel north of downtown now used for homeless housing, fears a mold infestation in the aging city-owned building is threatening her health. Laform, 63, is desperately searching for another place to stay.“It seems like I’m being ungrateful, but I’m watching myself deteriorate so bad,” she said.Laura Laform becomes emotional while talking about her living situation while out...