The Faculty Club Newsletter

July 2003

           Summer is now well under way, and we are enjoying the green of the glade and the warm breezes coming through the Club. During these months we welcome many outside groups whose financial contributions help us keep our members’ dues so low. One interesting group this month was from the New York University School of Continuing Studies. They were taking part in a course entitled “In Full Flower: The Arts and Crafts Movement in the San Francisco Bay Area.” Here at the Club for one of their lectures, they were pleased that we could arrange for one of our Directors to give them a tour around the Club. We got many congratulations on the ways we have been renovating the space. Meanwhile, our members continue to enjoy summer events in this special space. Most recently we enjoyed an evening piano concert and dinner with Linda Wang, a graduate student from the Music Department. Watch for details on the August winemaker’s dinner in the next issue. I will be at the Club throughout most of the summer, so please feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance to you. Thank you.

        There is still time to get in your reservations for the July 11th Summer Singalong with Joanne Riddle at the piano. Call Mark at extension 224. This is the opportunity to eat a great dinner, and sing all the songs you have ever wanted to sing under the leader-ship of Jack Coons and his gang. Keep practicing in the shower! Your contribution is needed. Reception at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. Cost for the evening: $30.

        Yet another special evening of food, this time from Hawaii. Felix and our chef Carl have put together an exciting menu. On July 25th enjoy some exotic fruits and a suckling roast pig, luau style. The cost is $30, all inclusive. Reservations to Mark at extension 224.

        Darrell Ann Tighe, of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, is showing her abstractions during the month of August. Ms. Tighe has exhibited widely throughout California, and has an MFA in painting from Claremont College. She says of her work that she is committed to abstraction as a means for expressing range of feelings through color, layering of washes, and choices about composition, using watercolors, inks, and gouaches on paper.

       Last month we reported that the House Committee and Board of Directors have been working with Professor Karl Kasten of the Art Department on the establishment of a special collection of art by Art Department faculty here at the Club. Starting in the O’Neill Room with the Eugen Neuhaus portrait of O’Neill, the Ray Boynton buon fresco mural (restored by Karl a couple of years ago), and Karl’s own painting originally shown at the Treasure Island exposition in 1939, we hope to show pieces by all the major participants in the Berkeley School. We are now delighted to be able to report that we have now added an Obata watercolor that has been donated to the Club by the Kodani family. The John Haley Foundation has also given a painting by John Haley, founder of the Berkeley School (as in art movement, not the Art Department). Further information about this project, which is scheduled to open later this year to mark the 80th anniversary of the creation of the Art Department, will appear as things progress.

       Last year we were delighted to invite members of our sister club to join with us in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Faculty Club. Now they are returning the honor. In the 1920's our Club did not welcome women as members. It was 70 years before this was remedied. In the mean time, the women on the faculty organized their own Club–housed since 1923 in the elegant white building just behind ours. Now, in a more enlightened age, women can belong to The Faculty Club and, in reciprocity, men can be members of the WFC. Let’s all join in the WFC 80th birthday celebration. On Friday, August 22nd, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., all members of both clubs are invited to a Summer Garden party, with buffet dinner, dancing to a live jazz-swing band, and champagne. The aim is to evoke the memories of the days of the 20's and the women who founded the WFC. Learn to dance the Charleston! There will be a prize for the most authentic, glamorous costume. All for $20 per person! Make your reservations by calling 642-4175 (WFC).

       On August 7th Tom Bopp will once again desert Yosemite for our woodsy lodge. Events Chairman Jack Coons has prevailed on Tom to return. Tom’s nostalgic music makes a fine accompaniment to yet another Felix feast. For $45 a person (including tax and tip), you get cocktails at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m., and Tom, more or less constantly all evening. Yes, you could drive all the way to Yosemite and pay a high price at one of the great lodges to hear this internationally known entertainer. But it’s a lot easier (and much cheaper!) to catch him at the Club. Space will be limited, so get your reservations in now (540-5678, extension 224).

       Laughing with embarrassment at having his picture taken is one of the Club’s fixtures – our unique bartender Paul. Son of a Texas cowboy, he surprised Daddy by growing up to graduate from Ole Miss and go on to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship with his good buddy, Bill Clinton. Returning to the U.S. with an M.A. in English, he started a double career path by teaching in a New Orleans high school as his alternative to military service and writing dance criticism. He had seen ballet for the first time in Oxford, but didn’t study dance himself until he moved to Berkeley for his doctoral program in 1973. After teaching writing for several years on the Berkeley campus, he abandoned his dissertation to dedicate himself to free-lance writing and teaching dance. He has become a highly respected ballet journalist, published in many U.S. and European journals. He started working in the Bar in 1979 and delighted in being able to establish academic connections that had eluded him before. People like Joe Tussman read his writings and pushed him to continue. He stays because free-lance writers need structure to their days and can too often become isolated from human contact. No chance of that with our Paul!

Breakfast Special!

        Enjoy a quiet breakfast, Monday through Friday from 7 to 10 a.m. in the Kerr Dining Room, at a super special price: juice, eggs, coffee and toast: $2.99!

Wine Committee Recommendations

        The Wine Committee is planning to re-institute in the fall its recommendations of good wines at special prices. One difficulty the Committee has had is that the wine market is unstable at the moment, with best deals turning over so fast that sometimes the wine is no longer available when reviews come out. Still, Chairman Ken Ribet promises that they will try again. Meanwhile, if you want help selecting and buying wines, talk with Felix to see if he can help you make use of your Club wine buying privileges

Bargain dinner Continue

       Members are encouraged to join those who have discoverd the biggest dining bargain in Berkeley. Come to the Kerr Dining Room any weekday evening before 6:30 and enjoy a three-course dinner for the remarkable price of $11.95. Always at least two choices of entree, a choice of soup or salad, and a sinful dessert. Reserve to be sure of a table as the bargain becomes better known.

 
 

"Relax! If the department is going to recall you,
they'll give you some notice."

 
 
 

The Faculty Club Newsletter is published monthly by:  The Faculty Club  University of California  Berkeley. CA 94720-6050  Contributions and comments may be mailed to the Editor, Phyllis Brooks, at the Club, or by e-mail to pbrooks@vdn.com  Board of Directors, 2003-2004:  Bruce Bolt, President  Dick White, Treasurer  Dan Melia, Recorder  Jack Coons, Karl Pister  Bill Oldham    Phyllis Brooks  Club Manager: Felix Solomon

Club numbers:  Telephone:  510-540-5678  Fax:  510-540-6204  Reservations:  Kerr Dining Room:  Extension 0  Parties:   Extension 5  E-mail: info@berkeleyfacultyclub.com  Website: www.berkeleyfacultyclub.com  Kerr Dining Room hours Breakfast 7:30-10:00; Lunch M-F 11:30 -1:30; Dinner M-F 5:00-8:30  Bar hours: M-F 11:30-1:30; Happy Hours 4-30-6 30; closes at 8:30 p.m.  Buffet lunch: 11:30-1:30 M-F  Guest accommodations available:  Reservations may be made at 540-5678, ext. 3 or through our website.  Membership: Call Felix, at ext.  9.

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