I imagine that there are few other places in the world you can go where, within the space of an hour or two, you can:
1. Hear Terry Riley (pictured) play freewheeling proto-jazz compositions on the piano while wandering the galleries of the Berkeley Art Museum perusing 16th century Japanese art from the Clark Center Collection, an exhibition on “Hauntology” in art (a movement which tries to capture paranormal and other ghostly pricklings in our lives) and an installation and movie screening by the filmmaker and kinetic sculptor Brent Green.
2. Stumble across a bunch of students dressed in everything from Egyptian mummy’s bindings to a burlesque dancer in the middle of an evening-length role play adventure based on the Cluedo board game.
3. Watch a legion of stunt cyclists tearing up a plaza with incredible balletic feats including moving very fast backwards like skaters moving on ice, doing pirouettes and hopping down concrete steps, all on two wheels.