This past Friday, Feb. 4, the Oakland Museum of California launched its new monthly series, The Oakland Standard.

Subtitled “experiments in work and play,” the new series kicked off with a live radio broadcast featuring DJ historian (and former KUSF/KALX programmer) Billy Jam.

The broadcast aired on WFMU and spotlighted the history of the California DJ Jam and special guests Platurn, Mista B, DNZ and Deeandroid engaged in a lively conversation covering various aspects of the Cali DJ scene - from the participation of Filipinos, to the emergence of local hip-hop, to the importance of seven-inch 45-rpm records as a purist aesthetic. There was scratching, beat-juggling and beats galore, as well as a visual montage of turntablist albums from such luminaries as DJ Q-Bert, the Bulletproof Scratch Hamsters, Dan the Automator, Eddie Def and Jam’s own Hip Hop Slam label offerings, such as “Turntables By the Bay.”

While the afternoon session was sedate, yet informative, the evening session was a full-tilt juxtaposition of cultural exposition. Hundreds of people turned out for a program featuring “Tag Team Talks” by Mary Roach, Novella Carpenter, Wajahat Ali, Tammy Rae Carland, Walter Kitundu and Jerome Waag, with woodwinds by Cory Wright. This was followed by a Michael Jackson tribute by Internet dance sensations the Turf Feinz, representing East Oakland.

The Feinz introduced museum-goers to its dynamic movement-based artform called Turf Dance - a highly-improvisational style, which incorporates elements of pop-locking and breakdancing, with often-acrobatic flair. Following the Feinz’ showcase, DJ Mia Moretti kept the party going until 1 a.m., while guests sipped cheap beer or munched on $3 tacos and cupcakes provided by Blue Oak.

According to OMCA’s Kelly Koski, the new series - which runs until July 2012 and is supported by a grant from the James Irvine Foundation - is the result of focus-group testing, which indicated that people wanted unique programs they couldn’t get at other art spaces.

The idea of the Oakland Standard is to engage audiences on a direct level, transforming the concept of a museum from a staid, static environment into a public space which becomes a community destination. As the pics from our slideshow prove, the Oakland Standard is on its way to doing just that.

For more information, visit museumca.org/theoaklandstandard.

About Eric K Arnold

Eric K. Arnold has been writing about urban music culture since the mid-1990s, when he was the Managing Editor of now-defunct 4080 Magazine. Since then, he’s been a columnist for such publications as The Source, XXL, Murder Dog, Africana.com, and the East Bay Express; his work has also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Vibe, Wax Poetics, SF Weekly, XLR8R, the Village Voice and Jamrock, as well as the academic anthologies Total Chaos and The Vinyl Ain’t Final. Eric began his journalistic career while DJing on college radio station KZSC, and remembers well the early days of hip-hop radio, before consolidation, and commercialization set in. He currently lives in Oakland, California.