Oakland ( /ˈoʊklənd/) is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state and the 47th-largest in the U.S. with a population of 390,724 according to the 2010 census. Incorporated in 1852, Oakland is the county seat of Alameda County and is a central hub city for a region of the San Francisco Bay Area known as the East Bay. The city lies directly across the bay from San Francisco.
Oakland's territory covers what was once a mosaic of coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Oakland served as a rich resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco, and Oakland's fertile flatland soils helped it become a prolific agricultural region. During the California Gold Rush, Oakland became the main staging post for passengers and cargo journeying between the Bay Area and the Sierra foothills. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the western terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. It continued to grow into the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile industry. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Franciscans left that city's destruction, and a great number of Oakland's homes were built during the 1910s and 1920s. An extensive streetcar network connected most of Oakland's neighbourhoods to inter-city rail lines, most of whose routes continue as bus lines today. Ferry lines connected Oakland to San Francisco and other cities.
David John "Dave" Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is a South African-American musician and actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. He performs mainly with acoustic guitar and favors rhythm rather than solos in his playing.
David John Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the third of four children of parents John and Valerie Matthews. At two years old, Matthews' family moved to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM.
In 1974, the family moved to Cambridge, England, for a year before returning to New York, where his father died from lung cancer in 1977. Biographer Nevin Martell argues that Dave's father's death may be an impetus for his "carpe diem" lyrics. At some point while residing in New York, Matthews attended his first concert, when his mother took him to a performance by Pete Seeger. The family moved back to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1977.
Upon Matthews' graduation from St Stithians College high school in 1985, he was faced with conscription into the South African military just as civil disobedience to the practice was becoming widespread. A Quaker (and consequently pacifist), Matthews left South Africa to avoid service.
Tim Reynolds (born 15 December 1957 in Wiesbaden, Germany) is a Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist known as both a solo artist and as the lead guitarist for Dave Matthews Band. One reviewer has declared Reynolds 'an under-rated master'.
Reynolds plays the guitar, piano, sitar, drums, violin, bass, keyboards, ethnic percussive instruments, solo djembe, harp, uses drum machines for special effects, and sings, although his performances are primarily instrumental rock music. As well as being the founding member of the band TR3, he is one of the musicians who performed at "Miller's", in Charlottesville Virginia, befriending and encouraging the bartender, a young Dave Matthews, to form a band of his own, introducing him to local musicians, several of whom make up the Dave Matthews Band. While Reynolds declined the offer to join as an official member, he recorded and toured as a sideman with the Dave Matthews Band from its inception until late 1998, rejoining them as a permanent member in June 2008.[citation needed] He often tours with Dave Matthews as an acoustic duo, in addition to performing as a member of Dave Matthews & Friends.
Plot
A love letter to Oakland. The story: A weary traveler arrives in Oakland and see the woman of his dreams, who then siren-like takes him and the viewer on a flirtatious cat and mouse game throughout the city, showing us all the highlights of Oaklands diverse people, topography, architecture and culture.
Oakland (Oh-oh-oh-Oakland) Oaktown (Oh-oh-oh-Oaktown)
Oakland (Oakland, Oakland) Get on down (Oh-oh-Oaktown)
Straight from the West, Oakland is the best
Baby it's so fresh (Oakland)
It's called the Big Bad O, city of players on the go
You gotta have Trues and Vogues (Oakland)
Baby, that's my town, when all the tops come down
You'll hear my funky sound (Oh-oh-oh-Oaktown)
O-A-K-L-A-N-D, that city was made for me
Just rocking to the beat (Oakland)
Drop tops rolling down the strip, baby it's the tip
Don't stop dipping til I quit (Oaktown)
Trues and Vogues on my car, baby I'm a star
I'm playing at Player's Park (Oakland)
Everybody on the floor, do you really want some more?
We'll get funky like Playboy $hort (Oh-oh-oh-Oaktown)
Oakland (Oakland) Oaktown (Oh-Oaktown)
Oakland (Oakland) Just get on down
Oh-oh-oh-oak, oak-oak-oak-Oaktown
Westside coming through, Northside coming to it, too
East Oakland it's for you (Oakland)
Californ-I-A, can you hear me say
Oakland is here to stay (Oakland)
Oakland (Oh-oh-oh-Oakland) Oaktown (Oh-oh-oh-Oaktown)
Oakland (Oh-oh-oh-Oakland) Just get on down (Oaktown)
Straight from the West, Oakland is the best
Baby it's so fresh (Oakland)
Oakland (Oh-oh-oh-Oakland) Oakland (Get on down)
Straight from the West, Oakland is the best
Baby it's so fresh (Oakland)
Drop tops roll down the strip, baby that's the tip
Don't stop dipping til I quit (Oakland)
Trues and Vogues on my car, baby I'm a star
I'm playing at Player's Park (Oakland)
Oakland (Oh-oh-oh-Oakland) Oakland, get down