Independence High alums aiming for Guinness record

Independence High School, which counts bestselling author Khaled Hosseini and NCAA championship wrestler Eric Guerrero among its graduates, is aiming to set a Guinness World Record at its all-alumni reunion in October. And the East San Jose school, which has an annual enrollment of more than 3,000 students, could well pull it off.

Renee Silvera Berg, who graduated from Independence in 1984, hopes to get 4,500 alumni to the Oct. 20 event at the school’s football stadium. If you go back to the school’s opening in 1976, that averages out to about 110 people per graduating year. Berg has been working on the reunion for months and made the application to Guinness World Records to document the feat. The current record of 4,276 was set in December by a school in India.

Now living in Auburn, Berg said in a Facebook post that she was brought to tears recently as everything is so far surpassing her hopes for the event. “The professionalism and passion exhibited by my fellow 76ers who are working behind the scenes to make this happen is so inspiring and heartwarming,” she wrote.

The reunion will include a barbecue lunch and DJ music, and alumni are also trying to organize a “superband” of members across several years of the school’s marching band. Independence grads who want to attend need to register for the reunion by Aug. 20 online at the East Side Union High School District Education Foundation website, www.esuhsdef.org/ihs-reunion. Tickets are $19.76, a nod of course to the school’s founding year.

ARTISTIC ACTIVISM » The San Jose Museum of Art’s monthly ArtRage gatherings are normally quite social events, but the festivities this Thursday also promise to be socially conscious. That’s because Mosaic Silicon Valley will bring music, dance and spoken word poetry to the event, titled “Truth Be Told,” which is inspired by the activist spirit of the exhibition, “Rise Up! Social Justice Art from the Collection of J. Michael Bewley.”

The evening, which starts at 7 p.m., in-

cludes “Rightstarter,” a performance piece by San Jose hip-hop emcee DEM ONE and San Franciscobased musician PC Muñoz. Other performers include poet Lorenz Mazon Dumuk and performance

artist and dancer Khalilah Ramirez. Tickets are $5 after 5 p.m. and free to museum members. Get more details at www.sjmusart.org.

FAMILIAR DIRECTION >> WVLO Musical Theatre Company is wrapping up its 53rd season with the last weekend of “Monty Python's Spamalot” at

the Saratoga Civic Theatre, directed by Geoffrey Ward. That name may be familiar to South Bay audiences for a couple of reasons. Ward played Jesus in the San Jose Civic Light Opera production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” alongside Heather MacRae.

But he then moved to Southern California and

joined the cast of the daytime drama, “Days of Our Lives.” You've got to think that working on a soap opera would provide some good experience for directing a farce like “Spamalot.” You can check ou the show Saturday or Sunday, with tickets available at www.wvlo.org.

GRAZE IS THE WORD >> If

you don't often make it to downtown San Jose restaurants, now is the time, with nearly two dozen eateries running specials for Dine Downtown Week through Sunday. The list includes old favorites like Farmer's Union, the Grill on the Alley and 71 Saint Peter, but there are several relative newcomers taking part, including

District, Enoteca La Storia, Olla Cocina, Elyse and Uproar Brewing Company.

You can check out the list — and the prix fixe specials they're offering — at sjdowntown.com/ dine-downtown.