Museums are stodgy, right?

That’s what you thought. But here’s what you didn’t know: The new, improved Oakland Museum of California has broken the mold.

Since reopening last year, OMCA 2.0 has consistently challenged perceptions of what a museum can and should be. And Friday night’s Ozone event - the latest in a monthly series of interactive, multimedia, cross-cultural happenings - was no exception to that rule.

Subtitled "The Drum," February’s Ozone incorporated a Black History Month theme, which went far beyond a superficial look at the contributions of Africans and African Americans to the historical lexicon. A jazz lecture/demonstration by Bill Bell and the Jazz Connection Trio got deep into the rhythm and meter of "America’s classical music," with legendary drummer Eddie Marshall demonstrating his chops on a version of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia.”

This was followed by another cool performance/presentation: African drummer CK Ladzekpo and dancers and drummers from the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts got all tribal, setting the stage for an informative and educational lecture by Dr. Anthony Brown.

Brown touched on how ragtime developed from the military march – African rhythms crept into the form, resulting in “raggedy time” - then explained how drums were prohibited, except in New Orleans’ Congo Square, during the slavery era. This led in turn to the development of body music, one form of which being the hambone, which was then demonstrated by Derique McGee. The Stanford Steppers and the Cal drumline followed with a lively display of both drumming and stepping.

Later, the Lagos Roots Afrobeat Ensemble warmed up a cold wintry night with a red-hot performance of Fela Kuti classics and their own original material. Afrobeat, the genre, seemed particularly appropriate in this setting, given its fusion of traditional African music with funk and jazz. And throughout the evening DJs played variations on the drum theme, from hip-hop to salsa to reggae to more Afrobeat.

One such DJ was Fava Fav, aka political poster artist Favianna Rodriguez. She played a set of Latin music, then engaged in a conversation with fellow artists Emory Douglas and Lincoln Cushing and historian Carol Wells, which elaborated on the history and significance of social commentary in poster art.

As if that wasn’t enough, not only were examples from the All of Us or None collection displayed, but the San Francisco Print Collective, Great Tortilla Conspiracy and Eddie Colla and Jesus Barraza held forth at a DIY political poster workshop. And, Duane Deterville lectured on the history of resistance in jazz and the connection between jazz and visual art.

All in all, it was an amazing evening, which leaves only one question: How will OMCA top this event?