From a sublime wine country crooner to some ghostly fun in Pleasanton, there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this week and beyond.
Here is a partial rundown.
Fuller revisits the ‘Dream Bowl’
Kellie Fuller is one of Wine Country’s finest vocalists. So it’s always worth buying ducats when she has a gig coming up.
Her next show, however, sounds especially enticing.
We’re talking about “A Night at the Dream Bowl,” which Fuller will perform with her longtime musical partner — pianist Mike Greensill — on Oct. 10 at Blue Note Napa.
Fuller looks to transport attendees back to the 1940s as she leads a seven-piece band — featuring Greensill, Ruth Davies on bass, Jack Dorsey on drums, Mary Fettig on the alto sax and flute, Charlie McCarthy on tenor sax, John Gove on trombone and Dave Bendigkeit on trumpet — through greatest hits from that era.
The show’s title references the famed Dream Bowl, which was an iconic ballroom located just south of Napa that hosted such all-time greats as Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey. Later on, the Grateful Dead would also set up shop and perform there. The venue closed in 1969, but the building is still standing.
Details: 7 p.m.; $20-$45, bluenotejazz.com/napa/.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
Celebrate Pleasanton’s ghostly history
Of all the places in the Bay Area, who would’ve guessed the most haunted is Pleasanton? But it’s true, say many people who believe in g-g-ghosts: Back during the Gold Rush, when it was called Alisal and nicknamed the “most desperate town in the West,” the enclave saw so much drunken violence, shootouts and illness that it’s now haunted by more spirits than reside in the “Scooby-Doo” universe.
This Halloween month, people can explore Pleasanton’s spectral side with the Museum on Main’s annual Ghost Walk. You might encounter the “lady in blue” who haunts an 1860s building now known as – of all things – Gay Nineties Pizza, where the word “Boo” mysteriously appears in the restaurant mirror no matter how often it’s scrubbed out. Or perhaps it will be the clanging poltergeists who shove objects around at the Blue Agave Club — featured on ABC’s “20/20” for its mysterious phenomena — or the ghost of an 1870s prostitute stabbed to death in the old Pleasanton Hotel. Heck, even Bigfoot’s reportedly been spotted in the area.
Despite all this horror, the tours are described as “family friendly” with costumes encouraged, so expect to be at least equal parts scared and entertained.
Details: Two-hour tours offered Friday and Saturday and Oct. 18-19 beginning at the Museum on Main, 603 Main St., Pleasanton; timed tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children; museumonmain.org/ghost-walk.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Classical picks: Canadian Brass, renowned baritone
This week’s classical music calendar features a recital by baritone Lester Lynch, a wide-ranging concert by the Canadian Brass, and an informative introduction to one of the world’s all-time great operas.
A singer of poise and power: Bay Area operagoers will remember Lester Lynch from his performance as Crown in San Francisco Opera’s production of “Porgy and Bess”; throughout his career, the powerhouse baritone has also sung Wotan in “Das Rheingold” and the title roles in “Macbeth” and “Rigoletto.” This weekend, he returns to the Bay Area for a recital at Cal Performances. Accompanied by pianist Kevin Korth, the program includes a range of repertoire, with works by Schubert, Brahms, Mussorgsky, Ives, and Gordon Getty included.
Details: 3 p.m. Oct. 13; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $69-$74; calperformances.org.
Live, from Canada: Founded in 1970 by Chuck Daellenbach and the late Gene Watts, the Canadian Brass is still making music; to date, the group has produced an astonishing 100-plus albums and appeared in concerts around the world. Covering a range of classical works in addition to popular music, the group comes to Livermore on Sunday afternoon.
Details: 3 p.m. Oct. 13; Bankhead Theater, Livermore; $50-$80; bankheadtheater.org.
Learn about “Tristan”: Opera lovers planning to see San Francisco Opera’s fall production of “Tristan and Isolde,” opening Oct. 19 at the War Memorial Opera House, can hear director Paul Curran discuss the opera in a free event as part of the “Directors in Conversation” series presented by the Wagner Society of Northern California. It’s sure to enhance the opera-going experience. The company’s production features tenor Simon O’Neill and soprano Anja Kampe in the title roles.
Details: 7 p.m. Oct. 14; Green Room at S.F.’s War Memorial Opera Building; free; Wagnersf.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
‘Angels’ flies to Marin
The Oakland Theater Project is a jewel in the East Bay stage scene with its ambitious MO of presenting classic and thought-provoking works in imaginative ways aimed at bridging cultural and socio-economic divides. And now the company is presenting Tony Kushner’s game-changing “Angels in America” in San Rafael in a collaborative venture with Marin Shakespeare Company.
The troupe is presenting both parts of the epic Tony- and Pulitzer-winning drama that tells a sprawling series of stories featuring historic and imagined characters and framed by the AIDS crisis and gay lifestyles of the late 20th century. “Part I: Millennium Approaches” is being staged through Oct. 26; “Part II: Perestroika” will be presented Friday through Oct. 26. For “AIA” purists, Parts I and II can be seen back-to-back Oct. 19 and 26. All performances are at Marin Shakes’ new 165-seat indoor theater at 415 Fourth St., San Rafael.
Of course, a big part of any Kushner production is the legendary playwright’s unique style of epic storytelling that incorporates compelling dialogue and a thicket of ideas both timely and eternal. As company co-artistic director Michael Socrates Moran, who is helming the production, puts it, “‘Angels in America’ reveals itself as an uncanny prophecy for our political moment, demanding we face impossible hopelessness with hope, agency and action.”
Details: Tickets are $10-$60; oaklandtheaterproject.org/angels
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Fleet Week’s musical side
Fleet Week, which returns this week, is annually a high point in the Bay Area events calendar. Begun in 1981, the weeklong celebration of the men and women who serve in America’s armed forces and related services, unfolds across San Francisco with a dazzling mix of military might, civic pride and entertainment. Pretty much everyone knows about Fleet Week’s headliners – the eye-popping aerial maneuvers performed by the Blue Angels pilots, the stately Parade of Ships through the Bay and the annual Fleet Fest bash held on Piers 30/32 Saturday and Sunday. Lesser known, perhaps, is the bounty of free concerts staged by some of the armed forces’ excellent musicians at sites and venues throughout the city. Through Monday morning, you can catch the Navy Band Southwest Woodwind Quintet, the NBSW Brass Band, the First Marine Division Ceremonial Band and other outfits in a variety of shows and settings, sometimes accompanied by a choir or a drill platoon, sometimes on their own.
Details: Information and a complete schedule of the concerts – not to mention the aerial shows Oct. 11-13 and the Parade of Ships on Oct. 11 Friday — can be found at fleetweeksf.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Cross-cultural partnership in ‘Broken Branches’
Two Western musicians with roots in the East – one in Lebanon, the other in Japan – have joined forces for a high-concept collaboration called “Broken Branches,” a 2024 Grammy Award-nominated album that explores mixed identities and the close cultural and musical links down through the ages between the East and the West. Now Grammy Award-winning tenor Karim Sulayman and multiple award-winning guitarist Sean Shibe will be playing works from that album at a San Francisco Performances-hosted recital at the Presidio Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Described as a “musical traversal of the Silk Road from the Middle Ages to the present,” the diverse program presents works by Henry Purcell, John Dowland, Claudio Monteverdi, Toru Takemitsu, Benjamin Britten and more, including traditional works in the Sephardic and Arab Andalusian genres.
Details: Tickets are $45 and $60; sfperformances.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
We’re mad about Monk
With his songs characterized by their melodic dissonance and playful rhythmic and improvisational nature – as if they were being composed right in front of you – Thelonious Monk helped define the challenging, almost rebellious, nature of jazz music during the 20th century. He remains one of the genre’s most recorded composers, with such classics as “Round Midnight” and “Straight, No Chaser” among his catalog’s iconic classics. His sound, his look (fine suits, a dapper hat and sunglasses) and his popular habit during performances of getting up from the piano to dance a bit if the spirit moved him, all helped define one of jazz music’s indisputable stars and an icon of the 20th century.
So when the SFJAZZ Center presents a Thelonious Monk Festival, you can bet some talented, and distinctive, artists will be involved. And that’s exactly what’s in store. On Thursday, pianist and composer John Beasley, whose angular music and nimble playing has found him fans ranging from Miles Davis to Steely Dan, brings his Monk’estra band to the venue’s Miner Auditorium (7:30 p.m.; $35-$115). On Thursday and Friday, the extraordinarily talented young pianist Sullivan Fortner, known for his work with Cecile McLorin Salvant, plays four solo shows in the SFJAZZ John Henderson Lab ($30, and tickets are going fast). On Saturday, L.A. keyboardist Diego Gaeta will present a concert of reworked Monk classics (7 p.m.; $25). And on Sunday, Spanish composer and pianist Marta Sanchez will present her distinctive take on Monk’s music (6 and 7:30 p.m.; $25).
Details: Tickets are more information are available at www.sfjazz.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Originally Published: October 9, 2024 at 2:32 p.m.
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