Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the salute-to-Pope Francis B9:
➤ Sure, you can make the argument that the funk music of the 1970s would have flourished just fine if George Clinton had never been born. But the Godfather of P-Funk was born (on what planet is a topic of debate), and because of him, funk shot off in whole new directions that perhaps even James Brown couldn’t have anticipated. The great singer and bandleader comes to the Quarry Amphitheater for a show with his amazing cast of co-conspirators, Parliament Funkadelic. Yes, Mr. Clinton is 83 years young, but if you think for a minute that the most colorful man in music has mellowed with age, you’re probably thinking of the wrong George Clinton. It would have been amazing to have witnessed P-Funk when it first emerged in the Nixon years, but even though the era is different, the groove is the same. The Mothership lands on campus Saturday night.
➤ The Virginia-based quintet Butcher Brown melds jazz rhythms and hip-hop vibes to create a distinct sound that can float from late-night chill and dive to trance-y psychedelia spiced with funk. The band swoops into the Kuumbwa Jazz Center for a show Sunday evening to showcase their radiant new recording, “Letter From the Atlantic.” With their taste for adventure, these cats can really take you places.
➤ Stage director Bill Peters has something cookin’ at Actors’ Theatre that celebrates the world’s most well-known playwright. The Shakespeare Gala honors the great writer on his birthday — y’know, he looks fabulous for 461 — with a gathering of local actors doing songs, scenes and sonnets for three shows Thursday and Friday, all to raise money for the artists of Actors’ Theatre.
➤ The San Diego band B-Side Players are certainly no strangers to Santa Cruz audiences, having brought their street sound to town going back a couple of decades. The B-Siders bring nine players on stage and create a vibe that boldly mixes Caribbean, Brazilian and other equatorial traditions, and yes, that includes a bit of Jamaican reggae hop. They play the stage at Moe’s Alley next Thursday, May 1.
➤ You can’t get really more Santa Cruz old school than the Ducky Derby, the annual springtime tradition that raises money for the fine education service organization Omega Nu. The concept is simple: You essentially adopt a rubber ducky, just like the ones in your bathtub (and no, you don’t get to keep it), and it’s entered in a race, or actually about a dozen races, and winners get prizes. The event itself is a blast for the younger ones, too. It all goes down Saturday at Harvey West.
➤ Any decent household should have the materials at hand to create a “Wizard of Oz” costume — silver face paint, a witch’s cowl, a gingham dress, be creative! Once outfitted, you’re free to steal the spotlight Friday at the Emerald Ball over at The 418 Project, a splashy party designed to build bridges between The 418’s talented coterie of creatives and potential LGBTQ+ allies in the Santa Cruz mainstream. Come for the dancing, stick around for the “Wicked”-inspired karaoke.
➤ We’re approaching the first of May, and in years past in Santa Cruz, that has meant the Reel Work Labor Film Festival, highlighting films about the lives of working people. This year’s festival takes place at various places around the county, beginning this weekend, into the first week of May. A highlight is a local screening of Jon Silver’s “Watsonville on Strike” documentary, marking the 40th anniversary of the Watsonville canning strike. That’s April 30 at the Del Mar. It’s one of many programs planned through May 18.
➤ You call your event Tokyo Hot Tub Party, and yeah, you’ve got my attention. The good folks at Woodhouse Blending and Brewing, just a bit off River Street in Santa Cruz, are hosting a big wing-ding Friday with local DJs — led by the one named Tokyo Hot Tub — pushing techno and house dance music. If the weather’s nice, it’ll be even more fab. Woodhouse is a great spot to chill at the end of a hectic week, even without an actual hot tub.
➤ A big beautiful downtown public library is on the horizon. To help envision and conjure up that opening day, the Friends of Santa Cruz Libraries is hosting the Meet Me at the New Downtown Library Festival (they could have found a less verbose name, but it gets to the point). On Saturday, at the site of the new library-to-be in downtown Santa Cruz, the festival will present live music, kids activities, food trucks and information about the library. It’s all to kick off the big capital campaign. It’s free, on the corner of Cedar and Lincoln.
