Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the summer-vacay B9:
➤ It’s a tough business, getting your work in front of people as a talented local visual artist. One such artist/illustrator, Cheyanne Donald (under the pseudonym White Rabbit), has been presenting her vivid and compelling prints in pop-ups and at arts festivals. Now, she’s got a show of her own — Friday at the Hotel Paradox — and she wants to meet and greet her fans and admirers. Cheyanne’s pen-and-ink work centers on female subjects in intriguing tableaus that suggest hidden meanings and stories. “My work has a very peculiar color pattern,” she said. “I’m really inspired by an art-deco-meets-pop-art kind of space. I love bright, poppy color.” She came from a background in fashion illustration. “The first thing that comes out is this woman with a lot of movement and flow, and then building a world around her.” It’s really absorbing work. Check out White Rabbit’s art up close and personal Friday, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Hotel Paradox.
➤ The arts scene in Watsonville is strong and growing, and we can all get a good blast of it every month during the Second Saturday/Segundo Sabado event, a vibrant art tour of the creativity and energy in Watsonville, including walking tours of the Annieglass factory and the Watsonville Brillante downtown mosaic murals as well. All going down Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.
➤ Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s big summer season isn’t quite here yet. But next week begins the company’s preview performances in advance of the big opening-night shows. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” debuts with a preview on Sunday, and a second on Wednesday, while Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” previews Tuesday and Thursday.
➤ Come out Saturday evening for a dance party that’s gotten local clubbers’ attention. It’s called Tokyo Hot Tub, and it features hours of DJs laying down house, disco and electronica for all those looking to blow off a bit of steam, all at the hip scene emerging at Woodhouse Blending & Brewing.
➤ Maybe the word “Boomeria” means nothing to you. But it sure evokes a lot of memories for many music-loving locals. Boomeria refers to the amazing Preston Boomer, a Bonny Doon man who built an enormous pipe organ that was the site of an annual event in the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival. The organ is now at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ben Lomond and it can still stir your soul and rattle your molars. Check it out Saturday afternoon.
➤ The Hive Live is the go-to place to experience the finest work in the local poetry scene. The monthly event at Bookshop Santa Cruz lands Tuesday, exploring the prize-winning and revelatory poetry of Jessica Cohn and Kirk Glaser, the latter the author of the haunting Santa Cruz Mountains collection “The House That Fire Built.”
➤ Back in the 1970s, Barrington Levy was a popular reggae/dancehall singer while still a mere teen, launching a hitmaking career over the course of the next two decades. Now in his 60s, Levy has a monumental series of hit songs and albums to look back on, and old-school reggae lovers will get a chance to dive deep into that canon when Levy performs live at The Catalyst on Saturday.
➤ Here’s a great chance to hear what’s on the mind of local playwrights. The local playwright group 36 North presents staged script-in-hand readings of new original plays every month. This month’s show, titled “Solo Voices,” comes to Actors’ Theatre in downtown Santa Cruz on Monday. And it’s free.
➤ A Santa Cruz tradition returns. Each summer, the performers of the San Francisco Mime Troupe arrive in Santa Cruz to bite hard on a political subject through satirical theater. This year’s show is titled “Disruption — A Musical Farce,” and anyone with a news feed can certainly relate. The show is free and is presented outdoors at the London Nelson Center in downtown Santa Cruz on Sunday.
