B9: Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the hot-August-winds B9:
➤ Perhaps the most venerable of all local arts organizations is the grand old Santa Cruz Art League, and one of the Art League’s grandest, oldest traditions is hosting the California Landscape Show every year. This summer marks the 94th year that the SCAL has opened its gallery for landscape visions from all over California, a showcase to remind us what we all already know: That there is no corner of the Earth as lovely as California. The show features more than 75 California artists — including a few locals such as Sally Bookman, Ed Penniman and others — all trying to capture the beauty of home. On Friday, the show will have its reception at the Art League, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
➤ I’ve always advocated that Watsonville should consider changing its name to Strawberry — to which I’m always reminded that there already exists a Strawberry, California. At least, W’ville recognizes the centrality of the strawberry to the town’s economy and its image with the annual Strawberry Festival, which will dominate downtown this weekend with exhibits, art, live music and lots of strawberry goodies.
➤ You’ve certainly been around the block in Santa Cruz if you know the name Futzie Nutzle. That’s the nom de plume of a comic artist who was a huge presence in town back in the 1970s and ’80s. He and his subversive and wild art are the focus of a new exhibit at the R. Blitzer Gallery on the Westside of Santa Cruz, sharing the spotlight with the elegant painter Isobel George. Check them both out as part of the First Friday celebration at the Blitzer, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
➤ Drag and Shakespeare isn’t as jarring a juxtaposition as you might think. After all, the first stage Juliets, Ophelias and Cordelias were all men in drag. From that playpen comes the Pink Ladies of the Sonnets, a Bay Area performance troupe that goes all out on the drag drama. They perform Monday, the off day between performances of Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s theater productions at the Audrey Stanley Grove.
➤ The bass player is always the overlooked one in any given rock band, it seems. (The joke in the Tom Hanks-directed rock band comedy “That Thing You Do” was that the bass player didn’t even have a name). On top of the list of exceptions to the rule is the 1990s trio Primus, which has always been primarily a vehicle for the brilliant and profoundly eccentric Les Claypool, who is a bassist. The Quarry Amphitheater at UCSC is a natural habitat for a band like this. They’re ready to rock Sunday.
➤ Can it possibly be more than 30 years since Karrin Allyson burst onto the jazz scene? Allyson really hit her stride as one of the jazz world’s most expressive young female voices in the 1990s, but she’s still going strong, now giving a full embrace to a long-time passion, the music of Brazil. See her Monday at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center.
➤ It’s been five years since the trauma and tragedy of the CZU fires in Santa Cruz County, and to mark the occasion, the Felton branch of the Santa Cruz Public Library is screening a film titled “The CZU Fire in Their Own Words,” directed by Boulder Creek’s Peter Gelblum. The screening will kick off a series of events in which the SCPL will look back at CZU.
➤ Fans of obsolete technology rejoice. This week marks the grand opening of a local business called North Coast Tintypes, which is all about photography as they used to do it in the 19th century. On Friday, the studio opens with a tour of the place at Chestnut Street and Squid Row, and an explanation of the wet-plate collodion process from the artist Annie Abernathy. And maybe you can even book a session to sit for a portrait with that uniquely old-school vibe.
➤ And, to return to the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, there’s a way that orchestral music organizations survive over time: They appeal to the next generation. Every year, the Cabrillo Fest presents its free Family Concert, where the whole family can get an up-close-and-personal look at all the instruments in the orchestra, and enjoy some thrilling music to boot. This year’s free concert takes place Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Civic.
