Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the suddenly summery B9:
➤ And now, just a moment of deep appreciation, for the incomparable Laurie R. King. Over the course of more than 30 years, the Santa Cruz novelist has built, book by book, one of the most enduring literary careers of any writer in the Monterey Bay Area, ever. Next Tuesday, she officially releases her latest book, “Knave of Diamonds,” with an event at Bookshop Santa Cruz. And it’s a good time to remember that she has consistently produced sophisticated and intriguing mystery novels, full of historical depth and personality, many of them thanks to her vivid heroine Mary Russell, who now occupies a place in our collective imagination every bit as prominent as her mentor and husband, Sherlock Holmes. And, if you think these are all just throw-away whodunits, you haven’t properly reckoned with the LRK universe, in which everything from religious freedom to gender rights is all part of the fabric of her world-building. Thanks, Laurie, for showing us all how it’s done.
➤ Back in the 1980s, it was known as “two-tone,” and, for a while there, it was the hottest, most infectious sound coming out of the U.K. At the head of this revival that slammed together Jamaican ska and British new wave was singer and guitarist Dave Wakeling and his band The English Beat. In the past decade, Wakeling has made his band a regular part of the California live-music circuit, and it turns out that unique beat has lost none of its punch. The English Beat play back-to-back shows at Felton Music Hall.
➤ It’s a big Saturday evening for fans of the legendary film composer John Williams. The Santa Cruz Symphony’s spring pops concert at the Civic Auditorium presents many jewels from the Williams catalogue including music from “E.T.,” “Indiana Jones,” “Jurassic Park” and, obviously, “Star Wars.” As prelude to the show, the street out front of the Civic will come alive with food trucks, live entertainment and maybe a cosplayer or two. Anything could happen.
➤ Maybe the high-profile events are past, but Pride is still going strong at MK Contemporary Art in Santa Cruz. MK’s latest exhibition, “Here to Eternity,” is a veritable who’s who of Santa Cruz LGBTQ+ artists, all together in one comprehensive and far-sighted group show. MK is the spot for the First Friday Pride party, 6 to 8 p.m. at the gallery right next door to the MAH.
➤ Cultural depictions of neurodiversity don’t get any more empathetic than Mark Haddon’s well-known stage drama “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” in which the 15-year-old protagonist investigates both a mystery in his hometown and his own neural condition. Mountain Community Theater in Ben Lomond presents its final weekend of performances, through Sunday.
➤ He’s got an emotional range as flat as a Texas panhandle cow pasture, but singer-songwriter James McMurtry makes up for it with deep wellsprings of cutting irony, telling detail and literary panache. The son of one of the West’s finest novelists, McMurtry has continued the family business with a guitar and a wit as sharp as a longhorn’s antlers. He pays a visit to the Rio next Thursday, June 12.
➤ Hard to argue with the genius of Neil Young’s “Harvest” and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Deja Vu,” both considered among the greatest rock albums of the Laurel Canyon late 1960s. Now you get to hear them performed live and in sequence by a local band at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center on Sunday.
➤ Abraham Verghese’s epic 2023 novel “The Covenant of Water” has haunted readers since its release. And on Sunday, fans of the generational family saga that serves as a portrait of faith and medicine in the modern world will come together to hear the author discuss the themes in the book with philosopher and theologian Rose Feerick at the Rio Theatre. See, the world’s not all ridiculous and absurd.
➤ We tend to forget that the music of New Orleans is not static, that, however rich its heritage, it’s a continually evolving creature always looking to wriggle free of the outside world’s projections. Take a spin, for example, with Dumpstaphunk, the NOLA band with royal bloodlines — it’s the next generation of Nevilles, after all — creating a new direction with its sleek funk sound, both classic and up-to-date. The band plays live at Moe’s Alley on Tuesday.
