Sage Francis headlines the Santa Cruz Music Festival July 20.
Redwood Mountain Faire
Roaring Camp, Felton, June 1-2
This year 22 bands, including local favorites Wooster, North Pacific String Band and McCoy Tyler Band, will grace the ears of attendees as they lay out in the beautiful meadow surrounded by redwoods. Along with a wide range of music that appeals to all ages, this two-day event will feature beer from local breweries, Santa Cruz Mountains wines, and delicious and unique foods. Children can enjoy face painting, a bounce house and more, while dozens of artists will be offering paintings, instruments, jewelry and more. This event gives back to the community as proceeds go to local non-profits and service organizations. (MW)
White Album Ensemble
Santa Cruz County Symphony, June 1
Santa Cruz’s biggest super-group plays nothing but songs by the greatest band in rock & roll history. No, not the Surf Punks! The other one. The Ensemble, led by the Doobie Brothers’ Dale Ockerman, guitarist Ken Craft and keyboardist Richard Bryant, plays with the Santa Cruz County Symphony. (SP)
Santa Cruz Mountains Vintners’ Festival
Santa Cruz, June 1-2, 8-9
There’s so much wine it couldn’t possibly fit in one weekend. The first weekend focuses on wineries from the eastside of the mountains, and the second on wineries from the west. The last day, June 9th, will wrap up with a car-free street festival downtown because sometimes when you drink wine, it’s hard to walk a straight line down the sidewalk. (JP)
Robert Earl Keen
Rio Theatre, June 12
Keen is the Jimmy Buffett of country music, with a striking balance of sincere ballads and rocking, get-drunk party songs. Also he loves Santa Cruz so much he made it the focus of “Coming Home,” one of his biggest fan faves. Sure, the song’s about leaving Santa Cruz, but we’ll take it. (JP)
Marty O’Reilly
Crepe Place, Santa Cruz, June 14
If there’s one artist that embodies Santa Cruz’s burgeoning Americana folk scene, Marty O’Reilly might be it. O’Reilly has a soaring, scratchy voice, amazing resonator guitars, a heartbreaking fiddle player, an upright bassist that hangs with the best and compositions that sound born out of the Great Depression. (JP)
Austin Lounge Lizards
Kuumbwa, Santa Cruz, June 15
The Austin Lounge Lizards might be the funniest alt-country band ever, with songs like “Life Is Hard, But Life Is Hardest When You’re Dumb” and the “proposed” Banana Slugs Fight Song. (JP)
Michael Pollan
Santa Cruz High, June 18
Michael Pollan, the New York Times bestselling author of four groundbreaking titles, including The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, is a cutting-edge thinker when it comes to food, and specifically “an inspiration for a lot of what people are doing in Santa Cruz,” says Casey Coonerty Protti, owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz. The bookshop will host Pollan on June 18 for a reading and discussion of his new book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.
“Cooking links us to nature, it links us to our bodies. It’s too important to our well-being to outsource,” writes Pollan in Cooked. In the pages of his book, he explores how the four classical elements—fire, water, air and earth—relate to how we cook our food, from grilling pork shoulder to baking bread to fermenting beer. Cooking, he argues, is a vital part of what it means to be human (“raw foodists take note,” he writes), as our early use of fire led us to expand the boundaries of what we could eat and, in turn, evolve.
Tickets for Pollan’s appearance at Santa Cruz High, sponsored by Bookshop Santa Cruz, are still available. A $31 ticket to his talk also includes a copy of the book. (GP)
Woodies on the Wharf
Santa Cruz Wharf, June 22
This Surf City classic features over 200 stylish, pre-1952 woodies. During the past 19 years, the event has grown and is now one of the busiest days of the year on the wharf. There will also be live music and a raffle featuring a chance to win a beach cruiser bike or a custom designed “Santa Cruz Woodies” long board. (MW)
Patty Griffin
Cocoanut Grove, Santa Cruz, June 22
With a fusion of folk tenderness and soft rock sensibilities, guitar-player Griffin has an angelic voice that sounds like an powerful whisper and a moving songwriting style that hasn’t lost much since her popular 1996 debut Living With Ghosts. She’s in a relationship with Robert Plant, so if she’s good enough for one of the all-time greatest…(JP)
Garden Faire
Sky Park, Scotts Valley, June 22
Embrace change and growth at the 8th annual Garden Faire, a free-admission event. This year’s theme, “Growing Together: Nourishing Our Community,” educates the public on the importance of individual actions that promote the well-being of the community through new organic gardening techniques. Knowledgeable speakers will share their understanding of fresh and inventive ways to assist the growth of plants in a sustainable way that nurtures the earth and environment. There will be food and beverages, live music, interactive presentations, activities for all ages as well as a unique assemblage of garden goods and materials, plants and services. (MW)
Dave Alvin Acoustic Trio
Kuumbwa, Santa Cruz, June 26
A lifelong supporter of good folk, blues and roots music, Alvin is at his best with an acoustic guitar in his hand.
Cabrillo Stage
Cabrillo College, Aptos, July 12-August 18
This year’s lineup kicks off on July 12 with La Cage aux Folles, the risqué story of flamboyantly gay couple in Spain. Summer shows also include Escaping Queens, a local musical comedy from Joe Ortiz about an immigrant family in New York and the Rogers and Hammerstein classic Oklahoma—where, ya know, the wind comes sweeping down the plains. (JP)
Camper Van Beethoven/ Cracker
Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, July 19
Camper Van Beethoven is arguably Santa Cruz’s most famous band, and might have been superstars if it wasn’t for that little spat in Europe on the Key Lime Pie tour—and, you know, the breakup. Lead singer David Lowery picked up again with Cracker, who then obligingly became superstars. Now they’re all one big, happy family, and Camper’s new album (the second since their reunion) has a great Santa-Cruz-style tribute to “Northern California Girls.” (SP)
Santa Cruz Music Festival
Santa Cruz, July 20
The inaugural edition of the SCMF will feature 60 bands in more than half a dozen venues around Santa Cruz. Headliners include Sage Francis, the extremely political Oakland hip-hop outfit the Coup, slam poet Buddy Wakefield, indie-rock quintet Forrest Day, South Bay dubsters Getter and Santa Cruz’s own alt-hip-hop band par excellence, Eliquate. As those examples suggest, the festival brings a broad range of genres and styles to an epic one-day event. (SP)
Shakespeare Santa Cruz
Festival Glen, UCSC, July 23-September 1
Every year, Santa Cruz’s best-known theater company performs Shakespeare plays—some popular and some obscure—surrounded by the stunning beauty of UC-Santa Cruz’s redwood forest. This year’s installment features historical masterpiece Henry V, as well as Shakespeare’s battle-of-wits (and sexes) romantic comedy Taming of the Shrew. Also in the outdoor Festival Glen this year is Tom Jones, a collaboration with this summer’s Fringe Festival. (JP)
Berlin featuring Terri Nunn
Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, July 26
When promoting shows, Berlin bills themselves as “featuring Terri Nunn” because not many bands still have their lead singer after so many years. But at 51, Nunn still has great stage presence, can nail hit songs like “Riding on the Metro” and is as hot as ever—no, we’re not just talking about her pipes. (JP)
Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Aug. 2-11
Spread over the course of almost two weeks, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music just about has it all—emerging composers and conductors, experimental string quartet Kronos and even a family-friendly, free performance by The Animated Orchestra. And, of course, the annual work of Maestra Marin Alsop is never to be skipped. (JP)
Xavier Rudd
Catalyst, Santa Cruz, August 2
With a voice like Paul Simon, Australian multi-instrumentalist Rudd has for sung for years of environmental messages that resonate with Santa Cruz: “If you love keep this coast clean as it evolves. The way that it shines, ’cause it may just dwindle with time with the changes it will confront.” Lately Rudd has been getting even deeper into world music and his experiments with electronic music. (JP)
Church Street Fair
Church Street (Outside Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium), August 3-4
Formerly known as the Cabrillo Art and Wine Festival, the “festival within a festival” features music from around the world on the Church Street Stage, and dancing in the street. Free family concert tickets are required, and can be picked up at the Civic Box Office. There will also be dozens of artisans selling their work. (SP)
Outside Lands
Golden Gate Park, August 9-11
Big-name throwbacks Paul McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nine Inch Nails are set to headline, but even these guys might get outshone by the younger acts. French indie rockers Phoenix show up with hipster heavies Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The National, Grizzly Bear, Band of Horses, Yeasayer, Matt & Kim and many more. A few electronic acts are in the mix, as well, including Kaskade and Pretty Lights. Former R&B recluse D’Angelo will make an appearance, though no word yet on whether his eternally forthcoming new album will be out in time.
Scotts Valley Art and Wine Festival
Sky Park, Scotts Valley, August 10-11
If the art doesn’t totally blow your mind, try going back for another glass. Hosted by the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Art Commission in beautiful Sky Park, this festival promises the best in food, beer, wine and art.
