Enigmatic composer gets his own music festival
John Luther Adams: This New York-based composer and classically trained percussionist isn’t easy to categorize, his works falling somewhere between classical, minimalist, avantgarde, electronic music and contemporary jazz. Much of his music is drawn from his passion for the outdoors and the years he lived in Alaska. Beginning July 27, SFJazz is hosting a festival devoted to the enigmatic composer. Highlights include a performance of several of his works by the acclaimed JACK Quartet (July 27); the world premiere of Adams’ “Everything That Rises,” also by the JACK Quartet (July 28), a free performance of his percussion/foundsound-driven classic “Inuksuit” at San Francisco’s Sutro Baths near Ocean Beach (July 29) and a performance of his electronic soundscape installation “Veils and Vesper” at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral (also July 29).
DETAILS >> July 27-30; events are free to $55; sfjazz.org. Robert Cray: The musician has been credited with kick-starting the contemporary blues sound beginning in the 1980s, but he has always adhered to certain fundamentals of the genre — crisp, nimble guitar work and plaintive singing about the hardships of life and love. His knack for bringing pop and soul elements into his sound helped make his album “Strong Persuader” a mainstream hit in 1986 and has been a core of his music throughout his impressive career. For his most recent album, released earlier this year, Cray teamed with the acclaimed soul/R&B session group known as HiRhythm. He’ll likely showcase the release when he comes to Livermore’s Bankhead Theater July 27.
DETAILS >> 7:30 p.m.; $50$100; 925-373-6800, lvpac. org “The Making of a Great Moment”: Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s new stage comedy stars Danny Scheie and Aysan Celik as a pair of actors bicycling across America performing a play about great moments in American history. What could go wrong? (Laundry, for one thing). Nachtrieb, who had a hit with the immersive show “House Tour” (also starring Scheie, one of the Bay Area’s finest comic actors) brings “Moment” to San Francisco’s Z Space performance complex beginning July 28.
DETAILS >> Through Aug. 26; $20-$50; www.zspace.org. “Peter Pan”: An acclaimed production of this stage show drawn from J.M. Barrie’s classic kids tale is coming to two Bay Area theaters via National Theatre Live, which broadcasts performances
from the famed London venue. Nothing replaces the magic of live theater, but these screenings are still worth your time.
DETAILS >> 7 p.m. July 27 and 2 p.m. Aug. 5 at Hammer Theatre Center in San Jose; 7 p.m. Aug. 2 at Rialto Cinemas in El Cerrito, $11-$25; ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. Check the website for screenings of other productions, including “Angels in America” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Jenny Kerr: This singer and multi-instrumentalist calls herself a “San Francisco native and Oxford dropout,” but that description omits her knack for delivering impressive guitar licks and touching on genres ranging from blues to country to Tex-Mex. She comes to Armando’s in Martinez on July 28 with her fourpiece band.
DETAILS >> 8 p.m.; $15; 925228-6985, http://armandosmartinez.com. Violent Femmes: The Milwaukee cult folk-punk band broke out in the 1980s and has showed surprising staying power while broadening its sound into all forms of American roots music. The band is touring behind last year’s “We Can Do Anything,” the band’s first full-length studio collection in 15 years, and comes to the Mountain Winery in Saratoga in a co-headlining show with Echo & the Bunnymen.”
DETAILS >> 6 p.m. July 30; $49.50-$129; www.mountainwinery.com. The Golden Follies: This popular troupe of Northern California women ages 55 and older will perform a high-energy Las Vegas-style show at two matinee performances at Pleasanton’s Firehouse Arts Center this weekend.
DETAILS >> 2 p.m. July 29 and 30; $15-$25; 925-9314848, www.firehousearts.org. “Arsenic and Old Lace”: The classic 1939 dark comedy centers on the Brewster family, whose bizarre members include two spinsters fond of poisoning lonely old men to death. It’s getting a revival by San Leandro Players.
DETAILS >> Through Aug. 13; the auditorium at San Leandro Museum; $15$20; www.slplayers.org. Delta Rae: This roots-rockin’ band out of Durham, N.C., features siblings Brittany, Eric and Ian Holljes and a moniker borrowed from their mother’s story about a girl who summons the Greek gods to Earth. The band’s harmonies-driven live shows are said to be sublime. You can find out for yourself when the band lands at the Great American Music Hall on July 28. DETAILS >> 8:30 p.m.; $25; www.slimespresents.com 10 “MacBitch”: This new play written and conceptualized by Oren Stevens and The Breadbox artistic director Ariel Craft pieces bits of Shakespeare, canonical verse, contemporary dialogue and references to everything from “Lord of the Flies” to “Heathers” in a story about a squad of high school girls seeking — what else? — world domination.
DETAILS >> July 28-Aug. 19; Exit Theatre complex, San Francisco; $15-$20; www..breadboxtheatre.org. Contact Randy McMullen at rmcmullen@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him on Twitter. com/randymac57.