Take the Bard on a picnic
Shakespeare fests: Forsooth! The outdoor Shakespeare season is upon us in earnest. This weekend marks the start of two annual Shakespeare productions, neither of which features a Julius Caesar that looks like Donald J. Trump. On June 30, Livermore Shakespeare opens its season with “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” which it will present in tandem with “Cyrano de Bergerac” (opening July 13). And on July 1, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival opens its free, touring production of “Hamlet.”
DETAILS >> “Miudsum-mer” plays June 29-July 16, “Cyrano” plays July 1330; all performances at Wente Vineyards, Livermore; $18-$48; livermoreshakes.org; “Hamlet” plays June 1-16 at Pleasanton’s Amador Valley Community Park before moving to Cupertino, Redwood City and San Francisco; all shows are free; www.sfshakes.org. Fillmore Jazz Festival: Fillmore Street was once the center of a thriving jazz and blues scene in San Francisco. This annual street fair honors that history and this year is also noting the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, as performers including Kim Nalley, E.C. Scott, Linda Tillery and others will weave classic San Francisco’s 1960s tunes into their sets. The festival will also feature arts and crafts and plenty to eat and drink.
DETAILS >> 10 a.m.-6 p.m. July 1-2; Fillmore Street between Jackson and Eddy streets; free admission; www.sresproductions.com/events/fillmorejazz-festival. “Brownsville Song (B-Side for Tray”: Kimber Lee’s play digs into an incident that sadly usually warrants scant attention — the violent death of a black teenager in Brooklyn — and takes us into the lives that are upended by it. The idea, besides telling a story about a rich cast of characters, is to show how this sort of tragedy affects all of us. Lee’s play is in production at Shotgun Players.
DETAILS >> Through July 16; Ashby Stage, Berkeley; $5$30; 510-841-6500, shotgunplayers.org. Michael O’Neill and Kenny Washington: The friendship and creative synergy between sax man and composer O’Neill and vocalist Washington is one of the jewels of the Bay Area jazz scene. They’ll perform together again on July 1 when O’Neill and his quintet perform with Washington at San Jose’s revered club Cafe Stritch.
DETAILS >> 8:30 p.m.; $5$10; www.cafestritch.com. “What You Will”: A Shakespeare mixtape? That’s sort of the idea with this farce by Max Gutmann getting its world premiere at the Pear Theatre in Mountain View. Snippets from various Bard comedies are cut and pasted throughout this show, which still
turns on Shakespeare staples — mistaken identities, misinterpreted flirtations and cross-dressing schemes gone awry.
DETAILS >> Through July 16; $28-$32; thepear.org.
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Rusty Chains: The music world is still reeling from the death of Chris Cornell, one of the most powerful and distinctive rock singers ever to prowl a stage. Tributes have been posted by Cornell’s numerous friends and admirers, and on June 30 at Slim’s in San Francisco, you can catch live tribute show featuring Soundgarden tribute band Rusty Chains. Pearl Jam tribute act Corduroy opens the gig.
DETAILS >> 9 p.m.; $15-$17; slimspresents.com. A portion of the proceeds benefit San Francisco Suicide Prevention (Cornell’s death was ruled a suicide, although his widow is questioning the finding).
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Last call for “Altar Boyz”: This cheeky send-up of boy bands centers on a mock Christian vocal group performing a show — complete with ridiculous outfits, double entendres, and over-thetop dance moves — aimed at making young girls squeal while purifying souls. Center Repertory Company, which excels at this sort of stage comedy, is presenting the show but this weekend is your last chance to see it.
DETAILS >> Daily performances through July 1; Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek; $37$72; 925-943-7469, www. centerrep.org.
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Delta Wires: The Bay Area band serves up a potent harmonica-and-horns-oriented style of blues that touches on the genre’s classic and contemporary sounds. The band just dropped a new album, “Born in Oakland,” which it will showcase with two shows June 30 at San Francisco’s venerable club Biscuits and Blues.
DETAILS >> 7:30 and 10 p.m.; $24; 415-292-2583, biscuitsandblues.com.
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Charged Particles: The heralded Bay Area jazz trio — keyboardist Murray Low, bassist Aaron Germain and drummer Jon Krisnick — is once again teaming with saxophonist Tod Dickow in a concert tribute to tenor saxophone great Michael Brecker, with shows slated in Walnut Creek and Livermore.
DETAILS >> 9:30 p.m. July 5 at Impulse Room, Walnut Creek; $18-$38; 2 p.m. July 9 at Livermore Public Library (part of the Jazz in July concert series); free; www.chargedparticles.com. Check the Charged Particles website for the many other gigs the tireless trio has booked around the Bay Area.
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Ghost: Lots of folks will catch this Swedish hard rock band as the opener to metal legends Iron Maiden July 5 at Oracle Arena, but they have a big following in their own right. Led by lead singer Papa Emeritus, who performs in an “anti-Pope” costume featuring skullface makeup and pontiff robes, the supposedly satan-worshipping band is said to deliver a memorial theatrical experience on stage. They headline their own show at the Warfield in San Francisco on July 2. DETAILS >> 8 p.m.; $34.50$65; www.axs.com.
Contact Randy McMullen at rmcmullen@ bayareanewsgroup.com.