Bay Area arts: 10 shows, concerts and fests to catch this weekend

From the sizzing La Onda festival lineup to La Boheme and the Bay Area Book Festival there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend Here s a partial roundup La Onda Another impressive lineup Organizers have pulled together a really big lineup for the second annual Festival La Onda By BottleRock Related Articles Reworked Harvey Milk opera returns to SF stage All kinds of fun Bay Area events coming out in June Parade returns to Bay Area as frighteningly relevant as ever Review The Cake bakes up a clash of cultures in San Jose Priceless ers helmet gets another Hall of Fame autograph Marco Antonio Solis Carin Le n Banda MS Pepe Aguilar and Grupo Firme are among the well-known names on the bill for this two-day Latin music showcase Other features acts include Xavi Tito Double P Chino Pacas La Receta Camila Fern ndez Los Aptos Sonora Tropicana MAR Edgar Alejandro Christian Nava Eden Mu oz Codiciado Oscar Maydon ngela Aguilar Clave Especial Alicia Villarreal Michelle Maciel Reyna Tropical Miguel Cornejo Erre Los De La Adriana R os and Ysrael Barajas There s so much talent in that La Onda lineup but fans will really be excited to see Solis the singer-songwriter-guitarist who co-founded Los Bukis in and went to a hugely triumphant solo career His list of No hits includes Una Mujer Como Tu Que Pena Me Das As Como Te Conoc and O Me Voy o Te Vas Le n is another massive draw with a catalog that includes such popular albums as Colmillo de Leche and Boca Chueca Vol Details a m to p m May and JUne Napa Valley Expo Napa tickets start at LaOndaFest com Jim Harrington Staff This fest is a real page-turner If ever there was a local Woodstock for book fans it s the Bay Area Book Festival which in its th year will take over downtown Berkeley for two full days of literary reverie Though there s fun to be had at the fest the official theme Changing the Narrative isn t so joyful given waves hand at everything Garrett Felber will talk about political prisoners through the lens of his biography of American prison-rights activist Martin Sostre Journalists Zack Beauchamp and Ari Berman will discuss the rise of authoritarianism and what it means for a free press and economic experts like Bernadette Atuahene will opine on systemic wealth inequality and corruption in the banking industry Saturday is the festival s Family Day at the Berkeley Society Library in partnership with the Social Justice Children s Book Fair and both nights feature literary events at entertainment venues like The Marsh and Freight Salvage There s a Poetry Stage and a Small Press Alley Plus there s a chance you ll bump into your favorite author milling in the crowd Among this year s headliners are Pulitzer Prize-winner Viet Thanh Nguyen Bad Feminist Roxane Gay and Native American authors Greg Sarris and Jon Hickey Details Festival runs May and June at various locations in downtown Berkeley free and ticketed events tickets schedule and more information at www baybookfest org John Metcalfe Staff SF Opera kicks off Summer Season San Francisco Opera s Summer Season kicks off its Summer Season ful l of the kind of thrills opera lovers live for with La Boh me at the War Memorial Opera House Conductor Ramon Tebar leads the orchestra and two alternating casts in Puccini s unforgettably touching tale of young artists falling in love during a cold winter in the Paris demimonde The final dress rehearsal is p m May full performances are June - tickets and up livestreams also available Details Tickets more information at SFOpera com Georgia Rowe Correspondent DocFest back with compelling films Is truth more intriguing than fiction The San Francisco Documentary Film Festival SF DocFest delivers a convincing argument that this is the circumstance This year s scheme is stocked with features and shorts nearly all films will be available to stream online while several filmmakers and others will be in attendance at in-person screenings In Rebel With a Clause director Brandt Johnson travels along with grammar champion Ellen Jovin as she takes her popular grammar table out on the road through states It shares opening night honors p m May at the Roxie with Peaches Goes Bananas p m May Roxie which peers into the life and trailblazing career of feminist queer artist Merrill Nisker aka Peaches Peaches Goes Bananas will be available online And should you get soul-soothing nourishment from watching cat videos you ll definitely want to check out Cats From Qatar p m Saturday at the Roxie director Mye Hoang s Cat Daddies inspiring documentary about Milwaukee cafe owner Katy McHugh s and other animal rescue helpers efforts to relocate feral cats that are overrunning Doha capital the United States Details May -June Roxie and Vogue theaters San Francisco sfdocfest Randy Myers Correspondent Friday on Front is your Freebie of the week San Francisco s latest ploy to try and perk up its downtown nightlife unfurls May with the cleverly titled Fridays on Front Street which takes place Friday on um Front Street from to p m between Sacramento and California Street The free event features all the staples of a cool street party booze food live music games and more The live music lineup curated by the Noise Pop festival includes the versatile Bay Area pop rock R B funk band Curtis Family C-Notes this is a true family band you may have caught them on America s Got Talent or the JC Penney ads they have starred in as well as The Fell Swoop Sweet Lew and MC Broke-Ass Stuart There will also be a ping-pong table and other games that become infinitely more entertaining when you ve had a drink or two food trucks and more fun stuff The three popular drinking establishments on the block Royal Exchange Harrington s Bar Grill and Schroeder s will all be offering drink specials and their own entertainment And a big screen in the vicinity will broadcast the San Francisco Giants championship Additional Fridays on Front Street events are slated for July Aug and Oct Details More information is at downtownsf org Bay City News Foundation Opera Parall le s season closer It is a topic and a larger-than-life personality perfectly suited for operatic therapy The adventurous San Francisco company Opera Parall le is winding up its current season with a tightened version of composer Stewart Wallace and librettist Michael Korie s Harvey Milk Reimagined the West Coast debut of a reworked production that originally premiered at Houston Grand Opera in and then graced the San Francisco Opera stage in Shortened to two acts with a single intermission and more compact casting and sung in English it traces the early life and political evolution of the iconic activist who became the first openly gay man to be elected to masses office as a San Francisco supervisor in only to be cut down in a brutal double slaying that also took the life of Mayor George Moscone less than a year later Baritone Michael Kelly takes on the title role for his company debut and the other vital roles are filled by tenor Christopher Oglesby as Dan White tenor Henry Benson as Scott Smith bass Matt Boehler as George Moscone and soprano Marnie Breckenridge as Dianne Feinstein Mezzo-soprano Catherine Cook sings as Milk s mother and vocalist Curtis Resnick plays him as a young boy Opera Parall le s artistic and general director Nicole Paiement conducts a -member orchestra Details p m May p m June p m June p m June Yerba Buena Center for the Arts San Francisco - operaparallele org Bay City News Foundation Celebratory swan song at Berk Symph Conductor Joseph Young of the Berkeley Symphony is leaving his position after six years at the podium but not before a final concert titled Triumph which takes place June at UC Berkeley s Zellerbach Hall Young who was honored at the orchestra s annual spring gala in early May will lead a operation that is anchored by Dmitri Shostakovich s Symphony No in D minor famously argued as either an appeasing kowtow to the disapproving dictator Joseph Stalin or in its final movement a satirical jab at that clueless tyrant Regardless it remains the preponderance popular of Shostakovich s symphonies nowadays Also on the plan are in its Bay Area premiere Gity Razaz s Methuselah In Chains of Time with its evocation of the rugged bristlecone pines of California s Inyo County and Astor Piazzolla s Aconcagua with accordion virtuoso Hanzhi Wang featured as soloist Details p m - berkeleysymphony org Bay City News Foundation Dorian Reid's Black Cat Power Flag is on display at the Bedford Gallery Bedford Gallery Limitless art in Walnut Creek You still have a little more than three weeks to catch an exhibit in Contra Costa County that may open your eyes and serve up several awesome works of art at the same time Limitless an exhibit on display at the Bedford Gallery in the Lesher Center for the Arts puts the focus on artists with disabilities The collection features scores of works paintings prints sculptures and more from artists who are members of the nonprofits Creative Advancement Creativity Explored and NIAD Nurturing Independence through Artistic Evolution which were formed by Florence Ludins-Katz and Elias Katz particular years to champion the rights and accomplishments of artists with intellectual and physical disabilities The artists include Berkeley multidisciplinary artist Dorian Reid whose works often center on themes of social justice civil rights and animal welfare she is particularly enamored with cats whom she says bring her comfort And Bay Area Filipino American artist John Patrick McKenzie whose works described as visual poetry combine often-colorful calligraphy with references to popular heritage geography celebrities and other themes Details Exhibit runs through June Bedford Gallery is open noon to p m Wednesdays through Sundays admission is www bedfordgallery org Bay City News Foundation top comedians hit Bay Area A couple of star comedians are headed to Bay Area clubs this weekend Tommy T s in Pleasanton is hosting Adele Givens who made her name in the Chicago circuit where comedy is more than a form of entertainment it s practically a turf war In she captured the Windy City s Crown Royal Comedy Competition in and has become well-known for her not-exactly-bashful form of stand-up often built around her catchphrase I am SUCH a Lady She s performed on Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam as well as the Queens of Comedy Tour and appeared in such films as Beauty Shop and Ice Cube s The Players Club She plays Tommy T s and p m Friday and p m Saturday and p m Sunday Tickets are - go to tommyts com Meanwhile iconic comedian and actor Tommy Davidson who broke out as a star on TV s game-changing show In Living Color holds forth at San Jose Improv He has an almost incomprehensibly long list of TV and big screen appearances from guest-starring spots and supporting and voice roles to comedy specials and more But his career which took off after he won a comedy competition at New York s famed Apollo Theater and then headed for L A has its foundation in stand-up which is what he will be delivering in performances at p m Thursday and p m Friday and and p m Saturday Tickets are - go to improv com sanjose Bay City News Foundation