Best 9: Top events for the week ahead in Santa Cruz County arts & entertainment, Sept. 4-11

Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the harvest-time B9:

➤ His birth name is Xavier Dphrepaulezz, but he commands stages around the world as bluesman and singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito, and, boy, does he have a story to tell. Growing up largely on the streets of Oakland, he taught himself music by sneaking into classrooms at UC Berkeley, but a near-fatal car accident put him in a coma and killed his music career early on. He reemerged 15 years later as an evangelist for American blues and other forms of Black traditional music, eventually nabbing two Grammys. Negrito brings a distinctive style of his brand of old-school R&B and funk with a big assist from his childhood inspiration, Prince. In his own way, this one-of-a-kind artist is pushing American music forward while at the same time keeping alive the flame from its past. He plays live Sunday at Felton Music Hall. 

➤ First Friday is always a blast over at M.K. Contemporary Art on Front Street in downtown Santa Cruz. But this month, the gallery brings a bit of “Whim and Wonder” into its new exhibition, featuring some of the more outre work of local artists such as Dag Weiser, Will Marino, Pamela Mooney and more. It all goes down Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. 

➤ Stand-up comedy happens in the trenches. The best young comics emerge from the seedbeds of comedy competitions around the country, which always provide a thrilling surprise or two. One of those touring competitions, the San Francisco Comedy Competition, drops in at The Crow’s Nest in Santa Cruz on Sunday evening, with 15 hungry comics looking for a spot in the semi-finals. 

➤ The story of the Flamin’ Groovies goes way back to 1965, and that’s not a typo. The band emerged out of the psychedelic miasma of San Francisco of that era, though they were more interested in the energy and snarl of old-time rock ’n’ roll. Original frontman Cyril Jordan leads the Groovies onto the stage of The Crepe Place on Saturday, your chance to catch rock ’n’ roll’s living history.

➤ It’s a week of transition at Santa Cruz Shakespeare, as its production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” closes out its summer run, just in time for a new fall production of Athol Fugard’s “‘Master Harold’ … and the Boys,” a searing but illuminating examination of South African apartheid and the deep-seated racism behind it. From summer enchantment to fall drama in one big week. 

➤ You might remember the Seattle-based band Sunny Day Real Estate as one of the first green shoots of the emo-punk movement of the 1990s. True to its genre, the band had all kinds of drama, breaking up and reuniting several times. Perhaps older (certainly) and wiser (not necessarily), SDRE comes bounding into The Catalyst on Wednesday as part of its 2025 tour. 

➤ As drag-queen stage names go, it’s hard to beat “Lil Miss Hot Mess.” We can only hope she lives up to that awesome name as Miss Mess visits Bookshop Santa Cruz on Wednesday to talk about her new book, “Make Your Own Rainbow: A Drag Queen’s Guide to Color.” I’m sure the colors will be anything but muted. 

➤ It’s already been a big summer up at the Quarry Amphitheater on the campus of UCSC. Turns out summer isn’t quite over at the Quarry. Coming into the magical space on Tuesday is the Southern California band Young the Giant, an indie band shot through with an international vibe, exemplified in their sensual 2022 hit “Wake Up.”

➤ Three big names in the California poetry world are coming together in a thunderclap moment at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Dorianne Laux, Joseph Millar and Susan Browne, all of whom spend their time and energy figuring out how to deepen the human experience, join forces on Tuesday for the “Hive Live” poetry reading. Prepare to be inspired.