Best 9: Top events for the week ahead in Santa Cruz County arts & entertainment, Dec. 12-19

Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the peak-holiday-show B9:

➤ Many people carry a deep association with the holiday season and Irish music, and for those folks, Tomaseen Foley’s “A Celtic Christmas” is all gingerbread and apple cider. The stage show is built around Foley’s evocative stories of growing up in Ireland in the 1950s, punctuated by a spirited and warm-hearted performances of music and dance, driven in large part by master guitarist and longtime Santa Cruzan William Coulter. It’s a beautiful, nostalgic show, all about family and celebration, and a nice gift to give yourself and your loved ones to experience together. Friday night at the UC Santa Cruz Music Center Recital Hall.

➤ For decades, pianist and violinist Barbara Higbie has been associated with the winter solstice, bringing a hushed, reflective tone to the change of seasons. This year, she’s at it again, welcoming cellist Mia Pixley for a show at the Kuumbwa, performing music fitting for this time of year. 

➤ In the sacred space of Holy Cross Church, the voices of the Santa Cruz Chorale make a joyful noise with live music from the Monterey Bay Sinfonietta. The Chorale explores the wide variety of seasonal carols from Denmark, Sweden, England, Spain and others, as well as Pachelbel and many other goodies you’ll hear only in December.

➤ The Beatles are always a crowd-pleaser. That’s what Drew Harrison has learned as the leader of The Sun Kings, one of Northern California’s most accomplished Beatles tribute bands, which have now been together almost three times as long as the Beatles themselves were together. Harrison and his mates channel the Fab Four without the costumes and caricatures, only the music, at Felton Music Hall. 

➤ December and adult beverages enjoy a deep and mutually meaningful relationship, so why not get in on the fun? The event Saturday night in downtown Santa Cruz known as “The Naughty List” is a holiday-themed pub crawl where, for a $12 ticket, you get drink discounts at local pubs, access to bar games, prizes and generally free rein to get a little noggy with a few (or a hundred) close friends. 

➤ OK, so there’s Dave Alvin, master Blaster, ex of X. And Victor Krummenacher of the legendary Santa Cruz combo Camper Van Beethoven. And then there’s the haunting singer Jesse Sykes, famous from her band The Sweet Hereafter. Y’know, I think we got a bona fide supergroup here. They are The Third Mind, a fascinating psychedelic, neo-gothic, dark-country project, playing live at Moe’s Alley. 

➤ The Santa Cruz Symphony usually reserves its “pops” concerts for the summer, but this time the Symphony is presenting a special Holiday Pops show featuring Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” and the Vaughn-Williams take on “Greensleeves” and even a medley of Hanukkah songs. Two shows at the Santa Cruz Civic.

➤ For 40 years now (yikes!), the musicians of the legendary ska band Fishbone have creating a kind of pulsing street energy that is part party band, part rudeboy reggae act, part punk defiance. With two of its original members, Fishbone is still rockin’ it hard, and they’re headed to the Rio.

➤ Flynn Creek time is nigh: The traveling theatrical acrobatic show known as the Flynn Creek Circus is set to begin its three-week stay in Capitola next week. Under its (heated) big top in the parking lot of the Capitola Mall, the performance artists of Flynn Creek go all film noir on us with their latest show “The Heavy Drift.”