• Lockwood is a trek, but it can be worth it for the getaway experience. Especially when it promises to impart as much insight as Suzanne Pierce Taylor’s talk “The Ancestors Speak,” about her book about her family, which goes back to the Salinan Native American people. The talk is courtesy of the San Antonio Valley Historical Society’s annual meeting and dinner at the San Antonio Valley Community Center on Saturday. Call 805-423-2845 to RSVP.
• The Monterey County Young Professionals Group holds their Halloween party at Kula Ranch starting 8pm Friday with DJ Joey Camacho, unlimited bubbly (until supplies last) and a fire pit. Facebook.com/mcypg831.
• The Monterey Jazz Festival reaffirms its commitment to nurturing the relationship between jazz music and young people. Their new What is Jazz? series gathers local traveling clinicians like saxophonist Gary Meek, singer Tammi Brown and others to perform, with special guests from the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Stars, four free shows for students in grades 3-12 on Nov. 4-7. This lesson comes through via sides by cats like Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Billy Taylor and Dizzy Gillespie. Crazy, man. 373-8843.
• Kim and Gina Weston continue their mission to keep young people involved in fine art black and white film photography. The New Bohemian Nights raises scholarship money for the cause in special events on Nov. 1 steeped in the medium, like a live model photo shoot with Kim, collodion wet plate process demo with Kodiak Greenwoodand fine art photography by Roman Loranc. It’s $500 for the afternoon, so it’s geared to folks who have both the passion and the money, but the ultimate recipients are young photogs. 238-1203.
• One of the re-engineered National Steinbeck Center’s new amenities is an updated bookstore/gift shop (personally, I thought their previous one was fine) with more graphic novels including a Swiss-made Of Mice and Men (which previewed at the center a few years ago) and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal Watchmen. Nice move.
• A three-minute animated student short film purports to give a kid’s-eye-view of what Dia de los Muertos is about, and it’s an expertly made piece that careens neatly into a tears-and-smiles-inducing finale. Search “Dia De Los Muertos from Whoo Kazoo” on YouTube, then get ready to plunge into this weekend’s Day of the Dead festivities with a little more insight and emotion.