Hot Picks 05.07.26

 Friday, May 8

Raw Art

Limitless is the title of the new exhibit by Art Abilities, and “limitless” could easily be the motto for the nonprofit. Art Abilities offers art classes to neurodivergent people, a group whom, in the 1940s, French psychiatrist Jean Dubuffet argued produces work that is more vital and original than conventional fine art because it is unburdened by academic training or the desire to impress critics. He called it “raw art.” As Art Abilities founder Ritika Kumar stated in an announcement for this show, “For many of our students, art is their primary language – a powerful and joyful medium through which they share who they are with the world.” Come meet some of them during the artists’ reception. On display until Aug. 3. [AP]

5:30-7pm Friday, May 8. Pacific Grove Public Library, 550 Central Ave., Pacific Grove. Free. (831) 648-5760, pacificgrovelibrary.org.

Petal Power

Many young children will see a patch of pretty flowers and instinctively start picking them to create a bouquet just for Mom, nevermind those blooms are really dandelions. This Mother’s Day, surprise Mom with a self-made bouquet made with the guidance of a professional artist and the best of blooms. Amapola Kitchen & Wine Merchant is hosting a “Petals and Pour” workshop just two days before the special day. “Petals” refers to the gorgeous bouquet you will get to take with you. “Pour” is the sparkling wine you’ll get to sip while making said bouquet, along with some small bites. That means both you and Mom get a special treat. [PM]

6-7:30pm Friday, May 8. Amapola Kitchen & Wine Merchant, 32 W. Gabilan St., Salinas. $55. (831) 262-0075, amapolakitchenandwine.com.

Spiritual Roots

Monterey Peninsula Voices presents “Roots to Gospel,” a program in which 70 voices guide listeners through the rich history of African American sacred music. From hushed, reverent spirituals that send a shiver down the spine, to hearty gospel celebration that has the whole room swaying, the program won’t disappoint those who enjoy gospel music. Leading the ensemble is Dr. Sean Boulware, joined by Emmy Award-winning composer John Wineglass and his accomplished 10-piece band, as well as vocal soloists Amy Treadwell and Richard Bryant. If you appreciate music with depth and soul, this is a concert for you. [AP]

7pm Friday, May 8. Compass Church, 1044 S. Main St., Salinas. $35; $30/seniors; $25/12 and under. (831) 275-0176, mpvoices.org.

Frank Humor

Everyone’s favorite spot for loaded dogs and sweet treats in Pacific Grove, Lucy’s on Lighthouse, is hosting a night of stand-up with Next Stop Comedy, founded in 2021 to bring comedy acts to all corners of the country. Next Stop delivers three touring comics to Lucy’s: headliner and self-deprecater Eli Levy, based in New York; Bay Area comic Peter Bui, who claims to secretly be a wizard; and Pasadena native Alfred Robinson, who runs weekly shows in San Francisco and Oakland. With a solid lineup, drink selection and menu of dogs, the only worry is whether you’ll laugh so hard you choke on your wiener. [AS]

7pm Friday, May 8, Lucy’s on Lighthouse, 1120 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. $25. (831) 920-2006, nextstopcomedy.com.

Swift Passion

Setting the mood with a bandoneon, violin or piano is how a classic tango song begins. It’s full of turmoil and intense lyrics. It switches from minor to major key to intensify the feeling each note produces. At the SandBox, these intense emotions will meet romantic imagination in the hands of eight musicians, including Chad Hoopes, Amy Schwartz Moretti and Maiya Papach. They will interpret music from various composers, including Osvaldo Golijov’s “Last Round” and Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E flat Major. [CJ]

7-11pm Friday, May 8. SandBox, 440 Ortiz Ave., Sand City. $52-$77. sandboxsandcity@gmail.com, sandboxsandcity.com.

Groove Gospel

Bassists are usually soft-spoken, and the same rules apply to Meshell Ndegeocello when she steps behind the microphone with her four-stringed axe. Then again, she can let her bass do the whispering for her. The three-time Grammy Award winner is coming to Carmel to perform songs from her second Blue Note album, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin. You’ll want to curl up and get comfortable because it’s the epitome of chill. But you won’t be falling asleep – Ndegeocello commands attention with provocative and poetic lyrics that directly confront big issues like racism in her neo-soul, boundary-pushing work. [SC]

7:30pm Friday, May 8. Sunset Center, San Carlos and 9th, Carmel. $45-$75. (831) 620-2048, sunsetcenter.org.

 Friday, May 8-Sunday, May 10

Good Man

Paper Wing Theatre is bringing everyone’s favorite loveable loser to the stage with You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Written by Clark Gesner, the show premiered Off-Broadway in 1967 and went on to become one of the most frequently performed musicals in American theater, beloved for its small cast and easy staging. The plot goes through a series of vignettes – book reports, botched baseball games and kites that simply will not cooperate, featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder and Sally. Songs like “Suppertime” and “Happiness” capture the absurdity and the tenderness of childhood. Despite his endless catalogue of failures, Charlie Brown remains a resilient figure, and there is something moving about that. [AP]

7:30pm Fridays-Saturdays; 3pm Sundays, May 8-May 31. Paper Wing Theatre and Supper Club, 711 Cannery Row, Suite I (upstairs), Monterey. $38; $23/children under 12; $83/Saturday show and dinner; $42/child Saturday show and dinner. (831) 905-5684, paperwing.com.

 Saturday, May 9

Place to Race

Who will ace the Race for Open Space? This annual fundraising event is a place where it doesn’t matter if you keep pace or not, it’s all about enjoying the chase and leaving without a trace. Hundreds of runners, hikers and walkers are expected to lace them up and be put through their paces, grace not required. It’s also the one time of the year where runners can experience areas of Palo Corona Regional Park’s backcountry not usually open to the public. The races are sold out, but all are invited to show face and cheer on the group – and maybe throw more than a few dollars the Big Sur Land Trust’s way to help conserve more land in the future. [EC]

8am-3:30pm Saturday, May 9. Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula, 4590 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel. Sold out; donations accepted. (831) 625-5523, bigsurlandtrust.org.

Ord Forth

The former U.S. Army base Fort Ord closed in 1994 and today, 32 years later, parts of it remain fenced off, inaccessible to the public. Guided nature walks led by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management give people a rare chance to see inside some of those closed-off areas located within what’s known euphemistically as the “impact area” (that’s code for possible explosives) set to someday become part of Fort Ord National Monument. This event starts with an open house at 9am then hikers must participate in a mandatory safety briefing before departing at 10am. Choose your preferred distance (a 1.6-mile route or 3.8 miles, for a three-hour excursion) and dress appropriately with good walking shoes and layers. And don’t touch anything. [SR]

9am-1pm Saturday, May 9. Meet at BLM Work Center, Eucalyptus Road at Watkins Gate Road, Seaside. Free; RSVP online; space is limited. (831) 393-1284, fortordcleanup.com.

Slider Vibes

No, when we ask if you’ve seen the Big Sur Sliders, we’re not talking about a tasty lineup of baseball-sized hamburgers. We mean the trio, led by “traveling troubadour” Victor Veysey, the good vibes band who jams at venues around Big Sur. Their set typically involves a mix of covers and originals that cross multiple genres; they dabble in folk, a little jazz, some country, maybe a splash of rock and a stir of reggae. And nothing quite beats kicking back under the redwood trees in beautiful Big Sur at the renowned Henry Miller Library while they play. I’ve entered weekend mode just writing this. Local band Lost In Space opens the show, featuring an eclectic mix of grunge, rock and circus music originals. [KR]

6-9:30pm Saturday, May 9. Henry Miller Memorial Library, 48603 Highway 1, Big Sur. Free; donations accepted. (831) 667-2574, bit.ly/BigSurSliders.

Guitar Man

You know Eric Johnson can dazzle on the acoustic guitar. He has albums with the old-fashioned six string. He can also rouse audiences on the lap steel and resonator guitars. And his touch with the pedals is deft. But it’s his Grammy-winning prowess with the electric guitar that has won him award after award, landed him on Rolling Stone’s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of the 21st century – and earned him platinum, too. The singer-songwriter with a penchant for instrumentals draws from rock, jazz, blues, country (anything, really), rooted in Austin. Yet his sound has been compared to a violin. He is currently on the Texaphonic Tour. [DF]

8pm Saturday, May 9. Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $52-$76. (831) 649-1070, goldenstatetheatre.com.

Livewire Mafia

Oakland natives Lil Blood and J. Stalin will bring their party-driven and conscious jams to Salinas for their joint Livewire Mafia Tour. J. Stalin, who grew up in the Cypress Village housing projects in West Oakland and whose name derives from the Soviet revolutionary, once said that he chose the pseudonym because Joseph Stalin shares the same initials and stature. Lil Blood, who also hails from West Oakland, boasts a catalogue that spans more than a decade and is known for his gritty depictions of life in the East Bay. [AS]

9pm Saturday, May 9. Hacienda Mexican Grill, 1449 N. Davis Road, Salinas. $25, $35/skip the line tickets. (831) 424-6400, tinyurl.com/LilBloodStalinSalinas.

 Saturday, May 9-Sunday, May 10

True History

The Point Alones fishing village was at one time the largest Chinese community on the Monterey Peninsula. It was destroyed in a fire in 1906, but the destruction did not stop there – the story of the suspicious fire and the continued discrimination against its former inhabitants persisted. Well into modern times, the truth of what the Chinese community endured was obscured. Now, thanks largely to the persistence of the late activist (and descendant) Gerry Low-Sabado, the history is spoken out loud, the faces and names of Pacific Grove’s early Chinese settlement are remembered and their culture is celebrated. The Walk of Remembrance begins with remarks and a lion dance performance (starting at 1pm); the one-mile walk begins at 1:45pm then ends at Hopkins Marine Station, where the village once stood. Start off the day by meeting artist Michael Croft, who worked on an exhibit and diorama of the village from 11am-noon; attend a panel discussion that covers various angles on history from noon-1pm; and the walk concludes with a lecture about Chinese fishermen at 2:45pm. From 10-noon on Sunday, tour Point Lobos with descendants of the place where the very first Chinese settlement in the U.S. began. [SR]

11am-3:30pm Saturday, May 9 at Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, 165 Forest Ave., Pacific Grove. 10am-noon Sunday, May 10 at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. Free. (831) 648-5716, quockmuifoundation.org.

Art for Mom

They say that good artists work with what they know, and all of us know a mother (or a few) – the women who birthed us, raised us, guided us. For Mother’s Day, nonprofit Hijos Del Sol celebrates with an exhibit featuring work by more than 30 local artists depicting something about motherhood. The opening Saturday night includes refreshments and music; Sunday’s Mother’s Day event also includes paper mache and silkscreen workshops to find your own creative spark. [SR]

4-6pm Saturday, May 9 and 1-4pm Sunday, May 10. Hijos Del Sol, 443 E. Alisal St., Suite C, Salinas. Free. (831) 200-3915, hijosdelsol.org.

Domestic Blister

By now we’ve figured out that the social media trad wife craze is not all it’s cracked up to be. Those women in feminine floral dresses and full makeup, deftly mixing cake batter with nary a drop spoiling the spotless kitchen – it’s all a facade, made for the cameras. In the witty comedy-drama by Laura Wade, Home, I’m Darling, Judy attempts to escape the realities of the 21st century by becoming the perfect 1950s wife with dress, pearls, heels and the perfect hairdo included. But reality soon catches up with her and her husband Johnny as their experiment in the retro lifestyle begins to unravel. Watch the story unfold as the players of The Western Stage bring this award-winning play to life. Performances repeat every weekend through May 31. [PM]

7:30pm Fridays and Saturdays (except May 29) and 2pm Sundays, May 9-31. The Western Stage, Hartnell College, 411 Central Ave., Salinas. $28. (831) 755-6816, westernstage.com.

 Sunday, May 10

Musical Youth

Don’t let their youth fool you. The performers who make up Youth Music Monterey County are accomplished. Their upcoming orchestra concert features violinist Benjamin Goldoust, winner of the 2026 Junior Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. And the organization can bring together students for chamber music, ensembles and full orchestras. The performance – Songs My Mother Taught Me – promises to be engaging and eclectic, putting the full range of talent on display. It features students in the Junior Youth Orchestra, Honors Orchestra and Orchestra in the Schools programs. [DF]

3pm Sunday, May 10. Sunset Center, San Carlos and 9th, Carmel. $20-$30; $10/seniors; $5/students. (831) 620-2048, sunsetcenter.org.

 Tuesday, May 12

She Plays a Means Bass

Typically, the grass should always be greener, unless you live in California – water is a precious commodity here. Rather, you want your grass to be bluer, and that’s what Shelby Means is here to do. The Grammy-winning bluegrass bassist performs a night of down-home country tunes and good old fun. In what is a rite of passage for bluegrass artists, Means made a name for herself in Nashville, performing in the all-woman bluegrass band Della Mae and later joined Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway as a bassist and vocalist (Tuttle, many will know, performed recently in Monterey). Means is currently on her Streets of Boulder Tour, which includes shows across the United States and Europe. [EC]

7pm Tuesday, May 12. Monterey United Methodist Church, 1 Soledad Drive, Monterey. $35; free/children 15 and under. otteropry.org.

 Wednesday, May 13

Helping Hands

Many of us have been touched by cancer. Whether you’ve faced it yourself or supported someone who has, it’s a difficult journey no one should go through alone. Healing Partners of the Central Coast hosts its fourth annual Hands & Hearts event, bringing the community together to raise funds for therapy sessions for cancer patients. It’s a fun night out for a good cause, with the evening featuring live music from The Money Band, known for their covers of everything from The Rolling Stones and Van Morrison to Maroon 5. Appetizers, dinner, desserts and drinks are included, and all proceeds support therapeutic treatments that help ease side effects and bring comfort to patients. [KR]

5:30-10pm Wednesday, May 13. Hidden Valley Music Seminars, 104 W. Carmel Valley Road, Carmel Valley. $135. (831) 659-3115, bit.ly/HandsHearts4.

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HOT PICKS by Sloan Campi, Erik Chalhoub, Dave Faries, Celia Jiménez, Pam Marino, Agata Popęda, Katie Rodriguez, Sara Rubin and Aric Sleeper.