Friday, April 12
Fashion For Life
Ask cancer patients about fashion, and they might say it’s all about sweat pants – fashion is not a priority. But for cancer survivors, everything goes, and the Celebration of Life Fashion Show features cancer survivors as runway models in an inspiring fashion show and fundraiser. This year marks the 30-year celebration of this American Cancer Society event, with new and returning models wearing spring outfits from local stores. Among this year’s participants are Soledad twins Araceli and Angelica Villegas, who at 27, discovered they both had breast cancer and were carriers of the BRAC1 gene. “We want to give back and hope to inspire others to support the cause,” Angelica said. The community is invited to join in for the fun of it, for lunch, to celebrate these survivor-models, and to support the American Cancer Society. [SR]
10:30am-2:30pm Friday, April 12. Marriott, 350 Calle Principal, Monterey. $175. 621-5444, mtyfashionshow.givesmart.com.
Friday-Saturday, April 12-13
Capitol Poetry
Old Capitol Books in Monterey (in operation since 1983) is celebrating April as National Poetry Month with a two-day-long Monterey Poetry Festival. The audience will have a chance to listen to and interact with local and local-ish poets, such as Daniel Summerhill, Pilar Graham, Chris Carr, Jeffrey Erwin, Jean Vengua, Alex Ramirez, Kenji Rei, Heather Flescher, Alex Jimenez and Chris Siders. Graham will be presenting a new volume of poetry, Falling. She says she’d never have been able to write if not for the friendship and encouragement of her poet friends. “The poems embrace the universal, triumphs and tragedies,” she wrote in an email about the new collection, “when the heart finally opens, mixing with an earthly-confusion of injuries, tracing the infinite lines of a traveling show – and the lessons of dust devils in an attempt to leave the heart unscarred, unbarred.” [AP]
7pm and 9pm on both Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13. Old Capitol Books, 482 Alvarado St., Monterey. $12 at the door. 747-1322, oldcapitolbooks.com.
Saturday-Sunday, April 13-14
Hurray for the Whale
The 14th annual Whalefest comes back with more attractions than ever. The event is both entertainment and an educational symposium. This year, it offers a lineup of speakers from the world of marine science, covering whales, sharks and sea otters, as well as climate change, sustainable practices in packaging and agriculture. In addition to all of the educational activities and immersive learning, Whalefest features a great lineup of over 10 live musicians, bands and dancers. Fun activities like gyotaku, scrimshaw-style art, whale origami, and the “almost famous” Abalone Races are featured on both days on Old Fisherman’s Wharf. Local historian Tim Thomas once again conducts his very informative historical Wharf Walks. That means this weekend-long festival is part science, part art, part history, part fun – and an environmental call to action. [AP]
10am-5pm Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14. Old Fisherman’s Wharf, 1 Old Fisherman’s Wharf. Free. 238-0777. whalefest.org.
Saturday, April 13
Shake It Forward
You can dance the night away anytime, but what good does it do? Yeah, the exercise, sure. That only helps you. Now, if you could shake it for a cause, that would make you like Mother Teresa in a cropped top and heels… OK, not the image we were going for, but hopefully you get the idea. The 2024 Women’s Ball is a chance to dance, sip some wine and dance some more. And it benefits Casa de Noche Buena, a shelter for homeless single women and families with children in Seaside. Gathering for Women and Community Human Services host the event. There’s food and a silent auction. And your presence on the dance floor helps others in need. Everyone is welcome to have some fun and do some good. [DF]
7-10pm Saturday, April 13. Carmel Woman’s Club, 9th Avenue between San Carlos and Dolores, Carmel. $50. 241-6154, gatheringforwomen.org/events.
Genre Benders
You’ve probably heard of a “pinball wizard,” courtesy of The Who. You’ve hopefully heard of the Wizard of Oz (if not, you must live under a very remote rock). But have you heard of a “clarinet wizard”? You’ll get the chance to meet one when internationally recognized clarinetist David Krakauer joins forces with pianist Stephen Prutsman and cellist Michelle Djokic for a concert in Sand City. The program covers centuries and crosses continents of classical, jazz and world music. It includes an improv on the jazz standard “Body and Soul” presented by Krakauer and Prutsman, Mozart’s “Adagio for Piano Trio,” Abraham Ellstein’s “Chassidic Dance” and a trio by Johannes Brahms for piano, clarinet and cello. Krakauer has been described as a “genre-fluid clarinet genius” by NPR. He first met SandBox founder Djokic while they were students at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. [EC]
7pm Saturday, April 13. SandBox, 440 Ortiz Ave., Sand City $25-$40; free/youth ages 16 and under with reservation. sandboxsandcity@gmail.com, sandboxsandcity.com.
Sunday, April 14
Piano Man
The go-to pianist in Monterey County for decades has been Bob Phillips, prized for his versatility, musicality and love of performing. He’s adept at a wide variety of styles from swing and pop to jazz and classical. He’s played the Monterey Jazz Festival several times, as well as Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden and Birdland. And he’s played with many jazz icons, including Charles Loos, Al Cohn, Rebecca Parris and Richie Cole. Phillips comes to the Carl Cherry Center for an afternoon of straight-ahead classic jazz as the talented Lighthouse Jazz Quartet+1, made up of Paul Contos on sax, Dennis Murphy on bass, Stu Reynolds on sax and Mike Shannon on drums. With wine and appetizers included in the ticket, it’s a swinging way to spend an afternoon. [PM]
1:30pm wine and appetizers, 2-4pm show Sunday, April 14. Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, 4th Avenue and Guadalupe Street, Carmel, $35. 624-7491, carlcherrycenter.org.
Tuesday, April 16
Go Figure
An exciting opportunity comes among many local painting workshops: The Pacific Grove Art Center holds a series called Go Figure! Live Model Drawing. They already started on April 9, but drops-in for a single class are encouraged. Bring your pencils and paints for a dynamic and un-instructed drawing/painting session with an experienced live model. The organizers promise gestural poses and a welcoming atmosphere. Drawing benches provided. [AP]
9am-noon Tuesdays until April 30. Pacific Grove Art Center, 568 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. $20. 375-2208, pgartcenter.org.
Melt Down
As climate change continues to devastate and upend ecosystems globally, some scientists have been painstakingly documenting that devastation over the course of years and decades like obituary reporters in an old-timey print newspaper. The hope is, presumably, that even more evidence will help convince people that climate change poses an existential threat to human civilization and the natural world as it exists right now. But maybe it’s just for posterity, in the event truly intelligent life visits Earth some day, to let them know what happened and all the beauty they missed out on, and to say, “Sorry! Should have shown up earlier, we could have really used the wisdom!” That said, Stanford professor Rob Dunbar has been doing some fascinating work in Antarctica over the past 43 years studying the climatic and oceanic variability in the Ross Sea and ice sheet changes on the continent. Along the way, he’s taken some incredible photos too. This event is a chance to learn from an expert who’s witnessed the environmental impacts of climate change firsthand at ground zero. [DS]