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This weekend, enjoy the Peninsula International Dance Festival, get inspired at Bravemaker Film Fest, hear chamber music at Music@Menlo, catch shows by Scary Goldings and Lydia Lunch, visit the Mountain View Obon Festival, back in person.
Peninsula International Dance Festival
Over 200 dancers representing 13 nationalities will take to the stage at this year’s second Peninsula International Dance Festival. The two-day festival is set to highlight a diverse array of local dance and music artists and ensembles, including Amor do Samba, Bolivia Corazón de América, Chitresh Das Institute, Eddie Madril, Feng Ye Dance, Peru Expressions, Theatre Flamenco and more. Organized by the Peninsula Ballet Theatre and designed by the company’s Artistic Director Gregory Amato, the festival’s lineup has also been hand-picked with the consultation of local dancers Zenon Barron, Carlos Carvajal and Charlotte Moraga. This festival promises to bring a colorful display of sacred, social and secular dances to the San Mateo Performing Arts Center.
July 15 at 7 p.m. and July 16 at 3 p.m. at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center, 600 N. Delaware St., San Mateo. Tickets are $35-$60. pidfca.org. (AJ)
Bravemaker Film Festival
The Bravemaker Film Festival celebrates films that share stories of justice, diversity and inclusion. Now marking its fifth anniversary, the Redwood City-based festival has, in just a handful of years, has steadily grown and expanded. Bravemaker will present 62 films over four days at several Redwood City venues, highlighting feature films and shorts, as well as thoughtful panel discussions after screenings, and workshops, conversations and parties with film industry professionals. Though the festival is fully in -person this year, it also offers some select films that audiences can watch at home.
July 13-16 at various venues in downtown Redwood City. Most events are $10-$25; festival passes start at $125. bravemaker.com.(HZ)
Music@Menlo
What makes the music of Beethoven so great? Music@Menlo offers a chance to find out, taking a deep dive into his music through three weeks of up-close concerts, master classes, workshops and conversations.”Beethoven Unfolding” is the theme for the 21st annual chamber music festival, which runs July 14-Aug. 5 at Menlo School in Atherton and features top musical talents, as well as up-and-coming young musicians who receive an intensive training over the summer at Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute. Audiences will have a chance to enjoy the festival’s full roster of seasoned musicians and young artists alike in programs celebrating Beethoven’s music, as well as that of the composers who influenced him, and those he influenced. Music@Menlo offers both in-person and streaming options for enjoying a number of the concerts and events.
July 14-Aug. 5 at Menlo School, 50 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton. Some programs are already sold out. For ticket availability and more informaiton, visit musicatmenlo.org. (HZ)
Scary Goldings
Their name may invoke shades of Halloween, but Scary Goldings’ sound pops with irrepressible summer grooves. The group gets its unique name from its teaming up of two powerhouses: the rotating funk band Scary Pockets, led by guitarist Ryan Lerman and multi-instrumentalist Jack Conte, with Grammy-nominated organist Larry Goldings. The ensemble brings its ’60s retro jazz and funk to The Guild on July 14. Goldings’ fleet-fingered way with the keys melds seamlessly with the Pockets’ bluesy, rock-edged guitar and dynamic percussion, smoothed at the edges by further keyboard instruments. Scary Goldings has released four albums since they joined forces in 2018, and they released their new single “Louis Cole Sucks” last week. The single features legendary guitarist John Scofield, with whom the group has previously collaborated.
July 14, 8 p.m. at The Guild Theatre, 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park. Tickets are $31 ($59 mezzanine seating has a waitlist). guildtheatre.com (HZ).
Lydia Lunch
When legendary singer and musician, performer, poet, writer and iconoclast Lydia Lunch comes to town on a spoken-word tour, you’d best listen. From her early career as a forerunner in the ’70s in New York’s avant-garde no wave scene fronting Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, to explorations of spoken word on her Widowspeak record label launched in the mid-’80s, to recent projects, such as her band Retrovirus, her work deliberately defies easy description. Earthwise Productions presents Murderous … Again, which pairs Lunch’s provocative spoken-word performances with ambient jazz from Retrovirus bassist Tim Dahl and saxophonist Matt Nelson. When Lunch takes the stage, the music is going to have an edge, the message is likely to be anti-commercial and the evening is absolutely going to be memorable.
July 15, 8 p.m. at Mitchell Park Community Center, 3700 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Tickets are $25. eventbrite.com.
Mountain View Obon Festival
For the first time since 2019, the Mountain View Buddhist Temple hosts a public Obon festival. The festival remembers loved ones who have passed on with a joyous celebration that includes Taiko drumming and other music, Japanese folk dancing, as well as food and games. This popular Mountain View festival also includes cultural exhibits, tours of the temple, bingo and children’s activities. With Obon usually well-attended and on-site parking limited, the temple will run a shuttle from a parking lot at the Google campus several miles away.
July 15, 4-10 p.m. and July 16, noon-8 p.m. at Mountain View Buddhist Temple, 575 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View. obon.mvbuddhisttemple.org. (HZ)
Matt Nelson is a Gunn grad.