From live bands and burlesque to parades, prix-fixe dinners, and midnight toasts, Santa Cruz offers a wide range of ways to ring in the New Year on Dec. 31.
Santa Cruz Shakespeare’s A Christmas Carol fills the Veterans Memorial Hall with carols, humor and heartfelt warmth, inviting audiences of all ages into Dickens’ enduring story of compassion and renewal.
For dancers at the International Academy of Dance, Santa Cruz City Ballet’s Nutcracker is more than a holiday tradition—it’s a formative experience in discipline, mentorship and the joy of performance.
With nearly six decades of history behind them, Santa Cruz rock legends Snail return to the stage for a rare performance at Felton Music Hall, carrying forward a brotherhood forged in the Bay Area music scene of the late 1960s.
In the rural pantheon where the rock ’n’ roll gods and goddesses assemble, there’s a special tract of land for San Diego’s Beat Farmers. Rocking at Moe’s Alley, Dec. 11 at 8pm
Known worldwide as the Mexican Elvis, El Vez has famously toured with Kiss, David Bowie, and Bob Dylan. He brings his Wild Christmas Espectaculo to Moe’s Alley Dec. 17
Stick Men bring their intense blend of Chapman Stick, guitar, and drums to UCSC, performing new music and King Crimson classics. UCSC Music Center Recital Hall, Dec. 9 at 8pm
With a voice that is at once unique but brings up comparisons to everyone from Linda Ronstadt to Bonnie Raitt, Nicki Bluhm sounds eternally American. At Felton Music Hall, 11/21
