Freebie of the week: It’s summer and that means there are more than a dozen free-concert series offered by municipalities around the Bay Area; most are running now and continue through fall. And there’s everything from rock and pop to jazz, R&B, soul, Latin and more. Some acts aren’t wedded to a specific genre; they just play a whole bunch of stuff well and have a blast doing it. For example, at the Point Richmond Music concert series on Friday, Extra Large is headlining at about 6:45 p.m. As the band declares on its website, “Your booty was meant to bounce.” The six-member ensemble deals in funk, reggae, Latin, rock and pop and more, serving up both classic hits and original tunes. Opening the show is Mbira dzaSoko, which specializes in the music of Zimbabwe. The music kicks off at 5:30 p.m. at the corner of Park Place and Washington Avenue in downtown Point Richmond, and runs to about 8 p.m. Several restaurants in the area offer a variety of cuisine, and there will be displays of works by local artists, face painting for kids and, of course, dancing is encouraged. Point Richmond Music runs two more Fridays. Upcoming on Aug. 8 are Spencer Burrows and Kris Dilbeck, the duo formerly in the former North Bay super funk rock band Frobeck opening, followed by headliners Big Blu Soul Revue, playing 1960s-70s soul, funk and jazz or “classic sounds of Motown, Stax, Daptones and Blue Note Records but with a fresh and original spin.” On Sept. 12, longtime power pop favorites The Rubinoos open, followed by The Lemonhammer, playing original rock, blues, pop and soul, closing the season. More information is at pointrichmondmusic.org.
Fun at the Roxie: San Francisco’s spirited movie house The Roxie has brought back its Fraenkel Film Festival fundraiser. Running through July 19, the series features 21 films selected by local visual artists associated with the Fraenkel Gallery at 49 Geary St. in San Francisco. Though the festival is curated by fine artists, the selections, thankfully, are not hopelessly esoteric: no European Bauhaus aficionados droning about baking soda, or Stanley Kubrick flicks played backwards! The varied and fascinating lineup includes Francis Ford Coppola’s classic 1974 film “The Conversation” starring Gene Hackman at 6:30 p.m. Friday, and Jonathan Demme’s creepy masterpiece “The Silence of the Lambs” starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins at 9:10 p.m. Friday. Other films are “The Little Mermaid” at noon Saturday, “The Great Dictator” at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, “The End of Summer” at 6:10 p.m. Monday, “No Country for Old Men” at 8:50 p.m. July 18 and the original “Rear Window” at 3:25 p.m. July 19. The Roxie is at 3117 16th St. Single screenings run $16, and an all-movie pass runs $200. Proceeds benefit The Roxie. More information is at roxie.com.
Author alert!: “Love, Coffee, and Revolution” are potentially interesting and good things, right? Hear Stefanie Leder expound on that Sunday afternoon when she discusses her new novel by that name at Book Passage in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Dee Blum has her life planned out for her until she decides to throw over her parents’ ideas and abscond to work on an eco-conscious coffee farm in Costa Rica. Two very different, very alluring men pop into her lives, but Dee starts to have grave doubts about how ethical the operation she is working for really is. How she investigates and resolves those doubts takes her into unforeseen adventures. Leder, a TV show runner and writer, will be in discussion with Christina Passariello, bureau chief for CNBC in San Francisco and Los Angeles who previously worked at the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. Leder’s appearance is at 2 p.m., and books will be available for sale. Visit bookpassage.com.
Cue the music: The beloved annual Bach Festival in charming Carmel-by-the- Sea, which begins July 9 with guitarist Jason Vieux at All Saints Episcopal Church, offers about 70 concerts, recitals and events through July 26. We’re focusing on a juicy lineup on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Sunset Center Theater that kicks off with a depiction of the fairies, rustics and lovers cavorting in the forest in Felix Mendelssohn’s Shakespeare-inspired “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” followed by a performance of Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella Suite” that will add intriguing visuals: projections of the set sketches created by Pablo Picasso for the ballet. The concert concludes with Haydn’s final Mass, his magnificent “Harmoniemesse” featuring soloists soprano Clara Rottsolk, bass-baritone Dashon Burton, tenor Brian Giebler and mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz. Tickets are $46-$110 at bachfestival.org.
Bangles & bovines: For rock royalty live and in action, head to Berkeley’s The Freight (formerly the Freight & Salvage) on Friday. Vicki Peterson, lead guitarist for the Bangles since the band’s 1981 debut (those are her awesome riffs on “Walk Like an Egyptian”!) appears with John Cowsill, a singer and drummer for the siblings band The Cowsills (known for the smash radio hit “Hair” from the Broadway musical) as well as a drummer for 23 years for the Beach Boys. They are also husband and wife, having married in 2023. Peterson’s post-Bangles work with such bands as the Continental Drifters and Psycho Sisters paired her with Susan Cowsill, John’s sister. Several years before their matrimonial pairing, Peterson and John Cowsill played in a band called the Action Skulls with Bill Mumy, who played the youngest member of the Robinson family on TV’s “Lost in Space.” We don’t know if Vicki and John will perform theme songs from that 1960s TV show (one was penned by John Williams) but they are going to showcase their new album “Long After the Fire,” consisting of covers of songs written by John Cowsill’s brothers Barry and Bill, along with classic Cowsills and Bangles tunes. The show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34-$39; go to thefreight.org.
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