Freebie of the week: Music director Ming Luke and the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, a six-decade-old organization that welcomes with open arms any members who want to sing, usher in the new year with three concerts in Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. With San Francisco Symphony pianist John Wilson performing with guest soloists soprano Ellen Leslie, alto Sara Couden, tenor Jonathan Elmore and bass Simon Barrad, the group will roll out a program that includes the Fauré Requiem and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy for piano, chorus and orchestra, with its hints of the composer’s famed “Ode to Joy” forthcoming some 15 years later to conclude the Ninth Symphony. Also on the program is Haydn’s “Mass in the Time of War,” composed in 1796 as much of Europe was cringing over the advances of Napoleon. The concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with doors opening 45 minutes prior to the performances. For more information and a program book, visit bcco.org.
Another freebie: Two days after playing host to all manner of revelers greeting 2025, San Francisco jumps back into party mode Thursday with its first Downtown First Thursdays of the new year. The free event, created to help generate a post-COVID resurgence downtown, serves up a wide variety of fun and deliciousness from 5 to 10 p.m. on Second Street between Market and Folsom streets. Catch a DJ set by headliner Toro y Moi, a popular singer/producer/DJ known for inventive mashups of popular and electronic music styles, who will perform from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Second and Howard streets. There will also be other live music, drag performances, martial arts demonstrations, kids’ activities, lots of food and craft vendors, outdoor bars and what’s described as “the biggest disco ball west of the Mississippi.” Also, bars and businesses in the area will offer specials, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art at Third and Mission streets will have free admission until 8 p.m. The Free First Thursday events are slated to run through April. More information is at www.dftsf.com.
A film to freak out at: It’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, but those who favor movies that have them hunkering down in their seats and occasionally covering their eyes may like director Robert Eggers’ harrowing reinterpretation of F.W. Murnai’s iconic “Nosferatu” from 1922 playing on three different screens during the day and night at the Alamo Drafthouse in the Mission District on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This classic tale of a truly creepy vampire and his obsession with a vulnerable young woman features extra-creepy Bill Skarsgärd in the role of the menacing Count Orlok, Lily-Rose Depp as the object of his infatuation, Nicholas Hoult as her husband and the always excellent Willem Dafoe as the professor who is brought in to consult on Depp’s character’s strange behavior. The Internet Movie Data Base gives the movie a 7.8 approval rating, and it stretches for a long two hours and 12 minutes, which will give viewers plenty of time to enjoy the cocktails and food items from a full menu that Drafthouse staffers will ferry to their seats. Try the popcorn, which comes in bottomless bowls in three varieties: clarified butter, truffle herb parmesan and cinnamon-infused churro. Tickets are $15.74 for the earlier viewings, $19.74 for evening showings, available at drafthouse.com. The theater is located at 2550 Mission St., two long blocks from the 24th Street BART station in San Francisco.
Let PMO jumpstart the new year: In 2010, Mexican pianist Christian Tumalan and German trumpeter Steffen Kuehn decided to form a Bay Area Latin big band. It didn’t take long for the project to gain attention. Using a crowd-fund campaign to meet studio and other recording costs, the 19-member Pacific Mambo Orchestra released a self-titled debut album in 2012 that went on to win a best Latin Tropical Album Grammy Award in 2014. Today, the band is widely considered one of the best Latin groups in the world, capable of tackling genres ranging from traditional Latin jazz to salsa, cha cha cha and many more and revered for its high-energy concerts. Besides performing original and traditional numbers, the band is also known for innovative covers of everything from Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” to Dizzy Gillespie’s “Night in Tunisia” and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. A favorite at jazz and other musical festivals around the world, the Pacific Mambo Orchestra kicks off 2025 with a quartet of local gigs at Yoshi’s in Oakland. Performances are 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday; tickets are $33-$65; go to yoshis.com.
Comedy from tragedy: Comedian Aida Rodriguez these days is best known for appearances on TV’s “Last Comic Standing” and “The Young Turks” platform and as a collaborator with Tiffany Haddish, but her life story reads more like details from a true crime special. During her youth, she was abducted twice by family members seeking to get her out of a precarious home environment; and an uncle who cared for her in Florida was murdered in an apparent hate crime. She’s experienced sexual abuse, battled an eating disorder and lived out of her car with her children for a time. Rodriguez turned to comedy as a way to earn an income and as a mode of healing from early brutal early years. She still addresses her difficult past in her comedy and has no problem tackling hot-button issues such as as politics and cancel-culture. Her standup comedy special on HBOMax is titled “Fighting Words,” and she meanwhile is developing a series with the On Demand platform based on her eye-opening experiences. One thing is for sure, things will not be boring when Rodriguez brings her standup show to Tommy T’s comedy club in Pleasanton for a weekend stand. Performances are 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Friday, 7 and 9:45 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $25-$35; go to tommyts.com.
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