THURSDAY, DEC. 4
ROCK
THE MEATY OGRES
Let’s get this out of the way first: The Meaty Ogres is the best name for a band ever. So, it was a pleasant surprise to find that their debut album, Tunnington Tracks—released in September—was just as funky as their name. Soul, blues and psych are flooded through a funnel of rock. Songs like “Wish I’d Known,” “Never Came Around” and “Keep on Movin’” make it easy to see why their shows are all-night dance parties. This week the Berkeley-based quintet is joined by Quench and Gas Money for a night of go go go. – MAT WEIR
INFO: Thu, 7pm, Cornerstone, 2367 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. $22. 510.214.8600.
THURSDAY, DEC. 4
JAZZ
CHRIS TRINIDAD
A highly versatile bass guitarist, prolific composer and resourceful improviser, Chris Trinidad has provided a jolt of creative energy to the Bay Area’s Asian-American jazz scene in recent years. His three-night RootStock residency at Wyldflowr Arts, which presents a series of distinct but overlapping projects, starts with the expansive Atom Ensemble featuring vocalist Roopa Mahadevan, drummer Kevin Amos, and Erika Oba on piano and flute. Friday’s concert with the Chris Trinidad Collective adds trumpeter Ryan Ancheta, guitarist Paride Pignotti, and vocalist Kira Hooks to a group powered by Amos and Oba. And Saturday’s performance by Chris Trinidad’s Chroma Tonic includes guitarist Alex Heigl, flutist Scott Oshiro and drummer Cy Thompson. – ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: Thu, 7:30pm, Wyldflowr Arts, 809 37th St., Oakland. $10-$20. 510.708.9691.
FRIDAY, DEC. 5
HIP-HOP
LIVING LEGENDS
There are several ways to mark Christmas in the Bay Area. One of the best is going to see the yearly “How the Grouch Stole Christmas” tour which returns this Friday. This year’s will be one fans are going to be talking about for years to come. Not only is the Grouch returning with his renowned collective, the Living Legends, but they will also be joined by Oakland’s famed Souls of Mischief and renowned Kentucky crew, CunninLynguists. What’s a better Christmas present than three of the greatest hip-hop groups of all on one stage? – MW
INFO: Fri, 8pm, UC Theatre, 2036 University Ave., Berkeley. $55. 510.356.4000.
FRIDAY, DEC. 5
COMEDY
‘COMEDY FOR GAZA’
Award-winning comedian Tammy E. Clarke, a.k.a. Tammy TeaLove, is the charismatic, Oakland-based headliner of this show featuring a half-dozen laugh masters. Armed with humor, the troupe of six joins in all stories and jokes, fun and funny, to raise famine-relief funds for people in Gaza. A nation in ruins cannot be quickly healed, but its people can be helped. And isn’t it miraculous to discover a fabulously fun way to offer vital aid to people caught in the fabulously not-funny, wicked aftermath of war? Writers Against the War on Gaza will be at the event and offer information about additional ways to support Palestine’s rebuilding. – LOU FANCHER
INFO: Fri, 7:30pm, La Peña, 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. $15-20. 510.849.2568.
SATURDAY, DEC. 6
JAZZ
AZESU
A new supergroup that extends the Bay Area’s innovative Latin American music movement into new territory, Azesu combines jazz’s improv-laced conversational ethos with African diaspora rhythmic idioms from Peru, Cuba and Venezuela. The sextet is built on the percussion tandem of Venezuelan master Omar Ledezma Jr. and legendary Cuban timbalero Orestes Vilató, who helped define salsa in the 1970s with the Fania All Stars and went on to perform and record extensively with John Santos after moving to the Bay Area. Peruvian bassist David Pinto and pianist Jonathan Alford round out the rhythm section. Well-traveled saxophonist Sheldon Brown, who’s spent the past few years on the road with Cuban piano star Omar Sosa, elevates every musical situation. – AG
INFO: Sat, 7pm, Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Ave., Alameda. $32-$44. 510.865.5060.
SATURDAY, DEC. 6
MUSIC THEATER
‘STOMP’
It’s easy to find rhythmic, vicarious satisfaction in the percussion and movement compendium of STOMP. Busting into the newly reopened Oakland venue, the 30th anniversary tour stop includes only three performances. Get hustling and line up for tickets to see a virtual orchestra with brooms, Zippo lighters, radiator hoses, hub caps, human bodies and more standing in for the traditional strings, percussion, brass and woodwind sections. STOMP is funny and astonishing, and has been celebrated in more than 50 countries and seen by over 26 million people. The award-winning show not only can’t be beat, it IS the beat. – LF
INFO: Sat, 7:30pm, Henry J. Kaiser Arts, 10 10th Street, Oakland. $50-105. hjkarts.org.
SUNDAY, DEC. 7
ANTI-HOLIDAY
ERIN MCKEOWN
Unredeemed Grinches and Scrooges, here’s the event for you. Multi-instrumentalist and genre-defier Erin McKeown’s “F*ck That! Erin McKeown’s Anti-Holiday Spectacular” is, according to them, “the world’s first anti-capitalist, pro-queer, suspicious of Christmas-as-patriotism, sex-positive, not safe for work, multi-ethnic, radical leftist Anti-Holiday show.” For those whose teeth grind at the thought of sugary holiday spirit, feast your ears on Erin’s signature I-Hate-The-Holidays tunes, with new songs written for 2025, and join the crowd-sourced Cranky Carolers choir. Can we get a Bah Humbug? – JANIS HASHE
INFO: Sun, 7pm, Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany. $20. 510.526.5888.
TUESDAY, DEC. 9
R&B
JOHN LEGEND
Twenty years after John Legend’s first studio album, Get Lifted, changed the shape of modern R&B, he’s taking the record back on the road. Get Lifted fuses gospel roots with secular R&B, playing out like a sinner-saint confession with tracks about infidelity, redemption and the messy tension between them. Touring with his full band, Legend is performing the record front to back, weaving in reinventions and some of the many hits he’s picked up along the way since his debut. Special guests are set to drop in throughout the tour. – SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT
INFO: Tue, 8pm, Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. $158-$498. 510.465.6400.
TUESDAY, DEC. 9
FOLK
AVIVA LE FEY
Besides spreading joy, the holiday season often inspires the desire to reflect and, perhaps, prepare to reinvent. Singer/songwriter Aviva Le Fey explores that impulse in her second album, The Fool, and celebrates its release in the warm embrace of Ashkenaz. Le Fey describes what to expect like this: “There will be literal and figurative magic. There will be celebration and divination and goofballs. Maybe you’ll meet the love of your life. Maybe you’ll bring the love of your life. Maybe you’ll laugh until you cry or cry until you laugh.” Or maybe you’ll just get lost in community. –JH
INFO: Tue, 7pm, Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. $15-$25. 510.525.5099.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 10
JAZZ
A KAT EDMONSON CHRISTMAS
What’s the recipe for a great Christmas record? Swing for the joy, warmth for the memories and a dash of movie-magic charm. Kat Edmonson has all three, and she builds off her beloved Holiday Swingin’! album to turn seasonal standards into stylish, story-rich performances with the retro-pop sensibility of a time-traveling Hollywood jazz club. Onstage, she treats familiar tunes less like museum pieces and more like little films, reshaped with unexpected phrasing, wry humor and that unmistakable, luminous voice. –SBB
INFO: Wed, 8pm, Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. $30-$65. 510.238.9200.
