.EclectiCA

SUN 6/6

And the winner of 2004’s Weirdest Lineup for an Outdoor Music Festival is — no, not Lollapalooza, though Morrissey, Sonic Youth, and the String Cheese Incident do make a rather curious mix. Nope, the weirdest lineup of the year has to be the California Music Awards, né the Bammies, which once again will be a free, outdoor event on Frank Ogawa Plaza. If you’re one of the expected ten-thousand-strong throng that flocks to the ceremonies, expect hip-hop performances from Hieroglyphics, Marginal Prophets, E-40, and Lyrics Born; a jazz jam from Dave Ellis, Miles Perkins, Will Bernard, and Jay Lane; and sets by Night Ranger and Tesla. Those last two are getting special awards — Night Ranger, the annual California Gold, and Tesla the Spirit of Rock. New developments at the 27th annual event include distinct categories for rap and hip-hop, a Latin alternative award, and more. Hit CaliforniaMusicAwards.com to vote, and show up in front of Oakland City Hall from noon-6 p.m. Sunday to check out the scene. — Stefanie Kalem

6/3-6/7 Lit Happens

Altared Jeans

The altar is neither the end nor the beginning in To Have and to Hold, best-selling novelist Jane Green‘s tale of a twentysomething who hooks what she thinks is a prince. Watch Green flash her rom-com chops at Rakestraw. Reading groups that have preregistered to discuss one of her novels at one of their meetings can attend a special reception with her that starts at 6 (Thu., 7 p.m.). … Boy meets boy in high school, in Steve Kluger‘s Almost Like Being in Love — then twenty years later they meet again. Risks abound, but will sparks reignite? Kluger reads at Barnes & Noble Oakland (Fri., 7:30 p.m.). … Lit and celluloid collide at UC Berkeley’s PFA Theater (2575 Bancroft Way), where a screening of One-Eyed Jacks is introduced by veteran cinema connoisseur Barry Gifford, whose book Brando Rides Alone investigates this classic 1961 Western and its vengeance-bent outlaw (Fri., 7:30 p.m.). … You thought they just came that way, but no: Pop-up books are made, not born. Fresh from Shangdong University, author and illustrator Lulu Hansen demonstrates the art at Berkeley’s Eastwind, using as a model her own 3D omnibus of parables, Fishing for the Moon and Other Zen Stories (Sat., 3 p.m.). … Pleasanton Poet Laureate Kirk Ridgway hosts an open mic at his town’s historic Victorian Century House (2401 Santa Rita Rd.; $3; to read your own or someone else’s, preregister by calling 925-931-5361) (Sun., 1 p.m.). … Before Boadecia’s shuts its doors for good, give thanks. At the Couples Reunion Party, lovebirds who first met at Boadecia’s share their tales (Sun., 3 p.m.). … It didn’t end with Sappho by a long shot. At Moe’s, editor Nanos Valaoritis reads from and discusses An Anthology of Modern Greek Poetry, proving that the Cyclades is still churning out odes (Mon., 7:30 p.m.). — Anneli Rufus

TUE 6/8

Rattle and Hum

What in the Jesus H. Flip is that infernal ruckus? Ah, yes, the return of Moe! Staiano’s semiannual Tuesday Night Black Box Series of Creative Music. From Bay Area improvisers Fallujah demonstrating musical torture techniques akin to those witnessed in the Abu Ghraib prison, to rev.99’s mashed-up multimedia performance art, 1928 Telegraph is the place to feel the noise every Tuesday in June. This week at 8 p.m. Staiano brings you Myles Boisen’s new abstract, minimalist blues project, Past-Present-Future, and the Jonathan Segel Trio, featuring the Captain Beefheart multi-instrumentalist on rock guitar. $7 admission. Call 510-451-1932. — Stefanie Kalem

THU 6/3

Sorry, Mark

We take it back. We’re sorry we said Mark Growden looked like a used-car salesman while playing bEASTfest 2002. No self-respecting used-car salesman could rock the black wifebeater like he does. Nor could one so artfully, so wantonly, serenade a room with accordion and banjo. In June he’ll entertain the intimate confines of Epic Arts (1923 Ashby Ave, Berkeley) every Thursday night. 8:30 p.m., $7-10 suggested donation. 510-644-2204. — Stefanie Kalem

6/3-6/6

Mary Lou to You

Women-led jazz at Berkeley Public Library

After a six-year hiatus stemming from the refurbishing of the historic downtown building, the Berkeley Public Library’s Jazz Festival marks its tenth installment by renovating the legacy of another historic figure, Mary Lou Williams. Though she stood little more than five feet tall, Williams was a jazz giant who played a central role in the music’s development. A brilliant pianist, arranger, and composer, she was a rising jazz star in the late 1920s, a major force in the swing era through her work as a pianist and writer for leading big bands, and an important influence on the advanced players of the 1940s who created the modern jazz idiom known as bebop. The festival turns the usually hushed, acoustically friendly Central Library Reading Room into a joyous jazz venue, presenting free concerts by three women-led piano trios on consecutive evenings. Tammy Hall, best known as a highly sought-after accompanist for jazz and blues singers such as Etta Jones, Denise Perrier, Kim Nalley, and Frankye Kelly, holds forth on Friday with bassist Ruth Davies and drummer Kent Bryson. Mary Watkins, a gifted improviser and noted composer who has written numerous film scores, plays on Saturday with Davies and drummer Joyce Kouffman. And the hard-swinging Dee Spencer, whose credits include gigs with Branford Marsalis, John Handy, and Bobby McFerrin, closes the festival on Sunday with her trio. Spencer, a music professor at San Francisco State and the director of SFJAZZ’ all-star high school big band, also opens the festival on Thursday at 7 p.m. with a lecture, “The Life and Work of Jazz Legend Mary Lou Williams.” Concerts all start at 8 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. Call 510-981-6100 for info. — Andrew Gilbert