.Social Eyes: Week of Jan. 16-22

Featuring Diana Gameros, Casual, Corky Siegel and Ernie Watts, Omar Sosa with the Suba Trio, Adam & the Sandlers, John & the Locals, Antonio Sánchez, Ratas En Zelo, Deseos Primitivos, Ritmos Tropicosmos, Jahari Stampley Family Trio, and Lady Lamb

THURSDAY

FOLK

DIANA GAMEROS

Diana Gameros’ voice is “like the velvety fog that rolls into San Francisco from the Pacific Ocean,” according to NPR music critic Felix Contreras. Fusing traditional styles from Mexico with original songwriting, Gameros strikes a hauntingly beautiful balance between nostalgia and hope for the future. Having lived in Ciudad Juárez until age 13, Gameros spent her teenage and early adult years in the United States as an undocumented immigrant. This experience informed the powerful songwriting on her acclaimed 2017 album, Arrullo. Her unforgettable voice and activism have led her to share the stage with kindred spirits like Joan Baez and Natalia Lafourcade, among others. ADDIE MAHMASSANI

INFO: Thu, 5pm, Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. $19. 510.318.8400.

THURSDAY

HIP-HOP

CASUAL

Casual, a cofounder of Oakland’s alternative hip-hop collective Hieroglyphics and elite Bay Area lyricist for two decades, has released Starduster, a new EP featuring a balance of sharp wordplay, braggadocio and reflective storytelling. Futuristic, multi-textured beats crafted by Albert Jenkins immerse each track in a synthy, distorted soundscape, giving Casual’s classic delivery an experimental edge. Casual’s album release party includes acts by rappers Psalm One, Fatboi Sharif and DJs Domino, Platurn, Albert Jenkins and David Ma. SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT

INFO: Thu, 7:30pm, Crybaby, 1928 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $29.

THURSDAY

BLUES

CORKY SIEGEL & ERNIE WATTS

Blues and jazz are old friends, and so are Corky Siegel and Ernie Watts, two masters of their craft with about 120 years of performance between them. Corky brings blues harmonica, piano and a trailblazing blues-classical fusion honed during his groundbreaking work with the San Francisco Symphony and his group Chamber Blues, a string quartet plus percussion, harmonica and occasionally piano. Ernie, a two-time Grammy Award winner and “one of the greatest living tenor saxophonists” (allaboutjazz.com), is known for his soaring, wild improvisations with Marvin Gaye, the Rolling Stones and Frank Zappa. – SBB

INFO: Thu, 8pm, Back Room, 1984 Bonita Ave., Berkeley. $43. 510.381.1997.

FRIDAY

JAZZ

OMAR SOSA & SECKOU KEITA SUBA TRIO

Omar Sosa, one of jazz’s great assimilators, has a gift for absorbing and interacting with an international array of sounds while never diluting the Afro-Cuban incantations and percussive keyboard vocabulary that form the bedrock of his music. Sosa’s back in the East Bay with Suba Trio, a vehicle for his transatlantic dialogue with Senegalese kora master Seckou Keita. The music is intricately polyrhythmic, melodically rhapsodic and dazzlingly dynamic. With Venezuelan percussionist expert Gustavo Ovalles rounding out the ensemble, Suba is a group with a singular sound infused with spiritual fervor and a commitment to the inherent theatricality of improvisation. [Read more about the Suba Trio here.] ANDREW GILBERT

INFO: Fri, 8pm, Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley. $49/adv, $54/door. 510.644.2020.

FRIDAY

EMO

ADAM & THE SANDLERS

According to Bobby Boucher, “Mama say that happiness is from magic rays of sunshine that come down when you feelin’ blue.” So this Friday, why not soak up the magical rays of Adam & the Sandlers? This midwestern emo band is the perfect way to experience 50 First Dates for falling in Punch-Drunk Love. It might be dirty work, but they worked hard to build a local following and released their latest single, “At its best it’s just OK,” this past August. Rumor has it they have a lot of uncut gems they’re currently working on, so hopefully fans will get an EP or full-length sooner rather than later. MAT WEIR

INFO: Fri, 7:30pm, Gilman, 924 Gilman St., Berkeley. $15. 510.524.8180.

SATURDAY

ROCK

JOHN & THE LOCALS

When bands say they’ve “toured the world,” they usually mean the U.S., a few European countries and maybe Mexico. Maybe. But when it comes to John & the Locals, the world is their oyster. Founded by the charismatic John Rai on vocals, John & the Locals blend indie folk-rock with various global traditions and have traveled far from their humble beginnings in Nepal, having played everywhere from Dubai to New Zealand. – MW

INFO: Sat, 8pm, UC Theatre, 2030 University Ave., Berkeley. $104. 510.356.4000.

SATURDAY

FILM SCREENING

‘BIRDMAN’ LIVE

NYC-based jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez more than steps up to the scorching tumult and tempo of his soundtrack for Alejandro Iñárritu’s film Birdman. The Oscar-winning movie screens with a live performance by Sánchez, whose mostly improvised drum-solo score won a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack, a BAFTA and a Critic’s Choice Award. The two-hour show runs without intermission, which no one will miss. Known for his decades-long association with Pat Metheny before breaking out as a solo artist, Sánchez’s phenomenal skill and wide-ranging influences emerge with unlimited command. Having seen other film-with-live-score events, this is among the best. LOU FANCHER

INFO: Sat, 8pm, Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley. $31-$86. 510.642-9988.

SATURDAY

PUNK

RATAS EN ZELO

Burning up rubber with two fast and furious punk-rock groups and a third band featuring psychedelic, experimental cumbia, Hot Goth GF presents NYC’s Ratas En Zelo, the all-female East Coast band with accordion-forward music and Spanish lyrics. Their songs are solid, speedy and surprising—like using a squeezebox, knocking aside any notion a guitar is a punk-rock must-have. Second up and arriving after six years with a new album, Deseos Primitivos grinds into action with a hardcore sound that digs back to punk’s origins, then flings rage and revolution into the future with contemporary lyrics. Winding down the engine with Ritmos Tropicosmos is like sipping a margarita while watching dolphins cavort in the ocean. – LF

INFO: Sat, 8pm, Thee Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $12/adv, $15/door. 510.859.8709.

TUESDAY

JAZZ

JAHARI STAMPLEY FAMILY TRIO

Since winning the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition, Chicago-reared Jahari Stampley has made regular trips to the Bay Area. At home he’s blown minds since he was 17; in his mid-20s he’s more than lived up to his boundless promise. Deploying his capacious technique in the service of extended, multi-part compositions that unfurl like mini suites, he paints on a big canvas. Drummer Miguel Russell and Stampley’s mother, music educator D-Erania Stampley, completes the trio on electric upright bass, alto sax and synth. She features extensively, clarifying that the Stampley household must have been a creative hothouse for young Jahari. – AG

INFO: Tue, 8pm, Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. $35-$75. 510.238.9200.

WEDNESDAY

ROCK

LADY LAMB

Grit and poetry come together in the rock ’n’ roll world of Aly Spaltro, a.k.a. Lady Lamb. Her colorful origin story involves a childhood moving between the American Southwest, Germany and rural Maine. Eventually, she created an unlikely recording studio in the video store where she worked; the rest is history. In 2023, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her debut record, Ripely Pine, she released a glorious box set called In the Mammoth Nothing of the Night. With remixes, remasters and entirely new tracks, the box set is a treasure trove for superfans and newbs alike. – AM

INFO: Wed, 8pm, Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany. $25/adv, $30/door. 510.526.5888.

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