Zen Meditation. Open to all. Free of charge.
From the waves to the redwoods, it's all happening here.
Live music, festivals, art walks, surf contests, trail days and everything in between.
In-person only, on purpose. Everything here is something you can actually show up to. No screens, no streams.
โ Featured this season
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Featured Event
Phamily Time!
Phamily Time, presented by Phreeborn is back with a summer edition you wonโt want to miss. There will be something for everyone, so bring the whole phamily! Get tickets for the whole day celebration here: TICKETS
Chamber Choir Now Auditioning
Beati Quorum, a new and growing Ensemble, is seeking new local members. Beati Quorum is a small, hybrid professional / volunteer ensemble based in Santa Cruz. We focus on a cappella singing, Renaissance through contemporary works, and collaborations with artists from our local network to international groups. Visit www.beatiquorum.org to set up an audition today.
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Featured
WRECKAGE: A Musical Tragicomedy
The Tony Award-Winning San Francisco Mime Troupe Opens their 67th Season with: WRECKAGE: A Musical Tragicomedy July 3 โ Sept. 7, 2026
Coming up
Zen Buddhist Meditation
Zen Meditation. Open to all. Free of charge.
Coming up
Aloha Music & Arts Festival Santa Cruz
The first annual Aloha Music & Arts Festival Santa Cruz will take place Friday, July 31, and Saturday, Aug. 1, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. each day at Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, bringing together local musicians, hula schools, artists, food vendors, and community organizations for a weekend celebrating Hawaiian, Polynesian, and Pacific cultures. Gates open daily at 11 a.m. Admission to the festival is free. Donations are welcome. Parking will be available for $20 per vehicle. No in-and-out privileges will be allowed, and re-entry fees will be enforced. Produced by Victor Ohana Productions LLC, the festival aims to celebrate the Spirit of Aloha while creating a new cultural tradition for the Central Coast community. Organizers say the event was created to strengthen connections among local Polynesian communities, while offering residents and visitors a new summer cultural experience in Santa Cruz County. โThis festival is about bringing people together through music, dance, food, art, and community,โ said Marie Victor, founder of Victor Ohana Productions. โSanta Cruz has deep cultural and historical connections to Hawaiสปi through surf culture and the ocean lifestyle. We wanted to create an event that celebrates those shared influences while showcasing the incredible local talent we have here in Northern California.โ Rather than featuring a national headliner, the festival will spotlight local bands and performers from throughout Santa Cruz County and the surrounding region. Organizers said the focus of the event is community participation and cultural authenticity. Festival attendees can expect: โ Food vendors featuring Pacific-inspired cuisine โ Local arts, crafts, and merchandise vendors โ Information booths from community nonprofits and organizations โ Family-friendly cultural activities and entertainment Local Live Music โ Victor Ohana 3 Generations โ Ho' Omana โ Hunawai โ Kanalu โ Laule'a Hawaiian Band โ Ka La'i O Mele โ George Kahumoku Jr (Grammy Award Winner in
โ๏ธ Happening today
Saturday, August 184 events on today. No plans required, just go.
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23 upcoming events ยท Music ยท from 2026-08-01 ยท to 2026-08-01
Beati Quorum, a new and growing Ensemble, is seeking new local members. Beati Quorum is a small, hybrid professional / volunteer ensemble based in Santa Cruz. We focus on a cappella singing, Renaissance through contemporary works, and collaborations with artists from our local network to international groups. Visit www.beatiquorum.org to set up an audition today.
Aloha Music & Arts Festival Santa Cruz
The first annual Aloha Music & Arts Festival Santa Cruz will take place Friday, July 31, and Saturday, Aug. 1, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. each day at Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, bringing together local musicians, hula schools, artists, food vendors, and community organizations for a weekend celebrating Hawaiian, Polynesian, and Pacific cultures. Gates open daily at 11 a.m. Admission to the festival is free. Donations are welcome. Parking will be available for $20 per vehicle. No in-and-out privileges will be allowed, and re-entry fees will be enforced. Produced by Victor Ohana Productions LLC, the festival aims to celebrate the Spirit of Aloha while creating a new cultural tradition for the Central Coast community. Organizers say the event was created to strengthen connections among local Polynesian communities, while offering residents and visitors a new summer cultural experience in Santa Cruz County. โThis festival is about bringing people together through music, dance, food, art, and community,โ said Marie Victor, founder of Victor Ohana Productions. โSanta Cruz has deep cultural and historical connections to Hawaiสปi through surf culture and the ocean lifestyle. We wanted to create an event that celebrates those shared influences while showcasing the incredible local talent we have here in Northern California.โ Rather than featuring a national headliner, the festival will spotlight local bands and performers from throughout Santa Cruz County and the surrounding region. Organizers said the focus of the event is community participation and cultural authenticity. Festival attendees can expect: โ Food vendors featuring Pacific-inspired cuisine โ Local arts, crafts, and merchandise vendors โ Information booths from community nonprofits and organizations โ Family-friendly cultural activities and entertainment Local Live Music โ Victor Ohana 3 Generations โ Ho' Omana โ Hunawai โ Kanalu โ Laule'a Hawaiian Band โ Ka La'i O Mele โ George Kahumoku Jr (Grammy Award Winner in
Are You Game? Lancelot's Merry Band of Gamers
Adults need playtime, too! Come play some new or old favorite tabletop games. Bring your favorite board game or play some of Lancelot's games. No prior gaming experience is necessary. This program is for adults 18+. We will meet every first and third Saturday of the month in the Barbara Gorson Multipurpose Room at the Capitola Branch Library.
The Tony Award-Winning San Francisco Mime Troupe opens their 67th Season with: WRECKAGE: A Musical Tragicomedy. The show asks the political question: How are we going to survive and rebuild in the rubble left from the economic, social, and psychological devastation of the idiotic kleptocrats? London Nelson Community Center โ Outdoors (Santa Cruz) Sat., Aug. 1 - 3:00 pm (Music 2:30) Sun., Aug. 2 - 3:00 pm (Music 2:30) 301 Center St., Santa Cruz 95060 FREE - ($20 suggested donation)
A Show!
Memo and the Notebooks, Degrassi Knoll, and The New Wounds Alex Bottomlining
Get out the ten-gallon stetson and ride your horse to the rural outpost of El Vaquero Winery to experience the joy of Lacy J. Dalton. Dalton has a tips-to-tours origin story, starting as a waitress in the mountains of Santa Cruz and eventually performing on stages worldwide. Dalton has seen all the trends since she first reached the charts in 1979 and remains true to her roots. Sixteen Top Twenty hits came fast and furious through the 1980s. One thing about real country singers is they never forget their roots and anytime Dalton returns itโs a celebration. Featuring favorites Michael Gaither & His New Best Friends. -DNA; Good Times Santa Cruz
5:30-7:30pm Love Creek is a folk-rock/jam band from Santa Cruz, California. Current band members consist of Malakai Lawton (vocals/guitar), Alex Bahler (lead guitar), Ryan Jensen (bass/vocals), Ed Levy (keys), and Rob Borella (drums). Love Creek pulls from a musical headwaters of jam band and folk rock influences, creating original material that is both heartfelt and powerful, both lyrically and instrumentally. Along with a growing repertoire of original songs, Love Creek also performs music written by artists such as: Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, Jerry Garcia Band, The Cure, Van Morrison, Marshall Tucker Band, Rusted Root, America, as well as many others.
When heโs not fronting local Santa Cruz band Wolf Jett, Chris stays true to his folk, soul and country blues roots. Born in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, his voice is smooth as Tennessee whiskey and his guitar pickinโ cuts from Chet Atkins to Keith Richards in no time. As versatile a musician as you will find, Chris is able to seamlessly intertwine classic and obscure covers with his seemingly timeless originals. He can play to any crowd under any circumstances, and heโs proven it time and time again, whether busking the streets of Europe, or touring the sweatiest clubs and hushed house parties across this good olโ USofA. He currently performs with a vintage hollowbody electric through a small tube combo amplifier, but heโs equally at home on acoustic. No gimmicks, no tricks, just straight vocals and guitar with a few stories in between. He has recently opened for Arcadian Wild, Brett Dennen, Coco Montoya and Waylon Payne and is a regular feature at the Saratoga Mountain Winery Garden Stage and Felton Music Hall. He frequently does covers by Paul Simon, Fleetwood Mac, Otis Redding, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, and Neil Young, to name a few.
Join the Winterlark trioโKristin Olson on bass, Sweeney Schragg on guitar, and Chris Haskett on drumsโwith their tight, jazzy harmonies and infectious rhythms at the new and improved Davenport Roadhouse on Saturday, August 1. This date is an update of a previous June date, which was unfortunately outdated.
Mike Hellman is a country and americana troubadour with a bent for the unconventional. Slinging songs with substance, conviction and grit, heโs on a mission to tell his truth and he insists on being heard. While firmly rooted in the rich country and blues traditions of his home state of Texas, he refuses to pander to clichรฉ and his sound is anything but predictable. His lively performances swing from ballad to barn burner to outright rock โnโ roll, and his rich baritone conjures earnestness and humor while dealing head-on with all aspects of the human condition (and with a not-so-subtle nod to the downtrodden). An โoutlawโ for outlaws, Mike's music transcends the often narrow boundaries set by the mainstream country music establishment.
Saturday, 6:00 PM
They may be Joe Russoโs Almost Dead, but their covers are breathing life into the Grateful Deadโs discography. Instead of note-for-note covers, the band delivers fresh improvisational reinterpretations of the legendary jam bandโs songs. Led by Joe Russo, drummer and longtime apprentice of the Grateful Dead, is an impeccable drummer and born leader. Flanked by his longtime collaborators, Marco Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz, Scott Metzger, and Tom Hamilton, thereโs an overflow of rock prowess in their performance. Delivering high energy, boundless creativity, and face-melting riffs, JRAD is for the rock fans and the music nerds alike. -Shelly Novo; Good Times Santa Cruz
As one of the most highly acclaimed performers of our time with five Grammyยฎ awards, four Billboard Music Awards, three platinum records, five gold records, and twelve million units sold, Sandi Patty is simply known as The Voice. Sandi is the most awarded female vocalist in contemporary Christian music history, with 40 Dove Awards. She was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2004 and as an Indiana Living Legend in 2007. She has released over 30 albums, including her latest Dove Award winning album, The Edge of the Divine (2010). She will release her latest album โEverlastingโ exclusively at Target Stores, through Somerset, Ltd., in September 2013. โEverlastingโ will feature notable hymns and songs of worship in an intimate and acoustic setting. Her debut full length symphonic pops album โBroadway Storiesโ, conducted by Maestro Jack Everly, was released on October 18, 2011 to rave reviews. Sandi was introduced to the world with her rendition of The Star Spangled Banner during the rededication of the Statue of Liberty in 1986. Virtually overnight she became one of the countryโs best-loved performers. Her version of the national anthem has become synonymous with patriotic celebration, including performances at โA Capitol Fourthโ with the National Symphony, the Indianapolis 500, the Dedication of Camp David Chapel, and ABCโs Fourth of July Special. While her thirty+ year career is heavily rooted in the gospel music industry, Sandi has had the opportunity in more recent years to extend her career outside the genre. Sandi has performed with symphonies across the country, including the New York Pops, Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Dallas Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. She also headlined the title role in sold out performances of the musical โHello, Dolly!โ with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, co-starring Tony Award winner Gary Beach in January 2012. In addition to her prolific musical career, Sandi is also an
Conducted by Cristian Mฤcelaru Leilehua Lanzilotti: of light and stone (West Coast premiere) James Lee III: Shades of Unbroken Dreams (Alexandra Dariescu, Piano) (West Coast premiere) Sarah Hennies: The Grain House (Festival Creative Lab Commission & world premiere) Centering voices of resistance and cultural continuity, this program explores the act of dreaming as a form of defiance. Leilehua Lanzilottiโs of light and stone (West Coast premiere) draws on the legacy of Nฤ Lani สปEhฤโthe โHeavenly Fourโ of Hawaiian royaltyโto honor Indigenous Hawaiian identity, gathering, and the enduring power of cultural lineage. James Lee IIIโs Shades of Unbroken Dreams (West Coast premiere), featuring pianist Alexandra Dariescu, channels the cadence and moral force of Martin Luther King Jr.โs โI Have a Dreamโ speech, reflecting on justice, equality, and perseverance. Sarah Henniesโs Festival Creative Lab Commission (world premiere) will use the large-scale forces of the orchestra to evoke the complexities of human brain activity, drawing on psychological and musical studies related to existence, identity, and memory. The Creative Lab, now in its third year, empowers composers to reimagine the orchestral experience with wide curatorial latitude.
A story written by Capitolaโs very own, Joe Ortiz, comes to life at The SC Actors Theatre. Escaping Queens follows an immigrant family as they navigate the challenges of poverty and a fatherโs problems with gambling, alcohol, and women. This funny, edgy, ultimately hopeful musical paints a cast of colorful characters, from neighborhood bookies to a doo wop group to all the shades and personalities in a mixed Italian and Puerto Rican family. Based on Oritzโs own memoir, PastinaโMy Fatherโs Misfortune, My Motherโs Good Soup, the emotional turbulence of navigating an escape from New York is presented as a compelling and sophisticated story that asks if children are fated to repeat their parentsโ mistakes. -Shelly Novo; Good Times Santa Cruz
If Idaho is known for two things, itโs potatoes and Eilen Jewell. Over her almost three-decade career Jewell has made a name for herself as a musician with the blues in her soul and rock โnโ roll heart expressed through the vocal chords of true Americana. That is to say her songs range from folk, gospel, country, rockabilly and everything in between. So much so that The Washington Post described Jewell as if Billie Holiday, Neko Case and Madeleine Peyroux had a baby that was raised to front a rockabilly band. Itโs a melting pot of sound and, truly, it doesnโt get much more American than that. -Mat Weir; Good Times Santa Cruz
Sean and the Skinwalkers is a blues rock trio from Monterey County California. Just as comfortable playing traditional blues as they are tearing through a psychedelic rock song, the common thread is always the blues and the intensity that they bring to every performance. No two performances are ever the same as everything is raw and changes on the fly, with improvised wild guitar solos that often take place in the audience. Sometimes compared to the legends of the 70s blues rock scene, Sean and the Skinwalkers does cover a wide range of music in addition to playing originals. You'll hear covers and inspiration from artists like Led Zeppelin, Rory Gallagher, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, Free, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Marcus King, Stray Cats, Jeff Healey, Tab Benoit and more, but always with the Skinwalker's unique flavor. Keep your camera ready as you never know what to expect, Sean is likely to jump into the audience and use your beer bottle to play slide guitar or ask you to hit the strings while he frets notes for a solo and has a conversation with you about your day. Nobody ever forgets a Sean and the Skinwalkers performance! Original music on every streaming platform, with a new album releasing soon! Instagram https://www.instagram.com/wolfmanblues/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6AQRQZEOJxIlim78Gi7HIt?si=9htrXeE1RXG2cVjmWyFnbQ Youtube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa2wGtmVpbPZNtThEKxERS_PTsXxzYZIK
The Cabrillo Theater is preparing for a dazzling production of Sister Act. This uplifting story follows Deloris, a bold and loving nightclub singer, as she is sent to a convent for her own protection. While there, Deloris teaches the nuns to sing with passion and joy. The nuns and Deloris learn how to step into their own power. Promising mischief and friendship, the fun never stops during Sister Act. The audience will glow with laughter throughout the comedic production. The infectious and high-energy songs will light up attendees long after the curtain falls. Goes until August 2nd. -Isabella Marie Sangaline
A show at Crow's Nest featuring Big Bad Wolf. Multiple dates.
A young, wholesome, and seemingly normal couple, Brad and Jan, set out to visit their old professor, but their plans change when a large storm causes their car to go flat. Desperate to get out of the rain, they find an old castle that is home to Dr. Frank-N-Furter. From there, the night only becomes weirder. That night will be one they and the audience will not forget. This cult classic continues to entertain crowds, and this run is no different. Audience members can purchase interactive goodie bags with their tickets and participate in a costume contest. Goes until August 22.
Itโs one of the bands playing at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk as part of their Summertime Concert Series. Itโs summer and thereโs the beach and โฆ well you know what to do. Info is at https://www.beachboardwalk.com
Sessiontapes Live & 23Hrs Entertainment Presents ยฟQiensave?, Spaghetti Cumbia, & DJ Baby Dizzle
Sessiontapes Live Qiensave?, Spaghetti Cumbia, & DJ Baby Dizzle! This isnt just a concert, esto es un pinche pari. Whether youre coming to dance, skank, two-step, sing along, or simply enjoy a night out, this is your invitation to one of the hottest cumbia-punk nights of the summer. Grab your compas, lace up your dancing shoes, and join us at Moes Alley for a night of music y desmadre.Saturday, August 1, 2026Doors: 8pm / Show: 9pm$20 in advance / $25 day of the show21+* No Refunds | All sales are final* Avoid scammers! Only purchase tickets from moesalley.com or ticketweb.com* Tickets requested by email will be delivered 3 days prior to the event* Will Call tickets will be available at the door on the day of the event====Qiensave?Rooted in Salinas and inspired by their Michoacn heritage, Qiensave? has become one of the leading voices in the modern cumbia movement. Their signature Cumbia Urbana sound blends traditional cumbia with rock, reggae, hip-hop, and urban influences, creating an energetic live experience that continues to connect with audiences across the country. Fresh off new releases and national touring, the band continues to push cumbia into new territory while staying true to their roots.Spaghetti CumbiaStraight out of Los Angeles, Spaghetti Cumbia serves up a high-energy mix of cumbia, punk rock, garage rock, and spaghetti western swagger. Known for turning every venue into a dance-fueled frenzy, the band delivers a unique sound that is equal parts baile and mosh pit. Their debut performance at Moes Alley promises to be one for the books.About DJ Baby DizzleSalinas native DJ Baby Dizzle has built a reputation for bringing good vibes and packed dance floors wherever she goes. From community celebrations and cultural events to night clubs and live music showcases, her eclectic sets blend cumbia, hip-hop, funk, and party favorites into an unforgettable experience. Whether youre warming up for the bands or closing out the night, Baby Dizzle has the soundtr
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