“A Merry Mex-Mas Holiday Matinee,” featuring El Vez & The Centuries, with Duderilla
How many times has San Diego-born troubadour and cultural provocateur Robert Lopez — best known for masterminding El Vez, the “Mexican Elvis” — performed at the Casbah?
It’s a tricky question that he and Casbah co-owner Tim Mays are both unable to conclusively answer.
“El Vez has been playing the Casbah going back to our original location in the early 1990’s,” Mays said. “I cannot count exactly how many times.”
Neither can Lopez, although he ventured a guess via email from Seattle, where he opened his San Diego-bound 2025 Merry Mex-Mas tour on Dec. 11.
“I’ve played at the Casbah way over 100 times, for sure,” he wrote, “as El Vez and with The Zeros, Covid Cola, The Unhappy Hour, The Little Richards and other bands. I’ve done my Merry Mex-Mas show there more than 25 times!”
No matter the tally, it’s been 31 years since the back-to-back 1994 releases of El Vez’s first three albums, “Fun in Español,” “Graciasland” and “Merry Mex-Mas.” A seasoned entertainer, skilled musical parodist and slyly subversive social commentator, El Vez has lampooned his namesake, Elvis, with “You Ain’t Nothing But a Chihuahua,” “G.I. Ay, Ay! Blues” and other likeminded sendups.
His “Merry Mex-Mas” album is suitably festive while also promoting inclusivity through a Mexican-American prism. Accordingly, “White Christmas” is recast as “Brown Christmas,” “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” becomes “Santa Claus Is Sometimes Brown” and the Elvis hit “In The Ghetto” takes on new life as “En El Barrio (At Xmas Time).”
El Vez also offers deft mash-ups, including fusing English post-punk band PiL’s 1978 ditty “Public Image” with Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad,” and “Blue Christmas” with the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for The Devil.” His current tour teams El Vez with the Los Angeles rockabilly trio The Centuries.
Those seeking a deeper dive can check out the new University of Chicago Press book, “Make the Dream Real: World Building Performance by El Vez, The Mexican Elvis” by Karen Jean Martinson, who is an assistant professor of dramaturgy at Arizona State University’s School of Music, Dance, and Theatre.
4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21. The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. $31.44 (must be 21 or older). (619) 232-4355 or casbahmusic.com
Multilingual jazz singer Allison Adams Tucker will be featured in Camarada’s “Charlie Brown Jingles and Jazz” concert at La Jolla’s Baker-Baum Concert Hall in the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center. (Howard Lipin / for The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Camarada presents “Charlie Brown Jingles & Jazz”
Camarada’s annual all-star concert is a consistent crowd-pleaser, thanks to a musical roster that features some of San Diego’s leading jazz and classical musicians.
This year’s lineup features flutist and Camarada co-founder Beth Ross Buckley, guitarist and musical arranger Peter Sprague, multilingual singer Allison Adams Tucker, pianist Danny Green, flutist and saxophonist Tripp Sprague, bassist Mackenzie Leighton and percussion mainstay Duncan Moore.
Given the quality of the performers, it’s no surprised that this annual Camarada concert usually sells out. As of today, only a small amount of tickets remain for this weekend’s two “Charlie Brown Jingles & Jazz” concerts.
7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, Dec. 20. The Baker-Baum Concert Hall, Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Faye Ave., La Jolla. $28-$98. theconrad.org
Award-winning San Diego singer Leonard Patton is shown at his all-ages music club, The Jazz Lounge, where he will perform holiday-themed shows Sunday and Monday. ( Ariana Drehsler / for The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Christmas with Leonard Patton & Friends
San Diego vocal great Leonard Patton counts Pat Metheny and Paul Simon among his high-profile fans.
A two-decade veteran of Lamb’s Players Theatre productions, Patton has been the featured vocalist in national commercials for Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola and NASCAR. He opened his intimate jazz supper club, The Jazz Lounge in 2021 and has been steadily building momentum ever since.
Patton’s holiday shows are especially uplifting showcases for his consistently svelte and soulful vocals.
5:15 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday Dec. 21; and 6:15 p.m. and 9 p.m. Monday Dec. 22. The Jazz Lounge, 6818 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. $60 (concert and dinner), $40 (concert only). 619-368-9374. thejazzlounge.live