From a classic comedy double bill to Handel\u2019s famed femme fatale to a festival devoted to flesh-eating plants, there are a lot of great shows and events to catch this weekend.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a partial rundown.<\/p>\n
Carvey + Spade = major laughs<\/p>\n
Two all-time great \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d greats \u2014 Dana Carvey and David Spade \u2014 have teamed up for what should be a hilarious comedy tour that touches down June 14 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.<\/p>\n
Carvey likely ranks as an all-time great comedian \u2014 period \u2014 whether or not you are just referencing \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d or his overall work in the funny business.<\/p>\n
Sure, he was an absolute laugh riot on \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d where he performed for seven seasons (1986-1993) and earned five consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations \u2014 one of which he\u2019d win.<\/p>\n
Carvey, who grew up on the Peninsula and practiced his comedic craft in San Francisco clubs, is also known for such films as 1990\u2019s \u201cOpportunity Knocks,\u201d 1994\u2019s \u201cTrapped in Paradise,\u201d 2002\u2019s \u201cThe Master of Disguise\u201d (2002) and, of course, 1992\u2019s \u201cWayne\u2019s World\u201d and 1993\u2019s \u201cWayne\u2019s World 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spade was a writer and cast member on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d \u00a0from 1990 to 1996, then went on to achieve even greater fame in the fabulous role of Dennis Finch in the NBC sitcom \u201cJust Shoot Me!\u201d (1997\u20132003). His move credits include 1995\u2019s \u201cTommy Boy,\u201d 1996\u2019s \u201cBlack Sheep, 1998\u2019s \u201cSenseless,\u201d 2001\u2019s \u201cJoe Dirt\u201d and\u00a0 2003\u2019s \u201cDickie Roberts: Former Child Star.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two stars also collaborate together on the \u201cSaturday Night Life\u201d themed podcast \u201cFly on the Wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Details: Showtime is 8 p.m.; tickets start at $101; mountainwinery.com.\u00a0Also of note: Mountain Winery has a new restaurant, La Cucina Italiana, so consider making reservations to check that out before the show.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Jim Harrington, Staff<\/p>\n
Classical picks: \u2018Alcina,\u2019 SF Opera<\/p>\n
The music lover\u2019s summer season brings operas, concerts and more. Here are some high notes on what\u2019s coming up.<\/p>\n
Handel\u2019s \u201cAlcina\u201d:\u00a0Set on a magical island, the title character of \u201cAlcina\u201d seduces every unfortunate man who lands there, then casts a spell that turns them into stones, trees, or animals. In Festival Opera\u2019s new production of Handel\u2019s 1735 opera, the deadly enchantress returns in a new production, with two concert performances June 13-14 and two staged performances June 19 and 21. The production is in collaboration with the San Francisco Early Music Society. Nikola Printz sings the title role, and the cast also includes Courtney Miller as Ruggiero, Shawnette Sulker as Morgana, and Sara Couden as Bradamante; Zachary Gordin is the director and Derek Tam conducts.<\/p>\n
Details: Concert performances are 7:30 p.m. June 13 and 2 p.m. June 14 at Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $40-$80; www.sfems.org<\/a>; Staged performances are 7:30 p.m. June 19 and 2 p.m. June 21 at the Lesher Center, Walnut Creek; $55-$95, $20 student tickets; lesherartscenter.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Opera still to come:\u00a0\u00a0San Francisco Opera has made its summer a thrilling one, and there\u2019s plenty to see and hear in the days and nights on the calendar: the company has performances of \u201cThe Barber of Seville\u201d (June 12-21) and \u201cElektra\u201d (June 11,14,19, 23, 27); and the season ends with the company\u2019s always-joyful \u201cPride Concert\u201d June 26.<\/p>\n Details: Tickets and more information at SFOpera.com.<\/p>\n \u2014 Georgia Rowe, Correspondent<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a festival with bite<\/p>\n Like dogs and cats, carnivorous plants can be fed and watered. They can be given scritches and baths in the sun. But are they capable of giving us love in return?<\/p>\n Until somebody breeds a talking Venus flytrap a la \u201cLittle Shop of Horrors,\u201d we may never know the answer. But humans\u2019 love for these plants is undeniable, as seen in the return of the Bay Area Carnivorous Plant Festival, billed by its organizers as the \u201clargest carnivorous plant festival in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Taking place at St. Joseph Notre Dame High School, in Alameda, the plant-travaganza gathers thousands of flytraps, pitchers, sundews and other bug-devouring species for admiration and purchase. Their human handlers will be there, as well, coming from all across the U.S. to exhibit rare and expertly tended specimens.<\/p>\n There will be talks and demonstrations from growers, music and food (no tossing the plants any scraps, please) raffles and the sale of growing accessories. Children and parents alike can expect a day of wild education \u2013 perhaps culminating in taking home their own leafy guy or gal, to provide endless hours of meat-eating enjoyment this summer.<\/p>\n Details: Noon-5 p.m. June 13 at 1011 Chestnut St., Alameda; free; bacps.org<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 John Metcalfe, staff<\/p>\n Lestat is back, appetite intact<\/p>\n \u201cThe Vampire Lestat,\u201d AMC\u2019s excellent adaptation of Anne Rice\u2019s iconic \u201cInterview With the Vampire,\u201d novel gave us two exceptional seasons that were just as good as the book and better than the 1994 movie that spawned it. For the third season, lead showrunner Rolin Jones pulls off a hell of a hat trick and puts a lot onto the chiseled shoulders of Sam Reid, reprising his role as the sexy, witty bloodsucker Lestat de Lioncourt.<\/p>\n The good news is Reid is electrifying and looks, acts and struts around like a legit rock star from the Bowie and Jagger age. Rice\u2019s novel did miff some since it turned her bisexual toxic hunk into a vain, vamping rock star. Others lapped it up. Jones puts an exclamation point on the music \u2014 making the audience the roadies to Lestat\u2019s wicked showman ways. Reid is mesmerizing to watch. Jones also further expounds on the vampire\u2019s wretched lineage and mythology through flashbacks. He smartly shifts the time frame too, from the \u201880s to 2025 with Lestat embarking on a multi-city tour (the titles to the seven episodes are taken from the city where his band is performing). His tour coincides with the \u201cGreat Conversion,\u201d which witnesses a big uptick in the number of vampires amongst us. Unlike the previous seasons, Lestat is the focus in Season 3 with Louis de pointe du lac (Jacob Anderson) \u2014 the lover he turned into a vampire and who was the one interviewed before \u2014 popping in. Other regulars appear and play key parts, including the evil Armand (Assad Zaman) and the ego-driven journalist and writer Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian).<\/p>\n The origins of Lestat\u2019s vampirism gets explored and important characters surface and resurface. In between, it gives us wild concert performances, trips back to 1772 to watch Lestat\u2019s dysfunctional family in action and a slew of killer songs from composer Daniel Hart. AMC has made six of seven episodes available and the best way to view them is indeed every week, rather than in one big binge.<\/p>\n Details: Available on AMC and AMC+.<\/p>\n \u2014 Randy Myers, Correspondent<\/p>\n Here are your freebies of the week<\/p>\n The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival is serving up an interesting mix of free shows June 11 and 12. Kicking things off at 12:30 p.m. June 11 is San Francisco multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Camellia Boutros, a first-generation Lebanese Palestinian who is the very definition of a self-made musician. She honed her musical style for years playing the trumpet, oud and bass for a variety of bands covering Arab, Mexican and Balkan music. Then she designed and constructed her own fretless 12-string guitar to develop her unique blend of Arab rock and psychedelia. <\/p>\n These days, Boutros is performing with a variety of bands touching on everything from Middle Eastern folkloric music to Balkan jazz to Mexican son jarocho to Latin hip-hop. Boutros brings her band to the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival at 12:30 p.m. June 11. On June 12, the kid-friendly harmonica-and-juggling duo Coventry & Kaluza play half-hour sets at 11 and noon. And at 6:30 p.m. June 12, you can catch \u201cGood Medicine,\u201d a comedy show featuring a cast of Native performers. The group was formed by Oakland comedian and author Jackie Keliiaa, a mainstay of the Bay Area stand-up scene. Performances are at the Yerba Buena Gardens Great Lawn, on Mission Street, between 3rd and 4th streets.<\/p>\n Details: More information is at ybgfestival.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Bay City News Foundation<\/p>\n And another freebie<\/p>\n Even the release in February of a new film by Emeryville-based Pixar about a feisty group of beavers (it\u2019s titled \u201cHoppers,\u201d and you can rent it now on a variety of platforms) can\u2019t change the fact the beaver capital of the world is already in the East Bay, but not in Emeryville. We\u2019re talking about Martinez, of course, and the beloved Martinez Beavers of Alhambra Creek. <\/p>\n The critters moved into the creek in 2006 and despite plans by some concerned officials to evict them, some remain there today, adored and revered by Martinez residents and many others. So popular are the whiskered ones that a festival is held each year in their honor. On June 13, the 17th edition of Beaver Fest will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Susana Park, at Susana and Estudillo streets in Martinez. The event will feature a parade, an 18-piece jazz band, a huge, stocked aquarium, live displays of a variety of wildlife and assorted presentations devoted to science, nature and more. Organizers are promising \u2014 wait for it \u2014 a dam good time. No word on whether they will offer chunks of wood to nibble on. <\/p>\n Details: Admission is free; more information is at martinezbeavers.org<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Bay City News Foundation<\/p>\n It\u2019s fiesta time at Lesher Center<\/p>\n Walnut Creek\u2019s Lesher Center this weekend is hosting its fourth annual Fiesta Cultural, featuring two days of Latin American art, music, dance and more. The celebration takes place on June 12 and 13 with two very different events. It kicks off June 12 with a concert by the Grammy Award winning Pacific Mambo Orchestra. The San Francisco-based outfit is widely recognized as one of the premiere mambo\/Latin jazz bands in the world, known for merging the traditional sounds of Tito Puente and other mambo kings with its own contemporary influences. The 20-member band won its Grammy in 2014 in the Best Tropical Latin Album category for its debut recording. So versatile is this group that its setlist features mambo-flavored covers of Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u2018Overjoyed\u2019, Dizzy Gillespie\u2019s \u2018Night in Tunisia\u2019, and Sergei Rachmaninoff\u2019s 2nd Piano Concerto. The concert is at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $50-$83 at www.lesherartscenter.org<\/a>. On June 13, the festival takes it outside, with a street-fair-style series of music and dance performances, films, workshops and more taking place around the Lesher Center from noon to 5 p.m. <\/p>\n