Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the earthquake-anniversary B9:
➤ Santa Cruz this weekend will be doing the “Monster Mash” — or at least a very brainy, bookish version of it. It’s time again for the Festival of Monsters, brought to us all by the Center for Monster Studies at UC Santa Cruz. Most of the weekend is given over to an academic conference on campus, but on Saturday the monster-mania bleeds into town with a series of events in downtown Santa Cruz. The focus here is on monsters of the literary world, and what they represent in the human imagination. Knowing a thing or two about that subject are horror writers Alma Katsu, Gretchen McNeil and Nat Cassidy, who’ll share their insights with each other and an audience at Bookshop Santa Cruz. Graphic novelist and monster creator Cole Lemke will chat about his work at Atlantis Fantasyworld. Later, Game Santa Cruz becomes the arena for the monstrous game “Blood on the Clocktower.” Then, you get to be your own monster, for an all-night party … oh, wait. That’s Oct. 31, the original festival of monsters.
➤ Certainly one of Steven King’s greatest works is the story of an acclaimed novelist’s horrifying encounter with one very committed fan. Maybe “Misery” freaked you out as a novel, or as a movie. But the stage play is pretty crazy too. Actors’ Theatre is the site for the opening of a new production of “Misery,” beginning Friday. Kinda perfect for October, if you ask me.
➤ As a writer, Mary Roach has had a strange career. She has positioned herself between the world of science and the mainstream to explain to the rest of us such mysteries as how to eat yourself to death and how decomposition works. Her latest book, shot through with her trademark gallows humor, is called “Replaceable You,” and explores all the technological aspects of replacing failing body parts. She brings her insights to the London Nelson Center next Thursday, Oct. 23.
➤ If you were alive and listening to pop music in the 1980s — by the way, welcome to the AARP — you might have owned an album or two from Squeeze, the brilliant and effervescent British band that made some noise in the New Wave era. The band’s lead singer and co-songwriter was Glenn Tilbrook, who graces the Felton Music Hall with a show on Monday, and if we don’t hear “Black Coffee in Bed,” well, there will be a lot of graying popsters disappointed.
➤ The “Southern Reach” series of novels by Jeff VanderMeer has become a literary phenomenon over the past decade. Focusing on a mysterious coastal region that nature is reclaiming from human settlement, the novels have won awards and kudos from big-name celebs. The series comes to an end with its fourth novel, “Absolution,” and VanderMeer will be on hand to talk about the whole Southern Reach experience with Santa Cruz novelist Claire Oshetsky at Bookshop Santa Cruz on Monday.
➤ One last hurrah for this year’s wonderful Open Studios art tour (its 40th year!). This third and final weekend of the tour is an encore weekend, with a select number of artists opening their homes and creative spaces all over the county on Saturday and Sunday. Grab a guide, download the app, see the preview exhibit at the Art League and get out there and support those artists.
➤ Berkeley pianist Benny Green is certainly one of the Kuumbwa Jazz Center’s most stalwart allies in the jazz world. He even helped Kuumbwa pick out its new piano. Green has enjoyed an illustrious career as a bandleader and sideman, always finding time for a visit to Santa Cruz in his hectic life. On Monday, he returns to Kuumbwa for a special evening of solo piano.
➤ Singer-songwriter Rhett Miller was one of the many jewels that emerged from the alt-country renaissance of the 1990s, thanks to his sterling work as the frontman for the Old 97’s. These days, Miller is striking out on a new phase of his career. Newly healed from risky vocal surgery, he’s back with a mature and far-seeing new album. He’s also playing live and in person at Felton Music Hall on Tuesday.
➤ Stand-up comic Kellen Erskine loves Costco for “whenever you just need chips and a jacuzzi.” He’s also amazed that “we are all just one Amazon click away from buying orange cones and making traffic go wherever we want.” There’s a lot more skewed visions of contemporary America where those came from. Erskine performs live at Actors’ Theatre next Wednesday.
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