SANTA CRUZ

Festival of Monsters kicks off with book reading

It is almost time for Santa Cruz’s multi-day celebration of the mystical, supernatural and macabre. UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Monster Studies will be hosting its annual Festival of Monsters Oct. 11 to 18, featuring a display of iconic horror masks, circus of demons, screening of the 1922 silent classic “Nosferatu” and more. It all kicks off Friday with a reading of the fantasy novel “Lucy Undying,” a sort of “what if?” sequel to “Dracula,” by the book’s author Kiersten White at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. A Q&A session will take place after the reading.

Count Dracula is pop culture’s most iconic vampire and has been the star of several books, movies and TV series since Bram Stoker’s titular 1897 novel. However, White — whose books include the young adult “Paranormalcy” series and the standalone adult-oriented books “Hide,” “Mister Magic” and “The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein” — uses her newest book to focus on another character from the original Stoker novel: Dracula’s first English victim, Lucy Westenra. “Lucy Undying” sees Westenra become a vampire herself, no longer under the thrall of Dracula, and embarking on a journey of self-discovery when she meets Iris, the heiress of a health empire also yearning to be free.

The event is 5-6 p.m. Friday at the Museum of Art & History, 705 Front St. It is free and open to the public. The event is produced in partnership with Bookshop Santa Cruz. For more information, go to Monsterstudies.ucsc.edu.

Lyrics Born returns to rock Moe’s Alley

It has become an annual occurrence for the Tokyo-born, Berkeley-based rapper Lyrics Born to perform at Moe’s Alley. He played the venue twice last year alone. He will be returning to the stage Thursday to show just why he has become such a mainstay at the Santa Cruz venue.

Born Tsutomu “Tom” Shimura, Lyrics Born rose to fame in 2004 with his song “Callin’ Out,” which was a smash hit on the San Francisco alternative rock station Live 105 that summer, was featured in a Coca-Cola commercial not long after and was named one of the 100 greatest West Coast hip-hop anthems by Rolling Stone last year. Since then he has released six albums and made the jump into acting, appearing in the 2018 film “Sorry to Bother You” and the 2019 Netflix movie “Always Be My Maybe,” alongside comedian Ali Wong and Keanu Reeves. He also performs as half of the duo Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker. Opening will be Tori Roze & the Hot Mess.

The show is 9 p.m. Friday at Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 the day of the concert. This is a 21-and-older concert. For more information, go to Moesalley.com.

Explore the world from the comfort of the Rio

After a two-year hiatus, the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival and World Tour is back. The Alberta, Canada, festival presents stories from around the world each year in its home city of Banff, but it also takes those stories to more than 600 communities throughout the globe. Come Saturday, it will be making a stop in Santa Cruz at the Rio Theatre.

This year’s festival features short stories of adventure from places such as France, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the U.S. Films include “Fuego,” the story of a bike excursion starting from the foot of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala a day before it erupts; “One Degree°,” the story of a pair of kitesurfers who glide across a glacial lake in Peru 5,000 meters above sea level in an attempt to break the altitude record for kitesurfing; and “Two Point Four” about a British family who spend a vacation climbing Norway’s national mountain, Stetind. The festival is sponsored by Bicycle Trip and Gazelle to support the Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship.

The festival is 7 p.m. Saturday at the Rio, 1205 Soquel Ave. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $23 in advance. For more information, go to RioTheatre.com.

Valerie brings Amy Winehouse back to stage

By the time her second album “Back to Black” began gaining traction in America, English singer Amy Winehouse was already becoming a star. Following the strength of singles like “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good,” Winehouse would see her songs remixed by Jay-Z, win multiple Grammys and recieve widespread critical praise for her raw emotion and ability to put a new spin on retro styles. However, her music would eventually be overshadowed by her public image, including her addiction to drugs and alcohol, which contributed to her death in 2011 at the age of 27. Nonetheless, her music remains highly regarded and has already inspired tribute acts like Santa Cruz’s very own Valerie, who will be playing at Kuumbwa Jazz Sunday.

Led by Elsa Cedeno, Valerie is a quintet consisting of musicians throughout Santa Cruz and the San Francisco Bay Area who channel Winehouse’s energy and bring audiences a mix of her famous songs as well as some rare covers. If given an opportunity to go see them, you should definitely say “Yes, yes, yes!”

The concert is 7 p.m. Sunday at Kuumbwa Jazz, 320 Cedar St. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $38.50 in advance. For more information, go to KuumbwaJazz.org.

This week’s calendar was compiled by Nick Sestanovich.