The Deftones come home

It’s always a wild ride when the Deftones take the stage in their native Northern California.

See what we mean when the experimental metal act — which rose out of Sacramento to superstardom in the second half of the ’90s following the release of the debut “Adrenaline” — performs two big local shows on its 2025 tour.

The Deftones — featuring vocalist Chino Moreno, guitarist Stephen Carpenter, drummer Abe Cunningham and keyboardist/turntablist Frank Delgado — perform a huge homecoming show on Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, and a concert at Chase Center in San Francisco on Tuesday.

The group has been hard at work in the studio in preparation of dropping its hotly anticipated 10th full-length record. So, fingers crossed that fans will get to hear some cool new cuts alongside all those Deftones classics (“Change (In the House of Flies), “My Own Summer (Shove It”),” etc.) during the Sacramento and San Francisco shows.

Details: Showtime for both concerts is 7 p.m.; tickets start at $46 (subject to change); ticketmaster.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Bonds of friendship run deep

The clichéd narrative device of having a best friend return from the dead is often an easy out for a screenwriter to create emotional flashbacks and explain the impact of this friendship on a protagonist’s life.

“My Dead Friend Zoe,” director/screenwriter Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ first full-length narrative feature, does a remarkable job of presenting Merit (a sensational Sonequa Martin-Green) with the return of her buddy Zoe (Natalie Morris) without making it cheesy or clunky. That’s a sign of a good screenwriter and director. Both women served in Afghanistan as Army mechanics, and even though they came from different backgrounds, struck up a tight, one-of-a-kind friendship. Hausmann-Stokes is a veteran himself and here he successfully expands upon his short film “Merit X Zoe” by seasoning in more details while interjecting bits of humor amongst well-earned tears (expect many to flow by the film’s end).

Merit suffers from grief and PTSD, a potent combo that she doesn’t want to acknowledge or work through right now. Her unresolved pain only intensifies and continues to upend her life, leading to her returning home to care for her veteran father (Ed Harris) whose mind is slowly deteriorating. “My Dead Friend Zoe” throws a plot curveball near the finale, which further texturizers the emotional scope of this his wonderful, very human gem from a new voice.

Details: Rated R (language);1 hour, 42 minutes running time; in theaters Friday.

— Randy Myers, Correspondent

Match made in creative heaven

Technology and textiles have always been joined at the hip, from the invention of the loom around 5000 BC to IBM’s first computers, said to be inspired by a French “jacquard” weaving machine. A new exhibition in Palo Alto examines the enduring link between the disciplines, featuring almost 20 artists working in everything from 4K HDR screens to 24-carat gold thread to something called “digital weaving.”

“Cut From The Same Cloth: Textile & Technology” pushes the boundaries of what defines a textile. “Emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, data collection embedded in threads and new production methods are currently being applied to the apparel industry,” says curator Christine Duval. “At the same time, weaving and tapestry are making a return as a vital art practice of the 21st century.”

Tara de la Garza weaves together plastic waste strips and LED lights for “Monument to the Plastocene (Tartan),” for example, a commentary on our looming ecological crisis. Guillermo Bert creates functioning QR codes from dyed wool that mimic the textile crafts of Chile’s Mapuche people, and Wendy Chien’s macrame examines gender and the complex mathematics behind knots. In other words, this is fascinating stuff — not your grandma’s knitted socks or quilt wall.

Details: Through April 6; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays; 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto; free, cityofpaloalto.org/artcenter.

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Hearts for sale in Berkeley, Palo Alto

In an age when immigrants in the U.S. are being targeted for deportation, harassment and blaming and shaming, it’s nice to come across a work that recalls a time when those seeking to take part in the American dream were treated with more common-sense compassion.

One such show is “The Heart Sellers,” Lloyd Suh’s 2023 play about two Asian women, immigrants to the U.S. in the 1970s, who meet and bond over a makeshift Thanksgiving meal while their husbands are working. There’s not much more to the story than that, yet the observations of two women who are greeting a new life in a new world make for a comedic and occasionally poignant production. The show’s title plays off the Hart Cellar Act, which abolished immigrant quotas for some and paved the way for more immigrant professionals to settle in the U.S.

“Heart Sellers,” directed by Jennifer Chang, is a co-production between Aurora Theatre and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and has runs in Berkeley and Palo Alto.

Details: At Aurora Theatre in Berkeley through March 9, streaming March 4-9; $23-$46; www.auroratheatre.org; playing at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts April 2-27; $26.75-$54; theatreworks.org.

— Bay City News Foundation

Classical picks: Vienna Philharmonic and ‘Alceste’ should be speical

Classical music fans have special events coming up; with the Vienna Philharmonic, French soprano Natalie Dessay, and Handel’s “Alceste” on Bay Area stages, here are three performances you won’t want to miss.

Vienna Philharmonic times three: Under conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the revered Vienna Philharmonic returns to Cal Performances with three programs on the schedule. First, on Wednesday, comes a concert featuring Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter” and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1; the second program, on March 6, features Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” and Schubert’s Symphony No. 4, “Tragic.” Pianist Yefim Bronfman joins Nézet-Séguin and the orchestra on March 7 to play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3; Richard Strauss’s “Ein Heldenleben” completes the program. Details: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and March 6; 7 p.m. March 7; $120-$275; calperformances.org.

Dessay at Stanford: French operatic soprano Natalie Dessay returns to the Bay Area on March 1 as part of the Stanford Live series. Appearing in Bing Concert Hall with pianist Philippe Cassard, she will sing a program including works by Ravel, Poulenc, Andre Previn and others. Details: 7:30 Saturday; Bing Hall, Stanford University; $18-$100; stanfordlivetickets.org.

“Alceste” around the Bay: The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale has an alluring Handel double bill coming up. Conductor Peter Whelan leads the composer’s opera “Alceste,” featuring soprano Lauren Snouffer and tenor Aaron Sheehan; Valérie Sainte-Agathe directs the Philharmonia Chorale. Handel’s Concerto Grosso in G Major, Op. 6, No. 1, opens the program. Details: 7:30 p.m. March 5 at Bing Hall, Stanford University; 7:30 p.m. March 7 at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; 2:30 p.m. March 8 at First Congregational Church, Berkeley; $18-$132; philharmonia.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent