Ellen Bass headlines poetry reading

For 15 years, the Humanities Institute has honored the memory of longtime poet, film critic and Cabrillo College professor Morton Marcus with an annual poetry prize and reading by a local poet. This year’s featured poet will be Ellen Bass who will read at the Cultural Center at UC Santa Cruz’s Merrill College Thursday.

Bass teaches the Master of Fine Arts writing program at Pacific University and founded poetry workshops at Salinas Valley State Prison and the Santa Cruz County Jail. She has been published in the New Yorker and American Poetry Journal, co-edited the women’s poetry anthology “No More Masks” and is the author of the books “Like a Beggar,” “The Human Line,” “Mules of Love” and “Indigo.”

The program will be hosted by local poet Gary Young and will feature the announcement of the $1,000 Morton Marcus Poetry Prize recipient.

The event is 6-7:30 p.m. at the Merrill College Cultural Center, 641 Merrill Road. It is free and open to the public. To RSVP, go to thi.ucsc.edu.

1990s, 2000s go head-to-head with dueling tribute bands

’70s and ’80s tribute bands are bountiful, which means the path is being cleared for the next wave of decade-based tribute bands: those of the ’90s and 2000s.

But which decade wins out in the end: the decade of grunge and ska, or the decade of emo and garage rock revival? The Catalyst Club will put that to the test when two tribute bands, Fire Peach and The Last Decade, play the venue Friday.

Based out of San Francisco, Fire Peach specialize in songs from the ’90s, ranging from tracks by Green Day and Weezer to Blink 182 and Third Eye Blind. The Last Decade also have a lot of ’90s songs in their setlist but include a variety of 2000s tracks from the likes of AFI, All American Rejects, Fall Out Boy, The Killers and more. Both will be battling it out to determine which decade had the superior rock … or just give audiences a chance to rock out to a host of songs from both decades.The concert is 8 p.m. Friday at the Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave. Doors open at 7. Tickets are $8.46 for general admission. This is a 16-and-older concert. For more information, go to CatalystClub.com.

Alex Lucero Band brings local flavor to Moe’s Alley

Moe’s Alley is a venue that draws both up-and-coming and established artists from throughout the world, but sometimes it is also a showcase for the many talented acts Santa Cruz’s music scene has to offer. One such example is Sunday when the venue hosts the Alex Lucero Band.

The Alex Lucero Band is a soul and Americana group out of Santa Cruz that has released five albums and opened for the likes of Michael McDonald, Chaka Khan and Pablo Cruise, in addition to headlining various festivals. They recently placed in the top three in the Battle of the Bands competition at the Whale Rock Arts & Music Festival in Paso Robles, were featured in the Jam in the Van mobile recording studio and have toured throughout the East Coast and Europe this year. They also have played local venues like the Catalyst Club and Kuumbwa Jazz, as well as local events like the Watsonville Strawberry Festival. Their most recent album is “Same Moon,” recorded at The Studio Nashville, which has also served as the recording base for artists like the Avett Brothers and Viktor Krauss Band.

The concert is 4 p.m. Sunday at Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way. Doors open at 3. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 the day of the show. This is a 21-and-older concert. For more information, go to MoesAlley.com.

You should — and will — be dancing to Bee Gees tribute

The Bee Gees may have officially called it a career in 2012 with the death of Robin Gibb — leaving Barry the only surviving member of the original trio of brothers — but their legacy continues to stay alive. Their songs continue to be played on the radio and in clubs, and there are plenty of tribute bands to bring their soulful rhythms to the stage. The Bay Area’s very own You Should Be Dancing will be doing just that when they perform at Felton Music Hall for a little night fever Saturday.

One of the best-selling musical acts of all time, The Bee Gees, consisting of brothers Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, already found success as a blue-eyed soul group in the late ’60s and early ’70s, but once the popularity of disco took hold, the brothers Gibb wisely hopped on the bandwagon and recorded some of the most beloved hits of the genre: “Jive Talkin’,” “Night Fever,” “You Should Be Dancing,” “Stayin’ Alive,” “Tragedy” and so on. They achieved additional success after contributing heavily to the soundtrack to 1977’s “Saturday Night Fever,” and their matching satin suits have become one of the most common associations with the disco aesthetic.

You Should Be Dancing, consisting of three vocalists and a five-piece rhythm section, faithfully recreate The Bee Gees’ sound in a way that will showcase to audiences how deep their love for the group really is.

The concert is 8 p.m. Saturday at Felton Music Hall, 6275 Highway 9. Doors open at 7. Tickets are $32 for general admission. This is a 21-and-older concert. For more information, go to FeltonMusicHall.com.

This week’s calendar was compiled by Nick Sestanovich.