The eyes have it in new exhibit

Did you know the oldest surviving medical text in Japan to mention eye disease hails from the 10th century and is called the Ishinpo? And that this treatise describes an early form of cataract surgery that involves dislodging the lens of the eye with an oversized needle, all without anesthesia?

Now you do, thanks to a special exhibit running until spring 2026 at San Francisco’s Truhlsen-Marmor Museum of the Eye, titled “West Meets East: Eye Medicine in the Asia-Pacific.” This unique show is at times cringe-inducing for those who don’t like sharp objects around their peepers, but it’s also highly informative when it comes to chronicling how ophthalmology developed in Asia, covering a stretch beginning in ancient society to beyond the period of Western colonization.

Visitors can check out artifacts from China, Japan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and learn about literally eye-opening treatments and surgeries informed by religious texts and a whole lot of experimentation. The exhibit is located in the Museum of the Eye, in San Francisco’s see-worthy Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood.

Details: Summer hours are 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; Museum of the Eye, 645 Beach St., San Francisco (on the ground floor of the American Academy of Ophthalmology); free admission; www.aao.org/museum.

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Top country acts head to Sonoma

The Country Summer Music Festival is calling.

And thousands of fans from all around Northern California — and well beyond — will heed that call for the chance to see yet another jam-packed lineup of country music talent on display at the Sonoma County Event Center at the Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa.

The three-day Country Summer Music Festival kicks off Friday with a bill topped by Sam Hunt, the Georgia crooner known for such blockbuster singles as “Leave the Night On,” “Make You Miss Me,” “Take Your Time” and, of course, “Body Like a Back Road.” Garry Barrett, Lanco, Lily Rose, Clay Street Unit and Dry Creek Station are also on the Day 1 bill.

Kane Brown, the country star known for such smashes as “What Ifs,” “Famous Friends,” “Heaven,” “Lose It” and “Thank God,” headlines a Day 2 bill that also includes Mitchell Tenpenny, Eli Young Band, Canaan Smith, MacKenzie Carpenter, Jerrod Niemann, Adrien Nunez, Lauren Watkins, Clayton Mullen and Township.

Dustin Lynch gets the top spot on Day 3, giving fans the chance to hear such favorites as “Small Town Boy,” “Thinking ‘Bout You,” “Cowboys and Angels” and “Where It’s At.” The closing day lineup also includes Ian Munsick, Hailey Whitters, Elvie Shane, Travis Denning, Avery Anna, Annie Bosko and the Kruse Brothers.

Details: Festival passes start at $225; single-day tickets start at $100; countrysummer.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Classical picks: SF Opera Pride celebration, Merola, Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’

San Francisco Opera’s Pride Concert, masterworks at the Merola Opera season and a David Bowie celebration top this week’s classical music calendar.

Singing with “Pride”: Previous offerings at San Francisco Opera, including full productions of “La Boheme” and Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” have already made this a thrilling summer season; now the company unveils its final summer gem with a celebratory “Pride Concert.” There’s a lot to celebrate here; coinciding with the city’s annual Pride Weekend, this can’t-miss festive event includes live performances, tributes, and appearances by vocal soloists Jamie Barton (scheduled to return in Jake Heggie’s monumental “Dead Man Walking” in September), Brian Mulligan and Nikola Printz. Audiences are invited to come early for a pre-show Happy Hour, and stay for a post-show dance party. Details: 6:30-10:30 p.m. Friday; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $10-$225; sfopera.com.

Merola sings for summer: San Francisco’s Merola Opera program opens its 2025 Summer Festival with “A Grand Night for Singing: An American Songfest.” The concert featuring the rising stars of this year’s esteemed training program, and curated by Ronny Michael Greenberg, features a wide range of songs representing 250 years of music from the American songbook. The Merola season runs up to the finale on Aug. 16. Details: 7:30 p.m. June today; San Francisco Conservatory of Music; $18-$68; Merola.org.

Bowie fans unite: San Francisco Symphony is presenting a rare concert experience featuring the score from David Bowie’s final album, “Blackstar.” Reimagined for a 65-piece orchestra, and performed with the original Blackstar band, the event is produced by artistic director Donny McCaslin and conducted by Vince Mendoza. Details: 7:30 p.m. today and Friday; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $99-$325; www.sfsymphony.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

Lehane scribes another TV thriller

The second Apple TV+ series from acclaimed neo-noir novelist Dennis Lehane (the first being the superior “Black Bird”) is another gripping shocker and uses as its impetus real-life events. But the less you know about this series, though, the better. So don’t go searching. Taron Egerton gives a phenomenal, cuts-like-a-knife performance as Dave Gudsen, an aspiring novelist by night and cocky arson investigator by day.

Dave has a quick temper and comes up lacking as a husband and stepfather, but can he ever smile and win people over. He tag-teams with detective Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett, channeling combustible intensity) to dig deeper into a series of arsons we know are caused by a seemingly harmless, but rage-filled, fast-food restaurant worker (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, in a performance that Emmys are made for). Nearly every character in “Smoke” has a broken moral compass and that includes Michelle, a survivor of trauma who doesn’t play by any rulebooks, along with her married and then separated lover (Rafe Spall) who is her boss. Other compromised characters include Gudsen’s former arsonist partner, the boozy and sleazy Esposito (John Leguizamo, a scene-stealer) and Harvey Englehart (Greg Kinnear), Gudsen’s boss. “Smoke” is well-made and tremendously acted, and while the plot does go up in — ahem — smoke late in the game, the actors always keep us invested. And there’s an one OMG moment in Episode 2 that almost knocked me off my couch.

Details: Two episodes drop Friday, with a new episode dropping every Friday through Aug. 15.

— Randy Myers, Correspondent

A Dive into superior pop/rock

Lake Street Dive was founded in 2004 by a group of young musicians at the New England Conservatory of Music, with the idea of performing a rousing form of heavily improvised, avant-garde country music. That original sound, as former member Mike Olson once quipped, was abandoned in favor of something that “actually sounded good.”

The switch apparently worked. After funding its first album by winning a songwriting contest with a tune titled “Sometimes When I’m Drunk and You’re Wearing My Favorite Shirt,” Lake Street Dive has evolved into a talented, ever-evolving band that embraces pop, soul, jazz, folk and more. The band is also known for its killer, free-wheeling live shows and for having fostered an almost legendary connection with its fans.

With a catalogue of eight studio albums and one live LP — the band’s latest release is 2024’s “Good Together” on the Fantasy Records label — Lake Street Dive has embarked on a summer tour that lands at the Frost Amphitheatre in Stanford on Sunday. The band says its current setlist covers all of its releases, and is bound to include a few surprises. Which, with this group, could mean almost anything at all.

Details: Music starts at 7 p.m.; general admission seating; $60; live.stanford.edu.

— Randy McMullen, Staff