Musicians gather to benefit fire victims

Talented acts from around the Bay Area are uniting to help support Los Angeles wildfire relief efforts.

Fantastic Negrito, The Brothers Comatose, Terrier, The Sam Chase, Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands, Poor Man’s Whiskey, John Elliott, Megan Slankard, Shana Morrison, Danny Click, Sean Hayes, Petty Theft, walking mirrors, Greg Loiacono and Ben Morrison are set to perform during the L.A. Fire Department Foundation Benefit Concert on Sunday at HopMonk Tavern in Novato.

The concert is being produced by local promoter KC Turner Presents.

“When communities suffer like the folks in L.A. are right now we have to come together,” Turner says. “I’m grateful for the artists that have graciously agreed to volunteer their time and art for this very special benefit concert. I’m also thankful to be able to pull something like this together so quickly.”

As one might expect given that lengthy lineup, the benefit is an all-day concert — with a relatively early start time of 12:30 p.m.

Details: Tickets are $50-$5,000, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, which supports thousands of firefighters, paramedics and other first-responders personnel; for tickets and other information, visit kcturnerpresents.com.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Terence Blanchard blows his horn

Terence Blanchard is set to take center stage at the SFJAZZ Center.

The vastly accomplished trumpeter/bandleader/composer — who also happens to be SFJAZZ’s executive artistic director — will be performing with his Grammy-nominated E-Collective at the San Francisco performance venue today through Sunday.

Blanchard and his E Collective — featuring guitarist Charles Altura, pianist/keyboardist Julian Pollack, bassist David Ginyard Jr. and drummer Oscar Seaton — will be joined for the run by the Turtle Island Quartet, featuring violinists David Balakrishnan and Gabriel Terracciano, violist Benjamin von Gutzeit and cellist Naseem Alatrash. They’ll be joined by one very special guest — immensely talented vocalist Dianne Reeves — on the last night of the run.

Here’s a look at the program: On opening night (today), Blanchard will lead the E-Collective and Turtle Island Quartet through music from his 2005 Grammy-nominated album, “Flow.” Then the musicians will showcase music from Blanchard’s 2007 Grammy-winning effort, “A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina),” on Friday and Saturday. Reeves and her amazing vocal work arrive on the scene on Sunday.

Details: 7:30 p.m. today through Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday; $25-$105; sfjazz.org.

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Santa Cruz celebrates Wes Anderson

If you’ve ever walked down the Santa Cruz boardwalk, with its saltwater-taffy paint scheme and nostalgic carnival rides and think, “This is like a Wes Anderson movie” — you’re not alone. The idyllic city by the sea strikes so many as Andersonesque it’s celebrated in a new local photography show, “Accidentally Wes Anderson.”

Running Friday through May 18 at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the exhibit crowdsources photos of locations from around the world that, while not always appearing in Wes Anderson films, share the same quirky architecture and color palettes. It’s a physical embodiment of the online phenomenon known as “Accidentally Wes Anderson,” started by Wally and Amanda Koval and embraced by travelers who share social-media images in themes like “pink,” “turquoise,” “classic facades,” “gardens and greenhouses” and “on the rails.” (There’s since been a New York Times best-selling book with the same name.)

“Each of the locations highlighted in the exhibition boasts the recognizable singular aesthetic that is oh-so typical of film master Wes Anderson,” write the organizers of the show, which is endorsed by the filmmaker himself. “Bright, vivid and often slightly jarring to reality, AWA collects the world’s most Anderson-like sites in all their faded grandeur and pop-pastel colors, telling the story behind each stranger-than-fiction location.”

The exhibit is meant to pay tribute to the centennial celebration of the very Anderson-like Giant Dipper roller coaster out on the beach, so after you’re done maybe head on over for a thrilling ride.

Details: The museum is open noon-6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday; 705 Front St., Santa Cruz; $10 suggested admission, santacruzmah.org

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Classical picks: Denks & Takács; ‘Firebird’

This week’s classical music calendar has plenty to choose from: including a world-class pianist and “The Firebird” taking flight.

Takács and Denk in Berkeley: It’s always good news when the Takács Quartet returns to Cal Performances, and this weekend brings the celebrated quartet welcoming a friend. Joined by pianist Jeremy Denk, they’ll give two performances of Brahms’ Piano Quintet, along with works by Beethoven and Janácek; the Takács players also return next month with music by Beethoven, Haydn, and Britten. Details: Takács Quartet with Jeremy Denk, 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday; Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; quartet also performs 3 p.m. Feb. 16 at Hertz Hall; $93-$110; calperformances.org.

A first at Davies: Conductor Mark Elder takes the podium this week in the first San Francisco Symphony performances of Hector Berlioz’s 1831 “Le roi Lear Overture.” The program also includes works by Berlioz, Debussy, Richard Strauss and John Adams. Details: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $30-$179; sfsymphony.org.

Firebird in San Jose: This weekend in the beautiful California Theatre, Symphony San Jose music director Carlos Vieu leads the orchestra in masterworks including the Suite from Stravinsky’s “Firebird.” Audiences will also hear Wagner’s Overture to “Tannhäuser,” Sibelius’ “Finlandia,” Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme by Haydn,” and “Bullanguera” by Argentine composer Sonia Possetti. Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday; California Theatre, San Jose; $24-$121.50; symphonysanjose.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent

Wong takes on ‘Underworld’

San Francisco native Ali Wong is on a roll and with her recent Golden Globes win and a new 13-episode animated Netflix series, she continues to wield the Midas touch. In “Jentry Chau vs the Underworld,” the “Beef” star voices the titular 16-year-old Chinese American youth, who’s going about her adolescent business until she discovers that a demon king is out to get her and that she also possesses fiery powers that can be overwhelming.

Hardly undone by all that, the plucky Texas teen enlists the otherworldly assist of her mystical, kooky and somewhat sage aunt Gugu (Lori Tan Chinn) and also earns a sidekick in the form of the talisman in the form a vampire spirit Ed (Bowen Yang). That’s just the beginning of creator Echo Wu’s inventive, character-driven journey through the underworld. With a high-caliber voice cast that also includes Lucy Liu and Jimmy O. Yang, “Jentry Chau” combines cultural mythology with a very real portrait of a 16-year-old trying to figure out boys, her place in the world and the fact that she, too, is very human despite those sometimes uncontrollable powers.

Details: All episodes available now on Netflix.

— Randy Myers, Correspondent