From a storied Mexican band to an exhibit on rave culture to a quirky film fest and a holiday stage show devoted to “The Golden Girls,” there is a lot to see and do in the Bay Area this weekend and beyond.
Here is a partial rundown.
Revered Mexican rockers head to Bay Area
Mana is setting up shop at SAP Center for two nights.
The legendary Mexican pop-rock band, led by vocalist Fher Olvera and featuring bassist Juan Calleros, drummer Alex González and guitarist Sergio Vallín, is set to perform Dec. 5-6 at the home of the San Jose Sharks in downtown San Jose.
Having formed in 1981 in Guadalajara — initially performing under the moniker Sombrero Verde before changing its name to Mana — the band found massive success in the early ’90s with the release of “¿Dónde Jugarán Los Niños?” The record sold more than 10 million copies around the world and still ranks among the biggest selling Spanish-language albums of all time.
Mana has continued to have much success over the decades — amassing global record sales of over 45 million and collecting up several cabinets’ worth of trophies, including four Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, 19 Billboard Latin Music Awards and 15 Premios Lo Nuestro awards.
In 2025, Maná became the first Spanish-language rock group to ever be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They didn’t end up making the final cut, but hopefully their enshrinement will happen sometime in the years to come.
Details: Showtime is 8:30 p.m. for both shows; tickets start at $49; ticketmaster.com.
— Jim Harrington, Staff
New art show looks at raves
Raves – they’re not just about body paint and glowsticks. In some parts of the world, raves can be an important expression of social belonging and resistance, a fact that’s celebrated in a multisensory special exhibit at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum.
“Rave into the Future: Art in Motion” examines the dance-and-music culture of the West Asian diaspora, featuring women and queer artists familiar with the scene who hail from the U.S. and Europe. From robot vacuum cleaners doing ballet on glitter to a literally body-shaking demonstration of subwoofers, the heart of the exhibit is the music, and how it serves to bind keep communities together.
A sculpture from Oakland’s Sahar Khoury includes a functional DJ deck, which is commandeered by local and traveling DJs throughout the exhibit’s run. Yasmine Nasser Diaz, an artist from Los Angeles, has built an intimate bedroom complete with furniture and a 1990s-era TV playing protest footage; dance performances will periodically take over the space. There’s also a copper-plated dance floor by London musician and artist Joe Namy, and a 20-foot-tall radio tower (of sorts) made by a pair of local artists paying tribute to the popular Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum.
For extra fun, on Sunday the exhibit will shut down for a few hours to stage a free “Baby Rave” with a DJ whose music explores Chinese-Cuban heritage. Bring your tots and see if they’re ready to take on the dance floor.
Details: Through Jan. 26; hours are 1-8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Monday; 200 Larkin St., San Francisco; $20 adult admission (plus $5 for the special exhibit); asianart.org.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
The film fest we need right now
If those hummable, inescapable Christmas tunes are earworming their way right through your brain and even driving you a little batty, perhaps it’s time to chill out at the 22nd annual Another Hole in the Head film fest. Dedicated to the freaky and fantastical, this Bay Area treat running Dec. 5-18 offers a respite from the swirl of sugar-caned madness.
In addition to 16mm screenings of genre gems such as 1931’s “Frankenstein” and 1979’s “Amityville Horror” (both Dec. 11), and the 1982 Arnold Schwarzenegger bloodbath “Conan the Barbarian” (Dec. 13) — spruced up with a live “re-score” — and even “Escape From New York” (Dec. 17), there are new offerings that aspire to attain future cult status.
We highly recommend screenwriter/director Tim Connery’s polished Midwest-set “The Driftless” (6:30 p.m. Monday), essentially a quartet of terror-laced tales that get told to customers at an out-of-the-way antique shop owned by one very odd fella. Each story works; my fave is about an alcoholic country singer bingeing on a bad bottle of spirits. Connery, who will be attending, is a natural-born and gifted storyteller and director.
In director Remington Smith’s aptly titled and enjoyable “LandLord” (8 p.m. Sunday), a vampire landlord sucks dry his renters at a scrappy apartment complex dry (insert metaphor here) while a bounty hunter has her eye on someone dwelling there.
Details: Screenings at San Francisco’s Balboa Theatre; a streaming version of the festival will be available through Dec. 31; most screenings cost $17; on-demand films are $10; holehead2025.eventive.org.
– Randy Myers, correspondent
Tommy D brings the laughs to P-town
Though Thanksgiving has come and gone, the arrival of comedian Tommy Davidson in the East Bay this week reminds us to be thankful for the impactful 1990s comedy “In Living Color.” Known primarily as a vehicle for the Wayans brothers and other emerging African American comedians and entertainers, “Living Color” helped bring a stunning array of performers into the mainstream, including Davidson, Jamie Foxx, David Alan Grier and T’Keyah Crystal Keymáh, not to mention Jim Carrey, “Fly Girls” Jennifer Lopez and Carrie Ann Inaba, and Rosie Perez (who was a choreographer for the show).
Although Davidson went on to a myriad TV and film roles and appearances, he has never strayed too far from the standup comedy world. That has been his best gig since he started his career as a buzz-generating comedian in Washington, D.C., and opening act for such entertainers as Patti LaBelle, Kenny G and Luther Vandross. Then he killed it at an comedy competition at the famed Apollo Theatre in 1987 and went on to impress such talents as Martin Lawrence and Robert Townsend.
Davidson is currently on a another standup comedy tour and comes to Tommy T’s in Pleasanton for a weekend set.
Details: 7:30 and 10 p.m. Dec. 5, 7 and 9:45 p.m. Dec. 6, 7 p.m. Dec. 7; $30-$55; tommyts.com.
— Randy McMullen, Staff
Here’s your freebie of the week
The winter holidays annually serve up an eclectic array of fun stuff to do on the cheap. This weekend, for example, offers an event that is tied to the holidays but also to a serious issue: The Golden Gate fREADom Writers’ monthly Banned-Bingo gathering, which for the December episode is featuring a holiday theme. The writers’ group is involved in a number of issues, from the art of the written word to freedom of expression and non-violent protest. Banned-Books Bingo is pretty much what its title suggests, a form of Bingo focusing on famed books that have been banned in America at one point or another. It is easy to picture book-banning as something limited to dystopian sci-fi stories like “Fahrenheit 451,” but as PEN America points out, book-banning is more prevalent now than ever, and this is not likely to change while right-wing pro-censorship activists are emboldened by our current president (when he’s not falling asleep during cabinet meetings). Banned-Book Bingo (consisting of 3 rounds of the game) runs 4:30-6:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Pig & Whistle, 2801 Geary Blvd., San Francisco. Admission is free but feel free to donate a book or similar item for Toys for Tots. Refreshments will be served.
Details: More information is at www.eventbrite.com. (search for banned books bingo).
Christmas with the Golden Girls
The fact that “The Golden Girls,” a sitcom created in 1985 about four senior women sharing a home in Florida, remains popular and continues to draw new fans speaks to how good a show it really was. Considered groundbreaking (elderly women rarely emerged as anything more than novelty characters or somebody’s grandma) the show featured a core of talented stars — Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty — and some of the finest sitcom writing in American television history. It wasn’t just that the zingers were so good and the characters imbued with such depth, but the show had a way of addressing issues about aging in America without preaching or sacrificing the entertainment value.
The show, available for viewing or streaming on Disney+, Hulu or the Hallmark Channel, is so rich in comedy that it has inspired a beloved Bay Area holiday show now in its 20th year. “Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes,” features four talented drag performers — D’Arcy Drollinger, Miss Coco Peru, Matthew Martin and Holotta Tymes — re-enacting for holiday-themed episodes from the storied show. Over the years, San Francisco has played host to a wide array of eccentric Christmas stage productions. Many have moved on but this one remains, and is worth a visit.
Details: The production, presented by BroadwaySF, runs through Dec. 21 at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco; $37.44-$141.57; broadwaysf.com.
— Bay City News Foundation
Uttering the P-word
When did poignancy become a bad word? Even at this time of year, it seems that productions and shows that tug at the heartstrings are considered to have about as much artistic credibility as an episode of “Barney & Friends.” Thankfully, some of you out there have the courage to embrace your inner schmaltziness. And for all those who privately tear up watching pet adoption videos on YouTube (not that we know anyone like that) there is “Over the River and Through the Woods,” a family- and holiday-themed comedy/drama now playing at City Lights Theater in San Jose. Set in New Jersey, it follows a young man who gathers with his grandparents each Sunday for a dinner full of pasta and pleasantries. It has been a weekly tradition for years – until now, as the 29-year-old Nick one day informs his grandparents he is moving across the country to take a new job. The play by Joe DiPietro (best known for penning “Memphis,” the Tony-winning show that got its world premiere at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley) is credited with deftly balancing heartwarming moments with true comedy as the four grandparents employ food and girlfriend material to try and get Nick to change his mind.
Details: The City Lights Theater Company production plays through Dec. 21 in San Jose; tickets are $30-$68; go to cltc.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Well, can we hear a hallelujah!
The holiday festivities start in earnest early this month, with dozens of concerts, dance and theater presentations and gift fairs going on all over the Bay Area. One of the most endearing and welcoming is the annual come-one, come-all “Sing It Yourself Messiah” mounted by the Valley Concert Chorale, taking place this year at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at the Asbury United Methodist Church in Livermore. Rest assured, there will be many self-singing veterans there to guide you along through George Frideric Handel’s most famous score if you are new to the phenomenon. And don’t worry, if you can’t bring your own copy of the beloved Christmas-season oratorio to the event – there will be some hand-out scores available. Trained soloists will take on the toughest soprano, alto, tenor and bass arias and recitatives, and “all we like sheep,” the members of the audience, will handle the choruses, winding up with a lusty rendition of the mighty “Hallelujah Chorus.”
Details: Tickets are $15 but free for students; valleyconcertchorale.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
PBO brings ‘Gloria’ to stage
If you’re craving vocal holiday splendor, take in one of the programs titled “Gloria” the beloved Bay Area stalwarts, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, are presenting in three locations this weekend. Under the direction of chorus master and conductor Valérie Sainte Agathe, the ensemble will perform Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria”; Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto Grosso in G minor, known as the “Christmas Concerto”; and two works by contemporary composers, the world premiere of Roderick Williams’ a cappella work “Quem Pastores Laudavere,” and the U.S. premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s five-movement “The Holdfast,” with text excerpts from the Thomas Hardy poem, “The Darkling Thrush.”
Details: Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, 2:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at First Congregational Church in Berkeley, and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 7 in Bing Concert Hall at Stanford. Tickets, $20-$125, are at philharmonia.org.
— Bay City News Foundation